mrs. warren's daughter a story of the woman's movement by sir harry johnston new york the macmillan company to my jury of matrons: winifred johnston ella hepworth-dixon catherine wells angela mond beatrice sands margaret powys annette henderson florence fellowes mary levy ray rockman-braham florence travers maud parry this book is affectionately dedicated, in the knowledge that--in the main--it has their sympathy and approval. h. h. johnston poling, _march, _ preface the earlier part of vivien warren's life and that of her mother, catherine warren, was told by mr. george bernard shaw in his play, "mrs. warren's profession," published first in . (_plays pleasant and unpleasant_: . _unpleasant_. constable and co., th edition.) i have his permission to continue the story from onwards. to understand my sequel it is not necessary to have read the play which so brilliantly placed the warren problem before us. but as most persons of average good education have found mr. shaw's comedies necessary to their mental furnishing, their understanding of contemporary life, it is probable that all who would be drawn to this book are already acquainted with the story of mrs. warren, and will be interested in learning what happened after that story was laid down by mr. shaw in . i would in addition placate hostile or peevish reviewers by reminding them of the continuity of human histories; of biographies, real--though a little disguised by the sauce of fiction--and unreal--because entitled _life and letters, by his widow_. the best novel or life-story ever written does not commence with its opening page. the real commencement goes back to the stone ages or at any rate to the antecedent circumstances which led up to the crisis or the formation of the characters portrayed. mr. pickwick had a father, a grandfather; a mother in a mob-cap; in the eighteenth century. it is permissible to speculate on their stories and dispositions. neither does a novel or a biography end with the final page of its convenient instalment. when you lay down the book which describes the pathetic failure of lord randolph churchill, you do so with curiosity as to what will become of winston. with a pre-knowledge of the pickwick club, one may usefully employ the imagination in tracing out the possible careers of sam weller's chubby little boys; grown into old men, and themselves, perchance, leaving progeny that may have married into the peerage from the turf, or have entered the war cabinet at the beckoning of mr. lloyd george. i know of descendants of madame de brinvilliers in england who have helped to found the y.w.c.a.; and collateral offshoots from the charlotte corday stock who are sternly opposed to the assassination of statesmen-journalists. so, i have taken on myself the continuation of the story outlined twenty-three years ago by mr. shaw in its late victorian stage. _he_ had a prior claim to do so; just as he might have shown us the life--but not the letters, for she was illiterate--of catherine warren's mother, the frier of fish and letter of lodgings on tower hill in the 'forties and 'fifties of the last century; and of the young lieutenant warren of the tower garrison who lodged and cohabited with her at intervals between and , when he went out to the crimea and there died of frost-bite and neglected wounds. mr. shaw has waived such claims, having, as vivie's grandmother would have said, "other fish to fry." but for this i should not have ventured to take up the tale, as i hold an author while he lives has a prescriptive right to his creations. i shall feel no bitterness in nirvana if, after my death, another continues the story of vivie or of her friends and collateral relations, under circumstances which i shall not live to see. in justice to mr. shaw i should state that the present book is entirely my own, and that though he has not renounced a polite interest in vivie he is in no way responsible for her career and behaviour. he may even be annoyed at both. h. h. johnston. contents chapter preface by the author i vivie and norie ii honoria and her friends iii david vavasour williams iv pontystrad v reading for the bar vi the rossiters vii honoria again viii the british church ix david is called to the bar x the shillito case xi david goes abroad xii vivie returns xiii the suffrage movement xiv militancy xv imprisonment xvi brussels and the war: xvii the germans in brussels: - xviii the bomb in portland place xix bertie adams xx after the armistice l'envoi mrs. warren's daughter chapter i vivie and norie the date when this story begins is a saturday afternoon in june, , about p.m. the scene is the western room of a suite of offices on the fifth floor of a house in chancery lane, the offices of _fraser and warren_, consultant actuaries and accountants. there is a long window facing west, the central part of which is open, affording a passage out on to a parapet. through this window, and still better from the parapet outside, may be seen the picturesque spires and turrets of the law courts, a glimpse here and there of the mellow, red-brick, white-windowed houses of new square, the tree-tops of lincoln's inn fields, and the hint beyond a steepled and chimneyed horizon of the wooded heights of highgate. all this outlook is flooded with the brilliant sunshine of june, scarcely dimmed by the city smoke and fumes. in the room itself there are on each of the tables vases of flowers and a bunch of dark red roses on the top of the many pigeon-holed bureau at which vivien warren is seated. the walls are mainly covered with book-shelves well filled with consultative works on many diverse subjects. there is another series of shelves crowded with neat, green, tin boxes containing the papers of clients. a dark green-and-purple portière partly conceals the entry into a washing place which is further fitted with a gas stove for cooking and cupboards for crockery and provisions. at the opposite end of the room is a door which opens into a small bedroom. the fireplace in the main room is fitted with the best and least smelly kind of gas stove obtainable in . there are two square tables covered with piles of documents neatly tied with green tape and ranged round the central vase of flowers; a heavy, squat earthenware vase not easily knocked over; and there is a second bureau with pigeon-holes and a roll top, similar to the one at which vivien warren is seated. this is for the senior partner, honoria fraser. between the bureaus there is plenty of space for access to the long west window and consequently to the parapet which can be used like a balcony. two small arm-chairs in green leather on either side of the fireplace, two office chairs at the tables and a revolving chair at each bureau complete the furniture of the partners' room of _fraser and warren_ as you would have seen it twenty years ago. the rest of their offices consisted of a landing from which a lift and a staircase descended, a waiting-room for clients, pleasantly furnished, a room in which two female clerks worked, and off this a small room tenanted by an office boy. you may also add in imagination an excellent lavatory for the clerks, two telephones (one in the partners' room), hidden safes, wall-maps; and you must visualize everything as pleasing in colour--green, white, and purple--flooded with light; clean, tidy, and admirably adapted for business in the city. vivien warren, as already mentioned, was, as the curtain goes up, seated at her bureau, reading a letter. the letter was headed "camp hospital, colesberg, cape colony, may , "; and ran thus:-- dearest vivie,-- here i am still, but my leg is mending fast. the enteric was the worse trouble. that is over and done with, though i am the colour of a pig-skin saddle. my leg won't let me frisk just yet, but otherwise i feel as strong as a horse. when i was bowled over three months ago and the enteric got hold of me, on top of the bullet through my thigh, i lost my self-control and asked the people here to cable to you to come and nurse me. it was silly perhaps--the nursing here is quite efficient--and if any one was to have come out on my account it ought to have been the poor old mater, who wanted to very much. but somehow i could only think of _you_. i wanted you more than i'd ever done before. i hoped somehow your heart might be touched and you might come out and nurse me, and then out of pity marry me. won't you do so? owing to my stiff leg i dare say i shall be invalided out of the army and get a small wound pension. and i've a project which will make lots of money--up in rhodesia--a tip i've had from a man in the know. i'm going to take up some land near salisbury. ripping country and climate and all that. it would suit you down to the ground. you could put all that warren business behind you, forget it all, drop the name, start a new career as mrs. frank gardner, and find an eternally devoted husband in the man that signs this letter. i've been out here long enough to be up to all the ropes, and i'd already made a bit of money in rhodesia before the war broke out and i got a commission. at any rate i've enough to start on as a married man, enough to give you a decent outfit and your passage out here and have a honeymoon before we start work on our future home. darling vivie! do think about it. you'd never regret it. i'm a very different frank to the silly ass you knew in the old haslemere days. now here's a five pound note to cover the cost of a full cable to say "yes," and when you'll be ready to start. when i get your answer--somehow i feel it'll _be_ "yes"--i'll send you a draft on a london bank to pay for a suitable trousseau and your passage from london to cape town, and _of course_ i'll come and meet you there, where we can be married. i shan't sleep properly till i get your "yes." your ever loving and always faithful frank. p.s. there's a poor fellow here in the same ward dying--i should say--of necrosis of the jaw--vavasour williams is his name or a part of his name. his father was at cambridge with my old man, and--isn't it rum?--he was a pupil of _praddy's_!! he mucked his school and 'varsity career, thought next he'd like to be an architect or a scene painter. my dad recommended praddy as a master. he worked in the praed studio, but got the chuck over some foolery. then as he couldn't face his poor old governor, he enlisted in the bechuanaland border police, came out to south africa and got let in for this show. the doctors and nurses give him about a month and he doesn't know it. he can't talk much owing to his jaw being tied up--usually he writes me messages, all about going home and being a good boy, turning over a new leaf, and so on. i suppose the last person you ever see nowadays is the revd. sam gardner? you know they howked him out of woodcote? he got "preferment" as he calls it, and a cure of souls at margate. rather rough on the dear old mater--bless her, _always_--she so liked the hindhead country. but if you run up against praddy you might let him know and he might get into touch with vavasour williams's people--twig?--f.g. vivie rose to her feet half-way through this letter and finished it standing by the window. she was tall--say, five feet eight; about twenty-five years of age; with a well-developed, athletic figure, set off by a smart, tailor-made gown of grey cloth. yet although she might be called a handsome woman she would easily have passed for a good-looking young man of twenty, had she been wearing male costume. her brown-gold hair was disposed of with the least ostentation possible and with no fluffiness. her eyebrows were too well furnished for femininity and nearly met when she frowned--a too frequent practice, as was the belligerent look from her steely grey eyes with their beautiful irish setting of long dark lashes. she had a straight nose and firm rounded chin, a rather determined look about the mouth--lower lip too much drawn in as if from perpetual self-repression. but all this severity disappeared when she smiled and showed her faultless teeth. the complexion was clear though a little tanned from deliberate exposure in athletics. altogether a woman that might have been described as "jolly good-looking," if it had not been that whenever any man looked at her something hostile and forbidding came into the countenance, and the eyebrows formed an angry bar of hazel-brown above the dark-lashed eyes. but her "young man" look won for her many a feminine friendship which she impatiently repelled; for sentimentality disgusted her. the door of the partners' room opened and in walked honoria fraser. she was probably three years older than vivie and likewise a well-favoured woman, a little more matronly in appearance, somewhat after the style of a married actress who really loves her husband and has preserved her own looks wonderfully, though no one would take her for less than twenty-eight. at the sight of her, vivie lost her frown and tossed the letter on to the bureau. honoria fraser had been lunching with friends in portland place. _honoria_: "what a swotter you are! i _thought_ i should find you here. i suppose the staff departed punctually at one? i've come back expressly from the michael rossiters to carry you off to them--or rather to kew. they're going to have tea with the thiselton-dyers and then revel in azaleas and roses. i shall go out and charter a hansom and we'll drive down ... it'll be some compensation for your having worked extra hard whilst i've been away.... "i met such a delightful man at the rossiters'!" (slightly flushing) "don't look at me so reproachfully! there _are_ delightful men--a few--in existence. this one has been wounded in south africa and he's so good-looking, though the back of his head is scarred and he'll always walk with a limp.... now then! why do you look so solemn? put on your hat..." _vivie_: "i look solemn because i'm just considering a proposal of marriage--or rather, the fewest words in which i can refuse it. i don't think i want to go to kew at all ... much sooner we had tea together, here, on the roof..." _norie_: "i suppose it's frank gardner again, as i see his handwriting on that envelope. well i'm sorry about kew--i should have enjoyed it..." _vivie_ (bitterly): "i expect it's that 'delightful man' that attracts you." _norie_: "nonsense! i'm vowed to virginity, like you are ... i really don't care if i never see major armstrong again ... though he certainly _is_ rather a darling ... very good-looking ... and, d'you know, he's almost a pro-boer, though the boers ambushed him.... says this war's a beastly mistake.... "well: i'll have tea here instead, if you like, and we can talk business, which we haven't done for a fortnight. i must get out of the way of paying visits in the country. they make one so discontented with the city afterwards. i've had a feeling lately i should like to have been a farmer.... too much of the work of the firm has been thrown on you.... but there's lots and lots i want to talk over. i abandon kew, willingly, and as to major armstrong.... however he can always find my address if he cares to..." _vivie_ (sits down in one of the arm chairs and norie takes the other): "oh don't pity me. i love hard work and work which interests me. and as to working for _you_, you know there's nothing i wouldn't..." _norie_: "oh stow that!... you've been a full-fledged partner for a year and ought to be getting callous or suspicious ... i _did_ take some money out of the petty cash yesterday. i must remember to put it down. i took quite a lot ... for theatre tickets ... and you may be suspecting bertie adams ... we can't call this an adamless eden, can we? i wonder why we keep an office boy and not an office girl? i suppose such things will soon be coming into being. we've women clerks and typewriteresses ... adams, i notice, is growing, and he has the trace of a moustache and is already devoted to you ... dog-like..." _vivie_: "he's still more devoted to cricket, fortunately; and as soon as rose and lilian had gone he was off too.... only, i fancy, he discards regent's park now in favour of hendon or herne hill..." _norie_: "now, about frank gardner..." _vivie_: "yes, that cablegram.... let's frame it and send it off as soon as we can; then get tea ready. talking of tea: i was just thinking before frank's letter came how much good you'd done me--in many other ways than setting me up in business." _norie_: "shut up!..." _vivie_: "how, when we first worked together, i used to think it necessary to imitate men by drinking an occasional whiskey and soda--though i loathe spirits--and smoking a cigar--ugh!--and how you drew me back to tea and a self-respecting womanliness--china tea, of course, and cigarettes. why _should_ we have wanted to be like men?... much better to be the new woman.... "as to frank's cablegram..." (goes to bureau, tries over several drafts of message, consults postal guide as to cable rates _per_ word, and reads aloud) ... "how's this? 'captain frank gardner camp hospital colesberg cape colony. sorry must say no best wishes recovery writing. vivie.' that'll cost just two pounds and out of the balance i shall buy a good parcel of books to send him, and some strawberries and cakes for our tea." (therewith she puts on hat carefully--for she is always very particular, in a young-gentlemanly way, about her appearance--goes out to send off cablegram from chancery lane post-office, buy strawberries and cakes from fleet street shops, and so back to the office by four o'clock. meantime norie is reading through some of the recent correspondence on the file.) _vivie_ (on her return): "pouf! it _was_ hot in fleet street! i'm sorry for poor frankie, because he seems so to have set his heart on marrying me. but i do hope he will take this answer as _final_." _norie_: "i suppose you are not refusing him for the same old reason--that vague suggestion that he might be your half-brother?" _vivie_: "oh _no_! besides i pretty well know for a fact he isn't, he simply couldn't be. i'm absolutely sure my father wasn't sam gardner, any more than george crofts was. i believe it was a young irish seminarist, some student for the priesthood whom my mother met in belgium the year before i was born. if i ever find out more i will tell you. _you_ haven't seen 'soapy sam,' the vicar of woodcote, or that beast, george crofts; but if you _had_, you'd be as sure as i am that neither of them was _my_ father--thank goodness! as to frank--yes--for a short time i _was_ fond of him--till i learnt about my mother's 'profession.' it was rather a silly sort of fondness. he was two years younger than i; i suppose my feeling for him was half motherly ... i neither encouraged him nor did i repel him. i think i was experimenting ... i rather wanted to know what it felt like to be kissed by a man. frank was a nice creature, so far as a man can be. but all those horrid revelations that broke up our summer stay at haslemere four years ago--when i ran away to you--gave me an utter disgust for marriage. and what a life mine would have been if i had married him then; or after he went out to south africa! _ghastly_! want of money would have made us hate one another and frank would have been sure to become patronizing. because i was without a father in the legitimate way he would have thought he was conferring a great honour on me by marrying me, and would probably have expected me to drudge for him while he idled his time away.... oh, when i think what a life i have led here, with you, full of interesting work and bright prospects, free from money anxieties--dearest, dearest norie--i can't thank you enough. no, i'm not going to be sentimental--the new woman is never that. i'm going to get the tea ready; and after we've had tea on the balcony we really must go into business matters. your being away so much the last fortnight, things have accumulated that i did not like to decide for myself..." _norie_ (speaking rather louder as vivie is now busy in the adjoining roomlet, boiling the kettle on the gas stove and preparing the tea): "yes. and i've got _lots_ to talk over with you. all sorts of plans have come into my head. i don't know whether i have been eating anything more than usually brain stimulating--everything has a physical basis--but i have come back from this scattered holiday full of new ideas." presently they are seated on camp-stools sipping tea, eating strawberries and cakes, under the striped sun-blind. _norie_ continues: "do you remember beryl clarges at newnham?" _vivie_: "yes--the pretty girl--short, curly hair, brown eyes, rather full lips, good at mathematics--hockey ... purposely shocked you by her outspokenness--well?" _norie_: "well, she's had a baby ... a month ago ... awful rumpus with her people ... father's dean clarges ... norwich or ely, i forget which ... they've put her in a nursing home in seymour street. mother wears a lace mantilla and cries softly. beryl went wrong, as they call it, with an architect." _vivie_: "pass your cup ... don't take _all_ the strawberries (_norie_: "sorry! absence of mind--i've left you three fat ones") architect? strange! i always thought all architects were like praddy--had no passions except for bricks and mortar and chiselled stone and twirligig iron grilles ... perhaps just a thrill over a nude statue. why, till you told me this i'd as soon have trusted my daughter--if i had one--with an architect as with a colonel of engineers--you know! the kind that believes in the identity of the ten lost tribes with the british and is a true protestant! poor beryl! but how? what? when? why?" _norie_: "i think it began at cambridge--the acquaintance did ... later, it developed into a passion. he had already one wife in sussex somewhere and four children. he took a flat for her in town--a studio--because berry had given up mathematics and was going in for sculpture; and there, whenever he could get away from storrington or some such place and from his city office, he used to visit beryl. this had been going on for three years. but last february she had to break it to her mother that she was six months gone. the other wife knows all about it but refuses to divorce the naughty architect, and at the same time has cut off supplies--what _cowards_ men are and how _little_ women stand by women! and then it's a poor deanery and beryl has five younger brothers that have got to be educated. her sculpture was little more than commissions executed for her architect's building and i expect that resource will now disappear ... i half think i shall bring her in here, when she is well again. she's got a very good head-piece and you know we are expanding our business ... she'd make a good house agent ... she writes sometimes for _country life_..." _vivie_: "ye-es.... but you can't provide for many more of our college-mates. any more gone wrong?" _norie_: "it depends how you qualify 'wrong.' i really don't see that it is 'wronger' for a young woman to yield to 'storgé' and have a baby out of wedlock than for a man to engender that baby. society doesn't damn the man, unless he is a cabinet minister or a cleric; but it does its best to ruin the woman ... unless she's an actress or a singer. if a woman likes to go through all the misery of pregnancy and the pangs of delivery on her own account and without being legally tied up with a man, why can't she? beryl, at any rate, is quite unashamed, and says she shall have as many children as her earnings support ... that it will be great fun choosing their sires--more variety in their types.... is _she_ the new woman, i wonder?" _vivie_: "well the whole thing bores me ... i suppose i am embittered and disgusted. i'm sick of all this sexual nonsense.... yes, after all, i approve of the marriage tie: it takes away the romance of love, and it's that romance which is usually so time-wasting and so dangerous. it conceals often a host of horrors ... but i'm a sort of neuter. all i want in life is hard work ... a cause to fight for.... revenge ... revenge on man. god! how i hate men; how i despise them! we can do anything they can if we train and educate. i have taken to your business because it is one of the crafty paths we can follow to creep into man's fastnesses of the law, the stock-market, the banks and actuarial work..." _norie_: "my dear! you have quite a platform manner already. i predict you will soon be addressing audiences of rebellious women.... but i am more the booker washington of my sex. i want women to work--even at quite humble things--before they insist on equal rights with man. at any rate i want to help them to make an honest livelihood without depending on some one man.... business seems to be good, eh? if the first half of this year is equalled by the second, i should think there would be a profit to be divided of quite a thousand pounds?" _vivie_: "quite. of course we are regular pirates. none of the actuarial or accountancy corporations will admit women, so we can't pass exams and call ourselves chartered actuaries or incorporated accountants. but if women clients choose to consult us there is no law to prevent them, or to make our giving advice illegal. so we advise and estimate and do accounts and calculate probabilities. then although we can't call ourselves solicitors we can--or at any rate we do--give legal advice. we can't figure on the stock exchange, but we can advise clients about their investments and buy and sell stock and real estate (by the bye i want you to give me your opinion on the tithe question, the liability on that kent fruit farm). we are consulted on contracts ... i'm going to start a women authors' branch, and perhaps a tourist agency. some day we will have a women's publishing business, we'll set up a women's printing press, a paper mill.... of course as you know i am working hard on law ... not only to understand men's roguery in every direction, but so that if necessary i can add pleading in the courts to some other woman's solicitor work. that's going to be my first struggle with man: to claim admittance to the bar.... if we can once breach that rampart the vote must inevitably follow. oh _how_ we have been dumb before our shearers! the rottenness of man's law.... the perjury, corruption, waste of time, special pleading that go on in our male courts of _in_justice, the verdicts of male juries!" _norie_: "just so. but can't you find a little time to be social? why be so morose? for instance, why not come and be introduced to michael rossiter? he's a dear--amazingly clever--a kind of prophet--your one confidant, stead, thinks a lot of him." _vivie_: "_dear_ norie--i can't. i swore two years ago i would drop society and run no risk of being found out as 'mrs. warren's daughter.' that beast george crofts revenged himself because i wouldn't marry him by letting it be known here and there that i _was_ the daughter of the 'notorious mrs. warren'; whereupon several of the people i liked--you remember?--dropped me--the burne-joneses, the lacrevys. or if it wasn't crofts some other swine did. but for the fact that it would upset our style as a firm i could change my name: call myself something quite different.... "d'you know, i've sometimes thought i'd cut my hair short and dress in men's clothes, and go out into the world as a man ... my voice is almost a tenor--_such_ a lark! i'd get admitted to the bar. but the nuisance about that would be the references. i'm an outlaw, you see, through no fault of mine.... i couldn't give _you_ as a reference, and i don't know any man who would be generous enough to take the risk of participating in the fraud.... unless it were praed--good old praddy. i'm sure it's been done now and again. they call judge fitzsimmons 'an old woman.' well, d'you know, i believe he _is_ ... a wise old woman." _norie_: "well: bide a wee, till our firm is doing a roaring business: i can pretend then to take in a male partner, p'raps. rose and lilian are very hard-working and we can't afford to lose them yet. if you appeared one morning dressed as a young man they might throw up their jobs and go elsewhere..." _vivie_: "you may be quite sure i won't let _you_ down. moreover i haven't the money for any vagaries yet, though i have an instinct that it is coming. you know those charles davis shares i bought at _s._ _d._? well, they rose to _s._ whilst you were away; so i sold out. we had three hundred, and that, less commissions, made about £ profit; the boldest coup we have had yet. and all because i spotted that new find of emery powder in tripoli, saw it in a consular report.... "i want to be rich and therefore powerful, norie! then people will forget fast enough about my shameful parentage." _norie_: "how _is_ she? do you ever hear from or of her now?" _vivie_: "i haven't heard _from_ her for two years, since i left her letters unanswered. but i hear _of_ her every now and again. no. not through crofts. i suppose you know--if you take any interest in that wretch--that since he married the american quakeress he took his name off the _warren hotels company_ and sold out much of his interest. he is now living in great respectability, breeding race horses. they even say he has given up whiskey. he has got a son and has endowed six cots in a children's hospital. no. i think it must be _mother_ who has notices posted to me, probably through that scoundrel, bax strangeways ... generally in the _london argus_ and the _vie-de-paris_--cracking up the warren hotels in brussels, berlin, buda-pest and roquebrune. _what_ a comedy!... "there's my aunt liz at winchester--mrs. canon burstall--won't know me--i'm too compromising. but i'm sure her money-bags have been filled at one time--perhaps are still--out of the profits on mother's 'hotels.'..." _norie_: "i didn't remember your aunt was married ... or rather i suppose i did, but thought she was a widow, real or _soi-disant_..." _vivie_: "so she is, after four years of happy married life! my 'uncle' canon burstall--oh what a screaming joke the whole thing is!... i doubt if he was aware he had a niece.... don't you remember he was killed in the alps last autumn?..." _norie_: "i remember your going down to see your aunt after you broke off relations with your mother in--in-- ...?" _vivie_: "yes. i wanted to see how the land lay and not judge any one unfairly. besides i--i--didn't like being dependent entirely on you--at that time--for support: and praed was in italy. i knew that aunt liz, like mother, was illegitimate--and guessed she had once made her living in the higher walks of prostitution--she was a stockbroker's mistress at one time--. but she had married and settled down at winchester ... she met her canon--the alpine traveller ... in switzerland. i felt if she took no money from mother's 'houses,' i could perhaps make a home with her, or at any rate have _some_ kith and kin to go to. she had no children.... but--i must have told you all this years ago?--she almost pushed me out of her house for fear i should stay till the canon came in from the afternoon service; denied everything; threatened me as though i was a blackmailer; almost looked as if she could have killed me and buried me in the garden of the canonry.... "i've examined the business of the _warren hotels ltd._ since then, but it's a private company, and all its doings are so cleverly concealed.... aunt liz doesn't figure amongst the shareholders any more than crofts does. that horrid bax holds most of the shares now, and mother the rest.... yet aunt liz must be rich and she certainly didn't get it from the canon, who only left a net personality of under £ , .... i read his will at somerset house.... she has had her portrait in the _queen_ because she gave a large subscription to the underpinning of winchester cathedral and the restoration of wolvesey as a clergy house.... mother must be very rich, i should judge, from certain indications. i expect _she_ will retire from the 'hotels,' some day, wipe out the past, and buy a new present with her money.... she'll have _her_ portrait in the _queen_ some day as a vice-president of the girls' friendly society!... and yet she's such a gambler and a rake that she _may_ get pinched over the white slave traffic.... i was on tenterhooks over that lewissohn case the other day, fearing every moment to see mother's name mixed up with it, or else an allusion to her 'hotels.' but i fancy she has been wise enough--indeed i should guess that aunt liz had long ago warned her to leave england alone as a recruiting ground and to collect her chambermaids, waitresses, musicians, typists from the continent only--austria, alsace, bohemia, belgium, italy, the rhineland, paris, russia, poland. knowing what we british people are, can't you almost predict the _bias_ of aunt liz's mind? how she would solace herself that her dividends were not derived from the prostitution of english girls but only of 'foreigners'?..." _norie_: "you seem to have studied the geography of the business pretty thoroughly!..." _vivie_ (bitterly): "yes. i have talked it over with stead from time to time. i believe he has only spared mother and the warren hotels out of consideration for me ... he wants me to change my surname and give myself a chance..." _norie_: "i see" (pausing). "of course it is rather an idea, as you refuse to disguise yourself by marriage. you'd change your name and then listen with equanimity to fulminations against the warren hotels. but there would be an awkwardness in the firm. we oughtn't to change our title just as we are getting a good clientèle.... i must think ... if only we could pretend you'd been left some property--but that sort of lie is soon found out!--and had to change your name to--to--to. oh well, we could soon think of some name beginning with a w--walters, waddilove--waddilove is a delicious name in cold weather, suggesting cotton-wool or a warm duvet--or wilson--or wilberforce. but i'm afraid the staff--rose mullet and lily steynes and the amorous bertie adams--would think it odd, put two and two together, and guess right. warren, after all, is such a common name. and we've got so used to our three helpers, we could hardly turn them off, and take on new people whom perhaps we couldn't trust.... we must think it over.... "now i must go back to queen anne's mansions and sit a little while with mummy. come and dine with us? there'll only be us three ... no horrid man to fall in love with you.... you needn't put on a low dress ... and we'll go to the dress circle at some play afterwards." _vivie_: "but those papers on my desk? i must have your opinion for or against..." _norie_: "all right. it's half-past five. i'll give them half an hour's study whilst you wash up the tea things and titivate. then we'll take a hansom to quansions: the underground is so grimy." chapter ii honoria and her friends the story of honoria fraser was something like this: partly guesswork, i admit. although i know her well i can only put her past together by deductions based on a few admitted facts, one or two letters and occasional unfinished sentences, interrupted by people coming in. is it not _always_ thus with our friends and acquaintances? i long to know all about them from their birth (including date and place of birth and parentage) onwards; what the father's profession was and why on earth he married the mother (after i saw the daguerreotype portrait), and how they became possessed of so much money, and why she went back to live with _her_ mother between the birth of her second child and the near advent of her third. but in how very few cases do we know their whole story, do we even care to know more than is sufficient for our purpose in issuing or accepting invitations? there are the dombeys--the gorings as they're now called, who live near us. i've seen the tombstone of lucilla smith in goring churchyard, but i don't know _for a fact_ that lord goring was the father of lucilla's son (who was killed in the war). i guess he was, from this and that, from what mrs. legg told me, and what i overheard at the sterns'. if he wasn't, then he has only himself to thank for the wrong assumption: i mean, from his goings-on. then again, the clementses, who live at the grange. i feel instinctively they are _nice_ people, but i haven't the least idea who _she_ was and how _he_ made his money, though from his acreage and his motors i am entitled to assume he has a large income. she seems to know a lot about spain; but i don't feel encouraged to ask her: "was your father in the wine trade? is _that_ why you know xeres so well?" clements himself has in his study an enlarged photograph of a handsome woman with a kind of mourning wreath round the frame--beautifully carved. is it the portrait of a former wife? or of a sister who committed suicide? or was it merely bought in venice for the sake of the carving? perhaps i shall know some day--if it matters. in a moment of expansion during the railway strike, mrs. clements will say: "_that_ was poor walter's first. she died of acute dyspepsia, poor thing, on their marriage tour, and was buried at venice. don't ever allude to it because he feels it so dreadfully." and my curiosity will have been rewarded for its long and patient restraint. clements' little finger on his left hand is mutilated. i have never asked why--a lawn-mowing machine? or a bite from some passionate mistress in a buried past? i note silently that he disapproves of palmistry-- but about honoria fraser, to whom i was introduced by mr. george bernard shaw twenty years ago: she was born in , as _who's who_ will tell you; also that she was the daughter and eldest child of a famous physician (sir meldrum fraser) who wrought some marvellous cures in the 'sixties, 'seventies and 'eighties, chiefly by dieting and psycho-therapy. (he got his knighthood in the first jubilee year for reducing to reasonable proportions the figure of good-hearted, thoroughly kindly, and much loved princess mary of oxford.) he--honoria's father--was married to a beautiful woman, a relation of bessie rayner parkes, with inherited advanced views on the rights and position of woman. lady fraser was, indeed, an early type of suffragist and also wrote some poetry which was far from bad. they had two children: honoria, born, as i say, in ; and john (john stuart mill fraser was his full name--too great a burden to be borne) four years later than honoria, who was devoted to him, idolized him, as did his mother and father. honoria went to bedford college and newnham; john to one of the two most famous of our public schools (i need not be more precise), with cambridge in view afterwards. but in the case of john a tragedy occurred. he had risen to be head of the school; statesmen with little affectation applauded him on speech days. he had been brilliant as a batsman, was a champion swimmer, and _facile princeps_ in the ineptitudes of the classics; and showed a dazzling originality in other studies scarcely within the school curriculum. further he was growing out of boy gawkiness into a handsome youth of an apolline mould, when, on the morning of his eighteenth birthday, he was found dead in his bed, with a bottle of cyanide of potassium on the bed-table to explain why. all else was wrapt in mystery ... at any rate it was a mystery i have no wish to lay bare. the death and the inquest verdict, "suicide while of unsound mind, due to overstudy," broke his father's heart and his mother's: in the metaphorical meaning of course, because the heart is an unemotional pump and it is the brain and the nerve centres that suffer from our emotions. sir meldrum fraser died a year after his son. he left a fortune of eighty thousand pounds. half of this went at once to honoria and the other half to the life-use of lady fraser with a reversion to her daughter. honoria after her father's death left cambridge and moved her mother from harley street to queen anne's mansions so that with her shattered nerves and loss of interest in life she might have no household worries, or at any rate nothing worse than remonstrating with the still-room maids on the twice-boiled water brought in for the making of tea; or with the culinary department over the monotonous character of the savouries or the tepid ice creams which dissolved so rapidly into fruit-juice when they were served after a house-dinner.[ ] honoria herself, mistress of a clear two thousand pounds a year, and more in prospect, carried out plans formed while still at newnham after her brother's death. she, like vivien warren, her three-years-younger friend and college-mate, was a great mathematician--a thing i never could be and a status i am incapable of understanding; consequently one i view at first with the deepest respect. i am quite astonished when i meet a male or female mathematician and find they require food as i do, are less quick at adding up bridge scores, lose rather than win at goodwood, and write down the "down" train instead of the "up" in their memorabilia. but there it is. they have only to apply sines and co-sines, tangents and logarithms to a stock exchange quotation for me to grovel before their superior wisdom and consult them at every turn in life. [footnote : this, of course, was twenty, years ago.--h.h.j.] honoria had resolved to turn her great acquirements in algebra and the higher mathematics to practical purposes. being the ignoramus that i am--in this direction--i cannot say how it was to be done; but both she and vivie had grasped the possibilities which lay before exceptionally well-educated women on the stock exchange, in the provision markets, in the law, in insurance calculations, and generally in steering other and weaker women through the difficulties and pitfalls of our age; when in nine cases out of thirteen (honoria worked out the ratio) women of large or moderate means have only dishonest male proficients to guide them. moreover honoria's purpose was two-fold. she wished to help women in their business affairs, but she also wanted to find careers for women. she, like vivien warren, was a nascent suffragist--perhaps a born suffragist, a reasoned one; because the ferment had been in her mother, and her grandmother was a friend of lydia becker and a cousin of mrs. belloc. john's death had been a horrible numbing shock to honoria, and she felt hardly in her right mind for three months afterwards. then on reflection it left some tarnish on her family, even if the memory of the dear dead boy, the too brilliant boy, softened from the poignancy of utter disappointment into a tender sorrow and an infinite pity and forgiveness. but the tragedy turned her thoughts from marriage to some mission of well-doing. she determined to devote that proportion of her inheritance which would have been john's share to this end: the liberation and redemption of women. she was no "anti-man," like vivie. she liked men, if truth were told, a tiny wee bit more than women. but she wished in the moods that followed her brother's death in to be a mother by adoption, a refuge for the fallen, the bewildered, the unstrung. she helped young men back into the path of respectability and wage-earning as well as young women. she was even, when opportunity offered, a matchmaker. being heiress eventually to £ , a year (a large income in pre-war days) and of attractive appearance, she had no lack of suitors, even though she thought modern dancing inane, and had little skill at ball-games. i have indicated her appearance by some few phrases already; but to enable you to visualize her more definitely i might be more precise. she was a tall woman rather than large built, like the young juno when first wooed by jove. where she departed from the junonian type she turned towards venus rather than minerva; in spite of being a mathematician. you meet with her sisters in physical beauty among the americans of pennsylvania, where, to a stock mainly anglo-saxon, is added a delicious strain of gallic race; or you see her again among the cape dutch women who have had french huguenot great grandparents. it is perhaps rather impertinent continuing this analysis of her charm, seeing that she lives and flourishes more than ever, twenty years after the opening of my story; not very different in outward appearance at , as lady armstrong--for of course, as you guess already, she married major--afterwards sir petworth--armstrong--than she was at twenty-eight, the partner, friend and helper of vivien warren. being in comfortable circumstances, highly educated, handsome, attractive, with a mezzo-soprano voice of rare beauty and great skill as a piano-forte accompanyist, she had not only suitors who took her rejection without bitterness, but hosts of friends. she knew all the nice london people of her day: lady feenix, who in some ways resembled her, diana dombey, who did not _quite_ approve of her, being a little uncertain yet about welcoming the new woman, all the ritchies, married and unmarried, lady brownlow, the duchess of bedford (adeline), the michael fosters, most of the stracheys (she liked the ones i liked), the hubert parrys, the ripons (how she admired lady ripon, as who did not!), mrs. alfred lyttelton, miss lena ashwell, the bernard shaws, the wilfred meynells, the h.g. wellses, the sidney webbs; and--leaving uninstanced a number of other delightful, warm-blooded, pleasant-voiced, natural-mannered people--the rossiters. or at least, michael rossiter. for although you could tolerate for his sake mrs. rossiter, and even find her a source of quiet amusement, you could hardly say you liked her--not in the way you could say it of most of the men and women i have specified. michael rossiter, who comes into this story, ought really if there were a discriminating wide-awake, up-to-date providence--which there is not--to have met honoria when she was twenty. (at nineteen such a woman is still immature; and moreover until she was twenty, honoria had not mastered the binomial theorem.) had he married her at that period he would himself have been about twenty-seven which is quite soon enough for a great man of science to marry and procreate geniuses. but as a matter of fact, when he came down to cambridge in--? --to deliver a course of vacation lectures on embryology, he was already two years married to linda bennet, an heiress, the daughter and niece (her parents died when she was young and she lived with an uncle and aunt) of very rich manufacturers at leeds. so, though his eye, quick to discern beauty, and his brain tentacles ready to detect intelligence combined with a lovely nature, soon singled out honoria fraser, amongst a host of less attractive girl-graduates, he had no more thought of falling in love with her than with a princess of the blood-royal. he might, long since, within a month of his marriage have found out his linda to be a pretty little simpleton with a brain incapable of taking in any more than it had learnt at a scarborough finishing school; but he was too instinctive a gentleman to indulge in any flirtation, any deviation whatever from mental or physical monogamy. for he remembered always that it was his wife's money which had enabled him to pursue his great researches without the heart-breaking delays, limitations and insufficiencies involved in government or royal society grants; and that linda had not only endowed him with all her worldly goods--all but those he had insisted in putting into settlement--but that she had given him all her heart and confidence as well. still, he liked honoria. she was eager to learn much else beyond the hard-grained muses of the square and cube; she was the daughter of a prosperous and boldly experimental physician, whose wife was a champion of women's rights. so he pressed honoria to come with her mother and make the acquaintance of himself and linda in portland place. why was michael rossiter wedded to linda bennet when he was no more than twenty-five, and she just past her coming of age? because fresh from edinburgh and cambridge and with a reputation for unusual intuition in biology and chemistry he had come to be science master at a great college in the north, and thus meeting linda at the philosophical institute of leeds had caused her to fall in love with him whilst he lectured on the cainozoic fauna of yorkshire. he was himself a northumbrian of borderland stock: something of the dane and angle, the pict and briton with a dash of the gypsy folk: a blend which makes the northumbrian people so much more productive of manly beauty, intellectual vivacity, bold originality than the slow-witted, bulky, crafty saxons of yorkshire or the under-sized, rugged-featured britons of lancashire. linda fell in love all in one evening with his fiery eyes, black beard, the northumbrian burr of his pronunciation, and the daring of his utterances, though she could scarcely grasp one of his hypotheses. her uncle and aunt being narrowly pietistic she was bored to death with the old testament, and rossiter's scarcely concealed contempt for the mosaic story of creation captured her intellect; while the physical attraction she felt was that which the tall, handsome, resolute brunet has for the blue-eyed fluffy little blonde. she openly made love to him over the tea and coffee served at the "soirée" which followed the lecture. her slow-witted guardian had no objection to offer; and there were not wanting go-betweens to urge on rossiter with stories of her wealth and the expanding value of her financial interests. he wanted to marry; he was touched by her ill-concealed passion, found her pretty and appealingly childlike. so, after a short wooing, he married her and her five thousand pounds a year, and settled down in park crescent, portland place, so as to be near the zoo and tudell's dissecting rooms, to have the royal botanic gardens within three minutes' walk, and the opportunity of turning a large studio in the rear of his house into a well-equipped chemical and dissecting laboratory. one of his close pursuits at that time was the analysis of the thyroid gland and its functions, its over or under development in british statesmen, dramatic authors and east end immigrants. chapter iii david vavasour williams it is in the spring of . a fine warm evening, but at eight o'clock the dusk is already on the verge of darkness as honoria emerges from the lift at her chancery lane office (near the corner of carey street), puts her latch-key into the door of the partners' room, and finds herself confronting the silhouette of a young man against the western glow of the big window. _norie_ (inwardly rather frightened): "hullo! who are _you_ and what are you doing here?" _vivie_ (mimicking a considerate, cringing burglar): "sorry to startle you, lidy, but i don't mean no 'arm. i'll go quiet. me name's d.v. williams..." _norie_: "you absurd creature! but you shouldn't play such pranks on these respectable premises. you gave me a _horrid_ start, and i realized for the first time that i've got a heart. i really must sit down and pant." _vivie_: "i am sorry, dearest. i had not the slightest notion you would be letting yourself into the office at this hour-- o'clock--and i was just returning from my crammers..." _norie_: "i came for those cranston papers. mother is ill. i may have to sit up with her after violet hunt goes, so i thought i would come here, fetch the bundle of papers and plans, and go through them in the silent watches of the night, _if_ mother sleeps. but do you mean to say you have already started this masquerade?" _vivie_: "i do. you see christabel pankhurst has been turned down as a barrister. they won't let her qualify for the bar, because she's a woman, so they certainly won't let _me_ with my pedigree; just as, merely because we are women, they won't let us become chartered actuaries or incorporated accountants. after we had that long talk last june i got a set of men's clothes together, a regular man's outfit. the suit doesn't fit over well but i am rectifying that by degrees. i went to a general outfitter in cornhill and told a cock-and-bull story--as it was an affair of ready cash they didn't stop to question me about it. i said something about a sea-faring brother, just my height, a trifle stouter in build--lost all his kit at sea--been in hospital--now in convalescent home--how i wanted to save him all the fatigue possible--wouldn't want more than reach-me-downs at present, etc., etc. they rather flummoxed me at first by offering a merchant service uniform, but somehow i got over that, though this serge suit has rather a sea-faring cut. i got so unnecessarily explanatory with the shopman that he began to pay me compliments, said my brother must be a good-looking young chap if he was at all like me. however, i got away with the things in a cab, and told the cab to drive to st. paul's station, and on the way re-directed him here. "last autumn i began practising at night-time after all our familiars had left these premises. purposely i did not tell you because i feared your greater caution and instinctive respectability might discourage me. otherwise, nobody's spotted me, so far. i'd intended breaking it to you any day now, because i've gone too far to draw back, for weal or woe. but either we have been rushed with business, or you've been anxious about lady fraser--how is she?" (norie interpolates "very poorly.") "so truly sorry!--i was generally just about to tell you when rose or lilian--tiresome things!--would begin most assiduously passing in and out with papers. even now i mustn't keep you, with your mother so ill..." _norie_ (looking at her wrist-watch): "violet has very kindly promised to stay with mother till ten.... i can give you an hour, though i must take a few minutes off that for the firm's business as i haven't been here much for three days..." (they talk business for twenty minutes, during which norie says: "it's really _rather_ odd, how those clothes change you! i feel vaguely compromised with a handsome young man bending over me, his cheek almost touching mine!"--and vivie retorts "oh, _don't_ be an ass!") _norie_: "so you really _are_ going to take the plunge?" _vivie_: "i really _am_. as soon as it suits your convenience, vivie warren will retire from your firm and go abroad. you must either replace her by beryl clarges or allow mr. vavasour williams" (honoria interpolates: "_ridiculous_ name! how did you think of it?") "to come and assist in the day-time or after office hours. you can say to the winds that he is vivie's first cousin, remarkably like her in some respects.... rose mullet is engaged to be married and is only--she told me yesterday with many blushes--staying on to oblige us. lilian steynes said the other day that if we were making any changes in the office, much as she liked her work here, her mother having died she thought it was her duty to go and live with her maternal aunt in the country. the aunt thinks she can get her a post as a brewery clerk at aylesbury, and she is longing to breed aylesbury ducks in her spare time.--there is bertie adams, it's true. there's something so staunch about him and he is so useful that he and praed and stead are the three exceptions i make in my general hatred of mankind..." _norie_: "he will be very much cut up at your going--or seeming to go." _vivie_: "just so. i think i shall write him a farewell note, saying it's only for a time: i mean, that i may return later on--dormant partnership--nothing really changed, don't you know? but that as rose and lilian are going, mrs.--what does she call herself, claridge?"--(norie interpolates: "yes, that was her idea: she doesn't want to blazon the name of clarges as the symbol of free love, 'cos of the dear old dean; yet claridge will not be too much of a surrender and is sure to invoke respectability, because of the hotel")--"mrs. claridge, then, is coming in my stead--he's to help her all he can--and my cousin, who is reading for the bar, will also look in when you are very busy. i shall, of course, see about rooms in one of the inns of court--the temple perhaps. i have been stealthily watching fig tree court. i _think_ i can get chambers there--a man is turning out next month--got a colonial appointment--i've put my new name down at the lodge and i shall have to rack my brains for references--you will do for one--or perhaps not--however that i can work out later. of course i won't take the final plunge till i have secured the rooms. meantime i will use my bedroom here but promise you i will be awfully prudent..." _norie_: "i couldn't possibly have beryl 'living in,' with a child hanging about the place; so i think if you _do_ go i shall turn your bedroom into an apartment which beryl and i can use for toilet purposes but where we can range out on book-shelves a whole lot of our books. just now they are most inconveniently stored away in boxes. it's rather tiresome about beryl. i believe she's going to have _another_ child. at any rate she says it may be four months before she can come to work here regularly. i asked her about it the other day, because if mother gets worse i may be hindered about coming to the office, and i didn't want you to get overworked,--so i said to beryl.... that reminds me, she referred to the coming child and added that its father was a policeman. quite a nice creature in his private life. of course she's only kidding. i expect it's the architect all the time. you know how she delighted in shocking us at newnham. i wish she hadn't this kink about her. p'raps i'm getting old-fashioned already--you used to call me 'the girondist.' but if the new woman _is_ to go on the loose and be unmoral like the rabbits, won't the cause suffer from middle-class opposition?" _vivie_: "perhaps. but it may gain instead the sympathies of the lower and the upper classes. why do you bother about beryl? i agree with you in disliking all this sexuality..." _norie_: "does one _ever_ quite know why one likes people? there is _something_ about beryl that gets over me; and she _is_ a worker. you know how she grappled with that norfolk estate business?" _vivie_: "well, it's fortunate she and i have not met since newnham days. you must tip her the story that i am going away for a time--abroad--and that a young--young, because i look a mere boy, dressed up in men's clothes--a young cousin of mine, learned in the law, is going to drop in occasionally and do some of the work..." _norie_: "i'm afraid i'm rather weak-willed. i _ought_ to stop this prank before it has gone too far, just as i ought to discourage beryl's babies. your schemes sound so stagey. off the stage you never take people in with such flimsy stories and weak disguises--you'll tie yourself up into knots and finally get sent to prison.... however.... i can't help being rather tickled by your idea. it's vilely unjust, men closing two-thirds of the respectable careers to women, to bachelor women above all..." (a pause, and the two women look out on a blue london dotted with lemon-coloured, straw-coloured, mauve-tinted lights, with one cold white radiance hanging over the invisible piccadilly circus)--"well, go ahead! follow your star! i can be confident of one thing, you won't do anything mean or disgraceful. deceiving man while his vile laws and restrictions remain in force is no crime. be prudent, so far as compromising our poor little firm here is concerned, because if you bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave we shall lose a valuable source of income. besides: any public scandal just now in which i was mixed up might kill my mother. want any money?" _vivie_: "you generous darling! _never, never_ shall i forget your kindness and your trust in me. you have at any rate saved one soul alive." (honoria deprecates gratitude.) "no, i don't want money--yet. you made me take and bank £ last january over that rio de palmas coup--heaps more than my share. altogether i've got about £ , on deposit at the c. and c. bank, the temple bar branch. i've many gruesome faults, but i _am_ thrifty. i think i can win through to the bar on that. of course, if afterwards briefs don't come in--" _norie_: "well, there'll always be the partnership which will go on unaltered. i shall pretend you are only away for a time and your share shall be regularly paid in to your bank. of course i shall meet mr. vavasour williams now and again and i can tell him things and consult with him. if we think beryl, after she is installed here as head clerk--of course i shan't make her a partner for _years_ and _years_--not at all if she remains flighty--if we think she is unsuspicious, and bertie adams likewise, and the new clerks and the housekeeper and her husband, there is no reason why you should not come here fairly often and put in as much work as you can on our business." _vivie_: "yes. of course i must be careful of one predicament. i have studied the regulations about being admitted to the english bar. they are very quaint and medieval or early georgian. you mayn't be a chartered accountant or actuary--the lord alone knows why! i suppose some lord chancellor was done in the eye in elizabeth's reign by an actuary and laid down that law. equally you mayn't be a clergyman. as to that we needn't distress ourselves. it's rather piteous about the prohibiting accountants, because as women we are not allowed to qualify in _any_ capacity as accountants or actuaries; and work here is only permissible by our not pretending to belong to any recognized body like the institute of actuaries. so that in coming to work for you i must not seem to be in any way doing the business of accountants or actuaries. indeed it might be awkward for my scheme if i was too openly associated with fraser and warren. "i already think of myself as williams--i shall pose of course as a welshman. my appearance _is_ rather welsh, don't you think? it's the irish blood that makes me look keltic--i'm sure my father was an irish student for the priesthood at louvain, and certain scraps of information i got out of mother make me believe that _her_ mother was a pretty welsh girl from cardiff, brought over to london town by some ship's captain and stranded there, on tower hill. "however, i have still the whole scheme to work out and when i'm ready to start on it--which will be very soon--i'll let you know. now, though i'd love to discuss all the other details, i mustn't forget your mother will be wanting you--i wish _i_ had a mother to tend--i wonder" (wistfully) "whether i was too hard on mine? "d'you mind posting these letters as you go out? i shall change back to vivie warren in a dressing gown, give myself a light supper, and then put in two hours studying latin and norman french. good night, dearest!" two months after this conversation vivie decided to pay a call on an old friend of her mother's, lewis maitland praed, if you want his full name, a well-known architect, and one of the few male friends of catherine warren who had not also been her lover. why, he never quite knew himself. when he first met her she was the boon companion, the mistress--more or less, and unattached--of a young barrister, a college friend of praed's. kate warren at that time called herself kitty vavasour; and on the strength of having done a turn or two on the music halls considered herself an actress with a right to a professional name. it was in this guise that the "revd." samuel gardner met her and had that six months' infatuation for her which afterwards caused him so much disquietude; though it preceded the taking of his ordination vows by quite a year, and his marriage to his wife--much too good for him--in . [the revd. sam, you may remember, was the father of the scapegrace frank who nearly captured vivie's young affections and had written from south africa proposing marriage at the opening of this story.] kate vavasour in was an exceedingly pretty girl of nineteen or twenty; showily dressed, and quick with her tongue. she was good-natured and jolly, and though praed himself was the essence of refinement there was something about her reckless mirth and joy in life--the immense relief of having passed from the sordid life of a barmaid to this quasi-ladyhood--that enlisted his sympathies. though she was always somebody else's mistress until she developed her special talent as a manageress of high-class houses of accommodation, "private hotels" on the continent, chiefly frequented by english and american _roués_--praed kept an eye on her career, and occasionally rendered her, with some cynicism, unobtrusive friendly services in disentangling her affairs when complications threatened. he was an art student in those days of the 'seventies, possessed of about four hundred a year, beginning to go through the aesthetic phase, and not decided whether he would emerge a painter of pictures or an architect of grandiose or fantastic buildings. to his studio miss kitty vavasour or miss kate warren would often come and pose for the head and shoulders, or for some draped caryatid wanted for an ambitious porch in an imaginary millionaire's house in kensington palace gardens. when in , vivie had learnt about her mother's "profession," she had flung off violently from all her mother's "friends," except "praddy." she even continued to call him by this nickname, long ago bestowed on him by her mother. at distant intervals she would pay him a visit at his house and studio near hans place; when honoria's advice and assistance did not meet the case of some grave perplexity. so one afternoon in june, , she came to his little dwelling with its large studio, and asked to have a long talk to him, whilst his parlour-maid--he was still a bachelor--denied him to other callers. they had tea together and vivie plunged as quickly as possible into her problem. "you know, praddy dear, i want to be a barrister. but as a female they will never call me to the bar. so i'm going to send vivien warren off for a long absence abroad--the few who think about me will probably conclude that money has carried the day and that i've gone to help my mother in her business--and in her absence mr. vavasour williams will take up the running. david v. williams--don't interrupt me--will study for the bar, eat through his terms--six dinners a year, isn't it?--pass his examinations, and be called to the english bar in about three years from now. didn't you once have a pupil called vavasour williams?" _praed_: "what, david, the welsh boy? yes. his name reminded me of your mother in one of her stages. david vavasour williams. i took him on in--let me see? i think it was in or early . but how did you hear about him?" _vivie_: "never mind, or never mind for the moment. tell me some more about him." _praed_: "well to sum him up briefly he was what school boys and subalterns would call 'a rotter.' not without an almost mordid cleverness; but the welsh strain in him which in the father turned to emotional religion--the father was vicar or rector of pontystrad--came out in the boy in unhealthy fancies. he had almost the talent of aubrey beardsley. but i didn't think he had a good influence over my other pupils, so before i planned that italian journey--on which you refused to accompany me--i advised him to leave my tuition--i wasn't modern enough, i said. i also advised him to make up his mind whether he wanted to be a sane architect--he despised questions of housemaids' closets and sanitation and lifts and hot-water supply--or a scene painter. i think he might have had a great career at drury lane over fairy palaces or millionaire dwellings. but i turned him out of my studio, though i put the fact less brutally before his father--said i should be absent a long while in italy and that i feared the boy was too undisciplined. afterwards i think he went into some south african police force..." _vivie_: "he did, and died last year in a south african hospital. had he--er--er--many relations, i mean did he come of well-known people?" _praed_: "i fancy not. his father was just a dreamy old welsh clergyman always seeing visions and believing himself a descendant of the druids, sam gardner told me; and his mother had either died long ago or had run away from her husband, i forget which. in a way, i'm sorry david's dead. he had a sort of weird talent and wild good looks. by the way, he wasn't altogether unlike _you_." _vivie_: "thank you for the double-edged compliment. however what you say is very interesting. well now, my idea is that david vavasour williams did _not_ die in a military hospital; he recovered and returned, firmly resolved to lead a new life.--is his father living by the bye? did he believe his son was dead?" _praed_: "couldn't tell you, i'm sure. i never took any further interest in him, and until you mentioned it--i don't know on whose authority--i didn't know he was dead. on the whole a good riddance for his people, i should say, especially if he died on the field of honour. but what lunatic idea has entered your mind with regard to this poor waster?" _vivie_: "why my idea, as i say, is that d.v.w. got cured of his necrosis of the jaw--i suppose it is not invariably deadly?--came home with a much improved morale, studied hard, and became a barrister, thinking it morally a superior calling to architecture and scene painting. in short, i shall be from this day forth vavasour williams, law-student! would it be safe, d'you think, in that capacity to go down and see his old father?" _praed_: "_vivie_! i _did_ think you were a sober-minded young woman who would steer clear of--of--crime: for this impersonation would be a punishable offence..." _vivie_: "_crime_? _what_ nonsense! i should consider i was justified in a court of equity if i burnt down or blew up the law courts or one of the inns or broke the windows of the chartered institute of actuaries or the incorporated law society. all these institutions and many others bar the way to honourable and lucrative careers for educated women, and a male parliament gives us no redress, and a male press laughs at us for our feeble attempts to claim common rights with men. instead of proceeding to such violence i am merely resorting to a very harmless guile in getting round the absurd restrictions imposed by the benchers of the inns of court, namely that all who claim a call to the bar should not be _accountants_, _actuaries_, _clergymen_ or _women_. i am going to give up the accountancy business--or rather, the law has never allowed either honoria or me to become chartered accountants, so there is nothing to give up. to avoid any misapprehension she is going to change the title on our note paper and brass plate to 'general inquiry agents.' that will be sufficiently non-committal. well then, as to sex disqualification, a few weeks hence i shall become david vavasour williams, and i presume he was a male? you don't have to pass a medical examination for the bar, do you?" _praed_: "really, vivie, you are _unnecessarily_ coarse..." _vivie_: "i don't care if i am, poor outlaw that i am! every avenue to an honest and ambitious career seems closed to me, either because i am a woman or--in women's careers--the few that there are--because i am kate warren's daughter. _i_ am not to blame for my mother's misdeeds, yet i am being punished for them. that beast of a friend of yours--that filthy swine, george crofts--set it about after i refused to marry him that i was 'mrs. warren's daughter,' and the few nice people i knew from cambridge days dropped me, all except honoria and her mother." _praed_: "well, _i_ haven't dropped you. _i'll_ always stick by you" (observes that vivie is trying to keep back her tears). "vivie--_darling_--what do you want me to do? why not marry me and spend half my income, take the shelter of my name--i'm an a.r.a. now--you needn't do more than keep house for me.... i'm rather a valetudinarian--dare say i shan't trouble you long--we could have a jolly good time before i went off with a heart attack--travel--study--write books together--" _vivie_ (recovering herself): "thanks, dear praddy; you are a brick and i really--in a way--have quite got to love you. except an office boy in chancery lane and w.t. stead, i don't know any other decent man. but i'm not going to marry any one. i'm going to become vavasour williams--the name is rotten, but you must take what you can get. williams is a quiet young man who only desires to be left alone to earn his living respectably at the bar, and see there if he cannot redress the balance in the favour of women. but there is something you _could_ do for me, and it is for that i came to see you to-day--by the bye, we have both let our tea grow cold, but _for goodness' sake_ don't order any more on my account, or else your parlour-maid will be coming in and out and will see that i've been crying and you look flushed. what i wanted to ask was this--it's really very simple--_if mr. vavasour williams, aged twenty-four, late in south africa, once your pupil in architecture_ or scene painting or whatever it was--_gives you as a reference to character, you are to say the best you can of him_. and, by the bye, he will be calling to see you very shortly and you could lend further verisimilitude to your story by renewing acquaintance with him. you will find him very much improved. in every way he will do you credit. and what is more, if you don't repel him, he will come and see you much oftener than his cousin--i'm not ashamed to adopt her as a cousin--vivie warren could have done. because vivie, with her deplorable parentage, had your good name to think of, and visited you very seldom; whereas there could be raised _no_ objection from your parlour-maid if mr. d.v. williams came rather often to chat with you and ask your advice. think it over, dear friend--good-bye." early in july, norie and vivie were standing at the open west window in their partners' room at the office, trying to get a little fresh air. the staff had just gone its several ways to the suburbs, glad to have three hours of daylight before it for cricket and tennis. confident therefore of not being overheard, vivie began: "i've got those rooms in fig tree court. i shall soon be ready to move my things in. i'll leave some of poor vivie warren's effects behind if you don't mind, in case she comes back some day. do you think you can rub along if i take my departure next week? i want to give myself a fortnight's bicycle holiday in wales--as d.v. williams--a kind of honeymoon with fate, before i settle down as a law student. after i come back i can devote much of the summer recess to our affairs, either openly or after office hours. you could then take a holiday, in august. you badly need one. what about beryl?" _norie_: "beryl is well over her accouchement and is confident of being able to start work here on august .... it's a boy this time. i haven't seen it, so i can't say whether it resembles a policeman more than an architect. besides babies up till the age of six months only resemble macrocephalic idiots.... i shall be _wary_ with beryl--haven't committed myself--ourselves to any engagement beyond six months. she's amazingly clever, but i should say quite heartless. two babies in three years, and both illegitimate--the real mrs. architect very much upset, no doubt, mr. architect getting wilder and wilder in his work through trying to maintain two establishments--they say he left out all the sanitation in sir peter robinson's new house and let the builders rush up the walls without damp courses--and it's killing her father, the dean. it's not as though she hid herself away, but she goes out so much! they are talking of turning her out of her club because of the things she says before the waitresses..." _vivie_: "what things?" _norie_: "why, about its being very healthy to have babies when you're between the ages of twenty and thirty; and how with this twilight sleep business she doesn't mind how often; that it's fifty times more interesting than breeding dogs and cats or guinea-pigs; and she's surprised more single women don't take it up. i think she must be détraquée.... i have a faint hope that by taking her in hand and interesting her in our work--which _entre nous deux_--is turning out to be very profitable--i may sober her and regularize her. no doubt in most women will talk as she does to-day, but the advance is too abrupt. it not only robs _her_ parents of all happiness, but it upsets _my_ mother. she now wrings her hands over her own past and fears that by working so strenuously for the emancipation of women she has assisted to breach the dam--can't you imagine the way the old cats of both sexes go on at her?--the dam which held up female virtue, and that society now will be drowned in a flood of free love..." _vivie_: "well! we'll give her a six months' trial here, and see if our mix-up of advice in law, banking, estate management, stock-and-share dealing, divorce, private enquiries, probate, etc., does not prove _much_ more interesting than an illicit connection with a hare-brained architect.... if she proves impossible you'll pack her off and vivie shall return and d.v. williams go abroad.... don't you think there is something that ought to win over providence in that happily chosen name? _d.v._ williams? and my mother once actually called herself 'vavasour.' "well, then, barring accidents and the unforeseen, it's agreed i go on my holiday next saturday, to return never no more--perhaps--?--" _norie_ (with a sigh): "yes!" _vivie_: "how's your mother?" _norie_: "oh, as to her, i'm glad to say '_much_ better.' when i can get away, after the new clerks and beryl are installed and everything is going smoothly, i shall take her to switzerland, to a deliciously quiet spot i know and nobody else knows up the göschenenthal. the continent won't be so hot for travelling if we don't start till the end of august..." _vivie:_ "_then_, dearest ... in case you don't come to the office any more this week, i'll say good-bye--for--for some time..." (they grip hands, they hesitate, then kiss each other on the cheek, a very rare gesture on either's part--and separate with tears in their eyes.) the following monday morning, bertie adams, combining in his adolescent person the functions of office boy, junior clerk, and general factotum, entered the outer office of fraser and warren and found this letter on his desk:-- fraser and warren midland insurance chambers, general inquiry agents - , chancery lane, w.c. july , . dear bertie-- i want to prepare you for something. if you had been an ordinary office boy, i should not have bothered about you or confided to you anything concerning the firm. but you are by now almost a clerk, and from the day i joined miss fraser in this business, you have helped me more than you know--helped me not only in my work, but to understand that there _can_ be good, true, decent-minded, trustworthy ... you won't like it if i say "boys" ... young men. i am going away for a considerable time, i cannot say how long--probably abroad. but miss fraser thinks i can still help in the work of her firm, so i remain a partner. a cousin of mine, mr. d.v. williams, may come in occasionally to help miss fraser. i shall ask him to keep an eye on you. miss rose mullet and miss steynes are likewise leaving the service of the firm. i dare say you know miss mullet is getting married and how miss steynes is going to live at aylesbury. two other ladies are coming in their place, and much of my own work will be undertaken by a mrs. claridge, whom you will shortly see. it is rather sad this change in what has been such a happy association of busy people, nobody treading on any one else's toes; but there it is! "the old order changeth, giving place to the new ... lest one good custom should corrupt the world"--you will read in the tennyson i gave you last christmas. let's hope it won't be when i return: "change and decay in all around i see" ... as the rather dismal hymn has it. sometimes change is a good thing. you serve a noble mistress in miss fraser and i am sure you realize the importance of her work. it may mean so much for women's careers in the next generation. i shan't quite lose touch with you. i dare say miss fraser, even if i am far away, will write to me from time to time and give me news of the office and tell me how you get on. don't be ashamed of being ambitious: keep up your studies. why don't you--but perhaps you do?--join evening classes at the polytechnic?--or at this new london school of economics which is close at hand? make up your mind to be lord chancellor some day ... even if it only carries you as far as the silk gown of a q.c. i suppose i ought now to write "k.c." a few years ago we all thought the state would go to pieces when victoria died. yet you see we are jogging along pretty well under king edward. in the same way, you will soon get so used to the new head clerk, mrs. claridge, that you will wonder what on earth you saw to admire in vivien warren. this letter came like a cricket ball between the eyes to bertie adams. his adored miss warren going away and no clear prospect of her return--her farewell almost like the last words on a death-bed.... he bowed his head over his folded arms on his office desk, and gave way to gruff sobs and the brimming over of tear and nose glands which is the grotesque accompaniment of human sorrow. he forgot for a while that he was a young man of nineteen with an unmistakable moustache and the status of a cricket eleven captain. he was quite the boy again and his feeling for vivien warren, which earlier he had hardly dared to characterize, out of his intense respect for her, became once more just filial affection. his good mother was a washerwoman-widow, in whom honoria fraser had interested herself in her harley street girlhood. bertie was the eldest of six, and his father had been a coal porter who broke his back tumbling down a cellar when a little "on." bertie--he now figured as mr. albert adams in the cricket lists--was a well-grown youth, rather blunt-featured, but with honest hazel eyes, fresh-coloured, shock-haired. vivie had once derided him for trying to woo his frontal hair into a flattened curl with much pomade ... he now only sleeked his curly hair with water. you might even have called him "common." he was of the type that went out to the war from to , and won it, despite the many mistakes of our flurried strategicians: the type that so long as it lasts unspoilt will make england the predominant partner, and great britain the predominant nation; the type out of which are made the bluejacket and petty officer, the police sergeant, the engine driver, the railway guard, solicitor's clerk, merchant service mate, engineer, air-pilot, chauffeur, army non-commissioned officer, head gardener, head game-keeper, farm-bailiff, head printer; the trustworthy manservant, the commissionaire of a city office; and which in other avatars ran the british world on an average annual income of £ before the war. when women of a similar educated lower middle class come into full equality with men in opportunity, they should marry the bertie adamses of their acquaintance and not the stockbrokers, butchers, drapers, bookies, professional cricketers or pugilists. they would then become the mothers of the salvation-generation of the british people which will found and rule utopia. however, bertie adams was quite unconscious of all these possibilities, and thought of himself modestly, rather cheaply. swallowing the fourth or fifth sob, he rose from his crouching over the desk, wiped his face with a wet towel, smoothed his hair, put straight his turn-over collar and smart tie, and went to his work with glowing eyes and cheeks; resolved to show miss warren that she had not thought too highly of him. nevertheless, when miss mullet arrived and giggled over the details of her trousseau and lily steynes discussed the advertisements of aylesbury ducks in the current _exchange and mart_, he was reserved and rather sarcastic with them both. he intimated later that he had long been aware of the coming displacements; but he said not a word of vivie's letter. chapter iv pontystrad on a morning in mid-july, , mr. d.v. williams bicycled to paddington station from new square, lincoln's inn. the brown canvas case fitted to the frame of his male bicycle contained a change of clothes, a suit of paijamas, a safety razor, tooth-brush, hair-brush and comb. he himself was wearing a well-cut dark grey suit--norfolk jacket, knickerbockers and thick stockings. having had his bicycle labelled "swansea," he entered a first-class compartment of the south wales express. though not lavish on his expenditure he was travelling first because he still felt a little uneasy in the presence of men--mostly men of the rougher type. perhaps there was a second class in those days; there may be still. but i have a distinct impression that mr. vavasour williams, law student, travelled "first" on this occasion: for this was how he met a person of whom his friend, honoria fraser, had often spoken--michael rossiter. he did not of course--till after they had passed swindon--know the name of his travelling companion. five minutes before the train left paddington there entered his compartment of the corridor carriage a tall man with a short, curly black beard and nice eyes--eyes like agates in colour. there was a touch of grey about the temples, otherwise the head hair, when he changed from a hard felt hat to a soft travelling cap, showed as dark as the beard and moustache. his frame was strong, muscular and loosely built, and he had clever, nervous hands with fingers somewhat spatulate. his clothes did not much suggest the tourist--they seemed more like a too well-worn town morning suit of dark blue serge; as though he had left home in an absent-minded mood intent on some hurriedly conceived plan. he cast one or two quick glances at david; once, indeed, as they got out into full daylight, away from tunnels and high walls, letting his glance lengthen into a searching look. then he busied himself with a number of scientific periodicals he had brought to read in the train. impelled, he knew not why, to provoke conversation, david asked (quite needlessly), "this _is_ the south wales express, i mean the swansea train, is it not?" blackbeard was struck with the unusualness of the voice--a very pleasant one to come from the lips of a man--and replied: "it is; at least i got in under that impression as i am intending to go to swansea; but in any case the ticket inspector is sure to come along the corridor presently and we'll make sure then. we stop at swindon, i think, so if we've made a mistake we can rectify it there." then after a pause he resumed: "i think you said you were going to swansea? might i ask if you are bound on the same errand as i am? i mean, are you one of boyd dawkins's party to examine the new cave on the gower coast?" _d.v.w._: "oh no--i--i am going inland from swansea to--to have a bicycling tour. i'm going to a place on the river--i don't know how to pronounce it--at least i've forgotten. the river's name is spelt llwchwr." _blackbeard_: "you should change your mind and turn south--come and see these extraordinary caves. are you interested in palæontology?" (david hesitates) "what careless people call 'prehistoric animals' or 'prehistoric man.' they have been ridiculously misled by comic artists in _punch_ who imagine a few thousand years of prehistory would take us back to the cretaceous period; really four or five million years before man came into existence, when this country and most other lands swarmed with preposterous reptiles that had become extinct long before the age of mammals. however, i don't suppose this interests you. i only spoke because i thought you might be one of boyd dawkins's pupils ... or one of mine." _david_: "on the contrary, i am very, very much interested in the subject, but i am afraid it has lain rather outside my line of studies so far--p'raps i will turn south when i have seen something of the part of glamorgan i am going to. i'm really welsh in origin, but i know wales imperfectly because i left it when i was quite young" ("this'll be good practice," vivie's brain voice was saying to herself) ... "i've returned recently from south africa." _blackbeard_: "what were you doing there?" _david_: "i--i--was in the army ... at least in a police force ... i got wounded, had to go into hospital--necrosis of the jaw ... i came home when i got well..." _blackbeard_: _"necrosis of the jaw!_ that was a bad thing. but you seem to have got over it very well. i can't see any scar from where i am..." _david_: "oh no. it was only a _slight_ touch and i dare say i exaggerate ... i've left the army however and now i'm reading law..." blackbeard thinks at this point that he has gone far enough in cross-examination and returns to his periodicals and pamphlets. but there's something he likes--a wistfulness--in the young man's face, and he can't quite detach his mind to the presence of palæolithic man in south wales. at swindon they both get out--there was still lingering the practice of taking lunch there--have a hasty lunch together and more talk, and share a bottle of claret. on returning to their compartment, rossiter offers david a cigar but the young man prefers smoking a cigarette. by this time they have exchanged names. d.v.w. however is reticent about the south african war--says it was all too horrible for words, and should never have taken place and he can't bear to think about it and was knocked out quite early in the day. now all he asks is peace and quiet and the opportunity of studying law in london so that he may become some day a barrister. rossiter says--after more talk, "pity you're going in for the bar--we've too many lawyers already. you should take up science"--and as far as the severn tunnel discourses illuminatingly on biology, mineralogy, astronomy, chemistry as david-vivien had never heard them treated previously. in the severn tunnel the noise of the train silences both professor and listener, who willingly takes up the position of pupil. between newport and neath, david thinks he has never met any one so interesting. it has been his first real induction into the greatest of all books: the book of the earth itself. rossiter on his part feels indefinably attracted by this young expatriated welshman. david does not say much, but what he does contribute to the conversation shows him a quick thinker and a person of trained intelligence. yet somehow the professor of biology in the university of london--and many other things beside--f.r.s., f.z.s., f.l.s., gold medallist of this and that academy and university abroad--does not "see" him as a soldier or a non-commissioned officer in the british army: law-student is a more likely qualification. however as they near swansea, michael rossiter gives mr. d.v. williams his card (d.v.w. regrets he cannot reciprocate but says he has hardly settled down yet to any address) and--though as a rule he is taciturn in trains and cautious about making acquaintances--expresses the hope he will call at , park crescent some afternoon--"my wife and i are generally at home on thursdays"--when all are back in town for the autumn. they separate at swansea station. david spends the night at swansea, employing some of his time there by enquiring at the terminus hotel as to the roads that lead up the valley of the llwchwr, what sort of a place is pontystrad ("the bridge by the meadow"), whether any one knows the clergyman of that parish, mr.... er ... howel vaughan williams. the "boots" or one of the "bootses," it appears, comes from the neighbourhood of pontystrad and knows the reverend gentleman by sight--a nice old gentleman--has heard that he's aged much of late years since his son ran away and disappeared out in africa. his sight was getting bad, boots understood, and he could not see to do all the reading and writing he was once so great at. after a rather wakeful night, during which d.v. williams is more disturbed by his thoughts and schemes than by the continual noises of the trains passing into and out of swansea, he rises early and drafts a telegram:-- revd. howel williams, vicarage, pontystrad, glamorgan. hope return home this evening. all is well. david. then pays his bill and tries to mount his bicycle the wrong way to the great amusement of the boots; then remembers the right way and rides off, with the confidence of one long accustomed to bicycling, through the crowded traffic of swansea in the direction of llwchwr. it was a very hot ride through a very lovely country, now largely spoilt by mining and metallurgy, along a road that was constantly climbing up steeply to descend abruptly. david of course could have travelled by rail to the pontyffynon station and thence have ridden back three miles to pontystrad. but he wished purposely to bicycle the whole way from swansea and take in with the eye the land of his fathers. he was postponing as long as possible the test of meeting his father, the father of the young n'eer-do-weel who had been lying for months in a south african field hospital the year before. he halted for a cup of tea at llandeilotalybont ... wales has many place names like this ... and being there not many miles from pontystrad was able to glean more recent and more circumstantial information about the man he proposed to greet as "father." at half-past six that evening, having perspired and dried, perspired and dried, strained a tendon and acquired a headache, he halted before the gate of the vicarage garden at pontystrad, having been followed thither to his secret annoyance by quite a troop of village boys of whom he had imprudently asked the way. as they talked welsh he could not tell what they were saying, but conjectured that his telegram had arrived and that he was expected. standing under the porch of the house was an old man with a long white beard like a druid in spectacles shading his eyes and expectant... a bicycle might prove an incumbrance in the ensuing interview, so david hastily propped his against a fuchsia hedge and hurried forward to meet the old man, who extended hands to envelop him, not trusting to his eyes. an old, rosy-cheeked woman in a sunbonnet came up behind the old man, shrieked out "master david!" and only waited with twitching fingers for her own onslaught till the father had first embraced his prodigal son. this was done at least three times, accompanied with tears, blessings, prayers, the uplifting of poor filmy eyes to a cloudless heaven--"diolch i dduw!"--ejaculations as to the wonder of it--"rhyfeddol yw yn eiholl ffyrdd"--god's providence--his ways are past finding out! "ni ellir olrain ei ragluniaeth!"--"my own dear boy! fy machgen annwyli!" then the old woman took her turn: "master david! eh, but you're changed, mun!"--then a lot of welsh exclamations, which until the welsh can agree to spell their tongue phonetically i shall not insert--"five years since you left us! eh, and i never thought to see you no more. some said you wass dead, others that you wass taken prisoner by the wild boars. but here you are, and welcome--indeed--" then master david between the embraces was scanned, a little more critically than by the purblind father, but with distinct approval. at last david stood apart in the stone-flagged hall of the vicarage. his abundant hair was rumpled, his face was stained by other people's tears, his collar, tie, dress disordered, and his heart touched. it was a rare experience in his twenty-four years of life--he guessed that should be his age--to find himself really taken on trust, really desired and loved. honoria's friendship was a pure and precious thing, but in its very purity carefully restrained. praddy's kindness, and the office boy's worship had both been gratifying to vivie's self-esteem, but both had to be kept at bay. somehow the love of a father and of an old nurse were of a different category to these other contacts. all these thoughts passed through david's brain in thirty seconds. he shook himself, straightened himself, smiled adequately, and tried to live up to the situation. "dear father! and dear ... nannie! (a bold but successful deduction). how sweet of you both--greeting me like this. i've come home a very different david to the one that left you--what was it? five--six years ago?--to go to mr. praed's studio. i've learnt a lot in the interval. but i'm so sick of the past, i don't want to talk about it more than i can help, and i've been in very queer health since i got ill--and--wounded--in--south africa. my memory has gone for many things--i'm afraid i've forgotten all my welsh, nannie, but it'll soon come back, that is, if i may stay here a bit." (exclamations from father and nurse: "this is your _home_, davy-bach!") "i'm not going to stay too long this time because i've got my living to earn in london.... "did you never hear anything about me from ... south africa ... or the war office--or--your old college chum, mr. gardner?" "i heard--my own dear boy--" said the revd. howel, again taking him in his arms in a renewed spasm of affection. "i heard you were wounded and very ill in the camp hospital at colesberg. it was a nursing sister, i think, who sent me the information. i wrote several times to the war office, my letters were acknowledged, that was all. then sam gardner wrote to me from margate and said his son had been in the same hospital with you. later on i saw in a bristol paper that this hospital--colesberg--had fallen into the hands of the boers and the cape insurgents. then i said to myself 'my poor boy's been taken prisoner' and as time went on, 'my poor boy's dead, or he would have written to me.'" here the revd. howel stopped to wipe his eyes and blow his nose. david touched through his armour of cynicism, said--nannie retiring to prepare the evening meal--"father dear, though i don't want to refer too often to the past, i behaved disgracefully some time ago and the colonies seemed my only chance of setting myself right. i did manage to get away from the boers, but i had not the courage to present myself before you till i had done something to regain your good opinion. i have got now good employment in london and i'm even reading up law. we will talk of that by and bye but i tell you now--from my heart--i am a different david to the one you knew, and you shall never regret taking me back." both father and son were crying now, for emotion especially in wales is catching. but the father laughed through his tears; and incoherently thanked god for the return of the prodigal--a fine upstanding lad--whole and sound. "no taint about _you_, davy, _i'll_ be bound. why your voice alone shows you've been a clean liver. it's music in my ears, and if i could see as well as i can hear i'd wager you're a handsome lad and have lost much of your foolishness. davy, lad" (lowering his voice) "you've no cause to be anxious about jenny. she--she--had a boy, but we got her married to a miner--i made it right with him. she has another child now, but they're being brought up together. we won't refer to it again. she lives twenty miles from here, at gower--and ... and ... there's an end of it.... "now you won't run away back to london till you're obliged? where's your luggage? at pontyffynon?" "no," said david, a little non-plussed at evidences of his dissolute past and this unexpected fatherhood assumed on his account. "i haven't more luggage than what is contained in my bicycle bag. but don't let that concern you. i'll go over to swansea one day or some nearer town and buy what may be necessary, and i'll stay with you all my holidays, tell you all my plans, and even after i go back to london i'll always come down here when i can get away. for the present i'm going simply to enjoy myself for the first time in my life. the last four years we'll look on as a horrid dream. what a paradise you live in." his eye ranged over the two-storeyed, soundly-built stone house facing south, with mountains behind and the western sun throwing shafts of warm yellow green over the lawn and the flower beds; over clumps of elms in the middle, southern distance, that might have been planted by the romans (who loved this part of wales). bees, butterflies and swallows were in the air; the distant lowing of kine, the scent of the roses, the clatter in the kitchen where nannie aided by another female servant was preparing supper, even the barking of a watch dog; aware that something unusual was going on, completed the impression of the blissful countryside. "what a paradise you live in! how _could_ i have left it?" "ay, dear lad; i doubt not it looks strange and new to you since you've been in south africa and london. but it'll soon seem homelike enough. and now you'll like to see your room, and have a wash before supper. tom, the gardener, shall take in your bicycle and give it a rub over. i've still got the old one here in the coach-house which you left behind. tom's new, since you left. he's not so clever with the bees as your old friend evan was, but he's a steadier lad. i fear me evan led you into some of your scrapes. the fault was partly mine. i shouldn't have let you run wild so much, but i was so wrapped up in my studies--well, well!" david was careful to play his part sufficiently to say when shown into his old bedroom, "just the same, father; scarcely a bit altered--but isn't the bed moved--to another place?" "you're right, my boy--ah! your memory can't be as bad as you pretend. yes, we moved it there, bridget and i, because the archdeacon came once to stay and complained of the draught from the window." "the deuce he did!" said david. "well, _i_ shan't complain of anything." his father left him and he then proceeded to lay out the small store of things he had brought in his bicycle bag, giving special prominence to the shaving tackle. he had just finished a summary toilet when there was a tap on the door, and, suppressing an exclamation of impatience--for he dearly wanted time and solitude for collected thought--he admitted bridget. "well, nannie," he said, "come for a gossip?" "yess. i can hardly bear to take my eyes off you, for you've changed, you _have_ changed. and yet, i don't know? you don't look much older than you wass when you went off to london to be an architect. your cheek--" (lifting her hand and stroking it, while david tried hard not to wince) "your cheek's as soft and smooth as it was then, as any young girl's. wherever you've been, the world has not treated you very bad. no one would have dreamt you'd been all the way to south africa to them wild boars. but some men wear wonderful well. i suppose your father giv' you a bit of a shock? he's much older looking; and he wassn't suffering, to speak of, from his sight when you went away. and now he can hardly see to read even with his new spectol. old doctor murgatroyd can't do nothing for him--advises him to go to see some bristol or london eye-doctor. but after you seemed to disappear in africa he had no heart for trying to get his sight back. he'd sit for hours doing nothing but think and talk, all about old welsh times, or bible times. of course he knows hiss services by heart; hiss only job wass with the lessons.... but you see, he'd often only have me and the girl and tom in church. there's a new preacher up at little bethel that's drawn all the village folk to hear him. but your father'll be a different man now--you see, he'll be like a boy again. and if you could stay long enough, you might take him to bristol--or clifton i think it wass--to see if they could do anything about his eyes.... "the past's the past and we aren't going to say no more about it, and now you've turned over a new leaf--somehow i _can't_ feel you're the same person--don't go worrying yourself about that slut jenny. _she's_ all right. after your baby was born at her mother's, she went into service at llanelly and there she met a miner who's at work on the new coal mine in gower. he wasn't a bad sort of chap and when he'd heard her story he said for a matter of twenty pound he'd marry her and take over her baby. so your father paid the twenty pounds, and if she'll only keep straight she'll be none the worse for what's happened. i always said it wass my fault. it wass the year i had to go away to my sister, and your father had to go to st. david's, and after all, if it hadn't 'a-been you, it 'd 'a-been young evan. why there's bin some girls in the village have had two and even three babies before they settled down and got married. now we must dish up supper. i've given you lots and lots of pancakes and the cream and honey you wass always so fond of--you bad boy--" she ventured a kiss on the smooth cheek of her nursling and heavily descended the stairs. david had a very bad night, because to please his old nurse he had eaten too many of her pancakes with cream and honey. in fact, he had at last to tip-toe down through a sleeping house cautiously to let himself out and relieve his feelings by pacing the verandah till the nausea passed off. after that he lay long awake trying to size up the situation. he got his thoughts at last into some such shape as this:-- "it's clear i was a regular young rake before i was sent up to london to be praddy's pupil. apparently i seduced the housemaid or kitchenmaid--my father's establishment seems to consist of nannie who is housekeeper and cook, and a maid who does housework and helps in the kitchen--and this unfortunate girl who fell a prey to my solicitations--or more likely misled me--afterwards gave birth to a child attributed either to my fatherhood or the gardener's. but the matter has been hushed up by a payment of twenty pounds and the girl is now married and respectable and ought to give no further trouble. i suppose that was a climax of naughtiness on my part and the main reason why i was sent away. the two people who matter most have received me without doubt or question, but the one to be wary about is the old nurse, whose very affection makes her inconveniently inquisitive. _mem._ get up and lock my door, or else she may come in with hot water or something in the morning and take me by surprise. "the original david is evidently dead and well out of the way. there can be no harm in my taking his place, at any rate for a few years: it may give the old man new life and genuine happiness, for i shall play my part as a good son, and certainly shall cost him nothing. i'll begin by taking him to an oculist and finding out what is wrong with his eyes.... probably only cataract. it may be possible to effect a cure and he can then finish his book on the history of glamorganshire from earliest times. must remember, by the bye, that the welsh change most of the old _m's_ into _f's_ and that this country is called forganwg, with the _w_ pronounced like _oo_, and the _f_ like _v_. must learn some welsh. what a nuisance. but nothing is worth doing if it isn't done well. if i can keep this deception up this would be a jolly place to come to for occasional holidays, and i simply couldn't have a better reference to respectability, sex and station with the benchers of lincoln's inn than 'my father,' the revd. howel williams, vicar of pontystrad. they'll probably want a second or a third reference. can i rely on praddy? is it possible i might work up my acquaintance with that professor whom i met in the train? i'll see. perhaps i could attend classes of his if he lectures in london." then the plotting david fell asleep at last and woke to hear the loud tapping on his door at eight o'clock, of bridget, rather surprised to find the door locked, but entering (when he had garbed himself in his norfolk jacket and opened the door), with hot water for shaving and a cup of tea. it was a hot july morning, and while he dressed, the southern breeze came in through the open window scented by the roses and the lemon verbena growing against the wall. his father was pacing up and down the hall and the verandah restlessly awaiting him, fearing lest the whole episode of the day before might not have been one of his waking dreams. his failing sight made reading almost a torture and writing more a matter of feeling than visual perception. time therefore hung wearisomely on his hands; bridget was not a good reader, besides being too busy a housekeeper to have time for it. had david really returned to him? would he sometimes read aloud and sometimes write his letters, or even the finish of his history? too good to be true! but there was david coming down the stairs, greeting him with tender affection. "read and write for you, father? of course! but before i go back to london--and unfortunately i _must_ go back early in august--i'm going to take you to see an oculist--bristol or clifton perhaps--and get your sight restored." after breakfast, however, the father decided he must take david round the village, to see and be seen. david was not very anxious to go, but as the revd. howel looked disappointed he gave in. it had to be got over some time or other. so they first visited the church, a building in the form of a cross, with an imposing battlemented tower. here david asked to inspect the registers and found therein (while the old gentleman silently prayed or sat in mute thankfulness in a sunny corner)--the record of his father's marriage to mary vavasour twenty-six years before (mary was twenty-three and the revd. howel forty at the time) and of his own baptism two years afterwards. then issuing from the church, father and son walked through the village, the father pointing out the changes for better or worse that had taken place in four years, and not noticing the vagueness of his son's memories of either persons or features in the landscape. the village, like most welsh villages, was of white-washed cottages, slate-roofed, but it was embowered with that luxuriance of foliage and flowers which makes glamorganshire--out of sight of the coal-mining--seem an earthly paradise. every now and then the revd. howel would nudge his son and say: "that man who spoke was old goronwy, as big a scoundrel now as he was five years ago," or he would introduce david to a villager of whom he thought more favourably. if she were a young woman she generally smirked and looked sideways; if a man he grunted out a welsh greeting or only gave a nod of surly recognition. several professed fluent recognition but some said in welsh "he wasn't a bit like the mr. david _they_ had known." whereupon the revd. howel laughed and said: "wait till you have been out to south africa fighting for your king and country and see if _that_ doesn't change _you_!" the visit to the clifton oculist resulted in a great success. the oculist after two or three days' preparation in a nursing home performed the operation and advised david then to leave his father for a few days (promising if any unfavourable symptoms supervened he would telegraph) so that he might pass the time in sleep as much as possible, and with no mental stimulation. during this interval david transferred himself and his bicycle to swansea, and thence visited the gower caves where he ran up against rossiter once more and spent delightful hours being inducted into palæontology by rossiter and his companions. then back to--by contrast--boresome clifton (except for its zoological gardens). after another week his father was well enough to be escorted home. in another fortnight he might be able to use his eyes, and soon after that would be able to read and write--in moderation. but david could not wait to see his intervention crowned with complete success. he must keep faith with honoria who would be wanting a long holiday in switzerland; and their joint business must not suffer by his absence from london. there were, indeed, times when the peace and comfort and beauty of pontystrad got hold of him and he asked himself: "why not settle down here for the rest of his life, put aside other ambitions, attempt no more than this initial fraud, leave the hateful world wherein women had only three chances to men's seven." then there would arise once more fierce ambition, the resolve to avenge vivien warren for her handicaps, the desire to keep tryst with honoria and to enjoy more of rossiter's society. besides, he ran a constant risk of discovery under the affectionate but puzzled inspection of the old nurse. in her mind, residence amongst the "wild boars," service in an army, travel and adventure generally during an absence of five years, as well as emergence from adolescence into manhood, accounted for much change in physical appearance, but not sufficiently for the extraordinary change in _morale_: the contrast between the vicious, untidy, selfish, insolent boy that had gone off to london with ill-concealed glee in and this grave-mannered, polite, considerate, pleasant-voiced young man who had already managed to find good employment in london before he revealed himself anew to his delighted father. these doubts david read in nannie's mind. but he would not give them time and chance to become more precise and formulated. gradually she would become used to the seeming miracle. in the meantime he would return to london, and if his father's recovery was complete he would not revisit "home" till christmas. as soon as he was able to write, his father would forward him the copy of his birth-certificate, and he would likewise answer in the sense agreed upon any letters of reference or enquiry: would state the apprenticeship to architecture with praed a.r.a., and then the impulse to go out to south africa, the slight wound--david insisted it was slight, a fuss about nothing, because he had enquired about necrosis of the jaw and realized that even if he had recovered it would have left indisputable marks on face and throat. in fact there were so many complications involved in an escape from the boers, only to be justified under the code of honour prevailing in war time, that he would rather his father said little or nothing about south africa but left him to explain all that. a point of view readily grasped by the revd. howel, who to get such a son back would even have not thought too badly of desertion--and the negative letters of the war office said nothing of that. so early in september, after the most varied, anxious, successful six weeks in his life--so far--david vavasour williams returned to fig tree court, inner temple. chapter v reading for the bar it had been a hot, windless day in london, in early september. though summer was in full swing in the country without a hint of autumn, the foliage in the squares and gardens of the inns of court was already seared and a little shrivelled. the privet hedges were almost black green; and the mould in the dismal borders that they screened looked as though it had never known rain or hose water and as if it could no more grow bright-tinted flowers than the asbestos of a gas stove which it resembled in consistency and colour. it was now an evening, ending one of those days which are peculiarly disheartening to a londoner returned from a long stay in the depths of the country--a country which has hills and streams, ferny hollows, groups of birches, knolls surmounted with pines, meadows of lush, emerald-green grass, full-foliaged elms, twisted oaks, orchards hung with reddening apples, red winding lanes between unchecked hedges, blue mountains in the far distance, and the glimpse of a river or of ponds large enough to be called a mere or even a lake. the exhausted london to which david williams had returned a few days previously had lost a few thousands of its west-end and city population--just, in fact, most of its interesting if unlikable folk, its people who mattered, its insolent spoilt darlings whom you liked to recognize in the carlton atrium, in hyde park, in a box at the theatre: yet the frowsy, worthy millions were there all the same. the air of its then smelly streets was used up and had the ammoniac strench of the stable. it was a weary london. the london actors had not returned from cornwall and switzerland. provincial companies enjoyed--a little anxiously owing to uncertain receipts at the box office--a brief license on the boards of famous play-houses. the newspapers had exhausted the stunt of the silly season and were at their flattest and most yawn-provoking. the south african war had reached its dreariest stage.... bertie adams on this close september evening had out-stayed the other employés of _fraser and warren_ in their fifth floor office at no. - chancery lane. he had remained after office hours to do a little work, a little "self-improvement"; and he was just about to close the outer office and leave the key with the housekeeper, when the lift came surging up and out of it stepped a young man in a summer suit and a bowler hat who, to bertie's astonishment, not only dashed straight at the door of the partners' room, but opened its yale lock with a latch-key as though long accustomed to do so. "but, sir!..." exclaimed the junior clerk (his promotion to that rank had tacitly dated from vivie warren's departure). "it's all right," said the stranger. "i'm mr. david williams and i've come to draw up some notes for mrs. claridge. i dare say miss fraser has told you i should work in the office every now and then whilst my cousin--miss warren, you know--is away. you needn't wait, though you can close the outer office before you go; and, by the bye, you might fetch me _who's who_ for the present year." all this was said a little breathlessly. bertie brought the volume, then only half the size of its present bulk, because it lacked our new nobility and gave no heed to your favourite recreation. d.v. williams stood in the yellow light of the west window, reading a letter... "cousin? no! twin brother, perhaps; but had she one?..." mused bertie... and then, that never-to-be-forgotten voice ... "here's 'oo's oo--er--hoo's hoo, i mean.... miss..." he only added the last word as by some sub-conscious instinct. "_mister_ williams," said vivien-david-warren williams, facing him with resolute eyes. "be quite clear about that, adams; _david vavasour williams_, miss warren's cousin." "indeed i will be, miss ... mister ... er ... sir..." said the transfigured bertie (his brain voice saying over and over again in ecstasy ... "_i_ tumble to it! _i_ tumble to it!"). and then again "_indeed_ i will, mr. williams. i'm a bit stupidlike this evenin' ... readin' too much.... may i stay and help you, sir? i'm pretty quick on the typewriter, miss warren may have told you ... sir ... and i ain't--i mean--_i am not_--half bad with me shorthand.... you know--i mean, _she_ would know i'd joined them evenin' classes..." "thank you, adams; but if you have joined the evening classes you oughtn't to interrupt your attendance there. i can _quite_ manage here alone and you need not be afraid: i shall leave everything properly closed. you could give up the key of the outer office as you go out. you may often find me at work here after office hours, but that need not disturb you ... and i need hardly say, after all miss fraser and miss warren have told me about you, i rely on you to be at all times thoroughly discreet and not likely to discuss the work of this firm or my share in it with any one?"... "indeed you may ... mr. williams ... indeed you may.... oh! i'm so happy.... good-night ... sir!" and adams's heart was too full for attendance at a lecture on roman law. he went off instead to the play. he himself belonged now to the world of romance. he knew of things--and wild horses and red-hot tweezers should not tear the knowledge from him, or make him formulate his deductions--he knew of things as amazing, as prodigal of developments as anything in the problem play enacted beyond the pit and the stalls; he was the younger brother of herbert waring and the comrade of jessie joseph: at that moment deceiving the sleuth hounds of stage law by parading in her fiancé's evening dress and going to prison for his sake. beryl claridge had taken up much of vivie warren's work on the st of august in that year, while honoria fraser was touring in switzerland. miss mullet and miss steynes were replaced (steynes staying on a little later to initiate the new-comers) by two young women so commonplace yet such efficient machines that their names are not worth hunting up or inventing. if i have to refer to them i will call them miss a. and miss b. beryl claridge was closely scanned by bertie adams, and frequently compared in his mind with the absent and idealized vivie. he decided that although she was shrewd and clever and very good-looking, he did not like her. she smoked too many cigarettes for . she had her curly hair "bobbed" (though the term was not invented then). she put up her feet too high and too often; so much so that the scandalized bertie saw she wore black knickerbockers and no petticoats under her smart "tailor-made." she snapped your head off, was short, sharp and insolent, joked too much with the spectacled women clerks (who became her willing slaves); then would ask bertie about his best girl and tell him he'd got jolly good teeth, a good biceps and quite a nice beginning of a moustache. but she was a worker: no doubt of that! of course, in the dead season there were not many clients to shock or to win over by her nonchalant manners, only a few women who required advice as to houses, stocks, and shares, law, or private enquiries as to the good faith of husbands or fiancés. such as found their way up in the lift were a little disappointed at seeing beryl in vivie's chair or at not being received by their old friend honoria fraser. but beryl was too good a business woman to put them off with any license of speech or manners. for the rest she spent august and early september in "mugging up" the firm's business. although deep down in her curious little heart, under all her affectation of hardness and insolent disdain of public or family opinion she firmly loved her architect and the children she had borne him, she desired quite as passionately to be self-supporting, to earn a sufficient income of her own, to be dependent on no one. she might have her passing caprices and her loose and flippant mode of talking, but she wasn't going to be a failure, a cadger, a parasite, a "fallen" woman. she fully realized that in england no woman _has_ fallen who is self-supporting, whose income meets her expenses and who pays her way. given those guarantees, all else that she does which is not actually criminal is eventually put down to mere eccentricity. so honoria's offer and honoria's business provided her with a most welcome opening. she realized the opportunities that lay before this woman's office for general inquiries, established in the closing years of the nineteenth century--this business that before woman's enfranchisement nibbled discreetly at the careers and the openings for profit-making hitherto rigidly reserved for man. she wasn't going to let honoria down. honoria, she realized, was in herself equivalent to many thousands of pounds in capital. her reputation was flawless. she was known to and esteemed by a host of women of the upper middle class. her cambridge reputation for learning, her eventual inheritance of eighty thousand pounds were unexpressed reasons for many a woman of good standing preferring to confide her affairs to the judgment of _fraser and warren_, in preference to dealing with male legal advisers, male land agents, men on the stock exchange, men in house property business. so beryl became in most respects a source of strength to honoria fraser, deprived for a time of the overt co-operation of her junior partner. beryl in the first few weeks of her stay evinced small interest in the departure of vivien warren and her reasons for going abroad. she had a scheme of her own in which her architect would take a prominent part, for providing women--authoresses, actresses, or the wives of the newly enriched--with week-end cottages; the desire for which was born with the twentieth century and fostered by the invention of motors and bicycles. cases before the firm for opinions on intricate legal problems beryl was advised to place before the consideration of one of honoria's friends, a law student, mr. d.v. williams, who would shortly be back from his holiday and who had agreed to look in at the office from time to time and go through such papers as were set aside for him to read. beryl had remarked--without any intention behind it--on seeing some of his notes initialled v.w. that it was rum he should have the same initials as that vivie girl whom she remembered at newnham ... who was "so silent and standoffish and easily shocked." but she noticed later that when mr. williams got to work his initials were really three and not two--d.v.w. one thing with the other: her departure from the office at the regular closing hour--five--so that she might see her babies before they were put to bed; williams's habit of coming to work after six; kept them from meeting till the october of . when they did meet after honoria's return from switzerland, beryl scanned the law student critically; decided he was rather nice-looking but very pre-occupied; perhaps engaged to some girl whose parents objected; rather mysterious, _quand même_; she had heard some one say this mr. david williams was a cousin or something of vivie warren ... what if he were in love with vivie and she had gone away because she had some fad or other about not wanting to marry? well! all this could be looked into some other time, if it were worth bothering about at all. or could williams be spoony on honoria? after her money? he was much younger--evidently--but young men adored ripe women, and young girls idolized elderly soldiers. _c'était à voir_ (beryl ever since she had been to paris on a stolen honeymoon with the architect liked saying things to herself in french). towards the end of october, david received at fig tree court a letter from his father in glamorganshire. pontystrad vicarage, _october_ , . my dear son,-- the improvement in my sight continues. i can now read a little every day, by daylight, without pain or fatigue, and write letters. i feel i owe you a long one; but i shall write a portion each day and not try my eyes unduly. i am glad to know you are now settled down in chambers at fig tree court in the temple and have begun your studies for the bar. you could not have taken up a finer profession. what seems to me so wonderful is that you should be able to earn your living at the same time and be no charge on me. i accept your assurances that you need no support; but never forget, my dear son, that if you _do_, i am ready and willing to help. you sowed your wild oats--perhaps we both exaggerated the sins of the wild years--at any rate you have made a noble reparation. what a splendid school the colonies must be! what a difference between the david who left me five years ago for mr. praed's studio and the david who returned to me last summer! i can never be sufficiently thankful to almighty god for the change he has wrought in you! no lip religion, but a change of heart. i presume you explained everything to the colonial office after you got back to london and that you are now free to take up a civil career? the people out there never sent me any further information; but the other day one of my letters to you (written after i had received the sad news) returned to me, with the information that the hospital you were in had been captured by the boers and that you could not be traced. i enclose it. you can now finish up the story yourself and let the authorities know how you got away and returned home. the other day that impudent baggage jenny gorlais came and asked to see me ... she said her husband was out of work and refused to give her enough money to provide for all her children, that he had advised her to apply to _you_ for the maintenance of _your_ son! relying on what you had told me i sent for bridget and we both told her we had made every enquiry and now refused absolutely to believe in her stories of five years ago--that we were sure you were _not_ the father of her eldest child. bridget, for example, believed the postman was its father. jenny burst into tears, and as she did not persist in her claim my heart was moved, and i gave her ten shillings, but told her _pretty plainly_ that if she ever made such a claim again i should go to the police. you should have heard bridget defending you! _such_ a champion. if you want a witness to character for your references you should call _her_! she is loud in your praise. _october_ . there is one thing i want to tell you; and it is easier to write it than say it. your mother did not die when you were three years old--much worse: she left me--ran away with an engineer who was tracing out the branch railway. he seemed a nice young fellow and i had him often up at the vicarage, and _that_ was the way he repaid my hospitality! he wrote to me a year afterwards asking me to divorce her. as though a clergyman of the church of england could do such a thing! i had offered to take her back--not then--it would have been a mockery--but by putting advertisements into the south wales papers. but after her paramour's letter--which i did not answer--i never heard any more about her.... ["damn it all," said david to himself at this juncture of the letter--he was training himself to swear in a moderate, gentlemanly way--"damn it all! whatever i do, it seems i _cannot_ come from altogether respectable stock."...] you grew up therefore without a mother's care, though good bridget did her best. when you were a child i fear i rather neglected you. i was so disappointed and embittered that i sought consolation in the legends of our beloved country and in scriptural exegesis. you were rather a naughty boy at swansea grammar school and somewhat of a scamp at malvern college--well! we won't go over all that again. i quite understand your reticence about the past. once again i think the blame was mine as much as yours. i ought to have interested myself more in your pursuits and games ... what a pity, by the bye, that you seem to have lost your gift of drawing and painting! i do remember how at one time we were drawn together over the old welsh legends and the very clever drawings you made of national heroes and heroines--they seemed to come on you as quite a surprise when i took them out of the old portfolio. but about your mother--for it is necessary you should know all i can tell you in case you have to answer questions as to your parentage. your mother's name was, as you know, mary vavasour. it is a common name in south wales though it seems to be norman french. she came to our pontystrad school as a teacher in . her father was something to do with mining at merthyr. i fell in love with her--she had a sweet face--and married her in . you were born two years afterwards. bridget had been my housekeeper before i was married and i asked her to stay on lest your mother should be inexperienced at first in the domestic arts. they never got on well together and when mary had recovered from her confinement and seemed disposed to take up housekeeping i sent away poor bridget reluctantly and only took her back after your mother's flight. bridget was a second mother to you as you know, though i fear you never showed her much affection till these later days. _october_ . my eyes seem to be improving instead of getting tired with the new delights of reading and writing. i owe all this to you and to the clever oculist at clifton. dr. murgatroyd from pontyffynon looked in here the other day, to ask about your return. he seemed almost to grudge me my restored sight because i had got it from other people's advice. said _he_ could have advised an operation only he never believed my heart would stand it. when i told him they had mixed the anæsthetic with oxygen he became quite angry--and exclaimed against these new-fangled notions. but i must not use up my new found energy writing about him. i want to finish my letter in a business-like fashion so that you may know all that is necessary to be known about yourself and your position. you may have at any moment to answer questions before you get called to the bar, and with your defective memory--i am glad to hear things in the past are becoming clearer to you--i am sure with god's grace you will wholly recover soon from the effects of your wound and your illness--what was i writing? i meant to say that you ought to know the main facts about your family and your position. i was an only son. your grandfather was a prosperous farmer and auctioneer. you have distant cousins, vaughans and williamses, and some others living at shrewsbury named price. i have written to none of them about your return because they never evinced any interest in me or my concerns. your mother's people, her vavasour relations at cardiff--did not seem to me to be very respectable, though her father was a well-educated man for his position. he died--i heard--in a mine accident. i am not poorly off for a welsh clergyman. my mother--a price of ystrwy--wanted me to go into the church and prevailed on your grandfather to send me first to malvern and next to cambridge. it was at cambridge that i met your comrade's father--sam gardner, i mean. he was rather wild in his college days and to tell you the truth, i never cared to keep up with him much--he had such very rowdy friends. my mother died while i was at cambridge and in his later years your grandfather married again--his housekeeper--and rather muddled his affairs, because at one time he was quite well off. after i was ordained he purchased for me the advowson of this living. all that came to me from his estate, however, was a sum of about eleven thousand pounds. this used to bring me in about five hundred pounds a year, and in addition to that was the fluctuating two hundred and fifty pounds income from my benefice. i took about three thousand pounds out of my capital to pay the debts you ran up, to article you to mr. praed; and, i must admit, to get my "tales from taliessin" and "legends of the welsh saints" privately printed at cardiff. i am afraid i wasted much good money on the desire to see my cymraeg studies in print. well: there i am! with about eight or nine thousand pounds to leave. i have not altered my will--leaving it all to you, subject to an annuity of £ a year to your faithful nannie. i was projecting an alteration in case of your death, when you most happily returned. i may live another ten years yet. you have put new life into me. one charge, however, i was going to have laid on you; while you were with me i could not bear to speak of these matters. if at any time after i'm gone you should come across your unhappy mother and find her in distressed circumstances, i bid you provide for her, but how much, i leave entirely to your judgment. meantime, here i am with an income of nearly £ a year. i live very simply, as you see, but i give away a good deal in local charity. the people are getting better wages now; in any case they are usually most ungrateful. i feel i should be happier if i diverted some of this alms-giving to you. you must find this preparatory life very expensive. you must let me send you twenty-five pounds every half-year for pocket money. here is a cheque on the south wales bank for the first instalment. and remember, if you are in _any_ difficulty about your career that a little money can get over do not hesitate to apply to me. your loving father, howel vaughan williams. p.s. i have taken five days to write this but see how steady the handwriting is. it is a pleasure to me to look on my own handwriting again. and i feel i owe it all to you! i also forgot in the body of the letter to tell you one curious thing. you know we are here on the borders of an interesting vein of limestone which runs all round the coal beds. i dare say you remember as a boy of fifteen or so spraining your ankle in griffith's hole? well griffith's hole turns out to be the entrance into a wonderful cave in the limestone. hither came the other day a party of scientific men who think that majestic first chapter of genesis to be a babylonian legend! it appears they discovered or thought they discovered the remains of ancient man in griffith's hole. i invited them to tea at the vicarage and amongst them was a very learned gentleman quite as wise as but less aggressive than the others. he was known as "professor rossiter"; and commenting on the similarity of my name with that of a "very agreeable young gentleman" whom he had recently seen in gower, it turned out that you were an acquaintance of his. he thinks it a great pity that you are reading for the bar and wishes you had taken up science instead. at any rate he hopes you will go and see him in london one day--no. park crescent. portland place. h. v. w. several times in reading this letter the tears stood in david's eyes. so much trust and kindness made him momentarily sorry at the double life he was leading. if it were possible to establish the death of the wastrel he was personating he would perhaps allow his "father" to live on in this new-found happiness; but if the real d.v.w. were alive some effort must be made to help him out of the slough--perhaps to bring him back. he would try to find out through frank gardner. some time before vivie warren had taken her departure, she had left behind in honoria fraser's temporary care a power of attorney duly executed in favour of david vavasour williams; and reciprocally d.v.w. had executed another in favour of vivien warren. both these documents lay securely in the little safe that david had had fitted into the wall of his sitting-room in fig tree court. also david had opened an account in his own name after he got back from wales, at the temple bar branch of the c. &. c. bank. into this he now paid the cheque for twenty-five pounds which his father had sent as pocket money. a few days afterwards, vivie warren reappeared--in spirit--and indited a letter to frank gardner's agents in cape town. she was careful to give no address at the head of the letter and to post it at victoria station. in it she said she was starting on a tour abroad, but asked him to do what he could to trace the boy who had lain so grievously ill in the hospital at colesberg. had he recovered after the boers had taken colesberg? as a rumour had reached her that he had, and had even returned to england. she wanted to know, and if they ever met again would tell him why. meanwhile if he got any news would he address it to _her_, care of honoria fraser, queen anne's mansions, st. james's park; as her own address would be quite uncertain for the present. or it would do quite as well if he wrote to praddy; but _not_ to his father, which might only needlessly agitate the old clergyman down in wales, whom vivie by an unexpected chance had come to know. the first result of this letter a year later was a statement of frank's belief, almost certainty, that his acquaintance of the hospital _had_ died and been buried while the boers held possession of colesberg; and that indeed was the utmost that was ever learnt about the end of the ill-fated son of howel vaughan williams and mary his wife, who were wedded in sunshine and with fair prospects of happiness in the early summer of . the new-born david vavasour williams having by november settled all these details, having arranged to pay the very modest rent of fifty-five pounds for his three rooms at fig tree court, and twenty-five pounds a year to the housekeeper who was to "do" for him and another gentleman on the same floor--a gentleman who was most anxious to be chummy with the new tenant of the opposite chambers but whose advances were firmly though civilly kept at bay--having likewise passed his preliminary examination (since he could not avow that inside his clothes he was a third wrangler), having satisfied his two "godfathers" of the bar that he was a fit person to recommend to the benchers; having arranged to read with a barrister in chambers, and settled all other preliminaries of importance: decided that he would pay an afternoon call on the rossiters in portland place and see how the land lay there. already a strange exhilaration was spreading over david's mind. life was not twice but ten times more interesting than it had appeared to the prejudiced eyes of vivien warren. it was as though she--he--had passed through some magic door, gone through the looking-glass and was contemplating the same world as the one vivie had known for--shall we say fifteen?--years, but a world which viewed from a different standpoint was quite changed in proportions, in colour, in the conjunction of events. it was a world in which everything was made smooth and easy before the semblance of manhood. what a joy to be rid of skirts and petticoats! to be able to run after and leap on to an omnibus, to wear the same hat day after day just stuck on top of her curly head. not, perhaps, to change her clothes, between her uprising and her retirement to bed, unless she were going out to dine. no simpering. no need to ask favours. no compliments. it is true she felt awkward in the presence of women, not quite the same, even with honoria. but with men. what a difference! she felt she had never really known men before. at first the frank speech, the expletives, the smoking-room stories made her a little uncomfortable and occasionally called forth an irrepressible blush. but this was not to her disadvantage. it made her seem younger, and created a good impression on her tutors and acquaintances. "a nice modest boy, fresh from the country--pity to lead him astray--won't preserve his innocence long--" was the vaguely defined impression, contact with her--him, i mean--made on most decent male minds. many a lad comes up from the country to commence his career in london who knew far less than the unfortunate vivie had been compelled to know of the shady side of life; who is compelled to lead a somewhat retired life by straitness of means; whose determination towards probity and regularity of life is respected by the men of law among whom he finds himself. but david having decided--he did not quite know why--to pursue his acquaintance with professor rossiter; having written to ask if he might do so (as a matter of fact he frequently saw rossiter walking across the gardens of new square to go to the museum of the royal college of surgeons: he recollected him immediately but rossiter did not reciprocate, being absent-minded); and having received a card from "linda rossiter" to say they would be at home throughout the winter on thursdays, between and : went on one of those thursdays and made definite progress with the great friendship of his life. chapter vi the rossiters the rossiters' house in park crescent was at the northern end of portland place, and its high-walled garden--the stables that were afterwards to become a garage--and michael rossiter's long, glass-roofed studio-laboratory--abutted on one of those quiet, deadly-respectable streets at the back that are called after devon or dorset place names. the house is now a good deal altered and differently numbered, a portion of it having been destroyed in one of the air-raids, when the marylebone road was strewn with its broken glass for twenty yards. but in the winter of - and onwards till it was a noted centre of social intercourse between society and science. the rossiters were well enough off--he made quite two thousand a year out of his professorial work and his books, and her income which was £ , when she first married had risen to £ , after they had been married ten years; through the increase in value of leeds town property. mrs. rossiter had had two children, but were both dead, her facile tears were dried, she satisfied her maternal instinct by the keeping of three pug dogs which her husband secretly detested. she also had a scarlet-and-blue macaw and two cockatoos and a persian cat; but these last her husband liked or tolerated for their colour or their biological interest; only, as in the case of the dogs, he objected (though seldom angrily, out of consideration for his wife's feelings) to their being so messily and inopportunely fed. linda rossiter was liable to lose her pets as she had lost her two children by alternating days of forgetfulness with weeks of lavish over-attention. but as she readily gave way to tears on the least remonstrance, michael in the course of eleven years of married life remonstrated as little as possible. a clever, tactful parlour-maid and two good housemaids, a manservant who was devoted to the "professor" and a taxidermist who assisted him in his experiments did the rest in keeping the big house tolerably tidy and presentable. rossiter himself was too intent on the stars, the gases of decomposition, the hidden processes of life, miscegenation in star-fish, microbic diseases in man, beasts, birds and bees, the glands of the throat, the suprarenal capsules and the chemical origin of life to care much for æsthetics, for furniture and house decoration. he was the third son of an impoverished northumbrian squire who on his part cared only for the more barbarous field-sports, and when he could take his mind off them believed that at some time and place unspecified almighty god had dictated the english bible word for word, had established the english church and had scrupulously prescribed the functions and limitations of woman. his wife--michael rossiter's tenderly-loved mother--had died from a neglected prolapsus of the womb, and the old rambling house in northumberland situated in superb scenery, had in its furniture grown more and more hideous to the eye as early and mid-victorian fashions and ideals receded and modern taste shook itself free from what was tawdry, fluffy, stuffy, floppy, messy, cheaply imitative, fringed and tasselled and secretive. michael himself from sheer detestation of the surroundings under which he had grown to manhood favoured the uncovered, the naked wood or stone or slate, the bare floor, the wooden settee or cane-bottomed chair, the massive side-board, the bare mantelpiece and distempered wall. on the whole, their house in portland place satisfied tolerably well the advanced taste in domestic scenery of . but your eye was caught at once by the additions made by mrs. rossiter. linda conceived it was her womanly mission to lighten the severity of michael's choice in furniture and decorations. she introduced rickety and expensive screens that were easily knocked over; photographs in frames which toppled at a breath; covers on every flat surface that could be covered--occasional tables, tops of grand pianos. if she did not put frills round piano legs, she placed tasselled poufs about the drawing-room that every short-sighted visitor fell over, and used large bows of slightly discoloured ribbon to mask unneeded brackets. in the reception rooms food-bestrewn parrot stands were left where they ought never to be seen; and there were gilt-wired parrot cages; baskets for the pugs lined with soiled shawls; absurd ornaments, china cats with exaggerated necks, alabaster figures of stereotyped female beauty and flowerpot stands of ornate bamboo. she loved portières, and she would fain have mitigated the bareness of the panelled or distempered walls; only that here her husband was firm. she unconsciously mocked the few well-chosen, well-placed pictures on the walls (which she itched to cover with a "flock" paper) by placing in the same room on bamboo easels that matched the be-ribboned flower-stands pastel, crayon, or _gouache_ studies of the worst possible taste. michael's library alone was free from her improvements, though it was sometimes littered with her work-bags or her work. she had long ago developed the dreadful mistake that it "helped" michael at his work if she brought hers (perfectly futile as a rule) there too. "i just sit silently in his room, my dear, and stitch or knit something for poor people in marrybone--i'm told you mayn't say mary-le-bone. i feel it _helps_ michael to know i'm there, but of course i don't interrupt him at his _work_." as a matter of fact she did, confoundedly. but fortunately she soon grew sleepy or restless. she would yawn, as she believed "prettily," but certainly noisily; or she would wonder "how time was going," and of course her twenty-guinea watch never went, or if it was going was seldom within one hour of the actual time. or she would sneeze six times in succession--little cat-like sneezes that were infinitely disturbing to a brain on the point of grasping the solution of a problem. throughout the winter months she had a little cough. oh no, you needn't think i'm preparing the way for decease through phthisis--it was one of those "kiffy" coughs due in the main to acidity--too many sweet things in her diet, too little exercise. she _thought_ she coughed with the greatest discretion but to the jarred nerves of her husband a few hearty bellows or an asthmatic wheeze would have been preferable to the fidgety, marmoset-like sounds that came from under a lace handkerchief. sometimes he would raise his eyes to speak sharply; but at the sight of the mild gaze that met his, the perfect belief that she was a soothing presence in this room of hard thinking and close writing--this superb room with its unrivalled library that he owed to the use of her wealth, his angry look would soften and he would return smile for smile. linda though a trifle fretful on occasion, especially with servants, a little petulant and huffy with a sense of her own dignity and importance as a rich woman, was completely happy in her marriage. she had never regretted it for one hour, never swerved from the conviction that she and michael were a perfect match--he, tall, stalwart, black-haired and strong; she "petite"--she loved the french adjective ever since it had been applied to her at scarborough by a sycophantic governess--petite--she would repeat, blonde, plump, or better still "potelée" (the governess had later suggested, when she came to tea and hoped to be asked to stay) _potelée_, blue-eyed and pink-cheeked. dresden china and all the stale similes applied to a type of little woman of whom the modern world has grown intolerant. it was therefore into this _milieu_ that david found himself introduced one thursday at the end of november, . he had walked the short distance from great portland street station. it was a fine day with a red sunset, and a lemon-coloured, thin moon-crescent above the sunset. the trees and bushes of park crescent were a background of dull blue haze. the surface of the broad roads was dry and polished, so his neat, patent-leather boots would still be fit for drawing-room carpets. a footman in a very plain livery--here michael was firm--opened the massive door. david passed between some statuary of too frank a style for linda's modest taste and was taken over by a butler of severe aspect who announced him into the great drawing-room as mr. david williams. he recognized rossiter at once, standing up with a tea-cup and saucer, and presumed that a fluffy, much be-furbelowed little lady at the main tea-table was mrs. rossiter, since she wore no hat. there was besides a rather alarming concourse of men and women of the world as he kept his eyes firmly fixed on mrs. rossiter for his immediate goal. rossiter met him half-way, shook hands cordially and introduced him to his wife who bowed with one of her "sweet" looks. for the moment david did not interest her. she was much more interested in trying to give an impression of profundity to lady feenix who was commenting on the professor's discoveries of the strange properties of the thyroid gland. a few introductions were effected--lady towcester, lady flower, miss knipper-totes, lady dombey, mr. lacrevy, professor ray lankester, mr. and mrs. gosse--and naturally for the most part david only half caught their names while they, without masking their indifference, closed their ears to his ("some student or other from his classes, i suppose--rather nicely dressed, rather too good-looking for a young man"); and rossiter, who had been interrupted first by mrs. rossiter asking him to observe that lady dombey had nothing on her plate, and secondly by david's entrance, resumed his discourse. goodness knew that he didn't _want_ to discourse on these occasions, but society expected it of him. there were quite twenty--twenty-two--people present and most of them--all the women--wanted to go away and say four hours afterwards: "we were (i was) at the rossiters this afternoon, and the professor was fascinating" ("great," "profoundly interesting," "shocking, my dear," "scandalous," "disturbing," "illuminating," "more-than-usually- enthralling-only-she-_would_-keep-interrupting-why-_is_-she-such-a-fool?") according to the idiosyncrasy of the diner-out. "he talked to us about the thyroid gland--i don't believe poor bob's got one, between ourselves--and how if you enlarged it or reduced it you'd adjust people's characters to suit the needs of society; and all about chimpanzi's blood--i believe he _vivisects_ half through the night in that studio behind the house--being the same as ours; and then ray lankester and chalmers mitchell argued about the cæca--cæcums, you know--something to do with appendicitis--of the mammalia, and altogether we had a high old time--i _always_ learn something on their thursdays." well: rossiter resumed his description of an experiment he was making--quite an everyday one, of course, for there were at least three men present to whom he wasn't going to give away clues prematurely. an experiment on the motor biallaxis of dormice. [mrs. rossiter had six months previously bought a dormouse in a cage at a bazaar, and after idolizing it for a week had forgotten all about it. her husband had rescued it half starved; his assistant had fed it up in the laboratory, and they had tried a few experiments on it with painless drugs with astonishing results.] the recital really was interesting and entirely outside the priggishness of science, but it was marred in consecutiveness and simplicity by mrs. rossiter's interruptions. "michael dear, lady dombey's cup!" or: "mike, could you cut that cake and hand it round?" or, if she didn't interrupt her husband she started stories and side-issues of her own in a voice that was quite distinctly heard, about a new stitch in crochet she had seen in the _queen_, or her inspection of the east marrybone soup kitchen. however when all had taken as much tea and cakes and _marrons glacés_ as they cared for--david was so shy that he had only one cup of tea and one piece of tea-cake--the large group broke up into five smaller ones. the few gradually converged, and dropping all nonsense discussed biology like good 'uns, david listening eager-eyed and enthralled at the marvels just beginning to peep out of the dissecting and vivisecting rooms and chemical laboratories in the opening years of the twentieth century. then one by one they all departed; but as david was going too rossiter detained him by a kindly pressure on the arm--a contact which sent a half-pleasant, half-disagreeable thrill through his nerves. "don't hurry away unless you really _are_ pressed for time. i want to show you some of my specimens and the place where i work." david followed him--after taking his leave of mrs. rossiter who accepted his polite sentences--a little stammered--with a slightly pompous acquiescence--followed him to the library and then through a curtained door down some steps into a great studio-laboratory, provided (behind screens) with washing places, and full of mysteries, with cupboards and shelves and further rooms beyond and a smell of chloride of lime combined with alcoholic preservatives and undefined chemicals. after a tour round this domain in which david was only slightly interested--for lack of the right education and imagination--so far he--or--she had only the mind of a mathematician--rossiter led him back into the library, drew out chairs, indicated cigarettes--even whiskey and soda if he wanted it--david declined--and then began to say what was at the back of his mind:-- "we met first in the train, the south wales express, you remember? i fancy you told me then that you had been in south africa, in this bungled war, and had been either wounded or ill in some way. in fact you went so far as to say you had had 'necrosis of the jaw,' a thing i politely doubted because whatever it was it has left no perceptible scar. of course it's damned impertinent of me to cross-examine you at all, or to ask _why_ you went to and why you left south africa. but i don't mind confessing you inspire me with a good deal of interest. "now the other day--as you know--i made the acquaintance of your father in wales--at pontystrad. i told him i had shown a young fellow some of those gower caves and how his name was--like your father's, 'williams.' of course we soon came to an understanding. then your father spoke of you in _high_ praise. what a delightful nature was yours, how considerate and kind you were--don't blush, though i admit it becomes you--well you can pretty well guess how he went on. but what interested me particularly was his next admission: how different you were as a lad--rather more than the ordinary wild oats--eh? and how completely an absence in south africa had changed you. you must forgive my cheek in dissecting your character like this. my excuse is that you yourself had rather vaguely referred to some wound or blood poisoning or operation, on the jaw or the throat. not to beat about the bush any more, the idea came into my mind that _if_ in some way the knife or the enemy's bullet had interfered with your thyroid gland--twig what i mean? i mean, that if your old man has not been exaggerating and that the difference between the naughty boy whom he sent up to london in--what was it? ?--and the perfectly behaved, good sort of chap that you are _now_ is no more than what usually happens when young men lose their cubbishness, _why_--_why_--do you take me?--i ask myself whether the change had come about through some interference with the thyroid gland. do you understand? and i thought, seeing how intensely interesting this research has become, you might have told me more about it. just what _did_ happen to you; where you were wounded, who attended to you, what operation was performed on the throat--only the rum thing is there seems to be no scar--well: now _you_ help me out, that is unless you feel more inclined to say, 'what the _hell_ does it matter to _you_?'"... david by this time has grown scarlet with embarrassment and confusion. but he endeavoured to meet the situation. "my character _has_ changed during the last five years, and especially so since i came back from south africa. but i am quite sure it was not due to any operation, on the throat or anywhere else. i really don't know _why_ i told you that silly falsehood in the train--about necrosis of the jaw. the fact is that when i was in hospital--at--colesberg, a friend of mine in the same ward used--to chaff me--and say i was going to have necrosis. i had got knocked over one day--by--the--wind of a shell and thought i was done for, but it really was next to nothing. p'raps i had a dose of fever on top. at any rate they kept me in hospital, and one morning the doctors disappeared and the boers marched in and when i got well enough i managed to escape and get away to--er--cape town and so returned--with some money--my friend frank gardner lent me." (at this stage the sick-at-heart vivie was saying to herself, "_what_ an account i'm laying up for frank to honour when he comes back--if he _does_ come back.") "i don't know _why_ i tell you all this, except that i ought never to have misled you at the start. but _if_ you are a kind and good man"--david's voice broke here--"you will forget all about it and not upset my father, i can _assure_ you i haven't done _anything_ really wrong. i haven't deserted--some day--perhaps--i can tell you all about it. but at present all that south african episode is just a horrid dream--i was more sinned against than sinning" (tears were rather in the voice at this stage). "i want to forget all about it--and settle down and vex my father no more. i want to read for the bar--a soldier's life is the very _opposite_ to what i should choose if i were a free agent. but you will trust me, won't you? you will believe me when i say i've done _nothing_ wrong, nothing that you, if you knew all the facts, would call wrong...?" speech here trailed off into emotion. despite the severest self-restraint the bosom rose and fell. a few tears trickled down the smooth cheeks--it was an ingratiating boy on the verge of manhood that rossiter saw before him. he hastened to say: "my _dear_ chap! don't say another word, unless you like to blackguard me for my impertinence in putting these questions. i _quite_ understand. we'll consider the whole thing erased from our memories. go on studying for the bar with all your might, if you must take up so barren a profession and won't become my pupil in biology--great openings, i can tell you, coming now in that direction." (a pause.) "but if it's of any interest to you, just come here as often as you like in your spare time--either to tea with mrs. rossiter or to see me at work on my experiments. i've taken a great liking to you, if you'll allow me to say so. i think there's good stuff in you. a young man reading for the bar in london is none the worse for a few friends. he must often feel pretty lonely on a sunday, for example. and he may also--now i'm going to be impertinent and paternal again--he may also pick up undesirable acquaintances, male--and female. don't you get feeling lonely, with your home far away in wales. consider yourself free of this place at any rate, and my wife and i can introduce you to some other people you might like to know. i might introduce you to mark stansfield the q.c. do you know any one in london, by the bye?" "oh yes," said david, smiling with all but one tear dried on a still coloured cheek. "i know honoria fraser--i know mr. praed the architect--" "the a.r.a.? of course; you or your father said you had been his pupil. h'm. praed. yes, i visualize him. rather a dilettante--whimsical--i didn't like what i heard of him at one time. however it's no affair of mine. and honoria fraser! she's simply one of the best women i know. it's curious she wasn't here--at least i didn't see her--this afternoon. she's a friend of my wife's. i knew her when she was at newnham. she had a great friend--what was it? violet? no, vera? vivien--yes that was it, _vivien_ warren. of course! why that business she started for women in the city somewhere is called _fraser and warren_. she was always wanting to bring this vivien warren here. said she had such a pretty colouring. i own i rather like to see a pretty woman. but she didn't come" (pulls at his pipe and thrusts another cigarette on david). "went abroad. seemed rather morose. some one who came with honoria said she had a bad mother, and honoria very rightly shut him up. by the bye, _where_ and _how_ did you come to meet honoria first?" (david was on the point of saying--he was so unstrung--"why we were at newnham together." then resolved to tell another whopper--indeed i am told there is a fascination in certain circumstances about lying--and replied): "vivien warren was my cousin. she was a vavasour on her mother's side--from south wales--and my mother was a vavasour too--" and as the disguised vivie said this, some inkling came into her mind that there _was_ a real relationship between catharine warren _née_ vavasour and the mary vavasour who was david's mother. a spasm of joy flashed through her at the possibility of her story being in some slight degree true. "i see," said rossiter, satisfied, and feeling now that the interview had lasted long enough and that there would be just time to glance at his assistant's afternoon work before he dressed for dinner.... "well, old chap. good-bye for the present. come often and see us and look upon me--i must be fifteen years older than you are--what, _twenty-four_? impossible! you don't look a day older than twenty--in fact, if you hadn't told me you'd been in south africa--however as i was saying, look on me as _in loco parentis_ while you _are_ in london. i'll show you the way out into the hall. shall they call you a cab? no? you're quite right. it's a splendid night for january. where do you live? here, write it down in my address book.... ' fig tree court, temple'--what a jolly address! are there fig trees in the temple ... still? p'raps descended from cuttings or layers the poor templars brought from the holy land." david returned to fig tree court and his studies of criminology. but his body and mind thrilled with the experiences of the afternoon; and the musty records in works of repellent binding and close, unsympathetic print of nineteenth century forgery, poisoning, assaults-on-the-person, and cruelty-to-children cases for once failed to hold his close attention. he sat all through the evening after a supper of bread and cheese and ginger beer in his snug, small room, furnished principally with well-filled book-shelves. the room had a glowing fire and a green-shaded reading lamp. he sat staring beyond his law books at visions, waking dreams that came and went. the dangers of exposure that opened before him were in these dreams, but there were other mind-pictures that filled his life with a glow of colour. how different from the drab horizons that encircled poor vivie warren less than a year ago! poor vivie, whom even fitzjohn's avenue at hampstead had rejected, who had long since been dropped--no doubt on account of rumours concerning her mother--by the few acquaintances she had made at cambridge, who had parents living in south kensington, bayswater, and bloomsbury. here was portland place receiving her in her guise as david williams with open arms. men and women looked at her kindly, interestedly, and she could look back at them without that protective frown. at night she could walk about the town, go to the theatre, stroll along the embankment and attract no man's offensive attentions. she could enter where she liked for a meal, a cup of tea, frequent the museum of the royal college of surgeons when she would without waiting for a "ladies" day; stop to look at a street fight, cause no sour looks if she entered a smoking compartment on the train, mingle with the man-world unquestioned, unhindered, unnoticed, exciting at most a pleasant off-hand camaraderie due to her youth and good looks. should she go on with the bold adventure? a thousand times yes! david should break no law in vivie's code of honour, do real wrong to no one; but vivie should see the life best worth living in london from a man's standpoint. david however must be armed at every point and have his course clearly marked out before his contemplation. he must steep himself in the geography of south africa--why not get rossiter to propose him as a fellow of the royal geographical society? that _would_ be a lark because they wouldn't admit women as members: they had refused honoria fraser. david must read up--somewhere--the history of the south african war as far as it went. he had better find out something about the bechuanaland police force; how as a member of such a force he could have drifted as far south as the vicinity of colesberg; how thereabouts he could have got sick enough--he certainly would say nothing more about a wound--to have been put into hospital. he must find out how he could have escaped from the boers and come back to england without getting into difficulties with the military or the colonial office or whoever had any kind of control over the members of the bechuanaland border police.... but the whole south african episode had better be dropped. rossiter, after his appeal, would set himself to forget and ignore it. it must be damped down in the poor old father's mind as of relative unimportance--after all, his father was a recluse who did not have many visitors ... by the bye, he must remember to write on the morrow and explain why he could not come down for christmas or the new year ... would promise a good long visit in the easter holidays instead--must remember that resolution to learn up some welsh. what a nuisance it was that you couldn't buy anywhere in london or in south wales any book about modern conversation in welsh. the sort of welsh you learnt in the old-fashioned books, which were all that could be got, was biblical language--some one had told david that if you went into smithfield market in the early morning you might meet the welsh farmers and stock-drivers who had come up from wales during the night and who held forth in the cymric tongue over their beasts. but probably their language was such as would shock nannie.... supposing frank gardner did come to england? in that case it might be safer to confide in frank. he was harum-scarum, but he was chivalrous and he pitied vivie. besides he was a prime appreciator of a lark. should she even tell rossiter? no, of _course_ not. that was just one of the advantages of being "david." as "david" she could form a sincere and inspiring friendship with rossiter which would be utterly beyond her reach as "vivie." how pale beside the comradeship of honoria now appeared the hand-grips, the hearty male free-masonry of a man like rossiter. how ungrateful however even to make such an admission to herself.... at present the only people who knew of her prank and guessed or knew her purpose were honoria and bertie adams. honoria! what a noble woman, what a true friend. somehow, now she was david, she saw honoria in a different light. poor norie! she too had her wistful leanings, her sorrows and disappointments. what a good thing it would be if her mother decided to die--of course she would, could, never say any such thing to norie--to die and set free honoria to marry major petworth armstrong! she felt norie still hankered after him, but perhaps kept him at bay partly because of her mother's molluscous clingings--no! she wouldn't even sneer at lady fraser. lady fraser had been one of the early champions of woman's rights. very likely it was a dread of vivie's sneers and disappointment that had mainly kept back norie from accepting major armstrong's advances. well, when next they met she--vivie--or better still david--would set that right. chapter vii honoria again , fig tree court, temple. _march_ , . dear honoria,-- i am going down to spend easter with my people in south wales. before i leave i should so very much like a long talk with you where we can talk freely and undisturbed. that is impossible at the office for a hundred reasons, especially now that beryl claridge has taken to working early in her new-found zeal, while bertie adams deems it his duty to stay late. i am--really, truly--grieved to hear that your mother is so ill again. i would not ask to meet her--even if she was well enough to receive people--because she does not know me and when one is as ill as she is, the introduction to a stranger is a horrid jar. but if you _could_ fit in say an hour's detachment from her side--is it "bed-side" or is she able to get up?--and could receive me in your own sitting-room, why then we could have that full and free talk i should like on your affairs and on mine and on the joint affairs of _fraser and warren_. yours sincerely, d. v. w. dear david,-- come by all means. the wish for a talk is fully reciprocated on my side. mother generally tries to sleep in the afternoon between three and six, and a nurse is then with her. yours sincerely, h. f. "mr. david williams wishes to see you, miss," said a waiter, meeting honoria on a thursday afternoon, as she was emerging into their tiny hall from her mother's room. "show him up, please.... ah _there_ you are, _david_. we must both talk rather low as mother is easily waked. come into my study; fortunately it is at the other end of the flat." * * * * * they reach the study, and honoria closes the door softly but firmly behind them. "we never do kiss as a rule, having long ago given up such a messy form of greeting; but certainly we wouldn't under these circumstances lest we could be seen from the opposite windows and thought to be 'engaged'; but though i may seem a little frigid in greeting you, it is only because of the clothes you are wearing'--you understand, don't you--?" "quite, dearest. we cannot be too careful. besides we long ago agreed to be modern and sanitary in our manners." "won't you smoke?" "well, perhaps it would be more restful," said david, "more manly; but as a matter of fact of late i have been rather 'off' smoking. it is very wasteful, and as far as i am concerned it never produced much effect--either way--on the nerves. still, it gives one a nice manly flavour. i always liked the smell of a smoking-room.... and your mother: how is she?" "very bad, i fear. the doctor tells me she can't last much longer, and hypocritical as the phrase sounds i couldn't wish her to, unless these pains can be mitigated, and this dreadful distress in breathing.... i wonder if some day _i_ shall be like that, and if behind my back a daughter will be saying she couldn't wish me to live much longer, unless, etc. i shall miss her _frightfully_, if she does die.... armstrong has been more than kind. he has got a woman's heart for tenderness. he thinks every day of some fresh palliative until the doctors quite dislike him. fortunately his kindness gives mother a fleeting gleam of pleasure. she wants me to marry him--i don't know, i'm sure.... whilst she's so bad i don't feel i could take any interest in love-making--and i suppose we _should_ make love in a perfunctory way--we're all of us so bound by conventions. we try to feel dismal at funerals, when often the weather is radiant and the ride down to brookwood most exhilarating. and love-making is supposed to go with marriage ... heigh-ho! what should you say if i _did_ marry--major armstrong...? did you ever hear of such a ridiculous name as petworth? i should have to call him 'pet' and every one would think i had gone sentimental in middle age. how _can_ parents be so unthinking about christian names? he can't see the thing as i do; it is almost the only subject on which he is 'huffy.' _you_ are the other, about which more anon. he says the petworth property meant _everything_ to the armstrongs, to _his_ branch of the armstrongs. but for that, they might have been any other kind of armstrong--it always kept him straight at school and in the army, he says, to remember he was an armstrong of petworth. they have held that poor little property (_i_ call it) alongside the egmonts and the leconfields for three hundred years, though they've been miserably poor. his second name is james--petworth james armstrong. but he loathes being called 'jimmy.' "of course, dear, i've no illusions. i'm not bad to look at--indeed i sometimes quite admire my figure when i see myself after my bath in the cheval glass--but i'm pretty well sure that one of the factors in pet's admiration for me was my income. mother, it seems, has a little of her own, from one of her aunts, and if the poor darling is taken--though it is simply horrid considering that _if_--only that she has talked so freely to army--i think i like 'army' far better than 'pet'--well i mean she's been trying to tell him ever since he first came to call that when she is gone i shall have, all told, in my own right, five thousand a year. so i took the first opportunity of letting _him_ know that two thousand a year of that would be held in reserve for the work of the firm and for the woman's cause generally.... look here, i won't babble on much longer.... i know you're dying to make _me_ confidences.... we'll ring for tea to be sent in here, and whilst the waiter is coming and going--don't they take _such_ a time about it, when they're _de trop_?--we'll talk of ordinary things that can be shouted from the _house tops_. "i haven't been to the office for three days. does everything seem to be going on all right?" _david_: "quite all right. bertie adams tries dumbly to express in his eyes his determination to see the firm and me through all our troubles and adventures. i wish i could convey a discreet hint to him not to be so _blatantly_ discreet. if there were a sherlock holmes about the place he would spot at once that adams and i shared a secret.... but about beryl--" (enter waiter....) _honoria_ (to waiter): "oh--er--tea for two please. remember it must be china and the still-room maids _must_ see that the water has been fresh-boiled. and buttered toast--or if you've got muffins...? you have? well, then muffins; and of course jam and cake. and--would you mind--you always try, i know--bringing the things in very quietly--here--? because lady fraser is so easily waked..." (the swiss waiter goes out, firmly convinced that honoria's anxiety for her lady mother is really due to the desire that the mother should not interrupt a flirtation and a clandestine tea.) _honoria_: "well, about beryl?" _david_: "beryl, i should say, is going to become a great woman of business. but for that, and--i think--a curious streak of fidelity to her vacillating architect ('how happy could i be with either,' don't you know, _he_ seems to feel--just now they say he is living steadily at storrington with his wife no. , who is ill, poor thing) ... but for that and this, i think beryl would enjoy a flirtation with me. she can't quite make me out, and my unwavering severity of manner. her cross-questioning sometimes is maddening--or it might become so, but that with both of us--you and me--retiring so much into the background she has to lead such a strenuous life and see one after the other the more important clients. of course--here's the tea..." (brief interval during which the waiter does much unnecessary laying out of the tea until honoria says: "don't let me keep you. i know you are busy at this time. i will ring if we want anything.") david continues: "of course i come in for my share of the work after six. on one point beryl is firm; she doesn't mind coming at nine or at eight or at half-past seven in the morning, but she _must_ be back in chelsea by half-past five to see her babies, wash them and put them to bed. she has a tiny little house, she tells me, near trafalgar square, and fortunately she's got an excellent and devoted nurse, one of those rare treasures that questions nothing and is only interested in the business in hand. she and a cook-general make up the establishment. before mrs. architect no. became ill, mr. architect used to visit her there pretty regularly, and is assumed to be mr. claridge.... well: to finish up about beryl: i think you--we--can trust her. she may be odd in her notions of morality, but in finance or business she's as honest--as--a man." "my dear vivie--i mean david--what a strange thing for _you_ to say! i suppose it is part of your make-up--goes with the clothes and that turn-over collar, and the little safety pin through the tie--?" _david_: "no, i said it deliberately. men are mostly hateful things, but i think in business they're more dependable than women--think more about telling a lie or letting any one down. the point for you to seize on is this--if you haven't noticed it already: that beryl has become an uncommonly good business woman. and what's more, my dear, you've improved _her_ just as you improved _me_" (honoria deprecates this with a gesture, as she sits looking into the fire). "beryl's talk is getting ever so much less reckless. and she takes jolly good care not to scandalize a client. she finds adams--she tells me--so severe at the least jest or personality that she only talks to him now on business matters, and finds him a great stand-by; and the other day she told miss a.--as you call the senior clerk--she ought to be ashamed of herself, bringing in a copy of the _vie parisienne_. the way she settled mrs. gordon's affairs--you remember, no. you catalogued the case--was masterly; and mrs. g. has insisted on paying per cent. commission on the recovered property. and it was beryl who found out that leakage in the 'variegated tea rooms' statement of accounts. i hadn't spotted it. no. i think we needn't be anxious about beryl, especially whilst i am in wales and you are giving yourself up--as you ought to do--to your mother. but it's coming to _this_, honoria--" (enter waiter. david says "oh, damn," half audibly. waiter is confirmed in his suspicions, but as he likes honoria immensely resolves to say nothing about them in the steward's room. she is such a kind young lady. he explains he has come to take the tea things away, and honoria replies "capital idea! now, david, you'll be able to have the whole table for your accounts!").... "it's coming to _this_, honoria," says david, clearing his throat, "that you will soon be wanting not to be bothered any more with the affairs of _fraser and warren_, and after i really get into the law business i too shall require to detach myself. let us therefore be thankful that beryl is shaping so well. i rather think this summer you will have to get more office accommodation and give her some more responsible women to help her.... _now_ finish what you were saying about major armstrong." _honoria_: "of _course_ i shall marry him some day. i suppose i felt that the day after i first met him. but it amuses me to be under no illusion. i am sure this is what happened two years ago--or whenever it was he came back wounded from your favourite haunt, south africa. michael rossiter--who likes 'army' enormously--i think they were at school or college together--said to linda, his wife: 'here's armstrong. one of the best. wants to marry. wife must have a little money, otherwise he'll have to go on letting petworth manor. and here's honoria fraser, one of the finest women i've ever met. getting a little long in the tooth--or will be soon. let's bring 'em together and make a match of it.' "so we are each convoked for a luncheon, with a projected adjournment to kew--which _you_ spoilt--and there it is. but joking apart, 'army' is a dear and i am sure by now he wants me even more than my money--and i certainly want him. i'm rising thirty and i long for children and don't want 'em to come to me too late in life." _david_: "you said he didn't like _me_..." _honoria_: "oh that was half nonsense. when we all met last sunday at the rossiters he became very jealous and suspicious. asked who was that whipper-snapper--i said you neither whipped nor snapped, especially if kindly treated. he said then who was that madonna young man--a phrase it appears he'd picked up from lord cromer, who used to apply it to every new arrival from the foreign office--armstrong was once his military secretary. i was surprised to hear he thought you womanish--i spoke of your fencing, riding,--was just going to add 'hockey,' and 'croquet': then remembered they might be thought feminine pastimes, so referred to your swimming. military men always respect a good swimmer; i fancy because many of them funk the water.... i was just going on to explain that you were a cousin of a great friend of mine and helped me in my business, when a commissionaire came from quansions in a hansom to say that mother was feeling very bad again. 'army' and i went back in the hansom, but i was crying a little and being a gentleman he did not press his suit..." enter lady fraser's nurse on tiptoe. says in a very hushed voice "major armstrong has called, miss fraser. he came to ask about lady fraser. i said if anything she was a bit better and had had a good sleep. he then asked if he might see you." _honoria_: "certainly. would you mind showing him in here? it will save my ringing for the waiter." enter major armstrong. at the sight of david he flushes and looks fierce. _honoria_: "so glad you've come, dear major. i hear mother has had a good nap. i must go to her presently. you know david vavasour williams?--davy! you really _must_ leave out your second name! it gets so fatiguing having to say it every time i introduce you." armstrong bows stiffly and david, standing with one well-shaped foot in a neat boot on the curb of the fireplace, looks up and returns the bow. _honoria_: "this won't do. you are two of my dearest friends, and yet you hardly greet one another. i always determined from the age of fifteen onwards i would never pass my life as men and women in a novel do--letting misunderstandings creep on and on where fifty words might settle them. _army!_ you've often asked me to marry you--or at least so i've understood your broken sentences. i never refused you in so many words. now i say distinctly 'yes'--if you'll have me. only, you know quite well i can't actually marry you whilst mother lies so ill..." major armstrong, very red in the face, in a mixture of exultation, sympathy and annoyance that the affairs of his heart are being discussed before a whipper-snapper stranger--says: "_honoria!_ do you _mean_ it? oh..." _honoria_: "of course i mean it! and if i drew back you could now have a breach-of-promise-of-marriage action, with david as an important witness. d.v.w.--who by the bye is a cousin of my _greatest friend_--my friend for life, whether you like her--as you ought to do--or not--vivie warren.... david is reading for the bar; and besides being your witness to what i have just said, might--if you deferred your action long enough--be your counsel.... now look here," (with a catch in the voice) "you two dear things. my nerves are all to bits.... i haven't slept properly for nights and nights. david, dear, if you _must_ talk any more business before you go down to wales, you must come and see me to-morrow.... darling mother! i can't _bear_ the thought you may not live to see my happiness." (david discreetly withdraws without a formal good-bye, and as he goes out and the firelight flickers up, sees armstrong take honoria in his arms.) chapter viii the british church david had read hard all through hilary term with mr. stansfield of the inner temple; he had passed examinations brilliantly; he had solved knotty problems in the legal line for _fraser and warren_, and as already related he had begun to go out into society. indeed, starting from the rossiters' thursdays and praed's studio suppers, he was being taken up by persons of influence who were pleased to find him witty, possessed of a charming voice, of quiet but unassailable manners. opinions differed as to his good looks. some women proclaimed him as adorable, rather sphynx-like, you know, but quite fascinating with his well-marked eye-brows, his dark and curly lashes, the rich warm tints of his complexion, the unfathomable grey eyes and short upper lip with the down of adolescence upon it. other women without assigning any reason admitted he did not produce any effect on their sensibility--they disliked law students, they said, even if they were of a literary turn; they also disliked curates and shopwalkers and sidesmen ... and sunday-school teachers. give them _manly_ men; avowed soldiers and sailors, riders to hounds, sportsmen, big game hunters, game-keepers, chauffeurs--the chauffeur was becoming a new factor in society, bernard shaw's "superman"--prize-fighters, meat-salesmen--then you knew where you were. similarly men were divided in their judgment of him. some liked him very much, they couldn't quite say why. others spoke of him contemptuously, like major armstrong had done. this was due partly to certain women being inclined to run after him--and therefore to jealousy on behalf of the professional lady-killer of the military species--and partly to a vague feeling that he was enigmatic--sphynx-like, as some women said. he was too silent sometimes, especially if the conversation amongst men tended towards racy stories; he was sarcastic and nimble-witted when he did speak. and he was not easily bullied. if he encountered an insolent person, he gave full effect to his five feet eight inches, the look from his grey eyes was unwavering as though he tacitly accepted the challenge, there was an invisible rapier hanging from his left hip, a poise of the body which expressed dauntless courage. honoria's stories of his skill in fencing, riding, swimming, ball-games, helped him here. they were perfectly true or sufficiently true--_mutatis mutandis_--and when put to the test stood the test. david indeed found it well during this first season in town to hire a hack and ride a little in the park--it only added one way and another about fifty pounds to his outlay and impressed certain of the benchers who were beginning to turn an eye on him. one elderly judge--also a park rider--developed an almost inconvenient interest in him; asked him to dinner, introduced him to his daughters, and wanted to know a deal too much as to his position and prospects. on the whole, it was a distinct relief from a public position, from this increasing number of town acquaintances, this broader and broader track strewn with cunning pitfalls, to lock up his rooms and go off to wales for the easter holidays. easter was late that year--or it has to be for the purpose of my story--and david was fortunate in the weather and the temperature. if west glamorganshire had looked richly, grandiosely beautiful in full summer, it had an exquisite, if quite different charm in early spring, in april. the great trees were spangled with emerald leaf-buds; the cherries, tame and wild, the black-thorn, the plums and pears in orchards and on old, old, grey walls, were in full blossom of virgin white. the apple trees in course of time showed pink buds. the gardens were full of wall-flowers--the inhabited country smelt of wall-flowers--purple flags, narcissi, hyacinths. the woodland was exquisitely strewn with primroses. in the glades rose innumerable spears of purple half-opened bluebells; the eye ranged over an anemone-dotted sward in this direction; over clusters of smalt-blue dog violets in another. ladies'-smocks and cowslips made every meadow delicious; and the banks of the lowland streams were gorgeously gilded with king-cups. the mountains on fine days were blue and purple in the far distance; pale green and grey in the foreground. under the april showers and sun-shafts they became tragic, enchanted, horrific, paradisiac. even the mining towns were bearable--in the spring sunshine. if man had left no effort untried to pile hideosity on hideosity, flat ugliness on nauseous squalor, he had not been able to affect the arch of the heavens in its lucid blue, all smokes and vapours driven away by the spring winds; he had not been able to neutralize the vast views visible from the miners' sordid, one-storeyed dwellings, the panorama of hill and plain, of glistening water, towering peaks, and larch forests of emerald green amid the blue-scotch pines and the black-green yews. david in previous letters, looking into his father's budget, had shown him he could afford to keep a pony and a pony cart. this therefore was waiting for him at the little station with the gardener to drive. but in a week, david, already a good horseman, had learnt to drive under the gardener's teaching, and then was able to take his delighted father out for whole-day trips to revel in the beauties of the scenery. they would have with them a wicker basket containing an ample lunch prepared by the generous hands of bridget. they would stop at some spot on a mountain pass; tether the pony, sit on a plaid shawl thrown over a boulder, and feast their eyes on green mountain-shoulders reared against the pale blue sky; or gaze across ravines not unworthy of switzerland. or they would put up pony and cart at some village inn, explore old battlemented churches and churchyards with seventeenth and eighteenth century headstones, so far more tasteful and seemly than the hideous death memorials of the nineteenth century. and ever and again the old father, looking more and more like a druid, would recite that charming spring song, the th psalm; or fragments of welsh poetry sounding very good in welsh--as no doubt greek poetry does in properly pronounced greek, but being singularly bald and vague in its references to earth, sea, sky and flora when translated into plain english. david expressed some such opinions which rather scandalized his father who had grown up in the conventional school of unbounded, unreasoning reverence for the hebrew, greek and keltic classics. from that they passed to the great problems, the undeterminable problems of the universe; the awful littleness of men--mere lice, perhaps, on the scurfy body of a shrinking, dying planet of a fifth-rate sun, one of a billion other suns. the revd. howel like most of the christian clergy of all times of course never looked at the midnight sky or gave any thought to the terrors and mysteries of astronomy, a science so modern, in fact, that it only came into real existence two or three hundred years ago; and is even now only taken seriously by about ten thousand people in europe and america. where, in this measureless universe--which indeed might only be one of several universes--was god to be found? a god that had been upset by the dietary of a small desert tribe, who fussed over burnt sacrifices and the fat of rams at one time; at another objected to censuses; at another and a later date wanted a human sacrifice to placate his wrath; or who had washed out the world's fauna and flora in a flood which had left no geological evidence to attest its having taken place. "did you ever think about the dinosaurs, father?" said david at the end of some such tirade--an outburst of free-thinking which in earlier years might have upset that father to wrath and angry protest, but which now for some reason only left him dazed and absent-minded. (it was the colonies that had done it, he thought, and the studio talk of that dilettante architect. by and bye, david would distinguish himself at the bar, marry and settle down, and resume the orthodox outlook of the english--or as he liked to call it--the british church.) "the dinosaurs, my boy? no. what were they?" _david_: "the real dragons, the dragons of the prime, that swarmed over england and wales and scotland, and europe, asia, and north america--and i dare say africa too. one of the most stupendous facts of what you call 'creation,' though perhaps only one amongst many skin diseases that have afflicted the planet--well the dinosaurs went on developing and evolving and perfecting--so rossiter says--for three million years or so--then they were scrap-heaped. what a waste of creative energy!..." _father_: "ah it's rossiter who puts all these ideas into your head, is it?" _david_ (flushing); "oh dear no! i used to think about them at (is about to say 'newnham,' but substitutes 'malvern')--at malvern--" _father_ (drily): "i'm glad to hear you thought about something--serious--at any rate--then, in the midst of your scrapes and truancies--but go on, dear boy. it's a delight to me to hear you speak. it reminds me--i mean your voice does--of your poor mother. you know i loved her very tenderly, david, and though it is all past and done with i believe i should forgive her _now_, if she only came back to me. i'm sometimes _so_ lonely, boy. i wish you'd marry and settle down here--there's lots of room for you--some nice girl--and give me grandchildren before i die. but i suppose i must be patient and wait first for your call to the bar. what a dreary long time it all takes! why can't they, with one so clever, shorten the term of probation? or why wait for that to marry? i could give you an allowance. as soon as you were called you could then follow the south wales circuit--well, go on about your dinosaurs. i seem to remember professor owen invented them--but _he_ never wavered in his faith and was the great opponent of that rash man, darwin. oh, _i_ remember now the old controversies--what a stalwart was the bishop of winchester! they couldn't bear him at their scientific meetings--there was one at bath, if i recollect right, and he put them all to the right-about. what about your dinosaurs? i'm not denying their existence; it's only the estimates of time that are so ridiculous. god made them and destroyed them in the great flood, of which their fossil remains are the evidence--" david however would desist from pursuing such futile arguments; feel surprised, indeed, at his own outbreaks, except that he hated insincerity. however new and disturbing to his father were these flashes of the new learning, in his outward conduct he was orthodox and extremely well-behaved. the spiritual exercises of the revd. howel had become jejune, and limited very much by his failing sight. the recovery after the operation had come too late in life to bring about any expansion of public or private devotions. family prayers were reduced to the recital from memory of an exhortation, a confession, and an absolution, followed by the lord's prayer and a benediction. services in the church were limited to morning and evening prayers, with communion on the first sunday in the month, and a sermon following morning prayer. there was no one to play the organ if the schoolmistress failed to turn up--as she often did. david however scrupulously turned the normal congregation of five--bridget, the maid of the time-being, the gardener-groom, the sexton, and a baker-church-warden--into six by his unvarying attendance. in the course of half his stay the rumour of his being present and of his good looks and great spiritual improvement attracted quite a considerable congregation, chiefly of young women and a few sheepish youths; so that his father was at one and the same time exhilarated and embarrassed. was this to be a church revival? if so, he readily pardoned david his theories on the dinosaurs and his doubts as to the unvarying evidence of divine wisdom in the story of creation. if any other consideration than a deep affection for this dear old man and repentance for his unwise ebullitions of free thought had guided david in the matter it was an utter detestation of the services and the influence of the calvinist chapel in the village, the little bethel, presided over by pastor prytherch, a fanatical blacksmith, who alternated spells of secret drunkenness and episodes of animalism by orgies of self-abasement, during which he--in half-confessing his own lapses--attributed freely and unrebukedly the same vices to the male half of his overflowing congregation. these out-pourings--"pechadur truenus wyf i! arglwydd madden i mi!"--extempore prayers, psalms chanted with a swaying of the body, hymns sung uproariously, scripture read with an accompaniment of groans, hysteric laughter, and interjections of assent, and a rambling discourse--lasting fully an hour, were in the welsh language; and david on his three or four visits--and it can be imagined what a sensation _they_ caused! the vicar's son--himself perhaps about to confess his sins!--understood very little of the subject matter, save from the extravagant gestures of the participants. but he soon made up his mind that religion for religion, that expressed by the english--"well, father, you are right--the 'british'"--church in wales was many hundred times superior in reasonableness and stability to the negroid ebullitions of the calvinists. as a matter of fact they were scarcely more followers of the reformer calvin than they were of ignatius loyola; it was just a symptomatic outbreak of some prehistoric iberian, silurian form of worship, something deeply planted in the soil of wales, something far older than druidism, something contemporary with the beliefs of neolithic days. eighteen years ago, much of wales was as enslaved by whiskey as are still keltic scotland, keltiberian ireland, lancashire, london and wicked little kent. it was only saved from going under completely by decennial religious revivals, which for three months or so were followed by total abstinence and a fierce-eyed continence. just about this time--during david's extended spring holiday in wales (he had brought many law books down with him to read)--there had begun one of the newspaper-made-famous revivals. it was led by a young prophet--a football half-back or whatever they are called, though i, who prefer thoroughness, would, if i played football, offer up the whole of my back to bear the brunt--who saw visions of teutonically-conceived angels with wings, who heard "voices," was in constant communication with the redeemer of mankind and on familiar terms with god, had a lovely tenor voice and moved emotional men and hysterical, love-sick women to tears, even to bellowings by his prayers and songs. he had for some weeks been confined in publicity to half-contemptuous paragraphs in the south wales press. then the _daily chronicle_ took him up. their well-known, emotional-article writer, mr. sigsbee, saw "copy" in him, and--to do him justice (for there i agreed with him)--a chance to pierce the armour of the hand-in-glove-with-government distillers, so went down to wales to write him up. for three weeks he became more interesting than a cabinet minister. indeed cabinet ministers or those who aspired to become such at the next turn of the wheel truckled to him. some were afraid he might become a small messiah and lead wales into open revolt; others that he might smash the whiskey trade and impair the revenue. mr. lloyd george going to address a pro-boer meeting at aberystwith (was it?) encountered him at a railway junction, attended by a court of ex-footballers and reformed roysterers, and said in the hearing of a reporter "i must fight with the sword of the flesh; but you fight with the sword of the spirit"--whatever that may have meant--and i do not pretend to complete accuracy of remembrance--i only know i felt very angry with the whole movement at the time, because it delayed indefinitely the _daily chronicle's_ review of my new book. well this evan--in all such movements an evan is inevitable--evan gwyllim jones--with the black eyes, abundant black hair, beautiful features (he was a handsome lad) and glorious voice, addressed meetings in the open air and in every available building of four walls. thousands withdrew their names from foot-ballery, nigh on two millions must have taken the pledge--and not merely an anti-whiskey pledge but a fierce renunciation of the most diluted alcohol as well; and approximately two hundred and fifty thousand confessed their sins of unchastity and swore to be reborn galahads for the rest of their lives. it was a spiritual spring-cleaning, as drastic and as overdone as are the domestic upheavals known by that name. but it did a vast deal of good, all the same, to south wales; and though it was a seventh wave, the tide of temperance, thrift, cleanliness, bodily and spiritual, has risen to a higher level of average in the beautiful romantic principality ever since. evan gwyllim jones, however, overdid it. he had to retire from the world to a home--some said even to a mental hospital. six months afterwards he emerged, cured of his "voices," much plumper, and--perhaps--poor soul--shorn of some of his illusions and ideals; but he married a grocer's widow of cardiff, and the _daily chronicle_ mentioned him no more. the infection of his meetings however penetrated to the agricultural district in which pontystrad was situated. five villages went completely off their heads. the blacksmith-pastor had to be put under temporary restraint. quite decent-looking, unsuspected folk confessed to far worse sins than they had ever committed. there arose an aristocracy of outcasts. three inns where little worse than bad beer was sold were gutted, respectable farmers' wives drank eau-de-cologne instead of spirits, several over-due marriages took place, there were a number of premature births, and the membership of the football clubs was disastrously reduced. such excitement was generated that little work was done, and the illegitimate birth rate of west glamorganshire--always high--for the opening months of became even higher. david was enlisted by the employers of labour, the farmers, chemical works, mining and smelting-works managers, squires, and postmasters to restore order. he preached against the revivalists. not with any lack of sympathy, any apology for the real ills which they denounced. he spoke with emphasis against the loosening of morality, recommended early marriage, and above all _education_; denounced the consumption of alcohol so strenuously and convincedly that then and there as he spoke he resolved himself henceforth to abstain from anything stronger than lager beer or the lighter french and german wines. but he threw cold water resolutely on the fantastical nonsense that accompanied these emotional outbursts of so-called religion; invited his hearers to study--at any rate elementarily--astronomy and biology; did not run down football but advised a moderate interest only being taken in such futile sports; recommended volunteering and an acquaintance with rifles as far preferable, seeing that we always stood in danger of a european war or of a drastic revival of insolent conservatism. then he made his appeal to the women. he spoke of the dangers of this hysteria; the need there was for level-headed house-keeping women in our councils; how they should first qualify for and then demand the suffrage, having already attained the civic vote. (here some of the employers of labour disapproved, plucked at his arm or hem of his reefer jacket, and one squire lumbered off the platform.) but he held on, warming with a theme that hitherto had hardly interested him. his speeches were above the heads of his peasant audiences; but they were a more sensitive harp to play on than the average anglo-saxon audience. many women wept, only decorously, as he outlined their influence in a reformed village, a purified principality. the men applauded frantically because, despite some prudent reserves, there seemed to be a promise of revolt in his suggestions. david felt the electric thrill of the orator in harmony with his audience; who for that reason will strive for further triumphs, more resounding perorations. he introduced scraps of welsh--all his auto-intoxicated brain could remember (how physically true was that taunt of dizzy's--"inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity!"). and the delighted audience shouted back "you're the man we want! into parliament you shall go, davy-bach" and much else. so david restored the five villages to sobriety in life and faith, yet left them with a new enthusiasm kindled. before he departed on his return to london and the grind of his profession, he had effected another change. because he had spoken as he had spoken and touched the hearts of emotional people, they came trickling back to his father's church, to the "british" church, as david now called it. little bethel was empty, and the pastor-blacksmith not yet out of the asylum at swansea. the revd. howel williams trod on air. his sermons became terribly long and involved, but that was no drawback in the minds of his welsh auditory; though it made his son swear inwardly and reconciled him to the approaching return to fig tree court. the old druid felt inspired to convince the hundred people present that the church they had returned to _was_ the church of their fathers, not only back to roman times, when glamorganshire was basking in an italian civilization, but further still. he showed how the druids were rather to be described as ante-christian than anti--with an _i_; and played ponderously on this quip. in druidism, he observed--i am sure i cannot think why, but it was his hobby--you had a remarkable foreshadowing of christianity; the idea of the human sacrifice, the atonement, the communion of saints, the mystic vine, which he clumsily identified with the mistletoe, and what not else. he read portions of his privately-published _tales of taliessin_. in short such happiness radiated from his pink-cheeked face and recovered eyes that david regretted in no wise his own lapses into conventional, stereotyped religion. the church of britain might be stiff and stomachered, as the offspring of elizabeth, but it was stately, it was respectable--as outwardly was the great virgin queen--and it was easy to live with. only he counselled his father to do two things: never to preach for more than half-an-hour--even if it meant keeping a small american clock going inside the pulpit-ledge; and to obtain a curate, so that the new enthusiasm might not cool and his father verging on seventy, might not overstrain himself. he pointed out that by letting off most of the glebe land and pretermitting david's "pocket-money" he might secure a young and energetic welsh-speaking curate, the remainder of whose living-wage would--he felt sure--be found out of the diocesan funds of st. david's bishopric. the revd. howel let him have his way (this was after david had returned to fig tree court) and by the following june a stalwart young curate was lodged in the village and took over the bulk of the progressive church work from the fumbling hands of the dear old vicar. he was a thoroughly good sort, this curate, troubled by no possible doubts whatever, a fervent tee-totaller, a half-back or whole back--i forget which--at football, a good boxer, and an unwearied organizer. little bethel was sold and eventually turned into a seed-merchant's repository and drying-room. the curate in course of time married the squire's daughter and i dare say long afterwards succeeded the revd. howel vaughan williams when the latter died--but that date is still far ahead of my story. at any rate--isn't it _droll_ how these things come about?--david's action in this matter, undertaken he hardly knew why--did much to fetter mr. lloyd george's subsequent attempts to disestablish the british church in wales. what did bridget think of all this, of the spiritual evolution of her nursling, of his identity with the vicious, shifty, idle youth whose uncanny gift of design seemed to have been completely lost after his stay in south africa? david vavasour williams had left home to the relief of his father and the whole village, if even to the half-pitying regret of his old nurse, in . he had spent a year or more in mr. praed's studio studying to be an architect or a scene painter. then somehow or other he did not get on with mr. praed and he enlisted impulsively in a south african police force (in the army, it seemed to bridget). he had somehow become involved in a war with a south african people, called by bridget "the wild boars"; he is wounded or ill in hospital; is little heard of, almost presumed dead. throughout all these five years he scarcely ever writes to his forgiving father; maintains latterly a sulky silence. then, suddenly in the summer of , returns; preceded only by a telegram but apparently vouched for by this mr. praed; and announces himself as having forgotten his welsh and most of the events of his youth, but having acquired a changed heart, and an anxiety to make up for past ill-behaviour by a present good conduct which seems almost miraculous. well: miracles were easily believed in by bridget. perhaps his father's prayers had been answered. providence sometimes meted out an overwhelming boon to really good people. david was certainly a vavasour, if there was nothing williamsy about his looks.... his mother, in mrs. bridget evanwy's private opinion, had been a hussy.... was david his father's son? hadn't she once caught mrs. howel williams kissing a young stranger behind a holly bush and wasn't that why bridget had really been sent away? she had returned to take charge of the pretty, motherless little boy when she herself was a widow disappointed of children, and the child was only three. would she ever turn against her nursling now, above all, when he was showing himself such a son to his old father? not she. he might be who and what he would. he was giving another ten years of renewed life to the dear old druid and the continuance of a comfortable home to his old nannie. they talked a great deal up at little bethel of a "change of heart." perhaps such things really took place, though bridget evanwy from a shrewd appraisement of the welsh nature doubted it. she would like to, but couldn't quite believe that an angel from heaven had taken possession of david's body and come here to play a divine part; because david sometimes talked so strangely--seemed not only to doubt the existence of a heavenly host, but even of something beyond, so awful in bridget's mind that she hardly liked to define it in words, though in her own welsh tongue it was so earthily styled "the big man." however, at all costs, she would stand by david ... and without quite knowing why, she decided that on all future visits she herself would "do out" his room, would attend to him exclusively. the "girl" was a chatterer, albeit she looked upon mr. david with eyes of awe and a most respectful admiration, while david on his part scarcely bestowed on her a glance. chapter ix david is called to the bar was the year of king edward's break-down in health but of his ultimate coronation; it was the year in which mr. arthur balfour became premier; it was the year in which motors became really well-known, familiar objects in the london streets, and hansoms (i think) had to adopt taximeter clocks on the eve of their displacement by taxi-cabs. it was likewise the year in which the south african war was finally wound up and the star of joseph chamberlain paled to its setting, and mrs. pankhurst and her daughter christabel founded the women's social and political union at manchester. in , the fiscal controversy absorbed much of public attention, the war office was once more reformed, women's skirts still swept the pavement and encumbered the ball-room, a peeress wrote to the _times_ to complain of modern manners, surrey beat something-or-other at the oval, and modern cricket was voted dull. in , the russo-japanese war was concluded, and _fraser and warren_ received a year's notice from the midland insurance co. that they must vacate their premises on the fifth floor of nos. - chancery lane. the business of _f. and w._ had grown so considerable that, as the affairs of the midland insurance co. had slackened, it became intolerable to hear the lift going up and down to the fifth floor all through the day. the housekeeper also thought it odd that a well-dressed young gentleman should steal in and up, day after day, after office hours to work apparently alone in _fraser and warren's_ partners' room. _fraser and warren_ over the hand of its junior partner, mrs. claridge, accepted the notice. their business had quite overgrown these inconveniently situated offices and a move to the west end was projected. mrs. claridge's scheme for week-end cottages had been enormously successful and had put much money not only into the coffers of _fraser and warren_ but into the banking account of that clever architect, francis brimley storrington. [i find i made an absurd mistake earlier in this book in charging the too amorous architect with a home at "storrington." his home really was in a midland garden city which he had designed, but his name--a not uncommon one--was storrington.] in the autumn of , poor lady fraser died. in january, , honoria married the impatient colonel armstrong. in january, , she had her first baby--a boy. at the close of beryl claridge made proposals to honoria fraser relative to a change in the constitution of _fraser and warren_. honoria was to have an interest still as a sleeping partner in the concern and some voice in its management and policy. but she was to take no active share of the office work and "warren" was to pass out of it altogether. beryl pointed out it was rather a farce when the middle partner--she herself had been made the junior partner a year before--was perpetually and mysteriously absent, year after year, engaged seemingly on work of her own abroad. her architect semi-husband moreover, who if not in the firm was doing an increasing share of its business, wanted to know _more_ about vivien warren. "was she or was she not the daughter of the 'notorious' mrs. warren; because if so..." he took of course a highly virtuous line. like so many other people he compounded for the sins he was inclined to by being severe towards the misdoings of others. _his_ case--he would say to beryl when they were together at chelsea--was _sui generis_, quite exceptional, they were really in a way perfectly good people--_tout savoir c'est tout pardonner, etc._; whereas the _things_ that were _said_ about mrs. warren!... and though vivien was nothing nearer sin than being her daughter, still if it were known or known more widely that _she_ was the warren in _fraser and warren_, why the wives of the wealthier clergy, for example, and a number of quakeresses would withdraw their affairs from the firm's management. whereas if only his little berry could become the boss, _he_ knew where to get "big money" to put behind the firm's dealings. the idea was all right; an association for the special management on thoroughly honest lines of women's affairs. they'd better get rid of that hulking young clerk, bertie adams, and staff the entire concern with capable women. he himself would always remain in the background, giving them ideas from time to time, and if any were taken up merely being paid his fees and commissions. david vavasour williams, privately consulted by norie, put forward no objection. he disliked beryl and was increasingly shy of his rather clandestine work on the fifth floor of the midland insurance chambers; besides, if and when he were called to the bar, he would have to cease all connection with _fraser and warren_. the consent of vivie was obtained through the power of attorney she had left behind. a new deed of partnership was drawn up. honoria insisted that vivien warren must be bought out for three thousand pounds, which amount was put temporarily to the banking account of david vavasour williams; she herself received another three thousand and a small percentage of the future profits and a share in the direction of affairs of the women's co-operative association (_fraser and claridge_) so long as she left a capital of five thousand pounds at their disposal. so in david with three thousand pounds purchased an annuity of £ a year for vivien warren. that investment would save vivie from becoming at any time penniless and dependent, and consequently would subserve the same purpose for her cousin and agent, david v. williams. going to the c. and c. bank, temple bar branch, to take stock of vivie's affairs, he found a thousand pounds had been paid in to her current account. ascertaining the name of the payee to be l.m. praed, he hurried off at the first opportunity to praed's studio. praed was entertaining a large party of young men and women to tea and the exhibition of some wild futurist drawings and a few rather striking designs for stage scenery and book covers. david had perforce to keep his questions bottled up and take part in the rather vapid conversation that was going on between young men with _glabre_ faces and high-pitched voices and women with rather wild eyes. [it struck david about this time that women were getting a little out of hand, strained, over-inclined to laugh mirthless laughter, greedy for sensuality, sensation, sincerity, sweetmeats. something. even if they satisfied some fleeting passion or jealousy by marrying, they soon wanted to be de-married, separated, divorced, to don male costume, to go on the amateur stage and act salome parts on sunday afternoons that most ladies of the real stage had refused; while the men that went about with them in these troops from restaurant to restaurant, studio to studio, music hall to café chantant, brighton to monte carlo, sandown to goodwood, were shifty, too well-dressed, too near neutrality in sex, without defined professions, known by nicknames only, spend-thrifts, spongers, bankrupts, and collectors of needless bric-à-brac.] however this mob at last quitted praddy's premises and he and david were left alone. praed yawned, and almost intentionally knocked over an easel with a semi-obscene drawing on it of a sphynx with swelling breasts embracing a lean young man against his will. _david_: "praddy! why do you tolerate such people and why prostitute your studio to such unwholesome art?" _praed_: "my dear david! this is _indeed_ satan rebuking sin. why there are three designs here--one i've just knocked over--beastly, wasn't it?--that _you _ left with me when you went off at a tangent to south africa.... really, we ought to have _some_ continuity you know.... "but i agree with you.... i'm sick of the whole business of this nouvel art and l'art nouveau, about aubrey beardsley and the disgusting 'nineties generally--but what _will_ you? if miss vivie warren had condescended to accept me as a husband she might have brought a wholesome atmosphere into my life and swept away all this ... inspired me perhaps with some final ambition for the little that remains of my stock of energy.... heigh-ho! well: what is the quarrel now? the life i lead, the people who come here?" _david_: "no. i hardly came about that; though dear old praddy, i wish i had time to look after you ... perhaps later.... no: what i came to ask was: what _did_ you mean the other day by paying in a thousand pounds to vivie warren's account at her bank? she's not in want of money so far as i know, and you can't be so very rich, even though you design three millionaire's houses a year. who gave you the money to pay in to my--to vivie's account?" _praed_: "well, when vivie herself comes to ask me, p'raps i'll tell; but i can't see how it concerns _you_. why not stop and dine--à l'imprévu, but i dare say my housekeeper can rake something together or it may not be too late to send out for a paté. we can then talk of other things. when are you going to get your call?" _david_: "sorry, dear old chap, but i can't stay to dinner. i'm not going anywhere else but i've got some papers i _must_ study before i go to bed. but i'll stop another half-hour at any rate. don't ring for lights or turn up the electric lamps. i would sooner sit in the dark studio and put my question. who has given me that thousand pounds?" _praed_: "that's _my_ business: _i_ haven't! i shan't give or lend vivie a penny till she consents to marry me. as to the rest, take it and be thankful. you're not certain to get any more and i happen to know it had what you would call a 'clean origin.'" _david_: "you mean it didn't come from those 'hotels'?" _praed_: "well, at any rate not directly. don't be a romantic ass, a tiresome fool, and give me any trouble about it. a certain person i imagine must have heard that _fraser and warren_ had been wound up and couldn't bear the thought of your being hard up in consequence ... doesn't know you got a share of the purchase-money..." * * * * * david decided at any rate for the present to accept the addition to his capital--you can perhaps push principle _too_ far; or, once you plunge into affairs, you cease to be quite so high-souled. at any rate nothing in david's middle-class mind was so horrible as penury and the impotence that comes with it. how many months or years would lie ahead of him before fees could be gained and a professional income be earned? besides he wanted to take bertie adams into his service as a clerk. a barrister must have a clerk, and david in his peculiar circumstances could only engage one acquainted more or less with his secret. so bertie adams fulfilled the ambition he had cherished for three years--he felt all along it was coming true. and when david was called to the bar--which he was with all the stately ceremonial of a call night at the inner temple in the easter term of , more elbow room was acquired at fig tree court, and bertie adams was installed there as clerk to mr. david vavasour williams, who had residential chambers on the third floor, and a fair-sized office and small private room on the second floor. bertie's mother had "washed" for both honoria and vivie in their respective dwellings for years, and for david after he came to live at fig tree court. a substantial douceur to the "housekeeper" had facilitated this, for in the part of the temple where lies fig tree court the residents do not call their ministrants "laundresses," but "housekeepers." curiously enough the accounts were always tendered to the absent vivie warren, but mrs. adams noted no discrepancy in their being paid by her son or in an unmarried lady living in the temple under the name of david williams. installed as clerk and advised by his employer to court one of the fair daughters of the housekeeper (mrs. laidly) with a view to marriage and settling down in premises hard-by, bertie adams (who like david had spent his time well between and and was now an accomplished and serviceable barrister's clerk) soon set to work to chum up with other clerks in this clerical hive and get for his master small briefs, small chances for defending undefended cases in which hapless women were concerned. but before we deal with the career of david at the bar, which of course did not properly commence--even as a brilliant junior--till the early months of , let us glance at the way in which he had passed the intervening space of time between his return from wales in may, , and the spending of his long vacation of as an esquire by the common law of england called to the bar, and entitled to wear a becoming grey wig and gown. he had begun in by studying latin, norman french--so greatly drawn on in law terms--and english history. in the summer of , by one of those subterfuges winked at then, he had obtained two rooms, sublet to him by a member of the inn, in fig tree court, inner temple. in the autumn of that year, having made sure of his parentage and his finance, he had approached the necessary authorities with a view to his being admitted a member of the inner temple, which meant filling up a form of declaration that he, david vavasour williams, of pontystrad, glamorgan, a british subject, aged twenty-four, son of the revd. howel vaughan williams, clerk in holy orders, of pontystrad in the county of glamorgan, was desirous of being admitted a student of the honourable society of the inner temple for the purpose of being called to the bar or of practising under the bar; and that he would not either directly or indirectly apply for or take out any certificate to practise directly or indirectly as a pleader, conveyancer or draftsman in equity without the special permission of the masters of the bench of the said honourable society of the inner temple. further, david declared with less assurance but perhaps within the four corners of the bare truth that he had not acted directly or indirectly in the capacity of a solicitor, attorney-at-law, writer to the signet or in about thirteen other specified legal positions; that he was not a chartered, incorporated or professional accountant ("a good job we changed the device of the firm," he thought), a land agent, a surveyor, patent agent, consulting engineer, or even as a clerk to any such officer. which made him rather shivery about what he _had_ been doing for _fraser and warren_, but there was little risk that any one would find out--and finally he declared that he was not in trade or an undischarged bankrupt. the next and most difficult step was to obtain two separate certificates from two separate barristers each of five years' standing, to the effect that he was what he stated himself to be. this required much thinking out, and was one of the reasons why he did not go down as promised and spend his christmas and new year with his father. instead he wrote to pontystrad explaining how important it was he should get admitted as a student in time to commence work in hilary term. did his father know any such luminary of the law or any two such luminaries? his father regretted that he only knew of one such barrister of over five years' standing: the distinguished son of an old cambridge chum. to him he wrote, venturing to recall himself, the more eagerly since this son of an old friend was himself a welshman and already distinguished by his having entered parliament, served with the welsh party, written a book on welsh history, and married a lady of considerable wealth. next david applied to rossiter with the result--as we have seen--that he got an introduction to mr. stansfield. so he obtained from mr. price and mr. stansfield the two certificates to the effect that "david vavasour williams has been introduced to me by letter of introduction from the revd. howel williams" (or "professor michael rossiter, f.r.s.") "and has been seen by me; and that i, mark stansfield, barrister-at-law, king's counsel" (or "john price, barrister-at-law, member of parliament") "believe the said david vavasour williams to be a gentleman of respectability and a proper person to be admitted a student of the honourable society of the inner temple with a view to being called to the bar." copies of the letters of introduction accompanied the two certificates. these of course were not obtained without several visits to the unsuspicious guarantors; or at least one to mr. price in paper buildings, for whom it was enough that david claimed to be welsh and showed a very keen interest in the welsh tongue and its indo-german affinities, and three or four to mr. mark stansfield, k.c., one of the nicest, kindliest and most learned persons david had ever met, whom he grieved deeply at deceiving. stansfield had a high opinion of rossiter. the fact that he recommended david was quite sufficient to secure his "guarantee." but apart from that, he felt himself greatly drawn towards this rather shy, grave, nice-looking young fellow with the steady eyes and the keen intelligence. he had him to dine and to lunch; drew him out--as far as david thought it prudent to go--and was surprised david had never been to a university ("only to malvern--and then i studied with an architect in london--who? mr. praed, a.r.a.--but then i travelled for a bit, and after that i felt more than ever i wanted to go in for the bar"--said david, with a charming smile which lit up his young face ordinarily so staid). stansfield consented that david should come and read with him, and in many ways facilitated his progress so materially and so kindly that more than once the compunctious young welshman thought of discarding the impersonation; and might have done so had not this most estimable stansfield died of pneumonia in the last year of david's studenthood. of course the preliminary examination was easily and quickly passed. david translated his bit of caesar's commentaries, answered brilliantly the questions about alfred the great, the anglo-norman kings, the constitutions of clarendon, magna charta and mortmain, henry the eighth and the reformation, the civil war and protectorate of cromwell, the bill of rights and the holy alliance. he paid his fees and his "caution" money; he ate the requisite six dinners--or more, as he found them excellent and convenient--in each term, attended all the lectures that interested him, and passed the subsidiary examinations on them with fair or even high credit; and finally got through his "call-to-the-bar" examination with tolerable success; at any rate he passed. a friend of the deceased stansfield--whose death was always one of the scars in vivie's memory--introduced him to one of the masters of the bench who signed his "call" papers. he once more made a declaration to the effect that he was not a person in holy orders, that he was not a solicitor, attorney-at-law, writer to the signet, etc., etc., a chartered, incorporated or professional accountant; and again that if called to the bar, he would never become a member of the abhorred professions over and over again enumerated; and was duly warned that without special permission of the masters of the bench of the inner temple he might not practise "under the bar"--whatever that may mean (i dare say it is some low-down procedure, only allowed in times of scarcity). then after having his name "screened" for twelve days in all the halls of the four inns, and going in fear and trembling that some one might turn up and object, he finally received his call to the bar on april (if april in that year was on a sunday, then on the following monday) and was "called" at the term dinner where he took wine with the masters. he remembered seeing present at the great table on the dais, besides the usual red-faced generals and whiskered admirals, simpering statesmen, and his dearly loved friend, michael rossiter--representing science,--a more sinister face. this was the well-known philanthropist and race-horse breeder, sir george crofts, bart., m.p. for a norfolk borough. their eyes met, curiously interlocked for a moment. sir george wondered to himself where the dooce he had seen that, type of face before, those grey eyes with the dark lashes. "gad! he reminds me of kitty warren! well, i'll be damned" (he was eventually) "i wonder whether the old gal had a son as well as that spitfire vivie?!" michael whispered a word or two to one of the masters, and david was presently summoned to attend the benchers and their distinguished guests in the inner chamber to which they withdrew for wine and dessert. rossiter made room for him, and he had to drink a glass of port with the benchers. every one was very gracious. rossiter said: "i was a sort of godfather to him, don't you know. david! you must do me credit and make haste to take silk and become a judge." crofts moved from where he sat next to a bishop. ("damn it all! i like bein' respectable, but why _will_ they always put me next a bishop or an archdeacon? it spoils all my best stories.") he came over--dragging his chair--to rossiter and said "i say! will you introduce me to our young friend here?" he was duly introduced. "h'm, williams? _that_ doesn't tell me much. but somehow your face reminds me awfully of--of--some one i used to know. j'ever have a sister?" "no," said david. crofts, he noticed, had aged very much in the intervening eight years. he must now be no more than-- ? but he had become very stout and obviously suffered from blood pressure without knowing it. he moved away a little, and david heard him talking to a master about lady crofts, who had come up to london for the season and how they were both very anxious about his boy--"yes, he had two children, a boy and a girl, bless 'em--the boy had been ill with measles and wasn't makin' quite the quick recovery they expected. what an anxiety children were, weren't they? though we wouldn't be without 'em, would we?" the bencher assented out of civility, though as a matter of fact he was an old bachelor and detested children or anything younger than twenty-one. david after his call was presented with a bill to pay of £ . _s._ his father hearing of this, insisted on sending him a cheque for £ out of his savings, adding he should be deeply hurt if it was not accepted and no more said about it. how soon was david coming down to see south wales once more gloriously clothed with spring? [much of this review of the years between and , many of these sweet remembrances are being taken from vivie's brain as she lies on a hard bed in , musing over the past days when, despite occasional frights and anxieties, she was transcendently happy. oh "sorrow's crown of sorrow, the remembering happier days!" she recalled the articles she used to write from the common room or library of the inn; how well they were received and paid for by the editors of daily and weekly journals; what a lark they were, when for instance she would raise a debate in the _saturday review_: "should women be admitted to the bar?" or an appeal in the _daily news_ to do away with the disabilities of women. how poor stansfield, before he died, said he had never met any young fellow with a tenderer heart for women, and advised him to marry whilst he still had youth and fire. she remembered david's social success at the great houses in the west end. how he might have gone out into society and shone more, much more, only he had to consider prudence and expense; the curious women who fell in love with him, and whom he had gently, tactfully to keep at arm's length. she remembered the eager discussions in the temple debating society, or at the "moots" of gray's inn, her successes there as an orator and a close reasoner; how boy students formed ardent friendships for her and prophesied her future success in parliament, would have her promise to take them into the cabinet which david was to form when an electorate swept him into power and sent the antiquated old rotters of that day into the limbo of deserved occlusion. she saw and heard once more the amused delight of honoria armstrong over her success, and the latent jealousy of the uxorious colonel armstrong if she came too often to see honoria in sloane street: and she remembered--oh god! _how_ she remembered--the close association in those three priceless years with her "godfather" michael rossiter; rossiter who shaped her mind--it would never take a different turn--who was patient with her stupidity and petulance; an elder brother, a robust yet tactful chaffer; a banisher of too much sensibility, a constant encouragement to effort and success. rossiter, she knew, with her woman's instinct, was innocently in love with her, but believed all the time he was satisfying his craving for a son to train, a disciple who might succeed him: for he still believed that david when he had been called to the bar and had flirted awhile with themis, would yet turn his great and growing abilities to the service of science. and mrs. rossiter in those times: vivie smiled at the thought of her undefined jealousy. she was anxious to be civil to a young man of whom michael thought so highly. she sympathized with his regret that they had no children, but why could he not take up with one of her cousin bennet's boys from manchester, or sophy's son from northallerton, or one of his own brother's or sister's children? how on earth did he become acquainted with this young man from south wales? but she was determined not to be separated in any way from her husband, and so she sat with them as often and as long as she could in the library. the studio-laboratory she could not stand with its horrid smell of chemicals; she also dreaded vaguely that vivisection went on there--michael of course had a license, though he was far too tender-hearted to torture sentient creatures. still he did odd things with frogs and rats and goats and monkeys; and her dread was that she might one day burst in on one of these sacrifices to science and see a transformed michael, blood-stained, wielding a knife and dangerous if interrupted in his pursuit of a discovery. but as the long talks and conferences of the two friends--really not so far separated in age as one of them thought--generally took place in the library, she assisted at a large proportion of them. rossiter would not have had it otherwise, though to david she was at times excessively irksome. her husband had long viewed her as a lay figure on these occasions. he rarely replied to her flat remarks, her inconsequent platitudes, her yawns and quite transparent signals that it was time for the visitor to go. sometimes david took her hints and left: he had no business to make himself a bore to any one. sometimes however michael at last roused to consciousness of the fretful little presence would say "what? sweety? _you_ still up. trot off to bed, my poppet, or you'll lose the roses in your cheeks." the roses in mrs. rossiter's cheeks at that time were beginning to be a trifle eczematous and of a fixed quality. nevertheless, though she tossed her head a little as she took up her "work" and swished out of the great heavy door--which david opened--she was pleased to think that michael cared for her complexion and was solicitous about her rest. and vivie's eyes swam a little as she thought about the death of mark stansfield, and the genuine tears that flowed down the cheeks of his pupils when they learnt one raw february morning from the housekeeper of his chambers that he had died at daybreak. "a better man never lived" they agreed. and they were right. and she smiled again as she thought of some amongst those pupils, the young dogs of those days, the lovers of actresses of the minor order--ballet girls, it might have been; of the larks that went on sometimes within and without the staid precincts of the temple. harmless larks they were; but such as she had to withdraw from discreetly. she played lawn tennis with them, she fenced surprisingly well; but she had refused to join the "devil's own"--the inns of court volunteers, for prudent reasons; and though it had leaked out that she was a good swimmer--that tiresome impulsive honoria had spread it abroad--she resolutely declined to give proofs of her prowess in swimming baths. her associates were not so young as the undergraduates she had met in newnham days: they were an average ten years older. their language at times made david blush, but they had more discretion and reserve than the university student, and they respected his desire to withdraw himself into himself occasionally, and to abstain from their noisier amusements without questioning his camaraderie. at this point in her smiling reminiscences, the wardress clanged open the door and slammed down a mug of cocoa and a slab of brown bread; and rapped out some orders in such a martinet utterance that they were difficult to understand. (don't be alarmed! she isn't about to be executed for having deceived the benchers of the inner temple in ; she is only in prison for a suffragist offence).] i can't wind up this chapter somehow without more or less finishing the story of beryl claridge. she has been a source of anxiety to my wife--who has read these chapters one by one as they left my typewriter. "was it wise to bring her in?" "well, but my dear, she was rather a common type of the new woman in the early nineteen hundreds." "yes--but--" of course the latent anxiety was that she might end up respectably. and so she did. in , the first mrs. storrington died at ware (ware was where the architect husband had his legitimate home). she had long been ill, increasingly ill of some terrible form of anæmia which had followed the birth of her fourth child. she slowly faded away, poor thing; and about the time david was returning from a triumphant christmas and new year at pontystrad--the curate and his young wife had made a most delightful partie carrée and david had kissed the very slightly protesting bridget under the native mistletoe--mrs. storrington breathed her last, while her faithless yet long forgiven francis knelt by her bedside in agonies of unavailing grief. well: she died and was buried, and her four children, ranging from nine to sixteen, sobbed very much and mourned for darling mummie without the slightest suspicion ("'twas better so," she had always thought) that dad had poisoned her wells of happiness ever since he took up with that minx at cambridge in the very year in which long-legged claribel was born. a few months after the poor lady was consigned (under a really lovely cenotaph designed by her husband) to ware churchyard--no, it was to ware cemetery; dad introduced them all to a very sprightly and good-looking widow, mrs. claridge, who had also been bereaved years ago and left with two perfect ducks of children, four and five years old, to whom claribel took instinctively (the elder ones sniffed a little, disliking "kids"). then about christmas time, , dad told them that mrs. claridge was going to make him happy by coming to tend his motherless children; was going to be his wife. francis, the eldest, stomped about the garden at ware and swore he would go back to rugby during the holidays; elspeth, the gaunt girl of fourteen and agnes, a dreamy and endearing child, cried themselves to sleep in each other's arms. claribel, however, quite approved. and whether they liked it or not, in january, , the marriage took place--at the registrar's--and beryl came to live for a short time at ware, bringing ducksome margery and adorable podge. in less than a month beryl had won over all her step-children, except francis, who held out till easter, but was reduced to allegiance by the hampers she sent to him at rugby--; in three months they had all moved to a much sweller house on the chelsea embankment. father--beryl voted "dad" a little lower-middle class--father had somehow become connected with some great business establishment of which mother was the head. together they were making pots of money. francis would go to sandhurst, elspeth to a finishing school in paris (her ambition), and the others would spend the fine months of the year rollicking with margery and podge on the sussex coast. in , also, they became aware that their new mother was not alone in the world. a stately lady whose eyes seemed once to have done a deal of weeping (they were destined alas! to do much more, for three of her gallant, handsome sons were killed in the war, and _that_ finally killed the poor old dean of thetford), who wore a graceful spanish mantilla of black lace when in draughty places, came to see them after they had moved to garden corner on the chelsea embankment. she turned out to be the mother of mrs. beryl and was quite inclined to be their grandmother as well as margery's and podge's. but her husband the dean was--it appeared--too great an invalid to come up to town. the second mrs. storrington, who was a woman of boundless energy, could work all day with secretaries, and could dance all night, gave brilliant parties in the season at her large chelsea house. but she never invited to them mr. david vavasour williams, that rising young barrister who had become so famous as a pleader of the causes of friendless women. chapter x the shillito case in the autumn of , increase among women of the idea of full citizenship made rapid strides. there was a feeling in the air that balfour must soon resign or go to the country, that a liberal ministry would succeed to power, and that being liberal it could scarcely, in reason or with any logic, refuse to enlarge the franchise to the advantage of the female half of the community. these idealizers of the liberal party, which had really definitely ceased to be liberal in , had a rude awakening. annie kenney and christabel pankhurst dared to act as if they were men, and asked sir edward grey at his manchester meeting in october, , if a liberal administration would give votes to women, should it be placed in power at the next election. answer they had none, from the platform; but the male audience rose in their hundreds, struck these audacious hussies in the face, scratched and slapped them (this was the rôle of the boys), and hustled them out into the street, bleeding and dishevelled. here for attempting to explain the causes of their expulsion they were arrested by the police, and the following morning were sent to prison, having declined to pay the fines illegally imposed on them. this incident made a great impression on the newspaper-reading public, because at that time the press boycott on the woman suffrage movement had not set in. it gave david much to think about, and he found honoria fraser and several of his men and women friends had joined the woman suffrage movement and were determined that the new liberal government should not shirk the issue; an issue on which many members of parliament had been returned as acquiescent in the principle. on that account they had received the whole-hearted support of many, women owing allegiance to the liberal party. at first of course the new government was too busy in allotting the loaves and fishes of office and in handing out the peerages, baronetcies, knighthoods, governorships, private secretaryships, and promotions among the civil servants which had--not to put too fine a point on it--been purchased by large and small contributions to the party chest. [such a procedure seems to be inseparable from our present party system. in this respect the conservatives are no better than the liberals; and it is always possible that in a different way the labour party when it comes into power will be similarly inclined to reward those who have furnished the sinews of war. the house of commons in the last act which revised the conditions of elections of members of parliament was careful to leave open many avenues along which money might attain to the heart of things.] but at length all such matters were settled, and the cabinet was free to face the steady demand of the women leaders of the suffrage movement; a demand that at any rate _some_ measure of enfranchisement should be granted to the women of the british isles without delay. we all know how this demand was received by the leading men of the liberal party and by the more prominent liberals among their supporters in the house; with evasions, silences, sneers, angry refusals, hasty promises given to-day (when ministers were frightened) and broken to-morrow; with a whole series of discreditable tongue-in-the-cheek tricks of parliamentary procedure; till at last the onlooker must have wondered at and felt grateful for our british phlegm; surprised that so little actual harm was done (except to the bodies of the suffragists), that no home secretary or police inspector or magistrate, no flippant talker-out of would-be-serious franchise bills was assassinated, trounced, tarred and feathered, kidnapped, nose-tweaked, or even mud-bespattered. (i am reproducing here the growing comprehension of the problem as it shaped in vivie's mind, under the hat and waistcoat of david williams.) honoria, faithful to her old resolve, continued to devote the greater part of the two thousand a year she had set aside for the woman's cause to financing the new suffrage movement; and incidentally she brought grist to david's mill by recommending him as counsel to many women in distress, arrested suffragists. in , and he made himself increasingly famous by his pleadings in court on behalf of women who with dauntless courage and at the cost of much bodily pain and even at the risk of death had forcibly called attention to this grave defect in the british polity, the withholding of the ordinary rights of tax-paying citizens from adult women. where the suffragist was poor he asked no fee, or a small fee was paid by some suffragist association. but he gained much renown over his advocacy; he became quite a well-known personality outside as well as inside the law courts and police-stations by . his pleadings were sometimes so moving, so passionate that--_teste_ mrs. pankhurst--"burly policemen in court had tears trickling down their faces" as he described the courage, the flawless private lives, the selfless devotion to a noble cause of these women agitating for the rights of their sex--rich and poor, old and young. juries flinched from the verdict which some bitter-faced judge enjoined; magistrates swerved from executing the secret orders of the home office; policemen--again--for they are most of them decent fellows--resigned their positions in the force, sooner than carry out the draconian policy of the home secretary. but of course concurrently he lost many a friend and friendship in the inns of court. there were even growls that he should be disbarred--after this espousal of the suffrage cause had been made manifest for three years. he might have been, but that he had other compeers, below and above his abilities and position; advocates like lord robert brinsley, the famous son of the marquis of wiltshire. if williams was to be disbarred, why they would have to take the same course with a brinsley who also defended women law-breakers, fighting for their constitutional rights. and of course such a procedure as _that_ was unthinkable. yet where a brinsley sailed unhampered, undangered over these troubled waters, poor david often came near to crashing on the rocks. "to hear the fellow talk," said one angry k.c. in the library at the inner temple, "you'd think he was a woman himself!" "egad" said his brother k.c.--yes, he really _did_ say "egad," the oath still lingers in the inns of court--"egad, he looks like one. no hair on his face and i'll lay he doesn't shave." there were of course other briefs he held, for payment or for love of justice; young women who had killed their babies (as to these he was far from sentimental; he only defended where the woman had any claim to sympathy or mitigation of the unreal death sentence); breach of promise actions where the woman had been grossly wronged; affiliation cases in high life--or the nearest to high life that makes a claim on the man for his fatherhood. he was a deadly prosecutor in cases where women had been robbed by their male trustees, or injured in any other way wherein, in those days, the woman was at a disadvantage and the marriage laws were unjust. one way and another, with the zealous aid and business-like care of his interests by his clerk, albert adams, david must have earned between and the autumn of , an average three hundred a year. as he paid adams £ a year and allowed him certain perquisites, and lived within his own fixed income (from his annuity and investments) of £ a year, this meant a profit of about £ . this was raised at a leap to £ , by the fees and the special gift he received for defending lady shillito. the "shillito case," an indictment for murder, was tried at the winter assize of the north-eastern circuit, january or february, . i dare say you have forgotten all about it now: lady shillito changed her name, married again (eventually), and was lost in the crowd--she may even, eleven years afterwards, be reading this novel at the riper age of forty and be startled out of her well-fed apathy by the revival of acute memories. there have been not a few similar cases before and since of comparatively young, beautiful women murdering their elderly, objectionable husbands in a clever cattish way, and of course getting off through lack of evidence or with a short term of imprisonment. (they were always treated in prison far more tenderly than were suffragettes, and the average wardress adored them and obtained for them many little alleviations of their lot before the home secretary gave way and released them.) nowadays the war and the pressing necessities of life, the coal famine, the milk famine, the railway strikes have robbed such cases of all or nearly all their interest. i could quite believe that women in similar circumstances continue to murder their elderly husbands, and the doctors and coroners and relations on "his" side tacitly agree not to raise a fuss in the presence of much graver subjects of apprehension. i can also understand why these beautiful-women-elderly-husband cases scarcely starred our island story prior to the 'fifties of the last century. it was only when chemical analysis had approached its present standard of perfection that the presence of the more subtle poisons could be detected in the stomach and intestines, and that the young and beautiful wife could be charged with and found guilty of the deed by the damning evidence of an analytical chemist. it was rossiter who secured for david the conduct of lady shillito's defence. arbella[ ] shillito was his second cousin, a rossiter by birth, and would fain have married michael herself, only that he was not at that time thinking of marriage, and when his thoughts turned that way--the very day after, as it were--he met linda bennet and her thousands a year. but he retained a half humorous liking for this handsome young woman. [footnote : an old northumbrian variant of arabella.] arbella, disappointed over michael--though she was a mere slip of a girl at the time--next decided that she must marry money. when she was twenty-one she met grimthorpe shillito, an immensely rich man of newcastle-on-tyne, whose foundries poured out big guns and many other things made of iron and steel combined with acids and brains. grimthorpe was a curious-looking person, even at forty; in appearance a mixture of julius caesar, several unpleasant-featured doges of venice, and voltaire in middle age. his looks were not entirely his fault and doubtless acquired for him, in his moral character, a worse definition than he deserved. he had travelled much in his pursuit of metallurgy and chemistry; at forty he saw rising before him the prospect of a peerage, due either for his extraordinary discoveries and inventions in our use of steel, or easily purchasable out of his immense wealth. what is the good of a peerage if it ends with your life? he was not without his vanities, though one of the most cynical men of his cynical period. he arrived therefore at the decision that he would marry some young and buxom creature of decent birth and fit in appearance to be a peeress, and decided on arbella rossiter. after a gulp or two and several _moues_ behind his back, she accepted him. a brilliant marriage ceremony followed, conducted by a bishop and an archdeacon. and then arbella was carried off to live in a bluebeard's castle he possessed on the northumbrian coast. in the three years following her marriage she gave him two boys, with which he was content, especially as his own health began to fail a little just then. at the end of four years of marriage with this cynical, italianate tyrant, arbella got very sick of him and thought more and more tenderly of a certain subaltern in the cavalry whom she had once declined to marry on £ a year. this subaltern had returned from the south african war, a colonel and still extremely good-looking. they had met again at a garden party and fallen once more deeply in love. if only her tiresome old borgia would die--was the thought that came too often into the mind of arbella, now entering the "thirties" of life, and with the least possible misgiving of her colonel's constancy if she became presently "_un peu trop mûre_." she noticed at this time that grimthorpe shillito went on several occasions to london to consult a specialist. he complained of indigestion, was rather thin, and balder than ever, and difficult to please in his food and appetite. this was her opportunity. she would have said, had she been convicted, that he had driven her to it by his cruelties: that's as may be.--she consulted the family doctor who attended to the household of bluebeard's castle; suggested that sir grimthorpe (they had just knighted him) might be the better for a strychnine tonic; she had read somewhere that strychnine did wonders for middle-aged men who had led rather a rackety life in their early manhood. the family doctor who disliked her and suspected her, as you or i wouldn't have done, but doctors think of everything, feigned to agree; and supplied her with little phials of _aqua distillata_ flavoured with quinine. he himself was puzzled over sir grimthorpe's condition but was a little offended at not being personally consulted. the fact was that sir g. had a very poor opinion of his abilities in diagnosis and being naturally secretive and generally cussed, preferred consulting a london specialist. he wasn't then sir grimthorpe, the specialist wasn't very certain that it _was_ cancer on the liver, and amid his multitude of consulters did not, unless aroused, remember very clearly the case of a mr. shillito from somewhere up in the north. but shillito pondered gravely over the specialist's carefully guarded phrases about "growths, possibly malign, but at the same time--difficult to be sure quite so soon--perhaps harmless, might of course be merely severe suppressed jaundice." when the pains began--he hated the idea of operations, and knew that any operation on the liver only at best staved off the dread, inevitable end for a year or a few months--when the pains began, he had grown utterly tired of life; so he compounded a subtle poison--he was a great chemist and had--only his wife knew not of this--a cabinet which contained a variety of mineral, vegetable, and acid poisons; and kept the draught in a secret locker in his bedroom. meantime arbella, who after all was human, was tortured at the sight of his tortures. she felt she must end it, or her nerves would give way. she trebled, she quintupled the dose of _aqua distillata_ embittered with quinine. one night when the night nurse was sleeping ("resting her eyes," she called it) the wretched man stole from his bed to the night nursery and kissed both his boys. he then swiftly took the phial from its hiding place and drank the contents and died in one ghastly minute. when the night nurse awoke he was crisped in a horrible _rigor_. on the night table was the phial with the remains of the draught. she had noticed in the last day or two lady shillito fussing a good deal about the sick man, pressing on him doses of a colourless medicine. _what if she had stolen in while the nurse was asleep and placed a finally fatal draught by the bedside?_ from that she proceeded to argue (when she had leisure to think it out) that she _hadn't_ been to sleep, had merely been resting her eyes. and she was now sure that whilst she had closed those orbs she had heard--as indeed she had, only it was sir grimthorpe himself--some one stealing into the room. she communicated her suspicions to the doctor. the latter knew his patient had not died of anything he had prescribed, but concluded that lady shillito, wishing to be through with the business, had prepared a fulminating dose obtained elsewhere; and insisted on autopsy with a colleague, to whom he more than hinted his suspicions. together they found the strychnine they were looking for--not very much, but the proportion that was combined by shillito with less traceable drugs to make the death process more rapid--and quite overlooked the signs of cancer in the liver. the outcome was that lady shillito at the inquest found herself "in a very unpleasant position" and was placed under arrest, and later charged with the murder of her husband. believing herself guilty she summoned all her resolution to her aid, admitted nothing, appealed to michael rossiter and others for advice. thus david was drawn into the business. [but this doesn't sound very credible, you will say. "if the husband felt he could not face the agony of death by cancer, why didn't he leave a note saying so, and every one would have understood and been quite 'nice' about it?" i really can't say. perhaps he wished to leave trouble for her behind him; perhaps he divined the reason why she thought a day nurse unnecessary, and insisted on giving him his day medicines with her own fair hands. perhaps he hoped for an open verdict. perhaps he wasn't quite right in his mind. i have told you the story as i remember it and my memory is not perfect. personally i've always been a bit sorry for grimthorpe. it is quite possible that all those hints as to his "queerness" were invented by his wife to excuse herself. i only know that science benefited greatly from his researches, and that he bequeathed some priceless collections to both branches of the british museum. some one once told me he had a heart somewhere and had loved intensely a sister much younger than himself and had only begun to be "queer" and secretive and bald after her premature death. i think also that in the last year of his life he was greatly embittered at not getting the expected peerage; after the trouble and disagreeableness he had gone through to obtain heirs for this distinction this poor little attempt at immortality which it is in the power of a prime minister to bestow.] the grand jury returned a true bill against lady shillito. david had been studying the case from the morrow of the inquest, that is as soon as rossiter had learnt of the coming trouble. the latter though he regarded cousin arbella as a rather amusing minx, an interesting type in modern psychology (though really her type is as old as--say--the hallstadt period) had no wish to see her convicted of murder. furthermore he was getting so increasingly interested in this clever david williams that he would have liked to make his fortune by helping him to a sensational success as a pleader, to one of those cases which if successfully conducted mark out a path to the bench. so he insisted that david williams be briefed for the defence, and well fee'ed, in order that he might be able to devote all his time to the investigation of the mystery. david had an uphill task. he went down to the north in november, , conferred with lady shillito's solicitors, and at great length with the curiously calm, ironly-resolved lady shillito herself. the evidence was too much against her for him to prevent her being committed for trial and lodged in reasonably comfortable quarters in newcastle jail, or for the grand jury to find no true bill of indictment. but between these stages in the process and the actual trial for murder in february, , david worked hard and accumulated conclusive evidence (with rossiter's help) to prove his client's innocence of the deed of which she believed herself guilty. to punish her as she deserved he allowed her to think herself guilty till his defence of her began. the prospect of a death on the gallows did not perturb lady shillito in the least. she was perfectly certain that if found guilty her beauty and station in life would avail to have the death penalty commuted to a term of imprisonment which she would spend in the infirmary. still, that would ruin her life pretty conclusively. she would issue from prison a broken woman, whom in spite of her wealth--if she retained any--no impossibly-faithful colonel would marry at the age of forty-five or fifty. so she followed the opening hours of the trial with a dry mouth. with the help of rossiter and of many and minute researches david got on the track of the consultation in harley street, the warning given of the possible cancer. he found in sir grimthorpe's laboratory sufficient strychnine to kill an army. he was privately informed by the family doctor (who didn't want to press matters to a tragedy) that although he fully believed arbella capable of the deed, she certainly had--so far as the doctor's prescriptions were concerned--obtained nothing from him which could have killed her husband, even if she had centupled the dose. lady shillito appeared in the dock dressed as much as possible like mary, queen of scots on her trial; and was attended by a hospital nurse with restoratives and carminatives. the jury retired for a quarter of an hour only, and returned a verdict of _not guilty_. the court was rent with applause, and the judge commented very severely on such a breach of decorum, apparently unknown to him in previous annals of our courts of justice. lady shillito fainted and the nurse fussed, and the judge in his private room sent for mr. williams and complimented him handsomely on his magnificent conduct of the case. "of course she _meant_ to poison him; but i quite agree with the jury, she didn't. he saved her the trouble. now i suppose she'll marry again. well! i pity her next husband. come and have lunch with me." and in the course of the meal, his ludship spoke warmly to mr. williams of the bright prospects that lay before him if he would drop those foolish suffragette cases. david returned to london with rossiter and remained silent all the way. his companion believed him to be very tired, and refrained from provoking conversation, but surrounded him with a quiet, fatherly care. arrived at king's cross rossiter said: "don't go on to your chambers. my motor's here. it can take your luggage on with mine to portland place. you can have a wash and a rest and a talk when you're rested; and after we've dined and talked the motor shall come round and take you back to fig tree court." mrs. rossiter was there to greet them, and whilst david went to wash and rest and prepare himself for dinner, she chirrupped over her big husband, and asked endless and sometimes pointless questions about the trial and the verdict. "did michael believe she really _had_ done it? she, for one, could believe anything about a woman who obviously dyed her hair and improved her eyebrows. (of course michael said he didn't, or the questions, as to why, how, when might have gone on for hours). was mr. williams's defence of arbella so very wonderful as the evening papers said? why could he not have gone straight home and rested _there_? it would have been so much nicer to have had mike all to herself on his return, and not have this tiresome, melancholy young man spending the evening with them ... really _some_ people had _no_ tact ... could _not_ see they were _de trop_. why didn't mr. williams marry some nice girl and make a home for himself? not well enough off? rubbish! she had known plenty young couples marry and live very happily on two hundred and fifty a year, and mr. williams must surely be earning that? and if he must always be dining out and spending the evening with other people, why did he not make himself more 'general?' not _always_ be absorbed in her husband. of course she understood that while arbella's fate hung in the balance they had to study the case together and have long confabulations over poisons in the lab'rat'ry...!" (this last detestable word was a great worry to mrs. rossiter. sometimes she succeeded in suppressing as many vowels as possible; at others she felt impelled to give them fuller values and call it "labóratorry.") and so on, for an hour or so till dinner was announced. david sat silent all through this meal, under mrs. rossiter's mixture of mirthless badinage: "we shall have you now proposing to lady shillito after saving her life! i expect her husband won't have altered his will as she didn't poison him, and she must have had quite thirty thousand pounds settled on her.... they do say however she's a great _flirt_..." indiscreet questions: "how much will you make out of this case? you don't know? i thought barristers had all that marked on their briefs? and didn't she give you 'refreshers,' as they call them, from time to time? what was it like seeing her in prison? was she handcuffed? or chained? what did she wear when she was tried?" and inconsequent remarks: "i remember my mamma--she died when i was only fourteen--used to dream she was being tried for murder. it distressed her very much because, as she said, she couldn't have hurt a fly. what do _you_ dream about, mr. williams? some pretty young lady, i'll be bound. i dream about such _funny_ things, but i nearly always forget what they were just as i am going to tell michael. but i did remember one dream just before michael went down to newcastle to join you ... was it about mermaids? no. it was about _you_--wasn't that funny? and you seemed to be dressed as a mermaid--no, i suppose it must have been a mer_man_--and you were trying to follow michael up the rocks by walking on your tail; and it seemed to hurt you awfully. of course i know what it all came from. michael had wanted me to read hans andersen's fairy stories--don't you think they're pretty? i do; but sometimes they are about rather silly things, skewers and lucifer matches ... and i had spent the afternoon at the zoo. michael's a fellow, of course, and i use his ticket and always feel quite at home there ... and at the zoo that day i had seen one of the sea-lions trying to walk on his tail.... oh, _how_ i laughed! but what made me associate the sea-lion with you and mermaids, i cannot say, but then as poor papa used to say, 'dreams are funny things'..." david's replies were hardly audible, and to his hostess's pressing entreaties that he would try this dish or not pass that, he did not answer at all. he felt, indeed, as though the muscles of his throat would not let him swallow and if he opened his mouth wide enough to utter a consecutive speech he would burst out crying. a great desire--almost unknown to vivie hitherto--seized him to get away to some lonely spot and cry and cry, give full vent to some unprecedented fit of hysteria. he could not look at rossiter though he knew that michael's eyes were resting on his face, because if he attempted to reply to the earnest gaze by a reassuring smile, the lips would tremble and the tears would fall. at last when the dessert was reached and the servants--_do_ they never feel telepathically at such moments that some one person seated at the table, crumbling bread, wishes them miles away and loathes their quiet ministrations?--the servants had withdrawn for a brief respite till they reappeared with coffee, david rose to his feet and stammered out something about not being well--would they order the motor and let him go? and as he spoke, and tried to speak in a level, "society" voice, his aching eyes saw the electric lamps, the glinting silver, mrs. rossiter's pink, foolish face and crisp little flaxen curls, rossiter's bearded countenance with its honest, concerned look all waltzing round and round in a dizzying whirl. he made the usual vain clutches at unreal supports, and fainted into rossiter's arms. the latter carried him with little effort into the cool library and laid him down on a couch. mrs. rossiter followed, full of exclamations, vain questions, and suggestions of inapplicable or unsuitable remedies. rossiter paid little heed to her, and proceeded to remove david's collar and tie and open his shirt front in order to place a hand over the heart. suddenly he looked up and round on his wife, and said with a peremptoriness which admitted of no questioning: "go and see that one of the spare bedrooms is got ready, a fire lit, and so on. get this done _quickly_, and meantime leave him to me. i have got restoratives here close at hand." mrs. rossiter awed into silence summoned the housemaid and parlour-maid and hindered them as much as possible in the task of getting a room ready. meantime the sub-conscious david sighed a great deal and presently wept a great deal in convulsive sobs, and then opened his eyes and saw the tourbillon of whirling elements settling down into rossiter's grave, handsome face--yes, but a gravity somehow interpenetrated by love, a love not ashamed to show itself--bending over him with great concern. the secret had been guessed, was known; and as they held each other with their eyes as though the world were well lost in this discovery, their lips met in one kiss, and for a minute vivie's arms were round michael's neck, for just one unforgettable moment, a moment she felt she would cheerfully have died to have lived through. they were soon unlaced, for sharp little high-heeled footsteps on the tiled passage and the clinketing of trinkets announced the return of mrs. rossiter. vivie became david once more, but left behind her the glad tears of relief that were coursing down david's cheeks. mrs. rossiter thought this was a very odd way for a barrister to celebrate his winning a great case at the criminal courts, and turned away in delicacy from the spectacle of a dishevelled and obviously lachrymose young man with one arm dangling and the other thrown negligently over the back of the leather couch. "mr. williams's room is ready, michael," she said primly. "all right, dear; thank you. i will help williams up to bed and have his luggage sent up. he will be quite well to-morrow if he can get to sleep. you needn't bother any more, dearie. go into the drawing-room and i will join you there presently." rossiter gave the rather shuddery, shivery, teeth-clacking david an arm till he saw him into the bedroom and resting on the bedroom sofa. then he drew up a chair and said in low but distinct tones:-- "look here. i know you want to make me an explanation. well! it can wait. a little more of this strain and you'll be having brain fever. sleep if you can, and eat all the breakfast linda sends you up in the morning. get up at eleven to-morrow and if you are fit then to drive out in my motor, return to your chambers. when you have calmed down to a normal pulse, write to me all you want to say. no one shall read it but me ... i'll burn it afterwards or send it back to you under seal. but at the present time, it may be easier for both of us if our communications are only written and not spoken. we have both been tried rather high; and both of us are human, however high-principled. if you write, register the letter.... good-night..." this that follows is probably what vivie wrote to michael. he burnt the long letter when he had finished reading it though he made excerpts in a pocket-book. but i can more or less correctly surmise how she would put her case; how she typed it herself in the solitude of two evenings; how, indeed, her nervous break-down was made the reason for fending off all clients and denying herself to all callers. "i am not david vavasour williams. i am vivien warren, the daughter of a woman who runs a series of disreputable private hotels on the continent. i had no avowed father, nor had my mother, who likewise was illegitimate. she was probably the daughter of a lieutenant warren who was killed in the crimea, and _her_ mother's name was vavasour. my grandmother was probably--i can only deal with probabilities and possibilities in this undocumented past--a welsh woman of cardiff, and i should not be surprised if i were a sort of cousin of the man i am personating. "he was the ne'er-do-weel, only son of a welsh vicar, a pupil of praed's, who went out to south africa and died or was killed in the war. "you have met my adopted father. he fully believes i am the bad son, the prodigal son, returned and reformed. he has grown to love me so much that it really seems to have put new life into him. i have helped him to get his affairs straight, and i think i may say he has gained by this substitution of one son for another, even though the new son is a daughter! i have taken none of his money, other than small sums he has thrust on me. i have some money of my own, earned in honoria's firm, for i was the 'warren' of her 'fraser and warren.' she has known my secret all along, hasn't quite approved, but was overborne by me in my resolve to show what a woman--in disguise, it may be--could do at the bar. "michael! i started out twelve years ago--and the dreadful thing is i am now _thirty-four_ in true truth! to conquer man, and a man has conquered me! i wanted to show that woman could compete with man in all careers, and especially in the law. so she can--have i not shown it by what i have done? but it is a drawn battle. i have realized that if some men are bad--rotten--others, like you--are supremely good. i love you as i never thought i could love any one. i cannot trust myself to write down how much i love you: it would read shamefully and be too much a surrender of my first principle of self-respect. "i am going to throw up the whole d.v.w. business. it has put us in a false relation which was exasperating me and puzzling you. moreover the disguise was wearing very thin. only those two loyal souls, honoria fraser and albert adams, were cognizant of the secret, but it was being guessed at and almost guessed right, in certain quarters. professional jealousy was on my track. i never fainted before in my life--so far as i can remember--but i might have done so elsewhere than in your dear house, after the strain of such an effort as i made to save that worthless woman--she was your cousin, which is why i fought for her so hard--how often is not justice deflected by love! i might, somewhere else, when over-strained have had a fit of hysterics; and my disguise would have been penetrated by eyes less merciful than yours. then would have come exposure and its consequences--damaging to you (_i_ should not have mattered), to my poor old 'father' down in wales--whom i sincerely love--to praddy, to honoria.... "let me be thankful to get off so easily! _somme toute_, i have had a glorious time, have seen the world from the man's point of view--and i can assure you that from his point of view it is a jolly place to live in--_he_ can walk up and down the strand and receive no insult. "well now, to relieve your anxieties, i will tell you, that after a brief visit to south wales to recuperate from the exertions of that trial, mr. david williams the famous young barrister at the criminal bar will go abroad to investigate the white slave traffic. miss vivien warren privately believes--and hopes--that the horrors of this traffic in british womanhood are greatly exaggerated. the lot in life of many of these young women is so bad in their native land that they cannot make it worse by going abroad, no matter in what avowed career. but mr. david williams takes rather a higher line and is resolved in any case to get at the truth. miss warren, nathless, has her misgivings anent her old mamma, and would like to know what that old lady is doing at the present time, and whether she is past reform. miss warren even has her moments of doubt as to the flawless perfection of her own life: whether the path of duty in did not rather lie in the direction of a serious attempt to be a daughter to her wayward mother and reclaim her then, instead of going off at a tangent as the mannish type of new woman, to whom applicable mathematics are everything and human affections very little. i suppose the truth, the commonplace truth is, that rather late in life, vivien warren has fallen in love in the old-fashioned way--how nature mocks at us!--and now sees things somewhat differently. at any rate, david and vivie, fused into one personality, are going abroad for a protracted period ... going out of your life, my dearest, for it is better so. linda has every right to you and science is a jealous mistress. moreover poor, outcast vivie has her own bitter pride. she is resolved to show that a woman _can_ cultivate strength of character and an unflinching sobriety of conduct, even when born of such doubtful stock as mine, even when devoid of all religious faith. i know you love me, i glory in the knowledge, but i know that you likewise are more strongly bound by principles of right conduct because like myself you have no sham theology.... "michael! _why_ are we tortured like this? why mayn't we love where we please? is this discipline necessary to the improvement of the race? i only know that if we sinned against these human laws and conventions, your great career in science--and again, why in science? lightness in love does not seem to affect the career of orchestral conductors, actors, singers, play-wrights and house painters--why weren't you one of these, and not a high priest of the only real religion? i only know also that if i fell, so many people would have the satisfaction of saying: 'there! _what_ did i say? what's bred in the bone comes out in the flesh. _that's_ how the woman's movement's goin' to end, you take my word for it! they'll get a man somewhere, somehow, and then they'll clear out of it.' "i think i said before--i meant to say, at any rate, so as to ease your mind: i'm all right as regards financial matters. i have a life annuity and some useful savings. i shall give bertie adams a year's salary; and if you feel, dear friend, you _must_ put forth your hand to help me, help _him_ instead to get another position. he has a wife and a young family, and for his class is just about as good a chap as i have ever met--this is 'david' speaking! if you can do nothing you may be sure vivie will, even if she has to borrow unclean money from her wicked old mother to keep bertie adams from financial anxiety and his pretty young wife and the child they are so proud of.... "i must finish this gigantic letter somewhere, though i'm not going to stop writing to you. i couldn't--i should lose all hold on life if i did. for the purpose of correspondence and finishing up things, i shall be 'david williams' for some time longer. you know his address in wales? pontystrad vicarage, pontyffynon, glamorgan, if you've forgotten it. he'll be there till april, and then begin his foreign tour and write to you at intervals from the continent. as to vivie, i think she won't return to life and activity till the autumn and _then_ she'll make things hum. she'll throw all the energy of frustrated love into the woman's cause, and get 'em the vote somehow...!" early in the genesis of the book. i appointed a jury of matrons to judge each chapter before it went to the press, and to decide whether it was suited to the restrictions of the circulating library, and whether it would cause real distress or perturbation to three persons whom we chose as representative readers of decent fiction: admiral broadbent, lady percy mountjoye, and old mrs. bridges (mrs. bridges was said to have had a heart attack after reading the gay-dombeys--i did not wish her to have another). this jury of broad-minded women of the world decided that rossiter's reply to vivie's very long epistle should not see the light. he himself would probably--had he known we were discussing his affairs--have been thankful for this decision; because twelve hours after he had written it he was heartily ashamed of his momentary lapse from high principles, ashamed that the woman in the case should have shown herself truer metal. he resolved, so far as our poor human resolves are worth anything, to remain inflexibly true to his devoted linda and to his career in biological science. he knew too well that if he were caught in adultery it would be all over with the great theories he was working to establish. the royal society would condemn them. besides, so fine a resolve as vivie's, to live on the heights must be respected. at the same time, it is certain that for the next three months he muddled his experiments, confused his arguments, lost his temper with a colleague on the council of the zoological society, kicked the pugs--even caused the most unbearable two of them to be poisoned by his assistant--and lied in attributing their deaths to other causes. he promised the weeping linda a pom instead; he said "hell!" when the macaw interrupted them with raucous screams. he let pass all sorts of misprints in his article on the ductless glands for the _encyclopaedia scotica_, he was always losing the thread of his discourse in his lectures at the london institution and university college; and he spent too much of his valuable time writing hugely long letters on all sorts of subjects to david williams. david--or vivie--replied much more laconically. in the first place he--she--had had her say in the one big outpouring from which i have quoted so freely; in the second she did not wish to stoke up these fires lest they should become volcanic and break up a happy home and a great career. she wrote once saying: "if ever you were in trouble of any kind; if linda should die before me, for example, i would come back to you from the ends of the earth and even if i were legitimately married to the prince of monaco; come back and serve you as a drudge, as a butt for your wit, as a sick nurse. but meantime, michael, you must play the game." and so after this three months' frenzy was past, he did. it was not always easy. linda's devotion was touching. she perceived--though she hardly liked admitting it--that her husband missed the society of "that" mr. williams, in whom she, for one, never could see anything particularly striking, and who was now travelling abroad on a quest it would be indelicate to particularize, and one that in _her_ opinion should have been taken up by a far older man, the father of a grown-up family. she strove to replace williams as an intelligent companion in the library and even in the laboratory. she gave up works of charity and espionage in marylebone and many of her trips into society, to sit more often with the dear professor, and was a little distressed by his groans which seemed to be quite unprovoked by her remarks or her actions. however as the months went by, rossiter buckled down more to his work, and mrs. rossiter noticed that he engaged a new assistant at £ a year to take charge of his enormous correspondence. mr. bertie adams seemed a nice young man, though also afflicted at times with something that gave melancholy to his gaze. but he had a good little wife who came to make a home for him in marylebone. mrs. rossiter being a kindly woman went to call on her and was entirely taken up with their one child whom she frequently asked to tea and found much more interesting than the new pom. "but it's got such a funny name, michael; i mean funny for their station in life. it's a girl and they call it 'vivvy,' which is short for vivien. i told mrs. adams she must have been reading tennyson's _idylls of the king_; but she said 'no, she wasn't much of a reader: adams was, and it was some lady's name in a story that had stuck in his head, and that as her mother's name was susan and his was jane, she hadn't minded.'" chapter xi david goes abroad david williams had an enthusiastic greeting when he went home to pontystrad for the easter of . it was an early easter that year, whether you like it or not; it suits my story better so, because then david can turn up in brussels at the end of april, and yet have attended to a host of necessary things before his departure on a long absence. he first of all devoted himself to making the old vicar happy for a few weeks in a rather blustery, showery march-april. his father was full of wonderment and exultation over the honourable publicity his barrister son had attained. "you'll be a judge, davy; at any rate a k.c., before i'm dead! but marry, boy, _marry_. _that's_ what you must do now. marry and give me grandchildren." the burly curate privately thought david a bit morbid in his passionate devotion to the woman's cause, and this white slave traffic all rot. he had worked sufficiently in the bad towns of the south welsh coast and had had an initiation into the lower-living parts of birmingham and london to be skeptical about the existence of these poor, deluded virgins, lured from their humble respectable homes and thrust by shakespearean procuresses, bawds, and bullies into an impure life. if they went to these places abroad it was probably with the hope of greater gains, better food, and stricter medical attention. however, he kept most of these thoughts to himself and his wife, the squire's daughter; who as she somehow thought david _ought_ to have married _her_, was a little bit sentimental about him and considered he was a galahad. old nannie remained as usual wistfully puzzled, half fearing the explanation of the enigma if it ever came. returned to london and fig tree court--which he was soon vacating--david obtained through his and her bankers a passport for himself and another for miss vivien warren, thirty-four, british subject, and so forth, travelling on the continent, a lady of independent means. he re-arranged all david's and vivie's money matters, stored such of vivie's property and his own as was indispensable at honoria armstrong's house in kensington, and left a box containing a complete man's outfit in charge of bertie adams; bade farewell as "david williams" and "uncle david" to honoria and her two babies, and to the still unkindly-looking colonel armstrong (who very much resented the "uncle" business, which was perhaps why honoria out of a wholesome _taquinage_ kept it up); and called in for a farewell chat with dear old praddy--beginning to look a bit shaky and rather too much bossed by his parlour-maid. honoria had said as he departed "do try to run up against vivie somewhere abroad and tell her i shan't be happy till she returns and takes up her abode among us once more. 'army' is _longing_ to know her." ('army' didn't look it.) "now pettums! wave handikins to uncle david. he's goin' broadies. 'army' dear, would you ask them to whistle for a taxi? i know david doesn't want to walk all the way back to the temple in those lovely button boots." praed told him all he wanted to know about the localities of the warren private hotels; most of all, that at which vivie's mother resided in the rue royale, brussels. so at this establishment a well but plainly dressed english lady, scarcely looking her age (thirty-four) turned up one morning, and sent in a card to the lady-proprietress, mme. varennes. this card was closely scanned by a heavy-featured flemish girl who took it upstairs to an _appartement_ on the first floor. she read: _miss vivien warren_ and vaguely noted the resemblance of the two names varennes and warren, and the fact that the establishment in which she earned a lucrative wage was one of the "warren" hotels. with very short delay, vivie was invited to ascend in a lift to the first floor and was shown in to a gorgeously furnished bedroom which, through an open door, gave a glimpse of an attractive boudoir or sitting-room beyond, and beyond that again the plane trees of a great boulevard breaking into delicate green leaf. a woman of painted middle age in a _descente de lit_ that in its opulence matched the hangings and furniture of the room, had been reclining on a sofa, drinking chocolate and reading a newspaper. she rose shakily to her feet, when the door closed behind vivie, tottered forward to meet her, and exclaimed rather theatrically "my _daughter_ ... come back to me ... after all these years!" (a few tears ran down the rouged cheeks). "steady on, mother," said vivie, propping her up, and feeling oh! so clean and pure and fresh and wholesome by contrast with this worn-out woman of pleasure. "lie down again on your sofa, go on with your _petit déjeuner_--which is surely rather late? there were signs and appetizing smells of the larger meal being imminent as i passed through the hotel. now just lie down until you want to dress--if you like, i'll help you dress" (swallowing hard to choke down a little shudder of repulsion). "i'm not in any hurry. i've come to brussels to go into matters thoroughly. for the present, i am staying at the hotel grimaud." mrs. warren was convulsively sobbing and ruining the complexion she had just made up, before she changed out of her _descente de lit_: "why not stop here, dearie? don't laugh! there's _lots_ that do and never suspect for one minute it ain't like any other hotel; though from all i see and hear, _all_ hotels are pretty much the same now-a-days, whether they're called by my name or not. of course a man might find out pretty quick, but not a woman who wasn't in the business herself. why we actually _encourage_ decent women to come here when we ain't pressed for room. they give the place a better tone, don't you know. there's two clergyman's sisters come here most autumns and stop and stop and don't notice anything. they come in here and chat with me, and once they said they liked foreign gentlemen better than their own fellow-countrymen: 'their manners are so _affable_.' why it was partly through people like that, that i got to hear every now and then what _you_ was up to. oh, i wasn't taken in long by that david williams business. praddy didn't give you away--to speak of, when i sent you that thousand pounds--lord, i was glad you kept it! but what fixed me was your portrait in the _daily mirror_ a couple of years ago as 'the brilliant young advocate, mr. david vavasour williams.' somehow the 'vavasour' seemed to fit in all right, though what you wanted with my--ahem--maiden name, with what was pore mother's _reel_ name, before she lived with your grandfather--well as i say, i soon saw through the whole bag o' tricks--but _what_ a lark! beat anythink _i_ ever did. what have you done with your duds? gone back to bein' vivie once more?--" _vivie_: "i'll tell you all about it in good time. but i would rather not stay here all the same. i've found a quiet hotel near the station. i will come and see you if you can make it easy for me; but what i should very much prefer, if you can only get away from this horrid place, is that you should come and see _me_. why shouldn't you give yourself a fortnight's holiday and go off with me to louvain ... or to spa ... or some other quiet place where we can talk over everything to our heart's content?" _mrs. warren_: "not a bad idea. do me a lot of good. i was feeling awfully down, vivie, when you came. i wasn't altogether taken aback at your coming, dearie, 'cos praddy had given me a kind of a hint you might turn up. but somehow, though everything goes well in business--we seldom had so busy a time as during this last humanitarian congress of the powers--all the diplomats came here--mostly the old ones, the old and respectable--oh we _all_ like respectability--yet i never 'ad such low spirits. my gals used to come in here and find me cryin' as often as not.... 'comment, madame,' they used to say, 'pourquoi pleurez vous? tout va si bien! _quelle_ clientele, et pas chiche'--i suppose you understand french? however about this trip to the country, look on it as _settled_. i'll pack up now and away we go in the afternoon. and not to any of your measly hotels or village inns. why i've got me _own_ country place and me _own_ auto. villa de beau-séjour, a mile or so beyond the lovely beech woods of tervueren. ain't so far from louvain, so's i can send you on there one day--ah! there's some one you'd like to see in louvain, if i mistake not! you always was one for findin' out things, and maybe i'll tell you more, now you've come back to me, than what i'd a done with you standing up so stiff and proud and me unfit to take up the hem of your skirt.... how i do ramble. suppose it's old age comin' on" (shudders). "about this villa de beau-séjour ... it was once a farm house, and even now it's the farm where i get me eggs and milk and butter an' the fruit and vegetables for this hotel. _he_ gave it to me--you know whom i mean by '_he_'? ... don't do to talk too loud in a place like this.... they say he's pretty bad just now, not likely to live much longer. i was his mistress once, years ago--at least i was more a confidante than anything else. _how_ he used to laugh at my stories! 'que tu es une drôlesse,' he used to say. i never used to mince matters and we were none the worse for that. bless you, he wasn't as bad as they painted him, 'long of all this fuss about the blacks. as i say, he gave me the villa de beau-séjour, and used to say if i behaved myself he might some day make me 'baronne de beau-séjour.' how'd you have liked that, eh? sort of morganatic queen? i lay i'd have put some good management into the runnin' of those places. aïe! how they used to swindle 'im, and he believing himself always such a sharp man of business! when that vaughan hussy..." _vivie_: "very well. we'll go to villa beau-séjour. but don't give me too many of your reminiscences or i may leave you after all and go back to england. whilst i'm with you, you must give up rouge and patchouli and the kind of conversation that goes with them. i'm out here trying to do my duty and duty is always unpleasant. i don't want to be a kill-joy, but don't give me more of that side of your character than you can help. it--it makes me sick, mother..." [mrs. warren--or madame varennes--whimpers a little, but soon cheers up, rings the bell for her maid preparatory to dressing and being the business woman over her preparations for departure. she notes the address of vivie's hotel and promises to call for her there in the _auto_ at three o'clock. vivie leaves her, descends the richly carpeted stairs--the lift is worked by an odiously pretty, little, plump soubrette dressed as a page boy--and goes out into the street. several lounging men stare hard at her, but decide she is too english, too plainly dressed, and a little too old to neddle with. this last consideration is apparent to vivie's intelligence and she muses on it with a wistful little smile, half humour, half regret. she will at her leisure write a whole description of the scene to michael.] those who come after us will never realize how delightful was foreign travel before the war, before that war which installed damnable dora in power in all the countries of europe, especially france, belgium, switzerland, italy, and holland. they will not conceive it possible that the getting of a passport (as a mere means of rapidly establishing one's identity at bank or post-office) was a simple transaction done through a banker or a tourist agency, the enclosing of stamps and the payment of a shilling or two; that there was no question of _visas_ entailing endless humiliation and back-breaking delays, waiting about in ante-rooms and empty apartments of squalid, desolating ugliness situate always in the most odious parts of a town. but the foreign offices of europe were agreed on one topic, and this was that having got their feet back on the necks of the people, their serfs of the glebe should not, save under circumstances hateful, fatiguing, unhealthy and humiliating, travel through the lands that once were beautiful and bountiful and are so no longer. so: vivie, never having consciously been abroad before (though she was later to learn she had actually been born in brussels), began to experience all the delights of travel in a foreign land. she woke up the next morning to the country pleasures of villa beau-séjour, a preposterous chateau-villa it might be, but attached to a charming flemish farm; with cows and pigs, geese and ducks, plump poultry and white pigeons, with clumps of poplars and copses of hawthorns and wild cherry trees which joined the little domain on to the splendid forest of tervueren. there were the friendly, super-intelligent big dogs, like bastard st. bernards or mastiffs in breed, that drew the little carts which carried the produce of the farm to the markets or to brussels. there were cheery flemish farm servants and buxom dairy or poultry women, their wives; none of them particularly aware that there was anything discreditable about madame varennes. they may have vaguely remembered she had once lived under high protection, but that, if anything, added to her prestige in their eyes. she was an english lady who for purposes of business and may be of _la haute politique_ chose to live in belgium. she was a kind mistress and a generous _patronne_. vivie as her daughter was assured of their respect, and by her polite behaviour won their liking as well. "you know, viv, old girl," said mrs. warren one day, "if you played your cards all right, this pretty place might be yours after i'd gone. why don't yer pick up a decent husband somewhere and drop all this foolishness about the suffragettes? he needn't know too much about me, d'yer see? and if you looked at things sensible-like, you'd come in for a pot of money some day; and whilst i lived i'd make you a good allowance--" "it's no use, dear mother"--involuntarily she said "dear": her heart was hungry for affection, wales was rapidly passing out of her sphere, david's business must soon be wound up in that quarter and where else had she to go? "so long as you keep on with those hotels i can't touch a penny. i oughtn't to have kept that thousand, only praddy assured me it was 'clean' money." _mrs. w._: "so it was. i won it at monte. i don't often gamble now, i hate losing money. but we'd had a splendid season at roquebrune and i sat down one day at the tables, a bit reckless-like. seemed as if i couldn't lose. when i got up and left i had won thirty thousand francs. so i says to myself: 'this shall go to my little girl: i'll send it through praddy and he'll pay it into her bank. then i shan't feel anxious about her.'" "mother! what a strange creature you are! such a mixture of good and bad--for i suppose it _is_ bad, i feel somehow it _is_ bad, trafficking in women's bodies, as they put it sensationally. towards me you have always been compact of kindness; you took every precaution to have me brought up well, out of knowledge of any impurity; and well and modernly educated. you left me quite free to marry whom i liked ... but ... but ... you stuck to this horrible career..." "well, vivie. i did. but did you make any great effort to turn me from it? besides, _is_ it horrible? i won't promise much for berlin and buda-pest or even vienna, because i haven't been in those directions for ever so long, and the germans are reg'lar getting out of hand, they are, working up for something. i dessay if you looked in at the warren hotels in those places you might find lots to say against 'em. but you couldn't say the places i supervise here and at roquebrune are so bad? _i_ won't stop your looking into 'em. the girls are treated right down well. looked after if they fall sick and given every encouragement to marry well. i even call those two places--i've giv' up me paris house this ten years--i even call them my 'marriage markets.' ah! an' i've given in my time not a few _dots_ to decent girls that had found a good husband _dans la clientèle_. why they're no more than what you might call hotels a bit larkier than what other hotels are. i've never in all my twenty years of brussels management had a row with the police.... and as to all this rot about the white slave traffic that you seem so excited about ... well i'm not saying there's nothin' in it.... antwerp, hamburg, rotterdam--you'd hear some funny stories there ... but only if you went as david williams in your man's kit--my! what a wheeze that's bin!... and from all they tell me, that place in south america--buenos aires, is a reg'lar hell. but ... god bless my soul ... there's nothin' to fuss about here. our young ladies would take on like anything if you forced them to go away from my care. it's gettin' near the time when we close our roquebrune establishment for the summer, an' the girls'll all be goin' back to their homes in the mountains and fattenin' up on new milk; still if you go there before the middle of may you'll see things pretty much as they are in the season; and what's more you'll see plenty of perfectly respectable people stoppin' there. of course the prices are high. but look at the luxury! what that wicked bax used to call 'all the home comforts.' he liked 'is joke. i hear he's settlin' down at home with his old dutch. she's bin awful good to him, i must say. _i_ couldn't stand 'im long. i don't often lose me temper but i did with him, after he got licked by paul dombey, and i threw an inkpot at his head and ain't seen him for a matter of thirteen or fourteen year. he sold out all his shares in the warren hotels when he came a cropper." "well, mother, i'll have a look round. i'm truly glad you're quit of the german and austrian horrors, though you must bear the blame for having organized them in the first place. i will presently put on david williams's clothes and see what i _can_ see of them. but if you want me to be a daughter to you, you'll take the first and the readiest opportunity of removing your name from these--_ach_!--these legacies of the nineteenth century. you'll wind up the warren hotels' company, and as to the two houses you've got here and at roquebrune, you'll turn them now into decent places where no indecency is tolerated." _mrs. warren_: "i'll think it over and i don't say as i won't give in to you. i'm tired of a rackety life and i'm proud of you and ... and ... (cries) ... ashamed of meself ... ashamed whenever i look at you. though i've never bin what i call _bad_. i've helped many a lame dog over a stile.... that's partly how you came into existence--almost the only time i've ever been in love--many years ago--why, girl, you must be--getting on for thirty-five--let me see ... (muses). yes, it was in the winter of ' - . i'd bin at ostende with a young barrister from london ... him i told you about once, who used to write plays, and we came on to brussels because he had some business with the belgian government. he left me pretty much to myself just then, though quite open-handed, don't you know.... one day i was walking through one of the poorer streets where the people was very flemish, and i stood looking up at an old doorway--dunno' why--s'pose i thought it picturesque--reminded me of praddy's drawin's. and an old woman comes up and says in french, 'madame est anglaise?' in those days i couldn't hardly speak a word o' french, but i said 'oui.' then she wants me to come upstairs but i thought it was some trap. however as far as i could make out there was a young irishman there, she said, lying very sick of a fever and seemingly had no friends. "well: i took down the address and the next day i came there with the concierge of the hotel where we were staying, and under his protection we went upstairs. my! it was a beastly place--and your poor father--for he _was_ your father--was tossing about and raving, with burning cheeks and huge eyes, just like yours. well! i had plenty of money just then, so with the help of that concierge we found a decent lodging--they wasn't so partic'lar then about infection or they didn't think typhoid infectious--i took him there in an ambulance, engaged a nurse, and in a fortnight he was recovering. he turned out to be a seminarist--i think they called it--from ireland who was going to be trained for the priesthood at louvain--lots of irish used to come there in those days. and somehow a fit of naughtiness had overcome him--he was only twenty--and he thought he'd like to see a bit of the world. so he'd sloped from his college and had a bit of a spree at brussels and ostende. then he was took with this fever-- "his name was fergus o'conor and he always said he was descended from the real old irish kings, and he was some kind of a fenian. i mean he used to go on something terrible against the english, and say he would never rest till they were drove out of ireland. when he got well again he was that handsome--well i've never seen any one like him, unless it's you. i expect when you dress up as david williams you're the image of what he was when i fell in love with him. "and i did. and when me barrister friend--mr. fitzsimmons--teased me about it, and wanted me--he having finished his business--to return with him to london i refused. bein' a bit free with me speech in those days i dessay i said 'go to hell.' but he only laughed and left me fifty pounds. "well, i lived with this young student for a matter of six months. a lovely time we had, till he began gettin' melancholy--matter of no money partly. he tried bein' a journalist. "then the church got him back. there came about a reg'lar change in him, and just at the time when _you_ was comin' along. he woke up one night in a cold sweat and said he was eternally damned. 'nonsense,' i says, 'it's them crayfish; you ought never to eat that bisque soup...' "but he meant it. he went back to louvain--where i'm goin' to take you in a day or two--and i suppose they made him do all sorts of penances before they gave him absolution. but he stuck to it. in due time he became a priest and entered one of them religious houses. they think a lot of him at louvain. i've seen him once or twice but i can't bear to meet his eyes--they're somethin' like yours--make me feel a reg'lar jezebel. and as to you? well, when he left me i hadn't got much money left; so, before i begged a passage back to england, i called in at the very hotel where you found me the other day, and where me an' my barrister friend had been stayin'. i'd got to know the proprietress a little--real kind-'earted woman she was. she said to me 'see here. you stop with me and help me in the bureau and have your baby. i'll look after you. and when you can get about again, stop on and help me in my business. i reckon you're the type of woman i've bin looking out for this long while.' and that's how the first of the warren hotels was started and that's where you were born ... in october, eighteen--seventy--five--" (vivie gave a little shudder, but her mother's thoughts were so intent on the past that she did not perceive it.) _mrs. warren_: "dj'ever see yer aunt liz?" vivie told her of the grim experiences already touched on in chapter i. _mrs. warren_: "well she dropped _me_--_com_pletely--from the time she married that canon. and i respected her. she was comfortably off, her past was dead and done with. d'yer think _i_ wanted to bother 'er? not i. it depends so much on the way you was born and brought up. if liz had been the child of a respectable married couple that could give her a good start in life, 'probability is she'd have run straight from the first. dunno about me. i was always a bit larky. and yet d'you know, i think if yer father hadn't been a sort of young god, with his head in the skies, and no reg'lar income, if he'd a married me and been kind to me ... i should have been an honest woman all the rest of me life.... "what do _you_ feel about morality? you don't seem to have much faith in religion, yet you've always taken a high line--and somehow i'm glad you have--about things that never seemed to me to matter much. we're given these passions and desires--and my! don't it hurt, falling in love!--and then the clergy, though they're awful humbugs, tells us we must deny our cravings..." _vivie_: "in the main the clergy are right in what they preach though they give the wrong reasons. we must try to regulate our passions or they will master us, stifle what is really good in us. my solution of this problem which i am so sick of discussing.... but let's finish with it while we are about it--my solution is that the state and the community should do their utmost to encourage, subsidize, reward early marriages; and at the same time facilitate in a reasonable degree divorce. apply both these remedies and you would go far to wipe out prostitution, which i think perfectly horrible--i--i should like to penalize it. perhaps it is the irish ascetic in my constitution. a good many early marriages might be failures. well then, at the end of ten years these should be dissolvable, with proper provision made for the children. i think many a couple if they knew that after a time and without scandal their partnership could be dissolved wouldn't, when the time came, want it. while on the other hand if you made the tie not everlastingly binding, young people--especially if they hadn't to trouble about means--would get married without hesitation or delay. i should not only encourage that, but i should give every woman a heavy bonus for bringing a living child into the world.... now let's talk of something else. when are you going to take me to louvain?" * * * * * they went to louvain a few days later and vivie's newly awakened senses for the beautiful in art revelled in the glorious architecture, so much of which was afterwards wrecked in the war. walking beneath the planes in a narrow street between monastic buildings, they descried a gaunt, stately figure of a father superior of some great order. "there!" said mrs. warren; "that's him, that's your father." they quickened their pace and were presently alongside him. he flashed his great, grey eagle eyes for a contemptuous second on the face of mrs. warren, who was all of a tremble and could not meet the gaze. vivie, he scarcely glanced at as he strode towards a doorway which engulfed him, though the eyes she had inherited would have met his unflinchingly. * * * * * david williams duly visited antwerp, rotterdam, hamburg, berlin, vienna, and buda-pest. much of what he saw disgusted, even revolted, him, but he found few of his fellow-countrywomen held captive and crying to be delivered from a life of infamy. on his return to england in the autumn of , he published the results of his observations; but they had very little effect on continental public opinion. however mrs. warren in due course turned her two establishments into hotels that gradually acquired a well-founded character of propriety and were in time included amongst those recommended to quiet, studious people by first class tourist agencies. their names were changed respectively from hotel leopold ii to hotel edouard-sept, from the homestead, roquebrune, to hotel du royaume-uni. mrs. warren or mme. varennes retired completely from the management, but arranged to retain for her own use the magnificently furnished _appartement_ on the first floor of the hotel edouard-sept at brussels, where vivie had seen her in the late spring of . she still continued to receive a certain income from these two admirably managed hostelries. constrained by vivie she bestowed large donations on charitable and educational institutions affecting the welfare of women and established a fund of ten thousand pounds for the promotion of woman suffrage in great britain, which fund was to be at vivie's disposal. but even with these sacrifices to _bienséance_ she remained a lady of considerable fortune. she resisted however all invitations to make her home in england. "no, dear; i've got used to foreign ways. i hate my own people; they're such damned hypocrites; and the cooking don't suit my taste, accustomed to the best." but she gave up brandy except as a very occasional _chasse_ after the postprandial coffee. she no longer dyed her hair and used very little rouge and no scent but lavender. her hair turned a warm white colour, and dressed à la pompadour made her look what she probably was at heart--quite a decent sort. chapter xii vivie returns honoria armstrong, faithful in friendship and purpose as few people are (though she abated never a whit her love for her dear, fierce, blue-eyed, bristly-moustached, battle-scarred, bullying husband) prepared for vivie's return in the autumn of by securing for her occupancy a nice little one-storeyed house in a kensington back street; one of those houses--i doubt not, now tenanted by millionaires who don't want a large household, just a roof over their heads--that remain over from the early nineteenth century, when kensington was emerging from a country village into villadom. the broad, quiet road, named after our late dear queen, has nothing but these detached or semi-detached little _cottages ornés_, one-storeyed villas with a studio behind, or two-storeyed components of "terraces," for about a quarter of a mile; and just before the war, building speculators were wont to pace its pavements with a hungry gaze directed to left and right buying up in imagination all this wasted space, pulling down these pretty stucco nests, and building in their place castles of flats, high into the air. i don't suppose this district will escape much longer the destruction of its graceful flowering trees and vivid gardens, its air of an opulent village; it will match with the rest of kensingtonia in huge, handsome buildings and be much sought after by the people who devote their lives--till they commit suicide--to illicit love and the victory balls at the albert hall. but in --would that we were all back in !--it was as nice a part of london as a busy, energetic, sober-living spinster, in the movement, yet liking home retirement and lilac-scented privacy--could desire to inhabit, at the absurd rental of fifty pounds a year, with comparatively low rates, and the need for only one hard-working, self-respecting suffragette maid, with the monthly assistance of a charwoman of advanced views. there vivie took up her abode in november of the year indicated. honoria lived not far away, next door but one to the parrys in kensington square. she--vivie--was aware that colonel armstrong did not altogether like her, couldn't "place" her, felt she wasn't "one of us," and therefore despite honoria's many invitations to run in and out and not to mind dear old "army" who was _always_ like that at first, just as their chow was--she exercised considerable discretion about her frequentation of the armstrong household, though she generally attended honoria's suffrage meetings, held whenever the colonel was called away to aldershot or hythe. honoria by this time--the close of --was the mother of four lovely, healthy, happy children. she would give birth to a fifth the following june ( ), and then perhaps she would stop. she often said about this time--touching wood as she did so--"could any woman be happier?" she was so happy that she believed in god, went sometimes to st. mary abbott's or st. paul's, knightsbridge--the music was so jolly--and gave largely to cheerful charities as well as to the suffrage cause. she would in the approach to christmas, , look round and survey her happiness: could any one have a more satisfactory husband? of course he was a man and had silly mannish prejudices, but then without them he would not be so lovable. her children--two boys and two girls--could you find greater darlings if you spent a week among the well-bred childern playing round the round pond? such _natural_ children with really original remarks and untrained ideas; not artificial peter pans who wistfully didn't want to grow up; not slavish little mimics of the children's stories in vogue, pretending to play at red indians--when every one knew that red indians nowadays dressed like all the other citizens of the united states and canada and sat in congress and cultivated political "pulls" or sold patent medicines; or who said "good hunting" and other mowgli shibboleths to mystified relations from the mid-nineteenth century country towns; nor children who teased the cat or interfered with the cook or stole jam or did anything else that was obsolete; or decried sullivan's music in favour of debussy's or of scarlatini's th century _tiraliras_; or wore spectacles and had to have their front teeth in gold clamps. just clear-eyed, good-tempered, good-looking, roguish and spontaneously natural and reasonably self-willed children, who adored their parents and did not openly mock at the elishas that called on them. then there were honoria's friends. i gave a sort of list of them in chapter ii--which i am told has caused considerable offence, not by what was put _in_ but to those who were left out. but they needn't mind: if the protesters were nice people according to my standard, you may be sure honoria knew them. but of all her friends none was dearer and closer--save her husband--than vivie warren--pal of pals, brave comrade of the unflinching eyes. and somehow vivie (since she fell in love with michael rossiter) was ten times dearer than she had been before: she was more understanding; she had a brighter eye, a much greater sense of humour; she was tenderer; she liked children as she never had done in bygone years, and was soon adopted by the four children in kensington square as "aunt vivie" (they also--the two elder ones--had a vague remembrance of an uncle david who had brought them toys and sweetmeats in a dim past). aunt vivie and mummie used to get up the most amusing suffrage meetings in the long, narrow garden behind the house; or they combined forces with lady maud parry, and spoke in lilting contralto or mezzo-soprano (with the compliant tenor or baritone of here and there a captive man) across the two gardens. or somehow they commandeered the square garden on the pretext of a vast garden party, at which every one talked and laughed at once over their suffrage views. yes: honoria was happy then, as indeed she had been during most of her life, except when her brother died and her mother died. what did she lack for happiness? nothing that this world can give in the opening twentieth century ... not even a very good pianola or a motor. i feel somehow it was almost unfair (in my rage at the inequality of treatment meted out by the powers beyond). shall not general sir petworth armstrong die in the great débacle of the world-wide war? i shall see, later. and yet i feel that this nucleus of pure happiness housed in kensington square--or at petworth manor--was to the little world that revolved round the armstrongs like a good radiator in a cold house. it warmed many a chilly nature into fructification; it healed many a scar, it brightened many a humble life, like that of bertie adams's hard-working, washerwoman mother, or the game-keeper's crippled child at petworth or the newest, suburbanest little employé of _fraser and claridge's_ huge establishment in the brompton road. it pulled straight the wayward life of some young subaltern, about to come a cropper, but who after a talk or two with that jolly mrs. armstrong took quite a different course and made a decent marriage. it conjoined with many of the social activities for good of one who might have been her twin sister--suzanne feenix--only that suzanne was twenty years older and perhaps an inch or two shorter. dear woman! my remembrance flashes a kiss to your astral cheek--which in reality i should never have dared to salute, so great was my awe of colonel armstrong's muscles--as, at any reasonable time before or after the birth of your last child in june, , you stand in the hall of your sunny, eighteenth century house, with the gold and green glint of the kensington garden behind you: saying with your glad eyes and bonny mouth "come to our suffrage party? _such_ a lark! we've got mrs. pankhurst here and the police daren't raid us; they're so afraid of 'army.' of course he's away, but he knows _perfectly well_ what i'm doing. he's _quite_ given in. now michael, you show sir harry and lady johnston to the front seats..." (i looked round for the rather gloomy presence of michael rossiter, but it was his little golden-haired god-son she meant.) you shall have your general back safe from the wars, with a wound that gives only honour, a reasonable number of well-earned decorations, and a reputation for rather better strategy than aldershot generally produces; and he shall live out his wholesome life alongside yours, still dispensing happiness, even under a labour government: till, as burton used to wind up his arabian nights love stories, "there came to them the destroyer of delight and the sunderer of societies." honoria acted towards the suffrage movement somewhat as in older-fashioned days of second empire laxity well-to-do people evaded military service under conscription by paying a substitute to take their place in the fighting line. on account of her husband, and the children she had just had or was going to have, she did not throw herself into the physical struggle; but she still continued out of her brother's ear-marked money to subsidize the cause. rather regretfully, she looked on from a motor, a balcony, a front window or the safe plinth of some huge statue, whilst her comrades, with less to risk physically and socially, matched their strength of will, their trained muscles, their agility, astuteness and feminine charm (seldom without some effect) against the brute force and imperturbability of the police. the struggle waxed hot and fierce in the early months of . vivie held herself somewhat in the background also, not wishing to strike publicly and effectively until she was sure for what principle she endangered her life and liberty. nevertheless she became a resource of rising importance to the suffrage cause. she was known to have had a clever barrister cousin who for some reasons best known to himself had of late kept in the background--ill-health, said some; an unfortunate love affair, said another. but his pamphlet on the white slave traffic on the continent showed that he was still at work. vivie was thought to be fully equal in her knowledge of the law to her cousin, though not allowed to qualify for the bar. case after case was referred to her with the hope that if she could not solve it, she might submit it to her cousin's judgment. in this way, excellent legal advice was forthcoming which drove the home office officials from one quandary to another. but vivie in the spring of , looking back on nearly twelve months of womanly life (save for david's summer of continental travel) decided that she didn't like being a woman, so far as woman was dressed in and for three or four hundred years previously. as "david" this had been more or less her costume: an undershirt (two, in very cold weather), a pair of pants coming down to the ankle, and well-fitting woollen socks on the feet. a shirt, sometimes in day-time all of one piece with its turn-over collar; at worst with a separate collar and a tie passed through it. braces that really braced and held up the nether garment of trousers; a waistcoat buttoning fairly high up (no pneumonia blouse)--two waistcoats if she liked, or a dandy slip buttoned innocently inside the single vest to suggest the white lie of a second inner vest. over the waistcoat a coat or jacket. on the head a hat which fitted the head in thirty seconds (allowing for david's shock of hair). lace-up or button boots, with perhaps at most six buttons; gloves with one button; spats--if david wanted to be very dressy--with three buttons. on top of all this a warm, easily-fitting overcoat or a mackintosh. if you were really dressing to kill (as a man) it might take half an hour; if merely to go about your business and not be specially remarked for foppishness, twenty minutes. to divest yourself of all this and get into paijamas and so to bed: ten minutes. but when vivie returned to herself and went about the world of - , and merely wished to pass as an inconspicuous, modest woman she had to spend _hours_ in dressing and undressing, and this is what she had to wear and waste so much of her time in adjusting and removing:-- next the skin, merino combinations, unwieldy garments requiring a contortionist's education to put on without entangling your front and hind limbs. the "combies" were specially buttoned with an infinitude of small, scarcely visible buttons, which always wanted sewing on and replacing, and were peevish about remaining in the button hole. often, too, the "combies" (i really can't keep writing the full name) had to be tied here and there with little white ribbons which preferred getting into a knot (no wonder the average woman has a temper!). when the "combies" went to the wash, all these ribbonlets had to be taken out, specially washed, specially ironed, and ingeniously threaded back into position. next to the combinations, proceeding outwards, came the corset, a most serious affair. this exceedingly expensive instrument of torture was compounded chiefly of silk (which easily frayed) and whale-bone. many good women of the middle class have gone to their graves for three hundred years believing that almighty god had specially created toothless whales of the family _balænidæ_ solely for the purpose of providing women with the only possible ingredient for a corset; and for three hundred years, brave seamen of the dutch, british and basque nations had gone to a watery grave to procure for women this indispensable aid to correct clothing. but these filaments of horny palatal processes are unamiable. though sheathed in silk or cotton, they, after the violent movements of a suffragette or a charwoman, break through the restraining sheath and run into the body under the fifth rib, or press forward on to the thigh. which is why you often see a woman's face in an omnibus express severe pain and her lips utter the exclamation "aïe, aïe." then this confounded corset had to be laced with pink ribbons at the back and in front and both lacings demanded unusual suppleness of arms and sense of touch in finger-tips; and when the corset went to the wash the ribbons had to be drawn out, washed, ironed, and threaded again. from the front of the corset hung two elastic suspenders as yet awaiting their prey. but first must be drawn on the silk or stockinette knickerbockers which in the woman replaced the piteously laughable drawers of the victorian period. then the suspenders clutched the rims of the stockings with an arrangement of nickel and rubber which no _man_ would have tolerated for its inefficiency but would have thrown back in the face of the shopman and have been charged with assault. in times of stress, at public meetings the suspenders would release the stockings from their hold, and the latter roll about the ankles of the embarrassed pleader for woman's rights ("who would be free, themselves must strike the blow," and first of all throttle the modiste, thought vivie). then there was the camisole that concealed the corset and had to be "pinned" in with safety pins. the knickerbockers might not seek the aid of braces; but they must be kept up by an elastic band. over the camisole, in , came a blouse, pernickety and shiftless about its waist fastening; and finally a hobble skirt, chiefly kept up by safety pins, and so cut below as to hamper free movement of the limbs as much as possible. day-boots often had as many as twenty-one buttons--and, mind you, not _sham_, buttons, as i used to think, out of swagger; but every button demanded entrance into a practicable button hole. or the boots themselves were mere shoes with many buttoned spats drawn over them. all the boots had high heels and the woman walked so as to put a severe strain on her arched instep in order that she might bring on by degrees "flat foot" for surgical treatment. who shall describe the hats of ?--and before and since--in all but the very poorest women? they were enormous; and so were the hat-boxes; and they could only be held on to the head by running hatpins through wisps of hair. i will not portray the evening dresses that it sometimes takes a kindly husband an hour to fasten, with "press-buttons" and hooks and eyes; and poor vivie had no husband and depended on her suffragette maid because at all costs she mustn't look dowdy or the woman's cause might suffer at mrs. pethick lawrence's receptions. as to night gear: of course vivie being a free agent slept in david's paijamas. she had long ago cut the gordian knots of her be-ribboned, girdled night gowns in favour of the indian garment. but can you wonder after this true recital of the simplest forms of a decent woman's costume in - and even now (a recital drawn from a paper on _woman's dress_ delivered by david on one of the last occasions in which he appeared at the debating society of the inner temple--and checked by my jury of matrons)--can you wonder that vivie took very hardly to giving up a man's life in the clothes of david williams? how she vowed to herself--fruitlessly, because now she is one of the best-dressed women in town (in a quiet way)--that she would one day enfranchise women in their costume as in their citizenship? this will never be done until the modistes of paris, in some great popular uprising, are strangled and burnt on the place de la concorde. at the (january) election, michael rossiter had been returned as m.p. for one of the midland universities. his science had certainly suffered from his suppressed love for vivie, a passion which secretly tortured him, yet for which he dared ask no respite. he thought it was about time that _real_ men of science entered parliament to check the utter mismanagement of public affairs which had been going on since . he proposed to himself to make a succession of brilliant speeches (he really was an admirable and fluent lecturer) on anthropology, chemistry--chemistry ought to appeal, even to city men because it made such a lot of money--ethnology, hygiene, geography, economic botany, regional zoology, germ diseases, agriculture, etc., etc.; _and_ the absolute necessity of giving woman the same electoral privileges as man. he was always well inclined that way, but after he realized that david was vivie he became almost an embittered suffragist. the speaker took care that he had little scope for his anthropology, economic botany, chemistry, hygiene, etc., on votes of supply: but he got in some nasty blows in the woman's cause, and in fact was so strangely rancorous that ministers looked at him evilly and arranged that he was not placed on the committee of the conciliation bill; that amusing farce with which the liberal ministry sought in to stave off the suffrage dilemma. rossiter and vivie seldom met except at public receptions. every now and again he came to suffrage meetings when she was going to speak; and how well she spoke then! how real it all seemed to her! how handsome she looked (even at ) and how near she was to tears and a breakdown; while his eyes burned; and when he got home poor little linda was in despair over her poor distraught michael, who could find no happiness or contentment in ten thousand a year, great fame as the chief inventor of the ductless glands, and the man who had issued a taxonomic classification of the _bovidae_ which even satisfied _me_. what a cruel force is love! or is the cruelty in human disciplinary laws? here were two persons eminently suited to be mates, calculated while still in the prime of life to procreate offspring that would be a credit to the nation, who asked for nothing more in life than to lie in each other's arms--after which no doubt they would have arisen and performed the most wonderful feats in inductive science or in embroidery or mathematics. and they were inwardly raging, losing their appetites, sleeping very badly yet eschewing drugs, pursuing will-of-the-wisps in politics, wasting the best years of their lives ... from a sense of duty, that sense of duty which has made the nordic white man the dominant race on the earth. "we suffer individually but we gain collectively," rossiter said to himself. in may, , king edward died, and all these gladiators, male and female, willingly declared a truce in the suffrage battle, to obtain a much needed rest in the weary conflict. as soon as political activities were resumed, the conciliation bill by the energies of the liberal whips was talked out (wasn't it?). at any rate it came to nothing for that session. vivie took this as a decision. she openly declared that the vote never would be given by the house of commons or house of lords until it was wrung from the legislature by a complete dislocation of public affairs, the nearest approach to a revolution women could bring about without rifles and cannon. meantime she refused to be duped by ministers or by amiable go-betweens. she resolved instead, perhaps for the last time, to resume the clothes and status of david williams, go down to wales, and stay with her father who was dying by slow degrees. the letters which the curate had written from time to time to d.v. williams, esq., care of michael rossiter, esq., f.r.s., and usually forwarded on by bertie adams, had told david how much the revd. howel williams had failed since the cold spring of , and how in the colder spring of he had once or twice narrowly survived influenza. in july, , he was dying of heart failure. nevertheless the return of david, his well-beloved, brought to him a flicker of renewed life, a little pink in the cheeks, and some garrulity. he could hardly bear his darling son out of his sight, except for the narrowest margin of necessary sleep; and often david slept sitting up in an arm-chair in the vicar's bedroom. the revd. howel said nothing more about grandchildren; often--with a finer sense--spoke to him not as though he were a son, but as a beloved daughter. at last he died in his sleep one night, holding david's hand, looking so ineffably happy that the impostor inwardly gloried in his imposture as in one of the best deeds of his chequered life. * * * * * the will, of course, had not been changed, and david inherited all his "father's" property. out of it he settled £ on the miner's--or rather jenny's--son who probably _was_ the offspring of the real david williams's boyish amour. he provided a handsome annuity for poor, shaken, old nannie; and the rest of the money after paying all expenses he laid out on the endowment of a village hall for games and study, social meetings and political discussions, together with provision for an annual stipend of a hundred pounds for the vicar or curate of the parish who should run this hall: which was to be a lasting memorial to the reverend howel vaughan williams, so learned in the lore of wales. having settled all these matters to his satisfaction, and certainly to that of the revd. cadwalladr jones (who succeeded as vicar of pontystrad by a wise nudging and monetary pressure on the part of the late vicar's son), david returned to london at the close of , took off his clothes and shed his personality. it was bruited that he had gone abroad to nurse a health that was seriously impaired through his incredible exertions over the shillito case. he left his cousin vivie free to espouse the suffrage cause, even unto the extremest militancy. chapter xiii the suffrage movement the conciliation bill which was intended to give the parliamentary vote to a little over one million women had passed its second reading on july , , by a majority of votes; in spite of the bitter opposition of the premier, the chancellor of the exchequer, the home secretary, the president of the board of trade, and the secretary for the colonies. the premier's arguments against it were, firstly, that "women were women"--this of course was a deplorable fact--and that "the balance of power might fall into their hands without the physical force necessary to impose their decisions, etc., etc."; and finally "that in force lay the ultimate appeal" (rather a dangerous incitement to the sincere militants). the chancellor of the exchequer took up a more subtle attitude than the undisguised, grumpy hostility of his leader. his arguments at the time reminded me of an episode in east africa thirty years ago. a certain independent chief tolerated the presence on his territory of a plucky band of missionary pioneers. he did not care about christianity but he liked the trade goods the missionaries brought to purchase food and pay for labour in the erection of a station. these trade goods they kept in a storehouse made of wattle and daub. but this temporary building was not proof against cunning attempts at burglary on the part of the natives. the missionaries at length went to the chief (who was clothed shamelessly in the stolen calicoes) and sought redress. "all right," said the potentate, who kept a fretful realm in awe, "_but_ you have no proof it _is_ my people who break in and steal. you just catch one in the act, and _then_ you'll see what i'll do." so the oxford and cambridge athletic missionaries sat up night after night under some camouflage and at last their patience was rewarded by the capture of a naked, oily-skinned negro who emerged from a tunnel he had dug under the store-foundations. then they bore him off to the yao chieftain. "_now_ we know where we are," said the chief. "you've proved your complaint. we'll have him burnt to death, after lunch, in the market place. i presume you've brought a lunch-basket?" "oh no!" said the horrified propagandists: "we don't want such a penalty as _that_..." "very good" said the chief, "then we'll behead him..." "no! no!" "crucify him?"--"no! no!"--"peg him down over a driver ants' nest?" "no! no!" "then, if you don't want _any_ rational punishment, he shall go free." and free he went. in the same way the chancellor of the exchequer of those days was so hard to please over suffrage measures that none brought forward was democratic enough, far-reaching and overwhelming enough to secure his adhesion. he was therefore forced to torpedo the conciliation bill, to snatch away the half-loaf that was better than no bread at all. he spoke and voted against these tentative measures of feminine enfranchisement, with tongue in cheek, no doubt, and hand linked in that of lulu grandcourt whose opposition to any vote being given to woman and whole attitude towards the sex was so bitter that he had to be reminded by lord aloysius brinsley (who like his brother robert was a convinced suffragist) that after all he, lulu grandcourt, had deigned to be born of a woman, had even--maybe--been spanked by one. the speaker had hinted on the occasion of the second reading of the concilition bill and at a later raising of the same question that there might arise all sorts of obstacles to wreck the woman's franchise measure in committee; obstacles that apparently need not be taken into account as dangerous to any measure affecting male interests. therefore many of the m.p.'s timorously voted for the second reading of the conciliation bill in order to stand well with their constituencies, yet looked to the premier to trip it up by some adroit use of parliamentary jiu-jitsu. they were not disappointed in their ideal politician. the bill after it had passed its second reading by a large majority was referred to a committee of the whole house, which seemingly is fatal to any measure that seeks to become law. so the stale summer of wore itself away in recriminations, hopings against probability that the newer types of liberal statesmen were honest men, keepers of promises, not merely--as vivie said in one of the many speeches that got her into trouble--"bridge-players, first and foremost, golf-players when they couldn't play bridge, or speculators on the stock exchange, champagne drinkers; and prone to eat at their lucullus banquets, public and private, till they sometimes fainted with indigestion." my! but she was bitter in her hyde park speeches and at her albert hall meetings against this band of mock-liberals who had seized the impulse of the country towards reform which had grown up under the chamberlain era to instal themselves in power with the financial backing of great americo-german-jewish internationalists, who in those early years of the twentieth century were ready to stake their dollars on the free trade british empire if they might guide its policy. [very likely if they had obtained the complete guidance they sought for they might have staved off this ruinous war by telling germany bluntly she must keep her hands off france and belgium; they might also have seen to it that the war office _was_ reformed and the british army ready to fulfil lord haldane's promises; for there is no doubt they had ability even if they despised the instruments they worked with.] but as i say, vivie was a bitter and most effective speaker. she inflamed to action many a warm-hearted person like myself, like rossiter (who got into trouble--though it was hushed up--in - for slapping the face of a secretary of state who spoke slightingly of the women suffragists and their motives). yet i seem to be stranded now, with a few others, in my pre-war enthusiasm over the woman's cause, or, later, my horror at the german treatment of belgium. where are the snows of yester-year; where is the animosity which in the years between the burking of the conciliation bill and the spring of grew up between the disinterested reformers who wanted woman enfranchised and the liberal ministers who fought so doggedly, so unscrupulously, against such a rational completion of representative government? the other day i glanced at a newspaper and saw that sir michael and lady rossiter had been dining at the ritz with the grandcourts, princess belasco, sir abel batterby, the great police surgeon, knighted for his skill and discretion in forcible feeding, and the george bounderbys (g.b. was the venomous private secretary of a former chancellor of the exchequer and put him up to most of his anti-suffrage dodges); and meeting vivien rossiter soon afterwards i said, "how _could_ you?" "how could i what?" "dine with the people you once hated." "oh i don't know, it's all past and done with; we've got the vote and somehow after those years in brussels i seem to have no hates and few loves left"--however this is anticipating. i only insert this protest because i may seem to be expressing a bitterness the protagonists have ceased to feel, a triumph at the victory of their cause which produces in them merely a yawn. where is mrs. pankhurst? somehow one thought she would never rest till she was in the cabinet. and christabel? and annie kenney? married perchance to some permanent under secretary of state and viewing "direct action" with growing disapproval. and the pethick lawrences? some one told me the other day that they'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be forcibly fed. but in november, , we all--we that were whole-hearted reformers, true liberals, not wolves in sheep's clothing, took very much to heart what happened on the th of that month, when the prime minister of the time announced that the conference between the house of lords and the house of commons on the veto question having broken down he had advised his majesty to dissolve parliament. this meant that the conciliation bill was _finally_ done for; while the declaration of the prime minister as to the future programme of the liberal party, if it was returned to power, excluded any mention of a woman's enfranchisement bill. on black friday, november th, vivie was present at the meeting in caxton hall when mrs. pankhurst explained the position to the suffragist women assembled there. her blood was fired by the recital of their wrongs and she was prominent among the four hundred and fifty volunteers who came forward to accompany mrs. pankhurst, dr. garret anderson and susan knipper-totes (the two last, infirm old ladies) when they proposed to march to the houses of parliament to exercise their right of presenting a petition. the women proceeded to parliament square in small groups so as to keep within the letter of the law. some like vivie carried banners with pitiful devices--"where there's a bill there's a way," "women's will beats asquith's skill," and so on.... she wished she had given more direct attention to these mottoes, but much of this procedure had been got up on impulse and little preparation made. it was near to four o'clock on a fine november afternoon when the four hundred and fifty women began their movement towards parliament square. a red sun was sinking behind the house of lords, the blue of the misty buildings and street openings was enhanced by the lemon yellow lights of the newly-lit lamps. the avenues converging on the houses of parliament were choked with people, and vehicles had to be diverted from the streets. the men in the watching crowd covered the pavements and island "refuges," leaving the roadways to the little groups of struggling women, and the large force--a thousand or more--of opposing police. it was said at the time that the government of the day, realizing by their action or inaction in the house of commons they had provoked this movement of mrs. pankhurst's, had prepared the policy with which to meet it. as on the eve of a general election it might be awkward if they made many arrests of women--perchance liberal women--on their way to the house to present a petition or escort a deputation, the police should be instructed instead to repel the suffragists by force, to give them a taste of that "frightfulness" which became afterwards so familiar a weapon in the prussian armoury. some said also that the government looked to the crowd which was allowed to form unchecked on the pavements, the crowd of rough men and boys--costers from lambeth, longshore men from the barges on the unembanked westminster riverside, errand boys, soldiers, sailors, clerks returning home, warehousemen, the tag-rag and bob-tail generally of london when a row is brewing--looked to this crowd to catch fire from the brutality of the police (uniformed and in plain clothes) and really give the women clamouring for the vote "what for"; teach them a lesson as to what the roused male can do when the female passes the limits of domestic license. a few deaths might result (and did), and many injuries, but the treatment they received would make such an impression on mrs. pankhurst's followers that they would at last realize the futility of measuring their puny force against the muscle of man. force, as the premier had just said, must be the decisive factor. but unfortunately for these calculations the large male crowd took quite a different line. the day had gone by when men and boys were wont to cry to some expounding suffragette: "go home and mind yer biby." dimly these toilers and moilers, these loafers and wasters now understood that women of a courage rarely matched in man were fighting for the cause of all ill-governed, mal-administered, swindled, exploited people of either sex. the mass of men, _in_ the mass, is chivalrous. it admires pluck, patience, and persistency. so the crowd instead of aiding the police to knock sense into the women began to take sides with the buffeted, brutalized and bleeding suffragettes. fortunately before the real fighting began, and no doubt as a stroke of policy on the part of some police inspector, mrs. pankhurst convoying the two frail old ladies--dr. garret anderson and susan knipper-totes--champions of the vote when woman suffrage was outside practical politics--had reached the steps of the strangers' entrance to the house of commons. from this point of 'vantage a few of the older leaders of the deputation were able to witness the four or five hours' struggle in and around parliament square, the abbey, parliament street, great george street which made black friday one of the note-worthy days in british history--though, _more nostro_, it will be long before it is inserted in school books. here, while something like panic signalized the legislative chamber and cabinet ministers scurried in and out like flurried rabbits and finally took refuge in their private rooms--here was fought out the decisive battle between physical and moral force over the suffrage question. the women were so _exaltées_ that they were ready to face death for their cause. the police were so exasperated that they saw red and some went mad with sex mania. it was a horrible spectacle in detail. men with foam on their moustaches were gripping women by the breasts, tearing open their clothing, and proceeding to rabid indecencies. or, if not sex-mad, they twisted their arms, turned back their thumbs to dislocation, rained blows with fists on pale faces, covering them with blood. they tore out golden hair or thin grey locks with equal disregard. mounted police were summoned to overawe the crowd, which by this time whether suffragist and female, or neutral, non-committal and male, was giving the police on foot a very nasty time. the four hundred and fifty women of the original impulse had increased to several thousand. dusk had long since deepened into a night lit up with arc lamps and the golden radiance of great gas-lamp clusters. flares were lighted to enable the police to see better what they were doing and who were their assailants. but the women showed complete indifference to the horses; and the horses with that exquisite forbearance that the horse can show to the distraught human, did their utmost not to trample on small feet and outspread hands. here and there humanity asserted itself. one policeman--helmetless, his fair, blond face scratched and bleeding--had in berserkr rage felled a young woman in the semi-darkness. he bore his senseless victim into the shelter of some nook or cloister and turned on her his bull's eye lantern. she was a beautiful creature, in private life a waitress at a tea shop. her hat was gone and her hair streamed over her drooping face and slender shoulders. the policeman overcome with remorse exclaimed--mentioning the home secretary's name "---- be damned; this ain't the job for a decent man." the suffragette revived under his care. he escorted her home, resigned from the police force, married her and i believe has lived happily ever afterwards, if he was not killed in the war. vivie had struggled for about two hours to reach the precincts of the house, with or without her banner. probably without, because she had freely used its staff as a weapon of defence, and her former skill in fencing stood her in good stead. but at last she was gripped by two constables, one of them an oldish man and the other a plain-clothes policeman, whom several spectators had singled out for his pleasure in needless brutalities. these men proceeded to give her "punishment," and involuntarily she shrieked with mingled agony of pain and outraged sex-revolt. a man who had paused irresolutely on the kerb of a street refuge came to her aid. he dealt the grey-haired constable a blow that sent him reeling and then seized the plain-clothes man by his coat collar. a struggle ensued which ended in the intervener being flung with such violence on the kerb stone that he was temporarily stunned. presently he found himself being dragged along with his heels dangling, while vivie, described in language which my jury of matrons will not allow me to repeat, was being propelled alongside him, her clothes nearly torn off her, to some police station where they were placed under arrest. as soon as they had recovered breath and complete consciousness, had wiped the blood from cut heads, noses, and lips, they looked hard at each other. "thank you _so_ much," said vivie, "it _was_ good of you." "that's enough," said her defender, "it wanted the voice to make me sure; but somehow i thought all along it _was_ vivie. don't you know me? frank gardner!" while waiting for the formalities to be concluded and their transference to cells in which they were to pass the night, frank told vivie briefly that he had returned from rhodesia a prosperous man on a brief holiday leaving his wife and children to await his return. hearing there was likely to be an unusual row that evening over the suffrage question he had sauntered down from the strand to see what was going on and had been haunted by the conviction that he would meet vivie in the middle of the conflict. but when he rushed to her defence his action was instinctive, the impulse of any red-blooded man to defend a woman that was being brutally maltreated. the next morning they were haled before the magistrate. michael rossiter was in court as a spectator, feverishly anxious to pay vivie's fine or to find bail, or in all and every way to come to her relief. he seemed rather mystified at the sight of frank gardner arraigned with her. but presently the prosecuting counsel for the chief commissioner of police arrived and told the astonished magistrate it was the wish of the home secretary that the prisoners in the dock should all be discharged, vivie and frank gardner among them. at any rate no evidence would be tendered by the prosecution. so they were released, as also was each fresh batch of prisoners brought in after them. vivie went in a cab to her house in the victoria road; frank back to his hotel. both had promised to foregather at rossiter's house in portland place at lunch. hitherto vivie had refrained from entering no. park crescent. she had not seen it or mrs. rossiter since david's attack of faintness and hysteria in february, , nearly two years ago. why she went now she scarcely knew, logically. it was unwise to renew relations too closely with rossiter, who showed his solicitude for her far too plainly in his face. the introduction to linda rossiter in her female form would be embarrassing and would doubtless set that good lady questioning and speculating. yet she felt she must see rossiter--writing was always dangerous and inadequate--and reason with him; beg him not to spoil his own chances in life for her, not lose his head in politics and personal animosities on her behalf, as he seemed likely to do. already people were speaking of him as a parallel to ----, and ----, and ---- (you can fill the blanks for yourself with the names of great men of science who have become ineffective, quarrelsome, isolated members of parliament); saying it was a great loss to science and no gain to the legislature. as to frank gardner, she was equally eager for a long explanatory talk with him. except that her life had inured her to surprises and unexpected meetings, it was sufficiently amazing that frank and she, who had not seen each other or touched hands for thirteen years, should meet thus in a dangerous scuffle in a dense struggling crowd outside the houses of parliament. she must so arrange matters after lunch that frank should not prevent her hour's talk with rossiter, yet should have the long explanation he himself deserved. an idea. she would telephone to praddy and invite herself and frank to tea at his studio after she had left the rossiters. mrs. rossiter was used to unexpected guests at lunch. people on terms of familiarity dropped in, or the professor detained some colleague or pupil and made him sit down to the meal which was always prepared and seated for four. therefore she was not particularly taken aback when her husband appeared at five minutes to one in the little drawing-room and after requesting that the macaw and the cockatoo might be removed for the nonce to a back room--as they made sustained conversation impossible, announced that he expected momently--ah! there was the bell--two persons whose acquaintance he was sure linda would like to make. one was captain frank gardner, who owned a big ranch in rhodesia, and--er--the other--oh no! no relation--was miss warren.... "what, one of the warrens of huddersfield? well, i never! and where did you pick her up? strange she shouldn't have written to me she was coming up to town! i could--" "no, this is a miss vivien warren--" "vivien? how curious, why that is the name of the adams's little girl--" "a miss vivien warren," went on rossiter patiently--"a well-known suffragist who--" "oh michael! _not_ a suffragette!" wailed mrs. rossiter, imagining vitriol was about to be thrown over the surviving pug and damage done generally to the furniture--but at this moment the butler announced: "captain frank gardner and miss warren." gardner was well enough, a lean soldierly-looking man, brown with the african sun, with pleasant twinkling blue eyes, a thick moustache and curly hair, just a little thin on the top. his face was rather scarred with african adventure and did not show much special trace of his last night's tussle with the police. there was a cut at the back of his head where he had fallen on the kerb stone but that was neatly plastered, and you do not turn your back much on a hostess, at any rate on first introduction. but vivie had obviously been in the wars. she had--frankly--a black eye, a cut and swollen lip, and her ordinarily well-shaped nose was a trifle swollen and reddened. but her eyes likewise were twinkling, though the bruised one was bloodshot. "i'm sorry, mrs. rossiter, to be introduced to you like this. i don't know _what_ you will think of me. it's the first time i've been in a really bad row.... we were trying to get to the house of commons, but the police interfered and gave us the full privileges of a man as regards their fists. captain gardner here--who is an old friend of mine--intervened, or i'm afraid i shouldn't have got off as cheaply as i did. and your husband kindly came to the police court to testify to our good character, and then invited us to lunch." _mrs. rossiter_: "why how your voice reminds me of some one who used to come here a good deal at one time--a mr. david williams. i suppose he isn't any relation?" _vivie_ (while frank gardner looks a little astonished): "oh--my cousin. i knew you knew him. he has often talked to me about you. i'll tell you about david by and bye, frank." at this interchange of christian names mrs. rossiter thinks she understands the situation: they are engaged, have been since last night's rescue. but what _extraordinary_ people the dear professor _does_ pick up! have _they_ got ductless glands, she wonders? rossiter who has been fidgeting through this dialogue considers that lunch is ready, so they proceed to the small dining-room, "the breakfast-room." mrs. rossiter was always very proud of having a _small_ drawing-room (otherwise, "me boudwor") and a _small_ dining-room. it prepared the way for greater magnificence at big parties and also enabled one to be cosier with a few friends. at luncheon: _mrs. rossiter_ to _frank gardner_, archly: "i suppose you've come home to be married?" _frank_: "oh no! i'm not a bigamist, i've got a wife already and four children, and jolly glad i shall be to get back to 'em. i can't stand much of the english climate, after getting so used to south african sunshine. no. i came on a business trip to england, leaving my old dear out at the farm near salisbury, with the kids--we've got a nice english governess who helps her to look after 'em. a year or two hence i hope to bring 'em over to see the old country and we may have to put the eldest to school: children run wild so in south africa. as to miss warren, she's an old friend of mine and a very dear one. i hadn't seen her for--for--thirteen years, when the sound of her voice--she's got one of those voices you never forget--the sound of her voice came up out of that beastly crowd of gladiators yesterday, and i found her being hammered by two policemen. i pretty well laid one out, though i hadn't used my fists for a matter of ten years. then i got knocked over myself, i passed a night in a police cell feeling pretty sick and positively maddened at not being able to ask any questions. then at last morning came, i had a wash and brush up--the police after all aren't bad chaps, and most of 'em seemed jolly well ashamed of last night's doin's--then i met vivie in court and your husband too. he took me on trust and i'm awfully grateful to him. i've got a dear old mater down in kent--margate, don't you know--my dad's still alive, vivie!--and she'd have been awfully cut up at hearing her son had been spending the night in a police cell and was goin' to be fined for rioting, only fortunately the home secretary said we weren't to be punished.... but professor rossiter's coming on the scene was a grand thing. besides being an m.p., i needn't tell _you_, mrs. rossiter, he has a world-wide reputation. oh, we read your books, sir, out in south africa, _i_ can tell you--well--er--and here we are--and i'm monopolizing the conversation." vivie sat opposite her old lover, and near to the man who loved her now with such ill-concealed passion that his hand trembled for her very proximity. she felt strangely elated, strangely gay, at times inclined to laugh as she caught sight of her bruised and puffy face in an opposite mirror, yet happy in the knowledge that notwithstanding the thirteen years of separation, her repeated rejection of his early love, her battered appearance, frank still felt tenderly towards her, still remembered the timbre of her voice. her mouth was too sore and swollen to make eating very pleasant. she trifled with her food but she felt young and full of gay adventure. mrs. rossiter a little overwhelmed with all the information gardner had poured out, a little irritated also at the dancing light in vivie's eyes, turned her questionings on her. _mrs. rossiter_: "i suppose you are the miss warren who speaks so much. i often see your name in the papers, especially in _votes for women_ that the professor takes in. isn't it funny that a man should care so much about women getting the vote? i'm sure _i_ don't want it. i'm _quite_ content to exercise _my_ influence through _him_, especially now he's in parliament. but then i have my home to look after, and i'm _much_ too busy to go out and about and mix myself up in politics. i'm quite content to leave all that to the menfolk." _vivie_: "quite so. in your position no doubt i should do the same; but you see i haven't any menfolk. there is my mother, but she prefers to live abroad, and as she is comfortably off she can employ servants to look after her." (this hint of wealth a little reassured mrs. rossiter, who believed most suffragettes to be adventuresses.) "so, as i have no ties i prefer to give myself up to the service of women in general. when they have the vote and other privileges of men, then of course i can attend to my private interests and pursuits--mathematical calculations, insurance risks--" _mrs. rossiter_: "it is _extraordinary_ how like your voice is to your cousin's. if i shut my eyes i could think he was back again. not," (she added hastily) "that he has not, no doubt, _plenty_ to do abroad. do you ever see him now? why does he not marry and settle down? one never hears of him now as a barrister. but then he used to _feel_ his cases too much. the last time he was here he fainted and had to stay here all night. "and yet he had won his case and got his--what do you say? client? off--i dare say you remember it? she was my husband's cousin though we hardly liked to say so at the time: it is so unpleasant having a murder in the family. fortunately she was let off; i mean, the jury said 'not guilty,' though personally i--however that is neither here nor there, and since then she's married colonel kesteven--won't you have some pheasant? no? i remember your cousin used to have a very poor appetite, especially when one of his cases was on. _how_ he used--excuse my saying so--how he used to tire poor michael--mr. rossiter! talk, talk, talk! in the evenings, and i knew the professor had his lectures to prepare, but hints were thrown away on mr. david." rossiter broke in: "now what would you like to do in the afternoon, miss warren? and gardner? you, by the bye, have the first claim on our hospitality. you have just arrived from africa and the only thing we have done for you, so far, is to drag you into a disgraceful row." _frank_: "well, _i_ should like a glimpse of the zoo. i'm quite willing to pay my shilling and give no more trouble, but if vivie is going there too we could all walk up together. after that i'm going to revisit an old acquaintance of mine and vivie's, praed the architect--lives somewhere in chelsea if i remember right--" _vivie_: "in hans place. i don't particularly want to go to the zoo. i look so odd i might over-excite the monkeys. i think i should like to try a restful visit to the royal botanic. i'm so fond of their collection of weird succulent plants--things that look like stones and suddenly produce superb flowers." _mrs. rossiter_: "we belong to the botanic as well as to the zoo. _i_ could take you there after lunch." _rossiter_: "you forget, dearie, you've got to open that bazaar in marylebone town hall--" _linda_: "oh, have i? to be sure. but it's lady goring that does the opening, i'm _much_ too nervous. still i promised to come. would miss warren care to come with me?" _vivie_: "i should have liked to awfully: i love bazaars; but just at this moment i'm thinking more of those succulent plants ... and my battered face." _rossiter_: "i'll make up your minds for you. we'll _all_ drive to the zoo in linda's motor. gardner shall look at the animals and then find his way to hans place. i'll escort miss warren to the botanic, and then come on and pick you up, linda, at the town hall." that statement seemed to satisfy every one, so after coffee and a glance round the laboratory and the last experiments, they proceeded to the zoo, with at least an hour's daylight at their disposal. rossiter and vivie were at last alone within the charmed circle of the botanic gardens. they made their way slowly to the great palm house and thence up twisty iron steps to a nook like a tree refuge in new guinea, among palm boles and extravagant aroid growths. "now michael," said vivie--despite her bruised face she looked very elegant in her grey costume, grey hat, and grey suède gloves, and he had to exercise great self-restraint, remember that he was known by sight to most of the gardeners and to the ubiquitous secretary, in order to refrain from crushing her to his side: "now michael: i want a serious talk to you, a talk which will last for another eighteen months--which is about the time that has elapsed since we had our last--you're _not_ keeping the pact we made." "what was that?" "why you promised me that your--your--love--no! i won't misuse that word--your friendship for me should not spoil your life, your career, or make linda unhappy. yet it is doing all three. you've lived in a continual agitation since you got into parliament, and now you'll be involved in more electioneering in order to be returned once more. meantime your science has come to a dead stop. and it's so far more important for us than getting the vote. all this franchise agitation is on a much lower plane. it amuses and interests me. it keeps me from thinking too much about you. besides, i am naturally rather combative; i secretly enjoy these rough-and-tumbles with constituted authority. i also really _do_ think it is a _beastly_ shame, this preference shown for man, in most of the careers and in the franchise. but don't you worry _yourself_ unduly about it. if i really thought that you cared so much about me that it was turning you away from _our_ religion, scientific research, i'd go over to brussels to my mother and stay there. i really would; and i really will if you don't stop following me about from meeting to meeting and going mad over the suffrage question in the house. is it true that you struck a cabinet minister the other day? mr. ----?" _rossiter_: "yes, it's true, and he asked for it. if i am unreasonable what are _they_? ----, ----, _and_ ----? why have they such a bitter feeling against your sex? have they had no mothers, no sweethearts, no sisters, no wives? if i'd never met you i should still have been a suffragist. i think i _was_ one, as a boy, watching what my mother suffered from my father, and how he collared all her money--i suppose it was before the married woman's property act--and grudged her any for her dress, her little comforts, her books, or even for proper medical advice. and to hear these liberal cabinet ministers--_liberal_, mind you--talk about women, often with the filthy phrases of the street--well: he got a smack on the jaw and decided to treat the incident as a trifling one ... his private secretary patched it up somehow, but i expressed no regret.... "well, darling, i'll try to do as you wish. i'll try to shut you out of my thoughts and return to my experiments, when i'm not on platforms or in the house. i think i shall get in again--it's a mere matter of money, and thanks to linda that isn't wanting. i'm not going to withdraw from politics, you bet, however disenchanted i may be. it's because the decent, honest, educated men withdraw that legislation and administration are left to the case-hardened rogues ... and the uneducated ... and the cranks. but don't make things _too_ hard for me. keep out of prison ... keep off hunger strikes--if you're going to be man-handled by the police--ah! _why_ wasn't _i_ there, instead of in the house? gardner had all the luck.... i was glad to hear he was married." _vivie_: "oh you needn't be jealous of poor frank. and he'll soon be back in south africa. you needn't be jealous of _any_ one. i'm all yours--in spirit--for all time. now we must be going: it's getting dusk and we should be irretrievably ruined if we were locked up in this dilapidated old palm house. besides, i'm to meet frank at praddy's studio in order to tell him the history of the last thirteen years." as they walked away: "you know, michael, i'm still hoping we may be friends without being lovers. i wonder whether linda would get to like me?" at praed's studio. lewis maitland praed is looking older. he must be now--november, --about fifty-eight or fifty-nine. but he has still a certain elegance, the look of a lesser leighton about him. frank has been there already for half an hour, and the tea-table has been, so to speak, deflowered. vivie accepts a cup, a muffin, and a marron glacé. then says, "now, dear praddy, summon your mistress, _dons l'honnête sens du mot_, and have this tea-table cleared so that we can have a hugely long and uninterrupted talk. i have got to give frank a summary of all that i've done in the past thirteen years. meanwhile frank, as your record, i feel convinced, is so blameless and normal that it could be told before any parlour-maid, you start off whilst she is taking away the tea, fiddling with the stove, and prolonging to the uttermost her services to a master who has become her slave." the parlour-maid enters, and casts more than one searching glance at vivie's bruised features, but performs her duties in a workmanlike manner. _frank_: "my story? oh well, it's a happy one on the whole--very happy. soon as the war was over, i got busy in rhodesia and pitched on a perfect site for a stock and fruit farm. the b.s.a. co. was good to me because i'd known cecil rhodes and dr. jim; and by nineteen four i was going well, they'd made me a magistrate, and some of my mining shares had turned out trumps. then westlock came out as governor general, and lady enid had brought out with her a jolly nice girl as governess to her children. she was the daughter of a parson in hertfordshire near the brinsley estates. well, i won't say--bein' the soul of truth--that i fell in love with her--straight away--because i don't think i ever fell deep in love--straight away--with any girl but you, vivie. but i did feel, as it was hopeless askin' you to marry me, here was the wife i wanted. she was good enough to accept me and the westlocks were awfully kind and made everything easy. lady enid's a perfect brick--and, by the bye, she's a great suffragist too. well: we were married at pretoria in , and now we've got four children; a sturdy young frank, a golupshous vivie--oh, i told muriel everything, she's the sort of woman you can--and the other two are called bertha after my mother and charlotte after mrs. bernard shaw. i sent you, vivie--a newspaper with the announcement of my marriage--dj'ever get it?" _vivie_: "never. but i was undergoing a sea-change of my own, just then, which i will tell you all about presently." _frank_: "well then. i came back to england on a hurried visit. you remember, praddy? but you were away in italy and i couldn't find vivie anywhere. i called round at where your office was--fraser and warren--where we parted in --and there was no more fraser and warren. nobody knew anything about what had become of you. p'raps i might have found out, but i got a bit huffy, thought you might have written me a line about my marriage. i did write to miss fraser, but the letter was returned from the dead letter office," (_vivie_: "she married colonel armstrong.") "well, there it is! by some devilish lucky chance i had no sooner got to london from southhampton, day before yesterday, than some one told me all about the expected row between the suffragettes and the police. thought i'd go and see for myself what this meant. no idea before how far the thing had gone, or what brutes the police could be. had a sort of notion, don't know why, that dear old viv would be in it, up to the neck. got mixed up in the crowd and helped a woman or two out of it. lady feenix--they said it was--picked up some and took 'em into her motor. and then i heard a cry which could only be in vivie's voice--dear old viv--(leans forward with shining eyes to press her hand) and ... there we are. how're the bruises?" _vivie_: "oh, they ache rather, but it is such _joy_ to have such friends as you and praddy and michael rossiter, that i don't mind _what_ i go through..." _frank_: "but i say, viv, about this rossiter man. he seems awfully gone on you...?" _vivie_ (flushing in the firelight): "does he? it's only friendship. i really don't see them often but he came to my assistance once at a critical time. and now that praddy's all-powerful parlour-maid's definitely left us, i will tell you _my_ story." so she does, between five and half-past six, almost without interruption from the spell-bound frank--who says it licks any novel he ever read, and she ought to turn it into a novel--with a happy ending--or from praed who is at times a little somnolent. then at half-past six, the practical frank says: "look here, you chaps, i could go on listening till midnight, but what's the matter with a bit of dinner? i dare say praddy's parlour-maid might turn sour if we asked her at a moment's notice to find dinner for three. why not come out and dine with me at the hans crescent hotel? close by. i'll get a quiet table and we can finish our talk there. to-morrow i must go down to margate to see the dear old mater, and it may be a week before i'm up again." they adjourn to the hostelry mentioned. over coffee and cigarettes, vivie makes this appeal to frank: "now frank, you know all my story. tell me first, what really became of the real david williams, the young man you met in the hospital and wrote to me about?" _frank_: "'pon my life i don't know. i never heard one word about him after i got clear of the hospital myself. you know it fell into boer hands during that rising in cape colony. i expect the 'real' david williams, as you call him, died from neglected wounds or typhoid--or recovered and took to drink, or went up country and got knocked on the head by the natives for interfering with their women--good riddance of bad rubbish, i expect. what do you want me to do? i'll swear to anything in reason." _vivie_: "i want you to do this. run down one day before you go back to africa, to south wales, to pontystrad--it's not far from swansea--and call at the vicarage on the pretext that you've come to enquire about david vavasour williams whom you once knew in south africa. it'll give verisimilitude to my stories. they'll probably say they haven't seen him for ever so long, but that you can hear of him through professor rossiter. i dare say it's a silly idea of mine, but what i fear sometimes--is that if the fact comes out that _i_ was david williams, some vaughan or price or other williams may call the old man's will in question and get it put into chancery, get the money taken away from poor old bridget evanwy and the village hall which i've endowed. that's all. if it wasn't that i've disposed of my supposed father's money in the way i think he would have liked best, i shouldn't care a hang if they found out the trick i'd played on the benchers. d'you see?" _frank_: "i see." the next day vivie wisely spent in bed, healing her wounds and resting her limbs which after the mental excitement was over ached horribly. honoria came round and listened, applauded, pitied, laughed and concurred. but she was well enough on the following tuesday after black friday to attend another meeting of the w.s.p.u. at caxton hall, to hear one more ambiguous, tricky, many-ways-to-be-interpreted promise of the then prime minister. mrs. pankhurst pointing out the vagueness of these assurances announced her intention then and there of going round to downing street to ask for a more definite wording. vivie and many others followed this dauntless lady. their visit was unexpected, the police force was small and the suffragettes had two of the cabinet ministers at their mercy. they contented themselves by shaking, hustling, frightening but not otherwise injuring their victims before the latter were rescued and put into taxi-cabs. chapter xiv militancy the lilacs, victoria road, s.w. _december_ , . dear michael,-- i'm so glad you got returned all right by your university. i feared very much your championship of the woman's cause might have told against you. but these newer universities are more liberal-minded. i am keeping my promise to tell you of any important move i am making. so this is to inform you, _in very strict confidence_, of my latest dodge. for the effective organization of my particular branch of the w.s.p.u. activities, i must have an office. "the lilacs" is far too small, and besides i shrink from having my little home raided or too much visited even by confederates. i learned the other day that the old fraser and warren offices on the top floor of - chancery lane were vacant. the midland insurance co. that occupied nearly all the building has cleared out and the block is to be given over to a multitude of small undertakings. well: i secured our old rooms! simply splendid, with the two safes that honoria, untold ages ago, fitted into the walls, and hid so cleverly that if there is no treachery it would be hard for the police to find them and raid them. the midland insurance co. did not behave well to fraser and warren, so beryl storrington, when she was clearing out said nothing about the safes, which were not noticed by the company. honoria kept the keys and now hands them over to me. the w.s.p.u. has taken--also under an alias--other offices on the same side of the way, at no. , top storey. we find we can, by using the fire escape, pass over the intervening roofs and reach the parapet outside the "partners' room" at the - building. i shall once again make use of the little room next the partners' office as a bedroom or rather, "tiring" room, where i can if necessary effect changes of costume. i have taken the new offices in the name of mr. michaelis[ ] for a special reason; and with some modifications of david's costume i have appeared in person to assume possession of them. i generally enter no. dressed as vivie warren. all this may sound very silly to you, like playing at conspiracy. but these precautions seem to be necessary. the government is beginning to take suffragism seriously, and a whole department at new scotland yard has been organized to cope with our activities. [footnote : michaelis, i believe, was a greek merchant dealing with sponges, emery powder, coral, and other products of the mediterranean shores whose acquaintance vivie had originally made when interested in the shares of that levantine house, charles davis and co. of ionian birth he had become a naturalized british subject, but having grown wealthy had decided to transfer himself to athens and enter political life. he had consented amusedly to vivie's adoption of his name for her new tenancy and had given her an old passport, which you could do in the days that knew not dora--she resembling him somewhat in appearance. he was aware of her suffragist activities and guessed she might want it occasionally for eluding the police on trips abroad.--h.h.j.] one reason i have in writing this letter--a letter i hope you will burn after you have read and noted its contents--is to ask you to lend me for a while the services of bertie adams as clerk. of course i shall insist on paying his salary whilst i employ him, and indemnifying him for anything he may suffer in my service--that of the w.s.p.u. i am fairly well off for money now. besides the funds the w.s.p.u. places at my disposal, i have the interest on mother's ten thousand pounds, and she would give me more if i asked for it. she has quite taken to the idea of spending her ill-gotten gains on the enfranchisement of women! (i am going over to see her for a week or so, when it is not quite so cold.) what business am i going specially to undertake in mr. michaelis's office on the top storey of - ? i will tell you. scotland yard is getting busy about us, the suffragists, trying to find out all it can that is detrimental to our personal characters, our upbringing, our progeniture, our businesses and our relations; whether we had a forger in the family, whether i am the daughter of the "notorious" mrs. warren, whether mrs. canon burstall is really my aunt and whether she couldn't be brought to use her private influence on me to keep me quiet, in case it came out that kate warren was her sister, and that she led kate into that way of life wherein she earned her shameful livelihood. i have had one or two covert hints from aunt liz promising to open up relations _if_ only i'll behave myself! scotland yard has already had the sorry triumph of causing one or two of our most prominent workers to retire from the ranks because they were not properly married or had been married after the eldest child was born; or had once "been in trouble," over some peccadillo, or had had a son or a sister who though now upright and prosperous had once been in the clutches of the law. now my idea is to turn the tables on all this. i myself am impeccable in a real court of equity. my avatar as david williams was by way of being a superb adventure. i only retired from the harmless imposture lest i might compromise you, and you are so far gone in politics now that the revelation--if it came about--that you were deceived by me and by my "father"--would do you no harm. for a number of reasons i know pretty well that the benchers would not make themselves ridiculous by having the story of my successful entry into their citadel told in open court. i have in fact, through a devious channel, received the assurance that if i do not resume this character (of d.v.w.) nothing more will be said. what, then, have i to fear? my mother _s'est bien rangée_. she leads a life of the most respectable. if they challenge her, she can counter with some of the most piquant scandals of the last thirty years. my own careful study of criminology and the assiduous searchings of albert adams in the same direction; my mother's anecdotes of the lives of statesmen, police-magistrates, prosecuting counsel, judges, press-editors--many of whom have enjoyed her hospitality abroad--have given me numerous hints in what direction to pursue my researches. consequently the office of mr. michaelis will be the criminal investigation department of the w.s.p.u. i feel instinctively i am touching pitch and that you will disapprove ... but if we are to fight with clean hands, _que messieurs les assassins commencent_! if scotland yards drops slander and infamous suggestions as a weapon we will let our poisoned arrows rust in the armoury. how _beastly_ all this is! _why_ do they drive us to these extremes? i know already enough to blast the characters of several among our public men. yet i know in so doing i should wreck the life-happiness of faithful wives, believing sisters or daughters, or bright-faced children. perhaps i won't, when it comes to the pinch. but somehow, i think, if they guess i have this knowledge in my possession, they will leave david williams and kate warren alone. sometimes, d'you know, i wake up in the middle of the night at the lilacs or in my reconstituted bedroom at - , and wish i were quit of all this suffrage business, all this vain struggle against predominant man--and away with you on a pacific island. then i realize that we should have large cockroaches and innumerable sand fleas in our new home, that we should have broken linda's heart, have set back the suffrage cause as much as parnell's adultery postponed home rule; and above all that i am already thirty-five and shall soon be thirty-six and that it wouldn't be very long before you in comfort-loving middle age sighed for the well-ordered life of no. , park crescent, portland place! on the whole, i think the most rational line i can take is to continue resolutely this struggle for the vote. with the vote must come the opening of parliament to women. i'm not too old to aspire to be some day secretary of state for home affairs. because the general post office has already become interested in my correspondence, and because this is really a "pivotal" letter i am not trusting it to the post but am calling with it at no. and handing it personally to your butler. i look to you to destroy it when you have read its contents--if you go to that length. yours, vivie. rossiter read this letter an hour or so after it had been delivered, frowned a good deal, made notes in one of his memorandum books; then tore the sheets of typewriting into four and placed them on the fire. having satisfied himself that the flames had caught them, he went up with a sullen face to dress for dinner: linda was giving a new year's eve dinner to friends and relations and he had to play the part of host with assumed heartiness. in the perversity of fate, one piece of the typewritten letter escaped the burning except along the edge. a puff of air from the chimney or the opened door, as linda entered the room, lifted it off the cinders and deposited it on the hearth. linda had dressed early for the party, had felt a little hurt at the locked door of michael's dressing-room, and had come with some vague intention into his study, to see perhaps if the fire was burning brightly: because to avoid unnecessary journies upstairs they would receive their guests to-night in the study and thence pass to the dining-room. but the fire had gone sulky, as fires do sometimes even with well-behaved chimneys and first-class coal. she noted the charred portion of paper lying untidily on the hearth, with typewriting on its upper surface. picking it up she read inside the scorched margin: ria kept the keys and now them over to me. w.s.p.u. has taken--also under an alias--other of same side of the way, at no. , top storey. we using the fire-escape, pass over the intervening r reach the parapet outside the "partners' room" at the ding. i shall once again make use of the little room tners' office as a bedroom or rather "tiring" room, w if necessary effect changes of costume. i have tak ces in the name of mr. michaelis for a special reas ome modifications of david's costume i have appeared in p ssume possession of them. i generally enter no. dressed a warren. all this may sound very silly to you, like pla "warren!" that name stood out clear. did it mean the suffragette, vivien warren, who had sometimes been here, and in whose adventures her husband seemed so unbecomingly interested? one of the great ladies who were anti-suffragists and had already decoyed mrs. rossiter within their drawing-rooms had referred with great disapproval to miss warren as the daughter of a most notorious woman whom their husbands wouldn't hear mentioned because of her shocking past. and david, david of course must be that tiresome david williams, supposed to be a cousin of vivien warren, but really seeming in these allusions to be a disguise in which this bold female deceived people. and "mr. michaelis?" could that be her own michael? the shameless baggage! she choked at the thought. was it a conspiracy into which they were luring her husband, already rather compromised as a man of science by his enthusiasm for the suffrage cause? people used to speak of michael almost with awe, he was so clever, he made such wonderful discoveries. now, since he had become a politician he had many enemies, and several ladies of high title referred to him contemptuously even in her hearing and cut _her_ without compunction, though she had ten thousand a year. she felt all the same a profound conviction that michael was the most honourable of men. yet why all this mystery? the w.s.p.u.? those letters stood for some more than usually malignant suffrage society. she had seen the letters often in "votes for women."... her musings here were stayed by the sound of her husband's steps in the passage. hastily she thrust the half sheet of charred paper into her corsage and brushed off the fragments of the burnt edges from her laces; then turned and affected to be tidying the writing table as michael came in. _rossiter_: "linda! surely not putting my papers in order--or rather disorder? i thought you were far too intimate with my likes and dislikes to do that!... why, what's the matter?" _linda_: "oh nothing. i was only seeing if they had made up your fire. i--i--haven't touched anything." (rossiter looked anxiously at the grate, but was relieved to see nothing but burnt, shrivelled squares of paper. he poked the fire fiercely and at any rate demolished the remains of vivie's letter.) _rossiter_: "yes: it isn't very cheerful. they must brighten it while we are at dinner; though as we shall go to the drawing-room afterwards we shan't need a huge fire here. there! it looks better after that poke. i threw some papers on it to start a flame just before i went up to dress.... why dearie! what cold hands and what flushed cheeks!"... _linda_: "oh michael! you'll always love me, won't you? i--i know i'm not clever, not half clever enough for you. but i _do_ try to help you all i can. i--i--" (sobs.) _rossiter_ (really distressed): "_of course_ i love you! what silly notion have you got into your head?" (he asks himself anxiously "surely all that letter was burnt before she came in?") "come! pull yourself together. be worthy of that dress. it is such a beauty." _linda_: "i thought you'd like it. i remembered your saying that blue always became me." (dabs at her eyes with a small lace handkerchief.) loud double knocks begin to sound. dinner guests are soon announced. linda and michael receive them heartily. rossiter--as many a public man does and has to do--shoves his vain regrets, remorse, anxiety, weary longing for the unattainable--somewhere to the back of his brain, where these feelings will not revive till he lies awake at three in the morning; and prepares to entertain half-a-dozen hearty men and buxom women who are easily impressed by a little spoon-fed science. linda is soon distracted from the scrap of paper in her bosom and gives all her attention to her cousins and grown-up school friends from bradford and northallerton who are delighted to see the new year in amid the gaieties of london. but before she rings for her maid and undresses that night, she locks the burnt fragment in a secret drawer of her desk. the ministry which was returned to power in december, , had to plan during the first half of to keep the suffragists becalmed with promises and prevent their making any public protest which might mar the coronation festivities. so various conciliation bills were allowed to be read to the house of commons and to reach second readings at which they were passed with huge majorities. then they came to nothingness by being referred to a committee of the whole house. still a hope of some solution was dangled before the oft-deluded women, who could hardly believe that british ministers of state would be such breakers of promises and tellers of falsehoods. in november, , there being no reason for further dissembling, the government made the announcement that it was contemplating a manhood suffrage bill, which would override altogether the petty question as to whether a proportion of women should or should not enjoy the franchise. this new electoral measure was to be designed for men only, but--the government opined--it might be susceptible of amendment so as to admit women likewise. [probably the government had satisfied itself beforehand that, acting on some unwritten code of parliamentary procedure, the speaker would rule out such an amendment as unconstitutional. at any rate, this is what he did in .] the wrath of the oft-deluded women flamed out with immediate resentment when the purport of this trick was discerned. led by mrs. pethick lawrence a band of more than a thousand women and men (and some of the presumed men were, like vivie, women in men's clothes, as it enabled them to move about with more agility and also to escape identification) entered whitehall and parliament street armed with hammers and stones. they broke all the windows they could in the fronts of the government offices and at the residences of ministers of state. vivie found herself shadowed everywhere by bertie adams though she had given him no orders to join the crowd, indeed had begged him to mind his own business and go home. "this _is_ my business," he had said curtly, and for once masterfully, and she gave way. though vivie for her own reasons carried no hammer or stone and as one of the principal organizers of the militant movement had been requested by the inner council of the w.s.p.u. to keep out of prison as long as possible, she could not help cheering on the boldest and bravest in the mild violence of their protest. to the angry police she seemed merely an impertinent young man, hardly worth arresting when they could barely master the two hundred and twenty-three arch offenders with glass-breaking weapons in their hands. so a constable contented himself with marching on her feet with all his weight and thrusting his elbows violently into her breast. she well-nigh fainted with the pain; in fact would have fallen in the crowd but for the interposition of adams who carried her out of it to the corner of parliament street, where he pounced on one of the many taxis that crawled about the outskirts of the shouting, swaying crowd, sure of a fare from either police or escaping suffragists. feeling certain that some policeman had not left the disguised vivie entirely unobserved--indeed bertie had half thought he caught the words above the din: "that's david williams, that is," he told the taxi man to drive along the embankment to the temple. by the time they had reached the nearest access on that side of fountain court, vivie was sufficiently recovered from her semi-swoon to get out, and leaning heavily on bertie's arm, limp slowly through the intricacies of the temple and out into fleet street by sergeant's inn. then with fresh efforts and further halts they made their way to , chancery lane. some one was sitting up here with one electric light on, ready for any development connected with w.s.p.u. work that night. to her--fortunately it was a woman--bertie handed over his stricken chief, and then made his way home to his little house in marylebone and a questioning and not too satisfied wife. the suffragette in charge of the top storey at knew something, fortunately, of first aid, was deft of hands and full of sympathy. vivie's--or mr. michaelis's--lace-up boots were carefully removed and the poor crushed and bleeding toes washed with warm water. the collar was taken off and the shirt unbuttoned revealing a terrible bruise on the sternum where the policeman's elbow had struck her--better however there, though it had nearly broken the breastbone, than on either side, as such a blow might have given rise to cancer. as it was, vivie when she coughed spat blood. a cup of hot bovril and an hour's rest on a long chair and she was ready, supremely anxious indeed, to try the last adventure: an excursion across the roofs and up and down fire-escapes on to the parapet of her own especial dwelling, the old offices of fraser and warren at no. - . the great window of the partners' room opened to her manipulations--it had been carefully left unbolted before her departure for caxton hall; and aided cautiously and cleverly by her suffragette helper, vivie at last found herself--or mr. michaelis did--in the snug little bedroom that knew her chiefly in her male form. here she was destined to lie up for several weeks till the feet and the chest were healed and sound again. hither by the normal entrance came a woman suffragette surgeon to heal, and vivie's woman clerk to act as secretary; whilst adams typed away in the outer office on mr. michaelis's business or went on long and mysterious errands. hither also came the little maid from the lilacs, bringing needed changes of clothes, letters, and messages from honoria. a stout young man with a fresh colour went up in the lift at no. to the flat or office of "algernon mainwaring," and then skipped along the winding way between the chimney stacks and up and down short iron ladders till he too reached the parapet, entered through the opened casement, and revealed himself as a great w.s.p.u. leader, costumed like vivie as a male, but in reality a buxom young woman only waiting for the vote to be won to espouse her young man--shop steward--and begin a large family of children. from this leader, vivie received humbly the strictest injunctions to engage in no more disabling work for the present, to keep out of police clutches and the risk of going to prison or of attracting too much police attention at - chancery lane. "you are our brain-centre at present. our offices for show and for raiding by the police have been at clifford's inn and are now in lincoln's inn. but the really precious information we possess is ... well, you know where it is: walls may have ears ... your time for public testimony hasn't come yet ... we'll let you know fast enough when it has and _you_ won't flinch, _i'm_ quite sure..." as a matter of fact, though vivie's intelligence and inventiveness, her knowledge of criminal law, of lawyers and of city business, her wide education, her command of french (improved by the frequent trips to brussels--where indeed she deposited securely in her mother's keeping some of the funds and the more remarkable documents of the suffrage cause) and her possession of monetary supplies were not to be despised: as a figure-head, she was of doubtful value. there was always that mother in the background. if vivie was in court for a suffrage offence of a grave character the prosecuting counsel would be sure to rake up the "notorious mrs. warren" and drag in the white slave traffic, to bewilder a jury and throw discredit on the militant side of the suffrage cause. of course if the true story of vivie were fully known, she would rise triumphant from such a recital.... still ... throw plenty of mud and some of it will stick.... and what _was_ her full, true story? even in the pure passion of the fight for liberty among these young and middle-aged women, the tongue of scandal occasionally wagged in moments of lassitude, discouragement, undeception. at such times some weaker sister with a vulgar mind, or a mind with vulgar streaks in it, might hint at the great interest taken in vivie by a distinguished man of science who had become an m.p. and a raging suffragist. or indecorum would be hinted in the relations between this enigmatic woman, so prone seemingly to don male costume, and the burly clerk who attended her so faithfully and had brought her home on the night of mrs. pethick lawrence's spirited raid. so much so, that vivie with a sigh, as soon as she attained convalescence was fain to send for bertie and tell him with unanswerable decision that he must return to his work with rossiter and thither she would send from time to time special instructions if he could help her business in any way. this was done in january, . vivie's feet were now healed and the woman surgeon was satisfied that she could walk on them without displacing the reset bones. the slight fracture in the breastbone had repaired itself by one of nature's magic processes. so one day our battered heroine doffed the invalid garments of michaelis and donned those of any well-dressed woman of , including a thick veil. thus attired she passed from the parapet to the fire-escape (recalling the agony these gymnastics had caused her the previous november), and from the fire-escape to the roof of no. (continuous with the roof of ), and past the chimney stacks, into the top storey of , and so on down to the street, where a taxi was waiting to convey her to the lilacs. (the w.s.p.u., by the bye, to bluff scotland yard had added to the name of "algernon mainwaring, th floor," the qualification of "hygienic corset-maker," as an explanation--possibly--of why so many women found their way to the top storey of no. .) arrived at the lilacs, vivie took up for a brief spell the life of an ordinary young woman of the well-to-do middle class, seriously interested in the suffrage question but non-militant. she attended several of honoria's or mrs. fawcett's suffrage parties or public meetings and occasionally spoke and spoke well. she also went over to brussels twice in to keep in touch with her mother. mrs. warren had had one or two slight warnings that a life of pleasure saps the strongest constitution.[ ] she lived now mainly at her farm, the villa beau-séjour, and only occasionally occupied her _appartement_ in the rue royale. she must have been about fifty-nine in the spring of , and was beginning to "soigner son salut," that is to say to take stock of her past life, apologize for it to herself and see how she could atone reasonably for what she had done wrong. a decade or two earlier she would have turned to religion, inevitably to that most attractive and logical form, the religion expounded by the holy roman catholic and apostolic church. she would have confessed her past, slightly or very considerably _gazée_, to some indulgent confessor, have been pardoned, and have presented a handsome sum to an ecclesiastical charity or work of piety. but she had survived into a skeptical age and she had conceived an immense respect for her clever daughter. vivie should be her spiritual director; and vivie's idea put before her at their reconciliation three years previously had seemed the most practical way of making amends to woman for having made money in the past out of the economic and physiological weakness of women. she had fined herself ten thousand pounds then; and out of her remaining capital of fifty or sixty thousand (all willed with what else she possessed to her daughter) she would pay over more if vivie demanded it as further reparation. still, she found the frequentation of churches soothing and gave much and often to the mildly beseeching little sisters of the poor when they made their rounds in town or suburbs. [footnote : or so the observers say who haven't had a life of pleasure.] "what do you think about religion, viv old girl?" she said one day in the eastertide of , when vivie was spending a delicious fortnight at villa beau-séjour. "personally," said vivie, "i hate all religions, so far as i have had time to study them. they bind up with undisputed ethics more or less preposterous theories concerning life and death, the properties of matter, man, god, the universe, the laws of nature, the food we should eat, the relations of the sexes, the quality of the weekly day of rest. gradually they push indisputable ethics on one side and are ready to apply torture, death, or social ostracism to the support of these preposterous theories and explanations of god and man. such theories"--went on vivie, though her mother's attention had wandered to some escaped poultry that were scratching disastrously in seed beds--"such theories and explanations, mark you--_do_ listen, mother, since you asked the question..." "i'm listenin', dearie, but you talk like a book and i don't know what some of your words mean--what's ethics?" "well 'ethics' means er--er--'morality'; it comes from a greek word meaning 'character.'..." _mrs. warren_: "you talk like a book--" _vivie_: "i do sometimes, when i remember something i've read. but now i've lost my thread.... what i meant to finish up with was something like this 'such theories and explanations were formulated several hundred, or more than two thousand years ago, in times when man's knowledge of himself, of his surroundings, of the earth and the universe was almost non-existent, yet they are preserved to our times as sacred revelations, though they are not superior to the fancies and fetish rites of a savage.' there! all that answer is quoted from professor rossiter's little book (_home university library_, "the growth of the human mind")." _mrs. warren_: "rossiter! is that the man you're sweet on?" _vivie_: "don't put it so coarsely. there is a great friendship between us. we belong to a later generation than you. a man and a woman can be friends now without becoming lovers." _mrs. warren_: "go _on_! don't humbug me. men and women's the same as when i was young. i'm sorry, all the same, dear girl. there are you, growin' middle-aged and not married to some good-'earted chap as 'd give you three-four children i could pet in me old age. wodjer want to go fallin' in love with some chap as 'as got a wife already? _i_ know your principles. there's iron in yer blood, same as there is in that proud priest, your father. i know you'd break your 'eart sooner 'n have a good time with the professor. my! it seems to me love's as bad as religion for bringin' about sorrer!" _vivie_: "if you mean that it is answerable for the same intense happiness and even more intense _un_happiness, i suppose you're right. i'm _miserable_, mother, and it's some relief to me to say so. if i could become honourably the wife of michael rossiter i'm afraid i should let suffrage have the go-by. but as i can't, why this struggle for the vote is the only thing that keeps me going. i shall fight for it for another ten years, and by that time certain physiological changes may have taken place in me, and my feelings towards rossiter will have calmed down." (here mrs. warren proceeded to call out rather disharmoniously in flemish to the poultry woman, and asked why the something-or-other she let the houdans spoil the seed beds.) _mrs. warren_ resuming: "well it's clear you're your father's daughter. 'e'd 'ave gone on--_did_ go on--in just such a way. 'im and me were jolly well suited to one another. i'd got to reg'lar love 'im. i'd 'a bin a true wife to him, and 'ave worked my fingers to the bone for 'im, and you bet i'd 'ave made a livin' somehow. and he'd have written some jolly good books and 'ave made lots of money. but no! this beastly religion comes in with its scare of hell fire and back 'e goes to the priests and 'is prayers and 'is penances. the last ten years or so 'e's bin filled up with pride. 'is passions 'ave died down and 'e thinks 'imself an awful swell as the head of his order. and they do say as 'e's got 'is fingers in several pies and is a reg'lar old conspirator, working up the irish to do something against england. yer know since i've made my peace with you.... _ain't_ it a rum go, by the bye? ten or twenty years ago it'd 'a bin 'my peace with god.' i dunno nothin' about god--can't see 'im at the end of a telescope, anyways. but i _can_ see you, vivie, and there's no one livin' i respect more" (speaks with real feeling).... "well, as i was sayin', since i'd set myself right with you and wound up the business of the hotels i ain't so easy cowed by 'is looks as i used to be. so every now and then it amuses me to run over in my auto to louvain and stroll about there and watch 'im as 'e comes out for 'is promenade, pretendin' to be readin' a breviary or some holy book. i know it riles 'im.... "well, but for high principles, 'e and i might 'a bin as 'appy as 'appy and 'ad a large family. and there was nothin' to stop 'im a-marryin' me, if that was all he wanted to feel comfortable about it. but jus' see. he's had a life that seems to me downright sterile, and i--well, i ain't been _really_ happy till we made it up three years ago" (leans over, and kisses vivie a little timorously). "now there's you, burning yourself out 'cos your high principles won't let you go for once in a way on the spree with this rossiter--s'posin' 'e's game, of course.... you've too much pride to throw yourself at his head. but if he loves you as bad as you loves 'im, why don't you ask him" (instinctively the old ministress of love speaks here) "ask 'im to take you over to paris for a trip? i'll lay 'e 'as to go over now'n again to the sorbonne or one of them scientific institutes. _she'd_ never come to 'ear of it. an' after one or two such honeymoons you'd soon get tired of 'im, specially now you're gettin' on a bit in years, and may be you'd settle down quietly after that. or if you ain't reg'lar set on _'im_, why not giv' up this suffrage business and live a bit with me here? there's plenty of upstanding, decent, belgian men in good positions as'd like to have an english wife. _they_ wouldn't look too shy at my money..." _vivie_: "get thee behind me, satan! mother, you oughtn't to make such propositions. don't you understand, we must all have a religion somewhere. some principle to which we sacrifice ourselves. rossiter would be horrified if he could hear you. his mistress is science, besides which he is really devoted to his wife and would do nothing that could hurt her. you don't know england, it's clear. supposing for one moment i could consent--and i couldn't--we should be found out to a certainty, and then michael's career would be ruined. "my religion, though i sometimes weary of it and sneer at it, is women's rights: women must have precisely the same rights as men, no disqualification whatever based merely on their being women. did you read those disgusting letters in the _times_ by the surgeon, the midwifery man, sir wrigsby blane? declaring that the demand for the vote was based on immorality, and pretending that once a month, till they were fifty, and for several years _after_ they were fifty, women were not responsible for their actions, because of what he vaguely called 'physiological processes.' what poisonous rubbish! you know as well as i do that in most cases it makes little or no difference; and if it does, what about men? aren't _they_ at certain times not their normal selves? when they're full up with wine or beer or whiskey, when they're courting, when they're pursuing some illicit love, when after fifty they get a little odd in their ways through this, that and the other internal trouble or change of function? what's true of the one sex is equally true of the other. most men and women between twenty and sixty jolly well know what they want, and generally they want something reasonable. we don't legislate for the freaks, the unbalanced, the abnormal; or if we do restrict the vote in those cases, let's restrict it for males as well as females--but don't you see at the same time what a text i should furnish to this malign creature if i ran away to paris with michael, and made the slightest false step ... even though it had no bearing on the main argument?..." at this juncture vivie, whose obsession leads her more and more to address every one as a public meeting--is interrupted by the smiling _bonne à tout faire_ who announces that _le déjeuner de madame est servi_, and the two women gathering up books and shawls go in to the gay little _saile-à-manger_ of the villa beau-séjour. on vivie's return to london, after her easter holiday, she threw herself with added zest into the suffrage struggle. the fortnight of good feeding, of quiet nights and lazy days under her mother's roof had done her much good. she was not quite so thin, the dark circles under her grey eyes had vanished, and she found not only in herself but even in the most middle-aged of her associates a delightful spirit of tomboyishness in their swelling revolt against the liberal leaders. it was specially during the remainder of that vivie noted the enormous good which the suffrage movement had done and was doing to british women. it was producing a splendid camaraderie between high and low. heroines like lady constance lytton mingled as sister with equally heroic charwomen, factory girls, typewriteresses, waitresses and hospital nurses. women doctors of science, music, and medicine came down into the streets and did the bravest actions to present their rights before a public that now began to take them seriously. debutantes, no longer quivering with fright at entering the royal presence, modestly but audibly called their sovereign's attention to the injustice of mr. asquith's attitude towards women, while princesses of the blood royal had difficulty in not applauding. many a tame cat had left the fire-side and the skirts of an inane old mother (who had plenty of people to look after her selfish wants) and emerged, dazed at first, into a world that was unknown to her. such had thrown away their crochet hooks, their tatting-shuttles and fashion articles, their church almanacs, and girl's own library books, and read and talked of social, sexual, and industrial problems that have got to be faced and solved. colour came into their cheeks, assurance into their faded manners, sense and sensibility into their talk; and whatever happened afterwards they were never crammed back again into the prison of victorian spinsterhood. they learnt rough cooking, skilled confectionery, typewriting, bicycling, jiu-jitsu perhaps. "the maidens came, they talked, they sang, they read; till she not fair began to gather light, and she that was became her former beauty treble" sang in prophecy, sixty years before, the greatest of poets and the poet-prophet of woman's emancipation. many a woman has directly owed the lengthened, happier, usefuller life that became hers from - - onwards to the suffrage movement for the liberation of women. the crises of moreover were not so acute as bitterly to envenom the struggle in the way that happened during the two following years. there was always some hope that the ministry might permit the passing of an amendment to the franchise bill which would in some degree affirm the principle of female suffrage. it is true that a certain liveliness was maintained by the suffragettes. the w.s.p.u. dared not relax in its militancy lest ministers should think the struggle waning and woman already tiring of her claims. the vaunted manhood suffrage bill had been introduced by an anti-woman-suffrage quaker minister and its second reading been proposed by an equally anti-feminist secretary of state--this was in june-july, ; and no member of the cabinet had risen to say a word in favour of the women's claims. still, something might be done in committee, in the autumn session--if there were one--or in the following year. there was a simmering in the suffragist ranks rather than any alarming explosion. in march, before vivie went to brussels, mrs. pankhurst had carried out a window-smashing raid on bond street and regent street and the clubs of piccadilly, during which among the two hundred and nineteen arrests there were brought to light as "revolutionaries" two elderly women surgeons of great distinction and one female doctor of music. in revenge the police had raided the w.s.p.u. offices at clifford's inn, an event long foreseen and provided against in the neighbouring chancery lane. the irish nationalist party had shown its marked hostility to the enfranchisement of women in any irish parliament and so a few impulsive irish women had thrown things at nationalist m.p.'s without hurting them. mr. lansbury had spoken the plain truth to the prime minister in the house of commons and had been denied access to that chamber where truth is so seldom welcome. in july the slumbering movement towards resisting the payment of taxes by vote-less women woke up into real activity, and there were many ludicrous and pathetic scenes organized often by vivie and bertie adams at which household effects were sold and bought in by friends to satisfy the claims of a tax-collector. in the autumn vivie and others of the w.s.p.u. organized great pilgrimages--the marches of the brown women--from scotland, wales, devon and norfolk to london, to some goal in downing street or whitehall, some door-step which already had every inch of its space covered by policemen's boots. these were among the pleasantest of the manifestations and excited great good humour in the populace of town and country. they were extended picnics of ten days or a fortnight. the steady tramp of sixteen to twenty miles a day did the women good; the food _en route_ was abundant and eaten with tremendous appetite. the pilgrims on arrival in london were a justification in physical fitness of woman's claim to equal privileges with man. vivie after her easter holiday took an increasingly active part in these manifestations of usually good-humoured insurrection. as vivien warren she was not much known to the authorities or to the populace but she soon became so owing to her striking appearance, telling voice and gift of oratory. all the arts she had learnt as david williams she displayed now in pleading the woman's cause at the albert hall, at manchester, in edinburgh and glasgow. countess feenix took her up, invited her to dinner parties where she found herself placed next to statesmen in office, who at first morose and nervous--expecting every moment a personal assault--gradually thawed when they found her a good conversationalist, a clever woman of the world, becomingly dressed. after all, she had been a third wrangler at cambridge, almost a guarantee that her subsequent life could not be irregular, according to a man's standard in england of what an unmarried woman's life should be. she deprecated the violence of the militants in this phase. but she was protean. much of her work, the lawless part of it, was organized in the shape and dress of mr. michaelis. some of her letters to the press were signed edgar mckenna, albert birrell, andrew asquith, edgmont harcourt, felicia ward, millicent curzon, judith pease, edith spenser-churchhill, marianne chamberlain, or emily burns; and affected to be pleas for the granting of the suffrage emanating from the revolting sons or daughters, aunts, sisters or wives of great statesmen, prominent for their opposition to the women's cause. the w.s.p.u. had plenty of funds and it did not cost much getting visiting cards engraved with such names and supplied with the home address of the great personage whom it was intended to annoy. one such card as an evidence of good faith would be attached to the plausibly-worded letter. the _times_ was seldom taken in, but great success often attended these audacious deceptions, especially in the important organs of the provincial press. editors and sub-editors seldom took the trouble and the time to hunt through _who's who_, or a peerage to identify the writer of the letter claiming the vote for women. no real combination of names was given, thus forgery was avoided; but the public and the unsuspecting editor were left with the impression that the premier's, colonial secretary's, home secretary's, board of trade president's, or prominent anti-suffragist woman's son, daughter, brother, sister, wife or mother-in-law did not at all agree with the anti-feminist opinions of its father, mother, brother or husband. if the politician were foolish enough to answer and protest, he was generally at a disadvantage; the public thought it a good joke and no one (in the provinces) believed his disclaimers. vivie generally heckled ministers on the stump and parliamentary candidates dressed as a woman of the lower middle class. it would have been unwise to do so in man's guise, in case there should be a rough-and-tumble afterwards and her sex be discovered. although in order to avoid premature arrest she did not herself take part in those most ingenious--and from the view of endurance, heroic--stow-aways of women interrupters in the roofs, attics, inaccessible organ lofts or music galleries of public halls, she organized many of these surprises beforehand. it was vivie to whom the brilliant idea came of once baffling the police in the rearrest of either mrs. pankhurst or annie kenney. knowing when the police would come to the building where one or other of these ladies was to make her sensational re-appearance, she had previously secreted there forty other women who were dressed and veiled precisely similarly to the fugitive from justice. thus, when the force of constables claimed admittance, forty-one women, virtually indistinguishable one from the other, ran out into the street, and the bewildered minions of the law were left lifting their helmets to scratch puzzled heads and admitting "the wimmen were a bit too much for us, this time, they were." in her bedroom at - she kept an equipment of theatrical disguises; very natural-looking moustaches which could be easily applied and which remained firmly adhering save under the application of the right solvent; pairs of tinted spectacles; wigs of credible appearance; different styles of suiting, different types of women's dress. she sometimes sat in trains as a handsome, impressive matron of fifty-five, with a pompadour confection and a tortoiseshell _face-à-main_, conversing with ministers of state or permanent officials on their way to their country seats, and saying "_horrid_ creatures!" if any one referred to the activities of the suffragettes. thus disguised she elicited considerable information sometimes, though she might really be on her way to organize the break-up of the statesman's public meeting, the enquiry into discreditable circumstances which might compel his withdrawal from public life, or merely the burning down of his shooting box. this life had its risks and perils, but it agreed with her health. it was exciting and took her mind off rossiter. rossiter for his part experienced a slackening in the tension of his mind during the same year . he was touched by his wife's faint suspicion of his alienated affection and by her dogged determination to be sufficient to him as a companion and a helper; and a little ashamed at his middle-aged--he was forty-seven--infatuation for a woman who was herself well on in the thirties. there were times when a rift came in the cloud of his passion for vivie, when he looked out dispassionately on the prospect of the rest of his life--he could hope at most for twenty more years of mental and bodily activity and energy. was this all too brief period to be filled up with a senile renewal of sexual longing! he felt ashamed of the thoughts that had occupied so much of his mind since he had laid david williams on the couch of his library, to find it was vivie warren whose arms were round his neck. he was not sorry this love for a woman he could not possess had sent him into parliament. he was beginning to enjoy himself there. he had found himself, had lost that craven fear of the speaker that paralyzes most new members. he knew when to speak and when to be silent; and when he spoke unsuspected gifts of biting sarcasm, clever characterization, convincing scorn of the uneducated minister type came to his aid. his tongue played round his victims, unequipped as they were with his vast experience of reality, vaguely discursive, on the surface as are most lawyers, at a loss for similes and tropes as are most men of business, or dull of wits as are most of the fine flowers of the public schools, stultified with the classics and scripture history. he knew that unless there was some radical change of government he could not be a minister; but he cared little for that. he was rich--thanks to his wife--he was recovering his influence and his european and american reputation as a great discoverer, a deep thinker. he enjoyed pulverizing the ministry over their suffrage insincerities and displaying his contempt of the politician elected only for his money influence in borough, county, or in the subscription lists of the chief whip. though his pulses still beat a little quicker when he held vivie's hand in his at some reception of lady feenix's or a dinner party at the gorings--vivie as the child of a "fallen" woman had a prescriptive right of entrance to diana's circle--he had not the slightest intention of running away with her, of nipping his career in two, just as he might be scaling the last heights to the citadel of fame: either as a politician of the new type, the type of high education, or as one of the giants of inductive science. besides in , if i mistake not, dr. smith-woodward and mr. charles dawson made that discovery of the remains of an ape-like man in the gravels of mid-sussex; and the hounds of anthropology went off on a new scent at full cry, rossiter foremost in the pack. mrs. rossiter in the same year allowed herself more and more to be tempted into anti-suffrage discussions at the houses of peers or of strong-minded, influential ladies who were on the easiest terms with peers and potentates. she still resented the line her husband had taken in politics and believed it to be chiefly due to an inexplicable interest in vivien warren who she began to feel was the same person as "david williams." if she could only master the "anti" arguments--they sounded so convincing from the lips of miss violet markham or mrs. humphry ward or some suave king's counsel with the remnants of mutton-chop whiskers--if she could wean michael away from that disturbing nonsense--he could assign "militancy" as the justification of his change of mind...! all that was asked by authority, so far as she could interpret hints from great ladies, was neutrality, the return of professor rossiter to the paths of pure science in which area no one disputed his eminence. _then_ he might receive that knighthood that was long overdue; better still his next lot of discoveries in anatomy might bring him the peerage he richly deserved and which her wealth would support. he could then rest on his oars, cease his more or less nasty investigations; they could take a place in the country and move from this much too large house which lay almost outside the limits of society's london to a really well-appointed flat in westminster and have a thoroughly enjoyable old age. honoria in these times did not see so much of vivie as before. her warrior husband spent a good deal of at home as he had a hounslow command. he had come to realize--some spiteful person had told him--who vivie's mother had been, and told honoria in accents of finality that the "aunt vivie" nonsense must be dropped and vivie must not come to the house. at the most, if she _must_ meet her friend of college days--oh, he was quite willing to believe in her personal propriety, though there were odd stories in circulation about her dressing as a man and doing some very rum things for the w.s.p.u.--still if she _must_ see her, it would have to be in public places or at her friends, at lady feenix's, if she liked. no. he wasn't attacking the cause of suffrage. women could have the vote and welcome so far as he was concerned: they couldn't be greater fools than the men, and they were probably less corrupt. he himself never remembered voting in his life, so honoria was no worse off than her husband. but he drew the line in his children's friends at the daughter of a.... here honoria to avoid hearing something she could not forgive put her plump hand over his bristly mouth. he kissed it and somehow she couldn't take the high tone she had at first intended. she simply said "she would see about it" and met the difficulty by giving up her suffrage parties for a bit and attending lady maud's instead; where you met not only poor vivie, but--had she been in london and guaranteed reformed and _rangée_--you might have met vivie's mother; as well as the duchess of dulborough--american, and intensely suffrage--the charwoman from little francis street, the bookseller's wife, the "mother of the maids" from derry and toms; and that very clever chemist who had mended juliet duff's nose when she fell on the ice at princes'--they would both be there. honoria said nothing to vivie and vivie said nothing to honoria about the inhibition, but together with her irrational jealousy of _eoanthropos dawsoni_ and irritation at the growing contentedness with things as they were on the part of rossiter, it made her a trifle more reckless in her militancy. and praddy? how did he fare in these times? praed felt himself increasingly out of the picture. he was not far gone in the sixties, sixty-one, perhaps at most. but out of the movement. in his prime the people of his set--the cultivated upper middle class, with a few recruits from the peerage--cared only about art in some shape or form--recondite music, the themes of which were never obvious enough to be hummed, the androgyne poetry of the 'nineties, morbidities from the yellow book, and scarlet sins that you disclaimed for yourself, to avoid unpleasantness with the criminal investigation department, but freely attributed to people who were not in the room; the drawings of aubrey beardsley and successors in audacity and ugly indecency who left beardsley a mere disciple of raphael tuck; also architecture which ignored the housemaid's sink, the box-room and the fire-escape. the people who still came to his studio because he had the reputation of being a wit and the husband of his parlour-maid (whom to her indignation they called queen cophetua) cared not a straw about art in any shape or form. the women wanted the vote--few of them knew why--the men wanted to be aviators, motorists beating the record in speed on french trial trips, or apaches in their relations with the female sex or prize-fighters--jimmy wilde had displaced oscar, to the advantage of humanity, even praddy agreed. to praed however vivie took the bitterness, the disillusions which came over her at intervals: "i feel, praddy, i'm getting older and i seem to be at a loose end. d'you know i'm on the verge of thirty-seven--and i have no definite career? i'm rather tired of being a well-meaning adventuress." "then why," praddy would reply, "don't you go and live with your mother?" "ugh! i couldn't stand for long that life in belgium or elsewhere abroad. they seem miles behind us, with all our faults. mother only seems to think now of good things to eat and a course of the waters at spa in september to neutralize the over-eating of the other eleven months. there is no political career for women on the continent." "then why not marry and have children? that is a career in itself. look at honoria, how happy she is." "yes--but there is only one man i could love, and he's married already." "pooh! nonsense. there are as many good fish in the sea as ever came out of it. if you won't do as beryl did--by the bye isn't she a swell in these days! and _strict_ with her daughters! she won't let 'em come here, i'm told, because of some silly story some one set abroad about me! and that humbug, francis brimley storrington--by the bye he's an a.r.a. now and scarcely has enough talent to design a dog kennel, yet they've given him the job of the new stables at buckingham palace. well if you won't share some one else's husband, pick out a good man for yourself. there must be plenty going--some retired prize-fighter. they seem all the rage just now, and are supposed to be awfully gentlemanly out of the ring." "don't be perverse. you know exactly how i feel. i'm wasting the prime of my life. i see no clear course marked out before me. sometimes i think i would like to explore central africa or get up a woman's expedition to the south pole. life has seemed so flat since i gave up being david williams. then i lived in a perpetual thrill, always on my guard. i tire every now and then of my monkey tricks, and the praise of all these women leaves me cold. i wish i were as simple minded as most of them are. to them the vote seems the beginning of the millennium. they seem to forget that after we've _got_ the vote we shall have another fight to be admitted as members to the house. you may be sure the men will stand out another fifty years over _that_ surrender. i alternate in my moods between the reckless fury of an anarchist and the lassitude of lord rosebery. to think that i was once so elated and conceited about being a third wrangler...!" with the closing months of , however, there was a greater tenseness, a sharpening of the struggle which once more roused vivie to keen interest. when she returned from an autumn visit to villa beau-séjour she found there had been a split between the "peths" and the "panks." the girondist section of the women suffragists had separated from those who could see no practical policy to win the vote but a regime of terrorism--mild terrorism, it is true--somewhat that of the curate in _the private secretary_ who at last told his persecutors he should _really have to give them a good hard knock_. the peths drew back before the pankish programme (mild as this would seem, to us of bolshevik days and of irish insurrection). _votes for women_ returned to the control of the pethick lawrences, and the pankhurst party to which vivie belonged were to start a new press organ, _the suffragette_. the panks, it seemed, had a more acute fore-knowledge than the peths. the latter had felt they were forcing an open door; that the liberal ministry would eventually squeeze a measure of female suffrage into the long-discussed franchise bill; and that too much militancy was disgusting the general public with the woman's cause. the former declared all along that women were going to be done in the eye, because all the militancy hitherto had got very little in man's way, had only excited smiles, and shoulder-shrugs. ministers of the crown in had compared the hoydenish booby-traps and bloodless skirmishes of the suffragettes with the grim fighting, the murders, burnings, mob-rule of the 's, when men were agitating for reform; or the mutilation of cattle, the assassinations, dynamite outrages, gun-powder plots, bombs and boycotting of the long drawn-out irish agitation for home rule. an agitation which was now resulting in the placing on the statute book of a home rule bill, while another equally deadly agitation--in promise--was being worked up by sir edward carson, the duke of this and the marquis of that, and a very rising politician, mr. f.e. smith, to defeat the operation of home rule for ireland. in short, if one might believe the second-rate ministers who were not repudiated by their superiors in rank, the vote for women could only be wrung from the reluctance of the tyrant man, _if_ the women made life unbearable for the male section of the community. it was a dangerous suggestion to make, or would have proved so, had these sneering politicians been provoking men to claim their constitutional rights: bloodshed would almost certainly have followed. but the leaders of the militant women ordered (and were obeyed) that no attacks on life should be part of the woman's militant programme. property might be destroyed, especially such as did not impoverish the poor; but there were to be no railway accidents, no sinking of ships, no violent deeds dangerous to life. at the height and greatest bitterness of militancy no statesman's life was in danger. the only recklessness about life was in the militant women. they risked and sometimes lost their lives in carrying out their protests. they invented the hunger strike (the prospect of which as an inevitable episode ahead of her, filled vivie with tremulous dread) to balk the executive of its idea of turning the prisons of england into bastilles for locking up these clamant women who had become better lawyers than the men who tried them. but think what the hunger strike and its concomitant, forcible feeding, meant in the way of pain and danger to the life of the victim. the government were afraid (unless you were an utterly unknown man or woman of the lower classes) of letting you die in prison; so to force them to release you, you had first to refuse for four days all food--the heroic added all drink. then to prevent your death--and being human you, the prisoner, must have hoped they were keeping a good look-out on your growing weakness--the prison doctor must intervene with his forcible feeding. this was a form of torture the inquisition would have been sorry to have overlooked, and one no doubt that the bolsheviks have practised with great glee. the patient was strapped to a chair or couch or had his--usually her--limbs held down by warders (wardresses) and nurses. a steel or a wooden gag was then inserted, often with such roughness as to chip or break the teeth, and through the forced-open mouth a tube was pushed down the throat, sometimes far enough to hurt the stomach. this produced an apoplectic condition of choking and nausea, and as the stomach filled up with liquid food the retching nearly killed the patient. the windpipe became involved. food entered the lungs--the tongue was cut and bruised (think what a mere pimple on the tongue means to some of us: it keeps _me_ awake half the night)--the lips were torn. worse still--requiring really a pathological essay to which i am not equal--was feeding by slender pipes through the nose. the far simpler and painless process _per rectum_ was debarred because it might have constituted an indecent assault. was ever ministry in a greater dilemma? it was too old-fashioned, too antiquely educated to realize the spirit of its age, the pass at which we had arrived of conceding to women the same rights as to men. women were ready to die for these rights (not to kill others in order to attain them). yet for fear of wounding the national sentimentality they must not be allowed to die; they must not be saved from suicide by any action savouring of indecency; so they must be tortured as prisoners hardly were in the worst days of the inquisition or at the worst-conducted public school of the victorian era. but vivie's gradually rising wrath was to be brought by degrees to boiling-point through the spring of , and to explode at last over an incident more tragic than any one of the five or six hundred cases of forcible feeding. early in , the speaker intimated that any insertion of a woman suffrage amendment into the manhood franchise bill would be inconsistent with some unwritten code of parliamentary procedure of which apparently he was the sole guardian and interpreter. ministers who had probably prepared this _coup_ months before went about expressing hypocritical laments at the eccentricities of our constitution; and the franchise act was abandoned. a little later, frightened at the renewal of arson in town and country, at interferences with their week-end golf courses, at the destruction of mails in the letter-boxes, and the slashing of old masters at the national gallery (purchased at about five times their intrinsic value by a minister who would not have spent one penny of national money to encourage native art), the cabinet let it be known that a way would be found presently to give woman suffrage a clear run. a private member would be allowed to bring in a bill for conferring the franchise on women, and the opinion of the house would be sought on its merits independently of party issues. the government whips would be withdrawn and members of the government be left free to vote as they pleased. it was a fair deduction, however, from what was said at that time and later, that the strongest possible pressure--arguments _ad hominem_ and in a sense _ad pecuniam_--was brought to bear on liberals and on irish nationalists to vote against the bill. had the second reading been carried, the government would have resigned and a home rule bill for ireland have been once more postponed. the rejection of mr. dickinson's measure by a majority of forty-seven convinced the militants that pharaoh had once more hardened his heart; and the hopelessness of the woman's cause at that juncture inspired one woman with a resolution to give her life as a protest in the manner most calculated to impress the male mind of the british public. chapter xv imprisonment prior to the derby day of , vivie had heard of emily wilding davison as a northumbrian woman, distantly related to the rossiters and also to the lady shillito she had once defended. she came from morpeth in northumberland and had had a very distinguished university career at oxford and in london, of which latter university she was a b.a. the theme of the electoral enfranchisement of women had gradually possessed her mind to the exclusion of all other subjects; she became in fact a fanatic in the cause and a predestined martyr to it. in she had received her first sentence of imprisonment for making a constitutional protest, and to escape forcible feeding had barricaded her cell. the visiting committee had driven her from this position by directing the warders to turn a hose pipe on her and knock her senseless with a douche of cold water; for which irregularity they were afterwards fined and mulcted in costs. two years later, for another suffragist offence (setting fire to a pillar box after giving warning of her intention) she went to prison for six months. here the tortures of forcible feeding so overcame her reason--it was alleged--that she flung herself from an upper gallery, believing she would be smashed on the pavement below and that her death under such circumstances might call attention to the agony of forcible feeding and the reckless disregard of consequences which now inspired educated women who were resolved to obtain the enfranchisement of their sex. but an iron wire grating eight feet below broke her fall and only cut her face and hands. the accident or attempted suicide, however, procured the shortening of her sentence. vivie and she often met in the early months of , and on the first day of june she confided to a few of the w.s.p.u. her intention of making at epsom a public protest against public indifference to the cause of the woman's franchise. this protest was to be made in the most striking manner possible at the supreme moment of the derby race on the th of june. probably no one to whom she mentioned the matter thought she contemplated offering up her own life; at most they must have imagined some speech from the grand stand, some address to royalty thrown into the royal pavilion, some waving of a suffrage flag or early-morning placarding of the bookies' stands. vivie however had been turning her thoughts to horse-racing as a field of activity. she was amused and interested at the effect that had been produced in ministerial circles by her interference with the game of golf. if now something was done by the militants seriously to impede the greatest of the sports, the national form of gambling, the protected form of swindling, the main interest in life of the working-class, of half the peerage, all the beerage, the chief lure of the newspapers between october and july, and the preoccupation of princes, she might awaken the male mind in a very effectual way to the need for settling the suffrage question. so she determined also to see the running of the derby, as a preliminary to deciding on a plan of campaign. she had become hardened to pushing and scrouging, so that the struggle to get a seat in one of the fifty or sixty race trains leaving waterloo or victoria left her comparatively calm. she was dressed as a young man and had no clothing impediments, and as a young man she was better able to travel down with racing rascality. in that guise she did not attract too much attention. rough play may have been in the mind of the card-playing, spirit-drinking scoundrels that occupied the other seats in the compartment, but vivie in her man's dress created a certain amount of suspicion and caution. "look's like a 'tec,'" one man whispered to another. so the card-playing was not thrust on her as a round-about form of plunder, and the stories told were more those derived from the spicy columns of the sporting papers, in words of double meaning, than the outspoken, stable obscenity characteristic of the race-course rabble. vivie arriving early managed to secure a fairly good seat on the grand stand, to which she could have recourse when the crowd on the race course became too repulsive or too dangerous. she wished as much as possible to see all aspects of the premier race meeting. indeed, meeting a friend of lady feenix's, a good-natured young peer who halted irresolute between four worlds--the philosophic, the political, the philanthropic, and the sporting, she introduced herself as "david williams"--hoping no bencher was within hearing--said "dare say you remember me? lady feenix's? been much abroad lately--really feel quite strange on an english race course," and persuaded him to take her round before the great people of the day were all assembled. she was shown the royal pavilion being got ready for the king and queen, the weighing room of the jockeys, the paddock and temporary stables of the horses that were to race that day. here was a celebrated actress in a magnificent lace dress and a superb hat, walking up and down on the sun-burnt, trodden turf, in a devil of a temper. her horse--for with her lovers' money she kept a racing stable--had been scratched for the race--i really can't tell you why, not having been able to study all the _minutiæ_ of racing. [talking of that, _how_ annoying it is--or was--when one cared about things of great moment, to take up an evening newspaper's last edition and read in large type "official scratchings," with a silly algebraic formula underneath about horses being withdrawn from some race, when you thought it was a bear fight in the cabinet.] vivie gathered from her guide that to-day would be rather a special derby, because it did not often happen that a king-emperor was there to see a horse from his own racing stables running in the classic race. then, thanking the pleasant soldier-peer for his information, vivie (david williams) left him to his duties as equerry and member of the jockey-club and entered the dense crowd on either side of the race course. it reminded her just slightly of frith's derby day. there were the gypsies, the jugglers, the acrobats, the costers with their provision barrows; the grooms and stable hands; the beggars and obvious pick-pockets; the low-down harlots--the high-up ones were already entering the seats of the grand stand or sitting on the four-in-hand coaches or in the open landaulettes and silent knights. but evidently the professional betting men were a new growth since the mid-nineteenth century. they were just beginning to assemble, wiping their mouths from the oozings of the last potation; some, the aristocrats of their calling, like sporting peers in dress and appearance; others like knock-about actors on the music-hall stage. the generality were remarkably similar to ordinary city men or to the hansom-cab drivers of twenty years ago. in the very front of the crowd on the grand stand side, leaning with her elbows on the wooden rail, she descried emily davison. vivie edged and sidled through the crowd and touched her on the shoulder. emily looked up with a start, surprised at seeing the friendly face of a young man, till she recognized vivie by her voice. "dear emily," said vivie, "you look so tired. aren't you over-trying your strength? i don't know what you have in hand, but why not postpone your action till you are quite strong again?" "i shall never be stronger than i am to-day and it can't be postponed, cost me what it will," was the reply, while the sad eyes looked away across the course. "well," said vivie, "i wanted you to know that i was close by, prepared to back you up if need be. and there are others of our union about the place. that young man over there talking to the policeman is really a---- k---- though she is supposed to be in prison. mrs. tuke is somewhere about, mrs. despard is on the grand stand, and blanche smith is selling _the suffragette_." "thank you," said miss davison, turning round for an instant, and pressing vivie's hand, "good-bye. i hope what i am going to do will be effectual." vivie did not like to prolong the talk in case it should attract attention. individual action was encouraged under the w.s.p.u., and when a member wished to do something on her own, her comrades did not fuss with advice. so vivie returned to the grand stand. presently there was the stir occasioned by the arrival of the royal personages. vivie noted with a little dismay that while she was wearing a homburg hat all the men near her wore the black and glistening topper which has become--or had, for the tyranny of custom has lifted a little since the war--the conventional head-gear in which to approach both god and the king. there was a great raising of these glistening hats, there were grave bows or smiling acknowledgments from the pavilion. then every one sat down and the second event was run. still emily wilding davison made no sign. vivie could just descry her, still in the front of the crowd, still gazing out over the course, pressed by the crowd against the broad white rail. * * * * * the race of the day had begun. the row of snickering, plunging, rearing, and curvetting horses had dissolved, as in a kaleidoscope, into a bunch, and a pear-shaped formation with two or three horses streaming ahead as the stem of the pear. then the stem became separated from the pear-shaped mass by its superior speed, and again this vertical line of horses formed up once more horizontally, leaving the mass still farther behind. then the horses seen from the grand stand disappeared--and after a minute reappeared--three, four, five--and the bunch of them, swerving round tattenham corner and thundering down the incline towards the winning post.... the king's horse seemed to be leading, another few seconds would have brought it or one of its rivals past the winning post, when ... a slender figure, a woman, darted with equal swiftness from the barrier to the middle of the course, leapt to the neck of the king's horse, and in an instant, the horse was down, kneeling on a crumpled woman, and the jockey was flying through the air to descend on hands and knees practically unhurt. the other horses rushed by, miraculously avoiding the prostrate figures. some horse passed the winning post, a head in front of some other, but no one seemed to care. the race was fouled. vivie noted thirty seconds--approximately--of amazed, horrified silence. then a roar of mingled anger, horror, enquiry went up from the crowd of many thousands. "it's the suffragettes" shouted some one. and up to then vivie had not thought of connecting this unprecedented act with the purposed protest of emily wilding davison. she sprang to her feet, and shouting to all who might have tried to stop her "i'm a friend of the lady. i am a doctor"--she didn't care what lie she told--she was soon authoritatively pushing through the ring of police constables who like warrior ants had surrounded the victims of the protest--the shivering, trembling horse, now on its legs, the pitifully crushed, unconscious woman--her hat hanging to the tresses of her hair by a dislodged hat-pin, her thin face stained with blood from surface punctures. the jockey was being carried from the course, still unconscious, but not badly hurt. a great surgeon happening to be at epsom race course on a friend's drag, had hurried to offer his services. he was examining the unconscious woman and striving very gently to straighten and disentangle her crooked body. presently there was a respectful stir in the privileged ring, and vivie was conscious by the raising of hats that the king stood amongst them looking down on the woman who had offered up her life before his eyes to enforce the woman's appeal. he put his enquiries and offered his suggestions in a low voice, but vivie withdrew, less with the fear that her right to be there and her connection with the tragedy might be questioned, as from some instinctive modesty. the occasion was too momentous for the presence of a supernumerary. emily wilding davison should have her audience of her sovereign without spectators. returning with a blanched face to the seething crowd, and presently to the grand stand, vivie's mood altered from awe to anger. the "bookies" were beside themselves with fury. she noted the more frequent of the nouns and adjectives they applied to the dying woman for having spoilt the derby of , but although she went to the trouble, in framing her indictment of the turf, of writing down these phrases, my jury of matrons opposes itself to their appearance here, though i am all for realism and completeness of statement. after conversing briefly and in a lowered voice with such suffragettes as gathered round her, so that this one could carry the news to town and that one his to communicate with miss davison's relations, vivie--recklessly calling herself to any police questioner, "david williams" and eliciting "yes, sir, i have seen you once or twice in the courts," reached once more the grand stand with its knots of shocked, puzzled, indignant, cynical, consternated men and women. most of them spoke in low tones; but one--a blond jew of middle age--was raving in uncontrolled anger, careless of what he said or of who heard him. he was short of stature with protruding bloodshot eyes, an undulating nose, slightly prognathous muzzle and full lips, and a harsh red moustache which enhanced the prognathism. his silk hat tilted back showed a great bald forehead, in which angry, bluish veins stood out like swollen earth worms. "those suffragettes!" he was shouting or rather shrieking in a nasal whine, "if i had _my_ way, i'd lay 'em out along the course and have 'em ---- by ----. the ----'s!" the shocked auditory around him drew away. vivie gathered he was mr. ---- well, perhaps i had better not give his name,[ ] even in a disguised form. he had had a chequered career in south america--mexico oil, peruvian rubber, buenos aires railways, and a corner in argentine beef--but had become exceedingly rich, a fortune perhaps of twenty millions. he had given five times more than any other aspirant in benefactions to charities and to the party chest of the dominant party, but the authorities dared not reward him with a baronetcy because of the stories of his early life which had to be fought out in libel cases with baxendale strangeways and others. but he had won through these libel cases, and now devoted his vast wealth to improving our breed of horses by racing at newmarket, epsom, doncaster, gatwick, sandown and brighton. racing had, in fact, become to him what auction bridge was to the society gamblers of those days, only instead of losing and winning tens and hundreds of pounds, his fluctuations in gains and losses were in thousands, generally with a summing up on the right side of the annual account. but whether on the turf, at the billiard table, or in the stock market he was or had become a bad loser. he lost his temper at the same time. on this occasion miss davison's suicide or martyrdom would leave him perhaps on the wrong side in making up his day's book to the extent of fifteen hundred pounds. viewed in the right proportion it would be equivalent to our--you and me--having given a florin to a newspaper boy as the train was moving, instead of a penny. but no doubt her unfortunate impulse had spoiled the day for him in other ways, upset schemes that were bound up with the winning of the king's horse. yet his outburst and the shocking language he applied to the suffrage movement made history: for they fixed on him vivie's attention when she was looking out for some one or something on whom to avenge the loss of a comrade. [footnote : he died in . my jury of matrons has excised his phrases.] she forthwith set out for london and wrote up the dossier of mr. ----. in the secret list of buildings which were to be destroyed by fire or bombs, with as little risk as possible to human or animal life, she noted down the racing stables, trainers' houses and palaces of mr. ---- at newmarket, epsom, the devil's dyke, and the neighbourhood of doncaster. rossiter and vivie met for the first time for a year at emily davison's funeral. rossiter had been profoundly moved at her self-sacrifice; she was moreover a northumbrian and a distant kinswoman. perhaps, also, he felt that he had of late been a little lukewarm over the suffrage agitation. his motor-brougham, containing with himself the very unwilling mrs. rossiter, followed in the procession of six thousand persons which escorted the coffin across london from victoria station to king's cross. a halt was made outside a church in bloomsbury where a funeral service was read. mrs. rossiter thought the whole thing profoundly improper. in the first place the young woman had committed suicide, which of itself was a crime and disentitled you to christian burial; in the second she had died in a way greatly to inconvenience persons in the highest society; in the third she had always understood that racing was a perfectly proper pastime for gentlemen; and in the fourth this incident, touching michael through his relationship with the deceased, would bring him again in contact with that vivie warren--_there_ she was and there was _he_, in close converse--and make a knighthood from a nearly relenting government well-nigh impossible. rossiter, after the service, had begged vivie to come back to tea with them in park crescent and give mrs. rossiter and himself a full account of what took place at epsom. vivie had declined. she had not even spoken to the angry little woman, who had refused to attend the service and had sat fuming all through the half hour in her electric brougham, wishing she had the courage and determination to order the chauffeur to turn round and run her home, leaving the professor to follow in a taxi. but perhaps if she did that, he would go off somewhere with that warren woman. michael presently re-entered the carriage and in silence they returned to portland place. the next day his wife meeting one of her anti-suffrage friends said: "er--supposing--er--you had got to know something about these dreadful militant women, something which might help the police, yet didn't want to get _too_ much mixed up with it yourself, and _certainly_ not bring your husband into it--the professor _thoroughly_ disapproves of militancy, even though he may have foolish ideas about the vote--er--what would you do?" "well, what is it?" "it's part of a letter." "well, i should just send it to the criminal investigation department, new scotland yard, and tell them under what circumstances it came into your possession. you needn't even give your name or address. they'll soon know whether it's any use or not." so mrs. rossiter took from her desk that scrap of partly burnt paper with the typewritten words on it which she had picked out of the grate two and a half years before, and posted it to the criminal investigation department, with the intimation that this fragment had come into the possession of the sender some time ago, and seemed to refer to a militant suffragist who called herself "vivie warren" or "david williams," and perhaps it might be of some assistance to the authorities in tracking down these dangerous women who now stuck at nothing. she posted the letter with her own hands in the north west district. park crescent, portland place, she always reflected, was still in the _western_ district, though it lay perilously near the north west border line, beyond which lady jeune had once written, no one in society thought of living. this was a dictum that at one time had occasioned mrs. rossiter considerable perturbation. it was alarming to think that by crossing the marylebone road or migrating to cambridge terrace you had passed out of society. it took the police a deuce of a time--two months--to make use effectively of the information contained in mrs. rossiter's scrap of burnt paper; though the statement of their anonymous correspondent that vivie warren and david williams were probably the same person helped to locate mr. michaelis's office. it was soon ascertained that miss vivien warren, well known as a sort of society speaker on suffrage, lived at the lilacs in victoria road, kensington. but when a plain-clothes policeman called at victoria road he was only told by the suffragette caretaker (whose mother now usually lived with her to console her for her mistress's frequent absences) that miss warren was away just then, had recently been much away from home, probably abroad where her mother lived. (here the enquirer registered a mental note: miss warren has a mother living abroad: could it be _the_ mrs. warren?). polite and respectful calls on lady feenix, lady maud parry, and mrs. armstrong--vivie's known associates--elicted no information, till on leaving the last-named lady's house in kensington square the detective heard colonel armstrong come in from the garden and call out "ho-no-ria." "'--ria," he said to himself, "'-ria kept the keys, and now--' honoria. what was her name before she married colonel armstrong?--why--" he soon found out--"fraser." "wasn't there once a firm, _fraser and warren_, which set up to be some new dodge for establishing women in a city career?--accountancy? stockbroking? where did _fraser and warren_ have their office? fifth floor of midland insurance office in chancery lane. what was that building now called? no. - ." done. these two sentences run over a period of--what did i say? two months?--in their deductions and guesses and consultation of out-of-date telephone directories. but on one day in september, , two plain-clothes policemen made their way up to the fifth floor of - chancery lane and found the outer door of mr. michaelis's office locked and a notice board on it saying "absent till monday." not deterred by this, they forced open the door--to the thrilling interest of a spectacled typewriteress, who had no business on that landing at all, but she usually made assignations there with the lift man. and on the writing table in the outer office they found a note addressed to miss annie kenney, which said inside: "dear annie. if you should chance to look in between your many imprisonments and find me out, you will know i am away on the firm's business, livening up the racing establishments of the right honble sir ---- ----, bart. bart. no one knows anything about this at no. ." (this note was purely unnecessary--a bit of swagger perhaps, lest miss kenney should think vivie never did anything dangerous, but only planned dangerous escapades for others. like the long letter of vivie to michael rossiter, written on the last day of december, , which he had imperfectly destroyed, it was a reminder of that all-too-true saying: "litera scripta manet.") if the outer door of michaelis's office was locked how could miss kenney be expected to call and find this note awaiting her? why, _here_ came in the "no. " of the scrap of paper. there was an over-the-roofs communication between the block of - and house no. . the policemen in fact found that the large casement of the partners' room was only pulled to, so that it was easily opened from the outside. from the parapet they passed to the fire-escapes and through the labyrinth of chimney stacks to a similar window leading into the top storey of , the office of mr. algernon mainwaring, hygienic corset-maker. this office at the time of their unexpected entry was fairly full of suffragettes planning all sorts of direful things. so the plain-clothes policemen had a rare haul that day and certainly had mrs. rossiter to thank for rising to be inspectors and receiving some modest order of later days. it was about the worst blow the w.s.p.u. had; before the outbreak of war turned suddenly the revolting women into the stanchest patriots and the right hands of muddling ministers. for in addition to many a rich find in no. and a dozen captives caught red-handed in making mock of the authorities, the plain-clothes policemen made themselves thoroughly at home in mr. michaelis's quarters till the following monday. and when in the fore-noon of that day, mr. michaelis entered his rooms, puzzled and perturbed at finding the outer door ajar, he was promptly arrested on a multiform charge of arson ... and on being conveyed to a police station and searched he was found to be miss vivien warren. at intervals in the summer and early autumn of the male section of the public had been horrified and scandalized at the destruction going on in racing establishments, particularly those of sir george crofts and of a well-known south american millionaire, whose distinguished services to british commerce and immense donations to hospitals and homes would probably be rewarded by a grateful government. if these outrages were not stopped, horse-racing and race-horse breeding must come to a stand-still; and we leave our readers to realize what _that_ would mean! there would be no horses for the plough or the gig, or the artillery gun-carriage; no--er--fox-hunting, and without fox-hunting and steeple-chasing and point-to-point races you could have no cavalry and without cavalry you could have no army. if we neglected blood stock we would deal the farmer a deadly blow, we should--er-- you know the sort of argument? reduced to its essentials it is simply this:--that a few rich people are fond of gambling and fond of the excitement that is concentrated in the few minutes of the horse race. some others, not so rich, believe that by combining horse-racing with a certain amount of cunning and bold cheating they can make a great deal of money. a few speculators have invested funds in spaces of open turf, and turn these spaces into race courses. having no alternative, no safer method of gambling offered them, and being as fond of gambling as other peoples of the world, the men of the labouring classes and a few of their women, the publicans and their frequenters, army officers, farmers, and women of uncertain virtue stake their money on horses they have never seen, who may not even exist, and thus keep the industry going. and the chevaliers of this "industry," the go-betweens, the parasites of this sport, are the twelve thousand professional book-makers and racing touts. somehow the turf has during the last hundred years, together with its allies the distillers and brewers, the licensed victuallers and the press that is supported by these agencies, acquired such a hold over the government departments, the labour party, the conservative party, and liberal politicians who are descended from county families, that it has more interest with those who govern us than the church, the nonconformist conscience, the county palatine of lancaster or any other body of corporate opinion. so that when in september, , representatives of the turf (and no doubt of the trade unions) went to the home secretary in reference to the burning and bombing of racing stables, trainers' houses, grand stands and the residences of racing potentates, and said "look here! this has got to stop," the home secretary and the cabinet knew they were up against no ordinary crisis. at the same time sir edward carson, the marquis of londonderry, the duke of abercorn, mr. f.e. smith and nearly a third of the colonels in the british army of ulster descent were actively organizing armed resistance to any measure of home rule; while keltiberian ireland was setting up the irish volunteers to start a home rule insurrection. you can therefore imagine for yourselves the mental irritability of members of the liberal cabinet in the autumn of the sinister year . i have been told that there were days at the house of commons during the autumn session of that year when the leading ministers would just shut themselves up in their private rooms and scream on end for a quarter of an hour.... of course an exaggeration, a sorry jest. in retrospect one feels almost sorry for them: the great war must have come almost as a relief. not one of them was what you would call a bad man. some of them suffered over forcible feeding and the cat and mouse act as acutely as does the loving father or mother who says to the recently spanked child, "you _know_, dear, it hurts _me_ almost as much as it hurts _you_." if one met them out at dinner parties, or in an express train which they could not stop by pulling the communication cord, and sympathized with their dilemma, they would ask plaintively _what_ they could do. they could not yield to violence and anarchy; yet they could not let women die in prison. of course the answer was this, but it was one they waved aside: "dissolve parliament and go to the country on the one question of votes for women. if the country returns a great majority favourable to that concession, you must bring in a bill for eliminating the sex distinction in the suffrage. if on the other hand, the country votes against the reform, then you must leave it to the women to make a male electorate change its mind. and meantime if men and women, to enforce some principle, rioted and were sent to prison for it, and then started to abstain from food and drink, why they must please themselves and die if they wanted to." but this was just what the liberal ministry of those days would not do; at all costs they must stick to office, emoluments, patronage, the bestowal of honours, and the control of foreign policy. they clung to power, in fact, at all costs; even inconsistency with the bedrock principle of liberalism: no taxation without representation. it was decided in the innermost arcana of the home office that an example should be made of vivie. they had evidently in her got hold of something far more dangerous than a pankhurst or a pethick lawrence, a constance lytton or an emily davison. the very probable story--though the benchers were loth to take it up--that she had actually in man's garb passed for the bar and pleaded successfully before juries, appalled some of the lawyer-ministers by its revolutionary audacity. they might not be able to punish her on that count or on several others of the misdemeanours imputed to her; but they had got her, for sure, on arson; and on the arson not of suburban churches, which occurred sometimes at peckham or in the suburbs of birmingham and made people laugh a little in the trains coming up to town and say there were far too many churches, seemed to them; _but_ the burning down of racing establishments. _that_ was bolshevism, indeed, they would have said, had they been able to project their minds five years ahead. being only in they called vivie by the enfeebled term of anarchist, the word applied by _punch_ to mr. john burns in for wishing to address the public in trafalgar square. so it was arranged that vivie's trial should take place in october at the old bailey and that a judge should try her who was quite certain he had never stayed at a warren hotel; who would be careful to keep great names out of court; and restrain counsel from dragging anything in to the simple and provable charge of arson which might give miss warren a chance to say something those beastly newspapers would get hold of. i am not going to give you the full story of vivie's trial. i have got so much else to say about her, before i can leave her in a quiet backwater of middle age, that this must be a story which has gaps to be filled up by the reader's imagination. you can, besides, read for yourself elsewhere--for this is a thinly veiled chronicle of real events--how she was charged, and how the magistrate refused bail though it was offered in large amounts by rossiter and praed, the latter with mrs. warren's purse behind him. how she was first lodged in brixton prison and at length appeared in the dock at the old bailey before a court that might have been set for a cinematograph. there was a judge with a full-bottomed wig, a scarlet and ermine vesture, there was a jury of prosperous shopkeepers, retired half pay officers, a hotelkeeper or two, a journalist, an architect, and a builder. a very celebrated king's counsel prosecuted--the cabinet thus said to the racing world "we've done _all_ we can"--and vivie defended herself with the aid of a clever solicitor whom bertie adams had found for her. from the very moment of her arrest, bertie adams had refused--even though they took away his salary--to think of anything but vivie's trial and how she might issue from it triumphant. he must have lost a stone in weight. he was ready to give evidence himself, though he was really quite unconcerned with the offences for which vivie was on trial; prepared to swear to anything; to swear he arranged the conflagrations; that miss warren had really been in london when witness had seen her purchasing explosives at newmarket (both stories were equally untrue). bertie adams only asked to be allowed to perjure himself to the tune of five years' penal servitude if that would set vivie free. yet at a word or a look from her he became manageable. the attorney general of course began something like this. "i am very anxious to impress on you," he said, addressing the jury, "that from the moment we begin to deal with the facts of this case, all questions of whether a woman is entitled to the parliamentary franchise, whether she should have the same right of franchise as a man are matters which in no sense are involved in the trial of this issue. all you have to decide is whether the prisoner in the dock committed or procured and assisted others to commit the very serious acts of arson of which she is accused..." nevertheless he or the hounds he kept in leash, the lesser counsel, sought subtly to prejudice the jury's mind against vivie by dragging in her parentage and the eccentricities of her own career. as thus:-- _counsel for the prosecution_: "we have in you the mainspring of this rebellious movement..." _vivie_: "have you?" _counsel_: "are you not the daughter of the notorious mrs. warren?" _vivie_: "my mother's name certainly is warren. for what is she notorious?" _counsel_: "well--er--for being associated abroad with--er--a certain type of hotel synonymous with a disorderly house--" _vivie_: "indeed? have you tried them? my mother has managed the hotels of an english company abroad till she retired altogether from the management some years ago. it was a company in which sir george crofts--" _judge_, interposing: "we need not go into that--i think the counsel for the prosecution is not entitled to ask such questions." _counsel_: "i submit, me lud, that it is germane to my case that the prisoner's upbringing might have--" _vivie_: "i am quite willing to give you all the information i possess as to my upbringing. my mother who has resided mainly at brussels for many years preferred that i should be educated in england. i was placed at well-known boarding schools till i was old enough to enter newnham. i passed as a third wrangler at cambridge and then joined the firm of fraser and warren. as you seem so interested in my relations, i might inform you that i have not many. my mother's sister, mrs. burstall, the widow of canon burstall, resides at winchester; my grandfather, lieutenant warren, was killed in the crimea--or more likely died of neglected wounds owing to the shamefully misconducted, man-conducted army medical service of those days. my mother in early days was better known as miss kate vavasour. she was the intimate friend of a celebrated barrister who--" _judge_, intervening: "we have had enough of this discursive evidence which really does not bear on the case at all. i must ask the prosecuting counsel to keep to the point and not waste the time of the court." _prosecuting counsel_ (who has meantime received three or four energetic notes from his leader, begging him to remember his instructions and not to be an ass): "very good m'lud." (to vivie) "do you know mr. david vavasour williams, a barrister?" _vivie_: "i have heard of him." _counsel_: "have you spoken of him as your cousin?" _vivie_: "i may have done. he is closely related to me." _counsel_: "i put it to you that _you_ are david williams, or at any rate that you have posed as being that person." _judge_, interposing with a weary air: "_who_ is david williams?" _counsel_: "well--er--a member of the bar--well known in the criminal courts--shillito case--" _judge_: "really? i had not heard of him. proceed." _counsel_ (to vivie): "you heard my questions?" _vivie_: "i have never posed as being other than what i am, a woman much interested in claiming the parliamentary franchise for women; and i do not see what these questions have to do with my indictment, which is a charge of arson. you introduce all manner of irrelevant matter--" _counsel_: "you decline to answer my questions?" (vivie turns her head away.) _judge_, to counsel: "i do not quite see the bearing of your enquiries." _counsel_: "why, me lud, it is common talk that prisoner is the well-known barrister, david vavasour williams; that in this disguise and as a pretended man she passed the necessary examinations and was called to the bar, and--" _judge_: "but what bearing has this on the present charge, which is one of arson?" _counsel_: "i was endeavouring by my examination to show that the prisoner has often and successfully passed as a man, and that the evidence of witnesses who affirmed that they only saw _a young man_ at or near the scene of these incendiary fires, that a young man, supposed to have set the stables alight, once dashed in and rescued two horses which had been overlooked, might well have been the prisoner who is alleged to have committed most of these crimes in man's apparel--" _judge_: "i see." (to vivie) "are you david vavasour williams?" _vivie_: "obviously not, my lord. my name is vivien warren and my sex is feminine." _judge_, to counsel: "well, proceed with your examination--" (but here the leader of the prosecution takes up the rôle and brushes his junior on one side). vivie of course was convicted. the case was plain from the start, as to her guilt in having organized and carried out the destruction of several great racing establishments or buildings connected with racing. there had been no loss of life, but great damage to property--perhaps two or three hundred thousand pounds, and a serious interruption in the racing fixtures of the late summer and early autumn. the jury took note that on one occasion the prisoner in the guise of a young man had personally carried out the rescue of two endangered horses; and added a faintly-worded recommendation to mercy, seeing that the incentive to the crimes was political passion. but the judge put this on one side. in passing sentence he said: "it is my duty, vivien warren, to inflict what in my opinion is a suitable and adequate sentence for the crime of which you have been most properly convicted. i must point out to you that whatever may have been your motives, your deeds have been truly wicked because they have exposed hard-working people who had done you no wrong to the danger of being burnt, maimed or killed, or at the least to the loss of employment. you have destroyed property of great value belonging to persons in no way concerned with the granting or withholding of the rights you claim for women. in addition, you have for some time past been luring other people--young men and young women--to the committal of crime as your assistants or associates. i cannot regard your case as having any political justification or standing, or as being susceptible of any mitigation by the recommendation of the jury. the least sentence i can pass upon you is a sentence of three years' penal servitude." vivie took the blow without flinching and merely bowed to the judge. there was the usual "sensation in court." women's voices were heard saying "shame!" "shame!" "three cheers for vivie warren," and a slightly ironical "three cheers for david whatyoumay-callem williams." the judge uttered the usual unavailing threats of prison for those who profaned the majesty of the court; honoria, rossiter, praed (in tears), bertie adams, looking white and ill, all the noted suffragists who were out of prison for the time being and could obtain admittance to the court, crowded round vivie before the wardresses led her away from the dock, assuring her they would move heaven and earth, first to get the sentence mitigated, and secondly to have her removed to the first division. but on both points the government proved adamant. an interview between rossiter and the home secretary nearly ended in a personal assault. all the officials concerned refused to see honoria, who almost had a serious quarrel with her husband, the latter averring that vivien warren had only got what she asked for. vivien was therefore taken to holloway to serve her sentence as a common felon. "didn't she hunger-strike to force the authorities to accord her better prison treatment?" she did. but she was very soon, and with extra business-like brutality, forcibly fed; and that and the previous starvation made her so ill that she spent weeks in hospital. here it was very plainly hinted to her that between hunger-striking and forcible feeding she might very soon die; and that in her case the government were prepared to stand the racket. moreover she heard by some intended channel about this time that scores of imprisoned suffragists were hunger-striking to secure her better treatment and were endangering if not their lives at any rate their future health and validity. so she conveyed them an earnest message--and was granted facilities to do so--imploring them to do nothing more on her account; adding that she was resolved to go through with her imprisonment; it might teach her valuable lessons. the governor of the prison fortunately was a humane and reasonable man--unlike some of the home office or scotland yard officials. he read the newspapers and reviews of the day and was aware who vivie warren was. he probably made no unfair difference in her case from any other, but so far as he could mould and bend the prison discipline and rules it was his practice not to use a razor for stone-chipping or a cold-chisel for shaving. he therefore put vivie to tasks co-ordinated with her ability and the deftness of her hands--such as book-binding. she had of course to wear prison dress--a thing of no importance in her eyes--and her cell was like all the cells in that and other british prisons previous to the newest reforms--dark, rather damp, cruelly cold in winter, and disagreeable in smell; badly ventilated and oppressively ugly. but it was at any rate clean. she had not the cockroaches, bugs, fleas and lice that the earliest suffragists of had to complain of. five years of outspoken protests on the part of educated, delicate-minded women had wrought great reforms in our prisons--the need for which till then was not apparent to the perceptions of visiting magistrates. the food was better, the wardresses were less harsh, the chaplains a little more endurable, though still the worst feature in the prison personnel, with their unreasoning bibliolatry, their contemptuous patronage, their lack of christian pity--christ had never spoken to _them_, vivie often thought--their snobbishness. the chaplain of her imprisonment became quite chummy when he learnt that she had been a third wrangler at cambridge, knew lady feenix, and had lived in kensington prior to committing the offences for which she was imprisoned. however this helped to alleviate her dreary seclusion from the world as he occasionally dropped fragments of news as to what was going on outside, and he got her books through the prison library that were not evangelical pap. one day when she had been in prison two months she had a great surprise--a visit from her mother. strictly speaking this was only to last fifteen minutes, but the wardress who had conceived a liking for her intimated that she wouldn't look too closely at her watch. honoria came too--with mrs. warren--but after kissing her friend and leaving some beautiful flowers (which the wardress took away at once with pretended sternness and brought back in a vase after the visitors had left) honoria with glistening eyes and a smile that was all tremulous sweetness, intimated that mrs. warren had so much to say that she, honoria, was not going to stay more than that _one_ minute. mrs. warren had indeed so much to impart in the precious half hour that it was one long gabbled monologue. "when i heard you'd got into trouble, my darling, i _was_ put about. some'ow i'd never thought of your being pinched and acshally sent to prison. it was in the belgian papers, and a german friend of mine--oh! quite proper i assure you! he's a secretary of their legation at brussels and ages ago he used to be one of my clients when the hotel had a different name. well, he was full of it. 'madam,' 'e said, 'your english women are splendid. they're going to bring about a revolt, you'll see, and that, an' your ulster movement 'll give you a lot of trouble next year.' "well: i wrote at once to praddy, givin' him an order on my london agents, 'case he should want cash for your defence. i offered to come over meself, but he replied that for the present i'd better keep away. soon as i heard you was sent to prison i come over and went straight to praddy. my! he _was_ good. he made me put up with him, knowin' i wanted to live quiet and keep away from the old set. 'there's my parlour-maid,' 'e says, 'sort of housekeeper to me--good sort too, but wants a bit of yumourin.' you'll fix it up with her,' he says. and i jolly soon did. i give her to begin with a good tip, an' i said: 'look 'ere, my gal--she's forty-five i should think--every one's in trouble _some_ time or other in their lives, and _i'm_ in trouble now, if you like. and the day's come,' i said, 'when all women ought to stick by one another.' 'pears she's always had the highest opinion of you; very different, you was, from _some_ of 'er master's friends. i says 'right-o; then _now_ we know where we are.' "praddy soon got into touch with the authorities, but for some reason they wouldn't pass on a letter or let me come and see you, till to-day. but here i am, and here i'm goin' to stay--with praddy--till they lets you out. i'm told that if you be'ave yourself they'll let me send you a passel of food, once a week. think of that! my! won't i find some goodies, and paté de foie gras. i'll come here once a month, as often as they'll let me, till i gets you out. 'n after that, we'll leave this 'orrid, 'yprocritical old country and live 'appily at my villa, or travel a bit. fortunately i've plenty of money. bein' over here i've bin rearranging my investments a bit. fact is, i 'ad a bit of a scare this autumn. they say in belgium, war is comin'. talkin' to this same german--he's always pumpin' me about the suffragettes so i occasionally put a question or so to 'im, 'e knowing 'what's, what' in the money market--'e says to me just before i come over, 'what's your english proverb, madame varennes, about 'avin' all your eggs in one basket? is all your money in english and belgian securities?' i says 'chiefly belgian and german and austrian, and some i've giv' to me daughter to do as she likes with.' 'well' 'e says, 'friend speakin' to friend, you've giv' me several good tips this autumn,' he says. 'now i'll give you one in return. sell out your austrian investments--there's goin' to be a big war in the balkans next year and as like as not _we_ shall be here in belgium. sell out most of yer belgian stock and put all your money into german funds. they'll be safe there, come what may.' i thanked 'im; but i haven't quite done what he suggested. i'm takin' all my money out of austrian things and all but ten thousand out of belgian funds. i'm leavin' my german stock as it was, but i'm puttin' forty thousand pounds--i've got sixty thousand altogether--all yours some day--into canadian pacifics and royal mail--people 'll always want steamships--and new zealand five per cents. i don't like the look of things in old england nor yet on the continent. now me time's up. keep up your heart, old girl; it'll soon be over, specially if you don't play the fool and rile the prison people or start that silly hunger strike and ruin your digestion. g--good-bye; and g-god b-bless you, my darlin'" added mrs. warren relapsing into tears and the conventional prayer, of common humanity, which always hopes there _may_ be a pitiful deity, somewhere in cosmos. going out into the corridor, she attempted to press a sovereign into the wardress's hard palm. the latter indignantly repudiated the gift and said if mrs. warren tried on such a thing again, her visits would be stopped. but her indignation was very brief. she was carrying honoria's flowers at the time, and as she put them on the slab in vivie's cell, she remarked that say what you liked, there was nothing to come up to a mother, give her a mother rather than a man any day. on other occasions bertie adams came with mrs. warren; even professor rossiter, who also went to see vivie's mother at praed's, and conceived a whimsical liking for the unrepentant, outspoken old lady. vivie's health gradually recovered from the effects of the forcible feeding; the prison fare, supplemented by the weekly parcels, suited her digestion; the peace of the prison life and the regular work at interesting trades soothed her nerves. she enjoyed the respite from the worries of her complicated toilettes, the perplexity of what to wear and how to wear it; in short, she was finding a spell of prison life quite bearable, except for the cold and the attentions of the chaplain. she gathered from the fortnightly letter which her industry and good conduct allowed her to receive, and to answer, that unwearied efforts were being made by her friends outside to shorten her sentence. mrs. warren through bertie adams had found out the cases where jockeys and stable lads had lost their effects in the fires or explosions which had followed vivie's visits to their employers' premises, and had made good their losses. as to their employers, they had all been heavily insured, and recovered the value of their buildings; and as to the insurance companies _they_ had all been so enriched by mr. lloyd george's legislation that the one-or-two hundred thousand pounds they had lost, through vivie's revenge for the seemingly-fruitless death of emily wilding davison, was a bagatelle not worth bothering about. but all attempts to get the home office to reconsider miss warren's case or to shorten her imprisonment (except by the abridgment that could be earned in the prison itself) were unavailing. so long as the cabinet held vivie under lock and key, the suffrage movement--they foolishly believed--was hamstrung. so the months went by, and vivie almost lost count of time and almost became content to wait. till war was declared on august th, . a few days afterwards followed the amnesty to suffragist prisoners. from this the home office strove at first to exclude vivien warren on the plea that her crime was an ordinary crime and admitted of no political justification; but at this the wrath of rossiter and the indignation of the w.s.p.u. became so alarming that the agitated secretary of state--not at all sure how we were going to come out of the war--gave way, and an order was signed for vivie's release on the th of august; on the understanding that she would immediately proceed abroad; an understanding to which she would not subscribe but which in her slowly-formed hatred of the british government she resolved to carry out. mrs. warren, assured by praed and rossiter that vivie's release was a mere matter of a few days, had left for brussels on the th of august. if--as was then hoped--the french and belgian armies would suffice to keep the germans at bay on the frontier of belgium, she would prefer to resume her life there in the villa de beau-séjour. if however belgium was going to be invaded it was better she should secure her property as far as possible, transfer her funds, and make her way somehow to a safe part of france. vivie would join her as soon as she could leave the prison. chapter xvi brussels and the war: the lilacs in victoria road had been disposed of--through honoria--as soon as possible, after the sentence of three years' imprisonment had been pronounced on vivie; and the faithful suffragette maid had passed into honoria's employ at petworth, a fact that was not fully understood by colonel armstrong until he had become general armstrong and perfectly indifferent to the suffrage agitation which had by that time attained its end. so when vivie had come out of prison and had promised to write to all the wardresses and to meet them some day on non-professional ground; had found rossiter waiting for her in his motor and honoria in hers; had thanked them both for their never-to-be-forgotten kindness, and had insisted on walking away in her rather creased and rumpled clothes of the previous year with bertie adams; she sought the hospitality of praddy at hans place. the parlour-maid received her sumptuously, and praddy's eyes watered with senile tears. but vivie would have no melancholy. "oh praddy! if you only knew. it's worth going to prison to know the joy of coming out of it! i'm so happy at thinking this is my last day in england for ever so long. when the war is over, i think i shall settle in switzerland with mother--or perhaps all three of us--you with us, i mean--in italy. we'll only come back here when the women have got the vote. now to-night you shall take me to the theatre--or rather i'll take _you_. i've thought it all out beforehand, and bertie adams has secured the seats. it's _the chocolate soldier_ at the adelphi, the only war piece they had ready; there are two stalls for us and bertie and his wife are going to the dress circle. my cook's ticket is taken for brussels and i leave to-morrow by the ostende route." "to-morrow" was the th of august, and dora was not yet in being to interpose every possible obstacle in the way of the civilian traveller. down to the battle of the marne in september, , very little difficulty was made about crossing the channel, especially off the main dover-calais route. so in the radiant noon of that august day vivie looked her last on the brown-white promontories, cliffs and grey castle of dover, scarcely troubling about any anticipations one way or the other, and certainly having no prevision she would not recross the channel for four years and four months, and not see dover again for five or six years. british war vessels were off the port and inside it. but there was not much excitement or crowding on the ostende steamer or any of those sensational precautions against being torpedoed or mined, which soon afterwards oppressed the spirits of cross-channel passengers. vessels arriving from belgium were full of passengers of the superior refugee class, american and british tourists, or wealthy people who though they preferred living abroad had begun to think that the continent just now was not very healthy and england the securest refuge for those who wished to be comfortable. vivie being a good sailor and economical by nature, never thought of securing a cabin for the four or five hours' sea-journey. she sat on the upper deck with her scanty luggage round her. a nice-looking young man who had a cabin the door of which he locked, was walking up and down on the level deck and scrutinizing her discreetly. and when at last they worked their way backwards into ostende--the harbour was full of vessels, chiefly mine-dredgers and torpedo boats--she noticed the obsequiousness of the steamer people and how he left the ship before any one else. she followed soon afterwards, having little encumbrances in the way of luggage; but she observed that he just showed a glimpse of some paper and was allowed to walk straight through the douane with unexamined luggage, and so, on to the brussels train. but she herself had little difficulty. she put her hand luggage--she had no other--into a first-class compartment, and having an hour and a half to wait walked out to look at ostende. summer tourists were still there; the casino was full of people, the shops were doing an active trade; the restaurants were crowded with english, americans, belgians taking tea, chocolate, or liqueurs at little tables and creating a babel of talk. newspapers were being sold everywhere by ragamuffin boys who shouted their head-lines in french, flemish, and quite understandable english. a fort or two at liége had fallen, but it was of no consequence. general léman could hold out indefinitely, and the mere fact that german soldiers had entered the town of liége counted for nothing. belgium had virtually won the war by holding up the immense german army. france was overrunning alsace, russia was invading east prussia and also sending uncountable thousands of soldiers, via archangel, to england, whence they were being despatched to calais for the relief of belgium. "it looks," thought vivie, after glancing at the _indépendance belge_, "as though belgium were going to be extremely interesting during the next few weeks; i may be privileged to witness--from a safe distance--another waterloo." then she returned to the train which in her absence had been so crowded with soldiers and civilian passengers that she had great difficulty in finding her place and seating herself. the young man whom she had seen pacing the deck of the steamer approached her and said: "there is more room in my compartment; in fact i have selfishly got one all to myself. won't you share it?" she thanked him and moved in there with her suit case and rugs. when the train had started and she had parried one or two polite enquiries as to place and ventilation, she said: "i think i ought to tell you who i am, in case you would not like to be seen speaking to me--i imagine you are in diplomacy, as i noticed you went through with a red passport.--i am vivien warren, just out of prison, and an outlaw, more or less." "'the outlaws of to-day are the in-laws of to-morrow,' as the english barrister said when he married the boer general's daughter. i have thought i recognized you. i have heard you speak at lady maud's and also at lady feenix's suffrage parties. my name is hawk. i suppose you've been in prison for some suffrage offence? so has my aunt, for the matter of that." _vivie_: "yes, but in her case they only sentenced her to the first division; whereas _i_ have been doing nine months' hard." _hawk_: "what was your crime?" _vivie_: "i admit nothing, it is always wisest. but i was accused of burning down mr. ----'s racing stables--and other things..." _hawk_: "_that_ beast. well, i suppose it was very wrong. can't quite make up my mind about militancy, one way or the other. but here we are up against the biggest war in history, and such peccadilloes as yours sink into insignificance. by the bye, my aunt was amnestied and so i suppose were you?" _vivie_: "yes, but not so handsomely. i was requested to go away from england for a time, so here i am, about to join my mother in brussels--or in a little country place near brussels." _hawk_: "well, i've been secretary of legation there. i'm just going back to--to--well i'm just going back." at bruges they were told that the train would not leave for ghent and brussels for another two hours--some mobilization delay; so hawk proposed they should go and see the memlings and then have some dinner. "don't you think they're perfectly wonderful?"--_àpropos_ of the pictures in the hospital of st. jean. _vivie_: "it depends on what you mean by 'wonderful.' if you admire the fidelity of the reproduction in colour and texture of the flemish costumes of the fifteenth century, i agree with you. it is also interesting to see the revelations of their domestic architecture and furniture of that time, and the types of domestic dog, cow and horse. but if you admire them as being true pictures of life in palestine in the time of christ, or in the rhineland of the fifth century, then i think they--like most old masters--are perfectly rotten. and have you ever remarked another thing about all paintings prior to the seventeenth century: how _plain_, how _ugly_ all the people are? you never see a single good-looking man or woman. do let's go and have that dinner you spoke of. i've got a prison appetite." at ghent another delay and a few uneasy rumours. the court was said to be removing from brussels and establishing itself at antwerp. the train at last drew into the main station at brussels half an hour after midnight. vivie's mother was nowhere to be seen. she had evidently gone back to the villa beau-séjour while she could. it was too late for any tram in the direction of tervueren. there were no taxis owing to the drivers being called up. leaving most of her luggage at the cloak-room--it took her about three-quarters of an hour even to approach the receiving counter--vivie walked across to the _palace hotel_ and asked the night porter to get her a room. but every room was occupied, they said--americans, british, wealthy war refugees from southern belgium, military officers of the allies. the only concession made to her--for the porter could hold out little hope of any neighbouring hotel having an empty room--was to allow her to sit and sleep in one of the comfortable basket chairs in the long atrium. at six o'clock a compassionate waiter who knew the name of mrs. warren gave her daughter some coffee and milk and a _brioche_. at seven she managed to get her luggage taken to one of the trams at the corner of the boulevard du jardin botanique. the train service to tervueren was suspended--and at the porte de namur she would be transferred to the no. tram which would take her out to tervueren. even at an early hour brussels seemed crowded and as the tram passed along the handsome boulevards the shops were being opened and tourists were on their way to waterloo in brakes. every one seemed to think in mid-august, , that germany was destined to receive her _coup-de-grâce_ on the field of waterloo. it would be so appropriate. and no one--at any rate of those who spoke their thoughts aloud--seemed to consider that brussels was menaced. leaving her luggage at the tram terminus, vivie sped on foot through forest roads, where the dew still glistened, to the villa beau-séjour. mrs. warren was not yet dressed, but was rapturous in her greeting. her chauffeur had been called up, so the auto could not go out, but a farm cart would be sent for the luggage. "i believe, mother, i'm going to enjoy myself enormously," said vivie as she sat in the verandah in the morning sunshine, making a delicious _petit déjeuner_ out of fresh rolls, the butter of the farm, a few slices of sausage, and a big cup of frothing chocolate topped with whipped cream. the scene that spread before her was idyllic, from a bucolic point of view. the beech woods of tervueren shut out any horizon of town activity; black and white cows were being driven out to pasture, a flock of geese with necks raised vertically waggled sedately along their own chosen path, a little disturbed and querulous over the arrival of a stranger; turkey hens and their half-grown poults and a swelling, strutting turkey cock, a peacock that had already lost nearly all his tail and therefore declined combat with the turkey and was, moreover, an isolated bachelor; guinea-fowls scratching and running about alternately; and plump cocks and hens of mixed breed covered most of the ground in the adjacent farm yard and the turf of an apple orchard, where the fruit was already reddening under the august sun. pigeons circled against the sky with the distinct musical notes struck out by their wings, or cooed and cooed round the dove cots. the dairy women of the farm laughed and sang and called out to one another in flemish and wallon rough chaff about their men-folk who were called to the colours. there was nothing suggestive here of any coming tragedy. this was the morning of the th of august. for three more days vivie lived deliriously, isolated from the world. she took new books to the shade of the forest, and a rug on which she could repose, and read there with avidity, read also all the newspapers her mother had brought over from england, tried to master the events which had so rapidly and irresistibly plunged europe into war. were the germans to blame, she asked herself? of course they were, technically, in invading belgium and in forcing this war on france. but were they not being surrounded by a hostile alliance? was not this hostility on the part of servia towards austria stimulated by russia in order to forestal the central powers by a russian occupation of constantinople? why should the russian empire be allowed to stretch for nine millions of square miles over half asia, much of persia, and now claim to control the balkan peninsula and asia minor? if england might claim a large section of persia as her sphere of influence, and egypt likewise and a fourth part of africa, much of arabia, and cyprus in the mediterranean, why might not germany and austria expect to have their little spheres of influence in the balkans, in asia minor, in mesopotamia? we had helped france to morocco and italy to tripoli; why should we bother about servia? it might be unkind, but then were we not unkind towards her father's country, ireland? were we very tender towards national independence in egypt, in persia? yet this brutal invasion of france, this unprovoked attack on liège were ugly things. france had shown no disposition to egg servia on against austria, and sir edward grey in the last days of june--she now learnt for the first time, for she had seen no newspapers in prison, where it is part of the dehumanizing policy of the home office to prevent their entry, or the dissemination of any information about current events--sir edward grey had clearly shown great britain did not approve of servian intrigues in bosnia. well: let the best man win. germany was just as likely to give the vote to her women as was britain. the germans were first in music and in science. she for her part didn't wish to become a german subject, but once the war was over she would willingly naturalize herself belgian or swiss. and the war must soon be over. europe as a whole could not allow this devastation of resources. america would intervene. already the germans realized their gigantic blunder in starting the attack. their men were said to be--she read--much less brave than people had expected. the mighty german armies had been held up for ten days by a puny belgian force and the forts of liège and namur. there would presently be an armistice and germany would have to make peace with perhaps the cession to france of metz as a _solatium_, while germany was given a little bit more of africa, and austria got nothing.... meantime the villa beau-séjour seemed after holloway prison a paradise upon earth. why quarrel with her fate? why not drop politics and take up philosophy? she felt herself capable of writing a universal history which would be far truer if more cynical than any previous attempt to show civilized man the route he had followed and the martyrdom he had undergone. on the th of august she took the tram into brussels. it seemed however as if it would never get there, and when she reached the porte de namur she was too impatient to wait for the connection. she could not find any gendarme, but at a superior-looking flower-shop she obtained the address of the british legation. she asked at the lodge for mr. hawk; but there was only a belgian coachman in charge, and he told her the minister and his staff had followed the court to antwerp. mr. hawk had only left that morning. "what a nuisance," said vivie to herself. "i might have found out from him whether there is any truth in the rumours that are flying about tervueren." these rumours were to the effect that the germans had captured all the forts of liège and their brave defender, general léman; that they were in namur and were advancing on louvain. "i wonder what we had better do?" pondered vivie. in her bewilderment she took the bold step of calling at the hotel de ville, gave her name and nationality, and asked the advice of the municipal employé who saw her as to what course she and her mother had better pursue: leave tervueren and seek a lodging in brussels; or retreat as far as ghent or bruges or even holland? the clerk reassured her. the germans had certainly occupied the south-east of belgium, but dared not push as far to the west and north as brussels. they risked otherwise being nipped between the belgian army of antwerp and the british force marching on mons.... he directed her attention to the last _communiqué_ of the ministry of war: "la situation n'a jamais été meilleure. bruxelles, à l'abri d'un coup de main, est défendue par vingt mille gardes civiques armés d'un excellent fusil," etc. vivie returned therefore a trifle reassured. at the same time she and her mother spent some hours in packing up and posting valuable securities to london, via ostende, in packing for deposit in the strong rooms of a brussels bank mrs. warren's jewellery and plate. the tram service from tervueren had ceased to run. so they induced a neighbour to drive them into brussels in a chaise: a slow and wearisome journey under a broiling sun. arrived in brussels they found the town in consternation. placarded on the walls was a notice signed by the burgomaster--the celebrated adolphe max--informing the bruxellois that in spite of the resistances of the belgian army it was to be feared the enemy might soon be in occupation of brussels. in such an event he adjured the citizens to avoid all panic, to give no legitimate cause of offence to the germans, to renounce any idea of resorting to arms! the germans on their part were bound by the laws of war to respect private property, the lives of non-combatants, the honour of women, and the exercise of religion. vivie and her mother found the banks closed and likewise the railway station. they now had but one thought: to get back as quickly as possible to villa beau-séjour, and fortunately for their dry-mouthed impatience their farmer friend was of the same mind. along the tervueren road they met numbers of peasant refugees in carts and on foot, driving cattle, geese or pigs towards the capital; urging on the tugging dogs with small carts and barrows loaded with personal effects, trade-goods, farm produce, or crying children. all of them had a distraught, haggard appearance and were constantly looking behind them. from the east, indeed, came the distant sounds of explosions and intermittent rifle firing. mrs. warren was blanched with fear, her cheeks a dull peach colour. she questioned the people in french and flemish, but they only answered vaguely in raucous voices: "les allemands!" "de duitscher." one old woman, however, had flung herself down by the roadside, while her patient dog lay between the shafts of the little cart till she should be pleased to go on. she was more communicative and told mrs. warren a tale too horrible to be believed, about husband, son, son-in-law all killed, daughter violated and killed too, cottage in flames, livestock driven off. recovering from her exhaustion she rose and shook herself. "i've no business to be here. i should be with _them_. i was just packing this cart for the market when it happened. why did i go away? oh for shame! i'll go back--to _them_..." and forthwith she turned the dog round and trudged the same way they were going. at last they came opposite the courtyard of the villa and saw the lawn and gravel sweep full of helmeted soldiers in green-grey uniform, their bodies hung with equipment--bags, great-coats, rolled-up blankets, trench spades, cartridge bandoliers. vivie jumped down quickly, said to her mother in a low firm voice: "leave everything to me. say as little as possible." then to the farmer: "nous vous remercions infiniment. vous aurez mille choses à faire chez vous, je n'en doute. nous réglerons notre compte tout-à l'heure.... pour le moment, adieu." she clutched the handbags of valuables, slung them somehow on her left arm, while with her other she piloted the nearly swooning mrs. warren into the court. they were at once stopped by a non-commissioned officer who asked them in abrupt, scarcely understandable german what they wanted. vivie guessing his meaning said in english--she scarcely knew any german: "this is our house. we have been absent in brussels. we want to see the officer in command." the soldier knew no english, but likewise guessed at their meaning. he ordered them to wait where they were. presently he came out of the villa and said the herr oberst would see them. vivie led her mother into the gay little hall--how pleasant and cool it had looked in the early morning! it was now full of surly-looking soldiers. without hesitating she took a chair from one soldier and placed her mother in it. "you rest there a moment, dearest, while i go in and see the officer in command." the corporal she had first spoken with beckoned her into the pretty sitting-room at the back where they had had their early breakfast that morning. here she saw seated at a table consulting plans of brussels and other papers a tall, handsome man of early middle age, who might indeed have passed for a young man, had he not looked very tired and care-worn and exhibited a bald patch at the back of his head, rendered the more apparent because the brown-gold curls round it were dank with perspiration. he rose to his feet, clicked his heels together and saluted. "an english young lady, i am told, rather ... a ... surprise ... on ... the ... outskirts ... of brussels..." (his english was excellent, if rather staccato and spaced.) "it ... is ... not ... usual ... for ... englishwomen ... to ... be owners ... of chateaux ... in belgium. but i ... hear ... it ... is ... your mother ... who is the owner ... from long time, and you are her daughter newly arrived from england? nicht wahr? sie verstehen nicht deutsch, gnädiges fraulein?" "no," said vivie, "i don't speak much german, and fortunately you speak such perfect english that it is not necessary." "i have stayed some time in england," was the reply; "i was once military attaché in london. both your voice and your face seem--what should one say? familiar to me. are you of london?" "yes, i suppose i may say i am a londoner, though i believe i was born in brussels. but i don't want to beat about the bush: there is so much to be said and explained, and all this time i am very anxious about my mother. she is in the hall outside--feels a little faint i think with shock--might she--might i?"-- "but my dear miss--?" "miss warren--" "my dear miss warren, of course. we are enemies--pour le moment--but we germans are not monsters. ("what about those peasants' stories?" said vivie to herself.) your lady mother must come in here and take that fauteuil. then we can talk better at our ease." vivie got up and brought her mother in. "now you shall tell me everything--is it not so? better to be quite frank. À la guerre comme à la guerre. first, you are english?" "yes. my mother is mrs. warren, i am her daughter, vivien warren. my mother has lived many years in belgium, though also in other places, in germany, austria and france. of late, however, she has lived entirely here. this place belongs to her." "and you?" "i? i have just been released from prison in london, holloway prison..." "my dear young lady! you are surely joking--what do you say? you pull my leg? but no; i see! you have been suffragette. aha! _i_ understand you are _the_ miss warren, the miss warren who make the english government afraid, nicht wahr? you set fire to houses of parliament..." _vivie_ (interrupting): "no, no! only to some racing stables..." _oberst_: "i understand. but you are rebel?" _vivie_: "i hate the present british government--the most hypocritical, the most..." _oberst_: "but we are in agreement, you and i! this is splendid. but now we must be praktisch. we are at war, though we hope here for a peaceful occupation of belgium. you will see how the flämisch--ah, you say the fleming?--the flemish part of belgium will receive us with such pleasure. it is only with the wälsch, the wallon part we disagree.... but there is so much for me to do--we must talk of all these things some other time. let us begin our business. i must first introduce myself. i am oberst gottlieb von giesselin of the saxon army. (he rose, clicked heels, bowed, and sat down.) i see you have three heavy bags you look at often. what is it?" _vivie_ (taking courage): "it is my mother's jewellery and some plate. she fears--" _von g._: "i understand! we have a dr-r-eadful reputation, we poor germans! the french stuff you up with lies. but we are better than you think. you shall take them in two--three days to brussels when things are quiet, and put them in some bank. here i fear i must stay. i must intrude myself on your hospitality. but better for you perhaps if i stay here at present. i will put a few of my men in your--your--buildings. most of them shall go with their officers to tervueren for billet." (turning to mrs. warren.) "madam, you must cheer up. i foresee your daughter and i will be great friends. let us now look through the rooms and see what disposition we can make. i think i will have to take this room for my writing, for my work. i see you have telephone here. _gut_!" leaving mrs. warren still seated, but a little less stertorous in breathing, a little reassured, vivie and oberst von giesselin then went over the villa, apportioning the rooms. the colonel and his orderly would be lodged in two of the bedrooms. vivie and her mother would share mrs. warren's large bedroom and retain the salon for their exclusive occupation. they would use the dining-room in common with their guest. vivie looking out of the windows occasionally, as they passed from room to room, saw the remainder of the soldiery strolling off to be lodged at their nearest neighbour's, the farmer who had driven them in to brussels that morning. there were perhaps thirty, accompanying a young lieutenant. how would he find room for them, poor man? they were more fortunate in being asked only to lodge six or seven in addition to the colonel's orderly and soldier-clerk. before sunset, the villa beau-séjour was clear of soldiers, except the few that had gone to the barn and the outhouses. the morning room had been fitted up with a typewriter at which the military clerk sat tapping. the colonel's personal luggage had been placed in his bedroom. a soldier was even sweeping up all traces of the invasion of armed men and making everything tidy. it all seemed like a horrid dream that was going to end up happily after all. presently vivie would wake up completely and there would even be no oberst, no orderly; only the peaceful life of the farm that was going on yesterday. here a sound of angry voices interrupted her musings. the cows returning by themselves from the pasture were being intercepted by soldiers who were trying to secure them. vivie in her indignation ran out and ordered the soldiers off, in english. to her surprise they obeyed silently, but as they sauntered away to their quarters she was saddened at seeing them carrying the bodies of most of the turkeys and fowls and even the corpse of the poor tailless peacock. they had waited for sundown to rob the hen-roosts. very much disillusioned she ran to the morning room and burst in on the colonel's dictation to his clerk. "excuse me, but if you don't keep your soldiers in better order you will have very little to eat whilst you are here. they are killing and carrying off all our poultry." the colonel flushed a little at the peremptory way in which she spoke, but without replying went out and shouted a lot of orders in german. his orderly summoned soldiers from the barn and together they drove the cows into the cow-sheds. all the flemish servants having disappeared in a panic, the germans had to milk the cows that evening; and vivie, assisted by the orderly, cooked the evening meal in the kitchen. he was, like his colonel, a saxon, a pleasant-featured, domesticated man, who explained civilly in the thuringian dialect--though to vivie there could be no discrimination between varieties of high german--that the sachsen folk were "eines gütes leute" and that all would go smoothly in time. nevertheless the next morning when she could take stock she found nearly all the poultry except the pigeons had disappeared; and most of the apples, ripe and unripe, had vanished from the orchard trees. the female servants of the farm, however, came back; and finding no violence was offered took up their work again. two days afterwards, von giesselin sent vivie into brussels in his motor, with his orderly to escort her, so that she might deposit her valuables at a bank. she found brussels, suburbs and city alike, swarming with grey-uniformed soldiers, most of whom looked tired and despondent. those who were on the march, thinking vivie must be the wife of some german officer of high rank, struck up a dismal chant from dry throats with a refrain of "gloria, viktoria, hoch! deutschland, hoch!" at the bank the belgian officials received her with deference. apart from being the daughter of the well-to-do mrs. warren, she was english, and seemed to impose respect even on the germans. they took over her valuables, made out a receipt, and cashed a fairly large cheque in ready money. vivie then ventured to ask the bank clerk who had seen to her business if he had any news. looking cautiously round, he said the rumours going through the town were that the queen of holland, enraged that her prince consort should have facilitated the crossing of limburg by german armies, had shot him dead with a revolver; that the crown prince of germany, despairing of a successful end of the war, had committed suicide at his father's feet; that the american consul general in brussels--to whom, by the bye, vivie ought to report herself and her mother, in order to come under his protection--had notified general sixt von arnim, commanding the army in brussels, that, _unless he vacated the belgian capital immediately_, england would bombard hamburg and the united states would declare war on the kaiser. alluring stories like these flitted through despairing brussels during the first two months of german occupation, though vivie, in her solitude at tervueren, seldom heard them. after her business at the bank she walked about the town. no one took any notice of her or annoyed her in any way. the restaurants seemed crowded with belgians as well as germans, and the belgians did not seem to have lost their appetites. the palace hotel had become a german officers' club. on all the public buildings the german imperial flag hung alongside the belgian. only a few of the trams were running. yet you could still buy, without much difficulty at the kiosques, belgian and even french and british newspapers. from these she gathered that the german forces were in imminent peril between the belgian antwerp army on the north and the british army advancing from the south; and that in the plains of alsace the french had given the first public exhibition of the new "turpin" explosive. the results had been _foudroyant_ ... and simple. complete regiments of german soldiers had been destroyed in _one minute_. it seemed curious, she thought, that with such an arm as this the french command did not at once come irresistibly to the rescue of brussels.... however, it was four o'clock, and there was her friend the enemy's automobile drawn up outside the bank, awaiting her. she got in, and the soldier chauffeur whirled her away to the villa beau-séjour, beyond tervueren. on her return she found her mother prostrate with bad news. their nearest neighbour, farmer oudekens who had driven them into brussels the preceding day had been executed in his own orchard only an hour ago. it seemed that the lieutenant in charge of the soldiers billeted there had disappeared in the night, leaving his uniform and watch and chain behind him. the farmer's story was that in the night the lieutenant had appeared in his room with a revolver and had threatened to shoot him unless he produced a suit of civilian clothes. thus coerced he had given him his eldest son's sunday clothes left behind when the said son went off to join the belgian army. the lieutenant, grateful for the assistance, had given him as a present his watch and chain. on the other hand the german non-commissioned officers insisted their lieutenant had been made away with in the night. the farmer's allegation that he had deserted (as in fact he had) only enhanced his crime. the finding of the court after a very summary trial was "guilty," and despite the frantic appeals of the wife, reinforced later on by mrs. warren, the farmer had been taken out and shot. the evening meal consequently was one of strained relations. colonel von giesselin came to supper punctually and was very spruce in appearance. but he was gravely polite and uncommunicative. and after dessert the two ladies asked permission to retire. they lay long awake afterwards, debating in whispers what terror might be in store for them. mrs. warren cried a good deal and lamented futilely her indolent languor of a few days previously. _why_ had she not, while there was yet time, cleared out of brussels, gone to holland, and thence regained england with vivie, and from england the south of france? vivie, more stoical, pointed out it was no use crying over lost opportunities. here they were, and they must sharpen their wits to get away at the first opportunity. perhaps the american consul might help them? the next morning, however, their guest, who had insensibly turned host, told vivie the tram service to brussels, like the train service, was suspended indefinitely, and that he feared they must resign themselves to staying where they were. under his protection they had nothing to fear. he was sorry the soldiers had helped themselves so freely to the livestock; but everything had now settled down. henceforth they would be sure of something to eat, as he himself had got to be fed. and all he asked of them was their agreeable society. two months went by of this strange life. two months, in which vivie only saw german newspapers--which she read with the aid of von giesselin. their contents filled her with despair. they made very little of the marne rebuff, much of the capture of antwerp and ostende, and the occupation of all belgium (as they put it). vivie noted that the german emperor's heart had bled for the punishment inflicted on louvain. (she wondered how that strange personality, her father, had fared in the destruction of monastic buildings.) but she had then no true idea of what had taken place, and the far-reaching harm this crime had done to the german reputation. she noted that the german press expressed disappointment that the cause of germany, the crusade against albion, had received no support from the irish nationalists, or from the "revolting" women, the suffragettes, who had been so cruelly maltreated by the administration of asquith and sir grey. this point was discussed by the colonel, but vivie found herself speaking as a patriot. how _could_ the germans expect british women to turn against their own country in its hour of danger? "then you would not," said von giesselin, "consent to write some letters to your friends, if i said i could have them sent safely to their destination?--only letters," he added hastily, seeing her nostrils quiver and a look come into her eyes--"to ask your suffrage friends to bring pressure to bear on their government to bring this d-r-r-eadful war to a just peace. that is all we ask." but vivie said "with all her own private grudge against the present ministry she felt _au fond_ she was _british_; she must range herself in time of war with her own people." mrs. warren went much farther. she was not very voluble nowadays. the german occupation of her villa had given her a mental and physical shock from which she never recovered. she often sat quite silent and rather huddled at meal times and looked the old woman now. in such a conversation as this she roused herself and her voice took an aggressive tone. "my daughter write to her friends to ask them to obstruct the government at such a time as this? _never!_ i'd disown her if she did, i'd repudiate her! she may have had her own turn-up with 'em. i was quite with her there. but that, so to speak, was only a domestic quarrel. we're british all through, and don't you forget it--sir--(she added deprecatingly): british _all through_ and we're goin' to beat germany yet, _you'll_ see. the british navy never _has_ been licked nor won't be, this time." colonel von giesselin did not insist. he seemed depressed himself at times, and far from elated at the victories announced in his own newspapers. he would in the dreary autumn evenings show them the photographs of his wife--a sweet-looking woman--and his two solid-looking, handsome children, and talk with rapture of his home life. why, indeed, was there this war! his heart like his emperor's bled for these unhappy belgians. but it was all due to the macchiavellian policy of "sir grey and asquiss." if germany had not felt herself surrounded and barred from all future expansion of trade and influence she would not have felt forced to attack france and invade belgium. why, see! all the time they were talking, barbarous russia, egged on by england, was ravaging east prussia! then, in other moods, he would lament the war and the policy of prussia. how he had loved england in the days when he was military attaché there. he had once wanted to marry an englishwoman, a miss fraser, a so handsome daughter of a court physician. "why, that must have been honoria, my former partner," said vivie, finding an intense joy in this link of memory. and she told much of her history to the sentimental colonel, who was conceiving for her a sincere friendship and camaraderie. they opened up other veins of memory, talked of lady feenix, of the musical parties at the parrys, of emily daymond's playing, of this, that and the other hostess, of such-and-such an actress or singer. the colonel of course was often absent all day on military duties. he advised vivie strongly on such occasions not to go far from mrs. warren's little domain. "i am obliged to remind you, dear young lady, that you and your mother are my prisoners in a sense. many bad things are going on--things we cannot help in war--outside this quiet place..." in november, however, there was a change of scene, which in many ways came to vivie and her mother with a sense of great relief. colonel von giesselin told them one morning he had been appointed secretary to the german governor of brussels, and must reside in the town not far from the rue de la loi. he proposed that the ladies should move into brussels likewise; in fact he delicately insisted on it. their pleasant relations could thus continue--perhaps--who knows?--to the end of this war, "to that peace which will make us friends once more?" it would in any case be most unsafe if, without his protection, they continued to reside at this secluded farm, on the edge of the great woods. in fact it could not be thought of, and another officer was coming here in his place with a considerable suite. eventually compensation would be paid to mrs. warren for any damage done to her property. the two women readily agreed. in the curtailment of their movements and the absence of normal means of communication their life at villa beau-séjour was belying its name. their supply of money was coming to an end; attempts must be made to regularize that position by drawing on mrs. warren's german investments and the capital she still had in belgian stock--if that were negotiable at all. where should they go? mrs. warren still had some lien on the hotel Édouard-sept (the name, out of deference to the germans, had been changed to hotel impérial). with the influence of the government secretary behind her she might turn out some of its occupants and regain the use of the old "appartement." this would accommodate vivie too. and there was no reason why their friend should not place his own lodging and office at the same hotel, which was situated conveniently on the rue royale not far from the governor's residence in the rue de la loi. so this plan was carried out. and in december, , mrs. warren had some brief flicker of happiness once more, and even vivie felt the nightmare had lifted a little. it was life again. residence at the villa beau-séjour had almost seemed an entombment of the living. here, in the heart of brussels, at any rate, you got some news every day, even if much of it was false. the food supply was more certain, there were , people all about you. true, the streets were very badly lit at night and fuel was scarce and dear. but you were in contact with people. in january, vivie tried to get into touch with the american legation, not only to send news of their condition to england but to ascertain whether permission might not be obtained for them to leave belgium for holland. but this last plea was said by the american representative to be unsustainable. for various reasons, the german government would not permit it, and he was afraid neither vivie nor her mother would get enough backing from the british authorities to strengthen the american demand. she must stop on in brussels till the war came to an end. "but how are we to live?" asked vivie, with a catch in her throat. "our supply of belgian money is coming to an end. my mother has considerable funds invested in england. these she can't touch. she has other sums in german securities, but soon after the war they stopped sending her the interest on the plea that she was an 'enemy.' as to the money we have in belgium, the bank in brussels can tell me nothing. what are we to do?" the rather cold-mannered american diplomatist--it was one of the secretaries of legation and he knew all about mrs. warren's past, and regarded vivie as an outlaw--said he would try to communicate with her friends in england and see if through the american relief organization, funds could be transmitted for their maintenance. she gave him the addresses of rossiter, praed, and her mother's london bankers. vivie now tried to settle down to a life of usefulness. to increase their resources she gave lessons in english to belgians and even to german officers. she offered herself to various groups of belgian ladies who had taken up such charities as the germans permitted. she also asked to be taken on as a red cross helper. but in all these directions she had many snubs to meet and little encouragement. scandal had been busy with her name--the unhappy reputation of her mother, the peculiar circumstances under which she had left england, the two or three months shut up at tervueren with colonel von giesselin, and the very protection he now accorded her and her mother at the hotel impérial. she felt herself looked upon almost as a pariah, except among the poor of brussels in the quartier des marolles. here she was only regarded as a kind englishwoman, unwearied in her efforts to alleviate suffering, mental and bodily. and meantime, silence, a wall of silence as regarded england--england which she was beginning to look upon as the paradise from which she had been chased. not a word had come through from rossiter, from honoria, bertie adams, or any of her suffrage friends. i can supply briefly what she did not know. rossiter at the very outbreak of war had offered his services as one deeply versed in anatomy and in physiology to the army medical service, and especially to a great person at the war office; but had been told quite cavalierly that they had no need of him. as he persisted, he had been asked--in the hope that it might get rid of him--to go over to the united states in company with a writer of comic stories, a retired actor and a music-hall singer, and lecture on the causes of the war in the hope of bringing america in. this he had declined to do, and being rich and happening to know personally general armstrong (honoria's husband) he had been allowed to accompany him to the vicinity of the front and there put his theories of grafting flesh and bone to the test; with the ultimate results that his work became of enormous beneficial importance and he was given rank in the r.a.m.c. honoria, racked with anxiety about her dear "army," and very sad as to vivie's disappearance, slaved at war work as much as her children's demands on her permitted; or even put her children on one side to help the sick and wounded. vivie's suffrage friends forgot she had ever existed and turned their attention to propaganda, to recruiting for the voluntary army which our ministers still hoped might suffice to win the war, to the making of munitions, or aeroplane parts, to land work and to any other work which might help their country in its need. and bertie adams? when he realized that his beloved and revered miss warren was shut off from escape in belgium, could not be heard of, could not be got at and rescued, he went nearly off his nut.... he reviewed during a succession of sleepless nights what course he might best pursue. his age was about thirty-two. he might of course enlist in the army. but though very patriotic, his allegiance lay first at the feet of vivie warren. if he entered the army, he might be sent anywhere but to the belgian frontier; and even if he got near belgium he could not dart off to rescue vivie without becoming a deserter. so he came speedily to the conclusion that the most promising career he could adopt, having regard to his position in life and lack of resources, was to volunteer for foreign service under the y.m.c.a., and express the strongest possible wish to be employed as near belgium as was practicable. so that by the end of september, , bertie was serving out cocoa and biscuits, writing paper and cigarettes, hot coffee and sausages and cups of bovril to exhausted or resting soldiers in the huts of the y.m.c.a., near ypres. alternating with these services, he was, like other y.m.c.a. men in the same district and at the same time, acting as stretcher bearer to bring in the wounded, as amateur chaplain with the dying, as amateur surgeon with the wounded, as secretary to some distraught officer in high command whose clerks had all been killed; and in any other capacity if called upon. but always with the stedfast hope and purpose that he might somehow reach and rescue vivie warren. chapter xvii the germans in brussels: - in the early spring of , vivie, anxious not to see her mother in utter penury, and despairing of any effective assistance from the americans (very much prejudiced against her for the reasons already mentioned), took her mother's german and belgian securities of a face value amounting to about £ , and sold them at her belgian bank for a hundred thousand francs (£ , ) in belgian or german bank notes. she consulted no one, except her mother. who was there to consult? she did not like to confide too much to colonel von giesselin, a little too prone in any case to "protect" them. but as she argued with mrs. warren, what else were they to do in their cruel situation? if the allies were eventually victorious, mrs. warren could return to england. there at least she had in safe investments £ , , ample for the remainder of their lives. if germany lost the war, the german securities nominally worth two hundred thousand marks might become simply waste paper; even now they were only computed by the bank at a purchase value of about one fifth what they had stood at before the war. if germany were victorious or agreed to a compromise peace, her mother's shares in belgian companies might be unsaleable. better to secure now a lump sum of four thousand pounds in bank notes that would be legal currency, at any rate as long as the german occupation lasted. and as one never knew what might happen, it was safer still to have all this money (equivalent to a hundred thousand francs), in their own keeping. they could live even in war time, on such a sum as this for four, perhaps five years, as they would be very economical and vivie would try to earn all she could by teaching. it was useless to hope they would be able to return to villa beau-séjour so long as the german occupation lasted, or during that time receive a penny in compensation for the sequestration of the property. the notes for the hundred thousand francs therefore were carefully concealed in mrs. warren's bedroom at the hotel impérial and vivie for a few months afterwards felt slightly easier in her mind as to the immediate future; for, as a further resource, there were also the jewels and plate at the bank. they dared hope for nothing from villa beau-séjour. von giesselin, after more entreaty than vivie cared to make, had allowed them with a special pass and his orderly as escort to go in a military motor to the villa in the month of april in order that they might bring away the rest of their clothes and personal effects of an easily transportable nature. but the visit was a heart-breaking disappointment. their reception was surly; the place was little else than a barrack of disorderly soldiers and insolent officers. any search for clothes or books was a mockery. nothing was to be found in the chests of drawers that belonged to them; only stale food and unnameable horrors or military equipment articles. the garden was trampled out of recognition. there had been a beautiful vine in the greenhouse. it was still there, but the first foliage of spring hung withered and russet coloured. the soldiers, grinning when vivie noticed this, pointed to the base of the far spreading branches. it had been sawn through, and much of the glass of the greenhouse deliberately smashed. on their way back, mrs. warren, who was constantly in tears, descried waiting by the side of the road the widow of their farmer-neighbour, madame oudekens. she asked the orderly that they might stop and greet her. she approached. mrs. warren got out of the car so that she might more privately talk to her in flemish. since her husband's execution, the woman said, she had had to become the mistress of the sergeant-major who resided with her as the only means, seemingly, of saving her one remaining young son from exile in germany and her daughters from unbearably brutal treatment; though she added, "as to their virtue, _that_ has long since vanished; all i ask is that they be not half-killed whenever the soldiers get drunk. oh madame! if you could only say a word to that colonel with whom you are living?" mrs. warren dared not translate this last sentence to vivie, for fear her daughter forced her at all costs to leave the hotel impérial. where, if she did, were they to go? the winter of had witnessed an appalling degree of frightfulness in eastern belgium, the wallon or french-speaking part of the country more especially. the germans seemed to bear a special grudge against this region, regarding it as doggedly opposed to absorption into a greater germany; whereas they hoped the flemish half of the country would receive them as fellow teutons and even as deliverers from their former french oppressors. thousands of old men and youths, of women and children in the provinces south of the meuse had been shot in cold blood; village after village had been burnt. scenes of nearly equal horror had taken place between brussels and antwerp, especially around malines. von bissing's arrival as governor general was soon signalized by those dreaded red placards on the walls of brussels, announcing the verdicts of courts-martial, the condemnation to death of men and women who had contravened some military regulation. yet in spite of this, life went on in brussels once more--by von bissing's stern command--as though the country were not under the heel of the invader. the theatres opened their doors; the cinemas had continuous performances; there was grand opera; there were exhibitions of toys, or pictures, and charitable bazaars. ten days after the fall of antwerp _char-à-bancs_ packed with belgians drove out of brussels to visit the scenes of the battles and those shattered forts, so fatuously deemed impregnable, so feeble in their resistance to german artillery. vivie, even had she wished to do so, could not have joined the sight-seers. as the subjects of an enemy power she and her mother had had early in january to register themselves at the kommandantur and were there warned that without a special passport they might not pass beyond the limits of brussels and its suburbs. except in the matter of the farewell visit to the farm at tervueren, vivie was reluctant to ask for any such favour from von giesselin, though she was curious to see the condition of louvain and to ascertain whether her father still inhabited the monastic house of his order--she had an idea that he was away in germany in connection with his schemes for raising the irish against the british government. von giesselin however was becoming sentimentally inclined towards her and she saw no more of him than was necessary to maintain polite relations. frau von giesselin, for various reasons of health or children, could not join him at brussels as so many german wives had done with other of the high functionaries (to the great embitterment of brussels society); and there were times when von giesselin's protestations of his loneliness alarmed her. the king of saxony had paid a visit to brussels in the late autumn of and had invited this colonel of his army to a fastuous banquet given at the palace hotel. the king--whom the still defiant brussels press, especially that unkillable _la libre belgique_, reminded ironically of his domestic infelicity, by enquiring whether he had brought signor toselli to conduct his orchestra--was gratified that a subject of his should be performing the important duties of secretary to the brussels government, and his notice of von giesselin gave the latter considerable prestige, for a time; an influence which he certainly exercised as far as he was able in softening the edicts and the intolerable desire to annoy and exasperate on the part of the prussian governors of province and kingdom. he even interceded at times for unfortunate british or french subjects, stranded in brussels, and sometimes asked vivie about fellow-countrymen who sought this intervention. this caused her complicated annoyances. seeing there was some hope in interesting her in their cases, these english governesses, tutors, clerks, tailors' assistants and cutters, music-hall singers, grooms appealed to vivie to support their petitions. they paid her or her mother a kind of base court, on the tacit assumption that she--vivie--had placed colonel von giesselin under special obligations. if in rare instances, out of sheer pity, she took up a case and von giesselin granted the petition or had it done in a higher quarter, his action was clearly a personal favour to her; and the very petitioners went away, with the ingratitude common in such cases, and spread the news of vivie's privileged position at the hotel impérial. it was not surprising therefore that in the small circles of influential british or american people in brussels she was viewed with suspicion or contempt. she supported this odious position at the hotel impérial as long as possible, in the hope that colonel von giesselin when he had realized the impossibility of using herself or her mother in any kind of intrigue against the british government would do what the american consul general professed himself unable or unwilling to do: obtain for them passports to proceed to holland. von giesselin, from december, , took up among other duties that of press censor and officer in charge of publicity. after the occupation of brussels and the fall of antwerp, the "patriotic" belgian press had withdrawn itself to france and england or had stopped publication. its newspapers had been invited to continue their functions as organs of news-distribution and public opinion, but of course under the german censorate and martial law. as one editor said to a polite german official: "if i were to continue the publication of my paper under such conditions, my staff and i would all be shot in a week." but the large towns of belgium could not be left without a press. public opinion must be guided, and might very well be guided in a direction favourable to german policy. the german government had already introduced the german hour into belgian time, the german coinage, the german police system, and german music; but it had no intention, seemingly, of forcing the german speech on the old dominions of the house of burgundy. on the contrary, in their tenure of belgium or of north-east france, the germans seemed desirous of showing how well they wrote the french language, how ready they were under a german regime to give it a new literature. whether or not they enlisted a few recreants, or made use of alsatians or lorrainers to help them, it is never-the-less remarkable how free as a rule their written and printed french was from mistakes or german idioms; though their spoken french always remained alsatian. it suffered from that extraordinary misplacement and exchange in the upper and lower consonants which has distinguished the german people--that nation of great philologists--since the death of the roman empire. german officers still said "barton, die fous brie," instead of "pardon, je vous prie" (if they were polite), but they were quite able to contribute _articles de fond_ to a pretended national belgian press. besides there was a sufficiency of belgian "sans-patries" ready to come to their assistance: belgian nationals of german-jewish or dutch-jewish descent, who in the present generation had become catholic christians as it ranged them with the best people. they were worthy and wealthy belgian citizens, but presumably would not have deeply regretted a change in the political destinies of belgium, provided international finance was not adversely affected. there were also a few belgian socialists--a few, but enough--who took posts under the german provisional government, on the plea that until you could be purely socialistic it did not matter under what flag you drew your salary. von giesselin was most benevolently intentioned, in reality a kind-hearted man, a sentimentalist. not quite prepared to go to the stake himself in place of any other victim of prussian cruelty, but ready to make some effort to soften hardships and reduce sentences. (there were others like him--saxon, thuringian, hanoverian, württembergisch--or the german occupation of belgium might have ended in a vast sicilian vespers, a boiling-over of a maddened people reckless at last of whether they died or not, so long as they slew their oppressors.) he hoped through the pieces played at the theatres and through his censored, subsidized press to bring the belgians round to a reasonable frame of mind, to a toleration of existence under the german empire. but his efforts brought down on him the unsparing ridicule of the parisian-minded bruxellois. they were prompt to detect his attempts to modify the text of french operettas so that these, while delighting the lovers of light music, need not at the same time excite a military spirit or convey the least allusion of an impertinent or contemptuous kind towards the central powers. thus the couplets "dans le service de l'autriche le militaire n'est pas riche" were changed to "dans le service de la suisse le militaire n'est pas riche." these passionate lines of a political exile: "a l'étranger un pacte impie vendait mon sang, liait ma foi, mais à present, o ma patrie je pourrai done mourir pour toi!" were rendered harmless as "a l'étranger, en réverie chaque jour je pleurais sur toi mais à present, o ma patrie je penserai sans cesse à toi!" the pleasure he took in recasting this doggerel--calling in vivie to help him as presumably a good scholar in french--got on her nerves, and she was hard put to it to keep her temper. sometimes he proposed that she should take a hand, even become a salaried subordinate; compose articles for his subsidized paper, "_l'ami de l'ordre_" (nicknamed "l'ami de l'ordure" by the belgians), "_la belgique_," "_le bruxellois_," "_vers la paix_." he would allow her a very free hand, so long as she did not attack the germans or their allies or put in any false news about military or naval successes of the foes of central europe. she might, for instance, dilate on the cruel manner in which the woman suffragists had been persecuted in england; give a description of forcible feeding or of police ferocity on black friday. vivie declined any such propositions. "i have told you already, and often," she said, "i am deeply grateful for all you have done for my mother and me. we might have been in a far more uncomfortable position but for your kindness. but i cannot in any way associate myself with the german policy here. i cannot pretend for a moment to condone what you do in this country. if i were a belgian woman i should probably have been shot long ago for assassinating some prussian official--i can hardly see von bissing pass in his automobile, as it is, without wishing i had a bomb. but there it is. it is no business of mine. as i can't get away, as you won't let us go out of the country--switzerland, holland--and as i don't want to go mad by brooding, find something for me to do that will occupy my thoughts: and yet not implicate me with the germans. can't i go and help every day in your hospitals? if you'll continue your kindness to mother--and believe me"--she broke off--"i _do_ appreciate what you have done for us. i shall _never_ forget i have met _one true german gentleman_--if you'll continue to be as kind as before, you will simply give instructions that mother is in no way disturbed or annoyed. there are germans staying here who are odious beyond belief. if they meet my mother outside her room they ask her insulting questions--whether she can give them the addresses of--of--light women ... you know the sort of thing. i have always been outspoken with you. all i ask is that mother shall be allowed to stay in her own room while i am out, and have her meals served there. but the hotel people are beginning to make a fuss about the trouble, the lack of waiters. a word from you--and then if my mind was at ease about her i could go out and do some good with the poor people. they are getting very restive in the marolles quarter--the shocking bad bread, the lack of fuel--most of all i should like to help in the hospitals. my own countrywomen will not have me in theirs. they suspect me of being a spy in german pay. besides, your von bissing has ordered now that all belgian, british, and french wounded shall be taken to the german red cross. well: if you want to be kind, give me an introduction there. surely it would be bare humanity on your part to let an englishwoman be with some of those poor lads who are sorely wounded, dying perhaps"--she broke down--"the other day i followed two of the motor ambulances along the boulevard d'anspach. blood dripped from them as they passed, and i could hear some english boy trying to sing 'tipperary--'" "my _tear_ miss warren--i will try to do all that you want--you will not do _anything i_ want, but never mind. i will show you that germans can be generous. i will speak about your mother. i am sorry that there are bad-mannered germans in the hotel. there are some--what-you-call 'bounders'--among us, as there are with you. it is to be regretted. as to our red cross hospitals, i know of a person who can make things easy for you. i will write a letter to my cousin--like me she is a saxon and comes from leipzig--minna von stachelberg. she is but a few months widow, widow of a saxon officer, graf von stachelberg who was killed at namur. oh! it was very sad; they were but six months married. afterwards she came here to work in our red cross--i think now she is in charge of a ward..." so vivie found a few months' reprieve from acute sorrow and bitter humiliation. gräfin von stachelberg was as kind in her way as her cousin the colonel, but much less sentimental. in fact she was of that type of new german woman, taken all too little into account by our press at the time of the war. there were many like her of the upper middle class, the professorial class, the lesser nobility to be found not only in leipzig but in berlin, hamburg, frankfort, halle, bonn, münchen, hannover, bremen, jena, stuttgart, cologne--nice to look at, extremely modern in education and good manners, tasteful in dress, speaking english marvellously well, highly accomplished in music or with some other art, advocates of the enfranchisement of women. the war came just too soon. had heaven struck down that epilept emperor and a few of his ministers, had time been given for the new german woman to assert herself in politics, there would have been no invasion of belgium, no maltreatment of servia. germany would have ranged herself with the western powers and western culture. minna von stachelberg read her cousin's note and received the worn and anxious-looking vivie like a sister ... like a comrade, she said, in the war for the vote ... "which we will resume, my dear, as soon as this dreadful man's war is over, only we won't fight with the same weapons." but though kind, she was not gushing and she soon told vivie that in nursing she was a novice and had much to learn. she introduced her to the german and belgian surgeons, and then put her to a series of entirely menial tasks from which she was to work her way up by degrees. but if any english soldier were there and wanted sympathy, she should be called in to his ward ... from that interview vivie returned almost happy. in the hot summer months she would sometimes be allowed to accompany red cross surgeons and nurses to the station, when convoys of wounded were expected, if there was likelihood that british soldiers would be amongst them. these would cheer up at the sound of her pleasant voice speaking their tongue. yet she would witness on such occasions incongruous incidents of german brutality. once there came out of the train an english and a french soldier, great friends evidently. they were only slightly wounded and the english soldier stretched his limbs cautiously to relieve himself of cramp. at that moment a german soldier on leave came up and spat in his face. the frenchman felled the german with a resounding box on the ear. alarums! excursions! a german officer rushed up to enquire while the frenchman was struggling with two colossal german military policemen and the englishman was striving to free him. vivie explained to the officer what had occurred. he bowed and saluted: seized the soldier-spitter by the collar and kicked him so frightfully that vivie had to implore him to cease. moreover the red placards of von bissing were of increasing frequency. as a rule vivie only heard what other people said of them, and that wasn't very much, for german spies were everywhere, inviting you to follow them to the dreaded kommandantur in the rue de la loi--a scene of as much in the way of horror and mental anguish as the conciergerie of paris in the days of the red terror. but some cheek-blanching rumour she had heard on a certain monday in october caused her to look next day on her way home at a fresh red placard which had been posted up in a public place. the daylight had almost faded, but there was a gas lamp which made the notice legible. it ran: condamnations par jugement du octobre, , le tribunal de campagne a prononcé les condamnations suivantes pour trahison commise pendant l'état de guerre (pour avoir fait passer des recrues à l'ennemi): ° philippe baucq, architecte à bruxelles; ° louise thuliez, professeur à lille; ° edith cavell, directrice d'un institut médical à bruxelles; ° louis severin, pharmacien à bruxelles; ° comtesse jeanne de belleville, à montignies. À la peine de mort * * * * * vivie then went on to read with eyes that could hardly take in the words a list of other names of men and women condemned to long terms of hard labour for the same offence--assisting young belgians to leave the belgium that was under german occupation. and further, the information that of the five condemned to death, _philip bauck_ and _edith cavell_ had already been _executed_. * * * * * the monsters! oh that von bissing. how gladly she would die if she might first have the pleasure of killing him! that pompous old man of seventy-one with the blotched face, who had issued orders that wherever he passed in his magnificent motor he was to be saluted with eastern servility, who boasted of his "tender heart," so that he issued placards about this time punishing severely all who split the tongues of finches to make them sing better. edith cavell--she did not pause to consider the fate of patriotic belgian women--but edith cavell, directress of a nursing home in brussels, known far and wide for her goodness of heart. she had held aloof from vivie, but was that to be wondered at when there was so much to make her suspect--living, seemingly, under the protection of a german official? but the very german nurses and doctors at the red cross hospital had spoken of her having given free treatment in her home to germans who needed immediate operations, and for whom there was no room in the military hospitals--and for such a trivial offence as _that_--and to kill her before there could be any appeal for reconsideration or clemency. oh _what_ a nation! she would tend their sick and wounded no more. she hurried on up the ascent of the boulevard of the botanic garden on her way to the rue royale. she burst into von giesselin's office. he was not there. a clerk looking at her rather closely said that the herr oberst was packing, was going away. vivie scarcely took in the meaning of his german phrases. she waited there, her eyes ablaze, feeling she must tell her former friend and protector what she thought of his people before she renounced any further relations with him. presently he entered, his usually rather florid face pale with intense sorrow or worry, his manner preoccupied. she burst out: "_have_ you seen the red placard they have just put up?" "what about?" he said wearily. "the assassination by your government of edith cavell, a crime for which england--yes, and america--will _never_ forgive you.... from this moment i--" "but have you not heard what has happened to _me_? i am _dismissed_ from my post as secretary, i am ordered to rejoin my regiment in lorraine--it is very sad about your miss cavell. i knew nothing of it till this morning when i received my own dismissal--and _oh_ my dear miss, i fear we shall never meet again." "why are they sending you away?" asked vivie drily, compelled to interest herself in his affairs since they so closely affected her own and her mother's. "because of this," said von giesselin, nearly in tears, pulling from a small portfolio a press cutting. "do you remember a fortnight ago i told you some one, some belgian had written a beautiful poem and sent it to me for one of our newspapers? i showed it to you at the time and you said--you said 'it was well enough, but it did not seem to have much point.'" vivie did remember having glanced very perfunctorily at some effusion in typewriting which had seemed unobjectionable piffle. she hadn't cared two straws whether he accepted it or not, only did not want to be too markedly indifferent. now she took it up and still read it through uncomprehendingly, her thoughts absent with the fate of miss cavell. "well! what is all the fuss about? i still see nothing in it. it is just simply the ordinary sentimental flip-flap that a french versifier can turn out by the yard." "it is _far_ worse than that! it is a horrible--what the french call 'acrostiche,' a deadly insult to our people. and i never saw it, the editor never saw it, and you, even, never guessed its real meaning![ ] the original, as you say, was in typewriting, and at the bottom was the name and address of a very well-known homme de lettres: and the words: 'offert à la rédaction de l'ami de l'ordre.' he say now, _never never_ did he send it. it was a forgery. when we came to understand what it meant all the blame fall on me. i am sent back to the army--i shall be killed before verdun, so good-bye dear miss--we have been good friends. oh this war: this d-r-r-eadful war--it has spoilt everything. now we can never be friends with england again." [footnote : i have obtained a copy and give it here as it had an almost historical importance in the events of the german occupation. but the reader must interpret its meaning for himself. la guerre ma soeur, vous souvient-il qu'aux jours de notre enfance, en lisant les hauts fails de l'histoire de france, remplis d'admiration pour nos frères gaulois, des généraux fameux nous vantions les exploits? en nos âmes d'enfants, les seuls noms des victoires prenaient un sens mystique evocateur de gloires; on ne rêvait qu'assauts et combats; a nos yeux un général vainqueur etait l'égal des dieux. rien ne semblait ternir l'éclat de ces conquétes. les batailles prenaient des allures de fêtes et nous ne songions pas qu'aux hurrahs triomphants se mêlaient les sanglots des mères, des enfants. ah! nous la connaissons, hélas, l'horrible guerre: le fléau qui punit les crimes de la terre, le mot qui fait trembler les mères à genoux et qui seme le deuil et la mort parmi nous! mais ou sqnt les lauriers que réserve l'histoire a celui qui demain forcera la victoire? nul ne les cueillira: les lauriers sont flétris seul un cypres s'élève aux torubes de nos fils.] he gave way to much emotion. vivie, though still dazed with the reverberating horror of edith cavell's execution, tried to regain her mind balance and thank him for the kindness he had shown them. but it was now necessary to see her mother who might also be undergoing a shock. as she walked up to their bedroom she reflected that the departure of von giesselin would have to be followed by their own exile to some other lodging. they would share in his disgrace. the next morning in fact the belgian manager of the hotel with many regrets gave them a month's warning. the hotel would be required for some undefined need of the german government and he had been told no one could be lodged there who was not furnished with a permit from the kommandantur. for three weeks vivie sought in vain for rooms. every suitable place was either full or else for reasons not given they were refused. she was reduced to eating humble pie, to writing once more to gräfin von stachelberg and imparting the dilemma in which they were placed. did this kind lady know where a lodging could be obtained? she herself could put up with any discomfort, but her mother was ill. if she could help them, vivie would humbly beg her pardon for her angry letter of three weeks ago and resume her hospital work. minna von stachelberg made haste to reply that there were some things better not discussed in writing: if vivie could come and see her at six one evening, when she had a slight remission from work-- vivie went. out of hearing, gräfin von stachelberg--who, however, to facilitate intercourse, begged vivie to call her "minna,"--"we may all be dead, my dear, before long of blood-poisoning, bombs from your aeroplanes, a rising against us in the marolles quarter--" said very plainly what she thought of edith cavell's execution. "it makes me think of talleyrand--was it not?--who said 'it is a blunder; worse than a crime' ... these terrible old generals, they know nothing of the world outside germany." as to her cousin, gottlieb von giesselin--"really dear, if in this time of horrors one _dare_ laugh at anything, i feel--oh it is too funny, but also, too 'schokking,' as we suppose all english women say. yet of course i am sad about him, because he is a good, kind man, and i know his wife will be very very unhappy when she hears--and it means he will die, for certain. he must risk his life to--to--regain his position, and he will be shot before verdun in one of those dreadful assaults." then she told vivie where she might find rooms, where at any rate she could use her name as a reference. also: "stay away at present and look after your mother. when she is quite comfortably settled, come back and work with me--here--it is at any rate the only way in which you can see and help your countrymen." one day in november when their notice at the hotel was nearly expired, vivie proposed an expedition to her mother. they would walk slowly--because mrs. warren now got easily out of breath--up to the jardin bontanique; vivie would leave her there in the palm house. it was warm; it was little frequented; there were seats and the belgians in charge knew mrs. warren of old time. vivie would then go on along the inner boulevards by tram and look at some rooms recommended by minna von stachelberg in the quartier st. gilles. mrs. warren did as she was told. vivie left her seated in one of the long series of glass houses overlooking brussels from a terrace, wherein are assembled many glories of the tropics: palms, dracaenas, yuccas, aloes, tree-ferns, cycads, screw-pines, and bananas: promising to be back in an hour's time. somehow as she sat there it seemed to mrs. warren it was going for her to be the last hour of fully conscious life--fully conscious and yet a curious mingling in it of the past and present. she had sat here in the middle of the 'seventies with vivie's father, the young irish seminarist, her lover for six months. he had a vague interest in botany, and during his convalescence after his typhoid fever, when she was still his nurse, not yet his mistress, she used to bring him here to rest and to enjoy the aspect of these ferns and palms. what a strange variety of men she had known. some she had loved, more or less; some she had exploited frankly. some--like george crofts and baxendale strangeways--she had feared, though in her manner she had tried to conceal her dread of their violence. well! she had taken a lot of money off the rich, but she had never plundered the poor. her greatest conquest--and that when she was a woman of forty--was the monarch of this very country which now lay crushed under the kaiser's heel. for a few months he had taken a whimsical liking to her handsome face, well-preserved figure, and amusing cockney talk. but he had employed her rather as the mistress of his menus plaisirs, as his recruiting agent. he had rewarded her handsomely. now it was all in the dust: her beautiful villa beau-séjour a befouled barrack for german soldiers. she herself a homeless woman, repudiated by the respectable british and americans more or less interned in this unhappy city. not much more than a year ago she had been one of the most respected persons in brussels, with a large income derived from safe investments. now all she had for certain was something over three thousand pounds in bank notes that might turn out next month to be worthless paper. and was she certain even of them? had vivie before they left the hotel remembered to put some, at least, of this precious sum on her person? suppose, whilst they were out, looking for a fresh dwelling place, the hotel servants or the police raided her bedroom and found the little hoard of notes? this imagined danger made her want to cry. they were so friendless now, she in particular felt so completely deserted. had she deserved this punishment by fate? was there after all a god who minded much about the sex foolishnesses and punished you for irregularities--for having lovers in your youth, for selling your virtue and inducing other women to sell theirs? was she going to die soon and was there a hereafter?' she burst out crying in an abandonment of grief. an elderly gardener who had been snipping and sweeping in the next house came up and vaguely recognized her as a well-known bruxelloise, a good-natured lady, a foreigner who, strange to say, spoke flemish. "ach," he said, looking out where he thought lay the source of her tears, at the dim view of beautiful brussels through the steamy glass, "onze arme, oude brüssel." mrs. warren wept unrestrainedly. "madame is ill?" he enquired. mrs. warren nodded--she felt indeed very ill and giddy. he left her and returned shortly with a small glass of schnapps. "if madame is faint--?" she sipped the cordial and presently felt better. then they talked of old times. madame had kept the hotel leopold ii in the rue royale? ah, _now_ he placed her. a _superb_ establishment, always well-spoken of. her self-respect returned a little. "yes," she said, "never a complaint! i looked after those girls like a mother, indeed i did. many a one married well from there." the gardener corroborated her statement, and added that her _clientèle_ had been of the most chic. he had a private florist's business of his own and he had been privileged often to send bouquets to the pensionnaires of madame. but madame was not alone surely in these sad times. had he not seen her come here with a handsome english lady who was said to have been--to have been--fortunately--_au mieux_ with one of the german officials? "_that_ was my daughter," mrs. warren informed him with pride.... "she is a lady who has taken a high degree at an english university. she has been an important person in the english feminist movement. when this dreadful war is over, i and my daughter will--" at this juncture vivie entered. "_mother_, i hope you haven't missed me, haven't been unwell?" she said, looking rather questioningly at the little glass of schnapps, only half of which had been drunk. "well yes, dear, i have. _terrible_ low spirits and all swimmy-like. thought i was going to faint. but this man here has been so kind "--her tears flowed afresh--"we've bin talking of old times; he used to know me before--" _vivie_: "quite so. but i think, dear, we had better be going back. i want to talk to you about the new rooms i've seen. are you equal to walking? if not perhaps this kind man would try to get us a cab...?" but mrs. warren said it was no distance, only round the corner, and she could well walk. when they got back she would go and lie down. vivie, reading her mother's thoughts, pressed a five-franc note into the gardener's not reluctant palm, and they regained the rue royale. but just as they were passing through the revolving door of the hotel impérial, a german who had been installed as manager came up with two soldiers and said explosively: "heraus! foutez-nous le camp! aout you go! don't show your face here again!" "but," said vivie, "our notice doesn't expire till the end of this week...!" "das macht nichts. the rooms are wanted and i won't have you on the premises. off you go, or these soldiers shall take you both round to the kommandantur." "but our luggage? _surely_ you will let me go up to our room and pack it--and take it away? we..." "your luggage has been packed and is in the corridor. if you send round for it, it shall be delivered to your messenger. but you are not to stop on the premises another minute. you understand?" he almost shrieked. "but--" for answer, the soldiers took them by the shoulders and whirled them through the revolving door on to the pavement, where a crowd began to collect, as it does in peace or war if you cough twice or sneeze three times in brussels. "englische hure! englische küpplerin," shouted the soldiers as they retreated and locked the revolving door. mrs. warren turned purple and swayed. vivie caught her round the waist with her strong arm.... thus was mrs. warren ejected from the once homely inn which she had converted by her energy, management and capital into the second most magnificent hostelry of brussels; thus was vivie expelled from the place of her birth.... hearing the shouting and seeing the crowd a belgian gendarme came up. to him vivie said, "si vous êtes chrétien et pas allemand--" "prenez garde, madame," he said warningly--"vous m'aiderez à porter ma mère à quelqu' endroit ou elle peut se remettre..." he assisted her to carry the inert old woman across the street and a short distance along the opposite pavement. here, there was a pleasant, modest-looking tea-shop with the name of walcker over the front, and embedded in the plate glass were the words "tea rooms." these of course dated from long before the war, when the best chinese tea was only four francs the demi-kilo and the fashion for afternoon tea had become established in brussels. vivie and her mother had often entered walcker's shop in happier days for a cup of tea and delicious forms of home-made pastry. besides the cakes, which in pre-war times were of an excellence rarely equalled, they had been drawn to the pleasant-looking serving woman. she was so english in appearance, though she only spoke french and flemish. behind the shop was a cosy little room where the more intimate clients were served with tea; a room with a look-out into a little square of garden. thither mrs. warren was carried or supported. she regained consciousness slightly as she was placed on a chair, opened her eyes, and said "thank you, my dears." then her head fell over to one side and she was dead--seemingly.... the _agent de police_ went away to fetch a doctor and to disperse the crowd of _ketjes_[ ] and loafers which had transferred itself from the hotel to the tea-shop. the shop woman, who was one of those angels of kindness that turn up unexpectedly in the paths of unhappy people, called in a stout serving wench from the kitchen, and the three of them carried mrs. warren out of the inner tea-room into the back premises and a spare bedroom. here she was laid on the bed, partially undressed and all available and likely restoratives applied. [footnote : street urchins of brussels. how they harassed the germans and maddened them by mimicking their military manoeuvres!] the doctor when he came pronounced her dead, thought it was probably an effusion of blood on the brain but couldn't be certain till he had made an autopsy. "what _am_ i to do?" said vivie thinking aloud.... "why, stay here till all the formalities are over and you can find rooms elsewhere," said mme. trouessart, the owner-servant of the tea-shop. "i have another spare room. for the moment my locataires are gone. i know you both very well by sight, you were clients of ours in the happy days before the war. madame votre mère was, i think, the gérante of the hotel Édouard-sept when i first came to manage here. since then, you have often drunk my tea. je me nomme 'trouessart' c'est le nom de mon mari qui est ... qui est--vous pouvez diviner où il est, où est à present tout belge loyal qui peut servir. le nom walcker? c'était le nom de nom père, et de plus est, c'était un nom anglais transformé un peu en flamand. mon arrière-grand-père etait soldat anglais. il se battait à waterloo. for me, i spik no english--or ver' leetle." she went on to explain, whilst the doctors occupied themselves with their gruesome task, and vivie was being persuaded to take some nourishment, that her great grandfather had been a soldier servant who had married a belgian woman and settled down on the site of this very shop a hundred years ago. he and his wife had even then made a specialty of tea for english tourists. she, his great grand-daughter, had after her marriage to monsieur trouessart carried on the business under the old name--walker, made to look flemish as walcker. vivie when left alone suddenly thought of the money question. she remembered then that before going out to look for rooms she had transferred half the notes from their hiding-place to an inner pocket. they were still there. but what about her luggage and her mother's, and the remainder of the money? in her distress she wrote to gräfin von stachelberg. minna came over from her hospital at half past six in the evening. by that time the doctor had given the necessary certificate of the cause of death, and an undertaker had come on the scene to make his preparations. minna went over to the hotel impérial with vivie. appearing in her red cross uniform, she was admitted, announced herself as the gräfin von stachelberg, and demanded to know what justification the manager could offer for his extraordinary brutality towards these english ladies, the result of which had been the death of the elder lady. the manager replied that inasmuch as the all highest himself was to arrive that very evening to take up his abode at the hotel impérial, the hotel premises had been requisitioned, etc., etc. he still refused absolutely to allow vivie to proceed to her room and look for her money. she might perhaps be allowed to do so when the emperor was gone. as to her luggage he would have it sent over to the tea-shop. (the money, it might be noted, she never recovered. there were many things also missing from her mother's trunks and no satisfaction was ever obtained.) so there was vivie, one dismal, rainy november evening in ; homeless, her mother lying dead in a room of this tea-shop, and in her own pocket only a matter of thirty thousand francs to provide for her till the war was over. a thousand pounds in fluctuating value was all that was left of a nominal twenty thousand of the year before. but the financial aspect of the case for the time being did not concern her. the death of her mother had been a stunning shock, and when she crossed over to the hotel--what irony, by the bye, to think she had been born there thirty-nine years ago, in the old inn that had preceded the twice rebuilt hotel!--when she crossed the street with minna, it had been with blazing, tearless eyes and the desire to take the hotel manager and his minions by the coat collar, fling _them_ into the street, and assert her right to go up to her room. but now her violence was spent and she was a broken, weeping woman as she sat all night by the bedside of her dead mother, holding the cold hand, imprinting kisses on the dead face which was now that of a saintly person with nothing of the reprobate in its lineaments. * * * * * the burial for various reasons had to take place in the cemetery of st. josse-ten-noode, near the shuddery national shooting range where edith cavell and numerous belgian patriots had recently been executed. minna von stachelberg left her hospital, with some one else in charge, and insisted on accompanying vivie to the interment. this might have been purely "laïc"; not on account of any harsh dislike to the religious ceremony on vivie's part; only due to the fact that she knew no priest or pastor. but there appeared at the grave-side to make a very suitable and touching discourse and to utter one or two heartfelt prayers, a belgian baptist minister, a relation of mme. trouessart. waterloo left many curious things behind it. not only a tea-shop or two; but a nonconformist nucleus, that intermarried, as sergeant walker or walcker had done, with belgian women and left descendants who in the third generation--and by inherent vigour, thrift, matrimony and conversion--had built up quite a numerous congregation, which even grew large enough and rich enough to maintain a mission of its own in congoland. kind mme. trouessart (née walcker), distressed and unusually moved at the sad circumstances of mrs. warren's death, had called in her uncle the baptist pastor (who also in some unexplained way seemed to hold a brief for the salvation army). he prayed silently by the death-bed which, under the circumstances, was more tactful than open intercession. he helped greatly over all the formalities of the funeral, and he took upon himself the arrangement of the ceremony, so that everything was done decorously, and certainly to the satisfaction of the belgians, who attended. such people would be large-minded in religion--you might be protestant, if you were not catholic, or you might be jewish; but a funeral without some outward sign of faith and hope would have puzzled and distressed them. to vivie's great surprise, there was a considerable attendance at the ceremony. she had expected no more than the company of minna--an unprofessing but real christian, if ever there were one, and the equally christian if equally hedonist mme. trouessart. but there came in addition quite a number of shopkeepers from the rue royale, the rues de schaerbeek, du marais, de lione, and de l'association, with whom mrs. warren had dealt in years gone by. "c'etait une dame _très_ convenable," said one purveyor, and the others agreed. "elle me paya écus sonnants," said another, "et toujours sans marchander." there was even present a more distinguished acquaintance of the past: a long-retired commissaire de police of the quartier in which mrs. warren's hotel was situated. he appeared in the tightly-buttoned frock-coat of civil life, with a minute disc of some civic decoration in his button hole, and an incredibly tall chimney-pot hat. he came to render his _respectueux hommages_ to the maîtresse-femme who had conducted her business within the four corners of the law, "sans avoir maille à partir avec la police des moeurs." mrs. warren at least died with the reputation of one who promptly paid her bills; and the whole _assistance_, as it walked slowly back to brussels, recalled many a deed of kindness and jovial charity on the part of the dead englishwoman. * * * * * vivie, on sizing up her affairs, got monsieur walcker, the baptist pasteur, to convey a letter to the american consulate general. walcker was used to such missions as these, of which the german government was more or less cognizant. the germans, among their many contradictory features, had a great respect for religion, a great tolerance as to its forms. they not only appreciated the difference between jews and christians, catholics and lutherans, but between the church of england and the various free churches of britain and america. the many people whom they sentenced to death must all have their appropriate religious consolation before facing the firing party. catholics, lutherans and calvinists were all provided for; there was a church of england chaplain for the avowed anglicans; but what was to be done for the free churches and nonconformist sects of the anglo-saxons? they were not represented by any captive pastor; so in default this much respected monsieur walcker, the belgian baptist, was called in to minister to the nonconformist mind in its last agony. he therefore held a quasi-official position and was often entrusted with missions which would have been dealt with punitorily on the part of any one else. consequently he was able to deliver vivie's communication to the american consul-general with some probability of its being sent on. it contained no further appeal to american intervention than this: that the consul-general would try to convey to england the news of her mother's death to such-and-such solicitors, and to lewis maitland praed a.r.a. in hans place. she went to the brussels bank a fortnight after her mother's death whilst still availing herself of the hospitality of madame trouessart: to withdraw the jewellery and plate which she had deposited there on her mother's account. but there she found herself confronted with the red tape of the latin which is more formidable, even, than that of the land of dora at the present day. these deposited articles were held on the order of mrs. warren; they could not be given up till her will was proved and letters of administration had been granted. so _that_ small resource in funds was withheld, at any rate till some time after peace had been declared. however she had a thousand pounds (in notes) between her and penury, and the friendship of minna von stachelberg. she would resume her evening lessons in english--madame trouessart had found her several pupils--and she would lodge--as they kindly invited her to do--with the baptist pastor and his wife in the rue haute. and she would help minna at the hospital, and hope to be rewarded with the opportunity of bringing comfort and consolation to the wounded british prisoners. thus, with no unbearable misery, she passed the year . there were short commons in the way of food, and the cold was sometimes cruel. but madame walcker was a wonderful cook and could make soup from a sausage skewer, and heaped _édredons_ on vivie's bed. vivie sighed a little over the blue placards which announced endless german victories by land and sea; and she gasped over the dreadful red placards with their lists of victims sentenced to death by the military courts. she ground her teeth over the announcement of gabrielle petit's condemnation, and behind the shut door of minna's small sitting-room--and she only shut the door not to compromise minna--she raved over the judicial murder of this belgian heroine, who was shot, as was edith cavell, for nothing more than assisting young belgians to escape from german-occupied belgium. she witnessed the air-raids of the allies, when only comforting papers were dropped on brussels city, but bombs on the german aerodromes outside; and she also saw the germans turn their guns from the aeroplanes--which soared high out of their reach or skimmed below range--on to thickly-inhabited streets of the poorer quarters, to teach them to cheer the air-craft of the allies! she beheld--or she was told of--many acts of rapine, considered cruelty and unreasoning ferocity on the part of german officials or soldiers; yet saw or heard of acts and episodes of unlooked-for kindness, forbearance and sympathy from the same hated people. von giesselin, after all, was a not uncommon type; and as to minna von stachelberg, she was a saint of the new religion, the service of man. chapter xviii the bomb in portland place mrs. rossiter said to herself in that she had scarcely known a happy day, or even hour, since the war began. in the first place michael had again shown violence of temper with ministers of state over the release from prison of "that" miss warren--"a convict doing a sentence of hard labour." and then, when he had got her released, and gone himself with their beautiful new motor--whatever _could_ the chauffeur have thought?--to meet her at the prison gates, _there_ he was, afterwards, worrying himself over the war: not content as she was, as most of her friends were, as the newspapers were, to leave it all to lord kitchener and mr. asquith, sir edward grey, and even mr. lloyd george--though the latter had made some rather foolish and exaggerated speeches about alcohol. michael, if he went on like this, would _never_ get his knighthood! then when michael had at last, thanks to general armstrong, found his right place and was accomplishing marvels--the papers said--as a "mender of the maimed"--here was she left alone in portland place with hardly any one to speak to, and all her acquaintances--she now realized they were scarcely her friends--too much occupied with war work to spend an afternoon in discussing nothing very important over a sumptuous tea, still served by a butler and footman. presently, too, the butler left to join the professor in france and the footman enlisted, and the tea had to be served by a _distraite_ parlour-maid, with her eye on a munitions factory--so that she might be "in it"--and her heart in the keeping of the footman, who, since he had gone into khaki, was irresistible. mrs. rossiter of course said, in , that she would take up war work. she subscribed most handsomely to the soldiers' and sailors' families' association, to the red cross, to the prince of wales's fund (one of the unsolved war-time mysteries ... what's become of it?), to the cigarette fund, the christmas plum pudding fund, the blue cross, the purple cross, the green cross funds; to the outstandingly good work at st. dunstan's and at petersham--(i am glad she gave a hundred pounds each to _them_); and to the french, belgian, russian, italian, serbian, portuguese and japanese flag days and to our own day; besides enriching a number of semi-fraudulent war charities which had alluring titles. but if, from paying handsomely to all these praise-worthy endeavours to mitigate the horrors of war, she proceeded to render personal service, she became the despair of the paid organizers and business-like workers. she couldn't add and she couldn't subtract or divide with any certainty of a correct result; she couldn't spell the more difficult words or remember the right letters to put after distinguished persons' names when she addressed envelopes in her large, childish handwriting; she couldn't be trusted to make enquiries or to detect fraudulent appeals. she lost receipts and never grasped the importance of vouchers; she forgot to fill up counterfoils, or if reminded filled them up "from memory" so that they didn't tally; she signed her name, if there was any choice of blank spaces, in quite the wrong place. so, invariably, tactful secretaries or assistant secretaries were told off to explain to her--ever so nicely--that "she was no business woman" (this, to the daughter of wholesale manufacturers, sounded rather flattering), and that though she was invaluable as a "name," as a patroness, or one of eighteen vice presidents, she was of no use whatever as a worker. she had no country house to place at the disposal of the government as a convalescent home. michael after a few experiments forbade her offering any hospitality at no. park crescent to invalid officers. such as were entrusted to her in the spring of soon found that she was--as they phrased it--"a pompous little, middle-class fool," wielding no authority. they larked in the laboratory with red cross nurses, broke specimens, and did very unkind and noisy things ... besides smoking in both the large _and_ the small dining-rooms. so, after the summer of , she lived very much alone, except that she had the adams children from marylebone to spend the day with her occasionally. poor mrs. adams, though a valiant worker, was very downcast and unhappy. she confided to mrs. rossiter that although she dearly loved her bert--"and a better husband i defy you to find"--he never seemed all hers. "always so wrapped up in that miss warren or 'er cousin the barrister." and no sooner had war broken out than off he was to france, as a kind of missionary, she believed--the young men's christian something or other; "though before the war he didn't seem particular stuck on religion, and it was all she could do to get him sometimes to church on a sunday morning. oh yes: she got 'er money all right; and she couldn't say too much of mr. and mrs. rossiter's kindness. there was bert, not doin' a stroke of work for the professor, and yet his pay going on all the same. indeed she was putting money by, because bert was kep' out there, and all found." however his two pretty children were some consolation to mrs. rossiter, whom they considered as a very grand lady and one that was lavishly kind. mrs. rossiter tried sometimes in having working parties in her house or in the studio; and if she could attract workers gave them such elaborate lunches and plethoric teas that very little work was done, especially as she herself loved a long, aimless gossip about the royal family or whether lord kitchener had ever _really_ been in love. or she tried, since she was a poor worker herself--her only jersey and muffler were really finished by her maid--reading aloud to the knitters or stitchers, preferably from the works of miss charlotte yonge or some similar novelist of a later date. but that was found to be too disturbing to their sense of the ludicrous. for she read very stiltedly, with a strange exotic accent for the love passages or the death scenes. as lady victoria freebooter said, she would have been _priceless_ at a music-hall matinée which was raising funds for war charities, if only she could have been induced to read passages from miss yonge in _that_ voice for a quarter of an hour. even the queen would have had to laugh. but as that could not be brought off, it was decided that working parties at her house led to too much giddiness from suppressed giggles or torpor from too much food. so she relapsed once more into loneliness. unfortunately air-raids were now becoming events of occasional fright and anxiety in london, and this deterred cousin sophie from darlington, cousin matty from leeds, joseph's wife from northallerton or old, married schoolfellows from other northern or midland towns coming to partake of her fastuous hospitality. also, they all seemed to be busy, either over their absent husbands' business, or their sons', or because they were plunged in war work themselves. "and really, in these times, i couldn't stand linda for more than five minutes," one of them said. as to the air-raids, she was not greatly alarmed at them. of course it was very uncomfortable having london so dark at night, but then she only went out in the afternoon, and never in the evening. and the germans seemed to be content and discriminating enough not to bomb what she called "the resi_den_tial" parts of london. the nearest to portland place of their attentions was hampstead or bloomsbury. "we are protected, my dear, by the open spaces of regent's park. they wouldn't like to waste their bombs on poor me!" however her maid didn't altogether like the off chance of the germans or our air-craft guns making a mistake and trespassing on the residential parts of london, so she persuaded her mistress to spend part of the winter of - at bournemouth. here she was not happy and far lonelier even than in london. she did not like to send all that way for the adams children, she had a parlour suite all to herself at the hotel, and was timid about making acquaintances outside, since everybody now-a-days wanted you to subscribe to something, and it was so disagreeable having to say "no." she was not a great walker so she could not enjoy the talbot woods; the sea made her feel sad, remembering that michael was the other side and the submarines increasingly active: in short, air-raids or no air-raids, she returned home in march, and her maid, who had been with her ten years, gave her warning. but then she had an inspiration! she engaged mrs. albert adams to take her place, and although the parlour-maid at this took offence and cut the painter of domestic service, went off to the munitions till sergeant frederick summers should get leave to come home and marry her; and they were obliged to engage another parlour-maid in her place at double the wages: mrs. rossiter had done a very wise thing. "bert" had been home for three weeks in the preceding february, and the recently bereaved mrs. adams had united her tears with mrs. rossiter's on the misery of the war which separated attached husbands and wives. it now alleviated the sorrows of both that they should be together as mistress and maid. the cook--a most important factor--had always liked bertie and adored his "sweet, pretty little children." "if you'll let 'em sleep in the spare room on the fourth floor, next their mother, and play in the day-time in the servants' 'all, they'll be no manner of difficulty _nor_ bother to me and the maids. we shall love to 'ave 'em, the darlin's. and they'll serve to cheer you up a bit ma'am till the professor comes back." mrs. adams was a very capable person who hated dust and grime. the big house wanted some such intervention, as since the butler's departure it had become rather slovenly, save in the portions occupied by mrs. rossiter. charwomen were got in, and spring cleanings on a gigantic scale took place, so that when rossiter did return he thought it had never looked so nice, or his linda been so cheery and companionable. but before this happy confirmation of her wisdom in engaging nance adams as maid and factotum, mrs. rossiter had several waves of doubt and distress to breast. there was the suffrage question. once converted by mrs. humphry ward, miss violet markham, sir almroth wright--whose _prénom_ she could not pronounce--the late lord cromer, and the impressive lord curzon, to the perils of the woman's vote, mrs. rossiter was hard to move from her uncompromising opposition to the enfranchisement of her sex. some adroit champion of the wrong had employed the argument that _once_ women got the vote, _the divorce laws would be greatly enlarged_. this would be part of the scheme of the wild women to get themselves all married; that and _the legalisation of polygamy_ which would follow the vote _as surely as the night the day_. linda had an undefined terror that her michael might take advantage of such licentiousness to depose her, like the empress josephine was put aside in favour of a child-producing rival; or if polygamy came into force, that miss warren might lawfully share the professor's affections. she was therefore greatly perturbed in the course of at the sudden throwing up of the sponge by the anti-suffragists. however, there it was. the long struggle drew to a victorious close. example as well as precept pointed to what women could do and were worth; sound arguments followed the inconveniences of militancy, and the men were convinced. or rather, the men in the mass and the fighting, working men had for some time been convinced, but the great statesmen who had so obstinately opposed the measures were now weakening at the knees before the results of their own mismanagement in the conduct of the war. a further perplexity and anxiety for mrs. rossiter arose over the german spy mania. she had been to one of lady towcester's afternoon parties "to keep up our spirits." lady towcester collected for at least six different charities and funds, and mrs. rossiter was a generous subscriber to all six. touching the wood of the central tea-table, she had remarked to lady victoria and lady helen freebooter how fortunate they (who lived within the prescribed area defined by lady jeune) had been in so far escaping air-raids. "but don't you know why?" said lady victoria. mrs. rossiter didn't. "because in manchester square, in cavendish--grosvenor--hanover squares, in portland place--a few doors off your own house--in harley street and wigmore street: there are special friends of the kaiser living. they _may_ call themselves by english names, they may even be ex-cabinet-ministers; but they are working for the kaiser, all the same. and _he_ wouldn't be such a fool as to have them bombed, would he?" "especially as it is well known that there _is a wireless installation_ on a house in portland place which communicates with a similar installation in the harz mountains," added lady helen. this was a half-reassuring, half-terrifying statement. it was comfortable to know that you lived under the kaiser's wing--mrs. rossiter hoped the aim of the aeronauts was accurate, and their knowledge of london topography good. at the same time it was alarming to feel that you might be involved in that final blow up of the villains which must bring such scoundreldom to a close. but if lady vera and lady helen knew all this for a fact, why not tell the police? "what would be the good? they'd deny everything and we should only be sued for libel." however to form some conception of how english home life was undermined with plots, she was advised to go and see mr. dennis eadie in _the man that stayed at home_. she did, taking mrs. adams with her to the dress circle for a matinée. both were very much impressed, and on their return expected the fireplaces to open all of a piece and reveal german spies with masked faces and pistols, standing in the chimney. at last these and other nightmares were dispelled by the arrival of rossiter on leave of absence in the autumn of . he had the rank of colonel in the r.a.m.c., and wore the khaki uniform--mrs. rossiter proudly thought--of a general. he had shaved off his beard and trimmed his moustache and looked particularly soldierly. the butler who came with him though not precisely a soldier but a sort of n.c.o. in a medical corps, also looked quite martial, and had so much to say for himself that mrs. rossiter felt he could never become a butler again. but he did all the same, and a most efficient one though a little breezy in manner. linda now entered on an aftermath of matrimonial happiness. rossiter was to take quite a long leave so that he could pursue the most important researches in curative surgery--bone grafting and the like; not only in his own laboratory but at the college of surgeons and the zoological gardens prosectorium. with only occasional week-ends at home he had been away from london since september, ; had known great hardships, the life of the trenches and the bomb-proof shelter, stewed tea and bad tinned milk, rum and water, bully beef, plum and apple jam, good bread, it is true, but shocking margarine for butter. he had slept for weeks together on an old sofa more or less dressed, kept warm by his great-coat and two army blankets of woven porcupine quills (seemingly) the ends of which tickled his nose and scratched his face. he had been very cold and sweatingly hot, furiously hungry with no meal to satisfy his healthy appetite, madly thirsty and no long drink attainable; unable to sleep for three nights at a time owing to the noise of the bombardment; surfeited with horrible smells; sickened with butchery; shocked at his own failures to retrieve life, yet encouraged by an isolated victory, here and there, over death and disablement. so the never-before-appreciated comfort of his park crescent home filled him with intense gratitude to linda. had he known, he owed some of his acknowledgment to mrs. adams; who had worked both hard and tactfully in her undefined position of lady's-maid-housekeeper-companion. but naturally he didn't know, though he praised his wife warmly for her charity of soul in taking pity on the poor little woman and her two children. he could only give the slightest news about bertie, but said he was a sort of jack-of-all-trades for the y.m.c.a. as to vivie--"that miss warren"--he answered his wife's questions neither with the glowering taciturnity nor suspicious loquacity of former times. "miss warren? vivie? i fancy she's still at brussels, but there is no chance of finding out. there is a story that her mother is dead. p'raps now they'll let her come away. she must be jolly well sick of brussels by now. when i last heard of adams he was still hoping to get into touch with her. i hope he won't take any risks. she's a clever woman and i dare say can take care of herself. i hope we shall all meet again when the war is over." he seemed very pleased to hear of the new conciliation bill, the general agreement all round on the suffrage question and the enlargement of the electorate. he had always told linda it was bound to come. "and after it has come, dearie, you mark my words: things will go on pretty much as before." but his real, intense, absorbing interest lay in the new experiments he was about to make in bone grafting and cartilage replacing, and the functions of the pituitary body and the interstitial glands. to carry these out adequately the zoological society had accumulated troops of monkeys and baboons. at a certain depôt in camden town dogs were kept for his purposes. and the vaults and upper floors of the royal college of surgeons were at rossiter's disposal, with professor keith to co-operate. never had his house in portland place--to be accurate the park crescent end thereof--seemed so conveniently situated, or its studio-laboratory so well designed. "air-raids? pooh! just about one chance in a million we should be struck. besides: can't think of that, when so much is at stake. that's a fine phrase, 'menders of the maimed.' just what we want to be! no more artificial limbs if we can help you to grow your own new legs and arms--perhaps. at any rate, mend up those that are a hopeless mash. grand work! only bright thing in the war. now dear, are you ready with that lymph?" and she was. never had linda been so happy. she overcame her disgust at the sight of blood, at monkeys, dogs, and humans under anæsthetics, at yellow fat, gleaming sinew, and blood-stained bone. she was careful as a washer-up. the services of mrs. adams were enlisted, and she was more deft even than her mistress; and the butler, who was by this time a regular hospital dresser, greatly admired her pretty arms when they were bared to the elbow, and her flushed cheeks when she took a humble part in some tantalizing adjustment. "i'm some use to you after all," linda would say when they retired from the studio for a rest and she made the tea. "some _use_? i should think so!" said rossiter (whether truly or not). and he reproached himself that twenty years ago he had not trained and developed her to help him in his work, to be a real companion in his studies. he was really fond of her through the winter of . and so jovial and lover-like, so boyish in his fun, so like the typical tommy home from the trenches. when he was overjoyed at the success of some uncovered and peeped-at experiment, he would sing, "when _i_ get me civvies on again, an' it's home sweet home once more"; and ask for the ideal cottage "with rowses round the door--and a nice warm bottle in me nice warm bed, an' a nice soft pillow for me nice soft 'ead..." mrs. rossiter began to think there was a good side to the war, after all. it made some men more conscious of their home comforts and less exigent for intellectuality in their home companions. they went out very little into society. rossiter held that war-time parties were scandalous. he poohpoohed the idea that immodest dancing with frisky matrons or abandoned spinsters was necessary to restore the shell-shocked nerves of temporary captains, locally-ranked majors, or the recently-joined subaltern. he was far too busy for twaddly tea-fights and carping at hard-worked generals who were doing their best and a good best too. he and linda did dine occasionally with honoria, but the latter felt she could not let herself go about vivie in the presence of mrs. rossiter and seemed a little cold in manner. ordinarily, after working hard all day while the daylight lasted they much preferred an evening of complete solitude. rossiter's new robustness of taste included love of a gramophone. money being no consideration with them, they acquired a tip-top one with superlative records; not so much the baaing, bellowing and shrieking of fashionable singers, but orchestral performances, heart-melting duets between violin and piano (_what_ human voice ever came up to a good violin or violoncello?), racy comic songs, inspiriting two steps, xylophone symphonies, and dreamy, sensuous waltzes. this gramophone linda learnt to work; and while michael read voraciously the works of hunter, hugh owen thomas, stromeyer, duchenne, goodsir, wolff, and redfern on bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, periosteum and osteogenesis--or, more often, keith's compact and lucid analysis of their experiments and conclusions--linda let loose in the scented air of a log fire these varied melodies which attuned the mind to extraordinary perceptibility. the little adamses were allowed to steal in and listen, on condition they never uttered a word to break the spell of colonel rossiter's thoughts. i think also rossiter felt his wife had been unjustly snubbed by the great ladies and the off-hand, harum-scarum young war-workers; so he flatly declined to have any of them messing around his studio or initiated into his research work. it was intimated that the rossiter thursday afternoons of long ago would not be resumed until after the peace. linda therefore derived much consolation and satisfaction for past injuries to her pride when lady vera--or victoria--freebooter called one day just before christmas and said "oh--er--mother's let our house till february and thinks we'd better--i mean the marrybone guild of war-workers--meet at _your_ house instead"; and she, linda, had the opportunity of replying: "oh, i'm sorry, _but_ it's quite impossible. the professor--i mean, colonel rossiter--and i are so _very_ busy ... we are seeing _no_ one just now. indeed we've enlisted all the servants to help the colonel in his work, so i can't even offer you a cup of tea.... i must _rush_ back at once.... you'll excuse me?" "that rossiter woman is quite off her head with grandeur," said lady vera to lady helen. "i expect uncle algy has let out that her husband is in the new year's honours." and so he was. but uncle algy, though he might have babbled to his nieces, had not written a word to the rossiters. so they just enjoyed christmas--too much, they thought, more than any christmas before--in the simple satisfaction of being colonel and mrs. rossiter, all in all to each other, but rendered additionally happy by making those about them happy. the little adamses staggered under their presents and had a christmas tree to which they were allowed to ask their two grannies--mrs. laidly from fig tree court and mrs. adams from the kilburn laundry--and numerous little friends from marylebone, who had been washed and curled and crimped and adjured not to disgrace their parents, _or_ father--in the trenches--would be told "as sure as i stand here." (the little adamses were also warned that if they _ever_ again were heard calling mrs. rossiter "gran'ma," they'd--but the threat was too awful to be uttered, especially as their mother at this time was always on the verge of tears, either at getting no news of bert or at the unforgettable kindness of bert's employer.) mrs. rossiter, quite unaware that she was soon to be a dame, gave christmas entertainments at st. dunstan's, at the marylebone workhouse, and to all the wounded soldiers in the parish. and on december , , michael received a note from the prime minister to say that his majesty, in recognition of his exceptional services in curative surgery at the front, had been pleased to bestow on him a knight commandership of the bath. "so that, linda, you can call yourself lady rossiter, and you will have to get some new cards printed for both of us." linda didn't feel quite that ecstasy over her title that she had expected in her day-dreams. she was getting a little frightened at her happiness. generations of puritan forefathers and mothers had left some influence of calvinism on her mentality. she was brought up to believe in a jealous god, whose providence when you felt too happy on earth just landed you in some unexpected disaster to fit you for the kingdom of heaven--a kingdom which all healthy human beings shrink from entering with the terror of the unknown and a certain homeliness of disposition which is humbly content with this cosy planet and a corporeal existence. however it was very nice to leave cards of calling on lady towcester--even though she was out of town on account of air-raids--and on others, inscribed: "lady rossiter, colonel sir michael rossiter, sir michael and lady rossiter;" and to see printed foolscap envelopes for michael arrive from the war office and lie on the hall table, addressed: colonel sir michael rossiter k.c.b. etc., etc., etc., etc. and later on, in january or february, for some very good reason, sir michael and lady rossiter were received in audience by the king and queen at buckingham palace. the king had already watched sir michael at work in his laboratory just behind the french front; so they two, as linda timidly glanced at them, had no lack of subjects for conversation. but the queen! linda had thought she could _never_ have talked to a queen without swooning, and indeed had arrived primed with much sal volatile. yet there, as in some realistic dream, she was led on to talk about her war charities and sir michael's experiments without trembling, and found herself able to listen with intelligence to the queen's practical suggestions about war work and the application of relief funds in crowded districts. "_we actually compared notes!_" said a flushed and triumphant linda to her michael, as they drove away through the blue twilight of st. james's park. and so far from being puffed up by this, people said they had always thought lady rossiter was kind, but they really before had never imagined there was so much in her. she was even allowed to preside as vice president, in the absence of lady towcester; and got through it quite creditably--kind hearts being more than coronets--and made a little speech to which cook and nance adams called out "hear, _hear_!" and roused quite a hearty response. of course it was an awful wrench when michael had to return to france. but he would be back in the autumn, and meantime she must remember she was a soldier's wife. so the summer was got through with cheerfulness, especially as she was now treated with much more regard in the different committees whereof she was vice president. on these committees she met honoria armstrong, and the longing to renew the old friendship and talk about michael's superlative qualities to one who had long known them, took her over to kensington square, impulsively. honoria perceived the need instinctively. the coldness engendered by linda's silly anti-suffragism disappeared. they both talked by the hour together of their respective husbands and their outstanding virtues and charming weaknesses. the armstrong children took to calling her aunt linda--michael and petworth, after all, were brothers-in-arms and friends from youth. lady rossiter was delighted, and lavished presents on them, till honoria reminded her it was war-time and extravagance in all things was reprehensible, even in british-made toys. they discussed the vote, soon to be theirs, and how it should be exercised. from that--by some instinct--honoria passed on to a talk about vivien warren ... a selective talk. she said nothing about david williams, but enlarged on vivie's absolute "straightness," especially towards other women; her business capacities, her restoration of her mother to the ranks of the respectable; till at last it seemed as though the burning down of racing stables was a meritorious act ... "ridding england of an evil that good might come." and there was poor vivie, locked up in brussels, if indeed she were still living. linda felt shocked at her own treachery to the woman's cause in having betrayed that poor, well-meaning miss warren to the police. never could she confess this to lady armstrong (sir petworth had just been knighted for a great success in battle), tell her about the fragment of letter she had forwarded anonymously to scotland yard. perhaps she might some day tell michael, when he returned. in any case she would say at the next opportunity that as soon as miss warren reappeared in england, he might ask her to the house as often as he liked--even to stay with them if she were in want of a home. she said as much to michael when he came back in september, , to make some further investigations into bone grafting. he seemed genuinely pleased at her broad-mindedness, and said it would indeed be delightful when the war was over--and it _surely_ must be over soon--now mr. lloyd george and clemenceau and president wilson had taken it in hand--it would indeed be delightful to form a circle of close friends who had all been interested in the woman's movement. as to vivie ... if she were not dead ... he should advise her to go in for parliament. he had had no news of her since ever so long; what was worse, he had now very great misgivings about bertie adams. during the autumn of he had disappeared in the direction of la bassée. there were stories of his having joined some american relief expedition at lille--a most dangerous thing to do; insensate, if it were not a mad attempt to get through to brussels in disguise to rescue miss warren. no one in the y.m.c.a. believed for a moment that he had done anything dishonourable. most likely he had been killed--as so many y.m.c.a. people were just then, assisting to bring in the wounded or going up to the trenches with supplies. mrs. adams had better be prepared, cautiously, for a bereavement. rossiter himself was very sad about it. he had missed bertie's services much these last three years. he had never known a better worker--turn his hand to anything--such a good indexer, for example. linda wondered whether _she_ could do any indexing? three years ago michael would have replied: "_you?_ nonsense, my dear. you'd only make a muddle of it. much better stick to your housekeeping" (which as a matter of fact was done in those days by cook, butler and parlour-maid). but now he said, thoughtfully: "well--i don't know--perhaps you might. there's no reason you shouldn't try." and linda began trying. but she also worked regularly in the laboratory now, calling it at his suggestion the lab, and stumbling no more over the word. she wore a neat overall with tight sleeves and her hair plainly dressed under a little white, pleated cap. she never now caught anything with her sleeve and switched it off the table; she never let anything drop, and was a most judicious duster and wiper-up. rossiter in this autumn of was extremely interested in certain crucial experiments he was making with spiculum in sponge-cells; with scleroblasts, "mason-cells," osteoblasts, and "consciousness" in bone-cells. most of the glass jars in which these experiments were going on (those of the sponges in sea-water) required daylight for their progress. there was no place for their storage more suitable than that portion of his studio-laboratory which was above ground; and the situation of his house in regard to air attacks, bombs, shrapnel seemed to him far more favourable than the upper rooms at the college of surgeons. that great building was often endangered because of its proximity to the strand and fleet street; and the strand and fleet street, being regarded by the germans as arteries of empire, were frequently attacked by german air-craft. but in rossiter's studio there was an under-ground annex as continuation of the house cellars; and the household was instructed that if, in rossiter's absence, official warnings of an air-raid were given, certain jars were to be lifted carefully off the shelves and brought either into the library or taken down below in case, through shrapnel or through the vibration of neighbouring explosions, the glass of the studio roof was broken. one day in october, , the german air fleet made a determined attack on london. it was intended this time to belie the stories of the heart of the western district being exempted from punishment because lady so-and-so lived there and had lent her house in east anglia to the empress and her children in , or because sir somebody-else was really an arch spy of the germans and had to go on residing in london. so the aeroplanes this time began distributing their explosives very carefully over the residential area between regent's park and pall mall, the tottenham court road and selfridge's. lady rossiter in her overall was disturbed at her indexing by the clamour of an approaching daylight raid; by the maroons, the clanging of bells, the hooters, the gunfire; and finally by the not very distant sounds of exploding bombs. she called and rang for the servants, and then rushed from the library into the studio to commence removing the more important of the jars to a place of greater safety. she had seized two of them, one under each arm, and was making for the library door, when there came the most awful crash she had ever heard, and resounding bangs which seemed to echo indefinitely in her ears.... rossiter was working in the prosectorium at the zoo when the daylight air-raid began. it seemed to be coming across the middle of london; so, hastily doffing his overall, he left the gardens and walked rapidly towards portland place. he had hardly got past the fountain presented by sir jamsetjee jeejeebhoy in wasted benevolence, than he heard the deafening report of the bomb which had wrecked his studio, reduced it to a tangle of iron girders and stanchions, strewn its floor with brick rubble and thick dust, and left his wife a human wreck, lying unconscious with a broken spine, surrounded by splinters of glass, broken jars, porcelain trays, and nasty-looking fragments of sponge and vertebrate anatomy. with an almost paralyzing premonition of disaster he ran as quickly as possible towards park crescent. the marylebone road was strewn with glass, and a policeman--every one else had taken shelter--was ringing and knocking at his front door to ascertain the damage and possible loss of life. michael let both of them in with his latch-key. in the hall the butler was lying prone, stunned by a small statue which had been flung at him by the capricious violence of the explosion. all the mirrors were shivered and most of the pictures were down. at the entrance to the library cook was standing, all of a tremble. the two little adamses rushed up to him: "oh sir michael! mummie is dead and gran'ma is awfully hurted." but mummie--mrs. adams--was not dead; neither was the expensive parlour-maid. both had fainted or been stunned by the explosion on their way to help their mistress. both lay inanimate on the library floor. the library glass door was shivered to dangerous jagged splinters, but the iron framework--"curse it"--remained a tangled, maddening obstacle to his further progress. he could see through the splinters of thick glass something that looked like linda, lying on her back--and--something that looked like blood. the policeman who followed him was strong and adroit. together they detached the glass splinters and wrenched open the framework, with space enough, at any rate, to pass through without the rending of clothes into the studio. linda rossiter was regaining consciousness for just a few more minutes of sentient life. she was aware there had been a dreadful accident to some one; perhaps to herself. but she fully believed she had first of all saved the precious jars. no doubt they had put her to bed, and as there was something warm (her blood, poor thing) round her body, they must have packed her with hot water bottles. some idea of michael's no doubt. how _kind_ he was! she would soon get right, with him to look after her. she opened her eyes to meet his, as he bent over her, and said with the ghost of an arch smile: "i--have been--of some use--to you, haven't--i? ... (then the voice faltered and trailed away) ... i ... saved--your--specimens--" chapter xix bertie adams one day, early in april, , vivie was standing in a corridor of the hôpital de st. pierre talking to minna von stachelberg. she had just come from the railway station, where in common with the few british and americans who remained in brussels she had been to take a respectful and grateful farewell of the american minister and his wife, who were leaving belgium for holland, prior to the american declaration of war. american diplomacy had done little for her or her mother, but it had been the shield, the salvation, the only hope of belgium. moreover, the break-off of diplomatic relations initiated the certain hope of a happier future. american intervention in the war _must_ lead to peace and freedom. germany _must_ now be beaten and belgium set free. so she had contributed her mite to the fund which purchased spring flowers--hothouse-grown, for this april was a villainous prolongation of winter--with which to strew the approach to the station and fill the reserve compartment of the train. as vivie was nearing the end of her description--and minna was hoping it _was_ the end, as she wanted to get back to her patients--two german policemen marched up to vivie, clicked their heels, saluted, and said in german, "mademoiselle varennes, nicht wahr? be good enough to accompany us to the kommandantur." at this dread summons, vivie turned pale, and minna dismayed began to ask questions. the polizei answered that they had none to give.... might she accompany her friend? she might not. then followed a ride in a military motor, with the two silent policemen. they arrived outside the kommandantur.... more clanking, clicking, and gruff conversation in german. she got out, in response to a tight pressure on her arm, a grip in fact, and accompanied her grim guide through halls and corridors, and at last entered a severely furnished office, a kind of magistrate's court, and was confronted with--bertie adams! a whiskered, bearded, moustached, shabbily dressed (in a quasi-military uniform) bertie adams: lean, and hollow-eyed, but with the love-light in his eyes. he turned on her such a look of dog-like fealty, of happy recognition that although, by instinct and for his safety, she was about to deny all knowledge of him, she could not force her eyes or tongue to tell the lie. "oh miss, oh my dear miss warren! _how_ i have hungered and thirsted for a sight of you all these months and years! to see you once more is worth all and more i've gone through to get here. they may shoot me now, if they've got the heart--not that i've done anything to deserve it--i've simply had one object in view: to come here and help you." he looked around as if instinctively to claim the sympathy of the policemen. to say he met with none would be to make them out more inhuman than they were. but as all this speech was in english they understood but little of what he had said. they guessed he loved the woman to whom he spake, but he may have been pleading with her not to give him away, to palliate his acts of espionage. vivie replied: "_dear_ bertie! you can't be gladder to see me than i am you. i greet you with all my heart. but you must be aware that in coming here like this you--" her words stuck in her throat--she knew not what to say lest she might incriminate him farther-- a police officer broke in on her embarrassment and said in german: "es ist genug--you recognize him, madame? he was arrested this morning at the hotel impérial, enquiring for you. meantime, you also are under arrest. please follow that officer." "may i communicate with my friends?" said vivie, with a dry tongue in a dry mouth. "who are your friends?" "gräfin von stachelberg, at the hôpital de st. pierre; le pasteur walcker, rue haute, --" "i will let them know that you are arrested on a charge of high treason--in league with an english spy," he hissed. then vivie was pushed out of the room and bertie was seized by two policemen-- they did not meet again for three days. it was a saturday, and a police agent came into the improvised cell where vivie was confined--who had never taken off her clothes since her arrest and had passed three days of such mental distress as she had never known, unable to sleep on the bug-infested pallet, unable to eat a morsel of the filthy food--and invited her to follow him. "by the grace of the military governor of the prison of saint-gilles"--he said this in french as she understood german imperfectly--"you are permitted to proceed there to take farewell of your english friend, the prisoner a-dams, who has been condemned to death." bertie had been tried by court-martial in the senate, on the friday. he followed all the proceedings in a dazed condition. everything was carried on in german, but the parts that most concerned him were grotesquely translated by a ferocious-looking interpreter, who likewise turned bertie's stupid, involved, self-condemnatory answers into german--no doubt very incorrectly. bertie however protested, over and over again, that miss warren knew _nothing_ of his projects, and that his only object in posing as an american and travelling with false passports was to rescue miss warren from brussels and enable her to pass into holland, "or get out of the country _some_ 'ow." as to the emperor, and taking his life--"why lor' bless you, _i_ don't want to take _any one's_ life. i 'ate war, more than ever after all i've seen of it. upon my honour, gentlemen, all i want is miss warren." here one member of the court made a facetious remark in german to a colleague who sniggered, while, with his insolent light blue eyes, he surveyed bertie's honest, earnest face, thin and hollowed with privations and fatigue.... he was perfunctorily defended by a languid belgian barrister, tired of the invidious rôle of mechanical pleading for the lives of prisoners, especially where, as in this case, they were foredoomed, and eloquence was waste of breath, and even got you disliked by the impatient ogres, thirsty for the blood of an english man or woman.... "du reste," he said to a colleague, "agissait-il d'un belge, mon cher, tu sais que l'on se sentirait forcé à risquer le déplaisir de ces ogres: tandis que, pour un pauvre bougre d'anglais...? et qu'ont-ils fait pour nous, les anglais? nous avons tâché de leur boucher le trou à liège--et--il--nous--ont--abandonné. enfin--allons boire un coup--" verdict: as translated by the ferocious interpreter:-- "ze court faind you geeltee. you are condemned to dess, and you will be shot on monday." in the prison of saint-gilles--as i believe elsewhere in belgium--though there might be a military governor in control who was a german, the general direction remained in the hands of the belgian staff which was there when the german occupation began. these belgian directors and their subordinates were as kind and humane to the prisoners under their charge as the germans were the reverse. everything was done at saint-gilles to alleviate the mental agony of the condemned-to-death. the german courts tried to prolong and enhance the agony as much as possible, by sentencing the prisoners three days, six days, a week before the time of execution (though for fear of a reprieve this sentence was not immediately published) and letting them know that they had just so many days or hours to live: consequently most of them wasted away in prison with mind-agony, inability to sleep or eat; and even opiates or soporifics administered surreptitiously by the belgian prison doctors were but slight alleviations. bertie when first placed in his cell at saint-gilles asked for pen, ink, and paper. they were supplied to him. he was allowed to keep on the electric light all night, and he distracted his mind--with some dreadful intervals of horror at his fate--by trying to set forth on paper for vivie to read an explanation and an account of his adventures. he intended to wind up with an appeal for his wife and children. vivie never quite knew how bertie had managed to cross the war zone from france into belgium, and reach brussels without being arrested. when they met in prison they had so little time to discuss such details, in face of the one awful fact that he was there, and was in all probability going to die in two days. but from this incomplete, tear-stained scribble that he left behind and from the answers he gave to her few questions, she gathered that the story of his quest was something like this:-- he had planned an attempt to reach her in brussels or wherever she might be, from the autumn of onwards. the most practicable way of doing so seemed to be to pass as an american engaged in belgian relief work, in the distribution of food. direct attempts to be enrolled for such work proved fruitless, only caused suspicion; so he lay low. in course of time he made the acquaintance of one of those american agents of mr. hoover--a tousle-haired, hatless, happy-go-lucky, lawless individual, who made mock of laws, rules, precedents, and regulations. he concealed under a dry, taciturn, unemotional manner an intense hatred of the germans. but he was either himself of enormous wealth or he had access to unlimited national funds. he spent money like water to carry out his relief work and was lavishly generous to german soldiers or civilians if thereby he might save time and set aside impediments. he took a strong liking to bertie, though he showed it little outwardly. the latter probably in his naïveté and directness unveiled his full purpose to this gum-chewing, grey-eyed american. when the news of mrs. warren's death had reached bertie through a circuitous course--praed-honoria-rossiter--he had modified his scheme and at the same time had become still more ardent about carrying it into execution. in fact he felt that mrs. warren's death was opportune, as with her still living and impossible to include in a flight, vivie would probably have refused to come away. therefore in the summer of , he asked his american friend to obtain two american passports, one for himself and one for "his wife, mrs. violet adams." mr. praed had sent him a credit for five hundred pounds in case he could get it conveyed to vivie. bertie turned the credit into american bank notes. this money would help him to reach brussels and once there, if vivie would consent to pass as his wife, he might convey her out of belgium into holland, as two americans working under the relief committee. it had been excessively difficult and dangerous crossing the war zone and getting into occupied belgium. there was some hint in his talk of an alsatian spy who helped him at this stage, one of those "sanspatries" who spied impartially for both sides and sold any one they could sell (fortunately after the armistice most of these judases were caught and shot). the spy had probably at first blackmailed him when he was in belgium--which is why of the five hundred pounds in dollar notes there only remained about a third in his possession when he reached brussels--and then denounced him to the authorities, for a reward. but his main misfortune lay in the long delay before he reached brussels. during that time, the entire american diplomatic and consular staff was leaving belgium; and the emperor was arriving more or less secretly in brussels (it was said in the hope that a personal talk with brand whitlock might stave off the american declaration of war). bertie on his arrival dared not to go to the american legation for fear of being found out and disavowed. so he had asked his way in very "english" french, and wearing the semi-military uniform of an american relief officer--to the hotel "edward-sett," where he supposed vivie would be or could be heard of. when he reached the hotel impérial and asked for "miss warren," he had been at once arrested. indeed probably his steps had been followed all the way from the railway station to the door of the hotel by a plain-clothes german policeman. the germans were convinced just then that many englishmen and some american cranks were out to assassinate the kaiser. they took bertie's appearance at the door of the hotel impérial as a proof of his intention. they considered him to have been caught red-handed, especially as he had a revolver concealed on his person and was obviously travelling with false passports. "ah, bertie," said vivie, when they first met in his cell at saint-gilles prison. "if _only_ i had not led you into this! i am mad with myself..." "are you, miss? but 'oo could 'a foreseen this war would come along! we thought all we 'ad to fight was the police and the 'ome office to get the vote. and _then_, you'd 'a bin able to come out into the open and practise as a barrister--and me, again, as your clerk. it was our damned government that made you go abroad and get locked up 'ere. and once i realized you couldn't get away, thinks i to meself, _i'll_ find a way..." it was here that vivie began questioning him as to how he had reached brussels from the war zone; and as, towards the end of his story--some of which he said she would find he had written down in case they wouldn't let him see her--the reference to the emperor came in, she sprang up and tried the door of the cell. it was fastened without, but a face covered the small, square opening through which prisoners were watched; and a rough voice asked her what she wanted. it was the german police agent or spy, who, perched on a stool outside, next this small window, was there to listen to all they said. as they naturally spoke in english and the rough creature only knew "god-dam," and a few unrepeatable words, he was not much the wiser for his vigil. "i want--i _must_ see the director," said vivie. presently the director came. "oh, sir," said vivie, "give me paper and an envelope, i _implore_ you. there is pen and ink here and i will write a letter to the emperor, a petition. i will tell him briefly the true story of this poor young man; and _then_, if you will only forward it he may grant a reprieve." the director said he would do his best. after all, you never knew; and the kaiser, though he said he hated them always, had a greater regard for the english than for any other nation. as he glanced from vivie and her face of agonized appeal to the steadfast gaze which bertie fixed on her, as on some fairy godmother, his own eyes filled with tears--as indeed they did many, many times over the tragic scenes of the german terror. another request. could vivie see or communicate with gräfin von stachelberg?--with pasteur walcker? here the police agent intervened--"nothing of the kind! you're not going to hold a salon here. far too many concessions already. much more fuss and trouble, and i shall take you back to the kommandantur and report. write your letter to the all highest, who may deign to receive it. as to pastor walcker, he shall come to-morrow, sunday, to prepare the englishman for his death, on monday--" vivie wrote her letter--probably in very incoherent language. it was handed to the german police agent. he smiled sardonically as he took it in his horny hand with its dirty broken nails. the governor general disliked these appeals to the all highest. indeed, in most cases executions that were intended to take place were only announced at the same time as the condemnation, to obviate the worry of these appeals. besides, he knew the emperor had left that morning for charleville, after having bestowed several decorations on the police officials who told him they had just frustrated an english plot for his assassination. vivie and bertie were at length alone, for the police agent was bored, couldn't understand their talk, and gave himself an afternoon off. in this prison of saint-gilles, the cells were in many ways superior to those of english prisons. they were well lit through a long window, not so high up but that by standing on a chair you could look out on the prison garden. through this window the rays of the sun could penetrate into and light up the cell. there was no unpleasant smell--one of the horrors of holloway. the floor was a polished parquet. the bed was comfortable. there was a table, even a book-shelf. the toilet arrangements were in no way repulsive or obvious. vivie insisted on bertie lying down on the bed; she would sit on the chair by his side. he must be so exhausted.... "and what about _you_, miss? i'll lay you ain't slept these last three nights. _what_ a mess i've made of the 'ole thing!" "bertie! _why_ did you do this? _why_ did you risk your life to come here; _oh why, oh why_?" wailed vivie. "because i loved you, because i've always loved you, better'n any one else on earth--since i was a boy of fourteen and you spoke so kind to me and encouraged me to get on and improve myself; and giv' me books, and encouraged me about me cricket. i suppose i'm going to die, so i ain't got any shame about tellin' you all this. though if i thought i was goin' to live, i'd cut my tongue out sooner'n offend you--oh,"--he gave a kind of groan--"when the news come about mrs. warren bein' dead an' you p'raps without money and at the mercy of these germans ... well!--all i wonder at is i didn't steal an airyplane, and come in that. i tell you i had to exercise great self-control to stay week after week fiddling with the food distribution and pretendin' to be an american.... "well! there it is! we must all die sooner or later. it's a wonder i ain't dead already. i've bin in some tight places since i come out for the y.m.c.a.... "and talkin' about the y.m.c.a., miss, i do _beg_ of you, if you get out of this--an' i'm sure you will--they'll never kill _you_," said bertie adoringly, looking up at the grave, beautiful face that bent over him--"i do _beg_ of you to make matters right with the y.m.c.a. i ain't taken away one penny of their money--i served 'em faithfully up to the last day before i saw my chance of hooking it across the lines--they must think me dead--and so must poor nance, my wife. for i haven't dared to write to any one since i've bin in belgium. but i did send her a line 'fore i started, sayin', 'don't be surprised if you get no letter from me for some time. i'll turn up all right, you bet your boots--' "that may 'ave kept 'er 'opin'. an' soon you'll be able to let 'er know. who can say? _i_ dunno! but peace, you'd think, must come soon--seems like our poor old world is comin' to an end, don't it? _what_ times we've 'ad--if you don't mind me puttin' it like that! i remember when i had to be awful careful always to say 'sir' to you, and 'mr. david' or 'mr. williams'"--and a roguish look, a gleam of merriment came into bertie's eyes, and he laughed a laugh that was half sob. "if you was to write your life, no one 'ud believe it, miss. it licks any novel i ever read--and i've read a tidy few, looking after the y.m.c.a. libraries.... "my! but you was wonderful as a pleader in the courts! i used sometimes to reg'lar cry when i heard you takin' up the case of some poor girl as 'ad bin deserted by 'er feller, and killed 'er baby. 'tricks of the trade,' says some other barrister's clerk, sneerin' because you wasn't 'is boss. an' then i'd punch 'is 'ead.... an' i don't reckon myself a soft-'earted feller as a rule.... reklect that shillito case--?" "_don't_, bertie! _don't_ say such things in praise of me. i'm not _worth_ such love. i'm just an arrogant, vain, quarrelsome woman.... look how many people i've deceived, what little good i've really done in the world--" "rub--bish! you done good wherever you went ... to my pore mother--wonder, by the bye, what _she_ thinks and 'ow _she's_ gettin' on? sons are awful ungrateful and forgettin'. what with you--and nance--and the little 'uns, i ain't scarcely give a thought to poor mother. but you'll let her know, won't you, miss?... "think 'ow good you was to your old father down in wales, 'im as you called your father--an' 'oo's to say 'e wasn't? you never know.... miss warren! what a pity it is you never married. there's lots was sweet on you, i'll bet. yet i remember i used to 'ate the idea of your doin' so, and was glad you dressed up as a man, an' took 'em all in.... i may tell you all, miss, now i'm goin' to die, day after to-morrow. my poor nance! she see there was some one that always occupied my mind, and she used to get jealous-like, at times. but never did i let on it was you. why i wouldn't even 'av said it to myself--i respected you more than--than--" and bertie, at a loss for a parallel, ceased speaking for a time, and gulped down the sobs that were mastering him. then, after this pause--"i haven't a word to say against nance. no one could 'a bin a better wife. i know, miss, if you get away from here you'll look after her and my kids? i ain't bin much of a father to 'em lately. p'raps this is a punishment for neglecting my home duties--as they used to say to you when you was suffragin'." he gave a bitter laugh--"two such _nice_ kids.... i ain't seen 'em since last february twelve-month ... more'n a year ago ... i got a bit of leave then.... there's little vivie--the one we called after you.... she's growin' up so pretty ... and bert! 'e'll be a bigger and a better man than me, some day. 'e's started in life with better chances. i 'ope 'e'll be a cricketer. there's no game comes up to cricket, in my opinion..." at this juncture, the belgian directeur of the jail opened the door and asked vivie to follow him, telling bertie she would return in the afternoon. at the same time, a warder escorting two good conduct prisoners who did the food distribution proceeded to place quite an appetizing meal in bertie's cell. "dear miss," said the directeur in french, "you are so wise, i know, you will do what i wish...?" (vivie bowed.) "i shall not send you back to the kommandantur. i will take that on myself. but i must regard you while here as my prisoner"--he smiled sadly--"come with me. i will give you a nice cell where you shall eat and sleep, and--yes--and my wife shall come and see you..." in the evening of that day, vivie was led back to bertie's cell. there she found kind pasteur walcker. in some way he had heard of bertie's condemnation--perhaps seen it posted up on a red placard--and in his quiet assumption that whatever he did was right, had not waited for an official summons but had presented himself at the prison of saint-gilles and asked to see the directeur. he constituted himself bertie's spiritual director from that time onwards.... he spoke very little english but he was there more to sympathize than to preach-- "ce n'est pas, chère mamselle que je suis venu le troubler sur les questions de réligion. j'ai voulu le rassurer--et vous aussi--que j'ai déjà mis en train tous les precédés possibles, et que je connais, pour obtenir sa grace.... but," he went on, "i have spoken to the prison doctor and begged him meantime to give the poor young man an injection or a dose of something to make him sleep a little while..." then he withdrew. the daylight turned pink and faded to grey whilst vivie sat by the bed holding the left hand of the sleeping man. exhausted with emotion, she dropped off to sleep herself, slid off the chair on to the parquet, laid her head on the angle of his pillow and slept likewise.... the electric light suddenly shone out from a globe in the angle of the wall which served two cells. she awoke; bertie awoke. he was still happy in some opiate dream and his eyes in his haggard face looked at her with a sleepy, happy affection. loth to awaken him to reality she kissed him on the cheek and withdrew from the cell--for the directeur, out of delicacy, had withdrawn and left the door ajar. she rejoined him in the corridor and he led her to her own quarters for the night; where, worn out with sorrow and fatigue, she undressed and slept dreamlessly. but the hour of the awakening on that wintry sunday morning! it was snowing intermittently and the sky, seen from the high window, was lead-coloured. owing to the scarcity of fuel, the cell was unwarmed. she dressed hurriedly, feeling still untidy and dishevelled when she had finished. her breakfast, and with it a little packet of white powder from the prison doctor, to be taken with the breakfast. she swallowed it. if it were poison sent by the german government, what matter? but it was in reality some drug which took the edge off sorrow. bertie had evidently been given a similar dose. they spent the morning and the afternoon of that sunday together, almost happily. with intervals of dreamy silence, they talked of old times. neither would have been surprised had the cell walls dissolved as in a transformation scene and they had been able to step out into the fountain court of the temple or into the cheerful traffic of chancery lane. when however she returned to his cell after her evening meal, his mood had changed; the effect of the drug had passed. he had moods of despair and wild crying. no response had come, no answer to vivie's appeal, no result from monsieur walcker's activities. bertie reproached himself for cowardice ... then the doctor came in. "an injection in the arm? so! he will sleep now till morning. espérons toujours! et vous, ma pauvre mademoiselle. vous êtes excédée. permettez que je vous fasse la meme piqure?" but she thanked him and said she wanted all her wits about her, though she promised "se maîtriser"--to keep calm. what a night! her ears had a sense of hearing that was preternaturally acute. the most distant step in the corridors was audible. was it a reprieve? one such sound multiplied itself into the footsteps of two men walking, coming ever nearer--nearer--nearer till they stopped outside her cell door. with a clank it was opened. she sprang up. fortunately she had not undressed. "you've brought a reprieve?" she gasped. but the directeur and monsieur walcker only stood with downcast faces. "it will soon be morning," the directeur said. "there is no hope of a reprieve. he is to be executed at seven at the tir national. all we have secured for you is permission to accompany him to the end. but if you think _that_ too painful, too great a strain, i would suggest that you--" "nothing could overstrain me," said vivie, "or rather i don't care if anything kills me. i will go with him and stay with him, till the very last moment, stay with him till he is buried if you permit!" she made some hasty toilette, more because she wanted to look a fit companion for him, and not a wretched derelict. they summoned her, proffering a cup of acorn coffee, which she waved aside. the bitter cold air of the snowy april morning braced her. she entered the shuttered, armoured prison taxi in which bertie and a soldier were placed already. bertie had his arms tied, but not too painfully. he was shivering with the cold, but as he said, "_not_ afraid, miss. it'll come out allright, some'ow. that mr. walcker, 'e done me a lot of good. at any rate i'll show how an englishman can die. 'sides 'e says reprieves sometimes comes at the last moment. they takes a pleasure in tantalizin' you. and the doctor put somethin' in me cup of coffee, sort of keeps me spirits up." but for vivie, that drive was an unforgettable agony. they went through suburbs where the roads had been unrepaired or torn up by shrapnel. the snow lay in places so thickly that it nearly stopped the motor. still, it came to an end at last. the door on one side was wrenched open; she was pulled out rather unceremoniously; then, the pinioned bertie, who was handed over to a guard; and the soldier escort after him, who took his place promptly by his side. vivie had just time to note the ugly red-brick exterior of the main building of the tir national. it reminded her vaguely of some hastily-constructed exhibition at earl's court or olympia. then she was pushed inside a swinging door, into a freezing corridor; where the prison directeur and monsieur walcker were standing--irresolute, weeping.... "where is bertie?" she asked. "he is being prepared for the shooting party," they answered. "it will soon be over ... dear dear lady ... try to be calm--" "i will be as calm as you like," she said, "i will behave with the utmost correctitude or whatever you call it, if you--if they--the soldiers--the officer--will let me see him--as you promised--up to the last, the very last. but by god--if there _is_ a god--if you or they prevent me, i'll--" inexplicably, sheer mind-force prevailed, without the need for formulating the threat the poor grief-maddened woman might have uttered--she moved unresisted to a swing door which opened on to a kind of verandah. here was drawn up the firing party, and in front of them, fifteen feet away on snow-sodden, trampled grass, stood bertie. he caught sight of vivie passing in, behind the firing party, and standing beyond them at the verandah rail. he straightened himself; ducked his head aside from the handkerchief with which they were going to bandage his eyes, and shouted "take away your blasted handkerchief! _i_ ain't afraid o' the guns. if you'll let me look at her, i'll stand as quiet as quiet." the officer in command of the firing party shrugged his shoulders. the soldier escort desisted from his attempts to blindfold the englishman and stood aside, out of range. bertie fixed his glowing eyes on the woman he had loved from his youth up, the rifles rang out with a reverberating bellow, and he fell out of her sight, screened by the soldiers, a crumpled body over which they threw a sheet. what happened then to vivie? i suppose you expect the time-worn trick of the weary novelist, anxious to put his pen down and go to his tea: "then she seemed swallowed up in a cloud of blackness and knew no more"--till it was convenient to the narrator to begin a fresh chapter. but with me it must be the relentless truth and nothing but the truth, in all its aspects. vivie was deafened, nearly stunned by the frightful noise of the volley in a confined space. next, she was being unceremoniously pushed out of the verandah, into the corridor, and so out into the snow-covered space in front of the brick building; whilst the officer was examining the dead body of the fallen man, ready to give the _coup-de-grâce_, if he were not dead. but he was. vivie was next conscious that she had the most dreadful, blinding headache she had ever known, and with it felt an irresistible nausea. the prison directeur was taking her hand and saying: "mademoiselle: it is my duty to inform you that you are no longer under arrest. you are free to return to your lodging." minna von stachelberg had come from somewhere and was taking her right arm, to lead her brussels-ward; and pasteur walcker was ranging himself alongside to be her escort. unable to reply to any of them, she strode forward by herself to where under the snow lay an ill-kept grass plot, and there was violently sick. the anæsthetics and soporifics of the last two days were having their usual aftermath. after that came on a shuddering faintness and a rigor of shivers, under which her teeth clacked. some doctor came forward with a little brandy. she put the glass to her lips, then pushed it aside, took pasteur walcker's proffered arm, and walked towards the tram terminus. then they were in the tram, going towards the heart of brussels. how commonplace! fat frowsy market women got in--or got out--with their baskets; clerks entered with portfolios--don't they call them "serviettes"?--under their arms; german policemen, belgian gendarmes, german soldiers, a priest with his breviary came and went as though this monday morning were like any other. vivie walked quite firmly and staidly from the tram halt to the walckers' house in the rue haute. there she was met by madame walcker, who at a sign from her husband took her upstairs, silently undressed her and put her to bed with a hot water bottle and a cup of some hot drink which tasted a little of coffee. after that vivie passed three days of great sickness and nausea, a furred tongue, and positively no appetite. finally she arose a week after the execution and looked at herself in the mirror. she was terribly haggard, she looked at least fifty-five--"they must have taken me for his mother or his aunt; never for his sweetheart," she commented bitterly to herself. and her brown-gold hair was now distinctly a cinder grey. the next day she went back to work at the hospital. to minna, she said: "i can _never, never, never_ forget your kindness and sympathy. 'sister' seems an insufficient name to call you by. whatever happens, unless you cast me off, we shall be friends.... i dare say i even owe my life to you, if it is worth anything. but it is. i want to live--now--i want to live to be revenged. i want to live to help bertie's"--her voice still shook over the name--"bertie's wife and children. i expect but for you i should have been tried already in the senate for complicity with ... bertie ... and found guilty and shot..." _minna_: "i won't go so far as to say you are right. but i certainly _was_ alarmed about you, when you were arrested. of course i knew nothing--_nothing_--about that poor young man till just before his execution when pastor walcker came to me. even then i could do nothing, and i understood so badly what had happened. but about you: i said to myself, if i do not do _something_, you can perhaps be sentenced to imprisonment ... and i _did_ bestir myself, you can bet!" (minna liked to show she knew a slangy phrase or two.) "so i telegraphed to the emperor, i besieged von bissing at the ministère des sciences et des arts; wrote to him, telegraphed to him, telephoned to him, sat in his anterooms, neglected my hospital work entirely from friday to monday-- "i expect as a matter of fact they found nothing in that poor young's man's papers to implicate you. they just wanted--the brutes--to give you a good fright ... and i dare say ... such is the military mind--even wished you to see him shot. "by the bye, i suppose you have heard that von bissing is very ill? dying, perhaps--" _vivie_: "i _hope_ so. i am _so_ glad. i hope it's a painful illness and that he'll die and find there really _is_ a hell, and an uncommonly hot one!" it must not be supposed from the frequent quotations from countess von stachelberg's condemnations of german cruelties that she was an unpatriotic woman, repudiating, apostatizing from her own country. on the contrary: she held--mistakenly or not--that germany had been the victim of secret diplomacy, had been encircled by a ring fence of enemies, refused the economic guarantees she required, and the colonial expansion she desired. minna disliked the slavs, did not believe in them, save as musicians, singers, painters, dancers, and actors. she believed germany had a great civilizing, culture-spreading mission in south-east europe; and that the germs of this war lay in the policy of chamberlain, the protectionism of the united states, the revengeful spirit and colonial selfishness of france. but she shuddered over the german cruelties in belgium and france. the horrors of war were a revelation to her and she was henceforth a pacifist before all things. "_your_ old statesmen and _our_ old or middle-aged generals, my dear, are alike to blame. but you and i know where the _real_ mischief lies. we are mis-ruled by an all-man government. _i_, certainly, don't want the other extreme, an all-woman government. what we want, and must have, is a man-and-woman--a married--government. _then_ we shall settle our differences without going to war." vivie agreed with her, cordially. she--vivie--i really ought to begin calling her "vivien": she is forty-one by now--in resuming her duties at the hôpital de st. pierre found no repugnance in tending wounded german soldiers--the officers she did shrink from--she realized that the soldiers were but the slaves of the officer class, of kaiserdom. her reward for this degree of christianity was to have a batch of wounded english boys or men to look after. she saw again bertie adams in many of them, especially in the sergeants and corporals. they, in turn, thought her a very handsome, stately lady, but rather maudlin at times. "so easy to set 'er off a-cryin' as though 'er 'eart would break, poor thing.... and i says 'why ma'am, the pain's _nuthin_', nuthin' to what it use ter be.' 'spec' she lost some son in the war. wonder 'ow she came to be 'ere? ain't the germans afraid of 'er!"... they were. the mental agony she had been through had etherialized her face, added to its look of age and gravity, but imparted likewise a sort of "awfulness." she exhaled an aura of righteous authority. she had been through the furnace, and foolishness and petulance had been burnt out of her ... though, thank goodness, she retained some sense of humour. she had probably never been so handsome from the painter's point of view, though one could not imagine a young man falling in love with her now. her personality was first definitely noted by the bruxellois the day that von bissing's funeral cortège passed through the streets of brussels on its way to germany. vivien warren was sufficiently restored to health then to stand on the steps of some monument and cry "vive la belgique! À bas les tyrans!" the policemen and the spies looked another way and affected deafness. they had orders not to arrest her unless she actually resorted to firearms or other lethal weapons. it was said that her appeal for bertie adams did reach the emperor, two days too late; that he pished and pshawed over von bissing's cruel precipitancy. "englishmen," he muttered to his entourage, "don't assassinate. the irish do. but _how_ i'm going to make peace with england, _i_ don't know...!" (his hell on earth must have been that few people admired the english character more than he did, and yet, unprovoked, he had blundered into war with england.) however, though it was too late to save "this lunatic adams," he gave orders that vivie was to be let alone. he even, through gräfin von stachelberg, transmitted to her his regrets that she and her mother had been treated so cavalierly at the hotel impérial. it was not through any orders of his. so: vivie became quite a power in brussels during that last anxious year and a half of waiting, between may, , and november, . german soldiers, still limping from their wounds, saluted her in the street, remembering her kindness in hospital, and the letters she unweariedly wrote at their dictation to their wives and families--for she had become quite a scholar in german. the scanty remains of the british colony and the great ladies among the patriotic belgians now realized how false were the stories that had circulated about her in the first year of the war; and extended to her their friendship. and the spanish minister who had taken the place of the american as protector of british subjects, invited her to all the fêtes he gave for belgian charities and red cross funds. through his legation she endeavoured to send information to the y.m.c.a. and to bertie's widow that albert adams of the y.m.c.a. "had died in brussels from the consequences of the war." i dare say in the autumn of , if vivien warren had applied through the spanish minister for a passport to leave belgium for some neutral country, it would have been accorded to her: the german authorities would have been thankful to see her no more. she reminded them of one of the cruellest acts of their administration. but she preferred to stay for the historical revenge of seeing the germans driven out of belgium, and belgian independence restored. and she could not go lest bertie's grave should be forgotten. in common with edith cavell, gabrielle petit, philippe bauck, and the other forty or fifty victims of von bissing's "terror," he had been buried in the grassy slopes of the amphitheatre of the rifle range, near where he had been executed. every sunday, wet or fine, vivien went there with fresh flowers. she had marked the actual grave with a small wooden cross bearing his name, till the time should come when she could have his remains transferred to english soil. one day, as she was leaving the hospital in the autumn of , a shabby man pushed into her hand a soiled, way-worn copy of the _times_, a fortnight old. "three francs," he whispered. she paid him. it was no uncommon thing for her or one of her english or belgian acquaintances to buy the _times_ or some other english daily at a price ranging from one franc to ten, and then pass it round the friendly circle of subscribers who apportioned the cost. on this occasion she opened her _times_ in the tram, going home, and glanced at its columns. in any one but "mees varennes" in these days of , , this would have been a punishable offence; but in her case no spy or policeman noted the infringement of regulations about the enemy press. on one of the pages she read the account of a bad air-raid on portland place, and a reference--with a short obituary notice elsewhere--to the death of one of the victims of the german bombs. this was "linda, lady rossiter, the dearly loved wife of sir michael rossiter, whose discoveries in the way of bone grafting and other forms of curative surgery had been among the outstanding achievements in etc., etc." "dear me!" said vivien to herself, as the tram coursed on beyond her usual stopping place and the conductor obstinately looked the other way, "i'm glad she lived to be _lady_ rossiter. it must have given her such pleasure. poor thing! and to think the knowledge that he's a widower hardly stirs my pulses one extra beat. and how i _loved_ that man, seven years, six years, five years ago! hullo! where am i? miles from the rue haute! conducteur! arrêtez, s'il vous plaît." chapter xx after the armistice the bruxellois felt very disheartened in the closing months of . the russian revolution had brought about the collapse of russia as an enemy of germany; and the germans were enabled to transport most of their troops on the russian frontier to the west and to the italian frontier. italy had lost half venetia and enormous quantities of guns in the breach of her defences at caporetto. it seemed indeed at any moment, when the ice and snow of that dreadful winter of - melted, as though italy would share the fate of rumania. though the british army had had a grand success with their tanks, they had, ere ended, lost nearly all the ground gained round cambrai. besides, the submarine menace was imperilling the british food supplies and connections with america. as to the united states: was their intervention going to be more than money loans and supplies of material? would they really supply the fighting men, the one thing at this crisis necessary to defeat germany? belgium had been divided administratively into two distinct portions, north and south of the meuse. north of the meuse she was to be a dutch-speaking country either part of germany eventually, or given to holland to compensate her for her very benevolent neutrality towards germany during the war. a handful of flemish adventurers appeared at brussels to form the council of flanders, and sickened the bruxellois by their lavish praise of the german administration and servile concurrence with all german measures. the events of the spring of accentuated the despair in the belgian capital. when the germans broke through the defences of the new lines which ran through picardy and champagne, reached the vicinity of amiens, retook soissons, and recrossed the marne, it seemed as though belgian independence had been lost; the utmost she could hope for would be the self-government of a german province. but vivie was not among the pessimists. she discerned a smouldering discontent among the german soldiers, even when germany seemed near to a sweeping victory over france and britain. the brutality of the soldiers, their deliberate, nasty dirtiness during the first two years of the war seemed due rather to their officers' orders than to an anti-human disposition of their own. many of the soldiers in belgium, in brussels, turned round--so to speak--and conceived a horror of what they had done, of what they had been told to do. men who on the instigation of their officers--and these last, especially the prussians, seemed fiends incarnate--had offered violence to young belgian women, ended by offering to marry them, even showed themselves kind husbands, only too willing to become domesticated, groaning at having to leave their temporary homes and return to the terrible fighting on the yser or in france. there were, for example, the soldiers stationed at the villa beau-séjour and at the oudekens' farm. vivie had a growing desire to find out what had happened to her mother's property. one day, late in february, , when there was a premature breath and feeling of spring in the air, she called on her friend--as he had become--the directeur of the prison of saint-gilles, and asked him--since she herself could not deign to ask any favour or concession of the german authorities--to obtain for her a permit to proceed to tervueren, the railway service between brussels and that place having been reopened. she walked over--with what reminiscences the roads and paths were filled--to the villa, and showing her pass was received, not uncivilly, by the sergeant-major in charge. fortunately the officers had all gone, voting it very dull, with brussels so near and yet so far. after their departure the sergeant-major and his reduced guard of men had begun to make the place more homelike. the usual german thrift had shown itself. they had reassembled the remains of mrs. warren's herd of cows. these had calves and were giving milk. there were once more the beginnings of a poultry yard. the rooms had been cleaned at any rate of their unspeakable filth, though the dilapidations and the ruined furniture made tears of vexation stand in vivie's eyes. however she kept her temper and told the sergeant that it was _her_ property now; that she intended to reclaim it at the end of the war, and that if he saw to it that the place was handed back to her with no further damage, she would take care that he was duly rewarded; and as an instalment she gave him a good tip. he replied with a laugh and a shrug "that may well come about." ("das könnte wohl geschehen.") he had already heard of the engländerin whom the kommandantur was afraid to touch, and opened his heart to her; even offering to prepare her a little meal in her own _salle à manger_. with what strange sensations she sat down to it. the sergeant as he brought in the _oeufs au plat_ said the soldiers were already sick of the war. most wanted to go back to germany, but a few were so much in love with belgium that they hoped they might be allowed to settle down there; especially those who spoke platt-deutsch, to whom flemish came so easy. from villa beau-séjour, vivien warren passed on to the oudekens' farm, wondering what she would see--some fresh horror? but on the contrary, mme. oudekens looked years younger; indeed when vivien first stood outside the house door, she had heard really hearty laughter coming from the orchard where the farmer's widow was pinning up clothes to dry. yet it was here that the woman's husband had been shot and buried, as the result of a field-court's sentence. but when she answered vivien's questions, after plying her with innumerable enquiries, she admitted with a blush that heinrich, the german sergeant, with whom she had first cohabited by constraint, had recently married her at the mairie, though the curé had refused to perform the religious service. heinrich was now invariably kind and worked hard on the farm. he hoped by diligently supplying the officers' messes in brussels with poultry and vegetables that he and his assistants--two corporals--might be overlooked and not sent back into the fighting ranks. as to her daughters, after a few months of promiscuity--a terrible time that mme. oudekens wanted to forget--they had been assigned to the two corporals as their exclusive property. they were both of them about to become mothers, and if no one interfered, as soon as this accursed war was over their men would marry them. "but," said vivie, "suppose your husband and these corporals are married already, in germany?" "qu'est-ce-que ça fait?" said mme. oudekens. "c'est si loin." by making these little concessions she had already saved her youngest son from deportation to germany. the enormous demands for food in brussels, which in had a floating population of over a million and where the germans were turning large dogs into pemmican, had tripled the value of all productive farms so near the capital as those round tervueren, especially now the railway service was reopened. many of the peasants were making huge fortunes in complicity with some german soldier-partner. in brussels itself, soldiers often sided with the people against the odious "polizei," the intolerable german spies and police agents. conflicts would sometimes occur in the trams and the streets when the german police endeavoured to arrest citizens for reading the _times_ or _la libre belgique_, or for saying disrespectful things about the emperor. the tremendous rush of the german offensive onward to the marne, somme, and ypres salient in march-june, , was received by the shifting garrison of brussels with little enthusiasm. would it not tend to prolong the war? the german advance into france was spectacular, but it was paid for by an appalling death-roll. the hospitals at brussels were filled to overflowing with wounded and dying men. the austrians who were brought from the italian front to replenish the depleted battalions, quarrelled openly with the prussians, and in some cases had to be surrounded in a barrack square and shot down. the first real check to the german army in its second march on paris--that which followed its crossing of the marne near dormans--was prophetically greeted by the bruxellois as the turning of the tide. the emperor had gone thither from the hotel impérial in order to witness and follow the culminating march on paris. but foch now struck with his reserves, and the head of the tortoise was nipped off. the driving back of the germans over the marne coincided with the belgian national fête of july . not since had this fête been openly observed. but on this day in , the german police made no protest when a huge crowd celebrated the fête day in every church and every street. vivien herself, smiling and laughing as she had not done since bertie's death, attended the service in sainte-gudule and joined in singing _la brabançonne_ in place of _te deum, laudamus_. in the streets and houses of brussels every piano, every gramophone was enrolled to play the _marseillaise_, _vers l'avenir_, and _la brabançonne_, the belgian national anthem (uninspiring words and dreary tune). from this date onwards--july --the german _débacle_ proceeded, with scarcely one day's intermission, with never a german regain of lost ground. when the americans had retaken st. mihiel on september , then did belgians boldly predict that their king would be back in brussels by christmas. but their prophecies were outstripped by events. already, in the beginning of october, the accredited german press in belgium was adjuring the belgians not to be impatient, but to let them evacuate belgium quietly. at the end of october, minna von stachelberg told vivien that she and the other units of the german red cross had received instructions to leave and hand over their charges to the belgian doctors and nurses. the two women took an affectionate farewell of each other, vowing they would meet again--somewhere--when the war was over. british wounded now began to cease coming into brussels, so vivie was free to attend to her own affairs. enormous quantities of german plunder were streaming out of belgium by train, by motor, in military lorries, in carts and waggons. nearly all this belonged to the officers, and the already-rebellious soldiers broke out in protestations. "why should they who had done all the fighting have none of the loot?" so they won over the belgian engine-drivers--delighted to see this quarrel between the hyenas--and held up the trains in the suburban stations north of brussels. there were pitched battles which ended always in the soldiers' victory. the soldiers then would hold auctions and markets of the plunder captured in the trains and lorries. they were in a hurry to get a little money to take back with them to germany. vivie, who had laid her plans now as to what to do after the german evacuation of brussels, attended these auctions. she was nearly always civilly treated, because so many german soldiers had known her as a friend in hospital and told other soldiers. at one such sale she bought a serviceable motor-car for francs; at another drums of petrol. she had provided herself with funds by going to her mother's bank and reopening the question of the deposited jewels and plate. now that the victory of the allies seemed certain, the bank manager was more inclined to make things easy for her. he had the jewels and plate valued--roughly--at £ , ; and although he would not surrender them till the will could be proved and she could show letters of administration, he consented on behalf of the bank to make her a loan of , francs. on november th, a german soldier who followed vivien about with humble fidelity since she had cured him of a bad whitlow--and also because, as he said, it was a joy to speak english once more--for he had been a waiter at the savoy hotel--came to her in the boulevard d'anspach and said "the red flag, lady, he fly from kommandantur. with us i think it is kaput." this was what vivien had been waiting for. asking the man to follow her, she first stopped outside a shop of military equipment, and after a brief inspection of its goods entered and purchased a short, not too flexible riding-whip, with a heavy handle. then as the trams were densely crowded, she walked at a rapid pace--glancing round ever and again to see that her german soldier was following--up the boulevard du jardin botanique and along the rue royale until she came to the hotel impérial. here she halted for a minute to have the soldier close behind her; then gave the revolving door a turn and found herself and him in the marble hall once built for mrs. warren's florid taste. "call the manager," she said--trying not to pant--to two belgian servants who came up, a porter and a lift man. the manager--he who had ejected her and her mother in --was fortunately a little while in appearing. he was really packing up with energy so as to depart with all the plunder he could transport before the way of escape was closed. this little delay enabled vivien to get her breath and resume an impressive calm. "well: what you want?" the manager said insolently, recollecting her. "this first," she said, seizing him suddenly by his coat collar. "i want--to--give--you--the--soundest--thrashing you have ever had..." and before he could offer any effective resistance she had lashed him well with the riding _cravache_ about the shoulders, hands, back and face. he wrenched himself free and crouched ready for a counter attack. but the belgian servants intervened and tripped him up; and the german soldier--the ex-waiter from the savoy--said that madame was by nature so kind that there must be some good reason for this chastisement. "there is," she replied, now she had got her breath and was inwardly feeling ashamed at her resort to such violent methods. "three years ago, this creature turned my mother and myself out of this hotel with such violence that my mother died of it a few minutes afterwards. he stole our money and much of our property. i have inherited from my mother, to whom this hotel once belonged, a right over certain rooms which she used to occupy. i resume that right from to-day. i shall go to them now. as to this wretch, throw him out on to the pavement. he can afterwards send for his luggage, and what really is his he shall have." her orders were executed. she then sent a message to mme. walcker and to the kind tea-shop woman, mme. trouessart, close by, explaining what she had done and why. "i shall take control of this hotel in the name of the belgian company that owns it, a company in which, through my mother, i possess shares. i shall stay here till responsible persons take it over and i shall resume possession of the _appartement_ that belonged to my mother." meantime, would madame trouessart engage a few stout wenches to eke out the scanty hotel staff, most of which being german had already commenced its flight back to the fatherland with all the plunder it could carry off. the soldier-ex-hotel-waiter was provisionally engaged to remain, as long as the belgian government allowed him, and three stalwart british soldiers, until the day before prisoners-of-war, were enlisted in her service and armed with revolvers to repel any ordinary act of brigandage. by the end of november she had the hotel Édouard-sept--with the old name restored--running smoothly and ready for the new guests--british, french officers and civilians who would follow the king of the belgians on his return to his capital. the re-established belgian authorities soon put her into possession of the villa beau-séjour. the german sergeant-major here had kept faith with her, and in return for handing over everything intact, including the herd of cows, received a _douceur_ which amply rewarded him for this belated honesty before he, too, set his face towards germany with the rest of the evacuating army. the motor-car she had bought enabled her to fetch supplies of food from farm to hotel and to perform many little services to belgians who were returning to their old homes. madame trouessart, not as yet having any stock of tea with which to reopen her tea-shop to the first incoming of curious tourists, agreed to live with miss warren at the hotel and act as her deputy, if affairs took her away from brussels. it was at the hotel Édouard-sept, the place where she had been born, that rossiter met her when he arrived in brussels after the armistice. she felt a little tremulous when his card was sent up to her, and kept him waiting quite five minutes while she saw that her hair was tidy and estimated before the glass the extent to which it had gone grey. she had let it grow of late years--the days of david williams and mr. michaelis seemed very remote--and spent some time and consideration in arranging it. her costume was workmanlike and that of an hotel manageress in the morning; yet distinctly set off her figure and suited her character of an able-bodied, intellectual woman. * * * * * "vivie!" "michael!" "my _dear_! you're handsomer than ever!" "michael! your khaki uniform becomes you; and i'm _so_ glad you've got rid of that beard. _now_ we can see your well-shaped chin. but still: we mustn't stand here, paying one another compliments, though this meeting is _too_ wonderful: i never thought i should see you again. let's come to realities. i suppose the real heart-felt question at the back of your mind is: _can_ i let you have a room? i can, but not a bath-room suite; they're all taken..." _michael_: "nonsense! i'm going to be put up at the palace hotel. jenkins--you remember the butler of old time?--jenkins, and my batman, a refined brigand, a polished robber, have already been there and commandeered something.... "no. i came here, firstly to find out if you were living; secondly to ask you to marry me" ... (a pause) ... "and thirdly to find out what happened to bertie adams. a message came through the spanish legation here, a year and a half ago, to the effect that he had died at brussels from the consequences of the war. however, unless you can tell me at once this is all a mistake, we can go into his affairs later. my first question is--oh! bother all this cackle.... _will_ you marry me?" _vivie_: "dear, brave bertie, whom i shall everlastingly mourn, was shot here in brussels by the abominable germans, as a spy, on april th, . he was of course no more a spy than you are or i am. the poor devoted fool--i rage still, because i shall never be worth such folly, such selfless devotion--got into belgium with false passports--american: in the hope of rescuing me. he came and enquired here--my last address in his remembrance--and came by sheer bad luck just as the kaiser was about to arrive. they jumped to the conclusion that--" _rossiter_: "_awfully, cruelly_ sad. but you can give me the details of it later on. you must have a long, long story of your own to tell which ought to be of poignant interest. but ... will you marry me? i suppose you know dear linda died--was killed by a bomb in a german air-raid last year--october, . i really felt _heart-broken_ about it, but i know now i am only doing what she would have wished. she came at last to talk about you _quite_ differently, _quite_ understanding--" _vivie_: "that's what all widowers say. they always declare the dead wife begged them to marry again, and even designated her successor. poor linda! yes, i read an account of it in a copy of the _times_; but i couldn't of course communicate with you to say how _truly, truly_ sorry i was. i am glad to know she spoke nicely of me. did she really? or have you only made it up?" _michael_: "_of course_ i haven't. she really did. do you know, she and i quite altered after the war began? she lost all her old silliness and inefficiency--or at any rate only retained enough of the old childishness to make her endearing. and i really grew to love her. i quite forgot you. yes: i admit it.... "but somehow, after she was dead the old feeling for you came back ... and without any disloyalty to linda. i felt in a way--i know it is an absurd thing for a man of science to say, for we have still no proof--i felt somehow as though she lived still. that's why i don't want to get rid of the park crescent house. her presence seems to linger there. but i also knew--instinctively--that she would like us to come together.... she..." _waiter_ (knocking at door and slightly opening it): "madame! le général tompkins veut vous voir. il ajoute qu'il n'est pas habitué à attendre. il y a aussi m'sieur Émile vandervelde, qui arrive instamment et qui n'a pas d'installation..." _rossiter_: "damn! let me go and settle with 'em. tompkins! i never heard such cheek--" _vivien_: "not at all. you forget i am manageress." (to waiter) "entrez done! dîtes au général que je serai à sa disposition dans trois minutes; et montrez-lui ce que nous avons en fait de chambres. tous les appartements avec bain sont pris. casez m'sieur vandervelde quelque part. du reste, je descendrai."... (waiter goes out) ... "michael! it is impossible to have a sentimental conversation here, and at this hour--eleven o'clock on a busy morning. if you want an answer to your second question, now you've seen me, meet me outside the palm house of the jardin botanique, at p.m. i'll get off somehow for an hour just then. don't forget! it's close by here--along the rue royale. be absolutely punctual, or else i shall think that having _seen_ me, seen how changed i am, you have altered your mind. i shall _quite_ understand; only i _may_ come back at five minutes past three and accept general tompkins. acquaintances ripen quickly in brussels." * * * * * in the palm house--or rather one of its many compartments; . p.m., on a beautiful afternoon in early december. the sun is sinking over outspread brussels in a pink and yellow haze radiating from the good-humoured-looking, orange orb. there are no other visitors to the palm house, at any rate not to this compartment, except the superintending gardener--the same that cheered the last hours of mrs. warren. he recognizes vivien and salutes her gravely. seeing that she is accompanied by a gentleman in khaki he discreetly withdraws out of hearing and tidies up a tree fern. vivien and michael seat themselves on two green iron chairs under the fronds and in front of grey stems. _vivie_: "this is a favourite place of mine for assignations. i can't think why it is so little appreciated by young brussels. these palm houses are much more beautiful than anything at kew; they are in the heart of brussels, over which, as you see, you have a wonderful view. it was much more frequented when the germans were here. with all their brutality they did not injure this unequalled collection of tropical plants. they made the palm house an allowance of coal and coke in winter while we poor human beings went without. i used often to come in here on a winter's day to get warm and to forget my sorrows.... "look at that superb raphia--_what_ fronds! and that phoenix spinosa--and that aralia--" _rossiter_: "bother the aralia. i haven't come here for a botany lesson. besides, it isn't an aralia; it's a gomphocarpus.... vivie! _will_ you marry me?" _vivie_: "my dear michael: i was forty-three last october." _michael_: "i was _fifty-three_ last november, the day the armistice was signed. but i feel more like thirty-three. life in camp has quite rejuvenated me..." _vivie_ (continuing): ... "and my hair is cinder grey--an unfortunate transition colour. and if the gardener were not looking i should say: 'feel my elbows ... dreadfully bony! and my face has become..." she turns her face towards him. he sees tears trembling on the lower lashes of her grey eyes, but something has come into the features, some irradiation of love--is it the light of the sunset?--which imparts a tender youthfulness to the curvature of cheek, lips and chin. her face, indeed, might be of any age: it held the undying beauty of a goddess, in whom knowledge has sweetened to tenderness and divinity has dissolved in a need for compassion; and the youthful assurance of a happy woman whose wish at last is won.... for a minute she looks at him without finishing her sentence. then she sits up straighter and says explicitly: "yes, i will." * * * * * the gardener managed an occasional peep at them, sitting hand in hand. he wished the idyll to last as long as the clear daylight, but the hour for closing was four o'clock--"il n'y avait pas à nier." either they were husband and wife, reunited, after years of war-severance; or they were mature lovers, and probably of the most respectable. in either case, the necessary hint that ecstasies must transfer themselves at sunset from the glass houses of the jardin botanique to the outer air was best conveyed on this occasion by a discreet gift of flowers. accordingly he went on to where exotic lilies were blooming, picked a few blossoms, returned, came with soft padding steps up to vivie, offered them with a bow and "mes félicitations _sincères_, madame." vivie laughed and took the lilies; rossiter of course gave him a ten-franc note. and they sauntered slowly back to the hotel. l'envoi i am reproached by such art critics as deign to notice my pictures with "finishing my foregrounds over much,"--filling them with superabundant detail, making the primroses more important than the snow-peaks. and by my publishers with forgetting the price of paper and the cost of printing. my jury of matrons thinks i don't know where to leave off and that i might very well close this book on the answer that mrs. warren's daughter gave to sir michael rossiter's proposal of marriage in the palm house at brussels. "the reader," they say, "can very well fill in the rest of the story for himself or herself. it is hardly likely that vivie will cry off at the last moment, or michael reconsider the plunge into a second marriage. why therefore waste print and paper and our eyesight in describing the marriage ceremony, the inevitable visit to honoria, and what vivie did with the property she inherited from her mother?" no doubt they are all right. yet i am distrustful of my readers' judgment and imagination. i feel both want guiding, and i doubt their knowledge of the world and goodness of heart being equal to mine, except in rare cases. so i throw out these indications to influence the sequels they may plan to this story. i think that michael and vivie were married at the british legation in brussels between christmas and the new year of - ; before that legation was erected into an embassy; and that the marriage officer was kind, genial mr. hawk when he returned to brussels from the hague and proceeded to get the legation into working order. i am sure mr. hawk entered into the spirit of the thing and gave an informal breakfast afterwards in the rue de spa to which mons. and mme. walcker, mons. and mme. trouessart, and the directeur of the prison of saint-gilles and his wife were invited. i think the head gardener of the jardin botanique who had charge of the tropical houses cribbed from the collections some of the most magnificent blooms, and presented them to vivie on the morning of her marriage; and that afterwards she laid the bouquet on her mother's newly finished tomb in the cemetery of st. josse-ten-noode, where, the weather being singularly mild for the time of year, the flowers lasted fresh and blooming for several days. i am sure she and michael then crossed the road and passed on to the building of the tir national; entered it and stood for a moment in the verandah from which vivie had seen bertie adams executed; and passed on over the tussocky grass to the graves of bertie adams and edith cavell, where they did silent homage to the dead. i believe a few days afterwards they visited the senate where the victims of von bissing's "terror" had been tried, browbeaten, insulted, mocked. and the functionary who showed them over this superb national palace is certain to have included in his exposition the once splendid carpets which the german officers prior to their evacuation of the senate--all but the legislative chamber of which was used as a barracks for rough soldiery--had sprayed and barred, streaked and splodged with printing ink. he would also have pointed out the three-hundred-year-old tapestries they had ripped from the walls and the historical portraits they had slashed, and would again have emphasized the fact that in all these senseless devastations the officers were far worse than the men. also i am certain that michael and vivie made a pilgrimage to the prison of saint-gilles, and stood silently in the cell where bertie adams and vivie had spent those terrible days of suspense and despair between april and april , ; and that when they entered that other compartment of the prison where edith cavell had passed her last days before her execution, they listened with sympathetic reverence to the recital by the directeur of verses from "l'hymne d'Édith cavell"--as it is now called--no other than the sad old poem of human sorrow, _abide with me_; and that they appreciated to the full the warmth of belgian feeling which has turned the cell of edith cavell into a chapelle ardente in perpetuity. i think they returned to england in january, , so that michael might get back quickly to his work of mending the maimed, now transferred to english hospitals; and so that vivie--always a practical woman--should prove her mother's will, secure her heritage and have it in hand as a fund from which to promote all the happiness she could. i doubt whether she will give much of it to "causes" rather than cases and to politics in preference to persons. i think she was awfully disgusted when she was back in the england of to-day not to find mrs. fawcett prime ministress and first lady of the treasury, annie kenney at the board of trade and christabel pankhurst running the ministry of health. it was disheartening after the long struggle for the woman's vote and the equality of the sexes in opportunity to find the same old men-muddlers in charge of all public affairs and departments of state, and the only woman on the benches of the house of commons a millionaire peeress never before identified with the struggle for the woman's cause. however i think her disenchantment did not diminish the rapture at finding herself once more in the intimacy of honoria armstrong. sir petworth, when he ran over on leave from the army of occupation, thought her enormously improved, though he had the tact not to say so. he frankly made the _amende honorable_ for his suspicions and churlishness of the past, and himself--i think--insisted on his frank and friendly children calling her "aunt vivie." i am equally sure that vivie was not long in london before she appeared at dear old praddy's studio, beautifully gowned and looking years younger than forty-three; and i shouldn't wonder but that her presence once more in his circle will give his frame a fillip so that he may cheat death over a few more annual outbreaks of influenza. i am convinced that he has left all his money, after providing a handsome annuity for the parlour-maid, to vivie, knowing that in her hands, far more--and far more quickly than in those that direct princely and public charities--will his funds reach the students and the poverty-stricken artists whom he wants to benefit. i think that after spending the first five months of in london, getting no. park crescent tidy again and fully repaired (because michael wished to pursue more thoroughly than ever his biological researches), vivie and michael went off to spend their real honeymoon in the occupied territory of the rhineland, in that never-to-be forgotten june, memorable for its splendid sunshine and the beauty of its flowers and foliage. i think they did this expressly (under the guise of a visit to general armstrong), so that vivie and minna von stachelberg--now minna schultz--might foregather at bonn. minna had married again, an officer of no family but of means and of fine physique whom she had nursed in brussels. his left arm had been shattered, but the skill of the belgian surgeons and her devoted nursing had saved it from being amputated. she had wished however to have him examined by some great exponent of curative surgery at bonn university, and the conjunction of the celebrated sir michael rossiter--who in his discussions of anatomy with the bonn professors forgot there had ever been a war between britain and germany--was most opportune. i think however that sir michael said this was all humbug on minna's part, and that all she wanted--her husband, major schultz, looking the picture of health--was to meet once more her well-beloved vivie. at any rate i am sure they met in the rhineland in a propitious month when you could be out of doors all day and all night; and that minna said some time or other how happy she was in her second marriage, and that however heartily she disliked militarism and condemned war, soldiers made the nicest husbands. i think before she and vivie parted to go their several ways, they determined to work for the building up of an anglo-german reconciliation, and for the advocacy in both countries of a man-and-woman government. i think, nevertheless, that vivie being a sound business woman and possessing a strong sense of justice on the lines of an eye for an eye, will claim at least five thousand pounds from the german government for the devastations and thefts at the villa beau-séjour; and that having got it and having disposed of her mother's jewellery and plate for £ , , she will present the villa beau-séjour property and an endowment of £ , to the town of brussels, as an educational orphanage for the children of belgian soldiers who have died in the war, where they may receive a practical education in agriculture and poultry farming. i fancy she gave a thousand pounds to pasteur walcker's congo mission; and transferred to mme. trouessart all her shares in and rights over the hotel Édouard-sept. i also picture to myself the rossiters having a motor tour of pure pleasure and delight of the eyes in south wales in september, . i imagine their going to pontystrad and surprising the vicar and vicaress and puzzling them by purposely-diffuse stories of vivie's cousin the late david vavasour williams, intended to convey the idea, without telling unnecessary fibs, that david died abroad during the war, but that vivie in his memory and that of his dear old father intends to continue a strong personal interest in the village hall and its educational aims. i also picture vivie going alone to mrs. evanwy's rose-entwined cottage. the old lady is now rather shaky and does not walk far from her little garden with its box bower and garden seat. i can foreshadow vivie dispelling some of the mystery about david williams and being embraced by the old nannie with warm affection and the hearty assurances that she had guessed the secret from the very first but had been so drawn to the false david williams and so sure of his honest purposes that nothing would have induced her to undeceive the old vicar. i can even imagine the old lady ere--years hence--paralysis strikes her down--telling vivie so much gossip about the welsh vavasours that vivie becomes positively certain her mother came from that stock and that she really was first cousin to the boy she personated for the laudable purpose of showing how well a woman could practise at the bar. i like to think also that by the present year of grace-- --the rossiters will have become convinced that no. park crescent, even with the zoo and the royal botanic gardens close by and the ornamental garden of regent's park in between, does not satisfy all their needs and ambitions: that they will have resolved even before this year began--to supplement it by a home in the country for week-ends, for summer visits, and finally for rest in their old age. that for this purpose they will acquire some ideal grange or priory, or ample farmstead near petworth and the armstrongs' home, over against the south downs, and near the river rother; that it shall be in no mere suburb of petworth but in a stately little village with its own character and history going back to roman times and a church with a saxon body and a norman chancel. and that in the ideal churchyard of this enviable church with ancient yews and th century tomb-stones, and old, old benches in the sunshine for the grandfathers and loafers of the village to sit on and smoke of a sabbath morning, a place shall be found for the bones of bertie adams; reverently brought over from the grassy amphitheatre of the tir national to repose in this churchyard of west sussex which looks out over one of the finest cricket pitches in the county. if, then, there is any lien between the mouldering fragments of our bodies and the inexplicable personality which has been generated in the living brain, the former office boy of _fraser and warren_ will know that he is always present in the memory of vivien rossiter, that she has placed the few physical fragments still representing him in such a setting as would have delighted his honest, simple nature in his lifetime. he would also know that his children are now hers and her husband's; that his nance very rightly married the excellent butler, jenkins, with whom he had discussed many a cricket score; and that love, after all, is stronger than death. the end waste: a tragedy, in four acts, by granville barker london: sidgwick & jackson, ltd. adam street, adelphi. mcmix. _entered at the library of congress, washington, u.s.a. all rights reserved._ waste - waste at shapters, george farrant's house in hertfordshire. ten o'clock on a sunday evening in summer. _facing you at her piano by the window, from which she is protected by a little screen, sits_ mrs. farrant; _a woman of the interesting age, clear-eyed and all her face serene, except for a little pucker of the brows which shows a puzzled mind upon some important matters. to become almost an ideal hostess has been her achievement; and in her own home, as now, this grace is written upon every movement. her eyes pass over the head of a girl, sitting in a low chair by a little table, with the shaded lamplight falling on her face. this is_ lucy davenport; _twenty-three, undefeated in anything as yet and so unsoftened. the book on her lap is closed, for she has been listening to the music. it is possibly some german philosopher, whom she reads with a critical appreciation of his shortcomings. on the sofa near her lounges_ mrs. o'connell; _a charming woman, if by charming you understand a woman who converts every quality she possesses into a means of attraction, and has no use for any others. on the sofa opposite sits_ miss trebell. _in a few years, when her hair is quite grey, she will assume as by right the dignity of an old maid. between these two in a low armchair is_ lady davenport. _she has attained to many dignities. mother and grandmother, she has brought into the world and nourished not merely life but character. a wonderful face she has, full of proud memories and fearless of the future. behind her, on a sofa between the windows, is_ walter kent. _he is just what the average english father would like his son to be. you can see the light shooting out through the windows and mixing with moonshine upon a smooth lawn. on your left is a door. there are many books in the room, hardly any pictures, a statuette perhaps. the owner evidently sets beauty of form before beauty of colour. it is a woman's room and it has a certain delicate austerity. by the time you have observed everything_ mrs. farrant _has played chopin's prelude opus , number from beginning to end._ lady davenport. thank you, my dear julia. walter kent. [_protesting._] no more? mrs. farrant. i won't play for a moment longer than i feel musical. miss trebell. do you think it right, julia, to finish with that after an hour's bach? mrs. farrant. i suddenly came over chopinesque, fanny; ... what's your objection? [_as she sits by her._] frances trebell. what ... when bach has raised me to the heights of unselfishness! amy o'connell. [_grimacing sweetly, her eyes only half lifted._] does he? i'm glad that i don't understand him. frances trebell. [_putting mere prettiness in its place._] one may prefer chopin when one is young. amy o'connell. and is that a reproach or a compliment? walter kent. [_boldly._] i do. frances trebell. or a man may ... unless he's a philosopher. lady davenport. [_to the rescue._] miss trebell, you're very hard on mere humanity. frances trebell. [_completing the reproof._] that's my wretched training as a schoolmistress, lady davenport ... one grew to fear it above all things. lucy davenport. [_throwing in the monosyllable with sharp youthful enquiry._] why? frances trebell. there were no text books on the subject. mrs. farrant. [_smiling at her friend._] yes, fanny ... i think you escaped to look after your brother only just in time. frances trebell. in another year i might have been head-mistress, which commits you to approve of the system for ever. lady davenport. [_shaking her wise head._] i've watched the education fever take england.... frances trebell. if i hadn't stopped teaching things i didn't understand...! amy o'connell. [_not without mischief._] and what was the effect on the pupils? lucy davenport. i can tell you that. amy o'connell. frances never taught you. lucy davenport. no, i wish she had. but i was at her sort of a school before i went to newnham. i know. frances trebell. [_very distastefully._] up-to-date, it was described as. lucy davenport. well, it was like a merry-go-round at top speed. you felt things wouldn't look a bit like that when you came to a standstill. amy o'connell. and they don't? lucy davenport. [_with great decision._] not a bit. amy o'connell. [_in her velvet tone._] i was taught the whole duty of woman by a parson-uncle who disbelieved in his church. walter kent. when a man at jude's was going to take orders.... amy o'connell. jude's? walter kent. at oxford. the dons went very gingerly with him over bits of science and history. [_this wakes a fruitful thought in_ julia farrant's _brain._] mrs. farrant. mamma, have you ever discussed so-called anti-christian science with lord charles? frances trebell ... cantelupe? mrs. farrant. yes. it was over appointing a teacher for the schools down here ... he was staying with us. the vicar's his fervent disciple. however, we were consulted. lucy davenport. didn't lord charles want you to send the boys there till they were ready for harrow? mrs. farrant. yes. frances trebell. quite the last thing in toryism! mrs. farrant. mamma made george say we were too _nouveau riche_ to risk it. lady davenport. [_as she laughs._] i couldn't resist that. mrs. farrant. [_catching something of her subject's dry driving manner._] lord charles takes the superior line and says ... that with his consent the church may teach the unalterable truth in scientific language or legendary, whichever is easier understanded of the people. lady davenport. is it the prospect of disestablishment suddenly makes him so accommodating? frances trebell. [_with large contempt._] he needn't be. the majority of people believe the world was made in an english week. lucy davenport. oh, no! frances trebell. no bishop dare deny it. mrs. farrant. [_from the heights of experience._] dear lucy, do you seriously think that the english spirit--the nerve that runs down the backbone--is disturbed by new theology ... or new anything? lady davenport. [_enjoying her epigram._] what a waste of persecution history shows us! walter kent _now captures the conversation with a very young politician's fervour._ walter kent. once they're disestablished they must make up their minds what they do believe. lady davenport. i presume lord charles thinks it'll hand the church over to him and his ... dare i say 'sect'? walter kent. won't it? he knows what he wants. mrs. farrant. [_subtly._] there's the election to come yet. walter kent. but now both parties are pledged to a bill of some sort. mrs. farrant. political prophecies have a knack of not coming true; but, d'you know, cyril horsham warned me to watch this position developing ... nearly four years ago. frances trebell. sitting on the opposition bench sharpens the eye-sight. walter kent. [_ironically._] has he been pleased with the prospect? mrs. farrant. [_with perfect diplomacy_] if the church must be disestablished ... better done by its friends than its enemies. frances trebell. still i don't gather he's pleased with his dear cousin charles's conduct. mrs. farrant. [_shrugging._] oh, lately, lord charles has never concealed his tactics. frances trebell. and that speech at leeds was the crowning move i suppose; just asking the nonconformists to bring things to a head? mrs. farrant. [_judicially._] i think that was precipitate. walter kent. [_giving them_ lord charles's _oratory._] gentlemen, in these latter days of radical opportunism!--you know, i was there ... sitting next to an old gentleman who shouted "jesuit." frances trebell. but supposing mallaby and the nonconformists hadn't been able to force the liberals' hand? mrs. farrant. [_speaking as of inferior beings._] why, they were glad of any cry going to the country! frances trebell. [_as she considers this._] yes ... and lord charles would still have had as good a chance of forcing lord horsham's. it has been clever tactics. lucy davenport. [_who has been listening, sharp-eyed._] contrariwise, he wouldn't have liked a radical bill though, would he? walter kent. [_with aplomb._] he knew he was safe from that. the government must have dissolved before christmas anyway ... and the swing of the pendulum's a sure thing. mrs. farrant. [_with her smile._] it's never a sure thing. walter kent. oh, mrs. farrant, look how unpopular the liberals are. frances trebell. what made them bring in resolutions? walter kent. [_overflowing with knowledge of the subject._] i was told mallaby insisted on their showing they meant business. i thought he was being too clever ... and it turns out he was. tommy luxmore told me there was a fearful row in the cabinet about it. but on their last legs, you know, it didn't seem to matter, i suppose. even then, if prothero had mustered up an ounce of tact ... i believe they could have pulled them through.... frances trebell. not the spoliation one. walter kent. well, mr. trebell dished that! frances trebell. henry says his speech didn't turn a vote. mrs. farrant. [_with charming irony._] how disinterested of him! walter kent. [_enthusiastic._] that speech did if ever a speech did. frances trebell. is there any record of a speech that ever did? he just carried his own little following with him. mrs. farrant. but the crux of the whole matter is and has always been ... what's to be done with the church's money. lucy davenport. [_visualising sovereigns._] a hundred millions or so ... think of it! frances trebell. there has been from the start a good deal of anti-nonconformist feeling against applying the money to secular uses. mrs. farrant. [_deprecating false modesty, on anyone's behalf._] oh, of course the speech turned votes ... twenty of them at least. lucy davenport. [_determined on information._] then i was told lord horsham had tried to come to an understanding himself with the nonconformists about disestablishment--oh--a long time ago ... over the education bill. frances trebell. is that true, julia? mrs. farrant. how should i know? frances trebell. [_with some mischief_] you might. mrs. farrant. [_weighing her words._] i don't think it would have been altogether wise to make advances. they'd have asked more than a conservative government could possibly persuade the church to give up. walter kent. i don't see that horsham's much better off now. he only turned the radicals out on the spoliation question by the help of trebell. and so far ... i mean, till this election is over trebell counts still as one of them, doesn't he, miss trebell? oh ... perhaps he doesn't. frances trebell. he'll tell you he never has counted as one of them. mrs. farrant. no doubt lord charles would sooner have done without his help. and that's why i didn't ask the gentle jesuit this week-end if anyone wants to know. walter kent. [_stupent at this lack of party spirit._] what ... he'd rather have had the liberals go to the country undefeated! mrs. farrant. [_with finesse._] the election may bring us back independent of mr. trebell and anything he stands for. walter kent. [_sharply._] but you asked lord horsham to meet him. mrs. farrant. [_with still more finesse._] i had my reasons. votes aren't everything. lady davenport _has been listening with rather a doubtful smile; she now caps the discussion._ lady davenport. i'm relieved to hear you say so, my dear julia. on the other hand democracy seems to have brought itself to a pretty pass. here's a measure, which the country as a whole neither demands nor approves of, will certainly be carried, you tell me, because a minority on each side is determined it shall be ... for totally different reasons. mrs. farrant. [_shrugging again._] it isn't our business to prevent popular government looking foolish, mamma. lady davenport. is that tory cynicism or feminine? _at this moment_ george farrant _comes through the window; a good natured man of forty-five. he would tell you that he was educated at eton and oxford. but the knowledge which saves his life comes from the thrusting upon him of authority and experience; ranging from the management of an estate which he inherited at twenty-four, through the chairmanship of a newspaper syndicate, through a successful marriage, to a minor post in the last tory cabinet and the prospect of one in the near-coming next. thanks to his agents, editors, permanent officials, and his own common sense, he always acquits himself creditably. he comes to his wife's side and waits for a pause in the conversation._ lady davenport. i remember mr. disraeli once said to me ... clever women are as dangerous to the state as dynamite. frances trebell. [_not to be impressed by disraeli._] well, lady davenport, if men will leave our intellects lying loose about.... farrant. blackborough's going, julia. mrs. farrant. yes, george. lady davenport. [_concluding her little apologue to_ miss trebell.] yes, my dear, but power without responsibility isn't good for the character that wields it either. [_there follows_ farrant _through the window a man of fifty. he has about him that unmistakeable air of acquired wealth and power which distinguishes many jews and has therefore come to be regarded as a solely jewish characteristic. he speaks always with that swift decision which betokens a narrowed view. this is_ russell blackborough; _manufacturer, politician ... statesman, his own side calls him._] blackborough. [_to his hostess._] if i start now, they tell me, i shall get home before the moon goes down. i'm sorry i must get back to-night. it's been a most delightful week-end. mrs. farrant. [_gracefully giving him a good-bye hand._] and a successful one, i hope. farrant. we talked education for half an hour. mrs. farrant. [_her eyebrows lifting a shade._] education! farrant. then trebell went away to work. blackborough. i've missed the music, i fear. mrs. farrant. but it's been bach. blackborough. no chopin? mrs. farrant. for a minute only. blackborough. why don't these new italian men write things for the piano! good-night, lady davenport. lady davenport. [_as he bows over her hand._] and what has education to do with it? blackborough. [_non-committal himself._] perhaps it was a subject that compromised nobody. lady davenport. do you think my daughter has been wasting her time and her tact? farrant. [_clapping him on the shoulder._] blackborough's frankly flabbergasted at the publicity of this intrigue. mrs. farrant. intrigue! mr. trebell walked across the house ... actually into your arms. blackborough. [_with a certain dubious grimness._] well ... we've had some very interesting talks since. and his views upon education are quite ... utopian. good bye, miss trebell. frances trebell. good-bye. mrs. farrant. i wouldn't be so haughty till after the election, if i were you, mr. blackborough. blackborough. [_indifferently._] oh, i'm glad he's with us on the church question ... so far. mrs. farrant. so far as you've made up your minds? the electoral cat will jump soon. blackborough. [_a little beaten by such polite cynicism._] well ... our conservative principles! after all we know what they are. good-night, mrs. o'connell. amy o'connell. good-night. farrant. your neuralgia better? amy o'connell. by fits and starts. farrant. [_robustly._] come and play billiards. horsham and maconochie started a game. they can neither of them play. we left them working out a theory of angles on bits of paper. walter kent. professor maconochie lured me on to golf yesterday. he doesn't suffer from theories about that. blackborough. [_with approval._] started life as a caddie. walter kent. [_pulling a wry face._] so he told me after the first hole. blackborough. what's this, kent, about trebell's making you his secretary? walter kent. he thinks he'll have me. blackborough. [_almost reprovingly._] no question of politics? farrant. more intrigue, blackborough. walter kent. [_with disarming candour._] the truth is, you see, i haven't any as yet. i was socialist at oxford ... but of course that doesn't count. i think i'd better learn my job under the best man i can find ... and who'll have me. blackborough. [_gravely._] what does your father say? walter kent. oh, as long as jack will inherit the property in a tory spirit! my father thinks it my wild oats. _a footman has come in._ the footman. your car is round, sir. blackborough. ah! good-night, miss davenport. good-bye again, mrs. farrant ... a charming week-end. _he makes a business-like departure_, farrant _follows him._ the footman. a telephone message from dr. wedgecroft, ma'am. his thanks; they stopped the express for him at hitchin and he has reached london quite safely. mrs. farrant. thank you. [_the footman goes out._ mrs. farrant _exhales delicately as if the air were a little refined by_ blackborough's _removal._] mrs. farrant. mr. blackborough and his patent turbines and his gas engines and what not are the motive power of our party nowadays, fanny. frances trebell. yes, you claim to be steering plutocracy. do you never wonder if it isn't steering you? mrs. o'connell, _growing restless, has wandered round the room picking at the books in their cases._ amy o'connell. i always like your books, julia. it's an intellectual distinction to know someone who has read them. mrs. farrant. that's the communion i choose. frances trebell. aristocrat ... fastidious aristocrat. mrs. farrant. no, now. learning's a great leveller. frances trebell. but julia ... books are quite unreal. d'you think life is a bit like them? mrs. farrant. they bring me into touch with ... oh, there's nothing more deadening than to be boxed into a set in society! speak to a woman outside it ... she doesn't understand your language. frances trebell. and do you think by prattling hegel with gilbert wedgecroft when he comes to physic you-- mrs. farrant. [_joyously._] excellent physic that is. he never leaves a prescription. lady davenport. don't you think an aristocracy of brains is the best aristocracy, miss trebell? frances trebell. [_with a little more bitterness than the abstraction of the subject demands._] i'm sure it is just as out of touch with humanity as any other ... more so, perhaps. if i were a country i wouldn't be governed by arid intellects. mrs. farrant. manners, frances. frances trebell. i'm one myself and i know. they're either dead or dangerous. george farrant _comes back and goes straight to_ mrs. o'connell. farrant. [_still robustly._] billiards, mrs. o'connell. amy o'connell. [_declining sweetly._] i think not. farrant. billiards, lucy? lucy davenport. [_as robust as he._] yes, uncle george. you shall mark while walter gives me twenty-five and i beat him. walter kent. [_with a none-of-your-impudence air._] i'll give you ten yards start and race you to the billiard room. lucy davenport. will you wear my skirt? oh ... grandmamma's thinking me vulgar. lady davenport. [_without prejudice._] why, my dear, freedom of limb is worth having ... and perhaps it fits better with freedom of tongue. farrant. [_in the proper avuncular tone._] i'll play you both ... and i'd race you both if you weren't so disgracefully young. amy o'connell _has reached an open window._ amy o'connell. i shall go for a walk with my neuralgia. mrs. farrant. poor thing! amy o'connell. the moon's good for it. lucy davenport. shall you come, aunt julia? mrs. farrant. [_in flat protest._] no, i will not sit up while you play billiards. mrs. o'connell _goes out through the one window, stands for a moment, wistfully romantic, gazing at_ kent _are standing at the other, looking across the lawn._ farrant. horsham still arguing with maconochie. they're got to botany now. walter kent. demonstrating something with a ... what's that thing? walter _goes out._ farrant. [_with a throw of his head towards the distant_ horsham.] he was so bored with our politics ... having to give his opinion too. we could just hear your piano. _and he follows_ walter. mrs. farrant. take amy o'connell that lace thing, will you, lucy? lucy davenport. [_her tone expressing quite wonderfully her sentiments towards the owner._] don't you think she'd sooner catch cold? _she catches it up and follows the two men; then after looking round impatiently, swings off in the direction_ mrs. o'connell _took. the three women now left together are at their ease._ frances trebell. did you expect mr. blackborough to get on well with henry? mrs. farrant. he has become a millionaire by appreciating clever men when he met them. lady davenport. yes, julia, but his political conscience is comparatively new-born. mrs. farrant. well, mamma, can we do without mr. trebell? lady davenport. everyone seems to think you'll come back with something of a majority. mrs. farrant. [_a little impatient._] what's the good of that? the bill can't be brought into the lords ... and who's going to take disestablishment through the commons for us? not eustace fowler ... not mr. blackborough ... not lord charles ... not george! lady davenport. [_warningly._] not all your brilliance as a hostess will keep mr. trebell in a tory cabinet. mrs. farrant. [_with wilful avoidance of the point._] cyril horsham is only too glad. lady davenport. because you tell him he ought to be. frances trebell. [_coming to the rescue._] there is this. henry has never exactly called himself a liberal. he really is elected independently. mrs. farrant. i wonder will all the garden-cities become pocket-boroughs. frances trebell. i think he has made a mistake. mrs. farrant. it makes things easier now ... his having kept his freedom. frances trebell. i think it's a mistake to stand outside a system. there's an inhumanity in that amount of detachment ... mrs. farrant. [_brilliantly._] i think a statesman may be a little inhuman. lady davenport. [_with keenness._] do you mean superhuman? it's not the same thing, you know. mrs. farrant. i know. lady davenport. most people don't know. mrs. farrant. [_proceeding with her cynicism._] humanity achieves ... what? housekeeping and children. frances trebell. as far as a woman's concerned. mrs. farrant. [_a little mockingly._] now, mamma, say that is as far as a woman's concerned. lady davenport. my dear, you know i don't think so. mrs. farrant. we may none of us think so. but there's our position ... bread and butter and a certain satisfaction until ... oh, mamma, i wish i were like you ... beyond all the passions of life. lady davenport. [_with great vitality._] i'm nothing of the sort. it's my egoism's dead ... that's an intimation of mortality. mrs. farrant. i accept the snub. but i wonder what i'm to do with myself for the next thirty years. frances trebell. help lord horsham to govern the country. julia farrant _gives a little laugh and takes up the subject this time._ mrs. farrant. mamma ... how many people, do you think, believe that cyril's _grande passion_ for me takes that form? lady davenport. everyone who knows cyril and most people who know you. mrs. farrant. otherwise i seem to have fulfilled my mission in life. the boys are old enough to go to school. george and i have become happily unconscious of each other. frances trebell. [_with sudden energy of mind._] till i was forty i never realised the fact that most women must express themselves through men. mrs. farrant. [_looking at_ frances _a little curiously._] didn't your instinct lead you to marry ... or did you fight against it? frances trebell. i don't know. perhaps i had no vitality to spare. lady davenport. that boy is a long time proposing to lucy. _this effectually startles the other two from their conversational reverie._ mrs. farrant. walter? i'm not sure that he means to. she means to marry him if he does. frances trebell. has she told you so? mrs. farrant. no. i judge by her business-like interest in his welfare. frances trebell. he's beginning to feel the responsibility of manhood ... doesn't know whether to be frightened or proud of it. lady davenport. it's a pretty thing to watch young people mating. when they're older and marry from disappointment or deliberate choice, thinking themselves so worldly-wise.... mrs. farrant, [_back to her politely cynical mood._] well ... then at least they don't develop their differences at the same fire-side, regretting the happy time when neither possessed any character at all. lady davenport. [_giving a final douche of common sense._] my dear, any two reasonable people ought to be able to live together. frances trebell. granted three sitting rooms. that'll be the next middle-class political cry ... when women are heard. mrs. farrant. [_suddenly as practical as her mother._] walter's lucky ... lucy won't stand any nonsense. she'll have him in the cabinet by the time he's fifty. lady davenport. and are you the power behind your brother, miss trebell? frances trebell. [_gravely._] he ignores women. i've forced enough good manners on him to disguise the fact decently. his affections are two generations ahead. mrs. farrant. people like him in an odd sort of way. frances trebell. that's just respect for work done ... one can't escape from it. _there is a slight pause in their talk. by some not very devious route_ mrs. farrant's _mind travels to the next subject._ mrs. farrant. fanny ... how fond are you of amy o'connell? frances trebell. she says we're great friends. mrs. farrant. she says that of me. frances trebell. it's a pity about her husband. mrs. farrant. [_almost provokingly._] what about him? frances trebell. it seems to be understood that he treats her badly. lady davenport. [_a little malicious._] is there any particular reason he should treat her well? frances trebell. don't you like her, lady davenport? lady davenport. [_dealing out justice._] i find her quite charming to look at and talk to ... but why shouldn't justin o'connell live in ireland for all that? i'm going to bed, julia. _she collects her belongings and gets up._ mrs. farrant. i must look in at the billiard room. frances trebell. i won't come, julia. mrs. farrant. what's your brother working at? frances trebell. i don't know. something we shan't hear of for a year, perhaps. mrs. farrant. on the church business, i daresay. frances trebell. did you hear lord horsham at dinner on the lack of dignity in an irreligious state? mrs. farrant. poor cyril ... he'll have to find a way round that opinion of his now. frances trebell. does he like leading his party? mrs. farrant. [_after due consideration._] it's an intellectual exercise. he's the right man, fanny. you see it isn't a party in the active sense at all, except now and then when it's captured by someone with an axe to grind. frances trebell. [_humorously._] such as my brother. mrs. farrant. [_as humorous._] such as your brother. it expresses the thought of the men who aren't taken in by the claptrap of progress. frances trebell. sometimes they've a queer way of expressing their love for the people of england. mrs. farrant. but one must use democracy. wellington wouldn't ... disraeli did. lady davenport. [_at the door._] good-night, miss trebell. frances trebell. i'm coming ... it's past eleven. mrs. farrant. [_at the window._] what a gorgeous night! i'll come in and kiss you, mamma. frances _follows_ lady davenport _and_ mrs. farrant _starts across the lawn to the billiard room.... an hour later you can see no change in the room except that only one lamp is alight on the table in the middle._ amy o'connell _and_ henry trebell _walk past one window and stay for a moment in the light of the other. her wrap is about her shoulders. he stands looking down at her._ amy o'connell. there goes the moon ... it's quieter than ever now. [_she comes in._] is it very late? trebell. [_as he follows._] half-past twelve. trebell _is hard-bitten, brainy, forty-five and very sure of himself. he has a cold keen eye, which rather belies a sensitive mouth; hands which can grip, and a figure that is austere._ amy o'connell. i ought to be in bed. i suppose everyone has gone. trebell. early trains to-morrow. the billiard room lights are out. amy o'connell. the walk has just tired me comfortably. trebell. sit down. [_she sits by the table. he sits by her and says with the air of a certain buyer at a market._] you're very pretty. amy o'connell. as well here as by moonlight? can't you see any wrinkles? trebell. one or two ... under the eyes. but they give character and bring you nearer my age. yes, nature hit on the right curve in making you. _she stretches herself, cat-like._ amy o'connell. praise is the greatest of luxuries, isn't it, henry? ... henry ... [_she caresses the name._] trebell. quite right ... henry. amy o'connell. henry ... trebell. trebell. having formally taken possession of my name.... amy o'connell. i'll go to bed. _his eyes have never moved from her. now she breaks the contact and goes towards the door._ trebell. i wouldn't ... my spare time for love making is so limited. _she turns back, quite at ease, her eyes challenging him._ amy o'connell. that's the first offensive thing you've said. trebell. why offensive? amy o'connell. i may flirt. making love's another matter. trebell. sit down and explain the difference ... mrs. o'connell. _she sits down._ amy o'connell. quite so. 'mrs. o'connell'. that's the difference. trebell. [_provokingly._] but i doubt if i'm interested in the fact that your husband doesn't understand you and that your marriage was a mistake ... and how hard you find it to be strong. amy o'connell. [_kindly._] i'm not quite a fool though you think so on a three months' acquaintance. but tell me this ... what education besides marriage does a woman get? trebell. [_his head lifting quickly._] education.... amy o'connell. don't be business-like. trebell. i beg your pardon. amy o'connell. do you think the things you like to have taught in schools are any use to one when one comes to deal with you? trebell. [_after a little scrutiny of her-face._] well, if marriage is only the means to an end ... what's the end? not flirtation. amy o'connell. [_with an air of self-revelation._] i don't know. to keep one's place in the world, i suppose, one's self-respect and a sense of humour. trebell. is that difficult? amy o'connell. to get what i want, without paying more than it's worth to me....? trebell. never to be reckless. amy o'connell. [_with a side-glance._] one isn't so often tempted. trebell. in fact ... to flirt with life generally. now, what made your husband marry you? amy o'connell. [_dealing with the impertinence in her own fashion._] what would make you marry me? don't say: nothing on earth. trebell. [_speaking apparently of someone else._] a prolonged fit of idleness might make me marry ... a clever woman. but i've never been idle for more than a week. and i've never met a clever woman ... worth calling a woman. amy o'connell. [_bringing their talk back to herself, and fastidiously._] justin has all the natural instincts. trebell. he's roman catholic, isn't he? amy o'connell. so am i ... by profession. trebell. it's a poor religion unless you really believe in it. amy o'connell. [_appealing to him._] if i were to live at linaskea and have as many children as god sent, i should manage to make justin pretty miserable! and what would be left of me at all i should like to know? trebell. so justin lives at linaskea alone? amy o'connell. i'm told now there's a pretty housemaid ... [_she shrugs._] trebell. does he drink too? amy o'connell. oh, no. you'd like justin, i daresay. he's clever. the thirteenth century's what he knows about. he has done a book on its statutes ... has been doing another. trebell. and after an evening's hard work i find you here ready to flirt with. amy o'connell. what have you been working at? trebell. a twentieth century statute perhaps. that's not any concern of yours either. _she does not follow his thought._ amy o'connell. no, i prefer you in your unprofessional moments. trebell. real flattery. i didn't know i had any. amy o'connell. that's why you should flirt with me ... henry ... to cultivate them. i'm afraid you lack imagination. trebell. one must choose something to lack in this life. amy o'connell. not develop your nature to its utmost capacity. trebell. and then? amy o'connell. well, if that's not an end in itself ... [_with a touch of romantic piety._] i suppose there's the hereafter. trebell. [_grimly material._] what, more developing! i watch people wasting time on themselves with amazement ... i refuse to look forward to wasting eternity. amy o'connell. [_shaking her head._] you are very self-satisfied. trebell. not more so than any machine that runs smoothly. and i hope not self-conscious. amy o'connell. [_rather attractively treating him as a child._] it would do you good to fall really desperately in love with me ... to give me the power to make you unhappy. _he suddenly becomes very definite._ trebell. at twenty-three i engaged myself to be married to a charming and virtuous fool. i broke it off. amy o'connell. did she mind much? trebell. we both minded. but i had ideals of womanhood that i wouldn't sacrifice to any human being. then i fell in with a woman who seduced me, and for a whole year led me the life of a french novel ... played about with my emotion as i had tortured that other poor girl's brains. education you'd call it in the one case as i called it in the other. what a waste of time! amy o'connell. and what has become of your ideal? trebell. [_relapsing to his former mood._] it's no longer a personal matter. amy o'connell. [_with coquetry._] you're not interested in my character? trebell. oh, yes, i am ... up to kissing point. _she does not shrink, but speaks with just a shade of contempt._ amy o'connell. you get that far more easily than a woman. that's one of my grudges against men. why can't women take love-affairs so lightly? trebell. there are reasons. but make a good beginning with this one. kiss me at once. _he leans towards her. she considers him quite calmly._ amy o'connell. no. trebell. when will you, then? amy o'connell. when i can't help myself ... if that time ever comes. trebell. [_accepting the postponement in a business-like spirit._] well ... i'm an impatient man. amy o'connell. [_confessing engagingly._] i made up my mind to bring you within arms' length of me when we'd met at lady percival's. do you remember? [_his face shows no sign of it._] it was the day after your speech on the budget. trebell. then i remember. but i haven't observed the process. amy o'connell. [_subtly._] your sister grew to like me very soon. that's all the cunning there has been. trebell. the rest is just mutual attraction? amy o'connell. and opportunities. trebell. such as this. _at the drop of their voices they become conscious of the silent house._ amy o'connell. do you really think everyone has gone to bed? trebell. [_disregardful._] and what is it makes my pressing attentions endurable ... if one may ask? amy o'connell. some spiritual need or other, i suppose, which makes me risk unhappiness ... in fact, welcome it. trebell. [_with great briskness._] your present need is a good shaking.... i seriously mean that. you get to attach importance to these shades of emotion. a slight physical shock would settle them all. that's why i asked you to kiss me just now. amy o'connell. you haven't very nice ideas, have you? trebell. there are three facts in life that call up emotion ... birth, death, and the desire for children. the niceties are shams. amy o'connell. then why do you want to kiss me? trebell. i don't ... seriously. but i shall in a minute just to finish the argument. too much diplomacy always ends in a fight. amy o'connell. and if i don't fight ... it'd be no fun for you, i suppose? trebell. you would get that much good out of me. for it's my point of honour ... to leave nothing i touch as i find it. _he is very close to her._ amy o'connell. you're frightening me a little ... trebell. come and look at the stars again. come along. amy o'connell. give me my wrap ... [_he takes it up, but holds it._] well, put it on me. [_he puts it round her, but does not withdraw his arms._] be careful, the stars are looking at you. trebell. no, they can't see so far as we can. that's the proper creed. amy o'connell. [_softly, almost shyly._] henry. trebell. [_bending closer to her._] yes, pretty thing. amy o'connell. is this what you call being in love? _he looks up and listens._ trebell. here's somebody coming. amy o'connell. oh!... trebell. what does it matter? amy o'connell. i'm untidy or something.... _she slips out, for they are close to the window. the_ footman _enters, stops suddenly._ the footman. i beg your pardon, sir. i thought everyone had gone. trebell. i've just been for a walk. i'll lock up if you like. the footman. i can easily wait up, sir. trebell. [_at the window._] i wouldn't. what do you do ... just slide the bolt? the footman. that's all, sir. trebell. i see. good-night. the footman. good-night, sir. _he goes._ trebell's _demeanour suddenly changes, becomes alert, with the alertness of a man doing something in secret. he leans out of the window and whispers._ trebell. amy! _there is no answer, so he gently steps out. for a moment the room is empty and there is silence. then_ amy _has flown from him into the safety of lights. she is flushed, trembling, but rather ecstatic, and her voice has lost all affectation now._ amy o'connell. oh ... oh ... you shouldn't have kissed me like that! trebell _stands in the window-way; a light in his eyes, and speaks low but commandingly._ trebell. come here. _instinctively she moves towards him. they speak in whispers._ amy o'connell. he was locking up. trebell. i've sent him to bed. amy o'connell. he won't go. trebell. never mind him. amy o'connell. we're standing full in the light ... anyone could see us. trebell. [_with fierce egotism._] think of me ... not of anyone else. [_he draws her from the window; then does not let her go._] may i kiss you again? amy o'connell. [_her eyes closed._] yes. _he kisses her. she stiffens in his arms; then laughs almost joyously, and is commonplace._ amy o'connell. well ... let me get my breath. trebell. [_letting her stand free._] now ... go along. _obediently she turns to the door, but sinks on the nearest chair._ amy o'connell. in a minute, i'm a little faint. [_he goes to her quickly._] no, it's nothing. trebell. come into the air again. [_then half seriously._] i'll race you across the lawn. amy o'connell. [_still breathless and a little hysterical._] thank you! trebell. shall i carry you? amy o'connell. don't be silly. [_she recovers her self-possession, gets up and goes to the window, then looks back at him and says very beautifully._] but the night's beautiful, isn't it? _he has her in his arms again, more firmly this time._ trebell. make it so. amy o'connell. [_struggling ... with herself_] oh, why do you rouse me like this? trebell. because i want you. amy o'connell. want me to...? trebell. want you to ... kiss me just once. amy o'connell. [_yielding._] if i do ... don't let me go mad, will you? trebell. perhaps. [_he bends over her, her head drops back._] now. amy o'connell. yes! _she kisses him on the mouth. then he would release her, but suddenly she clings again._ oh ... don't let me go. trebell. [_with fierce pride of possession._] not yet. _she is fragile beside him. he lifts her in his arms and carries her out into the darkness._ the second act trebell's house in queen anne street, london. eleven o'clock on an october morning. trebell's _working room is remarkable chiefly for the love of sunlight it evidences in its owner. the walls are white; the window which faces you is bare of all but the necessary curtains. indeed, lack of draperies testifies also to his horror of dust. there faces you besides a double door; when it is opened another door is seen. when that is opened you discover a writing table, and beyond can discern a book-case filled with heavy volumes--law reports perhaps. the little room beyond is, so to speak, an under-study. between the two rooms a window, again barely curtained, throws light down the staircase. but in the big room, while the books are many the choice of them is catholic; and the book-cases are low, running along the wall. there is an armchair before the bright fire, which is on your right. there is a sofa. and in the middle of the room is an enormous double writing table piled tidily with much appropriate impedimenta, blue books and pamphlets and with an especial heap of unopened letters and parcels. at the table sits_ trebell _himself, in good health and spirits, but eyeing askance the work to which he has evidently just returned. his sister looks in on him. she is dressed to go out and has a housekeeping air._ frances. are you busy, henry? trebell. more or less. come in. frances. you'll dine at home? trebell. anyone coming? frances. julia farrant and lucy have run up to town, i think. i thought of going round and asking them to come in ... but perhaps your young man will be going there. amy o'connell said something vague about our going to charles street ... but she may be out of town by now. trebell. well ... i'll be in anyhow. frances. [_going to the window as she buttons her gloves._] were you on deck early this morning? it must have been lovely. trebell. no, i turned in before we got out of le havre. i left kent on deck and found him there at six. frances. i don't think autumn means to come at all this year ... it'll be winter one morning. september has been like a hive of bees, busy and drowsy. by the way, cousin mary has another baby ... a girl. trebell. [_indifferent to the information._] that's the fourth. frances. fifth. they asked me down for the christening ... but i really couldn't. trebell. september's the month for tuscany. the car chose to break down one morning just as we were starting north again; so we climbed one of the little hills and sat for a couple of hours, while i composed a fifteenth century electioneering speech to the citizens of siena. frances. [_with a half smile._] have you a vein of romance for holiday time? trebell. [_dispersing the suggestion._] not at all romantic ... nothing but figures and fiscal questions. that was the hardest commercial civilisation there has been, though you only think of its art and its murders now. frances. the papers on both sides have been very full of you ... saying you hold the moral balance ... or denying it. trebell. an interviewer caught me at basle. i offered to discuss the state of the swiss navy. frances. was that before lord horsham wrote to you? trebell. yes, his letter came to innsbruck. he "expressed" it somehow. why ... it isn't known that he will definitely ask me to join? frances. the whitehall had a leader before the elections were well over to say that he must ... but, of course, that was mr. farrant. trebell. [_knowingly._] mrs. farrant. i saw it in paris ... it just caught me up. frances. the times is very shy over the whole question ... has a letter from a fresh bishop every day ... doesn't talk of you very kindly yet. trebell. tampering with the establishment, even cantelupe's way, will be a pill to the real old tory right to the bitter end. walter kent _comes in, very fresh and happy-looking. a young man started in life._ trebell _hails him._ trebell. hullo ... you've not been long getting shaved. kent. how do you do, miss trebell? lucy turned me out. frances. my congratulations. i've not seen you since i heard the news. kent. [_glad and unembarrassed._] thank you. i do deserve them, don't i? mrs. farrant didn't come down ... she left us to breakfast together. but i've a message for you ... her love and she is in town. i went and saw lord charles, sir. he will come to you and be here at half past seven. trebell. look at these. _he smacks on the back, so to speak, the pile of parcels and letters._ kent. oh, lord! ... i'd better start on them. frances. [_continuing in her smooth oldmaidish manner._] thank you for getting engaged just before you went off with henry ... it has given me my only news of him, through lucy and your postcards. trebell. oh, what about wedgecroft? kent. i think it was he spun up just as i'd been let in. trebell. oh, well ... [_and he rings at the telephone which is on his table._] kent. [_confiding in_ miss trebell.] we're a common sense couple, aren't we? i offered to ask to stay behind but she.... simpson, _the maid, comes in._ simpson. dr. wedgecroft, sir. wedgecroft _is on her heels. if you have an eye for essentials you may tell at once that he is a doctor, but if you only notice externals you will take him, for anything else. he is over forty and in perfect health of body and spirit. his enthusiasms are his vitality and he has too many of them ever to lose one. he squeezes_ miss trebell's _hand with an air of fearless affection which is another of his characteristics and not the least loveable._ wedgecroft. how are you? frances. i'm very well, thanks. wedgecroft. [_to_ trebell, _as they shake hands._] you're looking fit. trebell. [_with tremendous emphasis._] i am! wedgecroft. you've got the motor eye though. trebell. full of dust? wedgecroft. look at kent's. [_he takes_ walter's _arm._] it's a slight but serious contraction of the pupil ... which i charge fifty guineas to cure. frances. it's the eye of faith in you and your homeopathic doses. don't you interfere with it. frances trebell, _housekeeper, goes out._ kent _has seized on the letters and is carrying them to his room._ kent. this looks like popularity and the great heart of the people, doesn't it? wedgecroft. trebell, you're not ill, and i've work to do. trebell. i want ten minutes. keep anybody out, kent. kent. i'll switch that speaking tube arrangement to my room. trebell, _overflowing with vitality, starts to face the floor._ trebell. i've seen the last of pump court, gilbert. wedgecroft. the bar ought to give you a testimonial ... to the man who not only could retire on twenty years' briefs, but has. trebell. fifteen. but i bled the city sharks with a good conscience ... quite freely. wedgecroft. [_with a pretence at grumbling._] i wish i could retire. trebell. no you don't. doctoring's a priestcraft ... you've taken vows. wedgecroft. then why don't you establish _our_ church instead of ... trebell. yes, my friend ... but you're a heretic. i'd have to give the medical council power to burn you at the stake. kent. [_with the book packages._] parcel from the s.p.c.k., sir. trebell. i know.... disestablishment a crime against god; sermon preached by the vicar of something parva in eighteen seventy three. i hope you're aware it's your duty to read all those. kent. suppose they convert me? lucy wanted to know if she could see you. trebell. [_his eyebrows up._] yes, i'll call at mrs. farrant's. oh, wait. aren't they coming to dinner? kent. to-night? no, i think they go back to shapters by the five o'clock. i told her she might come round about twelve on the chance. trebell. yes ... if cantelupe's punctual ... i'd sooner not have too long with him. kent. all right, then. _he goes, shutting the door; then you hear the door of his room shut too. the two friends face each other, glad of a talk._ trebell. well? wedgecroft. well ... you'll never do it. trebell. yes, i shall. wedgecroft. you can't carry any bill to be a credit to you with the coming tory cabinet on your back. you know the government is cursing you with its dying breath. trebell. [_rubbing his hands._] of course. they've been beaten out of the house and in now. i suppose they will meet parliament. wedgecroft. they must, i think. it's over a month since-- trebell. [_his thoughts running quickly._] there'll only be a nominal majority of sixteen against them. the labour lot are committed on their side ... and now that the irish have gone-- wedgecroft. but they'll be beaten on the address first go. trebell. yes ... horsham hasn't any doubt of it. wedgecroft. he'll be in office within a week of the king's speech. trebell. [_with another access of energy._] i'll pull the bill that's in my head through a horsham cabinet and the house. then i'll leave them ... they'll go to the country-- wedgecroft. you know percival's pledge about that at bristol wasn't very definite. trebell. horsham means to. wedgecroft. [_with friendly contempt._] oh, horsham! trebell. anyway, it's about percival i want you. how ill is he? wedgecroft. not very. trebell. is he going to die? wedgecroft. well, i'm attending him. trebell. [_pinked._] yes ... that's a good answer. how does he stomach me in prospect as a colleague, so far? wedgecroft. sir, professional etiquette forbids me to disclose what a patient may confess in the sweat of his agony. trebell. he'll be chancellor again and lead the house. wedgecroft. why not? he only grumbles that he's getting old. trebell. [_thinking busily again._] the difficulty is i shall have to stay through one budget with them. he'll have a surplus ... well, it looks like it ... and my only way of agreeing with him will be to collar it. wedgecroft. but ... good heavens! ... you'll have a hundred million or so to give away when you've disendowed. trebell. not to give away. i'll sell every penny. wedgecroft. [_with an incredulous grin._] you're not going back to extending old-age pensions after turning the unfortunate liberals out on it, are you? trebell. no, no ... none of your half crown measures. they can wait to round off their solution of that till they've the courage to make one big bite of it. wedgecroft. we shan't see the day. trebell. [_lifting the subject off its feet._] not if i come out of the cabinet and preach revolution? wedgecroft. or will they make a tory of you? trebell. [_acknowledging that stroke with a return grin._] it'll be said they have when the bill is out. wedgecroft. it's said so already. trebell. who knows a radical bill when he sees it! wedgecroft. i'm not pleased you have to be running a tilt against the party system. [_he becomes a little dubious._] my friend ... it's a nasty windmill. oh, you've not seen that article in the nation on politics and society ... it's written at mrs. farrant and lady lurgashall and that set. they hint that the tories would never have had you if it hadn't been for this bad habit of opposite party men meeting each other. trebell. [_unimpressed._] excellent habit! what we really want in this country is a coalition of all the shibboleths with the rest of us in opposition ... for five years only. wedgecroft. [_smiling generously._] well, it's a sensation to see you become arbiter. the tories are owning they can't do without you. percival likes you personally ... townsend don't matter ... cantelupe you buy with a price, i suppose ... farrant you can put in your pocket. i tell you i think the man you may run up against is blackborough. trebell. no, all he wants is to be let look big ... and to have an idea given him when he's going to make a speech, which isn't often. wedgecroft. otherwise ... i suppose ... now i may go down to history as having been in your confidence. i'm very glad you've arrived. trebell. [_with great seriousness._] i've sharpened myself as a weapon to this purpose. wedgecroft. [_kindly._] and you're sure of yourself, aren't you? trebell. [_turning his wrist._] try. wedgecroft. [_slipping his doctor's fingers over the the pulse._] seventy, i should say. trebell. i promise you it hasn't varied a beat these three big months. wedgecroft. well, i wish it had. perfect balance is most easily lost. how do you know you've the power of recovery? ... and it's that gets one up in the morning day by day. trebell. is it? my brain works steadily on ... hasn't failed me yet. i keep it well fed. [_he breathes deeply._] but i'm not sure one shouldn't have been away from england for five years instead of five weeks ... to come back to a job like this with a fresh mind. d'you know why really i went back on the liberals over this question? not because they wanted the church money for their pensions ... but because all they can see in disestablishment is destruction. any fool can destroy! i'm not going to let a power like the church get loose from the state. a thirteen hundred years, tradition of service ... and all they can think of is to cut it adrift! wedgecroft. i think the church is moribund. trebell. oh, yes, of course you do ... you sentimental agnostic anarchist. nonsense! the supernatural's a bit blown upon ... till we re-discover what it means. but it's not essential. nor is the christian doctrine. put a jesuit in a corner and shut the door and he'll own that. no ... the tradition of self-sacrifice and fellowship in service for its own sake ... that's the spirit we've to capture and keep. wedgecroft. [_really struck._] a secular church! trebell. [_with reasoning in his tone._] well ... why not? listen here. in drafting an act of parliament one must alternately imagine oneself god almighty and the most ignorant prejudiced little blighter who will be affected by what's passed. god says: let's have done with heaven and hell ... it's the earth that shan't pass away. why not turn all those theology mongers into doctors or schoolmasters? wedgecroft. as to doctors-- trebell. quite so, you naturally prejudiced blighter. that priestcraft don't need re-inforcing. wedgecroft. it needs recognition. trebell. what! it's the only thing most people believe in. talk about superstition! however, there's more life in you. therefore it's to be schoolmasters. wedgecroft. how? trebell. listen again, young man. in the youth of the world, when priests were the teachers of men.... wedgecroft. [_not to be preached at._] and physicians of men. trebell. shut up. wedgecroft. if there's any real reform going, i want my profession made into a state department. i won't shut up for less. trebell. [_putting this aside with one finger._] i'll deal with you later. there's still youth in the world in another sense; but the priests haven't found out the difference yet, so they're wasting most of their time. wedgecroft. religious education won't do now-a-days. trebell. what's now-a-days? you're very dull, gilbert. wedgecroft. i'm not duller than the people who will have to understand your scheme. trebell. they won't understand it. i shan't explain to them that education _is_ religion, and that those who deal in it are priests without any laying on of hands. wedgecroft. no matter what they teach? trebell. no ... the matter is how they teach it. i see schools in the future, gilbert, not built next to the church, but on the site of the church. wedgecroft. do you think the world is grown up enough to do without dogma? trebell. yes, i do. wedgecroft. what!... and am i to write my prescriptions in english? trebell. yes, you are. wedgecroft. lord save us! i never thought to find you a visionary. trebell. isn't it absurd to think that in a hundred years we shall be giving our best brains and the price of them not to training grown men into the discipline of destruction ... not even to curing the ills which we might be preventing ... but to teaching our children. there's nothing else to be done ... nothing else matters. but it's work for a priesthood. wedgecroft. [_affected; not quite convinced._] do you think you can buy a tradition and transmute it? trebell. don't mock at money. wedgecroft. i never have. trebell. but you speak of it as an end not as a means. that's unfair. wedgecroft. i speaks as i finds. trebell. i'll buy the church, not with money, but with the promise of new life. [_a certain rather gleeful cunning comes over him._] it'll only look like a dose of reaction at first ... sectarian training colleges endowed to the hilt. wedgecroft. what'll the nonconformists say? trebell. bribe them with the means of equal efficiency. the crux of the whole matter will be in the statutes. i'll force on those colleges. wedgecroft. they'll want dogma. trebell. dogma's not a bad thing if you've power to adapt it occasionally. wedgecroft. instead of spending your brains in explaining it. yes, i agree. trebell. [_with full voice._] but in the creed i'll lay down as unalterable there shall be neither jew nor greek.... what do you think of st. paul, gilbert? wedgecroft. i'd make him the head of a college. trebell. i'll make the devil himself head of a college, if he'll undertake to teach honestly all he knows. wedgecroft. and he'll conjure up comte and robespierre for you to assist in this little _rechauffée_ of their schemes. trebell. hullo! comte i knew about. have i stolen from robespierre too? wedgecroft. [_giving out the epigram with an air._] property to him who can make the best use of it. trebell. and then what we must do is to give the children power over their teachers? _now he is comically enigmatic._ wedgecroft _echoes him._ wedgecroft. and what exactly do you mean by that? trebell. [_serious again._] how positive a pedagogue would you be if you had to prove your cases and justify your creed every century or so to the pupils who had learnt just a little more than you could teach them? give power to the future, my friend ... not to the past. give responsibility ... even if you give it for your own discredit. what's beneath trust deeds and last wills and testaments, and even acts of parliament and official creeds? fear of the verdict of the next generation ... fear of looking foolish in their eyes. ah, we ... doing our best now ... must be ready for every sort of death. and to provide the means of change and disregard of the past is a secret of statesmanship. presume that the world will come to an end every thirty years if it's not reconstructed. therefore give responsibility ... give responsibility ... give the children power. wedgecroft. [_disposed to whistle._] those statutes will want some framing. trebell. [_relapsing to a chuckle._] there's an incidental change to foresee. disappearance of the parson into the schoolmaster ... and the archdeacon into the inspector ... and the bishop into--i rather hope he'll stick to his mitre, gilbert. wedgecroft. some ruskin will arise and make him. trebell. [_as he paces the room and the walls of it fade away to him._] what a church could be made of the best brains in england, sworn only to learn all they could teach what they knew without fear of the future or favour to the past ... sworn upon their honour as seekers after truth, knowingly to tell no child a lie. it will come. wedgecroft. a priesthood of women too? there's the tradition of service with them. trebell. [_with the sourest look yet on his face._] slavery ... not quite the same thing. and the paradox of such slavery is that they're your only tyrants. [_at this moment the bell of the telephone upon the table rings. he goes to it talking the while._] one has to be very optimistic not to advocate the harem. that's simple and wholesome.... yes? kent _comes in._ kent. does it work? trebell. [_slamming down the receiver._] you and your new toy! what is it? kent. i'm not sure about the plugs of it ... i thought i'd got them wrong. mrs. o'connell has come to see miss trebell, who is out, and she says will we ask you if any message has been left for her. trebell. no. oh, about dinner? well, she's round at mrs. farrant's. kent. i'll ring them up. _he goes back into his room to do so leaving_ trebell's _door open. the two continue their talk._ trebell. my difficulties will be with percival. wedgecroft. not over the church. trebell. you see i must discover how keen he'd be on settling the education quarrel, once and for all ... what there is left of it. wedgecroft. he's not sectarian. trebell. it'll cost him his surplus. when'll he be up and about? wedgecroft. not for a week or more. trebell. [_knitting his brow._] and i've to deal with cantelupe. curious beggar, gilbert. wedgecroft. not my sort. he'll want some dealing with over your bill as introduced to me. trebell. i've not cross-examined company promoters for ten years without learning how to do business with a professional high churchman. wedgecroft. providence limited ... eh? _they are interrupted by_ mrs. o'connell's _appearance in the doorway. she is rather pale, very calm; but there is pain in her eyes and her voice is unnaturally steady._ amy. your maid told me to come up and i'm interrupting business.... i thought she was wrong. trebell. [_with no trace of self-consciousness._] well ... how are you, after this long time? amy. how do you do? [_then she sees_ wedgecroft _and has to control a shrinking from him._] oh! wedgecroft. how are you, mrs. o'connell? trebell. kent is telephoning to frances. he knows where she is. amy. how are you, dr. wedgecroft? [_then to_ trebell.] did you have a good holiday? london pulls one to pieces wretchedly. i shall give up living here at all. wedgecroft. you look very well. amy. do i! trebell. a very good holiday. sit down ... he won't be a minute. _she sits on the nearest chair._ amy. you're not ill ... interviewing a doctor? trebell. the one thing wedgecroft's no good at is doctoring. he keeps me well by sheer moral suasion. kent _comes out of his room and is off downstairs._ trebell _calls to him._ trebell. mrs. o'connell's here. kent. oh! [_he comes back and into the room._] miss trebell hasn't got there yet. wedgecroft _has suddenly looked at his watch._ wedgecroft. i must fly. good bye, mrs. o'connell. amy. [_putting her hand, constrained by its glove, into his open hand._] i am always a little afraid of you. wedgecroft. that isn't the feeling a doctor wants to inspire. kent. [_to_ trebell.] david evans-- trebell. evans? kent. the reverend one ... is downstairs and wants to see you. wedgecroft. [_as he comes to them._] hampstead road tabernacle ... oh, the mammon of righteousness! trebell. shut up! how long have i before lord charles--? kent. only ten minutes. mrs. o'connell _goes to sit at the big table, and apparently idly takes a sheet of paper to scribble on._ trebell. [_half thinking, half questioning._] he's a man i can say nothing to politely. wedgecroft. i'm off to percival's now. then i've another case and i'm due back at twelve. if there's anything helpful to say i'll look in again for two minutes ... not more. trebell. you're a good man. wedgecroft. [_as he goes._] congratulations, kent. kent. [_taking him to the stairs._] thank you very much. amy. [_beckoning with her eyes._] what's this, mr. trebell? trebell. eh? i beg your pardon. _he goes behind her and reads over her shoulder what she has written._ kent _comes back._ kent. shall i bring him up here? trebell _looks up and for a moment stares at his secretary rather sharply, then speaks in a matter-of-fact voice._ trebell. see him yourself, downstairs. talk to him for five minutes ... find out what he wants. tell him it will be as well for the next week or two if he can say he hasn't seen me. kent. yes. _he goes._ trebell _follows him to the door which he shuts. then he turns to face_ amy, _who is tearing up the paper she wrote on._ trebell. what is it? amy. [_her steady voice breaking, her carefully calculated control giving way._] oh henry ... henry! trebell. are you in trouble? amy. you'll hate me, but ... oh, it's brutal of you to have been away so long. trebell. is it with your husband? amy. perhaps. oh, come nearer to me ... do. trebell. [_coming nearer without haste or excitement._] well? [_her eyes are closed._] my dear girl, i'm too busy for love-making now. if there are any facts to be faced, let me have them ... quite quickly. _she looks up at him for a moment; then speaks swiftly and sharply as one speaks of disaster._ amy. there's a danger of my having a child ... your child ... some time in april. that's all. trebell. [_a sceptic who has seen a vision._] oh ... it's impossible. amy. [_flashing at him, revengefully._] why? trebell. [_brought to his mundane self_] well ... are you sure? amy. [_in sudden agony._] d'you think i want it to be true? d'you think i--? you don't know what it is to have a thing happening in spite of you. trebell. [_his face set in thought._] where have you been since we met? amy. not to ireland ... i haven't seen justin for a year. trebell. all the easier for you not to see him for another year. amy. that wasn't what you meant. trebell. it wasn't ... but never mind. _they are silent for a moment ... miles apart ... then she speaks dully._ amy. we do hate each other ... don't we! trebell. nonsense. let's think of what matters. amy. [_aimlessly._] i went to a man at dover ... picked him out of the directory ... didn't give my own name ... pretended i was off abroad. he was a kind old thing ... said it was all most satisfactory. oh, my god! trebell. [_he goes to bend over her kindly._] yes, you've had a torturing month or two. that's been wrong, i'm sorry. amy. even now i have to keep telling myself that it's so ... otherwise i couldn't understand it. any more than one really believes one will ever die ... one doesn't believe that, you know. trebell. [_on the edge of a sensation that is new to him._] i am told that a man begins to feel unimportant from this moment forward. perhaps it's true. amy. what has it to do with you anyhow? we don't belong to each other. how long were we together that night? half an hour! you didn't seem to care a bit until after you'd kissed me and ... this is an absurd consequence. trebell. nature's a tyrant. amy. oh, it's my punishment ... i see that well enough ... for thinking myself so clever ... forgetting my duty and religion ... not going to confession, i mean. [_then hysterically._] god can make you believe in him when he likes, can't he? trebell. [_with comfortable strength._] my dear girl, this needs your pluck. [_and he sits by her._] all we have to do is to prevent it being found out. amy. yes ... the scandal would smash you, wouldn't it? trebell. there isn't going to be any scandal. amy. no ... if we're careful. you'll tell me what to do, won't you? oh, it's a relief to be able to talk about it. trebell. for one thing, you must take care of yourself and stop worrying. _it soothes her to feel that he is concerned; but it is not enough to be soothed._ amy. yes, i wouldn't like to have been the means of smashing you, henry ... especially as you don't care for me. trebell. i intend to care for you. amy. love me, i mean. i wish you did ... a little; then perhaps i shouldn't feel so degraded. trebell. [_a shade impatiently, a shade contemptuously_] i can say i love you if that'll make things easier. amy. [_more helpless than ever._] if you'd said it at first i should be taking it for granted ... though it wouldn't be any more true, i daresay, than now ... when i should know you weren't telling the truth. trebell. then i'd do without so much confusion. amy. don't be so heartless. trebell. [_as he leaves her._] we seem to be attaching importance to such different things. amy. [_shrill even at a momentary desertion._] what do you mean? i want affection now just as i want food. i can't do without it ... i can't reason things out as you can. d'you think i haven't tried? [_then in sudden rebellion._] oh, the physical curse of being a woman ... no better than any savage in this condition ... worse off than an animal. it's unfair. trebell. never mind ... you're here now to hand me half the responsibility, aren't you? amy. as if i could! if i have to lie through the night simply shaking with bodily fear much longer ... i believe i shall go mad. _this aspect of the matter is meaningless to him. he returns to the practical issue._ trebell. there's nobody that need be suspecting, is there? amy. my maid sees i'm ill and worried and makes remarks ... only to me so far. don't i look a wreck? i nearly ran away when i saw dr. wedgecroft ... some of these men are so clever. trebell. [_calculating._] someone will have to be trusted. amy. [_burrowing into her little tortured self again._] and i ought to feel as if i had done justin a great wrong ... but i don't. i hate you now; now and then. i was being myself. you've brought me down. i feel worthless. _the last word strikes him. he stares at her._ trebell. do you? amy. [_pleadingly._] there's only one thing i'd like you to tell me, henry ... it isn't much. that night we were together ... it was for a moment different to everything that has ever been in your life before, wasn't it? trebell. [_collecting himself as if to explain to a child._] i must make you understand ... i must get you to realise that for a little time to come you're above the law ... above even the shortcomings and contradictions of a man's affection. amy. but let us have one beautiful memory to share. trebell. [_determined she shall face the cold logic of her position._] listen. i look back on that night as one looks back on a fit of drunkenness. amy. [_neither understanding nor wishing to; only shocked and hurt._] you beast. trebell. [_with bitter sarcasm._] no, don't say that. won't it comfort you to think of drunkenness as a beautiful thing? there are precedents enough ... classic ones. amy. you mean i might have been any other woman. trebell. [_quite inexorable._] wouldn't any other woman have served the purpose ... and is it less of a purpose because we didn't know we had it? does my unworthiness then ... if you like to call it so ... make you unworthy now? i must make you see that it doesn't. amy. [_petulantly hammering at her idée fixe._] but you didn't love me ... and you don't love me. trebell. [_keeping his patience._] no ... only within the last five minutes have i really taken the smallest interest in you. and now i believe i'm half jealous. can you understand that? you've been talking a lot of nonsense about your emotions and your immortal soul. don't you see it's only now that you've become a person of some importance to the world ... and why? amy. [_losing her patience, childishly._] what do you mean by the world? you don't seem to have any personal feelings at all. it's horrible you should have thought of me like that. there has been no other man than you that i would have let come anywhere near me ... not for more than a year. _he realises that she will never understand._ trebell. my dear girl, i'm sorry to be brutal. does it matter so much to you that i should have wished to be the father of your child? amy. [_ungracious but pacified by his change of tone._] it doesn't matter now. trebell. [_friendly still._] on principle i don't make promises. but i think i can promise you that if you keep your head and will keep your health, this shall all be made as easy for you as if everyone could know. and let's think what the child may mean to you ... just the fact of his birth. nothing to me, of course! perhaps that accounts for the touch of jealousy. i've forfeited my rights because i hadn't honourable intentions. you can't forfeit yours. even if you never see him and he has to grow up among strangers ... just to have had a child must make a difference to you. of course, it may be a girl. i wonder. _as he wanders on so optimistically she stares at him and her face changes. she realises...._ amy. do you expect me to go through with this? henry! ... i'd sooner kill myself. _there is silence between them. he looks at her as one looks at some unnatural thing. then after a moment he speaks, very coldly._ trebell. oh ... indeed. don't get foolish ideas into your head. you've no choice now ... no reasonable choice. amy. [_driven to bay; her last friend an enemy._] i won't go through with it. trebell. it hasn't been so much the fear of scandal then-- amy. that wouldn't break my heart. you'd marry me, wouldn't you? we could go away somewhere. i could be very fond of you, henry. trebell. [_marvelling at these tangents._] marry you! i should murder you in a week. _this sounds only brutal to her; she lets herself be shamed._ amy. you've no more use for me than the use you've made of me. trebell. [_logical again._] won't you realise that there's a third party to our discussion ... that i'm of no importance beside him and you of very little. think of the child. amy _blazes into desperate rebellion._ amy. there's no child because i haven't chosen there shall be and there shan't be because i don't choose. you'd have me first your plaything and then nature's, would you? trebell. [_a little abashed._] come now, you knew what you were about. amy. [_thinking of those moments._] did i? i found myself wanting you, belonging to you suddenly. i didn't stop to think and explain. but are we never to be happy and irresponsible ... never for a moment? trebell. well ... one can't pick and choose consequences. amy. your choices in life have made you what you want to be, haven't they? leave me mine. trebell. but it's too late to argue like that. amy. if it is, i'd better jump into the thames. i've thought of it. _he considers how best to make a last effort to bring her to her senses. he sits by her._ trebell. amy ... if you were my wife-- amy. [_unresponsive to him now._] i was justin's wife, and i went away from him sooner than bear him children. had i the right to choose or had i not? trebell. [_taking another path._] shall i tell you something i believe? if we were left to choose, we should stand for ever deciding whether to start with the right foot or the left. we blunder into the best things in life. then comes the test ... have we faith enough to go on ... to go through with the unknown thing? amy. [_so bored by these metaphysics._] faith in what? trebell. our vitality. i don't give a fig for beauty, happiness, or brains. all i ask of myself is ... can i pay fate on demand? amy. yes ... in imagination. but i've got physical facts to face. _but he has her attention now and pursues the advantage._ trebell. very well then ... let the meaning of them go. look forward simply to a troublesome illness. in a little while you can go abroad quietly and wait patiently. we're not fools and we needn't find fools to trust in. then come back to england.... amy. and forget. that seems simple enough, doesn't it? trebell. if you don't want the child let it be mine ... not yours. amy. [_wondering suddenly at this bond between them._] yours! what would you do with it? trebell. [_matter-of-fact._] provide for it, of course. amy. never see it, perhaps. trebell. perhaps not. if there were anything to be gained ... for the child. i'll see that he has his chance as a human being. amy. how hopeful! [_now her voice drops. she is looking back, perhaps at a past self._] if you loved me ... perhaps i might learn to love the thought of your child. trebell. [_as if half his life depended on her answer._] is that true? amy. [_irritably._] why are you picking me to pieces? i think that is true. if you had been loving me for a long, long time--[_the agony rushes back on her._] but now i'm only afraid. you might have some pity for me ... i'm so afraid. trebell. [_touched._] indeed ... indeed, i'll take what share of this i can. _she shrinks from him unforgivingly._ amy. no, let me alone. i'm nothing to you. i'm a sick beast in danger of my life, that's all ... cancerous! _he is roused for the first time, roused to horror and protest._ trebell. oh, you unhappy woman! ... if life is like death to you.... amy. [_turning on him._] don't lecture me! if you're so clever put a stop to this horror. or you might at least say you're sorry. trebell. sorry! [_the bell on the table rings jarringly._] cantelupe! _he goes to the telephone. she gets up cold and collected, steadied merely by the unexpected sound._ amy. i mustn't keep you from governing the country. i'm sure you'll do it very well. trebell. [_at the telephone._] yes, bring him up, of course ... isn't mr. kent there? [_then to her._] i may be ten minutes with him or half an hour. wait and we'll come to a conclusion. kent _comes in, an open letter in his hand._ kent. this note, sir. had i better go round myself and see him? trebell. [_as he takes the note._] cantelupe's come. kent. [_glancing at the telephone._] oh, has he! trebell. [_as he reads._] yes i think you had. kent. evans was very serious. _he goes back into his room._ amy _moves swiftly to where_ trebell _is standing and whispers._ amy. won't you tell me whom to go to? trebell. no. amy. oh, really ... what unpractical sentimental children you men are! you and your consciences ... you and your laws. you drive us to distraction and sometimes to death by your stupidities. poor women--! _the maid comes in to announce_ lord charles cantelupe, _who follows her._ cantelupe _is forty, unathletic, and a gentleman in the best and worst sense of the word. he moves always with a caution which may betray his belief in the personality of the devil. he speaks cautiously too, and as if not he but something inside him were speaking. one feels that before strangers he would not if he could help it move or speak at all. a pale face: the mouth would be hardened by fanaticism were it not for the elements of christianity in his religion: and he has the limpid eye of the enthusiast._ trebell. glad to see you. you know mrs o'connell. cantelupe _bows in silence._ amy. we have met. _she offers her hand. he silently takes it and drops it._ trebell. then you'll wait for frances. amy. is it worth while? kent _with his hat on leaves his room and goes downstairs._ trebell. have you anything better to do? amy. there's somewhere i can go. but i mustn't keep you chatting of my affairs. lord charles is impatient to disestablish the church. cantelupe. [_unable to escape a remark._] forgive me, since that is also your affair. amy. oh ... but i was received at the oratory when i was married. cantelupe. [_with contrition._] i beg your pardon. _then he makes for the other side of the room_, trebell _and_ mrs. o'connell _stroll to the door, their eyes full of meaning._ amy. i think i'll go on to this place that i've heard of. if i wait ... for your sister ... she may disappoint me again. trebell. wait. kent's _room is vacant._ amy. well ... in here? trebell. if you like law-books. amy. i haven't been much of an interruption now, have i? trebell. please wait. amy. thank you. trebell _shuts her in, for a moment seems inclined to lock her in, but he comes back into his own room and faces_ cantelupe, _who having primed and trained himself on his subject like a gun, fires off a speech, without haste, but also apparently without taking breath._ cantelupe. i was extremely thankful, mr. trebell, to hear last week from horsham that you will see your way to join his cabinet and undertake the disestablishment bill in the house of commons. any measure of mine, i have always been convinced, would be too much under the suspicion of blindly favouring church interests to command the allegiance of that heterogeneous mass of thought ... in some cases, alas, of free thought ... which now-a-days composes the conservative party. i am more than content to exercise what influence i may from a seat in the cabinet which will authorise the bill. trebell. yes. that chair's comfortable. cantelupe _takes another._ cantelupe. horsham forwarded to me your memorandum upon the conditions you held necessary and i incline to think i may accept them in principle on behalf of those who honour me with their confidences. _he fishes some papers from his pocket._ trebell _sits squarely at his table to grapple with the matter._ trebell. horsham told me you did accept them ... it's on that i'm joining. cantelupe. yes ... in principle. trebell. well ... we couldn't carry a bill you disapproved of, could we? cantelupe. [_with finesse._] i hope not. trebell. [_a little dangerously._] and i have no intention of being made the scapegoat of a wrecked tory compromise with the nonconformists. cantelupe. [_calmly ignoring the suggestion._] so far as i am concerned i meet the nonconformists on their own ground ... that religion had better be free from all compromise with the state. trebell. quite so ... if you're set free you'll look after yourselves. my discovery must be what to do with the men who think more of the state than their church ... the majority of parsons, don't you think? ... if the question's really put and they can be made to understand it. cantelupe. [_with sincere disdain._] there are more profitable professions. trebell. and less. will you allow me that it is statecraft to make a profession profitable? cantelupe _picks up his papers, avoiding theoretical discussion._ cantelupe. well now ... will you explain to me this project for endowing education with your surplus? trebell. putting appropriation, the buildings and the representation question on one side for the moment? cantelupe. candidly, i have yet to master your figures.... trebell. the roughest figures so far. cantelupe. still i have yet to master them on the first two points. trebell. [_firmly premising._] we agree that this is not diverting church money to actually secular uses. cantelupe. [_as he peeps from under his eyelids._] i can conceive that it might not be. you know that we hold education to be a church function. but.... trebell. can you accept thoroughly now the secular solution for all primary schools? cantelupe. haven't we always preferred it to the undenominational? are there to be facilities for _any_ of the teachers giving dogmatic instruction? trebell. i note your emphasis on any. i think we can put the burden of that decision on local authorities. let us come to the question of training colleges for your teachers. it's on that i want to make my bargain. cantelupe. [_alert and cautious._] you want to endow colleges? trebell. heavily. cantelupe. under public control? trebell. church colleges under church control. cantelupe. there'd be others? trebell. to preserve the necessary balance in the schools. cantelupe. not founded with church money? trebell. think of the grants in aid that will be released. i must ask the treasury for a further lump sum and with that there may be sufficient for secular colleges ... if you can agree with me upon the statutes of those over which you'd otherwise have free control. trebell _is weighing his words._ cantelupe. "you" meaning, for instance ... what authorities in the church? trebell. bishops, i suppose ... and others, [cantelupe _permits himself to smile._] on that point i shall be weakness itself and ... may i suggest ... your seat in the cabinet will give you some control. cantelupe. statutes? trebell. to be framed in the best interests of educational efficiency. cantelupe. [_finding an opening._] i doubt if we agree upon the meaning to be attached to that term. trebell. [_forcing the issue._] what meaning do you attach to it? cantelupe. [_smiling again._] i have hardly a sympathetic listener. trebell. you have an unprejudiced one ... the best you can hope for. i was not educated myself. i learnt certain things that i desired to know ... from reading my first book--don quixote it was--to mastering company law. you see, as a man without formulas either for education or religion, i am perhaps peculiarly fitted to settle the double question. i have no grudges ... no revenge to take. cantelupe. [_suddenly congenial._] shelton's translation of don quixote i hope ... the modern ones have no flavour. and you took all the adventures as seriously as the don did? trebell. [_not expecting this._] i forget. cantelupe. it's the finer attitude ... the child's attitude. and it would enable you immediately to comprehend mine towards an education consisting merely of practical knowledge. the life of faith is still the happy one. what is more crushingly finite than knowledge? moral discipline is a nation's only safety. how much of your science tends in support of the great spiritual doctrine of sacrifice! trebell _returns to his subject as forceful as ever._ trebell. the church has assimilated much in her time. do you think it wise to leave agnostic science at the side of the plate? i think, you know, that this craving for common knowledge is a new birth in the mind of man; and if your church won't recognise that soon, by so much will she be losing her grip for ever over men's minds. what's the test of godliness, but your power to receive the new idea in whatever form it comes and give it life? it is blasphemy to pick and choose your good. [_for a moment his thoughts seem to be elsewhere._] that's an unhappy man or woman or nation ... i know it if it has only come to me this minute ... and i don't care what their brains or their riches or their beauty or any of their triumph may be ... they're unhappy and useless if they can't tell life from death. cantelupe. [_interested in the digression_] remember that the church's claim has ever been to know that difference. trebell. [_fastening to his subject again._] my point is this: a man's demand to know the exact structure of a fly's wing, and his assertion that it degrades any child in the street not to know such a thing, is a religious revival ... a token of spiritual hunger. what else can it be? and we commercialise our teaching! cantelupe. i wouldn't have it so. trebell. then i'm offering you the foundation of a new order of men and women who'll serve god by teaching his children. now shall we finish the conversation in prose? cantelupe. [_not to be put down._] what is the prose for god? trebell. [_not to be put down either._] that's what we irreligious people are giving our lives to discover. [_he plunges into detail._] i'm proposing to found about seventy-two new colleges, and of course, to bring the ones there are up to the new standard. then we must gradually revise all teaching salaries in government schools ... to a scale i have in mind. then the course must be compulsory and the training time doubled-- cantelupe. doubled! four years? trebell. well, a minimum of three ... a university course. remember we're turning a trade into a calling. cantelupe. there's more to that than taking a degree. trebell. i think so. you've fought for years for your tests and your atmosphere with plain business men not able to understand such lunacy. quite right ... atmosphere's all that matters. if one and one don't make two by god's grace.... cantelupe. poetry again! trebell. i beg your pardon. well ... you've no further proof. if you can't plant your thumb on the earth and your little finger on the pole star you know nothing of distances. we must do away with text-book teachers. cantelupe _is opening out a little in spite of himself._ cantelupe. i'm waiting for our opinions to differ. trebell. [_businesslike again._] i'll send you a draft of the statutes i propose within a week. meanwhile shall i put the offer this way. if i accept your tests will you accept mine? cantelupe. what are yours? trebell. i believe if one provides for efficiency one provides for the best part of truth ... honesty of statement. i shall hope for a little more elasticity in your dogmas than becket or cranmer or laud would have allowed. when you've a chance to re-formulate the reasons of your faith for the benefit of men teaching mathematics and science and history and political economy, you won't neglect to answer or allow for criticisms and doubts. i don't see why ... in spite of all the evidence to the contrary ... such a thing as progress in a definite religious faith is impossible. cantelupe. progress is a soiled word. [_and now he weighs his words._] i shall be very glad to accept on the church's behalf control of the teaching of teachers in these colleges. trebell. good. i want the best men. cantelupe. you are surprisingly inexperienced if you think that creeds can ever become mere forms except to those who have none. trebell. but teaching--true teaching--is learning, and the wish to know is going to prevail against any creed ... so i think. i wish you cared as little for the form in which a truth is told as i do. on the whole, you see, i think i shall manage to plant your theology in such soil this spring that the garden will be fruitful. on the whole i'm a believer in churches of all sorts and their usefulness to the state. your present use is out-worn. have i found you in this the beginnings of a new one? cantelupe. the church says: thank you, it is a very old one. trebell. [_winding up the interview._] to be sure, for practical politics our talk can be whittled down to your accepting the secular solution for primary schools, if you're given these colleges under such statutes as you and i shall agree upon. cantelupe. and the country will accept. trebell. the country will accept any measure if there's enough money in it to bribe all parties fairly. cantelupe. you expect very little of the constancy of my church to her faith, mr. trebell. trebell. i have only one belief myself. that is in human progress--yes, progress--over many obstacles and by many means. i have no ideals. i believe it is statesmanlike to use all the energy you find ... turning it into the nearest channel that points forward. cantelupe. forward to what? trebell. i don't know ... and my caring doesn't matter. we do know ... and if we deny it it's only to be encouraged by contradiction ... that the movement is forward and with some gathering purpose. i'm friends with any fellow traveller. cantelupe _has been considering him very curiously. now he gets up to go._ cantelupe. i should like to continue our talk when i've studied your draft of the statutes. of course the political position is favourable to a far more comprehensive bill than we had ever looked for ... and you've the advantage now of having held yourself very free from party ties. in fact not only will you give us the bill we shall most care to accept, but i don't know what other man would give us a bill we and the other side could accept at all. trebell. i can let you have more appropriation figures by friday. the details of the fabrics scheme will take a little longer. cantelupe. in a way there's no such hurry. we're not in office yet. trebell. when i'm building with figures i like to give the foundations time to settle. otherwise they are the inexactest things. cantelupe. [_smiling to him for the first time._] we shall have you finding faith the only solvent of all problems some day. trebell. i hope my mind is not afraid ... even of the christian religion. cantelupe. i am sure that the needs of the human soul ... be it dressed up in whatever knowledge ... do not alter from age to age.... _he opens the door to find_ wedgecroft _standing outside, watch in hand._ trebell. hullo ... waiting? wedgecroft. i was giving you two minutes by my watch. how are you, cantelupe? cantelupe, _with a gesture which might be mistaken for a bow, folds himself up._ trebell. shall i bring you the figures on friday ... that might save time. cantelupe, _by taking a deeper fold in himself seems to assent._ trebell. will the afternoon do? kent shall fix the hour. cantelupe. [_with an effort._] kent? trebell. my secretary. cantelupe. friday. any hour before five. i know my way. _the three phrases having meant three separate efforts,_ cantelupe _escapes._ wedgecroft _has walked to the table, his brows a little puckered. now_ trebell _notices that_ kent's _door is open; he goes quickly into the room and finds it empty. then he stands for a moment irritable and undecided before returning._ trebell. been here long? wedgecroft. five minutes ... more, i suppose. trebell. mrs. o'connell gone? wedgecroft. to her dressmaker's. trebell. frances forgot she was coming and went out. wedgecroft. pretty little fool of a woman! d'you know her husband? trebell. no. wedgecroft. says she's been in ireland with him since we met at shapters. he has trouble with his tenantry. trebell. won't he sell or won't they purchase? wedgecroft. curious chap. a don at balliol when i first knew him. warped of late years ... perhaps by his marriage. trebell. [_dismissing that subject._] well ... how's percival? wedgecroft. better this morning. i told him i'd seen you ... and in a little calculated burst of confidence what i'd reason to think you were after. he said you and he could get on though you differed on every point; but he didn't see how you'd pull with such a blasted weak-kneed lot as the rest of the horsham's cabinet would be. he'll be up in a week or ten days. trebell. can i see him? wedgecroft. you might. i admire the old man ... the way he sticks to his party, though they misrepresent now most things he believes in! trebell. what a damnable state to arrive at ... doubly damned by the fact you admire it. wedgecroft. and to think that at this time of day you should need instructing in the ethics of party government. but i'll have to do it. trebell. not now. i've been at ethics with cantelupe. wedgecroft. certainly not now. what about my man with the stomach-ache at twelve o'clock sharp! good-bye. _he is gone,_ trebell _battles with uneasiness and at last mutters._ "oh ... why didn't she wait?" _then the telephone bell rings. he goes quickly as if it were an answer to his anxiety._ "yes?" _of course, it isn't.._ "yes." _he paces the room, impatient, wondering what to do. the maid comes in to announce_ miss davenport. lucy _follows her. she has gained lately perhaps a little of the joy which was lacking and at least she brings now into this room a breath of very wholesome womanhood._ lucy. it's very good of you to let me come; i'm not going to keep you more than three minutes. trebell. sit down. _only women unused to busy men would call him rude._ lucy. what i want to say is ... don't mind my being engaged to walter. it shan't interfere with his work for you. if you want a proof that it shan't ... it was i got aunt julia to ask you to take him.... though he didn't know ... so don't tell him that. trebell. you weren't engaged then. lucy. i ... thought that we might be. trebell. [_with cynical humour._] which i'm not to tell him either? lucy. oh, that wouldn't matter. trebell. [_with decision._] i'll make sure you don't interfere. lucy. [_deliberately ... not to be treated as a child._] you couldn't, you know, if i wanted to. trebell. why, is walter a fool? lucy. he's very fond of me, if that's what you mean? trebell _looks at her for the first time and changes his tone a little._ trebell. if it was what i meant ... i'm disposed to withdraw the suggestion. lucy. and, because i'm fond of his work as well, i shan't therefore ask him to tell me things ... secrets. trebell. [_reverting to his humour._] it'll be when you're a year or two married that danger may occur ... in his desperate effort to make conversation. lucy _considers this and him quite seriously._ lucy. you're rather hard on women, aren't you ... just because they don't have the chances men do. trebell. do you want the chances? lucy. i think i'm as clever as most men i meet, though i know less, of course. trebell. perhaps i should have offered you the secretaryship instead. lucy. [_readily._] don't you think i'm taking it in a way ... by marrying walter? that's fanciful of course. but marriage is a very general and complete sort of partnership, isn't it? at least, i'd like to make mine so. trebell. he'll be more under your thumb in some things if you leave him free in others. _she receives the sarcasm in all seriousness and then speaks to him as she would to a child._ lucy. oh ... i'm not explaining what i mean quite well perhaps. walter has been everywhere and done everything. he speaks three languages ... which all makes him an ideal private secretary. trebell. quite. lucy. do you think he'd develop into anything else ... but for me? trebell. so i have provided just a first step, have i? lucy. [_with real enthusiasm._] oh, mr. trebell, it's a great thing for us. there isn't anyone worth working under but you. you'll make him think and give him ideas instead of expecting them from him. but just for that reason he'd get so attached to you and be quite content to grow old in your shadow ... if it wasn't for me. trebell. true ... i should encourage him in nothingness. what's more, i want extra brains and hands. it's not altogether a pleasant thing, is it ... the selfishness of the hard worked man? lucy. if you don't grudge your own strength, why should you be tender of other people's? _he looks at her curiously._ trebell. your ambition is making for only second-hand satisfaction though. lucy. what's a woman to do? she must work through men, mustn't she? trebell. i'm told that's degrading ... the influencing of husbands and brothers and sons. lucy. [_only half humorously._] but what else is one to do with them? of course, i've enough money to live on ... so i could take up some woman's profession ... what are you smiling at? trebell. [_who has smiled very broadly._] as you don't mean to ... don't stop while i tell you. lucy. but i'd sooner get married. i want to have children. [_the words catch him and hold him. he looks at her reverently this time. she remembers she has transgressed convention; then, remembering that it is only convention, proceeds quite simply._] i hope we shall have children. trebell. i hope so. lucy. thank you. that's the first kind thing you've said. trebell. oh ... you can do without compliments, can't you? _she considers for a moment._ lucy. why have you been talking to me as if i were someone else? trebell. [_startled._] who else? lucy. no one particular. but you've shaken a moral fist so to speak. i don't think i provoked it. trebell. it's a bad parliamentary habit. i apologise. _she gets up to go._ lucy. now i shan't keep you longer ... you're always busy. you've been so easy to talk to. thank you very much. trebell. why ... i wonder? lucy. i knew you would be or i shouldn't have come. you think life's an important thing, don't you? that's priggish, isn't it? good-bye. we're coming to dinner ... aunt julia and i. miss trebell arrived to ask us just as i left. trebell. i'll see you down. lucy. what waste of time for you. i know how the door opens. _as she goes out_ walter kent _is on the way to his room. the two nod to each other like old friends._ trebell _turns away with something of a sigh._ kent. just come? lucy. just going. kent. i'll see you at dinner. lucy. oh, are you to be here? ... that's nice. lucy _departs as purposefully as she came._ kent _hurries to_ trebell, _whose thoughts are away again by now._ kent. i haven't been long there and back, have i? the bishop gave me these letters for you. he hasn't answered the last ... but i've his notes of what he means to say. he'd like them back to-night. he was just going out. i've one or two notes of what evans said. bit of a charlatan, don't you think? trebell. evans? kent. well, he talked of his flock. there are quite fifteen letters you'll have to deal with yourself, i'm afraid. trebell _stares at him: then, apparently, making up his mind...._ trebell. ring up a messenger, will you ... i must write a note and send it. kent. will you dictate? trebell. i shall have done it while you're ringing ... it's only a personal matter. then we'll start work. kent _goes into his room and tackles the telephone there._ trebell _sits down to write the note, his face very set and anxious._ the third act at lord horsham's house in queen anne's gate, in the evening, a week later. _if rooms express their owners' character, the grey and black of_ lord horsham's _drawing room, the faded brocade of its furniture, reveal him as a man of delicate taste and somewhat thin intellectuality. he stands now before a noiseless fire, contemplating with a troubled eye either the pattern of the old french carpet, or the black double doors of the library opposite, or the moulding on the adams ceiling, which the flicker of all the candles casts into deeper relief. his grey hair and black clothes would melt into the decoration of his room, were the figure not rescued from such oblivion by the british white glaze of his shirt front and--to a sympathetic eye--by the loveable perceptive face of the man. sometimes he looks at the sofa in front of him, on which sits_ wedgecroft, _still in the frock coat of a busy day, depressed and irritable. with his back to them, on a sofa with its back to them, is_ george farrant, _planted with his knees apart, his hands clasped, his head bent; very glum. and sometimes_ horsham _glances at the door, as if waiting for it to open. then his gaze will travel back, up the long shiny black piano, with a volume of the well tempered clavichord open on its desk, to where_ cantelupe _is perched uncomfortably on the bench; paler than ever; more self-contained than ever, looking, to one who knows him as well as horsham does, a little dangerous. so he returns to contemplation of the ceiling or the carpet. they wait there as men wait who have said all they want to say upon an unpleasant subject and yet cannot dismiss it. at last_ farrant _breaks the silence._ farrant. what time did you ask him to come, horsham? horsham. eh ... o'connell? i didn't ask him directly. what time did you say, wedgecroft? wedgecroft. any time after half past ten, i told him. farrant. [_grumbling._] it's a quarter to eleven. doesn't blackborough mean to turn up at all? horsham. he was out of town ... my note had to be sent after him. i couldn't wire, you see. farrant. no. cantelupe. it was by the merest chance your man caught me, cyril. i was taking the ten fifteen to tonbridge and happened to go to james street first for some papers. _the conversation flags again._ cantelupe. but since mrs. o'connell is dead what is the excuse for a scandal? _at this unpleasant dig into the subject of their thoughts the three other men stir uncomfortably._ horsham. because the inquest is unavoidable ... apparently. wedgecroft. [_suddenly letting fly._] i declare i'd i'd have risked penal servitude and given a certificate, but just before the end o'connell would call in old fielding andrews, who has moral scruples about everything--it's his trademark--and of course about this...! farrant. was he told of the whole business? wedgecroft. no ... o'connell kept things up before him. well ... the woman was dying. horsham. couldn't you have kept the true state of the case from sir fielding? wedgecroft. and been suspected of the malpractice myself if he'd found it out? ... which he would have done ... he's no fool. well ... i thought of trying that.... farrant. my dear wedgecroft ... how grossly quixotic! you have a duty to yourself. horsham. [_rescuing the conversation from unpleasantness._] i'm afraid i feel that our position to-night is most irregular, wedgecroft. wedgecroft. still if you can make o'connell see reason. and if you all can't.... [_he frowns at the alternative._] cantelupe. didn't you say she came to you first of all? wedgecroft. i met her one morning at trebell's. farrant. actually _at_ trebell's! wedgecroft. the day he came back from abroad. farrant. oh! no one seems to have noticed them together much at any time. my wife ... no matter! wedgecroft. she tackled me as a doctor with one part of her trouble ... added she'd been with o'connell in ireland, which of course it turns out wasn't true ... asked me to help her. i had to say i couldn't. horsham. [_echoing rather than querying._] you couldn't. farrant. [_shocked._] my dear horsham! wedgecroft. well, if she'd told me the truth!... no, anyhow i couldn't. i'm sure there was no excuse. one can't run these risks. farrant. quite right, quite right. wedgecroft. there are men who do on one pretext or another. farrant. [_not too shocked to be curious._] are there really? wedgecroft. oh yes, men well known ... in other directions. i could give you four addresses ... but of course i wasn't going to give her one. though there again ... if she'd told me the whole truth!... my god, women are such fools! and they prefer quackery ... look at the decent doctors they simply turn into charlatans. though, there again, that all comes of letting a trade work mysteriously under the thumb of a benighted oligarchy ... which is beside the question. but one day i'll make you sit up on the subject of the medical council, horsham. horsham _assumes an impenetrable air of statesmanship._ horsham. i know. very interesting ... very important ... very difficult to alter the status quo. wedgecroft. then the poor little liar said she'd go off to an appointment with her dressmaker; and i heard nothing more till she sent for me a week later, and i found her almost too ill to speak. even then she didn't tell me the truth! so, when o'connell arrived, of course i spoke to him quite openly and all he told me in reply was that it wouldn't have been his child. farrant. poor devil! wedgecroft. o'connell? farrant. yes, of course. wedgecroft. i wonder. perhaps she didn't realize he'd been sent for ... or felt then she was dying and didn't care ... or lost her head. i don't know. farrant. such a pretty little woman! wedgecroft. if i could have made him out and dealt with him, of course, i shouldn't have come to you. farrant's known him even longer than i have. farrant. i was with him at harrow. wedgecroft. so i went to farrant first. _that part of the subject drops._ cantelupe, _who has not moved, strikes in again._ cantelupe. how was trebell's guilt discovered? farrant. he wrote her one letter which she didn't destroy. o'connell found it. wedgecroft. picked it up from her desk ... it wasn't even locked up. farrant. not twenty words in it ... quite enough though. horsham. his habit of being explicit ... of writing things down ... i know! _he shakes his head, deprecating all rashness. there is another pause._ farrant, _getting up to pace about, breaks it._ farrant. look here, wedgecroft, one thing is worrying me. had trebell any foreknowledge of what she did and the risk she was running and could he have stopped it? wedgecroft. [_almost ill-temperedly._] how could he have stopped it? farrant. because ... well, i'm not a casuist ... but i know by instinct when i'm up against the wrong thing to do; and if he can't be cleared on that point i won't lift a finger to save him. horsham. [_with nice judgment._] in using the term any foreknowledge, farrant, you may be more severe on him than you wish to be. farrant, _unappreciative, continues._ farrant. otherwise ... well, we must admit, cantelupe, that if it hadn't been for the particular consequence of this it wouldn't be anything to be so mightily shocked about. cantelupe. i disagree. farrant. my dear fellow, it's our business to make laws and we know the difference of saying in one of 'em you may or you must. who ever proposed to insist on pillorying every case of spasmodic adultery? one would never have done! some of these attachments do more harm ... to the third party, i mean ... some less. but it's only when a menage becomes socially impossible that a sensible man will interfere. [_he adds quite unnecessarily._] i'm speaking quite impersonally, of course. cantelupe. [_as coldly as ever._] trebell is morally responsible for every consequence of the original sin. wedgecroft. that is a hard saying. farrant. [_continuing his own remarks quite independently._] and i put aside the possibility that he deliberately helped her to her death to save a scandal because i don't believe it is a possibility. but if that were so i'd lift my finger to help him to his. i'd see him hanged with pleasure. wedgecroft. [_settling this part of the matter._] well, farrant, to all intents and purposes he didn't know and he'd have stopped it if he could. farrant. yes, i believe that. but what makes you so sure? wedgecroft. i asked him and he told me. farrant. that's no proof. wedgecroft. you read the letter that he sent her ... unless you think it was written as a blind. farrant. oh ... to be sure ... yes. i might have thought of that. _he settles down again. again no one has anything to say._ cantelupe. what is to be said to mr. o'connell when he comes? horsham. yes ... what exactly do you propose we shall say to o'connell, wedgecroft? wedgecroft. get him to open his oyster of a mind and.... farrant. so it is and his face like a stone wall yesterday. absolutely refused to discuss the matter with me! cantelupe. may i ask, cyril, why are we concerning ourselves with this wickedness at all? horsham. just at this moment when we have official weight without official responsibility, charles.... wedgecroft. i wish i could have let percival out of bed, but these first touches of autumn are dangerous to a convalescent of his age. horsham. but you saw him, farrant ... and he gave you his opinion, didn't he? farrant. last night ... yes. horsham. i suppose it's a pity blackborough hasn't turned up. farrant. never mind him. horsham. he gets people to agree with him. that's a gift. farrant. wedgecroft, what is the utmost o'connell will be called upon to do for us ... for trebell? wedgecroft. probably only to hold his tongue at the inquest to-morrow. as far as i know there's no one but her maid to prove that mrs. o'connell didn't meet her husband some time in the summer. he'll be called upon to tell a lie or two by implication. farrant. cantelupe ... what does perjury to that extent mean to a roman catholic? cantelupe's _face melts into an expression of mild amazement._ cantelupe. your asking such a question shows that you would not understand my answer to it. farrant. [_leaving the fellow to his subtleties._] well, what about the maid? wedgecroft. she may suspect facts but not names, i think. why should they question her on such a point if o'connell says nothing? horsham. he's really very late. i told ... [_he stops._] charles, i've forgotten that man's name again. cantelupe. edmunds, you said it was. horsham. edmunds. everybody's down at lympne ... i've been left with a new man here and i don't know his name. [_he is very pathetic._] i told him to put o'connell in the library there. i thought that either farrant or i might perhaps see him first and-- _at this moment_ edmunds _comes in, and, with that air of discreet tact which he considers befits the establishment of a prime minister, announces_, "mr. o'connell, my lord." _as_ o'connell _follows him_, horsham _can only try not to look too disconcerted._ o'connell, _in his tightly buttoned frock coat, with his shaven face and close-cropped iron grey hair, might be mistaken for a catholic priest; except that he has not also acquired the easy cheerfulness which professional familiarity with the mysteries of that religion seems to give. for the moment, at least, his features are so impassive that they may tell either of the deepest grief or the purest indifference; or it may be, merely of reticence on entering a stranger's room. he only bows towards_ horsham's _half-proffered hand. with instinctive respect for the situation of this tragically made widower the men have risen and stand in various uneasy attitudes._ horsham. oh ... how do you do? let me see ... do you know my cousin charles cantelupe? yes ... we were expecting russell blackborough. sir henry percival is ill. do sit down. o'connell _takes the nearest chair and gradually the others settle themselves_; farrant _seeking an obscure corner. but there follows an uncomfortable silence, which_ o'connell _at last breaks._ o'connell. you have sent for me, lord horsham? horsham. i hope that by my message i conveyed no impression of sending for you. o'connell. i am always in some doubt as to by what person or persons in or out of power this country is governed. but from all i hear you are at the present moment approximately entitled to send for me. _the level music of his irish tongue seems to give finer edge to his sarcasm._ horsham. well, mr. o'connell ... you know our request before we make it. o'connell. yes, i understand that if the fact of mr. trebell's adultery with my wife were made as public as its consequences to her must be to-morrow, public opinion would make it difficult for you to include him in your cabinet. horsham. therefore we ask you ... though we have no right to ask you ... to consider the particular circumstances and forget the man in the statesman, mr. o'connell. o'connell. my wife is dead. what have i to do at all with mr. trebell as a man? as a statesman i am in any case uninterested in him. _upon this throwing of cold water_, edmunds _returns to mention even more discreetly...._ edmunds. mr. blackborough is in the library, my lord. horsham. [_patiently impatient._] no, no ... here. wedgecroft. let me go. horsham. [_to the injured_ edmunds.] wait ... wait. wedgecroft. i'll put him _au fait._ i shan't come back. horsham. [_gratefully._] yes, yes. [_then to_ edmunds _who is waiting with perfect dignity._] yes ... yes ... yes. edmunds _departs and_ wedgecroft _makes for the library door, glad to escape._ o'connell. if you are not busy at this hour, wedgecroft, i should be grateful if you'd wait for me. i shall keep you, i think, but a very few minutes. wedgecroft. [_in his most matter-of-fact tone._] all right, o'connell. _he goes into the library._ cantelupe. don't you think, cyril, it would be wiser to prevent your man coming into the room at all while we're discussing this? horsham. [_collecting his scattered tact._] yes, i thought i had arranged that he shouldn't. i'm very sorry. he's a fool. however, there's no one else to come. once more, mr. o'connell.... [_he frames no sentence._] o'connell. i am all attention, lord horsham. cantelupe _with a self-denying effort has risen to his feet._ cantelupe. mr. o'connell i remain here almost against my will. i cannot think quite calmly about this double and doubly heinous sin. don't listen to us while we make light of it. if we think of it as a political bother and ask you to smooth it away ... i am ashamed. but i believe i may not be wrong if i put it to you that, looking to the future and for the sake of your own christian dignity, it may become you to be merciful. and i pray too ... i think we may believe ... that mr. trebell is feeling need of your forgiveness. i have no more to say. [_he sits down again._] o'connell. it may be. i have never met mr. trebell. horsham. i tell you, mr. o'connell, putting aside party, that your country has need of this man just at this time. _they hang upon_ o'connell's _reply. it comes with deliberation._ o'connell. i suppose my point of view must be an unusual one. i notice, at least, that twenty four hours and more has not enabled farrant to grasp it. farrant. for god's sake, o'connell, don't be so cold-blooded. you have the life or death of a man's reputation to decide on. o'connell. [_with a cold flash of contempt._] that's a petty enough thing now-a-days it seems to me. there are so many clever men ... and they are all so alike ... surely one will not be missed. cantelupe. don't you think that is only sarcasm, mr. o'connell? _the voice is so gently reproving that_ o'connell _must turn to him._ o'connell. will you please to make allowance, lord charles, for a mediaeval scholar's contempt of modern government? you at least will partly understand his horror as a catholic at the modern superstitions in favour of popular opinion and control which it encourages. you see, lord horsham, i am not a party man, only a little less enthusiastic for the opposite cries than for his own. you appealed very strangely to my feelings of patriotism for this country; but you see even my own is--in the twentieth century--foreign to me. from my point of view neither mr. trebell, nor you, nor the men you have just defeated, nor any discoverable man or body of men will make laws which matter ... or differ in the slightest. you are all part of your age and you all voice--though in separate keys, or even tunes they may be--only the greed and follies of your age. that you should do this and nothing more is, of course, the democratic ideal. you will forgive my thinking tenderly of the statesmanship of the first edward. _the library door opens and_ russell blackborough _comes in. he has on evening clothes, complicated by a long silk comforter and the motoring cap which he carries._ horsham. you know russell blackborough. o'connell. i think not. blackborough. how d'you do? o'connell _having bowed_, blackborough _having nodded, the two men sit down_, blackborough _with an air of great attention_, o'connell _to continue his interrupted speech._ o'connell. and you are as far from me in your code of personal morals as in your politics. in neither do you seem to realise that such a thing as passion can exist. no doubt you use the words love and hatred; but do you know that love and hatred for principles or persons should come from beyond a man? i notice you speak of forgiveness as if it were a penny in my pocket. you have been endeavouring for these two days to rouse me from my indifference towards mr. trebell. perhaps you are on the point of succeeding ... but i do not know what you may rouse. horsham. i understand. we are much in agreement, mr. o'connell. what can a man be--who has any pretensions to philosophy--but helplessly indifferent to the thousands of his fellow creatures whose fates are intertwined with his? o'connell. i am glad that you understand. but, again ... have i been wrong to shrink from personal relations with mr. trebell? hatred is as sacred a responsibility as love. and you will not agree with me when i say that punishment can be the salvation of a man's soul. farrant. [_with aggressive common sense._] look here. o'connell, if you're indifferent it doesn't hurt you to let him off. and if you hate him...! well, one shouldn't hate people ... there's no room for it in this world. cantelupe. [_quietly as ever._] we have some authority for thinking that the punishment of a secret sin is awarded by god secretly. o'connell. we have very poor authority, sir, for using god's name merely to fill up the gaps in an argument, though we may thus have our way easily with men who fear god more than they know him. i am not one of those. yes, farrant, you and your like have left little room in this world except for the dusty roads on which i notice you beginning once more to travel. the rule of them is the same for all, is it not ... from the tramp and the labourer to the plutocrat in his car? this is the age of equality; and it's a fine practical equality ... the equality of the road. but you've fenced the fields of human joy and turned the very hillsides into hoardings, commercial opportunity is painted on them, i think. farrant. [_not to be impressed._] perhaps it is o'connell. my father made his money out of newspapers and i ride in a motor car and you came from holyhead by train. what has all that to do with it? why can't you make up your mind? you know in this sort of case one talks a lot ... and then does the usual thing. you must let trebell off and that's all about it. o'connell. indeed. and do they still think it worth while to administer an oath to your witnesses? _he is interrupted by the flinging open of the door and the triumphant right-this-time-anyhow voice in which_ edmunds _announces_ "mr. trebell, my lord." _the general consternation expresses itself through_ horsham, _who complains aloud and unreservedly._ horsham. good god.... no! charles, i must give him notice at once ... he'll have to go. [_he apologises to the company._] i beg your pardon. _by this time_ trebell _is in the room and has discovered the stranger, who stands to face him without emotion or anger_, blackborough's _face wears the grimmest of smiles_, cantelupe _is sorry_, farrant _recovers from the fit of choking which seemed imminent and_ edmunds, _dimly perceiving by now some fly in the perfect amber of his conduct, departs. the two men still face each other_, farrant _is prepared to separate them should they come to blows, and indeed is advancing in that anticipation when_ o'connell _speaks._ o'connell. i am justin o'connell. trebell. i guess that. o'connell. there's a dead woman between us, mr. trebell. _a tremor sweeps over_ trebell; _then he speaks simply._ trebell. i wish she had not died. o'connell. i am called upon by your friends to save you from the consequences of her death. what have you to say about that? trebell. i have been wondering what sort of expression the last of your care for her would find ... but not much. my wonder is at the power over me that has been given to something i despised. _only_ o'connell _grasps his meaning. but he, stirred for the first time and to his very depths, drives it home._ o'connell. yes.... if i wanted revenge i have it. she was a worthless woman. first my life and now yours! dead because she was afraid to bear your child, isn't she? trebell. [_in agony._] i'd have helped that if i could. o'connell. not the shame ... not the wrong she had done me ... but just fear--fear of the burden of her woman-hood. and because of her my children are bastards and cannot inherit my name. and i must live in sin against my church, as--god help me--i can't against my nature. what are men to do when this is how women use the freedom we have given them? is the curse of barrenness to be nothing to a man? and that's the death in life to which you gentlemen with your fine civilisation are bringing us. i think we are brothers in misfortune, mr. trebell. trebell. [_far from responding._] not at all, sir. if you wanted children you did the next best thing when she left you. my own problem is neither so simple nor is it yet anyone's business but my own. i apologise for alluding to it. horsham _takes advantage of the silence that follows._ horsham. shall we.... o'connell. [_measuring_ trebell _with his eyes._] and by which shall i help you to a solution ... telling lies or the truth to-morrow? trebell. [_roughly, almost insolently._] if you want my advice ... i should do the thing that comes more easily to you, or that will content you most. if you haven't yet made up your mind as to the relative importance of my work and your conscience, it's too late to begin now. nothing you may do can affect me. horsham. _[fluttering fearfully into this strange dispute._] o'connell ... if you and i were to join wedgecroft.... o'connell. you value your work more than anything else in the world? trebell. have i anything else in the world? o'connell. have you not? [_with grim ambiguity._] then i am sorry for you, mr. trebell. [_having said all he had to say, he notices_ horsham.] yes, lord horsham, by all means.... _then_ horsham _opens the library door and sees him safely through. he passes_ trebell _without any salutation, nor does_ trebell _turn after him; but when_ horsham _also is in the library and the door is closed, comments viciously._ trebell. the man's a sentimentalist ... like all men who live alone or shut away. [_then surveying his three glum companions, bursts out._] well...? we can stop thinking of this dead woman, can't we? it's a waste of time. farrant. trebell, what did you want to come here for? trebell. because you thought i wouldn't. i knew you'd be sitting round, incompetent with distress, calculating to a nicety the force of a scandal.... blackborough. [_with the firmest of touches._] horsham has called some of us here to discuss the situation. i am considering my opinion. trebell. you are not, blackborough. you haven't recovered yet from the shock of your manly feelings. oh, cheer up. you know we're an adulterous and sterile generation. why should you cry out at a proof now and then of what's always in the hearts of most of us? farrant. [_plaintively._] now, for god's sake, trebell ... o'connell has been going on like that. trebell. well then ... think of what matters. blackborough. of you and your reputation in fact. farrant. [_kindly._] why do you pretend to be callous? _he strokes_ trebell's _shoulder, who shakes him off impatiently._ trebell. do you all mean to out-face the british lion with me after to-morrow ... dare to be daniels? blackborough. bravado won't carry this off. trebell. blackborough ... it would immortalize you. i'll stand up in my place in the house of commons and tell everything that has befallen soberly and seriously. why should i flinch? farrant. my dear trebell, if your name comes out at the inquest-- trebell. if it does!... whose has been the real offence against society ... hers or mine? it's i who am most offended ... if i choose to think so. blackborough. you seem to forget the adultery. trebell. isn't death divorce enough for her? and ... oh, wasn't i right?... what do you start thinking of once the shock's over? punishment ... revenge ... uselessness ... waste of me. farrant. [_with finality._] if your name comes out at the inquest, to talk of anything but retirement from public life is perfect lunacy ... and you know it. horsham _comes back from the passage. he is a little distracted; then the more so at finding himself again in a highly-charged atmosphere._ horsham. he's gone off with wedgecroft. trebell. [_including_ horsham _now in his appeal._] does anyone think he knows me now to be a worse man ... less fit, less able ... than he did a week ago? _from the piano-stool comes_ cantelupe's _quiet voice._ cantelupe. yes, trebell ... i do. trebell _wheels round at this and ceases all bluster._ trebell. on what grounds? cantelupe. unarguable ones. horsham. [_finding refuge again in his mantelpiece._] you know, he has gone off without giving me his promise. farrant. that's your own fault, trebell. horsham. the fool says i didn't give him explicit instructions. farrant. what fool? horsham. that man ... [_the name fails him._] ... my new man. one of those touches of fate's little finger, really. _he begins to consult the ceiling and the carpet once more._ trebell _tackles_ cantelupe _with gravity._ trebell. i have only a logical mind, cantelupe. i know that to make myself a capable man i've purged myself of all the sins ... i never was idle enough to commit. i know that if your god didn't make use of men, sins and all ... what would ever be done in the world? that one natural action, which the slight shifting of a social law could have made as negligible as eating a meal, can make me incapable ... takes the linch-pin out of one's brain, doesn't it? horsham. trebell, we've been doing our best to get you out of this mess. your remarks to o'connell weren't of any assistance, and.... cantelupe _stands up, so momentously that_ horsham's _gentle flow of speech dries up._ cantelupe. perhaps i had better say at once that, whatever hushing up you may succeed in, it will be impossible for me to sit in a cabinet with mr. trebell. _it takes even_ farrant _a good half minute to recover his power of speech on this new issue._ farrant. what perfect nonsense, cantelupe! i hope you don't mean that. blackborough. complication number one, horsham. farrant. [_working up his protest._] why on earth not? you really mustn't drag your personal feelings and prejudices into important matters like this ... matters of state. cantelupe. i think i have no choice, when trebell stands convicted of a mortal sin, of which he has not even repented. trebell. [_with bitterest cynicism._] dictate any form of repentance you like ... my signature is yours. cantelupe. is this a matter for intellectual jugglery? trebell. [_his defence failing at last._] i offered to face the scandal from my place in the house. that was mad, wasn't it.... blackborough--_his course mapped out--changes the tone of the discussion._ blackborough. horsham, i hope trebell will believe i have no personal feelings in this matter, but we may as well face the fact even now that o'connell holding his tongue to-morrow won't stop gossip in the house, club gossip, gossip in drawing rooms. what do the radicals really care so long as a scandal doesn't get into the papers! there's an inner circle with its eye on us. farrant. well, what does that care as long as scandal's its own copyright? do you know, my dear father refused a peerage because he felt it meant putting blinkers on his best newspaper. blackborough. [_a little subtly._] still ... now you and horsham are cousins, aren't you? farrant. [_off the track and explanatory._] no, no ... my wife's mother.... blackborough. i'm inaccurate, for i'm not one of the family circle myself. my money gets me here and any skill i've used in making it. it wouldn't keep me at a pinch. and trebell ... [_he speaks through his teeth._] ... do you think your accession to power in the party is popular at the best? who is going to put out a finger to make it less awkward for horsham to stick to you if there's a chance of your going under? trebell _smiles at some mental picture he is making._ trebell. can your cousins and aunts make it so awkward for you, horsham? horsham. [_repaying humour with humour._] i bear up against their affectionate attentions. trebell. but i quite understand how uncongenial i may be. what made you take up with me at all? farrant. your brains, trebell. trebell. he should have enquired into my character first, shouldn't he, cantelupe? cantelupe. [_with crushing sincerity._] yes. trebell. oh, the old unnecessary choice ... wisdom or virtue. we all think we must make it ... and we all discover we can't. but if you've to choose between cantelupe and me, horsham, i quite see you've no choice. horsham _now takes the field, using his own weapons._ horsham. charles, it seems to me that we are somewhat in the position of men who have overheard a private conversation. do you feel justified in making public use of it? cantelupe. it is not i who am judge. god knows i would not sit in judgment upon anyone. trebell. cantelupe, i'll take your personal judgment if you can give it me. farrant. good lord, cantelupe, didn't you sit in a cabinet with ... well, we're not here to rake up old scandals. blackborough. i am concerned with the practical issue. horsham. we know, blackborough. [_having quelled the interruption he proceeds._] charles, you spoke, i think, of a mortal sin. cantelupe. in spite of your lifted eyebrows at the childishness of the word. horsham. theoretically, we must all wish to guide ourselves by eternal truths. but you would admit, wouldn't you, that we can only deal with temporal things? cantelupe. [_writhing slightly under the sceptical cross-examination._] there are divine laws laid down for our guidance ... i admit no disbelief in them. horsham. do they place any time-limit to the effect of a mortal sin? if this affair were twenty years old would you do as you are doing? can you forecast the opinion you will have of it six months hence? cantelupe. [_positively._] yes. horsham. can you? nevertheless i wish you had postponed your decision even till to-morrow. _having made his point he looks round almost for approval._ blackborough. what had percival to say on the subject, farrant? farrant. i was only to make use of his opinion under certain circumstances. blackborough. so it isn't favourable to your remaining with us, mr. trebell. farrant. [_indignantly emerging from the trap._] i never said that. _now_ trebell _gives the matter another turn, very forcefully._ trebell. horsham ... i don't bow politely and stand aside at this juncture as a gentleman should, because i want to know how the work's to be done if i leave you what i was to do. blackborough. are we so incompetent? trebell. i daresay not. i want to know ... that's all. cantelupe. please understand, mr. trebell, that i have in no way altered my good opinion of your proposals. blackborough. well, i beg to remind you, horsham, that from the first i've reserved myself liberty to criticise fundamental points in the scheme. horsham. [_pacifically._] quite so ... quite so. blackborough. that nonsensical new standard of teachers' salaries for one thing ... you'd never pass it. horsham. quite easily. it's an administrative point, so leave the legislation vague. then, as the appropriation money falls in, the qualifications rise and the salaries rise. no one will object because no one will appreciate it but administrators past or future ... and they never cavil at money. [_he remains lost in the beauty of this prospect._] trebell. will you take charge of the bill, blackborough? blackborough. are you serious? horsham. [_brought to earth._] oh no! [_he corrects himself smiling._] i mean, my dear blackborough, why not stick to the colonies? blackborough. you see, trebell, there's still the possibility that o'connell may finally spike your gun to-morrow. you realise that, don't you? trebell. thank you. i quite realise that. cantelupe. can nothing further be done? blackborough. weren't we doing our best? horsham. yes ... if we were bending our thoughts to that difficulty now.... trebell. [_hardly._] may i ask you to interfere on my behalf no further? farrant. my dear trebell! trebell. i assure you that i am interested in the disestablishment bill. _so they turn readily enough from the more uncomfortable part of their subject._ blackborough. well ... here's farrant. farrant. i'm no good. give me agriculture. blackborough. pity you're in the lords, horsham. trebell. horsham, i'll devil for any man you choose to name ... feed him sentence by sentence.... horsham. that's impossible. trebell. well, what's to become of my bill? i want to know. blackborough. [_casting his care on providence._] we shall manage somehow. why, if you had died suddenly ... or let us say, never been born.... trebell. then, blackborough ... speaking as a dying man ... if you go back on the integrity of this scheme, i'll haunt you. [_having said this with some finality, he turns his back._] cantelupe. cyril, i agree with what trebell is saying. whatever happens there must be no tampering with the comprehensiveness of the scheme. remember you are in the hands of the extremists ... on both sides. i won't support a compromise on one ... nor will they on the other. horsham. well, i'll confess to you candidly, trebell, that i don't know of any man available for this piece of work but you. trebell. then i should say it would be almost a relief to you if o'connell tells on me to-morrow. farrant. we seem to have got off that subject altogether. [_there comes a portentous tap at the door._] good lord!... i'm getting jumpy. horsham. excuse me. _a note is handed to him through the half opened door; and obviously it is at_ edmunds _whom he frowns. then he returns fidgetting for his glasses._ oh, it turns out ... i'm so sorry you were blundered in here, trebell ... this man ... what's his name ... edwards ... had been reading the papers and thought it was a cabinet council ... seemed proud of himself. this is from wedgecroft ... scribbled in a messenger office. i never can read his writing ... it's like prescriptions. can you? _it has gradually dawned on the three men and then on_ trebell _what this note may have in it._ farrant _hand even trembles a little as he takes it. he gathers the meaning himself and looks at the others with a smile before he reads the few words aloud._ farrant. "all right. he has promised." blackborough. o'connell? farrant. thank god. [_he turns enthusiastically to_ trebell _who stands rigid._] my dear fellow ... i hope you know how glad i am. cantelupe. i am very glad. blackborough. of course we're all very glad indeed, trebell ... very glad we persuaded him. farrant. that's dead and buried now, isn't it? trebell _moves away from them all and leaves them wondering. when he turns round his face is as hard as ever; his voice, if possible, harder._ trebell. but, horsham, returning to the more important question ... you've taken trouble, and o'connell's to perjure himself for nothing if you still can't get me into your child's puzzle ... to make the pretty picture that a cabinet should be. horsham _looks at_ blackborough _and scents danger._ horsham. we shall all be glad, i am sure, to postpone any further discussion.... trebell. i shall not. blackborough. [_encouragingly._] quite so, trebell. we're on the subject, and it won't discount our pleasure that you're out of this mess, to continue it. this habit of putting off the hour of disagreement is ... well, horsham, it's contrary to my business instincts. trebell. if one time's as good as another for you ... this moment is better than most for me. horsham. [_a little irritated at the wantonness of this dispute._] there is nothing before us on which we are capable of coming to any decision ... in a technical sense. blackborough. that's a quibble. [_poor_ horsham _gasps._] i'm not going to pretend either now or in a month's time that i think trebell anything but a most dangerous acquisition to the party. i pay you a compliment in that, trebell. now, horsham proposes that we should go to the country when disestablishment's through. horsham. it's the condition of nonconformist support. blackborough. one condition. then you'd leave us, trebell? horsham. i hope not. blackborough. and carry with you the credit of our one big measure. consider the effect upon our reputation with the country. farrant. [_waking to_ blackborough's _line of action._] why on earth should you leave us, trebell? you've hardly been a liberal, even in name. blackborough. [_vigorously making his point._] then what would be the conditions of your remaining? you're not a party man, trebell. you haven't the true party feeling. you are to be bought. of course you take your price in measures, not in money. but you are preeminently a man of ideas ... an expert. and a man of ideas is often a grave embarrassment to a government. horsham. and vice-versa ... vice-versa! trebell. [_facing_ blackborough _across the room._] do i understand that you for the good of the tory party ... just as cantelupe for the good of his soul ... will refuse to sit in a cabinet with me. blackborough. [_unembarrassed._] i don't commit myself to saying that. cantelupe. no, trebell ... it's that i must believe your work could not prosper ... in god's way. trebell _softens to his sincerity._ trebell. cantelupe, i quite understand. you may be right ... it's a very interesting question. blackborough, i take it that you object first of all to the scheme that i'm bringing you. blackborough. i object to those parts of it which i don't think you'll get through the house. farrant. [_feeling that he must take part._] for instance? blackborough. i've given you one already. cantelupe. [_his eye on_ blackborough.] understand there are things in that scheme we must stand or fall by. _suddenly_ trebell _makes for the door_, horsham _gets up concernedly._ trebell. horsham, make up your mind to-night whether you can do with me or not. i have to see percival again to-morrow ... we cut short our argument at the important point. good-bye ... don't come down. will you decide to-night? horsham. i have made up my own mind. trebell. is that sufficient? horsham. a collective decision is a matter of development. trebell. well, i shall expect to hear. horsham. by hurrying one only reaches a rash conclusion. trebell. then be rash for once and take the consequences. good-night. _he is gone before_ horsham _can compose another epigram._ blackborough. [_deprecating such conduct._] lost his temper! farrant. [_ruffling considerably._] horsham, if trebell is to be hounded out of your cabinet ... he won't go alone. horsham. [_bitter-sweet._] my dear farrant ... i have yet to form my cabinet. cantelupe. you are forming it to carry disestablishment, are you not, cyril? therefore you will form it in the best interests of the best scheme possible. horsham. trebell was and is the best man i know of for the purpose. i'm a little weary of saying that. _he folds his arms and awaits further developments. after a moment_ cantelupe _gets up as if to address a meeting._ cantelupe. then if you would prefer not to include me ... i shall feel justified in giving independent support to a scheme i have great faith in. [_and he sits down again._] blackborough. [_impatiently._] my dear cantelupe, if you think horsham can form a disestablishment cabinet to include trebell and exclude you, you're vastly mistaken. i for one.... farrant. but do both of you consider how valuable, how vital trebell is to us just at this moment? the radicals trust him.... blackborough. they hate him. horsham. [_elucidating._] their front bench hates him because he turned them out. the rest of them hate their front bench. after six years of office, who wouldn't? blackborough. that's true. farrant. oh, of course, we must stick to trebell, blackborough. blackborough _is silent; so_ horsham _turns his attention to his cousin._ horsham. well, charles, i won't ask you for a decision now. i know how hard it is to accept the dictates of other men's consciences ... but a necessary condition of all political work; believe me. cantelupe. [_uneasily._] you can form your cabinet without me, cyril. _at this_ blackborough _charges down on them, so to speak._ blackborough. no, i tell you, i'm damned if he can. leaving the whole high church party to blackmail all they can out of us and vote how they like! here ... i've got my yorkshire people to think of. i can bargain for them with you in a cabinet ... not if you've the pull of being out of it. horsham. [_with charming insinuation._] and have you calculated, blackborough, what may become of us if trebell has the pull of being out of it? blackborough _makes a face._ blackborough. yes ... i suppose he might turn nasty. farrant. i should hope he would. blackborough.[_tackling_ farrant _with great ease._] i should hope he would consider the matter not from the personal, but from the political point of view ... as i am trying to do. horsham. [_tasting his epigram with enjoyment._] introspection is the only bar to such an honourable endeavour, [blackborough _gapes._] you don't suffer from that as--for instance--charles here, does. blackborough. [_pugnaciously._] d'you mean i'm just pretending not to attack him personally? horsham. [_safe on his own ground._] it's only a curious metaphysical point. have you never noticed your distaste for the colour of a man's hair translate itself ultimately into an objection to his religious opinions ... or what not? i am sure--for instance--i could trace charles's scruples about sitting in a cabinet with trebell back to a sort of academic reverence for women generally which he possesses. i am sure i could ... if he were not probably now doing it himself. but this does not make the scruples less real, less religious, or less political. we must be humanly biased in expression ... or not express ourselves. blackborough. [_whose thoughts have wandered._] the man's less of a danger than he was ... i mean he'll be alone. the liberals won't have him back. he smashed his following there to come over to us. farrant. [_giving a further meaning to this._] yes, blackborough, he did. blackborough. to gain his own ends! oh, my dear horsham, can't you see that if o'connell had blabbed to-morrow it really would have been a blessing in disguise? i don't pretend to cantelupe's standard ... but there must be something radically wrong with a man who could get himself into such a mess as that ... now mustn't there? ah! ... you have a fatal partiality for clever people. i tell you ... though this might be patched up ... trebell would fail us in some other way before we were six months older. _this speech has its effect; but_ horsham _looks at him a little sternly._ horsham. and am i to conclude that you don't want charles to change his mind? blackborough. [_on another tack._] farrant has not yet allowed us to hear percival's opinion. farrant _looks rather alarmed._ farrant. it has very little reference to the scandal. blackborough. as that is at an end ... all the more reason we should hear it. horsham. [_ranging himself with_ farrant.] i called this quite informal meeting, blackborough, only to dispose of the scandal, if possible. blackborough. well, of course, if farrant chooses to insult percival so gratuitously by burking his message to us.... _there is an unspoken threat in this_, horsham _sees it and without disguising his irritation...._ horsham. let us have it, farrant. farrant. [_with a sort of puzzled discontent._] well ... i never got to telling him of the o'connell affair at all. he started talking to me ... saying that he couldn't for a moment agree to trebell's proposals for the finance of his bill ... i couldn't get a word in edgeways. then his wife came up.... horsham _takes something in this so seriously that he actually interrupts._ horsham. does he definitely disagree? what is his point? farrant. he says disestablishment's a bad enough speculation for the party as it is. blackborough. it is inevitable. farrant. he sees that. but then he says ... to go to the country again having bolstered up education and quarrelled with everybody will be bad enough ... to go having spent fifty millions on it will dish us all for our lifetimes. horsham. what does he propose? farrant. he'll offer to draft another bill and take it through himself. he says ... do as many good turns as we can with the money ... don't put it all on one horse. blackborough. he's your man, horsham. that's one difficulty settled. horsham's _thoughts are evidently beyond_ blackborough, _beyond the absent_ percival _even._ horsham. oh ... any of us could carry that sort of a bill. cantelupe _has heard this last passage with nothing less than horror and pale anger, which he contains no longer._ cantelupe. i won't have this. i won't have this opportunity frittered away for party purposes. blackborough. [_expostulating reasonably._] my dear cantelupe ... you'll get whatever you think it right for the church to have. you carry a solid thirty eight votes with you. horsham's _smooth voice intervenes. he speaks with finesse._ horsham. percival, as an old campaigner, expresses himself very roughly. the point is, that we are after all only the trustees of the party. if we know that a certain step will decimate it ... clearly we have no right to take the step. cantelupe. [_glowing to white heat._] is this a time to count the consequences to ourselves? horsham. [_unkindly._] by your action this evening, charles, you evidently think not. [_he salves the wound._] no matter, i agree with you ... the bill should be a comprehensive one, whoever brings it in. blackborough. [_not without enjoyment of the situation._] whoever brings it in will have to knuckle under to percival over its finance. farrant. trebell won't do that. i warned percival. horsham. then what did he say? farrant. he only swore. horsham _suddenly becomes peevish._ horsham. i think, farrant, you should have given me this message before. farrant. my dear horsham, what had it to do with our request to o'connell? horsham. [_scolding the company generally._] well then, i wish he hadn't sent it. i wish we were not discussing these points at all. the proper time for them is at a cabinet meeting. and when we have actually assumed the responsibilities of government ... then threats of resignation are not things to be played about with. farrant. did you expect percival's objection to the finance of the scheme? horsham. perhaps ... perhaps. i knew trebell was to see him last tuesday. i expect everybody's objections to any parts of every scheme to come at a time when i am in a proper position to reconcile them ... not now. _having vented his grievances he sits down to recover._ blackborough _takes advantage of the ensuing pause._ blackborough. it isn't so easy for me to speak against trebell, since he evidently dislikes me personally as much as i dislike him ... but i'm sure i'm doing my duty. horsham ... here you have cantelupe who won't stand in with the man, and percival who won't stand in with his measure, while i would sooner stand in with neither. isn't it better to face the situation now than take trouble to form the most makeshift of cabinets, and if that doesn't go to pieces, be voted down in the house by your own party? _there is an oppressive silence,_ horsham _is sulky. the matter is beyond_ farrant. cantelupe _whose agonies have expressed themselves in slight writhings, at last, with an effort, writhes himself to his feet._ cantelupe. i think i am prepared to reconsider my decision. farrant. that's all right then! _he looks round wonderingly for the rest of the chorus to find that neither_ blackborough _nor_ horsham _have stirred._ blackborough. [_stealthily._] is it, horsham? horsham. [_sotto voce._] why did you ever make it? blackborough _leaves him for_ cantelupe. blackborough. you're afraid for the integrity of the bill. cantelupe. it must be comprehensive ... that's vital. blackborough. [_very forcefully._] i give you my word to support its integrity, if you'll keep with me in persuading horsham that the inclusion of trebell in his cabinet will be a blow to the whole conservative cause. horsham, i implore you not to pursue this short-sighted policy. all parties have made up their minds to disestablishment ... surely nothing should be easier than to frame a bill which will please all parties. farrant. [_at last perceiving the drift of all this._] but good lord, blackborough ... now cantelupe has come round and will stand in ... blackborough. that's no longer the point. and what's all this nonsense about going to the country again next year? horsham. [_mildly._] after consulting me percival said at bristol.... blackborough. [_quite unchecked._] i know. but if we pursue a thoroughly safe policy and the bye-elections go right ... there need be no vote of censure carried for three or four years. the radicals want a rest with the country and they know it. and one has no right, what's more, to go wantonly plunging the country into the expenses of these constant general elections. it ruins trade. farrant. [_forlornly sticking to his point._] what has all this to do with trebell? horsham. [_thoughtfully._] farrant, beyond what you've told us, percival didn't recommend me to throw him over. farrant. no, he didn't ... that is, he didn't exactly. horsham. well ... he didn't? farrant. i'm trying to be accurate! [_obviously their nerves are now on edge._] he said we should find him tough to assimilate--as he warned you. horsham _with knit brows, loses himself in thought again,_ blackborough _quietly turns his attention to_ farrant. blackborough. farrant, you don't seriously think that ... outside his undoubted capabilities ... trebell is an acquisition to the party? farrant. [_unwillingly._] perhaps not. but if you're going to chuck a man ... don't chuck him when he's down. blackborough. he's no longer down. we've got him o'connell's promise and jolly grateful he ought to be. i think the least we can do is to keep our minds clear between trebell's advantage and the party's. cantelupe. [_from the distant music-stool._] and the party's and the country's. blackborough. [_countering quite deftly._] cantelupe, either we think it best for the country to have our party in power or we don't. farrant. [_in judicious temper._] certainly, i don't feel our responsibility towards him is what it was ten minutes ago. the man has other careers besides his political one. blackborough. [_ready to praise._] clever as paint at the bar--best company lawyer we've got. cantelupe. it is not what he loses, i think ... but what we lose in losing him. _he says this so earnestly that_ horsham _pays attention._ horsham. no, my dear charles, let us be practical. if his position with us is to be made impossible it is better that he shouldn't assume it. blackborough. [_soft and friendly._] how far are you actually pledged to him? horsham _looks up with the most ingenuous of smiles._ horsham. that's always such a difficult sort of point to determine, isn't it? he thinks he is to join us. but i've not yet been commanded to form a cabinet. if neither you--nor percival--nor perhaps others will work with him ... what am i to do? [_he appeals to them generally to justify this attitude._] blackborough. he no longer thinks he's to join us ... it's the question he left us to decide. _he leaves_ horsham, _whose perplexity is diminishing._ farrant _makes an effort._ farrant. but the scandal won't weaken his position with us now. there won't be any scandal ... there won't, blackborough. horsham. there may be. though, i take it we're all guiltless of having mentioned the matter. blackborough. [_very detached._] i've only known of it since i came into this house ... but i shall not mention it. farrant. oh, i'm afraid my wife knows. [_he adds hastily._] my fault ... my fault entirely. blackborough. i tell you rumour's electric. horsham _has turned to_ farrant _with a sweet smile and with the air of a man about to be relieved of all responsibility._ horsham. what does she say? farrant. [_as one speaks of a nice woman._] she was horrified. horsham. of course. [_once more he finds refuge and comfort on the hearthrug, to say, after a moment, with fine resignation._] i suppose i must let him go. cantelupe. [_on his feet again._] cyril! horsham. yes, charles? _with this query he turns an accusing eye on_ cantelupe, _who is silenced._ blackborough. have you made up your mind to that? farrant. [_in great distress._] you're wrong, horsham. [_then in greater._] that is ... i think you're wrong. horsham. i'd sooner not let him know to-night. blackborough. but he asked you to. horsham. [_all show of resistance gone._] did he? then i suppose i must. [_he sighs deeply._] blackborough. then i'll get back to aylesbury. _he picks up his motor-cap from the table and settles it on his head with immense aplomb._ horsham. so late? blackborough. really one can get along quicker at night if one knows the road. you're in town, aren't you, farrant? shall i drop you at grosvenor square? farrant. [_ungraciously._] thank you. blackborough. [_with a conqueror's geniality._] i don't mind telling you now, horsham, that ever since we met at shapters i've been wondering how you'd escape from this association with trebell. thought he was being very clever when he crossed the house to us! it's needed a special providence. you'd never have got a cabinet together to include him. horsham. [_with much intention._] no. farrant. [_miserably.]_ yes, i suppose that intrigue was a mistake from the beginning. blackborough. well, good-night. [_as he turns to go he finds_ cantelupe _upright, staring very sternly at him._] good-night, cantelupe. cantelupe. from what motives have we thrown trebell over? blackborough. never mind the motives if the move is the right one. [_then he nods at_ horsham.] i shall be up again next week if you want me. _and he flourishes out of the room; a man who has done a good hour's work_, farrant, _who has been mooning depressedly around, now backs towards the door._ farrant. in one way, of course, trebell won't care a damn. i mean, he knows as well as we do that office isn't worth having ... he has never been a place-hunter. on the other hand ... what with one thing and the other ... blackborough is a sensible fellow. i suppose it can't be helped. horsham. blackborough will tell you so. good-night. _so_ farrant _departs, leaving the two cousins together._ cantelupe _has not moved and now faces_ horsham _just as accusingly._ cantelupe. cyril, this is tragic. horsham. [_more to himself than in answer._] yes ... most annoying. cantelupe. lucifer, son of the morning! why is it always the highest who fall? horsham _shies fastidiously at this touch of poetry._ horsham. no, my dear charles, let us above all things keep our mental balance. trebell is a most capable fellow. i'd set my heart on having him with me ... he'll be most awkward to deal with in opposition. but we shall survive his loss and so would the country. cantelupe. [_desperately._] cyril, promise me there shall be no compromise over this measure. horsham. [_charmingly candid._] no ... no unnecessary compromise, i promise you. cantelupe. [_with a sigh._] if we had done what we have done to-night in the right spirit! blackborough was almost vindictive. horsham. [_smiling without amusement._] didn't you keep thinking ... i did ... of that affair of his with mrs. parkington ... years ago? cantelupe. there was never any proof of it. horsham. no ... he bought off the husband. cantelupe. [_uneasily._] his objections to trebell were--political. horsham. yours weren't. cantelupe. [_more uneasily still._] i withdrew mine. horsham. [_with elderly reproof._] i don't think, charles, you have the least conception of what a nicely balanced machine a cabinet is. cantelupe. [_imploring comfort._] but should we have held together through trebell's bill? horsham. [_a little impatient._] perhaps not. but once i had them all round a table ... trebell is very keen on office for all his independent airs ... he and percival could have argued the thing out. however, it's too late now. cantelupe. is it? _for a moment_ horsham _is tempted to indulge in the luxury of changing his mind; but he puts satan behind him with a shake of the head._ horsham. well, you see ... percival i can't do without. now that blackborough knows of his objections to the finance he'd go to him and take chisholm and offer to back them up. i know he would ... he didn't take farrant away with him for nothing. [_then he flashes out rather shrilly._] it's trebell's own fault. he ought not to have committed himself definitely to any scheme until he was safely in office. i warned him about percival ... i warned him not to be explicit. one cannot work with men who will make up their minds prematurely. no, i shall not change my mind. i shall write to him. _he goes firmly to his writing desk leaving_ cantelupe _forlorn._ cantelupe. what about a messenger? horsham. not at this time of night. i'll post it. cantelupe. i'll post it as i go. _he seeks comfort again in the piano and this time starts to play, with one finger and some hesitation, the first bars of a bach fugue_, horsham's _pen-nib is disappointing him and the letter is not easy to phrase._ horsham. but i hate coming to immediate decisions. the administrative part of my brain always tires after half an hour. does yours, charles? cantelupe. what do you think trebell will do now? horsham. [_a little grimly._] punish us all he can. _on reaching the second voice in the fugue_ cantelupe's _virtuosity breaks down._ cantelupe. all that ability turned to destructiveness ... what a pity! that's the paradox of human activities.... _suddenly_ horsham _looks up and his face is lighted with a seraphic smile._ horsham. charles ... i wish we could do without blackborough. cantelupe. [_struck with the idea._] well ... why not? horsham. yes ... i must think about it. [_they both get up, cheered considerably._] you won't forget this, will you? cantelupe. [_the letter in_ horsham's _hand accusing him._] no ... no. i don't think i have been the cause of your dropping trebell, have i? horsham, _rid of the letter, is rid of responsibility and his charming equable self again. he comforts his cousin paternally._ horsham. i don't think so. the split would have come when blackborough checkmated my forming a cabinet. it would have pleased him to do that ... and he could have, over trebell. but now that question's out of the way ... you won't get such a bad measure with trebell in opposition. he'll frighten us into keeping it up to the mark, so to speak. cantelupe. [_a little comforted._] but i shall miss one or two of those ideas ... horsham. [_so pleasantly sceptical._] do you think they'd have outlasted the second reading? dullness in the country one expects. dullness in the house one can cope with. but do you know, i have never sat in a cabinet yet that didn't greet anything like a new idea in chilling silence. cantelupe. well, i should regret to have caused you trouble, cyril. horsham. [_his hand on the other's shoulder._] oh ... we don't take politics so much to heart as that, i hope. cantelupe. [_with sweet gravity._] i take politics very much to heart. yes, i know what you mean ... but that's the sort of remark that makes people call you cynical. [horsham _smiles as if at a compliment and starts with_ cantelupe _towards the door._ cantelupe, _who would not hurt his feelings, changes the subject._] by the bye, i'm glad we met this evening! do you hear aunt mary wants to sell the burford holbein? can she? horsham. [_taking as keen, but no keener, an interest in this than in the difficulty he has just surmounted._] yes, by the will she can, but she mustn't. dear me, i thought i'd put a stop to that foolishness. well now, we must take that matter up very seriously ... _they go out talking arm in arm._ the fourth act at trebell's again; later, the same evening. _his room is in darkness but for the flicker the fire makes and the streaks of moonlight between the curtains. the door is open, though, and you see the light of the lamp on the stairs. you hear his footstep too. on his way he stops to draw back the the curtains of the passage-way window; the moonlight makes his face look very pale. then he serves the curtains of his own window the same; flings it open, moreover, and stands looking out. something below draws his attention. after leaning over the balcony with a short_ "hullo" _he goes quickly downstairs again. in a minute_ wedgecroft _comes up._ trebell _follows, pausing by the door a moment to light up the room._ wedgecroft _is radiant._ trebell. [_with a twist of his mouth._] promised, has he? wedgecroft. suddenly broke out as we walked along, that he liked the look of you and that men must stand by one another nowadays against these women. then he said good-night and walked away. trebell. back to ireland and the thirteenth century. wedgecroft. after to-morrow. trebell. [_taking all the meaning of to-morrow._] yes. are you in for perjury, too? wedgecroft. [_his thankfulness checked a little._] no ... not exactly. trebell _walks away from him._ trebell. it's a pity the truth isn't to be told, i think. i suppose the verdict will be murder. wedgecroft. they won't catch the man. trebell. you don't mean ... me. wedgecroft. no, no ... my dear fellow. trebell. you might, you know. but nobody seems to see this thing as i see it. if i were on that jury i'd say murder too and accuse ... so many circumstances, gilbert, that we should go home ... and look in the cupboards. what a lumber of opinions we inherit and keep! wedgecroft. [_humouring him._] ought we to burn the house down? trebell. rules and regulations for the preservation of rubbish are the laws of england ... and i was adding to their number. wedgecroft. and so you shall ... to the applause of a grateful country. trebell. [_studying his friend's kindly encouraging face._] gilbert, it is not so much that you're an incorrigible optimist ... but why do you subdue your mind to flatter people into cheerfulness? wedgecroft. i'm a doctor, my friend. trebell. you're a part of our tendency to keep things alive by hook or by crook ... not a spark but must be carefully blown upon. the world's old and tired; it dreads extinction. i think i disapprove ... i think i've more faith. wedgecroft. [_scolding him._] nonsense ... you've the instinct to preserve your life as everyone else has ... and i'm here to show you how. trebell. [_beyond the reach of his kindness._] i assure you that these two days while you've been fussing around o'connell--bless your kind heart--i've been waiting events, indifferent enough to understand his indifference. wedgecroft. not indifferent. trebell. lifeless enough already, then. [_suddenly a thought strikes him._] d'you think it was horsham and his little committee persuaded o'connell? wedgecroft. on the contrary. trebell. so you need not have let them into the secret? wedgecroft. no. trebell. think of that. _he almost laughs; but_ wedgecroft _goes on quite innocently._ wedgecroft. yes ... i'm sorry. trebell. upsetting their moral digestion for nothing. wedgecroft. but when o'connell wouldn't listen to us we had to rope in the important people. trebell. with their united wisdom. [_then he breaks away again into great bitterness._] no ... what do they make of this woman's death? i saw them in that room, gilbert, like men seen through the wrong end of a telescope. d'you think if the little affair with nature ... her offence and mine against the conveniences of civilization ... had ended in my death too ... then they'd have stopped to wonder at the misuse and waste of the only force there is in the world ... come to think of it, there is no other ... than this desire for expression ... in words ... or through children. would they have thought of that and stopped whispering about the scandal? _through this_ wedgecroft _has watched him very gravely._ wedgecroft. trebell ... if the inquest to-morrow had put you out of action ... trebell. should i have grown a beard and travelled abroad and after ten years timidly tried to climb my way back into politics? when public opinion takes its heel from your face it keeps it for your finger-tips. after twenty years to be forgiven by your more broad-minded friends and tolerated as a dotard by a new generation.... wedgecroft. nonsense. what age are you now ... forty-six ... forty-seven? trebell. well ... let's instance a good man. gladstone had done his best work by sixty-five. then he began to be popular. think of his last years of oratory. _he has gone to his table and now very methodically starts to tidy his papers,_ wedgecroft _still watching him._ wedgecroft. you'd have had to thank heaven for a little that there were more lives than one to lead. trebell. that's another of your faults, gilbert ... it's a comfort just now to enumerate them. you're an anarchist ... a kingdom to yourself. you make little treaties with truth and with beauty, and what can disturb you? i'm a part of the machine i believe in. if my life as i've made it is to be cut short ... the rest of me shall walk out of the world and slam the door ... with the noise of a pistol shot. wedgecroft. [_concealing some uneasiness._] then i'm glad it's not to be cut short. you and your cabinet rank and your disestablishment bill! trebell _starts to enjoy his secret._ trebell. yes ... our minds have been much relieved within the last half hour, haven't they? wedgecroft. i scribbled horsham a note in a messenger office and sent it as soon as o'connell had left me. trebell. he'd be glad to get that. wedgecroft. he has been most kind about the whole thing. trebell. oh, he means well. wedgecroft. [_following up his fancied advantage._] but, my friend ... suicide whilst of unsound mind would never have done.... the hackneyed verdict hits the truth, you know. trebell. you think so? wedgecroft. i don't say there aren't excuses enough in this miserable world, but fundamentally ... no sane person will destroy life. trebell. [_his thoughts shifting their plane._] was she so very mad? i'm not thinking of her own death. wedgecroft. don't brood, trebell. your mind isn't healthy yet about her and-- trebell. and my child. _even_ wedgecroft's _kindness is at fault before the solemnity of this._ wedgecroft. is that how you're thinking of it? trebell. how else? it's very inexplicable ... this sense of fatherhood. [_the eyes of his mind travel down--what vista of possibilities. then he shakes himself free._] let's drop the subject. to finish the list of shortcomings, you're a bit of an artist too ... therefore i don't think you'll understand. wedgecroft. [_successfully decoyed into argument._] surely an artist is a man who understands. trebell. everything about life, but not life itself. that's where art fails a man. wedgecroft. that's where everything but living fails a man. [_drifting into introspection himself._] yes, it's true. i can talk cleverly and i've written a book ... but i'm barren. [_then the healthy mind re-asserts itself._] no, it's not true. our thoughts are children ... and marry and intermarry. and we're peopling the world ... not badly. trebell. well ... either life is too little a thing to matter or it's so big that such specks of it as we may be are of no account. these are two points of view. and then one has to consider if death can't be sometimes the last use made of life. _there is a tone of menace in this which recalls_ wedgecroft _to the present trouble._ wedgecroft. i doubt the virtue of sacrifice ... or the use of it. trebell. how else could i tell horsham that my work matters? does he think so now?... not he. wedgecroft. you mean if they'd had to throw you over? _once again_ trebell _looks up with that secretive smile._ trebell. yes ... if they'd had to. wedgecroft. [_unreasonably nervous, so he thinks._] my dear fellow, horsham would have thought it was the shame and disgrace if you'd shot yourself after the inquest. that's the proper sentimental thing for you so-called strong men to do on like occasions. why, if your name were to come out to-morrow, your best meaning friends would be sending you pistols by post, requesting you to use them like a gentleman. horsham would grieve over ten dinner-tables in succession and then return to his philosophy. one really mustn't waste a life trying to shock polite politicians. there'd even be a suspicion of swagger in it. trebell. quite so ... the bomb that's thrown at their feet must be something otherwise worthless. frances _comes in quickly, evidently in search of her brother. though she has not been crying, her eyes are wide with grief._ frances. oh, henry ... i'm so glad you're still up. [_she notices_ wedgecroft.] how d'you do, doctor? trebell. [_doubling his mask of indifference._] meistersinger's over early. frances. is it? trebell. not much past twelve yet. frances. [_the little gibe lost on her._] it was tristan to-night. i'm quite upset. i heard just as i was coming away ... amy o'connell's dead. [_both men hold their breath._ trebell _is the first to find control of his and give the cue._] trebell. yes ... wedgecroft has just told me. frances. she was only taken ill last week ... it's so extraordinary. [_she remembers the doctor._] oh ... have you been attending her? wedgecroft. yes. frances. i hear there's to be an inquest. wedgecroft. yes. frances. but what has been the matter? trebell. [_sharply forestalling any answer._] you'll know to-morrow. frances. [_the little snub almost bewildering her._] anything private? i mean.... trebell. no ... i'll tell you. don't make gilbert repeat a story twice.... he's tired with a good day's work. wedgecroft. yes ... i'll be getting away. frances _never heeds this flash of a further meaning between the two men._ frances. and i meant to have gone to see her to-day. was the end very sudden? did her husband arrive in time? wedgecroft. yes. frances. they didn't get on ... he'll be frightfully upset. trebell _resists a hideous temptation to laugh._ wedgecroft. good night, trebell. trebell. good night, gilbert. many thanks. _there is enough of a caress in_ trebell's _tone to turn_ frances _towards their friend, a little remorseful for treating him so casually, now as always._ frances. he's always thanking you. you're always doing things for him. wedgecroft. good night. [_seeing the tears in her eyes._] oh, don't grieve. frances. one shouldn't be sorry when people die, i know. but she liked me more than i liked her ... [_this time_ trebell _does laugh, silently._] ... so i somehow feel in her debt and unable to pay now. trebell. [_an edge on his voice._] yes ... people keep on dying at all sorts of ages, in all sorts of ways. but we seem never to get used to it ... narrow-minded as we are. wedgecroft. don't you talk nonsense. trebell. [_one note sharper yet._] one should occasionally test one's sanity by doing so. if we lived in the logical world we like to believe in, i could also prove that black was white. as it is ... there are more ways of killing a cat than hanging it. wedgecroft. had i better give you a sleeping draught? frances. are you doctoring him for once? henry, have you at last managed to overwork yourself? trebell. no ... i started the evening by a charming little dinner at the van meyer's ... sat next to miss grace cutler, who is writing a _vie intime_ of louis quinze and engaged me with anecdotes of the same. frances. a champion of her sex, whom i do not like. wedgecroft. she's writing such a book to prove that women are equal to anything. _he goes towards the door and_ frances _goes with him._ trebell _never turns his head._ trebell. i shall not come and open the door for you ... but mind you shut it. frances _comes back._ frances. henry ... this is dreadful about that poor little woman. trebell. an unwelcome baby was arriving. she got some quack to kill her. _these exact words are like a blow in the face to her, from which, being a woman of brave common sense, she does not shrink._ trebell. what do you say to that? _she walks away from him, thinking painfully._ frances. she had never had a child. there's the common-place thing to say.... ungrateful little fool! but.... trebell. if you had been in her place? frances. [_subtly._] i have never made the mistake of marrying. she grew frightened, i suppose. not just physically frightened. how can a man understand? trebell. the fear of life ... do you think it was ... which is the beginning of all evil? frances. a woman must choose what her interpretation of life is to be ... as a man must too in his way ... as you and i have chosen, henry. trebell. [_asking from real interest in her._] was yours a deliberate choice and do you never regret it? frances. [_very simply and clearly._] perhaps one does nothing quite deliberately and for a definite reason. my state has its compensations ... if one doesn't value them too highly. i've travelled in thought over all this question. you mustn't blame a woman for wishing not to bear children. but ... well, if one doesn't like the fruit one mustn't cultivate the flower. and i suppose that saying condemns poor amy ... condemned her to death ... [_then her face hardens as she concentrates her meaning._] and brands most men as ... let's unsentimentally call it illogical, doesn't it? _he takes the thrust in silence._ trebell. did you notice the light in my window as you came in? frances. yes ... in both as i got out of the cab. do you want the curtains drawn back? trebell. yes ... don't touch them. _he has thrown himself into his chair by the fire. she lapses into thought again._ frances. poor little woman. trebell. [_in deep anger._] well, if women will be little and poor.... _she goes to him and slips an arm over his shoulder._ frances. what is it you're worried about ... if a mere sister may ask? trebell. [_into the fire._] i want to think. i haven't thought for years. frances. why, you have done nothing else. trebell. i've been working out problems in legal and political algebra. frances. you want to think of yourself. trebell. yes. frances. [_gentle and ironic._] have you ever, for one moment, thought in that sense of anyone else? trebell. is that a complaint? frances. the first in ten years' housekeeping. trebell. no, i never have ... but i've never thought selfishly either. frances. that's a paradox i don't quite understand. trebell. until women do they'll remain where they are ... and what they are. frances. oh, i know you hate us. trebell. yes, dear sister, i'm afraid i do. and i hate your influence on men ... compromise, tenderness, pity, lack of purpose. women don't know the values of things, not even their own value. _for a moment she studies him, wonderingly._ frances. i'll take up the counter-accusation to-morrow. now i'm tired and i'm going to bed. if i may insult you by mothering you, so should you. you look tired and i've seldom seen you. trebell. i'm waiting up for a message. frances. so late? trebell. it's a matter of life and death. frances. are you joking? trebell. yes. if you want to spoil me find me a book to read. frances. what will you have? trebell. huckleberry finn. it's on a top shelf towards the end somewhere ... or should be. _she finds the book. on her way back with it she stops and shivers._ frances. i don't think i shall sleep to-night. poor amy o'connell! trebell. [_curiously._] are you afraid of death? frances. [_with humorous stoicism._] it will be the end of me, perhaps. _she gives him the book, with its red cover; the ' edition, a boy's friend evidently. he fingers it familiarly._ trebell. thank you. mark twain's a jolly fellow. he has courage ... comic courage. that's what's wanted. nothing stands against it. you be-little yourself by laughing ... then all this world and the last and the next grow little too ... and so you grow great again. switch off some light, will you? frances. [_clicking off all but his reading lamp._] so? trebell. thanks. good night, frankie. _she turns at the door, with a glad smile._ frances. good night. when did you last use that nursery name? _then she goes, leaving him still fingering the book, but looking into the fire and far beyond. behind him through the open window one sees how cold and clear the night is._ * * * * * _at eight in the morning he is still here. his lamp is out, the fire is out and the book laid aside. the white morning light penetrates every crevice of the room and shows every line on_ trebell's _face. the spirit of the man is strained past all reason. the door opens suddenly and_ frances _comes in, troubled, nervous. interrupted in her dressing, she has put on some wrap or other._ frances. henry ... simpson says you've not been to bed all night. _he turns his head and says with inappropriate politeness_-- trebell. no. good morning. frances. oh, my dear ... what is wrong? trebell. the message hasn't come ... and i've been thinking. frances. why don't you tell me? [_he turns his head away._] i think you haven't the right to torture me. trebell. your sympathy would only blind me towards the facts i want to face. simpson, _the maid, undisturbed in her routine, brings in the morning's letters._ frances _rounds on her irritably._ frances. what is it, simpson? maid. the letters, ma'am. trebell _is on his feet at that._ trebell. ah ... i want them. frances. [_taking the letters composedly enough._] thank you. simpson _departs and_ trebell _comes to her for his letters. she looks at him with baffled affection._ frances. can i do nothing? oh, henry! trebell. help me to open my letters. frances. don't you leave them to mr. kent? trebell. not this morning. frances. but there are so many. trebell. [_for the first time lifting his voice from its dull monotony._] what a busy man i was. frances. henry ... you're a little mad. trebell. do you find me so? that's interesting. frances. [_with the ghost of a smile._] well ... maddening. _by this time he is sitting at his table; she near him watching closely. they halve the considerable post and start to open it._ trebell. we arrange them in three piles ... personal ... political ... and preposterous. frances. this is an invitation ... the anglican league. trebell. i can't go. _she looks sideways at him, as he goes on mechanically tearing the envelopes._ frances. i heard you come upstairs about two o'clock. trebell. that was to dip my head in water. then i made an instinctive attempt to go to bed ... got my tie off even. frances. [_her anxiety breaking out._] if you'd tell me that you're only ill.... trebell. [_forbiddingly commonplace._] what's that letter? don't fuss ... and remember that abnormal conduct is sometimes quite rational. frances _returns to her task with misty eyes._ frances. it's from somebody whose son can't get into something. trebell. the third heap ... kent's ... the preposterous. [_talking on with steady monotony._] but i saw it would not do to interrupt that logical train of thought which reached definition about half past six. i had then been gleaning until you came in. frances. [_turning the neat little note in her hand._] this is from lord horsham. he writes his name small at the bottom of the envelope. trebell. [_without a tremor._] ah ... give it me. _he opens this as he has opened the others, carefully putting the envelope to one side._ frances _has ceased for the moment to watch him._ frances. that's cousin robert's handwriting. [_she puts a square envelope at his hand._] is a letter marked private from the education office political or personal? _by this he has read_ horsham's _letter twice. so he tears it up and speaks very coldly._ trebell. either. it doesn't matter. _in the silence her fears return._ frances. henry, it's a foolish idea ... i suppose i have it because i hardly slept for thinking of her. your trouble is nothing to do with amy o'connell, is it? trebell. [_his voice strangled in his throat._] her child should have been my child too. frances. [_her eyes open, the whole landscape of her mind suddenly clear._] oh, i ... no, i didn't think so ... but.... trebell. [_dealing his second blow as remorselessly as dealt to him._] also i'm not joining the new cabinet, my dear sister. frances. [_her thoughts rushing now to the present--the future._] not! because of...? do people know? will they...? you didn't...? _as mechanically as ever he has taken up_ cousin robert's _letter and, in some sense, read it. now he recapitulates, meaninglessly, that his voice may just deaden her pain and his own._ trebell. robert says ... that we've not been to see them for some time ... but that now i'm a greater man than ever i must be very busy. the vicarage has been painted and papered throughout and looks much fresher. mary sends you her love and hopes you have no return of the rheumatism. and he would like to send me the proof sheets of his critical commentary on first timothy ... for my alien eye might possibly detect some logical lapses. need he repeat to me his thankfulness at my new attitude upon disestablishment ... or assure me again that i have his prayers. could we not go and stay there only for a few days? possibly his opinion-- _she has borne this cruel kindness as long as she can and she breaks out...._ frances. oh ... don't ... don't! _he falls from his seeming callousness to the very blankness of despair._ trebell. no, we'll leave that ... and the rest ... and everything. _her agony passes._ frances. what do you mean to do? trebell. there's to be no public scandal. frances. why has lord horsham thrown you over then ... or hasn't that anything to do with it? trebell. it has to do with it. frances. [_lifting her voice; some tone returning to it._] unconsciously ... i've known for years that this sort of thing might happen to you. trebell. why? frances. power over men and women and contempt for them! do you think they don't take their revenge sooner or later? trebell. much good may it do them! frances. human nature turns against you ... by instinct ... in self-defence. trebell. and my own human-nature! frances. [_shocked into great pity, by his half articulate pain._] yes ... you must have loved her, henry ... in some odd way. i'm sorry for you both. trebell. i'm hating her now ... as a man can only hate his own silliest vices. frances. [_flashing into defence._] that's wrong of you. if you thought of her only as a pretty little fool.... bearing your child ... all her womanly life belonged to you ... and for that time there was no other sort of life in her. so she became what you thought her. trebell. that's not true. frances. it's true enough ... it's true of men towards women. you can't think of them through generations as one thing and then suddenly find them another. trebell. [_hammering at his fixed idea._] she should have brought that child into the world. frances. you didn't love her enough! trebell. i didn't love her at all. frances. then why should she value your gift? trebell. for its own sake. frances. [_turning away._] it's hopeless ... you don't understand. trebell. [_helpless; almost like a deserted child._] i've been trying to ... all through the night. frances. [_turning back enlightened a little._] that's more the trouble then than the cabinet question? _he shakes himself to his feet and begins to pace the room; his keenness coming back to him, his brow knitting again with the delight of thought._ trebell. oh ... as to me against the world ... i'm fortified with comic courage. [_then turning on her like any examining professor._] now which do you believe ... that man is the reformer, or that the time brings forth such men as it needs and lobster-like can grow another claw? frances. [_watching this new mood carefully._] i believe that you'll be missed from lord horsham's cabinet. trebell. the hand-made statesman and his hand-made measure! they were out of place in that pretty tory garden. those men are the natural growth of the time. am i? frances. just as much. and wasn't your bill going to be such a good piece of work? that can't be thrown away ... wasted. trebell. can one impose a clever idea upon men and women? i wonder. frances. that rather begs the question of your very existence, doesn't it? _he comes to a standstill._ trebell. i know. _his voice shows her that meaning in her words and beyond it a threat. she goes to him, suddenly shaking with fear._ frances. henry, i didn't mean that. trebell. you think i've a mind to put an end to that same? frances. [_belittling her fright._] no ... for how unreasonable.... trebell. in view of my promising past. i've stood for success, fanny; i still stand for success. i could still do more outside the cabinet than the rest of them, inside, will do. but suddenly i've a feeling the work would be barren. [_his eyes shift beyond her; beyond the room._] what is it in your thoughts and actions which makes them bear fruit? something that the roughest peasant may have in common with the best of us intellectual men ... something that a dog might have. it isn't successful cleverness. _she stands ... his trouble beyond her reach._ frances. come now ... you've done very well with your life. trebell. do you know how empty i feel of all virtue at this moment? _he leaves her. she must bring him back to the plane on which she can help him._ frances. we must think what's best to be done ... now ... and for the future. trebell. why, i could go on earning useless money at the bar ... think how nice that would be. i could blackmail the next judgeship out of horsham. i think i could even smash his disestablishment bill ... and perhaps get into the next liberal cabinet and start my own all over again, with necessary modifications. i shan't do any such things. frances. no one knows about you and poor amy? trebell. half a dozen friends. shall i offer to give evidence at the inquest this morning? frances. [_with a little shiver._] they'll say bad enough things about her without your blackening her good name. _without warning, his anger and anguish break out again._ trebell. all she had ... all there is left of her! she was a nothingness ... silly ... vain. and i gave her this power over me! _he is beaten, exhausted. now she goes to him, motherlike._ frances. my dear, listen to me for a little. consider that as a sorrow and put it behind you. and think now ... whatever love there may be between us has neither hatred nor jealousy in it, has it, henry? since i'm not a mistress or a friend but just the likest fellow-creature to you ... perhaps. trebell. [_putting out his hand for hers._] yes, my sister. what i've wanted to feel for vague humanity has been what i should have felt for you ... if you'd ever made a single demand on me. _she puts her arms round him; able to speak._ frances. let's go away somewhere ... i'll make demands. i need refreshing as much as you. my joy of life has been withered in me ... oh, for a long time now. we must kiss the earth again ... take interest in common things, common people. there's so much of the world we don't know. there's air to breathe everywhere. think of the flowers in a tyrol valley in the early spring. one can walk for days, not hurrying, as soon as the passes are open. and the people are kind. there's italy ... there's russia full of simple folk. when we've learned to be friends with them we shall both feel so much better. trebell. [_shaking his head, unmoved._] my dear sister ... i should be bored to death. the life contemplative and peripatetic would literally bore me into a living death. frances. [_letting it be a fairy tale._] is your mother the wide world nothing to you? can't you open your heart like a child again? trebell. no, neither to the beauty of nature nor the particular human animals that are always called a part of it. i don't even see them with your eyes. i'm a son of the anger of man at men's foolishness, and unless i've that to feed upon...! [_now he looks at her, as if for the first time wanting to explain himself, and his voice changes._] don't you know that when a man cuts himself shaving, he swears? when he loses a seat in the cabinet he turns inward for comfort ... and if he only finds there a spirit which should have been born, but is dead ... what's to be done then? frances. [_in a whisper._] you mustn't think of that woman.... trebell. i've reasoned my way through life.... frances. i see how awful it is to have the double blow fall. trebell. [_the wave of his agony rising again._] but here's something in me which no knowledge touches ... some feeling ... some power which should be the beginning of new strength. but it has been killed in me unborn before i had learnt to understand ... and that's killing me. frances. [_crying out._] why ... why did no woman teach you to be gentle? why did you never believe in any woman? perhaps even i am to blame.... trebell. the little fool, the little fool ... why did she kill my child? what did it matter what i thought her? we were committed together to that one thing. do you think i didn't know that i was heartless and that she was socially in the wrong? but what did nature care for that? and nature has broken us. frances. [_clinging to him as he beats the air._] not you. she's dead, poor girl ... but not you. trebell. yes ... that's the mystery no one need believe till he has dipped in it. the man bears the child in his soul as the woman carries it in her body. _there is silence between them, till she speaks low and tonelessly, never loosing his hand._ frances. henry, i want your promise that you'll go on living till ... till.... trebell. don't cry, fanny, that's very foolish. frances. till you've learnt to look at all this calmly. then i can trust you. trebell _smiles, not at all grimly._ trebell. but, you see, it would give horsham and blackborough such a shock if i shot myself ... it would make them think about things. frances. [_with one catch of wretched laughter._] oh, my dear, if shooting's wanted ... shoot them. or i'll do it for you. _he sits in his chair just from weariness. she stands by him, her hand still grasping his._ trebell. you see, fanny, as i said to gilbert last night ... our lives are our own and yet not our own. we understand living for others and dying for others. the first is easy ... it's a way out of boredom. to make the second popular we had to invent a belief in personal resurrection. do you think we shall ever understand dying in the sure and certain hope that it really doesn't matter ... that god is infinitely economical and wastes perhaps less of the power in us after our death than men do while we live? frances. i want your promise, henry. trebell. you know i never make promises ... it's taking oneself too seriously. unless indeed one has the comic courage to break them too. i've upset you very much with my troubles. don't you think you'd better go and finish dressing? [_she doesn't move._] my dear ... you don't propose to hold my right hand so safely for years to come. even so, i still could jump out of a window. frances. i'll trust you, henry. _she looks into his eyes and he does not flinch. then, with a final grip she leaves him. when she is at the door he speaks more gently than ever._ trebell. your own life is sufficient unto itself, isn't it? frances. oh yes. i can be pleasant to talk to and give good advice through the years that remain. [_instinctively she rectifies some little untidiness in the room._] what fools they are to think they can run that government without you! trebell. horsham will do his best. [_then, as for the second time she reaches the door._] don't take away my razors, will you? i only use them for shaving. frances. [_almost blushing._] i half meant to ... i'm sorry. after all, henry, just because they are forgetting in personal feelings what's best for the country ... it's your duty not to. you'll stand by and do what you can, won't you? trebell. [_his queer smile returning, in contrast to her seriousness._] disestablishment. it's a very interesting problem. i must think it out. frances. [_really puzzled._] what do you mean? _he gets up with a quick movement of strange strength, and faces her. his smile changes into a graver gladness._ trebell. something has happened ... in spite of me. my heart's clean again. i'm ready for fresh adventures. frances. [_with a nod and answering gladness._] that's right. _so she leaves him, her mind at rest. for a minute he does not move. when his gaze narrows it falls on the heaps of letters. he carries them carefully into_ walter kent's _room and arranges them as carefully on his table. on his way out he stops for a moment; then with a sudden movement bangs the door._ * * * * * _two hours later the room has been put in order. it is even more full of light and the shadows are harder than usual. the doors are open, showing you_ kent's _door still closed. at the big writing table in_ trebell's _chair sits_ wedgecroft, _pale and grave, intent on finishing a letter._ frances _comes to find him. for a moment she leans on the table silently, her eyes half closed. you would say a broken woman. when she speaks it is swiftly, but tonelessly._ frances. lord horsham is in the drawing room ... and i can't see him, i really can't. he has come to say he is sorry ... and i should tell him that it is his fault, partly. i know i should ... and i don't want to. won't you go in? what are you writing? wedgecroft, _with his physicianly pre-occupation, can attend, understand, sympathise, without looking up at her._ wedgecroft. never mind. a necessary note ... to the coroner's office. yes, i'll see horsham. frances. i've managed to get the pistol out of his hand. was that wrong ... oughtn't i to have touched it? wedgecroft. of course you oughtn't. you must stay away from the room. i'd better have locked the door. frances. [_pitifully._] i'm sorry ... but i couldn't bear to see the pistol in his hand. i won't go back. after all he's not there in the room, is he? but how long do you think the spirit stays near the body ... how long? when people die gently of age or weakness.... but when the spirit and body are so strong and knit together and all alive as his.... wedgecroft. [_his hand on hers._] hush ... hush. frances. his face is very eager ... as if it still could speak. i know that. mrs. farrant _comes through the open doorway._ frances _hears her steps and turning falls into her outstretched arms to cry there._ frances. oh, julia! mrs. farrant. oh my dear fanny! i came with cyril horsham ... i don't think simpson even saw me. frances. i can't go in and talk to him. mrs. farrant. he'll understand. but i heard you come in here.... wedgecroft. i'll tell horsham. _he has finished and addressed his letter, so he goes out with it._ frances _lifts her head. these two are in accord and can speak their feelings without disguise or preparation._ frances. julia, julia ... isn't it unbelievable? mrs. farrant. i'd give ... oh, what wouldn't i give to have it undone! frances. i knew he meant to ... and yet i thought i had his promise. if he really meant to ... i couldn't have stopped it, could i? mrs. farrant. walter sent to tell me and i sent round to.... frances. walter came soon after, i think. julia, i was in my room ... it was nearly breakfast time ... when i heard the shot. oh ... don't you think it was cruel of him? mrs. farrant. he had a right to. we must remember that. frances. you say that easily of my brother ... you wouldn't say it of your husband. _they are apart by this_, julia farrant _goes to her gently._ mrs. farrant. fanny ... will it leave you so very lonely? frances. yes ... lonelier than you can ever be. you have children. i'm just beginning to realise.... mrs. farrant. [_leading her from the mere selfishness of sorrow._] there's loneliness of the spirit, too. frances. ah, but once you've tasted the common joys of life ... once you've proved all your rights as a man or a woman.... mrs. farrant. then there are subtler things to miss. as well be alone like you, or dead like him, without them ... i sometimes think. frances. [_responsive, lifted from egoism, reading her friend's mind._] you demand much. mrs. farrant. i wish that he had demanded much of any woman. frances. you know how this misery began? that poor little wretch ... she's lying dead too. they're both dead together now. do you think they've met...? julia _grips both her hands and speaks very steadily to help her friend back to self control._ mrs. farrant. george told me as soon as he was told. i tried to make him understand my opinion, but he thought i was only shocked. frances. i was sorry for her. now i can't forgive her either. mrs. farrant. [_angry, remorseful, rebellious._] when will men learn to know one woman from another? frances. [_with answering bitterness._] when will all women care to be one thing rather than the other? _they are stopped by the sound of the opening of_ kent's _door._ walter _comes from his room, some papers from his table held listlessly in one hand. he is crying, undisguisedly, with a child's grief._ kent. oh ... am i in your way...? frances. i didn't know you were still here, walter. kent. i've been going through the letters as usual. i don't know why, i'm sure. they won't have to be answered now ... will they? wedgecroft _comes back, grave and tense._ wedgecroft. horsham has gone. he thought perhaps you'd be staying with miss trebell for a bit. mrs. farrant. yes, i shall be. wedgecroft. i must go too ... it's nearly eleven. frances. to the other inquest? _this stirs her two listeners to something of a shudder._ wedgecroft. yes. mrs. farrant. [_in a low voice._] it will make no difference now ... i mean ... still nothing need come out? we needn't know why he ... why he did it. wedgecroft. when he talked to me last night, and i didn't know what he was talking of.... frances. he was waiting this morning for lord horsham's note.... mrs. farrant. [_in real alarm._] oh, it wasn't because of the cabinet trouble ... you must persuade cyril horsham of that. you haven't told him ... he's so dreadfully upset as it is. i've been swearing it had nothing to do with that. wedgecroft. [_cutting her short, bitingly._] has a time ever come to you when it was easier to die than to go on living? oh ... i told lord horsham just what i thought. _he leaves them, his men grief unexpressed._ frances. [_listlessly._] does it matter why? mrs. farrant. need there be more suffering and reproaches? it's not as if even grief would do any good. [_suddenly with nervous caution._] walter, you don't know, do you? walter _throws up his tear-marked face and a man's anger banishes the boyish grief._ walter. no, i don't know why he did it ... and i don't care. and grief is no use. i'm angry ... just angry at the waste of a good man. look at the work undone ... think of it! who is to do it! oh ... the waste...! http://www.ebookforge.net posthumous works of mary wollstonecraft godwin. vol. i. posthumous works of the author of a vindication of the rights of woman. in four volumes. * * * * * vol. i. * * * * * _london:_ printed for j. johnson, no. , st. paul's church-yard; and g. g. and j. robinson, paternoster-row. . the wrongs of woman: or, maria. a fragment. in two volumes. * * * * * vol. i. preface. the public are here presented with the last literary attempt of an author, whose fame has been uncommonly extensive, and whose talents have probably been most admired, by the persons by whom talents are estimated with the greatest accuracy and discrimination. there are few, to whom her writings could in any case have given pleasure, that would have wished that this fragment should have been suppressed, because it is a fragment. there is a sentiment, very dear to minds of taste and imagination, that finds a melancholy delight in contemplating these unfinished productions of genius, these sketches of what, if they had been filled up in a manner adequate to the writer's conception, would perhaps have given a new impulse to the manners of a world. the purpose and structure of the following work, had long formed a favourite subject of meditation with its author, and she judged them capable of producing an important effect. the composition had been in progress for a period of twelve months. she was anxious to do justice to her conception, and recommenced and revised the manuscript several different times. so much of it as is here given to the public, she was far from considering as finished, and, in a letter to a friend directly written on this subject, she says, "i am perfectly aware that some of the incidents ought to be transposed, and heightened by more harmonious shading; and i wished in some degree to avail myself of criticism, before i began to adjust my events into a story, the outline of which i had sketched in my mind[x-a]." the only friends to whom the author communicated her manuscript, were mr. dyson, the translator of the sorcerer, and the present editor; and it was impossible for the most inexperienced author to display a stronger desire of profiting by the censures and sentiments that might be suggested[x-b]. in revising these sheets for the press, it was necessary for the editor, in some places, to connect the more finished parts with the pages of an older copy, and a line or two in addition sometimes appeared requisite for that purpose. wherever such a liberty has been taken, the additional phrases will be found inclosed in brackets; it being the editor's most earnest desire, to intrude nothing of himself into the work, but to give to the public the words, as well as ideas, of the real author. what follows in the ensuing pages, is not a preface regularly drawn out by the author, but merely hints for a preface, which, though never filled up in the manner the writer intended, appeared to be worth preserving. w. godwin. author's preface. the wrongs of woman, like the wrongs of the oppressed part of mankind, may be deemed necessary by their oppressors: but surely there are a few, who will dare to advance before the improvement of the age, and grant that my sketches are not the abortion of a distempered fancy, or the strong delineations of a wounded heart. in writing this novel, i have rather endeavoured to pourtray passions than manners. in many instances i could have made the incidents more dramatic, would i have sacrificed my main object, the desire of exhibiting the misery and oppression, peculiar to women, that arise out of the partial laws and customs of society. in the invention of the story, this view restrained my fancy; and the history ought rather to be considered, as of woman, than of an individual. the sentiments i have embodied. in many works of this species, the hero is allowed to be mortal, and to become wise and virtuous as well as happy, by a train of events and circumstances. the heroines, on the contrary, are to be born immaculate; and to act like goddesses of wisdom, just come forth highly finished minervas from the head of jove. * * * * * [the following is an extract of a letter from the author to a friend, to whom she communicated her manuscript.] * * * * * for my part, i cannot suppose any situation more distressing, than for a woman of sensibility, with an improving mind, to be bound to such a man as i have described for life; obliged to renounce all the humanizing affections, and to avoid cultivating her taste, lest her perception of grace and refinement of sentiment, should sharpen to agony the pangs of disappointment. love, in which the imagination mingles its bewitching colouring, must be fostered by delicacy. i should despise, or rather call her an ordinary woman, who could endure such a husband as i have sketched. these appear to me (matrimonial despotism of heart and conduct) to be the peculiar wrongs of woman, because they degrade the mind. what are termed great misfortunes, may more forcibly impress the mind of common readers; they have more of what may justly be termed _stage-effect_; but it is the delineation of finer sensations, which, in my opinion, constitutes the merit of our best novels. this is what i have in view; and to show the wrongs of different classes of women, equally oppressive, though, from the difference of education, necessarily various. footnotes: [x-a] a more copious extract of this letter is subjoined to the author's preface. [x-b] the part communicated consisted of the first fourteen chapters. errata. page , line , _dele_ half. p. and , _for_ brackets [--], _read_ inverted commas " thus " contents. vol. i. and ii. the wrongs of woman, or maria; a fragment: to which is added, the first book of a series of lessons for children. vol. iii. and iv. letters and miscellaneous pieces. _wrongs_ of woman. chap. i. abodes of horror have frequently been described, and castles, filled with spectres and chimeras, conjured up by the magic spell of genius to harrow the soul, and absorb the wondering mind. but, formed of such stuff as dreams are made of, what were they to the mansion of despair, in one corner of which maria sat, endeavouring to recal her scattered thoughts! surprise, astonishment, that bordered on distraction, seemed to have suspended her faculties, till, waking by degrees to a keen sense of anguish, a whirlwind of rage and indignation roused her torpid pulse. one recollection with frightful velocity following another, threatened to fire her brain, and make her a fit companion for the terrific inhabitants, whose groans and shrieks were no unsubstantial sounds of whistling winds, or startled birds, modulated by a romantic fancy, which amuse while they affright; but such tones of misery as carry a dreadful certainty directly to the heart. what effect must they then have produced on one, true to the touch of sympathy, and tortured by maternal apprehension! her infant's image was continually floating on maria's sight, and the first smile of intelligence remembered, as none but a mother, an unhappy mother, can conceive. she heard her half speaking cooing, and felt the little twinkling fingers on her burning bosom--a bosom bursting with the nutriment for which this cherished child might now be pining in vain. from a stranger she could indeed receive the maternal aliment, maria was grieved at the thought--but who would watch her with a mother's tenderness, a mother's self-denial? the retreating shadows of former sorrows rushed back in a gloomy train, and seemed to be pictured on the walls of her prison, magnified by the state of mind in which they were viewed--still she mourned for her child, lamented she was a daughter, and anticipated the aggravated ills of life that her sex rendered almost inevitable, even while dreading she was no more. to think that she was blotted out of existence was agony, when the imagination had been long employed to expand her faculties; yet to suppose her turned adrift on an unknown sea, was scarcely less afflicting. after being two days the prey of impetuous, varying emotions, maria began to reflect more calmly on her present situation, for she had actually been rendered incapable of sober reflection, by the discovery of the act of atrocity of which she was the victim. she could not have imagined, that, in all the fermentation of civilized depravity, a similar plot could have entered a human mind. she had been stunned by an unexpected blow; yet life, however joyless, was not to be indolently resigned, or misery endured without exertion, and proudly termed patience. she had hitherto meditated only to point the dart of anguish, and suppressed the heart heavings of indignant nature merely by the force of contempt. now she endeavoured to brace her mind to fortitude, and to ask herself what was to be her employment in her dreary cell? was it not to effect her escape, to fly to the succour of her child, and to baffle the selfish schemes of her tyrant--her husband? these thoughts roused her sleeping spirit, and the self-possession returned, that seemed to have abandoned her in the infernal solitude into which she had been precipitated. the first emotions of overwhelming impatience began to subside, and resentment gave place to tenderness, and more tranquil meditation; though anger once more stopt the calm current of reflection, when she attempted to move her manacled arms. but this was an outrage that could only excite momentary feelings of scorn, which evaporated in a faint smile; for maria was far from thinking a personal insult the most difficult to endure with magnanimous indifference. she approached the small grated window of her chamber, and for a considerable time only regarded the blue expanse; though it commanded a view of a desolate garden, and of part of a huge pile of buildings, that, after having been suffered, for half a century, to fall to decay, had undergone some clumsy repairs, merely to render it habitable. the ivy had been torn off the turrets, and the stones not wanted to patch up the breaches of time, and exclude the warring elements, left in heaps in the disordered court. maria contemplated this scene she knew not how long; or rather gazed on the walls, and pondered on her situation. to the master of this most horrid of prisons, she had, soon after her entrance, raved of injustice, in accents that would have justified his treatment, had not a malignant smile, when she appealed to his judgment, with a dreadful conviction stifled her remonstrating complaints. by force, or openly, what could be done? but surely some expedient might occur to an active mind, without any other employment, and possessed of sufficient resolution to put the risk of life into the balance with the chance of freedom. a woman entered in the midst of these reflections, with a firm, deliberate step, strongly marked features, and large black eyes, which she fixed steadily on maria's, as if she designed to intimidate her, saying at the same time--"you had better sit down and eat your dinner, than look at the clouds." "i have no appetite," replied maria, who had previously determined to speak mildly, "why then should i eat?" "but, in spite of that, you must and shall eat something. i have had many ladies under my care, who have resolved to starve themselves; but, soon or late, they gave up their intent, as they recovered their senses." "do you really think me mad?" asked maria, meeting the searching glance of her eye. "not just now. but what does that prove?--only that you must be the more carefully watched, for appearing at times so reasonable. you have not touched a morsel since you entered the house."--maria sighed intelligibly.--"could any thing but madness produce such a disgust for food?" "yes, grief; you would not ask the question if you knew what it was." the attendant shook her head; and a ghastly smile of desperate fortitude served as a forcible reply, and made maria pause, before she added--"yet i will take some refreshment: i mean not to die.--no; i will preserve my senses; and convince even you, sooner than you are aware of, that my intellects have never been disturbed, though the exertion of them may have been suspended by some infernal drug." doubt gathered still thicker on the brow of her guard, as she attempted to convict her of mistake. "have patience!" exclaimed maria, with a solemnity that inspired awe. "my god! how have i been schooled into the practice!" a suffocation of voice betrayed the agonizing emotions she was labouring to keep down; and conquering a qualm of disgust, she calmly endeavoured to eat enough to prove her docility, perpetually turning to the suspicious female, whose observation she courted, while she was making the bed and adjusting the room. "come to me often," said maria, with a tone of persuasion, in consequence of a vague plan that she had hastily adopted, when, after surveying this woman's form and features, she felt convinced that she had an understanding above the common standard; "and believe me mad, till you are obliged to acknowledge the contrary." the woman was no fool, that is, she was superior to her class; nor had misery quite petrified the life's-blood of humanity, to which reflections on our own misfortunes only give a more orderly course. the manner, rather than the expostulations, of maria made a slight suspicion dart into her mind with corresponding sympathy, which various other avocations, and the habit of banishing compunction, prevented her, for the present, from examining more minutely. but when she was told that no person, excepting the physician appointed by her family, was to be permitted to see the lady at the end of the gallery, she opened her keen eyes still wider, and uttered a--"hem!" before she enquired--"why?" she was briefly told, in reply, that the malady was hereditary, and the fits not occurring but at very long and irregular intervals, she must be carefully watched; for the length of these lucid periods only rendered her more mischievous, when any vexation or caprice brought on the paroxysm of phrensy. had her master trusted her, it is probable that neither pity nor curiosity would have made her swerve from the straight line of her interest; for she had suffered too much in her intercourse with mankind, not to determine to look for support, rather to humouring their passions, than courting their approbation by the integrity of her conduct. a deadly blight had met her at the very threshold of existence; and the wretchedness of her mother seemed a heavy weight fastened on her innocent neck, to drag her down to perdition. she could not heroically determine to succour an unfortunate; but, offended at the bare supposition that she could be deceived with the same ease as a common servant, she no longer curbed her curiosity; and, though she never seriously fathomed her own intentions, she would sit, every moment she could steal from observation, listening to the tale, which maria was eager to relate with all the persuasive eloquence of grief. it is so cheering to see a human face, even if little of the divinity of virtue beam in it, that maria anxiously expected the return of the attendant, as of a gleam of light to break the gloom of idleness. indulged sorrow; she perceived, must blunt or sharpen the faculties to the two opposite extremes; producing stupidity, the moping melancholy of indolence; or the restless activity of a disturbed imagination. she sunk into one state, after being fatigued by the other: till the want of occupation became even more painful than the actual pressure or apprehension of sorrow; and the confinement that froze her into a nook of existence, with an unvaried prospect before her, the most insupportable of evils. the lamp of life seemed to be spending itself to chase the vapours of a dungeon which no art could dissipate.--and to what purpose did she rally all her energy?--was not the world a vast prison, and women born slaves? though she failed immediately to rouse a lively sense of injustice in the mind of her guard, because it had been sophisticated into misanthropy, she touched her heart. jemima (she had only a claim to a christian name, which had not procured her any christian privileges) could patiently hear of maria's confinement on false pretences; she had felt the crushing hand of power, hardened by the exercise of injustice, and ceased to wonder at the perversions of the understanding, which systematize oppression; but, when told that her child, only four months old, had been torn from her, even while she was discharging the tenderest maternal office, the woman awoke in a bosom long estranged from feminine emotions, and jemima determined to alleviate all in her power, without hazarding the loss of her place, the sufferings of a wretched mother, apparently injured, and certainly unhappy. a sense of right seems to result from the simplest act of reason, and to preside over the faculties of the mind, like the master-sense of feeling, to rectify the rest; but (for the comparison may be carried still farther) how often is the exquisite sensibility of both weakened or destroyed by the vulgar occupations, and ignoble pleasures of life? the preserving her situation was, indeed, an important object to jemima, who had been hunted from hole to hole, as if she had been a beast of prey, or infected with a moral plague. the wages she received, the greater part of which she hoarded, as her only chance for independence, were much more considerable than she could reckon on obtaining any where else, were it possible that she, an outcast from society, could be permitted to earn a subsistence in a reputable family. hearing maria perpetually complain of listlessness, and the not being able to beguile grief by resuming her customary pursuits, she was easily prevailed on, by compassion, and that involuntary respect for abilities, which those who possess them can never eradicate, to bring her some books and implements for writing. maria's conversation had amused and interested her, and the natural consequence was a desire, scarcely observed by herself, of obtaining the esteem of a person she admired. the remembrance of better days was rendered more lively; and the sentiments then acquired appearing less romantic than they had for a long period, a spark of hope roused her mind to new activity. how grateful was her attention to maria! oppressed by a dead weight of existence, or preyed on by the gnawing worm of discontent, with what eagerness did she endeavour to shorten the long days, which left no traces behind! she seemed to be sailing on the vast ocean of life, without seeing any land-mark to indicate the progress of time; to find employment was then to find variety, the animating principle of nature. chap. ii. earnestly as maria endeavoured to soothe, by reading, the anguish of her wounded mind, her thoughts would often wander from the subject she was led to discuss, and tears of maternal tenderness obscured the reasoning page. she descanted on "the ills which flesh is heir to," with bitterness, when the recollection of her babe was revived by a tale of fictitious woe, that bore any resemblance to her own; and her imagination was continually employed, to conjure up and embody the various phantoms of misery, which folly and vice had let loose on the world. the loss of her babe was the tender string; against other cruel remembrances she laboured to steel her bosom; and even a ray of hope, in the midst of her gloomy reveries, would sometimes gleam on the dark horizon of futurity, while persuading herself that she ought to cease to hope, since happiness was no where to be found.--but of her child, debilitated by the grief with which its mother had been assailed before it saw the light, she could not think without an impatient struggle. "i, alone, by my active tenderness, could have saved," she would exclaim, "from an early blight, this sweet blossom; and, cherishing it, i should have had something still to love." in proportion as other expectations were torn from her, this tender one had been fondly clung to, and knit into her heart. the books she had obtained, were soon devoured, by one who had no other resource to escape from sorrow, and the feverish dreams of ideal wretchedness or felicity, which equally weaken the intoxicated sensibility. writing was then the only alternative, and she wrote some rhapsodies descriptive of the state of her mind; but the events of her past life pressing on her, she resolved circumstantially to relate them, with the sentiments that experience, and more matured reason, would naturally suggest. they might perhaps instruct her daughter, and shield her from the misery, the tyranny, her mother knew not how to avoid. this thought gave life to her diction, her soul flowed into it, and she soon found the task of recollecting almost obliterated impressions very interesting. she lived again in the revived emotions of youth, and forgot her present in the retrospect of sorrows that had assumed an unalterable character. though this employment lightened the weight of time, yet, never losing sight of her main object, maria did not allow any opportunity to slip of winning on the affections of jemima; for she discovered in her a strength of mind, that excited her esteem, clouded as it was by the misanthropy of despair. an insulated being, from the misfortune of her birth, she despised and preyed on the society by which she had been oppressed, and loved not her fellow-creatures, because she had never been beloved. no mother had ever fondled her, no father or brother had protected her from outrage; and the man who had plunged her into infamy, and deserted her when she stood in greatest need of support, deigned not to smooth with kindness the road to ruin. thus degraded, was she let loose on the world; and virtue, never nurtured by affection, assumed the stern aspect of selfish independence. this general view of her life, maria gathered from her exclamations and dry remarks. jemima indeed displayed a strange mixture of interest and suspicion; for she would listen to her with earnestness, and then suddenly interrupt the conversation, as if afraid of resigning, by giving way to her sympathy, her dear-bought knowledge of the world. maria alluded to the possibility of an escape, and mentioned a compensation, or reward; but the style in which she was repulsed made her cautious, and determine not to renew the subject, till she knew more of the character she had to work on. jemima's countenance, and dark hints, seemed to say, "you are an extraordinary woman; but let me consider, this may only be one of your lucid intervals." nay, the very energy of maria's character, made her suspect that the extraordinary animation she perceived might be the effect of madness. "should her husband then substantiate his charge, and get possession of her estate, from whence would come the promised annuity, or more desired protection? besides, might not a woman, anxious to escape, conceal some of the circumstances which made against her? was truth to be expected from one who had been entrapped, kidnapped, in the most fraudulent manner?" in this train jemima continued to argue, the moment after compassion and respect seemed to make her swerve; and she still resolved not to be wrought on to do more than soften the rigour of confinement, till she could advance on surer ground. maria was not permitted to walk in the garden; but sometimes, from her window, she turned her eyes from the gloomy walls, in which she pined life away, on the poor wretches who strayed along the walks, and contemplated the most terrific of ruins--that of a human soul. what is the view of the fallen column, the mouldering arch, of the most exquisite workmanship, when compared with this living memento of the fragility, the instability, of reason, and the wild luxuriancy of noxious passions? enthusiasm turned adrift, like some rich stream overflowing its banks, rushes forward with destructive velocity, inspiring a sublime concentration of thought. thus thought maria--these are the ravages over which humanity must ever mournfully ponder, with a degree of anguish not excited by crumbling marble, or cankering brass, unfaithful to the trust of monumental fame. it is not over the decaying productions of the mind, embodied with the happiest art, we grieve most bitterly. the view of what has been done by man, produces a melancholy, yet aggrandizing, sense of what remains to be achieved by human intellect; but a mental convulsion, which, like the devastation of an earthquake, throws all the elements of thought and imagination into confusion, makes contemplation giddy, and we fearfully ask on what ground we ourselves stand. melancholy and imbecility marked the features of the wretches allowed to breathe at large; for the frantic, those who in a strong imagination had lost a sense of woe, were closely confined. the playful tricks and mischievous devices of their disturbed fancy, that suddenly broke out, could not be guarded against, when they were permitted to enjoy any portion of freedom; for, so active was their imagination, that every new object which accidentally struck their senses, awoke to phrenzy their restless passions; as maria learned from the burden of their incessant ravings. sometimes, with a strict injunction of silence, jemima would allow maria, at the close of evening, to stray along the narrow avenues that separated the dungeon-like apartments, leaning on her arm. what a change of scene! maria wished to pass the threshold of her prison, yet, when by chance she met the eye of rage glaring on her, yet unfaithful to its office, she shrunk back with more horror and affright, than if she had stumbled over a mangled corpse. her busy fancy pictured the misery of a fond heart, watching over a friend thus estranged, absent, though present--over a poor wretch lost to reason and the social joys of existence; and losing all consciousness of misery in its excess. what a task, to watch the light of reason quivering in the eye, or with agonizing expectation to catch the beam of recollection; tantalized by hope, only to feel despair more keenly, at finding a much loved face or voice, suddenly remembered, or pathetically implored, only to be immediately forgotten, or viewed with indifference or abhorrence! the heart-rending sigh of melancholy sunk into her soul; and when she retired to rest, the petrified figures she had encountered, the only human forms she was doomed to observe, haunting her dreams with tales of mysterious wrongs, made her wish to sleep to dream no more. day after day rolled away, and tedious as the present moment appeared, they passed in such an unvaried tenor, maria was surprised to find that she had already been six weeks buried alive, and yet had such faint hopes of effecting her enlargement. she was, earnestly as she had sought for employment, now angry with herself for having been amused by writing her narrative; and grieved to think that she had for an instant thought of any thing, but contriving to escape. jemima had evidently pleasure in her society: still, though she often left her with a glow of kindness, she returned with the same chilling air; and, when her heart appeared for a moment to open, some suggestion of reason forcibly closed it, before she could give utterance to the confidence maria's conversation inspired. discouraged by these changes, maria relapsed into despondency, when she was cheered by the alacrity with which jemima brought her a fresh parcel of books; assuring her, that she had taken some pains to obtain them from one of the keepers, who attended a gentleman confined in the opposite corner of the gallery. maria took up the books with emotion. "they come," said she, "perhaps, from a wretch condemned, like me, to reason on the nature of madness, by having wrecked minds continually under his eye; and almost to wish himself--as i do--mad, to escape from the contemplation of it." her heart throbbed with sympathetic alarm; and she turned over the leaves with awe, as if they had become sacred from passing through the hands of an unfortunate being, oppressed by a similar fate. dryden's fables, milton's paradise lost, with several modern productions, composed the collection. it was a mine of treasure. some marginal notes, in dryden's fables, caught her attention: they were written with force and taste; and, in one of the modern pamphlets, there was a fragment left, containing various observations on the present state of society and government, with a comparative view of the politics of europe and america. these remarks were written with a degree of generous warmth, when alluding to the enslaved state of the labouring majority, perfectly in unison with maria's mode of thinking. she read them over and over again; and fancy, treacherous fancy, began to sketch a character, congenial with her own, from these shadowy outlines.--"was he mad?" she re-perused the marginal notes, and they seemed the production of an animated, but not of a disturbed imagination. confined to this speculation, every time she re-read them, some fresh refinement of sentiment, or acuteness of thought impressed her, which she was astonished at herself for not having before observed. what a creative power has an affectionate heart! there are beings who cannot live without loving, as poets love; and who feel the electric spark of genius, wherever it awakens sentiment or grace. maria had often thought, when disciplining her wayward heart, "that to charm, was to be virtuous." "they who make me wish to appear the most amiable and good in their eyes, must possess in a degree," she would exclaim, "the graces and virtues they call into action." she took up a book on the powers of the human mind; but, her attention strayed from cold arguments on the nature of what she felt, while she was feeling, and she snapt the chain of the theory to read dryden's guiscard and sigismunda. maria, in the course of the ensuing day, returned some of the books, with the hope of getting others--and more marginal notes. thus shut out from human intercourse, and compelled to view nothing but the prison of vexed spirits, to meet a wretch in the same situation, was more surely to find a friend, than to imagine a countryman one, in a strange land, where the human voice conveys no information to the eager ear. "did you ever see the unfortunate being to whom these books belong?" asked maria, when jemima brought her supper. "yes. he sometimes walks out, between five and six, before the family is stirring, in the morning, with two keepers; but even then his hands are confined." "what! is he so unruly?" enquired maria, with an accent of disappointment. "no, not that i perceive," replied jemima; "but he has an untamed look, a vehemence of eye, that excites apprehension. were his hands free, he looks as if he could soon manage both his guards: yet he appears tranquil." "if he be so strong, he must be young," observed maria. "three or four and thirty, i suppose; but there is no judging of a person in his situation." "are you sure that he is mad?" interrupted maria with eagerness. jemima quitted the room, without replying. "no, no, he certainly is not!" exclaimed maria, answering herself; "the man who could write those observations was not disordered in his intellects." she sat musing, gazing at the moon, and watching its motion as it seemed to glide under the clouds. then, preparing for bed, she thought, "of what use could i be to him, or he to me, if it be true that he is unjustly confined?--could he aid me to escape, who is himself more closely watched?--still i should like to see him." she went to bed, dreamed of her child, yet woke exactly at half after five o'clock, and starting up, only wrapped a gown around her, and ran to the window. the morning was chill, it was the latter end of september; yet she did not retire to warm herself and think in bed, till the sound of the servants, moving about the house, convinced her that the unknown would not walk in the garden that morning. she was ashamed at feeling disappointed; and began to reflect, as an excuse to herself, on the little objects which attract attention when there is nothing to divert the mind; and how difficult it was for women to avoid growing romantic, who have no active duties or pursuits. at breakfast, jemima enquired whether she understood french? for, unless she did, the stranger's stock of books was exhausted. maria replied in the affirmative; but forbore to ask any more questions respecting the person to whom they belonged. and jemima gave her a new subject for contemplation, by describing the person of a lovely maniac, just brought into an adjoining chamber. she was singing the pathetic ballad of old rob with the most heart-melting falls and pauses. jemima had half-opened the door, when she distinguished her voice, and maria stood close to it, scarcely daring to respire, lest a modulation should escape her, so exquisitely sweet, so passionately wild. she began with sympathy to pourtray to herself another victim, when the lovely warbler flew, as it were, from the spray, and a torrent of unconnected exclamations and questions burst from her, interrupted by fits of laughter, so horrid, that maria shut the door, and, turning her eyes up to heaven, exclaimed--"gracious god!" several minutes elapsed before maria could enquire respecting the rumour of the house (for this poor wretch was obviously not confined without a cause); and then jemima could only tell her, that it was said, "she had been married, against her inclination, to a rich old man, extremely jealous (no wonder, for she was a charming creature); and that, in consequence of his treatment, or something which hung on her mind, she had, during her first lying-in, lost her senses." what a subject of meditation--even to the very confines of madness. "woman, fragile flower! why were you suffered to adorn a world exposed to the inroad of such stormy elements?" thought maria, while the poor maniac's strain was still breathing on her ear, and sinking into her very soul. towards the evening, jemima brought her rousseau's _heloïse_; and she sat reading with eyes and heart, till the return of her guard to extinguish the light. one instance of her kindness was, the permitting maria to have one, till her own hour of retiring to rest. she had read this work long since; but now it seemed to open a new world to her--the only one worth inhabiting. sleep was not to be wooed; yet, far from being fatigued by the restless rotation of thought, she rose and opened her window, just as the thin watery clouds of twilight made the long silent shadows visible. the air swept across her face with a voluptuous freshness that thrilled to her heart, awakening indefinable emotions; and the sound of a waving branch, or the twittering of a startled bird, alone broke the stillness of reposing nature. absorbed by the sublime sensibility which renders the consciousness of existence felicity, maria was happy, till an autumnal scent, wafted by the breeze of morn from the fallen leaves of the adjacent wood, made her recollect that the season had changed since her confinement; yet life afforded no variety to solace an afflicted heart. she returned dispirited to her couch, and thought of her child till the broad glare of day again invited her to the window. she looked not for the unknown, still how great was her vexation at perceiving the back of a man, certainly he, with his two attendants, as he turned into a side-path which led to the house! a confused recollection of having seen somebody who resembled him, immediately occurred, to puzzle and torment her with endless conjectures. five minutes sooner, and she should have seen his face, and been out of suspense--was ever any thing so unlucky! his steady, bold step, and the whole air of his person, bursting as it were from a cloud, pleased her, and gave an outline to the imagination to sketch the individual form she wished to recognize. feeling the disappointment more severely than she was willing to believe, she flew to rousseau, as her only refuge from the idea of him, who might prove a friend, could she but find a way to interest him in her fate; still the personification of saint preux, or of an ideal lover far superior, was after this imperfect model, of which merely a glance had been caught, even to the minutiæ of the coat and hat of the stranger. but if she lent st. preux, or the demi-god of her fancy, his form, she richly repaid him by the donation of all st. preux's sentiments and feelings, culled to gratify her own, to which he seemed to have an undoubted right, when she read on the margin of an impassioned letter, written in the well-known hand--"rousseau alone, the true prometheus of sentiment, possessed the fire of genius necessary to pourtray the passion, the truth of which goes so directly to the heart." maria was again true to the hour, yet had finished rousseau, and begun to transcribe some selected passages; unable to quit either the author or the window, before she had a glimpse of the countenance she daily longed to see; and, when seen, it conveyed no distinct idea to her mind where she had seen it before. he must have been a transient acquaintance; but to discover an acquaintance was fortunate, could she contrive to attract his attention, and excite his sympathy. every glance afforded colouring for the picture she was delineating on her heart; and once, when the window was half open, the sound of his voice reached her. conviction flashed on her; she had certainly, in a moment of distress, heard the same accents. they were manly, and characteristic of a noble mind; nay, even sweet--or sweet they seemed to her attentive ear. she started back, trembling, alarmed at the emotion a strange coincidence of circumstances inspired, and wondering why she thought so much of a stranger, obliged as she had been by his timely interference; [for she recollected, by degrees, all the circumstances of their former meeting.] she found however that she could think of nothing else; or, if she thought of her daughter, it was to wish that she had a father whom her mother could respect and love. chap. iii. when perusing the first parcel of books, maria had, with her pencil, written in one of them a few exclamations, expressive of compassion and sympathy, which she scarcely remembered, till turning over the leaves of one of the volumes, lately brought to her, a slip of paper dropped out, which jemima hastily snatched up. "let me see it," demanded maria impatiently, "you surely are not afraid of trusting me with the effusions of a madman?" "i must consider," replied jemima; and withdrew, with the paper in her hand. in a life of such seclusion, the passions gain undue force; maria therefore felt a great degree of resentment and vexation, which she had not time to subdue, before jemima, returning, delivered the paper. "whoever you are, who partake of my fate, accept my sincere commiseration--i would have said protection; but the privilege of man is denied me. "my own situation forces a dreadful suspicion on my mind--i may not always languish in vain for freedom--say are you--i cannot ask the question; yet i will remember you when my remembrance can be of any use. i will enquire, _why_ you are so mysteriously detained--and i _will_ have an answer. "henry darnford." by the most pressing intreaties, maria prevailed on jemima to permit her to write a reply to this note. another and another succeeded, in which explanations were not allowed relative to their present situation; but maria, with sufficient explicitness, alluded to a former obligation; and they insensibly entered on an interchange of sentiments on the most important subjects. to write these letters was the business of the day, and to receive them the moment of sunshine. by some means, darnford having discovered maria's window, when she next appeared at it, he made her, behind his keepers, a profound bow of respect and recognition. two or three weeks glided away in this kind of intercourse, during which period jemima, to whom maria had given the necessary information respecting her family, had evidently gained some intelligence, which increased her desire of pleasing her charge, though she could not yet determine to liberate her. maria took advantage of this favourable charge, without too minutely enquiring into the cause; and such was her eagerness to hold human converse, and to see her former protector, still a stranger to her, that she incessantly requested her guard to gratify her more than curiosity. writing to darnford, she was led from the sad objects before her, and frequently rendered insensible to the horrid noises around her, which previously had continually employed her feverish fancy. thinking it selfish to dwell on her own sufferings, when in the midst of wretches, who had not only lost all that endears life, but their very selves, her imagination was occupied with melancholy earnestness to trace the mazes of misery, through which so many wretches must have passed to this gloomy receptacle of disjointed souls, to the grand source of human corruption. often at midnight was she waked by the dismal shrieks of demoniac rage, or of excruciating despair, uttered in such wild tones of indescribable anguish as proved the total absence of reason, and roused phantoms of horror in her mind, far more terrific than all that dreaming superstition ever drew. besides, there was frequently something so inconceivably picturesque in the varying gestures of unrestrained passion, so irresistibly comic in their sallies, or so heart-piercingly pathetic in the little airs they would sing, frequently bursting out after an awful silence, as to fascinate the attention, and amuse the fancy, while torturing the soul. it was the uproar of the passions which she was compelled to observe; and to mark the lucid beam of reason, like a light trembling in a socket, or like the flash which divides the threatening clouds of angry heaven only to display the horrors which darkness shrouded. jemima would labour to beguile the tedious evenings, by describing the persons and manners of the unfortunate beings, whose figures or voices awoke sympathetic sorrow in maria's bosom; and the stories she told were the more interesting, for perpetually leaving room to conjecture something extraordinary. still maria, accustomed to generalize her observations, was led to conclude from all she heard, that it was a vulgar error to suppose that people of abilities were the most apt to lose the command of reason. on the contrary, from most of the instances she could investigate, she thought it resulted, that the passions only appeared strong and disproportioned, because the judgment was weak and unexercised; and that they gained strength by the decay of reason, as the shadows lengthen during the sun's decline. maria impatiently wished to see her fellow-sufferer; but darnford was still more earnest to obtain an interview. accustomed to submit to every impulse of passion, and never taught, like women, to restrain the most natural, and acquire, instead of the bewitching frankness of nature, a factitious propriety of behaviour, every desire became a torrent that bore down all opposition. his travelling trunk, which contained the books lent to maria, had been sent to him, and with a part of its contents he bribed his principal keeper; who, after receiving the most solemn promise that he would return to his apartment without attempting to explore any part of the house, conducted him, in the dusk of the evening, to maria's room. jemima had apprized her charge of the visit, and she expected with trembling impatience, inspired by a vague hope that he might again prove her deliverer, to see a man who had before rescued her from oppression. he entered with an animation of countenance, formed to captivate an enthusiast; and, hastily turned his eyes from her to the apartment, which he surveyed with apparent emotions of compassionate indignation. sympathy illuminated his eye, and, taking her hand, he respectfully bowed on it, exclaiming--"this is extraordinary!--again to meet you, and in such circumstances!" still, impressive as was the coincidence of events which brought them once more together, their full hearts did not overflow.--[ -a] * * * * * [and though, after this first visit, they were permitted frequently to repeat their interviews, they were for some time employed in] a reserved conversation, to which all the world might have listened; excepting, when discussing some literary subject, flashes of sentiment, inforced by each relaxing feature, seemed to remind them that their minds were already acquainted. [by degrees, darnford entered into the particulars of his story.] in a few words, he informed her that he had been a thoughtless, extravagant young man; yet, as he described his faults, they appeared to be the generous luxuriancy of a noble mind. nothing like meanness tarnished the lustre of his youth, nor had the worm of selfishness lurked in the unfolding bud, even while he had been the dupe of others. yet he tardily acquired the experience necessary to guard him against future imposition. "i shall weary you," continued he, "by my egotism; and did not powerful emotions draw me to you,"--his eyes glistened as he spoke, and a trembling seemed to run through his manly frame,--"i would not waste these precious moments in talking of myself. "my father and mother were people of fashion; married by their parents. he was fond of the turf, she of the card-table. i, and two or three other children since dead, were kept at home till we became intolerable. my father and mother had a visible dislike to each other, continually displayed; the servants were of the depraved kind usually found in the houses of people of fortune. my brothers and parents all dying, i was left to the care of guardians, and sent to eton. i never knew the sweets of domestic affection, but i felt the want of indulgence and frivolous respect at school. i will not disgust you with a recital of the vices of my youth, which can scarcely be comprehended by female delicacy. i was taught to love by a creature i am ashamed to mention; and the other women with whom i afterwards became intimate, were of a class of which you can have no knowledge. i formed my acquaintance with them at the theatres; and, when vivacity danced in their eyes, i was not easily disgusted by the vulgarity which flowed from their lips. having spent, a few years after i was of age, [the whole of] a considerable patrimony, excepting a few hundreds, i had no recourse but to purchase a commission in a new-raised regiment, destined to subjugate america. the regret i felt to renounce a life of pleasure, was counter-balanced by the curiosity i had to see america, or rather to travel; [nor had any of those circumstances occurred to my youth, which might have been calculated] to bind my country to my heart. i shall not trouble you with the details of a military life. my blood was still kept in motion; till, towards the close of the contest, i was wounded and taken prisoner. "confined to my bed, or chair, by a lingering cure, my only refuge from the preying activity of my mind, was books, which i read with great avidity, profiting by the conversation of my host, a man of sound understanding. my political sentiments now underwent a total change; and, dazzled by the hospitality of the americans, i determined to take up my abode with freedom. i, therefore, with my usual impetuosity, sold my commission, and travelled into the interior parts of the country, to lay out my money to advantage. added to this, i did not much like the puritanical manners of the large towns. inequality of condition was there most disgustingly galling. the only pleasure wealth afforded, was to make an ostentatious display of it; for the cultivation of the fine arts, or literature, had not introduced into the first circles that polish of manners which renders the rich so essentially superior to the poor in europe. added to this, an influx of vices had been let in by the revolution, and the most rigid principles of religion shaken to the centre, before the understanding could be gradually emancipated from the prejudices which led their ancestors undauntedly to seek an inhospitable clime and unbroken soil. the resolution, that led them, in pursuit of independence, to embark on rivers like seas, to search for unknown shores, and to sleep under the hovering mists of endless forests, whose baleful damps agued their limbs, was now turned into commercial speculations, till the national character exhibited a phenomenon in the history of the human mind--a head enthusiastically enterprising, with cold selfishness of heart. and woman, lovely woman!--they charm every where--still there is a degree of prudery, and a want of taste and ease in the manners of the american women, that renders them, in spite of their roses and lilies, far inferior to our european charmers. in the country, they have often a bewitching simplicity of character; but, in the cities, they have all the airs and ignorance of the ladies who give the tone to the circles of the large trading towns in england. they are fond of their ornaments, merely because they are good, and not because they embellish their persons; and are more gratified to inspire the women with jealousy of these exterior advantages, than the men with love. all the frivolity which often (excuse me, madam) renders the society of modest women so stupid in england, here seemed to throw still more leaden fetters on their charms. not being an adept in gallantry, i found that i could only keep myself awake in their company by making downright love to them. "but, not to intrude on your patience, i retired to the track of land which i had purchased in the country, and my time passed pleasantly enough while i cut down the trees, built my house, and planted my different crops. but winter and idleness came, and i longed for more elegant society, to hear what was passing in the world, and to do something better than vegetate with the animals that made a very considerable part of my household. consequently, i determined to travel. motion was a substitute for variety of objects; and, passing over immense tracks of country, i exhausted my exuberant spirits, without obtaining much experience. i every where saw industry the fore-runner and not the consequence, of luxury; but this country, every thing being on an ample scale, did not afford those picturesque views, which a certain degree of cultivation is necessary gradually to produce. the eye wandered without an object to fix upon over immeasureable plains, and lakes that seemed replenished by the ocean, whilst eternal forests of small clustering trees, obstructed the circulation of air, and embarrassed the path, without gratifying the eye of taste. no cottage smiling in the waste, no travellers hailed us, to give life to silent nature; or, if perchance we saw the print of a footstep in our path, it was a dreadful warning to turn aside; and the head ached as if assailed by the scalping knife. the indians who hovered on the skirts of the european settlements had only learned of their neighbours to plunder, and they stole their guns from them to do it with more safety. "from the woods and back settlements, i returned to the towns, and learned to eat and drink most valiantly; but without entering into commerce (and i detested commerce) i found i could not live there; and, growing heartily weary of the land of liberty and vulgar aristocracy, seated on her bags of dollars, i resolved once more to visit europe. i wrote to a distant relation in england, with whom i had been educated, mentioning the vessel in which i intended to sail. arriving in london, my senses were intoxicated. i ran from street to street, from theatre to theatre, and the women of the town (again i must beg pardon for my habitual frankness) appeared to me like angels. "a week was spent in this thoughtless manner, when, returning very late to the hotel in which i had lodged ever since my arrival, i was knocked down in a private street, and hurried, in a state of insensibility, into a coach, which brought me hither, and i only recovered my senses to be treated like one who had lost them. my keepers are deaf to my remonstrances and enquiries, yet assure me that my confinement shall not last long. still i cannot guess, though i weary myself with conjectures, why i am confined, or in what part of england this house is situated. i imagine sometimes that i hear the sea roar, and wished myself again on the atlantic, till i had a glimpse of you[ -a]." a few moments were only allowed to maria to comment on this narrative, when darnford left her to her own thoughts, to the "never ending, still beginning," task of weighing his words, recollecting his tones of voice, and feeling them reverberate on her heart. footnotes: [ -a] the copy which had received the author's last corrections, breaks off in this place, and the pages which follow, to the end of chap. iv, are printed from a copy in a less finished state. [ -a] the introduction of darnford as the deliverer of maria in a former instance, appears to have been an after-thought of the author. this has occasioned the omission of any allusion to that circumstance in the preceding narration. editor. chap. iv. pity, and the forlorn seriousness of adversity, have both been considered as dispositions favourable to love, while satirical writers have attributed the propensity to the relaxing effect of idleness, what chance then had maria of escaping, when pity, sorrow, and solitude all conspired to soften her mind, and nourish romantic wishes, and, from a natural progress, romantic expectations? maria was six-and-twenty. but, such was the native soundness of her constitution, that time had only given to her countenance the character of her mind. revolving thought, and exercised affections had banished some of the playful graces of innocence, producing insensibly that irregularity of features which the struggles of the understanding to trace or govern the strong emotions of the heart, are wont to imprint on the yielding mass. grief and care had mellowed, without obscuring, the bright tints of youth, and the thoughtfulness which resided on her brow did not take from the feminine softness of her features; nay, such was the sensibility which often mantled over it, that she frequently appeared, like a large proportion of her sex, only born to feel; and the activity of her well-proportioned, and even almost voluptuous figure, inspired the idea of strength of mind, rather than of body. there was a simplicity sometimes indeed in her manner, which bordered on infantine ingenuousness, that led people of common discernment to underrate her talents, and smile at the flights of her imagination. but those who could not comprehend the delicacy of her sentiments, were attached by her unfailing sympathy, so that she was very generally beloved by characters of very different descriptions; still, she was too much under the influence of an ardent imagination to adhere to common rules. there are mistakes of conduct which at five-and-twenty prove the strength of the mind, that, ten or fifteen years after, would demonstrate its weakness, its incapacity to acquire a sane judgment. the youths who are satisfied with the ordinary pleasures of life, and do not sigh after ideal phantoms of love and friendship, will never arrive at great maturity of understanding; but if these reveries are cherished, as is too frequently the case with women, when experience ought to have taught them in what human happiness consists, they become as useless as they are wretched. besides, their pains and pleasures are so dependent on outward circumstances, on the objects of their affections, that they seldom act from the impulse of a nerved mind, able to choose its own pursuit. having had to struggle incessantly with the vices of mankind, maria's imagination found repose in pourtraying the possible virtues the world might contain. pygmalion formed an ivory maid, and longed for an informing soul. she, on the contrary, combined all the qualities of a hero's mind, and fate presented a statue in which she might enshrine them. we mean not to trace the progress of this passion, or recount how often darnford and maria were obliged to part in the midst of an interesting conversation. jemima ever watched on the tip-toe of fear, and frequently separated them on a false alarm, when they would have given worlds to remain a little longer together. a magic lamp now seemed to be suspended in maria's prison, and fairy landscapes flitted round the gloomy walls, late so blank. rushing from the depth of despair, on the seraph wing of hope, she found herself happy.--she was beloved, and every emotion was rapturous. to darnford she had not shown a decided affection; the fear of outrunning his, a sure proof of love, made her often assume a coldness and indifference foreign from her character; and, even when giving way to the playful emotions of a heart just loosened from the frozen bond of grief, there was a delicacy in her manner of expressing her sensibility, which made him doubt whether it was the effect of love. one evening, when jemima left them, to listen to the sound of a distant footstep, which seemed cautiously to approach, he seized maria's hand--it was not withdrawn. they conversed with earnestness of their situation; and, during the conversation, he once or twice gently drew her towards him. he felt the fragrance of her breath, and longed, yet feared, to touch the lips from which it issued; spirits of purity seemed to guard them, while all the enchanting graces of love sported on her cheeks, and languished in her eyes. jemima entering, he reflected on his diffidence with poignant regret, and, she once more taking alarm, he ventured, as maria stood near his chair, to approach her lips with a declaration of love. she drew back with solemnity, he hung down his head abashed; but lifting his eyes timidly, they met her's; she had determined, during that instant, and suffered their rays to mingle. he took, with more ardour, reassured, a half-consenting, half-reluctant kiss, reluctant only from modesty; and there was a sacredness in her dignified manner of reclining her glowing face on his shoulder, that powerfully impressed him. desire was lost in more ineffable emotions, and to protect her from insult and sorrow--to make her happy, seemed not only the first wish of his heart, but the most noble duty of his life. such angelic confidence demanded the fidelity of honour; but could he, feeling her in every pulsation, could he ever change, could he be a villain? the emotion with which she, for a moment, allowed herself to be pressed to his bosom, the tear of rapturous sympathy, mingled with a soft melancholy sentiment of recollected disappointment, said--more of truth and faithfulness, than the tongue could have given utterance to in hours! they were silent--yet discoursed, how eloquently? till, after a moment's reflection, maria drew her chair by the side of his, and, with a composed sweetness of voice, and supernatural benignity of countenance, said, "i must open my whole heart to you; you must be told who i am, why i am here, and why, telling you i am a wife, i blush not to"--the blush spoke the rest. jemima was again at her elbow, and the restraint of her presence did not prevent an animated conversation, in which love, sly urchin, was ever at bo-peep. so much of heaven did they enjoy, that paradise bloomed around them; or they, by a powerful spell, had been transported into armida's garden. love, the grand enchanter, "lapt them in elysium," and every sense was harmonized to joy and social extacy. so animated, indeed, were their accents of tenderness, in discussing what, in other circumstances, would have been common-place subjects, that jemima felt, with surprise, a tear of pleasure trickling down her rugged cheeks. she wiped it away, half ashamed; and when maria kindly enquired the cause, with all the eager solicitude of a happy being wishing to impart to all nature its overflowing felicity, jemima owned that it was the first tear that social enjoyment had ever drawn from her. she seemed indeed to breathe more freely; the cloud of suspicion cleared away from her brow; she felt herself, for once in her life, treated like a fellow-creature. imagination! who can paint thy power; or reflect the evanescent tints of hope fostered by thee? a despondent gloom had long obscured maria's horizon--now the sun broke forth, the rainbow appeared, and every prospect was fair. horror still reigned in the darkened cells, suspicion lurked in the passages, and whispered along the walls. the yells of men possessed, sometimes made them pause, and wonder that they felt so happy, in a tomb of living death. they even chid themselves for such apparent insensibility; still the world contained not three happier beings. and jemima, after again patrolling the passage, was so softened by the air of confidence which breathed around her, that she voluntarily began an account of herself. chap. v. "my father," said jemima, "seduced my mother, a pretty girl, with whom he lived fellow-servant; and she no sooner perceived the natural, the dreaded consequence, than the terrible conviction flashed on her--that she was ruined. honesty, and a regard for her reputation, had been the only principles inculcated by her mother; and they had been so forcibly impressed, that she feared shame, more than the poverty to which it would lead. her incessant importunities to prevail upon my father to screen her from reproach by marrying her, as he had promised in the fervour of seduction, estranged him from her so completely, that her very person became distasteful to him; and he began to hate, as well as despise me, before i was born. "my mother, grieved to the soul by his neglect, and unkind treatment, actually resolved to famish herself; and injured her health by the attempt; though she had not sufficient resolution to adhere to her project, or renounce it entirely. death came not at her call; yet sorrow, and the methods she adopted to conceal her condition, still doing the work of a house-maid, had such an effect on her constitution, that she died in the wretched garret, where her virtuous mistress had forced her to take refuge in the very pangs of labour, though my father, after a slight reproof, was allowed to remain in his place--allowed by the mother of six children, who, scarcely permitting a footstep to be heard, during her month's indulgence, felt no sympathy for the poor wretch, denied every comfort required by her situation. "the day my mother died, the ninth after my birth, i was consigned to the care of the cheapest nurse my father could find; who suckled her own child at the same time, and lodged as many more as she could get, in two cellar-like apartments. "poverty, and the habit of seeing children die off her hands, had so hardened her heart, that the office of a mother did not awaken the tenderness of a woman; nor were the feminine caresses which seem a part of the rearing of a child, ever bestowed on me. the chicken has a wing to shelter under; but i had no bosom to nestle in, no kindred warmth to foster me. left in dirt, to cry with cold and hunger till i was weary, and sleep without ever being prepared by exercise, or lulled by kindness to rest; could i be expected to become any thing but a weak and rickety babe? still, in spite of neglect, i continued to exist, to learn to curse existence," her countenance grew ferocious as she spoke, "and the treatment that rendered me miserable, seemed to sharpen my wits. confined then in a damp hovel, to rock the cradle of the succeeding tribe, i looked like a little old woman, or a hag shrivelling into nothing. the furrows of reflection and care contracted the youthful cheek, and gave a sort of supernatural wildness to the ever watchful eye. during this period, my father had married another fellow-servant, who loved him less, and knew better how to manage his passion, than my mother. she likewise proving with child, they agreed to keep a shop: my step-mother, if, being an illegitimate offspring, i may venture thus to characterize her, having obtained a sum of a rich relation, for that purpose. "soon after her lying-in, she prevailed on my father to take me home, to save the expence of maintaining me, and of hiring a girl to assist her in the care of the child. i was young, it was true, but appeared a knowing little thing, and might be made handy. accordingly i was brought to her house; but not to a home--for a home i never knew. of this child, a daughter, she was extravagantly fond; and it was a part of my employment, to assist to spoil her, by humouring all her whims, and bearing all her caprices. feeling her own consequence, before she could speak, she had learned the art of tormenting me, and if i ever dared to resist, i received blows, laid on with no compunctious hand, or was sent to bed dinnerless, as well as supperless. i said that it was a part of my daily labour to attend this child, with the servility of a slave; still it was but a part. i was sent out in all seasons, and from place to place, to carry burdens far above my strength, without being allowed to draw near the fire, or ever being cheered by encouragement or kindness. no wonder then, treated like a creature of another species, that i began to envy, and at length to hate, the darling of the house. yet, i perfectly remember, that it was the caresses, and kind expressions of my step-mother, which first excited my jealous discontent. once, i cannot forget it, when she was calling in vain her wayward child to kiss her, i ran to her, saying, 'i will kiss you, ma'am!' and how did my heart, which was in my mouth, sink, what was my debasement of soul, when pushed away with--'i do not want you, pert thing!' another day, when a new gown had excited the highest good humour, and she uttered the appropriate _dear_, addressed unexpectedly to me, i thought i could never do enough to please her; i was all alacrity, and rose proportionably in my own estimation. "as her daughter grew up, she was pampered with cakes and fruit, while i was, literally speaking, fed with the refuse of the table, with her leavings. a liquorish tooth is, i believe, common to children, and i used to steal any thing sweet, that i could catch up with a chance of concealment. when detected, she was not content to chastize me herself at the moment, but, on my father's return in the evening (he was a shopman), the principal discourse was to recount my faults, and attribute them to the wicked disposition which i had brought into the world with me, inherited from my mother. he did not fail to leave the marks of his resentment on my body, and then solaced himself by playing with my sister.--i could have murdered her at those moments. to save myself from these unmerciful corrections, i resorted to falshood, and the untruths which i sturdily maintained, were brought in judgment against me, to support my tyrant's inhuman charge of my natural propensity to vice. seeing me treated with contempt, and always being fed and dressed better, my sister conceived a contemptuous opinion of me, that proved an obstacle to all affection; and my father, hearing continually of my faults, began to consider me as a curse entailed on him for his sins: he was therefore easily prevailed on to bind me apprentice to one of my step-mother's friends, who kept a slop-shop in wapping. i was represented (as it was said) in my true colours; but she, 'warranted,' snapping her fingers, 'that she should break my spirit or heart.' "my mother replied, with a whine, 'that if any body could make me better, it was such a clever woman as herself; though, for her own part, she had tried in vain; but good-nature was her fault.' "i shudder with horror, when i recollect the treatment i had now to endure. not only under the lash of my task-mistress, but the drudge of the maid, apprentices and children, i never had a taste of human kindness to soften the rigour of perpetual labour. i had been introduced as an object of abhorrence into the family; as a creature of whom my step-mother, though she had been kind enough to let me live in the house with her own child, could make nothing. i was described as a wretch, whose nose must be kept to the grinding stone--and it was held there with an iron grasp. it seemed indeed the privilege of their superior nature to kick me about, like the dog or cat. if i were attentive, i was called fawning, if refractory, an obstinate mule, and like a mule i received their censure on my loaded back. often has my mistress, for some instance of forgetfulness, thrown me from one side of the kitchen to the other, knocked my head against the wall, spit in my face, with various refinements on barbarity that i forbear to enumerate, though they were all acted over again by the servant, with additional insults, to which the appellation of _bastard_, was commonly added, with taunts or sneers. but i will not attempt to give you an adequate idea of my situation, lest you, who probably have never been drenched with the dregs of human misery, should think i exaggerate. "i stole now, from absolute necessity,--bread; yet whatever else was taken, which i had it not in my power to take, was ascribed to me. i was the filching cat, the ravenous dog, the dumb brute, who must bear all; for if i endeavoured to exculpate myself, i was silenced, without any enquiries being made, with 'hold your tongue, you never tell truth.' even the very air i breathed was tainted with scorn; for i was sent to the neighbouring shops with glutton, liar, or thief, written on my forehead. this was, at first, the most bitter punishment; but sullen pride, or a kind of stupid desperation, made me, at length, almost regardless of the contempt, which had wrung from me so many solitary tears at the only moments when i was allowed to rest. "thus was i the mark of cruelty till my sixteenth year; and then i have only to point out a change of misery; for a period i never knew. allow me first to make one observation. now i look back, i cannot help attributing the greater part of my misery, to the misfortune of having been thrown into the world without the grand support of life--a mother's affection. i had no one to love me; or to make me respected, to enable me to acquire respect. i was an egg dropped on the sand; a pauper by nature, shunted from family to family, who belonged to nobody--and nobody cared for me. i was despised from my birth, and denied the chance of obtaining a footing for myself in society. yes; i had not even the chance of being considered as a fellow-creature--yet all the people with whom i lived, brutalized as they were by the low cunning of trade, and the despicable shifts of poverty, were not without bowels, though they never yearned for me. i was, in fact, born a slave, and chained by infamy to slavery during the whole of existence, without having any companions to alleviate it by sympathy, or teach me how to rise above it by their example. but, to resume the thread of my tale-- "at sixteen, i suddenly grew tall, and something like comeliness appeared on a sunday, when i had time to wash my face, and put on clean clothes. my master had once or twice caught hold of me in the passage; but i instinctively avoided his disgusting caresses. one day however, when the family were at a methodist meeting, he contrived to be alone in the house with me, and by blows--yes; blows and menaces, compelled me to submit to his ferocious desire; and, to avoid my mistress's fury, i was obliged in future to comply, and skulk to my loft at his command, in spite of increasing loathing. "the anguish which was now pent up in my bosom, seemed to open a new world to me: i began to extend my thoughts beyond myself, and grieve for human misery, till i discovered, with horror--ah! what horror!--that i was with child. i know not why i felt a mixed sensation of despair and tenderness, excepting that, ever called a bastard, a bastard appeared to me an object of the greatest compassion in creation. "i communicated this dreadful circumstance to my master, who was almost equally alarmed at the intelligence; for he feared his wife, and public censure at the meeting. after some weeks of deliberation had elapsed, i in continual fear that my altered shape would be noticed, my master gave me a medicine in a phial, which he desired me to take, telling me, without any circumlocution, for what purpose it was designed. i burst into tears, i thought it was killing myself--yet was such a self as i worth preserving? he cursed me for a fool, and left me to my own reflections. i could not resolve to take this infernal potion; but i wrapped it up in an old gown, and hid it in a corner of my box. "nobody yet suspected me, because they had been accustomed to view me as a creature of another species. but the threatening storm at last broke over my devoted head--never shall i forget it! one sunday evening when i was left, as usual, to take care of the house, my master came home intoxicated, and i became the prey of his brutal appetite. his extreme intoxication made him forget his customary caution, and my mistress entered and found us in a situation that could not have been more hateful to her than me. her husband was 'pot-valiant,' he feared her not at the moment, nor had he then much reason, for she instantly turned the whole force of her anger another way. she tore off my cap, scratched, kicked, and buffetted me, till she had exhausted her strength, declaring, as she rested her arm, 'that i had wheedled her husband from her.--but, could any thing better be expected from a wretch, whom she had taken into her house out of pure charity?' what a torrent of abuse rushed out? till, almost breathless, she concluded with saying, 'that i was born a strumpet; it ran in my blood, and nothing good could come to those who harboured me.' "my situation was, of course, discovered, and she declared that i should not stay another night under the same roof with an honest family. i was therefore pushed out of doors, and my trumpery thrown after me, when it had been contemptuously examined in the passage, lest i should have stolen any thing. "behold me then in the street, utterly destitute! whither could i creep for shelter? to my father's roof i had no claim, when not pursued by shame--now i shrunk back as from death, from my mother's cruel reproaches, my father's execrations. i could not endure to hear him curse the day i was born, though life had been a curse to me. of death i thought, but with a confused emotion of terror, as i stood leaning my head on a post, and starting at every footstep, lest it should be my mistress coming to tear my heart out. one of the boys of the shop passing by, heard my tale, and immediately repaired to his master, to give him a description of my situation; and he touched the right key--the scandal it would give rise to, if i were left to repeat my tale to every enquirer. this plea came home to his reason, who had been sobered by his wife's rage, the fury of which fell on him when i was out of her reach, and he sent the boy to me with half-a-guinea, desiring him to conduct me to a house, where beggars, and other wretches, the refuse of society, nightly lodged. "this night was spent in a state of stupefaction, or desperation. i detested mankind, and abhorred myself. "in the morning i ventured out, to throw myself in my master's way, at his usual hour of going abroad. i approached him, he 'damned me for a b----, declared i had disturbed the peace of the family, and that he had sworn to his wife, never to take any more notice of me.' he left me; but, instantly returning, he told me that he should speak to his friend, a parish-officer, to get a nurse for the brat i laid to him; and advised me, if i wished to keep out of the house of correction, not to make free with his name. "i hurried back to my hole, and, rage giving place to despair, sought for the potion that was to procure abortion, and swallowed it, with a wish that it might destroy me, at the same time that it stopped the sensations of new-born life, which i felt with indescribable emotion. my head turned round, my heart grew sick, and in the horrors of approaching dissolution, mental anguish was swallowed up. the effect of the medicine was violent, and i was confined to my bed several days; but, youth and a strong constitution prevailing, i once more crawled out, to ask myself the cruel question, 'whither i should go?' i had but two shillings left in my pocket, the rest had been expended, by a poor woman who slept in the same room, to pay for my lodging, and purchase the necessaries of which she partook. "with this wretch i went into the neighbouring streets to beg, and my disconsolate appearance drew a few pence from the idle, enabling me still to command a bed; till, recovering from my illness, and taught to put on my rags to the best advantage, i was accosted from different motives, and yielded to the desire of the brutes i met, with the same detestation that i had felt for my still more brutal master. i have since read in novels of the blandishments of seduction, but i had not even the pleasure of being enticed into vice. "i shall not," interrupted jemima, "lead your imagination into all the scenes of wretchedness and depravity, which i was condemned to view; or mark the different stages of my debasing misery. fate dragged me through the very kennels of society; i was still a slave, a bastard, a common property. become familiar with vice, for i wish to conceal nothing from you, i picked the pockets of the drunkards who abused me; and proved by my conduct, that i deserved the epithets, with which they loaded me at moments when distrust ought to cease. "detesting my nightly occupation, though valuing, if i may so use the word, my independence, which only consisted in choosing the street in which i should wander, or the roof, when i had money, in which i should hide my head, i was some time before i could prevail on myself to accept of a place in a house of ill fame, to which a girl, with whom i had accidentally conversed in the street, had recommended me. i had been hunted almost into a a fever, by the watchmen of the quarter of the town i frequented; one, whom i had unwittingly offended, giving the word to the whole pack. you can scarcely conceive the tyranny exercised by these wretches: considering themselves as the instruments of the very laws they violate, the pretext which steels their conscience, hardens their heart. not content with receiving from us, outlaws of society (let other women talk of favours) a brutal gratification gratuitously as a privilege of office, they extort a tithe of prostitution, and harrass with threats the poor creatures whose occupation affords not the means to silence the growl of avarice. to escape from this persecution, i once more entered into servitude. "a life of comparative regularity restored my health; and--do not start--my manners were improved, in a situation where vice sought to render itself alluring, and taste was cultivated to fashion the person, if not to refine the mind. besides, the common civility of speech, contrasted with the gross vulgarity to which i had been accustomed, was something like the polish of civilization. i was not shut out from all intercourse of humanity. still i was galled by the yoke of service, and my mistress often flying into violent fits of passion, made me dread a sudden dismission, which i understood was always the case. i was therefore prevailed on, though i felt a horror of men, to accept the offer of a gentleman, rather in the decline of years, to keep his house, pleasantly situated in a little village near hampstead. "he was a man of great talents, and of brilliant wit; but, a worn-out votary of voluptuousness, his desires became fastidious in proportion as they grew weak, and the native tenderness of his heart was undermined by a vitiated imagination. a thoughtless career of libertinism and social enjoyment, had injured his health to such a degree, that, whatever pleasure his conversation afforded me (and my esteem was ensured by proofs of the generous humanity of his disposition), the being his mistress was purchasing it at a very dear rate. with such a keen perception of the delicacies of sentiment, with an imagination invigorated by the exercise of genius, how could he sink into the grossness of sensuality! "but, to pass over a subject which i recollect with pain, i must remark to you, as an answer to your often-repeated question, 'why my sentiments and language were superior to my station?' that i now began to read, to beguile the tediousness of solitude, and to gratify an inquisitive, active mind. i had often, in my childhood, followed a ballad-singer, to hear the sequel of a dismal story, though sure of being severely punished for delaying to return with whatever i was sent to purchase. i could just spell and put a sentence together, and i listened to the various arguments, though often mingled with obscenity, which occurred at the table where i was allowed to preside: for a literary friend or two frequently came home with my master, to dine and pass the night. having lost the privileged respect of my sex, my presence, instead of restraining, perhaps gave the reins to their tongues; still i had the advantage of hearing discussions, from which, in the common course of life, women are excluded. "you may easily imagine, that it was only by degrees that i could comprehend some of the subjects they investigated, or acquire from their reasoning what might be termed a moral sense. but my fondness of reading increasing, and my master occasionally shutting himself up in this retreat, for weeks together, to write, i had many opportunities of improvement. at first, considering money i was right!" (exclaimed jemima, altering her tone of voice) "as the only means, after my loss of reputation, of obtaining respect, or even the toleration of humanity, i had not the least scruple to secrete a part of the sums intrusted to me, and to screen myself from detection by a system of falshood. but, acquiring new principles, i began to have the ambition of returning to the respectable part of society, and was weak enough to suppose it possible. the attention of my unassuming instructor, who, without being ignorant of his own powers, possessed great simplicity of manners, strengthened the illusion. having sometimes caught up hints for thought, from my untutored remarks, he often led me to discuss the subjects he was treating, and would read to me his productions, previous to their publication, wishing to profit by the criticism of unsophisticated feeling. the aim of his writings was to touch the simple springs of the heart; for he despised the would-be oracles, the self-elected philosophers, who fright away fancy, while sifting each grain of thought to prove that slowness of comprehension is wisdom. "i should have distinguished this as a moment of sunshine, a happy period in my life, had not the repugnance the disgusting libertinism of my protector inspired, daily become more painful.--and, indeed, i soon did recollect it as such with agony, when his sudden death (for he had recourse to the most exhilarating cordials to keep up the convivial tone of his spirits) again threw me into the desert of human society. had he had any time for reflection, i am certain he would have left the little property in his power to me: but, attacked by the fatal apoplexy in town, his heir, a man of rigid morals, brought his wife with him to take possession of the house and effects, before i was even informed of his death,--'to prevent,' as she took care indirectly to tell me, 'such a creature as she supposed me to be, from purloining any of them, had i been apprized of the event in time.' "the grief i felt at the sudden shock the information gave me, which at first had nothing selfish in it, was treated with contempt, and i was ordered to pack up my clothes; and a few trinkets and books, given me by the generous deceased, were contested, while they piously hoped, with a reprobating shake of the head, 'that god would have mercy on his sinful soul!' with some difficulty, i obtained my arrears of wages; but asking--such is the spirit-grinding consequence of poverty and infamy--for a character for honesty and economy, which god knows i merited, i was told by this--why must i call her woman?--'that it would go against her conscience to recommend a kept mistress.' tears started in my eyes, burning tears; for there are situations in which a wretch is humbled by the contempt they are conscious they do not deserve. "i returned to the metropolis; but the solitude of a poor lodging was inconceivably dreary, after the society i had enjoyed. to be cut off from human converse, now i had been taught to relish it, was to wander a ghost among the living. besides, i foresaw, to aggravate the severity of my fate, that my little pittance would soon melt away. i endeavoured to obtain needlework; but, not having been taught early, and my hands being rendered clumsy by hard work, i did not sufficiently excel to be employed by the ready-made linen shops, when so many women, better qualified, were suing for it. the want of a character prevented my getting a place; for, irksome as servitude would have been to me, i should have made another trial, had it been feasible. not that i disliked employment, but the inequality of condition to which i must have submitted. i had acquired a taste for literature, during the five years i had lived with a literary man, occasionally conversing with men of the first abilities of the age; and now to descend to the lowest vulgarity, was a degree of wretchedness not to be imagined unfelt. i had not, it is true, tasted the charms of affection, but i had been familiar with the graces of humanity. "one of the gentlemen, whom i had frequently dined in company with, while i was treated like a companion, met me in the street, and enquired after my health. i seized the occasion, and began to describe my situation; but he was in haste to join, at dinner, a select party of choice spirits; therefore, without waiting to hear me, he impatiently put a guinea into my hand, saying, 'it was a pity such a sensible woman should be in distress--he wished me well from his soul.' "to another i wrote, stating my case, and requesting advice. he was an advocate for unequivocal sincerity; and had often, in my presence, descanted on the evils which arise in society from the despotism of rank and riches. "in reply, i received a long essay on the energy of the human mind, with continual allusions to his own force of character. he added, 'that the woman who could write such a letter as i had sent him, could never be in want of resources, were she to look into herself, and exert her powers; misery was the consequence of indolence, and, as to my being shut out from society, it was the lot of man to submit to certain privations.' "how often have i heard," said jemima, interrupting her narrative, "in conversation, and read in books, that every person willing to work may find employment? it is the vague assertion, i believe, of insensible indolence, when it relates to men; but, with respect to women, i am sure of its fallacy, unless they will submit to the most menial bodily labour; and even to be employed at hard labour is out of the reach of many, whose reputation misfortune or folly has tainted. "how writers, professing to be friends to freedom, and the improvement of morals, can assert that poverty is no evil, i cannot imagine." "no more can i," interrupted maria, "yet they even expatiate on the peculiar happiness of indigence, though in what it can consist, excepting in brutal rest, when a man can barely earn a subsistence, i cannot imagine. the mind is necessarily imprisoned in its own little tenement; and, fully occupied by keeping it in repair, has not time to rove abroad for improvement. the book of knowledge is closely clasped, against those who must fulfil their daily task of severe manual labour or die; and curiosity, rarely excited by thought or information, seldom moves on the stagnate lake of ignorance." "as far as i have been able to observe," replied jemima, "prejudices, caught up by chance, are obstinately maintained by the poor, to the exclusion of improvement; they have not time to reason or reflect to any extent, or minds sufficiently exercised to adopt the principles of action, which form perhaps the only basis of contentment in every station[ -a]." * * * * * "and independence," said darnford, "they are necessarily strangers to, even the independence of despising their persecutors. if the poor are happy, or can be happy, _things are very well as they are_. and i cannot conceive on what principle those writers contend for a change of system, who support this opinion. the authors on the other side of the question are much more consistent, who grant the fact; yet, insisting that it is the lot of the majority to be oppressed in this life, kindly turn them over to another, to rectify the false weights and measures of this, as the only way to justify the dispensations of providence. i have not," continued darnford, "an opinion more firmly fixed by observation in my mind, than that, though riches may fail to produce proportionate happiness, poverty most commonly excludes it, by shutting up all the avenues to improvement." "and as for the affections," added maria, with a sigh, "how gross, and even tormenting do they become, unless regulated by an improving mind! the culture of the heart ever, i believe, keeps pace with that of the mind. but pray go on," addressing jemima, "though your narrative gives rise to the most painful reflections on the present state of society." "not to trouble you," continued she, "with a detailed description of all the painful feelings of unavailing exertion, i have only to tell you, that at last i got recommended to wash in a few families, who did me the favour to admit me into their houses, without the most strict enquiry, to wash from one in the morning till eight at night, for eighteen or twenty-pence a day. on the happiness to be enjoyed over a washing-tub i need not comment; yet you will allow me to observe, that this was a wretchedness of situation peculiar to my sex. a man with half my industry, and, i may say, abilities, could have procured a decent livelihood, and discharged some of the duties which knit mankind together; whilst i, who had acquired a taste for the rational, nay, in honest pride let me assert it, the virtuous enjoyments of life, was cast aside as the filth of society. condemned to labour, like a machine, only to earn bread, and scarcely that, i became melancholy and desperate. "i have now to mention a circumstance which fills me with remorse, and fear it will entirely deprive me of your esteem. a tradesman became attached to me, and visited me frequently,--and i at last obtained such a power over him, that he offered to take me home to his house.--consider, dear madam, i was famishing: wonder not that i became a wolf!--the only reason for not taking me home immediately, was the having a girl in the house, with child by him--and this girl--i advised him--yes, i did! would i could forget it!--to turn out of doors: and one night he determined to follow my advice, poor wretch! she fell upon her knees, reminded him that he had promised to marry her, that her parents were honest!--what did it avail?--she was turned out. "she approached her father's door, in the skirts of london,--listened at the shutters,--but could not knock. a watchman had observed her go and return several times--poor wretch!--"the remorse jemima spoke of, seemed to be stinging her to the soul, as she proceeded." "she left it, and, approaching a tub where horses were watered, she sat down in it, and, with desperate resolution, remained in that attitude--till resolution was no longer necessary! "i happened that morning to be going out to wash, anticipating the moment when i should escape from such hard labour. i passed by, just as some men, going to work, drew out the stiff, cold corpse--let me not recal the horrid moment!--i recognized her pale visage; i listened to the tale told by the spectators, and my heart did not burst. i thought of my own state, and wondered how i could be such a monster!--i worked hard; and, returning home, i was attacked by a fever. i suffered both in body and mind. i determined not to live with the wretch. but he did not try me; he left the neighbourhood. i once more returned to the wash-tub. "still this state, miserable as it was, admitted of aggravation. lifting one day a heavy load, a tub fell against my shin, and gave me great pain. i did not pay much attention to the hurt, till it became a serious wound; being obliged to work as usual, or starve. but, finding myself at length unable to stand for any time, i thought of getting into an hospital. hospitals, it should seem (for they are comfortless abodes for the sick) were expressly endowed for the reception of the friendless; yet i, who had on that plea a right to assistance, wanted the recommendation of the rich and respectable, and was several weeks languishing for admittance; fees were demanded on entering; and, what was still more unreasonable, security for burying me, that expence not coming into the letter of the charity. a guinea was the stipulated sum--i could as soon have raised a million; and i was afraid to apply to the parish for an order, lest they should have passed me, i knew not whither. the poor woman at whose house i lodged, compassionating my state, got me into the hospital; and the family where i received the hurt, sent me five shillings, three and six-pence of which i gave at my admittance--i know not for what. "my leg grew quickly better; but i was dismissed before my cure was completed, because i could not afford to have my linen washed to appear decently, as the virago of a nurse said, when the gentlemen (the surgeons) came. i cannot give you an adequate idea of the wretchedness of an hospital; every thing is left to the care of people intent on gain. the attendants seem to have lost all feeling of compassion in the bustling discharge of their offices; death is so familiar to them, that they are not anxious to ward it off. every thing appeared to be conducted for the accommodation of the medical men and their pupils, who came to make experiments on the poor, for the benefit of the rich. one of the physicians, i must not forget to mention, gave me half-a-crown, and ordered me some wine, when i was at the lowest ebb. i thought of making my case known to the lady-like matron; but her forbidding countenance prevented me. she condescended to look on the patients, and make general enquiries, two or three times a week; but the nurses knew the hour when the visit of ceremony would commence, and every thing was as it should be. "after my dismission, i was more at a loss than ever for a subsistence, and, not to weary you with a repetition of the same unavailing attempts, unable to stand at the washing-tub, i began to consider the rich and poor as natural enemies, and became a thief from principle. i could not now cease to reason, but i hated mankind. i despised myself, yet i justified my conduct. i was taken, tried, and condemned to six months' imprisonment in a house of correction. my soul recoils with horror from the remembrance of the insults i had to endure, till, branded with shame, i was turned loose in the street, pennyless. i wandered from street to street, till, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, i sunk down senseless at a door, where i had vainly demanded a morsel of bread. i was sent by the inhabitant to the work-house, to which he had surlily bid me go, saying, he 'paid enough in conscience to the poor,' when, with parched tongue, i implored his charity. if those well-meaning people who exclaim against beggars, were acquainted with the treatment the poor receive in many of these wretched asylums, they would not stifle so easily involuntary sympathy, by saying that they have all parishes to go to, or wonder that the poor dread to enter the gloomy walls. what are the common run of work-houses, but prisons, in which many respectable old people, worn out by immoderate labour, sink into the grave in sorrow, to which they are carried like dogs!" alarmed by some indistinct noise, jemima rose hastily to listen, and maria, turning to darnford, said, "i have indeed been shocked beyond expression when i have met a pauper's funeral. a coffin carried on the shoulders of three or four ill-looking wretches, whom the imagination might easily convert into a band of assassins, hastening to conceal the corpse, and quarrelling about the prey on their way. i know it is of little consequence how we are consigned to the earth; but i am led by this brutal insensibility, to what even the animal creation appears forcibly to feel, to advert to the wretched, deserted manner in which they died." "true," rejoined darnford, "and, till the rich will give more than a part of their wealth, till they will give time and attention to the wants of the distressed, never let them boast of charity. let them open their hearts, and not their purses, and employ their minds in the service, if they are really actuated by humanity; or charitable institutions will always be the prey of the lowest order of knaves." jemima returning, seemed in haste to finish her tale. "the overseer farmed the poor of different parishes, and out of the bowels of poverty was wrung the money with which he purchased this dwelling, as a private receptacle for madness. he had been a keeper at a house of the same description, and conceived that he could make money much more readily in his old occupation. he is a shrewd--shall i say it?--villain. he observed something resolute in my manner, and offered to take me with him, and instruct me how to treat the disturbed minds he meant to intrust to my care. the offer of forty pounds a year, and to quit a workhouse, was not to be despised, though the condition of shutting my eyes and hardening my heart was annexed to it. "i agreed to accompany him; and four years have i been attendant on many wretches, and"--she lowered her voice,--"the witness of many enormities. in solitude my mind seemed to recover its force, and many of the sentiments which i imbibed in the only tolerable period of my life, returned with their full force. still what should induce me to be the champion for suffering humanity?--who ever risked any thing for me?--who ever acknowledged me to be a fellow-creature?"-- maria took her hand, and jemima, more overcome by kindness than she had ever been by cruelty, hastened out of the room to conceal her emotions. darnford soon after heard his summons, and, taking leave of him, maria promised to gratify his curiosity, with respect to herself, the first opportunity. footnotes: [ -a] the copy which appears to have received the author's last corrections, ends at this place. chap. vi. active as love was in the heart of maria, the story she had just heard made her thoughts take a wider range. the opening buds of hope closed, as if they had put forth too early, and the the happiest day of her life was overcast by the most melancholy reflections. thinking of jemima's peculiar fate and her own, she was led to consider the oppressed state of women, and to lament that she had given birth to a daughter. sleep fled from her eyelids, while she dwelt on the wretchedness of unprotected infancy, till sympathy with jemima changed to agony, when it seemed probable that her own babe might even now be in the very state she so forcibly described. maria thought, and thought again. jemima's humanity had rather been benumbed than killed, by the keen frost she had to brave at her entrance into life; an appeal then to her feelings, on this tender point, surely would not be fruitless; and maria began to anticipate the delight it would afford her to gain intelligence of her child. this project was now the only subject of reflection; and she watched impatiently for the dawn of day, with that determinate purpose which generally insures success. at the usual hour, jemima brought her breakfast, and a tender note from darnford. she ran her eye hastily over it, and her heart calmly hoarded up the rapture a fresh assurance of affection, affection such as she wished to inspire, gave her, without diverting her mind a moment from its design. while jemima waited to take away the breakfast, maria alluded to the reflections, that had haunted her during the night to the exclusion of sleep. she spoke with energy of jemima's unmerited sufferings, and of the fate of a number of deserted females, placed within the sweep of a whirlwind, from which it was next to impossible to escape. perceiving the effect her conversation produced on the countenance of her guard, she grasped the arm of jemima with that irresistible warmth which defies repulse, exclaiming--"with your heart, and such dreadful experience, can you lend your aid to deprive my babe of a mother's tenderness, a mother's care? in the name of god, assist me to snatch her from destruction! let me but give her an education--let me but prepare her body and mind to encounter the ills which await her sex, and i will teach her to consider you as her second mother, and herself as the prop of your age. yes, jemima, look at me--observe me closely, and read my very soul; you merit a better fate;" she held out her hand with a firm gesture of assurance; "and i will procure it for you, as a testimony of my esteem, as well as of my gratitude." jemima had not power to resist this persuasive torrent; and, owning that the house in which she was confined, was situated on the banks of the thames, only a few miles from london, and not on the sea-coast, as darnford had supposed, she promised to invent some excuse for her absence, and go herself to trace the situation, and enquire concerning the health, of this abandoned daughter. her manner implied an intention to do something more, but she seemed unwilling to impart her design; and maria, glad to have obtained the main point, thought it best to leave her to the workings of her own mind; convinced that she had the power of interesting her still more in favour of herself and child, by a simple recital of facts. in the evening, jemima informed the impatient mother, that on the morrow she should hasten to town before the family hour of rising, and received all the information necessary, as a clue to her search. the "good night!" maria uttered was peculiarly solemn and affectionate. glad expectation sparkled in her eye; and, for the first time since her detention, she pronounced the name of her child with pleasureable fondness; and, with all the garrulity of a nurse, described her first smile when she recognized her mother. recollecting herself, a still kinder "adieu!" with a "god bless you!"--that seemed to include a maternal benediction, dismissed jemima. the dreary solitude of the ensuing day, lengthened by impatiently dwelling on the same idea, was intolerably wearisome. she listened for the sound of a particular clock, which some directions of the wind allowed her to hear distinctly. she marked the shadow gaining on the wall; and, twilight thickening into darkness, her breath seemed oppressed while she anxiously counted nine.--the last sound was a stroke of despair on her heart; for she expected every moment, without seeing jemima, to have her light extinguished by the savage female who supplied her place. she was even obliged to prepare for bed, restless as she was, not to disoblige her new attendant. she had been cautioned not to speak too freely to her; but the caution was needless, her countenance would still more emphatically have made her shrink back. such was the ferocity of manner, conspicuous in every word and gesture of this hag, that maria was afraid to enquire, why jemima, who had faithfully promised to see her before her door was shut for the night, came not?--and, when the key turned in the lock, to consign her to a night of suspence, she felt a degree of anguish which the circumstances scarcely justified. continually on the watch, the shutting of a door, or the sound of a footstep, made her start and tremble with apprehension, something like what she felt, when, at her entrance, dragged along the gallery, she began to doubt whether she were not surrounded by demons? fatigued by an endless rotation of thought and wild alarms, she looked like a spectre, when jemima entered in the morning; especially as her eyes darted out of her head, to read in jemima's countenance, almost as pallid, the intelligence she dared not trust her tongue to demand. jemima put down the tea-things, and appeared very busy in arranging the table. maria took up a cup with trembling hand, then forcibly recovering her fortitude, and restraining the convulsive movement which agitated the muscles of her mouth, she said, "spare yourself the pain of preparing me for your information, i adjure you!--my child is dead!" jemima solemnly answered, "yes;" with a look expressive of compassion and angry emotions. "leave me," added maria, making a fresh effort to govern her feelings, and hiding her face in her handkerchief, to conceal her anguish--"it is enough--i know that my babe is no more--i will hear the particulars when i am"--_calmer_, she could not utter; and jemima, without importuning her by idle attempts to console her, left the room. plunged in the deepest melancholy, she would not admit darnford's visits; and such is the force of early associations even on strong minds, that, for a while, she indulged the superstitious notion that she was justly punished by the death of her child, for having for an instant ceased to regret her loss. two or three letters from darnford, full of soothing, manly tenderness, only added poignancy to these accusing emotions; yet the passionate style in which he expressed, what he termed the first and fondest wish of his heart, "that his affection might make her some amends for the cruelty and injustice she had endured," inspired a sentiment of gratitude to heaven; and her eyes filled with delicious tears, when, at the conclusion of his letter, wishing to supply the place of her unworthy relations, whose want of principle he execrated, he assured her, calling her his dearest girl, "that it should henceforth be the business of his life to make her happy." he begged, in a note sent the following morning, to be permitted to see her, when his presence would be no intrusion on her grief; and so earnestly intreated to be allowed, according to promise, to beguile the tedious moments of absence, by dwelling on the events of her past life, that she sent him the memoirs which had been written for her daughter, promising jemima the perusal as soon as he returned them. chap. vii. "addressing these memoirs to you, my child, uncertain whether i shall ever have an opportunity of instructing you, many observations will probably flow from my heart, which only a mother--a mother schooled in misery, could make. "the tenderness of a father who knew the world, might be great; but could it equal that of a mother--of a mother, labouring under a portion of the misery, which the constitution of society seems to have entailed on all her kind? it is, my child, my dearest daughter, only such a mother, who will dare to break through all restraint to provide for your happiness--who will voluntarily brave censure herself, to ward off sorrow from your bosom. from my narrative, my dear girl, you may gather the instruction, the counsel, which is meant rather to exercise than influence your mind.--death may snatch me from you, before you can weigh my advice, or enter into my reasoning: i would then, with fond anxiety, lead you very early in life to form your grand principle of action, to save you from the vain regret of having, through irresolution, let the spring-tide of existence pass away, unimproved, unenjoyed.--gain experience--ah! gain it--while experience is worth having, and acquire sufficient fortitude to pursue your own happiness; it includes your utility, by a direct path. what is wisdom too often, but the owl of the goddess, who sits moping in a desolated heart; around me she shrieks, but i would invite all the gay warblers of spring to nestle in your blooming bosom.--had i not wasted years in deliberating, after i ceased to doubt, how i ought to have acted--i might now be useful and happy.--for my sake, warned by my example, always appear what you are, and you will not pass through existence without enjoying its genuine blessings, love and respect. "born in one of the most romantic parts of england, an enthusiastic fondness for the varying charms of nature is the first sentiment i recollect; or rather it was the first consciousness of pleasure that employed and formed my imagination. "my father had been a captain of a man of war; but, disgusted with the service, on account of the preferment of men whose chief merit was their family connections or borough interest, he retired into the country; and, not knowing what to do with himself--married. in his family, to regain his lost consequence, he determined to keep up the same passive obedience, as in the vessels in which he had commanded. his orders were not to be disputed; and the whole house was expected to fly, at the word of command, as if to man the shrouds, or mount aloft in an elemental strife, big with life or death. he was to be instantaneously obeyed, especially by my mother, whom he very benevolently married for love; but took care to remind her of the obligation, when she dared, in the slightest instance, to question his absolute authority. my eldest brother, it is true, as he grew up, was treated with more respect by my father; and became in due form the deputy-tyrant of the house. the representative of my father, a being privileged by nature--a boy, and the darling of my mother, he did not fail to act like an heir apparent. such indeed was my mother's extravagant partiality, that, in comparison with her affection for him, she might be said not to love the rest of her children. yet none of the children seemed to have so little affection for her. extreme indulgence had rendered him so selfish, that he only thought of himself; and from tormenting insects and animals, he became the despot of his brothers, and still more of his sisters. "it is perhaps difficult to give you an idea of the petty cares which obscured the morning of my life; continual restraint in the most trivial matters; unconditional submission to orders, which, as a mere child, i soon discovered to be unreasonable, because inconsistent and contradictory. thus are we destined to experience a mixture of bitterness, with the recollection of our most innocent enjoyments. "the circumstances which, during my childhood, occurred to fashion my mind, were various; yet, as it would probably afford me more pleasure to revive the fading remembrance of new-born delight, than you, my child, could feel in the perusal, i will not entice you to stray with me into the verdant meadow, to search for the flowers that youthful hopes scatter in every path; though, as i write, i almost scent the fresh green of spring--of that spring which never returns! "i had two sisters, and one brother, younger than myself; my brother robert was two years older, and might truly be termed the idol of his parents, and the torment of the rest of the family. such indeed is the force of prejudice, that what was called spirit and wit in him, was cruelly repressed as forwardness in me. "my mother had an indolence of character, which prevented her from paying much attention to our education. but the healthy breeze of a neighbouring heath, on which we bounded at pleasure, volatilized the humours that improper food might have generated. and to enjoy open air and freedom, was paradise, after the unnatural restraint of our fire-side, where we were often obliged to sit three or four hours together, without daring to utter a word, when my father was out of humour, from want of employment, or of a variety of boisterous amusement. i had however one advantage, an instructor, the brother of my father, who, intended for the church, had of course received a liberal education. but, becoming attached to a young lady of great beauty and large fortune, and acquiring in the world some opinions not consonant with the profession for which he was designed, he accepted, with the most sanguine expectations of success, the offer of a nobleman to accompany him to india, as his confidential secretary. "a correspondence was regularly kept up with the object of his affection; and the intricacies of business, peculiarly wearisome to a man of a romantic turn of mind, contributed, with a forced absence, to increase his attachment. every other passion was lost in this master-one, and only served to swell the torrent. her relations, such were his waking dreams, who had despised him, would court in their turn his alliance, and all the blandishments of taste would grace the triumph of love.--while he basked in the warm sunshine of love, friendship also promised to shed its dewy freshness; for a friend, whom he loved next to his mistress, was the confident, who forwarded the letters from one to the other, to elude the observation of prying relations. a friend false in similar circumstances, is, my dearest girl, an old tale; yet, let not this example, or the frigid caution of cold-blooded moralists, make you endeavour to stifle hopes, which are the buds that naturally unfold themselves during the spring of life! whilst your own heart is sincere, always expect to meet one glowing with the same sentiments; for to fly from pleasure, is not to avoid pain! "my uncle realized, by good luck, rather than management, a handsome fortune; and returning on the wings of love, lost in the most enchanting reveries, to england, to share it with his mistress and his friend, he found them--united. "there were some circumstances, not necessary for me to recite, which aggravated the guilt of the friend beyond measure, and the deception, that had been carried on to the last moment, was so base, it produced the most violent effect on my uncle's health and spirits. his native country, the world! lately a garden of blooming sweets, blasted by treachery, seemed changed into a parched desert, the abode of hissing serpents. disappointment rankled in his heart; and, brooding over his wrongs, he was attacked by a raging fever, followed by a derangement of mind, which only gave place to habitual melancholy, as he recovered more strength of body. "declaring an intention never to marry, his relations were ever clustering about him, paying the grossest adulation to a man, who, disgusted with mankind, received them with scorn, or bitter sarcasms. something in my countenance pleased him, when i began to prattle. since his return, he appeared dead to affection; but i soon, by showing him innocent fondness, became a favourite; and endeavouring to enlarge and strengthen my mind, i grew dear to him in proportion as i imbibed his sentiments. he had a forcible manner of speaking, rendered more so by a certain impressive wildness of look and gesture, calculated to engage the attention of a young and ardent mind. it is not then surprising that i quickly adopted his opinions in preference, and reverenced him as one of a superior order of beings. he inculcated, with great warmth, self-respect, and a lofty consciousness of acting right, independent of the censure or applause of the world; nay, he almost taught me to brave, and even despise its censure, when convinced of the rectitude of my own intentions. "endeavouring to prove to me that nothing which deserved the name of love or friendship, existed in the world, he drew such animated pictures of his own feelings, rendered permanent by disappointment, as imprinted the sentiments strongly on my heart, and animated my imagination. these remarks are necessary to elucidate some peculiarities in my character, which by the world are indefinitely termed romantic. "my uncle's increasing affection led him to visit me often. still, unable to rest in any place, he did not remain long in the country to soften domestic tyranny; but he brought me books, for which i had a passion, and they conspired with his conversation, to make me form an ideal picture of life. i shall pass over the tyranny of my father, much as i suffered from it; but it is necessary to notice, that it undermined my mother's health; and that her temper, continually irritated by domestic bickering, became intolerably peevish. "my eldest brother was articled to a neighbouring attorney, the shrewdest, and, i may add, the most unprincipled man in that part of the country. as my brother generally came home every saturday, to astonish my mother by exhibiting his attainments, he gradually assumed a right of directing the whole family, not excepting my father. he seemed to take a peculiar pleasure in tormenting and humbling me; and if i ever ventured to complain of this treatment to either my father or mother, i was rudely rebuffed for presuming to judge of the conduct of my eldest brother. "about this period a merchant's family came to settle in our neighbourhood. a mansion-house in the village, lately purchased, had been preparing the whole spring, and the sight of the costly furniture, sent from london, had excited my mother's envy, and roused my father's pride. my sensations were very different, and all of a pleasurable kind. i longed to see new characters, to break the tedious monotony of my life; and to find a friend, such as fancy had pourtrayed. i cannot then describe the emotion i felt, the sunday they made their appearance at church. my eyes were rivetted on the pillar round which i expected first to catch a glimpse of them, and darted forth to meet a servant who hastily preceded a group of ladies, whose white robes and waving plumes, seemed to stream along the gloomy aisle, diffusing the light, by which i contemplated their figures. "we visited them in form; and i quickly selected the eldest daughter for my friend. the second son, george, paid me particular attention, and finding his attainments and manners superior to those of the young men of the village, i began to imagine him superior to the rest of mankind. had my home been more comfortable, or my previous acquaintance more numerous, i should not probably have been so eager to open my heart to new affections. "mr. venables, the merchant, had acquired a large fortune by unremitting attention to business; but his health declining rapidly, he was obliged to retire, before his son, george, had acquired sufficient experience, to enable him to conduct their affairs on the same prudential plan, his father had invariably pursued. indeed, he had laboured to throw off his authority, having despised his narrow plans and cautious speculation. the eldest son could not be prevailed on to enter the firm; and, to oblige his wife, and have peace in the house, mr. venables had purchased a commission for him in the guards. "i am now alluding to circumstances which came to my knowledge long after; but it is necessary, my dearest child, that you should know the character of your father, to prevent your despising your mother; the only parent inclined to discharge a parent's duty. in london, george had acquired habits of libertinism, which he carefully concealed from his father and his commercial connections. the mask he wore, was so complete a covering of his real visage, that the praise his father lavished on his conduct, and, poor mistaken man! on his principles, contrasted with his brother's, rendered the notice he took of me peculiarly flattering. without any fixed design, as i am now convinced, he continued to single me out at the dance, press my hand at parting, and utter expressions of unmeaning passion, to which i gave a meaning naturally suggested by the romantic turn of my thoughts. his stay in the country was short; his manners did not entirely please me; but, when he left us, the colouring of my picture became more vivid--whither did not my imagination lead me? in short, i fancied myself in love--in love with the disinterestedness, fortitude, generosity, dignity, and humanity, with which i had invested the hero i dubbed. a circumstance which soon after occurred, rendered all these virtues palpable. [the incident is perhaps worth relating on other accounts, and therefore i shall describe it distinctly.] "i had a great affection for my nurse, old mary, for whom i used often to work, to spare her eyes. mary had a younger sister, married to a sailor, while she was suckling me; for my mother only suckled my eldest brother, which might be the cause of her extraordinary partiality. peggy, mary's sister, lived with her, till her husband, becoming a mate in a west-india trader, got a little before-hand in the world. he wrote to his wife from the first port in the channel, after his most successful voyage, to request her to come to london to meet him; he even wished her to determine on living there for the future, to save him the trouble of coming to her the moment he came on shore; and to turn a penny by keeping a green-stall. it was too much to set out on a journey the moment he had finished a voyage, and fifty miles by land, was worse than a thousand leagues by sea. "she packed up her alls, and came to london--but did not meet honest daniel. a common misfortune prevented her, and the poor are bound to suffer for the good of their country--he was pressed in the river--and never came on shore. "peggy was miserable in london, not knowing, as she said, 'the face of any living soul.' besides, her imagination had been employed, anticipating a month or six weeks' happiness with her husband. daniel was to have gone with her to sadler's wells, and westminster abbey, and to many sights, which he knew she never heard of in the country. peggy too was thrifty, and how could she manage to put his plan in execution alone? he had acquaintance; but she did not know the very name of their places of abode. his letters were made up of--how do you does, and god bless yous,--information was reserved for the hour of meeting. "she too had her portion of information, near at heart. molly and jacky were grown such little darlings, she was almost angry that daddy did not see their tricks. she had not half the pleasure she should have had from their prattle, could she have recounted to him each night the pretty speeches of the day. some stories, however, were stored up--and jacky could say papa with such a sweet voice, it must delight his heart. yet when she came, and found no daniel to greet her, when jacky called papa, she wept, bidding 'god bless his innocent soul, that did not know what sorrow was.'--but more sorrow was in store for peggy, innocent as she was.--daniel was killed in the first engagement, and then the _papa_ was agony, sounding to the heart. "she had lived sparingly on his wages, while there was any hope of his return; but, that gone, she returned with a breaking heart to the country, to a little market town, nearly three miles from our village. she did not like to go to service, to be snubbed about, after being her own mistress. to put her children out to nurse was impossible: how far would her wages go? and to send them to her husband's parish, a distant one, was to lose her husband twice over. "i had heard all from mary, and made my uncle furnish a little cottage for her, to enable her to sell--so sacred was poor daniel's advice, now he was dead and gone--a little fruit, toys and cakes. the minding of the shop did not require her whole time, nor even the keeping her children clean, and she loved to see them clean; so she took in washing, and altogether made a shift to earn bread for her children, still weeping for daniel, when jacky's arch looks made her think of his father.--it was pleasant to work for her children.--'yes; from morning till night, could she have had a kiss from their father, god rest his soul! yes; had it pleased providence to have let him come back without a leg or an arm, it would have been the same thing to her--for she did not love him because he maintained them--no; she had hands of her own.' "the country people were honest, and peggy left her linen out to dry very late. a recruiting party, as she supposed, passing through, made free with a large wash; for it was all swept away, including her own and her children's little stock. "this was a dreadful blow; two dozen of shirts, stocks and handkerchiefs. she gave the money which she had laid by for half a year's rent, and promised to pay two shillings a week till all was cleared; so she did not lose her employment. this two shillings a week, and the buying a few necessaries for the children, drove her so hard, that she had not a penny to pay her rent with, when a twelvemonth's became due. "she was now with mary, and had just told her tale, which mary instantly repeated--it was intended for my ear. many houses in this town, producing a borough-interest, were included in the estate purchased by mr. venables, and the attorney with whom my brother lived, was appointed his agent, to collect and raise the rents. "he demanded peggy's, and, in spite of her intreaties, her poor goods had been seized and sold. so that she had not, and what was worse her children, 'for she had known sorrow enough,' a bed to lie on. she knew that i was good-natured--right charitable, yet not liking to ask for more than needs must, she scorned to petition while people could any how be made to wait. but now, should she be turned out of doors, she must expect nothing less than to lose all her customers, and then she must beg or starve--and what would become of her children?--'had daniel not been pressed--but god knows best--all this could not have happened.' "i had two mattrasses on my bed; what did i want with two, when such a worthy creature must lie on the ground? my mother would be angry, but i could conceal it till my uncle came down; and then i would tell him all the whole truth, and if he absolved me, heaven would. "i begged the house-maid to come up stairs with me (servants always feel for the distresses of poverty, and so would the rich if they knew what it was). she assisted me to tie up the mattrass; i discovering, at the same time, that one blanket would serve me till winter, could i persuade my sister, who slept with me, to keep my secret. she entering in the midst of the package, i gave her some new feathers, to silence her. we got the mattrass down the back stairs, unperceived, and i helped to carry it, taking with me all the money i had, and what i could borrow from my sister. "when i got to the cottage, peggy declared that she would not take what i had brought secretly; but, when, with all the eager eloquence inspired by a decided purpose, i grasped her hand with weeping eyes, assuring her that my uncle would screen me from blame, when he was once more in the country, describing, at the same time, what she would suffer in parting with her children, after keeping them so long from being thrown on the parish, she reluctantly consented. "my project of usefulness ended not here; i determined to speak to the attorney; he frequently paid me compliments. his character did not intimidate me; but, imagining that peggy must be mistaken, and that no man could turn a deaf ear to such a tale of complicated distress, i determined to walk to the town with mary the next morning, and request him to wait for the rent, and keep my secret, till my uncle's return. "my repose was sweet; and, waking with the first dawn of day, i bounded to mary's cottage. what charms do not a light heart spread over nature! every bird that twittered in a bush, every flower that enlivened the hedge, seemed placed there to awaken me to rapture--yes; to rapture. the present moment was full fraught with happiness; and on futurity i bestowed not a thought, excepting to anticipate my success with the attorney. "this man of the world, with rosy face and simpering features, received me politely, nay kindly; listened with complacency to my remonstrances, though he scarcely heeded mary's tears. i did not then suspect, that my eloquence was in my complexion, the blush of seventeen, or that, in a world where humanity to women is the characteristic of advancing civilization, the beauty of a young girl was so much more interesting than the distress of an old one. pressing my hand, he promised to let peggy remain in the house as long as i wished.--i more than returned the pressure--i was so grateful and so happy. emboldened by my innocent warmth, he then kissed me--and i did not draw back--i took it for a kiss of charity. "gay as a lark, i went to dine at mr. venables'. i had previously obtained five shillings from my father, towards re-clothing the poor children of my care, and prevailed on my mother to take one of the girls into the house, whom i determined to teach to work and read. "after dinner, when the younger part of the circle retired to the music room, i recounted with energy my tale; that is, i mentioned peggy's distress, without hinting at the steps i had taken to relieve her. miss venables gave me half-a-crown; the heir five shillings; but george sat unmoved. i was cruelly distressed by the disappointment--i scarcely could remain on my chair; and, could i have got out of the room unperceived, i should have flown home, as if to run away from myself. after several vain attempts to rise, i leaned my head against the marble chimney-piece, and gazing on the evergreens that filled the fire-place, moralized on the vanity of human expectations; regardless of the company. i was roused by a gentle tap on my shoulder from behind charlotte's chair. i turned my head, and george slid a guinea into my hand, putting his finger to his mouth, to enjoin me silence. "what a revolution took place, not only in my train of thoughts, but feelings! i trembled with emotion--now, indeed, i was in love. such delicacy too, to enhance his benevolence! i felt in my pocket every five minutes, only to feel the guinea; and its magic touch invested my hero with more than mortal beauty. my fancy had found a basis to erect its model of perfection on; and quickly went to work, with all the happy credulity of youth, to consider that heart as devoted to virtue, which had only obeyed a virtuous impulse. the bitter experience was yet to come, that has taught me how very distinct are the principles of virtue, from the casual feelings from which they germinate. chap. viii. "i have perhaps dwelt too long on a circumstance, which is only of importance as it marks the progress of a deception that has been so fatal to my peace; and introduces to your notice a poor girl, whom, intending to serve, i led to ruin. still it is probable that i was not entirely the victim of mistake; and that your father, gradually fashioned by the world, did not quickly become what i hesitate to call him--out of respect to my daughter. "but, to hasten to the more busy scenes of my life. mr. venables and my mother died the same summer; and, wholly engrossed by my attention to her, i thought of little else. the neglect of her darling, my brother robert, had a violent effect on her weakened mind; for, though boys may be reckoned the pillars of the house without doors, girls are often the only comfort within. they but too frequently waste their health and spirits attending a dying parent, who leaves them in comparative poverty. after closing, with filial piety, a father's eyes, they are chased from the paternal roof, to make room for the first-born, the son, who is to carry the empty family-name down to posterity; though, occupied with his own pleasures, he scarcely thought of discharging, in the decline of his parent's life, the debt contracted in his childhood. my mother's conduct led me to make these reflections. great as was the fatigue i endured, and the affection my unceasing solicitude evinced, of which my mother seemed perfectly sensible, still, when my brother, whom i could hardly persuade to remain a quarter of an hour in her chamber, was with her alone, a short time before her death, she gave him a little hoard, which she had been some years accumulating. "during my mother's illness, i was obliged to manage my father's temper, who, from the lingering nature of her malady, began to imagine that it was merely fancy. at this period, an artful kind of upper servant attracted my father's attention, and the neighbours made many remarks on the finery, not honestly got, exhibited at evening service. but i was too much occupied with my mother to observe any change in her dress or behaviour, or to listen to the whisper of scandal. "i shall not dwell on the death-bed scene, lively as is the remembrance, or on the emotion produced by the last grasp of my mother's cold hand; when blessing me, she added, 'a little patience, and all will be over!' ah! my child, how often have those words rung mournfully in my ears--and i have exclaimed--'a little more patience, and i too shall be at rest!' "my father was violently affected by her death, recollected instances of his unkindness, and wept like a child. "my mother had solemnly recommended my sisters to my care, and bid me be a mother to them. they, indeed, became more dear to me as they became more forlorn; for, during my mother's illness, i discovered the ruined state of my father's circumstances, and that he had only been able to keep up appearances, by the sums which he borrowed of my uncle. "my father's grief, and consequent tenderness to his children, quickly abated, the house grew still more gloomy or riotous; and my refuge from care was again at mr. venables'; the young 'squire having taken his father's place, and allowing, for the present, his sister to preside at his table. george, though dissatisfied with his portion of the fortune, which had till lately been all in trade, visited the family as usual. he was now full of speculations in trade, and his brow became clouded by care. he seemed to relax in his attention to me, when the presence of my uncle gave a new turn to his behaviour. i was too unsuspecting, too disinterested, to trace these changes to their source. my home every day became more and more disagreeable to me; my liberty was unnecessarily abridged, and my books, on the pretext that they made me idle, taken from me. my father's mistress was with child, and he, doating on her, allowed or overlooked her vulgar manner of tyrannizing over us. i was indignant, especially when i saw her endeavouring to attract, shall i say seduce? my younger brother. by allowing women but one way of rising in the world, the fostering the libertinism of men, society makes monsters of them, and then their ignoble vices are brought forward as a proof of inferiority of intellect. the wearisomeness of my situation can scarcely be described. though my life had not passed in the most even tenour with my mother, it was paradise to that i was destined to endure with my father's mistress, jealous of her illegitimate authority. my father's former occasional tenderness, in spite of his violence of temper, had been soothing to me; but now he only met me with reproofs or portentous frowns. the house-keeper, as she was now termed, was the vulgar despot of the family; and assuming the new character of a fine lady, she could never forgive the contempt which was sometimes visible in my countenance, when she uttered with pomposity her bad english, or affected to be well bred. to my uncle i ventured to open my heart; and he, with his wonted benevolence, began to consider in what manner he could extricate me out of my present irksome situation. in spite of his own disappointment, or, most probably, actuated by the feelings that had been petrified, not cooled, in all their sanguine fervour, like a boiling torrent of lava suddenly dashing into the sea, he thought a marriage of mutual inclination (would envious stars permit it) the only chance for happiness in this disastrous world. george venables had the reputation of being attentive to business, and my father's example gave great weight to this circumstance; for habits of order in business would, he conceived, extend to the regulation of the affections in domestic life. george seldom spoke in my uncle's company, except to utter a short, judicious question, or to make a pertinent remark, with all due deference to his superior judgment; so that my uncle seldom left his company without observing, that the young man had more in him than people supposed. in this opinion he was not singular; yet, believe me, and i am not swayed by resentment, these speeches so justly poized, this silent deference, when the animal spirits of other young people were throwing off youthful ebullitions, were not the effect of thought or humility, but sheer barrenness of mind, and want of imagination. a colt of mettle will curvet and shew his paces. yes; my dear girl, these prudent young men want all the fire necessary to ferment their faculties, and are characterized as wise, only because they are not foolish. it is true, that george was by no means so great a favourite of mine as during the first year of our acquaintance; still, as he often coincided in opinion with me, and echoed my sentiments; and having myself no other attachment, i heard with pleasure my uncle's proposal; but thought more of obtaining my freedom, than of my lover. but, when george, seemingly anxious for my happiness, pressed me to quit my present painful situation, my heart swelled with gratitude--i knew not that my uncle had promised him five thousand pounds. had this truly generous man mentioned his intention to me, i should have insisted on a thousand pounds being settled on each of my sisters; george would have contested; i should have seen his selfish soul; and--gracious god! have been spared the misery of discovering, when too late, that i was united to a heartless, unprincipled wretch. all my schemes of usefulness would not then have been blasted. the tenderness of my heart would not have heated my imagination with visions of the ineffable delight of happy love; nor would the sweet duty of a mother have been so cruelly interrupted. but i must not suffer the fortitude i have so hardly acquired, to be undermined by unavailing regret. let me hasten forward to describe the turbid stream in which i had to wade--but let me exultingly declare that it is passed--my soul holds fellowship with him no more. he cut the gordian knot, which my principles, mistaken ones, respected; he dissolved the tie, the fetters rather, that ate into my very vitals--and i should rejoice, conscious that my mind is freed, though confined in hell itself; the only place that even fancy can imagine more dreadful than my present abode. these varying emotions will not allow me to proceed. i heave sigh after sigh; yet my heart is still oppressed. for what am i reserved? why was i not born a man, or why was i born at all? end of vol. i. posthumous works of mary wollstonecraft godwin. vol. ii. posthumous works of the author of a vindication of the rights of woman. in four volumes. * * * * * vol. ii. * * * * * _london:_ printed for j. johnson, no. , st. paul's church-yard; and g. g. and j. robinson, paternoster-row. . the wrongs of woman: or, maria. a fragment. in two volumes. vol. ii. _wrongs_ of woman. chap. ix. "i resume my pen to fly from thought. i was married; and we hastened to london. i had purposed taking one of my sisters with me; for a strong motive for marrying, was the desire of having a home at which i could receive them, now their own grew so uncomfortable, as not to deserve the cheering appellation. an objection was made to her accompanying me, that appeared plausible; and i reluctantly acquiesced. i was however willingly allowed to take with me molly, poor peggy's daughter. london and preferment, are ideas commonly associated in the country; and, as blooming as may, she bade adieu to peggy with weeping eyes. i did not even feel hurt at the refusal in relation to my sister, till hearing what my uncle had done for me, i had the simplicity to request, speaking with warmth of their situation, that he would give them a thousand pounds a-piece, which seemed to me but justice. he asked me, giving me a kiss, 'if i had lost my senses?' i started back, as if i had found a wasp in a rose-bush. i expostulated. he sneered; and the demon of discord entered our paradise, to poison with his pestiferous breath every opening joy. "i had sometimes observed defects in my husband's understanding; but, led astray by a prevailing opinion, that goodness of disposition is of the first importance in the relative situations of life, in proportion as i perceived the narrowness of his understanding, fancy enlarged the boundary of his heart. fatal error! how quickly is the so much vaunted milkiness of nature turned into gall, by an intercourse with the world, if more generous juices do not sustain the vital source of virtue! "one trait in my character was extreme credulity; but, when my eyes were once opened, i saw but too clearly all i had before overlooked. my husband was sunk in my esteem; still there are youthful emotions, which, for a while, fill up the chasm of love and friendship. besides, it required some time to enable me to see his whole character in a just light, or rather to allow it to become fixed. while circumstances were ripening my faculties, and cultivating my taste, commerce and gross relaxations were shutting his against any possibility of improvement, till, by stifling every spark of virtue in himself, he began to imagine that it no where existed. "do not let me lead you astray, my child, i do not mean to assert, that any human being is entirely incapable of feeling the generous emotions, which are the foundation of every true principle of virtue; but they are frequently, i fear, so feeble, that, like the inflammable quality which more or less lurks in all bodies, they often lie for ever dormant; the circumstances never occurring, necessary to call them into action. "i discovered however by chance, that, in consequence of some losses in trade, the natural effect of his gambling desire to start suddenly into riches, the five thousand pounds given me by my uncle, had been paid very opportunely. this discovery, strange as you may think the assertion, gave me pleasure; my husband's embarrassments endeared him to me. i was glad to find an excuse for his conduct to my sisters, and my mind became calmer. "my uncle introduced me to some literary society; and the theatres were a never-failing source of amusement to me. my delighted eye followed mrs. siddons, when, with dignified delicacy, she played calista; and i involuntarily repeated after her, in the same tone, and with a long-drawn sigh, 'hearts like our's were pair'd--not match'd.' "these were, at first, spontaneous emotions, though, becoming acquainted with men of wit and polished manners, i could not sometimes help regretting my early marriage; and that, in my haste to escape from a temporary dependence, and expand my newly fledged wings, in an unknown sky, i had been caught in a trap, and caged for life. still the novelty of london, and the attentive fondness of my husband, for he had some personal regard for me, made several months glide away. yet, not forgetting the situation of my sisters, who were still very young, i prevailed on my uncle to settle a thousand pounds on each; and to place them in a school near town, where i could frequently visit, as well as have them at home with me. "i now tried to improve my husband's taste, but we had few subjects in common; indeed he soon appeared to have little relish for my society, unless he was hinting to me the use he could make of my uncle's wealth. when we had company, i was disgusted by an ostentatious display of riches, and i have often quitted the room, to avoid listening to exaggerated tales of money obtained by lucky hits. "with all my attention and affectionate interest, i perceived that i could not become the friend or confident of my husband. every thing i learned relative to his affairs i gathered up by accident; and i vainly endeavoured to establish, at our fire-side, that social converse, which often renders people of different characters dear to each other. returning from the theatre, or any amusing party, i frequently began to relate what i had seen and highly relished; but with sullen taciturnity he soon silenced me. i seemed therefore gradually to lose, in his society, the soul, the energies of which had just been in action. to such a degree, in fact, did his cold, reserved manner affect me, that, after spending some days with him alone, i have imagined myself the most stupid creature in the world, till the abilities of some casual visitor convinced me that i had some dormant animation, and sentiments above the dust in which i had been groveling. the very countenance of my husband changed; his complexion became sallow, and all the charms of youth were vanishing with its vivacity. "i give you one view of the subject; but these experiments and alterations took up the space of five years; during which period, i had most reluctantly extorted several sums from my uncle, to save my husband, to use his own words, from destruction. at first it was to prevent bills being noted, to the injury of his credit; then to bail him; and afterwards to prevent an execution from entering the house. i began at last to conclude, that he would have made more exertions of his own to extricate himself, had he not relied on mine, cruel as was the task he imposed on me; and i firmly determined that i would make use of no more pretexts. "from the moment i pronounced this determination, indifference on his part was changed into rudeness, or something worse. "he now seldom dined at home, and continually returned at a late hour, drunk, to bed. i retired to another apartment; i was glad, i own, to escape from his; for personal intimacy without affection, seemed, to me the most degrading, as well as the most painful state in which a woman of any taste, not to speak of the peculiar delicacy of fostered sensibility, could be placed. but my husband's fondness for women was of the grossest kind, and imagination was so wholly out of the question, as to render his indulgences of this sort entirely promiscuous, and of the most brutal nature. my health suffered, before my heart was entirely estranged by the loathsome information; could i then have returned to his sullied arms, but as a victim to the prejudices of mankind, who have made women the property of their husbands? i discovered even, by his conversation, when intoxicated, that his favourites were wantons of the lowest class, who could by their vulgar, indecent mirth, which he called nature, rouse his sluggish spirits. meretricious ornaments and manners were necessary to attract his attention. he seldom looked twice at a modest woman, and sat silent in their company; and the charms of youth and beauty had not the slightest effect on his senses, unless the possessors were initiated in vice. his intimacy with profligate women, and his habits of thinking, gave him a contempt for female endowments; and he would repeat, when wine had loosed his tongue, most of the common-place sarcasms levelled at them, by men who do not allow them to have minds, because mind would be an impediment to gross enjoyment. men who are inferior to their fellow men, are always most anxious to establish their superiority over women. but where are these reflections leading me? "women who have lost their husband's affection, are justly reproved for neglecting their persons, and not taking the same pains to keep, as to gain a heart; but who thinks of giving the same advice to men, though women are continually stigmatized for being attached to fops; and from the nature of their education, are more susceptible of disgust? yet why a woman should be expected to endure a sloven, with more patience than a man, and magnanimously to govern herself, i cannot conceive; unless it be supposed arrogant in her to look for respect as well as a maintenance. it is not easy to be pleased, because, after promising to love, in different circumstances, we are told that it is our duty. i cannot, i am sure (though, when attending the sick, i never felt disgust) forget my own sensations, when rising with health and spirit, and after scenting the sweet morning, i have met my husband at the breakfast table. the active attention i had been giving to domestic regulations, which were generally settled before he rose, or a walk, gave a glow to my countenance, that contrasted with his squallid appearance. the squeamishness of stomach alone, produced by the last night's intemperance, which he took no pains to conceal, destroyed my appetite. i think i now see him lolling in an arm-chair, in a dirty powdering gown, soiled linen, ungartered stockings, and tangled hair, yawning and stretching himself. the newspaper was immediately called for, if not brought in on the tea-board, from which he would scarcely lift his eyes while i poured out the tea, excepting to ask for some brandy to put into it, or to declare that he could not eat. in answer to any question, in his best humour, it was a drawling 'what do you say, child?' but if i demanded money for the house expences, which i put off till the last moment, his customary reply, often prefaced with an oath, was, 'do you think me, madam, made of money?'--the butcher, the baker, must wait; and, what was worse, i was often obliged to witness his surly dismission of tradesmen, who were in want of their money, and whom i sometimes paid with the presents my uncle gave me for my own use. "at this juncture my father's mistress, by terrifying his conscience, prevailed on him to marry her; he was already become a methodist; and my brother, who now practised for himself, had discovered a flaw in the settlement made on my mother's children, which set it aside, and he allowed my father, whose distress made him submit to any thing, a tithe of his own, or rather our fortune. "my sisters had left school, but were unable to endure home, which my father's wife rendered as disagreeable as possible, to get rid of girls whom she regarded as spies on her conduct. they were accomplished, yet you can (may you never be reduced to the same destitute state!) scarcely conceive the trouble i had to place them in the situation of governesses, the only one in which even a well-educated woman, with more than ordinary talents, can struggle for a subsistence; and even this is a dependence next to menial. is it then surprising, that so many forlorn women, with human passions and feelings, take refuge in infamy? alone in large mansions, i say alone, because they had no companions with whom they could converse on equal terms, or from whom they could expect the endearments of affection, they grew melancholy, and the sound of joy made them sad; and the youngest, having a more delicate frame, fell into a decline. it was with great difficulty that i, who now almost supported the house by loans from my uncle, could prevail on the _master_ of it, to allow her a room to die in. i watched her sick bed for some months, and then closed her eyes, gentle spirit! for ever. she was pretty, with very engaging manners; yet had never an opportunity to marry, excepting to a very old man. she had abilities sufficient to have shone in any profession, had there been any professions for women, though she shrunk at the name of milliner or mantua-maker as degrading to a gentlewoman. i would not term this feeling false pride to any one but you, my child, whom i fondly hope to see (yes; i will indulge the hope for a moment!) possessed of that energy of character which gives dignity to any station; and with that clear, firm spirit that will enable you to choose a situation for yourself, or submit to be classed in the lowest, if it be the only one in which you can be the mistress of your own actions. "soon after the death of my sister, an incident occurred, to prove to me that the heart of a libertine is dead to natural affection; and to convince me, that the being who has appeared all tenderness, to gratify a selfish passion, is as regardless of the innocent fruit of it, as of the object, when the fit is over. i had casually observed an old, mean-looking woman, who called on my husband every two or three months to receive some money. one day entering the passage of his little counting-house, as she was going out, i heard her say, 'the child is very weak; she cannot live long, she will soon die out of your way, so you need not grudge her a little physic.' "'so much the better,' he replied, 'and pray mind your own business, good woman.' "i was struck by his unfeeling, inhuman tone of voice, and drew back, determined when the woman came again, to try to speak to her, not out of curiosity, i had heard enough, but with the hope of being useful to a poor, outcast girl. "a month or two elapsed before i saw this woman again; and then she had a child in her hand that tottered along, scarcely able to sustain her own weight. they were going away, to return at the hour mr. venables was expected; he was now from home. i desired the woman to walk into the parlour. she hesitated, yet obeyed. i assured her that i should not mention to my husband (the word seemed to weigh on my respiration), that i had seen her, or his child. the woman stared at me with astonishment; and i turned my eyes on the squalid object [that accompanied her.] she could hardly support herself, her complexion was sallow, and her eyes inflamed, with an indescribable look of cunning, mixed with the wrinkles produced by the peevishness of pain. "'poor child!' i exclaimed. 'ah! you may well say poor child,' replied the woman. 'i brought her here to see whether he would have the heart to look at her, and not get some advice. i do not know what they deserve who nursed her. why, her legs bent under her like a bow when she came to me, and she has never been well since; but, if they were no better paid than i am, it is not to be wondered at, sure enough.' "on further enquiry i was informed, that this miserable spectacle was the daughter of a servant, a country girl, who caught mr. venables' eye, and whom he seduced. on his marriage he sent her away, her situation being too visible. after her delivery, she was thrown on the town; and died in an hospital within the year. the babe was sent to a parish-nurse, and afterwards to this woman, who did not seem much better; but what was to be expected from such a close bargain? she was only paid three shillings a week for board and washing. "the woman begged me to give her some old clothes for the child, assuring me, that she was almost afraid to ask master for money to buy even a pair of shoes. "i grew sick at heart. and, fearing mr. venables might enter, and oblige me to express my abhorrence, i hastily enquired where she lived, promised to pay her two shillings a week more, and to call on her in a day or two; putting a trifle into her hand as a proof of my good intention. "if the state of this child affected me, what were my feelings at a discovery i made respecting peggy----?[ -a] footnotes: [ -a] the manuscript is imperfect here. an episode seems to have been intended, which was never committed to paper. editor. chap. x. "my father's situation was now so distressing, that i prevailed on my uncle to accompany me to visit him; and to lend me his assistance, to prevent the whole property of the family from becoming the prey of my brother's rapacity; for, to extricate himself out of present difficulties, my father was totally regardless of futurity. i took down with me some presents for my step-mother; it did not require an effort for me to treat her with civility, or to forget the past. "this was the first time i had visited my native village, since my marriage. but with what different emotions did i return from the busy world, with a heavy weight of experience benumbing my imagination, to scenes, that whispered recollections of joy and hope most eloquently to my heart! the first scent of the wild flowers from the heath, thrilled through my veins, awakening every sense to pleasure. the icy hand of despair seemed to be removed from my bosom; and--forgetting my husband--the nurtured visions of a romantic mind, bursting on me with all their original wildness and gay exuberance, were again hailed as sweet realities. i forgot, with equal facility, that i ever felt sorrow, or knew care in the country; while a transient rainbow stole athwart the cloudy sky of despondency. the picturesque form of several favourite trees, and the porches of rude cottages, with their smiling hedges, were recognized with the gladsome playfulness of childish vivacity. i could have kissed the chickens that pecked on the common; and longed to pat the cows, and frolic with the dogs that sported on it. i gazed with delight on the windmill, and thought it lucky that it should be in motion, at the moment i passed by; and entering the dear green lane, which led directly to the village, the sound of the well-known rookery gave that sentimental tinge to the varying sensations of my active soul, which only served to heighten the lustre of the luxuriant scenery. but, spying, as i advanced, the spire, peeping over the withered tops of the aged elms that composed the rookery, my thoughts flew immediately to the church-yard, and tears of affection, such was the effect of my imagination, bedewed my mother's grave! sorrow gave place to devotional feelings. i wandered through the church in fancy, as i used sometimes to do on a saturday evening. i recollected with what fervour i addressed the god of my youth: and once more with rapturous love looked above my sorrows to the father of nature. i pause--feeling forcibly all the emotions i am describing; and (reminded, as i register my sorrows, of the sublime calm i have felt, when in some tremendous solitude, my soul rested on itself, and seemed to fill the universe) i insensibly breathe soft, hushing every wayward emotion, as if fearing to sully with a sigh, a contentment so extatic. "having settled my father's affairs, and, by my exertions in his favour, made my brother my sworn foe, i returned to london. my husband's conduct was now changed; i had during my absence, received several affectionate, penitential letters from him; and he seemed on my arrival, to wish by his behaviour to prove his sincerity. i could not then conceive why he acted thus; and, when the suspicion darted into my head, that it might arise from observing my increasing influence with my uncle, i almost despised myself for imagining that such a degree of debasing selfishness could exist. "he became, unaccountable as was the change, tender and attentive; and, attacking my weak side, made a confession of his follies, and lamented the embarrassments in which i, who merited a far different fate, might be involved. he besought me to aid him with my counsel, praised my understanding, and appealed to the tenderness of my heart. "this conduct only inspired me with compassion. i wished to be his friend; but love had spread his rosy pinions, and fled far, far away; and had not (like some exquisite perfumes, the fine spirit of which is continually mingling with the air) left a fragrance behind, to mark where he had shook his wings. my husband's renewed caresses then became hateful to me; his brutality was tolerable, compared to his distasteful fondness. still, compassion, and the fear of insulting his supposed feelings, by a want of sympathy, made me dissemble, and do violence to my delicacy. what a task! "those who support a system of what i term false refinement, and will not allow great part of love in the female, as well as male breast, to spring in some respects involuntarily, may not admit that charms are as necessary to feed the passion, as virtues to convert the mellowing spirit into friendship. to such observers i have nothing to say, any more than to the moralists, who insist that women ought to, and can love their husbands, because it is their duty. to you, my child, i may add, with a heart tremblingly alive to your future conduct, some observations, dictated by my present feelings, on calmly reviewing this period of my life. when novelists or moralists praise as a virtue, a woman's coldness of constitution, and want of passion; and make her yield to the ardour of her lover out of sheer compassion, or to promote a frigid plan of future comfort, i am disgusted. they may be good women, in the ordinary acceptation of the phrase, and do no harm; but they appear to me not to have those 'finely fashioned nerves,' which render the senses exquisite. they may possess tenderness; but they want that fire of the imagination, which produces _active_ sensibility, and _positive_ virtue. how does the woman deserve to be characterized, who marries one man, with a heart and imagination devoted to another? is she not an object of pity or contempt, when thus sacrilegiously violating the purity of her own feelings? nay, it is as indelicate, when she is indifferent, unless she be constitutionally insensible; then indeed it is a mere affair of barter; and i have nothing to do with the secrets of trade. yes; eagerly as i wish you to possess true rectitude of mind, and purity of affection, i must insist that a heartless conduct is the contrary of virtuous. truth is the only basis of virtue; and we cannot, without depraving our minds, endeavour to please a lover or husband, but in proportion as he pleases us. men, more effectually to enslave us, may inculcate this partial morality, and lose sight of virtue in subdividing it into the duties of particular stations; but let us not blush for nature without a cause! "after these remarks, i am ashamed to own, that i was pregnant. the greatest sacrifice of my principles in my whole life, was the allowing my husband again to be familiar with my person, though to this cruel act of self-denial, when i wished the earth to open and swallow me, you owe your birth; and i the unutterable pleasure of being a mother. there was something of delicacy in my husband's bridal attentions; but now his tainted breath, pimpled face, and blood-shot eyes, were not more repugnant to my senses, than his gross manners, and loveless familiarity to my taste. "a man would only be expected to maintain; yes, barely grant a subsistence, to a woman rendered odious by habitual intoxication; but who would expect him, or think it possible to love her? and unless 'youth, and genial years were flown,' it would be thought equally unreasonable to insist, [under penalty of] forfeiting almost every thing reckoned valuable in life, that he should not love another: whilst woman, weak in reason, impotent in will, is required to moralize, sentimentalize herself to stone, and pine her life away, labouring to reform her embruted mate. he may even spend in dissipation, and intemperance, the very intemperance which renders him so hateful, her property, and by stinting her expences, not permit her to beguile in society, a wearisome, joyless life; for over their mutual fortune she has no power, it must all pass through his hand. and if she be a mother, and in the present state of women, it is a great misfortune to be prevented from discharging the duties, and cultivating the affections of one, what has she not to endure?--but i have suffered the tenderness of one to lead me into reflections that i did not think of making, to interrupt my narrative--yet the full heart will overflow. "mr. venables' embarrassments did not now endear him to me; still, anxious to befriend him, i endeavoured to prevail on him to retrench his expences; but he had always some plausible excuse to give, to justify his not following my advice. humanity, compassion, and the interest produced by a habit of living together, made me try to relieve, and sympathize with him; but, when i recollected that i was bound to live with such a being for ever--my heart died within me; my desire of improvement became languid, and baleful, corroding melancholy took possession of my soul. marriage had bastilled me for life. i discovered in myself a capacity for the enjoyment of the various pleasures existence affords; yet, fettered by the partial laws of society, this fair globe was to me an universal blank. "when i exhorted my husband to economy, i referred to himself. i was obliged to practise the most rigid, or contract debts, which i had too much reason to fear would never be paid. i despised this paltry privilege of a wife, which can only be of use to the vicious or inconsiderate, and determined not to increase the torrent that was bearing him down. i was then ignorant of the extent of his fraudulent speculations, whom i was bound to honour and obey. "a woman neglected by her husband, or whose manners form a striking contrast with his, will always have men on the watch to soothe and flatter her. besides, the forlorn state of a neglected woman, not destitute of personal charms, is particularly interesting, and rouses that species of pity, which is so near akin, it easily slides into love. a man of feeling thinks not of seducing, he is himself seduced by all the noblest emotions of his soul. he figures to himself all the sacrifices a woman of sensibility must make, and every situation in which his imagination places her, touches his heart, and fires his passions. longing to take to his bosom the shorn lamb, and bid the drooping buds of hope revive, benevolence changes into passion: and should he then discover that he is beloved, honour binds him fast, though foreseeing that he may afterwards be obliged to pay severe damages to the man, who never appeared to value his wife's society, till he found that there was a chance of his being indemnified for the loss of it. "such are the partial laws enacted by men; for, only to lay a stress on the dependent state of a woman in the grand question of the comforts arising from the possession of property, she is [even in this article] much more injured by the loss of the husband's affection, than he by that of his wife; yet where is she, condemned to the solitude of a deserted home, to look for a compensation from the woman, who seduces him from her? she cannot drive an unfaithful husband from his house, nor separate, or tear, his children from him, however culpable he may be; and he, still the master of his own fate, enjoys the smiles of a world, that would brand her with infamy, did she, seeking consolation, venture to retaliate. "these remarks are not dictated by experience; but merely by the compassion i feel for many amiable women, the _out-laws_ of the world. for myself, never encouraging any of the advances that were made to me, my lovers dropped off like the untimely shoots of spring. i did not even coquet with them; because i found, on examining myself, i could not coquet with a man without loving him a little; and i perceived that i should not be able to stop at the line of what are termed _innocent freedoms_, did i suffer any. my reserve was then the consequence of delicacy. freedom of conduct has emancipated many women's minds; but my conduct has most rigidly been governed by my principles, till the improvement of my understanding has enabled me to discern the fallacy of prejudices at war with nature and reason. "shortly after the change i have mentioned in my husband's conduct, my uncle was compelled by his declining health, to seek the succour of a milder climate, and embark for lisbon. he left his will in the hands of a friend, an eminent solicitor; he had previously questioned me relative to my situation and state of mind, and declared very freely, that he could place no reliance on the stability of my husband's professions. he had been deceived in the unfolding of his character; he now thought it fixed in a train of actions that would inevitably lead to ruin and disgrace. "the evening before his departure, which we spent alone together, he folded me to his heart, uttering the endearing appellation of 'child.'--my more than father! why was i not permitted to perform the last duties of one, and smooth the pillow of death? he seemed by his manner to be convinced that he should never see me more; yet requested me, most earnestly, to come to him, should i be obliged to leave my husband. he had before expressed his sorrow at hearing of my pregnancy, having determined to prevail on me to accompany him, till i informed him of that circumstance. he expressed himself unfeignedly sorry that any new tie should bind me to a man whom he thought so incapable of estimating my value; such was the kind language of affection. "i must repeat his own words; they made an indelible impression on my mind: "'the marriage state is certainly that in which women, generally speaking, can be most useful; but i am far from thinking that a woman, once married, ought to consider the engagement as indissoluble (especially if there be no children to reward her for sacrificing her feelings) in case her husband merits neither her love, nor esteem. esteem will often supply the place of love; and prevent a woman from being wretched, though it may not make her happy. the magnitude of a sacrifice ought always to bear some proportion to the utility in view; and for a woman to live with a man, for whom she can cherish neither affection nor esteem, or even be of any use to him, excepting in the light of a house-keeper, is an abjectness of condition, the enduring of which no concurrence of circumstances can ever make a duty in the sight of god or just men. if indeed she submits to it merely to be maintained in idleness, she has no right to complain bitterly of her fate; or to act, as a person of independent character might, as if she had a title to disregard general rules. "'but the misfortune is, that many women only submit in appearance, and forfeit their own respect to secure their reputation in the world. the situation of a woman separated from her husband, is undoubtedly very different from that of a man who has left his wife. he, with lordly dignity, has shaken of a clog; and the allowing her food and raiment, is thought sufficient to secure his reputation from taint. and, should she have been inconsiderate, he will be celebrated for his generosity and forbearance. such is the respect paid to the master-key of property! a woman, on the contrary, resigning what is termed her natural protector (though he never was so, but in name) is despised and shunned, for asserting the independence of mind distinctive of a rational being, and spurning at slavery.' "during the remainder of the evening, my uncle's tenderness led him frequently to revert to the subject, and utter, with increasing warmth, sentiments to the same purport. at length it was necessary to say 'farewell!'--and we parted--gracious god! to meet no more. chap. xi. "a gentleman of large fortune and of polished manners, had lately visited very frequently at our house, and treated me, if possible, with more respect than mr. venables paid him; my pregnancy was not yet visible, his society was a great relief to me, as i had for some time past, to avoid expence, confined myself very much at home. i ever disdained unnecessary, perhaps even prudent concealments; and my husband, with great ease, discovered the amount of my uncle's parting present. a copy of a writ was the stale pretext to extort it from me; and i had soon reason to believe that it was fabricated for the purpose. i acknowledge my folly in thus suffering myself to be continually imposed on. i had adhered to my resolution not to apply to my uncle, on the part of my husband, any more; yet, when i had received a sum sufficient to supply my own wants, and to enable me to pursue a plan i had in view, to settle my younger brother in a respectable employment, i allowed myself to be duped by mr. venables' shallow pretences, and hypocritical professions. "thus did he pillage me and my family, thus frustrate all my plans of usefulness. yet this was the man i was bound to respect and esteem: as if respect and esteem depended on an arbitrary will of our own! but a wife being as much a man's property as his horse, or his ass, she has nothing she can call her own. he may use any means to get at what the law considers as his, the moment his wife is in possession of it, even to the forcing of a lock, as mr. venables did, to search for notes in my writing-desk--and all this is done with a show of equity, because, forsooth, he is responsible for her maintenance. "the tender mother cannot _lawfully_ snatch from the gripe of the gambling spendthrift, or beastly drunkard, unmindful of his offspring, the fortune which falls to her by chance; or (so flagrant is the injustice) what she earns by her own exertions. no; he can rob her with impunity, even to waste publicly on a courtezan; and the laws of her country--if women have a country--afford her no protection or redress from the oppressor, unless she have the plea of bodily fear; yet how many ways are there of goading the soul almost to madness, equally unmanly, though not so mean? when such laws were framed, should not impartial lawgivers have first decreed, in the style of a great assembly, who recognized the existence of an _être suprême_, to fix the national belief, that the husband should always be wiser and more virtuous than his wife, in order to entitle him, with a show of justice, to keep this idiot, or perpetual minor, for ever in bondage. but i must have done--on this subject, my indignation continually runs away with me. "the company of the gentleman i have already mentioned, who had a general acquaintance with literature and subjects of taste, was grateful to me; my countenance brightened up as he approached, and i unaffectedly expressed the pleasure i felt. the amusement his conversation afforded me, made it easy to comply with my husband's request, to endeavour to render our house agreeable to him. "his attentions became more pointed; but, as i was not of the number of women, whose virtue, as it is termed, immediately takes alarm, i endeavoured, rather by raillery than serious expostulation, to give a different turn to his conversation. he assumed a new mode of attack, and i was, for a while, the dupe of his pretended friendship. "i had, merely in the style of _badinage_, boasted of my conquest, and repeated his lover-like compliments to my husband. but he begged me, for god's sake, not to affront his friend, or i should destroy all his projects, and be his ruin. had i had more affection for my husband, i should have expressed my contempt of this time-serving politeness: now i imagined that i only felt pity; yet it would have puzzled a casuist to point out in what the exact difference consisted. "this friend began now, in confidence, to discover to me the real state of my husband's affairs. 'necessity,' said mr. s----; why should i reveal his name? for he affected to palliate the conduct he could not excuse, 'had led him to take such steps, by accommodation bills, buying goods on credit, to sell them for ready money, and similar transactions, that his character in the commercial world was gone. he was considered,' he added, lowering his voice, 'on 'change as a swindler.' "i felt at that moment the first maternal pang. aware of the evils my sex have to struggle with, i still wished, for my own consolation, to be the mother of a daughter; and i could not bear to think, that the _sins_ of her father's entailed disgrace, should be added to the ills to which woman is heir. "so completely was i deceived by these shows of friendship (nay, i believe, according to his interpretation, mr. s--really was my friend) that i began to consult him respecting the best mode of retrieving my husband's character: it is the good name of a woman only that sets to rise no more. i knew not that he had been drawn into a whirlpool, out of which he had not the energy to attempt to escape. he seemed indeed destitute of the power of employing his faculties in any regular pursuit. his principles of action were so loose, and his mind so uncultivated, that every thing like order appeared to him in the shape of restraint; and, like men in the savage state, he required the strong stimulus of hope or fear, produced by wild speculations, in which the interests of others went for nothing, to keep his spirits awake. he one time possessed patriotism, but he knew not what it was to feel honest indignation; and pretended to be an advocate for liberty, when, with as little affection for the human race as for individuals, he thought of nothing but his own gratification. he was just such a citizen, as a father. the sums he adroitly obtained by a violation of the laws of his country, as well as those of humanity, he would allow a mistress to squander; though she was, with the same _sang froid_, consigned, as were his children, to poverty, when another proved more attractive. "on various pretences, his friend continued to visit me; and, observing my want of money, he tried to induce me to accept of pecuniary aid; but this offer i absolutely rejected, though it was made with such delicacy, i could not be displeased. "one day he came, as i thought accidentally, to dinner. my husband was very much engaged in business, and quitted the room soon after the cloth was removed. we conversed as usual, till confidential advice led again to love. i was extremely mortified. i had a sincere regard for him, and hoped that he had an equal friendship for me. i therefore began mildly to expostulate with him. this gentleness he mistook for coy encouragement; and he would not be diverted from the subject. perceiving his mistake, i seriously asked him how, using such language to me, he could profess to be my husband's friend? a significant sneer excited my curiosity, and he, supposing this to be my only scruple, took a letter deliberately out of his pocket, saying, 'your husband's honour is not inflexible. how could you, with your discernment, think it so? why, he left the room this very day on purpose to give me an opportunity to explain myself; _he_ thought me too timid--too tardy.' "i snatched the letter with indescribable emotion. the purport of it was to invite him to dinner, and to ridicule his chivalrous respect for me. he assured him, 'that every woman had her price, and, with gross indecency, hinted, that he should be glad to have the duty of a husband taken off his hands. these he termed _liberal sentiments_. he advised him not to shock my romantic notions, but to attack my credulous generosity, and weak pity; and concluded with requesting him to lend him five hundred pounds for a month or six weeks.' i read this letter twice over; and the firm purpose it inspired, calmed the rising tumult of my soul. i rose deliberately, requested mr. s---- to wait a moment, and instantly going into the counting-house, desired mr. venables to return with me to the dining-parlour. "he laid down his pen, and entered with me, without observing any change in my countenance. i shut the door, and, giving him the letter, simply asked, 'whether he wrote it, or was it a forgery?' "nothing could equal his confusion. his friend's eye met his, and he muttered something about a joke--but i interrupted him--'it is sufficient--we part for ever.' "i continued, with solemnity, 'i have borne with your tyranny and infidelities. i disdain to utter what i have borne with. i thought you unprincipled, but not so decidedly vicious. i formed a tie, in the sight of heaven--i have held it sacred; even when men, more conformable to my taste, have made me feel--i despise all subterfuge!--that i was not dead to love. neglected by you, i have resolutely stifled the enticing emotions, and respected the plighted faith you outraged. and you dare now to insult me, by selling me to prostitution!--yes--equally lost to delicacy and principle--you dared sacrilegiously to barter the honour of the mother of your child.' "then, turning to mr. s----, i added, 'i call on you, sir, to witness,' and i lifted my hands and eyes to heaven, 'that, as solemnly as i took his name, i now abjure it,' i pulled off my ring, and put it on the table; 'and that i mean immediately to quit his house, never to enter it more. i will provide for myself and child. i leave him as free as i am determined to be myself--he shall be answerable for no debts of mine.' "astonishment closed their lips, till mr. venables, gently pushing his friend, with a forced smile, out of the room, nature for a moment prevailed, and, appearing like himself, he turned round, burning with rage, to me: but there was no terror in the frown, excepting when contrasted with the malignant smile which preceded it. he bade me 'leave the house at my peril; told me he despised my threats; i had no resource; i could not swear the peace against him!--i was not afraid of my life!--he had never struck me!' "he threw the letter in the fire, which i had incautiously left in his hands; and, quitting the room, locked the door on me. "when left alone, i was a moment or two before i could recollect myself. one scene had succeeded another with such rapidity, i almost doubted whether i was reflecting on a real event. 'was it possible? was i, indeed, free?'--yes; free i termed myself, when i decidedly perceived the conduct i ought to adopt. how had i panted for liberty--liberty, that i would have purchased at any price, but that of my own esteem! i rose, and shook myself; opened the window, and methought the air never smelled so sweet. the face of heaven grew fairer as i viewed it, and the clouds seemed to flit away obedient to my wishes, to give my soul room to expand. i was all soul, and (wild as it may appear) felt as if i could have dissolved in the soft balmy gale that kissed my cheek, or have glided below the horizon on the glowing, descending beams. a seraphic satisfaction animated, without agitating my spirits; and my imagination collected, in visions sublimely terrible, or soothingly beautiful, an immense variety of the endless images, which nature affords, and fancy combines, of the grand and fair. the lustre of these bright picturesque sketches faded with the setting sun; but i was still alive to the calm delight they had diffused through my heart. "there may be advocates for matrimonial obedience, who, making a distinction between the duty of a wife and of a human being, may blame my conduct.--to them i write not--my feelings are not for them to analyze; and may you, my child, never be able to ascertain, by heart-rending experience, what your mother felt before the present emancipation of her mind! "i began to write a letter to my father, after closing one to my uncle; not to ask advice, but to signify my determination; when i was interrupted by the entrance of mr. venables. his manner was changed. his views on my uncle's fortune made him averse to my quitting his house, or he would, i am convinced, have been glad to have shaken off even the slight restraint my presence imposed on him; the restraint of showing me some respect. so far from having an affection for me, he really hated me, because he was convinced that i must despise him. "he told me, that, 'as i now had had time to cool and reflect, he did not doubt but that my prudence, and nice sense of propriety, would lead me to overlook what was passed.' "'reflection,' i replied, 'had only confirmed my purpose, and no power on earth could divert me from it.' "endeavouring to assume a soothing voice and look, when he would willingly have tortured me, to force me to feel his power, his countenance had an infernal expression, when he desired me, 'not to expose myself to the servants, by obliging him to confine me in my apartment; if then i would give my promise not to quit the house precipitately, i should be free--and--.' i declared, interrupting him, 'that i would promise nothing. i had no measures to keep with him--i was resolved, and would not condescend to subterfuge.' "he muttered, 'that i should soon repent of these preposterous airs;' and, ordering tea to be carried into my little study, which had a communication with my bed-chamber, he once more locked the door upon me, and left me to my own meditations. i had passively followed him up stairs, not wishing to fatigue myself with unavailing exertion. "nothing calms the mind like a fixed purpose. i felt as if i had heaved a thousand weight from my heart; the atmosphere seemed lightened; and, if i execrated the institutions of society, which thus enable men to tyrannize over women, it was almost a disinterested sentiment. i disregarded present inconveniences, when my mind had done struggling with itself,--when reason and inclination had shaken hands and were at peace. i had no longer the cruel task before me, in endless perspective, aye, during the tedious for ever of life, of labouring to overcome my repugnance--of labouring to extinguish the hopes, the maybes of a lively imagination. death i had hailed as my only chance for deliverance; but, while existence had still so many charms, and life promised happiness, i shrunk from the icy arms of an unknown tyrant, though far more inviting than those of the man, to whom i supposed myself bound without any other alternative; and was content to linger a little longer, waiting for i knew not what, rather than leave 'the warm precincts of the cheerful day,' and all the unenjoyed affection of my nature. "my present situation gave a new turn to my reflection; and i wondered (now the film seemed to be withdrawn, that obscured the piercing sight of reason) how i could, previously to the deciding outrage, have considered myself as everlastingly united to vice and folly? 'had an evil genius cast a spell at my birth; or a demon stalked out of chaos, to perplex my understanding, and enchain my will, with delusive prejudices?' "i pursued this train of thinking; it led me out of myself, to expatiate on the misery peculiar to my sex. 'are not,' i thought, 'the despots for ever stigmatized, who, in the wantonness of power, commanded even the most atrocious criminals to be chained to dead bodies? though surely those laws are much more inhuman, which forge adamantine fetters to bind minds together, that never can mingle in social communion! what indeed can equal the wretchedness of that state, in which there is no alternative, but to extinguish the affections, or encounter infamy?' chap. xii. "towards midnight mr. venables entered my chamber; and, with calm audacity preparing to go to bed, he bade me make haste, 'for that was the best place for husbands and wives to end their differences. he had been drinking plentifully to aid his courage. "i did not at first deign to reply. but perceiving that he affected to take my silence for consent, i told him that, 'if he would not go to another bed, or allow me, i should sit up in my study all night.' he attempted to pull me into the chamber, half joking. but i resisted; and, as he had determined not to give me any reason for saying that he used violence, after a few more efforts, he retired, cursing my obstinacy, to bed. "i sat musing some time longer; then, throwing my cloak around me, prepared for sleep on a sopha. and, so fortunate seemed my deliverance, so sacred the pleasure of being thus wrapped up in myself, that i slept profoundly, and woke with a mind composed to encounter the struggles of the day. mr. venables did not wake till some hours after; and then he came to me half-dressed, yawning and stretching, with haggard eyes, as if he scarcely recollected what had passed the preceding evening. he fixed his eyes on me for a moment, then, calling me a fool, asked 'how long i intended to continue this pretty farce? for his part, he was devilish sick of it; but this was the plague of marrying women who pretended to know something.' "i made no other reply to this harangue, than to say, 'that he ought to be glad to get rid of a woman so unfit to be his companion--and that any change in my conduct would be mean dissimulation; for maturer reflection only gave the sacred seal of reason to my first resolution.' "he looked as if he could have stamped with impatience, at being obliged to stifle his rage; but, conquering his anger (for weak people, whose passions seem the most ungovernable, restrain them with the greatest ease, when they have a sufficient motive), he exclaimed, 'very pretty, upon my soul! very pretty, theatrical flourishes! pray, fair roxana, stoop from your altitudes, and remember that you are acting a part in real life.' "he uttered this speech with a self-satisfied air, and went down stairs to dress. "in about an hour he came to me again; and in the same tone said, 'that he came as my gentleman-usher to hand me down to breakfast. "'of the black rod?' asked i. "this question, and the tone in which i asked it, a little disconcerted him. to say the truth, i now felt no resentment; my firm resolution to free myself from my ignoble thraldom, had absorbed the various emotions which, during six years, had racked my soul. the duty pointed out by my principles seemed clear; and not one tender feeling intruded to make me swerve: the dislike which my husband had inspired was strong; but it only led me to wish to avoid, to wish to let him drop out of my memory; there was no misery, no torture that i would not deliberately have chosen, rather than renew my lease of servitude. "during the breakfast, he attempted to reason with me on the folly of romantic sentiments; for this was the indiscriminate epithet he gave to every mode of conduct or thinking superior to his own. he asserted, 'that all the world were governed by their own interest; those who pretended to be actuated by different motives, were only deeper knaves, or fools crazed by books, who took for gospel all the rodomantade nonsense written by men who knew nothing of the world. for his part, he thanked god, he was no hypocrite; and, if he stretched a point sometimes, it was always with an intention of paying every man his own.' "he then artfully insinuated, 'that he daily expected a vessel to arrive, a successful speculation, that would make him easy for the present, and that he had several other schemes actually depending, that could not fail. he had no doubt of becoming rich in a few years, though he had been thrown back by some unlucky adventures at the setting out.' "i mildly replied, 'that i wished he might not involve himself still deeper.' "he had no notion that i was governed by a decision of judgment, not to be compared with a mere spurt of resentment. he knew not what it was to feel indignation against vice, and often boasted of his placable temper, and readiness to forgive injuries. true; for he only considered the being deceived, as an effort of skill he had not guarded against; and then, with a cant of candour, would observe, 'that he did not know how he might himself have been tempted to act in the same circumstances.' and, as his heart never opened to friendship, it never was wounded by disappointment. every new acquaintance he protested, it is true, was 'the cleverest fellow in the world;' and he really thought so; till the novelty of his conversation or manners ceased to have any effect on his sluggish spirits. his respect for rank or fortune was more permanent, though he chanced to have no design of availing himself of the influence of either to promote his own views. "after a prefatory conversation,--my blood (i thought it had been cooler) flushed over my whole countenance as he spoke--he alluded to my situation. he desired me to reflect--'and act like a prudent woman, as the best proof of my superior understanding; for he must own i had sense, did i know how to use it. i was not,' he laid a stress on his words, 'without my passions; and a husband was a convenient cloke.--he was liberal in his way of thinking; and why might not we, like many other married people, who were above vulgar prejudices, tacitly consent to let each other follow their own inclination?--he meant nothing more, in the letter i made the ground of complaint; and the pleasure which i seemed to take in mr. s.'s company, led him to conclude, that he was not disagreeable to me.' "a clerk brought in the letters of the day, and i, as i often did, while he was discussing subjects of business, went to the _piano forte_, and began to play a favourite air to restore myself, as it were, to nature, and drive the sophisticated sentiments i had just been obliged to listen to, out of my soul. "they had excited sensations similar to those i have felt, in viewing the squalid inhabitants of some of the lanes and back streets of the metropolis, mortified at being compelled to consider them as my fellow-creatures, as if an ape had claimed kindred with me. or, as when surrounded by a mephitical fog, i have wished to have a volley of cannon fired, to clear the incumbered atmosphere, and give me room to breathe and move. "my spirits were all in arms, and i played a kind of extemporary prelude. the cadence was probably wild and impassioned, while, lost in thought, i made the sounds a kind of echo to my train of thinking. "pausing for a moment, i met mr. venables' eyes. he was observing me with an air of conceited satisfaction, as much as to say--'my last insinuation has done the business--she begins to know her own interest.' then gathering up his letters, he said, 'that he hoped he should hear no more romantic stuff, well enough in a miss just come from boarding school;' and went, as was his custom, to the counting-house. i still continued playing; and, turning to a sprightly lesson, i executed it with uncommon vivacity. i heard footsteps approach the door, and was soon convinced that mr. venables was listening; the consciousness only gave more animation to my fingers. he went down into the kitchen, and the cook, probably by his desire, came to me, to know what i would please to order for dinner. mr. venables came into the parlour again, with apparent carelessness. i perceived that the cunning man was over-reaching himself; and i gave my directions as usual, and left the room. "while i was making some alteration in my dress, mr. venables peeped in, and, begging my pardon for interrupting me, disappeared. i took up some work (i could not read), and two or three messages were sent to me, probably for no other purpose, but to enable mr. venables to ascertain what i was about. "i listened whenever i heard the street-door open; at last i imagined i could distinguish mr. venables' step, going out. i laid aside my work; my heart palpitated; still i was afraid hastily to enquire; and i waited a long half hour, before i ventured to ask the boy whether his master was in the counting-house? "being answered in the negative, i bade him call me a coach, and collecting a few necessaries hastily together, with a little parcel of letters and papers which i had collected the preceding evening, i hurried into it, desiring the coachman to drive to a distant part of the town. "i almost feared that the coach would break down before i got out of the street; and, when i turned the corner, i seemed to breathe a freer air. i was ready to imagine that i was rising above the thick atmosphere of earth; or i felt, as wearied souls might be supposed to feel on entering another state of existence. "i stopped at one or two stands of coaches to elude pursuit, and then drove round the skirts of the town to seek for an obscure lodging, where i wished to remain concealed, till i could avail myself of my uncle's protection. i had resolved to assume my own name immediately, and openly to avow my determination, without any formal vindication, the moment i had found a home, in which i could rest free from the daily alarm of expecting to see mr. venables enter. "i looked at several lodgings; but finding that i could not, without a reference to some acquaintance, who might inform my tyrant, get admittance into a decent apartment--men have not all this trouble--i thought of a woman whom i had assisted to furnish a little haberdasher's shop, and who i knew had a first floor to let. "i went to her, and though i could not persuade her, that the quarrel between me and mr. venables would never be made up, still she agreed to conceal me for the present; yet assuring me at the same time, shaking her head, that, when a woman was once married, she must bear every thing. her pale face, on which appeared a thousand haggard lines and delving wrinkles, produced by what is emphatically termed fretting, inforced her remark; and i had afterwards an opportunity of observing the treatment she had to endure, which grizzled her into patience. she toiled from morning till night; yet her husband would rob the till, and take away the money reserved for paying bills; and, returning home drunk, he would beat her if she chanced to offend him, though she had a child at the breast. "these scenes awoke me at night; and, in the morning, i heard her, as usual, talk to her dear johnny--he, forsooth, was her master; no slave in the west indies had one more despotic; but fortunately she was of the true russian breed of wives. "my mind, during the few past days, seemed, as it were, disengaged from my body; but, now the struggle was over, i felt very forcibly the effect which perturbation of spirits produces on a woman in my situation. "the apprehension of a miscarriage, obliged me to confine myself to my apartment near a fortnight; but i wrote to my uncle's friend for money, promising 'to call on him, and explain my situation, when i was well enough to go out; mean time i earnestly intreated him, not to mention my place of abode to any one, lest my husband--such the law considered him--should disturb the mind he could not conquer. i mentioned my intention of setting out for lisbon, to claim my uncle's protection, the moment my health would permit.' "the tranquillity however, which i was recovering, was soon interrupted. my landlady came up to me one day, with eyes swollen with weeping, unable to utter what she was commanded to say. she declared, 'that she was never so miserable in her life; that she must appear an ungrateful monster; and that she would readily go down on her knees to me, to intreat me to forgive her, as she had done to her husband to spare her the cruel task.' sobs prevented her from proceeding, or answering my impatient enquiries, to know what she meant. "when she became a little more composed, she took a newspaper out of her pocket, declaring, 'that her heart smote her, but what could she do?--she must obey her husband.' i snatched the paper from her. an advertisement quickly met my eye, purporting, that 'maria venables had, without any assignable cause, absconded from her husband; and any person harbouring her, was menaced with the utmost severity of the law.' "perfectly acquainted with mr. venables' meanness of soul, this step did not excite my surprise, and scarcely my contempt. resentment in my breast, never survived love. i bade the poor woman, in a kind tone, wipe her eyes, and request her husband to come up, and speak to me himself. "my manner awed him. he respected a lady, though not a woman; and began to mutter out an apology. "'mr. venables was a rich gentleman; he wished to oblige me, but he had suffered enough by the law already, to tremble at the thought; besides, for certain, we should come together again, and then even i should not thank him for being accessary to keeping us asunder.--a husband and wife were, god knows, just as one,--and all would come round at last.' he uttered a drawling 'hem!' and then with an arch look, added--'master might have had his little frolics--but--lord bless your heart!--men would be men while the world stands.' "to argue with this privileged first-born of reason, i perceived, would be vain. i therefore only requested him to let me remain another day at his house, while i sought for a lodging; and not to inform mr. venables that i had ever been sheltered there. "he consented, because he had not the courage to refuse a person for whom he had an habitual respect; but i heard the pent-up choler burst forth in curses, when he met his wife, who was waiting impatiently at the foot of the stairs, to know what effect my expostulations would have on him. "without wasting any time in the fruitless indulgence of vexation, i once more set out in search of an abode in which i could hide myself for a few weeks. "agreeing to pay an exorbitant price, i hired an apartment, without any reference being required relative to my character: indeed, a glance at my shape seemed to say, that my motive for concealment was sufficiently obvious. thus was i obliged to shroud my head in infamy. "to avoid all danger of detection--i use the appropriate word, my child, for i was hunted out like a felon--i determined to take possession of my new lodgings that very evening. "i did not inform my landlady where i was going. i knew that she had a sincere affection for me, and would willingly have run any risk to show her gratitude; yet i was fully convinced, that a few kind words from johnny would have found the woman in her, and her dear benefactress, as she termed me in an agony of tears, would have been sacrificed, to recompense her tyrant for condescending to treat her like an equal. he could be kind-hearted, as she expressed it, when he pleased. and this thawed sternness, contrasted with his habitual brutality, was the more acceptable, and could not be purchased at too dear a rate. "the sight of the advertisement made me desirous of taking refuge with my uncle, let what would be the consequence; and i repaired in a hackney coach (afraid of meeting some person who might chance to know me, had i walked) to the chambers of my uncle's friend. "he received me with great politeness (my uncle had already prepossessed him in my favour), and listened, with interest, to my explanation of the motives which had induced me to fly from home, and skulk in obscurity, with all the timidity of fear that ought only to be the companion of guilt. he lamented, with rather more gallantry than, in my situation, i thought delicate, that such a woman should be thrown away on a man insensible to the charms of beauty or grace. he seemed at a loss what to advise me to do, to evade my husband's search, without hastening to my uncle, whom, he hesitating said, i might not find alive. he uttered this intelligence with visible regret; requested me, at least, to wait for the arrival of the next packet; offered me what money i wanted, and promised to visit me. "he kept his word; still no letter arrived to put an end to my painful state of suspense. i procured some books and music, to beguile the tedious solitary days. 'come, ever smiling liberty, 'and with thee bring thy jocund train:' i sung--and sung till, saddened by the strain of joy, i bitterly lamented the fate that deprived me of all social pleasure. comparative liberty indeed i had possessed myself of; but the jocund train lagged far behind! chap. xiii. "by watching my only visitor, my uncle's friend, or by some other means, mr. venables discovered my residence, and came to enquire for me. the maid-servant assured him there was no such person in the house. a bustle ensued--i caught the alarm--listened--distinguished his voice, and immediately locked the door. they suddenly grew still; and i waited near a quarter of an hour, before i heard him open the parlour door, and mount the stairs with the mistress of the house, who obsequiously declared that she knew nothing of me. "finding my door locked, she requested me to 'open it, and prepare to go home with my husband, poor gentleman! to whom i had already occasioned sufficient vexation.' i made no reply. mr. venables then, in an assumed tone of softness, intreated me, 'to consider what he suffered, and my own reputation, and get the better of childish resentment.' he ran on in the same strain, pretending to address me, but evidently adapting his discourse to the capacity of the landlady; who, at every pause, uttered an exclamation of pity; or 'yes, to be sure--very true, sir.' "sick of the farce, and perceiving that i could not avoid the hated interview, i opened the door, and he entered. advancing with easy assurance to take my hand, i shrunk from his touch, with an involuntary start, as i should have done from a noisome reptile, with more disgust than terror. his conductress was retiring, to give us, as she said, an opportunity to accommodate matters. but i bade her come in, or i would go out; and curiosity impelled her to obey me. "mr. venables began to expostulate; and this woman, proud of his confidence, to second him. but i calmly silenced her, in the midst of a vulgar harangue, and turning to him, asked, 'why he vainly tormented me? declaring that no power on earth should force me back to his house.' "after a long altercation, the particulars of which, it would be to no purpose to repeat, he left the room. some time was spent in loud conversation in the parlour below, and i discovered that he had brought his friend, an attorney, with him. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * the tumult on the landing place, brought out a gentleman, who had recently taken apartments in the house; he enquired why i was thus assailed[ -a]? the voluble attorney instantly repeated the trite tale. the stranger turned to me, observing, with the most soothing politeness and manly interest, that 'my countenance told a very different story.' he added, 'that i should not be insulted, or forced out of the house, by any body.' "'not by her husband?' asked the attorney. "'no, sir, not by her husband.' mr. venables advanced towards him--but there was a decision in his attitude, that so well seconded that of his voice, * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * they left the house: at the same time protesting, that any one that should dare to protect me, should be prosecuted with the utmost rigour. "they were scarcely out of the house, when my landlady came up to me again, and begged my pardon, in a very different tone. for, though mr. venables had bid her, at her peril, harbour me, he had not attended, i found, to her broad hints, to discharge the lodging. i instantly promised to pay her, and make her a present to compensate for my abrupt departure, if she would procure me another lodging, at a sufficient distance; and she, in return, repeating mr. venables' plausible tale, i raised her indignation, and excited her sympathy, by telling her briefly the truth. "she expressed her commiseration with such honest warmth, that i felt soothed; for i have none of that fastidious sensitiveness, which a vulgar accent or gesture can alarm to the disregard of real kindness. i was ever glad to perceive in others the humane feelings i delighted to exercise; and the recollection of some ridiculous characteristic circumstances, which have occurred in a moment of emotion, has convulsed me with laughter, though at the instant i should have thought it sacrilegious to have smiled. your improvement, my dearest girl, being ever present to me while i write, i note these feelings, because women, more accustomed to observe manners than actions, are too much alive to ridicule. so much so, that their boasted sensibility is often stifled by false delicacy. true sensibility, the sensibility which is the auxiliary of virtue, and the soul of genius, is in society so occupied with the feelings of others, as scarcely to regard its own sensations. with what reverence have i looked up at my uncle, the dear parent of my mind! when i have seen the sense of his own sufferings, of mind and body, absorbed in a desire to comfort those, whose misfortunes were comparatively trivial. he would have been ashamed of being as indulgent to himself, as he was to others. 'genuine fortitude,' he would assert, 'consisted in governing our own emotions, and making allowance for the weaknesses in our friends, that we would not tolerate in ourselves.' but where is my fond regret leading me! "'women must be submissive,' said my landlady. 'indeed what could most women do? who had they to maintain them, but their husbands? every woman, and especially a lady, could not go through rough and smooth, as she had done, to earn a little bread.' "she was in a talking mood, and proceeded to inform me how she had been used in the world. 'she knew what it was to have a bad husband, or she did not know who should.' i perceived that she would be very much mortified, were i not to attend to her tale, and i did not attempt to interrupt her, though i wished her, as soon as possible, to go out in search of a new abode for me, where i could once more hide my head. "she began by telling me, 'that she had saved a little money in service; and was over-persuaded (we must all be in love once in our lives) to marry a likely man, a footman in the family, not worth a groat. my plan,' she continued, 'was to take a house, and let out lodgings; and all went on well, till my husband got acquainted with an impudent slut, who chose to live on other people's means--and then all went to rack and ruin. he ran in debt to buy her fine clothes, such clothes as i never thought of wearing myself, and--would you believe it?--he signed an execution on my very goods, bought with the money i worked so hard to get; and they came and took my bed from under me, before i heard a word of the matter. aye, madam, these are misfortunes that you gentlefolks know nothing of,--but sorrow is sorrow, let it come which way it will. "'i sought for a service again--very hard, after having a house of my own!--but he used to follow me, and kick up such a riot when he was drunk, that i could not keep a place; nay, he even stole my clothes, and pawned them; and when i went to the pawnbroker's, and offered to take my oath that they were not bought with a farthing of his money, they said, 'it was all as one, my husband had a right to whatever i had.' "'at last he listed for a soldier, and i took a house, making an agreement to pay for the furniture by degrees; and i almost starved myself, till i once more got before-hand in the world. "'after an absence of six years (god forgive me! i thought he was dead) my husband returned; found me out, and came with such a penitent face, i forgave him, and clothed him from head to foot. but he had not been a week in the house, before some of his creditors arrested him; and, he selling my goods, i found myself once more reduced to beggary; for i was not as well able to work, go to bed late, and rise early, as when i quitted service; and then i thought it hard enough. he was soon tired of me, when there was nothing more to be had, and left me again. "'i will not tell you how i was buffeted about, till, hearing for certain that he had died in an hospital abroad, i once more returned to my old occupation; but have not yet been able to get my head above water: so, madam, you must not be angry if i am afraid to run any risk, when i know so well, that women have always the worst of it, when law is to decide.' "after uttering a few more complaints, i prevailed on my landlady to go out in quest of a lodging; and, to be more secure, i condescended to the mean shift of changing my name. "but why should i dwell on similar incidents!--i was hunted, like an infected beast, from three different apartments, and should not have been allowed to rest in any, had not mr. venables, informed of my uncle's dangerous state of health, been inspired with the fear of hurrying me out of the world as i advanced in my pregnancy, by thus tormenting and obliging me to take sudden journeys to avoid him; and then his speculations on my uncle's fortune must prove abortive. "one day, when he had pursued me to an inn, i fainted, hurrying from him; and, falling down, the sight of my blood alarmed him, and obtained a respite for me. it is strange that he should have retained any hope, after observing my unwavering determination; but, from the mildness of my behaviour, when i found all my endeavours to change his disposition unavailing, he formed an erroneous opinion of my character, imagining that, were we once more together, i should part with the money he could not legally force from me, with the same facility as formerly. my forbearance and occasional sympathy he had mistaken for weakness of character; and, because he perceived that i disliked resistance, he thought my indulgence and compassion mere selfishness, and never discovered that the fear of being unjust, or of unnecessarily wounding the feelings of another, was much more painful to me, than any thing i could have to endure myself. perhaps it was pride which made me imagine, that i could bear what i dreaded to inflict; and that it was often easier to suffer, than to see the sufferings of others. "i forgot to mention that, during this persecution, i received a letter from my uncle, informing me, 'that he only found relief from continual change of air; and that he intended to return when the spring was a little more advanced (it was now the middle of february), and then we would plan a journey to italy, leaving the fogs and cares of england far behind.' he approved of my conduct, promised to adopt my child, and seemed to have no doubt of obliging mr. venables to hear reason. he wrote to his friend, by the same post, desiring him to call on mr. venables in his name; and, in consequence of the remonstrances he dictated, i was permitted to lie-in tranquilly. "the two or three weeks previous, i had been allowed to rest in peace; but, so accustomed was i to pursuit and alarm, that i seldom closed my eyes without being haunted by mr. venables' image, who seemed to assume terrific or hateful forms to torment me, wherever i turned.--sometimes a wild cat, a roaring bull, or hideous assassin, whom i vainly attempted to fly; at others he was a demon, hurrying me to the brink of a precipice, plunging me into dark waves, or horrid gulfs; and i woke, in violent fits of trembling anxiety, to assure myself that it was all a dream, and to endeavour to lure my waking thoughts to wander to the delightful italian vales, i hoped soon to visit; or to picture some august ruins, where i reclined in fancy on a mouldering column, and escaped, in the contemplation of the heart-enlarging virtues of antiquity, from the turmoil of cares that had depressed all the daring purposes of my soul. but i was not long allowed to calm my mind by the exercise of my imagination; for the third day after your birth, my child, i was surprised by a visit from my elder brother; who came in the most abrupt manner, to inform me of the death of my uncle. he had left the greater part of his fortune to my child, appointing me its guardian; in short, every step was taken to enable me to be mistress of his fortune, without putting any part of it in mr. venables' power. my brother came to vent his rage on me, for having, as he expressed himself, 'deprived him, my uncle's eldest nephew, of his inheritance;' though my uncle's property, the fruit of his own exertion, being all in the funds, or on landed securities, there was not a shadow of justice in the charge. "as i sincerely loved my uncle, this intelligence brought on a fever, which i struggled to conquer with all the energy of my mind; for, in my desolate state, i had it very much at heart to suckle you, my poor babe. you seemed my only tie to life, a cherub, to whom i wished to be a father, as well as a mother; and the double duty appeared to me to produce a proportionate increase of affection. but the pleasure i felt, while sustaining you, snatched from the wreck of hope, was cruelly damped by melancholy reflections on my widowed state--widowed by the death of my uncle. of mr. venables i thought not, even when i thought of the felicity of loving your father, and how a mother's pleasure might be exalted, and her care softened by a husband's tenderness.--'ought to be!' i exclaimed; and i endeavoured to drive away the tenderness that suffocated me; but my spirits were weak, and the unbidden tears would flow. 'why was i,' i would ask thee, but thou didst not heed me,--'cut off from the participation of the sweetest pleasure of life?' i imagined with what extacy, after the pains of child-bed, i should have presented my little stranger, whom i had so long wished to view, to a respectable father, and with what maternal fondness i should have pressed them both to my heart!--now i kissed her with less delight, though with the most endearing compassion, poor helpless one! when i perceived a slight resemblance of him, to whom she owed her existence; or, if any gesture reminded me of him, even in his best days, my heart heaved, and i pressed the innocent to my bosom, as if to purify it--yes, i blushed to think that its purity had been sullied, by allowing such a man to be its father. "after my recovery, i began to think of taking a house in the country, or of making an excursion on the continent, to avoid mr. venables; and to open my heart to new pleasures and affection. the spring was melting into summer, and you, my little companion, began to smile--that smile made hope bud out afresh, assuring me the world was not a desert. your gestures were ever present to my fancy; and i dwelt on the joy i should feel when you would begin to walk and lisp. watching your wakening mind, and shielding from every rude blast my tender blossom, i recovered my spirits--i dreamed not of the frost--'the killing frost,' to which you were destined to be exposed.--but i lose all patience--and execrate the injustice of the world--folly! ignorance!--i should rather call it; but, shut up from a free circulation of thought, and always pondering on the same griefs, i writhe under the torturing apprehensions, which ought to excite only honest indignation, or active compassion; and would, could i view them as the natural consequence of things. but, born a woman--and born to suffer, in endeavouring to repress my own emotions, i feel more acutely the various ills my sex are fated to bear--i feel that the evils they are subject to endure, degrade them so far below their oppressors, as almost to justify their tyranny; leading at the same time superficial reasoners to term that weakness the cause, which is only the consequence of short-sighted despotism. footnotes: [ -a] the introduction of darnford as the deliverer of maria, in an early stage of the history, is already stated (chap. iii.) to have been an after-thought of the author. this has probably caused the imperfectness of the manuscript in the above passage; though, at the same time, it must be acknowledged to be somewhat uncertain, whether darnford is the stranger intended in this place. it appears from chap. xvii. that an interference of a more decisive nature was designed to be attributed to him. editor. chap. xiv. "as my mind grew calmer, the visions of italy again returned with their former glow of colouring; and i resolved on quitting the kingdom for a time, in search of the cheerfulness, that naturally results from a change of scene, unless we carry the barbed arrow with us, and only see what we feel. "during the period necessary to prepare for a long absence, i sent a supply to pay my father's debts, and settled my brothers in eligible situations; but my attention was not wholly engrossed by my family, though i do not think it necessary to enumerate the common exertions of humanity. the manner in which my uncle's property was settled, prevented me from making the addition to the fortune of my surviving sister, that i could have wished; but i had prevailed on him to bequeath her two thousand pounds, and she determined to marry a lover, to whom she had been some time attached. had it not been for this engagement, i should have invited her to accompany me in my tour; and i might have escaped the pit, so artfully dug in my path, when i was the least aware of danger. "i had thought of remaining in england, till i weaned my child; but this state of freedom was too peaceful to last, and i had soon reason to wish to hasten my departure. a friend of mr. venables, the same attorney who had accompanied him in several excursions to hunt me from my hiding places, waited on me to propose a reconciliation. on my refusal, he indirectly advised me to make over to my husband--for husband he would term him--the greater part of the property i had at command, menacing me with continual persecution unless i complied, and that, as a last resort, he would claim the child. i did not, though intimidated by the last insinuation, scruple to declare, that i would not allow him to squander the money left to me for far different purposes, but offered him five hundred pounds, if he would sign a bond not to torment me any more. my maternal anxiety made me thus appear to waver from my first determination, and probably suggested to him, or his diabolical agent, the infernal plot, which has succeeded but too well. "the bond was executed; still i was impatient to leave england. mischief hung in the air when we breathed the same; i wanted seas to divide us, and waters to roll between, till he had forgotten that i had the means of helping him through a new scheme. disturbed by the late occurrences, i instantly prepared for my departure. my only delay was waiting for a maid-servant, who spoke french fluently, and had been warmly recommended to me. a valet i was advised to hire, when i fixed on my place of residence for any time. "my god, with what a light heart did i set out for dover!--it was not my country, but my cares, that i was leaving behind. my heart seemed to bound with the wheels, or rather appeared the centre on which they twirled. i clasped you to my bosom, exclaiming 'and you will be safe--quite safe--when--we are once on board the packet.--would we were there!' i smiled at my idle fears, as the natural effect of continual alarm; and i scarcely owned to myself that i dreaded mr. venables's cunning, or was conscious of the horrid delight he would feel, at forming stratagem after stratagem to circumvent me. i was already in the snare--i never reached the packet--i never saw thee more.--i grow breathless. i have scarcely patience to write down the details. the maid--the plausible woman i had hired--put, doubtless, some stupifying potion in what i ate or drank, the morning i left town. all i know is, that she must have quitted the chaise, shameless wretch! and taken (from my breast) my babe with her. how could a creature in a female form see me caress thee, and steal thee from my arms! i must stop, stop to repress a mother's anguish; left, in bitterness of soul, i imprecate the wrath of heaven on this tiger, who tore my only comfort from me. "how long i slept i know not; certainly many hours, for i woke at the close of day, in a strange confusion of thought. i was probably roused to recollection by some one thundering at a huge, unwieldy gate. attempting to ask where i was, my voice died away, and i tried to raise it in vain, as i have done in a dream. i looked for my babe with affright; feared that it had fallen out of my lap, while i had so strangely forgotten her; and, such was the vague intoxication, i can give it no other name, in which i was plunged, i could not recollect when or where i last saw you; but i sighed, as if my heart wanted room to clear my head. "the gates opened heavily, and the sullen sound of many locks and bolts drawn back, grated on my very soul, before i was appalled by the creeking of the dismal hinges, as they closed after me. the gloomy pile was before me, half in ruins; some of the aged trees of the avenue were cut down, and left to rot where they fell; and as we approached some mouldering steps, a monstrous dog darted forwards to the length of his chain, and barked and growled infernally. "the door was opened slowly, and a murderous visage peeped out, with a lantern. 'hush!' he uttered, in a threatning tone, and the affrighted animal stole back to his kennel. the door of the chaise flew back, the stranger put down the lantern, and clasped his dreadful arms around me. it was certainly the effect of the soporific draught, for, instead of exerting my strength, i sunk without motion, though not without sense, on his shoulder, my limbs refusing to obey my will. i was carried up the steps into a close-shut hall. a candle flaring in the socket, scarcely dispersed the darkness, though it displayed to me the ferocious countenance of the wretch who held me. "he mounted a wide staircase. large figures painted on the walls seemed to start on me, and glaring eyes to meet me at every turn. entering a long gallery, a dismal shriek made me spring out of my conductor's arms, with i know not what mysterious emotion of terror; but i fell on the floor, unable to sustain myself. "a strange-looking female started out of one of the recesses, and observed me with more curiosity than interest; till, sternly bid retire, she flitted back like a shadow. other faces, strongly marked, or distorted, peeped through the half-opened doors, and i heard some incoherent sounds. i had no distinct idea where i could be--i looked on all sides, and almost doubted whether i was alive or dead. "thrown on a bed, i immediately sunk into insensibility again; and next day, gradually recovering the use of reason, i began, starting affrighted from the conviction, to discover where i was confined--i insisted on seeing the master of the mansion--i saw him--and perceived that i was buried alive.-- "such, my child, are the events of thy mother's life to this dreadful moment--should she ever escape from the fangs of her enemies, she will add the secrets of her prison-house--and--" some lines were here crossed out, and the memoirs broke off abruptly with the names of jemima and darnford. appendix. [advertisement. the performance, with a fragment of which the reader has now been presented, was designed to consist of three parts. the preceding sheets were considered as constituting one of those parts. those persons who in the perusal of the chapters, already written and in some degree finished by the author, have felt their hearts awakened, and their curiosity excited as to the sequel of the story, will, of course, gladly accept even of the broken paragraphs and half-finished sentences, which have been found committed to paper, as materials for the remainder. the fastidious and cold-hearted critic may perhaps feel himself repelled by the incoherent form in which they are presented. but an inquisitive temper willingly accepts the most imperfect and mutilated information, where better is not to be had: and readers, who in any degree resemble the author in her quick apprehension of sentiment, and of the pleasures and pains of imagination, will, i believe, find gratification, in contemplating sketches, which were designed in a short time to have received the finishing touches of her genius; but which must now for ever remain a mark to record the triumphs of mortality, over schemes of usefulness, and projects of public interest.] chap. xv. darnford returned the memoirs to maria, with a most affectionate letter, in which he reasoned on "the absurdity of the laws respecting matrimony, which, till divorces could be more easily obtained, was," he declared, "the most insufferable bondage. ties of this nature could not bind minds governed by superior principles; and such beings were privileged to act above the dictates of laws they had no voice in framing, if they had sufficient strength of mind to endure the natural consequence. in her case, to talk of duty, was a farce, excepting what was due to herself. delicacy, as well as reason, forbade her ever to think of returning to her husband: was she then to restrain her charming sensibility through mere prejudice? these arguments were not absolutely impartial, for he disdained to conceal, that, when he appealed to her reason, he felt that he had some interest in her heart.--the conviction was not more transporting, than sacred--a thousand times a day, he asked himself how he had merited such happiness?--and as often he determined to purify the heart she deigned to inhabit--he intreated to be again admitted to her presence." he was; and the tear which glistened in his eye, when he respectfully pressed her to his bosom, rendered him peculiarly dear to the unfortunate mother. grief had stilled the transports of love, only to render their mutual tenderness more touching. in former interviews, darnford had contrived, by a hundred little pretexts, to sit near her, to take her hand, or to meet her eyes--now it was all soothing affection, and esteem seemed to have rivalled love. he adverted to her narrative, and spoke with warmth of the oppression she had endured.--his eyes, glowing with a lambent flame, told her how much he wished to restore her to liberty and love; but he kissed her hand, as if it had been that of a saint; and spoke of the loss of her child, as if it had been his own.--what could have been more flattering to maria?--every instance of self-denial was registered in her heart, and she loved him, for loving her too well to give way to the transports of passion. they met again and again; and darnford declared, while passion suffused his cheeks, that he never before knew what it was to love.-- one morning jemima informed maria, that her master intended to wait on her, and speak to her without witnesses. he came, and brought a letter with him, pretending that he was ignorant of its contents, though he insisted on having it returned to him. it was from the attorney already mentioned, who informed her of the death of her child, and hinted, "that she could not now have a legitimate heir, and that, would she make over the half of her fortune during life, she should be conveyed to dover, and permitted to pursue her plan of travelling." maria answered with warmth, "that she had no terms to make with the murderer of her babe, nor would she purchase liberty at the price of her own respect." she began to expostulate with her jailor; but he sternly bade her "be silent--he had not gone so far, not to go further." darnford came in the evening. jemima was obliged to be absent, and she, as usual, locked the door on them, to prevent interruption or discovery.--the lovers were, at first, embarrassed; but fell insensibly into confidential discourse. darnford represented, "that they might soon be parted," and wished her "to put it out of the power of fate to separate them." as her husband she now received him, and he solemnly pledged himself as her protector--and eternal friend.-- there was one peculiarity in maria's mind: she was more anxious not to deceive, than to guard against deception; and had rather trust without sufficient reason, than be for ever the prey of doubt. besides, what are we, when the mind has, from reflection, a certain kind of elevation, which exalts the contemplation above the little concerns of prudence! we see what we wish, and make a world of our own--and, though reality may sometimes open a door to misery, yet the moments of happiness procured by the imagination, may, without a paradox, be reckoned among the solid comforts of life. maria now, imagining that she had found a being of celestial mould--was happy,--nor was she deceived.--he was then plastic in her impassioned hand--and reflected all the sentiments which animated and warmed her. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- chap. xvi. one morning confusion seemed to reign in the house, and jemima came in terror, to inform maria, "that her master had left it, with a determination, she was assured (and too many circumstances corroborated the opinion, to leave a doubt of its truth) of never returning. i am prepared then," said jemima, "to accompany you in your flight." maria started up, her eyes darting towards the door, as if afraid that some one should fasten it on her for ever. jemima continued, "i have perhaps no right now to expect the performance of your promise; but on you it depends to reconcile me with the human race." "but darnford!"--exclaimed maria, mournfully--sitting down again, and crossing her arms--"i have no child to go to, and liberty has lost its sweets." "i am much mistaken, if darnford is not the cause of my master's flight--his keepers assure me, that they have promised to confine him two days longer, and then he will be free--you cannot see him; but they will give a letter to him the moment he is free.--in that inform him where he may find you in london; fix on some hotel. give me your clothes; i will send them out of the house with mine, and we will slip out at the garden-gate. write your letter while i make these arrangements, but lose no time!" in an agitation of spirit, not to be calmed, maria began to write to darnford. she called him by the sacred name of "husband," and bade him "hasten to her, to share her fortune, or she would return to him."--an hotel in the adelphi was the place of rendezvous. the letter was sealed and given in charge; and with light footsteps, yet terrified at the sound of them, she descended, scarcely breathing, and with an indistinct fear that she should never get out at the garden gate. jemima went first. a being, with a visage that would have suited one possessed by a devil, crossed the path, and seized maria by the arm. maria had no fear but of being detained--"who are you? what are you?" for the form was scarcely human. "if you are made of flesh and blood," his ghastly eyes glared on her, "do not stop me!" "woman," interrupted a sepulchral voice, "what have i to do with thee?"--still he grasped her hand, muttering a curse. "no, no; you have nothing to do with me," she exclaimed, "this is a moment of life and death!"-- with supernatural force she broke from him, and, throwing her arms round jemima, cried, "save me!" the being, from whose grasp she had loosed herself, took up a stone as they opened the door, and with a kind of hellish sport threw it after them. they were out of his reach. when maria arrived in town, she drove to the hotel already fixed on. but she could not sit still--her child was ever before her; and all that had passed during her confinement, appeared to be a dream. she went to the house in the suburbs, where, as she now discovered, her babe had been sent. the moment she entered, her heart grew sick; but she wondered not that it had proved its grave. she made the necessary enquiries, and the church-yard was pointed out, in which it rested under a turf. a little frock which the nurse's child wore (maria had made it herself) caught her eye. the nurse was glad to sell it for half-a-guinea, and maria hastened away with the relic, and, re-entering the hackney-coach which waited for her, gazed on it, till she reached her hotel. she then waited on the attorney who had made her uncle's will, and explained to him her situation. he readily advanced her some of the money which still remained in his hands, and promised to take the whole of the case into consideration. maria only wished to be permitted to remain in quiet--she found that several bills, apparently with her signature, had been presented to her agent, nor was she for a moment at a loss to guess by whom they had been forged; yet, equally averse to threaten or intreat, she requested her friend [the solicitor] to call on mr. venables. he was not to be found at home; but at length his agent, the attorney, offered a conditional promise to maria, to leave her in peace, as long as she behaved with propriety, if she would give up the notes. maria inconsiderately consented--darnford was arrived, and she wished to be only alive to love; she wished to forget the anguish she felt whenever she thought of her child. they took a ready furnished lodging together, for she was above disguise; jemima insisting on being considered as her house-keeper, and to receive the customary stipend. on no other terms would she remain with her friend. darnford was indefatigable in tracing the mysterious circumstances of his confinement. the cause was simply, that a relation, a very distant one, to whom he was heir, had died intestate, leaving a considerable fortune. on the news of darnford's arrival [in england, a person, intrusted with the management of the property, and who had the writings in his possession, determining, by one bold stroke, to strip darnford of the succession,] had planned his confinement; and [as soon as he had taken the measures he judged most conducive to his object, this ruffian, together with his instrument,] the keeper of the private mad-house, left the kingdom. darnford, who still pursued his enquiries, at last discovered that they had fixed their place of refuge at paris. maria and he determined therefore, with the faithful jemima, to visit that metropolis, and accordingly were preparing for the journey, when they were informed that mr. venables had commenced an action against darnford for seduction and adultery. the indignation maria felt cannot be explained; she repented of the forbearance she had exercised in giving up the notes. darnford could not put off his journey, without risking the loss of his property: maria therefore furnished him with money for his expedition; and determined to remain in london till the termination of this affair. she visited some ladies with whom she had formerly been intimate, but was refused admittance; and at the opera, or ranelagh, they could not recollect her. among these ladies there were some, not her most intimate acquaintance, who were generally supposed to avail themselves of the cloke of marriage, to conceal a mode of conduct, that would for ever have damned their fame, had they been innocent, seduced girls. these particularly stood aloof.--had she remained with her husband, practising insincerity, and neglecting her child to manage an intrigue, she would still have been visited and respected. if, instead of openly living with her lover, she could have condescended to call into play a thousand arts, which, degrading her own mind, might have allowed the people who were not deceived, to pretend to be so, she would have been caressed and treated like an honourable woman. "and brutus[ -a] is an honourable man!" said mark-antony with equal sincerity. with darnford she did not taste uninterrupted felicity; there was a volatility in his manner which often distressed her; but love gladdened the scene; besides, he was the most tender, sympathizing creature in the world. a fondness for the sex often gives an appearance of humanity to the behaviour of men, who have small pretensions to the reality; and they seem to love others, when they are only pursuing their own gratification. darnford appeared ever willing to avail himself of her taste and acquirements, while she endeavoured to profit by his decision of character, and to eradicate some of the romantic notions, which had taken root in her mind, while in adversity she had brooded over visions of unattainable bliss. the real affections of life, when they are allowed to burst forth, are buds pregnant with joy and all the sweet emotions of the soul; yet they branch out with wild ease, unlike the artificial forms of felicity, sketched by an imagination painful alive. the substantial happiness, which enlarges and civilizes the mind, may be compared to the pleasure experienced in roving through nature at large, inhaling the sweet gale natural to the clime; while the reveries of a feverish imagination continually sport themselves in gardens full of aromatic shrubs, which cloy while they delight, and weaken the sense of pleasure they gratify. the heaven of fancy, below or beyond the stars, in this life, or in those ever-smiling regions surrounded by the unmarked ocean of futurity, have an insipid uniformity which palls. poets have imagined scenes of bliss; but, fencing out sorrow, all the extatic emotions of the soul, and even its grandeur, seem to be equally excluded. we dose over the unruffled lake, and long to scale the rocks which fence the happy valley of contentment, though serpents hiss in the pathless desert, and danger lurks in the unexplored wiles. maria found herself more indulgent as she was happier, and discovered virtues, in characters she had before disregarded, while chasing the phantoms of elegance and excellence, which sported in the meteors that exhale in the marshes of misfortune. the heart is often shut by romance against social pleasure; and, fostering a sickly sensibility, grows callous to the soft touches of humanity. to part with darnford was indeed cruel.--it was to feel most painfully alone; but she rejoiced to think, that she should spare him the care and perplexity of the suit, and meet him again, all his own. marriage, as at present constituted, she considered as leading to immorality--yet, as the odium of society impedes usefulness, she wished to avow her affection to darnford, by becoming his wife according to established rules; not to be confounded with women who act from very different motives, though her conduct would be just the same without the ceremony as with it, and her expectations from him not less firm. the being summoned to defend herself from a charge which she was determined to plead guilty to, was still galling, as it roused bitter reflections on the situation of women in society. footnotes: [ -a] the name in the manuscript is by mistake written cæsar. editor. chap. xvii. such was her state of mind when the dogs of law were let loose on her. maria took the task of conducting darnford's defence upon herself. she instructed his counsel to plead guilty to the charge of adultery; but to deny that of seduction. the counsel for the plaintiff opened the cause, by observing, "that his client had ever been an indulgent husband, and had borne with several defects of temper, while he had nothing criminal to lay to the charge of his wife. but that she left his house without assigning any cause. he could not assert that she was then acquainted with the defendant; yet, when he was once endeavouring to bring her back to her home, this man put the peace-officers to flight, and took her he knew not whither. after the birth of her child, her conduct was so strange, and a melancholy malady having afflicted one of the family, which delicacy forbade the dwelling on, it was necessary to confine her. by some means the defendant enabled her to make her escape, and they had lived together, in despite of all sense of order and decorum. the adultery was allowed, it was not necessary to bring any witnesses to prove it; but the seduction, though highly probable from the circumstances which he had the honour to state, could not be so clearly proved.--it was of the most atrocious kind, as decency was set at defiance, and respect for reputation, which shows internal compunction, utterly disregarded." a strong sense of injustice had silenced every emotion, which a mixture of true and false delicacy might otherwise have excited in maria's bosom. she only felt in earnest to insist on the privilege of her nature. the sarcasms of society, and the condemnation of a mistaken world, were nothing to her, compared with acting contrary to those feelings which were the foundation of her principles. [she therefore eagerly put herself forward, instead of desiring to be absent, on this memorable occasion.] convinced that the subterfuges of the law were disgraceful, she wrote a paper, which she expressly desired might be read in court: "married when scarcely able to distinguish the nature of the engagement, i yet submitted to the rigid laws which enslave women, and obeyed the man whom i could no longer love. whether the duties of the state are reciprocal, i mean not to discuss; but i can prove repeated infidelities which i overlooked or pardoned. witnesses are not wanting to establish these facts. i at present maintain the child of a maid servant, sworn to him, and born after our marriage. i am ready to allow, that education and circumstances lead men to think and act with less delicacy, than the preservation of order in society demands from women; but surely i may without assumption declare, that, though i could excuse the birth, i could not the desertion of this unfortunate babe:--and, while i despised the man, it was not easy to venerate the husband. with proper restrictions however, i revere the institution which fraternizes the world. i exclaim against the laws which throw the whole weight of the yoke on the weaker shoulders, and force women, when they claim protectorship as mothers, to sign a contract, which renders them dependent on the caprice of the tyrant, whom choice or necessity has appointed to reign over them. various are the cases, in which a woman ought to separate herself from her husband; and mine, i may be allowed emphatically to insist, comes under the description of the most aggravated. "i will not enlarge on those provocations which only the individual can estimate; but will bring forward such charges only, the truth of which is an insult upon humanity. in order to promote certain destructive speculations, mr. venables prevailed on me to borrow certain sums of a wealthy relation; and, when i refused further compliance, he thought of bartering my person; and not only allowed opportunities to, but urged, a friend from whom he borrowed money, to seduce me. on the discovery of this act of atrocity, i determined to leave him, and in the most decided manner, for ever. i consider all obligation as made void by his conduct; and hold, that schisms which proceed from want of principles, can never be healed. "he received a fortune with me to the amount of five thousand pounds. on the death of my uncle, convinced that i could provide for my child, i destroyed the settlement of that fortune. i required none of my property to be returned to me, nor shall enumerate the sums extorted from me during six years that we lived together. "after leaving, what the law considers as my home, i was hunted like a criminal from place to place, though i contracted no debts, and demanded no maintenance--yet, as the laws sanction such proceeding, and make women the property of their husbands, i forbear to animadvert. after the birth of my daughter, and the death of my uncle, who left a very considerable property to myself and child, i was exposed to new persecution; and, because i had, before arriving at what is termed years of discretion, pledged my faith, i was treated by the world, as bound for ever to a man whose vices were notorious. yet what are the vices generally known, to the various miseries that a woman may be subject to, which, though deeply felt, eating into the soul, elude description, and may be glossed over! a false morality is even established, which makes all the virtue of women consist in chastity, submission, and the forgiveness of injuries. "i pardon my oppressor--bitterly as i lament the loss of my child, torn from me in the most violent manner. but nature revolts, and my soul sickens at the bare supposition, that it could ever be a duty to pretend affection, when a separation is necessary to prevent my feeling hourly aversion. "to force me to give my fortune, i was imprisoned--yes; in a private mad-house.--there, in the heart of misery, i met the man charged with seducing me. we became attached--i deemed, and ever shall deem, myself free. the death of my babe dissolved the only tie which subsisted between me and my, what is termed, lawful husband. "to this person, thus encountered, i voluntarily gave myself, never considering myself as any more bound to transgress the laws of moral purity, because the will of my husband might be pleaded in my excuse, than to transgress those laws to which [the policy of artificial society has] annexed [positive] punishments.----while no command of a husband can prevent a woman from suffering for certain crimes, she must be allowed to consult her conscience, and regulate her conduct, in some degree, by her own sense of right. the respect i owe to myself, demanded my strict adherence to my determination of never viewing mr. venables in the light of a husband, nor could it forbid me from encouraging another. if i am unfortunately united to an unprincipled man, am i for ever to be shut out from fulfilling the duties of a wife and mother?--i wish my country to approve of my conduct; but, if laws exist, made by the strong to oppress the weak, i appeal to my own sense of justice, and declare that i will not live with the individual, who has violated every moral obligation which binds man to man. "i protest equally against any charge being brought to criminate the man, whom i consider as my husband. i was six-and-twenty when i left mr. venables' roof; if ever i am to be supposed to arrive at an age to direct my own actions, i must by that time have arrived at it.--i acted with deliberation.--mr. darnford found me a forlorn and oppressed woman, and promised the protection women in the present state of society want.--but the man who now claims me--was he deprived of my society by this conduct? the question is an insult to common sense, considering where mr. darnford met me.--mr. venables' door was indeed open to me--nay, threats and intreaties were used to induce me to return; but why? was affection or honour the motive?--i cannot, it is true, dive into the recesses of the human heart--yet i presume to assert, [borne out as i am by a variety of circumstances,] that he was merely influenced by the most rapacious avarice. "i claim then a divorce, and the liberty of enjoying, free from molestation, the fortune left to me by a relation, who was well aware of the character of the man with whom i had to contend.--i appeal to the justice and humanity of the jury--a body of men, whose private judgment must be allowed to modify laws, that must be unjust, because definite rules can never apply to indefinite circumstances--and i deprecate punishment upon the man of my choice, freeing him, as i solemnly do, from the charge of seduction.] "i did not put myself into a situation to justify a charge of adultery, till i had, from conviction, shaken off the fetters which bound me to mr. venables.--while i lived with him, i defy the voice of calumny to sully what is termed the fair fame of woman.--neglected by my husband, i never encouraged a lover; and preserved with scrupulous care, what is termed my honour, at the expence of my peace, till he, who should have been its guardian, laid traps to ensnare me. from that moment i believed myself, in the sight of heaven, free--and no power on earth shall force me to renounce my resolution." the judge, in summing up the evidence, alluded to "the fallacy of letting women plead their feelings, as an excuse for the violation of the marriage-vow. for his part, he had always determined to oppose all innovation, and the new-fangled notions which incroached on the good old rules of conduct. we did not want french principles in public or private life--and, if women were allowed to plead their feelings, as an excuse or palliation of infidelity, it was opening a flood-gate for immorality. what virtuous woman thought of her feelings?--it was her duty to love and obey the man chosen by her parents and relations, who were qualified by their experience to judge better for her, than she could for herself. as to the charges brought against the husband, they were vague, supported by no witnesses, excepting that of imprisonment in a private mad-house. the proofs of an insanity in the family, might render that however a prudent measure; and indeed the conduct of the lady did not appear that of a person of sane mind. still such a mode of proceeding could not be justified, and might perhaps entitle the lady [in another court] to a sentence of separation from bed and board, during the joint lives of the parties; but he hoped that no englishman would legalize adultery, by enabling the adulteress to enrich her seducer. too many restrictions could not be thrown in the way of divorces, if we wished to maintain the sanctity of marriage; and, though they might bear a little hard on a few, very few individuals, it was evidently for the good of the whole." conclusion, by the editor. very few hints exist respecting the plan of the remainder of the work. i find only two detached sentences, and some scattered heads for the continuation of the story. i transcribe the whole. i. "darnford's letters were affectionate; but circumstances occasioned delays, and the miscarriage of some letters rendered the reception of wished-for answers doubtful: his return was necessary to calm maria's mind." ii. "as darnford had informed her that his business was settled, his delaying to return seemed extraordinary; but love to excess, excludes fear or suspicion." * * * * * the scattered heads for the continuation of the story, are as follow[ -a]. i. "trial for adultery--maria defends herself--a separation from bed and board is the consequence--her fortune is thrown into chancery--darnford obtains a part of his property--maria goes into the country." ii. "a prosecution for adultery commenced--trial--darnford sets out for france--letters--once more pregnant--he returns--mysterious behaviour--visit--expectation--discovery--interview--consequence." iii. "sued by her husband--damages awarded to him--separation from bed and board--darnford goes abroad--maria into the country--provides for her father--is shunned--returns to london--expects to see her lover--the rack of expectation--finds herself again with child--delighted--a discovery--a visit--a miscarriage--conclusion." iv. "divorced by her husband--her lover unfaithful--pregnancy--miscarriage--suicide." * * * * * [the following passage appears in some respects to deviate from the preceding hints. it is superscribed] "the end. "she swallowed the laudanum; her soul was calm--the tempest had subsided--and nothing remained but an eager longing to forget herself--to fly from the anguish she endured to escape from thought--from this hell of disappointment. "still her eyes closed not--one remembrance with frightful velocity followed another--all the incidents of her life were in arms, embodied to assail her, and prevent her sinking into the sleep of death.--her murdered child again appeared to her, mourning for the babe of which she was the tomb.--'and could it have a nobler?--surely it is better to die with me, than to enter on life without a mother's care!--i cannot live!--but could i have deserted my child the moment it was born?--thrown it on the troubled wave of life, without a hand to support it?'--she looked up: 'what have i not suffered!--may i find a father where i am going!'--her head turned; a stupor ensued; a faintness--'have a little patience,' said maria, holding her swimming head (she thought of her mother), 'this cannot last long; and what is a little bodily pain to the pangs i have endured?' "a new vision swam before her. jemima seemed to enter--leading a little creature, that, with tottering footsteps, approached the bed. the voice of jemima sounding as at a distance, called her--she tried to listen, to speak, to look! "'behold your child!' exclaimed jemima. maria started off the bed, and fainted.--violent vomiting followed. "when she was restored to life, jemima addressed her with great solemnity: '------ led me to suspect, that your husband and brother had deceived you, and secreted the child. i would not torment you with doubtful hopes, and i left you (at a fatal moment) to search for the child!--i snatched her from misery--and (now she is alive again) would you leave her alone in the world, to endure what i have endured?' "maria gazed wildly at her, her whole frame was convulsed with emotion; when the child, whom jemima had been tutoring all the journey, uttered the word 'mamma!' she caught her to her bosom, and burst into a passion of tears--then, resting the child gently on the bed, as if afraid of killing it,--she put her hand to her eyes, to conceal as it were the agonizing struggle of her soul. she remained silent for five minutes, crossing her arms over her bosom, and reclining her head,--then exclaimed: 'the conflict is over!--i will live for my child!'" * * * * * a few readers perhaps, in looking over these hints, will wonder how it could have been practicable, without tediousness, or remitting in any degree the interest of the story, to have filled, from these slight sketches, a number of pages, more considerable than those which have been already presented. but, in reality, these hints, simple as they are, are pregnant with passion and distress. it is the refuge of barren authors only, to crowd their fictions with so great a number of events, as to suffer no one of them to sink into the reader's mind. it is the province of true genius to develop events, to discover their capabilities, to ascertain the different passions and sentiments with which they are fraught, and to diversify them with incidents, that give reality to the picture, and take a hold upon the mind of a reader of taste, from which they can never be loosened. it was particularly the design of the author, in the present instance, to make her story subordinate to a great moral purpose, that "of exhibiting the misery and oppression, peculiar to women, that arise out of the partial laws and customs of society.--this view restrained her fancy[ -a]." it was necessary for her, to place in a striking point of view, evils that are too frequently overlooked, and to drag into light those details of oppression, of which the grosser and more insensible part of mankind make little account. the end. footnotes: [ -a] to understand these minutes, it is necessary the reader should consider each of them as setting out from the same point in the story, _viz._ the point to which it is brought down in the preceding chapter. [ -a] see author's preface. lessons. advertisement, by the editor. the following pages will, i believe, be judged by every reader of taste to have been worth preserving, among the other testimonies the author left behind her, of her genius and the soundness of her understanding. to such readers i leave the task of comparing these lessons, with other works of the same nature previously published. it is obvious that the author has struck out a path of her own, and by no means intrenched upon the plans of her predecessors. it may however excite surprise in some persons to find these papers annexed to the conclusion of a novel. all i have to offer on this subject, consists in the following considerations: first, something is to be allowed for the difficulty of arranging the miscellaneous papers upon very different subjects, which will frequently constitute an author's posthumous works. * * * * * secondly, the small portion they occupy in the present volume, will perhaps be accepted as an apology, by such good-natured readers (if any such there are), to whom the perusal of them shall be a matter of perfect indifference. * * * * * thirdly, the circumstance which determined me in annexing them to the present work, was the slight association (in default of a strong one) between the affectionate and pathetic manner in which maria venables addresses her infant, in the wrongs of woman; and the agonising and painful sentiment with which the author originally bequeathed these papers, as a legacy for the benefit of her child. lessons. _the first book of a series which i intended to have written for my unfortunate girl[ -a]._ lesson i. cat. dog. cow. horse. sheep. pig. bird. fly. man. boy. girl. child. head. hair. face. nose. mouth. chin. neck. arms. hand. leg. foot. back. breast. house. wall. field. street. stone. grass. bed. chair. door. pot. spoon. knife. fork. plate. cup. box. boy. bell. tree. leaf. stick. whip. cart. coach. frock. hat. coat. shoes. shift. cap. bread. milk. tea. meat. drink. cake. lesson ii. come. walk. run. go. jump. dance. ride. sit. stand. play. hold. shake. speak. sing. cry. laugh. call. fall. day. night. sun. moon. light. dark. sleep. wake. wash. dress. kiss. comb. fire. hot. burn. wind. rain. cold. hurt. tear. break. spill. book. see. look. sweet. good. clean. gone. lost. hide. keep. give. take. one. two. three. four. five. six. seven. eight. nine. ten. white. black. red. blue. green. brown. lesson iii. stroke the cat. play with the dog. eat the bread. drink the milk. hold the cup. lay down the knife. look at the fly. see the horse. shut the door. bring the chair. ring the bell. get your book. hide your face. wipe your nose. wash your hands. dirty hands. why do you cry? a clean mouth. shake hands. i love you. kiss me now. good girl. the bird sings. the fire burns. the cat jumps. the dog runs. the bird flies. the cow lies down. the man laughs. the child cries. lesson iv. let me comb your head. ask betty to wash your face. go and see for some bread. drink milk, if you are dry. play on the floor with the ball. do not touch the ink; you will black your hands. what do you want to say to me? speak slow, not so fast. did you fall? you will not cry, not you; the baby cries. will you walk in the fields? lesson v. come to me, my little girl. are you tired of playing? yes. sit down and rest yourself, while i talk to you. have you seen the baby? poor little thing. o here it comes. look at him. how helpless he is. four years ago you were as feeble as this very little boy. see, he cannot hold up his head. he is forced to lie on his back, if his mamma do not turn him to the right or left side, he will soon begin to cry. he cries to tell her, that he is tired with lying on his back. lesson vi. perhaps he is hungry. what shall we give him to eat? poor fellow, he cannot eat. look in his mouth, he has no teeth. how did you do when you were a baby like him? you cannot tell. do you want to know? look then at the dog, with her pretty puppy. you could not help yourself as well as the puppy. you could only open your mouth, when you were lying, like william, on my knee. so i put you to my breast, and you sucked, as the puppy sucks now, for there was milk enough for you. lesson vii. when you were hungry, you began to cry, because you could not speak. you were seven months without teeth, always sucking. but after you got one, you began to gnaw a crust of bread. it was not long before another came pop. at ten months you had four pretty white teeth, and you used to bite me. poor mamma! still i did not cry, because i am not a child, but you hurt me very much. so i said to papa, it is time the little girl should eat. she is not naughty, yet she hurts me. i have given her a crust of bread, and i must look for some other milk. the cow has got plenty, and her jumping calf eats grass very well. he has got more teeth than my little girl. yes, says papa, and he tapped you on the cheek, you are old enough to learn to eat? come to me, and i will teach you, my little dear, for you must not hurt poor mamma, who has given you her milk, when you could not take any thing else. lesson viii. you were then on the carpet, for you could not walk well. so when you were in a hurry, you used to run quick, quick, quick, on your hands and feet, like the dog. away you ran to papa, and putting both your arms round his leg, for your hands were not big enough, you looked up at him, and laughed. what did this laugh say, when you could not speak? cannot you guess by what you now say to papa?--ah! it was, play with me, papa!--play with me! papa began to smile, and you knew that the smile was always--yes. so you got a ball, and papa threw it along the floor--roll--roll--roll; and you ran after it again--and again. how pleased you were. look at william, he smiles; but you could laugh loud--ha! ha! ha!--papa laughed louder than the little girl, and rolled the ball still faster. then he put the ball on a chair, and you were forced to take hold of the back, and stand up to reach it. at last you reached too far, and down you fell: not indeed on your face, because you put out your hands. you were not much hurt; but the palms of your hands smarted with the pain, and you began to cry, like a little child. it is only very little children who cry when they are hurt; and it is to tell their mamma, that something is the matter with them. now you can come to me, and say, mamma, i have hurt myself. pray rub my hand: it smarts. put something on it, to make it well. a piece of rag, to stop the blood. you are not afraid of a little blood--not you. you scratched your arm with a pin: it bled a little; but it did you no harm. see, the skin is grown over it again. lesson ix. take care not to put pins in your mouth, because they will stick in your throat, and give you pain. oh! you cannot think what pain a pin would give you in your throat, should it remain there: but, if you by chance swallow it, i should be obliged to give you, every morning, something bitter to drink. you never tasted any thing so bitter! and you would grow very sick. i never put pins in my mouth; but i am older than you, and know how to take care of myself. my mamma took care of me, when i was a little girl, like you. she bade me never put any thing in my mouth, without asking her what it was. when you were a baby, with no more sense than william, you put every thing in your mouth to gnaw, to help your teeth to cut through the skin. look at the puppy, how he bites that piece of wood. william presses his gums against my finger. poor boy! he is so young, he does not know what he is doing. when you bite any thing, it is because you are hungry. lesson x. see how much taller you are than william. in four years you have learned to eat, to walk, to talk. why do you smile? you can do much more, you think: you can wash your hands and face. very well. i should never kiss a dirty face. and you can comb your head with the pretty comb you always put by in your own drawer. to be sure, you do all this to be ready to take a walk with me. you would be obliged to stay at home, if you could not comb your own hair. betty is busy getting the dinner ready, and only brushes william's hair, because he cannot do it for himself. betty is making an apple-pye. you love an apple-pye; but i do not bid you make one. your hands are not strong enough to mix the butter and flour together; and you must not try to pare the apples, because you cannot manage a great knife. never touch the large knives: they are very sharp, and you might cut your finger to the bone. you are a little girl, and ought to have a little knife. when you are as tall as i am, you shall have a knife as large as mine; and when you are as strong as i am, and have learned to manage it, you will not hurt yourself. you can trundle a hoop, you say; and jump over a stick. o, i forgot!--and march like the men in the red coats, when papa plays a pretty tune on the fiddle. lesson xi. what, you think that you shall soon be able to dress yourself entirely? i am glad of it: i have something else to do. you may go, and look for your frock in the drawer; but i will tie it, till you are stronger. betty will tie it, when i am busy. i button my gown myself: i do not want a maid to assist me, when i am dressing. but you have not yet got sense enough to do it properly, and must beg somebody to help you, till you are older. children grow older and wiser at the same time. william is not able to take a piece of meat, because he has not got the sense which would make him think that, without teeth, meat would do him harm. he cannot tell what is good for him. the sense of children grows with them. you know much more than william, now you walk alone, and talk; but you do not know as much as the boys and girls you see playing yonder, who are half as tall again as you; and they do not know half as much as their fathers and mothers, who are men and women grown. papa and i were children, like you; and men and women took care of us. i carry william, because he is too weak to walk. i lift you over a stile, and over the gutter, when you cannot jump over it. you know already, that potatoes will not do you any harm: but i must pluck the fruit for you, till you are wise enough to know the ripe apples and pears. the hard ones would make you sick, and then you must take physic. you do not love physic: i do not love it any more than you. but i have more sense than you; therefore i take care not to eat unripe fruit, or any thing else that would make my stomach ache, or bring out ugly red spots on my face. when i was a child, my mamma chose the fruit for me, to prevent my making myself sick. i was just like you; i used to ask for what i saw, without knowing whether it was good or bad. now i have lived a long time, i know what is good; i do not want any body to tell me. lesson xii. look at those two dogs. the old one brings the ball to me in a moment; the young one does not know how. he must be taught. i can cut your shift in a proper shape. you would not know how to begin. you would spoil it; but you will learn. john digs in the garden, and knows when to put the seed in the ground. you cannot tell whether it should be in the winter or summer. try to find it out. when do the trees put out their leaves? in the spring, you say, after the cold weather. fruit would not grow ripe without very warm weather. now i am sure you can guess why the summer is the season for fruit. papa knows that peas and beans are good for us to eat with our meat. you are glad when you see them; but if he did not think for you, and have the seed put in the ground, we should have no peas or beans. lesson xiii. poor child, she cannot do much for herself. when i let her do any thing for me, it is to please her: for i could do it better myself. oh! the poor puppy has tumbled off the stool. run and stroak him. put a little milk in a saucer to comfort him. you have more sense than he. you can pour the milk into the saucer without spilling it. he would cry for a day with hunger, without being able to get it. you are wiser than the dog, you must help him. the dog will love you for it, and run after you. i feed you and take care of you: you love me and follow me for it. when the book fell down on your foot, it gave you great pain. the poor dog felt the same pain just now. take care not to hurt him when you play with him. and every morning leave a little milk in your bason for him. do not forget to put the bason in a corner, lest somebody should fall over it. when the snow covers the ground, save the crumbs of bread for the birds. in the summer they find feed enough, and do not want you to think about them. i make broth for the poor man who is sick. a sick man is like a child, he cannot help himself. lesson x. when i caught cold some time ago, i had such a pain in my head, i could scarcely hold it up. papa opened the door very softly, because he loves me. you love me, yet you made a noise. you had not the sense to know that it made my head worse, till papa told you. papa had a pain in the stomach, and he would not eat the fine cherries or grapes on the table. when i brought him a cup of camomile tea, he drank it without saying a word, or making an ugly face. he knows that i love him, and that i would not give him any thing to drink that has a bad taste, if it were not to do him good. you asked me for some apples when your stomach ached; but i was not angry with you. if you had been as wise as papa, you would have said, i will not eat the apples to-day, i must take some camomile tea. you say that you do not know how to think. yes; you do a little. the other day papa was tired; he had been walking about all the morning. after dinner he fell asleep on the sopha. i did not bid you be quiet; but you thought of what papa said to you, when my head ached. this made you think that you ought not to make a noise, when papa was resting himself. so you came to me, and said to me, very softly, pray reach me my ball, and i will go and play in the garden, till papa wakes. you were going out; but thinking again, you came back to me on your tip-toes. whisper----whisper. pray mama, call me, when papa wakes; for i shall be afraid to open the door to see, lest i should disturb him. away you went.--creep--creep--and shut the door as softly as i could have done myself. that was thinking. when a child does wrong at first, she does not know any better. but, after she has been told that she must not disturb mama, when poor mama is unwell, she thinks herself, that she must not wake papa when he is tired. another day we will see if you can think about any thing else. the end. footnotes: [ -a] this title which is indorsed on the back of the manuscript, i conclude to have been written in a period of desperation, in the month of october, . editor. posthumous works of the author of a vindication of the rights of woman. in four volumes. * * * * * vol. iii. * * * * * _london:_ printed for j. johnson, no. , st. paul's church-yard; and g. g. and j. robinson, paternoster-row. . letters and miscellaneous pieces. in two volumes. vol. i. preface. the following letters may possibly be found to contain the finest examples of the language of sentiment and passion ever presented to the world. they bear a striking resemblance to the celebrated romance of werter, though the incidents to which they relate are of a very different cast. probably the readers to whom werter is incapable of affording pleasure, will receive no delight from the present publication. the editor apprehends that, in the judgment of those best qualified to decide upon the comparison, these letters will be admitted to have the superiority over the fiction of goethe. they are the offspring of a glowing imagination, and a heart penetrated with the passion it essays to describe. to the series of letters constituting the principal article in these two volumes, are added various pieces, none of which, it is hoped, will be found discreditable to the talents of the author. the slight fragment of letters on the management of infants, may be thought a trifle; but it seems to have some value, as presenting to us with vividness the intention of the writer on this important subject. the publication of a few select letters to mr. johnson, appeared to be at once a just monument to the sincerity of his friendship, and a valuable and interesting specimen of the mind of the writer. the letter on the present character of the french nation, the extract of the cave of fancy, a tale, and the hints for the second part of the rights of woman, may, i believe, safely be left to speak for themselves. the essay on poetry and our relish for the beauties of nature, appeared in the monthly magazine for april last, and is the only piece in this collection which has previously found its way to the press. letters. letter i. two o'clock. my dear love, after making my arrangements for our snug dinner to-day, i have been taken by storm, and obliged to promise to dine, at an early hour, with the miss ----s, the _only_ day they intend to pass here. i shall however leave the key in the door, and hope to find you at my fire-side when i return, about eight o'clock. will you not wait for poor joan?--whom you will find better, and till then think very affectionately of her. yours, truly, * * * * i am sitting down to dinner; so do not send an answer. * * * * * letter ii. past twelve o'clock, monday night. [august.] i obey an emotion of my heart, which made me think of wishing thee, my love, good-night! before i go to rest, with more tenderness than i can to-morrow, when writing a hasty line or two under colonel ----'s eye. you can scarcely imagine with what pleasure i anticipate the day, when we are to begin almost to live together; and you would smile to hear how many plans of employment i have in my head, now that i am confident my heart has found peace in your bosom.--cherish me with that dignified tenderness, which i have only found in you; and your own dear girl will try to keep under a quickness of feeling, that has sometimes given you pain--yes, i will be _good_, that i may deserve to be happy; and whilst you love me, i cannot again fall into the miserable state, which rendered life a burthen almost too heavy to be borne. but, good-night!--god bless you! sterne says, that is equal to a kiss--yet i would rather give you the kiss into the bargain, glowing with gratitude to heaven, and affection to you. i like the word affection, because it signifies something habitual; and we are soon to meet, to try whether we have mind enough to keep our hearts warm. * * * * i will be at the barrier a little after ten o'clock to-morrow[ -a].--yours-- * * * * * letter iii. wednesday morning. you have often called me, dear girl, but you would now say good, did you know how very attentive i have been to the ---- ever since i came to paris. i am not however going to trouble you with the account, because i like to see your eyes praise me; and, milton insinuates, that, during such recitals, there are interruptions, not ungrateful to the heart, when the honey that drops from the lips is not merely words. yet, i shall not (let me tell you before these people enter, to force me to huddle away my letter) be content with only a kiss of duty--you _must_ be glad to see me--because you are glad--or i will make love to the _shade_ of mirabeau, to whom my heart continually turned, whilst i was talking with madame ----, forcibly telling me, that it will ever have sufficient warmth to love, whether i will or not, sentiment, though i so highly respect principle.---- not that i think mirabeau utterly devoid of principles--far from it--and, if i had not begun to form a new theory respecting men, i should, in the vanity of my heart, have _imagined_ that _i_ could have made something of his----it was composed of such materials--hush! here they come--and love flies away in the twinkling of an eye, leaving a little brush of his wing on my pale cheeks. i hope to see dr. ---- this morning; i am going to mr. ----'s to meet him. ----, and some others, are invited to dine with us to-day; and to-morrow i am to spend the day with ----. i shall probably not be able to return to ---- to-morrow; but it is no matter, because i must take a carriage, i have so many books, that i immediately want, to take with me.--on friday then i shall expect you to dine with me--and, if you come a little before dinner, it is so long since i have seen you, you will not be scolded by yours affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter iv[ -a]. friday morning [september.] a man, whom a letter from mr. ----previously announced, called here yesterday for the payment of a draft; and, as he seemed disappointed at not finding you at home, i sent him to mr. ----. i have since seen him, and he tells me that he has settled the business. so much for business!--may i venture to talk a little longer about less weighty affairs?--how are you?--i have been following you all along the road this comfortless weather; for, when i am absent from those i love, my imagination is as lively, as if my senses had never been gratified by their presence--i was going to say caresses--and why should i not? i have found out that i have more mind than you, in one respect; because i can, without any violent effort of reason, find food for love in the same object, much longer than you can.--the way to my senses is through my heart; but, forgive me! i think there is sometimes a shorter cut to yours. with ninety-nine men out of a hundred, a very sufficient dash of folly is necessary to render a woman _piquante_, a soft word for desirable; and, beyond these casual ebullitions of sympathy, few look for enjoyment by fostering a passion in their hearts. one reason, in short, why i wish my whole sex to become wiser, is, that the foolish ones may not, by their pretty folly, rob those whose sensibility keeps down their vanity, of the few roses that afford them some solace in the thorny road of life. i do not know how i fell into these reflections, excepting one thought produced it--that these continual separations were necessary to warm your affection.--of late, we are always separating.--crack!--crack!--and away you go.--this joke wears the sallow cast of thought; for, though i began to write cheerfully, some melancholy tears have found their way into my eyes, that linger there, whilst a glow of tenderness at my heart whispers that you are one of the best creatures in the world.--pardon then the vagaries of a mind, that has been almost "crazed by care," as well as "crossed in hapless love," and bear with me a _little_ longer!--when we are settled in the country together, more duties will open before me, and my heart, which now, trembling into peace, is agitated by every emotion that awakens the remembrance of old griefs, will learn to rest on yours, with that dignity your character, not to talk of my own, demands. take care of yourself--and write soon to your own girl (you may add dear, if you please) who sincerely loves you, and will try to convince you of it, by becoming happier. * * * * * * * * * letter v. sunday night. i have just received your letter, and feel as if i could not go to bed tranquilly without saying a few words in reply--merely to tell you, that my mind is serene, and my heart affectionate. ever since you last saw me inclined to faint, i have felt some gentle twitches, which make me begin to think, that i am nourishing a creature who will soon be sensible of my care.--this thought has not only produced an overflowing of tenderness to you, but made me very attentive to calm my mind and take exercise, lest i should destroy an object, in whom we are to have a mutual interest, you know. yesterday--do not smile!--finding that i had hurt myself by lifting precipitately a large log of wood, i sat down in an agony, till i felt those said twitches again. are you very busy? -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- so you may reckon on its being finished soon, though not before you come home, unless you are detained longer than i now allow myself to believe you will.-- be that as it may, write to me, my best love, and bid me be patient--kindly--and the expressions of kindness will again beguile the time, as sweetly as they have done to-night.--tell me also over and over again, that your happiness (and you deserve to be happy!) is closely connected with mine, and i will try to dissipate, as they rise, the fumes of former discontent, that have too often clouded the sunshine, which you have endeavoured to diffuse through my mind. god bless you! take care of yourself, and remember with tenderness your affectionate * * * * i am going to rest very happy, and you have made me so.--this is the kindest good-night i can utter. * * * * * letter vi. friday morning. i am glad to find that other people can be unreasonable, as well as myself--for be it known to thee, that i answered thy _first_ letter, the very night it reached me (sunday), though thou couldst not receive it before wednesday, because it was not sent off till the next day.--there is a full, true, and particular account.-- yet i am not angry with thee, my love, for i think that it is a proof of stupidity, and likewise of a milk-and-water affection, which comes to the same thing, when the temper is governed by a square and compass.--there is nothing picturesque in this straight-lined equality, and the passions always give grace to the actions. recollection now makes my heart bound to thee; but, it is not to thy money-getting face, though i cannot be seriously displeased with the exertion which increases my esteem, or rather is what i should have expected from thy character.--no; i have thy honest countenance before me--pop--relaxed by tenderness; a little--little wounded by my whims; and thy eyes glistening with sympathy.--thy lips then feel softer than soft--and i rest my cheek on thine, forgetting all the world.--i have not left the hue of love out of the picture--the rosy glow; and fancy has spread it over my own cheeks, i believe, for i feel them burning, whilst a delicious tear trembles in my eye, that would be all your own, if a grateful emotion directed to the father of nature, who has made me thus alive to happiness, did not give more warmth to the sentiment it divides--i must pause a moment. need i tell you that i am tranquil after writing thus?--i do not know why, but i have more confidence in your affection, when absent, than present; nay, i think that you must love me, for, in the sincerity of my heart let me say it, i believe i deserve your tenderness, because i am true, and have a degree of sensibility that you can see and relish. yours sincerely * * * * * * * * * letter vii. sunday morning [december .] you seem to have taken up your abode at h----. pray sir! when do you think of coming home? or, to write very considerately, when will business permit you? i shall expect (as the country people say in england) that you will make a _power_ of money to indemnify me for your absence. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- well! but, my love, to the old story--am i to see you this week, or this month?--i do not know what you are about--for, as you did not tell me, i would not ask mr. ----, who is generally pretty communicative. i long to see mrs. ------; not to hear from you, so do not give yourself airs, but to get a letter from mr. ----. and i am half angry with you for not informing me whether she had brought one with her or not.--on this score i will cork up some of the kind things that were ready to drop from my pen, which has never been dipt in gall when addressing you; or, will only suffer an exclamation--"the creature!" or a kind look, to escape me, when i pass the slippers--which i could not remove from my _salle_ door, though they are not the handsomest of their kind. be not too anxious to get money!--for nothing worth having is to be purchased. god bless you. yours affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter viii. monday night [december .] my best love, your letter to-night was particularly grateful to my heart, depressed by the letters i received by ----, for he brought me several, and the parcel of books directed to mr. ------ was for me. mr. ------'s letter was long and very affectionate; but the account he gives me of his own affairs, though he obviously makes the best of them, has vexed me. a melancholy letter from my sister ------ has also harrassed my mind--that from my brother would have given me sincere pleasure; but for -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- there is a spirit of independence in his letter, that will please you; and you shall see it, when we are once more over the fire together.--i think that you would hail him as a brother, with one of your tender looks, when your heart not only gives a lustre to your eye, but a dance of playfulness, that he would meet with a glow half made up of bashfulness, and a desire to please the----where shall i find a word to express the relationship which subsists between us?--shall i ask the little twitcher?--but i have dropt half the sentence that was to tell you how much he would be inclined to love the man loved by his sister. i have been fancying myself sitting between you, ever since i began to write, and my heart has leaped at the thought!--you see how i chat to you. i did not receive your letter till i came home; and i did not expect it, for the post came in much later than usual. it was a cordial to me--and i wanted one. mr. ---- tells me that he has written again and again.--love him a little!--it would be a kind of separation, if you did not love those i love. there was so much considerate tenderness in your epistle to-night, that, if it has not made you dearer to me, it has made me forcibly feel how very dear you are to me, by charming away half my cares. yours affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter ix. tuesday morning [december .] though i have just sent a letter off, yet, as captain ---- offers to take one, i am not willing to let him go without a kind greeting, because trifles of this sort, without having any effect on my mind, damp my spirits:--and you, with all your struggles to be manly, have some of this same sensibility.--do not bid it begone, for i love to see it striving to master your features; besides, these kind of sympathies are the life of affection: and why, in cultivating our understandings, should we try to dry up these springs of pleasure, which gush out to give a freshness to days browned by care! the books sent to me are such as we may read together; so i shall not look into them till you return; when you shall read, whilst i mend my stockings. yours truly * * * * * * * * * letter x. wednesday night [january .] as i have been, you tell me, three days without writing, i ought not to complain of two: yet, as i expected to receive a letter this afternoon, i am hurt; and why should i, by concealing it, affect the heroism i do not feel? i hate commerce. how differently must ------'s head and heart be organized from mine! you will tell me, that exertions are necessary: i am weary of them! the face of things, public and private, vexes me. the "peace" and clemency which seemed to be dawning a few days ago, disappear again. "i am fallen," as milton said, "on evil days;" for i really believe that europe will be in a state of convulsion, during half a century at least. life is but a labour of patience: it is always rolling a great stone up a hill; for, before a person can find a resting-place, imagining it is lodged, down it comes again, and all the work is to be done over anew! should i attempt to write any more, i could not change the strain. my head aches, and my heart is heavy. the world appears an "unweeded garden," where "things rank and vile" flourish best. if you do not return soon--or, which is no such mighty matter, talk of it--i will throw your slippers out at window, and be off--nobody knows where. * * * * finding that i was observed, i told the good women, the two mrs. ----s, simply that i was with child: and let them stare! and ------, and ------, nay, all the world, may know it for aught i care!--yet i wish to avoid ------'s coarse jokes. considering the care and anxiety a woman must have about a child before it comes into the world, it seems to me, by a _natural right_, to belong to her. when men get immersed in the world, they seem to lose all sensations, excepting those necessary to continue or produce life!--are these the privileges of reason? amongst the feathered race, whilst the hen keeps the young warm, her mate stays by to cheer her; but it is sufficient for man to condescend to get a child, in order to claim it.--a man is a tyrant! you may now tell me, that, if it were not for me, you would be laughing away with some honest fellows in l--n. the casual exercise of social sympathy would not be sufficient for me--i should not think such an heartless life worth preserving.--it is necessary to be in good-humour with you, to be pleased with the world. * * * * * thursday morning. i was very low-spirited last night, ready to quarrel with your cheerful temper, which makes absence easy to you.--and, why should i mince the the matter? i was offended at your not even mentioning it.--i do not want to be loved like a goddess; but i wish to be necessary to you. god bless you[ -a]! * * * * * letter xi. monday night. i have just received your kind and rational letter, and would fain hide my face, glowing with shame for my folly.--i would hide it in your bosom, if you would again open it to me, and nestle closely till you bade my fluttering heart be still, by saying that you forgave me. with eyes overflowing with tears, and in the humblest attitude, i intreat you.--do not turn from me, for indeed i love you fondly, and have been very wretched, since the night i was so cruelly hurt by thinking that you had no confidence in me---- it is time for me to grow more reasonable, a few more of these caprices of sensibility would destroy me. i have, in fact, been very much indisposed for a few days past, and the notion that i was tormenting, or perhaps killing, a poor little animal, about whom i am grown anxious and tender, now i feel it alive, made me worse. my bowels have been dreadfully disordered, and every thing i ate or drank disagreed with my stomach; still i feel intimations of its existence, though they have been fainter. do you think that the creature goes regularly to sleep? i am ready to ask as many questions as voltaire's man of forty crowns. ah! do not continue to be angry with me! you perceive that i am already smiling through my tears--you have lightened my heart, and my frozen spirits are melting into playfulness. write the moment you receive this. i shall count the minutes. but drop not an angry word--i cannot now bear it. yet, if you think i deserve a scolding (it does not admit of a question, i grant), wait till you come back--and then, if you are angry one day, i shall be sure of seeing you the next. ------ did not write to you, i suppose, because he talked of going to h----. hearing that i was ill, he called very kindly on me, not dreaming that it was some words that he incautiously let fall, which rendered me so. god bless you, my love; do not shut your heart against a return of tenderness; and, as i now in fancy cling to you, be more than ever my support.--feel but as affectionate when you read this letter, as i did writing it, and you will make happy, your * * * * * * * * * letter xii. wednesday morning. i will never, if i am not entirely cured of quarrelling, begin to encourage "quick-coming fancies," when we are separated. yesterday, my love, i could not open your letter for some time; and, though it was not half as severe as i merited, it threw me into such a fit of trembling, as seriously alarmed me. i did not, as you may suppose, care for a little pain on my own account; but all the fears which i have had for a few days past, returned with fresh force. this morning i am better; will you not be glad to hear it? you perceive that sorrow has almost made a child of me, and that i want to be soothed to peace. one thing you mistake in my character, and imagine that to be coldness which is just the contrary. for, when i am hurt by the person most dear to me, i must let out a whole torrent of emotions, in which tenderness would be uppermost, or stifle them altogether; and it appears to me almost a duty to stifle them, when i imagine _that i am treated with coldness_. i am afraid that i have vexed you, my own ----. i know the quickness of your feelings--and let me, in the sincerity of my heart, assure you, there is nothing i would not suffer to make you happy. my own happiness wholly depends on you--and, knowing you, when my reason is not clouded, i look forward to a rational prospect of as much felicity as the earth affords--with a little dash of rapture into the bargain, if you will look at me, when we meet again, as you have sometimes greeted, your humbled, yet most affectionate * * * * * * * * * letter xiii. thursday night. i have been wishing the time away, my kind love, unable to rest till i knew that my penitential letter had reached your hand--and this afternoon, when your tender epistle of tuesday gave such exquisite pleasure to your poor sick girl, her heart smote her to think that you were still to receive another cold one.--burn it also, my ----; yet do not forget that even those letters were full of love; and i shall ever recollect, that you did not wait to be mollified by my penitence, before you took me again to your heart. i have been unwell, and would not, now i am recovering, take a journey, because i have been seriously alarmed and angry with myself, dreading continually the fatal consequence of my folly.--but, should you think it right to remain at h--, i shall find some opportunity, in the course of a fortnight, or less perhaps, to come to you, and before then i shall be strong again.--yet do not be uneasy! i am really better, and never took such care of myself, as i have done since you restored my peace of mind. the girl is come to warm my bed--so i will tenderly say, good night! and write a line or two in the morning. morning. i wish you were here to walk with me this fine morning! yet your absence shall not prevent me. i have stayed at home too much; though, when i was so dreadfully out of spirits, i was careless of every thing. i will now sally forth (you will go with me in my heart) and try whether this fine bracing air will not give the vigour to the poor babe, it had, before i so inconsiderately gave way to the grief that deranged my bowels, and gave a turn to my whole system. yours truly * * * * * * * * * * * * * * letter xiv. saturday morning. the two or three letters, which i have written to you lately, my love, will serve as an answer to your explanatory one. i cannot but respect your motives and conduct. i always respected them; and was only hurt, by what seemed to me a want of confidence, and consequently affection.--i thought also, that if you were obliged to stay three months at h--, i might as well have been with you.--well! well, what signifies what i brooded over--let us now be friends! i shall probably receive a letter from you to-day, sealing my pardon--and i will be careful not to torment you with my querulous humours, at least, till i see you again. act as circumstances direct, and i will not enquire when they will permit you to return, convinced that you will hasten to your * * * *, when you have attained (or lost sight of) the object of your journey. what a picture have you sketched of our fire-side! yes, my love, my fancy was instantly at work, and i found my head on your shoulder, whilst my eyes were fixed on the little creatures that were clinging about your knees. i did not absolutely determine that there should be six--if you have not set your heart on this round number. i am going to dine with mrs. ----. i have not been to visit her since the first day she came to paris. i wish indeed to be out in the air as much as i can; for the exercise i have taken these two or three days past, has been of such service to me, that i hope shortly to tell you, that i am quite well. i have scarcely slept before last night, and then not much.--the two mrs. ------s have been very anxious and tender. yours truly * * * * i need not desire you to give the colonel a good bottle of wine. * * * * * letter xv. sunday morning. i wrote to you yesterday, my ----; but, finding that the colonel is still detained (for his passport was forgotten at the office yesterday) i am not willing to let so many days elapse without your hearing from me, after having talked of illness and apprehensions. i cannot boast of being quite recovered, yet i am (i must use my yorkshire phrase; for, when my heart is warm, pop come the expressions of childhood into my head) so _lightsome_, that i think it will not _go badly with me_.--and nothing shall be wanting on my part, i assure you; for i am urged on, not only by an enlivened affection for you, but by a new-born tenderness that plays cheerly round my dilating heart. i was therefore, in defiance of cold and dirt, out in the air the greater part of yesterday; and, if i get over this evening without a return of the fever that has tormented me, i shall talk no more of illness. i have promised the little creature, that its mother, who ought to cherish it, will not again plague it, and begged it to pardon me; and, since i could not hug either it or you to my breast, i have to my heart.--i am afraid to read over this prattle--but it is only for your eye. i have been seriously vexed, to find that, whilst you were harrassed by impediments in your undertakings, i was giving you additional uneasiness.--if you can make any of your plans answer--it is well, i do not think a _little_ money inconvenient; but, should they fail, we will struggle cheerfully together--drawn closer by the pinching blasts of poverty. adieu, my love! write often to your poor girl, and write long letters; for i not only like them for being longer, but because more heart steals into them; and i am happy to catch your heart whenever i can. yours sincerely * * * * * * * * * letter xvi. tuesday morning. i seize this opportunity to inform you, that i am to set out on thursday with mr. ------, and hope to tell you soon (on your lips) how glad i shall be to see you. i have just got my passport, so i do not foresee any impediment to my reaching h----, to bid you good-night next friday in my new apartment--where i am to meet you and love, in spite of care, to smile me to sleep--for i have not caught much rest since we parted. you have, by your tenderness and worth, twisted yourself more artfully round my heart, than i supposed possible.--let me indulge the thought, that i have thrown out some tendrils to cling to the elm by which i wish to be supported.--this is talking a new language for me!--but, knowing that i am not a parasite-plant, i am willing to receive the proofs of affection, that every pulse replies to, when i think of being once more in the same house with you.--god bless you! yours truly * * * * * * * * * letter xvii. wednesday morning. i only send this as an _avant-coureur_, without jack-boots, to tell you, that i am again on the wing, and hope to be with you a few hours after you receive it. i shall find you well, and composed, i am sure; or, more properly speaking, cheerful.--what is the reason that my spirits are not as manageable as yours? yet, now i think of it, i will not allow that your temper is even, though i have promised myself, in order to obtain my own forgiveness, that i will not ruffle it for a long, long time--i am afraid to say never. farewell for a moment!--do not forget that i am driving towards you in person! my mind, unfettered, has flown to you long since, or rather has never left you. i am well, and have no apprehension that i shall find the journey too fatiguing, when i follow the lead of my heart.--with my face turned to h--my spirits will not sink--and my mind has always hitherto enabled my body to do whatever i wished. yours affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter xviii. h--, thursday morning, march . we are such creatures of habit, my love, that, though i cannot say i was sorry, childishly so, for your going, when i knew that you were to stay such a short time, and i had a plan of employment; yet i could not sleep.--i turned to your side of the bed, and tried to make the most of the comfort of the pillow, which you used to tell me i was churlish about; but all would not do.--i took nevertheless my walk before breakfast, though the weather was not very inviting--and here i am, wishing you a finer day, and seeing you peep over my shoulder, as i write, with one of your kindest looks--when your eyes glisten, and a suffusion creeps over your relaxing features. but i do not mean to dally with you this morning--so god bless you! take care of yourself--and sometimes fold to your heart your affectionate * * * * * * * * * letter xix. do not call me stupid, for leaving on the table the little bit of paper i was to inclose.--this comes of being in love at the fag-end of a letter of business.--you know, you say, they will not chime together.--i had got you by the fire-side, with the _gigot_ smoking on the board, to lard your poor bare ribs--and behold, i closed my letter without taking the paper up, that was directly under my eyes!--what had i got in them to render me so blind?--i give you leave to answer the question, if you will not scold; for i am yours most affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter xx. sunday, august . -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- i have promised ------ to go with him to his country-house, where he is now permitted to dine--i, and the little darling, to be sure[ -a]--whom i cannot help kissing with more fondness, since you left us. i think i shall enjoy the fine prospect, and that it will rather enliven, than satiate my imagination. i have called on mrs. ------. she has the manners of a gentlewoman, with a dash of the easy french coquetry, which renders her _piquante_.--but _monsieur_ her husband, whom nature never dreamed of casting in either the mould of a gentleman or lover, makes but an aukward figure in the foreground of the picture. the h----s are very ugly, without doubt--and the house smelt of commerce from top to toe--so that his abortive attempt to display taste, only proved it to be one of the things not to be bought with gold. i was in a room a moment alone, and my attention was attracted by the _pendule_--a nymph was offering up her vows before a smoking altar, to a fat-bottomed cupid (saving your presence), who was kicking his heels in the air.--ah! kick on, thought i; for the demon of traffic will ever fright away the loves and graces, that streak with the rosy beams of infant fancy the _sombre_ day of life--whilst the imagination, not allowing us to see things as they are, enables us to catch a hasty draught of the running stream of delight, the thirst for which seems to be given only to tantalize us. but i am philosophizing; nay, perhaps you will call me severe, and bid me let the square-headed money-getters alone.--peace to them! though none of the social sprites (and there are not a few of different descriptions, who sport about the various inlets to my heart) gave me a twitch to restrain my pen. i have been writing on, expecting poor ------ to come; for, when i began, i merely thought of business; and, as this is the idea that most naturally associates with your image, i wonder i stumbled on any other. yet, as common life, in my opinion, is scarcely worth having, even with a _gigot_ every day, and a pudding added thereunto, i will allow you to cultivate my judgment, if you will permit me to keep alive the sentiments in your heart, which may be termed romantic, because, the offspring of the senses and the imagination, they resemble the mother more than the father[ -a], when they produce the suffusion i admire.--in spite of icy age, i hope still to see it, if you have not determined only to eat and drink, and be stupidly useful to the stupid-- yours * * * * * * * * * letter xxi. h--, august , tuesday. i received both your letters to-day--i had reckoned on hearing from you yesterday, therefore was disappointed, though i imputed your silence to the right cause. i intended answering your kind letter immediately, that you might have felt the pleasure it gave me; but ------ came in, and some other things interrupted me; so that the fine vapour has evaporated--yet, leaving a sweet scent behind, i have only to tell you, what is sufficiently obvious, that the earnest desire i have shown to keep my place, or gain more ground in your heart, is a sure proof how necessary your affection is to my happiness.--still i do not think it false delicacy, or foolish pride, to wish that your attention to my happiness should arise _as much_ from love, which is always rather a selfish passion, as reason--that is, i want you to promote my felicity, by seeking your own.--for, whatever pleasure it may give me to discover your generosity of soul, i would not be dependent for your affection on the very quality i most admire. no; there are qualities in your heart, which demand my affection; but, unless the attachment appears to me clearly mutual, i shall labour only to esteem your character, instead of cherishing a tenderness for your person. i write in a hurry, because the little one, who has been sleeping a long time, begins to call for me. poor thing! when i am sad, i lament that all my affections grow on me, till they become too strong for my peace, though they all afford me snatches of exquisite enjoyment--this for our little girl was at first very reasonable--more the effect of reason, a sense of duty, than feeling--now, she has got into my heart and imagination, and when i walk out without her, her little figure is ever dancing before me. you too have somehow clung round my heart--i found i could not eat my dinner in the great room--and, when i took up the large knife to carve for myself, tears rushed into my eyes.--do not however suppose that i am melancholy--for, when you are from me, i not only wonder how i can find fault with you--but how i can doubt your affection. i will not mix any comments on the inclosed (it roused my indignation) with the effusion of tenderness, with which i assure you, that you are the friend of my bosom, and the prop of my heart. * * * * * * * * * letter xxii. h--, august . i want to know what steps you have taken respecting ----. knavery always rouses my indignation--i should be gratified to hear that the law had chastised ------ severely; but i do not wish you to see him, because the business does not now admit of peaceful discussion, and i do not exactly know how you would express your contempt. pray ask some questions about tallien--i am still pleased with the dignity of his conduct.--the other day, in the cause of humanity, he made use of a degree of address, which i admire--and mean to point out to you, as one of the few instances of address which do credit to the abilities of the man, without taking away from that confidence in his openness of heart, which is the true basis of both public and private friendship. do not suppose that i mean to allude to a little reserve of temper in you, of which i have sometimes complained! you have been used to a cunning woman, and you almost look for cunning--nay, in _managing_ my happiness, you now and then wounded my sensibility, concealing yourself, till honest sympathy, giving you to me without disguise, lets me look into a heart, which my half-broken one wishes to creep into, to be revived and cherished.----you have frankness of heart, but not often exactly that overflowing (_épanchement de coeur_), which becoming almost childish, appears a weakness only to the weak. but i have left poor tallien. i wanted you to enquire likewise whether, as a member declared in the convention, robespierre really maintained a _number_ of mistresses.--should it prove so, i suspect that they rather flattered his vanity than his senses. here is a chatting, desultory epistle! but do not suppose that i mean to close it without mentioning the little damsel--who has been almost springing out of my arm--she certainly looks very like you--but i do not love her the less for that, whether i am angry or pleased with you.-- yours affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter xxiii[ -a]. september . i have just written two letters, that are going by other conveyances, and which i reckon on your receiving long before this. i therefore merely write, because i know i should be disappointed at seeing any one who had left you, if you did not send a letter, were it ever so short, to tell me why you did not write a longer--and you will want to be told, over and over again, that our little hercules is quite recovered. besides looking at me, there are three other things, which delight her--to ride in a coach, to look at a scarlet waistcoat, and hear loud music--yesterday, at the _fête_, she enjoyed the two latter; but, to honour j. j. rousseau, i intend to give her a sash, the first she has ever had round her--and why not?--for i have always been half in love with him. well, this you will say is trifling--shall i talk about alum or soap? there is nothing picturesque in your present pursuits; my imagination then rather chuses to ramble back to the barrier with you, or to see you coming to meet me, and my basket of grapes.--with what pleasure do i recollect your looks and words, when i have been sitting on the window, regarding the waving corn! believe me, sage sir, you have not sufficient respect for the imagination--i could prove to you in a trice that it is the mother of sentiment, the great distinction of our nature, the only purifier of the passions--animals have a portion of reason, and equal, if not more exquisite, senses; but no trace of imagination, or her offspring taste, appears in any of their actions. the impulse of the senses, passions, if you will, and the conclusions of reason, draw men together; but the imagination is the true fire, stolen from heaven, to animate this cold creature of clay, producing all those fine sympathies that lead to rapture, rendering men social by expanding their hearts, instead of leaving them leisure to calculate how many comforts society affords. if you call these observations romantic, a phrase in this place which would be tantamount to nonsensical, i shall be apt to retort, that you are embruted by trade, and the vulgar enjoyments of life--bring me then back your barrier-face, or you shall have nothing to say to my barrier-girl; and i shall fly from you, to cherish the remembrances that will ever be dear to me; for i am yours truly * * * * * * * * * letter xxiv. evening, sept. . i have been playing and laughing with the little girl so long, that i cannot take up my pen to address you without emotion. pressing her to my bosom, she looked so like you (_entre nous_, your best looks, for i do not admire your commercial face) every nerve seemed to vibrate to the touch, and i began to think that there was something in the assertion of man and wife being one--for you seemed to pervade my whole frame, quickening the beat of my heart, and lending me the sympathetic tears you excited. have i any thing more to say to you? no; not for the present--the rest is all flown away; and, indulging tenderness for you, i cannot now complain of some people here, who have ruffled my temper for two or three days past. * * * * * morning. yesterday b---- sent to me for my packet of letters. he called on me before; and i like him better than i did--that is, i have the same opinion of his understanding, but i think with you, he has more tenderness and real delicacy of feeling with respect to women, than are commonly to be met with. his manner too of speaking of his little girl, about the age of mine, interested me. i gave him a letter for my sister, and requested him to see her. i have been interrupted. mr. ----i suppose will write about business. public affairs i do not descant on, except to tell you that they write now with great freedom and truth, and this liberty of the press will overthrow the jacobins, i plainly perceive. i hope you take care of your health. i have got a habit of restlessness at night, which arises, i believe, from activity of mind; for, when i am alone, that is, not near one to whom i can open my heart, i sink into reveries and trains of thinking, which agitate and fatigue me. this is my third letter; when am i to hear from you? i need not tell you, i suppose, that i am now writing with somebody in the room with me, and ---- is waiting to carry this to mr. ----'s. i will then kiss the girl for you, and bid you adieu. i desired you, in one of my other letters, to bring back to me your barrier-face--or that you should not be loved by my barrier-girl. i know that you will love her more and more, for she is a little affectionate, intelligent creature, with as much vivacity, i should think, as you could wish for. i was going to tell you of two or three things which displease me here; but they are not of sufficient consequence to interrupt pleasing sensations. i have received a letter from mr. ----. i want you to bring ----with you. madame s---- is by me, reading a german translation of your letters--she desires me to give her love to you, on account of what you say of the negroes. yours most affectionately, * * * * * * * * * letter xxv. paris, sept. . i have written to you three or four letters; but different causes have prevented my sending them by the persons who promised to take or forward them. the inclosed is one i wrote to go by b----; yet, finding that he will not arrive, before i hope, and believe, you will have set out on your return, i inclose it to you, and shall give it in charge to ----, as mr. ---- is detained, to whom i also gave a letter. i cannot help being anxious to hear from you; but i shall not harrass you with accounts of inquietudes, or of cares that arise from peculiar circumstances.--i have had so many little plagues here, that i have almost lamented that i left h----. ----, who is at best a most helpless creature, is now, on account of her pregnancy, more trouble than use to me, so that i still continue to be almost a slave to the child.--she indeed rewards me, for she is a sweet little creature; for, setting aside a mother's fondness (which, by the bye, is growing on me, her little intelligent smiles sinking into my heart), she has an astonishing degree of sensibility and observation. the other day by b----'s child, a fine one, she looked like a little sprite.--she is all life and motion, and her eyes are not the eyes of a fool--i will swear. i slept at st. germain's, in the very room (if you have not forgot) in which you pressed me very tenderly to your heart.--i did not forget to fold my darling to mine, with sensations that are almost too sacred to be alluded to. adieu, my love! take care of yourself, if you wish to be the protector of your child, and the comfort of her mother. i have received, for you, letters from --------. i want to hear how that affair finishes, though i do not know whether i have most contempt for his folly or knavery. your own * * * * * * * * * letter xxvi. october . it is a heartless task to write letters, without knowing whether they will ever reach you.--i have given two to ----, who has been a-going, a-going, every day, for a week past; and three others, which were written in a low-spirited strain, a little querulous or so, i have not been able to forward by the opportunities that were mentioned to me. _tant mieux!_ you will say, and i will not say nay; for i should be sorry that the contents of a letter, when you are so far away, should damp the pleasure that the sight of it would afford--judging of your feelings by my own. i just now stumbled on one of the kind letters, which you wrote during your last absence. you are then a dear affectionate creature, and i will not plague you. the letter which you chance to receive, when the absence is so long, ought to bring only tears of tenderness, without any bitter alloy, into your eyes. after your return i hope indeed, that you will not be so immersed in business, as during the last three or four months past--for even money, taking into the account all the future comforts it is to procure, may be gained at too dear a rate, if painful impressions are left on the mind.--these impressions were much more lively, soon after you went away, than at present--for a thousand tender recollections efface the melancholy traces they left on my mind--and every emotion is on the same side as my reason, which always was on yours.--separated, it would be almost impious to dwell on real or imaginary imperfections of character.--i feel that i love you; and, if i cannot be happy with you, i will seek it no where else. my little darling grows every day more dear to me--and she often has a kiss, when we are alone together, which i give her for you, with all my heart. i have been interrupted--and must send off my letter. the liberty of the press will produce a great effect here--the _cry of blood will not be vain_!--some more monsters will perish--and the jacobins are conquered.--yet i almost fear the last slap of the tail of the beast. i have had several trifling teazing inconveniencies here, which i shall not now trouble you with a detail of.--i am sending ---- back; her pregnancy rendered her useless. the girl i have got has more vivacity, which is better for the child. i long to hear from you.--bring a copy of ---- and ---- with you. ---- is still here: he is a lost man.--he really loves his wife, and is anxious about his children; but his indiscriminate hospitality and social feelings have given him an inveterate habit of drinking, that destroys his health, as well as renders his person disgusting.--if his wife had more sense, or delicacy, she might restrain him: as it is, nothing will save him. yours most truly and affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter xxvii. october . my dear love, i began to wish so earnestly to hear from you, that the sight of your letters occasioned such pleasurable emotions, i was obliged to throw them aside till the little girl and i were alone together; and this said little girl, our darling, is become a most intelligent little creature, and as gay as a lark, and that in the morning too, which i do not find quite so convenient. i once told you, that the sensations before she was born, and when she is sucking, were pleasant; but they do not deserve to be compared to the emotions i feel, when she stops to smile upon me, or laughs outright on meeting me unexpectedly in the street, or after a short absence. she has now the advantage of having two good nurses, and i am at present able to discharge my duty to her, without being the slave of it. i have therefore employed and amused myself since i got rid of ----, and am making a progress in the language amongst other things. i have also made some new acquaintance. i have almost _charmed_ a judge of the tribunal, r----, who, though i should not have thought it possible, has humanity, if not _beaucoup d'esprit_. but let me tell you, if you do not make haste back, i shall be half in love with the author of the _marseillaise_, who is a handsome man, a little too broad-faced or so, and plays sweetly on the violin. what do you say to this threat?--why, _entre nous_, i like to give way to a sprightly vein, when writing to you, that is, when i am pleased with you. "the devil," you know, is proverbially said to be "in a good humour, when he is pleased." will you not then be a good boy, and come back quickly to play with your girls? but i shall not allow you to love the new-comer best. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- my heart longs for your return, my love, and only looks for, and seeks happiness with you; yet do not imagine that i childishly wish you to come back, before you have arranged things in such a manner, that it will not be necessary for you to leave us soon again; or to make exertions which injure your constitution. yours most truly and tenderly * * * * p.s. "you would oblige me by delivering the inclosed to mr. ----, and pray call for an answer.--it is for a person uncomfortably situated. * * * * * letter xxviii. dec. . i have been, my love, for some days tormented by fears, that i would not allow to assume a form--i had been expecting you daily--and i heard that many vessels had been driven on shore during the late gale.--well, i now see your letter--and find that you are safe; i will not regret then that your exertions have hitherto been so unavailing. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- be that as it may, return to me when you have arranged the other matters, which ---- has been crowding on you. i want to be sure that you are safe--and not separated from me by a sea that must be passed. for, feeling that i am happier than i ever was, do you wonder at my sometimes dreading that fate has not done persecuting me? come to me, my dearest friend, husband, father of my child!--all these fond ties glow at my heart at this moment, and dim my eyes.--with you an independence is desirable; and it is always within our reach, if affluence escapes us--without you the world again appears empty to me. but i am recurring to some of the melancholy thoughts that have flitted across my mind for some days past, and haunted my dreams. my little darling is indeed a sweet child; and i am sorry that you are not here, to see her little mind unfold itself. you talk of "dalliance;" but certainly no lover was ever more attached to his mistress, than she is to me. her eyes follow me every where, and by affection i have the most despotic power over her. she is all vivacity or softness--yes; i love her more than i thought i should. when i have been hurt at your stay, i have embraced her as my only comfort--when pleased with you, for looking and laughing like you; nay, i cannot, i find, long be angry with you, whilst i am kissing her for resembling you. but there would be no end to these details. fold us both to your heart; for i am truly and affectionately yours * * * * * * * * * letter xxix. december . -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- i do, my love, indeed sincerely sympathize with you in all your disappointments.--yet, knowing that you are well, and think of me with affection, i only lament other disappointments, because i am sorry that you should thus exert yourself in vain, and that you are kept from me. ------, i know, urges you to stay, and is continually branching out into new projects, because he has the idle desire to amass a large fortune, rather an immense one, merely to have the credit of having made it. but we who are governed by other motives, ought not to be led on by him. when we meet, we will discuss this subject--you will listen to reason, and it has probably occurred to you, that it will be better, in future, to pursue some sober plan, which may demand more time, and still enable you to arrive at the same end. it appears to me absurd to waste life in preparing to live. would it not now be possible to arrange your business in such a manner as to avoid the inquietudes, of which i have had my share since your departure? is it not possible to enter into business, as an employment necessary to keep the faculties awake, and (to sink a little in the expressions) the pot boiling, without suffering what must ever be considered as a secondary object, to engross the mind, and drive sentiment and affection out of the heart? i am in a hurry to give this letter to the person who has promised to forward it with ------'s. i wish then to counteract, in some measure, what he has doubtless recommended most warmly. stay, my friend, whilst it is _absolutely_ necessary.--i will give you no tenderer name, though it glows at my heart, unless you come the moment the settling the _present_ objects permit.--_i do not consent_ to your taking any other journey--or the little woman and i will be off, the lord knows where. but, as i had rather owe every thing to your affection, and, i may add, to your reason, (for this immoderate desire of wealth, which makes ------ so eager to have you remain, is contrary to your principles of action), i will not importune you.--i will only tell you, that i long to see you--and, being at peace with you, i shall be hurt, rather than made angry, by delays.--having suffered so much in life, do not be surprised if i sometimes, when left to myself, grow gloomy, and suppose that it was all a dream, and that my happiness is not to last. i say happiness, because remembrance retrenches all the dark shades of the picture. my little one begins to show her teeth, and use her legs--she wants you to bear your part in the nursing business, for i am fatigued with dancing her, and yet she is not satisfied--she wants you to thank her mother for taking such care of her, as you only can. yours truly * * * * * * * * * letter xxx. december . though i suppose you have later intelligence, yet, as ------ has just informed me that he has an opportunity of sending immediately to you, i take advantage of it to inclose you -- -- -- -- -- -- -- how i hate this crooked business! this intercourse with the world, which obliges one to see the worst side of human nature! why cannot you be content with the object you had first in view, when you entered into this wearisome labyrinth?--i know very well that you have imperceptibly been drawn on; yet why does one project, successful or abortive, only give place to two others? is it not sufficient to avoid poverty?--i am contented to do my part; and, even here, sufficient to escape from wretchedness is not difficult to obtain. and, let me tell you, i have my project also--and, if you do not soon return, the little girl and i will take care of ourselves; we will not accept any of your cold kindness--your distant civilities--no; not we. this is but half jesting, for i am really tormented by the desire which ------ manifests to have you remain where you are.--yet why do i talk to you?--if he can persuade you--let him!--for, if you are not happier with me, and your own wishes do not make you throw aside these eternal projects, i am above using any arguments, though reason as well as affection seems to offer them--if our affection be mutual, they will occur to you--and you will act accordingly. since my arrival here, i have found the german lady, of whom you have heard me speak. her first child died in the month; but she has another, about the age of my ------, a fine little creature. they are still but contriving to live----earning their daily bread--yet, though they are but just above poverty, i envy them.--she is a tender, affectionate mother--fatigued even by her attention.--however she has an affectionate husband in her turn, to render her care light, and to share her pleasure. i will own to you that, feeling extreme tenderness for my little girl, i grow sad very often when i am playing with her, that you are not here, to observe with me how her mind unfolds, and her little heart becomes attached!--these appear to me to be true pleasures--and still you suffer them to escape you, in search of what we may never enjoy.--it is your own maxim to "live in the present moment."--_if you do_--stay, for god's sake; but tell me the truth--if not, tell me when i may expect to see you, and let me not be always vainly looking for you, till i grow sick at heart. adieu! i am a little hurt.--i must take my darling to my bosom to comfort me. * * * * * * * * * letter xxxi. december . should you receive three or four of the letters at once which i have written lately, do not think of sir john brute, for i do not mean to wife you. i only take advantage of every occasion, that one out of three of my epistles may reach your hands, and inform you that i am not of ------'s opinion, who talks till he makes me angry, of the necessity of your staying two or three months longer. i do not like this life of continual inquietude--and, _entre nous_, i am determined to try to earn some money here myself, in order to convince you that, if you chuse to run about the world to get a fortune, it is for yourself--for the little girl and i will live without your assistance, unless you are with us. i may be termed proud--be it so--but i will never abandon certain principles of action. the common run of men have such an ignoble way of thinking, that, if they debauch their hearts, and prostitute their persons, following perhaps a gust of inebriation, they suppose the wife, slave rather, whom they maintain, has no right to complain, and ought to receive the sultan, whenever he deigns to return, with open arms, though his have been polluted by half an hundred promiscuous amours during his absence. i consider fidelity and constancy as two distinct things; yet the former is necessary, to give life to the other--and such a degree of respect do i think due to myself, that, if only probity, which is a good thing in its place, brings you back, never return!--for, if a wandering of the heart, or even a caprice of the imagination detains you--there is an end of all my hopes of happiness--i could not forgive it, if i would. i have gotten into a melancholy mood, you perceive. you know my opinion of men in general; you know that i think them systematic tyrants, and that it is the rarest thing in the world, to meet with a man with sufficient delicacy of feeling to govern desire. when i am thus sad, i lament that my little darling, fondly as i doat on her, is a girl.--i am sorry to have a tie to a world that for me is ever sown with thorns. you will call this an ill-humoured letter, when, in fact, it is the strongest proof of affection i can give, to dread to lose you. ------ has taken such pains to convince me that you must and ought to stay, that it has inconceivably depressed my spirits--you have always known my opinion--i have ever declared, that two people, who mean to live together, ought not to be long separated.--if certain things are more necessary to you than me--search for them--say but one word, and you shall never hear of me more.--if not--for god's sake, let us struggle with poverty--with any evil, but these continual inquietudes of business, which i have been told were to last but a few months, though every day the end appears more distant! this is the first letter in this strain that i have determined to forward to you; the rest lie by, because i was unwilling to give you pain, and i should not now write, if i did not think that there would be no conclusion to the schemes, which demand, as i am told, your presence. * * * *[ -a] * * * * * letter xxxii. january . i just now received one of your hasty _notes_; for business so entirely occupies you, that you have not time, or sufficient command of thought, to write letters. beware! you seem to be got into a whirl of projects and schemes, which are drawing you into a gulph, that, if it do not absorb your happiness, will infallibly destroy mine. fatigued during my youth by the most arduous struggles, not only to obtain independence, but to render myself useful, not merely pleasure, for which i had the most lively taste, i mean the simple pleasures that flow from passion and affection, escaped me, but the most melancholy views of life were impressed by a disappointed heart on my mind. since i knew you, i have been endeavouring to go back to my former nature, and have allowed some time to glide away, winged with the delight which only spontaneous enjoyment can give.--why have you so soon dissolved the charm? i am really unable to bear the continual inquietude which your and ------'s never-ending plans produce. this you may term want of firmness--but you are mistaken--i have still sufficient firmness to pursue my principle of action. the present misery, i cannot find a softer word to do justice to my feelings, appears to me unnecessary--and therefore i have not firmness to support it as you may think i ought. i should have been content, and still wish, to retire with you to a farm--my god! any thing, but these continual anxieties--any thing but commerce, which debases the mind, and roots out affection from the heart. i do not mean to complain of subordinate inconveniences----yet i will simply observe, that, led to expect you every week, i did not make the arrangements required by the present circumstances, to procure the necessaries of life. in order to have them, a servant, for that purpose only, is indispensible--the want of wood, has made me catch the most violent cold i ever had; and my head is so disturbed by continual coughing, that i am unable to write without stopping frequently to recollect myself.--this however is one of the common evils which must be borne with----bodily pain does not touch the heart, though it fatigues the spirits. still as you talk of your return, even in february, doubtingly, i have determined, the moment the weather changes, to wean my child.--it is too soon for her to begin to divide sorrow!--and as one has well said, "despair is a freeman," we will go and seek our fortune together. this is not a caprice of the moment--for your absence has given new weight to some conclusions, that i was very reluctantly forming before you left me.--i do not chuse to be a secondary object.--if your feelings were in unison with mine, you would not sacrifice so much to visionary prospects of future advantage. * * * * * * * * * letter xxxiii. jan. . i was just going to begin my letter with the fag end of a song, which would only have told you, what i may as well say simply, that it is pleasant to forgive those we love. i have received your two letters, dated the th and th of december, and my anger died away. you can scarcely conceive the effect some of your letters have produced on me. after longing to hear from you during a tedious interval of suspense, i have seen a superscription written by you.--promising myself pleasure, and feeling emotion, i have laid it by me, till the person who brought it, left the room--when, behold! on opening it, i have found only half a dozen hasty lines, that have damped all the rising affection of my soul. well, now for business-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- my animal is well; i have not yet taught her to eat, but nature is doing the business. i gave her a crust to assist the cutting of her teeth; and now she has two, she makes good use of them to gnaw a crust, biscuit, &c. you would laugh to see her; she is just like a little squirrel; she will guard a crust for two hours; and, after fixing her eye on an object for some time, dart on it with an aim as sure as a bird of prey--nothing can equal her life and spirits. i suffer from a cold; but it does not affect her. adieu! do not forget to love us--and come soon to tell us that you do. * * * * * * * * * letter xxxiv. jan. . from the purport of your last letters, i would suppose that this will scarcely reach you; and i have already written so many letters, that you have either not received, or neglected to acknowledge, i do not find it pleasant, or rather i have no inclination, to go over the same ground again. if you have received them, and are still detained by new projects, it is useless for me to say any more on the subject. i have done with it for ever--yet i ought to remind you that your pecuniary interest suffers by your absence. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- for my part, my head is turned giddy, by only hearing of plans to make money, and my contemptuous feelings have sometimes burst out. i therefore was glad that a violent cold gave me a pretext to stay at home, lest i should have uttered unseasonable truths. my child is well, and the spring will perhaps restore me to myself.--i have endured many inconveniences this winter, which should i be ashamed to mention, if they had been unavoidable. "the secondary pleasures of life," you say, "are very necessary to my comfort:" it may be so; but i have ever considered them as secondary. if therefore you accuse me of wanting the resolution necessary to bear the _common_[ -a] evils of life; i should answer, that i have not fashioned my mind to sustain them, because i would avoid them, cost what it would---- adieu! * * * * * * * * * letter xxxv. february . the melancholy presentiment has for some time hung on my spirits, that we were parted for ever; and the letters i received this day, by mr. ----, convince me that it was not without foundation. you allude to some other letters, which i suppose have miscarried; for most of those i have got, were only a few hasty lines, calculated to wound the tenderness the sight of the superscriptions excited. i mean not however to complain; yet so many feelings are struggling for utterance, and agitating a heart almost bursting with anguish, that i find it very difficult to write with any degree of coherence. you left me indisposed, though you have taken no notice of it; and the most fatiguing journey i ever had, contributed to continue it. however, i recovered my health; but a neglected cold, and continual inquietude during the last two months, have reduced me to a state of weakness i never before experienced. those who did not know that the canker-worm was at work at the core, cautioned me about suckling my child too long.--god preserve this poor child, and render her happier than her mother! but i am wandering from my subject: indeed my head turns giddy, when i think that all the confidence i have had in the affection of others is come to this. i did not expect this blow from you. i have done my duty to you and my child; and if i am not to have any return of affection to reward me, i have the sad consolation of knowing that i deserved a better fate. my soul is weary--i am sick at heart; and, but for this little darling, i would cease to care about a life, which is now stripped of every charm. you see how stupid i am, uttering declamation, when i meant simply to tell you, that i consider your requesting me to come to you, as merely dictated by honour.--indeed, i scarcely understand you.--you request me to come, and then tell me, that you have not given up all thoughts of returning to this place. when i determined to live with you, i was only governed by affection.--i would share poverty with you, but i turn with affright from the sea of trouble on which you are entering.--i have certain principles of action: i know what i look for to found my happiness on.--it is not money.--with you i wished for sufficient to procure the comforts of life--as it is, less will do.--i can still exert myself to obtain the necessaries of life for my child, and she does not want more at present.--i have two or three plans in my head to earn our subsistence; for do not suppose that, neglected by you, i will lie under obligations of a pecuniary kind to you!--no; i would sooner submit to menial service.--i wanted the support of your affection--that gone, all is over!--i did not think, when i complained of ----'s contemptible avidity to accumulate money, that he would have dragged you into his schemes. i cannot write.--i inclose a fragment of a letter, written soon after your departure, and another which tenderness made me keep back when it was written.--you will see then the sentiments of a calmer, though not a more determined, moment.--do not insult me by saying, that "our being together is paramount to every other consideration!" were it, you would not be running after a bubble, at the expence of my peace of mind. perhaps this is the last letter you will ever receive from me. * * * * * * * * * letter xxxvi. feb. . you talk of "permanent views and future comfort"--not for me, for i am dead to hope. the inquietudes of the last winter have finished the business, and my heart is not only broken, but my constitution destroyed. i conceive myself in a galloping consumption, and the continual anxiety i feel at the thought of leaving my child, feeds the fever that nightly devours me. it is on her account that i again write to you, to conjure you, by all that you hold sacred, to leave her here with the german lady you may have heard me mention! she has a child of the same age, and they may be brought up together, as i wish her to be brought up. i shall write more fully on the subject. to facilitate this, i shall give up my present lodgings, and go into the same house. i can live much cheaper there, which is now become an object. i have had livres from ----, and i shall take one more, to pay my servant's wages, &c. and then i shall endeavour to procure what i want by my own exertions. i shall entirely give up the acquaintance of the americans. ---- and i have not been on good terms a long time. yesterday he very unmanlily exulted over me, on account of your determination to stay. i had provoked it, it is true, by some asperities against commerce, which have dropped from me, when we have argued about the propriety of your remaining where you are; and it is no matter, i have drunk too deep of the bitter cup to care about trifles. when you first entered into these plans, you bounded your views to the gaining of a thousand pounds. it was sufficient to have procured a farm in america, which would have been an independence. you find now that you did not know yourself, and that a certain situation in life is more necessary to you than you imagined--more necessary than an uncorrupted heart--for a year or two, you may procure yourself what you call pleasure; eating, drinking, and women; but, in the solitude of declining life, i shall be remembered with regret--i was going to say with remorse, but checked my pen. as i have never concealed the nature of my connection with you, your reputation will not suffer. i shall never have a confident: i am content with the approbation of my own mind; and, if there be a searcher of hearts, mine will not be despised. reading what you have written relative to the desertion of women, i have often wondered how theory and practice could be so different, till i recollected, that the sentiments of passion, and the resolves of reason, are very distinct. as to my sisters, as you are so continually hurried with business, you need not write to them--i shall, when my mind is calmer. god bless you! adieu! * * * * this has been such a period of barbarity and misery, i ought not to complain of having my share. i wish one moment that i had never heard of the cruelties that have been practised here, and the next envy the mothers who have been killed with their children. surely i had suffered enough in life, not to be cursed with a fondness, that burns up the vital stream i am imparting. you will think me mad: i would i were so, that i could forget my misery--so that my head or heart would be still.---- * * * * * letter xxxvii. feb. . when i first received your letter, putting off your return to an indefinite time, i felt so hurt, that i know not what i wrote. i am now calmer, though it was not the kind of wound over which time has the quickest effect; on the contrary, the more i think, the sadder i grow. society fatigues me inexpressibly--so much so, that finding fault with every one, i have only reason enough, to discover that the fault is in myself. my child alone interests me, and, but for her, i should not take any pains to recover my health. as it is, i shall wean her, and try if by that step (to which i feel a repugnance, for it is my only solace) i can get rid of my cough. physicians talk much of the danger attending any complaint on the lungs, after a woman has suckled for some months. they lay a stress also on the necessity of keeping the mind tranquil--and, my god! how has mine been harrassed! but whilst the caprices of other women are gratified, "the wind of heaven not suffered to visit them too rudely," i have not found a guardian angel, in heaven or on earth, to ward off sorrow or care from my bosom. what sacrifices have you not made for a woman you did not respect!--but i will not go over this ground--i want to tell you that i do not understand you. you say that you have not given up all thoughts of returning here--and i know that it will be necessary--nay, is. i cannot explain myself; but if you have not lost your memory, you will easily divine my meaning. what! is our life then only to be made up of separations? and am i only to return to a country, that has not merely lost all charms for me, but for which i feel a repugnance that almost amounts to horror, only to be left there a prey to it! why is it so necessary that i should return?--brought up here, my girl would be freer. indeed, expecting you to join us, i had formed some plans of usefulness that have now vanished with my hopes of happiness. in the bitterness of my heart, i could complain with reason, that i am left here dependent on a man, whose avidity to acquire a fortune has rendered him callous to every sentiment connected with social or affectionate emotions.--with a brutal insensibility, he cannot help displaying the pleasure your determination to stay gives him, in spite of the effect it is visible it has had on me. till i can earn money, i shall endeavour to borrow some, for i want to avoid asking him continually for the sum necessary to maintain me.--do not mistake me, i have never been refused.--yet i have gone half a dozen times to the house to ask for it, and come away without speaking----you must guess why--besides, i wish to avoid hearing of the eternal projects to which you have sacrificed my peace--not remembering--but i will be silent for ever.---- * * * * * letter xxxviii. april . here i am at h----, on the wing towards you, and i write now, only to tell you, that you may expect me in the course of three or four days; for i shall not attempt to give vent to the different emotions which agitate my heart--you may term a feeling, which appears to me to be a degree of delicacy that naturally arises from sensibility, pride--still i cannot indulge the very affectionate tenderness which glows in my bosom, without trembling, till i see, by your eyes, that it is mutual. i sit, lost in thought, looking at the sea--and tears rush into my eyes, when i find that i am cherishing any fond expectations.--i have indeed been so unhappy this winter, i find it as difficult to acquire fresh hopes, as to regain tranquillity.--enough of this--lie still, foolish heart!--but for the little girl, i could almost wish that it should cease to beat, to be no more alive to the anguish of disappointment. sweet little creature! i deprived myself of my only pleasure, when i weaned her, about ten days ago.--i am however glad i conquered my repugnance.--it was necessary it should be done soon, and i did not wish to embitter the renewal of your acquaintance with her, by putting it off till we met.--it was a painful exertion to me, and i thought it best to throw this inquietude with the rest, into the sack that i would fain throw over my shoulder.--i wished to endure it alone, in short--yet, after sending her to sleep in the next room for three or four nights, you cannot think with what joy i took her back again to sleep in my bosom! i suppose i shall find you, when i arrive, for i do not see any necessity for your coming to me.--pray inform mr. ------, that i have his little friend with me.--my wishing to oblige him, made me put myself to some inconvenience----and delay my departure; which was irksome to me, who have not quite as much philosophy, i would not for the world say indifference, as you. god bless you! yours truly, * * * * * * * * * letter xxxix. brighthelmstone, saturday, april . here we are, my love, and mean to set out early in the morning; and, if i can find you, i hope to dine with you to-morrow.--i shall drive to ------'s hotel, where ------ tells me you have been--and, if you have left it, i hope you will take care to be there to receive us. i have brought with me mr. ----'s little friend, and a girl whom i like to take care of our little darling--not on the way, for that fell to my share.--but why do i write about trifles?--or any thing?--are we not to meet soon?--what does your heart say! yours truly * * * * i have weaned my ------, and she is now eating away at the white bread. * * * * * letter xl. london, friday, may . i have just received your affectionate letter, and am distressed to think that i have added to your embarrassments at this troublesome juncture, when the exertion of all the faculties of your mind appears to be necessary, to extricate you out of your pecuniary difficulties. i suppose it was something relative to the circumstance you have mentioned, which made ------ request to see me to-day, to _converse about a matter of great importance_. be that as it may, his letter (such is the state of my spirits) inconceivably alarmed me, and rendered the last night as distressing, as the two former had been. i have laboured to calm my mind since you left me--still i find that tranquillity is not to be obtained by exertion; it is a feeling so different from the resignation of despair!--i am however no longer angry with you--nor will i ever utter another complaint--there are arguments which convince the reason, whilst they carry death to the heart.--we have had too many cruel explanations, that not only cloud every future prospect; but embitter the remembrances which alone give life to affection.--let the subject never be revived! it seems to me that i have not only lost the hope, but the power of being happy.--every emotion is now sharpened by anguish.--my soul has been shook, and my tone of feelings destroyed.--i have gone out--and sought for dissipation, if not amusement, merely to fatigue still more, i find, my irritable nerves---- my friend--my dear friend--examine yourself well--i am out of the question; for, alas! i am nothing--and discover what you wish to do--what will render you most comfortable--or, to be more explicit--whether you desire to live with me, or part for ever? when you can once ascertain it, tell me frankly, i conjure you!--for, believe me, i have very involuntarily interrupted your peace. i shall expect you to dinner on monday, and will endeavour to assume a cheerful face to greet you--at any rate i will avoid conversations, which only tend to harrass your feelings, because i am most affectionately yours, * * * * * * * * * letter xli. wednesday. i inclose you the letter, which you desired me to forward, and i am tempted very laconically to wish you a good morning--not because i am angry, or have nothing to say; but to keep down a wounded spirit.--i shall make every effort to calm my mind--yet a strong conviction seems to whirl round in the very centre of my brain, which, like the fiat of fate, emphatically assures me, that grief has a firm hold of my heart. god bless you! yours sincerely * * * * * * * * * letter xlii. --, wednesday, two o'clock. we arrived here about an hour ago. i am extremely fatigued with the child, who would not rest quiet with any body but me, during the night--and now we are here in a comfortless, damp room, in a sort of a tomb-like house. this however i shall quickly remedy, for, when i have finished this letter, (which i must do immediately, because the post goes out early), i shall sally forth, and enquire about a vessel and an inn. i will not distress you by talking of the depression of my spirits, or the struggle i had to keep alive my dying heart.--it is even now too full to allow me to write with composure.--*****,--dear *****, --am i always to be tossed about thus?--shall i never find an asylum to rest _contented_ in? how can you love to fly about continually--dropping down, as it were, in a new world--cold and strange!--every other day? why do you not attach those tender emotions round the idea of home, which even now dim my eyes?--this alone is affection--every thing else is only humanity, electrified by sympathy. i will write to you again to-morrow, when i know how long i am to be detained--and hope to get a letter quickly from you, to cheer yours sincerely and affectionately * * * * ------ is playing near me in high spirits. she was so pleased with the noise of the mail-horn, she has been continually imitating it.----adieu! * * * * * letter xliii. thursday. a lady has just sent to offer to take me to ------. i have then only a moment to exclaim against the vague manner in which people give information -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- but why talk of inconveniences, which are in fact trifling, when compared with the sinking of the heart i have felt! i did not intend to touch this painful string--god bless you! yours truly, * * * * * * * * * letter xliv. friday, june . i have just received yours dated the th, which i suppose was a mistake, for it could scarcely have loitered so long on the road. the general observations which apply to the state of your own mind, appear to me just, as far as they go; and i shall always consider it as one of the most serious misfortunes of my life, that i did not meet you, before satiety had rendered your senses so fastidious, as almost to close up every tender avenue of sentiment and affection that leads to your sympathetic heart. you have a heart, my friend, yet, hurried away by the impetuosity of inferior feelings, you have sought in vulgar excesses, for that gratification which only the heart can bestow. the common run of men, i know, with strong health and gross appetites, must have variety to banish _ennui_, because the imagination never lends its magic wand, to convert appetite into love, cemented by according reason.--ah! my friend, you know not the ineffable delight, the exquisite pleasure, which arises from a unison of affection and desire, when the whole soul and senses are abandoned to a lively imagination, that renders every emotion delicate and rapturous. yes; these are emotions, over which satiety has no power, and the recollection of which, even disappointment cannot disenchant; but they do not exist without self-denial. these emotions, more or less strong, appear to me to be the distinctive characteristic of genius, the foundation of taste, and of that exquisite relish for the beauties of nature, of which the common herd of eaters and drinkers and _child-begeters_, certainly have no idea. you will smile at an observation that has just occurred to me:--i consider those minds as the most strong and original, whose imagination acts as the stimulus to their senses. well! you will ask, what is the result of all this reasoning? why i cannot help thinking that it is possible for you, having great strength of mind, to return to nature, and regain a sanity of constitution, and purity of feeling--which would open your heart to me.--i would fain rest there! yet, convinced more than ever of the sincerity and tenderness of my attachment to you, the involuntary hopes, which a determination to live has revived, are not sufficiently strong to dissipate the cloud, that despair has spread over futurity. i have looked at the sea, and at my child, hardly daring to own to myself the secret wish, that it might become our tomb; and that the heart, still so alive to anguish, might there be quieted by death. at this moment ten thousand complicated sentiments press for utterance, weigh on my heart, and obscure my sight. are we ever to meet again? and will you endeavour to render that meeting happier than the last? will you endeavour to restrain your caprices, in order to give vigour to affection, and to give play to the checked sentiments that nature intended should expand your heart? i cannot indeed, without agony, think of your bosom's being continually contaminated; and bitter are the tears which exhaust my eyes, when i recollect why my child and i are forced to stray from the asylum, in which, after so many storms, i had hoped to rest, smiling at angry fate.--these are not common sorrows; nor can you perhaps conceive, how much active fortitude it requires to labour perpetually to blunt the shafts of disappointment. examine now yourself, and ascertain whether you can live in something-like a settled stile. let our confidence in future be unbounded; consider whether you find it necessary to sacrifice me to what you term "the zest of life;" and, when you have once a clear view of your own motives, of your own incentive to action, do not deceive me! the train of thoughts which the writing of this epistle awoke, makes me so wretched, that i must take a walk, to rouse and calm my mind. but first, let me tell you, that, if you really wish to promote my happiness, you will endeavour to give me as much as you can of yourself. you have great mental energy; and your judgment seems to me so just, that it is only the dupe of your inclination in discussing one subject. the post does not go out to-day. to-morrow i may write more tranquilly. i cannot yet say when the vessel will sail in which i have determined to depart. * * * * * saturday morning. your second letter reached me about an hour ago. you were certainly wrong, in supposing that i did not mention you with respect; though, without my being conscious of it, some sparks of resentment may have animated the gloom of despair--yes; with less affection, i should have been more respectful. however the regard which i have for you, is so unequivocal to myself, i imagine that it must be sufficiently obvious to every body else. besides, the only letter i intended for the public eye was to ----, and that i destroyed from delicacy before you saw them, because it was only written (of course warmly in your praise) to prevent any odium being thrown on you[ -a]. i am harrassed by your embarrassments, and shall certainly use all my efforts, to make the business terminate to your satisfaction in which i am engaged. my friend--my dearest friend--i feel my fate united to yours by the most sacred principles of my soul, and the yearns of--yes, i will say it--a true, unsophisticated heart. yours most truly * * * * if the wind be fair, the captain talks of sailing on monday; but i am afraid i shall be detained some days longer. at any rate, continue to write, (i want this support) till you are sure i am where i cannot expect a letter; and, if any should arrive after my departure, a gentleman (not mr. ----'s friend, i promise you) from whom i have received great civilities, will send them after me. do write by every occasion! i am anxious to hear how your affairs go on; and, still more, to be convinced that you are not separating yourself from us. for my little darling is calling papa, and adding her parrot word--come, come! and will you not come, and let us exert ourselves?--i shall recover all my energy, when i am convinced that my exertions will draw us more closely together. one more adieu! * * * * * letter xlv. sunday, june . i rather expected to hear from you to-day--i wish you would not fail to write to me for a little time, because i am not quite well--whether i have any good sleep or not, i wake in the morning in violent fits of trembling--and, in spite of all my efforts, the child--every thing--fatigues me, in which i seek for solace or amusement. mr. ---- forced on me a letter to a physician of this place; it was fortunate, for i should otherwise have had some difficulty to obtain the necessary information. his wife is a pretty woman (i can admire, you know, a pretty woman, when i am alone) and he an intelligent and rather interesting man.--they have behaved to me with great hospitality; and poor ------ was never so happy in her life, as amongst their young brood. they took me in their carriage to ------, and i ran over my favourite walks, with a vivacity that would have astonished you.--the town did not please me quite so well as formerly--it appeared so diminutive; and, when i found that many of the inhabitants had lived in the same houses ever since i left it, i could not help wondering how they could thus have vegetated, whilst i was running over a world of sorrow, snatching at pleasure, and throwing off prejudices. the place where i at present am, is much improved; but it is astonishing what strides aristocracy and fanaticism have made, since i resided in this country. the wind does not appear inclined to change, so i am still forced to linger--when do you think that you shall be able to set out for france? i do not entirely like the aspect of your affairs, and still less your connections on either side of the water. often do i sigh, when i think of your entanglements in business, and your extreme restlessness of mind.--even now i am almost afraid to ask you, whether the pleasure of being free, does not over-balance the pain you felt at parting with me? sometimes i indulge the hope that you will feel me necessary to you--or why should we meet again?--but, the moment after, despair damps my rising spirits, aggravated by the emotions of tenderness, which ought to soften the cares of life.----god bless you! yours sincerely and affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter xlvi. june . i want to know how you have settled with respect to ------. in short, be very particular in your account of all your affairs--let our confidence, my dear, be unbounded.--the last time we were separated, was a separation indeed on your part--now you have acted more ingenuously, let the most affectionate interchange of sentiments fill up the aching void of disappointment. i almost dread that your plans will prove abortive--yet should the most unlucky turn send you home to us, convinced that a true friend is a treasure, i should not much mind having to struggle with the world again. accuse me not of pride--yet sometimes, when nature has opened my heart to its author, i have wondered that you did not set a higher value on my heart. receive a kiss from ------, i was going to add, if you will not take one from me, and believe me yours sincerely * * * * the wind still continues in the same quarter. * * * * * letter xlvii. tuesday morning. the captain has just sent to inform me, that i must be on board in the course of a few hours.--i wished to have stayed till to-morrow. it would have been a comfort to me to have received another letter from you--should one arrive, it will be sent after me. my spirits are agitated, i scarcely know why----the quitting england seems to be a fresh parting.--surely you will not forget me.--a thousand weak forebodings assault my soul, and the state of my health renders me sensible to every thing. it is surprising that in london, in a continual conflict of mind, i was still growing better--whilst here, bowed down by the despotic hand of fate, forced into resignation by despair, i seem to be fading away--perishing beneath a cruel blight, that withers up all my faculties. the child is perfectly well. my hand seems unwilling to add adieu! i know not why this inexpressible sadness has taken possession of me.--it is not a presentiment of ill. yet, having been so perpetually the sport of disappointment,--having a heart that has been as it were a mark for misery, i dread to meet wretchedness in some new shape.--well, let it come--i care not!--what have i to dread, who have so little to hope for! god bless you--i am most affectionately and sincerely yours * * * * * * * * * letter xlviii. wednesday morning. i was hurried on board yesterday about three o'clock, the wind having changed. but before evening it veered round to the old point; and here we are, in the midst of mists and water, only taking advantage of the tide to advance a few miles. you will scarcely suppose that i left the town with reluctance--yet it was even so--for i wished to receive another letter from you, and i felt pain at parting, for ever perhaps, from the amiable family, who had treated me with so much hospitality and kindness. they will probably send me your letter, if it arrives this morning; for here we are likely to remain, i am afraid to think how long. the vessel is very commodious, and the captain a civil, open-hearted kind of man. there being no other passengers, i have the cabin to myself, which is pleasant; and i have brought a few books with me to beguile weariness; but i seem inclined, rather to employ the dead moments of suspence in writing some effusions, than in reading. what are you about? how are your affairs going on? it may be a long time before you answer these questions. my dear friend, my heart sinks within me!--why am i forced thus to struggle continually with my affections and feelings?--ah! why are those affections and feelings the source of so much misery, when they seem to have been given to vivify my heart, and extend my usefulness! but i must not dwell on this subject.--will you not endeavour to cherish all the affection you can for me? what am i saying?--rather forget me, if you can--if other gratifications are dearer to you.--how is every remembrance of mine embittered by disappointment? what a world is this!--they only seem happy, who never look beyond sensual or artificial enjoyments.--adieu! ------ begins to play with the cabin-boy, and is as gay as a lark.--i will labour to be tranquil; and am in every mood, yours sincerely * * * * * * * * * letter xlix. thursday. here i am still--and i have just received your letter of monday by the pilot, who promised to bring it to me, if we were detained, as he expected, by the wind.--it is indeed wearisome to be thus tossed about without going forward.--i have a violent head-ache--yet i am obliged to take care of the child, who is a little tormented by her teeth, because ------ is unable to do any thing, she is rendered so sick by the motion of the ship, as we ride at anchor. these are however trifling inconveniences, compared with anguish of mind--compared with the sinking of a broken heart.--to tell you the truth, i never suffered in my life so much from depression of spirits--from despair.--i do not sleep--or, if i close my eyes, it is to have the most terrifying dreams, in which i often meet you with different casts of countenance. i will not, my dear ------, torment you by dwelling on my sufferings--and will use all my efforts to calm my mind, instead of deadening it--at present it is most painfully active. i find i am not equal to these continual struggles--yet your letter this morning has afforded me some comfort--and i will try to revive hope. one thing let me tell you--when we meet again--surely we are to meet!--it must be to part no more. i mean not to have seas between us--it is more than i can support. the pilot is hurrying me--god bless you. in spite of the commodiousness of the vessel, every thing here would disgust my senses, had i nothing else to think of--"when the mind's free, the body's delicate;"--mine has been too much hurt to regard trifles. yours most truly * * * * * * * * * letter l. saturday. this is the fifth dreary day i have been imprisoned by the wind, with every outward object to disgust the senses, and unable to banish the remembrances that sadden my heart. how am i altered by disappointment!--when going to ----, ten years ago, the elasticity of my mind was sufficient to ward off weariness--and the imagination still could dip her brush in the rainbow of fancy, and sketch futurity in smiling colours. now i am going towards the north in search of sunbeams!--will any ever warm this desolated heart? all nature seems to frown--or rather mourn with me.--every thing is cold--cold as my expectations! before i left the shore, tormented, as i now am, by these north east _chillers_, i could not help exclaiming--give me, gracious heaven! at least, genial weather, if i am never to meet the genial affection that still warms this agitated bosom--compelling life to linger there. i am now going on shore with the captain, though the weather be rough, to seek for milk, &c. at a little village, and to take a walk--after which i hope to sleep--for, confined here, surrounded by disagreeable smells, i have lost the little appetite i had; and i lie awake, till thinking almost drives me to the brink of madness--only to the brink, for i never forget, even in the feverish slumbers i sometimes fall into, the misery i am labouring to blunt the the sense of, by every exertion in my power. poor ------ still continues sick, and ------ grows weary when the weather will not allow her to remain on deck. i hope this will be the last letter i shall write from england to you--are you not tired of this lingering adieu? yours truly * * * * * * * * * letter li. sunday morning. the captain last night, after i had written my letter to you intended to be left at a little village, offered to go to ---- to pass to-day. we had a troublesome sail--and now i must hurry on board again, for the wind has changed. i half expected to find a letter from you here. had you written one haphazard, it would have been kind and considerate--you might have known, had you thought, that the wind would not permit me to depart. these are attentions, more grateful to the heart than offers of service--but why do i foolishly continue to look for them? adieu! adieu! my friend--your friendship is very cold--you see i am hurt.--god bless you! i may perhaps be, some time or other, independent in every sense of the word--ah! there is but one sense of it of consequence. i will break or bend this weak heart--yet even now it is full. yours sincerely * * * * the child is well; i did not leave her on board. * * * * * letter lii. june , saturday. i arrived in ------ this afternoon, after vainly attempting to land at ----. i have now but a moment, before the post goes out, to inform you we have got here; though not without considerable difficulty, for we were set ashore in a boat above twenty miles below. what i suffered in the vessel i will not now descant upon--nor mention the pleasure i received from the sight of the rocky coast.--this morning however, walking to join the carriage that was to transport us to this place, i fell, without any previous warning, senseless on the rocks--and how i escaped with life i can scarcely guess. i was in a stupour for a quarter of an hour; the suffusion of blood at last restored me to my senses--the contusion is great, and my brain confused. the child is well. twenty miles ride in the rain, after my accident, has sufficiently deranged me--and here i could not get a fire to warm me, or any thing warm to eat; the inns are mere stables--i must nevertheless go to bed. for god's sake, let me hear from you immediately, my friend! i am not well and yet you see i cannot die. yours sincerely * * * * * * * * * letter liii. june . i wrote to you by the last post, to inform you of my arrival; and i believe i alluded to the extreme fatigue i endured on ship-board, owing to ------'s illness, and the roughness of the weather--i likewise mentioned to you my fall, the effects of which i still feel, though i do not think it will have any serious consequences. ------ will go with me, if i find it necessary to go to ------. the inns here are so bad, i was forced to accept of an apartment in his house. i am overwhelmed with civilities on all sides, and fatigued with the endeavours to amuse me, from which i cannot escape. my friend--my friend, i am not well--a deadly weight of sorrow lies heavily on my heart. i am again tossed on the troubled billows of life; and obliged to cope with difficulties, without being buoyed up by the hopes that alone render them bearable. "how flat, dull, and unprofitable," appears to me all the bustle into which i see people here so eagerly enter! i long every night to go to bed, to hide my melancholy face in my pillow; but there is a canker-worm in my bosom that never sleeps. * * * * * * * * * letter liv. july . i labour in vain to calm my mind--my soul has been overwhelmed by sorrow and disappointment. every thing fatigues me--this is a life that cannot last long. it is you who must determine with respect to futurity--and, when you have, i will act accordingly--i mean, we must either resolve to live together, or part for ever, i cannot bear these continual struggles--but i wish you to examine carefully your own heart and mind; and, if you perceive the least chance of being happier without me than with me, or if your inclination leans capriciously to that side, do not dissemble; but tell me frankly that you will never see me more. i will then adopt the plan i mentioned to you--for we must either live together, or i will be entirely independent. my heart is so oppressed, i cannot write with precision--you know however that what i so imperfectly express, are not the crude sentiments of the moment--you can only contribute to my comfort (it is the consolation i am in need of) by being with me--and, if the tenderest friendship is of any value, why will you not look to me for a degree of satisfaction that heartless affections cannot bestow? tell me then, will you determine to meet me at basle?--i shall, i should imagine, be at ------ before the close of august; and, after you settle your affairs at paris, could we not meet there? god bless you! yours truly * * * * poor ------ has suffered during the journey with her teeth. * * * * * letter lv. july . there was a gloominess diffused through your last letter, the impression of which still rests on my mind--though, recollecting how quickly you throw off the forcible feelings of the moment, i flatter myself it has long since given place to your usual cheerfulness. believe me (and my eyes fill with tears of tenderness as i assure you) there is nothing i would not endure in the way of privation, rather than disturb your tranquillity.--if i am fated to be unhappy, i will labour to hide my sorrows in my own bosom; and you shall always find me a faithful, affectionate friend. i grow more and more attached to my little girl--and i cherish this affection without fear, because it must be a long time before it can become bitterness of soul.--she is an interesting creature.--on ship-board, how often as i gazed at the sea, have i longed to bury my troubled bosom in the less troubled deep; asserting with brutus, "that the virtue i had followed too far, was merely an empty name!" and nothing but the sight of her--her playful smiles, which seemed to cling and twine round my heart--could have stopped me. what peculiar misery has fallen to my share! to act up to my principles, i have laid the strictest restraint on my very thoughts--yes; not to sully the delicacy of my feelings, i have reined in my imagination; and started with affright from every sensation, (i allude to ----) that stealing with balmy sweetness into my soul, led me to scent from afar the fragrance of reviving nature. my friend, i have dearly paid for one conviction.--love, in some minds, is an affair of sentiment, arising from the same delicacy of perception (or taste) as renders them alive to the beauties of nature, poetry, &c, alive to the charms of those evanescent graces that are, as it were, impalpable--they must be felt, they cannot be described. love is a want of my heart. i have examined myself lately with more care than formerly, and find, that to deaden is not to calm the mind--aiming at tranquillity, i have almost destroyed all the energy of my soul--almost rooted out what renders it estimable--yes, i have damped that enthusiasm of character, which converts the grossest materials into a fuel, that imperceptibly feeds hopes, which aspire above common enjoyment. despair, since the birth of my child, has rendered me stupid--soul and body seemed to be fading away before the withering touch of disappointment. i am now endeavouring to recover myself--and such is the elasticity of my constitution, and the purity of the atmosphere here, that health unsought for, begins to reanimate my countenance. i have the sincerest esteem and affection for you--but the desire of regaining peace, (do you understand me?) has made me forget the respect due to my own emotions--sacred emotions, that are the sure harbingers of the delights i was formed to enjoy--and shall enjoy, for nothing can extinguish the heavenly spark. still, when we meet again, i will not torment you, i promise you. i blush when i recollect my former conduct--and will not in future confound myself with the beings whom i feel to be my inferiors.--i will listen to delicacy, or pride. * * * * * letter lvi. july . i hope to hear from you by to-morrow's mail. my dearest friend! i cannot tear my affections from you--and, though every remembrance stings me to the soul, i think of you, till i make allowance for the very defects of character, that have given such a cruel stab to my peace. still however i am more alive, than you have seen me for a long, long time. i have a degree of vivacity, even in my grief, which is preferable to the benumbing stupour that, for the last year, has frozen up all my faculties.--perhaps this change is more owing to returning health, than to the vigour of my reason--for, in spite of sadness (and surely i have had my share), the purity of this air, and the being continually out in it, for i sleep in the country every night, has made an alteration in my appearance that really surprises me.--the rosy fingers of health already streak my cheeks--and i have seen a _physical_ life in my eyes, after i have been climbing the rocks, that resembled the fond, credulous hopes of youth. with what a cruel sigh have i recollected that i had forgotten to hope!--reason, or rather experience, does not thus cruelly damp poor ------'s pleasures; she plays all day in the garden with ------'s children, and makes friends for herself. do not tell me, that you are happier without us--will you not come to us in switzerland? ah, why do not you love us with more sentiment?--why are you a creature of such sympathy, that the warmth of your feelings, or rather quickness of your senses, hardens your heart? it is my misfortune, that my imagination is perpetually shading your defects, and lending you charms, whilst the grossness of your senses makes you (call me not vain) overlook graces in me, that only dignity of mind, and the sensibility of an expanded heart can give.--god bless you! adieu. * * * * * letter lvii. july . i could not help feeling extremely mortified last post, at not receiving a letter from you. my being at ------was but a chance, and you might have hazarded it; and would a year ago. i shall not however complain--there are misfortunes so great, as to silence the usual expressions of sorrow--believe me, there is such a thing as a broken heart! there are characters whose very energy preys upon them; and who, ever inclined to cherish by reflection some passion, cannot rest satisfied with the common comforts of life. i have endeavoured to fly from myself, and launched into all the dissipation possible here, only to feel keener anguish, when alone with my child. still, could any thing please me--had not disappointment cut me off from life, this romantic country, these fine evenings, would interest me.--my god! can any thing? and am i ever to feel alive only to painful sensations?--but it cannot--it shall not last long. the post is again arrived; i have sent to seek for letters, only to be wounded to the soul by a negative.--my brain seems on fire, i must go into the air. * * * * * * * * * letter lviii. july . i am now on my journey to ------. i felt more at leaving my child, than i thought i should--and, whilst at night i imagined every instant that i heard the half-formed sounds of her voice,--i asked myself how i could think of parting with her for ever, of leaving her thus helpless? poor lamb! it may run very well in a tale, that "god will temper the winds to the shorn lamb!" but how can i expect that she will be shielded, when my naked bosom has had to brave continually the pitiless storm? yes; i could add, with poor lear--what is the war of elements to the pangs of disappointed affection, and the horror arising from a discovery of a breach of confidence, that snaps every social tie! all is not right somewhere!--when you first knew me, i was not thus lost. i could still confide--for i opened my heart to you--of this only comfort you have deprived me, whilst my happiness, you tell me, was your first object. strange want of judgment! i will not complain; but, from the soundness of your understanding, i am convinced, if you give yourself leave to reflect, you will also feel, that your conduct to me, so far from being generous, has not been just.--i mean not to allude to factitious principles of morality; but to the simple basis of all rectitude.--however i did not intend to argue--your not writing is cruel--and my reason is perhaps disturbed by constant wretchedness. poor ------ would fain have accompanied me, out of tenderness; for my fainting, or rather convulsion, when i landed, and my sudden changes of countenance since, have alarmed her so much, that she is perpetually afraid of some accident--but it would have injured the child this warm season, as she is cutting her teeth. i hear not of your having written to me at ----. very well! act as you please--there is nothing i fear or care for! when i see whether i can, or cannot obtain the money i am come here about, i will not trouble you with letters to which you do not reply. * * * * * letter lix. july . i am here in ----, separated from my child--and here i must remain a month at least, or i might as well never have come. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- i have begun -------- which will, i hope, discharge all my obligations of a pecuniary kind.--i am lowered in my own eyes, on account of my not having done it sooner. i shall make no further comments on your silence. god bless you! * * * * * * * * * letter lx. july . i have just received two of your letters, dated the th and th of june; and you must have received several from me, informing you of my detention, and how much i was hurt by your silence. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- write to me then, my friend, and write explicitly. i have suffered, god knows, since i left you. ah! you have never felt this kind of sickness of heart!--my mind however is at present painfully active, and the sympathy i feel almost rises to agony. but this is not a subject of complaint, it has afforded me pleasure,--and reflected pleasure is all i have to hope for--if a spark of hope be yet alive in my forlorn bosom. i will try to write with a degree of composure. i wish for us to live together, because i want you to acquire an habitual tenderness for my poor girl. i cannot bear to think of leaving her alone in the world, or that she should only be protected by your sense of duty. next to preserving her, my most earnest wish is not to disturb your peace. i have nothing to expect, and little to fear, in life--there are wounds that can never be healed--but they may be allowed to fester in silence without wincing. when we meet again, you shall be convinced that i have more resolution than you give me credit for. i will not torment you. if i am destined always to be disappointed and unhappy, i will conceal the anguish i cannot dissipate; and the tightened cord of life or reason will at last snap, and set me free. yes; i shall be happy--this heart is worthy of the bliss its feelings anticipate--and i cannot even persuade myself, wretched as they have made me, that my principles and sentiments are not founded in nature and truth. but to have done with these subjects. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- i have been seriously employed in this way since i came to ----; yet i never was so much in the air.--i walk, i ride on horseback--row, bathe, and even sleep in the fields; my health is consequently improved. the child, ------informs me, is well. i long to be with her. write to me immediately--were i only to think of myself, i could wish you to return to me, poor, with the simplicity of character, part of which you seem lately to have lost, that first attached to you. yours most affectionately * * * * * * * * * i have been subscribing other letters--so i mechanically did the same to yours. * * * * * letter lxi. august . employment and exercise have been of great service to me; and i have entirely recovered the strength and activity i lost during the time of my nursing. i have seldom been in better health; and my mind, though trembling to the touch of anguish, is calmer--yet still the same.--i have, it is true, enjoyed some tranquillity, and more happiness here, than for a long--long time past.--(i say happiness, for i can give no other appellation to the exquisite delight this wild country and fine summer have afforded me.)--still, on examining my heart, i find that it is so constituted, i cannot live without some particular affection--i am afraid not without a passion--and i feel the want of it more in society, than in solitude-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- writing to you, whenever an affectionate epithet occurs--my eyes fill with tears, and my trembling hand stops--you may then depend on my resolution, when with you. if i am doomed to be unhappy, i will confine my anguish in my own bosom--tenderness, rather than passion, has made me sometimes overlook delicacy--the same tenderness will in future restrain me. god bless you! * * * * * letter lxii. august . air, exercise, and bathing, have restored me to health, braced my muscles, and covered my ribs, even whilst i have recovered my former activity.--i cannot tell you that my mind is calm, though i have snatched some moments of exquisite delight, wandering through the woods, and resting on the rocks. this state of suspense, my friend, is intolerable; we must determine on something--and soon;--we must meet shortly, or part for ever. i am sensible that i acted foolishly--but i was wretched--when we were together--expecting too much, i let the pleasure i might have caught, slip from me. i cannot live with you--i ought not--if you form another attachment. but i promise you, mine shall not be intruded on you. little reason have i to expect a shadow of happiness, after the cruel disappointments that have rent my heart; but that of my child seems to depend on our being together. still i do not wish you to sacrifice a chance of enjoyment for an uncertain good. i feel a conviction, that i can provide for her, and it shall be my object--if we are indeed to part to meet no more. her affection must not be divided. she must be a comfort to me--if i am to have no other--and only know me as her support.--i feel that i cannot endure the anguish of corresponding with you--if we are only to correspond.--no; if you seek for happiness elsewhere, my letters shall not interrupt your repose. i will be dead to you. i cannot express to you what pain it gives me to write about an eternal separation.--you must determine--examine yourself--but, for god's sake! spare me the anxiety of uncertainty!--i may sink under the trial; but i will not complain. adieu! if i had any thing more to say to you, it is all flown, and absorbed by the most tormenting apprehensions, yet i scarcely know what new form of misery i have to dread. i ought to beg your pardon for having sometimes written peevishly; but you will impute it to affection, if you understand any thing of the heart of yours truly * * * * * * * * * letter lxiii. august . five of your letters have been sent after me from ----. one, dated the th of july, was written in a style which i may have merited, but did not expect from you. however this is not a time to reply to it, except to assure you that you shall not be tormented with any more complaints. i am disgusted with myself for having so long importuned you with my affection.---- my child is very well. we shall soon meet, to part no more, i hope--i mean, i and my girl.--i shall wait with some degree of anxiety till i am informed how your affairs terminate. yours sincerely * * * * * * * * * letter lxiv. august . i arrived here last night, and with the most exquisite delight, once more pressed my babe to my heart. we shall part no more. you perhaps cannot conceive the pleasure it gave me, to see her run about, and play alone. her increasing intelligence attaches me more and more to her. i have promised her that i will fulfil my duty to her; and nothing in future shall make me forget it. i will also exert myself to obtain an independence for her; but i will not be too anxious on this head. i have already told you, that i have recovered my health. vigour, and even vivacity of mind, have returned with a renovated constitution. as for peace, we will not talk of it. i was not made, perhaps, to enjoy the calm contentment so termed.-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- you tell me that my letters torture you; i will not describe the effect yours have on me. i received three this morning, the last dated the th of this month. i mean not to give vent to the emotions they produced.--certainly you are right; our minds are not congenial. i have lived in an ideal world, and fostered sentiments that you do not comprehend--or you would not treat me thus. i am not, i will not be, merely an object of compassion--a clog, however light, to teize you. forget that i exist: i will never remind you. something emphatical whispers me to put an end to these struggles. be free--i will not torment, when i cannot please. i can take care of my child; you need not continually tell me that our fortune is inseparable, _that you will try to cherish tenderness_ for me. do no violence to yourself! when we are separated, our interest, since you give so much weight to pecuniary considerations, will be entirely divided. i want not protection without affection; and support i need not, whilst my faculties are undisturbed. i had a dislike to living in england; but painful feelings must give way to superior considerations. i may not be able to acquire the sum necessary to maintain my child and self elsewhere. it is too late to go to switzerland. i shall not remain at ----, living expensively. but be not alarmed! i shall not force myself on you any more. adieu! i am agitated--my whole frame is convulsed--my lips tremble, as if shook by cold, though fire seems to be circulating in my veins. god bless you. * * * * * * * * * letter lxv. september . i received just now your letter of the th. i had written you a letter last night, into which imperceptibly slipt some of my bitterness of soul. i will copy the part relative to business. i am not sufficiently vain to imagine that i can, for more than a moment, cloud your enjoyment of life--to prevent even that, you had better never hear from me--and repose on the idea that i am happy. gracious god! it is impossible for me to stifle something like resentment, when i receive fresh proofs of your indifference. what i have suffered this last year, is not to be forgotten! i have not that happy substitute for wisdom, insensibility--and the lively sympathies which bind me to my fellow-creatures, are all of a painful kind.--they are the agonies of a broken heart--pleasure and i have shaken hands. i see here nothing but heaps of ruins, and only converse with people immersed in trade and sensuality. i am weary of travelling--yet seem to have no home--no resting place to look to.--i am strangely cast off.--how often, passing through the rocks, i have thought, "but for this child, i would lay my head on one of them, and never open my eyes again!" with a heart feelingly alive to all the affections of my nature--i have never met with one, softer than the stone that i would fain take for my last pillow. i once thought i had, but it was all a delusion. i meet with families continually, who are bound together by affection or principle--and, when i am conscious that i have fulfilled the duties of my station, almost to a forgetfulness of myself, i am ready to demand, in a murmuring tone, of heaven, "why am i thus abandoned?" you say now -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- i do not understand you. it is necessary for you to write more explicitly--and determine on some mode of conduct.--i cannot endure this suspense--decide--do you fear to strike another blow? we live together, or eternally part!--i shall not write to you again, till i receive an answer to this. i must compose my tortured soul, before i write on indifferent subjects. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- i do not know whether i write intelligibly, for my head is disturbed.--but this you ought to pardon--for it is with difficulty frequently that i make out what you mean to say--you write, i suppose, at mr. ----'s after dinner, when your head is not the clearest--and as for your heart, if you have one, i see nothing like the dictates of affection, unless a glimpse when you mention, the child.--adieu! * * * * * letter lxvi. september . i have just finished a letter, to be given in charge to captain ------. in that i complained of your silence, and expressed my surprise that three mails should have arrived without bringing a line for me. since i closed it, i hear of another, and still no letter.--i am labouring to write calmly--this silence is a refinement on cruelty. had captain ------ remained a few days longer, i would have returned with him to england. what have i to do here? i have repeatedly written to you fully. do you do the same--and quickly. do not leave me in suspense. i have not deserved this of you. i cannot write, my mind is so distressed. adieu! * * * * end vol. iii. footnotes: [ -a] the child is in a subsequent letter called the "barrier girl," probably from a supposition that she owed her existence to this interview. editor. [ -a] this and the thirteen following letters appear to have been written during a separation of several months; the date, paris. [ -a] some further letters, written during the remainder of the week, in a similar strain to the preceding, appear to have been destroyed by the person to whom they were addressed. [ -a] the child spoken of in some preceding letters, had now been born a considerable time. [ -a] she means, "the latter more than the former." editor. [ -a] this is the first of a series of letters written during a separation of many months, to which no cordial meeting ever succeeded. they were sent from paris, and bear the address of london. [ -a] the person to whom the letters are addressed, was about this time at ramsgate, on his return, as he professed, to paris, when he was recalled, as it should seem, to london, by the further pressure of business now accumulated upon him. [ -a] this probably alludes to some expression of the person to whom the letters are addressed, in which he treated as common evils, things upon which the letter writer was disposed to bestow a different appellation. editor. [ -a] this passage refers to letters written under a purpose of suicide, and not intended to be opened till after the catastrophe. posthumous works of the author of a vindication of the rights of woman. in four volumes. * * * * * vol. iv. * * * * * _london:_ printed for j. johnson, no. , st. paul's church-yard; and g. g. and j. robinson, paternoster-row. . letters and miscellaneous pieces. in two volumes. * * * * * vol. ii. contents. page letters letter on the present character of the french nation fragment of letters on the management of infants letters to mr. johnson extract of the cave of fancy, a tale on poetry and our relish for the beauties of nature hints errata. page , line , _for_ i write you, _read_ i write to you. ---- , -- , _read_ bring them to ----. ---- , -- from the bottom, after over, insert a comma. letters. * * * * * letter lxvii. september . when you receive this, i shall either have landed, or be hovering on the british coast--your letter of the th decided me. by what criterion of principle or affection, you term my questions extraordinary and unnecessary, i cannot determine.--you desire me to decide--i had decided. you must have had long ago two letters of mine, from ------, to the same purport, to consider.--in these, god knows! there was but too much affection, and the agonies of a distracted mind were but too faithfully pourtrayed!--what more then had i to say?--the negative was to come from you.--you had perpetually recurred to your promise of meeting me in the autumn--was it extraordinary that i should demand a yes, or no?--your letter is written with extreme harshness, coldness i am accustomed to, in it i find not a trace of the tenderness of humanity, much less of friendship.--i only see a desire to heave a load off your shoulders. i am above disputing about words.--it matters not in what terms you decide. the tremendous power who formed this heart, must have foreseen that, in a world in which self-interest, in various shapes, is the principal mobile, i had little chance of escaping misery.--to the fiat of fate i submit.--i am content to be wretched; but i will not be contemptible.--of me you have no cause to complain, but for having had too much regard for you--for having expected a degree of permanent happiness, when you only sought for a momentary gratification. i am strangely deficient in sagacity.--uniting myself to you, your tenderness seemed to make me amends for all my former misfortunes.--on this tenderness and affection with what confidence did i rest!--but i leaned on a spear, that has pierced me to the heart.--you have thrown off a faithful friend, to pursue the caprices of the moment.--we certainly are differently organized; for even now, when conviction has been stamped on my soul by sorrow, i can scarcely believe it possible. it depends at present on you, whether you will see me or not.--i shall take no step, till i see or hear from you. preparing myself for the worst--i have determined, if your next letter be like the last, to write to mr. ------to procure me an obscure lodging, and not to inform any body of my arrival.--there i will endeavour in a few months to obtain the sum necessary to take me to france--from you i will not receive any more.--i am not yet sufficiently humbled to depend on your beneficence. some people, whom my unhappiness has interested, though they know not the extent of it, will assist me to attain the object i have in view, the independence of my child. should a peace take place, ready money will go a great way in france--and i will borrow a sum, which my industry _shall_ enable me to pay at my leisure, to purchase a small estate for my girl.--the assistance i shall find necessary to complete her education, i can get at an easy rate at paris--i can introduce her to such society as she will like--and thus, securing for her all the chance for happiness, which depends on me, i shall die in peace, persuaded that the felicity which has hitherto cheated my expectation, will not always elude my grasp. no poor tempest-tossed mariner ever more earnestly longed to arrive at his port. * * * * i shall not come up in the vessel all the way, because i have no place to go to. captain ------ will inform you where i am. it is needless to add, that i am not in a state of mind to bear suspense--and that i wish to see you, though it be for the last time. * * * * * letter lxviii. sunday, october . i wrote to you by the packet, to inform you, that your letter of the th of last month, had determined me to set out with captain ------; but, as we sailed very quick, i take it for granted, that you have not yet received it. you say, i must decide for myself.--i had decided, that it was most for the interest of my little girl, and for my own comfort, little as i expect, for us to live together; and i even thought that you would be glad, some years hence, when the tumult of business was over, to repose in the society of an affectionate friend, and mark the progress of our interesting child, whilst endeavouring to be of use in the circle you at last resolved to rest in; for you cannot run about for ever. from the tenour of your last letter however, i am led to imagine, that you have formed some new attachment.--if it be so, let me earnestly request you to see me once more, and immediately. this is the only proof i require of the friendship you profess for me. i will then decide, since you boggle about a mere form. i am labouring to write with calmness--but the extreme anguish i feel, at landing without having any friend to receive me, and even to be conscious that the friend whom i most wish to see, will feel a disagreeable sensation at being informed of my arrival, does not come under the description of common misery. every emotion yields to an overwhelming flood of sorrow--and the playfulness of my child distresses me.--on her account, i wished to remain a few days here, comfortless as is my situation.--besides, i did not wish to surprise you. you have told me, that you would make any sacrifice to promote my happiness--and, even in your last unkind letter, you talk of the ties which bind you to me and my child.--tell me, that you wish it, and i will cut this gordian knot. i now most earnestly intreat you to write to me, without fail, by the return of the post. direct your letter to be left at the post-office, and tell me whether you will come to me here, or where you will meet me. i can receive your letter on wednesday morning. do not keep me in suspense.--i expect nothing from you, or any human being: my die is cast!--i have fortitude enough to determine to do my duty; yet i cannot raise my depressed spirits, or calm my trembling heart.--that being who moulded it thus, knows that i am unable to tear up by the roots the propensity to affection which has been the torment of my life--but life will have an end! should you come here (a few months ago i could not have doubted it) you will find me at ------. if you prefer meeting me on the road, tell me where. yours affectionately * * * * * * * * * letter lxix. i write you now on my knees; imploring you to send my child and the maid with ----, to paris, to be consigned to the care of madame ----, rue ----, section de ----. should they be removed, ---- can give their direction. let the maid have all my clothes, without distinction. pray pay the cook her wages, and do not mention the confession which i forced from her--a little sooner or later is of no consequence. nothing but my extreme stupidity could have rendered me blind so long. yet, whilst you assured me that you had no attachment, i thought we might still have lived together. i shall make no comments on your conduct; or any appeal to the world. let my wrongs sleep with me! soon, very soon shall i be at peace. when you receive this, my burning head will be cold. i would encounter a thousand deaths, rather than a night like the last. your treatment has thrown my mind into a state of chaos; yet i am serene. i go to find comfort, and my only fear is, that my poor body will be insulted by an endeavour to recal my hated existence. but i shall plunge into the thames where there is the least chance of my being snatched from the death i seek. god bless you! may you never know by experience what you have made me endure. should your sensibility ever awake, remorse will find its way to your heart; and, in the midst of business and sensual pleasure, i shall appear before you, the victim of your deviation from rectitude. * * * * * * * * * letter lxx. sunday morning. i have only to lament, that, when the bitterness of death was past, i was inhumanly brought back to life and misery. but a fixed determination is not to be baffled by disappointment; nor will i allow that to be a frantic attempt, which was one of the calmest acts of reason. in this respect, i am only accountable to myself. did i care for what is termed reputation, it is by other circumstances that i should be dishonoured. you say, "that you know not how to extricate ourselves out of the wretchedness into which we have been plunged." you are extricated long since.--but i forbear to comment.----if i am condemned to live longer, it is a living death. it appears to me, that you lay much more stress on delicacy, than on principle; for i am unable to discover what sentiment of delicacy would have been violated, by your visiting a wretched friend--if indeed you have any friendship for me.--but since your new attachment is the only thing sacred in your eyes, i am silent--be happy! my complaints shall never more damp your enjoyment--perhaps i am mistaken in supposing that even my death could, for more than a moment.--this is what you call magnanimity--it is happy for yourself, that you possess this quality in the highest degree. your continually asserting, that you will do all in your power to contribute to my comfort (when you only allude to pecuniary assistance), appears to me a flagrant breach of delicacy.--i want not such vulgar comfort, nor will i accept it. i never wanted but your heart--that gone, you have nothing more to give. had i only poverty to fear, i should not shrink from life.--forgive me then, if i say, that i shall consider any direct or indirect attempt to supply my necessities, as an insult which i have not merited--and as rather done out of tenderness for your own reputation, than for me. do not mistake me; i do not think that you value money (therefore i will not accept what you do not care for) though i do much less, because certain privations are not painful to me. when i am dead, respect for yourself will make you take care of the child. i write with difficulty--probably i shall never write to you again.--adieu! god bless you! * * * * * * * * * letter lxxi. monday morning. i am compelled at last to say that you treat me ungenerously. i agree with you, that-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- but let the obliquity now fall on me.--i fear neither poverty nor infamy. i am unequal to the task of writing--and explanations are not necessary.-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- my child may have to blush for her mother's want of prudence--and may lament that the rectitude of my heart made me above vulgar precautions; but she shall not despise me for meanness.--you are now perfectly free.--god bless you. * * * * * * * * * letter lxxiii. saturday night. i have been hurt by indirect enquiries, which appear to me not to be dictated by any tenderness to me.--you ask "if i am well or tranquil?"--they who think me so, must want a heart to estimate my feelings by.--i chuse then to be the organ of my own sentiments. i must tell you, that i am very much mortified by your continually offering me pecuniary assistance--and, considering your going to the new house, as an open avowal that you abandon me, let me tell you that i will sooner perish than receive any thing from you--and i say this at the moment when i am disappointed in my first attempt to obtain a temporary supply. but this even pleases me; an accumulation of disappointments and misfortunes seems to suit the habit of my mind.-- have but a little patience, and i will remove myself where it will not be necessary for you to talk--of course, not to think of me. but let me see, written by yourself--for i will not receive it through any other medium--that the affair is finished.--it is an insult to me to suppose, that i can be reconciled, or recover my spirits; but, if you hear nothing of me, it will be the same thing to you. * * * * even your seeing me, has been to oblige other people, and not to sooth my distracted mind. * * * * * letter lxxiv. thursday afternoon. mr. ------ having forgot to desire you to send the things of mine which were left at the house, i have to request you to let ------ bring them onto ------. i shall go this evening to the lodging; so you need not be restrained from coming here to transact your business.--and, whatever i may think, and feel--you need not fear that i shall publicly complain--no! if i have any criterion to judge of right and wrong, i have been most ungenerously treated: but, wishing now only to hide myself, i shall be silent as the grave in which i long to forget myself. i shall protect and provide for my child.--i only mean by this to say, that you having nothing to fear from my desperation. farewel. * * * * * * * * * letter lxxv. london, november . the letter, without an address, which you put up with the letters you returned, did not meet my eyes till just now.--i had thrown the letters aside--i did not wish to look over a register of sorrow. my not having seen it, will account for my having written to you with anger--under the impression your departure, without even a line left for me, made on me, even after your late conduct, which could not lead me to expect much attention to my sufferings. in fact, "the decided conduct, which appeared to me so unfeeling," has almost overturned my reason; my mind is injured--i scarcely know where i am, or what i do.--the grief i cannot conquer (for some cruel recollections never quit me, banishing almost every other) i labour to conceal in total solitude.--my life therefore is but an exercise of fortitude, continually on the stretch--and hope never gleams in this tomb, where i am buried alive. but i meant to reason with you, and not to complain.--you tell me, "that i shall judge more coolly of your mode of acting, some time hence." but is it not possible that _passion_ clouds your reason, as much as it does mine?--and ought you not to doubt, whether those principles are so "exalted," as you term them, which only lead to your own gratification? in other words, whether it be just to have no principle of action, but that of following your inclination, trampling on the affection you have fostered, and the expectations you have excited? my affection for you is rooted in my heart.--i know you are not what you now seem--nor will you always act, or feel, as you now do, though i may never be comforted by the change.--even at paris, my image will haunt you.--you will see my pale face--and sometimes the tears of anguish will drop on your heart, which you have forced from mine. i cannot write. i thought i could quickly have refuted all your _ingenious_ arguments; but my head is confused.--right or wrong, i am miserable! it seems to me, that my conduct has always been governed by the strictest principles of justice and truth.--yet, how wretched have my social feelings, and delicacy of sentiment rendered me!--i have loved with my whole soul, only to discover that i had no chance of a return--and that existence is a burthen without it. i do not perfectly understand you.--if, by the offer of your friendship, you still only mean pecuniary support--i must again reject it.--trifling are the ills of poverty in the scale of my misfortunes.--god bless you! * * * * i have been treated ungenerously--if i understand what is generosity.----you seem to me only to have been anxious to shake me off--regardless whether you dashed me to atoms by the fall.--in truth i have been rudely handled. _do you judge coolly_, and i trust you will not continue to call those capricious feelings "the most refined," which would undermine not only the most sacred principles, but the affections which unite mankind.----you would render mothers unnatural--and there would be no such thing as a father!--if your theory of morals is the most "exalted," it is certainly the most easy.--it does not require much magnanimity, to determine to please ourselves for the moment, let others suffer what they will! excuse me for again tormenting you, my heart thirsts for justice from you--and whilst i recollect that you approved miss ------'s conduct--i am convinced you will not always justify your own. beware of the deceptions of passion! it will not always banish from your mind, that you have acted ignobly--and condescended to subterfuge to gloss over the conduct you could not excuse.--do truth and principle require such sacrifices? * * * * * letter lxxvi. london, december . having just been informed that ------ is to return immediately to paris, i would not miss a sure opportunity of writing, because i am not certain that my last, by dover has reached you. resentment, and even anger, are momentary emotions with me--and i wished to tell you so, that if you ever think of me, it may not be in the light of an enemy. that i have not been used _well_ i must ever feel; perhaps, not always with the keen anguish i do at present--for i began even now to write calmly, and i cannot restrain my tears. i am stunned!--your late conduct still appears to me a frightful dream.--ah! ask yourself if you have not condescended to employ a little address, i could almost say cunning, unworthy of you?--principles are sacred things--and we never play with truth, with impunity. the expectation (i have too fondly nourished it) of regaining your affection, every day grows fainter and fainter.--indeed, it seems to me, when i am more sad than usual, that i shall never see you more.--yet you will not always forget me.--you will feel something like remorse, for having lived only for yourself--and sacrificed my peace to inferior gratifications. in a comfortless old age, you will remember that you had one disinterested friend, whose heart you wounded to the quick. the hour of recollection will come--and you will not be satisfied to act the part of a boy, till you fall into that of a dotard. i know that your mind, your heart, and your principles of action, are all superior to your present conduct. you do, you must, respect me--and you will be sorry to forfeit my esteem. you know best whether i am still preserving the remembrance of an imaginary being.--i once thought that i knew you thoroughly--but now i am obliged to leave some doubts that involuntarily press on me, to be cleared up by time. you may render me unhappy; but cannot make me contemptible in my own eyes.--i shall still be able to support my child, though i am disappointed in some other plans of usefulness, which i once believed would have afforded you equal pleasure. whilst i was with you, i restrained my natural generosity, because i thought your property in jeopardy.--when i went to --------, i requested you, _if you could conveniently_, not to forget my father, sisters, and some other people, whom i was interested about.--money was lavished away, yet not only my requests were neglected, but some trifling debts were not discharged, that now come on me.--was this friendship--or generosity? will you not grant you have forgotten yourself? still i have an affection for you.--god bless you. * * * * * * * * * letter lxxvii. as the parting from you for ever is the most serious event of my life, i will once expostulate with you, and call not the language of truth and feeling ingenuity! i know the soundness of your understanding--and know that it is impossible for you always to confound the caprices of every wayward inclination with the manly dictates of principle. you tell me "that i torment you."--why do i?----because you cannot estrange your heart entirely from me--and you feel that justice is on my side. you urge, "that your conduct was unequivocal."--it was not.--when your coolness has hurt me, with what tenderness have you endeavoured to remove the impression!--and even before i returned to england, you took great pains to convince me, that all my uneasiness was occasioned by the effect of a worn-out constitution--and you concluded your letter with these words, "business alone has kept me from you.--come to any port, and i will fly down to my two dear girls with a heart all their own." with these assurances, is it extraordinary that i should believe what i wished? i might--and did think that you had a struggle with old propensities; but i still thought that i and virtue should at last prevail. i still thought that you had a magnanimity of character, which would enable you to conquer yourself. --------, believe me, it is not romance, you have acknowledged to me feelings of this kind.--you could restore me to life and hope, and the satisfaction you would feel, would amply repay you. in tearing myself from you, it is my own heart i pierce--and the time will come, when you will lament that you have thrown away a heart, that, even in the moment of passion, you cannot despise.--i would owe every thing to your generosity--but, for god's sake, keep me no longer in suspense!--let me see you once more!-- * * * * * letter lxxviii. you must do as you please with respect to the child.--i could wish that it might be done soon, that my name may be no more mentioned to you. it is now finished.--convinced that you have neither regard nor friendship, i disdain to utter a reproach, though i have had reason to think, that the "forbearance" talked of, has not been very delicate.--it is however of no consequence.--i am glad you are satisfied with your own conduct. i now solemnly assure you, that this is an eternal farewel.--yet i flinch not from the duties which tie me to life. that there is "sophistry" on one side or other, is certain; but now it matters not on which. on my part it has not been a question of words. yet your understanding or mine must be strangely warped--for what you term "delicacy," appears to me to be exactly the contrary. i have no criterion for morality, and have thought in vain, if the sensations which lead you to follow an ancle or step, be the sacred foundation of principle and affection. mine has been of a very different nature, or it would not have stood the brunt of your sarcasms. the sentiment in me is still sacred. if there be any part of me that will survive the sense of my misfortunes, it is the purity of my affections. the impetuosity of your senses, may have led you to term mere animal desire, the source of principle; and it may give zest to some years to come.--whether you will always think so, i shall never know. it is strange that, in spite of all you do, something like conviction forces me to believe, that you are not what you appear to be. i part with you in peace. * * * * * letter on the present character of the french nation. letter _introductory to a series of letters on the present character of the french nation._ paris, february , . my dear friend, it is necessary perhaps for an observer of mankind, to guard as carefully the remembrance of the first impression made by a nation, as by a countenance; because we imperceptibly lose sight of the national character, when we become more intimate with individuals. it is not then useless or presumptuous to note, that, when i first entered paris, the striking contrast of riches and poverty, elegance and slovenliness, urbanity and deceit, every where caught my eye, and saddened my soul; and these impressions are still the foundation of my remarks on the manners, which flatter the senses, more than they interest the heart, and yet excite more interest than esteem. the whole mode of life here tends indeed to render the people frivolous, and, to borrow their favourite epithet, amiable. ever on the wing, they are always sipping the sparkling joy on the brim of the cup, leaving satiety in the bottom for those who venture to drink deep. on all sides they trip along, buoyed up by animal spirits, and seemingly so void of care, that often, when i am walking on the _boulevards_, it occurs to me, that they alone understand the full import of the term leisure; and they trifle their time away with such an air of contentment, i know not how to wish them wiser at the expence of their gaiety. they play before me like motes in a sunbeam, enjoying the passing ray; whilst an english head, searching for more solid happiness, loses, in the analysis of pleasure, the volatile sweets of the moment. their chief enjoyment, it is true, rises from vanity: but it is not the vanity that engenders vexation of spirit; on the contrary, it lightens the heavy burthen of life, which reason too often weighs, merely to shift from one shoulder to the other. investigating the modification of the passion, as i would analyze the elements that give a form to dead matter, i shall attempt to trace to their source the causes which have combined to render this nation the most polished, in a physical sense, and probably the most superficial in the world; and i mean to follow the windings of the various streams that disembogue into a terrific gulf, in which all the dignity of our nature is absorbed. for every thing has conspired to make the french the most sensual people in the world; and what can render the heart so hard, or so effectually stifle every moral emotion, as the refinements of sensuality? the frequent repetition of the word french, appears invidious; let me then make a previous observation, which i beg you not to lose sight of, when i speak rather harshly of a land flowing with milk and honey. remember that it is not the morals of a particular people that i would decry; for are we not all of the same stock? but i wish calmly to consider the stage of civilization in which i find the french, and, giving a sketch of their character, and unfolding the circumstances which have produced its identity, i shall endeavour to throw some light on the history of man, and on the present important subjects of discussion. i would i could first inform you that, out of the chaos of vices and follies, prejudices and virtues, rudely jumbled together, i saw the fair form of liberty slowly rising, and virtue expanding her wings to shelter all her children! i should then hear the account of the barbarities that have rent the bosom of france patiently, and bless the firm hand that lopt off the rotten limbs. but, if the aristocracy of birth is levelled with the ground, only to make room for that of riches, i am afraid that the morals of the people will not be much improved by the change, or the government rendered less venal. still it is not just to dwell on the misery produced by the present struggle, without adverting to the standing evils of the old system. i am grieved--sorely grieved--when i think of the blood that has stained the cause of freedom at paris; but i also hear the same live stream cry aloud from the highways, through which the retreating armies passed with famine and death in their rear, and i hide my face with awe before the inscrutable ways of providence, sweeping in such various directions the besom of destruction over the sons of men. before i came to france, i cherished, you know, an opinion, that strong virtues might exist with the polished manners produced by the progress of civilization; and i even anticipated the epoch, when, in the course of improvement, men would labour to become virtuous, without being goaded on by misery. but now, the perspective of the golden age, fading before the attentive eye of observation, almost eludes my sight; and, losing thus in part my theory of a more perfect state, start not, my friend, if i bring forward an opinion, which at the first glance seems to be levelled against the existence of god! i am not become an atheist, i assure you, by residing at paris: yet i begin to fear that vice, or, if you will, evil, is the grand mobile of action, and that, when the passions are justly poized, we become harmless, and in the same proportion useless. the wants of reason are very few; and, were we to consider dispassionately the real value of most things, we should probably rest satisfied with the simple gratification of our physical necessities, and be content with negative goodness: for it is frequently, only that wanton, the imagination, with her artful coquetry, who lures us forward, and makes us run over a rough road, pushing aside every obstacle merely to catch a disappointment. the desire also of being useful to others, is continually damped by experience; and, if the exertions of humanity were not in some measure their own reward, who would endure misery, or struggle with care, to make some people ungrateful, and others idle? you will call these melancholy effusions, and guess that, fatigued by the vivacity, which has all the bustling folly of childhood, without the innocence which renders ignorance charming, i am too severe in my strictures. it may be so; and i am aware that the good effects of the revolution will be last felt at paris; where surely the soul of epicurus has long been at work to root out the simple emotions of the heart, which, being natural, are always moral. rendered cold and artificial by the selfish enjoyments of the senses, which the government fostered, is it surprising that simplicity of manners, and singleness of heart, rarely appear, to recreate me with the wild odour of nature, so passing sweet? seeing how deep the fibres of mischief have shot, i sometimes ask, with a doubting accent, whether a nation can go back to the purity of manners which has hitherto been maintained unsullied only by the keen air of poverty, when, emasculated by pleasure, the luxuries of prosperity are become the wants of nature? i cannot yet give up the hope, that a fairer day is dawning on europe, though i must hesitatingly observe, that little is to be expected from the narrow principle of commerce which seems every where to be shoving aside _the point of honour_ of the _noblesse_. i can look beyond the evils of the moment, and do not expect muddied water to become clear before it has had time to stand; yet, even for the moment, it is the most terrific of all sights, to see men vicious without warmth--to see the order that should be the superscription of virtue, cultivated to give security to crimes which only thoughtlessness could palliate. disorder is, in fact, the very essence of vice, though with the wild wishes of a corrupt fancy humane emotions often kindly mix to soften their atrocity. thus humanity, generosity, and even self-denial, sometimes render a character grand, and even useful, when hurried away by lawless passions; but what can equal the turpitude of a cold calculator who lives for himself alone, and considering his fellow-creatures merely as machines of pleasure, never forgets that honesty is the best policy? keeping ever within the pale of the law, he crushes his thousands with impunity; but it is with that degree of management, which makes him, to borrow a significant vulgarism, a villain _in grain_. the very excess of his depravation preserves him, whilst the more respectable beast of prey, who prowls about like the lion, and roars to announce his approach, falls into a snare. you may think it too soon to form an opinion of the future government, yet it is impossible to avoid hazarding some conjectures, when every thing whispers me, that names, not principles, are changed, and when i see that the turn of the tide has left the dregs of the old system to corrupt the new. for the same pride of office, the same desire of power are still visible; with this aggravation, that, fearing to return to obscurity after having but just acquired a relish for distinction, each hero, or philosopher, for all are dubbed with these new titles, endeavours to make hay while the sun shines; and every petty municipal officer, become the idol, or rather the tyrant of the day, stalks like a cock on a dunghil. i shall now conclude this desultory letter; which however will enable you to foresee that i shall treat more of morals than manners. yours ------ * * * * * fragment of letters on the management of infants. contents. introductory letter. letter ii. management of the mother during pregnancy: bathing. letter iii. lying-in. letter iv. the first month: diet: clothing. letter v. the three following months. letter vi. the remainder of the first year. letter vii. the second year, &c: conclusion. letters on the management of infants. * * * * * letter i. i ought to apologize for not having written to you on the subject you mentioned; but, to tell you the truth, it grew upon me: and, instead of an answer, i have begun a series of letters on the management of children in their infancy. replying then to your question, i have the public in my thoughts, and shall endeavour to show what modes appear to me necessary, to render the infancy of children more healthy and happy. i have long thought, that the cause which renders children as hard to rear as the most fragile plant, is our deviation from simplicity. i know that some able physicians have recommended the method i have pursued, and i mean to point out the good effects i have observed in practice. i am aware that many matrons will exclaim against me, and dwell on the number of children they have brought up, as their mothers did before them, without troubling themselves with new-fangled notions; yet, though, in my uncle toby's words, they should attempt to silence me, by "wishing i had seen their large" families, i must suppose, while a third part of the human species, according to the most accurate calculation, die during their infancy, just at the threshold of life, that there is some error in the modes adopted by mothers and nurses, which counteracts their own endeavours. i may be mistaken in some particulars; for general rules, founded on the soundest reason, demand individual modification; but, if i can persuade any of the rising generation to exercise their reason on this head, i am content. my advice will probably be found most useful to mothers in the middle class; and it is from them that the lower imperceptibly gains improvement. custom, produced by reason in one, may safely be the effect of imitation in the other.-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- letters to mr. johnson, _bookseller_, in st. paul's church-yard. letters to mr. johnson. * * * * * letter i. dublin, april , [ .] dear sir, i am still an invalid--and begin to believe that i ought never to expect to enjoy health. my mind preys on my body--and, when i endeavour to be useful, i grow too much interested for my own peace. confined almost entirely to the society of children, i am anxiously solicitous for their future welfare, and mortified beyond measure, when counteracted in my endeavours to improve them.--i feel all a mother's fears for the swarm of little ones which surround me, and observe disorders, without having power to apply the proper remedies. how can i be reconciled to life, when it is always a painful warfare, and when i am deprived of all the pleasures i relish?--i allude to rational conversations, and domestic affections. here, alone, a poor solitary individual in a strange land, tied to one spot, and subject to the caprice of another, can i be contented? i am desirous to convince you that i have _some_ cause for sorrow--and am not without reason detached from life. i shall hope to hear that you are well, and am yours sincerely mary wollstonecraft. * * * * * letter ii. henley, thursday, sept . my dear sir, since i saw you, i have, literally speaking, _enjoyed_ solitude. my sister could not accompany me in my rambles; i therefore wandered alone, by the side of the thames, and in the neighbouring beautiful fields and pleasure grounds: the prospects were of such a placid kind, i _caught_ tranquillity while i surveyed them--my mind was _still_, though active. were i to give you an account how i have spent my time, you would smile.--i found an old french bible here, and amused myself with comparing it with our english translation; then i would listen to the falling leaves, or observe the various tints the autumn gave to them--at other times, the singing of a robin, or the noise of a water-mill, engaged my attention--partial attention--, for i was, at the same time perhaps discussing some knotty point, or straying from this _tiny_ world to new systems. after these excursions, i returned to the family meals, told the children stories (they think me _vastly_ agreeable), and my sister was amused.--well, will you allow me to call this way of passing my days pleasant? i was just going to mend my pen; but i believe it will enable me to say all i have to add to this epistle. have you yet heard of an habitation for me? i often think of my new plan of life; and, lest my sister should try to prevail on me to alter it, i have avoided mentioning it to her. i am determined!--your sex generally laugh at female determinations; but let me tell you, i never yet resolved to do, any thing of consequence, that i did not adhere resolutely to it, till i had accomplished my purpose, improbable as it might have appeared to a more timid mind. in the course of near nine-and-twenty years, i have gathered some experience, and felt many _severe_ disappointments--and what is the amount? i long for a little peace and _independence_! every obligation we receive from our fellow-creatures is a new shackle, takes from our native freedom, and debases the mind, makes us mere earthworms--i am not fond of grovelling! i am, sir, yours, &c. mary wollstonecraft. * * * * * letter iii. market harborough, sept. . my dear sir, you left me with three opulent tradesmen; their conversation was not calculated to beguile the way, when the sable curtain concealed the beauties of nature. i listened to the tricks of trade--and shrunk away, without wishing to grow rich; even the novelty of the subjects did not render them pleasing; fond as i am of tracing the passions in all their different forms--i was not surprised by any glimpse of the sublime, or beautiful--though one of them imagined i would be a useful partner in a good _firm_. i was very much fatigued, and have scarcely recovered myself. i do not expect to enjoy the same tranquil pleasures henley afforded: i meet with new objects to employ my mind; but many painful emotions are complicated with the reflections they give rise to. i do not intend to enter on the _old_ topic, yet hope to hear from you--and am yours, &c. mary wollstonecraft. * * * * * letter iv. friday night. my dear sir, though your remarks are generally judicious--i cannot _now_ concur with you, i mean with respect to the preface[ -a], and have not altered it. i hate the usual smooth way of exhibiting proud humility. a general rule _only_ extends to the majority--and, believe me, the few judicious parents who may peruse my book, will not feel themselves hurt--and the weak are too vain to mind what is said in a book intended for children. i return you the italian ms.--but do not hastily imagine that i am indolent. i would not spare any labour to do my duty--and, after the most laborious day, that single thought would solace me more than any pleasures the senses could enjoy. i find i could not translate the ms. well. if it was not a ms, i should not be so easily intimidated; but the hand, and errors in orthography, or abbreviations, are a stumbling-block at the first setting out.--i cannot bear to do any thing i cannot do well--and i should lose time in the vain attempt. i had, the other day, the satisfaction of again receiving a letter from my poor, dear margaret[ -a].--with all a mother's fondness i could transcribe a part of it--she says, every day her affection to me, and dependence on heaven increase, &c.--i miss her innocent caresses--and sometimes indulge a pleasing hope, that she may be allowed to cheer my childless age--if i am to live to be old.--at any rate, i may hear of the virtues i may not contemplate--and my reason may permit me to love a female.--i now allude to ------. i have received another letter from her, and her childish complaints vex me--indeed they do--as usual, good-night. mary. if parents attended to their children, i would not have written the stories; for, what are books--compared to conversations which affection inforces!-- * * * * * letter v. my dear sir, remember you are to settle _my account_, as i want to know how much i am in your debt--but do not suppose that i feel any uneasiness on that score. the generality of people in trade would not be much obliged to me for a like civility, _but you were a man_ before you were a bookseller--so i am your sincere friend, mary. * * * * * letter vi. friday morning. i am sick with vexation--and wish i could knock my foolish head against the wall, that bodily pain might make me feel less anguish from self-reproach! to say the truth, i was never more displeased with myself, and i will tell you the cause.--you may recollect that i did not mention to you the circumstance of ------ having a fortune left to him; nor did a hint of it drop from me when i conversed with my sister; because i knew he had a sufficient motive for concealing it. last sunday, when his character was aspersed, as i thought, unjustly, in the heat of vindication i informed ****** that he was now independent; but, at the same time, desired him not to repeat my information to b----; yet, last tuesday, he told him all--and the boy at b----'s gave mrs. ------ an account of it. as mr. ------ knew he had only made a confident of me (i blush to think of it!) he guessed the channel of intelligence, and this morning came (not to reproach me, i wish he had!) but to point out the injury i have done him.--let what will be the consequence, i will reimburse him, if i deny myself the necessaries of life--and even then my folly will sting me.--perhaps you can scarcely conceive the misery i at this moment endure--that i, whose power of doing good is so limited, should do harm, galls my very soul. ****** may laugh at these qualms--but, supposing mr. ------ to be unworthy, i am not the less to blame. surely it is hell to despise one's self!--i did not want this additional vexation--at this time i have many that hang heavily on my spirits. i shall not call on you this month--nor stir out.--my stomach has been so suddenly and violently affected, i am unable to lean over the desk. mary wollstonecraft. * * * * * letter vii. as i am become a reviewer, i think it right, in the way of business, to consider the subject. you have alarmed the editor of the critical, as the advertisement prefixed to the appendix plainly shows. the critical appears to me to be a timid, mean production, and its success is a reflection on the taste and judgment of the public; but, as a body, who ever gave it credit for much? the voice of the people is only the voice of truth, when some man of abilities has had time to get fast hold of the great nose of the monster. of course, local fame is generally a clamour, and dies away. the appendix to the monthly afforded me more amusement, though every article almost wants energy and a _cant_ of virtue and liberality is strewed over it; always tame, and eager to pay court to established fame. the account of necker is one unvaried tone of admiration. surely men were born only to provide for the sustenance of the body by enfeebling the mind! mary. * * * * * letter viii. you made me very low-spirited last night, by your manner of talking.--you are my only friend--the only person i am _intimate_ with.--i never had a father, or a brother--you have been both to me, ever since i knew you--yet i have sometimes been very petulant.--i have been thinking of those instances of ill-humour and quickness, and they appeared like crimes. yours sincerely mary. * * * * * letter ix. saturday night. i am a mere animal, and instinctive emotions too often silence the suggestions of reason. your note--i can scarcely tell why, hurt me--and produced a kind of winterly smile, which diffuses a beam of despondent tranquillity over the features. i have been very ill--heaven knows it was more than fancy--after some sleepless, wearisome nights, towards the morning i have grown delirious.--last thursday, in particular, i imagined ------ was thrown into great distress by his folly; and i, unable to assist him, was in an agony. my nerves were in such a painful state of irritation--i suffered more than i can express--society was necessary--and might have diverted me till i gained more strength; but i blushed when i recollected how often i had teazed you with childish complaints, and the reveries of a disordered imagination. i even _imagined_ that i intruded on you, because you never called on me--though you perceived that i was not well.--i have nourished a sickly kind of delicacy, which gives me many unnecessary pangs.--i acknowledge that life is but a jest--and often a frightful dream--yet catch myself every day searching for something serious--and feel real misery from the disappointment. i am a strange compound of weakness and resolution! however, if i must suffer, i will endeavour to suffer in silence. there is certainly a great defect in my mind--my wayward heart creates its own misery--why i am made thus i cannot tell; and, till i can form some idea of the whole of my existence, i must be content to weep and dance like a child--long for a toy, and be tired of it as soon as i get it. we must each of us wear a fool's cap; but mine, alas! has lost its bells, and is grown so heavy, i find it intolerably troublesome.----good-night! i have been pursuing a number of strange thoughts since i began to write, and have actually both wept and laughed immoderately--surely i am a fool-- mary w. * * * * * letter x. monday morning. i really want a german grammar, as i intend to attempt to learn that language--and i will tell you the reason why.--while i live, i am persuaded, i must exert my understanding to procure an independence, and render myself useful. to make the task easier, i ought to store my mind with knowledge--the seed time is passing away. i see the necessity of labouring now--and of that necessity i do not complain; on the contrary, i am thankful that i have more than common incentives to pursue knowledge, and draw my pleasures from the employments that are within my reach. you perceive this is not a gloomy day--i feel at this moment particularly grateful to you--without your humane and _delicate_ assistance, how many obstacles should i not have had to encounter--too often should i have been out of patience with my fellow-creatures, whom i wish to love!--allow me to love you, my dear sir, and call friend a being i respect.--adieu! mary w. * * * * * letter xi. i thought you _very_ unkind, nay, very unfeeling, last night. my cares and vexations--i will say what i allow myself to think--do me honour, as they arise from my disinterestedness and _unbending_ principles; nor can that mode of conduct be a reflection on my understanding, which enables me to bear misery, rather than selfishly live for myself alone. i am not the only character deserving of respect, that has had to struggle with various sorrows--while inferior minds have enjoyed local fame and present comfort.--dr. johnson's cares almost drove him mad--but, i suppose, you would quietly have told him, he was a fool for not being calm, and that wise men striving against the stream, can yet be in good humour. i have done with insensible human wisdom,--"indifference cold in wisdom's guise,"--and turn to the source of perfection--who perhaps never disregarded an almost broken heart, especially when a respect, a practical respect, for virtue, sharpened the wounds of adversity. i am ill--i stayed in bed this morning till eleven o'clock, only thinking of getting money to extricate myself out of some of my difficulties--the struggle is now over. i will condescend to try to obtain some in a disagreeable way. mr. ------ called on me just now--pray did you know his motive for calling[ -a]?--i think him impertinently officious.--he had left the house before it occurred to me in the strong light it does now, or i should have told him so--my poverty makes me proud--i will not be insulted by a superficial puppy.--his intimacy with miss ------ gave him a privilege, which he should not have assumed with me--a proposal might be made to his cousin, a milliner's girl, which should not have been mentioned to me. pray tell him that i am offended--and do not wish to see him again!--when i meet him at your house, i shall leave the room, since i cannot pull him by the nose. i can force my spirit to leave my body--but it shall never bend to support that body--god of heaven, save thy child from this living death!--i scarcely know what i write. my hand trembles--i am very sick--sick at heart.---- mary. * * * * * letter xii. tuesday evening. sir, when you left me this morning, and i reflected a moment--your _officious_ message, which at first appeared to me a joke--looked so very like an insult--i cannot forget it--to prevent then the necessity of forcing a smile--when i chance to meet you--i take the earliest opportunity of informing you of my real sentiments. mary wollstonecraft. * * * * * letter xiii. wednesday, o'clock. sir, it is inexpressibly disagreeable to me to be obliged to enter again on a subject, that has already raised a tumult of _indignant_ emotions in my bosom, which i was labouring to suppress when i received your letter. i shall now _condescend_ to answer your epistle; but let me first tell you, that, in my _unprotected_ situation, i make a point of never forgiving a _deliberate insult_--and in that light i consider your late officious conduct. it is not according to my nature to mince matters--i will then tell you in plain terms, what i think. i have ever considered you in the light of a _civil_ acquaintance--on the word friend i lay a peculiar emphasis--and, as a mere acquaintance, you were rude and _cruel_, to step forward to insult a woman, whose conduct and misfortunes demand respect. if my friend, mr. johnson, had made the proposal--i should have been severely hurt--have thought him unkind and unfeeling, but not _impertinent_.--the privilege of intimacy you had no claim to--and should have referred the man to myself--if you had not sufficient discernment to quash it at once. i am, sir, poor and destitute.--yet i have a spirit that will never bend, or take indirect methods, to obtain the consequence i despise; nay, if to support life it was necessary to act contrary to my principles, the struggle would soon be over. i can bear any thing but my own contempt. in a few words, what i call an insult, is the bare supposition that i could for a moment think of _prostituting_ my person for a maintenance; for in that point of view does such a marriage appear to me, who consider right and wrong in the abstract, and never by words and local opinions shield myself from the reproaches of my own heart and understanding. it is needless to say more--only you must excuse me when i add, that i wish never to see, but as a perfect stranger, a person who could so grossly mistake my character. an apology is not necessary--if you were inclined to make one--nor any further expostulations.--i again repeat, i cannot overlook an affront; few indeed have sufficient delicacy to respect poverty, even where it gives lustre to a character--and i tell you sir, i am poor--yet can live without your benevolent exertions. mary wollstonecraft. * * * * * letter xiv. i send you _all_ the books i had to review except dr. j--'s sermons, which i have begun. if you wish me to look over any more trash this month--you must send it directly. i have been so low-spirited since i saw you--i was quite glad, last night, to feel myself affected by some passages in dr. j--'s sermon on the death of his wife--i seemed (suddenly) to _find_ my _soul_ again--it has been for some time i cannot tell where. send me the speaker--and _mary_, i want one--and i shall soon want some paper--you may as well send it at the same time--for i am trying to brace my nerves that i may be industrious.--i am afraid reason is not a good bracer--for i have been reasoning a long time with my untoward spirits--and yet my hand trembles.--i could finish a period very _prettily_ now, by saying that it ought to be steady when i add that i am yours sincerely, mary. if you do not like the manner in which i reviewed dr. j--'s s---- on his wife, be it known unto you--i _will_ not do it any other way--i felt some pleasure in paying a just tribute of respect to the memory of a man--who, spite of his faults, i have an affection for--i say _have_, for i believe he is somewhere--_where_ my soul has been gadding perhaps;--but _you_ do not live on conjectures. * * * * * letter xv. my dear sir, i send you a chapter which i am pleased with, now i see it in one point of view--and, as i have made free with the author, i hope you will not have often to say--what does this mean? you forgot you were to make out my account--i am, of course, over head and ears in debt; but i have not that kind of pride, which makes some dislike to be obliged to those they respect.--on the contrary, when i involuntarily lament that i have not a father or brother, i thankfully recollect that i have received unexpected kindness from you and a few others.--so reason allows, what nature impels me to--for i cannot live without loving my fellow-creatures--nor can i love them, without discovering some virtue. mary. * * * * * letter xvi. paris, december , . i should immediately on the receipt of your letter, my dear friend, have thanked you for your punctuality, for it highly gratified me, had i not wished to wait till i could tell you that this day was not stained with blood. indeed the prudent precautions taken by the national convention to prevent a tumult, made me suppose that the dogs of faction would not dare to bark, much less to bite, however true to their scent; and i was not mistaken; for the citizens, who were all called out, are returning home with composed countenances, shouldering their arms. about nine o'clock this morning, the king passed by my window, moving silently along (excepting now and then a few strokes on the drum, which rendered the stillness more awful) through empty streets, surrounded by the national guards, who, clustering round the carriage, seemed to deserve their name. the inhabitants flocked to their windows, but the casements were all shut, not a voice was heard, nor did i see any thing like an insulting gesture.--for the first time since i entered france, i bowed to the majesty of the people, and respected the propriety of behaviour so perfectly in unison with my own feelings. i can scarcely tell you why, but an association of ideas made the tears flow insensibly from my eyes, when i saw louis sitting, with more dignity than i expected from his character, in a hackney coach, going to meet death, where so many of his race have triumphed. my fancy instantly brought louis xiv before me, entering the capital with all his pomp, after one of the victories most flattering to his pride, only to see the sunshine of prosperity overshadowed by the sublime gloom of misery. i have been alone ever since; and, though my mind is calm, i cannot dismiss the lively images that have filled my imagination all the day.--nay, do not smile, but pity me; for, once or twice, lifting my eyes from the paper, i have seen eyes glare through a glass-door opposite my chair and bloody hands shook at me. not the distant sound of a footstep can i hear.--my apartments are remote from those of the servants, the only persons who sleep with me in an immense hotel, one folding door opening after another.--i wish i had even kept the cat with me!--i want to see something alive; death in so many frightful shapes has taken hold of my fancy.--i am going to bed--and, for the first time in my life, i cannot put out the candle. m. w. footnotes: [ -a] to original stories. [ -a] countess mount cashel. [ -a] this alludes to a foolish proposal of marriage for mercenary considerations, which the gentleman here mentioned thought proper to recommend to her. the two letters which immediately follow, are addressed to the gentleman himself. extract of the cave of fancy. a tale. * * * * * [_begun to be written in the year , but never completed_] cave of fancy. chap. i. ye who expect constancy where every thing is changing, and peace in the midst of tumult, attend to the voice of experience, and mark in time the footsteps of disappointment, or life will be lost in desultory wishes, and death arrive before the dawn of wisdom. in a sequestered valley, surrounded by rocky mountains that intercepted many of the passing clouds, though sunbeams variegated their ample sides, lived a sage, to whom nature had unlocked her most hidden secrets. his hollow eyes, sunk in their orbits, retired from the view of vulgar objects, and turned inwards, overleaped the boundary prescribed to human knowledge. intense thinking during fourscore and ten years, had whitened the scattered locks on his head, which, like the summit of the distant mountain, appeared to be bound by an eternal frost. on the sandy waste behind the mountains, the track of ferocious beasts might be traced, and sometimes the mangled limbs which they left, attracted a hovering flight of birds of prey. an extensive wood the sage had forced to rear its head in a soil by no means congenial, and the firm trunks of the trees seemed to frown with defiance on time; though the spoils of innumerable summers covered the roots, which resembled fangs; so closely did they cling to the unfriendly sand, where serpents hissed, and snakes, rolling out their vast folds, inhaled the noxious vapours. the ravens and owls who inhabited the solitude, gave also a thicker gloom to the everlasting twilight, and the croaking of the former a monotony, in unison with the gloom; whilst lions and tygers, shunning even this faint semblance of day, sought the dark caverns, and at night, when they shook off sleep, their roaring would make the whole valley resound, confounded with the screechings of the bird of night. one mountain rose sublime, towering above all, on the craggy sides of which a few sea-weeds grew, washed by the ocean, that with tumultuous roar rushed to assault, and even undermine, the huge barrier that stopped its progress; and ever and anon a ponderous mass, loosened from the cliff, to which it scarcely seemed to adhere, always threatening to fall, fell into the flood, rebounding as it fell, and the sound was re-echoed from rock to rock. look where you would, all was without form, as if nature, suddenly stopping her hand, had left chaos a retreat. close to the most remote side of it was the sage's abode. it was a rude hut, formed of stumps of trees and matted twigs, to secure him from the inclemency of the weather; only through small apertures crossed with rushes, the wind entered in wild murmurs, modulated by these obstructions. a clear spring broke out of the middle of the adjacent rock, which, dropping slowly into a cavity it had hollowed, soon overflowed, and then ran, struggling to free itself from the cumbrous fragments, till, become a deep, silent stream, it escaped through reeds, and roots of trees, whose blasted tops overhung and darkened the current. one side of the hut was supported by the rock, and at midnight, when the sage struck the inclosed part, it yawned wide, and admitted him into a cavern in the very bowels of the earth, where never human foot before had trod; and the various spirits, which inhabit the different regions of nature, were here obedient to his potent word. the cavern had been formed by the great inundation of waters, when the approach of a comet forced them from their source; then, when the fountains of the great deep were broken up, a stream rushed out of the centre of the earth, where the spirits, who have lived on it, are confined to purify themselves from the dross contracted in their first stage of existence; and it flowed in black waves, for ever bubbling along the cave, the extent of which had never been explored. from the sides and top, water distilled, and, petrifying as it fell, took fantastic shapes, that soon divided it into apartments, if so they might be called. in the foam, a wearied spirit would sometimes rise, to catch the most distant glimpse of light, or taste the vagrant breeze, which the yawning of the rock admitted, when sagestus, for that was the name of the hoary sage, entered. some, who were refined and almost cleared from vicious spots, he would allow to leave, for a limited time, their dark prison-house; and, flying on the winds across the bleak northern ocean, or rising in an exhalation till they reached a sun-beam, they thus re-visited the haunts of men. these were the guardian angels, who in soft whispers restrain the vicious, and animate the wavering wretch who stands suspended between virtue and vice. sagestus had spent a night in the cavern, as he often did, and he left the silent vestibule of the grave, just as the sun, emerging from the ocean, dispersed the clouds, which were not half so dense as those he had left. all that was human in him rejoiced at the sight of reviving life, and he viewed with pleasure the mounting sap rising to expand the herbs, which grew spontaneously in this wild--when, turning his eyes towards the sea, he found that death had been at work during his absence, and terrific marks of a furious storm still spread horror around. though the day was serene, and threw bright rays on eyes for ever shut, it dawned not for the wretches who hung pendent on the craggy rocks, or were stretched lifeless on the sand. some, struggling, had dug themselves a grave; others had resigned their breath before the impetuous surge whirled them on shore. a few, in whom the vital spark was not so soon dislodged, had clung to loose fragments; it was the grasp of death; embracing the stone, they stiffened; and the head, no longer erect, rested on the mass which the arms encircled. it felt not the agonizing gripe, nor heard the sigh that broke the heart in twain. resting his chin on an oaken club, the sage looked on every side, to see if he could discern any who yet breathed. he drew nearer, and thought he saw, at the first glance, the unclosed eyes glare; but soon perceived that they were a mere glassy substance, mute as the tongue; the jaws were fallen, and, in some of the tangled locks, hands were clinched; nay, even the nails had entered sharpened by despair. the blood flew rapidly to his heart; it was flesh; he felt he was still a man, and the big tear paced down his iron cheeks, whose muscles had not for a long time been relaxed by such humane emotions. a moment he breathed quick, then heaved a sigh, and his wonted calm returned with an unaccustomed glow of tenderness; for the ways of heaven were not hid from him; he lifted up his eyes to the common father of nature, and all was as still in his bosom, as the smooth deep, after having closed over the huge vessel from which the wretches had fled. turning round a part of the rock that jutted out, meditating on the ways of providence, a weak infantine voice reached his ears; it was lisping out the name of mother. he looked, and beheld a blooming child leaning over, and kissing with eager fondness, lips that were insensible to the warm pressure. starting at the sight of the sage, she fixed her eyes on him, "wake her, ah! wake her," she cried, "or the sea will catch us." again he felt compassion, for he saw that the mother slept the sleep of death. he stretched out his hand, and, smoothing his brow, invited her to approach; but she still intreated him to wake her mother, whom she continued to call, with an impatient tremulous voice. to detach her from the body by persuasion would not have been very easy. sagestus had a quicker method to effect his purpose; he took out a box which contained a soporific powder, and as soon as the fumes reached her brain, the powers of life were suspended. he carried her directly to his hut, and left her sleeping profoundly on his rushy couch. chap. ii. again sagestus approached the dead, to view them with a more scrutinizing eye. he was perfectly acquainted with the construction of the human body, knew the traces that virtue or vice leaves on the whole frame; they were now indelibly fixed by death; nay more, he knew by the shape of the solid structure, how far the spirit could range, and saw the barrier beyond which it could not pass: the mazes of fancy he explored, measured the stretch of thought, and, weighing all in an even balance, could tell whom nature had stamped an hero, a poet, or philosopher. by their appearance, at a transient glance, he knew that the vessel must have contained many passengers, and that some of them were above the vulgar, with respect to fortune and education; he then walked leisurely among the dead, and narrowly observed their pallid features. his eye first rested on a form in which proportion reigned, and, stroking back the hair, a spacious forehead met his view; warm fancy had revelled there, and her airy dance had left vestiges, scarcely visible to a mortal eye. some perpendicular lines pointed out that melancholy had predominated in his constitution; yet the straggling hairs of his eye-brows showed that anger had often shook his frame; indeed, the four temperatures, like the four elements, had resided in this little world, and produced harmony. the whole visage was bony, and an energetic frown had knit the flexible skin of his brow; the kingdom within had been extensive; and the wild creations of fancy had there "a local habitation and a name." so exquisite was his sensibility, so quick his comprehension, that he perceived various combinations in an instant; he caught truth as she darted towards him, saw all her fair proportion at a glance, and the flash of his eye spoke the quick senses which conveyed intelligence to his mind; the sensorium indeed was capacious, and the sage imagined he saw the lucid beam, sparkling with love or ambition, in characters of fire, which a graceful curve of the upper eyelid shaded. the lips were a little deranged by contempt; and a mixture of vanity and self-complacency formed a few irregular lines round them. the chin had suffered from sensuality, yet there were still great marks of vigour in it, as if advanced with stern dignity. the hand accustomed to command, and even tyrannize, was unnerved; but its appearance convinced sagestus, that he had oftener wielded a thought than a weapon; and that he had silenced, by irresistible conviction, the superficial disputant, and the being, who doubted because he had not strength to believe, who, wavering between different borrowed opinions, first caught at one straw, then at another, unable to settle into any consistency of character. after gazing a few moments, sagestus turned away exclaiming, how are the stately oaks torn up by a tempest, and the bow unstrung, that could force the arrow beyond the ken of the eye! what a different face next met his view! the forehead was short, yet well set together; the nose small, but a little turned up at the end; and a draw-down at the sides of his mouth, proved that he had been a humourist, who minded the main chance, and could joke with his acquaintance, while he eagerly devoured a dainty which he was not to pay for. his lips shut like a box whose hinges had often been mended; and the muscles, which display the soft emotion of the heart on the cheeks, were grown quite rigid, so that, the vessels that should have moistened them not having much communication with the grand source of passions, the fine volatile fluid had evaporated, and they became mere dry fibres, which might be pulled by any misfortune that threatened himself, but were not sufficiently elastic to be moved by the miseries of others. his joints were inserted compactly, and with celerity they had performed all the animal functions, without any of the grace which results from the imagination mixing with the senses. a huge form was stretched near him, that exhibited marks of overgrown infancy; every part was relaxed; all appeared imperfect. yet, some undulating lines on the puffed-out cheeks, displayed signs of timid, servile good nature; and the skin of the forehead had been so often drawn up by wonder, that the few hairs of the eyebrows were fixed in a sharp arch, whilst an ample chin rested in lobes of flesh on his protuberant breast. by his side was a body that had scarcely ever much life in it--sympathy seemed to have drawn them together--every feature and limb was round and fleshy, and, if a kind of brutal cunning had not marked the face, it might have been mistaken for an automaton, so unmixed was the phlegmatic fluid. the vital spark was buried deep in a soft mass of matter, resembling the pith in young elder, which, when found, is so equivocal, that it only appears a moister part of the same body. another part of the beach was covered with sailors, whose bodies exhibited marks of strength and brutal courage.--their characters were all different, though of the same class; sagestus did not stay to discriminate them, satisfied with a rough sketch. he saw indolence roused by a love of humour, or rather bodily fun; sensuality and prodigality with a vein of generosity running through it; a contempt of danger with gross superstition; supine senses, only to be kept alive by noisy, tumultuous pleasures, or that kind of novelty which borders on absurdity: this formed the common outline, and the rest were rather dabs than shades. sagestus paused, and remembered it had been said by an earthly wit, that "many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desart air." how little, he exclaimed, did that poet know of the ways of heaven! and yet, in this respect, they are direct; the hands before me, were designed to pull a rope, knock down a sheep, or perform the servile offices of life; no "mute, inglorious poet" rests amongst them, and he who is superior to his fellow, does not rise above mediocrity. the genius that sprouts from a dunghil soon shakes off the heterogenous mass; those only grovel, who have not power to fly. he turned his step towards the mother of the orphan: another female was at some distance; and a man who, by his garb, might have been the husband, or brother, of the former, was not far off. him the sage surveyed with an attentive eye, and bowed with respect to the inanimate clay, that lately had been the dwelling of a most benevolent spirit. the head was square, though the features were not very prominent; but there was a great harmony in every part, and the turn of the nostrils and lips evinced, that the soul must have had taste, to which they had served as organs. penetration and judgment were seated on the brows that overhung the eye. fixed as it was, sagestus quickly discerned the expression it must have had; dark and pensive, rather from slowness of comprehension than melancholy, it seemed to absorb the light of knowledge, to drink it in ray by ray; nay, a new one was not allowed to enter his head till the last was arranged: an opinion was thus cautiously received, and maturely weighed, before it was added to the general stock. as nature led him to mount from a part to the whole, he was most conversant with the beautiful, and rarely comprehended the sublime; yet, said sagestus, with a softened tone, he was all heart, full of forbearance, and desirous to please every fellow-creature; but from a nobler motive than a love of admiration; the fumes of vanity never mounted to cloud his brain, or tarnish his beneficence. the fluid in which those placid eyes swam, is now congealed; how often has tenderness given them the finest water! some torn parts of the child's dress hung round his arm, which led the sage to conclude, that he had saved the child; every line in his face confirmed the conjecture; benevolence indeed strung the nerves that naturally were not very firm; it was the great knot that tied together the scattered qualities, and gave the distinct stamp to the character. the female whom he next approached, and supposed to be an attendant on the other, was below the middle size, and her legs were so disproportionably short, that, when she moved, she must have waddled along; her elbows were drawn in to touch her long taper, waist, and the air of her whole body was an affectation of gentility. death could not alter the rigid hang of her limbs, or efface the simper that had stretched her mouth; the lips were thin, as if nature intended she should mince her words; her nose was small, and sharp at the end; and the forehead, unmarked by eyebrows, was wrinkled by the discontent that had sunk her cheeks, on which sagestus still discerned faint traces of tenderness; and fierce good-nature, he perceived had sometimes animated the little spark of an eye that anger had oftener lighted. the same thought occurred to him that the sight of the sailors had suggested, men and women are all in their proper places--this female was intended to fold up linen and nurse the sick. anxious to observe the mother of his charge, he turned to the lily that had been so rudely snapped, and, carefully observing it, traced every fine line to its source. there was a delicacy in her form, so truly feminine, that an involuntary desire to cherish such a being, made the sage again feel the almost forgotten sensations of his nature. on observing her more closely, he discovered that her natural delicacy had been increased by an improper education, to a degree that took away all vigour from her faculties. and its baneful influence had had such an effect on her mind, that few traces of the exertions of it appeared on her face, though the fine finish of her features, and particularly the form of the forehead, convinced the sage that her understanding might have risen considerably above mediocrity, had the wheels ever been put in motion; but, clogged by prejudices, they never turned quite round, and, whenever she considered a subject, she stopped before she came to a conclusion. assuming a mask of propriety, she had banished nature; yet its tendency was only to be diverted, not stifled. some lines, which took from the symmetry of the mouth, not very obvious to a superficial observer, struck sagestus, and they appeared to him characters of indolent obstinacy. not having courage to form an opinion of her own, she adhered, with blind partiality, to those she adopted, which she received in the lump, and, as they always remained unopened, of course she only saw the even gloss on the outside. vestiges of anger were visible on her brow, and the sage concluded, that she had often been offended with, and indeed would scarcely make any allowance for, those who did not coincide with her in opinion, as things always appear self-evident that have never been examined; yet her very weakness gave a charming timidity to her countenance; goodness and tenderness pervaded every lineament, and melted in her dark blue eyes. the compassion that wanted activity, was sincere, though it only embellished her face, or produced casual acts of charity when a moderate alms could relieve present distress. unacquainted with life, fictitious, unnatural distress drew the tears that were not shed for real misery. in its own shape, human wretchedness excites a little disgust in the mind that has indulged sickly refinement. perhaps the sage gave way to a little conjecture in drawing the last conclusion; but his conjectures generally arose from distinct ideas, and a dawn of light allowed him to see a great way farther than common mortals. he was now convinced that the orphan was not very unfortunate in having lost such a mother. the parent that inspires fond affection without respect, is seldom an useful one; and they only are respectable, who consider right and wrong abstracted from local forms and accidental modifications. determined to adopt the child, he named it after himself, sagesta, and retired to the hut where the innocent slept, to think of the best method of educating this child, whom the angry deep had spared. [the last branch of the education of sagesta, consisted of a variety of characters and stories presented to her in the cave of fancy, of which the following is a specimen.] chap. a form now approached that particularly struck and interested sagesta. the sage, observing what passed in her mind, bade her ever trust to the first impression. in life, he continued, try to remember the effect the first appearance of a stranger has on your mind; and, in proportion to your sensibility, you may decide on the character. intelligence glances from eyes that have the same pursuits, and a benevolent heart soon traces the marks of benevolence on the countenance of an unknown fellow-creature; and not only the countenance, but the gestures, the voice, loudly speak truth to the unprejudiced mind. whenever a stranger advances towards you with a tripping step, receives you with broad smiles, and a profusion of compliments, and yet you find yourself embarrassed and unable to return the salutation with equal cordiality, be assured that such a person is affected, and endeavours to maintain a very good character in the eyes of the world, without really practising the social virtues which dress the face in looks of unfeigned complacency. kindred minds are drawn to each other by expressions which elude description; and, like the calm breeze that plays on a smooth lake, they are rather felt than seen. beware of a man who always appears in good humour; a selfish design too frequently lurks in the smiles the heart never curved; or there is an affectation of candour that destroys all strength of character, by blending truth and falshood into an unmeaning mass. the mouth, in fact, seems to be the feature where you may trace every kind of dissimulation, from the simper of vanity, to the fixed smile of the designing villain. perhaps, the modulations of the voice will still more quickly give a key to the character than even the turns of the mouth, or the words that issue from it; often do the tones of unpractised dissemblers give the lie to their assertions. many people never speak in an unnatural voice, but when they are insincere: the phrases not corresponding with the dictates of the heart, have nothing to keep them in tune. in the course of an argument however, you may easily discover whether vanity or conviction stimulates the disputant, though his inflated countenance may be turned from you, and you may not see the gestures which mark self-sufficiency. he stopped, and the spirit began. i have wandered through the cave; and, as soon as i have taught you a useful lesson, i shall take my flight where my tears will cease to flow, and where mine eyes will no more be shocked with the sight of guilt and sorrow. before many moons have changed, thou wilt enter, o mortal! into that world i have lately left. listen to my warning voice, and trust not too much to the goodness which i perceive resides in thy breast. let it be reined in by principles, lest thy very virtue sharpen the sting of remorse, which as naturally follows disorder in the moral world, as pain attends on intemperance in the physical. but my history will afford you more instruction than mere advice. sagestus concurred in opinion with her, observing that the senses of children should be the first object of improvement; then their passions worked on; and judgment the fruit, must be the acquirement of the being itself, when out of leading-strings. the spirit bowed assent, and, without any further prelude, entered on her history. my mother was a most respectable character, but she was yoked to a man whose follies and vices made her ever feel the weight of her chains. the first sensation i recollect, was pity; for i have seen her weep over me and the rest of her babes, lamenting that the extravagance of a father would throw us destitute on the world. but, though my father was extravagant, and seldom thought of any thing but his own pleasures, our education was not neglected. in solitude, this employment was my mother's only solace; and my father's pride made him procure us masters; nay, sometimes he was so gratified by our improvement, that he would embrace us with tenderness, and intreat my mother to forgive him, with marks of real contrition. but the affection his penitence gave rise to, only served to expose her to continual disappointments, and keep hope alive merely to torment her. after a violent debauch he would let his beard grow, and the sadness that reigned in the house i shall never forget; he was ashamed to meet even the eyes of his children. this is so contrary to the nature of things, it gave me exquisite pain; i used, at those times, to show him extreme respect. i could not bear to see my parent humble himself before me. however neither his constitution, nor fortune could long bear the constant waste. he had, i have observed, a childish affection for his children, which was displayed in caresses that gratified him for the moment, yet never restrained the headlong fury of his appetites; his momentary repentance wrung his heart, without influencing his conduct; and he died, leaving an encumbered wreck of a good estate. as we had always lived in splendid poverty, rather than in affluence, the shock was not so great; and my mother repressed her anguish, and concealed some circumstances, that she might not shed a destructive mildew over the gaiety of youth. so fondly did i doat on this dear parent, that she engrossed all my tenderness; her sorrows had knit me firmly to her, and my chief care was to give her proofs of affection. the gallantry that afforded my companions, the few young people my mother forced me to mix with, so much pleasure, i despised; i wished more to be loved than admired, for i could love. i adored virtue; and my imagination, chasing a chimerical object, overlooked the common pleasures of life; they were not sufficient for my happiness. a latent fire made me burn to rise superior to my contemporaries in wisdom and virtue; and tears of joy and emulation filled my eyes when i read an account of a great action--i felt admiration, not astonishment. my mother had two particular friends, who endeavoured to settle her affairs; one was a middle-aged man, a merchant; the human breast never enshrined a more benevolent heart. his manners were rather rough, and he bluntly spoke his thoughts without observing the pain it gave; yet he possessed extreme tenderness, as far as his discernment went. men do not make sufficient distinction, said she, digressing from her story to address sagestus, between tenderness and sensibility. to give the shortest definition of sensibility, replied the sage, i should say that it is the result of acute senses, finely fashioned nerves, which vibrate at the slightest touch, and convey such clear intelligence to the brain, that it does not require to be arranged by the judgment. such persons instantly enter into the characters of others, and instinctively discern what will give pain to every human being; their own feelings are so varied that they seem to contain in themselves, not only all the passions of the species, but their various modifications. exquisite pain and pleasure is their portion; nature wears for them a different aspect than is displayed to common mortals. one moment it is a paradise; all is beautiful: a cloud arises, an emotion receives a sudden damp; darkness invades the sky, and the world is an unweeded garden;--but go on with your narrative, said sagestus, recollecting himself. she proceeded. the man i am describing was humanity itself; but frequently he did not understand me; many of my feelings were not to be analyzed by his common sense. his friendships, for he had many friends, gave him pleasure unmixed with pain; his religion was coldly reasonable, because he wanted fancy, and he did not feel the necessity of finding, or creating, a perfect object, to answer the one engraved on his heart: the sketch there was faint. he went with the stream, and rather caught a character from the society he lived in, than spread one around him. in my mind many opinions were graven with a pen of brass, which he thought chimerical: but time could not erase them, and i now recognize them as the seeds of eternal happiness: they will soon expand in those realms where i shall enjoy the bliss adapted to my nature; this is all we need ask of the supreme being; happiness must follow the completion of his designs. he however could live quietly, without giving a preponderancy to many important opinions that continually obtruded on my mind; not having an enthusiastic affection for his fellow creatures, he did them good, without suffering from their follies. he was particularly attached to me, and i felt for him all the affection of a daughter; often, when he had been interesting himself to promote my welfare, have i lamented that he was not my father; lamented that the vices of mine had dried up one source of pure affection. the other friend i have already alluded to, was of a very different character; greatness of mind, and those combinations of feeling which are so difficult to describe, raised him above the throng, that bustle their hour out, lie down to sleep, and are forgotten. but i shall soon see him, she exclaimed, as much superior to his former self, as he then rose in my eyes above his fellow creatures! as she spoke, a glow of delight animated each feature; her countenance appeared transparent; and she silently anticipated the happiness she should enjoy, when she entered those mansions, where death-divided friends should meet, to part no more; where human weakness could not damp their bliss, or poison the cup of joy that, on earth, drops from the lips as soon as tasted, or, if some daring mortal snatches a hasty draught, what was sweet to the taste becomes a root of bitterness. he was unfortunate, had many cares to struggle with, and i marked on his cheeks traces of the same sorrows that sunk my own. he was unhappy i say, and perhaps pity might first have awoke my tenderness; for, early in life, an artful woman worked on his compassionate soul, and he united his fate to a being made up of such jarring elements, that he was still alone. the discovery did not extinguish that propensity to love, a high sense of virtue fed. i saw him sick and unhappy, without a friend to sooth the hours languor made heavy; often did i sit a long winter's evening by his side, railing at the swift wings of time, and terming my love, humanity. two years passed in this manner, silently rooting my affection; and it might have continued calm, if a fever had not brought him to the very verge of the grave. though still deceived, i was miserable that the customs of the world did not allow me to watch by him; when sleep forsook his pillow, my wearied eyes were not closed, and my anxious spirit hovered round his bed. i saw him, before he had recovered his strength; and, when his hand touched mine, life almost retired, or flew to meet the touch. the first look found a ready way to my heart, and thrilled through every vein. we were left alone, and insensibly began to talk of the immortality of the soul; i declared that i could not live without this conviction. in the ardour of conversation he pressed my hand to his heart; it rested there a moment, and my emotions gave weight to my opinion, for the affection we felt was not of a perishable nature.--a silence ensued, i know not how long; he then threw my hand from him, as if it had been a serpent; formally complained of the weather, and adverted to twenty other uninteresting subjects. vain efforts! our hearts had already spoken to each other. feebly did i afterwards combat an affection, which seemed twisted in every fibre of my heart. the world stood still when i thought of him; it moved heavily at best, with one whose very constitution seemed to mark her out for misery. but i will not dwell on the passion i too fondly nursed. one only refuge had i on earth; i could not resolutely desolate the scene my fancy flew to, when worldly cares, when a knowledge of mankind, which my circumstances forced on me, rendered every other insipid. i was afraid of the unmarked vacuity of common life; yet, though i supinely indulged myself in fairy-land, when i ought to have been more actively employed, virtue was still the first mover of my actions; she dressed my love in such enchanting colours, and spread the net i could never break. our corresponding feelings confounded our very souls; and in many conversations we almost intuitively discerned each other's sentiments; the heart opened itself, not chilled by reserve, nor afraid of misconstruction. but, if virtue inspired love, love gave new energy to virtue, and absorbed every selfish passion. never did even a wish escape me, that my lover should not fulfil the hard duties which fate had imposed on him. i only dissembled with him in one particular; i endeavoured to soften his wife's too conspicuous follies, and extenuated her failings in an indirect manner. to this i was prompted by a loftiness of spirit; i should have broken the band of life, had i ceased to respect myself. but i will hasten to an important change in my circumstances. my mother, who had concealed the real state of her affairs from me, was now impelled to make me her confident, that i might assist to discharge her mighty debt of gratitude. the merchant, my more than father, had privately assisted her: but a fatal civil-war reduced his large property to a bare competency; and an inflammation in his eyes, that arose from a cold he had caught at a wreck, which he watched during a stormy night to keep off the lawless colliers, almost deprived him of sight. his life had been spent in society, and he scarcely knew how to fill the void; for his spirit would not allow him to mix with his former equals as an humble companion; he who had been treated with uncommon respect, could not brook their insulting pity. from the resource of solitude, reading, the complaint in his eyes cut him off, and he became our constant visitor. actuated by the sincerest affection, i used to read to him, and he mistook my tenderness for love. how could i undeceive him, when every circumstance frowned on him! too soon i found that i was his only comfort; i, who rejected his hand when fortune smiled, could not now second her blow; and, in a moment of enthusiastic gratitude and tender compassion, i offered him my hand.--it was received with pleasure; transport was not made for his soul; nor did he discover that nature had separated us, by making me alive to such different sensations. my mother was to live with us, and i dwelt on this circumstance to banish cruel recollections, when the bent bow returned to its former state. with a bursting heart and a firm voice, i named the day when i was to seal my promise. it came, in spite of my regret; i had been previously preparing myself for the awful ceremony, and answered the solemn question with a resolute tone, that would silence the dictates of my heart; it was a forced, unvaried one; had nature modulated it, my secret would have escaped. my active spirit was painfully on the watch to repress every tender emotion. the joy in my venerable parent's countenance, the tenderness of my husband, as he conducted me home, for i really had a sincere affection for him, the gratulations of my mind, when i thought that this sacrifice was heroic, all tended to deceive me; but the joy of victory over the resigned, pallid look of my lover, haunted my imagination, and fixed itself in the centre of my brain.--still i imagined, that his spirit was near me, that he only felt sorrow for my loss, and without complaint resigned me to my duty. i was left alone a moment; my two elbows rested on a table to support my chin. ten thousand thoughts darted with astonishing velocity through my mind. my eyes were dry; i was on the brink of madness. at this moment a strange association was made by my imagination; i thought of gallileo, who when he left the inquisition, looked upwards, and cried out, "yet it moves." a shower of tears, like the refreshing drops of heaven, relieved my parched sockets; they fell disregarded on the table; and, stamping with my foot, in an agony i exclaimed, "yet i love." my husband entered before i had calmed these tumultuous emotions, and tenderly took my hand. i snatched it from him; grief and surprise were marked on his countenance; i hastily stretched it out again. my heart smote me, and i removed the transient mist by an unfeigned endeavour to please him. a few months after, my mind grew calmer; and, if a treacherous imagination, if feelings many accidents revived, sometimes plunged me into melancholy, i often repeated with steady conviction, that virtue was not an empty name, and that, in following the dictates of duty, i had not bidden adieu to content. in the course of a few years, the dear object of my fondest affection, said farewel, in dying accents. thus left alone, my grief became dear; and i did not feel solitary, because i thought i might, without a crime, indulge a passion, that grew more ardent than ever when my imagination only presented him to my view, and restored my former activity of soul which the late calm had rendered torpid. i seemed to find myself again, to find the eccentric warmth that gave me identity of character. reason had governed my conduct, but could not change my nature; this voluptuous sorrow was superior to every gratification of sense, and death more firmly united our hearts. alive to every human affection, i smoothed my mothers passage to eternity, and so often gave my husband sincere proofs of affection, he never supposed that i was actuated by a more fervent attachment. my melancholy, my uneven spirits, he attributed to my extreme sensibility, and loved me the better for possessing qualities he could not comprehend. at the close of a summer's day, some years after, i wandered with careless steps over a pathless common; various anxieties had rendered the hours which the sun had enlightened heavy; sober evening came on; i wished to still "my mind, and woo lone quiet in her silent walk." the scene accorded with my feelings; it was wild and grand; and the spreading twilight had almost confounded the distant sea with the barren, blue hills that melted from my sight. i sat down on a rising ground; the rays of the departing sun illumined the horizon, but so indistinctly, that i anticipated their total extinction. the death of nature led me to a still more interesting subject, that came home to my bosom, the death of him i loved. a village-bell was tolling; i listened, and thought of the moment when i heard his interrupted breath, and felt the agonizing fear, that the same sound would never more reach my ears, and that the intelligence glanced from my eyes, would no more be felt. the spoiler had seized his prey; the sun was fled, what was this world to me! i wandered to another, where death and darkness could not enter; i pursued the sun beyond the mountains, and the soul escaped from this vale of tears. my reflections were tinged with melancholy, but they were sublime.--i grasped a mighty whole, and smiled on the king of terrors; the tie which bound me to my friends he could not break; the same mysterious knot united me to the source of all goodness and happiness. i had seen the divinity reflected in a face i loved; i had read immortal characters displayed on a human countenance, and forgot myself whilst i gazed. i could not think of immortality, without recollecting the ecstacy i felt, when my heart first whispered to me that i was beloved; and again did i feel the sacred tie of mutual affection; fervently i prayed to the father of mercies; and rejoiced that he could see every turn of a heart, whose movements i could not perfectly understand. my passion seemed a pledge of immortality; i did not wish to hide it from the all-searching eye of heaven. where indeed could i go from his presence? and, whilst it was dear to me, though darkness might reign during the night of life, joy would come when i awoke to life everlasting. i now turned my step towards home, when the appearance of a girl, who stood weeping on the common, attracted my attention. i accosted her, and soon heard her simple tale; that her father was gone to sea, and her mother sick in bed. i followed her to their little dwelling, and relieved the sick wretch. i then again sought my own abode; but death did not now haunt my fancy. contriving to give the poor creature i had left more effectual relief, i reached my own garden-gate very weary, and rested on it.--recollecting the turns of my mind during the walk, i exclaimed, surely life may thus be enlivened by active benevolence, and the sleep of death, like that i am now disposed to fall into, may be sweet! my life was now unmarked by any extraordinary change, and a few days ago i entered this cavern; for through it every mortal must pass; and here i have discovered, that i neglected many opportunities of being useful, whilst i fostered a devouring flame. remorse has not reached me, because i firmly adhered to my principles, and i have also discovered that i saw through a false medium. worthy as the mortal was i adored, i should not long have loved him with the ardour i did, had fate united us, and broken the delusion the imagination so artfully wove. his virtues, as they now do, would have extorted my esteem; but he who formed the human soul, only can fill it, and the chief happiness of an immortal being must arise from the same source as its existence. earthly love leads to heavenly, and prepares us for a more exalted state; if it does not change its nature, and destroy itself, by trampling on the virtue, that constitutes its essence, and allies us to the deity. on poetry, and our relish for the beauties of nature. on poetry, &c. a taste for rural scenes, in the present state of society, appears to be very often an artificial sentiment, rather inspired by poetry and romances, than a real perception of the beauties of nature. but, as it is reckoned a proof of refined taste to praise the calm pleasures which the country affords, the theme is never exhausted. yet it may be made a question, whether this romantic kind of declamation, has much effect on the conduct of those, who leave, for a season, the crowded cities in which they were bred. i have been led to these reflections, by observing, when i have resided for any length of time in the country, how few people seem to contemplate nature with their own eyes. i have "brushed the dew away" in the morning; but, pacing over the printless grass, i have wondered that, in such delightful situations, the sun was allowed to rise in solitary majesty, whilst my eyes alone hailed its beautifying beams. the webs of the evening have still been spread across the hedged path, unless some labouring man, trudging to work, disturbed the fairy structure; yet, in spite of this supineness, when i joined the social circle, every tongue rang changes on the pleasures of the country. having frequently had occasion to make the same observation, i was led to endeavour, in one of my solitary rambles, to trace the cause, and likewise to enquire why the poetry written in the infancy of society, is most natural: which, strictly speaking (for _natural_ is a very indefinite expression) is merely to say, that it is the transcript of immediate sensations, in all their native wildness and simplicity, when fancy, awakened by the sight of interesting objects, was most actively at work. at such moments, sensibility quickly furnishes similes, and the sublimated spirits combine images, which rising spontaneously, it is not necessary coldly to ransack the understanding or memory, till the laborious efforts of judgment exclude present sensations, and damp the fire of enthusiasm. the effusions of a vigorous mind, will ever tell us how far the understanding has been enlarged by thought, and stored with knowledge. the richness of the soil even appears on the surface; and the result of profound thinking, often mixing, with playful grace, in the reveries of the poet, smoothly incorporates with the ebullitions of animal spirits, when the finely fashioned nerve vibrates acutely with rapture, or when, relaxed by soft melancholy, a pleasing languor prompts the long-drawn sigh, and feeds the slowly falling tear. the poet, the man of strong feelings, gives us only an image of his mind, when he was actually alone, conversing with himself, and marking the impression which nature had made on his own heart.--if, at this sacred moment, the idea of some departed friend, some tender recollection when the soul was most alive to tenderness, intruded unawares into his thoughts, the sorrow which it produced is artlessly, yet poetically expressed--and who can avoid sympathizing? love to man leads to devotion--grand and sublime images strike the imagination--god is seen in every floating cloud, and comes from the misty mountain to receive the noblest homage of an intelligent creature--praise. how solemn is the moment, when all affections and remembrances fade before the sublime admiration which the wisdom and goodness of god inspires, when he is worshipped in a _temple not made with hands_, and the world seems to contain only the mind that formed, and the mind that contemplates it! these are not the weak responses of ceremonial devotion; nor, to express them, would the poet need another poet's aid: his heart burns within him, and he speaks the language of truth and nature with resistless energy. inequalities, of course, are observable in his effusions; and a less vigorous fancy, with more taste, would have produced more elegance and uniformity; but, as passages are softened or expunged during the cooler moments of reflection, the understanding is gratified at the expence of those involuntary sensations, which, like the beauteous tints of an evening sky, are so evanescent, that they melt into new forms before they can be analyzed. for however eloquently we may boast of our reason, man must often be delighted he cannot tell why, or his blunt feelings are not made to relish the beauties which nature, poetry, or any of the imitative arts, afford. the imagery of the ancients seems naturally to have been borrowed from surrounding objects and their mythology. when a hero is to be transported from one place to another, across pathless wastes, is any vehicle so natural, as one of the fleecy clouds on which the poet has often gazed, scarcely conscious that he wished to make it his chariot? again, when nature seems to present obstacles to his progress at almost every step, when the tangled forest and steep mountain stand as barriers, to pass over which the mind longs for supernatural aid; an interposing deity, who walks on the waves, and rules the storm, severely felt in the first attempts to cultivate a country, will receive from the impassioned fancy "a local habitation and a name." it would be a philosophical enquiry, and throw some light on the history of the human mind, to trace, as far as our information will allow us to trace, the spontaneous feelings and ideas which have produced the images that now frequently appear unnatural, because they are remote; and disgusting, because they have been servilely copied by poets, whose habits of thinking, and views of nature must have been different; for, though the understanding seldom disturbs the current of our present feelings, without dissipating the gay clouds which fancy has been embracing, yet it silently gives the colour to the whole tenour of them, and the dream is over, when truth is grossly violated, or images introduced, selected from books, and not from local manners or popular prejudices. in a more advanced state of civilization, a poet is rather the creature of art, than of nature. the books that he reads in his youth, become a hot-bed in which artificial fruits are produced, beautiful to the common eye, though they want the true hue and flavour. his images do not arise from sensations; they are copies; and, like the works of the painters who copy ancient statues when they draw men and women of their own times, we acknowledge that the features are fine, and the proportions just; yet they are men of stone; insipid figures, that never convey to the mind the idea of a portrait taken from life, where the soul gives spirit and homogeneity to the whole. the silken wings of fancy are shrivelled by rules; and a desire of attaining elegance of diction, occasions an attention to words, incompatible with sublime, impassioned thoughts. a boy of abilities, who has been taught the structure of verse at school, and been roused by emulation to compose rhymes whilst he was reading works of genius, may, by practice, produce pretty verses, and even become what is often termed an elegant poet: yet his readers, without knowing what to find fault with, do not find themselves warmly interested. in the works of the poets who fasten on their affections, they see grosser faults, and the very images which shock their taste in the modern; still they do not appear as puerile or extrinsic in one as the other.--why?--because they did not appear so to the author. it may sound paradoxical, after observing that those productions want vigour, that are merely the work of imitation, in which the understanding has violently directed, if not extinguished, the blaze of fancy, to assert, that, though genius be only another word for exquisite sensibility, the first observers of nature, the true poets, exercised their understanding much more than their imitators. but they exercised it to discriminate things, whilst their followers were busy to borrow sentiments and arrange words. boys who have received a classical education, load their memory with words, and the correspondent ideas are perhaps never distinctly comprehended. as a proof of this assertion, i must observe, that i have known many young people who could write tolerably smooth verses, and string epithets prettily together, when their prose themes showed the barrenness of their minds, and how superficial the cultivation must have been, which their understanding had received. dr. johnson, i know, has given a definition of genius, which would overturn my reasoning, if i were to admit it.--he imagines, that _a strong mind, accidentally led to some particular study_ in which it excels, is a genius.--not to stop to investigate the causes which produced this happy _strength_ of mind, experience seems to prove, that those minds have appeared most vigorous, that have pursued a study, after nature had discovered a bent; for it would be absurd to suppose, that a slight impression made on the weak faculties of a boy, is the fiat of fate, and not to be effaced by any succeeding impression, or unexpected difficulty. dr. johnson in fact, appears sometimes to be of the same opinion (how consistently i shall not now enquire), especially when he observes, "that thomson looked on nature with the eye which she only gives to a poet." but, though it should be allowed that books may produce some poets, i fear they will never be the poets who charm our cares to sleep, or extort admiration. they may diffuse taste, and polish the language; but i am inclined to conclude that they will seldom rouse the passions, or amend the heart. and, to return to the first subject of discussion, the reason why most people are more interested by a scene described by a poet, than by a view of nature, probably arises from the want of a lively imagination. the poet contracts the prospect, and, selecting the most picturesque part in his _camera_, the judgment is directed, and the whole force of the languid faculty turned towards the objects which excited the most forcible emotions in the poet's heart; the reader consequently feels the enlivened description, though he was not able to receive a first impression from the operations of his own mind. besides, it may be further observed, that gross minds are only to be moved by forcible representations. to rouse the thoughtless, objects must be presented, calculated to produce tumultuous emotions; the unsubstantial, picturesque forms which a contemplative man gazes on, and often follows with ardour till he is mocked by a glimpse of unattainable excellence, appear to them the light vapours of a dreaming enthusiast, who gives up the substance for the shadow. it is not within that they seek amusement; their eyes are seldom turned on themselves; consequently their emotions, though sometimes fervid, are always transient, and the nicer perceptions which distinguish the man of genuine taste, are not felt, or make such a slight impression as scarcely to excite any pleasurable sensations. is it surprising then that they are often overlooked, even by those who are delighted by the same images concentrated by the poet? but even this numerous class is exceeded, by witlings, who, anxious to appear to have wit and taste, do not allow their understandings or feelings any liberty; for, instead of cultivating their faculties and reflecting on their operations, they are busy collecting prejudices; and are predetermined to admire what the suffrage of time announces as excellent, not to store up a fund of amusement for themselves, but to enable them to talk. these hints will assist the reader to trace some of the causes why the beauties of nature are not forcibly felt, when civilization, or rather luxury, has made considerable advances--those calm sensations are not sufficiently lively to serve as a relaxation to the voluptuary, or even to the moderate pursuer of artificial pleasures. in the present state of society, the understanding must bring back the feelings to nature, or the sensibility must have such native strength, as rather to be whetted than destroyed by the strong exercises of passion. that the most valuable things are liable to the greatest perversion, is however as trite as true:--for the same sensibility, or quickness of senses, which makes a man relish the tranquil scenes of nature, when sensation, rather than reason, imparts delight, frequently makes a libertine of him, by leading him to prefer the sensual tumult of love a little refined by sentiment, to the calm pleasures of affectionate friendship, in whose sober satisfactions, reason, mixing her tranquillizing convictions, whispers, that content, not happiness, is the reward of virtue in this world. hints. [_chiefly designed to have been incorporated in the second part of the_ vindication of the rights of woman.] hints. . indolence is the source of nervous complaints, and a whole host of cares. this devil might say that his name was legion. . it should be one of the employments of women of fortune, to visit hospitals, and superintend the conduct of inferiors. . it is generally supposed, that the imagination of women is particularly active, and leads them astray. why then do we seek by education only to exercise their imagination and feeling, till the understanding, grown rigid by disuse, is unable to exercise itself--and the superfluous nourishment the imagination and feeling have received, renders the former romantic, and the latter weak? . few men have risen to any great eminence in learning, who have not received something like a regular education. why are women expected to surmount difficulties that men are not equal to? . nothing can be more absurd than the ridicule of the critic, that the heroine of his mock-tragedy was in love with the very man whom she ought least to have loved; he could not have given a better reason. how can passion gain strength any other way? in otaheite, love cannot be known, where the obstacles to irritate an indiscriminate appetite, and sublimate the simple sensations of desire till they mount to passion, are never known. there a man or woman cannot love the very person they ought not to have loved--nor does jealousy ever fan the flame. . it has frequently been observed, that, when women have an object in view, they pursue it with more steadiness than men, particularly love. this is not a compliment. passion pursues with more heat than reason, and with most ardour during the absence of reason. . men are more subject to the physical love than women. the confined education of women makes them more subject to jealousy. . simplicity seems, in general, the consequence of ignorance, as i have observed in the characters of women and sailors--the being confined to one track of impressions. . i know of no other way of preserving the chastity of mankind, than that of rendering women rather objects of love than desire. the difference is great. yet, while women are encouraged to ornament their persons at the expence of their minds, while indolence renders them helpless and lascivious (for what other name can be given to the common intercourse between the sexes?) they will be, generally speaking, only objects of desire; and, to such women, men cannot be constant. men, accustomed only to have their senses moved, merely seek for a selfish gratification in the society of women, and their sexual instinct, being neither supported by the understanding nor the heart, must be excited by variety. . we ought to respect old opinions; though prejudices, blindly adopted, lead to error, and preclude all exercise of the reason. the emulation which often makes a boy mischievous, is a generous spur; and the old remark, that unlucky, turbulent boys, make the wisest and best men, is true, spite of mr. knox's arguments. it has been observed, that the most adventurous horses, when tamed or domesticated, are the most mild and tractable. . the children who start up suddenly at twelve or fourteen, and fall into decays, in consequence, as it is termed, of outgrowing their strength, are in general, i believe, those children, who have been bred up with mistaken tenderness, and not allowed to sport and take exercise in the open air. this is analogous to plants: for it is found that they run up sickly, long stalks, when confined. . children should be taught to feel deference, not to practise submission. . it is always a proof of false refinement, when a fastidious taste overpowers sympathy. . lust appears to be the most natural companion of wild ambition; and love of human praise, of that dominion erected by cunning. . "genius decays as judgment increases." of course, those who have the least genius, have the earliest appearance of wisdom. . a knowledge of the fine arts, is seldom subservient to the promotion of either religion or virtue. elegance is often indecency; witness our prints. . there does not appear to be any evil in the world, but what is necessary. the doctrine of rewards and punishments, not considered as a means of reformation, appears to me an infamous libel on divine goodness. . whether virtue is founded on reason or revelation, virtue is wisdom, and vice is folly. why are positive punishments? . few can walk alone. the staff of christianity is the necessary support of human weakness. but an acquaintance with the nature of man and virtue, with just sentiments on the attributes, would be sufficient, without a voice from heaven, to lead some to virtue, but not the mob. . i only expect the natural reward of virtue, whatever it may be. i rely not on a positive reward. the justice of god can be vindicated by a belief in a future state--but a continuation of being vindicates it as clearly, as the positive system of rewards and punishments--by evil educing good for the individual, and not for an imaginary whole. the happiness of the whole must arise from the happiness of the constituent parts, or this world is not a state of trial, but a school. . the vices acquired by augustus to retain his power, must have tainted his soul, and prevented that increase of happiness a good man expects in the next stage of existence. this was a natural punishment. . the lover is ever most deeply enamoured, when it is with he knows not what--and the devotion of a mystic has a rude gothic grandeur in it, which the respectful adoration of a philosopher will never reach. i may be thought fanciful; but it has continually occurred to me, that, though, i allow, reason in this world is the mother of wisdom--yet some flights of the imagination seem to reach what wisdom cannot teach--and, while they delude us here, afford a glorious hope, if not a foretaste, of what we may expect hereafter. he that created us, did not mean to mark us with ideal images of grandeur, the _baseless fabric of a vision_--no--that perfection we follow with hopeless ardour when the whisperings of reason are heard, may be found, when not incompatible with our state, in the round of eternity. perfection indeed must, even then, be a comparative idea--but the wisdom, the happiness of a superior state, has been supposed to be intuitive, and the happiest effusions of human genius have seemed like inspiration--the deductions of reason destroy sublimity. . i am more and more convinced, that poetry is the first effervescence of the imagination, and the forerunner of civilization. . when the arabs had no trace of literature or science, they composed beautiful verses on the subjects of love and war. the flights of the imagination, and the laboured deductions of reason, appear almost incompatible. . poetry certainly flourishes most in the first rude state of society. the passions speak most eloquently, when they are not shackled by reason. the sublime expression, which has been so often quoted, [genesis, ch. , ver. .] is perhaps a barbarous flight; or rather the grand conception of an uncultivated mind; for it is contrary to nature and experience, to suppose that this account is founded on facts--it is doubtless a sublime allegory. but a cultivated mind would not thus have described the creation--for, arguing from analogy, it appears that creation must have been a comprehensive plan, and that the supreme being always uses second causes, slowly and silently to fulfil his purpose. this is, in reality, a more sublime view of that power which wisdom supports: but it is not the sublimity that would strike the impassioned mind, in which the imagination took place of intellect. tell a being, whose affections and passions have been more exercised than his reason, that god said, _let there be light! and there was light_; and he would prostrate himself before the being who could thus call things out of nothing, as if they were: but a man in whom reason had taken place of passion, would not adore, till wisdom was conspicuous as well as power, for his admiration must be founded on principle. . individuality is ever conspicuous in those enthusiastic flights of fancy, in which reason is left behind, without being lost sight of. . the mind has been too often brought to the test of enquiries which only reach to matter--put into the crucible, though the magnetic and electric fluid escapes from the experimental philosopher. . mr. kant has observed, that the understanding is sublime, the imagination beautiful--yet it is evident, that poets, and men who undoubtedly possess the liveliest imagination, are most touched by the sublime, while men who have cold, enquiring minds, have not this exquisite feeling in any great degree, and indeed seem to lose it as they cultivate their reason. . the grecian buildings are graceful--they fill the mind with all those pleasing emotions, which elegance and beauty never fail to excite in a cultivated mind--utility and grace strike us in unison--the mind is satisfied--things appear just what they ought to be: a calm satisfaction is felt, but the imagination has nothing to do--no obscurity darkens the gloom--like reasonable content, we can say why we are pleased--and this kind of pleasure may be lasting, but it is never great. . when we say that a person is an original, it is only to say in other words that he thinks. "the less a man has cultivated his rational faculties, the more powerful is the principle of imitation, over his actions, and his habits of thinking. most women, of course, are more influenced by the behaviour, the fashions, and the opinions of those with whom they associate, than men." (smellie.) when we read a book which supports our favourite opinions, how eagerly do we suck in the doctrines, and suffer our minds placidly to reflect the images which illustrate the tenets we have embraced? we indolently or quietly acquiesce in the conclusion, and our spirit animates and connects the various subjects. but, on the contrary, when we peruse a skilful writer, who does not coincide in opinion with us, how is the mind on the watch to detect fallacy? and this coolness often prevents our being carried away by a stream of eloquence, which the prejudiced mind terms declamation--a pomp of words.--we never allow ourselves to be warmed; and, after contending with the writer, are more confirmed in our own opinion, as much perhaps from a spirit of contradiction as from reason.--such is the strength of man! . it is the individual manner of seeing and feeling, pourtrayed by a strong imagination in bold images that have struck the senses, which creates all the charms of poetry. a great reader is always quoting the description of another's emotions; a strong imagination delights to paint its own. a writer of genius makes us feel; an inferior author reason. . some principle prior to self-love must have existed: the feeling which produced the pleasure, must have existed before the experience. the end. transcriber's notes: . obvious punctuation errors repaired. . this text contains blank space and lines of "--" and "*" characters. these are replicated from the printed pages, presumably they indicate censored text from the original source. . the listed errata at the beginning of volume and volume have been applied to the text. . the text as printed used incipits and 'long s' font. the incipits have not been replicated in this version, but can be viewed on 'long s' html version of the text or the page images linked from the html versions. . corrections: volume , page , "accuteness" changed to "acuteness" volume , page , "unfortutunate" changed to "unfortunate" volume , page , "resource" changed to "recourse" volume , page , "hunted" changed to "shunted" volume , page , "carreer" changed to "career" volume , page , "plased" changed to "pleased" volume , page , "and and" changed to "and" volume , page , "a r" changed to "air" volume , page , "he he" changed to "he" volume , page , "explananations" changed to "explanations" [transcriber's note: every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. text that has been changed to correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain as they were in the original.] [illustration: mrs. carrie chapman catt. president of the international woman suffrage alliance from its founding in and of the national american woman suffrage association - and from . standing in an automobile on the way from the railroad station in new york after the campaign for ratification of the federal suffrage amendment was completed by tennessee. (see page .)] the history of woman suffrage edited by ida husted harper illustrated with copperplate and photogravure engravings _in six volumes_ volume vi -- in a true democracy every citizen has a vote national american woman suffrage association copyright, , by national american woman suffrage association introduction woman suffrage in the states of the union in the preceding volume a full account is given of the forty years' continuous effort to secure an amendment to the federal constitution which would confer full suffrage on all the women of the united states possessing the qualifications required of men. antedating the beginning of this effort by thirty years was the attempt to enfranchise women through the amendment of state constitutions. after the two movements were contemporaneous, each dependent on the other, the latter a long process but essential in some measure to the success of the former. there is no way by which the progress of the movement for woman suffrage can be so clearly seen as by a comparison of the state chapters in this volume with the state chapters in volume iv, which closed with . the former show the remarkable development of the organized work for woman suffrage, especially in the last decade, which brought the complete victory. in volume iv it was possible to give a résumé of the laws specifically relating to women and one was sent with each chapter for this volume. the space occupied by the account of the work for the suffrage, however, made it necessary to omit them. it required thousands of words to record the legislation of the last twenty years relating especially to women in some of the states and the large part of it to women in the industries, which they had scarcely entered in . the same is true of child labor. every state shows a desire for protective legislation. many states provide for mothers' pensions, a modern tendency. about half of the states now have equal guardianship laws. there is a gradual increase in those enlarging the property and business rights of married women. the "age of consent" and the age for marriage have been raised in most states where they were too low. in every state for a number of years the large organizations of women have made a determined effort to obtain better laws for women and children and legislatures have yielded to pressure. in every state as soon as women were enfranchised there was improvement in laws relating to their welfare and that of children. the federal woman suffrage amendment went into effect in august, , and the following winter there was a greater amount of advanced legislation in the various states than had taken place in the preceding ten years collectively, and the résumé of existing laws that had been prepared for this volume was soon at least partially obsolete in many of them. a brief statement of office holding was incorporated but its only value was in showing that in all states this was almost exclusively limited to "electors." when the federal amendment was proclaimed it carried with it eligibility to the offices. in some states it included jury service but in others it was held that for this special legislation was necessary. in all states the professions and other occupations are open to women the same as to men. in the way of education every state university admits women, and the vast majority of institutions of learning, except some of a religious character, are co-educational. a few of the large eastern universities still bar their doors but women have all needful opportunities for the higher education. some professional schools--law, medicine and especially theology--are still closed to women but enough are open to them to satisfy the demand, and the same is true of the technical schools. to meet the lack of space every chapter had to be drastically cut after it was in type. women now have in a general sense equality of rights, although in every state they have learned or will learn that this is not literally true and that further effort will be required, but now, as never before, they are equipped for accomplishing it. it will be a long time before they have equality of opportunity in the business and political world but for the majority this will not be needed. women will find, however, that in the home, in club life and in all lines of religious, philanthropic, educational and civic work the possession of a vote has increased their influence and power beyond measure. table of contents page introduction i position of women in regard to laws, office holding, education, etc. chapter i. alabama early work -- progress of organization -- conventions held, reports and speeches made, activities of the association -- officers and workers -- legislative action -- campaigns -- help of the national association -- action on ratification of the federal suffrage amendment -- interest taken by president wilson, national committees and party leaders -- celebrations. [this form is followed in all the state chapters, with names of officers, workers, friends and enemies and many incidents; also results where woman suffrage exists. the chapters are alphabetically arranged, i to xlix.] chapter l. woman suffrage in the territories and the philippines alaska legislature gives suffrage to women -- privileges to indian women --other laws -- women in prohibition campaign -- women's war work. hawaii congress refuses to let its legislature control the suffrage --national suffrage association protests -- its president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, at honolulu -- mrs. pitman, of brookline, mass., holds meetings there -- legislature sends resolution to congress -- senator john f. shafroth gets bill through congress -- efforts of hawaiian women with their legislature. the philippines the national suffrage association demands franchise for their women -- governor general taft and archbishop nozaleda support the demand --the u. s. congress ignores it -- position of filipino women --commissioner's wife describes their efforts for the suffrage. porto rico status of suffrage for men -- they demand their own legislature -- national suffrage association asks that women may share in the suffrage -- senator shafroth shows that it can not be put into the bill -- efforts of porto rican women with its legislature. chapter li. great britain situation as to woman suffrage at commencement of the present century -- status of the bill in parliament in the first decade -- premier campbell-bannerman advises "pestering" -- strong hostility of premier asquith -- beginning of "militancy" -- its effect on the suffrage movement -- mrs. fawcett's opinion -- constitutional societies repudiate it -- labor party supports woman suffrage --treachery in parliament -- the conciliation bill -- women left out of the franchise reform bill -- deputation to premier asquith -- lloyd george's attitude -- speaker lowther kills bill -- suffragists go into politics -- great suffrage "pilgrimage" -- outbreak of war --important war work of the suffrage societies -- coalition government -- conference committee on electoral reform bill -- premier asquith supports woman suffrage -- lloyd george becomes premier -- suffrage clause in bill gets immense majority in house of commons -- big fight in house of lords but goes through -- royal assent given -- two women elected to house of commons -- oxford university opened to women. chapter lii. woman suffrage in british colonies new zealand, australia canada first woman suffrage society in ontario -- the gaining of woman suffrage in manitoba, alberta, saskatchewan and british columbia. efforts of the women to secure action from the legislature of each province -- victory in ontario after long struggle -- war time woman suffrage act of the dominion parliament -- granting of complete suffrage in -- the legislatures of new brunswick and nova scotia give provincial suffrage -- quebec refuses -- women of newfoundland still disfranchised. south africa the national parliament persistently declines to enfranchise women --their strong efforts for the vote -- granted in several of the states -- mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage alliance, spends several months in south africa conferring with the women. india chapter liii. woman suffrage in many countries finland norway denmark iceland sweden the netherlands belgium luxemburg russia germany austria hungary bohemia switzerland italy france greece, spain, portugal, palestine, china, japan, south and central america, mexico - chapter liv. the international woman suffrage alliance desire of early leaders -- international council of women -- miss anthony and mrs. catt call conference in washington on international suffrage alliance -- ten countries represented -- proceedings of conference -- plan of temporary organization -- declaration of principles -- valuable reports on the status of women. permanent organization in berlin in conference and congress in copenhagen in delegates present, addresses, memorials for miss anthony, reports, social entertainments, badge adopted. congress in amsterdam in welcome of dr. aletta jacobs, president of the national suffrage association -- mrs. catt's president's address -- "militants" present -- entertainments -- victories in finland and norway -- _jus suffragii_ established -- a day in rotterdam. the first quinquennial in london mrs. catt's address -- mrs. fawcett, president of the british suffrage association, speaks, refers to "militants" -- mass meetings in albert hall -- in touch with queens -- flag and hymn selected --resolutions adopted -- officers elected -- dr. shaw in the pulpits. congress in stockholm honors to mrs. catt -- many delegates and eminent guests -- dr. shaw preaches in state church -- selma lagerlöf speaks -- growth of alliance -- non-partisanship declared -- men's international league formed -- beautiful outdoor entertainments --tributes to sweden. congress in budapest great number of delegates -- official welcome in academy of music --mrs. catt's president's address -- dr. jacobs presents banner from women of china -- royal opera house opened for the congress -- many excursions -- "militant" methods discussed -- resolution on commercialized vice -- activity of men's league -- rosika schwimmer, national president, speaks -- officers elected. conference in geneva first meeting of alliance after the world war -- miss royden preaches in national church -- mrs. catt uses the war as text for great speech -- it brought woman suffrage to many countries -- women present from thirty-six, including five members of parliament -- delegates entertained by the municipality -- treasurer's report tells of help of united states -- congress votes to continue the alliance. appendix anti-suffrage manifesto of nebraska men. suffrage maps - anthony memorial building _opp. page_ chapter i. alabama[ ] in miss frances griffin of verbena sent to the national suffrage convention the following report as president of the state suffrage association: "two clubs in alabama, in huntsville and decatur, are auxiliary to the national american woman suffrage association. the state president did some aggressive work within the year, speaking in many different towns before women's clubs and at parlor meetings. she devoted much time to work of this character in montgomery, hoping to bring to bear sufficient influence upon members of the constitutional convention to secure some concessions for women citizens. the results were bitterly disappointing, for it not only refused to grant suffrage to tax-paying women but it gave to the husbands of tax-payers the right to vote upon their wives' property! women in the larger towns are taking an interest in municipal and educational affairs. some have been placed on advisory boards in state institutions, such as the girls' industrial school, the boys' reform school and others. all this means a gradual advance for the suffrage sentiment, a general modifying of the anti-sentiment." there were also short reports for and , which, while showing no practical, tangible results of the efforts of that earnest pioneer worker, are interesting as evidences of the backward, unprogressive spirit against which the women of alabama have had to contend. these reports mark the end of the first period of suffrage activity in the state, which had been maintained by a few devoted women. the new era was ushered in by the organization in selma in of an equal suffrage association which was the beginning of an aggressive, tireless fight. miss mary partridge, after seeing the defeat of a constitutional amendment for prohibition in alabama despite the earnest but ineffectual efforts of the women who besieged the polls begging the men to vote for it, decided that the time was ripe for a woman suffrage organization and wrote for advice to dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american woman suffrage association, who answered in part: "i cannot express to you how happy i am that you are willing to begin the work in your state where very little has been done for suffrage because of the great conservatism among the women of the south. i am very glad if they are now beginning to realize their absolutely helpless and unprotected position. we have the temperance agitation to thank for arousing a great many women over all the country...." shortly after the receipt of this letter miss partridge sent out a "call" in the selma papers and on march , , mrs. frederick watson, mrs. f. t. raiford, mrs. f. g. dubose, mrs. f. m. hatch and miss partridge met at the carnegie library and organized the association. this action was reported to dr. shaw and she extended the greetings of the national association with "thanks and appreciation." the birmingham equal suffrage association was the outgrowth of a small group of women who had been holding study meetings in the home of mrs. w. l. murdoch. the enthusiasm and earnest conviction resulting from them found expression in a "call" for a woman suffrage organization and on oct. , , the association was formed at a meeting held in the chamber of commerce, where the following officers were elected: president, mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs; first vice-president, miss ethel armes; second, mrs. w. l. murdoch; third, mrs. w. n. wood; corresponding secretary, miss helen j. benners; recording secretary, mrs. j. e. frazier; treasurer, mrs. a. j. bowron. special mention is made of these two societies because they constituted the nucleus on which the state organization was formed. an urgent "call" was sent out by the officers of the birmingham society to "all men and women who wish to further the cause of woman suffrage to unite in a state organization at a meeting in birmingham oct. , ." selma sent six delegates who met with the birmingham suffragists at the parish house of the church of the advent, where the alabama equal suffrage association was organized and a constitution and by-laws adopted. mrs. jacobs was elected president; miss partridge, first vice-president; mrs. raiford, second; mrs. murdoch, corresponding secretary; mrs. julian parke, recording secretary; mrs. c. m. spencer, treasurer; miss partridge, state organizer.[ ] the following delegates were appointed to attend the national convention in philadelphia in november; mrs. jacobs, miss amelia worthington, mrs. o. r. hundley, mrs. dubose, miss partridge, mrs. chappel cory. the new state organization affiliated at once with the national association. the first annual convention was held in selma jan. , , with twenty-five representatives from selma, birmingham, huntsville and montgomery. mrs. jacobs was re-elected president and a splendid program of constructive work was outlined for the ensuing year. the association was represented at the meeting of the international suffrage alliance held in budapest in june of this year by mrs. t. g. bush of birmingham. the second state convention, held in huntsville feb. , , was made notable by the inspiring presence of three of alabama's pioneer suffragists--mrs. annie buel drake robertson, mrs. humes, and mrs. virginia clay clopton. the following local societies were represented by their presidents, named in the order in which they were organized: selma, mrs. parke; birmingham, mrs. hundley; montgomery, mrs. sallie b. powell; huntsville, mrs. clopton; cullman, mrs. ignatius pollak; greensboro, miss s. anne hobson; tuscaloosa, mrs. losey; vinemont, miss mary munson; pell city, miss pearl still; coal city, mrs. j. w. moore; mobile, miss eugenie marks. mrs. jacobs was re-elected despite her wish to retire from office and her report of the past year told of a great amount of work done by all the members of the board. in january, , a resolution to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution to the voters was for the first time introduced in the legislature. it was referred to the committee on privileges and elections in the house and the legislature afterwards adjourned until july. in the meantime the women worked to secure pledges from the members of the committee to report the bill favorably and of the gave their promise to do so. instead of this it was "postponed indefinitely." the women did not rest until they persuaded the house to compel a report and then a hearing was granted to them. among those who worked in the legislature were the legislative chairman, mrs. o. r. hundley; mrs. jacobs, the state president; mrs. chappel cory, president united daughters of the confederacy; miss mollie dowd, representing the wage earners, and miss lavinia engle of maryland, field organizer for the national association. the bill came to a vote late in the session, when representative joe green, who had asked for the privilege of introducing it, spoke and voted against it. the vote stood ayes, noes, a three-fifths majority being necessary to submit an amendment. as the legislature meets only once in four years this was the only action ever taken on a state amendment. at the state convention, held in tuscaloosa in february of this year, reports were made from auxiliary branches and the organization of non-auxiliary branches was reported. the address of dr. shaw, the national president, gave a great impetus to suffrage work in the state. mrs. jacobs and the other officers were re-elected, except that mrs. frederick koenig was made auditor. on feb. , , the state convention was held in gadsden and the evidences of the growth of the suffrage movement were most heartening, local associations sending reports. mrs. parke was chosen for president, mrs. jacobs having been elected auditor of the national association. the state convention was held in birmingham feb. - , , and the officers re-elected except that miss worthington was made recording secretary. it was followed by a "suffrage" school conducted by representatives of the national association, who generously gave the valuable help that a course of study under such able instructors afforded. over pupils attended. it was reported that there were now suffrage clubs in the state, which were being merged into political organizations with the county as a unit, and there were chairmen in of the counties. there were also chairmen in nine of the ten congressional districts. a paid organizer had been at work. state headquarters were maintained on the principal street in selma and a bi-weekly press bulletin issued which was used by thirty-four newspapers, while eight published weekly suffrage columns. the birmingham _news_ got out a suffrage edition. four travelling suffrage libraries were kept in circulation. automobile parades had been given, a mass meeting held in birmingham and street meetings in every part of the state. the state convention was held in selma may - , . the reports made by local and state officers showed that the suffragists had lent themselves and all their machinery of organization to every form of war work. mrs. jacobs had been appointed by mr. mcadoo, secretary of the treasury, state chairman of the woman's liberty loan committee. suffrage work was in no wise suspended but the more active forms of propaganda were held in abeyance. the federal amendment was endorsed in no uncertain terms and the following resolution was adopted: "whereas, the senate will soon vote on the federal suffrage amendment, therefore, be it resolved, by the suffragists of alabama assembled in their sixth annual convention, that the u. s. senators, john h. bankhead and oscar w. underwood, be, and they hereby are, earnestly petitioned to forward the march of democracy, to carry out the policy of the democratic administration and to represent truly the wishes of the women of their own state by supporting this amendment and voting for it when it comes up in the senate." it was reported that the state association had energetically cooperated with the national in all its suggestions and plans and notwithstanding the efforts made to raise money for the purposes of the war it had collected over $ , for state suffrage work and more than paid its pledge of $ , to the national treasury. thousands of copies of u. s. senator shafroth's speech, the gift of the leslie suffrage commission, had been mailed to the rural voters. the clergy had been requested to speak on woman suffrage in their sermons on "mothers' day" and many responded. miss lola trax, the state organizer, reported a chairman in all but two counties. each of the state's representatives in congress had been interviewed. dr. anna howard shaw, the national president, had lectured in seven places and mrs. walter mcnab miller, national vice-president, in five. the petitions for the federal amendment were being circulated. the alabama delegates to the national convention in march, , learned while there that the federal amendment was likely to be passed by congress in time for action to be taken on its ratification by the legislature of the state, which had been called to meet july . they went before the national board and secured the promise of definite help, which was to consist of literature, press work and organizers, and certain obligations were undertaken on the part of the state. the national association did more even than it promised and the state suffragists made heroic efforts to live up to their part of the contract. on may the campaign was under way although the amendment had not yet been submitted. a ratification committee was appointed by the president consisting of mrs. john d. mcneel of birmingham, chairman; mrs. w. d. nesbit of birmingham, vice-chairman; mrs. bibb graves of montgomery, resident member, and mrs. jacobs, ex-officio member. county chairmen were appointed in counties and a men's committee of one hundred was organized. headquarters were equipped with some paid and much faithful volunteer help and the distribution of literature and press work was started. early in the month mrs. albert mcmahon, miss edna beveridge and miss josephine miller, organizers, were sent by the national association, to which group miss mary parke london of birmingham was added and contributed her services throughout the entire campaign as an organizer and lobbyist. press work was systematically carried on, some of the material sent from national headquarters but most of it originating in birmingham. speakers covered all important public meetings to which access could be had; governor thomas e. kilby and other prominent men were interviewed and a poll was taken of the legislators before they convened.[ ] at the joint hearing, which was arranged almost immediately after the legislature met, john c. anderson, chief justice of the supreme court; w. d. nesbitt, state chairman of the democratic executive committee; ex-senator frank s. white; judge s. d. weakley, legal adviser of the governor, and others spoke for ratification. ratification. the federal amendment was submitted by congress june and the legislature met july . for days before the vote was taken it occupied almost exclusive attention at the capital, many of the newspapers saying that the opposition were placing the state and the democratic party in a grave position. the republican party was claiming credit for the submission and democratic leaders felt it to be very necessary that the alabama legislature should ratify. on july president wilson telegraphed to governor kilby as follows: "i hope you will pardon me if i express my very earnest hope that the suffrage amendment to the constitution of the united states may be ratified by the great state of alabama. it would constitute a very happy augury for the future and add greatly to the strength of a movement which, in my judgment, is based upon the highest consideration both of justice and expedience." on the same date secretary of the navy josephus daniels sent a long message to mrs. mcneel, chairman of the ratification committee, and a multigraphed copy to each member of the senate, setting forth the merits of the amendment and saying: "the south has nothing to fear from the amendment but it would be a loss to southern chivalry and southern prestige if our section of the country halted this great reform. i earnestly hope that the people of alabama will take the lead of southern states east of the mississippi and follow the wise leadership of texas and missouri and other progressive commonwealths. there is no doubt of its ratification. let alabama lead and not follow." homer s. cummings, chairman of the democratic national committee, and other prominent democrats added their earnest appeals to the senate for favorable action. the ratifying resolution was introduced in the senate by john a. rogers and in the house by w. h. shaw. the date set for the vote in the senate was july and a hearing before a joint meeting of senate and house was granted on the th. women journeyed to montgomery from nearly every county to plead for the amendment but its defeat had already been planned. the vote was ayes, noes. the house did not act on the measure until september and during the interim every possible pressure was made on its members to obtain a favorable vote. president wilson sent an urgent telegram to speaker h. p. merritt. chairman nesbit convened the state democratic committee on august to consider the amendment. it adopted a resolution by a vote of to , which endorsed the favorable action of the national committee the preceding may and said: "we pledge our support in every proper way to accomplish the result desired." mrs. george bass, chairman of the women's national democratic committee, went to montgomery for this meeting and remained several days working for the amendment. the central labor union of that city at a mass meeting passed a resolution asking the legislature to "take steps immediately to ratify the amendment." a majority of the house were pledged to vote in favor of ratification but after it had been defeated in the senate they considered it useless to keep their promise and the vote was ayes, noes. the governor and lieutenant governor nathan l. miller maintained a neutral position. the mainspring of the opposition from beginning to end was u. s. senator oscar w. underwood. senator john h. bankhead was equally opposed. both senators had voted against the submission of the federal amendment and of the ten members in the lower house only one, william b. oliver of tuscaloosa, had voted in favor.[ ] because of the campaign no convention took place in . on april - , , the last one of the state equal suffrage association, as such, was held in montgomery. a large "pioneer luncheon" was given in the exchange hotel and a beautiful set of silver baskets was presented to mrs. jacobs. the sessions were held in the senate chamber of the historic capitol and by unanimous consent the association was merged into the state league of women voters. mrs. a. j. bowron was elected chairman. after the amendment was finally ratified by the necessary states there was a victory parade in birmingham in which , took part. a brass band headed automobiles, each a mass of banners, flags and flowers, labeled in the order in which the states ratified. mrs. jacobs and the pioneers led the marchers, followed by professional and business women, the league of women voters, the woman's christian temperance union and other organizations. it ended with addresses and singing in capitol park. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs, eight years president of the state equal suffrage association, three years auditor of the national association and now secretary of the national league of women voters; also to miss helen j. benners, research chairman of the state league of women voters. [ ] those who held office in the state association during the next eight years were as follows: mrs. milton humes, mrs. frederick d. losey, mrs. parke, mrs. angus taylor, mrs. j. d. wilkins, mrs. w. j. chambers, miss annie joe coates, mrs. john lusk, mrs. leon weil. [ ] on june , , mrs. james s. pinckard called a meeting of women of wealth and social standing at her home in montgomery. with the help of a constitutional lawyer they organized the southern women's anti-ratification league, with mrs. pinckard chairman, mrs. charles henderson, vice-chairman; mrs. w. t. sheehan, secretary; mrs. marie bankhead owen (daughter of the senator), chairman of the legislative committee. members of the executive committee were mesdames charles s. thigpen, hails janney, jack thorington, j. a. winter, ormond somerville, w. j. hannah, clayton t. tullis, j. winter thorington, e. perry thomas, william m. e. ellsberry, j.h. naftel, w. b. kelly and miss mae harris. they sent a memorial to the legislature which began: "we look with confidence to you to protect us from this device of northern abolitionists." they "worked night and day, personally and by letter," and, after the defeat of ratification in the alabama legislature, mrs. pinckard and others transferred their efforts to those of louisiana and tennessee, where they "lobbied" for many days. [ ] among the men in the state who were especially active and helpful were: colonel bibb graves and john h. wallace, of montgomery; l. b. musgrove, of jasper; judge w. r. chapman, of dothan; h. h. patterson, of atmore; john w. abercrombie, of anniston; john d. mcneel, phil painter, ex-governor b. b. comer, james weatherly, fred m. jackson and john r. hornaday of birmingham. among those especially active in opposition were: congressman john h. bankhead, jr., of jasper; c. brooks smith, judge john r. tyson and ray rushton, of montgomery; r. a. mitchell, of gadsden; wiley tunstall and len f. greer, of anniston; judge joe evans, martin calhoun and joe green, of selma; w. w. brandon, of tuscaloosa; john d. leigh, of brewton; emmett o'neal and e. d. smith, of birmingham. chapter ii. arizona.[ ] since this chapter is to commence with the year , this will be where mrs. carrie chapman catt and miss mary garrett hay, chairman and member of the organization committee of the national american woman suffrage association left off in the spring of after they had spent a month laboring with the territorial legislature. they succeeded in getting a bill through the lower house by a vote of two to one but by the deciding vote of morris goldwater of prescott, president of the council or upper house, it was sent to a committee and prevented from coming to a vote. the hand of the "boss" of the saloon-keepers was clearly recognized in the game that was played. undaunted mrs. catt and miss hay came back in and organized the first full-fledged suffrage association in the territory, with mrs. pauline o'neill, wife of that staunch suffrage friend, the gallant rough rider, william o'neill, as its president; mrs. lida p. robinson, corresponding secretary; mrs. frances w. munds, recording secretary, mrs. porter of phoenix, treasurer. all were inexperienced and the society did not flourish and although was election year no pre-election pledges were obtained. a territorial legislature can extend suffrage to women without referring the question to the voters. a bill for this purpose was introduced in through a committee of women headed by mrs. robinson but it received little support and after creating the usual amount of excitement failed to pass either house. during the following year suffrage work seemed to lapse and the organization would have died a natural death but for the will of mrs. robinson, who called a convention to meet in phoenix in the spring of , where she was elected president with mrs. munds corresponding and recording secretary and mrs. ada irving treasurer. under mrs. robinson's guidance a list was made of all who had previously expressed an interest and they were notified that something was doing in the suffrage line. dr. frances woods of kansas was sent by the national association and made a tour of the territory which was remarkable for the haste in which it was made and the results obtained. she organized clubs in every county and set the women to work obtaining pre-election pledges, with the result that when the legislature convened in the spring of it lacked only a few votes of having a majority in both houses pledged to suffrage. mrs. robinson, dr. woods and mrs. munds constituted themselves a committee to work with the members and succeeded in getting a woman suffrage bill through the legislature by a two-thirds vote. the rejoicing was short, for the governor, alexander o. brodie, an appointee of president roosevelt, vetoed the bill. representatives kean st. charles, a newspaper man, and morrison, a labor leader, were most active in its behalf, while the scheme that finally sent it down to defeat was concocted, it was said, by joseph h. kibbey, a lawyer of phoenix. he was the leader of the republican minority in the council and traded its solid republican vote for one needed vote on another bill, with the understanding that the governor would veto the suffrage bill. governor brodie afterwards resigned and mr. kibbey, the arch-enemy of woman suffrage, was appointed in his place. mrs. robinson continued propaganda through a little paper which she published and distributed herself throughout the territory. this well-edited paper kept alive the favorable sentiment and through it the leading men and women suffragists in arizona were in touch with each other. in the spring of mrs. mary c. c. bradford of denver was sent by the national association and spent several weeks working with the legislature but received practically no cooperation from the local women, as it was conceded that the situation was hopeless while kibbey was governor. mrs. robinson moved from the territory and the organization was without a head. it languished for about three years and its enemies sang cheerful requiems for the dead. the legislature that met in had a peaceful time as far as women were concerned for no suffrage bill was introduced. in january, , miss laura clay of kentucky, an officer of the national association, came to arizona at her own expense. the last territorial legislature was then in session and miss clay labored long and faithfully with it but the resident women were apathetic and gave her little assistance. the bill that she had introduced failed in both houses, the members availing themselves of the excuse that arizona women did not want suffrage or they would make some organized effort to get it. miss clay had the right kind of spirit and gathering a faithful few together they worked out a plan whereby the first really efficient suffrage organization was effected. this plan was the same as the political parties in the territory used, namely, a state chairman with a chairman in each county and a chairman for each local club. a convention was called in phoenix under miss clay's direction and mrs. munds was made territorial chairman. during the year statehood for arizona began to loom up and vigorous work was done for that event. the national association sent the very woman needed, miss laura gregg of kansas. she made an extensive tour of the territory and by the time congress had passed the enabling act in june, , it was thoroughly organized with suffrage clubs in every county and in all of the larger towns and cities, with a membership of about , men and women. strenuous effort was made to have a majority of the members of the constitutional convention pledged to vote for a suffrage plank but it succeeded with only about a third of them. it met in october, , with eleven republican and thirty-three democratic members. through the demands of organized labor backed by a heavy labor vote a very progressive constitution was written. miss gregg and mrs. munds struggled with the delegates during its entire session to have a full, partial or conditional woman suffrage clause incorporated but to no avail. members who proudly proclaimed themselves the only original "progressives" were far too timid to put anything so "radical" as woman suffrage in the constitution for fear that the voters would not accept it, and yet those same men wrote into it the initiative and referendum, recall of judges and many other far more radical measures and it was adopted by an overwhelming majority. it was plain that a measure was deemed radical or not according to the voting power behind it. the republicans were in a minority and only two voted for the suffrage clause, although there were enough democratic pledges to have carried it with the solid republican support. the republicans were for a "safe and sane" constitution, something like the one adopted at the same time by new mexico, under which women never could get suffrage by state process. one democrat who offered "to do and die for it" in the convention was senator fred colter of apache county. not at all discouraged by the defeat the women, now aroused and interested, began as soon as the constitution was accepted by the voters and statehood was effected to get ready for the first state election, as now it was necessary to have an amendment submitted by the legislature and accepted by the electors. headquarters were established in the house of mrs. munds at prescott and a constant stream of literature and correspondence went out in an effort to elect suffragists to the first state legislature. the men, however, were so pleased with the members of the constitutional convention that a little thing like their voting against woman suffrage did not matter and every one who was a candidate for anything was elected, some to the legislature and others to the various state offices. george w. p. hunt, who was president of the convention and had vigorously opposed the suffrage plank, was elected the first governor of the state. he did recommend in his message to the legislature that it submit a woman suffrage amendment to the voters. senator john hughes, son of former governor and mrs. l. c. hughes, who had done so much to obtain woman suffrage in early territorial days, prepared and introduced such a measure but it failed in both houses. the legislature was per cent. democratic. it was then determined to use the initiative and collect the requisite number of names on a petition that would compel the legislature to submit the question. women in every county volunteered to get these signatures, fifty or sixty altogether, and did the drudgery of canvassing until the required number of signatures were obtained. after a year's continuous educational work, in september, , the national association was notified that arizona was ready for the final contest and asked to send miss gregg. she came and again campaigned the state and through her efforts every labor organization pledged its support. mrs. alice park of palo alto, california, came at her own expense and took charge of the distribution of literature. mrs. munds went to phoenix and opened headquarters in the adams hotel and ten weeks were spent in a most strenuous campaign. the national association contributed miss gregg's salary and expenses, nearly $ , , and $ in cash. the rest of the campaign fund was raised in arizona with the exception of voluntary contributions from suffrage organizations in other states. dr. shaw came and spoke for a week in the principal cities, making a tremendous impression. the press with one or two exceptions was favorable and gave generous space. the press work was in charge of miss sally jacobs and mrs. maybelle craig of phoenix. state senator h. a. davis did splendid campaign work and loyal men and women too numerous to mention gave freely of their time and money. on november the amendment received , ayes, , noes, a majority of more than two to one. every county was carried. the vote was small, as most mexicans were disfranchised by an educational requirement. the campaign was conducted without parades or demonstrations of any kind and the saloon-keepers, not realizing the strength of the suffragists, paid no attention to them until the closing days, then suddenly woke up and put forth strong efforts to defeat them but they were too well organized. the campaign closed with no deficit on the books. later a league of women voters was formed and mrs. m. t. phelps of phoenix was elected chairman. the first state legislature completely revised the civil and criminal codes of arizona and without any demand on the part of the women incorporated some excellent laws for women and children. since then others have been added, partly through the efforts of women legislators. ratification. women have taken so active a part and have been so generally accepted in the political life of the state that it caused scarcely a ripple of excitement when a special session of the legislature was called by governor thomas e. campbell for the purpose of ratifying the federal woman suffrage amendment. it convened at noon feb. , , and adjourned at : p. m. of the same day. the resolution for ratification was introduced jointly by the four women members and passed both houses without a dissenting vote. protests from mrs. mabel g. millard and mrs. frances williams of the iowa and virginia associations opposed to woman suffrage were listened to in the senate with good-natured amusement. in the second legislature of the new state, the first after women were enfranchised, mrs. frances w. munds of prescott served as senator and mrs. rachel berry of st. johns as representative. the third had in the lower house mrs. rosa mckay of globe, mrs. theodora marsh of nogales and mrs. pauline o'neill of phoenix. the fourth had mrs. mckay and mrs. h. h. westover of yuma. about ten times as many women as men are teachers in the public schools. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. frances w. munds, president of the state woman suffrage association until women were enfranchised and then elected state senator. chapter iii. arkansas.[ ] there was little general suffrage activity in arkansas before ; perhaps the only specific work after was an occasional article written by mrs. chester jennings of little rock and published in various papers in the state. she was called "the keeper of the light." arkansas was not affiliated with the national american association prior to , there was only correspondence between individual suffragists and national officers. in january, , the political equality league was organized in little rock. this organization came about indirectly as a result of an article written by mrs. d. d. terry of this city and published on the front page of the _arkansas gazette_, the largest paper in the state. it was in answer to a scathing criticism of women by another paper for attending the trial of a child victim and was a demand that the suffrage should be given to women. immediately following this occurrence mrs. j. w. markwell called a public meeting in one of the methodist churches to discuss this question. she was chairman and mrs. rice, mrs. terry, mrs. l. b. leigh, mrs. minnie rutherford fuller and members of the woman's christian temperance union and the college women's club, almost to a unit suffragists, were among the prominent women present. they were deeply stirred and as the legislature was in session they asked for a hearing. this was granted by the judiciary committee and they were courteously received, as they stated their desire. they went from the hearing into one of the committee rooms of the capitol and decided to form a woman suffrage society. the same women with a few others met in the home of mrs. markwell that evening. miss julia mcalmont warner was made chairman and the following officers were elected: president, miss mary fletcher; vice-president, mrs. w. p. hutton; secretary, mrs. jennings; treasurer, miss warner, and the name adopted was woman's political equality league. it started with $ in the treasury--of which $ were paid by men--dr. j. w. markwell, mr. boyer and clio harper. the semi-monthly meetings were first held in the public library, one in the afternoon, the other at night, so that working women, teachers and men might attend. the president soon went to europe and the work passed into the capable hands of mrs. hutton. one of the most valuable helpers was rabbi l. witt, who always attended and helped out many a program. leagues were formed in hot springs and pine bluff and these were the only three prior to when a state association was organized. in october, , mrs. o. f. ellington was elected president of the little rock league. at that time it was holding its meetings in the chamber of commerce and few people would climb two flights of stairs to hear a subject discussed in which there was little interest, so the executive board secured the parlors of the city hall. if the women could accomplish as much in the offices of the city hall as they did in the parlors no fair-minded person would have objected to their occupancy. important local, state and national affairs were studied and discussed and prominent state and national speakers addressed that eager body of women. under the auspices of the league the first national suffrage may day was observed in little rock with speeches from the steps of the old state house. seventy-five letters were sent out to prominent men in the state, asking them to make five-minute speeches and after ten days dr. l. p. gibson, the well-known physician, was the first to accept. the next morning the _arkansas gazette_ told that dr. gibson of little rock would be one of the speakers and then every man who could arrange to be in town that day accepted his invitation. among the women who spoke were mrs. george pratho, mrs. fuller, mrs. c. e. rose, mrs. t. t. cotnam, miss julia warner, miss josephine miller, mrs. george e. cunningham, mrs. terry, mrs. s. s. wassel, mrs. e. w. gibb, mrs. w. g. whipple, mrs. a. marinana. the intensely interested crowd stood two hours and a half earnestly listening to these leading citizens asking the right of suffrage for arkansas women. it had been the custom to disband during the summer months but the summer of the political equality league opened a class for the purpose of studying all the questions of the day and learning something about speaking extemporaneously. in response to a call from the president, little rock and hot springs sent representatives to a conference held in the former city for the purpose of devising ways and means of forming a state association. an organization committee was formed of the following: mrs. ellington, miss fletcher, miss mary house, mrs. rose, mrs. leigh, mrs. jennings, all of little rock; miss adele johnson of hot springs. in october the state woman suffrage association was formed in little rock at hotel marion, with six leagues represented by the following presidents: hot springs, miss mary spargo; pine bluff, mrs. l. k. land; augusta, mrs. rufus fitzhugh; malvern, mrs. mary jackson; hardy, mrs. s. a. turner; fayetteville, mrs. leroy palmer. the officers elected were, president, mrs. ellington; first vice-president, mrs. fuller, magazine; second, mrs. n. f. drake, fayetteville; corresponding secretary, mrs. p. j. henry, hot springs; recording secretary, mrs. cunningham, little rock; treasurer, mrs. cotnam, little rock. in october, , the first annual meeting took place in little rock, eleven counties being represented, and this board was re-elected. the principal business of this convention was to lay plans for the legislative work early in the following year. in october, , the second annual convention was held in pine bluff, its principal work being to devise ways and means of raising money for continuing the organization of the state. mrs. cotman presented a feasible plan for raising money which was accepted by the convention. new officers elected were second vice-president, mrs. j. d. head, texarkana; third vice-president, mrs. j. h. reynolds, conway; corresponding secretary, mrs. maud o. clemmons; recording secretary, mrs. g. d. henderson, both of little rock. mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american suffrage association, had come to little rock in april and spoken most acceptably to a large audience. she held a conference with the state officers and later the association financed a two-months' campaign for organization. miss gertrude watkins and miss josephine miller of little rock gave their services for their expenses only and organized sixty committees.[ ] the new primary law was almost equal to the full suffrage, as where one party is so largely in the majority the primaries decide the elections, and it gave a great impetus to the movement throughout the country, especially in the southern states. after the primary bill passed the suffragists re-organized along the lines of the state democratic party. where it had a state central committee they had an equal suffrage state central committee and so on through the organization. the object was to teach women how to work through and with political parties but they were not fully enfranchised and could not give up their suffrage organization, therefore they held together on semi-political but non-partisan lines until such time as they could go into the various parties. at the close of mrs. ellington's administration in august, , seventy-eight papers in the state were handling news items each week. eighty-five organizations had been completed. the primary bill had been passed by the legislature and thousands of women had assessed themselves and paid their poll tax of one dollar a year preparatory to voting in the spring elections. under the law the assessor can put this tax only on male citizens and the women in asking for the primary suffrage voluntarily assumed it, as no one can vote until it is paid. this was held to be legal by attorney general john d. arbuckle. mrs. ellington left arkansas on august and mrs. cotnam was elected by the state board to take charge of affairs. on november she was elected chairman of the state suffrage central committee upon the receipt of mrs. ellington's formal resignation. mrs. cotnam appeared before the state farmers' union in august and secured a unanimous endorsement of woman suffrage and in september at the meeting of its executive committee she secured a resolution calling on arkansas senators and representatives to vote for the federal amendment. she went to new york city in september to take part in the state suffrage campaign. after six weeks she returned to little rock, where the great victory won in new york was celebrated at a luncheon in the marion hotel. governor charles h. brough was a speaker and prophesied a similar victory in arkansas. dr. shaw visited arkansas for the first time on april , , and spoke to an immense audience. she came under the auspices of the national council of defense, as chairman of the woman's committee, but she won many friends for suffrage and the sincere admiration of all. active work to assure the writing of woman suffrage in the new state constitution culminated at the first annual meeting of the equal suffrage central committee on april , , when a close organization covering the state was perfected. at this meeting mrs. cotnam was re-elected chairman; mrs. c. t. drennen of hot springs first vice-chairman; mrs. stella brizzolara of fort smith second vice-chairman; mrs. frank w. gibb, secretary; mrs. r. w. walker of little rock, treasurer. the national american association contributed $ , to the campaign. the constitutional convention met the first monday in july and the suffrage clause was adopted on the third day of the session. only one man spoke and finally voted against this clause but it was not acceptable to the majority until amended to make jury service for women optional. the suffragists were consulted and agreed because it was plain that a refusal might cause a long drawn out debate. the constitution was defeated at a special election on dec. , , but it was generally conceded that the opposition caused by the suffrage amendment was negligible. the first state-wide primary election in which women had the right to vote was held in may, ; between , and , voted and all papers commented on the intelligence of the new electors. the state democratic convention met in little rock on july and for the first time women delegates were present from many counties. fifty were seated and more were present in proportion to their representation than were men. they attended in force all minor committee meetings and controlled the action of some of these committees. the _arkansas gazette_ of july commented: "it may safely be said that nothing was put over on them by the wily politicians. there wasn't a chance--not a chance in the world." there were women on the platform, the resolutions and all prominent committees. the suffrage plank, as written by the women, was unanimously adopted and for the first time a woman was elected member of the state central committee, mrs. brizzolara. the one appointed as a member of the democratic women's national committee was mrs. head, chairman of her congressional district for the suffrage organization. on january resolutions were introduced in the senate by senator lee cazort and the house by representative j. d. doyle, memorializing the senate of the united states to submit the federal amendment. they passed unanimously and later were read into the congressional record by senator w. f. kirby. ratification. as soon as the federal amendment passed, letters were sent to legislators asking them to agree to a call for a special session. in less than one week answers were received from a majority expressing willingness and even eagerness to hold the ratification session. many offered to pay their own expenses and waive the regular per diem. with this support in hand a committee of fifty women went to the state house and asked governor brough to call a special session. this he agreed to do and set the date for july . while the suffragists were never in doubt of ratification they were genuinely surprised to find a few real enemies in the house and to hear some of the moss-grown arguments of . the senate ratified by a vote of to two and the house by to . henry ponder of lawrence county introduced the resolution in the senate and said he believed his children would be prouder of that act of his than of anything else he might ever do. an identical resolution was introduced in the house by representatives riggs, joe joiner, carl held, neil bohlinger and j. d. doyle. the senate resolution passed first and went over to the house. the two senators who voted against it were w. l. ward, lee county, and w. h. latimer, sevier county. many women came from over the state to this special session and filled the galleries. on dec. , , at the second annual meeting the equal suffrage central committee was merged into a state league of women voters and mrs. cotnam was elected chairman. while the suffragists were working for the vote they confined their organized effort to that one measure but it is significant that the same legislature that passed the primary bill, gave women the right to practice law and provided for a girls' industrial school; that of removed all legal disabilities of married women. miss josephine miller and miss gertrude watkins of little rock are on the staff of national organizers and mrs. cotnam has served as instructor in suffrage schools and also as a speaker in twenty states. legislative action: . in january representatives grant of newport and whittington of hot springs introduced an equal suffrage resolution in the house. it was not initiated by the suffragists and apparently not introduced to advance woman suffrage, as it was said to contain a "joker." nevertheless, when it became known that the bill had been introduced they appealed to representative hearst of fayetteville, chairman of the judiciary committee, for a hearing. on the day and hour that it had been promised mrs. chester jennings, mrs. j. w. markwell, miss julia warner, mrs. rutherford fuller and mrs. d. d. terry went to the capitol but were unable to find either mr. hearst or his committee. on march , however, the committee met at the marion hotel, as it was customary to hold committee meetings at night in the hotel, and a hearing was granted to the women. miss olive gatlin (now mrs. leigh) and mrs. fuller made excellent speeches which seemed to make an impression. later the suffrage resolution was reported to the house and received six favorable votes. . house joint resolution giving women the right to vote was introduced by robert martin. this year the suffragists had a most successful hearing before the house committee on constitutional amendments. the president of the senate, w. k. oldham, lonoke; judge w. l. moose, morrillton, and rabbi l. witt, little rock, made eloquent pleas in addition to those of the women. the committee reported the resolution favorably and the vote was for, against. between the two legislatures the state woman suffrage association was formed and its influence was immediately felt in political circles. . senator george w. garrett, okolona, introduced a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution giving women full suffrage and it passed by to . the house called a night session for the third reading. a resolution signed by representatives yearger of chico county, dunlap of phillips and wilson of jefferson to allow a representative of the woman suffrage association ten minutes in which to present the reasons for the enfranchisement of women passed and mrs. cotnam was introduced, the first woman ever given the privilege of the floor. the vote was in favor, opposed, with absent. the amendment failed to get on the ballot, as under the arkansas law only three amendments could be submitted at one election and the next morning before this one could be properly recorded the federation of labor had filed an initiated amendment with the secretary of state and that for suffrage became the fourth. the suffragists tried to get the federation of labor to withdraw their amendment, which had no chance of being adopted, but were unsuccessful and it did fail at the general election. . on january representative john a. riggs of hot springs introduced a joint resolution for the amendment, signed by himself, c. b. andrews of nevada county, stephen p. meador of clark and carl w. held of sebastian. mrs. ellington, president of the state suffrage association, explained to them that it had entered into an agreement with all other state associations at the last national suffrage convention not to go into a referendum campaign without the consent of the national board, if they expected financial assistance from that organization, and the resolution was withdrawn. on february representative riggs introduced what was known as the primary bill, which in brief was as follows: "an act to provide that women may vote in all primary elections: from and after the passage of this act and subject to all the provisions of the laws of this state as to age, residence, citizenship, payment of poll taxes and otherwise regulating the manner and form of holding the same, but especially exempt from every disqualification, direct or indirect, on account of sex, every woman shall have the right to vote at any primary election held under the laws of this state." this form of suffrage is unique and deserves some explanation. william hodges, associate justice of the court of civil appeals, texarkana, texas, suggested the idea to senator o. s. lattimore of fort worth, who formulated the bill of which the arkansas bill is substantially a copy. the texas legislature defeated it. mr. riggs wired for a copy of the bill, had a similar one drawn and submitted it to u. s. senator kirby and a number of prominent lawyers, all of whom were unanimous in the belief that it was constitutional. justice hodges said, "i have felt deep interest in the suffrage question for several years and the idea of permitting women to participate in primary elections occurred to me casually as i was thinking of how to meet the stubborn opposition offered in the texas legislature to the submission of an amendment to the constitution."[ ] mr. riggs said his eagerness to pass a suffrage bill was to do justice to the women of arkansas and to keep a promise to his mother that if he ever was elected to the legislature he would introduce and work for one. the legislature of was soon discovered to be a progressive assembly and gave promise of success for the bill. mrs. ellington decided the time had come to adopt business methods in the suffrage lobby and undertook with mr. riggs the whole responsibility of guiding this bill on its eventful journey through the house and senate. the suffragists held themselves in readiness to do any special work needed, which they did quietly and effectively, seeing legislators when necessary, but the legislature was not harassed by a large and conspicuous lobby.[ ] sufficient pledges were secured in both house and senate before the bill was allowed to come even to a test vote. judge josiah hardage, arkadelphia, assisted by w. j. waggoner of lonoke and james a. choate of floyd, led the opposition in the house and conducted the bitterest fight waged during the session. sixteen men stood solidly with them in all parliamentary tactics in hopes of killing the bill. nineteen men could delay it but they were destined to defeat when men, led by the astute floor leader, j. o. johnson of sebastian county, were determined that it should pass. after several hours' debate the house passed the bill february by ayes, noes, absent. when the bill came up in the senate walker smith of magnolia led the opposition, although several days before he had promised mrs. head and mrs. ellington to vote for it. senator houston emory of hot springs guided it to a successful vote on february -- ayes, noes. senators george f. brown of rison, george w. garrett of okolona, h. l. ponder of walnut ridge, j. s. utley of benton and r. hill caruth of warren aided materially in passing the bill. the first time during the session that every man in the senate was in his seat to vote was when the primary bill came up. two senators unalterably opposed to woman suffrage had been expelled for bribery and this made its success possible. the senate slightly amended the bill and returned it to the house, which accepted it march . never did a man serve the cause of suffrage more loyally or more efficiently than john a. riggs and the women of arkansas owe him a lasting debt of gratitude. governor brough signed the bill in the evening at a public meeting amid great enthusiasm. the legislature met jan. , , after thousands of women had voted at the primary election. not one member had been asked to present a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment for woman suffrage. in fact the women were following closely the advice of the national association and were ardently hoping to avoid a state campaign. they were reckoning from past experiences but times had changed. twenty-five men came ready to propose a full suffrage amendment; representative riggs, the father of the primary bill, was the first man on the floor after the house was organized and his bill got first place on the calendar. it passed the senate january by to one, and the house february by to three. in november it went to the voters and was defeated. it received the largest favorable vote of any of the amendments submitted but not a majority of the largest number cast at the election, as required by the constitution. the women had felt certain that this would be impossible. in august, , full suffrage was conferred by the federal amendment. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. o. f. ellington, president of the state woman suffrage association, - , and mrs. t. t. cotnam, state treasurer during these years and chairman of the state suffrage central committee from . [ ] the following officers were elected: chairman, mrs. ellington; secretary, mrs. gibb, little rock. finance committee: chairman, mrs. cotnam; mrs. c. c. cate, jonesboro; mrs. land, mrs. william ells, texarkana; mrs. w. h. connell, hot springs. committee that framed constitution: mrs. fuller, magazine; mrs. head, mrs. blaisdell, hot springs; congressional chairman, mrs. ada roussans, jonesboro; mrs. fitzhugh, mrs. h. e. morrow, mrs. head, mrs. w. l. moose, mrs. drennan, mrs. garland street, district chairmen. [ ] in june, , miss kate gordon offered a primary bill as a substitute for the constitutional amendment in the louisiana legislature, but it never came out of committee. miss gordon said: "the idea came to me as a solution of the woman suffrage question in a flash and it struck me as a good one. the primary idea was mine as early as ." [ ] most of the women whose names are mentioned in this chapter, with the addition of mrs. john p. ahmand, mrs. de mott henderson and miss jennie de neler, did valuable legislative work during this and other sessions. chapter iv. california.[ ] the first ten years of the new century--woman's century--were years of laborious effort in california to educate the public mind and familiarize it with the idea of "votes for women." at the beginning of the second decade the state had given them the complete suffrage and at its close the women of the entire nation were enfranchised by an amendment to the federal constitution. a resubmission of the question in california could not be expected for several years after the defeat of a constitutional amendment in , although no subsequent legislature met without discussing the subject and voting on some phase of it. the liquor interests continued a persistent opposition but the suffrage association had a powerful ally in the woman's christian temperance union, with its franchise department and its well organized army of workers, and, although somewhat discouraged for a few years, held its annual convention and reorganization was gradually effected. the state convention of met december , , in golden gate hall, san francisco, with the president, mrs. mary wood swift, in the chair. a resolution was adopted commending the former state president, ellen clark (mrs. aaron a.) sargent, for instituting suit against the tax collector for the return of her taxes paid in san francisco under written protest. [see volume iv, page .] the members were urged to file a protest when paying taxes because they had no representation. it was declared that the time was opportune for organized effort to have the legislature again submit an amendment to the voters. a vote of thanks was given to miss clara schlingheyde for her success in obtaining donations for the national suffrage bazaar in new york and appreciation expressed for the generous response of california people, especially for the donation of william keith, the artist, of his picture, spring in the napa valley. mrs. swift having served four years as president declined to hold the office longer and mrs. mary s. sperry retired as treasurer after serving seven years. the following board was elected: honorary presidents, mrs. sargent of san francisco and mrs. ellen knox goodrich of san jose; president, mrs. annie r. wood, alameda; first, second and third vice-presidents, mrs. lovell white, san francisco, mrs. e. o. smith, san jose, mrs. annie k. bidwell, chico; corresponding secretary, miss carrie whelan, oakland; recording secretary, mrs. dorothy harnden; treasurer, miss schlingheyde, both of san francisco; auditors, mrs. a. k. spero and mrs. keith. a visit in from mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american suffrage association, greatly encouraged the clubs. acting upon her urgent request, mrs. keith revived the berkeley club, which soon doubled its membership and with the oakland and alameda clubs became a strong influence. there were three clubs in san francisco and an active organization in santa clara county, made up of san jose, palo alto and other clubs. mrs. may wright sewall, president of the international council of women, came for an extended course of lectures in the interest of women's advancement. women's organizations urged many changes in the unjust community property law, the w. c. t. u., the women's parliament of southern california and the state suffrage association sending representatives to plead with the legislators. a school suffrage bill passed the house and was defeated by only seven votes in the senate and there was constant agitation. the state convention this year was held at san francisco in yosemite hall, native sons' building, october , , with a large number of delegates and an interesting program. executive board meetings had been held throughout the year and it was reported that eighty papers were publishing suffrage matter sent them. mrs. leland stanford in an interview in the san francisco _examiner_ had declared herself in favor of woman suffrage and a letter of appreciation was sent to her. the annual convention met october , , , in century hall, san francisco, with a large attendance and many excellent speakers, among them dr. david starr jordan, president of stanford university, and b. fay mills, the noted revivalist. greetings were read from miss susan b. anthony, mrs. harriet taylor upton, the national treasurer, and mrs. caroline m. severance, the loved pioneer, now in her rd year, who had come from the east to los angeles over twenty years before. the reports showed that the board had been in constant communication with the national officers; an organizer, mrs. florence stoddard, had been engaged; the treasury receipts were increasing; eighteen new clubs were recorded and there was general progress. miss vida goldstein, a prominent suffrage leader of australia, had been the guest of the association and a letter was sent to the woman's council of australia, expressing gratitude for the assistance she had been in the united states. australia's recent enfranchisement of her , women with eligibility to the national parliament had given great encouragement to those of california. mrs. sperry was persuaded to take the presidency.[ ] an interesting event reported was a suffrage meeting of the sierra club of mountain lovers one summer evening in king's river canyon, where it was encamped. in the audience of over two hundred prominent men and women were professor joseph le conte, john muir, william keith, dr. c. hart merriam, head of the u. s. biological department and dr. gannett, of the geological department. the state convention of met in golden gate hall, san francisco, november , . among the addresses of welcome was one by the rev. bradford leavitt of the unitarian church and one by president benham of the city labor council. mrs. sargent and mrs. e. o. smith paid tributes to the memory of the association's honorary president, mrs. sarah knox goodrich, a devoted supporter of the cause for the past thirty-five years. greetings were read from miss anthony, henry b. and alice stone blackwell, mrs. upton and mrs. l. f. darling, president of the state federation of women's clubs. miss gail laughlin, a young lawyer from the east, who was now state organizer, was among the speakers, and albert h. elliott, a san francisco lawyer, gave an instructive talk on california laws for women. the executive board made the excellent appointment of dr. alida c. avery of san jose as historian. one hundred dollars were sent to the national board for use in the new hampshire campaign. the state association endorsed mrs. sargent's protest against a referendum vote on the issuing of san francisco's city bonds in which women were not allowed to take part. a question considered at many board meetings had been the advisability of trying to obtain from the legislature another submission of an amendment. the los angeles suffrage league was waiting to know what action would be taken. mrs. catt had written that it might be well to make the effort and so a resolution was unanimously adopted to ask this of the session of . a letter had been sent by mrs. catt suggesting plans of work to this end for the coming year and one was received from miss anthony asking that mrs. stanton's birthday be celebrated on november . the los angeles equal suffrage society had not affiliated with the state association because of the long distance to san francisco and the announcement by mrs. sperry that the affiliation had now been made was enthusiastically received. the movement had been active in southern california, where federations, parliaments and societies of many kinds flourished, and the woman suffrage league had held monthly meetings. besides mrs. severance, another pioneer suffragist had come there from the east many years ago, mrs. rebecca spring, now past and still alert and interested. mrs. clara shortridge foltz, mrs. alice moore mccomas and mrs. almeda b. grey were still among the capable and valued workers. in answer to an invitation from the los angeles city and county suffrage leagues the state convention of was held in the woman's club house, october , , with three sessions daily. articles of incorporation had been drawn by george c. sargent of san francisco and filed with the secretary of state, and the state organization had been incorporated under the name of the california equal suffrage association. the convention was welcomed by mrs. ada j. lingley and mrs. mabel v. osborne, county and city presidents. mrs. sperry in responding expressed her great pleasure that northern and southern california would now work together for woman suffrage. the report of miss laughlin, state organizer, showed that fifty-two new clubs had been formed and that the membership had more than doubled in the past year, and the treasurer, miss schlingheyde, told of $ , contributed for organization work. subscriptions to the amount of $ , were made, mrs. keith leading with $ . miss amanda way, an indiana pioneer, now of whittier, made her offering. mayor m. p. snyder, judge waldo m. yorke, the rev. eliza tupper wilkes and a long list of able speakers addressed the evening meetings. strong resolutions presented by the chairman of the committee, mrs. nellie holbrook blinn, were adopted. mrs. severance and mrs. spring were made honorary presidents. the work for the coming months was to secure a large petition to the legislature for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment and mrs. osborne was appointed chairman of the committee. heading the , names which were eventually obtained were those of governor george c. pardee, president david starr jordan, u. s. senator george c. perkins, w. s. goodfellow, t. c. coogan, fred s. stratton, a. a. moore, george a. knight, henry j. crocker, william h. mills, lovell white, m. b. woodworth, congressman james g. maguire, judge carrol cook and f. j. murasky, all men of influence. the amendment was endorsed by the state association of , teachers. with the aid of the national association , copies of mrs. catt's leaflet, do you know? were circulated. the suffrage leaders made a vigorous effort at sacramento at the next legislative session in but the measure was defeated in both houses. california's full delegation of fourteen was in attendance at the annual convention of the national american suffrage association in portland, ore., in june. on the way from portland miss anthony, dr. anna howard shaw and several other eastern delegates stopped at chico, the home of mrs. bidwell, vice-president of the state association, where miss anthony spoke at the dedication of a magnificent park of , acres which she was presenting to the town. they were royally entertained in california, beginning with a public reception at the sequoia hotel in san francisco. this was followed by others in oakland, east oakland and berkeley, attended by hundreds. a mass meeting of , was arranged by the equal suffrage league in the alhambra theater, san francisco.[ ] similar meetings and receptions awaited them in southern california and they addressed an audience of , at venice, the noted seaside resort. the state convention met in wheeler's auditorium, san francisco, in october. deep interest had been felt in the campaign for a woman suffrage amendment carried on in oregon during the summer and the association had wished to assist with money, organizers and speakers. for this purpose the entire contents of the treasury, about $ , were contributed and clubs and individuals sent more than that amount. mrs. keith gave $ , in the name of the state the following year. the year opened auspiciously. in all parts of the state the clubs were holding public meetings, supplying columns of suffrage matter to the newspapers, now largely willing to publish them, and preparing for a siege of the next legislature. in april the city was almost destroyed by fire and earthquake. one month afterwards the state board of officers met with a full quorum, ready to begin the effort to obtain woman suffrage planks in the platforms of the political parties at the approaching state conventions. this was accomplished in all but that of the dominant republican party. the work was continued throughout the state of securing resolutions of endorsement from various kinds of organizations and by the end of the year these included a dozen state associations, and with societies other than suffrage in the different cities the list filled two pages of a leaflet sent out from the headquarters. the annual convention was held in calvary presbyterian church, san francisco, october , , with an attractive program of men and women speakers. the initial number of _the yellow ribbon_, a monthly magazine edited by mrs. katharine reed balentine in the interest of woman suffrage on the pacific coast, was distributed among the delegates. the state convention of met in october in the ebell club house of oakland, where excellent arrangements had been made by the various committees, and it was the most satisfactory yet held. there was a program of very good speakers, well-known men among them, and mrs. maud wood park of boston was a guest of the convention. the chairman of the press committee, mrs. mabel craft deering, reported that newspapers were using all the suffrage matter sent them. the chairman of the state central committee, mrs. lillian harris coffin, said that all the labor leaders were standing for woman suffrage. it was announced that headquarters for pushing the submission of an amendment would be established in sacramento as soon as the legislature opened in january. there was a resolution on the death of mrs. laura de force gordon, the pioneer lawyer and suffragist. the work conference conducted by mrs. coffin was a valuable feature of the convention. over , clubwomen outside of the suffrage clubs had now declared for suffrage. in january, , mrs. maud wood park was invited to address the students of the state university in berkeley at the friday morning meeting and professor morse stephens said he never heard as able a presentation of any subject in so short a time. she organized branches of the national college equal suffrage league here and at leland stanford university. all conventions during the year were asked through mrs. keith's committee to adopt woman suffrage resolutions and many of them did so. steps were taken through the state central and legislative committees to interview candidates for the legislature and pledge them after they were elected. the convention was held at the california club house, san francisco, october , . the work conference was conducted by mrs. keith. in strenuous work was done with the legislature but it again refused to submit the suffrage amendment, which it was the general opinion the voters would adopt if given an opportunity. the official board sent a telegram to president roosevelt asking him in the name of , california women to recommend woman suffrage in his last message to congress but without effect. committees were appointed for northern and southern california and a chairman in each county to collect signatures to the petition of the national association to congress to submit a federal amendment. the state convention was held in stockton september -october , one of the largest on record. it was welcomed by the mayor and the president of the chamber of commerce with a response by mrs. sperry and there were greetings from a number of organizations of various kinds. the addresses were of a high order and among the speakers were franklin hichborn, j. n. stuckenbruck, member of the legislature; mrs. sturtevant peet, for sixteen years president of the state w. c.t. u.; thomas e. hayden, president of the san francisco board of education; mrs. elinor carlisle of the berkeley board and mrs. james b. hume, president of the state federation of women's clubs. mrs. sperry, who had filled the office of president for seven years, insisted upon retiring and mrs. elizabeth lowe watson, a minister, lecturer, writer and philanthropist, president of the santa clara club, was prevailed upon to accept the office. mrs. sperry, mrs. swift, miss sarah severance and dr. jordan were added to the list of honorary presidents. a full delegation had attended the national convention at seattle in july. after the earthquake and fire in headquarters had been established at california st., conveniently fitted up in part of a dwelling house adjoining the residence of mrs. sargent, who presided and dispensed hospitality at the monthly board meetings. by larger and more central accommodations were needed and commodious headquarters were secured in the pacific building, corner of market and fourth streets. here the increasing business of the association was transacted and free lectures were given. mrs. alice park, as chairman, superintended the wide distribution of literature throughout the state. the association's committees on child labor, education, peace and other public questions were actively at work. the committee on petitions to the legislature for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the voters, of which mrs. sperry was chairman, secured , signatures. mrs. lowe watson said in her report to the national convention that splendid work was being done in organization through the generous financial aid of mrs. keith and mrs. charles d. blaney. house to house canvasses were being made and assembly district and precinct clubs formed. mrs. keith gave $ a month during and to this and other headquarters work, largely financed the legislative work and frequently bore the principal expense of state conventions.[ ] space was freely granted in most of the newspapers and many were giving editorial endorsement. the college women's equal suffrage leagues were active and the subject of the universities' intercollegiate debate for the year was: resolved that the ballot should be extended to women. men's auxiliary leagues were formed in northern and southern california. a votes for women business club and a wage earners' club were organized in san francisco and did important work. there were five downtown suffrage headquarters. most of the women's clubs had introduced a civic section. mrs. lowe watson lectured before labor unions, church societies, w. c. t. u.'s, "native daughters," women's clubs and suffrage clubs. the throng on socialists' "woman's day" filled one of the largest halls in san francisco and at the close of her address gave a unanimous standing vote for equal suffrage. the annual suffrage convention took place sept. , oct. , , in the palace hotel, san francisco, the th that had been held in the state. the long program of prominent speakers, fraternal greetings, committee and club reports, showed the gathering weight and importance of the movement. j. stitt wilson, mayor of berkeley and socialist candidate for governor, made a most encouraging address and j. h. braly, an influential citizen of pasadena, came to tell of what was being accomplished in southern california. the visits of the national officers, professor frances squire potter, mrs. florence kelley and mrs. ella s. stewart had greatly inspired the workers and the favorable action of the next legislature seemed almost certain. for the past year california had been in the midst of a crucial political campaign. the state government for forty years had been the servant of a powerful political "machine" controlled by large public service corporations. the people had tired of it and public opinion was ripe for a change. the "progressive republicans," as they were called, came into power at the election of november, , and hiram w. johnson was elected governor to carry out their reforms, woman suffrage being one of them. the legislative committee was composed of mrs. coffin, mrs. blaney, mrs. edson and mrs. arthur cornwall juilliard. senator charles w. bell of pasadena had continuously stood for woman suffrage in the face of the opposition of the senate and in the organization of the legislature he was made chairman of the republican caucus. assemblyman a. h. hewitt of yuba city, also a staunch friend of years' standing, took charge of the amendment in the house and when elected speaker he placed it in the hands of assemblyman cattell of pasadena, who made it his chief interest. the anti-suffrage organization of women for the first time maintained a lobby at the capitol. the amendment was introduced in both houses the first week of the session. the judiciary committee of the senate granted a hearing on the evening of jan. , . the crowd was so large it had to be held in the senate chamber, and gallery, aisles and lobby were filled. mrs. katharine philips edson of los angeles introduced the speakers and mrs. elizabeth gerberding of san francisco made the opening argument. miss maude younger spoke in behalf of the working women; miss ethel moore and mrs. cornelia mckinne stanwood of the college equal suffrage league represented the children and the women of the state; mrs. coffin, speaking for the state suffrage association, urged the legislators to stand by the suffrage plank in their party platforms. mrs. shelley tolhurst closed the appeal. then mrs. george a. caswell of los angeles, representing the women anti-suffragists, read a paper of fifty minutes. possibly there was no measure before the legislature in which deeper interest was manifested or which had the urge of stronger public sentiment. lieutenant governor a. j. wallace of los angeles was a true friend and senator a. e. boynton of marysville, president pro tem., had for years loyally supported it. the los angeles delegation with but few exceptions were pledged in favor. many opponents of years' standing, feeling the pressure of popularity, were prepared to capitulate. senator j. b. sanford of ukiah, who had long been a thorn in the flesh of the suffrage lobby, attempted to block it but was prevented by senator louis juilliard and a spirited debate was led by senator lee c. gates of los angeles, a leader of progressive measures. on january the amendment came up for third reading and final passage. there was no need of further debate but each senator seemed desirous of paying his tribute. it received ayes and the opposition could muster only five votes. the senate resolution was submitted in the assembly and voted on february . gallery and lobbies were thronged and only time limited the oratory. it received ayes, noes. governor johnson had insisted on the submission of the amendment as a party pledge. pink roses were sent by the committee to mrs. johnson, wife of the governor, and violets to mrs. wallace for their helpful cooperation. cordial appreciation was expressed to the wives of senators and assemblymen who did yeoman service, among them mrs. bell, mrs. gates, mrs. henry ward beecher brown, mrs. miguel estidillo and mrs. cattell. after the adjournment of the legislature a conference was called by the progressive leaders to outline the plan of campaign for the many amendments which had been submitted and it was decided _not to mention the suffrage amendment_, as much needed contributions had been made on this condition lest it might cause some of the others to be defeated. there was strenuous objection to this plan by some of its friends but the majority prevailed. governor johnson was present at the meeting and carried out its program during the entire campaign, not referring to the suffrage amendment in his speeches. it was said that he expected it to lose and did not want to jeopardize the amendments which would enable the voters to take the law-making power into their own hands and secure all desired reforms. a notable exception among the official speakers was francis j. heney, who never failed to include it with the others in his appeals to the voters. the general political situation in california at the time, however, favored the suffrage campaign. the five parties had put a woman suffrage plank in their platforms and the voters could concentrate their attention on the twenty-three proposed constitutional amendments, for which a special election was called october . there were but eight months for what would have to be a "whirlwind campaign." the president of the state association, mrs. lowe watson, said in her report to the next national suffrage convention: the situation was very different from that of - . not only were the suffragists better organized but as a result of the previous campaign, in which the national association largely participated, there were earnest suffragists in every kind of association in the state, in the federated women's clubs; the w. c. t. u., with a franchise department in every local; the socialist party, the state grange and the ever-growing labor unions. we determined to make a strenuous effort to get into touch with every progressive element. our state campaign committee, with headquarters in san francisco, consisted of chairmen of the ten departments of work.... in addition we had an advisory council composed of picked men and women over the state. during the two preceding years the state association had been carrying forward organization work under the able supervision of mrs. helen moore as chairman but there still remained much to be done. our territory was large, a portion of it immensely difficult. it was conceded that a house to house canvass was of the utmost importance, particularly in the large cities. the suffragists of southern california, whose work with the legislature had been of incalculable value, led by j. h. braly, president of the los angeles political equality league, assumed the responsibility of caring for the ten counties south of the tehachapi pass and nobly did they fulfil all expectations. we realized that the great "interests" were arrayed against us. untold money was at the command of our enemies and they were schooled in political methods. we had little money and less political experience but we had consecration of purpose and we gave ourselves to the work, north and south, with unbounded enthusiasm.... there was scarcely a corner of the state unvisited by good speakers. under the supervision of mrs. rose m. french, the state association issued , , pages of literature, while the college women's equal suffrage league and other organizations in the north, and the political equality league of los angeles, also published countless thousands of leaflets, besides ordering many from the national association. under the tactful management of mrs. ringrose, , catholic leaflets were distributed at the doors of catholic churches. the picture slides and stereopticon talks, superintended by mrs. lucretia watson taylor, were very effective, particularly in the outlying districts. posters, pennants and banners played a conspicuous part in the campaign. the attendance at the meetings held in theaters, churches, halls and on the street corners was surprisingly large and in many instances splendidly enthusiastic. the attitude of the public generally was respectful and often profoundly sympathetic. our country clubs and county organizations followed closely the plans recommended by the state association. it was purely an educational campaign, without one shadow of partisanship or militant methods. the victory in the state of washington in and the manner in which the enfranchised women used their newly acquired power contributed much to the success in california. the pulpit and the press were also largely with us. we worked hard to make sure of these two great instrumentalities for the education of the people. our inland co-workers largely financed their own special lines of propaganda. the generous contributions of the national association and the smaller personal donations through that body, amounting altogether to about $ , , and the noble work of the national vice-president, mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, were a large factor in our success. the woman suffrage party of new york sent us able speakers. among our many good fortunes was the coming of the national education association convention to san francisco. miss gail laughlin was of immense service as a speaker and as chairman of the election committee.... the state association disbursed about $ , , not counting the expenses in southern california. mrs. keith contributed $ , within the year; mrs. anna k. bidwell $ , through the state treasury, besides assisting her own county organization. mrs. charles d. blaney gave generous sums, while others in an equally liberal spirit donated from $ down to one, according to their means; and others again, having no gold or precious stones, gave what was best of all, themselves, nobly, untiringly, out of their love for justice. * * * * * no active work in suffrage was done in southern california for some years after the defeat of . in november, , the state president, mrs. mary wood swift, went to los angeles, a parlor meeting was held and later a public address was given by her at the woman's club house. here it was determined to revive the woman suffrage league and an executive committee was appointed, mrs. sarah burger stearns, a veteran suffragist, formerly of minnesota, chairman. on december a meeting was called by this committee and the league was re-organized; president, mrs. caroline m. severance; vice-president, mrs. shelley tolhurst; secretary, mrs. lenore c. schultz. monthly meetings were held for several years at the woman's club house, the money for the rent being given by mr. wilde, whose sympathy was strong for suffrage. the years from to - were just years of "carrying on" and well the pioneers did their work.[ ] they kept the fires burning and gradually all kinds of organizations of women became permeated with a belief in suffrage for women and were ready for the final campaign. the work of john hyde braly in southern california deserves a place by itself. a prosperous business man and public-spirited citizen, when the call came to assist the movement to enfranchise the women of the state he saw the necessity of interesting men of prominence. from early in january, , he worked to secure the enrollment of one hundred names of the leading citizens of los angeles and pasadena. finally he arranged a mid-day banquet on the fifth of april and about fifty responded. organization was perfected with a charter membership of one hundred influential men under the name of the political equality league of california and the following compact was signed: "we hereby associate ourselves together for the purpose of securing political equality and suffrage without distinction on account of sex." the officers elected were: j. h. braly, president; judge waldo m. yorke, first vice-president; hulett merritt, second; j. d. bradford, secretary and treasurer. enthusiastic speeches were made and mr. braly said that they were initiating this movement at the psychological time, for the progressive fever was in the california blood. it was a man's job to take a hand in the enfranchisement of women, since it was the men who must decide it by their votes. the league was pledged to work to induce the legislators to submit the amendment to the voters. nine men were organized in a board of governors and it was decided to have women become associate members of the organization, they to select nine women to be governors with the men. the movement was thus popularized and desirable men and women of all classes rapidly joined it. headquarters were established in the story building and systematic work begun. judge yorke was chairman of the legislative and political department. the delegates and the audience at the los angeles county republican convention in simpson auditorium in august were enthusiastically for woman suffrage. eighty-three delegates went from that convention to the state republican convention of delegates in san francisco. mr. braly was not only one of these delegates but also a member of the platform committee. the suffrage plank went into the platform and was received with the same enthusiasm apparently as in los angeles. after a progressive legislature was elected in the fall of the political equality league gave a banquet at the alexandria hotel in honor of the southern legislators, the state officers-elect and their wives, with nearly present. mr. braly said of this occasion: "we all felt that we were making history and casting bread upon the waters that would surely return to us in a day of need, which, thank god, it did, for without it i think the suffrage bill would not have been passed." the organization's express purpose was to use all legitimate means to influence the legislature to submit the amendment and every legislator of the nine southern counties went to sacramento pledged to vote for it. after the legislature had submitted the amendment the political equality league held its annual election. it was felt that it would be unjust to ask mr. braly to have charge of the details of the strenuous campaign and with expressions of the highest appreciation he was made president emeritus and mrs. seward a. simons, president. mr. braly arranged to have mrs. mcculloch of chicago make a speaking tour of southern california in company with a party consisting of himself and wife, judge neely, judge w. s. harbert and senator lee c. gates, at his own expense, as was all of his work. mrs. edson wrote to him after the campaign: "without the platform pledges of the republican county and state conventions we could never have held the legislators and to you the women of california are indebted for making this possible." mrs. simons in her comprehensive report said in part: in the southern part of the state the work from the beginning was undertaken with the understanding that everything possible should be done to counteract the effect of the probable san francisco vote and the california political equality league concentrated its attention on los angeles and the country districts throughout the state. the executive board, composed of the following members, mrs. simons, president; mrs. tolhurst, chairman of the speakers' committee; mrs. berthold baruch, of the meetings committee; miss louise carr, literature; mrs. edson, organization; mrs. martha nelson mccan, press; mrs. john r. haynes, finance; miss annie bock, secretary, concerned itself with effective publicity work--public meetings, the distribution of literature and the press.... leaflets and pamphlets that appealed to every type of mind were printed to the amount of over a million.... votes-for-women buttons to the number of , and , pennants and banners added their quota to the publicity work.... one of the most effective means of publicity was that of letters of a personal nature addressed to members of the various professions and vocations. a letter was sent to , ministers asking their cooperation; , letters were sent through the country districts. leaflets in italian, german and french were given out at the street meetings in the congested districts of los angeles. a circular letter was sent in september to every club and organization asking that they give an evening before the election to a suffrage speaker to be supplied by the league. suffrage was presented to every class from the men's clubs in the churches to the unions' meetings in the labor temple. the importance of getting the endorsement of large bodies of women was recognized. a few of these endorsing were the woman's parliament of , members; state federation of women's clubs, , ; federated college clubs, , ; state nurses' association, ; state w. c. t. u., , ; woman's organized labor, , , and the los angeles teachers' club, . all of these endorsements were secured at conventions held in southern california and the northern women pursued the same policy. these do not include those made by organizations of men, or of men and women or of clubs for suffrage alone and these in the south exceeded fifty. in a large measure success was due to the inestimable assistance given by the eminent speakers, among them supreme court judges, prominent lawyers, physicians, ministers, noted educators and philanthropists and by men and women from all callings and occupations.... during the last two months meetings were arranged in all the towns of the southern counties where it was possible. when a hall could not be had they were held in the open air. the last month from fifty to sixty meetings a week were planned from the league headquarters, speakers supplied and literature sent. these did not include those arranged by local organizations in smaller towns nor the many street meetings which were held by every one who could command an automobile. the climax was in the largest theater in los angeles on the evening of september when over , people listened to the best speakers of the campaign. in addition another thousand gathered in choral hall for an overflow meeting, while many hundreds were turned from the doors. it was the largest political demonstration in the history of southern california. the most important phase of the publicity work was that of the press committee, formed of active newspaper women. miss bess munn was made secretary and her time was devoted exclusively to supplying material to the local press and the country newspapers. double postals asking individuals their opinion of the suffrage movement were sent to the members of the legislature; to city, county and state officials from san diego to siskiyou; to judges, lawyers, merchants, bankers, physicians and all prominent visitors within the gates of the city. their answers were from time to time printed in the form of interviews. letters went to club women in every town asking for cooperation in securing space for suffrage material in the local press. personal letters were sent to all the editors informing them that a weekly suffrage letter would be sent to them from the headquarters of the league. this contained nothing but the shortest, pithiest items of suffrage activities and enclosed were the leaflets which were often printed in full. at the close of the campaign more than half of the papers of the state regularly used the letter either as news or as a basis for editorial comment. in los angeles alone more than , columns were printed on suffrage. in monetary value this amount of space would have cost $ , . the last week before election a cut of the ballot showing the position of the suffrage amendment was sent to newspapers of the south with a letter offering the editor $ for its publication but many printed it without compensation.... the majorities from the country districts won the victory by counteracting the immense majority rolled up against the amendment in san francisco and thus proved that the country residents are most satisfactorily reached by the country press. the anti-suffragists made a more open fight in california than ever before. a month preceding election a committee of fifty was organized in los angeles composed of the reactionary elements, men representing "big business," corporation lawyers, a number connected with the southern pacific r.r., some socially prominent. the only one known nationally was former u. s. senator frank p. flint. the president was a southerner, george s. patten, who wrote long articles using the arguments and objections employed in the very earliest days of the suffrage movement sixty years ago. they claimed to have thousands of members but never held a meeting and depended on intimidation by their rather formidable list of names of local influence. the women's association opposed to woman suffrage was more active. it was formed in los angeles, with mrs. george a. caswell, head of a fashionable school for girls, as its president. it organized also in northern california with mrs. c. l. goddard president and mrs. benjamin ide wheeler heading the list of honorary presidents. both branches had a long list of officers, some with social prestige, and maintained headquarters. they also claimed to have a large membership but held only parlor and club meetings. the national anti-suffrage association sent its secretary, miss minnie bronson, to speak, write, organize and have charge of headquarters. mrs. william force scott came as a speaker from new york. the association was not an important factor in the campaign. theodore roosevelt lectured in california in the spring of . he had been in the state twice in preceding years and each time had referred disparagingly to woman suffrage. during the present visit he spoke in the greek theater at the state university in berkeley to an audience of , on march and the san francisco _examiner_ of the next morning said in its report: here is what colonel roosevelt said on the burning question of woman suffrage: "a short time ago i was handed a letter from the president of an equal suffrage association asking me to speak in behalf of it. i have always told my friends that it seemed to me that no man was worth his salt who didn't think deeply of woman's rights and no woman was worth her salt who didn't think more of her duties than of her rights. personally i am tepidly in favor of woman suffrage. i have studied the condition of women in those states where that right is exercised but i have never been able to take a great interest in it because it always seemed to me so much less important than so many other questions affecting women. i don't think the harm will come of it that its opponents expect, and i don't think that one-half of one per cent. of the good will come from it that its friends expect. it is not a millionth part as important as keeping and reviving the realization that the great work of women must be done in the home. the ideal woman of the future as of the past is the good wife and mother, able to train numbers of healthy children." there were flourishing suffrage societies in all parts of the state. an equal suffrage league had been formed in san francisco from a consolidation of suffrage clubs, with a large membership of men and women, mrs. mary t. gamage, president. with its various committees it was an active force throughout the campaign. great assistance was rendered by the woman's christian temperance union, as had been the case in . during the fifteen years' interval it had been carrying on a steady work of education through its local unions and their members were among the most active in the suffrage clubs also. so complete was the cooperation that they took off their white ribbon badges toward the end of the campaign to disarm prejudice. mrs. keith, president of the berkeley club, hired a house in the central part of town for eight months as headquarters and mrs. hester harland was installed as manager. an advisory committee was formed of mrs. george w. haight, mrs. john snook, mrs. fred g. athearn, mrs. irving m. scott, jr., dr. helen waterman, mrs. samuel c. haight, mrs. aaron schloss, mrs. t. b. sears, mrs. c. c. hall, mrs. frank f. bunker, assisted by many others toward the close of the campaign. mrs. j. b. hume and miss blanche morse toured the state as speakers and organizers. mrs. keith herself spoke on a number of special occasions. mrs. watson spoke night and day for three weeks in sacramento valley; at chico to an audience of , .[ ] the central campaign committee was created in july, three months before election, consisting of one member from each of the five principal campaign organizations in san francisco doing state work. mrs. watson taylor, daughter of the president, represented the state equal suffrage association; mrs. aylett cotton, the clubwoman's franchise league; mrs. robert a. dean, the woman suffrage party; miss maud younger, the wage earners' league and mrs. deering the college league. this committee was formed at the suggestion of mrs. james lees laidlaw of new york, who visited san francisco with her husband in january, for the purpose of having all the organizations share in the money and workers sent by the new york woman suffrage party. over $ , were received from it, of which $ came from general horace carpentier, a former californian and ex-mayor of oakland, sent through mr. laidlaw. the men's new york league sent $ ; the rochester political equality club, $ ; mrs. carrie chapman catt $ . new york suffragists also paid the railroad expenses of the three organizers and speakers whom they sent and chicago suffragists paid the travelling expenses of mrs. mcculloch, who contributed her services. from outside states came miss helen todd, former factory inspector of illinois; miss margaret haley of chicago; miss jeannette rankin of montana; mrs. helen hoy greeley, mrs. a. c. fisk and mrs. john rogers of new york; mrs. mary stanislawsky of nevada; mrs. alma lafferty, member of the colorado legislature. these speakers were sent throughout northern california. the chairman of the press committee, mrs. deering, had been carrying on the press work steadily for the past five years and hundreds of papers were ready to support the amendment. before the end of the brief campaign, under her efficient management, almost every paper of prominence either endorsed it or remained silent. the los angeles _express_, sacramento _bee_, _star_ and _union_, the san jose _mercury_, the oakland _enquirer_, the san francisco _bulletin_ and the _daily news_ were especially helpful. james h. barry, editor of the _star_, was an unfailing advocate. the _call_ made a sustained fight for it and the _examiner_ and _post_ advised a vote in favor. the german papers were outspokenly opposed. the _chronicle_ in san francisco, owned by m. h. de young, and the _times_, in los angeles, by harrison grey otis, were relentless opponents. much assistance was rendered in the legislature and the campaign by e. a. dickson, a prominent journalist of los angeles. the women connected with the press were sympathetic and helpful. a most important feature of this remarkable campaign was the work of the college equal suffrage league of northern california, which had been organized in for educational work among college women. when the suffrage amendment was submitted in february, , the league decided to go actively into the campaign. the officers elected in may were as follows: miss charlotte anita whitney (wellesley), president; dr. adelaide brown (smith), first vice-president; miss caroline cook jackson (cornell), second; miss lillien j. martin (vassar), third; miss belle judith miller (california), recording secretary; miss genevieve cook (california woman's hospital), corresponding secretary; mrs. genevieve allen (stanford), executive secretary; dr. anna rude (cooper medical college), treasurer; dr. rachel l. ash (california), delegate to council. directors: miss ethel moore (vassar); mrs. mabel craft deering (california); miss kate ames (stanford); mrs. carlotta case hall (elmira); miss frances w. mclean (california); mrs. thomas haven (california); dr. kate brousseau (university of paris); mrs. c. h. howard (california).[ ] altogether $ , were sent to the league from the east. its total receipts were $ , in fixed sums and the personal donations of its working members in telegrams, postage, car fare, expressage, use of automobiles, etc., amounted to thousands. at a meeting held in oakland miss sylvia pankhurst spoke to more than a thousand persons who had paid for their seats. every legitimate method of campaigning was used, beginning with the printing of , leaflets. there were posters and all kinds of designs; city circularizing of the most thorough kind in many languages; pageants, plays, concerts and public social functions; the placarding of city bill boards over miles of country; advertising of every possible kind; huge electric and other signs; long weeks of automobile campaigning in the country and the villages; special speakers for all sorts of organizations; a handsome float in the labor day parade; speaking at vaudeville shows--there was no cessation of these eight months' strenuous work. the campaigning in sacramento was in charge of mrs. mary roberts coolidge, assisted by mrs. e. v. spencer, against great odds, but the city gave a small favorable majority, due chiefly to the union labor vote. during the last six months the college league held more than fifty public meetings in halls in san francisco, the audiences at the larger ones varying from , to , with hundreds turned away. the rev. charles f. aked, the brilliant english orator, had just come from new york and he made his first appearance outside of his pulpit at a suffrage mass meeting in savoy theater, donated by the john cort management, and afterwards he could not refuse to speak at other meetings. his debate with colonel john p. irish in the valencia theater just before election was one of the great features of the campaign. one of the most important meetings, with , present, was addressed by the eloquent young priest, the rev. joseph m. gleason, with the boxes reserved for prominent catholics. rabbi martin h. meyer was one of the strong speakers. at the meeting in the beautiful new auditorium of scottish rite hall mrs. alexander morrison, president of the national collegiate alumnae, was in the chair and among the speakers were dr. aked, william c. ralston, u. s. sub-treasurer; mrs. w. w. douglas and albert h. elliott. in the italian theater was held the largest meeting of a political nature known to that quarter, addressed by emilio lastredo, a prominent banking attorney; ettore patrizi, editor of the daily _l'italia_; mr. elliott, miss margaret haley and mayor j. stitt wilson of berkeley. a second great suffrage meeting assembled there again, at which mme. adelina dosenna of la scala, milan, sang. the culmination was the mass meeting in dreamland rink, the largest auditorium in the city. mrs. lowe watson, president of the state association, introduced by george a. knight, was in the chair. there were , in the audience and , on the outside, whom mrs. greeley and other speakers kept in a good humor. these were mrs. mcculloch, dr. aked, john i. nolan, union labor leader; mr. wilson, miss todd, miss laughlin and rabbi meyer. the campaign closed with a "business men's meeting" in cort's theater from to : p. m. the day before election. the theater was crowded and it was necessary to begin before noon. for several hours the speakers held forth to an audience changing every half hour. mr. elliott presided and the speakers were f. g. athearn of the southern pacific r. r.; dr. aked, mr. wilson, r. c. van fleet, miss todd and a. l. sapiro. then came the climax to the campaign when mrs. ernestine black stepped forward and announced that mme. lilian nordica would speak for woman suffrage and sing in union square that evening! the great prima donna had come to san francisco to sing at the ground-breaking for the panama exposition and in an ever-generous spirit agreed to give her matchless services to the cause in which she was deeply interested. the crowds were packed for blocks in every direction and suffrage speakers were addressing them from automobiles when madame nordica stood up in masses of flowers in union square opposite the st. francis hotel and very simply made her plea for the enfranchisement of california women. then her glorious voice rang out to the very edges of the throng in the stirring notes of the star spangled banner. the campaign was over. * * * * * the amendment went to the voters oct. , . it was most important to watch the vote in san francisco and oakland, as their expected adverse vote would have to be counteracted by the rest of the state if the suffrage amendment carried. oakland was put in charge of mrs. coolidge, who had a corps of efficient helpers in the members of the amendment league, composed of old residents of oakland, who had been engaged for many years in church, temperance and other social work, among them mrs. sarah c. borland, mrs. agnes ray, mrs. a. a. dennison, mrs. emma shirtzer, mrs. jean kellogg, mrs. f. m. murray and mrs. f. harlan. of these league members stood at the polls twelve hours, not half enough of them but they were treated with the greatest respect and undoubtedly they helped reduce the adverse majority. this work was paralleled in berkeley, alameda and other places around the bay. four weeks before election two representatives of each of the nine suffrage associations of san francisco met and placed in the capable hands of miss laughlin the difficult task of looking after the election in that city and this committee of eighteen acted as an executive board for carrying out her plans. her management received the highest commendation from political leaders. dr. mary sperry and misses miriam and julie michelson were a permanent office force and miss schlingheyde, mrs. chapin and miss sullivan carried much of the work. the woman suffrage party gave the use of its headquarters in the lick building. the state association and the clubs of san francisco contributed about $ , . a captain was appointed for each district who selected her precinct captains and was supplied with an automobile. connection was established with the chairmen throughout the counties and all were charged to "watch the count." on election day and the next day $ were spent for telegrams. to nearby places experienced workers were rushed when the word came of dishonest election officials. there were , volunteer workers in san francisco, of them men. on election day hundreds reported for duty before o'clock and after standing at the polls twelve hours many went into the booths and kept tally of the count until midnight. in oakland pinkerton men were hired to watch it and in san francisco the vault where the ballots were deposited was watched for two days and nights. the vote in san francisco was , ayes, , noes, an adverse majority of , , and even the imperfect watching of the women detected a fraudulent count of , . in oakland there were , ayes, , noes, an adverse majority of , . berkeley alone of the places around the bay came in victorious with , ayes, , noes, a favorable majority of . los angeles, which in had given a majority of about , in favor, returned , ayes, , noes, a majority of only , . on election night and for two days following the suffragists judged from the vote in the cities that they were defeated but the favorable returns from the villages, the country districts and the ranches came slowly in and when the count was finally completed it was found that out of a total of , votes the suffrage amendment had been carried by , , an average majority of one in every voting precinct in the state.[ ] with the winning of this old, wealthy and influential state the entire movement for woman suffrage passed the crisis and victory in the remaining western states was sure to be a matter of a comparatively short time. as soon as the result was certain mrs. watson, the state president; mrs. sperry and miss whitney, representing northern, and mr. and mrs. braly, mrs. ringrose and mrs. french, southern california, went to louisville, ky., to carry the report to the convention of the national association, of which this state had forty-five life members, more than any other except new york. no state convention had been held in but one was called to meet in san francisco in january, , and it was decided to maintain the state association to assist the work in neighboring states. mrs. william keith was made president and the officers and executive committee held all day monthly meetings in her home for several years. after the national league of women voters was formed in , when congress was about to submit the federal suffrage amendment, a meeting was held on feb. , , and a california branch was formed with mrs. robert j. burdette as chairman. * * * * * the demand of the newly enfranchised women for guidance and knowledge was met at once by the college league, which reorganized in november, , and became the california civic league for social service, education for citizenship and the promotion of just legislation. the excellent work of miss charlotte anita whitney was recognized by continuing her as president of the new league from to . it is composed of about twenty-five centers in the cities and towns of northern california, with a membership of nearly , and many centers wield a strong influence in municipal affairs. the women's legislative council of california was organized in december, , the outgrowth of the legislative committee of the state federation of women's clubs. this council, which is non-sectarian, non-partisan and non-political, is in reality a central committee of state, county and some local organizations--about sixty in all--representing a membership of over , women. its purpose is to coordinate the efforts and concentrate the influence of women's organizations behind a legislative program, especially for the benefit of women and children. a list of at least thirty excellent laws since the enfranchisement of women have been either directly sponsored by this council or greatly aided by the efforts of women.[ ] space can not be given for local societies but the suffrage history of california seems to require the mention of one--the susan b. anthony club. it was formed in the hour of defeat in in honor of the great pioneer, who had worked with the california women through all that long campaign, and in order to hold together some of those who had shared in the toil and the disappointment. the club was formed in the home of mrs. mary s. sperry in san francisco and she was its president many years. other presidents were mrs. sargent, wife of u. s. senator sargent, who in first introduced the federal suffrage amendment; mrs. swift, wife of john f. swift, minister to japan; mrs. william keith, wife of the distinguished artist; mrs. isabel a. baldwin and mrs. nellie holbrook blinn, all officers of the state suffrage association also at different times. dr. alida c. avery was its treasurer and mrs. sarah g. pringle its press representative for a number of years. its membership comprised many influential women, it held regular meetings and was a liberal contributor to suffrage work in california and other states. in , when all the suffrage clubs were disbanding, this one remained in existence and continued to hold social meetings for many years. in - the committee of political science of the state federation of women's clubs, mrs. seward a. simons, president, made a survey of the results of five years of woman suffrage in california, which was widely circulated. it was a most valuable résumé of the registration and the vote of women, the legislation they had obtained, the offices they had held, their service on juries, their political work and the effect of the suffrage on women and on public life. a very complete report was made also by mrs. coolidge, president of the civic league. legislative and convention action. . a bill for school suffrage was defeated. . a resolution to submit a constitutional amendment was defeated in both houses by large majorities. a bill legalizing prize fighting was passed the same day. . a suffrage state central committee of twenty-one competent workers was organized, mrs. lillian harris coffin, chairman, mrs. katharine reed balentine, secretary, and it continued its activities in behalf of an amendment to the state constitution for the next five years. the plan was to secure its endorsement by all conventions and organizations and have it incorporated in the platforms of the political parties and the central committee was divided into sub-committees with representatives in every part of the state. the executive of this central committee, mrs. mary s. sperry, mrs. nellie holbrook blinn, mrs. helen moore and mrs. coffin, were the delegates to the state republican convention in santa cruz in , which was completely under the control of the "machine." it was at this convention that the "insurgent" sentiment began to crystallize into the "progressive" movement. woman suffrage was not put in the platform. james g. gillette, nominated for governor, approached the women and pledged himself, if elected, to do all he could to carry through the amendment. later, at sacramento, the democratic convention, under the leadership of thomas e. hayden, albert johnson, max popper and john sweeny, incorporated the amendment in the platform. it was placed in the platform of the labor party, miss maud younger and mrs. francis s. gibson assisting the legislative committee. . the legislature of this year was the last under the complete domination of the corrupt political forces. the graft prosecution in san francisco was in full swing, the result of which was an awakened public conscience. every legislator had been interviewed and the san francisco delegation was pledged in favor of the suffrage amendment. it was introduced by senator leroy wright of san diego and in the house of grove l. johnson of sacramento the first week of the session. mrs. coffin, mrs. moore and thomas e. hayden, an attorney retained by the state association, were the lobby maintained in sacramento during the entire session. the amendment was reported favorably out of committee in both houses. when the roll was called in the house it was discovered that the san francisco delegates had received orders and the entire delegation voted "no." the result was a bare majority and not two-thirds. on demand of the suffrage lobby mr. johnson obtained reconsideration. when the vote was next taken it showed that the san francisco delegation had been again instructed and voted solid for the amendment, giving the necessary two-thirds, to . thus was this city able to control every measure. then began the long struggle in the senate. president pro tem. edward i. wolf of san francisco and senator j. b. sanford of ukiah, republican and democratic senior senators, were bitter opponents of the amendment of long years' standing. after weeks of effort, with a deadlock of constantly changing votes and always "one more to get," it was decided to appeal to governor gillette to redeem his pledge of help and mrs. coffin and mr. hayden called upon him at the capitol. he received them without rising or inviting them to be seated and wholly repudiated the promises he had made to the women at the republican convention, saying he was only fooling! the amendment went down to defeat, lacking two votes. . the democratic convention in stockton in again incorporated the amendment in the platform. the labor convention did likewise, mrs. edith delong jarmuth rendering valuable service on the committee. the convention of the republican party, the dominant one, was held in oakland. the suffrage state central committee opened headquarters at the hotel metropole simultaneously with the republicans, much to their chagrin. rooms were also opened in the bacon block, financed by the oakland amendment league, who were coming to lobby. three hundred women marched in the first suffrage parade in the state behind a yellow silk suffrage banner, with the state coat of arms richly embroidered on it by mrs. theodore pinther, who carried it to reserved seats in the front of the gallery of the mcdonough theater, where the convention was held. mrs. sperry, mrs. pease of colorado and a committee of eight women representing as many separate interests had spoken before the resolutions committee the evening before, with two minutes allotted to each. mrs. josephine manahan, miss younger, mrs. larue, mrs. barron and mrs. o'donnell composed the labor committee. filling the galleries and boxes the suffragists waited for the result. in lieu of a suffrage plank the republican chairman stepped forth and in his pleasantest manner thanked the women for their attendance, assuring them that by their grace and beauty they had contributed materially to the success of the convention. mrs. pease, who was seated in the front row, rose and answered that the women were not there for bouquets but for justice and declined their thanks. . this year the amendment was in the middle of the stream. it had the promise of support from individual members but the party leaders had declined assistance. the progressives felt topheavy with reforms and feared to be overbalanced if it were adopted as part of their program. they had the majority in both houses but failing to secure any part of the organization they were left off of all important committees and were on the outside. apartments for the suffrage lobby, under the care of mrs. e. l. campbell, were opened near the capitol. delegates from many parts of the state were constantly arriving to relieve the others, with the exception of mrs. coffin and mrs. moore, who were in constant attendance and with other members of the committees and mrs. elizabeth lowe watson, the president, carried the burden of the work. assemblyman johnson again introduced the amendment. a ruling was made, aimed at the women, that no lobbyists should be permitted on the floor of the assembly. to the amazement of every one the women began to secure votes. the judiciary committee recommended the amendment and it came up as a special order. speaker philip a. stanton was an avowed opponent, as was assemblyman j. p. transue, floor leader, both of los angeles. the san francisco delegation, under the direction of assemblyman j. j. mcmanus, lined up with them. the debate lasted an hour. assemblymen otis, telfer, juilliard and hinkel were among those speaking for the amendment. the atmosphere seemed favorable but at o'clock, when the vote should have been taken, to the amazement of its friends, mr. johnson moved for a recess until one o'clock. in that hour every possible pressure was brought to bear against the amendment. when the session reconvened the galleries were packed with persons there in the interest of the race-track bill and the suffrage lobby were compelled to sit on the steps. without preliminaries the amendment went down to defeat, mr. johnson refusing to ask for reconsideration. the members of the suffrage lobby toured the state, telling the story of the legislative defeat and showing what would be the benefits of a direct primary law. during the chautauqua meeting in the yosemite in july, through the efforts of assemblyman drew of fresno, an entire day and evening were granted for an excellent suffrage program of a strong political flavor with mrs. ray, mrs. coffin and mrs. gamage in charge. . the reform element in the legislature did succeed in enacting a direct primary law, which, although imperfect, enabled the voters for the first time in the history of the state to speak for themselves. stimulated and encouraged the republican state convention of met in san francisco and was dominated by the progressive element. the good government forces had been successful in los angeles and had unanimously included the suffrage plank in their county platform, j. h. braly assisting in this result. santa clara county under the leadership of charles blaney had done likewise, and the delegates came to the state convention prepared to force its adoption. it needed that solid front of eighty-three votes from south of the tehachapi and the militant argument of the sturdy santa clara delegation to bring the san francisco leaders into line. the amendment plank was taken up by the resolutions committee, of which harris weinstock was chairman, and given the same careful consideration accorded every other proposed plank. the women attended the convention in numbers but were not required to go before this committee, which adopted it unanimously. it was adopted as part of the platform by the convention with three cheers. thus it became a man's measure and the policy of the progressive republican party. to the regret of many prominent supporters of the amendment in the democratic ranks the convention of that party failed to endorse it. the reason was simple--the "machine" forces which had hitherto dominated the republican conventions now concentrated their strength on the democratic. a progressive legislature was nominated and a man for governor who had sufficient courage to carry out a progressive program--hiram w. johnson--the women contributing to his success in not a few counties. the election was a progressive victory and the chairman of the republican state central committee called a meeting of its members and the members elect of the legislature for at the palace hotel in san francisco and appointed committees for assisting the legislators in carrying out the promises of the platform. a committee of the leading legislators was appointed to see that a woman suffrage amendment to the constitution was submitted. . the action taken in has been described. in the legislature by unanimous vote of both houses passed resolutions which said in part: resolved, that so successful has been the operation and effect of granting political rights to women that it is generally conceded that, were the question to be again voted on by the people of this state, it would be reendorsed by an overwhelming majority; and be it further resolved, that the adoption of woman suffrage by california is one of the important factors contributing to the marked political, social and industrial advancement made by our people in recent years. in in the midst of the war, when the federal suffrage amendment was hanging in the balance in congress, a petition from the state federation of women's clubs was sent to the legislature through mrs. alfred bartlett of los angeles that it would memorialize congress on the subject. without a dissenting vote the following passed both houses in just twelve minutes: "whereas, the women of the united states are being called upon to share the burdens and sacrifices of the present national crisis and they are patriotically responding to that call, be it resolved by the senate of california with the assembly concurring that the denial of the right of women to vote on equal terms with men is an injustice and we do urge upon congress the submission to the legislatures of the states for their ratification of an amendment to the u. s. constitution granting women the right to vote." ratification. governor william d. stephens called the legislature to meet in special session nov. , , for the one purpose of ratifying the federal amendment, which had been submitted june . the women's legislative council had unanimously urged this action in convention. more than a hundred members of the various suffrage societies went to sacramento and before the vote was taken they gave a luncheon for the legislators, which was attended by the governor, lieutenant governor and state officials. the speakers were the governor and the presidents of many state organizations of women. the ratification was not a matter of controversy and the vote in favor was unanimous in the senate, to in the house--robert madison of santa rosa and c. w. greene of paso robles. mrs. mary l. cheney, secretary of the university of california, prepared for this chapter a complete list of the offices filled by women and the positions held by women in the universities, which the lack of space compelled to be omitted. in for the first time four were elected to the legislature and received important committee appointments and there have been a few other women legislators. in san francisco a doctor of jurisprudence of the university of california, mrs. annette abbott adams, was the first in the country to hold the position of u. s. district attorney. in another, miss frances h. wilson, was assistant district attorney. on the teaching force of the state university at berkeley were ninety-three women in december, , including dr. jessica peixotto, full professor of economics, three associate and seven assistant professors and two assistant professors in the medical college. at leland stanford junior university are one woman professor emeritus (psychology); two associate professors, eight assistant professors--over women on the teaching force. footnotes: [ ] for the "assembling" of the different parts of this chapter and much of the work on it the history is indebted to mary mchenry (mrs. william) keith, president of the state equal suffrage association; for legislative action to mrs. lillian harris coffin, chairman of the state legislative committee; for matter on southern california to miss m. frances wills and mrs. adelia d. wade. [ ] mrs. sperry was reelected the next six years. miss carrie a. whelan and miss clara schlingheyde were retained six years as corresponding secretary and treasurer. others who held state offices during the years were mrs. chapman, mrs. corbert, dr. minora kibbe, mrs. alice l. park, mrs. osborne, dr. charlotte baker, miss belle angier, miss josephine r. cole, rev. mrs. wilkes, dr. avery, mrs. blinn, mrs. m. a. woog, mrs. chapman j. arnott, mrs. nellie s. scoville, mrs. lulu pyle little, mrs. josephine mastick, mrs. therese s. speddy, mrs. coffin, mrs. ella mitchell, dr. minerva goodman, mrs. francesca pierce, mrs. lucretia watson taylor, mrs. helen moore, mrs. lilian hough, mrs. lehman blum, mrs. martha pierce, mrs. augusta jones. [ ] while in san francisco miss anthony found time to give one sitting for a large oil portrait by william keith, which was completed after her death in the spring of and looked down upon the audience from the chancel of the unitarian church in san francisco at the memorial services for her on palm sunday, april . it was shipped to her home in rochester, n. y., the day before the earthquake of april , but it escaped destruction by fire only to meet with mishap after the death of miss mary s. anthony, to whom it had been presented by the wife of the artist. miss anthony was shown seated near an open window from which a beautiful sunset was seen; a lavender robe and a crimson curtain background set off the face and figure in fine relief. [ ] mrs. keith was by no means a woman of wealth but it was said that during the years that led up to the campaign and in the campaign her contributions amounted to about $ , .--ed. [ ] among the early workers, besides those already mentioned, were: mrs. charlotte lemoyne wills, mrs. mila tupper maynard, mrs. lulu pyle little, mrs. sarah wilde houser, mrs. josephine marlett, mrs. alice e. brodwell, mrs. mary a. kenney, mrs. mary alderman garbutt, mrs. martha salyer, miss margaret m. fette, mrs. cora d. lewis. [ ] among the names that constantly occur in the state work as speakers, writers, on committees, etc., besides those specially mentioned, are mrs. emma shafter howard, miss mary s. keene, mrs. j. a. waymire, mrs. isabel a. baldwin, mrs. ella e. greenman, miss mary fairbrother, dr. sarah i. shuey, miss anna chase, mrs. abbie e. krebs, miss ina coolbrith, mrs. nellie blessing eyster, mrs. frances williamson. the comprehensive booklet published by miss selina solomons, "how we won the vote in california," preserves scores of these names and contains a wealth of details in regard to this interesting campaign. [ ] after the election was over the college league at a general request issued a pamphlet of pages, edited by louise herrick wall, describing in detail its many activities during the campaign, every page of which is a record of marvelous work. [ ] the consideration of secretary of state frank jordan was appreciated in placing the amendment on the ballot with an explanatory footnote that would prevent any one from not recognizing it. the victory was partly due to this advantage. [ ] the very complete résumé of the activities of these organizations made by miss martha a. ijams, council secretary, had to be much condensed for lack of space. chapter v. colorado.[ ] in colorado the period from to began and ended with a victory for equal suffrage. in the woman suffrage law of was by vote of the people made a part of the state constitution. in a special session of the legislature ratified the federal suffrage amendment. a half-century ago, jan. , , governor edward m. mccook in his biennial report to the territorial legislature had urged it to be a leader in this "movement of progressive civilization," but it was twenty-three years later when the lone example of the sister state, wyoming, was followed and colorado became the second state to enfranchise woman. when colorado was admitted into the union in a strong effort was made to have its constitution provide for equal suffrage but it was not successful. school suffrage was given and provision was made that the legislature might at any time submit a measure to the voters for the complete franchise, which, if accepted by the majority, should become law. this was done in and defeated. it was submitted again in and adopted by a majority of , . women were thus entitled to vote on the same terms as men but it was by law and not by constitutional amendment. aliens could vote on six months' residence and on their "first papers," without completing their citizenship. in the legislature submitted the following amendment: "every person over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the following qualifications, shall be entitled to vote at all elections: he or she shall be a citizen of the united states and shall have resided in the state twelve months immediately preceding the election at which he or she offers to vote." it is worthy of note that casimero barela, known as the perpetual senator who had opposed equal suffrage since the question was first raised in territorial days, esteemed it a privilege to introduce the resolution for this amendment. the vote on nov. , , stood, ayes, , ; noes, , ; carried by a majority of , , which was nearly per cent. of the vote cast. after a trial of eight years the voters, men and women, thus securely entrenched woman suffrage in the state constitution. the equal suffrage association has continued its existence in order to assist the women in other states to get the franchise and also to look after legislative and civic affairs at home. it has not held annual conventions but its regular monthly meetings have taken place for years at the adams hotel in denver where they could be attended by members from all parts of the state and strangers within the gates from this or other countries. the presidents after mrs. john l. routt retired were, mrs. katherine t. patterson, mrs. amy k. cornwall, professor theodosia g. ammons, mrs. minerva c. welch, mrs. harriet g. r. wright ( years), mrs. dora phelps buell, mrs. honora mcphearson, mrs. lucy i. harrington, mrs. katherine tipton hosmer, . three of these presidents have passed over the range, mrs. routt, wife of the former governor; mrs. patterson, wife of u. s. senator thomas m. patterson, and professor ammons, who established the department of domestic science in the colorado agricultural college. two eminent and highly valued suffragists who have passed away are mrs. sarah platt decker and the hon. isaac n. stevens. mrs. decker, one of the most accomplished and forceful of women, was president of the state board of charities and corrections and vice-president of the first state civil service commission from until her death july , , in california during the biennial of the general federation of women's clubs, of which she had been president. mr. stevens, editor for years of the colorado springs _gazette_ and later of the _pueblo chieftain_, member of the legislature and prominent in politics, was always an ardent and influential supporter of woman suffrage. among the pioneer workers who are still living are mrs. ione t. hanna, the first woman elected member of a school board in the state; mrs. alma v. lafferty and mrs. harriet g. r. wright, former members of the legislature; dr. mary barker-bates, dr. minnie c. t. love, mrs. william n. byers, mrs. james b. belford and mrs. celia baldwin whitehead.[ ] the state association has been non-partisan but its members personally have been connected with the various parties. this does not mean that they always have voted a straight party ticket; they have not, neither have men, and scratched tickets are common. women do not necessarily "vote just as their husbands do" but many a pair go amicably to the polls and with perfect good feeling nullify each other's vote. it is a noteworthy fact that during all the years no bill which the state association actively opposed has been passed by the general assembly and every bill which it actively supported has been enacted into law. it has thus conclusively been proved that, while women must band themselves together for bettering the condition of their sex and for the general good of the state, yet having planned together they must work out their problems through their political parties. the association has consistently opposed the so-called national woman's party with its "militant" methods, giving wide publicity to resolutions adopted oct. , , which said: "we denounce the methods and actions of the women 'picketing' the white house as unpatriotic and not in accord with the principles of this association; we declare they have impugned the good faith of the united states in the eyes of russia and other foreign nations ... and we request the attorney general of the united states to institute an investigation of the association supporting the 'pickets' and the sources of its money supply...." though actively engaged with serious problems of state government, of city administration and of home economics, the association has never overlooked the fact that social activities are essential to good government and right living and has made its social affairs a noteworthy feature during the past years. there has never been any question among the people generally in colorado as to the benefit of woman suffrage. sanitary conditions are improved, beginning at everybody's back yard and extending through every business place and every public domain in the state. business methods are different. visiting women say they can tell when in the large department stores, groceries, etc., that the women are voters. political campaigns are very differently conducted since women have a part in them. election methods have changed to make election day what the men deem fitting since their wives, mothers and sisters are voters and the polling places are unobjectionable. not only has it been conceded that the commonwealth has been blest by the votes of the women but also that the women themselves have been benefited; their lives have been enriched by their broadening experiences; their larger vision has made possible greater culture; their wider opportunity for doing has led to more deeds of kindness; their interest in state government and civic economics has improved their ideas of home government and domestic economy; their assistance in state and civic "house-cleaning" has imbued them with a higher sense of duty to society and their own homes. from time to time wholly unwarranted attacks were made on the effects of woman suffrage in colorado in order to prevent its adoption in other states. during - the misrepresentations became so vicious there was a general feeling that as the men voters largely outnumbered the women they should not remain silent. through the efforts of assistant district attorney omar e. garwood the equal suffrage aid association of men was formed with former governor alva adams president; isaac n. stevens, vice-president, and mr. garwood secretary. prominent men joined it and it rendered such excellent service in giving authoritative information that in a few years the attacks and misrepresentations almost wholly ceased. mr. garwood went on to new york, where the national men's league for woman suffrage was organized with james lees laidlaw of new york city as president and mr. garwood as secretary. he aided in forming similar leagues in other states and for several years participated actively in the suffrage campaigns of kansas, michigan, iowa, minnesota, nebraska and south dakota, and lectured as far south as mississippi, finding much interest in colorado's experiment. it was believed that the men's organizations, actively taking the stand for the enfranchisement of women, contributed substantially to the ultimate success of the movement. in and following years an obscure lawyer employed by certain vested interests in colorado and elsewhere went into eastern states where suffrage amendments were pending and scattered false statements about the situation in this state. the newspapers of the east were flooded with denials by colorado men, women and organizations and when they published these he filed suits for libel but never allowed one of them to come to trial. again and again the legislature has given official testimony in favor of woman suffrage when it would be helpful. on jan. , , when the u. s. senate was about to vote on submitting the federal amendment, mrs. hosmer, president of the state association; mrs. anna m. scott, first vice-president, and mrs. sarah k. walling, a member of the board of directors, went before the legislature at the opening of the session, asking for a memorial to the senate urging favorable action. in less than an hour the rules had been suspended in both houses and the following resolution passed unanimously: whereas, colorado has long enjoyed the help and counsel of its women in all political matters of citizenship and by these years of experience demonstrated the benefit to be derived from equal suffrage; and whereas, there is now pending in the senate of the united states a constitutional amendment providing for national woman suffrage; therefore be it resolved, that we urge the united states senate to take up and submit this amendment at the earliest possible date in order that all the women of the nation may have the right of suffrage and the nation may have the benefit of their citizenship. both democratic and republican parties, and the populist and progressive parties when they existed, have stood for equal suffrage and unequivocally endorsed it in their platforms. the appointment of vice-chairwomen of the political state committees is a foregone conclusion. during the memorable campaign of , mrs. steele, wife of the late chief justice robert w. steele, successfully filled this place in the democratic party during a time fraught with difficulties, as the then congressional union opened headquarters in denver to oppose every democratic candidate for congress under the excuse of holding the party in federal power responsible. the injection of such a movement in a state where equal suffrage had long been in force and the women had allied themselves with the parties of their choice, created among them a keen resentment and acrimonious controversy. the democratic senator, charles s. thomas, and democratic representatives who had always been friends of woman suffrage, were re-elected. beginning with the following women were sent as delegates or alternates to the presidential nominating conventions: mary c. c. bradford, katherine cook, anna h. pitzer, eugenia kelley, nancy kirkland, helen l. grenfell, alice b. clark, mary nichols and anna m. scott. the following have served as presidential electors: gertrude a. lee, sarah k. walling, adella bailey, julie penrose, anna wolcott vaile. on jan. , , one of the most important receptions in denver was given by the state equal suffrage association to the new governor, oliver h. shoup (republican) and his wife, and the retiring governor, julius c. gunter (democrat) and his wife. both were on the board of directors of the association. it was held in the roof ballroom of the adams hotel and was a most democratic affair, all classes being represented, as all had found a common interest in public welfare. a few months later the association gave a handsomely appointed luncheon at the adams with senator agnes riddle as guest of honor. its purpose was to show appreciation of her heroic stand for women when she voted against the male appointee of the governor of her own party to take the place of a woman expert (a member of the other party) on the board of charities and correction. in may, , when it was known that the federal suffrage amendment was certain to be submitted in a short time, the state association requested governor shoup to be in readiness to call a special session of the legislature so quickly that colorado might be the first state to ratify. it offered to supply without salary or compensation of any kind all necessary clerks, stenographers, pages and sergeants-at-arms in order that the state should be put to no expense except for the mileage of the legislators, whose salaries are paid by the year. when the amendment was finally submitted on june the newspapers, which had been loyal to the cause all these years, and the men and women whose interest and support had never flagged, were overjoyed with thanksgiving and jubilation. the _rocky mountain herald_ of denver was one of the first papers to support the equal suffrage association in asking for an immediate ratification by a special session of the legislature. the governor promised to call one eventually but would not consent to do it at once, claiming that legislators from the farming districts asked for delay. every possible influence was brought to bear on him but the situation remained unchanged. "for reasons" the party in power (republican) decreed that, while of course the special session must be held, this could not be done until fall or winter. the members of the association, knowing the futility of further effort, proceeded to arrange for a public jubilee. the meeting was held in the city park of denver on the night of june in connection with a concert by the city band. mrs. hosmer presided and prayer was offered by mrs. almira frost hudson. jubilant speeches were made by mrs. harrington, state senator e. v. dunkley and captain morrison shafroth to an audience of about , . governor shoup was out of the city but sent a letter to be read. the mayor was represented by commissioner j. w. sharpley. at the fourth of july celebration held under the auspices of the colorado patriotic league at the same place, the president of the state suffrage association was one of the speakers. her subject was "woman's first fourth of july" and so this celebration also took on the nature of a rejoicing over the new women electorate of the nation. ratification. the legislature met in special session dec. , , and a resolution for ratification was introduced in senate and house, in the latter bearing the names of the two women representatives, dr. may t. bigelow and miss mable ruth baker, and that of the senate the name of the one woman member, senator agnes riddle, and as passed it bore all three names. it requires three days for action on a resolution and the ratification was completed on the th, both houses voting unanimously in favor. the day of the final passage was made a great occasion for the equal suffrage association. legislators referred to it in their speeches and mrs. walling, one of its board of directors, was escorted to a seat beside speaker allyn cole. mrs. hosmer was out of the city. a short recess was taken that the first vice-president, mrs. anna m. scott, might be heard, who made a brief but eloquent speech. when the time came for the final vote speaker cole surrendered his place to representative bigelow, so that a woman might wield the gavel when the result was announced.[ ] the bill went immediately to the governor, who signed it on the th. colorado had by this ratification placed the seal of her approval on the twenty-six years of woman suffrage in the state. during the war, the woman's state council of defense was a most efficient organization, governor gunter saying that he ascribed its remarkable work to the experience which the women had gained by their quarter-of-a-century of active citizenship. on june , , the state equal suffrage association became incorporated under the name of the league of women voters with mrs. scott as chairman. a number of prominent eastern women en route to the democratic national convention in san francisco stopped at denver and were guests at the banquet in celebration of the new league. the legislative council of the state federation of women's clubs holds weekly meetings during the sessions of the legislature and takes up bills for consideration, particularly those relating to women and children, education and public health. after discussion and study these bills are approved or not approved and the legislators, the club women and the general public are informed as to their action. there is no law prohibiting women from filling any offices in the state and it has been said that a really determined effort could place a woman even in that of chief executive. the office of state superintendent of public instruction has been filled by a woman since and no man has been nominated for it. those who have held this important office are antoinette j. peavey, grace espey patton, helen l. grenfell (three terms), katharine craig, katharine cook, helen m. wixson (two terms), mary c. c. bradford from to the present time. during her second term she was elected president of the national education association. mrs. walling succeeded mrs. sarah platt decker as vice-president of the civil service commission and served six years. in mrs. alice adams fulton became secretary and chief examiner of the commission. mrs. mary wolfe dargin was appointed register of the u. s. land office in and miss clara ruth mozzer to the office of assistant attorney general in . there have been women clerks, auditors, recorders and treasurers in seventy-five cities and towns, including denver, and several aldermen. mrs. lydia tague was elected judge in eagle county. a few years ago women were serving on school boards. prior to the year nine women had sat in the house of representatives--three in each legislature after the passage of the equal suffrage law, and there have been nine or ten since then, a number of them re-elected. in colorado's first woman senator, mrs. helen ring robinson, was elected. she was the second in the equal suffrage states, mrs. martha hughes cannno of utah the first. in mrs. agnes riddle was elected. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to katherine tipton (mrs. george e.) hosmer, president of the state equal suffrage association. mrs. hosmer wishes to express her obligation for assistance in securing data to the past presidents and executive officers of the association. [ ] among those who worked in the first decade of this century were: helen l. grenfell, mary c. c. bradford, ellis meredith, hattie e. westover, mrs. john f. shafroth, minnie j. reynolds, gail laughlin, drs. elizabeth cassady, jean gale, mary long, mary e. bates, rose kidd beere and sarah townsend; lillian c. kerns, martha a. pease, alice polk hill, mrs. a. c. sisk, mrs. a. l. cooper, bessie lee pogue, helen wixson, anna m. scott, carrie marshall, nora b. wright, laura holtzschneider, hattie howard, rosetta webb, sarah purchase, helen bedford, inez johnson lewis, eva rinkle, evangeline heartz, louisa m. tyler, mary nichols, helen miller, louise blanchard, margaret keating, lillian hartman johnson. [ ] the day before a joint session of the two houses had been held that they might listen to the reading of a poem written for the occasion by one of the oldest members of the association, mrs. alice polk hill. chapter vi. connecticut.[ ] in the connecticut woman suffrage association had been in existence for thirty-two years, and, except for the first two years, mrs. isabella beecher hooker, who had led the movement for its organization, had been its president. closely associated with her during all these years was miss frances ellen burr, who was recording secretary from to . under her leadership and with the aid of her husband, john hooker, an eminent lawyer, legislation had been secured giving mothers equal guardianship of their children and wives full control of their property and earnings. the only concession that had been made to the steady demand of the women for suffrage was the grant of the school franchise in and eligibility to the school boards. interest in woman suffrage was at a low ebb when the new century opened. the membership of the association had decreased and at the state convention in hartford in the treasurer's report for the year showed an expenditure of only $ . . the report of the president and secretary said: "the work of the association is confined to the annual fall convention and the legislative hearing." a convention for the revision of the state constitution was to meet in hartford at the opening of , whose delegates from the towns and cities were chosen in the fall of . little was done to secure pledges from the candidates but the association obtained the concession of a room at the capitol for its use. the national american woman suffrage association sent an organizer--mrs. mary seymour howell of new york--into the state and paid her salary for four weeks and she spent seven weeks in hartford, living with mrs. hooker and giving her time to the convention. mrs. hooker prepared a memorial that was presented and referred to a committee, which refused not only to grant a hearing to the suffragists but even to receive for distribution in the convention the copies of the memorial which had been printed. charles hopkins clark, editor of the _courant_, was chairman. two suffrage resolutions were presented in the convention at the request of the state association, by daniel davenport of bridgeport and colonel norris osborn of new haven, and were defeated without debate. in the state convention was held at collinsville, in spite of some unwillingness of local suffragists to "shock the town" by having such a meeting there. by this time mrs. hooker, though still president, had largely relinquished the work to mrs. elizabeth d. bacon, the faithful vice-president. a general feeling of discouragement was perceptible in the reports to the convention of , which was held at mrs. hooker's home in hartford with only delegates present; also to the convention of in new haven. nevertheless it was voted to ask the legislature for municipal suffrage for women. during these years the annual expenditures never amounted to $ . in at the convention in hartford on november the treasurer reported that $ had been spent. in , when the convention was held at meriden, november , the disbursements were reported as $ . there were only nine delegates and mrs. hooker, who had not attended the meetings for two years, was made honorary president, and mrs. bacon was elected to the presidency. mrs. hooker died in january, , at the age of , thus taking from the movement one of the most brilliant figures of the early period. the convention of was held in hartford october , and the following year it met in new haven on october . a slightly increased membership was reported and some younger women had come into the movement, including mrs. jessie adler of hartford, who was responsible later for the candidacy of mrs. thomas n. hepburn. the expenditures for were $ . in the convention was held at meriden. it was reported that the national association had sent a request to connecticut for a petition to congress with a quota of at least , signatures but that the number collected had fallen considerably short of , . miss caroline ruutz-rees, principal of a flourishing girls' school in greenwich, attended as a delegate from a newly formed equal franchise league in that town and several young and enthusiastic suffragists, including mrs. hepburn, who had lately come into the state, were in attendance with the delegation from the equal rights club of hartford. in october mrs. emmeline pankhurst, whose "militant" movement in england was attracting world-wide attention, spoke in hartford. at this meeting mrs. hepburn met miss emily pierson of cromwell, a teacher in the bristol high school. both received an inspiration from mrs. pankhurst and they began a campaign in hartford, organizing public meetings for which they obtained speakers of national reputation. to support this work the hartford political equality league (afterwards the equal franchise league) was formed with a membership at first of four, all of whom were officers. it quickly attracted members and got into touch with the equally vigorous and enthusiastic young league in greenwich. in the fall of the state convention was held at greenwich, with a large delegation from these leagues. these younger members had come to the decision that if any active work was to be done there must be a complete change in the management of the state woman suffrage association, an idea that was warmly endorsed by some of the older leaders. a new "slate" of officers was presented headed by mrs. hepburn, who had consented to nomination on condition that the greenwich and the hartford leagues should each pledge $ , for the work of the coming year. miss burr had resigned three months before the convention the secretaryship which she had held over forty years. the treasurer, mrs. mary jane rogers, who had been in office for sixteen years, was re-elected and continued to serve until . then on her refusal to accept another term she was elected auditor and held the office until her death in . in ex-presidents were put on the executive board and mrs. bacon regularly attended the meetings and aided the newer workers with her experience and advice until her death in . the income for had been $ , the largest ever received. the convention of , held in bridgeport, showed great advance in organization and general activity. miss pierson was elected state organizer and an automobile tour of one of the eight counties was undertaken in august under her spirited leadership. thirty-one meetings were held and fourteen new leagues were formed and affiliated with the state association. the income was reported at the convention as having been $ , and the enrolled membership had increased to over , . at this convention mrs. hepburn declined re-election on account of family duties and mrs. william t. hincks, president of a new and active league at bridgeport, was chosen. mrs. hepburn remained a useful member of the board. in the annual convention was held at new haven, where after much difficulty miss pierson had organized a flourishing equal franchise league with mrs. carlos f. stoddard president. a political equality club had existed here from before the opening of the century but its membership was small and it made no appeal to a large number of women who were ready to come out for suffrage. it seemed better, as in hartford in , to form a new organization with younger leaders. the annual convention in was held in hartford. mrs. hincks refused re-election and mrs. hepburn was again chosen, with mrs. m. toscan bennett as treasurer. the work accomplished during the year, as reported at the convention, had included the collection of , names to a petition to the legislature for full suffrage for women, while campaigns had covered the smaller cities and towns and resulted in the organization of all the state except one county. the convention of again took place in hartford and mrs. hepburn, with practically the whole board, was re-elected. the work of the year included a "ward campaign," in which a beginning was made of organizing on the lines of a political party, automobile campaigns completing the organization of the whole state; the first suffrage parade took place in hartford on may . political work had resulted in obtaining a woman suffrage plank in the democratic state platform. the total income for the year was $ , . in at the state convention in hartford mrs. hepburn was again re-elected. the reports included accounts of the activities of the sixty-nine clubs and leagues affiliated with the state association. in the legislature not only had the suffrage measures been turned down but almost all of those favored by the women, owing to the bitter hostility of the republican "machine," by which it had long been dominated. this convention declared in favor of concentrating on state work, the majority opinion being that it was as yet of no use to work for the federal suffrage amendment. the income for the year was reported as $ , , this being entirely apart from the money received and spent locally by the affiliated leagues. during the year a petition to submit a state amendment with over , names of men and women had been collected and presented to the legislature.[ ] the convention of was held at new haven and mrs. hepburn was re-elected. the reports showed that the year then ended had been the most active in the history of the association. in the winter of - work had been undertaken in the counties whose representatives had made the worst showing in the preceding legislature. miss helen todd, who had worked in california in when its victory was gained, was secured as the principal speaker for a campaign organized for her by miss catharine flanagan of hartford. other organizers were miss alice pierson of cromwell, miss katherine mullen of new haven and miss daphne selden of deep river, miss emily pierson remaining state organizer and directing the work. in the spring of miss alice pierson married ralph swetman and during the summer both undertook a house to house campaign, with numerous open air meetings in the smaller towns of hartford county. the income for the year was $ , , nearly all of which was expended. the membership of the state association by careful count was , and the affiliated leagues and clubs numbered eighty-one. during the year a bulletin from headquarters was sent twice a month to each dues-paying member. in june a delegation went to chicago and marched under the leadership of mrs. grace gallatin seton in the great parade of the national suffrage association that braved the rain and wind on its way to the coliseum, where the cause of woman suffrage was presented to the resolutions committee of the republican national convention. the state convention of was held in hartford november , , and the reports showed that attention had been concentrated on the three measures before the legislature--a bill for presidential and municipal suffrage; a bill for excise suffrage (a vote in local option), and a resolution for a state constitutional amendment also but both bills were defeated in house and senate. the amendment resolution, however, secured a majority in the house and as the constitution provides that the house alone shall consider an amendment on its first presentation, this victory insured that it should pass to the next legislature for final action. through the whole of much work also was done for the federal suffrage amendment, deputations being sent to each of the u. s. senators and representatives from connecticut. the suffragists felt the urge of patriotism and mrs. hepburn in the name of the association offered its services to governor marcus a. holcomb. the offer was graciously received though not definitely accepted but requests for clerical help came to suffrage headquarters. in response some hours of work were given by volunteers. a central war work committee, under the auspices of the association, was formed in april, immediately after the declaration of war, the chairmanship held first by miss ruutz-rees, who had been a member of the executive board of the association from . when she was made chairman of the woman's division of the state council of defense, the chairmanship was taken by miss katharine ludington and other leading suffragists gave their services. the war work committee had chiefly to do with food conservation and $ , were collected by it for this purpose. in addition to the money contributed by suffragists for war work, the income of the association for the year was $ , . at this convention mrs. hepburn, who had been strongly stirred by the jailing of the members of the national woman's party at washington, announced her intention of working with that organization and mrs. bennett refused re-election for the same reason. miss ludington was elected president, with miss mabel c. washburn as treasurer. mrs. seton, who had been vice-president since , retained her position and miss ruutz-rees remained. miss ludington had shown her qualifications for the state presidency, first as president of the old lyme equal franchise league, then as chairman of new london county and during by her organizing and executive ability as chairman of the war work committee. at the annual convention of held at new haven, she was re-elected. the year had been a peculiarly difficult one on account of the absorption of many women in war work but the income was $ , , of which $ , had been contributed for the oversea hospitals of the national suffrage association. the work of the year had been directed towards ( ) the federal suffrage amendment and the securing of a favorable connecticut delegation to congress; ( ) influencing the two major parties in the state to include suffrage planks in their platforms; ( ) securing the election of members of the legislature who would be favorable to ratification. at the jubilee convention of , held at bridgeport after the federal amendment had been submitted in june, a new constitution was adopted, which provided for the election of five political leaders in addition to the other officers and an organization of the state by counties and districts, looking towards the forming later of a league of women voters. during the year there had been a financial campaign, which was carried on under the direction of mrs. nancy schoonmaker, resulting in gifts and pledges amounting to $ , , of which $ , were paid at the time of the convention. the total income for the year was $ , . miss ludington was again elected and most of the other officers remained on the board. after thorough discussion it was resolved that the policy of the association for - should be to oppose especially the small group of republican politicians who had blocked and were persistently blocking the progress of woman suffrage. this resolution pledged the association to a fight against the republican "machine," which was made with intense determination. ratification. the final struggle came in over ratification of the federal suffrage amendment. great efforts had been made to obtain a majority favorable to it in the legislature that would meet in and had congress submitted it in time to be voted on at the regular session it would doubtless have been ratified, as both parties knew it was inevitable. it was not passed by congress, however, until june , and by this time the legislature had adjourned, not to meet again for two years unless called in special session. all that the suffragists were able to do during the winter of was to press for a presidential suffrage bill such as had been adopted by a number of states. in support of this a petition signed by over , women--increased afterwards to , --was presented to the legislature when the bill came up for consideration. nevertheless, through the intense hostility of the republican "machine," the bill was defeated by a single vote in the senate after having received a large majority in the house. when congress finally sent the amendment to the legislatures most of them had adjourned and would not meet again until . if women were to vote in the general election of november, , ratification would have to be by special sessions. the suffragists of connecticut were determined that it should be one of the states to hold an extra session. deputations from the state association and the national woman's party waited upon governor holcomb in the summer of to ask that he call one in order to ratify the amendment. he refused on the ground of a constitutional limitation of the governor's power. the state constitution provides that the governor may convene the general assembly "on special emergencies" and he held that no special emergency existed. the association then concentrated on the republican state central committee and the other leaders whom they considered the chief opponents of suffrage. a petition signed by prominent members of the republican party was presented to the chairman of this committee on feb. , , by the men's ratification committee--a committee friendly to woman suffrage and anxious for the ending of the long struggle, which had been formed with colonel isaac m. ullman chairman. no effect was produced by this petition nor by an interview with john henry roraback, the state chairman, by miss ludington, in which he was urged to put connecticut among the states necessary for ratification, in order that the women might be able to feel that suffrage had been granted them by their own state. by march legislatures had ratified and only a group of three or four states held out any hope of the th and final ratification, of which connecticut was one. leading republicans in and out of congress tried to impress upon those in connecticut that this was no longer a state but a national issue. at their state convention in march the resolutions committee gave a hearing to the suffragists and reported a resolution in favor of a special session, which was passed by the convention and presented to the governor. it then returned to power the very men who would prevent it. the governor remained obdurate. to the first petition he had replied that the desire of a few women did not create an emergency. then he had argued that suffrage was not an issue when the legislature was elected and therefore the legislators were not authorized by the voters to act upon it. a little later he gave it as his opinion that persistent appeals do not constitute an emergency. finally on april , in reply to a letter from colonel ullman, he stated that he was ready to receive proof of the existence of an emergency. the connecticut women decided to give him the proof and the national suffrage association offered its cooperation by sending women from all over the country to connecticut to join in a great protest against the blocking of woman suffrage for the whole nation. may - , , was declared "emergency week" and a suffrage emergency corps was organized of eminent women from as many states. they assembled in new york the evening of sunday, may , as dinner guests of mrs. carrie chapman catt, the national president, and received their "marching orders and field instructions" from her and miss ludington. the emergency corps arrived in hartford monday morning and were guests at a luncheon given in their honor at the golf club, whose rooms were crowded with men and women to meet these doctors, lawyers, professors, scientists, officials, business women, presidents of organizations--a remarkable gathering. there were roll call and speeches and then they separated into four groups and departed by motors for the four largest cities, where they spoke at mass meetings in the evening. a carefully planned tour was made of thirty-six towns with a total of forty-one meetings, at which they were introduced and assisted by prominent men. mrs. catt spoke to a large audience in woolsey hall, new haven, with mayor fitzgerald presiding. the object of the campaign was to show the sentiment in the state for a special session of the legislature and a resolution calling for it was enthusiastically adopted at each meeting. the governor appointed friday morning at : for the interview and the visitors and the officers and staff of the state suffrage association were at the capitol. every possible point bearing on the case was brought out by the speakers and they pleaded with the governor to settle this question of ratification by a stroke of his pen for the women of the whole nation. he said he would reserve his decision till he had carefully considered their arguments, and they went out to report to the mass meeting in progress on the grounds of the capitol. the following tuesday he made public his answer, which was that, while the arguments proved that there was a strong desire for a special session, they did not prove the existence of the "special emergency" mentioned in the constitution and he felt compelled to decline. a petition asking for a special session was then sent to the governor signed by a majority of both parties in both houses of the legislature, which had not the slightest effect. the state association held a meeting and resolved to try to defeat those republican candidates who were opposed to ratification and especially the little group who composed the republican "machine." miss ludington issued a manifesto giving in detail their action which had determined this policy and saying: our fight now is "november, ." one of the most important presidential elections in years is to be held then. women are just as vitally affected by it and as deeply interested in it as men. although out of the necessary states have ratified, no women can vote in this election under the federal amendment until the th state has ratified. it is curious how slow the public--women as well as men--have been to realize this. they talk of our being "almost" voters. they do not seem to understand that although massachusetts, pennsylvania, new jersey, etc., have ratified the amendment, the women of these states will not vote until the th state ratifies. who is responsible for the delay which may keep over , , women from the vote for president and about , , from the vote for members of congress, state officials, etc.? both political parties but the republican in greater degree.... it lies in the power of this party to speak the word that will fully enfranchise the women of this country and where there is power there is responsibility. "but," the republicans say, "we have given you states. think of that! you ought to be grateful to us." "exactly," we answer, "but you have withheld that one state which would make just the difference between our voting or not voting. and by the way you didn't 'give' us those states--we had to work pretty hard to get some of them!" an emancipator is not the man who takes the prisoner all the way to the door and lets him look out but the man who actually unlocks the door and lets him go free. once in history the republican party played the part of a genuine emancipator. now it looks very much as if it was playing petty politics.... at the time of the last state republican convention the hartford _courant_ obligingly explained that the suffrage resolution it passed was a pretense and really meant nothing--a statement, it is only fair to say, repudiated by many honorable republicans. now it is chairman roraback, who, with happy unconsciousness that he is exhibiting his party in a "yellow" light, tells the public that the national republican platform should not be taken seriously.... "the leaders of the party," he says, "put in the suffrage plank to please women in the voting states but they meant nothing by it." are the men who are to lead a great party as double-faced and untrustworthy as mr. roraback paints them? were they laughing in their sleeves as they wrote the solemn pledges in the rest of the national platform? we wonder if connecticut republicans will let mr. roraback smirch the party honor unchallenged. the course for the state suffrage association is clear. we must play our part in this sector of the national suffrage struggle and we must let our opponents see that they can not keep american citizens out of their fundamental rights with impunity. a committee of republican women circulated a pledge to give no money or work for the republican party as long as women had no votes. three influential republican women travelled to columbus, o., to put before the republican national executive committee the opinions of republican women who were questioning the sincerity of the party in regard to woman suffrage. in august thirty connecticut women, headed by miss ludington, went to new york by appointment to call upon will hays, chairman of the national republican committee, and ask him what the party was doing to secure ratification in connecticut. he received them in the national headquarters and miss ludington, who spoke for the deputation, reminded him that his party was taking the credit for the ratification of the federal suffrage amendment thus far but not bringing any effective pressure on the republican governors of connecticut and vermont, each of whom could insure its full success, and said: "what the women want is the vote in november. what the parties apparently want is a good record as a talking point in the coming campaign. what to the women is the supremely important thing is that th state. what to the parties seems to be most important is to exact their full due of gratitude from women who have not as yet received the gift that was promised.... in our own state, where the republican party is responsible, the women are actually being called upon to aid its campaign while it is repudiating the policy and promises of the national party in regard to ratification." the speaker then quoted the resolution adopted by the national republican committee dec. , , calling for special sessions before february to complete ratification, accompanied by the public statement: "the party managers will cooperate with the women in a determined effort to bring about the calling of special sessions." she quoted the resolution passed by this committee june , : "such republican states as have not already done so are urged to take such action by their governors and legislators as will assure the ratification at the earliest possible time." she then gave a part of the plank in the national republican platform adopted two months ago: "we earnestly hope that republican legislatures which have not yet acted will ratify the th amendment to the end that all women may participate in the election of ," and said: "we have had no proof as yet that the party means to make good on these declared intentions--in fact many things seem to point the other way; first, the republican failure to ratify in delaware; second, the weak plank in the republican national platform, which was emasculated _at the request of the connecticut delegates_ until it was an affront to the intelligence of women and a mockery of the connecticut and vermont legislatures; third, the present situation in connecticut. "from the time when suffrage became an issue," miss ludington continued, "it has had the opposition of the leaders of the republican party in this state. since the amendment passed congress they have resisted every expression of public opinion, every plea for ratification on grounds of justice and fair play. for a year the suffragists have tried sincerely and patiently to work in and with the republican party to overcome this opposition, and have been cooperating with a republican men's ratification committee formed for this purpose, but we are apparently no nearer a special session than we were a year ago." she then concluded: during all this time we have had no evidence that the national republican committee was really working in the state. we have found it very difficult to reach you personally and our appeals for specific help have been ignored. mr. roraback and major john buckley, secretary to the governor, have stated that he has never been asked by you to call a session. they evidently feel, and wish the public to understand, that the national republican committee has given them a free hand to pursue their obstructionist course. and to confirm this comes president-elect harding's refusal to attempt to persuade governor holcomb. in the meantime, we women are being told that the republican party can not be held responsible, because the governor stands alone in his opposition! we submit that so long as the official leaders of the party in the state are in entire harmony with him in opposing us and the national party keeps hands off, they are accomplices in his opposition and must be held responsible accordingly. and we further submit that if a national party is to come before the voters on the basis of its policies and promises, then it must be held responsible for making those promises good through its state branches.... if the connecticut republican leaders can play a free hand without interference from the national party, then that party faces the alternative of either admitting powerlessness and disintegration or of being an accomplice in the state's attitude of repudiation. connecticut women will remain voteless unless their state or vermont or a southern state ratifies. the republican party can help us in two ways--either by giving a solid republican vote in tennessee or by putting forth a really vigorous effort in a new england state. the situation in connecticut remained unchanged but about two weeks after this interview the tennessee legislature ratified by means of both republican and democratic votes. this made the th state and secretary colby proclaimed the federal suffrage amendment a part of the national constitution. the democrats were claiming the credit and the general election was only two months away. the republicans, especially those in connecticut, keenly felt the situation. governor holcomb was obliged to call a special session to enact legislation for registering the women. the legislature was called to meet september and the governor warned it that it must restrict itself to the business outlined in the call. no such restriction had ever before been laid upon a connecticut legislature and the governor himself two years before had urged that he was powerless to prevent it from enacting any bills that it pleased when once it had been called in special session. the members of house and senate were almost unanimous in resenting this attempt to fetter their action and plans were laid to ratify the federal amendment. before september , however, developments in regard to the tennessee ratification seemed to threaten its validity and governor holcomb and the republican leaders perceived that there was an emergency which called for ratification by connecticut to prevent difficulty in the coming elections. this was especially apparent to u. s. senator frank b. brandegee, who had been an uncompromising opponent of the federal suffrage amendment and voted against it every time it came before the senate. he sent an urgent letter to colonel ullman, chairman of the men's ratification league, in which he said: "in view of the fact that the validity of the ratification of the amendment by the state of tennessee has been questioned and that the result of the entire election throughout the country may be imperilled thereby, and in consideration of the fact that the amendment is certain to be ratified by more than the required number of states as soon as their legislatures assemble in , i earnestly hope that the legislature of connecticut will ratify it."[ ] as soon as the special session opened governor holcomb went before it and asked it to adjourn without action, as he intended to issue another call for it to meet a week hence to ratify the amendment as well as to enact the necessary legislation. both house and senate refused to accede to his request but by unanimous vote in the senate and by a vote of to in the house, the federal suffrage amendment was ratified, although the governor had not submitted the certified copy to them.[ ] after passing a number of other bills, all of which were outside of the limits set by the governor, the legislature adjourned to september , when the second session had been called. when the legislature met on september the governor appeared before the two houses and asked them to ratify the amendment which he now laid before them. many of the members were unwilling to do this, as it seemed a confession that their former action was invalid. wiser counsels prevailed, especially as miss ludington and the state board strongly urged them not to allow their scruples to stand in the way when there might be a possible doubt as to whether the first ratification was legal. the amendment was again ratified, by the senate unanimously, the house to . later in the day a motion was made to reconsider and confirm the action of the first session. this was done to satisfy the members who were determined that the first record should stand as authentic. thus after a struggle lasting over fifteen months, the legislature at its first opportunity ratified the federal suffrage amendment, once, twice and thrice, and if there was any doubt about tennessee there was none whatever about connecticut. * * * * * the long fight for ratification and the contest against senator brandegee made it impossible to organize a league of women voters in . on november and , after the election was over, the connecticut woman suffrage association held its last convention in hartford. it voted to keep the organization in existence for a couple of months until a league could be formed and then, without further ceremony, to dissolve. preliminary organization work was continued and on jan. , , at a convention in new haven the league of women voters came into existence with miss mabel c. washburn chairman.[ ] legislative action. the connecticut legislature has only a melancholy record of defeats, having given the women nothing except a vote for school trustees and on some school questions in . . a bill for municipal suffrage was adversely reported from committee and defeated. . the same bill was defeated in the house on roll call by noes, ayes; in the senate without roll call. . the same measure had a favorable report from the joint woman suffrage committee but it was not accepted by house or senate. . in addition to the municipal suffrage bill the association presented one for presidential suffrage. the senate rejected both without a roll call; house vote on municipal suffrage, noes, ; ayes, ; on presidential, noes ; ayes, . . for the usual bill the legislature substituted one giving women a vote on levying a tax for maintaining a public library, which passed the senate without roll call and the house by ayes, noes. it never was put into operation. . the two usual bills received unanimous favorable reports from committees. the municipal passed the senate but was defeated in the house, both without roll call. a resolution to submit an amendment was defeated in the house, not voted on in the senate. . state constitutional amendment defeated in the senate by noes, ayes, and in the house without roll call. . the above action was repeated except that both houses defeated without a roll call. . three measures were introduced--a bill for presidential and municipal suffrage, a bill giving women a vote in local option elections and the amendment resolution. the two bills were fought with great determination. the first was defeated in the senate by noes, ayes; in the house by noes, ayes. the excise bill was tabled in the senate, rejected in the house by noes, ayes. the resolution passed the house by ayes, noes and was referred to the next legislature for final action, as required by law. . the state constitutional amendment came automatically before the legislature but a legal opinion given by former governor baldwin held that it would sweep away the literacy test for voters and the suffrage leaders, who doubted the wisdom of going to the work and expense of a referendum campaign when the federal amendment was so near, were glad to have so good a reason for not pressing the matter. the presidential suffrage bill secured a majority favorable report from the joint woman suffrage committee and it passed in the house by a majority of . in the senate the republican "machine" was determined to defeat it. in the first vote there was a majority of two against it but on reconsideration there was only one. the "machine" only defeated it by winning a few democratic votes. the fight over this measure had been made with skill and courage by the women against the most determined opposition on the part of the republican "machine," which since had completely controlled both houses. the chairman of the republican state central committee, john henry roraback, and major john buckley, secretary to the governor, were accounted by the women their most bitter enemies and speaker of the house james f. walsh used his large powers to defeat the suffrage bills. of the fifteen important house committees anti-suffragists held eleven of the chairmanships. the chairman of the woman suffrage committee, admiral william s. cowles, was an "anti" but in spite of his influence the committee report was favorable. this was due to the progress of public sentiment, accelerated by the work of women during the war and to the organization for suffrage which had been going forward. of the more progressive group of republicans in the legislature who fought for suffrage may be mentioned lieutenant governor clifford wilson, senators john b. dillon, charles e. williamson, william h. heald, arthur e. bowers and representative harry r. sherwood. senator charles c. hemenway, democratic leader and editor of the hartford _times_, was one of its most valuable supporters. the liquor forces always employed lobbyists against the suffrage bills and fought the movement secretly and openly. there were a number of prominent women opposed but they were not organized until aroused by the activity that followed the election of mrs. hepburn as president in . the state association opposed to woman suffrage was then formed with mrs. daniel markham as president and she held the office until the proclamation of the federal suffrage amendment put an end to her organization. it held occasional meetings with speakers from outside the state. the members attended legislative hearings and at the large one on the municipal and excise bills in they occupied the right of the chamber with row on row of the liquor men back of them wearing the red rose which was their emblem. as the democrats constituted a minority party it was always easier to secure from them expressions favorable to woman suffrage and in and such planks were placed in their platform. in they declared for the federal suffrage amendment and a majority of those elected pledged themselves to vote for ratification, if it came before the legislature, and did vote for the presidential suffrage bill. the women went to the republicans conventions each year to ask for a suffrage plank but were steadily unsuccessful. in the state platform reaffirmed the national one, which declared in favor of woman suffrage. in the republican platform included a plank approving the principle of woman suffrage but leaving it to the states for action and not to a federal amendment. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. annie g. porritt, journalist, author and lecturer, officially connected with the connecticut woman suffrage association from as corresponding, recording and press secretary. [ ] in june, , a branch of the congressional union (later the national woman's party), was organized with mrs. william d. ascough as chairman. at that time the woman suffrage association was giving its attention almost exclusively to state work and the new organization began by sending deputations to each of the congressmen and senators to ask support for the federal suffrage amendment. meetings and a press service to promote the amendment were carried on until ratification was completed. connecticut members took part in every national demonstration of the union and eleven suffered terms of imprisonment. annual conventions were held each year and in mrs. thomas n. hepburn was elected chairman, mrs. ascough having removed from the state. the union raised money for the ratification campaigns in new hampshire, new jersey, new mexico, west virginia, delaware and tennessee and sent workers to assist them and also to secure a special session in vermont. [ ] notwithstanding this letter the state suffrage association used its whole strength against senator brandegee's election on november . it was estimated that per cent. of the women voted. although the big republican landslide elected him he received , fewer votes than the republican candidate for president. [ ] a certified copy of this vote was immediately dispatched to washington by miss flanagan, one of the national woman's party workers, and secretary of state colby accepted it as valid. it is therefore on record in washington that connecticut ratified the federal suffrage amendment on september , . [ ] the officers of the state association from to , besides the presidents, not already mentioned, were as follows: vice-presidents, mrs. annie c. s. fenner, - ; corresponding and recording secretaries, mrs. ella b. kendrick, mrs. marcia west, mrs. jessie adler, mrs. annie g. porritt, miss mabel c. washburn, mrs. frederick c. spencer, mrs. hiram p. maxim, mrs. william h. deming, mrs. samuel t. davis, jr., mrs. s. h. benton, mrs. william c. cheney. among those who served in other official capacities were mesdames e. j. warren, cynthia b. fuller, henrietta j. pinches, a. barton hepburn, julius maltby, h. h. deloss, carlos f. stoddard, henry townshend, jonathan a. rawson, t. s. mcdermott, ruth mcintire dadourian; misses emily whitney, mary a. goodman, mary bulkley, frances osborn. the names of the many women who gave devoted service to this cause during this score of years can never be recorded. chapter vii. delaware.[ ] during the past twenty years the advocates of woman suffrage have continued to suffer from the handicap peculiar to delaware--no referendum to the voters possible on constitutional amendments--and therefore it never has had the advantage of a state-wide educational campaign. an amendment must be passed by two-thirds of each branch of the legislature at two successive sessions and it then becomes a part of the constitution. however, the state equal suffrage association has held conventions every year. many distinguished advocates from outside the state, including miss susan b. anthony, dr. anna howard shaw, mrs. carrie chapman catt, miss mary garrett hay, mrs. beatrice forbes robertson hale, mrs. maud wood park, mrs. frank a. vanderlip and mrs. borden harriman, have been among the speakers. prominent endorsers of woman suffrage have been the state grange, grand army of the republic, ministerial union, central labor union and woman's christian temperance union. the last is the only leading woman's organization to give official sanction. the annual state convention was held nov. , , at newport, with three clubs--wilmington, newport and new castle--under the presidency of mrs. martha s. cranston. dr. shaw, vice-president-at-large of the national association, was the speaker and the presence of reporters was an encouraging feature. the convention of took place november in wilmington. miss jane campbell, president of the large philadelphia county society, and henry w. wilbur of the friends' society, new york, were the speakers from outside the state. during this year the w. c. t. u. and the wilmington district epworth league passed suffrage resolutions. the life and work of susan b. anthony was placed in travelling libraries. women were urged to pay their taxes "under protest." the newport club petitioned that the word "male" be omitted from the new town charter but without success. governor john hunn in his message to the legislature said: "the time is coming when the participation of women in all our civil affairs will be voluntarily sought as an infusion of indispensable new elements into our citizenship." the convention of was held november at newport, with miss harriet may mills of new york as the chief speaker. the master of the state grange declared his belief this year in the equality of the sexes and urged that some provisions be made for the higher education of delaware women. the convention of was held november in wilmington with an address by dr. shaw and $ were pledged to the national association. in the convention was held november in new castle, with dr. shaw the speaker. a pledge of $ was again made to the national association and delaware's quota to the oregon campaign was subscribed. the state convention took place at newport on nov. , . this year the g. a. r. endorsed both state and national suffrage. the convention held oct. , , in wilmington, arranged to send the state president to the congressional suffrage hearing at washington. the outside speaker was mrs. susan s. fessenden of massachusetts. a chairman of church work was appointed. reports showed that much suffrage sentiment was now manifested in the state. the convention of nov. , , at newport, was addressed by mrs. rachel foster avery and miss lucy e. anthony, the latter describing the great suffrage parade in london in which she had taken part. a memorial to david ferris, a prominent friend of woman suffrage, was read by miss emma worrell. the higher education of the young women of delaware was discussed by professor h. h. hayward, dean of agriculture in delaware college. the convention of nov. , , in wilmington, was addressed by miss campbell and miss mary winsor of haverford, penn. memorials to henry b. blackwell and william lloyd garrison were read by mrs. gertrude w. nields. the national petition work for a federal amendment was undertaken in wilmington with miss mary r. de vou and mrs. don p. jones in charge; in the rest of the state by mrs. cranston. legislators and the state at large were deluged with literature. miss perle penfield, a national organizer, was sent for one week by courtesy of mrs. avery, president of the pennsylvania association. a hearing was arranged by professor hayward before a senate committee in the interest of the higher education of women in delaware, without result.[ ] a telegram and a letter were sent by the state president and corresponding secretary to president theodore roosevelt, asking him to remember woman suffrage in his message to congress. the annual convention held nov. , , in wilmington, was addressed by miss lida stokes adams of philadelphia and frank stephens of the arden colony near by. a fine tribute to mrs. julia ward howe, who had recently passed away, was given by miss worrell. the newport and other clubs sent $ for the susan b. anthony memorial fund and a contribution was made to the south dakota campaign. in march the society of wilmington, the largest branch, began holding monthly meetings. in response to a letter from the national association, miss mary h. askew mather, miss de vou and miss emma lore were appointed to investigate the laws of delaware affecting the status of women in regard to their property rights and the guardianship of their children. a committee was appointed to support the candidacy of dr. josephine m. r. white delacour for membership on the school board of wilmington, where women had school suffrage. this year woman suffrage in delaware lost another friend by the death of former chief justice charles b. lore, who framed the petition to the state constitutional convention in and who stood unfailingly for the equality of men and women before the law. the state convention met nov. , , at newport. at the state convention held nov. , , in wilmington, addresses were made by mrs. harriet taylor upton, state president of ohio, and miss harriet may mills state president of new york; and on the subject why delaware needs a college for women by mrs. emalea p. warner and dr. hayward. it was decided to have a bill presented to the legislature of for striking the word "male" from the constitution of the state. a branch club had been formed at the arden single tax colony. the state association had held meetings. on jan. , , a delegation from the wilmington club was granted a hearing before the charter commission and asked for a clause in the proposed new city charter giving municipal suffrage to women. nine of the ten commissioners were present and arguments were presented by miss worrell, mrs. margaret h. kent, mrs. cranston, arthur r. spaid, county superintendent of schools; george b. miller, president of the board of education; miss grace b. tounsend and miss de vou. this was refused and the charter was defeated by an overwhelming majority with no suffrage clause to handicap it. in february the club held a large public meeting at the new century club with the rev. dr. george edward reed, former president of dickinson college, as the speaker. the club organized a municipal section to study the work of the city boards and to offer assistance in forwarding civic improvement, which was addressed by the mayor and heads of departments. the state association was represented in the great suffrage parade in new york city on may by mrs. j. r. milligan and miss tounsend. at the state convention in wilmington nov. , , fraternal delegates were present from the w. c. t. u., consumers' league and juvenile court association. addresses were made by irving warner, mrs. mary ware dennett, corresponding secretary of the national association, and miss mabel vernon, of the congressional union. the music was generously furnished as usual by the treasurer, miss lore. there were now dues-paying members and registered sympathizers; executive sessions had been held and meetings, outdoors, and , fliers and leaflets distributed. on february - , the association was sponsor for "general" rosalie jones and her pilgrim band en route from new york to washington, d. c. mayor howell of wilmington welcomed them in the city hall and they were guests at the garrick theater, where they spoke between acts to an overcrowded house. the state association was well represented in the famous parade in washington, d. c., on march , and again on april when women from various states marched to the capitol bearing special messages to members of congress, urging their support of the federal amendment. a tent was established at the state fair in september, realizing a long cherished desire of the president, with miss ella w. johnson in charge. the two organizations joined forces and opened headquarters in wilmington, from which petitions to congress were circulated and much literature sent out. the annual convention was held oct. , , at dover, the state capital but with no suffrage club. secretary of state james h. hughes welcomed the convention for vice-mayor mcgee, who refused to do so. the speakers were mrs. helen hoy greeley of new york, samuel h. derby of kent county and mrs. florence bayard hilles, delaware chairman of the congressional union. in wilmington a meeting was held february in honor of miss anthony's birthday, with miss anna maxwell jones of new york as the speaker. in april on arbor day a "suffrage oak" was planted, mayor howell presiding. in may a successful parade, the first, was given in wilmington with mrs. hilles in command. in september both political state conventions were asked to endorse woman suffrage but refused. two rooms were furnished by and named in honor of the state association, one at the industrial school for girls in claymont and one at the college for women in newark. it again had a tent at the state fair; prizes were given in the schools for the best essays on woman suffrage; lucy stone's birthday was honored in august ; members were enrolled by the hundreds and fifteen executive meetings were held. the city council's invitation was accepted to march in the old home week parade. the convention for took place on november , in wilmington, with speakers, dr. shaw, miss worrell on elizabeth cady stanton's th birthday; miss ethel smith of washington, d. c., on national work. mrs. cranston, "the susan b. anthony of delaware," the association's first and only president since january, , retired and was made honorary president. mrs. mary clare brassington was elected her successor. this year connection was severed with the congressional union, which unexpectedly announced its purpose of forming another state society, while the old association continued its affiliation with the national american. three mass meetings were held with miss janet richards, mrs. beatrice forbes robertson hale and mrs. bayard hilles the speakers. the association was represented in may in the parade of the woman suffrage party in philadelphia, under the auspices of the national association. the annual convention met nov. , , in wilmington, with chas. a. wagner, state commissioner of education; chas. w. bush and dr. shaw as speakers. mrs. brassington had been appointed to take part in the suffrage demonstrations at the republican and democratic national conventions in chicago and st. louis. the state central committees were again petitioned in vain for an endorsement of woman suffrage. at the state convention held in newport, nov. , , a $ pledge was made to the national association. a telegram of congratulation had been sent to governor john g. townsend, jr., upon the declaration for woman suffrage in his inaugural address. miss lola trax, a national organizer, was in the state five weeks, forming centers, and many meetings were held. federal amendment day was observed by tableaux on the court house steps in wilmington, with mrs. florence updegraff, national organizer, and miss ospina, local congressional chairman, in charge, mrs. brassington presiding, to whom a farewell luncheon was given, as she was removing from the state. she was succeeded by miss agnes y. downey, first vice-president. the annual convention in wilmington nov. , , was addressed by mrs. carrie chapman catt, president and mrs. halsey w. wilson, recording secretary of the national association. mrs. albert robin was elected president. in may a congressional petition campaign was launched at a large subscription luncheon given in hotel dupont, wilmington, with mrs. catt, mrs. frank vanderlip, mrs. maud wood park and mrs. j. borden harriman guests of honor and speakers. mrs. j. frank ball, state vice-president, presided. miss mabel willard, acting for the national association, conducted the petition "drive" and secured volunteer workers, who enrolled , names to influence the votes of delaware's u. s. senators on the federal amendment. mrs. robin being absent from the state, mrs. ball became acting president. a conference with u. s. senator josiah o. wolcott was held at her home in june, a large number of prominent persons being present, at which the senator declared himself open to conviction. mrs. halsey wilson gave a week in september to work in the state. an active educational campaign was carried on until the november elections and suffrage literature was distributed at the polls. the state convention took place in november, , at dover, with mrs. raymond brown, national vice-president, as the principal speaker. a memorial address for dr. anna howard shaw was presented by mrs. cranston. at the reception given in the state house by governor townsend and secretary of state everett c. johnson the governor said in his welcome: "i feel more than ever since the war that women should have the ballot. i will be glad at any time to use my influence toward giving those of delaware the right of suffrage." a luncheon followed at the hotel richardson, attended by the governor, secretary of state and other officials. all of the legislators were invited. the guests were welcomed by mrs. roswell p. hammond, president of the dover society, and james h. hughes. mrs. robin, who presided, spoke of ratification as the one goal of their efforts and secretary johnson endorsed it. the opera house was crowded in the evening to hear the address of mrs. brown. reports showed that in january the national association sent an organizer, mrs. maria mcmahon, and with the financial assistance of the wilmington society she opened headquarters in dover, organized a number of towns and won many friends for the cause. later mrs. halsey wilson gave another week to the state. about telegrams were sent in february to the delaware senators urging them to vote for the submission of the federal suffrage amendment but senator wolcott and senator willard saulsbury both voted "no" on february , when it went to defeat. in may mrs. robin circularized the delaware representatives in congress and on the st, when the amendment was passed by the lower house, caleb r. layton, delaware's one member, voted "aye." in the senate, the newly elected senator, l. heisler ball, was paired in favor, senator wolcott again voting "no." at a meeting of the state board a resolution was passed rejoicing over the success and calling for a special session of the legislature to ratify the amendment. a ratification committee was appointed with mrs. robin chairman for wilmington and the state; mrs. cranston for rural new castle county; mrs. henry ridgely for kent county; mrs. robert g. houston for sussex county; miss leah burton, legislative chairman; miss devou, press chairman and mrs. brassington chairman of literature. mrs. ridgely of dover was elected president and activities for the campaign were soon centralized. ratification.[ ] when it became evident that the federal suffrage amendment would be submitted by the next congress, the presidents of state associations began to plan for ratification and many asked help from the national american association. in response to a request from the president of delaware mrs. mcmahon was sent, arriving the last of june, , and beginning an active campaign of organization. t. coleman du pont placed a motor at the disposal of the suffragists and in a few weeks newcastle county had been covered with the assistance of miss downey and mrs. j. w. pennewell. working out from rehoboth with the assistance of mrs. robin, mrs. ridgely, mrs. houston, mrs. john eskridge and others, sussex county was organized and later kent with the help of mrs. james h. hughes, mrs. roswell hammond, mrs. emma burnett, miss winifred morris and others. the interviewing of influential men was carried on with the organizing through the autumn. headquarters were opened in dover in january, , and effort from that time was for a special session. resolutions endorsing ratification were secured from state and local granges, from the state federation of women's clubs, state methodist convention, state federation of labor, state committees of republican and democratic parties, and the wilmington city republican committee, the largest in the state. no opposition was expressed by any organization. each of the fifty-two legislators was interviewed either by miss leah burton, mrs. ridgely or members of the legislative committee, mrs. harmon reynolds, mrs. cummins speakman, mrs. hughes or miss morris, and by mrs. mcmahon. assurances were given by the majority in both parties that their votes would be cast in favor of ratification. governor townsend and secretary johnson were constantly helpful. the republican national committee, through its chairman, will hays, and the congressional committee, through its chairman, simeon d. fess, rendered every possible assistance and the latter sent a representative to work in dover. on january a delegation headed by mrs. george bass, chairman of the woman's division of the national democratic committee, appealed to this committee to take some action toward ratification and it gave its endorsement. mr. isaacs, chairman of the state democratic committee, asked the women to appear before it and on january , after an address by mrs. ridgely and full discussion, it endorsed ratification. the republican state committee endorsed it after governor townsend had called the special session for march . only one legislature was now needed to give the th and final ratification. all looked so favorable that the women were little prepared for the weeks of intrigue and double dealing into which they were thrust immediately upon the convening of the legislature. personal and factional fights entered into the question, while the school code played a prominent part and complicated the situation. it was briefly this. a very large sum had been offered to the state by pierre du pont for the much needed extension of delaware's public school facilities contingent upon the raising of a like sum by the state. the gift was accepted by the legislature and the people must raise the state's share of the fund. this meant taxes and taxes meant opposition. those who wanted the school code repealed or modified were inclined to try to make terms on the suffrage measure. the men of sussex, the most southern county, were particularly hostile and at a meeting in georgetown hundreds of them protested not only against the school code but also against prohibition and woman suffrage. it was the representatives of these men who eventually blocked ratification in the house and it was their two leaders, daniel layton, chairman of the state central committee, and former governor simeon s. pennewell, whose influence caused much of the opposition. governor townsend, who aimed to raise delaware from thirty-second place in educational ranks by the new code had aroused the personal antagonism of some of the leaders, but when it became apparent that delaware was vitally needed to complete ratification he laid aside his fears that the code would be repealed and called a special session. suffrage mass meetings were held in all parts of the state and the week before the legislature met mrs. carrie chapman catt, addressed large audiences in wilmington and dover. the ratification committee appealed for more help and miss marjorie shuler, national director of field publicity, was sent and later miss betsy edwards for political work. when the special session opened not one of the three daily papers was supporting ratification, public meetings were being held by the "antis," their publicity was being sent broadcast to the metropolitan press of the country and the impression was created that the whole state was opposed to ratifying. to counteract this situation required weeks of hard work by the suffragists. outside correspondents were secured who would send out the true story of the political intrigue underlying the failure to ratify. the wilmington _morning news_, under the ownership of alfred i. du pont, came out for ratification and made a strong fight for it to the end. in his message to the two houses in joint session the governor said: "woman suffrage has been a subject of public discussion for over half a century. it is not an agitation of the moment, it is a world wide question of right and wrong. your supreme duty is to think and act for the good of your state and nation." separate resolutions were introduced in senate and house, the former by a republican, john m. walker of hockessin, the latter by walter e. hart, democrat, of townsend, the only one of eleven democrats in the house who favored it. on march there was a hearing before the general assembly. the opponents had rushed into town every farmer and small politician they could secure and the women "antis" pinned a red rose in his buttonhole. the suffragists had given a yellow jonquil to every friend. behind the speaker's desk hung a huge yellow banner inscribed "votes for women," and so crowded was the room with determined men and eager women that the sergeant-at-arms had to clear a space for the senate. the suffragists had two hours in the morning and the "antis" the same amount of time in the afternoon, with thirty minutes each for rebuttal. mrs. catt, at the earnest request of the state association, spoke at this hearing, and its president, mrs. ridgely; also mrs. florence bayard hilles, president of the delaware branch of the national woman's party (congressional union), united states senators mckellar of tennessee and stirling of south dakota came from washington to urge ratification. people crowded into dover from over the state and hot arguments took place in hotel lobbies and on the streets. the state anti-suffrage association was represented by miss charlotte rowe of yonkers, n. y., employed by their national organization. mrs. catt closed the argument and her speech was considered by the hundreds who heard it, according to the staff correspondent of the wilmington _evening journal_, "one of the clearest, strongest and most reasonable arguments for votes for women ever heard in delaware." from this time until the vote was taken telegrams from outside the state urging ratification were poured into the legislature. they came from the president of the united states; from attorney general palmer and secretaries daniels, houston and meredith of his cabinet; from republican governors, state chairmen and party leaders throughout the country, urging daniel layton to see that enough votes be given by the republican legislators to assure a majority in both houses. in the senate all but five of the seventeen members were republicans; in the house, all but twelve of thirty-five. if they had adhered to the expressed policy of their party the amendment could have been ratified the first day of the session. on march word was received that the mississippi senate had ratified the federal amendment. this was followed by a telegram from mississippi to the anti-ratificationists in delaware that this senate vote was only "a flash in the pan" and would be reconsidered. a meeting of the republican opponents telegraphed to the speaker of the house in mississippi: "stand firm against ratification. delaware legislature still firm for state's rights and will not ratify." a hasty call was made for a meeting of all the republican members of the senate and house favorable to ratification. this was addressed by the governor, by united states senator ball, and by congressman layton, father of "dan" layton, who had always heretofore favored woman suffrage. by this time, however, the whole question had narrowed to his personal fight against governor townsend and at this conference he publicly announced that he would oppose ratification. the governor did everything possible to make it easy for the leaders of the southern part of the state to bring over its representatives to the amendment. in a noble speech he offered to withdraw his candidacy for delegate to the national democratic convention if the sussex county members would vote for it. john e. mcnabb, the democratic floor leader, boldly repudiated the telegrams from president wilson, his cabinet, homer cummings, chairman of the democratic national committee, and other party leaders. he said that not twenty-five persons in his district favored ratification and in two days a petition from five hundred was handed to him by mrs. f. e. bach and mrs. pennewell of wilmington. alexander p. corbitt, speaker of the house, was indirectly connected with the pennsylvania railroad and to him was due a large share of the responsibility of its defeat. prominent among the lobbyists were henry b. thompson of wilmington, husband of the president of the anti-suffrage association; major edmund mitchell, former republican state chairman; george gray, former federal judge; george a. elliott, mifflin wilson, george w. sparks and henry p. scott of wilmington, chairman of the state republican ways and means committee. his argument, widely circulated, was as follows: "if the legislature will refuse to ratify the proposed amendment and thus prevent the hysterical rout of the politicians of the country to make shreds and patches of our sacred constitution, the state of delaware will receive in the near future the greatest possible glory." governor townsend went to new york and laid the danger of the situation before t. coleman du pont, whose influence in the state was very great. he came to wilmington, interviewed various men, wrote letters and then went to dover where he worked for the amendment. gradually there was a weakening in the opposition with the gain of a vote here and there, but the southern part of the state remained solidly opposed. on march senator thomas f. gormley (a "wet" democrat) introduced a bill providing for the submission of every constitutional amendment to the electorate before ratification or rejection by the legislature, which was defeated by noes and ayes. the date for the vote was finally fixed for march and as its defeat seemed certain, assemblyman hart, who, according to the rules, must agree to have it brought up, held off heroically under political threats and intimidations of every kind and at last left the capitol for home. after a conference with "anti" members, representative lloyd introduced an exact copy of the hart resolution. mr. hart then brought up his resolution the next day, april , and it was defeated by noes to ayes, with not voting. meanwhile the lobbying went madly on. much of the opposition came from notable "wets"; and many of the opponents were connected with the pennsylvania railroad. the republican state convention met in dover april and the equal suffrage association made one of the most remarkable demonstrations the state had ever seen. every road was ablaze with decorated automobiles and hundreds of suffragists arrived on every train. they marched and they talked and in themselves they constituted the best argument that could be made for ratification. american flags and suffrage banners were used all over the town. with mrs. ridgely presiding, speeches were made all day on the green in front of the state house, and from an automobile in front of the republican convention hall miss shuler and others spoke. long petition sheets with the names of , delaware women asking for ratification were exhibited. the crowning feature of the day was a parade of "suffrage children"--the children of suffragists--a long line mounted on ponies and bicycles down to the babies in the "go carts." the speech of the permanent chairman of the convention, a staunch suffragist, robert houston of georgetown, sussex county, was a strong appeal for ratification and it called out the greatest outburst of enthusiasm of the day. the convention unanimously passed a resolution calling on the legislature to ratify the amendment. on the table was a vase of jonquils, and when the president of the anti-suffrage association rushed to the platform and demanded that they be removed or that red roses be added she was met by the chairman of arrangements with the quiet answer, "we are not complimenting the 'antis' today, we are using the republican color and that is the suffrage color." the jonquils largely outnumbered the roses on the coats of the delegates. while no republican could now vote against ratification without repudiating his party it was plainly evident that the majority of democrats were opposed to it and on the day of their state convention their party leaders, including united states senator wolcott and the chairman, josiah marvel, blossomed in red, the "anti" color. former united states senator saulsbury's paper printed editorials of violent opposition throughout the struggle. the resolution to ratify the federal suffrage amendment was called up in the senate by senator walker wednesday, may . senator gormley, democratic leader, offered as a substitute a referendum to the voters, which was defeated by a solid republican vote of to . the roll was called on the resolution to ratify and it was adopted by ayes, noes--ten republicans and one democrat voting for and two republicans and four democrats against it. the house had adjourned when the vote was taken and the plan was to send the resolution to it thursday morning and attempt action friday, but thursday morning revealed a clear intention to defeat it and it was therefore placed under lock and key in the senate. senator gormley attempted to offer a motion ordering its delivery to the house but was ruled out of order by the president pro tem. j. d. short, whose recent accession to the suffrage ranks had made the senate victory sure. in the house "bull" mcnabb launched an attack on those who were withholding the resolution, using freely the words "bribery," "cajoling," "threats" and much profanity. mrs. thompson, the anti-suffrage president, kept calling out encouragement to him until the republican floor leader, william lyons, had to ask her to stop. the senate refused to send the resolution to the house and finally the republicans succeeded in forcing an adjournment of the legislature until may , hoping to bring about a change of sentiment. some of those who were interested in the ratification were asked to meet at the capital that day. among those who responded were alfred i., t. coleman and pierre s. du pont, governor townsend, senator ball, representative layton, former united states senator j. f. allee, secretary of state johnson, charles warner, former congressman hiram r. burton, speaker charles grantland and others. these men argued and pleaded with the republican legislators to give the th and final ratification of the th amendment but without effect. on may , twenty-three days after the resolution had passed the senate, it was sent to the lower house. in the interval the labor union of wilmington passed resolutions unanimously calling upon their three representatives, mcnabb, mulvena and mulrine, to vote for ratification. president wilson was assured that only three democratic votes were needed and he, therefore, telegraphed these three: "may i not as a democrat express my deep interest in the suffrage amendment and my judgment that it would be of the greatest service to the party if every democrat in the delaware legislature should vote for it?" speaker corbit was interviewed by members of the republican national committee and republican leaders from within and without the state and strongly urged to stand with his party, but to no avail. the resolution was read twice and a motion was unanimously carried that the house resolve itself into a committee of the whole. representative lyons here offered a motion to vote on the resolution, which was defeated by noes, ayes. a motion was then put to adjourn until . , june , on which day it had been previously voted to adjourn sine die at noon, and it was carried! the house thus again placed itself on record against ratification and ended all further legislative action. the causes that led to the defeat were briefly: . factional differences in the republican party; antagonism toward governor townsend; half-hearted interest and even treachery on the part of certain republican leaders. . democratic opposition either because of the negro question or for national political reasons. . influence of the liquor interests. the cost of the campaign to the national american suffrage association was approximately $ , . the financial cost to the suffragists of the state could not be estimated and even more impossible would be an estimate of time and labor during many months. [long list of names of workers omitted for lack of space.] following the final ratification of the federal amendment by the tennessee legislature the executive board, which was in session at rehoboth, on august , , merged the state equal suffrage association into the league of women voters and elected mrs. ridgely chairman. this action was confirmed at a state convention held in wilmington september , . among men and women not elsewhere mentioned who have been helpful to woman suffrage are mrs. mary t. challenger, lea pusey, george b. miller, lewis w. brosius, mrs. j. r. milligan; the reverends frederick a. hinckley, thomas p. holloway, adam stengle, alexander t. bowser, joel s. gilfillan; mrs. john f. thomas, congressman thomas w. miller, george carter, editor _evening journal_; mrs. samuel h. derby, frank c. bancroft, master of the state grange; mrs. samuel bancroft, mrs. francis i. du pont, mrs. victoria du pont, sr., mrs. philip burnett, sr., and others mentioned in the chapter. state officers not named otherwise were mrs. william l. duggin, mrs. alfred d. warner, mrs. willard morse, mrs. mary h. thatcher, miss elizabeth s. gawthorp, mrs. mary price phillips, mrs. frederick l. steinlein, mrs. r. barclay spicer, mrs. harry hayward, mrs. george newcombe, miss willabelle shurter. legislative action, . a bill to strike from the suffrage clause of the state constitution the word "male" was for the first time presented to the legislature. it was introduced in the senate january , by david j. reinhardt; in the house by albert i. swan. the members had been previously circularized by the corresponding secretary, miss mary r. de vou, announcing this action in the spirit of the age, in the name of justice and democracy and for the credit of the state. on february a hearing was granted at a joint session, with the house chamber crowded. mrs. cranston introduced the speakers, headed by dr. anna howard shaw, national president. miss jeannette rankin of montana, a field worker sent by the national association, spent two weeks in dover, canvassing the legislators, assisted by members of the state association. at the senate hearing march strong speeches were made by senators reinhardt, john m. walker, and a number of leading women. senators zachary t. harris and dr. george w. marshall worked for the bill, which was endorsed by the woman's christian temperance union, ministerial union, state grange, central labor union and socialist party, but it was lost the same day by noes, ayes. the bill was reported favorably by the house committee and dr. john h. hammond declared that it was time to quit playing politics with it and pass it but on march it was defeated without debate by noes, ayes. . a full suffrage bill was presented jointly by the state association and the congressional union, introduced by senator harris and representative frank m. saulsbury. the campaign committee representing the two associations and headed by mrs. florence bayard hilles opened headquarters at dover with miss mabel vernon in charge. expenses of maintenance were paid by mrs. george day of connecticut, a member of the advisory council of the union. a suffrage procession headed by mrs. hilles and mrs. victor du pont, jr., marched to strains of martial music from the station to headquarters on its opening day early in january and gave the stately old capital a decided innovation. speaking followed from a gaily decorated automobile. "suffrage fliers" (motor cars) carrying able speakers and workers, made whirlwind trips throughout the state. the anti-suffragists organized as a committee, with mrs. henry b. thompson chairman and mrs. david j. reinhardt secretary. on january , before the revised statutes committee of the house, all of the representatives and many of the senators, a hearing was given to the suffragists. the speakers were mrs. cranston, miss leila aaron of dover, miss vernon and mrs. hilles, whose argument was nearly flawless. on february the "antis" spoke before practically the same audience and the enthusiasm equalled that of the suffrage hearing. thomas f. bayard, brother of mrs. hilles, opened the hearing and introduced mrs. thompson, mrs. grace w. goodwin of westfield and mrs. preston lea, wife of a former governor. on february the suffragists were granted a second hearing, all members of the senate and several of the house being present. on february the house committee reported the bill favorably. on march , with an hour's interval between, the house killed it by a vote of noes to ayes; the senate by a vote of noes to ayes. legislative friends were senators edward hart, john a. barnard and speaker charles h. grantland. preceding the vote was a gay and colorful parade of suffragists, followed by speechmaking outside the state house. able speakers and workers from other states had spoken during the campaign, among them united states representatives j. a. falconer of washington and william kent of california; mrs. kent, mrs. thomas r. hepburn, president of the connecticut equal suffrage association and miss anne martin, president of the nevada association. among local speakers were dr. george edward reed, d.d., former president of dickinson college; john s. hamilton of wilmington and mrs. cranston. on march , three days after the defeat, at a well-attended luncheon in hotel du pont, wilmington, was opened the campaign for in true bunker hill spirit. . a full suffrage bill was presented, the congressional union in charge. the state was canvassed for and against. before the joint hearing on february the bill had been reported favorably by committees of both house and senate. it went to defeat, however, on february by a vote in the house of noes to ayes, in the senate on february by a vote of noes to ayes. among the anti-suffrage leaders were judge george gray, general james h. wilson, miss emily p. bissell, mrs. george a. elliott and mrs. henry p. scott. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss mary r. de vou, corresponding secretary of the delaware equal suffrage association fourteen years; also treasurer and auditor. [ ] the women's college affiliated with delaware college at newark, the state college for men, was opened in september, . [ ] the history is indebted to miss winifred morris, secretary of the state equal suffrage association, for much of the material in this story of the effort for ratification. chapter viii. district of columbia.[ ] while the women in the district of columbia rejoiced with those in the states over the successful end of the long, hard fight for the federal suffrage amendment their joy was tempered by the fact that they still had before them a struggle for an amendment which would enfranchise the residents of the district--one really for equal suffrage, men and women alike being without the vote. the congress itself now has entire jurisdiction, each branch appointing a committee for the purpose. the district is a municipal corporation, administered by a board of three commissioners, two of whom are appointed by the president of the united states from civil life, confirmed by the senate, the third being detailed by him from the engineer corps of the army. the argument for the citizen's franchise is that representation in congress for the residents of the district would only give them a voice in the governing body without impairing the "exclusive jurisdiction" given to congress by the national constitution. it has a population greater than six of the states and pays taxes in excess of twenty-two states--each of which has two senators and representatives based on its population. local self-government also is advocated by some residents but the majority are behind the movement to obtain representation in congress and the vote for presidential electors. from the time this matter was first agitated the woman suffrage association of the district has insisted that women should have the same rights granted to men. although the suffragists of the district had no hope of enfranchisement from the federal amendment, nevertheless their interest in the cause never flagged and they gave freely of their time and money to aid the movement for it. from to they assisted every year the convention of the national woman suffrage association in washington, and afterwards whenever it was held in this city. its great celebration of miss susan b. anthony's th birthday in february, , gave a new impetus to the cause. the various societies had been organized in into the district of columbia state equal suffrage association, corresponding to those in the various states. the old parent society formed in and the first junior club were augmented by the political study club organized in , to study the origin, growth and government of cities and later agitating the question of placing women on boards of charities, schools, etc.; by the elizabeth cady stanton club, organized in , to take up the study of general taxation, methods of carrying on the public schools, tariff, finance and city government; by the college equal suffrage league, organized in and doing excellent work, and in by the anthony league, organized in primarily for suffrage, but taking up civic affairs. the woman suffrage council was formed from these societies in to aid the congressional committee of the national association at its branch headquarters in washington. the name was afterwards changed to equal franchise league when it was decided to keep the organization intact for the purpose of working for suffrage in the district. mrs. glenna smith tinnin was the first chairman, followed by mrs. george a. mosshart and mrs. louis brownlow. the d. c. state association held regular meetings about four times a year and some special sessions. it kept the woman suffrage sentiment active and was responsible for a great deal of progressive work. the following served as presidents: mrs. helen rand tindall, ; mrs. ellen powell thompson, ; mrs. carrie e. kent, ; mrs. tindall, ; mrs. kent, - ; mrs. mary l. talbott, - ; mrs. jessie waite wright, - - ; miss harriette j. j. hifton, - ; mrs. le droit barber, ; miss florence etheridge, ; mrs. nina e. allender, ; mrs. kent, ; miss mary o'toole, to .[ ] a number of prominent women in the district were officers of the local suffrage clubs and worked under their auspices, being connected through them with the d. c. state association. a part of the program of the latter in - was a study of fisk's civil government of the united states, laws affecting women and children, taxation and other subjects of public interest. there was also discussion of bills before congress of special interest to women and the association supported those for the protection of neglected and delinquent children, compulsory education and restriction of child labor. a bill to raise the salaries of public school teachers was strongly pressed. among those especially active were mrs. ellen spencer mussey, dr. emily young o'brien and mrs. alice stern gitterman. through their efforts two truant officers were appointed, one white and one colored. during this period the work was being done which led to the establishment of a juvenile court with one probation officer, mrs. charles darwin. in and the suffragists were active in agitating for women on the board of education and succeeded in having two white women and one colored woman appointed, as well as thirty women supervisors of the public playgrounds. in , also as a direct result of the efforts of mrs. helen rand tindall and other members of the association, two public comfort stations were built at a cost of $ , , with bath, rest rooms and all sanitary conveniences, the first in the city. the association and the college equal suffrage league sent representatives to a hearing before the commissioners to ask that if a referendum on the excise question should be taken women should have a vote as well as men. in the association assisted in the petition work of the national organization and paid the secretary who was in charge of their headquarters in washington for keeping them open evenings. under the auspices of the association lectures were given by mrs. emmeline pankhurst and mrs. ethel snowdon of england. in at a hearing granted to the national association by the judiciary committee of congress the district was represented by miss emma m. gillett and mrs. katharine reed balentine, who overheard one of its members say that if the women really wanted suffrage they should do something more than come up there to make speeches so as to have them cheaply printed and mailed without postage. miss gillett, who soon afterwards was made chairman of the national congressional committee, was so stimulated by this remark that at her request the d. c. state association raised $ and she herself contributed $ and used the fund to circularize every candidate for congress in the campaign. she appealed through the _woman's journal_ for contributions, but only $ were received. the circular asked seven searching questions covering all forms of woman suffrage. the answers were tabulated and sent out by the associated press. [see chapter x, volume v.] president seth low, of the national civic federation, called a conference in washington jan. - , , of delegates to be appointed by the governors of states and "presidents of commercial, agricultural, manufacturing, labor, financial, professional and other bodies national in extent." the program was to include discussions of "public health, pure food regulations, uniform divorce law and discrimination against married women as to the control of their children and property." the suffragists asked the commissioners to appoint women among the twelve delegates to represent the district, but this was not done. mr. low in answering mrs. carrie chapman catt's criticism that women delegates had not been invited, said it had not occurred to him that women would be interested but that he would place the name of the national suffrage association on the list for future calls of a like character. this year the clergymen of washington were circularized to ascertain their position on woman suffrage and the great field of usefulness it would offer for women in moral and social reforms was pointed out. miss hifton and miss anna c. kelton (afterwards mrs. harvey w. wiley) took charge of this work and the letters they sent received only eight answers, five in favor, two non-committal, one opposed. for the first time permission was obtained from the school board to post notices of the national suffrage convention in the school buildings, miss anna maclaren arranging for it. in representatives of the association addressed many conventions in washington and asked that resolutions favoring suffrage for women be passed. they were not successful but presented their cause. in - the suffragists were busy among other things in agitating the question of having a woman as juvenile court judge. president taft practically promised the appointment, but the male incumbent was allowed to hold over another year. a meeting of women lawyers was held and a committee appointed to call on attorney general wickersham to urge the name of mrs. ellen spencer mussey, then dean of the washington college of law. she was endorsed by several thousand men and women, over six hundred of whom were teachers in the public schools and familiar with mrs. mussey's excellent work on the board of education, but no woman was appointed. (in miss kathryn sellers, president of the college women's equal suffrage league, was appointed by president wilson.) on march , the day before the inauguration of woodrow wilson, for the first time women marched on pennsylvania avenue. the parade was arranged by the congressional committee of the national association, of which miss alice paul was chairman. objection being made by superintendent of police sylvester to giving a permit, the women appealed to the senate committee for the district on the ground that as citizens and tax-payers they had the right to use the avenue, and a joint resolution was passed by congress granting it. adequate police protection, however, was not given, indeed some of the police themselves hooted and jeered with the mob which attacked the paraders. doubtless it was composed of persons who had come from outside to the inauguration. it took three hours to march the mile from the peace monument to the treasury, where tableaux were given on the steps. finally it was necessary to call the troops from fort myer. the senate ordered an investigation and the police superintendent resigned. it was said that this parade won thousands of friends for the cause of woman suffrage. this year the congressional union was organized to work in the district and the states solely for the federal suffrage amendment, with miss paul chairman, miss lucy burns, mrs. crystal eastman, mrs. mary beard and mrs. lawrence lewis the other officers. it had its own headquarters and was not affiliated with the national american association. in the suffragists protested again, this time to the chamber of commerce, against a constitutional amendment sponsored by it to enfranchise the residents of the district, because it did not definitely state that women should be included. this protest was also taken up in the federation of women's clubs through the auxiliaries of the state suffrage association, which were affiliated with it. during and suffragists addressed all the civic bodies in washington on the necessity of including women in any measure looking to the enfranchisement of the residents of the district. as a result of this continuous agitation a compromise was reached to hold the question in abeyance until a constitutional amendment was passed enabling congress to grant suffrage to the district. the association as usual participated in commemorating the birthdays of mrs. stanton and miss anthony and placed wreaths on the bust of lincoln in the rotunda of the capitol. it joined in the contest with the school board which tried to exclude married women as teachers. during the closing years of the long campaign for woman suffrage street meetings were held. among those who helped in this work were mrs. frank hiram snell, miss florence f. stiles, miss elizabeth eggert, miss o'toole and miss sellers. receptions were given to the "yellow flier," the automobile sent across the continent by the national association, and to the "prairie schooner," the car sent by the just government league of maryland to tour its southern counties. miss o'toole travelled with the "schooner" two weeks, speaking several times a day. a delegation from the college league met it at the district line and a procession accompanied it into the city under police escort. in the evening a public reception was given at the washington college of law. from the association assisted the national association at its new headquarters, rhode island avenue, by serving tea afternoons and raising money through bazaars, rummage sales, card parties, etc. during all the suffrage societies in the district devoted their energies to war work and co-operated in every possible way with the woman's committee of national defense, whose headquarters were in washington, dr. anna howard shaw chairman. they rejoiced in the submission of the federal suffrage amendment by congress in and its ratification in , although notwithstanding their many years of loyalty and assistance to the national association they could receive no benefit from the victory. more women hold office in washington than in any city in the world because of their very extensive employment by the national government. when volume iv of the history of woman suffrage was written in an official statement gave the total number of government employees in the district as , men, , women, a total of , . at the request of mrs. helen h. gardener, a vice-president of the national woman suffrage association and a member of the u. s. civil service commission, the following information was sent in to be used in this volume, by the president of the commission, martin a. morrison: in the bureau of the census issued a report in which it was stated that men outnumbered women in the government service by about eleven to one in washington, d. c., and outside. the percentage of women in the district was much larger than outside for the reason that the great bulk of the employees in field branches are in services the duties of which are not ordinarily performed by women--the mechanical forces at navy yards, ordnance establishments, engineer departments, reclamation service projects, lighthouse service and the like; also the letter-carriers, city and rural, railway mail clerks and such classes. it is believed that the proportion of women to men in the entire service did not change materially until the beginning of the war. when the united states entered the war, there were approximately , employees in the executive civil service in the district of columbia, approximately two-fifths of them women. the force was increased by , during the war, of whom approximately per cent were women. the force has now been reduced to about , , of whom approximately , are women. the proportion of women is being constantly reduced by the return of former soldiers and sailors to civilian employment, who are allowed preference under the law. the federal civil service outside the district of columbia increased by approximately , during the war period, possibly one-third of this increase made up of women. that force numbers now about , as compared with , before the war and it seems safe to say that twenty per cent. are women. these positions are open to any who pass the civil service examinations but the chiefs of the bureaus and departments are appointed by the president, and secretaries of departments, and they have always been men. men have succeeded also in getting the highly paid positions under civil service. no law excludes women from the district offices. there are, of course, no elections. some officials are appointed by the president, some by the commissioners, and the supreme court of the district appoints the board of education, three of whose members must be women. in president wilson appointed miss kathryn sellers, a member of the district bar, to be judge of the juvenile court. this was largely due to the efforts of justice william hitz, of the district supreme court. the president appointed also mrs. clara sears taylor a member of the rent commission, created to consider rent problems growing out of the war, and miss mabel t. boardman as commissioner of the district. the commissioners appointed two women trustees of the public library. formerly it was necessary to make an effort to get women on the boards of charities, hospitals, etc., but now such places are seeking the women. within the past ten years many women graduates of the law schools have been appointed as law clerks in various departments, war risk, treasury, especially the income and customs divisions, and in the solicitor's office for the state department. the interior department appointed miss florence etheridge, at one time president of the d. c. state equal suffrage association, probate attorney for the cherokee indians. miss marie k. saunders was the first woman appointed patent examiner, as the result of a competitive examination, and she has been advanced until the next step is that of principal examiner. women hold important positions as secretaries of committees at the capitol. the board of commissioners appoint the superintendent of police and under major raymond j. pullman a woman's bureau was established in , after several women had been serving on the force. mrs. marian c. spingarn was made director. when she left washington the following year mrs. mina c. van winkle was appointed and continues to hold the position. to give her power she was made detective sergeant and in was promoted to a lieutenancy, so that she might legally be in command of a precinct where the woman's bureau is on the first floor of the house of detention and the preventive and protective work for women and children is directed. the functions of this bureau are very wide and very important and the work of the women police covers the entire city. the national appointments of women have attracted the attention not only of this but of other countries. they began in with the selection of miss julia c. lathrop of hull house, chicago, by president taft as chief of the newly created federal children's bureau, which position she still holds ( ). president wilson appointed mrs. frances c. axtell in a member of the federal employees' compensation commission; in mrs. helen h. gardener a member of the civil service commission; mrs. annette a. adams, u. s. attorney in san francisco, assistant attorney general; miss mary anderson, chief of the women's division of the department of labor. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss mary o'toole, attorney and counsellor at law, president of the district of columbia state equal suffrage association from to , when the federal amendment was ratified. appointed judge of the municipal court by president harding, aug. , . [ ] vice-presidents: justice wendell p. stafford, commissioner henry b. f. mcfarland, dr. william tindall, mrs. helen h. gardener, mrs. harvey w. wiley, mrs. belva a. lockwood, mrs. philander p. claxton, mrs. wesley, m. stoner, mrs. anna e. hendley, miss helen jamison, miss gertrude metcalf, miss catharine l. fleming, miss annie goebel, miss bertha a. yoder, mrs. c. c. farrar, dr. margaret s. potter, mrs. monroe hopkins, mrs. caleb miller, mrs. henry churchill cooke, mrs. ruth b. hensey, mrs. george easement. there were few years when dr. and mrs. tindall did not occupy some official position. corresponding secretaries: miss henrietta morrison, mrs. b. b. cheshire, mrs. jennie l. monroe, mrs. l. m. coope, mrs. ida finley mccrille, miss lavinia h. engle, miss abbie r. knapp, miss helen m. calkins, francis scott, mrs. rachel ezekiel, mrs. edna v. bryan. recording secretaries: miss emma m. gillett ( years), miss mary h. williams, mrs. jeannette m. bradley, miss josephine mason, mrs. sarah newman, mrs. louis ottenberg. treasurers: mrs. kate ward burt ( years), w. g. steward, mrs. alice p. rand. mrs. kent served in some official capacity from until her death in . auditors: george a. warren, miss edith harris, william lee, mrs. r. g. whiting, mrs. f. m. gregory, mrs. jessica penn hunter, miss audrey goss, mrs. l. aveihle, miss alice jenkins, mrs. jeanne f. brackett, mrs. sarah beall, mrs. frank pyle. many of the above named also filled other offices. among the names which appear in the records of the years as chairmen of committees, in addition to many of the above, are those of miss helen varick boswell, dr. clara mcnaughton, miss nettie lovisa white, mrs. katharine reed balentine and miss abby t. nicholls. chapter ix. florida.[ ] with the removal from the state of mrs. ella c. chamberlain in and no one found to take the leadership, the cause of woman suffrage, which was represented only by the one society at her home in tampa, languished for years. in john schnarr, a prominent business man of orlando, circulated a petition to congress for a federal suffrage amendment which was sent down by the national association and obtained numerous signatures. it is interesting to note that, from the beginning of the suffrage movement in florida, men as well as women have been its active supporters. as the years passed and the movement waxed strong throughout the country and important victories were won, the women of florida imbibed the spirit of their day and generation. it became a frequent topic of discussion and women in various places began to realize the need of organization. on june , , the equal franchise league was organized at jacksonville in the home of mrs. herbert anderson by herself and mrs. katherine livingstone eagan, with about thirty ladies present. monthly meetings were held in a room in a large new office building given them for headquarters by the owners and forty-five members were enrolled. mrs. eagan, the president, soon went to paris and her duties fell upon the vice-president, mrs. roselle c. cooley; the secretary, miss frances anderson, and the other officers. in the autumn two leading suffragists, who were attending the national child labor convention, were invited to address the league, but neither the board of trade nor the woman's club would rent its auditorium for a suffrage meeting, so they had to open a door between their headquarters and an adjoining room and a large audience was present. the league affiliated with the national american suffrage association, which the next year sent a field worker to help in legislative work. in it published a special edition of _the state_, which was put into the hands of all the florida members of congress and the legislature. mrs. medill mccormick, chairman of the national congressional committee, sent one of the national workers, miss lavinia engle, to assist. this year mr. heard, president of the heard national bank, gave the league the use of a large front room on its first office floor. on feb. , , the political equality club of lake helen was formed with mrs. s. a. armstrong president and mrs. irene adams secretary. on the th the equal suffrage league of orlando was organized with the rev. mary a. safford president, and in october the first demand for suffrage was made here. the mayor issued a notice that all freeholders must register for the sewerage bond election by the th, and a few suffragists saw their opportunity. very secretly and hurriedly, before the mayor could get word of it and give notice that the election was meant for men only, miss emma hainer and mrs. helen starbuck gathered together several women who owned valuable property and they went to the city clerk's office and announced that they had come in response to the mayor's call to register for the coming election. he referred them to the mayor, who referred them to the council, which referred them to the city attorney. he told them that the law did not permit women to register. this they knew, but their action caused a discussion of the question and disclosed a widespread belief that women should have the right to vote. at a meeting of the executive board of the orlando league in the home of mrs. j. c. patterson april the question of forming a state association was earnestly considered and miss safford was requested to prepare a "call" for this purpose. soon afterwards she and mrs. starbuck were sent to tallahassee by the league to aid the suffrage work being done in the legislature. here the great need of a state organization was very apparent, as legislators constantly asked, "where are the suffragists from my district?" during the summer through conversation with interested suffragists and correspondence with mrs. cooley, president of the jacksonville league, arrangements were made for calling a convention to organize a state association at orlando at the time of the meeting of the state federation of women's clubs. this took place nov. , , miss safford was chairman, mrs. isabel stanley secretary of the convention and addresses were made by women from half a dozen towns. a committee was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws which reported at an adjourned meeting on the th, when they were adopted and the following officers for the state equal suffrage association were elected: president, miss safford, orlando; first vice-president, mrs. c. j. huber, webster; second, mrs. ella chamberlain, tampa; third, miss caroline brevard, tallahassee; corresponding secretary, miss elizabeth askew, tampa; recording secretary, miss frances b. anderson, jacksonville; treasurer, mrs. john schnarr, orlando; auditors, mrs. anna andrus, miami, and mrs. j. m. thayer, orlando. in miss safford published a bulletin, showing that the state association had auxiliaries in jacksonville, lake helen, orlando, zellwood, pine castle, winter park, pensacola, milton, miami, tampa, and a men's equal suffrage league in orlando with mayor e. f. sperry as president and justin van buskirk as secretary. miss kate m. gordon, president of the southern woman's suffrage conference, had held a successful meeting in jacksonville. the orlando league had had a float in the trades' parade of the midwinter fair and a booth at the fair where the names of voters in favor of submitting a state suffrage amendment were obtained. it had had "teas" for replenishing the treasury and closed the year with a banquet complimentary to the men's league. a committee was preparing a program on the laws of the state for the next year's work. the pensacola league was arranging to issue a special edition of the _journal_ and have a booth at the tri-county fair. most of the leagues had formed classes to study history and the duties of citizenship and had distributed literature and some of them had held a celebration on may , as the national association had requested. the first annual convention, held at pensacola, dec. - , , stressed the pledging of candidates for congress and legislature and securing signatures to petitions. the second, at orlando, feb. , , formed congressional districts, according to the plan of the national association. the third, at miami, march - , , arranged for suffrage schools and planned to assist work outside the state. the fourth, at tampa, nov. , , found the members busy with war work. the fifth, at daytona, nov. , , planned to introduce a bill for primary suffrage in the legislature and co-operate with the federation of women's clubs to secure it. the sixth, at tampa, oct. - , , was devoted to plans for ratification of the federal suffrage amendment and citizenship. while the state association could show no definite accomplishment, its work had been largely educational and a considerable public sentiment in favor of woman suffrage had been created. its organization and growth center about the name of the rev. mary augusta safford, a pioneer worker in the suffrage cause in several states. she came in to make florida her home from des moines, iowa, where she had been pastor of the unitarian church for eleven years. her energy, enthusiasm and devotion carried all before her and but for her organization might have been delayed for years. for four years she was the untiring state president, then mrs. frank stranahan served in , miss safford again in . the following, in addition to those elsewhere mentioned, are among those prominent in the suffrage work in the state: mrs. a. e. mcdavid, miss minnie kehoe, pensacola; mrs. susan b. dyer, winter park; mrs. h. w. thompson, miss c. h. day, milton; mrs. s. v. moore, cocoanut grove; mrs. kate c. havens, miami; miss pleasaunce baker, zellwood; mrs. grace hanchett, orlando. from its beginning the association worked for the federal suffrage amendment, although it tried also to obtain from the legislature the submission of a state amendment to the voters. in dr. anna howard shaw, the national president, assisted miss safford and the other workers in holding conventions in several congressional districts. many local meetings were held, much literature distributed, resolutions secured and legislators interviewed. the federation of women's clubs, the largest organization of women in the state, endorsed the movement. in miss safford went for a month to assist the campaign in iowa, to which the association sent $ , and the vice-president, mrs. frank tracy, directed the state work. new leagues were formed, delegates to the national presidential conventions were interviewed and florida women attended those in chicago and st. louis. dr. shaw was present at the state convention where members were reported and the distribution of packages of literature. a series of meetings was held in cooperation with the congressional committee of the national association and work in the legislature was done. by a number of counties had been organized and the state convention, encouraged by the granting of primary suffrage to women in arkansas and texas, decided to make this its legislative work for , and plans were made to raise $ , through local conferences. a state organizer was put into the field and the national association sent its recording secretary, mrs. halsey w. wilson, a trained worker, to assist the state organization. in january, , dr. shaw attended a conference at orlando and $ , were raised; later at a conference in tampa, $ and at one in miami and west palm beach $ . miss elizabeth skinner was appointed state organizer and the national association sent one of its most capable organizers, mrs. maria mcmahon. the county chairmen had obtained nearly , signatures to petitions to the legislature and an active campaign was undertaken for primary suffrage. in january, , the national association's congressional committee sent its secretary, mrs. minnie fisher cunningham of arkansas, and its press secretary, miss marjorie shuler of new york, to spend several weeks in a quiet campaign to influence u. s. senator park trammell to cast his vote for the federal suffrage amendment, this being considered useless in the case of senator duncan u. fletcher. they secured newspaper comment in favor, interviews with prominent people and resolutions from conventions, but these had no effect. at the annual convention in october the following officers were elected: president, mrs. john t. fuller, orlando; first vice-president, mrs. edgar a. lewis, fort pierce; second, miss elizabeth skinner, dunedin; third, dr. minerva b. cushman, st. petersburg; corresponding secretary, mrs. w. r. o'neal, orlando; recording secretary, mrs. c. e. hawkins, brooksville; treasurer, mrs. clara b. worthington, tampa; auditors, mrs. j. w. mccollum, mrs. j. d. stringfellow, gainesville; legislative committee, mrs. amos norris, chairman, tampa. a memorial meeting was held for dr. shaw, who had died july . the annual meeting in took place in orlando. mrs. fuller was re-elected and plans for extensive work were made but the association was not quite ready to merge into a league of women voters. this was done april , , and mrs. j. b. o'hara was elected chairman. legislative action. before the state association was organized the equal franchise league of jacksonville decided to ask the legislature, which met in april, , to submit to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution. a bill was prepared and an appeal for assistance made to the national american association. in response it sent its very capable field worker, miss jeannette rankin, who went with the executive officers of the league to tallahassee. its president, mrs. roselle c. cooley, said in her report: "the house of representatives decided to hear us in a committee of the whole, at an evening session. in this case it meant the whole house, the whole senate and the whole town. seats, aisles, the steps of the speaker's rostrum were filled, windows had people sitting in them and in the hall as far as one could see people were standing on chairs to hear the first call for the rights of women ever uttered in the capitol of florida. four women and three men spoke, the vote of the committee was publicly called at the close of the speaking and the bill passed into the house of representatives without recommendation. weary days and weeks of waiting, time wasted on petty legislation, members going home for week-ends and not returning for monday work kept us still anxious. at length the bill was called and the vote was ayes to noes. "as we were leaving for our homes on saturday evening a senator said: 'if you will come into the senate we will show those men how to treat ladies.' so we went back on monday and were fortunate in having for our sponsor senator cone of columbia county, the leader of the senate. he took up our bill, placed it on the special calendar and advised us in our procedure, the bill having come into the senate with favorable recommendation from the committee. again the weary waiting, the petty legislation, the filibustering of the 'corporation' members and the whisky men, and at last a motion to postpone indefinitely was carried by one majority, to , the sixteenth man being one who had been with us from the first until this moment." the legislature meets every two years and in the state association, which had now sixteen well organized branches, was sponsor for the bill, or resolution, and a large number of legislators had promised their support. hearings were granted by both houses, but it was defeated. in strenuous efforts were again made in behalf of a state constitutional amendment. mrs. william jennings bryan, who now had a winter home in florida, was among those who addressed the legislature in favor of it, and on april the resolution to submit the amendment passed the senate by to . the struggle was then begun in the house but the corporate and liquor interests combined with the non-progressive character of many of the members accomplished its defeat. in april, , the state federation of women's clubs, which now had a suffrage chairman, co-operated with the state equal suffrage association in the effort to obtain a primary suffrage bill, such as had been passed by the legislatures of arkansas and texas. mrs. mcmahon, a national organizer, and miss skinner did organizing and legislative work from march to april . the former was sent to work for presidential suffrage, but the state board believed that primary suffrage had a better chance. this, however, met with so much opposition that it was never brought up. the moment the federal amendment was submitted by congress a delegation of women--mrs. frank stranahan, chairman of the legislative committee; dr. safford, mrs. w. s. jennings, mrs. edgar a. lewis--went to tallahassee to try to have the legislature ratify it, arriving one day before adjournment. they quickly canvassed the members and found a small majority willing to vote for it but there was no time. governor sidney j. catts could have called a special session for the next day but insisted that there was no assurance of ratification, as some of the men listed as favorable were in the habit of changing their vote, and he did not want to put the members on record. some of them who were alleged to be supporters declared that they would not stay over even for one day. it was impossible to persuade the governor to call a special session at any time afterwards, but in florida women were enfranchised by this amendment. suffrage. by special acts of the legislature, charters were granted to various cities giving municipal suffrage to women and the voters accepted them. sixteen towns had such a charter: felsmere, aurantia, cocoa, orange city, deland, west palm beach, delray, florence villa (where dr. anna howard shaw had a winter home for a number of years), miami, fort lauderdale, moore haven, orlando, clearwater, dunedin, st. petersburg, tarpon springs. felsmere was the pioneer, receiving its charter in . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to alice g. (mrs. george) kollock, prominent in the work for woman suffrage in florida, with thanks to others who assisted. chapter x. georgia.[ ] the first suffrage society in georgia was formed at columbus in and the second in atlanta in . here the first state convention was held in and the state association, auxiliary to the national american woman suffrage association, never ceased its labors until the year following the ratification of the federal woman suffrage amendment. mrs. mclendon became an officer in and held official position during the entire twenty-nine years. for thirteen years she was vice-president or honorary president and for the remainder of the time president of the association. mrs. thomas was second honorary president for five years before her death in . the following served as presidents: miss h. augusta howard, - ; mrs. frances cater swift, - ; mrs. mary l. mclendon, - ; mrs. gertrude c. thomas, - ; miss katherine koch, - ; mrs. rose y. colvin, - ; mrs. mary l. mclendon, - .[ ] in the same suffrage measures presented the year before were again offered to the legislature with the same barren result. the southern chautauqua invited the association to hold an all day meeting and also engaged miss frances a. griffin of alabama to lecture. f. henry richardson, editor of the atlanta _journal_, and lucian knight, editor of the atlanta _constitution_, brought the "woman's rights movement" as prominently before the public as they were permitted to do by the managers of those newspapers. on nov. , , , the state convention was held in the universalist church of atlanta. addresses were made by mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national association; mrs. thomas, mrs. alice daniels and mrs. mclendon. the meeting adjourned early in the afternoon to go to the atlanta women's club room, where mrs. catt was invited to address that body. the night meeting was held in the hall of the house of representatives, where mrs. catt, mr. richardson and the hon. robert r. hemphill of south carolina addressed a large and appreciative audience. the convention decided to employ a state lecturer and organizer. with but two exceptions state conventions or conferences were held every year, always in atlanta until , in the congregational and universalist churches, in the grand building, the hall of the federation of labor, the carnegie library, the hotel ansley and the piedmont hotel. the membership gradually increased, a series of literary meetings in the winter of adding fifty names. this year a committee was appointed to revise the charter of atlanta and the officers of the association appeared before it and asked that it include municipal suffrage for women. the sub-committee on franchises recommended that instead it provide for women on school, hospital, park and health boards, but the general committee reported adversely. the atlanta branch protested to mayor livingstone mims against the injustice of not allowing women taxpayers to vote on the proposed $ , bond issue. he expressed himself in favor of woman suffrage and promised to bring the matter before the city council, but there was no result. miss kate m. gordon, national corresponding secretary, gave a most convincing address in the carnegie library the next year, , on how the taxpaying women of louisiana won the right to vote on questions of taxation; strong articles were published, but all the women were able to do was to post large placards at the polls, "taxpaying women should be allowed to vote at this bond election." dr. anna howard shaw, national vice-president-at-large, came to assist at the state convention and delivered her famous lecture, "the fate of republics." this year the association distributed , pages of suffrage literature at the interstate fair. it attempted to bring a bill before the legislature for police matrons but not a member would introduce it. during these years the suffragists found it very difficult to persuade a legislator to present a bill for raising the age of consent or compulsory education in order to take the young children out of the factories or for the enfranchisement of women. in , at the request of the national association that fraternal greetings should be sent to various organizations, mrs. mclendon, who had been a member of the women's christian temperance union since , carried them to its convention and made an earnest but unsuccessful effort to have it adopt a franchise department. thousands of pieces of suffrage literature were distributed at the state fair. in memorial services were held for the great leader, susan b. anthony, and the association carried out to its full power all the state work planned by the national board, including a petition to the legislature to pass a resolution asking congress to submit a federal suffrage amendment. the membership of the association was increased in by the addition of three prominent w. c. t. u. officials, mrs. j. j. ansley, mrs. jennie hart sibley and mrs. l. w. walker, who were promptly appointed superintendents of church work, legislation and petition and christian citizenship. miss jean gordon of new orleans and mrs. florence kelley of new york made splendid addresses in favor of woman suffrage when they came to atlanta in april to attend the child labor convention. dr. shaw gave a stirring suffrage speech in the hall of the house of representatives on may . the evening sessions of the annual convention in were held in the senate chamber of the capitol. miss laura clay, mrs. sibley, miss h. augusta howard and w. s. witham were the speakers, with mrs. mclendon presiding. miss clay's address, entitled who works against woman suffrage? created a profound impression and she was of much assistance. mrs. mclendon was invited to speak before the convention of the georgia agricultural association, one of the oldest in the state, on woman's education and woman's rights. a rising vote of thanks was accorded her and the address ordered printed in the minutes. the state prohibition convention placed a strong woman suffrage plank in its platform and the delegates to the national convention were instructed to vote for one if it was offered. mr. witham, the rev. james a. gordon and mr. barker, editor of _the southern star_, worked faithfully for this plank. in , at the request of the national association, letters were written to georgia's senators and representatives in congress, asking them to vote for a federal woman suffrage amendment. polite but non-committal replies were received from senators clay and bacon and representatives griggs and lewis. the other eight evidently did not consider disfranchised women worthy of an answer. the city council of atlanta decided that its charter was forty years behind the times and again a committee of forty-nine men was appointed to draw up a new one. the civic league, an atlanta auxiliary to the state suffrage association, set to work to have this new charter recognize the rights of the women taxpayers. it was discovered that the women paid taxes on more than $ , , worth of real and personal property in the city. several hundred personal letters were written to leading taxpaying women asking their opinion of the league's movement; only favorable replies were received and many friends of the cause developed among the influential women. strong articles were published in the city papers and widely copied throughout the state, but the charter entirely ignored the claims of women. many letters were written to republican and democratic delegates asking them to vote for a suffrage plank in their platforms. the annual convention was not held in macon, as intended, because there was so much sentiment against it in that city. this year women in the methodist church south became active to secure laity rights, which had been granted to women members in the north, east and west after they had worked years for it, but the bishops in the south were bitterly opposed to it. mrs. mary harris armor, the well-known national organizer and lecturer for the w. c. t. u., and four years president for georgia, joined the suffrage association. the national association's petition to congress had been distributed throughout the state for signatures and returned to washington. in letters were written to president taft, to the members of congress from georgia and to governor "joe" brown, as requested by dr. shaw, national president. senator clay and representatives w. c. brantley, s. a. roddenberry and w. c. adamson were the only ones who could spare time to answer. atlanta was to have an election for a three-million dollar bond issue on february , susan b. anthony's birthday, and the mayor and president of the chamber of commerce had appealed to the city federation of women's clubs to "make the men go to the polls to vote for bonds." the suffragists distributed broadcast a poster headed by a cartoon by louis gregg representing women of all sorts, armed with brooms, umbrellas, rolling pins, etc., driving the men to the polls. over , pages of suffrage literature were distributed in the state, a considerable amount of it to young people engaging in debates or writing essays. dr. james w. lee and dr. frank m. siler, methodist ministers of atlanta, fearlessly expressed themselves in their pulpits as in favor of the enfranchisement of women, regardless of the fact that bishop warren a. candler was bitterly opposed to it. dr. len g. broughton of the baptist church and dr. dean ellenwood of the universalist also declared themselves as favoring equal rights in church and state for women. judge john l. hopkins, one of georgia's foremost lawyers, who codified the laws, proclaimed himself a believer in equal rights for women in a letter to the _constitution_. in june when it was again proposed to revise the charter of atlanta, a committee from the civic league went before the charter committee and presented a petition asking municipal suffrage for women. later at a meeting of the city council the petition was brought up for consideration and was treated with ridicule and contempt. on august the association held its convention in the hall of the federation of labor, its true friend. walter mcelreath of fulton county offered a resolution that the house of representatives should be tendered for the evening session, but joe bill hall, a noted anti-prohibitionist and anti-suffragist, marshalled the liquor men and they defeated it. in the state association conformed to the plan of the national and appointed a committee of education, who would offer money prizes for the best essays on woman suffrage by the seniors of the high schools, with mrs. helmer chairman and miss koch secretary. it worked vigorously for the bill to permit women to practice law. mrs. rebecca latimer felton became a member and was elected a delegate to the national suffrage convention in philadelphia. attorney leonard j. grossman joined the association and was made general counsel. in , while mr. grossman was attending the convention of the national american woman suffrage association as a delegate, he was requested by james lees laidlaw, president of the national men's league for woman suffrage, to undertake the organization of a georgia men's league. he did so immediately on returning home, with the following officers: president, mr. grossman; vice-presidents, the rev. fred a. line, the rev. j. wade conkling, c. w. mcclure, dr. frank peck, e. l. martin, ex-president macon chamber of commerce; s. b. marks and l. marquardt, ex-presidents of the state federation of labor. mr. grossman toured the state on behalf of woman suffrage under the joint auspices of the men's league and the state association. he drafted, at their request, proposed bills and ratification resolutions; appeared before the annual conventions of the federation of labor, obtaining their formal endorsement of woman suffrage; secured also the endorsement of the civic educational league, comprising a great majority of the jewish citizens of atlanta; occupied church pulpits and addressed women's clubs, civic bodies, city councils and legislative committees. the members of the men's league gave whatever assistance was required. the many state victories in put new life into the movement in . the georgia young people's suffrage association was organized with miss ruth buckholz as president. to represent the association mrs. amelia r. woodall, corresponding, and miss katherine koch, recording secretary; miss mamie matthews, treasurer of the young people's society, mrs. landis sanna, mrs. margaret gardner, editor trox bankston of west point and j. j. williams of chatterton, were sent to washington to march in the parade on march . they carried the suffrage flag made for the national convention in atlanta in , with two handsome yellow banners prepared especially for the parade. five bills before the legislature were supported this year as well as the federal amendment. when presidential suffrage was given to illinois women in , the atlanta _constitution_ was so impressed with the "nearness" of woman suffrage that it created a suffrage department and offered the editorship to mrs. mclendon. u. s. senators hoke smith and augustus o. bacon had been obliged to present the petition of georgia suffragists asking for the federal amendment, but no beautiful speeches were made by them. senator smith had been on record all his life as being "unalterably opposed to woman suffrage" and voted against it whenever he had opportunity, adding insult to injury by declaring, "our best women do not want it." senator w. s. west, who succeeded senator bacon, was more amenable to reason, but senator thomas w. hardwick, who followed after mr. west's death, has been an implacable opponent. for the second time the atlanta federation tendered the use of its beautiful temple of labor for the day sessions of the state convention which met july , . the legislature was persuaded by john y. smith of fulton county to permit an evening session in the house of representatives. senator starke opposed the use of the senate chamber "because christ did not select women for his disciples" but saner counsels prevailed and it was opened for a session. during there were meetings in atlanta, rome, athens, decatur, macon and bainbridge by the auxiliary societies, with five open air meetings. on march a mass meeting was held in the atlanta theater to which members of the legislature were especially invited. the speakers were officers of the national association, including the vice-president, miss jane addams. to enlarge the scope of the work there was organized in february the woman suffrage party incorporated, as a branch of the state association, with mrs. mclendon president. it secured a charter and prepared for an aggressive state-wide suffrage campaign. a chairman for each of the twelve congressional districts was appointed and instructed to organize in her district. this year for the first time a hearing was granted before the house committee on constitutional amendments. mrs. felton and mrs. rose ashby spoke for the association, mrs. cheatham and mrs. frances smith whiteside for the woman suffrage league. the association distributed , pages of leaflets, fliers, newspapers, etc.; about a dozen of the leading newspapers were supplied with local and national suffrage news and members of the legislature with suffrage literature. in , when the first national w. c. t. u. convention was held in atlanta, woman suffrage was a forbidden subject at all temperance meetings in georgia. in , when the second was held, mrs. mclendon, president of the state suffrage association, was selected to welcome the white ribboners in behalf of the suffragists of the state.[ ] the annual convention of the state association was held july , , in the ballroom of the hotel ansley, beautifully decorated for the occasion. miss kate m. gordon aided largely in making it a success. mrs. annie fletcher of oldham, england, visited atlanta this year and spoke on the suffrage situation there. mrs. georgia mcintyre wheeler, a practicing attorney of west virginia, helped greatly in securing the woman lawyer bill. atlanta and waycross suffragists applied to the city governments to grant women municipal suffrage. the association did not parade on may , as requested by the national board, but the president made a suffrage speech on the steps of the state capitol and members sold copies of the _woman's journal_. the rev. a. m. hewlett, pastor of st. marks methodist church south, accompanied mrs. mclendon and attorney grossman to cox college in march and by invitation of its president they gave addresses in favor of suffrage for women before the student body. there was a growing sentiment in favor of it among clergymen of various denominations. the state convention was held in atlanta nov. - , , at the same time as the harvest festival, and the first suffrage parade took place, led by miss eleanor raoul on horseback. mrs. mclendon followed in the little yellow car which once belonged to dr. shaw, driven by mrs. loring raoul. as a protest against taxation without representation dr. shaw allowed it to be sold for taxes and it was bought by miss sallie fannie gleaton of conyers, who walked behind it in the parade. the suffrage carriages were decorated with yellow, those of the w. c. t. u. with white. mrs. william r. woodall, president of the atlanta association, and miss katherine koch had carried on a suffrage school the first and second wednesdays from february to december . the motion picture suffrage play your girl and mine had been put on in the grand opera house. the branch in rome published an official organ called _the woman's magazine_. in february, , the state association and its three auxiliaries in atlanta worked with the equal suffrage party and the woman suffrage league to secure , names to a petition to the city council asking for the municipal franchise. state senator helen ring robinson of colorado and mesdames brooks, kenney and horine of washington, d. c., came to their assistance. there were street speaking from automobiles at night and meetings at private residences and they secured over , names. the city council gave a hearing, the hon. claude peyton making the presentation speech. the members listened apathetically and appeared much relieved when attorney robert m. blackburn assured them they could not give women municipal suffrage, as the state constitution declared only male citizens could vote. letters were sent to the delegates to the two national conventions of the dominant political parties, asking them to put a strong suffrage plank in their platforms and mrs. woodall and mrs. laura couzzens responded to mrs. catt's call for marchers at the chicago and st. louis conventions. governor n. e. harris refused to include woman suffrage in the call for the special session of the legislature which made the state "bone dry," but this year it enacted a number of laws for which the association had long worked. on feb. , , , officers of the national association held a suffrage school in atlanta. when the legislature assembled in june all the members found on their desks a notice that bills granting municipal suffrage to women, also full suffrage, and one to raise the age of consent from years to would be introduced. the state association sent the national suffrage organ, the _woman citizen_, for a year to the united states senators and fourteen representatives in congress; to the members of the legislature and all state officials. the atlanta association again conducted a three months' suffrage school. the state convention in december in the assembly hall of the piedmont hotel closed with a luncheon at which many prominent men and women were present. representatives john c. white and john y. smith at that time pledged themselves to introduce and work for suffrage bills. during this and the following year the suffrage associations did their full share of war work. mrs. mclendon represented the state association on the women's council of national defense, and mrs. martin, first vice-president, was chairman of the state americanization committee. in the parent-teacher association adopted strong suffrage resolutions. the baptist and methodist churches south granted laity rights to women. state suffrage headquarters were deluged with requests for literature by educational institutions for debates. the state superintendent of public instruction, professor m. l. brittain, had been an advocate of votes for women many years. the atlanta _journal_ gave the state association a column in its sunday issues, which mrs. martin edited. raymond e. white wrote a number of fine suffrage editorials for the _constitution_. in july the hearst papers circulated a petition for a federal suffrage amendment and the atlanta association secured , names and other auxiliaries , . on may , , a progressive city democratic central committee gave atlanta women the right to vote in the municipal primary election to be held september . a central committee of women citizens was at once elected at a mass meeting of women to see that they registered and nearly , did so, paying one dollar for the privilege. mrs. mclendon represented the state association at the convention of the national association in st. louis in march, . on may she and her sister, mrs. felton, sat in the house of representatives in washington and had the pleasure of hearing w. d. upshaw, member from the fifth congressional district of georgia, vote for the submission of the federal suffrage amendment, the only representative from the state to do so. on june the new u. s. senator, william j. harris of georgia, voted for the submission of this amendment, giving one of the long needed two votes. the official board of the state association through mrs. mclendon mailed to each member of the legislature a personal letter with copies of letters from mrs. j. k. ottley, the democratic executive committee woman from georgia, and the eminent clergyman, dr. j. b. gambrell, urging the members to ratify the federal suffrage amendment. the annual convention of was held in the auditorium of the hotel piedmont, atlanta, on december . a league of women voters was organized in atlanta in march, , out of the equal suffrage party, but the state association decided that this action was premature, since there were no women voters in georgia, and that the old association, organized in , would never disband until women could vote on the same terms as men. on june , in response to a petition of fifty representative women of atlanta, a hearing in charge of mrs. mclendon was granted by the chairman of the democratic executive committee, at the request of mayor key. after a number had spoken a motion was made to let the women vote in the white municipal primary in atlanta and was carried with only four negative votes. the atlanta and the young people's suffrage associations endorsed the re-election of mayor key and worked for him, and he was returned by a majority of three to one on july . afterwards several other cities and villages permitted women to vote in the primaries and on bond issues. after the federal suffrage amendment was ratified in august , it was announced that women would not be permitted to register and vote in the primary on september and the runover primary of october for the general election because they had not registered for it in april and may, which they had no right to do. when the legislature had assembled june , mrs. mclendon, mrs. martin and mrs. woodall had called on representatives covington and john y. smith and senators elders dorris and pittman and begged them to introduce an enabling act to provide for the women to vote in november if the th amendment should be ratified. they promised faithfully to do this and the senators did so, but it was held back. the representatives never did introduce it. mrs. mclendon then appealed to governor dorsey, but he was candidate for u. s. senator and had no time to attend to it. the legislature adjourned and the women were left in the lurch. then mrs. mclendon decided to make a test and see if women could not vote in the primary on september , as the returned soldiers who did not reach georgia before may were allowed to vote in all elections without registering. she wired to senator fermor barrett of stevens county, chairman of the sub-committee of the state democratic executive committee, asking him to call it together and see if it could provide some way. he called it to meet in atlanta on september , and he and h. h. dean made speeches and voted to try to arrange it, but the other five members voted against it. mrs. mclendon then went to the chairman of the county democratic executive committee and he refused to take any action, saying, "our committee is only the agent of the state committee and must obey its mandates." then she and mrs. julia h. ellington, mrs. jane adkins and mrs. nancy duncan called on the tax collector and asked to be allowed to pay their state and county taxes and to register. they were sent to the chairman of the registration committee and he also refused to enroll their names. then they went to the polls september and were told, "no women voting here." mrs. mclendon telegraphed to bainbridge colby, secretary of state, who answered: "the matter to which you refer is not within the province of this department and i am not in a position to give you any advice with regard thereto." she next asked governor dorsey to call an extra session of the legislature to provide some way for the women to vote in the general election, but he said he could not. then she went to a full meeting of the state democratic executive committee, held september , but no chance to be heard was given her. the next day she attended a meeting of the fulton county commissioners, who declared their willingness but their inability to do anything. she then called on attorney general r. a. denny, who advised her to go to the polls and make the effort, saying: "the th amendment is above the laws of any state." women in georgia, however, were not permitted to vote at the presidential election two months after they had been enfranchised by this amendment. legislative action. the first request for woman suffrage was put before the legislature in , the last in , and in the interim every session had this subject before it, with petitions signed by thousands of women, but during the quarter of a century it did not give one scrap of suffrage to the women of the state. from bills for the following measures were kept continuously before it: age of protection for girls to be raised from years; co-guardianship of children; prevention of employment of children under or years old in factories; women on boards of education; opening of the colleges to women. year after year these bills were smothered in committees or reported unfavorably or defeated, usually by large majorities. in a bill was passed enabling women to be notaries public; in one permitting women to practice law, which the suffragists had worked for since ; in one raising the age of consent to . the suffrage association had worked for it twenty-three years and always asked that the age be . * * * * * in another association to further the movement for woman suffrage was formed in atlanta, the woman suffrage league, and mrs. frances smith whiteside, who had been from early days a member of the old association, was elected president. mrs. whiteside was for thirty years principal of the ivy street school and during the first ten years of the existence of the state association she was the only teacher who dared avow herself a member, as the very name of suffrage was so odious to the public. through her family connections and wide acquaintance she was able to exercise a strong personal influence in bringing well-known men and women to a belief in this cause. the league did active work among teachers and business women and converted some of the leading legislators. it inaugurated an educational campaign in the schools and gave business scholarships for the best essays on woman suffrage. in co-operation with the other associations it obtained signatures to petitions for the municipal franchise. the first street speaking was done under its auspices. when leagues of women voters were authorized by the national american suffrage association in , the organization disbanded and the members entered the league formed in georgia. mrs. whiteside had been continually the president and there had been only two changes in the board of the following officers: first vice-president, mrs. elizabeth mccarty; second, miss laura barrien; corresponding secretary, mrs. jack hawkins; recording secretaries, mrs. william h. yeandle, mrs. mary peyton; treasurer, miss ethel merk; auditors, mrs. a. g. helmer, miss minnie bellamy. mrs. yeandle died in and mrs. mary peyton was elected in her place. this year mrs. helmer became president of a branch league and was succeeded as auditor by miss minnie bellamy. the equal suffrage party of georgia.[ ] for some time there had seemed a necessity in georgia for an organization which would undertake more aggressive work in behalf of woman suffrage. early in the psychological time for it became apparent and a meeting was held at the home of mrs. emily c. mcdougald in atlanta. a group of influential men and women were present, who declared themselves in favor of an active campaign and pledged their support. on motion of linton c. hopkins a committee was appointed to nominate temporary officers, and reported for president mrs. mcdougald; for vice-president, mrs. hopkins, and for secretary, mrs. hugh lokey. a constitution and by-laws were adopted and a petition for a state charter was filed under the name of the equal suffrage party of georgia. on july a meeting was called for permanent organization and with representatives from different parts of the state present the following were elected: president, mrs. mcdougald; first vice-president, mrs. john dozier pou of columbia; second, miss mildred cunningham of savannah; secretary, mrs. henry schlesinger; treasurer, mrs. benjamin elsas; organizer, mrs. mary raoul millis; auditor, miss genevieve saunders, all of atlanta. members of the executive board were: mrs. mary meade owens of augusta; mrs. mayhew cunningham of savannah; miss anna griffin of columbus; mrs. charles c. harrold of macon. affiliated branches were organized with presidents as follows: in savannah, mrs. f. p. mcintire; in augusta, mrs. owens; in columbus, miss anabel redd; in atlanta, miss eleanore raoul; in macon, mrs. harrold; in athens, mrs. w. b. hill; in albany, mrs. d. h. redfearn. from these centers a great deal of work was done for suffrage in the adjacent smaller towns. the city organizations opened offices and committees of local women were put in charge of the work of raising money and distributing suffrage propaganda. tens of thousands of letters, leaflets, books and speeches were distributed throughout the state. all of the women's clubs were urged to endorse suffrage; schools were asked to debate the subject and prizes offered for the best arguments in debate and in written composition. suffrage parades on foot and in automobiles were had in all the cities, suffrage plays put into the theaters, suffrage slides into the movies and every means of educating the public was used. the best national speakers were brought into the state and immense audiences worked up for them. the beloved dr. anna howard shaw spoke in atlanta to one of , . the national american woman suffrage association, of which the equal suffrage party was an affiliated branch, gave hearty co-operation in securing these speakers. the party held annual conventions, where new officers were generally elected as a matter of democratic policy. the second took place in atlanta nov. , , where mrs. mcdougald was re-elected president and the other officers selected were mrs. j. d. pou of columbus, first vice-president; mrs. cunningham, second; miss schlesinger, secretary; miss aurelia roach, treasurer; mrs. millis, organizer. the party already had branches in counties, including the largest cities. the annual convention on oct. , , was held in atlanta and mrs. l. s. arrington of augusta was elected president; mrs. s. b. c. morgan of savannah, first vice-president; mrs. harrold, second; miss julia flisch, secretary, and miss annie g. wright, treasurer, both of augusta. the effort in atlanta to secure a petition for municipal suffrage for women had resulted in obtaining the signatures of , women and , men. all the delegates to three national presidential conventions had been circularized in behalf of a plank for federal woman suffrage, and all the members of the legislature asking for the submission of a state amendment. the next annual convention was held in augusta nov. , , and mrs. frank p. mcintire of savannah was selected for president. the convention was omitted in , as the women were occupied with war work. at the convention held in savannah jan. , , mrs. mcdougald was again elected president. the splendidly efficient service of women in all the departments of war work proved that without them it would have been most difficult to succeed in the liberty bond sales, the red cross and all the "drives" for raising money. the officers of the equal suffrage party and those of its affiliated societies were selected as leaders in the work of the woman's council of defense, national and state. from every part of the state hundreds of letters were sent to the u. s. senators smith and hardwick, asking them to vote for the federal suffrage amendment, but to no avail. the year had been a fruitful one, even though the legislature had failed to ratify the federal amendment, which was submitted by congress in june. an adverse influence, which it was very hard to combat, was that of the state federation of women's clubs. its president, mrs. z. l. fitzpatrick of madison and other officials were violently opposed. a large majority of the women in the city clubs were suffragists and not influenced by the attitude of the federation officers but this was not true of the rural women, who were constantly warned that woman suffrage was a great evil not to be even mentioned in their clubs. this anti-suffrage influence reacted upon the rural legislator and gave him ground for the oft-repeated argument, "the women of my district do not want the vote, they won't even discuss it in their clubs." there had long been a strong desire to have woman suffrage endorsed by the state federation, the largest organization of women in the state, with , members, and every year the equal suffrage party had sent to all the club presidents an earnest letter urging them to give their members an opportunity to vote on the question and pointing out the greater achievements of the clubs in states where women had the franchise. at every annual meeting, however, when a resolution would be offered from the floor, the president of the federation would declare it out of order and prevent action on it. in , at its convention in augusta, a resolution was offered to send a congratulatory telegram to the women of new york on their newly acquired enfranchisement, whereupon a storm of protest arose, the president ruled it out of order and it was tabled. in every club was again circularized and the answers showed that the women throughout the state wanted favorable action by the state federation. at its convention in columbus in november, , two resolutions were prepared, one or the other to be presented, as seemed most expedient at the time. one was a simple endorsement of woman suffrage; the other, submitted by mrs. morgan, asked for an endorsement of the federal amendment and its ratification by the legislature. at the last moment, the suffragists decided to take a bold step and send the latter to the resolutions committee, which was done, and this committee recommended its adoption. the president, mrs. james e. hayes of montezuma, ruled it out of order. mrs. rogers winter of atlanta appealed from the decision of the chair; mrs. alonzo richardson of atlanta seconded the appeal and was sustained and the resolution was brought before the convention. it was carried by a vote of to .[ ] when the report of this action was received in macon, an indignant protest went up from the anti-suffragists. mrs. bruce carr jones, secretary of the state federation, sent in her resignation. mrs. walter d. lamar and mrs. thomas moore went before the women's clubs of the city and urged that they withdraw from the federation. the macon _telegraph_ devoted much space to denouncing it as a most dishonest trick and approved heartily the efforts of these women to dismember the federation. through their influence six clubs resigned. sixty-nine new clubs joined the federation in the twelve months following its endorsement of the federal amendment.[ ] the white women of atlanta were given the vote in the city primaries in may, . for several years all the suffrage forces in the city had been working to secure this privilege from the democratic executive committee, but without success. in , however, the personnel of the committee had changed to such an extent that it was decided to make another effort. the chairman, e. c. buchanan, was a good friend and with his help mrs. a. g. helmer, mrs. charles goodman and mrs. mcdougald had the opportunity of making a personal canvass of each of its forty-four members. when the chairman called a meeting for may , to consider, he said, the request of the equal suffrage party, there was every reason to believe they would make a favorable report. a resolution written by mrs. mcdougald was adopted by a vote of to . on the roll call each man stood up and in a few gracious words expressed his pleasure in being able to show his confidence in the helpful co-operation of women in city government by granting them this suffrage. a mass meeting of women was called at once to name a central committee to take charge of the task of getting the women registered immediately as a city election was near at hand. miss eleanore raoul was made chairman, and with her able co-workers in every ward accomplished a wonderful work. public meetings addressed by prominent men and women were held daily; $ , were raised and , women were registered in a few weeks. the executive committee in again included women in the electorate and to this body of men is due the honor of being the first in georgia to recognize the value of women in civic affairs. in all the district school superintendents inaugurated a series of competitive debates on the question, shall georgia grant suffrage to the women of the state? this created intense interest in every county and the equal suffrage party found it difficult to supply the demand for literature from the hundreds of schools. the atlanta chamber of commerce elected five women as members in recognition of their public service. in addressing the landowners' convention at savannah in november governor hugh m. dorsey said: "i hope that as governor of georgia i may be given the privilege of signing a bill giving women equal rights in this great commonwealth." legislative action. in june, , the equal suffrage party made its first effort to sponsor a suffrage bill in the legislature. it opened a booth in one of the corridors between the house and senate chambers, supplied it with the best suffrage literature and put it in charge of a committee of women who worked faithfully to convert some of that wilful and reactionary group of politicians. it was a hopeless task. the first bill was introduced in the house by mr. wohlwender of muscogee county and in the senate by senators dobbs and buchanan and referred to the judiciary committee, which granted a hearing. representatives from all the suffrage associations were present and made speeches. mrs. walter d. lamar and miss mildred rutherford, head of the lucy cobb institute of athens, represented the anti-suffrage association. mrs. lamar's arguments were based upon the theory that women did not have sufficient integrity to be trusted with the ballot; that long years ago when those of new jersey had it it had to be taken from them because they were so dishonest in their use of it. she also said that women were universally the hardest taskmasters, requiring more work and paying less for it than men. miss rutherford begged the legislators to disregard the request of the few women desiring the ballot, as they did not represent the true type of the southern woman, who had always rejoiced in being upon a high pedestal where men had placed her and worshipped her and that women were more than satisfied with that which men had so lavishly and chivalrously given--their love and their money. these speeches were received with howls of appreciation from the legislators, who dwelt upon the type that appealed to them, "the woman who was the mother of children and realized that her place was at home with her hand on the cradle." the committee made an unfavorable report. in this experience was repeated. in and the leaders of the equal suffrage party were absorbed in war work and had no time to waste in so helpless and disagreeable a task. they realized that they would soon be enfranchised by a federal amendment, the only hope of the women of georgia. ratification. in came the great struggle over ratification. the best the suffragists hoped for was that no action would be taken. during the first days of the session, however, the resolution to ratify was introduced in the house by representative j. b. jackson of jones county and in the senate by senator t. h. parker of colquitt county, both of whom explained that their action was taken in order to kill it. the resolution was referred in both houses to the committees on constitutional amendments and a joint hearing was set for an early date. the suffragists had more friends and stronger ones on the house committee than the "antis" and more than they had realized. all they asked was that the resolution be tabled, not reported favorably, for they knew that defeat on the floor of the house was certain. one of their strongest supporters, judge w. a. covington of colquitt county, was detained at home by illness in his family and telegraphed the chairman of the house committee, john w. bale of floyd county, asking that the hearing be postponed a few days so that he might be present. this courtesy, commonly extended without question, was refused by mr. bale. immediately on the opening of the hearing mr. jackson asked to substitute for his original resolution one which explicitly rejected ratification. by permission of the chairman this substitute was accepted. after the hearing, at which miss rutherford alone appeared in opposition while seven women spoke for it, the committee went into executive session. on a motion to postpone action the vote was to , and the chairman cast his vote against it. during the executive session robert t. dubose of clarke county became ill and asked if he might cast his vote ahead of time and leave. permission was granted him and he wrote on a slip of paper a vote for postponing action. when the final vote was taken mr. bale ruled that mr. dubose's vote could not be counted. if it had been the suffragists would have carried their point by a vote of to . after the motion to postpone was lost the jackson resolution to reject was reported favorably. the senate committee acted in open session. after prolonged debate the parker resolution to ratify was reported unfavorably by a vote of to , and the next day it came before the senate. the opponents believed they could make short work of it or they would not have permitted it to come up. by a vote of to the senate refused to disagree to the committee report. in order to dispose of the resolution, however, it was necessary to agree to the report and when this motion was made the suffrage supporters started a "filibuster" which they continued for several days. finally the anti-suffrage senators promised that if the suffragists would call off their "filibuster" they would vote to recommit the resolution to the committee with the understanding that it would stay there the remainder of the session. but on the same day that this agreement was made senator parker introduced another resolution, which, like the jones substitute, called for rejection of ratification. it was reported favorably by the committee and after several days' debate, senators claude pittman, w. h. dorris, h. h. elders and george g. glenn, speaking for ratification, the rejection resolution was carried on july by to . the senate then voted down a proposition to submit to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution. on the same day the jackson resolution to reject was presented in the house and after a spirited debate led by judge covington and a. s. anderson for ratification the resolution was carried by to . this contest had occupied about two-thirds of the time since the legislature convened and yet the opponents, after all their efforts, failed to have the legislature go on record as rejecting the federal amendment, for the house resolution was never concurred in by the senate and the senate resolution was never concurred in by the house and the session adjourned without completing formal action. president wilson had sent a telegram urging ratification for party expediency and u. s. senator harris went to atlanta to lobby for either ratification or no action, but he was denounced by the legislators and the president was called a "meddler." members of the democratic national committee and clark howell, editor of the atlanta _constitution_, and james hallanan, its political editor, strongly supported ratification, as did governor dorsey. the suffrage associations made no effort in , knowing the hopelessness of it. the national woman's party endeavored to secure an enabling act, so that women might vote under the federal amendment although the time for registration had passed, but were not successful. the last meeting of the equal suffrage party was held in atlanta during the regional conference of the national league of woman voters. thirty-five states had ratified the federal amendment, and feeling assured that ratification would soon be fully accomplished, mrs. mcdougald had gained the consent of all the branches to take this occasion to merge it into a state league. this was done april , . miss annie g. wright of augusta was elected chairman and mrs. mcdougald and mrs. s. b. c. morgan honorary presidents for life.[ ] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. mary latimer mclendon, a resident of atlanta over years, who also wrote the georgia chapter for volume iv. before the absolutely necessary condensation of the present chapter it included , words and was a most remarkable production for a woman in her st year. it will be preserved intact in another place. [ ] during the years from the following held office in the state association: honorary vice-president, miss madeline j. s. wylie; vice-presidents, mrs. p. h. moore, miss s. a. gresham, miss rebecca vaughn, miss h. augusta howard, mrs. emma t. martin, mrs. j. dejournette, mrs. w. y. atkinson; corresponding secretaries, mrs. mamie folsom wynne, miss katherine koch, mrs. delacy eastman, mrs. amelia r. woodall; recording secretaries, miss willette allen, mrs. alice c. daniels; treasurers, mrs. e. o. archer, mrs. mary osborne, mrs. m. k. mathews, mrs. e. c. cresse; auditor, mrs. w. h. felton. [ ] in october, , when mrs. mclendon attended the w. c. t. u. convention, she was called to the platform on the opening night, presented as a "brave pioneer" and highly eulogized by the present and former state presidents. the audience gave her the chautauqua salute and the white ribbon cheer and in return she gave them a woman suffrage speech, which was enthusiastically received. nevertheless the state society never endorsed votes for women, although local societies did so. [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to mrs. emily c. mcdougald, president of the equal suffrage party of georgia. [ ] the resolution was voted on in the last hours of the convention and a number of the suffragists had taken trains for home. mrs. hayes desired to have the resolution pass but as the convention the preceding year had sustained the ruling of the president that it was out of order she felt obliged to make a similar one. [ ] the only organized antagonism to woman suffrage came from a very small but very vindictive association in macon, vigorously abetted and encouraged by the _telegraph_, the only paper in the state which fought suffrage and suffragists. every week a column or more, edited by james p. callaway, was filled with abuse of suffrage leaders and every slanderous statement in regard to them which could be found. miss caroline patterson of macon was always president of this association and mrs. lamar, mrs. jones, mrs. moore and a few other women, all of macon, were ardent co-workers and leaders and frequent contributors to mr. callaway's column. the association still holds together and the members are pledged not to vote but to give their time and money to any effort made in the courts to invalidate ratification of the federal amendment ( ). [ ] in the league prepared a bill "to remove the civil disabilities of women," which provided that women should be eligible to vote in all elections, primary and general, in municipalities, counties and the state, and should be eligible to hold public office. the only objection made to the bill was to women on juries. the women objected to this exemption but had to yield. in the senate the vote on july stood for, against; in the house almost unanimous on august . these legislators were so courteous and obliging the women could scarcely believe it was a georgia legislature. they gave everything asked for and inquired, "is there anything else we can do for you?" the state organizer of the league of women voters is mrs. z. l. fitzpatrick, former president of the state federation of women's clubs. she is most enthusiastic over the new order of affairs and is touring the state organizing leagues and urging women to get out and vote and to nominate women for the offices! chapter xi. idaho.[ ] idaho women have been voting citizens for twenty-four years and during these years much has been accomplished for the making of a bigger and better state, especially along educational lines. the women came into their suffrage sanely and quietly, working shoulder to shoulder with men in everything vital to their country. state and local politics has been materially improved since women have been electors. no strictly suffrage association has been maintained since the franchise was granted, but when the national league of women voters was instituted in a branch was formed in idaho with dr. emma f. a. drake chairman. work heretofore had been done through the federation of clubs, the woman's christian temperance union and other organizations of women. political leaders always consider what women will think of a candidate before he is nominated and it is constantly demonstrated that nothing puts the fear of god into a man's heart like the ballot in the hands of a good woman. the women vote in about the same proportion as the men and there never is any criticism of it. women have worked for many good laws and have seen the most of them passed. the women are not ambitious for office, but they fill regularly, without question, the following: state superintendent of public instruction, county school superintendent, county treasurer, city treasurer and, in many counties, auditor and the appointive offices, law librarian and assistant, traveling librarian and assistant. in january, , governor d. w. davis appointed mrs. j. g. h. gravely on the state educational board. the following women have filled the office of state superintendent of public instruction: miss permeal french, miss belle chamberlain, miss bernice mccoy, miss may scott, miss grace shepherd, miss ethel redfield; of law librarian: mrs. mary wood, mrs. arabella erskine, mrs. carrie a. gainer, mrs. minnie priest dunton, mrs. william balderston; of traveling librarian: mrs. e. j. dockery, miss louise johnson, mrs. marie schrieber, miss margaret s. roberts. only six women have served in the legislature, all in the lower house: mrs. hattie f. noble, mrs. clara campbell, dr. emma f. a. drake, mrs. mary allen wright, mrs. lettie mcfadden, mrs. carrie harper white. ratification. governor davis called a special session to ratify the federal suffrage amendment feb. , . it was carried unanimously in the house, after dr. emma f. a. drake, the only woman member of the house present, made a strong and logical speech introducing the resolution. it was carried in the senate but had six opposing votes. the following are the names of the men who were proud to vote against the ratification: elmer davis of boise county; c. b. faraday of elmore; ross mason of shoshone; r. t. owens of oneida; e. w. porter of latah; john s. st. clair of owyhee.[ ] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss margaret s. roberts, librarian of the idaho free travelling library. a full account of the winning of woman suffrage in will be found in volume iv, history of woman suffrage. [ ] if "happy women have no history" those of idaho are fortunate, as the above is all that could be obtained for the state chapter.--ed. chapter xii. illinois.[ ] the illinois equal suffrage association started on its work for the new century with a determination to win full suffrage for women--the one great purpose for which it was organized in . the state conventions were always held in october or november. in the earlier years they usually went to the "down state" cities or towns, but as they grew large chicago was generally selected. in october, , the state convention was held at edgewater and mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert of evanston resumed the presidency, which she had held for a number of years. delegates from four places besides chicago were present. mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch was made legislative chairman and work was continued for needed changes in the laws. at the convention of mrs. elizabeth f. long of barry was elected president. great effort was made to interest the press in the suffrage question and a leaflet entitled suffrage for women taxpayers was published and sent to all the large newspapers. the chicago teachers' federation, under the leadership of miss margaret haley and miss catherine goggin, rendered valuable service in arousing the people to the injustice of taxation without representation. the ella flagg young club, an organization of the women principals of the public schools, affiliated this year with the state suffrage association. petitions were circulated and suffrage resolutions passed by various kinds of clubs and plans were made to introduce in the next legislature the municipal and presidential suffrage bill as well as a full suffrage amendment to the state constitution. among the women who rendered efficient service in these early years were dr. julia holmes smith, mrs. lucy flower and mrs. lydia avery coonley-ward. the next convention was held in jacksonville in and the rev. kate hughes of table grove was elected president. at the convention of mrs. hughes was re-elected. a feature of the educational work this year was to urge the directors of the libraries of the state to place on their shelves the official history of woman suffrage, recently brought up to date. a leaflet by mrs. mcculloch, bench and bar of illinois, was published by the association and widely circulated. it gave the opinions of some of the ablest jurists and statesmen on the woman suffrage question. at the convention mrs. mcculloch was elected president. notable growth was made in suffrage societies during the year and favorable sentiment was aroused in organizations formed for other work. among these were the state federation of women's clubs and the teachers' federation, the former with a membership of , and the latter with , . all party conventions but the republican passed strong suffrage resolutions and all parties including this one nominated women as trustees of the state university. the democratic mayor of chicago, edward f. dunne, appointed miss jane addams, dr. cornelia debey and mrs. emmons blaine as members of the school board. the legislative work was encouraging this year, for in both senate and house the municipal and presidential suffrage bill was reported out of committee with favorable recommendations, and in the senate it reached second reading. the state convention of was held in chicago and mrs. ella s. stewart was elected president. during the year much literature was distributed and a committee was appointed, that included as many federated club presidents as would serve, to secure if possible municipal suffrage in the new chicago charter which was then being considered. mrs. charles henrotin, former president of the general federation of women's clubs, was appointed chairman. the women were allowed to make their appeal before several minor committees, but not before the whole charter convention, which tabled their request. the entire charter was tabled in the legislature. miss alice henry, formerly of australia, editor of the magazine _life and labor_, gave valuable assistance in organizing suffrage clubs. educational work in colleges was begun and mrs. elmira e. springer, an ardent suffrage worker, contributed a fund of $ , , the interest to be distributed as prizes at an annual inter-collegiate oratorical suffrage contest. as a result suffrage societies were formed among the college students auxiliary to the state association. it published suffrage leaflets written by judge murray f. tuley, a prominent chicago judge; mrs. eugenia m. bacon, former president of the state federation of women's clubs, and one by miss anna nicholes, an active settlement worker, on the need of the ballot for the working woman. at the convention of mrs. stewart was re-elected. much literature was published and valuable educational work was carried on in addition to the legislative work at springfield under the auspices of mrs. mcculloch. in the fall of the state convention was held on the fair grounds at springfield, and mrs. stewart was re-elected. at the convention of mrs. stewart was continued as president. the association co-operated with the national american suffrage association in requesting the national republican committee, which met in chicago, to incorporate a woman suffrage plank in its platform. an active educational campaign was started to appeal again for municipal suffrage for women in another charter which was being prepared. this time the charter convention acceded to the request of the women, but the whole was defeated at springfield. in this work important help was given the association by the teachers' federation, the chicago woman's club and the trade union league. the chicago political equality league, as well as other affiliated suffrage organizations, took an active part in this campaign and about , signatures to a petition were obtained. in october, , the state convention was held in chicago and mrs. stewart was again re-elected. this year the state association organized the chicago men's equal suffrage league with former senator thomas j. mcmillan, the "father" of the illinois school suffrage law, as its first president. the members were from many walks of life, among them george e. cole, founder of the citizens' association, who had led in civic reform work for many years; bishop samuel fallows, one of the city's most prominent and best loved clergymen; richard s. tuthill, for years an influential judge; jenkin lloyd jones, founder of the liberal church known as lincoln center; dr. henry b. favill, one of chicago's well-known physicians; henry neil, who was responsible for the mothers' pension law; andrew macleish, a member of carson, pirie, scott & company, one of the city's largest dry goods houses, and many other prominent men, including the husbands of all the well-known suffragists. this year for the first time permanent headquarters were opened in the fine arts building, michigan boulevard, and miss harriet grim, a student of chicago university, was engaged as state organizer. she spoke before women's clubs, labor unions and parlor groups and twenty new societies were formed. active suffrage work was also instituted among the churches under the management of mrs. fannie h. rastall, chairman of the church committee. in the spring of the state board decided to try suffrage automobile tours. mrs. grace wilbur trout, president of the chicago political equality league, was appointed to take charge of an experimental tour which required about six weeks of preparatory work to insure its success. she visited the offices of the newspapers and secured their co-operation. the tour started on monday, july , and the edition of the _tribune_ the day before contained a full colored page of the women in the autos and nearly a half page more of reading material about it. the paper sent two reporters on the trip, who rode in the car with the speakers. the _examiner_, _record herald_, _post_ and _journal_ sent reporters by railroad and trolley, who joined the suffragists at their stopping places. the women spoke from the automobile, which drove into some square or stopped on a prominent street corner, previously arranged for by the local committees. mrs. mcculloch spoke from the legal standpoint; miss nicholes from the laboring woman's view and mrs. stewart from an international aspect. mrs. trout made the opening address, covering the subject in a general way, and presented the speakers. she herself was introduced by some prominent local woman and on several occasions by the mayor. sixteen towns were visited, and the _tribune_ said: "suffrage tour ends in triumph. with mud bespattered 'votes for women' banners still flying, mrs. trout and her party of orators returned late yesterday afternoon. men and women cheered them all the way in from their last stop at wheaton to the fine arts building headquarters." similar tours in other parts of the state were conducted by dr. anna e. blount, mrs. stewart, miss grim and mrs. jennie f. w. johnson. mrs. trout took her same speakers and went to lake geneva, where meetings with speaking from automobiles were held under the auspices of mrs. willis s. mccrea, who entertained the suffragists in her spacious summer home. in the autumn at her house on lincoln parkway mrs. mccrea organized the north side branch of the state association, afterwards ( ) renamed the chicago equal suffrage association. in october the state convention was held at elgin and mrs. stewart was re-elected. the municipal and presidential bills and the full suffrage amendment were introduced in the legislature as usual. miss grim and miss ruth harl were stationed at springfield as permanent lobbyists and mrs. mcculloch directed the work. at the time of the hearing a special suffrage train was run from chicago to springfield, with speaking from the rear platform at the principal places en route. the state convention was held at decatur in october, , and mrs. stewart, wishing to retire from office after serving six strenuous years, mrs. elvira downey was elected president. organizing work was pushed throughout the state. cook county clubs for political discussion were formed by miss mary miller, a lawyer of chicago. in the winter a suffrage bazaar lasting five days was held at the hotel lasalle, under the management of mrs. alice bright parker. many of the younger suffragists took part in this social event. every afternoon and evening there were suffrage speeches and several grand opera singers contributed their services. it was an excellent piece of propaganda work and aroused interest among people who had not been reached through other forms. at the april primaries in chicago in , through the initiative of mrs. mcculloch, a "preferential" ballot on the question of suffrage for women was taken. this was merely an expression of opinion by the voters as to whether they favored it, which the democratic judge of elections, john e. owens, allowed to be taken, but it had no legal standing. the state association conducted a whirlwind educational campaign immediately before the election. unfortunately, prohibitionists, socialists and many independent electors who favored it were not entitled to vote. the result was , noes, , ayes, every ward giving an adverse majority. in october the state convention was held at galesburg and mrs. grace wilbur trout was elected president. mrs. trout had been on the state board for two years and during this time had served also as president of the chicago political equality league, which under her administration had increased its membership from to over , members. she began at once to strengthen the state organization for the legislative campaign of . there were still senatorial districts in which there were no suffrage societies, and, as the time was short, competent women were immediately appointed in such districts to see that their legislators were interviewed and to make ready to have letters and telegrams sent to them at springfield. during the legislature of mrs. trout had twice accompanied mrs. mcculloch to springfield and the antagonism manifested against woman suffrage made her realize that new tactics would have to be employed. mrs. mcculloch after many years of service had asked to be relieved and mrs. elizabeth k. booth of glencoe had been elected legislative chairman. mrs. trout and she adopted a new plan without spectacular activities of any kind, believing that much publicity was likely to arouse the opponents. it was decided to initiate a quiet, educational campaign and as the only possible way to secure sufficient votes to pass the measure, to convert some of the opponents into friends. it was agreed also that a card index, giving data about every member of the legislature, should be compiled at once to be used later for reference. this plan was approved and adopted by the state board. the members of the board and suffrage friends throughout the state gathered information about the legislators and sent it to mrs. booth. the cards when filled out stated the politics and religion of the various senators and representatives, whether they were married or single, whether their home relations were harmonious, and tabulated any public service they had ever rendered. this information made it easier to approach the different legislators in a way to overcome their individual prejudices. all effort was to be concentrated on the bill, which, with variations, the state association had had before most of the legislatures since . it read as follows: all women [naming usual qualifications] shall be allowed to vote for presidential electors, members of the state board of equalization, clerk of the appellate court, county collector, county surveyor, members of board of assessors, members of board of review, sanitary district trustees, and for all officers of cities, villages and towns (except police magistrates), and upon all questions or propositions submitted to a vote of the electors of such municipalities or other political division of this state. all such women may also vote for the following township officers: supervisor, town clerk, assessor, collector and highway commissioner, and may also participate and vote in all annual and special town meetings in the township in which such election district shall be. separate ballot boxes and ballots shall be provided.... as soon as the legislature convened in a struggle developed over the speakership, and there was a long and bitter deadlock before william mckinley, a young democrat from chicago, was finally elected. then another struggle ensued over a united states senator. during these weeks of turmoil little could be accomplished for the suffrage bill, but february mrs. booth went to springfield and from then attended the sessions regularly. she sat in the galleries of the senate and house and soon learned to recognize each member and rounded up and checked off friendly legislators. the progressives had a large representation and had made plans to introduce as a party measure a carefully drafted woman suffrage bill. mrs. trout and mrs. booth suggested to the leaders that it would be far better to let the state association sponsor this measure than to have it presented by any political party. they finally agreed, but mrs. mcculloch had accompanied mrs. booth to springfield taking the bill which she herself had drafted and which she insisted upon having substituted. out of deference to her long years of service her bill was taken instead of the progressives'. it named the officers for which women should be allowed to vote instead of being worded like the progressive draft, which said: "women shall be allowed to vote for all officers and upon all propositions submitted except where the constitution provides that the elector shall be a male citizen." in mrs. booth's official report to the state convention, held in the fall of at peoria, she said: "as we failed to introduce the form of bill approved by the progressives' constitutional lawyers they introduced it, and it required considerable tact to allay their displeasure and induce them to support our bill." medill mccormick, one of the leading progressives in the legislature, helped greatly in straightening out this tangle. he was a faithful ally of the suffrage lobby and rendered invaluable assistance. other progressives who gave important service were john m. curran and emil n. zolla of chicago; j. h. jayne of monmouth; charles h. carmon of forrest, and fayette s. munro of highland park.[ ] on march mrs. trout went to springfield to secure if possible the support of the democratic governor, edward f. dunne, for the bill. mrs. booth said in her official report: "the governor told us that he would not support any suffrage measure which provided for a constitutional amendment, as this might interfere with the initiative and referendum amendment, upon which the administration was concentrating its efforts. we assured him that we would not introduce a resolution for an amendment and that we desired the support of the administration for our statutory bill, as we realized that no suffrage measure could pass if it opposed. he then acquiesced." the work at springfield became more and more complicated and at times seemed almost hopeless. no politicians believed the suffragists had the slightest chance of success. from april mrs. trout went down every week. the women had the strong support of the chicago press and editorials were published whenever they were especially needed during the six months' struggle. after considerable educational work the springfield newspapers also became friendly and published suffrage editorials at opportune times. the papers were refolded so that these editorials, blue penciled, came on the outside, and placed on the desks of the legislators. the bill was introduced in the house by charles l. scott (dem.) and in the senate by hugh s. magill (rep.). all efforts were centered on its passage first through the senate. after nearly three months of strenuous effort this was finally accomplished on may , , by a vote of ayes (three more than the required majority) and noes. it is doubtful whether this action could have been secured without the skilful tactics of senator magill, but he could not have succeeded without the unfailing co-operation of lieutenant governor barratt o'hara. among other senators who helped were martin b. bailey, albert c. clark, edward c. curtis, samuel a. ettelson, logan hay and thomas b. stewart, republicans; michael h. cleary, william a. compton, kent e. keller, walter i. manny and w. duff piercy, democrats; george w. harris and walter clyde jones, progressives. the day the bill passed mrs. trout left springfield to address a suffrage meeting to be held in galesburg that evening and the next day one at monmouth. in each place resided a member of the house who was marked on the card index as "doubtful," but both, through the influence of their constituents, voted for the bill. mrs. booth remained in springfield to see that it got safely over to the house. the two women wished the bill to go into the friendly elections committee and the opponents were planning to put it into the judiciary committee, where it would remain during the rest of the session. the suffrage lobby worked into the small hours of the night making plans to frustrate this scheme. arrangements were made with speaker mckinley to turn it over to the elections committee, and when the morning session opened this was done before the opponents realized that their plot had failed. the women were indebted to david r. shanahan, for many years an influential republican member, who, representing a "wet" district in chicago, felt that he could not vote for the bill, but without his counsel it would have been still more difficult to pass it. to overcome the pitfalls, mrs. trout appealed to the enemies to give the women of illinois a square deal, especially to lee o'neil browne, a powerful democratic leader. he had always opposed suffrage legislation, but he finally consented to let the bill, so far as he was concerned, be voted up or down on its merits. it was this spirit of fair play among its opponents as well as the loyalty of its friends that made possible the final victory. up to this time mrs. trout and mrs. booth had worked alone, but now mrs. trout asked mrs. antoinette funk, a lawyer, of chicago, who had done active work for the progressive party, to come to springfield, and she arrived on may . a week later mrs. medill mccormick came to reside in the capital and her services were immediately enlisted. she was a daughter of the late senator mark hanna, who had inherited much of her father's ability in politics and was an important addition to the suffrage lobby. on may the bill had its first reading and was referred to the elections committee. on the st it was reported with a recommendation that it "do pass." the opponents were now thoroughly alarmed. anton j. cermak of chicago, president of the united societies, a powerful organization of liquor interests, directed the fight against it. leaflets were circulated giving the "preferential" suffrage vote taken in chicago the year before, with a list of the negative votes cast in each ward to show the chicago members how badly it had been beaten by their constituents. the bill was called up for second reading june and there was a desperate attempt to amend and if possible kill it, but it finally passed in just the form it had come over from the senate. the hope of the opposition now was to keep speaker mckinley from allowing the bill to come up for third reading. he told mrs. trout that hundreds of men from chicago as well as from other parts of the state had come to springfield and begged him to prevent it from coming to a vote. the young speaker looked haggard and worn during those days, and he asked her to let him know it if there was any suffrage sentiment in the state. she immediately telephoned to mrs. harriette taylor treadwell, president of the chicago political equality league, to have letters and telegrams sent at once to springfield and to have people communicate by telephone with the speaker when he returned to chicago for the week end. mrs. treadwell called upon the suffragists and thousands of letters and telegrams were sent. she also organized a telephone brigade by means of which he was called up every fifteen minutes by men as well as women, both at his home and his office, from early saturday morning until late monday night the days he spent in chicago. she was assisted in this work by mrs. james w. morrisson, secretary of the chicago equal suffrage association; mrs. george bass, president of the chicago woman's club; mrs. jean wallace butler, a well-known business woman; mrs. edward l. stillman, an active suffragist in the rogers park woman's club; miss florence king, a prominent patent lawyer and president of the chicago woman's association of commerce; miss mary miller, another chicago lawyer and president of the chicago human rights association; mrs. charlotte rhodus, president of the woman suffrage party of cook county and other influential women. mrs. trout telephoned miss margaret dobyne, press chairman of the association, to send out the call for help over the state, which she did with the assistance of miss jennie f. w. johnson, the treasurer, and mrs. j. w. mcgraw, the auditor. a deluge of letters and telegrams from every section of illinois awaited the speaker when he arrived in springfield tuesday morning. he needed no further proof and announced that the bill would be called up for final action june . the women in charge of it immediately began to marshal their forces for the last struggle. messages were sent to each friend of the measure in the house, urging him to be present without fail.[ ] on the eventful morning there was much excitement at the capitol. the "captains," previously requested to be on hand early, reported if any of their men were missing, these were at once called up by telephone and when necessary a cab was sent for them. the four women lobbyists were stationed as follows: mrs. booth and mrs. mccormick in the gallery; mrs. trout at the only entrance of the house left open that day, and mrs. funk to carry messages and instructions between these points. mrs. booth checked off the votes and mrs. trout stood guard to see that no friendly members left the house during roll calls and also to prevent the violation of the law which forbade any lobbyist to enter the floor of the house after the session had convened. the burly doorkeeper, who was against the suffrage bill, could not be trusted to enforce the law if its enemies chose to enter. events proved the wisdom of this precaution. a number of favoring legislators who started to leave the house during the fight were persuaded to return and the doorkeeper soon told mrs. trout she would have to go into the gallery. as she did not move he came back presently and said that benjamin mitchell, one of the members of the house leading the opposition, had instructed him that if she did not immediately go to the gallery he would put a resolution through the house forcing her to do so. she politely but firmly said it was her right as a citizen of illinois to stay in the corridor and remained at her post. as a consequence no one entered the house that day who was not legally entitled to do so. during the five hours' debate all known parliamentary tactics were used to defeat the bill. when speaker mckinley finally announced the vote--ayes (six more than the required majority), noes --a hush fell for an instant before the wild outburst of applause. it seemed as if there had passed through those legislative halls the spirit of eternal justice and truth and the eyes of strong men filled with tears. politicians declared it was a miracle, but it was a miracle made possible by six months of unceasing toil, during which the suffrage lobby worked from early in the morning until late at night and were shadowed by detectives eager to acquire testimony that would prejudice the legislators against their measure. it was most encouraging to the workers when they won over edward d. shurtleff, who had been for years speaker of the house and was acknowledged to be one of the most astute men in springfield. his practical knowledge of legislative procedure made his advice of the greatest value. representative scott, who introduced the bill in the house, was a highly esteemed member who refused to present any others so that he could be free to devote all of his time and energy to this one, and others were equally loyal. mrs. trout's leadership received the highest praise from the press and the politicians of the state. the illinois legislature led the way and within a few years bills of a similar nature had been passed by those of fourteen other states. the state equal suffrage association tendered a banquet at the leland hotel in springfield on june to the legislators and their wives, opponents as well as friends, and prominent suffragists came from over the state. mrs. trout asked mrs. mccormick to take charge of the banquet and she had a roll of honor printed which the men who voted for the suffrage bill were invited to sign, and the governor's signature was also obtained. as soon as he entered the banquet hall mrs. trout, in charge of the program, called upon the banqueters to rise and do honor to the governor who would soon, by signing the suffrage bill, win the everlasting gratitude of all men and women in illinois interested in human liberty. the very day the bill passed the house a committee of anti-suffrage legislators called upon governor dunne to urge him to veto it and tried to influence attorney general patrick j. lucey to declare it unconstitutional, which would give him an excuse. mrs. mccormick immediately went to chicago and secured opinions from able lawyers that the bill was constitutional, and he stood out against all opposition and signed it on june . on july a jubilee automobile parade was arranged by mrs. treadwell with mrs. kenneth mclennan as grand marshal, and the cars filled with enthusiastic suffragists extended several miles down michigan boulevard. the first important work was to arouse the women of the state to a realization of all the good that could be accomplished by the wise use of the franchise. the entire cost of the springfield campaign, which lasted over six months and included railroad fare for the lobbyists, innumerable telegrams and long distance telephone calls, postage, stationery, printing, stenographic help, hotel bills and incidentals, was only $ , , but it left the treasury of the association empty. the board therefore gratefully accepted the offer of william randolph hearst of a suffrage edition of the chicago _examiner_. he agreed to pay for the cost of publication and permit the funds raised through the sale of the papers and the advertising to go into the suffrage treasury. the women were weary from the campaign and most of the board were going away for the summer but mrs. trout rallied her forces, was general manager herself and persuaded mrs. funk to be managing editor, miss dobyne advertising manager and mrs. treadwell circulation manager. as a result of almost six weeks' work during the hottest part of the summer nearly $ , were raised. after all commissions and other expenses were paid and new and commodious suffrage headquarters in the tower building were furnished a fund of between $ , and $ , was left to maintain them and push organization work. the constitutionality of the law was soon attacked and mrs. trout consulted frequently with the officers of the anti-saloon league, for the attacks always emanated from the "wet" interests, and most efficient service was rendered by f. scott mcbride, state superintendent; e. j. davis, chicago superintendent, and frank b. ebbert, legal counsel for the league, who said it was also their fight. a case was brought against the election commissioners of chicago for allowing women to vote on certain questions, decided in their favor by the lower courts, appealed and brought before the supreme court of illinois. a meeting of the board of the state equal suffrage association was called at once, which voted to raise a defense fund and fight the case to a finish. the chairman of the committee was mrs. george a. soden, first vice-president, and it was largely through her efforts and the contributions of her husband that the fund was raised. not only the legislators who had voted for the bill but also a number who voted against it sent money to help defend the law. the opponents of the law--the liquor interests--were represented by levi mayer of chicago, counsel for the united societies as well as for big brewery interests and considered one of the ablest constitutional lawyers in the state. it was therefore necessary for the association to secure the best and they engaged john j. herrick and judge charles s. cutting, who by agreement with the election commissioners took charge of the fight. the women consulted also with charles h. mitchell, their regular counsel, as well as with judge willard mcewen, whom the commissioners engaged as special counsel. they frequently conferred with judge isaiah t. greenacre, counsel for the teachers' federation, and joel f. longnecker, a young lawyer active in the progressive party, both of whom donated their services. there was a long delay in the supreme court and during this time it was vitally necessary to demonstrate that the women wanted the ballot by bringing out as large a registration as possible for the municipal election to be held in april, . the opponents were saying: "women down the state have voted because they are interested in local option but not , women will register in chicago." it was, therefore, of paramount importance to arouse the chicago women. this work was in charge of mrs. edward l. stewart, assisted by mrs. judith weil loewenthal, members of the state board. mrs. stewart called upon every organization of women in the city to assist. valuable help was given by mrs. ida darling engelke, city chairman of ward organization for the chicago political equality league; mrs. joseph t. bowen, president of the woman's city club, and mrs. james morrisson, president of the chicago equal suffrage association. there were public meetings in every ward, and a mass meeting the sunday before the election in the auditorium theater, which seated over , people, but overflow meetings were necessary. as a result of this united effort over , women registered in chicago alone and thousands more throughout the state. on may , , was held the first large suffrage parade in illinois. it was managed by the state association and its affiliated chicago clubs. mrs. trout, with the members of the board and distinguished pioneer suffragists, led the procession, and governor dunne and mayor carter h. harrison reviewed it. the city government sent to head the parade the mounted police, led by chief gleason, called "the beauty squad," only brought out on very special occasions. nearly , women, representing all parties, creeds and classes, marched down michigan boulevard and hundreds of thousands of people lined both sides for over two miles. captain charles w. kayser of wheaton planned the procession with military skill. the parade committee, including the heads of divisions and numbering over a thousand women, was invited immediately after the procession to the hotel la salle by ernest stevens, manager and one of the owners, where they were guests of the management at supper, which was followed by music and speaking. in june the general federation of women's clubs held its biennial convention in chicago and the question uppermost in the minds of all club women was, would the president, mrs. percy pennybacker, refuse to allow a woman suffrage resolution to be presented, as her predecessor, mrs. philip moore, had done in san francisco at the preceding biennial, and also would it receive a favorable vote if presented? the state board, realizing that with the suffrage law still hanging in the balance in the supreme court, it was vitally important to have the endorsement by this convention, representing , , members, appointed mrs. trout to secure favorable action if possible. the federation board on request of mrs. pennybacker appointed a special committee to confer with her and as the result of co-operation the following resolution, presented by mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg of philadelphia, an officer of the federation, was adopted on june : whereas, the question of the political equality of men and women is today a vital problem under discussion throughout the civilized world, therefore, _resolved_, that the general federation of women's clubs give the cause of political equality for men and women its moral support by recording its earnest belief in the principle of political equality regardless of sex. there were between , and , delegates present, representing all sections of the country. the vote was viva voce and so overwhelmingly in the affirmative that it was not counted. the chicago _tribune_ said: "the anti-suffragists made no fight against the resolution on the floor of the convention, probably realizing they were hopelessly outnumbered. there was a considerable chorus of nays when it was put, but not enough for any one to demand a count." afterwards the illinois members recommended mrs. trout as an honorary member of the general federation and she was unanimously elected. by an interesting coincidence the day the suffrage resolution was passed by the biennial the state supreme court pronounced the suffrage law constitutional. a banquet had already been planned by the state association for that evening to be held in the gold room of the congress hotel in honor of the general federation, and it proved to be a memorable occasion. over a thousand women were present and nearly as many more could not find room. mrs. carrie chapman catt, miss mary garrett hay and other well known suffragists, as well as the officers of the federation, made speeches. all these events changed public sentiment in regard to the woman suffrage question. as congress was in session this summer its members were unable to fill their chautauqua lecture dates, and mrs. trout was asked to make suffrage speeches at fifty chautauquas in nine states, filling dates for a democrat, the hon. champ clark, and for a republican, united states senator robert lafollette, and for william jennings bryan. the state convention was held in chicago in and mrs. trout was again re-elected president. during this year the chicago equal suffrage association did excellent educational work by establishing classes in citizenship in the woman's city club and by publishing catechisms for women voters in seven different languages. at the annual convention held in peoria in mrs. trout positively refused to stand again for president and mrs. adella maxwell brown of peoria was elected. four state conferences were held during the year and mrs. brown represented the association at the national suffrage association at washington in december; the mississippi valley conference at minneapolis the next may; the national council of women voters at cheyenne in july and the national suffrage association at atlantic city in september. in june, , the state association, assisted by those of chicago, took charge of what became known as the "famous rainy day suffrage parade," held in that city while the national republican convention was in session. mrs. brown was chairman of the committee, mrs. morrisson vice-chairman and mrs. kellogg fairbanks grand marshal of the parade. there was much speculation among the political parties as to how the women would vote at their first presidential election in november, . as their ballots were put into separate boxes they could be distinguished and they were as follows: republican, , ; democratic, , ; socialist, , ; prohibition, , ; socialist labor, . much important legislative work was to be done in the next session of the legislature and at the state convention held in springfield in october, , mrs. trout was persuaded to accept again the presidency. delegates were present from every section and the policy for the ensuing year was thoroughly discussed by mrs. mcculloch, senator magill, lewis g. stevenson, secretary of state; mrs. george bass, and others. the consensus of opinion was that owing to the great difficulty of amending the state constitution the only practical way to secure full suffrage for women was through a new constitution. this convention, therefore, voted in an overwhelming majority to work in the legislature of for the calling of a constitutional convention. the citizens' association, composed of leading men of chicago and the state, had been trying over thirty years to obtain a new state constitution and as soon as they learned of this action they sent shelby m. singleton, its secretary, to request of mrs. trout and mrs. mcgraw that the work be directed by the leaders of the state equal suffrage association, to which they agreed. they went to springfield at the beginning of the session in and a struggle followed that lasted over ten weeks. [mrs. mcgraw prepared a very full account of the work in the legislature to have it submit to the voters the question of calling a convention to prepare a new constitution. representatives of all the leading organizations of women assisted at springfield from time to time. the resolution had the powerful support of governor frank c. lowden, congressman medill mccormick, roger c. sullivan and other prominent men, but the citizens' association in an official bulletin gave the larger part of the credit to "the tireless and tactful work of the women's lobby." after senate and house by more than a two-thirds majority had voted to submit the question to the voters the state association organized an emergency league to establish centers in each of the counties and an immense educational campaign was carried on. over a thousand meetings were held in the summer and fall preceding the election nov. , , when the proposal for a convention received a majority of , . the next year delegates to the convention were elected and it met in springfield jan. , . one of its first acts was to adopt an article giving the complete suffrage to women. before the constitution was ready to submit to the voters the women were fully enfranchised by the federal amendment.] after the victory was gained in the legislature and just as all plans were laid for the campaign in the spring of the united states entered the war against germany. mrs. trout was appointed a member of the executive committee of the woman's council of national defense and all the members of the board immediately engaged in liberty loan, red cross and other war work. during this period of strenuous activity another attack was made on the constitutionality of the suffrage law by the liquor interests and the case was again brought before the supreme court. the state board engaged james g. skinner, an able lawyer, formerly assistant corporation counsel, and in december the law was again pronounced constitutional. the state convention was held in the autumn of in danville and mrs. trout was re-elected. the association now had affiliated societies in every senatorial and congressional district with a membership of over , women. mrs. trout was soon called to washington by mrs. catt to work for the federal suffrage amendment and spent many months there while mrs. mcgraw directed the organization work of the state association. she secured the co-operation of mrs. r. m. reed, legislative chairman of the illinois federation of women's clubs; they appointed two workers in each congressional district and nearly every woman's society in the state had constitutional convention programs. in the spring of governor lowden appointed judge orrin n. carter, of the supreme court, chairman of a state-wide committee that worked in co-operation with the state-wide committee of women. the annual suffrage convention was held in the latter part of october, , in chicago, and mrs. trout was re-elected. ratification. when congress submitted the federal suffrage amendment june , , mrs. trout and mrs. mcgraw immediately went to springfield where the legislature was in session. they had already made preliminary arrangements and without urging it ratified the amendment on june . the vote in the senate was unanimous, in the house it was ayes, republicans, democrats; three nays, all democrats, lee o'neil browne, john griffin and peter f. smith. a minor mistake was made in the first certified copy of the resolution sent from the secretary of state's office at washington to the governor of illinois. to prevent the possibility of any legal quibbling governor lowden telegraphed that office to send at once a corrected, certified copy. this was done and the ratification was reaffirmed by the legislature on june , the vote in the senate again being unanimous and one democrat, charles f. franz, added to the former three negative votes in the house. owing to a misunderstanding of the facts for a short time there was some controversy as to whether illinois was entitled to first place, as the wisconsin legislature ratified an hour later. attorney general brundage prepared a brief showing that the mistake in the first certified copy did not affect the legality of the ratification on june , as the mistake was made in copying the introductory resolution and not in the amendment itself. this opinion was accepted in the secretary of state's office at washington. so illinois, the first state east of the mississippi river to grant suffrage to its women, was the first to ratify the federal suffrage amendment. in celebration a jubilee banquet was held on june at the hotel lasalle, mrs. trout presiding, with governor and mrs. lowden the guests of honor. among the speakers were the governor, prominent members of the state legislature and the leading women suffragists. in october the state convention was held in chicago, with delegates present from every section, and mrs. trout was re-elected president. it was voted to continue to work for the speedy ratification of the federal suffrage amendment in other states and if this was not obtained in to work for the full suffrage article in the new constitution when it was submitted to the voters. at the convention of the national american association in st. louis the preceding march the illinois association had extended an invitation to hold the next one in chicago, which was accepted. the state board called together representatives from the principal organizations of women, which were appointed to take charge of different days of the convention and various phases of the work. mrs. trout and mrs. mcgraw were made chairman and vice-chairman of the committee; mrs. samuel slade, recording secretary, was appointed chairman of the finance committee, which raised the funds to defray all the expenses of this large convention in february, . [full account in chapter xix, volume v.] a meeting of the state board was called and a committee formed to get as many women as possible to vote in november at the election for president. mrs. trout was elected state chairman, mrs. mcgraw vice-chairman, and mrs. albert schweitzer, a member of the board, was appointed chicago chairman. the woman's city club, of which mrs. joseph t. bowen was president, took an active part in the campaign and was the headquarters for the chicago committee. in august in the midst of the campaign came the joyful news that the th state had ratified the federal amendment. a call was issued for the state convention to be held in chicago october - , when the illinois equal suffrage association, its work finished, disbanded, and its members formed a state league of women voters, with mrs. h. w. cheney of chicago as chairman. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. j. w. mcgraw, eight years on the board of directors and six years legislative chairman of the illinois equal suffrage association. she is under obligations for many of the facts relative to the campaign of to mrs. grace wilbur trout, state president for seven years. [ ] the state association always did everything possible to cooperate with the national suffrage association. on march , headed by mrs. trout, women left chicago by special train for washington. in the big suffrage parade there on the rd they wore a uniform regalia of cap and baldric and were headed by a large band led by mrs. george s. wells, a member of the state board, as drum major. there was a woman out-rider, mrs. w. h. stewart, on a spirited horse. mrs. trout led, carrying an american flag, and the illinois banner was carried by royal n. allen, a prominent member of the progressive party and the railroad official who had charge of the special train. [ ] "captains" had been appointed among the members and each furnished with a list and it was his duty to see that the men on it were in their seats whenever the bill was up for discussion. the following representatives served as "captains" and rendered important service: william f. burres, norman g. flagg, edward d. shurtleff, homer j. tice and george h. wilson, republicans; john p. devine, frank gillespie, william a. hubbard, w. c. kane, charles l. scott and francis e. williamson, democrats; roy d. hunt, j. h. jayne, medill mccormick and emil n. zolla, progressives; seymour stedman, socialist. chapter xiii. indiana. part i.[ ] although indiana was one of the first states in the union to form a suffrage association in there were long periods when it was inactive but there were others when it flourished. in a constitution was adopted whose provisions for women were probably more liberal than existed in any other state and they did not feel a pressure of unjust laws; co-education prevailed from an early date and all occupations were open to them. thus they were not impelled by personal grievances to keep up a continued fight for the suffrage. after there was a period of depression which the national american suffrage association tried unsuccessfully to relieve. finally in may, , it called a convention to meet in kokomo, where one of the old societies had continued to maintain an organization, and delegates were present from societies in indianapolis, logansport, tipton and montpelier. mrs. harriet taylor upton, treasurer of the national association, presided and a good deal of interest was shown. the following officers were elected: president, mrs. sarah davis; first vice-president, mrs. laura schofield; secretary, mrs. e. m. wood, all of kokomo; second vice-president, mrs. anna dunn noland, logansport; treasurer, mrs. marion harvey barnard, indianapolis; auditors, mrs. jane pond, montpelier, judge samuel artman, lebanon. the association affiliated with the national body and always remained an auxiliary. mrs. davis left the state during this year and there seems to be no record of anything done by this board. in april, , mrs. upton wrote to mrs. noland begging her to call a convention. acting as president, secretary and treasurer and supplying the funds from her own purse, mrs. noland sent hundreds of letters over the state asking for names of people interested in suffrage and from the names she formed committees to interest others. her only assistant was her husband, dr. j. f. noland, who helped in leisure hours. in october the work of organization began by mrs. noland and miss pearl penfield. a convention was called to meet in logansport, march - , . fifteen clubs had paid small dues but only seven sent delegates. it was welcomed by mayor george p. mckee. much interest and a great deal of publicity resulted. the _reporter_, a logansport daily paper, published a suffrage edition march , one page edited by a committee from the association. mrs. ella s. stewart of chicago, miss harriet noble of indianapolis and mrs. b. f. perkins of fort wayne were the speakers. the following officers were elected: president, mrs. noland; first vice-president, dr. susan e. collier, indianapolis; second, mrs. mary mitchner, kokomo; corresponding secretary, mrs. bessie hughes, logansport; recording secretary, mrs. wood; treasurer, mrs. barnard; auditors re-elected; member national executive committee, mrs. perkins. during the year sullivan, terre haute, amboy, lafayette, red key and ridgeville became auxiliaries. mrs. antoinette d. leach of sullivan was made state organizer; mrs. flora t. neff of logansport chairman of literature. in a resolution to amend the state constitution by striking out the word "male" was presented to the legislature, drafted by mrs. leach. it passed the house committee unanimously, went to third reading and was shelved because of a proposed plan for a new constitution brought out by governor thomas r. marshall. the municipal league composed of the mayors and councilmen of all the cities in the state invited the equal suffrage association to provide speakers for the annual meeting at crawfordsville june and mrs. noland, miss noble and mrs. leach responded. they were courteously received and heard with much applause. the convention was not interested in woman suffrage but the press gave much publicity. a state suffrage convention was held at this time. in august a monthly journal called the _woman citizen_ was established in indianapolis by the association with mrs. leach as editor, its columns open to all suffrage organizations, and published for two years. new albany, jeffersonville, markleville and valparaiso clubs were added to the state association. the new albany society was large and active and gave suffrage much prominence in southern indiana. mrs. noland reported , letters sent out in . on june , , , logansport again entertained the state convention. mrs. noland acted as publicity chairman. the call was sent broadcast; press notices in every daily and weekly paper; large posters put up at the cross roads in every county; banners stretched across broadway announcing the date. on the saturday before the meeting circulars announcing it and a parade were dropped over the city from an air ship. every business house was beautifully dressed in suffrage colors. mayor d. d. fickle gave an address of welcome. the principal speaker was dr. b. o. aylesworth of colorado. the parade was viewed by more than , people and pathé made films of it. the convention was widely noticed by the press. eleven new societies were added to the state association. mrs. noland was re-elected. other officers were: mrs. o. p. smith, logansport; mrs. anna cassangese, new albany; mrs. margaret williamson, red key; dr. emma g. holloway, north manchester, vice-presidents; secretary-treasurer, mrs. katharine hoffman, logansport; member national executive committee, mrs. leach; standing committees, legislation, mrs. leach; church, mrs. alice judah clark, vincennes; endorsement, mrs. harriet houser; press, mrs. neff, both of logansport. a publicity campaign was begun. billboards were covered with posters and barns, fences and stones along the country roadways were decorated with "votes for women." free literature was distributed and handbills were given out at every opportunity. sunday afternoon meetings were held in picture show halls in many towns. booths were secured at county and street fairs. tents were placed on chautauqua grounds with speakers and all kinds of suffrage supplies. this program was kept up until the world war called the women to other duties. the gary civic service league affiliated with the association and mrs. kate wood ray, its president, was made press chairman. on oct. - , , the annual convention was held in logansport, welcomed by mayor guthrie. among the speakers were judge s. t. mcconnell of logansport and o. p. smith, a state and national labor leader. both had attended the meeting at kokomo in , since which time judge mcconnell had been a legal adviser of the association. mr. smith was a member of the legislative advisory committee. miss laura clay of kentucky, dr. frank stockton of bloomington and miss florence wattles of kokomo were the principal speakers. miss clay was made an honorary member. mrs. mary p. flannegan, secretary-treasurer, was the only new officer; new committee chairmen, mrs. mcconnell, mrs. l. e. sellars, mrs. e. b. de vault, miss wattles. the secretary's report showed affiliated societies. it was voted to cooperate with the legislative council of women and work for presidential suffrage. mrs. noland, as chairman of the committee, was in indianapolis from the time the bill was introduced until the assembly adjourned. in february, , mrs. noland went before the national convention of miners in indianapolis and secured a unanimous resolution favoring state and national woman suffrage from the , delegates. in the summer the state association sent miss wattles for two months' speaking in the new jersey and pennsylvania suffrage campaigns. in july the municipal league held its annual meeting in logansport and the association, again called upon for speakers, sent mrs. noland, mrs. smith and mrs. sellars. the enthusiasm with which they were received and the discussion by the delegates which followed showed a marked change since the meeting at crawfordsville in . at the state convention in the fall a committee was appointed for interviewing candidates before the spring primaries, especially those for governor and members of the legislature and congress. mrs. ray, mrs. leach and mrs. noland composed the committee. in the fall of the question of a new state constitution was referred to the voters and the association placed women at all polling places in the cities and large towns. in the small towns and country the voters received literature and letters asking them to vote in favor. it was lost but the work gave the women a new zeal and with the enlightenment of the voters the effort seemed more than worth while. at the state meeting in october it was decided again to join hands with the legislative council to work for a partial suffrage bill and to cooperate with the woman's franchise league in legislative work if a mutual decision could be brought about. the association all over the state was very zealous in behalf of the bill and mrs. ray, mrs. noland and mrs. stimson worked continuously in the state house until the governor signed it on february . to the legislative council of women belongs much of the glory for the final suffrage victories in indiana. formed in to work with the legislature it was composed of the following state organizations representing , organized women: federation of women's clubs, woman's christian temperance union, mothers' congress, woman's franchise league, woman's press club, association of collegiate alumnae, consumers' league, woman's relief corps, equal suffrage association. these organizations represented an influence that could not be ignored. the officers were as follows: president, mrs. felix t. mcwhirter (later mrs. edward f. white), indianapolis; vice-presidents: miss vida newsom, columbus; mrs. flora millspaugh, chesterfield; mrs. a. d. moffett, elwood; secretary-treasurer, miss dora bosart, indianapolis. the executive committee was composed of the president and one delegate from each organization and mrs. s. c. stimson of terre haute was chairman. the council was financed by these organizations, assisted by churches, business men's clubs, ministers', teachers' and farmers' associations and individual contributions. the act was ruled unconstitutional in october but the women had a taste of citizenship, for all over the state they had registered and in some places they had voted on prohibition and public improvements. the legislative council sent out , registration cards. municipal authorities had appointed women to places of trust. the suffrage board formulated a plan for the study of citizenship, of the united states and state constitutions, methods of voting, etc., which has since been on the program of study for the local societies. in july, , mrs. noland and mrs. ray were again asked to speak at the annual meeting of the municipal league and the following was adopted with enthusiasm: "resolved; that the municipal league of indiana does hereby recommend full and equal suffrage for women in both state and nation." by a vote of the local societies it was decided not to call a convention during the war, as every woman was engaged in war work, but monthly board meetings were held in different towns in and , keeping the busy women in touch with suffrage work. during the legislature of other organizations seemed desirous of pushing the suffrage work and the association voted to give them a free hand. it assisted the effort for the ratification of the federal amendment by sending letters and having resolutions passed by organizations. it has at this time ( ) affiliated societies, dues-paying members and over , non-dues-paying members. indiana. part ii.[ ] during the early years of the present century there was no definite campaign for suffrage in indiana but the partial success of repeated efforts to influence the general assembly to pass various suffrage bills showed a large body of interested if unorganized favorable opinion. the state had never been entirely organized but there were several centers where flourishing associations kept up interest. in the state woman suffrage association under the presidency of mrs. bertha g. wade of indianapolis engaged chiefly in legislative work but it gradually ceased effort. there were attempts toward its re-organization in the following years, assisted by the national association, but interest proved to be not sufficiently keen or widespread. the indianapolis equal suffrage society, organized in under the direction of mrs. may wright sewall, had never suspended activities. dr. amelia r. keller was its president in and in order to stimulate interest and give an outlet for the energy of its members, assisted by mrs. grace julian clarke, mrs. felix t. mcwhirter, mrs. john f. barnhill, mrs. w. t. barnes, mrs. winfield scott johnson and dr. rebecca rogers george, she formed the women's school league on october , "to elect a woman to the school board and improve the schools of indianapolis." dr. keller was made president and the other officers were, vice-presidents, dr. george and mrs. mcwhirter; secretary, mrs. julia c. henderson; treasurer, miss harriet noble; directors, mrs. clarke, mrs. barnhill, mrs. arthur b. grover, mrs. johnson, mrs. linton a. cox, mrs. laura kregelo, mrs. edgar a. perkins, dr. mary a. spink, miss belle o'hair and miss tarquinia voss. many of these names become familiar in the later records of suffrage work. the first part of the league's program succeeded and a woman was elected to the school board of indianapolis. at the same time the women of terre haute, where under a new law the school board was elective, made a like attempt through the woman's club and the local suffrage society and were also successful. these were the only places where school boards were elective. many women showed themselves eager to work for a woman on the school board who were indifferent to the larger aspects of suffrage. it was soon clear, however, that the schools could not stand alone in municipal affairs but where boards were not elected it would be necessary to vote for mayor and councilmen to influence school conditions, therefore on april , , the organization dropped the word "school" from its title and became the woman's franchise league of indiana. dr. keller continued as president and associated with her as officers were mrs. meredith nicholson and mrs. mcwhirter, vice presidents; mrs. henderson, secretary; mrs. barnhill, treasurer. a state convention of the league was held in indianapolis april , , and one took place annually after that date, always in the capital. at this convention dr. martha griffiths of crawfordsville and dr. adah mcmahon of lafayette were added to the directors. this year the league affiliated with the national american woman suffrage association.[ ] by may, , there were sixty branch leagues and , members; in may, , there were branches and , members. dr. keller continued as president until the convention of , when mrs. richard e. edwards of peru was elected and served two years. at the convention of miss helen benbridge of terre haute was chosen. the franchise league was exceedingly fortunate in its three presidents, who gave the most of their time, thought and effort to its demands without salary. dr. keller organized it largely through the force of her own personality and was able to gather around her other strong and determined women through whom the idea of suffrage was carried out into the state. mrs. edwards took up the work of more intensive organization of the state outside of indianapolis and succeeded, with miss benbridge as state organizer, in multiplying the branch leagues and the members by five. miss benbridge's work as president was that of consolidating these gains and directing the women in the use of the vote which they thought they had won. the list is too long to be given of those who deserve special mention for years of devoted service. from the spring of to the autumn of the members of force and character were drawn upon for war service and the league suffered the temporary loss of some of its best workers, who were filling executive positions in the many war agencies. of the directorate miss adah bush worked first in washington with the woman's council of national defense and later went to france with the young women's christian association; mrs. fred mcculloch was state chairman of liberty loans; dr. mcmahon went to france on the staff of the women's oversea hospitals; mrs. henderson was chairman of the "four minute speakers" who at their own expense went over the state speaking for liberty loans, red cross, etc. under the able direction of miss benbridge the league continued to increase until there were but four counties in which it had no representation. the changed status of members from suffrage workers to voters necessitated a different sort of activity. organizers were still employed to some extent and suffrage propaganda used in the more remote counties but the stress was laid upon teaching women to use the vote intelligently and appreciate the power it gives. a citizenship school of the nature of a normal school was held in indianapolis in october and women from all over the state attended a five days' session and heard talks on the nature and various functions of the government and the duties of citizens, by men and women who were experts in their various lines. they took back to their own towns the inspiration received and these schools were carried on quite generally. the state superintendent of education sent out a bulletin asking the teachers to give their aid and recommending that the public schools be used for this work. a monograph entitled an aid to the citizen in indiana was prepared by miss martha block of terre haute and published by the league. this movement to train the new voters commanded the respect of educators and several professors in educational institutions offered their services as teachers in the schools of citizenship. the convention of april, , was the end of the franchise league. with the near ratification of the federal amendment work for suffrage seemed to be finished in indiana. as a presidential suffrage bill had been passed by the general assembly the women of the state were already partial voters, so the league disbanded and in its place was formed the state league of women voters, with mrs. a. h. beardsley of elkhart as president. the branches became auxiliaries and the leaders realized that the task of getting the vote was nearly accomplished--that of using it had just begun. legislative action. . through the efforts of the equal suffrage association a resolution for an amendment to the state constitution to strike out the word "male" in the suffrage section was introduced. in the senate it was buried in committee. in the house it received a vote of ayes, noes--a two-thirds majority being necessary. later it was reconsidered and passed by a vote of to . this vote was also reconsidered and the amendment laid on the table. . municipal suffrage bill was defeated by the senate. . a similar measure was reported favorably out of committees but lost in the lower house by ayes, noes, and no action was taken by the senate. . a resolution to submit a woman suffrage amendment was held up in committees. the senate passed a school suffrage bill by ayes, noes, but there was no action in the house. . a presidential suffrage bill passed in the senate by ayes, noes, was held up in the house. . this year will long be remembered by suffrage workers as one of triumphs and defeats. the legislative session was a continued triumph and showed that public opinion was in favor of granting political rights to women. a great help was the agitation for a new constitution. the present constitution was adopted in . an early court decision that an amendment in order to carry must have a majority of all the votes cast at the election made amending it a practical impossibility and for a long time there had been a widespread demand for a new one for the sake of many needed reforms. the suffragists joined the agitation for it, as this seemed the only way to get the vote by state action. the general assembly of was carefully selected to pass the prohibition amendment and was known to be favorable to the calling of a constitutional convention. while the suffragists placed their hope in a new constitution yet in order to leave no means untried the legislative council of women was formed at the suggestion of mrs. grace julian clarke, composed of representatives of eight or ten state organizations, of which the women's franchise league was one. mrs. felix t. mcwhirter was made president and it was decided to present a presidential and municipal suffrage bill similar to the one passed by the illinois legislature in and sustained by the courts. the council had quarters in the state house granted by the governor; the women's franchise league immediately established a bureau there by his consent with mrs. john f. barnhill and miss alma sickler in charge and all the women labored diligently for the success of the measure. the work over the state was necessarily done largely by the franchise league, as it had the local societies necessary. the council secured the aid of mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, a lawyer of chicago, who had been closely identified with the illinois law. for the first time in the history of indiana's struggle for equal suffrage there was active opposition by women. nineteen, all of indianapolis, appealed to the senate committee on rights and privileges, which had the bill in charge, for a hearing in order to protest.[ ] this was granted but it resulted in an enthusiastic suffrage meeting. the "nineteen," who asserted that they spoke for per cent. of unorganized women in indiana, were represented by mrs. lucius b. swift, miss minnie bronson, secretary of the national anti-suffrage association, and charles mclean of iowa, who was in its employ. mrs. mcculloch, meredith nicholson, mrs. edward franklin white, now president of the council, former mayor charles a. bookwalter and a number of others spoke for the bill. the calendar of suffrage events in the legislature of was as follows: on january the bill for a constitutional convention passed the house by ayes, noes; on the st it passed the senate by ayes, noes, and on february was signed by governor james p. goodrich. on february the presidential-municipal suffrage bill passed the senate by ayes, noes. it also provided that women could vote for delegates to the constitutional convention, were eligible to election as delegates and could vote on the adoption of the proposed new constitution. on the nd it passed the house by ayes, noes, and was signed by the governor. the legislature also voted to submit a full suffrage amendment to the electors. although it was early apparent that these laws would be carried into the courts preparations were at once made by the women for registering. the franchise league opened booths in the shopping districts in the cities and urged the women in the country to go to the court house and register when in town. they sent out women notaries with blanks to register the women.[ ] in vigo county, of which terre haute is the county seat, , registered, more than the average number of men who usually voted at elections. in all parts of the state the registration of women was very large and the women were studying political questions and showing much interest in their new duties. meanwhile the action of the legislature was taken into the courts. on june judge w. w. thornton of the marion county (indianapolis) superior court gave a decision that the legislature had no authority to call for an election of delegates to a constitutional convention and no right to grant to women the privilege of voting for such delegates or any constitution which might be submitted to the voters. the case was at once appealed to the state supreme court, which on july sustained the decision. chief justice erwin wrote the opinion and justices spencer, harvey and myers concurred. justice m. b. lairy filed a dissenting opinion. there was a wide difference of opinion among the lawyers of the state. this decision did not affect the limited suffrage law, which gave women the right to vote for ( ) presidential electors; ( ) all state officers not expressly named in the constitution, including attorney general and judges of the appellate, superior, criminal, probate and juvenile courts; ( ) all city, township and county officers not named in the constitution. the law was referred to as nine-tenths suffrage. action was brought in the superior court of marion county for a decision on this law. the court gave an adverse decision but it embraced definitely only the municipal suffrage. on october the supreme court upheld this decision concerning municipal suffrage and implied that the entire act was invalid. the counsel for the suffragists, including some of the foremost lawyers in the state, with eli stansbury, attorney general, and mrs. mcculloch, presented masterly arguments. the decision of the supreme court was condemned by many besides the suffragists. the hearing was not held before a full bench and the decision was not unanimous, judge lawson j. harvey handing down a dissenting opinion, so that two men virtually decided this momentous question. by jan. , the federal suffrage amendment had passed the lower house of congress and was pending in the senate and the first act of this year's legislature, convened in joint session before either house had organized, was to adopt a resolution with but one opposing vote calling on the u. s. senate to submit the amendment, which was signed by the governor and forwarded to washington. there still remained from the legislation of the amendment to the state constitution, which in order to be submitted to the voters had to be passed also by the assembly of . the result of the election of in the state had been an overwhelmingly republican victory. since the party had the governor and a majority of both branches of the assembly, it wished to put through a program of legislation that called for amending the constitution and the leaders requested the women to withdraw the suffrage amendment, as while one was pending another could not be introduced. feeling that withdrawal with a friendly majority was better than defeat and enmity, the board of the franchise league consented. one of the rewards for this sacrifice, which meant a delay of two years in presenting a state amendment to the voters, was the presidential suffrage bill, which passed on february with six dissenting votes out of a membership of . three of these were in the senate, erskine of evansville, haggerty of south bend and kline of huntington; three in the house, sambor, bidaman and o'neal, the last two from terre haute, sambor from indiana harbor. the vote to submit an amendment was unanimous in both houses. ratification. when the u. s. senate finally voted on june to submit the federal suffrage amendment the legislature of had adjourned. the question of ratification was of course uppermost in the minds of the leaders of the franchise league and there would be no regular session until . governor goodrich came to the rescue by promising to call a special session, probably in august or september of the present year, and sent out an invitation to other governors of states similarly situated to join him in securing enough special sessions to ratify the amendment at an early date. the governor of indiana has power to call a special session but can not restrict its action. owing to internal affairs of the state which developed the governor postponed indefinitely calling the session, assuring the suffragists, however, that it should be held in time for them to vote at the general election of . finally after repeated importunities he announced on december that he would call the special session for jan. , , if a two-thirds majority of the legislature would agree to consider only ratification. although both political parties had declared in favor of ratifying the amendment yet the women were expected to secure these pledges and it was no small task but it seemed to be the only way. the suffragists looked to the franchise league for action and it assumed the burden. miss helen benbridge, its efficient president, soon made the politicians see the wisdom of a special session. under her skillful management letters from the governor were sent immediately to all the legislators enclosing this agreement: "i hereby pledge myself to attend a special session of the general assembly limited to the ratification of the federal suffrage amendment and to vote for adjournment immediately afterwards." the franchise league opened headquarters in indianapolis and every pressure, political and other kinds, was brought to bear on the members and answers began to come in as early as january . it certainly was a surprise to the politicians when on the afternoon of january miss benbridge was able to take to governor goodrich signed pledges from senators and representatives, a two-thirds majority in each house. the governor at once issued a call for a special session on january , allowing two days for members to reach indianapolis. that so many legislators were willing to lay aside party prejudice and meet for a non-partisan purpose speaks volumes for the personnel of the general assembly of . recognition is due especially to the democratic members, as the republicans were obeying the call of their chief but the democrats, on the summons of a republican governor, laid aside their convictions and acted solely in the interest of the women of their state. the assembly convened at a. m. on jan. , , and more than a hundred suffrage workers from all parts of the state were present to see the fruition of their hopes. miss benbridge, president, and mrs. edwards, past president of the league, sat on the rostrum in the senate chamber beside lieutenant governor edgar d. bush, and in the house beside speaker jesse eschbach, while the vote was being taken. the senators enjoyed what was termed "the last wail" of the three anti-suffragists who voted no--kline, haggerty and franklin mccray of indianapolis. forty-three votes were cast in favor. the resolution was then taken to the house, which had organized and was waiting, and, after suspension of the rules so that the three necessary readings might be had in one day, it was passed by the unanimous vote of the members present. it was signed at once by the presiding officers and at half past four of the same afternoon by governor goodrich, who wished in this way to show his agreement, though his signature was not legally necessary. mrs. goodrich, miss benbridge, many officers of the franchise league and other interested suffragists witnessed the signing. with this act the long struggle for political rights for women which began in indiana in the middle of the nineteenth century was finished. a large and enthusiastic meeting of the board of the franchise league was then held and there was general congratulation. miss benbridge, who presided, said: "the work that assured the special session and the result achieved was done, not by the little group of women in the indianapolis headquarters, although their work was well done, but by the women over the state. much credit for the success belongs to the franchise league members everywhere, who have won the sentiment of their localities for woman suffrage." footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to mrs. anna dunn noland, president of the stale equal suffrage association. [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to mrs. lenore hanna cox, an officer of the woman's franchise league from its beginning in until its work was finished in . [ ] from - the following women served as vice presidents, some for several terms: mrs. meredith nicholson, mrs. felix t. mcwhirter, mrs. ovid b. jameson, mrs. john f. barnhill, mrs. julia fried walker, mrs. isaac born, all of indianapolis; mrs. lenore hanna cox, mrs. c. m. curry, miss helen benbridge, mrs. leon stern, of terre haute; mrs. fred mcculloch, mrs. olaf guldlin, of fort wayne; mrs. horace stilwell, anderson; mrs. r. m. johnson, franklin; mrs. a. d. moffett, elwood; miss adah e. bush, kentland; mrs. a. h. beardsley, elkhart; mrs. charles j. gill, muncie; mrs. chester evans, bloomington; miss betsy jewett edwards, shelbyville. mrs. julia c. henderson, secretary from to , was succeeded by miss dora bosart, both of indianapolis; mrs. john c. morrison of lafayette, and mrs. richard e. edwards, of peru. miss harriet noble, the first treasurer, was succeeded by misses eldena and sara lauter, both of indianapolis; miss adah e. bush; mrs. mindwell crampton wilson, delphi; mrs. charles j. gill. [ ] mesdames lucius b. swift, william watson woollen, george c. hitt, l. h. levey, s. a. fletcher, harry murphy, edward daniels, samuel reid, h. h. harrison, william h. h. miller, s. b. sutphin, f. g. darlington, philamon a. watson, henry scott fraser, e. c. atkins, a. bennett gates, evans woollen; misses caroline harrison howland and josephine hershall. [ ] issued by the campaign organization committee of the woman's franchise league and circulated by the thousands. this is a statewide campaign drive, so do your part by fully carrying out the following program: . on saturday june , an auto tour must be made in each county. start these tours in every town where there is an organized league and proceed through the county, distributing flyers, posting bills and making ten minute speeches in every town and village. . sunday, july , is woman citizen's sunday throughout the state. ask that forceful appeal be made from all pulpits urging every woman to recognize and discharge her new citizenship duty. the clergy of all denominations feel the importance of this step--you will find them ready and willing to cooperate. . push registration of women during the week of july as a patriotic measure. secure favorable mention of woman suffrage in all speeches. . close the week's campaign by a mass meeting of all local women's organizations, including clubs, lodges and church societies. . secure all the newspaper space possible for this patriotic week. publish this entire program and report its progress daily to your local papers.... chapter xiv. iowa.[ ] the iowa equal suffrage association was still conducting in the campaign of education begun when it was organized in , as fully described in volume iv of the history of woman suffrage. it seemed at times a deadly dull process and there rose bolder spirits occasionally who suggested more vigorous and spectacular means of bringing the cause to the attention of the general public and of focusing the suffrage sentiment, which evidently existed, on the members of the legislatures and putting them into a more genial attitude toward submitting a state constitutional amendment, which seemed in those years the only method of attaining the longed-for goal. women, however, are conservative and the iowa laws on the whole were not oppressive enough to stir the average woman to active propaganda for a share in making and administering them. therefore the association proceeded along the beaten path--by way of education, aided by social and economic evolution, from which not even the most non-progressive woman can protect herself, much less protect her daughters. the association never missed an annual meeting and the women elected each year to carry on its work were those who knew that the cause might be delayed but could not be permanently defeated. the convention of was held in november at waterloo and mrs. adelaide ballard was elected president, having previously served two terms. the conventions of , and took place in october in des moines, boone and sheldon, and mrs. mary j. coggeshall was each year elected president, having held the office two years at earlier dates. the annual meeting of was held in november at panora; that of in september at ida grove, and bertha a. wilcox was each year elected president. the conventions of and took place in october at des moines and boone and the rev. eleanor e. gordon was at each elected president. dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american woman suffrage association, who was present at the boone convention, had just returned from england and was accompanied by two young english women who had campaigned for suffrage there and who took part in the convention. she had marched in a parade in london and was very desirous that parades should be held here. after much urging from her and the president, and with great trepidation and many misgivings on the part of the members, a procession was formed and marched through the principal streets on october . the boone _daily news_ said: "the members of the equal suffrage association in convention, scores of the local women interested in the movement and the woman's christian temperance union united in a monster parade through the main streets. the wilder-yeoman band led with the rev. eleanor gordon, president, mrs. coggeshall, honorary president, mrs. julia clark hallam, dr. shaw of philadelphia and the misses rendell and costelloe of london next in the procession. from every viewpoint it was a success." this was the first or one of the first suffrage parades to be held in the united states and it required much courage to take part in it. the crowd which lined the sidewalks was most respectful and when dr. shaw and the english visitors spoke from an automobile there was enthusiastic response. in at the state convention held in des moines mrs. hallam was made president. in , at the convention in corydon, mrs. harriet b. evans was elected to this position. the report of the corresponding secretary, mrs. lona i. robinson, was similar to those that had been made in many preceding years and that continued to be made for several following years. it showed that hundreds of letters were sent to the officers of local clubs, asking them to interview the candidates for the legislature on their attitude towards woman suffrage; to sign the petitions to congress for a federal amendment, which were sent to them; to strengthen their organization; to increase their propaganda work, for which quantities of literature were furnished. the report showed the activities of the state officers, meetings arranged, addresses made and legislative work done. at the annual meeting in october, , at perry, the rev. mary a. safford became president. this year the _woman's standard_, a monthly newspaper published since by the association, was discontinued, as there was an ever-increasing opportunity for suffrage news and arguments in the newspapers of the state. on dec. , , mrs. coggeshall, who had been the inspiration and leader of the state suffrage work since its beginning and part of the time an officer of the national suffrage association, passed away. she was the link between those who began the movement and those who finished it. whatever the later workers in iowa had done had been as a candle flame lighted from the torch of her faith and devotion. she was a friend of susan b. anthony, of lucy stone and of many of the other veterans. her delightful home was open to every suffragist of high or low degree--there were no degrees to her if a woman was a suffragist. she showed her faith in the cause not only by her gifts, her hospitality and her unceasing activity during her life but also by bequests of $ , to the state association and $ , to the national association. the former was used, as she would have wished it to be, in the amendment campaign of and the national association returned a large part of its bequest for use at this time. in october, , the convention was held in des moines and the rev. miss safford was re-elected president. by this time new methods of propaganda were being used. during the state fair the city council of suffrage clubs in des moines arranged for the photoplay votes for women to be shown in a river front park near a band stand where nightly concerts were given and literally thousands of people had their first education in suffrage through the speeches made there. the state convention met in october, , in boone and miss flora dunlap was made president. an automobile trip crossing the state twice, with open air meetings in thirty towns, had been undertaken in september. governor george w. clark and harvey ingham, editor of the des moines _register_, a long time supporter of woman suffrage, spoke at the first meeting and other prominent men, officials, editors and clergymen, joined the party for one or more days. two reporters from des moines newspapers went with it and there was excellent publicity. mrs. p. j. mills of des moines managed the trip and accompanied the party with her car, miss evangeline prouty, daughter of an iowa member of congress, acting as chauffeur. miss dunlap also made the entire two weeks' journey, while other workers joined for briefer periods. j. r. hanna, mayor of des moines, wrote the mayors of all towns in which meetings were scheduled asking the courtesies of the city for the party, and this, with the governor's opening speech, gave a helpful official sanction. the annual meeting took place in october, , at des moines and miss dunlap was re-elected president. in march the mississippi valley conference, with many interesting delegates, had been held in that city and made a very favorable impression. miss jane addams and mrs. harriet taylor upton, president of the ohio suffrage association, had spoken at a sunday afternoon mass meeting in the largest theater. when the convention met at des moines in october, , a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution had at last been submitted by the legislature to be passed upon by the voters in june, . miss dunlap was again re-elected and arrangements were perfected for continuing the vigorous campaign already under way. by the time the association held its convention at waterloo in september, , the amendment had been defeated but nevertheless the meeting was large and enthusiastic. miss anna b. lawther was elected president and arrangements were made for securing as soon as possible the re-submission of the amendment. the convention of met in october at des moines and miss lawther was re-elected. the country was now in the midst of war, and, like patriotic women everywhere, iowa suffragists turned all their attention to helping win it. miss lawther served on a special committee appointed by the governor to organize the women of the state for war activities. every woman on the suffrage board filled an important position in the various state war organizations and every county chairman and local member was active in the work of her community. the women worked long, full days for the war and far into the night for suffrage. when the state convention met at cedar rapids in september, , the women were still immersed in war work. meanwhile the lower house of congress had voted to submit the federal woman suffrage amendment and for some months the efforts of the association had been centered on this amendment. it had secured pledges from all the iowa representatives in congress to vote for it except harry e. hull, who voted against it. in june a "suffrage school" had been held in penn college, oskaloosa, for the express purpose of educating women in the need of this amendment and the necessity of educating state legislators to the point where it would be ratified as soon as it was submitted. miss lawther was again re-elected but resigned the next june and mrs. james e. devitt, the vice-president, filled the office. in the association was in the thick of the struggle to obtain from the legislature primary and presidential suffrage. the former was defeated; the latter passed both houses in april. the federal amendment was ratified by the legislature july . the work of the equal suffrage association seemed finished. the half century of agitation, education and evolution was completed. the th and last annual convention was held oct. , , in boone, which had been its hostess many times, and the association was happily dissolved by unanimous vote. the state league of women voters was at once organized with miss flora dunlap, chairman, and the old workers faced the new task of making political suffrage for women the privilege and blessing they always had believed it would prove to be. legislative action. a resolution to submit to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution was introduced in every general assembly beginning with . in the early years petitions were sent, the number of signatures rising from , in to , in , but after that time they were almost entirely given up, as they had no effect. the resolution was introduced according to custom in the legislature of . also according to custom, not always so carefully observed, the senate passed the resolution by to , this being the senate's year for this courtesy, and the house accepted the report recommending indefinite postponement. in the resolution was defeated in the house and did not emerge from the senate committee. in this program was repeated. the meeting of the legislature was now changed to the odd years and in the above program was reversed. after this year the members omitted even the customary graciousness of an understanding that one body would pass it and the other kill it, thus keeping the women friendly and dividing the responsibility for the defeat, and both houses in rejected it. in the senate treated the resolution in a most contemptuous manner by voting to strike out the enacting clause and then passing it. this was the last time it was defeated. the tide was changing and even the most confirmed opponents knew that it was a rising and not a falling tide. fortunately most of the active workers who sat through that humiliating experience lived to see the men who were responsible for it either retired entirely from public life or so changed in sentiment as to claim a place among those who "always believed in woman suffrage." the neighboring state of kansas fully enfranchised its women in , as did several other western states, and favorable pressure was growing very strong. in the resolution to submit the amendment passed in the house on february by a vote of to and in the senate on march by a vote of to . the deadlock was broken and every suffragist rejoiced. the resolution had to pass two legislatures and in july, , the republican state convention strongly urged the next one to pass it. in this was done, by the senate on february by a vote of to , and by the house on the rd by one of to . the date for the referendum to the voters was set at the time of the primary elections, june , , over three years from the time the resolution was first passed. after forty-five years thus far had the workers for woman suffrage arrived. * * * * * the activities of the state association were at once turned to the education of the voters. it had been long thought by both state and national leaders that if the amendment could be brought before them they would give a large majority for it. probably no state ever went into a campaign under more favorable auspices and until the last few weeks it seemed that victory was certain and the women had learned that it was not entirely a state matter but one of national interest. the national president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, gave six weeks of time to the campaign and liberal contributions of money, as she considered iowa her state, having spent a large part of her life there. the honorary president, dr. shaw, other national officers, state presidents and men and women suffragists from many other states rendered valuable help in time, money and service of all sorts. large numbers of iowa women who had never helped before now did effective work. the long-time suffragists devoted themselves wholly to the campaign. many iowa men gave great assistance. a men's league for woman suffrage, john h. denison, president, was organized with headquarters at des moines and branches in all the large cities, forty altogether. these leagues not only assisted with counsel but raised funds, placed speakers and helped get out the vote. o. g. geyer was the executive secretary and the state offices of the league adjoined those of the state suffrage association. there were the closest cooperation and the greatest harmony in the work of the two organizations. an unusually well-conducted press campaign was carried on with mrs. rose lawless geyer at the head of the press department and she and miss alice b. curtis, executive secretary, gave long hours and invaluable service to the campaign. five-sixths of the newspapers not only used plate matter and a weekly press letter but supported the cause editorially and some of them refused the paid advertising of the "antis." dr. effie mccollum jones was finance secretary; miss mabel lodge was the first organizer in the field and there is a long list of men and women whose names deserve mention for the abundant time and unstinted devotion they gave to the campaign. in some of the counties along the mississippi river, where the situation was the most difficult, were strong groups of men and women workers. miss anna b. lawther of dubuque headed one of the most active and the record of the river counties would have been even blacker than it was but for the herculean work that they did. in keokuk, the most southern city on the river, this was so effective that it alone was a white spot in the long, black line when the election returns came in. each of the eleven congressional districts had an organizer in charge from january until election day. in every one of the ninety counties there was organization. nine-tenths of them opened headquarters from one to three months before the end of the campaign and , precinct workers were enrolled. the whole state was covered by auto-trips in the last month. approximately , , pieces of literature were distributed, much of it especially printed to meet local needs and the false statements circulated by the opposition. one cent postage for one circularization of the voters of iowa cost $ , . as suffragists throughout the nation gave their help, so the opponents outside the state tried to defeat the amendment. the women's national association opposed to the further extension of suffrage sent a number of its paid workers and a considerable sum of money into the state. there was a small anti-suffrage organization in iowa during the campaign affiliated with this national association, with branches in des moines, davenport, clinton, sioux city and a few other places. mrs. simon casady of des moines was state president. john p. irish, a former resident, came from california under its auspices to work against the amendment but the press department widely circulated his favorable declarations for woman suffrage in early years and reprinted his editorials written during the civil war, in which his disloyalty to lincoln and to the union was shown. he was much disturbed by this publicity concerning his past and soon left the state. the women's anti-suffrage association did no particular harm but the forces of evil with which it was allied did great damage and in the end defeated the amendment. iowa women had believed that their men were free from entanglements with these forces but they learned that no state line bars out the elements which work against democracy and the influence of women in government. in spite of these opposing forces the amendment would have won but for political complications which arose during the last few weeks of the campaign. it became necessary for the republican party to sacrifice woman suffrage to its "wet" candidate for governor, as it felt sure that he could not be elected in november if the vote should be given to women in june. a prominent supporter said openly: "we had to do it in self-defense." the special election and the primary election were held on june , , and after several days of waiting the final returns showed that the amendment was defeated--ayes, , ; noes, , --lost by , votes. the adverse vote was almost entirely in the counties along the mississippi river. they were in revolt against the state prohibition law and there was constant evasion of it and agitation for its repeal. naturally those opposed to prohibition were also opposed to woman suffrage. the vote in these counties was large enough to overcome the vote in the central and western counties where the sentiment was generally "dry." des moines, the capital and largest city in the state, voted in favor; sioux city, the second largest, recorded a small adverse vote; council bluffs on the western border returned a favorable majority; keokuk on the river in the southeastern corner of the state was carried, but all the other cities on the eastern border voted "wet." the river counties of dubuque, scott and clinton gave , of the , adverse majority. they were the stronghold for the commercial liquor interests of the state. the republican candidate for governor received a majority of , and this party could easily have carried the amendment. it was evident that there were many irregularities in the election and the board of the state suffrage association conferred with competent attorneys but after much consultation it was decided that it would not be practical to contest it. the defeat of the amendment was a serious disappointment to the temperance forces and the woman's christian temperance union determined to have the returns canvassed and if possible discover the cause. the election proceedings and officials returns were investigated in counties and the report in affidavit form consisted of closely typewritten pages. the des moines _register_ of oct. , , said of this report: the investigation revealed several strange conditions. the records in the secretary of state's office disclose that there were , more votes cast on the equal suffrage amendment than the total cast for all candidates for governor by all parties. the canvass in these counties, however, shows that there were , more names listed as voting, as shown by the poll books, than there were suffrage ballots. add to this the , votes where certain precincts show more votes on the amendment than names recorded in the poll books and altogether , more names are found on the poll books than there were ballots cast on woman suffrage. if this proportion is maintained in the other fifty-five counties, there would be approximately , more voters listed than there were votes on the amendment. the question the investigator raises is: "did , men go to the polls and fail to vote a primary ballot, and did , of these fail to vote on the amendment? did , go to the polls and fail to vote for anybody or anything?" the w. c. t. u. can draw but one conclusion from this condition, namely, that they were defrauded out of their right to the ballot. the investigators found that in the counties ... , ballots, shown to have been cast by the list of voters, are absolutely unaccounted for.... in counties it was found that in certain precincts , more ballots were certified than there were names on the list of voters.... in counties there were , more ballots on the amendment than there were voters checked as having voted. in counties where the combination poll books were used no voter was checked as having voted, but the certificates show that , votes were cast on the amendment. in cities canvassed, a total disregard or ignorance of the registration laws in nearly all precincts appears and in many of these the violations are most flagrant. the law requires that the judges and clerks of election shall make out a certificate showing the total number of votes cast, the number voting "yes" or "no" or "rejected." a total of , votes in these counties are not properly certified to and the "true return" is not signed in many instances by any of the clerks or judges and in others not by all. in this class , votes were affected. in six counties certificates properly signed by the clerks and judges had been changed by a different hand and in some cases several different precincts had been changed by the same hand.... many other instances were given of incompetence and dishonesty beyond question, but, notwithstanding this positive evidence, the legal requirements and restrictions were such as made any effort for a recount or another election of no avail.[ ] * * * * * a conference of the suffrage leaders was held in des moines the next month after the election. every one was sad but no one was resigned and those who had worked the hardest and sacrificed the most were the first to renew their pledges for further effort. it was decided that while their forces were well organized they should at once begin another campaign. the half-century-old resolution was presented to the general assembly of , and, though there were arguments that the voters had just spoken and that the question ought not again be submitted in so brief a time, the resolution passed by a vote of ayes, noes in the senate and ayes, noes in the house. the women continued their work for the second vote, which must be given by the legislature of . when it convened the discovery was made that the secretary of state, william s. allen, did not publish notice of the passage of the resolution the first time, as required by law and it had to be voted on again as if the first time. it passed with but one dissenting voice in each house but the second vote could not be taken till . a bill for primary suffrage passed the lower house in by ayes, noes, but met with great opposition in the senate even from men posing as friends of woman suffrage. in a one-party state, as iowa had been for many years, the dominant party hardly could feel that its supremacy would be threatened by women's votes in the primary, but, as one speaker naïvely disclosed in the debate, the "machine" might be thrown entirely out of gear. "why," said he dramatically to the listening senate, "the republican party would be in hopeless confusion. nobody could tell in advance what candidate the women might nominate in the primary!" the bill was postponed by ayes, noes. the next step was to have a bill introduced to give women a vote for presidential electors. one of the contributing factors to its success was the ever-increasing number of victories for similar bills in other states, particularly the recent victory in missouri, which had completed the circle of "white" states surrounding iowa. one of the features of the debate in the senate was the reading of a letter from john t. adams, vice-chairman of the national republican committee, heretofore an anti-suffragist, by senator eugene schaffter, the sponsor of the bill, in which he impressed upon the republicans the political urgency of granting the presidential franchise to women. after a hard campaign by the legislative committee of the state suffrage association, with mrs. frank w. dodson of des moines as chairman, the iowa legislators joined the procession and on april , , the senate passed the bill by a vote of ayes, noes, the house following on april with a vote of ayes, noes. ratification. when the federal amendment went to the last vote in congress, the iowa delegation maintained its record on each vote that had been taken, both senators and ten of the eleven representatives--all but harry e. hull--casting their votes in the affirmative. immediately mrs. devitt of oskaloosa, acting president, and mrs. fred b. crowley of des moines, corresponding secretary of the state association, requested governor william l. harding to call a special session of the legislature to ratify it. it met on july in special session for this sole purpose. men and women had made their way early to the capitol, filling the galleries and the rear of the chambers. the legislators, too, were apparently as happy as boys, with a new idea of real democracy in iowa. it seemed like a gathering of great-hearted, honest-of-purpose men who were eager to do an act of justice. the joyous expressions of these men, who had taken hot, dusty rides on day trains from their farms and stores in the scorching july weather to come and cast their votes for ratification, assured the women of victory. it was a wonderful moment. after a joint session at a. m., to hear the reading of the governor's message, by : the vote had been taken in both houses. every senator but two was present and was recorded in the affirmative; the vote in the house was ayes, noes; e. h. knickerbocker, linn county; t. j. o'donnell, dubuque; c. a. quick and george a. smith, clinton; w. h. vance, madison. senators j. d. buser of conesville and d. w. kimberly of davenport were absent. the former had voted against presidential suffrage and the latter had not voted. an informal luncheon followed in one of the des moines tea rooms which had often housed the suffragists in times of desolation and it was turned into a jollification meeting. three former state presidents and other women spoke and there were many present for whom the occasion meant the fulfillment of an idea to which they had given years of devoted service. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss flora dunlap, president of the state equal suffrage association - and chairman of the league of women voters. [ ] space is given to this report because it is a fair illustration of the conditions under which woman suffrage amendments were defeated again and again in different states. chapter xv. kansas.[ ] kansas was not yet a state when in twenty-five of her justice-loving men and women met and formed the first association to gain political freedom for women, and the liberty lighting torch kindled then was kept aflame by organization for fifty-three years before the women received equal political rights with the men in . a state equal suffrage association was formed in and thereafter annual conventions were held. during miss helen kimber, president of the association, travelled through fifteen counties and held twenty-five meetings. she had obtained for the national suffrage bazaar held in new york in december, , besides many smaller donations, a car load of flour from the kansas millers' association and two hundred pounds of butter from the continental creamery company of topeka. she was re-elected president at the convention held in mcpherson, nov. , , and the following year visited more than half the counties, forming organizations where they did not already exist. the attempt made in the legislature through the influence of the liquor interests to deprive women of their municipal suffrage, possessed since , brought more of them to realize its value and at the spring election more than ever before were elected on school boards, for which women could vote. the convention of was held in topeka october - and miss kimber was re-elected; mrs. john b. sims, secretary. several thousand people listened to the inspiring addresses of mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association, and the senior editor of the _woman's journal_, henry b. blackwell. headquarters were established in topeka. petitions for presidential suffrage with about , signatures had been secured to be presented to the legislature of . there was an increased vote of women at the spring election and forty-two were elected as county officers, for whom only men could vote. the state convention of was held in abilene december - and miss kimber was again re-elected. she reported suffrage meetings conducted at the winfield, beloit and lincoln chautauquas. mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado was the outside speaker and afterwards spoke in four of the principal cities. mrs. sadie p. grisham of cottonwood falls was elected president at the convention held in topeka nov. , , . the increase of membership of nearly a thousand was largely accredited to the efforts of mrs. alice moyer, state organizer. presidential suffrage was again adopted for the year's work. the suffrage departments were maintained at the chautauqua meetings and literature and letters were sent to every member of the incoming legislature. the convention of was held in topeka october - . mrs. grisham refused a second term and mrs. roxana e. rice of lawrence was elected president. on oct. , , the convention met in topeka and mrs. rice was re-elected and with others of her board represented kansas at the national convention in chicago the next february. the annual meeting of was again held in topeka on november and a report from the national convention was given by the vice-president, mrs. lilla day monroe, but all propositions and resolutions offered by the mother organization were either rejected or referred to a committee and at the conclusion of mrs. monroe's report she moved that "the kansas equal suffrage association withdraw from the national." after discussion to the effect that it could do more effective work alone the motion was carried. mrs. monroe was elected president, mrs. j. d. mcfarland first and mrs. rice second vice-president. the treasurer reported $ in the treasury and was instructed to pay $ to the susan b. anthony memorial fund. the board decided to publish the _club member_, devoted to women's activities. the convention of met october - in topeka, the good government club and the woman's christian temperance union of that city uniting with the association in an evening program. mrs. a. h. horton was elected president, mrs. monroe first and mrs. margaret hill mccarter second vice-president. the fact was evident that there had been no organization work and little activity throughout the state for several years, and, as there was now no connection with the national association, interest was awakened only at biennial periods by the convening of the legislature. at the convention of in topeka, december , , t. a. mcneal of this city, former member of the legislature, principal speaker at the evening meeting, chided the women and declared that the little advance made along suffrage lines of recent years was not because of men's lack of interest but on account of women's indifference. mrs. catharine a. hoffman was elected president; mrs. r. v. chambers first and mrs. mccarter second vice-president; mrs. e. e. raudebush, secretary; mrs. emma sells marshall, treasurer; mrs. mcfarland and mrs. rice, auditors. the president appointed an advisory board of fifteen men and women and named mrs. genevieve howland chalkley state organizer. the press was used to advantage and good speakers from kansas and neighboring states helped to make woman suffrage a more popular subject. a number of meetings of a semi-social nature were held in the capital city before the legislature met. one, "a kansas equal suffrage banquet," followed a business meeting of the association, jan. , , at hotel throop. about one hundred guests were present, governor w. r. stubbs and wife and former governor w. e. hoch and wife having seats of honor. mrs. hoffman was toastmistress and about twenty men and women responded to toasts. mrs. hoffman's policy was to make a strong appeal to the next legislature for the submission of a full suffrage amendment to the voters. on dec. , , she called her officers and a number of well known workers to a conference in topeka and a plan of action was outlined. a room in the state historical department, which through the courtesy of geo. w. martin had been used as legislative headquarters in other years, was again retained with mrs. monroe as superintendent. mrs. william a. johnston, mrs. stubbs and mrs. c. c. goddard were appointed a legislative committee. governor stubbs had been re-elected in november, , and in his message to the legislature in january he strongly advised the submission. then the battle royal for votes opened. the resolution was introduced early in january. every legislator was asked by each member of the committee to vote for it; many of the members' wives were in topeka and teas, dinners and receptions became popular, at which the "assisting ladies" were asked to keep the subject of woman suffrage to the front and in this way many men and women were interested and educated. mrs. hoffman was a conservative but diligent worker and among her able assistants were a number of men and women from the colleges and universities. mrs. lillian mitchner, president of the state w. c. t. u., was a constant helper. the names of all the valiant workers would be those of hundreds of topeka people and hundreds more out in the "home districts," who used their influence with the legislators, and those of wives of senators and representatives who influenced their husbands' votes. the state house headquarters was a busy place and a large amount of work was done there. the amendment resolution was passed by the votes of the men but it could not have been done without the careful, well planned work of the women. it was adopted by a large majority in both houses and signed by governor stubbs feb. , . the state convention met in representative hall, topeka, may , . kansas women were now for the third time entering a campaign for political liberty, which made the meeting one of unusual interest. mrs. hoffman could not serve longer and the following officers were elected: mrs. johnston, president; mrs. stubbs first and mrs. cora w. bullard second vice-president; miss gertrude reed, corresponding secretary; miss helen n. eacker, recording secretary; mrs. s. a. thurston, treasurer; mrs. william allen white, auditor; district presidents, mrs. bullard, mrs. chalkley, mrs. p. h. albright, mrs. l. c. wooster, mrs. matie toothaker kimball, mrs. anna c. waite, mrs. w. y. morgan, mrs. nannie garrett. an enthusiastic mass meeting was held in the evening, the speakers, chief justice william a. johnston; john mcdonald, former superintendent of public instruction; george w. martin, secretary of the state historical society; david leahy, secretary to the governor, and mrs. mitchner; mrs. hoffman presiding. the next day a joint meeting of the old and new officers was held. the treasurer reported $ . received as membership fees, and $ , a gift from mrs. catt. this was a small sum to begin a campaign for about , votes, but all hearts were filled with courage. later three district presidents resigned and mrs. minnie j. brinstead, mrs. h. wirick and mrs. m. b. munson were appointed; also mrs. hoffman, chairman of press; dr. alberta corbin, of membership extension, and miss effie graham of education. these eighteen women constituted a board of management. at its meeting july a program was submitted by the president of the association for the complete organization of the state. organization, education and publicity were the watchwords adopted. the need of money was so pressing that the board made personal pledges of from $ to $ , which in many instances were more than doubled before the vote was taken. this act of self-denial and consecration gave strength and courage to go to others, for worthy as was the cause money would not come without asking. the big public is much like the lord, who helps those who help themselves. the half-million voters to obtain and almost as many women living in counties to educate meant work as well as faith. the hottest summer and the coldest, stormiest winter followed and the workers learned what it meant to travel across country with the mercury ranging from in the shade to degrees below zero; to have a turkish bath while making a "votes for women" speech or be delayed for hours on a freight or passenger train by a snow blockade. by january, , however, one-third of the counties were organized, many newspapers pledged to help, and headquarters established in the best business building in topeka. then began a "day in and day out" battle for votes. at first there was one stenographer, later three and two secretaries, and the president broke all the maximum hour laws. besides the regular county and precinct organizations, college clubs were formed and a men's state league, with dr. e. s. pettyjohn president. this league had a large and influential membership, including the governor, the chief justice and other state officers; many prominent business men, leading ministers, lawyers, teachers, professors and politicians. it gave the campaign prestige with the voters and its members were invaluable as advisers and active workers. the state convention was held in wichita, may - , . greetings were given by mrs. w. j. babb, the new president of the district; mrs. w. t. johnston, hostess and president of the county, and mrs. sally toler, president of the city federation of clubs. mrs. mitchner pledged the support of the w. c. t. u. and mrs. w. d. atkinson, president of the state federation of women's clubs, brought its endorsement and pleaded with other state organizations to "bring in the reserves." telegrams and letters were read from miss alice stone blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_; governor john f. shafroth of colorado; judge ben lindsey of denver; omar e. garwood, secretary of the national men's league; dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national association; mrs. oliver h. p. belmont of new york; j. h. braly of california and others. dr. helen brewster owens of ithaca, n. y., field organizer, gave an interesting report of her work, which included addressing audiences and organizing five college leagues. the first "motion" was that application be made for reinstatement in the national association, and it was carried unanimously. pledges amounting to $ , were given in five minutes to finance a whirlwind campaign proposed by mr. braly similar to the one successfully made in california the year before. the evening meeting was held in the crawford theater and many were unable to gain admission. mrs. johnson presided, mayor w. w. winnick gave the address of welcome and mrs. stubbs responded. the rev. olympia brown of wisconsin, a pioneer suffragist, and miss jane addams of chicago were the principal speakers. during the convention encouraging reports were made by chairmen of the three departments and eight congressional districts and many county presidents. the state officers were all re-elected; mrs. c. w. smith was made president of the sixth district and mrs. babb of the eighth. the afternoon features were an automobile ride by courtesy of the commerce club and a street meeting where miss addams made her first outdoor speech, standing on the rear seat of an automobile. an evening reception at the masonic temple was a delightful finale to the biggest, most enthusiastic suffrage convention ever held in the state. an executive board meeting and a conference took place may , at which date the state, district and county officers of the organized forces numbered more than , women. these with the men in favor and most of the newspapers created a suffrage sentiment which reached every corner of the state. nearly all of the forty field workers were kansans, but assistants and money came from other state organizations and individuals. the national association contributed in literature and money $ , . mrs. laura m. johns, now of california, and other "formerly of kansas" women sent counsel and gifts. kansas people gave most of the money which the campaign cost, and some of the $ , expended was so sacred that it was handled with tearful eyes and reverent touch. for instance, one letter enclosed a check for $ , representing "the life savings of mary," who wanted it used in a campaign state. in another was $ "from mother's money, who wanted this justice for women, but it did not come while she lived." another woman wrote: "this is my sainted mother's birthday and i want this $ used in her memory." one had made provisions in her will to leave $ for the next campaign, but thanked god it had come while she could work as well as give. there were the widows' mites, many times meaning sacrifice and toil, and single dollars came from women who were too old or too ill to work but wanted to have a part. there were also a few surreptitious dollars from women whose husbands were boasting that their wives did not want to vote, and "joy dollars" for sons and daughters or the new-born babe. all these gifts were thrice blessed. with votes as with most of the dollars--they were not coming unsought, and in order to make sure of them they must be looked for in their own habitat. this the women did on horseback, in wagons, carriages, steam cars and automobiles. they were found in the shops, offices and stores, at the fairs, conventions and chautauquas, at the theater and the circus, on the farms and the highways, at the fireside and in the streets. one automobile trip covered a part of the same route travelled by the rev. olympia brown and other suffrage workers in the campaign of , when they often rode in ox-teams or on indian ponies, stopped over night in dugouts or sod houses and finally were driven back by hostile indians. this mental picture made the trip over good roads and through villages of pretty homes seem like a pleasure ride. miss laura clay of kentucky; the president, mrs. johnston; mrs. kimball and mrs. hoffman, who furnished the car, made one trip of , miles in the fifth district and miss clay was then placed in charge of the sixth district offices, where she rendered valuable service for two weeks longer, all gratuitous. arthur capper, owner and publisher of the topeka _daily capital_, and l. l. kiene, editor of the _state journal_, were most helpful. the favorable catholic vote was largely due to the excellent work of mrs. mary e. ringrose and her sister of california and to david leahy of wichita, an active worker in the men's league. w. y. morgan, member of congress from kansas, and professor s. j. brandenburg of oxford, ohio, looked after the voters in the colleges and universities. four-year-old billy brandenburg came with his mother to help in the automobile tours and was adopted as the "campaign mascot." at the street meetings his little cap was often heavy with nickels and quarters when he helped take collections. kansas had often stood in the lime-light, but while the women avoided the humdrum, all spectacular methods were discouraged and they won by keeping their efforts on dignified, conservative lines. all along those in charge of the campaign were warned that the big interests whose business thrives on the degradation of human life would rather defeat suffrage in kansas than in any other two states. early in the summer of a bound book of letters, entitled "business versus woman suffrage," was brought out by a certain c. f. tibbles of chicago, cunningly devised to arouse the prejudice of every kind of business man or reform worker. later two other editions were issued, enlarged and more daring in their statements. they were left in railway coaches and sent to newspaper offices with strong appeals for the publishing of the letters from time to time, but kansas men had fought too many battles with the saloon power not to recognize its hydra head. toward the last came one clothed in the official garb of the exalted methodist church, but warning had been sent by the women of oregon, where he had united his efforts with the worst elements to defeat the suffrage amendment in two campaigns. the men's league, the press and the ministers co-operated with the women and "clarence, the untrue," was effectively bound and gagged. about this time one of the good friends in kansas city, mo., discovered that the same plan which had defeated the amendment in ohio was going to be used in kansas, and he loyally reported it to headquarters. a busy day followed and mrs. edwin knapp, miss eacker and the president remained up all night getting out letters to expose the plan. these were sent to all of the weekly newspapers for their last issue before the election and an associated press letter to be used in the sunday and monday issues. thanks to the splendid manhood of kansas, these were sufficient, and women came into their own on november , , by a vote of , ayes, , noes--a majority of over , . no other state had won by so large a majority and because the count was made and the victory reported first of the three that were carried in , kansas claims the right to the seventh place on the list of equal suffrage states.[ ] the jubilee convention, may - , , was held in the baptist church at lawrence, and men and women came from every part of the state. the evening program was under the auspices of the men's league, dr. pettyjohn, presiding. professor w. h. carruth of the state university gave the address of welcome and the hon. w. s. guyer, an active helper in the campaign, responded. addresses were made by governor george h. hodges (democrat), ex-governor w. r. stubbs (republican), the hon. w. y. morgan and the rev. c. m. sheldon. the theme was the new citizen, and she had a liberal share of the compliments and good advice. at a large evening meeting mrs. agnes riddle, member of the colorado house of representatives, gave an interesting address. as befitted a jubilee convention, there were feasting and music, but the subjects discussed revealed a serious realization of the enlarged responsibilities which the vote involved. the name of the association was changed to the good citizenship league. mrs. johnston declining re-election, received the title of president emeritus, and mrs. chalkley was elected president; mrs. stubbs first and mrs. laura reed yaggy second vice-presidents; miss eacker, recording secretary; mrs. magdalen b. munson, treasurer; mrs. w. t. johnston, auditor, and eight district presidents. during the months that followed, educational work and helpful interest in states having campaigns was carried forward. at a meeting in emporia, april , , the measures to be supported in the next legislature by the association were chosen and a study of the political situation was made. the candidates for governor, arthur capper (republican), george h. hodges (democrat) and professor george w. kleihege of washburn college (socialist) presented the principles of their parties. henry j. allen (progressive) sent greetings and dean relvix of ottawa university explained the tenets of this party. a legislative school followed, attended by women from many sections of the state. a rally to help the campaign in missouri was held in kansas city october , with a banquet and speeches on the missouri side and an all day and evening meeting on the kansas side. the principal speakers were dean sophonisba breckinridge of the university of chicago and justice j. s. west of the kansas supreme court. the annual convention met in lawrence dec. , , and mrs. bullard was elected president. in the convention was held in topeka. as war problems were filling the hearts and minds of the people, only a business meeting was held. the usual resolution urging the delegation in congress to use all honorable means to put through the federal suffrage amendment was passed. in the convention was held in memorial hall, topeka, and the name equal suffrage association was restored. governor capper commended the women for their good influence on legislation. mrs. catt, president of the national association, reviewed its activities, and urged kansas women to work for the federal amendment and go to the national political conventions. money was raised for the iowa campaign. there had been several attempts to organize a "militant" suffrage society in kansas under the name of the congressional union and a number of men and women had been innocently led into it. a "question box" conducted by mrs. catt did much to clarify the situation, making it plain that there was no chance of united work by the two organizations as they were diametrically opposed in methods. she addressed the commercial club at a noon luncheon and many business men testified to the good results of woman suffrage. mrs. w. y. morgan was elected president. the kansas members of congress, all of whom were in favor of the federal amendment, were continuously urged to press for its submission. about fifty kansas women marched in the great suffrage parade in chicago at the time of the republican national convention in june. the convention met in topeka june , , and mrs. morgan declining re-election, mrs. charles h. brooks of wichita was made president. the annual meeting of was held in wichita june . the money had been raised to send two envoys to the southern states and then on to washington, mrs. henry ware allen and mrs. yaggy, both of charming personality and belonging to the democratic party, to obtain the help of congressmen from the south, and it is gratifying to remember that the securing of the last necessary votes in the house in january might be attributed to the efforts of these two women. it was voted to send money and speakers to help in the oklahoma campaign, where the liquor interests were making a strong fight against the amendment. mrs. brooks' excellent work soon brought results. it was hard to raise money for anything except winning the war but she never lost sight of the fact that winning votes for the federal amendment was winning democracy for the world. almost without exception the officers of the association represented families with men in uniform. the suffragists sold in the third and fourth liberty loans $ , , worth of bonds and they worked in every "drive" through the woman's committee of the council of defense. mrs. brooks and her entire board were re-elected. as guests of the wichita equal suffrage society delegates and visitors were entertained at tea in the home of the hon. henry j. allen. the convention of was held in wichita june - . mrs. brooks had been elected president of the national league of women voters and the kansas association loyally changed its name to the state league of women voters. a largely attended "victory dinner" was given at the lassen hotel. mrs. brooks was succeeded by mrs. henry ware allen, who later resigned, and the executive board in november called on the well beloved veteran, mrs. catharine a. hoffman, again to take the presidency. a special meeting of the association and a citizenship school were held in wichita jan. - , , the latter conducted by miss marie b. ames of st. louis, the regional director of the national league of women voters. legislative action. after an amendment to the state constitution was defeated by the voters in , women asked for full suffrage only now and then, but encouraged by henry b. blackwell of massachusetts they made special efforts after to obtain the vote for presidential electors. . the presidential suffrage bill passed the senate by a vote of to , but the next day the vote was reconsidered on motion of senator g. a. knofster and the bill defeated by to . it died on the house calendar. on january representative j. a. butler of wyandotte county introduced a bill the purpose of which was to deprive women of municipal suffrage. a storm of protests began at once to pour in and it was estimated that , letters were sent to members by women from their home districts. the bill was twice killed in committee and received less than ten votes, amid derision and laughter, when its author tried to have it placed on the calendar. . senator dumont smith introduced the presidential suffrage bill and worked faithfully for it, but it was defeated on january by noes, ayes. cyrus leland introduced it in the lower house, where it was killed in committee of the whole on february by noes, ayes. at this session an extension of bond suffrage was granted to women. they had had the right to vote on bonds for school buildings since , but this act extended the privilege to all other public improvements in cities of the first class. . governor edward w. hoch in his message to the legislature recommended full suffrage for women and a committee of seven on the political rights of women was appointed in the house. early in the session the politicians stated that no full suffrage measure would be introduced. later i. w. crumley, chairman of the committee, introduced a bill for presidential suffrage, which passed the house, ayes, noes, and was killed in the senate. . a house concurrent resolution to submit a constitutional amendment died in committee of the whole and no action was taken in the senate. . the house bill conferring presidential suffrage was reported favorably, made a special order for february and received noes, ayes. the senate bill was reported adversely. . the amendment resolution was introduced by representative henry block, and all available space on the floor and in the galleries was filled during the discussion. it passed on february by ayes, noes. the senate resolution introduced by senator george h. hodges was passed on february by ayes, noes. a two-thirds majority is required to pass an amendment resolution and senator frank travis cast the last and deciding vote. it was signed by governor stubbs. the amendment went to the voters nov. , , and received a majority in favor of , . . the attitude of the legislature this year was in marked contrast to that of previous sessions and those who feared that women would lose influence by being enfranchised were certainly undeceived. judging from the number of welfare bills introduced without their solicitation it seemed that the members were vying with each other as to who should champion the most. instead of dodging or ignoring the requests of women's committees their advice and wishes were sought. . the following resolution was passed unanimously by both houses: "be it resolved by the senate of the state of kansas, the house concurring therein, that it is the judgment of this legislature that the granting of the right of suffrage to the women of the state, so long withheld from them, was not only an act of justice to a disfranchised class, but that it also has proved to be of great good to the state and to the women themselves." this was approved march by the governor and sent to congress, and similar resolutions were passed by each legislature until the federal amendment was submitted. . an act this year required that instruction must be given in the public schools in civic government, patriotism and the duties of a citizen. among the women who were active in legislative work were mesdames lillian mitchner, c. c. goddard, w. r. stubbs, j. d. mcfarland, e. e. rodebush, e. s. marshall, lilla monroe, a. h. horton, lottie case, frank lindsay, festus foster and s. s. estey.[ ] ratification. governor henry j. allen called a special session of the legislature for the purpose of ratifying the federal suffrage amendment eleven days after it had been submitted by congress on june , . representative minnie j. grinstead introduced the joint resolution and it was passed unanimously on june by both houses and approved by the governor and forwarded to the secretary of state on the th. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to lucy b. (mrs. william a.) johnston, president of the state equal suffrage association when the victory was won. she is under obligations to h. g. larimer, legislative reference and bill drafting department; miss henrietta alexander, legislative reference librarian; l. j. pettyjohn, secretary of state; miss lorraine e. wooster, state superintendent of public instruction; miss suzanne henry, supreme court law clerk; dr. s. j. crumbine, secretary state board of health; mrs. herbert jones, department vital statistics; miss linna bresette, state labor department; miss clara francis, librarian state historical society. [ ] among the many who aided in campaign work were judge and mrs. frank doster, mr. and mrs. j. k. codding, the hon. a. m. harvey, the hon. geo. waters, the hon. c. c. gafford, the rev. festus foster, the rev. s. s. estey, d. d., william allen white, sim bromlette, john j. brown; mesdames doster cook, c. w. smith, nanon herren, lucia case, lida buckley, sherman medill, margaret brandenburg, edwin knapp, l. s. corbin, adrian greene, adrian sherman, pansy clark, z. nason, geo. w. rose, effie van tuyl, eva m. murphy, effie frost; misses laura french, eva corning, florence welch, bertha hemstead, olga house, e. galloo, mary dobbs, dorothy sherman. [ ] a complete résumé of the unexcelled welfare legislation of the past twenty years was sent with this chapter but had to be omitted for lack of space. the first state constitution in guaranteed the same educational rights to women as to men. the state university at lawrence has women on its faculty; the state agricultural college, ; the state normal, .--ed. chapter xvi. kentucky.[ ] when the equal rights association was formed in kentucky was the only state that did not permit a married woman to make a will; a wife's wages might be collected by the husband; property and inheritance laws between husband and wife were absolutely unequal; fathers were sole guardians of their children and at death could appoint one even of a child unborn; the age of consent was years and it was legal for a girl to marry at . an infinitesimal number of women had a bit of school suffrage. in the rest of that century, under the leadership of miss laura clay, with the able assistance of such women as mrs. josephine k. henry, mrs. eliza calvert obenchain and many others, much was accomplished in the improvement of the laws and in other ways beneficial to women. no state convention was held in . conventions took place annually in the autumn from to inclusive in the following cities: louisville, lexington, covington, newport, richmond, ashland, owensboro, most often in lexington. the convention of was postponed on account of the influenza epidemic and held in louisville march - , . the convention which should have been held in the fall of this year was postponed because of work for ratification and became a "victory" convention held jan. - , , in frankfort and lexington. the first president of the equal rights association, miss laura clay of lexington, elected in , served until november, . the constitution was then amended at her desire to prevent a president from succeeding herself and to provide for a three-year term. mrs. desha breckinridge of lexington was elected in november, , and in mrs. thomas jefferson smith of frankfort. in , mrs. smith resigning because of her election to the national board, mrs. john glover south of frankfort was elected to fill out the unexpired term. in march, , mrs. breckinridge was again elected. for many years the association worked on a non-dues-paying basis and was supported by voluntary contributions. increase of activity is indicated by the following figures: the financial report for shows that $ were spent; that for gives an expenditure of $ , . in there were , members, with organizations in counties; , members were reported in november, , and , in november, , with completely organized suffrage leagues in counties; partially organized leagues in ; a roll of members in and but one county in which there was no membership. many suffrage addresses have been made in the state by eminent kentucky men and women and in later years by outside speakers including dr. anna howard shaw, mrs. carrie chapman catt, mrs. charlotte perkins gilman, senator helen ring robinson, mrs. t. t. cotnam, max eastman, walter j. millard, mrs. beatrice forbes-robertson; mrs. philip snowden, mrs. pethick-lawrence and mrs. pankhurst of england, and rosika schwimmer of hungary. propaganda work has been done by means of the press and the lecture bureau, by the offering of prizes in schools and colleges for the best essays on woman suffrage and at the state, blue grass and county fairs through speaking and circulating literature. in recent years many newspapers have given editorial support and many more have given space for frequent articles furnished by the press bureau. notable among those of recent date is the louisville _courier-journal_, in which for many years colonel henry watterson inveighed against woman suffrage in immoderate terms. from the time it passed into the hands of judge robert w. bingham, and "marse henry's" connection with it ceased, it consistently and persistently advocated suffrage for women, including the federal amendment. miss clay writes: "the paper with the largest circulation of any in the state outside of louisville and of great influence in central kentucky, the lexington _herald_, owned and edited by desha breckinridge, has from the beginning of the century editorially advocated and insisted upon suffrage for women, including school, presidential and full suffrage, whether through 'state rights' or federal amendment. it has given unlimited space to suffrage propaganda and is largely responsible for making the question one of paramount political moment." the _herald_ of louisville has been also a valued supporter of the cause. the woman's christian temperance union, of which mrs. frances e. beauchamp, always a prominent suffragist, has for thirty years been president, and the federation of women's clubs have continually worked with the state equal rights association for the improvement of conditions affecting women. by mutual agreement bills in the legislature have been managed sometimes by one and sometimes by the other. in addition to organizing the suffrage forces and creating favorable sentiment the principal work of the state association has been to secure action by the legislature for suffrage and better laws and conditions for women. this work was under the direction of miss clay until the end of her presidency, with a corps of able assistants, and she continued to help the legislative work. she was always sustained by the interest and generosity of her sister, sallie clay (mrs. james) bennett of richmond, ky. mrs. s. m. hubbard of hickman was the largest contributor and was a strong factor in the western part of the state. as early as a bill for the franchise for presidential electors was presented. in , to the amazement of the suffragists, the act of was repealed which gave school suffrage to the women of the three third-class cities, lexington, covington and newport. the reason given was that too many illiterate negro women voted. it was made a strict party measure, but one democrat voting against the repeal and but one republican for it. following this action the women went to work to obtain school suffrage for all women in the state able to read and write. in organizing this protest against the repeal mrs. mary c. roark, afterwards head of the eastern kentucky normal school, was a leader. mrs. a. m. harrison, member of the school board in lexington, was prominently identified with the effort. this proved a long, hard struggle, as it was considered an entering wedge to full suffrage by the liquor interests and ward politicians of the cities and was bitterly fought. year after year the bill was defeated in the legislature. at the request of the suffrage association in the state federation of women's clubs took charge of it as a part of its work for better schools, but it was defeated that year and in . the federation did not cease its work and in the democratic party included a school suffrage plank in its platform. it already had the support of the republican party and this year the bill passed both houses by a vote of more than two to one. the democrats were in control of the two legislatures that rejected it and also of the one that passed it. mrs. breckinridge was legislative chairman for the federation during the years covering these three sessions. in the suffragists accepted the invitation of the perry centennial committee to have a suffrage section in the parade in louisville and their "float" attracted much attention. this is believed to have been the first suffrage parade in the south. in amendments to the new primary law were made by the legislature securing the right of women to vote in the primary elections for county superintendent of schools. this right was in doubt the year before and was denied in many counties. much work was done by the association in acquainting the women of the state with their rights under the new law. this year after many efforts a resolution to submit to the voters an amendment to the state constitution giving full suffrage to women was before the legislature, presented by senator j. h. durham of franklin and representative john g. miller of paducah, both democrats. favorable reports were obtained from senate and house committees, it was placed on the senate calendar, but after its defeat in the house by noes, ayes, was not considered. in a plank was obtained in the republican state platform endorsing woman suffrage, largely through the work of mrs. murray hubbard, chairman of a committee from the federation of women's clubs. when the legislature met in january, , the republicans, under the leadership of edwin p. morrow, caucused and agreed to support solidly the resolution to submit a suffrage amendment to the state constitution. the legislative work of the state association was managed by mrs. breckinridge, chairman, and mrs. hubbard, vice-chairman. the resolution was presented in the senate by thomas a. combs and in the house by w. c. g. hobbs, both of lexington and both democrats. it passed the senate by ayes, noes. in the house it was held in the committee and although three test votes were made in an effort to bring it out and a majority was obtained on one of them, a two-thirds vote was necessary and it was not allowed to come to a vote. no republican in the senate gave an adverse vote and only three in the house. governor a. o. stanley (democrat) used the full strength of the administration, even invoking the aid of the kentucky delegation in congress, to kill the measure in the house. this year the republican and progressive state conventions endorsed woman suffrage, the democrats refusing to do so. at the national republican convention in chicago the kentucky member of the resolutions committee voted for the suffrage plank in its platform. at the national democratic convention in st. louis all the twenty-six delegates, on account of the "unit ruling," cast their votes for the state's rights suffrage plank. during suffrage work was displaced by war work, of which kentucky suffragists did a large share. they were asked to raise $ for the women's oversea hospitals of the national association and more than doubled the quota by the able management of mrs. samuel castleman of louisville. under the direction of mrs. e. l. hutchinson of lexington a plan to raise money for an ambulance to be named in honor of miss laura clay, the pioneer suffragist, was successfully carried through. in for the first time there was every reason to believe that a resolution to submit a state amendment would pass the legislature, but a majority of the state suffrage board voted to conform to the desire of the national association to avoid state campaigns and concentrate on the federal amendment and no resolution was presented. at the state convention, held march , , resolutions were adopted calling upon all kentucky members of congress to vote for the federal suffrage amendment; calling on the legislature to ratify this amendment, when passed, at the first opportunity and asking it to enact a law giving to women a vote for presidential electors. miss clay, who for over thirty years had been the leader of the suffragists, withdrew from the state association, which she had founded, and formed a new organization to work for the vote by state action alone, as she was strongly opposed to federal action. it was called the citizens' committee for a state suffrage amendment and opened headquarters in lexington. it issued an "open letter to the public," an able argument for the state's control of its own suffrage and an arraignment of interference by congress, which it declared would "become possessed of an autocratic power dangerous to free institutions." it conducted a vigorous campaign against every move for a federal amendment and met the representatives of the old association at the republican state convention in may to prevent their securing an endorsement of it. in an eloquent speech before the platform committee miss clay urged it to reaffirm the state's rights plank in the national platform and pledge the party to secure the submission to the voters of a state suffrage amendment and to support it at the polls. the plank adopted was as follows: "we reaffirm our belief in the justice and expediency of suffrage for women and call upon our representatives in the congress of the united states, in the legislature and in all executive positions to use their votes and their influence for all measures granting political rights to women." the federal suffrage amendment was submitted by congress june . both organizations urged their claims at the democratic state convention in september and the platform contained the following plank: we favor the ratification by the legislature of kentucky at its next session of the amendment to the constitution of the united states extending to women the right of suffrage and we urge our representatives in the legislature and all executive or other officers to use their votes and influence in every legitimate way to bring about the ratification of the same. we pledge ourselves to support in the next general assembly, if the federal amendment has not become operative by that time, the submission of an amendment to the state constitution granting suffrage to women on the same terms as to men and when the amendment is submitted to support it at the polls as a party measure. every candidate for the nomination for governor had stood on a suffrage platform and the successful democratic candidate, governor james d. black, defeated at the election by edwin p. morrow, was a staunch and life-long suffragist. when he was filling out governor stanley's unexpired term and he received a telegram in june, with all other governors of southern states, from the governor of louisiana, asking him to oppose ratification of the federal amendment, he gave to mrs. breckinridge a ringing interview for use in the press to the effect that he would not oppose it. governor morrow, a republican, had always been a friend of woman suffrage in whatever form it was asked. kentucky suffragists could easily remember when they could poll but one vote in congress--that of john w. langley. when in the final vote was taken on the federal amendment but one of the state's ten votes in the lower house, that of a. b. rouse of covington, was cast against it. there was one vacancy. senator george b. martin voted for the resolution and senator j. c. w. beckham against it. he had voted against it in february, when, having passed the house, it was lost in the senate by a single vote. ratification. the november legislative election in resulted in a republican house and a democratic senate. the republicans caucused and agreed to vote for ratification. governor morrow urged it in a vigorous message personally delivered to the legislature in which he said: a government "of the people by the people" can not and does not exist in a commonwealth in which one-half of its citizens are denied the right of suffrage. the women of kentucky are citizens and there is no good or just reason why they should be refused the full and equal exercise of the sovereign right of every free people--the ballot. every member of this general assembly is unequivocally committed by his party's platform declaration to cast his vote and use his influence for the immediate enfranchisement of women in both nation and state. party loyalty, faith-keeping with the people and our long-boasted chivalry all demand that the general assembly shall break all previous speed records in ratifying the federal suffrage amendment and passing all measures granting political rights to women. by agreement, a democrat, senator charles m. harriss, presented the resolution for ratification in the senate, and a republican, joseph lazarus, in the house. on jan. , , the first day of the session, it was passed by a vote of ayes, noes in the senate and ayes, noes in the house. the affirmative vote by parties was as follows: in the two houses democrats out of a possible , and republicans out of a possible . that any measure should pass on the first day of the session was unprecedented in kentucky legislative history. democrats were in control of the two legislatures-- and --which defeated the full suffrage measures. democrats were in control of the legislature in which undoubtedly would have passed a resolution for a state amendment, a presidential suffrage bill, or would have ratified the federal amendment had congress acted in time. the leaders of both parties by this time had seen a great light! the delegates who had gathered in frankfort for the state convention were entertained at a buffet luncheon by the local suffrage organization, went in a body to the state house and had the gratification of seeing the federal amendment ratified. a glorification meeting was held that night at lexington, twenty-five miles away, at which governor morrow told why the new women voters should enter the republican party and judge c. s. nunn and senator harriss, leader of the senate, told why they should enter the democratic party. the latter were introduced by former senator combs, who had sponsored the suffrage cause among the democrats in the last two legislatures. the convention closed with an address by mrs. emmeline pankhurst of england the following night, and on the next day the officers and members of the association went to frankfort again to see the governor sign the ratification. as it was not certain that the amendment would be completely ratified before the general election in november the legislature decided to pass a bill giving to women the right to vote for presidential electors. on march it passed the house and on the th the senate by almost the same vote given on the federal amendment. only three senators voted against it--thomas j. gardner of bardwell, hayes carter of elizabethtown and c. w. burton of crittenden. on the th bills were passed making necessary changes in the election laws to insure the voting of the women in the primaries and at the regular elections. kentucky women who rendered conspicuous service in the lobby work at washington under the auspices of the national suffrage association were mrs. john glover south, mrs. thomas jefferson smith, mrs. edmund m. post, mrs. samuel castleman, mrs. charles firth and mrs. samuel henning. they were equally helpful in the state political work and among many others who deserve especial mention are mrs. james a. leech, mrs. j. b. judah and mrs. robinson a. mcdowell. the association is indebted to mr. mcdowell for legal assistance. an important factor was the press work of miss eleanor hume.[ ] the organizing of classes in citizenship was begun in the summer of and the services of a specialist in politics and history, miss mary scrugham, a kentucky woman, were secured to prepare a course of lectures for their use. these were published in the lexington _herald_ and supplied to women's clubs, suffrage associations and newly formed leagues of women citizens, soon to become leagues of women voters. the equal rights association voted at its convention in january, , to change its name to the league of women voters as soon as ratification of the federal amendment was complete or presidential suffrage granted. the league was fully organized on december , with miss mary bronaugh of hopkinsville chairman. the first vice-president of the state equal suffrage association, mrs. south, was elected as chairman of the women's division of the national republican committee, and the second vice-president, mrs. castleman, as kentucky member of the national democratic woman's committee. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to madeline mcdowell (mrs. desha) breckinridge, president of the state equal rights association - and - ; vice-president of the national american woman suffrage association - . [ ] in addition to the presidents the following served as officers of the association: vice-presidents: mrs. mary b. clay, mrs. mary cramer, mrs. n. s. mclaughlin, mrs. john castleman, mrs. e. l. hutchinson, mrs. charles firth, mrs. judah, mrs. smith, mrs. samuel castleman, mrs. leech, mrs. mcdowell, mrs. joseph alderson, mrs. f. a. rothier. corresponding secretaries: miss anna miller, mrs. mary c. roark, mrs. alice carpenter, miss clay, mrs. herbert mendel, mrs. south. recording secretaries: mrs. emma roebuck, mrs. mcdowell, mrs. firth, mrs. j. d. hays. treasurers: mrs. isabella shepherd, mrs. warfield bennett, mrs. judah. auditors: miss laura white, mrs. charles l. nield, mrs. w. f. lillard, mrs. alderson. historians: mrs. mary light ogle, mrs. m. b. reynolds. press work: mrs. obenchain. members national executive committee: miss mary e. giltner, mrs. post, miss clay. chapter xvii. louisiana. part i.[ ] the history of woman suffrage in louisiana is unique inasmuch as it records largely the activity of one club, an influence, however, which was felt in the upbuilding of sentiment not alone in louisiana but in almost every southern state. when in mrs. carrie chapman catt on her accession to the presidency of the national american woman suffrage association called for conventions in the southern states it was found that in louisiana the state suffrage association, formed in by the union of the portia and era clubs, had lapsed because the former was no longer in existence. the era club, however, was flourishing under the stimulus and prestige gained by the successful drainage, sewerage and water campaign of .[ ] mrs. catt decided that, while it was a new precedent to recognize one club as a state association, it would be done in this case. mrs. evelyn ordway was made president, mrs. caroline e. merrick, vice-president; miss jeannette ballard and miss jean gordon, secretaries, and mrs. otto joachim, treasurer of the new association at a meeting in may, , at new orleans. it went on record at this first meeting as a state's rights organization, which mrs. catt ruled was permissible under the dual character of the national association's constitution. the secretary entered into active correspondence with individuals in all sections of the state known to be favorable to suffrage, but all efforts to secure clubs were unsuccessful. the era club, therefore, extended its membership over the state in order that representation in the national suffrage conventions could be state-wide. it had a standing legislative committee and for thirteen years its activities constituted the work of a state association. in , mrs. merrick, louisiana's pioneer suffragist, was made honorary president; miss kate m. gordon, president; mrs. james mcconnell, vice-president; mrs. armand romain, corresponding secretary; miss jean gordon, recording secretary; mrs. lucretia horner (now mrs. james mcbride), treasurer. there was no change in this board until except that on the death of mrs. romain in mrs. judith hyams douglas was appointed in her place. clubs were formed during the years in various towns, but did not survive, until in a league was organized in shreveport which did excellent work under its presidents, mrs. s. b. hicks, mrs. s. p. weaver and mrs. j. m. henry. the first state convention was held nov. , , in new orleans, and the following officers were elected: miss jean gordon, president; mrs. george wesley smith, rayville; mrs. james c. wooten, monroe; mrs. louis hackenjos, alexandria, vice-presidents; mrs. r. m. carruth, new roads, corresponding secretary; miss lois janvier, new orleans, recording secretary; miss olivia munson, napoleonville, treasurer; mrs. fannie wolfson, coushatta, auditor. this board was unchanged until , when mrs. clarence king of shreveport became treasurer and mrs. m. h. lawless of garden city and mrs. d. c. scarborough of natchitoches, auditors. there was no further change until , when mrs. mcbride became treasurer and mrs. horace wilkinson took mrs. scarborough's place. state conventions met in alexandria in and in shreveport in . conferences were held in twenty-five parishes in anticipation of the proposed constitutional convention of . a convention was held in alexandria in july, , and chairmen were appointed in forty-eight parishes in preparation for the state amendment campaign. in reviewing the history of woman suffrage in louisiana three factors stand out prominently as influences that molded a favorable public opinion. these are the national suffrage convention in ; the inauguration of charity campaigns on the lines of political organization and the forming of the southern states woman suffrage conference, the object of which was to place the democratic party on record for woman suffrage in this democratic stronghold of the "solid south." in public opinion woman suffrage was largely associated with the abolition movement. in miss gordon had accepted an invitation to address the convention of the national association in washington on the famous sewerage and drainage campaign of women in new orleans. then and there she decided that the most important work before louisiana suffragists was to bring this conservative state under the influence of a national convention. in she attended another convention and was elected corresponding secretary of the national association. in she brought its convention to new orleans and it proved to be one of the most remarkable in the history of the association.[ ] so impressed was dr. anna howard shaw, vice-president at large, with the possibilities in the south that she volunteered a month's series of lectures in the next autumn and many places in mississippi, louisiana and texas came under the spell of her eloquence. the influence of this convention was immediately seen in the increasing membership of the era club. its leaders recognized that the best policy to rouse both men and women to the value of suffrage to the individual and the community was by applied politics in social service. it had already secured a partial franchise for taxpaying women and its achievements in the following years made it an acknowledged power.[ ] in a great charity and educational benefit was launched for the anti-tuberculosis league and the woman's dispensary. a complete plan of organizing with era club members as ward and precinct leaders taught them political organization. by the movement for a federal suffrage amendment was growing so insistent that southern women who were opposed to this method felt the necessity of organizing to combat it and to uphold the state's rights principle of the democratic party. through the initiative of miss gordon a call for a conference was sent in august to leading women in every southern state and signed by twenty-two from almost as many states asking the governors to meet in new orleans for a conference. it said: we are united in the belief that suffrage is a state right and that the power to define a state's electorate should remain the exclusive right of the state. we recognize that woman suffrage is no longer a theory to be debated but a condition to be met. the inevitable "votes for women" is a world movement and unless the south squarely faces the issue and takes steps to preserve the state's right the force of public opinion will make it mandatory through a national constitutional amendment.... while as southerners we wish to see the power of the state retained, yet as women we are equally determined to secure, as of paramount importance, the right which is the birthright of an american citizen. we, therefore, appeal to you gentlemen vested with the power largely to shape conditions to confer with us and influence public opinion to adopt woman suffrage through state action. failing to accomplish this, the onus of responsibility will rest upon the men of the south if southern women are forced to support a national amendment, weighted with the same objections as the fifteenth. it was not expected that the governors would come, but the desired publicity was secured and several of them sent representative women. at the invitation of the era club the conference was held in new orleans nov. - , with an excellent attendance. the southern states woman suffrage conference was organized with miss gordon president. on may , , headquarters were opened in new orleans in charge of mrs. ida porter boyer of pennsylvania, as executive secretary, who had had long experience in suffrage organization and press work. for the next three years miss gordon went regularly to these headquarters and gave her entire time to the promotion of the southern conference without financial remuneration. in october a -page magazine, the _new southern citizen_, made its appearance, which became self-supporting and proved to be a most valuable factor in the work of the conference. the first convention was held in chattanooga, tenn., on nov. , , just before that of the national american association in nashville, which its delegates attended. it was welcomed by the mayor, the president of the chamber of commerce and many club presidents. delegates were present from twelve states and in addition a number of distinguished visitors. mrs. oliver h. p. belmont brought with her miss christabel pankhurst of great britain and both made addresses. about $ , were pledged. miss gordon said in her president's address: "the southern states woman suffrage conference has for its immediate object to make the democratic party declare itself in favor of votes for women in its next national platform. this, we southern suffragists believe, is the first step in what will prove a veritable landslide in the south. the conference therefore recommends to the suffragists of the south the adoption of a policy of concentration upon the democratic party to declare itself." in december, , a national conference was held in richmond, va. smaller conferences were held in atlanta, greenville, s. c., and little rock. miss gordon visited most of the cities of the south to organize the women. in july, , an executive meeting was held in st. louis at the time of the national democratic convention. its resolutions committee gave a hearing to the representatives of the conference, miss clay, mrs. o. f. ellington of little rock, mrs. boyer, mrs. wesley martin stoner of washington. miss gordon made an extended appeal for an endorsement of woman suffrage in the party platform and presented a resolution to "secure for women self-government while preserving to the state a like self-government." this was not adopted, but the platform did recommend "the extension of suffrage to the women of the country by the states." although the principal object of the conference had been attained, its leaders hesitated to dissolve it because of its excellent magazine and work yet to be done. it was maintained until may, , when the entrance of this country into the world war made its discontinuance seem advisable.[ ] legislative action. prior to it was an unheard of thing for women in louisiana to take an active part in legislative procedure. a woman's club, the arena, had been instrumental in obtaining the first "age of consent" legislation, but a unitarian minister had entirely managed the legislature. therefore the tyros who formed the first legislative committee of the era club showed their ignorance and enthusiasm when their program included at least twelve bills which they proposed to have enacted into law in one session.[ ] without any friends at court it was with considerable relief that they followed advice to put them all in the hands of an influential lobbyist. reform bills were not in his line and the session was drawing to a close with nothing done when the gordon sisters cast precedent and propriety to the winds, telegraphed to the senator from their district for an audience, boarded a morning train for baton rouge and descended upon the capitol. article of the state constitution adopted in made women ineligible to serve in any official capacity. one of the first acts of the era club had been to try to have it amended so as to allow the appointment of a woman to fill a vacancy on the school board. the surprised senator met them on their arrival, learned the object of their visit and they will never know whether sympathy, amusement or curiosity actuated the committee on judiciary to whom he appealed for a hearing, but a few minutes after their arrival they were pleading their cause before its members. they then called on governor newton blanchard, who offered to have article amended to enable the appointment of a factory inspector, but in their zeal for the larger object they declined. . wiser by two years' experience, the legislative committee was glad to accept lieutenant governor jared y. sanders's offer of an amendment for the above purpose, and miss jean gordon was appointed factory inspector for the city of new orleans. it was not long before she realized that the child labor law, under which she must operate, was not worth the paper on which it was written. she then studied the child labor laws of every state and selected what was best suited to southern conditions, and put it into form for submission. . the legislative program was limited to the attempt to amend article , pass a school suffrage bill and the child labor bill. the school suffrage bill, under the skillful management of senator r. e. gueydan, assisted by senators albert estinopal and james brady and lieutenant governor thos. c. barrett, passed the senate but failed in the house. the child labor bill passed the house but not the senate. . senator gueydan introduced the amendment of article . representative s. o. shattuck introduced the first resolution to strike out the word "male" from the state constitution, with instructions from the women to substitute a school or municipal suffrage bill if a favorable report was more likely to result. by this time the women had sufficiently progressed to address a joint suffrage committee hearing in the house in the presence of an immense audience, miss belle van horn, mrs. parker, mrs. douglas, miss gordon and labor representatives presenting suffrage arguments. the school suffrage bill was substituted and received a unanimous favorable report, but not the necessary two-thirds vote. . the amendment to article was introduced by martin manion in the house and william byrnes in the senate. in the interim between the sessions mrs. o. w. chamberlain, legislative chairman, had rolled up a monster petition from all sections of the state and the favorable report of the committee was followed by the required two-thirds vote in the house. there seemed no hope in the senate, but miss gordon appealed to senator byrnes to call it from the calendar. there was active lobbying among the opponents, but it finally passed and was sent to the voters! in the campaign for it the newcomb college alumnae, the state nurses' association and the federation of women's clubs were very active, but it was defeated. an interesting phase of this year's session in connection with the suffrage amendment was the presenting of the idea of primary suffrage for women by miss gordon at the hearing. she had grown so tired of hearing from the opponents of woman suffrage that their objection rested solely upon the fact that negro women would be enfranchised, that on the part of the legislative committee she offered as a substitute for the full suffrage bill one limiting it to the white primary elections. this novel offer was received with great applause by the assembled members of the two houses, but was not accepted. [see arkansas and texas chapters for primary suffrage for women.] . the full suffrage bill was introduced by representative manion and a quiet committee hearing held, with representatives from the state suffrage association and the woman suffrage party. it received ayes, noes in the house, but not the necessary two-thirds. amending article had become a city administration measure and was slated for success. a donation towards a tuberculosis hospital in new orleans had been made by mrs. john dibert and the gift was municipalized by a condition which required a certain annual revenue from the city. she desired to be a member of the hospital board, but was ineligible under this article. the era club gave notice that it would challenge her eligibility and she supported its position. the long desired amendment was on the way to a successful passage, but went on the rocks because of the club's campaign against a financial measure for refunding the city debt known as the nine million bond issue, in which the provisions for the public schools and the teachers' pay were totally inadequate and it was to be in effect for fifty years! the era club and the mothers' co-operative club protested and worked against this political-financial alliance. in retaliation twenty-four hours before the election the order went to the voters to defeat the amendment to article , which would have made women eligible to serve on school and charity boards, and they did so. . governor ruffin g. pleasant recommended in his message the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution. the state association had a resolution for it introduced in the house by frank powell; the woman suffrage party one in the senate by leon haas, and it passed in both. campaigns. there have been two campaigns in the interest of woman suffrage in louisiana, one for preparing for an expected constitutional convention which would have met in , and the other in to amend the state constitution by striking out the word "male." a special session of the legislature in proposed a convention to revise the constitution and submitted the question to the voters. immediately miss jean gordon, president of the state suffrage association, accompanied by miss lilly richardson and mrs. ida porter boyer, visited the various parishes and formed working committees in of the . the enthusiastic reception wherever they went was practical testimony to the sentiment for woman suffrage that they knew existed and could be utilized if the politicians could be made to submit the amendment to the voters. the latter rejected the proposal to hold a convention, but the work done by the women laid the foundation for the campaign three years later. in there was finally submitted for the first time the long desired amendment to the state constitution to enable women to vote. to governor pleasant is due a great debt of gratitude, for every influence that he could bring to bear was exerted, not alone to secure its submission but also its ratification. he had particularly urged in his message at the opening of the legislature the great importance of the south's realizing the danger threatened from the proposed submission of the federal suffrage amendment. the state suffrage association was in the midst of opening the campaign when the woman suffrage party announced that they would retire from all suffrage activity and devote themselves to red cross work. robert ewing, member of the democratic national committee, owner of the new orleans _daily states_ and shreveport _times_, and a political power, offered his support if the woman suffrage party would unite with the state association and leave the federal amendment question entirely out of the campaign. they finally agreed to this and a joint committee was formed of the president and three capable women in each organization. headquarters were opened in new orleans; the parish committees which were organized in were found to be ready for active work. a petition to be signed was sent to each with a strong official letter from the campaign committee. a bitter three-cornered senatorial fight was under way and the women were asked to delay action until after the september primaries, which they consented to do. all was ready for beginning a whirlwind campaign on october , when suddenly just before that date the influenza epidemic broke out and no assembling of people was allowed. to add to the difficulties, instead of the usual dry, clear weather of this season there came a deluge of rains that lasted for six weeks and the condition of the roads made it wholly impossible to do any work in the outlying districts. thus there was practically no campaign in the way of making personal appeals to the voters, but in new orleans and other cities thousands received urgent letters from miss gordon and other leaders. notwithstanding these adverse conditions, the majority against the amendment was only , , nearly all of it in new orleans, where it was the result of direct orders from mayor martin behrman, through the ward "bosses" of a perfectly controlled "machine." from parish after parish in the state came reports of precincts not even being opened on account of the epidemic and the weather. there is no doubt that others which reported an adverse majority were really carried for the amendment. at a public meeting of protest immediately after miss gordon made an address recalling the glorious history of the democratic party and comparing it with this election which had repudiated its highest principles. in the state suffrage association stood alone in again having a resolution introduced for amending the state constitution, all the other suffrage societies concentrating on the ratification of the federal amendment, which had been submitted by congress on june . it was presented in the lower house by l. l. upton, in the senate by j. o. stewart. they were followed immediately by representative s. o. shattuck and senator norris c. williamson with one to ratify the federal amendment. at the close of the session miss jean gordon issued the following statement: to the friends of woman suffrage: now that the smoke of battle has cleared ... as president of the state association i feel that an unbiased statement of facts should be given in order that the history of woman suffrage in this state may be correctly recorded. having been at baton rouge from the opening day of the legislature until its adjournment i can give all the facts and some of the reasons for one of the most remarkable controversies ever held in louisiana. the proposed amendment to the state constitution having been defeated in by the malevolent influences of the influenza throughout the state and mayor behrman in new orleans, it was necessary to have another sent to the voters in . congress having submitted a federal amendment to the legislatures it was to be expected that men and women who believe in centralizing the voting power in congress would work for its ratification, but that those who claimed to be ardent suffragists would work to defeat state submission after they found the sentiment for ratification amounted to almost nothing in both houses seems incredible. the fact remains, however, that while the actual defeat of the state amendment was due primarily to personal animosity on the part of senator leopold of plaquemine parish, when he realized what he had done he said that if it was possible to have it re-introduced he would vote for it, thus giving the necessary twenty-eight votes. after all arrangements for re-consideration had been made, senator louque, a faithful suffragist of many years' standing, provoked because one of his bills had been defeated, slipped away and it was again deprived of the one vote needed. in the senate chamber were those nine senators who proclaimed all through the session their intense belief in woman suffrage--so intense that they wanted the women enfranchised immediately and they wished to help all the women of the united states--these and many other reasons were given by them for standing firmly for a federal amendment but they voted against state submission, knowing the federal amendment had been killed overwhelmingly. therefore the real defeat of the state amendment must be accredited to the following nine senators: bagwell, brown, cunningham, hood, johnston of bossier, lawrason, wear, williamson and wood.... very different was the spirit among the proponents of the federal amendment in the house. men who have always been suffragists voted for both federal and state suffrage.... when senators craven, johness, johnson of franklin and durr saw the federal amendment was hopelessly defeated they voted for state submission. when mayor behrman caught the vision of how a federal amendment could help him in the september primary, he had senators davey, thoele and roberts vote for it, though it was reported that all had said no power on earth could ever make them do it. after it was defeated they continued to vote against the state amendment. the interpretation put upon their attitude was that they would not help it because its success would be considered a victory for mr. ewing, as his _daily states_ had been the only city paper to stand for state submission. be it said to the credit of senators boyer, butler, clinton, doussan, domengeaux, dugas, weil and wilbert that although avowed anti-suffragists, they worked hard to secure the submission of the state amendment while so-called ardent suffragists worked overtime for its defeat. louisiana. part ii.[ ] louisiana had no state organization for woman suffrage when in march, , mrs. a. b. singletary of baton rouge organized there the state equal suffrage league,[ ] and in april mrs. john t. meehan organized the woman suffrage party of louisiana in new orleans.[ ] both enrolled men as well as women, affiliated with the national american suffrage association and worked harmoniously for the enfranchisement of louisiana women by state and national legislation. later the league became the sixth district branch of the party. when the woman suffrage party was organized its platform contained only a pledge to work for an amendment to the state constitution, but after affiliating with the national association it was pledged to work also for a federal suffrage amendment, and this was fully understood by the members. by june the party, with mrs. edgar m. cahn as state chairman, had enrolled members. it held open air rallies, organized by legislative districts, which are known as "parishes," and in the seventeen wards of orleans parish congressional chairmen were appointed by the beginning of . this year the teachers' political equality club and the newcomb college suffrage club became branches of the party, and the orleans parish branch was organized. delegates were sent to the national suffrage convention at nashville in november. the first state convention of the party was held in april, , at baton rouge and mrs. meehan was elected chairman. throughout the summer suffragists of all groups campaigned vigorously for the recognition of woman suffrage in the state constitutional convention expected in the autumn, but the convention itself was voted down at the polls. a men's league was formed and among its members were dr. henry dickson bruns, w. a. kernaghan, m. j. sanders, solomon wolff, oscar schumert, i. a. strauss, j. j. fineran, lynn dinkins, james wilkinson, louis j. bryan, captain james dinkins, l. h. gosserand, rabbi max heller and rabbi emil leipziger. in the resolution for a constitutional amendment to eliminate the word "male" again failed to pass when introduced by frank e. powell of de ridder in the lower house, though asked for by all the suffrage organizations, which now included a new group--the equal rights party--formed by miss florence huberwald. owing to the absence of mrs. meehan, mrs. h. b. myers, vice-chairman, was active head of the party most of the year. in november mrs. lydia wickliffe holmes of baton rouge was elected state chairman at the annual convention in new orleans. under her leadership all the groups in accord with the policy of the national suffrage association were merged before the close of , so that the woman suffrage party now included the equal suffrage league, the equal rights party and the louisiana league for equal suffrage, formed the winter before in new orleans by mrs. w. j. o'donnell. at the annual convention in new orleans mrs. holmes was re-elected. state headquarters, known as suffrage house, were established in new orleans in february, , a large house on st. charles avenue, which was furnished largely through the efforts of mrs. o'donnell, who was in charge. in may a resolution for a state suffrage amendment, introduced in the upper house by senator leon haas of opelousas, was combined with one brought by representative powell in the house, and passed on june , to be submitted to the voters in november. active campaigning for its adoption at the polls began in september under a joint campaign committee of the woman suffrage party and the state suffrage association. in spite of the influenza epidemic thousands of signatures were obtained to a petition asking governor ruffin g. pleasant to issue a proclamation calling on the electors to vote for it. this he did and those in the state at large responded favorably, but their voice was nullified by the adverse votes cast in the machine-controlled wards of new orleans at the behest of mayor martin behrman, and the amendment was lost by , votes. the annual convention held at suffrage house in new orleans after the election chose mrs. holmes again for president. in the winter of an attempt was made to secure such a modification of the federal suffrage amendment before congress as might meet the objections of southern opponents by removing the fear of federal interference with elections. an amendment was devised by assistant attorney general harry gamble and national committeeman robert ewing, which would leave its enforcement to the states. they went to washington accompanied by mrs. holmes and obtained the consent of the officers of the national suffrage association. senator gay of louisiana introduced it and it was unanimously reported out of the committee on woman suffrage, but the session was just closing and consent for a vote on it was refused. on the social side an "inquiry" dinner dance given at the country club in new orleans in may to discuss why louisiana women were not yet enfranchised was attended by the governor and many other prominent politicians from all parts of the state. the annual convention was held in the autumn at the headquarters, now removed to royal street, and mrs. holmes was elected to her fourth term.[ ] the woman suffrage party conducted a vigorous fight for ratification of the federal amendment from the opening of the legislature may , , until its defeat on june . the final vote for ratification was given by the legislature of tennessee in august, which insured the complete suffrage for women in all the states. at the annual convention of the woman suffrage party in new orleans, december - , its formal dissolution took place, followed immediately by the organization of the state league of women voters, a branch of the national league, with mrs. philip weirlein as chairman. the party's seven years of work for the enfranchisement of louisiana women by state and national legislation were fittingly recognized at a dinner in the restaurant de la louisiane, at which the men and women who had aided the cause in various ways were honored. prominent men predicted happy results of woman's political freedom. gifts in appreciation of services were made to martin h. manion, marshall ballard and norris c. williamson. general robert georges nivelle, the hero of verdun, was present and congratulated the women, expressing the hope that ere long the women of france would gain their political liberty. a silver vase was presented to the retiring chairman, mrs. holmes, from her fellow workers, and she was unanimously chosen honorary chairman of the new league. ratification. on the eve of departure for the national convention in february, , mrs. holmes, chairman of the woman suffrage party, went to john m. parker, who had just been nominated for governor by the democratic party, and asked: "if the thirty-sixth state ratifies the federal suffrage amendment while we are in chicago will you send mrs. carrie chapman catt a telegram of congratulations?" to this he answered: "you write a message and sign my name to it--i'll stand for anything you may say." "if, however, the amendment is not ratified and it becomes necessary for louisiana to make the fight for it," mrs. holmes continued, "what must i tell mrs. catt you will do?" "just say to her," he replied, "that i am a suffragist, and she will understand." mr. parker had joined the progressive party in and in he had made a campaign as its candidate for vice-president on a platform that strongly endorsed the federal suffrage amendment, so his support of ratification was fully expected. on their return from the convention the leaders of the party began to line up the important men of the state by letter and by personal interviews. beginning with the ex-governors, they secured the endorsement of l. e. hall, h. c. warmoth, n. c. blanchard, jared y. sanders and w. w. heard. against these, however, was the present governor, ruffin g. pleasant, who took an aggressive stand for state's rights, although at a public banquet eight months earlier he had told the women that 'if louisiana women could not obtain the ballot by state enactment he would favor federal action.' among those who declared for ratification were j. j. bailey, paul capdeville, f. r. grace, t. r. harris, a. v. coco, semmes walmsley, rufus e. foster, howell morgan, percy saint, e. n. stafford, phanor breazeale, donaldson caffery and many other men of affairs. the new orleans _item_ had always advocated woman suffrage and the federal amendment especially; the _times-picayune_ now approved ratification, as did nearly all the papers in the state. the orleans democratic association, which had put governor parker in office, passed a resolution endorsing it. the state central committee chairman, frank j. looney, and the national democratic committeeman, arsene pujo, were in favor, and north louisiana was almost solid for it. the opposition was chiefly in new orleans, where certain elements under ward-boss leadership were opposed to woman suffrage in any form. mrs. holmes had a number of interviews with governor-elect parker alone, with other women and with marshall ballard, editor of the _item_, one of his valued supporters. she was always led to believe that he would help when the time for it came, although some of his strongest adherents were opposed to ratification. it was deemed best to make the fight along non-partisan lines, and so he was asked if it would be wiser to have two of his own supporters take charge of it or to have one who had opposed him in the primary campaign. he advised the latter course and norris c. williamson of east carroll parish, his opponent, was selected to introduce the bill in the senate, and s. o. shattuck of calcasieu, a supporter and the introducer of the first woman suffrage bill in the legislature in the lower house. the day mayor martin behrman came out for ratification, mr. parker said to mrs. holmes: "i have always been for woman suffrage any way it could be obtained and i have never understood a suffragist's taking any other stand." early in march governor-elect parker told a group of suffragists that the women should get together on a program for the legislature if they wished to be successful. acting on this suggestion the party publicly invited all suffrage organizations to come together and form a joint ratification committee. men and women from all parts of the state attended this meeting on april and one of the speakers, charles rosen, pledged parker to ratification, while marshall ballard vouched for the authenticity of his statement. the bodies that composed this committee were the natchitoches equal rights club, represented by mrs. s. j. henry; the shreveport suffrage club by mrs. j. d. and mrs. w. a. wilkinson; the louisiana branch of the national woman's party, by mrs. m. r. bankston, mrs. e. j. graham, mrs. rosella bayhi; the woman suffrage party by mrs. joseph devereux, mrs. j. e. friend. mrs. holmes was made chairman, headquarters were taken in baton rouge and lobbyists were at the capitol day and night during the session. on reaching baton rouge the women saw the "anti" forces lining up with the "state's rights" advocates and witnessed the curious spectacle of women who had worked for woman suffrage for a generation allying themselves with the paid organizers of the national association opposed to woman suffrage, headed by miss charlotte rowe of yonkers, n. y., its field secretary. ex-governor pleasant and his wife came out as leaders of the opposition, assisted by the misses kate and jean gordon and other advocates of state action.[ ] it was early seen that the fight for the speakership might endanger the ratification program and the women were careful to take no part in it. r. f. walker was chosen, an unfortunate choice for the suffragists, for he leaned strongly toward the "anti" side in his rulings, as did lieutenant governor hewitt bouanchaud. although in his campaign speeches in the autumn mr. parker had repeatedly said: "i am for suffrage; it is almost here, and we must have it," his platform as sent into some of the parishes had contained a "state's rights" plank, designed, with or without his knowledge, by some of his backers, to placate those who feared the federal amendment on account of its supposed effect on the negro question. this was not known to the ratification leaders and therefore he created great consternation by announcing shortly before his inauguration that he "was going to keep his hands off the suffrage fight; that it was a matter for the legislature." after the speakership contest was over he refused to receive a delegation of women and declined to allow any member of the ratification committee to approach him. on may , , the general assembly convened in baton rouge and on the th the rival woman suffrage bills were introduced. representative l. l. upton presented the state amendment in the house. the federal amendment measure was a joint resolution. the attention of the country was centered on the fight in louisiana. thirty-five state legislatures had ratified and the republicans were claiming the credit. democratic leaders were very desirous of having it for the final ratification. appeals were sent out to prominent democrats within and without the state for help in putting it through. colonel william j. bryan was one of the first to respond, urging it to help the democratic party in the coming campaign. senator williamson called on the new "convert," mayor behrman, and he appealed to the new orleans "organization" senators, but was not entirely successful. on may governor pleasant submitted the federal amendment to both houses, with a message which filled several columns of print, urging them not to adopt it but to pass in its stead the resolution for a state amendment. on the th, senator n. c. simmons, a former leader of the anti-suffrage forces, issued an appeal for ratification, ridiculing governor pleasant's "negro peril" bugaboo. this same day mrs. george bass, chairman of the women's national democratic committee, came to baton rouge at the request of the joint ratification committee and addressed a large meeting in the istrouma hotel in favor of it. john m. parker was inaugurated governor may . the next day he received a telegram from president woodrow wilson which said: "may i not very respectfully urge your favorable interest and influence in the matter of the federal suffrage amendment? it seems to be of the deepest national significance and importance." the governor answered that he found a great difference of opinion among the legislators, large numbers opposed to any form, and, all being democrats, any dictation on his part would be unwise. efforts made by the "antis" to force an immediate vote on the federal amendment failed and it was decided that all suffrage bills should take the usual course and be referred to committees for hearings. women thronged the capital. on june the house passed the upton bill for state suffrage by ayes to noes. that same night a hearing before the joint committees on federal relations was held, which lasted five hours, with some notable speeches. s. o. shattuck, phanor breazeale, percy saint, judge rufus e. foster, congressman jared y. sanders, mrs. holmes, mrs. bass, mrs. e. j. graham, miss florence huberwald, mrs. joseph devereux and mrs. m. r. bankston appeared for the federal amendment, while the opposition was voiced by senator stewart, ex-governor pleasant, miss kate gordon, and miss charlotte rowe. on june , the federal amendment was reported favorably in the senate. "get suffrage out of the way" became the slogan, but neither side was ready to risk a vote. the federal bill was passed to third reading. on june former speaker of congress champ clark addressed the general assembly and urged its ratification as an act of justice to women and a great benefit to louisiana and the democratic party. the next day the vote on ratification was indefinitely postponed by a vote of to in the senate while the upton bill was returned to the house calendar. on june , homer cummings, chairman of the democratic national committee, wired behrman urging his help on the ground of party advantage, to which the mayor replied that he was doing all he could. on june the ratification of the federal amendment was defeated in the house by a vote of noes to ayes, and representative jordan then introduced a resolution definitely rejecting it, which was passed by ayes to noes. the house declined to hear congressman john e. raker of california on the ground that they had heard enough on woman suffrage. the upton bill for a state amendment was defeated in the senate by noes to ayes on june . on june , representative conrad meyer sought to re-introduce the federal measure but permission was refused by to , while a motion to re-consider the upton bill passed the senate by to . every possible pressure was brought to bear by the governor's forces to secure its passage. all kinds of tactics and tricks were employed but on july it was again defeated, lacking one vote of the necessary two-thirds. those who were making the fight for the federal amendment finally appealed to governor james m. cox of ohio, democratic nominee for president, to use his influence. on july he sent a telegram urging the ratification and saying that "the legislature owed such action to the democratic party." a strong effort was made to obtain another vote but it failed by ayes, noes, and the legislature adjourned on july with the record of having defeated both ratification and a resolution to let the voters decide on amending the state constitution for woman suffrage. senator williamson issued a statement saying: "there was never a time during the entire session when governor parker could not have had the federal amendment ratified and he is the only man in the state who could have done it. he had control of both house and senate and when he went after anything with all his force he did not fail to get it." the last day of the session mrs. holmes, chairman of the joint ratification committee, went to governor parker and told him that she would place the blame where it belonged; that the women had helped put him in office and he had not stood by them, to which he answered: "go to it." she therefore issued a statement on july saying in part: "the responsibility for the failure of this federal amendment to enfranchise , , women, including those of louisiana, rests on governor john m. parker. this assertion is borne out by every woman who lobbied at baton rouge and by all the fair-minded men. it was in his power to secure ratification the day the session opened; it was in his power the day woodrow wilson wired and asked his support; it was in his power when governor cox sent his request. the women, who, in their zeal for a broad-visioned progressive leader of clean, honest characteristics, did all in their power to elect him governor--those are the women who in sorrow today must realize that it is the only thing he stood for that he did not 'put across.'" ... footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary of the national american woman suffrage association from to ; president of the state suffrage association from to ; president of the southern states woman suffrage conference from its founding in to its end in . [ ] the gaining of partial suffrage for taxpaying women and this campaign are fully described in the louisiana chapter in volume iv of the history of woman suffrage. [ ] for full report see chapter iii of volume v. [ ] among the accomplishments of the era club were the following: publication of the assessment rolls of new orleans; admission of women to the school of medicine in tulane university; first legislation in the state against white slavery; the southern states woman suffrage conference; equalized division of tulane scholarships between boy and girl students. [ ] further matter on the conference will be found in vol. v, chapter xxi. [ ] among those specially identified with legislative work were mrs. celeste claiborne carruth, mrs. mcbride, mrs. hackenjos, mrs. fred w. price, mrs. wooten, mrs. wallace sylvester, mrs. george wesley smith, mrs. lawless. [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to miss ethel hutson, chairman of publicity for the state woman suffrage association from its organization in to its close in . [ ] other workers were mrs. lydia, wickliffe holmes, professor w. o. scroggs, mrs. c. c. devall, mrs. c. harrison parker, mrs. horace wilkinson, mrs. elmo bodly, mrs. d. r. weller, alma sabourin, nellie spyker. [ ] among charter members of the woman suffrage party were mrs. e. c. g. ferguson, mr. and mrs. o. w. chamberlain, mr. and mrs. h. b. myers, mr. and mrs. e. j. graham, mrs. rosella bayhi, mrs. m. m. reid, mrs. margaret hunt brisbane, miss florence huberwald, edward wisner, marshall ballard, james m. thomson, lynn dinkins, mr. and mrs. j. e. edmonds, trist wood, ethel hutson, mr. and mrs. n. j. cosu, all of new orleans; mrs. j. r. mouton, of jennings, katherine channelle and w. e. krebs, of lake charles, mrs. m. m. bodenbender of covington. [ ] among other officers and workers were: mrs. h. aschaffenburg, mrs. eva c. wright, mrs. j. g. skinner, mrs. c. a. meissner, mrs. c. g. robinson, mrs. lee benoist, miss e. j. harral, mrs. w. w. van meter, miss anna morrell, mrs. l. b. elliott, mrs. j. e. friend, mrs. j. e. wilkinson, mrs. a. f. storm, mrs. james m. thomson, mrs. reuben chauvin. [ ] for their further efforts see tennessee chapter in this volume. chapter xviii. maine.[ ] there were meetings and some organized work for woman suffrage in maine from the early ' 's but little activity until toward the close of the century. in august, , a convention of the state association with a "suffrage day" was held at ocean park, old orchard beach, attended by mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association. this year under the presidency of mrs. lucy hobart day, organized work was systematically begun, with meetings in eight or ten towns. state conventions were held annually for the next twenty years, in october with but four exceptions. in special attention was given to enrollment and new sections of the state were reached in this way. the literature and press departments also extended their work. the summer assembly at ocean park made "suffrage day" a part of its regular program. at the convention held at saco in plans were made to ask the next session of the legislature to grant municipal suffrage to taxpaying women. the state grange passed a resolution in favor of this measure, placed woman suffrage on its convention program and from that time gave active support to the movement. the state convention took place at auburn in and the association became an incorporated body that year. the organization of county leagues was begun in and a successful convention was held in portland. in after eight years of efficient service, mrs. day retired from the presidency. she had organized several departments in the association and was in charge of the campaign to secure municipal suffrage for taxpaying women. mrs. fannie j. fernald was elected as her successor at the convention held at old orchard beach. she travelled extensively over the state, speaking before granges and other organizations and securing their interest and endorsement. she also had charge of the legislative work. in woman suffrage was endorsed by the maine federation of labor, an important accession. the annual convention again was welcomed in saco. at the convention of in farmington it was voted to support the national american association in its efforts to secure a federal suffrage amendment. a department of church work was established. in at the convention in portland it was arranged to petition congress for the submission of this amendment. in and the usual propaganda work was continued under the presidency of mrs. fernald and the usual state conventions were held at old orchard and portland. in mrs. fernald left the state and the rev. alfreda brewster wallace was elected president at the convention in portland. the association increased in size and interest and at the convention of in portland miss helen n. bates of that city was elected president with a very capable board. at this time the association began to do more aggressive work in personally urging the members of congress to support the federal amendment. miss bates acted as chairman of the congressional committee until the submission of the amendment, when the favorable vote of every member of the maine delegation had been secured. in the college equal suffrage league was formed to help the association in its legislative work, with mrs. leslie r. rounds as president. the annual convention took place at portland this year and the next, and in at kennebunk. many newspapers in the state had become favorable to suffrage and propaganda was carried on through fairs, moving pictures, street speaking, etc. in the men's equal suffrage league was formed with robert treat whitehouse of portland president and ralph o. brewster secretary. many leading men of the state joined this league, which helped in the legislative and campaign work. the methodist episcopal church endorsed woman suffrage at its state conference. in february, , a congressional conference was held in portland in the interest of the federal amendment, with mrs. carrie chapman catt in attendance and speaking at public meetings with mrs. maud wood park and mrs. glendower evans. it was attended by women from all parts of the state and as a result of the great interest aroused many new leagues were organized. miss bates resigned on account of ill health in march and her term of office was finished by mrs. augusta m. hunt of portland, who had always been deeply interested in the suffrage cause. the national association sent mrs. augusta hughston, one of its field directors, to put into operation a state-wide plan of organization. at the state convention in portland in october mrs. katharine reed balentine, daughter of the hon. thomas b. reed, was elected president. the outlook seemed favorable for securing the submission of a suffrage amendment to the voters. this year mrs. deborah knox livingston of bangor was appointed state organizer and legislative chairman and work begun for this purpose. from january th to th, , the national american association held a suffrage school in portland to prepare for the expected campaign. the instructors were mrs. nettie r. shuler and mrs. halsey w. wilson, its corresponding and recording secretaries, and mrs. t. t. cotnam. the subjects taught were suffrage history and argument, organization, publicity and press, money raising and parliamentary law. this school was attended by suffragists from different sections of the state. later mrs. edward s. anthoine and mrs. henry w. cobb of the state association carried on suffrage schools in other towns and cities. on february , , mrs. catt went to portland to attend a board meeting of the association at the home of the president, mrs. balentine, to confer on the approaching campaign. campaign. in february, , urged by the suffrage leaders, the legislature submitted the amendment. this had been done against the urgent advice of mrs. catt, the national president, who knew of the slight organization there, and she wrote to them oct. , : "if maine goes into a campaign for with the chances largely against success, we feel that it would be a general damage to the cause and a waste of money. if it would plan instead to go into a campaign in , taking three years for preparation, we should feel that it was far more certain of victory. let us look at the resources you need to get and which you have not yet secured: ( ) a fund to begin with of at least $ , or $ , ; ( ) at least five state officers who can give practically all of their time, with the determination to win as many other people to the same sacrifice as they are making themselves. i most earnestly recommend that you ask your legislature this year for municipal and presidential suffrage, making a good strong campaign for this, which it can grant without referring it to the voters." a copy of this letter was sent to the president of the association and at its annual convention held in october it was read and a long discussion followed. a delegate thus reported it: "only a few delegates agreed with her. many women never having been in a campaign declared that victory was sure. the convention almost unanimously voted for the referendum and when the vote had been taken and the cheers had subsided, the grand sum of $ was raised for the campaign...." nevertheless the national association at its next convention (still believing that the referendum would not be submitted until ), voted to back the maine campaign, although against the judgment of mrs. catt.[ ] at the request of the maine association the national association made it possible for mrs. deborah knox livingston to take the position of campaign manager. through her extensive work for the woman's christian temperance union she was widely acquainted in church, club and suffrage circles, was experienced in campaigning and an eloquent speaker. in her report after the election she said: "maine presented as difficult a field for the conducting of a suffrage campaign as has ever been faced by any group of suffragists in any part of the country. the referendum was submitted the very last of february and as the election came so early in september only about six months' time was given us for the campaign. deducting from this time the months of april and may, on account of the almost impossible condition of the roads, and june with its heavy rains, there was left but little more than three months for active work. early in the campaign our country entered the world war, and the whole thought and attention of the people were given to securing support for the liberty bonds, red cross, navy league and other patriotic and preparedness work. this greatly handicapped us in the raising of finances and the creating of organization, the two foundations upon which the structure of a successful campaign must be built, and the two things which more than anything else the state of maine needed, so far as the amendment was concerned." a campaign committee was formed from members of organizations in the state in favor of suffrage, the woman's christian temperance union, federation of women's clubs, men's suffrage league, civic league, referendum league, the grange and the state suffrage association, and headquarters were established in bangor. there were only fourteen suffrage societies in the state, not all active. eleven of the sixteen counties had an organizer in charge for the last six weeks and local committees were formed in the different towns but many of them were ineffectual, as they were made up of untrained women and the time was too short to train them. the argument for suffrage, however, was put before the voters very thoroughly. one hundred thousand were circularized with the convincing speeches of u. s. senator shafroth of colorado and later with a leaflet have you heard the news? which carried the strong appeal of the suffrage gains over the entire world. house to house distribution of "fliers" was made in many communities. altogether , , leaflets were distributed, ten to every voter in the state. in hundreds of towns there was absolute ignorance on the subject. the clergy were circularized three times--over a thousand of them--the state grange twice, committees of the political parties and members of the legislature twice. as soon as a committee was organized petition blanks were sent to it and in this short space of time the names of over , women of voting age asking for the suffrage were obtained, nearly all by volunteer canvassers. the names from each county were sent to the voters from that county and , received these lists. the petitions did a vast amount of educational work among the women and answered the men who insisted that the women did not want to vote. the newspapers on the whole were favorable. especial mention should be made of the valuable assistance continued throughout the campaign of the lewiston _journal_, portland _argus_, kennebec _journal_, brunswick _record_ and waldo county _herald_. the portland express gave editorial support. the bangor commercial, owned and edited by john p. bass, made a bitter fight against the amendment and refused generally to publish even letters on the other side. it would not publish president wilson's letter even as a paid advertisement. from july to september mrs. rose l. geyer, a member of the staff of the _woman citizen_, official organ of the national suffrage association, conducted the publicity work in connection with miss florence l. nye, the state press chairman. on august the lewiston _journal_ issued a supplement for the state association, edited by miss helen n. bates, of which , copies were distributed through twenty-two newspapers. president wilson sent a letter to mrs. livingston on september appealing to democratic voters as follows: "may i not express through you my very great interest in the equal suffrage campaign in maine? the pledges of my party are very distinct in favor of granting the suffrage to women by state action and i would like to have the privilege of urging all democrats to support a cause in which we all believe." on september former president roosevelt sent the following telegram addressed to the campaign committee: "i earnestly hope that as a matter of plain justice the people of maine will vote 'yes' on woman suffrage." the letter and telegram were put on the moving picture screens, which were also used in other ways for propaganda. the poster sent by the national association and those printed by the campaign committee, fastened on trees, fences, windows and every available space, carried the message to all passers by. mrs. livingston said in her report: "we can not express too gratefully our appreciation of the value of the work accomplished by the experienced organizers sent to us by the national association and by massachusetts, new hampshire, pennsylvania and rhode island; of that of mrs. mary g. canfield of vermont, who gave her services for one month; and of the untiring and successful labors of mrs. augusta m. hunt, who had charge of york and cumberland counties." the entire state was thoroughly covered by public meetings, over being held during the last three months. it would be impossible to give the names of all who spoke at these meetings but among the more prominent were governor carl e. milliken, u. s. senator bert fernald, former senator charles f. johnson, representative ira g. hersey, former representative frank e. guernsey; among the members of the legislature and other influential men, former attorney general w. r. pattangall, judge robert treat whitehouse, ralph o. brewster, frank w. butler, daniel a. poling, the rev. arthur l. weatherly. on july , , in augusta, and july , , in bangor, mrs. catt and mrs. shuler addressed mass meetings in the evenings and held conferences with the workers through the days. in september mrs. catt gave a week to speaking at public meetings in various cities. other speakers were mrs. lucia ames mead, miss elizabeth upham yates, dr. lee anna starr, mrs. sara a. gilson, miss emma l. mcalarney, miss anne e. coughlin and the misses loitman. the members of the men's league were active and helpful. the mass meetings were well attended and in all the cities and many of the towns street meetings were very successful. mrs. livingston travelled more than , miles in the state, delivered addresses and raised over $ , . not in any other state campaign had the women anti-suffragists taken so conspicuous a part. there was a society of considerable social prominence in portland and the associations in massachusetts and new york sent nearly twenty speakers and workers, all women except j. b. maling of colorado and charles mclean of iowa, whose utterances had more than once been repudiated by the men and women of their states. mrs. james w. wadsworth, jr., president of the national association, addressed parlor meetings. toward the end of the campaign their numbers became much less, as they learned that the "machines" of both political parties expected to defeat the amendment. the election took place sept. , , and the amendment received , noes, , ayes--lost by , , the negative majority nearly two to one. about half as many men voted for it as the number of women who signed a petition for it. mrs. livingston gave as the principal reasons for the defeat: . inherent conservatism and prejudice. . resentment at the "picketing" of the white house by the "militant" suffragists. . briefness of the campaign. . inability because of lack of organization to reach the rural vote. . reactionaries of both parties uniting in opposition.[ ] in her summing up mrs. livingston said: "without the aid of the national american association the campaign would have been impossible. the magnificent generosity with which it furnished speakers, organizers, posters and literature will make the women of maine forever its debtors.[ ] at the convention of the state association in september, , in augusta, miss mabel connor was chosen president and at the conventions of in lewiston and in portland was re-elected. at the convention in october, , having recovered somewhat from its defeat, the association voted to introduce a bill for the presidential suffrage in the next legislature in . the legislative committee consisted of mrs. balentine, chairman; miss connor, miss bates, mrs. pattangall, mrs. cobb and mrs. guy p. gannett, with miss lola walker as executive secretary to the chairman. legislative action. the state suffrage association and the state woman's christian temperance union always worked for woman suffrage measures in the legislature in cordial cooperation, beginning in . . suffrage bills did not come out of committee. . a bill was introduced for municipal suffrage for tax-paying women by representative george h. allan of portland. the joint standing committee eliminated "taxpaying" and reported a bill giving municipal suffrage to all women. the state suffrage association did an enormous amount of work in behalf of this bill, sending letters to , women representing cities and towns who were paying taxes on approximately $ , , . several thousand answers urging the bill were received, coming from every county and from of the cities and towns. it was lost in the senate by a tie and in the house by a vote of noes, ayes. , , , no suffrage bills were reported out of committee. . four members of the judiciary committee made a minority report in favor of the suffrage measure and the house voted to substitute the minority report but the senate refused to concur. . a new resolve asking for submission of a suffrage amendment was drafted by george h. allan and introduced in the senate by ira g. hersey, which gave a vote of ayes, noes. in the house the vote was ayes, noes--only six more votes needed for the necessary two-thirds. . a joint resolution to submit a full suffrage amendment passed the senate by ayes, noes; the house vote by ayes, noes--ten more votes needed for the two-thirds. introduced by representative lauren m. sanborn. . the resolution was adopted in the house february by ayes, noes; unanimously adopted by the senate february . in signing it the next day governor carl e. milliken said to the suffrage leaders: "you have appealed to reason and not to prejudice. your campaign has been a very fine example of what a campaign should be." the amendment was defeated at the polls in september. . in march an act granting women the right to vote for presidential electors, prepared by george h. allan, was introduced in the senate by guy p. gannett of augusta and in the house by percival p. baxter of portland. the joint committee by to reported "ought to pass." the hearing before the judiciary committee was called one of the best ever held. lewis a. burleigh of augusta, editor of the kennebec _journal_, and professor frank e. woodruff of bowdoin college made the principal speeches. telegrams were read from u. s. senator fernald and representatives ira g. hersey, john a. peters and wallace h. white, jr., urging the passage of the bill. the "antis" were present in force and made a hard fight. they were fully answered by mrs. nancy m. schoonmaker of connecticut. an effort was made to attach a clause to the bill referring it to the voters but it was thwarted, senator leroy r. folsom of norridgewock making a strong speech against it. in the house a still more determined effort was made to secure a referendum but it did not succeed. speeches were made by frederick w. hinckley, percival f. baxter and elisha w. pike, legislators, and mrs. katharine reed balentine, chairman of the legislative committee, and miss mabel connor, president of the state suffrage association. on february the bill passed the senate by a vote of ayes, noes. on march it passed the house by ayes, noes. the favorable vote was obtained after six months of quiet, continuous and intensive political work by the legislative committee. members of the legislature worked for the success of the bill; the governor supported it and the press was largely in favor. the anti-suffragists immediately announced their proposal to bring the presidential suffrage law before the voters under the initiative and referendum, upon petition of at least , legal voters filed within a specified time. the effort to secure these names lagged and without doubt would have been given up had it not been for frank e. mace, former state forest commissioner, who organized committees all over the state at the eleventh hour and petitions bearing , signatures were filed july , within days after the legislature adjourned, as required. as there was doubt about the constitutionality of this referendum, the state supreme court, on july , , was requested by governor milliken to decide. on august the court rendered its decision that the act came within the provisions of the initiative and referendum. as the petition did not ask for a special election the governor sent out a proclamation for the referendum to be submitted at the next general election sept. , . the federal suffrage amendment was declared to be adopted on august but there was no way in which the referendum could legally be omitted from the ballot. therefore on september the women, already having full suffrage, went to the polls to vote on getting partial suffrage and the official count showed , ayes, , noes. ratification. governor milliken called a special session of the legislature for november, . in his message he recommended the ratification of the federal amendment in the strongest possible manner, saying that if only one woman in maine wanted to vote she should have the chance. the anti-suffrage forces of the entire country were concentrated on maine at this time to prevent ratification and it was with the greatest difficulty that a movement to postpone action until the regular session was defeated. the amendment was ratified in the senate on november by ayes, noes; in the house on november by ayes, noes. after the vote was taken an attempt to reconsider was made but was unsuccessful. the same legislative committee of women that had charge of the presidential bill had charge of the ratification. * * * * * at the annual convention of the state suffrage association in portland in october, , it was voted to hold a school for citizenship at bates college in august, . mrs. george m. chase was made chairman of the committee of arrangements and the work was largely carried out by miss rosamond connor, women from many parts of the state attending and deriving much benefit. mrs. nancy m. schoonmaker was the principal instructor. at a meeting of the association in augusta on november it was merged into the league of women voters with miss mabel connor as chairman. suffrage work in maine was carried on for many years in the face of the greatest obstacles but there was always a small group of devoted women willing to make any sacrifice for the cause, who carried the torch until another group could take it, and every step gained was fought for. the history would be incomplete without mention of the portland equal franchise league, of which mrs. arthur l. bates was president, which for many years was the backbone of the state association. the list of state officers who freely gave their services is too long to publish. among other prominent workers not already mentioned were dr. jennie fuller of hartland; mrs. zenas thompson and miss susan clark of portland; mrs. isabel greenwood of farmington; miss anna l. dingley and miss alice frost lord, connected with the lewiston _journal_.[ ] among the men not mentioned elsewhere, who advocated woman suffrage in the face of criticism and with no advantage to be gained, were judge william penn whitehouse and obadiah gardner of augusta; leonard a. pierce of portland; l. b. dessy of bar harbor; e. c. reynolds of south portland. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss caroline colvin, professor of history in the state university, miss helen n. bates, president of the state woman suffrage association, - , and miss mabel connor, president, - . [ ] the above paragraphs have been copied for the sake of historical accuracy from an official report of the national corresponding secretary.--ed. [ ] mrs. clarence hale, state president of the anti-suffrage organization, issued the following: "the large majority vote cast against suffrage today must indicate, as did the great vote of massachusetts in , that the east is not in favor of the entrance of women into political life. the result should satisfy the suffragists for all time and they should now practice the principles of democracy and fairness, which they are so ready to preach, by refraining from further disputing the will of the people.... we can now return to give our services to the state and the nation in woman's normal way." on november the "east" spoke again when the voters of new york by a majority of , gave full suffrage to women. [ ] besides paying the expenses of the suffrage school, the national association paid the salary of mrs. deborah knox livingston as campaign manager; the salary of miss lola walker from february to september ; the salaries of eight other organizers who worked for varying periods and the expenses of four; for , shafroth speeches; circularized , of the protestant and catholic clergy; prepared especially for maine , baby fliers and , copies of have you heard? and furnished envelopes and stamps for them; , pieces of literature for advanced suffragists; , copies of do you know? to circularize the politicians; each of thirteen different kinds of posters; war measure fliers; , blue and yellow posters. the leslie commission contributed the services of mrs. geyer for press work from july to september . this campaign cost the national association $ , and the leslie commission $ , , a total of $ , .--ed. [ ] among the active workers in the anti-suffrage association were mesdames john f. a. merrill, morrill hamlin and george s. hobbs, all of portland; norman l. bassett, john f. hill, and charles s. hichborn, all of augusta; george e. bird, yarmouth; miss elizabeth mckeen, brunswick. among the men actively opposed were the rev. e. e. newbert, benedict f. maher, samuel c. manley, charles s. hichborn, all of augusta; ex-governor oakley c. curtis, of portland; governor-elect frederick h. parkhurst, of bangor; u. s. senator hale, opposed but finally voted for the federal suffrage amendment. chapter xix. maryland. part i.[ ] when the fourth volume of the history of woman suffrage closed in it left the maryland association just eleven years old. since , when the montgomery county and the baltimore city associations united, it has been represented by accredited delegates in every national convention. these thirty-one years of organized effort by no means represent all of the suffrage agitation in the state.[ ] as baltimore is the only large city and contains more than half the population of the state it is not surprising that this city has been the real battleground of the movement. twenty-five state conventions have been held here, continuing one or two days, and two state conferences of two days each. the first of the conferences was arranged by mrs. carrie chapman catt, the new national president, and held in baltimore in , at which time miss susan b. anthony was the guest of honor and was presented with a purse of gold for her th birthday by the maryland women. the second conference was held in . the speakers at these conferences besides the national officers were helen morris lewis of north carolina, annie l. digges of kansas, clara bewick colby of washington, d. c., dr. cora smith eaton of minneapolis and catharine waugh mcculloch of chicago. the day sessions were devoted to business and discussions, followed by addresses in the evening. the state convention of met in the friends' meeting house; that of in heptasophs hall, with a bazar and supper; that of in the friends' meeting house. the local speakers were dr. o. edward janney, r. henry holme, lizzie york case, annie davenport, emma maddox funck and mary bentley thomas. out of town speakers were mrs. catt, dr. anna howard shaw, national vice-president at large; harriet may mills of new york and emma m. gillett, a lawyer of washington, d. c. the convention of met in the church of the disciples. a supper was served between sessions and dr. shaw and the rev. peter ainslie spoke to crowded houses at night. the convention of was held in the harlem avenue christian church. memorial services were held for george w. catt, husband of the national president. the following departments of work were adopted: peace and arbitration, church, enrollment, finance, legislation and press. dr. shaw spoke in the evening on the new democratic ideal. invitations were given in and to the national american suffrage association to hold its annual convention in baltimore. the second was accepted and the convention took place feb. - , . half of the $ , raised for it was given to the national association. most of the delegates were entertained in homes. the meetings were held in the lyric theater and the audiences at the evening sessions numbered from , to , . the state association sent out , invitations. music was provided for every session by the charles m. stieff piano company and clergymen came from various churches for the opening devotional services. three men gave unlimited time and assistance to the work of the convention, dr. j. william funck, dr. janney and charles h. holton. as this was the native city of miss mary garrett and dr. m. carey thomas they united as hostesses of the association during the convention and thereafter became important factors in the national work.[ ] this was the last convention attended by miss anthony, who died a month later. a memorial service was held in baltimore, the following taking part: the rev. alexander kent of washington, mary badders holton, mrs. funck, mrs. janney, mrs. holme and miss maddox. music was furnished by the cecilian quartette of women's voices. the state convention of was held in the friends' meeting house, addressed by ellen spencer mussey of washington. in the convention met in arundell hall november and in the hampden methodist church the nd. the afternoon program included interesting talks by six baltimore men--henry white, dr. funck, dr. janney, r. henry holme, state forester albert m. beasley and the rev. b. a. abbott, pastor of the harlem avenue christian church. a large number of fraternal delegates were present. the rev. ida c. hultin of boston spoke at both evening sessions. in the annual meeting was held in mccoy hall, johns hopkins university, with charlotte perkins gilman and maud nathan of new york and rachel foster avery of philadelphia as speakers. dr. lewellys f. barker presided at the evening meeting. in the convention took place in the baltimore business college, nov. , , with dr. barton o. aylesworth of colorado and the rev. john roach straton of the seventh baptist church as the orators at the evening sessions. memorial services were held for henry b. blackwell. a supper and bazar were pleasant features. in the convention was held in osler hall, cathedral street, with both sessions devoted to business. a noteworthy event of the year was the election of miss sarah richmond, a pioneer suffragist, as president of the state teachers' association, the first woman to be accorded this honor in the fifty years of its existence. prizes of $ were offered for essays on woman suffrage by girls in the high school. at the convention of in heptasophs hall the california victory of october was celebrated with a banquet attended by men and women, mrs. belva a. lockwood of washington presiding. the meeting on the next evening was addressed by miss a. maud royden of london on the economic, spiritual and religious aspect of woman suffrage. during the year a leaflet had been issued entitled opinions of representative men of maryland on woman suffrage, through miss mary b. dixon, chairman of publicity, and suffrage posters were placed in the counties. in baltimore they were made into double faced placards and men were employed to carry them through the business sections. suffrage petitions and resolutions had been endorsed by the state federation of labor, woman's christian temperance union, ladies of the maccabees, grange and jewish council of women. the convention of was held in the baltimore business college, the afternoon devoted to discussions of plans of work, reports, etc., followed by a supper and bazar. a report was given of the organization of a men's league for woman suffrage by dr. donald r. hooker, dr. funck, dr. janney, the rev. james gratten mythen, dr. warren lewis, jacob m. moses, s. johnson poe, frank f. ramey and william f. cochran. in the evening there was a debate on the enfranchisement of women by the boys of the polytechnic institute, samuel m. north, a member of the faculty and a pioneer suffragist, presiding. at the convention of the twenty-fourth anniversary of the state association was celebrated in veteran corps hall with a supper, dance and addresses by laura clay of kentucky, clara bewick colby of washington, ella s. stewart of illinois and lucy burns of new york. the convention of was held in the royal arcanum building. the speakers were mrs. robert lafollette of wisconsin, mrs. nathan of new york, mrs. louis f. post of illinois and mr. western star. it was reported that at the great suffrage parade held the preceding march in washington maryland had the largest delegation. the business session of was held in the w. c. t. u. building and the evening session in the universalist church, whose pastor, the rev. c. clifton clark, spoke on the pro-suffrage side. this year a union of all the organizations in the state was effected under the name of the woman suffrage party of maryland. mrs. funck was elected president and served two years. the annual meeting of was held on the lawn at the home of elizabeth bruce gwynn; that of on the grounds of the young woman's christian association; in at tolchester beach and in at the home of evelyn albaugh timanus. the workers during these years always were volunteers, who served without financial compensation. the association is indebted for the past ten years to mary elizabeth ward for all stenographic work and to margaret a. maddox for most of the publicity work. among those who have represented their counties in state conventions are the following: montgomery county, mary bentley thomas, sarah miller, rebecca miller, mary e. moore, mary magruder; baltimore county, elizabeth herring, josephine e. smith, julia f. abbott, anna s. abbott, ella warfield, kate vanhorn, mrs. charles weed, mrs. james green, mary c. raspe, ethel c. crosby; harford, annie h. hoskins, lydia reckord, eliza edell; carroll, maggie mehring; cecil, alice coale simpers; somerset, florence hoge; caroline, miss eliza messenger; anne arundel, mrs. wilhelmina nichols; howard, miss elizabeth b. wilson. baltimore city club. for more than twenty years this club averaged from four to twenty public meetings annually in theaters, churches and suffrage headquarters. scores of business and executive meetings were held and sociables, suppers, lawn fetes, banquets, excursions and bazars were given. the club opened the first headquarters in at west franklin street, one of the city's noted thoroughfares. in they were established on north gilmore street, west baltimore, and in on the corner of baltimore and carey streets. at both localities the plate glass windows were decorated with pictures of suffrage leaders, cartoons, platforms of political parties and literature; afternoon tea was served and public meetings held at night. it also inaugurated sunday afternoon meetings which became very popular and it was responsible for bringing to baltimore many men and women of national and international distinction. the first english "militant" to speak in baltimore was mrs. annie cobden sanderson, on my experience in an english jail, in january, , in the christian temple, the rev. peter ainslie, the pastor, introducing the speaker, who made a profound impression. mrs. emmeline pankhurst came next, speaking in osler hall on ideal democracy, followed by sylvia pankhurst and mrs. philip snowden, the latter speaking at the seventh baptist church, the pastor presiding. in at a mass meeting one sunday afternoon in the lyric theater an audience of over , was present, more than half of them men, with dr. shaw and mrs. florence kelley the speakers; judge jacob m. moses of the juvenile court presided and a number of men of distinction were seated on the platform. mrs. catt spoke at a mass meeting in the academy of music in march, , at which miss eliza h. lord of washington, d. c., presided and senator william e. borah of idaho was a guest. other sunday afternoon meetings were held in ford's, albaugh's, the garden and the new theaters with well known speakers. baltimore clergymen assisting at these meetings, besides those already mentioned, were the rev. dr. frank m. ellis and the rev. dr. j. w. wills; the reverends kingman handy, henry wharton and w. h. baylor of the baptist church; george scholl and thomas beadenkoph of the lutheran synod; richard w. hogue and george w. dame of the episcopal, e. l. hubbard of the methodist and wynne jones of the highlandtown presbyterian churches. through the state woman suffrage association and the baltimore city club much educational work was done from to in the way of public and parlor meetings. the pictures of suffrage leaders were placed in the public schools. the history of woman suffrage and the life of susan b. anthony were given to public libraries. boys and girls were trained for suffrage debates and prizes given for essays. subscriptions were solicited for _progress_ and the _woman's journal_; press work was pushed; opportunities were sought to speak before all kinds of organizations and there was a wide distribution of suffrage literature. handsomely engrossed resolutions were presented in to senator jacob m. moses in appreciation of his having introduced the bill in the legislature to permit women to practice law in maryland; and to miss maddox, the first to be admitted to the bar, a gold pin bearing the state coat-of-arms as an expression of esteem for her onerous work in securing its passage. in and thereafter by specially appointed committees suffrage planks were requested in the platforms of the political parties but with no success. in a delegation appeared before the state federation of labor asking for its endorsement of woman suffrage, which was refused. for the slogan was, convert the public school teachers. to this end a mass meeting was held in baltimore with miss grace c. strachan, a district superintendent of the public schools of new york; the rev. olympia brown of wisconsin and mrs. emma smith devoe of the state of washington as speakers. mrs. funck attended tri-county conventions of teachers, speaking on woman suffrage and distributing , leaflets. three women attended the hearing before the house judiciary committee of congress in the interest of the federal amendment, mrs. funck addressing the committee. independence day was observed by a parade and street speaking by mrs. colby, mrs. timanus and others. in the first debate on woman suffrage took place before the men's club of the harlem park methodist church, mrs. funck taking the affirmative side against two members of the anti-suffrage society, mrs. francis t. redwood and mrs. haslup adams. the following year another debate was held at the state normal school by the pupils. in both instances the affirmative won. in a large suffrage bazar was held under the auspices of all the clubs in the fifth regiment armory with good financial results. this year the association entered the political arena, the logical culmination of previous years of work. legislation and publicity was the slogan. it specialized in ward work, besieged legislative and political leaders with telegrams and letters, visited their offices and homes, watched at the polls, worked to defeat anti-suffrage candidates; addressed shop and factory employees, spoke on street corners and at county fairs, made use of suffrage posters and unique advertisements and had parades. the state woman suffrage association has had but two presidents, mary bentley thomas of ednor, - and emma maddox funck, - . the latter was president of the baltimore city society - . others who served as state officers ten years and more were mary badders holton, evelyn albaugh timanus, etta h. maddox, anne webb (mrs. o. edward) janney, pauline w. holme, mary young taylor, edna annette beveridge, nellie c. cromwell, florence e. barnes, mary e. moore, margaret smythe clark and annie h. hoskins. space will not permit the names of the many women who were loyal and helpful during these years. women were not left entirely alone to fight the battle and many men besides those mentioned assisted and encouraged. the maryland association opposed to woman suffrage was organized in baltimore in , opening its first headquarters in north charles street with mrs. n. c. talbott as executive secretary. later there was some organization in the counties. the members through public meetings, legislative hearings and distribution of literature vigorously carried on their opposition to women's enfranchisement. the society was affiliated with the national anti-suffrage association and was organized for the purpose of fighting the movement to enfranchise women by both federal and state amendments. the presidents were mrs. john redwood, mrs. oscar leser, mrs. rufus gibbs and mrs. robert garrett, the last named serving until after the federal amendment was adopted. other women active in opposition were mrs. michael wild, mrs. rosalie strauss, mrs. w. p. e. wyse, mrs. p. lea thom, mrs. coyle haslup adams, mrs. george a. frick and mrs. william l. marbury. this association gave substantial aid in money and other ways to the maryland legislators who went to virginia, north carolina and tennessee to work against the ratification of the federal amendment by their legislatures. legislative action. the maryland woman suffrage association in connection with its suffrage activities worked in the legislature for other progressive measures, among them the use of the public schools for social centers; equal pay for equal service; appointment of women on boards of education and on all public institutions; the abolition of capital punishment; initiative and referendum; co-education; abolition of child labor. . legislators declined to introduce any suffrage measure and treated the request as a joke. . a special committee appointed by the legislature to revise the election laws was asked that the word "male" be stricken out. no attention was paid to the request. . the resolution for submitting an amendment was framed by etta h. maddox, introduced by delegate william harry paire, the republican floor leader, and referred to the committee on constitutional amendments. the hearing was held in the house of delegates at annapolis on february before the committee and an audience that taxed the chamber's capacity. miss maddox presided and introduced the speakers--dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national suffrage association; the rev. john roach straton, the rev. peter ainslie, attorney john grill, dr. flora pollack, mrs. mary badders holton, mrs. funck, the rev. olympia brown of wisconsin, dr. j. william funck and miss belle kearney of mississippi. an evening meeting also was held in the same place in the interest of the amendment. on march carville d. benson of baltimore county moved to lay it on the table which was done by a vote of ayes, noes. no action was taken by the senate. . all the suffrage societies united in asking for the submission of a state amendment for full suffrage. their best speakers appeared before the committees. a petition was presented to both houses, signed by , voters, but it polled only affirmative votes in the house. soon after a limited suffrage bill, sponsored by the equal suffrage league, failed by a vote of noes, ayes in the senate. . the amendment resolution was introduced in the house by charles h. mcnab of harford county and in the senate by william holmead of prince george county. it was supported by all the suffrage societies, and ably advocated but lost by ayes, noes in the house and defeated in the senate. a resolution introduced in the senate asking for the full suffrage for women with an educational and property qualification, endorsed only by the equal suffrage league, failed to get a hearing. one in the senate requiring a literacy test only was not reported. . the constitutional amendment for full suffrage was introduced in the house by lloyd wilkinson (democrat) of baltimore and in the senate by sydney mudd (republican) of charles county and strongly supported. house vote was ayes, noes. the senate committee reported favorably and the vote stood ayes, noes, william f. chesley the only republican who voted no. the lobbyists were mrs. hooker, mrs. dora ogle, mrs. robert moss, miss lucy branham, miss maddox, miss gwendolyn willis, the rev. olympia brown, mrs. charles e. ellicott, mrs. ross thompson, miss emma weber, mrs. william h. maloy, mrs. calvin gabriel, mrs. timanus, mrs. howard schwartz, mrs. funck. this was the last time a state amendment was asked for. . at the special session a bill for presidential suffrage, supported by the state association and the just government league, passed the senate by a vote of ayes, noes, after a joint hearing held in the state house, where the outside speakers, were dudley field malone, u. s. senator shafroth and representative jeannette rankin. in the house it failed by a vote of ayes, noes. . the presidential suffrage bill received in the house ayes, noes; in the senate ayes, noes. ratification. for twenty-five years the women of maryland tried to get some form of suffrage from their legislature without success and it is not surprising that they felt obliged to look to a federal amendment for their enfranchisement. the delegation in congress was divided on its submission, senator joseph i. france (republican) voting in favor and senator john walter smith (democrat) in opposition; two representatives in favor and five in opposition. after it had been sent to the legislatures for ratification in june, , pressure was brought to bear on governor emerson c. harrington to call a special session, as it was reported that a majority in favor might be secured. u. s. attorney general a. mitchell palmer urged it in a letter july , saying: "pennsylvania has already ratified and it will be a service to our party if a democratic state like maryland will promptly follow suit." the governor advised waiting till the regular session as "this legislature was not elected with the question of this amendment before the people." the regular session convened jan , , and albert cabell ritchie had been elected governor. mrs. william milnes maloy was chairman of the suffrage campaign committee and mrs. robert moss of the legislative work in annapolis, and the committee was composed of prominent suffragists from all the societies. a mass meeting took place on january in the state armory at annapolis, with addresses by u. s. senator kenneth mckellar of tennessee, state senator oliver metzerott and mrs. donald r. hooker. state senator george q. bartlett read letters from senator france advocating ratification. many members of the legislature were seated on the platform. at the close of the meeting mrs. maloy offered a resolution in favor of ratification, which was carried by a large majority. on friday, february , governor ritchie submitted the federal woman suffrage amendment to the general assembly. senator metzerott (republican) introduced a resolution for ratification in the senate and representative cobourn (democrat) in the house. it was sent to the senate committee on federal relations, senator grason, chairman; to the house committee on constitutional amendments, mr. roberts chairman. a hearing was set for february but on being informed that most of the suffrage leaders would be in chicago attending the national suffrage convention at that time and that others of their speakers could not be present, senator grason said that, with mr. robert's consent, the hearing would be postponed until the th. the suffragists heard no more and great was the surprise of those of the committee who were left to find on returning to annapolis february , when the session reconvened, that mr. roberts absolutely refused to delay and the hearing would take place on february . a hasty canvass of his committee showed that a majority was in favor of deferring it until the th, so the suffragists returned to their homes. the next morning the baltimore papers announced that it would be held that day. the suffragists learned that the preceding night speaker tydings had transferred the suffrage amendment from the committee on constitutional amendments, which was favorable to it, and had put it into the committee on federal relations, which was hostile! there were of course no members of the suffrage committee present at the hearing. mrs. rufus gibbs, president of the state anti-suffrage association, urged the defeat of ratification. william f. marbury made a strong argument against it. senator legg of queen anne's, who had announced that he "would do just what governor ritchie desired," spoke against it. delegates cobourn, shartzer, curry and the minority floor leader, vernon simmons, explained how the suffragists had been deceived and made an earnest plea for fair play. it had been intended to bring the measure to a vote immediately but the feeling against this was so intense that it was finally set for the th. the suffragists demanded a hearing but the house committee refused it and made an adverse report on the resolution to ratify. the senate committee granted one for the morning of the th. long before the hour set suffragists from many places began to gather. at : the larger delegations arrived, heralded by farson's band, and marched straight into the state house. their number was so large that chairman grason adjourned from the committee room to the senate chamber. mrs. hooker presented resolutions and petitions for ratification from organizations representing over , residents of maryland. they were from many state labor associations, patriotic societies, the grange, federation of women's clubs, women's trade union league, teachers' association, graduate nurses, goucher college alumnae, clubs for every conceivable purpose. she was followed by mrs. edward shoemaker, chairman of the women's state branch of the national council of defense, who made an eloquent appeal for the proposed amendment. judge j. harry covington, member of congress, gave a strong legal and political argument, answering that of mr. marbury. mrs. henry zollinger represented the women's anti-suffrage association and judge oscar leser spoke in opposition. the hon. thomas parran summed up for the suffragists. at twelve o'clock the suffragists went to the reception room of the governor, who announced that he wished to give them all the time that they desired to present their case. the speakers were mrs. sydney m. cone, mrs. shoemaker, miss kate mclane, prominent in war work; mrs. robert moss, guion miller representing the society of friends; mrs. robert h. walker, the college women; miss hunt, the nurses; miss mary dubrau, the eastern shore. the governor, answering, said that the ratification was a question for the legislature alone to determine; that the platform on which he ran pledged the democratic party against it and that he could not ask the legislators to repudiate the platform. mrs. hooker in vigorous language held him wholly responsible for the action they took on it. in the afternoon representatives cobourn, mcbride, shartzer, demarco, jones and gambrill spoke for ratification. the vote stood noes, ayes. the same afternoon senators metzerott, gibson, bartlett and robins earnestly urged ratification; senators j. frank parran, mcintosh and legg spoke against it. the vote stood noes, ayes, seven republicans and two democrats. in the house of the republicans and of the democrats voted in favor. undaunted by their defeat the suffragists gathered in front of the state house and with colors flying and band playing martial airs marched two by two around the capitol, receiving many cheers and good wishes from the spectators. a brief meeting was then held at which resolutions of appreciation were passed for all the brave men who had fought so valiantly for democracy. committees of both houses had reported a resolution of definite rejection, which the senate passed, and a delegation of women from the anti-suffrage association, headed by mrs. gibbs, carried it to washington and presented it to the acting secretary of state, serving formal notice that "the state of maryland denies the lawful right and power of congress to propose the amendment for woman suffrage and the validity of such an amendment as part of the federal constitution even if ratified by three-fourths of the states." the maryland legislature was by no means satisfied with its demonstration of state's rights in defeating the ratification of the federal suffrage amendment but it undertook to interfere with the rights of other states. on february the house of delegates voted by to for a joint resolution to send a delegation of seven anti-suffrage members to west virginia to urge its general assembly to follow the course of maryland in rejecting the amendment. this was adopted by the senate with little delay and three of its members were appointed to accompany four selected by the house. the next day two resolutions drawn up by mr. marbury were introduced in the legislature. one was to "repeal, rescind and recall the resolutions ratifying the so-called eighteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states." the other authorized and requested the governor to call on the national government, in behalf of the state of maryland, to "have the so-called eighteenth amendment and the volstead act declared null and void." the reason for his opposition to woman suffrage was clearly apparent. on march by a vote of ayes, noes, the senate passed a joint resolution introduced by george arnold frick authorizing and directing the attorney general of maryland to bring suit or suits to prevent the secretary of state of the united states from proclaiming the federal amendment prior to the holding of a referendum thereon in certain states, and to test the validity, should the same be ratified by the elected legislatures of three-fourths of the states. this also passed in the house. the opponents thought that now they had spiked every gun but in september it was discovered that the vote on ratification had been pigeonholed instead of being sent by the governor to the secretary of state in washington. immediately there was hustling to bring it again before the two houses and on september it was rejected in the senate by a vote of to and in the house by to , nearly a month after the federal amendment had been proclaimed! a men's anti-suffrage association had been formed under the name of the maryland league for state defense and a suit was brought by its board of managers. this was called the case of leser vs. garnett, judge leser and his associate lawyers representing this league, mr. garnett representing the board of registry of the th precinct of the th ward of baltimore. on oct. , , judge leser challenged the registration there of cecilia s. waters (white) and mary d. randolph (colored) in order to test the validity of what the "antis" called the "alleged" th amendment. the plea was that it exceeded the amending power of article v in the federal constitution and that it was not legally ratified by states. the states arraigned as having illegally ratified were west virginia and missouri. the case came before the court of common pleas, judge heuisler presiding. besides mr. marbury the attorneys for the petitioners were thomas cadwalader, senator frick and everett p. wheeler of new york. the defendants were represented by george m. brady, roger howell, jacob m. moses and assistant attorney general lindsay c. spencer. the case occupied four full days and the petitioners lost. judge heuisler ruled that the power to amend the constitution of the united states granted by the fifth article thereof is without limit except as to the words, "equal suffrage in the senate." he added: "the court is further of the opinion from all the exhibits and other evidence submitted that there was due, legal and proper ratification of the amendment by the required number of state legislatures." mr. wheeler contended that three-fourths of the states had not legally ratified, to which the court answered: "there was one legal and proper ratification of the amendment by the required number of state legislatures." the case was carried up to the state court of appeals and argued on april . on june the judge affirmed the decision of the lower court. the case was then taken to the u. s. supreme court, which gave a decision adverse to all these claims and established the validity of the federal suffrage amendment beyond all further controversy. maryland. part ii.[ ] the woman suffrage league of maryland was organized feb. , , in baltimore at a meeting called with the approval of the national american woman suffrage association. mrs. j. ross thompson of garrett park was elected president and served for two years. the league started with a sustaining membership of , , including organizations in baltimore and thirteen counties. by the city was organized by congressional districts and some of these by wards; twenty of the twenty-three counties had organizations, some of them strong branch leagues, others merely small groups with a chairman. the history of the league must be traced through its mother, the equal suffrage league of baltimore, back to the mary a. livermore league, a society of friends, which had been founded in with mrs. edward o. janney as president. in the spring of this league, in order to broaden its scope, became the equal suffrage league of baltimore. mrs. elisabeth king ellicott was elected president and filled this office with wisdom and rare executive ability until her death in may, . the league, as a branch of the state suffrage association, sent miss julia rogers as a delegate to the national convention held in seattle in . this year a mass meeting was held in mccoy hall, johns hopkins university, dr. thayer of the medical school presiding. miss ethel arnold of england was the speaker and made many converts. in the league had a bill introduced in the legislature giving municipal suffrage to "every bona fide resident of the city of baltimore, male or female, years of age.... (a) if such person is qualified to vote for members of the house of delegates; or (b) can read or write from dictation any paragraph of more than five lines in the state constitution; or (c) is assessed with property in said city to the amount of $ and has paid taxes thereon for at least two years preceding the election...." the league was fortunate in securing as attorney judge jacob m. moses of the juvenile court. he conducted a hearing on february in the house of delegates attended by both branches of the legislature. six hundred women and men went on a special train to annapolis, carrying a petition for the bill representing , names. the speakers were dr. howard kelly of johns hopkins, president of the men's league; dr. mary sherwood of the medical department; judge moses, mrs. ellicott, mrs. ida husted harper of new york, miss janet richards of washington, misses julia rogers, mary e. lent, ellen la mott and sarah brookes. the house committee reported eight to one in favor. the advocates in the house were robert h. carr, who introduced the bill, h. pairo, r. f. beacham and mr. henderson. it received noes, ayes and did not come before the senate. three other woman suffrage bills were defeated this session. in - mrs. donald r. hooker, chairman of the lecture committee, was instrumental in securing many noted speakers for public meetings. in she formed the just government league of maryland, which was affiliated with the national association for six years. miss lent was president two years and then mrs. hooker continuously. in a field secretary was engaged by the equal suffrage league, ward organization progressed and money was raised through rummage sales, lawn fetes, suppers at headquarters, etc. in the _new voter_ was started, a lively suffrage paper, with miss anne wagner as editor-in-chief. a committee was appointed, with mrs. charles e. ellicott chairman, to investigate methods in the criminal court of conducting trials when young girls were witnesses in cases of assault, etc. this committee attended trials and employed a woman to keep records of cases and decisions. later it had the first woman probation officer appointed and paid her salary until , when mayor preston agreed to its payment by the city temporarily. the state equal franchise league was founded in and became auxiliary to the national american association. mrs. elisabeth king ellicott was the president for two years and she was succeeded by mrs. w. j. brown, who was president for one year. the affiliated societies were the equal suffrage league of baltimore, woman suffrage club of montgomery county, just franchise league of talbot county, junior suffrage league of walbrook, college suffrage league of frederick, equal franchise leagues of thurmont and emmitsburg, junior suffrage league of bryn mawr school and political equality league of baltimore county. it joined in the work of the other associations for various bills in the legislature until , when it disbanded, and, the constitution of the national association now permitting the direct affiliation of any suffrage society numbering members, the equal suffrage league of baltimore became a direct auxiliary. in may, , it met with a great loss in the death of mrs. ellicott, who had organized and held it firm for the non-partisan, non-political, educational principles of the national association. she left $ , in the hands of trustees, the interest to be used by the league until equal suffrage had been obtained in maryland. mrs. charles e. ellicott then became president and successfully continued the work. the extensive development of the children's playground association under her leadership is well known throughout the state.[ ] the woman suffrage league of maryland was formed in february, , and the baltimore city committee took the active place of the equal suffrage league, which became a funding body to carry out the bequest of mrs. ellicott, with miss caroline roberts as president, whose unwearying and ceaseless service had been for years an inspiration to her fellow workers. mrs. nettie rogers shuler, chairman of campaigns and surveys for the national association, went to baltimore this month, meeting there miss emma macalarney and miss eleanor furman, two of the national organizers, and planning a speaking and organization route. the organizers remained in maryland two months and were very successful in interesting new groups of people all over the state, who joined the new woman suffrage league. later miss alice hunt, a national organizer, took up this work for four weeks. the total cost to the national association was over $ . in the spring of a suffrage school was held in baltimore by the league to which all were invited. the national association sent some of its best teachers, among them mrs. arthur l. livermore, mrs. halsey w. wilson and mrs. shuler, members of its official board. the climax of the week was a parade, street speeches and a mass meeting, at which mrs. carrie chapman catt, national president, was the principal speaker. an outcome of the school was the printing in maryland newspapers of the suffrage literature supplied by the national association. when the united states entered the world war mrs. ellicott, president of the league, was appointed by the governor a state member of the woman's council of national defense and the league cooperated in all of the departments of war work created by the national suffrage association. a red cross circle was established in its headquarters and it entered actively into the sale of liberty bonds. its war work brought into it many new members. in the work for ratification of the federal amendment the league joined the other suffrage societies in the headquarters at annapolis and in public meetings, house to house canvass, interviews with legislators and the other work of a vigorous campaign. the officers were: mrs. ellicott, president; mrs. edward shoemaker, mrs. william milnes maloy and mrs. sidney cone, vice-presidents; miss julia rogers and mrs. robert moss, corresponding and recording secretaries; mrs. frank ramey, treasurer; mrs. george crawford and mrs. william silver, auditors. the officers of the equal suffrage league of baltimore were miss caroline roberts, president; miss clara t. waite, vice-president; mrs. william chatard, secretary; miss mary claire o'brien, treasurer: with eight directors.[ ] legislative action. this has been described. a ratification committee of men was formed in with n. winslow williams chairman, de courcy w. thom vice-chairman, arthur k. taylor secretary, donald r. hooker, treasurer. prominent members of the allied building trades council, carpenters' union and other labor organizations were on the committee and every county had a chairman. in allegany it was francis j. drum, president of the maryland and d. c. federation of labor; in baltimore county b. john black, master of the state grange. in other counties it was a member of congress or the legislature or a judge or some one of influence. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. emma maddox funck, president of the baltimore suffrage club twenty-five years and of the state woman suffrage association eighteen years. [ ] dr. william tindall, of washington, has the records to prove that in , when the people of georgetown voted on a proposal to withdraw from the state of maryland, women cast their ballots. as early as , through the efforts of lavinia c. dundore, a large equal rights society of men and women was organized in baltimore, which continued until and was represented in the national conventions by its president, mrs. dundore. a baltimore paper of april , , says: "a petition, asking for the right of suffrage and political justice, was presented to the house of delegates, signed by eliza s. white, lavinia c. dundore, ellen m. harris and other ladies. it was referred to the committee on federal relations." [ ] for full account of the convention see chapter vi, volume v. [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss clara turnbull waite, vice-president of the equal suffrage league of baltimore. [ ] additional names of women who held office or were prominent in work of the equal suffrage league of baltimore or the state equal franchise league of maryland are drs. fannie hoopes, lillian welsh, mary sherwood, florence sabin, claribel cone, nellie mark; mesdames pauline holme, george lamb, s. johnson poe, j. williams lord, frank ramey, c. c. heath, george h. wright, j. h. webb-peploe, jacob m. moses, mary n. parry and w. w. emmart; misses mary bartlett dixon, elisabeth gilman, a. page reid, henrietta norris, romaine mcilvaine and emma weber. [ ] among these directors, active members of the city committee, chairmen of standing committees and devoted workers not elsewhere mentioned were mesdames edwin rouse, jr., chairman of the city committee; caleb athey, harvey bickel, c. c. peffer, j. w. putts, john parker, a. morris carey, c. c. heath; esther moses and esther katz. chapter xx. massachusetts.[ ] from the beginning of the present century the massachusetts woman suffrage association, organized in , steadily gained in membership year after year. its annual conventions for many years were held in boston in january and those of the new england woman suffrage association in may, when the two united in a great festival, which generally took place in faneuil hall. the day sessions usually were held in the rooms of the new england women's club, the evening sessions in some large place, in at faneuil hall. at the state annual meeting jan. , , mrs. mary a. livermore, who had been president since , presided and among the speakers were mrs. helen campbell, the rev. charles w. wendte, dr. emily b. ryder and the rev. ida c. hultin. mrs. livermore was re-elected and mrs. maud wood park succeeded miss alice stone blackwell as chairman of the state board of directors. the office of president had always been mainly honorary and the actual work was done by the chairman of this board. the other officers chosen were henry b. blackwell, corresponding secretary; william lloyd garrison, treasurer; miss eva channing, clerk; miss amanda m. lougee, richard p. hallowell, auditors; mrs. judith w. smith, member national executive committee. there was a long list of distinguished vice-presidents. mr. blackwell had been secretary for over twenty years and was re-elected. at the festival on may , mrs. julia ward howe presided, miss sarah cone bryant was toastmistress and there were addresses by william m. salter, the hon. william dudley foulke and others of note. on may at the annual meeting of the new england association, organized in november, , reports were made from the new england states, and addresses by the rev. florence kollock crooker, mrs. isabel c. barrows, mrs. inez haynes gillmore and others. mrs. howe, who had been its president since , was re-elected, with a board composed of eminent men and women. during the year the state association sent out , press articles, circulated many thousand pages of literature and printed several leaflets. it held well-attended fortnightly meetings at its headquarters, no. park street, and gave a brilliant reception in honor of mrs. livermore's th birthday. it compiled a list of about forty persons ready to give addresses on suffrage and sent a speaker free to every woman's club or other organization willing to hear the subject presented. it held ten public meetings and sent out , circulars to increase the women's registration and school vote in boston. many addresses under its auspices were given by mrs. abby morton diaz, professor anna may soule of mt. holyoke and señorita carolina holman huidobro of chile. massachusetts contributed four-fifths of the money given to the oregon campaign of from outside that state, and the massachusetts booth (named the lucy stone booth) at the national suffrage bazar that year took in more money than that of any other state except new york. the college equal suffrage league's prize of $ , for the best essay in favor of suffrage by a college student, was won by ava m. stoddard of the massachusetts institute of technology. the above is a sample of the activities carried on year after year by the association during the first decade of the century. in the boston equal suffrage association for good government was organized through the efforts of mrs. mary hutcheson page, with pauline agassiz (mrs. quincy a.) shaw as president, mrs. fanny b. ames, chairman of executive committee, and mrs. park as executive secretary.[ ] it continued to be a power in the state till suffrage was won and aimed to devote itself not only to suffrage but to all activities in which women could be especially useful to the community. the national woman suffrage association of massachusetts, a smaller organization, disbanded in after nearly twenty years of existence. mrs. sarah a. p. dickerman was acting president, miss lavina a. hatch secretary. it had held eleven monthly meetings during the past year, done congressional work and contributed to the susan b. anthony table at the national bazar in new york. . at the annual meeting on january , mrs. park presided and a work conference was substituted for the usual public meeting. the festival was held on may with the rev. anna garlin spencer presiding. other speakers were the rev. dr. james h. ecob, professor john graham brooks, the rev. ida c. hultin, colonel t. w. higginson and the rev. charles f. dole. miss vida goldstein of australia addressed a number of meetings this year. an enrollment of suffragists was begun. there was an increase of women's registration for the school vote in fourteen cities, in boston of about , . an investigation of the tax records by mr. blackwell showed that in boston alone , women paid taxes on several hundred million dollars' worth of property. . at the annual meeting of the state association on january , mrs. shaw and mrs. park presided. mrs. livermore was made honorary president and mrs. lucia ames mead president, mrs. mary schlesinger, vice-president; miss harriet e. turner, corresponding secretary; william lloyd garrison, treasurer; mrs. otto b. cole, clerk; mr. blackwell, member of the national executive committee. mrs. page, chairman of the organization committee, reported that forty towns had been visited. there were speeches by mrs. livermore and mrs. enid stacy widdrington of england. miss blackwell presided at the new england annual meeting may and the rev. charles g. ames at the festival the next day. on august lucy stone's birthday anniversary was celebrated by a pilgrimage to the old farm house near west brookfield where she was born. about persons gathered from various states, even california being represented. her niece, mrs. phebe stone beeman, president of the warren political equality club, presided and there were addresses by mrs. livermore, mr. blackwell, the rev. mary a. safford and others. the beautiful weather and the beautiful scenery combined with the beautiful memories to make it a memorable occasion. mrs. livermore wrote afterwards: "it was greater and grander than any public day, not specially devoted to religion, that i have ever known. the hill was a mount of transfiguration, the faces of the people shone." the rev. anna howard shaw addressed a series of meetings throughout the state. mrs. page, mrs. park, mrs. diaz, mrs. esther f. boland, miss bryant and george h. page spoke repeatedly for the association. work conferences were held in various counties and equal rights plays by mr. page were performed for the benefit of the cause. the state headquarters were moved from park street to a house at no. marlboro street, the use of which was given by mrs. quincy a. shaw. massachusetts this year contributed more money to the national association than did any other state. the time of the state annual meeting was changed to october and it began to be held outside of boston, a second one for this year in the newtons, october and . it opened with a reception by the newton league at the hunnewell club house, where mrs. electa n. l. walton presided and mayor weeks of newton and the hon. samuel l. powers gave addresses of welcome. the following day at west newton mrs. livermore presided, the hon. gorman d. gilman gave the address of welcome and mrs. florence kelley and dr. shaw spoke. the enrollment committee reported obtaining , signatures. a resolution of tribute was passed to miss harriet e. turner, who retired after years' devoted service at headquarters, where she had suggested some of the most successful lines of work. mrs. page was chosen as chairman of the state board, mrs. susan s. fessenden succeeding her later in the year. . the festival was held on may , mrs. howe presiding. the speakers were judge edward e. reynolds of portland, maine, the rev. florence kollock crooker of michigan, frank k. foster of the state federation of labor, mrs. livermore, professor george e. gardner of the boston university law school, mrs. may alden ward, president of the state federation of women's clubs, mr. blackwell and mrs. mead. the state meeting was held at attleboro, october , in the opera house, with the usual list of well known speakers. the international peace congress, held in boston this year, gave an impetus to the movement. the men from abroad were much impressed by the american women. other notable events were the celebration by the state w. c. t. u. of the quarter centennial of the granting of school suffrage and a conference of women ministers of different denominations, called by mrs. howe. there was a suffrage day at the big mechanics' fair in boston, with addresses by miss jane addams, miss sheriff bain of new zealand and w. p. byles of england. a library of books bearing on the woman question was started at headquarters with a fund given by miss m. f. munroe in memory of mary lowell stone. . there was a very large attendance at the festival on may , with mrs. mead presiding. professor edward cummings was toastmaster, ex-governor garvin of rhode island and mrs. carrie chapman catt spoke and the festival then resolved itself into a celebration of mr. blackwell's th birthday (may ), with the presentation of a silver pitcher from the state association and addresses by william lloyd garrison and mrs. livermore. she had insisted upon coming, although by no means able. she said, "mr. blackwell and i have worked together for nearly half a century; we have gone anywhere and everywhere for woman suffrage. this evening he has been doing his best to persuade me to go out to the oregon convention. i can not say half that ought to be said of his character, his devoted service, his fraternal spirit." she died a few days later and there was profound sorrow for her loss. at the meeting of the new england association on may miss blackwell presided. francis j. garrison was elected treasurer. the state annual meeting was held at holyoke, october , , in the second baptist church and mayor nathan p. avery gave the address of welcome. miss blackwell was made chairman of the board of directors; mrs. mead was elected president; mrs. schlesinger vice-president. the association took part in the celebration of the centennial of william lloyd garrison on december . he had been a life-long champion of equal rights for women and his last public speech was made at a suffrage hearing in the state house. there was a noteworthy memorial meeting for mrs. edna d. cheney, long a pillar of the suffrage association and of the new england hospital for women and children. catherine breshkovsky, "the little grandmother of the russian revolution," visited massachusetts this year and addressed a number of meetings arranged by the suffragists, including a large one in faneuil hall. the convention was held in october, , at lowell in the trinitarian congregational church. harriet a. eager gave a stone from the pavement of the little church at delft haven in holland, where the pilgrims attended their last religious service before sailing for america and the association presented it to the cape cod memorial association to be placed in the monument. the world's w. c. t. u. convention in boston this month aroused much interest and enthusiasm. at the opening banquet miss blackwell gave the address of welcome in behalf of the women's organizations. . the annual meeting took place in worcester at trinity church. letters were read from colonel thomas w. higginson and mrs. elizabeth smith miller, the only two survivors of the men and women who signed the call for the first national woman's rights convention, held in worcester in ; and a poem from the rev. antoinette l. brown blackwell, d. d., the only survivor of the speakers on that occasion. dr. shaw gave an address and conducted a question box and there was a symposium on why i am a suffragist by five young women, one a grandniece and namesake of margaret fuller. a noteworthy meeting was held on march , , by the boston equal suffrage association to consider "the indebtedness of women of collegiate and professional training to the leaders of the suffrage movement." every woman's college in the state was represented, as well as law and medicine. mrs. fanny b. ames presided and college girls in cap and gown acted as ushers. the speakers were mrs. howe, miss georgia l. white, assistant professor of economics at smith college; professor helen m. searles of mt. holyoke; dr. emma culbertson of the new england hospital for women and children; miss emily greene balch, associate professor of economics and sociology at wellesley; miss caroline j. cooke, instructor in commercial law at simmons, and mrs. park of radcliffe. on august suffragists from different parts of the state again made a pilgrimage to lucy stone's old home, west brookfield, to celebrate her birthday. mrs. cobden sanderson, a daughter of richard cobden, one of the "militant" english suffragettes, spoke at the women's colleges and elsewhere. the boston association, in connection with the women's educational and industrial union, gave courses in citizenship, addressed by heads of state and city departments. mrs. fessenden conducted many classes in parliamentary practice (these were continued year after year), and there was a "suffrage day" in the woman's department of the great food fair. the association of collegiate alumnæ celebrated its quarter centennial in boston november - , which brought many distinguished suffragists from other states. in the new england women's club had given a reception for the only three college women then in this city. in this association had , members, several hundred of them in boston alone. at the whittier centennial celebration at amesbury on december the poet's championship of equal rights for women was recalled with his work for other reforms. the boston federation of suffrage societies was organized by the association for good government. the state federation of labor and the state letter carriers' association endorsed woman suffrage. the massachusetts association opposed to the further extension of suffrage to women changed its organ _the remonstrance_ from an annual to a quarterly and sent out a copy broadcast. the suffragists followed with an answer. the _woman's journal_ pointed out that the m. a. o. f. e. s. w., according to its own official reports, had sold $ . worth of literature in , $ . worth in and $ . worth in , and that in the total receipts were $ , , of which $ , were expended on salaries.[ ] . the state annual meeting was held in boston october , . mrs. mead presided and mrs. ethel snowden of england was the chief speaker. there was a reception to mrs. howe, with addresses by mrs. maud howe elliott, mrs. carota von koch of sweden and mrs. howe. miss jane addams gave suffrage lectures this year at radcliffe, smith, mt. holyoke and wellesley colleges and boston university, arranged by the college equal suffrage league, with large audiences and much enthusiasm. mrs. snowden spoke for the state association at faneuil hall and a reception was given by the college and boston suffrage associations. another large suffrage meeting in faneuil hall was addressed by professor charles zueblin. mrs. park and mrs. eager held a series of meetings in berkshire county, arousing much interest. at the suffrage booth in the boston food fair, in charge of the newton league, , names were added to the enrollment. the association by this time had more than local branches. this year labor unions endorsed equal suffrage. the association carried on a "poster campaign," putting up posters in towns and at county fairs. mrs. fitzgerald composed the inscriptions and mrs. george f. lowell with a group of friends put them up. at the biennial of the general federation of women's clubs held in boston every mention of suffrage was cheered and no one got such an ovation as mrs. howe, the fraternal delegate from the national american woman suffrage association. . the college equal suffrage league of massachusetts attained a membership of this year and a suffrage club was formed at radcliffe college. at the massachusetts institute of technology any notices put up by the suffragists were at once torn down. the state annual convention was held in boston october , , with the evening meeting in tremont temple, and miss blackwell was elected president. for the first time the report of the legislative committee was given by mrs. teresa a. crowley, who continued to be its chairman for years. ex-governor long presided at a memorial meeting for henry b. blackwell, with addresses by edwin d. mead, julia ward howe, the rev. charles g. ames, professor sumichrast, moses h. gulesian, francis j. garrison, james h. stark of the victorian club, meyer bloomfield and mrs. isabel c. barrows. mr. blackwell was called by mrs. catt "one of the world's most heroic men." he was the only man of large abilities who devoted his life to securing equal rights for women. in his youth a reward of $ , was offered for his head at a public meeting in the south because of his leading part in the rescue of a young slave girl. he made his first speech for woman's rights at a suffrage convention in cleveland in . two years later he married lucy stone. she had meant never to marry but to devote herself wholly to the women's cause but he promised to devote himself to the same cause. he was the unpaid secretary of the american woman suffrage association for twenty years, of the massachusetts association for thirty years and of the new england association for nearly forty years. he traveled all over the country organizing suffrage societies, getting up conventions and addressing legislatures. he attended the republican national conventions year after year trying to get a suffrage plank and in secured a mild one in the national platform and a strong one in that of massachusetts. he took part in constitutional amendment campaigns in kansas, vermont, colorado, michigan, rhode island and south dakota. in , when washington, montana and north dakota were about to enter the union as states, he attended the constitutional convention of each to urge equal suffrage. he was an editor of the _woman's journal_ from its founding in till his death. an able writer, an eloquent speaker, he was widely beloved for his kindness, humor and geniality. mrs. emmeline pankhurst, the leader of the "militant" suffragettes of england, visited boston this year. she was met at the station by the suffragists with automobiles and flags and was taken through the streets to the headquarters--boston's first suffrage procession--and later addressed in tremont temple a huge audience, critical at first, highly enthusiastic at the close. a reception was given by prominent suffragists to miss ethel m. arnold of england, and there were lectures by her and mrs. charlotte perkins gilman; a series of "petition teas" and meetings addressed by dr. shaw, miss leonora o'reilly, a labor leader of new york; judge ben lindsey of denver; charles edward russell, the rev. thomas cuthbert hall; and by mrs. snowden, dr. stanton coit and the misses rendell and costello, all of england. in june the first of the open-air meetings that later became so important a feature of the campaign was held on the common at bedford. the speakers were mrs. fitzgerald, mrs. leonora s. little, mrs. mary ware dennett, mrs. katharine dexter mccormick and mrs. crowley. the attendance was small; people were shy at first of seeming to countenance such an innovation but the crowds grew as the meetings continued and it was found to be the best if not the only way to reach the mass of voters. a summer campaign of open-air meetings was held, the speakers traveling mainly by trolley, covering a large part of the state and reaching about , persons.[ ] suffrage buttons and literature were distributed, posters put up, and sometimes mammoth kites flown to advertise the meetings. mrs. h. s. luscomb had presented a kite big enough to hold up a banner six feet wide by forty deep. the campaigners were resourceful. at nantasket, when forbidden to speak on the beach, they went into the water with their votes for women banner and spoke from the sea to the audience on the shore. . among the speakers at the festival in may were mrs. frances squire potter, former professor of english at the university of minnesota; professor max eastman of columbia university, secretary of the new york men's league for woman suffrage, and professor henry s. nash of the episcopal theological school. at the state annual meeting in lowell, october , , philip snowden, m. p., of england was a speaker. in connection with the convention mrs. park spoke before the woman's club; rabbi fleischer before the board of trade; miss alice carpenter at the congregational church in tewksbury; four factory meetings were held; the suffrage slides were exhibited twelve times at the merrimac theater; miss foley and miss anne withington addressed seven trade unions; , fliers were distributed and four street meetings held. an eight-weeks' summer campaign of open-air meetings was conducted through the great industrial cities of eastern massachusetts, with from four to six regular and occasional special speakers. three englishwomen, miss margaret g. bondfield, miss m. m. a. ward and miss emily gardner, reinforced the american speakers, miss foley, mrs. fitzgerald, mrs. glendower evans, miss emily pierson of connecticut, and others. in each city, besides the outdoor meetings, there was some special feature; in two, garden parties; in brockton, the women joined the circus parade, driving in a decorated team and giving out fliers. in fall river they got two popular stores to wrap a colored flier in every parcel. in taunton they had an evening band concert on the common, accompanied with red fire and speeches. in lawrence miss foley made a balloon ascension and showered down rainbow literature upon an eager crowd. several times the women spoke from the vaudeville stage and showed colored lantern slides. they spoke in parks and pleasure resorts and outside the factories as well as in the streets and at one yiddish and one french meeting. they held meetings and talked to about , persons. afterwards they held outdoor meetings in and about boston and sent an automobile of speakers and literature to the aviation meet. a fall campaign of open-air speaking followed. mrs. park came home from a tour around the world and lectured on the women of different countries. mrs. a. watson-lister of australia and mrs. dora b. montefiore of england addressed a number of meetings. a week of meetings took place in springfield, state speakers cooperating with the local suffragists, among them mrs. henry phillips, president of the suffrage league; mrs. mcduffie and mr. myrick, publisher of the "farm and home" and "good housekeeping." headquarters were opened in a vacant store with daily meetings and teas; addresses were given before the board of trade, the teachers, the woman's, the mothers', the socialist and the college clubs, the y. m. c. a. training school and other groups; colored slides of suffrage events were shown and prominent local women opened their homes for social affairs. much interest was aroused and permanent springfield headquarters were opened soon afterwards. boston started to organize by wards and invitations were printed in various languages. the first meeting, in ward , arranged by mrs. leonard, was attended by nearly , women and there were speeches in english and yiddish. a class to train suffrage speakers was started. a suffrage club was organized in the college of liberal arts of boston university. the suffragists sent alfred h. brown to help the campaign in the state of washington. the general sorrow for the death of julia ward howe on october brought support to the suffrage movement. in her later years people had revered her as they revered the flag and all her great influence had been placed unreservedly at the service of this cause. a large memorial meeting was held in faneuil hall on december . . the state convention was held in boston october , , the evening meeting at tremont temple addressed by dr. shaw and professor edward howard griggs. the boston association raised $ , for the campaigns in oregon, kansas, wisconsin and michigan and gave mrs. park's services to ohio and michigan. a men's league for woman suffrage was organized at harvard university under the presidency of a. s. olmstead. at the meeting of the new england association miss blackwell was elected president. mrs. howe had held the office twenty-six years. colonel thomas wentworth higginson, one of the few surviving pioneers, passed away this year. he had been a champion of women's rights for more than sixty years. when a young minister he spoke for the cause. he signed the call for the first national woman's rights convention in . he married lucy stone and henry b. blackwell in and prefixed an approving foreword to their published protest against the inequalities of the marriage laws. he took part in organizing the american woman suffrage association, was its president for a year and an officer in the new england and massachusetts associations until his death. for years he was a great power as a lecturer and writer and addressed suffrage conventions in many states. beginning with he contributed a long series of brilliant editorials to the _woman's journal_. he wrote four books on the woman question and gave , books about women to the boston public library. the founder of smith college said she was led to leave her fortune for that purpose by reading his article, ought women learn the alphabet? . the state annual meeting was held in boston, october , with an unusually large attendance from western massachusetts. in it met in boston may , . the executive secretary, mrs. marion booth kelley, reported that indoor meetings and outdoor meetings had been held in the past six months. it was voted to have a suffrage parade in boston the following spring. there was much doubt of the propriety of this but when a rising vote of the women present was taken to see how many would march almost the whole convention rose. . the state annual meeting was held in boston may and , and again in on may - . the latter opened with a brilliant banquet at the hotel somerset, attended by about . mrs. park presided and among the speakers were ex-governor bass of new hampshire, ex-governor foss of massachusetts, dr. hugh cabot and mrs. judith w. smith, aged . suffrage clubs were reported at wellesley, smith and mt. holyoke colleges, the last formed largely through miss mildred blodgett, assistant professor of geology. a band concert and a mass meeting on the common closed the convention. . at the state annual meeting in boston may , , dues were abolished and provision made for organizing the state along political party lines, as recommended by the national association. mrs. b. f. pitman of brookline gave a large reception. the treasurer reported receipts of $ , , expenditures of $ , .[ ] . at the annual state meeting on may resolutions were adopted calling upon the , enrolled members to "show their patriotism by doing their utmost to help their country and the world," especially along the five lines recommended by the national suffrage association; urging nation-wide prohibition as a war measure and commending the efforts to minimize moral dangers at the training camps; protesting against "any attempt to lower educational standards or to weaken the laws safeguarding the workers, especially women and children," because of the war emergency. the twentieth century club rooms were crowded at the new england conference and festival. miss blackwell presided. a greeting from the national association was brought by mrs. nettie rogers shuler, its corresponding secretary, and speakers were present from all the new england states. pledges and a collection were taken for the maine campaign and it was voted to give $ , , a bequest from miss marian shannon, to the national association, to help it. . at the winter business meeting held in fitchburg february mrs. pitman reported that more than $ , had been raised by the association for war work. the state annual meeting in boston on may , was crowded and exciting. a resolution pledging the association's support to the country in the war was passed by acclamation, and it responded to the request of mrs. catt, president of the national american suffrage association, to follow its program of war work. the convention voted with enthusiasm to take up the circulation of the national petitions for the federal amendment and also to give $ to the national association to finance an organizer in oklahoma, where a suffrage campaign was in progress and the massachusetts "antis" were financing the opposition. in the evening a magnificent meeting was held in the opera house with mrs. grace a. johnson presiding and addresses by mrs. catt and dr. shaw. the collection of $ , was given to the red cross. on august the state and boston associations celebrated the centenary of lucy stone's birth by a luncheon at the hotel somerset, mrs. charles sumner bird presiding, with addresses by ex-governor walsh, the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, d. d., years of age; mrs. judith w. smith, almost ; miss blackwell and mrs. maud howe elliott. letters and telegrams of appreciation were received from president wilson's secretary in his behalf; from theodore roosevelt, ex-governor mccall, mrs. catt, mayor andrew james peters of boston and many others. the fall meeting was held in boston november , when miss mary garrett hay, national vice-president, spoke on the national suffrage situation and there were addresses by heads of civic and philanthropic organizations. . the mid-winter meeting was held in worcester february and eight young girls presented to miss blackwell the national petition bearing , names, many more than the quota for this city. the state meeting was held may , , in boston. while it was in session the news came that the federal suffrage amendment had passed the u. s. house of representatives. this called out great enthusiasm and it was voted to telegraph mrs. maud wood park: "three cheers for our congressional chairman! very proud that mrs. park is a massachusetts woman!" the following sunday the boston association held a meeting in tremont theater to rejoice, with samuel l. powers, a prominent republican lawyer, presiding, and addresses by mrs. park, joseph conry, a prominent democrat, and secretary of state langtry for governor coolidge. . the annual meeting was again held in boston, may , , mrs. bird presiding. she stated that it was the th anniversary of the birth of julia ward howe, to whose work for suffrage and other good causes a heart-felt tribute was paid. mrs. bird presented miss blackwell with a laurel wreath as representing the pioneers and as having been at the head of the association when victory was won. as the complete ratification was almost at hand it was voted to take legal steps to dissolve the massachusetts woman suffrage association. later it was decided, in accordance with the policy of the national association, to continue it as a skeleton organization with the same officers until all possible need for it should be over. the state league of women voters was organized, with mrs. george r. fearing, jr., as chairman and miss blackwell as honorary president, the delegates and members of the association enrolling in the new society. the new england woman suffrage association never formally disbanded but simply ceased to meet. from onward what had tended most to increase membership was the formation of the woman suffrage party to work as the state association, with a non-dues-paying membership of men and women, similar to the political parties, having district leaders, precinct captains and ward chairmen, strictly non-partisan and solely to promote woman suffrage. the first chairman was mrs. gertrude halladay leonard. a convention was held in faneuil hall on march , , at which time twenty-three of the twenty-six boston wards had been organized, also brookline, cambridge, somerville, newton and many other cities and towns. the membership was , and by the referendum campaign in it had advanced to about , . this change in the type of organization was indicative of a change in the whole suffrage movement. it was recognized that more widely diffused education on the subject was needed and that suffrage must become a political issue. the suffrage leagues were changed into political district organizations; the parlor meeting gave place to the outdoor meeting; state headquarters were moved from no. marlboro street, a residential section, to boylston street in a business building, and local societies were kept in touch. every effort was made to reach labor unions and other organizations of men with speakers and educational propaganda and to carry information to the man in the street, who often had never heard of the woman suffrage association. the executive board met every two weeks and later every week or oftener. mrs. page, its chairman, was followed in by mrs. marion booth kelley; in by mrs. gertrude b. newell, and in may, , mrs. leonard was elected and served to october, . upon her resignation mrs. grace a. johnson was chosen, who was succeeded by mrs. charles sumner bird. in a new state organization, called the political equality union, was formed, with miss mabel gillespie as chairman, mrs. fitzgerald as secretary and dr. lily burbank as treasurer, which made a special effort to reach the labor men and women. as the vote on the constitutional amendment approached, in order that there might be no overlapping, ten per cent. of the state was assigned as a field for the work of the union and the rest for that of the state association. the two cooperated in legislative work. the union disbanded in november, , advising its members to join the state association. campaign. through the campaign year of , preceding the vote on a constitutional amendment, which had been submitted by the legislature, the association kept five salaried speakers continually in the field, besides numerous volunteers. on the list of the speakers' bureau there were women and men. the state and the boston headquarters had a large office force, and in the field were nine organizers, giving full or half time. the state college equal suffrage league handled the retail literature for the association and took charge of the office hospitality. the equal franchise committee, mrs. robert gould shaw, president, had an important part in the campaign. the men's league for woman suffrage was reorganized with oakes ames as president and joseph kelley as secretary. the harvard men's league cooperated in many ways. the use of one of the university halls for a speech by mrs. pankhurst was refused to it, much to the chagrin of liberal-minded graduates and undergraduates, but she held a very successful meeting in a nearby hall. the use of a hall was refused also for mrs. florence kelley, although she had spoken at harvard on other subjects. in order to avoid further trouble the harvard corporation voted that thereafter no woman should be allowed to lecture in the college halls except by its special invitation. this rule was abandoned later and miss helen todd of california spoke on suffrage in emerson hall before a large audience. other suffrage organizations sprang up or were enlarged, the writers' league, the players' league, etc. local branches were built up rapidly under the leadership of mrs. pinkham, state organization chairman, and by the spring of there were leagues and committees. just before the vote in november, , these had grown to . monthly conferences of the district leaders were held at state headquarters. a systematic effort was made to build up strong suffrage organizations in the cities outside of boston. workers and speakers were sent through the state to help the local workers. in a series of two-day conferences was held in eleven of the sixteen counties, the first day devoted to discussion of work with local leaders and the second to holding often as many as twenty meetings by a corps of speakers, at factories, stores, men's clubs, labor unions, church organizations, on the street, etc. to educate the men who were to vote upon the question, a state-wide canvass of voters was begun by mrs. crowley, which was carried on up to election day. a body of from five to seven intelligent women, informed on the question, re-enforced by local volunteers, called from house to house, talking to the voter or his wife, leaving suffrage literature and if possible getting the voter's signature to a card pledge to vote yes. these canvassers moved from city to city and from town to town, reaching from one-half to two-thirds of the registered voters, averaging about , calls per week and leaving the rest of the work to be carried on by local women. by election day over , voters had been interviewed, , had signed pledge cards and more than , others had expressed themselves as favorable. much of this work was made possible by the activities of the ways and means committee of the state association, under the chairmanship of mrs. b. f. pitman, who, during the many years that she served in that capacity, repeatedly rescued the association from the verge of debt and filled up its treasury. her committee accomplished this by a bay state bazaar held every year at the copley plaza hotel in boston; by balls, theatrical performances, outdoor fêtes, pageants and other entertainments. as an extra provision for the campaign of , the bay state finance committee was formed in by mrs. park, chairman, which with the state association raised and spent about $ , in the campaign. this was exclusive of the money spent by the various leagues and branches throughout the state, including $ , by the boston association for good government. for two years educational work was pushed in every way. it was carried into the country districts by systematic trolley and automobile trips, parties of workers carrying out well planned itineraries in different parts of the state, involving usually from two to four open-air meetings per day. audiences were secured in all the small and scattered places, even the most remote, by postal notices mailed from state headquarters several days in advance to every registered voter. among the means employed to draw attention were huge "votes for women" kites, voiceless speeches (a series of placards held up to view in a store window or other public place), distribution of literature in the baseball parks; a suffrage automobile or a section in the parades on labor day, columbus day, etc.; a pilgrimage to worcester on the anniversary of the first national woman's rights convention, led by miss florence luscomb in old-fashioned costume, in lucy stone's carriage; the running of propaganda films in the moving pictures and the placing of , brightly painted tin blue birds in conspicuous places throughout the state, each bird bearing the words "votes for women, nov. , ." there were speakers and debates at men's clubs, church organizations, labor unions, in factories, granges, at cattle shows and at conventions of all sorts. large indoor meetings were held, addressed by distinguished visitors to the state, among them philip snowden and mrs. snowden, senator helen ring robinson of colorado, u. s. senators clapp of minnesota, kenyon of iowa and thomas of colorado. mrs. pankhurst and her daughter sylvia spoke in boston and cambridge with great success. louis d. brandeis, afterwards justice of the u. s. supreme court, came out for woman suffrage. in boston, under the direction of miss mabel caldwell willard, innumerable street meetings were held for a year before the vote, with mass meetings every sunday in the tremont theater and on the historic common. press material was supplied to city and country papers. the newspapers as a whole grew more favorable as time went by but their editorial pages were much more friendly than the news columns, which frequently carried stories that were unfair or wholly untrue. the boston _sunday herald_ printed regular suffrage notes for some months before the vote and once the daily edition gave the suffragists a full page. the boston _american_ let them issue a special supplement, in charge of mrs. jennette a. s. jeffrey and mrs. leonard, and this example was followed by other papers in the state. as always, the _woman's journal_ did much to hold together, encourage and stimulate the workers. a special committee distributed more than , copies of suffrage speeches made in congress and more than , pieces of other literature within the last few months before the election. the most impressive publicity put forth by the state association was the two parades in boston; the first held may , , and the second, oct. , , just before the election. the first one caused a sensation. it contained about , women, with a small section of men, and was conducted under the chairmanship of mrs. leonard, with mrs. page, mrs. johnson and nine sub-committee chairmen. it was extremely well organized and the large mass of totally untrained marchers was handled so efficiently as to surprise all who saw it. delegations from all over new england took part and one from australia; women in national costumes; nurses in uniform; delegations from all the women's colleges in the state and men and women from the universities; also a singing chorus trained by dr. archibald davidson, jr., of appleton chapel, harvard. in the procession were a son, three grandsons, a granddaughter and two granddaughters-in-law of william lloyd garrison; the daughter of abby kelley foster, the daughter-in-law of angelina grimké and theodore weld and the daughter of lucy stone and henry b. blackwell. the concord banner was carried by the grandniece of louisa m. alcott. arrangements had been made for a delegation from the boston central labor union but when the time came the sole marcher to appear was the president, who courageously marched alone carrying the banner of the union. the second, called the victory parade, was even more successful. it included about , marchers with a substantial men's section and was viewed by , people. it was reviewed by governor david i. walsh in front of the state house and mayor james michael curley in front of the city hall and was followed by a tremendous mass meeting in mechanics' building, addressed by the mayor and others. parades were held also in other large cities. the state federation of women's clubs at its annual meeting in endorsed woman suffrage, on motion of mrs. herbert j. gurney, by a vote of to . the extreme to which bitter feeling ran was shown by a widely advertised attempt to organize a non-partisan league among the club women in consequence but only a few hundred joined out of a federation membership of , . it had been endorsed by the general federation and by state federations but in no other had the defeated minority undertaken to organize another society. thirty county fairs out of thirty-seven were covered systematically. special help in the campaign work was given by ohio, nebraska, nevada, new hampshire, rhode island and connecticut. the question of woman suffrage was presented before organizations of men through the efforts of a committee formed for that purpose, under mrs. evelyn peverly coe's chairmanship. women attended nearly all the primaries and town meetings, distributing literature and urging the men to vote yes. as the election approached the work along all lines grew more intensive. well-organized victory automobile tours ran steadily throughout the summer and fall, in the eastern part of the state under the direction of mrs. walter g. morey and in the western under miss luscomb. meetings were held at the fashionable hotels on the north and south shores and outdoor meetings at the popular beach resorts. comparatively few were held indoors but , were supplied with speakers. big meetings were addressed in boston and other large cities by u. s. senator william e. borah and dr. anna howard shaw. an elaborate luncheon was given by the men's league and the state association at the hotel bellevue to the governors' conference held in boston. valuable help at this time was rendered by governor walsh and the favorable opinions of the governors of equal suffrage states were published at length in the boston papers by the men's league. at the last moment mass meetings were held in boston at symphony hall and in the largest halls of many other cities. a symbolical and picturesque flag-raising took place on boston common. a last-minute circular was sent to each of the state's , registered voters. the day before the vote the railroad stations in boston were visited morning and evening and thousands of pieces of literature were given to the commuters. on election day, nov. , , practically all the polling places in the state were covered by , women, who stood for hours holding aloft placards reading, "show your faith in the women of massachusetts; vote 'yes' on woman suffrage." and yet after all this strenuous effort and self-sacrificing devotion the amendment was defeated by a vote of , to , , a majority of , . the vote in boston was: noes, , ; ayes, , ; opposing majority, , . louis d. brandeis said in an address on columbus day: "i doubt if there has been carried on ever in massachusetts--certainly not in my lifetime--a campaign which for intelligence, devotion and intensity surpassed the campaign of the women for suffrage. it should silence any doubt as to their fitness for enfranchisement." the suffragists, however, had to contend with serious and insuperable difficulties. the population of the state had changed radically since the early days when massachusetts had been the starting point of liberal movements. for more than half a century its most progressive citizens had been going west and their places had been filled by wave after wave of immigration from europe, largely ignorant and imbued with the old world ideas as to the subjection of women. the religious question also entered in, and, while the catholic church took no stand as to woman suffrage, many catholics believed that it would be a step toward socialism, against which the church was making a vigorous contest. on the other hand, many protestants believed that the catholic women's votes would be unduly influenced by the priests. massachusetts was the home of the oldest and most influential anti-suffrage organization of women in the united states under the leadership of mrs. charles eliot guild, miss mary ames, mrs. james codman, mrs. charles p. strong and others. few of its members did any active work but they were connected through the men of their families with the richest, most powerful and best organized groups of men in the state, who worked openly or behind the scenes against woman suffrage. they had an influence out of all proportion to their numbers. most of the literature, most of the money and a liberal supply of speakers for anti-suffrage campaigns all over the country had emanated from this association. while always posing as a woman's protest, the real strength of the movement was in the men. in may, , a man's anti-suffrage association had been organized, its executive committee consisting of ten lawyers, one cotton broker, one technology professor, the treasurer of harvard college and the treasurer of the copley society. other societies were organized later. all through the summer and fall of the women's and the men's organizations and various groups and combinations of men, who for one reason or another did not want equal suffrage, worked publicly and privately in every conceivable way against the amendment. they held meetings, mostly indoor, sent out speakers, advertised in street cars, prepared and mailed to every voter at great expense an elaborate pamphlet, the case against woman suffrage, full of misrepresentations, and did all an active opposition could do, and they had an efficient and highly paid publicity committee. the liquor interests fought the amendment from start to finish. pink slips were passed out in saloons on election day, saying, "good for two drinks if woman suffrage is defeated." the vote was curiously uniform. every part of the state gave an adverse majority; so did every city and town except tewksbury and carver; and generally in about the same proportion--places with strong suffrage organizations and places with none; whether the work done in them had been much or little; even towns where a majority of the voters had signed pledge cards promising to vote for the amendment voted adversely and in about the same ratio. the vote was the largest ever cast on any amendment in the state. by appealing adroitly to all kinds of prejudices, as on the religious question, the opposition got out an enormous number of men who generally did not vote at all. both sides were required by law to file at the state house a record of their campaign expenses. an analysis of the lists showed that the bulk of the anti-suffrage campaign fund was made up of personal contributions, four-fifths of them from men, and more than three-fifths of the total from men, whose average donation was $ . the slogan of their campaign had been that women did not want to vote. the official figures showed that those who claimed to speak for " per cent. of the women" received per cent. of their contributions from men, and not from the rank and file of men but chiefly from bankers, brokers and powerful directors of the monied section of boston. the bulk of the suffrage campaign fund came from fairs, sales and entertainments and of the personal contributions more than four-fifths were from women, their average donation being $ . after the election in there was started a state branch of the congressional union, later called the national woman's party, formed some years before to push the federal amendment. it was under the leadership of mrs. morey, chairman, and other women most of whom had been active with the state association during the campaign. the defeat of the state amendment caused the work of all organizations to be directed toward the submission of the federal amendment. at the annual meeting of the state association in may, , a budget of $ , was adopted and $ , toward it was pledged on the spot. through the preceding winter the association had five paid organizers, two of them working in boston, and a large number of volunteer field workers, at least in boston alone. besides the chairmen for the sixteen congressional districts, each of the forty senatorial districts had its chairman, all working under the state chairman of organization, mrs. sara s. gilson. she was followed by mrs. mary p. sleeper and by mrs. elizabeth tilton, who formed an advisory council of influential men in preparation for the campaign to ratify the federal amendment. after the united states entered the world war in the suffrage organizations, state and local, devoted their efforts largely to various forms of war work, called for by the government. they served on all committees, took part in all "drives," sold liberty bonds and continued their service till the last demand had been met. legislative action. the massachusetts legislature began in to grant hearings to women asking for the franchise and it continued to do so every year thereafter. these hearings usually crowded the largest committee room at the state house, the throng often extending far out into the hall. able arguments were presented by eminent men and women but it was impossible to obtain favorable action. there was at least one hearing every year and often several on different measures. in later years they were generally conducted by mrs. maud wood park, miss amy f. acton, a young woman lawyer, or miss alice stone blackwell for the petitioners; and by thomas russell, aaron h. latham, charles r. saunders or robert luce, as attorney for the anti-suffrage association. miss blackwell usually replied for the petitioners. in recent years the suffragists had influential politicians of both parties to speak at the hearings, thus making woman suffrage a political question. . the state association asked for the municipal and presidential franchise and for the submission to the voters of a constitutional amendment giving full suffrage. at the hearing on the latter, held february , the crowd broke all records and members of the committee who came late had to reach their seats by walking on top of the long table. mrs. carrie chapman catt was among the speakers.[ ] the measure was defeated march by a vote, including pairs, of to . individuals petitioned for municipal suffrage for women taxpayers, which was referred to the next legislature without a roll call. . the association's petition for a constitutional amendment was debated in the house on march and defeated by a vote (including pairs) of to . petitions from individuals for municipal suffrage for taxpaying women and that women qualified to vote for school committee might vote in the primaries on the nominations for it and a petition of the woman's christian temperance union that women might vote on licenses, were all rejected, after lively hearings. the anti-suffrage association opposed all of them. the great legislative triumph of was the passage of the equal guardianship bill. ever since lucy stone in began to urge the amendment of the old law, which gave the father absolute control, the suffragists had endeavored to have it changed. bill after bill, drawn by samuel e. sewall and others, had been introduced and rejected and it required a tragedy to obtain a new law. mrs. naramore of coldbrook, mass., went insane and killed her six young children when she learned that their father intended to give them away and could legally do so. this deeply stirred the rev. charles h. talmage, who had conducted the funeral service, with the six little coffins ranged before the pulpit. he made a careful inquiry into all the circumstances and gave a full account of them in the boston _herald_ of april , (republished in the _woman's journal_ of april ). he gave his time and the state suffrage association paid his expenses while he went through the state enlisting the support of different organizations of women to secure a change in the law. mr. blackwell also put in much time for this purpose. when the equal guardianship bill was introduced by representative george h. fall of malden it was backed not only by the suffrage association but by the state federation of women's clubs, the state w. c. t. u., the women's relief corps, the boston children's friend society and more than a hundred other organizations, aggregating , women. among them the anti-suffrage association was not included. for six years it had been circulating, under its official imprint, a leaflet against the proposal to give mothers equal custody and control of the children and in defense of the law as it stood. the committee on probate and chancery reported adversely by to . the outlook for its passage seemed so dark that mr. fall came to the _woman's journal_ office and asked if it might not be better to drop it and await a more propitious time. miss blackwell urged him to push it to a test. on may it was debated in the house. representative marshall of gloucester said that the probate judges were all opposed to it; that its advocates were "sentimentalists" and that "it would create strife, separation and divorce." he added: "those who appeared for it before the committee were practically the same crowd that appeared for woman suffrage." representative sleeper exclaimed: "if you want to enact legislation which will disrupt the home and sunder the tenderest and most sacred relations, pass this bill!" the house rejected the committee's adverse report by a viva voce vote and the next day passed the bill without further debate. it passed the senate by a large majority. thanks and praises were showered upon representative fall, who modestly said that two-thirds of the credit for working up the case belonged to his wife, mrs. anna christy fall. . the bill for taxpayers' municipal suffrage was defeated february without a roll call; the association's petition for a constitutional amendment by to . . governor john l. bates recommended woman suffrage in his message. the association asked for municipal suffrage for women having the same qualifications required of men. the bill was debated in the house on february and defeated without a roll call. the bill to let women vote on nominations for school trustees was defeated by to . . the association's petition for a constitutional amendment was rejected without a division and without even discussion. petitions were rejected for license suffrage, for a vote on school nominations and to enable women to vote for the appointing officer if the boston school board should be made appointive instead of elective. the association always joined with other societies in asking for measures for the public welfare. . the association's petition for a constitutional amendment was debated march and defeated without a roll call. one headed by john golden, president of the textile workers, for municipal suffrage for wage-earning women was also defeated without a division, as were the petitions for license suffrage and for a vote on school nominations. . the constitutional amendment was debated february and defeated by to . the good templars asked for license suffrage for women. at the hearing the bill was supported by representatives of the anti-saloon league, the w. c. t. u., the christian endeavorers, etc., and opposed by the anti-suffrage association and the attorney of the wine and spirits wholesale dealers' association. a bill requiring that the same measures be taken to keep the names of women voters (school) on the register as the names of men failed to pass. . municipal suffrage for all women, asked for by the association, was vigorously debated and voted down by to . municipal suffrage for women taxpayers, asked for by individuals, was defeated without a roll call. . at the hearing on february the boston _herald_, which was not in favor of equal suffrage, estimated that , women besieged the state house. they crowded the corridors and the large portico until two great overflow meetings were held in the open air at either end of the broad stairway leading up to the entrance. later the overflow meeting moved on to the common. the huge crowd of women made a deep impression and was largely featured in the press, which said that nothing like it had ever been seen in boston.[ ] the hearing was conducted for the petitioners by mrs. crowley and for the "antis" by mr. saunders. he was so impressed by the crowd that his usual sneering and jeering manner was wholly changed. the suffrage speakers were dr. shaw, john f. tobin, president of the boot and shoe workers' union; rabbi charles fleischer, miss josephine casey, secretary of the women's trade union league; henry abrahams of the central labor union; miss rose brennan of fall river, miss blackwell, miss eleanor rendell of england, winfield tuck and mrs. belle davis. mrs. gorham dana, professor sedgwick and mrs. george spoke for the "antis." mrs. julia ward howe and ex-governor bates, who were to have spoken for suffrage, could not get into the room.[ ] the constitutional amendment was debated march . the galleries were reserved for women, yet many were turned away. the vote stood noes to ayes, including pairs. . the hearing february on a constitutional amendment was unusually impressive. it was held in the evening to enable women busy by day to attend. in the past two or three members of the legislature not on the committee had sometimes dropped in. this year about sixty were present. mrs. crowley and mrs. luce conducted the hearing for the two sides. the petitioners had arranged delegations representing different groups of women--mothers, home-makers, leisure women, lawyers, mission and church workers, artists, authors and journalists, doctors and nurses, socialists, w. c. t. u., the "unrepresented" (widows and single women), business women, trade unions, teachers, social workers, taxpayers, saleswomen, clerks and stenographers and college women. these , or more marched to the state house from ford hall, each group under its own banner, and presented themselves before the committee in turn, the spokeswoman of each group telling briefly why she, and women like her, wanted the ballot. then they went over to ford hall, where a big rally was held and the main address was made by mrs. fanny garrison villard. an overflow meeting was held on the state house steps addressed by edwin d. mead and others. in order to line up the labor vote in the legislature, resolutions by different labor unions, signed by their secretaries, were sent to each legislator, under the direction of mrs. page. the measure was defeated march by to . . for the first time in many years, the legislative committee of the state association, mrs. crowley, chairman, appeared, before the resolutions committee of the political parties to urge the adoption of a suffrage plank. the democratic party inserted one favoring the submission of the question to the voters; the republican party ignored it. the legislators were interviewed both at the state house and by representative suffragists within their districts, and they received suffrage literature. the hearing on february was unusually successful from a political and publicity standpoint. it was conducted by mrs. crowley and was addressed by mrs. park and mrs. katharine dexter mccormick; john sherman weaver, representing the state branch of the american federation of labor, and henry abrahams for the boston central labor union. sylvia pankhurst addressed the committee in a simple and effective way. two of the opposition speakers were mrs. george and professor sedgwick. the debate was spirited and was conducted for the suffragists by prominent senators and representatives. four members spoke in opposition. the vote in the house was ayes, , noes, ; in the senate, ayes, , noes, . during all these years a quiet but effective opposition had been working at the state house under the direction of charles r. saunders, legislative counsel for the anti-suffrage association. one of the most significant features in the fall of was the political work of miss margaret foley, as it marked the beginning of a new type of effort. she had made a special trip to england the year before with miss florence luscomb and miss alice carpenter to observe the methods of the english suffragettes, who were then receiving great publicity. after her return she began by attending with other women the political rallies of the various candidates for the state legislature and at the close of each rally asking the candidate how he stood on the question of votes for women. by her knowledge of crowd psychology and gift as a speaker, she was able not only to handle but to win the roughest crowd to the consternation of the candidates. when the candidates for governor started on their campaign, miss foley, with a group of workers, followed the republican candidate in a fast automobile, attended all his meetings, spoke to the crowd on suffrage after the republican speeches were over and questioned the candidates for governor and other state officers as to their stand on suffrage. this unique and somewhat sensational method was taken up with avidity by the newspapers, which gave it front-page articles with illustrations. later she turned her attention to the democratic candidates. this was kept up until election and suffrage facts and arguments were presented to thousands of voters who would never otherwise have heard them. in the legislative committee, miss mary gay, chairman, conducted the hearing on february . afterwards a special letter of thanks was sent to professor lewis j. johnson of harvard and the hon. joseph walker for their help at the hearing. the amendment had able support from members and the campaign work began to show results. the vote in the house was ayes, , noes, ; in the senate, aye's, , noes, . in the autumn the method was introduced which many believed was ultimately responsible for putting the amendment through the legislature. it was the defeating of individual legislators who had been prominent opponents by making an active political campaign in their districts. the first was begun at the primaries against state senator roger wolcott of milton, chairman of the constitutional amendments committee in the preceding legislature. the women compiled a record of his negative votes on many liberal measures, including suffrage, and spread this record before his constituents. this work was done at the suggestion and under the direction of mrs. fitzgerald, who conducted open-air meetings in the district. the effort to defeat his renomination in the primary failed, however, largely through their inexperience. the legislative committee at the time consisted of mrs. crowley, chairman, mrs. leonard, mrs. park, mrs. page, miss foley and mrs. mary agnes mahan and remained substantially the same during the next two or three years, with the addition of mrs. marie burress currier, miss cora start and mrs. evelyn peverley coe. then they made a fight against mr. wolcott's election and by a most thorough campaign defeated him at the polls and a democrat was returned from that district for the first time in many years. this year marked the high tide of the progressive party in massachusetts. it had put a straight suffrage plank in its platform and its members in the legislature were very helpful. the defeat of wolcott, the publicity, the increasing vote in the legislature and the general stirring of the suffrage question, had caused the opponents to fear that the constitutional amendment would be submitted. consequently a bill was filed calling for another referendum like the one in which would have no effect after it was taken. the executive board of the state association protested against it but the situation looked extremely dark. levi h. greenwood, president of the senate, and grafton d. cushing, speaker of the house, were bitter opponents of woman suffrage and on the committee on constitutional amendments there was only one avowed friend, lewis h. sullivan of dorchester. the association's legislative committee worked strenuously to pledge votes against the bill. a visit to every editor in the city by mrs. page and mrs. crowley enlisted them against it and the numerous editorials that followed were sent day by day to the legislators: the bill's support dwindled, and on april it was defeated in the house by to , although the speaker left the chair for the only time that session to argue in favor of it. at the hearing on the submission of the constitutional amendment, louis d. brandeis, ex-congressman samuel l. powers, joseph walker and professor albert bushnell hart of harvard spoke in favor and letters were read from samuel w. mccall, afterwards republican governor; charles sumner bird, the progressive leader, and thomas w. riley, an influential democrat. for the first time since woman suffrage commanded a majority in the house, the vote standing ayes, , noes, , but this was not the necessary two-thirds and the legislative committee consented that it might be voted down in the senate, provided the "straw" vote bill was defeated at the same time. it now seemed practically certain that the amendment would pass the next legislature. in the fall of the boston equal suffrage association defeated walter r. meins of the st suffolk district; the legislative committee of the state association defeated representatives butler of lowell and underhill of somerville at the primaries, and bliss of malden and greenwood, president of the senate, at the election. this being the first time for many years that a democrat had been returned from greenwood's district, his defeat caused a sensation. in the progressive party, the state federation of labor, the socialists and the state suffrage association all introduced suffrage measures. the progressive and democratic parties had planks in their platforms recommending the submission of the constitutional amendment to the voters and governor walsh was in favor of it. the suffragists were unable to get a plank in the republican platform. for reasons of political expediency, mrs. crowley turned over the conduct of the hearing to john weaver sherman, representing the state federation of labor. there were speeches in favor by guy a. ham, chairman of the resolutions committee of the state republican convention; henry sterling, representing the american federation of labor; mrs. william lloyd garrison, jr., mrs. pinkham and mrs. katherine lent stevenson, president of the w. c. t. u. letters were read from ex-governor bates and sherman k. whipple, republican and democratic leaders. the women's political equality union had speakers from the textile workers' union of boston and the unions of the telephone operators, candy-makers and street-car men. the debate in the house was successfully led by sanford bates, chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments. the resolution to submit the amendment passed by to in the house and to in the senate, commanding the required two-thirds for the first time, but it had to pass a succeeding legislature. in the legislative work was less onerous and the amendment passed the house by to , the senate by to and was signed by governor walsh, who presented the pen to mrs. crowley. his signature was not necessary but he wished to show his approval. under the corrupt practices act a political committee, so-called, of at least five men, had to be formed to handle the funds of any group that spent more than $ to carry or defeat a constitutional amendment. a bill was passed which allowed women to form the committee in the case of the equal suffrage amendment and the following were named: miss blackwell, chairman; mrs. blanche ames, treasurer; mrs. crowley, mrs. leonard and miss foley. the strenuous campaign and the defeat of the amendment after a struggle of more than half a century to have it submitted, have been described. in no suffrage bill of any kind was presented to the legislature by the state association but it turned its attention to congressional work. this was skilfully conducted by mrs. grace a. johnson, chairman; members of congress were interviewed, letters and telegrams sent to the congressional judiciary committee and delegates to the national party conventions were urged to support suffrage planks. when these planks were secured in the national platforms of all parties during the summer the victory was celebrated with a mass meeting in faneuil hall. in massachusetts held a constitutional convention. the act calling it, in describing those to whom its recommendations should be submitted for ratification, used the word "people." a bill drawn by mrs. crowley was filed in the legislature by the state suffrage association asking that women be considered people within the meaning of this act. the senate asked the opinion of the state supreme court as to its constitutionality and she filed a brief. the supreme court decided adversely and in view of the rapid advance of the federal suffrage amendment the association decided that no state amendment should be submitted by the convention. the directions of the national suffrage association for congressional work were carried out. federal amendment meetings were held, thousands of letters sent to members of congress from their districts and about telegrams sent just before the vote was taken in . the amendment lacked but one vote of passing the u. s. senate and it became necessary to defeat at least one among the anti-suffrage senators who were coming up for re-election, so it was decided to defeat senator john w. weeks in massachusetts. his reactionary record was spread before the republican voters by , circulars and advertisements in republican papers. a special campaign among the working men was made by members of the women's trade union league, under the leadership of miss mabel gillespie, and among the jewish voters, who were normally republican, under the leadership of mrs. joseph fels and mrs. lillian e. dehaas of new york. the great popularity of president wilson at this time was of assistance and also that of the democratic candidate for the senate, ex-governor walsh. a special letter was sent to every listed member of the state association asking that at least one vote be secured against mr. weeks, with a spirited appeal by mrs. ames, who belonged to a prominent republican family. mr. walsh was elected by about , majority, the first democratic u. s. senator from massachusetts since the civil war. the congressional committee, mrs. ames, chairman, sent more than , letters and telegrams asking suffragists in the state to write and telegraph the massachusetts senators and members of congress to vote for the federal amendment. concentrated work was done upon three doubtful representatives, one of whom was secured, carter of needham. this proved most fortunate as the house gave exactly the two-thirds vote. the work done in on the great petition for the federal amendment was very successful despite the influenza epidemic. in worcester, springfield, pittsfield and north adams women signed numbering more than per cent. of the men's last vote for president and in boston , names were secured or per cent. of that vote. the anti-suffragists in twenty-four years had accumulated only a little over , signatures in the whole state, according to their own figures. in less than one year the suffragists obtained , in the above cities and over , in the state. ratification. when the federal amendment was submitted by congress on june , , the legislative committee of the state association, mrs. anna c. m. tillinghast, chairman, was expanded into a ratification committee. it had already polled the legislature, which was in session. a hearing was held before the federal relations committee conducted by mrs. tillinghast for the suffragists and by mrs. henry preston white for the "antis," who asked for a referendum to the voters in place of ratification. the suffrage speakers were frank b. hall, chairman of the republican state committee; joseph walker, progressive republican; josiah quincy, democrat, joseph walsh, democrat, of the senate; mrs. bird, mrs. fitzgerald, mrs. pinkham, who presented a petition of , names from representative sections of the commonwealth; mrs. mary thompson, representing the working women; miss margaret foley, a prominent catholic; a representative of the state w. c. t. u.; charles j. hodgson, legislative agent for the american federation of labor. the speakers for the woman's party were mrs. morey, miss betty gram, michael o'leary, chairman of the democratic state committee, and mrs. louise sykes. on the anti-suffrage side sixteen women representing the sixteen congressional districts told of their vote against suffrage in . miss blackwell spoke in rebuttal for the suffragists, miss charlotte rowe of yonkers, n. y., for the "antis." b. loring young, republican floor leader in the house, acted as chairman of the suffrage steering committee in the house and joseph knox in the senate. the committee reported in favor of ratification with two dissenting. the debate in the house on june was notable, about fifteen members speaking on each side. an amendment calling for a referendum was defeated by to and ratification carried by ayes to noes. the senate ratified by ayes, noes. massachusetts was the eighth state to ratify. mrs. tillinghast expressed especial gratitude for the assistance given by governor calvin coolidge, lieutenant governor channing m. cox, edwin t. mcknight, president of the senate, joseph e. warner, speaker of the house, b. loring young, republican, and william h. mcdonnell, democratic floor leader, leland powers of the house, joseph knox of the senate and the chairmen of the republican and democratic state committees. after women had been enfranchised the state and the boston suffrage associations conducted citizenship schools in every county to instruct them in their new duties. laws. [the very complete digest of the legislation of the past twenty years in relation to women and children, especially to those in the industries, prepared by mrs. teresa a. crowley, attorney at law, and filling nine typewritten pages, has to be omitted for lack of space.] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the first part of this chapter to miss alice stone blackwell, an officer of the national american woman suffrage association from to inclusive; president of the new england woman suffrage association from , and president of the massachusetts woman suffrage association almost continuously from to ; and for the second part of the chapter to mrs. teresa a. crowley, chairman of the legislative committee of the state association from for many years. [ ] later presidents were mrs. page, mrs. teresa a. crowley, mrs. robert gould shaw and mrs. j. malcolm forbes. when mrs. park was called to washington to become national congressional chairman in mrs. wenona osborne pinkham succeeded her as executive secretary. [ ] at the annual meeting of the m. a. o. f. e. s. w. on may , officers were elected as follows: president, mrs. g. howland shaw; vice-presidents, mrs. j. h. coolidge, miss anna l. dawes, mrs. charles d. homans, miss agnes irwin, mrs. henry m. whitney; corresponding secretary, miss l. c. post; recording secretary. miss elizabeth johnson; treasurer, mrs. james m. codman; executive committee, the officers and miss sarah h. crocker, mrs. gorham dana, mrs. charles eliot guild, miss katherine e. guild, miss elizabeth h. houghton, miss sarah e. hunt, mrs. francis c. lowell, mrs. j. h. millet, mrs. b. l. robinson, mrs. r. h. saltonstall, miss e. p. sohier and mrs. henry m. thompson. [ ] additional speakers through the summer were miss margaret foley, miss gertrude y. cliff, miss edith m. haynes, mrs. marion craig wentworth, miss florence luscomb, miss katherine tyng, miss alfretta mcclure and miss rosa heinzen, the last four college girls. [ ] much help was given for years by the steady financial support of mrs. r. d. evans, mrs. robert gould shaw and mrs. quincy a. shaw. the last named paid the rent of the suffrage headquarters during many years and her heirs continued this assistance for some time after her death in . [ ] many of the same persons appeared at these hearings year after year. among those not mentioned who spoke for suffrage between and were mrs. lucia ames mead, henry b. blackwell, the rev. charles g. ames, mrs. fanny b. ames, miss sarah cone bryant, the rev. charles f. dole, mrs. anna christy fall, mrs. helen campbell, miss mary ware allen, miss eva channing, mrs. abby morton diaz, miss lillian freeman clarke, mrs. maud howe elliott, frank b. sanborn, mrs. eliza r. whiting, mrs. mary kenney o'sullivan, mrs. a. watson lister, of australia; ex governor john d. long. letters in favor were read from professor borden p. bowne, of boston university, u. s. senator george f. hoar, ex governor george s. boutwell, dr. j. l. withrow of park street church, congressman samuel w. mccall, professor w. o. crosby of the massachusetts institute of technology, mrs. sarah platt decker, president of the general federation of women's clubs, mrs. may alden ward, president of the state federation, mrs. f. n. shiek, president of the wyoming federation, and judge lindsey of the denver juvenile court. among those who spoke in opposition were professor william t. sedgwick of the massachusetts institute of technology and mrs. sedgwick, mrs a. j. george, mrs. barrett wendell, mr. and mrs. frank foxcroft and dr. lyman abbott of new york. a number of women spoke every year who opposed the suffrage because it would take women into public life. [ ] the suggestion to get out a record-breaking crowd was made by representative norman h. white of brookline, the first man for some years to lead a serious fight in the legislature for woman suffrage. the work of getting it out was engineered by mrs. crowley, mrs. page and mrs. mary ware dennett, who also arranged the great procession at the hearing of the following year. [ ] among the speakers at the overflow meetings on the steps were the misses rendell and costello, miss foley, mrs. george f. lowell, mr. blackwell, mrs. fitzgerald, john golden and franklin h. wentworth. at the overflow meeting on the common mrs. fitzgerald presided and dr. shaw was the chief speaker. a great meeting in faneuil hall had been addressed by dr. shaw and others the night before. chapter xxi. michigan.[ ] the michigan equal suffrage association is almost as old as any in the united state, having been organized in january, , eight months after the national association was formed, and its work has been long and arduous. it has had triumphs and disappointments; gained partial suffrage at two periods and ended in a complete victory in . in - the principal efforts of the association, which consisted of auxiliaries, were along educational lines. at the annual convention in a petition was sent to president theodore roosevelt to recommend a woman suffrage amendment to the national constitution in his message to congress, which was heartily endorsed by the national grange then in session in lansing. little active work was being done with the legislature but it is the pride of the suffragists that no legislature ever convened which they did not memorialize and only two years passed without a state convention-- , and two were held in ; and , when a congressional conference was held instead.[ ] the presidents during these years were mrs. emily burton ketcham, grand rapids, (at intervals from ); mrs. martha e. snyder root, bay city, - ; mrs. guilielma h. barnum, charlotte, - ; mrs. clara b. arthur, detroit, - ; mrs. orton h. clark, kalamazoo, - ; mrs. belle brotherton, detroit, acting president, ; mrs. percy j. farrell, detroit, - . from to the work was largely confined to the preparing of public opinion for the probable revision of the state constitution. legislatures refused to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the voters on the plea that a new constitution would soon be in force. it was decided to make an intensive educational campaign, especially among the club women. to this end suffragists served on club committees working for legislative or civic ends, and the rebuffs of the measures urged by them finally resulted in the endorsement of woman suffrage by the state federation of women's clubs with , members, at battle creek in october, . in speakers were sent over the state for lectures and debates. prizes for suffrage essays were offered in high schools with material supplied. at county and state fairs, church bazars, picnics and meetings of various societies, literature was freely distributed. the _woman's journal_ was placed in all public libraries and small suffrage tracts kept in interurban waiting rooms and in rest rooms of churches, societies and dry-goods stores. birthdays of pioneer suffragists were celebrated by special meetings, local clubs always responding to a call with so concrete an object. a committee of members in all parts of the state attended constantly to press work, sending in items of interest concerning the progress of women, educationally and politically, and answering attacks on woman suffrage. this year the supreme court decided that mrs. merrie hoover abbott, who had been elected prosecuting attorney of ogemaw county, could not serve because no woman was entitled to hold office. the association used this decision as a practical lesson on the position of women under the present constitution. finally the legislature of arranged for a constitutional convention. the annual convention of the association promptly met the situation by appointing a constitutional revision committee headed by mrs. may stocking knaggs of bay city, a former president, and each auxiliary was invited to appoint one woman to serve on an advisory committee. the purpose of this committee was to urge upon the convention the omission of the word "male" from the suffrage clause as a qualification for voting. the committee on elective franchise of the constitutional convention reported unanimously in favor and on jan . , granted the suffragists a hearing in representatives hall. ten societies cooperating with the state suffrage association were represented--the grange, two organizations of the maccabees, woman's christian temperance union, state federation of labor, detroit garment workers, state woman's press association and several women's and farmers' clubs. a petition representing , names, , of individual women of voting age, was presented. the state president, mrs. clara b. arthur, introduced the speakers, dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american woman suffrage association, and mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, a lawyer of chicago, who made earnest addresses. the governor came in to hear them. the women "antis" circulated a leaflet opposing the change. on january the debate took place in the convention on the proposed revision, and, although not a voice had been raised in protest, the vote stood ayes, noes. some members who voted "no" did so because they believed that the whole constitution would be defeated at the polls if it proposed to enfranchise women. the hard work of the association was not, however, barren of results, for a clause was inserted in the new constitution giving taxpaying women the right to vote on any public question relating to the public expenditure of money or the issuing of bonds. [in the legislature extended it to the granting of public franchises.] in the spring mrs. arthur with mrs. maud wood park, organizer for the national college suffrage league, formed branches in the colleges at albion, hillsdale, olivet and ann arbor and among the collegiate alumnae in detroit, of which dr. mary thompson stevens was made president. in june the fifty-six state delegates to the national democratic convention were petitioned for a woman suffrage plank in the platform. the next task was to try to comply with the request of the national suffrage association to secure , names to a nation-wide petition to be presented to congress for a federal suffrage amendment. mrs. fern richardson rowe, grand rapids, was chairman of the work, which took up the greater part of the year and went over into . this last year the state association obtained the consent of the hon. levi l. barbour, former u. s. senator thomas w. palmer and the rev. lee s. mccollester, pastor of the church of our father (universalist), all residents of detroit, to act as an invitational committee in organizing a men's state league for woman suffrage. the charter membership consisted of influential men well known throughout the state. in march a committee of the association went to the republican state convention to have a woman suffrage resolution adopted but were unsuccessful. in march, , the association was thrown unexpectedly into a turmoil when governor chase s. osborn called a special session of the legislature to consider, among other things, the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution to the voters at the general election on november , urged by the detroit branch of the college suffrage league. the time was not propitious but the legislative committee of the association, under the direction of mrs. jennie c. law hardy, went immediately to work, receiving able assistance from the governor, the rev. eugene r. shippen (unitarian) of the men's league and dr. mary thompson stevens of the college league. the state grange immediately appropriated $ , for their woman's committee, directed by miss ida l. chittenden. these united efforts were vigorously opposed by representatives of the liquor dealers but the measure passed the senate and house. this big contest michigan entered almost single-handed. campaigns in other states which had been months in progress and gave greater promise of success were engaging nearly all of the organizers and speakers from outside the state. there was less than $ in the treasury. this amount was augmented by $ , from the national association; $ from various states and the state association raised $ , . it was not until early june that plans were completely under way. the five months remaining were devoted to an intensive educational campaign, made possible only by the organizing work since . state headquarters were opened in detroit and subsidiary headquarters in grand rapids and kalamazoo. county suffrage societies cooperated heartily and much help came from the press. the men's league, the college league, the powerful state grange, the farmers' clubs and many labor organizations helped and all that was possible was done in this short and unexpected campaign. when the returns began to come in they were overwhelmingly in favor of the amendment. the newspapers fixed its majority at figures varying from , to , . immediately following these reports came rumors of large errors in the count. ballot boxes were mysteriously lost and every artifice known to the politicians was employed to delay the official returns. governor osborn was quoted in the press as follows: "if the liquor interests defeat the suffrage amendment by fraud, proved or suspected, the people of michigan will retaliate, in my opinion, by adopting state wide prohibition. the question seems to be largely one as to whether these interests own, control and run michigan. those most feared are certain election 'crooks' in certain detroit precincts, who would not hesitate to do anything they thought they could get away with." the governor demanded that the returns be sent to lansing at once. when at the end of three weeks the official count was published it showed that the amendment had been defeated by votes, ayes, , ; noes, , . clear evidence of fraud was apparent in wayne, kent, saginaw and bay counties. the state association engaged the best legal talent and in genesee county the courts threw out the vote on the amendment. it developed, however, that there was no law allowing a recount in a vote on a constitutional amendment and in the face of glaring fraud the defeat had to be accepted. no state convention was held in november, , because of the stress of campaign work but a postponed convention was held jan. , , . indignation ran high over this defeat and an immediate resubmission of the amendment was decided upon as the result of favorable answers to questionnaires which had been sent to all county chairmen and the heads of all cooperating societies. during the campaign no open or organized opposition among women had been in evidence. a legislative hearing was arranged by the suffragists and the state and college league presidents on starting to lansing found a special car attached to their train bearing about thirty prominent women members of a new anti-suffrage association. their only speaker was miss minnie bronson of new york, secretary of the national anti-suffrage association. as mrs. arthur rose to answer her hour's speech she remarked that for the first time the voice of a woman was heard in this state in protest against her own enfranchisement and she rejoiced that it was not the voice of a michigan woman. despite determined opposition the proposal passed both houses to be voted on at the spring election just five weeks ahead. owing to the social position of the "antis," the state press gave much prominence to their association, published pages of the members' pictures and quoted their reasons for organizing it. branches were at once formed in ten adjoining towns; state offices were opened on woodward avenue, near the suffrage headquarters, books opened for registration and great quantities of literature sent over the state. several debates were attempted but few materialized, as they had no home talent.[ ] a placard printed in english and german and posted in saloons in various parts of the city by the michigan staatterbund announced that if the amendment should be adopted in michigan, foreign born women would have to take out naturalization papers at a large price. this and the royal ark, an association of , liquor dealers in detroit, were the only organizations in the state to pass resolutions against the amendment. a men's association opposed to woman suffrage was organized on march at a meeting in the university club; president, charles a. kent; vice-president, william a. livingston, jr.; treasurer, garvin denby; secretary, henry c. bulkley. a well known lawyer, william e. heinze, wrote very bitter articles for the press and undoubtedly influenced the german-american vote. the rev. wm. byron forbush, pastor of the north woodward congregational church, spoke at anti-suffrage meetings. on march , with the election less than a week away, john dohrinan and senator james r. murtha, representing mr. livingston, and carl bauer of the staatterbund appeared before the circuit court with a petition to have the suffrage amendment printed on a separate ballot. the court denied the petition. the case was immediately carried to the state supreme court which decided that all amendments must be on separate ballots. necessarily the campaign was short for the vote was to be taken april . unlike the one preceding, three-fourths of the financial support came from without the state. mrs. ida porter boyer of pennsylvania was engaged for press and executive work. the national association furnished speakers, among them its president, dr. shaw, mrs. carrie chapman catt, mrs. park, mrs. celia j. white, mrs. susan w. fitzgerald, mrs. glendower evans, mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff, mrs. ella s. stewart, miss doris stevens, mrs. clara laddey, mrs. clara bewick colby and mrs. beatrice forbes robertson hale. miss laura clay came from kentucky at her own expense. the state was organized by counties and the speaking and circularizing were done under the immediate direction of the county chairmen. in the report of mrs. edna s. blair, chairman of organization, she stated that there were but eight counties in the state which had no working committees and only three of these were in the lower peninsula, their total voting strength being less than , . the amendment was defeated by , , receiving , ayes, , noes. her analysis of the vote, prepared from county returns, showed that there was a gain of a little more than , negative votes over those of , and , of these were in counties having a "wet" and "dry" issue. the preceding year the liquor forces had not realized the need of active work. never in any other state campaign did these forces make so open a fight as in this one. they paid for columns of space in the newspapers and circulated vast quantities of the literature prepared by the women's anti-suffrage association. this was in piles on the bars of the saloons and, according to reports, in even more questionable places. the defeat was not due so much to a change in public opinion as it was to an absence of the favorable vote which had been called out in the previous year by reason of the presidential election. after the election county chairmen and all suffragists were asked to urge their representatives in congress to support the federal amendment. this was followed by a trip through the state by mrs. blair, who contributed her services, and at the convention in jackson, in , she reported that there were now only four counties, all in the upper peninsula, where there was no record of active workers. mrs. arthur was reelected.[ ] although recovering from two successive defeats the association found itself in able to carry on more systematic work than had ever been attempted. in february a monthly magazine, the _michigan suffragist_, was established with mrs. blair editor. at the convention in traverse city nov. - , , mrs. orton h. clark was elected president and the state board adopted her scheme for financing the association, which was successfully carried forward by the finance chairman, mrs. j. g. macpherson of saginaw. it consisted in the apportionment of a fixed revenue on the basis of ten cents from each taxpaying woman, of whom there were , in the state. more than one-third of the counties met all or a part of their apportionment, which enabled the president to open headquarters in a business building in kalamazoo, employ an executive secretary and an organizer and engage mrs. robertson hale for a series of lectures. much of the effort during the early months of was directed toward securing municipal suffrage, which necessitated active work by the legislative committee, dr. blanche m. haines of three rivers, chairman. an attempt was made to organize according to congressional districts; chairmen were found for ten of the thirteen and a number of district conferences were held. all state and national candidates were interviewed on woman suffrage personally or by letter. many meetings were addressed by national and international speakers. this program was continued through and . the state conventions were held in november in saginaw and grand rapids and mrs. clark was re-elected president. following the plan made by the national association, suffrage schools were held in kalamazoo, grand rapids and detroit in march, , with mrs. halsey w. wilson, mrs. t. t. cotnam and mrs. nettie r. shuler as instructors. upon america's entry into the world war in april, communities, counties, the state and even the nation made demands on the association. mrs. clark called together the heads of nearly forty organizations to coordinate the war activities of michigan women. the rev. caroline bartlett crane was made chairman of the state committee, which afterwards became the state division of the woman's committee of the council of national defense, dr. crane chairman. notwithstanding this situation, however, a bill to give a vote for presidential electors to women was introduced in the senate and almost simultaneously one in the house asking for another referendum on a constitutional amendment by representative flowers, who had fought the suffrage battle for nearly a quarter of a century. the association protested but the sponsors of both bills were adamant. as a result both bills were passed in march and april and it found itself in the midst of a campaign on the referendum at this most inopportune time. there was nothing to do but to plunge into it. interest lagged, however, as the women were absorbed in war work and there was a wide belief that in recognition of this work the men would give the suffrage without a campaign for it. mrs. catt, now national president, did not share this view and she requested a conference with the state workers. they decided to hold a state convention in detroit, march - , , and she and mrs. shuler, national chairman of organization, came to it. mrs. brotherton was serving as president and it was one of the largest ever held. the names of the honorary committee filled two pages of the program. it was welcomed by mayor marx and many organizations of women were represented. mrs. catt addressed the evening meetings and mrs. shuler spoke at the banquet in hotel statler, where the convention took place. the state board presented a full report and program for war activities but no plan for campaign. most of the delegates believed the men would give them the vote without any activity on their part. mrs. catt made a stirring appeal in which she pointed out that war work would be expected as their duty and that the vote would not be given as a recognition. before the end of the convention she had thoroughly aroused the delegates and the force of her appeal was evident when the campaign plans providing for the budget, petition and political work, which had been prepared by the national association as a basis of work for the three states then in campaign, was cheerfully adopted. the budget called for $ , to be raised equally by detroit and the congressional districts. at the dinner on the th $ , were quickly subscribed, $ , by the districts. detroit women, who had already secured $ , , partly to pay back debts, pledged $ , more. mrs. catt promised the equivalent of $ , in help from the national association if the full budget were raised. mrs. percy j. farrell of detroit was elected president of the association and chairman of the campaign committee and the following women were named chairmen of congressional districts; mrs. brotherton, mrs. g. w. patterson, dr. haines, mrs. huntley russell, mrs. alice b. locke, mrs. macpherson and mrs. alberta droelle. the delegates went away from the convention filled with enthusiasm and ready for an active campaign. press work was again under the direction of mrs. boyer who was the adviser and right hand of mrs. farrell, giving unstintedly of her large experience. mrs. henry g. sherrard was chairman of literature and mrs. myron b. vorce of political work. dr. haines supervised eleven counties, which gave , majority. mrs. boyer said of mrs. brotherton: "her faith, devotion and work extended through three campaigns and she was one of those who could remain steadfast through the sowing until the reaping time." mrs. russell, the state vice-president, was a recognized force. mrs. e. l. caulkins, president of the w. c. t. u., devoted its full organization to the amendment, especially to the petitions and at the polls on election day. the most telling feature of the campaign was the petition under the direction of mrs. emerson b. davis of detroit, signed by more than , women over twenty-one years old and addressed to voters, urging them to vote "yes" on the referendum. the work was finished in october and interesting uses were made of the names. those in grand rapids were published in the daily papers of that city from day to day; in saginaw they were hung as a frieze on the walls of the woman's section at the state fair; in other places they were exhibited in store windows. mrs. catt had stipulated for this petition because of its educational value and its influence on the voters and the public. the work was done by volunteers. few campaigns ever had so much help from organizations outside of those for suffrage, among them were the w. c. t. u., federation of women's clubs, state grange, state farmers' clubs, gleaners, american federation of labor, anti-saloon league, and woman's committee of the council of national defense. the men's league was an important factor. the clergy almost as a unit gave generous endorsement and constant help. the support of the press was nearly unanimous, many papers refusing pay for space from the "antis." most valuable assistance came from the two great fraternal insurance organizations of women, ladies of the maccabees and the women's benefit association of the maccabees, miss bina m. west supreme commander, which had had the experience of having to defeat two referenda aimed at crippling their form of insurance. partly for this reason they were especially interested in securing the franchise for women. the ladies of the maccabees confined their work mainly to the women in their own large organization. the women's benefit association assumed the responsibility of organizing six congressional districts. they financed their own work entirely, using their own skilled organizers whenever it was necessary, especially in the upper peninsula, where no other workers were sent. the story of mrs. locke and mrs. droelle reads like that of the pioneers in the far western countries. this contribution, if measured in dollars, would have represented many thousands. mr. and mrs. henry ford, mr. and mrs. willard pope, mr. and mrs. gustavus pope, mrs. john b. ford, mrs. delphine dodge ashbaugh and mrs. sherrard contributed nearly half of the amount required for the entire campaign. the teachers of detroit financed a worker for several months, as did the detroit business women. many of the larger cities financed their own campaigns for the last six weeks. among the individual men who gave great financial assistance at this time were james couzens, chas. b. warren, member of the republican national committee and william a. comstock of alpena, who as treasurer of the men's suffrage league, collected the major part of their donations, nearly $ , . the national suffrage association gave in cash $ , , paid the bill for literature and posters, $ , , and made other contributions amounting to $ , . it paid salaries and part of the expenses from jan. , , of mrs. augusta hughston and the organizers, miss lola trax, miss edna wright, miss marie ames, miss alma sasse and miss stella crossley, until the state was able to assume them. mrs. hughston became the campaign manager of detroit. mrs. shuler came three times and campaigned all over the state. mrs. mary e. craigie of new york gave assistance. the magnitude of the detail work of the campaign may be understood from the report of mrs. hughston, who said: "in detroit alone there were distributed , pieces of literature; , buttons, , posters put in windows, , street car advertisements, large billboard posters and , inches of paid advertisements in newspapers." the election took place on nov. , , when the suffrage amendment received , ayes and , noes--carried by a majority of , . four strong factors influenced the vote; first, prohibition, which had been adopted in , was in effect and the forces that had led past opposition were badly disorganized; second, the astute politicians saw the trend of events, and few, if any, openly opposed it; third, the war work of women, which, although it lessened the number of workers for suffrage, yet made forceful appeal to the voters; fourth, the activity of all organizations of women. this summary of the work of michigan women for their political freedom is most incomplete without the names of hundreds of workers who toiled, suffered, sacrificed, gave of their time, their strength, their money, year after year, but the list is too long. every city, every locality had its special difficulties, which had to be overcome and their women were equal to the task. all contributed to the great victory. the _woman citizen_, official organ of the national american suffrage association, in its edition of nov. , , gave a detailed summary of this campaign and the workers. after a brief respite, the suffragists took up the work of a registration "drive" for the spring election in april, when an amendment to weaken the prohibition law was to be voted on. the registration by women in some places was larger than that of men. prohibition had been carried in by a majority of , . at this election in , with women voting, the majority was over three times as large-- , --and the amendment was defeated. the convention of the state equal suffrage association met in grand rapids, april , , , mrs. farrell presiding. the name was changed to the state league of women voters and mrs. brotherton was elected chairman. plans for the approaching ratification campaign were made and she was authorized to secure chairmen for the new departments of work. the willingness of women to accept the various chairmanships was in marked contrast to the difficulties encountered during suffrage campaigns. ratification. the federal suffrage amendment was submitted by congress june , , and fortunately governor albert e. sleeper had called a special session of the legislature to convene on june . he was at once requested to submit the amendment for ratification and soon announced his willingness to do so. a recess had been taken over sunday but each member received a letter from the league of women voters asking for a favorable vote and many cordial answers were received. the legislature assembled at o'clock on tuesday, june . the senate and house at once voted unanimously in favor of ratification. the same day the wisconsin and illinois legislatures also ratified. these three states were the first to take action. legislative action. . a joint resolution to amend the state constitution by striking out the word "male" as a qualification for voters was introduced by representative nathan a. lovell but was not reported out of the committees. . a similar resolution was introduced by representative george e. dewey but failed to pass by seven votes. . the same resolution received in the house ayes, noes, lacking the necessary two-thirds, and failed in the senate by two votes. . in the call for a special session governor osborn included the consideration of a woman suffrage amendment. it was introduced in the senate by robert y. ogg and in the house by representative charles flowers. the senate opposition was led by james a. murtha and charles m. culver, while william m. martz sought to block it in the house. the vote in the senate was ayes, noes; in the house ayes, noes. it was submitted to the voters and defeated. . a hearing on the amendment resolution was arranged by the state board in february. without the knowledge of the suffragists the "antis" secured one to precede theirs. the president, mrs. arthur, dr. mary thompson stevens, dr. caroline bartlett crane and mrs. jennie c. law hardy spoke for the amendment. the vote in the senate was ayes, noes; in the house, ayes, noes. submitted and defeated at the polls. . the bill for municipal suffrage was rejected as unconstitutional. . two measures were introduced, one for the amendment by representative flower and the other for presidential suffrage by senator john m. damon of mt. pleasant. at last the officers of the state association had to withdraw their opposition to the referendum in order to save the presidential bill. the vote on the referendum march was, house ayes, noes; april , senate, ayes, noes; a two-thirds vote required. the presidential suffrage vote on march in the senate was ayes, noes; on april in the house, ayes, noes. there was no strong opposition. the amendment was carried by a large majority on nov. , . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. clara b. arthur, vice-president of the state equal suffrage association - ; president, - , and mrs. belle brotherton, acting president, ; chairman of the league of women voters, . [ ] following are the times and places of holding state conventions: oct. - , , saginaw; oct. - , , charlotte; nov. - , , paw paw; oct. - , , jackson; nov. - , , port huron; oct. , , , kalamazoo; sept. - , , charlotte; nov. , , , bay city; dec. , , , grand rapids; nov. - , , kalamazoo; nov. , , , kalamazoo; no convention in ; jan. , , , lansing; nov. - , , jackson; nov. - , , traverse city; nov. , , , saginaw; nov. - , , grand rapids; no convention in ; march , , , detroit; april , , , grand rapids. [ ] the officers of the association opposed to equal suffrage as published in the press were: president, mrs. henry f. lyster; secretary, miss helen keep; publicity committee, miss julia russell, mrs. a. a. griffiths, mrs. j. a. mcmillan, mrs. fred reynolds, mrs. edward h. parker, mrs. richard jackson and miss caroline barnard. [ ] mrs. brotherton writes: "special tribute should be paid to the splendid administrative ability of mrs. arthur. her conduct of the and campaigns and the years of effort that preceded them deserve the unending gratitude of michigan women. her greatest monument was the vote of taxpaying women on bond issues. mrs. orton h. clark, who succeeded mrs. arthur in , brought to the work the same patient and consecrated zeal and to her is largely due the gaining of presidential suffrage. chapter xxii. minnesota.[ ] the great event for the minnesota woman suffrage association in was the convention of the national american woman suffrage association may -june in minneapolis. large audiences night after night filled the first baptist church to listen to the eloquent addresses of miss susan b. anthony, honorary president; mrs. carrie chapman catt, president, and dr. anna howard shaw, vice-president of the association; henry b. blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_, rachel foster avery and other speakers of national fame. the officers were entertained at west hotel and the delegates in the homes of suffragists. dr. cora smith eaton, who was the chairman of arrangements, was elected second auditor of the national association. the state convention of was held in mankato in october, with mrs. catt as the principal speaker. mrs. maud c. stockwell and mrs. jennie knight brown were re-elected president and vice-president and mrs. a. h. boostrom appointed chairman of press. through the generosity of mrs. e. a. russell of minneapolis miss anna gjertsen was engaged to organize the scandinavian women. among the names enrolled in the suffrage booth at the state fair were those of theodore roosevelt, vice-president of the united states; gen. nelson miles, gov. samuel r. van sant and archbishop ireland. the annual convention of was entertained in june by the st. paul club, which had been organized a few months before. mrs. hannah egelston was elected vice-president. the press chairman stated that fifteen newspapers were using suffrage articles and the enrollment and the petition work for presidential suffrage was being successfully carried on. the association was incorporated this year. in september, , the state convention was held in austin with dr. shaw the chief speaker. the former officers were re-elected. reports showed old clubs revived and new ones formed through the efforts of miss gail laughlin, one of the national organizers. mrs. eugenia b. farmer was this year appointed chairman of press and held the office till when she was made honorary chairman. she did not relinquish the work but continued to assist her successor, mrs. w. h. thorp. for eight years mrs. farmer kept press headquarters in the old capitol, st. paul. she added new papers to the list which accepted suffrage matter till it had , about all of them, and much of the suffrage sentiment in the state can be traced to her years of work. the quarterly bulletin was edited by mrs. julia b. nelson. in october, , the convention met in anoka and dr. shaw addressed large audiences. miss marion sloan of rochester was made vice-president. during the year the association offered prizes for the best essay on woman suffrage to the students of the four normal schools, many competing. the annual meeting for was held in minneapolis in november. in answer to the many calls a lecture bureau of twenty well-known speakers directed by dr. annah hurd had been organized; a generous contribution was sent to oregon for its campaign. in march, , an impressive memorial service was held in minneapolis for the beloved leader, susan b. anthony. another was held in monticello in november during the state convention. it was reported that the governor had appointed dr. margaret koch, one of the active suffragists, to the state medical board; that many organizations had passed resolutions endorsing suffrage and that in june mrs. stockwell had presented the greetings of the national association to the general federation of women's clubs in convention in st. paul. in october, , the convention met in austin. during the year a scandinavian association had been formed by dr. ethel e. hurd, with mrs. jenova martin president, and a college equal suffrage league at the state university by professors frances squire potter and mary gray peck, with miss elsa ueland president. miss laura gregg, sent by the national association, had organized suffrage committees in twelve towns. it was decided to circularize the teachers of the state. in november, , the convention was held in minneapolis with dr. shaw and professor potter as speakers. mrs. martin was elected vice-president. the energy of all suffrage workers had been turned toward the great petition to congress for the federal amendment planned by the national association and directed in the state by mrs. f. g. corser of minneapolis. mrs. maud wood park made a tour of the state in march speaking in eight colleges in the interest of the national college equal suffrage league. in october, , the state convention went to st. paul. the _bulletin_, official organ of the association and a valuable feature of its work, had had to be abandoned because of lack of funds. it had been edited for ten years by dr. ethel e. hurd, recording secretary, who sometimes mimeographed it herself, sometimes had it typewritten and when possible printed, always herself addressing and mailing copies to the state members. an important event of the year was the unanimous endorsement of woman suffrage by the state editorial association, secured by miss mary mcfadden, a journalist. for the first time a speaker was supplied to the state convention of the federation of women's clubs. in november, , the state convention was entertained by the minneapolis political equality club, organized in . mrs. stockwell, who had served as president for ten years, asked to be relieved from office and miss emily dobbyn of st. paul was elected president with dr. margaret koch, who had been treasurer ten years, first vice-president. the petition was reported as finished with , names. it was sent to washington and presented to congress by senator moses e. clapp with an earnest plea for its consideration. in october, , the convention again went to st. paul and mrs. a. t. hall of this city was elected president. the convention of was held in minneapolis in september. under direction of mrs. a. h. bright of this city the first automobile suffrage parade took place, the route extending from the court house where the convention was held to the fair grounds where addresses were made. eleven new clubs were reported. the woman's welfare league of st. paul joined the state association and did excellent work for suffrage. mrs. hall was re-elected president and removing from the state later mrs. p. l. de voist of duluth was selected to fill out her term.[ ] in october, , at the annual convention in st. paul, mrs. bright was elected president. the minneapolis equal suffrage club, which had been organized independently by mrs. andreas ueland, joined the state association and later became the hennepin county suffrage organization. a women workers' suffrage club was formed with mrs. gertrude hunter, president. in november, , at the convention in minneapolis, mrs. ueland was elected president and served for the next five years.[ ] it was reported that the everywoman suffrage club of colored women had been organized in st. paul with mrs. w. t. francis president. the clubs of st. paul and minneapolis, at the request of the national association, had joined in the nation-wide demonstration may with mass meetings in each city, a street meeting and parade in st. paul at noon and a joint parade in minneapolis in the afternoon with , men and women in line. in october, , the convention took place in st. paul. up to this time headquarters had been maintained free of charge in minneapolis, at first in the office of drs. cora smith eaton and margaret koch and for many years in the office of drs. ethel e. and annah hurd. this year they were opened in the essex building of that city and a paid secretary installed. organization by districts was arranged for. in conformity with plans sent out from the national association, quarterly conferences were held in different sections of the state. "organization day" on february , miss anthony's birthday, was celebrated in fifteen legislative districts with meetings and pageants. during the national convention in washington this year deputations of suffragists from minnesota called on the state's two senators and ten representatives asking them to promote the federal suffrage amendment. to assist the campaign the services of the state organizer, mrs. maria mcmahon, were given to new york for september and october; mrs. david f. simpson and miss florence monahan contributed their services as speakers and $ were sent to the new jersey campaign.[ ] in october, , at the convention in minneapolis, a delightful feature was a banquet of covers at the hotel radisson, where president george e. vincent of the state university made his maiden speech for woman suffrage. mrs. simpson presided. there were favorable reports from officers, committee chairmen and organizers. at the request of the national association deputations had called upon the state delegates to the national republican and democratic conventions urging them to work for suffrage planks in their party platforms. twenty-five minnesota women marched in the parade in chicago at the time of the republican national convention and many went to the national democratic convention in st. louis on a "suffrage barge," holding meetings on the boat and at a number of stopping places. in may the mississippi valley suffrage conference was entertained in minneapolis and a mass meeting of , was held. automobile speaking trips were made. money, organizers and speakers were contributed to the iowa campaign. in december, , the convention again met in minneapolis with mrs. nellie mcclung of edmonton, alberta, as speaker. pledges were made of $ , for state work and $ , to the national association as the state's apportionment. in order to push federal amendment work chairmen were secured for the ten congressional districts. resolutions for it were passed at many conventions. in may dr. effie mccollum jones of iowa had made a lecture tour of the state, contributed by the national association, and addressed , people. an attractive concrete building had been erected on the state fair grounds by the scandinavian association and presented to the state association.[ ] this was known as the woman citizen building and a tablet was placed in it in memory of mrs. julia b. nelson, one of minnesota's staunchest pioneer suffragists. owing to the influenza epidemic all meetings were forbidden in . this year district organization was completed. with three organizers in the field, mrs. rene f. stevens, mrs. james forrestal and mrs. john a. guise, ratification committees in towns outside of the three large cities had been appointed and , signatures obtained for the national petition under the leadership of miss marguerite m. wells. in march the following plank had appeared in the platform of the democratic statewide conference held in st. paul: "we believe in the principle of state woman suffrage as supported and commended by our leader, woodrow wilson." this was the only official democratic endorsement ever received and there was none from the republicans.[ ] a state conference was held at minneapolis in may, , with mrs. mcclung as the principal speaker. on june in the rotunda of the capitol at st. paul an impressive program of addresses and ringing resolutions was given, , people taking part in this celebration of the submission of the federal suffrage amendment by congress on the th. a. l. searle marshalled the gaily decorated automobiles carrying the minneapolis delegates, accompanied by a band. ratification. monday, september , was a beautiful and spirited occasion. automobile parades assembled in the two cities and started for the capitol with cars gay with sunflowers, goldenrod, yellow bunting and the word "suffrage" on the windshields. by o'clock the galleries and the corridors were filled to overflowing with enthusiastic suffragists. out-of-town women flocked in to join the festivities. the federal amendment came up immediately after the organization of both houses in special session but the lower house won the race for the honor of being first to ratify, for it took up the amendment without even waiting for governor burnquist's message, and when it was presented by representative theodore christiansen it was ratified by a vote of to . the senate considered it immediately after hearing the governor's message. it was presented by senator ole sageng, called the "father of woman suffrage" in minnesota, and with no debate went through by to . the moment the senate vote was polled the corridors, floors and galleries of both houses were in an uproar, hundreds of women cheered and laughed and waved the suffrage colors, while in the rotunda a band swung into the strains of the "battle hymn of the republic." then representatives and senators became the guests of the state suffrage association, whose members having leased the capitol restaurant for the day cooked and served an appetizing chicken dinner. there was a banquet at the st. paul hotel in the evening with guests. on that memorable day the curtain was rung down on the last act of the many years' long drama participated in by a vast host of consecrated women with inspired faith in the ultimate attainment of justice. a conference was called for oct. , , , in minneapolis and a state league of women voters was formed with mrs. ueland as chairman. it was voted to delay the dissolution of the state association until the states had ratified the federal amendment and the date was set at the first annual meeting of the league.[ ] mrs. ueland soon resigned to take the chairmanship of the legislative committee and was succeeded by miss wells, the vice-chairman. legislative action. . a presidential suffrage bill was introduced in the house and energetically pushed but was not reported by the judiciary committee. . a large delegation headed by mrs. stockwell, state president, called on governor john a. johnson and urged him to recommend woman suffrage in his message to the legislature but he failed to do so. the resolution to submit a constitutional amendment was introduced in the house but not reported by the judiciary committee. . after the resolution for a suffrage amendment was presented a hearing was granted by the senate elections committee and the senate chamber secured for it through senator virgil b. seward, who had charge of it. the college women were represented by professor frances squire potter of the university of minnesota and the committee reported favorably. it was defeated in the senate and not brought up in the house. . at the hearing before the joint committee on elections on the resolution for a state amendment, which was the largest ever held by the association, convincing addresses were made by eminent lawyers, educators and other public men. it was defeated in the senate by a vote of to ; in the house by to . . the chairman of the legislative committee was miss mary mcfadden, who carried out a demonstration on susan b. anthony's birthday--february --the presenting by large delegations from the twin cities of a memorial to a joint gathering of the two houses with pleas for a state amendment. the resolution for it, sponsored by ole sageng, passed the house a few days later by a majority of but the liquor interests and public service corporations defeated it in the senate by two votes. . senator sageng again had charge of the suffrage resolution, which passed the house by a majority of votes but failed in the senate by three. . mrs. andreas ueland was chairman of the legislative committee from to inclusive. senator sageng presented the amendment resolution in the senate and representative larson in the house. an impressive hearing was held in a crowded senate chamber, with senators j. w. andrews, richard jones, frank e. putnam, f. h. peterson and ole sageng making speeches in favor. those who spoke against it were senators george h. sullivan, f. a. duxbury and f. h. pauly.[ ] it failed by one vote and was not brought up in the house. a presidential suffrage bill was also introduced but did not come to a vote. . the suffrage work was confined to the presidential suffrage bill which was defeated in the senate by two votes. . this legislature adopted a resolution calling upon congress to submit the federal suffrage amendment; house to in favor, senate to . it was decided not to introduce an amendment resolution but to work for presidential suffrage. the resolution was introduced, however, by a small group of women outside the association. it passed the house by ayes, noes, but was indefinitely postponed in the senate. the bill giving women the right to vote for presidential electors passed the house march by ayes, noes; and the senate march by ayes, noes. it was signed by governor j. a. a. burnquist two days later in the presence of a group of suffragists.[ ] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to maud c. (mrs. s. a.) stockwell, for ten years president of the state suffrage association and for over twenty years a member of its executive board. mrs. stockwell wishes to acknowledge assistance from mrs. david f. simpson and mrs. john a. guise. [ ] a state anti-suffrage association was organized in minneapolis in and later branches were formed in other cities. the president was mrs. j. b. gilfillan of minneapolis and other active workers were mrs. e. l. carpenter, mrs. edmund pennington and mrs. frank reed of minneapolis, mrs. j. w. straight of st. paul and mrs. j. l. washburn of duluth. time was given to their speakers at the last three hearings granted the state suffrage association by the legislature. miss minnie bronson, secretary of the national anti-suffrage association, came from new york for one. [ ] too much credit for the final success of woman suffrage in minnesota can not be given to mrs. ueland, president of the association for the last five years of its existence. she organized the entire state, raised large sums of money each year, induced many prominent women to join in the work, carried out the instructions of the national association to the letter, secured legislation, and not only took advantage of every opportunity for propaganda but created opportunities. [ ] in the congressional union, afterward the national woman's party, formed an organization in st. paul with mrs. alexander colvin chairman. the members were recruited from the state association and for a few years were active in both organizations. [ ] during the twenty years covered by this chapter the twin city suffragists never failed to keep open house during the state fair, where speakers were heard and literature was distributed. [ ] following are the names of state officers besides the presidents who served over three years: vice-presidents, mrs. jenova martin, four years; mrs. david f. simpson, three years; mrs. h. g. harrison, five years; mrs. e. a. brown, four years; mrs. c. l. atwood, six years; dr. margaret koch, vice-president, three years and treasurer, ten years; dr. ethel e. hurd of minneapolis served on the board in different capacities for twenty-two years, as corresponding secretary for four years and recording secretary four; mrs. eva w. morse, recording secretary five years; mrs. victor h. troendle, treasurer five years. those who served from four to ten years as directors on the state board were: mesdames a. t. anderson, julia b. nelson, margaret k. rogers, e. a. russell, c. f. lutz, elizabeth mcclary, a. h. bright and a. b. jackson. [ ] following are a few names not mentioned elsewhere in the chapter of the many devoted friends and workers during the score of years: dr. cyrus northrup, professor maria sanford, judge a. c. hickman, professor a. w. rankin, dr. elizabeth woodworth, mesdames margaret k. rogers, martha a. dorsett, may dudley greeley, m. a. luley, eva s. jerome, alice taylor, lilla p. clark, milton e. purdy, c. p. noyes, adelaide lawrence, o. j. evans, george m. partridge, j. w. andrews, c. m. stockton, stiles burr, j. m. guise, j. w. straight; misses ella whitney, a. a. connor, nellie merrill, hope mcdonald, josephine schain, blanche segar, cornelia lusk, martha anderson (wyman); messrs. c. w. dorsett, s. r. child, a. h. bright. [ ] for ten years senator sullivan of stillwater, and for twenty-two years senator w. w. dunn, attorney for the hamm brewing company of st. paul, worked actively against all suffrage legislation, in late years being able to defeat bills by only two or three votes. [ ] among legislators not mentioned who were helpful during these years were senator s. a. stockwell and representatives w. i. norton, h. h. harrison, w. i. nolan, sherman child, john sanborn and claude southwick. chapter xxiii. mississippi.[ ] from to no state convention of the mississippi woman suffrage association was held. mrs. hala hammond butt, who was elected president at its second annual convention in clarksdale in , acted as president during this time but the editing of a weekly newspaper in addition to other duties left her little time for its trying demands at this early stage of its existence. among the few other women consecrated in their hearts to woman suffrage some were barred from leadership by ill health, some by family cares, while others were absent from the state most of the time. no definite progress, therefore, was made during the early years of the century. in mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association, gave addresses in six cities in the state, arrangements for which were made by local suffragists, and a great deal of interest was aroused. in a business conference was held in jackson, at which mrs. butt and three other women were present, to consider whether anything could be done for the cause of woman suffrage. in enrollment cards were distributed in a limited and unsystematic way, letters were sent to members of the legislature, state officials and others and literature was distributed. an inspiring feature was the visit of dr. anna howard shaw, vice-president at large of the national association, who spoke in three cities. early in december, , miss belle kearney of flora, formerly organizer for the woman's christian temperance union, at this time a public lecturer, returned from an absence in europe and on the st, in response to a call sent out by her, a meeting was held in the parlor of the edwards house in jackson. those in attendance were miss kearney, mrs. butt, mrs. edward sloan and dr. delia randall. by invitation dr. william la prade of the first methodist church opened the meeting with prayer, after which he retired leaving these four women to reorganize the state suffrage association. mrs. nellie nugent somerville of greenville was in touch with the conference by telegraph and mrs. lily wilkinson thompson of jackson, physically unable to attend, received reports from the meeting at her telephone. in this historic hour the breath of a new life was blown into the expiring association and from that time it grew and thrived. the officers elected were miss kearney, president; mrs. somerville, vice-president; mrs. thompson, treasurer. during the following spring miss kearney, lecturing in the state on sociological subjects, spoke unfailingly for suffrage and wherever possible organized clubs. press work was taken up earnestly by the newly elected superintendent of that department, mrs. thompson. all of the over two hundred editors in the state were interviewed by letter in regard to their attitude towards woman suffrage and space was requested for suffrage items. twenty-one agreed to publish them, only two openly declining. among the friendly editors were l. pink smith of the greenville _democrat_, j. r. oliphant of the poplarville _free press_, frank r. birdsall of the yazoo _sentinel_, c. e. glassco of the cleveland _enterprise_, joseph norwood of the magnolia _gazette_, james faulk of the greene county _herald_. adverse articles were carefully answered and private letters were sent, the enemy quietly reasoned with and in most cases converted. news bulletins furnished by the national press department were used but most of the matter sent out was prepared at home in the belief that an ounce of mississippi was worth a pound of massachusetts. articles published in leaflet form and distributed broadcast were written by mrs. somerville, miss kearney, mrs. thompson, the rev. thomas k. mellen and the rev. h. walter featherstun, methodist ministers. one of the most valuable contributions was the legal status of mississippi women, by robert campbell, an attorney of greenville. in november, , a conference lasting five days was held at jackson in the home of charles h. thompson, a devoted suffragist, and his wife, lily wilkinson thompson. among those attending were miss kearney, mrs. somerville, mrs. harriet b. kells, president of the state w. c. t. u. and a life-long suffragist; miss laura clay of kentucky and miss kate gordon of louisiana. the advisability of attempting to have a woman suffrage measure introduced in the next session of the legislature was considered. two men besides the host appeared at this conference, a reporter, who regarded the meeting as something of a joke, and the hon. r. h. thompson of jackson, an eminent lawyer, who came to offer sympathetic advice. visits were made to the governor, james k. vardaman, and other state officials; to the hinds county legislators who had recently been elected and to others. most of these gentlemen were polite but bored and it was decided to defer legislative action. when two months later governor vardaman sent his farewell message to the legislature he mentioned woman suffrage as one of the questions "pressing for solution in a national constitutional convention." in the spring of the state convention was held in the governor's mansion at jackson, governor and mrs. edmund favor noel giving the parlors for the meeting. six clubs were reported and state members at twelve places. three or four women from outside of jackson were present, mrs. pauline alston clark of clarksdale having come from the greatest distance, and about fourteen were in attendance. the officers elected were: president, mrs. somerville; vice-presidents, mrs. thompson, mrs. fannie clark, mrs. kells; corresponding secretary, mrs. pauline clark; recording secretary, dr. randall; treasurer, mrs. sarah summers wilkinson. superintendents were appointed for press, legislative, enrollment, industrial, educational and bible study departments. in the spring of , the convention was held in the ladies' parlor of the capitol at jackson. it lasted two days, a public evening session being held in the senate chamber, at which miss kate gordon, corresponding secretary of the national american woman suffrage association, told of the work of the era club of new orleans; miss jean gordon, factory inspector for that city, spoke in behalf of child labor regulations and mrs. thompson gave a report of the press work, which had grown to such proportions that it was considered very significant of advance in suffrage sentiment throughout the state. the rev. george whitfield, a venerable baptist minister, came from the neighboring town of clinton and conducted devotional exercises and gave a talk on woman's position from a biblical standpoint. r. k. jayne of jackson, an early suffragist, also spoke. at this time dues-paying members were reported from seventeen towns. mrs. somerville was re-elected president. the annual convention was held in greenville in . dr. shaw and miss ray costello of england made addresses; judge e. n. thomas of greenville presided at one of the evening meetings; john l. hebron, a delta planter and afterwards state senator, made an earnest speech of endorsement. it was reported that hundreds of letters were written and the association had gained a hold in fifty places, ranging from rural neighborhoods and plantation settlements to the largest towns. frederick sullens, editor of the jackson _daily news_, had given space for a weekly suffrage column edited by mrs. thompson. mrs. j. c. greenley edited a similar column in the greenville _democrat_. mrs. madge quin fugler supplied five papers and mrs. montgomery two. miss ida ward of greenville wrote articles for the papers of that town and mrs. mohlenhoff edited a column in the cleveland _enterprise_. among other papers publishing suffrage material were the mccomb city _journal_ and the _enterprise_ and the magnolia _gazette_. from the press superintendent there had gone out , articles, ranging in length from a paragraph to a half page, many of them written by her, and they were given prominence in special editions. ten copies of the _woman's journal_ which came from the national press department for years were forwarded to college, town and state libraries and to editors. how far and deep the influence of those _journals_ reached is beyond computation. in the fall of the state association joined the tennessee equal suffrage association in a booth at the tri-state fair in memphis. an interesting feature was the press exhibit, consisting of a width of canvass many yards long on which had been pasted clippings from mississippi newspapers, suffrage argument and favorable comment. the annual convention was held in cleveland in . miss gordon and judge thomas spoke at the evening session. editor c. e. glasco gave an earnest talk at a morning session. the department chairmen brought encouraging reports of their work. a letter was read from colonel clay sharkey of jackson, which later was published in leaflet form. the state meeting was held at flora in april, . mrs. judith hyams douglas, president of the era club of new orleans, and omar garwood of colorado, secretary of the national men's league for woman suffrage, were the principal speakers. the president, mrs. somerville, recommended that the various state organizations of women be invited to unite with the suffrage association in forming a central committee to secure such legislation as should be agreed upon by all. this was afterwards accepted by the federation of women's clubs and the united daughters of the confederacy. resolutions were passed regretting the retirement from the presidency of mrs. somerville, to whose good generalship during the past four years the success of the association was in a large part due. mrs. lily wilkinson thompson was elected president. in response to the call to take part in the parade in washington march , , mrs. avery harrell thompson, temporarily residing there, was put in charge and with her husband, harmon l. thompson, arranged for a handsome float, on which miss fannie may witherspoon, daughter of the member of congress, represented mississippi. mr. gibbs, a mississippian, carried the purple and gold silk banner of the state suffrage association and four other young mississippians, judge allen thompson and his brother, harmon, walter and edward dent, marched beside the float, preforming valiant volunteer police duty when it became necessary. during this year the enrolled membership increased four-fold. quarterly reports, nearly a thousand, were printed for the first time instead of written. a letter from the irish women's league of dublin and one from the english women's equal rights union to the state president indicated the world-wide spirit of fraternalism which embraced even mississippi's modest organization. good work was done by the new superintendent of press work, mrs. dent. not only did editors by this time willingly accept material but some of them wrote favorable editorials. the yazoo city _herald_, edited by n. a. mott, was a new recruit. the _purple and white_, a millsaps college paper, was supplied with suffrage material by a bright senior, janie linfield. for the first time suffrage headquarters were maintained at the state fair by the equity league of jackson. furnishings were loaned by mr. and mrs. c. c. warren from their beautiful home "fairview." a rest room for mothers and babies was provided, other tired visitors were also welcomed and the suffrage booth was the most popular place on the grounds. for the first time the association was invited to take part on woman's day at the state fair, when representatives from the women's state organizations held a joint meeting, and the president, mrs. thompson, spoke for the suffragists. letters were sent to the mississippi members of congress urging them to vote for the federal suffrage amendment and to president wilson, pleading for his favorable consideration. motion pictures were utilized in three ways--suffrage plays were shown, local clubs selling tickets received a part of the proceeds and suffrage slogans were thrown on the slides between pictures. the state convention was held in the senate chamber of the new capitol at jackson in april, . at the evening sessions all seats on the floor were taken, the galleries filled and chairs brought from committee rooms to accommodate the audiences. music was furnished by the chaminade club of jackson. mayor swepson i. taylor gave the address of welcome. others who spoke were mrs. fannie s. clark, mrs. e. t. edmonds, president of the equity league, and mrs. royden-douglas, president of the state federation of women's clubs. in her president's address mrs. thompson recommended that the association ask the next legislature to submit to the voters a state constitutional amendment giving women the ballot, and this was unanimously adopted. the rev. e. t. edmonds of the first christian church of jackson spoke on woman suffrage in new zealand, where he had been a resident. letters to the president and secretary from u. s. senators john sharp williams and james k. vardaman were read in reply to appeals that they vote for the federal amendment. senator vardaman said that when the amendment came up he would "be glad to vote for it." senator williams said that he thought "the federal government ought not attempt to control a state in the exercise of this privilege," that he favored a "white woman's primary, in which the women of the state might say whether they wanted the ballot or not" and that he thought women just as competent to use it as men but did not approve of "forcing it upon them." he was "inclined to woman suffrage" and believed that "with safeguards it might be made a bulwark of white supremacy in the state." the large reception planned by governor and mrs. earl brewer had to be omitted because of the sudden illness of mrs. brewer. on account of home demands mrs. thompson declined re-election and mrs. dent was made president. under mrs. dent's administration the work prospered and advanced in popular favor. in the fall "woman suffrage day" was for the first time on the calendar of the state fair. headquarters were again maintained, for which space three times as large as that used the previous year was occupied. mrs. dent, a successful cotton planter, brought a bale of cotton from her plantation and presented it to the headquarters, where it afforded a unique platform for the speakers. women from different parts of the state came to act as hostesses and take part in the speaking. this year a college contest was conducted by mrs. thompson, who offered a gold medal for the best argument for woman suffrage written by a college student of the state. six of the largest colleges were represented and the medal was won by mrs. pearl powell, of the industrial institute and college. in april, , the state convention was again held in jackson. among the speakers were rabbi brill of meridian and mrs. alex y. scott of memphis. mrs. dent was re-elected president. in the fall for the first time there was a suffrage section in the parade that marked the opening of the state fair. six women, gowned in white and wearing yellow silk votes for women badges marched--mrs. ella o. biggs and miss sadie goeber bearing a banner inscribed women vote in twelve states, why not in mississippi? followed by mrs. thompson, mrs. avery harrell thompson, mrs. sarah c. watts and mrs. r. w. durfey and they were generously cheered along the way. in the spring of the state convention was held in greenville. dr. shaw was a guest, stopping on her way to jackson, where under the auspices of the equity league she spoke in the house of representatives to a large audience, many standing throughout her address, which made a profound impression. the convention was well attended. some of the interesting features were "an hour for men" presided over by congressman b. g. humphries, with excellent speeches; a five o'clock tea, given by the belvidere chapter of the daughters of the american revolution, and the presentation of the motion picture play, your girl and mine. miss pauline v. orr was elected president. miss orr served as president for two years, widely extending the influence of the association through the hundreds of young women who came under her instruction at the industrial institute and college, where for many years she held the chair of english. the annual convention was held in in the city hall in meridian, where nineteen years before the state woman suffrage association was organized, and mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs of alabama, auditor of the national association, made an address on the opening evening. during the following year eight new leagues were formed. the convention met in starkville in april, , and addresses were made by dr. shaw, miss margaret hamilton erwin, president of the tennessee equal suffrage association; mrs. walter mcnab miller, first vice-president of the national association; mrs. w. h. price, president of the mississippi division of the united daughters of the confederacy, and mrs. edward f. mcgehee, president of the state federation of women's clubs. miss orr, the president, declining re-election was succeeded by mrs. mcgehee. the united states had now entered the war and the suffragists began to concentrate on war work. as chairman of the woman's committee, mississippi division of the national council of defense, she was able to help popularize woman suffrage.[ ] in april, , a one-day conference was held in the capitol at jackson, when mrs. marion b. trotter of winona was elected president and brought a great deal of energy and enthusiasm into her office. no convention was held in but at the close of the meeting of the state federation of women's clubs in clarksdale in november a conference of the suffragists present was called. it was there decided to organize to support the ratification of the federal amendment, which had been submitted by congress and was to come before the legislature the following january. mrs. b. f. saunders of swan lake, retiring president of the federation, was made chairman of the ratification committee; mrs. trotter, treasurer; mrs. somerville chairman of petition and press work; mrs. mcclurg chairman of finance. by request the national association sent into the state its organizers, miss watkins of arkansas and miss peshakova of new york. mrs. cunningham, president of the texas equal suffrage association and a national worker, also came to assist. petitions were circulated, leaflets published and distributed, newspapers enlisted and legislators systematically interviewed. the organization thus speedily effected worked during the session of . in april of this year the convention of the state federation, held in gulfport, closed with a "suffrage luncheon," a brilliant affair attended by prominent men and women. speeches were made by the hon. barney eaton, a lawyer of gulfport; mrs. s. p. covington, its president, and others. the state league of women voters was organized at this time with miss blanche rogers chairman. it had been the hope for years to have an endorsement of woman suffrage from the federation of women's clubs, a strong and popular organization numbering over , of the state's leading women. during its annual meeting in miss orr, president of the state suffrage association, had introduced a favorable resolution and with mrs. somerville, mrs. j. w. mcgrath of canton, mrs. william baldwin of columbus and mrs. w. s. lott of meridian led the fight for suffrage. mrs. william r. wright of jackson headed the opposition, which asked for the postponement of the question until the next year and won. at the next convention, held in meridian in , the resolution was introduced by miss ann rothenberg (now mrs. rosenbaum) of meridian and passed almost unanimously. in at the annual meeting held in clarksdale, during the presidency of mrs. saunders, a resolution endorsing the ratification of the federal suffrage amendment was carried with but one dissenting vote, that of mrs. lizzie george henderson of greenwood, daughter of the late u. s. senator j. z. george. when the league of women voters was formed the next year mrs. henderson was among the first to join it. in , the state teachers' association passed unanimously a resolution endorsing woman suffrage introduced by professor frederick davis mellen of the state agricultural and mechanical college, the son of the late reverend thomas l. mellen, one of mississippi's earliest suffragists. the woman's christian temperance union here as elsewhere was a great school for women, teaching them the need of the ballot, and the majority of its members were suffragists but all through the years the minority, who did not want the question brought into the union, overruled their wishes. mrs. harriet b. kells, the president for many years and a lifelong suffragist, was not able to overcome this situation and it never endorsed woman suffrage. there never has been any organized opposition among mississippi women. during the session of the legislature in there was an open attempt to organize opposition to ratification of the federal amendment but it failed. legislative action. after the suffrage association in decided to ask for the submission of an amendment to the state constitution to enfranchise women the preliminary work of interviewing legislators and distributing appropriate literature was conducted by the chairman of the legislative committee, mrs. nellie nugent somerville, the president, mrs. annie kinkead dent, and other members. the president at her own expense sent the _woman's journal_ and other literature to all legislators for three months. the concurrent resolution asking for the submission was introduced in the house jan. , , by n. a. mott of yazoo county. senator hall sanders of tallahatchie county offered it in the senate three days later. the house committee on constitution, to which the bill was referred, granted a hearing, at which speeches were made by mrs. monroe mcclurg, miss belle kearney, mrs. somerville, miss kate gordon (la.), judge allen thompson and colonel clay sharkey. the committee reported unfavorably by a majority of one. a minority report was made by the chairman, henry a. minor of noxubee county, and others. representative mott offered a resolution inviting the women to present their case in the house the next day, which was carried by a close vote about one o'clock in the afternoon and the hearing was set for ten the next morning. the _daily news_ had gone to press and the _clarion ledger_, a morning paper, had some time before forbidden its columns to any news or notices in any way favoring woman suffrage or advertising it. the president of the equity league of jackson, mrs. j. w. tucker, with her assistants, announced the hearing over the telephone, the legislators spread the story and when the women who were to speak filed into the house on that memorable morning of january they found all available space occupied and the galleries overflowing. an invitation was sent to the senators to come over but so many had already deserted their posts for the house that there was not a quorum to vote on the invitation. hilary quin of hinds county, speaker of the house, presided, introducing the speakers and extending every possible courtesy. they were mrs. mcclurg, miss kearney, miss orr, miss gordon, mrs. thompson, mrs. dent and mrs. somerville. the speeches made so profound an impression that hardly had the last word been spoken when there came a loud and insistent call from the enemies for adjournment. the bill was presented next day. emmett cavette of noxubee county strongly championed it and speaker quin left the chair to make a speech in its favor. representative s. joe owen of union county vigorously led the fight against it and it was lost by noes, ayes. in the women's organizations united in a bill making women eligible to serve as county school superintendents and on the boards of educational and benevolent institutions. during the session of the suffrage association being in the midst of war work took no initiative in behalf of legislation but senator earl richardson of neshoba county on his own account introduced in the senate a concurrent resolution to amend the state constitution. the members of the equity league gave assistance; mrs. isaac reese of memphis was invited to come to the capitol and on the day the vote was taken she and miss kearney made brief speeches before the senate. on motion of senator p. e. carothers the question was submitted without debate, which was a disappointment to its friends, h. h. casteel of holmes county declaring that he had remained up nearly all of the night before preparing his speech. the vote was a tie, to . the house took no action. through the years the officers and members of the state and local suffrage associations united with those of other women's organizations to obtain laws. the age of consent was raised first to , then to and in to ; better child labor laws were secured; the law permitting a father to dispose of the children by will at his death was repealed. it is a fact not generally known that mississippi was the pioneer state in securing to married women the right to own and dispose of property. this was done by an act of the legislature on feb. , . ratification. congress submitted the federal amendment in june, and the ratification committee was organized in november. it opened its headquarters in jackson at the beginning of the legislative session in january, , after having made a whirlwind campaign. at the initial meeting of the committee in clarksburg there had been great enthusiasm and women gave money as they never had done before. mrs. b. f. saunders was made chairman and among those who worked with her in jackson were mrs. somerville, mrs. trotter, mrs. sam covington, miss blanche rogers, mrs. thompson, miss kearney, mrs. annie neely and mrs. cunningham of texas. the legislators were systematically interviewed, literature distributed, petitions circulated and the press kept supplied with arguments and news. mrs. thompson, in charge of the jackson press, wrote innumerable articles, and mrs. somerville and others contributed to the press work. letters, telegrams and petitions from all over the state urging ratification poured in daily upon both houses. delegations of women came to urge their representatives to vote for ratification. nine influential women came from lauderdale county bringing a petition of , names of prominent people obtained in a day and a half and begged their representatives to vote for the amendment but not one of them did so. many of the state's leading newspapers were in favor of ratification. the _daily news_ of jackson, in keeping with its policy for years, gave editorial support and generously of its space. the _clarion ledger_, also a jackson daily, boasted of being the only paper in the state which openly fought ratification. the editor, colonel hiram henry, a veteran journalist of the state, always bitterly opposed to any form of woman suffrage, began his attack weeks before the legislature met and daily during the session the pages of his paper reeked with hatred for the cause. the literature of the "antis" was largely copied and extracts from negro journals published in the north were reproduced in glaring headlines, extracts so offensive that had they been used against any cause save that of disfranchised women would have been suppressed. it was through his influence that mrs. cola barr craig, once a resident of jackson, and mrs. james s. pinckard of alabama came early in january to organize a branch of what they called the southern women's rejection league. they held a public meeting in the carnegie library, at which besides the two speakers, there were nineteen women present, many of them the old friends of mrs. craig. no one would take even the temporary chairmanship and the attempt to organize failed ignominiously. not daunted mr. henry sent for miss kate gordon of new orleans, a veteran suffragist who had joined hands with the "antis" in fighting ratification. she was advertised for a speech at the carnegie library and all legislators were urged to attend. two legislators and fifteen women were present, six of the latter state workers for ratification. the retiring and incoming state officials were almost to a man outspoken in their advocacy of ratification. governor theodore g. bilbo, the retiring governor, instead of having the clerk of the house read his farewell message, according to time honored custom, delivered it in person. woman suffrage was its conspicuous feature and after a profound argument for ratification of the federal amendment, he closed his remarks with the solemn statement: "woe to that man who raises his hand against the onward march of this progressive movement!" the newly elected governor, lee m. russell, in his inaugural address, delivered in front of the capitol to an audience of thousands, devoted more time to woman suffrage than to any other topic, making a clear cut, logical argument for ratification and a powerful plea for the enfranchisement of women. on january , w. a. winter, representative from grenada county, offered the following resolution: "resolved that the proposed amendment to the constitution of the united states be and hereby is rejected as an unwarranted, unnecessary and dangerous interference with the rights reserved to the states, or to the people, in both state and federal constitutions...." this came without warning to the friends of ratification and was not referred to a committee but rushed to a vote after representative guy w. mitchell of lee county had spoken strongly against it. it was carried by a vote of ayes to noes and the announcement received with cheers and laughter. sennett conner of covington county was the speaker of the house whose ruling permitted this unparliamentary action. sent to the senate the winter resolution of rejection was referred to the committee on constitution, of which senator minor was chairman. at the meeting of the committee w. b. mixon of pike county was authorized to draft a resolution ratifying the amendment, to be offered in the senate as a substitute. this was done and senators minor, mixon and fred b. smith made a majority report. this resolution was earnestly advocated by senators percy bell and walton shields of washington county, w. b. roberts of bolivar, fred b. smith of union, a. a. cohn of lincoln and e. f. noel of holmes. it failed of adoption and the winter resolution was recommitted to the committee on constitution, where it remained. in the meantime senator mixon had introduced a bill in the senate giving the right to women to vote in primary elections and representative a. j. whitworth of pike county a similar one in the house. in mississippi a nomination is equivalent to an election. both bills were defeated. a resolution for a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution to be submitted to the voters at the election of november, , passed both houses with very little opposition. during the last three weeks of the session senator mixon introduced a bill giving the right of suffrage to women in the event of the ratification of the federal amendment by thirty-six legislatures, thus enabling them to vote in the august primaries, and representative whitworth introduced two bills, one giving suffrage to women in primary elections and the other in general elections, both contingent upon ratification. these bills passed without opposition. during the last week of the legislature senator roberts called out of the committee the original winter resolution of rejection and in committee of the whole it was amended by striking out the word "reject" and substituting the word "ratify." thus amended the vote in the senate stood ayes, noes and lieutenant governor h. h. casteel broke the tie in favor of its adoption. news of the senate's favorable action spread all over the country in a few hours. telegrams came pouring in to the governor and legislature offering congratulations and appealing to the house to make mississippi the th state to ratify. the senate substitute was presented to the house the next afternoon, march . representative winter moved that the house "do not concur with the senate resolution of ratification." immediately there came calls for the vote. telegrams were on the speaker's stand from william jennings bryan, homer cummings, chairman of the democratic national committee, secretary of the navy josephus daniels, attorney general a. mitchell palmer and many other prominent democrats. a vote was taken as to whether these should be read to the house. representative e. m. lane of smith county, although an opponent of ratification, made an earnest appeal that the courtesy of a hearing should be accorded these national party leaders. a vote of to decided that the telegrams should not be read. governor russell had stated that he desired the privilege of the floor to make an appeal in behalf of ratification but this courtesy was denied him. representatives t. d. rees of prentiss county and walter sillers of bolivar spoke in favor of ratification but were poorly heard so great was the confusion and so loud and insistent the calls for the vote. representative mitchell was absent. dr. whitworth (author of three suffrage bills at this session) spoke against ratification and while he was speaking representative r. h. watts of rankin county interpolated, "i would die and go to hell before i would vote for it." the substitute was defeated by noes, ayes. thus was banished forever the dream of mississippi suffragists that the women would receive the ballot from the men of this great state. speaker sennett conner was responsible above every one else for the defeat of ratification. its chance was weakened by the fact that mississippi's entire delegation in congress, including senators john sharp williams and "pat" harrison had voted against submitting the federal amendment. did space permit there would be added to the names mentioned in this chapter many others who gave "aid and comfort" to the cause. among those who never failed when asked to help with financial burdens was the late major r. w. millsaps, founder of millsaps college for men and women. the army of active suffragists was never large. many women wanted the ballot but comparatively few were under conviction to work for it. to those who did, especially in early, trying days, belongs that indescribable exultation which is the portion of those who help onward a great revolutionary movement for the uplift of the race. the amendment to the state constitution was voted on at the general election in november, , and received , ayes, , noes but it was not carried, as the law requires a majority of all the votes cast at the election. as the women were already enfranchised by the federal amendment they did not make a campaign for it but as registration is necessary four months before election and the ratification did not take place until two months before this one, they were not able to vote, mississippi and georgia being the only two states that denied this privilege. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. lily wilkinson thompson, an officer in the state suffrage association from its organization until its work was finished. [ ] besides those mentioned the following served on the official board: mrs. jimmie andrews lipscomb, mrs. nella lawrence lee, miss mattie kirkpatrick, mrs. annie kinkead dent, mrs. ella o. biggs, mrs. alma dorsey birdsall, mrs. durrant, mrs. edith marshall tucker, mrs. mary powell crane, miss ethel clagett, mrs. c. c. miller, mrs. t. f. buntin, miss estelle crane, miss nannie herndon rice. chapter xxiv. missouri.[ ] when the last volume of the history of woman suffrage was written in missouri was one of the blackest spots on the suffrage map and there was little to indicate that it would ever be lighter. the able and courageous women who inaugurated the movement in , mrs. virginia l. minor, mrs. beverly allen, mrs. rebecca hazzard, miss phoebe couzins and mrs. sarah chandler coates, were no longer living or past the age for strenuous work. a few women kept up a semblance of a state organization, met annually and in mrs. addie johnson was elected president; in mrs. louis werth and in mrs. alice mulkley, but there was great apathy among women in general. from to no state convention was held. in st. louis, which comprised one-fourth of the inhabitants of the state, there was no visible organization working for woman suffrage. the largest and most influential woman's club refused to allow the subject on its programs. during the decade to only one speaker of national prominence came into the state--mrs. carrie chapman catt, the president of the national american woman suffrage association--and evidently at the national headquarters missouri was considered too hopeless to consider. the movement was only smoldering, however, and needed but a spark to burst into flame and that spark came from afar--from the torch held high by the "militant" suffragists of england. in no state perhaps was there more bitter invective hurled at them than by the press and people of missouri but the conscience of the convinced suffragists was aroused. stirring addresses in st. louis by stanton coit of london and john lovejoy elliott of new york in defense of the english "militants" brought matters to a crisis and a few bold spirits decided to reorganize the scattered suffrage forces. in march, , mrs. florence wyman richardson, miss marie r. garesche and miss florence richardson (later mrs. roland r. usher) barely out of her teens, renounced society and invited twenty or twenty-five women, whom they thought might be interested, to meet in miss garesche's home. only five responded, miss bertha rombauer, miss jennie m. a. jones, mrs. robert atkinson, miss lillian heltzell and mrs. dan knefler. not at all daunted it was decided as a first step to engage a prominent lecturer. miss ethel arnold, the well-known englishwoman, a suffragist but not a "militant," was then touring this country and before the meeting adjourned a telegram was sent to her and the eight women present guaranteed the sum to cover her charge and the rent of a hall. as her itinerary would bring her to st. louis about the middle of april it was thought best to organize immediately, so that the publicity which would undoubtedly be given to miss arnold would be shared by the infant society. a circular letter outlining the project was sent broadcast and april about fifty women gathered at the residence of mrs. richardson and effected an organization. thus came into being the st. louis equal suffrage league, which was destined to play the principal part in winning the vote for the women of the state. the following officers were elected: president, mrs. richardson; first vice-president, miss garesche; second, mrs. atkinson; corresponding secretary, miss rombauer; recording secretary, miss heltzell; treasurer, mrs. knefler; auditor, mrs. leslie thompson. miss arnold's lecture took place april and her charm, culture and cogent reasoning won many friends to the cause and disarmed many of its opponents. branch organizations were soon formed in the northern and southern parts of the city with mrs. atlanta hecker and miss cecilia razovsky as presidents. meetings were held in the cabanne branch library and before the end of the year the members had increased to .[ ] during the first year the league brought a number of lecturers to the city, realizing that this was the most valuable form of propaganda in a community so entrenched in conservatism. among them were mr. and mrs. philip snowden of england; professor frances squire potter of the university of minnesota; mrs. lucia ames mead of boston; professor nathaniel schmidt of cornell and professor earl barnes of philadelphia. on nov. , , mrs. emmeline pankhurst of england, at the invitation of the league, lectured in the odeon, the largest hall in the city, to an audience that taxed its capacity. her charming personality set at rest all fears as to the ill effect of suffrage, even of the "militant" variety, on feminine grace and refinement. soon afterwards the mary institute alumnae association invited miss sylvia pankhurst to lecture and the result was most gratifying to the friends of suffrage. the old state organization having ceased to exist the st. louis league with its branches and the recently formed webster groves suffrage league, mrs. lee roseborough, president, met in st. louis feb. , , and organized a state woman suffrage association, which affiliated with the national american association. the officers were: president, mrs. atkinson; vice-president, mrs. morrison-fuller; corresponding secretary, mrs. boyd; recording secretary, miss rombauer; treasurer, miss jane thompson; auditor, mrs. r. d. mcarthur. owing to various causes this board was in a few months reduced to three working members, mrs. atkinson, mrs. boyd and miss rombauer. realizing that it must enlist the support of the press they sent out letters to a long list of the state editors and favorable replies were received from twenty-six, who promised to give a weekly column in their papers for suffrage news and propaganda. all the libraries were written to and a number of them induced to procure the four large volumes of the history of woman suffrage, generously offered by the national association. the librarians, who were often women, were asked to keep on hand a supply of suffrage literature. the st. louis public library, at the suggestion of the board, made a special exhibit of this literature, much of which was new. in the center of the exhibit was a large picture of william t. harris, former superintendent of schools in st. louis and later u. s. commissioner of education, with his strong testimony in favor of woman suffrage. mrs. atkinson was permitted to make an address on suffrage before the state federation of women's clubs at sedalia but no action was taken. she also addressed a large audience at the dedication of the woman's building which had been erected by the legislature on the state fair grounds near that city and mrs. walter mcnab miller of columbia also made an address. the board paid a lawyer to compile the state laws for women under the direction of e. m. grossman. mrs. atkinson, mrs. boyd and mrs. john l. lowes of st. louis and mrs. virginia hedges of warrensburg went as delegates to the convention of the national association in at louisville, where much satisfaction was expressed that missouri had at last come into the fold. the kansas city league was organized this year with mrs. henry n. ess, president; miss helen osborn, secretary; and mrs. helena cramer leavens, treasurer. the women of warrensburg, under the leadership of miss laura runyon, organized a club of fifty members. there was the state normal school, to whose faculty miss runyon belonged, and through her the support of the students was obtained and suffrage propaganda extended gradually to every section of the state. mrs. knefler, president of the st. louis women's trades union, organized a league among its members, which, under the leadership of mrs. sarah spraggon and miss sallie quick, did excellent work in the campaigns that followed. in a business woman's suffrage league was formed in st. louis under the leadership of miss mary mcguire, a graduate of the st. louis university law school, and miss jessie lansing moller, which starting with members, eventually numbered . the same year the junior branch of the st. louis league was organized, which included many of the younger society girls and matrons. miss ann drew (later mrs. james platt) was president. in kansas city in the autumn the southside equal suffrage league was formed with mrs. cora kramer leavens, president, and miss cora best jewell, secretary. a men's equal suffrage league was also organized with d. h. hoff president; j. h. austin, vice-president; david proctor, secretary, which did a large work in securing the big vote given to the suffrage amendment in kansas city and jackson county in . in the first state convention was held in september at sedalia, where mrs. george gellhorn was elected president and mrs. john w. barringer vice-president, both of st. louis. they went to jefferson city in september and tried to get a suffrage plank into the platform of the democratic state convention. though unsuccessful it was the initial step in bringing the subject out of the parlor and lecture-room into the sphere of politics, the arena where the battle ultimately had to be fought. twenty-eight leagues were formed this year. miss amelia c. fruchte, member of the st. louis central high school faculty, went before the state teachers' association and secured its endorsement of woman suffrage. in at the state convention held at st. louis in september, mrs. walter mcnab miller, formerly of ohio, was elected state president. she had been the leading spirit in work for suffrage in columbia, the seat of the state university, where her husband was a professor, and in november, , an organization was formed with dr. r. h. jesse, former president of the university, at its head. though the state in general was still apathetic the women in the large places, especially in st. louis and kansas city, were alert and active. mrs. richardson, after two strenuous years, had been succeeded by mrs. david o'neil as president of the st. louis league. she was followed in october by mrs. john l. lowes, who had to resign from exhaustion and mrs. o'neil was again elected. the hard work that had been done was beginning to bear fruit and the farmers' alliance, the prohibitionists, the single taxers and other organizations were seeking the cooperation of the suffrage societies. the press was giving more and more space to suffrage news. mrs. emily newell blair of carthage was a powerful influence with country editors. the st. louis _post dispatch_ offered prizes amounting to $ for the best arguments in favor and often contained strong editorials. thanks largely to miss jane winn, on the editorial staff of the _globe democrat_, suffrage news was seldom refused by that paper. the kansas city _star_ and the _post_ gave strong support. best of all, the women were gaining in courage and confidence. in september the managers of a merchants' and manufacturers' street exposition in st. louis invited the suffragists to conduct a parade under their auspices and a large number of automobiles and auto-trucks gaily decorated with white and yellow bunting and accompanied by several bands of music went through the principal downtown streets. the crowds were respectful and occasionally enthusiastic. the enthusiasm of the paraders reached such a pitch that they left their protecting cars and marched boldly down the middle of the street, preceded by a band playing "everybody's doing it." the details were arranged by mrs. w. w. boyd, jr. the time was judged to be ripe for an organized effort to secure action at the general election of and two plans presented themselves: first, to ask the legislature to submit to the voters an amendment to the state constitution giving full suffrage to women; second, to secure the necessary number of signatures under the newly enacted initiative petition law to place the amendment on the ballot regardless of action by the legislature. the former method was tried first but the latter was found to be necessary. a finance committee was appointed by the league to raise funds for the campaign and at a luncheon in st. louis amid great enthusiasm $ , were pledged, which were turned over to mrs. b. b. graham, campaign treasurer. headquarters were opened down town with mrs. knefler, campaign manager, in charge. the interest aroused throughout the state by the circulating of the petition was manifested at the state convention in columbia, in may, , which was attended by a number of delegates from the country districts. mrs. miller was re-elected president. on "suffrage day," may , men and women addressed crowds between acts at different theaters and on the steps of public buildings. miss fola lafollette was the speaker at a large evening meeting and addressed the men's city club at luncheon the next day. the slogan was sent out far and wide, "suffrage for missouri in ." after the heavy task of obtaining , names to the petition and a strenuous campaign the amendment was defeated at the polls. in an offer was made by a newspaper man in monet to publish a suffrage magazine and eagerly accepted, the suffragists agreeing to furnish the material and to work up the subscriptions. mrs. blair was the first editor of the _missouri woman_ and all went well for a few months, then the publisher failed. this was a keen disappointment but through the efforts of miss mary bulkley and percy werner of st. louis, flint garrison, president of the garrison-wagner printing company, a prominent democrat and an ardent suffragist, became interested and agreed to publish the magazine. it was adopted as the organ of the state federation of women's clubs and was endorsed by the state branch of the national congress of mothers and the state parent teachers' association. in march, , mrs. blair, owing to the difficulty of editing the magazine from her home in carthage while it was published in st. louis, resigned as editor and was succeeded by miss mary semple scott of st. louis, who continued in that office during the remaining three years of its useful existence, until the women of the state had been partially enfranchised and the federal suffrage amendment had been ratified by the legislature. during the st. louis equal suffrage league reorganized on political lines with a central committee composed of a member from each of the twenty-five wards. mrs. william c. fordyce, who for a long time had urged this action, was unanimously elected chairman. at the convention held in springfield in may mrs. john r. leighty of kansas city succeeded mrs. miller, who had been elected first vice-president of the national association and would reside in washington. at the meeting of the board held in st. louis in june the state association also was reorganized on political lines and a congressional committee of sixteen members representing the sixteen congressional districts was appointed. the st. louis league subscribed $ to carry on the work and mrs. charles passmore was made chairman. the committees appealed to the republican state convention to put a plank for woman suffrage in its platform but with no success. later, after the two national parties had adopted suffrage planks, an effort was made to have the state committees adopt the same plank but they refused. the national democratic convention held in st. louis in june, , offered a splendid opportunity which both state and city suffragists eagerly seized. some unique schemes were evolved, among them the "golden lane," the idea of mrs. blair. it has been described as "a walkless, talkless parade" and consisted of about , women arranged in a double line on both sides of the street, the front row sitting, the back row standing, all dressed in white with yellow sashes and each one carrying a yellow parasol. they held their places on the opening day of the convention, june , from a. m. till noon, on both sides of locust street for a distance of ten blocks, the route the delegates had to take in going from their headquarters in the jefferson hotel to the coliseum, where the convention was held. another striking appeal was in the form of a beautiful and imposing tableau staged on the steps of the old art museum, also on the route of the delegates, which was given with an occasional interval of rest for two long hours. the details were managed by miss virginia stevenson. under a canopy of gold cloth, which cast a glow over the group below, there stood at the top of the steps "liberty," posed by handsome mrs. o'neil. grouped about her were thirteen women dressed in white representing the twelve equal suffrage states and alaska. farther down on the steps were the states in which only partial suffrage had been granted, impersonated by women dressed in gray. at the bottom were figures in black, representing the states where women were wholly disfranchised, extending their manacled arms to liberty. a mass meeting was held later in the day in the auditorium of the museum, when dr. anna howard shaw, william jennings bryan, u. s. senator john f. shafroth and mrs. miller addressed large and enthusiastic audiences. the town club, an organization of women, gave a dinner with covers laid for , which was followed by music and speaking in front of the jefferson hotel. on the same night there was street speaking on the principal down town corners for two hours, one speaker relieving another as the crowds called for more. miss scott brought out an impressive number of the _missouri woman_ during the convention. william burns, a well-known artist on the _post dispatch_, designed an attractive and significant cover and miss marguerite martin illustrated a story by mrs. blair; editors of the st. louis dailies, louis ely, casper yost and paul w. brown, contributed editorials and william marion reedy, editor of the st. louis _mirror_, wrote a charming article. the edition of , was sold at the bookstands and by volunteers who acted as "newsies." the business men advertised generously. the result partially of all the hard work and enthusiasm was a woman suffrage plank in the platform according to the democratic principle of state's rights, which, though not entirely satisfactory to the suffragists, was regarded as a decided victory. the entrance of the united states in the world war in acted as a deterrent of suffrage activities, as the various organizations threw themselves whole-heartedly into war work. mrs. leighty, state chairman, mrs. stix, chairman of the st. louis league, and other heads of suffrage societies throughout the state, had the difficult task of directing their activities in war work and at the same time keeping at the front the idea that, while working to make the world safe for democracy abroad, the cause of democracy at home demanded the speedy enfranchisement of the women of america. missouri's quota for the oversea hospitals organized by the national suffrage association was $ , . at a luncheon given by the st. louis league may , where mrs. charles l. tiffany of new york was the speaker, $ , were subscribed in fifteen minutes. mrs. miller was chairman of the food conservation committee of the national association and mrs. george gellhorn organized its work for missouri. all demands of the government were fully met. in may, , the state convention was held at kansas city and mrs. miller having returned from washington was again elected president. this year a men's advisory committee in st. louis was formed composed of well-known residents organized under the following leaders: jackson johnson, n. a. mcmillan, ernest w. stix, joseph woracek, edward f. goltra, e. n. grossman, benjamin gratz, j. l. babler. a teachers' division including many thousand was formed, with miss tillie gecks as president. largely through the efforts of the executive secretary of the st. louis league, mrs. lucille b. lowenstein, its membership in was increased to , . mrs. stix, resigning because of illness, mrs. gellhorn was elected. at the state convention held at macon in may, , mrs. miller was re-elected. owing to the splendid organization of the st. louis league it was able to invite the national suffrage association to hold its golden jubilee in this city in . it was held march - inclusive at the statler hotel with two evening mass meetings at the odeon, and was declared by mrs. catt to have been "the best convention ever held anywhere." a large group of women worked indefatigably for weeks in advance to make it a success but to mrs. gellhorn, chairman of the local arrangements committee, must go the chief honor. second must be placed the name of mrs. stix, who had raised the funds to defray the local expenses. on the evening of march was held one of the mass meetings. the large auditorium of the odeon, beautifully decorated for the occasion under the supervision of mrs. fred taussig and mrs. everett w. pattison, was filled to overflowing. on the stage were mrs. catt, dr. shaw and the other national officers, also the speakers of the evening, among whom were governor henry j. allen of kansas and miss helen frazier of england. suddenly music was heard from the back. it heralded the missouri delegation, composed of mrs. miller, mrs. david o'neil, mrs. w. r. haight and miss marie b. ames, who had been in jefferson city for ninety-six days working in the interest of the presidential suffrage bill and had just returned with the joyful tidings that it had passed both houses! the delegation was met at the door and escorted down the center aisle by mrs. gellhorn, holding aloft a banner bearing the words, "now we are voters." the large audience rose spontaneously and amidst deafening cheers and wild waving of handkerchiefs and hats the women ascended to the stage, where they were individually presented to the audience by the presiding officer, dr. shaw, who congratulated them and the rest of the women of missouri on the great victory. [full account of convention in chapter xviii, volume v.] to celebrate the success of this great convention and especially the winning of presidential suffrage, the st. louis league at its annual meeting in april gave a "victory tea" in the statler hotel. the guests of honor were senator james w. mcknight and representative walter e. bailey, who had so successfully led the suffrage forces in the senate and house. with music and the presentation to mrs. o'neil, in acknowledgment of her long and faithful services, of an illuminated testimonial, it was a delightful afternoon. mrs. fred english was elected president of the league. at the state convention held at st. louis mrs. gellhorn was elected president, mrs. miller honorary president, mrs. david o'neil honorary vice-president of the association. with presidential suffrage won, the work before both state and city association was obviously the organization and education of the new voters. at a state meeting held in kansas city may , a "budget" system was adopted and a definite quota assigned to each county. kansas city raised $ , at a banquet in the muehlbach hotel, mrs. j. b. white presiding. st. louis then raised its quota of $ , and another $ , was pro-rated throughout the remainder of the state, giving $ , . the next step in order was the establishment of citizenship schools and the slogan "every missouri woman an intelligent voter in " was adopted. under the direction of mrs. olive b. swan, executive secretary of the state association, citizenship schools were arranged for in every one of the sixteen congressional districts. miss ames and miss lutie stearns, two expert organizers, traveled through the state holding meetings and conducting schools. mrs. leighty and mrs. alfred buschman assisted in this work. mrs. english and mrs. clarke conducted all those in st. louis. the young women's christian association allowed them the use of its auditorium for the first suffrage normal school. some mothers of families got up at five o'clock and did part of their day's work in order to be able to attend; some women traveled miles in order to do so; others came to night classes after a hard day's work in office or school room. the st. louis board of education recognized the importance of this work and offered to incorporate the citizenship schools in the night school system. it furnished the building and paid the instructors, the st. louis league managed the schools. the response of the colored women to these opportunities was especially noteworthy; in one school over were in constant attendance. mrs. mcbride, secretary of the jackson county suffrage league, conducted classes throughout the county. kansas city secured professor isador loeb of the university of missouri for a course of lectures on government. all the women's clubs united into one school. the course included principles of government, organization, publicity, public speaking, suffrage history and argument, parliamentary law and use of literature. * * * * * the submission of the federal suffrage amendment by congress in june, , was celebrated with the greatest joy throughout the state. prominent suffragists in st. louis waited upon mayor keil, the board of aldermen and other city officials and escorted them in gaily decorated automobiles to the steps of the post office, where the mayor, an old friend of woman suffrage, made a rousing speech. mrs. miller and mrs. gellhorn also spoke and charles m. hay closed the meeting with an eloquent address. in kansas city a similar meeting was held in one of the large theaters. ratification. steps were at once taken to secure the ratification of the amendment by the legislature. edward f. goltra, national democratic committeeman, a proved friend, and ben neals, state democratic chairman, were often asked for advice and other help. jacob babler, republican national committeeman, and w. l. cole, republican state chairman, mayor keil and many others of both political parties assisted the suffrage associations in placing before governor gardner the urgency of calling a special session. he was not slow in responding and one was called for july , . all the suffrage organizations in the state, with the federated clubs and the woman's christian temperance union, started to work immediately to make sure of a large majority. legislators were visited by their constituents and letters and telegrams were showered on them by prominent men and women from other sections of the state. on july the suffragists gathered in jefferson city and opened a state board meeting with a luncheon and speeches at the new central hotel to which every one was welcome. at o'clock the ratification dinner took place, with members of the legislature as the invited guests of the state association. every foot of space in the dining-room, ante-room and lobby of the hotel was filled with tables. the governor and lieutenant governor were escorted to the hall by prominent suffragists and both made stirring appeals. at o'clock the morning of july , a procession of women wended its way from the hotel to the beautiful new capitol. the yellow parasols, which had figured in every suffrage celebration since the time of the historic golden lane in , were everywhere in evidence and yellow banners, ribbons and flowers gave the dominant note of color to the scene. the galleries in both senate and house were filled. the resolution passed the house by a vote of to ; the senate by a vote of to . a great sorrow came in the midst of the rejoicing, as the news was received that dr. anna howard shaw died the evening before the ratification. she had addressed the legislature in other years and both houses passed resolutions of regret. missouri women will forever remember gratefully the th general assembly, as it did all possible for it to do toward their enfranchisement. it memorialized congress urging the passage of the federal suffrage amendment; it passed the presidential suffrage bill and it promptly ratified the amendment. a called convention of the state association was held october - , at the hotel statler in st. louis and the name was changed to the missouri league of women voters. mrs. gellhorn was elected chairman. every district was represented by the delegates present. legislative action. . a petition signed by , voters of the state, of whom , were from st. louis, was presented to the legislature asking it to submit an amendment for woman suffrage at the election of . the women who had had charge of the petition were mrs. david o'neil, president, miss mary bulkley, miss charlotte rumbold and mrs. william c. fordyce of the st. louis equal suffrage league and mrs. st. clair moss and mrs. rose ingels of columbia. a letter had been sent to every legislator saying that all he was asked to do was to help get the amendment before the voters. the resolution was introduced by representative thomas j. roney and senator anderson craig. it was referred to the house and senate committees on constitutional amendment and a joint hearing was set for february . a number of women from different parts of the state appeared before these committees and dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national suffrage association, disarmed all prejudice. there was a unanimous favorable report from the senate committee and only one adverse vote in the house committee. a week later the resolution was sent to engrossment by both houses with but five dissenting votes in the senate while in the house the "ayes" were so overwhelming that the "noes" were not counted. the women went home feeling that the fight was won but the last week of the session the resolution was taken off the calendar, referred back to the committees and pigeon-holed. the women then decided to resort to the newly created device of the "initiative petition," by which the amendment could be submitted without legislative action. mrs. walter mcnab miller was urged to take charge of the work, the st. louis suffrage league agreeing to look after the three most difficult congressional districts. she began the latter part of august to canvass a state that has counties, in many of which there are no railroads and the other roads are almost impassable. after six weeks of constant travel and hard work she obtained only , names. the cooperation of mrs. nellie burger, president of the woman's christian temperance union, the only woman's organization in the state outside of the regular suffrage societies which had endorsed suffrage, was then secured. the st. louis and kansas city leagues took the most thickly populated districts and the others were apportioned among little bands of suffragists, who, under the leadership of mrs. miller, worked steadily for the next six months. at last the required , signatures were obtained and representatives from each district went to jefferson city to present the petitions to secretary of state cornelius roach. he received them in a most friendly manner, saying that he hoped this work, which had been done at such great cost, would bring the desired reward. it had only begun and the task during the next six months was to induce the men to vote for the amendment, which now had an assured place on the ballot. help came from the outside, as well as within the state. ruth hanna (mrs. medill) mccormick of chicago, chairman of the congressional committee of the national association, sent an organizer and paid her expenses for four months. from friends outside $ , were sent and about $ , were raised in various ways in the state. dr. shaw and miss jane addams spoke in several cities and other prominent speakers were mrs. desha breckinridge of kentucky, miss helen todd of california, mrs. mccormick and "general" rosalie jones of new york. the state and county fairs were utilized. headquarters were rented in a big downtown building in st. louis with miss rumbold as director of publicity, miss genevieve tierney and mrs. r. l. sanford in charge of the business part, mrs. alice curtis moyer-wing head of the speakers' bureau and miss bulkley treasurer. mrs. blair had charge of the press work for the state, miss clara sommerville for st. louis.[ ] the st. louis _times_, the kansas city _post_ and the warrensburg _daily star_ allowed the women to get out a special suffrage edition. all the hard work of a year and a half was in vain. on nov. , , the woman suffrage amendment went down to defeat with fourteen other amendments on the ballot. more votes were cast on this one than on any other-- , ayes; , noes; lost by , . in kansas city the adverse majority was only , . thirteen counties were carried. . it had been decided at the first state board meeting after the defeat to attempt again to have an amendment submitted by the legislature. mrs. miller took charge of the work and remained six weeks in jefferson city. the resolution was written by judge robert franklin walker, now chief justice of missouri, and was introduced by senator craig and representative roney, as before. a joint hearing was arranged at which twelve missouri women, representing various professions and occupations, spoke five minutes each. it passed the house by ayes to noes. through the efforts of senator william phelps, who was showered with letters and telegrams from his constituents, the committee, a majority of whom were violently opposed to woman suffrage, was persuaded to report it favorably but it did not come to a vote in the senate. . as the federal amendment was now well advanced and the bad effect on it of the loss of a state campaign was clearly recognized, the national board asked the officers of each state association to refrain from entering into one. therefore it was agreed at the state convention in may, , to give up the projected campaign. . a bill for presidential suffrage, which was approved by the national officers, was introduced. headquarters were opened in the capitol with miss geraldine buchanan of california, mo., in charge and a strong lobby of state women remained there during the session--mrs. leighty, mrs. fordyce, mrs. o'neil, mrs. passmore and mrs. grossman of st. louis. mrs. katherine smith, daughter of judge walker, and miss matilda dahlmeyer of jefferson city gave effective aid. percy werner, a lawyer of st. louis, agreed to defend its legal status before the legislature if necessary and in january it was introduced by senator robert j. mitchell of aurora and representative nick cave of fulton. it was reported favorably by the house committee but when it came to a hearing before the senate committee there appeared miss minnie bronson from new york, secretary of the national anti-suffrage association. the speaker in favor was mrs. fordyce, a granddaughter of the pioneer suffragist, mrs. beverly allen. the house passed it by to but the senate defeated it. missouri women now turned their attention to furthering the federal suffrage amendment. the congressional committee appointed for this purpose worked indefatigably and early in january, armed with two large bundles of petitions for it, one from the state and one from st. louis, aggregating , names, a delegation went to washington. mrs. miller, vice-president of the national association, arranged, with the assistance of miss mabel stone, daughter of the missouri senator, william r. stone, for a meeting in his office between them and the state's members of congress. they presented their petitions and made earnest appeals for the amendment. suffragists throughout the state kept up a constant stream of telegrams and letters to the missouri members and governor gardner used his influence. senator stone, and after his death senator xenophon p. wilfley, were pledged to the amendment, and senator selden p. spencer, who later was elected, could positively be depended upon. all possible efforts were concentrated upon senator james a. reed but to no avail. to disprove his statements that his constituents were not in favor of woman suffrage, the jackson county campaign committee, with mrs. j. b. white of kansas city chairman, sent him the signatures of , women and , men from his district, asking for it. when the amendment came to a vote in , senator wilfley and all the representatives voted in the affirmative except meeker of st. louis, who died soon afterwards. in senator spencer and the entire delegation in the house voted in favor. senator reed fought it every time it came before the senate. delegations of women appeared before the state conventions of both parties on the same day in august, , and asked for a suffrage plank. mrs. miller, mrs. o'neil and mrs. stix attended the democratic convention in jefferson city; mrs. gellhorn and mrs. grossman, assisted by others, looked after the republican convention in st. louis. they were invited to speak and each party put a very good suffrage plank in its platform. . work for presidential suffrage was continued. extra pressure was brought to bear on the senate. two national organizers, miss ames and miss alma sasse, were sent into various senatorial districts to enlist the help of influential people and when the time came for a vote it undoubtedly was favorable pressure from home that kept some of the senators in line. when the general assembly convened jan. , , governor gardner recommended such suffrage legislation as the women might desire. through the courtesy of lieutenant governor crossley, president of the senate, and s. f. o'fallon, speaker of the house, it was the first bill introduced. on february the presidential bill was put on the calendar over the adverse report of the election committee, an action almost without precedent. on the th the speaker left the chair and delivered a powerful address urging its passage. representative frank farris also made a strong speech in its favor and the final vote was ayes, noes. the opposition used every device to prevent it from being brought up for the final reading in the senate but finally the time was set for march . on that date two of the senators favoring it were absent and their votes were absolutely necessary. senator david w. stark was at his home in westline and senator howard gray had been called on important business to caruthersville. on the th mrs. miller, mrs. o'neil, mrs. haight and miss ames, who had been in jefferson city for over three months, met for final consultation. senator stark responded to a telephone call and promised to be in his seat the next morning. it was found it would be impossible for senator gray to arrive on time. they were in despair but a savior was at hand. democratic national committeeman edward f. goltra offered to charter a special train to bring senator gray, a republican, to jefferson city in time to cast his vote. this offer was gladly and gratefully accepted and the senator left caruthersville that night. the next morning all the other senators were in their seats, the opposition complacent and confident that the bill could not pass. while senator mcknight was reading a telegram from the national suffrage convention in session at st. louis urging the immediate passage of the presidential suffrage bill senator gray quietly walked in and took his seat! the opposition, out-witted and out-generaled, threw up their hands and the bill was passed by a vote of to , some of its former opponents voting for it. on april in the presence of the board of the state association it was signed by governor gardner. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss marie r. garesche, a founder and first vice-president of the st. louis equal suffrage league. [ ] thirteen men were enrolled this year, eugene angert, george blackman, r. w. boysselier, dr. w. w. boyd, mr. chauvenet, e. m. grossman, charles haanel, stephen hart, charles van dyke hill, dr. john c. morfit, h. j. peifer, judge r. e. rombauer and percy werner. [ ] because of lack of space it has been impossible to include the long lists of names prepared of women who worked all over the state. chapter xxv. montana.[ ] before the national american woman suffrage association, under the presidency of miss susan b. anthony, helped to organize suffrage societies in montana and several conventions were held. in dr. maria m. dean was elected president. she was succeeded by mrs. clara b. tower, whose report to the national suffrage convention of said: on may , , mrs. carrie chapman catt, national president, miss gail laughlin and miss laura a. gregg, organizers, arrived in helena and in conjunction with the state officers planned a campaign to include a meeting in every town of any importance. mrs. catt re-organized the helena suffrage club and remained two weeks, conducting a large correspondence, addressing all the women's organizations in the city and a mass meeting. miss laughlin spent these two weeks in butte, where she spoke to a number of labor unions and obtained resolutions strongly endorsing woman suffrage from the silver bow trades and labor assembly, a delegate body representing , men. mrs. catt then went to butte and for ten days she and miss laughlin delivered addresses before the principal organizations of the city, among which were the woman's club and the trades council. their visit closed with a mass meeting at which a large number of names were secured for membership in the equal suffrage club, which was organized immediately afterward. the campaign was then placed in charge of miss laughlin, who did the field work, and miss gregg, who arranged the dates from the headquarters in helena. the speaking before labor unions was continued through the state and not a union or delegate body of laboring men failed to endorse woman suffrage. miss laughlin, by invitation, addressed the state labor convention, representing all the labor unions, and resolutions strongly endorsing woman suffrage and the submission of an amendment were passed with only one dissenting voice on a roll-call vote. miss laughlin spent the summer and fall visiting every town of importance, organizing more than thirty clubs, and securing committees to circulate petitions where organization was impracticable. the state convention was held in butte in september in preparation for work in the legislature during january and february, , for submission to the voters of a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution, which had been strongly recommended by governor toole in his message. a considerable sum was raised for press work and miss mary e. o'neill was appointed superintendent. a resolution asking the national association for the services of miss laughlin for legislative work was adopted and she remained.[ ] the bill for full suffrage was introduced in both houses; public hearings were granted by the judiciary committee of each and the house took a recess that its members might attend in a body. miss laughlin and others spoke and the measure had strong advocates in dr. o. m. lanstrum, j. m. kennedy, john maginness, colonel james u. sanders, f. augustus heinze (the copper magnate), colonel c. b. nolan, state senators whipple, myers and johnson. state officers and members of the helena club assisted in the legislative work, which continued two months. the vote in the house was ayes, noes, but two-thirds were necessary. the resolution introduced in the senate by h. l. sherlock was also defeated. at the session of the amendment resolution was again introduced and mrs. tower travelled from boston to be present at the hearing. mrs. j. m. lewis, mrs. walter matheson and miss o'neill addressed the committees but the vote was adverse. for a number of years little was done except in a desultory way. the suffrage resolution was presented at almost every session of the legislature but there was no intensive work for it. some of the political equality clubs lived on, the strongest one in missoula with j. washington mccormick president and miss jeannette rankin vice-president. in dr. j. m. donahue had introduced the suffrage resolution in the legislature but no work had been done for it and this club sent miss rankin to helena to press for its passage. it found champions in colonel j. b. nolan, w. w. berry and d. g. o'shea and opponents in james e. mcnally and joseph binnard. miss rankin obtained permission to address the house. the senate refused to attend officially but adjourned and was present almost in a body. house members brought flowers and the room resembled anything but a legislative hall, as masses of hats hid the legislators and people were banked in the doorways. miss rankin was escorted to the reading desk by a number of old-time suffragists, dr. dean, dr. atwater, mrs. sanders, mrs. mary long alderson and miss may murphy. as representative binnard was the strongest opponent he was delegated by the members to present miss rankin with a corsage bouquet of violets. he made a flowery speech and attempted to turn the meeting into a facetious affair but when miss rankin spoke his purpose was defeated and she received much applause. the bill was, however, reported out of the committee without recommendation and neither house took any action. at the state fairs of and the suffragists erected attractive booths, giving out suffrage literature and buttons to all passers-by. they were in charge of ida auerbach, frieda fligelman and grace rankin kinney. in a state central committee was formed with miss rankin as temporary chairman and miss auerbach as temporary secretary. later mrs. grace smith was made treasurer. the first meeting was called in the studio of miss mary c. wheeler of helena. these women attended the state conventions of the republican, democratic and progressive parties and succeeded in getting planks in their platforms for a suffrage amendment to the state constitution. then all nominees were circularized and asked to stand by their party platforms. miss rankin went over the state quietly, stopping in every county seat and searching out women willing to work. she secured the consent of thomas stout to introduce the bill at the next session. in january, , the women met in helena and formed a permanent state organization, electing the following officers: chairman, miss rankin, missoula; assistant chairmen, mrs. louis p. sanders, butte; mrs. g. m. gillmore, glendive; secretary, mrs. harvey coit, big timber; treasurer, mrs. wilbur l. smith, helena; finance chairman, mrs. wallace perham, glendive; press chairman, miss auerbach. the organization never had any constitution or by-laws. letters from all over the state were written to governor s. v. stewart and on january the women went in a body to hear his message, in which he recommended that montana women should be enfranchised. with no discussion the resolution to submit an amendment to the voters passed the senate by ayes, two noes--j. e. edwards and i. a. leighton--and was signed by the president, lieutenant governor w. w. mcdowell, in open session. in the house the vote was ayes, two noes--ronald higgins and john w. blair. on january it was signed by the governor. on june the second meeting of the state central committee was held in livingston, immediately following that of the state federation of women's clubs. great progress in interest and organization was reported from all parts of the state. the only new officers elected were: recording secretary, mrs. john willis of glasgow; chairman of literature, miss mary agnes cantwell of hunters' hot springs. chairmen were appointed in each county and workers were sent into every precinct. the third meeting of the central committee was held in butte september , , just before the state fair, where it had a booth. it was decided to open headquarters in butte feb. , . the fourth meeting was held in big timber february and the fifth in lewiston june . miss o'neill was made assistant chairman and press chairman; mrs. edith clinch, treasurer; miss eloise knowles chairman of literature. headquarters were opened in butte in january, . letters were sent to granges, labor unions, women's clubs and other organizations asking them to pass resolutions in favor of the amendment and aid the campaign as far as they could. every newspaper in the state received each week a letter of suffrage news and items from miss o'neill and occasionally some propaganda material. letters were sent regularly to the county chairmen and other workers giving instructions and keeping them in touch with the campaign. large quantities of literature were distributed with many leaflets for special occasions. a short time before election personal letters and a leaflet especially for farmers were sent to , voters in the country districts. the house-to-house canvass of the women in the towns and cities was the most effective work done. montana women spoke in every county and women from outside the state in all but a few of the smaller ones. in the spring mr. and mrs. james lees laidlaw of new york city stopped off en route to california and spoke in a number of places. the women were charmed with her beauty and style and some men who had considered the movement as only carried on by women were surprised that a man of mr. laidlaw's standing should be at the head of a national men's suffrage league. he organized a montana branch of it with wellington d. rankin (now attorney general) as president. miss rankin in her report to the national suffrage convention of november - , expressed the highest appreciation of the women who came into montana, either sent by the national association or at their own expense, and campaigned for weeks under the instructions of the state board. they were headed by dr. anna howard shaw, the national president, and included miss katharine devereux blake, miss ida craft and miss rosalie jones of new york; mrs. antoinette funk, miss jane thompson, miss gratia erickson and miss florence lord of chicago; mrs. root of los angeles. during may and june mrs. cotterill of seattle, and during july and august miss margaret hinchey of boston, gave their time to labor unions. a number of large demonstrations were held in various cities. campaigning in a state of such distances and geographical formation presented great difficulties. a precinct organization was perfected wherever possible but to the far-off places word was simply sent to the women to work to get votes for the amendment and they did so with splendid results. the usual program of party campaigning in rural districts was adopted of holding a rally followed by a dance. miss rankin, miss fligelman, miss grace hellmick, mrs. maggie smith hathaway, miss o'neill, dr. dean, mrs. topping and many other volunteer speakers went into every little mining camp and settlement that could be reached. they spoke from the steps of the store and the audience, composed entirely of men, would listen in respectful silence, applaud a little at the close, too shy to ask questions, but on election day every vote was for suffrage. old prospectors back in the mountains when approached and asked for their votes would say: "do you ladies really want to vote? well, if you do, we'll sure help all we can." many old-timers said: "what would our state have been without the women? you bet you can count on us." the campaigners spoke in moving picture theaters, from wagons and automobiles and wherever they could obtain an audience however small. there were no rebuffs but some of the southerners would say that it would be a bad thing for the south. all these outlying districts that could be reached gave a favorable majority. the money for the campaign was raised in many ways, by donations, food sales, dances, collections, the sale of suffrage papers on the street, etc. the loss of the funds collected for the campaign through the closing of the state bank was a heavy blow and it could not have succeeded without the help of the national association and friends in outside states. the campaign cost about $ , , of which over half was contributed by the association and other states. to the women specifically mentioned the names of the following especially active in the campaign should be added: miss mary stewart, mrs. w. i. higgins, mrs. j. f. kilduff, mrs. tyler thompson, jean bishop, mrs. wm. roza, mrs. j. w. scott, mrs. john duff, mrs. bertha rosenberg, mrs. mary tocher, mrs. j. m. darroch, mrs. w. e. cummings, mrs. stevens, mrs. a. e. richardson, mrs. frank d. o'neill, mrs. j. b. ellis, mrs. m. e. hughes, mrs. delia peets, mrs. c. p. irish, mrs. j. r. e. sievers, mrs. a. p. rooney, mrs. sarah m. souders, mrs. sherrill, mrs. nathan lloyd, mrs. burt addams tower, mrs. mary meigs atwater, mrs. helen fitzgerald sanders, mrs. charles n. skillman, mrs. charles s. haire, mrs. j. m. lewis, mrs. h. w. child, miss susan higgins. among the men the best friends besides those already mentioned were miles romney, joseph h. griffin, lewis j. duncan, w. w. mcdowell, lieutenant governor, and the two u. s. senators, thomas j. walsh and henry l. myers. at the beginning of the campaign a travelling organizer of the national anti-suffrage association came to butte, and, saying that she acted officially, had an interview with the editors of the _national forum_, the organ of the liquor interests. she told them their open opposition was helping the amendment, urged them to carry it on in secret and said she would return later and lay before them a plan of campaign. afterwards when the butte papers exposed this scheme the _national forum_ described the interview. before the election the national anti-suffrage association sent its executive secretary, miss minnie bronson, and mrs. j. d. oliphant of new jersey to campaign against the amendment. they succeeded in forming only one society in the state and that was at butte, with a branch in the little town of chinook. the officers were mrs. john noyes, president; mrs. theodore symons, secretary; mrs. w. j. chrystie, press chairman; mrs. david nixon, active worker; mrs. oliphant challenged miss rankin to a debate, which was held in the old auditorium in helena. at the meeting, which had been packed by the liquor interests, mrs. oliphant was noisily applauded and the confusion was appalling. although the speakers travelled to remote districts up to the night before election in november, the instructions from headquarters were to have loose ends gathered up by the opening of the state fair september , at helena. headquarters were maintained a week at the fair and in the city and each day _the suffrage daily_ was issued. the editors were mrs. l. o. edmunds, miss o'neill, mrs. m. e. mckay and miss belle fligelman, all newspaper women. the most picturesque and educative feature of the whole campaign and the greatest awakener was the enormous suffrage parade which took place one evening during the week. thousands of men and women from all parts of the state marched, dr. anna howard shaw was at the head, and next, carrying banners, came dr. dean, the past president, and miss rankin, the present state chairman. a huge american flag was carried by women representing states having full suffrage; a yellow one for the states now having campaigns; a large gray banner for the partial suffrage states and a black banner for the non-suffrage states. each county and city in the state had its banner. the men's league marched and there were as many men as women in the parade. during the entire campaign the woman's christian temperance union, one of the strongest organizations in the state, conducted a vigorous fight for the amendment, sending its speakers to every locality. for many years it had worked for woman suffrage. at the election nov. , , the amendment received , ayes; , noes, a majority of , , and women were enfranchised on equal terms with men. the various suffrage societies merged into good government clubs with the avowed purpose of obtaining political action on many needed measures. the next year they secured mother's pension and equal guardianship laws, and others equally important in following years. the executive committee continued in existence and directed the work. at its meeting in it was decided to conduct an intensive campaign for prohibition in ; to elect a woman to congress and a woman state superintendent of schools. prohibition was carried; miss jeannette rankin was elected the first congresswoman in the united states and miss may trumper was elected superintendent of schools. that year an eight-hour-day for women was secured. this record was continued. mrs. maggie smith hathaway and mrs. emma a. ingalls have served two terms each as state representatives. all the county superintendents of schools are women. after the federal amendment was submitted by congress the societies met on june , , and formed a state branch of the national league of women voters with mrs. edwin l. norris chairman. ratification. governor samuel v. stewart called a special session of the legislature to meet in august, , and the federal suffrage amendment was ratified on the nd by unanimous vote in the house and by to one in the senate--claude f. morris of havre, hill county. the resolution was introduced in the house by mrs. ingalls. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. lucile dyas topping, formerly lewis and clark county superintendent of schools and prominent in the work of the campaign of , when montana women obtained the suffrage. [ ] in the intensive work that followed, mrs. tower was assisted by dr. dean, mrs. ellen maria dean, mrs. james u. sanders, mrs. t. j. walsh, mrs. bessie hughes smith, mrs. martha dunkel, mrs. ella knowles haskell, mrs. adelaide staves reeder, dr. bertha mackal mccleman, mrs. c. b. nolan, mrs. donald bradford, madame f. rowena medini, miss sarepta sanders, dr. mary b. atwater, mrs. h. l. sherlock, mrs. hughes and miss mary c. wheeler. chapter xxvi. nebraska.[ ] the history of the movement for woman suffrage in nebraska from to naturally divides itself into three periods. the first period extends from to . during those years the organization was supported by a small but faithful group whose continuous effort at educating public sentiment prepared the way for the work that followed. the second period included the years from to , during which time a campaign for full suffrage by an amendment to the state constitution was carried on. the third period from to was marked by the passage of a partial suffrage law in , which was an issue during the preceding two years; an attack on that law through the initiative and referendum; the successful defense of it by the state suffrage association and the ratification of the federal amendment at a special session in , which marked the end of a long contest. miss laura gregg, a nebraska woman, was put in charge of the state suffrage headquarters at omaha in october, , by mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the organization committee of the national american suffrage association, and remained four years. during that time conventions and conferences were held, much field work was done and the membership was increased to nearly , . at the annual convention at blair in october, , mrs. catt, now national president, was present. mrs. clara a. young of broken bow was elected state president, relieving mrs. mary smith hayward of chadron, who had pressing business obligations. her section of the state, however, remained one of the suffrage strongholds and she was always one of the largest contributors. other officers elected were, vice-president, mrs. amanda j. marble of broken bow; corresponding secretary, miss nelly taylor of merna; recording secretary, mrs. ida l. denny of lincoln. in the state convention was held in lincoln november - , welcomed by mayor t. c. winnett. a reception was given at the lindell hotel to the fifty-six delegates and mrs. catt, who had spent sixteen days in the state, attending conferences in omaha and eleven other places. an address by governor e. p. savage, one by mrs. catt, and a debate between miss gregg and a. l. bixby, editor of the _state journal_, who took the negative, were the evening attractions. there was a work conference led by mrs. catt and reports were given by the officers and by state workers, including mrs. maria c. arter of lincoln; mrs. k. w. sutherland of blair, miss taylor, mrs. mary g. ward of tecumseh, mrs. jennie ross of dakota city, mrs. hetty w. drury of pender, with a "question box" conducted by mrs. catt. the next afternoon the speakers in a symposium were mrs. anna a. wells of schuyler, j. h. dundas of the _auburn granger_, mrs. emma shuman of nebraska city, mrs. rosa modlin of beaver city, mrs. c. w. damon of omaha, mrs. mary e. jeffords of broken bow, mrs. alice isabel brayton of geneva and mrs. belle sears of tekamah. the sum of $ , had been expended during the year, including the cost of headquarters and field work. pledges to the amount of $ , were made for the next year. the large dailies of omaha and lincoln had given much attention to the subject of woman suffrage and over weeklies had published matter furnished by the press departments. mrs. young, mrs. marble, miss taylor and mrs. denny were re-elected; other officers were: treasurer, mrs. mary e. dempster, omaha; first auditor, mrs. hayward, second, mrs. sears; press chairman, mrs. lucie b. meriom of beaver city. this convention was a type of those held during the next three or four years. county conventions were frequent and local clubs were active. a small printed sheet called the _headquarters message_, edited by miss gregg, filled with state suffrage news, club reports, national recommendations, etc., was sent monthly to the workers. during the spring of miss gail laughlin, a national organizer, spent two weeks organizing new clubs and arousing old ones and miss gregg and mr. bixby debated in towns in eastern nebraska. a series of parlor meetings in omaha increased the interest there. mrs. marble was chairman of the committee on assemblies and during the summer the suffrage question was presented at the state fair, the epworth assembly, chautauquas, pioneer picnics and other gatherings. the committee included later mrs. o. b. bowers, tekamah; mrs. ellen a. miller, beatrice; mrs. ollie king carriker, nebraska city; mrs. anna pickett, broken bow. miss gregg spent the autumn in field work throughout the state. the annual convention was held at tecumseh december - , with a large attendance. the program included the mayor, governor-elect j. h. mickey, the hon. c. w. beal, senator o'neill, and other prominent citizens. a memorial hour was given to elizabeth cady stanton and to nebraska suffragists who had died during the year. it was resolved to push press work, county organization, new memberships and work before assemblies. in branch headquarters were established at the lindell hotel, lincoln, for work with the legislature. the delegates to the national convention in new orleans in march were accompanied home by miss laughlin for organizing work. assisted most of the time by miss gregg she visited thirty-five cities and towns, speaking from one to three times in each place, gained new members and collected about $ . she spoke at five normal schools during the summer and had headquarters at the northwest g. a. r. encampment and several chautauquas. the state convention was held at nebraska city, october - . the program was enriched by the address of dr. anna howard shaw, national vice-president, on the fate of republics. miss laughlin made a strong speech and there were many new names on the program. to the previous plan of work had been added suffrage contests, literature in libraries and church work; the peace and industrial work of the national association had been endorsed and committees formed. in january, , miss gregg was sent by mrs. catt to oklahoma, where her services as organizer were very much needed. the state headquarters were transferred to tecumseh with the secretary, mrs. mary g. ward, in charge. mrs. young edited the _headquarters message_ and mrs. myrtle w. marble of humboldt attended to the publishing and mailing. a suffrage cook book was prepared and published and became a source of considerable revenue. mrs. lulu s. halvorsen of nebraska city was press chairman. miss laughlin spent a month speaking and organizing. the state convention was held at geneva november -december , mrs. ellis meredith of denver a principal evening speaker. with the withdrawal of miss gregg and the conviction that no amendment of any kind could be carried under the existing law, the interest of the local organizations began to decline and the two brave and faithful women who had carried the heaviest part of the burden were now finding it too heavy for their strength. mrs. young took the headquarters to her own home in broken bow and mrs. marble did all kinds of work at all times if it helped the cause. mrs. young kept the clubs at work during and a full delegation of fourteen was sent to the national convention at portland, oregon, but her health began to fail and at the state convention held at broken bow october - she was compelled to give up the presidency. the executive board needed her counsel and experience and she accepted the position of honorary president. mrs. marble was made president and the other officers were re-elected with miss mary h. williams as historian. mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado was the principal speaker. there were seventeen addresses of welcome from representative citizens. mrs. marble kept up the work in as far as it was possible. she began publishing an annual report of the year's work, a pamphlet of about pages, containing a roster of the clubs and much useful information, and continued it during the four years of her presidency. with miss williams she attended the national convention at baltimore. the state convention met at lincoln, october , , in all souls' church with dr. shaw as evening speaker. a memorial meeting was held for susan b. anthony, with the rev. newton mann of omaha, her former pastor in rochester, n. y., as speaker. the state convention of met in kenesaw october , . the legislative work had been to obtain a memorial to congress asking for a federal suffrage amendment. more conventions passed woman suffrage resolutions during the summer than ever before. on october the beloved leader, mrs. young, passed away. in november miss gregg was sent by the national association to assist mrs. marble and remained until the middle of january, doing office and field work. in february, , mrs. maud wood park of boston made a visit to the state and formed college woman suffrage leagues in the state and wesleyan universities and among graduates in lincoln. miss williams was made chairman of a committee to raise nebraska's pledge of $ to the anthony memorial fund. at the state convention in lincoln nov. , , mrs. marble was obliged to decline the presidency and was made vice-president. the rev. mary g. andrews of omaha was elected in her place; but from this time until her death, april , , mrs. marble never ceased to do everything in her power to forward the success of the suffrage movement. early in the petition of the national association to congress for an amendment of the federal constitution was begun with miss williams chairman of the committee and , signatures were secured. mrs. philip snowden of england lectured in lincoln during the session of the legislature and many of the members heard her. the annual convention was held in lincoln november , . mrs. andrews had gone to minneapolis and dr. inez philbrick of lincoln was elected president. a lecture tour was arranged for dr. b. o. aylesworth of denver for the autumn of and again in ; men's suffrage leagues were organized in omaha and lincoln and many new clubs formed of people of influence. the convention was postponed to march, . the regular convention of was held in lincoln november - . mrs. emmeline pankhurst was the speaker and the audience filled the largest assembly room. the convention of met in omaha december - , and it was decided to go into an active campaign to secure the submission of a constitutional amendment by petition in . the initiative and referendum law had been adopted the preceding month, which required the signature of per cent. of the total vote cast at the last election, the signers coming from two-fifths of the counties. this meant , names from thirty-eight counties. nebraska has ninety-three counties and an area of , square miles. officers elected to serve throughout the campaign were: henrietta i. (mrs. draper) smith, president; mrs. kovanda, vice-president; miss williams, corresponding secretary; miss daisy doane, recording secretary; gertrude law (mrs. w. e.) hardy, treasurer; mrs. grace m. wheeler, first and elizabeth j. (mrs. z. t.) lindsey, second auditor; committee chairmen; mrs. wheeler, education; mrs. a. e. sheldon, finance; mrs. hardy, publicity; mrs. edna m. barkley, speakers; mrs. a. h. dorris, press. headquarters were opened jan. , , in the brandeis theater building, omaha, and maintained through the winter of - . mrs. draper smith had at once assumed her duties as president and appointed mrs. w. c. sunderland chairman for the second congressional district, including douglas, sarpy and washington counties. she had asked mrs. lindsey to be chairman of douglas county in which omaha is situated, who soon had ten precincts organized under capable chairmen, and a little later every ward in omaha and south omaha. on february dr. shaw, the national president, arrived in omaha for a conference with the workers. on sunday afternoon she addressed a mass meeting in the brandeis theater at which there was not even standing room. john l. kennedy presided. the committee of arrangements included the rev. frederick t. rouse of the first congregational church; judge howard kennedy, superintendent of city schools; e. u. graff, city attorney; john e. rine, c. c. belden and the officers of the suffrage association. a resolution was before the legislature to submit an amendment to the voters but it was so evident that it would not be passed that the work for the initiative petition went on rapidly. the last of february thirty-six omaha women and others from over the state went to lincoln to see the vote taken in the house. the proposal was defeated, only one man from douglas county voting for it. in the early spring the headquarters were moved to lincoln and the petition work for the state was managed from there, with the exception of that of omaha. throughout the year the task was continued of obtaining the signatures in the various counties, all done by volunteers. it was necessary at the same time to create public sentiment and organize clubs in preparation for the campaign for the submission of the amendment which would follow. in omaha mrs. sunderland soon turned the district organization over to mrs. james richardson and took the position of city chairman. meetings were held with prominent local speakers. on november chancellor avery of the state university spoke for woman suffrage before the state teachers' association in the first methodist church. two days later dr. shaw addressed it in the auditorium. she spoke at noon before the commercial club, a distinction given by it to a woman for the first time. on nov. , , the state convention was held in lincoln and mrs. clara bewick colby, formerly of beatrice, was made honorary president. in january, , a men's suffrage league was formed in omaha with e. h. geneau, t. e. brady, henry olerichs and james richardson promoting it. on february a thorough canvass of the business part of the city was begun by the women. mrs. lindsey thus described it: with a blizzard raging and the thermometer at degrees below zero women stood in drug stores and groceries, and visited office buildings, factories and shops, wherever permission could be obtained, soliciting signatures for six consecutive days. mrs. c. s. stebbins, nearly seventy years of age, stood at the street car barns and filled several petitions and mrs. isaac conner, a suffrage worker since , made a similar record. mrs. w. p. harford and mrs. george tilden arranged to have people standing at the church doors for names at the close of service on sunday. many ministers offered their churches to the committee and spoke of the matter from their pulpits. of all the protestant churches, only the episcopal refused the committee's request, dean james a. tancock of trinity cathedral and the rev. t. j. mackay of all saints declining. petitions were kept open at the _daily news_ office and other offices and places of business. fifteen of the leading drug stores offered space to the women under the direction of mrs. e. s. rood, and it was decided to continue the intensive campaign until the th, when the county chairman had called a meeting at the city hall to celebrate lincoln's birthday, to hear medill mccormick of chicago and to announce results. a large crowd of petition workers, sympathizers and members of the men's league was present. while the goal for douglas county was , signatures over , had passed through the hands of the county chairmen on their way to the secretary of state. three days later mrs. j. w. crumpacker of kansas appeared in omaha to organize the opposition forces. the anti-suffragists, led by mrs. arthur crittenden smith, announced a meeting at turpin's hall on the afternoon of february . mrs. arthur m. dodge, president of the national association opposed to woman suffrage, and miss minnie bronson, secretary, both of new york, addressed the meeting. forty people were present, including five reporters and a number of suffragists. those who joined at that meeting were mesdames edward p. peck, william archibald smith, t. j. mackay, e. a. benson and misses ada alexander, genevra march and minnie martison. a temporary committee on organization was appointed consisting of mesdames arthur c. smith, j. c. cowin, herman kountze, j. w. crumpacker, e. a. benson; misses wallace, riley, alexander and mcgaffney.... the next evening a public meeting was held at the american theater, addressed by mrs. dodge and miss bronson, who were introduced by john l. webster.[ ] on march the district chairman, mrs. richardson, and county chairman, mrs. lindsey, with a group of workers, sorted, checked and made into neat parcels the precious sheets of paper, which mrs. draper smith carried to lincoln that afternoon. possibly half a dozen men had circulated petitions but the bulk of the , names were obtained in omaha by women. on march the completed petition for submitting the amendment was filed with the secretary of state in the presence of the governor. although only , signatures were required it had , and these represented sixty-three counties instead of the required thirty-eight. they were accepted without question and the amendment was submitted to the voters at the general election, nov. , . from that time until the election strenuous and unceasing efforts were made to secure votes for the amendment. many prominent nebraska men and women spoke and worked for it and a number were brought into the state. on july was issued in omaha the famous manifesto by the nebraska men's association opposed to woman suffrage, a pamphlet of nine pages, signed by thirty prominent men, all of omaha.[ ] early in july park commissioner j. b. hummel of omaha refused to grant any more permits for meetings in the parks and the suffragists arranged a voiceless automobile parade through all of them when they were filled with people, the cars decorated with banners and pennants carrying suffrage sentiments. later the commissioner spoke for the amendment. on august the first street meeting was held by "general" rosalie jones of new york, who spoke from the steps of the county court house at noon and on a corner in the evening. this was followed by street meetings in an endless number of towns. county fairs and all possible forms of publicity were utilized. an outstanding feature of the campaign was the automobile tours, the plan of mrs. f. m. hall, chairman of lancaster county. they covered , miles and included places containing one-half of the population. several of the longest were made and financed by j. l. kennedy and james richardson of omaha and w. e. hardy of lincoln. miss jane addams came from chicago and spoke several times in october. william jennings bryan, who was making a political canvass of the state, never failed to make an appeal for the amendment and on october gave a rousing suffrage speech in brandeis theater, omaha. dr. shaw ended her tour of the state on the th, with an address in the auditorium. the anti-suffragists were well financed and active. their national association sent miss marjorie dorman to omaha the last of september, who opened headquarters on the first floor of the city national bank. mrs. a. j. george was sent in october. on november there appeared in the morning papers a double-column appeal to the catholics to vote against the amendment because back of it were the socialists, feminists, etc. it was signed by mrs. l. f. crofoot, wife of the omaha attorney for the northern pacific r. r. during the campaign a committee of business men was formed by the brewing interests, which visited the husbands of various women engaged in the effort for the amendment. they said "suffrage means prohibition" and threatened the husbands in a business way unless their wives retired from the work. this committee watched the papers and when names of women were given as interested in suffrage, even to the extent of attending a luncheon for some celebrity, the husbands promptly were visited. through this intimidation many women were forced to withdraw and many men who would have subscribed generously did not dare give more than $ , as the state law required the publication of names of all contributing over this sum. three days before election an "appeal" to its members was sent by the german-american alliance, a large and powerful organization. it was written in german and began as follows: we consider the proposed amendment to the constitution granting the right of suffrage to women as the most important question which will be decided at the coming election. our state alliance took a most decided stand against woman suffrage at its annual convention held in columbus august . our german women do not want the right to vote, and since our opponents desire the right of suffrage mainly for the purpose of saddling the yoke of prohibition on our necks, we should oppose it with all our might.... we most earnestly urge our friends of german speech and german descent not to permit business or other considerations to prevent them from going to the polls and casting their ballots as above directed. on november the omaha suffragists stood all day at the polls handing slips to the voters calling attention to the amendment on the ballot. the total state vote on it was , noes, , ayes; adverse majority of , . the result of the splendid campaign in douglas county, the stronghold of the opponents of all kinds, was seen in the small adverse majority of , . throughout the campaign the omaha _daily news_ valiantly championed the amendment and the _bee_ and the _world herald_ as strongly opposed it. the national american suffrage association contributed $ , in cash, the services of two organizers--miss jane thompson and miss elsie benedict--and paid the travelling expenses of a number of national speakers. * * * * * the state convention of was held in omaha in december and it was decided to organize more thoroughly and to seek the advice of the national association as to how and when to try again. the board which had served throughout the campaign was re-elected. when it had begun there were not fifty clubs in the state; when it ended there were nearly and it was desired to hold them together as far as possible. the opponents had insisted that women did not want the ballot and it was arranged to have an enrollment under the direction of mrs. wheeler. this was continued until the names of , women had been enrolled as desiring the suffrage. the press work was continued and the never-ending effort to educate the people. the convention of was held at columbus in october, was well attended, with a good program. mrs. edna m. barkley was elected president. in october, , the convention was held at hastings. mrs. william jennings bryan was guest of honor and gave the opening address on sunday evening in the congregational church. mrs. catt, now national president, was present and remained two days. the association expected to appeal to the voters again in for full suffrage and she thought it was in good condition to do so. her inspiring presence and her very able address given to a large evening audience made this one of most notable conventions. mrs. barkley was re-elected president.[ ] in january, , the national association was beginning the "drive" to obtain partial suffrage from the legislatures and nebraska was urged to undertake it. the board agreed to concentrate on a bill which would be constitutional and would permit women to vote for all officers not specified in the state constitution and upon all questions not referred to in it. the bill was introduced by senator c. e. sandell of york county and representative j. n. norton of polk county. mrs. barkley was chairman of the legislative committee and no measure ever had more careful and persistent "mothering" than she gave this one, watching over it for months. the bill passed the house the middle of february by the magnificent vote of to in the presence of an audience of applauding women that filled the galleries. in the senate the bill went to the committee on privileges and elections, which granted a hearing on february . after a luncheon with enthusiastic speeches the entire body of women, including from omaha, marched to the state house, where even the aisles were already crowded with women. among the speakers were george w. howard, the eminent professor of history in the state university, and a number of prominent nebraska men and women. six "antis" were present and their spokesman was miss bronson of new york. the hearing lasted three hours. the bill was held two months in the committee and finally was reported out and passed by a vote of to on april . it was signed by governor keith neville on the st and gave women the suffrage for presidential electors, all municipal and most county officers.[ ] the opponents immediately started an initiative petition to have the law submitted to the voters and on july it was suspended in operation by the filing of a petition for a referendum on it by the anti-suffrage association. mrs. barkley with others after inspection concluded it was not a bona fide petition. accordingly she summoned her board to discuss taking the proper legal steps to prove that it was fraudulent and invalid. there was no money in the treasury with which to undertake expensive litigation and there were those who thought it wiser not to attempt it. the courage and determination of mrs. barkley were the deciding factor and it was the same brave and persistent effort that finally won the long-drawn-out legal battle. a full account was given by mrs. draper smith in the _woman citizen_ of which the following is a part: for the larger part of the session in the senate had been under great pressure from the public and the press to pass the bone dry law that the house had almost unanimously adopted. nineteen members of the senate belonged to the clique led by representatives of the brewing interests. they fought for weeks to secure the consent of the house to a bill that would have made prohibition impossible of enforcement. into this maelstrom the limited suffrage law was plunged. only the most careful leadership secured its final passage.... on the st of july the opponents caused to be filed with the secretary of state a petition asking that the law be referred to the voters at the general election in for approval or rejection. this petition contained the signatures of , persons who claimed to be legal voters of the state and to live at the places designated as their legal residence.... tact and patience were employed to get secretary of state pool to the point where he permitted the suffragists to make a copy. eighteen thousand names bore the marks of an omaha residence. the others were apparently gathered from two-fifths of the counties and presumptively represented per cent. of the legal voters, as required by law. suspicion that fraud and deception had been used, both in getting genuine signatures and in padding the lists, early gave way to positive conviction. when the investigation was complete it was found that , of the , signatures were subject to court challenge and that at least , of them were the product of fraud, forgery and misrepresentation. prominent members of the bar volunteered their services--t. j. doyle, c. a. sorenson, john m. stewart and h. h. wilson of lincoln, and elmer e. thomas and francis a. brogan of omaha. a petition to enjoin the secretary of state from placing the referendum on the election ballot was filed in february, . the omaha workers were under the leadership of mrs. h. c. sumney, vice-president of the state association, and mrs. james richardson. they discovered that many of the residence addresses given were in railroad yards, cornfields or vacant lots. many others were of men who had never lived at the addresses given; many affirmed that they had never signed any such petition; others that they had been induced to sign by the representation of the solicitor that it was to submit the question of full suffrage. the work of running down each of the , names consumed days of arduous labor. it was also found that page after page of the names were written by the same hand. experts in handwriting from the various banks in lincoln spent night after night poring over the original petitions in the office of the secretary of state, picking out and listing the forgeries, which were found to have been scattered all over the state. the request of the suffragists to the secretary of state said that the circulators had committed perjury in certifying that these fictitious persons had affixed their names in their presence; that many of the names written thereon were not placed there, as the law required, in the presence of the circulator, but that the petitions had been left in pool halls, soft drink parlors, cigar stores and barber shops where everybody, including minors, was invited to sign, the circulator later coming around and gathering them up. it also said that many of the signatures were obtained by infants incapable at law of properly circulating or certifying to the petition sheets and that a number of circulators named had engaged in a systematic course of fraud and forgery, thereby making invalid all of the names. attached were twenty pages of exhibits in proof of these charges. the evidence in omaha was matched by that in fifty-nine other counties taken by the referee and attorney. the attorneys enjoined the secretary of state from putting the referendum on the ballot. nineteen suffragists appeared as plaintiffs in the case as follows: edna m. barkley, gertrude l. hardy, katharine sumney, ida robbins, grace richardson, margaretta dietrich, grace m. wheeler, ella brower, ellen ackerman, henrietta smith, inez philbrick, harriet m. stewart, mary smith hayward, mamie claflin, margaret t. sheldon, alice howell, ellen gere, eliza ann doyle, katharine mcgerr. as the suit had been brought against the secretary of state the attorney general appeared for him and was joined by the attorneys of the women's anti-suffrage association. they argued that the plaintiffs were not legally entitled to sue because they were not electors. the court upheld their right. the secretary of state became convinced that the petition was fraudulent and did not appear in the further litigation. the suffrage forces were prepared with their evidence and wished to proceed at once with the case but all the dilatory tactics possible were used and it was not until the full legal time was about to expire that the opponents were brought to the point on may , . mrs. draper smith's account continued: inspection of the original petition showed that of petitions secured by a. o. barclay were in the same handwriting.... the name of one omaha business man who had died three months previous to the circulation of the petition was found; another who was killed two months before, and another who had been dead for three years. witness after witness testified that his name on it was forged. several other circulators forged so many names we asked that all their work be thrown out. the hearing developed that forty ex-saloon keepers and bartenders had these petitions on the bars in their soft drink places; names were secured by dick kennedy, a negro who could neither read nor write. he appeared in court in jail clothes, being under indictment for peddling "dope," and was unable to identify the petitions certified by him. ten boys, ranging in age from to , were circulators. several men who could not read or write testified that they supposed their names were being taken for a census. many thought the petition was to "bring back beer." one man was told it was to pave an alley. at one hearing interpreters had to be used for all but two men. the treasurer of the anti-suffrage association, mrs. c. c. george, whose name appears as witness to the signatures of certificates on the back of barclay's petitions, testified that she did not remember him. on the back of each petition is a certificate in which the circulator certifies that each man signed in his presence and the signature must have two witnesses. the soft drink men and others testified that although the name of mrs. george appeared as witness to their signatures they had never seen her. she testified that the petitions went through the hands of her association. the following question was asked of another "anti," wife of a rector: "had you known that co-workers with you were dick kennedy, an illiterate negro; abie sirian; gus tylee, employee of tom dennison and a detective of doubtful reputation; soft drink men; jess ross, colored porter for dennison; jack broomfield, a colored sporting man and for twenty years keeper of the most notorious dive in omaha, and many others of this character, would you have worked with them and accepted the kind of petition they would secure?" she replied: "it would have made no difference to me. i was working for a cause and would not have cared who else was working for the same." the testimony showed that the anti-suffrage association of omaha, under the leadership of mrs. crofoot, president, had at first endeavored to employ to take charge of the work of circulating the petitions the man who had conducted the publicity department for the brewers in . the allegations of fraud were proved to the satisfaction of the district court. the opponents appealed from its decision, which was confirmed by the supreme court in june, and the women entered into possession of this large amount of suffrage. by order of the court the anti-suffragists, together with the state, had to pay the costs of the long legal battle which ended on january , , in a glorious victory for the suffragists. the costs were approximately $ , . ratification. the state convention of was held in omaha in december and it was omitted in the fall of on account of the influenza, and none was held until . the federal amendment had been submitted by congress on june and a ratification committee had been appointed consisting of mrs. barkley, mrs. hardy and mrs. wheeler to secure an early calling of a special session of the legislature. it was arranged for the state convention to meet in lincoln at the time governor samuel r. mckelvie had called this special session to ratify the amendment. the convention _en masse_ saw the ratification of both houses on august by unanimous vote and had the joy of being present when it was signed by the governor, who had been a consistent friend of the cause. the regular session had memorialized congress by joint resolution to submit the federal suffrage amendment and requested senator gilbert m. hitchcock of nebraska to vote for it. he voted against it every time it became before the senate. the other senator, george w. norris, voted in favor each time and was always a helpful friend of woman suffrage. the last state convention met in omaha june - , , with delegates in attendance. with mrs. charles h. dietrich, who had been elected president the preceding year, in the chair, the association was merged into the nebraska league of women voters and mrs. dietrich was made chairman. on saturday, aug. , , at noon, whistles were sounded and bells were rung for five minutes in omaha and south omaha to celebrate the proclamation by the secretary of state at washington that the woman suffrage amendment was now a part of the constitution of the united states and the struggle was over. in december, , there assembled in lincoln a convention to rewrite nebraska's constitution, to be submitted to the electors sept. , . this convention put a clause in the new constitution giving full suffrage to women. using the power delegated to it by the legislature it provided that women should vote on the constitution and that the suffrage amendment should go into effect as soon as the adoption of the constitution was announced by the governor. the rest of it was to wait until jan. , . this was done in order that women might vote at the general election in november, . before the constitution went to the voters the federal amendment was proclaimed and women were fully enfranchised. with women voting the constitution received , ayes, , noes. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. grace m. wheeler, historian of the state woman suffrage association, and miss mary h. williams, member of the state board from . [ ] a state association opposed to woman suffrage was formed, whose executive committee consisted of mesdames edward porter peck, chairman; henry w. yates, john c. cowin, j. w. griffith, w. h. koenig, l. f. crofoot, gerrit fort, john l. webster, helen arion lewis, arthur crittenden smith, t. j. mackay, f. n. conner; miss janet m. wallace, with mrs. william archibald smith, secretary, and mrs. frank j. noel treasurer; mrs. s. h. burnham of lincoln, mrs. j. d. whitmore and mrs. fred w. ashton of grand island, mrs. a. d. sears, mrs. charles dodge and miss maud may of fremont, with mrs. crumpacker as special representative of the national association in the headquarters at bee building. [ ] this manifesto will be found in the appendix. [ ] besides those mentioned the following served on the official board: miss lincola s. groat, mrs. alice i. brayton, mrs. stearns, mrs. myrtle w. marble, dr. emma warner demaree, mrs. ida ensign, mrs. rosa modlin, mrs. f. b. donisthorpe, mrs. mary p. jay, mrs. theresa j. dunn, mrs. margaret j. carns, mrs. julia n. cox, mrs. ada shafer, mrs. frank harrison, mrs. e. l. burke, miss ida bobbins, mrs. m. bruegger, mrs. e. s. rood, mrs. lydia pope, mrs. jessie dietz, mrs. j. h. corrick, mrs. halleck f. rose, mrs. h. c. sumney, mrs. dietrich, mrs. ellen ackerman, mrs. ella i. brower, miss may gund, mrs. e. f. bell, miss edith tobitt, mrs. kate chapin house. [ ] in march under the auspices of the national association suffrage schools were held in omaha and lincoln. the instructors were mrs. nettie r. shuler, chairman of organization, mrs. halsey w. wilson, its recording secretary, and mrs. t. t. cotnam and the subjects taught were suffrage history and argument, organization, publicity and press, money raising and parliamentary law. of the nineteen schools held by the national association in various states none was larger. by request night schools were opened with a crowded attendance at all sessions. chapter xxvii. nevada.[ ] towards the close of the last century, through the efforts of miss susan b. anthony and dr. anna howard shaw, president and vice-president of the national american woman suffrage association, a nevada association had been formed with mrs. frances a. williamson president and later mrs. elda a. orr was elected. mrs. mary a. boyd was an officer. it held three or four successful conventions and had bills before the legislature but no record exists of any activities after . in november, , mrs. clarence mackay, who had organized an equal franchise society in new york city, of which she was president, wrote to miss jeanne elizabeth wier, professor of history in the university of nevada, asking if a branch society could not be organized in that state. later professor wier conferred with mrs. mackay in new york. in the autumn of an agreement to assist in such an organization was signed by a large number of prominent men and women in reno and finally in january, , professor wier issued a call for a meeting to be held in her home to form a society. mrs. o. h. mack, president of the federation of women's clubs, sent an invitation to each club to be represented at this meeting. it was soon evident that it would be too large for a private house and on january a conference was held in the law office of counsellor c. r. reeves to arrange for a saturday evening mass meeting. there were present mr. reeves, who was made temporary chairman; professor wier, mrs. mack, mrs. henry stanislawsky, professor romanzo adams, judge william p. seeds, assemblyman alceus f. price, j. a. buchanan, mrs. frank page, mrs. frank r. nicholas, who was made secretary, and j. holman buck, who was elected permanent chairman. a telegram of greeting was read from mrs. mackay. a general meeting for organization was held the evening of february in odd fellows' hall, which was far too small for the audience. the name state equal franchise society was adopted. mrs. stanislawsky was elected president; colonel reeves, mr. price, mrs. mack and miss felice cohn, vice-presidents; mrs. nicholas, mrs. grace e. bridges and mrs. alice chism, recording and corresponding secretary and treasurer. a membership of was reported. the board of twenty-one directors included most of those who have been named and in addition dr. j. e. stubbs, president of the university; mrs. a. b. mckinley, dr. morris pritchard, w. d. trout, mrs. nettie p. hershiser, mrs. george armstrong, mrs. florence h. church, mrs. g. taylor, mrs. frank stickney.[ ] plans were made for a legislative lobby. a report of the organization was sent to mrs. mackay, who consented that her name should be used as honorary president but took no further interest in it or in the amendment campaign which soon followed and made no contribution. between the above meetings assemblymen arnold and byrne of esmeralda county had introduced a joint resolution on january to submit to the voters an amendment to the state constitution to give full suffrage to women. it was referred to the committee on elections, which on february reported it unfavorably. assemblyman j. a. denton of lincoln county secured a hearing before the committee of the whole on february and a large lobby from the society was present. mrs. stanislawsky and miss cohn addressed the committee, emphasizing the fact that each of the political parties had declared in its state platform for this referendum and all the women asked was to have the question sent to the voters. the resolution was put on file but at the bottom and every attempt to advance it failed but on march it appeared in regular order. speaker pro tem. booth wanted it indefinitely postponed but was overruled. after numerous parliamentary tactics it was at length passed by ayes, noes, four absent and the speaker not voting. the resolution was first read in the senate on march and referred to the committee on education. three days later it was reported without recommendation. it came before the senate march and after considerable "fencing" it passed by ayes, noes, one absent. mrs. stanislawsky, mrs. mack, professor wier, mrs. chism, miss cohn and mrs. nicholas had worked strenuously in the two houses. the constitution requires that a resolution for an amendment must pass two successive legislatures and the new association saw the task before it of getting the approval of another session in . it received national and international attention about this time through a banner six feet high and four wide, presented by mrs. arthur hodges of new york, with the words, nevada, votes for women, brought out in sage brush green letters on a field of vivid orange. this was shipped to new york and carried by miss anne martin of reno in a big parade in that city and then taken to london and carried by her and miss vida milholland of new york at the head of the american group in the great procession of the social and political union. headquarters were opened in the cheney building in reno, mrs. hodges assuming the rent, where visitors were made welcome and literature given out. a series of lectures until november were arranged, the first one in the congregational church, where mrs. stanislawsky gave an address to a crowded meeting. later she moved to california and in february, , mrs. mack called a meeting and miss anne martin was unanimously elected president. mrs. bridges, mrs. chism and mrs. mack were re-elected. the other members of the board chosen were: vice-presidents, mrs. f. o. norton, mrs. j. e. church, mrs. jennie logan, mrs. charles gulling, mrs. j. e. bray, miss b. m. wilson; recording secretary, mrs. burroughs edsall. an active executive committee was appointed and plans were made for a vigorous campaign. mrs. hodges continued to pay the rent of headquarters and a substantial bank account was built up by dues, subscriptions and collections at meetings. miss martin attended the national suffrage convention at philadelphia in november, where she told of the need of funds to further the campaign and secured many pledges and donations. dr. shaw, the president, promised $ , from the association after the amendment was submitted. mrs. oliver h. p. belmont and mrs. joseph fels had become honorary presidents and the former gave $ ; the latter made her contribution of $ later. the massachusetts association, through mrs. maud wood park, $ ; the national association, $ in cash and $ in literature; the _woman's journal_ $ . california and arizona gave funds and literature. a pamphlet entitled woman under nevada laws, by miss b. m. wilson, an attorney, had been published in a special edition of , and proved effective in rousing the women to a sense of their rights and wrongs. the rapid organization had its effect on legislators and politicians. the resolution for submitting an amendment was presented in both houses in and reported favorably by the judiciary committees. it passed in the house on january by ayes, noes, one absent; in the senate on january by ayes, noes. on march it was signed by the governor. the educational work was done through the press, the platform and entertainments. speakers of national note were secured, among them dr. shaw, mr. and mrs. james lees laidlaw, and mrs. charlotte perkins gilman, of new york; dr. charles f. aked, of san francisco; miss jane addams of chicago, and miss mabel vernon of washington. the meetings were attended by about three men to one woman. mr. laidlaw assisted in organizing a men's suffrage league, among whose members were supreme court justice frank norcross, dr. stubbs, superintendent of public instruction john edwards bray, s. w. belford, charles gulling, a. a. hibbard, professor j. e. church, captain applewhite, the rev. mr. adams, the rev. mr. sheldon, george taylor and john wright. at the annual meeting feb. , , it was announced that there were nearly , paid up members, with most of the counties organized and many town societies. "nevada, the black spot on the map! to make it white, give women the suffrage," was the constant slogan. miss martin, mrs. church, mrs. bray, miss wilson and mrs. bridges were re-elected. other members chosen were: vice-presidents, mrs. hugh brown, mrs. alexander orr, mrs. george west, mrs. lyman d. clark, jr., mrs. e. e. caine, mrs. harry warren; recording secretary, mrs. j. b. menardi; treasurer, mrs. mabel redman; auditors, mrs. p. b. kennedy, mrs. w. t. jenkins. in the little span of days that lay between the election of the state executive committee in and the legislative session of the sixteen counties were organized, each under a chairman. mrs. m. s. bonnifield as chairman of humboldt county, with her helpers, mrs. a. w. card, mrs. mark walser of lovelock and dr. nellie hascall of fallon, led their branches into the mining fields. it is not easy to realize the difficulties under which these women labored. mrs. h. c. taylor, chairman of churchill county, had to drive many miles from her ranch to attend every meeting. some of the chairmen were mrs. a. j. mccarty, mineral county; mrs. rudolph zadow, eureka; mrs. sadie d. hurst, washoe; mrs. bray, ormsby; mrs. f. p. langdon, storey; mrs. caine, elko; mrs. minnie comins macdonald, white pine. mrs. church, miss mary henry, mrs. hurst, mrs. belford, and mrs. maud gassoway were an active force in organizing societies at sparks, verdi and wadsworth in washoe county, the largest in the state. mrs. w. h. bray organized study classes in sparks and gave prizes for the best suffrage essays. mrs. hurst addressed large street crowds in reno every saturday night. an important feature of the campaign was the complete circularization of the voters with suffrage literature by the county organizations and from state headquarters by mrs. bessie eichelberger, state treasurer for two years, assisted by miss alexandrine la tourette of the state university; mrs. belford, mrs. p. l. flannigan, mrs. alf. doten, miss minnie flannigan, mrs. charles e. bosnell and mrs. john franzman. mrs. hood, the second vice-president, and chairman of civics in the state federation of women's clubs, was the leading factor in getting its endorsement at its meeting in reno, oct. , . nevada's population of only , is scattered over an area of , square miles, a territory larger than the whole of new england. of these, , are men over twenty-one years of age, of whom only , remained in the state long enough to vote at the last general election--an average of one voter to every five square miles. nevada has the smallest urban and the most scattered rural population in the united states. reaching and winning this vote was done mostly by press work and literature. the new voters on the registration lists were circularized. the personal contact with the voter was accomplished by street meetings in the cities and towns; in the rural communities by train, automobile, stage and even on horseback. all the political parties but the republican endorsed the amendment in their platforms and it was supported by labor unions representing , members. prestige and assistance were given by an advisory board consisting of u. s. senators francis g. newlands and key pittman, congressman e. e. roberts, governor tasker h. oddie, lieutenant governor gilbert c. ross, president stubbs, bishop robinson and many professional and business men. there was fierce opposition from some newspapers, including the reno _evening gazette_, the leading republican paper of the state, but active support from the _state journal_, owned and edited by george darius kilborn, formerly of new york, who was always in favor of woman suffrage. the _western nevada miner_, owned and edited by j. holman buck, gave much assistance in that part of the state. in canvassing and speaking tours over the state miss martin travelled over , miles and talked personally to nearly every one of the , voters. there are election precincts and over were organized with a woman leader. on nov. , , every county was carried for the amendment but four, each of these a county with one of the largest and oldest towns in the state. the vote in washoe county was , for, , against; in reno, the county seat, for, , against. ormsby county with carson city gave an adverse majority of only ; storey county with virginia city of only . the total vote was , ayes, , noes--the amendment carried by , . the cost of the whole three years' campaign was only a little more than $ , . at the annual meeting of the washoe county equal franchise society after the election it was evident that, having won suffrage, women recognized their new and enlarged responsibilities and were anxious to do something for the public welfare and their own development. a mass meeting was held in the y. w. c. a. building and the woman citizens' club was organized with a charter membership of . mrs. hurst was elected president. other officers were: vice-presidents, mrs. belford, mrs. c. h. burke, mrs. hood; corresponding secretary, mrs. mack; recording secretary, mrs. bessie mouffe; financial secretary, mrs. harold duncan; treasurer, mrs. eichelberger; auditor, mrs. katherine flett; librarian, mrs. f. c. macdiarmid. this club succeeded in getting a year as a required residence for those from other states seeking divorce and later another legislature proposed to repeal it and restore the six months. mrs. george f. nixon, wife of the former u. s. senator, was made legislative chairman and headed the women of reno who went almost _en masse_ to carson city to protest but the pressure on the other side was too strong and the old law was restored. in august, , the woman citizens' club endorsed mrs. sadie d. hurst of reno for the assembly, in recognition of what she had done for suffrage and for the club. she won at the primaries and also at the polls in november and was the first woman member. the submission of the federal woman suffrage amendment to the legislatures by congress seemed near and at the request of mrs. carrie chapman catt, the national president, a ratification committee was formed in december. helen t. (mrs. s. w.) belford was acting chairman with mesdames walser, hood, mckenzie, mack, church, boyd, bray, franzman, fannie b. patrick and emma vanderlith members. at the request of this committee a resolution was presented to the legislature by mrs. hurst on jan. , , asking this body to memorialize congress in favor of the amendment. it passed the assembly january with but one dissenting vote; the senate january unanimously and the nevada u. s. senators were requested to present and actively support it. in march the committee elected mrs. patrick delegate to the national suffrage convention in st. louis and in april it met to hear her report and details of the proposed league of women voters. the following july a meeting was held to listen to mrs. minnie s. cunningham of texas and mrs. ben hooper of wisconsin, who were touring certain states under the auspices of the national association, to consult the governors on the question of special sessions for the ratification of the federal amendment, which had been submitted in june. mrs. patrick and mrs. belford accompanied them to carson city and had an interview with governor emmet d. boyle. in september the committee considered the offer of a conference of officers and chairmen of the national league of women voters to be held in reno. it was arranged for november - , with mrs. mckenzie chairman of program, mrs. walser of finance, mrs. hurst of halls and mrs. belford of publicity. the conference met in the century club house. mrs catt, miss jessie r. haver, dr. valeria h. parker, mrs. jean nelson penfield and miss marjorie shuler, national chairman of publicity, were the guests of honor. a luncheon at the riverside hotel was attended by about men and women. an evening meeting was held in the rialto theater with mrs. patrick presiding. governor boyle introduced mrs. catt, who gave a rousing speech, wake up america, and the others were heard at this and other times on the various departments of the league's work. at the last session a state league of women voters was organized and later mrs. belford was elected chairman. ratification. governor boyle issued a call for the legislature to meet in special session feb. , , for the express purpose of acting on the federal amendment, and in his message when it convened he said: "while no certainty exists that the favorable action of nevada will in assure to the women of the united states the same voting privileges which our own women enjoy by virtue of our state law, it does appear certain that without our favorable action national suffrage may be delayed for such a time as to withhold the right to vote in a presidential election from millions of the women of america." to mrs. hurst, the one woman member, was given the honor of introducing the resolution to ratify in the house. on her motion the rules were suspended, the resolution was read the second time by title and referred to the committee on federal relations. a recess of ten minutes was taken and when the assembly reconvened a message from the senate was received stating that the resolution had passed unanimously. the house committee recommended it and mrs. hurst moved that it be placed on third reading and final passage. after this had been done she thanked the assembly for the honor accorded her and closed a brief but eloquent speech by saying: "there is no necessity of asking you to ratify, for i am proud of the men of the west and of nevada." as the vote was about to be taken w. o. ferguson of eureka county announced that he would vote against the ratification; that he was opposed to having the people of this state telling the women of the union whether or not they should vote and that he came to carson city especially to vote against the resolution. at this stage speaker fitzgerald stated that twenty-seven legislatures had already ratified the amendment but so far as he was aware no woman had presided over one taking such action and he had great pleasure in being able to request mrs. hurst to take charge of proceedings during roll call. twenty-five members answered in favor of ratification, and one, mr. ferguson, against it. mrs. hurst declared the resolution carried. at the suggestion of assemblyman sanai an opportunity was given to the women to address the legislators. those speaking were mrs. patrick, chairman, and mrs. belford, secretary of the ratification committee; mrs. church, president of the state federation of women's clubs, and mrs. eichelberger, chairman of its suffrage committee; mrs. hood, regent of the state university; mrs. maud edwards, president of the w. c. t. u., and mrs. l. d. gassoway. all expressed their appreciation of the special session, to which most of the members had paid their own expenses. governor and mrs. boyle invited the legislators and the ratification committee to the mansion for luncheon. and thus was closed the nevada chapter on woman suffrage. a story of the nevada suffrage campaign.[ ] in february, , miss anne martin of reno, who had spent the years - in england, during which she worked for suffrage under mrs. pankhurst, was elected president of the state equal franchise society. miss martin, a native of nevada, was a graduate of the state university; had the degrees of a.b. and a.m. from leland stanford university and had been professor of history in the former. she had studied abroad and travelled widely but her whole interest had now centered in woman suffrage. miss b. m. wilson of goldfield was elected vice-president and mrs. grace bridges of reno, secretary. mrs. stanislawsky had removed to california and the organization, with the long wait between legislatures and no definite work, had but a small membership, no county organizations and no funds. it was obvious to miss martin and her associates that, judging by the experience of other states, the legislative vote of must be regarded as merely complimentary and the real battle must be fought in . miss martin therefore began the campaign by organizing the state in . she paid her own expenses on speaking trips to every county for this purpose, also on journeys to california, to the mississippi valley suffrage conference at st. louis in april and to the national suffrage convention in philadelphia in november. here she enlisted the interest and financial support of national and state leaders and an advisory board of influential women outside of nevada was formed. in february, , her report made to the state suffrage convention in reno showed that the equal franchise society had been developed in one year into a state-wide body, with practically every county organized and a large number of auxiliary town societies, and with nearly one thousand paid-up members. there was a bank balance of several hundred dollars, from collections at meetings, monthly pledges of members and gifts from dr. anna howard shaw, mrs. joseph fels, mrs. oliver h. p. belmont, miss alice stone blackwell, mrs. george day (conn.), and connecticut and massachusetts suffrage associations and other eastern supporters, and from suffrage leagues of california, oregon, arizona and colorado. reports also showed that a press bureau had been organized at state headquarters (principally miss martin and mrs. bridges) by which nevada's forty-five newspapers, chiefly rural weeklies, were supplied regularly with a special suffrage news service; that every editor, all public libraries and railroad men's reading rooms, more than one hundred school districts and three hundred leading men and women throughout the state received the _woman's journal_ (boston) every week, which always contained nevada suffrage news; that every voter on the county registration lists had been circularized with suffrage literature. an advisory council of the state's most prominent men had been formed. every legislative candidate had been asked to vote for the suffrage amendment, if elected, and, as a result of the favorable public opinion created by the new state organization, more than the necessary number had pledged themselves in writing, so the day after the election in november it was known that there was a safe majority in the coming legislature if all pledges were kept. the legislative committee of the equal franchise society was on duty and within the first two weeks of the session, in january, , the amendment was passed by both houses and approved by governor oddie. the problem before the state convention at reno in february was how to educate the voters and overcome the active opposition of the liquor and other vested interests, which were determined to continue nevada "wide-open" by "keeping out the women." the convention re-elected miss martin and left in her hands the supervision of building up a majority for the amendment at the election in november, . during she had kept the state organization actively at work by trips through the northern and southern counties and by securing the help of suffrage speakers from other states. miss wilson, the vice-president and also president of the esmeralda county league, with headquarters at goldfield, was in general charge of the southern counties, which had a very large miners' vote. in november miss martin had gone as delegate to the national woman suffrage convention in washington, and there, in addition to promises of an organizer and money from dr. shaw, the national president, she secured from miss alice paul, chairman of the congressional union, the services of miss mabel vernon, perhaps its most capable organizer. she also obtained pledges of $ , from senator newlands; $ , from mrs. quincy a. shaw of boston through mrs. maud wood park; $ , from the national american woman suffrage association; $ from mrs. fels, $ from miss eileen canfield; also $ from mrs. w. o'h. martin of reno and many smaller sums from individuals and organizations. with the assurance of an adequate fund, amounting to over $ , in all, the final "drive" for suffrage for nevada women was begun after the state convention. miss vernon arrived, as promised, in april and at once made a trip around the state to strengthen the county and local organizations. at state headquarters in reno miss martin kept in touch with the work in every section of the state, wrote suffrage leaflets and planned the final campaign. its concrete object was to secure the endorsement of labor unions, women's clubs and political parties; to rouse as many women as possible to active work and to have at least one in charge of every voting precinct; to reach every voter in the state with literature and by a personal message through a house-to-house canvass, and to appeal to both men and women everywhere through press work and public meetings addressed by the best speakers in the country. the , voters were scattered over the enormous area of , square miles. there was only one large town, reno, with about , inhabitants, and three or four others with a population of a few thousands each; the rest of the people lived far apart in families or small groups, in mining camps on distant mountains and on remote ranches in the valleys. nothing could prevent a heavy adverse vote in reno and other towns where the saloons, with their annexes of gambling rooms, dance halls and "big business" generally, were powerful, so everything depended on reducing their unfavorable majority by building up the largest possible majorities in the mining camps and rural districts. "every vote counts" was the slogan. in july, , miss martin and miss vernon started out on their final canvass of the state, "prospecting for votes" in the mines, going underground in the vast mountains by tunnel, ladder or in buckets lowered by windlass to talk to the miners who were "on shift" and could not attend the street or hall meetings. to reach less than voters at austin, the county seat of lauder county, required a two days' journey over the desert, and many places were a several days' trip away from a railroad. by automobile, wagon, on horseback, climbing up to mining camps on foot, the canvassers went; making a house-to-house canvass of ranches many miles apart; travelling miles over the desert all day to speak to the "camp," which was always assembled on the street in front of the largest and best lighted saloon, on their arrival at dusk. many were the courtesies they received from shirt-sleeved miners and cowboys. they were also greatly assisted by the suffrage association's local chairmen, who would hastily secure substitutes to cook for their "hay crews" and drive miles to arrange meetings. they always tried to reach a settlement or hospitable ranch house for the night. where this was not possible they slept on blankets in hayfields or on the ground in the heart of the desert itself. the trip covered , miles. meanwhile at state headquarters in reno leaflets that had been carefully written as appeals to "give nevada women a square deal" were addressed to voters' lists as they registered for the approaching election, under the direction of the society's treasurer, mrs. bessie eichelberger. a state labor conference representing , members endorsed the amendment and every labor union that took a vote on it. the official endorsements of the democratic, progressive and socialist parties were obtained. individual republicans supported it but the party refused its approval and the leading republican newspaper, the reno _evening gazette_, under the orders of george wingfield, multi-millionaire, with other newspapers he controlled, bitterly fought the amendment to the last. only one or two newspapers, notably the _nevada state journal_, actively supported it but many published campaign news. reno papers contained over columns of suffrage matter. fremont older, editor of the san francisco _bulletin_, gave to state headquarters the valuable services and paid the expenses of miss bessie beatty, a member of its staff, to direct the state-wide press campaign of news and advertisements planned for september and october. with the assistance of president stubbs and in spite of the opposition of regent charles b. henderson, a college equal suffrage league was formed at the state university, under the leadership of miss clara smith, and a suffrage essay contest was promoted in the schools of the state. through judge william p. seeds' and miss martin's efforts a men's suffrage league was formed, to counteract the so-called business men's league, organized to fight the amendment. a state-wide anti-suffrage society was organized during the last months, led by mrs. jewett adams and mrs. paris ellis of carson, mrs. frank m. lee of reno and mrs. john henderson of elko. miss minnie bronson of new york and mrs. j. d. oliphant of new jersey, sent by the national anti-suffrage association, toured the state under their auspices. in contrast with the hardships of travel to remote places endured by the loyal workers for suffrage and the economic problems always to be solved, the speakers for the "antis" only visited the large towns, were provided with every obtainable luxury and the meetings well advertised and arranged. the organizer promised by the national suffrage association, mrs. laura gregg cannon, arrived in september and was sent at once to organize more thoroughly the southern counties, as success depended on an overwhelming vote from the miners and ranchers there. miss margaret a. foley of boston also came, as arranged by miss martin, for constant speaking through the northern and southern counties during the last two months. miss jane addams gave a priceless four days to a whirlwind tour. the overland limited was stopped for her to speak at elko and winnemucca. she ended her trip at reno, where she addressed an overflow mass meeting at the majestic theater just two weeks before election day. a large public dinner was given in her honor at the riverside hotel by the state franchise society. dr. shaw, tireless crusader and incomparable speaker, travelled swiftly through the state by train and automobile during the eight days she gave in october, which were filled with receptions and crowded meetings. mrs. martin gave a reception in her home in reno, whose hospitality was extended throughout the campaign to those who came from outside the state to help it. dr. shaw's strenuous itinerary included meetings at battle mountain, winnemucca, lovelocks, reno, washoe, carson city, virginia city, tonopah, goldfield, las vegas and caliente. she made many hundreds of votes for the amendment. other notable outside speakers and workers, whose interest was aroused by miss martin and who gave their services during the nearly three years' sustained effort, were miss annie kenney of london, mr. and mrs. james lees laidlaw, miss ida craft and "general" rosalie jones of new york; mrs. antoinette funk of chicago; mr. and mrs. william kent, dr. charles f. aked, j. stitt wilson, miss gail laughlin, dr. mary sperry, mrs. sara bard field, miss maud younger, miss charlotte anita whitney, mrs. alice park, mrs. eleanor stewart, mrs. mary ringrose of california. the last named did valuable work among the catholics. miss mary bulkley and mrs. alice day jackson, a granddaughter of isabella beecher hooker, whom miss martin had interested on her visit to connecticut, came at their own expense and for three weeks canvassed reno, carson city, virginia city and other places. miss vernon's work in organization and her many strong speeches on the streets of reno and in meetings throughout the state were an important factor in winning votes. while many splendid nevada women worked with enthusiasm and great efficiency in every county, yet without miss martin's leadership in organizing them and direction of the campaign during the years - - , and without the money she gave and raised, woman suffrage in nevada would probably have been delayed for several years. she personally contributed in her travelling expenses and other ways over $ , . aside from this sum the entire three years' campaign was made at a cost of $ , . out of the precincts in the state every one that had ten votes in it was canvassed and open air or hall meetings held before election. more than were organized, each with a woman leader, who, with her committee, "picketed the polls" every hour during election day, handing out the final appeal to give women a square deal by voting for the amendment. the suffrage map showing nevada as the last "black spot" in the west was printed in every newspaper and on every leaflet, put up in public places and on large banners hung in the streets. the amendment received the largest proportionate vote for woman suffrage on record. reno and washoe county, as had been anticipated, went against it by a majority that was brought down to . of the remaining fifteen counties, three others, the oldest in the state--ormsby, storey and eureka--also defeated the amendment, but the favorable majorities of the other northern counties and the staunch support of the miners in the south won the victory. esmeralda, a mining county and one of the largest in population, gave a majority for the amendment in every precinct. out of , votes cast on it, it had a majority in favor of , , and nevada gave its leverage on congress for the federal amendment. * * * * * at the annual convention of the state equal franchise society in reno in february, , the nevada woman's civic league was formed as its successor. it continued an affiliated member of the national american woman suffrage association, pledged to support the federal amendment. its object was to meet a general demand of the newly enfranchised women for information about the wise use of the ballot. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. o. h. mack, vice-president of the state equal franchise society. [ ] charter members besides those already mentioned were mrs. j. e. stubbs, j. d. layman, c. a. jacobson, mrs. jennie blanche taylor, mrs. julia f. bender, j. e. church, miss laura de laguna, grant miller, miss kate bardenwerper, mrs. w. h. hood, mrs. orr, mrs. boyd, mrs. george mckenzie, mrs. may gill. [ ] the history is indebted for this sketch to miss b. m. wilson, vice-president of the state equal franchise society during the campaign, - . chapter xxviii. new hampshire.[ ] there has been a woman suffrage association in new hampshire since with some of the state's most eminent men and women among its members. in it took on new life when the new england association, with headquarters in boston, sent mrs. susan s. fessenden to speak and organize. in miss mary n. chase of andover spent a month forming societies and a conference was held at manchester in december, addressed by mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association, and henry b. and miss alice stone blackwell, editors of the _woman's journal_. in the national board engaged miss chase as organizer for a month. a state suffrage association was formed with seven auxiliary clubs and the following officers were elected: president, miss chase, honorary president, mrs. armenia s. white, concord; honorary vice-presidents, ex-u. s. senator henry w. blair, u. s. senator jacob h. gallinger; vice-president, miss elizabeth s. hunt, manchester; secretary, miss mary e. quimby, concord; treasurer, the rev. angelo hall, andover; auditors, miss caroline r. wendell, dover; sherman e. burroughs (afterwards member of congress), manchester. a convention met in concord december to revise the state constitution and on the th captain arthur thompson of warner offered an amendment which struck out the word "male" from the suffrage clause. a hearing on it was granted on the th and mrs. catt and mr. and miss blackwell addressed the convention. after long discussion by the delegates it was voted on the th, by to that this amendment should be submitted to the voters with the revised constitution in march, . the state suffrage convention was held in december at the time the hearing took place. the officers of the state association did a great deal of work before the constitutional convention met to influence its action. miss chase spoke times before the local granges, an important factor in state politics. miss quimby circularized the delegates, prepared a leaflet of opinions from prominent citizens and aided in securing a petition of , . in january, , mrs. catt came and took charge of the campaign, remaining until the vote was taken in march. others from outside who gave their services without pay, speaking throughout the state, were dr. anna howard shaw, vice-president of the national association; mrs. j. ellen foster, mrs. harriot stanton blatch, mrs. mary d. fiske, mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff, mrs. maud wood park and mrs. mary e. craigie. the national association contributed $ , to the campaign and various states sent generous donations. among the new hampshire speakers were captain arthur thompson, the rev. charles w. casson (unitarian) of milford; the hon. oliver e. branch of manchester; the hon. clarence e. carr of andover. miss chase continued her work among the granges, addressing thirty-seven. miss quimby circularized , voters. mrs. white gave the headquarters in concord. seventy-five ministers preached sermons in favor of the amendment. so much interest was aroused that the opponents wrote for dr. lyman abbott of new york to come to concord. among the signers of the letter were former governor nahum batchelder of andover; judge edgar aldrich of the district court of littleton; winston churchill of cornish; irving w. drew of lancaster and george h. moses of concord.[ ] on march representatives' hall was packed to hear addresses against the amendment by miss emily p. bissell of delaware; mrs. a. j. george of brookline, mass.; judge david cross of manchester and dr. abbott. the concord _monitor_ of that date in a leading editorial said: "through a maudlin sense of false sentiment the constitutional convention sent this question to the people ... and the people will deal with it as it deserves." on march came the speeches of the suffragists. representatives' hall was even more crowded than before and scores were turned away. the hon. james o. lyford of concord presided and the speakers were mrs. catt, mr. branch, one of the ablest lawyers in the state, and henry h. metcalf of concord, founder and editor of the _granite monthly_. the amendment was submitted to the voters march with the constitution. the votes in favor were , ; against, , , lost by , . during the year the membership of the association more than doubled. the annual meeting was held in the unitarian church, milford, november , . in the national association engaged miss chase to do three months' organization work and the membership increased per cent. the annual meeting was held in the christian church at franklin november , , with addresses by the rev. nancy w. paine smith (universalist) of newfields and other state speakers. on oct. , , , the state convention was held at claremont with dr. shaw as the principal speaker. the most important work of the year had been the effort to secure a municipal suffrage bill. mrs. mary i. wood of portsmouth, president of the state federation of women's clubs, had been the chief speaker at the hearing. in the convention was held at concord, october , , with addresses by dr. shaw, mrs. wood, vice-president, and mrs. fannie j. fernald of old orchard, president of the maine suffrage association. mrs. white, now years old, gave reminiscences of the early days of the suffrage movement. among the clergymen taking part were the reverends edwin w. bishop (congregationalist); john vannevar, d.d. (universalist); daniel c. roberts, d.d. (episcopalian); l. h. buckshorn (unitarian); e. c. strout (methodist); john b. wilson (baptist), all of concord; and the rev. olive m. kimball (universalist) of marlboro. in the convention was held in manchester october with dr. shaw, national president, as the inspiring speaker. the state federation of labor had unanimously endorsed woman suffrage. on january at washington, d. c., had occurred the death of mrs. henry w. blair of plymouth and manchester, whose husband, u. s. senator henry w. blair, had secured the first vote in the senate on the federal suffrage amendment. both were lifelong friends of the cause. in prizes were offered in the state granges for the best essays in favor of woman suffrage and excellent ones were sent in. a lecture bureau had been organized and eighteen men and women were speaking at public meetings. on october mrs. mary hutchinson page of boston addressed a meeting at the home of agnes m. (mrs. barton p.) jenks, president of the concord society. the state convention was held in portsmouth november , , where dr. shaw as usual made the principal address and miss aina johanssen, a visitor from finland, gave an interesting account of woman suffrage there. by there was considerable advance in favorable sentiment and people of influence were seeing the justice of the cause. governor henry b. quinby and his wife gave their support. the rev. henry g. ives (unitarian) of andover and his wife were strong advocates. intensive work had been done in the granges, their state lecturer sending out instructions to discuss woman suffrage at april meetings. fifty-four grange essays were submitted for the prizes by the state association. resolutions in favor of woman suffrage were passed by the state woman's christian temperance union and the universalist state convention. the annual convention was held in manchester november , addressed by mrs. fernald and the rev. ida c. hultin (unitarian), sudbury, mass. in february, , miss ethel m. arnold of england lectured for the concord society in the parish house (episcopalian). the annual meeting was held in the free baptist church at franklin november , . among the speakers was the rev. florence kollock crooker (universalist) of roslindale, mass. miss chase had given addresses in thirty-one towns and cities and organized nine new committees. in an attractive booth at the rochester agricultural fair, made possible by miss martha s. kimball of portsmouth, drew crowds and , leaflets were distributed and hundreds of buttons and pennants sold. the free baptist convention passed a resolution favoring suffrage. mrs. jenks attended the congress of the international woman suffrage alliance at stockholm, sweden, as delegate. at a meeting of the concord society where the special guest was the woman's club, addresses were made by judge charles r. corning, mrs. winston churchill and mrs. jenks. the noted english suffragist, miss sylvia pankhurst, spoke there on march . in the convention was held in portsmouth december , in the chapel of the old north congregational church. the rev. lucius thayer, pastor since , and his wife were strong suffragists. mrs. maud wood park of boston made the principal address. miss chase after having held the presidency ten years declined re-election and was succeeded by miss kimball, who was re-elected for the next seven years.[ ] in a brilliant suffrage banquet, the first of its kind, was given at the eagle hotel, concord, on february , attended by notables from all parts of the state. mrs. wood was toast mistress. among the speakers were governor samuel d. felker, mrs. josiah n. woodward, president of the state federation of women's clubs, and william j. britton, speaker of the house. on may a debate was held in the woman's club of newport, between miss frances m. abbott of concord, press agent of the state association, and mrs. albertus t. dudley of exeter, president of the state society opposed to woman suffrage. the large audience voted in favor of woman suffrage. the convention was held at concord, december , , with addresses by mrs. katherine houghton hepburn, president of the connecticut association; witter bynner of cornish, the poet and playwright, and senator helen ring robinson of colorado. miss kimball subscribed $ , the largest individual contribution yet received. mrs. jenks gave a report of the meeting of the international suffrage alliance at budapest, which she attended. this year the charters of manchester and nashua were changed by the legislature to give school suffrage to women. in the convention was held in the y. m. c. a. hall, manchester, november , , with able state speakers. major frank knox, head of the manchester _union_, always strong for suffrage, presided in the evening. ten county chairmen were appointed. the association cooperated with that of vermont in a booth at the state fair at white river junction. in state headquarters in charge of miss abbott were opened in concord and continued five months during the legislative session. public meetings were addressed by mrs. marion booth kelley and mrs. park of boston; mrs. antoinette funk of chicago, member of the national congressional committee; mrs. deborah knox livingston of bangor and u. s. senator hollis of new hampshire. miss jeannette rankin of montana made a few addresses. a large illuminated "suffrage map" was framed and put in the state house and other public places. quantities of suffrage literature were sent out, including suffrage valentines and tickets for the suffrage film your girl and mine to the legislators. at the th anniversary celebration of the naming of concord on june an elaborate suffrage float and several decorated motor cars filled with suffragists, two of college women in caps and gowns, were in the procession. many members marched in the parade in boston october . through miss kimball's generosity mrs. mary i. post of california was sent for six months' work in the new jersey campaign. later she took charge of headquarters in manchester and in concord. the state convention was held at nashua december , . among the speakers were miss zona gale, the novelist; u. s. senator moses e. clapp of minnesota, and john r. mclane, son of former governor mclane of new hampshire. on may , , mrs. armenia s. white passed away at the age of . to her more than to any one person was the suffrage cause in new hampshire indebted. with her husband, nathaniel white, she had been from the first identified with the unpopular reforms, anti-slavery, temperance and equal suffrage. more men and women of national prominence had been entertained under their roof than in any other home in the state. a successful conference was held in manchester february , addressed by mrs. catt, president again of the national association, and mrs. susan walker fitzgerald of massachusetts. the state convention was held at concord november , , with dr. effie mccollum jones of iowa as the chief speaker. in february, , ten newspapers issued special suffrage editions with plate matter furnished by the national association and , extra copies were mailed, besides thousands of suffrage speeches and circulars. in march and april protestant, catholic and four jewish clergymen were circularized. the services of mrs. post were given to maine for two weeks' and to new york for six weeks' campaign work. money also was sent to the maine campaign. the state convention was held at portsmouth, november , , with addresses by mrs. park, mrs. post, mrs. wood, congressman burroughs and huntley l. spaulding of rochester, government food administrator. in as chairmen of committees, the state officers were almost submerged in war work, as were the other members of the association, but although no state convention was held they did not cease their suffrage duties. mrs. halsey w. wilson, national recording secretary, addressed a number of the leagues, urging them to keep alive their interest and be ready for the next step, which would be the ratification of the federal amendment. on august occurred the death of u. s. senator jacob h. gallinger. a staunch friend of woman suffrage for fifty years, much of the time vice-president of the state association, it seemed the irony of fate that death intervened when his vote and influence as republican leader would have carried the federal suffrage amendment without delay. senator hollis and representatives mason and burroughs were in favor of it. irving w. drew of lancaster, an avowed "anti," was appointed by governor henry w. keyes as senator until the fall election. it was said that he was urged to appoint an opponent by senator henry cabot lodge when he came to concord to deliver senator gallinger's funeral address. the situation was tense at the november election. senator hollis (democrat) declined to stand for another term and governor keyes (republican) was elected in his place. the two candidates for senator gallinger's unexpired term were george h. moses (republican) and john b. jameson (democrat). mr. moses was known as an uncompromising opponent while mr. jameson was a sincere suffragist. the prospects were good for mr. jameson's election when president wilson issued an appeal for the election of a democratic congress, which had the effect of stiffening the republican ranks and mr. moses was elected by a small majority. after his election the national association sent a representative to interview him. he told her that he was not interested in the question but that if the legislature should instruct him by resolution to vote for the federal amendment he would do so. it would not sit for some time and therefore mrs. anna tillinghast of boston, miss eva s. potter and mrs. arthur l. livermore of new york were sent by the national association, and in cooperation with the state association, secured a petition from more than two-thirds of the legislature, which numbered members, asking senator moses to vote for the amendment. when it was presented he said that he must insist on a resolution. when the legislature convened in senator moses made a trip to concord, took a room in a hotel and made it his office, where he was visited by members of the legislature. it was current opinion that he was using his influence against a resolution and the results bore out the conclusion. the resolution was introduced in the house january by robert m. wright of sanbornton and on the th in committee of the whole it granted a hearing. the galleries were crowded with people from all parts of the state and many women were invited to sit with the legislators. the speakers urging the resolution were: mrs. catt, mrs. wood, mrs. winfield l. shaw of manchester, also miss doris stevens representing the national woman's party. those opposing it were mrs. albertus t. dudley of exeter, president of the state anti-suffrage association; james r. jackson of littleton; mrs. john balch of milton, mass., and miss charlotte rowe of yonkers, n. y., representing the national anti-suffrage association. the resolution was carried by to votes. it was now most important to win the senate. the twenty-four members were again interviewed by the suffragists and seventeen declared their intention to vote for the resolution. on january it was introduced by senator john j. donahue of manchester and six senators voted for it, fifteen against it! it was generally believed and freely charged that senator moses, astounded at the vote in the house, had used all the influence he possessed to prevent the senate from concurring. it was publicly stated that senator lodge and other republican u. s. senators urged the members not to vote for the resolution. when the vote was to be taken three men, merrill shurtleff of lancaster, alleged to be the personal representative of u. s. senator john w. weeks of massachusetts, and the best lobbyist in the state, assisted by burns p. hodgman, clerk of the district court, and john brown of governor bartlett's council, appeared to confer with the legislators. at this time u. s. senators dillingham of vermont and wadsworth of new york published a letter in the papers of the state protesting against the action of the republican national committee in favor of the federal suffrage amendment. nothing was left undone to secure an adverse vote in the new hampshire senate. mrs. catt issued to the press a detailed record of each state senator, showing that of the who voted against the resolution had signed the petition to senator moses asking him to vote for the federal amendment. the adverse vote stood republicans, democrats; the republican president of the senate not voting. senator moses returned to washington and voted against the federal suffrage amendment every time it came before the senate; in february, , when it lacked only one vote, he disregarded an urgent appeal from theodore roosevelt made a few days before his death. * * * * * in march, , the national association sent one of its best organizers, miss edna wright, to interest the leagues in ratification and the state association retained her for the remainder of the year. invitations for a citizenship school at durham, july - , were sent out by the association and president hetzel of the state college, the first time in history that a state college had cooperated with women in such an undertaking. the school was organized by miss wright and presided over by mrs. wood, with the publicity and press conference in charge of miss marjorie shuler, sent by the national association. ratification. the federal suffrage amendment had been submitted by congress to the legislatures in june and the vital question now was ratification. a mass meeting was held in manchester at which governor bartlett announced that he was willing to call a special session to ratify. realizing from past experience that the association could have little influence with it, the board appointed huntley n. spaulding, a prominent citizen, chairman of a men's committee for ratification, and he called to his aid dwight hall, chairman of the state republican committee, and alexander murchie, chairman of the state democratic committee. the governor can not call a session without the consent of his council, which consists of five men. it met on august and the governor arranged to have a hearing for the women. mrs. olive rand clarke, mrs. winfield shaw of manchester, mrs. charles bancroft of concord and mrs. vida chase webb of lisbon made short speeches. after the hearing the council voted to call a special session for september . mr. hall and mr. murchie immediately got in touch with the members of the legislature belonging to their respective parties. under the direction of mr. spaulding a remarkable publicity campaign was inaugurated and the leading men of the state, many of whom had been extremely opposed to woman suffrage, gave interviews in favor of ratification. the manchester _union_ devoted its front pages to these interviews for three weeks. marked copies were sent not only to members of the legislature but to the committeemen of each of the parties. james o. lyford, dean of the republicans, put his political knowledge at the disposal of the committee. miss betsy jewett edwards came from the national woman's republican committee and did splendid work among the republicans, who made up a large majority of both houses. miss kimball, state president, gave devoted service and much financial assistance. miss wright had entire charge of the office work, publicity, organization, etc. the special session met on september and the governor sent a strong message calling for ratification. the house voted on the opening day, ayes to noes. the real test was in the senate, which on september gave forty minutes to outside speakers. mrs. mary i. wood spoke for the suffragists and mrs. f. s. streeter of concord, miss charlotte rowe and two senators for the opponents. the senate ratified by to and governor bartlett signed the bill without delay. the last meeting of the state association, its work accomplished, took place in manchester, november , , . mrs. nettie rogers shuler, national corresponding secretary, described the aims of the league of women voters, and, after discussion, it was decided to merge the association into a state league. miss kimball was elected chairman. the national association had contributed to new hampshire during the last year about $ , . legislative action: . a bill for municipal suffrage was introduced in the house by william f. whitcher of haverhill, a hearing granted and it was reported out of the judiciary committee by a vote of to but got no farther. . the bill was introduced by mr. whitcher but the house judiciary committee reported against it to . an attempt to have the minority report substituted was defeated february by a vote for indefinite postponement of to . . the chairman of the legislative committee, mrs. barton p. jenks, conducted an energetic campaign for the bill and a hearing was held before the judiciary committee, which reported to against it, and in the house on the question of substituting the minority report the vote was ayes; noes. . bills for municipal suffrage were introduced by mr. whitcher and george s. sibley of manchester. the large committee room was crowded for the hearing. the speakers were mrs. jenks, the rev. john vannevar, mrs. wood and miss chase, the latter presenting a petition of , names headed by governor and mrs. quinby and clarence e. carr, recent candidate for governor. the committee reported the bill favorably but on january the house voted to postpone indefinitely by to . . the association had two bills, one for municipal and one for presidential and county suffrage. the latter, introduced by raymond b. stevens of landaff, congressman-elect, had a hearing february , at which one of the chief affirmative speakers was dean walter t. sumner of chicago, later bishop of oregon, who was in town for the conference of charities and corrections. the judiciary committee reported the bill favorably but six out of fifteen members signed an adverse report. the debate in the house on march was particularly acrid. among the speakers in favor were levin j. chase of concord and edward c. bean of belmont, later secretary of state. the saloon element as usual was prominent in the opposition. the roll call showed ayes; noes. . the bill for municipal suffrage was unfavorably reported by the committee on revision of statutes. on march when the vote to substitute the minority report was taken the state house was crowded with eager throngs from all parts of the state. mr. chase, benjamin w. couch and james o. lyford spoke in favor. dr. thomas manley dillingham of roxbury represented the "antis." the vote was ayes; noes. a bill for presidential suffrage had previously been killed in committee. . bills for presidential and for county and municipal suffrage were introduced into both houses. the former was favorably reported by joseph p. perley, daniel j. daley and clarence m. collins of the senate committee with a minority report by obe g. morrison and michael h. shea, which was substituted february by a vote of to . the favorable report of eight of the fifteen members of the house committee was submitted by john g. winant, afterward vice-rector of st. paul's school, concord. the struggle came on march when it was debated for several hours with galleries crowded and finally defeated by to . on march the bill for municipal suffrage was defeated without debate or roll call. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss frances m. abbott, treasurer of the state college equal suffrage league, writer and genealogist. [ ] mr. drew and mr. moses as u. s. senators in were able to defeat the passage of the federal suffrage amendment, which lacked just two votes. mr. churchill afterwards became an earnest advocate of woman suffrage. [ ] it has been impossible to obtain a complete list of those who have served as officers but the following is a partial list of those not mentioned elsewhere. vice-presidents: mrs. ella h. j. hill, concord; mrs. frank knox, manchester; secretaries: the rev. olive m. kimball, marlboro; mrs. henry f. hollis, concord; dr. alice harvie, concord; mrs. edna l. johnston, manchester; mrs. arthur f. wheat, manchester; treasurers: henry h. metcalf, harry e. barnard, frank cressy, miss harriet l. huntress, all of concord; auditors: mrs. charles p. bancroft, concord; the rev. h. g. ives, andover; members national executive committee: mrs. ida e. everett and dr. sarah j. barney, franklin; witter bynner, cornish; mrs. churchill. chapter xxix. new jersey. part i.[ ] the first women in the united states to vote were those of new jersey, whose state constitution of conferred the franchise on "all inhabitants worth $ ." in the election law confirmed women's right to the suffrage and in the legislature illegally deprived them of it. in lucy stone, then a resident of new jersey, organized a state society, one of the first in the country, which lapsed after her removal to massachusetts a few years later. in a new state association was organized, which held annual meetings and was active thereafter, although interest diminished after women lost their school suffrage in . [see new jersey chapter volume iv.] mrs. florence howe hall, a daughter of mrs. julia ward howe, was president from until , when she declined re-election. mrs. minola graham sexton of orange was elected president at the annual meeting in moorestown in november. at that time there were but five local societies, which she soon increased to fifteen. with her during the five years of her presidency were the following officers: vice-presidents, mrs. susan w. lippincott of cinnaminson; catherine b. lippincott, hartford; corresponding secretaries, dr. mary d. hussey and mrs. bertha l. fearey, east orange, mrs. fanny b. downs, orange; recording secretaries, miss jennie h. morris, moorestown, miss helen lippincott, riverton; treasurer, mrs. anna b. jeffery, south orange; auditors, mrs. mary c. bassett and mrs. emma l. blackwell, east orange; mrs. anna r. powell and mrs. louise m. riley, plainfield. mrs. riley had started the first woman's club in the state in orange in . the orange political study club was the first suffrage club to join the state federation in , which invited other clubs to hear mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american suffrage association, give one of her convincing lectures. mrs. cornelia c. hussey of east orange held a meeting in her park to hear the reports of the four delegates who attended the national convention at minneapolis. dr. hussey gave out suffrage leaflets to the farmers on their "salt water day" at sea girt and to the congress of mothers at trenton. mrs. eliza dutton hutchinson, press superintendent, got some of the plate matter from the national association for the first time into four newspapers. letters were sent to progressive women telling them how the ballot would aid them in all good work and inviting them to join the association and many did so. the annual meeting was held in newark and mrs. howe hall was elected honorary president. in july, , mrs. sexton in cooperation with the national association, held the first of the seashore meetings that were continued every summer as long as she was president. they were held for two days in the tabernacle at ocean grove and welcomed by bishop fitzgerald and dr. a. e. ballard, heads of the camp meeting association. the speakers were mrs. catt, dr. anna howard shaw, vice-president of the national association, miss kate gordon, its corresponding secretary, and miss mary garrett hay, a national organizer. the mayor and two editors became advocates of the cause. at the friends' conference at asbury park in september a day was devoted to political equality and mrs. catt and mrs. mariana w. chapman, president of the new york state association, spoke. the annual meeting was held at orange and a board of directors was elected: the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, elizabeth; mrs. katherine h. browning, west orange; mrs. phebe c. wright, sea girt; mrs. joanna hartshorn, short hills; miss susan w. lippincott and mrs. elizabeth vail, east orange. memorials were read for mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and mrs. cornelia c. hussey and mrs. sexton told of the $ , mrs. hussey had left the national association and of her constant generosity to the suffrage work in new jersey for many years. mrs. howe hall and henry b. blackwell gave addresses. women's clubs were urged to devote a meeting to the discussion of woman suffrage and the woman's club of orange, the largest in the state, heard mrs. catt and the outlook club of montclair heard mrs. charlotte perkins gilman. mrs. florence fenwick miller of england addressed a number of leagues. miss susan b. anthony was heard early in may at the political study club of orange. in large audiences again attended the two-day suffrage rally under the auspices of the camp meeting at ocean grove. dr. shaw, mrs. hall, miss harriet may mills of new york and mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg of philadelphia were the speakers and the interest resulted in the starting of several leagues along the coast. with the help of the national association miss mills was engaged for a month, during which she formed ten new leagues, speaking twenty-four times in nineteen places. the leagues studied local government and found that women paid about one-third of the taxes. mrs. catt, mrs. ellis meredith of denver, mrs. stanton blatch of new york and miss alice stone blackwell of boston were heard by different leagues. the convention this year was held for the first time in trenton. in a special effort was made to bring the question of woman suffrage before other organizations and mrs. sexton spoke to the federation of women's clubs, the conference of charities and corrections and the state w. c. t. u.; dr. hussey spoke before the convention of the epworth league and the subject was presented to the state grange. at the ocean grove meeting mrs. emma bourne brought greetings from the state's , white ribboners. mrs. sexton and miss mills spoke at seaside meetings and five new leagues were formed. the state convention was held in the public library in jersey city and welcomed by dr. medina f. dehart, president of the political study club; miss cornelia f. bradford, head worker of whittier house; mrs. spencer wiart, president of the woman's club and mrs. andrew j. newberry, president of the state federation of women's clubs. at the ocean grove meeting in resolutions were adopted in memory of mrs. mary a. livermore. the state convention was held in orange. mrs. emma l. blackwell, a niece of lucy stone, was elected president and the other officers were re-elected. in miss anthony passed away and many leagues held memorial meetings. the woman's club of orange joined the suffrage association in holding one addressed by dr. shaw, preceding the state convention held there in union hall in november. henry b. blackwell traced the history of woman suffrage in new jersey from and made a plea for the presidential franchise for women, for which a committee was appointed. resolutions thanking the american federation of labor for its stand on woman suffrage and expressing sympathy with the imprisoned "suffragettes" in england were passed. in little suffrage work was done by the association owing to the absence of the president from the state. the leagues worked along many lines, for police matrons; for "school cities"; studied the lives of the pioneers and the constitution and laws of the state and held public meetings with good speakers. the annual convention met in the public library in newark and it was voted to petition congress for a federal suffrage amendment. dr. dehart was elected president and the other new officers were mrs. ella a. kilborn and miss mary d. campbell, secretaries. miss mary willits and mrs. mary b. kinsley were the only other officers who had been added in the past seven years. in at the state convention in bayonne mrs. clara s. laddey of arlington was elected president and miss emma l. richards of newark recording secretary. dr. hussey was made chairman of the committee on literature and petitions and the rev. mrs. blackwell was appointed to write to president roosevelt in behalf of the federal suffrage amendment, as requested by the national association. public lectures by dr. shaw, miss janet richards of washington and others were arranged for newark. dr. emily blackwell, of the new york infirmary for women, was made honorary president. mrs. laddey visited all the leagues and spoke before many societies, including the large german club at hoboken. with dr. hussey she attended the state convention of the federation of labor and obtained its endorsement of the federal suffrage amendment. she put new life into the association and was re-elected at the state convention in at newark. over fifty delegates were present and it was reported that , names were on the petition to congress which the socialists, granges, w. c. t. u.'s and trade unions had helped secure, and they had given an opportunity for much educational work. committees on legislation and organization were formed. mrs. sexton was elected honorary president; mrs. elizabeth t. bartlett of arlington was made historian and mrs. mary l. colvin of east orange, corresponding secretary. resolutions were adopted in memory of henry b. blackwell and william lloyd garrison. professor francis squire potter, corresponding secretary of the national association, delivered a very able address. in the fall of two young women in east orange, dr. emma o. gantz and miss martha klatschken, started the progressive woman suffrage society and held the first open air meetings in the state. the first one took place on a saturday night at the corner of main and day streets in orange, the speakers mrs. j. borrman wells of england, miss klatschken and miss helen murphy of new york. the next was in newark. the crowds were always respectful, listened and asked questions. much literature was given out. a political equality league of self supporting women, a branch of the one in new york organized by mrs. stanton blatch, was formed by mrs. mina van winkle, later called women's political union. at the january board meeting in mrs. ulilla l. decker was made chairman of organization and mrs. minnie j. reynolds of the press committee. mrs. laddey reported having received an invitation to bring greetings to a meeting at the home of mr. and mrs. richard stevens at castle point, hoboken, to form a new jersey branch of the equal franchise league which mrs. clarence mackay had organized in new york. at an adjourned meeting on february mrs. decker reported having consulted mrs. catt, dr. shaw, miss mary garrett hay and others in new york and also in new jersey about the proposed new league. mrs. laddey urged harmony among all workers and she, dr. hussey, miss emma l. richards and others attended the meeting at castle point. the equal franchise society of new jersey was formed there with mrs. thomas s. henry of jersey city president; mrs. caroline b. alexander, hoboken, mrs. everett colby, west orange, mrs. george harvey, deal, and miss alice lakey, cranford, vice-presidents; mrs. harry campton, newark, corresponding secretary; miss richards, newark, recording secretary; mrs. charles campbell, hoboken, treasurer. the delegation of the state association to the national convention in washington in april rode in the procession to the capitol and presented a petition to congress for a federal amendment containing over , signatures from new jersey. at the great parade held in new york on the last saturday in may it was represented by its president and seven members. its first experience with street speaking was in military park in june with mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff of brooklyn as the speaker and a respectful audience. open air meetings were also held in asbury park at which mrs. laddey and mrs. emma fisk spoke. miss richards took charge of a booth at the olympic park fair, assisted by mrs. campton. charles c. mason was thanked for reviewing the laws of the state relating to women compiled by miss laddey. lucy stone's birthday was celebrated august in six places in memory of her pioneer work in the state. mrs. laddey organized leagues in montclair and asbury park and spoke at seven public meetings. money was contributed to the south dakota, washington and oklahoma campaigns and to the national treasury. congressmen were questioned as to their stand on woman suffrage. dr. shaw was heard at the conference of governors at spring lake. the convention of was held in plainfield welcomed by mrs. c. r. riley, the local president. the rev. mrs. blackwell paid a tribute to mrs. julia ward howe, who had passed away, and after resolutions by mrs. colvin the "battle hymn of the republic" was sung. mrs. decker presented a flag to the association in honor of mrs. sexton, the former president. mrs. kinsley gave a greeting from the equal franchise society. how it works in wyoming was told by mrs. may preston slosson, ph.d., and dr. edwin a. slosson. in the evening mayor charles j. fisk welcomed the convention. professor earl barnes, who had resided two years in england, gave an address on the englishwoman. champlain lord riley of plainfield announced the organization in newark on march of the men's league for woman suffrage with dr. william l. saunders of plainfield, president; merton c. leonard, arlington, vice-president; dr. edward s. krans, plainfield, secretary; edward f. feickert, dunellen, treasurer and members.[ ] mrs. laddey was re-elected. four new committees were appointed on church work, mrs. bartlett, chairman; industrial problems relating to women and children, miss bessie pope; endorsement by organizations, mrs. laddey; education, mrs. riley. public meetings were held in the various cities; prizes for school essays were awarded and a year book published. with the equal franchise society the association had a hearing before the state senate committee on education, joseph s. frelinghuysen, chairman in behalf of a school suffrage bill. mrs. laddey, mrs. george t. vickers, mrs. philip mckim garrison, mrs. frederick merck, and mrs. kinsley appeared for the suffragists. the committee approved it but the legislature rejected it. in january, , a luncheon was given by the association in newark to mrs. minnie j. reynolds, who had returned from work in the victorious campaign in the state of washington. at a board meeting it was decided that some plan must be adopted for enrolling non-dues-paying members similar to that of the woman suffrage party of new york. this name was taken for new jersey and an enrollment committee was formed with mrs. lillian f. feickert of dunellen chairman, to organize by political districts. over a hundred new jersey women marched in the second new york parade on may . the life and work of susan b. anthony was placed in libraries. the three associations agreed to unite in work for a suffrage measure in the legislature and dr. luella morrow, miss laddey, miss grace selden and mrs. howe hall were appointed to have charge of it. mrs. bartlett secured the favorable opinions of twelve new jersey clergymen and had them printed for circulation. the equal justice league of young women was started in bayonne with eighty members, miss dorothy frooks, president. at this time the state association had fourteen branches and about members. the convention of was held in willard hall, passaic, in november. all rose to greet the rev. antoinette brown blackwell when she entered. mayor george n. seger in his welcome said that all women who paid taxes should vote and with the ballot women could help many needed reforms. a hundred copies of the new york _american_ with an editorial on woman suffrage in new jersey sent by arthur brisbane were distributed. it was voted to ask governor woodrow wilson, as a presidential candidate, if he favored woman suffrage. mrs. rheta childe dorr of the editorial staff of _hampton's magazine_ appealed for legislation in behalf of working girls. miss emma mccoy, president of the new brunswick teachers' association, made a plea for equal pay for women teachers. addresses were given by robert elder, assistant district attorney of kings county, n. y.; mrs. raymond brown of new york, miss melinda scott of newark, treasurer of the national women's trade union league, and judge william h. wood of new york. dr. hussey told of , leaflets distributed. mrs. feickert described the successful house-to-house canvass in jersey city by miss pope and herself, by which the membership had increased to , . mrs. decker announced the opening of the first state headquarters the next week in newark with a volunteer committee in charge, mrs. george g. scott, chairman. mrs. vernona h. henry of newark was elected recording secretary and no other change was made in the board, most of whom had served over ten years. with the cooperation of all the societies the meeting at the auditorium in newark addressed by mrs. emmeline pankhurst of england was a great success. this record of details, much condensed, represents the seed-sowing in the first decade of the century in preparation for the harvest which came at the end of the second decade. new jersey. part ii.[ ] in december, , a joint legislative committee, representing the four woman suffrage organizations in new jersey was formed with mrs. george t. vickers as chairman, and in january, , a resolution for a submission to the voters of a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution was first introduced in the legislature at the request of this committee. on oct. , , a parade was given in newark under the auspices of the state suffrage association with all four organizations represented among the marchers, who numbered about , men and women. this was followed by a well-attended mass meeting at proctor's theater, arranged by the women's political union, at which dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national suffrage association, was the principal speaker. the twenty-second annual convention of the association was held in trenton in november, when the following officers were elected: president, mrs. e. f. feickert; first vice-president, mrs. f. h. colvin; second, miss elinor gebhardt; corresponding secretary, mrs. charles p. titus; recording secretary, mrs. charles p. eaton; treasurer, mrs. anna b. jeffery; auditor, miss bessie pope. twenty-five local branches were reported with a total membership of , . in december the legislative committee was re-organized on the basis of equal representation for each of the four organizations. mrs. everett colby was elected chairman and mrs. minnie j. reynolds was engaged as legislative secretary, who resigned in six months to become field organizer for the women's political union. this committee continued to function until , when the women's political union, the equal franchise society and the men's league having disbanded and their branches having joined the state association the political work was taken over by its legislative committee. in mrs. philip mckim garrison succeeded mrs. colby and she was succeeded by mrs. robert s. huse in . among those who served actively were miss bessie pope, who gave valuable and continuous service to the completion of suffrage work in ; champlain lord riley, william l. saunders, everett colby, mrs. mina c. van winkle, mrs. reynolds, mrs r. t. newton, miss belle tiffany, mrs. colvin, mrs. james billington and mrs. feickert. in june, , the women's political union held its first state conference, at which the following officers were elected: president, mrs. van winkle; vice-presidents, miss julia s. hurlbut, mrs. e. t. lukens, mrs. h. r. reed, mrs. w. h. gardner, miss edna c. wyckoff, mrs. r. t. newton, miss louise antrim, mrs. carl vail, miss louise connolly; recording secretary, miss sara crowell; executive secretary, mrs. reynolds; financial secretary, mrs. amelia moorfield; treasurer, mrs. stewart hartshorne. this was the only state-wide conference held until after the referendum election in and these officers continued to serve. the equal franchise society's president, mrs. vickers, served from until it disbanded in . other active members were mrs. h. otto wittpen and mrs. mary b. kinsley. on march , , the state association held a jubilee mass meeting in newark to celebrate submission of a state suffrage amendment by the legislature. this spring it held a large and successful school for suffrage workers in newark and the expenses of two volunteer organizers were paid for several months, mrs. u. l. decker and miss dille hastings. in august its representatives took part in the demonstration at washington, arranged by the national congressional committee, when petitions were presented to the senate asking for the immediate submission of the federal amendment, mrs. champlain lord riley, mrs. colvin, miss helen lippincott, miss edith abbott and mrs. feickert. the new jersey petitions of several thousand names were unwillingly presented by senator james e. martine, who made a speech against woman suffrage at the same time. at the annual convention held in newark in november reports showed that the membership had more than doubled during the year, there being now local branches with over , members. three changes took place in the board, miss lippincott, elected second vice-president; mrs. edward olmsted, treasurer and mrs. arthur hunter, auditor. just after this convention a delegation of from the association and from the political union went to washington at the request of the national congressional committee to interview president wilson in behalf of favorable action on the federal amendment by the house of representatives. the committee could not arrange for a special interview but finally saw him by going to the white house at the hour set aside for the reception of the general public and made their request. the president was cordial and said that he was giving the matter careful consideration and hoped soon to take a decided stand which he thought the suffragists would find satisfactory. the speakers were its chairman, mrs. feickert, mrs. van winkle and miss melinda scott, who represented the organized working women of new jersey. in april, , the state headquarters were transferred to plainfield, the home of the president, who took charge of them. board meetings were held in different sections of the state each month, followed by open conferences for suffragists from the nearby towns. each of these was attended by from to and resulted in greatly increased activity in the branches. during the summer a number of county automobile tours were made, a "flying squadron" of decorated cars going from town to town, holding meetings and distributing literature. these tours were well worked up and advertised and very successful. a great deal of the work connected with them was done by miss florence halsey, a volunteer field organizer. during july a week of suffrage meetings was held in asbury park, the auditorium there given free on condition that there should be debates and not merely presentations of suffrage. over a hundred columns of publicity were secured for them in the new jersey papers and during the week the hotels of asbury park and nearby resorts were canvassed and thousands of leaflets and circulars given out. this year over , pieces of literature were distributed by the state association and the political union. a weekly press service was established by the association and news bulletins and special stories were sent regularly to over one hundred papers. the local branches of the association increased to and of the political union to , with a membership of , and , respectively. at the annual convention of the association held in camden in november the new officers elected were, second vice-president, mrs. robert p. finley; corresponding secretary, mrs. bayard naylor; recording secretary, mrs. l. h. cummings. all attention and action were centered on the approaching campaign. the resolution to submit the amendment had passed two legislatures and was to go to the voters at a special election oct. , . a cooperative committee was formed of three from the state association and the women's political union each and one each from the equal franchise society and the men's league. a committee of one hundred was also organized to raise money for the campaign, mrs. colby chairman. it obtained $ , which were used for the expenses of the press committee, that had its office at the national suffrage headquarters in new york, for news bulletins every day, plate matter, interviews, stories, advertising cards and posters in the trolley cars and the stations of the hudson tunnels system; illuminated signs and street banners in new jersey cities and a half-page advertisement in all the papers of the state at the end of the campaign. the executive secretary was mrs. flora gapen charters. the total amount of money raised and spent by the state and local organizations was approximately $ , , obtained by dues and pledges, by collections at mass meetings, special luncheons and very largely by personal contributions from men and women. the state association increased to branches in twenty-four cities. the political union maintained a large headquarters in newark. over , , pieces of literature and , buttons were distributed. the association circularized all the women's organizations of the state, the fraternal organizations, clergymen, grange officers, lawyers, office-holders and other special groups. speakers were sent to grange picnics and county fairs. street meetings took place regularly in all the principal cities and towns and automobile tours over the state. over , outdoor and indoor meetings were held. four paid and thirty volunteer organizers were kept in the field for eight months. the association arranged a conference of the leaders of the four campaign states, new york, pennsylvania, massachusetts and new jersey, which was held in east orange in connection with the celebration on august of the birthday of its founder, lucy stone. there was a pilgrimage of suffragists from almost every county, and, after exercises at her old home and the unveiling by her daughter, alice stone blackwell, of a tablet placed in front of the house, there was an automobile parade through the nearby towns, winding up with a mass meeting in the park in east orange, where dr. shaw and ex-governor john franklin fort were the principal speakers. the women's political union conducted a "handing on the torch" demonstration which was quite effective. the new york union supplied a large torch of bronze, which mrs. h. o. havemeyer, representing new york, took with her on a tugboat half way across the hudson river, where she was met by a new jersey tug bearing mrs. van winkle, to whom the torch was delivered. it was sent about the state to twenty or more towns where the union had branches and its arrival was made the occasion for an outdoor reception and mass meeting. the women's anti-suffrage association was also busy. it paid the salaries and expenses of two new jersey speakers, mrs. o. d. oliphant of trenton and john a. matthews of newark, an ex-assemblyman, and brought in a number of outside speakers. it never claimed to have more than fifteen local branches and , members. among the more prominent were the president, mrs. e. yarde breese of plainfield; mrs. thomas j. preston, mrs. garrett a. hobart, mrs. carroll p. bassett, miss anna dayton, robert c. maxwell, miss clara a. vezin, mrs. hamilton f. kean, mrs. alexander f. jamieson, mrs. charles w. macquoid, mrs. thomas b. adams, miss anne mcilvaine and mrs. sherman b. joost. james r. nugent of newark, prominent as the champion of the "wets" and the "antis," paid the salary of edward j. handley, an ex-newspaperman of newark, and gave him a suite of offices in the wise building with several clerks. his "publicity" kept the amendment on the front pages of the papers and the suffragists were always able to refute and disprove his statements. the intensive campaign carried on among the editors for the past two or three years bore fruit and per cent. of the newspapers by actual canvass favored the amendment, and frequently when the front page carried a story against suffrage it was contradicted on the editorial page. among editors who were particularly strong friends were james kerney and john e. sines of the trenton _evening times_; joseph a. dear and julius grunow of the jersey city _journal_; john l. matthews of the paterson _press guardian_; george m. hart of the passaic _daily news_; the boyds of the new brunswick _home news_; j. l. clevenger of the perth amboy _evening news_; william h. fischer of the new jersey _courier_; george w. swift of the elizabeth _daily journal_ and e. a. bristor of the passaic _herald_. three weeks before the election president wilson announced himself in favor of the amendment, and he and his private secretary, joseph p. tumulty, made a special trip to new jersey to vote for it. this had a marked effect over the country. the legislative committee having secured a bill allowing women to watch at the polls, watchers' schools were held in every important city under the direction of mrs. colvin, with the result that at the election , of the , polling places in the state were supplied with trained women watchers. on election day nugent and his lieutenants worked all day at the newark polling places and the suffragists were positive that hundreds of voters were imported from new york and other places, which was possible because men could vote on the amendment without having previously registered. nugent is reported to have said: "we knew we had the amendment beaten when the election was put on registration day." this was done against the protests of the suffragists. men voted on it at the same time they registered and in the police canvass made before the general election, the names of several thousand illegally registered were taken off the books in essex and hudson counties, all of whom had a chance to vote on the amendment. all day in all the cities the women watchers saw little groups of men taken into saloons opposite the polling places by persons avowedly working to defeat it, instructed how to vote on it, marshalled to the polling place and after voting taken back to the saloon to be paid. finding at the last moment that no provision was made by the state to pay for sending in returns from special elections, the state association arranged with the associated press to obtain its own returns and a wire was run into the suffrage headquarters in jersey city. by midnight complete returns were in from per cent. of the state, due to the splendid cooperation of the county and local suffrage chairmen, who knew only one day in advance that this work would be required of them. a manager of the associated press said that they had never handled an election where the returns came in faster or more accurately and few where they came in as well. the election resulted in a vote of , , a very large one considering that the presidential vote in had been only , . the vote in favor of the suffrage amendment was , , or per cent. of the whole; against, , , defeated by , . ocean county was the only one carried but cities and towns were carried and a number of counties gave from to per cent. in favor. two weeks after their defeat several hundred new jersey suffragists went to new york and philadelphia to march in the suffrage parades, taking the biggest and best band in the state and carrying at the head of their division a runner twenty feet long reading: new jersey--delayed but not defeated. the state convention of was postponed until january, , when it was held in elizabeth. there were then local branches with a membership of over , . no discouragement was visible but a program of educational work and intensive organization was adopted, money was pledged for the salaries of three field organizers and it was decided to have a bill for presidential suffrage introduced in the legislature. mrs. ward d. kerlin, second vice-president, was the only new officer elected. a new constitution was adopted putting the association on a non-dues-paying basis, providing for an annual budget and re-organization of the state by congressional districts. in june new jersey was represented at the national republican convention in chicago by mrs. feickert, miss esther g. ogden, mrs. e. g. blaisdell, miss a. e. cameron and mrs. joseph marvel. all of the new jersey delegates were interviewed and twelve of the twenty-eight promised to support a suffrage plank in the platform. in july the women's political union disbanded and its local branches joined the state association. the national suffrage convention held at atlantic city in september gave a great impetus to the state work. the annual convention met in jersey city in november, where it was decided to conduct a strenuous campaign during for presidential suffrage and for the federal amendment and to employ four field organizers. the new officers elected were mrs. john j. white, miss lulu h. marvel, mrs. j. thompson baker, vice-presidents; miss anita still, auditor. the rev. antoinette brown blackwell and dr. mary d. hussey were added to the list of honorary presidents. a bill for presidential suffrage was introduced in the legislature in february, , and everything was going finely when war was declared. the suffrage association was the first women's organization in the state to offer its services to the governor and was publicly thanked by him for its patriotic stand. at his request it conducted a canvass of women nurses, doctors and clerical workers and received letters of thanks from him and the adjutant general for this very successful piece of work. it cooperated in the organization of a woman's division of the state council of national defense and its president, mrs. feickert, was vice-chairman of the council. the association purchased and operated a soldiers' club house and canteen in the town of wrightstown, near which camp dix was located. it was opened in november, , and was kept open until june, , by volunteer workers. over $ , were raised for it, one-fifth of this amount being contributed by mrs. white. more than , men were entertained there. officers and members of the association responded to all demands of the war. the annual convention was held in the capitol at trenton in november. reports showed that only thirty of the hundreds of local branches had dropped suffrage work because of their war activities, and the spirit was one of determination that the battle for real democracy in the united states should be kept up just as actively as the war against autocracy abroad. mrs. wells p. eagleton was elected a vice-president, mrs. e. g. blaisdell a secretary and mrs. f. w. veghte an auditor. the state federation of colored women's clubs was accepted as an affiliated organization and its president, the rev. florence randolph, was made a member of the state board. the convention voted to make its special work for the year the collecting of a monster petition of women, to be so worded that it could be used in congressional work for the federal amendment and with the legislature for ratification. in the summer of u. s. senator william hughes, who was pledged to vote for the federal amendment, died and the candidate for the office was david baird, a strong anti-suffragist. as only one more vote in the senate was needed to pass the amendment the national association asked the new jersey association to do its best to defeat him. an active campaign was carried on for two months but he was too powerful a party leader, though he ran , votes behind the rest of the ticket. he voted against the amendment every time it came before the senate. because of the baird campaign and the general unsettled feeling around the time of the signing of the armistice the annual convention was postponed to may, , when it was held in atlantic city. the ratification petitions collected the preceding year had over , names of women not previously enrolled as suffragists. mrs. h. n. simmons, vice-president, and mrs. f. t. kellers, auditor, were the only new officers elected. it was voted that the other state organizations of women should be asked to join in the campaign for ratification of the federal amendment by the legislature. the committee was organized in july, , with the following organizations represented: woman suffrage association, federation of women's clubs, federation of colored women's clubs, woman's christian temperance union, public health nursing, teachers' association; chairman, mrs. feickert; secretary, mrs. james simister; treasurer, mrs. olmsted. a finance committee was appointed--mrs. seymour l. cromwell, mrs. colby and mrs. hunter--which raised over $ , . the principal contributors were mrs. cromwell, mrs. colby, judge and mrs. john j. white, mrs. wittpenn, mrs. hartshorne, mrs. lewis s. thompson and mrs. robert stevens. a very active primary and general election campaign was made in for the election of men pledged to vote for ratification, in which , personal letters were sent out, all kinds of organizations were circularized and about , , pieces of literature were distributed. a state ratification mass meeting at asbury park in august opened the campaign and local meetings were held in every county. a governor and a majority in both houses were elected who were pledged to ratification. a men's council for ratification was organized in december with everett colby as chairman, governor edward i. edwards and u. s. senators joseph s. frelinghuysen and walter e. edge as honorary chairmen and of the most prominent democrats and republicans in the state as vice-chairmen. this was not an active organization but the fact that the leaders of their parties allowed their names to be used had considerable influence upon many legislators. in january, , campaign headquarters were opened in trenton near the state house in charge of miss julia wernig, field organizer of the association, where a great deal of literature was given out and other work done. on january in crescent temple, trenton, the ratification committee staged the most spectacular suffrage mass meeting ever held in new jersey. its special purpose was to present to the governor, the president of the senate and the speaker of the house the huge suffrage petition containing almost , names of women, arranged by counties and towns. the hall was beautifully decorated with american flags and suffrage banners and a fine band played at intervals. the speakers were governor edwards, president of the senate clarence e. case, speaker of the assembly w. irving glover and mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national suffrage association. the twenty-one county chairmen and representatives of the women's organizations composing the committee were seated on the platform and at the proper time each came forward with her petitions and was presented to the governor and the legislative officials by mrs. feickert, who presided. about , women and most of the legislature were present and there was much enthusiasm. ratification. the federal suffrage amendment was submitted by congress june , . the resolution for ratification was the first measure introduced when the legislature convened in , by senator william b. mackay, jr., of bergen county and assemblyman henry g. hershfield of passaic county. a public hearing was held february with mrs. feickert chairman. the principal suffrage speakers were u. s. senator selden spencer of missouri, mrs. robert s. huse, mrs. harriman n. simons and the rev. florence randolph. each of five others representing various women's organizations spoke for two minutes. that day the senate ratified by ayes, noes, two men voting in favor who had been pledged against it. the opposition then concentrated its efforts upon the assembly, where various tricks were played which in the end were unsuccessful. u. s. attorney general a. mitchell palmer had written to each of the democratic members urging his support. the evening that ratification was to be voted on, february , the chamber was jammed and it was evident that the opposition intended to "filibuster" all night rather than allow the resolution to pass. one motion after another was made by the leader of the opposition, assemblyman hugh barrett of essex, nugent's special representative, and after a hot fight and much talking they were defeated. mr. nugent was outside in the corridor constantly sending in messages to his delegation and it was understood that he was offering anything the assemblymen might ask for their votes against ratification. the women suffragists were present in force helping their friends to maintain their determination to vote on the resolution that night. it was a stormy session, the "filibuster" going on steadily from p. m. finally the opposition gave up the fight and at ten minutes to o'clock in the morning the assembly passed the resolution by ayes, noes. the gallery was still filled with women, who were most enthusiastic. the resolution was signed promptly by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house and the governor sent it to washington by a special messenger. the suffragists felt especially indebted to senators william n. runyon, c. d. white and arthur whitney and to assemblymen william a. blair, emmor roberts, henry g. hershfield and william george for their work in party caucuses as well as on the floor. governor edwards and mayor frank hague of jersey city (the democratic leader of the state) were responsible for the solid vote of all the democrats except those under the control of nugent. u. s. senators frelinghuysen and edge and attorney general mccran also rendered most valuable assistance. the state suffrage association celebrated the successful termination of its over fifty years of continuous effort by a victory convention held in newark on april , . leading features were a victory banquet with prominent men of both political parties as speakers, and a pioneers' luncheon, at which dr. mary d. hussey, mrs. florence howe hall, mrs. minola graham sexton, mrs. clara s. laddey and other early workers spoke. before the close of the convention the state league of women voters was organized to carry on the work for good government and better conditions through the use of the power which had been secured for them by the older association. mrs. john r. schermerhorn was elected chairman. legislative action: . the first resolution for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the voters was introduced in february by senator william c. gebhardt in the senate and assemblyman a. r. mcallister in the house. a public hearing was held on march at which mrs. vickers presided and the speakers for the suffrage side were mrs. hall, mrs. henry villard, mrs. charlotte perkins gilman, mrs. clara s. laddey, george t. vickers and linton satterthwaite. miss anna dayton presided for the "antis" and mrs. e. n. loomis was their principal speaker. the vote in the senate was noes, ayes--senators gebhardt of hunterdon county, j. warren davis of salem and g. w. f. gaunt of gloucester. in the assembly the resolution was finally forced out of an unfavorable committee but was tabled by a vote of ayes, noes. . in january the resolution was introduced by senator j. warren davis and assemblyman charles m. egan. a hearing was held february at which mrs. everett colby presided and the speakers were dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american suffrage association; u. s. senator shafroth of colorado, everett colby, george la monte and cornelius ford, president of the state federation of labor. the resolution passed the senate by ayes, noes, and the assembly by ayes, noes. a few weeks later it was discovered that the word "or" appeared in the printed resolution instead of "and," making it necessary to have a new one introduced, which went through by the same vote. the new jersey law in regard to constitutional amendments provides that after being submitted by one legislature they must be advertised in every county for three months prior to the next election, acted upon favorably by the succeeding legislature and then voted on at a special election, the date of which it decides. after the passage of the referendum resolution in the legislative committee took up with the secretary of state the matter of advertising and were assured that it would be attended to and they could go home and "forget it," which they trustingly did. when no advertisements appeared members of the committee hurried to trenton and learned that governor james f. fielder was responsible. his excuse was that his secretary had mislaid the resolution and forgotten to remind him of it. . the resolution was introduced in january by senator charles m. egan and assemblyman joseph m. branegan, both of hudson county. it passed the senate by ayes, noes, and the assembly by ayes, noes. . the advertising was properly done for this year and the resolution came up for second passage in january, introduced by senator blanchard h. white and assemblyman robert peacock, both of burlington county. a hearing was held january , mrs. philip mckim garrison chairman and speakers dr. shaw, e. g. c. bleakley, city counsel of camden; mrs. reynolds and mrs. feickert. the senate passed the resolution by ayes, noes, and the assembly by unanimous vote. . a bill for presidential suffrage for women was introduced by senator charles o'connor hennessy of bergen county and was lost by a vote of noes, ayes--senators hennessy, austen colgate of essex county and carlton b. pierce of union county. no effort was made to press the bill in the assembly. . another bill for presidential suffrage was introduced by senator edmund b. osborne of essex county and assemblyman roy m. robinson of bergen. in both houses the presiding officers were strongly opposed to woman suffrage and put the bill into unfavorable committees, who refused to report it for action. a hearing was held with mrs. robert s. huse chairman and mrs. antoinette funk the chief speaker. finally by using what is known as the "rule of fifteen," in the assembly its friends got the bill out of committee on march but with an unfavorable report. majority leader oliphant moved that the house concur and speaker edward schoen of essex county ruled that the motion was carried. many members demanded a roll call but the speaker paid no attention to them. pandemonium reigned, members shouting and banging their desks until finally he declared a recess and fled to his private room. . it was hoped that the federal amendment would be submitted in the spring and it was decided not to complicate ratification by introducing a presidential suffrage bill. in february a bill providing that the legislature should not act on the ratification of federal amendments until after they had been referred to the voters was introduced by assemblyman arthur n. pierson of union county. it was designed especially to prevent action on the prohibition amendment but would also apply to the one for woman suffrage. the legislative committee went at once to trenton, where the anti-saloon workers were already busy. sufficient force was brought to keep the bill in committee for three weeks, at the end of which time votes were pledged against it and it was killed in committee at the request of its introducer. in a similar bill was introduced by assemblyman david young of morris county but the suffragists made so strong a demonstration against it that it was killed in committee. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to dr. mary d. hussey, a founder of the state woman suffrage association in and continuously an officer for the next twenty years. [ ] afterwards mr. riley became president and arthur b. jones, secretary. among the league's prominent members were the hon. everett colby, governor john franklin fort, j. a. h. hopkins, jesse lynch williams, charles o'connor hennessy, the hon. john w. westcott, the rev. dr. arthur e. ballard, the rev. edgar s. weirs, colonel george harvey, the hon. edmond b. osbourne, the hon. ernest r. ackerman, emerson p. harris, richard stevens, the hon. james c. connally and mayor victor mavalag of elizabeth. they passed resolutions "reaffirming their sympathy with the great world movement for woman suffrage"; "heartily approved" of the federal amendment; pledged their "untiring support" of the state referendum; spoke at legislative hearings; raised money; addressed meetings; appointed a state committee of members which met monthly; appointed a committee with george m. strobell, chairman, that marched in the parade in newark, oct. , ; held a mass meeting in elizabeth at which mayor george l. lamonte and mrs. forbes-robertson hale spoke, and helped in many ways. [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. lillian f. feickert, president of the state woman suffrage association - . chapter xxx. new mexico.[ ] as the railroads were few and automobiles almost unknown in new mexico in the first decade of the present century, and as the distances were great and cities and towns widely separated, there was no attempt to organize for woman suffrage. in the women's clubs were called in convention at las cruces through the efforts of mrs. george w. frenger, secretary of the general federation, and mrs. philip north moore, then its president, was in attendance. a state federation was formed with mrs. s. p. johnson of palomas springs, president; mrs. sam j. nixon of portales secretary, and several department chairmen were named, mrs. w. e. lindsey being chosen for the legislative department. this department through its bold stand for woman suffrage and better laws for women and children easily became the foremost factor in the federation. at each yearly convention one evening was given to the discussion of the benefits which women would receive from the suffrage. almost before it was realized suffrage had become popular with both men and women. the delegates carried the messages from the state conventions to their own clubs; suffrage discussions became the regular program for one meeting each year in almost every club and generally made converts of those taking the opposition. women began searching the statutes and questioning their attorneys and husbands in regard to laws. their interest became such that no legislature during the federation's existence has proposed any law derogatory to the rights of women and children, but when attention has been called to unfair laws, some of them have been replaced by better ones. under direction of the executive board of the federation this department sent out questionnaires to all of the state candidates for office in as to whether they would work for placing women on the state boards and use their influence to bring the federal amendment to a successful vote in the united states senate and house. their members were also interrogated as to whether they would work and vote for it. therefore the legislative department of the federated clubs really did the work that any suffrage organization would do and had the backing of the women of the state in general. suffrage was unanimously endorsed in the convention of the federation at silver city in . it is to the credit of the work of the federated clubs in the state that its members of congress, with one exception, have needed no lobbying from suffrage forces in washington. senator andrieus a. jones, as chairman of the suffrage committee, made the submission of the amendment possible in the present congress by his systematic and forceful course in the last one. mrs. lindsey remained chairman of this department six years. in she was appointed state chairman for the national american woman suffrage association by its president, dr. anna howard shaw. in the suffragists had a "float" in the parade at the state fair in albuquerque. in may, , the national association under the presidency of mrs. carrie chapman catt, sent one of its organizers, miss lola walker of pittsburgh, for ten days to look over the situation and she visited albuquerque, santa fé, portales and las vegas. in the last place she spoke before the woman's club with about eighty present and at the close of her talk a vote was taken which stood unanimous for suffrage. at portales a society was formed and a large evening reception was held to which both men and women were invited. miss walker gave a very interesting résumé of woman suffrage which aroused much interest. an appeal was sent to the national association to return her for a fall campaign to organize the state as an auxiliary. she went to maine, however, and miss gertrude watkins of little rock was sent to new mexico in january, . she visited the eastern and central parts of the state organizing leagues in most of the towns. in santa fé one was formed of about thirty members with mrs. paul a. f. walter president; mrs. r. w. twitchell secretary, and mrs. ellen j. palen treasurer. the congressional union also sent an organizer into the state in , mrs. thompson, who spent some time in santa fé, albuquerque and las vegas. the santa fé women were sufficiently aroused to hold a street parade and march to the home of u. s. senator catron, an opponent, where they gathered on the lawn and made speeches to convince the aged senator of the wishes of the women as to his conduct in the senate. mrs. joshua reynolds was made state chairman of the congressional union and afterwards mrs. nina otero warren, and mrs. a. a. kellan was legislative chairman, all of albuquerque. miss mabel vernon came from washington to hold meetings that year and miss anne martin in , and active work was done. washington e. lindsey was governor in - , and in november, , all the suffrage forces in albuquerque and santa fé were invited by mrs. lindsey to meet at the executive mansion and form a committee to work for suffrage at the coming session of the legislature. this meeting elected the following officers: mrs. r. p. barnes chairman; mrs. a. b. stroup secretary; mrs. warren legislative chairman; mrs. john w. wilson party platform chairman; mrs. walter congressional chairman. this committee did good work for suffrage in both the regular and special sessions. in december, , mrs. carrie chapman catt and her party of speakers for the ratification of the federal amendment came to albuquerque for the last of several western state conferences. it was arranged by mrs. barnes and was carried out with great success. mrs. catt spoke at a large luncheon held in the y. m. c. a. building, which many of the judges, newspaper representatives and other prominent men and women attended. on account of the great distances few except from albuquerque and santa fé were present but mrs. catt's appeal was carried from one end of the state to the other through the public press and created an atmosphere of hope. this was changed to rejoicing as word came that governor octaviano a. larrazolo would call a special session of the legislature for the ratification. ratification. when the time came the legislature had adjourned and would not meet again until , so a special session would be necessary if it ratified before the presidential election. the opponents concentrated their forces to prevent it and were successful until but finally were obliged to yield and governor larrazolo called the special session for february . when it met there was a determined effort by one member, dan padillo of albuquerque, to have a referendum to the voters of the state. all the city was up in arms--men's organizations, the y. w. c. a., the w. c. t. u., the woman's committee, the woman's party, individual men and women--until at last he declared that he would vote for the immediate ratification. the vote in the senate february was ayes, republicans, democrats; noes, all republicans--gallegos, mirabel, lucero (emiliano), salazar and sanchez. the vote in the house february was ayes, republicans, democrats; noes, republicans, democrats. legislative action. beginning with the federation of women's clubs was able to secure some legislation favorable to women and children. in the woman's christian temperance union, through its president, mrs. harriet l. henderson, had a prohibition amendment endorsed by the state republican platform which the legislature submitted to the electors in november, . both parties, all women's organizations and everybody of influence from the governor down worked with zeal for its passage. miss anna a. gordon, national president of the w. c. t. u., came to the state in october and was a guest at the convention of the federated clubs in gallup, which voted unanimously to give all the time until the election to work for its success, and parades and much individual effort followed. women went to the polls with their lists of voters, checking them off as they came and then going for those who had not voted. it was carried by , majority, the largest percentage vote ever given by any state for prohibition. as the state constitution rendered it impossible to carry an amendment for woman suffrage the women made no attempt to have the legislature submit one, but in some of the representatives brought an amendment resolution before the house, which promptly killed it. as the state conventions of both political parties this year had declared in favor of woman suffrage, the committee appointed at the meeting in the governor's mansion asked for the presidential and municipal franchise, which the legislature had power to grant without a referendum to the voters. they made a spirited campaign with all the assistance that governor lindsey could give and the suffrage societies throughout the state poured in letters upon the legislators. the vote in the senate was ayes, noes. before it was taken in the house a conference was held in the office of the governor at the capitol attended by the following workers for the bill: senator isaac barth, national committeeman; charles a. spiess, holm o. bursum, supreme justice clarence j. roberts, charles springer, mrs. kellam, mrs. walter, mrs. hughey, chairman of the state suffrage legislative committee; mrs. kate hall, president of the santa fé branch of the congressional union; mrs. n. b. laughlin and mrs. lindsey. the leaders of the two political parties admitted that they could not control their legislators and tried to hold the spanish-americans responsible. the house voted on the bill march , after a loud, disorderly and acrimonious debate, noes, ayes. the speaker afterwards explained his affirmative vote by saying that he thought it was to submit the question to the electors! of the republican members voted for the bill; of the democratic members, voted for it. suffrage. the convention to prepare a constitution for statehood, which met in , was the battle ground for school suffrage for women. the question was very seriously debated in the elective franchise committee, which many times voted it down only to renew it upon appeal to do so. mrs. s. f. culberson, then county school superintendent in roosevelt county, argued the matter before the committee, and its chairman, nestor montoya, cast the deciding vote for it to come before the convention. both democrats and republicans rallied to its support but josé d. sena, clerk of the supreme court, a member of the convention, strenuously opposed it and finally carried it back to be caucused upon by the republican majority. after a stormy caucus it was returned to the convention and passed. the president of the convention, charles a. spiess, spoke urgently in committee of the whole to save women's eligibility to the county superintendency from being eliminated. the clause gave women the right to vote for school trustees, on the issuing of bonds and in the local administration of public schools but not for county or state superintendents. it provided that "if a majority of the qualified voters of any school district shall, not less than thirty days before any school election, present a petition to the county commissioners against woman suffrage in that district it shall be suspended and only renewed by a petition of the majority!" no effort could obtain any larger extension of the franchise to women but the new state constitution gave universal suffrage to men and carefully protected the right to vote of those who could not speak, read or write either the english or spanish language. it then provided that the suffrage clause could only be amended by having the amendment submitted by a vote of three-fourths of each house of the legislature. in order to be carried, it must have a three-fourths majority of the highest number voting at a state election and a two-thirds majority of the highest number voting in every county. this was expressly designed to prevent woman suffrage and it destroyed all possibility of it until conferred by a federal amendment. among the women who worked for woman suffrage in addition to those mentioned in the chapter were mesdames margaret cartright, s. f. culberson, george w. carr, josie lockard, j. r. kinyon, h. f. labelle, n. j. strumquist, margaret medler, william j. barker, lansing bloom, c. e. mason, r. p. donahoe, ruth skeen, john w. wilson, s. c. nutter, catherine patterson, minnie byrd, howard huey, alfred grunsfeld, edgar l. hewett, i. h. elliot and i. h. rapp. as all women were fully enfranchised by the federal amendment a state branch of the national league of women voters was formed with mrs. gerald cassidy as chairman. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to deane h. (mrs. washington e.) lindsey, state chairman of the national woman suffrage association. chapter xxxi. new york.[ ] new york was the cradle of the movement for woman suffrage not only in this state but in the world, for here in was held the first women's rights convention in all history. except during the civil war there was no year after when one or more such conventions did not take place until , when all the women of the united states were enfranchised by an amendment to the national constitution. this state was the home of the two great leaders for half a century--elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony. the first appeal ever made to a legislature for woman suffrage was made by these two women in and there was never a year afterwards when this appeal was not made by the women of new york except during the civil war. the state woman suffrage association was organized in and its work never ceased. notwithstanding this record no suffrage for women had ever been obtained in this state, except a fragment of a school franchise for those in villages and country districts, up to , when this chapter begins. the cause had gradually gained in strength, however, and a factor which had strong influence was the splendid cooperation of many other organizations. the president of the woman's christian temperance union often spoke at the suffrage conventions and legislative hearings and the superintendent of franchise, dr. lavinia r. davis, sent out thousands of suffrage leaflets and appeals to the women of the local unions every year. the state grange, with its membership approaching , , passed favorable resolutions many times and gave the president and vice-president of the suffrage association, who were members, opportunities to speak at its meetings. the state federation of labor granted the vice-president time for an address at its convention in troy as early as and thereafter endorsed the suffrage bills and sent speakers to the hearings on them. women from labor unions spoke at conventions of the state suffrage association, which had a committee on industrial work. the western new york federation of women's clubs, under the leadership of mrs. nettie rogers shuler of buffalo, its president, was the first federation to admit suffrage clubs and a suffrage resolution was passed at its convention in , at which time it had , members. the annual conventions of the state association always were held in october. the thirty-third in the long series met at oswego in the presbyterian church in and was welcomed by mayor a. m. hall. addresses were made by miss susan b. anthony, honorary president of the national american woman suffrage association; dr. anna howard shaw, its vice-president-at-large; alice stone blackwell, its recording secretary; harriet may mills and julie r. jenney of syracuse. a memorial service was held for one of the pioneers, charlotte a. cleveland of wyoming county, mrs. jean brooks greenleaf, former state president, and mrs. ella hawley crossett, vice-president, offering testimonials of her ability and helpfulness. she left the association a legacy of $ , , the first it ever had received. mrs. mariana w. chapman, president since , was re-elected. the convention of was held in buffalo at the church of the messiah. the wife of the mayor, erastus knight, represented him in giving a welcome from the city. owing to the illness of mrs. chapman, mrs. crossett presided. she was elected president, after having served four years as vice-president. miss mills was chosen for that office and they served for the next eight years. [illustration: the susan b. anthony memorial building at rochester (n. y.) university.] in the convention was held in the presbyterial church at hornellsville welcomed by mayor c. f. nelson and the rev. charles petty, pastor of the church. mrs. crossett responded and gave her annual address, which showed much activity during the year. miss mills, chairman of the state organization committee, said that she had arranged for fifty-five meetings. dr. shaw had spoken in thirty different counties, the president or vice-president accompanying her and organizing clubs at many places. the chairmen of the standing committees--organization, press, legislative, industries, work among children, enrollment, school suffrage--and also the county presidents reported effective work. the addresses of miss anthony, dr. shaw and mrs. carrie chapman catt, national president, were highly appreciated by large audiences. during the summer of , as in many others, miss anthony and dr. shaw attracted large gatherings at the chautauqua and lily dale assemblies. the convention of met at auburn. mrs. eliza wright osborne, daughter of martha wright and niece of lucretia mott, two of those who had called the first woman's rights convention, entertained the officers and many chairmen in the annex of the hotel, a stenographer, typewriter and every convenience being placed at their disposal. in her own home she had as guests miss anthony, dr. shaw, mrs. william lloyd garrison (her sister), emily howland, mrs. william c. gannett, lucy e. anthony and others. one evening her spacious house was thrown open for the people of the city to meet the noted suffragists. the convention was held in music hall, a gift of mrs. osborne to the city, and her son, thomas mott osborne, welcomed it as mayor. the old political equality club of rochester, of which miss mary s. anthony was president for many years, invited the convention for . to go to the home city of the anthony sisters was indeed a pleasure. they opened their house one afternoon for all who desired to take a cup of tea with them. it was crowded and many expressed themselves as feeling that they were on a sacred spot. a large number went to the third story to see the rooms where mrs. ida husted harper spent several years with miss anthony writing her biography and volume iv of the history of woman suffrage. a reception was given at powers hotel attended by over people. during the meetings miss anthony introduced a number of women who had attended the first woman's rights convention, which adjourned from seneca falls to rochester, mary hallowell, sarah willis, mary s. anthony and maria wilder depuy. the convention was held in the universalist church. mayor james g. cutler, who welcomed the delegates, spoke very highly of his "esteemed fellow citizen, susan b. anthony" and presented her with a large bouquet of american beauty roses. mrs. crossett in her annual address compared the convention held at rochester in , when there were but seven local clubs in the state, with this one representing local and county clubs. elnora m. babcock, press chairman, reported papers in the state using articles favorable to woman suffrage. the convention for met at syracuse in the (samuel j.) may memorial church. miss anthony had passed away the preceding march. over the entrance door of the church was a large banner with the last words of the beloved leader, "failure is impossible." the afternoon meeting closed with tributes of reverence and appreciation by mrs. osborne, anne fitzhugh miller, marie jenney howe, mrs. crossett, miss mills and dr. shaw. large audiences gathered for the evening meetings, among the speakers being mrs. florence kelley, mrs. henry villard and mrs. rachel foster avery. dr. shaw and mrs. avery spoke in the university chapel to the students. the convention of , which met in geneva, received a warm welcome; stores displayed the suffrage colors in their windows and many citizens hung flags over their doorways. the gracious presence of mrs. elizabeth smith miller and her daughter anne, president of the geneva political equality club, the largest in the state, made the convention especially memorable. the delegates were invited to lochland, the miller home on the lake, one afternoon where a memorial service was held on the big porch, the place of many suffrage meetings, in memory of mary s. anthony, who had died the preceding february. affectionate tributes were paid.[ ] the convention was welcomed by mayor arthur p. rose, city attorney w. smith o'brien, miss miller and mrs. charlotte a. baldridge, county president. speakers were president langdon c. stewardson of hobart college and professors f. p. nash and nathaniel schmidt of cornell university. the th state convention was held in in buffalo, whose suffrage club invited the national american association to hold its convention there the same week, to celebrate the th anniversary of the first woman's rights convention. for eight years mrs. richard williams, president of the club, had carried on the work in this city and had built up an excellent organization. mrs. george howard lewis and mrs. dexter p. rumsey were valuable members. mrs. lewis gave $ , to dr. shaw for suffrage work. the state convention, which met two days before the national, voted to have headquarters at albany during the legislative session. it also voted to continue the state headquarters in syracuse. dr. shaw had presented the suffrage question at the state federation of women's clubs; miss mills had addressed the world's temperance congress; members had spoken before the resolution committees of the political state conventions and before many different organizations, institutions, etc. on may , , mrs. stanton blatch had arranged a meeting in seneca falls to commemorate the th anniversary of the first women's rights convention, called by elizabeth cady stanton and that noble band of women in . addresses were made by their descendants and a number of the pioneer suffragists and a bronze tablet was placed on the wesleyan methodist church, where the convention was held. this year mrs. clarence mackay became interested in the work for woman suffrage and organized in new york an equal franchise league of which she was president, with headquarters in the metropolitan tower. she opened her house for lectures, interested a great many prominent and influential people and also arranged a course of public lectures in one of the theaters, which attracted large audiences. the papers gave columns of space to her efforts and the movement received a great impetus. it had always been miss anthony's strong desire to have headquarters in this large center from which news of all kinds was sent to the four quarters of the globe. she realized the vast numbers of people who could be reached and the great prestige which would be given to the movement but even with her wonderful ability for getting money she never could secure anywhere near enough to carry out this plan in the city where everything must be done on a large scale to be successful. the longed-for opportunity did not come in her lifetime but in mrs. oliver h. p. belmont decided to take an active part in the work for woman suffrage and inquired of the leaders what was the most important thing to be done. they answered quickly: "establish state headquarters in new york city and also bring the national headquarters here." with the executive ability for which she was noted mrs. belmont at once rented the entire floor of a big new office building at fifth avenue, corner of nd street, and invited both associations to take headquarters there for two years. they did so and the movement received a strong impulse not only in new york but in the country at large. the state association paid no rent and the national press bureau was maintained by mrs. belmont. while in new york city women of the highest character and ability had sponsored the suffrage work it had not attracted the women who could give it financial support. when mrs. mackay and mrs. belmont identified themselves with it, opened their homes for lectures and interested their friends public attention was aroused. the meetings given in august by mrs. belmont at marble house, newport, which never before had been opened to the public, received an immense amount of space in the new york papers and those outside. the big headquarters soon were thronged with women; magazines, syndicates and the daily press had articles and pictures; mass meetings and parades followed and thousands of women entered the suffrage ranks. at the end of two years the state association was sufficiently well financed to maintain its headquarters, which remained in new york until its work was finished. mrs. belmont never lost her interest in the cause and continued to make large contributions. in a few years mrs. mackay turned her attention to other matters but her society was continued under the presidency of mrs. howard mansfield. in , under the direction of mrs. catt, its chairman, the inter-urban council of twenty societies became the woman suffrage party and organization along the lines of the political parties was begun. the delegates came to the state convention at troy in with high hopes that with headquarters established in new york city the suffrage work could be promoted as never before. it was held in the y. m. c. a. building and greeted by representatives of the emma willard association, city federation of women's clubs, daughters of the american revolution and teachers' association. mayor e. p. mann extended an official welcome. among the speakers was professor frances squire potter, national corresponding secretary. mrs. william m. ivins gave her impression of the suffrage movement in england and miss carolyn crossett spoke on the meeting of the international woman suffrage alliance in london, which she attended with dr. shaw. not since the constitutional convention in had so much work been reported. the state president or vice-president had attended meetings in counties. all-day meetings were held in all the cities on the hudson river with excellent speakers, including dr. shaw. the president, vice-president and corresponding secretary, miss alice williams, remained at albany for three months, speaking and working in the towns in the eastern part of the state. three large self-supporting women's suffrage leagues joined the association. in both the state association and the woman suffrage party wrote chairman timothy woodruff of the republican and chairman john a. dix of the democratic state committees requesting a hearing at the conventions. they were politely referred to the resolutions committees. they went to the republican convention at saratoga springs, carrying their literature and the printed resolution which they wished the committee to put in the platform: "we believe that the question of woman suffrage has reached such a degree of importance that the legislature should submit an amendment for it to the voters of the state." the committee allowed ten minutes; mrs. crossett presided and presented mrs. mary wood, national organizer of the republican women; miss mary garrett hay, a leader of the new york woman suffrage party and other able speakers but no attention was paid to their request. this program was repeated at the democratic convention in rochester with the same result, and this had been the experience for years. at this time candidates all over the state were being interviewed and women went to many county and city political conventions asking for endorsement of equal suffrage, seldom with success, although the politicians admitted that the time for acting was not far off. the convention met at niagara falls in october, , in the auditorium of the shredded wheat biscuit company, and was welcomed by mayor peter porter. mrs. crossett responded and gave her annual address, which, she said, would be her last as president. her home was in warsaw in the western part of the state and when headquarters in new york city were given to the association she promised to make that her home for one year but could not do so longer. over , persons had registered at the headquarters, she said, but these probably were not over one-third of those who called. most of them came for speakers or help in some way; others came to volunteer assistance. meetings had been held in nearly every unorganized county and there were county societies. there were clubs in the association, which had begun to make the assembly district the unit in the state, as mrs. catt had done in new york city. these clubs had held public and , local meetings. the state board had arranged for public meetings making , . the association had now a membership of , . mrs. belmont, who had rooms on the same floor with the state and national associations, had formed eight clubs and given some of them headquarters. the city had headquarters and altogether there were ten. a men's league had been organized. a cooperative service club of over business women was formed and met evenings at the state headquarters. the association sponsored the work of securing names to the national petition to congress and they were tabulated at headquarters. greater new york women secured , names and there were , signers in the state. a lecture bureau was established; miss carolyn crossett went over the state arranging meetings; miss mills spoke in counties. dr. b. o. aylesworth of colorado university was spending the summer in new york and gave over twenty lectures for the association before clubs and public meetings. it seemed as if every woman's club in new york city asked for speakers and many of note were supplied. the association had published thousands of pieces of literature and used thousands prepared by the national. it was in this flourishing condition that the state association passed from the hands of mrs. crossett into those of her successor, miss harriet may mills, who had served with her as vice-president throughout the preceding eight years. the other officers during this period were mrs. shuler, mary t. sanford, ada m. hall, ida a. craft, isabel howland, alice williams, anna e. merritt, georgiana potter, nicolas shaw fraser, mrs. ivins, eliza wright osborne, mariana w. chapman and mrs. villard. the lack of space prevents naming the hundreds of women who gave unceasing service through these years when faith and courage were required and there were no victories as a reward. in all the cities of the state the local women arranged courses of lectures with prominent speakers and kept suffrage continually before the people through the press and in other ways. by this quiet, persistent work of comparatively few women the foundation was laid for the majorities in the many "up-state" counties when the amendment came to a vote. - .[ ] at the annual convention of the state association held in niagara falls, oct. - , , the following officers were chosen: president, miss mills; vice-president, mrs. arthur l. livermore, yonkers; corresponding secretary, mrs. roxana b. burrows, andover; recording secretary, mrs. nicolas shaw fraser, geneseo; treasurer, mrs. ivins, new york; auditors, mrs. osborne, auburn, mrs. villard, new york. during the three following years there were but few changes.[ ] the convention of met in ithaca; that of in utica and that of in binghamton. this period was one of great activity, leading to the submission of an amendment to the state constitution by the legislature in january, , the object of the association for over forty years. its paying membership had steadily increased from , in october, to , in october, , with over , enrolled members in addition. new york was thus enabled to continue its record of having the largest delegation each year in the national convention. the receipts from membership were respectively $ , , $ , and $ , , the gains in membership and money amounting to about per cent. the enrolled membership was finally adopted in place of the paid individual membership through suffrage clubs. for fourteen years the association maintained the _news letter_, edited for ten years by miss mills and afterwards by mrs. minnie reynolds and miss cora e. morlan successively. one part of the work which helped build up the association was the great campaigns through the summers of - , covering the eastern, northern and western counties and long island. over of these open-air rallies were held and thousands of enrolled members as well as new clubs and workers were secured. at the large delhi meeting, held as an exception in the opera house, mrs. henry white cannon came into the ranks, formed a strong organization and continued to be one of the valued leaders. mrs. gertrude nelson andrews for two years conducted classes in public speaking and knowledge of suffrage principles at the new york headquarters. she also went out into the state, rousing the women to the need of training themselves and others to speak for the cause and prepared a valuable book for her students. in the state headquarters were moved into a beautiful old mansion at madison avenue, just south of th street in the heart of the shopping district, where they remained during - . through the generosity of mrs. frances lang, of whom they were leased, a comparatively low rent was paid. the new quarters were opened with a brilliant house-warming and in february a big state bazar and fair were held to raise funds. the preceding year the association celebrated miss anthony's birthday with a bazar in the roof garden of the hotel astor, with articles contributed from all parts of the state and several thousand dollars were realized. never was this anniversary on february allowed to pass without a special observance. in it was celebrated by a reception at the hotel astor with speeches by mrs. carrie chapman catt, dr. anna howard shaw, mrs. ida husted harper, miss anthony's biographer, and others. a bust of the great leader was unveiled by the sculptor, mrs. adelaide johnson. contributions of $ , were made. in may the state association united with all the suffrage societies of new york (except the women's political union, mrs. harriot stanton blatch, president, which did not wish to take part), in a meeting and pageant at the metropolitan opera house arranged by mrs. mansfield. former president theodore roosevelt and dr. shaw made notable addresses to an enthusiastic audience which crowded the vast amphitheater and the great prima donna, madame nordica, a strong advocate of woman suffrage, sang magnificently. the pageant was beautiful and was accompanied by an orchestra composed entirely of women led by david mannes. the association cooperated in a number of big parades during these years, representatives coming from societies throughout the state and from neighboring states. on the last saturday in may, , there was a night procession down fifth avenue with mrs. james lees laidlaw as the efficient chairman of arrangements. one on the first saturday in may, , will ever be remembered, all the thousands of women dressed in white, headed by mrs. c. o. mailloux and miss carolyn fleming carrying the flag of the state association, white satin with a heavy gold fringe and a golden wreath of laurel in the center with the name and date of organization. the fund for it was collected by mrs. ivins, the state treasurer, who gave so generously of her money, time, thought and effort to strengthen the association through the years of her service. at the head of the great parade the first saturday in may, , marched the handsome and stately mrs. herbert carpenter, carrying the stars and stripes. miss portia willis as grand marshal, robed in white and mounted on a white horse, made a picture never to be forgotten. these two led several processions. the pioneers rode in handsomely decorated carriages. in these processions tens of thousands of women were in line and they marched with many bands from washington square to central park, a distance of several miles. delegates from men's suffrage leagues walked with them. half a million people lined the streets, orderly and respectful. in representatives of the association attended the state conventions of all the parties and extended hearings were granted by the resolutions committees. their treatment was in great contrast to that of earlier days when they could scarcely obtain five or ten minutes before a committee. this year every party declared for woman suffrage in its platform. it was a gratification to sit in the great convention hall at saratoga and hear the hon. horace white of syracuse, who throughout his long years in the state senate had constantly opposed the amendment, report in his capacity as chairman of the resolutions committee that the republican party favored a speedy referendum on woman suffrage. many dramatic features of propaganda characterized these years, which marked the awakening of the women of the entire state and brought into the ranks many wide-awake, independent young women, who wanted to use aggressive and spectacular methods, and these the older workers did not discourage. those that attracted the most attention were the suffrage "hikes," in which miss rosalie jones, a girl of wealth and position, was the leading spirit. she sent a picturesque account of these "hikes," which has had to be condensed for lack of space. the idea originated with rosalie gardiner jones, who began by making a tour of long island, her summer home, in a little cart drawn by one horse and decorated with suffrage flags and banners, stopping at every village and town, giving out literature and talking to the crowds that gathered. "if you once win the hearts of the rural people you have them forever. that is why i decided to organize a pilgrimage from new york city to albany before the opening of the legislative session, when it was hoped a woman suffrage amendment would be submitted to the voters," she said. miss jones recruited a small army of brave and devoted members, of which she was the "general" and miss ida craft of brooklyn the "colonel" and the three others who walked every step to the end of the journey were miss lavinia dock--"little doc dock"--a trained nurse, department editor of the _american journal of nursing_ and author of the history of nursing; miss sybil wilbur of boston, biographer of mary baker eddy, and miss katharine stiles of brooklyn. they carried a message to governor william sulzer expressing the earnest hope that his administration might be distinguished by the speedy passage of the woman suffrage amendment, signed by the presidents of the various new york suffrage organizations, engraved on parchment and hand illumined by miss jones. the "hike" began monday morning, dec. , , from the nd street subway station, where about had gathered, and about , including the newspaper correspondents, started to walk. from new york city to albany there was left a trail of propaganda among the many thousands of people who stopped at the cross roads and villages to listen to the first word which had ever reached them concerning woman suffrage, and many joined in and marched for a few miles. the newspapers far and wide were filled with pictures and stories. the march continued for thirteen days, through sun and rain and snow over a distance of miles, including detours for special propaganda, and five pilgrims walked into albany at p. m., december . whistles blew, bells rang, motor cars clanged their gongs, traffic paused, windows were thrown up, stores and shops were deserted while albany gazed upon them, and large numbers escorted them to the steps of the capitol where they lifted their cry "votes for women." they were received at the executive mansion on the st and "general rosalie" gave the message in behalf of the suffragists of new york state. the newly-elected governor answered: "all my life i have believed in the right of women to exercise the franchise with men as a matter of justice. i will do what i can to advance their political rights and have already incorporated in my message advice to the legislators to pass the suffrage measure." the "hike" had resulted in such tremendous advertising of woman suffrage that another on a larger scale to washington was planned. "general" jones and "colonel" craft were reinforced by "little corporal" martha klatschken of new york and a large group, who were joined by others along the route. the "army" was mustered in at the hudson terminal, new york, at a. m. on lincoln's birthday, feb. , , and the start was made a little later at newark, n. j. each marcher wore a picturesque long brown woolen cape. the little yellow wagon with the good horse "meg," driven by miss elizabeth freeman, was joined at philadelphia by miss marguerite geist, with a little cart and donkey, and she helped distribute the suffrage buttons, flags and leaflets. thousands of people were gathered at newark to see the start of this "army of the hudson," which now was known as the "army of the potomac," and hundreds marched with them the first day. after this about a hundred fell in at each town and marched to the next one. alphonse major and edward van wyck were the advance agents who arranged for the meetings and the stopping places for the night. they were constantly attended by the press correspondents, at one time forty-five of them with their cameras, besides the magazine writers. the mayors of the places along the route would send delegations to meet them and escort them to the town hall, where the speech-making would begin. at wilmington, del., the city council declared a half-holiday; the mayor and officials met them at the edge of town and escorted them to the town hall, which was crowded, and they were obliged also to hold street meetings for hours. they reached philadelphia at o'clock sunday evening, where the streets had been packed for hours awaiting them, and it was only by holding street corner meetings on the way that they could get to the hotel. the princeton university students had been roaming around all the afternoon waiting for them, as there were a number of young college boys and girls with them, and the speakers held the crowd of boys for several hours. the next day a delegation of students walked with them for miles. at all of the other university towns they were received with the same enthusiasm. at the university of pennsylvania they were detained hours for speeches in the grounds. at baltimore they were received by cardinal gibbons in his mansion, an extraordinary courtesy, as they were not catholics. the "hikers" reached hyattsville, four miles from washington, the evening of february and spent the night there. the next morning, escorted by a delegation of suffragists from the city, they marched down pennsylvania avenue. the streets had been thronged for several hours with a cosmopolitan crowd, from the highest to the lowest. at the headquarters of the congressional committee of the national american suffrage association, across from the treasury building, "general" jones was presented with flowers and disbanded her army. fourteen had walked the entire distance from new york-- miles with some detours--and two had walked from philadelphia.[ ] a message to president taft, similar to the one which had been sent by the new york officers to governor sulzer, had been entrusted by the board of the national suffrage association to the pilgrims, who expected to march in a body to the white house to deliver it. before they reached washington they were notified that the board itself would present it to the incoming president wilson at a later date. miss florence allen, the well known ohio lawyer, who had been marching for several days, returned to new york, to try to obtain the recall of this decision but was unsuccessful. afterwards the board informed "general" jones that they would go together to the white house but all had separated, the psychological moment had passed and the message was never presented. legislative action. the legislature of new york meets annually and from to a woman suffrage measure was presented only to be rejected, with two exceptions. the first was in , when the legislature undertook to give women the right to vote at school meetings, but the law was ineffective and this great privilege was confined to women in villages and country districts. the charters of a number of third class cities granted school suffrage to women and some of them included the right to vote on special appropriations for those who paid taxes. this was the situation at the beginning of the century.[ ] . when theodore roosevelt was governor he advised the suffragists to drop the effort for a constitutional amendment awhile and work for something the legislature could grant without a referendum to the voters. for five years, therefore, they tried to get some form of partial suffrage that could be obtained without amending the constitution. the total result was a law in giving to taxpaying women in the towns and villages a vote on propositions to raise money by special tax assessment, which was signed by governor benjamin f. odell. miss susan b. anthony considered this of little value but it covered about , places and when she saw the interest aroused in the women by even this small concession she came to think that it was worth while. in a legislative enactment increased this privilege to a vote on the issuing of bonds. during the legislative sessions of - - - the effort was concentrated on a bill to give a vote on special taxation to taxpaying women in all third class cities--those having less than , inhabitants. mrs. mary h. loines of brooklyn was chairman of the committee, as she had been since . the special champions of the bill were senators leslie b. humphrey, h. s. ambler, john raines; representatives otto kelsey, george h. smith, louis c. bedell, e. w. ham. among the strongest opponents were senators edgar truman brackett, george a. davis, thomas f. grady and nevada m. stranahan. governors odell and frank m. higgins recommended it and speaker frederick s. nixon urged it. committee hearings were granted at every session and among its advocates were mrs. carrie chapman catt, national president, mrs. crossett and miss harriet may mills, state president and vice-president; mrs. harriot stanton blatch, mrs. margaret chanler aldrich, mrs. mary e. craigie and miss anne fitzhugh miller. mrs. arthur m. dodge, president of the anti-suffrage association, and mrs. george phillips, secretary, spoke in opposition. during these four years neither house voted on the bill and it was seldom reported by the committees. in after consulting with miss anthony, the state leaders decided to return to the original effort for the submission to the voters of an amendment to the state constitution, which was presented by senator henry w. hill of buffalo and representative e. c. dowling of brooklyn. mrs. henry villard, mrs. john k. howe and mrs. helen z. m. rodgers were among the suffrage speakers and mrs. winslow w. crannell was added to the "antis." no committee reports were made. the taxpayers' bill was also presented in and with no results of six years' work. thenceforth the resolution for the constitutional amendment was introduced every year, in by senator percy hooker of leroy. the club women had now become interested and the legislators were deluged with letters and literature. miss mary garrett hay, miss helen varick boswell and mrs. harry hastings headed the large delegation from new york city for the hearing. mrs. crossett informed the judiciary committee that during the past year woman suffrage had been officially endorsed by the new york city federation of labor with , members; state grange with , ; new york city federation of women's clubs with , ; woman's christian temperance union with , and many other organizations. f. a. byrne spoke for the city central labor union. mrs. francis m. scott represented the anti-suffrage association. morris hilquit and mrs. meta stern spoke independently for the socialists, making a strong appeal for the amendment. the senate took no action and speaker james w. wadsworth, jr., was able to defeat any consideration by the lower house. during the following summer mass meetings were held in every city on the hudson river addressed by dr. anna howard shaw, now president of the national suffrage association, and other noted speakers and a vast amount of work was done in the state. in the legislature of senator hill and representative frederick r. toombs introduced the resolution. at the hearing the assembly chamber was filled to overflowing. mrs. villard, chairman of the legislative committee, presided.[ ] people stood four hours listening to the speeches and returned to a suffrage mass meeting at night. mrs. william force scott and miss margaret doane gardner spoke for the "antis." mrs. crossett asked of the committee: "does it mean nothing to you that , women in this state are organized to secure the franchise; that a few years ago , people signed the petition for woman suffrage to the constitutional convention; that associations formed for other purposes representing hundreds of thousands of members have endorsed it?" mrs. graham, president of the state w. c. t. u.; mrs. john winters brannan and mrs. pearce bailey, representing the equal franchise society; miss mills, speaking for the state league; leonora o'reilly, presenting the resolution of the women's trade union league of new york for the amendment; mrs. dexter f. rumsey, speaking for mrs. nettie rogers shuler, president of the western new york federation of women's clubs; mrs. lillie devereux blake, a pioneer suffragist, president of the legislative league; mrs. florence kelley, executive secretary of the consumers' league; mrs. george howard lewis of buffalo, a well known philanthropist; mrs. maud nathan, president of the new york consumers' league; mrs. rodgers and mrs. gabrielle mulliner, lawyers--all urged the legislators to submit the question to the voters. dr. shaw held the audience spellbound until o'clock. john spargo, the well known socialist, spoke independently with much power, demanding the vote especially for working women. the use of the assembly chamber was granted for an evening suffrage meeting which attracted a large audience. the legislature took no action.[ ] members of the large legislative committee met weekly during the session of at the state headquarters in new york to assist in promoting the work. all the workers as usual contributed their services. mrs. crossett and miss mills remained in albany. a notable meeting was held there at harmanus-bleecker hall, with excellent speakers. the boxes were filled with prominent women, who had invited many of the state officials as guests; seats were sent to all the members of the legislature, most of whom were present, and the house with a capacity of , was crowded. mrs. clarence mackay defrayed most of the expenses. on january governor charles e. hughes granted a hearing to george foster peabody, oswald garrison villard, mrs. ella h. boole, mrs. villard, mrs. crossett, mrs. frederick r. hazard and miss anne f. miller, who urged him to recommend the submission of an amendment. he seemed much impressed by the statements made but they had no effect. the hearing on march broke all records. the assembly chamber was filled to the utmost and surging crowds outside tried to get in. members of both houses stood for hours listening to the speeches. jesse r. phillips, chairman of the assembly judiciary committee, presided. the suffrage speakers were headed by the eminent lawyer, samuel untermeyer. the anti-suffragists had a long list, including mrs. henry m. stimson, wife of a new york baptist minister, and mrs. william p. northrup of buffalo. both judiciary committees refused to let the resolution come before the two houses, admitting that it would be carried if they did. the most thorough preparation was made for the session of by all the suffrage societies. the assembly committee refused to report and on may representative spielberg, who had charge, moved to request it to do so. the vote was in favor to against his motion. on may the senate judiciary committee by to reported in favor but not until july was the vote taken in the senate and the measure was lost by a vote of ayes, noes. in a remarkable hearing was held in a crowded assembly chamber. senator stillwell, a member of the judiciary committee, again introduced the amendment resolution and its chairman, senator bayne, was a staunch friend but after the committee had reported it favorably the senate could not be moved. in the assembly, on the final day of the session, for the first time since and the second time on record, the resolution was adopted. just as it was about to be taken to the senate for action, representative cuvellier of new york blocked further progress by moving to reconsider the vote and lay the resolution on the table. this was carried by a vote of to and doubtless had been prearranged. by the sentiment in favor of letting the voters pass on the question had become too strong to be resisted. mrs. katharine gavit of albany, representing the cooperative legislative committee, had charge of the resolution. on january , the opening day, a delegation from all the suffrage societies sat in the senate chamber and heard it introduced by senator wagner, the democratic floor leader, who said that, while not personally in favor of it he was willing to sponsor it because his party had endorsed it in their platform, and it was favorably reported. in the assembly it was promptly introduced by a. j. levy, chairman of the judiciary committee. the form of the proposed amendment had been changed from that of all preceding years, which had intended simply to take the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the constitution. as alien women could secure citizenship through marriage and would thus immediately become voters it provided that they must first live in the country five years. the senate struck out this naturalization clause; in the assembly the democratic members wanted it, the republicans objected to it. on january the assembly passed the measure without it. the senate put back the clause and passed it january by ayes, two noes--mccue and frawley of new york--and returned it to the assembly, which passed it four days later by ayes, noes. the resolution had still to pass another legislature two years later but this was the beginning of the end for which two generations of women had worked and waited. [laws. a complete digest of the laws relating to women and children during the first twenty years of the century was prepared for this chapter by miss kathryn h. starbuck, attorney and counsellor at law in saratoga springs. it comprises about , words and includes laws relating to property, marriage, guardianship, domestic relations, etc. much regret is felt that the exigencies of space compel the omission of the laws in all the state chapters. miss starbuck gave also valuable information on office holding and occupations, which had to be omitted for the same reason.] new york city campaigns.[ ] the story of the growth of the woman suffrage movement in greater new york is one of the most interesting chapters in the history of this cause, for while it advanced slowly for many years, it rose in and to a height never attained elsewhere and culminated in two campaigns that in number of adherents and comprehensive work were never equaled. the brooklyn woman suffrage association was formed may , , and the new york city society in . from this time various organizations came into permanent existence until in there were fifteen devoted to suffrage propaganda. in manhattan (new york city) and brooklyn these were bound together by county organizations but in order to unite all the suffragists in cooperative work the interurban woman suffrage council was formed in at the brooklyn home of a pioneer, mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff, with the president of the kings county political equality league, mrs. martha williams, presiding. the interurban began with a roster of five which gradually increased to twenty affiliated societies, with an associate membership besides of women. under the able leadership of mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman, it established headquarters in the martha washington hotel, new york city, feb. , , with a secretary, miss fannie chafin, in charge, and maintained committees on organization, literature, legislative work, press and lectures; formed clubs, held mass meetings and systematically distributed literature. the council was the first suffrage organization in new york city to interview assemblymen and senators on woman suffrage and it called the first representative convention held in the big metropolis. the woman suffrage party of greater new york was launched by this council at carnegie hall, october , , modelled after that of the two dominant political parties. its first convention with delegates and alternates constituted the largest delegate suffrage body ever assembled in new york state. the new party announced that it would have a leader for each of the assembly districts of the city and a captain for each of the , election districts, these and their assistant officers to be supervised by a borough chairman and other officers in each borough, the entire force to be directed by a city chairman assisted by city officers and a board of directors. mrs. catt, with whom the idea of the party originated, and her co-workers believed that by reaching into every election district to influence its voters, they would bring suffrage close to the people and eventually influence parties and legislators through public opinion. the population of greater new york was , , and the new party had a task of colossal proportions. it had to appeal to native americans of all classes and conditions and to thousands of foreign born. it sent its forces to local political conventions; held mass meetings; issued thousands of leaflets in many languages; conducted street meetings, parades, plays, lectures, suffrage schools; gave entertainments and teas; sent appeals to churches and all kinds of organizations and to individual leaders; brought pressure on legislators through their constituents and obtained wide publicity in newspapers and magazines. it succeeded in all its efforts and increased its membership from , in to over , in . in , at the beginning of the great campaign for a suffrage amendment to the state constitution, which had been submitted by the legislature, the state was divided into twelve campaign districts. greater new york was made the first and under the leadership of miss mary garrett hay, who since had served as chairman, the city woman suffrage party plunged into strenuous work, holding conventions, sending out organizers, raising $ , as a campaign fund, setting a specific task for each month of up to election day, and forming its own committees with chairmen as follows: industrial, miss leonora o'reilly; the woman voter, mrs. thomas b. wells; speakers' bureau, mrs. mabel russell; congressional, mrs. lillian griffin; the french, mrs. anna ross weeks; the german, miss catherine dreier; the press, mrs. oreola williams haskell; ways and means, mrs. john b. mccutcheon. the city party began the intensive work of the campaign in january, , when a swift pace was set for the succeeding months by having district conventions, canvassing suppers, four mass meetings, canvassing conferences and a convention in carnegie hall. it was decided to canvass all of the , registered voters and hundreds of women spent long hours toiling up and down tenement stairs, going from shop to shop, visiting innumerable factories, calling at hundreds of city and suburban homes, covering the rural districts, the big department stores and the immense office buildings with their thousands of occupants. it was estimated that per cent of the enrolled voters received these personal appeals. the membership of the party was increased by , women secured as members by canvassers. the following is a brief summing up of the activities of the ten months' campaign.[ ] voters canvassed ( per cent of those enrolled) , women canvassed , voters circularized , party membership increased from , to , watchers and pickets furnished for the polls , numbers of leaflets printed and distributed , , money expended from the city treasury $ , number of outdoor meetings , number of indoor meetings (district) number of mass meetings political meetings addressed by congressmen, assemblymen and constitutional convention delegates total number of meetings , night speaking in theaters theater week (miner's and keith's) speeches and suffrage slides in movie theaters concerts (indoor, , outdoor, ) suffrage booths in bazaars number of headquarters (borough , districts, ) campaign vans (drawn by horses , decorated autos , district autos ), vehicles in constant use papers served regularly with news (english and foreign) suffrage editions of papers prepared special articles on suffrage sermons preached by request just before election a _weekly news bulletin_ (for papers and workers) and the _woman voter_ (a weekly magazine) issued; many unique features like stories, verses, etc.; hundreds of ministers circularized and speakers sent to address congregations; the endorsements of all city officials and of many prominent people and big organizations secured. in order to accomplish the work indicated by this table a large number of expert canvassers, speakers, executives and clerical workers were required. mrs. catt as state campaign chairman was a great driving force and an inspiration that never failed, and miss hay in directing the party forces and raising the money showed remarkable ability. associated with her were capable officials--mrs. margaret chandler aldrich, mrs. wells, mrs. martha wentworth suffren, mrs. robert mcgregor, mrs. cornelia k. hood, mrs. marie jenney howe, mrs. joseph fitch, mrs. a. j. newbury, and the tireless borough chairmen, mrs. james lees laidlaw, manhattan; mrs. h. edward dreier, brooklyn; mrs. henrietta speke seeley, bronx; mrs. alfred j. eno, queens, and mrs. william g. willcox, richmond. the spectacular activities of the campaign caught and held public attention. various classes of men were complimented by giving them "suffrage days." the appeal to the firemen took the form of an automobile demonstration, open air speaking along the line of march of their annual parade and a ten dollar gold piece given to one of their number who made a daring rescue of a yellow-sashed dummy--a suffrage lady. a circular letter was sent to firemen requesting their help for all suffragists. "barbers' day" produced ten columns of copy in leading new york dailies. letters were sent in advance to barbers informing them that on a certain day the suffragists would call upon them. the visits were made in autos decorated with barbers' poles and laden with maps and posters to hang up in the shops and then open air meetings were held out in front. street cleaners on the day of the "white wings" parade were given souvenirs of tiny brooms and suffrage leaflets and addressed from automobiles. a whole week was given to the street car men who numbered , . suffrage speeches were given at the car barns and leaflets and a "car barn" poster distributed. forty-five banks and trust companies were treated to a "raid" made by suffrage depositors, who gave out literature and held open meetings afterward. brokers were reached through two days in wall street where the suffragists entered in triumphal style, flags flying, bugles playing. speeches were made, souvenirs distributed and a luncheon held in a "suffrage" restaurant. the second day hundreds of colored balloons were sent up to typify "the suffragists' hopes ascending." workers in the subway excavations were visited with irish banners and shamrock fliers; turkish, armenian, french, german and italian restaurants were canvassed as were the laborers on the docks, in vessels and in public markets. a conspicuous occasion was the night of the interurban council fires, when on high bluffs in the different boroughs huge bonfires were lighted, fireworks and balloons sent up, while music, speeches and transparencies emphasized the fact that woman's evolution from the campfire of the savage into a new era was commemorated. twenty-eight parades were a feature of the open air demonstrations. there were besides numbers of torchlight rallies; street dances on the lower east side; irish, syrian, italian and polish block parties; outdoor concerts, among them a big one in madison square, where a full orchestra played, opera singers sang and eminent orators spoke; open air religious services with the moral and religious aspects of suffrage discussed; a fête held in beautiful dyckman glen; flying squadrons of speakers whirling in autos from the battery to the bronx; an "interstate meet" on the streets where suffragists of massachusetts, new jersey and new york participated. ninety original features arranged on a big scale with many minor ones brought great publicity to the cause and the suffragists ended their campaign valiantly with sixty speakers talking continuously in columbus circle for twenty-six hours. on the night of november , election day, officers, leaders, workers, members of the party and many prominent men and women gathered at city headquarters in east th street to receive the returns, mrs. catt and miss hay at either end of a long table. at first optimism prevailed as the early returns seemed to indicate victory but as adverse reports came in by the hundreds all hopes were destroyed. the fighting spirits of the leaders then rose high. speeches were made by dr. anna howard shaw, mrs. catt, miss hay, dr. katherine bement davis, mrs. laidlaw and others, and, though many workers wept openly, the gathering took on the character of an embattled host ready for the next conflict. after midnight many of the women joined a group from the state headquarters and in a public square held an outdoor rally which they called the beginning of the new campaign. the vote was as follows: for against lost by manhattan borough , , , brooklyn borough , , , bronx borough , , , richmond borough , , , queens borough , , , total opposed, , ; in favor, , ; adverse majority, , . two days after the election the city party united with the national association in a mass meeting at cooper union, where speeches were made and $ , pledged for a new campaign fund. the spirit of the members was shown in the words of a leader who wrote: "we know that we have gained over half a million voters in the state, that we have many new workers, have learned valuable lessons and with the knowledge obtained and undiminished courage we are again in the field of action." in december and january the usual district and borough conventions for the election of officers and then the city convention were held. at the latter the resolution adopted showed a change from the oldtime pleading: "we demand the re-submission of the woman suffrage amendment in . we insist that the judiciary committee shall present a favorable report without delay and that the bill shall come to an early vote." much legislative work was necessary to obtain re-submission, for which the city party worked incessantly until the amendment was re-submitted by the legislatures of and and preparations were again made for a great campaign. * * * * * the campaign of had been one of the highways, and of spectacular display. that of was of the byways, of quiet, intensive work reaching every group of citizens. the campaign was launched at a meeting in aeolian hall, march , where the addresses of mrs. catt and miss hay aroused true campaign fervor, the former saying: "some foreign countries have given the franchise to women for their war work; we ask it that our women may feel they have been recognized as assets of the nation before it calls on them for war work." the suffragists offered their services to the government, even before it declared war; the state party to the governor, the city party to the mayor. the later said in a resolution adopted february : "we place at the disposal of the mayor of this city for any service he may require our full organization of over , women, thoroughly organized and trained and with headquarters in every borough." the mass of the members stood solidly behind this offer. a war service committee was appointed with mrs. f. louis slade as its chairman and it accomplished work that was not exceeded, if indeed equalled, in any city of the united states. nine other committees were also appointed. the leading features of the campaign of were the war work and the enrolling of women. in when mrs. catt started a canvass to obtain a million signatures of women to a petition to answer the argument, "women do not want to vote," the city party took as its share the securing of , in greater new york. this accomplished, the signatures mounted on big placards were placed on exhibition at party headquarters, now in east th street, and a little ceremony was arranged during which mayor john purroy mitchel and other prominent men made commendatory speeches. debarred from outdoor meetings during the summer of on account of an epidemic and during the summer of because of war conditions, the following was nevertheless accomplished: meetings , leaflets distributed , , money expended $ , canvassed and enrolled women , women secured to watch at polls , campaign headquarters maintained newspapers (english and foreign) served daily suffrage editions and pages edited special suffrage articles other suffrage articles and interviews posters placed in shop windows , maintained letter writing committee to send letters to the press; issued weekly news bulletin; printed suffrage news in papers in ten languages; circularized all churches and business men in per cent of the , election districts; conducted hundreds of watchers' schools; exhibited suffrage movies in hundreds of clubs, churches and settlements; had series of suppers and conferences for working-women; held captains' rally at the waldorf-astoria and a patriotic rally at carnegie hall; gave a series of suffrage study courses; raised funds at sacrifice sales, entertainments, lectures, etc.; sent speakers to hundreds of labor union meetings; held four pre-election mass meetings and as a wind-up to the campaign staged eight hours of continuous speaking by men and women at columbus circle. the party leaders had to meet attacks and misrepresentations from the anti-suffrage association, whose national and state headquarters were in new york city. the party had also to combat the actions of the "militant" suffragists, whose headquarters were in washington and whose picketing of the white house and attacks on president wilson and other public men displeased many people who did not discriminate between the large constructive branch of the suffrage movement and the small radical branch. the party leaders had often publicly to repudiate the "militant" tactics. in the parade of oct. , , the party exhibited placards which read: "we are opposed to picketing the white house. we stand by the country and the president." during the campaign, miss hay had associated with her on the executive board, mrs. slade, mrs. aldrich, mrs. george notman, miss annie doughty, mrs. f. robertson-jones, mrs. wells, miss adaline w. sterling, mrs. herbert lee pratt, mrs. charles e. simonson, dr. katherine b. davis, miss eliza mcdonald, mrs. alice p. hutchins, mrs. louis welzmiller. borough chairmen who assisted were mrs. john humphrey watkins, manhattan; mrs. dreier, brooklyn; mrs. daniel appleton palmer, bronx; mrs. david b. rodger, queens; mrs. wilcox, richmond. on the evening of november , election day, the city party headquarters were crowded with people waiting for the returns. mrs. catt, miss hay, mrs. laidlaw and other leaders were present. mr. laidlaw and judge wadhams were "keeping the count." walter damrosch and other prominent men came in. from the beginning the returns were encouraging and as the evening wore on and victory was assured, the room rang with cheers and applause and there were many jubilant speeches. the election brought a great surprise, for the big city, whose adverse vote suffragists had always predicted would have to be outbalanced by upstate districts, won the victory, the latter not helping but actually pulling down its splendid majority. the final vote in greater new york read: _majority_ _yes_ _no_ _in favor_ new york county , , , kings (brooklyn) , , , bronx , , , richmond , , , queens , , , ------- ------- ------- total , , , upstate districts, , ayes; , noes, lost by , . majority in the state as a whole, , . immediately opponents made the charge that suffrage won in the city because of the pro-german, pacifist and socialist vote. an analysis showed that in many districts where the germans and socialists predominated there was not as great a suffrage majority as in republican or democratic districts; that some of the conservative residential sections were more favorable than radical districts and that the soldiers in the field had voted for suffrage in the ratio of two to one. those who were best informed attributed the victory to many causes--to the support of voters in all the parties; to the help of the labor unions; to recognition of women's war work; to the example set by european countries in enfranchising their women; to the endorsement of prominent men and strong organizations. most of all, however, it was due to the originality, the dauntless energy, the thorough organization methods and the ceaseless campaigning of the suffrage workers, who in winning the great empire state not only secured the vote for new york women but made the big commonwealth an important asset in the final struggle for the federal suffrage amendment. the two state campaigns.[ ] at the th convention of the state woman suffrage association held in binghamton oct. - , , miss harriet may mills declined to stand for re-election to the presidency. the following officers were elected: president, mrs. raymond brown, new york city; corresponding secretary, mrs. henry w. cannon, delhi; recording secretary, mrs. nicolas shaw fraser, geneseo; treasurer, mrs. edward m. childs, new york city; directors; miss mills, syracuse; mrs. arthur l. livermore, yonkers; mrs. helen probst abbott, rochester; mrs. dexter p. rumsey, buffalo; mrs. george w. topliff, binghamton; mrs. luther mott, oswego; mrs. chanler aldrich, tarrytown. this convention had before it work of the gravest importance. the submission of a woman suffrage amendment had passed one legislature and it was almost certain that it would pass a second and be voted on at the fall election of . new york was recognized as an immensely difficult state to win. it contained great areas of sparsely settled country and also many large cities. it had a foreign born population of , , in a total of , , . the political "machines" of both republican and democratic parties were well intrenched and there was no doubt that the powerful influence of both would be used to the utmost against a woman suffrage amendment. party leaders might allow it to go through the legislature because confident of their ability to defeat it at the polls. the vital problem for the suffragists was how to organize and unite all the friendly forces. while the state suffrage association was the one which was organized most extensively there were other important societies. for some years the women's political union, mrs. harriot stanton blatch president, had carried on an effective campaign. the woman suffrage party, a large group, existed principally in new york city, organized by assembly districts. the men's league for woman suffrage comprised a considerable number of influential men, now under the presidency of james lees laidlaw. the college equal suffrage league, mrs. charles l. tiffany, president, was an active body of young women. the equal franchise society, organized originally among the society women of new york city by mrs. clarence mackay had mrs. howard mansfield as president and had helped make the movement "fashionable." this was the case with mrs. oliver h. p. belmont's political equality league. on april , , miss mills had invited representatives of these organizations to a conference at the state headquarters in new york to consider concerted action at which mrs. carrie chapman catt was urged to become chairman of a state campaign committee composed of their presidents. before accepting, mrs. catt, in order to learn conditions in the state, sent out a questionnaire to county presidents and assembly district leaders asking their opinion as to the prospect of success. of the forty-two who answered twelve believed that their counties might be carried for the amendment if enough work was done; sixteen thought it doubtful, no matter how much work was done, and fourteen were certain they could not be carried under any conditions. not a single county believed it could organize or finance its own work. in spite of the discouraging situation, mrs. catt on her return in the autumn from the meeting in budapest of the international woman suffrage alliance, of which she was president, accepted the chairmanship on the condition that $ , should be raised for the work. the empire state committee organized november was composed of mrs. raymond brown, representing the state association; miss mary garrett hay, the woman suffrage party of new york city; mrs. mansfield, the equal franchise society; mrs. tiffany, the college league and mr. laidlaw, the men's league, with the following chairmen: miss rose young, press; mrs. warner m. leeds, finance; mrs. norman der. whitehouse, publicity; mrs. john w. alexander, art; mrs. mansfield, literature.[ ] for convenience of work the state was divided into twelve campaign districts, whose chairmen were, st, miss hay, new york city; nd, mrs. brown, bellport, long island; rd, miss leila stott, albany; th, mrs. frank paddock, malone; th, mrs. l. o. mcdaniel, succeeded by miss mills, syracuse; th, mrs. helen b. owens, ithaca; th, mrs. alice c. clement, rochester; th, mrs. nettie rogers shuler, buffalo; th, mrs. carl osterheld, yonkers; th, mrs. gordon norrie, staatsburg; th, miss evanetta hare, succeeded by mrs. george notman, keene valley; th, miss lucy c. watson, utica. under all of these chairmen came the assembly district leaders and under these the , election district captains. from the first it was realized that organization was the keynote to success and that to be effective it must extend into every polling precinct of the state. mrs. catt had no superior in organizing ability. the plan followed the lines of the political parties and was already in use by the woman suffrage party of new york city, which she had founded. in january, , campaign district conferences and schools of method were held, followed by a convention and mass meetings in every county. during the year twenty-eight paid organizers were constantly at work. mrs. catt herself visited fifty of the up-state counties. the annual state convention october - , was preceded by a state-wide motor car pilgrimage. on every highway was a procession of cars stopping along the route for street meetings and converging in rochester for the convention. there was little change in officers. three vice-presidents were added, mrs. alfred e. lewis of geneva, mrs. livermore, mrs. notman. mrs. cannon was succeeded as corresponding secretary by miss marion may of new york. mrs. abbott and mrs. shuler were added to the board of directors. a comprehensive program of work for - , laid out by mrs. catt, gave a definite task for each month and included raising a $ , campaign fund, each district being assigned a proportion; school for suffrage workers, special suffrage edition of a newspaper in every county, automobile campaign, work at county fairs and a house to house canvass to enroll the names of women who wanted the suffrage. mrs. catt's plan also included parades in all the large cities and schools in every county to train watchers for the polls. as was expected the resolution for the suffrage amendment was passed by the legislature of , the vote to be taken on the day of the regular election, november . forty paid organizers were kept in the field and a convention was held again in each county. by autumn each of the assembly districts was organized and in addition there were clubs and campaign committees. about , women held official positions, serving without pay. it was estimated that about , women worked in some capacity in this campaign. twelve thousand new york city public school teachers formed a branch under katharine devereux blake as chairman. each paid fifty cents dues and many gave their summer vacation to work for the amendment. the equal franchise society, in charge of the literature, printed , , leaflets, requiring twenty tons of paper; , booklets, one full set sent to every political leader in the state; , congressional hearings and individual speeches were mailed to voters; , posters were put up and , , suffrage buttons were used; , cards of matches with "vote yes on the suffrage amendment" on the back were distributed and , fans carrying the suffrage map. the value of street speaking had long since been learned. a woman speaking from an automobile or a soap box or steps, while she might begin by addressing a few children would usually draw a crowd of men of the kind who could never be gotten inside a hall, and these men were voters. the effect of these outdoor meetings was soon seen all over the state in the rapidly changing sentiment of the man in the street. during the six months preceding the election , meetings were recorded besides the countless ones not reported. mass meetings were held in different cities, sixteen in new york, with u. s. senators and representatives and other prominent speakers. the week before election in new york, buffalo, rochester and other large cities marathon speeches were made continuously throughout the twenty-four hours, with listening crowds even during the small hours of the night. suffrage speeches were given in moving picture shows and vaudeville theaters and a suffrage motion picture play was produced. flying squadrons of trained workers would go into a city, make a canvass, hold street meetings, attract public attention and stimulate newspaper activity. a remarkable piece of work was done by a press and publicity council of one hundred women in new york city organized by mrs. whitehouse. they established personal acquaintance with the editors and owners of the fifteen daily papers; answered the anti-suffrage letters published; communicated with the editors of trade journals, religious papers, foreign language papers and many others-- in all--and offered them exclusive articles; they suggested special features for magazines and planned suffrage covers; they secured space for a suffrage calendar in every daily paper. this council placed suffrage slides in moving picture houses and suffrage posters in the lobbies of theaters; and had a page advertisement of suffrage in every theater program. comedians were asked to make references to suffrage in their plays and jokes were collected for them and appropriate lines suggested. a sub-committee of writers was organized which assembled material for special suffrage editions of papers, wrote suffrage articles and made suggestions for stories. the art committee illustrated the special editions and made cartoons. they held an exhibit of suffrage posters with prizes and raised money through an exhibition and sale of the work of women painters and sculptors. a new suffrage game was invented and installed at coney island. they supplied the posters for $ , worth of advertising space on billboards and street cars which was contributed by the owners during the final weeks of the campaign. they organized and managed the suffrage banner parade, the largest which had yet taken place. among the other publicity "stunts" of the council were suffrage baseball games, a fourth of july celebration at the statue of liberty and telephone and telegraph day, when the wires carried suffrage messages to politicians, judges, editors, clergymen, governors, mayors, etc., all of these "stunts" receiving a large amount of newspaper publicity. the most effective was the one day strike, to answer the argument used by the "antis" that "woman's place was in the home" by asking all women to stay at home for only one day. the suggestion was never intended to be carried out and did not go further than a letter sent by mrs. whitehouse to the presidents of women's clubs and some other organizations, asking them to come to a meeting to consider the plan, copies of which were sent to the newspapers. the effect was extraordinary. department stores, telephone company managers, employers of all kinds of women's labor, hospitals and schools, protested loudly against the crippling of public service, the loss of profits and the disruption of business which would result from even one day's absence of women from their public places. editorial writers devoted columns to denouncing the proposal. suffrage leaders were bitterly criticized for even suggesting such a public calamity. the favorite argument of the "antis" was answered for all time. at the very end of the campaign the anti-suffragists began to advertise extensively in the subway and on the elevated roads in new york city but the firm that controlled this space refused to accept any advertising from the suffragists. woman's wit, however, was equal to the emergency. for the three days preceding the election one hundred women gave their time to riding on elevated and subway trains holding up large placards on which were printed answers to the "anti" advertisements. the public understood and treated the women with much courtesy. it is difficult to give even the barest outline of the work of the press bureau, at first under the management of mrs. haryot holt dey and later of miss rose young, with a volunteer force of press chairmen over the state. there were , publications in the state, dailies, , weeklies, monthlies, and foreign publications printed in twenty-five languages. to the weeklies a bulletin from the central bureau went regularly; , shipments were made of pages of plate matter. the american press association and the western newspaper union for many weeks sent out columns of suffrage news with their regular service for the patent inside page used by country papers. the bureau furnished material for debates and answered attacks against suffrage. the support given by the newspapers was of great value. of the fifteen dailies of new york city ten were pro-suffrage, while the rural press was overwhelmingly in favor. most of the papers of the larger cities up-state were opposed, although there were notable exceptions. there were several high water marks. on nov. , , just a year before the election, at a mass meeting which packed carnegie hall, $ , were pledged, the largest sum ever raised at a suffrage meeting, a visible proof of the great increase in favorable sentiment since the campaign had begun a year ago, when the $ , which mrs. catt wanted as the original guarantee seemed almost impossible of attainment. in may, , a luncheon attended by , people pledged $ , . on october , ten days before election, there occurred in new york city the largest parade ever organized in the united states for suffrage, called the "banner parade" because of the multitude of flags and banners which characterized it, only those for suffrage being permitted. there were , women who marched up fifth avenue, past a crowd of spectators which was record-breaking, taking from o'clock in the afternoon until long after dark. the rear was brought up by scores of motor cars gaily decorated with chinese lanterns and after darkness fell the avenue was a solid mass of moving colored lights. there seemed no end to the women who were determined to win the vote and a multitude of men seemed to be ready to grant it. on nov. , , the vote took place. every preparation had been made and every precaution taken, as far as the strength of the organization would permit, to secure a fair election and an honest count. a law had been obtained which permitted women to act as watchers at any election on woman suffrage, which proved an important safeguard. wherever possible, watchers were provided for the polling places all over the state. the result of the election was: for the suffrage amendment, , ; against, , ; adverse majority , . the disappointment was almost crushing. although the task of persuading the huge cosmopolitan population of new york state to grant equality to women had been recognized as being almost superhuman, the work done had been so colossal that it would have been impossible not to hope for success. mrs. catt had planned and seen carried out a masterly campaign never before approached anywhere in the history of suffrage. the devotion and self-sacrifice of thousands of women were beyond praise but there were not enough of them. if every county and every town had raised its proportion of the funds and done its share of the work, the amendment might have been carried, but this first campaign laid the foundation for the victory that the next one would bring. this was the largest vote ever polled for suffrage at any election-- , out of a vote of , , , being - / per cent. the vote in the state outside of new york city was , noes, , ayes, opposing majority, , ; in this city , noes, , ayes, opposing majority , ; total opposed, , . the amendment received a larger favorable vote than the republican party polled at the presidential election of , which was , . in this party swept the state and it could have carried the suffrage amendment in . second new york campaign. with - / per cent. of the vote cast in november, , in favor of the woman suffrage amendment the leaders were eager to start a new campaign at once and take advantage of the momentum already gained. two nights after election the campaign was started at a mass meeting in cooper union, new york city, where $ , were pledged amid boundless enthusiasm. the reorganization of the state took place immediately, at the annual convention held in this city, november -december , and all the societies that had cooperated in the empire state campaign committee became consolidated under the name of the state woman suffrage party, into which the old state association was merged. the demand was so overwhelming that mrs. carrie chapman catt, who had led the two years' fight so magnificently, should continue to be leader, that she was obliged to accept the chairmanship. the other officers elected were mrs. norman der. whitehouse, mrs. james lees laidlaw, mrs. henry w. cannon, first, second and third vice-chairmen; mrs. michael m. van beuren and miss alice morgan wright, secretaries; mrs. ogden mills reid, treasurer; mrs. raymond brown, mrs. dexter p. rumsey, miss harriet may mills and mrs. arthur l. livermore, directors. a few weeks later the convention of the national association called mrs. catt even more insistently to accept its presidency and mrs. whitehouse became chairman and therefore the leader of the new campaign. mrs. catt headed the list of directors; mrs. laidlaw was made chairman of legislative work and mrs. brown of organization. the next state convention was held in albany, nov. - , , and the same officers were elected except that mrs. charles noel edge succeeded mrs. van beuren as secretary. the chairmen of the twelve campaign districts were continued with the following changes: second, mrs. frederick edey, bellport; fourth, mrs. robert d. ford, canton; fifth, mrs. william f. canough, syracuse; sixth, miss lillian huffcut, binghamton; eighth, mrs. frank j. tone, niagara falls; ninth, mrs. frank a. vanderlip, scarborough. legislative action. the determination to enter immediately into another campaign met with much opposition, even from many suffragists. the legislature had submitted the amendment in confident that it would be overwhelmingly defeated but the ability and persistence of the women and the big vote secured made the opponents afraid to take another chance. that it was finally forced through both houses was due, first, to the brilliant legislative work of mrs. whitehouse and mrs. laidlaw, assisted by mrs. helen leavitt, chairman of legislative work for the albany district; second, to the extraordinary support given by the organizations throughout the state, through delegations, mass meetings, letters and telegrams, , from the th district alone. the men's league gave invaluable help. the resolution was introduced in both branches on jan. , . the fight centered in the senate and had as determined opponents senator elon f. brown, floor leader of the republicans, and senator walters, republican chairman of the judiciary committee. the democratic minority gave it a lukewarm support. every subterfuge was directed against it. finally it was reported out of the assembly judiciary committee february by a vote of to one and then there was a standstill. the senate judiciary committee constantly postponed action. at last women came to the capitol on march to urge immediate action and the resolution was adopted in the assembly that day by ayes to noes. the senate committee had promised that it would report that same day, and at p. m. it went into executive session and the suffrage leaders camped outside the door. that evening a suffrage ball was to take place in madison square garden, new york city, which they were to open, and the last train that would reach there in time left albany at o'clock. the committee knew this but hour after hour went by without word from it. after time for the train a friendly senator appeared and announced that it had adjourned sometime before without taking action and had gone out the back way in order to escape from the waiting watchers! taking the next train and arriving in new york at o'clock at night the suffragists drove direct to madison square garden. as they approached it they saw great throngs outside storming the doors, which had been closed by the police as it was dangerously crowded. they succeeded in getting in and were greeted by cheers as they led the grand march, which had been awaiting their arrival. at midnight mrs. whitehouse and mrs. laidlaw took the sleeper back to albany and were on hand at the opening of the session the next morning. such undaunted spirit caught the public imagination and the newspapers did it full justice, with big headlines and columns of copy, but still the bill did not pass. the final pressure which put the amendment through was a clever bit of strategy due to mrs. whitehouse. in answer to her appeal editorials appeared in newspapers throughout the state saying that no group of men in albany had the right to strangle the amendment or refuse the voters the privilege of passing on it. on march the senate committee reported the resolution by ayes, one no. on april it passed the senate by ayes, noes. in the amendment was passed again to go to the voters at the regular election november . the state woman suffrage party strengthened its organization with the goal of a captain for every polling precinct, each with a committee of ten women to look after the individual voters. larger cities had a chairman and board of officers combined with the assembly and election district organization. in buffalo, mrs. thew wright headed a capable board; in rochester one was led by mrs. alice clement, later by mrs. henry g. danforth; in syracuse by mrs. mary hyde andrews; in utica by miss lucy c. watson. by the end of the campaign, in addition to volunteers, trained organizers were at work in the counties outside of greater new york. the national suffrage association contributed four of its best workers and paid their salaries. connecticut, new jersey, pennsylvania, massachusetts, new hampshire and some of the southern and western states sent valuable workers. early in the entire organization was well developed and suffrage work was at its height when it was suddenly stopped short by the entrance of the united states into the world war. at once everything else became of secondary importance. the suffrage party, like all organizations of women, was eager to serve the country and seized the first opportunity, which came with the order from governor charles s. whitman for a military census of all the men and women of the state over years of age. entire responsibility for organizing and carrying on this work in several counties was given to the party. from april to august the suffrage campaign was almost entirely suspended while its leaders took a prominent part in war activities. it was only about three months before election that the suffrage issue again became dominant. the amendment must come before the voters at the november election. with the united states engaged in a world war for democracy it seemed impossible to allow democracy to be defeated at home, and therefore it was decided that the suffrage campaign must be carried on. in spite of some opposition mrs. whitehouse called a state conference at saratoga the end of august. besides the distraction caused by the war other difficulties had arisen. the white house at washington had been "picketed" by the national woman's party and the president burned in effigy as a protest because the federal suffrage amendment had not been submitted by congress. the press was filled with the story and the public was indignant. because the country was at war and the president burdened with heavy responsibilities, reproaches of disloyalty and pro-germanism were hurled at suffragists in general. the officers of the national association had repeatedly condemned the "militancy" and repudiated all responsibility for it but to the public generally all suffragists looked alike and people did not at first recognize the difference between the small group of "pickets" and the great suffrage organization of almost countless numbers. new york workers were very resentful because a direct appeal to suspend the "picketing" until after the election was refused by the leaders of the woman's party. the saratoga conference adopted a resolution of disapproval. at a mass meeting in new york soon afterwards governor whitman, mayor mitchel and other prominent men spoke most encouragingly, but on september a suffrage amendment was defeated in maine by a vote of two to one and this had a disastrous effect on the new york situation. it discouraged the workers and many newspapers which had been friendly, anticipating a similar defeat in new york, became hostile in tone; also because of the pressure of war news, the papers were almost closed to suffrage matter. mass meetings which formerly were crowded were now so poorly attended that many had to be abandoned. in order to help the chances of the amendment president wilson on october received a delegation of one hundred of the most prominent women of the party, headed by mrs. whitehouse. he expressed his appreciation of the war work of women and his thorough belief that they should have the suffrage, praising the new york campaign and saying: "i am very glad to add my voice to those which are urging the people of your state to set a great example by voting for woman suffrage. it would be a pleasure if i might utter that advice in their presence, but, as i am bound too close to my duties here to make that possible, i am glad to ask you to convey that message to them...." this address was published far and wide and had a marked effect on the voters. later the president wrote mrs. catt that he hoped no voter in new york would be influenced by anything the so-called "pickets" had done in washington. the suffrage meetings were soon again crowded. on october the final parade took place in new york city. the signatures of , , women citizens of the state, of voting age, asking for suffrage had been obtained. those from up-state were pasted on huge cardboards and carried in the parade by delegations from the various counties. those from the city were placed in huge ballot boxes, one for each assembly district, with the number of them on the outside, and carried by the "captains" of the districts and their helpers. the largest registration of men voters in the state was , , ; there were nearly , more men than women of voting age and many more men than women were naturalized, therefore it was evident that , , signatures represented a good majority of women eligible to vote. this enormous piece of work was done almost entirely by volunteers. for many months women in every county went from door to door, preaching suffrage, asking wives to talk to their husbands about it and leaving literature. the effect of this personal education was undoubtedly great and the petition influenced public opinion. the propaganda carried on by the educational section under mrs. howard mansfield was enormous, including training schools, travelling libraries and , sets of correspondence courses sent out. women were trained in watchers' schools for work at the polls and , leaflets of instructions were furnished. over , , pieces of literature, million posters and nearly , suffrage novelties were used, in addition to the , , pieces used in new york city. the industrial section, under miss mary e. dreier, president of the women's trade union league, made effective appeals to organized labor. a series of letters setting forth the conditions under which women work and their relation to the vote were distributed at factory doors as men left for home during the last fifteen weeks of the campaign. organizers and speakers from their own ranks, men and women, spoke at trade union meetings, in factories and on the street. the state federation of labor endorsed the work and the women's trade union league gave constant help. the church section, under miss adella potter, was very successful in its appeal with specially prepared literature and the churches were an active force. every registered voter was circularized at least once and many twice. special letters and literature were prepared for picked groups of men, , letters in all, and speakers were sent to the military camps where this was permitted. the speakers' bureau, conducted by mrs. victor morawetz, had speakers on its lists and a record of , speakers placed in the state. besides these more than , meetings were arranged independently. in new york city speakers held , meetings, a total of , . senators and representatives from the equal suffrage states were to speak in the closing days of the campaign but the war held congress constantly in session and most of the other prominent men who had promised to speak were prevented by service for the government. the publicity section, under mrs. john blair, advertised the amendment in every way that human ingenuity could devise. huge street banners exhorting men to vote for suffrage hung across the most crowded streets in new york and in all the large cities. every kind of advertising medium was used, billboards, street cars, subway and elevated cars and stations, railroad cars and stations; large electric signs and painted illuminated signs flashed weeks before election, the slogan most often used being, " , , women ask you to vote for woman suffrage november ." for the last two weeks a great campaign of newspaper advertising was carried on. there appeared almost daily in morning and evening papers, including many in foreign languages, pages of suffrage argument, and as a result the news columns began to be filled again with suffrage. the press bureau, miss rose young, director, assisted by local press chairmen, continued as in the first campaign but with an increased output, news bulletins, editorial matter, special articles, material for special editions, photographs, newspaper cuts, statements from one hundred leading new york city and state men headed, why i am for woman suffrage, etc. about , columns of free plate material were provided for the newspapers. it would be impossible to give the total cost of the campaign with accuracy. as far as possible each district supported its own work. the central state treasury spent $ , ; new york city, $ , ; the counties outside of the city $ , ; a total of $ , , besides the large amount spent locally. the raising of the central state funds was the work of the treasurer, mrs. ogden mills reid, assisted by mrs. whitehouse. a budget was prepared to which a group of prominent men, including several bankers, gave their endorsement, and, armed with their letter and helped by them in making appointments, mrs. reid and mrs. whitehouse called on one man and woman after another of a carefully selected list, solicited contributions, and many large amounts were given by persons who had not before been brought in touch with suffrage work. new york city led with $ , ; yonkers came next with $ , and buffalo with $ , . the supreme test of the organization came on election day. it was hoped to cover every polling space with women watchers and probably about per cent. of the total number of election districts of the state were so covered. a total of , women served, many being on duty from a. m. till midnight. on election night all over the state suffrage headquarters were open and victory seemed in the air. bulletin boards in new york city showed the amendment winning in every borough and wires from up-state gave encouraging reports. the state headquarters, an entire floor of the large office building at fifth avenue, new york, and the city headquarters were thronged with happy crowds. before midnight it seemed certain that the four years of continuous campaign had resulted in final victory for new york state, the stronghold of opposition, the key to a federal suffrage amendment because of its large representation and power in congress. when the complete returns came in it was found that suffrage had lost up-state by , votes and that it was new york city which carried the amendment by its majority of , , which reduced by , left a total majority of , . there were some evidences of fraud but the change of sentiment in favor of suffrage was state-wide, and every county showed a gain. the cities gave a better vote than the rural communities. the greatest overturn was in buffalo which changed an adverse majority of , in to a favorable one of , in ! the saloons of this city displayed placards, "vote no on woman suffrage," some putting them on the outside of the building. albany, in spite of the fight against the amendment made by the barnes "machine," although lost, registered a gain of nearly fifty per cent. rochester, which was lost, was dominated by george w. aldrich, the republican leader, and monroe and adjoining counties were also influenced by their newspapers, which nearly all were anti-suffrage. in livingston county, the home of senator james w. wadsworth, jr., and his wife, who was president of the national anti-suffrage association, his influence was so strong and his financial hold on the county so powerful that even men who were in sympathy with woman suffrage were afraid to vote for it. this influence materially reduced the favorable vote in adjoining counties. there were several bitter local "wet" and "dry" fights that were very bad for the suffrage vote. the republican governor, charles s. whitman, spoke for the amendment. herbert parsons, the republican national committeeman for new york, and many individual republicans gave valuable help but the "machine" all over the state did everything possible to defeat the amendment. a week before election, when their object was clearly apparent, the chairman of the republican state committee was requested by the women to write an official letter to its members reminding them of the endorsement given by the republican party at its state convention. he refused to write it except as an individual and not as state chairman. in rochester an anti-suffrage poster was kept on display in republican headquarters. among prominent members of the party who used their influence in opposition were elihu root, henry l. stimson and george wickersham. the two great figures of the suffrage movement, mrs. catt and dr. shaw, gave royally to the campaign. even after mrs. catt became president of the national association, she remained on the state board of directors and was a constant help and inspiration. dr. shaw contributed many weeks of speech making to the first campaign and almost as many to the second, although her time in was much occupied as chairman of the woman's division of the national council of defense. it would be impossible to give the names of the thousands of women who rendered devoted service during these campaigns and it would be equally impossible to mention the names of the men who helped. behind many a woman who worked there was a man aiding and sustaining her with money and personal sacrifice. "suffrage husbands" became a title of distinction. mrs. whitehouse said in reviewing the causes of the failure of the first campaign, "we worked like amateurs." such a charge could not be brought in the second, for the suffragists became an army of seasoned veterans, quick to understand and to obey orders, giving suffrage precedence over everything else except patriotic work. the amendment as adopted gave complete suffrage to women on the same terms as exercised by men and provided that "a citizen by marriage shall have been an inhabitant of the united states for five years." this simply required the same term of residence for wives as for unmarried women and all men. * * * * * from to the men's league for woman suffrage was an influential factor in the movement in new york. it was believed to be the first of the kind and the idea was said to have originated with max eastman, a young professor in columbia university, but in a sketch of the league by him in _the trend_ in he said that in , when he went to consult oswald garrison villard, editor of the new york _evening post_, he found that mr. villard had received a letter from dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american woman suffrage association, asking him to organize such a league; that he had conferred with rabbi stephen s. wise and they had "agreed to share the ignominy" if some one would undertake the organizing. this was done by mr. eastman, who, armed with letters of introduction by mr. villard, succeeded in getting the names of twelve men of civic influence. using these names he sent out several thousand letters to such men over the state and finally obtained twenty-five members. in november, , the first meeting was held at the new york city club and officers were elected. by good fortune george foster peabody was one of the earliest members, a georgian by birth and one of new york's prominent bankers and financiers. he consented to serve as president and with this prestige many members were secured. "the league owed its pecuniary life to him," said mr. eastman, "and a great part of its early standing before the public." after the first year the league was equally fortunate in having james lees laidlaw, another new york banker and man of affairs, take the presidency. he retained it for the next six years, and when the national men's league was formed he consented to serve also as its president until the contest for woman suffrage was finished, giving active and constant assistance. mr. eastman was secretary of the new york league for a year or more, assisted by ward melville, and was succeeded by robert cameron beadle, general manager of the u. s. stoker corporation. he gave valuable and continuous service to the league until just before the campaign of , when the pressure of business required his time and he became vice-president and george creel ably filled the office of secretary during that strenuous period. in the league took part in the first big suffrage parade and no act of men during the whole history of woman suffrage required more courage than that of the who marched up fifth avenue on that occasion, jeered by the crowds that lined the sidewalks. it was a body of representative citizens, led by mr. peabody, mr. laidlaw and mr. villard. the league became a large organization, enrolling among its members such men as governor charles s. whitman, mayor john purroy mitchel, frank a. vanderlip, colonel george harvey, william m. ivins, dr. simon flexner, professor john dewey, hamilton holt, william dean howells, john mitchell, charles sprague smith, samuel untermeyer, herbert parsons, president schurman of cornell university, president mccracken of vassar college and many judges, public officials and others of note. in the suffrage parade of the league four abreast extended five blocks along fifth avenue. under its auspices mass meetings were held, district rallies, public dinners with guests, balls and theatrical performances, and campaign activities of various kinds were carried on. men's leagues were formed in many states. the _woman voter_ of october, , published in new york city, issued a special league number, with sketches, pictures, etc. the women's political union, which under the name of the equality league of self-supporting women was formed in new york city in the autumn of by mrs. harriot stanton blatch, was an active force for many years. its object was to bring to suffrage the strength of women engaged in wage-earning occupations and under its aegis trade-union women first pleaded their cause before a legislative committee on feb. , . that spring the league held two suffrage mass meetings, the first for many years in cooper union, and the following year carnegie hall was for the first time invaded by woman suffrage with a meeting in honor of mrs. emmeline pankhurst, the leader of the english "militant" suffragists. the league sent over women to albany by special train on feb. , , to a hearing on a woman suffrage amendment. the same year it started open air meetings throughout the state. on election day in the union distributed literature at the polls and five members tested the right of women to act as watchers. it made the innovation of interviewing candidates and pledging them to vote, if elected, for the submission of a suffrage amendment to the electors. in the union organized in new york the first suffrage foot parade of women, and other larger ones afterwards. in september it began a vigorous campaign against artemus ward, republican candidate for re-election to the assembly in a banner republican district in new york city, because of his hostility to the suffrage amendment. pedestrians could not go a block in the district without hearing a soap box orator trying to defeat him. the night before election eighty-six out-door meetings were held. although it could not defeat him his former majority of , was reduced to . in it engineered campaigns against cuvillier in manhattan and carrew in brooklyn for the same reason, distributing over , pieces of literature in opposing the latter, who had an adverse majority of over , . in the union took women to albany and in the largest suffrage delegation which had ever gone there. they practically compelled consideration of the suffrage resolution and after its defeat campaigned against the enemies, ending the political careers of some of them. before election day the files of the union contained signed pledges from every candidate for the legislature in of the senate districts and in of the assembly districts. on jan. , , the senate voted to for the amendment and on the th the assembly concurred with but five adverse votes. on may , the union organized a parade of victory in new york city. during the great campaign of the union was constantly evolving new features to draw attention to the amendment. it closed its activities with a luncheon of a thousand covers at the hotel astor just before election day in honor of the th anniversary of the birth of elizabeth cady stanton. after the defeat it amalgamated with the congressional union, abandoned state work and centered its efforts on an amendment to the federal constitution. throughout its existence mrs. blatch was president, elizabeth ellsworth cook, vice-president, marcia townsend, treasurer, eunice dana brannan, chairman of finance, nora stanton blatch, editor of the _women's political world_, the organ of the society; caroline lexow, field secretary and alberta hill and florence maule cooley, executive secretaries. [information furnished by mrs. blatch.] * * * * * an important feature of the campaign in new york city and in other parts of the state was the work of the st. catherine welfare association of catholic women, organized by miss sara mcpike, executive secretary of the advertising department of a large corporation, and miss winifred sullivan, a lawyer. its object was better social and economic conditions for women and children and the extension of the suffrage to women as a means to this end. its leaders and prominent members worked with the state and city suffrage associations also but through their own they could carry the message into the different sodalities and fraternal organizations of the church and to its summer schools and conventions. bishops and priests were interviewed and a number of the latter were persuaded to speak at the meetings held in twenty-six prominent parish school halls in new york city. ten meetings were held in brooklyn and others in surrounding towns. leaflets of opinions favorable to woman suffrage by the catholic clergy were prepared and widely circulated among priests, educators and laymen. space was secured in the catholic press. letters without number were written. a delegation was received by cardinal gibbons in baltimore to explain the desire of its members for the vote. many of the clergy looked with favor on their work, which encouraged catholic women to take part in it, and marched under the banner of the association in the last suffrage parade in new york in october, . miss mcpike devoted every hour of her time outside of business hours and gave $ to the work of the association. mrs. mary c. brown was a generous contributor. among the countless members who helped unceasingly by writing, speaking and in many other ways were elizabeth jordan, janet richards, mrs. william a. prendergast, countess mackin, mrs. schuyler warren, sara h. fahey, mrs. william h. yorke, anne sands o'shea, catharine g. hogan, helen haines, aimee hutchinson, mary c. larkin, may h. morey, frances gallogly, annie nolan, rose and fanny flannelly. the activities of the association were extended into pennsylvania, new jersey and other states. * * * * * the success of the suffrage amendment did not mean the disbanding of the organization. at the th state convention, held in new york city, nov. - , , mrs. whitehouse was re-elected chairman, mrs. laidlaw vice-chairman, and most of the old officers were retained. it was decided to make the federal suffrage amendment the chief object and in order to work more effectively the state was organized by congressional districts, with the assembly district organization retained. early in mrs. whitehouse, because of her remarkable work in the suffrage campaign, was selected by the government's committee on public information to go to switzerland. mrs. laidlaw was elected chairman at the convention and the name of the state woman suffrage party was changed to the state league of women voters. even before the war was ended an enormous work was begun throughout the state, under mrs. laidlaw, toward the political training of the more than a million women who had been enfranchised. this was continued under mrs. frank a. vanderlip, who was elected chairman of the state league of women voters, officially formed april , . the federal suffrage amendment was submitted by congress june , . senator william m. calder voted in favor, senator wadsworth continuing his opposition to the end. of the representatives, voted in favor; five were absent; three, riordan of new york, dunn of rochester and sanders of stafford, voted no. ratification. the ratification of this amendment by the state legislatures became the pressing question and as most of them had adjourned for two years it would be necessary to have this done by special sessions if women were to vote in the november election of . that of new york would meet in january, , so there was no need of haste, but mrs. catt at once took up the matter with governor alfred e. smith, pointing out the excellent effect on other states if new york should have a special session for this purpose. without hesitation he issued the call on june , with a strong appeal for ratification. the legislature met on june and immediately the assembly ratified by unanimous vote of . the resolution went at once to the senate, where henry m. sage made a speech against it and asked to be excused from voting. it was then passed by unanimous vote, the legislature being in session less than a day. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to mrs. ella hawley crossett, president of the state woman suffrage association, - . [ ] mary anthony left to mrs. crossett, miss mills and isabel howland $ , to be used for state work as they thought best. the interest for three years was given as prize money for the best essays in the colleges of the state. when the headquarters were opened in new york city some of the money helped to furnish them and the rest was put in the state work the following year. [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to miss harriet may mills, vice-president of the state woman suffrage association, - ; president, - . [ ] in mrs. livermore was succeeded by mrs. william l. colt, who later resigned on account of illness and mrs. marie jenney howe was unanimously elected. after the death of mrs. osborne, mrs. rumsey of buffalo was appointed second auditor. mrs. katharine gavit of albany succeeded mrs. burrows and served to . mrs. ivins resigned in the winter of and mrs. maud ingersoll probasco of new york was chosen for the remainder of the year. [ ] from new york: misses jones, craft, klatschken, constance leupp, phoebe hawn, minerva crowell, amalie doetsch, elizabeth aldrich, mrs. george wend and her son, milton wend, mrs. george boldt, master norman spreer, ernest stevens and a. c. lemmon. from philadelphia: miss virginia patache and mrs. george williams. [ ] mrs. ella hawley crossett, president of the state suffrage association, sent a complete résumé of the legislative action from to , comprising many thousand words, but the exigencies of space compelled condensation to the bare details. [ ] the legislative committee was composed of mrs. george howard lewis, miss miller, mrs. l. cuyler, mrs. villard, mrs. harry s. hastings, mrs. craigie, mrs. rodgers, miss jenney. a cooperating committee representing the entire state was of great assistance. among its members were mrs. catt, mrs. blatch, mrs. graham and mrs. shuler, each president of a large organization of women; the rev. josiah strong, president american institute of social science; oswald garrison villard, proprietor of the new york evening post; dr. stewardson, president hobart college; professor schmidt, of cornell university; colonel a. s. bacon, treasurer of the american sabbath union; edwin markham, william g. van plank, dr. john d. peters, d.d.; florence kelley, elizabeth burrill curtis, caroline lexow, president college women's league; mrs. osborne and others. [ ] among those added to the cooperating suffrage committee during this and the preceding year were mrs. belmont, president of the political equality suffrage association; mrs. mackay, president of the equal franchise society; jessie ashley, president of the college equal suffrage league; mary e. dreier, president of the women's trade union league; anna mercy, president of the east side equal rights league; ella a. boole, president state w. c. t. u.; george foster peabody, president, and max eastman, secretary of the men's league for woman suffrage; ida husted harper, chairman national press bureau; mrs. william c. story, president state federation of women's clubs; lucy p. allen, president of the washington county and lucy p. watson, president of the utica political equality clubs; mrs. william c. gannett, president of the susan b. anthony memorial association; alice lewisohn, noted for her social work in new york, dr. charles f. aked, rabbi stephen s. wise and william m. ivins. [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to mrs. oreola williams haskell, former president of the kings county political equality league; head of the press bureau of the new york city woman suffrage party through the two campaigns, - , and of the league of women voters from its beginning until the present time. [ ] extended space is given to the two new york campaigns because they were the largest ever made and were used as a model by a number of states in later years.--ed. [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to mrs. raymond brown, president of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] before the committee was fully organized mrs. blatch and the women's political union withdrew to carry on its work independently and mrs. belmont with her political equality league also ceased cooperation. chapter xxxii. north carolina.[ ] previous to interest in woman suffrage in north carolina was still dormant and no attempt had been made at organization. this year, without any outside pressure, a handful of awakening women met on july at the home of dr. isaac m. taylor of morgantown to arrange for gathering into a club those in sympathy with the woman suffrage movement. those present were mrs. taylor, mrs. hosfeldt, mrs. hughson, miss allen, miss riddell, miss julia erwin and miss kate pearsall, who was elected secretary. mrs. hosfeldt was chosen for president and miss mamie collett for vice-president. mrs. hughson, mrs. taylor and miss erwin were appointed to formulate the purposes of the society which it was agreed to call the morgantown equal suffrage association. at the next meeting in miss erwin's home july miss coffey acted as recording secretary and the organization was completed. societies were formed in greenville and charlotte and through the efforts of miss susanne bynum and miss anna forbes liddell of charlotte a meeting was called in that city in november to form a state association. the following officers were chosen: president, mrs. archibald henderson, chapel hill; vice presidents, mrs. eugene reilley, charlotte; miss gertrude weil, goldsboro; mrs. malcolm platt, asheville; corresponding secretary, miss bynum; recording secretary, miss liddell; treasurer, mrs. david stern, greensboro. mrs. lila meade valentine, president of the virginia equal suffrage league, was the principal speaker. a charter was subsequently obtained for the equal suffrage league of north carolina, inc., the charter members numbering about men and women, representing every class and section in the state. the league became auxiliary to the national association. at this time, when it was far from popular to stand for this cause, judge walter clark, chief justice of the supreme court; gen. julian s. carr, archibald henderson, wade harris and e. k. graham acted as advisory committee and gave freely of their time and money to help the new league. the first annual state convention was held in charlotte, nov. - , , mrs. henderson presiding. during this first year mrs. medill mccormick, chairman of the congressional committee of the national association, was of the greatest assistance in many ways. she sent an organizer, miss lavinia engle, who, with mrs. henderson, distributed literature throughout the state and organized a number of branches. the state league recorded itself as opposed to "militancy" in any form and as desiring "to gain the vote by appeal to reason and fair play." the charlotte _observer_ carried a four-page suffrage section advertising the convention. keener interest throughout the state, together with the existence of fourteen leagues, represented the net result of this first year's work. the officers were re-elected except that mrs. palmer jerman of raleigh was made recording secretary and miss mary shuford of hickory corresponding secretary. delegates appointed to the national convention at nashville, tenn., were: misses bynum, liddell and mary henderson. the second annual convention met at the battery park hotel, asheville, oct. , . mrs. nellie nugent somerville of mississippi, a vice-president of the national association, gave an address. during the year mrs. desha breckinridge of kentucky, also a national vice-president, spoke several times in the state. mrs. henderson had sent a vigorous protest in the name of the league to miss alice paul, chairman of the congressional union, against her coming into north carolina to organize branches, saying that its policy was diametrically opposed to that of the state suffrage league, whose arduous work of the past year would be undone. the outstanding feature of the year's work was the special hearing in the legislature on the act to amend the constitution so as to give woman suffrage. in november, , the legislators had been polled on the suffrage question, a few did not answer; fifteen were flatly opposed; twelve were in favor; the majority declared themselves open to argument. at the hearing held in the hall of the house with a large audience present dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national association, was the chief speaker. others included mrs. henderson, mrs. reilley, mrs. adelaide goodno, president of the woman's christian temperance union; mrs. al fairbrother and mrs. thomas w. lingle. miss henderson, legislative committee chairman, presided. the measure was defeated. the committee recommended that future efforts be concentrated on presidential and municipal suffrage bills. mrs. charlotte malcolm of asheville was elected president.[ ] there was no convention in but two were held in . the first met in the auditorium of the carnegie library, greensboro, jan. , . mrs. walter mcnab miller, first vice-president of the national association, was the principal speaker, addressing a mass meeting of representative people in the opera house. mrs. j. s. cunningham was elected president. during mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs of alabama made addresses in the state and miss gertrude watkins and miss stokes, national organizers, assisted in forming clubs. the second convention for met in the wayne county court house, goldsboro, oct. , , mrs. cunningham presiding and speaking. colonel joseph e. robinson and j. f. barrett made addresses. the principal speaker was mrs. jacobs, then auditor of the national association. a fine collection of suffrage literature was presented from chief justice clark. during the year mrs. miller had spoken several times in the state and delivered the commencement address at the north carolina college for women. mrs. jerman cautioned the various leagues against affiliation with the congressional union, now called the woman's party, whose representatives were then at work in the state. mrs. cunningham was re-elected president. at the annual convention in the woman's club building, raleigh, jan. , , miss gertrude weil was elected president and mrs. josephus daniels honorary president. the chief speaker was the hon. william jennings bryan, who addressed in the city auditorium an immense gathering of all classes. the past year had been a busy one. on april , , the state republican convention included a suffrage plank in its platform. on the th representative suffragists appeared at the democratic state convention urging one but the plea fell upon dull ears and unresponsive hearts. the latter part of may the state federation of women's clubs with , members endorsed equal suffrage with but two dissenting votes. in june the state trained nurses association unanimously endorsed it. during september petitions signed by hundreds of college students and letters and telegrams representing hundreds of individuals were dispatched to u. s. senators simmons and overman in washington urging them to vote for the federal suffrage amendment. on the petition from one college the names represented cities and towns in the state. the one from the state normal college carried the signatures of out of the women students. the petition of citizens from raleigh bore the names of two daughters of senator simmons. the senators were not moved. in all that memorable struggle only one north carolina representative, zebulon weaver, a democrat of asheville, voted "aye." edwin c. webb of cleveland county, as chairman of the house judiciary committee, was a powerful foe. attempts were made to form suffrage leagues in different women's colleges, where the students were eager to be organized, but in no case would the trustees permit it. in november the state league telegraphed president wilson urging the appointment of mrs. carrie chapman catt, national president, on the peace commission. in december the farmers' union, representing , farmers, endorsed equal suffrage. during the year the cause was advanced by the addresses of dr. shaw and miss jeannette rankin, the first woman representative in congress. at this time the state league carried on its letterhead an advisory committee of men such as never had been formed in any other state. the list of ninety-six names included secretary of the navy josephus daniels, mr. bryan, chief justice clark, the most eminent members of the legal, medical and clerical professions, public officials and business men. the annual convention met in the o. henry hotel, greensboro, jan. , , , miss weil presiding. a brilliant banquet was attended by a large number of representative men and women. the honorary president, mrs. daniels, made a brief speech and miss marjorie shuler, national director of publicity, was a speaker. mrs. raymond brown, vice-president of the national association, and miss shuler addressed the convention and the public meeting in the evening, over which mrs. daniels presided. twenty-four leagues were reported, largely the fruit of the organization work done during the year by mrs. mary o. cowper of durham, who had the assistance of miss mary e. pidgeon, a national organizer. during the year a series of related suffrage papers were prepared by members of the greensboro league and distributed by the state league among the different branches. miss weil was continued as president. reports of all committees and of the work in general throughout the state, were so encouraging that miss shuler frequently voiced the common feeling, "north carolina will ratify." among the north carolina women who have made addresses for suffrage in the state are: dr. delia dixon-carroll, miss louise alexander, miss clara b. byrd, mrs. cunningham, miss harriet elliott, mrs. fairbrother, mrs. henderson, mrs. jerman, mrs. lingle, mrs. t. d. jones, mrs. platt, miss weil. when the state equal suffrage league was organized in many of the newspapers refused to carry stories about it or assist in advertising it in any way. gradually, however, they have been won over almost without exception, not only to the publishing of news but many of the most influential papers contained during convincing editorials in behalf of equal suffrage, so that the women who are working for it regard the newspapers as among their strongest allies. special mention should be made of the vigorous support of ratification of the federal suffrage amendment by the raleigh _news and observer_, the greensboro _daily news_ and the charlotte _observer_. the workers are greatly indebted to chief justice clark, who for years has been an unfailing champion of equal suffrage and real democracy. deep indebtedness is acknowledged to dr. shaw, who a number of times came to speak and whose memory is held in deep affection by north carolina suffragists. her last visit was made when she gave the commencement address at the college for women at greensboro in may, , wearing the medal for distinguished service given by secretary of war baker the preceding day. a few years ago a beautiful residence for the women students was erected on the college grounds. she had spoken several times to the students, who were devoted to her, and after her death on july the alumnæ officially requested that the residence be named the anna howard shaw building, which was done.[ ] on oct. , , after the federal amendment had been proclaimed, the state league held its last meeting and was merged into the league of women voters, with miss gertrude weil chairman. mrs. maud wood park, chairman of the national league, addressed a large and appreciative audience. ratification. the legislature of had instructed governor thomas w. bickett to call a special session in to consider matters connected with taxation and it was understood that the ratification of the federal woman suffrage amendment would be considered at that time. by march, , it had been ratified by states and it was evident that north carolina might be the one to give the final affirmative vote. this did not seem impossible, as the most prominent men in the state were favorable, including the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house, several members of congress, the secretary of state and other officials; the presidents of most of the colleges and of various organizations; judges, mayors and many others. the republican state convention in march seated two women delegates for the first time and put a woman on the ticket for state superintendent of public instruction, mrs. mary settle sharpe of the north carolina college for women, who was on two state republican committees. the democrats at their state convention, april , seated about forty women delegates. before the convention u. s. senator simmons, always a strong opponent of woman suffrage, announced himself in favor of ratification on the ground of political expediency. governor bickett issued a similar statement and a. w. mclean, member of the democratic national committee, declared publicly for it. clyde hoey, member of congress, temporary chairman of the convention, made the key-note speech in regard to state issues, in which he said: "i hope to see our general assembly at its special session ratify the federal suffrage amendment. there is no one thing you can do here that will be worth so much to the party in the nation as to recommend to the legislature the ratification of this amendment." it was supposed that u. s. senator overman would fall in line but in his speech he said: "i have been and still am opposed to woman suffrage. it is fundamental with me, deep and inborn ... but i recognize the fact that it seems inevitable." the plank in the platform, as it came from the committee, recommended that the amendment should not be ratified but a state amendment should be submitted to the voters. a minority report called for the submission to the convention of the question whether the platform should contain a plank for ratification. a second minority report was offered to eliminate all reference to woman suffrage. never in the history of the party was there such a fight over the platform. colonel a. d. watts and cameron morrison led the opposition to ratification; w. p. glidewell and john d. bellamy the affirmative. finally f. p. hobgood, jr., one of the earliest champions of woman suffrage, after a fiery speech, presented the following substitute for all the reports: "this convention recommends to the democratic members of the general assembly that at the approaching special session they vote in favor of the ratification of the proposed th amendment to the federal constitution." this was carried by a vote of to . mrs. john s. cunningham, former president of the state equal suffrage league, was elected by a large majority as honorary delegate to the democratic national convention and miss mary o. graham as delegate. she had already been made a member of the national committee. the attention of the country was focussed on north carolina. in the early summer president wilson telegraphed to governor bickett: "i need not point out to you the critical importance of the action of your great state in the matter of the suffrage amendment." the governor replied in part: "i hope the tennessee legislature will meet and ratify the amendment and thus make immediate action by north carolina unnecessary. we have neither the time nor the money and such action on the part of tennessee would save this state the feeling of bitterness that would surely be engendered by debate on the subject that would come up in the legislature. i have said all i intend to say on the subject of ratification. while i will take my medicine i will never swear that it tastes good, for it doesn't." just before the assembling of the legislature suffrage headquarters were opened in raleigh with miss gertrude weil, president of the state equal suffrage league, and mrs. palmer jerman, chairman of its legislative committee, in charge. miss engle and miss pidgeon, national organizers, were also members of the headquarters group. miss martha haywood did invaluable work as publicity chairman. a booth with literature, posters, etc., was established in the yarborough hotel. among the prominent men who during the struggle for ratification strongly urged it were: secretary daniels, gen. julian s. carr; col. wade harris, editor of the charlotte _observer_; j. w. bailey, collector of internal revenue; clyde r. hoey, member of congress; max o. gardner, lieutenant governor; j. c. pritchard, judge of the u. s. circuit court of appeals; dennis g. brummitt, speaker of the house; ex-governor locke craig, a. w. mcalister and many others. senator simmons, who was asked to come to raleigh to assist in the fight, refused to do so but issued another statement that, although he had always been opposed to suffrage and his position was unchanged, he realized that its coming was inevitable and believed that it would help the democratic party to ratify. later, in response to a request from the raleigh _news and observer_, he stressed the point that, since the rest of the country was practically unanimous for ratification, he feared sectional antagonism might be aroused if north carolina did not ratify. mr. bryan sent a message urging ratification. mrs. daniels came to raleigh to assist personally in the struggle to ratify. on august the session convened. the outlook was encouraging but the enemies had been busy and the very next day a "round robin" signed by members of the house was sent to the general assembly of tennessee, where a bitter fight on ratification was in progress, which said: "we, the undersigned, members of the house of representatives of the general assembly of north carolina, constituting the majority of said body, send greetings and assure you that we will not ratify the susan b. anthony amendment interfering with the sovereignty of tennessee and other states of the union. we most respectfully request that this measure be not forced upon the people of north carolina." on august the governor, accompanied by mrs. bickett, mrs. daniels and mrs. jerman, appeared in person before the joint assembly in the hall of the house of representatives, where the gallery was crowded with women, and began his address by saying: "from reports in the public press it seems that sentiment in the general assembly is decidedly against the ratification of the amendment. with this sentiment i am in deepest sympathy and for the gentlemen who entertain it i cherish the profoundest respect but this does not lessen my obligation to lay before you a photographic copy of my mind on this important subject. it is well known that i have never been impressed with the wisdom of or the necessity for woman suffrage in north carolina." after a long speech setting forth the arguments in opposition and quoting poetry he said: "but in the words of grover cleveland, a condition not a theory confronts us. woman suffrage is at hand. it is an absolute moral certainty that inside of six months some state will open the door and women will enter the political forum. no great movement in all history has ever gone so near the top and then failed to go over. the very most this general assembly can do is to delay for six months a movement it is powerless to defeat. i am profoundly convinced that it would be the part of wisdom and grace to accept the inevitable and ratify the amendment." on the same day senator scales introduced the resolution to ratify, which was referred to the committee on constitutional amendments. within a quarter of an hour the committee reported favorably by to --senator cloud. this prompt action was said to be not a tribute to governor bickett but to lieutenant governor gardner. it was introduced into the house by minority leader h. s. williams (republican) and referred to the committee on constitutional amendments. senator scales, floor leader in the senate for ratification, and senator lindsay warren, floor leader for the opposition, agreed that the resolution to ratify should come up for discussion august . so great was the excitement that by order of the senate the gallery space was divided, the east wing being assigned to the ratificationists, the west wing to the rejectionists. an impassioned debate continued about five hours, senator carr opening for ratification, followed by senators sisk, long of halifax, lovell and glidewell, with scales closing. the opposition was led by senator warren, followed by senators beddingfield, thompson and conner. when agreement to vote was reached and the prospect for ratification was favorable, senator warren suddenly interposed a resolution to defer action until the regular meeting of the legislature in . senator scales had no intimation that this move would be made until it was too late to prevent it and the vote stood ayes, noes. blame for the defeat was placed to a large extent upon senator stacy. had he remained true, there would have been a tie and the lieutenant governor would have voted in favor. meanwhile it was generally understood that representative w. w. neal had been sent to tennessee for a conference with the opponents in the legislature there to arrange for the defeat of ratification by the house in each state. speaker seth walker of the tennessee house telegraphed speaker brummitt: "have the amendment defeated overwhelmingly in the lower house. we are proud of our mother state of north carolina. god grant that she stand true to her glorious tradition and history." all kinds of canards were in circulation and governor james m. cox, democratic candidate for president, had to send a personal telegram denying that he was opposed to the ratification. a rejection league of women had been formed with miss mary hilliard hinton as chairman, which was very active. august a resolution to reject was introduced in the house by representative grier. after the unexpected action of the senate interest abated in the house. the question was taken up on the th and the resolution to ratify was considered first. representative everett led the ratification forces with representative gold and others giving strong support. representatives crisp and dawson led the opponents. the vote stood ayes, noes. the rejection resolution was laid on the table. in her report on ratification mrs. jerman made the significant statement that, although individual men in both parties had stood true to their pledges as loyal supporters, yet both parties had repudiated their state platforms, and, therefore, the women were free so far as any feeling of allegiance to either for what it may have done for suffrage was concerned. legislative action. . the first bill for woman suffrage was introduced by senator james l. hyatt, republican, of yancey county. referred to committee on insane asylums. . municipal suffrage bill introduced by david m. clark of pitt county. tabled. walter murphy, speaker of the house, left his chair to talk against it. . constitutional woman suffrage amendment introduced by senator f. p. hobgood, jr., of guilford county. senate vote: for, against. introduced in the house by gallatin roberts of buncombe county; for, against. . bill for presidential electors, county and city officers, introduced by senator h. b. stevens of buncombe county; vote, for, against. state amendment resolution, introduced by g. ellis gardner of yancey county, an anti-suffragist, was tabled, as desired. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss clara booth byrd, a member of the faculty of the north carolina college for women. [ ] those besides the presidents who held office during the subsequent years were: vice-presidents: mrs. lingle, mrs. jerman, mrs. taylor, mrs. fairbrother, mrs. c. a. shore, miss weil, miss julia alexander; corresponding secretaries: miss susan frances hunter, miss elizabeth hedrick, miss eugenia clark; recording secretaries: mrs. lalyce d. buford, miss margaret berry, miss exum clements; treasurers: miss lida rodman, mrs. e. j. parrish, mrs. julius w. cone. [ ] in this college women are at the head of the departments of mathematics, latin, chemistry, political science and home economics. the situation is similar in all colleges for women. the state university and some others are co-educational. chapter xxxiii. north dakota.[ ] the equal suffrage association of north dakota held its annual convention at devil's lake july , , where it was a prominent feature of the chautauqua assembly. the auditorium was hung with huge banners reading, "equality at the ballot box," "taxation without representation is tyranny," etc. dr. cora smith eaton addressed a large audience on the status of woman suffrage in our country. officers elected were, mrs. flora b. naylor, president; mrs. janette hill knox, vice-president; mrs. mazie stevens, treasurer; mrs. katharine f. king, recording secretary. from to there are no records of an active suffrage organization but individuals and small groups of women in different parts of the state kept alive the suffrage spirit. on feb. , , twenty-four men and women were invited to meet miss sylvia pankhurst of england at the home of mrs. mary darrow weible in fargo. after an informal discussion the votes for women league of fargo was organized with mrs. clara l. darrow president. a strong league was organized in grand forks by mrs. r. m. pollock. on june , at the call of the fargo league, an earnest group of men and women from different parts of the state met at the public library and formed a state votes for women league. officers: president, mrs. darrow; vice-president at large, mrs. m. l. ayers, dickinson; corresponding secretary, mrs. alice nelson page, grand forks; recording secretary, mrs. kate selby wilder, fargo; treasurer, mrs. helen de lendrecie, fargo; committee on permanent organization, mrs. ayers, mrs. james collins, mrs. w. j. holbrook, n. c. mcdonald, w. l. stockwell; resolutions, mrs. page, mrs. wilder, mrs. w. f. cushing; constitution, miss candis nelson, mr. mcdonald; promotion, mrs. c. f. amidon. steps were taken to affiliate with the national american woman suffrage association and it was decided to introduce a resolution for the submission of a state suffrage amendment to the voters at the next session of the legislature. mrs. de lendrecie gave headquarters in the de lendrecie building at fargo. the first convention was held at the civic center, fargo, oct. , . the promotions committee reported the circularization of the entire press and the legislators and a number of towns organized. a woman suffrage bill had been passed by the legislature and would be submitted to the voters on nov. , . with the following state officers the campaign was launched: mrs. darrow, president; mrs. weible, vice-president; mrs. emma s. pierce, treasurer; mrs. francis s. bolley, congressional chairman; mrs. elizabeth darrow o'neil, campaign manager. a plan to divide the state into its judicial districts with district, county and township chairmen was only partially carried out. one hundred leagues were formed with approximately , members. wherever there was an efficient worker she was given a free hand to get the votes in her locality in the most effective way. from four to six organizers were in the field continually; seven speakers, including dr. anna howard shaw, its president, were sent by the national association and five were furnished by the state. chautauquas, fairs, theaters and all kinds of meetings were everywhere utilized and there were automobile speaking tours to outlying districts; plate matter was furnished to the press and political party members were circularized. a fund of $ , was raised, $ , of which came from the national association and other outside sources. it was a hard and hopeless campaign because of an impossible requirement. when the framers of the constitution for statehood in refused to include woman suffrage a provision was put in the constitution whereby the legislature at any time could submit a bill for it at the next general election. if approved by a majority of voters "voting upon the question" it became a law. how, when or where the words "voting at the election" were substituted for "voting upon the question" no one seemed to know but they got into the constitution. they meant that the suffrage referendum must poll a majority of all the votes cast at the election and not just on the measure itself. if the ballot was not marked at all it was counted in the negative. the official returns gave the affirmative vote on suffrage , ; blanks and noes together , , making a total of , , or more votes than were cast for governor, who polled the largest number. it was generally conceded that if the unmarked ballots had not been counted against the measure it would have been carried. the entire western part of the state went for suffrage. the chief opponents were the german russians in emmons and surrounding counties and a handful of anti-suffragists who came from outside the state. the same legislature that sent this bill to the electors also submitted a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution, which would be more secure than a law. this resolution had to pass two legislatures but it required only a majority at the polls of the votes actually cast on the question. the suffragists felt sure that the legislature of would pass for the second time this resolution for an amendment but it refused to do so. they soon sustained a great loss in the death of mrs. darrow, the much loved president, on april , . she had sacrificed her life in her ceaseless work for woman suffrage. her husband, dr. e. m. darrow, a pioneer physician, two daughters and three sons ardently supported her efforts. on account of the campaign the convention of had been postponed. it was held at valley city in june, , and mrs. grace clendening of wimbledon was elected president. undaunted the suffragists made plans to hold together the converts won during the campaign. the organization had been of mushroom growth and they now had to strengthen it. the annual convention was held at minot oct. , , and mrs. clendening was re-elected. extensive educational work was done the following year, at chautauquas by holding "suffrage days," and through booths maintained at the fargo and grand forks fairs, with a wide distribution of literature. the votes for women league and the woman's christian temperance union opposed governor hanna and lieutenant governor fraine at the june primaries because they were responsible for the unfair treatment of the suffrage resolution in the legislature and both were defeated. the annual convention was held oct. , , at valley city, the national association sending as a representative its first vice-president, mrs. walter mcnab miller of missouri. it was planned to organize the state on the lines of its three congressional districts, which made a smaller executive board and facilitated its meetings. the following officers were elected: president, mrs. clendening; treasurer and press chairman, mrs. pierce; national and first congressional district chairman, mrs. o'neil; educational and second district chairman, mrs. charles rathman; third district chairman, mrs. emma murray; legislative chairman, mrs. weible; publicity chairman, miss aldyth ward. an active campaign was started to influence legislators for a presidential and municipal suffrage bill and a constitutional amendment. the national association sent two organizers to tour the state, arouse interest and raise money. in february, , one-fifth of the newspapers of the state, representing four-fifths of the counties, published suffrage editions, and in may a -page suffrage edition of a labor magazine was edited and , copies distributed. in april the headquarters were largely used for war work. the annual convention was held at bismarck sept. - , . the presidential and municipal suffrage bills having passed both houses and become law the convention decided to concentrate on the federal suffrage amendment. an emergency executive committee of fargo women was elected to cooperate from the state headquarters without delay in carrying out instructions from the national association. the following resolution was adopted: "the north dakota votes for women league, reaffirming its steadfast loyalty and support to our president and our government, will continue to carry on the patriotic work assigned us by the government through our national association, and will redouble our efforts to gain enfranchisement for the women of the united states in order that we may do more effective war work." mrs. clendening, who was state president from to , was now also vice-president of the state committee of the woman's division of the national council of defense. legislative action. from the time the convention for statehood failed to put equal suffrage into the constitution the women's christian temperance union kept up the agitation for it. in every legislature a suffrage bill was introduced and its president, mrs. elizabeth preston anderson, attended each session. although working separately, mrs. anderson and the suffrage legislative committees were always in perfect harmony. in the union had a resolution introduced to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution. mrs. darrow and mrs. de lendrecie of the state suffrage league lobbied for it. it was lost in the senate by to votes; referred to the committee on woman suffrage in the house, which recommended indefinite postponement and the report was accepted by ayes, noes. . the legislative committee consisted of mrs. darrow, mrs. fannie d. quain, mrs. ella c. boise and miss ward. two suffrage measures drawn up by senator r. m. pollock passed both houses. the resolution for an amendment to the state constitution, which would have to pass two consecutive legislatures before submission to the voters, received in the senate ayes, noes; in the house ayes, noes; absent. a legislative bill, which would go to the voters at the next election, received in the senate, ayes, noes; absent; in the house, ayes; no. another bill introduced at this same session, providing that the question be submitted to a vote of the women, was passed in the senate by to and indefinitely postponed in the house. . legislative committee mrs. darrow, mrs. quain and mrs. weible. it is a significant fact that of the nearly bills introduced every one had honest treatment, passed or failed to pass on roll call or was indefinitely postponed by vote, except the one which vitally affected the women. the concurrent resolution for a woman suffrage amendment, which had passed the legislature of and had to be ratified by that of , was passed in the senate on february by ayes, noes, more than two to one, and the so-called "clincher" applied to it which prevented its reconsideration by less than a two-thirds vote. the house had appeared more favorable than the senate and it seemed certain that it would pass that body. on february , five days after the measure had passed the senate, senator jacobson moved that it be recalled from the house, where it had had its first and second readings and been referred to the committee on elections. this motion was carried by to . the opponents at once gathered their forces. judge n. c. young of fargo, attorney for the northern pacific railway, and mrs. young, president of the state anti-suffrage association, arrived immediately and began lobbying, judge young even appearing on the floor of the senate chamber.[ ] the german vote was promised to ambitious politicians and a desired change of the county seat was offered. the senate not having the necessary two-thirds to kill the resolution refused by a majority vote to take action upon it. it should then have gone automatically back to the house but the president of the senate, lieutenant governor fraine, withheld it until the legislature adjourned. the chief opponents during these years were the old republican "stand-patters," who controlled the political "machine," and judge young was one of the most prominent. success came with its overthrow. . the legislative committee consisted of mrs. clendening and mrs. weible. on january senator oscar lindstrom introduced a presidential and municipal suffrage bill, written by senator pollock at mrs. anderson's request. it was modelled on the illinois bill and beginning with july it entitled women to vote for presidential electors, county surveyors and constables and for all officers of cities, villages and towns excepting police magistrates and city justices of the peace. a concurrent resolution providing for an amendment to the state constitution to give full suffrage to women was also introduced. both were passed on january by the same vote, ayes, noes in the senate; ayes, noes in the house, and were the first measures signed by governor lynn j. frazier, on the rd. this legislature and also the one of adopted a resolution calling upon congress to submit the federal woman suffrage amendment. four of the five north dakota members were then in favor of it and in the hesitating senator made the delegation unanimous. the state referendum association and the anti-suffrage association made an attempt to secure a petition for a referendum to the voters of the presidential and municipal suffrage bill, but although less than , names were required only a few thousand were filed with the secretary of state and there was considerable difficulty in securing those. affidavits were sent to the suffrage association proving that many names were obtained by fraud. . the legislature passed the concurrent resolution providing for an amendment to the constitution giving women full suffrage, which had gone through that of . the vote in the senate was ayes, no, with absent; in the house ayes, no negative, with absent. it was to be voted on nov. , . before that date the federal amendment had been submitted by congress and ratified by thirty-seven legislatures. ratification. the legislature met in special session dec. , , and ratified by the following vote: senate, ayes, noes with absent; house ayes, noes. nevertheless the vote on the state amendment had to be taken on nov. , , and it stood: ayes, , ; noes, , . thousands of women voted at this election. on april , , the state votes for women league met and was re-organized as the league of women voters, with mrs. kate s. wilder of fargo chairman. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. emma s. pierce, vice-president of the state votes for women league. [ ] a field worker for a philanthropic organization, who had a room in a hotel in bismarck, the capital, next to one occupied by the representative of the liquor interests, heard him send a long distance telephone message to mrs. young for her and the judge to come on the first train, as they were needed. she heard another one say: "if the d----n women get the ballot there will be no chance of re-submitting the prohibition amendment." chapter xxxiv. ohio.[ ] the history of woman suffrage in ohio is a long one, for the second woman's rights convention ever held took place at salem, in april, , and the work never entirely ceased. looking back over it since , when the ohio chapter for volume iv ended, one is conscious of the wonderful spirit manifested in the state association. other states did more spectacular work and had larger organizations but none finished its tasks with a stronger spirit of loyalty and love for the work and the workers. the state woman suffrage association was organized in and held annual conventions for the next thirty-five years, at which capable officers were elected who were consecrated to their duties. from to mrs. harriet taylor upton was president, with the exception of the three years - , when the office was filled by mrs. pauline steinem of toledo. during the first twenty years of the present century but one year, that of , passed without a state convention.[ ] for over twenty years the state headquarters were in warren, the home of mrs. upton. on may , , , the final convention of the woman suffrage association was held in columbus and with its work finished the state league of women voters was organized, with miss amy g. maher as chairman. the devotion, the efficiency, the self-sacrifice of the suffrage workers in ohio will never be known. their strength lay in their cooperation. to give their names and their work would fill all the space allowed for this chapter but one exception should in justice be made. elizabeth j. hauser from her childhood days until the federal amendment was ratified gave her life to woman's enfranchisement. painstaking, fearless, unselfish and able, she labored cheerfully, not caring for praise or credit for the things she accomplished. a good executive, organizer, legislative worker, speaker and writer, she was a power in the counsels of the suffragists. to her more than to any other woman do ohio women owe a debt of gratitude.[ ] from the first gathering of ohio suffragists in until tennessee spoke the last word in , few years passed when some suffrage measure was not asked for and few legislatures went out of existence without having considered some legislation referring to women. in a law gave them the right to vote for members of the boards of education. in and , the legislature was asked to submit to the voters an amendment to the state constitution giving full suffrage to women but the resolution was not reported out of the committees. in it was reported but no vote was taken. in it was defeated on the floor. this was the experience for years. periodically attempts had been made to revise the state constitution of without success but the legislature of provided for submitting to the voters the question of calling a convention, which was carried in the fall of that year. the convention was to be non-partisan. the suffragists interviewed the delegates on putting woman suffrage in the new constitution and the poll was complete when the convention opened. the moment the president was chosen, the suffrage leaders asked for a friendly committee and from that time to the very last moment they were at work. the proposition for a woman suffrage clause was introduced jan. , ; a pro-hearing was held february ; an anti-hearing followed by a public meeting was had february and the following day it was favorably reported out of committee by a vote of to . interests, vicious and commercial, fought the suffrage amendment from every possible angle but on march the convention adopted it by a vote of to . if accepted by the voters it would eliminate the words "white male" from section , article v, of the present constitution. the enemies secured the submission of a separate amendment eliminating the word "white." this was done to alienate the negro vote from the suffrage amendment and the negroes were told that it was a shame they should be "tied to the women's apron strings." the new constitution was made by adding amendments to the old one and the suffrage amendment went in with the rest. william b. kirkpatrick, chairman of the equal suffrage committee of the convention, more than any one was responsible for the acceptance of the amendment. through the whole convention he fought for it, sacrificing many things near his heart--they could wait, this was the chance for woman suffrage. the amendment was numbered " " and at that time this number was considered unlucky. the most illiterate could remember to vote against that " ." the constitution was ready on may and the special election was set for sept. , . three months of vigorous campaign for the amendment followed. the german-american alliance and the personal liberty league, two associations representing the brewers' interests, fought it in the field as they had done in the convention. it was estimated that the suffragists spent $ , and it was learned that the liquor forces first appropriated $ , and later added $ , to defeat the suffrage amendment. the chief work of the suffragists was done in the cities, although women spoke at picnics, county fairs, family reunions, circuses, beaches, institutes, labor meetings, at country stores, school houses and cross roads. more than fifty workers came into ohio from all directions to assist, the larger number from the eastern states. they received no financial recompense and gave splendid service. in august an impressive suffrage parade of , took place in columbus. the president of the german-american alliance at a meeting in youngstown boasted openly that it defeated the amendment. it advertised everywhere, by posters and in street cars, and had no voluntary workers. it was evident that huge sums were being spent. the amendment was lost by a majority of , --ayes, , ; noes, , . only out of counties were carried and but one congressional district, the eighteenth. there was never any state-wide anti-suffrage association of women but only small groups in cleveland, cincinnati, dayton and columbus. most of them were rich, well situated, not familiar with organized reform work and not knowing the viciousness of their associates. the real foe was the associated liquor men, calling themselves at first the personal liberty league, later the home rule association, appearing under different names in different campaigns and they had in their employ a few women who were connected with the anti-suffrage association. the amendment was lost in because of the activity of the liquor interests and the indifference of the so-called good people. more men voted on this question, pro and con, than had ever voted on woman suffrage before in any state. the amendment eliminating the word "white," left over from ante bellum days, also was defeated and the new constitution retained a clause which had been nullified by the th amendment to the national constitution forty years before! the initiative and referendum amendment was carried. the state suffrage association, therefore, early in , decided to circulate a petition initiating a woman suffrage amendment to the constitution, as there was no hope that the legislature would submit one. it required the signatures of ten per cent. of the voters at the last election, in this instance , names. it was drawn by an ohio member of congress, received at state headquarters april , submitted to the attorney general and held many weeks. when returned, instructions were carefully followed. on september the first petition heads were received from the printer. it was a new law and lawyers and laymen were uncertain about it. the question of the validity of the petitions if circulated by women was raised and a ruling was asked for. the secretary of state decided that women could circulate them and the attorney general agreed. it was feared by some that the petition head was faulty because it did not contain a repeal clause and after three weeks of anxious waiting the opinion was given that this was not necessary. then arose another point, that the names of the committee standing for the petition must be on it. this constant objecting and obstructing led the suffrage leaders, upon advice of their attorney, to withdraw the petition and await the action of the special session of the legislature. it passed the initiative and referendum safeguarding measure, which the governor signed feb. , , and all uncertainties seemed over. determined to have a perfect copy for the petition head the suffragists had it prepared by the state legislative reference department and the secretary of state orally approved it. at the headquarters it was noticed that the words, "be it resolved by the people of ohio," which the constitution specifically provided must be on petition heads and which had been on the first one, had been omitted. they asked the secretary of state whether this jeopardized the petition and it was his opinion that it did, although he had approved it. the attorney general finally gave it official sanction and the first petitions were put out in march, , after one year's continuous effort to get them into circulation. who but women fighting for their freedom could ever have had the courage to keep on? they had no money to pay circulators and all was volunteer work. over , women circulated these petitions. to have more than , men write their names and addresses on a petition and the circulator see them do it and swear that she did was no light task but it was accomplished. on july petitions bearing , names were filed with the secretary of state. a petition was secured in every county, although the law requires them from a majority only, and each was presented by a worker from that county. the sight of scores of men and women with arms laden with petitions marching up to the state house to deposit them brought tears to the eyes of some of the onlookers. the campaign opened in toledo, april , , was hectic. everything possible was done to bring the amendment to the attention of the voters. cleveland suffragists put on a beautiful pageant, a dream of freedom. a pilgrimage was made to the friends' meeting house in salem where the suffrage convention of was held and the resolutions of those pioneers were re-adopted by a large, enthusiastic audience. women followed party speakers, taking their audiences before and after the political meeting. state conventions of all sorts were appealed to and many gave endorsement, those of the republicans and the democrats refusing. groups of workers would visit a county, separate and canvass all the towns and then keep up their courage by returning to the county seat at night and comparing notes. street meetings and noon meetings for working people were held. everything which had been tried out in any campaign was done. from the beginning of to the election in november, , there was constant work done for the amendment. the total number of votes cast on it was , ; against, , ; for , ; lost by , votes. there were gains in every county but only were carried, where there had been in . that the liquor interests and the anti-suffragists worked together was clearly established. the saturday preceding the election the president of the state suffrage association saw in her own city of warren a man distributing literature from door to door and accompanied by a witness she followed him and picked up several packages in different parts of the city. they contained two leaflets, one giving information on how to vote on the home rule or "wet" amendment, the other giving instructions how to vote against the suffrage amendment. the latter had a facsimile ballot marked against it and was signed by five women. the _liberal advocate_ of oct. , , (official organ of the liquor interests), published at columbus, had a picture and a write-up of mrs. a. j. george of brookline, a speaker from the massachusetts anti-suffrage association, with a headline saying that she would be present at a luncheon of anti-suffragists on the th in that city and also speak elsewhere in the state. after the defeats of and the suffragists abandoned the idea of carrying an amendment. the revised constitution provided for "home rule" for cities, which allowed them to adopt their own charters instead of going to the legislature. suffragists believed that these charters could provide for woman suffrage in municipal affairs. in east cleveland decided to frame a charter and they saw a chance to make a test. this campaign was the work of the woman suffrage party of greater cleveland. on june a city charter was submitted to the voters and adopted including woman suffrage. a suit was brought to test its constitutionality and it was argued in the supreme court, one of the lawyers being a woman, miss florence e. allen.[ ] by agreement between the court and election officials women voted at the regular municipal election in november. the court upheld its validity april , , and the constitutionality of municipal woman suffrage in charter cities was established. in the fall of the women of lakewood, a city adjoining cleveland on the west, gave municipal suffrage to its women by charter after a vigorous campaign. columbus undertook to put this in its charter and a bitter campaign took place. it was the house to house canvass and the courageous work of the columbus women and state suffrage officers which brought the victory when it was voted on at the election in august, . sandusky was not successful. a partial poll of the legislature on the subject of presidential suffrage for women in had shown that it would be futile to attempt it but after endorsements of woman suffrage by the national party conventions in it was determined to try. the legislature of was democratic and representative james a. reynolds (cleveland) met the state suffrage workers upon their arrival in columbus for the opening of the session and informed them that he was going to sponsor their bill. on january representative pratt, republican, of ashtabula and mr. reynolds, democrat, each introduced a measure for presidential suffrage. by agreement the reynolds bill was chosen and he fought the battle for it against great odds. he was the one anti-prohibitionist who worked for it, considering it his duty and his privilege, and, because of his standing and because his party was in power, he was the only one perhaps who could have carried it through. he stood by the suffragists until tennessee had ratified and the contest was over. on jan. , , the bill to give women a vote for presidential electors was reported favorably from the house committee on elections, and on february it passed the house by ayes, noes, fifty-five per cent. of the democratic members voting for it and sixty-nine per cent of the republicans. in the senate the leader of the "wets" introduced a resolution for the submission of a full suffrage amendment in the hope of sidetracking the reynolds bill but the latter reached the senate february , before the holden bill could be considered. the suffragists, wishing to expedite matters, did not ask for a hearing but the "antis" did and at mr. reynolds' request the former were present. at this hearing the women leaders of the "antis" and the liquor men occupied seats together on the floor of the senate. the next morning the bill was reported favorably from the federal relations committee and passed on february , by ayes, noes. immediately the leader of the opposition changed his vote to yes in order to move a reconsideration. this he was not permitted to do because a friend of the measure forced the reconsideration the next day, and as this was lost by a vote of to , the bill itself went on record as having received the vote of the "wet" leader and having passed by to . governor james m. cox signed it feb. . very soon the opponents opened headquarters in columbus and circulated petitions to have the presidential suffrage bill referred to the voters for repeal. the story of these petitions is a disgraceful one. four-fifths of the signatures were gathered in saloons, the petitions kept on the back and front bars. hundreds of names were certified to by men who declared they saw them signed, an impossibility unless they stood by the bar eighteen hours each day for some weeks and watched every signature. some petitions, according to the dates they bore, were circulated by the same men in different counties on the same day. some of them had whole pages of signatures written in the same hand and some had names only, no addresses. the suffragists copied some of these petitions after they were filed in columbus and although the time was short brought suit to prove them fraudulent in six counties. in four the court ordered all but a few names thrown out. in scioto all the names were rejected and in cuyahoga county (cleveland), , names were thrown out. the petitions in franklin county (columbus), lucas (toledo) and montgomery (dayton) were unquestionably fraudulent but the election boards were hostile to woman suffrage and powerful with the courts and refused to bring cases. when suffrage leaders attempted to intervene the courts declared they had no jurisdiction. the suffragists were on duty in columbus from january to october,--long, weary, exciting months. it was clearly proved in the cases brought that the petitions were fraudulently circulated, signed, attested and certified. in the course of an attempt to bring a case against franklin county a ruling of the common pleas court was that the secretary of state should be restrained from counting the signatures from seventeen counties because the board of elections had not properly certified them. the secretary of state telegraphed these boards and they certified again, although there is no constitutional or statutory provision for recertification. nevertheless when these corrected certifications were made the judge dissolved the injunction and , names were restored to the petition. u. s. senator warren g. harding in a decoration day speech at columbus declared himself decidedly opposed to accepting this referendum. cases were brought to the supreme court via the court of appeals, one a general suit demanding that petitions from certain counties be rejected because they were fraudulent and insufficient, the other to mandamus the secretary of state to give the suffragists a hearing to prove their charges. the first was dismissed, the supreme court saying it had no jurisdiction over a case which had not been finished in the court from which the appeal had been taken. they returned to the court of appeals and tried one case on the constitutionality of the law of , which gives the board of elections and common pleas judges the right to examine the petitions and pass upon their validity, instead of the secretary of state. the court decided to give no decision as election was so near at hand. the law made no provision to meet the expenses of petition suits and the suffragists had to bear the cost, no small undertaking. the election boards which were dominated by politicians who had been notorious for their opposition to suffrage, interposed every possible obstacle to the attempt of the suffragists to uncover fraud. in some counties it was impossible to bring cases. women were absorbed in war work and thousands of them bitterly resented the fact that at such a time their right to vote should be questioned. the referendum was submitted with the proposal so worded on the ballot that it was extremely difficult to know whether to vote yes or no. at the election in november, , the majority voted in favor of taking away from women the presidential suffrage. the vote for retaining it was , ; against, , ; the law repealed by a majority of , . more votes were polled in than in . the law was upheld in counties, in of which suffrage had then carried three times. ohio suffragists now turned their attention entirely towards national work. it was apparent that while the liquor interests continued their fight, women with a few thousand dollars, working for principle, could never overcome men with hundreds of thousands of dollars working for their own political and financial interests. intensive organized congressional work was carried on henceforth for the federal suffrage amendment. when the vote on it was taken in the house of representatives jan. , , eight of ohio's twenty-two congressmen voted for it. three years before, jan. , , only five had voted in favor. in the u. s. senate, oct. , , senator atlee pomerene voted no; senator warren g. harding paired in favor. on feb. , , senator harding voted yes; senator pomerene no. the legislature in , republican by a large majority in both houses, endorsed the federal amendment by a vote of to in the senate, to in the house. when the vote was taken in the national house of representatives, may , , only two ohio members voted no, one a democrat, warren gard of hamilton, one a republican, a. e. b. stephens of cincinnati. when the final vote was taken in the senate june , , senator harding voted yes, senator pomerene, no. ratification. the legislature was so eager to ratify that it had only recessed instead of adjourning so that it could come together for that purpose whenever the amendment was submitted. representative reynolds had again introduced a presidential suffrage measure, and c. h. fouts of morgan county, to carry out the republican platform, had presented a full suffrage proposal. both were held back until the fate of the national amendment should be known. the legislators assembled to ratify on june and the house vote was ayes, noes. in order that the women might be sure of a vote at the next election the presidential suffrage bill was immediately passed by a vote of ayes, noes. the house was in an uproar, cheering, laughing and talking. then a committee came to the suffrage leaders who were now on the floor, always heretofore in the gallery, and escorted them to the senate through the legislative passage way which had always before been closed to them. the senate ratified by a vote of ayes, noes. the presidential bill was read, debated and passed by the senate late that night by ayes, noes. never was there a finer example of cooperation than in this ratification of the federal amendment. the adoption of the joint resolution was moved by the republican floor leader and seconded by the democratic floor leader. the same spirit characterized the passage of the presidential suffrage bill. mr. reynolds, fearing some prejudice might attach to it if it bore his name, as he was a minority party member, proposed to the republican leaders that the name of speaker kimball be substituted. the speaker replied: "no, you deserve to have it go through with your name attached." mr. reynolds then asked that the name of mr. fouts be added because he had introduced a full suffrage measure, and it became the reynolds-fouts bill. miss hauser, editor of the _bulletin_, official organ of the state suffrage association, said in it: "we had just witnessed a perfect exhibition of team work and a demonstration of loyalty to a cause and to each other by members of opposing political parties that was heart warming. we had finished the suffrage fight in ohio as mrs. upton had always wanted to finish it, with love, good will and harmony in our own ranks, and, so far as we were able to judge, with nothing but good will from the men with whom we had worked since the present stage of the contest was inaugurated in ." the suffragists believed the fight was over, not so the opponents. they at once secured referendum petitions on both ratification and presidential suffrage. in the home rule association (the liquor interests) had initiated and carried at the november election an amendment to the state constitution providing that federal amendments must be approved by the voters before the ratification of the legislature was effective. this was designed primarily to secure a reversal of prohibition in ohio but also to prevent ratification of the suffrage amendment.[ ] in collecting their petitions the same old tactics were employed. the personnel of the workers was largely the same, with the addition of a state senator from cincinnati as general manager. the money to finance the campaign came principally from that city and this time members of the women's anti-suffrage association were contributors. the saloons were now closed and pious instructions were given not to have the petitions circulated by saloon keepers or bar tenders. nevertheless nearly of them were circulated by men who had been connected with the saloon business, some of them now conducting soft drink establishments, and the signatures were plainly of the most illiterate elements. the state suffrage association persuaded the national american association to attack the constitutionality of this referendum in the courts and suit was accordingly brought. eventually it was sustained by the supreme court of ohio and was carried to the u. s. supreme court by george hawk, a young lawyer of cincinnati. it rendered a decision that the power to ratify a federal amendment rested in the legislature and could not be passed on by the voters. the legislature in an adjourned session in gave women primary suffrage in an amendment to the presidential bill, but the final ratification of the federal amendment in august made all partial measures unnecessary, as it completely enfranchised women.[ ] thus after a struggle of seventy years those of ohio received the suffrage at last from the national government, but they were deeply appreciative and grateful to those heroic men of the state who fought their battles through the years. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. harriet taylor upton, treasurer of the national woman suffrage association - ; president of the ohio woman suffrage association - and - . [ ] these conventions were held in the following order: athens, springfield, cleveland, sandusky, london, youngstown, toledo, warren, columbus, elyria, lima, columbus, cincinnati, columbus, cleveland, lima, dayton, columbus (last three years). [ ] the executive officers who finished the work of the state association were as follows: honorary president, mrs. frances m. casement, painesville; president, mrs. upton, warren; first, second and third vice-presidents, zara du pont, cleveland; dora sandoe bachman, columbus; mrs. j. c. wallace, cincinnati; corresponding secretary, mrs. kent hughes, lima; recording secretary, margaret j. brandenburg, oxford; treasurer, zell hart deming, warren; member of the national executive committee, mrs. o. f. davisson, dayton. chairmen: organization committee, elizabeth j. hauser, girard; finance, miss annie mccully, dayton; industrial, rose moriarty, cleveland; enrollment, mrs. c. h. simonds, conneaut; member executive committee at large, mrs. malcolm mcbride, cleveland. [ ] miss allen was counsel in all court cases of the ohio suffragists from to . in she was elected judge in the common pleas court of cuyahoga county (cleveland), the first woman in the united states to fill such an office. [ ] several years before the "wets," this time under the name of the stability league, had initiated an amendment, which, if it had been carried, would have prohibited the submission of the same amendment oftener than once in six years. thus the suffragists in , and were in the courts for months each year. [ ] in the presidential campaign of mrs. upton was appointed vice-chairman of the republican national executive committee, the highest political position ever held by a woman, and she had charge of the activities of women during that campaign. her last work for woman suffrage was during the strenuous effort to obtain the th and final ratification of the federal amendment from the tennessee legislature in the summer of , when she went to nashville at the request of the national republican committee.--ed. chapter xxxv. oklahoma.[ ] from the time oklahoma territory was opened to settlement in efforts were made to obtain the franchise for women, first by the woman's christian temperance union, and in the national american woman suffrage association sent organizers and an auxiliary was formed. it held annual conventions and bills were presented to the legislature but when one had been grossly betrayed in the senate after passing the house in no further effort was made for a number of years.[ ] finally in answer to requests sent to the national association, an organizer, miss laura gregg of kansas, was sent to the territory in march, . she was cordially received and spent the next eight months in speaking and organizing suffrage clubs. in december dr. anna howard shaw, the national president, joined her for a two-weeks' series of conferences in the large places, in each of which a society was formed. a convention of oklahoma and indian territory delegates was called for december - in oklahoma city. dr. shaw presided at the first session and delivered an address to a large audience. over sixty members were added to the city club and from this time it was the most active in the state. statehood was being agitated and a letter was read from miss susan b. anthony, honorary president of the national association, which said: "no stone should be left unturned to secure suffrage for the women while oklahoma is yet a territory, for if it comes into the union without this in its constitution it will take a long time and a great deal of hard work to convert over one-half of the men to vote for it." letters expressing a strong desire for the franchise were read from women in different parts of the territories. the twin territorial association was organized and a resolution was adopted calling for statehood and saying: "said statehood shall never enact any law restricting the right of suffrage on account of sex, race, color or previous condition of servitude." prominent at this convention were mrs. kate h. biggers, mrs. julia woodworth, mrs. anna laskey and mrs. jence c. feuquay. the officers elected were: president, mrs. biggers, indian territory; first vice-president, mrs. woodworth; second, mrs. anna m. bennett; corresponding secretary, mrs. laskey; recording secretary, mrs. louisa boylan mcloud; treasurer, miss margaret rees; auditors, mrs. rebecca forney and mrs. mary b. green, all of oklahoma territory, and mrs. mary c. harvey of indian territory. the second annual convention was held oct. - , , at chickasha, indian territory. mrs. biggers, mrs. woodworth, miss rees and mrs. green were re-elected. new officers were, mrs. minnie keith bailey, mrs. cleo ikard harris, mrs. ida wood norvell, mrs. jessie livingston parks and mrs. hattie sherman. vigorous protest had been made by women throughout the territories against the bill for statehood which had been presented to congress, classifying women in the suffrage section with illiterates, minors, felons, insane and feeble-minded. the matter was also taken up by the national association. [see chapter v, volume v.] later when bills in the territorial legislature for a constitutional convention repeated this clause a conference was held with the officers of the w. c. t. u. and hundreds of letters of protest were sent. as a constitutional convention seemed near at hand dr. frances woods of south dakota was sent by the national association to organize in indian territory. with the help of mrs. woodworth she secured hearings before women's clubs and w. c. t. u.'s, addressed state labor and press associations and was invited to speak to a farmers' institute miles away with her expenses paid. miss gregg continued the organizing in oklahoma, addressing an audience of , at the grand army of the republic encampment and speaking to teachers' institutes, business colleges, country school house meetings and women's clubs. one issue of the _messenger_, the u. c. t. u. organ, was devoted to woman suffrage. the membership increased; over papers used suffrage articles and much literature donated by the national association was circulated. the oklahoma city club, mrs. adelia c. stephens, president, was especially active in having the women register for the school elections, in which they could vote for trustees, in order to defeat the school book trust, and did so. in may dr. woods spoke at the annual meeting of the woman's relief corps in oklahoma city and a resolution was passed favoring woman suffrage. the grand army of the republic, in session at the same time, gave her a place on an evening program at the opera house, where she addressed a large, enthusiastic audience. mrs. biggers attended the annual meeting of the twin territories labor union, which unanimously adopted a resolution for woman suffrage. in tulsa on labor day the "float" of the suffragists in the big procession won the prize. at chickasha during the agricultural fair the tent of the suffrage club had the best location on the grounds. dr. woods and mrs. biggers went to muskogee to see robert l. owen, a prominent lawyer, and enlist his strong influence in favor of a woman suffrage clause in the new constitution. he cordially promised his influence, service and financial assistance and he made his first great suffrage speech in oklahoma city before the convention took place. dr. woods left the last of may and the national association sent mrs. ida porter boyer of pennsylvania in october, , to establish headquarters. when the constitutional convention opened in guthrie they were transferred there, with mrs. biggers and mrs. boyer in charge. miss laura clay of kentucky, a national officer, went to their assistance at her own expense and mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado did some very effective speaking. in february, , a hearing was granted by the suffrage committee of the convention. later mr. owen, former governor alva adams of colorado and miss clay addressed the entire convention. mr. owen engaged the opera house for a mass meeting to influence the delegates and paid for printing handsomely the memorial which the state suffrage association presented to the convention. mrs. boyer said. "the woman suffrage measure caused the most heated debate of the convention. it had been arranged by the political manipulators to apply gag rule and shut off debate as soon as the opposition had exploited itself but on a motion to discuss the suffrage resolution the vote stood noes, ayes, and the delegates favoring it managed to secure the floor and hold it." peter hanraty, the principal representative of the labor organizations, which were practically solid for a woman suffrage clause in the constitution, led the debate in its favor. a number of prominent men spoke strongly for it. some of the opposing speeches were very coarse. on the final vote it was lost by nays to ayes. notwithstanding all that had been done and said the suffrage clause in the new constitution read: "the qualified electors shall be male citizens of the state and male persons of indian descent, who are over years of age.... specifically excepted are felons, paupers, lunatics and idiots." the headquarters were returned to oklahoma city with mrs. boyer and mrs. biggers still in charge and miss gregg continued her field work, as the suffragists desired to help some of their friends who were candidates. among them at the election in october, , bird s. mcguire was elected member of congress, mr. hanraty mine inspector, charles l. daugherty labor commissioner, jesse l. dunn and m. j. kane justices of the supreme court and fourteen to the legislature. charles w. haskell, who had been among the bitterest of the opponents in the convention, was elected governor. when the first legislature met in december, mr. owen was unanimously elected u. s. senator and never thereafter failed to render assistance to both state and national suffrage for women. unsolicited perry a. ballard introduced a bill in the house at the first session giving the presidential franchise to women but it never came out of committee. the suffrage work done in was principally through the society in oklahoma city. the state federation of labor at its annual convention endorsed woman suffrage and pledged its support to candidates for the legislature who would submit the question to the voters. the socialists also gave unqualified support. there was no official recognition by democrats or republicans but a considerable per cent. of their legislative candidates declared themselves in favor of this action. state suffrage headquarters were opened in guthrie in january, , and mrs. boyer took charge. members from clubs over the state came to assist in lobbying for the amendment and pledges were secured from a majority in both houses. miss kate m. gordon of new orleans, corresponding secretary of the national association, came to make the principal argument at the senate hearing. one was granted also before the committee of the whole. mrs. n. m. carter presided and strong appeals were made by mrs. boyer, mrs. m. a. morrison, mrs. feuquay and mrs. bailey. a petition of , names was presented, which had been quickly collected, but it was treated with discourtesy, one member tearing up the sheets from his district and throwing them into the waste basket. the speaker jestingly referred it to the committee on geological survey. the attendance was so great the hearing had to be adjourned to a larger room. through every possible device and even conspiracy the measure was lost in the senate, governor haskell using his influence against it. it was already evident that the amendment could be submitted only through the initiative and referendum. this was a new and not well understood law, there was little money in the treasury and the women were tired and discouraged, saying, as mrs. woodworth expressed it: "it's of no use, for the whisky ring and the grafters will beat us every time." nevertheless an undaunted few decided to begin the immense work of securing the initiative petition. mrs. biggers was continued as president and dr. ruth a. gay agreed to act as chairman of finance and conduct the petition work from her office in oklahoma city, with the cooperation of mrs. stephens, who went personally into the counties. the national association again sent mrs. boyer, who used her own room for headquarters in order to save money. she said in writing of the summer's campaign: the women circulated the petition and obtained nearly , signatures of voters--more than the necessary number. the state was new; there were few trolleys in cities and still fewer interurbans to make the rural communities accessible; the railroads had infrequent and uncertain schedules. that petition was a marvel in attainment and a monument of sacrifice. the headquarters work has never been surpassed in devotion of local suffragists. do you know of any other state where the entire campaign was carried on by but two paid workers--a manager and a stenographer? mrs. stephens went into the field and mrs. biggers remained with the office work and spent her money freely. dr. gay sacrificed time from her practice and pressed her father and mother into service so that literature might be addressed to the voters. mrs. woodworth, mrs. feuquay, mrs. burt, mrs. mattie flick, mrs. dunham and her daughter junia and miss mary barber worked day and night in the office or the field. altogether $ were raised. to this amount miss clay contributed $ ; henry b. and alice stone blackwell (mass.) $ and also lent money. most of the women worked gratuitously and paid their own expenses. oklahoma city was canvassed without cost. when the petition was ready for filing a representative committee of women carried it to guthrie and secretary of state cross complimented its excellent arrangement. so quietly had it been secured that the "machine" politicians were astounded and dismayed when it was presented and plans were at once made to attack its validity. senator roddie was chosen to protest it on the ground that , of the signatures were fraudulent but he offered no proof of the charge. three eminent lawyers, judge j. b. a. robertson, democratic candidate for governor; judge t. l. brown, a republican, and p. j. nagel, a socialist, gave their services to the suffragists. the first argued for the justice of submitting the amendment; the second defended the legality of the petition and the third demanded recognition of the , voters who had signed it. secretary of state cross announced a recess until p. m. at that hour he declared that the petition was "in due form of law and amply sufficient in all things and that the question thereby proposed should be certified to the governor to the end that the same may be submitted to the electors of the state as is provided by law." senator roddie then appealed to the supreme court, which in june, , sustained the petition. believing that the petition would be upheld the suffragists had opened headquarters in the lee huckins hotel in oklahoma city february . there was hope of a special election for the amendment, in which case it could be carried by a majority of those voting on it. if it went to the regular election it would require a majority of the highest number of votes cast. it finally went over to the general election. there was no money for salaries and very little for expenses. mrs. boyer conducted a very efficient publicity service and was obliged to fill many appointments as a speaker, besides having all the office work in charge, making it necessary for her to toil far into the nights. mrs. biggers carried on the work during mrs. boyer's absences. often there was no money for postage and dr. gay would go out and beg a few dollars from some friend of the cause. it being a state campaign year there were many opportunities for work at picnics and tent meetings arranged for the candidates. the democrats were the dominant party and principal opposers. among their candidates were few avowed friends or active helpers and some were openly and bitterly opposed. women who had never made a public speech had to meet their eloquence and sophistry. mrs. stephens and miss mary barber were sent into the most hostile part of the state and worked through the heat and dust of almost the entire summer. they spoke from boxes and wagons; in little dark school houses with only one smoky kerosene lamp, making it impossible to read their notes or see the audience; before large, unsympathetic crowds at open air meetings. it was an experience that tested endurance and loyalty almost to the breaking point. the socialists were always helpful but they were intensely disliked and sometimes their friendship only made the way more difficult. the labor unions were unusually helpful and never antagonistic. toward the last of the campaign the secretary of the state federation of labor, j. luther langston, with miss gordon made a two-weeks' speaking tour through the state. the vote was taken nov. , , and was announced as ayes, , ; noes, , ; lost by , . while the disappointment was intense yet as an education this campaign could not be overestimated.[ ] there was still a desire to keep the organization alive and be ready for the next opportunity. in mrs. biggers declined to stand again for the presidency, after serving seven years, and dr. ruth a. gay, with a full board, was elected at the annual convention, mrs. biggers taking the office of treasurer. at the state meeting of mrs. mattie flick, miss jessie nourse and mrs. mattie cloud were added to the board. dr. gay held the presidency until , when mrs. cora b. gotchy was elected. the state association became a member of the southern women's conference. no further effort was made with the legislature but the republican party put a woman suffrage plank in its state platform and the progressive party took steps toward another initiative petition, mrs. gotchy assisting, but it did not meet with support. mrs. feuquay was selected for president in and helped a resolution for an amendment introduced in the legislature by the socialist representatives mclemore and pritchett, which did not come out of committee. in mrs. adelia c. stephens was elected president. the vice-president, miss mary crangle, in the northeastern part of the state, and the recording secretary, mrs. frances a. agnew, in the southwestern part, did active personal work to keep up the interest. the democratic secretary of state, j. l. lyon, made strenuous individual effort to start an initiative petition, which was not successful. suffrage resolutions were introduced by legislators independently in the session of and the special session of . luther harrison and charles f. barrett, now adjutant general, were helpful friends in the legislature. mrs. stephens was continued as president through and .[ ] in the resolution for a suffrage amendment passed the house by a vote of to but was adversely reported by the senate committee. since mrs. woodworth had kept the question of woman suffrage continually before the state federation of women's clubs and in all organizations of women there was an increasing interest in legislation, especially for the benefit of women and children, and they were seeing the necessity of the ballot as a means of attaining it. meanwhile most of the states west of the mississippi river had enfranchised their women and for months before the legislature convened in letters and telegrams came in announcing that former foes had become friends, many of them offering to help the cause. woman suffrage was the first subject discussed when the legislature convened. the resolution to submit an amendment was championed in the senate by senators fred tucker of ardmore, john golobie of guthrie, walter ferguson of cherokee and many others. in the house among the most earnest supporters were paul nesbitt of mcalester and bert c. hodges of okmulgee. the vote in the senate february was unanimous and in the house march was ayes, noes. women over the state watched anxiously the action of the legislature and many were in attendance. mrs. stephens, mrs. frank mulkey of oklahoma city and mrs. robert ray of lawton were especially active but the chief credit belongs to mrs. frank b. lucas, legislative representative of the federation of women's clubs, with wide experience in legislative procedure. mrs. woodworth and mrs. lucas had acted as committee for the state suffrage association, which now merged with the campaign committee. the campaign was made particularly difficult by the fact that governor robert l. williams, attorney general s. p. freeling and the chairman of the state election board, w. c. mcalester, all democrats, were avowed and active anti-suffragists, notwithstanding the party had declared in state convention in favor of the amendment. encouraged by eastern women an anti-suffrage committee was formed with mrs. t. h. sturgeon chairman and miss maybelle stuard press chairman and speaker, both of oklahoma city. other women prominent in the movement were miss edith johnson, of the _daily oklahoman_ and miss alice robertson of muskogee, who were very active in the distribution of the usual "anti" literature, attempting to link the suffragists with germans and with the negro vote. miss charlotte rowe of yonkers, n. y., representing the national anti-suffrage association, remained in oklahoma during most of the campaign but their work was scattered and ineffectual. the election took place nov. , , and the amendment received a majority of , of the votes cast on it. it had a majority of , of the highest number of votes cast at the election, a record that never had been equalled in any state. after the national league of women voters was organized at the convention of the national american suffrage association in march, , a state league was formed in oklahoma with mrs. phil brown of muskogee chairman. * * * * * report of mrs. shuler to the board of the national american woman suffrage association on the oklahoma campaign. against the advice of the national board with conditions adverse as they were in oklahoma the legislative committee of the state federation of women's clubs and some members of the state suffrage board secured the submission of an amendment to the voters in and appealed for help to the national association. it found that the oklahoma association was not organized as in other states with the club as the unit but was composed of individual memberships and was not an auxiliary of the national association, not having paid dues for several years. after obtaining the submission there seemed to be a desire on the part of the women to waive all responsibility for the campaign, but they said that if the national association considered the winning of it a necessity to its program, it should assume the entire financial responsibility. on jan. , , mrs. nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary and chairman of campaigns and surveys; mrs. t. t. cotnam of arkansas and mrs. charles h. brooks of kansas, directors of the national american association, reached oklahoma city. several conferences were held with the state board none of whose members could give all their time to the campaign, although two would work for salary and expenses. it was evident that a campaign committee must be formed and new groups interested, to which the board agreed. forty-five women met at the lee huckins hotel on january , adopted a plan for work and agreed to raise a budget of $ , , mrs. shuler stating that no financial assistance from the national association could be given until the board had taken action on her "survey" of conditions. mrs. john threadgill was elected chairman of the campaign committee with a salary of $ a month and mrs. julia woodworth, the former state secretary, was made executive secretary at a salary of $ a week. mrs. frank b. lucas, chairman of finance, agreed to raise the $ , necessary for the campaign with the understanding that she was to have personally per cent. of the money raised. she raised a little over $ , and resigned april . an organization of young women was formed in oklahoma city and state and city headquarters were opened in the terminal arcade. two organizers, miss josephine miller who remained one week and miss gertrude watkins who remained three weeks, were sent by the national association. miss lola walker came january , miss margaret thompson, a volunteer, and miss edna annette beveridge in february, all remaining through the campaign. mrs. shuler left april for south dakota and michigan, both in amendment campaigns. while in oklahoma she had visited twenty-seven counties out of the seventy-seven and organization had been effected in thirty-two county seats; also the passage obtained of a resolution by the democratic and republican state committees not only endorsing but promising to work for the amendment. a campaign committee had been formed with representatives from seventeen organizations of men and women representing different groups with widely diversified interests. ten state vice-chairmen had been selected from different sections and eleven chairmen of active committees. headquarters had been opened in tulsa and muskogee and others promised in the larger cities. a canvass had been made of forty-six newspapers showing only five to be absolutely opposed. the state had been divided into ten districts and it was hoped that each might have the services later of an experienced national worker. on april , , a meeting of the executive council of the national association was held in indianapolis. the board took action on oklahoma, agreeing to give organizers, press work and literature to the amount of $ , , provided the state would put two more trained organizers in the field immediately and raise the rest of the "budget," about $ , . mrs. threadgill attending this meeting and agreed to the plan. on may miss marjorie shuler was sent by the national association to take entire charge of press and political work, and, to quote from miss katherine pierce's report, "to her effective work with the newspapers of the state was due in a great measure the success of the campaign." three hundred were supplied with weekly bulletins and two-and-a-half pages of plate, and the last week , copies of a suffrage supplement sent from national headquarters in new york were circulated through the newspapers. as a unit the suffrage organization was used for the rd and th liberty loans, and a statewide unconditional surrender club, in which nearly , members were enrolled, was organized by miss shuler. in the face of these activities the men paid little heed to the charges of pacifism and lack of patriotism made against the suffragists by paid "anti" speakers sent in from outside the state. may found the campaign committee without funds and a meeting held in oklahoma city early in the month passed the following resolution: "on account of the unusual conditions prevailing at this time which have caused the oklahoma state campaign committee to find itself unable to meet the expenses of the campaign, said committee does hereby dissolve and stands ready to cooperate in any way possible in any plans that may be evolved by the national board, hoping for its continued aid and support and expressing warmest thanks and most earnest appreciation of the generous aid and assistance already given." this resolution was unanimously carried, the committee dissolved and mrs. clarence henley was made chairman, mrs. frank haskell, vice chairman, mrs. a.. crockett, secretary, mrs. blanche hawley, treasurer, and mrs. c. b. ames, chairman of finance of a new one. as the state had not put in the two trained organizers, the national board sent mrs. mary k. maule in april and misses alice curtis and doris long in june. one of the requirements by the national association if financial assistance were given was that states in campaign should secure signatures of women on petitions. at the meeting in january officers of the woman's christian temperance union agreed to take entire charge of this work but later decided that it might injure the chances for national prohibition. its president, however, mrs. abbie hillerman of sapulpa, served as an advisory member of the campaign committee and with other members rendered valuable assistance. under the direction of miss curtis , signatures were obtained. in the meantime the oklahoma city organization, which had for officers a group of young women, was dissolved and their headquarters given up. money was needed to maintain state headquarters, which were an absolute necessity. in june mrs. henley, the chairman, sent a financial plan to all county chairmen, asking for a certain sum from each county based on population, wealth, etc. some county chairmen resigned, which was a discouragement to mrs. henley and to the national workers. early in july mrs. henley telegraphed her resignation to the national board, stating that the campaign must go by default unless it would assume all financial obligation. mrs. catt, the national president, wrote urging her not to resign and stating that the national association would pay salary and expenses of all national organizers then in the field and would send other workers as needed, providing oklahoma would finance its state headquarters and speakers' bureau and meet the pledge made in april to pay salary and expenses of two workers. mrs. henley remained chairman; mary parke london and sally fanny gleaton were sent by the board in july; alma sasse in august and isabella sanders as headquarters secretary on september . mrs. shuler returned from new york and took over the campaign for the final two months, with headquarters in oklahoma city. all of the prominent suffragists in the state were doing war work.... there was a depleted treasury. the campaign committee was not able to pay for any workers in the field. money was needed for rent, postage, telegrams, stenographers' salaries, etc. it became necessary for mrs. shuler and the organizers, in addition to the detailed work of the campaign, to assume the financial burden as well. mrs. shuler gave her personal check for rent for august, september and october and with the national assistants in the field and by personal appeals raised $ , . from january to november , , there came into the state campaign committee's treasury $ , and of this amount $ , were spent from january to june for salaries of mrs. threadgill, the chairman; mrs. woodworth, the secretary, and headquarters expenses. these funds were checked out on warrants signed by them and the checks signed by mrs. hawley, treasurer. from june to november $ , were raised and checked out on warrants signed by mrs. henley and checks signed by mrs. hawley for headquarters expenses--not a penny going for salary or expenses of any national worker. the sum of $ . remaining in the treasury at the end was turned over to the ratification committee. the tulsa suffragists opened headquarters, engaged an executive secretary and financed their own campaign. they also very generously paid nearly $ for the suffrage supplement distributed through the state. there were other counties no doubt where money was spent locally, but no record was sent to headquarters. the national association expended nearly $ , in oklahoma, the largest sum it had ever put into a state campaign. by september it was paying salaries and expenses of eleven national workers.[ ] when the epidemic regulations forbade meetings of more than twelve persons, the suffragists resorted to all manner of devices for voiceless speech and , fliers with the wording of the amendment, directions how to vote and the warning that a "silent vote" was a vote against it were distributed by hand and through the mail. other circularization, posting of towns at a specified date and newspaper publicity were pushed. much political help was secured. both republican and democratic state conventions passed suffrage resolutions and preceding the democratic nearly every county convention passed such a resolution. no work which the women did in the campaign was more effective than their election day appeal. nearly every polling place had women watchers within and women scouts without. whenever one party in any place denied women the privilege of watching, they secured appointments as regular watchers for the other party. an amendment to the constitution of oklahoma has to poll a majority of the highest number of votes cast in the general election. the "silent vote" is the term applied to the votes cast in the election but not on the amendment and which are counted against it. the task of arousing every man to such a degree of interest that he would remember to mark his ballot on the suffrage amendment seemed a hopeless task. those who know the usual inattention given to any constitutional amendment by the rank and file of voters can estimate how difficult it was to get a _majority of the ballots correctly marked_. early in september it was learned that the elections board, claiming that the secretary of state had failed to supply the official wording of the amendment ninety days before election, did not intend to print the suffrage amendment. through the efforts of judge w. h. ledbetter of oklahoma city, who donated his services, this obstacle was overcome, and then further to increase the difficulties, the board decided to print the suffrage amendment on a separate ballot. in october it was found that soldiers had voted in seven camps but suffrage ballots had not been furnished them and thus hundreds were prevented from voting on the amendment, yet all of these were counted as voting in the negative! the attempt to hold back the returns and to get a new ruling on the meaning of the so-called "silent vote" are matters of history. on friday after election it became apparent to the state elections board that the suffrage majority was piling up and there was every evidence that the amendment had won. on saturday it was reported that a member of the state elections board in oklahoma city had called up some chairmen of county elections boards, asking that they open the sealed returns and send a second report counting from the "stubs," which would include the mutilated and spoiled ballots, so as to increase further the number of the "silent votes." at that time the suffrage headquarters had received returns from out of counties, showing a majority of , of the votes cast on the amendment, about , over the "silent vote." the publication of these attested returns prevented any further attempt to get them from "stub" books. when all other resources failed, the anti-suffragists filed a protest against certification by the state elections board. there were really two campaigns in oklahoma--one to win the ballot and the other to hold it. mrs. shuler remained in the state until november . on that day the _oklahoman_ printed the statement by governor williams that on the face of the returns so far suffrage had won. miss beveridge, who had charge of one of the most difficult sections of the state and had carried it, remained in oklahoma until december , when governor williams finally called for the suffrage returns and without certification by the elections board, proclaimed it carried. the vote stood , ayes, , noes, a majority of , votes on the amendment and of , over the total vote cast at the election. this latter requirement had always been counted on to defeat any measure that the party "bosses" did not want carried and the politicians now asked, "but where was the 'silent vote'?" the answer came when a map of the state was shown almost obliterated with tiny red stars and they were told, "every star represents a suffrage committee working since last january." organization had reduced the "silent vote" to five per cent. and won the suffrage for the women of oklahoma. [end of mrs. shuler's report.] ratification. with the successful closing of the campaign the county chairmen answered the call of mrs. shuler to meet in oklahoma city and formed a ratification committee to carry on the work of ratifying the federal suffrage amendment when it should be submitted to the legislatures. this committee was composed of miss katherine pierce of oklahoma city, chairman; mrs. a. p. crockett of the same city, treasurer, and miss aloysius larch-miller of shawnee, secretary, with representative women from the state at large as follows: mrs. frank haskell, tulsa; mrs. e. e. mcpherron, durant; mrs. walter ferguson, cherokee; mrs. robert j. ray, lawton; mrs. hardee russell, paul's valley. the county chairmen for the campaign were retained. no active work was done until after the conference of governors in salt lake city in the summer of , when the amendment had been submitted. at this conference the new governor, j. b. a. robertson, gave as a reason for not calling a special session to ratify, the great expense and the fear of untimely legislation but he consented to call one if these could be avoided. in september miss larch-miller, assisted by miss marjorie shuler, sent by the national association, asked the legislators to sign a pledge that they would attend a special session, serve without pay, consider no other legislation and vote for ratification. pledges were signed by a majority of both houses and presented to the governor who made no answer. several weeks later he addressed the state federation of women's clubs and again offered the same excuses. in january, , the democratic central committee called county conventions of women to select delegates to a state convention of women to be held prior to the regular state convention. many of these county conventions passed a resolution requesting the governor to call a special session and it was also adopted at the state convention of about , women. a number of the regular county conventions of men and women passed it. miss larch-miller attended the convention of her county, although she had been confined to her room for several days with influenza. she spoke strongly for the resolution and was opposed by the attorney general, s. p. freeling, one of the ablest orators in the state, but her enthusiasm and eloquence carried the day and it was adopted. the exertion proved too much for her frail body and the next night pneumonia developed and she gave her young life as the supreme sacrifice for the cause she loved. the democratic state convention met at muskogee february and senator robert l. owen's candidacy for president of the united states had developed to such an extent that he was its dominating figure. he insisted on a special session to ratify the amendment. governor robertson stated to the convention that because of its interest in senator owen's candidacy he would call the session and he did so for february . president wilson sent the following telegram on the th to the speaker of the house: "may i not take the liberty of expressing my earnest hope that oklahoma will join the other suffrage states in ratifying the federal suffrage amendment, thus demonstrating anew its sense of justice and retaining its place as a leader in democracy?" mrs. rufus m. gibbs and mrs. mabel g. millard, presidents of the maryland and iowa anti-suffrage associations, sent urgent telegrams to defeat ratification, which were read to both houses. attorney general freeling made a strong state's rights argument against it but the resolution was finally passed on february by a vote of to in the house and the next day in the senate by to . senators fred tucker of ardmore and j. elmer thomas of lawton sponsored it in the senate and paul nesbitt of mcalester and bert c. hodges of okmulgee in the house. governor robertson signed it february . attorney general freeling immediately started a petition to refer this action to the voters. the decision of the u. s. supreme court that there could be no referendum of federal amendments ended this final effort. the ratification committee, with a feeling of gratitude to the national suffrage association for the generous assistance that had been given to oklahoma affiliated the state with this body and it was represented at the next national convention by a delegation of eight. in mrs. lamar looney was elected to the state senate; miss bessie mccolque to the house and miss alice robertson to the lower house of congress. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. adelia c. stephens, president of the state woman suffrage association, and miss katherine pierce, chairman of the ratification committee. [ ] history of woman suffrage, volume iv, page . [ ] the following testimonial was gratefully offered: mrs. ida porter boyer by her tact and never failing kindness not only won the love of the suffragists of oklahoma but the respect and confidence of all others who knew her. by her tireless energy and unselfishness she did a work which contributed very largely to the final success that came later. signed, kate h. biggers, president state suffrage association; jence c. feuquay, first vice-president; adelia c. stephens, corresponding secretary; ruth a. gay, chairman finance committee. [ ] other state officers through the years were mrs. n. m. carter, mrs. julia dunham, dr. edith barber, elizabeth redfield, mrs. j. r. harris, mrs. narcissa owen, mrs. a. k. mckellop, martha phillips, minnie o. branstetter, mrs. roswell johnson, lucy g. struble, carrie k. easterly, kate stafford, dora delay, ellen mcelroy, edith wright, mrs. lee lennox, mary goddard, mrs. john threadgill, blanche h. hawley, mrs. a. s. heany, mrs. clarence davis, mrs. carl williams, mrs. c. l. daugherty, mrs. john leahy, jessie livingston parks, mrs. n. mccarty, louise boylan. district presidents and chairmen of committees: dora kirkpatrick, janet c. broeck, elizabeth burt, ethel lewis, mrs. h. j. bonnell, mrs. o. a. mitscher, mrs. c. c. conlan, effie m. ralls, e. irene yeoman. [ ] many ardent suffragists found they could not stand up against the statewide comment that the women should be doing only war work but the cooperation in many counties was splendid and there is not space enough to name those who stood by throughout the struggle. to those already mentioned should be added judge and mrs. d. a. mcdougal of sapulpa, mrs. robert ray of lawton, mrs. b. w. slagle of shawnee, mrs. hardee russell of paul's valley, mrs. lamar looney of hollis, mrs. francis agnew of altus, mrs. eugene b. lawson of nowata, mrs. annette b. ahler of hennessey, mrs. olive snider of tulsa. among the men to be specially mentioned are james j. mcgraw of ponca city, member of the national republican committee; tom wade of marlow, member of the national democratic committee; george l. bowman of kingfisher, alger melton of chickasha, colonel e. m. mcpherron of durant and bird mcguire of tulsa. chapter xxxvi. oregon.[ ] the advent of found the suffrage cause in oregon almost becalmed upon a sea of indifference. with an ultra conservative population, defeats in five previous campaigns, the existence of bitter prejudices and an utter lack of cooperation among the suffragists themselves, the outlook was almost hopeless, except for the one outstanding fact that each failure had carried the women a little nearer their goal. an inactive state organization had been maintained for years and in - the officers were: president, mrs. abigail scott duniway; vice-president-at-large, dr. annice jeffreys; vice-president, mrs. ada cornish hertsche; corresponding secretary, miss frances gotshall; recording secretary, mrs. w. h. games; treasurer, mrs. henry waldo coe. no regular conventions were held. mrs. duniway, the mother of suffrage in oregon, always advocated the "still hunt," preferring to centralize and individualize the effort through prominent men and women rather than through a large and general organization. shortly before her death in , speaking of her work she said: "occasionally i would gather a few women together in a suffrage society but on the whole i did not find my time thus spent at all profitable. some traveling lecturer would often come along and after speaking before the little local band of a dozen members would receive the contents of the treasury, leaving the society to ravel out for lack of funds. these experiences led me to give up organizing suffrage societies, as i had learned that lecturing, writing serial stories and editorials and correspondence afforded a more rational means of spreading the light.... the only time for general, active organization is after a few devoted workers have succeeded in using the press for getting the movement squarely before the voters in the shape of a proposed state suffrage amendment." this will answer very largely the many criticisms that came from the national association and from equal suffrage states over the apathy of oregon women from to . what the result might have been, with the state and national growth of suffrage sentiment, had there been a strong, active organization is problematic, but oregon might have had the proud distinction of being first instead of last of the pacific coast states to liberate her women politically. in the following officers were elected: honorary president, mrs. duniway; president, mrs. coe; vice-president, dr. jeffreys myers; secretary, dr. luema g. johnson; treasurer, mrs. abbie c. french; auditors, dr. mary thompson, mrs. martha dalton and mrs. frederick aggert. the legislature had many times submitted the amendment but its repeated failures had discouraged the most ardent supporters in that body. the gains in the various campaigns were not sufficient, they argued, to warrant the expense of resubmission in the near future. this reason was freely and courageously given from the chair of the senate by one of the staunchest friends suffrage ever had in the state, the hon. c. w. fulton, when he voted "no" on re-submission in the legislature of , and the defeat of intensified this feeling. hope revived when the initiative and referendum act was adopted by the voters in . the district judges decided against its constitutionality and an appeal was carried to the state supreme court by attorney ralph duniway, whose able argument resulted in a reversal and the establishment of the legality of the new law. this decision was rendered dec. , , and on jan. , , a suffrage petition was issued. this required the signatures of per cent. of the legal voters of the state based on the highest number of votes cast at the election of , in round numbers , names, and compelled the submission of the amendment. in less than three weeks , had been obtained but as only half of them had been verified and classified before the limited time expired the work was of no avail. during the following two years another force had been contributing indirectly to the suffrage cause through the preparations for the national exposition which was to celebrate in portland the lewis and clark expedition. in the hon. jefferson myers, president of the exposition commission, with his wife, dr. annice jeffreys, attended the convention of the national american woman suffrage association at washington, d. c., and so eloquently presented the claims of oregon that its unanimous decision was to hold its next meeting in portland. stimulated by this prospect the legislature of yielded to pressure and submitted the amendment to be voted on in november, . it was a proud day for oregon when the national convention was called to order on june , , by dr. anna howard shaw, national president, in the first congregational church. the honorary president, miss susan b. anthony, then years old, favored every session with her gracious presence. mrs. carrie chapman catt, the vice-president; miss alice stone blackwell, the recording secretary, with her father, henry b. blackwell; miss kate gordon, corresponding secretary, and miss laura clay, auditor, were present and with mrs. charlotte perkins gilman, mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, misses gail laughlin, mary and lucy anthony, mrs. ida husted harper, mrs. maud wood park and other well known women were heard during the convention. [see chapter v, volume v.] very significant of the changing sentiment toward women was the unveiling of the sacajawea statue, in the exposition grounds, which had been arranged for the time when these visitors could assist the committee in the ceremonies. miss anthony in the opening address paid a glowing tribute to this indian woman and exhorted the women of oregon to lead the way to women's liberty. dr. shaw highly complimented those who had made this recognition of a woman's services to her country possible and hailed it as the dawning of a new day for the cause of woman. brief words along these lines were spoken by mrs. catt and others. the picture will never fade from the memory of those who saw miss anthony and dr. shaw standing on the platform with the sun lighting up their silver hair like an aureole and their faces radiant with hope, as "the star spangled banner" sung by an indian boy raised a tumult of applause while the flag floated away revealing the idealized mother and babe.[ ] the national suffrage convention gave to the cause in oregon a new birth. some of the most prominent men in the state appeared on its platform and urged another campaign and political leaders in private conference with its officers assured them that the time was ripe for success. encouraged by this assurance and in response to the strong appeal of the leaders among the women of the state, the national association pledged its support. the suffragists for the most part were now fully convinced that if the amendment was to be carried in there must be state-wide, systematic organization and in answer to their request the national board sent to assist them two of its best organizers, miss mary n. chase and miss gail laughlin. by the end of forty-two clubs had been formed in portland and committees outside. newspapers were giving full reports of meetings and the portland _journal_ was publishing each sunday articles on suffrage by mrs. sarah a. evans, editor of the woman's page. at a state convention held in portland on november the attendance was so great it was necessary to adjourn to a larger hall. mayor harry lane welcomed the convention and took an unequivocal position in favor of woman suffrage. statesmanlike addresses were made by miss laughlin and miss laura clay of kentucky. a special campaign committee had been organized to cooperate with the state and national workers.[ ] the great leader of women, susan b. anthony, had passed away in march, , her thoughts on the oregon campaign to the very last, and, carrying out her wishes, the following group of women came at once to assist the women of the state: dr. shaw, miss clay, miss blackwell and miss gordon, national officers; her sister and niece, miss mary and miss lucy anthony; mrs. ida porter boyer of pennsylvania, miss laura gregg of kansas, mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado. miss laughlin was already there. added to the able oregon workers a more efficient body of women never had charge of a suffrage campaign. centrally located headquarters were at once opened in portland, which soon became the mecca for the suffragists from all over the state. the above trained campaigners submitted a plan to the state board and committee, which was adopted. women who had been named as county chairmen previous to by mrs. duniway were used when possible as a nucleus for a county organization. many young women who took a leading part in later campaigns got their first inspiration. one large room at headquarters was set aside in which to prepare literature for mailing and there daily went a stream of portland women, often swelled by women from out of the city, who worked diligently from morning till night and many of them every day. these noon hours became the social events of the campaign and many business women acquired the habit of dropping in to help a bit with the work and to enjoy the delightful companionship of the women they found there. mrs. coe, the state president, was out of the city several months, returning only a few weeks before the election. among the women outside of portland who put their shoulders to the wheel were mrs. clara waldo, marion county; mrs. emma galloway, yamhill; dr. anna b. reed, linn; mrs. elizabeth lord, wasco; professor helen crawford, benton; mrs. henry sangstacken, coos; mrs. imogene bath, washington; mrs. rosemary schenck, lincoln; mrs. minnie washburn, lane, and mrs. eva emery dye, clackamas. miss clay, mrs. bradford and miss gregg supervised the work of state organization, going into large and small places and extending it into the remotest corners. mrs. boyer took up the publicity, in which she had had long experience. miss gordon had charge of parlor meetings in the cities and larger towns, reaching hundreds who could not have been induced to attend public rallies. miss laughlin appealed powerfully to the labor and fraternal organizations and conducted a series of meetings in their halls, at industrial plants and on the streets. miss blackwell, assisted by the misses mary and lucy anthony, remained at the headquarters and supervised the sending out of literature. dr. shaw, while keeping her finger on the pulse of all the work, was speaking to great crowds constantly. the impetus given the cause by the national convention the previous summer and the activity of the national workers in the present campaign aroused the corrupt influences in politics and the upper and lower classes of anti-suffragists as never before and they jointly employed ferdinand reed, an experienced politician, at a high salary, as manager of a skilfully organized effort to defeat the amendment. the brewers' and wholesale liquor dealers' association of oregon sent out from portland may to the retail liquor dealers and druggists the following secret circular, printed on its official paper, headed with the names of thirteen breweries and nineteen wholesale liquor houses: dear sir:--two laws are to be voted on at the election june , which are of vital importance to every liquor merchant in oregon without exception. the first is woman suffrage. the second is the amendment to the local option law. the members of this association have worked hard for a long time on both these matters ... but, being few in number, they can not by themselves pass the local option amendment or defeat woman suffrage. that part of the work is up to the retailers. we write this letter earnestly to ask you to help. it will take , votes to defeat woman suffrage. it will take , votes to pass the amendment to the local option law. there are , retailers in oregon. that means that every retailer must himself bring in votes on election day. every retailer can get votes. besides his employees he has his grocer, his butcher, his landlord, his laundryman and every person he does business with. if every man in the business will do this we will win. we enclose ballot tickets, showing how these two laws will appear on the ballot and how to vote. if you will personally take friendly voters to the polls on election day and give each one a ticket showing how to vote, please mail this postal card back to us at once. you need not sign the card. every card has a number and we will know who sent it in. let us all pull together and let us all work. let us each get votes. the election took place june , , and resulted in an adverse majority of , in a vote of about , . besides the money raised in oregon the national suffrage association expended on this campaign $ , . of this amount $ , were used in the preliminary work of . all of the eastern workers except the organizers contributed their services and several defrayed their own expenses. the women decided to go immediately into another campaign. the legislative assembly of refused to submit the amendment and the state association again circulated an initiative petition to have it submitted. miss clay contributed $ toward the expense of it; mr. and miss blackwell also contributed liberally and the requisite number of names was secured. mrs. duniway in reporting this campaign said: "it was more like that of , as only oregon women took part and no large meetings were held." there were a few less votes in favor of the amendment in than in and , more against it. the state association filed a petition for another initiative measure immediately after this defeat. it was quite a different proposition, however, as it read: "no citizen who is a taxpayer shall be denied the right to vote on account of sex." both men and women, many of them the staunchest suffragists, openly opposed it and it was bitterly fought by labor and fraternal organizations. no campaign was attempted except from the state president's office and there was general satisfaction when it was defeated in by a majority of , . a reorganization of the state work in after the election had resulted in mrs. duniway's again resuming the presidency with the following board: vice-president-at-large, mrs. elizabeth lord; corresponding secretary, mrs. elizabeth craig; recording secretary, miss emma buckman; financial secretary, mrs. a. bonham; treasurer, mrs. w. e. potter; auditors, mrs. frederick eggert and mrs. martha dalton; honorary president, mrs. coe. this board practically remained intact until . in the two disastrous campaigns of and , against the protest of many, the "still hunt" method was employed and no state-wide organization was attempted. with indomitable courage the board again circulated an initiative petition and had the amendment for full suffrage put on the ballot. although it was unnecessary for the legislature to vote for its submission it did so in order to give it more weight. the women of the state now grew restive and began to agitate for organization for the coming campaign. during and washington and california had enfranchised their women and oregon remained the only "black" state on the pacific coast. this was a matter of great humiliation to the women who had worked for suffrage at least a score of years, as well as to the progressive young women who were beginning to fill the thinning ranks of the pioneer workers. in december, , dr. shaw, the national president, wrote a very strong letter to some of the women severely criticizing their apathy and lack of preparation for this campaign. this was brought to the attention of the state president, who later wrote: "although urged from many sides and by some of the ablest women of the state to begin a campaign for in the summer of , i withstood all such requests." a division of opinion arose among the women of portland regarding the wisdom of delay and dr. shaw's letter was submitted to the woman's club, an organization which up to this time had taken no active part in work for suffrage. now a motion prevailed to enter into the campaign and authorize the president, mrs. a. king wilson, to appoint a committee for this purpose. the personnel of the committee was: mrs. frederick eggert, mrs. william fear, mrs. george mcmillan, dr. esther pohl lovejoy, mrs. grace watt ross, mrs. sarah a. evans, chairman; mrs. william strandborg, secretary. this committee waited on the state president and submitted a plan whereby all the various groups of women which were forming might be co-ordinated and operate from one headquarters, the committee offering to assume all financial expense for them. the plan was not approved by her and the committee and all other groups were compelled to work independently of the state organization. the portland woman's club committee opened headquarters in january, , occupying two rooms in a centrally located office building for the entire ten months of the campaign. dr. shaw, through the generosity of a friend, contributed $ a month toward their maintenance. mrs. strandborg, a newspaper woman of large experience, sent every two weeks a short, spicy letter to papers throughout the state. many appreciative notices were given by the press. almost simultaneously with the opening of headquarters by this committee a number of independent societies were formed for propaganda, which sent out organizers and by summer there were no counties and but few towns or hamlets without a suffrage society. with the assistance of miss anita whitney of california and mrs. helen hoy greeley of new york the women of oregon university organized a large college suffrage club; the state agricultural college did the same and these were rapidly emulated by the smaller colleges and schools. the state federation of labor endorsed it and sent organizers into the field as did many fraternal associations. the first concerted effort made by the state association was at salem feb. , , in the hall of representatives by permission of secretary of state ben olcott. a large number of suffragists were present. the speakers were governor oswald west; mrs. olive english enright; mrs. greeley and miss whitney. mrs. duniway became seriously ill immediately after this meeting and the work of the association fell upon mrs. coe, who courageously assumed the responsibility. in the secretary, miss buckman, she had an able assistant, and also in mrs. l. w. therkelsen, mrs. h. r. reynolds, dr. marie d. equi and dr. victoria hampton, close friends of mrs. duniway. on march mrs. coe called a meeting at the headquarters in the selling building in portland, two rooms having been generously donated by the hon. ben selling to be jointly used by the state association and the college league. the state work was definitely launched by the appointment of the following committees: finance, mrs. j. a. fouilhoux, mrs. elliott corbet, dr. florence manion; literature, mrs. louise trullinger, mrs. a. e. clark, miss emma wold, miss blanche wren; ways and means, dr. florence brown cassiday, mrs. caroline hepburn, mrs. c. b. woodruff. in june the general federation of women's clubs met in san francisco and many of the prominent women in attendance arranged to return via oregon, the new york special train stopping over for one day. it was met twelve miles out and escorted to portland and met at the depot by a brass band. in the afternoon a meeting was held in the taylor street methodist church with many unable to obtain admittance. miss mary garrett hay of new york; mrs. h. c. warren of new jersey; mrs. desha breckinridge of kentucky; miss helen varick boswell and miss mary wood of new york, and professor frances squire potter of minnesota university, were among the speakers. the last four remained for several days and spoke at the great gladstone chautauqua. one of the most noteworthy incidents of the campaign was a debate here between mrs. breckinridge and the rev. clarence true wilson, secretary of the committee of temperance and morals for the methodist church. the reverend gentleman was the white hope of the anti-suffragists. his exalted calling and his official position as a prohibitionist, camouflaged the relation between the two extremes of society that were working against the amendment--the liquor people and a group of society women supplemented by a group of prominent men. he had sent the challenge to the woman's club committee and mrs. breckinridge took up the gauntlet. three thousand people saw him, completely routed, retire from the platform while mrs. breckinridge and "the cause" got a tremendous ovation. mr. wilson and william d. wheelwright were the only two men who took the platform against the amendment. the women "antis" were led by mrs. a. e. rockey, mrs. ralph wilber, mrs. robert lewis and the misses etta and may failing. the committee maintained a speakers' bureau and sent out thousands of pieces of literature. among the first to enter the campaign was a men's equal suffrage club, organized and promoted by w. m. davis, a prominent attorney of portland, which soon became an active state-wide organization. mr. davis was the legal adviser of all the women's organizations. mrs. solomon hirsch, an early worker and one of the most liberal financial supporters of the campaign, went directly into the camp of the enemy and organized a group of society women in the portland equal suffrage league. no one feature stands out more conspicuously for results than a "tea" she gave for sir forbes-robertson in her palatial home, to which she invited about two hundred guests, most of whom were radical anti-suffragists, but many of them went away converts after hearing the presentation of the subject by the guest of honor. mrs. hirsch also brought the rev. charles a. aked of san francisco. dr. coe was the first president of the portland college league and when she had to assume the duties of the state president, miss emma wold filled her place. the largest suffrage meeting up to that time was under the auspices of this league at oaks amusement park, where mrs. sara bard field (ergott) and c. e. s. wood, a brilliant orator, addressed more than , people. mrs. a. c. newill established the cooperative civic league, which did active work with the state association. dr. lovejoy organized every body's league late in the campaign but succeeded in gathering hundreds of unattached men and women into the ranks of the workers. the woman's christian temperance union added its mighty strength and did valiant service under the able leadership of mrs. lucia faxton additon, mrs. m. l. t. hidden and mrs. ada wallace unruh. on nov. , , the equal suffrage amendment was carried by a majority of , , not by any one person or by any one organization, for no individual or single organization could have compassed the work required to put the state "over the top" with even this meagre majority in a total vote of , . when the heights were reached, however, all were ready to lay the laurels at the feet of abigail scott duniway, martha a. dalton, charlotte m. cartwright and dr. mary thompson, the pioneers who had borne the heat and burden of the early days. governor west paid mrs. duniway the compliment of inviting her to write the proclamation of woman suffrage and jointly with him to sign it, and john coffey, the county clerk, carried the registration book to her sick room so that she might be the first woman in oregon to register. at the close of this arduous campaign the women folded their hands for a quiet rest until the cry for help came from other states. it was a most difficult task to gather up the broken threads of so many organizations and again rouse them to enthusiasm. dr. lovejoy, however, at the earnest request of dr. shaw, sent out a general call for a conference in march, . at this meeting the state suffrage alliance was formed with mrs. william ogburn as first president. those who followed her in the office were: mrs. thomas burk, mrs. kelley rees, mrs. elliott corbett and mrs. c. b. simmons. it gave its assistance to the unenfranchised states and was ready to respond to any call from the national president. ratification. the alliance was largely instrumental in having a special session of the legislature called to ratify the federal suffrage amendment. this was done by unanimous vote in the house january and in the senate january , , and governor oswald west affixed his signature on the th. the resolution was introduced in the lower house by mrs. alexander thompson, a member. on march , , at a called meeting the women organized a league of women voters and mrs. charles e. curry was elected chairman. the oregon chapter on suffrage was closed on aug. , . at noon of that day, while nearly women stood at attention around the banquet table at the benson hotel in portland, every bell and whistle in the city sounded forth the glad refrain of liberty and righteousness, universal suffrage for women, proclaimed by secretary of state bainbridge colby. the mayor of portland, george l. baker, was there to rejoice with them. old women who had stood in the battle-front for years were there to tell of the hard struggles they had passed through for the franchise and young women were there to promise that they would keep the faith and honor the inheritance that had come to them. the jubilee closed with the singing of a hymn of thanksgiving written for this meeting by mrs. helen ekin starrett, the only woman living who had attended the first and last conventions of the national suffrage association-- - . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. sarah a. evans, president of the state federation of clubs ten years; on the child labor commission eighteen years and market inspector for portland sixteen years. [ ] sacajawea was a young indian woman who accompanied her husband on the lewis and clark expedition from the missouri river to the pacific coast, the only woman in the party. she had been a captive from an idaho tribe of the shoshones and was the only person who could speak the language of the indians that would be met on the way or who had ever been over the route to be traveled. with her baby in her arms she was the unerring guide through the almost impenetrable mountain passes and on several occasions saved not only the equipment and documents but the lives of the party. in recognition of this service the women of oregon formed the sacajawea association, with the following officers: mrs. eva emery dye, president; mrs. c. m. cartwright, first vice-president; mrs. m. a. dalton, second; mrs. j. b. montgomery, third; mrs. sarah a. evans, secretary; mrs. a. h. breyman, treasurer. this association secured subscriptions and erected a beautiful bronze statue on the exposition grounds, which later was transferred to a prominent place in the city park. [ ] campaign committee: mrs. henry waldo coe, chairman, president of the equal suffrage association; mrs. duniway, honorary president; dr. annice jeffreys myers, its vice-president and auditor of the national association; mrs. sarah a. evans, president state federation of women's clubs; mrs. lucia f. additon, president woman's christian temperance union; mrs. c. m. cartwright, state pioneers' association; mrs. clara waldo, state grange; dr. luema g. johnson, state labor organization; mrs. eva emery dye, sacajawea association. chapter xxxvii. pennsylvania.[ ] pennsylvania was a pioneer state in the movement for woman suffrage. one of the first "woman's rights" conventions in history took place in in west chester under the auspices of the friends, or quakers, and philadelphia was the home of lucretia mott, who joined with elizabeth cady stanton in in calling the first "woman's rights" meeting ever held. the state woman suffrage association was formed in this city in december, , a few months after the founding of the national association, and did not cease its work until the final victory in . mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg of philadelphia was reelected to the presidency in for the tenth consecutive term and was reelected annually six times thereafter, retiring in because the work then required long journeys from home. auxiliaries had been organized in counties before the convention held in philadelphia, nov. , . suffrage activities had been confined to southeastern pennsylvania but now three extreme western counties and two central ones had organizations and offered a promising field. for the first time plans were made for extended canvassing for members. to the courageous women of that period who carried on steadfastly under severe handicaps and with little encouragement may be attributed much of the inspiration of the suffragists of later years. miss jane campbell of germantown, poet, author and orator, president for many years of the large, active philadelphia county society, was responsible in a great degree for the enthusiasm and spirit which sustained the pioneers. the convention of took place in philadelphia november . a report on the canvassing of one ward of philadelphia, the th, showed per cent. of the women in favor. leaflets were sent to , schools during the year and a prize offered for the best essay on woman suffrage by a pupil. on december the philadelphia yearly meeting of friends organized an equal rights association. a report on the canvass of the th ward, undertaken by the county society, the largest and most active auxiliary, was given at the annual convention held in philadelphia, nov. , , and showed that of the , women interviewed nearly one-half were favorable, less than a third opposed and the rest were indifferent. this year the state grange and the city labor union endorsed woman suffrage. a banquet in honor of miss susan b. anthony and the other national officers took place at the new century club, the guests including mayor samuel ashbridge and his wife. his progressiveness contrasts strongly with the fact that sixteen years later the suffragists were unable to persuade mayor thomas b. smith to welcome their fiftieth annual convention to the city. easton was the place of the convention, nov. - , , where it was reported that the result of sending fraternal delegates to thirty-seven state gatherings was the adoption of woman suffrage resolutions by nineteen. the convention of was held in philadelphia, november , and all auxiliaries reported large gains in membership. this year suffragists had ably assisted the city party in a reform campaign and advanced their own cause. kennett square entertained the convention nov. - , . an increase of , in membership had been made during the year. in the state convention was held in the western part of the state, taking place in pittsburgh, november - . a resolution was proposed for the first time to ask the political parties to put woman suffrage planks in their state platforms by miss charlotte jones but it was voted down as impracticable. the state grange, letter carriers' association and state woman's christian temperance union adopted suffrage resolutions during the year. a junior suffrage auxiliary of pittsburgh girls and boys was represented. mrs. rachel foster avery succeeded mrs. blankenburg as president at the convention held in norristown nov. - , . the proposed program of the national american association to secure an enormous petition calling upon congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment was undertaken cheerfully, although it was a heavy task for a small group of workers with no headquarters and limited finances. the state convention took place at newton nov. - , , and mrs. avery was re-elected president. the equal franchise society, representing a group of prominent women of philadelphia, had been organized in the spring as an auxiliary of the state association and the increase of work caused by advance throughout the state made the establishment of headquarters imperative. a committee was appointed to arrange for state and county headquarters in philadelphia and a sum sufficient to sustain them for three years was pledged. the convention of was held in harrisburg and mrs. ellen h. e. price of philadelphia assumed the presidency. this year was organized the equal franchise federation of western pennsylvania, later changed to federation of pittsburgh, its leaders destined to play a very important part in suffrage annals. julian kennedy was the first president, one of the very few men who served as president of a woman suffrage organization. the state federation of labor not only adopted resolutions endorsing woman suffrage but pledging itself to select men for offices who were committed to a belief in it. the political district plan was adopted for future work, in accordance with the recommendation of the national association. the headquarters were opened at hale building, philadelphia, october . street meetings were inaugurated in that city the next summer and the speakers were received with amazing cordiality. mrs. price was re-elected president at the convention which opened in the mayor's reception room, city hall, philadelphia, nov. , , mayor john e. reyburn granting this courtesy. owing to the necessity of giving the work state-wide scope the convention held in philadelphia nov. , , , recommended moving the state headquarters to harrisburg and this change was effected in december. in march a men's league for woman suffrage had been organized with judge dimner beeber of philadelphia as president and more than prominent members enrolled. fourteen new organizations were formed during the year but the larger part of the state was still unorganized. the national suffrage convention preceded the state convention and gave an impetus to the movement. an evening mass meeting in the metropolitan opera house made the record of the largest and most enthusiastic suffrage meeting ever held in this city. [see chapter xii, volume v.] the association now had , members. mrs. frank m. roessing of pittsburgh was elected president and this young, practical woman was principally responsible for changing the character of the work from purely propagandistic lines to recognized business standards. the annual convention met in pittsburgh, oct. - , , the president's term of office was lengthened to two years and mrs. roessing was reelected. the state grange and the federation of labor reaffirmed their suffrage resolutions and the international brotherhood of firemen went on record in favor. a proposition to submit the question of woman suffrage to the voters had been favorably passed on by the legislature and waited action by a second. great strides were made in . a press department conducted along professional lines supplied all the papers of the state with live suffrage news and there were suffrage editions of several papers. miss hannah j. patterson of pittsburgh had charge of organizing the woman suffrage party along political lines out of the state association, and to mrs. roessing and her belongs especial credit for the strong, workable organization which was built up so carefully in preparation for the campaign year. the state convention was held in scranton, november - . there was every indication that the next legislature would submit a constitutional amendment and the executive board asked for a campaign fund of $ , , of which $ , were pledged at the convention. mrs. william thaw, jr., of pittsburgh offered $ , if the fund reached $ , by april . with this splendid foundation the state was ready to take up the actual work of the campaign in . mrs. charles wister ruschenberger of strafford announced that she would have a replica cast of the liberty bell to be known as the "woman's liberty bell." later dr. mary m. wolfe of lewisburg was elected chairman of the finance committee and the $ , were raised on time. the legislature of submitted an amendment to be voted on at the regular election november . mrs. roessing was president of the state association and miss patterson was chairman of the woman suffrage party, whose plan provided for organization by political districts, recognizing every political division from that of the state unit down to the precinct and township. the state was divided into nine districts but as very few women could give sufficient time to head a division comprising from seven to ten counties, only four were supervised by chairmen--mrs. anna m. orme, mrs. e. e. kiernan, mrs. maxwell k. chapman and miss mary j. norcross. allegheny county had four experienced organizers, philadelphia four, montgomery three, bucks two, chester, washington, luzerne and mckean each one. eighteen other organizers worked under the supervision of miss patterson.[ ] they visited every one of the counties during the year, formed new organizations, stimulated those already established, conducted booths at county fairs, addressed women's clubs, teachers' institutes, chautauquas, picnics, farmers' institutes, men's organizations, political, church, college and factory meetings. during the last three months of the campaign they conducted county tours and held open air meetings daily. they formed central organizations in counties under competent chairmen. cameron and pike were the only counties where there were no societies but in cameron there were active workers. in the other eleven counties central organizations were not formed but legislative districts and boroughs were organized, each with a capable chairman.[ ] to miss clarissa a. moffitt, its secretary, belongs much credit for the able management of the speakers' bureau. during the campaign year counties were supplied, involving the services of speakers; were men, were pennsylvanians, contributed services and expenses and asked expenses only. the bureau made a study of the characteristics of each county in industry, agriculture, character of population and politics. speakers were then offered who would be acceptable to the community as well as to the particular meeting. dr. anna howard shaw, national president, gave lectures and from every county reports came that hundreds of converts were made. the manager of the publicity department, charles t. heaslip, was an expert not only in the art of journalism but also in the art of publicity. this department ultimately required the full time of three special writers. semi-monthly a two column plate service was sent to papers from february and from october it was weekly, the list of papers having grown to . allegheny county, in which pittsburgh is located, conducted the most efficient county campaign. its headquarters practically duplicated the state headquarters at harrisburg with secretaries and organizers and it was the only one which employed its own publicity agent. a weekly news bulletin was issued to papers and the regular service was supplemented by special stories. much work was done in advance of meetings. from july to november a weekly cartoon service was undertaken, a new feature in suffrage campaign work. according to the newspaper men it comprised the best cartoons ever used in any campaign in the state and the money spent for them brought greater returns than that for any other feature. the cartoonists were c. batchelor, charles h. winner and walter a. sinclair. in special features the publicity department avoided sensationalism. suffrage flower gardens, good roads day, the justice bell and supplication day comprised practically the entire list. attractive yellow boxes containing seeds for the old-fashioned yellow flowers were offered for sale by the state association and the flower gardens furnished a picturesque form of propaganda and long continued publicity. in pennsylvania a day in the spring is set aside by the department of highways when all residents along country roads are asked to contribute their services for their improvement. the local suffrage organizations provided coffee and sandwiches for the laborers and got in their propaganda. on supplication day, the last sunday before election, ministers were asked to preach suffrage sermons. mrs. ruschenberger's bell was the best and main publicity feature and undeniably secured many thousands of votes. it visited all the counties, traveling , miles on a special truck. hundreds of appeals by as many speakers were made from this as a stand and it was received in the rural communities with almost as much reverence and ceremony as would have been accorded the original bell. the collections and the receipts from the sale of novelties moulded in the likeness of the bell helped materially to defray the heavy expense of operating the truck, paying the speakers' expenses and providing literature. space for the display of advertising cards was purchased in , street cars for august, september and october. special suffrage editions of newspapers in all parts of the state, copy and cuts for which were prepared by the state publicity department, contributed considerably to propaganda and finance. throughout the state the general lines of activity were the same--meetings of all kinds, parades, hearings before organizations to secure endorsements, booths at county fairs, exhibitions, canvassing, circularization and auto tours. the degree of success in each locality depended upon the kind and amount of work. millions of fliers, leaflets and booklets original to pennsylvania were issued in english, italian, german, polish and hebrew and no effort or expense was spared to secure converts through the written word. during the last month of the campaign the county organizations circularized their voters twice--once with speeches of representatives mondell of wyoming and keating of colorado in congress and once with a personal letter written to the voter and signed by the county chairman or a suffragist in his own community. four days before election , of these letters went to the voters. although a bill for woman watchers at the polls failed to pass the legislature and the suffragists were thus denied the protection which every political party is permitted, yet in many counties the assistance of the regularly appointed watchers was secured. the washington party and socialist watchers were universally helpful and in many cases the democratic and republican watchers gave assistance. the suffrage organizations were urged to place women workers at every polling precinct. many men favorable to suffrage advised against this plan but the result of the election showed that nothing won as many votes at the last minute as the appeal of the women at the polls. of the counties which were carried had women working at the polls; of the which lost only six had women there. of the counties had headquarters. eight of the counties which gave a majority are chiefly industrial; eight are equally industrial and rural and seventeen are chiefly rural. luzerne, lackawanna and westmoreland are the third, fourth and fifth counties in point of population and they won by majorities of , , , and , . in all of them the labor vote is heavy, as mining is the chief industry. allegheny was the first county of its size to be carried in the history of suffrage. fayette county, the home of republican state chairman crow, who never wavered in his opposition, was carried by , . every ward in uniontown, the county seat and his home, gave a majority for the amendment. mrs. robert e. umbel was county chairman. the eight dutch counties lost by majorities ranging from , to , . rockbound conservatism had much to do with this result. schuylkill county, where an adverse vote from , to , was predicted, lost by only , . miss helen beddall, the chairman, conducted a persistent campaign of education for two years. philadelphia had the most difficult problem to face with its large vote and political corruption. its difficulties were increased by the duplication of suffrage organizations working independently. an added complication was the prejudice created by the efforts of the "militant" suffrage organization, then called the congressional union, to organize, this being the only center in the state in which they had secured a foothold. the large women's clubs of philadelphia took no part in the constructive work of the campaign. wilmer atkinson of this city, editor and owner of the _farm journal_, was president of the men's league for woman suffrage and gave unstintingly of his strength and means to secure victory. the vote in philadelphia was , noes, , ayes; adverse majority, , . the total vote was , ; in favor, , ; opposed, , ; lost by , votes, only , more than the majority in philadelphia. the amendment received nearly per cent. of the total vote cast on it. prior to election day all the political parties in the state had endorsed woman suffrage per se, except the republican and that party had declared in favor of a referendum to the voters. the great weakness of the campaign was lack of money. the total state fund was $ , , of which allegheny county contributed per cent. many of the counties spent considerable sums in addition, allegheny county's special "budget" being $ , . if the association had had an additional $ , the lacking per cent. of the voters could have been secured and the campaign would have ended in a victory. * * * * * the state convention was held in philadelphia nov. , . as amendments to the state constitution can be submitted only once in five years, the delegates reconsecrated themselves to a new campaign at the end of that time. at a conference held in harrisburg in the spring of counties were represented and an inspiring address was made by mrs. carrie chapman catt, now national president. an intercounty rally at somerset in july was attended by suffragists from ten counties and a state suffrage flag was adopted. the annual convention was held in williamsport, november - , and the delegates were unanimous in their desire to continue preparations for another campaign. mrs. george b. orlady was elected president. as philadelphia is the center of population in the state, the financial center, has the largest number of newspapers and is more accessible than harrisburg, state headquarters were moved to that city june , . upon the entrance of the united states into the world war the association without a day's delay offered the services of its members and the facilities of its organization to the government. state officers, county chairmen and suffragists in the ranks served on the council of national defense, on liberty loan committees, in the various "drives" and wherever needed. mrs. john o. miller, state vice-president, was appointed by secretary of the treasury mcadoo a member of the national woman's liberty loan committee and also served as state chairman. pennsylvania contributed $ , to the women's oversea hospitals, maintained by the national suffrage association, $ , of which were raised in pittsburgh at an outdoor fête of which mrs. leonard g. wood was chairman. the state convention was held in this city november - and mrs. miller was elected president. in the hope that the u. s. senate would submit the federal suffrage amendment the convention for was delayed from month to month and finally was held in philadelphia april , , . mrs. miller was re-elected. on november , , the amendment having been submitted, the st and last state convention was held in philadelphia.[ ] the historic pennsylvania woman suffrage association was disbanded and the league of women citizens was organized, to become the league of women voters when the women of pennsylvania were enfranchised. this name was adopted nov. , , and mrs. miller was elected chairman for two years. legislative action. after a lapse of years a second attempt was made in under mrs. anna m. orme, as legislative chairman, to secure a resolution to refer to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution. the joint committee of the judiciary, to which it was referred, after giving a hearing to the suffragists, sent it to a special commission which had been appointed to revise the election laws. . miss lida stokes adams was legislative chairman when this commission gave an all day hearing march at city hall, philadelphia, but took no action. this hearing was preceded by a mass meeting on the th in witherspoon hall. an effort was made to get an endorsement from the state political conventions. miss mary e. bakewell of the western equal franchise federation appeared before the republican convention may ; mrs. mabel cronise jones, miss adams and miss bakewell addressed the democratic convention may , and both gave approval. the keystone and prohibition party conventions also heard suffrage speakers and adopted favorable resolutions. for the first time all of the candidates for the legislature were interviewed by a letter as to submitting the question to the voters and gave affirmative answers. . this year the referendum measure passed after a bitter contest. twice when the resolution came up in the senate the motion to postpone was avoided on a tie vote by lieutenant governor reynolds, the first time in thirteen years that the president of the senate had voted on any question. on the final vote the majority of one was only secured by the labor leader, steve mcdonald of lackawanna county, who forced its senator, walter mcnichols, to represent his constituents. senators edwin m. herbst, edward e. beidleman (later lieutenant governor) and james p. mcnichol maintained the strongest opposition. miss adams, the legislative chairman, and mrs. roessing, the state president, did the greater part of the work at harrisburg. the association was indebted to representative frank g. rockwell and senator a. w. powell for their skill in handling this measure. the vote in the lower house, february was ayes, noes. . a proposed amendment to the constitution must be passed by two legislatures. mrs. roessing and miss hannah j. patterson, organization chairman, carried on the lobby work in and it passed the house on february by ayes, noes. in the senate on march a great gain was registered, as senators voted aye and only voted no. the amendment was defeated at the election in november. . the passage of an enabling act by the legislature of being the first step toward a referendum in , the work of the state suffrage association in was concentrated as never before on the legislative candidates. practically every one was interviewed personally or by letter and before the november election reports on of the senators and all but ten of the members of the house had been made. senator boies penrose was visited in washington by mrs. george b. orlady and mrs. john o. miller, president and vice-president of the state suffrage association. he said he would help and authorized these officers to quote him in the public press. on october the republican state committee meeting in philadelphia refused a hearing to the suffrage board and took no action, despite the favorable assurances of senator penrose and of state senator william e. crow, its chairman. on december governor martin g. brumbaugh promised mrs. miller to secure the passage of the desired enabling act. . mrs. miller led the work when the legislature convened in january, , and mrs. antoinette funk, mrs. lewis l. smith and mrs. harriet l. hubbs were members of the legislative committee. county chairmen of the suffrage association brought continuous pressure on their legislators; powerful labor organizations in the state signed petitions with their official seal and a petition with the names of , individual men and women was unrolled on the floor of the house. every legislator received a special petition signed by of the most prominent men in the state, a copy of dr. shaw's biography, the story of a pioneer, and weekly copies of the _woman's journal_. mrs. funk had an interview with senator penrose at washington with one of the most prominent members of the republican party present. the enabling act was introduced in the house early in january but at the request of senator penrose the vote was delayed from time to time and finally took place april . the preceding day men were listed as favorable, being the required constitutional majority. when the vote was taken only answered "aye." forty-eight hours before the vote the liquor lobby, represented by neil bonner, david hardy, james p. mulvihill and george w. boyd, made a concentrated effort to defeat the measure. it was understood that men were employed for this purpose and that the pressure brought upon the legislators was tremendous. although other lobbyists had been denied the privilege of going on the floor of the house mr. boyd was always permitted to do so and he announced to mrs. funk a few minutes before the vote was taken that he had the bill defeated by six votes. speaker richard j. baldwin moved a verification of the roll immediately in order that no man voting in the affirmative could change his vote and ask for a reconsideration. a bill granting presidential suffrage to women was introduced in the house may but never reported from committee. from to , robert k. young, state treasurer, rendered inestimable assistance by the closest cooperation with the legislative committees. . plans were at once made for continuing the effort. in the organization carried out a most efficient plan of interviewing every legislative candidate before the primaries on two questions: ( ) will you vote to ratify the federal suffrage amendment? ( ) will you vote to submit to the voters an amendment to the constitution enfranchising the women of this state? after the november election members of the house of representatives for were favorably pledged in writing on both questions and had given verbal pledges-- more than the constitutional majority required. from the senate written and verbal pledges had been secured, more than necessary. there was practically no organized opposition to the referendum and probably many of the men who pledged themselves to vote for ratification felt that the federal amendment would not pass congress. the gubernatorial candidates also had been followed up carefully. william c. sproul and j. denny o'neil, of the rival republican factions, both said in interviews and through the public press that they were ready to work for any measure which would ensure suffrage to pennsylvania women. judge eugene c. bonniwell, the democratic candidate, did not answer any inquiries. . upon the defeat of the federal amendment in the u. s. senate february , governor sproul, who had given many proofs of his friendship, was consulted regarding the advisability of introducing presidential suffrage or a referendum or both. at first he recommended both but hours later word came that the former could not be passed but the "organization" would sponsor a referendum. a resolution for this was introduced and after a public hearing, at which anti-suffrage women from new jersey and new york spoke at length, the house passed it on april by ayes, noes. in the senate on may the vote stood ayes, noes. mrs. william ward, jr., of chester, vice-chairman of the legislative committee, managed a large part of the work for it. ratification. the legislative committee held its organization intact awaiting the submission of the federal amendment, which took place june , . although this committee was in harrisburg continuously from january to june and knew the personnel of the legislature better than any others except some of the political leaders, members of the national woman's party came to harrisburg early in june, the first time they had ever been seen there, and tried to create the impression that they inaugurated the work on ratification. a delegation from the state suffrage association visited senator penrose in washington on june . although he was paired against the amendment he was asked to offer no opposition to ratification. he was non-committal but the committee felt that republican opposition had been removed. on june the legislative committee began an intensive campaign. mrs. gifford pinchot telephoned or telegraphed chairman hays and all the members of the national republican committee; also all republican governors and other prominent republicans, asking them to communicate with governor sproul, senator penrose and state chairman crow urging ratification as a republican measure. all editors of influential republican papers east of the mississippi river received the same appeal. the governor advised that the resolution should not be introduced in the senate until chairman crow had decided to get behind it. on june the latter told mrs. miller that the road was clear and it would come to a vote june . the vote stood ayes, noes. the house voted on june , giving ayes, noes. immediately after the vote in the house the work of the state association was recognized when representative robert l. wallace, a friend in many legislatures, moved to give its president the privilege of addressing the house from the speaker's rostrum. this was the first time it ever was granted to any man or woman. governor sproul also gave a special reception to the officers of the association and the women who had journeyed to harrisburg for the ratification. for a number of years, the state association opposed to woman suffrage had been represented at all sessions of the legislature by mrs. horace brock, the president, mrs. john b. heron and miss eliza armstrong of pittsburgh, but to miss armstrong, a woman of seventy, it had been left to fight the last battle on ratification and fifty legislators supported her efforts to the end. the example of the big republican state of pennsylvania unquestionably aided in securing like action in a large number of other republican states. its prompt action may be attributed primarily to governor sproul's sincere interest but due credit must be given to all the brave women who toiled for more than half a century to keep the torch burning and to the leaders in the last years, especially mrs. john o. miller, the president. the newspapers, from the editorial departments to the youngest reporters, were always of the greatest assistance and it was highly appreciated. [laws. a complete digest of the laws relating especially to women and children accompanied this chapter, comprising about , words and including the laws for women in the industries, child labor, jurisdiction of the juvenile courts, property rights of wives, guardianship of children, divorce, mothers' pensions and others. it is a distinct loss that the decision had to be made to omit the laws from all state chapters for lack of space.] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. harriet l. hubbs, executive secretary of the state woman suffrage association - and thenceforth of the state league of women voters and active member of legislative committees for both organizations. [ ] these organizers were: mrs. evelyn binz, mrs. laura gregg cannon, mrs. ada mundorff, mrs. alice moore dunbar, misses lillian howard, emma macalarney, ladson hall, helen arny, grace ballard, mary calhoun, louise hall, leona huntzinger, doris long, adella potter, eudora ramsey, jeanette rankin, ethel rankin and mary sleichter. [ ] the list of the nearly seventy chairmen is unavoidably omitted for want of space. [ ] several of the presidents of the association were at first vice-presidents; others were mrs. mary b. luckie, mrs. anna m. orme, mrs. william i. hull, dr. ruth a. deeter, miss lida stokes adams, miss mary e. bakewell, mrs. maxwell k. chapman, mrs. robert mills beach, mrs. h. neely fleming, miss maud bassett gotham, dr. m. carey thomas, mrs. lewis l. smith, mrs. edward e. kiernan, mrs. james p. rogers, mrs. edwin linton; secretaries: mrs. helen m. james, miss lybretta rice, miss jane campbell, mrs. mary r. newell, mrs. mary c. morgan, miss katharine collison, miss caroline katzenstein, miss mary norcross, miss helen l. mcfarland, miss helen c. clark, mrs. gifford pinchot; treasurers: mrs. margaret b. stone, mrs. luckie, miss matilda orr hays, mrs. robert k. young, mrs. robert mills beach, miss martha g. thomas; auditors: mrs. ellen h. thomas, mrs. mary f. kenderdine, mrs. minora f. phillis, miss n. m. crumpton, mrs. reba artsdalen, mrs. robert coard, miss ellen l. thomas, mrs. h. wilfred dupuy; directors: mrs. edward e. kiernan, miss henrietta baldy lyon, mrs. emma h. mccandless, mrs. e. s. h. mccauley, mrs. richard s. quigley, mrs. george a. piersol, mrs. clifton a. verner, mrs. daniel f. ancona. chapter xxxviii. rhode island.[ ] the opening of the th century found the old guard of the rhode island woman suffrage association still in the van. some of those who were charter members when the organization was formed in were in active service, enriching the work by their wide experience in the past and clear vision for the future. mrs. ardelia cooke dewing, a woman of unusual ability, had taken the presidency at the death of mrs. elizabeth buffum chace in and continued in the office until . the association never failed to hold an annual convention in the autumn in providence, where reside about half the population of the state. in , the usual propaganda was conducted by public and parlor meetings, the circulation of literature and the may banquet, for years a regular social function. a special impetus was given this year by the presence of miss susan b. anthony at the convention. the following morning she addressed the students of the woman's college of brown university. on june , , the endorsement of the state central trades and labor unions was secured. harry parsons cross, a leading lawyer, gave two courses of lectures on the legal status of women and parent and child in common law. this year the organization met with a great loss in the removal from rhode island of the rev. anna garlin spencer, who had served the society from its inception, officially and unofficially, with signal devotion. henry b. blackwell gave a notable address at the annual meeting. to him, lucy stone and alice stone blackwell the state association was indebted for invaluable services on many important occasions. in , at the annual meeting a letter was read from mayor d. l. d. granger of providence, heartily endorsing woman suffrage. mrs. charlotte b. wilbour and the rev. mrs. spencer were made honorary presidents of the association. in and thereafter a prize of $ from the elizabeth buffum chace legacy was given for the best essay on woman suffrage written by a student of the woman's college. mrs. dewing declined re-election in and mrs. jeannette s. french was chosen president, serving two years. events of the year were two lectures by dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american suffrage association. in mrs. mary f. w. homer was elected corresponding secretary and her wide experience in suffrage work in massachusetts was a valued contribution at a time when re-enforcements were greatly needed. in mrs. rowena p. b. tingley was elected president. mrs. julia ward howe, in her th year, gave a remarkable address in april. the association secured an endorsement of woman suffrage and equal pay for equal work by the united textile workers of america, who met in providence. mrs. george d. gladding, daughter of mrs. dewing, was appointed chairman of the committee on college work and initiated the movement for the college equal suffrage league by securing mrs. maud wood park to address a meeting of college women at the home of mrs. dewing and also to speak at the woman's college. the league was organized december . in mrs. tingley was re-elected president but because of ill health the duties of the office devolved largely upon mrs. gladding, first vice-president. the th anniversary of the association was celebrated december in churchill house, the women's club house, named for one of the distinguished suffrage pioneers, mrs. elizabeth kittridge churchill. mrs. tingley, arnold b. chace, mr. blackwell and the rev. mrs. spencer, the speakers on this occasion, had been present when the association was formed and they added to the pleasure of the meeting with personal reminiscences. miss florence garvin, president of the college equal suffrage league, spoke of the debt of the young women to the pioneer suffragists. the state association enrolled thousands of names for the national association's petition to congress in behalf of the federal amendment and used its influence to obtain for it the support of the rhode island members of congress. in at the annual meeting miss elizabeth upham yates, who had recently come to the state, was elected president. this year was marked by distinctive propaganda through the efforts of mrs. oliver h. p. belmont of new york. the lectures given at marble palace, her home in newport, by dr. shaw and professor charles zueblin interested a new and influential class and gave a substantial impetus to suffrage work throughout the state. increasing calls to discuss the question before clubs, granges, church societies and other organizations were an encouraging sign of a popular awakening to its importance. in a debate on woman suffrage between brown university and williams college was won by the former in the affirmative. mrs. anne m. jewett, who had served acceptably as recording secretary for ten years, resigned. miss mary m. angell was elected at the annual meeting and gave a like term of years of devoted service. mrs. dewing was made honorary president. in a lecture on woman's ballot by professor henry s. nash of harvard university, well known as a lecturer, before the providence biblical institute, greatly strengthened the cause among conservative people. mrs. emmeline pankhurst gave a lecture under the auspices of the state association and the college league. this year the first anti-suffrage society was organized by a group of wealthy and prominent women, among whom were mrs. charles warren lippitt, mrs. rowland hazard, miss louise hoppin, mrs. herbert maine and mrs. henry t. fowler. miss yates and mrs. lippitt were invited to hold a debate before the jewish women's council. in january, , the college league and the state association opened headquarters in butler exchange at providence and engaged miss louise hall as organizer. president m. carey thomas of bryn mawr college spoke under the auspices of the state collegiate alumnae on the need of woman's ballot and made a strong impression on this conservative university city. from may the college league assumed the office duties and the state association carried on the field work. this year a booth was secured at the food fair of the retail grocers' association, where thousands of new members were enrolled, tens of thousands of leaflets were distributed and much publicity work was done. the "suffrage map" was in evidence, showing the many states that had been won, an irrefutable argument against the emanations of the anti-suffrage booth. at no other time and place could so many classes of persons be reached. the arduous work involved was carried on by miss alice f. porter, miss nettie e. bauer, mrs. george e. dunbar, miss enid peirce, miss althea l. hall, miss margaretha dwight, mrs. caroline dowell, miss ethel parks and a score more of like unselfish workers.[ ] at the annual meeting in october mrs. homer, who had been the efficient corresponding secretary for six years, declined re-election and mrs. sara l. fittz was elected to the office, which position she retained until the end. she served also as chairman of the publicity committee and was always in demand as a speaker. miss hall went to assist in the ohio campaign, accompanied by mrs. camilla von klenze, president of the college league. in april dr. shaw addressed a large audience at infantry hall. in the summer suffrage headquarters were established on franklin street, newport, mainly through the energy of mrs. belmont, a member of the newport league, and meetings were held here every afternoon during this and other seasons. in the work of the year opened with a lecture by miss mary johnston, the novelist, on woman in politics and one by mrs. carrie chapman catt on the white slave traffic. mrs. catt also addressed a meeting in the interests of the woman suffrage party, which had been organized under the leadership of mrs. sara m. algeo. the state association and the college league being dues-paying organizations there was an open field for the non-dues-paying suffrage party formed along political lines. nearly all the members of the older associations joined it and at the same time continued to maintain their own lines of propaganda. miss yates, the state president, was invited by the municipal government to deliver the fourth of july address at city hall, providence. dr. valeria h. parker addressed the annual convention on women as civil guardians. in a series of lectures on the modern woman of various countries was given by the state association which called out large audiences. the three organizations united in a celebration of "suffrage week" in may, closing with a meeting in the casino at roger williams park with rabbi stephen s. wise as the principal speaker. miss yates, after serving five years, was obliged on account of other demands on her time to decline reelection and was made honorary president. no president being elected at the annual meeting, agnes m. (mrs. barton p.) jenks was chosen later by the executive committee to fill the vacancy and afterwards was elected and held the office until may, . in december representatives of the three organizations met and formed a cooperative council to secure economy of effort and increased efficiency. the work of the college league had been of distinctive value in providence, the seat of brown university with its woman's college. during the years of its independent existence it had been well served by its presidents, miss garvin, mrs. von klenze, mrs. algeo and miss helen emerson. it presented speakers of national reputation; published special leaflets, notably what rhode island women ought to know; conducted study clubs and gave generous cooperation in the undertakings of the other organizations. during the winter of a special series of lectures was given for the council on political and economic subjects by professors of the university. the joint endeavors of the three organizations this winter proving successful they amalgamated under the name of the rhode island equal suffrage association and the annual meeting was changed from fall to spring. most of the officers of the state association were retained. others were miss emerson and mrs. carl barus, vice-presidents; mrs. john a. cross, treasurer; mrs. barton a. ballou, mrs. gerald a. cooper and mrs. gilbert c. carpenter, auditors; mrs. dunbar and mrs. helen dougherty, chairman and secretary of the woman suffrage party. in accordance with the plan of the national association, the state's members of congress, u. s. senators lebaron b. colt and henry f. lippitt; representatives walter r. stiness, george f. o'shaughnessy and ambrose kennedy, were interviewed on the federal amendment with encouraging results. weekly suffrage teas were established at headquarters during the winter, followed by addresses on current topics. the association was especially indebted to mrs. ballou, mrs. edward m. harris and miss sarah j. eddy for the hospitality of their homes that combined on many occasions social pleasure with excellent opportunity to present the suffrage cause. on february , , a luncheon and conference at the narragansett hotel were held in honor of mrs. catt, now national president. a mass meeting was held in march in sayles hall, where mrs. glendower evans of boston and professor louis j. johnston of harvard spoke in the interest of the federal amendment. in april a "suffrage shop" was opened in providence in charge of miss mary b. anthony, which proved an active center of propaganda. rhode island was represented in the suffrage parades during the national political conventions in chicago and st. louis in by miss yates. on election night in november a public reception was held at suffrage headquarters, where a private wire had been installed to give the returns and large numbers were present. in miss yates conducted a suffrage school weekly at headquarters during february and march. the major activities of the year were given to legislative work. the granting of presidential suffrage to women by the legislature was celebrated at the annual meeting, at which governor r. livingston beeckman, representatives of the political parties of the state and mrs. nettie rogers shuler, national corresponding secretary, were the principal speakers. an invitation was accepted from thomas w. bicknell, one of the staunchest suffragists, to unite with the citizens' historical association, of which he was president, in a joint celebration of the declaration of independence by rhode island on may , , and the passage of the presidential suffrage bill in april, , and miss yates was chosen as speaker for the state association. miss elizabeth m. barr was elected treasurer in and served until . miss barr's predecessors were miss mary k. wood, mrs. jewett, mrs. ballou, mrs. helen n. b. janes, mrs. porter, mrs. cross, and mrs. george w. parks. during the winter of , a civics course was conducted by miss anthony covering local and national government, mayor joseph h. gainer of providence and other city officers speaking in the course. miss anthony was elected state president at the annual meeting in june and brought to the office experience in public work and wide social influence that were of special value in the closing years of the association. mrs. jenks was made honorary president. on december the th anniversary of the association was celebrated. an interesting historical review of the first meeting was given by arnold buffum chace, who had acted as secretary on that occasion and whose mother, mrs. elizabeth buffum chace, was president of the association for thirty years. the rev. mrs. spencer, also a charter member, recounted the early struggles of the pioneers. miss yates and mrs. jenks gave interesting accounts of the early and later work. mrs. catt and miss blackwell were guests of honor and brought inspiring messages. this year both the democratic and republican parties put suffrage planks in their state platforms and sent resolutions to congress urging the rhode island senators to support the federal amendment. the suffragists responded to every demand of the government for war service. mrs. walter a. peck, honorary vice-president, was state chairman of the woman's committee of the liberty loan. miss emerson, first vice-president, served in france with the bryn mawr unit. miss bauer, second vice-president, was a member of the executive board of the red cross. miss fittz, corresponding secretary, and miss yates, honorary president, received government certificates as speakers with the "four-minute men." in miss frances e. lucas, chairman of the civics committee, gave a course of lectures on social and political problems, which were largely attended. miss avis hawkins, chairman on schools, perfected an organization throughout the state to advance the interests of both pupils and teachers. on may the woman's college and the state association commemorated the centenary of the birth of julia ward howe, in pembroke hall of the college. at the annual meeting on june miss anthony was re-elected president. mrs. raymond brown, national vice-president, gave an interesting address. the occasion was made memorable by the passing of the resolution for the federal amendment by the u. s. senate while the convention was in session. the entire rhode island delegation in both houses of congress voted in favor, the only eastern state except maine to have this record. in october miss anthony called a meeting of the presidents of all the women's organizations of the state in the interests of social betterment, which resulted in the foundation of the civics cooperative council, and mrs. nancy m. schoonmaker was engaged to give a course of lectures on citizenship.[ ] the woman suffrage party. in the fall of mrs. sara m. algeo re-organized the woman suffrage party as an independent body and began a vigorous campaign for civic betterment and political education. miss mary e. mcdowell of chicago and miss margaret foley of boston addressed large audiences. its policy was to invite the fullest cooperation of colored women and a meeting was held at which mrs. robert m. lafollette spoke to a large audience of both colored and white women on their common need of full citizenship. in the endorsement of the state conference of congregational churches was secured. a civic forum was organized in providence, holding sunday afternoon meetings in a theater. among the eminent speakers were lord and lady aberdeen, thomas mott osborne, mrs. kate waller barrett, mary antin and mrs. nellie mcclung of canada. the same line of work was followed elsewhere in the state. a suffrage class was established at the young men's christian association. miss laura clay of kentucky gave ten days of helpful service. in mrs. lebaron b. colt of bristol was appointed committee chairman of the women's oversea hospitals conducted by the national suffrage association and with the assistance of mrs. algeo and the party $ , were raised. after the passage of the presidential suffrage bill in the party specialized in training for citizenship and conducted a campaign in naturalization in conjunction with the americanization committee of the national association. in the fall under the direction of mrs. frederick h. bagley of boston, its chairman, efforts were made to secure from the legislature an americanization bill providing compulsory education for immigrants and also for a director of americanization on the board of education, which was passed in . mrs. agnes m. bacon was appointed by the governor. in mrs. algeo compiled and published suggestions to the women voters of rhode island, of which thousands of copies were circulated. july , being the first day of registration for the elections of the following year, she organized a state-wide campaign for the registration of women for using the presidential vote. it was celebrated in providence by an imposing ceremony on the steps of the city hall at noon, and in the evening by a banquet, at which mrs. charles h. brooks of kansas, national chairman of the league of women voters, and mrs. charles tiffany of new york were the principal speakers. this year miss leila p. andrews was elected president of the woman suffrage party and mrs. algeo president of the providence league of women voters. * * * * * legislative action. after the defeat of a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution in and the refusal of the legislatures afterwards to submit it again the association decided to follow the advice of henry b. blackwell and try to obtain a vote for presidential electors, which could be granted by a law. the proposition, first made in , met with practically no support among the legislators and finally further attempts to secure it were discontinued for years. at the annual meeting of an address by mr. blackwell resulted in a resumption of efforts to secure this law and in a petition to the legislature, signed by influential men and women, accompanied a bill introduced in the senate. a hearing was given but it was not reported from committee. in the bill was presented in the house and senate and reported favorably but defeated in both branches. in there was increased activity to secure favorable action on the bill. a little paper called _the woman citizen_ was issued as a campaign document and a copy of it placed on the desk of every legislator.[ ] the _remonstrance_, a small paper published by the massachusetts anti-suffrage association followed, protesting against it. the merits of the bill were presented at a well attended hearing but no action was taken on it. in a senate hearing was given on the bill, addressed by mr. blackwell. it was reported without recommendation and ably debated. senator walter r. stiness made a strong speech in its support and it passed by ayes, noes. in the house the bill was referred to the committee on special legislation. long petitions from prominent voters were presented asking that it be reported but general charles r. brayton, the republican "boss" who for years controlled the legislature, seeing the strong sentiment in its favor would not permit it to come to a vote. he admitted that he feared it would help the democratic party. in the battle for the bill was renewed and among the petitioners was governor james h. higgins. at two largely attended hearings nearly every person gave a rising vote in favor. mrs. charles warren lippitt and mrs. edward johnson protested against women's being allowed to vote for president and rowland hazard supported them. the bill was defeated, though not by them but by political opposition. in mr. blackwell appeared for the last time as the advocate of the measure. like a seer he pleaded for it, the significance and potency of which he grasped far in advance of his contemporaries. miss yates was appointed his successor as the national association's chairman of presidential suffrage, which position he had filled for many years. in the presidential suffrage bill was introduced in the senate and referred to the committee on special legislation, that limbo of lost causes. the suffragists rallied for a hearing and succeeded in getting it reported without recommendation. when taken from the calendar the senators seemed to realize for the first time that they were dealing with a live issue. one of them demanded to know why that bill was permitted to waste their valuable time and threw it on the floor and stamped on it, saying: "i will kill woman suffrage." it was then buried by a vote of noes and ayes. the suffragists passed out from the obsequies with full faith in the resurrection. in a commission was appointed to revise the state constitution and an appeal to it was made for a woman suffrage clause. a hearing was given; influential men supported the association; the women "antis" made a touching plea to be spared from the burden of the ballot, but the constitution was not revised. this year the legislature of illinois passed a bill for presidential suffrage, which attracted wide attention. the rhode island association continued to present one every year. sometimes zealous friends would introduce a resolution for a constitutional amendment but it was not endorsed by the state association as it would require a three-fifths majority of the voters. in governor r. livingston beeckman recommended presidential suffrage for women in his message and the use of the hall of the house of representatives in the new state house was for the first time granted for a hearing. mrs. agnes m. jenks, state president, secured senator john d. works of california and representative frank w. mondell of wyoming to speak on the practical effects of woman suffrage in their states. mrs. a. j. george came from brookline, mass., to voice the fears of the "antis." notwithstanding the hearing surpassed in attendance and interest any that session the bill was indefinitely postponed by a house vote of ayes and noes. an active lobby was maintained and every available influence brought to bear to get the bill on the senate calendar but it was killed in committee. between the close of this legislature and the opening of the one of unforeseen events caused a marked change in the attitude of rhode island politicians. its delegates to the democratic and republican national conventions in had recognized the party expediency which compelled a plank in the national platforms in favor of woman suffrage and voted for it. at the republican state convention in september u. s. senator lebaron b. colt, who had been non-committal on the question, came out with a decisive pronouncement in its favor. the republicans saw the handwriting on the wall. they recognized that the votes of western women had re-elected president wilson. for the first time since the republican party was organized, a democratic u. s. senator was elected. both parties were on the alert for any issue that might bring re-inforcements. once more presidential suffrage was the objective and governor beeckman repeated his endorsement. the bill was introduced in the senate feb. , . the association's legislative committee worked without ceasing. the suffragists throughout the state were well organized and loyally backed the committee. petitions, letters and telegrams showered the legislators. the endorsement of the republican state committee was secured. meanwhile the legislatures in half a dozen states granted presidential suffrage. the time had come for rhode island. on april the bill passed the senate by ayes, noes. there was an organized attempt to defeat it in the house by one for a referendum to the voters but by the efforts of richard w. jennings and daniel e. geary, republican and democratic floor leaders, it was defeated. on april , after four hours' debate in the presence of hundreds of women, the bill passed by ayes, noes. this was the fifteenth time it had been before the legislature. on april it was signed by the governor. ratification. as soon as the federal amendment was submitted by congress june , , the suffrage organizations began to ask for a special session of the legislature for ratification but it was deemed best by governor beeckman for various reasons to wait until the regular session in january, . several days before it met the chairman of the republican state committee, joseph p. burlingame, made the announcement that by a suspension of the rules and contrary to every precedent ratification would be accomplished on the first day. the longed-for day, january , dawned clear and cold. women thronged the capitol and filled the galleries of the house, except the section which was occupied by the governor's party, who had come to witness the final scene in a fifty years' drama. after summoning the senate to meet with the house in grand committee, the governor read his annual message in which he recommended immediate ratification of the amendment, "as an act of justice long delayed." the resolution was at once presented and the floor leaders of both parties, william r. fortin of pawtucket, republican, and william s. flynn of providence, democrat, spoke in favor. it was passed on roll call by ayes, noes--speaker arthur p. sumner of providence, william h. thayer of bristol and albert r. zurlinden of lincoln. a rush was made by the audience across the corridors to the senate chamber, where action was even more rapid. lieutenant governor emery j. san souci, a friend of woman suffrage, was in the chair and within a few moments, with no speeches, the resolution was passed by viva voce vote with but one dissenting voice, that of john h. mccabe of burrillville. the following day it was signed by governor beeckman, not that this was necessary but he wished to give it his approval. the great event was celebrated in the evening by a brilliant banquet given by the providence league of women voters at which the work of the pioneers was especially featured. a handsome dinner given by the woman suffrage party took place at which the governor and other public officials spoke on the great victory. miss jeannette rankin, the first woman member of congress, was a speaker.[ ] on may , , the rhode island equal suffrage association concluded its work and merged into the state league of women voters, miss mary b. anthony, chairman. then a procession of women marched through the streets of providence carrying the records of the organization for fifty years, which were deposited in the archives of the state house with impressive ceremony. * * * * * among the nerve centers of suffrage activity in rhode island the newport county woman suffrage league had a definite place from its founding in , by miss cora mitchell, its first president. the league's work was at first largely carried on by an active group of philanthropic women of bristol ferry, miss mitchell's friends and neighbors, among whom were miss sarah j. eddy, mrs. john eldredge and mrs. barton ballou. gradually the suffrage agitation spread over the entire island, which includes the three townships of portsmouth, middletown and newport. in middletown the league's work was ably carried on by mrs. eugene sturtevant and her daughters. all rendered priceless service to what was then an unpopular and unfashionable cause. mrs. julia ward howe was present at the first meeting and as long as she lived took great interest in its work. this interest was inherited by her daughters, mrs. maud howe elliott and mrs. florence howe hall. the summer meetings were sometimes held at oak glen, portsmouth, mrs. howe's country home, and here on soft june afternoons the veteran suffrage workers and the young neophytes destined to carry on their work rejoiced in coming together. on one occasion a young stranger was noticed in the audience who followed the proceedings with breathless interest. soon afterwards mrs. norman der. whitehouse of new york began her fine service for suffrage, which was continued until the victory was won in that state. many of the most distinguished speakers ever heard in newport came under the auspices of this league. among the active workers were mrs. walter wright, secretary and treasurer; miss elizabeth peckham, mrs. oscar miller, mrs. bertram storrs and many others, and among the faithful members admiral and mrs. sims rendered "aid and comfort" beyond belief in those days when it took some courage in fashionable newport to "come out" for woman suffrage! [the long and interesting account of this league must be omitted because space can be given only to national and state organizations.] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss elizabeth upham yates, president of the state woman suffrage association - , and honorary president until its work was finished in . [ ] the presidents of the state woman's christian temperance union, mrs. susan hammond barney, mrs. emeline burlingame cheney, mrs. mary a. babcock, mrs. deborah knox livingston, mrs. jennie l. w. rooke and mrs. ethelyn roberts have all been active workers for woman suffrage. [ ] in addition to those already mentioned, the following have been officers or members of the state executive committees: mrs. ellen m. calder, mrs. elizabeth ormsbee, mrs. fanny purdy palmer, mrs. ora a. angell, mrs. sarah m. aldrich, mrs. betsy a. stearns, miss mary k. conington, mrs. annie b. jackson, mrs. catherine g. wilbur, mrs. clara f. delaney, mrs. myra phinney, miss s. arvilla jewett, mrs. amy e. harris, miss katherine h. austin, mrs. josephine fry, miss eleanor b. green, mrs. margaret c. edgren, mrs. victor frazee, mrs. anna b. kroener, miss abby p. gardiner, mrs. william h. adams, mrs. nathaniel greene, mrs. job manchester, mrs. william a. h. comstock, miss mabel orgelman, mrs. edwin c. smith, mrs. ava c. minsher, mrs. fred s. fenner, mrs. clarence fuller, mrs. frank a. jackson, miss sarah e. doyle, mrs. alfred m. coats, miss ellen g. hunt and mrs. charles remington. to these should be added a list of men to whom the workers are deeply indebted. [ ] the _woman citizen_ was edited and published for ten years by mrs. jeannette french, and was a valuable contribution to the movement for woman suffrage. [ ] at the next democratic state convention miss elizabeth upham yates received the nomination for lieutenant governor amid great enthusiasm. she was termed "a student of sociology, missionary leader, prophet and dreamer, whose dreams have come true."--ed. chapter xxxix. south carolina.[ ] for a number of years there had been a suffrage association in south carolina with mrs. virginia durant young, editor of the fairfax _enterprise_, president. evidence of advance in public sentiment was shown when in april, , by invitation, mrs. young addressed , people at rivers bridges memorial association; in june when mrs. malvina a. waring made the commencement address at limestone college and again when mrs. young responded to a toast at the banquet of the state press association. that same year there was lively effort to decide which one of twenty women candidates should be elected state librarian. miss lucy barron was elected and a large number of women engrossing clerks were appointed to share her work. in during the exposition a woman suffrage convention was held in charleston through the courtesy of the chairman of promotion and publicity, major j. c. hemphill. although opposed to woman suffrage he induced the officials in charge to grant the use of the german artillery hall for two nights and one meeting was held in the exposition grounds, where henry b. and miss alice stone blackwell, mrs. mamie folsom wynn, miss koch, miss helen morris lewis, miss claudia g. tharin, mrs. t. m. prentiss and mrs. young made addresses. a reception was given in the woman's building. in may, , mrs. young made a suffrage speech at the meeting of the state press association at georgetown. with her death in the organization lapsed but there was a small group of suffragists in columbia with dr. jane bruce guignard president. it was not until may , , when miss lavinia engle, one of the organizers sent by the national american woman suffrage association, called together a representative group of clubwomen, that the state equal suffrage league was organized in the kennedy library at spartanburg. mrs. m. t. coleman of abbeville, retiring president of the state federation of women's clubs, was elected president; mrs. john gary evans, spartanburg, first and mrs. j. l. coker, hartsville, second, vice-president; mrs. henry martin, columbia, secretary; mrs. f. t. kicklin, chester, treasurer. dr. rosa h. gannt, spartanburg, was appointed legislative chairman. three organized leagues--columbia, charleston and spartanburg--with a membership of about , joined at this time. in twenty months the number of local leagues increased to eight and the membership to , . three speakers were brought to the state during the winter of , mrs. lila meade valentine, president of the virginia league; mrs. desha breckinridge, president of the kentucky association, and miss kate m. gordon of louisiana. the league supplied literature for school and club debates and distributed it at many county fairs. on october a state convention was held in columbia. mrs. coleman and dr. gannt resigned; mrs. harriet p. lynch, cheraw, was elected president and mrs. w. c. cathcart of columbia was appointed legislative chairman. this year for the first time suffrage was represented in a parade of women, which took place during the state fair with a suffrage float in the evening display. in the annual convention met in charlestown. during the year mrs. lynch had stressed organization and chairmen had been appointed in sixteen counties to work along political lines, the unit of organization being the wards in cities and townships in counties. a plank in the democratic platform to refer a woman suffrage amendment to the voters was secured at the state convention in the spring and state and national candidates were canvassed as to their views on woman suffrage. when the convention of was held in columbia in october there were twenty-five leagues in the state with a membership of about , . the federal suffrage amendment, the prohibition amendment, food administration as outlined by mr. hoover and a minimum wage for women were endorsed. protests were made against any attempt to lower educational standards or to weaken the laws safeguarding women and children. the legislative committee reported that before the legislature convened its members had been completely canvassed as to their views on woman suffrage; these were classified and only a few were tagged impossible. a "suffrage school" was held in columbia in december under the auspices of the national association with one hundred pupils. during the year woman suffrage had been endorsed by the state federation of labor, federation of women's clubs and woman's christian temperance union. in may, , mrs. cathcart was appointed by u. s. senator tillman as associate committeewoman on the democratic national committee. when the state democratic convention was held in columbia that month the committeewoman and the committee decided that this was the opportunity for the democratic party to substantiate its pledge. senator neils christensen was asked to introduce a resolution requesting the party to permit women to vote in the democratic primaries in august, provided the th state had ratified the federal amendment. the resolution was debated in committee and rejected by a vote of to . the convention adopted the unfavorable report by a vote of to . the women were not only rejected but through the spokesman for the opposing faction, u. s. senator christie benet of columbia, they were dubbed as paid propagandists. this the women denied through the press and called on him to prove his accusation, which was never done. the state suffrage convention was held in october and mrs. lynch and mrs. cathcart were re-elected. at this convention the league declared itself in favor of the federal suffrage amendment as a war measure. the state convention of was held in columbia in january, mrs. julian b. salley of aiken presiding. resolutions on the death of dr. anna howard shaw, also resolutions endorsing the treaty of peace and the league of nations were read by mrs. cathcart and adopted. mrs. lynch, whose resignation was accepted, was made honorary president, and at the meeting of the executive committee in columbia in july mrs. salley was elected president. during the year work was immensely strengthened by the contribution of the national association of , pieces of literature and of miss lola trax, who in five months organized forty counties for the petition work for ratification. the national's expenditures were over $ , . the state convention of met in columbia in january at the jefferson hotel and was welcomed by governor robert a. cooper, who said he was convinced that women would soon vote. u. s. senator pollock of cheraw made a rousing speech in favor of the federal amendment. mrs. salley reviewed the year's work, telling of the distribution of , copies of senator pollock's speech in congress; of the new course of citizenship in the state university and of the growth of the organization. the legislative report of the past five years was read by the chairman, mrs. cathcart. mrs. munsell, chairman of the american citizenship committee, reported a ten-day course of citizenship at winthrop summer school; a summer class at the university of south carolina; one at coker college, hartsville, conducted by mrs. j. l. coker, and a course at converse college, spartanburg. mrs. cathcart, chairman of the resolutions committee, read the following: "the state equal suffrage league tenders appreciation and thanks to the members of the general assembly of south carolina, who have fostered the cause ... among them joseph e. mccullough, greenville; a. e. horton, spartanburg; james a. hoyt, speaker of the house; senators j. l. sherard, anderson; neils christensen, beaufort; allan johnston, newberry; legrande walker, georgetown; t. c. duncan, union, and representative shelor, oconee. we commend william p. pollock who spoke and voted in the u. s. senate for the federal suffrage amendment, for his loyalty to his convictions and his belief in true democracy." at the afternoon session miss marjorie shuler, who had been sent by the national association for press and publicity work for one month, was one of the principal speakers. delegates were elected for the meeting to be called to merge the equal suffrage league into the league of women voters. this meeting was held june at craven hall, columbia, the league was formed and mrs. munsell was elected chairman. legislative action. in mrs. virginia d. young, then president of the suffrage association, brought personal influence to bear on the governor, senators and representatives for a hearing on woman suffrage. on january senator aldrich and representative izler introduced simultaneously two bills, one asking for presidential suffrage for taxpaying women; the other for suffrage in municipal elections. a hearing was held before a joint session january , with the galleries crowded, where, in mrs. young's own words, "i was received with the usual chivalric attention and asked if i would ascend to the speaker's chair. 'by no means. i wish to speak from the floor,' i answered. this privilege was accorded me and for the first time a woman spoke in the house of representatives." . from there is no record of action on the part of the general assembly to grant suffrage to women until jan. , , when a bill was introduced in the house by mr. mcmillan and referred to the judiciary committee, by which it was unfavorably reported the next day and rejected without a record vote, after little if any discussion. it had been introduced in the senate by mr. carlisle on the th and referred to the judiciary committee, which reported it without recommendation february , and the next day it was laid on the table without discussion or a record vote. . early in the session a resolution was introduced asking for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution. in connection an invitation was extended by speaker james a. hoyt of columbia to mrs. valentine, president of the virginia suffrage league, to address the house and she spoke most convincingly. it was said that if a vote had been taken that night the resolution would have been adopted. it was referred to the judiciary committee, which granted a hearing. the speakers were the rev. kirkman g. finlay, professor lewis parke chamberlayne, mrs. coleman, mrs. lynch, miss eudora ramsey, dr. gannt and mrs. valentine. the resolution was reported out of the committee unfavorably, with a minority report, and it was thought best not to push for a vote. . the resolution for an amendment was introduced in the house by judge mccullough of greenville and received a vote of ayes; noes. . the amendment resolution was introduced by senator j. l. sherard and representative a. e. horton. after an exciting debate lasting for three days the senate bill came to a vote, receiving ayes; noes. in the house the bill was reported and placed early on the calendar for the next year. . mr. horton, house leader, was requested by the league to withdraw the resolution and state that as president wilson had declared himself in favor of the federal suffrage amendment and had requested members of congress to vote for its submission the league would concentrate on this amendment. after the vote in favor by the u. s. house of representatives letters and telegrams were sent by leagues and individuals all over the state requesting the senators to vote for it. both voted against it but with the election of william p. pollock the suffragists were encouraged. the amendment was submitted to the legislatures june , . ratification. on january , , senator neils christensen introduced a joint resolution to ratify the proposed federal suffrage amendment, which was referred to the judiciary committee. on the rd it was reported unfavorably; on motion of senator christensen the report was laid on the table; on the th the resolution went to a vote and received noes, four ayes--christensen, duncan, shelor and walker. in the house on january representatives bradford and hart introduced a concurrent resolution to reject the proposed amendment; on the nd a motion to refer it to the judiciary committee was defeated by a vote of to . the debate on the resolution to reject extended into the afternoon and the vote resulted in ayes, noes. even members who were opposed to ratification made strong speeches for justice and denounced this unprecedented action of voting for a measure before it had been referred to a committee or placed on the calendar. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. w. c. cathcart, member of the state board of public welfare and chairman of the legislative committee of the state equal suffrage league for six years. chapter xl. south dakota.[ ] here beginneth the last chapter of the history of woman suffrage in south dakota. at the time this is written ( ) women have the same rights, privileges and duties politically as men except that they do not serve on juries but the law will undoubtedly be amended to permit them to do so if there is any demand for it. for many years the suffrage work was conducted by the woman's christian temperance union, its officers acting for the suffrage societies and its legislative committees doing the lobbying. the activities of the two organizations are so interwoven until that the history of the w. c. t. u. is practically the history of woman suffrage. the suffrage association was inactive after the last defeat in until . in that year a state political equality association was organized with mrs. alice m. a. pickler of faulkton president and mrs. philena everett johnson of highmore vice-president. she was the mother of royal c. johnson, now in congress. a state amendment for full suffrage was not again submitted until and in the interim there was a lull in active work although local clubs were formed as the nucleus of a larger organization. the suffrage lobby, usually the same as the w. c. t. u. lobby, appeared at each session of the legislature. when a suffrage resolution was introduced it either died in committee or was reported out unfavorably and failed to pass. always when the question was brought before either house there was a spirited debate and the suffragists then continued their campaign through literature and other means. in october, , mrs. pickler called a conference at watertown which decided to take advantage of the initiative and referendum, that the state had adopted in . not realizing that it did not apply to constitutional amendments, the suffragists in at great expense and effort secured the signatures of the requisite number of voters to a petition asking that a constitutional amendment be submitted to the voters. secretary of state o. c. berg was criticized for refusing to receive it for transmission to the legislature but he could not legally do so, as the initiative applied only to laws. he was not opposed to woman suffrage and in later years his wife worked for it and his son conducted a newspaper which gave it able support. still under the leadership of mrs. pickler, the years and passed with the usual routine work and in another petition was begun which had nothing to do with the initiative and referendum but was merely a petition of women as citizens to the legislature asking that the question be submitted to a vote at the next general election. this work was carried on all summer by a house to house canvass throughout the state and later at the state fair, with the result that when it convened the women were able to stage a spectacular event by having pages carry up the aisle of the lower house a list of names thirty-six yards in length. the resolution was introduced and passed the senate but failed in the house by ten votes. during all this time mrs. anna r. simmons of faulkton was president of the state w. c. t. u. and mrs. pickler and she did excellent team work, enlisting the aid of many other splendid women. a complete list of them it is unfortunately impossible to secure but many mentioned in volume iv of the history of woman suffrage continued their services. the years - were spent in propaganda work and raising funds and when the legislature convened in january, , the suffrage and w. c. t. u. lobby was on hand to ask once more for the submission of the question to the voters. two resolutions for partial suffrage were introduced in the senate in addition to the one for the amendment. one would confer the vote on property-owning women only and the other would permit women to vote on the liquor question, the state being under local option. whether they were presented by friends or were a "half loaf" offered by enemies is not known at this late date. they were probably the former, because a vote on the liquor question by women was the last thing the principal opponents wanted and such an amendment if adopted would have speedily put south dakota in the "dry" column for all time. the resolution to send to the voters an amendment for full suffrage passed both houses and was signed by governor robert s. vessey. his favorable attitude was a great help to the women, as it had been in former years when he was in the state senate. from the w. c. t. u. continued its suffrage work under its franchise department and the state suffrage association was a separate organization. in june, , a suffrage convention was held at aberdeen and mrs. lydia b. johnson of fort pierre was elected president of the state political equality league, a new constitution adopted, officers chosen and an invitation extended to all women's organizations to send delegates to a convention at sioux falls in the autumn, when plans for the coming campaign would be perfected. this convention met november and from that time until the election in november, , an active campaign was conducted. the amendment was defeated, receiving , ayes, , noes, but the workers felt that gains had been made and were more determined than ever not to cease their efforts. after the election of mrs. johnson called a state convention at huron and mrs. john l. pyle of that city was elected president and continued to serve until the federal suffrage amendment was adopted in . the question was not again brought to the attention of the legislature until . during the summer of mrs. pyle called a conference at huron. it seemed advisable to change the method of procedure and the name of the organization, which became the universal franchise league. an incident of this conference--amusing now but very serious then--was the earnest discussion of the newly introduced slogan, "votes for women," brought over from england. several precious hours were spent considering whether this was dignified and whether women would not be considered "unladylike" if they adopted it. there was much protest also over being called "suffragettes" when they were really "suffragists," the former being the english for "militants." at this meeting the state was divided into four districts for campaign purposes. mrs. may billinghurst of pierre was chairman for the northeast; miss susie bird of belle fourche for the northwest; mrs. edith m. fitch of hurley for the southeast and the rev. katherine powell of custer for the southwest, to organize branch leagues in their districts. their stories of trying to organize, especially in the western, thinly populated sections of the state would make an interesting volume. miss bird, with a horse and buggy, drove hundreds of miles, sometimes forty from one house to the next. there were almost no railroad facilities after leaving the black hills district but armed with suffrage literature she drove her trusty steed from place to place, spreading the gospel of suffrage at school houses, private homes or wherever the opportunity presented and organizing little groups. in july, , mrs. pyle called a convention at huron, where the decision was made to ask the legislature of to submit a full suffrage amendment. officers were re-elected, mrs. nina pettigrew of belle fourche took charge of the northwest district in place of miss bird, who had resigned, and the president was directed to select her legislative committee. it consisted of the rev. katherine powell, mrs. billinghurst, mrs. ruth b. hipple of pierre, miss bird for the state franchise league and mrs. simmons of faulkton; the state president, mrs. ruby jackson of ipswich, and miss rose bower of rapid city for the w. c. t. u. in january, , mrs. pyle and her lieutenants met at pierre, the capital, prepared for action. the hard work, the deep devotion to the cause of the men and women of preceding years had begun to bear fruit and instead of finding a lone member here and there in favor of woman suffrage, now there were many. hitherto it had been solely a woman's campaign, aided by only a few loyal men who dared brave the ridicule of their brothers. the years of education had begun to change public opinion and the president felt that the time for women to be buttonholing unwilling men in the lobbies in an apologetic manner was past. she called a conference of leading men from both houses to meet with the legislative committee in the office of attorney general royal c. johnson. this call met with a hearty response and plans were made which proved so effective that the amendment resolution was the first measure to pass the legislature, almost before the opponents knew the suffragists were on the ground. the poll had been so quietly and carefully taken that the committee knew its exact strength in both houses almost before the resolution was on the calendar. governor frank m. byrne gave his valuable assistance, as he had done when a member of the senate in preceding years. mrs. byrne also was an excellent ally. the members of the legislature always referred to this legislative work as "the campaign of committee room ," as this room beside the elevator in the house side of the capitol had been placed at the disposal of the suffragists. their committee quietly stayed there while members were summoned one by one, interviewed and pledged if possible. unsuspecting members, supposing they were summoned by some state official, would come and then would consider it such a good joke that they would say nothing and wait for their neighbor to get caught, so that nearly the entire membership was interviewed before the men began to compare notes. among many amusing incidents was the following: the suffrage question could always be depended upon to fill the galleries and call forth floods of oratory. when it was up for discussion at this time senator james mather of brown county rose and announced in no uncertain terms that he was unalterably opposed; he did not believe in woman suffrage; it would afford him great satisfaction, indeed he craved the opportunity, to be recorded as voting against it. the roll-call started alphabetically and it went aye-aye-aye down to m. when the name mather was called the senator, looking decidedly embarrassed, asked to be excused from voting. protests came from all sides. senator norbeck (afterwards governor) in stentorian tones demanded that since the senator had craved the opportunity to record his opinion he should do it now. senator mather meekly cast the only dissenting vote and never was returned to the legislature. in the lower house the vote was ayes, noes. the campaign of received most important and highly valued assistance from dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american suffrage association; miss jane addams, its vice-president; mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, mrs. ella s. stewart and mrs. florence bennett peterson, all of chicago, and from many others. one of the best educational forces was the _south dakota messenger_, a weekly paper controlled and edited by the state organization. it had a wide circulation and was able to reach into the farthest corners of the state. other papers clipped freely from its editorial and news columns. on november the amendment received , ayes and , noes, lost by nearly , . for the fifth time the men of south dakota had denied their women the right of representation in the government. the suffrage leaders were not in the least daunted or discouraged and a convention was very soon called at huron to decide whether or not resubmission should be asked of the legislature the next year and the unanimous decision was that it should be. the district plan was abandoned and county organization adopted. a "budget" was prepared and each county assessed according to its population, which plan was generally successful. in january, , the legislative committee, this time composed of mrs. pyle, mrs. etta estey boyce of sioux falls and mrs. paul rewman of deadwood, assisted by a number of pierre suffragists for the universal franchise league and dr. mary noyes farr of pierre and miss rose bower for the w. c. t. u., once more climbed the steps of the capitol to ask for another referendum. once more the request was granted--in the senate by to , in the house by to --during the first two weeks of the session. a reception was given by the committee and pierre suffragists to the members of the legislature, the state officers and the ladies of their families in the ballroom of the st. george hotel, said to have been a social event second only to the inaugural ball. later in the session a bill to give women a vote for presidential electors, county and municipal officers, which could be granted by the legislature itself, received ayes and noes in the house; ayes and noes in the senate. during the summer of for the first time the women "antis" deemed it necessary to do active work. they established headquarters at the capital with a manager in charge and made an open campaign. to answer their old stock argument, "women do not want the vote," a state-wide plan of petitions by the women of each county was adopted and every one where the work was well done showed a good majority in favor. on november when the first election returns came from those counties that usually indicate the result of the whole state, the associated press sent the news broadcast that south dakota had been carried for woman suffrage by a large majority, but again it was the same old story, principally the foreigners, especially the germans, had once more denied to american women the privilege which they, themselves, had acquired so easily. the returns showed , in the affirmative; , in the negative, an opposing majority of less than , . each campaign had shown a growth in favorable sentiment and there seemed every reason to believe that another one would be successful. the national association agreed with the state in this opinion and were ready to cooperate, so it seemed best to ask the session of to give one more opportunity. the legislature was well trained by this time and willingly passed the resolution, the senate by ayes, noes; the house by ayes, noes. after it had adjourned and before definite plans for a campaign were completed the country was plunged into the world war and misgivings arose in the minds of the executive board as to the wisdom of an undertaking which would make demands on the time of the women. after much prayerful deliberation the unanimous decision was reached that since this war was being fought for the establishment of world democracy and this question was undoubtedly one of democracy, there must be no turning back, but that the campaign must be managed in such a way as to require the services of as few women as possible. no further effort was made to organize county leagues but a committee of three was elected in each county to look after its interests except in those already well organized. not much was done this year beyond laying a foundation for the necessary work of the next year. in january, , governor peter norbeck called a special session of the legislature to consider important state affairs, one being to change the clause in the constitution relating to citizenship. its framers, to render settlement of a new, undeveloped country attractive, made the requirement such that a foreigner might become a qualified elector after having merely declared his intention of becoming a citizen, without having sworn allegiance to the united states. thousands of aliens had taken out their first papers, filed on government land, proved up and established their homes, failed to complete their naturalization and yet were fully qualified to vote. this had long been considered a menace to the government and suffragists knew that it was principally to this class of voters that they owed their many defeats. the war developed great disloyalty among this class and the governor announced that the situation was intolerable and the requirements for citizenship must be changed. in order to do this it was necessary to amend the section of the constitution which stated the qualifications of a voter and which was the same section that it was sought to amend for woman suffrage by striking out the word "male." it was finally decided that the only way was to have the two matters submitted as one amendment. the word "male" was stricken out and full naturalization and a five years' residence were required before the privilege of voting should be granted and this was substituted for the original suffrage amendment. in the course of a report made to the national executive board mrs. mcmahon, one of its organizers, said: there was a conference in the headquarters at huron and mrs. pyle faced the situation and took up the burden. the national suffrage association had sent two field workers--miss mary elizabeth pidgeon and mrs. albert mcmahon. to the latter was given charge of the organization department and together the two women set to work with the state officers to district the state and organize in each county a campaign committee. eventually there was an organizer for every six districts, each comprising from twelve to fourteen huge counties. each worker as she came into the state had to be carefully instructed in everything that touched upon the constitutional provisions for voting, the status of the alien, the reason for putting the citizenship clause into the suffrage amendment, the effect its passage would have upon the aliens, etc., because these questions were constantly met. much new literature had to be prepared and all the posters changed to fit new conditions. what won the state? persistent, intensive, quiet work. we had few meetings of our own but we used those of every one else, from women's aid societies to rotary clubs, political rallies and fourth of july celebrations. we did not plan parades, but wherever patriotic sentiment expressed itself through a parade we were in it. we circularized the voters in groups again and again--lawyers, business men, farmers, etc., with literature adapted to each group. we circulated a petition and per cent. of the women to whom it was presented signed it. we sent every organizer we could command into delinquent counties, having the cooperation of the local women. in the evening street meetings were held. the workers left literature in every home and posters placarded on every wall space. they left suffrage stories with the newspapers and the spoken word in the ear of all who would listen and they left the morale of the local workers at high water mark. the signed petitions were printed and mailed to the voters in each county with our final circularization. ninety-eight per cent. of the newspapers were favorable and in spite of paper shortage and the demand for war publicity they never failed the women. in addition to news stories, editorials, etc., they universally used the plate material which the national association furnished. as much as any other one thing perhaps, this plate material helped to win the campaign. all political parties endorsed the amendment, republicans and democrats making it a part of their platforms. in june mrs. nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary of the national association, came to south dakota and with mrs. s. v. ghrist, vice-president of the state league, and mrs. mcmahon, a school of methods was held in the principal towns. the women were taught how to organize and were grounded in the new aspects of the campaign. mrs. catt was ill and could not come, which was the greatest blow the campaign had; however mrs. halsey w. wilson, national recording secretary, took her place very acceptably. among the organizers mrs. mcmahon mentioned mrs. r. e. h. stevens, miss stella crosley, miss gertrude watkins, miss josephine miller, miss liba peshokova and miss ida stadie and said: "but this efficient, faithful little band could not have won the campaign alone. south dakota state women will perhaps never realize how much they owe to mrs. john l. pyle, president, who gave herself absolutely to the winning of their political freedom. she was at her desk from early in the morning until o'clock and later at night. nothing was allowed to stand in the way of her complete service. the best there was in her she gave to the cause and she has the gratitude of those for whom and with whom she worked. ably seconding her efforts were mrs. ghrist, vice-president; mrs. frank meyer, office secretary; mrs. rewman and miss alice lorraine daly in the finance department; mrs. lewis l. leavitt, chairman of the minnehaha committee; miss harriet grant of huron and mrs. r. h. lewis of mitchell. the whole structure rested on the county workers. there was never a fair that was not covered nor a teachers' nor a farmers' institute nor a political meeting. everywhere that voters gathered, there they were." it may be presumed that those who would be disfranchised until they had completed their naturalization would cast their votes against the amendment but these were more than counteracted by american citizens, who, even if they did not believe in woman suffrage, would vote for the amendment because of this part of it. the election took place nov. , , and the amendment received , ayes and , noes; carried by , . the following figures show the progress made from campaign to campaign: opposing majority in , , ; in , , ; in , , . the women of south dakota are deeply grateful to the national american woman suffrage association, which always helped generously with organizers, speakers and money. it contributed $ , to this campaign. various states were loyal and helpful and have the fullest appreciation and gratitude. ratification. the final scene in the drama of woman suffrage was staged on december , , at : a. m., when the members of the legislature, coming to pierre at their own expense and at great inconvenience, in the middle of winter, unanimously ratified the federal suffrage amendment. many states were having special sessions for this purpose but governor norbeck, who would have to call one in january, did not wish to do so before then. he agreed, however, that if a majority of the members would come to pierre at their own expense in order to ratify the amendment, he would call a session for that purpose. this state has a new law which requires that in december of the year preceding an election there shall be "proposal meetings" held at the capital to propose candidates for nomination at the march primaries, each party holding a separate meeting. this year there were to be also three party conventions at the same time and practically all the politicians would be at the capital. mrs. pyle and her board asked the governor to call the session for that time, for many of the members would be in attendance as delegates from their counties. accordingly, after receiving the assurance that a majority of them were willing to come to pierre at their own expense, he issued a call for december at o'clock in the evening. it was dead of winter and distances are long. the call was issued after o'clock on saturday and the session was to be the next tuesday. telephone and telegraph wires were kept humming for the next thirty-six hours and the men came from all directions. one man rushed home to huron from minneapolis, called to his wife to send his "grip" after him and just caught the train for pierre. another used up three automobiles getting to the train from his home many miles from the railroad, as the snow made the roads almost impassable. the question arose how to put the resolution through the two houses in the least possible time. it was finally done by introducing the resolutions in both houses and giving them their first and second readings on the evening of december . they were then referred to the proper committees and the legislature adjourned until the next legislative day. the earliest possible moment of the next day was one minute after midnight and this was the hour when it convened. the final passage took place at : a. m. on the th by unanimous vote. this was the first time that a south dakota legislature ever convened in the middle of the night but the members were anxious to get home as soon as possible and the trains leave in both directions about a. m. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. ruth b. hipple, member of the legislative committee of the state woman suffrage association and editor of the _south dakota messenger_. chapter xli. tennessee. part i.[ ] the history of the suffrage movement in tennessee filled only five pages of the volume preceding this one, which ended with , and such as there was had been due principally to that dauntless pioneer, mrs. lide a. meriwether of memphis, to whom this chapter is reverently and gratefully dedicated. the first suffrage society was formed in memphis in may, , and none of its founders is now living except mrs. j. d. allen of this city. in april, , a society was formed at nashville at the home of mrs. h. c. gardner by miss amelia territt, mrs. bettie donelson and a few others but it had no connection with the one at memphis. its members were earnest and capable but it did not long survive. through the efforts of the national association a state organization was effected in , the year of the centennial exposition in nashville, and there was a convention in april, , attended by mrs. carrie chapman catt, national president. there had been no state convention for five years when in , through the initiative of miss belle kearney of mississippi a meeting was called in memphis of which miss laura clay of kentucky sends the following account taken from her scrapbook: the conference of southern women suffragists was held in memphis december , , the opening session in the morning at the peabody hotel; the afternoon session at the residence of mrs. j. o. crawford and the other sessions at the hotel. miss clay was elected chairman; mrs. nannie curtiss of texas, secretary. the meeting included representatives from many of the southern states and letters were received from "dorothy dix," mrs. caroline e. merrick and mrs. sophy wright of new orleans; mrs. mary bentley thomas of baltimore; mrs. josephine k. henry of versailles, ky.; mrs. eliza strong tracey of houston; mrs. mary b. clay and mrs. james bennett of richmond, ky., and mrs. key, president of the north texas girls' college. discussions on aspects of the suffrage question were led by miss kearney, miss clay, mrs. meriwether and mrs. jennie h. sibley of georgia. the conference was resolved into a committee of the whole to formulate plans for concerted legislative work in the southern states. a thousand copies of the resolutions were printed. at this time the state equal suffrage association was re-organized, with mrs. meriwether honorary president; mrs. j. d. allen, president; mrs. l. f. selden, corresponding secretary and treasurer; mrs. m. m. betts, recording secretary; mrs. s. s. deem, chairman of problems affecting women or children. mrs. allen served continuously until . in the state federation of labor not only endorsed woman suffrage but agreed to petition members of the legislature and congress to work for it and they loyally kept their pledge. this same year suffrage literature was first distributed at the state federation of women's clubs and dr. shaw, then president of the national association, spoke in memphis. in the first suffrage state petition work was begun in memphis and its nineteenth century club and the newman circle of knoxville held parlor meetings and discussions. knoxville formed a local league; the women's clubs began to awaken and the state federation appointed its first legislative committee, with the object of having the laws unfavorable to women changed. in thousands of pieces of literature were distributed, press articles sent out and a resolution to amend the state constitution by striking out the word "male" was first presented to the legislature. the movement did not gain much impetus until the nashville league was organized in the fall of this year and chattanooga and morrison soon followed. on jan. - , , the association with its five virile infant leagues met in nashville and plans for state-wide organization began. miss sarah barnwell elliott, an eminent writer, was unanimously chosen president. in october, , the state convention met in morristown and eight leagues answered the roll call. the work in the legislature naturally always fell heavily upon the nashville league and from to the lobby was composed principally of its members. the first real effort to break down the prejudice of the legislators was in , when miss elliott and mrs. guilford dudley asked for an audience for miss laura clay, president of the kentucky association, and miss mary johnston of virginia, the novelist. this was granted and miss elliott was the first woman to address the legislature, although no bill was before it. at a called meeting of the executive board, at memphis in may, , the resignation of miss elliott was regretfully accepted and mrs. l. crozier french succeeded her. at the state convention held october , in knoxville a division occurred and some of the delegates, refusing to be headed by mrs. french, elected as president mrs. james m. mccormack, who was first vice-president. mrs. french was unanimously elected by a part of the original association, which had obtained a charter october , incorporating the name tennessee equal suffrage association. this association continued to be a dominating force in suffrage activities. mrs. french resigned the presidency april , , and her unexpired term was filled by the vice-president-at-large, mrs. john m. kenny of nashville. the holding of the annual convention of the national association in nashville nov. - , , was the turning point in the history of suffrage in tennessee because of its far-reaching educational propaganda and because nashville was the political center of the state. mrs. dudley was elected president at the state convention held at jackson in october, . she went to east, west and middle tennessee, visiting in the first year of her administration nineteen towns, many of them twice, and assisting the campaign committee in organizing fourteen. she made addresses in twenty-two different cities. toward the end of the year miss sue s. white, of jackson, the recording secretary, a court stenographer and business woman, gave a month to organizing the headquarters staff and making plans to carry forward the work in a businesslike way.[ ] mrs. catt was making a strong effort to have the various states follow the same policy at the same time and thereby each could contribute to the national victory. with the view of securing woman suffrage planks in both democratic and republican national platforms, each association was asked to secure endorsement from its political state conventions. early in january, , mrs. dudley and mrs. kenny went before the executive committees of both parties, asking for a plank in the platforms and also that delegates be instructed to vote for a suffrage plank in the national platform this year. in may mrs. dudley spoke before the platform committees and the conventions of both endorsed woman suffrage. former governor ben hooper, mr. and mrs. james s. beasley, the hon. h. clay evans and harry anderson were of much assistance with the republicans and governor tom c. rye and u. s. senator kenneth d. mckellar secured the resolution from the democrats. tennessee sent seven women to the republican national convention in chicago, who marched in the famous parade through wind and rain to the convention hall, mrs. dudley carrying the state suffrage banner. eleven women went to the democratic national convention in st. louis, where they stood bravely in the "golden lane" through which the delegates marched to the convention. mrs. dudley was chosen to address the tennessee delegation and it was a proud moment for the women of the state when they voted solidly for the suffrage plank. in october farewell banquets to congressmen on the eve of their departure for washington, to influence their votes for the federal suffrage amendment, were given in knoxville, nashville and memphis. the state federation of women's clubs endorsed woman suffrage this year by a large majority, under the leadership of mrs. george fort milton of chattanooga and mrs. d. t. kimbrough of nashville. other endorsements were those of the southern federation of labor (unanimous), obtained through the efforts of mrs. walter jackson of murfreesboro; the tennessee women's press and authors' club, through miss libbie morrow; the state conventions of the beemen, the nurserymen and the horticulturists, at the request of mrs. kimbrough. mrs. dudley soon came to be known nationally. she spoke on the federal amendment at the luncheon of four hundred given to the incoming members at the congress hotel in washington; addressed congressional committee hearings, and in december she joined the "lobby" at the national suffrage headquarters in washington to interview southern senators and representatives. the state convention was held in nashville, jan. , , . mrs. dudley was unanimously re-elected and served until her election to the board of the national association in december. at this convention mrs. kenny was elected chairman of publicity and under her direction special suffrage editions of newspapers were published in the principal towns and cities and copies mailed to every voter. the plate matter sent out by the national press committee was widely distributed. mrs. leslie warner was elected president in , and at the state convention held in nashville in june, , mrs. george fort milton succeeded her. during her seven years of suffrage activity mrs. milton had rendered valuable service in various official positions. it was while this convention was in session that the news came of the submission of the federal suffrage amendment by congress and there was a demonstration of joy. in the evening a brilliant public banquet took place at the tulane hotel. the convention extended its official board to include a chairman from each congressional district, for the ratification campaign. three weeks later the board held a meeting at lookout mountain, formulated plans for organizing the districts politically and pledged the largest amount of money for state work in the history of the association. legislative work. in mrs. l. crozier french, state president, appointed mrs. guilford dudley, president of the nashville league, legislative chairman to sponsor a resolution for a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution. the members of the lobby committee were mrs. kenny, mrs. kimbrough, mrs. w. g. spencer, mrs. reau e. folk, mrs. ittie k. reno, mrs. victoria james roach and mrs. a. y. scott. to amend the constitution it is necessary to obtain a majority in the first legislature and a two-thirds majority in the succeeding one before the question is submitted to the voters. in january when the house committee met to report on the amendment it was opposed almost to a man. mrs. dudley with all her committee back of her made an eloquent appeal for justice and fair play, urging them at least to permit the house to vote on the measure. when she finished not a man raised his voice against it. the house adjourned to permit mrs. dudley and mrs. scott to speak to the members and the final roll call registered only fourteen noes. it passed the senate with only three dissenting votes. the leagues all over the state had brought strong pressure to bear upon their representatives. in it was replaced by the presidential suffrage bill. on may a conference was held at tullahoma, where the campaign committee was formed. two joint-chairmen headed the executive committee, mrs. kenny and mrs. henry j. kelso of knoxville, with mrs. scott vice-chairman. on the resignation of mrs. kelso, mrs. milton was elected in her place.[ ] miss elizabeth breen, executive secretary, gave untiring and efficient service. headquarters were opened in nashville. this campaign committee was the trail-blazer. although in operation only seven months it organized thirty-two leagues; enrolled , names; printed and distributed , pieces of literature and expended on organization work over $ , . state-wide publicity was gained; the workers received valuable training in organizing and public speaking and it was a harmonizing force. it was difficult to enlist tennessee suffragists in street speaking, not that they had not the courage of their faith but they feared to violate the conservative traditions of their southland. after seeing its wonderful effect during the national suffrage convention in atlantic city in a few of the bold-hearted summoned courage and the first attempt was made in jackson and memphis in by mrs. kimbrough, mrs. kenny, mrs. jackson, mrs. reno and miss white. at the state fair in nashville in the campaign committee took charge of the open air meetings, these women speaking eight or ten times each day, and they were rewarded by the great number of enrollment cards signed by those who received the message favorably. in the legislative campaign was conducted under the friendly administration of a democratic governor, tom c. rye, and under the direction of mrs. dudley, state president, and mrs. ezzell, legislative chairman. before direct plans had been made, advices came from the national association to concentrate on a presidential and municipal suffrage bill similar to that passed in illinois in . this was agreed upon and general g. t. fitzhugh of memphis drew up the bill. his services were of great value to suffrage interests because both as a citizen and a member of the bar he was held in the highest esteem. from this time until the state supreme court decision of removed the last barrier to this bill he was a valued friend and adviser, and was associate counsel in the last legal battle on ratification from the chancery to the supreme court--all without financial remuneration. this presidential and municipal suffrage bill was one of the first introduced, sponsored in the house by speaker clyde shropshire and in the senate by c. w. rocks of humboldt, and its progress was watched with great interest. petitions were sent to the members from all parts of the state. the memphis and nashville members were solid for it from the beginning with one exception--senator john m. thompson, a violent "anti" from nashville. both suffragists and "antis" were invited to speak before the house judiciary committee and both accepted, but after two postponements through courtesy the "antis" did not put in an appearance and the suffragists alone were heard. general fitzhugh came to speak for the bill. there had been much discussion as to its validity without the insertion of a poll tax clause and it was in jeopardy. an appeal was made to a friend whose legal advice and services the suffragists had always had for the asking--general charles t. cates, jr., attorney general, who came from his home in knoxville to construe for the committee some of the perplexing phases and the committee unanimously recommended the bill. when it came to a vote in the house women from all sections of the state were present. among the most untiring workers were george fort milton, editor of the chattanooga _news_, and mrs. milton; miss margaret ervin of chattanooga; mrs. isaac reese, mrs. harry anderson and mrs. scott of memphis; miss white, mrs. kimbrough and mrs. kenny. many members of the nashville league served at frequent critical times. the vote in the house was ayes, noes, on jan. , , lee's birthday, an anniversary celebrated throughout the south, and it was fittingly referred to by some of the members as an appropriate occasion for southern men to give justice to women. following its passage the hon. william jennings bryan, who was in nashville, was invited to address the legislature and spoke strongly in favor of it. mrs. bryan accompanied him and at a luncheon given in her honor at the hermitage hotel, attended by members of the legislature and over two hundred guests, she made an eloquent plea for suffrage and mr. bryan spoke again. while this bill was pending in the senate the newspapers throughout the state were giving much more publicity to woman suffrage than they had ever done before. many of the county papers favored it and published matter sent them. the _labor world_ gave continuous support. some of the best suffragists were newspaper women and they gave freely of their time and talents. the excellent service of mrs. w. a. overall is recalled; though not a "professional" her clear, logical articles impressed impartial readers. of the large daily papers the knoxville _sentinel_ and the _commercial appeal_ and _news scimitar_ of memphis were favorable. the jackson _daily sun_ and the nashville _banner_ were opposed. the chattanooga _news_ was an ardent advocate, while the chattanooga _times_, under the control of the new york _times_, was strongly opposed. the nashville _tennesseean_ was regarded as the official organ of the suffragists. its owner, former u. s. senator luke lea, while in the senate in had been one of three southern senators to vote for the federal amendment. throughout the campaign he was ready at all times to help in every way possible, ignoring his personal political interests. this was true of u. s. senator mckellar and governor rye. when the first canvass of the senate was made the sentiment was about as follows: for the bill ; unalterably opposed, ; uncertain, . the classification "uncertain" was most appropriate, for fifteen more uncertain men were never encountered. when assured that the measure could safely be brought to vote it would be discovered that changes had occurred over night which would mean defeat. the "antis" worked through a hastily organized local society at nashville, which was inspired by judge john j. vertrees, a prominent lawyer of that city. a charles mclean of iowa, who had been used by the opponents in other state suffrage campaigns, made two or three visits to nashville during the session. the state suffrage convention in this city a few days before the bill came to a vote in the senate was the largest ever held and many delegates remained for the vote. the bill was introduced by senator c. w. rooks, who with senator john c. houk led the fight for it. it was lost on february by noes, ayes. a motion to reconsider by senator a. e. hill carried it over until the legislature reconvened on march . the generosity of mrs. scott, vice-chairman of the campaign committee, who gave $ , enabled the state association to employ four organizers and the national association paid the salaries of three more. new organizations were formed and remote towns, which had scarcely ever heard of suffrage, were visited. a telegram from president wilson urging the senate to pass the bill was received at the march session but was not read in that body until the day after it was defeated.[ ] the motion for reconsideration was laid on the table the first day by ayes, noes. incessant work in behalf of the bill was carried on in the districts of hostile or doubtful senators from september until january, , when the legislature met and the bill for presidential and municipal suffrage was again introduced. it was a hard fight for many weeks made by mrs. warner and her committee, with daily, continuous work at the capitol and "back log" work through the state, where she had the constant help of her board. mrs. a. g. buckner, as legislative chairman, worked unceasingly, as did mrs. margaret ervin ford, mrs. reno and miss matilda porter, the lobby committee, assisted by miss josephine miller, a national organizer. mrs. dudley came after the national suffrage convention in march. attorney l. d. miller of chattanooga introduced the bill in the house and conducted the fight for it. it passed the third and final reading april by ayes, noes. speaker seth m. walker of wilson county became a convert and eloquent advocate, leaving his desk to plead for it. [see ratification.] after the bill had been cleverly put to sleep by the president of the senate, andrew todd, by referring it to the hostile judiciary committee, senator e. n. haston, who was its sponsor, secured enough votes to overrule his action and put it in the committee on privileges and elections, which reported in favor. the enemies were led by senator j. parks worley. the hardest fight that ever took place in the senate was waged, and the outcome was not certain until judge douglas wikle of williamson county cast the deciding vote in favor, making the result on april , ayes, ; noes, , a bare majority. at : the following morning governor roberts affixed his signature to the act conferring upon women the right to vote for electors of president and vice-president of the united states and in the municipal elections throughout the state. more than half a million women were thus far enfranchised. conspicuous and persistent among the enemies of the bill outside of the legislature were u. s. senator john k. shields and judge vertrees. the latter, claiming to represent "others" filed a writ of injunction in the chancery court to test the validity of the law. attorney general frank m. thompson and other able lawyers defended this suit[ ], which was hotly contested, and this court, by chancellor james b. newman, in june declared the law unconstitutional. the case was appealed to the state supreme court, which in july, , reversed this decision and declared the law valid. when the supreme court rendered this decision the regular biennial registration was only ten days off and it was at the hottest period of the summer, when many women and most of the suffrage officials were out of town, but the registration was large in all the cities. in nashville about , registered; in knoxville about , , and the type of those who presented themselves everywhere was of the highest and best. contrary to all predictions the negro women did not flock to the polls. they voted but in comparatively few numbers and the records show that only the better educated were interested. their vote proved to be anything but the "bugaboo" politicians had tried to show that it would be and in some instances it was a contributing factor to good government. in nashville they registered about , and voted almost their full quota. they organized under the direction of the suffrage association, had their own city and ward chairmen and worked with an intelligence, loyalty and dignity that made new friends for their race and for woman suffrage. there was not a single adverse criticism of them from any ward. they kept faith with the white women even when some of their men sold out the night before election to a notorious political rounder. they proved that they were trying to keep step with the march of progress and with a little patience, trust and vision the universal tie of motherhood and sisterhood can and will overcome the prejudice against them as voters. an immense amount of work was done by tennessee women for the federal suffrage amendment. after interviewing their members of congress and using every possible influence on them in their home districts, hundreds of letters and telegrams were sent to them in washington whenever they were to vote on it from to . mrs. dudley, as a member of the national board, spent months in washington and was sent to various southern states where skilled work was necessary. there was a gradually increasing vote in favor by tennessee members until when the last one was taken in june, , only three representatives, moon, hull and garrett, voted against it. senator shields voted in opposition and senator mckellar in favor. * * * * * [with this chapter was sent a complete history of the woman suffrage movement in memphis, nashville, knoxville, chattanooga and smaller cities, which accounts for the phenomenally rapid advance in tennessee. unfortunately these chapters can give space only to the general work of the state associations.] tennessee. part ii[ ] tennessee's pioneer period was from - , for during those years the educational and organization work carried on by a few intrepid women was as difficult as was the same work in other parts of the united states thirty or more years before that time. woman suffrage was in the stage of ridicule and abuse and with a few exceptions the press of the state was opposed and lost no opportunity to disparage it. the state equal suffrage association was reorganized in memphis in and there was increasing activity each year afterwards. in the suffragists held a convention and reported their membership trebled. they secured a suffrage article in the _news scimitar_ through the courtesy of mike connolly, its editor. in dr. shaw spoke at the goodwin hall in memphis under the auspices of the state association and a return engagement was secured by the lyceum course the following winter. the third annual convention was held dec. , , in memphis at the home of the state president, mrs. j. d. allen, and the officers were re-elected. it was reported that a petition had been sent to congress for a federal amendment and more than letters written, one to president taft asking him to declare for woman suffrage and local work had been done. mrs. e. s. conser, assisted by mrs. allen and the suffrage club, prevailed upon the memphis university law department to open its doors to women and mrs. conser became its first woman student. mrs. allen attended the national convention at seattle, washington. mrs. ittie k. reno delivered the first woman suffrage address in nashville, at the centennial club, and the first one in chattanooga was given by miss margaret ervin at the university where she was a student. in a league was organized in knoxville by mrs. l. crozier french, who became its president. in the summer a suffrage debate, affirmative taken by mrs. ford, was held in the methodist church at kingston, the first time the question was discussed in that part of the state and people came from neighboring towns. miss catherine j. wester, a kingston suffragist, had a six weeks' newspaper debate in the chattanooga _times_. a booth was maintained at the appalachian exposition, and names of visitors from tennessee, arkansas and mississippi were registered in the suffrage booth at the tri-state fair in september at memphis. the fourth state convention was held at memphis in the business men's club feb. , , and the president, mrs. allen, reported suffrage trips to little rock, ark., and jackson, miss. addresses were given by attorney robert beattie and by h. p. hanson, vice-president of the southern conference on child and woman labor, who brought word that the memphis typographical union was on record for woman suffrage. mrs. beattie was elected vice-president and dr. madge patton stephens secretary. the nashville club was organized september , with mrs. guilford dudley president; one at morristown november , with mrs. hannah price hardy president; one at chattanooga december , with mrs. e. w. penticost president. by a new era had dawned with five of the largest cities organized and affiliated with the state association. it held its annual convention at nashville january - . governor ben w. hooper addressed it and stated that he was "on the fence" as to the suffrage question. mrs. allen was elected honorary president and miss sarah barnwell elliott president. miss elliott spent two months of this year speaking in the state and she also spoke in birmingham, in new york and the mississippi valley conference in chicago. in december a suffrage club was organized in jackson with mrs. c. b. bell president. j. w. brister, state superintendent of schools, gave a suffrage address at nashville. the state convention was held again at the hermitage hotel in nashville, jan. , , . the principal speakers were ex-governor john i. cox, u. s. senator luke lea, misses laura clay of kentucky and mary johnston of virginia. mrs. virginia clay clopton, as president, sent greetings from the huntsville, ala., league, reorganized after a lapse of thirty years with the same president. the main discussion was whether to introduce a suffrage bill in the legislature. mrs. margaret ervin ford urged it, saying that, though it had small chance, it was well to accustom the legislature to the idea. the matter was placed in the hands of miss elliott, mrs. french, mrs. dudley and mrs. scott, who recommended that no bill should be introduced. mrs. allen and miss elliott were re-elected and mrs. james m. mccormack was made vice-president-at-large; miss clay and miss johnston spoke on the th at a large meeting in chattanooga and miss clay the following sunday in the universalist church. on april miss elliott and mrs. dudley marched in washington in a parade to the capitol to interview the tennessee representatives in congress on the federal amendment. this year miss jeannette rankin of montana, an organizer for the national association, came to assist. by october the state membership was and fifteen newspapers were reached regularly with suffrage matter. booths were conducted at many of the county fairs and a "suffrage day" was given at the memphis tri-state fair, when the outside speakers were miss clay and miss kate gordon of louisiana. the _news scimitar_ issued a suffrage edition. a second convention met in morristown, october , . miss sue s. white was elected secretary, mrs. hardy state organizer and the other officers continued. at the national convention in washington in november miss wester and mrs. ford represented tennessee on the "committee of one hundred," which, led by mrs. medill mccormick, chairman of the national congressional committee, called upon president wilson to enlist his assistance. that year and each succeeding year letters, telegrams and petitions were sent to the president and to the tennessee representatives in congress urging their support of the federal amendment. one petition from chattanooga bore a thousand signatures. by the six largest cities in the state were organized and the majority of the clubs celebrated national suffrage day, may , with parades and open air meetings to the amazement and interest of the people. the chattanooga parade, with a brass band, ended at the court house where the steps of that building were aglow with yellow bunting. mrs. wesley martin stoner of washington, d. c., was the principal speaker and mrs. ford, the local president, read the following resolution: "we, citizens of chattanooga, voice our demand that women citizens of the united states be accorded the full right of citizenship." the silence was breathless as the sound of the "ayes" died away and not a voice was raised to say "no." other speakers were mayor jesse m. littleton, l. p. barnes, attorney j. j. lynch, the reverends charles h. myers, l. r. robinson and dr. daniel e. bushnell. the state federation of women's clubs in convention at pulaski voted down a suffrage resolution, though the president, mrs. george w. denney, favored it. from march to may there was a spirited controversy as to whether the annual convention of the national american woman suffrage association should meet in chattanooga, which city had invited it, or in nashville, which had not. miss elliott, who was ill, resigned and mrs. mccormack took charge of the state work. chattanooga won the convention on the first vote of the state board but after balloting by the clubs through telegrams for several weeks and much misunderstanding it met in nashville the next november. the annual convention was held in knoxville october - , when there was a separation of the state forces, mrs. crozier french and her following leaving the convention, taking three clubs with them and organizing the "tennessee equal suffrage association incorporated," with mrs. french president. mrs. mccormack was elected president of the original equal suffrage association, of which this chapter is the history. the southern states suffrage conference, miss kate m. gordon, president, met in chattanooga, november - , just before the national convention. a special suffrage edition of the _news_, with mrs. frances fort brown editor-in-chief, was issued and the conference was a great success. many prominent women from outside the state attended and all except mrs. oliver h. p. belmont of new york and miss christabel pankhurst of england, who was with her, went on to the national convention at nashville. here a special edition of the _tennesseean_ was issued, many street meetings were held and suffrage arguments filled the air. both state delegations were seated. by the end of the year only four cities with a population of five thousand or over were still unorganized. in december miss mary pleasant jones organized the nashville business women's league with a large membership. organization was continued during . through the courtesy of judge samuel c. brown, the circuit court at benton was suspended for an hour to hear the speeches of miss wester, miss sarah ruth frazier and mrs. ford and a club was then organized with members. mrs. ford organized the business woman's suffrage club of chattanooga with charter members. a men's suffrage club was formed there, the first in the state, r. b. cook, george fort milton and j. b. f. lowery, officers. this year the suffragists assisted a vigorous campaign to secure a majority vote for holding a convention to prepare a new constitution, opened headquarters in the different cities and worked day and night, and they received letters of high appreciation from the chairman of the state committee. the convention really won but was lost by dishonest election returns. the annual convention was held at the hotel patton, chattanooga, december , mrs. mccormack presiding. in a treasury fund of $ . was turned over to the new treasurer, miss wester, who handled in $ , . the national association this year elected mrs. mccormack auditor. national suffrage day, may , , was celebrated in all of the larger cities. the business women's club brought mrs. emmeline pankhurst of england and miss margaret foley of boston to chattanooga and the , capacity auditorium was packed. the state federation of women's clubs, which was to hold its convention there may , was invited to attend and the next day it passed a woman suffrage resolution by a vote of to . in may woman suffrage planks were secured in both the republican and democratic state platforms, after which the state officers living in chattanooga had a -foot streamer prepared with the following words on it: tennessee leads the south, the state federation, republican and democratic parties endorse woman suffrage, and had it stretched across the main street. over night police commissioner e. r. betterton had made a ruling that banners could no longer hang over the street and three policemen with the patrol wagon "arrested" it. the women secured the release of the culprit and through the courtesy of e. a. abbott, a merchant, it was placed over the front of his store and there it hung for several weeks. on june it was taken to the national democratic convention at st. louis, where it gave its silent message hanging on the wall of the lobby of the hotel in which the tennessee delegation had headquarters. mrs. dudley and mrs. ford addressed the tennessee delegates to the convention urging them to vote for the woman suffrage plank, which they did unanimously. mrs. catt held a successful congressional conference in memphis, spoke at several large meetings and the biggest automobile parade ever seen in the city added to the occasion.[ ] federal amendment day was celebrated in twenty-six cities and thousands of leaflets were distributed. in october the legislative chairman wrote to all candidates for congress asking their position on suffrage and eight declared in favor. in november those elected were interviewed and banquets, luncheons and receptions given them on the eve of their leaving for washington. in order to unite the two state associations mrs. catt suggested that they hold their conventions at about the same time in the same city. the tennessee equal suffrage association, mrs. mccormack president, set its convention for jan. , , , and that of the other was announced for the th, both in nashville. the former was held at the hotel hermitage, large and enthusiastic, with the principal speakers clyde shropshire, speaker of the house, the hon. george l. berry, dixon merritt, editor of the _tennesseean_, and miss laura clay. mrs. ford was elected president. the latter postponed its convention to january - , which made the union impossible. on february the former association offered its services to governor rye to be utilized as he should see fit, should the united states enter the war. mrs. catt called a meeting of the executive council of the national association for the rd in washington to consider offering its assistance to president wilson and mrs. ford represented tennessee. the suffragists of this state, as did those of every other, rallied to the colors. many served in france and thousands at home in every field of activity where women were permitted, in army and navy, in citizen service, red cross, government bond sales, etc., and their devoted service proved a most effective plea for their enfranchisement. on march , , the boards of the two associations met in memphis at the professional and business women's club, with mrs. allen, honorary president, in the chair. a union was effected and mrs. leslie warner was unanimously elected president of the amalgamated associations. mrs. warner spoke at the state federation of women's clubs in jackson and after one session she asked all to remain who were interested in suffrage. about per cent. did so and an enthusiastic meeting was held. her next work was to secure resolutions in favor of the federal suffrage amendment and protests against further delay in the senate. she spoke before nineteen organizations of various kinds, all of which passed the desired resolutions. it was also endorsed by the democratic and republican state committees. as vice-chairman of the woman's committee council of national defense, mrs. warner introduced dr. shaw, its chairman, to an audience of , people at nashville in april. in july she called suffragists from all sections of the state for a hearing before u. s. senator john k. shields, hoping they might convince him that the tennessee women did want the ballot, as one of his reasons for voting against the federal amendment was that they did not. later when pressed by the women for a declaration during his candidacy for re-election he gave to the press his correspondence with president wilson who had urged him to vote for it, to whom he wrote: "if i could bring myself to believe that the adoption of the resolution would contribute to the successful prosecution of the war we are waging with germany i would unhesitatingly vote for it, because my whole heart and soul are involved in bringing the war to a victorious issue and i am willing to sacrifice everything save the honor and freedom of our country in aiding you to accomplish that end, but i have been unable to do so...." the president said in reply: "i realize the weight of argument that has controlled your attitude in the matter and i would not have written as i did if i had not thought that the passage of the amendment at this time was an essential psychological element in the conduct of the war for democracy. i am led by a single sentence in your letter, therefore, to say that i do earnestly believe that our action upon this amendment will have an important and immediate influence upon the whole atmosphere and morale of the nations engaged in the war and every day i am coming to see how supremely important that side of the whole thing is." on august the state bar association passed a strong resolution endorsing woman suffrage by federal amendment. the president, colonel ed watkins, in his annual address, included a strong plea for it and judge david v. puryear introduced the resolution. miss elizabeth lea miller and mrs. ford, the first women members of the association; mrs. john lamar meek and others worked for it. col. joseph h. acklen gave his services as attorney for years to the state association without charge. urgent petitions which bore the names of all the leading democrats of the state, arranged on a large sheet with the photograph of and a quotation from president woodrow wilson, were sent to senator shields. the state board sent petitions to the legislators urging that they ask him to vote for the federal amendment resolution, which lacked only two votes of passing the senate, but he opposed it to the end. the remainder of mrs. warner's régime was filled with efforts in the legislature for the presidential suffrage bill. she began in september and worked unceasingly until its passage the next april, financing the campaign with some small assistance from her board. during the hundredth anniversary of the city of memphis in june, a notable state event, a suffrage "victory" celebration was held with addresses by mayor monteverde and leading suffragists. the eleventh annual convention was held in the tulane hotel, nashville, june , , . during the second day's session news came of the submission of the federal amendment by the u. s. senate and excitement ran riot. telegrams of congratulation were sent to mrs. catt, dr. shaw, u. s. senator mckellar and the tennessee representatives who voted for it. it was a dramatic ending of the long contest--long even in tennessee, for here too women had grown old and died in the struggle. tributes were paid to those who were gone, among them mrs. meriwether who had given her life to the work. the two pioneers present, mrs. allen and miss terrett, gave reminiscences of the early days. mrs. george fort milton was elected president. a call was issued for the final convention of the state association and the first convention of the tennessee league of women voters to meet may , , , in the house of representatives at nashville. this was signed by the presidents of the following state associations: suffrage, mothers' congress and parent teachers', woman's christian temperance union, federation of music clubs, daughters of the american revolution and press and authors' club. mrs. milton presided over the convention and miss mary boyce temple, regent of the d. a. r., presided over the first conference of the league of women voters. the association and the league were merged and mrs. milton was elected chairman.[ ] legislative action. . this year for the first time a resolution was introduced by senator walter white of dayton "to amend the constitution so as to give women the ballot." it was referred to the constitutional amendment committee, alfred a. adams, chairman, which reported adversely. the women in charge were mrs. j. d. allen, state president, and attorney frances wolf, legislative chairman. . the suffragists espoused two bills. the association of which mrs. mccormack was president worked for a new state constitution because of the great difficulty of changing the old one. the association of which mrs. dudley was president asked for an amendment. it received a "courtesy" vote in favor from the first legislature and did not come before a second. mrs. mccormack, mrs. ford, mrs. henry j. kelso, mrs. hall and miss wester were the legislative committee. . in march the legislature passed an act amending the charter of lookout mountain so as to give the women municipal suffrage. the prime mover was attorney james anderson and mayor p. f. jones, and the other commissioners voted unanimously for it. mrs. ford, the state president, a lifelong resident, had the previous year registered there in order to call attention to the injustice of "taxation without representation" but her name was removed from the records. early in mrs. ford called on president wilson at the white house and asked him to send a message to the legislature in favor of the pending presidential suffrage bill, which he did. [mrs. ford's thorough account of the fortunes of this bill through the legislatures of and is so largely covered by the report in part i of this chapter that it is omitted here.][ ] after the law was enacted mrs. kenny and mrs. kimbrough appeared at the office of the county trustee and made a tender of the amount due as their poll tax. he refused to receive it, acting under instructions from the county attorney who declared that the laws of the state exempted women. they then filed a bill in the chancery court of davidson county asking a decision. chancellor newman dismissed it with an opinion in part as follows: "it will be observed by section of the code that those liable for poll taxes are males between the ages of and years on the th day of january the year the assessment is laid. women were not liable jan. , , for poll tax and plainly it was never the purpose or intent of section that a qualified voter as a condition precedent to the right to vote should produce satisfactory evidence that he had paid a poll tax assessed against him for which he was not liable.... all women between the ages of and years, otherwise qualified as voters, are entitled to vote in the november election of without paying a poll tax for ." the case was taken to the supreme court, which ruled that women did not have to pay in order to vote that year. ratification. when the legislature of washington in march, , ratified the federal woman suffrage amendment making the th, there came an absolute stop. the southeastern states had rejected it and it had been ratified by all the others except vermont and connecticut, whose governors refused to call special sessions. it looked as if the women of the united states would be prevented from voting at the presidential election in november for the lack of one ratification. there was every reason to believe that the legislature of tennessee would give this one if it were not prevented by a clause in the state constitution. meanwhile the ratification of the federal prohibition amendment by the ohio legislature had been sent to the voters by a recent law, they had rejected it and an appeal had been taken to the u. s. supreme court on the constitutionality of the referendum law. on june , in hawk vs. smith, this court held that a referendum to the voters on the ratification of federal amendments was in conflict with article v of the federal constitution, therefore null and void, as this constitution was the supreme law of the land. the decision said: "it is not the function of courts or legislative bodies, national or state, to alter the method which the u. s. constitution has fixed." article ii, section of the tennessee constitution reads: "no convention or general assembly of this state shall act upon any amendment of the constitution of the united states proposed by congress to the several states unless such convention or general assembly shall have been elected after such amendment is submitted." the presumption was naturally that this clause was nullified by the u. s. supreme court's decision. on june , mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american suffrage association, telegraphed governor albert h. roberts, urging him to call an extra session. he, thereupon, sought the opinion of attorney general frank m. thompson as to the power of the present legislature to ratify, who answered that it would have the power. he said that he had submitted the question to the u. s. department of justice through solicitor general john l. frierson, to whom president wilson had also appealed, whose answer in brief was as follows: "the ruling of the supreme court in the ohio case and the consideration which i gave to this question in preparing those cases for hearing leave no doubt in my mind that the power to ratify an amendment to the federal constitution is derived solely from the people of the united states through this constitution and not from the people or the constitution of the state. the provision of the tennessee constitution that no legislature shall act on an amendment to the federal constitution unless elected after the proposal of the amendment, if valid, would undoubtedly be a restriction upon that power.... if the legislature is called in extra session it will have the clear right to ratify." a request was made to president wilson for assistance, and on june he sent the following telegram to governor roberts: "it would be a real service to the party and to the nation if it is possible for you under the peculiar provisions of your state constitution, having in mind the recent decision of the supreme court in the ohio case, to call a special session of the legislature to consider the federal suffrage amendment. allow me to urge this very earnestly." at the same time the governor received a telegram signed by practically every member of the tennessee delegation at the national democratic convention meeting in san francisco, impressing on him the advantage to the party of his calling the extra session. in addition u. s. senator kenneth mckellar, a member of the platform committee of that convention, secured a plank in the platform, endorsing the amendment and urging the democratic governors and legislators of tennessee and other states to unite in an effort to complete the ratification. on june homer s. cummings, chairman of the democratic national committee, informed the governor that the committee that day by unanimous vote had directed him to send the following message: "we most earnestly emphasize the extreme importance and urgency of an immediate meeting of your legislature for the purpose of ratifying the proposed th amendment to the federal constitution." on june the tennessee democratic convention had passed the following resolution: "we heartily favor the ratification of the th amendment to the constitution of the united states ... and we demand that the governor call an extra session." governor roberts answered president wilson: "i will call the extra session in ample time for the women to vote in the elections." this he did on august , calling the legislature to convene on the th.[ ] the first of july governor roberts appointed mrs. leslie warner state chairman to organize for ratification. she selected a committee of one hundred, some from each county, recommended by the legislators, and opened headquarters at the hotel hermitage in nashville and mrs. james b. ezzell was elected vice-chairman, mrs. margaret ervin ford, secretary of the committee, which became known as the democratic ratification committee. on the advisory board were: miss charl williams, vice-chairman of the national democratic committee; miss della dortch, regional chairman of the national league of women voters; mesdames a. h. roberts, wife of the governor; guilford dudley, third vice-president of the national suffrage association; john b. gilmore, james s. fraser and miss lutie jones. mrs. george fort milton, chairman of the league of women voters, appointed mrs. john m. kenny state chairman for ratification with mesdames john r. aust and claude b. sullivan chairmen of committees. they opened headquarters at the maxwell house. mrs. james beasley became chairman of the republican committee and ex-governor rye of the men's committee, assisted by ex-governors albert a. taylor and ben w. hooper and mr. hal h. clements. early in july miss marjorie shuler, chairman of publicity of the national suffrage association, was sent by it to assist. she expressed gratification at what had been accomplished, saying: "the tennessee women have done wonders; they are now well organized and things look promising for ratification." she joined with the committees in urging mrs. catt to come and direct the work and she came soon after the middle of july and remained six weeks.[ ] her first move was to start a series of letters through the league of women voters to local groups urging meetings, deputations to legislators and the return to headquarters of their signed pledges to vote for ratification, which later were very useful. with mrs. milton and with miss shuler in charge of publicity, a speaking tour began at memphis and ended in eastern tennessee, including all the large cities and creating much favorable sentiment. during this trip mrs. catt did not hesitate to call attention to the sinister forces which it was discovered were working against ratification and she sent a message to senator harding and governor cox, the presidential candidates, describing them. on july miss esther ogden, a director of the national association, with a deputation of women, appeared before the national democratic committee in session at columbus, o., presenting a memorial from that association, signed by mrs. catt, urging the committee to assume the responsibility of achieving the ratification and she brought their favorable answer to nashville. the last week in july mrs. catt received the following from senator harding: "i am exceedingly glad to learn that you are in tennessee seeking to consummate the ratification of the suffrage amendment. if any of the republican members should ask my opinion as to their course i would cordially recommend immediate favorable action." he sent a similar message to senator john c. houk, state chairman, but later when the harding-coolidge league of the district of columbia urged him to appeal further for ratification he answered: "you can understand why i cannot consistently urge tennessee legislators to vote for ratification without knowing their reasons for such commitment as they have made. the situation is being reported to national headquarters, where it will be given attention at once." a letter from governor cox to mrs. catt said: "i am very much gratified at the news that you are to remain in tennessee for the ratification campaign. it gives me added reason for expressing confidence that the legislature will act favorably, which will greatly please the national democratic party." in addition he sent miss charl williams, a member of the democratic national committee, to nashville with the message that if necessary he would himself come and fight for it. on august at the request of will h. hays, chairman of the republican national committee, mrs. harriet taylor upton, vice-chairman of its executive committee, came to assist. urged by president wilson, governor cox, george white, chairman of the national democratic committee, and senator pat harrison, its chairman of publicity and speakers, u. s. senator mckellar came with his valuable help. miss edna a. beveridge of maryland and mrs. lydia holmes, president of the louisiana suffrage association, came to assist mrs. catt. miss sue white, tennessee chairman of the national woman's party, assisted by mesdames l. crozier french, walter jackson, frank phillips, miss anita pollitzer, miss betty grim, parley p. christensen and others, also opened headquarters and worked for ratification. since there were so many committees at work it was decided to appoint a general chairman and miss charl williams was the wise choice. from the time the special session was called anti-suffragists gathered in nashville from maine to the gulf of mexico, many of them paid workers. everett p. wheeler, a new york lawyer, president of a so-called american constitutional league, formerly the men's anti-suffrage association, came and formed a branch composed of men prominent politically, who used every means known to influence legislation; sent speakers into the districts of friendly legislators, promised rewards, used threats, and charges of bribery were so insistent that judge d. b. debow ordered a grand jury investigation. there was no depth to which some of the men trying to defeat woman suffrage did not descend.[ ] mrs. james s. pinckard of alabama, president of the southern women's rejection league; miss josephine pearson, its tennessee president; miss mary g. kilbreth, president of the national anti-woman suffrage association, with many of their followers were at work with the legislators. they were industriously assisted by mrs. ruffin g. pleasant, wife of the ex-governor of louisiana, and by miss kate m. gordon of that state and miss laura clay of kentucky, ardent suffragists but opposed to the federal amendment. the presidents or other officers of anti-suffrage associations in ohio, maryland, delaware, massachusetts, maine and other states joined with the forces above. the legislature convened in extraordinary session aug. , , and heard the governor's message, which said in part: "the legislatures of thirty-five states have ratified the amendment, only one more being required to make it effective as a part of the constitution of the united states. its prompt ratification is urgently recommended. tennessee occupies a pivotal position and the eyes of all america are upon us. millions of women are looking to this legislature to give them a voice and share in shaping the destiny of the republic." he then quoted the platform declarations of both state and national democratic and republican parties urging ratification. the next day the senate was called to order by president andrew l. todd, who introduced the ratification resolution. it was introduced in the house by the shelby county delegation, all for it. both were referred to the committee on constitutional amendments. on the night of august a joint hearing was held and able speeches were made by senator mckellar, generals james a. fowler and charles a. cates, jr., and attorney ed t. seay. anti speakers were: congressman finis j. garrett, major e. b. stahlman, judges s. f. wilson and g. n. tillman. miss charlotte rowe, of yonkers, n. y., represented the national anti-suffrage association. the next day a memorial from maryland "antis" urging rejection was read in the senate. senator l. e. gwin presented the committee report recommending ratification, signed by himself and senators m. h. copenhaver, john c. houk, c. c. collins, j. w. murray, t. l. coleman, douglas wikle and e. n. haston. senators w. m. cameron and j. w. rice presented the minority report. after many eloquent speeches in favor and two in opposition the senate vote was ayes , noes , two not voting, and a motion to reconsider was tabled. on august the house committee reported in favor of ratification, saying: "this is the performance of solemn platform promises and we take great pride in the fact that to tennessee has been accorded the signal distinction of passing a resolution which will secure the final adoption of the th amendment." speaker seth m. walker then moved to adjourn to gain time, which was carried by ayes, noes. he had given the suffragists his word that he would not only vote for ratification but would lead the fight for it in the house. on the contrary he suddenly underwent a radical change and fought it bitterly through the entire session. on august occurred the most exciting and dramatic session ever held in the house. speaker walker moved to table the resolution in an effort to kill it. r. l. dowlen, who had undergone a serious operation, was brought from his bed to the capitol to vote for it. t. a. dodson received a message that his baby was dying and after he had taken the train it was found that his vote would be needed to carry it. a member reached the train as it was pulling out, found him and they leaped off. he cast his vote for the resolution and a man who was able to do so sent him home on a special train. the speaker lobbied openly after clearing the house of suffrage lobbyists. sitting with his arm around the shoulder of banks s. turner he stopped his voting when his name was called, but turner won the honor of all present when, at the end of the roll call, he threw off speaker walker's arm, stood up and cast his vote for ratification. harry t. burn, aged , had been voting with the opposition but had given the suffragists his word that, as he had voted for the presidential suffrage bill in and as his mother wanted him to vote for ratification, he would do so if his vote should be needed but otherwise he would vote against it, as his constituency was opposed. when the vote was a tie-- to --he instantly realized that the resolution would be lost unless he should vote for it. this he did and the vote stood ayes, noes. speaker walker then changed his vote from no to aye, making the vote ayes, noes, and moved to reconsider.[ ] by the rules of the house speaker walker had for three days the exclusive right in which to call up the motion to reconsider, after which others could do so. during this time the opponents worked madly to get one of the loyal to change his vote without avail. they attempted every unscrupulous scheme known to control legislation. all failing, as a last desperate move, in the early morning hours made a hegira to decatur, ala., where they remained for about ten days. on august the seats of the "antis" were conspicuously vacant. as the speaker had not asked for a reconsideration, mr. riddick moved to call from the journal the motion to reconsider. speaker walker ruled this out of order, giving among other reasons that judge e. f. langford of the chancery court had granted a temporary injunction restraining the governor, secretary of state and speakers from certifying to secretary of state colby that the legislature had ratified. mr. riddick appealed from the decision of the chair and it was not sustained. he then moved that the house reconsider its action in concurring in the senate ratification, which was defeated by noes, present and not voting. he next moved that the clerk of the house be instructed to transmit to the senate the ratification resolution, which was carried by a viva voce vote. governor roberts, himself formerly a judge, could not be checked by the devices of the opposition but asked attorney general thompson to place the matter before chief justice d. l. lansden of the state supreme court. he issued a writ of supersedeas and certiorari, which, taking the matter out of the jurisdiction of the chancery court, amounted to a dissolving of the injunction. the governor then mailed the certificate of ratification to secretary colby at noon, august , which he received on the morning of august . this completed the necessary thirty-six ratifications and secretary colby immediately proclaimed the federal suffrage amendment a part of the constitution of the united states. during the weeks of machinations by the opposition, governor roberts, state superintendent of education albert h. williams, the other officers of the administration and the efficient steering committee, made up of members of the legislature, headed by president todd and chief clerk w. m. carter of the senate, were on complete guard night and day. after the american constitutional league had failed in the courts of tennessee they planned to secure injunctions against election officials to prevent women from voting and carried their fight to the courts of the district of columbia, losing in every one. they finally reached the supreme court of the united states, which eventually decided that the th amendment was legally and constitutionally ratified. [this matter is referred to in chapter xx of volume v.] meanwhile on september speaker walker and other opponents went to washington and requested secretary colby to withdraw and rescind the ratification proclamation. failing in this effort they went on to connecticut to prevent ratification by the special session there, which had at last been called, and this mission also was a failure. to tennessee will forever belong the glory of placing the last seal on the federal amendment by which the women of the united states were enfranchised. [illustration: map i. the suffrage map from to . wyoming as a territory in and as a state in gave equal suffrage to women.] [illustration: map ii. the suffrage map from to . colorado gave equal suffrage to women in utah in , idaho in .] [illustration: map iii. the suffrage map when congress submitted the federal amendment june , . in the white states women had full suffrage; in the dotted states presidential; in illinois, nebraska, north dakota, tennessee and vermont municipal also; in the first three county besides.] [illustration: map iv. the legislatures of all the white states ratified the federal woman suffrage amendment; those of the black states rejected it except that of florida, whose governor said it would do so if he called a special session.] [illustration: this is what tennessee did to the suffrage map map v. the suffrage map after the ratification of the federal amendment--universal, complete woman suffrage in every state.] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. john m. kenny, an officer of the state equal suffrage association from until the ratification of the federal suffrage amendment in . [ ] through the combined efforts of the joint chairmen of the campaign committee, mrs. kenny and mrs. milton, and the association of which mrs. dudley was president, a conference was called to formulate a plan of amalgamation of the two state associations. this was finally accomplished in march, , when mrs. leslie warner of nashville was unanimously chosen as the amalgamation president. [ ] the other congressional district chairmen were mrs. ferd. e. powell, johnson city; miss sara ruth fraser, chattanooga; mrs. sam young, dixon springs; mrs. walter jackson, murfreesboro; mrs. kimbrough, nashville; mrs. ben childers, pulaski; miss sue s. white, mrs. jas. b. ezzell, newsom station; mrs. m. m. betts, memphis. [ ] "w. r. crabtree, president of the senate: may i not express my earnest hope that the senate of tennessee will reconsider the vote by which it rejected the legislation extending the suffrage to women? our party is so distinctly pledged to its passage that it seems to me the moral obligation is complete.--woodrow wilson." [ ] mrs. frances fort brown of nashville left a bequest of $ , to the national american woman suffrage association and its board of officers appropriated enough of it to pay the expenses of this suit. [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. margaret ervin ford, president of the state equal suffrage association. [ ] mrs. c. b. allen organized the memphis woman's party within the state association and became its president and mrs. ford organized it in chattanooga with over members, was elected president and ward organization started there. nashville had the first through ward organization, due to miss matilda porter. [ ] the lists of the many officers of the association during the years are unavoidably too imperfect to be used without doing injustice to those omitted. in mrs. ford's strong desire to give full credit to all the men and women who were actively connected with the work for woman suffrage in tennessee she sent lists so long that the lack of space made it absolutely necessary to omit them.--ed. [ ] the gold pen used by governor roberts in signing the bill was one used by dr. john w. wester when drafting the first anti-liquor bill ever introduced in the tennessee legislature, in december, . with it also governor rye signed the lookout mountain suffrage bill. it belongs to mrs. ford, grand-daughter of dr. wester. [ ] anti-suffragists from all over the state bombarded governor roberts with threats of defeat for reelection should he persist in pushing ratification, many of whom were his strongest friends and supporters. at the special elections during the summer held to fill vacancies in the legislature several suffragists were elected, among them m. h. copenhaver, who took the seat of senator j. parks worley, arch enemy of suffrage. t. k. riddick, a prominent lawyer, made the race in order to lead the fight for ratification in the house. representative j. frank griffin made a flying trip from san francisco to cast his vote for it. [ ] mrs. catt, mrs. upton and miss shuler did no lobbying in the state house. [ ] after mrs. catt returned to new york she said: "never in the history of politics has there been such a nefarious lobby as labored to block the ratification in nashville. in the short time that i spent in the capital i was more maligned, more lied about, than in the thirty previous years i worked for suffrage. i was flooded with anonymous letters, vulgar, ignorant, insane. strange men and groups of men sprang up, men we had never met before in the battle. who were they? we were told, this is the railroad lobby, this is the steel lobby, these are the manufacturers' lobbyists, this is the remnant of the old whiskey ring. even tricksters from the u. s. revenue service were there operating against us, until the president of the united states called them off.... they appropriated our telegrams, tapped our telephones, listened outside our windows and transoms. they attacked our private and public lives. i had heard of the 'invisible government.' well, i have seen it work and i have seen it sent into oblivion." [ ] burn's vote so angered the opposition that they attempted to fasten a charge of bribery on him. on a point of personal privilege he made a statement to the house which was spread upon the journal. after indignantly denying the charge he said: "i changed my vote in favor of ratification because i believe in full suffrage as a right; i believe we had a moral and legal right to ratify; i know that a mother's advice is always safest for her boy to follow and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification. i appreciated the fact that an opportunity such as seldom comes to mortal man--to free , , women from political slavery--was mine. i desired that my party in both state and nation might say it was a republican from the mountains of east tennessee, purest anglo-saxon section in the world, who made woman suffrage possible, not for any personal glory but for the glory of his party." [lack of space prevents giving the names of the immortal , which were sent with the chapter.] chapter xlii. texas.[ ] for many reasons texas was slow in entering the movement for woman suffrage. there was some agitation of the subject from about and some organization in - but the work done was chiefly through the woman's christian temperance union. in february, , a meeting was called at houston by miss annette finnigan, a texas girl and a graduate of wellesley college. here, with the help of her sisters, elizabeth and katharine finnigan anderson, an equal suffrage league was formed with annette as president. the following month mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association, lectured in houston under its auspices. during the summer annette and elizabeth finnigan spoke several times in galveston and secured a suffrage committee of twenty-five there. with this nucleus a state woman suffrage association was organized at a convention held in houston, in december, which lasted two days and was well attended. dr. anna howard shaw, vice-president of the national association, was present at all the sessions, spoke at both evening meetings and took a deep interest in the new organization. annette finnigan was elected state president and during the following year made an effort to organize in beaumont, san antonio and austin but the women, although interested, were too timid to organize for suffrage. mrs. charlotte perkins gilman spoke under the auspices of the league. the second state convention or conference was held in houston in december, , galveston and la porte being represented. reports were given and officers elected, annette finnigan remaining president. the houston league had a paid up membership of one hundred, regular meetings were held and the subject of woman suffrage was kept constantly before the public. an effort was made to get a woman on the school board but the mayor refused to appoint one. among those active in the work were althea jones, miss mary w. roper, mrs. e. f. and miss ruby mcgowen of houston; mrs. a. adella penfield of la porte, mrs. c. h. moore and miss julia runge of galveston. the finnigan sisters were the leaders and the league prospered for several years until they left the state. the movement became inactive and the society formed in austin in with twenty-five members was the only one that continued. in through the efforts of miss m. eleanor brackenridge of san antonio and miss anna maxwell jones, a texas woman residing in new york, suffrage clubs were organized in san antonio, galveston, dallas, waco, tyler and san marcos. miss finnigan returned to texas and the houston league was revived. the third state convention was held in san antonio in march, . miss brackenridge was elected president, miss finnigan honorary president. the convention was spirited and showed that the suffrage movement was well launched. this was just ten years after the first club was started. miss brackenridge possessed large means and a wide acquaintance and gave much prestige to the association. a number of notable speakers were brought to the state and the subject was introduced in women's organizations. this year through the san antonio league a bill was introduced in the legislature but never came to a vote. in april, , the state convention was held in dallas and miss brackenridge was made honorary president and miss finnigan again elected president. during the year state headquarters were opened in houston and the clubs were increased from eight to twenty-one. miss pearl penfield, as headquarters and field secretary, organized the state work. the president sent letters to all the legislators asking them to pledge themselves to vote for a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution. none of them had an idea that any of the others would agree to support it and a considerable number in a desire to "please the ladies" wrote charming letters of acquiescence. when in january, , they confronted a large group of women lobbyists, experiences were hurriedly compared and consternation reigned among them. "uncle" jesse baker of granbury, of honored memory, introduced the resolution to submit an amendment to the electors. the legislative committee were inexperienced but they worked with such zeal that it received a vote in the house of to . it was not considered by the senate. among those who worked with miss finnigan during the three months in austin were mrs. minnie fisher cunningham, president of the galveston equal suffrage association; mrs. tex armstrong of the dallas association; mrs. j. o. creighton of the austin association; mrs. ed. f. harris and mrs. j. h. w. steele of galveston; mrs. david doom, mrs. robert connerly, mrs. l. e. walker, mrs. a. b. wolfe and mrs. r. h. griffith, all of austin; mrs william h. dunne of san antonio; mrs. elizabeth herndon potter of tyler; mrs. w. e. spell of waco. on sunday afternoon, march , dr. shaw, the guest of miss brackenridge, delivered a great speech in beethoven hall under the auspices of the san antonio equal franchise society, accompanied on the stage by its president, mrs. dan leary; j. h. kirkpatrick, president of the men's suffrage league, the rev. george h. badger and miss marie b. fenwick, a veteran suffragist. many converts were made. in april the state convention met in galveston and reports showed twenty-one auxiliaries. mrs. cunningham was elected president, alert, enthusiastic and bringing to the cause the valuable experience of work in it for the past two years. the president and new board prosecuted the work so vigorously that during the year there was a per cent. increase in organizations. miss kate hunter, president of the palestine league, gave her entire summer vacation to field work. in may, , the state convention met in dallas, re-elected mrs. cunningham to the presidency and instructed the executive committee to ask for suffrage planks in state and national democratic platforms. the name was changed from woman suffrage to equal suffrage association and the senatorial district plan of organization was adopted, following the lines of the democratic party. when the state democratic convention met in san antonio this month to elect a national committeeman there were scores of women in the galleries proudly wearing their suffrage colors but governor james e. ferguson and ex-u. s. senator joseph weldon bailey, both of unhallowed memory, united their forces and woman suffrage had not a remote chance. texas women went to the national republican convention in chicago in june and a sufficient number of them to form half a block in the "golden lane" at the national democratic convention in st. louis. at the latter governor ferguson brought in the minority report of the resolutions committee against a woman suffrage plank in the platform, and let it be recorded that there were only three other men on the committee who would sign it, the remainder signing the majority report placing the plank in the platform. in august the democratic convention met in houston to nominate state candidates and prepare the state platform. mrs. cunningham, mrs. helen moore and mrs. j. m. quinnof appeared before the platform committee and with all the eloquence at their command urged it to insert a woman suffrage plank or at least to endorse the national platform. this committee was entirely in the hands of the liquor ring and ferguson was czar of the convention, so woman suffrage was ignored. mrs. edith hinkle league, the headquarters secretary, shared the president's ten, twelve and even fourteen-hour days of labor, so that mrs. cummingham was able to leave the office in charge of her and volunteer assistants while she helped to fill the pressing need of field workers and organizers. she had the assistance of miss lavinia engle, one of the national association's organizers. despite the lack of funds when word came of west virginia's need of mrs. cunningham in its amendment campaign the executive board paid her expenses to that state and she donated her services. upon her return to texas she devoted july and august to field work, averaging two or three speeches a day during these insufferably hot months. when the legislature convened in january, , the legislative committee were on hand. the following report by mrs. cunningham summarizes the work: first. opening suffrage headquarters on the main street at austin near the capitol. second. a luncheon, at which the attendance exceeded the capacity of the largest hotel. the program was a mock legislative session at which the suffrage bill came up for the third reading and debate, those opposed imitating the style of the leading "antis" at hearings. third. a very successful mass meeting at the hancock opera house with good speakers. fourth. introduction of the house joint resolution for a suffrage amendment, signed by twenty members, including some who had opposed it in . fifth. mass meeting in the house of representatives the night before the amendment came to a vote, invitation for this being extended by resolution of the house. speaker f. o. fuller presided and house and gallery were crowded. sixth. introduction of the primary suffrage bill in the senate and house. seventh. introduction of the presidential suffrage bill. eighth. speakers touring the state and keeping the cities and towns aroused; a constant stream of letters to organizations and individuals and from them to representatives. ninth. press work, a weekly news letter to those papers which would reach the legislators; getting in touch with reporters and editors of the large daily papers in the state in austin for the session. first, last and all the time work at the capitol, interviewing members of the house and senate, speaker, president, and public men who could and if asked might help a little here and there. this work was carried on daily for nearly three months. it is my judgment that the presidential suffrage bill could have been passed (anticipating the governor's veto though) but for the fact that the closing days of the session were taken up by the investigation of the governor on charges preferred in the house. on january the primary suffrage bill was favorably reported by the senate committee but was not taken from the calendar. on february the resolution to submit an amendment to the voters received ayes, noes in the house, lacking the required two-thirds. it was not acted upon by the senate. on february the presidential suffrage bill was referred to a senate committee and on the th was returned with a favorable minority report but not acted upon. early in the misdeeds of governor ferguson culminated and a great campaign was begun to secure his impeachment. he was the implacable foe of woman suffrage and of every great moral issue for which women stood, therefore at the very beginning of the campaign word was sent to the committee in austin that the state equal suffrage association had abandoned all other work temporarily and placed its entire resources at their command. the offer was accepted at once and the character and value of the services which the women performed may be judged from the following statement from d. k. woodward, jr., secretary of the central committee in charge of the campaign: the impeachment of former governor ferguson could not have been brought about without the cooperation of the women of the state.... their work was under the direction of mrs. cunningham, president of the texas equal suffrage association, who came at once to austin and established headquarters. the women were asked to reach the remote sections, to eradicate prejudice and leave understanding in its stead.... they did all that was asked of them and more. the most confirmed skeptic on the question of women's participation in public life must have been converted had he witnessed the unselfish, tireless, efficient work of these hundreds of devoted women and the striking ability of their leader, whose genius for organization, knowledge of public affairs and public men of texas and sound judgment on all questions of policy were of untold value....[ ] then came the entrance of the united states into the world war and the suffragists consecrated time, strength, life itself if necessary to its demands. the call to the annual convention held in waco in may, , indicated with what directness and intelligence the women approached their added responsibilities. it was "a call to the colors," to work for the war. war and woman's service; what can we do? our need of the ballot to do it; true americanism, were among the subjects considered. it voted to ask the war department to abolish saloons in the soldiers' concentration and mobilization camps. resolutions were passed pledging "loyal and untiring support to the government." the convention expressed itself in no uncertain tones in the following resolution telegraphed to president wilson: "for nearly seventy years the women of the united states have tried the state rights' route with its long and tortuous path. since the texas legislature has repeatedly refused submission of the suffrage amendment to the voters, thereby repudiating the state rights' principle of the democratic party, the state equal suffrage association hereby urges your support of the federal suffrage amendment to enfranchise the women of our country." mrs. cunningham was literally conscripted president again, with a budget calling for the expenditure of $ , and only $ . in the treasury! other offices were filled and then the women hurried home to engage in red cross work, liberty loan work, anti-vice work; to knit, to sew, to tramp the highways and byways for the various "drives"; to make speeches before all sorts of audiences--women who a year before were too timid to second a motion. following the instructions of the convention mrs. cunningham in june called together in san antonio the heads of all organizations of women and out of the conference was formed the woman's anti-vice committee. living in such close proximity to the training camps, texas women early learned with sinking hearts of the unspeakable conditions obtaining there and their efforts to remedy matters and to arouse the proper authorities were strenuous and unceasing. thousands of mothers whose sons were in training in far away texas will never know how earnestly the mothers of this state labored to do by their sons as they would have wished their own done by. the federal amendment work was not neglected during this time, neither was state work and organizations rapidly multiplied. the year is one never to be forgotten by texas suffragists. january was given over to intensive work for the federal amendment. day letters, night letters and telegrams poured into congress at such a rate that the national president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, referred to them as the "heavy artillery down in texas." the executive committee of the state association in session at austin, on the rd authorized mrs. cunningham and mrs. hortense ward to call upon the new governor, william p. hobby, and ask that he submit a bill for primary suffrage for women at the special session of the legislature soon to convene. a few weeks later the special session was called to consider a number of important measures asked for by the secretary of war. on february the suffrage leaders came to austin and established headquarters at the driskill hotel, determined to secure the primary law in time for women to vote in the july elections. while the women were interviewing the legislators mrs. nonie b. mahoney, prominent in dallas suffrage work, called on judge barry of that city, who seemed unfavorable and finally said it would take , names of dallas women on a petition to change him. he dismissed the subject from his mind and returned to his legislative duties. four days later mrs. mahoney arrived in austin with a heavy suit case, opened it and unfolded before the judge's astonished gaze a petition containing the names, not alone of the required , but of , of his townswomen! mrs. cunningham and her committee again asked the governor to submit primary suffrage for women to the legislature but he delayed. so great pressure was brought to bear on him that he finally consented if they should present a petition to him signed by a majority of the members of both house and senate. after many hours of labor they were able to comply with this condition and to furnish additional data to prove that the bill would pass both houses with large majorities. the governor did not submit it but he did submit the primary election bill, and the primary suffrage bill was immediately introduced by c. b. metcalfe of san angelo as an amendment to it. it passed the house march by a vote of to and the senate march by to , and was signed by governor hobby on march in the presence of mr. metcalfe, captain sackett, who also labored untiringly in its behalf, mrs. cunningham, mrs. doom, mrs. elizabeth speer and mrs. mccallum, members of the legislative committee. the handsome fountain pen was purchased for the occasion by mr. metcalfe and after the signing presented by him to mrs. cunningham. judge a. s. lattimore drafted the bill in and judge ocie speer of fort worth the one carried in .[ ] this law gave women the right to vote at all primary elections and in all nominating conventions and nominations are equivalent to an election, as there is practically but one party. as texas has two u. s. senators and representatives it gave the women votes for more members of congress than those of any other state possessed, and consequently for more presidential electors.[ ] the remaining days in march, all of april and a part of may were devoted by the suffragists to the liberty loan. the annual convention was held in austin may - . in order to concentrate the entire strength of the organization on war work the delegates agreed not to ask the legislature of to submit a constitutional amendment for full suffrage but the women would give whatever time they could spare to the federal amendment. the convention enthusiastically endorsed governor hobby for re-election and he addressed the delegates. it was resolved to vote only for candidates for the legislature who favored ratification and to send greetings and letters of appreciation to the "immortal six" texas representatives in congress who voted for the amendment the preceding january.[ ] decisions of importance were to work out a plan whereby women could be educated as to candidates and issues and the machinery of voting; to endeavor to bring out a heavy vote of women in the coming primaries and to organize non-partisan women voters' leagues. mrs. cunningham against her determined protest was re-elected president. the suffrage law did not go into effect until june , and, as the primary election was scheduled for july and registration had to cease fifteen days before, the women had only seventeen days in which to register. there was not time to assess and collect the poll tax requisite for voting and the legislature added to its good work by remitting it for the election in case of women. the suffrage association set to work to assist the new citizens. omitting only the words "official ballot," nearly half a million reproductions of the long, complicated ballot to be used in the july primaries were circulated; candidates' records were scrutinized; issues were studied; "schools of instruction" were conducted all over the state. women attending the first "schools" held others until practically the city women in every precinct, ward and block had been given the chance to vote intelligently if they so desired and the country women had similar opportunities. all the candidates for governor who stood for civic righteousness withdrew in favor of governor hobby when it became certain that ferguson would again be a candidate and the women organized hobby clubs and advertised ferguson's record. a strong campaign was also waged in behalf of the suffrage candidate for superintendent of public instruction, miss annie webb blanton. congressional candidates and those for the legislature came in for especial attention. thousands of women remained in the heat and dust all summer to help in the campaign. as a result approximately , women registered in the seventeen days--surely a convincing answer to the statement that "southern women do not want to vote." governor hobby was elected by an immense majority, as were miss blanton and all of the candidates who had been espoused by the new voters. in august women were heartily welcomed into the political conventions, the men urging their appointment on all committees and even passing resolutions of pleasure at having them participate! it was reported that out of county conventions endorsed woman suffrage in some form. in september, , at the state democratic convention in waco the women carried their demand for an endorsement of the federal suffrage amendment but not without strenuous opposition. in november the executive board of the state suffrage association unanimously passed a resolution emphasizing the one of its annual convention, that the legislature be requested to postpone a state referendum on woman suffrage until after the war. the thought of one under present conditions was appalling. a ratification committee which included the heads of practically all of the women's organizations of state-wide importance was formed. mrs. cunningham went to washington for the fourth time to assist the national congressional committee in the effort for a federal amendment. in january, , the state legislature met in regular session and the poll in both houses was entirely satisfactory in regard to ratifying the federal amendment. the lawmakers were so gratified at the part played by the women during the war and the "impeachment" that they were ready and anxious to grant anything wanted of them, in fact were disappointed that so little was asked. it was not deemed necessary to have a large lobby and only mrs. jessie daniel ames of georgetown came to austin to assist the chairman. a resolution offered by judge w. h. bledsoe of lubbock county and senator r. m. dudley of el paso county, which was enthusiastically adopted by both houses the second day of the session, after complimenting highly the voting of the women at the primaries, said: "resolved, that the united states senate is hereby respectfully but urgently requested to act immediately and favorably upon the woman suffrage amendment, which has already received proper recognition by the house of representatives; that such action is in full accordance with enlightened sentiment which sees no reason for further delay." unfortunately many friends, both men and women, were misled into believing that it would now be possible to win a complete suffrage victory in texas, although , real american voters were away on account of the war and thousands of aliens remained at home to vote. because of the delay in congress on the federal amendment both houses submitted by unanimous vote an amendment to the state constitution. it was handicapped by a "rider" which required full naturalization by every foreign-born man before he could vote, instead of merely his first papers as now. this ensured a negative vote from every alien. a telegram to washington summoned mrs. cunningham to return immediately and take command of the campaign, for it would be a herculean task to manage one successfully in less than three months' time in a state consisting of counties and the vote to be taken may . it was impossible for the state association to finance such a campaign and the national association, although disapproving of the referendum, contributed about $ , . president wilson sent a cablegram from paris urging the voters to give the amendment their support and the members of his administration used their influence in its favor. the state officials championed it and the party organization of the state and many in the counties put themselves behind it. all of the daily newspapers but one in the four largest cities advocated it. almost every minister labored earnestly for it, many of them preaching in favor of it. many excellent women engaged in the campaign, some of them even speaking on the street corners. the district, city and county chairmen of the state suffrage association totaled earnest, active women with whom the headquarters kept in close touch through letters, press bulletins, telephone and telegraph. these chairmen were the medium through which , , fliers and , copies of the _texas democrat_, an excellent paper edited for the occasion by dr. a. caswell ellis of the state university faculty, reached the voters. more than ninety small papers issued a four page suffrage supplement furnished them. the list of speakers included , names and almost no meeting or convention of any importance was held during the latter part of the three months that did not make room on its program for a talk on woman suffrage. on the other hand every nook and corner of the state was flooded with anti-suffrage literature, a great deal of it emanating from u. s. senator reed of missouri, of such a vile, insinuating character that when placed by the "antis" upon the desks of the legislators they quickly passed protesting resolutions with only five dissenting votes. these called attention to the splendid work of texas women during the war and their suffering at the absence and loss of their loved ones; declared that this literature was "nothing short of a slap in the face of these good women and of the members who passed, by a unanimous vote, the woman suffrage amendment," and said: "resolved that we go upon record as condemning the circulation of this character of literature and opposed to the sentiments expressed therein. we re-affirm our allegiance to the woman suffrage amendment ... and when we return to our homes we will do all in our power to secure the passage of this amendment." some of the most vicious literature was from a so-called "man's organization opposed to woman suffrage," with headquarters in selma, ala. former u. s. senator bailey, who had been residing in new york for some years, made a speaking tour of the state, assailing the amendment in the most vindictive manner.[ ] the women's national anti-suffrage association sent miss charlotte rowe of new york, who spoke and worked against the amendment. mrs. james w. wadsworth, jr., president of this association, accompanied by her husband, the u. s. senator, came into the state during the campaign and held some parlor meetings. she appointed mrs. james b. wells, wife of the political "boss of the borderland" at brownsville, to send out literature, speak where possible, etc. mrs. wells had headquarters in austin with mrs. darden and their work was done from there. the amendment failed but not because of their feeble efforts. it was opposed by the strongest political forces in texas, including the liquor interests. the vote was , ayes, , noes; defeated by a majority of , . in eleven days after this defeat--on june --the federal woman suffrage amendment was submitted by congress to the legislatures for ratification. both of the texas senators--charles a. culberson and morris sheppard--and nine representatives voted for it. ratification. governor hobby issued a call for a second special session of the legislature to convene june to consider other matters but the opening day found the suffragists on hand ready to ask for ratification. the "antis" were on hand also and while they were holding a conference in the driskill hotel to devise ways and means of obtaining a hearing before the house committee, resolution no. to ratify the amendment was read the first time in the house and referred to this committee. the "antis" came in just in time to learn that the committee had held its meeting, favorably reported the resolution and it had been made the special order of business for o'clock the next morning. all of this occurred before noon of the first day. speaker r. e. thomason was one of the most ardent supporters of the resolution and promptly on the hour it was brought up. as a poll of the house had shown that it was safe, the leaders decided not to choose between the dozens who wanted to speak in its behalf but to let the "antis" do the talking since the "pros" had the votes. the "father of the house," representative king of erath, alone spoke for it but the opponents talked until : p. m., when some one moved the previous question. the vote stood ayes, noes. as the senate committee hearing was set for o'clock there could be no thought of lunch but only to hurry to its room in the far removed wing of the capitol. that hearing can never be adequately described. ex-congressman robert w. henry and state senator j. c. mcnealus, fire-eating "antis," almost came to blows over the name of former governor ferguson, and miss rowe, the new york crusader, had a difficult time with questions. the chairman was instructed to report favorably and in the senate the real fight was on. the opposition tried every conceivable method to defer or defeat. heckling, threats, fervid oratory had no effect on the favoring senators. filibustering continued all through wednesday and thursday, except when the senate recessed to listen to governor brough of arkansas, who touched on the justice of suffrage for women in an effective manner. finally their swan song was due and came from senator w. a. johnston of houston, intimate friend of ex-senator bailey. senator paul page of bastrop ably led the fight in behalf of the resolution. on june , at p. m., it passed to third reading by a vote of to , with one pair and one absentee. that night the opposition tried to get enough senators out of town to break the quorum but the friendly members and the women "shadowed" the passengers on all out-going trains. on june by a viva voce vote the senate went on record as the ninth state to ratify the federal suffrage amendment, the actual strength being to , with one absent. lieutenant governor w. a. johnson proved his friendship and loyalty to the cause of woman suffrage by remaining in the chair constantly during the four days' contest. with the women of texas soon to be fully enfranchised the state equal suffrage association in october, , merged into the state league of women voters, with mrs. jessie daniel ames chairman.[ ] [laws. an excellent digest of the laws for women and children accompanied this chapter, showing considerable advance since a résumé was given in volume iv of the history of woman suffrage. the writer of the present chapter insists that they never were so unjust as there represented. the omission of the laws from this, as from the other state chapters for lack of space is a loss to the history.] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. jane y. mccallum, member of the executive board of the state equal suffrage association as chairman of the legislative committee, the ratification committee and the publicity committee. [ ] it is a matter of much regret that the dramatic account sent of this remarkable campaign must be omitted because of the pressing lack of space.--ed. [ ] see primary suffrage in arkansas chapter. [ ] judge f. g. chambliss of the th district court, who was defeated for reelection at this time, claimed that it was due to votes of women and brought suit in the th district court at corpus christi to test the legality of the primary law. judge v. m. taylor ruled that it was unconstitutional. in another case an injunction was sought to restrain the tax collector of mclennan county from issuing poll tax receipts to women. the appellate and supreme courts upheld the constitutionality of the law. [ ] the speech of morris sheppard delivered in the u. s. senate aug. , , was one of the strongest arguments ever made for the federal suffrage amendment.--ed. [ ] after women got the primary vote mr. bailey returned to texas and announced himself a candidate for governor. he was overwhelmingly defeated at the primaries and his comment was: "the women and the preachers did it." [ ] the following women besides those mentioned have held office in the association since : mesdames tex armstrong, anna b. cade, a. o. critchett, john davis, walter l. fordtran, mary herndon gray, goodrich jones, lindley miller keasbey, helen moore, elizabeth stribling maury, jane yelvington mccallum, sterling myer, elizabeth herndon, dwight edward potter, ella pomeroy, e. b. reppert, l. e. walker, robert aeneas watt; misses mary fowler bornefield, irelene dewitt, marin b. fenwick, kate hunter, a. a. stuart, hettie d. m. wallis. chapter xliii. utah.[ ] the results of equal suffrage in utah for fifty years-- - --with an unavoidable interim of eight years, have demonstrated the sanity and poise of women in the exercise of their franchise. the mormon women had had long training, for from the founding of their church by joseph smith in they had a vote in its affairs. although the territory of wyoming was the first to give the suffrage to women--in november, --the legislature of utah followed in january, , and the bill was signed by governor s. a. mann february . women voted at the regular election the next august and there was no election in wyoming until september, so those of utah had the distinction of being the pioneer women voters in the united states and there were over five times as many women in utah as in wyoming. the story of how their suffrage was taken away by an act of congress in and how it was restored in full by the men of utah when they made their constitution for statehood in and adopted it by a vote of ten to one is related in detail in volume iv of the history of woman suffrage. the women have voted since then in large numbers, filled many offices and been a recognized political influence for the benefit of the state. the large and active territorial woman suffrage association held annual conventions until after it succeeded in gaining the franchise. in , during a visit of mrs. carrie chapman catt to salt lake city, a meeting was called and steps taken to form a utah council of women to assist the suffrage movement in other states and mrs. emily s. richards was made president. this council, composed of mormons and non-mormons, continued in existence for twenty years. for the first ten years there were monthly meetings and also special and committee meetings and prominent speakers addressed the annual gatherings, eulogizing and commemorating the lives and labors of the suffrage pioneers throughout the union. whenever the national american suffrage association called for financial aid it responded liberally. the suffrage having been gained it was hard to keep up the interest and after meetings were held only at the call of the president for the purpose of carrying out the wishes of the national suffrage association, at whose conventions the council was always represented by delegates. in - , when the association was collecting its monster petition to congress, the council obtained , names as utah's quota. the official personnel remained practically the same from . that noble exponent of the best there is in womanhood, mrs. emily s. richards, preserved the spirit and genius of the council, which recognized no party and whose members cast their votes for good men and measures without undue partisan bias. she was sustained by its capable and resourceful secretary, mrs. elizabeth m. cohen, and both maintained a non-partisan attitude in the conduct of the council. the officers were: emmeline b. wells, member national executive committee; elizabeth a. hayward, mrs. ira d. wines, dr. jane skolfield and mrs. b. t. pyper, vice-presidents; anna t. piercey, assistant secretary; hannah s. lapish, treasurer. as territory and state, every county, every town, every precinct has been served faithfully and well by women in various positions. it would be impossible to name all who have done yeoman service during the past years but the three women who have meant more than all others to the suffrage cause are mrs. sarah m. kimball, who was appointed by brigham young and eliza r. snow as the standard bearer of that cause in the late ' 's and who maintained her active hold upon politics until about , when her able first lieutenant, mrs. emmeline b. wells, took up the work dropped by the aged hands of mrs. kimball. she in turn carried the banner of equal civic freedom aloft, assisted by mrs. richards, until she relinquished it in and mrs. richards became the standard bearer. many other splendid women have labored assiduously in this cause. in legislative matters a committee from the council has worked during every session since with associated committees from the other large organizations of women, the powerful relief society, the young ladies' mutual improvement association and the federated clubs leading in all good movements. results in the enactment of welfare laws for women and children have been very gratifying. the women's committees of the various organizations meet at the state capitol during the legislative sessions and go over very carefully every bill in which they are interested. if after investigation a bill meets with their approval it is endorsed and every effort is made to secure its passage. from to the women's legislative committee secured copies of laws already in successful operation in other states and framed bills to meet their own needs. these were always submitted to two young lawyers, dan b. shields and carl badger, who corrected any flaws which might jeopardize their constitutionality. among the women who comprise these committees are mrs. cohen, chairman, miss sarah mclelland of the relief society; mrs. adella w. eardley and mrs. julia brixen of the y. l. m. i. a.; mrs. richards and mrs. hayward of the suffrage council; mrs. c. m. mcmahon, president, mrs. peter a. simpkin, mrs. a. v. taylor and mrs. seldon i. clawson, members of the federation of women's clubs. in many legislatures since statehood there have been women members and their work has been along expected lines. in , the year utah was admitted to the union, dr. martha hughes cannon was elected to the state senate, the first woman in the united states to receive that honor. several women were elected to the lower house then and others in the years following. needed reform measures were secured by mrs. mary g. coulter, who sat in the lower house and was made chairman of the judiciary committee in . there was a long interim when no women were sent to the legislature but in four were elected, mrs. annie wells cannon, dr. skolfield, mrs. elizabeth ellerbeck reid and mrs. annie h. king. they were instrumental in securing the mothers' pension law and the minimum wage law and through mrs. cannon the bureau of emigration labor was provided with a woman deputy to look after the women and children workers. utah already had an equal guardianship law but largely through the efforts of mrs. cannon it was improved and is now regarded as a model and has been copied by other states. she is a representative daughter of mrs. wells. in mrs. elizabeth a. hayward and mrs. lily c. wolstenholme were elected and to the former the improved child labor law must be credited. in she was re-elected and dr. grace stratton airy and mrs. daisy c. allen became members of the lower house. during - laws raising the age of protection for girls to and requiring equal pay for equal work were enacted. mrs. hayward, at the request of the women's legislative council, introduced the resolution calling on congress to submit the federal amendment. in she was elected state senator. in dr. airy was re-elected and mrs. anna g. piercy and mrs. delora blakely were elected to the lower house. altogether there have been thirteen women members of the legislature. no state has better laws relating to women and children than utah. it has been difficult to persuade the women to stand for important offices. the modern furious pace set by campaigners and the severance of home ties for long periods are not alluring to wives and mothers but they find many public activities through which to exercise their executive abilities. they sit on the boards of many state and local institutions and serve on committees for civic and educational work. a considerable number have filled and are now filling city and county offices. mrs. l. m. crawford has a responsible position in the office of the state land board. mrs. mcvickar was state superintendent of schools. in a new department was added to the office of the adjutant general to secure pensions for those veterans who had served in the early indian wars of utah. mrs. elizabeth m. cohen was given custody of the old indian war records and was named commissioner of pensions. in order to prove the claims of these men and women she cooperated with the pension bureau at washington, d. c. up to date out of a possible , whose claims have merit nearly pensions have been granted, bringing into the state the sum of $ , . when brigham young established those monuments to his name, the brigham young university of provo and the brigham young college of logan in he placed women on their boards. mrs. martha j. coray of provo served ten years for the former and professor ida m. cook for the latter. mrs. gates was made a trustee of the university in , which position she still occupies, while her sister, mrs. zina young card, has been a trustee since . mrs. gates was on the board of the state agricultural college - . mrs. a. w. mccune was on this board ten years, seven of them its vice-president. mrs. rebecca m. little, mrs. antoinette b. kinney and dr. belle a. gummel have been regents of the university. professor maude may babcock has been dean of physical education and expression since and a trustee since . her culture and personality have left an indelible impress on the history of this state. from the beginning women have allied themselves with the different political parties, occasionally uniting on a great issue like that of prohibition. from the time they were enfranchised by the state constitution they have received the recognition of the parties. in women were sent as delegates and alternates to both national presidential conventions and mrs. cohen seconded the nomination of william jennings bryan. a number were sent in following years. in mrs. margaret zane cherdron was a delegate and a presidential elector, carrying the vote to washington. she was one of the two received by president taft and was royally entertained while in the capital. among other women who have acted as delegates and alternates since are mrs. william h. jones, mrs. hayward, mrs. sarah ventrees, mrs. gates, mrs. lucy a. clark, mrs. b. t. pyper, mrs. l. m. crawford, mrs. alice e. paddison. women have their representation on all political committees--mrs. hayward is a member of the democratic national committee--and their participation in politics is accepted without question. there are about , more women voters than men voters. as a rule about per cent. of the women vote and about per cent. of the men, as some of the latter are in the mines or out of the state for various reasons. among the republican leaders are mrs. wells, mrs. gates, mrs. cherdron, mrs. jannette a. hyde, mrs. cannon, mrs. wolstenholm, mrs. loufborough, mrs. william spry, mrs. reed smoot; mrs. martha b. keeler of provo and mrs. georgina g. marriott of ogden. the democratic party has had among its leading women mrs. richards, mrs. alice merrill horne, mrs. cohen, mrs. hayward, gwen lewis little, mrs. piercy, mrs. s. s. smith, mrs. annice dee, mrs. inez knight allen and miss alice reynolds. no state exceeded utah in the proportion of the work done by women during the world war. mrs. clarissa smith williams was the unanimous choice for chairman of the state branch of the woman's council of national defense. she was eminently fitted for this position through her long experience as first counsellor to mrs. emmeline b. wells, head of the relief society, and every demand of the government was fully met. ratification. at the request of the suffrage council and without urging, governor simon bamberger called a special session of the legislature for sept. , , to ratify the federal suffrage amendment submitted the preceding june. the resolution was presented by senator elizabeth a. hayward and was ratified unanimously by both houses within thirty minutes. the governor signed it without delay. the women and the legislature had helped in every possible way to secure the amendment and the entire utah delegation in congress had voted for it. a striking event in the train of possible fruitful activities left behind was the visit of the great leader, mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american suffrage association, with her able young assistants, who came to utah for nov. - , . she was accompanied by dr. valerie parker and mrs. jean nelson penfield, chairmen in the national league of women voters, and miss marjorie shuler, director of publicity for the national association. the convention, held in the assembly hall, was in charge of the suffrage council, its president, mrs. richards, assisted by mrs. cohen and mrs. e. e. corfman. a long and valuable program was carried out. mrs. catt spoke in the tabernacle on sunday afternoon, introduced by president charles w. penrose with a glowing tribute to her power as a leader, to the sincerity and womanliness of her character and to the catholicity of her vision and sympathy. there were banquets, teas and receptions. at the close of the convention the suffrage council, which had rendered such splendid service for the past twenty years, was merged into the state league of women voters and mrs. richards willingly resigned her leadership to its chairman, mrs. clesson s. kinney. on feb. , , a jubilee celebration was held in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the woman suffrage bill by the territorial governor s. a. mann. there was also celebrated the granting of the complete franchise by the immense majority of the voters in . utah celebrated in salt lake city august , with a great demonstration, the triumph of woman suffrage in the united states through the ratification of the federal amendment, which had been proclaimed august . it was introduced with an impressive parade led by bands of music and the program of ceremonies was carried out on the steps of the state capitol. governor bamberger, former governor heber m. wells, congressman e. o. leatherwood and mayor c. clarence neslen joined the women in congratulatory addresses. mrs. richards, mrs. hannah lapish and mrs. lydia alder, veteran suffragists, told of the early struggles and mrs. beulah storrs lewis appealed to women to keep high the standard in order to lead men out of the darkness of war into the light of brotherly love and make ready for world peace. mrs. annie wells cannon and mrs. susa young gates were appointed to send a telegram of congratulation to mrs. catt. the celebration was under the auspices of the league of women voters, whose chairman, mrs. kinney, presided. the most impressive figure on the platform was president emmeline b. wells, years old, who had voted since and who had labored all these years for this glorious achievement. what those dim eyes had seen of history in the making, what those old ears had heard and what that clear brain had conceived and carried out only her close associates knew. she was the incarnate figure of tender, delicate, eternally determined womanhood, arrived and triumphant. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. susa young gates, member of the general board of the woman's relief society and editor of the relief society's magazine since it was established in and historian of the activities of utah women. chapter xliv. vermont.[ ] the first convention to consider woman suffrage took place in vermont in , when a state association was formed, and others were held regularly to the end of the century, with the cooperation of the massachusetts association. at the convention held in waterbury center june , , , henry b. blackwell of boston, editor of the _woman's journal_, was the chief speaker. mrs. carrie chapman catt, the new president of the national american woman suffrage association, sent a letter of helpful suggestions. petitions for a federal suffrage amendment were forwarded to congress. during this and the following years the _woman's journal_ was sent to members of the legislature; a column prepared from that paper was sent to every editor in the state and much literature was distributed, the woman's christian temperance union assisting. the convention of met in rochester june , . the speakers were mr. blackwell, professor w. l. burdick, the rev. george l. story, miss eliza eaton, miss blanche dunham and mrs. laura kezer, president of the w. c. t. u. the convention congratulated women of the methodist episcopal church on their admission as delegates to the general conference, the vermont conference having voted for it unanimously. in the convention met at west concord june , , among the speakers being miss mary n. chase, president of the new hampshire suffrage association, and mr. blackwell, who never missed a convention.[ ] the state baptist association went on record this year in favor of women voting on license and prohibition and the universalist church convention endorsed equal suffrage. in the convention was held at barton june , , with mrs. ida porter boyer, a national organizer, among the speakers. the convention of went to woodstock, june , , and was addressed by the rev. harry l. and mrs. canfield, suffrage leaders there, and many others. it was announced that mrs. dorcas mcclelan of glover had left a bequest of $ to the association. a "composition" entitled female education, written by a pupil in a woodstock school in , now mrs. harriet walker of denver, years old, was read and much enjoyed. the convention of took place in springfield june , . during the year , copies of opinions on equal suffrage by vermont men and women had been distributed and the _woman's journal_ placed in twelve libraries. a memorial service was held for mrs. mary a. livermore, a life long suffragist. in the convention was held at brattleboro june , , with a long list of state speakers, including six clergymen. a memorial service with tributes of appreciation was held for miss susan b. anthony. burlington entertained the convention june , , , which had the privilege of hearing mayor w. j. bigelow, dr. anna howard shaw, now president of the national association, and state representative h. h. shaw of burlington. mr. blackwell presented a fine portrait of his wife, lucy stone. four prominent state workers had died during the year, the hon. henry ballard, c. w. wyman, miss carolyn scott and miss laura moore, the latter for twenty-two years secretary of the state association, its leader and inspirer. she was known at the capitol as "the saint of barnet" and u. s. senator carroll s. page once said: "if the cause of equal suffrage should ever prevail in vermont it will be largely because of the seed sown by laura moore." miss scott, her companion and co-worker, who passed away in her d year, left a bequest of $ , to the association. at the convention in rutland oct. , , , among the speakers were the reverend mary traffern whitney and mrs. annette w. parmelee, state superintendent of press. the association voted to become auxiliary to the national association. a letter was read from former governor fletcher d. proctor, declaring himself in favor of the movement and willing to assist it. signatures to the suffrage petition this year included the names of governor george h. prouty, lieutenant governor john abner mead and secretary of state guy bailey. in the convention held at barre june , , decided to concentrate its efforts on a state constitutional amendment to be voted on in . a press report of the convention said: "henry b. blackwell, although years of age, is a commanding figure and his voice as it rings forth in tones of conviction is more like that of a man in his prime than of one who has passed his four-score milestone." it therefore was a great shock when the news came on september that this far-visioned leader had passed from earth. the state suffragists owed him a debt of gratitude which could only be repaid by carrying forward his life work. in and the association so sadly bereft by death held no convention but the work did not cease. miss chase, now a national organizer, formed new leagues; mrs. parmelee sent out , pieces of mail, circularized the clergy, conducted thirty-seven debates, wrote newspaper articles, furnished leaflets to ninety w. c. t. u. units, sent _woman's journals_ to every graded school and every library in the state and circulated literature at the county fairs. she also prepared a leaflet, seventeen reasons why women should vote, wrote and superintended the production of a play entitled a mock session of the legislature and spoke at legislative sessions, churches, granges and parlor meetings. she was ably assisted in this work by the secretary, mrs. canfield, who had charge of the large vermont and new hampshire tent at the state fair at white river junction, where speeches were made, literature distributed and signatures obtained. fourteen speakers were kept busy. the pastors of all the churches in the state were circularized and as a rule were sympathetic.[ ] in the convention was held at montpelier on june , with professor george b. cox of dartmouth college; attorney j. h. senter and dr. j. edward wright among the speakers. at woodstock a big suffrage "rally" was held with dr. harvey w. wiley of washington as chief speaker. mrs. frances rastall, recently appointed state congressional chairman by the national association, organized a congressional committee in every county. at the convention in rochester june , , , mrs. emily chaffee of detroit, mich., and many state speakers made addresses. mrs. julia pierce, the state president, handsomely entertained speakers and delegates at her home. at st. albans a successful "rally" with mrs. marian booth kelly as speaker was held. in the convention was held in burlington november , , and the city hall was crowded at the evening meetings. mrs. beatrice forbes robertson hale of new york and mrs. maud wood park of boston were the out-of-town speakers and representative e. p. jose of johnson headed the state coterie. conforming to plans sent out by the national association, "suffrage day" had been observed may in burlington with an address by mayor james e. burke. the convention which met at springfield oct. , , , received a royal welcome. american flags and suffrage banners were suspended across the streets and the stores were decorated with yellow. a reception and banquet were given by mr. and mrs. w. d. woolson at mucross park. among the speakers were miss alice stone blackwell, arthur p. howard, editor of _the advance_; the hon. james hartness, dr. grace sherwood and representative h. e. taylor. mrs. pierce, having served six years as president, asked to be released and was made honorary president for life. mrs. lucia e. blanchard was elected in her place. the convention deplored the opposing attitude of congressman frank greene and of u. s. senator william p. dillingham, who had declared himself "unalterably opposed" to the federal suffrage amendment, and it commended the stand of congressman porter dale. among public officials declaring themselves favorable were u. s. marshal horace w. bailey, dr. guy potter benton, president of the university of vermont, and j. n. barss, superintendent of the state industrial school. on march , , mrs. rastall called a congressional conference in burlington. mrs. catt, national president, and mrs. susan w. fitzgerald of boston addressed a large audience. the day sessions were at the city hall and the mass meeting at the strong theater. during the autumn a delegation of suffragists called on u. s. senator carroll s. page of hyde park to urge his support of the federal suffrage amendment. they were graciously received, entertained at luncheon at the inn and reported themselves as "pleased with the interview." in november the national association sent mrs. augusta hughston, one of its organizers, for a month's field work, paying all expenses, and eighteen clubs were formed with officers and active committees. in the convention was held at st. albans june , , with the usual list of good speakers. mrs. lilian h. olzendam was employed as state organizer. a resolution was passed condemning the methods of the "militant" suffragists. it was reported that after an address by mrs. rastall at the state conference of the federation of labor at bellows falls august , , woman suffrage was endorsed unanimously. in accordance with the plans of the national association to strengthen the situation wherever there were opposing members of congress, and to assist in bringing pressure on senator dillingham, mrs. halsey w. wilson, its recording secretary, was sent to vermont in july, , and also miss marjorie shuler, its director of field publicity, who spent two weeks, speaking, interviewing editors and building up favorable press sentiment. the convention was held at burlington july , and was addressed by mrs. wilson, mrs. a. l. bailey, state president; mrs. joanna croft read, state secretary, and dr. alice wakefield. a resolution was adopted thanking senator page for his promise to support the federal suffrage amendment. senator dillingham still remained obdurate and mrs. wilson returned to meet with the executive board august at montpelier, after which mrs. bailey, mrs. read, mrs. parmelee, mrs. olzendam and mrs. wilson called on him by appointment to appeal for his vote. he was very courteous but gave them no encouragement. mrs. wilson remained for three weeks conferring with and assisting the workers. in november, at the expense of the national association, mrs. hughston spent three weeks doing valuable field work. in january, , mrs. wilson again returned to assist the board during the legislative session, remaining until after the convention, which was held at burlington march , . the speakers were mrs. catt, mrs. wilson, dr. marion horton, the new state president; city attorney hamilton s. peck, miss bernice tuttle, president of the child welfare bureau; mrs. anna hawkes putnam, state chairman of the woman's division of the national council of defense; mrs. m. d. chittenden, president of the state y. w. c. a., and others. mrs. parmelee gave an account of the work for woman suffrage in vermont and its courageous leaders during the past thirty-six years and the reasons why bills were voted down in the legislature. ratification. on june , , the federal suffrage amendment was submitted to the legislatures for ratification and a survey showed that vermont's would probably be necessary to make the needed . mrs. halsey wilson returned for consultation with the state leaders and an intensive effort was begun which continued for more than a year. mrs. olzendam, chairman of ratification, not only obtained enough favorable pledges from the members to ratify but an agreement by a majority to pay their own expenses, and give their time for a special session. it was soon evident, however, that governor percival w. clement was determined not to call one. every possible influence was brought to bear on him but he based his refusal on the ground that it would be unconstitutional. by march, , states had ratified and it seemed that the th would have to be vermont or connecticut, whose governor also had refused to call a special session. an ingenious demonstration was decided on, which was made possible by a contribution of $ , from the leslie suffrage commission. an interview of vermont women with the governor was arranged by a good friend of suffrage, major harvey goodell, secretary of civil and military affairs. on april , a remarkable deputation of women arrived in montpelier, representing twelve of the fourteen counties, loyal, ardent soldiers, overcoming the obstacles of long distances, almost impassable roads and poor train service, many coming from towns where there were no trains and where they must plow through deep snow and over muddy and rocky roads, one woman walking five miles. led by mrs. olzendam in a cold, drenching rain they marched through the streets and up the steps of the capitol and took their places before the governor's chair. one by one, fourteen speakers presented the case in a few sentences. it was a notable demonstration in size, enthusiasm and determination. it had been arranged that letters and telegrams should arrive the day before, the day of and the day following the visit and his excellency received , communications in three days. governor clement's only response was that he did not wish to make a decision at present. in may, , the state republican convention, with the governor seated on the platform, passed a resolution urging him to call a special session, saying: "we have full faith and confidence that the voters of the state, regardless of party affiliation, would cordially approve and endorse the ratification of the federal suffrage amendment." the state suffrage convention met in the roof garden of the tavern, st. albans, july , , in a rousing convention. governor john h. bartlett of new hampshire, which had ratified, was the guest of honor, attending by special request of will hays, chairman of the national republican committee. he had consulted governor clement about coming, who answered: "i shall be glad to have you. regret i shall be unable to hear you." miss katharine ludington, chairman of the connecticut league of women voters, and miss julia a. hinaman, its press chairman, were among the speakers. mayor charles a. buck extended the freedom of the city and mrs. read, acting president, responded. on the platform were a large number of prominent vermont men and women. the report of mrs. olzendam described the strenuous efforts of the women of the state for an extra session, acknowledging the assistance of miss ann batchelder, mrs. vida m. chase and others and thanking mrs. wilson, mrs. raymond brown, fourth vice-president, and miss shuler, of the national association; mrs. sara algeo, president of the woman suffrage party of rhode island, and miss winifred brown of utah for their help. the delegates expressed in applause and in words their high appreciation of mrs. olzendam's work. a resolution was passed at an evening mass meeting calling upon governor clement to summon a special session in order that vermont might have the honor of being the th state to ratify. just before the convention the governor went to washington and the press dispatches of july told of a long talk he had that day with president-elect harding. both men admitted in interviews that the calling of a special session in vermont had been discussed. senator harding said he told the governor he would be very glad to see this done but made plain his desire not to interfere with the governor's prerogatives. governor clement frankly admitted that he had been urged by senator harding, chairman hays and other republican leaders to give an early call but made the stereotyped excuses. nevertheless the press generally expressed the opinion that he would yield. on the contrary he returned home and on july issued an official proclamation in which he made the assertion that "the federal constitution in its present form threatened the foundation of free popular government; the th amendment, providing for a federal income tax, was lobbied through congress and state legislatures by federal agents and the th amendment for federal prohibition was forced through by paid agents of irresponsible organizations with unlimited funds." to what he called the proposal to "force through the th amendment for woman suffrage in the same manner," he said: "i will never be a party to any proceeding which proposes to change the organic law of the state without the consent of the people." "the national constitution," he said, "threatens free popular government alike as it stands and as it is interpreted by the supreme court. its decision leaves the people at the mercy of any group of men who may lobby a proposal for a change in it through congress and then through the legislatures." mrs. carrie chapman catt, national president, issued an open letter to the governor in the course of which she said: in order that this generation of your fellowmen and posterity also may not misunderstand your position, the national american woman suffrage association urges you to supplement your proclamation with answers to the following questions: do you challenge the fact which has stood unchallenged for years that the federal constitution is the supreme law of this land and supersedes all state constitutions whenever the two are in conflict? do you know that on jan. , , vermont ratified that constitution, although she had one of her own, and by so doing accepted the precedence of the federal constitution and by that act was admitted into the union? if you do know these facts of common knowledge why did you throw over your refusal to call a special session the camouflage of a dissertation about the alleged conflict between the vermont and federal constitutions which has nothing whatever to do with the calling of a special session of your legislature?... do you not know that when a legislature acts upon a federal constitutional amendment it draws its authority from the federal and not from the state constitution, and that the governor has no responsible part in the transaction except as custodian of the amendment when it comes from the federal secretary of state and returns to him with the certificate of ratification? then why profess such a burden of personal responsibility in the matter? you pretend to fear "an invasion of state's rights" and take upon yourself the responsibility of preserving "the foundations of free popular government." then why did you veto the presidential suffrage bill passed by the legislature of vermont in , which was strictly a state action and conferred the vote upon the women of vermont alone?... your national party convention in called for completion of ratification in time for women to vote for the next president. your party's national committee in the interim of conventions took action three times--once asking congress to submit the amendment; once favoring early ratification and once calling upon republican governors to call special sessions in order that ratification might proceed. your state party convention, your party's state committee, your state legislature, hundreds of vermont women, the chairman of the national republican committee and the chairman of your state republican committee, the candidate for president of your party--all have asked you to call a special session.... you owe it to the republican party and to the world to explain your assumption of an authority that belongs to your party leaders. by what right do you make this assumption? governor clement, tell it all!" the total cost of the efforts to secure a special session was $ , , of which the national association paid $ , and the leslie woman suffrage commission $ , .[ ] following the convention of the state association at st. albans, july , , , miss ludington explained the purpose of the national league of women voters and the association was dissolved and a state league organized with mrs. lilian olzendam chairman. the vermont suffrage association was fortunate in always having the support of other state organizations, the woman's christian temperance union, grange, federation of labor, teachers' association, federation of women's clubs, young women's christian association and, in the closing years, of all political parties. among other noted speakers from outside the state not mentioned were professor charles zueblin, mrs. florence kelley and mrs. susan s. fessenden, president of the massachusetts w. c. t. u. over fifty clergymen of various denominations gave active assistance.[ ] legislative action. from to a bill to give municipal suffrage to taxpaying women was regularly introduced in the legislature only to be defeated. . the town and municipal suffrage bill in the senate was defeated by to ; in the house by to . a presidential suffrage bill received only six votes. a bill permitting women to vote on the license question was defeated by to . petitions with , signatures had been presented for these various measures. . the municipal suffrage bill was reported favorably to the house by c. c. fitts, chairman of the committee, but was refused third reading by to . on november it was introduced in the senate, reported favorably by committee chairman j. emery buxton and passed without debate with three opposing votes. when on december it came again before the house for reconsideration it was ordered to a third reading by to but the next day was defeated by to . . a bill to substitute the word "person" for "male" in the statutes came before the house october , was ordered to third reading by to and passed the following day by to . this majority aroused the massachusetts society opposed to the further extension of suffrage to women and an officer, mrs. a. j. george of brookline, was sent to try to defeat the bill. she was coolly received and found it so impossible to convince the members that she was not an emissary of the liquor interests that she failed to obtain even a hearing before the committee. her coming stirred the suffrage forces and a telegram was sent to the _woman's journal_ of boston asking for help and miss alice stone blackwell, the editor, and mrs. maud wood park responded. a public hearing was granted by the senate committee and people from all over the state were present. nine legislators and members of the association spoke for the bill. not one opponent appeared. in the senate it failed by three votes, many who were pledged to it deserting. . legislative committee chairman - , mrs. annette w. parmelee, spoke at the hearing on the municipal suffrage bill, which was defeated in the senate by to . during the final debate mrs. parmelee wrote down the disgusting remarks made by some of the opponents and their consternation was great when these were published. this bill for years was termed the "football." . the legislative chairman sent an official letter to frank e. partridge, chairman of the commission to propose amendments to the state constitution, which can only be done once in ten years, asking that suffrage for women be among the proposals considered. the letter was read may , , before the commission--frank l. greene, a. m. fletcher, w. n. cady and m. g. leary, but received no attention. . the legislative chairman was assisted by chaplain a. w. ford. in the official record suffrage was spelled "sufferage." the municipal suffrage bill was introduced in the house and the suffragists asked for a hearing but the date was changed three times and the final one left no time for summoning speakers. at the request of judge h. s. peck the house resolved itself into a committee of the whole and the senate came in. the northfield cadets, the burlington high school and several hundred visitors attended the hearing and gave close attention to mrs. parmelee for an hour. a large number of members spoke for and against the bill. an anti-suffrage newspaper in referring to it said: "its killing will make a roman holiday for ladies' week." it was refused a third reading by to . a bill permitting women to vote on the liquor question aroused the stormiest debate of the session and the speaker split his desk trying to preserve order. it was definitely settled that the legislature would pass no woman suffrage bills. . the legislative committee was mrs. frances rastall, miss fanny b. fletcher, mrs. j. b. estee and mrs. parmelee and the bill was to add the words "and female" in the statutes. on october at a hearing held in representatives hall, which was filled to overflowing, the following made addresses in favor: miss anne rhodes of new york; mrs. agnes m. jenks of new hampshire; miss mabel foster of washington, d. c.; mrs. rastall, mrs. charles van patten, mrs. parmelee, senators darling, jose, and the rev. clifford smith, superintendent of the state anti-saloon league. those speaking in opposition were: mrs. e. d. brooks brown, who presented an "anti" petition; miss minnie bronson, secretary of the national anti-suffrage association; mrs. m. h. buckham, mrs. george w. wales, miss lillian peck, mrs. t. j. deavitt and senator d. c. hawley. it was defeated as usual. a bill which gave women the same right as men to vote in town meetings on all matters relating to taxation and the raising and appropriation of money passed the senate but was not considered by the house. . mrs. amanda seaver served as the "watchman on the tower," her husband being a member of the legislature, and she was assisted by mrs. wyman and mrs. taylor. a public hearing on the bill for municipal and presidential suffrage was held january . a large audience in representatives hall listened to a convincing address by mrs. antoinette funk of chicago, a member of the congressional committee of the national association. mrs. wyman closed the hearing with an effective speech. opportunity was given for the opponents but although a large delegation of them from burlington was present, no one spoke. mrs. george of massachusetts and john a. matthews, a member of the new jersey legislature, were the anti-suffrage speakers february at a largely attended senate hearing. the vote in the senate was to ; in the house the bill was loaded with amendments and a third reading was refused by to . . dr. grace sherwood was legislative chairman. six bills giving various kinds of suffrage to women were introduced and every trick that legal minds could devise was employed to retard or defeat their passage but nevertheless one was passed, which was introduced by representative ernest e. moore. it provided that "a female citizen, years of age, who has taken the freeman's oath ... and whose taxes were paid prior to the th day of february preceding town meeting, shall while residing in such town be a voter in town meeting." hearings were held february , , and march , . there were speakers in favor, of them women; opposed, of them women. the speaker, stanley g. allson, instead of asking the usual question "shall the bill pass?" put the question "shall the bill be rejected?" several members were caught by the trick and voted the opposite of what they intended but four changed their votes--hardy of guildhall, hayden of barton, hooper of hardwick and bliss of georgia, just enough to carry it. it passed the house march by to , and the senate march by to . it was signed by governor horace f. graham march . vermont thus had the honor of leading all eastern states in adopting a town and municipal suffrage bill permitting tax paying women to vote and hold office. . mrs. halsey w. wilson, its recording secretary, was sent by the national association to assist the state executive board during the legislative session. a bill introduced by senator carr of caledonia to repeal the municipal suffrage act was promptly defeated. effort was now concentrated on the presidential suffrage bill, which was introduced january . the senate passed it by a vote of to and sent it to the house, where it was first read on january and referred to the committee on suffrage and elections, which reported in favor. the bill was read the second time and several motions to defeat it were made by representative hopkins of burlington but all were lost and the third reading was ordered by a vote of ayes, noes. at a hearing february the following spoke in favor: dr. sherwood, mrs. fred blanchard, mrs. joanna croft read, senators steele, vilas and m. j. hapgood; in opposition, senators carr and felton, miss margaret emerson, mrs. wayne read, mrs. h. c. humphrey, david conant, representatives o'dowd, cudworth and hopkins. on february the bill passed by ayes, noes. governor percival w. clement vetoed it in march on the ground of unconstitutionality, though eight legislatures had passed a similar bill without question and illinois women had voted under one in . the state suffrage convention was in session at burlington and immediately on its adjournment march mrs. carrie chapman catt, the national president, and fifteen of the delegates went to montpelier, where mrs. catt addressed the legislature. the senate reconsidered the bill and passed it over the veto. on march the speaker laid before the house an extended communication from governor clements giving in detail his reasons for failing to approve the bill. it was then read and representative tracy moved that it be made a special order for the following thursday, which was agreed to by ayes, noes. at that time the question, "will the house pass the bill notwithstanding the objections of the governor?" was decided in the negative by noes, ayes. the next year the women were fully enfranchised by the federal amendment. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. annette w. parmelee, state superintendent of press, state secretary and state historian for the vermont woman suffrage association. [ ] among those who addressed the annual conventions during the years were the reverends a. m. smith, j. a. dixon, f. e. adams, verdi mack, j. borden estee, george b. lamson, t. l. massock, e. t. matthison, e. m. h. abbott, c. j. staples, o. m. owen, eugene haines, m. t. merrill, charles a. pennoyer; hon. james f. hooker, dr. m. v. b. knox, attorney e. b. flynn, colonel g. c. childs, professor cox, martin vilas, mr. woolson and f. g. fleetwood; mesdames canfield, kidder, flanders, julia a. pierce, c. j. clark, m. v. b. knox, louisa m. slocum, inez campbell, mary e. tucker, laura kezer, g. e. davidson, m. s. margum, e. b. lund, juliette rublee, amanda seaver, frances rastall wyman, frances hand, elizabeth van patten, l. m. benedict, o. c. ashton, edgar moore, h. b. shaw, dr. sue h. howard; misses mary e. purple, grace robinson, margaret allen, fanny fletcher, emilia houghton, eliza eaton, carolyn scott. [ ] this year miss lou j. c. daniels, a liberal contributor to the suffrage association, her family the largest taxpayers in grafton, where they had a summer home, was indignant to learn that the representative of her district had voted against the suffrage bill in the legislature. she sent a written protest and refusal to pay her taxes, whereupon an official served papers on her and several shares of stock in the bellows falls national bank were attached and sold at auction. the bank declared it illegal and declined to honor the sale. the matter aroused discussion throughout the state and surrounding country. when the town elected a representative who supported woman suffrage she considered the lesson sufficient and paid her taxes. [ ] governor clement retired from office dec. , , and was succeeded by governor james hartness. the legislature met in regular session in january, . the resolution to ratify the federal suffrage amendment was read in the house for the third time on january and passed by ayes, noes, french, stowell and peake of bristol. on february it passed the senate unanimously. [ ] presidents of the state association from to not already mentioned were elizabeth colley; c. d. spencer; the rev. a. m. smith; mrs. a. d. chandler; the hon. james hutchinson; mrs. frances rastall wyman; dr. grace sherwood. secretaries: miss laura moore ( - ); mrs. fatima davidson; the rev. verdi mack; the rev. mary t. whitney; mrs. annette w. parmelee; mrs. jeannette pease; mrs. annie c. taylor; miss emilia houghton; mrs. amanda seaver; miss marguerite allen; miss ann batchelder; mrs. james a. merrill. chapter xlv. virginia.[ ] the earliest record of woman suffrage in virginia bears the name of mrs. hannah lee corbin of gloucester county, whose protest in against taxation without representation was answered by a letter from her brother, richard henry lee ("lighthorse harry"), who wrote that in his opinion under the clause in the constitution which gave the vote to householders she could exercise the suffrage. there had been a suffrage organization in virginia in , of which mrs. orra langhorne, a pioneer worker, had been president. when the state equal suffrage league was organized, miss laura clay of kentucky gave to it a trust fund of $ . which had been left in the treasury and mrs. langhorne had requested her to give to a virginia league when one should be formed. in november, , a preliminary meeting was held to discuss organization, followed a week later by the forming of the equal suffrage league of virginia. lila meade (mrs. b. b.) valentine, widely known for her public work, was elected president and served in this capacity for the next eleven years. state and city headquarters were opened in richmond and remained there. miss mary johnston was greatly interested and used her influence in promoting the new organization. miss ellen glasgow also was very active. the league was organized to work for suffrage by both state and federal action and early in its existence circulated a petition to congress for a federal amendment. in this was presented to the virginia members by mrs. valentine and the state delegates attending the national suffrage convention. in january, , the first public meeting ever held in richmond in the interest of woman suffrage was addressed by dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american woman suffrage association, with dr. lyon g. tyler, president of william and mary college, in the chair. the first state convention was held this year in richmond with delegates present from norfolk, lynchburg, williamsburg and highland springs societies, and individual suffragists from fredericksburg and charlottesville. in the convention was held in norfolk with delegates from twenty-two leagues. in it met in lynchburg and the reports showed that , new members had been added and mrs. valentine had made public speeches. an outdoor demonstration was held in richmond on the steps of the state capitol, may , , in conformity with the nation-wide request of the national association, and the celebration was continued in the evening. the convention was held in roanoke, where it was reported that forty-five counties had been organized in political units and that the _virginia suffrage news_, a monthly paper, was being published at state headquarters under the management of mrs. alice overbey taylor. in street meetings were inaugurated and held in richmond from may till thanksgiving, and in norfolk, newport news, portsmouth, lynchburg and warrenton. for the first time women appeared on the same platform with the candidates for the legislature and presented the claims of the women of virginia to become a part of the electorate. the may day celebration was held on the south portico of the capitol on the afternoon of may , after a morning devoted to selling from street booths copies of the _woman's journal_, suffrage flags, buttons and postcards. a band played and the decorations and banners in yellow and blue, the suffrage and virginia colors, made a beautiful picture. john s. munce of richmond introduced the speakers, dr. e. n. calisch, rabbi of beth ahaba temple; miss joy montgomery higgins of nebraska and miss mabel vernon of washington, d. c. in december the convention was held in richmond and the two hundred delegates marched to the office of the governor, henry carter stuart, to request him to embody in his message to the general assembly a recommendation that it submit to the voters an equal suffrage amendment to the state constitution. they were led by mrs. valentine and brief addresses were made by mrs. stephen putney of wytheville, mrs. lloyd byars of bristol, mrs. john h. lewis of lynchburg, miss lucy randolph mason of richmond, great-great-granddaughter of george mason, author of the virginia bill of rights; miss agnes randolph, great-great-granddaughter of thomas jefferson, founder of the university of virginia; miss mary johnston, mrs. sally nelson robins of richmond, author; miss elizabeth cooke of norfolk, miss janetta fitzhugh of fredericksburg, mrs. kate langley bosher of richmond, author; miss roberta wellford of university; mrs. george barksdale, miss marianne meade and miss adele clark of richmond. he received them courteously but not seriously and paid no attention to their request. during the year organization of the state into legislative and congressional districts was begun. norfolk was the place of the annual convention in when leagues were reported. this was a legislative year and all efforts were concentrated on the assembly.[ ] from january to february , , a very successful suffrage school was conducted in richmond under the auspices of the national association. later when the services of this association were offered to the government for war work the league dedicated itself to state and country and endeavored to carry out the plans of the national board. the president, mrs. valentine, was the first person in the state, on request of the governor, to speak in the recruiting campaign and other members also took part in it. at the annual convention held in richmond in november a resolution not only again endorsing the federal suffrage amendment but pledging members to work for it was unanimously adopted. virginia sent the largest delegation in her history to the national convention in washington in december and it was upon the advice of the returning delegates that emphasis was laid upon enrollment of those who desired woman suffrage. because of the influenza epidemic no state convention was held in . the enrollment of , men and women was accomplished in , mrs. faith w. morgan, a vice-president of the association, securing the largest number of names and miss ellen robinson being the first person to fill her quota. the submission by congress of the federal suffrage amendment in june of this year gave great impetus to the work. in november the annual convention was held in richmond, with representatives from all parts of the state. at this time there were suffrage centers. the members reaffirmed with enthusiasm their determination to carry on the fight for ratification. an important feature of the year had been the endorsement of the amendment by the state teachers' association, the state federation of women's clubs and the women's benevolent association of the maccabees.[ ] on sept. , , , the state league met in convention in the hall of the house of delegates in the capitol for the joint purpose of celebrating the proclamation of the federal suffrage amendment and planning for the organization of a league of women voters. it was an occasion never to be forgotten, with a welcome extended by governor westmoreland davis, speeches by attorney general john r. saunders, state superintendent of public instruction harris hart and members of the legislature who had made the fight for ratification. mrs. maud wood park, president of the national league of women voters, gave an inspiring address and extensive plans for future work were made. a reception was given by the wife of the governor assisted by the officers of the league. on november , in the senate chamber, the state league of women voters was organized with mrs. valentine honorary chairman; mrs. john h. lewis honorary vice-chairman and miss adele clark chairman. legislative action. for improved conditions for women in industry, child labor laws and all welfare legislation before the general assembly in the past ten years individual members of the league have labored assiduously. the league as an organization, however, has confined itself to work for suffrage, knowing that the vote gained "all things else would be added." . when the constitutional convention met to draft the present state constitution, mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association, and a small group of virginia and other southern women appeared before it and mrs. catt urged it to embody woman suffrage in the new constitution but this was not done. . the first resolution proposing an amendment to the state constitution enfranchising women was introduced in the house by hill montague of richmond and the hearing granted by the committee created statewide interest. the speakers were mrs. valentine, mrs. lewis, miss johnston, mrs. bosher, miss randolph, clayton torrence and howard t. colvin of the state federation of labor, later assistant u. s. commissioner of labor. the vote in the house was ayes, noes. . the resolution for a state amendment was again introduced in the house and a hearing granted by the committee on privileges and elections. mrs. valentine presided and introduced the following speakers: mrs. desha breckinridge of kentucky; mrs. kate waller barrett of alexandria, state regent of the d. a. r.; mrs. putney, mrs. lewis, mrs. barksdale of richmond, miss mason, miss lillie barbour, state factory inspector, and mr. colvin. the vote was ayes, noes. . the resolution for a state amendment had its first public hearing before a joint committee of the house and senate. the speakers were mrs. valentine, mrs. j. h. whitner of roanoke, a vice-president of the state league; miss eudora ramsey and miss adele clark of richmond; the rev. john j. wicker, pastor of leigh street baptist church, richmond, and e. f. sheffey of lynchburg. the house vote, ayes, noes, marked the third defeat but an increase in suffrage sentiment. . the legislative committee consisted of mrs. valentine, miss wellford, mrs. frank l. jobson, miss clark, miss nora houston and mrs. munce, all of richmond. the federal suffrage amendment having now passed the lower house of congress, a resolution urging the u. s. senate to take favorable action on the federal amendment was introduced but it did not come out of committee. the hon. william jennings bryan stopped over trains to pay his respects to governor westmoreland davis. he was escorted to the capitol by members of the equal suffrage league and made a brief address to the assembly in joint recess, urging ratification of the federal amendment if submitted in time for action at this session.[ ] ratification. the legislature assembled august , , in special session for the purpose of meeting the federal appropriation for good roads. the federal suffrage amendment having been submitted to the legislatures for ratification on june was due to be presented by the governor. as the special session had been called specifically for good roads, the state equal suffrage league intended to await the regular session of to press for action but to test the legislators a questionnaire was sent to them. answers proved that it would be well-nigh impossible to obtain ratification at this time, even though substantial petitions from all sections of the state were shown to men representing the localities from which these came. spurred on, however, by efforts of the national woman's party to secure action at any cost, the opponents succeeded in having a rejection resolution railroaded through the house without debate ten minutes before adjournment in the second week of the session. the senate refused to sanction such tactics and by to voted to postpone action until the next session. . the state league's committee on ratification was composed of mrs. valentine, miss clark, mrs. bosher, mrs. jobson, miss houston and miss mary elizabeth pidgeon.[ ] miss josephine miller, an organizer for the national association, was sent into the state toward the end of the campaign. there were in the two houses new members who had been elected since the federal amendment was submitted. very strong pressure to ratify was made upon the general assembly. president wilson sent an earnest appeal and others came from homer cummings, chairman of the national democratic committee; a. mitchell palmer, u. s. attorney general; carter glass, u. s. treasurer; u. s. representative c. c. carlin and other prominent democrats. thousands of telegrams were sent from women throughout the southern states. a cablegram came from lady astor, m. p. of great britain, a virginian. urgent requests for ratification were made by presidents of colleges, mayors of cities, state and county officials and other eminent citizens. before the governor had even sent the certified copy of the amendment to the legislature its strongest opponent, senator leedy, also an opponent of the administration at washington, introduced a rejection resolution couched in the same obnoxious terms he had used in august. by urgent advice of the leaders he finally omitted some of its most offensive adjectives. it was presented in the house by representative ozlin and referred to the federal relations committee, which granted a hearing. on the preceding evening mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national suffrage association, addressed a mass meeting held by the equal suffrage league in the jefferson hotel. the hearing was held before a joint session of the senate and house in the hall of delegates at noon on january . some of virginia's foremost citizens spoke for ratification, among them allan jones, member of the state democratic committee; roswell page, state auditor and a brother of the hon. thomas nelson page; u. s. representatives thomas lomax hunter and howard cecil gilmer; j. b. saul, chairman of the roanoke county democratic committee; former senator keezel; dr. lyon g. tyler. the women speakers were mrs. catt, mrs. valentine, president, and mrs. john h. lewis, vice-president of the state suffrage league, and mrs. kate waller barrett.[ ] notwithstanding this very able presentation the federal relations committee reported the rejection resolution favorably. on the floor lindsay gordon of louisa county substituted a ratification resolution and harry rew of accomac a substitute to refer ratification to the voters. the latter carried on january by a vote of to , supported by representatives gordon, willis of roanoke, williams of fairfax, hunter of stafford, rodgers, j. w. story, wilcox of richmond, snead of chesterfield and h. w. anderson, republican floor leader. the battle front now shifted to the senate, where, owing to illness of the chief suffrage proponent, g. walter mapp, consideration had been postponed. on february , the day finally set, proceedings were similar to those in the house, senator e. lee trinkle's ratification resolution and senator gravatt's referendum being respectively substituted for leedy's rejection. the referendum, under leedy's coercive method, was voted down. all day the contest raged on the ratification resolution, with strong speeches in favor by senators trinkle of wythe, corbitt of portsmouth, paul of rockingham, layman of craig, west of nansemond, parsons of grayson. supporting the measure by vote were also senators crockett, haslinger and profitt; and pairing in favor pendleton and gravatt. the ratifying resolution was defeated. the rejection resolution was adopted by to votes; in the house by to . one week later the resolution of senator j. e. west to submit to the voters a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution passed the senate by ayes, noes; the house by ayes, noes; as it would have to pass the legislature of and ratification of the federal amendment was almost completed, this vote was merely an empty compliment. a few days thereafter the qualifications bill, offered by senator mapp, was overwhelmingly adopted, senate, ayes, noes; house, ayes, noes. it made full provisions for the voting of women if the federal amendment should be ratified. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. edith clark cowles, executive and press secretary; miss adele clark, legislative chairman, and miss ida mae thompson, headquarters secretary of the state equal suffrage league. [ ] from year to year delegates from the equal suffrage league went to the state political conventions, asking for an endorsement of woman suffrage. the republicans, the minority party, always received them courteously and a few times put the plank in their platform. the democrats always treated them with discourtesy and never endorsed woman suffrage in any way until , when they "commended the action of the general assembly in passing the qualifications bill contingent upon the ratification and proclamation of the th amendment." [ ] there were very few changes in officers during the eleven years of the league's existence. the list was as follows: honorary vice-presidents, miss mary johnston, miss ellen glasgow. vice-presidents: mrs. kate waller barrett, mrs. louise collier willcox, mrs. c. v. meredith, mrs. t. todd dabney, mrs. w. j. adams, mrs. john h. lewis, miss nannie davis, mrs. stephen putney, mrs. kate langley bosher, mrs. j. allen watts, mrs. w. t. yancey, mrs. c. e. townsend, mrs. w. w. king, mrs. j. h. whitner, mrs faith w. morgan, mrs. robert barton; secretaries, mrs. alice m. tyler, miss adele clark, mrs. grace h. smithdeal, miss roberta wellford, miss lucinda lee terry; treasurers: mrs. c. p. cadot, mrs. e. g. kidd; auditors: mrs. john s. munce, mrs. henry aylett sampson, mrs. s. m. block. [ ] by act of the general assembly of women were admitted to william and mary college. they were admitted to the graduate and professional schools of the university of virginia by act of the board of visitors in . [ ] miss pidgeon was appointed by the national association in november, , for organization to prepare for ratification of the federal suffrage amendment. after its defeat the next february she continued until june , organizing citizenship schools throughout the state. the expense to the association was $ , . [ ] the next day, after mrs. catt had returned to new york, harry st. george tucker appeared before the legislature and ridiculed her and her speech in the most insulting terms. in mr. tucker was a candidate for governor and was defeated at the primaries by senator e. lee trinkle, whose plurality was , . he had been a strong supporter of woman suffrage and his victory was attributed to the women. chapter xlvi. washington.[ ] the period from to was one of inactivity in state suffrage circles; then followed a vigorous continued campaign culminating in the adoption of a constitutional amendment in granting to women full political equality. this victory, so gratifying to the women of washington, had also an important national aspect, as it marked the end of the dreary period of fourteen years following the utah and idaho amendments in - , during which no state achieved woman suffrage. the legislature of had submitted an amendment for which a brilliant campaign was made by the equal suffrage association under the able leadership of its president, mrs. homer m. hill of seattle, but it was defeated at the november election of . the inevitable reaction followed for some years. three state presidents were elected, dr. nina jolidon croake of tacoma, - , elected at the seattle convention; dr. luema greene johnson of tacoma, - , elected at the tacoma convention; dr. fannie leake cummings of seattle, - , elected at a meeting in puyallup at which only five persons were present, the small suffrage club here being the only one surviving in the state. dr. cummings, aided by mrs. elizabeth palmer spinning of puyallup, state treasurer for many years, and mrs. ellen s. leckenby of seattle, state secretary, kept the suffrage torch from being extinguished. mrs. leckenby held office continuously throughout twelve years. the revival of interest plainly seen after was due to the impetus given through the initiative of mrs. emma smith devoe, who with her husband, john henry devoe, had recently come from harvey, ills., and established a new home. mrs. devoe was a life-long suffrage worker who had served many years in many states with susan b. anthony and also was a national organizer. she began by calling on individual suffragists and suggesting that washington was a hopeful state for a campaign and aroused so much interest that in november a large and enthusiastic convention met at seattle. dr. cummings presided and inspiring addresses were given by a. w. mcintyre of everett, formerly governor of colorado; miss ida agnes baker of the bellingham state normal school; miss adella m. parker of the seattle broadway high school and professor j. allen smith of the university of washington. mrs. devoe was elected president. conventions were held at seattle in , and , mrs. devoe being re-elected each time. by june, , there were , paid members of the state association and afterwards, many thousands of men and women were enrolled. the executive committee decided upon a campaign to amend the state constitution for woman suffrage and mrs. devoe was made manager and given authority to conduct it according to her own judgment. no other convention or executive committee meeting was held, only frequent informal conferences, until after the vote was taken on november , . the final executive committee meeting was held at seattle in january, , when it was voted to continue the association until all bills were paid and then disband. it was decided to present the large silken banner "votes for women" to the next state having a campaign and it went to california the following year. the unfinished business was completed by the old officers, mrs. devoe, mrs. leckenby and dr. eaton.[ ] campaign. after the defeat of no amendment came before the legislature for eleven years, nor was there any legislation on woman suffrage until a resolution to submit to the voters an amendment to the state constitution giving full suffrage was presented to the session of . it was drafted by senator george f. cotterill of seattle, a radical suffragist, after many conferences with mrs. devoe, and was introduced, strangely enough, by senator george u. piper of seattle, an able politician and a friend of the liquor interests, in honor of his dead mother, who had been ardently in favor of woman suffrage. it was presented in the house by representative t. j. bell of tacoma. the state association rented a house in olympia for headquarters and mrs. devoe spent all her time at the capitol, assisted by many of its members, who came at different times from over the state to interview their representatives and senators. the work was conducted so skilfully and quietly that no violent opposition of material strength was developed. the resolution passed the house january by ayes, noes; the senate february by ayes, noes, and was approved by governor marion e. hay on february . the interests of the amendment were materially advanced later by senator w. h. paulhamus, then an anti-suffragist, who "in the interest of fair play" gave advance information as to the exact wording and position of the amendment on the ballot, which enabled the women to hold practice drills and to word their slogan, "vote for amendment to article vi at the top of the ballot." the clause relating to the qualifications of voters was reproduced verbatim except for two changes: . "all persons" was substituted for "all male persons." . at the end was added "there shall be no denial of the elective franchise at any election on account of sex." during the campaign of the state equal franchise society, an offshoot from the regular organization, was formed, its members being largely recruited from the seattle suffrage club, mrs. harvey l. glenn, president, with which it cooperated. headquarters were opened in seattle july , with mrs. homer m. hill, president, in charge and the organization was active during the last four months of the campaign.[ ] the political equality league of spokane, mrs. may arkwright hutton, president, worked separately for fourteen months prior to the election, having been organized in july, . the college women under the name of the college suffrage league, with miss parker as president, cooperated with the regular state association. following the act of the legislature twenty months were left to carry on the campaign destined to enfranchise the , women of the state. it was a favorable year for submission, as no other important political issue was before them and there was a reaction against the dominance of the political "machines." the campaign was unique in its methods and was won through the tireless energy of nearly a hundred active, capable women who threw themselves into the work. the outstanding feature of the plan adopted by the state equal suffrage association under the leadership of mrs. devoe, was the absence of all spectacular methods and the emphasis placed upon personal intensive work on the part of the wives, mothers and sisters of the men who were to decide the issue at the polls. big demonstrations, parades and large meetings of all kinds were avoided. only repeated informal conferences of workers were held in different sections of the state on the call of the president. the result was that the real strength was never revealed to the enemy. the opposition was not antagonized and did not awake until election day, when it was too late. although the women held few suffrage meetings of their own, their speakers and organizers constantly obtained the platform at those of granges, farmers' unions, labor unions, churches and other organizations. each county was canvassed as seemed most expedient by interviews, letters or return postals. every woman personally solicited her neighbor, her doctor, her grocer, her laundrywagon driver, the postman and even the man who collected the garbage. it was essentially a womanly campaign, emphasizing the home interests and engaging the cooperation of home makers. the association published and sold , copies of the washington women's cook book, compiled by the suffragists and edited by miss linda jennings of laconner. many a worker started out into the field with a package of these cook books under her arm. in the "suffrage department" of the tacoma _news_ a "kitchen contest" was held, in which -word essays on household subjects were printed, $ in prizes being given by the paper. suffrage clubs gave programs on "pure food" and "model menus" were exhibited and discussed. thousands of leaflets on the results of equal suffrage in other states were distributed and original ones printed. a leaflet by mrs. edith delong jarmuth containing a dozen cogent reasons why washington women want the ballot was especially effective. a monthly paper, _votes for women_, was issued during the last year of the campaign with mrs. m. t. b. hanna publisher and editor, misses parker, mary g. o'meara, rose glass and others assistant editors. it carried a striking cartoon on the front page and was full of suffrage news and arguments, even the advertisements being written in suffrage terms.[ ] state and county fairs and chautauquas were utilized by securing a woman's day, with mrs. devoe as president of the day. excellent programs were offered, prominent speakers secured and prizes given in contests between various women's societies other than suffrage for symbolic "floats" and reports of work during the year. space was given for a suffrage booth, from which active suffrage propaganda went on with the sale of votes for women pins, pennants and the cook book and the signing of enrollment cards. the great alaska-yukon-pacific exposition of at seattle was utilized as a medium for publicity. a permanent suffrage exhibit was maintained, open air meetings were held and there was a special suffrage day, on which judge ben b. lindsey of denver spoke for the amendment. the dirigible balloon, a feature of the exposition, carried a large silken banner inscribed votes for women. later a pennant with this motto was carried by a member of the mountaineers' club to the summit of mt. rainier, near tacoma, said to be the loftiest point in the united states.[ ] it was fastened to the staff of the larger pennant "a. y. p." of the exposition and the staff was planted in the highest snows on the top of columbia crest, a huge white dome that rises above the crater. the state association entertained the national suffrage convention at seattle in and brought its guests from spokane on a special train secured by mrs. devoe, as an effective method of advertising the cause and the convention. the state grange and the state farmers' union worked hard for the amendment. state master c. b. kegley wrote: "the grange, numbering , , is strongly in favor of woman suffrage. in fact every subordinate grange is an equal suffrage organization.... we have raised a fund with which to push the work.... yours for victory." the state federation of labor, charles r. case, president, at its annual convention in january, , unanimously adopted with cheers a strong resolution favoring woman suffrage and urged the local unions to "put forth their most strenuous efforts to carry the suffrage amendment ... and make it the prominent feature of their work during the coming months." practically all the newspapers were friendly and featured the news of the campaign; no large daily paper was opposed. s. a. perkins, publisher of eleven newspapers in the state, gave a standing order to his editors to support the amendment. the best publicity bureau in the state was employed and for a year its weekly news letter carried a readable paragraph on the subject to every local paper. besides this, "suffrage columns" were printed regularly; there were "suffrage pages," "suffrage supplements" and even entire "suffrage editions"; many effective "cuts" were used, and all at the expense of the publishers. the clergy was a great power. nearly every minister observed mrs. devoe's request to preach a special woman suffrage sermon on a sunday in february, . all the protestant church organizations were favorable. the methodist ministerial association unanimously declared for the amendment april at the request of miss emily inez denney. the african methodist conference on august passed a ringing resolution in favor, after addresses by mrs. devoe and miss parker. the rev. harry ferguson, baptist, of hoquiam was very active. in seattle no one spoke more frequently or convincingly than the rev. j. d. o. powers of the first unitarian church and the rev. sidney strong of queen anne congregational church. other friends were the rev. joseph l. garvin of the christian church, the rev. f. o. iverson among the norwegians, and the rev. ling hansen of the swedish baptist church. mrs. martha offerdahl and mrs. ida m. abelset compiled a valuable campaign leaflet printed in scandinavian with statements in favor by sixteen swedish and norwegian ministers. the catholic priests said nothing against it and left their members free to work for it if they so desired. among catholic workers were the misses lucy and helen kangley of seattle, who formed a junior suffrage league. father f. x. prefontaine gave a definite statement in favor of the amendment. distinguished persons from outside the state who spoke for it were miss janet richards of washington, d. c., the well-known lecturer; miss jeannette rankin of montana, afterwards elected to congress; mrs. clara bewick colby of nebraska and washington, d. c., and mrs. abigail scott duniway of oregon. none of the officers and workers connected with the state association received salaries except the stenographers. for four-and-a-half years mrs. devoe, with rare consecration, gave her entire time without pay, save for actual expenses, and even these were at crucial times contributed by her husband, from whom she received constant encouragement and support. for the most part of the entire period she was necessarily absent from home, traveling over the state, keeping in constant personal touch with the leaders of all groups of women whether connected with her association or not, advising and helping them and on special days speaking on their programs. her notable characteristics as a leader were that she laid personal responsibility on each friend and worker; from the first assumed success as certain and avoided arousing hostility by mixing suffrage with politics or with other reforms. she asked the voters everywhere merely for fair play for women and made no predictions as to what the women would do with the vote when obtained. it was her far-sighted generalship and prodigious personal work that made success possible. the equal franchise society of seattle planned to carry suffrage into organizations already existing. it gave a series of luncheons at the new washington hotel and made converts among many who could not be met in any other way and was especially helpful in reaching society and professional people. its workers spoke before improvement clubs, women's clubs, churches, labor unions, etc. a man was employed to travel and engage men in conversation on woman suffrage on trains, boats and in hotel lobbies and lumber camps. a good politician looked after the water front. the political equality league of spokane worked in the eastern counties and placed in the field the effective worker, mrs. minnie j. reynolds of colorado. the franchise department of the w. c. t. u. had done educational work for years under the leadership of mrs. margaret b. platt, state president, and mrs. margaret c. munns, state secretary, affectionately referred to as "the margarets." its speakers always made convincing pleas for suffrage and mrs. munns's drills in parliamentary usage were valuable in training the women for the campaign of . tribute must be paid to the fine, self-sacrificing work of this organization. in a private conference called by mrs. devoe early in the campaign, the w. c. t. u. represented by these two, an agreement was reached that, in order not to antagonize the "whisky" vote, the temperance women would submerge their hard-earned honors and let the work of their unions go unheralded. they kept the faith. a suffrage play, a mock legislative session, written by mrs. s. l. w. clark of seattle, was given in the state house and repeated in other cities. several hundred dollars' worth of suffrage literature was furnished to local unions. they placarded the bill boards throughout the state, cooperating with dr. fannie leake cummings, who managed this enterprise, assisted by the seattle suffrage club, by mrs. george a. smith of the alki point club and others who helped finance it to a cost of $ . the placard read: "give the women a square deal. vote for the amendment to article vi," and proved to be an effective feature. mrs. eliza ferry leary, among the highest taxpayers in the state, was chosen by the national association opposed to woman suffrage as their representative, but, having satisfied her sense of duty by accepting the office, she did nothing and thus endeared herself to the active campaigners for the vote. there were no other "anti" members in the state. the only meeting held was called by a brief newspaper notice at the residence of mrs. leary one afternoon on the occasion of a visit by a representative, mrs. frances e. bailey of oregon, at which six persons were present--the hostess, the guest of honor, three active members of the suffrage association and a casual guest. no business was transacted. with the "antis" should be classed the only minister who opposed suffrage, the rev. mark a. mathews of the first presbyterian church, the largest in seattle. he was born in georgia but came to seattle from tennessee. his violent denunciations lent spice to the campaign by calling out cartoons and articles combating his point of view. when suffrage was obtained he harangued the women on their duty to use the vote, not forgetting to instruct them how to use it. election day was reported to the _woman's journal_ of boston by miss parker as follows: "it was a great victory. the women at the polls were wonderfully effective. many young women, middle-aged women and white-haired grandmothers stood for hours handing out the little reminders. it rained--the usual gentle but very insistent kind of rain--and the men were so solicitous! they kept trying to drag us off to get our feet warm or bringing us chairs or offering to hand out our ballots while we took a rest, but the women would not leave their places until relieved by other women, even for lunch, for fear of losing a vote. the whole thing appealed to the men irresistibly. we are receiving praise from all quarters for the kind of campaign we made--no personalities, no boasting of what we would do, no promises, no meddling with other issues--just 'votes for women' straight through, because it is just and reasonable and everywhere when tried has been found expedient." the amendment was adopted november , , by the splendid majority of , , nearly to . the vote stood , ayes to , noes out of a total vote of , cast for congressmen. every one of the counties and every city was carried. the large cities won in the following order: seattle and king county , to , ; tacoma and pierce county, , to , ; spokane and spokane county, , to , . then came bellingham and whatcom county, , to , ; everett and snohomish county, , to , ; bremerton and kitsap county, including the u. s. navy yard, , to . kitsap was the banner county giving the highest ratio for the amendment. this was largely due to the remarkable house to house canvass made by mrs. elizabeth a. baker of manette. the cost of the twenty months' campaign is estimated to be $ , , which includes the amounts spent by organizations and individuals. the money was raised in various ways and contributions ran from cents up, few exceeding $ . over $ were subscribed by the labor unions and about $ collected at the granges and farmers' unions' suffrage meetings. dr. sarah a. kendall of seattle collected the largest amount of any one person. about $ , were contributed from outside the state, chiefly from new york, massachusetts and california. the first and largest gift which heartened the workers was $ from mrs. carrie chapman catt.[ ] after the suffrage amendment was carried there was organized on jan. , , the national council of women voters at the home of mr. and mrs. john q. mason in tacoma. governor james h. brady of idaho issued a call to the governors of the four other equal suffrage states--wyoming, colorado, utah and washington--asking them to send delegates to this first convention. he presided at the opening session and spoke at the evening meeting which filled the largest theater. mrs. devoe was elected president and was re-elected at each succeeding convention. it was non-partisan and non-sectarian and its objects were three-fold: . to educate women voters in the exercise of their citizenship; . to secure legislation in equal suffrage states in the interest of men and women, of children and the home; . to aid in the further extension of woman suffrage. as new states gained suffrage they joined the council. before mrs. devoe went to the national suffrage convention at st. louis in march, , she was authorized by the council to take whatever steps were necessary to merge it in the national league of women voters which was to be organized there. mrs. catt requested her to complete the arrangements when she returned to washington and act as chairman until this was accomplished. on jan. , , the council became the state league of women voters. mrs. nelle mitchell fick was elected temporary and later mrs. w. s. griswold permanent chairman. on the afternoon of august , old and new suffrage workers joined in a celebration at seattle of the final ratification by the legislature of tennessee, which was attended by over two hundred women. * * * * * election returns furnish conclusive proof that the women of washington use the ballot. after the total registration of the state nearly doubled, although men outnumber women, and the women apparently vote in the same proportion as men. a tremendous increase of interest among them in civic, economic and political affairs followed the adoption of suffrage and the results were evidenced by a much larger number of laws favorably affecting the status of women and the home passed in the ten year period following than during the previous ten year period. uniform hostility to liquor, prostitution and vice has been shown; also to working conditions adversely affecting the health and morals of women and children. the vote of the women was the deciding factor in the seattle recall election of february , , when mayor hiram gill was removed because of vice conditions permitted to flourish under his administration. it was acknowledged that, due to a strong combination of the vice and public utility interests of the city, he would have been retained but for their opposition. his re-election later by a small majority is explained by the fact that he begged the citizens to give him a chance to remove the stigma from his name for the sake of his wife and family, with whom his relations were blameless. the state legislative federation, representing various kinds of women's clubs and organizations, having a total membership of over , women, has maintained headquarters at olympia during the sessions of the legislature in recent years, to the advantage of legislation. the w. c. t. u. also is an active influence. miss lucy r. case, as executive secretary of the joint legislative committee of the state federation of labor, grange, farmers' union and direct legislation league, took an important part at the elections of and in defeating the reactionary measures affecting popular government and labor. representative frances c. axtell of bellingham introduced and engineered the minimum wage law and several moral bills in cooperation with the w. c. t. u. representative frances m. haskell of tacoma led in securing the law for equal pay for men and women teachers. reah m. whitehead, justice of the peace of king county, prepared and promoted the law relating to unmarried mothers. the seattle branch of the council of women voters established a "quiz congress," which requested candidates to attend its meetings and state their position on campaign issues and answer questions and many candidates importuned it for a chance to be heard. ratification. the federal suffrage amendment was ratified on march , , at an extraordinary session called principally for that purpose. governor louis f. hart had been reluctant to call a special session on the ground that, due to the unsettled condition of the country at that time, it would afford opportunity for the introduction of a flood of radical legislation which would keep the legislature in prolonged session at great expense to the state. he finally yielded to the persuasion of a large number of the leading women of the state and to political pressure from his party in high places and called the session, which lasted but three days and dealt only with the subjects mentioned in the call. the occasion was most impressive. the capitol was thronged with women who had traveled from every corner of the state to participate in the occasion. every available seat in the balconies of both houses was filled and the aisles and corridors were crowded. the hope and expectation that at any moment the wires might flash the news that delaware had ratified and washington would thus be the thirty-sixth and final state to enfranchise the women of the whole nation, lent an added thrill to the proceedings. at noon both houses met in joint session to listen to the governor's message. dealing with the ratification he reminded the members that in the electors had adopted woman suffrage by an overwhelming vote and said, "the state has done well under the management of both men and women." a marked feature of their proceedings was the gracious courtesy accorded to the old suffrage leaders and workers, who were present in large numbers. in the house the honor of introducing the resolution was accorded to mrs. haskell, representative from pierce county, who made a strong speech favoring its adoption. not one vote was cast against it. by special resolution mrs. emma smith devoe, referred to as "the mother of suffrage" in the state, was invited to a seat on the right of speaker adams, with governor hart on the left. a special committee was appointed to escort her and she took her seat amid loud cheers. she was asked to address the house and said in part: i am proud of the legislature of washington because of this patriotic act and i thank you in the name of our forefathers, who first proclaimed that "taxation without representation is tyranny" and that government without consent is unjust.... i thank you in the name of the early suffrage workers who have passed on to their beautiful reward. i thank you in the name of the women of the united states of today who will, i trust, use their new political freedom wisely and well. i thank you in the name of the children who will come after us; they will have a better, broader and nobler heritage than was ours. and i personally thank you from the depths of my heart. god bless you every one! twelve minutes after the resolution reached the senate it had been passed by another unanimous vote. during the proceedings mrs. homer m. hill sat beside president carlyon and was invited to address the members. described as "a tiny figure whose white hair was scarcely on a level with the top of the speaker's desk," she expressed the emotions of the older suffragists as they witnessed the adoption of the resolution. she thanked them in the name also of the w. c. t. u., and thanked the leaders in the cause of labor and of many other organizations, as well as the leaders of both parties. "washington has led the victorious crusade for the pacific coast states," she said. "may we always appreciate what it means to live in a state whose men themselves gave this right to women!" * * * * * [laws. a complete digest of the laws relating especially to the interests of women and children and to moral questions enacted during the first decade of the present century was prepared for this chapter by judge reah m. whitehead of seattle. this was supplemented by an abstract of fifty-eight statutes of a similar nature enacted during the last decade, prepared by attorneys adella m. parker of seattle and bernice a. sapp of olympia. they largely cover the field of modern liberal legislation but can not be given because of the decision to omit the laws in all the state chapters for lack of space. the results on questions related to prohibition submitted to the electors, with women voting, are significant: statute for state-wide prohibition submitted in : ayes, , ; noes, , ; statute submitted in permitting hotels to sell liquor: ayes, , ; noes, , ; statute authorizing manufacture, sale and export of per cent. beer: ayes, , ; noes, , .] footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to dr. cora smith king, assisted by mrs. emma smith devoe, dr. sarah a. kendall, mrs. homer m. hill, and others. valuable assistance in editing the manuscript was rendered by judson king, writer and lecturer, secretary of the national popular government league, washington, d. c. [ ] following is a complete list of the officers of the state association who served during the campaign of : president, mrs. emma smith devoe, melmont; vice-presidents: mrs. bessie i. savage, seattle; mrs. jennie jewett, white salmon; mrs. john q. mason, tacoma; mrs. alice m. grover, spokane; mrs. anna e. goodwin, columbia (now mrs. yungbluth); treasurer, dr. cora smith eaton, seattle (now dr. king); corresponding secretary, mrs. ellen s. leckenby, seattle; headquarters secretary, miss mabel fontron, seattle (now mrs. paul rewman); auditors, miss bernice a. sapp, olympia, dr. anna w. scott, west seattle, dr. n. jolidon croake, tacoma, mrs. h. j. mcgregor, tacoma; trustees, dr. sarah a. kendall, seattle, mrs. georgia b. smith, anacortes, mrs. b. b. lord, olympia; chairmen of standing committees: church work, mrs. c. m. miller, seattle; letter writers, mrs. lucie f. isaacs, walla walla; literature, mrs. e. m. wardall, west seattle; labor unions, dr. luema g. johnson, tacoma; publication, miss linda jennings, laconner; finance, mrs. h. d. wright, seattle; headquarters, miss mary g. o'meara, seattle (now mrs. otway pardee); advisory, mrs. amos brown, west seattle; library, mrs. dora w. cryderman, bellingham; precincts, mrs. silvia a. hunsicker, seattle; petitions, mrs. roy welch, kelso; educational, mrs. margaret heyes hall, vancouver; member of national executive committee, miss adella m. parker, seattle; historian, miss ida agnes baker, bellingham. [ ] other officers of the franchise society were: assistants, mrs. edward p. fick and mrs. d. l. carmichael; corresponding secretary, mrs. f. s. bash; recording secretary, mrs. w. t. perkins; treasurer, mrs. e. m. rininger; financial secretary, mrs. phebe a. ryan. others who worked without pay were: miss martha gruening of new york and miss jeannette rankin of montana. mrs. george a. smith, president of the alki point suffrage club of seattle, worked independently but cooperated with the society in many ways. the society employed mrs. rose aschermann, mrs. ethel stalford, charles e. cline, vaughn ellis and john gray of washington. [ ] during the year following the winning of the franchise mrs. hanna published her paper under the name of _the new citizen_. miss parker published twelve numbers of a monthly paper called the _western woman voter_, from the files of which much valuable data has been gleaned for this chapter. [ ] the member was dr. cora smith king.--ed. [ ] among eastern contributors were henry b. and alice stone blackwell, mass., $ ; mr. and mrs. j. h. lesser, california, $ ; mrs. h. e. flansburg, new york, $ ; miss janet richards, washington, d. c., $ ; the rev. olympia brown, wisconsin, $ . the national american woman suffrage association contributed direct to mrs. devoe for traveling expenses to june, , inclusive, $ . at this time, seventeen months before the amendment was submitted, through differences arising between the national and state organizations, all national support was withdrawn. among those contributing from the east to mrs. hill's society through miss margaret w. bayne of kirkland, who went there to raise money, her own trip being financed by mrs. e. m. rininger of seattle, were: mrs. henry villard, new york, $ ; mrs. susan look avery, kentucky, $ ; mrs. elizabeth smith miller and miss anne fitzhugh miller, new york, $ ; mrs. kemeys, new york, $ ; mrs. alfred lewis, new york, $ ; mrs. raymond robins, illinois, $ ; misses isabel and emily howland, new york, $ ; mrs. sarah l. willis, new york, $ ; mrs. isabella b. hooker, conn., $ ; equal suffrage association, mass., $ ; mrs. h. s. luscomb, mass., $ ; "a friend," $ . the net contribution of the national to the state association during the campaign, deducting the expense of entertaining the national convention, was about $ . chapter xlvii. west virginia.[ ] in when the west virginia equal suffrage association was organized through the effort of the national american association, with mrs. jessie g. manley president, nine clubs were formed in the northern part of the state but only those in fairmont and wheeling remained in existence after . the first president of the fairmont club was the mother of mrs. manley, mrs. margaret j. grove, who with her sisters, mrs. corilla e. shearer and miss ellen d. harn, all still living, aged , and , led in the early suffrage work in the state, and mrs. mary reed of fairmont also was a pioneer. little public work was done until an active suffrage movement was inaugurated in virginia and in miss mary johnston came to charleston and organized a club. one was formed in morgantown and these four constituted the state association until the amendment campaign of . the following have served as state presidents: mrs. beulah boyd ritchie, - ; mrs. m. anna hall, ; mrs. anne m. southern, ; dr. harriet b. jones, ; mrs. may hornbrook, - ; mrs. allie haymond, - ; miss margaret mckinney, ; mrs. j. gale ebert, - ; mrs. lenna lowe yost, ; mrs. john l. ruhl, - .[ ] annual meetings were held as follows: , december , fairmont; , august , moundsville; , october , fairmont; , october , wheeling; , november , wheeling; , october , fairmont; , october , wheeling; , october , fairmont; , october , wheeling. during these years practically all that was done was to have speakers of note from time to time and a resolution for woman suffrage introduced in the legislature whenever possible. in a new city charter was prepared for wheeling and an effort was made to have it provide for a municipal vote for women. dr. anna howard shaw, national president, gave a week to speaking in the city and miss kate gordon, national corresponding secretary, spent three weeks there, addressing many organizations. the question was submitted to the voters with the charter but on a separate ballot. both were lost, the suffrage amendment by , . more votes were cast on it than on the charter itself. in an amendment to the state constitution permitting women to be appointed notaries public, clerks of county courts, probation officers and members of boards of state institutions went to the voters. the state bar association also had an amendment and kindly printed the literature for the former and sent it out with theirs. it received the larger number of votes-- , ayes, , noes--and was lost by only . with the submission to the voters by the legislature of of an amendment to the constitution conferring full suffrage activity was stimulated. miss ida craft of new york, in cooperation with the women of charleston, held a suffrage school there january -february and at that time mrs. j. e. cannady, vice-president of its equal suffrage league, obtained permission from governor henry d. hatfield to put the "suffrage map" in the lobby of the capitol. mrs. mary e. craigie, chairman of church work for the national association, addressed the woman's club of parkersburg april and afterwards spoke in many cities and towns through arrangement by dr. jones, as did mrs. harriet taylor upton of warren and miss elizabeth j. hauser of girard, ohio. in may mrs. ebert of parkersburg, president of the state association, addressed a letter to the clergymen urging them to use as a text on mothers' day, may , the need of mothers' influence in the state, and dr. jones sent a questionnaire to editors, receiving answers favoring suffrage from . mrs. desha breckinridge, president of the kentucky equal suffrage association, spent a week in the state speaking and miss craft, who kept her promise to return in may, organized many new suffrage groups, as did mrs. wesley martin stoner of washington, who campaigned principally in the mining towns. in the summer a men's advisory committee with judge j. c. mcwhorter as chairman was appointed by the state board; the state educational association in convention endorsed woman suffrage; and after an address by mrs. deborah knox livingston of maine, who was on a tour of the state, the methodist episcopal conference passed a favorable resolution. later on governor's day at middlebourne with thousands of people present mrs. ebert spoke with governor hatfield, both making appeals for votes for women. at the annual fall festival at huntington a suffrage float designed by mrs. e. c. venable was in the parade. at parkersburg suffragists addressed an immense crowd at barnum and bailey's circus. in october the number of small subscribers was increased by "dollar day," when many persons sacrificed or earned a dollar and gave it to the association. window displays were arranged in many cities with especially elaborate ones in wheeling, parkersburg and huntington. at the state convention held in huntington nov. , , a "budget" of $ , was authorized, $ , of which was quickly subscribed by the delegates, dr. irene bullard of charleston and mrs. helen brandeburg of huntington pledging $ , each for their branches. mrs. frank roessing of pittsburgh, national first vice-president, who was one of the speakers, pledged $ for the pennsylvania association. for the first time there was an automobile parade. in january, , mrs. ebert resigned and mrs. yost, first vice-president, succeeded her, soon afterwards opening headquarters in her own home in morgantown. these demanded practically every hour of her time from in the morning until at night throughout the ten months' campaign. because of the illness of dr. bullard, chairman of literature, that department was moved to morgantown and placed in charge of mrs. p. c. mcbee, with lillie hagans assisting. about $ , were invested in literature. over , congressional speeches were sent to the voters. in the last days of the campaign personal appeals were mailed to those in half of the counties and , posters were sent out by this bureau to be used on election day. through a publicity department opened february , with frank c. dudley at the head, the newspapers of the state were served with news bulletins. he also edited a special edition of the wheeling _intelligencer_ in june. in september the national association sent mrs. rose l. geyer of iowa, who had conducted the publicity in its campaign this year. during the last month bulletins were supplied to all daily papers; newspapers were provided with free plate service; many anti-suffrage articles were answered; much copy was given to local newspapers about public meetings held by the speakers and organizers; newspaper advertisements were furnished to all rural papers the week before election; every city organization carried a conspicuous advertisement in the daily papers; hundreds of two-page supplements were furnished the last week. the majority of the newspapers were editorially in favor of the amendment. in january the state association put two organizers in the field, miss marie ames and miss eudora ramsey, the salary of the latter paid by the allegheny county suffrage society of pennsylvania, and the national association placed two, miss lavinia engle and miss katherine b. mills. an appeal in march for more help brought miss hannah j. patterson, its corresponding secretary and chairman of organization. in making her report to the national board on april she recommended that headquarters be established in the business district of morgantown; additional office assistance be sent to relieve the president; ten organizers be secured and so distributed that there would be one in every group of five or six counties; and a representative of the national association visit the state each month in order to keep in close touch with the work. as the "budget" called for $ , the national board voted to give $ , providing the state association would raise $ , . the headquarters were moved at once and furnished by friends. later when they became too small the board of trade rooms were placed at the disposal of the suffragists through the kindness of e. m. grant. from time to time organizers were sent to the state until there were twenty-eight and organizations were formed. to relieve the president, miss alice curtis of iowa was sent as executive secretary, remaining until the end of the campaign. miss patterson made three trips to the state. mrs. catt made one with her, meeting with the state board august , , in clarksburg, to hold a workers' conference, which considered publicity, money raising, organization and election day methods. a "budget" of $ , to cover the last four-and-a-quarter months of the campaign was adopted. a "flying squadron" of prominent west virginia men and women speakers was sent in groups to thirty points. they were dr. joseph a. bennett of sistersville; c. burgess taylor of wheeling; the hon. charles e. carrigan of moundsville; judge mcwhorter and j. m. n. downes of buckhannon; howard l. swisher of morgantown; the hon. tracy l. jeffords and the hon. b. randolph bias of williamson; mrs. frank n. mann of huntington; mrs. flora williams of wheeling, soloist. mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs of alabama and mrs. nellie mcclung of canada joined the squadron and spoke at several points. among others of influence who filled many speaking engagements and met their own expenses were mrs. henry m. russell and rabbi h. silver of wheeling; milliard f. snider and the hon. harvey w. harmar of clarksburg; judge frank cox and ex-governor glasscock of morgantown. judge mcwhorter made about addresses. uncounted numbers of women throughout the state freely gave their time and work. about , meetings were arranged by the headquarters staff exclusive of those in charge of local women. mrs. catt spoke to mass meetings at clarksburg, morgantown and fairmont and at the hearing before the democratic state convention; mrs. antoinette funk of chicago before the republican state convention. favorable suffrage planks were placed in the platforms of both parties and the candidates for governor declared publicly for the amendment. dr. shaw made thirteen addresses in cities of over , inhabitants, contributing her services and expenses with the condition that the collections at her meetings go into the state treasury. miss katharine devereux blake, principal of a new york city school, addressed teachers' institutes three weeks without charge, the state paying her expenses. mrs. jacobs gave a two weeks' speaking tour and paid her own expenses. other speakers from outside the state were mrs. forbes robertson hale, mrs. t. t. cotnam of arkansas; dr. effie mccollum jones of iowa; mrs. anna ross weeks and miss emma l. mcalarney of new york; mrs. minnie fisher cunningham of texas and mrs. mcclung. dr. harriet b. jones spoke throughout the campaign. the national association paid the salary or expenses or both of the outside speakers and twenty of the organizers.[ ] it paid also for , congressional speeches; circularized and sent the _woman's journal_ for four months to , clergymen; furnished suffrage posters and a ford car and paid for election advertising in all the rural newspapers. it sent mr. heaslip, its own chairman of publicity, for the last days of the campaign. financial assistance came also from the massachusetts association. the state was left with a deficit of $ , . during the campaign the national association had sent in cash $ , . afterwards, to reduce the deficit, it sent money for the salary of one organizer and expenses of another beside $ , in cash. later the leslie suffrage commission paid a bill of $ to the publishing company for literature ordered from june to november by the state and $ , in cash which cleared up the deficit. according to the state report the campaign cost the state organization about $ , . it cost the national association and leslie commission over $ , . the vote on november was , in favor; , against; opposing majority of , , the largest ever given against woman suffrage. only two out of the fifty-five counties carried, brooke and hancock, industrial districts situated in the extreme northern part of the state. brooke county had the lowest per cent. of illiteracy--two per cent. while it was eight and three-tenths per cent. in the state at large. the "wet" vote of wheeling, huntington and charleston proved a decisive factor in defeating the amendment. another element working toward the suffrage defeat was the use made by the opposition of the negro question. they told the negroes that the white women would take the vote away from them and also establish a "jim-crow" system and they told the white women that the negro women outnumbered them and would get the balance of power. there is a large colored vote in the state. a really big campaign was conducted and while the size of the opposition vote was appalling, one must consider that it was the first attempt. the election methods in some places were reprehensible. the state convention was held at fairmont, nov. , , and there was a determination to hold together for future effort. in there was no convention, the women being absorbed in war work. by another great struggle was ahead, as it was evident that the federal suffrage amendment would soon be sent to the legislatures by congress. following the plan of the national association mrs. nettie rogers shuler, national corresponding secretary and chairman of organization, went to charleston on jan. , , to meet the state board to discuss plans for ratification. the officers present were mrs. ruhl, president; mrs. yost, member of the national executive committee, and mrs. edward s. romine of wheeling, chairman of the congressional committee. they stated that there was little organization, no funds and that help must be given by the national association. mrs. shuler remained two weeks and with these three officers and miss edna annette beveridge interviewed and polled members of the legislature. acting for the association mrs. shuler divided the state and assigned the districts to three national organizers, miss beveridge, who remained three-and-a-half months; mrs. augusta hughston and miss mary elizabeth pidgeon, six weeks each, the national association paying salary and expenses and furnishing literature and printed petitions to members of the legislature. suffrage societies were revived, public officials, editors and ministers interviewed and much work was done. on april , , a large and enthusiastic state convention was held in charleston at the kanawha hotel. coming directly from the convention of the national association at st. louis, mrs. catt, the president, who had asked for a "working" conference with the state board, spoke on the federal amendment at the afternoon session and to a mass meeting in the young men's christian association hall in the evening. she was accompanied by mrs. shuler, who spoke at a dinner in the ruffner hotel presided over by mrs. woodson t. wills, vice-president of the west virginia federation of women's clubs, and addressed by prominent men and women of the state and by miss marjorie shuler, national director of field publicity, who had conducted a conference at the afternoon session. ratification. the federal amendment was submitted by congress june , and the pressing work for the state association was to secure its ratification by the legislature. mrs. ellis a. yost was made chairman of the ratification committee, whose other members were mrs. ruhl, mrs. ebert, mrs. h. d. rummel, miss mary wilson, miss margaret mckinney and mrs. romine. an advisory board was formed of of as influential men as there were in the state, judges, lawyers, bankers, officials, presidents and professors of colleges, editors, clergymen, presidents of the state federation of labor and other organizations; and the most prominent women in educational, civic and club work. this list was printed on the campaign stationery. the last of december governor john j. cornwell received a letter from mrs. catt urging him to call a special session in january. he was known to favor ratification and he had been kept informed by the members of the suffrage association and the w. c. t. u., who had polled the legislators and found a majority in favor. the democratic governor called the republican legislature in special session for friday, february , . president wilson telegraphed members of the senate: "may i not urge upon you the importance to the whole country of the prompt ratification of the suffrage amendment and express the hope that you will find it possible to lend your aid to this end?" both the democratic and republican national committees joined in urging ratification, as did the entire state delegation in congress, who had voted for submitting the amendment. the resolution was introduced and by the rules went over for one day. all looked promising when suddenly its advocates found themselves in a torrent of opposition, due to the injection of the fight that was being made for the governorship and interference from outside the state. the maryland legislature sent a committee to urge its rejection and anti-suffrage leaders from all over the country made their appearance. the vote was taken on wednesday and stood ayes, noes in the house. the vote was to in the senate. a motion to reconsider was lost by the same vote. in the meantime senator jesse a. bloch, who was in california, telegraphed: "just received notice of special session. am in favor of ratification. please arrange a pair for me." this was refused by the opponents with jeers. secretary of state houston g. young immediately got into communication with him on the long distance telephone and he agreed to make a race across the continent for charleston. then came the struggle to hold the lines intact until his arrival. the situation was most critical because a motion in the lower house to reconsider had been laid on the table and could be called up at any time. many members were anxious to go home and there was difficulty in keeping enough present at roll call to defeat hostile attacks. the tie in the senate held fast, however, as senator bloch sped across the country. the day he reached chicago the opposition resorted to its most desperate expedient by producing a former senator, a. r. montgomery, who about eight months before had resigned his seat, saying that he was leaving the state, and later had moved to illinois. there was documentary evidence that he had given up his residence. he demanded of governor cornwell to return his letter of resignation. the governor refused and he then appeared in the senate that afternoon and offered to vote. president sinsel promptly ruled that he was not a member. on an appeal from this ruling he was sustained by a tie vote and the case was referred to the committee on privileges and elections. when senator bloch reached chicago he found that not only a special train but also an airship were awaiting him.[ ] he chose the train and made the trip with a speed that was said to have broken all records. he arrived on march and took his seat in the senate amid cheers from crowded galleries. the corridors were thronged and even the floor of the senate was crowded with guests, many of them women. then followed a most dramatic debate of several hours, as each side tried to get the advantage. montgomery was not permitted to take his seat and at o'clock in the afternoon the vote was taken-- ayes, noes, one opponent changing his vote when he saw the resolution would pass. after the senate vote a second was secured in the house by the opponents of the motion to reconsider, which resulted in a larger favorable majority than the first. harvey w. harmer of clarksburg, who had charge of the resolution in the senate and w. s. john of morgantown in the house, deserve the warmest gratitude of the women. it was not an ordinary vote that the members gave but one which stood the test for days and against the most determined opposition. too much praise can not be given to governor cornwell for calling the special session and for unyieldingly standing by the cause. the democratic state chairman, c. l. shaver, although unable to be present, gave splendid help. the men outside the legislature who gave their time unstintedly, and were present, cooperating with the ratification committee of the equal suffrage association, were state chairman of the republican committee, w. e. baker; secretary of state young, former minister to venezuela; elliott northcott, mayor of charleston; ex-governor a. b. white; u. s. senator howard sutherland; major john bond; national republican committeeman virgil l. highland; congressman m. m. neely; mayor hall and jesse b. sullivan, a prominent newspaper correspondent. the best legal and editorial assistance was given generously by the hon. fred o. blue, the hon. clyde b. johnson and former u. s. senator w. e. chilton. boyd jarrell, editor of the huntington _herald dispatch_, was constantly on the firing line. the chairman of the ratification committee had a herculean task during these strenuous days and after they were over a letter of appreciation of her services was sent to mrs. catt, the national president, which closed: "the opposing elements combined tended to create for mrs. yost what at first seemed to be a situation impossible of solution, but with rare tact and a soundness of judgment that we have seldom seen equalled her leadership has brought about a complete victory. as supporters of suffrage we are sending you this without mrs. yost's knowledge and simply that at least some part of the credit due her may be given." this was signed by chas. a. sinsel, president state senate; grant p. hall, mayor of charleston; w. e. chilton, former u. s. senator; houston c. young, secretary of state; albert b. white, former governor; w. e. baker, chairman republican state committee; j. s. darst, auditor of state. the president of the state association, mrs. ruhl, was present throughout the sessions, as were members of the state committee, mrs. ebert, mrs. rummel, miss mckinney, mrs. romine, mrs. thomas peadro, mrs. mann, mrs. allie b. haymond, mrs. o. s. mckinney, mrs. kemble white, mrs. william g. brown and mrs. olandus west. the cost of organizers and literature in the ratification campaign to the national association was about $ , , in addition to the state association's expenses. on sept. , , the state association became the league of women voters and mrs. john l. ruhl was elected chairman. legislative action. . a bill for presidential suffrage, drawn by george e. boyd, sr., was introduced in the house by henry c. hervey and seconded by s. g. smith of wheeling. it was rejected by a vote of to , speaker wilson voting against it. the bill was introduced in the senate by nelson whittaker of wheeling. u. s. senator stephen b. elkins commanded it to be tabled and this was done. . a bill for presidential suffrage was defeated. . a resolution introduced in the senate by samuel montgomery to submit a suffrage amendment to the state constitution received two votes. . dr. a. j. mitchell introduced a resolution for an amendment in the house; z. j. forman in the senate. senator robert hazlett arranged a legislative hearing at which every seat was occupied, with people sitting on the steps and sides of the platform and the large space in the back part of the room filled with men standing. dr. harriet b. jones made a short address and was followed by dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national suffrage association, in an eloquent plea. the vote in the senate was ayes, noes; in the house, ayes, noes. . a resolution to submit a state amendment was introduced in the house january by m. k. duty and later at his request delegate ellis a. yost took charge of it. through the generosity of the hon. william seymour edwards, miss mary johnston was brought to charleston by its suffrage association and addressed the legislature, which assembled in the house chamber. she also spoke to a large audience in the burlew theater. the resolution came up on february ; the hall was crowded with interested spectators and stirring speeches were made by the members. on the final roll call, to the dismay of its supporters, it did not poll the necessary two-thirds. on motion of delegate yost the announcement of the vote was postponed till monday, the th, and every possible effort was made to bring in absent members but as the final vote was being taken it was seen that it lacked one. at the request of governor hatfield delegate hartley changed his vote and it was carried by the needed , speaker taylor george voting for it. the resolution was introduced in the senate by n. g. keim of elkins and supported by able speakers but it was lost on february by noes, ayes, being necessary. . on january the resolution for a state amendment was submitted by ayes, noes in the senate and ayes, noes in the house, to be voted on in november, . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to dr. harriet b. jones, officially identified with the movement for woman suffrage in the state since its beginning about thirty years ago, and to lenna lowe (mrs. ellis a.) yost, chairman of the ratification committee; also to the records of the national american woman suffrage association. [ ] women who have been most prominent in the work not already mentioned are: miss jennie wilson, mrs. annie c. boyd, mrs. henry o. ott, miss elizabeth cummins, miss anne cummins, miss florence hoge, mrs. virginia hoge kendall and mrs. edward w. hazlett of wheeling; mrs. i. n. smith, mrs. harold ritz and mrs. a. m. finney of charleston; miss harriet schroeder of grafton. [ ] the organizers, who often were speakers also, not elsewhere mentioned, were misses adella potter, eleanor furman, alice riggs hunt, lola walker, josephine casey, lola trax, grace cole, eleanor raoul, mrs. c. e. martin, mrs. w. j. cambron, mrs. elizabeth sullivan, dr. harriet b. dilla and others. miss ramsey and miss raoul gave the use of their cars. miss gertrude watkins and miss gertrude miller of arkansas donated their services from july , the state paying their expenses. the philadelphia county society sent miss mabel dorr for two-and-a-half months as its contribution. miss alma b. sasse of missouri gave her services for over two months, the state paying her expenses. [ ] it was kept a secret at the time who was responsible for this arrangement but later it was found to be captain victor heinze of cincinnati, who had charge of the national republican headquarters in chicago. chapter xlviii. wisconsin.[ ] woman suffrage history in wisconsin from to naturally divides itself into three sections, the first including the ten years preceding the submission of the referendum measure by the legislature in ; the second the two years of the referendum campaign and the third the succeeding seven years to . the work of the state woman suffrage association, which was organized in , continued in the th century, as in the th, through organization, public meetings, annual conventions, the publication of the _wisconsin citizen_. the conventions of the first decade, which always took place in the autumn, were held as follows: , brodhead; , madison; , platteville; , janesville; , milwaukee; , , , , , madison; , racine. the rev. olympia brown, who had been elected president in , continued to serve in that capacity with undiminished vigor and ability, having been elected every year, until the end of . besides her other services she gave hundreds of addresses on woman suffrage, speaking in nearly every city in the state.[ ] the publication of the _wisconsin citizen_, established in , was continued in spite of limited finances. its first editor was martha parker dingee from boston, a niece of theodore parker, who gave her services for seven years. after that the editors were mrs. helen h. charlton, miss lena v. newman and mrs. youmans. after it was published at waukesha, before that at brodhead, and was discontinued in . notable speakers from outside the state at conventions of the first decade were mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, the rev. florence buck, the rev. marion murdock, mrs. clara bewick colby, mrs. belva a. lockwood, miss jane addams and dr. julia holmes smith. the association for some time supported a state organizer, the rev. alice ball loomis, and later mrs. emma smith devoe for two seasons. in headquarters were established at madison, the capital, in a little room in the state house, for the distribution of literature, and here was kept a register of men and women who believed in woman suffrage. in the rev. mrs. brown prepared a bulletin for the legislators, giving the statistics of woman suffrage in the united states and other countries. in mrs. maud wood park came to wisconsin and spoke to women students of five colleges, arrangements having been previously made by mrs. brown, who took part in some of the meetings, and college women's suffrage leagues were organized. mrs. brown prepared a pamphlet, why the church should demand the ballot for women, which was widely distributed. near the end of the state association was asked to circulate the national petition to congress for the federal suffrage amendment. blanks were sent all over the state to schools, libraries and other public institutions and to individuals. the members took up the matter with enthusiasm and worked faithfully. the association did all that could be done in the six weeks allowed and about , names were signed, , of them in racine. mrs. wentworth, over eighty years of age, canvassed portions of the city and obtained , names. during this whole decade resolutions and petitions were sent to congress and at every session of the legislature suffrage measures were introduced. mrs. jessie m. luther was chairman of the legislative committee during this period, an unrecognized and unpaid lobbyist, but by her skilful work, in which at times she was assisted by mrs. nellie donaldson and others, she kept the legislature in advance of the people of the state. in the legislature submitted to the voters a statutory law giving full suffrage to women, as it had authority to do. influences from outside the state led to the organization of the political equality league, of which miss ada l. james was president and mrs. crystal eastman benedict from new york was made campaign manager. the campaign of - , therefore, was carried on by two organizations, the state association and this league, working separately, although effort was made to correlate their activities by forming a cooperative committee representing both societies, of which miss gwendolen brown willis was chairman. the national american woman suffrage association, through its president, dr. anna howard shaw, contributed $ per month salary for an organizer and speaker, miss harriet grim, and gave further assistance to both organizations.[ ] both associations employed field organizers, arranged meetings, provided speakers, distributed literature and made active effort to interest as far as possible organizations and individuals in the cause. the state association had headquarters in the majestic building and later in the goldsmith building in milwaukee. the league had offices first in the wells building and later in the colby-abbott building in that city. a bulletin of suffrage news was sent each week to the newspapers in the state by mrs. youmans, who was press manager. the campaign opened with a big rally in racine june , . the rev. olympia brown, state president, continued her speaking tours without cessation and was assisted by prominent outside speakers, including mrs. may wright sewall, mrs. colby, dr. and mrs. william funck of baltimore, mrs. rachel foster avery and mrs. clara v. laddey, who addressed the germans. miss willis arranged a course of lectures in milwaukee for miss jane addams, louis f. post, dr. sophonisba breckinridge of chicago university, and mrs. catherine waugh mcculloch.[ ] the political equality league believed enthusiastically in street meetings and arranged many of them in milwaukee and other cities. under the same auspices several automobile tours swept the state, one of them having an itinerary through the southwestern counties, miss james, mrs. b. c. gudden, miss grim and miss mabel judd the speakers. the noted air pilot, beachy, scattered suffrage fliers from the airship which he took up into the clouds at the state fair in milwaukee. the state association had a large tent on the grounds, in front of which there were a platform for speakers, where addresses were made every day, and a counter covered with literature and books. the two societies conducted votes for women tours up the wolf and fox rivers, which were important features of the campaign. they traveled in a little steamer, stopping at landings and speaking and giving out literature. the association also held outdoor meetings at lunchtime before the factories and wherever it seemed best. the league formed two allied societies, the men's league for woman suffrage, of which the late h. a. j. upham was president, and a league for colored people, miss carrie horton, president. an extended series of mass meetings was held in many cities addressed by prominent speakers, who came from outside the state to assist, among whom were mrs. elizabeth lowe watson, miss addams, mrs. beatrice forbes robertson, mrs. emily montague bishop, professor charles zueblin, max eastman, mrs. rachel foster avery; the countess of warwick and miss sylvia pankhurst of england; miss inez milholland, mrs. maud c. nathan, mrs. glendower evans, baroness von suttner (austria), mrs. alice duer miller, mrs. florence kelley, rabbi emil hirschberg, mrs. grace wilbur trout, mrs. henrietta c. lyman, mrs. ella s. stewart, dr. anna e. blount, the rev. anna garlin spencer, mrs. clara neymann, who addressed the germans, and dr. shaw. there is no adequate record of that campaign in existence. mrs. luther was state historian and in the habit of keeping carefully all programs, calls for meetings, reports and other material necessary for history, which were preserved at the capitol and were destroyed when it was burned. the political equality league raised and expended $ , and the state association $ , , as reported to the secretary of state. nearly as much more was expended by individual members and by other organizations. dr. shaw and mrs. benedict arranged a mass meeting in new york which netted $ , . the determined hostility of the liquor interests to woman suffrage was unmistakably shown during the campaign by the official organ of the state retail liquor dealers' protective association, called "progress." for months preceding the election it was filled with objections, innuendo and abuse in prose, verse and pictures, all designed to impress the reader with the absurdity and danger of giving the vote to women. it appealed to the farmers and to every class of people connected in any way with the manufacture and sale of beer, saying in headlines: "give the ballot to woman and industry goes to smash." "it means the loss of vast sums to manufacturer, dealer and workingmen," and this was kept up to the end. an unprecedented vote was cast on the woman suffrage proposition at the election november , : for, , ; against, , ; lost by , . each of the three constitutional amendments voted on at the time received barely a fifth of the vote cast on this measure. of the counties but were carried for suffrage, douglas county in the extreme northwest on lake superior had the best record, a majority of , . milwaukee county, including the city, gave , votes for and , votes against. the referendum was placed on a pink ballot, used only for this purpose, which unquestionably increased the majority against it, as even the most illiterate could stamp it with a "no." the defeat was conceded to have been due to an insufficiency of general education on woman suffrage and of organization, the large foreign population and the widespread belief that it would help largely to bring prohibition. three days after the election officers of the political equality league sent to officers of the state association a letter proposing a union of the two under a new name and on condition that the president of neither should be made president of the new one. the latter was in favor of the union but insisted that the old historic name, wisconsin suffrage association, should be retained, which was done. miss lutie e. stearns was chosen its president at its annual convention to serve until the union was effected. there were ultimatums and counter-ultimatums and finally a call for a joint convention to be held in madison feb. , , , was issued by miss zona gale, vice-president of the association, and miss james, president of the league. here the union was duly effected; the rev. olympia brown was elected honorary president, mrs. henry m. youmans president and the other officers were divided between the two societies. the suffrage work henceforth was conducted under the same president and the same policy. the first year of the new régime, the organization had no headquarters and paid no salaries, the officers doing their correspondence with their own hands. the next year an office was opened in madison and miss alice curtis was installed as executive secretary. it was difficult to do effective work so far away from the president and the office was removed to waukesha, her residence, with miss curtis and later mrs. helen haight in charge. in october, , it was removed to milwaukee, and, with the county association, headquarters were opened at jefferson street, where they remained, with mrs. ruth hamilton as office secretary.[ ] the great increase of sentiment favorable to woman suffrage throughout the country was plainly seen in wisconsin and it was evident that a wide campaign of education must be undertaken. a "suffrage school" held in madison in june, , was very successful. sixty-six women enrolled for the full course and hundreds of men and women attended the special lectures. the "faculty" of the school included the chief justice of the supreme court, members of the faculty of the state university and other well known men and women. social forces, a topical outline with bibliography, published this year by the education committee, mrs. a. s. quackenbush, chairman, was especially designed for the instruction of women, first, in existing conditions, and second, in the various movements made to improve them. copies were purchased by universities, organizations and individuals all over the united states. wisconsin legislators and the home was a valuable pamphlet compiled by miss james following the legislative session of , giving the records of all members on the bills of especial interest to women which came up that year. wisconsin legislation, topics for discussion, was prepared in by mrs. j. w. mcmullein turner for the use of the legislative and educational committees. miss james served as legislative chairman in ; mrs. ben hooper in ; mrs. joseph jastrow in ; mrs. hooper again in . she was also for several years congressional chairman. regular press service was continued during the last decade, a weekly letter being sent to newspapers. mrs. youmans had charge of all publicity during her presidency. mrs. gudden supplied suffrage letters regularly to several german papers and due to her ability they were always published. in march, , a congressional conference was held in milwaukee with mrs. catt, the national president, as the chief speaker. in june at the time of the republican national convention in chicago the association sent to the great suffrage parade an impressive contingent, accompanied by a g. a. r. drum corps. this year it gave $ to the iowa campaign and among its members who assisted there and in campaigns in other states were mrs. hooper, mrs. haight, miss curtis, mrs. maud mccreery, miss edna wright and mrs. youmans. on oct. , , a branch of the national woman's party was formed in the home of mrs. victor berger and became active. there were two anti-suffrage societies of women, one in milwaukee and one in madison, and together they formed a so-called state association, of which mrs. c. e. estabrook was president and mrs. francis day an active member. they provided speakers for legislative hearings and signed their names to newspaper articles sent them from the east but were of slight importance. the state petition work was stopped by the epidemic of influenza in the autumn of and after the first of the next year the apparent favorable attitude of the legislature made it unnecessary, but already in forty counties the names of , men and , women had been obtained. self-denial day was originated by miss harriet bain of wisconsin and adopted by the national association. the fund in this state was over $ . the state association was prompt to organize for war work and formed all the committees recommended by the national american suffrage association. many suffrage leaders served as leaders of the war work in their communities. the president was on the woman's committee of the state council of defense and state chairman for americanization. the association sent $ , for the oversea hospitals financed by the national association. the relations of the state with the national association have been very cordial. it has sent a large delegation to each of the national conventions and paid its quota for the support of national work, about $ , in . in february, , the legislature gave presidential suffrage to women and the submission of the federal amendment was near at hand. the last meeting of the state association, a good citizenship convention, was held in milwaukee oct. -nov. . the program was devoted to the intelligent and patriotic use of the ballot. mrs. nancy m. schoonmaker came from connecticut to give six lectures on citizenship for women. a plan was adopted for publishing a citizenship manual and engaging a traveling representative to teach good citizenship to groups of women throughout the state. the convention provided that the association should automatically cease to exist as soon as the federal amendment was ratified, in any case not later than march , , and should be replaced by a state league of women voters. this took place on february and mrs. ben hooper was elected chairman.[ ] legislative action. . provision was made for separate ballot boxes for women, making fully operative the school suffrage law of . . a municipal suffrage bill received a small vote. a full suffrage measure introduced in the assembly by david evans was lost by only one and had a large vote in the senate. . a municipal suffrage bill was passed by the assembly; not acted upon by the senate. . a bill for a referendum to the voters passed in the senate; defeated in the assembly by a vote of to . . the session opened promisingly. david g. james introduced in the senate and j. h. kamper in the assembly a measure providing full suffrage for wisconsin women contingent upon the approval of a majority of the voters at the general election in november, . miss mary swain wagner was the only registered lobbyist but other suffragists, notably miss james, mrs. george w. peckham, mrs. nellie donaldson and mrs. luther, worked for the measure. at a joint hearing thirteen speakers, including several from outside the state, spoke in favor of the bill and one lone assemblyman, carl dorner, spoke in opposition. it passed the senate march by a vote of to , and the assembly april by a vote of to , and was signed by governor francis e. mcgovern on the ground that it was a problem which should be solved by the voters. this measure was not, as generally assumed, an amendment to the constitution but was a law, the constitution providing that suffrage might be extended by statute but this must be ratified by a majority of the voters at a general election. it was defeated in . . paradoxical as it may seem, legislators now became more friendly. the legislature of passed by a large majority in both houses another referendum bill introduced by senator robert glenn but it was vetoed by governor mcgovern on the ground that the voters should not be asked so soon to pass upon a measure which they had just defeated. . three measures were introduced in , one by senator glenn and assemblyman w. c. bradley, providing for full suffrage by state-wide referendum; one by senator george e. scott and assemblyman h. m. laursen, providing for presidential suffrage by action of the legislature, and one by senator a. pearce tompkins and assemblyman axel johnson to permit to counties local option in the matter of enfranchising their women. only the first was seriously considered and this was defeated in the assembly by a vote of to . a representative of the german-american alliance appeared against it at the hearing and at several later sessions. . a referendum measure was introduced by senator george b. skogmo and assemblyman james hanson and was killed in the assembly by a vote of to . . meanwhile the tide was perceptibly turning and at the state political conventions held in september, , all parties adopted planks favoring the enfranchisement of women. what was known as "the woman suffrage session" followed. . resolution urging the u. s. senate to submit a federal suffrage amendment: assembly for, against; senate for, against. presidential suffrage bill granting to women the right to vote for presidential electors: assembly for, against; senate for, one against. law extending the right of suffrage to women subject to a referendum, passed without an aye and no vote in both houses. it was repealed after ratification of the federal amendment made it unnecessary. ratification. the federal suffrage amendment was submitted by congress on june , . the wisconsin legislature ratified it about o'clock in the morning on june , with one negative vote in the senate, two in the house. a special messenger, former senator david g. james (the father of ada l. james), started for washington on the first train carrying the certificate from the governor and he brought back a statement from j. a. tonner, chief of the bureau of rolls and library, department of state, that "the certified copy of the ratification resolution by the legislature of wisconsin is the first which has been received." the illinois legislature ratified an hour earlier but owing to a technical error it had to ratify a second time. the two u. s. senators lafollette and lenroot and eight of the eleven representatives from wisconsin voted for the federal amendment on its final passage through congress. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. theodora w. youmans, president of the state woman suffrage association from until its work was finished in . [ ] the following were the officers for the first twelve years: vice-presidents: mrs. jessie m. luther, mrs. madge waters, mrs. laura james, vida james, mrs. e. c. priddle, miss linda rhodes; corresponding secretaries: miss lucinda lake, mrs. margaret geddes, mrs. emma geddes, miss lena newman, mrs. b. ostrander, mrs. nellie k. donaldson; recording secretaries: miss marion w. hamilton, miss emma graham, mrs. ethel irish, miss w. von bruenchenhein; treasurers: mrs. dora putnam, mrs. lydia woodward, mrs. f. h. derrick, mrs. a. b. sprague, mrs. b. ostrander, gwendolen brown willis; chairmen executive committee: ellen a. rose, mrs. etta gardner, mrs. kate rindlaub. [ ] near the end of the campaign miss mary swain wagner from new york organized the american suffragettes, a short-lived society, with miss martha heide as president, and it arranged a mass meeting in milwaukee with mrs. emmeline pankhurst of england as the principal speaker. [ ] a unique automobile tour was made by mrs. mcculloch and her husband, frank mcculloch, both prominent lawyers in chicago, and their four children, who devoted their annual vacation in the summer of to a tour through wisconsin, the eldest son driving a big car, mr. and mrs. mcculloch making suffrage speeches at designated points and the three younger children enjoying the outing. [ ] after annual conventions were held as follows: , milwaukee, speakers at evening meeting, mrs. pethick lawrence of england and rosika schwimmer of hungary; , milwaukee; (postponed to january, , at the time of the legislative session), madison; , milwaukee, mrs. nellie mcclung of canada speaker; , no convention because of the war. [ ] the officials from , not already mentioned, were as follows: vice-presidents: miss zona gale, dr. jean m. cooke, mrs. wm. preston leek, mrs. victor berger, mrs. isaac witter, mrs. frank thanhouser, miss harriet f. bain; corresponding secretaries: mrs. w. m. waters, mrs. joseph jastrow, mrs. james l. foley, mrs. glen turner, mrs. charles h. mott, mrs. h. f. shadbolt; recording secretaries: mrs. h. m. holton, mrs. a. j. rogers; treasurers, miss e. e. robinson, mrs. harvey j. frame; auditors: miss gwendolyn b. willis, miss m. v. brown, mrs. louis fuller hobbins, miss amy comstock, mrs. a. w. schorger, mrs. h. a. j. upham, mrs. sarah h. van dusen. mrs. a. j. birkhauser. chapter xlix. wyoming.[ ] wyoming was the pioneer territory and the pioneer state to give full suffrage to women. it is an interesting fact that the women did not find it necessary to have a territorial or state suffrage association, or even a convention except the one during the campaign for statehood in - . this rare situation is explained by the fact that universal suffrage came to the women in the newly organized territory in without any general demand for it but through the efforts of a very few progressive men and women. [history of woman suffrage, volume iv, page .] when the constitutional convention was preparing for statehood in , holding its sessions in cheyenne, the women of the territory held a convention there in order to pass resolutions asking that the constitution should contain an article granting to the women a continuation of the right of suffrage which they had possessed for twenty years. this was granted and both men and women voted on the constitution, which was adopted by a three-fourths majority of the votes cast. the fact that there was no women's association for suffrage or for political purposes was at times a serious handicap to women of other states, who were not able to appeal to an organized body for an endorsement of woman suffrage or related subjects. in and at subsequent dates by joint resolution of both houses of the legislature a strong appeal was sent to congress to submit the federal suffrage amendment. on feb. , , a joint resolution was passed and signed by governor robert d. carey commemorating the granting of woman suffrage in wyoming, dec. , , by making this date each year wyoming day, "to be observed by appropriate exercises commemorative of the history of the commonwealth and the lives and work of its pioneers." at a state convention in laramie nov. - , , with mrs. carrie chapman catt, the national president, as guest of honor, a branch of the national league of women voters was organized, with mrs. cyrus beard as state chairman. at casper, oct. , , it was re-organized by mrs. james paige, regional director, with mrs. c. w. crouter as state chairman. ratification. governor robert d. carey called a special session of the legislature for jan. , , to ratify the federal suffrage amendment. the vote was unanimous in each house, and, after it was finished and had received the governor's signature, mrs. theresa jenkins of cheyenne, a faithful supporter of woman suffrage in wyoming for fifty years, thanked the members and the governor for their action in behalf of the women of the state, the united states and the world. * * * * * the decree that laws must be omitted for lack of space bars out the many statutes in the interests of women and children which are wyoming's especial pride. the pioneer member of the legislature was mrs. mary godat bellamy of laramie, elected to the lower house in . she had been a teacher in the public schools of the city and county superintendent. she was very active in her duties and was instrumental in having a number of excellent bills become laws. among these were bills for an adequate appropriation to employ a state humane officer for child and animal protection; to establish an industrial institution for male convicts twenty-five years old or under, as at that time per cent. of those in the penitentiary were under twenty-one; an eight-hour day for women and children who worked in factories, laundries and industrial places; a grant to the state university of a permanent annual revenue. she helped to kill a bill to repeal an existing law which prohibited liquor being sold in places that were not incorporated, as mining and lumber camps. mrs. bellamy said later: "while the men were courteous yet no woman must expect that when it comes to gaining a point a man is going to make an exception because his colleague is a woman." in the legislature of two women representatives had seats--mrs. anna miller of laramie, a mother of six grown children, three of whom were graduated from the state university, and miss nettie truax of sundance, a school teacher and at one time county superintendent. mrs. miller was a successful merchant and at the time of her election was at the head of a large drygoods establishment. she succeeded her son in the legislature. miss truax was made chairman of the important committee on education. in mrs. morna wood, also of sundance, was elected to the lower house. she introduced a bill, which became a law, for the protection and regulation of child employment. during this session a bill in the direction of easy divorce came before the house and mrs. wood made a strong speech condemning it and appealing for loyal support of her protest in the interests of the home and the children. nothing further was heard of the bill. while women may not have taken a large place as lawmakers they have had an active and effective interest in many excellent laws. the following women have been elected state superintendent of public instruction: miss estelle reel, - ; miss rose a. bird, - ; miss edith k. o. clark, - ; mrs. katharine a. morton, - . this is the most highly paid office occupied by a woman, the salary being the same as that of the secretary of state, state auditor and state treasurer. by virtue of her office the superintendent is a member of the state boards of pardons, charities and reforms, land commissioners, school land commissioners and education, with power to appoint all members of the last board, which elects the state commissioner of education. at present all the counties have women county superintendents of schools, not an unusual situation. they also hold other county offices and as in all states as soon as the suffrage is granted are eligible to all official positions. the largest woman's organization is the federation of clubs, with a membership of , , a democratic body which has been able to do much for the state in legislation, education and reform. the women of wyoming have been very conservative with the ballot and have never used radical means to accomplish their aims. no woman's ticket has ever been offered. all institutions of learning are co-educational. since there has been but a short interval when women have not been on the board of trustees of the state university. grace raymond hebard was the first, serving thirteen years. for eighteen years, - , a woman was secretary, acting also as financial agent, buying for the institution and paying the bills. in february, , mrs. mary b. david of douglas was appointed trustee by the governor and displayed such unusual ability as an executive that later she was unanimously elected by the board as its president, serving from september, , to february, , when she removed from the state. during her administration more important matters than ever before were brought to the board for its consideration and solution--questions of land leases and oil grants, rents and royalties involving millions of dollars. the efficient, intelligent and impartial way in which mrs. david handled these matters, of course in conjunction with the other members, won for her from the board and the parties involved the strongest commendation. at one time a woman was seriously thought of for president of the university but she refused to consider it. at present ( ) two of the four most highly paid professors are women at the head of the combined departments of psychology and philosophy and of political economy and sociology. there are five women on the faculty, receiving the same compensation as the men holding equal positions. women are full professors in history, english and home economics. the professor of elementary education and supervisor of the training school is a woman and the dean of women ranks as a full professor. with the assistant professors there are fourteen women on the faculty. on june , , this university gave its first honorary degree and very appropriately to a woman. with beautiful ceremonies the degree of doctor of laws was conferred on mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association and of the international woman suffrage alliance. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to dr. grace raymond hebard, professor of political economy and sociology in the state university of wyoming. chapter l. woman suffrage in the territories of the united states and the philippines. alaska.[ ] when the bill was before congress in to make alaska a territory of the united states an amendment was added on motion of representative frank w. mondell of wyoming to give its legislature full power to enfranchise women. this was accepted by the house without objection. afterwards the official board of the national american woman suffrage association gladly responded to the request of arthur g. stroup of sitka, one of the territorial representatives, who intended to introduce a bill for the purpose, to send up some suitable literature. the board also asked women in seattle, former residents of alaska, to write to the members of the new legislature. woman suffrage in alaska possesses the unique record of being granted without any solicitation whatever from the residents. it is not known that a suffrage club ever existed in the territory; it is quite certain that prior to the convening of the first territorial legislature in juneau in no suffrage campaigning whatever had been carried on, yet two members, coming from towns not less than , miles apart, brought drafts for an equal suffrage bill. house bill no. , "an act to extend the elective franchise to the women in the territory of alaska," was the first to pass both houses-- senators and representatives--and the vote on it was unanimous, senator elwood brunner of nome, the only member who had expressed himself as unfavorable, having had the good sense or caution to absent himself during roll call. this was also the first bill to be approved by the governor, j. f. a. strong, on march , , and the act became effective ninety days thereafter. it declared the elective franchise extended to such women as had the qualifications required of male electors. the alaska code had permitted women to vote only at school elections. the new law gave them the privilege of voting for the officers in incorporated towns and cities; for members of the territorial legislature and for territorial delegate to congress. it is estimated that there is a white population of , of whom between , and , are women. probably not native women are voters. indian men have a vote if they have "severed tribal relations," which is interpreted to mean that if an indian moves to a white man's town or lives on a creek or in a camp in such a way that the missions or the marshals think he has left his tribe, he can vote. indian women have a vote if they marry white men who have a vote; if they are unmarried and have "severed tribal relations"; if they are married to an indian who has "severed tribal relations." the original code said definitely that juries should be drawn from the male citizens and it has never been changed. with this exception the rights of men and women are the same. two other bills of importance passed by the first legislature provided for the compulsory education of white children and for juvenile courts to look after dependent children and create a board of children's guardians. this board consists of the district judge and u. s. marshal in each judicial division, together with one woman appointed by the governor, thus creating four such boards in the territory, one for each division. the interest of alaska women in questions affecting local or territorial conditions is intense and their efforts effective, as their work in the prohibition campaign of proved. this was essentially a woman's campaign, so well handled that at the plebiscite held at the time of the general election in november, , the vote was about two to one in favor of prohibition. as a result, congress enacted the bone dry prohibition law for the territory feb. , . it is believed that about three-fourths of the qualified women vote but there is no means of knowing. the percentage of illiteracy among white women is negligible and the young native women taught at the government and mission schools can read and write. the women of alaska did their share in all kinds of war work, for conservation, bond drives, red cross and kindred activities. on account of the vast distances and small means of transportation any general cooperation is impossible. there are two daily papers in fairbanks with a wide circulation over the entire district, which is larger than texas. the organizing for red cross work had to be largely done through these papers but in a few months there were about knitters, practically all the women in the district, and thirty organizations in the mining camps, many of these having only two or three women. in fairbanks, by means of dances, card parties, sales, etc., $ , were raised just to buy wool, besides all the funds and "drives." the interest of alaskan women in such public questions as affect women elsewhere is that of the spectator rather than of the worker. when legislation on housing and tenement laws, protection of factory workers, prevention of child labor and like problems becomes necessary they will not be lacking in interest or energy. hawaii. the organic act under which the territories of the united states were created said that at the first election persons with specified qualifications should be entitled to vote and at subsequent elections such persons as the territorial legislature might designate. it was under this act that wyoming and utah enfranchised their women in and and washington in . when in the congress was preparing to admit hawaii as a territory the commission framed a constitution which specifically refused the privilege that had been granted to every other territory of having its own legislature decide who should vote after the first election, by inserting a clause that it "should not grant to ... any individual any special privilege or franchise without the approval of congress." this constitution gave the suffrage to every masculine citizen of whatever nationality--portuguese, japanese, chinese--who could read and write english or hawaiian, and it repeatedly used the word "male" to bar women from having a vote or holding an office. the members of this commission were senators john t. morgan of alabama and shelby m. cullom of illinois; representative robert r. hitt of illinois; president sanford b. dole and associate justice frear of hawaii. justice frear said over his own signature that he and president dole desired that the legislature should have power to authorize woman suffrage but the rest of the commission would not permit it. miss susan b. anthony president, and the official board of the national american woman suffrage association, made vigorous objection to this abuse of power, sent a protest to every member of congress and followed this with petitions officially signed by large associations but to no avail. the act was approved by president william mckinley april , .[ ] the women had always exercised great influence in political affairs and the people of hawaii resented this discrimination but the u. s. congress then and for years afterwards was adamant in its opposition to woman suffrage anywhere. after the women of washington, california and oregon were enfranchised in - - this resentment found expression among the women of honolulu in , when they called on mrs. john w. dorsett to help them organize a suffrage club. they learned in october that by good fortune mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage alliance, would stop there on her way home from a trip around the world and they arranged by wireless messages for her to address a mass meeting at the opera house the one evening she would be there. the audience was large and sympathetic and she learned that every legislative candidate at the approaching election had announced himself in favor of getting the vote for women. she met with the suffrage club and found its constitution modeled on the one recommended by the national american woman suffrage association. she was in touch with the women afterwards and the interest was kept alive. by the more thoughtful men of the territory were beginning to feel that its women must be enfranchised. both political parties declared in favor of asking the u. s. congress for an act giving the hawaiian legislature authority in this matter and that body itself passed a bill to this effect. this was taken to washington by the delegate from the territory, j. k. kalanianaole, who presented it but it received no attention. he presented it again in , with a like result. soon afterwards mr. and mrs. benjamin f. pitman of brookline, mass., visited the islands. mr. pitman was the son of a hawaiian chiefess and although he had not been there since childhood he was the person of the highest rank. mrs. pitman was prominent among the suffrage leaders in massachusetts and was deeply interested in the situation in hawaii. she attended the opening of the legislature and conversed with nearly all the members, finding them to a man in favor of the bill, and the legislature adopted strong resolutions calling upon congress to sanction it. in answer to a request for her experience to use in this chapter she wrote: it was on jan. , , that we arrived in honolulu and on the st madame nakiuna, who was known as the court historian, gave us a large reception at laniakea. at this fête were all the women of the highest social circles in the islands. among them were mrs. john w. dorsett, mrs. a. p. taylor, mrs. castle-coleman, miss mary ermine cross and others who had heard of my activities in "the cause" and importuned me to hold meetings to try to arouse a keener interest. i would have consented at once but for the fact that almost the first person i saw in this beautiful land was the field-secretary of the massachusetts association opposed to the extension of suffrage to women. i had a feeling that if there was not already an anti-association here there would be one the moment i began any serious work and so i advised waiting, promising to do my best for them as soon as it seemed wise, and so, while i was indeed sorry that the serious illness of a relative obliged her to depart for home at a very early date, it was amusing to say the least that while she was sailing out of the harbor i was holding my first suffrage meeting in the home of mrs. dorsett. i held meetings on two successive days, one attended mostly by the middle class and the other by high caste hawaiians and the "missionary set," which, perhaps, we might style their " ." my talk was in the form of a discussion and i was surprised and delighted at the fluency of all who spoke, their wide knowledge of world affairs and desire for the franchise. many months had passed since the departure of prince kalanianaole and so they begged me to investigate as soon as i returned home. this i promised to do and wrote at once to mrs. catt all that i heard. mrs. catt sent mrs. pitman's letter to mrs. maud wood park, chairman of the congressional committee of the national suffrage association and she took up the question with senator john f. shafroth, chairman of the committee on pacific islands and porto rico. the delegate from hawaii, who was deeply interested, welcomed this new force to assist in pushing the bill, which had simply been neglected. on may , , he presented still another resolution from the territorial legislature asking for it and on june i senator shafroth introduced the following bill: _be it enacted_ ... that the legislature of the territory of hawaii be, and it is hereby, vested with the power to provide that in all elections ... female citizens possessing the same qualifications as male citizens shall be entitled to vote. sec. . that the said legislature is further hereby vested with the power to have submitted to the voters of the territory the question of whether or not the female citizens shall be empowered to vote.... the bill was reported favorably by the committee and passed by the senate without objection or even discussion on september . in the house it was referred to the committee on woman suffrage, which set april , , for a hearing. delegate kalanianaole had been called back to honolulu by business but was represented by his secretary and there were present mrs. park, who presided, dr. anna howard shaw, honorary president of the national suffrage association, and mrs. pitman, the principal speaker. judge john e. raker was chairman of the committee, which did not need any argument but was interested in asking many questions of mrs. pitman. at the close of the hearing the committee voted unanimously to make a favorable report. the bill was passed june without a roll call. it was signed by president wilson on the th. the matter was now in the control of the hawaiian legislature, which received petitions from a number of organizations of women to exercise its power to confer the suffrage without a referendum to the voters. this was recommended by governor c. j. mccarthy and early in the session of the senate took this action and sent the bill to the house. this body under outside influence refused to endorse it but substituted a bill to send the question to the voters. the senate would not accept it and both bills were deadlocked. the women were then spurred to action; old suffrage clubs were revived; one was formed in honolulu of the native high class women and what is known as the "missionary set," a very brilliant group. mrs. dorsett made a tour of all the islands to arouse interest and on mani, under the leadership of mrs. harry baldwin, clubs were formed all over the island. a hawaiian suffrage association was organized. at the next convention of the national association a resolution was adopted that it be invited to become auxiliary without the payment of dues and the invitation was officially accepted with thanks. the federal suffrage amendment proclaimed by secretary of state colby aug. , , included the women of the territories and it was thus that hawaiian women became enfranchised. they voted in large numbers at the november elections that year. the philippines. the philippine islands came under the jurisdiction of the united states as a consequence of the spanish-american war in and their government soon became an active question in congress. there was a desire to permit their own people to participate in this to some extent and the national american woman suffrage association, always on the watch tower, took immediate action toward having women included in any scheme of self-government. with the recent example before it of the most unjust discrimination against them in the admission of hawaii as a territory, the association under the presidency of miss susan b. anthony petitioned the members of congress to recognize the rights of women in whatever form of government was adopted. at its annual convention in impassioned speeches were made against taking away from filipino women the position of superiority which they always had held under spanish rule by giving the men political authority over them. in military governor-general otis ordered a re-organization of the municipalities. to decide who should have a vote in local affairs the philippine commission of the u. s. senate summoned well informed persons and among them, in the spring of , were judge william h. taft, governor-general of the islands, and archbishop nozaleda, who had been connected with the catholic church there for twenty-six years and archbishop since . both declared that the suffrage should be given to the women rather than to the men, the former saying: "the fact is that, not only among the tagalogs but also among the christian filipinos, the woman is the active manager of the family, so if you expect to confer political power on the filipinos it ought to be given to the women. following is part of the archbishop's statement. (senate document, p. .): the woman is better than the man in every way--in intelligence, in virtue and in labor--and a great deal more economical. she is very much given to trade and trafficking. if any rights and privileges are to be granted to the natives, do not give them to the men but to the women. q. then you think it would be much better to give the women the right to vote than the men? a. o, much better. why, even in the fields it is the women who do the work; the men go to the cock fights and gamble. the woman is the one who supports the man there, so every law of justice demands that in political life they should have the privilege over the men. notwithstanding this and other testimony of a similar nature the commission framed a code giving a municipal or local franchise to certain classes of men and excluding all women, taking away from them the privileges they always had possessed. the men soon began demanding their own lawmaking body and in response congress passed an act to take effect jan. , , to provide for the holding of elections in the islands for a legislative assembly. the act limited the voters to "male persons years of age or over," thus again putting up the barriers against women and including them in the list of the disqualified as listed--"insane, feeble-minded, rebels and traitors." the u. s. government did, however, give women to the same extent as men all educational advantages, which heretofore had been denied them and their progress was very rapid. in mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage alliance, visited manila on her trip around the world and was warmly received. a meeting was called at the manila hotel for august and twelve women responded. after making an address she helped them form a club which they called society for the advancement of women. thirty attended the next meeting two weeks later and they took up active philanthropic work. in a little while most of the women of influence were members of it and it was re-organized as the woman's club of manila. its work extended in many directions and it became one of the city's leading institutions. other clubs were formed and they joined the general federation of clubs in . there are between and clubs in the islands ( ). meanwhile the men were not satisfied with their one-house legislative assembly largely under american control, but wanted more power. in response congress provided for a legislature of a senate of members and a lower house of , all to be elected except two of the former and nine of the latter, who would be appointed by the american governor-general to represent districts where elections were not held, the act to go into effect in . the suffrage was still confined exclusively to males, although in the women's club had organized fifty-seven mothers' clubs for the welfare of infants; had secured through women lawyers legal aid for over thirty poor women; had been instrumental in having , people make gardens to give variety to their fish and rice diet and done a vast amount of other valuable public work. the act passed by large majorities, members voting for it who had persistently voted against the federal amendment to enfranchise the women of the united states. the philippines were from represented in congress by an able and progressive commissioner, jaime c. de veyra, an advocate of woman suffrage. his wife, a native of iloilo, who had been prominent in civic work in the islands, shared his views, and was a frequent visitor at the suffrage headquarters in washington. in , assisted by miss bessie dwyer, vice-president of the manila women's club, she gave beautifully illustrated addresses in washington and new york, on the position of women in the islands. in these and in interviews she said: philippine women have always been free and have always been held as equals of the men. in the little rural "barrios" you will always find some sort of woman leader. all over the islands they are highly considered. even when old they exercise full sway over the family and have the last word in all financial matters. the married children still cling to the mother as adviser. the young women who marry go into partnership with their husbands and while the men handle the workers it is the women who do the paying and oversee things generally. they are engaged in all kinds of business for themselves and are employed by scores of thousands. many thousands carry work home where they can take care of their children, do the housework and be earning money. they have the same opportunities in the professions as men, are successful physicians and lawyers and members of the bar association. laws made for them have combined the best of spanish and american precedents. they are guardians of their own children; married women may hold property; of that which accrues to a married couple, the wife is half administrator. these are vested rights and cannot be taken away. a short time ago the question of woman suffrage was introduced into the legislature, not by the initiative of american women but urged by madame apacibile, wife of one of the government secretaries. a petition signed by , women asking for a joint legislative hearing was sent to the law makers who granted it. three filipina women spoke, one the widow of the eminent concepcion calderon, a successful business woman, owning a fish farm and an embroidery enterprise. others were mrs. feodore kalon, miss almeda and miss pazlegaspi, the last two practicing lawyers. only one man appeared in the negative. the president of the senate, the hon. manuel l. quezon, is in favor of woman suffrage. governor-general francis burton harrison recommended to the legislature to give the suffrage to women, as it has the power to do. a bill was introduced and passed the senate almost unanimously dec. , , but it was not acted upon by the house. as the constitution of the united states is not in force in the philippines the women were not enfranchised by the federal suffrage amendment in but must await the action of their own legislature. porto rico. after porto rico came under the control of the united states as a result of the spanish-american war in its political status was undetermined for a long time. shortly before that war spain had granted universal suffrage to all its men over . congress confirmed this privilege as to the affairs of the island but they had no voting rights in those of the united states. after a few years the more progressive of the people began asking for the status of a territory with their own legislature. this agitation was continued for sixteen years before congress took action and agreed on a bill which would admit the islanders to citizenship. as usual the chief difficulty was over the suffrage. there was a desire to have a slight educational and a small property qualification but as a large majority of the men were illiterate and without property this aroused a protest, which was supported by the american federation of labor. on may , , while the porto rican bill was under consideration in committee of the whole in the lower house of congress, the republican floor leader, james r. mann (ills.), discovered that a majority of those present were republicans and suffragists. he therefore proposed a clause giving the franchise to the women, which was passed by to . he expected to put the democrats in the position of voting it down the next day in regular session but when it came up republicans joined with democrats in defeating it by noes to ayes. finally when, under pressure, the committee was obliged to put in universal suffrage for the great mass of illiterate men, even the most ardent advocates of woman suffrage among the members felt that it would be unwise to add universal suffrage for women. in answer to the urgent request of the congressional committee of the national american woman suffrage association that this injustice should not be done to women, senator john f. shafroth, chairman of the committee on the pacific islands and porto rico, wrote: "i would have been very glad to incorporate a provision including women but it would have killed the bill. i was notified by senator martine of new jersey and others that they would not permit a provision of that kind to go into it and the parliamentary stage of the bill was such that any one senator could have defeated it. as it was, it took two years to get the bill before congress and fully twenty motions to have it considered and if either prohibition or woman suffrage had gone into it there would have been no bill for porto rico. we avoided the word 'male' in prescribing the qualifications of electors." the act, which received the approval of president wilson march , , provided that at the first election for the legislature and other officers the electors should be those qualified under the present law, and thereafter voters should be citizens of the united states years of age and have such additional qualifications as might be prescribed by the legislature of porto rico. the election took place on july . while this act was an improvement on the one which admitted hawaii as a territory it left the many educated, tax paying women, the woman in business, the teachers in government and mission schools, the nurses in the hospitals, the social workers, wholly in the power of men. about there was incorporated in porto rico an organization called la liga feminea de puerto rico, which worked energetically for the social uplift of the people and for the political enfranchisement of women. the official organ was _la mujer del siglo veinte_--_the twentieth century woman_. early in the spring of mrs. geraldine maud froscher, an american living in porto rico, appealed to the national suffrage association for financial assistance for a campaign preparatory to the introduction of the woman suffrage bill in the legislature that year. literature was sent immediately and the association agreed to pay the expenses of mrs. froscher, who organized suffrage leagues in all towns of any considerable size, addressed women's clubs, interviewed legislators and distributed literature. in this work she had the able assistance of mrs. ana roqué duprey, the first president of the san juan suffrage league, editor of the above paper and later of _el heraldo de la mujer_--_the woman's herald_, with mrs. froscher as the american editor. in august, , at the first session of the new legislature, a bill was introduced in the lower house to give women the right to hold office but without the right to vote and one to give them equal rights. later two more bills were introduced but none was passed. as porto rico is an unincorporated territory of the united states, its women were not enfranchised by the federal suffrage amendment in . at three consecutive sessions of the legislative assembly a petition for woman suffrage has been presented. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. jeannette drury clark, a graduate of the university of california, who with her husband, john a. clark, an attorney, has made her home in fairbanks for the past fifteen years. [ ] history of woman suffrage, volume iv, pages , , , . chapter li. progress of the women's movement in the united kingdom. - .[ ] i consider it an honor to have been asked to take up the pen from the date , when my dear friend and colleague, the late helen blackburn, laid it down after writing the chapter on great britain for volume iv of the history of woman suffrage. i am particularly fortunate in that it falls to my lot to include the year , when victory crowned our fifty years' struggle in these islands to obtain the parliamentary franchise for women. several circumstances entirely outside our power of control combined to promote the rapid growth of the movement at the beginning of the xxth century. the chief of these were the south african war, - , and the death of queen victoria in . the war with the transvaal was caused by the refusal of president kruger and his advisers to recognize the principle that taxation and representation should go together. the so-called uitlanders, who formed a large proportion of the population of the transvaal and provided by taxation a still larger proportion of its revenue, were practically excluded from representation. this led to intense irritation and ultimately to war. it was, therefore, inevitable that articles in the press and the speeches of british statesmen dealing with the war used arguments which might have been transferred without the alteration of a single word to women's suffrage speeches. i have described on pages and of women's suffrage, a short history of a great movement, the strong impulse which had been given to the electorial activity of british women by the corrupt practices act of , which made paid canvassing illegal and otherwise reduced electorial expenses. very soon after it came into operation both the chief political parties organized bands of educated women to act as canvassers, election agents, etc., in contested elections. the war stimulated this electorial activity of women. a general election was held in and in the absence of husbands, sons and brothers in south africa, many wives, mothers and sisters ran the whole election on their behalf. several of these were well known anti-suffragists. even mrs. humphry ward herself, on the occasion of an important anti-suffrage meeting in london, excused her absence on the ground that her presence was required by the exigencies of the pending election in west herts, where her son was a candidate. suffragists again were not slow to point the moral--if women were fit (and they obviously were fit) not only to advise, persuade and instruct voters how to vote but also to conduct election campaigns from start to finish, they were surely fit to vote themselves. the death of queen victoria in january, , called forth a spontaneous burst of loyal gratitude, devotion and appreciation from all parties and all sections of the country. every leading statesman among her councillors dwelt on the extraordinary penetration of her mind, her wide political knowledge, her great practical sagacity, her grasp of principle, and they combined to acclaim her as the most trusted of all the constitutional monarchs whom the world had then seen. how could she be all that they justly claimed for her, if the whole female sex laboured under the disabilities which, according to mrs. humphry ward, were imposed by nature and therefore irremediable? nevertheless, it must not be supposed, genuine as were these tributes to queen victoria's political sagacity, that her example immediately cleared out of the minds of the opponents the notion that women were fitly classed with aliens, felons, idiots and lunatics, as persons who for reasons of public safety were debarred from the exercise of the parliamentary franchise. the parliament returned in had an immense liberal majority. there were only unionist members in the house of commons against liberals, labour men and nationalists, all of whom were for home rule and therefore prepared to support in all critical divisions the new administration which was formed under the premiership of sir henry campbell bannerman. the new house contained members pledged to women's suffrage. the premier was himself a suffragist but his cabinet contained several determined anti-suffragists, notable among whom were mr. herbert h. asquith, chancellor of the exchequer, and mr. james bryce, chief secretary for ireland (now lord bryce), who became british ambassador to the united states in . the new prime minister received a large, representative suffrage deputation in may, , in which all sections of suffragist opinion were represented, and their case was laid before him with force and clearness. in reply he told them that they had made out "a conclusive and irrefutable case" but that he was not prepared to take any steps to realize their hopes. when asked what he would advise ardent suffragists to do he told them to "go on pestering." this advice was taken to heart by the group (a small minority of the whole) who had lately formed in manchester the organization known as the women's social and political union, led by mrs. pankhurst. an unforeseen misfortune was the death in of sir h. c. bannerman and the fact that his successor was our principal opponent in the government, mr. asquith. it was not very long before he revealed the line of his attack upon the enfranchisement of women. he informed his party in may, , that his intention was to introduce before the expiration of the existing parliament a reform bill giving a wide extension of the franchise to men and no franchise at all to women. in the previous february a women's suffrage bill which removed all sex disability from existing franchises had passed its second reading in the house of commons but this apparently had no effect on mr. asquith. there were, however, some cracks in his armour. he admitted that about two-thirds of his cabinet and a majority of his party were favourable to women's suffrage and he promised that when his own exclusively male reform bill was before the house and had got into committee, if an amendment to include women were moved on democratic lines, his government, as a government, would not oppose it. this was at all events an advance on the position taken by mr. gladstone upon his reform bill of , when he vehemently opposed a women's suffrage amendment and caused it to be defeated. the emergence of what was afterwards known as "militancy" belongs to this period, dating from the general election of and very much stimulated by premier bannerman's reply to the deputation in that year and by the attitude of mr. asquith. it will ever be an open question on which different people, with equal opportunities of forming a judgment, will pronounce different verdicts, whether "militancy" did more harm or good to the suffrage cause. it certainly broke down the "conspiracy of silence" on the subject up to then observed by the press. every extravagance, every folly, every violent expression, and of course when the "militants" after proceeded to acts of violence, every outrage against person or property were given the widest possible publicity not only in great britain but all over the world. there was soon not an intelligent human being in any country who was not discussing women's suffrage and arguing either for or against it. this was an immense advantage to the movement, for we had, as sir h. campbell bannerman had said, "a conclusive and irrefutable case." our difficulty had been to get it heard and considered and this "militancy" secured. the anti-suffrage press believed that it would kill the movement and it was this belief which encouraged them to give it the widest possible publicity. the wilder and more extravagant the "militants" became the more they were quoted, described and advertised in every way. the sort of "copy" which anti-suffrage papers demanded was supplied by them in cartloads and not at all by law-abiding suffragists, who were an immense majority of the whole. this can be illustrated by an anecdote. the constitutional suffragists had organized a big meeting in trafalgar square and had secured a strong team of first-rate speakers. the square was well filled and on the fringe of the crowd the following conversation was overheard between two press men who had come to report the proceedings. one said he was going away, the second asked why and the first answered: "it's no good stopping, there's no copy in this; these women are only talking sense!" the earlier years of militant activity were in my opinion helpful to the whole movement, for up to the "militants" had only adopted sensational and unusual methods, such as waving flags and making speeches in the lobby of the house and asking inconvenient questions at public meetings. they had suffered a great deal of violence but had used none. from onwards, however, they began to use violence, stone throwing, personal attacks, sometimes with whips, on obnoxious members of the government, window smashing, the destruction of the contents of letter-boxes--in one instance the destruction of ballot papers cast in an election. later arson practised for the destruction or attempted destruction of churches and houses became more and more frequent. all this had an intensely irritating effect on public opinion. "suffragist" as far as the general public was concerned became almost synonymous with "harpy." this cause which had not been defeated on a straight vote in the house of commons since was now twice defeated; once in and once in . the whole spirit engendered by attempting to gain by violence or threats of violence what was not conceded to justice and reason was intensely inimical to the spirit of our movement. we believed with profound conviction that whatever might be gained in that way did not and could not rest on a sure foundation. the women's movement was an appeal against government by physical force and those who used physical violence in order to promote it were denying their faith to make their faith prevail. the difference made a deep rift in the suffrage movement. the constitutional societies felt bound to exclude "militants" from their membership and on several occasions issued strongly-worded protests against the use of violence as political propaganda. the fact that men under similar circumstances had been much more violent and destructive, especially in earlier days when they were less civilized, did not inspire us with the wish to imitate them. we considered that they had been wrong and that "direct action," as it is now the fashion to call coercion by means of physical force, had always reacted unfavorably on those who employed it. while the constitutional societies freely and repeatedly expressed their views on these points, the "militants" not unnaturally retorted by attempting to break up our meetings, shouting down our speakers and provoking every sort of disorder at them. it was an exceptionally difficult situation and that we won through as well as we did was due to the solid loyalty to constitutional and law-abiding methods of propaganda of the great mass of suffragists throughout the country. we quoted the american proverb, "three hornets can upset a camp meeting," and we determined to hold steadily on our way and not let our hornets upset us. our societies multiplied rapidly both in numbers and in membership. for instance, the number forming the national union of women's suffrage societies increased from in to in and went on increasing rapidly until just before the war in they numbered more than , with a revenue of over , pounds a year. more important in many ways than the "militant" movement was the emergence at the general election in of the labour party. mr. keir hardie, mr. philip snowden and others of its leaders were very strong supporters of women's suffrage and it was not long before the party definitely made the enfranchisement of women on the same terms as men a plank in its platform. in anticipation of the first general election of , the n.u.w.s.s. addressed the leaders of the three british parties, conservative, liberal, and labour, asking them what they were prepared to do for women's suffrage. mr. asquith gave his answer at an albert hall meeting in december, . he reiterated his intention, if returned to power, of bringing in a reform bill, and he promised to make the insertion of a women's suffrage amendment an open question for the house of commons to decide. he added: "the government ... has no disposition or desire to burke the question; it is clearly an issue on which the new house ought to be given an opportunity to express its views." this meant that the government whips would not be put on to oppose the enfranchisement of women. mr. balfour replied to our memorial that it was a non-party question on which members of the unionist party could exercise individual freedom of action. mr. arthur henderson, for the labour party, told us that it had already placed the enfranchisement of women on its programme. the labour party was not large but it was an important advantage to us to have even a small party definitely pledged to our support. there were two general elections in , in january and december. the liberal, labour and nationalist group lost heavily in the second of these elections, their majority being reduced from to . the labour party between these two elections had lost six seats but they were still forty strong, all definitely pledged to women's suffrage in the new parliament which assembled in january, . our bill had been carried on its second reading in by a majority of but after the second general election of it secured on may , , a majority of ; there were pairs, only members of parliament going into the lobby against us. the bill on each of these occasions was of a very limited character; it proposed to enfranchise women-householders, widows and spinsters and would only have added about a million women to the parliamentary register. it was called the conciliation bill, because it sought to conciliate the differences between different types of suffragists in the house of commons, from the extreme conservative who only cared for the representation of women of property, to the extreme radical who demanded the enfranchisement of every woman. a committee was formed to promote the success of this bill in parliament of which the earl of lytton was chairman and mr. h. n. brailsford hon. sec. it was believed that the bill represented the greatest common measure of the house of commons' belief in women's votes. the labour party were strongly in favour of a much wider enfranchisement of women but generously waived their own preferences in order, as they believed, to get some sort of representation for women on the statute book. almost immediately after this large majority for the second reading of the conciliation bill in may, , an official announcement was made by the government that mr. asquith's promise of the previous november that an opportunity should be afforded for proceeding with the bill in all its stages would be fulfilled in the session of . we were then in the most favourable position we had ever occupied; the passing of the women's suffrage bill in the near future seemed a certainty. the "militants" had suspended all their methods of violence in order to give the conciliation bill a chance, and, as just described, it had passed its second reading debate with a majority of and time for "proceeding effectively" with a similar bill in all its stages had been promised. all the suffrage societies were working harmoniously for the same bill and the women's liberal federation were cooperating with the suffrage societies, when suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, mr. asquith dealt us a characteristic blow. in reply to a deputation from the people's suffrage federation early in november he announced his intention of introducing during the coming session of the electoral reform bill which he had foreshadowed in ; he said that in this bill all existing franchises would be swept away, plural voting abolished and the period of residence reduced. the new franchise to be created was, he added, to be based on citizenship and votes were to be given to "citizens of full age and competent understanding," but no mention was made of the enfranchisement of women. on being asked what he intended to do about women's votes, he dismissed the subject with the remark that his opinions on the subject were well known and had suffered no change, but he reiterated the promise of "facilities" for the conciliation bill in the session. the situation, therefore, was briefly this: an agitation of ever-growing intensity and determination had for some years been carried on by women for their own enfranchisement and no agitation at all had been manifested by men for more votes for themselves; the prime minister's response to this situation was to promise legislation giving far larger and wider representation to men and none at all to women. no wonder that he provoked an immediate outburst of militancy! stones were thrown and windows smashed all along the strand, piccadilly, whitehall and bond street, and members of the government went about in perpetual apprehension of personal assault. the indignation of the constitutional suffragists and of the women's liberal federation with mr. asquith was quite as real as that of the "suffragettes" but it sought a different method of expression. some knowledge of this probably reached him, as for the first time in our experience all the suffrage societies and the w.l.f. were invited by the prime minister to form a deputation to him on the subject. what we were accustomed to was sending an urgent demand to him to receive us in a deputation and to get his reply that he believed "no useful purpose would be served" by yielding to our request; but now, in november, , he was inviting us to come and see him! of course we went. his whole demeanor was much more conciliatory than it had ever been before. he acknowledged the strength and intensity of the demand of women for representation and admitted that in opposing it he was in a minority both in his cabinet and in his party; finally he added that, although his personal opinions on the subject prevented him from initiating and proposing the change which women were pressing for, he was prepared to bow to and acquiesce in the considered judgment of the house of commons, and he stated that this course was quite in accordance with the best traditions of english public life. the national union of women's suffrage societies, of which i was the mouthpiece, then put the following questions: ( ) is it the intention of the government that the reform bill shall go through all its stages in ? ( ) will the bill be drafted in such a way as to admit of amendments introducing women on other terms than men? ( ) will the government undertake not to oppose such amendments? ( ) will the government regard any amendment enfranchising women, which is carried, as an integral part of the bill be defended by the government in all its later stages? to all these questions, as they were put severally, mr. asquith replied "yes, certainly." mr. lloyd george, who was present, was pressed by the deputation to speak but did so only very briefly. he was known as an opponent of the conciliation bill but had voted for it in because it was so drafted as to admit of free amendment. he made no secret of his conviction that the wider enfranchisement afforded by amendment of the government measure would, to use his own expression, "torpedo" the conciliation bill. almost immediately after the deputation thus described he sent the following message to the n.u.w.s.s.: "the prime minister's pronouncement as to the attitude to be adopted by the government towards the question seems to make the carrying of a women's suffrage amendment to next year's franchise bill a certainty. i am willing to do all in my power to help those who are labouring to reach a successful issue in the coming session. next year provides the supreme opportunity and nothing but unwise handling of that chance can compass failure." there was plenty of unwise handling, but not, as i am proud to think, from the constitutional suffragists. the first was the wild outburst of "militancy" already referred to. mr. lloyd george was pursued by persistent interruption and annoyance deliberately organised by the women's social and political union. a meeting he addressed at bath, mainly devoted to advocacy of women's suffrage, on nov. , , was all but turned into a bear garden by these deliberately planned and very noisy interruptions. not to be outdone in "unwise handling" mr. asquith next had his innings. he received an anti-suffrage deputation on dec. , , about three weeks after he had received the suffragists, and in the course of his remarks to them he said: "as an individual i am in entire agreement with you that the grant of the parliamentary vote to women in this country would be a political mistake of a very disastrous kind." this went far to invalidate the fair-seeming promises to us given about three weeks earlier. how could a man in the all-important position of prime minister pledge himself to use all the forces at the disposal of the government to pass in all its stages through both houses a measure which might include the perpetration of "a political mistake of a very disastrous kind"? a member of mr. asquith's own party who took part in the anti-suffrage deputation interpreted this expression of his chief as an s.o.s. call to his followers in the house to deliver him from the humiliation of having to fulfil the promises he had given us. every kind of intrigue and trick known to the accomplished parliamentarian was put into operation. every irish nationalist vote was detached from support of the bill. a description of one of these discreditable devices, among them an attempt to hold up the n.u.w.s.s. to public contempt as purveyors of "obscene" literature, will be found in a book by myself called the women's victory and after, published in . the first result of these intrigues was the defeat of the conciliation bill, by votes only, on march , . this was hailed as an immense triumph by the anti-suffragists, as indeed in a sense it was, for exactly the same bill had been carried by the same house in by a majority of ; but it was a triumph which cost the victors dear, especially when the tricks and perversions of truth came to light by which it had been achieved. from this time forward public opinion was more decided in our favour and the general view was that the government had treated us shabbily. the progress made by the government in pressing forward their electoral reform bill was not rapid. when it was at last introduced it was discovered to be not a reform bill, but in the main a registration bill. in the second reading debate mr. asquith described his bill as one to enfranchise "male persons only," and said in regard to women that he could not conceive that the house would "so far stultify itself as to reverse the considered judgment it had already arrived at" earlier in the session. it was a "considered judgment" to defeat the bill by votes in but not a "considered judgment" to have it carried by in ! sir edward grey felt strongly that the house had placed itself in a very undesirable position, but the conciliation bill was defeated and sir edward grey, mr. lloyd george and the leading suffragists in the government continued to assure us that the inclusion of women's suffrage through an amendment of the government bill presented us with by far the best prospect of success we had ever had. we worked as we had never worked before to secure the success of this amendment or series of amendments. the session of had lasted from january to december without the committee stage of the government bill being reached. this interminable session overflowed into and the debate on the suffrage amendments of the government bill was dated to begin on january th of that year. on january rd, however, in reply to a question, the speaker [mr. lowther] indicated that he would probably be compelled to rule that if the bill were amended so as to include the enfranchisement of women, he might feel obliged to rule that in this form it was not the same bill of which the second reading had been carried in july, and it would, therefore, have to be withdrawn and re-introduced! this ruling he confirmed on the following monday, january th. therefore, every one of the fair promises which mr. asquith had given us in november, , proved to be absolutely worthless. i do not accuse mr. asquith of anything worse at this stage than blundering. he was manifestly confounded and distressed by the speaker's ruling. whether this were due to the naming of the bill or to mr. asquith's own speech on the second reading, "this is a bill to enfranchise male persons only, etc.", we were not able to discover; but the net result was that he found himself in a position in which it was impossible for him to fulfil the promises he had given us. under these circumstances he did not take the only honorable course open to him, i.e., of sending for us once more and asking us what we should consider a reasonable equivalent for these unredeemed promises. he had made these promises five years back and had repeated them from time to time ever since. now they were null and void. the only reasonable equivalent would have been the introduction of a government reform bill which included the enfranchisement of women. probably mr. asquith knew that this was what we should urge; for he not only did not send for us but he refused to see us or consult us in any way. he tossed us, without our consent, the thoroughly worthless substitute of a day for a private member's bill, such as we had had experience of time and again ever since . the n.u.w.s.s. indignantly rejected this offer and took no interest in the proposed bill, which was, however, introduced and given a day for second reading in may, , when it was defeated by a majority of . this discreditable series of incidents did far more harm to the government than to the suffrage cause, as was very conclusively shown in the press. "punch," for instance, had a cartoon on feb. , , representing a dance in which mr. asquith figured as a defaulting partner in a corner and trying to escape from an indignant woman who said, "you've cut my dance!" this was indicative of the general trend of public opinion. in the previous year the n.u.w.s.s. had placed a new interpretation on its election policy. this was to support in elections irrespective of party "the best friend of women's suffrage." after the defeat of the conciliation bill in when so-called "friends" voted against it, we resolved in the future that the best friend was a man who was not only personally satisfactory but who also belonged to a party which had made women's suffrage a plank in its platform. this meant support for the labour party and for the development of this policy we raised a special fund called the election fighting fund and took active steps in canvassing and speaking for labour men whenever they presented themselves as candidates for vacant seats. our movement had now become the storm centre of english politics. a well known labour leader wrote of the political situation in february, , as follows: "the women's suffrage question will now dominate british politics until it is settled. it has within the last few weeks killed a great government measure and it has done more than that. it has made it impossible for this or any succeeding liberal government to deal with franchise reform without giving votes to women. the labour party will see to that." in the n.u.w.s.s. organised the greatest public demonstration it had ever made. we called it the pilgrimage. it meant processions of non-militant suffragists, wearing their badges and carrying banners, marching towards london along eight of the great trunk roads. these eight processions, many of them lasting several weeks, stopped at towns and villages on their way, held meetings, distributed literature and collected funds. it was all a tremendous and unprecedented success, well organised and well done throughout. (described in detail in the women's victory.) the pilgrimage made a very great impression and was favourably commented on in the organs of the press which had never helped us before. we finished the pilgrimage with a mass meeting in hyde park on july , where we had seventeen platforms, one for each of our federations. we asked mr. asquith and the leaders of other political parties to receive a deputation from the pilgrimage the following week. they all accepted with the exception of mr. john redmond. when mr. asquith received us his demeanor was far less unfriendly than it had ever been before. he admitted that the offer of a private member's bill was no equivalent for the loss of a place in a government bill. he said: "proceed as you have been proceeding, continue to the end," and said if we could show that "a substantial majority of the country was favourable to women's suffrage, parliament would yield, as it had always hitherto done, to the opinion of the country." in may, , suffrage ground was broken in the house of lords by lord selborne and lord lytton, who introduced a bill on the lines of the conciliation bill, the latter making one of the most powerful speeches in our support to which we had ever listened. the bill was rejected by to , but we were more than satisfied by the weight of the speeches on our side and by the effect produced by them. another important event which greatly helped our movement in was the protest of the national trade union congress on february th against the government's failure to redeem its repeated pledges to women and demanding "a government reform bill which must include the enfranchisement of women." this was followed by resolutions passed at the annual conference of the national labour party re-affirming its decision "to oppose any further extension of the franchise to men in which women were not included." there must, according to law, have been a general election in and the remarkable progress of the women's cause made us feel confident that a parliament would be elected deeply pledged to our support. our friends were being elected and our enemies, including that worst type of enemy, the false friend and the so-called liberal afraid of his own principles, were being rejected at by-elections in a manner that foreshadowed a great gain to suffrage forces at the general election. then suddenly, destroying all our hopes of success and jeopardizing the very existence of representative government and all forms of democracy throughout the world, came the outbreak of war; the entry of our own country and the resulting concentration of the vast majority of the british people, whether men or women, in the gigantic national effort which the successful resistance of such a foe demanded. august , , was a heart-breaking day for us. nevertheless, suffragists from the first faced the facts and saw clearly what their duty was. the "militants" instantly abandoned every sort of violence. a large number of the more active members of their societies formed the women's emergency corps, who were ready to undertake all kinds of national work which the exigencies of the situation demanded. the n.u.w.s.s. executive committee meeting on august , the day before our own country was actually involved, resolved to suspend immediately all political propaganda for its own ends. under normal circumstances we should have summoned a council meeting to discuss the situation and to determine the course to be taken by the union. this being impossible owing to difficulties connected with railway communication we consulted our societies, then numbering over , by post, placing them in possession of our own views, viz.: that ordinary political work would have to be suspended during the war and suggesting that our best course would be to use our staff and organising capacity in promoting forms of work designed to mitigate the distress caused by the war. we felt that our members would desire to be of service to the nation and that the n.u.w.s.s. had in their organisation a special gift which they could offer to their country. this view was endorsed by our societies with only two dissenting. on receiving this practically unanimous backing we further proceeded to recommend distinct forms of active service. the local government board had addressed a circular to lord mayors and mayors and chairmen of town and county councils directing them at once to form local relief committees to deal with any kind of distress caused by the war. we suggested to our societies that they should offer their services to help, each in its own district, in this national work. we also opened in different parts of the country forty workrooms in which women thrown out of work by the war found employment. we established bureaux for the registration of voluntary workers and gradually our work spread in all directions; help for the belgian refugees, the starting of clubs and canteens for soldiers and sailors, clubs for soldiers' wives, work in connection with the sailors' and soldiers' families association, patrol work in the neighborhood of soldiers' training camps, red cross work, conducting french classes for our men in training. a very large number of our societies concentrated on maternity and child welfare work; others in country districts took up fruit picking and preserving in order to conserve the national food supplies. it is really impossible to mention all our various activities. these were included under a general heading adopted at a provincial council meeting held in november, , urging "our societies and all members of the union to continue by every means in their power all efforts which had for their object the sustaining of the vital energies of the nation so long as such special efforts may be required." the war work with which the name of the n.u.w.s.s. is most widely known was the formation of the scottish women's hospitals for foreign service. this was initiated and organised by the hon. sec. of our scottish federation, dr. elsie inglis, and was backed by the whole of the n.u.w.s.s. (see life of dr. e. inglis by lady frances balfour.) meeting at first with persistent snubbing from the royal army medical corps and the british red cross, dr. inglis formed her first hospital at the abbaye de royaument about thirty miles from paris, officered entirely by women. other units on similar lines quickly followed in france and serbia. their work was magnificent and was rapidly recognised as such by the military authorities and by all who came in contact with it. these hospitals probably produced by the example of their high standard of professional efficiency and personal devotion a permanent influence on the development of the women's movement in those countries where they were located. they received no farthing of government money but raised the , pounds, which their audited accounts show as their net total to august , , entirely by private subscription from all over the world including, of course, the united states. the n.u.w.s.s. were very early in the field of women's national work during the war because their members were already organised and accustomed to work together, but it is no exaggeration to say that the whole of the women of the country of all classes, suffragist and anti-suffragist, threw themselves into work for the nation in a way that had never been anticipated by those who had judged women by pre-war standards. into munition work and all kinds of manufacturing activity they crowded in their thousands. they worked on the land and undertook many kinds of labour that had hitherto been supposed to be beyond their strength and capacity. by what was called the treasury agreement of the trade unions were induced to suspend the operation of their rules excluding the employment of female labour. they bargained that women should be paid the same as men for the same output and the government agreed not to use the women as a reservoir of cheap labour. thus industrial liberty was ensured for women at least so long as the war should last. all these things combined to produce an enormous effect on public opinion. newspapers were full of the praises of women; financiers, statesmen, economists and politicians declared that without the aid of women it would be impossible to win the war. the anti-suffragism of mr. asquith even was beginning to crumble. in speaking of the heroic death of edith cavell in belgium in october, , he said: "she has taught the bravest men among us a supreme lesson of courage; yes ... and there are thousands of such women and a year ago we did not know it." almost the whole of the press was on our side. the general tone was that it would be difficult to refuse woman a voice in the control of affairs after the splendid way in which she had justified her claim to it. we old suffragists felt that we were living in a new world where everyone agreed with us. nevertheless, i do not believe we should have won the vote just when we did if it had not been that, through the action of the government itself, it was absolutely necessary to introduce legislation in order to prevent the almost total disfranchisement of many millions of men who had been serving their country abroad in the navy and army, or in munition or other work which had withdrawn them from the places where they usually resided. it may be necessary to explain to non-british readers that by far the most important qualification for the parliamentary franchise in this country before was the occupation of premises, and before a man could be put on the register of voters it was necessary for its owner to prove "occupation" of these premises for twelve months previous to the last th of july. seven out of every eight voters were placed on the register through this qualification. it was not a property qualification, for the tiniest cottage at a shilling a week could qualify its occupier for a vote if he had fulfilled the condition just described; and a man might be a millionaire without getting a vote if he were not in occupation of qualifying premises. before the war the register of voters was kept up to date by annual revision. the war, however, made this difficult and the government in gave directions that this annual revision should be abandoned. as the war went on, the existing register, therefore, rapidly became more and more out of date. millions of the best men in the country had become disqualified through their war service by giving up their qualifying premises. the house of commons again and again postponed the date of the general election but the occasional by-elections which took place proved that there was no register in existence on which it would be morally possible to appeal to the country. the old, the feeble, the slacker, the crank, the conscientious objector would all be left in full strength and the fighting men would be disfranchised. a parliament elected on such a register would, mr. asquith declared, be wholly lacking in moral authority. therefore, by sheer necessity the government was forced to introduce legislation dealing with the whole franchise question as it affected the male voter. a coalition government of the liberal, conservative and labour parties had been formed in . this improved suffrage prospects, for many of the new men joining the government, more especially lord robert cecil, the earl of selborne and the earl of lytton, were warm supporters of our cause; while in making room for these newscomers, mr. asquith found it possible to dispense with the services of men of the type of sir charles hobhouse, mr. a. j. pease and others who were our opponents. the formation of a coalition government helped us in another way. neither of the great parties, conservative and liberal, had been unanimous on the women's question and the heads of these parties lived in terror of smashing up their party by pledging themselves to definite action on our side. mr. gladstone had broken up the liberal party in by advocating irish home rule, and mr. balfour and mr. chamberlain had broken up the conservative party by advocating protection in - . each of these had, in consequence, a prolonged sojourn in the wilderness of opposition. but now a government was formed in which all the parties were represented except the irish nationalists, who had refused to join, and therefore our friends in both the old parties could give free rein to their disposition to make women's suffrage a reality without dread of bringing disaster on their organisations. the attitude of the n.u.w.s.s. and seventeen other constitutional suffrage societies who had united to form a consultative committee, was quite clear as to the line we should take under these circumstances. in various ways and by repeated communications, letters, memorials and deputations we kept the government informed that if their intentions with regard to the new register were limited simply to replacing upon it the names of the men who had lost their vote through their patriotic service, we should not press our own claim; but if on the other hand the government determined to proceed by creating a new basis for the franchise, or changing the law in any way which would result in the addition of a large number of men to the register, without doing anything for women, we should use every means in our power within the limits of lawful agitation to bring the case for the enfranchisement of women before parliament and the country. mr. asquith answered a communication from us on these lines in may, , with the greatest politeness but said that "no such legislation was at present in contemplation." however, within the next fortnight it was in contemplation and the government made repeated attempts to deal with the situation by the creation of a special register. all the attempts were rejected by the house of commons, which evidently wanted the subject dealt with on broader and more comprehensive lines. on august mr. asquith, in introducing yet another special register bill, announced his conversion to women's suffrage! this was an advent of great importance to our movement, for it virtually made the liberal party a suffrage party, but the parliamentary difficulty was not removed, for the government was still nibbling at the question by trying to deal with it by little amendments to the law relating to the registration of voters. at last a way out was devised. mr. walter long, president of the local government board, a typical conservative country gentleman and at that time an anti-suffragist, made the suggestion that the whole question of electoral reform, including the enfranchisement of women, should be referred to a non-party conference, consisting of members of both houses of parliament and presided over by the speaker. mr. asquith concurred and parliament agreed. women's suffrage was only one of many subjects connected with electoral reform which had to be dealt with by the conference but it is not too much to say that if it had not been for the urgency of the claim of women to representation the conference would never have been brought into existence. the members of this conference were chosen by the speaker, who was careful to give equal representation to suffragists and anti-suffragists. sir john simon and sir willoughby dickinson, members of the conference, were very active and skilful in organising the forces in our favour. the conference was called into being in october, , and began its sittings at once. a ministerial crisis which occurred in december resulted in the resignation of mr. asquith and the appointment of mr. lloyd george as his successor. the speaker enquired of the new prime minister if he desired the conference to continue its labours. the reply was an emphatic affirmative. the conference reported on january , . everyone knows that it recommended by a majority, some said a large majority, the granting of some measure of suffrage to women. put as briefly as possible the franchise recommended for women was "household franchise," and for the purposes of the bill a woman was reckoned to be a householder not only if she was so in her own right but if she were the wife of a householder. an age limit of thirty was imposed upon women, not because it was in any way logical or reasonable but simply and solely in order to produce a constituency in which the men were not out-numbered by the women. some few weeks earlier we had heard on unimpeachable authority that the new prime minister was "very keen and very practical" on our question and was prepared to introduce legislation upon it without delay. he no doubt remembered how emphatically he had told us in of the extreme value of the promises which had been made to us by mr. asquith, and how in our meeting in the albert hall in the following march he had referred to the doubt which some suffragists had expressed upon the worth of these promises as "an imputation of deep dishonour which he absolutely declined to contemplate." he had in put into writing and sent as a message to the _common cause_, the official organ of the n.u.w.s.s., a statement of his conviction that mr. asquith's promises made the carrying of a women's suffrage amendment to next year's franchise bill a certainty and he had offered his personal help to bring this about. it has already been described how all these confident hopes had been brought to nought; but now, december, , within a fortnight of becoming prime minister, mr. lloyd george let us know that he was not only ready but keen to go forward on practical lines. when parliament met we asked the prime minister to receive a large and representative deputation of women who had worked for their country during the war. our object was to ask him to legislate at once on the lines recommended by the speaker's conference but we were pushing an open door. the new prime minister had arranged to receive us on march , , and on the th mr. asquith had moved a resolution in the house of commons, and his motion had been agreed to by votes to , calling for the early introduction of legislation based on the recommendations of the speaker's conference. when our deputation waited on mr. lloyd george the following day he was able to inform us that he had already instructed the government draftsman to draw up a bill on these lines. the debate in the house on march had turned mainly on women's suffrage and the immense majority in support of mr. asquith's motion was rightly regarded as a suffrage triumph. every leader of every party in the house of commons had taken part in the debate and had expressed his support of the enfranchisement of women. the government whips had not been put on and throughout the debates which followed the bill was not treated as a government but as a house of commons measure. the victory, therefore, was all the more welcome to us because it was the result of a free vote of the house. mr. asquith's retraction of his former errors was quite handsome. he said, among other things, that his "eyes which for years in this matter had been clouded by fallacies and sealed by illusions at last had been opened to the truth." it required a european war on the vastest scale that the world had ever known to shake him out of his fallacies and illusions, and many of us felt that it would have been better if a less terrible convulsion had sufficed to awaken him, but still, now he was awakened, he was prompt in owning he had been in the wrong and therefore no more was to be said. the subsequent stages of this representation of the people bill were a series of triumphs for the suffrage cause. the second reading debate was taken on may d and d and again turned almost entirely on the women's question; the majority was to . when the bill was in committee and the clauses enfranchising women were taken up on june the majority was to , or exactly seven to one. on june a last division was made, when the number of anti-suffragists was only . our friends in the speaker's conference had so often impressed on us the danger of departing, even in the direction of obvious improvement, from its recommendations that we had carefully abstained from urging any deviation from them; but when the immense majorities just quoted showed that the bill and our clauses in it were safe beyond a peradventure, we did press very strongly that the same principle should be applied to municipal suffrage for women which had already been sanctioned by the house for the parliamentary suffrage, namely, that the wives of householders should be recognized as householders, which would entitle them to vote. on november an amendment to this effect was moved but was not accepted by the government. there were vigorous protests in our favour from all parts of the house and the debate on it was adjourned. during the interval the n.u.w.s.s. and other societies with whom we were cooperating bombarded the leader of the house and the minister in charge of the bill with letters and telegrams in support of the amendment. these produced a good effect and on november , government opposition having been withdrawn, the amendment was agreed to without a division. thus without the existence of a single woman voter but on the strength of her coming into existence within the next few months, the women on the municipal registers of great britain and ireland were increased in number from about one million to over eight-and-a-half millions. and yet lord bryce and the other anti-suffragists assured us that the vote would make no difference! in the house of commons a third reading of the representation of the people bill was taken on december without a division. the bill was now safely through the commons but its passage through the lords had yet to be undertaken. the second reading debate began on december and lasted two days. no one could predict what would happen; lord curzon, president of the anti-suffrage league, was leader of the house and chief representative of the government. the lord chancellor [lord finlay], who is in the chair in house of lords' debates, was an envenomed opponent. among other influential peers whom we knew as our enemies were lord lansdowne, lord halsbury, lord balfour of burleigh and lord bryce. on the other hand we could count on the support of lord selborne, lord lytton, the archbishop of canterbury, the bishop of london, lord courtney and lord milner. we looked forward to the debate and the divisions in the lords with considerable trepidation. the lords have no constituents, they have no seats to fight for and defend. it is therefore impossible to influence them by any electioneering arts but we sent to all the peers a carefully worded and influentially signed memorandum setting forth the chief facts and arguments in our favour. the second reading of the bill was taken in the lords without a division, the most important speech against it being lord bryce's; he insisted again and again that the possession of a vote made no difference. lord sydenham had the courage (!) to assert that the suffrage movement had made no progress in america, and, while admitting that it had lately been adopted in the state of new york, no doubt thought that he was giving a fair description when he said: "in america ... fourteen states have refused the franchise to women and two, montana and nevada, have granted it. the population of the fourteen states is , , and that of the two states is , ." (twelve states had fully enfranchised their women.) the real fight in the house of lords began on jan. , , when the committee stage was reached. the debate lasted three days and on clause iv, which enfranchised women, lord selborne made an extraordinarily powerful and eloquent speech in its favour. the house was filled and the excitement on both sides was intense. as we were sitting crowded in the small pen allotted to ladies not peeresses in the upper house on january th we received a cable saying the house of representatives in washington had accepted the women's suffrage amendment to the federal constitution by the necessary two-thirds majority. this we hailed as a good omen. no one knew what lord sydenham thought of it! the most exciting moment was when lord curzon rose to close the debate. the first part of his speech was devoted to a description of the disasters which he believed would follow from the adoption of women's franchise but the second part was occupied by giving very good reasons for not voting against it. he reminded their lordships of the immense majorities by which it had been supported in the house of commons, by majorities in every party "including those to which most of your lordships belong.... your lordships can vote as you please; you can cut this clause out of the bill--you have a perfect right to do so--but if you think that by killing the clause you can also save the bill, i believe you to be mistaken.... the house of commons will return it to you with the clause re-inserted. will you be prepared to put it back?..." before he sat down lord curzon announced his intention of not voting at all, for the reason that if he had done otherwise he "might be accused of having precipitated a conflict from which your lordships could not emerge with credit." the division was taken almost immediately after the conclusion of this speech. both of the archbishops and the twelve bishops present voted for the bill. our clause was carried by votes to , and women's suffrage was, therefore, supported in the lords by nearly two to one. the lords inserted in it among other things proportional representation. it was on this and not on women's suffrage that the final contest took place when it was returned to the commons, but at last the long struggle of women for free citizenship was ended, having continued a little over fifty years. the huge majorities by which we had won in the house of commons had afforded our ship deep water enough to float safely over the rocks and reefs of the house of lords. the royal assent was given on feb. , . the first election at which women voted was held on december . our friends in the speaker's conference had aimed at producing a constituency numbering roughly about , , men and , , women. the actual numbers of both sexes enfranchised by the act of turned out to be considerably in excess of this calculation. a parliamentary return published in november, , showed the following numbers of men and women on the register. _men._ , , naval and military voters , , , , _women._ , , naval and military voters , , , at the annual council meeting of the national union of women's suffrage societies held in march, , its object was changed by formal vote. it was no longer necessary to concentrate on women's suffrage and we adopted as our object "to obtain all such reforms as are necessary to secure a real equality of liberties, status and opportunities between men and women." no change of name was made until the following year when a revised constitution was adopted and the name was modified in accordance with our present object. we have now become the national union of societies for equal citizenship and we hope that the letters n. u. s. e. c. will soon become as familiar and as dear to our members as n. u. w. s. s. were in the old days. at the same meeting i retired from the presidency and my friend and colleague, miss eleanor rathbone, was elected in my place. [ ] in acts of parliament for england, wales and scotland (and one for ireland in ) made women eligible as members of town, county, burgh and borough councils and as chairmen of these bodies, including the right to be mayors and provosts, aldermen and baillies, with the limitation that women appointed to an office carrying with it the right to be justices of the peace should be incapacitated from so acting. these acts though non-contentious in the party sense required fourteen years' strenuous work to secure their adoption as government measures. this was achieved during sir henry campbell bannerman's premiership, the necessary legislation being announced in the king's speech as part of the government programme. in the qualification of women act for the united kingdom made women eligible to the house of commons. the bill passed almost without opposition through both houses and became law in the week ending november . as the general election took place on december there was little time for preparation, nevertheless, there were seventeen women candidates and one, the countess makievicz, a sinn feiner, was elected but refused to take her seat. the fact that her husband was a foreigner made it doubtful whether she would have been allowed to do so, though an irishwoman by birth. in viscountess astor was elected for plymouth. in the sex disqualification removal act for the united kingdom went some way but not the whole way towards the fulfilment of the pledge given by the coalition government of mr. lloyd george in december, , "to remove existing inequalities in the law as between men and women." a much more complete bill had been introduced by the labour party early in the session, which passed through all its stages in the house of commons notwithstanding government opposition but was defeated in the house of lords and the government changeling substituted. this act, though it did not give women the parliamentary vote on the same terms as men nor admit them to the civil service on equal terms, and though the clause specifically conferring on them eligibility to the house of lords was cut out, contained, nevertheless, important provisions in the direction of equality. it allowed them to sit on juries, be justices of the peace, sworn in as police officers, enter the legal profession and made it possible for the universities of oxford and cambridge to admit women to membership and degrees on equal terms with men. the only important advance in education after was the throwing open to women by the governing body of trinity college, dublin, of degrees, membership and all privileges pertaining thereto in . all the universities in the united kingdom, with the exception of oxford and cambridge, have been for many years open to women and in november, , a royal commission was appointed to enquire into their financial resources and into the administration and application of these resources. on the commission, miss penrose of somerville college, oxford, and miss b. a. clough of newnham college, cambridge, the women's colleges, were appointed as members. an act of parliament later enabled both universities to grant membership, degrees and all privileges to women. oxford availed itself of these powers without delay. cambridge in december, , refused to do so by a large vote, but it will ultimately have to open its doors. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. millicent garrett fawcett, j.p., ll.d., who has been prominently connected with the movement for women's suffrage in great britain for nearly fifty years and was president of the national association from , when it was re-organized, until after the victory was won in . [ ] accompanying this chapter was a complete list of laws in the interest of women enacted by the parliament beginning in , prepared by miss chrystal macmillan, m.a., b.sc. the lack of space which has compelled the omission of similar laws from all of the state chapters makes it necessary in this one. three of importance politically are given.--ed. chapter lii. woman suffrage in british colonies. in granting the complete franchise to a part of her women in great britain followed all of her self-governing colonies, which, with the exception of south africa, had given the full suffrage on the same terms as exercised by men. new zealand, australia and canada gave municipal suffrage at early dates, extending from in new south wales to in the northwest territories of canada. new zealand. new zealand was the first country in the world to give full suffrage to women, its parliament in conferring the franchise on all persons over . in case of women, however, this did not include the right to sit in parliament, and, although efforts to secure this right were made at intervals during all the following years, the bill for it several times passing the lower house, they were not successful until . the unvarying record has been that the registration and vote of women have nearly averaged those of men and in some instances have exceeded them. in the election of the registration of men was , ; of women, , . new zealand is noted for its advanced legislation. australia. in the six states of australia federated in a commonwealth with a national parliament and one of its earliest acts in june, , was to confer the complete universal suffrage on women and eligibility to this body. about , women were thus enfranchised. this action had been preceded by the granting of the state suffrage by the legislatures in south australia in and in west australia in and this was done in new south wales in august, . women received the state suffrage in tasmania and queensland in , victoria in . south australia was the only one that gave the right to sit in the legislature with the state suffrage. this eligibility was not conferred until in new south wales and victoria; in west australia and does not yet exist in tasmania and queensland. one must be a property owner to be a municipal voter or office holder. australia has largely substituted advanced legislation for women for the english common law. the statistics relating to the voting of women follow closely those of new zealand. there never has been a proposal to take away the political privileges of women, which could be done by an act of parliament. on the contrary during the years when the contest for woman suffrage was being carried on in great britain its parliament was more than once urged by that of australia to grant it. in , when the struggle was at its height, the strongest possible memorial was adopted by the national parliament of australia, which said: appreciating the blessings of self-government in australia through adult suffrage, and appreciating the desire of your majesty's government to vindicate the claims of the small nations to self-government, we are confident that your majesty will recognize the justice of the same claim in the case of the small nation of women in your majesty's kingdom--women who, in this great crisis in the history of the british empire ... have proved themselves as worthy soldiers as those on the battlefield, and as worthy of the protection of the ballot, which is conceded to men.... we are deeply interested in the welfare of the women of the empire and we again humbly petition your majesty to endow them with that right of self-government for which they have petitioned for nearly three-quarters of a century. the most prominent statesmen of australia and new zealand in their visits to great britain, canada and the united states have given testimony as to the benefits of woman suffrage. dominion of canada. when volume iv of this history was written in four pages sufficed for an account of woman suffrage in canada. it was confined to a municipal or school franchise or both in the provinces for widows and spinsters, and in some of them married women were included. this privilege began in ontario in and the situation remained unchanged until , when the world war, which brought the full enfranchisement of women in many countries, began to have its effect in canada. for the large amount of valuable material from which the following brief résumé is made the history is indebted to dr. augusta stowe gullen, a leader of the woman suffrage movement. its foundation was laid in and following years by the mother of dr. gullen, the pioneer woman physician, dr. emily howard stowe, a friend and contemporary of susan b. anthony[ ]. dr. stowe was a founder and the first president of the dominion women's enfranchisement association, which secured many privileges for women. the first woman suffrage society was organized in in the city council chamber of toronto with the mayor in the chair. mrs. donald mcewan was made president and other officers were dr. stowe, miss mary mcdonnell and dr. james l. hughes, afterwards inspector of schools. petitions were sent to the dominion parliament and bills presented but when in the late 's the electoral act was changed to make the voters' list for its members coincide with the lists in the provinces, the latter became in a large measure the battle ground, although the efforts for a national law were not discontinued. the movement for prohibition had a strong influence in the granting of woman suffrage in the provinces and it was hastened by the splendid war work of the women. the first provincial legislature to enfranchise women was that of manitoba, jan , . a convention of the woman's christian temperance union as early as july, , passed a resolution to press the work for it and later in the year the labor party endorsed equal suffrage through its paper, _the voice_, and its officers affiliated with the suffrage club. dr. amelia yeomans was a devoted worker. in when there was a prospect that the municipal vote would be taken away from married women property owners, the liberal party convention made its retention a plank in their platform but the conservative legislature abolished it. in it was restored. in the women succeeded in getting a full suffrage bill before one house of the legislature, which was defeated by to votes. the next year the liberal party pledged itself to give the complete franchise if it won the election. it did so and the women rolled up a big petition as a backing. premier norris and the cabinet supported the bill. the executive board of the political equality league were invited to seats on the floor of the house the day of the third reading and the bill giving women equal suffrage and eligibility was passed amid great enthusiasm by unanimous vote. the suffragists of alberta began extensive work in to have the municipal franchise possessed by widows and spinsters extended to married women and the agitation was continued to include the full suffrage. following the example of manitoba premier a. l. sifton announced on feb. , , before the legislature opened, that the government would introduce a woman suffrage bill of the widest scope. the bill passed in alberta in march with the full approval of press and people and the suffragists met at once in the home of mrs. nellie mcclung at edmonton to arrange for taking up their new duties. mrs. o. c. edwards had been a ceaseless worker here and in saskatchewan. in the first woman judge in canada, mrs. jamieson, president of the local council of women of calgary, was appointed by the attorney general as commissioner of the juvenile court. in february, , two women, mrs. l. m. mckinney and miss roberta mcadams, a lieutenant on the staff of the canadian military hospital in orpington, kent, were elected to the legislature, the first women legislators in the british empire. in the women of saskatchewan sent in petitions, some of them endorsed by city councils, asking municipal suffrage for married women, but the government refused it. in opening the legislature on mar. , , lieutenant governor lake said: "in future years the one outstanding feature of your program will be the full enfranchisement of women." the suffragists of the province had been organized about five years and the president of the franchise board, mrs. f. a. lawton, had presented to premier scott a petition signed by , names to show that public sentiment was in favor of this action. he answered that he could give them a definite answer and, as he had already announced, their request would be granted. he said that although manitoba had been the first to give women the suffrage those of saskatchewan would be the first to have a chance to use it. at an early and full meeting of the legislature a number of members spoke in favor of it and it passed practically without opposition. in mrs. m. o. ramsden was elected to the legislature. in a petition for woman suffrage was presented to the government in british columbia and refused. another effort was made in but the subject was not brought before the legislature until , when it defeated a bill. in it took away the municipal franchise from women householders. the women's clubs in victoria secured , names in three days protesting against this action. mr. naden, liberal member from greenwood, introduced a bill restoring it, supported by his party, but it was defeated. the council of women, at its november meeting, adopted a resolution "to do all in its power to promote the woman suffrage cause." it was the first local council in canada to endorse this cause and later held two public meetings in its interest. in extensive work was done to regain the municipal franchise. in nine important amendments to the very reprehensible laws concerning women and children were submitted to the legislature by the council through the attorney general and one was passed. in the autumn the political equality club was re-organized in victoria, mrs. gordon grant, president, and in december at a provincial conference in vancouver she assisted in organizing one there; mrs. lashley hall, president--later mrs. c. townley--and miss lily laverock, secretary. the two societies organized a large deputation to wait upon the attorney general and solicit better property laws for women, equal guardianship of children for mothers, the right taken away from fathers to dispose of their guardianship by will and other equally needed laws. they also memorialized the legislature for the full provincial suffrage for women. on feb. , , fifty women in the province presented a petition of , names to the premier, asking that suffrage on equal terms with men be given to women and on the th he answered that as a matter of government policy it was impossible. the agitation increased and continued until the full enfranchisement of women in the three great provinces to the east brought the question to a climax. even then, however, it was not allowed to be settled by the legislature, as it had been in those provinces, but on april , , premier bowser stated that the elections act, which provided for allowing a vote to soldiers over , would include women and would be submitted to a referendum of the electors. this was done by the legislature, which met may , and the election took place september . the amendment was carried by an immense majority in every district, about two to one, and later this was increased by the large favorable majority of the absent soldiers, who were entitled to vote. it went into effect march , . the area of canadian territory in which women were now enfranchised extended from ontario to the pacific ocean. in mrs. ralph smith, widow of the minister of finance, was elected to the legislature and in she was made speaker, the first instance on record. the struggle for woman suffrage in canada was now centered in the province of ontario, where it began in , and it was largely carried on during much of the time by the dominion women's enfranchisement association, which had been incorporated in . dr. augusta stowe gullen became its president in , after the death of her mother, dr. emily howard stowe, and held it until . while its principal object was the dominion or national franchise for all women it was for years at the head of the effort for the provincial suffrage in ontario. in , in connection with the woman's christian temperance union, it organized a very representative deputation to wait upon the premier to ask that the municipal vote possessed by widows and spinsters be extended to married women. he said that 'neither he nor any other statesman had placed woman where she was; that the infinite was at work and woman being a part of the divine plan her place was assigned by a greater power.' in a deputation from the association, headed by dr. stowe gullen, with dr. margaret gordon and mrs. flora mcdonald denison as speakers, called on the mayor and council of toronto and asked them to pass a resolution for the extension of this municipal franchise. they did so and sent it by this deputation to the legislature. as a result a bill for it was introduced and after a day's fun and sarcasm in the house it was defeated by to . in the dominion association at its annual meeting changed its name to the canadian suffrage association. in it decided not to memorialize the government but to make greater efforts to organize and for this purpose mrs. denison, vice-president and official organizer, visited nova scotia and new brunswick. on march , , the association sent a deputation of , of its members to the house of parliament to ask for full suffrage for the women of ontario. dr. stowe gullen presented with a strong argument a petition which represented , names and many important organizations, among them the women's university clubs, women teachers' association, medical alumnae of the university of toronto, progressive club, trades and labor council, international brotherhood of electrical workers, woman's christian temperance union and dominion temperance association. there were prominent men and women speakers. sir james whitney, the premier, answered adversely. the crowds were so great that cabinet ministers could not gain admittance but all this demonstration resulted in no action. allan studholme, labor member from east hamilton, introduced a bill for woman suffrage, which was defeated. in all the members throughout the province were written to or interviewed by suffragists, but the woman suffrage bill of the labor members was defeated. through the efforts of mrs. denison, mrs. emmeline pankhurst and mrs. philip snowden of england came to toronto and lectured in massey hall to immense audiences. dr. gordon attended the annual meeting of the national council of women in halifax and presented a motion that "the council place itself on record in favor of the enfranchisement of women." this was seconded by dr. rachel todd in behalf of the medical alumnae, university of toronto. after much discussion it was carried and this large and influential organization was brought into the movement. the local council of toronto adopted a resolution to the same effect. in the association organized another deputation to wait upon the premier march , who were introduced by william munns, the secretary. the bill introduced by mr. studholme, seconded by w. proudfoot, liberal from center huron after three days' discussion was lost. before the provincial elections the association sent a letter to all candidates and twenty-five answered that they would vote for woman suffrage if elected. in june dr. stowe gullen resigned the presidency and mrs. denison was chosen in her place and mrs. william munns was elected secretary. mrs. denison, who was an ardent suffragist, an indefatigable worker and a fine organizer, edited a page in the toronto _sunday world_ each week devoted to woman suffrage, which was of immeasurable value. she represented the association at the meetings of the international woman suffrage alliance in copenhagen in and in budapest in . this last year she organized a delegation and went with them to take part in the suffrage parade in washington, d. c., march . in three suffrage bills were introduced. a resolution was moved by mr. marshall, liberal, from lincoln, seconded by mr. bowman, liberal whip, but no bill was passed. bills were presented every year only to be voted down by the conservative government. n. w. rowell, the liberal leader, pledged the support of his party in a non-partisan measure but in vain. in mrs. denison secured for a deputation an interview with sir robert l. borden, prime minister of canada, to ask that the dominion parliament should grant a national franchise to women. he stated the difficulties in the way, as the election act provided that the provincial lists of voters were in force for the election of the members of the dominion parliament and if the provinces did not first grant the suffrage to women the cost and work would be required of preparing new lists of the women voters. he said that each province must enfranchise its women before the federal government could act and no province had done so at this time. in dr. gordon, president of the toronto suffrage society, organized an influential deputation from its members which asked the city council to submit to the voters at the approaching local election the question of extending to married women the municipal franchise now possessed by widows and spinsters simply to ascertain their opinion. this was done and the measure was carried by a majority of , . during , and dr. gordon sent a letter to the councils of the other cities, towns, villages and rural communities asking them to hold a referendum or to pass a resolution in favor of this extension and send it to the government. the letters were followed by a successful campaign in the municipalities by the society. as a result referenda were held, all giving favorable majorities, and about other municipal governments memorialized the ontario legislature in favor. dr. gullen published an open letter describing these efforts. they had no effect on the legislature nor did it make any concessions to the women even in the way of much needed better laws, for which they petitioned. at the annual meeting of the canadian suffrage association, october mrs. denison resigned the presidency and dr. gordon was elected. on the st the members put on record the work of its beloved founder and one of the originators of the national council of women by presenting a bronze bust of dr. emily howard stowe to the city of toronto. it was officially received by the mayor and placed in the main corridor of municipal hall, the first memorial of this kind to any woman in canada. this year the national council of women took a firm stand and urged that each province fully enfranchise its women and asked the dominion parliament to grant the federal vote to women. in the ontario society sent another deputation to the legislature to ask for the municipal franchise and reminded the premier, sir william hearst, of the favorable verdict that had been given by the voters. he answered that "it had not been proved that the influence of women for good would be increased by the possession of the franchise." when asked if he would submit the question of their full suffrage to the voters of the province he replied that this would mean only a vote by the men and he was most desirous to ascertain the wishes of the women! no attention was paid to either request. in the association again went to the legislature with a petition but mr. studholme's bill was defeated. this year came the complete enfranchisement of women in all the provinces between ontario and the pacific ocean. the women of canada had given their full share of the work and sacrifices demanded by the war for two years but in the province of ontario not the slightest recognition had been shown of their right to a voice in the government. the franchise societies and the w. c. t. u. canvassed the whole province, circulating a monster petition for the full provincial franchise. a group of women in toronto organized an anti-suffrage association and called a public meeting at which the suffragists were denounced for "pressing their claims when all the thought and effort of the government should be given to the demands of the war." up to neither the liberal nor conservative party had shown the least favor to woman suffrage but now the former, which was out of power, made it a plank of its platform and its leader, n. w. rowell, on february at the opening of parliament moved an amendment to the speech from the throne providing for the full enfranchisement of women in ontario. it was declared out of order by premier hearst. a few days later j. w. johnson of belleville, a private member, introduced a bill for woman suffrage. on february this bill was indorsed for the conservative government by premier hearst, who said: "having taken our women into partnership with us in our tremendous task i ask, 'can we justly deny them a share in the government of the country, the right to have a say about the making of the laws they have been so heroically trying to defend?' my answer is, 'i think not.'" thus without discussion this act of justice for which women had petitioned since was granted by a single word. mr. rowell and the liberals united with the conservatives and the bill was passed feb. , . although passed by a union government it was largely due to the incessant efforts of the liberal members in the past. while in quebec and a few of the small provinces the suffrage was still withheld from women it now so largely prevailed that their national enfranchisement by the dominion parliament seemed the next inevitable step. during sir robert borden made a visit to england and the war front. although it was estimated that in some of the provinces one man in every fourteen had enlisted, he returned fully convinced that "conscription" would be necessary and this would require a referendum to the voters. quebec would vote solidly against it, as would certain elements in the other provinces. a fusion party was formed in the parliament and under tremendous pressure a war time election act was passed in september. it disfranchised during the war doukhobors and mennonites, conscientious objectors, those born in enemy countries not naturalized before and some others. it enfranchised certain women in all the provinces and yukon and the northwest territories, which send a member to the parliament, in the following words: "every female who, being a british subject and qualified as to age, race and residence as required of a male, is the wife, widow, mother, sister or daughter of any person, male or female, living or dead, who is serving or has served without canada in any of the military forces, or within or without in any of the naval forces of canada or great britain in the present war...." it was estimated that this act would enable about , women to vote when the question of "conscription" was submitted and leave about , , unable to do so although having the provincial franchise. it raised a storm of protest from those who were not included and who doubted that this arbitrary action would result in securing conscription. sir robert borden had no doubts but based his faith on the belief that those women having relatives in the war would vote to compel other men to go and he said at the time: "we are now verging on the point at which women must be entitled to the same voice in directing the affairs of this country as men, and as far as i am concerned i commit myself absolutely to that proposition, but in working it out it is necessary to take into account certain considerations." with this concession the women had to be satisfied. the general campaign came on in november , with "conscription" the issue on which the government appealed for return to power. the election took place in december and the union government carried the four western provinces, ontario and new brunswick, receiving almost the full vote of the women. the opposition carried quebec, nova scotia and prince edward island. during the campaign the premier several times pledged himself and his government to equal suffrage for women and it was generally recognized that if they were re-elected this pledge would be redeemed at an early date. this action was urged by the labor members. on feb. , , the government announced the extension of the full suffrage to the women of canada as a part of its policy and its consideration of the measure at the approaching session of parliament. later the war cabinet invited all of the large organizations of women in the dominion to send representatives to a conference with the government in ottawa on march . there was a very large response and the delegates were welcomed by the governor general, the duke of devonshire, with a tribute to the conduct of women during the war. the president of the privy council, n. w. rowell, outlined the work of the conference and the confidence felt by the government in the continued assistance of women. they were assured by various members of the government of the desire for their suggestions on all matters connected with the carrying on of the war. the conference lasted for a week and the women submitted their recommendations, the first of which was that women should be permitted to take a fuller share in the responsibilities of government. all of these were respectfully and cordially received by the members of the cabinet. the parliament opened on march . the duke of devonshire read the speech from the throne to galleries crowded with women and said in the course of it: "a bill for extending the franchise to women, with suitable provisions respecting naturalization, will be submitted and commended to your consideration." sir robert borden introduced the bill march and an extended discussion took place in the house on the rd. there was no real opposition, although the members from quebec were not friendly, saying that it was not wanted there by men or women. sir wilfred laurier favored woman suffrage but thought it should be conferred only by the provinces. the premier spoke at length in moving the second reading. it passed without division and again on the third reading april , , when the full parliamentary or federal suffrage was conferred on every woman who fulfilled the following conditions: ( ) is a british subject; ( ) is of the full age of years or upwards; ( ) possesses the qualifications which would entitle a male person to vote at a dominion election in the province in which the woman is seeking to vote, provided that a married woman or a daughter living at home with her parents shall be deemed to have any necessary property or income qualifications if her husband or either of her parents is so qualified. a woman is banned if married to an enemy alien. this act superseded the war time election act.[ ] the following year this parliament passed an act enabling a wife to retain her nationality.[ ] in new brunswick in , led by mrs. fiske, mrs. hathaway and miss peters, the suffragists memorialized the legislature to extend the full suffrage to women but a bill for this purpose was defeated. in a bill to give it to taxpaying widows and spinsters passed the upper house and after much discussion in the lower house was postponed. in married women were included in the municipal franchise possessed by widows and spinsters. these efforts were continued from year to year and finally after the dominion franchise had been conferred, the elections act was amended by the legislative assembly on april , , to confer complete universal suffrage on women. on may , , the council of yukon territory amended its election law to read: "in this ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires, words importing the masculine gender include females and the words 'voter' and 'elector' include both men and women ... and under it women shall have the same rights and privileges as men." bills to give the full suffrage to women in nova scotia were many times defeated. in , when all the western provinces were enfranchising their women, the lower house of the legislature passed a bill for it and later rescinded it on the excuse that it was not desired by the women. this put them on their mettle and they took action to convince the lawmakers that they did want it. the suffrage society was re-organized and a resolution was adopted by the executive board of the local council of women and sent to every member of the legislature. a joint independent committee was created with mrs. charles archibald chairman and suffrage groups were formed within many organizations of women. all the members of the government were interviewed and many promised support and the two government newspapers were favorable. before the committee had time to put in a bill one was drafted by supreme court justice russell and introduced by r. h. graham. the women filled the galleries at its second reading and it passed without opposition and was referred to the law amendments committee, of which the attorney general was chairman. it gave a public hearing and the women crowded the assembly chamber upstairs and downstairs and nine short speeches were made by women. the premier and attorney general said it was the best organized hearing and best presented case that had come before a house committee in twenty-five years. the bill was left with the committee with the assurance that it would be well cared for--and then it was postponed indefinitely! the excuse was that there had been no demand from the country districts! by another year, however, it was too late for such tactics and when lieutenant governor mccallum grant opened the legislature with the speech from the throne on feb. , , he announced that the electoral franchise would be given to women. the amended franchise act went through the lower house without opposition; had its second reading in the senate april and the third may , and received the royal assent may . this added the state suffrage to the federal, which had been conferred the preceding month. widows and spinsters in the province of quebec had municipal and school suffrage from . in in the city council of montreal an amendment to the charter was moved to take it away. the woman's christian temperance union held several large public meetings to oppose such action addressed by prominent men. the press published articles and letters of protest and it was voted down. in the first suffrage society was formed in montreal with mrs. bullock president. in a deputation of montreal women presented a petition to the premier, sir lorner guoin, asking that women might sit on school boards and that the municipal franchise be extended to married women. no action was taken. after the federal suffrage was granted in by the dominion parliament, which included the women of quebec, a bill was introduced in its legislature to grant them the provincial franchise, which was voted down. similar bills were defeated in and and quebec remains the only province in canada where women do not possess the state franchise in addition to the national. newfoundland. when the provinces of canada united in a confederation newfoundland was the only one that declined to enter it and remained independent. therefore, when the dominion suffrage was conferred by the parliament in it did not include the women of this island. this was keenly felt by many of them and they made efforts to have its legislature grant them the provincial franchise but without success. in the woman suffrage league determined to make an organized effort and collected a petition of , names, representing every district, and presented it to the legislature. from the first the premier, sir richard anderson squires, was hostile and this was the case with most of the cabinet, but minister of marine coaker showed a friendly spirit; minister of justice warren introduced the bill and mr. jennings, chairman of the board of public works, agreed to bring it up for action. after the sending of many deputations to the executive members of the government the women were astonished at being told one day that these members had held a meeting and it had been arranged that the premier himself should introduce the bill as a government measure. seven went with mr. jennings by pre-arrangement to the premier's office and meeting mr. coaker he said: "your bill goes through all right, the premier has his orders." some provisions had been attached to the bill--non-eligibility to office, no voting power until the next general election and an age limit of years. the premier promised to have the government reduce this to and they were compelled to agree. then he impressed upon them that the bill would go through as a government measure, declaring: "i will pass it this session, whether the house closes in one month or three--what i say goes!" some time afterwards the women read in an account of the house proceedings that the premier had said in answer to a question that the bill was not a government measure. an official letter was at once sent from the woman suffrage league, reminding him of his promise, to which he made no answer. they obtained an interview with him at which he treated them very discourteously and denied all responsibility for the bill after its second reading. they could get no satisfaction from any member of the government. the bill was not reported from the committee for weeks and when at last brought before the house in august it was turned over to a select committee of five, three of them pronounced anti-suffragists, and was not heard of again. south africa. at the present time south africa has the distinction of being the only english-speaking nation that has not enfranchised its women. there seems to have been some agitation for a vote by the boer women in early days but a "movement" for it was definitely begun in , when at the annual conference of the woman's christian temperance union of cape colony at kimberley, woman suffrage was made one of their official departments of work. in a woman's enfranchisement league was formed in durban, natal, and in a few years one in cape town, cape colony, followed by others in seven or eight towns. in m. l. neithling moved in the legislative council of cape colony a resolution to enfranchise widows and spinsters with the required property and educational qualifications, which was discussed but not voted on. in dr. viljoen presented one to extend the suffrage to women on the same terms as to men. the division showed in favor of it, twelve from each party. in the enfranchisement leagues of durban, cape town, johannesburg and pretoria united in sending four delegates to the international woman suffrage alliance meeting in london. this year representatives of cape colony, natal, transvaal and orange free state met in a national convention to prepare a constitution for the union of south africa and the suffrage leagues sent a numerously signed petition asking that it include the franchise of women. this was rejected and they were told to "await a more convenient season." the women were much aroused and early in the women's citizen club of cape town and the women's reform club of johannesburg were formed. in the summer of mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage alliance, accompanied by dr. aletta jacobs, president of the national association of the netherlands, made a tour of , miles in south africa, remaining days. they were present when the delegates from eleven suffrage societies met and organized the women's enfranchisement association of the union of south africa and it soon had twenty-two branches. the visits of the international president with the suffragists of the different localities gave them much courage and inspiration and thenceforth she was in close touch with them, conferring and advising. the new association presented a monster petition to the parliament in and mr. andrews of the transvaal introduced a woman suffrage bill, which after two days' debate was defeated by to votes. in mr. wyndham's bill did not reach a vote. in mr. rockey's was defeated by to . in a woman suffrage clause in the new electoral bill was defeated by to . all this time the splendid service and sacrifice of the women during the long years of the war was being lauded, while st. paul's definition of their "sphere" was being quoted as a reason for not giving them the suffrage. in january, , a conference took place in cape town and it was decided that the three suffrage associations unite immediately and form a standing committee of their parliamentary secretaries through which intensive work could be done with the parliament. on april mr. wyndham introduced the following motion: "in the opinion of this house the sex qualification for the exercise of the parliamentary franchise should be removed." it simply affirmed the principle but was strenuously debated without regard to party lines and finally carried by a vote of to . no further action was taken. mrs. laura ruxton, parliamentary secretary, attended the convention of the government party to present the question, addressed it and the resolution to put a woman suffrage plank in the platform was carried by to . the unionist, labor and south african parties accepted it, the nationalist party alone refusing it. at a banquet in bloemfontaine premier botha appealed to the parliament, saying that in view of the great services of women during the war the men would be compelled to give them the franchise. he died soon afterwards and petitions from the most representative citizens then began to pour in upon his successor, general smuts. in daniel mclaren brown presented a resolution that in the opinion of this house the time has arrived when the right of voting for members of parliament and the provincial councils should be extended to women. after a two days' debate it passed on may by ayes, noes, a majority of as against two a year before. mr. brown then introduced a bill conferring this right. a deputation of women carried an immense petition for it to the parliament and it passed first reading by to . although premier smuts had supported it as "a great and necessary reform" and promised it every chance he declined to make it a government measure or give any facilities for second reading. mr. brown and his house committee and the hon. secretary, mr. mullineux, worked valiantly for the bill but it got no further, although eight of the cabinet ministers were in favor of it and the government party had endorsed it. it is the almost insurmountable objection to the colored vote which is the chief factor in preventing women's enfranchisement. the parliament of rhodesia gave full state suffrage to women in april, , and that of the british east african protectorate in july, . in both this carried eligibility to office and a woman was elected to the parliament of rhodesia in . in several of the states women have the municipal franchise and have been elected to the city council. india. there has been remarkable progress in the enfranchisement of women in india, although it has been for the most part since , with which this volume of the history closes. the women's indian association ranks with other women's organizations in the british dominions and has branches throughout the country. there are many political reform organizations and almost without exception they are willing to include women in any rights obtained. increased opportunities for their education have been opened and there are hundreds of women university graduates. in several cities the limited municipal vote that men have is shared by women and they are eligible to the council. in great britain announced that self-government would be given to the people of india and the women's indian association and other agencies began a strenuous campaign to have women included. in the women's indian association had suffrage resolutions introduced in many provincial conferences and national congresses of men and they were usually passed by large majorities. the british parliament sent a committee to india to collect evidence as to the amount of franchise that should be included in the proposed government bill and distinguished men and women appeared before it in behalf of women, among them mrs. annie besant, president of the national home rule league of india, which was strongly in favor of woman suffrage. contrary to all the evidence the committee reported against it. mass meetings of women in india were held in protest. in eminent women and men were sent to london to present the case to parliament. they were cordially greeted by the british suffragists and given every possible assistance. a petition was sent to the government of india committee by the women citizen's union of the british dominions, where in all but south africa women were now fully enfranchised. all were in vain and woman suffrage was not included in the india reform bill but the question was left to the decision of the governing bodies that had been created. the women then had to begin campaigns throughout india, mass meetings, petitions, even processions and lobbying. in may, , the madras presidency, one of the largest divisions of the country, gave the complete franchise to women and it was followed soon afterwards by the great bombay presidency, whose legislative council voted for it by to , and by that of burmah. each state has its legislative council and a number of these have given the vote to women. the movement is active for it throughout india. footnotes: [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, page . [ ] on dec. , , miss agnes mcphail was elected to the house of commons for southeast grey. [ ] this act was heralded far and wide, as it was unprecedented. in , giving as a reason that the act had been only a war measure, it was repealed bodily by the parliament and the old act substituted with a few amendments that did not by any means give the privileges afforded by the new one. it was generally believed that this was done under the direct influence of england. chapter liii. woman suffrage in many countries. when volume iv of the history of woman suffrage was written in four pages contained all the information that could be obtained in regard to woman suffrage outside of the united states and great britain and her colonies. at the time the first international council of women was held in washington, in , under the auspices of the national woman suffrage association of the united states, great britain was the only other country that had an organization for this purpose. at the writing of the present volume in there are comparatively few countries in the world having a constitutional form of government where women are not enfranchised. the only two of influence in europe are france and italy; the others are switzerland, spain, portugal, greece and turkey. women do not vote in oriental countries. this is also true of mexico, central and south america. finland.[ ] the first country in europe to give equal suffrage to women was finland in , when it was a grand duchy of russia with its own diet or parliament, whose bills required the sanction of the czar to become laws. girls were admitted to the full privileges of the university in and in the student organization they were on a footing of perfect equality. important positions and even places in the civic administration were open to women. as early as the diet gave the local or municipal vote to taxpaying women in the country and in to those in the towns, but not eligibility to office. in the finnish women's association presented a petition to the diet for full suffrage, which did not reach second reading. its president, baroness alexandra gripenberg, had attended the world's congress of women during the columbian exposition in chicago in and become intimately acquainted with miss susan b. anthony, mrs. may wright sewall and other noted suffragists in the united states. in the sword of russia descended, the constitution of finland was wrecked and her autonomy, religion, customs, language, everything sacred was threatened. the real movement for the full enfranchisement of women began in , when bills were introduced in the diet. in the autumn the president of the woman's alliance union, miss annie furuhjelm, returned from the inspiration of the great international council of women in berlin and the forming of the international woman suffrage alliance. with the political oppression now existing the women were feeling a strong desire to share in the responsibility for the fate of the country. under the auspices of the union the first public meeting for woman suffrage was held in helsingfors on november , attended by more than a thousand women of all classes and all parties. resolutions were passed that the complete suffrage should be extended to every citizen and a petition demanding it should be sent to the diet. for the first time the union included eligibility to office in its demands. forty-seven addresses of sympathy signed by hundreds of women were received from different parts of the country. from this time the union devoted all its energies to the movement for the franchise. in another year the russo-japanese war was over and russia was in the midst of a revolution. in october, , the long pent-up forces of finland broke the barriers and a "national strike" was inaugurated. women were members of the central committee elected at a mass meeting to manage it. those in the highest ranks of society had for the past year been members of a secret organization extending over the country raising funds, smuggling literature and daily risking their lives. for five days not a wheel turned and no work was done except under the most urgent necessity. there was perfect order and at intervals deputations of men and women went to the russian governor general in helsingfors asking for the restoration of finnish autonomy. at last the government at st. petersburg yielded, as all its forces were required in russia. meetings of women were then held in all parts of the country to elect delegates to another mass meeting in helsingfors on december , where amid great enthusiasm a resolution was carried demanding full suffrage and eligibility for every citizen twenty-four years old. on may , , this reform was passed by the diet without objection. it was taken to the czar by the eminent senator mechelin, who assured him that the nation demanded it, and he gave his assent. the diet consisted of four chambers--nobles, clergy, burghers (taxpayers in towns and cities) and peasants who were landowners. it was now reorganized in a single chamber of members. the first election took place march , , , and women were chosen, among them the baroness gripenberg by the old finnish party. miss furuhjelm belongs to the comparatively small national swedish party, which elects few candidates. she was elected in and has been continuously re-elected. following are the numbers of women members of parliament: -- ; -- ; -- ; -- ; -- ; -- ; -- ; -- ; -- . from the beginning the women members have introduced bills for much needed reforms, for the care of children, protection of wives and mothers, benefit of working women and many for social welfare. while the czar was in power these were all vetoed. since then, with their small number and the great questions that have pressed upon the parliament, they have found it difficult to secure domestic legislation but they have united with the men in passing many bills of a political nature. in a law gave to every man and woman years old municipal suffrage, without paying taxes, and eligibility to office and a number of women have been elected to city and rural councils. the czar had hitherto vetoed this bill. in , after a period of the greatest strife and sorrow, caused by the world war, finland severed all connection with russia and became an independent republic. in a new constitution adopted at this time the word "citizen" was used instead of "man" and all legal disqualifications of women were removed. both the men and women of finland at last are free. norway. the second country and the first independent government in europe to enfranchise women was norway. with characteristic caution and conservatism this was done by degrees, beginning with the municipal vote for taxpayers, followed by the complete franchise, and then the removal of the taxpaying qualification for the former and at last for the full suffrage. the president of the national association through all the years has been mrs. f. m. qvam of stenkjaer, county of n. trondhjem, to whom the women have given undivided allegiance. the history is indebted to mrs. qvam for most of the following information. in sending it she wrote: "the last twenty years are like an adventure of a thousand nights for suffragists. what was sown and seemed lost has sprouted and brought the greatest victories around the world. may women now be able to do at least a little of the good that the workers for the suffrage have dreamt that it would bring to the nations." its results in norway certainly have realized that dream, as they have effected many beneficial changes in the laws. the first demand for woman suffrage at a public meeting, so far as known, was made in by mr. qvam, a barrister. the pioneer of the organized movement was miss gina krog, who, after having written and lectured on the subject for years, founded the christiania woman suffrage union in . she was moved to do this by reading the early volumes of the history of woman suffrage, published about this time and sent by miss susan b. anthony to the university at christiania. miss krog edited _nylande_, a monthly devoted to the interests of women, and continued as president twelve years. she was succeeded by miss rogstad. in bills were presented to the parliament in connection with an extension of the male suffrage. in the first large public meeting was held. these were continued, petitions were collected, bills were presented at every session, one in receiving a majority but not the necessary two-thirds. women from other parts of the country became interested and on feb. , , the national woman suffrage association was organized; mrs. qvam was elected president. the association is still doing a vast amount of work in the interest of women and children. there was never an active working membership in the association of more than , but whenever petitions were needed for an advanced step the signatures poured in by the thousands and the executive committee was always assured of a large support. in the names signed to a petition for equal suffrage numbered , . as the grant of universal suffrage to men had been made only the preceding year it was too much to expect it for women at once but through the assistance of liberals and radicals with the help of many conservative members, and the efforts of women themselves, the municipal suffrage was given by the parliament in may, , to the following: all who pay taxes to state or municipality on an income of kroner in the towns and (about $ ) in the country districts, or have complete or partial joint property with a husband who pays such tax. the amount was so small that a considerable proportion received this vote. it carried eligibility to the municipal councils and this year women were elected and "substitutes." the national executive committee conducted an active campaign of literature and lectures to rouse the women to exercise their new privilege, and it continued to ask for the full suffrage. in the momentous question arose of separation from sweden. the women made every effort to be permitted to vote in the referendum but in vain. the national suffrage association then undertook the task of obtaining the personal signatures of women to a petition in favor of separation and on august the executive committee presented it with an address to the president of the storthing with the statement that it was signed by , women, a very large proportion of the adults. all the members arose in tribute to the women. as a result of this action by the national association its petition in was received with much sympathy. during the summer before the next storthing was to be elected the executive committee carried on a most strenuous campaign. the president and other members went to the political meetings of all parties to secure endorsement. they called attention to the granting of universal suffrage to women by the parliament of finland in may of that year. the fifty branches throughout the country held meetings and sent appeals. in august, when the campaign was at its height, the international woman suffrage alliance held a most successful congress in copenhagen, which was enthusiastically commented on by the danish press and that of norway adopted an entirely different attitude from this time. the lefts and the socialists, who had put the plank in their platforms, elected a majority of the storthing but from january to june the women were in the greatest suspense and those in the different constituencies were working on their members. finally on june , , after only two hours' debate, the complete franchise with full eligibility was conferred on women by to votes, only being needed. this grant was made to the taxpaying women who had the municipal franchise and it was then the work of the national association to have it made universal. on june , , it succeeded in having the taxpaying qualification removed for the municipal suffrage, and on june , , a paragraph was added to the constitution which provided that "all men and women years of age, who have been domiciled in norway five years shall be entitled to the complete franchise and eligibility." over half the total number of voters are women. women may be premier, state officers, judges, magistrates, sheriffs, professors in the university, even the theological department, and are eligible to all public offices with equal pay. the constitutional arrangement for electing members of parliament has been an obstacle to the election of women but it has now been remedied. five had been elected as "substitutes" or "proxies" to take the place of absent members. hundreds have been elected to city councils and to juries, which are elected for fixed periods. the only positions from which they are excluded are those of a military character, the cabinet, the diplomatic corps, the clergy and officials of the state church. denmark. although danish women had long had the highest educational advantages and considerable freedom under the laws they had no suffrage up to the time the international woman suffrage alliance held its congress in copenhagen in . the following women had gone to the meeting in berlin in when this alliance was organized: mrs. johanne münter, mrs. charlotte norrie, mrs. vibetha salicath, mrs. charlotte eilersgaard, misses rasmussen, eline hansen and anna hude. they reported its proceedings to the woman suffrage association of denmark, formed in , of which mrs. louise norlund was president, and it then affiliated with the alliance and invited it to hold its next congress in copenhagen. at the time it met this association comprised fourteen societies and they had worked chiefly for the municipal franchise. in the kvindesamfund, organized in to work for the general cause of women and advocating the franchise, adopted as part of its regular program municipal and full suffrage and joined the woman suffrage association. as early as it had presented to the rigsdag a petition by women all over the country asking the municipal franchise for single women, which the lower house was willing to grant but the upper house ignored. the interest died out for awhile but in and the lower house again favored this limited grant and in the winter of both houses received delegates from the society but no action was taken. the congress of the alliance in , which lasted over a week, was a revelation of the size and strength of the movement for woman suffrage and the great ability of women. it was cordially recognized by the press and people and a great impetus was given to the work in denmark. that year a liberal rigsdag was elected and a suffrage campaign was made by the association. in the parliament gave a vote to women for public boards and the right to be elected to them and the upper house abandoned its opposition to enfranchising married women. a strong movement was developed among women and many new suffrage societies were formed. on april , , the parliament gave to single women who pay taxes and to married women whose husbands are taxpayers the municipal franchise and eligibility. this was a beginning and the suffrage association distributed , circulars to women in copenhagen before the elections the following march urging them to go to the polls. seventy per cent. of those entitled to vote did so and seven were elected to the city council. in all districts were elected. there was a growing demand for a revision of the constitution and in october the association sent in a petition that this should include the complete enfranchisement of women. there was at this time national agitation for election reforms, for direct election of the upper house, for lowering the voting age from to , and this went in with the other demands. by the national association had sections with , members and maintained a press bureau, supplying papers. another association, the landsforbundet, had branches and , members, and published a paper, and there were many outside groups. mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international suffrage alliance, stopped in copenhagen on her way to its congress in stockholm in june and addressed a mass meeting under the auspices of the two large associations. with all parties in favor of giving the full suffrage to women and public sentiment favoring it the bill was caught in the maelstrom of agitation for a revised or new constitution and the rigsdag refused to consider it separately. finally the bill for a new constitution including woman suffrage passed the lower house by a vote of to . it was sent to the upper house, referred to a committee and there it remained while the controversy raged over the constitution. this was still the situation when the world war broke out in and it was april, , before an entire new constitution passed both houses by an enormous majority. it provided for universal suffrage with eligibility for men and women, no taxpaying qualifications, the age to be with gradual reduction to . a general election at once took place on this issue, the new rigsdag immediately adopted the constitution the required second time and on june it was signed by the king. the women voted for the first time at a general election in and nine, representing all parties, were elected to the rigsdag, five to the upper and four to the lower house. they voted a second time in and eleven were elected. they have obtained laws for equal pay, the opening of all positions to women and equal status in marriage. iceland. iceland was a dependency of denmark with its own parliament, the althing. in a bill was passed, presented by skuli thorvoddsen, a member and an editor, giving to widows and spinsters who were householders or maintained a family or were self-supporting, a vote for parish and town councils, district boards and vestries, at the age of , which became law in . in the woman's alliance was formed and a petition of , women was collected and sent to the althing asking it to consider suffrage for married women and increased property rights, which it ignored. in mrs. briet asmundsson, the leader of the woman's movement, attended the congress of the international woman suffrage alliance in copenhagen, and, returning to reykjavik, the capital, organized in january, , the association for women's rights. in four months , signatures had been obtained to a petition for full suffrage for women and eligibility to all offices. mr. thorvoddsen introduced the bill, which was not considered, but one was passed giving the municipal franchise and eligibility to all women in the reykjavik and one other district, which became law jan. , . the association carried on a vigorous campaign and four women were elected to the council of reykjavik. its president then made a two months' tour of the country and organized five branches. at all political meetings the women had resolutions presented for equal suffrage and eligibility, which were usually carried unanimously. on april a law was passed extending municipal suffrage and eligibility to all women. in women were made eligible to all state offices, including those of the church, and a constitutional amendment was passed granting the complete franchise. it had to pass a second althing and political questions arose which were all absorbing until . then the amendment passed but a compromise had to be made fixing the age for women at , to be lowered annually, under much protest, but premier eggers refused to submit it to the king of denmark for his sanction. it had to wait until another took the office and finally was signed june , , two weeks after the women of denmark were fully enfranchised. in a referendum was taken, in which women voted, on making iceland an independent state having a personal union with denmark and the same king, which resulted favorably. a new althing was elected nov. , , and a new constitution adopted which gave to women full suffrage at , the same age as to men. sweden. the story of sweden is especially interesting as the women were the first in europe to have the municipal vote and among the last to have the parliamentary. in widows and spinsters who had paid taxes had a vote for all officers except members of the parliament. in they were made eligible for the offices. later this franchise was enlarged to admit married women, and in it was made universal for men and women of without taxpaying requirements. this chapter is indebted for much of the information in it to mrs. anna b. wicksell, who was a delegate from sweden to berlin in , when the international woman suffrage alliance was formed and is now a vice-president. mrs. wicksell gained international fame when her government appointed her a delegate to the league of nations meeting at geneva in - and she was placed on the mandates commission. the first bill to give women full suffrage and eligibility was presented in the second chamber by f. d. borg, an enlightened member, in and ridiculed by parliament and press. in carl lindhagen offered a bill calling on the government to investigate the subject. the first organized movement among the women was the forming of a society in stockholm this year and an address to parliament with , signatures urging this bill. it was rejected by to in the second chamber (lower house) and without a division in the first. in his bill, endorsed by members, received noes, ayes and no vote in the first chamber. in , endorsed by , it had noes, ayes in the first chamber and the second rejected it by to . the suffrage societies had multiplied and now there were . a national suffrage association was formed in , which still exists. it carried on the work for seventeen years, under the presidency of miss anna whitlock, dr. lydia wahlstrom, miss signe bergman and dr. karolina widerström. when success finally crowned its efforts it had branches and , members. with the great difficulties of securing names in this country of widely scattered people the petitions collected and sent to parliament were remarkable, the last one in having , signatures. among the women who were conspicuous in long and arduous service besides the presidents were mrs. ann m. holmgren, dr. gulli petrini, mrs. frigga carlberg and mrs. gloria hallberg. miss selma lagerlöf assisted on great occasions. men who for years were most valuable workers were stockholm's burgomaster, carl lindhagen, and the three prime ministers, karl staaf, nils edén and hjalmer brantung. two of the most conspicuous opponents were mr. lindeau and mr. trygger, through fear that the social democratic party would gain. the years - saw much advance, as the separation from norway took place and the question of the enlargement of male suffrage was to the fore. the women made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to have the parliament include women but the bill for men was rejected. it did, however, by a majority even in the upper house, order an investigation of woman suffrage where it existed. societies were organized from the sound to lapland. king oscar received a deputation and in answer to the address of miss gertrud adelborg expressed his sympathy but said the government could not endanger the desired suffrage for men. in a petition from , women was presented to the parliament. the labor party made woman suffrage a part of their program, the lindhagen group supported it, a number of bills were brought in but all was in vain. at a woman suffrage mass meeting in in stockholm thousands were turned away. meetings were held throughout the country. the liberals and social democrats put woman suffrage in their programs. at the opening of parliament the king's speech contained a few favorable words. leading members conferred with the executive committee of the national suffrage association, with the result that it arranged a meeting at the grand hotel with many members of parliament present, who were addressed by prominent women and seemed much impressed, but all suffrage bills were lost. the well-organized suffragists then went actively into the campaign and worked to defeat their opponents. as a result a majority was elected to the second chamber in favor of giving the suffrage to women. a deputation of was granted an audience by the new king, gustav v, and he expressed the hope that the time was near when their claims could be regarded. in february, , the government's bill embodying universal suffrage for men finally passed both chambers and it included eligibility to the municipal offices for the women who could vote for them, which the suffrage association had worked for. the next april the first woman suffrage bill was passed by the second chamber. in women were chosen for the councils in towns, which partly elect the first chamber. the situation looked so favorable that the national association invited the international woman suffrage alliance to hold its congress in stockholm in for the effect which this large and important body would have on public sentiment. after this had been arranged, the swedish women learned to their disappointment and indignation that the government did not propose to introduce a woman suffrage bill this year, as they wished first to see the effect of the new universal franchise law for men. besides, the investigation of woman suffrage was not completed! a representative men's league for woman suffrage was formed. a new second chamber was to be elected and as the suffrage bill would have to be acted upon by two parliaments there would have to be a wait of several years. a bill was presented and passed the lower house but all progressive legislation was blocked by the first chamber. during the campaign the women worked vigorously for the election of liberal and social democratic candidates, who had woman suffrage on their program, women speaking on their party platforms at meetings. they formed a large majority of the new government and a liberal cabinet was formed. the first chamber was dissolved and in the new one, instead of a negligible few, there were liberals and social democrats to conservatives. in his speech on opening the new parliament in the king announced that he would present a bill giving to women suffrage and eligibility on the same conditions as possessed by men. on april the government brought in this bill which was carried in the lower house by to ; defeated in the upper by to . this year women councillors were elected. the women strengthened their organization, added to their monster petitions, held their mass meetings and then in came the war! in the flood-tide of democracy which resulted the existence of the kingdom itself was threatened. the first chamber of nobles and landed proprietors was forced to abandon its conservatism. the reform bill proposed in december, , at an extra session, abolished plural voting, gave universal municipal suffrage, made women eligible to county councils and provided for the parliamentary franchise for them. at the session of the bill was laid before the parliament and on may it was passed by both chambers without opposition. on the th great celebrations were held in stockholm and other cities and at the old university town of upsala the speakers were the archbishop, dr. selma lagerlöf and prime minister brantung. it was not all ended, however, for the measure had to pass a second parliament, although this was a mere matter of form. the elections took place in the autumn of . on jan. , , without debate, the law was sanctioned by the new parliament and two days later it was promulgated by the king. it gives complete, universal suffrage to women. in september the election occurred in which women took part and five were elected to the parliament, one of them to the first chamber, which so many years stood between women and their political rights. the netherlands. the story of woman suffrage in the netherlands is one of intense, unceasing work for a quarter of a century. the old constitution did not specifically exclude women and in dr. aletta jacobs, the first woman physician, who had been studying in england and met the suffrage leaders, applied to be registered for an election. this was refused and she carried the case through the highest court with a decision against her. it was in effect that by the letter of the law she was eligible but the spirit of the law intended to exclude women. in a new constitution was made which definitely excluded women but made a further extension of the suffrage to men, who had not asked for it. it required a long, hard effort to organize for woman suffrage, as there was almost no sentiment for it, but on feb. , , the vereeniging voor vrouwenkiesrecht was formed of women in different places with mrs. versluys-poelman, president. she held the office eight years and then dr. jacobs, who had been president of the amsterdam branch during this time, was elected and served till the contest was finished in . it is to dr. jacobs this chapter is indebted for the information it contains. this was the only association of a national character until , when the bond voor vrouwenkiesrecht came into existence. when the work ended it had branches and about , members. the former had branches and over , members and reorganized in the netherlands society of women citizens to work for the legal and economic equality of women. at first the press was hostile, all political parties were opposed except a small group of constitutional democrats and no member of parliament would introduce the question. the work had to begin from the bottom with personal interviews with the members, watching the bills relating to women and children, showing the need of women's influence, etc. in dr. jacobs, misses johanna w. a. naber and e. l. van dorp, mrs. von loenen de bordes, mrs. rutgers hoitsema and mrs. hengeveld garritson were present at the organization of the international woman suffrage alliance in berlin, as was miss martina kramers, who was elected secretary, and the dutch national association became auxiliary. from that time it went into direct political work, in presenting to the queen and the prime minister its request that in a proposed revision of the constitution the words men and women be used after citizens. the commission that drafted it in recommended suffrage and eligibility for women. the association, expecting a campaign, had invited the international alliance to hold its congress in amsterdam in june, . it proved to be one of the most brilliant and successful ever held and was enthusiastically received by the press and the public. an active men's league for woman suffrage was formed. from that time the question of woman suffrage was on a constantly rising tide. a liberal parliament had been elected and it was to consider giving the vote to women. appeals were made through the members from the fifty branches of the association and through public meetings and much outdoor propaganda was carried on in little boats. there was no cessation of the work and as a result leaders of the four political parties declared themselves in the parliament in favor of the enfranchisement of women, but in a conservative government was elected and the revision was withdrawn. this year the lutheran and mennonite churches gave women a vote on all matters. in the cabinet announced its own revision of the constitution. early in the association memorialized the premier and the queen, sent letters to all the electors and carried on the most strenuous work. its meetings in every town and city were crowded and in a short time a petition signed by , women was presented to the parliament. then the war broke forth and everything was at a standstill. in the suffragists were roused by the announcement that the constitution would positively be revised. in june they held a big demonstration in amsterdam, in which trade unions and political parties participated. it was evident that the country was back of the demand for woman suffrage. although street processions were forbidden, the burgomaster, a suffragist, allowed it. in the hague a large one took place in september, when the parliament opened, the burgomaster yielding to the entreaties of the women that if the government was going to bring in a new constitution in the midst of the war, which so much concerned women, they should be allowed to express themselves. it was preceded by an immense meeting and a resolution calling for woman suffrage was passed; thousands of women massed in front of the parliament house and dr. jacobs and a deputation carried it in to the speaker, who promised to do all in his power for them. during all the weeks while the discussion raged the members had to pass through two rows of silent women wearing broad sashes with the name of the association on them. women filled the seats inside and the speaker offered his private box to dr. jacobs and her friends. prime minister cort van linden threatened that if a vote were permitted on woman suffrage he would withdraw the whole constitution. the members of parliament were so afraid they would lose universal male suffrage that they gave up this amendment and the constitution was adopted without it. it did, however, make the valuable concession that it should be possible for the parliament to grant the suffrage to women at any time without submitting it to the voters as part of the constitution. it also contained the remarkable provision that women should be eligible to election to the parliament and all representative bodies, although they had not a scrap of suffrage. the exclusion of women was received with the disapproval of the country and in the election campaign of the demand of all the non-clerical parties was for woman suffrage. at the opening of parliament h. p. marchant, leader of the constitutional democrats, introduced a bill for the complete enfranchisement of women. early in november, , all europe was alarmed by the revolution in russia and the netherlands was threatened. there was a demand for woman suffrage at once as a deterrent. the government agreed and took up mr. marchant's bill but the danger passed and nothing was done. by february, , the suffragists were obliged to hold another mass meeting and demonstration at the hague and assure the government that they would rouse the country. the speaker then brought in the bill, which was discussed in april, and on may universal suffrage for women on the same terms as possessed by men was accepted by a vote of to by the second chamber. the following july it passed the first chamber with five dissenting votes and was signed by the queen on september . in a woman had been elected to the second chamber and in one was elected to the first chamber, and there were on county councils and on municipal councils, chosen by men before women had yet voted. belgium. on november , , five days after the armistice which ended the world war the national federation for woman suffrage in belgium resumed its activities with an open letter to the labor party, referring to their manifesto for universal suffrage and reminding them that this included women. a little later it addressed an appeal to the newly established government and started a petition. in the midst of the war king albert and queen elizabeth had expressed themselves in favor of the enfranchisement of women but when he opened the first parliament after it was over he recommended only equal, universal suffrage for men. notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions the petition soon had , signatures and was sent to the parliament. by midwinter of the question was one of heated controversy among the parties, which continued. by april the petition had reached , . the catholics favored woman suffrage, the liberals and socialists opposed it, fearing the influence of the church. to avoid a dissolution of the parliament a compromise was finally effected by which the parliamentary vote was given to "all widows of soldiers and civilians killed by the enemy, or, where there is no widow, to the mother"; and to "all women condemned or imprisoned for patriotic acts during the enemy occupation." this enfranchised about , women and was only to be in effect until a constituent assembly should be elected which would revise the electoral law. meanwhile a bill for the municipal or communal franchise for women was introduced. plural voting for men was abolished; a general election took place november and the new parliament met in december. the necessary two-thirds vote for the parliamentary suffrage for women seemed impossible but the three parties were virtually pledged to give the municipal. after three months of controversy and suspense this communal franchise was granted in the chamber of deputies on march , , to all women years of age, by vote of to . all the catholics voted in favor; all the liberals but two against it--burgomaster max and paul hymans, minister of foreign affairs; the socialist vote was divided, of the in favor. it was accepted in the senate april by to . the commission on revising the constitution refused by to votes to include the parliamentary franchise for women but recommended unanimously their eligibility to sit in both chambers. this was accepted in june by the deputies by to votes. on july they rejected by a vote of to a bill giving the complete suffrage to women. on july they voted by a large majority for a clause that any future parliament might do this by a two-thirds vote without a revision of the constitution. luxemburg. under the treaty of peace after the war luxemburg became an independent government with its own parliament. there was a temporary constituent assembly and on may , , without even an effort by women, this body adopted universal suffrage, without distinction of sex, by a vote of to . all inhabitants years of age are electors and after are eligible for the parliament and communal councils. on september men and women voted on the country's future form of government and decided by a four-fifths vote to have an independent monarchy with an elected parliament. a month later the elections for it took place. one of the two women candidates was elected. russia. it would be difficult to relate the story of woman suffrage in russia. in the villages and among the peasants women had long voted at the local elections either as proxies of the husband or by right of owning property, and among the nobility and wealthy classes they could vote through male proxies. there was little national suffrage even among men and the revolution after the russo-japanese war was a struggle for representation. in march, , a russian union of defenders of women's rights was started in moscow and spread among different classes throughout russia. it became a part of the general movement for liberty, was well organized and its demands were many but the first one was for a constituent assembly elected by universal, secret ballot. it united with the great political union of unions, which officially recognized the equal rights of women in all respects in july, , and before the end of the year this had been done by many municipalities. everything was stopped by the revolution and that was followed by the establishment of the douma. all that women hoped for from it was wrecked when it was dissolved. their union at this time had branches and , members and had collected and used $ , for its work. the struggle was continued but two years later not , members could be found. in december, , the first women's congress in russia was held in st. petersburg, welcomed by the mayor and addressed by members of parliament and eminent women, and was favorably received. many women's societies were formed but worked under great difficulties. woman suffrage bills came before the douma and it passed one giving the municipal franchise, after striking out eligibility, but the czar did not sign it. a bill for adult suffrage was taken up and professor miliukov made a brilliant plea for enfranchising women but it was not passed and the suffrage had not been granted to women at the beginning of the war in . in the second revolution in women took practically the same part as men and in the provisional government which was the result there was no question as to their equal rights in suffrage and office holding. they were elected to the city council of st. petersburg and put on all public committees. then came the counter revolution and chaos. from the beginning of the international woman suffrage alliance in russian delegates, women of great ability, had come to its congresses with their reports but at the first meeting after the war, in geneva in , there was no word. when russia eventually secures a stable government it probably will make no distinction between the political rights of men and women. germany. when the international woman suffrage alliance met in budapest in june, , delegates were present from affiliated societies in twenty-one countries; national associations from several had applied for admission and committees had been formed in several others. over a hundred fraternal delegates were sent from organizations in twelve countries having woman suffrage as one of their objects or as the only one. in every direction the prospect looked encouraging and then one year later the great war burst upon the world! the first thought of the suffrage leaders was that the work of years had been swept away and after the war it would have to be commenced again. they did not dream that as a result of the war would come victories for equal suffrage that it would have required many years to win. these victories began with the enfranchisement of the women of great britain and ireland in february, , as described in another chapter, the direct result of the war. on the continent woman suffrage came first where it had been least expected--in germany and austro-hungary. in some of the german states women landowners could vote by male proxies. each of the states had its own king and parliament and made its own laws and all men of could vote for the reichstag or lower house of the imperial parliament but this privilege was largely nullified by a system of plural voting. in prussia and bavaria, the two largest states, women were not allowed to attend political meetings or form political organizations, and those for suffrage came under this head. the first attempt to form a suffrage society was made in hamburg, one of the three "free cities," in and it was followed by others in the other two "free cities," frankfort and bremen, and in the southern states, where these restrictions did not exist. in these societies were united in a national association, of which dr. anita augspurg was president. its members kept up an agitation for the municipal vote, carrying the question into the courts, and they also petitioned the reichstag for the full suffrage. the international council of women met in berlin in , the largest meeting of women ever held in any country, and the organizing at this time of the international woman suffrage alliance aroused universal interest. in the election of the new reichstag in the suffrage societies took an active part and in it repealed the old law forbidding women to attend political meetings and form political associations, the new law going into effect in may, . the suffragists celebrated with an immense meeting in frankfort, addressed by mrs. pethick lawrence and miss annie kenney of england, who roused great enthusiasm. suffrage associations were then organized in the various states, which began to work with their own parliaments. through lectures, literature and organizing the effort was continued, the women joining and working with the political parties, especially the social democratic, which espoused their cause. in forty petitions for the municipal suffrage in prussia were presented to its diet by women. a woman's congress was held in munich and for the first time in germany a procession of women marched through the streets. in differences in questions of policy which had been increasing had resulted in the forming of a second national association. the two united in under the presidency of mrs. marie stritt, former president of the national council of women of germany and secretary of the international alliance. in march, , mrs. stritt wrote to the _international suffrage news_: "we german women have at present no reason to rejoice over the progress of our cause but we have followed with all the greater joy the unexpected success of our sisters in other countries." in mrs. stritt, now a member of the city council in dresden, wrote for this history as follows: "although throughout the more than four years of war the women worked eagerly for the suffrage through their organizations, demanding it in public meetings and petitioning legislative bodies, they did not get it by their own efforts but by the revolution in november, , at the end of the war. in august, , their rights were confirmed unanimously by all parties in the new constitution. they received the suffrage and eligibility for the reichstag, and for the parliaments of the states and local bodies--universal, equal, direct and secret and applied exactly on the same terms as to men. women are by the constitution eligible to all state and government offices. in the first elections, in january, , were elected to the national assembly, to the state parliaments in prussia, bavaria, saxony, etc., and , to local bodies. twenty were elected to the diet of prussia." dr. alice salamon, of berlin, secretary of the international council of women, wrote: "from the first day of the revolution, when suffrage was proclaimed for all men and women from the age of , it was accepted as the most natural thing in the world. it was neither questioned nor opposed by any political or professional groups. all political parties resolutely accepted woman suffrage as a fact and issued electoral platforms in which they declared themselves for the full partnership of women in political life." in the autumn of the national union for woman suffrage held a convention in erfurt and by unanimous vote dissolved, considering that its work had been accomplished. the members then devoted their efforts to abolishing the many legal, civil and social discriminations against women. austria. the situation in austria was much the same as in germany except that from a very early date women taxpayers had some small franchise rights, but in , when by a peaceful revolution men secured universal suffrage for themselves, the new constitution took even those away from women which they had. although large numbers of women had stood shoulder to shoulder with the progressives and social democrats in their struggle for suffrage, when the latter succeeded in getting control of both branches of the parliament they refused to grant any voting rights to women. the austrian government had never allowed women to attend political meetings or form suffrage societies. it was not until that they dared even to form a woman suffrage committee and while the men were demanding their own rights it sent a petition to the parliament that these should be granted to women also. in , after the new régime was under way, they sent another petition signed by , men and women asking for the repeal of the above obnoxious law. it was refused and the supreme court sustained the refusal. the women did not relax their efforts. mass meetings were held in vienna and the provincial capitals under the auspices of the woman suffrage committee and other committees were formed. they published a monthly paper and many of the newspapers took up their cause. in they sent a deputation to the premier and minister of internal affairs, which was sympathetically received, and the latter said that not only ought the law to be repealed but women should have the municipal franchise. a socialist deputy brought the matter of the law before the constitutional committee, which reported it to the chamber, where the sentiment was almost unanimous for its repeal. it went to the upper house but before it could be sanctioned the parliament was dissolved. in the autumn of a new law of assemblies was passed from which the section so bitterly opposed was omitted and in fact the women had been defying it. they began at once a nation-wide suffrage organization, which affiliated with the international alliance. the next year the country was immersed in a world war which continued over four years. at the end of it the government passed into the hands of the people. the new constitution provided that all women over should have full suffrage and eligibility to all offices, national and state, on the same terms as men. for the first elections the following february the austrian union of suffrage societies and the national council of women worked together and it was estimated that , , women voted; eight were elected to the national constituent assembly, twelve to the city council of vienna and to other municipal councils. hungary. women were not prohibited from political activities in hungary as in austria and when the international woman suffrage alliance was formed in berlin in rosika schwimmer came from budapest with a report that in francis kossuth and louis hentaller were advocating woman suffrage in the parliament and in women were working with men for political reforms. by a woman suffrage association was formed, auxiliary to the international, mass meetings were held and petitions were sent to the parliament. in mrs. carrie chapman catt, the international president, and dr. aletta jacobs, president of the netherlands national association, visited budapest and addressed enthusiastic meetings. later baroness alexandra gripenberg of finland and mrs. dora montefiore of england did the same. strenuous agitation was kept up, meetings, processions, demonstrations, and half a million leaflets were distributed. the government was to discuss a reform bill in and a determined effort was made to keep the women out of the house of parliament as spectators. mrs. catt paid another visit that year and gave ten lectures in eight cities. eloquent women speakers went to the aid of the hungarian women from berlin, munich, berne, turin and rotterdam. in the conservative national council of women added a woman suffrage committee and a men's league for woman suffrage of representative men was formed. there were suffrage societies in cities and towns composed of all classes. the women were badly treated by all political parties and excluded from their meetings, the radicals and social democrats being their strongest opponents. the struggle continued with sometimes a favorable and sometimes an unfavorable government and always the contest by men for their own universal suffrage. in , through the remarkable efforts of rosika schwimmer, the international suffrage alliance held its congress in budapest with delegates from all over the world. it was a notable triumph, welcomed by the dignitaries of the state and city; its meetings for seven days crowded to overflowing and every possible courtesy extended. the demand that women should have the vote seemed to have become universal. then came the war and all was blotted out for years. when it was over in internal revolution followed and out of it came a republic but without stability. a law was enacted giving suffrage to all men of but only to women of who could read and write. women voted under it in and one was elected to the parliament but the law has not yet been written into a permanent constitution. bohemia. bohemian women suffered the disadvantages of those of austria and could not attend political meetings or form suffrage societies, although by an old law taxpayers and those belonging to the learned professions could vote by a male proxy for the members of the diet of the kingdom, and were eligible themselves after the age of . they had a woman suffrage committee and petitioned the diet to include women in the new electoral law of but it received word from vienna that nothing must be done. by a woman suffrage committee was doing a good deal of active suffrage work and women's organizations were being formed in the political parties but the social democratic was the only one that favored equal suffrage. for a number of years the women endeavored to secure the nomination of a woman candidate for the bohemian diet but were always unsuccessful. finally in the social democratic and a section of the liberal party each nominated a woman and by the most heroic effort and a combination of fortunate circumstances the latter, mrs. vikova-kuneticka, a prominent writer and suffragist, was elected on june . the governor of the district, doubting her eligibility, delayed issuing the certificate; the diet did not meet; the war came on and after it ended bohemia assumed her own government with equal rights for women, and she took her seat. in the newly organized country of czecho-slovakia woman suffrage prevailed throughout and in thirteen women were elected to the lower and three to the upper house of the national parliament. the new parliament of jugo-slavia voted against woman suffrage. * * * * * it is practically impossible to give an accurate account of the situation in regard to the suffrage and office-holding of women in the re-alignment which took place in central and southeastern europe after the war. the states which were formed with new or changed boundaries all began with the declaration of absolute democracy, equal suffrage for men and women and eligibility to all offices. at their first elections women in some of them were elected to the parliaments and city councils of the new régime. poland, restored, gave universal suffrage, and elected eight to the parliament. its women are strongly organized and very capable. it is not possible to foretell the future of these experiments in democracy. it has been reported from time to time that the suffrage had been given to women in bulgaria, roumania and serbia and then denied but at present they do not seem to be exercising it. ( .) switzerland. switzerland, like france, is a republic only in name, as women are wholly disfranchised. it is now the only country where the question of woman suffrage has to be submitted to the individual voters. to give women the franchise for the federal council that body must submit the question to all the voters, and to give it in each canton of the for its council, this body must submit the question to all the voters in the canton. it never has been submitted by the federal council, which holds that it must first be granted in the cantons. whenever they have voted on it they have defeated it, the agricultural population being especially hostile. there are many organizations of women, the most important of which ask for the suffrage. the largest of them, the national council of women, with , members from all kinds of societies, was very slow to recognize the value of the vote but in january, , when a revision of the constitution was expected, it took official action and unanimously adopted suffrage work. mme. chaponnière-chaix (who is now president of the international council of women), mme. saulner and mlle. camille vidart were present at the forming of the international woman suffrage alliance in berlin in to represent a group in geneva. in may, , a central woman suffrage committee was formed in berne of societies in seven cities and it was admitted to membership in the alliance. in january, , a national association was organized with m. de morsier, a deputy of the council of the geneva canton, as president and lectures and organizing commenced. the work was continued and small gains were made. vaud, geneva, neuchâtel, bâle-ville and berne gave women a vote in the state church. they can sit on school boards in these cantons and zurich. they can vote for and serve on the tribunaux de prud'hommes--industrial boards--in two or three cantons, these rights granted by the councils. the universities and the professions are open to women. work for woman suffrage was at an end during the war and after it was over there was not the disposition to enfranchise women that prevailed in other countries of europe but it was taken up by the liberal parties. the suffragists entered upon vigorous efforts to have the rights of women included in the proposed revision of the national constitution. on march , , in response to large petitions, the council of neuchâtel by a vote of to submitted the question of woman suffrage to the voters. in june the national suffrage association held its annual meeting in this canton with a large attendance and its president, mlle. emily gourd, gave an account of an active year's work. a petition signed by women's societies asked the federal council to put woman suffrage in the revised national constitution. there was a spirit of hopefulness that a new régime was at hand, as many cantons were considering the question. the vote was taken in neuchâtel june , , . a dishonorable campaign had been made by the opponents, financed by the liquor trade, and the result in the entire canton was , noes, , ayes. in the town it stood , noes, ayes; in the industrial and socialist town of chaux de fonds it was , noes, , ayes. the federal council refused all appeals to submit the question, although it was discussed in the first chamber. in october the council of basle by to voted to submit the proposition. the council of zurich also sent it to the voters, adding eligibility to office. on february , , the vote in the canton of zurich was , noes; , ayes. in that of basle it was , noes; , ayes. the peasants were solidly opposed and the workingmen voted against it. the suffragists then concentrated upon geneva and set out to get a petition from , electors, which would compel the council of the canton to submit the proposition. in june, , the international woman suffrage alliance held in geneva its first congress after the war. delegates were present from all over the civilized world. twenty-one countries had now enfranchised women. from every point of view it was one of the most successful it had ever held and it was expected to influence the referendum on woman suffrage. the year was crowded with work and the , names were not obtained until november. it was february, , before the council of the canton discussed the petition and then it was referred to a special commission, where it was held until september before the proposal to give full suffrage and eligibility to women was submitted to the voters. the election took place october and resulted in , noes; , ayes. italy. woman suffrage in some form had been a number of times before the italian parliament and it was advocated by many of the eminent university women. at the first congress of the international woman suffrage alliance in copenhagen in professor teresa labriola, a lecturer on law in the university of rome, came to tell of efforts during the past year to awaken interest in the question of votes for women, due largely to the demand of men for universal suffrage. some women had tried to have their names placed on the election lists, as the electoral law did not prohibit it, but the courts decided against them. a petition signed by a large number of women was presented to the house of deputies and some of these advocated a law to give women the suffrage but premier giolitti held that full civil rights must first be given to them. in congresses of women were held, committees formed and a national committee for woman suffrage was sufficiently organized to send a delegate to the meeting of the international alliance in amsterdam and be accepted as an auxiliary. later it became a national federation for woman suffrage. by suffrage committees had been established in many cities, public meetings held and propaganda work done. the national committee had taken a very active part in the elections of march to have deputies selected who favored giving the franchise to women, under the direction of its president, countess giacinta martini, and vice-president, professor labriola. the press was obliged to take up the question, led by the _giornale d'italia_. in a men's league for woman suffrage was formed with a membership of prominent men. a bill was brought before the chamber to abolish marital authority, admit women to the legal profession and give them a vote in local government. premier sonnino was in sympathy but his cabinet fell. the national suffrage union by had , members and took vigorous part in the municipal elections. as a result many municipal councils adopted resolutions calling on the deputies to pass a woman suffrage bill. in the chamber was discussing a bill to extend the vote to illiterate men and one was introduced to give it to women, which was defeated through the influence of premier giolitti, but the balloting showed that it was not a party question. his government was continued in power by a large vote at the next election. the king in opening parliament promised a bill to give civil rights to women. the breaking out of the war in ended all hope of favorable action but agitation and organization did not cease. large suffrage congresses were held in rome in and , the latter opened with an eloquent address by keeper of the seals sacchi, who was to introduce a reform bill for women but it was not done. after the war italy shared in the world-wide movement toward improving the position of women. the long-delayed sacchi bill was introduced. it very largely removed the civil disabilities of women, which were many; abolished the authority of the husband, which was absolute; gave women the right to control their property, enter the professions, fill public offices and have equal guardianship of their children. on march , , the senate commission recommended the passing of the bill without change, which was done in july by a vote of to . on april , , , an immense suffrage congress was held in milan, opened by dr. margherita ancona and addressed by prominent men of all parties. this was followed by others and there was a strong public demand for the enfranchisement of women. a bill was presented july , sponsored by sixteen prominent deputies of all parties, to give women the vote on the same terms as men but they were not to use it until after the approaching general election, as there would not be time to make new lists. this martini bill was referred to a special committee of signor martini, signor gasparotto and signor sandrini and it was due to their excellent management that it went through with such speed on september . it was favored by premier nitti, some brilliant speeches were made and it passed by ayes, noes. before the great rejoicing was over, before the bill could be acted on by the senate, the government was defeated and the parliament was dissolved. italy soon, like other european countries, was threatened with revolution. ministers rose and fell; politics was in a chaotic state. this situation has continued to a considerable degree and women are still without the suffrage ( ). france. for many years there were detached groups in france working for political rights for women but it was not until that any effort at national organization was made. then in february a national committee was formed of one member from each society with mme. jeanne e. schmahl, a well-known worker for the rights of women, as chairman. the national council of women of france, an influential body, gave its assistance. mme. schmahl went to the meeting of the international woman suffrage alliance in london the following april, which recognized the committee as a national association and accepted it as an auxiliary. it immediately began organizing branches in the provinces, and received especial help from the universities. professional women, those in public service and wage-earning women joined the association, which soon had over , members. the right had been given to working women to vote in the election of trade councils. as far back as m. dussaussoy had proposed a bill to the chamber of deputies giving to all women a vote for municipal, district and general councils. in march, , m. buisson, chairman of the parliamentary committee for universal suffrage, reported in favor of this bill and added full suffrage. in june, at the request of the new association, deputies signed a petition that the report should be taken up at once. a remarkable sentiment in favor was disclosed. mme. v. vincent, a pioneer in the woman movement, became president of the association, which was called the french union for woman suffrage. by the time the international alliance held its congress in budapest in june, , mme. marguerite de witt schlumberger, a very capable executive, had been elected president and the report of the secretary, mme. c. v. brunschvicg, of the progress made along many lines filled five printed pages. the municipal suffrage bill had been taken up by the chamber of deputies in december, , and then, as usually happened in all countries, some electoral reform in the interest of men crowded it out. the union now numbered , members and held a national meeting each year. more requests came for speakers than could be answered. the war begun in put an end to all hope of parliamentary action but after it ended the expectation throughout the world was that the magnificent courage and efficiency of french women during the four-and-a-half years would be rewarded with full enfranchisement. the union took up the question at once and met the fullest cooperation in the chamber of deputies. the debate opened in may, , and continued through three sessions. it commenced with the bill for the municipal franchise but at the beginning of the third session this passed to an amendment, conferring the same complete universal suffrage possessed by men. the chamber was undecided when m. viviani and m. briand, former prime ministers, in strong speeches called for the amendment. their powerful influence turned the scale and on may by ayes, noes, the deputies voted for the amendment amidst the greatest enthusiasm. it had to be ratified by the senate, a non-progressive body not elected by popular vote but by district and municipal councillors in each commune. with much anxiety the women turned to the senate and after interviews with individual members succeeded in obtaining a hearing before the commission, or committee, on adult suffrage, june . they presented an eloquent appeal, signed officially by the union of suffrage societies with branches; the national council of women with and several other large organizations of women, and gave a copy to each member. it was received in cold silence and they knew that not more than half-a-dozen of the members were favorable. the elections were approaching and the commission would not report the subject to be discussed in the senate. after the election the new chamber of deputies considered in september a proposal to the senate to hold a discussion on the woman suffrage bill, which was passed by a vote of to . it had no effect and the commission not only refused to lay the measure before the senate but rejected one to give the franchise to woman relatives of the men who were killed in the war. the radical members fear that to give women a vote would strengthen the power of the catholic church; the conservatives fear that the political emancipation of women would diminish the influence of the clergy. thus the situation remains in the so-called republic. other countries in europe. at the meeting of the international woman suffrage alliance in geneva in the president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, called attention in her address to the fact that greece and spain in europe, argentina and uruguay in south america and the island of cuba had made enough progress in organization for woman suffrage within a few years to be accepted as auxiliaries. greece. while the peace treaty was being framed at paris in premier venizelos received a deputation of leading suffragists from many countries, expressed his sympathy with the movement and gave them the names of women in athens with whom to take up the question of organization. on jan. , , he stated to the parliament in greece that the government was prepared to give the suffrage to women as soon as they to some extent requested it. this was followed in march by the forming in athens of a league for the rights of women and later by branches in crete, thessaly and corfu. a petition for political and civic rights, in which other societies of women joined, was sent to the parliament. the lyceum club, one of the oldest and most influential in greece, arranged a great congress of women to meet in october to consider measures for the advancement of women along all lines, including that of suffrage. then the venizelos government was overthrown by a plebiscite, the king returned and the congress was deferred until april, . at that time a hundred societies of women sent delegates. it was opened by premier gounaris and the king and queen were present. woman suffrage was the leading feature and several cabinet ministers announced the intention of the government to confer it. queen sophia decorated madame parron, president of the congress, and thanked her for devoting her life to the progress of greek women. there have been the usual delays but the women will probably be enfranchised in the not distant future. spain. the women of spain labor under great disadvantages in trying to obtain the franchise, as the catholic church, which is all-powerful, is not in favor of it. the king and queen are friendly and a number of the statesmen are ready to assist. the cabinet in proposed a bill which would give a vote to all women over years old and it was placed on the program of the republican party. there are eight or ten suffrage societies in different cities united in a supreme feminist council, which holds congresses and has presented to the parliament petitions signed by thousands of women asking for complete political and legal equality. it is an auxiliary of the international alliance. there have been attempts to organize for woman suffrage in portugal. travellers in various districts of turkey report that in some of them women are permitted to vote and hold office. before the outbreak of the war there was some suffrage among the property owning women in the jewish colonization of palestine. after it was taken by general allenby the jewish provisional assembly called to arrange for a national constituent assembly provided that women as well as men should vote for it. there was opposition from the orthodox but the liberal element prevailed. they vote and belong to the political organizations and also have their own, which work for the improvement of the civil and legal position of women. they have united in a national organization and become auxiliary to the international woman suffrage alliance. women have been elected to city councils and even to the national assembly. when mrs. carrie chapman catt visited china in she found that women had taken part in the revolution and not only had voted for the new parliament but had been elected to it. these privileges were afterwards taken away but they organized societies to get them again. mrs. catt kept in touch with these societies and in they were accepted as auxiliary to the alliance. they are still keeping up the struggle for political rights. there is only the nucleus of a movement for woman suffrage in japan but some of the statesmen favor it and women's societies petition for it. under the auspices of the woman's christian temperance union a beginning has been made toward organization. women are not allowed to attend political meetings and their position is very restricted but this year ( ) they have done a great deal of public work for peace. the japanese government is progressing rapidly and the results will eventually be seen in an improved status of women. south america. women occupy an advanced position in argentina in education, in business and in organized work. they have had during the past twenty years an excellent training through the national council of women and they have exercised much influence in public affairs. they were slow in entering the movement for woman suffrage but by they were sufficiently organized under the presidency of dr. alicia moreau, to send a representative to the congress of the international alliance in geneva in june and be received as an auxiliary. large meetings have been held in buenos aires. there is much favorable sentiment in the parliament, where bills have been introduced. the woman suffrage movement is well advanced in uruguay under the presidency of dr. paulina luisi, who attended the geneva congress, where her association entered the international alliance. the president of the republic, dr. baltaser brum, is an ardent advocate of woman's enfranchisement and is using his best efforts for it. a bill was introduced by dr. aralya for the complete emancipation of women, which did not pass. later one for the municipal franchise was presented by deputy alfco brum, brother of the president, which it is believed will ultimately be accepted. there is a suffrage society in chili, one in paraguay and one in brazil, where the senate in defeated a bill. the central american constituent assembly, the legislative body of the new federation of central american states, has approved woman suffrage. there is to be a pan american suffrage congress of women in the united states in , which doubtless will give a great impetus to the cause in the central and south american countries. mexico. the constitution made for mexico after the last revolution gave the suffrage to all citizens without distinction of sex and women have voted in yucatan but the elections throughout the country have not been settled enough for them to exercise their right. there are suffrage societies among the different classes of women and the wage-earners are especially insistent on having a voice in the government. the president is quoted as having said that the time when women will vote is near at hand. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material in this division to miss annie furuhjelm of helsingfors, member of parliament, vice-president of the international woman suffrage alliance and president of the woman's alliance union of finland formed in . chapter liv. the international woman suffrage alliance. an international association of the groups of women in various countries who were working to obtain the suffrage was for many years the strong desire of mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony, two leaders of the movement in the united states. when, however, in the early eighties the first steps were taken they found that great britain was the only one with organizations for this purpose. they visited there in - and found so much sympathy with the idea that a committee was appointed to cooperate with one in the united states in arranging for an international woman suffrage association.[ ] it was decided as a first step to hold an international suffrage convention but after a correspondence which extended through several years, because of the difficulty of getting in touch with women in the different countries who were interested, it was considered advisable to broaden the scope of the undertaking and call an international congress of women engaged in all kinds of work for the general welfare. this was held in washington, d. c., in march, , under the auspices of the national suffrage association and was the largest convention of women which had ever taken place up to that time. it resulted in a permanent international council of women, which in a few years established a standing committee on suffrage and rights of citizenship with dr. anna howard shaw as chairman. the national councils in all countries formed auxiliary committees and made woman suffrage a part of their program and it had a prominent place at the national and international congresses. the woman suffrage leaders in the united states did not abandon the idea of an affiliation of the societies which were forming in many lands for the specific purpose of obtaining the franchise but no further steps toward it were taken. from the time mrs. carrie chapman catt became officially connected with the national association in a dominant thought with her was that there should be an international suffrage association. miss anthony resigned the presidency in and mrs. catt became her successor. she presented her idea to miss anthony, who told her of the early efforts and encouraged her to apply her great organizing ability to the undertaking, feeling that she was fitted for it above all others. mrs. catt at once began the preliminary work and after two years of correspondence the officers of the national american woman suffrage association issued an invitation for an international conference to be held in washington, d. c., at the time of its annual convention in february, . this conference took place and was attended by delegates from many countries. a part of their interesting and valuable addresses before the convention and committees of congress will be found in chapter ii of volume v. the official proceedings of the conference are condensed from the minutes as follows: mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association, called the meeting to order and gave a brief history of the correspondence conducted with the officers of women's associations of various kinds concerning an international woman suffrage conference. she reported that ten countries would be represented by delegates--england, australia, canada, norway, sweden, germany, russia, turkey, chile and the united states. she expressed regret that unforseen circumstances at the last moment prevented the attendance of the canadian delegation but stated that james l. hughes, inspector of public schools in toronto, would attend and report on the position of women in canada. the united states association had appointed four delegates and it had been hoped that each country would send four but no country had sent more than one. the meeting was asked to select a chairman and on motion of mrs. fenwick miller, seconded by mrs. drewson, miss susan b. anthony was unanimously chosen and took the chair. miss vida goldstein was elected recording secretary. the following delegates responded to the roll call: mrs. florence miller, england; miss vida goldstein, australia; mrs. sofja levovna friedland, russia; mrs. gudrun drewson, norway; miss florence fensham, turkey; miss susan b. anthony, mrs. carrie chapman catt, the rev. anna howard shaw, mrs. rachel foster avery, united states. mrs. catt announced that a delegate from germany, miss antonie stolle; one from chile, miss carolina huidobro, and one from sweden, mrs. emmy evald, would arrive later. a committee of five was appointed to consider a plan for international cooperation--mrs. miller, mrs. avery, miss stolle, mrs. drewson, miss goldstein. at another session its recommendations were read and adopted as follows: . that it is desirable to form an international woman suffrage committee for the purpose of acting as a central bureau for the collection, exchange and dissemination of information concerning the methods of suffrage work and the general status of women in the various countries having representation on the committee. . that the delegates to the conference be instructed to ask their respective societies to appoint three representatives to act on such a committee. . that in the event of societies declining to cooperate, the delegates be authorized to form a separate international committee in their respective countries. . that the secretary of the international committee be instructed to communicate with known suffragists in countries not represented in this conference and to recommend cooperation with the international organization.... the delegates were unanimously of the opinion that the above temporary form of organization would result in most satisfactory international cooperation. it was held that each nation should be given free opportunity to aid in the forming of the permanent organization and that the present needs would be best served by a temporary international committee. it was agreed that the next international woman suffrage conference should be called in berlin in , in connection with the quinquennial meeting of the international council of women, and that meantime each nation should be asked to consider this movement and send delegates fully instructed as to the best form of a permanent international organization. miss anthony was elected permanent chairman; mrs. catt, secretary; mrs. fenwick miller, treasurer. mrs. catt moved that as an international association was not yet permanently organized, each country should be asked to contribute something toward the general working expenses of printing, postage, etc., but the financial obligation should be left to its own discretion. it was decided that the plan of organization adopted by the conference be read to the convention of the national suffrage association then in session. to make the conference still more international in character a vice-chairman representing germany was added and the appointment was left to the german societies. it was arranged that the committee should hold office till the meeting in berlin. it was moved by mrs. friedland, seconded by miss fensham, that the foreign delegates accord their warmest thanks to the national american suffrage association for inviting them to the international conference and for the many kindnesses shown them. mrs. catt had sent out a list of twenty-eight questions to most of the countries and she reported that answers had been received from thirty-two. these questions covered property rights of women, occupations, wages, education, guardianship of children, divorce, office holding, suffrage and other legal and civil rights. the full and comprehensive answers, some of them from consuls and other government representatives, were published in the official report of the conference and formed an invaluable collection of facts and statistics such as had never before been made. they gave a striking object lesson in the strong necessity for women to have a voice in the laws and the governments under which they live. it had been suggested by mrs. catt that this conference should consider issuing a declaration of principles, expressing briefly the demand for independence and individuality which women are making today. mrs. fenwick miller warmly supported the suggestion and a committee of three was appointed to draw it up--mrs. avery, mrs. evald and miss fensham. as finally submitted, discussed and accepted it formed the platform of the international organization and was adopted at each meeting for some years afterwards. it was called a declaration of principles and read as follows: . men and women are born equally free and independent members of the human race, equally endowed with intelligence and ability and equally entitled to the free exercise of their individual rights and liberty. . the natural relation of the sexes is that of inter-dependence and cooperation and the repression of the rights and liberty of one sex inevitably works injury to the other and hence to the whole race. . in all lands those laws, creeds and customs which have tended to restrict women to a position of dependence, to discourage their education, to impede the development of their natural gifts and to subordinate their individuality have been based upon false theories and have produced an artificial and unjust relation of the sexes in modern society. . self-government in the home and the state is the inalienable right of every normal adult and the refusal of this right to women has resulted in social, legal and economic injustice to them and has also intensified the existing economic disturbances throughout the world. . governments which impose taxes and laws upon their women citizens without giving them the right of consent or dissent which is granted to men citizens exercise a tyranny inconsistent with just government. . the ballot is the only legal and permanent means of defending the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" pronounced inalienable by the american declaration of independence and accepted as inalienable by all civilized nations. in any representative form of government, therefore, women should be vested with all the political rights and privileges of electors. organization of the alliance. the international woman suffrage committee, which had been formed at a conference in washington, d. c., in february, , and adjourned to meet in berlin in june, , was called to order on june , in the prince albert hotel by the chairman, miss susan b. anthony, who was warmly greeted by the women of all countries. the following report of this and subsequent meetings is condensed from the minutes: the program arranged by the officers was adopted as the order of business. dr. jur. anita augsburg of the german suffrage association delivered a cordial address of welcome and miss anthony, in behalf of the visiting delegates, responded. mrs. carrie chapman catt presented a gavel from the women of wyoming, who have enjoyed the right of full suffrage longer than any other women in the world. dr. phil. käthe schirmacher of germany was appointed official interpreter; miss adelheid von welczeck of germany was made assistant secretary and was also appointed on the committee on credentials with dr. aletta jacobs of holland and miss edith palliser of england. the roll call of nations showed delegates from the united states, great britain, netherlands, sweden, norway, denmark, switzerland, hungary, new zealand and germany. guests and delegates from countries where no organization was affiliated with the international committee were given the privileges of the conference except the vote. the declaration of principles was read and dr. schirmacher and mlle. camille vidart of switzerland were appointed to translate it into german and french for discussion. dr. augspurg read telegrams of greeting and good will from the french delegates, who were prevented from attending the conference. it was agreed that the name of the new association be the international woman suffrage alliance and a motion by dr. anna howard shaw (u. s. a.) that miss anthony be declared its first member was carried amid cheers. it was moved by mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg of philadelphia and unanimously carried that miss mary s. anthony be the second member. it was voted that those delegates at the first conference in washington who were not now present be invited to stand also as charter members of the permanent alliance. the opportunity was then given for the affiliation of honorary associates and the following were accepted: wilhelmine sheriff bain and isabel napier, new zealand; miss anna hude, mrs. charlotte norrie, mrs. johanne münter, copenhagen; mrs. friederike von mekler traunwies, austria; leopold katscher, hungary; mme. chaponniere-chaix, mlle. vidart, switzerland. the object of the alliance was declared to be "to secure the enfranchisement of the women of all nations and to unite the friends of woman suffrage throughout the world in organized cooperation and fraternal helpfulness," and a constitution was adopted. the roll of nations was called and the delegates from great britain, germany, netherlands, sweden and the united states pledged affiliation. mrs. catt made the pledge for australia. delegates from denmark and norway asked for time to present the matter to their associations and a little later became auxiliaries. all the suffrage associations in existence that could be called national except that of canada--eight altogether--joined the alliance. mesdames minna cauer, germany; agda montelius, sweden; charlotte norrie, denmark; mrs. blankenburg, dr. jacobs and miss palliser were appointed to consider designs for an international badge. miss anthony announced that as she had reached the age of she could not stand as candidate for the presidency and it was unanimously voted that she be made honorary president. the following officers were elected: president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, new york; first vice-president, dr. jur. anita augspurg, hamburg; second vice-president, mrs. millicent garrett fawcett, london; secretary, mrs. rachel foster avery, philadelphia; first assistant secretary, dr. käthe schirmacher, paris (address temporarily); second, miss johanna a. w. naber, amsterdam; treasurer, miss rodger cunliffe, london. (later miss naber resigned and miss martina g. kramers of rotterdam was appointed.) the executive committee of the new alliance met june at the palast hotel. it was arranged that fifty copies of the declaration of principles, the constitution and the minutes be typed in berlin and sent to the presidents of the affiliated societies and the honorary associates. it was decided to postpone application for auxiliaryship to the international council of women for at least two years. correspondence with the countries requiring special information was assigned as follows: "to mrs. catt, australia; to dr. augspurg, norway and austria; to dr. schirmacher, italy and france; to miss naber, switzerland and belgium. it was decided that the alliance should meet every five years for the election of officers, revision of the constitution, etc., but that during this period executive meetings and congresses might be held.[ ] third conference of the alliance. the first executive meeting and third conference of the alliance was held at copenhagen aug. - , , in the concert palais, in response to a call from the president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, and secretary, mrs. rachel foster avery, to the affiliated national woman suffrage associations, which said: an especial invitation to send fraternal delegates is extended to all societies known to be in sympathy with our movement. individuals of whatever race, nativity or creed, who believe in the right of the woman citizen to protect her interests in society by the ballot, are invited to be present. the enfranchisement of women is emphatically a world movement. the unanswerable logic upon which the movement is based and the opposition which everywhere appears to combat that logic with its array of traditions and prejudices are the same in all lands. the evolution of the movement must proceed along the same lines among all peoples. in union there is strength. let international cooperation, organization and work be our watchwords. two years of careful preparation, extended correspondence and close attention to endless details by the president and officers of the alliance had brought to copenhagen a congress of women prepared to inaugurate a world movement for woman suffrage. excellent arrangements had been made by the danish association through four committees: finance, miss eline hansen; information, miss julie laurberg; press, miss sophie alberti; entertainment, mrs. johanne münter. the music was in charge of miss bernberg. the entire expenses of the convention, rent of hall, handsome decorations, silk badges, etc., were met by the finance committee. the elaborate souvenir programs contained many views of the city which were made by miss laurberg's camera. the remarkable work of the press before and during the congress was due to miss alberti's judicious and skilful management. the entertainments under the capable direction of mrs. münter included a beautiful dinner given by a committee of danish ladies at the famous pleasure resort marienlyst; a reception by the directors at rosenberg castle; an afternoon tea by the officers of the widely-known women's reading club of , members, of which miss alberti, a founder, was the president; a reception and banquet by the municipal council in the magnificent city hall and a farewell supper by the danish suffrage association at skydebanen, preceded by an interesting program of recitations and costume dances. there were many private dinners, luncheons and excursions to the beautiful and historic environs. two more national suffrage associations had united with the alliance--those of hungary and canada. australia was ready to enter. france had sent a delegate, madame maria martin, and expected to form a national association within a year. professor teresa labriola was present to promise the affiliation of italy in another year. six highly educated, progressive delegates from russia represented the union of defenders of woman's rights, composed of societies and , members, which applied for auxiliaryship. fraternal delegates were present from the international council of women and the national councils of norway, sweden, france, the united states and australia; from the international council of nurses and from organizations of women in finland and iceland. telegrams of greeting were received from societies and individuals in twenty-five different cities of europe. about one hundred delegates and alternates from twelve countries were present. several sessions were filled to overflowing with these greetings and the reports from the various countries of the progress made by women in the contest for their civil, legal and political rights. as published in the minutes, filling pages, these reports formed a remarkable and significant chapter in the world's history. mrs. catt was in the chair on the first afternoon and a cordial welcome was extended by the presidents of five danish organizations of women: miss alberti, mrs. louise hansen, mrs. louise norlund, mrs. jutta bojsen moller and miss henni forchhammer for the national council of women. dr. jur. anita augspurg of germany, the first vice-president, responded for the alliance. she was followed by mrs. catt, who, in her president's address, after describing in full the forming of the alliance, gave a comprehensive report of the progress toward organizing suffrage associations in the various countries during the past two years and the growth and future prospects of the international movement. she touched a responsive chord in every heart when she said: since we last met our cause has sustained a signal loss in the death of our honorary president, susan b. anthony. she has been the inspirer of our movement in many lands and we may justly say that her labors belonged to all the world. she passed in the ripeness of years and with a life behind her which counted not a wasted moment nor a selfish thought. when one thinks of her it must be with the belief that she was born and lived to perform an especial mission. all who knew her well mourn her and long will they miss her wise counsel, her hearty cheerfulness and her splendid optimism. there has been no important national suffrage meeting in the united states for half a century and no international meeting of significance at any time in which she has not been a conspicuous figure. this is the first to meet without her. we must hope that her spirit will be with us and inspire our deliberations with the same lofty purpose and noble energy which governed all her labors. mrs. catt reviewed the movement for woman suffrage, declaring that the most ambitious should be satisfied with the general progress, and said in conclusion: we have been like an army climbing slowly and laboriously up a steep and rocky mountain. we have looked upward and have seen uncertain stretches of time and effort between us and the longed for summit. we have not been discouraged for behind us lay fifty years of marvelous achievement. we have known that we should reach that goal but we have also known that there was no way to do it but to plod on patiently, step by step. yet suddenly, almost without warning, we see upon that summit another army. how came it there? it has neither descended from heaven nor made the long, hard journey, yet there above us all the women of finland stand today. each wears the royal crown of the sovereignty of the self-governing citizen. two years ago these women would not have been permitted by the law to organize a woman suffrage association. a year later they did organize a woman suffrage committee and before it is yet a year old its work is done! the act giving full suffrage and eligibility to all offices has been bestowed upon them by the four chambers of parliament and the czar has approved the measure! metaphorically a glad shout of joy has gone up from the whole body of suffragists the world over. mrs. catt presided at every public and every business meeting and hers was the guiding spirit and the controlling hand. by her ability and fairness she won the entire confidence of the delegates from twelve countries and launched successfully this organization which many had believed impossible because of the differences in language, temperament and methods. throughout the meetings twenty-minute addresses were made by prominent women of the different countries, some of them reports of the organized work, others on subjects of special interest to women, among them the ideal woman, miss eline hansen; what woman suffrage is not, dr. schirmacher; women jurors of norway, miss mörck; woman's horizon, mrs. flora macdonald denison, canada; the silent foe, dr. anna howard shaw; what are women to do?, dr. jacobs; our victory, miss annie furuhjelm, finland; why the working woman needs the ballot, mrs. andrea brachmann, denmark; why the women of australia asked for and received the suffrage, sent by miss vida goldstein and read by mrs. madge donohoe. others besides the officers and those above mentioned who spoke during the convention were cand. phil. helena berg, elizabeth grundtvig, stampe fedderson, denmark: briet asmundsson, iceland; mrs. f. m. qvam, cand. phil. mathilde eriksen, gina krog and mrs. l. keilhau, norway; dr. ellen sandelin, anna whitlock, gertrud adelborg, huldah lundin, ann margret holmgren, frigga carlberg, anna b. wicksell, and jenny wallerstedt, sweden; baroness gripenberg, dr. meikki friberg, finland; zeniede mirovitch, elizabeth goncharow, olga wolkenstein, anne kalmanovitch, russia; rosika schwimmer, vilma glücklich, bertha engel, hungary; lida gustave heymann, adelheid von welczeck, regina ruben, germany; mrs. rutgers hoitsema, mrs. van loenen de bordes, netherlands; millicent garrett fawcett, lady steel, dora montefiore, mrs. broadley reid, great britain; miss lucy e. anthony, united states; mrs. henry dobson, australia. one afternoon session was devoted to memorial services for miss anthony, with the principal address by mrs. ida husted harper, her biographer, and beautiful tributes by delegates of seven european countries and canada expressing the debt of gratitude which all women owed to the great pioneer. mrs. harper briefly sketched the subordinate position of women when miss anthony began her great work for their emancipation in ; told of her efforts for temperance and the abolition of slavery; her part in forming the international council of women; her publication of the history of woman suffrage and the many other activities of her long life. she described the advanced position of women at present and closed by saying: no one who makes a careful study of the great movement for the emancipation of woman can fail to recognize in miss anthony its supreme leader. after her death last march more than a thousand editorials appeared in the principal newspapers of the country and practically every one of them accorded her this distinction. she was the only one who gave to this cause her whole life, consecrating to its service every hour of her time and every power of her being. other women did what they could; came into the work for awhile and dropped out; had the divided interests of family and social relations; turned their attention to reforms which promised speedier rewards; surrendered to the forces of persecution. with miss anthony the cause of woman took the place of husband, children, society; it was her work and her relaxation, her politics and her religion. "i know only woman and her disfranchised," was her creed.... may we, her daughters, receive as a blessed inheritance something of her indomitable will, splendid courage, limitless patience, perseverance, optimism, faith! dr. shaw closed the meeting with an eloquent unwritten peroration which told of her last hours with miss anthony as the great soul was about to take its flight and ended: "the object of her life was to awaken in women the consciousness of the need of freedom and the courage to demand it, not as an end but as a means of creating higher ideals for humanity." a resolution was adopted rejoicing in the granting of full suffrage and eligibility to sit in the parliament to the women of finland the preceding may. the delegates from norway received a message from the prime minister that it was the intention of the parliament to enlarge the municipal franchise which women had possessed since . designs for a permanent badge were submitted by several countries and the majority vote was in favor of the one designed by mrs. pedersen-dan of denmark, the figure of a woman holding the scales of justice with a rising sun in the background and the latin words jus suffragii. it was decided to publish a monthly paper under the name of _jus suffragii_ and in the english language. afterwards miss martina g. kramers was appointed editor and the paper was issued from rotterdam. the invitation was accepted to hold an executive meeting and conference in amsterdam in , as a new constitution was about to be made for the netherlands and there would be a strong effort to have it include woman suffrage. mrs. catt's closing words to the delegates were to encourage agitation, education and organization in their countries. "the enfranchisement of women is as certain to come as the sun is sure to rise tomorrow," she said. "the time must depend on political conditions and the energy and intelligence with which our movement is conducted." thus ended happily and auspiciously the first congress of the international woman suffrage alliance. fourth conference of the alliance. the executive meeting and fourth conference of the international woman suffrage alliance was held in amsterdam, june - , , in the spacious and handsome concert hall, in response to the call of mrs. carrie chapman catt, president, and mrs. rachel foster avery, secretary. no one who was present can ever forget this meeting in the most fascinating of countries, with every detail of its six days' sessions carefully planned and nothing left undone for the comfort and entertainment of the visitors who had come from most of the countries of europe, from canada, the united states and far-away australia and new zealand. the following account is condensed from the very full report of the recording secretary, miss martina g. kramers: the arrangements for the congress were made by a central committee, of which dr. aletta jacobs, president of the vereeniging voor vrouwenkiesrecht, the organization which had invited the alliance to amsterdam, was chairman. mrs. w. drucker was chairman of the finance committee, mrs. van buuren huys, secretary, and miss rosa manus gave much assistance. the press committee, miss johanna w. a. naber, chairman, did excellent work in conjunction with a committee from the amsterdam press association.... that the accounts throughout the world were so complete is due to this painstaking, able committee's assistance to the correspondents from far and wide. the committee on local arrangements, mrs. van loenen de bordes, chairman, performed well many duties, issued a dainty booklet, bound in green and gold, which contained the program interspersed with views of amsterdam, and provided handsome silk flags to mark the seats of each delegation, which were presented to the alliance. a bureau of information was presided over by young women who were able to answer all questions in many languages. the back of the great stage was draped with the flags of the twenty nations represented, those of norway, finland and australia being conspicuously placed in the center, that especial honor might be done the full suffrage countries. the front of the stage was a mass of flowers and plants, a magnificent bust of queen wilhelmina occupying a conspicuous place. the committee on reception, chairman, mrs. gompertz jitta, and that on entertainments, chairman, mrs. schöffer-bunge, provided many pleasures. chief among these was the musical reception on the first afternoon. a grand welcome song with a military band playing the accompaniment was sung by four hundred voices; a variety of children's songs followed and the program was closed by a cantata called old holland's new time, which had been prepared especially for the congress. all the music had been composed by catherine van rennes, who was also the conductor. the congress opened with a large reception given by the dutch women's suffrage association at maison couturier, with a greeting by mrs. gompertz-jitta. it had as a unique feature a little play written by betsy van der starp of the hague. the gods and goddesses with much feeling discussed the appeal of woman, who had asked their help in her effort to secure more rights on earth.... on tuesday afternoon a reception was given by burgomaster and mrs. van leeuwen at their beautiful home, where refreshments were served in a shaded garden and the hospitable and democratic freedom was greatly enjoyed. on the same afternoon the amsterdam branch of the national association took the foreign visitors for a delightful excursion on the amstel river. on wednesday afternoon dr. jacobs had a most enjoyable tea in the pavilloen van het vondelpark. mrs. gompertz-jitta opened her own luxurious home for tea on friday. a house filled with a rare art collection, a fine garden and a charming hostess gave an afternoon long to be remembered. a farewell dinner on saturday night was held in the great concert hall. a gay assembly, a good dinner, the national airs of all countries played by a fine band, furnished abundant enjoyment and aroused enthusiasm to the utmost. the climax came when a band of young men and women, dressed in the quaint and picturesque costumes of the dutch peasantry, to rollicking music executed several peasant dances on the platform and around the big room. the day following at an early hour several car loads of suffragists set forth for rotterdam and near the station two steamers took their cargo of happy people for a trip on the river maas. they went as far as dordrecht, where opportunity was given to see this quaint town. luncheon had been served on the steamers and at rotterdam the guests proceeded to the zoological garden, which many people pronounce the finest in the world. at : dinner was served in a large, fine restaurant, followed by animated speeches until train time. it had been a rare day, full of interest, for which the congress was indebted to the rotterdam branch of the national association and to mrs. van den bergh-willing, who supplied one of the steamers and invited over a hundred of the delegates as her guests for the day. the next day was spent under the direction of the hague branch. an afternoon tea with music was given at the palace hotel, scheveningen, the famous seaside resort, and later a dinner was served at the kurhaus, followed by a fine concert arranged in honor of the guests. later came a special display of fireworks with a closing piece which triumphantly flashed the words "jus suffragii" across the sky. mrs. catt was in the chair at the first afternoon session and dr. jacobs welcomed the conference in an address given in perfect english during which she said: "when so strong and energetic a body of earnest women meets to deliberate on this greatest of modern world problems the impression can not fail to be a powerful one, for the vision must arise of the beauty and glory of future womanhood, of women who have obtained proper place and power in the community, which shall enable them to infuse their love, their moral perceptions, their sense of justice into the governments of the world. we believe the moment has now come to show our country the seriousness and extent of our movement and its determination to gain political equality for women in every civilized land. with the greatest appreciation we see among our visitors many high officials, who have not hesitated to answer our invitation favorably and to give us through their presence a proof of sympathy with the work we do. we wish to welcome these gentlemen first of all." naming one country after another dr. jacobs mentioned the particular achievement of each during the past two years and extended a special welcome, saying: "may your presence here contribute to augment the public interest in the movement for women's enfranchisement in our country." the address of the international president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, was a masterly effort and should be reproduced in full. in beginning it she referred to the suggestive coincidence that the opening day of the congress commemorated the anniversary of the signing of the immortal magna charta and said: "at no time since the movement for the enfranchisement of women began have its advocates had so much cause for self-congratulation as now. the alliance met in copenhagen twenty-two months ago and in the brief time since then the progress of our cause has been so rapid, the gains so substantial, the assurance of coming victory so certain that we may imagine the noble and brave pioneers of woman suffrage, the men and women who were the torch-bearers of our movement, gathering today in some far-off celestial sphere and singing together a glad pæan of exultation." mrs. catt referred to the granting of full suffrage and eligibility to women by norway in and continued: within the past two years appeals for woman suffrage have been presented to the parliaments of eighteen european governments; the united states congress and the legislatures of twenty-nine states; the parliaments of canada and victoria and the legislature of the philippines--fifty-one independent legislative bodies. the appeals were made for the first time, i believe, in twelve of the european countries. in spain and the philippines bills were introduced by friends of the cause quite unknown to national or international officers. this activity has not been barren of results and the delegates of six countries come to this congress vested with larger political rights than they possessed at the time of the copenhagen meeting, namely, norway, denmark, sweden, iceland, england and germany. each of the five scandinavian lands has won something. norwegian women come with full suffrage rights; finnish delegates come as representatives of the only nation which has elected women to seats in its parliament; sweden and iceland have gained a step in eligibility and our icelandic delegate of two years ago is now a member of the city council of reykjavik, the capital. the women of denmark, next to those of norway, have made the largest gain, as municipal suffrage with liberal qualifications has been bestowed upon them. english women have secured eligibility to become mayors and members of town and county councils. germany has revised its law and women are now free to join political associations and to organize woman suffrage societies. the german association affiliated with the alliance is now a federation of state bodies. in sweden within two years the membership in the organization has doubled and the local organizations reported at copenhagen have become . a petition of , names has been presented to parliament; deputations have waited upon the government and been granted hearings. a thorough analysis was made of the present status of woman suffrage throughout the world and in summing up the speaker said: "although from occident to orient, from lapland to sunny italy and from canada to south africa the agitation for woman suffrage has known no pause, yet, after all, the storm center of the movement has been located in england. in other lands there have been steps in evolution; in england there has been a revolution. there have been no guns nor powder nor bloodshed but there have been all other evidences of war.... yet the older and more conservative body of workers have been no less remarkable. with a forbearance we may all do well to imitate, they quadrupled their own activities. every class, including ladies of the nobility, working girls, housewives and professional women, has engaged in the campaign and not a man, woman or child has been permitted to plead ignorance concerning the meaning of woman suffrage." mrs. catt reviewed at length the "militant" movement in great britain, showing how it had awakened interest in votes for women in all quarters of the globe, and recalled the struggle of the barons in wresting the magna charta from king john. she then passed to the united states and to the persistent charge that its experiment in universal male suffrage had been a failure, to which she replied: "although the united states has gathered a population which represents every race; although among its people are the followers of every religion and the subjects of every form of government; although there has been the dead weight of a large ignorant vote, yet the little settlement, which years ago rested upon the eastern shores of the atlantic a mere colonial possession, has steadily climbed upward until today it occupies a proud position of equality among the greatest governments of the world.... the fact that woman suffrage must come through a referendum to the votes of all men has postponed it but man suffrage in the united states is as firmly fixed as the rock of gibraltar...." in an eloquent peroration mrs. catt said: "within our alliance we must try to develop so lofty a spirit of internationalism, a spirit so clarified from all personalities and ambitions and national antagonisms that its purity and grandeur will furnish new inspiration to all workers in our cause. we must strike a note in this meeting so full of sisterly sympathy, of faith in womanhood, of exultant hope, a note so impelling, that it will be heard by the women of all lands and will call them forth to join our world's army." the business sessions opened with all the officers present; over one hundred delegates and alternates from the now sixteen auxiliary countries; delegates sent by their governments and fraternal delegates from the international council of women, ten national councils, seven non-affiliated national associations for woman suffrage and eleven national organizations in sympathy with it. mrs. catt introduced mrs. henry dobson, sent by the commonwealth of australia; miss gina krog, sent by the government of norway; dr. romania penrose, mrs. helen l. grenfell and mrs. harriet q. sheik, appointed by the governors of utah, colorado and wyoming, u. s. a. the following countries had their full quota of six delegates: denmark, germany, great britain, hungary, netherlands, norway, sweden, united states, and nearly all had six alternates. russia had five delegates; finland, switzerland and south africa two each; italy, bulgaria, australia and canada one each. miss chrystal macmillan of scotland represented the international council of women; dr. c. v. drysdale, the men's league for women's enfranchisement of great britain; mrs. marie lang, the austrian committee for woman suffrage; miss franciska plaminkova and miss marie stepankova, the czechish woman suffrage committee of bohemia; mrs. alice m. steele, new zealand--the last three countries not yet affiliated. all kinds of organizations sent fraternal delegates, from the union of ethical societies in london, whose delegate was stanton coit, their leader, to the society of peasant women in balmazujvaros, hungary. this was doubtless in many respects the most remarkable and important gathering of women ever assembled up to that time. english, french and german were adopted as the official languages. the wise and sympathetic management of mrs. catt convinced those of all nations that impartiality and justice would prevail without exception; a common bond united them; they learned that in all countries the obstacles to woman suffrage were the same and that in all women were oppressed by the inequality of the laws and by their disenfranchisement, and they understood the influence which could be exerted through an international movement. there were occasional misunderstandings on account of the varied parliamentary procedure in different countries and because of the necessity for interpreting much that took place but on the whole the delegates were satisfied. they had intense admiration for the great executive ability of their president and showed their confidence in her again and again. switzerland, bulgaria and south africa having announced through their delegates that their suffrage societies had united in national associations and desired to become affiliated, they were enthusiastically accepted. mrs. stanton coit of london, the new treasurer, paid a tribute to her predecessor, miss rodger cunliffe, who had died since the last conference. mrs. pedersen-dan reported that , badges had been sold. many interesting discussions took place during the morning and afternoon sessions of which one of the most valuable was on the methods of work for the suffrage pursued in the various countries. these methods included debates in schools and colleges, distribution of literature, petitions to the parliament, circulating libraries, courses of lectures, house-to-house canvassing, protests against paying taxes, mass meetings to show the need of a vote in matters of public welfare. in nearly all countries the suffragists were taking political action, questioning candidates by letter and in person and in some places working for or against them. this was especially the case in great britain and miss frances sterling and miss isabella o. ford told of the successful work at by-elections, of having thousands of postal cards sent to candidates by their constituents, of appealing to the workingmen. a report of the speech of miss margaret ashton, a member of the city council of manchester, quoted her as saying that, though the president of a large body of liberal women, she had decided that it was useless to work further for her party unless it would enfranchise women. women had worked sixty years for this party and now, if they will gain their own liberty, they must refuse to lift hand or foot for it until it enfranchises them. mrs. rutgers hoitsema of the netherlands told of the efforts made to have woman suffrage put in its new constitution; of winning six of the seven members of the government commission and of the request of the prime minister for favorable printed arguments. miss annie furuhjelm said in her report for finland: "we got our suffrage through a revolution, so we can not be an example for other lands as to methods. we can say, however, that we used all methods in our work. in we had a great public meeting for woman suffrage. we organized a 'strike' against the conscription for the russian army and we found the mothers interested in saving their sons. the social democrats had woman suffrage in their platform before but the leading men of finland would not have helped the women to the suffrage if the women had not shown that they understood the public questions of the day and taken an active part in resistance to an unlawful régime." she told of the election of nineteen women to parliament in . mrs. zeneide mirovitch said in her touching report: "the women of russia have not been able to work as those in other countries do, for their members are often in danger of imprisonment or death. they have lecturers who travel about to hold meetings; they publish a review of the work of their union; members of it have started clubs which carry on general work for women's betterment. they have sold very cheaply , suffrage pamphlets; they have a committee in st. petersburg which watches the acts of the douma and when a law is proposed which concerns women and yet fails to consider them, this committee reminds the members of their needs. it protests against the massacres and outrages when women are assaulted and tortured. now during the reaction the union is not permitted to work in any way." mrs. dora montefiore of england spoke in favor of "militant" methods. an invitation to send fraternal delegates had been declined by mrs. emmeline pankhurst for the women's social and political union of great britain, who said they had more important work to do. it had been accepted by mrs. despard, president of the womens' freedom league, who came with seven delegates. she explained that its methods consisted only of trying to enter the house of commons, holding meetings near by, heckling government candidates, refusing to pay taxes, chalking pavements, etc. mrs. cobden sanderson and mrs. billington greig made vigorous, convincing speeches and all were enthusiastically received. the congress adopted a resolution of "protest against the action of any government which classes the women suffragists imprisoned for agitation for the vote as common law-breakers instead of political offenders." it also expressed its "sympathy for the russian women in their struggle demanding so much sacrifice and its profound respect for the women who under great trial do not hesitate to stand for their rights." a message was received with applause during one session that "the synod of the evangelical lutheran church has resolved unanimously to give a vote to women on the questions that have until now been submitted only to the men of the congregation." the evening meetings were largely given up to addresses and at the one where woman suffrage in practice was considered mrs. madge donohue of australia, spoke on an experiment justified; mrs. steele, new zealand, fifteen years of woman suffrage; miss furuhjelm, a true democracy. at another evening session miss fredrikke mörck gave the results of woman suffrage in norway. in a symposium, why should representative governments enfranchise women? the speakers were miss ashton, mrs. minna cauer, germany; miss janka grossman, hungary; mrs. theo. haver, netherlands; mrs. louise keilhau, norway; mrs. frigga carlberg, sweden; mrs. olga golovine, russia; mrs. a. girardet, switzerland; miss macmillan, great britain. here as at nearly all of the public meetings dr. anna howard shaw made the closing speech, for if she was not on the program the audience called for her. mrs. münter gave an address on the legal position of danish women; dr. elizabeth altmann gottheiner, germany, does the working woman need the ballot? mrs. miriam brown, canada, ideal womanhood; others were made by miss rosika schwimmer, hungary, and miss stirling, great britain. an afternoon meeting for young people was addressed by mrs. millicent garrett fawcett, chairman; mrs. ann m. holmgren, sweden; dr. anita augspurg, mrs. mirovitch; miss rendell, great britain; miss schwimmer; mrs. ella s. stewart, united states. much pleasure was expressed at the report of mrs. staatsministerinde qvam, president of the national woman suffrage association of norway, who said in beginning: "since we met in copenhagen taxpaying women in norway have obtained full suffrage and eligibility to office by a vote of to in the parliament. about , women have become entitled to vote. it is calculated that , are yet excluded, although the tax is very small.... the object of our association is suffrage for women on the same terms as for men. the men have universal suffrage. we therefore will continue our work until the women have gained this same right." miss eline hansen gave an interesting report of winning the municipal franchise in denmark. woman suffrage from a christian point of view was presented one afternoon by mrs. beelaerts von blokland, chairman; countess anna von hogendorp and mr. hugenholtz, all of the netherlands; mrs. blauenfeldt, denmark; mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, united states. an address sent by lady frances balfour was read by mrs. c. h. corbett, great britain; one sent by mrs. aline hoffmann, switzerland, was read by miss johanna w. a. naber, netherlands; one sent by mme. mangeret, france, was read by mrs. heineken-daum, netherlands. greetings were given from the national councils of women of germany and the netherlands by their presidents, mrs. marie stritt and miss elizabeth baelde; from great britain, france, belgium, norway and sweden by fraternal delegates, mrs. fawcett, miss cecile cahen, miss ida la fontaine, miss thea holst, dr. lydia wahlstrom; from national organizations by mrs. elna munck, denmark; dr. phil. käthe schirmacher, germany; miss stepankova, bohemia; mrs. lang, austria; miss k. honegger represented the newly affiliated national association of switzerland and dr. pateff and miss jenny bojilowa that of bulgaria. most valuable reports were read from all the affiliated countries containing accounts of their political conditions and the status of the movement for woman suffrage, which were printed in the minutes, filling over fifty pages. the resolutions committee, mrs. ida husted harper, miss ashton and mrs. van loenen de bores, reported strong resolutions, which were fully discussed and adopted. the last one was as follows: "resolved, that the plain duty of women at the present hour is to secure the support and cooperation of all the forces favorable to woman suffrage, without question as to their political or religious affiliations; to avoid any entanglement with outside matters; to ask for the franchise on the same terms as it is now or may be exercised by men, leaving any required extension to be decided by men and women together when both have equal voice, vote and power." the conference accepted with appreciation the cordial invitation of the national union of women's suffrage societies of great britain, extended through its president, mrs. fawcett, to hold its next meeting in london. at the public session on the last evening mrs. van itallie van embden, netherlands, spoke on the subject, does the wife, mother and homekeeper need the ballot? mrs. anna kalmanovitch, russia, on the final aim of the woman movement;, addresses were made by mrs. emilia mariana, italy; mrs. mirovitch, dr. wahlstrom and dr. shaw. mrs. catt gave the final words of farewell and the delegates parted in friendship to meet again as comrades in a great cause. first quinquennial of the alliance. the first quinquennial and the fifth conference of the alliance met in st. james hall, london, april -may , , with the president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, in the chair. a cordial address of greeting was made at the first morning session by mrs. millicent garrett fawcett, president of the national union of women's suffrage societies, the hostess of the guests from many nations. preceding chapters have given an idea of the wide scope and the general character of these international meetings and the names of those who earliest represented their countries and their associations. here at the end of the first five years the list of delegates and alternates filled four and a half printed pages and seventy-three fraternal delegates were present from forty-one different organizations; in addition there were speakers on the program who were not on these lists. among the organizations sending fraternal representatives, men and women of distinction, were international and national councils of women, actresses', artists' and writers' leagues, women's federation of the british liberal party, conservative and unionist women's franchise associations, men's suffrage leagues, independent labour party, international women's socialist bureau, ethical societies, women's trade unions, industrial suffrage societies, women's national press association, women's agricultural clubs, fabian society, national committee against the white slave traffic--the list is almost endless. naturally all wanted to be heard and how to permit this and leave any time for the regular proceedings of the convention became a serious question. the united states, great britain, denmark, germany, netherlands, norway and sweden sent their full quota of six delegates and six alternates. five were present from finland, six from hungary and five from south africa. the government of norway had sent as its official delegate mrs. staatsministerinde f. m. qvam, president of the national woman suffrage association. a national association had now been formed in france and its secretary, madame jane misme, brought its request for affiliation. a similar request was presented by mlle. daugotte, delegate from a new association in belgium, and both were unanimously and joyfully welcomed. at the first evening session the speakers were mrs. qvam, miss annie furuhjelm, finland; mrs. isabel may, new zealand; armitage rigby, isle of man, all testifying to the good effects of woman suffrage in their respective countries, and mrs. catt delivered her president's address, a thorough review of the work of the alliance. she said in part: on a june day in the delegated representatives of seven national woman suffrage associations met in a little hall in berlin to discuss the practicability of completing a proposed international union. at that date there were in all the world only ten countries in which woman suffrage organizations could be found. those of you who were present will well remember the uncertainty and misgivings which characterized our deliberations. the doubting delegates questioned whether the times were yet ripe for this radical step; already over-taxed by the campaigns in their respective countries they questioned whether the possible benefits which might arise from international connection might not be over-balanced by the burden it would impose. there were delegates also who asked whether it was within the bounds of possibilities that suffragists could work together in harmony when they not only would represent differences of race and character but widely different stages of development of the movement itself. there were even more serious problems to be considered. some of our associations were pledged to universal suffrage, some to municipal, some to suffrage based upon a property or educational qualification. how could such differences, each defended as it was by intense conviction, be united in a common platform?... yet despite all these obstacles, which at that time seemed to many well nigh insurmountable, our international alliance was founded "for better or worse" and i think i may add "till death do us part." five years have passed away, prosperous, successful, triumphant years; prosperous, for we have known no quarrel or misunderstanding; successful, for the number of national associations in our alliance has more than doubled; triumphant, because the gains to our cause within the past five years are more significant in effect and meaning than all which had come in the years preceding. indeed, when we look back over that little stretch of time and observe the mighty changes which have come within our movement; when we hear the reports of the awakening of men and women to the justice of our cause all the way around the world, i am sure that there is no pessimist among us who does not realize that at last the tide of woman's enfranchisement is coming in. mrs. catt described the influence the alliance had had in these changes and said: "we have been baptised in that spirit of the th century which the world calls internationalism; it is a sentiment like love or religion or patriotism, which is to be experienced rather than defined in words. under the influence of this new spirit we realize that we are not enlisted for the work of our own countries alone but that before us stretches the task of emancipating the women of the civilized world...." the brilliant congress of women held in russia in spite of its reactionary government was described, and the women of finland were urged not to be discouraged because the iron rule of russia was again threatening their recently gained liberty. the progress in other european countries was sketched and the address then dealt unsparingly with the situation in great britain, where the women for years had organized and worked for the candidates of the political parties, and continued: if the women of england have time enough to solicit votes for the men of their party and intelligence enough to train men to vote; if they do not neglect their homes and families when their political parties direct them to act as catspaws to pull the political chestnuts out of the fire and to put them into the conservative and liberal baskets, the world wants to know how these political parties are going to escape from the logic of the situation when these same women ask some of the chestnuts for themselves. again, this nation was presided over for sixty years by a woman, and she was accounted worthy to present an annual parliamentary address in which she pointed out the duty of the members of parliament. now the outside world wants to know how that parliament can consistently say that other british women are not even worthy to cast a vote to elect that body. there is still another reason why the world is watching england. the british colonies have enfranchised women; how is the home government to explain the phenomenon of women, enfranchised in australia, then disfranchised in england; enfranchised in new zealand and disfranchised when they return to the mother country? she called attention to the forming of the anti-suffrage association by women in great britain and said: "they are sending in a petition to parliament. it is well known that people by nature are opposed to new things; before education people are anti-suffragists. if a petition opposed to woman suffrage should be presented to the hottentots, the afghanistans, the tribes of thibet or to the interior of turkey, every individual would sign it and the longest petition 'opposed to the further extension of rights to women' yet known could be secured there. a petition for suffrage, however, carries a very different meaning; every name represents a convert, a victory, an education of the understanding, an answer to an appeal for justice. a woman suffrage petition is a gain; an anti-suffrage petition merely shows how much more must be gained. one is positive, the other negative. wait a little and you will find that england, and other countries as well, will perceive the real truth, that the anti-suffrage women are the most inconsistent products of all the ages." the flaying did not stop here but mrs. catt called attention to the fact that this convention celebrated the birthday of mary wollstonecraft, referred to the position of women in her time and said: there have been women who have crucified their very souls and the lineal ancestors of the present-day "antis" with withering scorn and criticism opposed every step. yet some of those modern anti-suffragists possess a college degree, an opportunity which other women won for them in the face of universal ridicule; they own property which is theirs today as the effect of laws which other women labored for a quarter of a century to secure; they stand upon public platforms where free speech for women was won for them by other women amid the jeers of howling mobs; they use the right of organization which was established as the result of many a heartache and many a brave endeavor when the world condemned it as a threat against all moral order. they accept with satisfaction every political right which has been accorded by their government; they even accept public office. they take all as their birthright; and yet, endowed with this power of education, of property, of organization, of free speech, of partial political rights, they turn upon the last logical effort in the movement which has given them so much and with supreme self-satisfaction say: "thus far shalt thou come and no farther." it takes no logic to perceive the inconsistency of such a position.... the changed position of women in the world of labor was sketched; the old divisions were obliterated; a great army of women were now competing with men in the open market and there were found not only women but little children. everywhere was cruel injustice to women, barred out from the higher places, working for half the pay of men in others, and discriminated against even by the labor unions. "they are utterly at the mercy of selfish employers, of hard economic conditions and unfair legislation," she said. "the only logical conclusion is to give votes to working women that they may defend their own wages, hours and conditions. we have worked to gain the suffrage because the principle is just. we must work for it now because this great army of wage-earning women are crying to us for help, immediate help.... you and i must know no sleep or rest or hesitation so long as a single civilized land has failed to recognize equal rights for men and women, in the workshop and the factory, at the ballot box and in the parliament, in the home and in the church." here as at all meetings of the alliance one of the most valuable features was the reports from the various countries, reaching almost from "the arctic circle to the equator," of the progress in the movement for suffrage, juster laws for women, better industrial conditions. printed in fifty-seven pages of the minutes they formed a storehouse of information nowhere else to be found. as the struggle of the "militants" in great britain was attracting world-wide attention to the exclusion of the many years of persistent work by the original association in educating not only women themselves but also public opinion to see the necessity for woman suffrage, the report of its president, mrs. fawcett, had a special interest: the year which has just closed is the most strenuous and active we have ever known since women's suffrage has been before the country. the number of societies which combine to form the national union has more than doubled. the membership in several societies has more than doubled and in others has largely increased; in one important society it has been multiplied by five. the number of meetings held throughout the year in connection with the national union alone has been unprecedented, an average of at least four a day. the experience gained at bye-elections confirms the union in their view that by far the most effective work can be done by acting strictly on non-party lines and supporting that candidate whose record and declarations on the subject of suffrage are the most satisfactory.... at the beginning of last november mrs. garrett anderson, m.d., was elected mayor of aldeburgh; miss dove, m.a., the head mistress of wycombe abbey school, came within two votes of being chosen mayor of the borough of high wycombe. several women at the same time were elected as borough councillors, among whom we may mention our colleague, miss margaret ashton, the president of the manchester and north of england society for women's suffrage. a large conservative and unionist association for women's suffrage has been formed. its president is lady knightley of fawsley and among its vice-presidents are the duchess of sutherland, the countess of meath, viscountess middleton, lady robert cecil, miss alice balfour, etc. in december a weighty and closely reasoned statement of the case for women's suffrage was presented to the prime minister by the registered medical women of the united kingdom. the committee were able to inform mr. asquith that out of all but support the extension of the parliamentary franchise to women. the case for women's suffrage was argued before the judicial committee of the house of lords in november last with great ability by miss chrystal macmillan, m.a., b.sc. the case was raised on the plea of women graduates of the scottish universities that they were entitled to vote in the election for the members of parliament representing the universities. the word used in the scottish university act was "persons"--all "persons" having passed such and such degrees and fulfilled such and such conditions were entitled to vote in such elections. the case had been heard before two scottish courts and adverse decisions had been given. the house of lords was appealed to as the highest court and it confirmed the decisions of the lower courts that the word "persons" does not include women when it refers to privileges granted by the state. mrs. fawcett spoke of the work of the union year after year for the suffrage bill in parliament; of the enrollment during the present year of over men eminent in literature, science, the arts, law, public offices, churches, education, commerce, etc.; of its great procession and the demonstration in albert hall. she said of the other organization, which was yet in its early stages of aggressiveness: "opinions greatly differ in suffrage circles as to the effect produced on the cause by what are known as 'militant' tactics. it is difficult for one who is completely identified with constitutional methods to judge aright the total result of unconstitutional forms of agitation. that the 'militants' have been courageous and self-sacraficing no one denies. that they have provoked discussion and aroused attention is equally obvious and from these our cause always stands to gain. on the other hand many of us feel a profound conviction, which experience only strengthens, that women are adopting a mistaken course in appealing to violence. our business as women asking for justice is not to rely upon physical force but in the eternal principles of right and justice. law abiding methods alienate no one while methods of violence and disorder create anti-suffragists by the hundreds." to this convention, as to the one of the preceding year in amsterdam, mrs. pankhurst refused to send any representatives of the women's social and political union. a mass meeting under its auspices was held in albert hall one evening and many of the delegates accepted an official invitation to attend. at an afternoon session ten minute addresses were made by mrs. betsy kjelsberg of norway on six years' experience in municipal work; by mrs. madge donohoe for australia, the latest victory; by dr. phil. gulli petrini of sweden, suffrage work on both sides of the polar circle; by mrs. rutgers-hoitsema, a curious football game in holland; others by mrs. zeneide mirovitch, russia; miss theo. daugaard, denmark; mlle. daugotte, belgium; mme. auberlet, france; mrs. saul solomon, south africa. the dutch men's league for women suffrage was represented by e. j. van straaten, ll.d. and f. f. w. kehrer-gorinchens; the british by herbert jacobs and dr. c. w. drysdale. mrs. anna m. haslam, fraternal delegate from the irish women's suffrage association, and her husband, thomas j., the oldest delegates, were most cordially received. the bohemian delegate, marie tumova, could not be present because making a campaign for election to the diet. the delegates had a strenuous time trying to attend the business meetings, listen to the excellent programs of prominent speakers, go to the enjoyable social affairs and make the visits and excursions to the many historical places in and around london which most of them had always longed to see. the executive committee of the national union, mrs. fawcett, chairman, served as reception committee; its treasurer, miss bertha mason, expended the large fund subscribed for the use of the convention; the press committee managed the newspapers through miss compton burnett; mrs. anstruther, rutland house, portland gardens, had the exacting but pleasant duties of chairman of the hospitality committee. a delightful reception on sunday evening, april , at the lyceum club, introduced the pleasures of the week, which ended with a handsome reception given by the men's league for women's suffrage on saturday evening. there was a brilliant official dinner at prince's restaurant and there were teas and concerts and dramatic entertainments. to most of the delegates the weeks were the richest in experience ever known, with the specially conducted visits to famous universities and schools; cathedrals and abbeys; galleries and palaces; courts and gardens--every spot filled with historic associations for english speaking people and with intense interest for those of other countries. for delegates concerned with civic and social work there was the keenest enjoyment in the specialized and extensive developments along many lines. the minutes of the convention thus describe one of its leading events: the mass meeting at the royal albert hall under the auspices of the london society for women's suffrage afforded the delegates a most impressive display of the earnestness of the british suffragists. a procession of women engaged in various trades and professions, carrying the emblems of their work, marched from eaton square to the hall. it was a wonderful inspiration to the brave bands of pioneers from other lands to see the long procession march with fluttering flags and swinging lanterns along the darkening streets, greeted now with sympathy, now with jeers. as it entered the hall and trade after trade, profession after profession filed past the platform on which were seated women of all nations, the enthusiasm reached its height. it would be impossible to give a list of the groups but especially notable were the chain makers from cradley heath, who toil for about four shillings per week of sixty hours. the common remark that the suffrage movement is an amusement for rich women was once for all disproved as the factory workers and cotton operatives in their distinctive dress swung into the vast arena. the group of women doctors in their gorgeous robes were loudly cheered, as were the nurses and mid-wives who followed, while teachers of all branches of the profession closed the long line. there were notable speeches but the real effect of the meeting lay in the wonderful gathering itself, women of all nations, classes, creeds and occupations united for a common purpose, together with men, filling one of the largest halls in europe. mrs. fawcett, ll.d., presided and the speakers were ramsey mcdonald, m.p., mrs. catt, dr. shaw, miss frances sterling and mrs. philip snowden. twice during the convention it came in touch with royalty in an interesting way. at the official dinner mrs. qvam, delegate from the norwegian government and president of the national suffrage association, brought greetings and wishes for the success of the congress from queen maud of norway, a daughter of king edward and queen alexandra, to which an appreciative response was sent. at a morning session the birth of a daughter to the queen of the netherlands was announced and at the request of dr. aletta jacobs, president of the national suffrage association of that country, a telegram of congratulations from the alliance was sent. there was much discussion over the motion that all organizations auxiliary to the alliance must have woman suffrage as their sole object. it was finally decided in the affirmative and a flood of societies of every description was excluded. the number of delegates permitted to each country was increased from six to twelve, with twelve alternates. a resolution was adopted urging the national suffrage association of each nation to prepare a comprehensive statement of the laws which place women at a disadvantage in regard to property, earnings, marriage, divorce, guardianship of children, education, industrial conditions and political rights, and to explain, when demanding their immediate enfranchisement from their respective parliaments, that they consider these injustices can be effectively removed only through joint political action by men and women. this was introduced at the request of lady mclaren, who had prepared such a charter for great britain. many beautiful designs for a flag and banner had been submitted and it was found that the one selected was the work of miss branting of sweden. the international hymn chosen from a number which were submitted was written by mrs. theodora flower mills. as this was the quinquennial meeting officers were elected. mrs. catt was unanimously re-elected and the following received large majorities: mrs. fawcett, first, and miss furuhjelm, second vice-presidents; miss martina kramers, netherlands; mrs. anna lindemann, germany; miss signe bergman, sweden, first, second and third secretaries; mrs. stanton coit, treasurer. as the time of holding the regular session of the alliance was changed from five to four years they were elected to hold office until . mrs. catt welcomed the new officers and warmly thanked the retiring officers for their valuable services. the invitation to hold the congress of in stockholm, if the political conditions were favorable, was accepted with pleasure. the resolutions presented by the committee--miss frances sterling, great britain; mrs. e. r. mirrlees, south africa; mrs. ida husted harper, united states--and adopted, summarized the gains of the past few years in denmark, iceland, sweden, germany, netherlands, bohemia, cape colony and the transvaal and said: "this congress, remembering the lessons of history, urges the national societies not to be betrayed into postponing their claim for the enfranchisement of women for any other object, whether it be the further extension of the suffrage to men or the success of some political party." at the last meeting of the delegates mrs. catt thanked them for their hearty cooperation with their president; she urged them to demand the suffrage upon the broadest basis, namely, that the government may rest equally on the will of both men and women, and said the alliance would wield great influence if they remained united and they would secure the enfranchisement of the women of the world for all future generations. a public meeting in st. james hall was held on the last evening with mrs. catt in the chair and addresses of the highest order were made by miss margaret ashton, men and women; the rev. ivory cripps, the nation's need of women; miss rosika schwimmer, the hungarian outlook; h. y. stanger, m.p., the prospect of franchise reform; dr. käthe schirmacher, woman suffrage. on the sunday afternoon preceding the convention the rev. anna howard shaw preached for a men's meeting at whitefield's, tottenham court road, the most of the large and interested audience hearing for the first time a sermon by a woman. on the sunday following the convention she preached in the morning for the west london ethical society in the kensington town hall and in the evening at the king's weigh house chapel, duke street, grosvenor square. at o'clock in the afternoon the rev. canon scott holland gave a sermon in st. paul's cathedral, the national church, on the religious aspect of women's suffrage, with two hundred seats reserved for the delegates, and they felt a deep thrill of rejoicing at hearing within those ancient walls a strong plea for the enfranchisement of women. they were invited to attend the next evening a symposium by the shakespeare league at king's college on what shakespeare thought of women. sixth conference of the alliance. the sixth conference and congress of the international woman suffrage alliance took place in the banquet hall of the grand hotel, stockholm, june - , . the coming of mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the alliance, had been widely heralded. she had been received in copenhagen with national honors by cabinet ministers and foreign legations; the american flag run up for her wherever she went and the danish colors dipped and there was almost a public ovation. in christiania she was met with a greeting from a former prime minister and an official address of welcome from the government and was received by king haakon. at stockholm she was met by deputations with flowers and speeches. dinners, receptions and concerts followed. the american and swedish flags waved together. the whole city knew that something important was going to happen. in the midst of it all the woman suffrage bill came up for discussion in both houses of the parliament. the international president was escorted to the lower house by a body of women that crowded the galleries. after a stormy debate the bill to enfranchise the women of sweden received a majority vote. in the midst of the applause mrs. catt was hurried to the upper chamber, the stronghold of caste and conservatism. her presence and that of the flower of swedish womanhood did not save the bill from the usual defeat. the congress opened with representatives from twenty-four affiliated national associations and two committees, those of austria and bohemia. the government of norway sent as its official delegate dr. kristine bonnevie. the list of delegates filled seven printed pages, the united states, the netherlands and sweden having the full quota of twelve delegates and twelve alternates, germany lacking only three of the latter, while great britain, france, denmark, norway, finland and hungary had twelve or more. six were present from russia; bulgaria, servia, switzerland, south africa, iceland and canada had representatives. of fraternal delegates from other organizations there was no end--about seventy men and women--among them members of five men's leagues for woman suffrage--in the united states, great britain, netherlands, hungary and sweden. in addition to the spoken words letters and telegrams of greeting were read from societies and individuals in twelve different countries. the distinguished guests of the occasion were dr. selma lagerlöf of sweden, who had recently received the nobel literature prize, and miss helena westermarck of finland, the eminent writer and publicist. among prominent speakers were mayor carl lindhagen and ernest beckman, m. p., the rev. k. h. g. von scheele, bishop of visby, and the rev. dr. samuel fries. the ushers and pages were women students of the universities. on the sunday afternoon preceding the convention the precedent of all past ages was broken when dr. anna howard shaw preached in the ancient state church of gusta vasa. when the swedish women asked for the use of the church they were told that this could be granted only to a minister of the same denomination but they learned that when a minister from another country was visiting sweden the pastor of the church might invite him to occupy his pulpit at his discretion. the pastor said he would run the risk, knowing that he might incur the displeasure of the bishop, and dr. shaw, therefore, felt a double responsibility. she could not enter the pulpit, however, but spoke from a platform in front of it. it was a never to be forgotten scene. the grand old church was crowded to the last inch of space, although admission was by ticket. facing the chancel were the thirty famous women singers of göteborg, their cantor a woman, and the noted woman organist and composer, elfrida andrée, who composed the music for the occasion. in the center of all was the little black-robed minister. it was said by many to be the most wonderful sermon of her life and after the service was over the pastor, with tears rolling down his cheeks, went up to her with hands outstretched and taking both of hers said: "i am the happiest man in sweden." sunday evening a reception was given at the restaurant rosenbad to the officers, presidents of national auxiliaries and swedish committee of arrangements by its chairman, mrs. bertha nordenson. at six o'clock excursions of many delegates had started to enjoy the long evening when the sun did not set till nearly midnight. the official report of the first executive session monday morning said: "miss janet richards, delegate from the u. s. a., with an admirable speech, presented to the alliance from the state which had recently given full suffrage to women a gavel bearing the inscription: "to the international w. s. a. from the washington equal suffrage association." it was announced that national suffrage associations had been formed in iceland and servia and they were gladly accepted as auxiliaries, bringing the number up to twenty-six. the municipality had contributed , crowns to the congress, which proved to be the largest ever held in stockholm. season tickets had been sold to , persons and other hundreds bought tickets to the various meetings. during the entire week the flags of the nations represented at the congress floated from the flagstaffs that lined the quay in front of the grand hotel facing the royal palace, as far as the eye could reach. all the time mrs. catt was in the city the american flag was run up for her as a public guest wherever she went and the swedish colors dipped a salute. the congress was formally opened in the afternoon of june with addresses of welcome from miss anna whitlock, acting president of the national suffrage association of sweden, and the hon. ernest beckman, m. p., president of the national swedish liberal association, and response from the alliance was made by miss chrystal macmillan of great britain, proxy for mrs. millicent garrett fawcett, its first vice-president. miss anna kleman, president of the stockholm suffrage society, then presented the beautiful white satin, gold embroidered alliance banner, which was carried by six university students in white dresses with sashes of the swedish colors. mrs. catt announced that the alliance flag was now flying over the grand hotel where they were assembled. the banner was the gift of miss lotten von kroemer, a pioneer suffragist of sweden, and the flag of the resident atlantic, gulf and pacific tea co., u. s. a. a suffrage song written by k. g. ossian-nillson and the music composed by hugo alfven for the occasion was sung by the women's choir of göteborg, after which an official delegate of the government extended its greeting while the audience rose and the flags of the nations waved from the galleries. mrs. catt received an ovation as she came to the front of the platform to make her address. it filled twenty-three pages of the printed minutes and was a complete resumé of the early position of women, the vast changes that had been wrought and the great work which the alliance was doing. only a few quotations are possible: in the recent debate on the bill in the swedish parliament a university professor said in a tone of eloquent finality: "the woman suffrage movement has reached and passed its climax; the suffrage wave is now rapidly receding." with patronizing air, more droll than he could know, the gentleman added: "we have permitted this movement to come thus far but we shall allow it to go no farther." thus another fly resting upon the proverbial wheel of progress commanded it to turn no more. this man engages our attention because he is a representative of a type to be found in all our lands; wise men on the wrong side of a great question, modern joshuas who command the sun to stand still and believe that it will obey. long centuries before the birth of darwin an old-time hindoo wrote: "i stand on a river's bank. i know not whence the waters come or whither they go. so deep and silent is its current that i know not whether it flows north or south; all is mystery to me; but when i climb yon summit the river becomes a silver thread weaving its length in and out among the hills and over the plains. i see it all from its source in yonder mountain to its outlet in yonder sea. there is no more mystery." so these university professors buried in school books, these near-sighted politicians, fail to note the meaning of passing events. to them the woman movement is an inexplicable mystery, but to us standing upon the summit of international union, where we may observe every manifestation of this movement in all parts of the world, there is no mystery. from its sources ages ago, amid the protests which we know barbaric women must have made against the cruel wrongs done their sex, we clearly trace its course through the centuries, moving slowly but majestically onward, gathering momentum with each century, each generation, until just before us lies the golden sea of woman's full liberty. mrs. catt traced the progress of the ages until it culminated in the demand for political rights for women, told of the beginning of the alliance and said: "today, seven years later, our alliance counts auxiliary national associations. are these evidences of a wave rapidly receding? it would be more in accordance with facts should we adopt the proud boast of the british empire and say that the sun now never sets upon woman suffrage activities. the subscribing membership in the world has increased seven times in the past seven years and it has doubled since the london congress two years ago. even in great britain, where the opposition declared at that time very confidently that the campaign had reached its climax, the national union, our auxiliary, has tripled its individual membership, tripled its auxiliary societies and doubled its funds since then, and twelve independent suffrage societies have been organized. the membership and campaign funds have likewise tripled in the united states and every president of an auxiliary national society has reported increase in numbers, funds and activity.... no human power, no university professor, no parliament, no government, can stay the coming of woman suffrage. it is a step in the evolution of society and the eternal verities are behind it.... of the nations represented in this congress the women of have more political rights than they had seven years ago." mrs. catt paid high tribute to the scandinavian people and eulogized fredrika bremer, sweden's great pioneer. in speaking of the progress in this country she said: "municipal suffrage has now been extended to married women and eligibility to office to all women. organizations exist in towns, some of them north of the arctic circle; there is a paying membership of , and , meetings have been held in the last two years. two political parties espouse the cause. women may vote for town and county councils, which elect the upper house of parliament, and thirty-seven are serving on these councils." she referred eloquently to the honored selma lagerlöf and to dr. lydia wahlstrom, the recent president of the national suffrage association, who had been crowned with a laurel wreath for her wisdom by the university of upsala. she told of a questionnaire she had sent to the presidents of the national suffrage associations in all countries asking what were the indications that the woman suffrage movement was growing and said: "such volumes of evidence of progress were received that it is quite impossible to give an idea of its far reaching character....[ ] at the official reception given by the national suffrage association of sweden in the evening the guests were welcomed by mrs. ann margret holmgren and their appreciative responses were made by mrs. margaret hodge, australia; miss gabriella danzerova, bohemia; mrs. daisy minor, austria; miss helen clay-petersen, denmark; miss annie furuhjelm, finland; madam dewitt schlumberger, france; dr. jur. anita augspurg, germany; mrs. olga ungar, hungary; mrs. philip snowden, great britain. these were followed by a cantata beautifully rendered by the göteborg choir, words and music by women. during the convention lieutenant colonel w. a. e. mansfeldt of holland made the report for its men's league for woman suffrage; dr. c. v. drysdale for great britain; jean du breuil for france; dr. alexander patai for hungary; frederick nathan for the united states, and the founding of an international men's league was announced with colonel mansfeldt secretary. the reports of the work of the different branches and their discussion, bringing before the alliance the experience and opinions of women from all parts of the world, were perhaps the most valuable feature of the conference. the most animated and vital of these discussions was the one of a political nature, divided into three parts: . what political work have the women of the enfranchised countries done, what is their relation to the different parties and how do these treat them? have they any advice to offer? led by miss hodge, mrs. louise keilhau, norway; dr. tekla hultin, m. p., finland. . how can woman's political influence be brought to bear most effectively on parliaments and governments? led by mrs. snowden; mrs. anna b. wicksell, sweden; dr. käthe schirmacher, germany; miss richards. . what should be the relation of the suffrage movement to political parties in the unenfranchised countries? led by miss eline hansen, denmark; miss rosika schwimmer, hungary; madame pichon, france; mrs. zeneide mirovitch, russia. there was a wide divergence of opinion but at last a resolution was unanimously adopted that "woman suffrage societies do their best work when organized in a non-partisan manner." in order to remove persistent misunderstanding a statement presented by mrs. catt was adopted explaining the wording of the resolution demanding "the franchise for women on the same terms as it is or may be exercised by men." it declared that the alliance had on no occasion taken a position for or against any special form of suffrage but that the affiliated societies were left entirely free to determine for themselves which form they would demand. the alliance did not express an opinion as to what should be the qualifications for enfranchisement, its sole object being to establish the principle that sex should not be a disqualification. no more eminent group of women speakers ever appeared before an audience than those who spoke in the royal opera house of stockholm on the second evening of the convention. mrs. catt presided and addresses were made by miss westermarck, dr. augspurg, mrs. snowden, miss schwimmer, dr. shaw and sweden's best beloved selma lagerlöf. the last named moved the audience to tears during her address on home and state by her impassioned plea for the enfranchisement of women. it was said by delegates from the various countries who had attended many of these international gatherings that this meeting surpassed all others. another which differed from all that had gone before was the great gathering in skansen, the magnificent park, where at o'clock, from two platforms, noted speakers from ten countries addressed an audience of thousands. a dinner followed in the park house, högenloft, with fine music, and then in the open air the visitors saw the famous national dances and processions by the young people in the picturesque costumes of the country. although the official languages of the alliance were french, german and english a crowded meeting was held one evening in the people's house with the speeches in the northern tongues, understood by all the scandinavian people. it was opened by mayor lindhagen, an ardent advocate of woman suffrage. at another session the woman question in the russian parliament was considered by the noted woman leader, dr. shiskin-yavein; the suffrage outlook in bohemia by miss maria tumova, recent candidate for parliament; the future of south african women by miss nina boyle. a special meeting was held one afternoon in the hall of the young women's christian association. mrs. marie stritt, germany; mme. maria verone, france, and miss macmillan were appointed to compile a pamphlet of information about woman suffrage in all lands to be used for propaganda work. a delegate from the united states, professor mary gray peck, officially connected with its national suffrage headquarters, gave the following description in a letter to the press: the ball room of the grand hotel where the meetings were held is a palatial apartment, its walls richly gilded and adorned with long mirrors between the windows, while from the ceiling hang great crystal chandeliers, which were always lighted while the congress was in session. the platform for officers and distinguished guests was placed between gilded pillars at one end of the hall, draped and canopied with the national colors of sweden, blue and yellow, and the international suffrage colors, yellow and white. then there is the memory of other places where the delegates assembled, the ancient state church, with its reminder of st. paul's in london; the splendid academy of music, with the heraldic banners of the nations suspended around the gallery; the royal opera house with its tiers of balconies and the rising of the curtain to show the beautiful stage picture of the speakers and the arch of flowers beneath which they spoke; the moorish court in the royal hotel, where the reception was held, with the delightful birgitta cantata, recalling the heroic in swedish womanhood; the open air meeting at skansen with the native songs and dances; the farewell in the garden at saltsjöbaden, given by the stockholm society; the peasant singing and the wonderful ride back to the city by late northern twilight and moonlight together. the closing speech of the congress made by the international president at the close of the dinner at saltsjöbaden was something indescribable. she stood on a balcony facing the sunset sky and blue sea, with pine trees forming an amphitheater in the background. it was like a triumphant recessional, with benediction for the past and challenge for the future, and when the speaker descended from the balcony and went down to the boat landing followed by the singing of the peasants, the crowd divided, leaving a wide path, and stood gazing after her as though she were too imperial to be followed by anything but music. on the sunday following the congress an excursion was arranged on beautiful lake malaren to the ancient castle of gripsholm, where evening dinner was served. the city council and the state railways financially assisted the entertainment committee. at all of the alliance congresses the social entertainments were a marked feature. the hospitality was boundless and each country had its historic places and beautiful resorts which differed so much from those of all others as to give them an indescribable charm and interest. following is part of the report of this one by mrs. anna lindemann, secretary of the alliance:[ ] the official entertainments were most appropriately opened by the truly international greeting which mrs. holmgren, one of the founders of the swedish suffrage movement, addressed to the guests at the reception in the grand hotel royal. her words which gave a hearty welcome to the french and german-speaking guests and to our swedish sisters in their several languages; the beautiful cantata written by sigrid leijonhufvud, the music composed by alfrida andree specially for this occasion, and last but not least the presence of the woman all of us had long known and loved before we saw her, selma lagerlöf, made us feel at home in sweden at once. this feeling deepened as time went on and wednesday evening at skansen a new note was added. all we saw of swedish nature and swedish life in that beautiful open air museum, the national dances, the characteristic art of sven scholander and his daughter lisa, gave us a deeper understanding of the people whose guests we were and showed us some of the roots from which it draws its strength. another aspect also, the refined culture of modern sweden, was the dominant note of the dinner at hasselbacken with the heartfelt speech of the venerable bishop scheele of visby. on a background of lovely scenery this week will stand out in our memory as one long summer day with a long, long evening full of silver light.... during the carriage drive generously provided by miss lotten von kraemer our hearts were gladdened by the many expressions of sympathy we met on our way, from the dear old women, who waved their handkerchiefs and their aprons, down to small girls by the side of their mothers.... especially the day at upsala, by invitation of its suffrage society, will not be forgotten. the warm-hearted reception, the gay flags all through the town, at once lifted up the spirit of the whole gathering, which found a charming expression in the improvised festive procession from the botanical garden to the cathedral. the presence and eloquence of the rev. anna howard shaw gave an added dignity to this as to many others of our social gatherings. schools, hospitals, museums, exhibitions of all kinds of women's art and women's work, were visited.... [the many private invitations were referred to.] the thirty-six delegates, who accepted mrs. caroline benedick-bruce's invitation to the island of visby, have told us that words failed to describe this beautiful day. looking back on the time that lies behind us, we, the women who have come here from all over the world, thank our swedish sisters for the inspiration their kindness and their loving reception have been to us. we thank sweden for the splendid women it has produced. we have seen the many elements that have worked together to attain this result; we have learned to admire and respect swedish history, swedish culture, swedish art; and as, besides the many other things this congress has done for us, it has most specially taught us to love the swedish women, we can express no better wish for our future conventions than that every new country which receives us may in the same way widen our hearts by a new love. seventh conference of the alliance. the international woman suffrage alliance held its seventh conference and congress in budapest june - , . as had been the case with all that had preceded, the place of meeting had been chosen with reference to the situation in regard to woman suffrage where the prospect for it seemed favorable and it was desired to influence public sentiment by showing that the movement for it was world-wide. when it had been announced at the congress in stockholm that the next one would be held in the capital of hungary it had seemed very far away and that country was not associated with representative government. it proved to be, however, one of the largest and most important of the conventions and its efforts were widespread, as the delegates stopped en route for mass meetings and public banquets in berlin, dresden, prague and vienna. twenty-two countries were represented by delegates and alternates. the full quota of were present from germany, netherlands, sweden, great britain, the united states and hungary; finland sent ; denmark and norway each; switzerland : italy ; russia ; belgium and austria, each; from south africa came , from iceland, ; from canada, ; from bohemia one. it was indeed a cosmopolitan assemblage. the government of australia had an official delegate, mrs. frederick spencer, and that of norway two, the president of the national suffrage association, mrs. f. m. qvam, and the president of the national council of women, miss gina krog. the governors of california, oregon and washington had appointed representatives. written or telegraphed greetings were received from nineteen countries, encircling the globe. the question of fraternal delegates reached its climax, as were present from twelve countries, all wishing to offer their greetings and a large number intending to advocate the particular object of their organizations. a resolution was finally adopted that no credentials should be accepted until the society presenting them should be approved by the national suffrage association of its country and no fraternal delegate should speak except by invitation of the president of the alliance and with the consent of the congress. this checked a torrent of oratory and allowed the convention to carry out its program. the chinese woman suffrage society was admitted, for which mrs. catt had sowed the seeds at the time of her visit to that country, and the beautifully embroidered banner they had sent was presented to the alliance by dr. aletta jacobs, president of the netherlands association, who had accompanied her. she said in part: it is difficult to speak to an audience which certainly does not know the chinese women in their own land, an audience of which only a few have had the privilege to hear from the lips of those feet-bound women what an important part they have taken in the revolution of their country and in the political reform which has resulted from it; to make you clearly understand the spirit of these chinese women when they offered this banner to mrs. catt, as president of the alliance, in gratitude for what it is doing for the uplifting of womanhood, and when they expressed their hope that it would take the chinese women under its care. you have not been, as mrs. catt and i have, in the south of the country, where we saw chinese women sitting in parliament but from whom the vote is now taken away. you have not heard, as we did, in many towns, the chinese women speak in crowded meetings to a mixed, enthusiastic audience with an eloquence none of us can surpass. you can not imagine how hard is the struggle for liberty which they have to make. in every town we found intelligent women with the same love for freedom as inspires us, who hunger after righteousness just as we do and who devote not only all their money but their entire life to the struggle for the improvement of the position of the women of their country. many of the chinese women have already been decapitated for the truth they have told while fighting their battle for freedom and all the leaders of the woman movement know that their life is uncertain and that any day the men may find a reason to silence them when their eloquence and enthusiasm make too many converts. in translating the words which they embroidered upon this bright red satin you will learn what is going on in the minds of the new chinese women: "the mutual helping society to the international alliance. helping each other, all of one mind." in the name of these chinese women i ask you to accept this banner in the same loyal spirit in which it is offered and to welcome the chinese suffragists into our alliance. a handsome banner was presented by the delegation from galicia. the president of the belgian association reported that roman catholic, conservative, socialist and progressive women had united in a non-partisan federation to work only for woman suffrage. south africa, roumania and portugal associations were received in full membership and also a committee from galicia, where women were not allowed to form an association. greetings came by cable from the women of persia. no tribute can do justice to the genius of rosika schwimmer in arranging for this remarkable convention, the first of the kind ever held in the austro-hungarian empire. both the government and the municipality made liberal contributions, which the citizens supplemented with more than enough to pay the entire expenses of the congress, that was conducted on a liberal scale. a sale of , season tickets was made. through the assistance of capable committees every effort possible was made for the comfort and pleasure of the delegates, who were cared for from the moment they arrived at the station. english speaking university students and others of education helped to overcome the extreme difficulties of the language. so many delightful expeditions into the wonderful country had been provided through the courtesy of the railroads and navigation company that it required a strong sense of duty for the delegates to attend to the business of the convention. a reception given saturday evening by the national suffrage association at the gerbaud pavilion enabled officers, delegates and members of the committees to begin acquaintance and friendship. according to the custom of the country the convention was opened on sunday afternoon. dr. anna howard shaw had conducted religious services in the morning at the protestant church in buda, assisted by the rev. eliza tupper wilkes, by courtesy of its minister, the rev. benno haypal. at four o'clock a large and cordial audience assembled in the grand academy of music for the official welcome, which began with an overture by the orchestra of the national theater, composed for the occasion by dr. aladar renyi. a special ode written by emil abranyi was beautifully recited in hungarian by maria jaszai and in english by erzsi paulay, both actresses from the national theater. greetings were given by countess teleki, chairman of the committee of arrangements, and miss vilma glücklich, president of the national suffrage association. the official welcome of the government was extended by his excellency dr. bela de jankovics, minister of education, in an eloquent speech, and that of the city by dr. stephen de barczy, the burgomaster, who was very imposing in the robes and insignia of his high office. the response for the alliance was made by its secretary, dr. anna lindemann, in german and french. dr. alexander geisswein, a prominent member of parliament, made a strong address in favor of woman suffrage. these ceremonies were followed by the president's address of mrs. carrie chapman catt, a summing up of the world situation in regard to woman suffrage, during which she said: when the organization of the alliance was completed in , it was decided that national woman suffrage associations only should be admitted to membership and a nation was defined as a country which possesses the independent right to enfranchise its women. at that time eight such nations had woman suffrage associations. now, nine years later, with the exception of the spanish american republics, there are in the entire world only seven without an organized woman suffrage movement. only three of these are in europe--greece, spain, and the grand duchy of luxemburg. the remaining four are not well established self-governing nations, and japan, which is more autocratic than democratic. we shall admit to membership the chinese woman suffrage association and the standard of the alliance will then be set upon five continents. twenty-five nations will be counted in its membership. organized suffrage groups also exist on many islands of the seas. like alexander the great, we shall soon be looking for other worlds to conquer! the north star and the southern cross alike cast their benignant rays upon woman suffrage activities. last winter when perpetual darkness shrouded the land of the midnight sun, women wrapped in furs, above the polar circle, might have been seen gliding over snow-covered roads in sledges drawn by reindeer on their way to suffrage meetings, from whence petitions went to the parliament at stockholm. at the same moment other women, in the midsummer of the southern hemisphere, protected by fans and umbrellas and riding in "rickshas," were doing the same thing under the fierce rays of a tropical sun; while petitions poured into the parliament asking suffrage for the women of the union of south africa from every state and city of that vast country. since our last congress not one sign has appeared the entire world around to indicate reaction. not a backward step has been taken. on the contrary a thousand revelations give certain, unchallenged promise that victory for our great cause lies just ahead.... during the past winter woman suffrage bills have been considered by seventeen national parliaments, four parliaments of countries without full national rights and in the legislative bodies of twenty-nine states.... the largest gains for the past two years have been in the united states. five western states and the territory of alaska have followed the example of the four former equal suffrage states and have enfranchised their women. now , , women are entitled to vote at all elections and are eligible to all offices, including that of president.... if france, germany, great britain, austria and hungary could be set down in the middle of this territory, there would be enough left uncovered to equal the kingdom of italy in size. mrs. catt spoke of the trip of dr. jacobs and herself around the world and said: "we held public meetings in many of the towns and cities of four continents, of four large islands and on the ships of three oceans and had representatives of all the great races and nationalities in our audiences. we are now in touch with the most advanced development of the woman's movement in egypt, palestine, india, burmah, china, japan, java and the philippine and hawaiian islands, and also in turkey and persia, which we did not visit." in telling of the momentous changes taking place in the east she said: "behind the purdah in india, in the harems of mohammedanism, behind veils and barred doors and closed sedan chairs there has been rebellion in the hearts of women all down the centuries.... we spoke with many women all over the east who had never heard of a 'woman's movement,' yet isolated and alone they had thought out the entire program of woman's emancipation, not excluding the vote...." she reviewed at length the position of women in persia, in india and in asia, the influence of the various religions and the signs of progress, paying a tribute to mrs. annie besant, to the teachings of theosophy and especially to those of the bahais. the terrible conditions for wage-earning women, the child labor and the nearly unrestricted white slave traffic in the far east were feelingly described and the address, which had been heard with almost breathless interest, concluded: the women of the western world are escaping from the thraldom of the centuries.... their liberation is certain; a little more effort, a little more enlightenment and it will come. out of the richness of our own freedom must we give aid to these sisters of ours in asia. when i review the slow, tragic struggle upward of the women of the west i am overwhelmed with the awfulness of the task these eastern women have assumed. they must follow the vision in their souls as we have done and as other women before us have done. my heart yearns to give them aid and comfort. i would that we could strengthen them for the coming struggle. i would that we could put a protecting arm around these heroic women and save them from the cruel blows they are certain to receive. alas! we can only help them to help themselves. every western victory will give them encouragement and inspiration, for our victories are their victories and their defeats are our defeats. for every woman of every tribe and nation, every race and continent, now under the heel of oppression we must demand deliverance. on the sunday evening after the opening of the convention the royal opera, a state institution, gave a special gala performance of mozart's entfuhrung aus dem serail, with cupid's tricks, by the full ballet. this was complimentary to the visitors, as the regular season had closed, and the magnificent spectacle and splendid music were highly appreciated by the large audience, by none more than by a group of peasant women, who sat in one of the galleries with shawls over their heads, having walked fifty miles to attend the congress. provision was made for their return home by train. the formal organization for business took place monday morning in the redoute, a large, handsome convention hall, but hardly were the preliminaries over and luncheon finished when a long row of gaily decorated carriages was ready for a three hour drive around the beautiful city and its environs. at : the municipality gave an open air fête on fisher bastion, that noble piece of architecture which is the pride of budapest. a writer describing the procession of officers and delegates, headed by mrs. catt, passing up the steps to receive the greetings of the city's high officials, said: "the entrance up the wide steps, between lines of attendants in picturesque uniforms, with the soft sunset glow and the lights coming out one by one in the city and on the river below, was like passing from real life into a land of enchantment." after the reception all assembled in the court of honor, where sparkling five-minute speeches were made by representatives from a dozen countries. it was soon evident that the business of the convention would have to be confined to the morning hours, as the afternoons and evenings had to be given over to public speech making and social functions. there was long discussion in several sessions on establishing international headquarters and a press bureau, enlarging the monthly paper, _jus suffragii_, and changing the place of its publication. after most of the delegates had expressed opinions the whole matter was left to the board of officers. miss martina kramers, netherlands, declined to stand for re-election to the office of recording secretary and the editorship of the paper and a standing vote of thanks was given "for her seven years' hard work, with the hope that her name will never be forgotten in the international suffrage alliance and that she will always be appreciated as the founder of _jus suffragii_.[ ] miss chrystal macmillan, mrs. marie stritt and mme. marie verone reported that the book woman suffrage in practice, which they had been requested at the stockholm meeting to prepare, was finished and the english edition ready for this convention; the french and german editions would be published in a few weeks. the treasurer, mrs. stanton coit, made a detailed and acceptable report and said that, with new headquarters, a paid secretary, an enlarged newspaper and many publications, , pounds would be necessary for the next two years. pledges were made for , pounds ($ , )[ ]. mrs. catt having served as president nine years earnestly desired to retire in favor of a woman from another country but at a meeting of the presidents of all the auxiliaries she was unanimously and strongly urged to reconsider her wish. she reluctantly did so and was elected by acclamation. the delegates decided that the ten persons receiving the highest number of votes should constitute the officers of the alliance and the board itself should apportion their special offices. mrs. fawcett, mrs. coit, miss furuhjelm, miss bergman and mrs. lindemann were re-elected. the five new officers selected were mrs. dewitt schlumberger, france; miss schwimmer, hungary; miss macmillan, great britain; mrs. stritt, germany; mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, united states. the persistent requests that the board should and should not endorse the "militant" movement in great britain, which had assumed serious proportions, caused it to recommend the following resolution which was adopted without dissent: "resolved: that as the international woman suffrage alliance stands pledged by its constitution to strict neutrality on all questions concerning national policy or tactics, its rules forbid any expression favoring or condemning 'militant' methods. be it further resolved: that since riot, revolution and disorder have never been construed into an argument against man suffrage, we protest against the practice of the opponents of woman suffrage to interpret 'militancy' employed by the minority in one country as an excuse for withholding the vote from the women of the world." at another time mrs. cobden sanderson of great britain, speaking as a fraternal delegate, eulogized the self-sacrifice of the "militants" as the principal factor in the movement, and mrs. catt, speaking from the chair, said that she would like to answer the assertion that it was only the "militant" women who were the martyrs. to the women who had made such protests had come the glory, whereas there were thousands who had given their lives to the cause whose names had never been heard. all down the centuries there had been heroines and martyrs and many of them had stood alone. she believed the movement owed a great debt to the "militant" women of great britain but they were only a part of it. mrs. catt introduced and urged a resolution "to send from this congress a request to the governments of all countries here represented to institute an international inquiry into the cause and extent of commercialized vice, and to ask the woman suffrage organizations in each country to petition their own government to institute a national inquiry and to include women in the commission." the resolution was unanimously adopted. mrs. catt was appointed to represent the alliance at the approaching international white slave traffic congress in london. a very able address, showing a thorough study of the question, was made by mrs. fawcett, who presided at the meeting held to discuss what women voters have done towards the solution of this problem. the usual important reports of the progress in all the affiliated countries were presented and ordered published in the minutes, where they filled over sixty pages. miss schwimmer in reporting for hungary said: at the time of the founding of the international woman suffrage alliance there was nothing even approaching a feminist movement in hungary, yet the recent reform bill which has just passed the two houses includes a long and thorough explanation of the usefulness and need of woman suffrage and apologies on the part of the government for not being able (owing to the present precarious political situation) to grant it. the marked inclination of the government in favor of woman suffrage and the discussion which took place in the house afterwards, together with the fact that an amendment to include woman suffrage received more votes than any other moved, has given the whole question such an importance that it is no longer a matter of discussion as to whether our claims are justified or not, but only when shall they be granted? the work accomplished by us since the stockholm congress has been in the main, as before, educational; propaganda by meetings, lectures at all seasons and in all places; the distribution of an immense quantity of leaflets and other printed matter and lectures by famous foreign suffragists. the most valuable and effective part of our work was that we took advantage of the meetings arranged by the coalition opposition parties, which include the social democratic and the bourgeois-radicals. they held hundreds in all parts of hungary, many attended by six or eight thousand people, and in one in budapest gathered an audience of , . we tried to get a speaker of ours on every program. in spite of the militant opposition of the social democratic party and radical leaders, we succeeded nearly every time in getting the floor, where we presented amendments to their resolutions, which, when the chairman was honest enough to put them to be voted on, were always enthusiastically carried.... about sixty societies for various purposes have declared their position by taking part officially in several of our public demonstrations. a list was given of distinguished men who had become converted to woman suffrage. men took a more prominent part in this convention than in any which had preceded, due principally to the very active hungarian men's league for woman suffrage, which included a number well known in political and intellectual life. the international alliance of men's leagues conducted an afternoon session in the pester lloyd hall with the hon. georg de lukacs of hungary, its president, in the chair. what can men do to help the movement for woman suffrage? was discussed by dr. c. v. drysdale, great britain; major c. v. mansfeldt, netherlands, and dr. andre de maday, hungary. on thursday evening this international league held a mass meeting in the academy of music with rousing speeches for woman suffrage by hermann bahr, austria; m. du breuil de st. germain, france; major mansfeldt; keir hardie, great britain; senator mechelin, finland; dr. vazsonyi, m. p., hungary; professor wicksell, sweden; professor gustav szaszy-schwartz, hungary. a crowded mass meeting addressed by women took place one evening in the academy of music, with mrs. catt presiding. mrs. stritt, president of the national suffrage association of germany, spoke on woman suffrage and eugenics; mme. maria verone, a well known lawyer of paris, made her impassioned address in french, and dr. gulli petrini of sweden spoke in french on woman suffrage and democracy; miss schwimmer inspired the audience with hungarian oratory; miss jane addams of the united states gave a forceful address on why the modern woman needs the ballot, and dr. shaw closed the meeting with an eloquent interpretation of the demand of women for the vote. one afternoon from to o'clock was devoted to a young people's meeting, addressed by delegates from eight countries. a forenoon was given to the discussion of the always vital question, what relation should suffrage organizations bear toward political parties, led by mrs. anna b. wicksell, sweden, and miss courtney, great britain. a large audience heard one evening the benefits of woman suffrage related by those who had been sent as official delegates from governments that had given the vote to women, mrs. qvam, miss krog and mrs. spencer, and in supplementary speeches by mrs. jenny forselius, member of parliament from finland; miss a. maude royden, great britain; mrs. charlotte perkins gilman, united states, whose topic was new mothers of a new world. a resumé of all these addresses was made in hungarian by vilma glücklich. during the convention much of the interpreting in english, french and german was done by mrs. maud nathan of the united states, who also made an address in the three languages. on the last day it seemed almost as if the men had taken possession of the congress, for they had secured the convention hall for the afternoon meeting, but the women did not like to discourage such exceptional interest. woman suffrage and men's economic, ethical and political interest in it was discussed by professor emanuel beke, hungary; dr. emil von hoffmansthal, austria; frederick nathan and rabbi stephen s. wise, united states. vigorous speeches were made by malcolm mitchell, great britain; leo gassman, germany; the rev. benno haypal, and alexander patay, hungary. the hall was restored to the women at o'clock for their final program under the general topic, how may women still bound by ancient custom, tradition and prejudice be awakened to a realization that these new times demand new duties and responsibilities? how to reach the home woman, mrs. gisela urban, austria; mrs. irma v. szirmay, mrs. von fürth, hungary; how to reach the church woman, mme. jane brigode, belgium, mme. girardet-vielle, switzerland; how to reach the society woman, miss royden, mme. schlumberger; how to reach the woman of higher education, mrs. crystal eastman benedict, united states; how to reach the wage-earning woman, miss isabella o. ford, mrs. clinny dryer, great britain; how to reach the woman social worker, miss addams. at the last business session the convention placed on record its appreciation of the unsurpassed hospitality shown by the hungarians. the delegates from this country expressed the pleasure it had been to welcome the women of all nations and the inspiration that had been received. the president, mrs. catt, asked them to part with the intention of coming to the next conference, each with a victory in her own country to celebrate. there were many luncheons, teas and dinners in beautiful private homes. the social entertainment which will be longest remembered was the evening trip down the danube with supper and music on board, a happy, congenial party with three hours of the exquisite scenery along the shores. usually suffrage conventions closed in a burst of oratory at a grand mass meeting but not so in this pleasure loving hungarian city. the last evening was given over to a banquet which taxed the capacity of the big convention hall. there were toasts and speeches and patriotic songs, and the presentation of the international pin, set with jewels, by the ladies of budapest to miss schwimmer. she said in a clever acceptance that the women had done what the men never had succeeded in doing; it was the desire of all hungarians to make this city the resort of the world and the women of the world had been the first to come. "these ambassadors," she said, "who came, to quote the words of mazzini, 'in the name of god and humanity,' will report to their countries the friendly reception they have met and will surely help the cause of international good feeling." several countries competed for the honor of the conference of the alliance in and its regular convention in . mrs. may wright sewall, honorary president of the international council of women, presented an official invitation from the managers of the panama pacific exposition to be held in san francisco in , endorsed by the california suffrage association; the executive committee of the national suffrage association of germany extended an urgent request for the conference and that of france for the congress. the answer was referred to the board, and it later accepted the invitations to berlin and paris. this had been the largest meeting of the alliance. never had the prospects seemed so favorable for accomplishing its objects; never had the fraternity among the women of the different nations seemed so close. when they parted with affectionate farewells and the bright hope of meeting two years hence in berlin they little dreamed that it would be seven long years before they came together again; that during this time the world would be devastated by the most terrible war in history and that the task must be once more commenced of developing among the women of the nations the spirit of confidence, friendship and cooperation. eighth conference of the alliance. on call of its president, mrs. carrie chapman catt of the united states of america, the international woman suffrage alliance was summoned to its eighth congress june - , , in geneva, switzerland, seven instead of the usual two years after the last one. the reason for the long interim was given in the opening sentences of the president's address on the first day: "it is seven years since last we met. in memory we live again those happy days of friendly camaraderie in budapest. all the faces were cheerful. on every side one heard joyous laughter among the delegates and visitors. every heart was filled with buoyant hopes and every soul was armored with dauntless courage. we had seen our numbers grow greater and our movement stronger in many lands and here and there the final triumph had already come.... alas, those smiling, shining days seem now to have been an experience in some other incarnation, for the years which lie between are war-scarred and tortured and in there is not a human being in the world to whom life is quite the same as in .... so we do not come smiling to geneva as to budapest." on sunday morning, june , for the first time in the history of geneva a woman spoke in the national church, the cathedral of st. peter, and standing in the pulpit of calvin miss a. maude royden of great britain preached in french and english to an audience that filled the ancient edifice to the doors. that morning at o'clock father hall, sent by the catholic ecclesiastical authorities from england for the purpose, delivered a sermon to the congress at a special mass in notre dame.[ ] in the afternoon a reception was given by mlle. emilie gourd, president of the swiss national suffrage association, in the lovely garden, beau sejour. at a public meeting in the evening at plainpalais, m. j. mussard, president of the canton of geneva; mme. chaponnière chaix, president of the swiss national council of women, and mlle. gourd gave addresses of welcome, to which responses were made by miss annie furuhjelm, finland; mme. de witt schlumberger, france, and mrs. anna lindemann, germany, officers of the alliance. mrs. catt then delivered her president's address. she described the physical, mental and moral chaos resulting from the war, the immense problems now to be solved, and said: "for the suffragists of the world a few facts stand forth with great clarity. the first is that war, the undoubted original cause of the age-old subjection of women the world around; war, the combined enemy of their emancipation, has brought to the women of many lands their political freedom!" mrs. catt showed how the suffrage had come in some countries where no effort had been made for it, while in others where women had worked the hardest they were still disfranchised, and she gave a scathing review of the situation in the united states, where it had been so long withheld. she paid eloquent tributes to susan b. anthony, a founder of the alliance, and to dr. anna howard shaw, who had helped to found it and had attended every congress but had died the preceding year. she pointed out to the enfranchised delegates the great responsibility that had been placed in their hands and through it the vast power they would have in re-creating the world and said: "i believe had the vote been granted to women twenty-five years ago, their national influence would have so leavened world politics that there would have been no world war." among the many objects for the alliance to accomplish she named the following: ( ) stimulate the spread of democracy and through it avoid another world war; ( ) discourage revolution by demonstrating that change may be brought about through peaceful political methods; ( ) encourage education and enlightenment throughout the world; ( ) keep the faith in self-government alive when it fails to meet expectations. methods for achieving these results were suggested and it was impressed on the younger women that this would be their task, as the older ones had practically finished their work. this address of surpassing eloquence closed with these words: god's order will come again to the world's stricken, unhappy, much-suffering people. it will come because the divine law of evolution never ceases to operate and the destiny of the race leads eternally on without pause. so much sacrifice and sorrow as the war has cost the world can not have been endured in vain.... as i view world politics the only possible hope for the happiness, prosperity and permanent peace of the world lies in the thorough democratization of all governments. there can be no democratization which excludes women and no safe or sound democracy which is not based upon an educated, intelligent electorate. nor is it enough to establish democracy in individual nations--it must be extended to world politics. the old militarism must go and with it the old diplomacy, with its secret treaties, distrust and intrigues. no league of nations can abolish war unless every government in the world is based on democracy. in our home countries we should urge support of every movement for the extension of popular education, foster every agency which helps men and women to think for themselves, promote every endeavor to maintain honest elections, judicially conducted campaigns and high ideals in parties and parliaments, for democracy succeeds when and where independence and intelligence are greatest. a few of the delegates wished to disband the alliance; a few others desired to change the character of its objects, but by an overwhelming majority it was voted to continue it along the original lines, although broadened, until the women of all countries were enfranchised. the congress was held in the maison communale de plainpalais, the large town hall in a suburb of geneva, and here one evening its municipality gave a reception to the members. the shady gardens and sunny terrace were the scene of many social gatherings.[ ] the congress opened with a roll call of the suffrage victories and the responses showed the almost unbelievable record that twenty countries had enfranchised their women during the years of the war! the official report was edited by miss chrystal macmillan, recording secretary of the international alliance, and the introduction was a graphic review, which said in part: "despite the difficulties of travel and the fact that only three months' notice had been given the gathering at geneva was more widely representative than any previous meeting. women were present from thirty-six countries. of the twenty-six affiliated with the alliance at the time of the last meeting, in , the auxiliaries of nineteen showed their continued vitality by sending fully accredited delegates to geneva. representatives were also present from the former auxiliaries in austria and germany, who were accorded full membership rights. the russian national president, a fugitive from her country, was unable to come but sent her greetings. the belgian society abstained from taking part and from the polish and portuguese auxiliaries no answer was received. "four countries, greece, spain, argentina and uruguay, sent delegates from newly formed national suffrage societies, which were accepted in the alliance. in addition there were present women from armenia, the crimea, lettonia, lithuania, luxemburg, new zealand, poland, turkey and ukrainia. for the first time women from india and japan came to tell of the beginnings of the organized movement among the women of the east. it was only the difficulties of travel which prevented the delegates who had started on their journeys from china, egypt and palestine from arriving in time for the congress. for the first time more than half the voting delegates represented countries in which women had the full suffrage. the consequent increased political importance of the congress was recognized by the governments of the world, of which eighteen in europe appointed official representatives, and the united states of america and uruguay of south america. the secretariat of the league of nations also sent a representative.... "the outstanding feature of the first business session was the announcement of particulars by representatives of the many nations which had given the political and suffrage and eligibility to women between and --austria, british east africa, canada, crimea, czecho-slovakia, denmark, esthonia, germany, great britain, hungary, iceland, lettonia, lithuania, luxemburg, the netherlands, poland, rhodesia, russia, sweden, ukrainia and six more of the united states. it was announced that women sit as members of parliament in the majority of these countries, while large numbers are members of municipal councils. in the united states of america the federal suffrage amendment had passed both houses of congress and had been ratified by thirty-five of the necessary thirty-six states. serbia, belgium and roumania had granted municipal suffrage to women and the zionists of palestine and the commune of fiume had given to them full equal suffrage and eligibility.... it was decided to arrange at the next congress a session at which only enfranchised women should speak.... the catholic woman suffrage society of great britain was accepted as a member of the alliance.... "each of the three evening meetings, besides that of sunday, which were all crowded and enthusiastic, was characteristic of a different aspect of the present development of the suffrage movement. on monday, a special feature was the speeches of five women members of parliament--helen ring robinson (state senate), colorado; elna münch, denmark; annie furuhjelm, finland; lady astor, great britain; tekla kauffman, wurtemberg. in all, nine women members of parliament attended the congress. the others, who spoke at later meetings, were frau burian and adelheid popp of austria; mme. petkavetchaite of lithuania and adele schrieber-krieger, whose election to the german reichstag was announced during the congress. on wednesday at the great meeting in the hall of the reformation, three-minute speeches were given by representatives of each of the enfranchised countries in the alliance. yet another new aspect was illustrated by the meeting of thursday, addressed by women from india and china. the speeches showed how similar are the difficulties of the women of both the east and the west and how much new ground has still to be broken before the object of the alliance is achieved." the forenoons were devoted to business meetings relating to the future work of the alliance and they were in session simultaneously in different rooms in the great building--women and party politics, legal status of women, civil equality, economic value of domestic work of wives and mothers, equal pay for equal work, single moral standard, protection of childhood--questions affecting the welfare of all society in all lands, pressing for solution and in all practically the same. the afternoons were given largely to the reports from many countries.[ ] _the woman's leader_, organ of the national union of societies for equal citizenship of great britain, in its account of the congress said: the effect of these reports was intensely dramatic, mingled, as it inevitably was, with the memories of the strange and bitter conditions under which the change had come. in some of the countries that had been at war enfranchisement came in the midst of revolution, riot and disaster; in others it came fresh and new with the beginning of their independent national life and almost as a matter of course. "our men and women struggled together for our national freedom," said delegate after delegate from the new states of europe, "and so when any of us were enfranchised we both were." the report on the election of women to national or municipal bodies was deeply interesting and in many respects surprising. germany easily surpassed other countries in this respect, having had women members in the last national assembly, in the parliaments of the federated states and , on local and municipal bodies. in denmark the record of success that followed the election of women was astonishing. "we have done," said the spokeswoman, "what we set out to do; we have introduced equal pay and equal marriage laws; our equality is a fact." mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the alliance, welcomed each new representative in the name of all the countries, and, although the victories had been won in times of stress and war, the rejoicing was without rivalry, for in the congress from the first day until the last no sign or mark of ill-feeling or enmity was to be found. not that the delegates forgot or disregarded the recent existence of the war; no one who saw them would suppose for a moment that they were meeting in any blind or sentimental paradise of fools. their differences and their nations' differences were plain in their minds and they neither forgot nor wished to forget the ruined areas, the starving children and the suffering peoples of the world. they met differing perhaps profoundly in their national sentiment, their memories and their judgments but determined to agree where agreement was to be found; to understand where understanding could be arrived at and to cooperate with the very best of their will and their intelligence in assuring the future stability of the world. an important report was that of the headquarters committee, consisting of mrs. catt, mrs. millicent garrett fawcett, first vice-president of the alliance, mrs. adela stanton coit, treasurer, and miss macmillan. mrs. coit was chairman the first two years and mrs. fawcett the rest of the time. after the congress at budapest in the official monthly paper _jus suffragii_ was removed from rotterdam to london and the international headquarters established there. for the next seven years the three members of the committee resident in london held regular meetings, seventy altogether, consulting mrs. catt by letter or cable when necessary. miss mary sheepshanks was editor and headquarters secretary. "she occupied that post with great acceptance till ," said the report, "when it was with much regret that her resignation was accepted. mrs. elizabeth abbott was appointed to the place, where in connection with the preparations for the present congress her organizing capacity has been of special value." miss rosika schwimmer of hungary was appointed press secretary to furnish the news to the international press but her work had hardly begun when the war broke out and she resigned the position to take up work for peace. the report told of the meeting of the international officers and a number of the national presidents which took place in london in july, , to make arrangements for the congress in berlin the next year. among the many social receptions given were one in the house of commons and one at the home of former prime minister balfour. mrs. catt had just started on her homeward voyage when the war began. the officers in london at once issued a manifesto in the name of the alliance and presented it to the british foreign office and the ambassadors and ministers in london, which after pointing out the helplessness of women in this supreme hour said: "we women of twenty-six countries, having banded ourselves together in the international woman suffrage alliance with the object of obtaining the political means of sharing with men the power which shapes the fate of nations, appeal to you to leave untried no method of conciliation or arbitration for arranging international differences which may help to avert deluging half the civilized world in blood." they decided to cooperate with the british branch of the alliance in a public meeting, which was held august with mrs. fawcett in the chair, and a resolution similar to the above was adopted. in the next issue of the _international news_, when war had been declared, mrs. fawcett in her official capacity wrote: we are faced by the disruption, the animosity, the misunderstanding caused by war but notwithstanding the cruel strain we must firmly resolve to hold our international alliance together. we must believe all through that good is stronger than evil, that justice and mercy are stronger than hatred and destruction, just as life is stronger than death. we women who have worked together for a great cause have hopes and ideals in common; these are indestructible links binding us together. we have to show that what unites us is stronger than what separates us. between many of us there is also the further link of personal friendship cemented by many years of work together. we must hold on through all difficulties to these things which are good in themselves and must therefore be a strong help to us all through these days of trial. "in this spirit the headquarters committee has endeavored to carry out its task," said its report, "and it has so far succeeded that it is in a position today to lay down its work without any society having been lost to the alliance and with a considerable group of countries never before associated with it now seeking affiliation." the great difficulty of getting the paper into the various countries was described but it was accomplished; the paper never missed an issue; it remained absolutely neutral and the number of subscribers largely increased. it was the one medium through which the women of the warring nations came in touch during the four and a half years of the conflict. all through the war it had news of some kind from the various countries showing that their women were still engaged in organized work for many useful purposes. it was evident that in practically all of them they were demanding that women should have a voice in the government. the headquarters cooperated with other international organizations in forming the international woman's relief committee and the work was conducted in its rooms. more than a thousand foreign girls were sent or taken to their countries and hundreds of british, french and belgian women brought from germany and belgium to london. the work among belgian refugees would require many pages to describe. mrs. fawcett and mrs. catt were preparing to send a deputation from the alliance to the peace conference to ask for a declaration for woman suffrage when the national woman suffrage association of france, through its president, mme. dewitt schlumberger, took the initiative and called for the national associations of the allied countries to send representatives to paris to bring pressure on it. they were cordially received by the members of the conference and a pronouncement in favor of the political equality of women and eligibility to the secretariat was placed in the constitution of the league of nations, which attracted the attention of the world. when the plan of holding the congress of the alliance at berlin in had to be given up holland sent an urgent invitation for that year but its acceptance was not considered feasible. the swedish auxiliary wanted it held at the time and place of the peace conference but this was found to be inadvisable. the majority of the officers and auxiliaries in the various countries wished to have a congress the next spring after the armistice but there proved to be insurmountable obstacles. toward the end of an invitation was accepted from the suffrage societies in spain to come to madrid in . preparations were under way when local opposition developed which made it necessary to abandon the plan. switzerland had already invited the congress and it gladly went to geneva. in the report of mrs. coit, the treasurer, she said: you will remember that at budapest in a sum of about , pounds was raised, mostly by promises of yearly donations for the period of two years. this sum was to finance headquarters and the paper till we met in berlin in . in august, , not even all the first instalments had been received, and from then on, owing to war conditions, it became impossible for some of our biggest donors to redeem their pledges. by the beginning of we found ourselves with an empty exchequer and facing the possibility of closing down our work. it was then that help came from our auxiliary in the united states. mrs. catt, with the help of her many devoted friends, raised a sum of $ , , which was placed at our disposal and has enabled the alliance to keep going. when speaking of the united states' help i wish to make special mention of the splendid work for the alliance by miss clara m. hyde, private secretary for mrs. catt. to her incessant interest and energy it is due that the number of honorary associates in the u. s. a. now is at least three times as high as in any other country; also she has quite trebled the number of subscribers to the _international news_ in the states. her devoted work is an example of what can be done by a single national auxiliary to further the development of the alliance, and i recommend her example for universal imitation. the united states auxiliary continued to add to the above sum and from may, , to may, , it sent in membership dues, subscriptions to the paper and donations $ , . mrs. frank m. roessing, president of the pennsylvania suffrage association, was responsible for collecting over $ , of this amount. the money for the congress in geneva, about $ , , was raised by a british committee of which miss rosamond smith was chairman and mrs. pethick lawrence treasurer. to this fund the united states, which had not suffered from the war to the extent of european countries, was a large contributor. at the close of the congress there were no funds on hand for the coming year and the delegates from all countries were feeling the effects of the war financially. at this critical moment mrs. katharine dexter mccormick of the united states, corresponding secretary of the alliance, made a contribution of $ , , and a little later the leslie commission added $ , . this with individual subscriptions raised the amount of about $ , and guaranteed the expenses for resuming and continuing the work of the alliance. from the organization of the alliance in berlin in mrs. catt had been the president and at no election had there been another candidate. her strong desire to relinquish the office was overruled at budapest. she went to geneva with the positive determination not to accept it again but she faced an equally determined body of delegates. not only was she supported by all from the allied countries, as they were known during the war, but she was equally acceptable to those from the central countries. she was literally compelled to retain the office. nominations for the other officers were made by ballot and submitted to the convention and the ten receiving the highest number of votes constituted the board. they were as follows: mme. dewitt schlumberger (france), miss chrystal macmillan (great britain), mrs. anna b. wicksell (sweden), mrs. corbett ashby (great britain), dr. margherita ancona (italy), mrs. anna lindemann (germany), miss eleanor rathbone (great britain), mrs. katharine dexter mccormick (u. s. a.), mme. girardet-vielle (switzerland), mrs. adele schreiber-krieger (germany). most of them were officers of the national association in their own countries. miss rathbone was also a member of the city council of liverpool. among the twenty-two sent as government delegates were viscountess astor, member of the british house of commons; mrs. marie stritt, city councillor of dresden, and mrs. josephus daniels, wife of the secretary of the navy, u. s. a. invited members were present from nine countries, including ten from india, one from japan and the wife of the tartar president of the parliament of crimea. there were fraternal delegates from six international associations; from associations in nearly every country in europe (fourteen in great britain) and from south africa, australia, argentina and uruguay. greetings were sent from associations in many countries including china. a number of the resolutions adopted have been foreshadowed in this report of the proceedings. others were for the equal status of women with men on legislative and administrative bodies; full personal and civil rights for married women, including the right to their earnings and property; equal guardianship of their children by mothers; that the children of widows without provisions shall have the right to maintenance by the state paid to the mothers; that children born out of wedlock shall have the same right to maintenance and education from the father as legitimate children, and the mother the right of maintenance while incapacitated. resolutions called for the same opportunities for women as for men for all kinds of education and training and for entering professions, industries, civil service positions and performing administrative and judicial functions, and demanded that there shall be equal pay for equal work; that the right to work of women, married or unmarried, shall be recognized and that no special regulations shall be imposed contrary to the wishes of the women themselves. a higher moral standard for both men and women was called for and various resolutions were adopted against traffic in women, regulations of vice differentiating against women and state regulation of prostitution. the congress took a firm position on the league of nations and its recognition of women in the following resolution: "the women of thirty-one nations assembled in congress at geneva, convinced that in a strong society of nations based on the principles of right and justice lies the only hope of assuring the future peace of the world, call upon the women of the whole world to direct their will, their intelligence and their influence towards the development and the consolidation of the society of nations on such a basis, and to assist it in every possible way in its work of securing peace and good will throughout the world." a resolution was adopted that a conference of representative women be summoned annually by the league of nations for the purpose of considering questions relating to the welfare and status of women; the conference to be held at the seat of the league, if possible, and the expenses paid by the league. the board instructed mrs. ashby corbett to arrange a deputation to the league of nations to present resolutions and to ask for the calling of the conference as soon as possible.[ ] on the last day of the congress from to o'clock the state council of the canton and the municipal council of geneva gave an official reception and tea to the delegates and visitors. the resolutions of thanks for the assistance and courtesies received from committees and individuals filled two printed pages. the _woman's leader_ thus closed its account: "the immense hospitality of geneva and of the swiss consulate, the superb weather and the beautiful excursions by land and lake were above all praise.... taking the conference as a whole, with its concrete work and its general spirit, it is clear that it marks a new step forward. a new force has come into the politics of almost all the world. it is a force inspired at present with good will, a humanitarian and an internationalizing force, drawing together the thoughtful and disinterested women of all countries. it is a force that the world has need of and no government should be so blind as to ignore it." footnotes: [ ] _history of woman suffrage_, volume iv, page . [ ] delegates and alternates present besides those already mentioned were misses l. g. heymann and marta zietz, germany; mrs. stanton coit, great britain; mrs. henrietta von loenen de bordes, mrs. hengeveld garritson, miss c. c. a. van dorp, netherlands; mrs. vibetha salicath, miss eline hansen, mrs. charlotte eilersgaard, miss rasmussen, denmark; mrs. anna b. wicksell, mrs. frigga carlberg, miss jenny wallerstedt, sweden; miss fredrikke mörek, miss marie scharlenberg, norway; mrs. saulner, switzerland; mrs. henry dobson, australia; miss rosika schwimmer, hungary; mrs. mary wood swift, miss belle kearney, mrs. ida husted harper, miss lucy e. anthony, miss nettie lovisa white, mrs. lydia kingsmill commander, united states. [ ] the reports from the various countries prepared for this congress filled fifty-seven pages of the printed report and fully justified mrs. catt's statement. [ ] the committee which had been appointed to prepare for the congress and had been working for many months beforehand consisted of the executive committee of the central board of the national suffrage association and the presidents of sub-committees formed for different purposes. miss signe bergman acted as president, miss axianne thorstenson as vice-president, miss anna frisell as treasurer, miss nini kohnberger and miss elise carlson as secretaries. mrs. virgin was at the head of the finance committee. the work of the press committee was directed by mrs. else kleen. mrs. lily laurent was at the head of the committee on localities. mrs. lizinski dyrssen headed the committee for festivities. mrs. ezaline boheman was the head of the information bureau. miss lamm and miss anden directed the work of the thirty university students who served as pages and whose kindness and swift and silent service none will ever forget. at the head of the travelling committee was dr. malin wester-halberg, who arranged the journey to lapland, gave information about all excursions, etc. [ ] international headquarters were established in london, the paper was greatly enlarged and published there under the title, _jus suffragii, international woman suffrage news_, and miss mary sheepshanks was appointed editor, a post which she filled most satisfactorily during the following six troubled years. [ ] because of the war which devastated europe for the next five years these pledges could not be kept and the alliance did not meet again until . meanwhile the united states contributed enough so that the london headquarters were kept open and the paper did not miss an issue. [ ] the english church of geneva also for the first time admitted a woman to its pulpit, which was occupied on the following sunday, june , by miss edith picton turberville of great britain. [ ] among the many entertainments during the congress were a reception given by the british delegation; a motor excursion by invitation of mrs. mccormick and the american delegates; a dinner party at hotel beau rivage by lady astor for british and american delegates; a delightful "tea" by the french delegation and a garden party by m. and mme. thuillier-landry. excursions were arranged by the geneva committee and visits to the schools, museums, parks and endless points of attraction in this most interesting city. [ ] these valuable accounts of the status of women in the various countries were published in full in the -page report of the congress. [ ] they called on sir alec drummond, head of the secretariat, in london. he received them cordially but said it would be impossible for the league to undertake such expenses and advised them to appoint a committee to act as a source of communication between the league and the alliance. thenceforth the league recognized the alliance as an authority and accepted its recommendation to place mrs. anna b. wicksell on its mandates commission and miss henni forchhammer on its white slave traffic commission. these women had already been sent to the league meetings by sweden and denmark as alternate delegates. appendix. nebraska men's association opposed to woman suffrage. to the electors of the state of nebraska: at a meeting of men lately held in the city of omaha the following resolution was unanimously adopted: "resolved, that it is the sense of this meeting that a manifesto be prepared, issued and circulated, setting forth the reasons for our opposition to the pending constitutional amendment providing for equal (woman) suffrage and requesting the cooperation of the voters of the state, and that such manifesto be signed by all the men present." we yield to none in our admiration, veneration and respect for woman. we recognize in her admirable and adorable qualities and sweet and noble influences which make for the betterment of mankind and the advancement of civilization. we have ever been willing and ready to grant to woman every right and protection, even to favoritism in the law, and to give her every opportunity that makes for development and true womanhood. we have a full appreciation of all the great things which have been accomplished by women in education, in charity and in benevolent work and in other channels of duty too numerous to mention, by which both men and women have been benefited, society improved and the welfare of the human race advanced. we would take from women none of their privileges as citizens but we do not believe that women are adapted to the political work of the world. the discussion of all questions growing out of the social and family relations and local economic conditions has no direct relationship to the right of women to participate in the political affairs of government. the right of suffrage does not attach of right to the owners of property, for, if so, all other persons should be disfranchised. it is not a fundamental right of taxpayers, for a great body of men are not taxpayers, and nine-tenths of the women who would become voters, if woman suffrage were adopted, would be non-taxpayers. it is not an inherent right of citizenship, for the time never was in the whole history of the world when the franchise was granted to all citizens.... franchise is a privilege of government granted only to those to whom the government sees fit to grant it. as a law-abiding people men and women alike should recognize once and for all that the right of suffrage is not a natural or inherent right of citizenship but can only come by grant from the government. [legal authorities quoted.] we must also recognize that woman suffrage is inconsistent with the fundamental principles upon which our representative government was founded and to accept it now involves revolutionary changes. the framers of the federal constitution, a body of the wisest men the country has ever produced, did not recognize or provide for woman suffrage. no one of the original thirteen states which adopted it provided in their constitutions for woman suffrage. true it was permitted in new jersey from to , a period of thirty-one years, when it was taken away by statute, by reason of unsatisfactory conditions and results. after the close of the civil war, the southern states which had gone into rebellion were admitted back into the union under constitutions limiting suffrage to men. these precedents in our governmental history were never departed from until in recent years. the greatest danger to the republic of the united states today, as it always has been in governments where the people rule, is in an excitable and emotional suffrage. if the women of this country would always think coolly and deliberate calmly, if they could always be controlled and act by judgment and not under passion, they might help us to keep our institutions "eternal as the foundations of the continent itself"; but the philosophers of history and the experience of the ages past and present tell us in unanswerable arguments and teach us by illustrations drawn from actual experience, that governments have been overturned or endangered in periods of great excitement by emotional suffrage and the speech and writings of intolerant people.... open that terrible page of the french revolution and the days of terror, when the click of the guillotine and the rush of blood through the streets of paris demonstrated to what extremities the ferocity of human nature can be driven by political passion. who led those bloodthirsty mobs? who shrieked loudest in that hurricane of passion? woman. her picture upon the page of history is indelible. in the city of paris, in those ferocious mobs, the controlling agency, nay, not agency but the controlling and principal power, came from those whom god had intended to be the soft and gentle angels of mercy throughout the world.... it has been said that if woman suffrage should become universal in the united states, in times of great excitement arising out of sectional questions or local conditions this country would be in danger of state insurrections and seditions and that in less than a hundred years revolutions would occur and our republican form of government would come to an end. the united states should guard against emotional suffrage. what we need is to put more logic and less feeling into public affairs. this country has already extended suffrage beyond reasonable bounds. instead of enlarging it there are strong reasons why it should be curtailed. it would have been better for wise and safe government and the welfare of all the people if there had been some reasonable standard of fitness for the ballot. during the intense feeling and turbulent conditions growing out of the civil war, suffrage was so extended that many of the southern states were turned over to the political control of those not sufficiently informed to conduct good government. it has taken half-a-century of strenuous effort to correct that mistake. the granting of universal woman suffrage would greatly increase the existing evil and put it beyond the possibility of correction except by an ultimate revolution. we hear it frequently stated that there is no argument against woman suffrage except sentiment. we can reply with equal force that there is no argument for woman suffrage except sentiment, and that often misguided and uninformed. some suffragists insist that if woman suffrage became universal "it would set in motion the machinery of an earthly paradise." it was a woman of high standing in the literary and journalistic field who answered, "it is my opinion it would let loose the wheels of purgatory." ... suffragists frequently ask the question, "if we want to vote why should other people object?" if it is wrong they should not ask it any more than they should ask the privilege of committing a crime. if it is a wrong against the state every other man and woman has a right to object and it is their duty to object.... there are spheres in which feeling should be paramount. there are kingdoms in which the heart should reign supreme. that kingdom belongs to woman--the realm of sentiment, the realm of love, the realm of gentler and holier and kindlier attributes that make the name of wife, mother and sister next to the name of god himself, but it is not in harmony with suffrage and has no place in government. we submit these considerations in all candor to the men of this state. ultimately the decision of this question at the polls is a man's question. we ask your cooperation.... omaha, july , . joseph h. millard, ex-u. s. senator and president omaha national bank. (largest creditor of willow springs distillery.) john a. mcshane, ex-congressman and retired capitalist. john lee webster, lawyer, representing omaha street railway. luther drake, president merchants' national bank. john c. cowin, prominent lawyer. william f. gurley, prominent lawyer. william d. mchugh, lawyer representing standard oil company. frank t. hamilton, president omaha gas co. and officer street railway co. william wallace, former cashier omaha national bank. john a. munroe, vice-president union pacific railway company. frank boyd, employee omaha national bank. gerrit fort, union pacific railway official. _joseph barker_, insurance official. edward a. peck, general manager omaha grain elevator company. henry w. yates, president nebraska national bank. milton c. peters, president alfalfa milling co. william h. koenig, of firm of kilpatrick & co., dry goods merchants. w. h. bocholz, vice-president omaha national bank. fred h. davis, president first national bank. benjamin s. baker, lawyer. l. f. crofoot, lawyer for omaha smelting co. and chicago & milwaukee r. r. e. e. bruce, wholesale druggist. george w. holdrege, manager burlington & missouri river r. r. co. fred a. nash, president omaha electric light co. nelson h. loomis, general attorney union pacific r. r. edson rich, assistant attorney union pacific r. r. frank b. johnson, president omaha printing co. thomas c. byrne, president wholesale dry goods co. rev. thomas j. mackay, minister all saints' church (episcopal). rev. john w. williams, minister st. barnabas' church (episcopal). * * * * * this manifesto with the signatures is given almost in full because in language and in the business interests of the signers it is thoroughly typical of the open opposition to woman suffrage. the other classes who were opposed--the "machine" politicians, the liquor interests and those directly or indirectly connected with them--for the most part worked more secretly. index the contents of this volume are so arranged that the reader will have little difficulty in finding the references desired. the first forty-nine chapters are devoted exclusively to the work for woman suffrage which was done in the various states of the union through annual conventions, effort with the legislatures for the submission to the voters of an amendment to the state constitutions which would fully enfranchise women and campaigns to secure a majority vote for it. there was also an attempt to obtain from the legislatures laws which did not have to be approved by the voters, giving women the right to vote at municipal elections and every four years for presidential electors. in addition the women in every state constantly assisted the national american woman suffrage association in its supreme effort to obtain from congress the submission to the legislatures for the ratifying of three-fourths of them of an amendment to the federal constitution which would give the complete franchise to all the women of the nation. these state chapters are arranged alphabetically and near the end of each an account is given of the action taken on ratification, and also of the forming of a league of women voters. it is manifestly impracticable to index the names of all the thousands of women who gave devoted service in these states. only a comparatively few of those who worked longest and most prominently or are mentioned in other parts of the books can be listed. the names of many more will be found in the various chapters. this is also true of the many members of congress and legislatures and of other men who were sympathetic and helpful in this long contest. in the chapters on the effort for woman suffrage in the territories and possessions of the united states the principal points and workers are indexed. this is the case in the chapter on great britain and her colonies and on the countries of the world, each listed under its proper head. the long chapter on the international woman suffrage alliance forbids an accurate index, as it contains the names of scores of workers for woman suffrage in most civilized countries. some but not all of the most prominent are noted and in the well indexed chapters on its seven congresses the reader will find a satisfactory roster. the table of contents will act as a trustworthy guide. a abbott, frances m, in n. h., . abbott, dr. lyman, ; . aberdeen, lord and lady, . adams, gov. alva (colo.), . adams, annette abbott, ; . adams, john t, . adams, lida stokes, ; - . addams, jane, speaks for wom. suff. in ga, ; ; ; in kans, ; mass, , ; mo, ; neb, ; nev, , ; s. dak, ; wis, - - ; budapest, , . aked, rev. chas. f, in calif, - ; nev, ; n. y., ; ore, . alabama, effort for wom. suff, workers, legis. action; see st. chapter, . alaska, legis. grants wom. suff, status of women, - . alberta, gaining of wom. suff, . alberti, sophie (denmark), - . aldrich, george w, . aldrich, margaret chanler, ; ; . algeo, sara m, - ; - ; . allen, florence e, ; appointed judge, . allen, gov. henry j, ; ; ; see kans. chap. allen, mrs. henry ware, - . allen, mrs. j. d., - ; - ; . amendments, state, in ariz, ; ark, ; calif, ; vote on it, ; colo, ; iowa, ; vote, ; kans, ; vote, , ; ky, - - ; la, ; vote, ; me, ; vote, , ; mass, vote, ; mich, ; vote, ; second, ; vote, ; third, ; vote, ; miss, ; vote, ; mo, , - ; vote, ; mont, ; vote, ; neb, ; vote, ; nev, - ; vote, , - ; n. h., ; vote, ; n. j., , , ; vote, ; n. mex, prohibits, ; n. y., , et seq; vote in city, ; in state, - ; second campaign, , , , - ; vote, in state, ; in city, ; me, , ; vote, ; effect on n. y., ; n. dak. (law), ; vote, , - ; ohio, - ; vote, ; second, ; vote, ; okla, ; vote, ; second, - et seq.; vote, , ; ore, , ; vote, , ; penn, ; vote, ; , ; r. i., ; s. dak, ; second, ; vote, ; third, ; vote, ; texas, - ; vote, ; va, ; wash, ; vote, ; w. va, ; vote, , ; wis. (law), , ; vote, . see federal wom. suff. amend. american constitutional league (anti suff.), ; . ames, marie b, ; ; - ; . ammons, prof. theodosia, . anderson, frances b, ; . anderson, chief justice john c, . anthony, lucy e, ; ; - ; ; . anthony, mary b, - - ; . anthony, mary s in n. y., ; memorial, ; in ore, - ; - - ; ; berlin, . anthony, susan b, greetings to calif, ; ; entertained in calif, ; s. b. a. club, ; in del, ; life and work, ; memorial fund, ; birthday celebr, ; in wash, , ; memorial service in ga, ; honored in md, ; memorial, ; in minn, ; memorial, ; birthday, ; mont, ; memorial in neb, ; in nev, ; in n. j., , memorial, ; in n. y., ; memorial, ; birthdays celebr, ; ; ; letter to okla, ; in ore, - ; in phila, ; in r. i., ; memorial in vt, ; urges suff. for hawaiian women, ; for filipino women, ; ; ; work for intl. suff. assn, ; presides at first conf. for it in wash, - ; at second in berlin, - ; memorial service in copenhagen, ; tribute at geneva, . anti suffragists, in ala, ; ariz, ; calif, , ; natl. assn, work in calif, ; falsehoods denied in colo, ; in conn, ; del, , , - ; ga, macon _telegraph_, ; in legis, ; ind, ; iowa, ; kans, ; la, ; maine, - , , ; md, - , - ; men's assn, ; mass, , ; men's league, ; - , , , ; mich, ; men's league, ; miss, , ; mont, ; neb, ; men's league manifesto, ; in full, ; headqrs, ; german amer. alliance, ; at legis, ; petitions, ; nev, ; n. h., , , , ; n. j., , ; n. y., - , ; n. dak, - ; ohio, , ; work with liquor interests, , ; okla, , ; ore, , ; penn, , ; r. i, , - ; s. dak, ; tenn, , , ; mrs. catt's comment, ; texas, legis. rebukes, ; ; vt, - ; wash, ; wis, ; gr. brit, - ; lord curzon's speech, ; mrs. catt flays, ; in canada, ; men's assn. in neb, . for names see above references. argentina, effort for wom. suff, . arizona, efforts for wom. suff. legis. action, gov. brodie vetoes, amendment carries; see st. chap, . arkansas, efforts for wom. suff, workers, legis. action, primary suff; see st. chap, . arnold, ethel m, ; ; ; . arthur, clara b, see mich. chap, ; et seq. ashton, margaret, on liberal party in great brit, ; ; ; . asquith, herbert h, anti suff. action in great brit, , et seq; receives suffs, , anti suffs, ; converted, ; . astor, viscountess, urges ratif. in va, ; govt. delegate to intl. alliance cong. in geneva, , , . atkinson, mrs. w. d, . augsburg, dr. jur. anita (germany), , ; ; - . australia, wom. suff. in, ; urges it in great brit, . austria, women vote; in legislature, . avery, dr. alida c, ; . avery, rachel foster, ; ; ; in n. y, ; penn, - ; wis, - ; at intl. suff. conf. in wash, - ; berlin, ; copenhagen, . avery, susan look, . axtell, frances c, ; . aylesworth, dr. b. o, in ind, ; md, ; neb, ; n. y, . b bacon, elizabeth d, ; . bagley, mrs. frederick h, . bailey, u. s. sen. joseph w, opp. wom. suff. in texas, , ; women defeat, . baird, u. s. sen. david, . baldwin, isabel a, ; . balentine, katharine reed, in calif, , ; wash, - ; maine, , , . balfour, arthur j. (great brit.), on wom. suff, ; . ball, u. s. sen. l. heisler, ; ; . bamberger, gov. simon (utah), - . bankhead, u. s. sen. john h, ; . barkley, edna m, ; - ; - . barnes, prof. earl, ; . barrett, kate waller, ; - ; . barrows, isabel c, ; . bartlett, gov. john h. (vt.), - ; . bass, mrs. george, in ala, ; del, ; ills, , ; la, . bass, john p, bangor (me.), _commercial_, . bates, mrs. arthur l, . bates, helen n, - ; ; . bates, gov. john l. (mass.), . beadle, robert cameron, secy. men's league, . beard, mary r, officer congressl. union, . beauchamp, frances e, . beckham, u. s. sen. j. c. w, . beeckman, gov. r. livingston (r. i.), - - . behrman, mayor martin (n. o.), - ; ; ; . belgium, grants munic. franchise, , . belmont, mrs. oliver h. p, ; at southern conf, , ; helps nev, ; enters suff. movement, ; in n. y, , , ; in r. i, - . benbridge, helen, - ; ; . benedict, crystal eastman, ; ; ; . benedict, elsie, . benet, u. s. sen. christie, . benners, helen j, see ala, chap, , . bennett, mrs. m. toscan, ; . bennett, sarah clay (mrs. james), ; . benton, pres. guy potter, . besant, annie, ; . beveridge, edna annette, in ala, ; in md, ; okla, , ; tenn, ; w. va, . bickett, gov. thomas w. (n. c.), , . bidwell, annie k, ; ; . biggers, kate h, - . bilbo, gov. theodore g. (miss.), . bingham, judge robert, brings out _courier journal_ for wom. suff, . bird, mrs. charlotte sumner, - - ; . bishop, emily montague, . bissell, emily p, ; in n. h, . black, gov. james d. (ky.), . blackwell, alice stone, ; natl. and state officer, work in mass, et seq; ; ; n. h, ; n. j, , ; ; okla, ; ore, , ; r. i, - , ; s. c, ; vt, , , . blackwell, rev. antoinette brown, in mass, ; birthday, ; see n. j, chap, . blackwell, dr. emily s, . blackwell, henry b, ; memorial in del, ; ; ; memorial in md, ; work in mass, et seq; birthday, ; memorial in boston, ; marriage, ; in minn, ; n. h, ; n. j, - , memorial, ; in okla, ; ore, , ; r. i, ; for pres. suff, - ; s. c, ; vt, , memorial, ; . blair, edna s, . blair, emily newell, ; - . blair, u. s. sen. henry w, ; ; . blake, katharine devereux, work in mont, ; n. y, ; west va, . blake, lillie devereux, . blankenburg, lucretia l, ; in n. j, ; penn, et seq; berlin, - . blanton, annie webb, - . blatch, mrs. harriot stanton, in n. h, ; n. j, , ; seneca falls, ; ; n. y, , - ; founds wom. polit. union, . blinn, nellie holbrook, ; ; - . bloch, st. sen. jesse a, in west va, . blount, dr. anna e, ; . bohemia, suffrage for women, . booth, elizabeth k, work in ills. legis, et seq. borah, u. s. sen. william e, ; . boswell, helen varick, ; ; . bowen, mrs. joseph t, ; . boyer, ida porter, in la, , ; mich, , ; okla, - ; tribute to from st. leaders, ; ore, ; vt, . brackenridge, m. eleanor, . bradford, mary c. c, in ariz, ; colo, ; ; ; kans, ; neb, ; okla, ; ore, . brady, gov. james h. (wash.), . braly, john hyde, work in calif, , , - , , ; . brandegee, u. s. sen. frank b, . brandeis, louis d, speaks for wom. suff, in mass, , . brandenburg, prof. s.j, . breckinridge, desha, his _herald_ for wom. suff, . breckinridge, mrs. desha, in mo, ; n. c, ; ore, ; s. c, ; va, ; west va, ; see kentucky chapter, . breckinridge, prof. sophonisba, ; . breshkovsky, catharine, addresses suff. meetings, . british colonies, see chapter, - . british columbia, gains woman suffrage, . bronson, minnie, in calif, ; ind, ; mich, ; mo, ; mont, ; neb, , ; nev, ; vt, . brooks, mrs. charles h, ; ; ; . brooks, john graham, . brotherton, belle, see mich. chapter, ; ; . brough, gov. charles h. (ark.), ; . brown, frances fort, . brown, rev. olympia, in kans, ; md, , - ; work in wis, see state chapter, ; ; . brown, mrs. raymond, in del, ; n. j, ; n. c, ; r. i, ; vt, ; see n. y. chapter, . brumbaugh, gov. martin g. (penn.), . bryan, william jennings, urges ratification in la, ; miss, ; mo, ; neb, ; n. c, , ; tenn, ; va, urges fed. amend, . bryan, mrs. william jennings, speaks for suff. in fla, ; neb, ; tenn, . bryce, (lord) james, on wom. suff, ; . buck, rev. florence, . bulkley, mary, in conn, ; nev, . burdette, mrs. robert j, . burn, harry t, in tenn. legis, - . burns, lucy, ; . burr, frances ellen, ; . butt, hala hammond, . bynner, witter, . byrd, clara booth, see n. c. chapter, , . byrne, gov. frank m. (s. dak.), . c calder, u. s. sen. william m, . california, effort for wom. suff, names of workers, legis. action, campaign, see st. chapter, . calloway, james p, . campaigns, in ariz, ; calif, - ; iowa, ; kans, ; la, , ; maine, ; mass, ; mich, ; mo, , ; mont, ; neb, ; nev, , ; n. j, ; n. y, city, ; second, ; state, ; second, ; n. dak, ; ohio, ; second, ; okla, ; second, ; ore, , ; - ; penn, , ; s. dak, , , - ; tenn, , , ; texas, ; wash, ; west va, ; wis, . campbell, jane, in del, , ; penn, . campbell-bannerman, sir henry, - . canada, efforts for wom. suff, - ; dominion suff. granted, sir robert borden's work for, sir wilfred laurier objects, - ; see provinces; nationality of wives, . cannon, st. sen. martha hughes, . capper, arthur, - - . carey, gov. robert d. (wyo.), - . carr, gen. julian s, , . carruth, prof. w. h, . castleman, mrs. samuel, . caswell, mrs. george a, , . cates, attorney general charles t, jr, ; . cathcart, mrs. w. c, work in s. c, , . catholic, st. catherine's welfare assn. work in n. y, . catt, carrie chapman, work in ariz, ; visits ark, ; calif, ; ; ; assists conn, - ; del, , , - ; criticizes seth low, ; in atlanta, ; chicago, ; work in iowa, ; speaks in kans, ; ky, ; ; in maine, , , opp. campaign, , speaks in it, ; work in md, - , , ; speaks in boston, - , ; work in mich, , , ; speaks in minn, ; miss, ; st. louis, , at natl. suff. conv, ; work in mont, ; neb, - , , ; nev, - ; n. h, - - , - ; n. j, - , ; n. mex, - ; new york, , organizes wom. suff. party, ; ; at legis. hearing, ; ; pres. inter-urban council, ; manages first campaign, et seq; second, et seq; ; - ; great work, ; in okla, ; ore, ; penn, ; r. i, , , ; speaks in tenn, , , ; work for fed. amend, urges special session, ; begins campaign, ; u. s. sen. harding and gov. cox write, ; her opinion of opponents, ; in texas, , ; visits utah, , speaks in tabernacle, ; women congratulate, ; work in vt, , - ; scores gov. clement, ; addresses legis, ; in va, ; addresses legis, ; helps wash., ; in west va, ; urges special session, ; in wis, ; in wyo, ; receives doctor's degree from wyo. univ, ; visits hawaii, ; urges suff. for its women, ; visits manila and organizes women, ; tours s. africa, helps organize suff. assn, ; visits copenhagen, ; speaks in hungary, ; in geneva, ; calls conf, in wash, d. c, to organize intl. wom. suff. alliance and opens it, ; work for and in conf, - ; at berlin conf, presents gavel, ; elected pres, ; calls conf. at copenhagen, ; presides, tribute to miss anthony, ; ; closing words, ; calls conf. at amsterdam, ; address, - ; wise management, ; presides at quinquennial in london, ; address, - ; speaks in albert hall, ; re-elected pres, ; calls conf. at stockholm, honors in copenhagen, ovation in sweden, visits parliament, ; , , ; address, - ; presides in royal opera house, ; address at budapest, ; received by officials, ; re-elected, ; on "militancy," ; on "white slave" traffic, ; presides in academy of music, ; farewell, ; calls alliance conf. in geneva after the war, ; address, memorial tribute to dr. shaw, plea for democracy, - ; welcomes delegates, ; raises money, ; re-elected, . catt, george w, . cauer, minna (germany), . central america, . chace, arnold buffum, ; . chace, elizabeth buffum, ; . chapman, mariana w, . chaponniere-chaix, mme. (switz.), - . chase, mary n, in n. h, et seq; ; ore, ; vt, . cheney, edna d, . cherdron, margaret zane, . chilton, u. s. sen. w. e, - . china, effort for wom. suff, mrs. catt visits, ; suff. assn. joins intl. alliance, sends banner, . churchill, winston, churchill, mrs. winston, . clapp, u. s. sen. moses e, ; . clark, adele, ; - . clark, speaker champ, speaks for wom. suff in la, . clark, gov. george w. (iowa), . clark, jeannette drury, writes alaska chapter, . clark, mrs. orton h, - . clark, chief justice walter (n. c.), - ; . clarke, grace julian, - ; . clay, laura, work in ariz, ; speaks in atlanta, ; ind, ; work in kans, ; in ky, see st. chapter, et seq.; ambulance named for, ; opp. fed. amend, ; at dem. natl. conv, ; in md, ; mich, ; okla, , ; ore, , ; r. i, ; tenn, , , - , ; opp. ratification in tenn, ; . clement, gov. percival w. (vt.), opp. wom. suff. in vt, ; women visit, demand special session, - ; calls on pres. harding, attacks fed. amend, ; mrs. catt scores, ; vetoes pres. suff, , . clendening, grace, - ; . clergy, for wom. suff, names in state chapters. clopton, virginia clay, ; . coats, sarah chandler, . coffin, lillian harris, ; ; ; ; ; . coggeshall, mary j, ; bequests, . cohen, elizabeth m, - . coit, stanton, ; . coit, mrs. stanton, ; ; ; ; ; intl. alliance treas. report, . colby, secy. of state bainbridge, to ga. women, ; proclaims fed. suff. amend, . colby, clara bewick, in md, , , ; mich, ; wash, ; wis, - . colby, everett, ; ; . college equal suffrage league, work in calif, , ; d. c., , ; mass, , ; mich, ; ; minn, - ; neb, , ; nev, ; n. y, ; ore, ; r. i, , , ; wash, ; wis, . colorado, second victory; see st. chapter, . colt, u. s. sen. lebaron b, , . colvin, prof. caroline, work in me, . congressional union (see national woman's party), in colo, ; conn, ; del, et seq; organized, ; in mass, ; minn, ; n. mex, ; protest against in n. c, - ; penn, . connecticut, effort for woman suff, workers, legis. action; see state chapter, . connor, mabel, see maine chapter, , , . conventions, constitl, in ariz, ; ark, ; ills, ; ind, ; mass, ; mich, ; neb, ; n. h, ; n. mex, ; ohio, ; okla, ; r. i, ; tenn, . cooley, roselle c, ; . coolidge, gov. calvin (mass.), for wom. suff, . coolidge, mary roberts, - ; . corbin, hannah lee, . cornwall, gov. john j. (west va.), - - . costello, ray, . cotnam, mrs. t. t, work in ark, - ; in n. y, ; ; in me, ; ; ; . court decisions, on pres. suff, in ills, , ; ind, - ; referendum in maine, ; fed. amend., in md, ; pres. suff. in ohio, ; pres. suff. referendum, ; on ratification, ; pres. suff. in tenn, ; poll tax for women, ; right to ratify fed. amend, ; u. s. sup. ct. on referring ratification to voters, ; in tenn., on ratif, ; texas primary law, . cowles, edith clark, see va. chapter, . cox, gov. james m. (ohio), urges fed. suff. amend. in la, ; telegraphs n. c, ; helps ratification in tenn, - . cox, gov. john i. (tenn.), . cox, lenore hanna, see ind. chapter, . craft, ida, ; ; ; "hikes," - ; west va, - . craigie, mary e, ; ; ; ; . crane, rev. caroline bartlett, ; . cranston, martha s, ; - ; ; - ; - . creel, george, secy. men's suff. league, . crooker, rev. florence kollock, ; ; . crossett, ella hawley, see n. y. chapter, - ; legis. report, ; - - . crowley, teresa a., see mass. chapter, et seq; in campaign, - ; . culberson, u. s. sen. charles a, . cummings, fannie leake, ; . cummings, homer s, urges ratif. of fed. amend, in ala, ; la, ; miss, ; tenn, ; va, . cunningham, minnie fisher, work in texas, see st. chapter, ; fla, ; miss, ; nev, ; west va, . curtis, alice b, in iowa, ; okla, ; west va, ; wis, . curzon, lord (great brit.), on wom. suff, - . czecho-slovakia, gives wom, suff, . d damrosch, walter, . daniels, secy. of the navy josephus, urges fed. amend, in ala, ; del, ; miss, ; n. c, , . daniels, mrs. josephus, in n. c, - , ; in geneva, . darrow, clara l, - - ; . davis, gov. westmoreland (va.), . day, mrs. george, ; . day, lucy hobart, . dean, dr. maria m, . decker, sarah platt, ; . deering, mabel craft, ; - . delaware, effort for wom. suff, workers, struggle over ratification, see st. chapter, . democratic national committee, urges ratif. of fed. amend, in ga, ; la, ; tenn, , ; west va, . democratic state committees and conventions, action on wom. suff. in ala, ; ark, ; calif, - , ; conn, ; del, , ; ky, - - ; mass, , ; minn, ; mo, ; n. y, , ; n. c, , , ; s. c, ; tenn, , , ; texas, ; va, ; west va, . denison, flora mcdonald, work in canada, , ; . denmark, work for wom. suff, entertains intl. alliance, wom. suff. gained, women officials, , ; mrs. catt visits, . dennett, mary ware, ; ; . devoe, emma smith, ; work in wash, see st. chapter, ; ad. legis, ; in wis, . de vou, mary r, work in del, , , . dewey, prof. john, . dewing, ardelia cooke, - - . de young, m. h, . dietrich, mrs. charles h, ; . digges, annie l, . dillingham, u. s. sen. william p, ; - . district of columbia, helps states get wom. suff, entertains natl. convs, works with congress, names of workers, see d. c. chapter, . "dix, dorothy," letter to tenn, . dobson, mrs. henry, ; ; . dodge, mrs. arthur m, pres. anti suff. assn, in neb, ; n. y, . dorsett, mrs. john w, work in hawaii, - - . dorsey, gov. hugh m. (ga.), ; . douglas, judith hyams, ; . drew, u. s. sen. irving, ; . dudley, mrs. guilford, work in tenn, to ; at dem. natl. conv. and in wash, , , , . dundore, lavinia c, pioneer suffragist, . duniway, abigail scott, work in ore, et seq; honored, ; in wash, . dunlap, flora, see iowa chapter, . dunne, gov. edward f. (ills.), ; ; ; . dupont, t. coleman. pierre, alfred i, - - ; ; . dye, eva emery, . e eacker, helen n, ; - . eastman, max, ; for men's league, - ; . eaton, cora smith, in md, ; minn, , ; n. dak, ; wash, , . see king. eddy, sarah j, in r. i, , . edge, u. s. sen. walter e, ; . edson, katharine philips, , . edwards, betsy jewett, ; ; . edwards, gov. edward i. (n. j.), , . edwards, mrs. richard e, ; . elkins, u. s. sen. stephen b, . ellicott, mrs. charles e, ; - - . ellicott, elizabeth king, - . ellington, mrs. o. f, see ark. chapter, - , - ; in va, . elliott, albert h, ; - . elliott, john lovejoy, . elliott, maud howe, ; ; ; . elliott, sarah barnwell, - ; - - . engle, lavinia, ; ; ; ; . equal guardianship, in mass, ; utah, . erwin, margaret, ; . see ford. evans, mrs. glendower, in maine, ; mass, ; mich, ; r. i, ; wis, . evans, sarah a, see ore. chapter, , , . ewing, robert, in la, ; . f fallows, bishop samuel, . farmer, eugenia b, . farrell, mrs. percy j, ; - . fawcett, millicent garrett, pres. brit. natl. suff. assn, writes chap, for history, ; on "militancy," ; heads deptn. to asquith, ; work completed, ; elected vice-pres. intl. alliance, ; ; ; ; invites alliance to london, greets, ; suff. work of her assn, ; on "militancy," ; ; presides in albert hall, ; re-elected, ; ; on "white slave" traffic, ; manifesto at beginning of war, work on headqrs. com, ; . federal woman suffrage amendment, ala. women demand, ; endorsed in ark, ; petition from calif, , legis. appeals for, ; colo. legis. demands, ; work for in conn, et seq; del, et seq; fla, ; ga, - - , , ; members of cong. vote for, ; ; ills, ; ind, - ; iowa, ; kans, - , ; ky, ; la, , - ; maine, - ; md, - ; mass, - , , ; mich, , ; minn, , ; miss, , ; mo, , ; neb, ; nev, ; n. h, ; n. j, , ; n. mex, - ; n. y, - ; n. c, , ; n. dak, , ; ohio, ; penn, , ; r. i, , - ; s. c, - , ; tenn, , , - , , - - , ; texas, - , , , ; utah, , ; vt, - ; va, , , ; wash, ; west va, - ; wis, , ; wyo, ; u. s. sup. ct. decision, ; solicitor genl. frierson's, ; proclaimed by secy. of state, . federations of labor, for wom. suff, ala, ; calif, ; give hall for suff. meet. in atlanta, , ; for wom. suff. in maine, ; md, , refused, ; mass, , ; nev, ; n. h, ; n. j, ; okla, ; ore, ; penn, - ; s. c, ; tenn, - ; vt, ; va, . federation of women's clubs, record in each state chapter. genl. fedn. declares for wom. suff, ; applauds it in boston, . feickert, lillian f, - ; work in n. j; see st. chapter, et seq. fels, mrs. joseph, in mass, ; nev, . felton, rebecca latimer, ; ; . ferguson, gov. james e, opp. wom. suff. in texas, ; at dem. natl. conv, ; women work against, - , . fernald, u. s. sen. bert, ; . fernald, fannie j, - ; - . fess, simeon d, chmn. rep. congrssl. com, . fessenden, susan s, in del, ; mass, , ; n. h, ; vt, . field, sarah bard, ; in ore, . finland, great "strike," wom. suff. granted, women in parliament, - ; . finnegan, annette, work in texas, - - . fitzgerald, susan w, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . fitzhugh, gen. g. t, in tenn, . fletcher, u. s. sen. duncan u, . florida, effort for wom. suff, workers, legis. action, see state chap, . foley, margaret a, in mass, - , , ; nev, ; r. i, . foltz, clara shortridge, . forchhammer, henni (denmark), on league of nations, ; . ford, mr. and mrs. henry, . ford, margaret ervin, work in tenn; see st. chapter, , et seq. fordyce, mrs. william c, ; ; . fort, gov. john franklin (n. j.), . foster, j. ellen, . foulke, william dudley, . france, u. s. sen. joseph i, - . france, effort for wom. suff, . frazier, helen, . frelinghuysen, u. s. sen. joseph s, ; . french, mrs. l. crozier, ; ; ; ; ; . frick, st. sen. george arnold (md.), suit against fed. suff. amend, . frierson, u. s. solicitor genl, . fuller, minnie rutherford, ; ; . funck, emma maddox, see md. chapter, ; in wis, . funck, dr. j. william, ; - ; ; . funk, antoinette, in ills, ; mont, ; nev, ; n. h, : n. j, ; penn, , west va, . furman, eleanor, . furuhjelm, annie, work in finland, ; in parliament, ; ; report on wom. suff. in finland, ; ; ; elected vice-pres. intl. alliance, ; ; ; ; . g gale, zona, in n. h. ; in wis, ; . gallinger, u. s. sen. jacob, ; death, . gannett, mrs. william c, ; . gardener, helen h, ; ; . garesché, marie r., see mo. chapter, - . garrett, mary e, . garrison, francis j, . garrison, wm. lloyd, memorials, , ; work in mass, et seq. garwood, omar e, ; ; . gates, susa young, see utah chapter, ; ; . gay, u. s. sen. edward j, . gay, dr. ruth a, - . gellhorn, mrs. george, ; - - - - ; . george, mrs. a. j, in neb, ; ohio, ; n. h, ; r. i, ; vt, , . georgia, effort for wom. suff, workers, legis. action, see st. chapter, . german american alliance, in neb, ; ohio, ; wis, . germany gives wom. suff, elects women, - . geyer, rose lawless, ; ; ; . gillett, emma m, - ; . gillmore, inez haynes, . gilman, charlotte perkins, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; budapest, . glasgow, ellen, ; . glass, u. s. treasurer carter, . goldstein, vida (aus.), in calif, ; mass, ; intl. suff. conf, - ; . goodrich, ellen knox, . goodrich, gov. james p. (ind.), on ratif. of fed. amend, . goodwin, grace w, . gordon, anna a, . gordon, rev. eleanor, . gordon, jean, in atlanta, ; in la, - ; ; ; ; in miss, . gordon, kate m, proposes primary suff, , ; in fla, : atlanta, ; work in la.: see st. chapter, ; brings natl. conv. to new orleans, ; org. south. conf, ; dem. natl. conv, ; opp. fed. amend, , ; in miss, - , ; ; okla, , ; ore, , - ; s. c, ; tenn, ; west va, . gordon, laura de force, . graham, gov. horace f. (vt.), . grand army of the republic, endorses wom. suff, , . grange, natl. and state, endorsement of wom. suff. in many st. chapters. great britain (united kingdom), lone effort for wom. suff; action of parliament; see chapter, et seq; work of natl. union, et seq; great pilgrimage, ; war work, ; society changes form, ; labor party for wom. suff, - , ; war work of women, ; coalition govt, ; conference formed, commons passes bill, et seq; lords accept, ; women vote, ; favorable laws for women, ; elected to commons, ; universities opened, ; see . greece, organizes for wom. suff, king, queen and venizelos favor, . greeley, helen hoy, ; ; ; . gregg, laura, in ariz, ; ; mont, ; neb, , ; nev, ; okla, - ; ore, . grenfell, helen loring, ; . grey, sir edward, on wom. suff, . griffin, frances a, suff. pioneer in ala, ; in ga, . griggs, prof. edward howard, . grim, harriet, - . gripenberg, baroness alexandra, work in finland, ; in hungary, ; . grossman, leonard j, . guise, mrs. john a, ; . gullen, dr. augusta stowe, work in canada, see chapter, ; . h hackstaff, priscilla d, ; ; ; . haines, dr. blanche m, ; . hale, u. s. sen. frederick, . hale, mrs. forbes-robertson, ; ; ; - ; ; ; . haley, margaret a, ; ; . hall, florence howe, work in n. j, see st. chapter, ; . hallam, julia clark, . harbert, elizabeth boynton, . hardie, keir, help in great brit, ; . harding, u. s. sen. and pres. warren g, app. wom. judge, ; opposes anti-suff. referendum, ; votes for fed. amend, ; for ratification in tenn, ; gov. clement of vt. visits, . hardwick, u. s. sen. thos. w, ; . hardy, jennie c. law, ; . harper, ida husted, speaks in md, ; writing in rochester, ; in new york, - ; ore, ; ; memorial address for miss anthony in copenhagen, ; resolutions com. in amsterdam, ; in london, . harriman, mrs. j. borden, ; . harris, u. s. sen. wm. j, votes and works for fed. amend, , . harris, u. s. commissioner of education, william t, . harrison, gov. genl. francis burton, . harrison, u. s. sen. pat, . hart, prof. albert bushnell, . hart, gov. louis f. (wash.), - . hartness, gov. james (vt.), . harvey, col. george, ; . haskell, gov. charles w. (okla.), - . haskell, oreola williams, work in new york, see st. chapter, , . haslam, thomas j. and anna m. (ireland), . hauser, elizabeth j, in ohio, ; west va, . havemeyer, mrs. h. o, . haver, jessie r, . hawaii, effort for wom. suff, action of u. s. congress, - ; status of women, mrs. catt visits, ; mrs. pitman assists, - ; action of hawaiian legis, . hawk, george, carries referendum on fed. suff. amend. to u. s. supreme court, , . hay, mary garrett, work in ariz, ; del, - ; speaks in chicago, ; in mass, ; work in new york, , ; chmn, n. y. city, first campaign, et seq; ; second, et seq; in ore, . hays, natl. chmn. will h, interviewed by conn. wom, ; assists ratification in del, ; in tenn, ; in vt, - . hayward, st. sen. elizabeth a. (utah), - . hayward, prof. h. h, - - . hayward, mary smith, - . headquarters, natl. suff, opened in new york city, . hearst, william r, . heaslip, chas. t, in penn, ; . hebard, dr. grace raymond, work in wyo, , . hemphill, robert r, in atlanta, . henderson, arthur (gt. brit.), . heney, francis j, . henrotin, mrs. charles, . henry, alice, . henry, josephine k, , . hepburn, katharine houghton; see conn. chapter, et seq; in del, ; in n. h, . higgins, gov. frank m. (n. y.), . higgins, gov. james h. (r. i.), . higginson, col. thomas w, work in mass, ; memorial, . "hikes" for wom. suff, . hill, mrs. homer m, ; ; . hilles, mrs. bayard, ; ; ; . hipple, ruth b, see s. dak. chapter, ; . hirsch, mrs. solomon, . hirschberg, rabbi emil, in wis, . history of woman suffrage, ; miss anthony gives to norwegian library, . hitchcock, u. s. sen. gilbert h, . hitz, justice william, . hobby, gov. william p. (tex.), - - - . hoch, gov. edward w. (kans.), ; . hodges, gov. george h. (kans.), ; . hodges, justice william, proposes primary suff. for women, . hoffman, catharine a, - - ; ; . holcomb, gov. marcus a. (conn.), opp. fed. amend, , , , - . hollis, u. s. sen. henry f, - . holmes, lydia wickliffe, see la. chapter, ; in tenn, . holmgren, ann margret (sweden), ; ; greets alliance congress, , . holt, hamilton, . hooker, mrs. donald, - ; . hooker, isabella beecher, - . hooper, mrs. ben, in nev, ; in wis, - . hooper, gov. ben w. (tenn.), ; ; . hosmer, katharine tipton, see colo. chapter, ; ; ; . howard, prof. george w, . howard, h. augusta, ; . howe, julia ward, memorials, in del, ; boston, ; n. j, ; work in mass, et seq; ; r. i, ; birthday celebr, , , . howe, marie jenney, ; . howells, william dean, . howland, emily s, . hubbs, harriet l, see penn. chapter, ; . hughes, gov. charles e. (n. y.), . hughes, dr. james l. (canada), ; . hughes, rev. kate, . hughes, u. s. sen. william, . hughston, augusta, in me, ; mich, ; vt, - ; west va, . hull, u. s. rep. harry e. (iowa), . hultin, rev. ida c, ; , , . hundley, mrs. o. r, . hungary, struggle for wom. suff, entertains intl. alliance; mrs. catt speaks in eight cities, ; . hunt, alice, . hunt, augusta m, ; . hurd, dr. ethel e, ; . hurst, sadie d, ; - - . hussey, cornelia c, . hussey, dr. mary d, work in n. j, see st. chapter, . hutson, ethel, see la. chapter, . hutton, may arkwright, . i iceland, gives suff. to women, elects to office, . idaho, years of wom. suff, . ijams, martha a, . illinois, effort for wom. suff., workers, legis. action, campaigns, see st. chapter, . india, efforts for wom. suff, . indiana, effort for wom. suff., workers, legis. action, see st. chapter, . initiative and referendum, used for wom. suff. in ariz, ; mo, , - ; neb, , ; petitions, ; fraudulent, carried into court, , ; in ohio, ; courts reject, ; to refer ratif. of fed. amend, ; attacked, ; in okla, ; ore, , - ; s. dak, . international council of women, meets in berlin, ; standing com. on wom. suff, ; . international woman suffrage alliance, inception, founding and eight congresses, - ; preliminary meeting and intl. com. formed in washtn, names of delegates, decl. of principles, ; organized in berlin, names of delegates, officers elected, ; conf. and cong. in copenhagen, ; in amsterdam, ; quinquennial in london, ; congress in stockholm, ; budapest, ; geneva, after the war, ; names of delegates and speakers, mrs. catt's president's address, extracts from speeches, reports, resolutions, action taken, entertainments given, under each heading; women in pulpits, dr. shaw in london, , in stockholm, , in budapest, ; a. maude royden and edith picton turberville in geneva, ; object of alliance, , , , , , , , , ; non-partisanship, , , ; growth, , , , , ; financial help of u. s, , - ; of great brit, ; action on "social evil," ; ; attitude toward war, , ; work during war, ; position on league of nations, ; future of alliance, - , . iowa, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, campaign; see st. chapter, . ireland, archbishop, for wom. suff, . irish, col. john p, in calif, ; iowa, . italy, organizes for wom. suff, efforts with parliament, civil rights granted, . ivins, william m, . ivins, mrs. william m, ; . j jackson, alice day, . jacobs, dr. aletta, in s. africa, ; work in netherlands, ; ; in hungary, ; at berlin conf, ; ; brings alliance to amsterdam, ; address, ; presents chinese banner, ; . jacobs, pattie ruffner, work in ala, see st. chapter, ; in miss, ; n. c, ; west va, . james, ada l, - ; - , - . jameson, mrs. ovid b, . janney, dr. o. edward, ; - . janney, mrs. o. edward, ; . japan, prospect for wom. suff, . jeffreys-myers, dr. annice, - ; - . jenks, agnes m, work in n. h, - ; ; r. i, , ; vt. . jennings, mrs. chester, ; . johnson, adelaide, . johnson, gov. hiram (calif.), elected, ; has suff. amend. submitted, fails to speak for it, ; . johnston, mary, in r. i, ; tenn, , - ; va, ; - ; west va, , . johnston, ch. justice william a, - . johnston, mrs. william a, work in kans, see st. chapter, . jones, u. s. sen. andrieus a, . jones, anna maxwell, ; . jones, dr. effie mccollum, in iowa, ; minn, ; n. h, ; west va, . jones, dr. harriet b, work in west va, see st. chapter, . jones, jenkin lloyd, . jones, rosalie gardiner, ; ; ; ; ; organizes suff. "hikes," . jordan, david starr, helps wom. suff. in calif, , , . jordan, secy. of state, frank, . _jus suffragii_, official organ intl. alliance, begun, ; moved to london, ; during the war, , . k kansas, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, campaign, see st. chapter, . kearney, belle, in md, ; work in miss, et seq; in tenn, ; . keith, mary mchenry (mrs. william), work in calif, see st. chapter, et seq; contributions, - ; ; - . keith, william, gives picture to suff. bazaar, ; ; paints portrait of miss anthony, . keller, dr. amelia, - - . kelley, florence, in calif, ; ga, ; md, ; n. y, , ; vt, ; wis, . kelly, dr. howard, . kelly, marion booth, ; . kendall, dr. sarah a, ; . kenney, annie (gt. brit.), speaks in nev, ; in germany, . kenny, mrs. john m, see tenn. chapter, ; ; work for ratification, . kent, mrs. carrie e, - . kent, u. s. rep. and mrs. william, in del, ; in nev, . kentucky, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, . ketcham, emily burton, . keyes, gov. henry w. (n. h.), . kilbreth, mary g, in tenn, . kimball, martha s, - - ; - . kimber, helen, - . kimbrough, mrs. d. t, ; - ; poll tax refused, . king, dr. cora smith, see wash. chapter, ; see eaton. kirby, u. s. sen. w. f, , . klatschken, martha, ; - . koch, dr. margaret, - - - . kollock, alice g; see fla. chapter, . kramers, martina g, intl. secy, ; edits official paper, ; report of conf. in amsterdam, ; ; alliance thanks, . krog, gina, work in norway, ; ; ; ; . l labor party (gt. brit.), on wom. suff, ; women support, ; in manitoba, . labriola, prof. teresa (italy), - ; . laddey, clara s, in mich, ; work in n. j, see st. chapter, ; wis, . lafollette, fola, . lafollette, u. s. sen. robert m, . lafollette, mrs. robert m, speaks in md, ; in r. i, . lagerlöf, selma, assists wom. suff. in sweden, , ; , ; great speech, ; . laidlaw, james lees, in calif, ; pres. natl. men's suff. league, ; ; in mont, ; nev, ; n. y, ; ; work for men's league, . laidlaw, mrs. james lees, in calif, ; mont, ; nev, ; n. y, , , , - - ; . lamar, mrs. walter d, - . langhorne, orra, . langley, u. s. rep. john w. (ky.), . larch-miller, aloysius, . lathrop, julia c, chief federal children's bureau, . laughlin, gail, work in calif, , , ; colo, ; minn, ; mont, - ; neb, , - ; nev, ; ore, - , . lawrence, mrs. pethick (great brit.), ; ; ; . laws, for women and children much improved, . lawther, anna b, ; . lea, u. s. sen. luke, ; ; . leach, antoinette d, ; . league of nations, attitude toward of intl. wom. suff. alliance, - . league of women voters, organized, chairmen, see each st. chapter near close. leckenby, ellen s, - . leech, mrs. james a, . legislatures, action on wom. suff, listed in each st. chapter; women members, see officers. leighty, mrs. john r, ; ; - - . lenroot, u. s. sen. irvine l, . leonard, gertrude halliday, ; - - ; . leser, judge oscar (md.), . leslie woman suffrage commission, assists ala, ; me, ; vt, ; west va, ; intl. suff. alliance, . lewis, mrs. george howard, contribution, ; . lewis, mrs. lawrence, . lexow, caroline, ; . life and work of susan b. anthony, , , . lindemann, anna (germany), ; report of alliance cong. in stockholm, ; budapest, , ; geneva, , . lindsey, judge ben, in kans, ; mass, ; wash, . lindsey, gov. washington e. (n. m.), ; . lindsey, mrs. washington e, see n. mex. chapter, , . lindsey, mrs. z. t, - - . lippitt, u. s. sen. henry f, . liquor interests, opposed to wom. suff. in ariz, , ; calif, ; fla, ; ills, , , ; iowa, - ; kans, ; ky, ; md, ; mass, ; mich, - - ; minn, ; mont, ; neb, ; nev, ; n. j, - ; n. y, ; n. dak, ; ohio, - , ; work with women "antis," , , ; okla, ; ore, ; penn, ; s. dak, ; wis, , . livermore, mrs. arthur l, in md, ; n. h, ; n. y, , , . livermore, mary a, see mass. chapter, et seq; pres. from ; birthday, ; tribute to mr. blackwell; death, ; memorial in n. j, ; vt, . livingston, deborah knox, work in me, - , - ; n. h, ; west va, . lloyd george, action on wom. suff. in gt. brit, , , ; receives deputation, has bill drafted, . lockwood, belva a, ; ; . lodge, u. s. sen. henry cabot, anti suff. work in n. h, , . loines, mary h, . london, mary parke, . lord, eliza h, . lore, ch. justice charles b, . lore, emma, - . louisiana, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, southern conf, see state chapters, , . low, seth, ignores women, . lowden, gov. frank c. (ills.), ; . ludington, katharine, see conn. chapter, ; issues manifesto, ; interviews natl. com. chmn. hays, ; ; in n. h, . luxemburg, grants wom. suff, . m mack, mrs. o. h, work in nev, see st. chapter, . mackay, mrs. clarence, encourages nev. women, - ; society in n. j, ; organizes equal franchise society, work in n. y, - , - . mcalarney, emma l, ; ; . mccallum, jane y, see texas chapter, , . mcclung, nellie, ; ; in minn, - ; west va, - ; wis, ; canada, . mccomas, alice moore, ; . mccormack, mrs. james m., ; - - ; . mccormick, katharine dexter, in mass, , ; elected vice-pres. intl. alliance, ; in geneva, ; contributes to alliance, re-elected, . mccormick, medill, ; . mccormick, mrs. medill, ; work in ills. legis, , ; assists mo. campaign, ; heads deleg. to pres. wilson, . maccracken, pres. henry noble (vassar), . mccrea, mrs. willis s, . mcculloch, catharine waugh, work in ills, see st. chapter, ; calif, , , ; ind, ; md, ; mich, ; ore, ; s. dak, ; wis, - ; amsterdam, . mcdougald, emily c, work in ga, see st. chapter, . mcfarland, henry b. f, . mcgraw, mrs. j. w, work in ills, see st. chapter, . mckellar, u. s. sen. kenneth, assists ratif. in del, ; md, ; tenn, , , ; - ; secures suff. plank in natl. dem. platform, . mckelvie, gov. samuel r. (neb), . mclendon, mary l, work in ga, see st. chapter, ; tries to vote, . mcmahon, mrs. albert, in ala, ; del, , ; fla, , ; minn, ; report on s. dak, . macmillan, chrystal, makes digest of british laws for women, ; ; ; addresses judic. com. of house of lords, ; ; ; ; report of alliance conf, in geneva, ; ; . mcnaughton, dr. clara, . mcneel, mrs. john d, . mcpike, sara, work in n. y, . mcwhirter, mrs. felix t, - - ; . mcwhorter, judge j. c. (west va.), ; . maddox, etta, in md, ; ; . maine, efforts for wom. suff, workers, legis. action, campn, see st. chapter, . malone, dudley field, . manitoba, work for wom. suff, . mann, gov. s. a. (utah), ; . mansfield, mrs. howard, ; . marble, amanda j, ; - - . marbury, william f, opp. wom. suff. in md, ; ; brings suit, . martin, anne, in del, ; see nev. chapter, , ; n. mex, . martin, u. s. sen. george b, . martine, u. s. sen. james e, ; . maryland, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, great opposition, see st. chapter, . massachusetts, effort for wom. suff, new england assn, legis. action, campaign, workers, see st. chapter, . maud, queen, greetings to suff. cong, . mead, edwin d, ; . mead, lucia ames, in me, ; work in mass, et seq; in mo, . men's advisory committee, in n. c, ; west va, . men's leagues for woman suffrage, in ala, ; calif, , ; conn, , ; fla, ; ga, ; ills, ; iowa, ; kans, - ; la, ; me, , ; md, , ; harvard, ; mass, , ; mich, , , ; mo, ; mont, , ; neb, , ; nev, , , ; n. j, - , ; n. y, , , ; full account of, ; in penn, , ; tenn, ; texas, ; wis, ; sweden, ; netherlands, ; hungary, , ; italy, ; gt. brit, ; intl. league founded, . meredith, ellis, in colo, ; n. j, . meriwether, lide a, work in tenn, - ; . merrick, caroline e, ; . mexico, grants wom. suff, . michigan, effort for wom. suff, campaigns, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, . miles, general nelson, . milholland, inez, speaks in wis, . "militancy," ; effect in n. y, , ; in gt. brit, ; ; analysis of by mrs. fawcett, , ; mrs. catt's comment, , ; attitude of intl. alliance, , . miller, alice duer, . miller, anne fitzhugh, ; ; ; . miller, elizabeth smith, ; ; . miller, florence fenwick (gt. brit.), ; at intl. suff. conf. in washtn, - . miller, mrs. john o, ; . miller, josephine, ; ; ; ; ; ; . miller, mrs. walter mcnab, in miss, ; work in mo, see st. chapter, et seq.; n. c, ; n. dak, . milliken, gov. carl e. (me.), ; ; . mills, b. fay, . mills, harriet may, in del, , ; md, ; n. j, ; work in n. y, see st. chapter, - - ; ; ; ; edits _club letter_, . millsaps, major r. w, . milton, george fort, ; . milton, mrs. george fort, work in tenn, see state chapter, et seq. minnesota, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see state chap, . minor, virginia l, . mirovitch, zeneide (russia), ; - ; . mississippi, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, ; telegram of legis. to del. legis, . missouri, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, campaign, see st. chapter, . mitchel, mayor john purroy (n. y.), ; ; . mitchner, lilian, - ; ; . mondell, u. s. rep. frank w. (wyo.), ; offers bill for wom. suff. in alaska, . montana, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers, see st. chapter, . montefiore, dora b. (gt. brit.), ; ; ; . moore, laura, . moore, mrs. philip, . morgan, st. rep. w. y. (kans.), ; . morgan, mrs. w. y, ; . morrisson, mrs. james w, ; ; . morrow, gov. edwin p. (ky.), ; - . moses, u. s. sen. george h, ; - - . moses, judge jacob m, ; ; - . moss, mrs. robert, ; ; . mott, lucretia, . munds, frances w, see ariz. chapter, ; elected senator, . municipal suffrage, in del, ; in fla, ; action on in ga, , , ; atlanta, , , ; ills, - ; chicago, ; work in ills. legis, ; gained, ; in ind, gained, , adverse court decis, ; bill to repeal in kans. legis, ; in mass, , ; mich, , ; neb, ; n. h, - ; n. mex, ; n. dak, ; ohio, ; s. dak, ; tenn, gained, , ; vt, gained, , - ; west va, vote on, ; in finland, ; norway, - ; denmark, ; iceland, ; sweden, ; belgium, . mussey, ellen spencer, ; ; ; . myers, dr. annice jeffreys, see ore. chapter, . myers, jefferson, . n nash, prof. henry s, . nathan, maud, in md, - ; n. y, ; wis, ; budapest, . national american woman suffrage association, assists ala, , ; ariz, ; ark, ; calif, ; conn, , ; del, - , , - ; fla, , , ; kans, ; me, , ; md, ; okla, ; mich, , ; minn, , ; miss, ; mont, ; neb, ; nev, ; n. h, , , ; n. j, ; n. mex, ; n. y, ; n. c, , ; n. dak, , ; okla, et seq; ore, - ; s. c, ; - ; s. dak, , - - ; texas, ; vt, , ; va, , ; wash, , - ; west va, ; wis, ; urges suff. for and assists hawaiian women, ; filipino women, ; porto rican women, - . national council of women voters, - . national woman's party (see congressional union), colo. objects to, ; in conn, , ; ga, ; mass, ; n. y. repudiates, , ; in tenn, ; va, ; wis, . nebraska, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers, petitions, see st. chapter, ; omaha men's anti-suff. manifesto, . negro women vote in tenn, . nelson, julia b, in minn, ; . nesbitt, w. d, , . netherlands, effort for wom. suff, eminent women, entertains intl. alliance, suff. granted, . nevada, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers, see st. chapter, . new brunswick, work for wom. suff, . newfoundland, work for wom. suff, . new hampshire, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, . new jersey, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, . newlands, u. s. sen. francis g, ; . new mexico, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, . newspapers, listed in each state chapter. new york, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers, see st. chapter, . new zealand, wom. suff. in, . neymann, clara, speaks in wis, . nicholes, anna, . nicholson, meredith, speaks for wom. suff., . noble, harriet, ; - . noland, anna dunn, work in ind, see st. chapter, . norbeck, gov. peter (s. dak.), ; . nordica, lillian, sings for wom. suff. in calif, ; in new york, . norris, u. s. sen. george w, . north carolina, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, memorial to dr. shaw, see st. chapter, . north dakota, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers, see st. chapter, . northrup, dr. cyrus, . norway, work for wom. suff, petitions, success, women in office, ; . nova scotia, work for wom. suff, . nozaleda, archbishop, - . nugent, james r, - ; . o obenchain, eliza calvert, . oddie, gov. tasker h. (nev.), . odell, gov. benjamin f. (n. y.), . officers, women, in calif, ; colo, - ; d. c. (national), , - - ; mont, ; nev, ; okla, ; tex, ; utah, , ; wyo, - - ; gt. brit, - ; canada, - - , ; finland, ; norway, ; denmark, ; iceland, ; sweden, - ; netherlands, ; luxemburg, ; russia, ; germany, , ; austria, ; hungary, bohemia, czecho-slovakia, poland, - ; palestine, ; . ogden, esther g, before natl. dem. com, . ohio, effort for wom, suff, legis. action, campaigns, law suits, see st. chapter, . oklahoma, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers, see st. chapter, . oliver, u. s. rep. wm. b. (ala.), . olzendam, lilian h, - ; . o'neil, mrs. david, ; - ; ; . ontario, work for wom. suff, . ordway, evelyn, . oregon, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers, see st. chapter, ; mass. contributes to campaigns, , . o'reilly, leonora, ; ; . organizations of women, endorsement of wom. suff, in every state chapter. organizers, lists of, ; . orr, pauline v, - . osborn, gov. chase s. (mich.), - ; . osborne, eliza wright, - ; ; . osborne, thomas mott, ; . otis, harrison gray, . o'toole, mary, work in d. c, app. judge, see chapter, . overman, u. s. sen. lee s, ; . owen, u. s. sen. robert l, for wom. suff. in okla, - , . owens, helen brewster, . p page, u. s. sen. carroll s, ; - . page, mary hutcheson, see mass, chapter, ; in n. h, . palestine, women vote and hold office, . palmer, attorney general a. mitchell, urges fed. amend. in del, ; md, ; miss, ; n. j, ; va, . palmer, u. s. sen. thomas w, . pankhurst, christabel, in la, ; tenn, . pankhurst, mrs. emmeline, in conn, ; d. c, ; ky, , ; md, ; mass, , ; harvard refuses, ; in mo, ; neb, ; n. j, ; n. y, ; r. i, ; wis, ; organizes "militant" suff. society in great brit, ; its work, - , , ; war work, ; in toronto, ; refuses to send delegates to intl. alliance cong, , . pankhurst, sylvia, in calif., ; md, ; mass, , ; mo, ; n. h, ; n. dak, ; wis, . parades for woman suff, in ala, ; calif, ; conn, women, ; del. women, , , , - ; d. c, ; ga, ; chicago, in , , in , , in , ; iowa, ; kans. women, ; ky, ; md. women, , ; mass, , , - - , ; minn, women, - - ; in miss, ; mo, , ; mont, ; neb, ; n. h, ; n. j. women, - , , ; in n. y, , , ; first men marched, ; r. i. women, ; tenn. women, , , ; in utah, ; west va, ; wis. women, ; canadian women, ; in holland, . pardee, gov. george c. (calif.), . park, alice, in ariz, ; nev, ; see calif, chapter, . park, maud wood, in calif, ; del, ; ; me, ; see mass. chap, ; ; in mich, ; minn, ; neb, ; nev, ; n. h, , ; n. dak, ; ore, ; r. i, ; vt, ; va, ; wis, ; helps wom. suff. in hawaii, - . parker, adella m, - ; ; ; . parker, gov. john m, see la. chapter from . parker, dr. valeria h, ; . parkhurst, gov. frederick h. (me.), . parmelee, annette w, work for wom. suff. in vt, see st. chapter, . parsons, herbert, ; . partridge, mary, ; . patterson, hannah j, work in penn, - ; ; west va, - . paul, alice, chmn. congressl. com, ; org. congressl. union, ; ; n. c. objects to, . peabody, george foster, ; pres. n. y. men's league, - . peck, mary gray, ; describes alliance meeting in stockholm, . peet, mrs. sturtevant, . penfield, jean nelson, in nev, ; utah, . pennsylvania, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers, see st. chapter, . pennybacker, mrs. percy, . penrose, u. s. sen. boies, promises help, does not give it, ; . petition, of national assn. for fed. amend, in mass, - ; mich, ; minn, , ; neb, ; n. y, , , ; penn, ; r. i, ; utah, ; wis, ; for wom. suff. in philippines, . pettyjohn, dr. e. s, . philippines, the, effort for wom. suff; natl. suff. assn. petitions for, gov. genls. and archbishop recommend, action of u. s. congress, of filipino congress, mrs. catt visits manila, philippine commssr. de veyra and wife urge it, status of women, . "picketing," colo, objects, ; new york protests, , ; president wilson on, . pidgeon, mary e, ; ; ; ; . pierce, emma s, see n. dak. chapter, . pierce, katherine, see okla. chapter, , . pinchot, mrs. gifford, . pinckard, mrs. james s, in ala, ; tenn, . pitman, mrs. b. f, work in mass, - , ; in hawaii, - . pittman, u. s. sen. key, . pleasant, gov. ruffin g. (la.), - ; ; . pleasant, mrs. ruffin g, in tenn, . poland, grants wom. suff, elects women, . pollock, u. s. sen. william p, . pomerene, u. s. sen. atlee, . porritt, annie g, see conn. chapter, ; . porto rico, efforts for wom. suff, action of u. s. cong; of its legis, . portugal, . post, mrs. edmund m, . post, louis f, in wis. campaign, . post, mrs. louis f, in md, . potter, prof. frances squire, speaks in calif, ; mass, ; ; mo, ; n. j, ; n. y, ; ore, . presidential suffrage, legis. action, in ills, , et seq; gained, ; in court, ; women's first vote, ; in ind, ; law suits, ; re-passed, ; iowa, ; kans. legis, - ; in ky, ; me, ; md, ; mass, ; mich, , ; minn, - ; mo, , - - ; neb, ; n. h, - ; n. j, , - ; n. mex, ; n. c, ; n. dak, ; ohio, in court, , ; okla, ; penn, ; r. i, , - , ; s. c, ; s. dak, ; tenn, - ; in court, women vote, ; ; texas, ; vt, ; vetoed by gov, ; west va, ; wis, - . primary suffrage, ark. legis. grants, - ; legis. action in fla, , ; iowa, ; miss, ; s. c, ; texas legis. grants, ; . progressive state conventions, in ky, ; mass, - . prohibition, women's votes for, in mich, ; wash, ; alaska, ; . prouty, gov. george h. (vt.), . pyle, mrs. john l, work in s. dak, see st. chapter, et seq. q quebec, work for wom. suff, . quinby, gov. henry b. (n. h.), . qvam, mrs. f. m, work in norway, ; ; reports on wom. suff, ; ; brings message from queen, ; ; . r raker, u. s. rep. john e, at la. legis, ; for wom. suff. in hawaii, . rankin, jeannette, ; in fla, ; md, ; work in mont, see st. chapter, ; elected to congress, ; in n. h, ; n. c, ; r. i, ; wash, . rathbone, eleanor (gt. brit.), ; . ratification of federal woman suffrage amendment, account near end of each state chapter; see especially ala, ; conn, ; del, ; ga, ; la, , ; md, ; miss, ; n. c, ; tenn, ; west va, . reed, u. s. sen. james a, , . reedy, william marion, . reid, mrs. ogden mills, ; . reports, to intl. suff. cong, , , . republican national committee, ; ; ; assists ratification in del, ; ; n. h, ; tenn, ; west va, . republican state conventions and committees, in calif, , - , ; conn, , , ; del, - , ; ills, ; iowa, ; ky, - - ; mass, , ; minn, ; mo, ; n. y, , see ; n. c, , , ; r. i, ; tenn, , ; vt, ; va, ; west va, . reynolds, minnie j, in colo, ; n. j, , ; - ; ; ; wash, . rhode island, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, . richards, emily s, see utah chapter, et seq. richards, janet, in del, ; md, ; n. j, ; ; wash, , ; stockholm, , . riddle, state sen. agnes, ; ; . ridgely, mrs. henry, - ; ; . riggs, st. rep. john a. (ark.), - - - . ringrose, mary e, ; ; . roark, mary c, . roberts, gov. albert h. (tenn.), ; mrs. catt asks to call extra session, ; confers with pres. wilson, urged by dems, ; calls it, threatened with defeat, ; message to legis, ; upholds ratif. and forwards certificate, - . roberts, caroline, - . roberts, margaret s, see idaho chapter, . robertson, u. s. rep. alice, , . robertson, sir forbes, . robinson, state sen. helen ring, in ga, ; in col, ; ky, ; mass, ; n. h, ; geneva, . robinson, lida p, . roessing, mrs. frank m, see penn. chap, et seq; in west va, ; assists intl. alliance, . roosevelt, president theodore, appealed to for fed. amend. from calif, ; faint praise for wom. suff, ; del. women petition, ; urges wom. suff. in me, ; ; petitioned by mich. women, ; enrolls for wom. suff, ; appeals to u. s. sen. moses for fed. suff. amend, ; n. j. women petition, ; speaks for wom. suff. in new york, ; advice as governor, . root, elihu, . roraback, john henry, , , . rowe, charlotte, in del, ; la, ; n. h, , ; okla, ; texas, - . royden, a. maude (gt. brit.), in md, ; budapest, - ; preaches in geneva, . ruhl, mrs. john l, ; - ; . rumsey, mrs. dexter p, ; ; ; ; . russell, gov. lee m. (miss.), . russia, efforts for wom. suff, prof. miliukov assists, women hold cong, elected, - ; . ruutz-rees, caroline, . rye, gov. tom c. (tenn.), ; ; ; . s sacajawea, unveiling of statue in ore, - . safford, rev. mary a, work in fla, , ; iowa, ; mass, . salamon, dr. alice (germany), . sanderson, annie cobden (gt. brit.), ; ; ; on "militants," . sanford, prof. maria, . sapp, bernice a, ; . sargent, ellen clark, see calif. chap, et seq; . saskatchewan, work for wom. suff, . schlingheyde, clara, work in calif, , , ; for intl. suff. alliance, . schlumberger, mme. dewitt, pres, natl. suff. assn. of france, ; ; ; ; ; appeals to league of nations for wom. suff, . schmidt, prof. nathaniel, ; ; . schools for citizenship, in me, ; mo, ; n. h, ; s. c, ; wis, . schools for woman suffrage, in ala, ; fla, ; atlanta, , ; ind, ; iowa, ; kans, ; me, ; md, ; mich, ; neb, ; n. j, ; r. i, ; s. c, ; va, ; west va, ; wis, . schoonmaker, nancy, ; - ; ; . schurman, pres. jacob g, . schwimmer, rosika, in ky, ; wis, ; ; ; ; ; ; intl. suff. alliance cong, in hungary, ; ; ; report for hungary, ; ; countrywomen honor, , . scott, mrs. william force, . sellers, kathryn, ; . seton, mrs. ernest t, - . severance, caroline, m, - ; . severance, sarah, . sewall, may wright, lectures in calif, ; organizes in ind, ; work in wis, ; ; at cong. in budapest, . sexton, minola graham, see n. j. chapter, et seq. shafroth, gov. and u. s. sen. john f, ; assists wom. suff. in kans, ; md, ; at dem. natl. conv, ; n. j, ; hawaii, ; porto rico, . shaw, dr. anna howard, letter to ala, ; visits ark, ; in ariz. campaign, ; entertained in calif, ; speaks in del, , ; memorial, ; ; ; in fla, - ; ga, - , ; iowa, , ; letter to kans, ; speaks in ky, ; in southern states, ; md, , , ; mass, to ; mich, , ; minn, - - ; miss, , , ; mo. ; at natl. suff. conv. , ; memorial, ; before legis, ; mont, ; neb, - , - , ; work in nev, , , ; n. h, - - ; n. j, - - , , , , ; n. y, - - , , , , in campaign, ; wants men's league, ; in n. c, - ; memorial bldg, ; n. dak, ; okla, ; ore, , - , ; r. i, - ; memorial in s. c, ; in s. dak, ; tenn, , , ; texas, , ; vt, - ; va, ; west va, , , ; work for wis, - - ; for wom. suff. in hawaii, ; chmn, suff. comn. intl. council of women, ; at berlin conf. intl. suff. alliance, ; at copenhagen, , memorial to miss anthony, ; at amsterdam, , ; speaks in albert hall, ; preaches in london, ; great sermon in stockholm, ; in budapest, ; ; memorial tribute in geneva, . shaw, mrs. quincy a, work in mass, ; ; ; ; in nev, . sheepshanks, mary, . sheldon, rev. c. m., . sheppard, u. s. sen. morris, ; . sherwood, dr. mary, . shields, u. s. sen. john k, opp. wom. suff, ; writes pres. wilson, ; . shippen, rev. eugene r, . shuler, marjorie, in del, ; fla, ; nev, ; n. h, ; n. c, ; okla, , ; s. c, ; tenn, - ; utah, ; vt, , ; west va, . shuler, nettie rogers, work in me, , ; md, ; mass, ; mich, ; n. h, ; n. y, , , , ; okla, report on campaign, ; r. i, ; s. dak, ; west va, - . simmons, u. s. sen. f. m, ; - . simons, mrs. seward a, work in calif, - ; . simpson, mrs. david f, ; . sims, rear admiral and mrs. william s, . slosson, dr. and mrs. edwin a, . smith, gov. alfred e. (n. y.), . smith, mrs. draper, ; ; ; . smith, ethel m, . smith, u. s. sen. hoke, ; . smith, u. s. sen. john walter, . smith, dr. julia holmes, ; . smith, mrs. thos. jefferson, ; . snowden, m. p. philip, ; ; ; in gt. brit, . snowden, mrs. philip, in d. c, ; ky, ; md, ; mass, , , ; mo, ; neb, ; toronto, ; london, ; stockholm, . somerville, nellie nugent, work in miss, see st. chapter, ; in n. c, . south, mrs. john glover, ; . south africa, effort for wom. suff, premiers' action; mrs. catt and dr. jacobs visit, . south carolina, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers; see st. chapter, . south dakota, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers; see st. chapter, . southern states woman suffrage conference, , . spain, efforts for wom. suff, . spargo, john, in n. y. legis, . spencer, rev. anna garlin, in mass, ; r. i, - , ; wis, . spencer, u. s. sen. selden p, . sperry, dr. mary, ; . sperry, mary s, see calif. chap, et seq; . spring, rebecca, . springer, elmira e, . sproul, gov. william c. (penn.), - . stanford, mrs. leland, for wom. suff, . stanislawsky, mrs. henry, in calif, ; nev, - - ; . stanley, gov. a. o. (ky.), . stanton, elizabeth cady, birthdays, , , ; th, ; memorial in neb, ; pioneer, ; memorial in seneca falls, ; for intl. suff. assn, . starbuck, kathryn h, . starrett, helen ekin, . stearns, sarah burger, . steinem, pauline, . stephens, adelia c, work in okla, see st. chapter, . stephens, gov. william d. (calif.), . stevens, doris, ; . stevens, isaac n, ; . stevens, dr. mary thompson, - ; . stewart, ella s, in calif, ; ills, ; ; ind, ; md, ; mich, ; s. dak, ; wis, ; amsterdam, . stimson, henry l, . stimson, mrs. s. c, . stockwell, maud c, work in minn, see st. chapter, . stone, lucy, birthdays celebr, in del, ; mass, , , , ; marriage, , ; work in n. j, , ; ; in r. i, . stone, u. s. sen. william r, - . stoner, mrs. wesley martin, ; at dem. conv, ; in tenn, ; west va, . stowe, dr. emily howard, suff. pioneer in canada, ; memorial in toronto, . strachan, grace c, . stritt, marie (germany), ; ; ; . strong, rev. josiah, . stuart, gov. henry carter (va.), . stubbs, pres. j. e, ; . stubbs, gov. w. r. (kans.), - ; ; ; . stubbs, mrs. w. r, - ; ; . sulzer, gov. william (n. y.), - . sumner, dean walter t, . sutherland, u. s. sen. howard, . suttner, baroness von, speaks in wis, . sweden, efforts for wom. suff, great petitions, entertains intl. alliance, women in parliament, , . swift, mary wood, see calif. chap, et seq; ; in denmark, . switzerland, effort for wom. suff, entertains intl. alliance, . t taft, president william howard, ; appoints miss lathrop, ; tenn. women petition, ; advises wom. suff. in philippines, . taxes, mrs. sargent sues for in calif, ; women protest against in atlanta, , ; dr. shaw's car sold for, ; women pay in mass, ; miss daniels of vt, refuses, ; women's poll tax refused in tenn, . taylor, lucretia watson, ; ; . tennessee, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, ratification; see st. chapters, , . territories of the united states, wom. suff. in, et seq. territt, amelia, ; . terry, mrs. d. d, . texas, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers, see st. chapter, . thomas, mary bentley, ; ; . thomas, pres. m. carey, work for natl. suff. conv, ; in r. i, . thompson, ellen powell, . thompson, lily wilkinson, work in miss, see st. chapter, . tiffany, mrs. charles l, ; ; . tindall, helen rand, - . tindall, dr. william, - ; . todd, helen, in calif, ; conn, ; mass, ; mo, . tolhurst, mrs. shelley, ; ; . topping, lucile dyas, see mont. chapter, . tours for wom. suff, "yellow flier," "prairie schooner," ; in ills, - ; iowa, ; mass, - , - - ; minn, ; neb, ; n. j, ; n. y, ; ohio, ; wis, . townsend, gov. john g, in del, - ; - ; ; . trax, lola, ; ; . treadwell, harriette taylor, ; - . trinkle, gov. e. lee (va.), - . trout, grace wilbur, work in ills, see st. chap, et seq; in wis, . tumulty, joseph p, . turkey, . tyler, pres. lyon g, ; . u ueland, mrs. andreas, tribute to, ; - . underwood, u. s. sen. oscar w, , . u. s. supreme court, decision on fed. wom. suff. amend, . untermeyer, samuel, ; . upshaw, u. s. rep. w. d. (ga.), . upton, harriet taylor, in calif, ; ; del, ; ind, ; iowa, ; work in ohio, see st. chapter, ; political position, ; helps ratific, in tenn, , , ; in west va, . uruguay, effort for wom. suff, . utah, half century of wom. suff, first women voters, council of women, good laws, women in office, see st. chapter, . v valentine, lila mead, in n. c, ; s. c, , ; work in va, see st. chapter, . vanderlip, frank a, . vanderlip, mrs. frank a, ; ; . van sant, gov. samuel r. (minn.), . van winkle, mina c, police lieut, ; in n. j, ; - ; . vardaman, gov. and u. s. sen. (miss.), ; . vermont, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, . vernon, mabel, in del, , ; nev, , - ; ; n. mex, . vertrees, judge john j. (tenn.), - . vessey, gov. robert s. (s. dak.), . villard, fanny garrison (mrs. henry), in mass, ; n. y, , , - ; . villard, oswald garrison, work in n. y, - ; for men's league, - . vincent, dr. george e, declares for wom. suff, . virginia, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, workers, see st. chapter, . w wadsworth, u. s. sen. james w, opp. wom. suff. in n. h, ; in n. y, , , ; in texas, . wadsworth, mrs. james w, pres. anti-suff. assn, in me, ; texas, . waite, clara turnbull, see md. chapter, . walker, lola, - ; ; . walker, speaker seth m, telegram to n. c. legis, ; opp. ratific, in tenn, , - ; goes to washington and conn, to opp. . walsh, gov. and u. s. sen. david i, ; ; ; . war work of suffragists, see record in each state chapter and chap. xxiv, vol. v. ward, mrs. humphry, in great brit, . ward, lydia a. coonley, . warner, mrs. leslie, ; ; ; ; ; . warwick, countess of, speaks in wis, . washington, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers, see st. chapter, . watkins, gertrude, ; ; ; ; ; ; . watson, elizabeth lowe, work in calif, see st. chapter, et seq; rep. on campaign, ; ; in wis, . watson-lister, mrs. a. (aus.), . watterson, col. henry, . way, amanda, . weaver, u. s. rep. zebulon (n. c.), . webb, u. s. rep. edwin y. (n. c.), . weeks, anna ross, . weeks, u. s. sen. john w, women defeat, ; . wells, emmeline b, see utah chap, et seq. wells, gov. heber m. (utah), . west, bina m, . west virginia, efforts for wom. suff, legis. action, campaigns, workers, see state chap, . wester, catharine j, - ; ; . wheeler, mrs. benjamin ide, . wheeler, everett p, in md, ; tenn, . wheeler, grace m, see neb. chapter, . white, gov. albert b. (west va.), - . white, armenia s, - ; . white, mrs. edward f, ; . white, mrs. lovell, . white, nettie lovisa, in d. c, ; in denmark, . white, sue s, ; - ; . whitehead, judge reah m, ; digest of laws for women, . whitehouse, mrs. norman der, work in n. y, see st. chapter from ; in switzerland, ; r. i, . whitehouse, judge robert treat, ; . whitehouse, ch. justice william penn, . whiteside, frances smith, ; . whitlock, anna (sweden), . whitman, gov. charles s. (n. y.), - ; ; . whitney, charlotte anita, work in calif, ; nev, ; ore, . wickersham, george w, . wicksell, anna b, work in sweden, member league of nations, ; ; ; ; ; ; on mandates commission, . wier, prof. jeanne elizabeth, ; . wilbour, charlotte b, . wiley, dr. harvey w, . wiley, mrs. harvey w, ; . wilfley, u. s. sen. xenophon p, . wilhelmina, queen, ; . wilkes, rev. eliza tupper, in calif, ; ; in budapest, . willard, mabel caldwell, in del, ; mass, . williams, charl, in tenn, , - . williams, u. s. sen. john sharp, ; . williams, mary h, see neb. chap. from . williams, mrs. richard, . williams, gov. robert l. (okla.), ; ; . willis, gwendolen brown, ; ; ; . wills, m. frances, . wilson, miss b. m, work in nev, , , . wilson, rev. clarence true, ; . wilson, mrs. halsey w, in del, - ; fla, ; me, ; md, ; mich, ; n. h, ; s. dak, ; vt, - , , . wilson, j. stitt, work for suff. in calif, , , ; in nev, . wilson, president woodrow, urges ala. legis. to ratify fed. suff. amend, , ; urges del. legis, , ; appoints women to office, , - ; urges ga. legis. to ratify, ; same, la, ; urges st. suff. amend. in me, ; ; miss. women petition, ; to n. j. women, ; votes for wom. suff, ; assists n. y, campn, ; refers to "picketing", ; ; urges ratification in n. c, ; in okla, ; pres. suff in tenn, ; women call on, ; writes sen. shields for fed. amend, ; assists ratification, ; telegraphs gov. roberts for special session in tenn, ; texas women appeal to for fed. amend, ; urges state amend, ; urges ratification in va, ; in west va, . wisconsin, effort for wom. suff, legis. action, campaign, workers, see st. chapter, . wise, rabbi stephen s, for men's league, ; in r. i, ; in budapest, . wolcott, u. s. sen. josiah o, - ; . _woman citizen_, natl. suff. assn. official paper, ; . woman suffrage in many countries, manner and time of gaining, see chapter on, ; also on british colonies, . woman suffrage party, in calif, ; ga, ; la, - ; md, ; mass, ; n. j, ; organized in new york, , ; work in city, et seq; et seq; org. in state, ; ; in penn, ; r. i, , , . woman's christian temperance union, work for wom. suff. referred to in each state chapter. _woman's journal_, its founding, ; ; ; . women's political union, work in n. j, , ; in n. y, . wood, mary i, ; ; - - - . wood, judge william h, . woodall, amelia r, ; ; . woods, dr. frances, in ariz, ; okla, - . works, u. s. sen. john d, . worrell, emma, - ; ; . wright, edna, ; . wright, harriet g. r, - . wyoming, see st. chapter, ; university confers doctor's degree on mrs. catt, . y yaggy, laura reed, - . yates, elizabeth upham, ; work for wom. suff. in r. i, see st. chapter, ; tribute to, . yorke, judge waldo m, ; - . yost, mrs. ellis a, work in west va, see st. chapter, ; . youmans, theodora w, work in wis, see st. chapter, et seq. young, brigham, ; . young, clara a, - ; - . young, rose, in new york, , , . young, virginia durant, ; . younger, maud, ; ; ; . yukon territory, grants wom. suff, . z zueblin, prof. charles, ; ; . * * * * * [transcriber's notes: the transcriber made these changes to the text to correct obvious errors: . p. assocation --> association . p. acompanied --> accompanied . p. washingon --> washington . p. affiliat??? --> affiliated . p. assocation --> association . p. memberehip --> membership . p. enthusiatic --> enthusiastic . p. fn # , mentiond --> mentioned . p. typwritten --> typewritten . p. committe --> committee . p. specificed --> specified . p. over held --> ever held . p. acount --> account . p. joint --> join . p. ratianal --> rational . p. christion --> christian . p. ocasion --> occasion . p. progagandists --> propagandists . p. activites --> activities . p. footnote anchor # missing; placed at most appropriate place. . p. acompanied --> accompanied . p. ocasionally --> occasionally . p. thoughout --> throughout . p. ristory --> history . p. shoud --> should . p. reportd --> reported . p. geting --> getting . p. sacraficing --> sacrificing . p. demonination --> denomination . p. annnounced --> announced . p. beginnning --> beginning . p. annnie --> annie . p. colocel --> colonel . p. magnificest --> magnificent . p. responsibilties --> responsibilities . p. adress --> address . p. elibility --> eligibility . p. milsaps --> millsaps . p. parmalee --> parmelee end of transcriber's notes] note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) transcriber's note: every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain as they were in the original. text that has been changed to correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. history of woman suffrage. edited by elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, and matilda joslyn gage. illustrated with steel engravings. in three volumes. vol. i. - . "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." [illustration: frances wright (with autograph).] second edition. susan b. anthony. rochester, n. y.: charles mann. london: henrietta street, covent garden. paris. g. fischbacher, rue de seine. . copyright, , by elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, and matilda joslyn gage. copyright, , by susan b. anthony. these volumes are affectionately inscribed to the memory of mary wollstonecraft, frances wright, lucretia mott, harriet martineau, lydia maria child, margaret fuller, sarah and angelina grimkÉ, josephine s. griffing, martha c. wright, harriot k. hunt, m.d., mariana w. johnson, alice and phebe carey, ann preston, m.d., lydia mott, eliza w. farnham, lydia f. fowler, m.d., paulina wright davis, whose earnest lives and fearless words, in demanding political rights for women, have been, in the preparation of these pages, a constant inspiration to the editors. preface. in preparing this work, our object has been to put into permanent shape the few scattered reports of the woman suffrage movement still to be found, and to make it an arsenal of facts for those who are beginning to inquire into the demands and arguments of the leaders of this reform. although the continued discussion of the political rights of woman during the last thirty years, forms a most important link in the chain of influences tending to her emancipation, no attempt at its history has been made. in giving the inception and progress of this agitation, we who have undertaken the task have been moved by the consideration that many of oar co-workers have already fallen asleep, and that in a few years all who could tell the story will have passed away. in collecting material for these volumes, most of those of whom we solicited facts have expressed themselves deeply interested in our undertaking, and have gladly contributed all they could, feeling that those identified with this reform were better qualified to prepare a faithful history with greater patience and pleasure, than those of another generation possibly could. a few have replied, "it is too early to write the history of this movement; wait until our object is attained; the actors themselves can not write an impartial history; they have had their discords, divisions, personal hostilities, that unfit them for the work." viewing the enfranchisement of woman as the most important demand of the century, we have felt no temptation to linger over individual differences. these occur in all associations, and may be regarded in this case as an evidence of the growing self-assertion and individualism in woman. woven with the threads of this history, we have given some personal reminiscences and brief biographical sketches. to the few who, through ill-timed humility, have refused to contribute any of their early experiences we would suggest, that as each brick in a magnificent structure might have had no special value alone on the road-side, yet, in combination with many others, its size, position, quality, becomes of vital consequence; so with the actors in any great reform, though they may be of little value in themselves; as a part of a great movement they may be worthy of mention--even important to the completion of an historical record. to be historians of a reform in which we have been among the chief actors, has its points of embarrassment as well as advantage. those who fight the battle can best give what all readers like to know--the impelling motives to action; the struggle in the face of opposition; the vexation under ridicule; and the despair in success too long deferred. moreover, there is an interest in history written from a subjective point of view, that may compensate the reader in this case for any seeming egotism or partiality he may discover. as an autobiography is more interesting than a sketch by another, so is a history written by its actors, as in both cases we get nearer the soul of the subject. we have finished our task, and we hope the contribution we have made may enable some other hand in the future to write a more complete history of "the most momentous reform that has yet been launched on the world--the first organized protest against the injustice which has brooded over the character and destiny of one-half the human race." contents. page chapter i. preceding causes. chapter ii. woman in newspapers. chapter iii. the world's anti-slavery convention, london, june , . individualism rather than authority--personal appearance of abolitionists--attempt to silence woman--doable battle against the tyranny of sex and color--bigoted abolitionists--james g. birney likes freedom on a southern plantation, but not at his own fireside--john bull never dreamt that woman would answer his call--the venerable thomas clarkson received by the convention standing--lengthy debate on "female" delegates--the "females" rejected--william lloyd garrison refusing to sit in the convention chapter iv. new york. the first woman's rights convention, seneca falls, july - , --property bights of women secured--judge fine, george geddes, and mr. hadley pushing the bill through--danger of meddling with well-settled conditions of domestic happiness--mrs. barbara hertell's will--richard hunt's tea-table--the eventful day--james mott president--declaration of sentiments--convention in rochester-- opposition with bible arguments chapter v. mrs. collins' reminiscences. the first suffrage society--methodist class-leader whips his wife--theology enchains the soul--the status of women and slaves the same--the first medical college opened to women--petitions to the legislature laughed at, and laid on the table--dependence woman's best protection; her weakness her sweetest charm--dr. elizabeth blackwell's letter--sketch of ernestine l. rose chapter vi. ohio. the promised land of fugitives--"uncle tom's cabin"--salem convention, --akron, --massilon, --the address to the women of ohio--the mohammedan law forbidding pigs, dogs, women, and other impure animals to enter a mosque--the _new york tribune_--cleveland convention, --hon. joshua k. giddings--letter from horace greeley--a glowing eulogy to mary wollstonecraft--william henry channing's declaration--the pulpit and public sentiment--president asa mahan debates--the rev. dr. nevin pulls mr. garrison's nose-- antoinette l. brown describes her exit from the world's temperance convention--cincinnati convention, --jane elizabeth jones' report, chapter vii. reminiscences by clarina i. howard nichols. vermont: editor _windham county democrat_--property laws, and --address to the legislature on school suffrage, . wisconsin: woman's state temperance society--lydia f. fowler in company--opposition of clergy--"woman's rights" wouldn't do--advertised "men's rights." kansas: free state emigration, --gov. robinson and senator pomeroy--woman's rights speeches on steamboat, and at lawrence--constitutional convention, --state woman suffrage association--john o. wattles, president--aid from the francis jackson fund--canvassing the state--school suffrage gained. missouri: lecturing at st. joseph, , on col. scott's invitation--westport and the john brown raid, --st. louis, --frances d. gage, rev. wm. g. eliot, and rev. mr. weaver chapter viii. massachusetts. women in the revolution--anti-tea leagues--phillis wheatley--mistress anne hutchinson--heroines in the slavery conflict--women voting under the colonial charter--mary upton ferrin petitions the legislature in --woman's rights convention in , ' --letter of harriet martineau from england--letter of jeannie deroine from a prison cell in paris--editorial from _the christian enquirer_--_the una_, edited by paulina wright davis--constitutional convention in --before the legislature in --harriot k. hunt's protest against taxation--lucy stone's protest against the marriage laws--boston conventions-- theodore parker on woman's position chapter ix. indiana and wisconsin. indiana missionary station--gen. arthur st. clair--indian surprises--the terrible war-whoop--one hundred women join the army, and are killed fighting bravely--prairie schooners--manufactures in the hands of women--admitted to the union in --robert dale owen--woman suffrage conventions--wisconsin--c. l. sholes' report chapter x. pennsylvania. william penn--independence hall--british troops--heroism of women--lydia darrah--who designed the flag--anti-slavery movements in philadelphia--pennsylvania hall destroyed by a mob--david paul brown--fugitives--millard fillmore--john brown--angelina grimké--abby kelly--mary grew--temperance in --hannah darlington and ann preston before the legislature--medical college for women in --westchester woman's rights convention, --philadelphia convention, --lucretia mott answers richard h. dana--jane grey swisshelm--sarah josepha hale--anna mcdowell--rachel foster searching the records--sketch of angelina grimké chapter xi. lucretia mott. eulogy at the memorial services held at washington by the national woman suffrage association, january , . by elizabeth cady stanton chapter xii. new jersey. tory feeling in new jersey--hannah arnett rebuked the traitor spirit--mrs. dissosway rejects all proposals to disloyalty--triumphal arch erected by the ladies of trenton in honor of washington--his letter to the ladies--the origin of woman suffrage in new jersey--a paper read by william a. whitehead before the historical society--defects in the constitution of new jersey--a singular pamphlet called "eumenes"--opinion of hon. charles james fox--mr. whitehead reviewed chapter xiii. mrs. stanton's reminiscences. mrs. stanton's and miss anthony's first meeting--an objective view of these ladies from a friend's standpoint--a glimpse at their private life--the pronunciamentos they issued from the fireside--mrs. wright, mrs. seward, mrs. worden, mrs. mott, in council--how mrs. worden voted--ladies at newport dancing with low necks and short sleeves, and objecting to the publicity of the platform--senator seward discussing woman's rights at a dinner-party--mrs. seward declares herself a friend to the reform--a magnetic circle in central new york--matilda joslyn gage: her early education and ancestors--a series of anti-slavery conventions from buffalo to albany--mobbed at every point--mayor thatcher maintains order in the convention at the capital--great excitement over a fugitive wife from the insane asylum--the bloomer costume--gerrit smith's home chapter xiv. new york. first steps in new york--woman's temperance convention, albany, january, --new york woman's state temperance society, rochester, april, --women before the legislature pleading for a maine law--women rejected as delegates to men's state conventions at albany and syracuse, ; at the brick church meeting and world's temperance convention in new york, --horace greeley defends the rights of women in _the new york tribune_--the teachers' state conventions--the syracuse national woman's rights convention, --mob in the broadway tabernacle woman's rights convention through two days, --state woman's rights convention at rochester, december, --albany convention, february, , and hearing before the legislature demanding the right of suffrage--a state committee appointed--susan b. anthony general agent--conventions at saratoga springs, , ' , ' --annual state conventions with legislative hearings and reports of committees, until the war--married women's property law, --bill before the legislature granting divorce for drunkenness--horace greeley and thurlow weed oppose it--ernestine l. rose, lucretia mott, and elizabeth cady stanton address the legislature in favor of the bill--robert dale owen defends the measure in _the new york tribune_--national woman's rights conventions in new york city, , ' , ' , ' --status of the woman's rights movement at the opening of the war, chapter xv. woman, church, and state. woman under old religions--woman took part in offices of early christian church councils--original sin--celibacy of the clergy--their degrading sensuality--feudalism--marriage--debasing externals and daring ideas--witchcraft--three striking points for consideration-- burning of witches--witchcraft in new england--marriage with devils--rights of property not recognized in woman--wife ownership--women legislated for as slaves--marriage under the greek church--the salic and cromwellian eras--the reformation--woman under monastic rules in the home--the mormon doctrine regarding woman; its logical result--milton responsible for many existing views in regard to woman--woman's subordination taught to-day--the see trial--right rev. coxe--rev. knox-little--pan-presbyterians--quakers not as liberal as they have been considered--restrictive action of the methodist church--offensive debate upon ordaining miss oliver--the episcopal church and its restrictions--sunday-school teachings--week-day school teachings--sermon upon woman's subordination by the president of a baptist theological seminary--professor christlieb of germany--"dear, will you bring me my shawl?"--female sex looked upon as a degradation--a sacrilegious child--secretary evarts, in the beecher-tilton trial, upon woman's subordination--women degraded in science and education--large-hearted men upon woman's degradation-- wives still sold in the market-place as "mares," by ahalter around their necks--degrading servile labor performed by woman in christian countries--a lower degradation--"queen's women"--"government women"--interpolations in the bible--letter from howard crosby, d.d., ll.d. appendix list of engravings. vol. i. frances wright frontispiece ernestine l. wright page frances d. gage clarina howard nichols paulina wright davis lucretia mott antoinette l. brown amelia bloomer susan b. anthony martha c. wright elizabeth cady stanton matilda joslyn gage introduction. the prolonged slavery of woman is the darkest page in human history. a survey of the condition of the race through those barbarous periods, when physical force governed the world, when the motto, "might makes right," was the law, enables one to account, for the origin of woman's subjection to man without referring the fact to the general inferiority of the sex, or nature's law. writers on this question differ as to the cause of the universal degradation of woman in all periods and nations. one of the greatest minds of the century has thrown a ray of light on this gloomy picture by tracing the origin of woman's slavery to the same principle of selfishness and love of power in man that has thus far dominated all weaker nations and classes. this brings hope of final emancipation, for as all nations and classes are gradually, one after another, asserting and maintaining their independence, the path is clear for woman to follow. the slavish instinct of an oppressed class has led her to toil patiently through the ages, giving all and asking little, cheerfully sharing with man all perils and privations by land and sea, that husband and sons might attain honor and success. justice and freedom for herself is her latest and highest demand. another writer asserts that the tyranny of man over woman has its roots, after all, in his nobler feelings; his love, his chivalry, and his desire to protect woman in the barbarous periods of pillage, lust, and war. but wherever the roots may be traced, the results at this hour are equally disastrous to woman. her best interests and happiness do not seem to have been consulted in the arrangements made for her protection. she has been bought and sold, caressed and crucified at the will and pleasure of her master. but if a chivalrous desire to protect woman has always been the mainspring of man's dominion over her, it should have prompted him to place in her hands the same weapons of defense he has found to be most effective against wrong and oppression. it is often asserted that as woman has always been man's slave--subject--inferior--dependent, under all forms of government and religion, slavery must be her normal condition. this might have some weight had not the vast majority of men also been enslaved for centuries to kings and popes, and orders of nobility, who, in the progress of civilization, have reached complete equality. and did we not also see the great changes in woman's condition, the marvelous transformation in her character, from a toy in the turkish harem, or a drudge in the german fields, to a leader of thought in the literary circles of france, england, and america! in an age when the wrongs of society are adjusted in the courts and at the ballot-box, material force yields to reason and majorities. woman's steady march onward, and her growing desire for a broader outlook, prove that she has not reached her normal condition, and that society has not yet conceded all that is necessary for its attainment. moreover, woman's discontent increases in exact proportion to her development. instead of a feeling of gratitude for rights accorded, the wisest are indignant at the assumption of any legal disability based on sex, and their feelings in this matter are a surer test of what her nature demands, than the feelings and prejudices of the sex claiming to be superior. american men may quiet their consciences with the delusion that no such injustice exists in this country as in eastern nations, though with the general improvement in our institutions, woman's condition must inevitably have improved also, yet the same principle that degrades her in turkey, insults her in this republic. custom forbids a woman there to enter a mosque, or call the hour for prayers; here it forbids her a voice in church councils or state legislatures. the same taint of her primitive state of slavery affects both latitudes. the condition of married women, under the laws of all countries, has been essentially that of slaves, until modified, in some respects, within the last quarter of a century in the united states. the change from the old common law of england, in regard to the civil rights of women, from to the advance legislation in most of the northern states in , marks an era both in the status of woman as a citizen and in our american system of jurisprudence. when the state of new york gave married women certain rights of property, the individual existence of the wife was recognized, and the old idea that "husband and wife are one, and that one the husband," received its death-blow. from that hour the statutes of the several states have been steadily diverging from the old english codes. most of the western states copied the advance legislation of new york, and some are now even more liberal. the broader demand for political rights has not commanded the thought its merits and dignity should have secured. while complaining of many wrongs and oppressions, women themselves did not see that the political disability of sex was the cause of all their special grievances, and that to secure equality anywhere, it must be recognized everywhere. like all disfranchised classes, they begun by asking to have certain wrongs redressed, and not by asserting their own right to make laws for themselves. overburdened with cares in the isolated home, women had not the time, education, opportunity, and pecuniary independence to put their thoughts clearly and concisely into propositions, nor the courage to compare their opinions with one another, nor to publish them, to any great extent, to the world. it requires philosophy and heroism to rise above the opinion of the wise men of all nations and races, that to be unknown, is the highest testimonial woman can have to her virtue, delicacy and refinement. a certain odium has ever rested on those who have risen above the conventional level and sought new spheres for thought and action, and especially on the few who demand complete equality in political rights. the leaders in this movement have been women of superior mental and physical organization, of good social standing and education, remarkable alike for their domestic virtues, knowledge of public affairs, and rare executive ability; good speakers and writers, inspiring and conducting the genuine reforms of the day; everywhere exerting themselves to promote the best interests of society; yet they have been uniformly ridiculed, misrepresented, and denounced in public and private by all classes of society. woman's political equality with man is the legitimate outgrowth of the fundamental principles of our government, clearly set forth in the declaration of independence in , in the united states constitution adopted in , in the prolonged debates on the origin of human rights in the anti-slavery conflict in , and in the more recent discussions of the party in power since , on the th, th, and th amendments to the national constitution; and the majority of our leading statesmen have taken the ground that suffrage is a natural right that may be regulated, but can not be abolished by state law. under the influence of these liberal principles of republicanism that pervades all classes of american minds, however vaguely, if suddenly called out, they might be stated, woman readily perceives the anomalous position she occupies in a republic, where the government and religion alike are based on individual conscience and judgment--where the natural rights of all citizens have been exhaustively discussed, and repeatedly declared equal. from the inauguration of the government, representative women have expostulated against the inconsistencies between our principles and practices as a nation. beginning with special grievances, woman's protests soon took a larger scope. having petitioned state legislatures to change the statutes that robbed her of children, wages, and property, she demanded that the constitutions--state and national--be so amended as to give her a voice in the laws, a choice in the rulers, and protection in the exercise of her rights as a citizen of the united states. while the laws affecting woman's civil rights have been greatly improved during the past thirty years, the political demand has made but a questionable progress, though it must be counted as the chief influence in modifying the laws. the selfishness of man was readily enlisted in securing woman's civil rights, while the same element in his character antagonized her demand for political equality. fathers who had estates to bequeath to their daughters could see the advantage of securing to woman certain property rights that might limit the legal power of profligate husbands. husbands in extensive business operations could see the advantage of allowing the wife the right to hold separate property, settled on her in time of prosperity, that might not be seized for his debts. hence in the several states able men championed these early measures. but political rights, involving in their last results equality everywhere, roused all the antagonism of a dominant power, against the self-assertion of a class hitherto subservient. men saw that with political equality for woman, they could no longer keep her in social subordination, and "the majority of the male sex," says john stuart mill, "can not yet tolerate the idea of living with an equal." the fear of a social revolution thus complicated the discussion. the church, too, took alarm, knowing that with the freedom and education acquired in becoming a component part of the government, woman would not only outgrow the power of the priesthood, and religious superstitions, but would also invade the pulpit, interpret the bible anew from her own stand-point, and claim an equal voice in all ecclesiastical councils. with fierce warnings and denunciations from the pulpit, and false interpretations of scripture, women have been intimidated and misled, and their religious feelings have been played upon for their more complete subjugation. while the general principles of the bible are in favor of the most enlarged freedom and equality of the race, isolated texts have been used to block the wheels of progress in all periods; thus bigots have defended capital punishment, intemperance, slavery, polygamy, and the subjection of woman. the creeds of all nations make obedience to man the corner-stone of her religious character. fortunately, however, more liberal minds are now giving us higher and purer expositions of the scriptures. as the social and religious objections appeared against the demand for political rights, the discussion became many-sided, contradictory, and as varied as the idiosyncrasies of individual character. some said, "man is woman's natural protector, and she can safely trust him to make laws for her." she might with fairness reply, as he uniformly robbed her of all property rights to , he can not safely be trusted with her personal rights in , though the fact that he did make some restitution at last, might modify her distrust in the future. however, the calendars of our courts still show that fathers deal unjustly with daughters, husbands with wives, brothers with sisters, and sons with their own mothers. though woman needs the protection of one man against his whole sex, in pioneer life, in threading her way through a lonely forest, on the highway, or in the streets of the metropolis on a dark night, she sometimes needs, too, the protection of all men against this one. but even if she could be sure, as she is not, of the ever-present, all-protecting power of one strong arm, that would be weak indeed compared with the subtle, all-pervading influence of just and equal laws for all women. hence woman's need of the ballot, that she may hold in her own right hand the weapon of self-protection and self-defense. again it is said: "the women who make the demand are few in number, and their feelings and opinions are abnormal, and therefore of no weight in considering the aggregate judgment on the question." the number is larger than appears on the surface, for the fear of public ridicule, and the loss of private favors from those who shelter, feed, and clothe them, withhold many from declaring their opinions and demanding their rights. the ignorance and indifference of the majority of women, as to their status as citizens of a republic, is not remarkable, for history shows that the masses of all oppressed classes, in the most degraded conditions, have been stolid and apathetic until partial success had crowned the faith and enthusiasm of the few. the insurrections on southern plantations were always defeated by the doubt and duplicity of the slaves themselves. that little band of heroes who precipitated the american revolution in were so ostracised that they walked the streets with bowed heads, from a sense of loneliness and apprehension. woman's apathy to the wrongs of her sex, instead of being a plea for her remaining in her present condition, is the strongest argument against it. how completely demoralized by her subjection must she be, who does not feel her personal dignity assailed when all women are ranked in every state constitution with idiots, lunatics, criminals, and minors; when in the name of justice, man holds one scale for woman, another for himself; when by the spirit and letter of the laws she is made responsible for crimes committed against her, while the male criminal goes free; when from altars where she worships no woman may preach; when in the courts, where girls of tender age may be arraigned for the crime of infanticide, she may not plead for the most miserable of her sex; when colleges she is taxed to build and endow, deny her the right to share in their advantages; when she finds that which should be her glory--her possible motherhood--treated everywhere by man as a disability and a crime! a woman insensible to such indignities needs some transformation into nobler thought, some purer atmosphere to breathe, some higher stand-point from which to study human rights. it is said, "the difference between the sexes indicates different spheres." it would be nearer the truth to say the difference indicates different duties in the same sphere, seeing that man and woman were evidently made for each other, and have shown equal capacity in the ordinary range of human duties. in governing nations, leading armies, piloting ships across the sea, rowing life-boats in terrific gales; in art, science, invention, literature, woman has proved herself the complement of man in the world of thought and action. this difference does not compel us to spread our tables with different food for man and woman, nor to provide in our common schools a different course of study for boys and girls. sex pervades all nature, yet the male and female tree and vine and shrub rejoice in the same sunshine and shade. the earth and air are free to all the fruits and flowers, yet each absorbs what best ensures its growth. but whatever it is, it requires no special watchfulness on our part to see that it is maintained. this plea, when closely analyzed, is generally found to mean woman's inferiority. the superiority of man, however, does not enter into the demand for suffrage, for in this country all men vote; and as the lower orders of men are not superior, either by nature or grace, to the higher orders of women, they must hold and exercise the right of self-government on some other ground than superiority to women. again it is said, "woman when independent and self-asserting will lose her influence over man." in the happiest conditions in life, men and women will ever be mutually dependent on each other. the complete development of all woman's powers will not make her less capable of steadfast love and friendship, but give her new strength to meet the emergencies of life, to aid those who look to her for counsel and support. men are uniformly more attentive to women of rank, family, and fortune, who least need their care, than to any other class. we do not see their protecting love generally extending to the helpless and unfortunate ones of earth. wherever the skilled hands and cultured brain of woman have made the battle of life easier for man, he has readily pardoned her sound judgment and proper self-assertion. but the prejudices and preferences of man should be a secondary consideration, in presence of the individual happiness and freedom of woman. the formation of her character and its influence on the human race, is a larger question than man's personal liking. there is no fear, however, that when a superior order of women shall grace the earth, there will not be an order of men to match them, and influence over such minds will atone for the loss of it elsewhere. an honest fear is sometimes expressed "that woman would degrade politics, and politics would degrade woman." as the influence of woman has been uniformly elevating in new civilizations, in missionary work in heathen nations, in schools, colleges, literature, and in general society, it is fair to suppose that politics would prove no exception. on the other hand, as the art of government is the most exalted of all sciences, and statesmanship requires the highest order of mind, the ennobling and refining influence of such pursuits must elevate rather than degrade woman. when politics degenerate into bitter persecutions and vulgar court-gossip, they are degrading to man, and his honor, virtue, dignity, and refinement are as valuable to woman as her virtues, are to him. again, it is said, "those who make laws must execute them; government needs force behind it,--a woman could not be sheriff or a policeman." she might not fill these offices in the way men do, but she might far more effectively guard the morals of society, and the sanitary conditions of our cities. it might with equal force be said that a woman of culture and artistic taste can not keep house, because she can not wash and iron with her own hands, and clean the range and furnace. at the head of the police, a woman could direct her forces and keep order without ever using a baton or a pistol in her own hands. "the elements of sovereignty," says blackstone, "are three: wisdom, goodness, and power." conceding to woman wisdom and goodness, as they are not strictly masculine virtues, and substituting moral power for physical force, we have the necessary elements of government for most of life's emergencies. women manage families, mixed schools, charitable institutions, large boarding-houses and hotels, farms and steam-engines, drunken and disorderly men and women, and stop street fights, as well as men do. the queens in history compare favorably with the kings. but, "in the settlement of national difficulties," it is said, "the last resort is war; shall we summon our wives and mothers to the battle-field?" women have led armies in all ages, have held positions in the army and navy for years in disguise. some fought, bled, and died on the battle-field in our late war. they performed severe labors in the hospitals and sanitary department. wisdom would dictate a division of labor in war as well as in peace, assigning each their appropriate department. numerous classes of men who enjoy their political rights are exempt from military duty. all men over forty-five, all who suffer mental or physical disability, such as the loss of an eye or a forefinger; clergymen, physicians, quakers, school-teachers, professors, and presidents of colleges, judges, legislators, congressmen, state prison officials, and all county, state and national officers; fathers, brothers, or sons having certain relatives dependent on them for support,--all of these summed up in every state in the union make millions of voters thus exempted. in view of this fact there is no force in the plea, that "if women vote they must fight." moreover, war is not the normal state of the human family in its higher development, but merely a feature of barbarism lasting on through the transition of the race, from the savage to the scholar. when england and america settled the alabama claims by the geneva arbitration, they pointed the way for the future adjustment of all national difficulties. some fear, "if women assume all the duties political equality implies, that the time and attention necessary to the duties of home life will be absorbed in the affairs of state." the act of voting occupies but little time in itself, and the vast majority of women will attend to their family and social affairs to the neglect of the state, just as men do to their individual interests. the virtue of patriotism is subordinate in most souls to individual and family aggrandizement. as to offices, it is not to be supposed that the class of men now elected will resign to women their chances, and if they should to any extent, the necessary number of women to fill the offices would make no apparent change in our social circles. if, for example, the senate of the united states should be entirely composed of women, but two in each state would be withdrawn from the pursuit of domestic happiness. for many reasons, under all circumstances, a comparatively smaller proportion of women than men would actively engage in politics. as the power to extend or limit the suffrage rests now wholly in the hands of man, he can commence the experiment with as small a number as he sees fit, by requiring any lawful qualification. men were admitted on property and educational qualifications in most of the states, at one time, and still are in some--so hard has it been for man to understand the theory of self-government. three-fourths of the women would be thus disqualified, and the remaining fourth would be too small a minority to precipitate a social revolution or defeat masculine measures in the halls of legislation, even if women were a unit on all questions and invariably voted together, which they would not. in this view, the path of duty is plain for the prompt action of those gentlemen who fear universal suffrage for women, but are willing to grant it on property and educational qualifications. while those who are governed by the law of expediency should give the measure of justice they deem safe, let those who trust the absolute right proclaim the higher principle in government, "equal rights to all." many seeming obstacles in the way of woman's enfranchisement will be surmounted by reforms in many directions. co-operative labor and co-operative homes will remove many difficulties in the way of woman's success as artisan and housekeeper, when admitted to the governing power. the varied forms of progress, like parallel lines, move forward simultaneously in the same direction. each reform, at its inception, seems out of joint with all its surroundings; but the discussion changes the conditions, and brings them in line with the new idea. the isolated household is responsible for a large share of woman's ignorance and degradation. a mind always in contact with children and servants, whose aspirations and ambitions rise no higher than the roof that shelters it, is necessarily dwarfed in its proportions. the advantages to the few whose fortunes enable them to make the isolated household a more successful experiment, can not outweigh the difficulties of the many who are wholly sacrificed to its maintenance. quite as many false ideas prevail as to woman's true position in the home as to her status elsewhere. womanhood is the great fact in her life; wifehood and motherhood are but incidental relations. governments legislate for men; we do not have one code for bachelors, another for husbands and fathers; neither have the social relations of women any significance in their demands for civil and political rights. custom and philosophy, in regard to woman's happiness, are alike based on the idea that her strongest social sentiment is love of children; that in this relation her soul finds complete satisfaction. but the love of offspring, common to all orders of women and all forms of animal life, tender and beautiful as it is, can not as a sentiment rank with conjugal love. the one calls out only the negative virtues that belong to apathetic classes, such as patience, endurance, self-sacrifice, exhausting the brain-forces, ever giving, asking nothing in return; the other, the outgrowth of the two supreme powers in nature, the positive and negative magnetism, the centrifugal and centripetal forces, the masculine and feminine elements, possessing the divine power of creation, in the universe of thought and action. two pure souls fused into one by an impassioned love--friends, counselors--a mutual support and inspiration to each other amid life's struggles, must know the highest human happiness;--this is marriage; and this is the only corner-stone of an enduring home. neither does ordinary motherhood, assumed without any high purpose or preparation, compare in sentiment with the lofty ambition and conscientious devotion of the artist whose pure children of the brain in poetry, painting, music, and science are ever beckoning her upward into an ideal world of beauty. they who give the world a true philosophy, a grand poem, a beautiful painting or statue, or can tell the story of every wandering star; a george eliot, a rosa bonheur, an elizabeth barrett browning, a maria mitchell--whose blood has flowed to the higher arches of the brain,--have lived to a holier purpose than they whose children are of the flesh alone, into whose minds they have breathed no clear perceptions of great principles, no moral aspiration, no spiritual life. her rights are as completely ignored in what is adjudged to be woman's sphere as out of it; the woman is uniformly sacrificed to the wife and mother. neither law, gospel, public sentiment, nor domestic affection shield her from excessive and enforced maternity, depleting alike to mother and child;--all opportunity for mental improvement, health, happiness--yea, life itself, being ruthlessly sacrificed. the weazen, weary, withered, narrow-minded wife-mother of half a dozen children--her interests all centering at her fireside, forms a painful contrast in many a household to the liberal, genial, brilliant, cultured husband in the zenith of his power, who has never given one thought to the higher life, liberty, and happiness of the woman by his side; believing her self-abnegation to be nature's law. it is often asked, "if political equality would not rouse antagonisms between the sexes?" if it could be proved that men and women had been harmonious in all ages and countries, and that women were happy and satisfied in their slavery, one might hesitate in proposing any change whatever. but the apathy, the helpless, hopeless resignation of a subjected class can not be called happiness. the more complete the despotism, the more smoothly all things move on the surface. "order reigns in warsaw." in right conditions, the interests of man and woman are essentially one; but in false conditions, they must ever be opposed. the principle of equality of rights underlies all human sentiments, and its assertion by any individual or class must rouse antagonism, unless conceded. this has been the battle of the ages, and will be until all forms of slavery are banished from the earth. philosophers, historians, poets, novelists, alike paint woman the victim ever of man's power and selfishness. and now all writers on eastern civilization tell us, the one insurmountable obstacle to the improvement of society in those countries, is the ignorance and superstition of the women. stronger than the trammels of custom and law, is her religion, which teaches that her condition is heaven-ordained. as the most ignorant minds cling with the greatest tenacity to the dogmas and traditions of their faith, a reform that involves an attack on that stronghold can only be carried by the education of another generation. hence the self-assertion, the antagonism, the rebellion of woman, so much deplored in england and the united states, is the hope of our higher civilization. a woman growing up under american ideas of liberty in government and religion, having never blushed behind a turkish mask, nor pressed her feet in chinese shoes, can not brook any disabilities based on sex alone, without a deep feeling of antagonism with the power that creates it. the change needed to restore good feeling can not be reached by remanding woman to the spinning-wheel, and the contentment of her grandmother, but by conceding to her every right which the spirit of the age demands. modern inventions have banished the spinning-wheel, and the same law of progress makes the woman of to-day a different woman from her grandmother. with these brief replies to the oft-repeated objections made by the opposition, we hope to rouse new thoughts in minds prepared to receive them. that equal rights for woman have not long ago been secured, is due to causes beyond the control of the actors in this reform. "the success of a movement," says lecky, "depends much less upon the force of its arguments, or upon the ability of its advocates, than the predisposition of society to receive it." chapter i. preceding causes. as civilization advances there is a continual change in the standard of human rights. in barbarous ages the right of the strongest was the only one recognized; but as mankind progressed in the arts and sciences intellect began to triumph over brute force. change is a law of life, and the development of society a natural growth. although to this law we owe the discoveries of unknown worlds, the inventions of machinery, swifter modes of travel, and clearer ideas as to the value of human life and thought, yet each successive change has met with the most determined opposition. fortunately, progress is not the result of pre-arranged plans of individuals, but is born of a fortuitous combination of circumstances that compel certain results, overcoming the natural inertia of mankind. there is a certain enjoyment in habitual sluggishness; in rising each morning with the same ideas as the night before; in retiring each night with the thoughts of the morning. this inertia of mind and body has ever held the multitude in chains. thousands have thus surrendered their most sacred rights of conscience. in all periods of human development, thinking has been punished as a crime, which is reason sufficient to account for the general passive resignation of the masses to their conditions and environments. again, "subjection to the powers that be" has been the lesson of both church and state, throttling science, checking invention, crushing free thought, persecuting and torturing those who have dared to speak or act outside of established authority. anathemas and the stake have upheld the church, banishment and the scaffold the throne, and the freedom of mankind has ever been sacrificed to the idea of protection. so entirely has the human will been enslaved in all classes of society in the past, that monarchs have humbled themselves to popes, nations have knelt at the feet of monarchs, and individuals have sold themselves to others under the subtle promise of "protection"--a word that simply means release from all responsibility, all use of one's own faculties--a word that has ever blinded people to its true significance. under authority and this false promise of "protection," self-reliance, the first incentive to freedom, has not only been lost, but the aversion of mankind for responsibility has been fostered by the few, whose greater bodily strength, superior intellect, or the inherent law of self-development has impelled to active exertion. obedience and self-sacrifice--the virtues prescribed for subordinate classes, and which naturally grow out of their condition--are alike opposed to the theory of individual rights and self-government. but as even the inertia of mankind is not proof against the internal law of progress, certain beliefs have been inculcated, certain crimes invented, in order to intimidate the masses. hence, the church made free thought the worst of sins, and the spirit of inquiry the worst of blasphemies; while the state proclaimed her temporal power of divine origin, and all rebellion high treason alike to god and the king, to be speedily and severely punished. in this union of church and state mankind touched the lowest depth of degradation. as late as the time of bunyan the chief doctrine inculcated from the pulpit was obedience to the temporal power. all these influences fell with crushing weight on woman; more sensitive, helpless, and imaginative, she suffered a thousand fears and wrongs where man did one. lecky, in his "history of rationalism in europe," shows that the vast majority of the victims of fanaticism and witchcraft, burned, drowned, and tortured, were women. guizot, in his "history of civilization," while decrying the influence of caste in india, and deploring it as the result of barbarism, thanks god there is no system of caste in europe; ignoring the fact that in all its dire and baneful effects, the caste of sex everywhere exists, creating diverse codes of morals for men and women, diverse penalties for crime, diverse industries, diverse religions and educational rights, and diverse relations to the government. men are the brahmins, women the pariahs, under our existing civilization. herbert spencer's "descriptive sociology of england," an epitome of english history, says: "our laws are based on the all-sufficiency of man's rights, and society exists to-day for woman only in so far as she is in the keeping of some man." thus society, including our systems of jurisprudence, civil and political theories, trade, commerce, education, religion, friendships, and family life, have all been framed on the sole idea of man's rights. hence, he takes upon himself the responsibility of directing and controlling the powers of woman, under that all-sufficient excuse of tyranny, "divine right." this same cry of divine authority created the castes of india; has for ages separated its people into bodies, with different industrial, educational, civil, religious, and political rights; has maintained this separation for the benefit of the superior class, and sedulously taught the doctrine that any change in existing conditions would be a sin of most direful magnitude. the opposition of theologians, though first to be exhibited when any change is proposed, for reason that change not only takes power from them, but lessens the reverence of mankind for them, is not in its final result so much to be feared as the opposition of those holding political power. the church, knowing this, has in all ages aimed to connect itself with the state. political freedom guarantees religious liberty, freedom to worship god according to the dictates of one's own conscience, fosters a spirit of inquiry, creates self-reliance, induces a feeling of responsibility. the people who demand authority for every thought and action, who look to others for wisdom and protection, are those who perpetuate tyranny. the thinkers and actors who find their authority within, are those who inaugurate freedom. obedience to outside authority to which woman has everywhere been trained, has not only dwarfed her capacity, but made her a retarding force in civilization, recognized at last by statesmen as a dangerous element to free institutions. a recent writer, speaking of turkey, says: "all attempts for the improvement of that nation must prove futile, owing to the degradation of its women; and their elevation is hopeless so long as they are taught by their religion that their condition is ordained of heaven." gladstone, in one of his pamphlets on the revival of catholicism in england, says: "the spread of this religion is due, as might be expected, to woman;" thus conceding in both cases her power to block the wheels of progress. hence, in the scientific education of woman, in the training of her faculties to independent thought and logical reasoning, lies the hope of the future. the two great sources of progress are intellect and wealth. both represent power, and are the elements of success in life. education frees the mind from the bondage of authority and makes the individual self-asserting. remunerative industry is the means of securing to its possessor wealth and education, transforming the laborer to the capitalist. work in itself is not power; it is but the means to an end. the slave is not benefited by his industry; he does not receive the results of his toil; his labor enriches another--adds to the power of his master to bind his chains still closer. although woman has performed much of the labor of the world, her industry and economy have been the very means of increasing her degradation. not being free, the results of her labor have gone to build up and sustain the very class that has perpetuated this injustice. even in the family, where we should naturally look for the truest conditions, woman has always been robbed of the fruits of her own toil. the influence the catholic church has had on religious free thought, that monarchies have had on political free thought, that serfdom has had upon free labor, have all been cumulative in the family upon woman. taught that father and husband stood to her in the place of god, she has been denied liberty of conscience, and held in obedience to masculine will. taught that the fruits of her industry belonged to others, she has seen man enter into every avocation most suitable to her, while she, the uncomplaining drudge of the household, condemned to the severest labor, has been systematically robbed of her earnings, which have gone to build up her master's power, and she has found herself in the condition of the slave, deprived of the results of her own labor. taught that education for her was indelicate and irreligious, she has been kept in such gross ignorance as to fall a prey to superstition, and to glory in her own degradation. taught that a low voice is an excellent thing in woman, she has been trained to a subjugation of the vocal organs, and thus lost the benefit of loud tones and their well-known invigoration of the system. forbidden to run, climb, or jump, her muscles have been weakened, and her strength deteriorated. confined most of the time to the house, she has neither as strong lungs nor as vigorous a digestion as her brother. forbidden to enter the pulpit, she has been trained to an unquestioning reverence for theological authority and false belief upon the most vital interests of religion. forbidden the medical profession, she has at the most sacred times of her life been left to the ignorant supervision of male physicians, and seen her young children die by thousands. forbidden to enter the courts, she has seen her sex unjustly tried and condemned for crimes men were incapable of judging. woman has been the great unpaid laborer of the world, and although within the last two decades a vast number of new employments have been opened to her, statistics prove that in the great majority of these, she is not paid according to the value of the work done, but according to sex. the opening of all industries to woman, and the wage question as connected with her, are most subtle and profound questions of political economy, closely interwoven with the rights of self-government. the revival of learning had its influence upon woman, and we find in the early part of the fourteenth century a decided tendency toward a recognition of her equality. christine of pisa, the most eminent woman of this period, supported a family of six persons by her pen, taking high ground on the conservation of morals in opposition to the general licentious spirit of the age. margaret of angoulême, the brilliant queen of navarre, was a voluminous writer, her heptaméron rising to the dignity of a french classic. a paper in the _revue des deux mondes_, a few years since, by m. henri baudrillart, upon the "emancipation of woman," recalls the fact that for nearly four hundred years, men, too, have been ardent believers in equal rights for woman. in , cornelius agrippa, a great literary authority of his time, published a work of this character. agrippa was not content with claiming woman's equality, but in a work of thirty chapters devoted himself to proving "the superiority of woman." in less than fifty years ( ) ruscelli brought out a similar work based on the platonic philosophy. in , anthony gibson wrote a book which in the prolix phraseology of the times was called, "a woman's worth defended against all the men in the world, proving to be more perfect, excellent, and absolute, in all virtuous actions, than any man of what quality soever." while these sturdy male defenders of the rights of woman met with many opponents, some going so far as to assert that women were beings not endowed with reason, they were sustained by many vigorous writers among women. italy, then the foremost literary country of europe, possessed many women of learning, one of whom, lucrezia morinella, a venetian lady, wrote a work entitled, "the nobleness and excellence of women, together with the faults and imperfections of men." the seventeenth century gave birth to many essays and books of a like character, not confined to the laity, as several friars wrote upon the same subject. in , daniel de foe wished to have an institute founded for the better education of young women. he said: "we reproach the sex every day for folly and impertinence, while i am confident had they the advantages of education equal to us, they would be guilty of less than ourselves." alexander's history of women, john paul ribera's work upon women, the two huge quartos of de costa upon the same subject, count ségur's "women: their condition and influence," and many other works showed the drift of the new age. the reformation, that great revolution in religious thought, loosened the grasp of the church upon woman, and is to be looked upon as one of the most important steps in this reform. in the reign of elizabeth, england was called the paradise of women. when elizabeth ascended the throne, it was not only as queen, but she succeeded her father as the head of the newly-formed rebellious church, and she held firm grasp on both church and state during the long years of her reign, bending alike priest and prelate to her fiery will. the reign of queen anne, called the golden age of english literature, is especially noticeable on account of mary astell and elizabeth elstob. the latter, speaking nine languages, was most famous for her skill in the saxon tongue. she also replied to current objections made to woman's learning. mary astell elaborated a plan for a woman's college, which was favorably received by queen anne, and would have been carried out, but for the opposition of bishop burnett. during the latter part of the eighteenth century, there were public discussions by women in england, under the general head of female parliament. these discussions took wide range, touching upon the entrance of men into those industries usually assigned to women, and demanding for themselves higher educational advantages, and the right to vote at elections, and to be returned members of parliament. the american revolution, that great political rebellion of the ages, was based upon the inherent rights of the individual. perhaps in none but english colonies, by descendants of english parents, could such a revolution have been consummated. england had never felt the bonds of feudalism to the extent of many countries; its people had defied its monarchs and wrested from them many civil rights, rights which protected women as well as men, and although its common law, warped by ecclesiasticism, expended its chief rigors upon women, yet at an early day they enjoyed certain ecclesiastical and political powers unknown to women elsewhere. before the conquest, abbesses sat in councils of the church and signed its decrees; while kings were even dependent upon their consent in granting certain charters. the synod of whitby, in the ninth century, was held in the convent of the abbess hilda, she herself presiding over its deliberations. the famous prophetess of kent at one period communicated the orders of heaven to the pope himself. ladies of birth and quality sat in council with the saxon witas--_i.e._, wise men--taking part in the witenagemot, the great national council of our saxon ancestors in england. in the seventh century this national council met at baghamstead to enact a new code of laws, the queen, abbesses, and many ladies of quality taking part and signing the decrees. passing by other similar instances, we find in the reign of henry iii, that four women took seats in parliament, and in the reign of edward i. ten ladies were called to parliament, while in the thirteenth century, queen elinor became keeper of the great seal, sitting as lord chancellor in the _aula regia_, the highest court of the kingdom. running back two or three centuries before the christian era, we find martia, her seat of power in london, holding the reins of government so wisely as to receive the surname of proba, the just. she especially devoted herself to the enactment of just laws for her subjects, the first principles of the common law tracing back to her; the celebrated laws of alfred, and of edward the confessor, being in great degree restorations and compilations from the laws of martia, which were known as the "martian statutes." when the american colonies began their resistance to english tyranny, the women--all this inherited tendency to freedom surging in their veins--were as active, earnest, determined, and self-sacrificing as the men, and although, as mrs. ellet in her "women of the revolution" remarks, "political history says but little, and that vaguely and incidentally, of the women who bore their part in the revolution," yet that little shows woman to have been endowed with as lofty a patriotism as man, and to have as fully understood the principles upon which the struggle was based. among the women who manifested deep political insight, were mercy otis warren, abigail smith adams, and hannah lee corbin; all closely related to the foremost men of the revolution. mrs. warren was a sister of james otis, whose fiery words did so much to arouse and intensify the feelings of the colonists against british aggression. this brother and sister were united to the end of their lives in a friendship rendered firm and enduring by the similarity of their intellects and political views. the home of mrs. warren was the resort of patriotic spirits and the headquarters of the rebellion. she herself wrote, "by the plymouth fireside were many political plans organized, discussed, and digested." her correspondence with eminent men of the revolution was extensive and belongs to the history of the country. she was the first one who based the struggle upon "inherent rights," a phrase afterward made the corner-stone of political authority. mrs. warren asserted that "'inherent rights' belonged to all mankind, and had been conferred on all by the god of nations." she numbered jefferson among her correspondents, and the declaration of independence shows the influence of her mind. among others who sought her counsel upon political matters were samuel and john adams, dickinson, that pure patriot of pennsylvania, jefferson, gerry, and knox. she was the first person who counseled separation and pressed those views upon john adams, when he sought her advice before the opening of the first congress. at that time even washington had no thought of the final independence of the colonies, emphatically denying such intention or desire on their part, and john adams was shunned in the streets of philadelphia for having dared to hint such a possibility. mrs. warren sustained his sinking courage and urged him to bolder steps. her advice was not only sought in every emergency, but political parties found their arguments in her conversation. mrs. warren looked not to the freedom of man alone, but to that of her own sex also. england itself had at least one woman who watched the struggle of america with lively interest, and whose writings aided in the dissemination of republican ideas. this was the celebrated catharine sawbridge macaulay, one of the greatest minds england has ever produced--a woman so noted for her republican ideas that after her death a statue was erected to her as the "patroness of liberty." during the whole of the revolutionary period, washington was in correspondence with mrs. macaulay, who did much to sustain him during those days of trial. she and mrs. warren were also correspondents at that time. she wrote several works of a republican character, for home influence; among these, in . "an address to the people of england, scotland, and ireland, on the present important crisis of affairs," designed to show the justice of the american cause. the gratitude american's feel toward edmund burke for his aid, might well be extended to mrs. macaulay. abigail smith adams, the wife of john adams, was an american woman whose political insight was worthy of remark. she early protested against the formation of a new government in which woman should be unrecognized, demanding for her a voice and representation. she was the first american woman who threatened rebellion unless the rights of her sex were secured. in march, , she wrote to her husband, then in the continental congress, "i long to hear you have declared an independency, and, by the way, in the new code of laws which i suppose it will be necessary for you to make, i desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. if particular care and attention are not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound to obey any laws in which we have no voice or representation." again and again did mrs. adams urge the establishment of an independency and the limitation of man's power over woman, declaring all arbitrary power dangerous and tending to revolution. nor was she less mindful of equal advantages of education. "if you complain of education in sons, what shall i say in regard to daughters, who every day experience the want of it?" she expressed a strong wish that the new constitution might be distinguished for its encouragement of learning and virtue. nothing more fully shows the dependent condition of a class than the methods used to secure their wishes. mrs. adams felt herself obliged to appeal to masculine selfishness in showing the reflex action woman's education would have upon man. "if," said she, "we mean to have heroes, statesmen, and philosophers, we should have learned women." thus did the revolutionary mothers urge the recognition of equal rights when the government was in the process of formation. although the first plot of ground in the united states for a public school had been given by a woman (bridget graffort), in , her sex were denied admission. mrs. adams, as well as her friend mrs. warren, had in their own persons felt the deprivations of early educational advantages. the boasted public school system of massachusetts, created for boys only, opened at last its doors to girls, merely to secure its share of public money. the women of the south, too, early demanded political equality. the counties of mecklenberg and rowan, north carolina, were famous for the patriotism of their women. mecklenberg claims to have issued the first declaration of independence, and, at the centennial celebration of this event in may, , proudly accepted for itself the derisive name given this region by tarleton's officers, "the hornet's nest of america." this name--first bestowed by british officers upon mrs. brevard's mansion, then tarleton's headquarters, where that lady's fiery patriotism and stinging wit discomfited this general in many a sally--was at last held to include the whole county. in , only two years after the declaration of independence was adopted, and while the flames of war were still spreading over the country, hannah lee corbin, of virginia, the sister of general richard henry lee, wrote him, protesting against the taxation of women unless they were allowed to vote. he replied that "women were already possessed of that right," thus recognizing the fact of woman's enfranchisement as one of the results of the new government, and it is on record that women in virginia did at an early day exercise the right of voting. new jersey also specifically secured this right to women on the d of july, --a right exercised by them for more than a third of a century. thus our country started into governmental life freighted with the protests of the revolutionary mothers against being ruled without their consent. from that hour to the present, women have been continually raising their voices against political tyranny, and demanding for themselves equality of opportunity in every department of life. in , mary wollstonecraft's "vindication of the rights of women," published in london, attracted much attention from liberal minds. she examined the position of woman in the light of existing civilizations, and demanded for her the widest opportunities of education, industry, political knowledge, and the right of representation. although her work is filled with maxims of the highest morality and purest wisdom, it called forth such violent abuse, that her husband appealed for her from the judgment of her contemporaries to that of mankind. so exalted were her ideas of woman, so comprehensive her view of life, that margaret fuller, in referring to her, said: "mary wollstonecraft--a woman whose existence proved the need of some new interpretation of woman's rights, belonging to that class who by birth find themselves in places so narrow that, by breaking bonds, they become outlaws." following her, came jane marcet, eliza lynn, and harriet martineau--each of whom in the early part of the nineteenth century, exerted a decided influence upon the political thought of england. mrs. marcet was one of the most scientific and highly cultivated persons of the age. her "conversations on chemistry," familiarized that science both in england and america, and from it various male writers filched their ideas. it was a text-book in this country for many years. over one hundred and sixty thousand copies were sold, though the fact that this work emanated from the brain of a woman was carefully withheld. mrs. marcet also wrote upon political economy, and was the first person who made the subject comprehensive to the popular mind. her manner of treating it was so clear and vivid, that the public, to whom it had been a hidden science, were able to grasp the subject. her writings were the inspiration of harriet martineau, who followed her in the same department of thought at a later period. miss martineau was a remarkable woman. besides her numerous books on political economy, she was a regular contributor to the london _daily news_, the second paper in circulation in england, for many years writing five long articles weekly, also to dickens' _household words_, and the _westminster review_. she saw clearly the spirit and purpose of the anti-slavery movement in this country, and was a regular contributor to the _national anti-slavery standard_, published in new york. eliza lynn, an irish lady, was at this time writing leading editorials for political papers. in russia, catharine ii., the absolute and irresponsible ruler of that vast nation, gave utterance to views, of which, says la harpe, the revolutionists of france and america fondly thought themselves the originators. she caused her grandchildren to be educated into the most liberal ideas, and russia was at one time the only country in europe where political refugees could find safety. to catharine, russia is indebted for the first proposition to enfranchise the serfs, but meeting strong opposition she was obliged to relinquish this idea, which was carried to fruition by her great-grandson, alexander. this period of the eighteenth century was famous for the executions of women on account of their radical political opinions, madame roland, the leader of the liberal party in france, going to the guillotine with the now famous words upon her lips, "oh, liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!" the beautiful charlotte corday sealed with her life her belief in liberty, while sophia lapiérre barely escaped the same fate; though two men, siéyes and condorcét, in the midst of the french revolution, proposed the recognition of woman's political rights. frances wright, a person of extraordinary powers of mind, born in dundee, scotland, in , was the first woman who gave lectures on political subjects in america. when sixteen years of age she heard of the existence of a country in which freedom for the people had been proclaimed; she was filled with joy and a determination to visit the american republic where the foundations of justice, liberty, and equality had been so securely laid. in she came here, traveling extensively north and south. she was at that time but twenty-two years of age. her letters gave europeans the first true knowledge of america, and secured for her the friendship of lafayette. upon her second visit she made this country her home for several years. her radical ideas on theology, slavery, and the social degradation of woman, now generally accepted by the best minds of the age, were then denounced by both press and pulpit, and maintained by her at the risk of her life. although the government of the united states was framed on the basis of entire separation of church and state, yet from an early day the theological spirit had striven to unite the two, in order to strengthen the church by its union with the civil power. as early as , the standard of "the christian party in politics" was openly unfurled. frances wright had long been aware of its insidious efforts, and its reliance upon women for its support. ignorant, superstitious, devout, woman's general lack of education made her a fitting instrument for the work of thus undermining the republic. having deprived her of her just rights, the country was new to find in woman its most dangerous foe. frances wright lectured that winter in the large cities of the west and middle states, striving to rouse the nation to the new danger which threatened it. the clergy at once became her most bitter opponents. the cry of "infidel" was started on every side, though her work was of vital importance to the country and undertaken from the purest philanthropy. in speaking of her persecutions she said: "the injury and inconvenience of every kind and every hour to which, in these days, a really consistent reformer stands exposed, none can conceive but those who experience them. such become, as it were, excommunicated after the fashion of the old catholic mother church, removed even from the protection of law, such as it is, and from the sympathy of society, for whose sake they consent to be crucified." among those who were advocating the higher education of women, mrs. emma willard became noted at this period. born with a strong desire for learning, she keenly felt the educational disadvantages of her sex. she began teaching at an early day, introducing new studies and new methods in her school, striving to secure public interest in promoting woman's education. governor clinton, of new york, impressed with the wisdom of her plans, invited her to move her school from connecticut to new york. she accepted, and in established a school in watervleit, which soon moved to troy, and in time built up a great reputation. through the influence of governor clinton, the legislature granted a portion of the educational fund to endow this institution, which was the first instance in the united states of government aid for the education of women. amos b. eaton, professor of the natural sciences in the rensselaer institute, troy, at this time, was mrs. willard's faithful friend and teacher. in the early days it was her custom, in introducing a new branch of learning into her seminary, to study it herself, reciting to professor eaton every evening the lesson of the next day. thus she went through botany, chemistry, mineralogy, astronomy, and the higher mathematics. as she could not afford teachers for these branches, with faithful study she fitted herself. mrs. willard's was the first girls' school in which the higher mathematics formed part of the course, but such was the prejudice against a liberal education for woman, that the first public examination of a girl in geometry ( ) created as bitter a storm of ridicule as has since assailed women who have entered the law, the pulpit, or the medical profession. the derision attendant upon the experiment of advancing woman's education, led governor clinton to say in his message to the legislature: "i trust you will not be deterred by commonplace ridicule from extending your munificence to this meritorious institution." at a school convention in syracuse, , mrs. willard suggested the employment of woman as superintendents of public schools, a measure since adopted in many states. she also projected the system of normal schools for the higher education of teachers. a scientific explorer as well as student, she wrote a work on the "motive power in the circulation of the blood," in contradiction to harvey's theory, which at once attracted the attention of medical men. this work was one of the then accumulating evidences of woman's adaptation to medical study. in ancient egypt the medical profession was in the hands of women, to which we may attribute that country's almost entire exemption from infantile diseases, a fact which recent discoveries fully authenticate. the enormous death-rate of young children in modern civilized countries may be traced to woman's general enforced ignorance of the laws of life, and to the fact that the profession of medicine has been too exclusively in the hands of men. though through the dim past we find women still making discoveries, and in the feudal ages possessing knowledge of both medicine and surgery, it is but recently that they have been welcomed as practitioners into the medical profession. looking back scarcely a hundred years, we find science much indebted to woman for some of its most brilliant discoveries. in , the first medical botany was given to the world by elizabeth blackwell, a woman physician, whom the persecutions of her male compeers had cast into jail for debt. as bunyan prepared his "pilgrim's progress" between prison walls, so did elizabeth blackwell, no-wise disheartened, prepare her valuable aid to medical science under the same conditions. lady montague's discovery of a check to the small-pox, madam boivin's discovery of the hidden cause of certain hemorrhages, madam de condrày's invention of the manikin, are among the notable steps which opened the way to the modern elizabeth blackwell, harriot k. hunt, clemence s. lozier, ann preston, hannah longshore, marie jackson, laura ross wolcott, marie zakrzewska, and mary putnam jacobi, who are some of the earlier distinguished american examples of woman's skill in the healing art. mary gove nichols gave public lectures upon anatomy in the united states in . paulina wright (davis) followed her upon physiology in , using a manikin in her illustrations.[ ] mariana johnson followed mrs. davis, but it was before elizabeth blackwell--the first woman to pass through the regular course of medical study--received her diploma at geneva.[ ] in - , preceding miss blackwell's course of study, dr. samuel gregory and his brother george issued pamphlets advocating the education and employment of women-physicians, and, in , dr. gregory delivered a series of lectures in boston upon that subject, followed in by a school numbering twelve ladies, and an association entitled the "american female medical education society." in , lydia maria child published her "history of woman," which was the first american storehouse of information upon the whole question, and undoubtedly increased the agitation. in , ernestine l. rose, a polish lady--banished from her native country by the austrian tyrant, francis joseph, for her love of liberty--came to america, lecturing in the large cities north and south upon the "science of government." she advocated the enfranchisement of woman. her beauty, wit, and eloquence drew crowded houses. about this period judge hurlbut, of new york, a leading member of the bar, wrote a vigorous work on "human rights,"[ ] in which he advocated political equality for women. this work attracted the attention of many legal minds throughout that state. in the winter of , a bill was introduced into the new york legislature by judge hertell, to secure to married women their rights of property. this bill was drawn up under the direction of hon. john savage, chief-justice of the supreme court, and hon. john c. spencer, one of the revisers of the statutes of new york. it was in furtherance of this bill that ernestine l. rose and paulina wright at that early day circulated petitions. the very few names they secured show the hopeless apathy and ignorance of the women as to their own rights. as similar bills[ ] were pending in new york until finally passed in , a great educational work was accomplished in the constant discussion of the topics involved. during the winters of - - , elizabeth cady stanton, living in albany, made the acquaintance of judge hurlbut and a large circle of lawyers and legislators, and, while exerting herself to strengthen their convictions in favor of the pending bill, she resolved at no distant day to call a convention for a full and free discussion of woman's rights and wrongs. in , sarah and angelina grimke, daughters of a wealthy planter of charleston, south carolina, emancipated their slaves and came north to lecture on the evils of slavery, leaving their home and native place forever because of their hatred of this wrong. angelina was a natural orator. fresh from the land of bondage, there was a fervor in her speech that electrified her hearers and drew crowds wherever she went. sarah published a book reviewing the bible arguments the clergy were then making in their pulpits to prove that the degradation of the slave and woman were alike in harmony with the expressed will of god. thus women from the beginning took an active part in the anti-slavery struggle. they circulated petitions, raised large sums of money by fairs, held prayer-meetings and conventions. in , angelina wrote an able letter to william lloyd garrison, immediately after the boston mob. these letters and appeals were considered very effective abolition documents. in may, , a national woman's anti-slavery convention was held in new york, in which eight states were represented by seventy-one delegates. the meetings were ably sustained through two days. the different sessions were opened by prayer and reading of the scriptures by the women themselves. a devout, earnest spirit prevailed. the debates, resolutions, speeches, and appeals were fully equal to those in any convention held by men of that period. angelina grimke was appointed by this convention to prepare an appeal for the slaves to the people of the free states, and a letter to john quincy adams thanking him for his services in defending the right of petition for women and slaves, qualified with the regret that by expressing himself "adverse to the abolition of slavery in the district of columbia," he did not sustain the cause of freedom and of god. she wrote a stirring appeal to the christian women of the south, urging them to use their influence against slavery. sarah also wrote an appeal to the clergy of the south, conjuring them to use their power for freedom. among those who took part in these conventions we find the names of lydia maria child, mary grove, henrietta sargent, sarah pugh, abby kelley, mary s. parker, of boston, who was president of the convention; anne webster, deborah shaw, martha storrs, mrs. a. l. cox, rebecca b. spring, and abigail hopper gibbons, a daughter of that noble quaker philanthropist, isaac t. hopper. abby kelley was the most untiring and the most persecuted of all the women who labored throughout the anti-slavery struggle. she traveled up and down, alike in winter's cold and summer's heat, with scorn, ridicule, violence, and mobs accompanying her, suffering all kinds of persecutions, still speaking whenever and wherever she gained an audience; in the open air, in school-house, barn, depot, church, or public hall; on week-day or sunday, as she found opportunity. for listening to her, on sunday, many men and women were expelled from their churches. thus through continued persecution was woman's self-assertion and self-respect sufficiently developed to prompt her at last to demand justice, liberty, and equality for herself. in , margaret fuller published an essay in the _dial_, entitled "the great lawsuit, or man _vs._ woman: woman _vs._ man." in this essay she demanded perfect equality for woman, in education, industry, and politics. it attracted great attention and was afterward expanded into a work entitled "woman in the nineteenth century." this, with her parlor conversations, on art, science, religion, politics, philosophy, and social life, gave a new impulse to woman's education as a thinker.[ ] "woman and her era," by eliza woodson farnham, was another work that called out a general discussion on the status of the sexes, mrs. farnham taking the ground of woman's superiority. the great social and educational work done by her in california, when society there was chiefly male, and rapidly tending to savagism, and her humane experiment in the sing sing (n. y.), state prison, assisted by georgiana bruce kirby and mariana johnson, are worthy of mention. in the state of new york, in , rev. samuel j. may preached a sermon at syracuse, upon "the eights and conditions of women," in which he sustained their right to take part in political life, saying women need not expect "to have their wrongs fully redressed, until they themselves have a voice and a hand in the enactment and administration of the laws." in , clarina howard nichols, in her husband's paper, addressed to the voters of the state of vermont a series of editorials, setting forth the injustice of the property disabilities of married women. in , lucretia mott published a discourse on woman, delivered in the assembly building, philadelphia, in answer to a lyceum lecture which richard h. dana, of boston, was giving in many of the chief cities, ridiculing the idea of political equality for woman. elizabeth wilson, of ohio, published a scriptural view of woman's rights and duties far in advance of the generally received opinions. at even an earlier day, martha bradstreet, of utica, plead her own case in the courts of new york, continuing her contest for many years. the temperance reform and the deep interest taken in it by women; the effective appeals they made, setting forth their wrongs as mother, wife, sister, and daughter of the drunkard, with a power beyond that of man, early gave them a local place on this platform as a favor, though denied as a right. delegates from woman's societies to state and national conventions invariably found themselves rejected. it was her early labors in the temperance cause that first roused susan b. anthony to a realizing sense of woman's social, civil, and political degradation, and thus secured her life-long labors for the enfranchisement of woman. in she made her first speech at a public meeting of the daughters of temperance in canajoharie, n. y. the same year antoinette l. brown, then a student at oberlin college, ohio, the first institution that made the experiment of co-education, delivered her first speech on temperance in several places in ohio, and on woman's rights, in the baptist church at henrietta, n. y. lucy stone, a graduate of oberlin, made her first speech on woman's rights the same year in her brother's church at brookfield, mass. nor were the women of europe inactive during these years. in elizabeth heyrick, a quaker woman, cut the gordian knot of difficulty in the anti-slavery struggle in england, by an able essay in favor of immediate, unconditional emancipation. at leipsic, in , helene marie weber--her father a prussian officer, and her mother an english woman--wrote a series of ten tracts on "woman's rights and wrongs," covering the whole question and making a volume of over twelve hundred pages. the first of these treated of the intellectual faculties; the second, woman's rights of property; the third, wedlock--deprecating the custom of woman merging her civil existence in that of her husband; the fourth claimed woman's right to all political emoluments; the fifth, on ecclesiasticism, demanded for woman an entrance to the pulpit; the sixth, upon suffrage, declared it to be woman's right and duty to vote. these essays were strong, vigorous, and convincing. miss weber also lectured in vienna, berlin, and several of the large german cities. in england, lady morgan's "woman and her master" appeared;--a work filled with philosophical reflections, and of the same general bearing as miss weber's. also an "appeal of women," the joint work of mrs. wheeler and william thomson--a strong and vigorous essay, in which woman's limitations under the law were tersely and pungently set forth and her political rights demanded. the active part women took in the polish and german revolutions and in favor of the abolition of slavery in the british west indies, all taught their lessons of woman's rights. madam mathilde anneke, on the staff of her husband, with hon. carl schurz, carried messages to and fro in the midst of danger on the battle-fields of germany. thus over the civilized world we find the same impelling forces, and general development of society, without any individual concert of action, tending to the same general result; alike rousing the minds of men and women to the aggregated wrongs of centuries and inciting to an effort for their overthrow. the works of george sand, frederika bremer, charlotte bronté, george eliot, catharine sedgwick, and harriet beecher stowe, in literature; mrs. hemans, mrs. sigourney, elizabeth barrett browning, in poetry; angelica kauffman, rosa bonheur, harriet hosmer, in art; mary somerville, caroline herschell, maria mitchell, in science; elizabeth fry, dorothea dix, mary carpenter, in prison reform; florence nightingale and clara barton in the camp--are all parts of the great uprising of women out of the lethargy of the past, and are among the forces of the complete revolution a thousand pens and voices herald at this hour. footnotes: [ ] as showing woman's ignorance and prejudice, mrs. davis used to relate that when she uncovered her manikin some ladies would drop their veils because of its indelicacy, and others would run from the room; sometimes ladies even fainted. [ ] the writer's father, a physician, as early as - , canvassed the subject of giving his daughter (matilda joslyn gage) a medical education, looking to geneva--then presided over by his old instructor--to open its doors to her. but this bold idea was dropped, and miss blackwell was the first and only lady who was graduated from that institution until its incorporation with the syracuse university and the removal of the college to that city. [ ] judge hurlbut, with a lawyer's prejudice, first prepared a paper against the rights of woman. looking it over, he saw himself able to answer every argument, which he proceeded to do--the result being his "human rights." [ ] in the new york chapter a fuller account of the discussion and action upon these bills will be given. [ ] see appendix. chapter ii. woman in newspapers. in newspaper literature woman made her entrance at an early period and in an important manner. the first _daily_ newspaper in the world was established and edited by a woman, elizabeth mallet, in london, march, . it was called _the daily courant_. in her salutatory, mrs. mallet declared she had established her paper to "spare the public at least half the impertinences which the ordinary papers contain." thus the first daily paper was made reformatory in its character by its wise woman-founder. the first newspaper printed in rhode island was by anna franklin in . she was printer to the colony, supplied blanks to the public officers, published pamphlets, etc., and in she printed for the colonial government an edition of the laws comprising three hundred and forty pages. she was aided by her two daughters, who were correct and quick compositors. the woman servant of the house usually worked the press. the third paper established in america was _the mercury_, in philadelphia. after the death of its founder, in , it was suspended for a week, when his widow, mrs. cornelia bradford, revived it and carried it on for many years, making it both a literary and a pecuniary success. the second newspaper started in the city of new york, entitled the _new york weekly journal_, was conducted by mrs. zeuger for years after the death of her husband. she discontinued its publication in . the _maryland gazette_, the first paper in that colony, and among the oldest in america, was established by anna k. greene in . she did the colony printing and continued the business till her death, in . mrs. hassebatch also established a paper in baltimore in . mrs. mary k. goddard published the _maryland journal_ for eight years. her editorials were of so spirited and pronounced a character that only her sex saved her from sound floggings. she took in job work. she was the first postmaster after the revolution, holding the office for eight years. two papers were early published in virginia by women. each was established in williamsburg, and each was called _the virginia gazette_. the first, started by clementina reid, in , favored the colonial cause, giving great offense to many royalists. to counteract its influence, mrs. h. boyle, of the same place, started another paper in , in the interests of the crown, and desirous that it should seem to represent the true principles of the colony, she borrowed the name of the colonial paper. it lived but a short time. the colonial _virginia gazette_ was the first paper in which was printed the declaration of independence. a synopsis was given july th, and the whole document the th. mrs. elizabeth timothee published a paper in charleston, south carolina, from to , called _the gazette_. anna timothee revived it after the revolution, and was appointed printer to the state, holding the office till . mary crouch also published a paper in charleston, s. c., until . it was founded in special opposition to the stamp act. she afterward removed to salem, mass., and continued its publication for several years. penelope russell printed _the censor_ in boston, mass., in . she set her own type, and was such a ready compositor as to set up her editorials without written copy, while working at her case. the most tragical and interesting events were thus recorded by her. the first paper published in america, living to a second issue, was the _massachusetts gazette and north boston news letter_. it was continued by mrs. margaret draper, two years after the death of her husband, and was the only paper of spirit in the colony, all but hers suspending publication when boston was besieged by the british. mrs. sarah goddard printed a paper at newport, r. i., in . she was a well-educated woman, and versed in general literature. for two years she conducted her journal with great ability, afterward associating john carter with her, under the name of sarah goddard & co., retaining the partnership precedence so justly belonging to her. _the courant_ at hartford, ct., was edited for two years by mrs. watson, after the death of her husband, in . in mrs. mary holt edited and published the _new york journal_, continuing the business several years. she was appointed state printer. in , _the journal and argus_ fell into the hands of mrs. greenleaf, who for some time published both a daily and semi-weekly edition. in philadelphia, after the death of her father in , mrs. jane aitkins continued his business of printing. her press-work bore high reputation. she was specially noted for her correctness in proof-reading. the _free enquirer_, edited in new york by frances wright in , "was the first periodical established in the united states for the purpose of fearless and unbiased inquiry on all subjects." it had already been published two years under the name of _the new harmony gazette_, in indiana, by robert dale owen, for which mrs. wright had written many leading editorials, and in which she published serially "a few days in athens." sarah josepha hale established a ladies' magazine in boston in , which she afterward removed to philadelphia, there associating with herself louis godey, and assuming the editorship of _godey's lady's book_. this magazine was followed by many others, of which mrs. kirkland, mrs. osgood, mrs. ellet, mrs. sigourney, and women of like character were editors or contributors. these early magazines published many steel and colored engravings, not only of fashions, but reproductions of works of art, giving the first important impulse to the art of engraving in this country. many other periodicals and papers by women now appeared over the country. mrs. anne royal edited for a quarter of a century a paper called _the huntress_. in lydia maria child published a paper for children called _the juvenile miscellany_, and in assumed the editorship of _the anti-slavery standard_, in new york, which she ably conducted for eight years. _the dial_, in boston, a transcendental quarterly, edited by margaret fuller, made its appearance in ; its contributors, among whom were ralph waldo emerson, bronson alcott, theodore parker, wm. h. channing, and the nature-loving thoreau, were some of the most profound thinkers of the time. charlotte fowler wells, the efficient coadjutor of her brothers and husband for the last forty-two years in the management of _the phrenological journal_ and publishing house of fowler & wells in new york city, and since her husband's death in the sole proprietor and general manager, has also conducted an extensive correspondence and written occasional articles for the _journal. the lowell offering_, edited by the "mill girls" of that manufacturing town, was established in , and exercised a wide influence. it lived till . its articles were entirely written by the girl operatives, among whom may be mentioned lucy larcom, margaret foley, the sculptor, who recently died in rome; lydia s. hall, who at one time filled an important clerkship in the united states treasury, and harriet j. hansan, afterward the wife of w. s. robinson (warrington), and herself one of the present workers in woman suffrage. harriet f. curtis, author of two popular novels, and harriet farley, both "mill girls," had entire editorial charge during the latter part of its existence. in vermont, clarina howard nichols edited the _windham county democrat_ from to . it was a political paper of a pronounced character; her husband was the publisher. jane g. swisshelm edited _the saturday visitor_, at pittsburg, pa., in . also the same year _the true kindred_ appeared, by rebecca sanford, at akron, ohio. _the lily_, a temperance monthly, was started in seneca falls, n. y., in , by amelia bloomer, as editor and publisher. it also advocated woman's rights, and attained a circulation in nearly every state and territory of the union. _the sybil_ soon followed, dr. lydia sayre hasbrook, editor; also _the pledge of honor_, edited by n. m. baker and e. maria sheldon, adrian, michigan. in , _die frauen zeitung_, edited by mathilde franceska anneke, was published in milwaukee, wisconsin. in , lydia jane pierson edited a column of the _lancaster_ (pa.) _gazette_; mrs. prewett edited the _yazoo_ (miss.) _whig_, in mississippi; and mrs. sheldon the _dollar weekly_. in , julia ward howe edited, with her husband, _the commonwealth_, a newspaper dedicated to free thought, and zealous for the liberty of the slave. in , mrs. c. c. bentley was editor of the _concord free press_, in vermont, and elizabeth aldrich of the _genius of liberty_, in ohio. in , anna w. spencer started the _pioneer and woman's advocate_, in providence, r. i. its motto was, "liberty, truth, temperance, equality." it was published semi-monthly, and advocated a better education for woman, a higher price for her labor, the opening of new industries. it was the earliest paper established in the united states for the advocacy of woman's rights. in , _the una_, a paper devoted to the enfranchisement of woman, owned and edited by paulina wright davis, was first published in providence, but afterward removed to boston, where caroline h. dall became associate editor. in , anna mcdowell founded _the woman's advocate_ in philadelphia, a paper in which, like that of mrs. anna franklin, the owner, editor, and compositors were all women. about this period many well-known literary women filled editorial chairs. grace greenwood started a child's paper called _the little pilgrim_; mrs. bailey conducted the _era_, an anti-slavery paper, in washington, d. c., after her husband's death. in , _the revolution_, a pronounced woman's rights paper, was started in new york city; susan b. anthony, publisher and proprietor, elizabeth cady stanton and parker pillsbury, editors. its motto, "principles, not policy; justice, not favor; men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less." in it passed into the hands of laura curtis bullard, who edited it two years with the assistance of phebe carey and augusta larned, and in it found consecrated burial in _the liberal christian_, the leading unitarian paper in new york. from the advent of _the revolution_ can be dated a new era in the woman suffrage movement. its brilliant, aggressive columns attracted the comments of the press, and drew the attention of the country to the reform so ably advocated. many other papers devoted to the discussion of woman's enfranchisement soon arose. in , _the pioneer_, in san francisco, cal., emily pitts stevens, editor and proprietor. _the woman's advocate_, at dayton, o., a. j. boyer and miriam m. cole, editors, started the same year. _the sorosis_ and _the agitator_, in chicago, ill., the latter owned and edited by mary a. livermore, and _the woman's advocate_, in new york, were all alike short-lived. _l'amérique_, a semi-weekly french paper published in chicago, ill., by madam jennie d'héricourt, and _die neue zeit_, a german paper, in new york, by mathilde f. wendt, this same year, show the interest of our foreign women citizens in the cause of their sex. in , _the woman's journal_ was founded in boston, lucy stone, julia ward howe, and henry b. blackwell, editors. _woodhull and claflin's weekly_, an erratic paper, advocating many new ideas, was established in new york by victoria woodhull and tennie c. claflin, editors and proprietors. _the new northwest_, in portland, oregon, in , abigail scott duniway, editor and proprietor. _the golden dawn_, at san francisco, cal., in , mrs. boyer, editor. _the ballot-box_ was started in , at toledo, o., sarah langdon williams, editor, under the auspices of the city woman's suffrage association. it was moved to syracuse in , and is now edited by matilda joslyn gage, under the name of _the national citizen and ballot-box_, as an exponent of the views of the national woman suffrage association. its motto, "self-government is a natural right, and the ballot is the method of exercising that right." laura de force gordon for some years edited a daily democratic paper in california. in opposition to this large array of papers demanding equality for woman, a solitary little monthly was started a few years since, in baltimore, md., under the auspices of mrs. general sherman and mrs. admiral dahlgren. it was called _the true woman_, but soon died of inanition and inherent weakness of constitution. in the exposition of , in philadelphia, the _new century_, edited and published under the auspices of the woman's centennial committee, was made-up and printed by women on a press of their own, in the woman's pavilion. in mrs. theresa lewis started _woman's words_ in philadelphia. for some time, penfield, n. y., boasted its thirteen-year-old girl editor, in miss nellie williams. her paper, the _penfield enterprise_, was for three years written, set up, and published by herself. it attained a circulation of three thousand. many foreign papers devoted to woman's interests have been established within the last few years. the _women's suffrage journal_, in england, lydia e. becker, of manchester, editor and proprietor; the _englishwoman's journal_, in london, edited by caroline ashurst biggs; _woman and work_ and the _victoria magazine_, by emily faithful, are among the number. miss faithful's magazine having attained a circulation of fifty thousand. _des droits des femmes_, long the organ of the swiss woman suffragists, madame marie goegg, the head, was followed by the _solidarite_. _l'avenir des femmes_, edited by m. leon richer, has mlle. maria dairésmes, the author of a spirited reply to the work of m. dumas, _fils_, on woman, as its special contributor. _l'Ésperance_, of geneva, an englishwoman its editor, was an early advocate of woman's cause. _la donna_, at venice, edited by signora gualberti aläide beccari (a well-known italian philanthropic name); _la cornelia_, at florence, signora amelia cunino foliero de luna, editor, prove italian advancement. germany, spain, and the netherlands must not be omitted from the list of those countries which have published woman's rights papers. in lima, peru, we find a paper edited and controlled entirely by women; its name, _alborada_, _i.e._, the dawn, a south american prophecy and herald of that dawn of justice and equality now breaking upon the world. the orient, likewise, shows progress. at bukarest, in romaine, a paper, the _dekebalos_, upholding the elevation of woman, was started in . the _euridike_, at constantinople, edited by emile leonzras, is of a similar character. the _bengalee magazine_, devoted to the interests of indian ladies, its editorials all from woman's pen, shows asiatic advance. in the united states the list of women's fashion papers, with their women editors and correspondents, is numerous and important. for fourteen years _harper's bazaar_ has been ably edited by mary l. booth; other papers of similar character are both owned and edited by women. _madame demorest's monthly_, a paper that originated the vast pattern business which has extended its ramifications into every part of the country and given employment to thousands of women. as illustrative of woman's continuity of purpose in newspaper work, we may mention the fact that for fifteen years fanny fern did not fail to have an article in readiness each week for the _ledger_, and for twenty years jennie june (mrs. croly) has edited _demorest's monthly_ and contributed to many other papers throughout the united states. mary mapes dodge has edited the _st. nicholas_ the past eight years. so important a place do women writers hold, _harper's monthly_ asserts, that the exceptionally large prices are paid to women contributors. the spiciest critics, reporters, and correspondents to-day, are women--grace greenwood, louise chandler moulton, mary clemmer. laura c. holloway is upon the editorial staff of the brooklyn _eagle_. the new york _times_ boasts a woman (midi morgan) cattle reporter, one of the best judges of stock in the country. in some papers, over their own names, women edit columns on special subjects, and fill important positions on journals owned and edited by men. elizabeth boynton harbert edits "the woman's kingdom" in the _inter-ocean_, one of the leading dailies of chicago. mary forney weigley edits a social department in her father's--john w. forney--paper, the _progress_, in philadelphia. the political columns of many papers are prepared by women, men often receiving the credit. among the best editorials in the new york _tribune_, from margaret fuller to lucia gilbert calhoun, have been from the pens of women. if the proverb that "the pen is mightier than the sword" be true, woman's skill and force in using this mightier weapon must soon change the destinies of the world. chapter iii. the world's anti-slavery convention, london, june , . individualism rather than authority--personal appearance of abolitionists--clerical attempt to silence woman--double battle against the tyranny of sex and color--bigoted abolitionists--james g. birney likes freedom on a southern plantation, but not at his own fireside--john bull never dreamt that woman would answer his call--the venerable thomas clarkson received by the convention standing--lengthy debate on "female" delegates--the "females" rejected--william lloyd garrison refused to sit in the convention. in gathering up the threads of history in the last century, and weaving its facts and philosophy together, one can trace the liberal social ideas, growing out of the political and religious revolutions in france, germany, italy, and america; and their tendency to substitute for the divine right of kings, priests, and orders of nobility, the higher and broader one of individual conscience and judgment in all matters pertaining to this life and that which is to come. it is not surprising that in so marked a transition period from the old to the new, as seen in the eighteenth century, that women, trained to think and write and speak, should have discovered that they, too, had some share in the new-born liberties suddenly announced to the world. that the radical political theories, propagated in different countries, made their legitimate impress on the minds of women of the highest culture, is clearly proved by their writings and conversation. while in their ignorance, women are usually more superstitious, more devoutly religious than men; those trained to thought, have generally manifested more interest in political questions, and have more frequently spoken and written on such themes, than on those merely religious. this may be attributed, in a measure, to the fact that the tendency of woman's mind, at this stage of her development, is toward practical, rather than toward speculative science. questions of political economy lie within the realm of positive knowledge; those of theology belong to the world of mysteries and abstractions, which those minds, only, that imagine they have compassed the known, are ambitious to enter and explore. and yet, the quickening power of the protestant reformation roused woman, as well as man, to new and higher thought. the bold declarations of luther, placing individual judgment above church authority, the faith of the quaker that the inner light was a better guide than arbitrary law, the religious idealism of the transcendentalists, and their teachings that souls had no sex, had each a marked influence in developing woman's self-assertion. such ideas making all divine revelations as veritable and momentous to one soul, as another, tended directly to equalize the members of the human family, and place men and women on the same plane of moral responsibility. the revelations of science, too, analyzing and portraying the wonders and beauties of this material world, crowned with new dignity, man and woman,--nature's last and proudest work. combe and spurzheim, proving by their phrenological discoveries that the feelings, sentiments, and affections of the soul mould and shape the skull, gave new importance to woman's thought as mother of the race. thus each new idea in religion, politics, science, and philosophy, tending to individualism, rather than authority, came into the world freighted with new hopes of liberty for woman. and when in the progress of civilization the time had fully come for the recognition of the feminine element in humanity, women, in every civilized country unknown to each other, began simultaneously to demand a broader sphere of action. thus the first public demand for political equality by a body of women in convention assembled, was a link in the chain of woman's development, binding the future with the past, as complete and necessary in itself, as the events of any other period of her history. the ridicule of facts does not change their character. many who study the past with interest, and see the importance of seeming trifles in helping forward great events, often fail to understand some of the best pages of history made under their own eyes. hence the woman suffrage movement has not yet been accepted as the legitimate outgrowth of american ideas--a component part of the history of our republic--but is falsely considered the willful outburst of a few unbalanced minds, whose ideas can never be realized under any form of government. among the immediate causes that led to the demand for the equal political rights of women, in this country, we may note three: . the discussion in several of the state legislatures on the property rights of married women, which, heralded by the press with comments grave and gay, became the topic of general interest around many fashionable dinner-tables, and at many humble firesides. in this way all phases of the question were touched upon, involving the relations of the sexes, and gradually widening to all human interests--political, religious, civil, and social. the press and pulpit became suddenly vigilant in marking out woman's sphere, while woman herself seemed equally vigilant in her efforts to step outside the prescribed limits. . a great educational work was accomplished by the able lectures of frances wright, on political, religious, and social questions. ernestine l. rose, following in her wake, equally liberal in her religious opinions, and equally well informed on the science of government, helped to deepen and perpetuate the impression frances wright had made on the minds of unprejudiced hearers. . and above all other causes of the "woman suffrage movement," was the anti-slavery struggle in this country. the ranks of the abolitionists were composed of the most eloquent orators, the ablest logicians, men and women of the purest moral character and best minds in the nation. they were usually spoken of in the early days as "an illiterate, ill-mannered, poverty-stricken, crazy set of long-haired abolitionists." while the fact is, some of the most splendid specimens of manhood and womanhood, in physical appearance, in culture, refinement, and knowledge of polite life, were found among the early abolitionists. james g. birney, john pierpont, gerrit smith, wendell phillips, charles sumner, maria weston chapman, helen garrison, ann green phillips, abby kelly, paulina wright davis, lucretia mott, were all remarkably fine-looking. in the early anti-slavery conventions, the broad principles of human rights were so exhaustively discussed, justice, liberty, and equality, so clearly taught, that the women who crowded to listen, readily learned the lesson of freedom for themselves, and early began to take part in the debates and business affairs of all associations. woman not only felt every pulsation of man's heart for freedom, and by her enthusiasm inspired the glowing eloquence that maintained him through the struggle, but earnestly advocated with her own lips human freedom and equality. when angelina and sarah grimke began to lecture in new england, their audiences were at first composed entirely of women, but gentlemen, hearing of their eloquence and power, soon began timidly to slip into the back seats, one by one. and before the public were aroused to the dangerous innovation, these women were speaking in crowded, promiscuous assemblies. the clergy opposed to the abolition movement first took alarm, and issued a pastoral letter, warning their congregations against the influence of such women. the clergy identified with anti-slavery associations took alarm also, and the initiative steps to silence the women, and to deprive them of the right to vote in the business meetings, were soon taken. this action culminated in a division in the anti-slavery association. in the annual meeting in may, , a formal vote was taken on the appointment of abby kelly on a business committee and was sustained by over one hundred majority in favor of woman's right to take part in the proceedings of the society. pending the discussion, clergymen in the opposition went through the audience, _urging every woman who agreed with them, to vote against_ the motion, thus asking them to do then and there, what with fervid eloquence, on that very occasion, they had declared a sin against god and scripture for them to do anywhere. as soon as the vote was announced, and abby kelly's right on the business committee decided, the men, two of whom were clergymen, asked to be excused from serving on the committee. thus sarah and angelina grimke and abby kelly, in advocating liberty for the black race, were early compelled to defend the right of free speech for themselves. they had the double battle to fight against the tyranny of sex and color at the same time, in which, however, they were well sustained by the able pens of lydia maria child and maria weston chapman. their opponents were found not only in the ranks of the new england clergy, but among the most bigoted abolitionists in great britain and the united states. many a man who advocated equality most eloquently for a southern plantation, could not tolerate it at his own fireside. the question of woman's right to speak, vote, and serve on committees, not only precipitated the division in the ranks of the american anti-slavery society, in , but it disturbed the peace of the world's anti-slavery convention, held that same year in london. the call for that convention invited delegates from all anti-slavery organizations. accordingly several american societies saw fit to send women, as delegates, to represent them in that august assembly. but after going three thousand miles to attend a world's convention, it was discovered that women formed no part of the constituent elements of the moral world. in summoning the friends of the slave from all parts of the two hemispheres to meet in london, john bull never dreamed that woman, too, would answer to his call. imagine then the commotion in the conservative anti-slavery circles in england, when it was known that half a dozen of those terrible women who had spoken to promiscuous assemblies, voted on men and measures, prayed and petitioned against slavery, women who had been mobbed, ridiculed by the press, and denounced by the pulpit, who had been the cause of setting all american abolitionists by the ears, and split their ranks asunder, were on their way to england. their fears of these formidable and belligerent women must have been somewhat appeased when lucretia mott, sarah pugh, abby kimber, elizabeth neal, mary grew, of philadelphia, in modest quaker costume, ann green phillips, emily winslow, and abby southwick, of boston, all women of refinement and education, and several, still in their twenties, landed at last on the soil of great britain. many who had awaited their coming with much trepidation, gave a sigh of relief, on being introduced to lucretia mott, learning that she represented the most dangerous elements in the delegation. the american clergymen who had landed a few days before, had been busily engaged in fanning the english prejudices into active hostility against the admission of these women to the convention. in every circle of abolitionists this was the theme, and the discussion grew more bitter, personal, and exasperating every hour. the th of june dawned bright and beautiful on these discordant elements, and at an early hour anti-slavery delegates from different countries wended their way through the crooked streets of london to freemasons' hall. entering the vestibule, little groups might be seen gathered here and there, earnestly discussing the best disposition to make of those women delegates from america. the excitement and vehemence of protest and denunciation could not have been greater, if the news had come that the french were about to invade england. in vain those obdurate women had been conjured to withhold their credentials, and not thrust a question that must produce such discord on the convention. lucretia mott, in her calm, firm manner, insisted that the delegates had no discretionary power in the proposed action, and the responsibility of accepting or rejecting them must rest on the convention. at eleven o'clock, the spacious hall being filled, the convention was called to order. the venerable thomas clarkson, who was to be president, on entering, was received by the large audience standing; owing to his feeble health, the chairman requested that there should be no other demonstrations. as soon as thomas clarkson withdrew, wendell phillips made the following motion: "that a committee of five be appointed to prepare a correct list of the members of this convention, with instructions to include in such list, all persons bearing credentials from any anti-slavery body." this motion at once opened the debate on the admission of women delegates. mr. phillips: when the call reached america we found that it was an invitation to the friends of the slave of every nation and of every clime. massachusetts has for several years acted on the principle of admitting women to an equal seat with men, in the deliberative bodies of anti-slavery societies. when the massachusetts anti-slavery society received that paper, it interpreted it, as it was its duty, in its broadest and most liberal sense. if there be any other paper, emanating from the committee, limiting to one sex the qualification of membership, there is no proof; and, as an individual, i have no knowledge that such a paper ever reached massachusetts. we stand here in consequence of your invitation, and knowing our custom, as it must be presumed you did, we had a right to interpret "friends of the slave," to include women as well as men. in such circumstances, we do not think it just or equitable to that state, nor to america in general, that, after the trouble, the sacrifice, the self-devotion of a part of those who leave their families and kindred and occupations in their own land, to come three thousand miles to attend this world's convention, they should be refused a place in its deliberations. one of the committee who issued the call, said: as soon as we heard the liberal interpretation americans had given to our first invitation, we issued another as early as feb. , in which the description of those who are to form the convention is set forth as consisting of "gentlemen." dr. bowring: i think the custom of excluding females is more honored in its breach than in its observance. in this country sovereign rule is placed in the hands of a female, and one who has been exercising her great and benignant influence in opposing slavery by sanctioning, no doubt, the presence of her illustrious consort at an anti-slavery meeting. we are associated with a body of christians (quakers) who have given to their women a great, honorable, and religious prominence. i look upon this delegation from america as one of the most interesting, the most encouraging, and the most delightful symptoms of the times. i can not believe that we shall refuse to welcome gratefully the co-operation which is offered us. the rev. j. burnet, an englishman, made a most touching appeal to the american ladies, to conform to english prejudices and custom, so far as to withdraw their credentials, as it never did occur to the british and foreign anti-slavery society that they were inviting ladies. it is better, said he, that this convention should be dissolved at this moment than this motion should be adopted. the rev. henry grew, of philadelphia: the reception of women as a part of this convention would, in the view of many, be not only a violation of the customs of england, but of the ordinance of almighty god, who has a right to appoint our services to his sovereign will. rev. eben galusha, new york: in support of the other side of this question, reference has been made to your sovereign. i most cordially approve of her policy and sound wisdom, and commend to the consideration of our american female friends who are so deeply interested in the subject, the example of your noble queen, who by sanctioning her consort, his royal highness prince albert, in taking the chair on an occasion not dissimilar to this, showed her sense of propriety by putting her head foremost in an assembly of gentlemen. i have no objection to woman's being the neck to turn the head aright, but do not wish to see her assume the place of the head. george bradburn, of mass.: we are told that it would be outraging the customs of england to allow women to sit in this convention. i have a great respect for the customs of old england. but i ask, gentlemen, if it be right to set up the customs and habits, not to say prejudices of englishmen, as a standard for the government on this occasion of americans, and of persons belonging to several other independent nations. i can see neither reason nor policy in so doing. besides, i deprecate the principle of the objection. in america it would exclude from our conventions all persons of color, for there customs, habits, tastes, prejudices, would be outraged by _their_ admission. and i do not wish to be deprived of the aid of those who have done so much for this cause, for the purpose of gratifying any mere custom or prejudice. women have furnished most essential aid in accomplishing what has been done in the state of massachusetts. if, in the legislature of that state, i have been able to do anything in furtherance of that cause, by keeping on my legs eight or ten hours day after day, it was mainly owing to the valuable assistance i derived from the women. and shall such women be denied seats in this convention? my friend george thompson, yonder, can testify to the faithful services rendered to this cause by those same women. he can tell you that when "gentlemen of property and standing" in "broad day" and "broadcloth," undertook to drive him from boston, putting his life in peril, it was our women who made their own persons a bulwark of protection around him. and shall such women be refused seats here in a convention seeking the emancipation of slaves throughout the world? what a misnomer to call this a world's convention of abolitionists, when some of the oldest and most thorough-going abolitionists in the world are denied the right to be represented in it by delegates of their own choice. and thus for the space of half an hour did mr. bradburn, six feet high and well-proportioned, with vehement gesticulations and voice of thunder, bombard the prejudices of england and the hypocrisies of america. george thompson: i have listened to the arguments advanced on this side and on that side of this vexed question. i listened with profound attention to the arguments of mr. burnet, expecting that from him, as i was justified in expecting, i should hear the strongest arguments that could be adduced on this, or any other subject upon which he might be pleased to employ his talents, or which he might adorn with his eloquence. what are his arguments? let it be premised, as i speak in the presence of american friends, that that gentleman is one of the best controversialists in the country, and one of the best authorities upon questions of business, points of order, and matters of principle. what are the strongest arguments, which one of the greatest champions on any question which he chooses to espouse, has brought forward? they are these: st. that english phraseology should be construed according to english usage. d. that it was never contemplated by the anti-slavery committee that ladies should occupy a seat in this convention. d. that the ladies of england are not here as delegates. th. that he has no desire to offer an affront to the ladies now present. here i presume are the strongest arguments the gentleman has to adduce, for he never fails to use to the best advantage the resources within his reach. i look at these arguments, and i place on the other side of the question, the fact that there are in this assembly ladies who present themselves as delegates from the oldest societies in america. i expected that mr. burnet would, as he was bound to do, if he intended to offer a successful opposition to their introduction into this convention, grapple with the constitutionality of their credentials. i thought he would come to the question of title. i thought he would dispute the right of a convention assembled in philadelphia, for the abolition of slavery, consisting of delegates from different states in the union, and comprised of individuals of both sexes, to send one or all of the ladies now in our presence. i thought he would grapple with the fact, that those ladies came to us who have no slavery from a country in which they have slaves, as the representatives of two millions and a half of captives. let gentlemen, when they come to vote on this question, remember, that in receiving or rejecting these ladies, they acknowledge or despise [loud cries of no, no]. i ask gentlemen, who shout "no," if they know the application i am about to make. i did not mean to say you would despise the ladies, but that you would, by your vote, acknowledge or despise the parties whose cause they espouse. it appears we are prepared to sanction ladies in the employment of all means, so long as they are confessedly unequal with ourselves. it seems that the grand objection to their appearance amongst us is this, that it would be placing them on a footing of equality, and that would be contrary to principle and custom. for years the women of america have carried their banner in the van, while the men have humbly followed in the rear. it is well known that the national society solicited angelina grimke to undertake a mission through new england, to rouse the attention of the women to the wrongs of slavery, and that that distinguished woman displayed her talents not only in the drawing-room, but before the senate of massachusetts. let us contrast our conduct with that of the senators and representatives of massachusetts who did not disdain to hear her. it was in consequence of her exertions, which received the warmest approval of the national society, that that interest sprung up which has awakened such an intense feeling throughout america. then with reference to efficient management, the most vigorous anti-slavery societies are those which are managed by ladies. if now, after the expression of opinion on various sides, the motion should be withdrawn with the consent of all parties, i should be glad. but when i look at the arguments against the title of these women to sit amongst us, i can not but consider them frivolous and groundless. the simple question before us is, whether these ladies, taking into account their credentials, the talent they have displayed, the sufferings they have endured, the journey they have undertaken, should be acknowledged by us, in virtue of these high titles, or should be shut out for the reasons stated. mr. phillips, being urged on all sides to withdraw his motion, said: it has been hinted very respectfully by two or three speakers that the delegates from the state of massachusetts should withdraw their credentials, or the motion before the meeting. the one appears to me to be equivalent to the other. if this motion be withdrawn we must have another. i would merely ask whether any man can suppose that the delegates from massachusetts or pennsylvania can take upon their shoulders the responsibility of withdrawing that list of delegates from your table, which their constituents told them to place there, and whom they sanctioned as their fit representatives, because this convention tells us that it is not ready to meet the ridicule of the morning papers, and to stand up against the customs of england. in america we listen to no such arguments. if we had done so we had never been here as abolitionists. it is the custom there not to admit colored men into respectable society, and we have been told again and again that we are outraging the decencies of humanity when we permit colored men to sit by our side. when we have submitted to brick-bats, and the tar tub and feathers in america, rather than yield to the custom prevalent there of not admitting colored brethren into our friendship, shall we yield to parallel custom or prejudice against women in old england? we can not yield this question if we would; for it is a matter of conscience. but we would not yield it on the ground of expediency. in doing so we should feel that we were striking off the right arm of our enterprise. we could not go back to america to ask for any aid from the women of massachusetts if we had deserted them, when they chose to send out their own sisters as their representatives here. we could not go back to massachusetts and assert the unchangeableness of spirit on the question. we have argued it over and over again, and decided it time after time, in every society in the land, in favor of the women. we have not changed by crossing the water. we stand here the advocates of the same principle that we contend for in america. we think it right for women to sit by our side there, and we think it right for them to do the same here. we ask the convention to admit them; if they do not choose to grant it, the responsibility rests on their shoulders. massachusetts can not turn aside, or succumb to any prejudices or customs even in the land she looks upon with so much reverence as the land of wilberforce, of clarkson, and of o'connell. it is a matter of conscience, and british virtue ought not to ask us to yield. mr. ashurst: you are convened to influence society upon a subject connected with the kindliest feelings of our nature; and being the first assembly met to shake hands with other nations, and employ your combined efforts to annihilate slavery throughout the world, are you to commence by saying, you will take away the rights of one-half of creation! this is the principle which you are putting forward. the rev. a. harvey, of glasgow: it was stated by a brother from america, that with him it is a matter of conscience, and it is a question of conscience with me too. i have certain views in relation to the teaching of the word of god, and of the particular sphere in which woman is to act. i must say, whether i am right in my interpretations of the word of god or not, that my own decided convictions are, if i were to give a vote in favor of females, sitting and deliberating in such an assembly as this, that i should be acting in opposition to the plain teaching of the word of god. i may be wrong, but i have a conscience on the subject, and i am sure there are a number present of the same mind. captain wanchope, r. n., delegate from carlisle: i entreat the ladies not to push this question too far. i wish to know whether our friends from america are to cast off england altogether. have we not given £ , , of our money for the purpose of doing away with the abominations of slavery? is not that proof that we are in earnest about it? james c. fuller: one friend said that this question should have been settled on the other side of the atlantic. why, it was there decided in favor of woman a year ago. james gillespie birney: it has been stated that the right of women to sit and act in all respects as men in our anti-slavery associations, was decided in the affirmative at the annual meeting of the american anti-slavery society in may, . it is true the claim was so decided on that occasion, but not by a large majority; whilst it is also true that the majority was swelled by the votes of the women themselves. i have just received a letter from a gentleman in new york (louis tappan), communicating the fact, that the persistence of the friends of promiscuous female representation in pressing that practice on the american anti-slavery society, at its annual meeting on the twelfth of last month, had caused such disagreement among the members present, that he and others who viewed the subject as he did, were then deliberating on measures for seceding from the old organization. rev. c. stout: my vote is that we confirm the list of delegates, that we take votes on that as an amendment, and that we henceforth entertain this question no more. are we not met here pledged to sacrifice all but everything, in order that we may do something against slavery, and shall we be divided on this _paltry question_ and suffer the whole tide of benevolence to be stopped by a _straw_? no! you talk of being men, then be men! consider what is worthy of your attention. rev. dr. morrison: i feel, i believe, as our brethren from america and many english friends do at this moment, that we are treading on the brink of a precipice; and that precipice is the awaking in our bosoms by this discussion, feelings that will not only be averse to the great object for which we have assembled, but inconsistent, perhaps, in some degree, with the christian spirit which, i trust, will pervade all meetings connected with the anti-slavery cause. we have been unanimous against the common foe, but we are this day in danger of creating division among heartfelt friends. will our american brethren put us in this position? will they keep up a discussion in which the delicacy, the honor, the respectability of those excellent females who have come from the western world are concerned? i tremble at the thought of discussing the question in the presence of these ladies--for whom i entertain the most profound respect--and i am bold to say, that but for the introduction of the question of woman's rights, it would be impossible for the shrinking nature of woman to subject itself to the infliction of such a discussion as this. as the hour was late, and as the paltry arguments of the opposition were unworthy much consideration--as the reader will see from the specimens given--mr. phillips' reply was brief, consisting of the correction of a few mistakes made by different speakers. the vote was taken, and the women excluded as delegates of the convention, by an overwhelming majority. george thompson: i hope, as the question is now decided, that mr. phillips will give us the assurance that we shall proceed with one heart and one mind. mr. phillips replied: i have no doubt of it. there is no unpleasant feeling in our minds. i have no doubt the women will sit with as much interest behind the bar[ ] as though the original proposition had been carried in the affirmative. all we asked was an expression of opinion, and, having obtained it, we shall now act with the utmost cordiality. would there have been no unpleasant feelings in wendell phillips' mind, had frederick douglass and robert purvis been refused their seats in a convention of reformers under similar circumstances? and, had _they_ listened one entire day to debates on their peculiar fitness for plantation life, and unfitness for the forum and public assemblies, and been rejected as delegates on the ground of color, could wendell phillips have so far mistaken their real feelings, and been so insensible to the insults offered them, as to have told a convention of men who had just trampled on their most sacred rights, that "they would no doubt sit with as much interest behind the bar, as in the convention"? to stand in that august assembly and maintain the unpopular heresy of woman's equality was a severe ordeal for a young man to pass through, and wendell phillips, who accepted the odium of presenting this question to the convention, and thus earned the sincere gratitude of all womankind, might be considered as above criticism, though he may have failed at one point to understand the feelings of woman. the fact is important to mention, however, to show that it is almost impossible for the most liberal of men to understand what liberty means for woman. this sacrifice of human rights, by men who had assembled from all quarters of the globe to proclaim universal emancipation, was offered up in the presence of such women as lady byron, anna jameson, amelia opie, mary howitt, elizabeth fry, and our own lucretia mott. the clergy with few exceptions were bitter in their opposition. although, as abolitionists, they had been compelled to fight both church and bible to prove the black man's right to liberty, conscience forbade them to stretch those sacred limits far enough to give equal liberty to woman. the leading men who championed the cause of the measure in the convention and voted in the affirmative, were wendell phillips, george thompson, george bradburn, mr. ashurst, dr. bowring, and henry b. stanton. though daniel o'connell was not present during the discussion, having passed out with the president, yet in his first speech, he referred to the rejected delegates, paying a beautiful tribute to woman's influence, and saying he should have been happy to have added the right word in the right place and to have recorded his vote in favor of human equality.. william lloyd garrison, having been delayed at sea, arrived too late to take part in the debates. learning on his arrival that the women had been rejected as delegates, he declined to take his seat in the convention; and, through all those interesting discussions on a subject so near his heart, lasting ten days, he remained a silent spectator in the gallery. what a sacrifice for a principle so dimly seen by the few, and so ignorantly ridiculed by the many! brave, noble garrison! may this one act keep his memory fresh forever in the hearts of his countrywomen! the one abolitionist who sustained mr. garrison's position, and sat with him in the gallery, was nathaniel p. rogers, editor of the _herald of freedom_, in concord, new hampshire, who died in the midst of the anti-slavery struggle. however, the debates in the convention had the effect of rousing english minds to thought on the tyranny of sex, and american minds to the importance of some definite action toward woman's emancipation. as lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton wended their way arm in arm down great queen street that night, reviewing the exciting scenes of the day, they agreed to hold a woman's rights convention on their return to america, as the men to whom they had just listened had manifested their great need of some education on that question. thus a missionary work for the emancipation of woman in "the land of the free and the home of the brave" was then and there inaugurated. as the ladies were not allowed to speak in the convention, they kept up a brisk fire morning, noon, and night at their hotel on the unfortunate gentlemen who were domiciled at the same house. mr. birney, with his luggage, promptly withdrew after the first encounter, to some more congenial haven of rest, while the rev. nathaniel colver, from boston, who always fortified himself with six eggs well beaten in a large bowl at breakfast, to the horror of his host and a circle of æsthetic friends, stood his ground to the last--his physical proportions being his shield and buckler, and his bible (with colver's commentaries) his weapon of defence.[ ] the movement for woman's suffrage, both in england and america, may be dated from this world's anti-slavery convention. footnotes: [ ] the ladies of the convention were fenced off behind a bar and curtain, similar to those used in churches to screen the choir from the public gaze. [ ] some of the english clergy, dancing around with bible in hand, shaking it in the faces of the opposition, grew so vehement, that one would really have thought that they held a commission from high heaven as the possessors of all truth, and that all progress in human affairs was to be squared by their interpretation of scripture. at last george bradburn, exasperated with their narrowness and bigotry, sprang to the floor, and stretching himself to his full height, said: "prove to me, gentlemen, that your bible sanctions the slavery of woman--the complete subjugation of one-half the race to the other--and i should feel that the best work i could do for humanity would be to make a grand bonfire of every bible in the universe." chapter iv. new york. the first woman's rights convention, seneca falls, july - , --property rights of women secured--judge fine, george geddes, and mr. hadley pushed the bill through--danger of meddling with well-settled conditions of domestic happiness--mrs. barbara hertell's will--richard hunt's tea-table--the eventful day--james mott president--declaration of sentiments--convention in rochester--clergy again in opposition with bible arguments. new york with its metropolis, fine harbors, great lakes and rivers; its canals and railroads uniting the extremest limits, and controlling the commerce of the world; with its wise statesmen and wily politicians, long holding the same relation to the nation at large that paris is said to hold to france, has been proudly called by her sons and daughters the empire state. but the most interesting fact in her history, to woman, is that she was the first state to emancipate wives from the slavery of the old common law of england, and to secure to them equal property rights. this occurred in . various bills and petitions, with reference to the civil rights of woman, had been under discussion twelve years, and the final passage of the property bill was due in no small measure to two facts. st. the constitutional convention in , which compelled the thinking people of the state, and especially the members of the convention, to the serious consideration of the fundamental principles of government. as in the revision of a constitution the state is for the time being resolved into its original elements in recognizing the equality of all the people, one would naturally think that a chance ray of justice might have fallen aslant the wrongs of woman and brought to the surface some champion in that convention, especially as some aggravated cases of cruelty in families of wealth and position had just at that time aroused the attention of influential men to the whole question. d. among the dutch aristocracy of the state there was a vast amount of dissipation; and as married women could hold neither property nor children under the common law, solid, thrifty dutch fathers were daily confronted with the fact that the inheritance of their daughters, carefully accumulated, would at marriage pass into the hands of dissipated, impecunious husbands, reducing them and their children to poverty and dependence. hence this influential class of citizens heartily seconded the efforts of reformers, then demanding equal property rights in the marriage relation. thus a wise selfishness on one side, and principle on the other, pushed the conservatives and radicals into the same channel, and both alike found anchor in the statute law of . this was the death-blow to the old blackstone code for married women in this country, and ever since legislation has been slowly, but steadily, advancing toward their complete equality. desiring to know who prompted the legislative action on the property bill in , and the names of our champions who carried it successfully through after twelve years of discussion and petitioning, a letter of inquiry was addressed to the hon. george geddes of the twenty-second district--at that time senator--and received the following reply: fairmount, onondaga co., n. y.,} _november , _.} mrs. matilda joslyn gage: _dear madam_:--i was much gratified at the receipt of your letter of the d inst., making inquiries into the history of the law of in regard to married women holding property independently of their husbands. that the "truth of history" may be made plain, i have looked over the journals of the senate and assembly, and taken full notes, which i request you to publish, if you put any part of this letter in print. i have very distinct recollections of the whole history of this very radical measure. judge fine, of st. lawrence, was its originator, and he gave me his reasons for introducing the bill. he said that he married a lady who had some property of her own, which he had, all his life, tried to keep distinct from his, that she might have the benefit of her own, in the event of any disaster happening to him in pecuniary matters. he had found much difficulty, growing out of the old laws, in this effort to protect his wife's interests. judge fine was a stately man, and of general conservative tendencies, just the one to hold on to the past, but he was a just man, and did not allow his practice as a lawyer, or his experience on the bench, to obscure his sense of right. i followed him, glad of such a leader. i, too, had special reasons for desiring this change in the law. i had a young daughter, who, in the then condition of my health, was quite likely to be left in tender years without a father, and i very much desired to protect her in the little property i might be able to leave. i had an elaborate will drawn by my old law preceptor, vice-chancellor lewis h. sandford, creating a trust with all the care and learning he could bring to my aid. but when the elaborate paper was finished, neither he or i felt satisfied with it. when the law of was passed, all i had to do was to burn this will. in this connection i wish to say that the speaker of the assembly, mr. hadley, gave aid in the passage of this law that was essential. very near the end of the session of the legislature he assured me that if the bill passed the senate, he would see that it passed the house. by examining my notes of the assembly's action, you will see that the bill never went to a committee of the whole in that body, but was sent directly to a select committee to report complete. it was the power of the speaker that in this summary manner overrode the usual legislative forms. the only reason mr. hadley gave me for his zeal in this matter, was that it was a good bill and ought to pass. i believe this law originated with judge fine, without any outside prompting. on the third day of the session he gave notice of his intention to introduce it, and only one petition was presented in favor of the bill, and that came from syracuse, and was due to the action of my personal friends--i presented it nearly two months after the bill had been introduced to the senate. the reception of the bill by the senate showed unlooked-for support as well as opposition. the measure was so radical, so extreme, that even its friends had doubts; but the moment any important amendment was offered, up rose the whole question of woman's proper place in society, in the family, and everywhere. we all felt that the laws regulating married women's, as well as married men's rights, demanded careful revision and adaptation to our times and to our civilization. but no such revision could be perfected then, nor has it been since. we meant to strike a hard blow, and if possible shake the old system of laws to their foundations, and leave it to other times and wiser councils to perfect a new system. we had in the senate a man of matured years, who had never had a wife. he was a lawyer well-read in the old books, and versed in the adjudications which had determined that husband and wife were but one person, and the husband that person; and he expressed great fears in regard to meddling with this well-settled condition of domestic happiness. this champion of the past made long and very able arguments to show the ruin this law must work, but he voted for the bill in the final decision. the bill hung along in committee of the whole until march st, when its great opponent being absent, i moved its reference to a select committee, with power to report it complete; that is, matured ready for its passage. so the bill was out of the arena of debate, and on my motion was ordered to its third reading. in reply to your inquiries in regard to debates that preceded the action of , i must say i know of none, and i am quite sure that in our long discussions no allusion was made to anything of the kind. great measures often occupy the thoughts of men and women, long before they take substantial form and become things of life, and i shall not dispute any one who says that this reform had been thought of before . but i do insist the record shows that judge fine is the author of the law which opened the way to clothe woman with full rights, in regard to holding, using, and enjoying in every way her own property, independently of any husband. i add the following extracts taken from the journals of the senate and assembly of , viz: senate journal for , p. . january th. "mr. fine gave notice that he would, at an early day, ask leave to introduce a bill for the more effectual protection of the property of married women." jan. th, p. . "mr. fine introduced 'the bill,' and it was referred to the judiciary committee," which consisted of mr. wilkin, mr. fine, and mr. cole. feb. th, p. . mr. wilkin reported the bill favorably, and it was sent to the committee of the whole. feb. d. mr. geddes presented the petition of three hundred citizens of syracuse praying for the passage of a law to protect the rights of married women. march st, p. . "the senate spent some time in committee of the whole" on the bill, and reported progress, and had leave to sit again. march d, p. . the senate again in committee of the whole on this bill. march th, p. . the senate again in committee of the whole on this bill. march st, p. . mr. lawrence, from committee of the whole, reported the bill with some amendments. "thereupon ordered that said bill be referred to a select committee consisting of mr. fine, mr. geddes, and mr. hawley to report complete." march st, p. . "mr. geddes, from the select committee, reported complete, with amendments, the bill entitled 'an act for the more effectual protection of the property of married women,' which report was laid on the table." march th, p. . "on motion of mr. geddes, the senate then proceeded to the consideration of the report of the select committee on the bill entitled '(as above)', which report was agreed to, and the bill ordered to a third reading." march th, p. . the bill entitled "(as above)" was read the third time, and passed--ayes, ; nays, , as follows: _ayes_--messrs. betts, bond, brownson, burch, coffin, cole, cook, cornwell, fine, floyd, fox, fuller, geddes, s. h. p. hall, hawley, johnson, lawrence, little, martin, smith, wallon, wilkin, williams, . _nays_--clark, . april th, p. . the bill was returned from the assembly with its concurrence. its history in the assembly (_see its journal_): march th, p. . a message from the senate, requesting the concurrence of the assembly to "an act for the more effectual protection of the property of married women." on motion of mr. campbell, the bill was sent to a committee consisting of messrs. campbell, brigham, myers, coe, and crocker, to report complete (_see page_ ). april st, page . mr. campbell reported in favor of its passage, p. . report agreed to by the house. april , p. . mr. collins moved to recommit to a select committee for amendment. his motion failed, and the bill passed (p. ). ayes, . nays, . the governor put his name to the bill and thus it became a law. please reply to me and let me know whether i have made this matter clear to you. very respectfully, geo. geddes. when the first bill was introduced by judge hertell in , he made a very elaborate argument in its favor, covering all objections, and showing the incontestable justice of the measure. being too voluminous for a newspaper report it was published in pamphlet form. his wife, barbara amelia hertell, dying a few years since, by her will left a sum for the republication of this exhaustive argument, thus keeping the memory of her husband green in the hearts of his countrywomen, and expressing her own high appreciation of its value. step by step the middle and new england states began to modify their laws, but the western states, in their constitutions, were liberal in starting. thus the discussions in the constitutional convention and the legislature, heralded by the press to every school district, culminated at last in a woman's rights convention. the _seneca county courier_, a semi-weekly journal, of july , , contained the following startling announcement: seneca falls convention. woman's rights convention.--a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman, will be held in the wesleyan chapel, at seneca falls, n. y., on wednesday and thursday, the th and th of july, current; commencing at o'clock a.m. during the first day the meeting will be exclusively for women, who are earnestly invited to attend. the public generally are invited to be present on the second day, when lucretia mott, of philadelphia, and other ladies and gentlemen, will address the convention. this call, without signature, was issued by lucretia mott, martha c. wright, elizabeth cady stanton, and mary ann mcclintock. at this time mrs. mott was visiting her sister mrs. wright, at auburn, and attending the yearly meeting of friends in western new york. mrs. stanton, having recently removed from boston to seneca falls, finding the most congenial associations in quaker families, met mrs. mott incidentally for the first time since her residence there. they at once returned to the topic they had so often discussed, walking arm in arm in the streets of london, and boston, "the propriety of holding a woman's convention." these four ladies, sitting round the tea-table of richard hunt, a prominent friend near waterloo, decided to put their long-talked-of resolution into action, and before the twilight deepened into night, the call was written, and sent to the seneca county courier. on sunday morning they met in mrs. mcclintock's parlor to write their declaration, resolutions, and to consider subjects for speeches.[ ] as the convention was to assemble in three days, the time was short for such productions; but having no experience in the _modus operandi_ of getting up conventions, nor in that kind of literature, they were quite innocent of the herculean labors they proposed. on the first attempt to frame a resolution; to crowd a complete thought, clearly and concisely, into three lines; they felt as helpless and hopeless as if they had been suddenly asked to construct a steam engine. and the humiliating fact may as well now be recorded that before taking the initiative step, those ladies resigned themselves to a faithful perusal of various masculine productions. the reports of peace, temperance, and anti-slavery conventions were examined, but all alike seemed too tame and pacific for the inauguration of a rebellion such as the world had never before seen. they knew women had wrongs, but how to state them was the difficulty, and this was increased from the fact that they themselves were fortunately organized and conditioned; they were neither "sour old maids," "childless women," nor "divorced wives," as the newspapers declared them to be. while they had felt the insults incident to sex, in many ways, as every proud, thinking woman must, in the laws, religion, and literature of the world, and in the invidious and degrading sentiments and customs of all nations, yet they had not in their own experience endured the coarser forms of tyranny resulting from unjust laws, or association with immoral and unscrupulous men, but they had souls large enough to feel the wrongs of others, without being scarified in their own flesh. after much delay, one of the circle took up the declaration of , and read it aloud with much spirit and emphasis, and it was at once decided to adopt the historic document, with some slight changes such as substituting "all men" for "king george." knowing that women must have more to complain of than men under any circumstances possibly could, and seeing the fathers had eighteen grievances, a protracted search was made through statute books, church usages, and the customs of society to find that exact number. several well-disposed men assisted in collecting the grievances, until, with the announcement of the eighteenth, the women felt they had enough to go before the world with a good case. one youthful lord remarked, "your grievances must be grievous indeed, when you are obliged to go to books in order to find them out." the eventful day dawned at last, and crowds in carriages and on foot, wended their way to the wesleyan church. when those having charge of the declaration, the resolutions, and several volumes of the statutes of new york arrived on the scene, lo! the door was locked. however, an embryo professor of yale college was lifted through an open window to unbar the door; that done, the church was quickly filled. it had been decided to have no men present, but as they were already on the spot, and as the women who must take the responsibility of organizing the meeting, and leading the discussions, shrank from doing either, it was decided, in a hasty council round the altar, that this was an occasion when men might make themselves pre-eminently useful. it was agreed they should remain, and take the laboring oar through the convention. james mott, tall and dignified, in quaker costume, was called to the chair; mary mcclintock appointed secretary, frederick douglass, samuel tillman, ansel bascom, e. w. capron, and thomas mcclintock took part throughout in the discussions. lucretia mott, accustomed to public speaking in the society of friends, stated the objects of the convention, and in taking a survey of the degraded condition of woman the world over, showed the importance of inaugurating some movement for her education and elevation. elizabeth and mary mcclintock, and mrs. stanton, each read a well-written speech; martha wright read some satirical articles she had published in the daily papers answering the diatribes on woman's sphere. ansel bascom, who had been a member of the constitutional convention recently held in albany, spoke at length on the property bill for married women, just passed the legislature, and the discussion on woman's rights in that convention. samuel tillman, a young student of law, read a series of the most exasperating statutes for women, from english and american jurists, all reflecting the _tender mercies_ of men toward their wives, in taking care of their property and protecting them in their civil rights. the declaration having been freely discussed by many present, was re-read by mrs. stanton, and with some slight amendment adopted. declaration of sentiments. when, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course. we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they were accustomed. but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled. the history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. to prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. he has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise. he has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice. he has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men--both natives and foreigners. having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides. he has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. he has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns. he has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband. in the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master--the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement. he has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes, and in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women--the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands. after depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single, and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it. he has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. he closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself. as a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known. he has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her. he allows her in church, as well as state, but a subordinate position, claiming apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and, with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the church. he has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated, but deemed of little account in man. he has usurped the prerogative of jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and to her god. he has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life. now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation--in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the united states. in entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object. we shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the state and national legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf. we hope this convention will be followed by a series of conventions embracing every part of the country. the following resolutions were discussed by lucretia mott, thomas and mary ann mcclintock, amy post, catharine a. f. stebbins, and others, and were adopted: whereas, the great precept of nature is conceded to be, that "man shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness." blackstone in his commentaries remarks, that this law of nature being coeval with mankind, and dictated by god himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. it is binding over all the globe, in all countries and at all times; no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this, and such of them as are valid, derive all their force, and all their validity, and all their authority, mediately and immediately, from this original; therefore. _resolved_, that such laws as conflict, in any way, with the true and substantial happiness of woman, are contrary to the great precept of nature and of no validity, for this is "superior in obligation to any other." _resolved_, that all laws which prevent woman from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate, or which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of nature, and therefore of no force or authority. _resolved_, that woman is man's equal--was intended to be so by the creator, and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized as such. _resolved_, that the women of this country ought to be enlightened in regard to the laws under which they live, that they may no longer publish their degradation by declaring themselves satisfied with their present position, nor their ignorance, by asserting that they have all the rights they want. _resolved_, that inasmuch as man, while claiming for himself intellectual superiority, does accord to woman moral superiority, it is pre-eminently his duty to encourage her to speak and teach, as she has an opportunity, in all religious assemblies. _resolved_, that the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of behavior that is required of woman in the social state, should also be required of man, and the same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on both man and woman. _resolved_, that the objection of indelicacy and impropriety, which is so often brought against woman when she addresses a public audience, comes with a very ill-grace from those who encourage, by their attendance, her appearance on the stage, in the concert, or in feats of the circus. _resolved_, that woman has too long rested satisfied in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the scriptures have marked out for her, and that it is time she should move in the enlarged sphere which her great creator has assigned her. _resolved_, that it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise. _resolved_, that the equality of human rights results necessarily from the fact of the identity of the race in capabilities and responsibilities. _resolved, therefore_, that, being invested by the creator with the same capabilities, and the same consciousness of responsibility for their exercise, it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with man, to promote every righteous cause by every righteous means; and especially in regard to the great subjects of morals and religion, it is self-evidently her right to participate with her brother in teaching them, both in private and in public, by writing and by speaking, by any instrumentalities proper to be used, and in any assemblies proper to be held; and this being a self-evident truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature, any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident falsehood, and at war with mankind. at the last session lucretia mott offered and spoke to the following resolution: _resolved_, that the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women, for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman an equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce. the only resolution that was not unanimously adopted was the ninth, urging the women of the country to secure to themselves the elective franchise. those who took part in the debate feared a demand for the right to vote would defeat others they deemed more rational, and make the whole movement ridiculous. but mrs. stanton and frederick douglass seeing that the power to choose rulers and make laws, was the right by which all others could be secured, persistently advocated the resolution, and at last carried it by a small majority. thus it will be seen that the declaration and resolutions in the very first convention, demanded all the most radical friends of the movement have since claimed--such as equal rights in the universities, in the trades and professions; the right to vote; to share in all political offices, honors, and emoluments; to complete equality in marriage, to personal freedom, property, wages, children; to make contracts; to sue, and be sued; and to testify in courts of justice. at this time the condition of married women under the common law, was nearly as degraded as that of the slave on the southern plantation. the convention continued through two entire days, and late into the evenings. the deepest interest was manifested to its close. the proceedings were extensively published, unsparingly ridiculed by the press, and denounced by the pulpit, much to the surprise and chagrin of the leaders. being deeply in earnest, and believing their demands pre-eminently wise and just, they were wholly unprepared to find themselves the target for the jibes and jeers of the nation. the declaration was signed by one hundred men, and women, many of whom withdrew their names as soon as the storm of ridicule began to break. the comments of the press were carefully preserved,[ ] and it is curious to see that the same old arguments, and objections rife at the start, are reproduced by the press of to-day. but the brave protests sent out from this convention touched a responsive chord in the hearts of women all over the country. conventions were held soon after in ohio, massachusetts, indiana, pennsylvania, and at different points in new york. mr. douglass, in his paper, _the north star_, of july , , had the following editorial leader: the rights of women.--one of the most interesting events of the past week, was the holding of what is technically styled a woman's rights convention at seneca falls. the speaking, addresses, and resolutions of this extraordinary meeting were almost wholly conducted by women; and although they evidently felt themselves in a novel position, it is but simple justice to say that their whole proceedings were characterized by marked ability and dignity. no one present, we think, however much he might be disposed to differ from the views advanced by the leading speakers on that occasion, will fail to give them credit for brilliant talents and excellent dispositions. in this meeting, as in other deliberative assemblies, there were frequent differences of opinion and animated discussion; but in no case was there the slightest absence of good feeling and decorum. several interesting documents setting forth the rights as well as grievances of women were read. among these was a declaration of sentiments, to be regarded as the basis of a grand movement for attaining the civil, social, political, and religious rights of women. we should not do justice to our own convictions, or to the excellent persons connected with this infant movement, if we did not in this connection offer a few remarks on the general subject which the convention met to consider and the objects they seek to attain. in doing so, we are not insensible that the bare mention of this truly important subject in any other than terms of contemptuous ridicule and scornful disfavor, is likely to excite against us the fury of bigotry and the folly of prejudice. a discussion of the rights of animals would be regarded with far more complacency by many of what are called the _wise_ and the _good_ of our land, than would be a discussion of the rights of women. it is, in their estimation, to be guilty of evil thoughts, to think that woman is entitled to equal rights with man. many who have at last made the discovery that the negroes have some rights as well as other members of the human family, have yet to be convinced that women are entitled to any. eight years ago a number of persons of this description actually abandoned the anti-slavery cause, lest by giving their influence in that direction they might possibly be giving countenance to the dangerous heresy that woman, in respect to rights, stands on an equal footing with man. in the judgment of such persons the american slave system, with all its concomitant horrors, is less to be deplored than this _wicked_ idea. it is perhaps needless to say, that we cherish little sympathy for such sentiments or respect for such prejudices. standing as we do upon the watch-tower of human freedom, we can not be deterred from an expression of our approbation of any movement, however humble, to improve and elevate the character of any members of the human family. while it is impossible for us to go into this subject at length, and dispose of the various objections which are often urged against such a doctrine as that of female equality, we are free to say that in respect to political rights, we hold woman to be justly entitled to all we claim for man. we go farther, and express our conviction that all political rights which it is expedient for man to exercise, it is equally so for woman. all that distinguishes man as an intelligent and accountable being, is equally true of woman; and if that government only is just which governs by the free consent of the governed, there can be no reason in the world for denying to woman the exercise of the elective franchise, or a hand in making and administering the laws of the land. our doctrine is that "right is of no sex." we therefore bid the women engaged in this movement our humble godspeed. the rochester convention, august , . those who took part in the convention at seneca falls, finding at the end of the two days, there were still so many new points for discussion, and that the gift of tongues had been vouchsafed to them, adjourned, to meet in rochester in two weeks. amy post, sarah d. fish, sarah c. owen, and mary h. hallowell, were the committee of arrangements. this convention was called for august d, and so well advertised in the daily papers, that at the appointed hour, the unitarian church was filled to overflowing. amy post called the meeting to order, and stated that at a gathering the previous evening in protection hall, rhoda de garmo, sarah fish, and herself, were appointed a committee to nominate officers for the convention, and they now proposed abigail bush, for president; laura murray, for vice-president; elizabeth mcclintock, sarah hallowell, and catherine a. f. stebbins, for secretaries. mrs. mott, mrs. stanton, and mrs. mcclintock, thought it a most hazardous experiment to have a woman president, and stoutly opposed it. to write a declaration and resolutions, to make a speech, and debate, had taxed their powers to the uttermost; and now, with such feeble voices and timid manners, without the slightest knowledge of cushing's manual, or the least experience in public meetings, how could a woman preside? they were on the verge of leaving the convention in disgust, but amy post and rhoda de garmo assured them that by the same power by which they had resolved, declared, discussed, debated, they could also preside at a public meeting, if they would but make the experiment. and as the vote of the majority settled the question on the side of woman, abigail bush took the chair, and the calm way she assumed the duties of the office, and the admirable manner in which she discharged them, soon reconciled the opposition to the seemingly ridiculous experiment. the proceedings were opened with prayer, by the rev. mr. wicher, of the free-will baptist church. even at that early day, there were many of the liberal clergymen in favor of equal rights for women. during the reading of the minutes of the preliminary meeting by the secretary, much uneasiness was manifested concerning the low voices of women, and cries of "louder, louder!" drowned every other sound, when the president, on rising, said: friends, we present ourselves here before you, as an oppressed class, with trembling frames and faltering tongues, and we do not expect to be able to speak so as to be heard by all at first, but we trust we shall have the sympathy of the audience, and that you will bear with our weakness now in the infancy of the movement. our trust in the omnipotency of right is our only faith that we shall succeed. as the appointed secretaries could not be heard, sarah anthony burtis, an experienced quaker school-teacher, whose voice had been well trained in her profession, volunteered to fill the duties of that office, and she read the reports and documents of the convention with a clear voice and confident manner, to the great satisfaction of her more timid coadjutors. several gentlemen took part in the debates of this convention. some in favor, some opposed, and others willing to make partial concessions to the demands as set forth in the declaration and resolutions. frederick douglass, william c. nell, and william c. bloss advocated the emancipation of women from all the artificial disabilities, imposed by false customs, creeds, and codes. milo codding, mr. sulley, mr. pickard, and a mr. colton, of connecticut, thought "woman's sphere was home," and that she should remain in it; he would seriously deprecate her occupying the pulpit. lucretia mott replied, that the gentleman from new haven had objected to woman occupying the pulpit, and indeed she could scarcely see how any one educated in new haven, ct., could think otherwise than he did. she said, we had all got our notions too much from the clergy, instead of the bible. the bible, she contended, had none of the prohibitions in regard to women; and spoke of the "honorable women not a few," etc., and desired mr. colton to read his bible over again, and see if there was anything there to prohibit woman from being a religious teacher. she then complimented the members of that church for opening their doors to a woman's eights convention, and said that a few years ago, the female moral reform society of philadelphia applied for the use of a church in that city, in which to hold one of their meetings; they were only allowed the use of the basement, and on condition that none of the women should speak at the meeting. accordingly, a d.d. was called upon to preside, and another to read the ladies' report of the society. near the close of the morning session, a young bride in traveling dress,[ ] accompanied by her husband, slowly walked up the aisle, and asked the privilege of saying a few words, which was readily granted. being introduced to the audience, she said, on her way westward, hearing of the convention, she had waited over a train, to add her mite in favor of the demand now made, by the true women of this generation: it is with diffidence that i speak upon this question before us, not a diffidence resulting from any doubt of the worthiness of the cause, but from the fear that its depth and power can be but meagerly portrayed by me.... woman's rights--her civil rights--equal with man's--not an equality of moral and religious influence, for who dares to deny her that?--but an equality in the exercise of her own powers, and a right to use all the sources of erudition within the reach of man, to build unto herself a name for her talents, energy, and integrity. we do not positively say that our intellect is as capable as man's to assume, and at once to hold, these rights, or that our hearts are as willing to enter into his actions; for if we did not believe it, we would not contend for them, and if men did not believe it, they would not withhold them with a smothered silence.... in closing, she said: there will be one effect, perhaps unlooked for, if we are raised to equal administration with man. it will classify intellect. the heterogeneous triflings which now, i am very sorry to say, occupy so much of our time, will be neglected; fashion's votaries will silently fall off; dishonest exertions for rank in society will be scorned; extravagance in toilet will be detested; that meager and worthless pride of station will be forgotten; the honest earnings of dependents will be paid; popular demagogues crushed; impostors unpatronized; true genius sincerely encouraged; and, above all, pawned integrity redeemed! and why? because enfranchised woman then will feel the burdens of her responsibilities, and can strive for elevation, and will reach all knowledge within her grasp.... if all this is accomplished, man need not fear pomposity, fickleness, or an unhealthy enthusiasm at his dear fireside; we can be as dutiful, submissive, endearing as daughters, wives, and mothers, even if we hang the wreath of domestic harmony upon the eagle's talons. thus for twenty minutes the young and beautiful stranger held her audience spell-bound with her eloquence, in a voice whose pathos thrilled every heart. her husband, hat and cane in hand, remained standing, leaning against a pillar near the altar, and seemed a most delighted, nay, reverential listener. it was a scene never to be forgotten, and one of the most pleasing incidents of the convention. sarah owen read an address on woman's place and pay in the world of work. in closing, she said: an experienced cashier of this city remarked to me that women might be as good book-keepers as men; but men have monopolized every lucrative situation, from the dry-goods merchant down to whitewashing. who does not feel, as she sees a stout, athletic man standing behind the counter measuring lace, ribbons, and tape, that he is monopolizing a woman's place, while thousands of rich acres in our western world await his coming? this year, a woman, for the first time, has taken her place in one of our regular medical colleges. we rejoice to hear that by her dignity of manner, application to study, and devotion to the several branches of the profession she has chosen, she has secured the respect of her professors and class, and reflected lasting honor upon her whole sex. thus we hail, in elizabeth blackwell, a pioneer for woman in this profession. it is by this inverted order of society that woman is obliged to ply the needle by day and by night, to procure even a scanty pittance for her dependent family. let men become producers, as nature has designed them, and women be educated to fill all those stations which require less physical strength, and we should soon modify many of our social evils. i am informed by the seamstresses of this city, that they get but thirty cents for making a satin vest, and from twelve to thirty for making pants, and coats in the same proportion. man has such a contemptible idea of woman, that he thinks she can not even sew as well as he can; and he often goes to a tailor, and pays him double and even treble for making a suit, when it merely passes through his hands, after a woman has made every stitch of it so neatly that he discovers no difference. who does not see gross injustice in this inequality of wages and violation of rights? to prove that woman is capable of prosecuting the mercantile business, we have a noble example in this city in mrs. gifford, who has sustained herself with credit. she has bravely triumphed over all obloquy and discouragement attendant on such a novel experiment, and made for herself an independent living. in the fields of benevolence, woman has done great and noble works for the safety and stability of the nation. when man shall see the wisdom of recognizing a co-worker in her, then may be looked for the dawning of a perfect day, when woman shall stand where god designed she should, on an even platform with man himself. mrs. roberts, who had been requested to investigate the wrongs of the laboring classes, and to invite that oppressed portion of the community to attend the convention, and take part in its deliberations, made some appropriate remarks relative to the intolerable servitude and small remuneration paid to the working-class of women. she reported the average price of labor for seamstresses to be from to cents a day, and board from $ . to $ . per week to be deducted therefrom, and they were generally obliged to take half or more in due bills, which were payable in goods at certain stores, thereby obliging them many times to pay extortionate prices. mrs. galloy corroborated the statement, having herself experienced some of the oppressions of this portion of our citizens, and expressed her gratitude that the subject was claiming the attention of this benevolent and intelligent class of community. it did not require much argument, to reconcile all who took part in the debates, to woman's right to equal wages for equal work, but the gentlemen seemed more disturbed as to the effect of equality in the family. with the old idea of a divinely ordained head, and that, in all cases, the man, whether wise or foolish, educated or ignorant, sober or drunk, such a relation to them did not seem feasible. mr. sully asked, when the two heads disagree, who must decide? there is no lord chancellor to whom to apply, and does not st. paul strictly enjoin obedience to husbands, and that man shall be head of the woman? lucretia mott replied that in the society of friends she had never known any difficulty to arise on account of the wife's not having promised _obedience_ in the marriage contract. she had never known any mode of decision except an appeal to reason; and, although in some of the meetings of this society, women are placid on an equality, none of the results so much dreaded had occurred. she said that many of the opposers of woman's rights, who bid us to obey the bachelor st. paul, themselves reject his counsel. he advised them not to marry. in general answer she would quote, "one is your master, even christ." although paul enjoins silence on women in the church, yet he gives directions how they should appear when publicly speaking, and we have scriptural accounts of honorable women not a few who were religious teachers, viz: phebe, priscilla, tryphena, triphosa, and the four daughters of philip, and various others. mrs. stanton thought the gentleman might be easily answered; saying that the strongest will or the superior intellect now governs the household, as it will in the new order. she knew many a woman, who, to all intents and purposes, is at the head of her family. mr. pickard asked who, after marriage, should hold the property, and whose name should be retained. he thought an umpire necessary. he did not see but all business must cease until the consent of both parties be obtained. he saw an impossibility of introducing such rules into society. the gospel had established the unity and oneness of the married pair. mrs. stanton said she thought the gospel, rightly understood, pointed to a oneness of equality, not subordination, and that property should be jointly held. she could see no reason why marriage by false creeds should be made a degradation to woman; and, as to the name, the custom of taking the husband's name is not universal. when a man has a bad name in any sense, he might be the gainer by burying himself under the good name of his wife. this last winter a mr. cruikshanks applied to our legislature to have his name changed. now, if he had taken his wife's name in the beginning, he might have saved the legislature the trouble of considering the propriety of releasing the man from such a burden to be entailed on the third and fourth generation. when a slave escapes from a southern plantation, he at once takes a name as the first step in liberty--the first assertion of individual identity. a woman's dignity is equally involved in a life-long name, to mark her individuality. we can not overestimate the demoralizing effect on woman herself, to say nothing of society at large, for her to consent thus to merge her existence so wholly in that of another. a well-written speech was read by william c. nell, which mrs. mott thought too flattering. she said woman is now sufficiently developed to prefer justice to compliment. a letter was read from gerrit smith, approving cordially of the object of the convention. mrs. stanton read the declaration that was adopted at seneca falls, and urged those present who did not agree with its sentiments, to make their objections then and there. she hoped if there were any clergymen present, they would not keep silent during the convention and then on sunday do as their brethren did in seneca falls--use their pulpits throughout the city to denounce them, where they could not, of course, be allowed to reply. the resolutions[ ] were freely discussed by amy post, rhoda de garmo, ann edgeworth, sarah d. fish, and others. while mrs. mott and mrs. stanton spoke in their favor, they thought they were too tame, and wished for some more stirring declarations. elizabeth mcclintock read, in an admirable manner, a spirited poetical reply, from the pen of maria weston chapman, to "a clerical appeal" published in . mrs. chapman was one of the grand women in boston, who, during the early days of anti-slavery, gave her unceasing efforts to that struggle. her pen was a power in the journals and magazines, and her presence an inspiration in their fairs and conventions. when abby kelly, angelina grimke, and lucretia mott first began to speak to promiscuous assemblies in anti-slavery conventions, "a clerical appeal" was issued and sent to all the clergymen in new england, calling on them to denounce in their pulpits this unmannerly and unchristian proceeding. sermons were preached, portraying in the darkest colors the fearful results to the church, the state, and the home, in thus encouraging women to enter public life. "pastoral letter." extract from a pastoral letter of "the general association of massachusetts (orthodox) to the churches under their care"-- : iii. we invite your attention to the dangers which at present seem to threaten the female character with wide-spread and permanent injury. the appropriate duties and influence of woman are clearly stated in the new testament. those duties and that influence are unobtrusive and private, but the source of mighty power. when the mild, dependent, softening influence of woman upon the sternness of man's opinions is fully exercised, society feels the effects of it in a thousand forms. the power of woman is her dependence, flowing from the consciousness of that weakness which god has given her for her protection, (!) and which keeps her in those departments of life that form the character of individuals, and of the nation. there are social influences which females use in promoting piety and the great objects of christian benevolence which we can not too highly commend. we appreciate the unostentatious prayers and efforts of woman in advancing the cause of religion at home and abroad; in sabbath-schools; in leading religious inquirers to the pastors (!) for instruction; and in all such associated effort as becomes the modesty of her sex; and earnestly hope that she may abound more and more in these labors of piety and love. but when she assumes the place and tone of man as a public reformer, our care and protection of her seem unnecessary; we put ourselves in self-defence (!) against her; she yields the power which god has given her for her protection, and her character becomes unnatural. if the vine, whose strength and beauty is to lean upon the trellis-work, and half conceal its clusters, thinks to assume the independence and the overshadowing nature of the elm, it will not only cease to bear fruit, but fall in shame and dishonor into the dust. we can not, therefore, but regret the mistaken conduct of those who encourage females to bear an obtrusive and ostentatious part in measures of reform, and countenance any of that sex who so far forget themselves as to itinerate in the character of public lecturers and teachers. we especially deplore the intimate acquaintance and promiscuous conversation of females with regard to things which ought not to be named; by which that modesty and delicacy which is the charm of domestic life, and which constitutes the true influence of woman in society, is consumed, and the way opened, as we apprehend, for degeneracy and ruin. we say these things not to discourage proper influences against sin, but to secure such reformation (!) as we believe is scriptural, and will be permanent. william lloyd garrison, in a cordial letter, accompanying the above extract, which he had copied for us with his own hand from the files of _the liberator_, said: "this 'clerical bull' was fulminated with special reference to those two noble south carolina women, sarah m. and angelina e. grimke, who were at that time publicly pleading for those in bonds as bound with them, while on a visit to massachusetts. it was written by the rev. dr. nehemiah adams, of boston, author of 'a south-side view of slavery.'" maria weston chapman's amusing answer in rhyme, shows that the days for ecclesiastical bulls were fast passing away, when women, even, could thus make light of them. mrs. chapman's poem. "the times that try men's souls." confusion has seized us, and all things go wrong, the women have leaped from "their spheres," and, instead of fixed stars, shoot as comets along, and are setting the world by the ears! in courses erratic they're wheeling through space, in brainless confusion and meaningless chase. in vain do our knowing ones try to compute their return to the orbit designed; they're glanced at a moment, then onward they shoot, and are neither "to hold nor to bind;" so freely they move in their chosen ellipse, the "lords of creation" do fear an eclipse. they've taken a notion to speak for themselves, and are wielding the tongue and the pen; they've mounted the rostrum; the termagant elves, and--oh horrid!--are talking to men! with faces unblanched in our presence they come to harangue us, they say, in behalf of the dumb. they insist on their right to petition and pray, that st. paul, in corinthians, has given them rules for appearing in public; despite what those say whom we've trained to instruct them in schools; but vain such instructions, if women may scan and quote texts of scripture to favor their plan. our grandmothers' learning consisted of yore in spreading their generous boards; in twisting the distaff, or mopping the floor, and _obeying the will of their lords_. now, misses may reason, and think, and debate, till unquestioned submission is quite out of date. our clergy have preached on the sin and the shame of woman, when out of "her sphere," and labored _divinely_ to ruin her fame, and shorten this horrid career; but for spiritual guidance no longer they look to fulsom, or winslow, or learned parson cook. our wise men have tried to exorcise in vain the turbulent spirits abroad; as well might we deal with the fetterless main, or conquer ethereal essence with sword; like the devils of milton, they rise from each blow, with spirit unbroken, insulting the foe. our patriot fathers, of eloquent fame, waged war against tangible forms; aye, _their_ foes were men--and if ours were the same, _we_ might speedily quiet their storms; but, ah! their descendants enjoy not such bliss-- the assumptions of britain were nothing to this. could we but array all our force in the field, we'd teach these usurpers of power that their bodily safety demands they should yield, and in the presence of manhood should cower; but, alas! for our tethered and impotent state, chained by notions of knighthood--we can but debate. oh! shade of the prophet mahomet, arise! place woman again in "her sphere," and teach that her soul was not born for the skies, but to flutter a brief moment here. this doctrine of jesus, as preached up by paul, if embraced in its spirit, will ruin us all. --_lords of creation_. on reading the "pastoral letter," our quaker poet, john greenleaf whittier, poured out his indignation on the new england clergy in thrilling denunciations. mr. whittier early saw that woman's only protection against religious and social tyranny, could be found in political equality. in the midst of the fierce conflicts in the anti-slavery conventions of and ' , on the woman question _per se_, mr. whittier remarked to lucretia mott, "_give woman the right to vote_, and you end all these persecutions by reform and church organizations." the pastoral letter. so, this is all--the utmost reach of priestly power the mind to fetter! when laymen think--when women preach-- a war of words--a "pastoral letter!" now, shame upon ye, parish popes! was it thus with those, your predecessors, who sealed with racks, and fire, and ropes their loving-kindness to transgressors? a "pastoral letter," grave and dull-- alas! in hoof and horns and features, how different is your brookfield bull, from him who bellows from st. peter's! your pastoral rights and powers from harm, think ye, can words alone preserve them? your wiser fathers taught the arm and sword of temporal power to serve them. oh, glorious days--when church and state were wedded by your spiritual fathers! and on submissive shoulders sat yours wilsons and your cotton mathers. no vile "itinerant" then could mar the beauty of your tranquil zion, but at his peril of the scar of hangman's whip and branding-iron. then, wholesome laws relieved the church of heretic and mischief-maker. and priest and bailiff joined in search, by turns, of papist, witch, and quaker! the stocks were at each church's door, the gallows stood on boston common, a papist's ears the pillory bore-- the gallows-rope, a quaker woman! your fathers dealt not as ye deal with "non-professing" frantic teachers; they bored the tongue with red-hot steel, and flayed the backs of "female preachers." old newbury, had her fields a tongue, and salem's streets could tell their story, of fainting woman dragged along, gashed by the whip, accursed and gory! and will ye ask me, why this taunt of memories sacred from the scorner? and why with reckless hand i plant a nettle on the graves ye honor? not to reproach new england's dead this record from the past i summon, of manhood to the scaffold led, and suffering and heroic woman. no--for yourselves alone, i turn the pages of intolerance over, that, in their spirit, dark and stern, ye haply may your own discover! for, if ye claim the "pastoral right," to silence freedom's voice of warning, and from your precincts shut the light of freedom's day around ye dawning; if when an earthquake voice of power, and signs in earth and heaven, are showing that forth, in the appointed hour, the spirit of the lord is going! and, with that spirit, freedom's light on kindred, tongue, and people breaking, whose slumbering millions, at the sight, in glory and in strength are waking! when for the sighing of the poor, and for the needy, god hath risen, and chains are breaking, and a door is opening for the souls in prison! if then ye would, with puny hands, arrest the very work of heaven, and bind anew the evil bands which god's right arm of power hath riven,-- what marvel that, in many a mind, those darker deeds of bigot madness are closely with your own combined, yet "less in anger than in sadness"? what marvel, if the people learn to claim the right of free opinion? what marvel, if at times they spurn the ancient yoke of your dominion? a glorious remnant linger yet, whose lips are wet at freedom's fountains, the coming of whose welcome feet is beautiful upon our mountains! men, who the gospel tidings bring of liberty and love forever, whose joy is an abiding spring, whose peace is as a gentle river! but ye, who scorn the thrilling tale of carolina's high-souled daughters, which echoes here the mournful wail of sorrow from edisto's waters, close while ye may the public ear-- with malice vex, with slander wound them-- the pure and good shall throng to hear, and tried and manly hearts surround them. oh, ever may the power which led their way to such a fiery trial, and strengthened womanhood to tread the wine-press of such self-denial, be round them in an evil land, with wisdom and with strength from heaven, with miriam's voice, and judith's hand, and deborah's song, for triumph given! and what are ye who strive with god against the ark of his salvation, moved by the breath of prayer abroad, with blessings for a dying nation? what, but the stubble and the hay to perish, even as flax consuming, with all that bars his glorious way, before the brightness of his coming? and thou, sad angel, who so long hast waited for the glorious token, that earth from all her bonds of wrong to liberty and light has broken-- angel of freedom! soon to thee the sounding trumpet shall be given, and over earth's full jubilee shall deeper joy be felt in heaven! in answer to the many objections made, by gentlemen present, to granting to woman the right of suffrage, frederick douglass replied in a long, argumentative, and eloquent appeal, for the complete equality of woman in all the rights that belong to any human soul. he thought the true basis of rights was the capacity of individuals; and as for himself, he should not dare claim a right that he would not concede to woman. this convention continued through three sessions, and was crowded with an attentive audience to the hour of adjournment. the daily papers made fair reports, and varied editorial comments, which, being widely copied, called out spicy controversies in different parts of the country. the resolutions and discussions regarding woman's right to enter the professions, encouraged many to prepare themselves for medicine and the ministry. though few women responded to the demand for political rights, many at once saw the importance of equality in the world of work. the seneca falls declaration was adopted, and signed by large numbers of influential men and women of rochester and vicinity, and at a late hour the convention adjourned, in the language of its president, "with hearts overflowing with gratitude." footnotes: [ ] the antique mahogany center-table on which this historic document was written now stands in the parlor of the mcclintock family in philadelphia. [ ] see appendix. [ ] rebecca sanford, now postmaster at mt. morris, n. y. [ ] see appendix. chapter v. reminiscences. emily collins. the first suffrage society--methodist class-leader whips his wife--theology enchains the soul--the status of women and slaves the same--the first medical college opened to women, geneva, n. y.--petitions to the legislature laughed at, and laid on the table--dependence woman's best protection; her weakness her sweetest charm--dr. elizabeth blackwell's letter. i was born and lived almost forty years in south bristol, ontario county--one of the most secluded spots in western new york; but from the earliest dawn of reason i pined for that freedom of thought and action that was then denied to all womankind. i revolted in spirit against the customs of society and the laws of the state that crushed my aspirations and debarred me from the pursuit of almost every object worthy of an intelligent, rational mind. but not until that meeting at seneca falls in , of the pioneers in the cause, gave this feeling of unrest form and voice, did i take action. then i summoned a few women in our neighborhood together and formed an equal suffrage society, and sent petitions to our legislature; but our efforts were little known beyond our circle, as we were in communication with no person or newspaper. yet there was enough of wrong in our narrow horizon to rouse some thought in the minds of all. in those early days a husband's supremacy was often enforced in the rural districts by corporeal chastisement, and it was considered by most people as quite right and proper--as much so as the correction of refractory children in like manner. i remember in my own neighborhood a man who was a methodist class-leader and exhorter, and one who was esteemed a worthy citizen, who, every few weeks, gave his wife a beating with his horsewhip. he said it was necessary, in order to keep her in subjection, and because she scolded so much. now this wife, surrounded by six or seven little children, whom she must wash, dress, feed, and attend to day and night, was obliged to spin and weave cloth for all the garments of the family. she had to milk the cows, make butter and cheese, do all the cooking, washing, making, and mending for the family, and, with the pains of maternity forced upon her every eighteen months, was whipped by her pious husband, "because she scolded." and pray, why should he not have chastised her? the laws made it his privilege--and the bible, as interpreted, made it his duty. it is true, women repined at their hard lot; but it was thought to be fixed by a divine decree, for "the man shall rule over thee," and "wives, be subject to your husbands," and "wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands as unto the lord," caused them to consider their fate inevitable, and to feel that it would be contravening god's law to resist it. it is ever thus; where theology enchains the soul, the tyrant enslaves the body. but can any one, who has any knowledge of the laws that govern our being--of heredity and pre-natal influences--be astonished that our jails and prisons are filled with criminals, and our hospitals with sickly specimens of humanity? as long as the mothers of the race are subject to such unhappy conditions, it can never be materially improved. men exhibit some common sense in breeding all animals except those of their own species. all through the anti-slavery struggle, every word of denunciation of the wrongs of the southern slave, was, i felt, equally applicable to the wrongs of my own sex. every argument for the emancipation of the colored man, was equally one for that of woman; and i was surprised that all abolitionists did not see the similarity in the condition of the two classes. i read, with intense interest, everything that indicated an awakening of public or private thought to the idea that woman did not occupy her rightful position in the organization of society; and, when i read the lectures of ernestine l. rose and the writings of margaret fuller, and found that other women entertained the same thoughts that had been seething in my own brain, and realized that i stood not alone, how my heart bounded with joy! the arguments of that distinguished jurist, judge hurlburt, encouraged me to hope that men would ultimately see the justice of our cause, and concede to women their natural rights. i hailed with gladness any aspiration of women toward an enlargement of their sphere of action; and when, in the early part of , i learned that miss elizabeth blackwell had been admitted as a student to the medical college at geneva, n. y., being the first lady in the united states that had attained that privilege, and knowing the tide of public sentiment she had to stem, i could not refrain from writing her a letter of approval and encouragement. in return i received the following: philadelphia, _august , _. dear madam:--your letter, i can assure you, met with a hearty welcome from me. and i can not refrain from writing to you a warm acknowledgment of your cordial sympathy, and expressing the pleasure with which i have read your brave words. it is true, i look neither for praise nor blame in pursuing the path which i have chosen. with firm religious enthusiasm, no opinion of the world will move me, but when i receive from a woman an approval so true-hearted and glowing, a recognition so clear of the motives which urge me on, then my very soul bounds at the thrilling words, and i go on with renewed energy, with hope, and holy joy in my inmost being. my whole life is devoted unreservedly to the service of my sex. the study and practice of medicine is in my thought but one means to a great end, for which my very soul yearns with in tensest passionate emotion, of which i have dreamed day and night, from my earliest childhood, for which i would offer up my life with triumphant thanksgiving, if martyrdom could secure that glorious end:--the true ennoblement of woman, the full harmonious development of her unknown nature, and the consequent redemption of the whole human race. "earth waits for her queen." every noble movement of the age, every prophecy of future glory, every throb of that great heart which is laboring throughout christendom, call on woman with a voice of thunder, with the authority of a god, to listen to the mighty summons to awake from her guilty sleep, and rouse to glorious action to play her part in the great drama of the ages, and finish the work that man has begun. most fully do i respond to all the noble aspirations that fill your letter. women are feeble, narrow, frivolous at present: ignorant of their own capacities, and undeveloped in thought and feeling; and while they remain so, the great work of human regeneration must remain incomplete; humanity will continue to suffer, and cry in vain for deliverance, for woman has her work to do, and no one can accomplish it for her. she is bound to rise, to try her strength, to break her bonds;--not with noisy outcry, not with fighting or complaint; but with quiet strength, with gentle dignity, firmly, irresistibly, with a cool determination that never wavers, with a clear insight into her own capacities, let her do her duty, pursue her highest conviction of right, and firmly grasp whatever she is able to carry. much is said of the oppression woman suffers; man is reproached with being unjust, tyrannical, jealous. i do not so read human life. the exclusion and constraint woman suffers, is not the result of purposed injury or premeditated insult. it has arisen naturally, without violence, simply because woman has desired nothing more, has not felt the soul too large for the body. but when woman, with matured strength, with steady purpose, presents her lofty claim, all barriers will give way, and man will welcome, with a thrill of joy, the new birth of his sister spirit, the advent of his partner, his co-worker, in the great universe of being. if the present arrangements of society will not admit of woman's free development, then society must be remodeled, and adapted to the great wants of all humanity. our race is one, the interests of all are inseparably united, and harmonic freedom for the perfect growth of every human soul is the great want of our time. it has given me heartfelt satisfaction, dear madam, that you sympathize in my effort to advance the great interests of humanity. i feel the responsibility of my position, and i shall endeavor, by wisdom of action, purity of motive, and unwavering steadiness of purpose, to justify the noble hope i have excited. to me the future is full of glorious promise, humanity is arousing to accomplish its grand destiny, and in the fellowship of this great hope, i would greet you, and recognize in your noble spirit a fellow-laborer for the true and the good. elizabeth blackwell. mrs. emily collins. but, it was the proceedings of the convention, in , at seneca falls, that first gave a direction to the efforts of the many women, who began to feel the degradation of their subject condition, and its baneful effects upon the human race. they then saw the necessity for associated action, in order to obtain the elective franchise, the only key that would unlock the doors of their prison. i wrote to miss sarah c. owen, secretary of the women's protective union, at rochester, as to the line of procedure that had been proposed there. in reply, under date of october , , she says: your letter has just reached me, and with much pleasure i reply to the echo of inquiry, beyond the bounds of those personally associated with us in this enterprise. it is indeed encouraging to hear a voice from south bristol in such perfect unison with our own. possibly, extracts from my next letter to miss owen, dated oct. , , will give you the best idea of the movement: i should have acknowledged the receipt of yours of the st inst. earlier, but wished to report somewhat of progress whenever i should write. our prospects here are brightening. every lady of any worth or intelligence adopts unhesitatingly our view, and concurs in our measures. on the th inst. we met and organized a woman's equal rights union. living in the country, where the population is sparse, we are consequently few; but hope to make up in zeal and energy for our lack of numbers. we breathe a freer, if not a purer atmosphere here among the mountains, than do the dwellers in cities,--have more independence,--are less subject to the despotism of fashion, and are less absorbed with dress and amusements.... a press entirely devoted to our cause seems indispensable. if there is none such, can you tell me of any paper that advocates our claims more warmly than the _north star_?[ ] a lecturer in the field would be most desirable; but how to raise funds to sustain one is the question. i never really wished for aladdin's lamp till now. would to heaven that women could be persuaded to use the funds they acquire by their sewing-circles and fairs, in trying to raise their own condition above that of "infants, idiots, and lunatics," with whom our statutes class them, instead of spending the money in decorating their churches, or sustaining a clergy, the most of whom are striving to rivet the chains still closer that bind, not only our own sex, but the oppressed of every class and color. the elective franchise is now the one object for which we must labor; that once attained, all the rest will be easily acquired. moral reform and temperance societies may be multiplied _ad infinitum_, but they have about the same effect upon the evils they seek to cure, as clipping the top of a hedge would have toward extirpating it. please forward me a copy of the petition for suffrage. we will engage to do all we can, not only in our own town, but in the adjoining ones of richmond, east bloomfield, canandaigua, and naples. i have promises of aid from people of influence in obtaining signatures. in the meantime we wish to disseminate some able work upon the enfranchisement of women. we wish to present our assemblyman elect, whoever he may be, with some work of this kind, and solicit his candid attention to the subject. people are more willing to be convinced by the calm perusal of an argument, than in a personal discussion.... our society was composed of some fifteen or twenty ladies, and we met once in two weeks, in each other's parlors, alternately, for discussion and interchange of ideas. i was chosen president; mrs. sophia allen, vice-president; mrs. horace pennell, treasurer; and one of several young ladies who were members was secretary. horace pennell, esq., and his wife were two of our most earnest helpers. we drafted a petition to the legislature to grant women the right of suffrage, and obtained the names of sixty-two of the most intelligent people, male and female, in our own and adjoining towns, and sent it to our representative in albany. it was received by the legislature as something absurdly ridiculous, and laid upon the table. we introduced the question into the debating clubs, that were in those days such popular institutions in the rural districts, and in every way sought to agitate the subject. i found a great many men, especially those of the better class, disposed to accord equal rights to our sex. and, now, as the highest tribute that i can pay to the memory of a husband, i may say that during our companionship of thirty-five years, i was most cordially sustained by mine, in my advocacy of equal rights to women. amongst my own sex, i found too many on whom ages of repression had wrought their natural effect, and whose ideas and aspirations were narrowed down to the confines of "woman's sphere," beyond whose limits it was not only impious, but infamous to tread. "woman's sphere" _then_, was to discharge the duties of a housekeeper, ply the needle, and teach a primary or ladies' school. from press, and pulpit, and platform, she was taught that "to be unknown was her highest praise," that "dependence was her best protection," and "her weakness her sweetest charm." she needed only sufficient intelligence to comprehend her husband's superiority, and to obey him in all things. it is not surprising, then, that i as often heard the terms "strong-minded" and "masculine" as opprobrious epithets used against progressive women, by their own sex as by the other; another example only of the stultifying effect of subjection, upon the mind, exactly paralleled by the southern slaves, amongst many of whom the strongest term of contempt that could be used was "_free nigger_." our equal rights association continued to hold its meetings for somewhat over a year, and they were at last suspended on account of bad weather and the difficulty of coming together in the country districts. we, however, continued to send petitions to the legislature for the removal of woman's disabilities. from to my home was in rochester, n. y. there, by brief newspaper articles and in other ways, i sought to influence public sentiment in favor of this fundamental reform. in a society was organized there for the reformation of abandoned women. at one of its meetings i endeavored to show how futile all their efforts would be, while women, by the laws of the land, were made a subject class; that only by enfranchising woman and permitting her a more free and lucrative range of employments, could they hope to suppress the "social evil." my remarks produced some agitation in the meeting and some newspaper criticisms. in rochester, i found many pioneers in the cause of woman suffrage, and from year to year we petitioned our legislature for it. since i have been a citizen of louisiana. here, till recently, political troubles engrossed the minds of men to the exclusion of every other consideration. they glowed with fiery indignation at being, themselves, deprived of the right of suffrage, or at having their votes annulled, and regarded it as an intolerable outrage; yet, at the same time, they denied it to all women, many of whom valued the elective franchise as highly, and felt as intensely, as did men, the injustice that withheld it from them. in , when the convention met to frame a new constitution for the state, we strongly petitioned it for an enlargement of our civil rights and for the ballot. mrs. elizabeth l. saxon was indefatigable in her efforts, and went before the convention in person and plead our cause. but the majority of the members thought there were cogent reasons for not granting our petitions; but they made women eligible to all school offices--an indication that louisiana will not be the last state in the union to deny women their inalienable rights. emily collins. the newspaper comments on elizabeth blackwell as a physician, both in the french and american papers, seem very ridiculous to us at this distance of time. _the american_, rochester, n. y., july, : a novel circumstance.--our readers will perhaps remember that some time ago a lady, miss elizabeth blackwell, applied for admission as a student in one of the medical colleges of philadelphia, her purpose being to go through an entire course of the study of medicine. the application was denied, and the lady subsequently entered the geneva medical college, where, at the annual commencement on the d instant, she graduated with high honors and received the degree of m.d., the subject of her thesis being "ship fever." on receiving her diploma she thus addressed the president: "with the help of the most high, it shall be the effort of my life to shed honor on this diploma." professor lee, who delivered the customary oration, complimented the lady by saying that she had won the distinction of her class by attending faithfully to every duty required of candidates striving for the honor. eighteen young gentlemen received the degree of m.d. at the same time. after graduating with high honors in this country, dr. elizabeth blackwell went to france to secure still higher advantages of education than could be found here. what was thought of her there will be seen by the following letter of a paris correspondent in the new york _journal of commerce_: an american doctress.--the medical community of paris is all agog by the arrival of the celebrated american doctor, miss blackwell. she has quite bewildered the learned faculty by her diploma, all in due form, authorizing her to dose and bleed and amputate with the best of them. some of them think miss blackwell must be a socialist of the most rabid class, and that her undertaking is the entering wedge to a systematic attack on society by the whole sex. others, who have seen her, say that there is nothing very alarming in her manner; that, on the contrary, she is modest and unassuming, and talks reasonably on other subjects. the ladies attack her in turn. one said to me a few days since, "oh, it is too horrid! i'm sure i never could touch her hand! only to think that those long fingers of hers had been cutting up dead people." i have seen the doctor in question, and must say in fairness, that her appearance is quite prepossessing. she is young, and rather good-looking; her manner indicates great energy of character, and she seems to have entered on her singular career from motives of duty, and encouraged by respectable ladies of cincinnati. after about ten days' hesitation, on the part of the directors of the hospital of maternity, she has at last received permission to enter the institution as a pupil. * * * * * ernestine l. rose. by l. e. barnard. ernestine l. rose--maiden name siismund potoski--was born january , , at pyeterkow, in poland. her father, a very pious and learned rabbi, was so conscientious that he would take no pay for discharging the functions of his office, saying he would not convert his duty into a means of gain. as a child she was of a reflective habit, and though very active and cheerful, she scarcely ever engaged with her young companions in their sports, but took great delight in the company of her father, for whom she entertained a remarkable affection. at a very early age she commenced reading the hebrew scriptures, but soon became involved in serious difficulties respecting the formation of the world, the origin of evil, and other obscure points suggested by the sacred history and cosmogony of her people. the reproofs which met her at every step of her biblical investigations, and being constantly told that "little girls must not ask questions," made her at that early day an advocate of religious freedom and woman's rights; as she could not see, on the one hand, why subjects of vital interest should be held too sacred for investigation, nor, on the other, why a "little girl" should not have the same right to ask questions as a little boy. despite her early investigation of the bible, she was noted for her strict observance of all the rites and ceremonies of the jewish faith, though some of them, on account of her tender age, were not demanded of her. she was, however, often painfully disturbed by her "carnal reason" questioning the utility of these multifarious observances. as an illustration, she one day asked her father, with much anxiety, why he fasted[ ] so much more than others, a habit which was seriously impairing his health and spirits; and being told that it was to please god, who required this sacrifice at his hands, she, in a serious and most emphatic tone, replied, "if god is pleased in making you sick and unhappy, i hate god." this idea of the cruelty of god toward her father had a remarkable influence upon her; and at the age of fourteen she renounced her belief in the bible and the religion of her father, which brought down upon her great trouble and persecution alike from her own jewish friends and from christians. at the age of sixteen she had the misfortune to lose her mother. a year afterward her father married again, and through misdirected kindness involved her in a lawsuit, in which she plead her own case and won it; but she left the property with her father, declaring that she cared nothing for it, but only for justice, and that her inheritance might not fall into mercenary hands. she subsequently traveled in poland, russia, the germanic states, holland, belgium, france, and england; during which time she witnessed and took part in some interesting and important affairs. while in berlin she had an interview with the king of prussia concerning the right of polish jews to remain in that city. the jews of russian poland were not permitted to continue in prussia, unless they could bring forward as security prussian citizens who were holders of real estate. but even then they could get a permit to tarry only on a visit, and not to transact any business for themselves. mlle. potoski, being from poland and a jewess, was subject to this disability. though she could have obtained the requisite security by applying for it, she preferred to stand upon her natural rights as a human being. she remonstrated against the gross injustice of the law, and obtained the right to remain as long as she wished, and to do what she pleased. in hague, she became acquainted with a very distressing case of a poor sailor, the father of four children, whose wife had been imprisoned for an alleged crime of which he insisted she was innocent. inquiring into the case, mlle. potoski drew up a petition which she personally presented to the king of holland, and had the satisfaction of seeing the poor woman restored to her family. she was in paris during the revolution of july, , and witnessed most of its exciting scenes. on seeing louis phillipe presented by lafayette to the people of paris from the balcony of the tuilleries, she remarked to a friend, "that man, as well as charles x., will one day have good reason to wish himself safely off the throne of france." in england she became acquainted with lord grosvenor and family, with frances farrar, sister of oliver farrar, m.p., the miss leeds, and others of the nobility; also with many prominent members of the society of friends, among them joseph gurney and his sister elizabeth fry, the eminent philanthropist, in whose company she visited newgate prison. in she made the acquaintance of robert owen, and warmly espoused his principles. in she presided at the formation of a society called "the association of all classes of all nations, without distinction of sect, sex, party condition, or color." while in england she married william e. rose, and in the spring of , came to the united states, and resided in the city of new york. soon after her arrival she commenced lecturing on the evils of the existing social system, the formation of human character, slavery, the rights of woman, and other reform questions. [illustration: ernestine l. rose (with autograph).] at a great public meeting in the broadway tabernacle to consider the necessity of an improved system of free schools, j. s. buckingham, m.p., of england, and rev. robert breckenridge, of kentucky, were among the speakers. mrs. rose, sitting in the gallery, called the reverend gentleman to order for violating the sense of the audience, in entirely overlooking the important object which had called the people together, and indulging in a violent clerical harangue against a class whom he stigmatized as infidels. this bold innovation of a woman upon the hitherto unquestioned prerogatives of the clergy, at once caused a tremendous excitement. loud cries of "throw her down!" "drag her out!" "she's an infidel!" resounded in all parts of the building. she, however, held her ground, calm and collected while the tumult lasted, and after quiet was restored, continued her remarks in a most dignified manner, making a deep impression upon all present. certain religious papers declared it a forewarning of some terrible calamity, that a woman should call a minister to account, and that, too, in a church. mrs. rose has lectured in not less than twenty-three different states of the union. some of them she has visited often, and on several occasions she has addressed legislative bodies with marked effect, advocating the necessity of legal redress for the wrongs and disabilities to which her sex are subject. as an advocate of woman's rights, anti-slavery and religious liberty, she has earned a world-wide celebrity. for fifty years a public speaker, during which period she has associated with the influential classes in europe and america, and borne an active part in the great progressive movements which mark the present as the most glorious of historical epochs, ernestine l. rose has accomplished for the elevation of her sex and the amelioration of social conditions, a work which can be ascribed to few women of our time. in the spring of , mrs. rose and miss anthony took a trip together to washington, alexandria, baltimore, philadelphia, speaking two or three times in each place. this was after the introduction of the kansas-nebraska bill in congress, and the excitement of the country upon the slavery question was intense. mrs. rose's third lecture in washington was on the "nebraska question." this lecture was scarcely noticed, the only paper giving it the least report, being _the washington globe_, which, though it spoke most highly of her as a lecturer, misrepresented her by ascribing to her the arguments of the south. _the national era_, the only anti-slavery paper in washington, was entirely silent, taking no notice of the fact that mrs. rose had spoken in that city against the further spread of slavery. whether this was due to editorial prejudice against sex, or against freedom of religious belief, is unknown. in the winter of , mrs. rose spoke in thirteen of the fifty-four county conventions upon woman suffrage held in the state of new york, and each winter took part in the albany conventions and hearings before the legislature, which in resulted in the passage of the bill securing to women the right to their wages and the equal guardianship of their children. mrs. rose was sustained in her work by the earnest sympathy of her husband, who gladly furnished her the means of making her extensive tours, so that through his sense of justice she was enabled to preach the gospel of woman's rights, anti-slavery, and free religion without money and without price. _the boston investigator_ of january , , speaking of a letter just received from her, says: "thirty years ago mrs. rose was in her prime--an excellent lecturer, liberal, eloquent, witty, and we must add, decidedly handsome--'the rose that all were praising.' her portrait, life-size and very natural, hangs in investigator hall, and her intelligent-looking and expressive countenance, and black glossy curls, denote intellect and beauty. as an anti-slavery lecturer, a pioneer in the cause of woman's rights, and an advocate of liberalism, she did good service, and is worthy to be classed with such devoted friends of humanity and freedom as frances wright, harriet martineau, lucretia mott, and lydia maria child, who will long be pleasantly remembered for their 'works' sake.'" london, _january , _. my dear miss anthony:--sincerely do i thank you for your kind letter. believe me it would give me great pleasure to comply with your request, to tell you all about myself and my past labors; but i suffer so much from neuralgia in my head and general debility, that i could not undertake the task, especially as i have nothing to refer to. i have never spoken from notes; and as i did not intend to publish anything about myself, for i had no other ambition except to work for the cause of humanity, irrespective of sex, sect, country, or color, and did not expect that a susan b. anthony would wish to do it for me, i made no memorandum of places, dates, or names; and thirty or forty years ago the press was not sufficiently educated in the rights of woman, even to notice, much less to report speeches as it does now; and therefore i have not anything to assist me or you. all that i can tell you is, that i used my humble powers to the uttermost, and raised my voice in behalf of human rights in general, and the elevation and rights of woman in particular, nearly all my life. and so little have i spared myself, or studied my comfort in summer or winter, rain or shine, day or night, when i had an opportunity to work for the cause to which i had devoted myself, that i can hardly wonder at my present state of health. yet in spite of hardships, for it was not as easy to travel at that time as now, and the expense, as i never made a charge or took up a collection, i look back to that time, when a stranger and alone, i went from place to place, in high-ways and by-ways, did the work and paid my bills with great pleasure and satisfaction; for the cause gained ground, and in spite of my heresies i had always good audiences, attentive listeners, and was well received wherever i went. but i can mention from memory the principal places where i have spoken. in the winter of and ' , i spoke in new york, and for some years after i lectured in almost every city in the state; hudson, poughkeepsie, albany, schenectady; saratoga, utica, syracuse, rochester, buffalo, elmira, and other places; in new jersey, in newark and burlington; in , in philadelphia, bristol, chester, pittsburg, and other places in pennsylvania, and at wilmington in delaware; in , in boston, charlestown, beverly, florence, springfield, and other points in massachusetts, and in hartford, connecticut; in , in cincinnati, dayton, zanesville, springfield, cleveland, toledo, and several settlements in the backwoods of ohio, and also in richmond, indiana; in and ' , i lectured three times in the legislative hall in detroit, and at ann arbor and other places in michigan; and in and ' , i spoke in charleston and columbia, in south carolina. in , i attended the first national woman's rights convention in worcester, and nearly all the national and state conventions since, until i went to europe in . returning to new york in , i was present at the convention in irving hall, the only one held during my visit to america. i sent the first petition to the new york legislature to give a married woman the right to hold real estate in her own name, in the winter of and ' , to which after a good deal of trouble i obtained five signatures. some of the ladies said the gentlemen would laugh at them; others, that they had rights enough; and the men said the women had too many rights already. woman at that time had not learned to know that she had any rights except those that man in his generosity allowed her; both have learned something since that time which they will never forget. i continued sending petitions with increased numbers of signatures until and ' , when the legislature enacted the law which granted to woman the right to keep what was her own. but no sooner did it become legal than all the women said, "oh! that is right! we ought always to have had that." during the eleven years from to , i addressed the new york legislature five times, and since i can not say positively, but a good many times; you know all that better than any one else. your affectionate friend, ernestine l. rose. in collecting the reminiscences of those who took the initiative steps in this movement, mrs. rose was urged to send us some of her experiences, but in writing that it was impossible for her to do so, and yet giving us the above summary of all she has accomplished, _multum in parvo_, she has in a good measure complied with our request. all through these eventful years mrs. rose has fought a double battle; not only for the political rights of her sex as women, but for their religious rights as individual souls; to do their own thinking and believing. how much of the freedom they now enjoy, the women of america owe to this noble polish woman, can not be estimated, for moral influences are too subtle for measurement. those who sat with her on the platform in bygone days, well remember her matchless powers as a speaker; and how safe we all felt while she had the floor, that neither in manner, sentiment, argument, nor repartee, would she in any way compromise the dignity of the occasion. she had a rich musical voice, with just enough of foreign accent and idiom to add to the charm of her oratory. as a speaker she was pointed, logical, and impassioned. she not only dealt in abstract principles clearly, but in their application touched the deepest emotions of the human soul. footnotes: [ ] published by frederick douglass, the first colored man that edited a paper in this country. his press was presented to him by the women of england, who sympathized with the anti-slavery movement. [ ] fasting with jews meant abstaining from food and drink from before sunset one evening, until after the stars were out the next evening. chapter vi. ohio. the promised land of fugitives--"uncle tom's cabin"--salem convention, --akron, --massilon, --the address to the women of ohio--the mohammedan law forbids pigs, dogs, women, and other impure animals to enter a mosque--the _new york tribune_-- cleveland convention, --hon. joshua r. giddings--letter from horace greeley--a glowing eulogy to mary wollstonecroft--william henry channing's declaration--the pulpit responsible for public sentiment--president asa mahan debates--the rev. dr. nevin pulls mr. garrison's nose--antoinette l. brown describes her exit from the world's temperance convention--cincinnati convention, -- jane elizabeth jones' report, . there were several reasons for the early, and more general agitation of woman's rights in ohio at this period, than in other states. being separated from the slave border by her river only, ohio had long been the promised land of fugitives, and the battle-ground for many recaptured victims, involving much litigation. most stringent laws had been passed, called "the black laws of ohio," to prevent these escapes through her territory. hence, this state was the ground for some of the most heated anti-slavery discussions, not only in the legislature, but in frequent conventions. garrison and his followers, year after year, had overrun the "western reserve," covering the north-eastern part of the state, carrying the gospel of freedom to every hamlet. a radical paper, called _the anti-slavery bugle_, edited by oliver johnson, was published in salem. it took strong ground in favor of equal rights for woman, and the editor did all in his power to sustain the conventions, and encourage the new movement. again, abby kelly's eloquent voice had been heard all through this state, denouncing "the black laws of ohio," appealing to the ready sympathies of woman for the suffering of the black mothers, wives, and daughters of the south. this grand woman, equally familiar with the tricks of priests and politicians, the action of synods, general assemblies, state legislatures, and congresses, who could maintain an argument with any man on the slavery question, had immense influence, not only in the anti-slavery conflict, but by her words and example she inspired woman with new self-respect. these anti-slavery conventions, in which the most logical reasoners, and the most eloquent, impassioned orators the world ever produced, kept their audiences wrought up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm hour after hour, were the school in which woman's rights found its ready-made disciples. with such women as frances d. gage, hannah tracy cutler, josephine s. griffing, j. elizabeth jones, mariana johnson, emily robinson, maria giddings, betsey cowles, caroline m. severance, martha j. tilden, rebecca a. s. janney, to listen to the exhaustive arguments on human rights, verily the seed fell on good ground, and the same justice, that in glowing periods was claimed for the black man, they now claimed for themselves, and compelled the law-makers of this state to give some consideration to the wrongs of woman. again, in , ohio held a constitutional convention, and these women, thoroughly awake to their rights, naturally thought, that if the fundamental laws of the state were to be revised and amended, it was a fitting time for them to ask to be recognized. in , harriet beecher stowe commenced the publication of "uncle tom's cabin" in the _national era_, in washington, d. c., which made ohio, with its great river, classic soil, and quickened the pulsations of every woman's heart in the nation. reports of the new york conventions, widely copied and ridiculed in leading journals, from maine to texas, struck the key-note for similar gatherings in several of the northern states. without the least knowledge of one another, without the least concert of action, women in ohio, indiana, pennsylvania, and massachusetts, sprang up as if by magic, and issued calls for similar conventions. the striking uniformity in their appeals, petitions, resolutions, and speeches; making the same complaints and asking the same redress for grievances, shows that all were moved by like influences. those who made the demand for political freedom in , in europe as well as america, were about the same age. significant facts to show that new liberty for woman was one of the marked ideas of the century, and that as the chief factor in civilization, the time had come for her to take her appropriate place. the actors in this new movement were not, as the london and new york journals said, "sour old maids," but happy wives and faithful mothers, who, in a higher development, demanded the rights and privileges befitting the new position. and if they may be judged by the vigor and eloquence of their addresses, and the knowledge of parliamentary tactics they manifested in their conventions, the world must accord them rare common-sense, good judgment, great dignity of character, and a clear comprehension of the principles of government. in order to show how well those who inaugurated this movement, understood the nature of our republican institutions, and how justly they estimated their true position in a republic, we shall give rather more of these early speeches and letters than in any succeeding chapters. in , mrs. elizabeth wilson, of cadiz, ohio, aroused some attention to the general question, by the publication of "a scriptural view of woman's rights and duties," clearly demonstrating the equality of man and woman in the creation, as well as the independent, self-reliant characteristics sanctioned in woman, by the examples of the sex given in the bible. as woman has ever been degraded by the perversion of the religious element of her nature, the scriptural arguments were among the earliest presentations of the question. when opponents were logically cornered on every other side, they uniformly fell back on the decrees of heaven. the ignorance of women in general as to what their bibles really do teach, has been the chief cause of their bondage. they have accepted the opinions of men for the commands of their creator. the fulminations of the clergy against the enfranchisement of woman, were as bitter and arrogant as against the emancipation of the african, and they defended their position in both cases by the bible. this led abolitionists and women to a very careful study of the scriptures, and enabled them to meet their opponents most successfully. no clergyman ever quoted scripture with more readiness and force than did lucretia mott and william lloyd garrison, who alike made the bible a power on the side of freedom. salem convention. in the first convention in ohio was held at salem, april th and th, in the second baptist church.[ ] the meeting convened at o'clock, and was called to order by emily robinson, who proposed mariana w. johnson as president _pro tem._, sarah coates, secretary _pro tem._ on taking the chair, mrs. johnson read the following call: we, the undersigned, earnestly call on the women of ohio to meet in convention, on friday, the th of april, , at o'clock a.m., in the town of salem, to concert measures to secure to all persons the recognition of equal rights, and the extension of the privileges of government without distinction of sex, or color; to inquire into the origin and design of the rights of humanity, whether they are coeval with the human race, of universal inheritage and inalienable, or merely conventional, held by sufferance, dependent for a basis on location, position, color, and sex, and like government scrip, or deeds of parchment, transferable, to be granted or withheld, made immutable or changeable, as caprice, popular favor, or the pride of power and place may dictate, changing ever, as the weak and the strong, the oppressed and the oppressor, come in conflict or change places. feeling that the subjects proposed for discussion are vitally important to the interests of humanity, we unite in most earnestly inviting every one who sincerely desires the progress of true reform to be present at the convention. the meeting of a convention of men to amend the constitution of our (?) state, presents a most favorable opportunity for the agitation of this subject. women of ohio! we call upon you to come up to this work in womanly strength and with womanly energy. don't be discouraged at the prospect of difficulties. remember that contest with difficulty gives strength. come and inquire if the position you now occupy is one appointed by wisdom, and designed to secure the best interests of the human race. come, and let us ascertain what bearing the circumscribed sphere of woman has on the great political and social evils that curse and desolate the land. come, for this cause claims your most invincible perseverance; come in single-heartedness, and with a personal self-devotion that will yield everything to right, truth, and reason, but not an iota to dogmas or theoretical opinions, no matter how time-honored, or by what precedent established. randolph--elizabeth steadman, cynthia m. price, sophronia smalley, cordelia l. smalley, ann eliza lee, rebecca everit. new garden--esther ann lukens. ravenna--lucinda king, mary skinner, frances luccock. the officers of the convention were: betsey m. cowles, president; lydia b. irish, harriet p. weaver, and rana dota, vice-presidents. caroline stanton, ann eliza lee, and sallie b. gove, secretaries. emily robinson, j. elizabeth jones, josephine s. griffing, mariana johnson, esther lukens, mary h. stanton, business committee. mrs. jones read a very able speech, which was printed in full in their published report, also a discourse of lucretia mott's, "on woman," delivered dec. , , in the assembly building in philadelphia. interesting letters were read from mrs. mott, lucy stone, sarah pugh, lydia jane pierson, editor of the lancaster _literary gazette_, elizabeth cady stanton, and harriet n. torrey.[ ] twenty-two resolutions, covering the whole range of woman's political, religious, civil, and social rights, were discussed and adopted. the following memorial to the constitutional convention, was presented by mariana johnson: memorial. we believe the whole theory of the common law in relation to woman is unjust and degrading, tending to reduce her to a level with the slave, depriving her of political existence, and forming a positive exception to the great doctrine of equality as set forth in the declaration of independence. in the language of prof. walker, in his "introduction to american law": "women have no part or lot in the foundation or administration of the government. they can not vote or hold office. they are required to contribute their share, by way of taxes, to the support of the government, but are allowed no voice in its direction. they are amenable to the laws, but are allowed no share in making them. this language, when applied to males, would be the exact definition of political slavery." is it just or wise that woman, in the largest and professedly the freest and most enlightened republic on the globe, in the middle of the nineteenth century, should be thus degraded? we would especially direct the attention of the convention to the legal condition of married women. not being represented in those bodies from which emanate the laws, to which they are obliged to submit, they are protected neither in person nor property. "the merging of woman's name in that of her husband is emblematical of the fate of all her legal rights." at the marriage-altar, the law divests her of all distinct individuality. blackstone says: "the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during marriage, or at least incorporated or consolidated into that of her husband." legally, she ceases to exist, and becomes emphatically a new creature, and is ever after denied the dignity of a rational and accountable being. the husband is allowed to take possession of her estates, as the law has proclaimed her legally dead. all that she has, becomes legally his, and he can collect and dispose of the profits of her labor without her consent, as he thinks fit, and she can own nothing, have nothing, which is not regarded by the law as belonging to her husband. over her person he has a more limited power. still, if he render life intolerable, so that she is forced to leave him, he has the power to retain her children, and "seize her and bring her back, for he has a right to her society which he may enforce, either against herself or any other person who detains her" (walker, page ). woman by being thus subject to the control, and dependent on the will of man, loses her self-dependence; and no human being can be deprived of this without a sense of degradation. the law should sustain and protect all who come under its sway, and not create a state of dependence and depression in any human being. the laws should not make woman a mere pensioner on the bounty of her husband, thus enslaving her will and degrading her to a condition of absolute dependence. believing that woman does not suffer alone when subject to oppressive and unequal laws, but that whatever affects injuriously her interests, is subversive of the highest good of the race, we earnestly request that in the new constitution you are about to form for the state of ohio, women shall be secured, not only the right of suffrage, but all the political and legal rights that are guaranteed to men. after some discussion the memorial was adopted. with the hope of creating a feeling of moral responsibility on this vital question, an earnest address[ ] to the women of the state was also presented, discussed, and adopted. address to the women of ohio. how shall the people be made wiser, better, and happier, is one of the grand inquiries of the present age. the various benevolent associations hold up to our view special forms of evil, and appeal to all the better feelings of our nature for sympathy, and claim our active efforts and co-operation to eradicate them. governments, at times, manifest an interest in human suffering; but their cold sympathy and tardy efforts seldom avail the sufferer until it is too late. philanthropists, philosophers, and statesmen study and devise ways and means to ameliorate the condition of the people. why have they so little practical effect? it is because the means employed are not adequate to the end sought for. to ameliorate the effects of evil seems to have been the climax of philanthropic effort. we respectfully suggest that lopping the branches of the tree but causes the roots to strike deeper and cling more closely to the soil that sustains it. let the amelioration process go on, until evil is exterminated root and branch; and for this end the people must be instructed in the rights of humanity;--not in the rights of men and the rights of women; the rights of the master and those of the slave;--but in the perfect equality of the rights of man. the rights of man! whence came they? what are they? what is their design? how do we know them? they are of god! those that most intimately affect us as human beings are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. their design is happiness. the human organization is the charter deed by which we hold them. hence we learn that rights are coeval with the human race, of universal heritage, and inalienable; that every human being, no matter of what color, sex, condition, or clime, possesses those rights upon perfect equality with all others. the monarch on the throne, and the beggar at his feet, have the same. man has no more, woman no less. rights may not be usurped on one hand, nor surrendered on the other, because they involve a responsibility that can be discharged only by those to whom they belong, those for whom they were created; and because, without those certain inalienable rights, human beings can not attain the end for which god the father gave them existence. where and how can the wisdom and ingenuity of the world find a truer, stronger, broader basis of human rights. to secure these rights, says the declaration of independence, "governments were instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;" and "whenever any form of government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to substitute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." the government of this country, in common with all others, has never recognized or attempted to protect women as persons possessing the rights of humanity. they have been recognized and protected as appendages to men, without independent rights or political existence, unknown to the law except as victims of its caprice and tyranny. this government, having therefore exercised powers underived from the consent of the governed, and having signally failed to secure the end for which all just government is instituted, should be immediately altered, or abolished. we can not better describe the political condition of woman, than by quoting from a distinguished lawyer of our own state. professor walker, in his "introduction to american law," says of husband and wife, "we have a few statutory provisions on the subject, but for the most part the law of husband and wife is _common law_, and you will find that it savors of its origin in all its leading features. the whole theory is a slavish one, compared even with the civil law. i do not hesitate to say, by way of arousing your attention to the subject, that the law of husband and wife, as you gather it from the books, is a disgrace to any civilized nation. i do not mean to say that females are degraded in point of fact. i only say, that the theory of the law degrades them almost to the level of slaves." we thank prof. walker for his candor. he might have added that the practice of the law does degrade woman to the level of the slave. he also says: "with regard to political rights, females form a positive exception to the general doctrine of equality. they have no part nor lot in the formation or administration of government. they can not vote or hold office. we require them to contribute their share in the way of taxes for the support of government, but allow them no voice in its direction. we hold them amenable to the laws when made, but allow them no share in making them. this language applied to males, would be the exact definition of political slavery; applied to females, custom does not teach us so to regard it." of married women he says: "the legal theory is, marriage makes the husband and wife one person, and that person is the husband. he the substantive, she the adjective. in a word, there is scarcely a legal act of any description that she is competent to perform. if she leaves him without cause, (legal) he may seize and bring her back, for he has a right to her society, which he may enforce, either against herself, or any other person. all her personality in regard to property becomes the husband's by marriage, unless the property has been specially secured to her. if the property be not in his possession, he may take measures to reduce it to possession. he can thus dispose of it in spite of her. if debts were due to her, he may collect them. if he was himself the debtor, the marriage cancels the debt. if she has earned money during marriage, he may collect it. in regard to realty (real estate) he controls the income, and without her consent he can not encumber, or dispose of the property beyond his own life." women, married or single, have no political rights whatever. while single, their legal rights are the same as those of men; when married, their legal rights are chiefly suspended. "the condition of the wife may be inferred from what has already been said. she is almost at the mercy of her husband; she can exercise no control over his property or her own. as a general rule, she can make no contracts binding herself or him. her contracts are not merely voidable, but absolutely void. nor can she make herself liable for his contracts, torts, or crimes. her only separate liability is for her own crimes. her only joint liability, is for her own torts committed without his participation, and for contracts for which the law authorizes her to unite with him. she has no power over his person, and her only claim upon his property is for a bare support. in no instance can she sue or be sued alone in a civil action; and there are but few cases in which she can be joined in a suit with him. in ohio, but hardly anywhere else, is she allowed to make a will, if haply she has anything to dispose of." women of ohio! whose cheek does not blush, whose blood does not tingle at this cool, lawyer-like recital of the gross indignities and wrongs which government has heaped upon our sex? with these marks of inferiority branded upon our persons, and interwoven with the most sacred relations of human existence, how can we rise to the true dignity of human nature, and discharge faithfully the important duties assigned us as responsible, intelligent, self-controlling members of society? no wonder that so many of our politicians are dough-faced serviles, without independence or manhood; no wonder our priests are time-serving and sycophantic: no wonder that so many men are moral cowards and cringing poltroons. what more could be expected of a progeny of slaves? slaves are we, politically and legally. how can we, who, it is said, are the educators of our children, present to this nation anything else but a generation of serviles, while we, ourselves, are in a servile condition, and padlocks are on our lips? no! if men would be men worthy of the name, they must cease to disfranchise and rob their wives and mothers; they must forbear to consign to political and legal slavery their sisters and their daughters. and, would we be women worthy the companionship of true and noble men, we must cease longer to submit to tyranny. let us rise in the might of self-respect, and assert our rights, and by the aid of truth, the instincts of humanity, and a just application of the principles of equality, we shall be able to maintain them. you ask, would you have woman, by engaging in political party bickerings and noisy strife, sacrifice her integrity and purity? no, neither would we have men do it.... we hold that whatever is essentially wrong for woman to do, can not be right for man. if deception and intrigue, the elements of political craft, be degrading to woman, can they be ennobling to man? if patience and forbearance adorn a woman, are they not equally essential to a manly character? if anger and turbulence disgrace woman, what can they add to the dignity of man? nothing; because nothing can be morally right for man, that is morally wrong for woman. woman, by becoming the executioner of man's vengeance on his fellow-man, could inflict no greater wrong on society than the same done by man; but it would create an intenser feeling of shuddering horror, and would, we conceive, rouse to more healthful activity man's torpid feelings of justice, mercy, and clemency. and so, also, if woman had free scope for the full exercise of the heavenly graces that men so gallantly award her, truth, love, and mercy would be invested with a more sacred charm. but while they continue to enforce obedience to arbitrary commands, to encourage love of admiration and a desire for frivolous amusements; while they crush the powers of the mind, by opposing authority and precedent to reason and progress; while they arrogate to themselves the right to point us to the path of duty, while they close the avenues of knowledge through public institutions, and monopolize the profits of labor, mediocrity and inferiority must be our portion. shall we accept it, or shall we strive against it? men are not destitute of justice or humanity; and let it be remembered that there are hosts of noble and truthful ones among them who deprecate the tyranny that enslaves us; and none among ourselves can be more ready than they to remove the mountain of injustice which the savagism of ages has heaped upon our sex. if, therefore, we remain enslaved and degraded, the cause may justly be traced to our own apathy and timidity. we have at our disposal the means of moral agitation and influence, that can arouse our country to a saving sense of the wickedness and folly of disfranchising half the people. let us no longer delay to use them. let it be remembered too, that tyrannical and illiberal as our government is, low as it places us in the scale of existence, degrading as is its denial of our capacity for self-government, still it concedes to us more than any other government on earth. woman, over half the globe, is now and always has been but a chattel. wives are bargained for, bought and sold, as other merchandise, and as a consequence of the annihilation of natural rights, they have no political existence. in hindustan, the evidence of woman is not received in a court of justice. the hindu wife, when her husband dies, must yield implicit obedience to the oldest son. in burmah, they are not allowed to ascend the steps of a court of justice, but are obliged to give their testimony outside of the building. in siberia, women are not allowed to step across the footprints of men or reindeer. the mohammedan law forbids pigs, dogs, women, and other impure animals to enter the mosque. the moors, for the slightest offense, beat their wives most cruelly. the tartars believe that women were sent into the world for no other purpose than to be useful, convenient slaves. to these heathen precedents our christian brethren sometimes refer to prove the inferiority of woman, and to excuse the inconsistency of the only government on earth that has proclaimed the equality of man. an argument worthy its source. in answer to the popular query, "why should woman desire to meddle with public affairs?" we suggest the following questions: st. is the principle of taxation without representation less oppressive and tyrannical, than when our fathers expended their blood and treasure, rather than submit to its injustice? d. is it just, politic, and wise, that universities and colleges endowed by government should be open only to men? d. is it easier for government to reform lazy, vicious, ignorant, and hardened felons, than for enlightened humanity--loving parents, to "train up a child in the way it should go"? th. how can a mother, who does not understand, and therefore can not appreciate the rights of humanity, train up her child in the way it should go? th. whence originates the necessity of a penal code? th. it is computed that over ten millions of dollars are annually expended in the united states for the suppression of crime. how much of this waste of treasure is traceable to defective family government? th. can antiquity make wrong right? in conclusion, we appeal to our sisters of ohio to arise from the lethargy of ages; to assert their rights as independent human beings; to demand their true position as equally responsible co-workers with their brethren in this world of action. we urge you by your self-respect, by every consideration for the human race, to arise and take possession of your birthright to freedom and equality. take it not as the gracious boon tendered by the chivalry of superiors, but as your _right_, on every principle of justice and equality. the present is a most favorable time for the women of ohio to demand a recognition of their rights. the organic law of the state is about to undergo a revision. let it not be our fault if the rights of humanity, and not alone those of "free white male citizens," are recognized and protected. let us agitate the subject in the family circle, in public assemblies, and through the press. let us flood the constitutional convention with memorials and addresses, trusting to truth and a righteous cause for the success of our efforts. this convention had one peculiar characteristic. it was officered entirely by women; not a man was allowed to sit on the platform, to speak, or vote. _never did men so suffer._ they implored just to say a word; but no; the president was inflexible--no man should be heard. if one meekly arose to make a suggestion he was at once ruled out of order. for the first time in the world's history, men learned how it felt to sit in silence when questions in which they were interested were under discussion. it would have been an admirable way of closing the convention, had a rich banquet been provided, to which the men should have had the privilege of purchasing tickets to the gallery, there to enjoy the savory odors, and listen to the after-dinner speeches. however, the gentlemen in the convention passed through this severe trial with calm resignation; at the close, organized an association of their own, and generously endorsed all the ladies had said and done. though the women in this convention were unaccustomed to public speaking and parliamentary tactics, the interest was well sustained for two days, and the deliberations were conducted with dignity and order. it was here josephine s. griffing uttered her first brave words for woman's emancipation, though her voice had long been heard in pathetic pleading for the black man's rights. this convention, which was called and conducted by mrs. emily robinson, with such aid as she could enlist, was largely attended and entirely successful. a favorable and lengthy report found its way into the _new york tribune_ and other leading journals, both east and west, and the proceedings of the convention were circulated widely in pamphlet form. all this made a very strong impression upon the public mind. from the old world, too, the officers of the convention received warm congratulations and earnest words of sympathy, for the new gospel of woman's equality was spreading in england as well as america. akron convention. the advocates for the enfranchisement of woman had tripled in that one short year. the very complimentary comments of the press, and the attention awakened throughout the state, by the presentation of "the memorial" to the constitutional convention, had accomplished a great educational work. soon after this, another convention was called in akron. the published proceedings of the first convention, were like clarion notes to the women of ohio, rousing them to action, and when the call to the second was issued, there was a generous response. in , may th and th, many able men and women rallied at the stone church, and hastened to give their support to the new demand, and most eloquently did they plead for justice to woman. frances d. gage, hannah tracy cutler, jane g. swisshelm, caroline m. severance, emma r. coe, maria l. giddings, celia c. burr (afterward burleigh), martha j. tilden, and many other noble women who were accustomed to speaking in temperance and anti-slavery meetings, helped to make this convention most successful. frances d. gage was chosen president of the convention. on taking the chair she said: i am at a loss, kind friends, to know whether to return you thanks, or not, for the honor conferred upon me. and when i tell you that i have never in my life attended a regular business meeting, and am entirely inexperienced in the forms and ceremonies of a deliberative body, you will not be surprised that i do not feel remarkably grateful for the position. for though you have conferred an honor upon me, i very much fear i shall not be able to reflect it back. i will try. when our forefathers left the old and beaten paths of new england, and struck out for themselves in a new and unexplored country, they went forth with a slow and cautious step, but with firm and resolute hearts. the land of their fathers had become too small for their children. its soil answered not their wants. the parents shook their heads and said, with doubtful and foreboding faces: "stand still, stay at home. this has sufficed for us; we have lived and enjoyed ourselves here. true, our mountains are high and our soil is rugged and cold; but you won't find a better; change, and trial, and toil, will meet you at every step. stay, tarry with us, and go not forth to the wilderness." but the children answered: "let us go; this land has sufficed for you, but the one beyond the mountains is better. we know there is trial, toil, and danger; but for the sake of our children, and our children's children, we are willing to meet all." they went forth, and pitched their tents in the wilderness. an herculean task was before them; the rich and fertile soil was shadowed by a mighty forest, and giant trees were to be felled. the indians roamed the wild, wide hunting-grounds, and claimed them as their own. they must be met and subdued. the savage beasts howled defiance from every hill-top, and in every glen. they must be destroyed. did the hearts of our fathers fail? no; they entered upon their new life, their new world, with a strong faith and a mighty will. for they saw in the prospection a great and incalculable good. it was not the work of an hour, nor of a day; not of weeks or months, but of long struggling, toiling, painful years. if they failed at one point, they took hold at another. if their paths through the wilderness were at first crooked, rough, and dangerous, by little and little they improved them. the forest faded away, the savage disappeared, the wild beasts were destroyed, and the hopes and prophetic visions of their far-seeing powers in the new and untried country, were more than realized. permit me to draw a comparison between the situation of our forefathers in the wilderness, without even so much as a bridle-path through its dark depths, and our present position. the old land of moral, social, and political privilege, seems too narrow for our wants; its soil answers not to our growing, and we feel that we see clearly a better country that we might inhabit. but there are mountains of established law and custom to overcome; a wilderness of prejudice to be subdued; a powerful foe of selfishness and self-interest to overthrow; wild beasts of pride, envy, malice, and hate to destroy. but for the sake of our children and our children's children, we have entered upon the work, hoping and praying that we may be guided by wisdom, sustained by love, and led and cheered by the earnest hope of doing good. i shall enter into no labored argument to prove that woman does not occupy the position in society to which her capacity justly entitles her. the rights of mankind emanate from their natural wants and emotions. are not the natural wants and emotions of humanity common to, and shared equally by, both sexes? does man hunger and thirst, suffer cold and heat more than woman? does he love and hate, hope and fear, joy and sorrow more than woman? does his heart thrill with a deeper pleasure in doing good? can his soul writhe in more bitter agony under the consciousness of evil or wrong? is the sunshine more glorious, the air more quiet, the sounds of harmony more soothing, the perfume of flowers more exquisite, or forms of beauty more soul-satisfying to his senses, than to hers? to all these interrogatories every one will answer, no! where then did man get the authority that he now claims over one-half of humanity? from what power the vested right to place woman--his partner, his companion, his helpmeet in life--in an inferior position? came it from nature? nature made woman his superior when she made her his mother; his equal when she fitted her to hold the sacred position of wife. does he draw his authority from god, from the language of holy writ? no! for it says that "male and female created he _them_, and gave _them_ dominion." does he claim it under law of the land? did woman meet with him in council and voluntarily give up all her claim to be her own law-maker? or did the majesty of might place this power in his hands?--the power of the strong over the weak makes man the master! yes, there, and there only, does he gain his authority. in the dark ages of the past, when ignorance, superstition, and bigotry held rule in the world, might made the law. but the undertone, the still small voice of justice, love, and mercy, have ever been heard, pleading the cause of humanity, pleading for truth and right; and their low, soft tones of harmony have softened the lion heart of might, and little by little, he has yielded as the centuries rolled on; and man, as well as woman, has been the gainer by every concession. we will ask him to yield still; to allow the voice of woman to be heard; to let her take the position which her wants and emotions seem to require; to let her enjoy her natural rights. do not answer that woman's position is now all her natural wants and emotions require. our meeting here together this day proves the contrary; proves that we have aspirations that are not met. will it be answered that we are factious, discontented spirits, striving to disturb the public order, and tear up the old fastnesses of society? so it was said of jesus christ and his followers, when they taught peace on earth and good-will to men. so it was said of our forefathers in the great struggle for freedom. so it has been said of every reformer that has ever started out the car of progress on a new and untried track. we fear, not man as an enemy. he is our friend, our brother. let woman speak for herself, and she will be heard. let her claim with a calm and determined, yet loving spirit, her place, and it will be given her. i pour out no harsh invectives against the present order of things--against our fathers, husbands, and brothers; they do as they have been taught; they feel as society bids them; they act as the law requires. woman must act for herself. oh, if all women could be impressed with the importance of their own action, and with one united voice, speak out in their own behalf, in behalf of humanity, they could create a revolution without armies, without bloodshed, that would do more to ameliorate the condition of mankind, to purify, elevate, ennoble humanity, than all that has been done by reformers in the last century. when we consider that mrs. gage had led the usual arduous domestic life, of wife, mother, and housekeeper, in a new country, overburdened with the care and anxiety incident to a large family reading and gathering general information at short intervals, taken from the hours of rest and excessive toil, it is remarkable, that she should have presided over the convention, in the easy manner she is said to have done, and should have given so graceful and appropriate an extemporaneous speech, on taking the chair. maria l. giddings, daughter of joshua r. giddings, who represented ohio many years in congress, presented a very able digest on the common law. betsey m. cowles gave a report equally good on "labor," and emily robinson on "education." in all the early conventions the resolutions were interminable. it was not thought that full justice was done to the subject, if every point of interest or dissatisfaction in this prolific theme was not condensed into a resolution. accordingly the akron convention presented, discussed, and adopted fifteen resolutions. at salem, the previous year, the number reached twenty-two. letters were read from amelia bloomer, elizabeth wilson, lydia f. fowler, susan ormsby, elsie m. young, gerrit smith, henry c. wright, paulina wright davis, elizabeth cady stanton, clarina howard nichols, and others. the hutchinson family enlivened this convention with such inspiring songs as "the good time coming." ever at the post of duty, they have sung each reform in turn to partial success. jesse expressed his sympathy in the cause in a few earnest remarks. this convention was remarkable for the large number of men who took an active part in the proceedings. and as we have now an opportunity to express our gratitude by handing their names down to posterity, and thus make them immortal, we here record joseph barker, marius robinson, rev. d. l. webster, jacob heaton, dr. k. g. thomas, l. a. hine, dr. a. brooke, rev. mr. howels, rev. geo. schlosser, mr. pease, and samuel brooke. the reports of this convention are so meagre that we can not tell who were in the opposition; but from sojourner truth's speech, we fear that the clergy, as usual, were averse to enlarging the boundaries of freedom. in those early days the sons of adam crowded our platform, and often made it the scene of varied pugilistic efforts, but of late years we invite those whose presence we desire. finding it equally difficult to secure the services of those we deem worthy to advocate our cause, and to repress those whose best service would be silence, we ofttimes find ourselves quite deserted by the "stronger sex" when most needed. sojourner truth, mrs. stowe's "lybian sibyl," was present at this convention. some of our younger readers may not know that sojourner truth was once a slave in the state of new york, and carries to-day as many marks of the diabolism of slavery, as ever scarred the back of a victim in mississippi. though she can neither read nor write, she is a woman of rare intelligence and common-sense on all subjects. she is still living, at battle creek, michigan, though now years old. although the exalted character and personal appearance of this noble woman have been often portrayed, and her brave deeds and words many times rehearsed, yet we give the following graphic picture of sojourner's appearance in one of the most stormy sessions of the convention, from reminiscences by frances d. gage. sojourner truth. the leaders of the movement trembled on seeing a tall, gaunt black woman in a gray dress and white turban, surmounted with an uncouth sun-bonnet, march deliberately into the church, walk with the air of a queen up the aisle, and take her seat upon the pulpit steps. a buzz of disapprobation was heard all over the house, and there fell on the listening ear, "an abolition affair!" "woman's rights and niggers!" "i told you so!" "go it, darkey!" i chanced on that occasion to wear my first laurels in public life as president of the meeting. at my request order was restored, and the business of the convention went on. morning, afternoon, and evening exercises came and went. through all these sessions old sojourner, quiet and reticent as the "lybian statue," sat crouched against the wall on the corner of the pulpit stairs, her sun-bonnet shading her eyes, her elbows on her knees, her chin resting upon her broad, hard palms. at intermission she was busy selling the "life of sojourner truth," a narrative of her own strange and adventurous life. again and again, timorous and trembling ones came to me and said, with earnestness, "don't let her speak, mrs. gage, it will ruin us. every newspaper in the land will have our cause mixed up with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly denounced." my only answer was, "we shall see when the time comes." the second day the work waxed warm. methodist, baptist, episcopal, presbyterian, and universalist ministers came in to hear and discuss the resolutions presented. one claimed superior rights and privileges for man, on the ground of "superior intellect"; another, because of the "manhood of christ; if god had desired the equality of woman, he would have given some token of his will through the birth, life, and death of the saviour." another gave us a theological view of the "sin of our first mother." there were very few women in those days who dared to "speak in meeting"; and the august teachers of the people were seemingly getting the better of us, while the boys in the galleries, and the sneerers among the pews, were hugely enjoying the discomfiture, as they supposed, of the "strong-minded." some of the tender-skinned friends were on the point of losing dignity, and the atmosphere betokened a storm. when, slowly from her seat in the corner rose sojourner truth, who, till now, had scarcely lifted her head. "don't let her speak!" gasped half a dozen in my ear. she moved slowly and solemnly to the front, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned her great speaking eyes to me. there was a hissing sound of disapprobation above and below. i rose and announced "sojourner truth," and begged the audience to keep silence for a few moments. the tumult subsided at once, and every eye was fixed on this almost amazon form, which stood nearly six feet high, head erect, and eyes piercing the upper air like one in a dream. at her first word there was a profound hush. she spoke in deep tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and away through the throng at the doors and windows. "wall, chilern, whar dar is so much racket dar must be somethin' out o' kilter. i tink dat 'twixt de niggers of de souf and de womin at de norf, all talkin' 'bout rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon. but what's all dis here talkin' 'bout? "dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place!" and raising herself to her full height, and her voice to a pitch like rolling thunder, she asked. "and a'n't i a woman? look at me! look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power). i have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! and a'n't i a woman? i could work as much and eat as much as a man--when i could get it--and bear de lash as well! and a'n't, i a woman? i have borne thirteen chilern, and seen 'em mos' all sold off to slavery, and when i cried out with my mother's grief, none but jesus heard me! and a'n't i a woman? "den dey talks 'bout dis ting in de head; what dis dey call it?" ("intellect," whispered some one near.) "dat's it, honey. what's dat got to do wid womin's rights or nigger's rights? if my cup won't hold but a pint, and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" and she pointed her significant finger, and sent a keen glance at the minister who had made the argument. the cheering was long and loud. "den dat little man in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause christ wan't a woman! whar did your christ come from?" rolling thunder couldn't have stilled that crowd, as did those deep, wonderful tones, as she stood there with outstretched arms and eyes of fire. raising her voice still louder, she repeated, "whar did your christ come from? from god and a woman! man had nothin' to do wid him." oh, what a rebuke that was to that little man. turning again to another objector, she took up the defense of mother eve. i can not follow her through it all. it was pointed, and witty, and solemn; eliciting at almost every sentence deafening applause; and she ended by asserting: "if de fust woman god ever made was strong enough to turn de world upside down all alone, dese women togedder (and she glanced her eye over the platform) ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! and now dey is asking to do it, de men better let 'em." long-continued cheering greeted this. "'bleeged to ye for hearin' on me, and now ole sojourner han't got nothin' more to say." amid roars of applause, she returned to her corner, leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes, and hearts beating with gratitude. she had taken us up in her strong arms and carried us safely over the slough of difficulty turning the whole tide in our favor. i have never in my life seen anything like the magical influence that subdued the mobbish spirit of the day, and turned the sneers and jeers of an excited crowd into notes of respect and admiration. hundreds rushed up to shake hands with her, and congratulate the glorious old mother, and bid her god-speed on her mission of "testifyin' agin concerning the wickedness of this 'ere people." woman's rights meeting in a barn--"john's convention." mrs. m. e. j. gage: dear madam:--your postal and note requesting items of history of the almost forgotten doings of thirty years ago, is at hand. in ohio decided by the votes of her male population to "alter and amend her constitution." the elected delegates assembled in cincinnati in the spring of that year. in view of affecting this legislation the "woman's rights convention" at salem, columbiana co., was called in april, , and memorialized the delegate convention, praying that equal rights to all citizens of the state be guaranteed by the new constitution. in may a county meeting was called in mcconnelsville, morgan co., ohio. mrs. h. m. little, mrs. m. t. corner, mrs. h. brewster, and myself, were all the women that i knew in that region, even favorable to a movement for the help of women. two of these only asked for more just laws for married women. one hesitated about the right of suffrage. i alone in the beginning asked for the ballot,[ ] and equality before the law for all adult citizens of sound minds, without regard to sex or color. the freemasons gave their hall for our meeting, but no men were admitted. i drew up a memorial for signatures, praying that the words "white" and "male" be omitted in the new constitution. i also drew up a paper copying the unequal laws on our statute books with regard to women. we met, mrs. harriet brewster presiding. some seventy ladies of our place fell in through the day. i read my paper, and mrs. m. t. corner gave a historical account of noted women of the past. it was a new thing. at the close, forty names were placed on the memorial for years i had been talking and writing, and people were used to my "craziness." but who expected mrs. corner and others to take such a stand! of course, we were heartily abused. this led to the calling of a county meeting at chesterfield, morgan county. it was advertised to be held in the m. e. church. there were only present some eight ladies, including the four above mentioned we four "scoffers" hired a hack and rode sixteen miles over the hill, before a.m., to be denied admittance to church or school-house rev. philo matthews had found us shelter on the threshing-floor of a fine barn, and we found about three or four hundred of the farmers, and their wives, sons, and daughters, assembled. they were nearly all "quakers" and abolitionists, but then not much inclined to "woman's rights." i had enlarged my argument, and there the "ox-sled" speech was made, the last part of may, , date of day not remembered. a genuine "quaker preacher" said to me at the close, "frances, thee had great freedom. the ox-cart inspired thee." the farmers' wives brought huge boxes and pans of provisions. men and women made speeches, and many names were added to our memorial. on the whole, we had a delightful day. it was no uncommon thing in those days for abolitionist, or methodist, or other meetings, to be held under the trees, or in large barns, when school-houses would not hold the people. but to shut up doors against women was a new thing. in december of i was invited to attend a woman's rights convention at the town of mount gilead, morrow co., ohio. a newspaper call promised that celebrities would be on hand, etc. i wrote i would be there. it was two days' journey, by steamboat and rail. the call was signed "john andrews," and john andrews promised to meet me at the cars. i went. it was fearfully cold, and john met me. he was a beardless boy of nineteen, looking much younger. we drove at once to the "christian church." on the way he cheered me by saying "he was afraid nobody would come, for all the people said nobody would come for his asking." when we got to the house, there was not one human soul on hand, no fire in the old rusty stove, and the rude, unpainted board benches, all topsy-turvy. i called some boys playing near, asked their names, put them on paper, five of them, and said to them, "go to every house in this town and tell everybody that 'aunt fanny' will speak here at a.m., and if you get me fifty to come and hear, i will give you each ten cents." they scattered off upon the run. i ordered john to right the benches, picked up chips and kindlings, borrowed a brand of fire at the next door, had a good hot stove, and the floor swept, and was ready for my audience at the appointed time. john had done his work well, and fifty at least were on hand, and a minister to make a prayer and quote st. paul before i said a word. i said my say, and before p.m., we adjourned, appointing another session at , and one for p.m., and three for the following day. mrs. c. m. severance came at p.m., and we had a good meeting throughout. john's convention was voted a success after all. he died young, worn out by his own enthusiasm and conflicts. frances d. gage. in september, , a woman's temperance convention was held in cincinnati, ohio, in foster hall, corner of fifth and walnut streets. mrs. mary b. slough, president; mrs. george parcells, vice-president: mrs. william pinkham, secretary. resolutions were discussed, and a declaration of independence adopted. mrs. slough was the "grand presiding sister of ohio." this meeting was held to raise funds for a banner, they had promised the firemen, co. no. , if they would vote the temperance ticket. of the temperance excitement in the state, mrs. gage says: in the winter of - , there was great excitement on the temperance question in this country, originating in maine and spreading west. some prominent women in ohio, who were at columbus, the state capital, with their husbands--who were there from all parts of the state, as senators, representatives, jurists, and lobbyists--feeling a great interest, as many of them had need to, in the question, were moved to call a public meeting on the subject. this resulted in the formation of a "woman's state temperance society," which sent out papers giving their by-laws and resolutions, and calling for auxiliary societies in different parts of the state. this call in many places met with hearty responses. in the following autumn, , officers of the state society, mrs. professor coles, of oberlin, president, called a convention of their members and friends of the cause, at the city of dayton, ohio. the famous "whole world's convention" had just been held in new york city, followed by the "world's convention," at which the rev. antoinette l. brown was expelled from the platform, simply because she was a woman. the hon. samuel carey presented a resolution, which i quote from memory, something as follows: "_resolved_, that we recognize women as efficient aids and helpers in the home, but not on the platform." this was not perhaps the exact wording, but it was the purport of the resolution, and was presented while neal dow, the president of the convention, was absent from the chair, and after much angry and abusive discussion, it was passed by that body of great men. the committee of arrangements, appointed at dayton, could find no church, school-house, or hall in which to hold their convention, till the sons of temperance consented to yield their lodge-room, provided there were no men admitted to their meetings. alas! the committee consented. i traveled two hundred miles, and, on reaching dayton at a late hour, i repaired at once to the hall. our meeting was organized. but hardly were we ready to proceed when an interruption occurred. i had been advertised for the first speech, and took my place on the platform, when a column of well-dressed ladies, very fashionable and precise, marched in, two and two, and spread themselves in a half circle in front of the platform, and requested leave to be heard. our president asked me to suspend my reading, to which i assented, and she--a beautiful, graceful lady--bowed them her assent. forthwith they proceeded to inform us, that they were delegated by a meeting of dayton ladies to come hither and read to us a remonstrance against "the unseemly and unchristian position" we had assumed in calling conventions, and taking our places upon the platform, and seeking notoriety by making ourselves conspicuous before men. they proceeded to shake the dust from their own skirts of the whole thing. they discussed wisely the disgraceful conduct of antoinette l. brown at the world's temperance convention, as reported to them by hon. samuel carey, with more of the same sort, which i beg to be excused from trying to recall to mind, or to repeat. when their mission was ended, in due form they filed out of the low dark door, descended the stair-way, and disappeared from our sight. when we had recovered our equilibrium after such a knock-down surprise, mrs. bateman requested me to proceed. i rose, and asked leave to change my written speech for one not from my pen, but from my heart. the protest of the dayton "mrs. grundys" had been well larded with scripture, so i added: "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and never before, possibly never since, have i had greater liberty in relieving my mind, as the quakers would say. i had been at new york and had boarded with antoinette l. brown, so i knew whereof i was bearing testimony, when i assured my hearers that samuel carey had certainly been lying--under a mistake. i gave my testimony, not cringingly, but as one who knew, and drew a comparison between antoinette l. brown, modestly but firmly standing her ground as a delegate from her society, with politicians and clergymen crying, "shame on the woman," and stamping and clamoring till the dust on the carpet of the platform enveloped them in a cloud. meanwhile, her best friends, william h. channing, william lloyd garrison, oliver johnson, wendell phillips and others stood by her, bidding her stand firm. the conduct of these ladies in marching through the streets of dayton, in the most crowded thoroughfares, in the midst of a state fair, to tell some other women that they were making themselves "conspicuous." what i said, or how it was said, mattereth not. that evening, the sons of temperance hall, which our committee had promised to "keep clear of men," was well filled with women. but all around the walls, and between the benches, on the platform--and in the aisles, there were men from every part of the state. these ladies had given us a grand advertisement. the following is the report of said meeting clipped from the _evening post_ twenty-seven years ago, by mrs. gage: the ohio women's convention. dayton, _sept. , _. to-day the ohio state women's temperance society held a meeting at this place. the attendance was not large, but was respectable, both in number and talents. mrs. bateman, of columbus, presided, and a good officer she made. parliamentary rules prevailed in governing the assembly, and were enforced with much promptness and dignity. she understood enough of these to put both sides of the question--an attainment which, i have noticed, many mr. presidents have often not reached. the enactment of the maine law in ohio is the principal object at which they appeared to aim. its constitutionality and effect were both discussed, decisions of courts criticised, and all with much acuteness and particularly happy illustrations. in reference to the practicability of enforcing it, when once passed, one woman declared, that "if the men could not do it, the women would give them effectual aid." in the course of the meeting, two original poems were read, one by mrs. gage, formerly of this state, and now of st. louis, and one by mrs. hodge, of oberlin. there were also delivered three formal addresses, one by mrs. dryer, of delaware county, ohio, one by mrs. griffing, of salem, ohio, and the other by mrs. gage, either of which would not have dishonored any of our public orators if we consider the matter, style, or manner of delivery. men can deal in statistics and logical deductions, but women only can describe the horrors of intemperance--can draw aside the curtain and show us the wreck it makes of domestic love and home enjoyment--can paint the anguish of the drunkard's wife and the miseries of his children. wisdom would seem to dictate that those who feel the most severely the effects of any evil, should best know how to remove it. if this be so, it would be difficult to give a reason why women should not act, indeed lead off in this great temperance movement. a most exciting and interesting debate arose on some resolutions introduced by the secretary, mrs. griffing, condemnatory of the action of the world's temperance convention in undelegating miss brown, and excluding her from the platform. these resolutions are so pithy, that i can not refrain from furnishing them in full. they are as follows: "_resolved_, that we regard the tyrannical and cowardly conformation to the 'usages of society,' in thrusting woman from the platform in the late so-called, but mis-called world's temperance convention, as a most daring and insulting outrage upon all of womankind; and it is with the deepest shame and mortification that we learn that our own state of ohio furnished the delegate to officiate in writing and presenting the resolutions, and presiding at the session when the desperate act was accomplished. "_resolved_, that our thanks are due to the hon. neal dow, of maine, the president of the convention, for so manfully and persistently deciding and insisting upon and in favor of the right of all the friends of temperance, duly delegated, seats and participation in all the proceedings." the friends of general carey rallied, and with real parliamentary tact moved to lay the resolutions on the table. there was much excitement and some nervousness. the remarks made _pro_ and _con_ were pithy and to the point. the motion to lay on the table was lost by a large majority. mrs. griffing supported her resolutions with much coolness and conscious strength. the general had few defenders, and most of those soon abandoned him to his fate, and fell back upon the position of deprecating the introduction of what they called the question of woman's rights into the convention. all, however, was of no avail; the resolutions passed by a large majority, and amid much applause. after recess an attempt was made to reconsider this vote. the president urged some one who voted in the affirmative to move a reconsideration, that a substitute might be offered, condemning the action of the world's convention in reference to miss brown, "as uncourteous, unchristian, and unparliamentary." the motion was made evidently from mere courtesy; but, when put to vote, was lost by a very large majority. the delegates from oberlin, and some others, joined in the following protest: "we beg leave to request that it be recorded in the minutes of the meeting, that the delegation from oberlin, and some others, although we regard as uncourteous, unchristian, and unparliamentary, the far-famed proceedings at new york, yet we can not endorse the language of censure as administered by our most loved and valued sisters." thus fell general carey, probably mortally wounded. his vitality, indeed, must be very great, if he can outlive the thrusts given him on this occasion. what rendered his conduct in new york more aggravating is the fact that heretofore, he has encouraged the women of ohio in their advocacy of temperance, and promised to defend them. it is not, however, for ohio men to interfere in this matter. ohio women have shown themselves abundantly able to take care of themselves and the general too. letters from friends in ohio. mrs. r. a. s. janney, in reply to our request for a chapter of her recollections, said: the agitation of "woman's rights" began in ohio in and ' , after abby kelly lectured through the state on anti-slavery. the status of the public mind at that time is best illustrated by the fact that catharine beecher, in , gave an address in columbus on education, by sitting on the platform and getting her brother edward to read it for her. in , lucy stone and antoinette l. brown, then students at oberlin college, lectured at different places in the state on "woman's rights." in a convention was held at salem; mariana johnson presented a memorial, which was numerously signed and sent to the constitutional convention. the same week mrs. f. d. gage called a meeting in masonic hall, mcconnellsville, and drew up a memorial, which was also largely signed, and presented to the constitutional convention. memorials were sent from other parts of the state, and other county conventions held. the signatures to the petition for "equal rights," numbered , , and for the right of suffrage, , . the discussions in the constitutional convention were voted to be dropped from the records, because they were so low and obscene. dr. townsend, of lorain, and william hawkins, of mcconnellsville, were our friends in the convention. mrs. corner's letter. cleveland, o., _nov. , _. dear mrs. bloomer:--your postal recalls to mind an event which occurred before the women of ohio had in any sense broken the cords which bound them. a wife was not then entitled to her own earnings, and if a husband were a drunkard, or a gambler, no portion of his wages could she take, without his consent, for the maintenance of herself and family. some small gain has been attained in the letter of the law, and much in public opinion. less stigma rests upon one who chooses an avocation suited to her own taste and ability. we have struggled for little; but it is well for us to remember that the world was not made in a day. the meeting to which you allude was held in chesterfield, morgan county, ohio. i went in company with mrs. gage, and remember well what a spirited meeting it was. when it was found that the church could not be had, the ladies of the place secured a barn, made it nice and clean, had a platform built at one end of the large floor for the speakers and invited guests, and seats arranged in every available place. the audience was large and respectful, as well as respectable. the leading subjects were: the injustice of the laws, as to property and children, in their results to married women; the ability of woman to occupy positions of trust now withheld from her; her limited means for acquiring an education; etc. mrs. gage spoke with great enthusiasm and warmth. i think it must have been almost her first effort, to be followed by years of persistent work by voice and pen, to secure a wider field of labor for her sex, and to spur dull woman to do for herself; to make use of the means within her grasp; to become fit to bear the higher responsibilities which the coming years might impose. her dear voice is almost silent now, still she lingers as if to catch some faint glimpse of hoped-for results, ere she drops this mortal coil. very truly yours, mary t. corner. massilon convention. on may , , another state convention was held in massilon. we give the following brief notice from the _new york tribune_: the third woman's rights convention of ohio has just closed its session. it was held in the baptist church, in this place, and was numerously attended, there being a fair representation of men, as well as women; for though the object of these, and similar meetings, is to secure woman her rights, as an equal member of the human family, neither speaking nor membership was here confined to the one sex, but _all_ who had sentiments to utter in reference to the object of the convention--whether for or against it--were invited to speak with freedom, and those who wished to aid the movement to sit as members, without distinction of sex. all honorable classes were represented, from the so-called highest to the so-called lowest--the seamstress who works for twenty-five cents a day; the daughters of the farmer, fresh from the dairy and the kitchen; the wives of the laborer, the physician, the lawyer, and the banker, the legislator, and the minister, were all there--all interested in one common cause, and desirous that every right god gave to woman should be fully recognized by the laws and usages of society, that every faculty he has bestowed upon her should have ample room for its proper development. is this asking too much? and yet this is the sum and substance of the woman's rights reform--a movement which fools ridicule, and find easier to sneer at than meet with argument. before they separated they organized "the ohio woman's rights association," and chose hannah tracy cutler for president. the first annual meeting of this association was held at ravenna, may th and th, . in the absence of the president, mrs. caroline m. severance presided. the speakers were rev. antoinette l. brown, mrs. lawrence, emma r. coe, josephine s. griffing, martha j. tilden, and many others. emily robinson presented an able and encouraging report on the progress of the work. mrs. severance was appointed to prepare a memorial to the legislature, which was presented march , , laid on the table and ordered to be printed. this document is found in the june number of _the una_, , and is a very carefully written paper on the legal status of woman. cleveland national convention. in , october th, th, and th, the fourth national convention was held in cleveland. there were delegates present from new york, pennsylvania, massachusetts, connecticut, ohio, michigan, indiana, and missouri. the _plain dealer_ said all the ladies prominent in this movement were present, some in full bloomer costume. at the appointed time lucretia mott arose and said: as president of the last national convention at syracuse, it devolves on me to call this meeting to order. it was decided in a preliminary gathering last evening, that frances d. gage, of st. louis, was the suitable person to fill the office of president on this occasion. mrs. gage, being duly elected, on taking the chair, said: before proceeding farther, it is proper that prayer should be offered. the rev. antoinette l. brown will address the throne of grace. she came forward and made a brief, but eloquent prayer. it was considered rather presumptuous in those days for a woman to pray in public, but as miss brown was a graduate of oberlin college, had gone through the theological department, was a regularly ordained preacher, and installed as a pastor, she felt quite at home in all the forms and ceremonies of the church. the cleveland _journal_, in speaking of her, said: she has one distinction, she is the handsomest woman in the convention. her voice is silvery, and her manner pleasing. it is generally known that she is the pastor of a congregational church in south butler, n. y. in her opening remarks, mrs. gage said: it is with fear and trembling that i take up the duties of presiding over your deliberations: not fear and trembling for the cause, but lest i should not have the capacity and strength to do all the position requires of me. she then gave a review of what had been accomplished since the first convention was held in seneca falls, n. y., july , , and closed by saying: i hope our discussions will be a little more extensive than the call would seem to warrant, which indicates simply our right to the political franchise. to which, mrs. mott replied: i would state that the limitation of the discussions was not anticipated at the last convention. the issuing of the call was left to the central committee, but it was not supposed that they would specify any particular part of the labor of the convention, but that the broad ground of the presentation of the wrongs of woman, the assertion of her rights, and the encouragement to perseverance in individual and combined action, and the restoration of those rights, should be taken. after which, mrs. gage added: i would remark once for all, to the convention, that there is perfect liberty given here to speak upon the subject under discussion, both for and against; and that we urge all to do so. if there are any who have objections, we wish to hear them. if arguments are presented which convince us that we are doing wrong, we wish to act upon them. i extremely regret that while we have held convention after convention, where the same liberty has been given, no one has had a word to say against us at the time, but that some have reserved their hard words of opposition to our movement, only to go away and vent them through the newspapers, amounting, frequently, to gross misrepresentation. i hope every one here will remember, with deep seriousness, that the same almighty finger which traced upon the tablets of stone the commands, "thou shalt not kill," "thou shalt not steal," traced also these words, "thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." the other officers of the convention were then elected, as follows: _vice-presidents_--antoinette l. brown, new york; lucretia mott, pennsylvania; caroline m. severance, ohio; joseph barker, ohio; emily robinson, ohio; mary b. birdsall, indiana; sibyl lawrence, michigan; charles p. wood, new york; amy post, new york. _secretaries_--martha c. wright, new york; caroline stanton, ohio; h. b. blackwell, ohio. _treasurer_--t. c. severance, ohio. _business committee_--ernestine l. rose, new york; james mott, pennsylvania; lucy stone, massachusetts; wm. lloyd garrison, mass.; abby kelly foster, mass.; mary t. corner, ohio; c. c. burleigh, connecticut; martha j. tilden, ohio; john o. wattles, indiana. _finance committee_--susan b. anthony, rochester; phebe h. merritt, michigan; h. m. addison, ohio; hettie little, ohio; e. p. heaton, ohio. letters were read from distinguished people. notably the following from horace greeley: new york, _oct. , _. dear madam:--i have received yours of the th, this moment. i do not see that my presence in cleveland could be of any service. the question to be considered concerns principally woman, and women should mostly consider it. i recognize most thoroughly the right of woman to choose her own sphere of activity and usefulness, and to evoke its proper limitations. if she sees fit to navigate vessels, print newspapers, frame laws, select rulers--any or all of these--i know no principle that justifies man in interposing any impediment to her doing so. the only argument entitled to any weight against the fullest concession of the rights you demand, rests in the assumption that woman does not claim any such rights, but chooses to be ruled, guided, impelled, and have her sphere prescribed for her by man. i think the present state of our laws respecting property and inheritance, as respects married women, show very clearly that woman ought not to be satisfied with her present position; yet it may be that she is so. if all those who have never given this matter a serious thought are to be considered on the side of conservatism, of course that side must preponderate. be this as it may, woman alone can, in the present state of the controversy, speak effectively for woman, since none others can speak with authority, or from the depths of a personal experience. hoping that your convention may result in the opening of many eyes, and the elevation of many minds from light to graver themes, i remain yours, horace greeley. mrs. c. m. severance, cleveland, ohio. and here let us pay our tribute of gratitude to horace greeley. in those early days when he, as editor of the _new york tribune_, was one of the most popular men in the nation, his word almost law to the people, his journal was ever true to woman. no ridicule of our cause, no sneers at its advocates, found a place in _the tribune_; but more than once, he gave columns to the proceedings of our conventions. to this letter, henry b. blackwell, brother of dr. elizabeth blackwell, and the future husband of lucy stone, pertinently replied, saying: it is suggested that woman's cause should be advocated by women only. the writer of that letter is a true friend of this reform, and yet i feel that i owe you no apology for standing on this platform. but if i do, this is sufficient, that i am the son of a woman, and the brother of a woman. i know that this is their cause, but i feel that it is mine also. their happiness is my happiness, their misery my misery. the interests of the sexes are inseparably connected, and in the elevation of one lies the salvation of the other. therefore i claim a part in the last and grandest movement of the ages; for whatever concerns woman concerns the race. in every human enterprise the sexes should go hand in hand. experience sanctions the statement. i know of but few movements in history, which have gone on successfully without the aid of woman. one of these is war--the work of human slaughter. another has been the digging of gold in california. i have yet to learn what advantages the world has derived from either. whenever the sexes have been severed in politics, in business, in religion, the result has been demoralization. mr. blackwell spoke with great eloquence for nearly an hour, advocating the political, civil, and moral equality of woman. he showed the power of the ballot in combating unjust laws, opening college doors, securing equal pay for equal work, dignifying the marriage relation, by making woman an equal partner, not a subject. he paid a glowing eulogy to mary wollstonecroft. he said: we need higher ideas of marriage. there is scarcely a young man here who does not hope to be a husband and a father; nor a young woman who does not expect to be a wife and a mother. but who does not revolt at the idea of perpetuating a race inferior to ourselves? for myself i could not desire a degenerate family. i would not wish for a race which would not be head and shoulders above what i had been. let me say to men, select women worthy to be wives. the world is overstocked with these mis-begotten children of undeveloped mothers. no man who has ever seen the symmetrical character of a true woman, can be happy in a union with such. ladies! the day is coming when men who have seen more well-developed women, will scorn the present standard of female character. will you not teach them to do so? you may have to sacrifice much, but you will be repaid. this history of the world is rich with glorious examples. mary wollstonecroft, the writer of that brave book, "the rights of woman," published two generations ago, dared to be true to her convictions of duty in spite of the prejudices of the world. what was the result? she attained a noble character. she found in godwin a nature worthy of her own, and left a child who became the wife and worthy biographer of the great poet shelley. let us imitate that child of glorious parents--parents who dared to make all their relations compatible with absolute right, to give all their powers the highest development. people say a married woman can not have ulterior objects; that her position is incompatible with a high intellectual culture; that her thoughts and sympathies must be restricted to the four walls of her dwelling. why, if i were a woman (i speak only as a man) and believed this popular doctrine, that she who is a wife and a mother, being that, must be nothing more, but must cramp her thoughts into the narrow circle of her own home, and indulge no grander aspirations for universal interests--believing that, i would forswear marriage. i would withdraw myself from human society, and go out into the forest and the prairie to live out my own true life in the communion and sympathy of my god. so far as i was concerned, the race might become worthily extinct--it should never be unworthily perpetuated. i could do no otherwise. for we are not made merely to eat and drink, and give children to the world. we are placed here upon the threshold of an immortal life. we are but the chrysalis of the future. if immortality means anything, it means unceasing progress for individuals and for the race. mr. blackwell complimented those women who were just inaugurating a movement for a new costume, promising greater freedom and health. he thought the sneers and ridicule so unsparingly showered on the "bloomers," might with more common sense be turned on the "tight waists, paper shoes, and trailing skirts of the fashionable classes." the facts of history may as well be stated here in regard to the "bloomer" costume. mrs. bloomer was among the first to wear the dress, and stoutly advocated its adoption in her paper, _the lily_, published at seneca falls, n. y. but it was introduced by elizabeth smith miller, the daughter of the great philanthropist, gerrit smith, in . she wore it for many years, even in the most fashionable circles of washington during her father's term in congress. lucy stone, miss anthony, and mrs. stanton, also wore it a few years. but it invoked so much ridicule, that they feared the odium attached to the dress might injure the suffrage movement, of which they were prominent representatives. hence a stronger love for woman's political freedom, than for their own personal comfort, compelled them to lay it aside. the experiment, however, was not without its good results. the dress was adopted for skating and gymnastic exercises, in seminaries and sanitariums. at dr. james c. jackson's, in dansville, n. y., it is still worn. many farmers' wives, too, are enjoying its freedom in their rural homes. mrs. bloomer, editor of _the lily_, at seneca falls, new york, was introduced at the close of mr. blackwell's remarks, and read a well-prepared digest of the laws for married women. reporting one of the sessions, the _plain dealer_ said: mrs. gage, ever prompt in her place, called the convention to order at the usual hour. the melodean at this time contained , people. we think the women may congratulate themselves on having most emphatically "made a hit" in the forest city. of the _personnel_ of the convention, it says: mrs. mott is matronly-looking, wearing the quaker dress, and apparently a good-natured woman. her face does not indicate her character as a fiery and enthusiastic advocate of reform. mrs. gage is not a handsome woman, but her appearance altogether is prepossessing. you can see genius in her eye. she presided with grace at all the sessions of the convention. the house was thronged with intelligent audiences. the president frequently contrasted the order, decorum, and kindness of the cleveland audiences, with the noisy and tumultuous demonstrations which recently disgraced the city of new york, at the convention held there. hon. joshua r. giddings, on being called to the stand, remarked: that he was present to express, and happy of the opportunity to express, his sincere interest in the cause, and regard for the actors in this movement; but that on almost any other occasion he could speak with less embarrassment than here, with such advocates before him; and as he had not come prepared to address the convention, declined occupying its time longer. in reading over the debates of these early conventions, we find the speakers dwelling much more on the wrongs in the church and the home, than in the state. but few of the women saw clearly, and felt deeply that the one cause of their social and religious degradation was their disfranchisement, hence the discussions often turned on the surface-wrongs of society. [illustration: frances d. gage (with autograph).] many of the friends present thought the convention should issue an original declaration of rights, as nothing had been adopted as yet, except the parody on the fathers' of' . although that, and the one william henry channing prepared, were both before the convention, it adjourned without taking action on either. as so many of these noble leaders in the anti-slavery ranks have passed away, we give in this chapter large space to their brave words. also to the treatment of miss brown, in the world's temperance convention, for its exceptional injustice and rudeness. miss brown read a letter from william h. channing, in which he embodied his ideas of a declaration. lucy stone also read a very able letter from thomas wentworth higginson. both of these letters contain valuable suggestions for the adoption of practical measures for bringing the wrongs of woman to the notice of the world. mr. channing's letter. rochester, n. y., _oct. , _. _to the president and members of the woman's rights convention:_ as i am prevented, to my deep regret, from being present at the convention, let me suggest in writing what i should prefer to speak. first, however, i would once again avow that i am with you heart, mind, soul, and strength for the equal rights of women. this great reform will prove to be, i am well assured, the salvation and glory of this republic, and of all christian and civilized states: "and if at once we may not declare the greatness of the work we plan, be sure at least that ever in our eyes it stands complete before us as a dome of light beyond this gloom--a house of stars encompassing these dusky tents--a thing near as our hearts, and perfect as the heavens. be this our aim and model, and our hands shall not wax faint, until the work is done." the woman's rights conventions, which, since , have been so frequently held in new york, ohio, massachusetts, pennsylvania, etc., have aroused respectful attention, and secured earnest sympathy, throughout the united states. it becomes the advocates of the equal rights of women, then, to take advantage of this wide-spread interest and to press the reform, at once, onward to practical results. among other timely measures, these have occurred to me as promising to be effective: i. there should be prepared, printed, and widely circulated, a declaration of woman's rights. this declaration should distinctly announce the inalienable rights of women: st. as human beings,--irrespective of the distinction of sex--actively to co-operate in all movements for the elevation of mankind. d. as rational, moral, and responsible agents, freely to think, speak, and do, what truth and duty dictate, and to be the ultimate judges of their own sphere of action. d. as women, to exert in private and in public, throughout the whole range of social relations, that special influence which god assigns as their appropriate function, in endowing them with feminine attributes. th. as members of the body politic, needing the protection, liable to the penalties, and subject to the operation of the laws, to take their fair part in legislation and administration, and in appointing the makers and administrators of the laws. th. as constituting one-half of the people of these free and united states, and as nominally, free women, to possess and use the power of voting, now monopolized by that other half of the people, the free men. th. as property holders, numbered and registered in every census, and liable to the imposition of town, county, state, and national taxes, either to be represented if taxed, or to be left untaxed if unrepresented, according to the established precedent of no taxation without representation. th. as producers of wealth to be freed from all restrictions on their industry; to be remunerated according to the work done, and not the sex of the workers, and whether married or single, to be secured in the ownership of their gains, and the use and distribution of their property. th. as intelligent persons, to have ready access to the best means of culture, afforded by schools, colleges, professional institutions, museums of science, galleries of art, libraries, and reading-rooms. th. as members of christian churches and congregations, heirs of heaven and children of god, to preach the truth, to administer the rites of baptism, communion, and marriage, to dispense charities, and in every way to quicken and refine the religious life of individuals and of society. the mere announcement of these rights, is the strongest argument and appeal that can be made, in behalf of granting them. the claim to their free enjoyment is undeniably just. plainly such rights are inalienable, and plainly too, woman is entitled to their possession equally with man. our whole plan of government is a hypocritical farce, if one-half the people can be governed by the other half without their consent being asked or granted. conscience and common sense alike demand the equal rights of women. to the conscience and common sense of their fellow-citizens, let women appeal untiringly, until their just claims are acknowledged throughout the whole system of legislation, and in all the usages of society. and this introduces the next suggestion i have to offer. ii. forms of petition should be drawn up and distributed for signatures, to be offered to the state legislatures at their next sessions. these petitions should be directed to the following points: st. that the right of suffrage be granted to the people, universally, without distinction of sex; and that the age for attaining legal and political majority, be made the same for women as for men. d. that all laws relative to the inheritance and ownership of property, to the division and administration of estates, and to the execution of wills, be made equally applicable to women and men. d. that mothers be entitled, equally with fathers, to become guardians of their children. th. that confirmed and habitual drunkenness, of either husband or wife, be held as sufficient ground for divorce; and that the temperate partner be appointed legal guardian of the children. th. that women be exempted from taxation until their right of suffrage is practically acknowledged. th. that women equally with men be entitled to claim trial before a jury of their peers. these petitions should be firm and uncompromising in tone; and a hearing should be demanded before committees specially empowered to consider and report them. in my judgment, the time is not distant, when such petitions will be granted, and when justice, the simple justice they ask, will be cordially, joyfully rendered. i call then for the publication of a declaration of woman's rights, accompanied by forms of petitions, by the national woman's rights convention at their present session. in good hope, your friend and brother, william henry channing. miss brown remarked: there is one of these demands, the fourth, which for myself, i should prefer to have amended thus--instead of the word "divorce," i would insert "legally separated." the letter otherwise meets my cordial and hearty approbation. mr. higginson's letter. worcester, _sept. , _. dear friend:--in writing to the new york woman's rights convention, i mentioned some few points of argument which no opponents of this movement have ever attempted to meet. suffer me, in addressing the cleveland convention, to pursue a different course, and mention some things which the friends of the cause have not yet attempted to do. i am of a practical habit of mind, and have noticed with some regret that most of the friends of the cause have rested their hopes, thus far, chiefly upon abstract reasoning. this is doubtless of great importance, and these reasonings have already made many converts; because the argument is so entirely on one side that every one who really listens to it begins instantly to be convinced. the difficulty is, that the majority have not yet begun to listen to it, and this, in great measure, because their attention has not been called to the facts upon which it is founded. suppose, now, that an effort were made to develop the facts of woman's wrongs. for instance: st. we say that the laws of every state of this union do great wrong to woman, married and single, as to her person and property, in her private and public relations. why not procure a digest of the laws on these subjects, then; prepared carefully, arranged systematically, corrected up to the latest improvements, and accompanied by brief and judicious commentaries? no such work exists, except that by mansfield, which is now obsolete, and in many respects defective. d. we complain of the great educational inequalities between the sexes. why not have a report, elaborate, statistical, and accurate, on the provision for female education, public and private, throughout the free states of this union, at least? no such work now exists. d. we complain of the industrial disadvantages of women, and indicate at the same time, their capacities for a greater variety of pursuits. why not obtain a statement, on as large a scale as possible, first, of what women are doing now, commercially and mechanically, throughout the union (thus indicating their powers); and secondly, of the embarrassments with which they meet, the inequality of their wages, and all the other peculiarities of their position, in these respects? an essay, in short, on the business employments and interests of women; such an essay as mr. hunt has expressed to me his willingness to publish in his merchants' magazine. no such essay now exists. each of these three documents would be an arsenal of arms for the woman's rights advocate. a hundred dollars, appropriated to each of these, would more than repay itself in the increased subscriptions it would soon bring into the treasury of the cause. that sum would, however, be hardly sufficient to repay even the expenses of correspondence and traveling necessary for the last two essays, or the legal knowledge necessary for the first. if there is, however, known to the convention at cleveland any person qualified and ready to undertake either of the above duties for the above sum (no person should undertake more than one of the three investigations), i would urge you to make the appointment. it will require, however, an accurate, clear-headed, and industrious person, with plenty of time to bestow. better not have it done at all, than not have it done thoroughly, carefully, and dispassionately. let me say distinctly, that i can not be a candidate for either duty, in my own person, for want of time to do it in; though i think i could render some assistance, especially in preparing materials for the third essay. i would also gladly subscribe toward a fund for getting the work done. permit me, finally, to congratulate you on the valuable results of every convention yet held to consider this question. i find the fact everywhere remarked, that so large a number of women of talent and character have suddenly come forward into a public sphere. this phenomenon distinguishes this reform from all others that have appeared in america, and illustrates with new meaning the greek myth of minerva, born full-grown from the head of jove. and if (as some late facts indicate) this step forward only promotes the woman's rights movement from the sphere of contempt into the sphere of hostility and persecution--it is a step forward, none the less. and i would respectfully suggest to the noble women who are thus attacked, that they will only be the gainers by such opposition, unless it lead to dissensions or jealousies among themselves. yours cordially, thomas wentworth higginson. miss lucy stone. lucy stone remarked: this letter, you see, proposes that we shall find some way, if possible, by which our complaints may be spread before the people. we find men and women in our conventions, earnest and thoughtful, who are not drawn by mere curiosity, but from a conscious want of just such a movement as this. they go away and carry to their villages and hamlets the ideas they have gathered here; and it is a cause for thankfulness to god that so many go away to repeat what they have heard. but we have wanted the documents to scatter among the people, as the tract society scatters its sheets. and now mr. higginson proposes that we have these essays. the president of oberlin college, rev. asa mahan, was present during all the sessions of the convention, and took part in the debates. on the subject of the seneca falls declaration, he said: i can only judge of the effect of anything upon the public mind, by its effect upon my own. it has been suggested that that declaration is a parody. now you can not present a parody, without getting up a laugh; and wherever it goes, it will never be seriously considered. if a declaration is to be made, it should be one that will be seriously considered by the public. i would suggest that the declaration of this convention be entirely independent of the other. i have a remark to make upon a sentiment advanced by mrs. rose. i have this objection to the declaration upon which she commented. it is asserted there, that man has created a certain public sentiment, and it is brought as a charge against the male sex. now i assert, that man never created that sentiment. i say it is a wrong state of society totally, when, if woman shall be degraded, a man committing the same offense shall not be degraded also. there is perfect agreement between us there. but, that declaration charges that sentiment upon man. now i assert that it is chargeable upon woman herself; and that as she was first in man's original transgression, she is first here. mrs. rose: i heartily agree that we are both in fault; and yet we are none in fault. i also said, that woman, on account of the position in which she has been placed, by being dependent upon man, by being made to look up to man, is the first to cast out her sister. i know it and deplore it; hence i wish to give her her rights, to secure her dependence upon herself. in regard to that sentiment in the declaration, our friend said that woman created it. is woman really the creator of the sentiment? the laws of a country create sentiments. who make the laws? does woman? our law-makers give the popular ideas of morality. mr. barker: and the pulpit. mrs. rose: i ought to have thought of it: not only do the law-makers give woman her ideas of morality, but our pulpit preachers. i beg pardon--no, i do not either--for antoinette l. brown is not a priest. our priests have given us public sentiment called morals, and they have always made or recognized in daily life, distinctions between man and woman. man, from the time of adam to the present, has had utmost license, while woman must not commit the slightest degree of "impropriety," as it is termed. why, even to cut her skirts shorter than the fashion, is considered a moral delinquency, and stigmatized as such by more than one pulpit, directly or indirectly. you ask me who made this sentiment; and my friend yonder, says woman. she is but the echo of man. man utters the sentiment, and woman echoes it. as i said before--for i have seen and felt it deeply--she even appears to be quite flattered with her cruel tyrant, for such he has been made to be--she is quite flattered with the destroyer of woman's character--aye, worse than that, the destroyer of woman's self-respect and peace of mind--and when she meets him, she is flattered with his attentions. why should she not be? he is admitted into legislative halls, and to all places where men "most do congregate;" why, then, should she not admit him to her parlor? the woman is admitted into no such places; the church casts her out; and a stigma is cast upon her, for what is called the slightest "impropriety." prescribed by no true moral law, but by superstition and prejudice, she is cast out not only from public places, but from private homes. and if any woman would take her sister to her heart, and warm her there again by sympathy and kindness, if she would endeavor once more to infuse into her the spark of life and virtue, of morality and peace, she often dare not so far encounter public prejudice as to do it. it requires a courage beyond what woman can now possess, to take the part of the woman against the villain. there are few such among us, and though few, they have stood forward nobly and gloriously. i will not mention names, though it is often a practice to do so; i must, however, mention our sister, lucretia mott, who has stood up and taken her fallen sister by the hand, and warmed her at her own heart. but we can not expect every woman to possess that degree of courage. abby kelly foster: i want to say here that i believe the law is but the writing out of public sentiment, and back of that public sentiment, i contend lies the responsibility. where shall we find it? "'tis education forms the common mind." it is allowed that we are what we are educated to be. now if we can ascertain who has had the education of us, we can ascertain who is responsible for the law, and for public sentiment. who takes the infant from its cradle and baptizes it "in the name of the father, son, and holy ghost;" and when that infant comes to childhood, who takes it into sabbath-schools; who on every sabbath day, while its mind is "like clay in the hands of the potter," moulds and fashions it as he will; and when that child comes to be a youth, where is he found, one-seventh part of the time; and when he comes to maturer age, does he not leave his plow in the furrow, and his tools in the shop, and one-seventh part of the time go to the place where prayer is wont to be made? on that day no sound is heard but the roll of the carriage wheels to church; all are gathered there, everything worldly is laid aside, all thoughts are given entirely to the creator; for we are taught that we must not think our own thoughts, but must lay our own wills aside, and come to be moulded and fashioned by the priest. it is "holy time," and we are to give ourselves to be wholly and entirely fashioned and formed by another. that place is a holy place, and when we enter, our eye rests on the "holy of holies;" he within it is a "divine." the "divines" of the thirteenth century, the "divines" of the fifteenth century, and the "divines" of the nineteenth century, are no less "divines." what i say to-day is taken for what it is worth, or perhaps for less than it is worth, because of the prejudice against me; but when he who educates the people speaks, "he speaks as one having authority," and is not to be questioned. he claims, and has his claim allowed, to be specially ordained and specially anointed from god. he stands mid-way between deity and man, and therefore his word has power. aye, not only in middle age does the man come, leaving everything behind him; but, in old age, "leaning on the top of his staff," he finds himself gathered in the place of worship, and though his ear may be dull and heavy, he leans far forward to catch the last words of duty--of duty to god and duty to man. duty is the professed object of the pulpit, and if it does not teach that, what in heaven's name does it teach? this anointed man of god speaks of moral duty to god and man. he teaches man from the cradle to the coffin; and when that aged form is gathered within its winding-sheet, it is the pulpit that says, "dust to dust and ashes to ashes." it is the pulpit, then, which has the entire ear of the community, one-seventh part of the time. if you say there are exceptions, very well, that proves the rule. if there is one family who do not go to church, it is no matter, its teachings are engendered by those who do go; hence i would say, not only does the pulpit have the ear of the community one-seventh part of the time of childhood, but it has it under circumstances for forming and moulding and fashioning the young mind, as no other educating influence can have it. the pulpit has it, not only under these circumstances; it has it on occasions of marriage, when two hearts are welded into one; on occasions of sickness and death, when all the world beside is shut out, when the mind is most susceptible of impressions from the pulpit, or any other source. i say, then, that woman is not the author of this sentiment against her fallen sister, and i roll back the assertion on its source. having the public ear one-seventh part of the time, if the men of the pulpit do not educate the public mind, who does educate it? millions of dollars are paid for this education, and if they do not educate the public mind in its morals, what, i ask, are we paying our money for? if woman is cast out of society, and man is placed in a position where he is respected, then i charge upon the pulpit that it has been recreant to its duty. if the pulpit should speak out fully and everywhere, upon this subject, would not woman obey it? are not women under the special leading and direction of their clergymen? you may tell me, that it is woman who forms the mind of the child; but i charge it back again, that it is the minister who forms the mind of the woman. it is he who makes the mother what she is; therefore her teaching of the child is only conveying the instructions of the pulpit at second hand. if public sentiment is wrong on this (and i have the testimony of those who have spoken this morning, that it is), the pulpit is responsible for it, and has the power of changing it. the clergy claim the credit of establishing public schools. granted. listen to the pulpit in any matter of humanity, and they will claim the originating of it, because they are the teachers of the people. now, if we give credit to the pulpit for establishing public schools, then i charge them with having a bad influence over those schools; and if the charge can be rolled off, i want it to be rolled off; but until it can be done, i hope it will remain there. mr. mahan: no class of persons had better be drawn into our discussions to be denounced, unless there is serious occasion for it. i name the pulpit with solemn awe, and unless there is necessity for it, charges had better not be made against it. now, i say that no practice and no usage in the church can be found, by which a criminal man, in reference to the crimes referred to, may be kept in the church and a criminal woman cast out. there is no such custom in any of the churches of god. after twenty years' acquaintance with the church, i affirm that the practice does not exist. now, in regard to the origin of public sentiment, can a pulpit be found, will the lady who has just sat down, name a pulpit in the wide world, where the principle is advocated, that a criminal woman should be excluded, and the man upheld? whatever faults may be in it, that fault is not there. mrs. rose: not in theory, but in practice. mr. mahan: neither in theory nor in practice. where a wrong state of society exists, the pulpit may be in fault for not reprobating it. abby k. foster: i do not wish to mention names, or i could do so. i could give many cases where ministers have been charged with such crimes, and where the evidence of guilt was almost insurmountable, and yet they were not disciplined. they were afraid it would injure the church, i remember one minister who was brought up for trial, and meantime they suspended him from office, and paid him only half his salary, but retained him as a church member; when, if it had been the case of a woman, and had the slightest shade of suspicion been cast upon her, they would not have waited even for trial and judgment. they would have cast her out of the church at once. william lloyd garrison said: i have but a few words to submit to the meeting at the present time. in regard to the position of the church and clergy, on the subject of purity, i think it is sufficient to remind the people here, that whatever may be the external form observed by the church toward its members, pertaining to licentiousness, one thing is noticeable, and that is, that the marriage relation is abolished among three and a half millions of people; and the abolition of marriage on that frightful scale, is in the main sanctioned and sustained by the american church and clergy. and if this does not involve them in all that is impure, and licentious, and demoralizing, i know not what can do so. as it respects the objection to our adopting the declaration of independence as put forth at seneca falls, on the ground that it is a parody, and that, being a parody, it will only excite the mirthfulness of those who hear or read it in that form; i would simply remark, that i very much doubt, whether, among candid and serious men, there would be any such mirthfulness excited. at the time that document was published, i read it, but i had forgotten it till this morning, and on listening to it, my mind was deeply impressed with its pertinacity and its power. it seemed to me, the _argumentium ad hominum_, to this nation. it was measuring the people of this country by their own standard. it was taking their own words and applying their own principles to women, as they have been applied to men. at the same time, i liked the suggestion that we had better present an original paper to the country; and on conferring with the committee after the adjournment, they agreed that it would be better to have such a paper; and that paper will undoubtedly be prepared, although we are not now ready to lay it before the convention. it was this morning objected to the declaration of sentiments, that it implied that man was the only transgressor, that he had been guilty of injustice and usurpation, and the suggestion was also made, that woman should not be criminated, in this only, but regarded rather as one who had erred through ignorance; and our eloquent friend, mrs. rose, who stood on this platform and pleaded with such marked ability, as she always does plead in any cause she undertakes to speak upon, told us her creed. she told us she did not blame anybody, really, and did not hold any man to be criminal, or any individual to be responsible for public sentiment, as regards the difference of criminality of man and woman. for my own part, i am not prepared to respect that philosophy. i believe in sin, therefore in a sinner; in theft, therefore in a thief; in slavery, therefore in a slaveholder; in wrong, therefore in a wrong-doer; and unless the men of this nation are made by woman to see that they have been guilty of usurpation, and cruel usurpation, i believe very little progress will be made. to say all this has been done without thinking, without calculation, without design, by mere accident, by a want of light; can anybody believe this who is familiar with all the facts in the case? certainly, for one, i hope ever to lean to the charitable side, and will try to do so. i, too, believe things are done through misconception and misapprehension, which are injurious, yes, which are immoral and unchristian; but only to a limited extent. there is such a thing as intelligent wickedness, a design on the part of those who have the light to quench it, and to do the wrong to gratify their own propensities, and to further their own interests. so, then, i believe, that as man has monopolized for generations all the rights which belong to woman, it has not been accidental, not through ignorance on his part; but i believe that man has done this through calculation, actuated by a spirit of pride, a desire for domination which has made him degrade woman in her own eyes, and thereby tend to make her a mere vassal. it seems to me, therefore, that we are to deal with the consciences of men. it is idle to say that the guilt is common, that the women are as deeply involved in this matter as the men. never can it be said that the victims are as much to be blamed as the victimizer; that the slaves are to be as much blamed as the slaveholders and slave-drivers; that the women who have no rights, are to be as much blamed as the men who have played the part of robbers and tyrants. we must deal with conscience. the men of this nation, and the men of all nations, have no just respect for woman. they have tyrannized over her deliberately, they have not sinned through ignorance, but theirs is not the knowledge that saves. who can say truly, that in all things he acts up to the light he enjoys, that he does not do something which he knows is not the very thing, or the best thing he ought to do? how few there are among mankind who are able to say this with regard to themselves. is not the light all around us? does not this nation know how great its guilt is in enslaving one-sixth of its people? do not the men of this nation know ever since the landing of the pilgrims, that they are wrong in making subject one-half of the people? rely upon it, it has not been a mistake on their part. it has been sin. it has been guilt; and they manifest their guilt to a demonstration, in the manner in which they receive this movement. those who do wrong ignorantly, do not willingly continue in it, when they find they are in the wrong. ignorance is not an evidence of guilt certainly. it is only an evidence of a want of light. they who are only ignorant, will never rage, and rave, and threaten, and foam, when the light comes; but being interested and walking in the light, will always present a manly front, and be willing to be taught, and be willing to be told they are in the wrong. take the case of slavery: how has the anti-slavery cause been received? not argumentatively, not by reason, not by entering the free arena of fair discussion and comparing notes; the arguments have been rotten eggs, and brickbats and calumny, and in the southern portion of the country, a spirit of murder, and threats to cut out the tongues of those who spoke against them. what has this indicated on the part of the nation? what but conscious guilt? not ignorance, not that they had not the light. they had the light and rejected it. how has this woman's rights movement been treated in this country, on the right hand and on the left? this nation ridicules and derides this movement, and spits upon it, as fit only to be cast out and trampled underfoot. this is not ignorance. they know all about the truth. it is the natural outbreak of tyranny. it is because the tyrants and usurpers are alarmed. they have been and are called to judgment, and they dread the examination and exposure of their position and character. women of america! you have something to blame yourselves for in this matter, something to account for to god and the world. granted. but then you are the victims in this land, as the women of all lands are, to the tyrannical power and godless ambition of man; and we must show who are responsible in this matter. we must test everybody here. every one of us must give an account of himself to god. it is an individual testing of character. mark the man or the woman who derides this movement, who turns his or her back upon it; who is disposed to let misrule keep on, and you will find you have a sure indication of character. you will find that such persons are destitute of principles; for if you can convict a man of being wanting in principle anywhere, it will be everywhere. he who loves the right for its own sake, loves the right everywhere. he who is a man of principle, is a man of principle always. let me see the man who is willing to have any one of god's rational creatures sacrificed to promote anything, aside from the well-being of that creature himself, and i will show you an unprincipled man. it is so in this movement. nobody argues against it, nobody pretends to have an argument. your platform is free everywhere, wherever, these conventions are held. yet no man comes forward in a decent, respectable manner, to show you that you are wrong in the charges you bring against the law-makers of the land. there is no argument against it. the thing is self-evident. i should not know how to begin to frame an argument. that which is self-evident is greater than argument, and beyond logic. it testifies of itself. you and i, as human beings, claim to have rights, but i never think of going into an argument with anybody, to prove that i ought to have rights. i have the argument and logic here, it is in my own breast and consciousness; and the logic of the schools becomes contemptible beside these. the more you try to argue, the worse you are off. it is not the place for metaphysics, it is the place for affirmation. woman is the counterpart of man; she has the same divine image, having the same natural and inalienable rights as man. to state the proposition is enough; it contains the argument, and nobody can gainsay it, in an honorable way. i rose simply to say, that though i should deprecate making our platform a theological arena, yet believing that men are guilty of intentional wrong, in keeping woman subject, i believe in having them criminated. you talk of injustice, then there is an unjust man somewhere. even mrs. rose could talk of the guilt of society. society! i know nothing of society. i know the guilt of individuals. society is an abstract term: it is made up of individuals, and the responsibility rests with individuals. so then, if we are to call men to repentance, there is such a thing as wrong-doing intelligently, sinning against god and man, with light enough to convict us, and to condemn us before god and the world. let this cause then be pressed upon the hearts and consciences, against those who hold unjust rights in their possession. mrs. rose: i want to make a suggestion to the meeting. this is the afternoon of the last day of our convention. we have now heard here the bible arguments on both sides, and i may say to them that i agree with both, that is, i agree with neither. a gentleman, dr. nevin, i believe, said this morning that he also would reply to mr. barker, this afternoon. we have already had mr. barker answered. if any one else speaks farther on miss brown's side, somebody will have to reply upon the other. "there is a time and a season for everything," and this is no time to discuss the bible. i appeal to the universal experience of men, to sustain me in asking whether the introduction of theological quibbles, has not been a firebrand wherever they have been thrown? we have a political question under discussion; let us take that question and argue it with reference to right and wrong, and let us argue it in the same way that your fathers and mothers did, when they wanted to throw off the british yoke. dr. nevin: it will be unjust, not to permit me to speak. mrs. mott moved that he be allowed, since he had already got the floor, without attempting to limit him at all; but that immediately after, the convention should take up the resolutions. mrs. rose objected, because, if a third person should speak, then a fourth must speak, or plead injustice, if not permitted to do so. considerable confusion ensued, dr. nevin, however, persisting in speaking, whereupon, the president invited him to the platform. he took the stand, assuring the president and officers, as he passed them, that he wished only to reply to some misinterpretations of mr. barker's, and would take but little of the time which they so much needed for business. after commencing, however, with bible in hand, he launched out into an irrelevant eulogium upon "his christ," etc.; from that to personalities against mr. barker and his associates upon the platform, calling him a "renegade priest," "an infidel from foreign shores, who had come to teach americans christianity!" mr. garrison rose to a point of order, with regard to the speaker's personalities as to the nativity of anybody. dr. nevin retorted: the gentleman has been making personalities against the whole priesthood. mr. barker: i expressly and explicitly made exceptions. i only wish that mr. nevin may not base his remarks upon a phantom. dr. nevin continued wandering on for some time, when stephen s. foster rose, to a point of order, as follows: "the simple question before us, is whether woman is entitled to all the rights to which the other sex is entitled. i want to say, that the friend is neither speaking to the general question, nor replying to mr. barker." mr. foster continued his remarks somewhat, when dr. nevin demanded that the chair protect him in his right to the floor. the chair decided that mr. foster was out of order, in continuing to speak so long upon his point of order. mr. foster said he would not appeal to the house from the decision of the chair, because he wished to save time. he continued a moment longer, and sat down. dr. nevin proceeded, and in the course of his remarks drew various unauthorized inferences, as the belief of mr. barker, in the doctrines of christ. mr. barker repeatedly corrected him, but dr. kevin very ingeniously continued to reaffirm them in another shape. finally, mr. garrison, in his seat, addressing the president, said: "it is utterly useless to attempt to correct the individual. he is manifestly here in the spirit of a blackguard and rowdy." (a storm of hisses and cries of "down!" "down!") dr. nevin: i am sorry friend garrison has thought fit to use those words. he has been in scenes and situations like these, and has himself stood up and spoken in opposition to the opinions of audiences, too often not to have by this time been taught patience. mrs. clark: mr. garrison is accustomed to call things by their right names. dr. nevin: very well, then i should call him--turning upon mr. g.--worse names than those. only one word has fallen from woman in this convention, to which i can take exception, and that fell from the lips of a lady whom i have venerated from my childhood--it was, that the pulpit was the castle of cowards. mrs. mott: i said it was john chambers' cowards' castle; and i do say, that such ministers make it a castle of cowards; but i did not wish to make the remark general, or apply it to all pulpits. dr. nevin continued some time longer. mrs. foster asked, at the close of his remarks, if he believed it was right for woman to speak what she believed to be the truth, from the pulpit; to which he replied affirmatively, "there and everywhere." mrs. rose: i might claim my right to reply to the gentleman who has just taken his seat. i might be able to prove from the arguments he brought forward, that he was incorrect in the statements he made, but i waive that right, the time has been so unjustly consumed already. to one thing only, i will reply. he charged france with being licentious, and spoke of the degraded position of french women, as the result of the infidelity of that nation. i throw back the slander he uttered, in regard to french women. i am not a french woman, but if there is no other here to vindicate them, i will do it. the french women are as moral as any other people in any country; and when they have not been as moral, it has been because they have been priest-ridden. i love to vindicate the rights of those who are not present to defend themselves. stephen s. foster: our "reverend" friend spoke of _dragging_ infidelity into this convention, as though infidelity had to be "dragged" here. i want to know if christianity has been "dragged" here, when the speakers made it the basis of their arguments. who ever dreamed of "dragging" christianity here when they came to advocate the rights of woman in the name of christ? why then should any one stand up here and charge a speaker with "dragging" infidelity when he advocates the rights of woman under the name of an infidel. i supposed that greek and jew, barbarian and scythian, christian and infidel had been invited to this platform. one thing i know, we have had barbarians here, whether we invited them or not; and i like to have barbarians here; i know of no place where they are so likely to be civilized. i have never yet been in a meeting managed by men when there was such conflict of feelings, where there was not also ten times as much confusion. and i think this meeting a powerful proof of the superiority of our principles over those who oppose us. tell me if christianity has not ever held the reins in this country; and what has it done for woman? i am talking now of the popular idea of christianity. what has christianity done for woman for two hundred years past? why, to-day, in this christian nation, there are a million and a half of women bought and sold like cattle; a million and a half of women who can not say who are the fathers of their children! i ask, are we to depend on a christianity like that to restore woman her rights? i am speaking of your idea of christianity--of dr. nevin's idea of christianity--i shall come to the true christianity by and by. one of two things is certain. the church and government deny to woman her rights. there is not a denomination in this country which places woman on an equality with man. not one. can you deny it? mrs. mott: except the progressive friends. mr. foster: they are not a denomination, they have broken from all bands and taken the name of the friends of progress. i say there is not a religious society, having an organized body of ministers, which admits woman's equality in the gospel. now, tell me, in god's name, what we are to hope from the church, when she leaves a million and a half of women liable to be brought upon the auction-block to-day? if the bible is against woman's equality, what are you to do with it? one of two things: either you must sit down and fold up your hands, or you must discard the divine authority of the bible. must you not? you must acknowledge the correctness of your position, or deny the authority of the bible. if you admit the construction put upon the bible by friend barker, to be a false one, or miss brown's construction to be the true one, what then? why, then, the priesthood of the country are blind leaders of the blind. we have got forty thousand of them, dr. nevin included with the rest. he stands as an accredited presbyterian, giving the hand of fellowship to the fraternity, and withholding it from garrison and others--he could not even pray a few years ago in an anti-slavery meeting. now, either the bible is against the church and clergy, or else they have misinterpreted it for two hundred years, yes, for six thousand years. you must then either discard the bible or the priesthood, or give up woman's rights. a friend says he does not regret this discussion. why, it is the only thing we have done effectively since we have been here. when we played with jack-straws, we were hail-fellow with those who now oppose us. when you come to take up the great questions of the movement, when you propose to man, to divide with woman the right to rule, then a great opposition is aroused. the ballot-box is not worth a straw until woman is ready to use it. suppose a law were passed to-morrow, declaring woman's rights equal with those of men, why, the facts would remain the same. the moment that woman is ready to go to the ballot-box, there is not a constitution that will stand in the country. in this very city, in spite of the law, i am told that negroes go to the ballot-box and vote, without let or hindrance; and woman will go when she resolves upon it. what we want for woman is the right of speech; and in dr. nevin's reply to mrs. foster, does he mean that he would be willing to accord the right of speech to woman and admit her into the pulpit? i don't believe he would admit antoinette brown to his pulpit. i was sorry mrs. foster did not ask him if he would. i don't believe he dares to do it. i would give him a chance to affirm or deny it. i hope some other friend will give him that opportunity, and that antoinette brown may be able to say that she was invited by the pastor of one of the largest churches in this beautiful city, to speak to his people in his pulpit; but if he does it, he is not merely one among a thousand, but one among ten thousand. i wish to have it understood that an infidel is as much at home here as a christian; and that his principles are no more "dragged" here than those of a christian. for myself, i claim to be a christian. no man ever heard me speak of christ or of his doctrines, but with the profoundest reverence. still, i welcome upon this platform those who differ as far as possible from me. and the atheist no more "drags" in his atheism, provided he only shows that atheism itself demands woman's equality, and is no more out of order than i, when i undertake to show that christianity preaches one law, one faith, and one line of duty for all. mrs. mott: we ought to thank dr. nevin for his kindly fears, lest we women should be brought out into the rough conflicts of life, and overwhelmed by infidelity. i thank him, but at the same time i must say, that if we have been able this afternoon to sit uninjured by the hard conflict in which he has been engaged, if we can maintain our patience at seeing him so laboriously build up a man of straw, and then throw it down and destroy it, i think we may be suffered to go into the world and bear many others unharmed. again, i would ask in all seriousness, by what right does orthodoxy give the invidious name of infidel, affix the stigma of infidelity, to those who dissent from its cherished opinions? what right have the advocates of moral reform, woman's rights, abolition, temperance, etc., to call in question any man's religious opinions? it is the assumption of bigots. i do not want now to speak invidiously, and say sectarian bigots, but i mean the same kind of bigotry which jesus rebuked so sharply, when he called certain men "blind leaders of the blind." now, we hold jesus up as an example, when we perceive the assumption of clergymen, that all who venture to dissent from a given interpretation, must necessarily be infidels; and thus denounce them as infidels; for it was only by inference, that one clergyman this afternoon made joseph barker deny the son of god. by inference in the same way, he might be made to deny everything that is good, and praiseworthy, and true. i want we should consider these things upon this platform. i am not troubled with difficulties about the bible. my education has been such that i look to that source whence all the inspiration of the bible comes. i love the truths of the bible. i love the bible because it contains so many truths; but i never was educated to love the errors of the bible; therefore it does not startle me to hear joseph barker point to some of those errors. and i can listen to the ingenious interpretation of the bible, given by antoinette brown, and am glad to hear those who are so skilled in the outward, when i perceive that they are beginning to turn the bible to so good an account. it gives evidence that the cause is making very good progress. why, my friend nevin has had to hear the temperance cause denounced as infidel, and proved so by solomon; and he has, no doubt, seen the minister in the pulpit, turning over the pages of the bible to find examples for the wrong. but the bible will never sustain him in making this use of its pages, instead of using it rationally, and selecting such portions of it as would tend to corroborate the right; and these are plentiful; for notwithstanding the teaching of theology, and men's arts in the religious world, men have ever responded to righteousness and truth, when it has been advocated by the servants of god, so that we need not fear to bring truth to an intelligent examination of the bible. it is a far less dangerous assertion to say that god is unchangeable, than that man is infallible. in this debate on the bible-position of woman, mr. garrison having always been a close student of that book, was so clear in his positions, and so ready in his quotations, that he carried the audience triumphantly with him. the rev. dr. nevin came out of the contest so chagrined, that, losing all sense of dignity, on meeting mr. garrison in the vestibule of the hall, at the close of the convention, he seized him by the nose and shook him vehemently. mr. garrison made no resistance, and when released, he calmly surveyed his antagonist and said, "do you feel better, my friend? do you hope thus to break the force of my argument?" the friends of the rev. mr. nevin were so mortified with his ungentlemanly behavior that they suppressed the scene in the vestibule as far as possible, in the cleveland journals, and urged the ladies who had the report of the convention in charge, to make no mention of it in their publication. happily, the fact has been resurrected in time to point a page of history. a question arising in the convention as to the colleges, antoinette brown remarked: that much and deeply as she loved oberlin, she must declare that it has more credit for liberality to woman than it deserves. girls are not allowed equal privileges and advantages there; they are not allowed instructions in elocution, nor to speak on commencement day. the only college in the country that places all students on an equal footing, without distinction of sex or color, is mcgrawville college in central new york. probably antioch college, ohio (president horace mann), will also admit pupils on the same ground. mrs. rose said she knew of no college where both sexes enjoyed equal advantages. it matters not, however, if there be. we do not deal with exceptions, but with general principles. a sister has well remarked that we do not believe that man is the cause of all our wrongs. we do not fight men--we fight bad principles. we war against the laws which have made men bad and tyrannical. some will say, "but these laws are made by men." true, but they were made in ignorance of right and wrong, made in ignorance of the eternal principles of justice and truth. they were sanctioned by superstition, and engrafted on society by long usage. the declaration issued by the seneca falls convention is an instrument no less great, no less noble than that to which it bears a resemblance. in closing she alluded to that portion of mr. channing's declaration which referred to the code of morals by which a fallen woman is forever ruined, while the man who is the cause of, or sharer in her crime, is not visited by the slightest punishment. "it is time to consider whether what is wrong in one sex can be right in another. it is time to consider why if a woman commits a fault, too often from ignorance, from inexperience, from poverty, because of degradation and oppression--aye! because of designing, cruel man; being made cruel by ignorance of laws and institutions,--why such a being, in her helplessness, in her ignorance, in her inexperience and dependency--why a being thus situated, not having her mind developed, her faculties called out: and not allowed to mix in society to give her experience, not being acquainted with human nature, is drawn down, owing often to her best and tenderest feelings; in consequence also of being accustomed to look up to man as her superior, as her guardian, as her master,--why such a being should be cast out of the pale of humanity, while he who committed the crime, or who is, if not the main, the great secondary cause of it,--he who is endowed with superior advantages of education and experience, he who has taken advantage of that weakness and confiding spirit, which the young always have,--i ask, if the victim is cast out of the pale of society, shall the despoiler go free?" the question was answered by a thunder of "no! no! no!" from all parts of the house. a profound sensation was observable. "and yet," said mrs. rose, "he does go free!!" ernestine l. rose, says the _plain dealer_, is the master-spirit of the convention. she is described as a polish lady of great beauty, being known in this country as an earnest advocate of human liberty. though a slight foreign accent is perceptible, her delivery is effective. she spoke with great animation. the impression made by her address was favorable both to the speaker and the cause. in speaking of the _personnel_ of the platform, it says: mrs. lydia ann jenkins, of new york, who made an effective speech, is habited in the bloomer costume, and appears to much advantage on the stage. her face is amiable, and her delivery excellent. she is as fine a female orator as we have heard. the address embodied the usual arguments offered in favor of this cause, and were put in a forcible and convincing manner. we say convincing, because such a speaker would convince the most obdurate unbeliever against his will. miss stone is somewhat celebrated for an extraordinary enthusiasm in the cause of her sex, and for certain eccentricities of speech and thought, as well as of outward attire. she is as independent in mind as in dress. she is as ready to throw off the restraints society seems to have placed on woman's mind, as she is to cast aside what she considers an absurd fashion in dress. without endorsing the eliminated petticoats, we can not but admire miss stone's "stern old saxon pluck," and her total independence of the god, fashion. her dress is first a black velvet coat with collar, fastened in front with buttons, next a skirt of silk, reaching to the knees, then "she wears the breeches" of black silk, with neat-fitting gaiters. her hair is cut short and combed straight back. her face is not beautiful, but there is mind in it; it is earnest, pleasant, prepossessing. miss stone must be set down as a lady of no common abilities, and of uncommon energy in the pursuit of a cherished idea. she is a marked favorite in the conventions. during the proceedings, miss brown, in a long speech on the bible, had expounded many doctrines and passages of scripture in regard to woman's position, in direct opposition to the truths generally promulgated by general assemblies, and the lesser lights of the church. mrs. emma r. coe took an equally defiant position toward the bench and the bar, coolly assuming that she understood the spirit of constitutions and statute laws. some lawyer had made a criticism on the woman's petition then circulating in ohio, and essayed to give the convention some light on the laws of the state, to all of which mrs. coe says: i have very little to say this evening beyond reading a letter, received by me to-day. (here follows the letter). i beg leave to inform the gentleman, if he is present, that i believe i understand these laws, and this point particularly, very nearly as well as himself; and that i am well acquainted with the laws passed since , as with those enacted previous to that time. i would also inform him that the committee, some of whom are much better read in law than myself, were perfectly aware of the existence of the statutes he mentions, but did not see fit to incorporate them into the petition, not only on account of their great length, but because they do not at all invalidate the position which the petition affects to establish, viz: the inequality of the sexes before the law. their insertion, therefore, would have been utterly superfluous. this letter refers, evidently, to that portion of the petition which treats of the equalization of property, which i will now read. (then follows the reading of one paragraph of the petition). again i refer you to the letter, the first paragraph of which is as follows: "mrs. emma r. coe, will you look at vol. , general laws of ohio, page , where you will find that the property of the wife can not be taken for the debts of her husband, etc.; and all articles of household furniture, and goods which a wife shall have brought with her in marriage, or which shall have come to her by bequest, gift, etc., after marriage, or purchased with her separate money or other property, shall be exempt from liability for the debts of her husband, during her life, and during the life of any heir of her body." very true: we readily admit the law of which the gentleman has given an abstract; and so long as the wife holds the property in her hands, just as she received it, it can not be taken for the husband's debts, but the moment she permits her husband to convert that property into another shape, it becomes his, and may be taken for his debts. the gentleman i presume will admit this at once. the next paragraph of the letter reads thus: "also in vol. , general laws of ohio, page , the act regulating descent, etc., provides, that real estate, which shall have come to the wife by descent, devise, or gift, from her ancestor, shall descend--first, to her children, or their legal representatives. second, if there be no children, or their legal representatives living, the estate shall pass to the brothers and sisters of the intestate, who may be of the blood of the ancestor from whom the estate came, or their legal representatives," etc. true again: so long as the wife holds real estate in her own name, in title, and in title only, it is hers; for her husband even then controls its profits, and if she leave it so, it will descend to her heirs so long as she has an heir, and so long as she can trace the descent. but if she suffers her husband to sell that property and receive the money, it instantly becomes his; and instead of descending to her heirs, it descends to his heirs. this the gentleman will not deny. now, we readily admit, that while the wife abides by the statutes, of which our article has given us an abstract, her husband can not take the property from her, he can only take the use of it. but the moment she departs from the statute, she comes under the provisions of the common law; which, when they do not conflict, is equally binding in ohio, as the statute law. and in this case the common and statute laws do not conflict. departing from the statute, that is, suffering her property to be exchanged, the provision is thus: (here follows the common law, taken from the petition). i have nothing further to add on this point, but will quote the last paragraphs in the letter. "if you would know what our laws are, you must refer to the laws passed in ohio since ." this has already been answered. "you said last night, that the property of the wife passed to the husband, even to his sixteenth cousin! will you correct your error? and oblige a buckeye." i should be extremely happy to oblige the gentleman, but having committed no error there is nothing to correct; and i do not, therefore, see that i can in conscience comply with his request. i am, however, exceedingly thankful for any expression of interest from that quarter. there are other laws which might be mentioned, which really give woman an apparent advantage over man; yet, having no relevancy to the subject in the petition, we did not see fit to introduce them. one of these is, that no woman shall be subject to arrest and imprisonment for debt; while no man, that is, no ordinary man, none unless he has a halo of military glory around his brow, is held sacred from civil process of this kind. but this exemption is of very little benefit to woman, since, if the laws were as severe to her as to man, she would seldom risk the penalty. for this there are two very good reasons. one is, that conscious of her inability to discharge obligations of this kind, she has little disposition to run deeply into debt; and the other is, that she has not the credit to do it if she wished! if, however, she does involve herself in this way, the law exempts her from imprisonment. this, perhaps, is offered as a sort of palliation for the disabilities which she suffers in other respects. the only object of the petition is, i believe, that the husband and wife be placed upon a legal and political equality. if the law gives woman an advantage over man, we deprecate it as much as he can. partiality to either, to the injury of the other, is wrong in principle, and we must therefore oppose it. we do not wish to be placed in the position which the husband now occupies. we do not wish that control over his interests, which he may now exercise over the interests of the wife. we would no sooner intrust this power to woman than to man. we would never place her in authority over her husband. the question of woman's voting, of the propriety of woman's appearing at the polls, is already settled. see what has been done in detroit: on the day of the late election, the women went to the offices and stores of gentlemen, asking them if they had voted. if the reply happened to be in the negative, as was often the case, the next question was, "will you be kind enough to take this vote, sir, and deposit it in the ballot-box for me?" which was seldom, if ever, refused. and so, many a man voted for the "maine law," who would not, otherwise, have voted at all. but this was not all; many women kept themselves in the vicinity of the polls, and when they found a man undecided, they ceased not their entreaties until they had gained him to the temperance cause. more than this, two women finding an intemperate man in the street, talked to him four hours, before they could get him to promise to vote as they wished. upon his doing so, they escorted him, one on each side, to the ballot-box, saw him deposit the vote they had given him, and then treated him to a good supper. now, this is more than any woman's rights advocate ever thought of proposing. yet no one thinks of saying a word against it, because it was done for temperance. but how much worse would it have been for those women to have gone to the polls with a brother or husband, instead of with this man? or to have deposited two votes in perhaps five minutes' time, than to have spent four hours in soliciting some other person to give one? why is it worse to go to the ballot-box with our male friends, than to the church, parties, or picnics, etc.? if a man should control the political principles of his wife, he should also control her religious principles. charles c. burleigh: among the resolutions which have been acted upon and adopted by this meeting is one which affirms that for man to attempt to fix the sphere of woman, is cool assumption. i purpose to take that sentiment for the text of a few words of remark this evening, for it is just there that i think the whole controversy hinges. it is not so much what is woman's appropriate sphere; it is not so much what she may do and what she may not do, that we have to contend about; as whether one human being or one class of human beings is to fix for another human being, or another class of human beings, the proper field of action and the proper mode of employing the faculties which god has given them. if i understand aright the principles of liberty, just here is the point of controversy, between the despot and the champion of human rights, in any department. just when one human being assumes to decide for another what is that other's sphere of action, just then despotism begins. everything else is but the legitimate consequence of this. i have said it is not so much a matter of controversy what woman may do or may not do. why, it would be a hard matter to say what has been recognized by men themselves, as the legitimate sphere of woman. we have a great deal of contradiction and opposition nowadays when woman attempts to do this, that, or the other thing, although that very thing has sometime or other, and somewhere or other, been performed or attempted to be performed by woman, with man's approval. if you talk about politics, why, woman's participation in politics is no new thing, is no mere assumption on her part, but has been recognized as right and proper by men. you have already been told of distinguished women who have borne a very prominent part in politics, both in ancient and modern times, and yet the multitude of men have believed and acknowledged that it was all right; and are now acknowledging it with all the enthusiasm of devoted loyalty. they are now acknowledging it in the case of an empire on which it has been said that the sun never sets--an empire, "the morning drumbeat of whose military stations circles the earth with one continued peal of the martial airs of england." it is recognized, too, not by the ignorant and thoughtless only, or the radical and heretical alone, but also by multitudes of educated and pious men. that bench of bishops, sitting in the house of lords, receiving its very warrant to act politically, from the hands of a woman, listening to a speech from a woman on the throne, endorses every day the doctrine that a woman may engage in politics. if you seize the young tree, when it just begins to put forth to the air and sunshine and dews, and bend it in all directions for fear it will not grow in proper shape, do not hold the tree accountable for its distortion. there is no danger that from acorns planted last year, pine trees will grow, if you do not take some special care to prevent it. there is no danger that from an apple will grow an oak, or, from a peach-stone an elm; leave nature to work out her own results, or, in other words, leave god to work out his own purpose, and be not so anxious to intrude yourselves upon him and to help him govern the universe he has made. some of us have too high an estimation of his goodness and wisdom to be desirous of thrusting ourselves into his government. we are willing to leave the nature of woman to manifest itself in its own aptitudes. try it. did one ever trust in god and meet with disappointment? never! tyrants always say it is not safe to trust their subjects with freedom. austria says it is not safe to trust the hungarian with freedom. man says woman is not safe in freedom, she will get beyond her sphere. after having oppressed her for centuries, what wonder if she should rebound, and at the first spring, even manifest that law of reaction somewhat to your inconvenience, and somewhat even beyond the dictates of the wisest judgment. what then? is the fault to be charged to the removal of the restraint; or is it to be charged to the first imposition of the restraint? the objection of our opponents remind one of the irishman walking among the bushes just behind his companion, who caught hold of a branch, and passing on, let it fly back into the face of his friend; "indade i am thankful to ye!" said the injured man, "for taking hold of that same; it a'most knocked the brains out of me body as it was, an' sure, if ye hadn't caught hold of it, it would have kilt me intirely!" the winds come lashing over your lake, the waters piling upon each other, wave rolling upon wave, and you may say what a pity we could not bridge the lake over with ice, so as to keep down these billows which may rise so high as to submerge us. but stand still! god has fixed the law upon the waters, "thus far shalt thou come"; and as you watch the ever piling floods, it secures their timely downfall. when they come as far as their appointed limits, the combing crest of the wave tells that the hour of safety has arrived, proving that god was wiser than you in writing down laws for his creation. we need not bridge over woman's nature with the ice of conventionalism, for fear she will swell up, aye, and overflow the continent of manhood. there is no danger. trust to the nature god has given to humanity, and do not except the nature he has given to this portion of humanity. but i need not dwell upon such an argument before an audience who have witnessed the bearing of women in this convention. it is a cool, aye, insolent assumption for man to prescribe the sphere of woman. what is the sphere of woman? clearly, you say, her powers, her natural instincts and desires determine her sphere. who, then, best knows those instincts and desires? is it he who has all his knowledge at second-hand, rather than she who has it in all her consciousness? if, then, you find in the progress of the race hitherto, that woman has revealed herself pure, true, and beautiful, and lofty in spirit, just in proportion as she has enjoyed the right to reveal herself; if this is the testimony of all past experience, i ask you where you will find the beginning of an argument against the claim of woman to the right to enlarge her sphere yet more widely, than she has hitherto done. wait until you see some of these apprehended evils, aye, a little later even, than that, until you see the natural subsidence of the reaction from the first out-bound of their oppression, before you tell us it is not safe or wise to permit woman the enlargement of her own sphere. the argument which i have thus based upon the very nature of man, and of humanity and god, is confirmed in every particular--is most impregnably fortified on every point, by the facts of all past experience and all present observation; and out of all this evidence of woman's right and fitness to determine her own sphere, i draw a high prophecy of the future. i look upon this longing of hers for a yet higher and broader field, as an evidence that god designed her to enter upon it. "want, is the garner of our bounteous sire; hunger, the promise of its own supply." i might even add the rest of the passage as an address to woman herself, who still hesitates to assert the rights which she feels to be hers and longs to enjoy; i might repeat to her in the words of the same poet: "we weep, because the good we seek is not, when but for _this_ it is not, that we weep; we creep in dust to wail our lowly lot, which were not lowly, if we scorned to creep; that which we _dare_ we shall be, when the will bows to prevailing hope, its would-be to fulfill." it can be done. this demand of woman can be nobly and successfully asserted. it can be, because it is but the out-speaking of the divine sentiment of woman. let us not then tremble, or falter, or despair--i know we shall not. i know that those who have taken hold of this great work, and carried it forward hitherto, against obloquy, and persecution, and contempt, will not falter now. no! every step is bearing us to a higher eminence, and thus revealing a broader promise of hope, a brighter prospect of success. though they who are foremost in this cause must bear obloquy and reproach, and though it may seem to the careless looker-on, that they advance but little or not at all; they know that the instinct which impels them being divine, it can not be that they shall fail. they know that every quality of their nature, every attribute of their creator, is pledged to their success. "they never fail who gravely plead for right, god's faithful martyrs can not suffer loss. their blazing faggots sow the world with light, heaven's gate swings open on their bloody cross." pres. mahan: if i would not be interrupting at all, there are a few thoughts having weight upon my mind which i should be very happy to express. i have nothing to say to excite controversy at all, but there are things which are said, the ultimate bearing of which i believe is not always understood. i have heard during these discussions, things said which bear this aspect--that the relation of ruler and subject is that of master and slave. the idea of the equality of woman with man, seems to be argued upon this idea. i am not now to speak whether it is lawful for man to rule the woman at all; but i wish to make a remark upon the principles of governor and governed. the idea seems to be suggested that if the wife is subject to the husband, the wife is a slave to the man--if he has said, in the sense in which some would have it, even that the woman should be subject to the man, and the wife to the husband, you will find that in no other position will woman attain her dignity; for god has never dropped an inadvertent thought, never penned an inadvertent line. there is not a law or principle of his being, that whoever penned that book did not understand. there is not a right which that book does not recognize; and there is not a duty which man owes to woman, or woman to man, that is not there enjoined. it is my firm conviction, that there is but one thing to be done on this subject--if the women of this state want the elective franchise, they can have it. i don't believe it is in the heart of man to refuse it. only spread the truth, adhere to woman's rights, and adhere to that one principle, and when the people are convinced that her claim is just, it will be allowed. of charles c. burleigh the _plain dealer_ says: this noble poet had not said much in the convention. he had taken no part in the interferences and interruptions of other gentlemen, mr. barker and mr. nevin for instance. when at length he took the stand he did indeed speak out a noble defense of woman's rights. it was the only speech made before the convention by man in which the cause of woman was advocated exclusively. when mr. burleigh arose, two or three geese hissed; when he closed, a shower of applause greeted him. we hope the reader will not weary of these debates. as the efforts of many of our early speakers were extemporaneous, but little of what they said will be preserved beyond this generation unless recorded now. these debates show the wit, logic, and readiness of our women; the clear moral perception, the courage, and honesty of our noble garrison; the skill and fiery zeal of stephen foster; the majesty and beauty of charles burleigh; and, in asa mahan, the vain struggles of the wily priest, to veil with sophistry the degrading slavery of woman, in order to reconcile her position as set forth in certain man-made texts of scripture with eternal justice and natural law. mr. mahan would not have been willing himself, to accept even the mild form of subjection he so cunningly assigns to woman. the deadliest opponents to the recognition of the equal rights of woman, have ever been among the orthodox clergy as a class. world's temperance convention. just previous to this, two stormy conventions had been held in the city of new york; one called to discuss woman's rights, the other a world's temperance convention. thus many of the leaders of each movement met for the first time to measure their powers of logic and persuasion. antoinette l. brown was appointed a delegate by two temperance associations. her credentials were accepted, and she took her seat as a member of the convention; but when she arose to speak a tempest of indignation poured upon her from every side. as this page in history was frequently referred to in the cleveland convention, we will let miss brown here tell her own story: why did we go to that world's convention? we went there because the call was extended to "the world." on the th of may a preliminary meeting had been held at new york--the far-famed meeting at the brick chapel. there, because of the objection taken by some who were not willing to have the "rest of mankind" come into the convention, a part of those present withdrew. they thought they would have a "whole world's temperance convention," and they thought well, as the result proved. when it was known that such a convention would be called, that all persons would be invited to consider themselves members of the convention, who considered themselves members of the world, some of the leaders of the other convention--the half world's convention--felt that if it were possible, they would not have such a meeting held; therefore they took measures to prevent it. now, let me read a statement from another delegate to that convention, rev. wm. h. channing, of rochester. (miss brown read an extract from the _tribune_, giving the facts in regard to her appointment as delegate, by a society of long standing, in rochester, and extracts, also, of letters from persons prominent in the brick chapel meeting, urging mr. greeley to persuade his party to abandon the idea of a separate convention, a part of such writers pleading that it was an unnecessary movement, as the call to the world's temperance convention was broad enough, and intended to include all). this appointment was made without my knowledge or consent, but with my hearty endorsement, when i knew it was done. let me state also, that a society organized and for years in existence in south butler, n. y., also appointed delegates to that convention, and myself among the number. they did so because, though they knew the call invited all the world to be present, yet they thought it best to have their delegations prepared with credentials, if being prepared would do any good. when we reached new york, we heard some persons saying that women would be received as delegates, and others saying they would not. we thought we ought to test that matter, and do it, too, as delicately and quietly as possible. there were quite a number of ladies appointed delegates to that meeting, but it was felt that not many would be necessary to make the test of their sincerity. we met at the woman's bights convention on the day of the opening of the half world's temperance convention, and had all decided to be content with our own temperance convention, which had passed off so quietly and triumphantly. wendell phillips and i sat reconsidering the whole matter. i referred him to the fact, which had come to me more than once during the few last days, that the officials of the convention in session at metropolitan hall, and others, had been saying that women would be received no doubt; that the brick chapel meeting was merely an informal preliminary meeting, and its decisions of no authority upon the convention proper; and that the women were unjust in saying, that their brethren would not accept their co-operation before it had been fairly tested. then, said phillips, "go, by all means; if they receive you, you have only to thank them for rebuking the action of the brick chapel meeting. then we will withdraw and come back to our own meeting. if, on the other hand, they do not receive you, we will quietly and without protest, withdraw, and, in that case, not be gone half an hour." i turned and invited one lady, now on this platform, as gentle and lady-like as woman can be, caroline m. severance, of your own city, to go with me. she said: "i am quite willing to go, both in compliance with your wish, and from interest in the cause itself. but i am not a delegate, and i have in this city venerated grandparents, whose feelings i greatly regard, and would not willingly or unnecessarily wound; so that i prefer to go in quietly, but take no active part in what will seem to them an antagonistic position for woman, and uncalled for on my part. in that way i am quite ready to go." and so we went out from our own meeting, mr. phillips, mrs. s., and myself; none others went with us, nor knew we were going. after arriving at metropolitan hall, accompanied by these friends, i did quietly what we had predetermined was the best to do. the secretary was sitting upon the platform. i handed him my credentials from both societies. he said: "i can not now tell whether you will be received or not. there is a resolution before the house, stating, in substance, that they would receive all delegates without distinction of color or sex. if this resolution is adopted, you can be received." i then left my credentials in his hands, and went down from the platform. it was rather trying, in the sight of all that audience, to go upon the platform and come down again; and i shall not soon forget the sensations with which i stepped off the platform. after a little time they decided that the call admitted all delegates. i thought this decision settled my admission, and i went again upon the platform. in the meantime a permanent organization was effected. i went there, for the purpose of thanking them for their course, and merely to express my sympathy with the cause and their present movement, and then intended to leave the hall. i arose, and inquired of the president, neal dow, if i was rightly a member of the convention. he said, "yes, if you have credentials from any abstinence societies." i told him i had, and then attempted to thank him. there was no appeal from the president's decision, but yet they would not receive my expression of thanks; therefore i took my seat and waited for a better opportunity. and now let me read a paragraph again from this paper, the temperance organ of your state. the writer is still gen. carey. (the extract intimated that miss brown, supported and urged on by several others, made an unwomanly entrance into the convention, and upon the platform itself, which was reserved for officers, and as it would imply, already filled). there were only the two other persons i mentioned who went with me to that convention, but they took their seats back among the audience, and did not approach the platform. there were friends i found in that audience to sustain me, but none others came with me for that purpose. the platform was far from being full; it is a large platform, and there might a hundred persons sit there, and not incommode each other at all. (here miss brown read another extract from the same article, in which gen. carey implies, that concerted measures had been set on foot at the woman's rights meeting at the tabernacle, the evening after miss brown's first attempt at a hearing before the temperance convention, for coming in upon them again _en masse_, and revengefully). not a word was said that night upon the subject in the convention at the tabernacle, except what was said by myself; and i said what i did, because some one inquired whether i was hissed on going upon the platform. as to that matter, when i went upon the platform i was not hissed, at others times i did not know whether they hissed me or others, and "where ignorance is bliss,'tis folly to be wise." i stated some of the facts to our own convention, but i did not refer to this resolution (the one which was to exclude all but officers or invited guests from the platform), for i was not entirely clear with regard to the nature of it, it was passed in so much confusion. i did state this, that there had been a discussion raised upon such a resolution, and that it was decided that only officers and invited guests should sit upon the platform; but that they had received me as a delegate, and had thus revoked the action of the brick chapel meeting, and that on the morrow neal dow might invite me to sit upon the platform. that was the substance of my remarks, and not one word of objection was taken, or reply made by our convention. i read again from this paper. (an extract implying that among the measures taken to browbeat the convention into receiving miss brown, was the forming of a society instantly, under the special urgency of herself and friends, for this especial object, etc.) that again is a statement without foundation. i intend to-night to use no harsh words, and i shall say nothing with regard to motives. you may draw your own conclusions in regard to all this. i shall state dispassionately, the simple, literal facts as they occurred, and they may speak for themselves. when wendell phillips went out of the convention, he told persons with whom he came in contact, that a delegate had been received by the president, and that delegate had been insulted, and nobody had risen to sustain her. he said to me, too, "i shall not go to-morrow, but do you go. i can do nothing for you, because i am not a delegate." there were a few earnest friends in new york, however, who felt that the rights of a delegate were sacred. they organized a society and appointed just three delegates to that temperance convention. those three persons were wendell phillips, of boston; mr. cleveland, one of the editors of the tribune; and mr. gibbon, son-in-law of the late venerated isaac t. hopper. the last two were men from new york city. the question was already decided that women might be received as delegates to that convention; therefore there was no need of appointing any one to insist upon woman's right to appear, and no one was appointed for that purpose. the next morning we went there with mr. phillips, who presented his credentials. during the discussion, mr. phillips took part, and persisted in holding the convention to parliamentary rules. he carried in his hand a book of rules, which is received everywhere as authority, and when he saw that they were wrong, he quoted the standard authority to them. after a while the preliminary business was disposed of, and various resolutions were brought forward. i arose, and the president said i had the floor. i was invited upon the stand, and was therefore an "invited guest" within their own rules; but when once there, i was not allowed to speak, although the president said repeatedly that the floor was mine. the opposition arose from a dozen or more around the platform, who were incessantly raising "points of order"--the extempore bantlings of great minds in great emergencies. for the space of three hours i endeavored to be heard, but they would not hear me (although as a delegate, and i spoke simply as a delegate), i could have spoken but ten minutes by a law of the house. twice the president was sustained in his decision by the house; but finally some one insisted that there might be persons voting in the house who were not delegates, and it was decided that the hall should be cleared by the police, and that those who were delegates might come in, one by one, and resume their seats. there were printed lists of the delegates of the convention, but there were several new delegates whose names were not on the lists. wendell phillips and his colleagues were among them. he went to the president and said: "i rely upon you to be admitted to the hall, for we know that our names are not yet on the list." the president assented. as the delegates returned, the names upon the printed lists were called, and while the rest of us were earnest to be admitted to the house, and while they were examining our credentials and deciding whether or not we should be received, neal dow had gone out of the hall, and gen. carey had taken the chair! the action of a part of the delegates who were in the house while the other part were shut out, was like to nothing that ever had occurred in the annals of parliamentary history. those persons who came in afterward, asked what was the business before the house, and on being informed, moved that it be reconsidered. the president decided upon putting it to the house, that they had not voted in the affirmative, and would not reconsider. gen. samuel f. carey is a man of firmness, and i could not but admire the firmness with which he presided, although i felt that his decisions were wrong. "gentlemen," said he, "there can be no order when you are raising so many points of order; take your seats!" and they took their seats. previous to the adjournment, a question was raised about wendell phillips' credentials, and again next morning they raised it and decided it against him, so that he felt all further effort vain, and left the hall. after this, there came up a multitude of resolutions, which were passed so rapidly that no one could get the opportunity of speaking to them. a resolution also written by gen. carey, was presented by him, as follows: "_resolved_, that the common usages have excluded women from the public platform," etc. that resolution, amid great confusion, was declared as passed. of course, then soon after, i left the hall. i ought to say, in regard to mr. phillips' credentials, that they had been referred to a committee, who decided that he had not properly been sent to the convention, for no reason in the world, but because the society who sent him, had been organized only the night before; while i know positively, and others knew, that there were societies organized one week before, for the very purpose of sending delegates to that convention; which societies will never be heard of again, i fear. but the neal dow association, of new york, exists yet. their society shall not die; so good comes out of evil often. a motion was also made by some one, as better justice to mr. phillips, to refer the credentials of all the delegates of massachusetts to the committee on credentials, but for very obvious and prudent reasons, it was not suffered to have a moment's hearing or consideration. (miss brown here read a few additional lines from the same article, asserting that she was merely the tool of others, and thrust by them upon the platform; and charging all the disorder and disturbance of that convention to herself and friends, etc.) i needed no thrusting upon the platform. i was able to rise and speak without urging or suggestion. and as to the disorder which prevailed throughout the convention, who made that disorder? i said not a word to cause it, for they gave me no opportunity to say a word, and the other delegates with me, sat quietly. no mention is made in this paper that i had credentials. it is stated that throughout ohio the impression is that i had none; and it is generally believed that i went there without proper credentials. one word more as to mr. carey. he says, "the negro question was not discussed as greeley & co. wished it to be. o greeley, how art thou fallen!" these are gen. carey's words, not mine. mr. greeley has risen greatly in my estimation, and not fallen. a colored delegate[ ] did take his credentials to the convention, but he was not received. i saw him myself, and asked him what could be done about it. he folded up his hands and said it was too late. and this was a "world's temperance convention!" and this paper says that the _new york tribune_, which has usually been an accredited sheet, has most shamefully misrepresented the whole affair, and refers to what was said in the _tribune_, as to what the convention had accomplished: "the first day, crowding a woman from the platform; second day, gagging her; and the third day voting she should stay gagged;" and asserts that it is a misrepresentation. the evenings of that convention were not devoted to this discussion, and wore not noisy or fruitless. there were burning words spoken for temperance during the evenings; but whether the _tribune's_ report of the day-sessions be correct or not, you yourselves can be the judges. i must say, however, the _tribune_ did not misrepresent that affair in its regular report; and i call upon gen. carey, in all kindness and courtesy; to point out just what the misstatements are--and upon any one acquainted with the facts, to show the false statement, if it can be shown. and now i leave the action of the convention to say what were our motives in going there. from what i have related of the circumstances which conspired to induce us to go, and the manner of our going, you can but see that no absurd desire for notoriety, no coveting of such unenviable fame as we know must await us, were the inducements. and as a simple fact, there was nothing so very important in a feeble woman's going as a delegate to that convention; but the fact was made an unpleasant one in the experience of that delegate, and was blown into notoriety by the unmanly action of that convention itself. but what were our reasons for going to that convention? did we go there to forward the cause of temperance or to forward the cause of woman, or what were our motives in going? woman was pleading her own cause in the convention at the tabernacle, and she had no need that any should go there to forward her cause for her; and much as i love temperance, and love those poor sisters who suffer because of intemperance, it was not especially to plead their cause that i went there. i went to assert a principle, a principle relevant to the circumstances of the world's convention to be sure, but one, at the same time, which, acknowledged, must forward all good causes, and, disregarded, must retard them. i went there, asking no favor as a woman, asking no special recognition of the woman-cause. i went there in behalf of the cause of humanity. i went there, asking the indorsement of no ism, and as the exponent of no measure, but as a simple item of the world in the name of the world, claiming that all the sons and daughters of the race should be received in that convention, if they went there with the proper credentials. i simply planted my feet upon the rights of a delegate. i asked for nothing more, and dare take nothing less. the principle which we were there to assert, was that which is the soul of the golden rule, the soul of that which says, "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." i went there to see if they would be true to their own call, and recognize delegates without distinction of color, sex, creed, party, or condition; to see if they would recognize each member of the human family, as belonging to the human family; to see if they would grant the simple rights of a delegate to all delegates. and do you ask, did this not retard the cause of temperance? no; it carried it forward, as it carries every good cause forward. it awakened thought, and mankind need only to be aroused to thought, to forever destroy all wrong customs, and among them the rum traffic. they need only to think to the purpose, and when this shall be done, all good causes are bound to go forward together. christianity is the heart and soul of them all, and those reforms which seek to elevate mankind and better their condition, cling around our christianity, and are a part of it. they are like the cluster of grapes, all clinging about the central stem. a wrong was done in that convention to a delegate, and many people saw and felt that wrong, and they began to inquire for the cause of it; and so the causes of things were searched more nearly than before, and this was a good which promoted temperance. it is absurd to believe that any man or woman is any less a temperance man or woman, or a "maine law" man or woman now, than before. if ever they loved that cause they love it now as before. water is the very symbol of democracy! a single jet of it in a tube will balance the whole ocean. we went there, only to claim in the name of democracy and christianity, that all be treated alike and impartially. the human soul is a holy thing; it is the temple of living joy or sorrow. it is freighted with vital realities. it can outlengthen heaven itself, and it should be reverenced everywhere, and treated always as a holy thing. we only went there in the name of the world, in the name of humanity, to promote a good cause; and it is what i pledge myself now anew to do, at all times and under all circumstances, when the opportunity shall present itself to me. it was a good act, a christian duty, to go there under those circumstances. but let me now leave this matter, and say something which may have a direct bearing upon the circumstances of our convention, and show why it is proper to bring up these facts here. let us suppose ourselves gathered in metropolitan hall. it is a large hall, with two galleries around its sides. i could see men up there in checked blouses, who looked as though they might disturb a convention, but they looked down upon the rowdyism of the platform, a thing unprecedented before, with simple expressions of wonder, while they were quiet. well, here we are upon the platform. the president is speaking. president: "miss brown has the floor." a delegate: "mr. president, i rise to a point of order." president: "state your point of order." it is stated, but at the same time, in the general whirl and confusion all around, another voice from the floor exclaims: "i rise to a point of order!" the president: "state it!" but while these things are going on, a voice arises, "she sha'n't speak!" another, "she sha'n't be heard!" another, "you raise a point of order when he is done, and i will raise another." in the confusion i hear something almost like swearing, but not swearing, for most of those men are "holy men," who do not think of swearing. the confusion continues. most of this time i am standing, but presently a chair is presented me, and now a new class of comforters gathers around me, speaking smooth, consoling words in my ear while upon the other side are angry disputants, clinching their fists and growing red in the face. are the former good samaritans, pouring into my wounded heart the oil and the wine? listen. "i know you are acting conscientiously; but now that you have made your protest, do, for your own sake, withdraw from this disgraceful scene." "i can not withdraw," i say; "it is not now the time to withdraw; here is a principle at stake." "well, in what way can you better the cause? do you feel you are doing any good?" another voice chimes in with: "do you love the temperance cause? can you continue here and see all this confusion prevailing around you? why not withdraw, and then the convention will be quiet;" and all this in most mournful, dolorous tones. i think if the man cries, i shall certainly cry too. but then a new interval of quiet occurs, and so i rise to get the floor. i fancy myself in a melting mood enough to beg them, with prayers and tears, to be just and righteous; but no, "this kind goeth not out by prayer and fasting," and so i stand up again. directly rev. john chambers points his finger at me, and calls aloud: "shame on the woman! shame on the woman!" then i feel cool and calm enough again, and sit down until his anger has way. again the "friends" gather around me, and there come more appeals to me, while the public ear is filled with "points of order"; and the two fall together, in a somewhat odd, but very pointed contrast, somewhere in the center of my brain. "do you think," says one, "that christ would have done so?" spoken with a somewhat negative emphasis. "i think he would," spoken with a positive emphasis. "do you love peace as well as christ loved it, and can you do thus?" what answer i made i know not, but there came rushing over my soul the words of christ: "i came not to send peace, but a sword." it seems almost to be spoken with an audible voice, and it sways the spirit more than all things else. i remember that christ's doctrine was, "first pure, then peaceable;" that he, too, was persecuted. so are my doctrines good; they ask only for the simple rights of a delegate, only that which must be recognized as just, by the impartial father of the human race, and by his holy son. then come these mock pleading tones again upon my ear, and instinctively i think of the judas kiss, and i arise, turning away from them all, and feeling a power which may, perhaps, never come to me again. there were angry men confronting me, and i caught the flashing of defiant eyes; but above me, and within me, and all around me, there was a spirit stronger than they all. at that moment not the combined powers of earth and hell could have tempted me to do otherwise than to stand firm. moral and physical cowardice were subdued, thanks to that washington delegate for the sublime strength roused by his question: "would christ have done so?" that stormy scene is passed; that memorable time when chivalrous men forgot the deference, which according to their creed is due to woman, and forgot it as they publicly said, because a woman claimed a right upon the platform; and so they neither recognized her equality of rights, nor her conceded courtesy as a lady. this was neither just nor gallant, but to me it was vastly preferable to those appeals made to me as a lady--appeals which never would have been made to a man under the same circumstances; and which only served to show me the estimation in which they held womanhood. it reminded me of a remark which was made concerning the brick chapel meeting: "if you had spoken words of flattery, they would have done what you wanted." let the past be the past. "let the dead bury their dead," contains truths we well may heed. is god the impartial father of humanity? is he no respecter of persons? is it true that there is known neither male nor female in christ jesus? in my heart of hearts, i believe it is all true. i believe it is the foundation of the golden rule. and now let me tell you in conclusion: if it be true, this truth shall steal into your souls like the accents of childhood; it shall come like a bright vision of hope to the desponding; it shall flash upon the incredulous; it shall twine like a chain of golden arguments about the reason of the skeptic. wm. lloyd garrison, having listened to the narration of the action of the world's convention in new york, said: i rise to offer some resolutions by which the sense of this convention may be obtained. i happened to be an eyewitness of these proceedings, and i bear witness to the accuracy of the account given us this evening by miss brown. i have seen many tumultuous meetings in my day, but i think on no occasion have i ever seen anything more disgraceful to our common humanity, than when miss brown attempted to speak upon the platform of the world's temperance convention in aid of the glorious cause which had brought that convention together. it was an outbreak of passion, contempt, indignation, and every vile emotion of the soul, throwing into the shade almost everything coming from the vilest of the vile, that i have ever witnessed on any occasion or under any circumstances; venerable men, claiming to be holy men, the ambassadors of jesus christ, losing all self-respect and transforming themselves into the most unmannerly and violent spirits, merely on account of the sex of the individual who wished to address the assembly. miss brown was asked while standing on the platform, "do you love the temperance cause?" what could have been more insulting than such a question as that at that moment? what but the temperance cause had brought her to the convention? why had she been delegated to take her seat in that body except on the ground that she was a devoted friend of the temperance enterprise, and had an interest in every movement pertaining to the total abstinence cause? she had been delegated there by total abstinence societies because of her fitness as a temperance woman to advocate the temperance cause, so dear to the hearts of all those who love perishing humanity. was it the love of the temperance cause that raised the outcry against her? or was it not simply contempt of woman, and an unwillingness that she should stand up anywhere to bear her testimony against popular wrongs and crimes, the curses of the race? miss brown: allow me to state one incident. a doctor of divinity was present at the meeting. his son and daughter-in-law stated to me the fact. "i said to my father, you had stormy times at the convention to-day." "yes," said the father, "stormy times." said the son, "why didn't you allow her to speak?" "ah," said the doctor, "it was the principle of the thing!" but it so happened that the son and daughter thought the principle a wrong one. mr. garrison: yes, it was the principle that was at stake. it was not simply the making of a speech at that convention, by a woman. by her speaking something more was implied, for if woman could speak there and for that object, she might speak elsewhere for another object, and she might, peradventure, as my friend does, proceed to occupy a pulpit and settle over a congregation. in fact, there is no knowing where the precedent would lead; reminding me of the man who hesitated to leave off his profanity, because having left that off he should have to leave off drinking, and if he left off drinking he should have to leave off his tobacco and other vile habits. he liked symmetry of character, and so he was unwilling to take the first step toward reform. the principle for which miss brown contended, was this: every society has a right to determine who shall represent it in convention. invitation was given to the "whole world" to meet there in convention, to promote the cause of temperance. our friend needed no credentials under the call. it is true all societies were invited to send delegates, but in addition to that all the friends of temperance throughout the world were expressly and earnestly invited to be present, and under that last express invitation she had a right to come in as an earnest friend of the cause, and take her seat in the convention. when a body like that comes together, the principle is this, each delegate stands on the same footing as every other delegate, and no one delegate nor any number of delegates has a right to exclude any other delegate who has been sent there by any like society. our friend had credentials from two societies, and thus was doubly armed; but she was put down by a most disgraceful minority of the convention, who succeeded in carrying their point. in view of all this, i would present for the action of this convention the following resolutions: whereas, a cordial invitation having been extended to all temperance societies and all the friends of temperance throughout the world, to meet personally or by delegates in a "world's temperance convention" in the city of new york, sept. th and th, ; and whereas, accepting this invitation in the spirit in which it was apparently given, the "south butler temperance association," and the "rochester toronto division of the sons of temperance," duly empowered the rev. antoinette l. brown, to act in that convention as their delegate, representative, and advocate. and whereas, on presenting herself at the time specified, her credentials were received by the committee on the roll of the convention, but on rising to address the assembly (though declared by the president to be entitled to the floor, and although his decision was repeatedly sustained by a majority of the delegates) she was met with derisive outcries, insulting jeers, and the most rowdyish manifestations, by a shameless minority, led on by the rev. john chambers, of philadelphia, and encouraged by gen. carey, of ohio, and other professed friends of the temperance cause--so as to make it impossible for her to be heard, and thus virtually excluding her from the convention in an ignominious manner, solely on account of her being a woman; therefore, _resolved_, that in the judgment of this convention, the treatment received by the rev. antoinette l. brown in the "world's temperance convention" (falsely so called) was in the highest degree disgraceful to that body, insulting to the societies whose credentials she bore, worthy only of those who are filled with strong drink, and a scandal to the temperance movement. _resolved_, that the thanks of this convention be given to miss brown, for having accepted the credentials so honorably proffered to her by the temperance societies aforesaid, and claiming a right, not as a woman, but as a duly authorized delegate, an eloquent and devoted advocate of the temperance enterprise, to a seat and voice in the "world's temperance convention;" and for the firm, dignified, and admirable manner in which she met the storm of opprobrium and insult which so furiously assailed her on her attempting to advocate the beneficent movement for the promotion of which the convention was expressly called together. hon. joshua r. giddings: ladies and gentlemen, although i had designed to take no active part in the proceedings, i can not avoid rising, to second that resolution. when i learned of the appointing of this convention, it brought a thrill of joy to me. i had read the transactions to which the lady has made such feeling allusion. i had read and mourned over them, and i rejoiced that an opportunity was to be given to the people of cleveland, and this western reserve, to tender their thanks to this convention, which had been appointed to meet upon the shores of lake erie; and that they also might see what sort of a greeting the friends of the rights of woman would receive here. and i now rejoice at the hearty manner in which the convention has proceeded. i rejoice at the treatment the convention has received. then i was about to say, the fogies of new york, if they could see and know all that they might see here, would not be like some spirits, whom swedenborg says he saw in the other world. he found spirits who had been departed several years, who had not yet learned that they were dead. i think rev. john chambers would now look down and begin to suspect that he had departed. my friends, i know not how the remarks of miss brown fell upon your ears. i can only say that they struck me with deep feelings of mortification, that at this noontide of the nineteenth century any human being, who can give her thoughts to an assembly in the eloquent manner in which she has spoken to us, has been treated as she was; and when this resolution of reproof by my friend from massachusetts was presented, i resolved to rise and second it, and express myself willing that it be sent out in the report, that i most heartily concur in the expressions contained in these resolutions. william l. garrison: i wish to make one statement in regard to general carey, to show that he does not himself act on consistent principles, in this matter. the last number of the _pennsylvania freeman_ contains an account of a temperance gathering held in kennett square. that square is for that region the headquarters of abolitionists, liberals, come-outers, and so forth. in that meeting women were appointed for vice-presidents and secretaries with men, and there was a complete mixture throughout the committees without regard to sex; and who do you think were those who spoke on that occasion recognizing that woman was equal with man in that gathering? the first was g. w. jackson, of boston, who made himself very conspicuous in the exclusion of women from the "world's convention"; second, judge o'neil, of south carolina, who spoke at new york, and who was also very active in the efforts to exclude miss brown; last of all was general carey, of ohio; and three days afterward they wended their way to new york, and there conspired with others to prevent a delegate from being admitted, on the ground of being a woman; showing that while at old kennett they were willing to conform, finding it would be popular; in new york they joined in this brutal proscription of a woman, only because she was a woman. lucy stone: i know it is time to take the question upon these resolutions, but i wish to say one word. when a world's convention of any kind is called--when the rev. drs. chambers, hewett, marsh, and i don't know how many more, backed up by a part of those who were in that convention, are ready to ignore the existence of woman, it should show us something of the amount of labor we have to do, to teach the world even to know that we are a part of it; and when women tell us they don't want any more rights, i want them to know that they are held to have no right in any world's convention. i took up a book the other day, written by the rev. mr. davis, in which he sketches the events of the last fifty years. he states that the sandwich islands at one time had one missionary at such a station; mr. green--and his wife! then he went on to state another where there were nineteen, and--their wives! now these are straws on the surface, but they indicate "which way the wind blows," and indicate, in some sense, the estimation in which woman is held. i mention these facts so that we may see something of the length of the way we must tread, before we shall even be recognized. the reader will see from these debates the amount of prejudice, wickedness, and violence, woman was compelled to meet from all classes of men, especially the clergy, in those early days, and on the other hand the wisdom, courage, and mild self-assertion with which she fought her battle and conquered. there is not a man living who took part in that disgraceful row who would not gladly blot out that page in his personal history. but the few noble men--lawyers, statesmen, clergymen, philanthropists, poets, orators, philosophers--who have remained steadfast and loyal to woman through all her struggles for freedom--have been brave and generous enough to redeem their sex from the utter contempt and distrust of all womankind. national convention at cincinnati, ohio. in , october th and th, the people of cincinnati, ohio, were summoned to the consideration of the question of woman's rights. a brief report in the city journals, is all we can find of the proceedings. from these we learn that the meetings were held in nixon's hall, that some ladies wore bloomers, and some gentlemen shawls, that the audiences were large and enthusiastic, that the curiosity to see women who could make a speech was intense. martha c. wright, of auburn, a sister of lucretia mott, was chosen president. on the platform sat mrs. mott, hannah tracy cutler, josephine s. griffing, mary s. anthony, of rochester, n. y.; ernestine l. rose, adeline swift, joseph barker, an englishman, an ex-member of parliament, lucy stone and her husband, henry b. blackwell, recently married. mrs. stone did not take her husband's name, because she believed a woman had a right to an individual existence, and an individual name to designate that existence. after the election of officers,[ ] the president stated the object of the convention to be to secure equality with man in social, civil, and political rights. it was only seven years, she said, since this movement commenced, since our first convention was called, in timidity and doubt of our own strength, our own capacity, our own powers; now, east, west, north, and even south, there were found advocates of woman's rights. the newspapers which ridiculed and slandered us at first, are beginning to give impartial accounts of our meetings. newspapers do not lead, but follow public opinion; and doing so, they go through three stages in regard to reforms; they first ridicule them, then report them without comment, and at last openly advocate them. we seem to be still in the first stage on this question. mrs. cutler said: "let there be light, and there was light," "and many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." this light, this increase of knowledge, we are seeking. men have always applied the last text to themselves, and did not expect woman to run to and fro and increase in knowledge. they objected to her raising her voice on this platform in the pursuit or diffusion of knowledge; but when she is employed upon the stage to minister to everything that pollutes and degrades man, no voice was raised against it. it was but a few years ago that a french queen brought over with her to the british isles, a male mantua-maker. it was not supposed then that woman was capable of fitting woman's clothes properly. she has since advanced to have the charge of man's wardrobe; and it will be right when the time comes, for man to take care of himself. conservatism opposes this now; but i love conservatism; it is guarding our institutions until the new mother is prepared to take the charge. i desire that marriage shall not be simply a domestic union as in early days, or a social one as it has now become, but a complete and perfect union, conferring equal rights on both parties. i desire light from the source of light. the question is frequently asked, "what more do these women want?" a lady in cincinnati told me that she did not desire any change, for she thought we had now entirely the best of it; while the men toiled in their shops and offices, the women walked the streets splendidly dressed, or lounged at home with nothing to do but spend the money their husbands earned. i never understood the elevating effect of the elective franchise until i went to england, where so few enjoy it. i attended a political meeting during the canvass of derby, as a reporter for three or four political papers in the united states. one of the candidates proposed to legislate for universal suffrage; his opponent replied by showing the effect of it upon france, which he declared was the only country in which it existed. "you forget," exclaimed one, "america!" "america! never name her! a land of three millions of slaves." the multitude would not believe this; they shouted in derision, whenever the speaker attempted to resume. america was their last hope. if that country was given up to slavery, they could only despair. party leaders rose and tried to calm them as christ calmed the sea, but they could do nothing. "you are an american," said one near me; "get up and defend your country!" what could i say? i spoke, however, and pledged them that the stain of slavery should be wiped out. mr. wise, of north carolina, made a long and learned address, treating principally of geology and women. he claimed for woman more even than she for herself. he said: "women are generally more competent to vote than their husbands, and sisters better fitted to be judges than their brothers, the mother more capable of wisely exercising the elective franchise than her booby son." lucy stone said: the last speaker alluded to this movement as being that of a few disappointed women. from the first years to which my memory stretches, i have been a disappointed woman. when, with my brothers, i reached forth after the sources of knowledge, i was reproved with "it isn't fit for you; it doesn't belong to women." then there was but one college in the world where women were admitted, and that was in brazil. i would have found my way there, but by the time i was prepared to go, one was opened in the young state of ohio--the first in the united states where women and negroes could enjoy opportunities with white men. i was disappointed when i came to seek a profession worthy an immortal being--every employment was closed to me, except those of the teacher, the seamstress, and the housekeeper. in education, in marriage, in religion, in everything, disappointment is the lot of woman. it shall be the business of my life to deepen this disappointment in every woman's heart until she bows down to it no longer. i wish that women, instead of being walking show-cases, instead of begging of their fathers and brothers the latest and gayest new bonnet, would ask of them their rights. the question of woman's rights is a practical one. the notion has prevailed that it was only an ephemeral idea; that it was but women claiming the right to smoke cigars in the streets, and to frequent bar-rooms. others have supposed it a question of comparative intellect; others still, of sphere. too much has already been said and written about woman's sphere. trace all the doctrines to their source and they will be found to have no basis except in the usages and prejudices of the age. this is seen in the fact that what is tolerated in woman in one country is not tolerated in another. in this country women may hold prayer-meetings, etc., but in mohammedan countries it is written upon their mosques, "women and dogs, and other impure animals, are not permitted to enter." wendell phillips says, "the best and greatest thing one is capable of doing, that is his sphere." i have confidence in the father to believe that when he gives us the capacity to do anything he does not make a blunder. leave women, then, to find their sphere. and do not tell us before we are born even, that our province is to cook dinners, darn stockings, and sew on buttons. we are told woman has all the rights she wants; and even women, i am ashamed to say, tell us so. they mistake the politeness of men for rights--seats while men stand in this hall to-night, and their adulations; but these are mere courtesies. we want rights. the flour-merchant, the house-builder, and the postman charge us no less on account of our sex; but when we endeavor to earn money to pay all these, then, indeed, we find the difference. man, if he have energy, may hew out for himself a path where no mortal has ever trod, held back by nothing but what is in himself; the world is all before him, where to choose; and we are glad for you, brothers, men, that it is so. but the same society that drives forth the young man, keeps woman at home--a dependent--working little cats on worsted, and little dogs on punctured paper; but if she goes heartily and bravely to give herself to some worthy purpose, she is out of her sphere and she loses caste. women working in tailor-shops are paid one-third as much as men. some one in philadelphia has stated that women make fine shirts for twelve and a half cents apiece; that no woman can make more than nine a week, and the sum thus earned, after deducting rent, fuel, etc., leaves her just three and a half cents a day for bread. is it a wonder that women are driven to prostitution? female teachers in new york are paid fifty dollars a year, and for every such situation there are five hundred applicants. i know not what you believe of god, but i believe he gave yearnings and longings to be filled, and that he did not mean all our time should be devoted to feeding and clothing the body. the present condition of woman causes a horrible perversion of the marriage relation. it is asked of a lady, "has she married well?" "oh, yes, her husband is rich." woman must marry for a home, and you men are the sufferers by this; for a woman who loathes you may marry you because you have the means to get money which she can not have. but when woman can enter the lists with you and make money for herself, she will marry you only for deep and earnest affection. i am detaining you too long, many of you standing, that i ought to apologize, but women have been wronged so long that i may wrong you a little. (applause). a woman undertook in lowell to sell shoes to ladies. men laughed at her, but in six years she has run them all out, and has a monopoly of the trade. sarah tyndale, whose husband was an importer of china, and died bankrupt, continued his business, paid off his debts, and has made a fortune and built the largest china warehouse in the world. (mrs. mott here corrected lucy. mrs. tyndale has not the largest china warehouse, but the largest assortment of china in the world). mrs. tyndale, herself, drew the plan of her warehouse, and it is the best plan ever drawn. a laborer to whom the architect showed it, said: "don't she know e'en as much as some men?" i have seen a woman at manual labor turning out chair-legs in a cabinet-shop, with a dress short enough not to drag in the shavings. i wish other women would imitate her in this. it made her hands harder and broader, it is true, but i think a hand with a dollar and a quarter a day in it, better than one with a crossed ninepence. the men in the shop didn't use tobacco, nor swear--they can't do those things where there are women, and we owe it to our brothers to go wherever they work to keep them decent. the widening of woman's sphere is to improve her lot. let us do it, and if the world scoff, let it scoff--if it sneer, let it sneer--but we will go on emulating the example of the sisters grimké and abby kelly. when they first lectured against slavery they were not listened to as respectfully as you listen to us. so the first female physician meets many difficulties, but to the next the path will be made easy. lucretia mott has been a preacher for years; her right to do so is not questioned among friends. but when antoinette brown felt that she was commanded to preach, and to arrest the progress of thousands that were on the road to hell; why, when she applied for ordination they acted as though they had rather the whole world should go to hell, than that antoinette brown should be allowed to tell them how to keep out of it. she is now ordained over a parish in the state of new york, but when she meets on the temperance platform the rev. john chambers, or your own gen. carey (applause) they greet her with hisses. theodore parker said: "the acorn that the school-boy carries in his pocket and the squirrel stows in his cheek, has in it the possibility of an oak, able to withstand, for ages, the cold winter and the driving blast." i have seen the acorn men and women, but never the perfect oak; all are but abortions. the young mother, when first the new-born babe nestles in her bosom, and a heretofore unknown love springs up in her heart, finds herself unprepared for this new relation in life, and she sends forth the child scarred and dwarfed by her own weakness and imbecility, as no stream can rise higher than its fountain. we find no report of the speeches of frances d. gage, lydia ann jenkins, ernestine l. rose, euphemia cochrane, of michigan, nor j. mitchell, of missouri, editor of the _st. louis intelligencer_, nor of the presence of james mott, whose services were always invaluable on the committees for business and resolutions. in , the legislature of ohio passed a bill enacting that no married man shall dispose of any personal property without having first obtained the consent of his wife; the wife being empowered in case of the violation of such act, to commence a civil suit in her own name for the recovery of said property; and also that any married woman whose husband shall desert her or neglect to provide for his family, shall be entitled to his wages and to those of her minor children. these amendments were warmly recommended by gov. salmon p. chase in his annual message. the select committee[ ] of the senate on the petition asking the right of suffrage for woman, reported in favor of the proposed amendment, recommending the adoption of the following resolution: _resolved_, that the judiciary committee be instructed to report to the senate a bill to submit to the qualified electors at the next election for senators and representatives an amendment to the constitution, whereby the elective franchise shall be extended to the citizens of ohio without distinction of sex. but the bill was defeated in the senate by a vote of to . the petition had received , signatures. we give this able report in full.[ ] the proceedings of these early conventions might be read with pride and satisfaction by the women of ohio to-day, with all their superior advantages of education. frances d. gage was a natural orator. her wit and pathos always delighted her audiences, and were highly appreciated by those on the platform. her off-hand speeches, ready for any occasion, were exactly complemented by j. elizabeth jones, whose carefully prepared essays on philosophy, law, and government, would do honor to any statesman. together they were a great power in ohio. from this time conventions were held annually for several years, the friends of woman suffrage being thoroughly organized; j. elizabeth jones was made general agent. in her report of may th, , she says: and through the earnest efforts of mrs. robinson, mrs. gage, mrs. wilson, mrs. tilden, and many others, the legislature was petitioned from year to year for a redress of legal and political wrongs. at a later period, the indefatigable exertions of mrs. adeline t. swift sustained the interest and the agitation in such portions of the state as she could reach. as the fruit of her labor, many thousands of names, pleading for equality, have been presented to the general assembly, which labor has been continued to the present time. our last effort, of which i am now more particularly to speak, was commenced early in the season, by extensive correspondence to enlist sympathy and aid in behalf of petitions. as soon as we could get the public ear, several lecturing agents were secured, and they did most efficient service, both with tongue and with pen. one of these was mrs. c. i. h. nichols, of kansas, formerly of vermont; and perhaps no person was ever better qualified than she. ever ready and ever faithful, in public and in private, and ever capable, too, whether discussing the condition of woman with the best informed members of the legal profession, or striving at the fireside of some indolent and ignorant sister, over whose best energies "death is creeping like an untimely frost," to waken in her heart a desire for that which is truly noble and good. of another of our agents--mrs. cutler, of illinois--equally as much can be said of her qualifications and her efficiency. having been very widely acquainted with the sorrowful experiences of women, both abroad and in our own country, which have been caused by their inferior position, and by legal disabilities; and lamenting, too, as only great and elevated natures can, the utter wreck of true, noble womanhood in the higher circles of society, a necessity is thus laid upon her to do all in her power to lift both classes into a freer, better life. mrs. frances d. gage, of ohio, deeply interested herself in this question in the beginning, and has never failed in faithful testimony and timely word, to promote its success. although not identified with us as an agent, yet we had her active co-operation during the campaign. her editorial connection with the press, and her lectures on the west india islands, gave her abundant opportunity, which she did not fail to embrace, of circulating petitions and advocating the cause to which she has so largely given her energies. besides the general agent, whose time was divided between correspondence, lecturing, and the general details of the movement, there were other and most efficient workers, especially in canvassing for signatures. we are indebted to mrs. anne ryder, of cincinnati, for much labor in this direction; and also to mrs. howard, of columbus for similar service. miss olympia brown, a graduate of antioch college, canvassed several towns most successfully--adding thousands of names to the lists heretofore obtained. equally zealous were women, and men also, in various sections of the state. by means of this hearty co-operation, both branches of the legislature were flooded with woman's rights petitions during the first part of the session--a thousand and even two thousand names were presented at a time. our main object this year, as heretofore, has been to secure personal property and parental rights, never ignoring, however, the right to legislate for ourselves. we were fortunate in the commencement in enlisting some of the leading influences of the state in favor of the movement. persons occupying the highest social and political position, very fully endorsed our claims to legal equality, and rendered valuable aid by public approval of the same. we took measures at an early period to obtain the assistance of the press; and by means of this auxiliary our work has been more fully recognized, and more generally appreciated than it could otherwise have been. without exception, the leading journals of the state have treated our cause with consideration, and generously commended the efforts of its agents. so numerous were the petitions, and so largely did they represent the best constituency of the state, that the committees in whose hands they were placed, felt that by all just parliamentary usage, they were entitled to a candid consideration. accordingly they invited several of us who had been prominent, to defend our own cause in the senate chamber, before their joint committee and such of the general assembly and of the public, as might choose to come and listen. from the reports of the numerous letter-writers who were present, i will place one extract only upon record. "the senate chamber was filled to overflowing to hear mrs. jones, cutler, and gage, and hundreds went away for want of a place to stand. columbus has seldom seen so refined and intelligent an audience as that which gathered round those earnest women, who had none of the charm of youth or beauty to challenge admiration, but whose heads were already sprinkled with the frosts of life's winter. earnest, truthful, womanly, richly cultivated by the experiences of practical life, those women, mothers, and two of them grandmothers, pleaded for the right of woman to the fruit of her own genius, labor, or skill, and for the mother her right to be the joint guardian of her own offspring. i wish i could give you even the faintest idea of the brilliancy of the scene, or the splendor of the triumph achieved over the legions of prejudice, the cohorts of injustice, and the old national guard of hoary conservatism. if the triumph of a prima donna is something to boast, what was the triumph of these toil-worn women, when not only the members of the committee, but senators and members of the house, crowded around them with congratulations and assurances that their able and earnest arguments had fully prevailed, and the prayers of their petitioners must be granted." the address of the first speaker was a written argument on legal rights. it was solicited by members of the general assembly for publication, and distributed over the state at their expense. the change in public sentiment, the marked favor with which our cause began to be regarded in the judicial and legislative departments, encouraged us to hope that if equal and exact justice were not established, which we could hardly expect, we should at least obtain legal equality in many particulars. the senate committee soon reported a bill, drafted by one of their number--judge key--and fully endorsed by all the judges of the supreme court, securing to the married woman the use of her real estate, and the avails of her own separate labor, together with such power to protect her property, and do business in her own name, as men possess. the last provision was stricken out and the bill thus amended passed both houses, the senate by a very large majority. although this secures to us property rights in a measure only, yet it is a great gain. he, who in abject bondage has striven with his fetters, rejoices to have the smallest amount of their weight removed. we have, therefore, reason to be grateful not only for the benefits we shall derive from this act, but for the evidence of a growing sense of justice on the part of those who claim for themselves the exclusive right to legislate. senator parish had already prepared a bill for guardianship, and to change the laws of descent, that something more than a paltry dower should be secured to the widow in the common estate; but the press of business, and the sudden commencement of open hostilities between the north and south, precluded all possibility of further legislation in our behalf. while judge key has deservedly received universal thanks from the women of ohio, for proposing and carrying through the legislature the property bill, they are no less indebted to the hon. mr. parish for his faithful defense of their cause, not only during the present session, but in years past. if all the honorable senators and representatives who have given their influence in favor of it were to be mentioned, and all the faithful men and earnest women who have labored to promote it, the list would be long and distinguished. j. elizabeth jones. thus, in a measure, were the civil rights of the women of ohio secured. some of those who were influential in winning this modicum of justice have already passed away; some, enfeebled by age, are incapable of active work; others are seeking in many latitudes that rest so necessary in the declining years of life. the question naturally suggests itself, where are the young women of ohio, who will take up this noble cause and carry it to its final triumph? they are reaping on all sides the benefits achieved for them by others, and they in turn, by earnest efforts for the enfranchisement of woman, should do what they can to broaden the lives of the next generation. in ohio, as elsewhere, the great conflict between the north and south turned the thoughts of women from the consideration of their own rights, to the life of the nation. many of them spent their last days and waning powers in the military hospitals and sanitariums, ministering to sick and dying soldiers; others at a later period in the service of the freedmen, guiding them in their labors, and instructing them in their schools; all alike forgetting that justice to woman was a more important step in national safety than freedom or franchise to any race of men. footnotes: [ ] years before the calling of this convention, mrs. frances d. gage had roused much thought in ohio by voice and pen. she was a long time in correspondence with harriet martineau and mrs. jane knight, who was energetically working for reduced postage rates, even before the days of rowland hill. [ ] see appendix. [ ] said to have been written by j. elizabeth jones. [ ] my notoriety as an abolitionist made it very difficult for me to reach people at home, and, consequently, i had to work through press and social circle; women dared not speak then. but the seed was sown far and wide, now bearing fruit. [ ] james mccune smith. [ ] see appendix. [ ] j. d. cattell and h. canfield. [ ] see appendix. chapter vii. reminiscences by clarina i. howard nichols. vermont: editor _windham county democrat_--property laws, and --addressed the legislature on school suffrage, . wisconsin: woman's state temperance society--lydia f. fowler in company--opposition of clergy--"woman's rights" wouldn't do--advertised "men's rights." kansas: free state emigration, --gov. robinson and senator pomeroy--woman's rights speeches on steamboat, and at lawrence--constitutional convention, --state woman suffrage association--john o. wattles, president--aid from the francis jackson fund--canvassing the state--school suffrage gained. missouri: lecturing at st. joseph, , on col. scott's invitation--westport and the john brown raid, --st. louis, --frances d. gage, rev. wm. g. eliot, and rev. mr. weaver. in gathering up these individual memories of the past, we feel there will be an added interest in the fact that we shall thus have a subjective, as well as an objective view of this grand movement for woman's enfranchisement. to our older readers, who have known the actors in these scenes, they will come like the far-off whispers of by-gone friends; to younger ones who will never see the faces of the noble band of women who took the initiative in this struggle, it will be almost as pleasant as a personal introduction, to have them speak for themselves; each in her own peculiar style recount the experiences of those eventful years. as but few remain to tell the story, and each life has made a channel of its own, there will be no danger of wearying the reader with much repetition. to clarina howard nichols the women of kansas are indebted for many civil rights they have as yet been too apathetic to exercise. her personal presence in the constitutional convention of , secured for the women of that state liberal property rights, equal guardianship of their children, and the right to vote on all school questions. she is a large-hearted, brave, faithful woman, and her life speaks for itself. her experiences are indeed the history of all that was done in the above-mentioned states. vermont. i was born in townshend, windham county, vermont, january , . from to inclusive, i edited _the windham county_ _democrat_, published by my husband, geo. w. nichols, at brattleboro. early in , i addressed to the voters of the state a series of editorials setting forth the injustice and miserable economy of the property disabilities of married women. in october of the same year, hon. larkin mead, of brattleboro, "moved," as he said, "by mrs. nichols' presentation of the subject" in the _democrat_, introduced in the vermont senate a bill securing to the wife real and personal property, with its use, and power to defend, convey, and devise as if "sole." the bill as passed, secured to the wife real estate owned by her at marriage, or acquired by gift, devise, or inheritance during marriage, with the rents, issues, and profits, as against any debts of the husband; but to make a sale or conveyance of either her realty or its use valid, it must be the joint act of husband and wife. she might by last will and testament dispose of her lands, tenements, hereditaments, and any interest therein descendable to her heirs, as if "sole." a subsequent legislature added to the latter clause, moneys, notes, bonds, and other assets, accruing from sale or use of real estate. and this was the first breath of a legal civil existence to vermont wives. in , vermont enacted a homestead law. in , a bill empowering the wife to insure, in her own interest, the life, or a term of the life of her husband; the annual premium on such insurance not to exceed $ ; also an act giving to widows of childless husbands the whole of an estate not exceeding $ , in value, and half of any amount in excess of $ , ; and if he left no kin, the whole estate, however large, became the property of the widow. prior to this act, the widow of a childless husband had only half, however small the estate, and if he left no kindred to claim it, the remaining half went into the treasury of the state, whose gain was the town's loss, if, as occasionally happened, the widow's half was not sufficient for her support.[ ] in , i drew up a petition signed by more than of the most substantial business men, including the staunchest conservatives, and tax-paying widows of brattleboro, asking the legislature to make the women of the state voters in district school meetings. up to i had not taken position for suffrage, but instead of disclaiming its advocacy as improper, i had, since , shown the absurdity of regarding suffrage as unwomanly. having failed to secure her legal rights by reason of her disfranchisement, a woman must look to the ballot for self-protection. in this cautious way i proceeded, aware that not a house would be opened to me, did i demand the suffrage before convicting men of legal robbery, through woman's inability to defend herself. the petition was referred to the educational committee of the house, whose chairman, editor of the _rutland herald_, was a bitter opponent, and i felt that he would, in his report, lampoon "woman's rights" and their most prominent advocates, thus sending his poison into all the towns ignorant of our objects, and strengthening the already repellant prejudices of the leading women at the capital. i wrote to judge thompson, editor of the _green mountain freeman_ (a recent accession to the press of the state and friendly to our cause), what i feared, and asked him to plead before the committee and interest influential members to protect woman's cause against abuse before the house. he counseled with leading members of the three political parties--whig, free-soil, and democrat--including the speaker of the house, and they advised, as the best course, that "mrs. nichols come to montpelier, and they would invite her, by a handsome vote, to speak to her petition before the house." "when," added judge t., "you can use your privilege to present the whole subject of woman's rights. come, and i will stick by you like a brother." i went. the resolution of invitation was adopted with a single dissenting vote, and that from the chairman of the educational committee, who unwittingly made the vote unanimous by the unfortunate exclamation, "if the lady wants to make herself ridiculous, let her come and make herself as ridiculous as possible and as soon as possible, but i don't believe in this scramble for the breeches!" in concluding my plea before the house (in which i had cited the statutes and decisions of courts, showing that the husband owned even the wife's clothing), i thanked the house for its resolution, and referred to the concluding remark of the chairman of the educational committee, and said that though i "had earned the dress i wore, my husband owned it--not of his own will, but by a law adopted by bachelors and other women's husbands," and added: "i will not appeal to the gallantry of this house, but to its manliness, if such a taunt does not come with an ill grace from gentlemen who have legislated our skirts into their possession? and will it not be quite time enough for them to taunt us with being after their wardrobes, when they shall have restored to us the legal right to our own?" with a bow i turned from the speaker's stand, when the profound hush of as fine an audience as earnest woman ever addressed, was broken by the muffled thunder of stamping feet, and the low, deep hum of pent-up feeling loosed suddenly from restraint. a crowd of ladies from the galleries, who had come only at the urgent personal appeal of judge thompson, who had spent the day calling from house to house, and who a few months before had utterly failed to persuade them to attend a course of physiological lectures from mrs. mariana johnson, on account of her having once presided over a woman's rights convention, these women met me at the foot of the speaker's desk, exclaiming with earnest expressions of sympathy: "we did not know before what woman's rights were, mrs. nichols, but we are for woman's rights." said mrs. thompson to me upon our return to her home: "i broke out in a cold perspiration when your voice failed and you leaned your head on your hand."[ ] "i thought you were going to fail," continued mrs. thompson. "yes," said the judge, "i was very doubtful how it would come out when i saw how sensitive mrs. nichols was. but," (turning to me), "you have had a complete triumph! that final expression of your audience was perfect. _mr. herald_ with his outside recruits did not come forward with the suit of male attire at the close, as he had advertised he would, (i did not tell mrs. n. this, my dear," said the judge.) "he'll catch it now, in the house and out." and he did "catch it." the effort brought me no reproach, no ridicule from any quarter, but instead, cordial recognition and delicate sympathy from unexpected quarters, and even from those who had heard but the report of persons present. the editorial criticism of the chairman of the educational committee, paid me the high compliment of saying, that "in spite of her efforts mrs. nichols could not unsex herself; even her voice was full of womanly pathos." the report of the committee was adverse to my petition, but not disrespectful. though the petition failed, the favorable impression created was regarded as a great triumph for woman's rights. from the time i spoke at the worcester convention, , until i left for kansas, october, , i responded to frequent calls from town and neighborhood committees and lyceums--in the county and adjoining territory of new hampshire and massachusetts as well as vermont, to lecture or join in debate with men and women, the women voting me their time, on the subject of woman's legal and political equality. in these neighborhood lyceums, ministers and deacons and their wives and daughters took part. generally wives were appointed in opposition to their husbands, and from their rich and varied experience did excellent execution. in order to secure opposition, i used to let the negative open and close, other wise the debate was sure to be tame or no debate at all. in all my experience it was the same; the "affirmative" had the merit and the argument. the clergy often spoke--always when present--and in the negative, if it was their first hearing; and without a single exception they faced the audience at the close with a cordial endorsement of the cause. said one such: "i told you, ladies and gentlemen, that i had given little attention to the subject, and you see that i told the truth. mrs. nichols has made out her case, and let her and the women laboring like her, persevere, and woman will gain her rights." "let your wife go all she can," said one of these converts to mr. nichols, "she is breaking down prejudices and making friends for your paper. your political opponents have represented her as a masculine brawler for rights, and those who have never met her know no better. i went to hear her, full of misgivings that it might be so." in the winter of i went as often as twice a week--late p.m. and returned early a.m.--from six to twenty miles. i was sent for where there was no railroad. i often heard of "ready-made pants," and once of a "rail," but the greater the opposition, the greater the victory. on a clear, cold morning of january, , i found myself some six miles from home at a station on the vermont side of the massachusetts state line, on my way to templeton, mass., whither i had been invited by a lyceum committee to lecture upon the subject of "woman's rights." i had scarcely settled myself in the rear of the saloon for a restful, careless two hours' ride, when two men entered the car. in the younger man i recognized the sheriff of our county. having given a searching glance around the ear, the older man, with a significant nod to his companion, laid his hand upon the saloon door an instant, and every person in the car had risen to his feet, electrified by the wail of a "rachel mourning for her children." "o, father! she's _my_ child! _she's my child!_" i reached the door, which was guarded by the sheriff, in a condition of mental exaltation (or concentration), which to this day reflects itself at the recollection of that agonizing cry of the beautiful young mother, set upon by the myrmidons of the law whose base inhumanity shames the brute! "who is it?" "what is it?" "what does it all mean?" were the anxious queries put up on all sides. i answered: "it means, my friends, that a woman has no legal right to her own babies; that the law-makers of this _christian country_ (!) have given the custody of the babies to the father, drunken or sober, and he may send the sheriff--as in this case--to arrest and rob her of her little ones! you have heard sneers at 'woman's rights.' this is one of the rights--a mother's right to the care and custody of her helpless little ones!" from that excited crowd--all young men and grown boys, i being the only woman among them--rose thick and fast--"_they've no business with the woman's babies!_" "_pitch 'em overboard!_" "_i'll help._" "_good for you; so'll i!_" "all aboard." (the conductor had come upon the scene). "_all aboard._" "wait a minute till he gets the other child," cries the old man, rushing out of the saloon with a little three-year-old girl in his arms, while the sheriff rushed in. standing behind the old man, i beckoned to the conductor, who knew me, to "_go on_," and in five minutes we were across the massachusetts line, and i was in the saloon. with his hand on her child, the sheriff was urging the mother to let go her hold. "hold on to your baby," i cried, "he has no right to take it from you, and is liable to fine and imprisonment for attempting it. tell me, mr. c----, are you helping the other party as a favor, or in your official capacity? in the latter case you might have taken her child in vermont, but we are in massachusetts now, quite out of your sheriff's beat." "the grandfather made legal custodian by the father, was he? that would do in vermont, sir, but under the recent decision of a massachusetts court, given in a case like this, _only the father_ can take the child from its mother, and in attempting it you have made yourselves liable to fine and imprisonment." thus the "sheriffalty" was extinguished, and mother and child took their seat beside me in the car. meantime the conductor had made the old gentleman understand that they could get off at the next station, where they might take the "up train," and get back to their "team" on the vermont side of the "line." as they could get no carriage at the bare little station, and with the encumbrance of the child, could not foot it six miles in the cold and snow, they must wait some three or four hours for the train, which suggested the possibility of a rescue. i could not stop over a train, but i could take the baby along with me, if some one could be found--the conductor calls. the car stops. as the child robbers step out (the little girl, clutched in the old grandfather's arms) 'mid the frantic cries of the mother and the execrations of the passengers, two middle-aged gentlemen of fine matter-of-fact presence, entered. i at once met their questioning faces with a hurried statement of facts, and the need of some intelligent, humane gentleman to aid the young mother in the recovery of her little girl. having spoken together aside, the younger man introduced "dr. b----, who lives in the next town, where papers can be made out, and a sheriff be sent back to bring the men and child; the lady can go with the doctor, and the baby with mrs. nichols. i would stop, but i must be in my seat in the legislature." "i have no money, only my ticket to take me to my friends," exclaimed the anxious mother. "i will take care of that," said the good doctor; "you won't need any." "they will have to pay," i whispered.... i gave my lecture at templeton to a fine audience; accepted an invitation to return and give a second on the same subject, and having left the dear little toddler happy and amply protected, at noon next day found myself back at orange, where i had left the mother. here the conductor, who by previous arrangement, left a note from me telling her where to go for her baby, reported that the party had been brought to orange for trial, spent the night in care of the sheriff, and were released on giving up the little girl and paying a handsome sum of the needful to the mother. he had scarcely ended his report when the pair entered the car, like myself, homeward bound. the old gentleman, care-worn and anxious, probably thinking of his team left standing at the vermont station, looked straight ahead, but the kind-hearted sheriff caught my eye and smiled. in my happiness i could not do otherwise than give smile for smile. arrived at home, i found the affair, reported by the conductor of the evening train, had created quite an excitement, sympathy being decidedly with the mother. i was credited with being privy to the escapade and the pursuit, and as having gone purposely to the rescue. had this been true, i could not have managed it better, for a good providence went with me. i received several memorial "hanks" of yarn, with messages from the donors that "they would keep me in knitting-work while preaching woman's rights on the railroad"--a reference to my practice of knitting on the cars, and the report that i gave a lecture on the occasion to my audience there. and thus was the seed of woman's educational, industrial, and political rights sown in vermont, through infinite labor, but in the faith and perseverance which bring their courage to all workers for the right. wisconsin. in september and october, , i traveled miles in wisconsin, as agent of the woman's state temperance society, speaking in forty-three towns to audiences estimated at , in the aggregate, people coming in their own conveyances from five to twenty miles. i went to wisconsin under an engagement to labor as agent of the state temperance league, an organization composed of both sexes and officered by leading temperance men--at the earnest and repeated solicitations of its delegates whom i met at the "whole world's temperance convention," held in new york city in september, and who were commissioned by the league to employ speakers to canvass the state; the object being to procure the enactment of a "maine law" by the next legislature. these delegates had counseled, among others, with horace greeley, who advised my employment, curiosity to hear a woman promising to call out larger audiences and more votes for temperance candidates in the pending election. i, at first, declined to make the engagement, on the ground that i could not be spared from my newspaper duties; but to escape further importunity, finally consented to "ask my husband at home," and report at new york, where one of the gentlemen would await my answer, and myself, if i decided to accept their proposition. my husband's cheerful, "go, wife, you will be doing just the work you love, and enjoying a journey which you have not means otherwise to undertake," and a notice from mrs. lydia f. fowler, that she would join us in the trip with a view to arranging for physiological lectures at eligible points in the state, decided me to go. mrs. f.'s company was not only a social acquisition, but a happy insurance against pot-house witlings on the alert to impale upon the world's dread laugh, any woman who, to accomplish some public good, should venture for a space to cut loose from the marital "buttons" and go out into the world alone! in making the engagement, i had taken it for granted, that the right and propriety of woman's public advocacy of temperance was a settled question in the field to which i was invited. but arrived at milwaukee, i found that the popular prejudice against women as public speakers, and especially the advocacy of woman's rights, with which i had for years been identified, had been stirred to its most disgusting depths by a reverend gentleman who had preceded us, and who had for years been a salaried "agent at large," of the new york state temperance society. a highly respectable minority of the executive committee of the league endorsed the action of their delegation, but were overruled by a numerical majority, and i found myself in the position of agent "at large," while the reverend traducer secured his engagement in my place. this turn of affairs, embarrassing at first, proved in the end providential--a timely clearance for a more congenial craft--since the women of the state had organized a woman's state temperance society, and advertised a convention to meet the following week at delavan, the populous shire town of walworth county, fifty miles distant in the interior. thither the friendly leaguers proposed to take us. meantime it was arranged that mrs. f. and i should address the citizens of milwaukee. a capacious church was engaged for sabbath evening, from which hundreds went away unable to get in. but neither clergyman nor layman could be found willing to commit himself by opening the services; and with "head uncovered," in a church in which it was "a shame for a woman to speak," i rested my burden with the dear father, as only burdens are rested with him, in conscious unity of purpose. mrs. f. addressed the audience on the physiological effects of alcoholic drinks. i followed, quoting from the prophecy of king lemuel, that "his mother taught him," proverbs xxxi., verses , , , , "open thy mouth for the dumb; in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. open thy mouth, judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy." the spirit moved audience and speaker. we forgot ourselves; forgot everything but "the poor and needy," the drunkard's wife and children "appointed to destruction" through license laws and alienated civil rights. at delavan we met a body of earnest men and women, indignant at the action of the executive committee of the league, to which many of them had contributed funds for the campaign, and ready to assume the responsibility of my engagement, and the expenses of mrs. f., who in following out her original plan, generously consented to precede my lectures with a brief physiological dissertation apropos to the object of the canvass. the burden of the speaking, as planned, rested with me, provided my hitherto untested physical ability proved equal, as it did, to the daily effort. in counsel with mrs. r. ostrander, president of the society, and her sister officials, women of character and intelligence, i could explain, as i could not have done to any body of equally worthy men, that in justice to ourselves, to them, and to the cause we had at heart, we must make the canvass in a spirit and in conditions above reproach. "i can not come down from my work," said miss lyon, founder of mount holyoke female seminary, when importuned to rebut some baseless scandal. to fight our way would be to mar the spirit and effect of our work. we must place the opposition at a disadvantage from the first; then we could afford to ignore it altogether and rise to a level with the humane issues of the campaign. it was accordingly arranged that the friends should make appointments and secure us suitable escort to neighboring towns; and to distant and less accessible points a gentleman was engaged to take us in a private carriage,--his wife, a woman of rare talent and fine culture, to accompany us. a programme which was advertised in the local papers and happily carried out. from delavan we returned to milwaukee to perfect our arrangements. from thence our next move was to waukesha, the shire town of waukesha county, twenty miles by rail, to a temperance meeting advertised for "speaking and the transaction of business." the meeting was held in the congregational church, the pastor acting as chairman. the real business of the meeting was soon disposed of, and then was enacted the most amusing farce it was ever my lot to witness. the chairman and his deacon led off in a long-drawn debate on sundry matters of no importance, and of less interest to the audience, members of which attempted in vain, by motions and votes, to cut it short. when it had become sufficiently apparent that the gentlemen were "talking against time" to prevent speaking, there were calls for speakers. the chairman replied that it was a "business meeting, but rev. mr. ----, from illinois, would lecture in the evening." several gentlemen rose to protest. one said he "had walked seven miles that his wife and daughters might ride, to hear the ladies speak." another had "ridden horseback twelve miles to hear them." a storm was impending; the chairman was prepared; he declared the meeting adjourned and with his deacon left the house. there was a hurried consultation in the ante-room, which resulted in an urgent request for "mrs. nichols to remain and speak in the evening." the speaker noticed for the evening, joined heartily in the request; "half an hour was all the time he wanted." but when the evening came, he insisted that i should speak first, and when i should have given way for him, assured me that he "had made arrangements to speak the next evening," and joined in the "go on, go on!" of the audience. so it was decided that i should remain over the sabbath, and mrs. f. return with the friends to milwaukee. meantime it had transpired that in the audience were several vermonters from a settlement of fourteen families from the vicinity of my home; among them a lady from my native town; we had been girls together. "we know all about mrs. n.," said one. "we take the _tribune_, and friends at home send us her paper." so the good father had sent vouchers for his agent at large. but this was not all. i had a pleasant reserve for the evening. i had recognized in the deacon, a friend from whom i had parted twenty-one years before in western new york. in the generous confidence of youthful enthusiasm we had enlisted in the cold-water army; together pledged ourselves to fight the liquor interest to the death. and here my old friend, whose début on the temperance platform i had aided and cheered, had talked a full hour to prevent me from being heard! was i indignant? was i grieved? nay! it was not a personal matter. time's graver had made us strange to each other. his name and voice had revealed him to me; but the name i bore was not that by which he had known me. besides, i remembered that twenty-one years before, i could not have been persuaded to hear a woman speak on any public occasion, and i had nothing to forgive,--my friend had only stood still where i had left him. such, suppressing his name, was the story i told my audience on that evening. and with his puzzled and kindly face intently regarding me, i assured my hearers that i had not a doubt of his whole-souled and manly support in my present work. nor was i disappointed. next morning, (sabbath) i listened to a scholarly sermon on infidel issues and innovations from the chairman of the "business meeting" of the previous afternoon, he having stayed away from my lecture to prepare it. in the evening, after the temperance lecture of my illinois friend, i improved the opportunity of a call from the audience, the rev. chairman being present, to meet certain points of the sermon, personal to myself and the advocates of rights for women, closing with a brief confession of my faith in christ's rule of love and duty as impressing every human being into the service of a common humanity--the right to serve being commensurate with the obligation, as of god and not of man. one week later, another business meeting was held in the same house, and in its published proceedings was a resolution introduced by the rev. chairman, endorsing mrs. nichols, and inviting her "to be present and speak" at a county convention appointed for a subsequent day. not long after he sent me, through a brother clergyman, an apology that would have disarmed resentment, had i felt any, toward a man who, having opposed me without discourtesy and retracted by a published resolution, was yet not satisfied without tendering a private apology. i had achieved a grateful success; license to "plead the cause of the poor and needy," where, _how_ to do so, without offending old-time ideas of woman's sphere, had seemed to the women under whose direction i had taken the field, the real question at issue. in consideration of existing prejudices, they had suggested the prudence of silence on the subject of woman's rights. and here, on the very threshold of the campaign, i had been compelled to vindicate my right to speak for woman; as a woman, to speak for her from any stand-point of life to which nature, custom, or law had assigned her. i had no choice, no hope of success, but in presenting her case as it stood before god and my own soul. to neither could i turn traitor, and do the work, or satisfy the aspirations of a true and loving woman. for more than a quarter of a century earnest men had spoken, and failed to secure justice to the poor and needy, "appointed to destruction" by the liquor traffic. they had failed because they had denied woman's right to help them, and taken from her the means to help herself. in speaking for woman, i must be heard from a domestic level of legal pauperism disenchanted of all political prestige. in appealing to the powers that be, i must appeal from sovereigns drunk to sovereigns sober,--with eight chances in ten that the decision would be controlled by sovereigns drunk. to impress the paramount claim of women to a no-license law, without laying bare the legal and political disabilities that make them "the greatest sufferers," the helpless victims of the liquor traffic, was impossible. it would have been stupidly unwise to withhold what with a majority of voters is the weightier consideration, that in alienating from women their earnings, governments impose upon community taxes for the support of the paupered children of drunken fathers, whose mothers would joyfully support and train them for usefulness; and who, as a rule, have done so when by the death or divorce of the husband they have regained the control of their earnings and the custody of their children. thus proving, that man, by his disabling laws, has made woman helpless and dependent, and not god, who has endowed her with capabilities equal to the responsibilities he has imposed. worse than unwise would it have been to allow an unjust prejudice against woman's rights, to turn the edge of my appeals for a law in the interest of temperance, when by showing the connection, as of cause and effect, between men's rights and women's wrongs, between women's _no_-rights and their helplessness and dependence, i could disarm that prejudice and win an intelligent support for both temperance and equal rights. on such a showing i based my appeals to the noble men and women of wisconsin. i assured my audiences, that i had not come to talk to them of "woman's rights," that indeed i did not find that women had any rights in the matter, but to "suffer and be still; to die and give no sign." but i had come to them to speak of _man's rights_ and _woman's needs_. from the lake shore cities, from the inland villages, the shire towns, and the mining communities of the mississippi, whose churches, court-houses, and halls, with two or three exceptions, could not hold the audiences, much less seat them; the responses were hearty, and when outspoken, curiously alike in language as well as sentiment on the subject of rights. "i like mrs. nichols' idea of talking man's rights; the result will be woman's rights," said a gentleman rising in his place in the audience at the close of one of my lectures. on another occasion, "let mrs. nichols go on talking men's rights and we'll have women's rights." "mrs. nichols has made me ashamed of myself--ashamed of my sex! i didn't know we had been so mean to the women," was the outspoken conclusion of a man who had lived honored and respected, his threescore years and ten. this reaction from the curiosity and doubt which everywhere met us in the expressive faces of the people, often reminded me of an incident in my vermont labors for a maine law. in accepting an invitation to address an audience of ladies in the aristocratic old town of c----, in an adjoining county, i had suggested, that as it was votes we needed, i would prefer to address an audience of both sexes. arrived at c----, i found that the ladies of the committee, having acted upon my suggestion, were intensely anxious as to the result. "an audience," they said, "could not be collected to listen to woman's rights; the people were sensitive even to the innovation of a mixed audience for a woman, and they felt that i ought to be informed of the facts." and i felt in every nerve, that they were suffering from fear lest i should fail to vindicate the womanliness of our joint venture. but the people came, a church, full; intelligent, expectant, and curious to hear a woman. the resident clergyman, of my own faith, declined to be present and open with prayer. a resident universalist clergyman present, declined to pray. a young methodist licentiate in the audience, not feeling at liberty to decline, tried. his ideas stumbled; his words hitched, and when he prayed: "bless thy serv--a'hem--thy handmaid, and a'hem--and let all things be done decently and in order;" we in the committee pew felt as relieved as did the young timothy when he had achieved his amen! utterly unnerved by the anxious faces of my committee, i turned to my audience with only the inspiration of homes devastated and families paupered, to sustain me in a desperate exhibit of the need and the "determination of women, impelled by the mother-love that shrinks neither from fire or flood, to rescue their loved ones from the fires and floods of the liquor traffic, though to do so they must make their way through every platform and pulpit in the land!" "thank god!" exclaimed the licentiate on my right. "amen!" emphasized the chairman oh my left. my committee were radiant. my audience had accepted woman's rights in her wrongs; and i ---- only woman's recording angel can tell the sensations of a disfranchised woman when her "declaration of intentions" is endorsed by an anti-woman's rights audience with fervent thanks to god! latter-day laborers can have little idea of the trials of the early worker, driven by the stress of right and duty against popular prejudices, to which her own training and early habits of thought have made her painfully sensitive. st. paul, our patron saint, i think had just come through such a trial of his nerves when he wrote: "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." the memory of the beautiful scenery, the charming indian summer skies, the restful companionship of our family party in the daily drive, and the generous hospitality of the people of wisconsin, is one of the pleasantest of a life, as full of sweet memories as of trials, amid and through which they have clung to me with a saving grace. the temperance majority in the ensuing election, so far as influenced by canvassing agents, was due to the combined efforts of all who labored for it, and of these it was my good fortune to meet a younger brother of william h. and o. c. burleigh, who from his man's stand-point of precedents and statistics did excellent service. the law enacted by the legislature securing to the wives of drunkards their earnings and the custody and earnings of their minor children, i think i may claim as a result of appeals from the home stand-point of woman's sphere. as a financial measure diverting the supplies and lessening the profits of the liquor traffic, this law is a civil service reform of no mean promise for the abatement of pauper and criminal taxes. in a plea of counsel for defendant in a case of wife-beating to which i once listened, said the gentlemanly attorney: "if patrick will let the bottle alone"--"please, your honor," broke in the weeping wife, "if you will stop misthur kelly from filling it." kansas. in october, , with my two eldest sons, i joined a company of two hundred and twenty-five men, women, and children, emigrants from the east to kansas. in our passage up the missouri river i gave two lectures by invitation of a committee of emigrants and captain choteau and brother, owners of the boat. a pious m.d. was terribly shocked at the prospect, and hurried his young wife to bed, but returned to the cabin himself in good time to hear. as the position was quite central, and i wished to be heard distinctly by the crowd which occupied all the standing room around the cabin, i took my stand opposite the doctor's berth. next morning, poor man! his wife was an outspoken advocate of woman's rights. the next evening she punched his ribs vigorously, at every point made for suffrage, which was the subject of my second lecture. the st of november, --a day never to be forgotten--heaven and earth clasped hands in silent benedictions on that band of immigrants, some on foot, some on horseback, women and children, seventy-five in number, with the company's baggage, in ox-carts and wagons drawn by the fat, the broken-down, and the indifferent "hacks" of wondering, scowling missouri, scattered all along the prairie road from kansas city to lawrence, the mecca of their pilgrimage. in advance of all these, at o'clock a.m., mrs. h---- and myself were sitting in front of the lawrence office of the new england emigrant aid company, in the covered wagon of hon. s. c. pomeroy, who had brought us from kansas city, and entered the office to announce the arrival of our company; when a hilarious explosion of several voices assured us that good lungs as well as brave hearts were within. directly col. p. and dr. (governor) robinson came out. "did you hear the cheering?" asked the doctor. "i did, and was thinking when you came out, what a popular man the colonel must be to call forth such a greeting!" "but the cheers were for mrs. nichols," was the reply; and the doctor proceeded to tell us that, "the boys" had been hotly discussing women's rights, when one of their advocates who had heard her lecture, expressed a wish that his opponents could hear antoinette brown on the subject; a second wished they could hear susan b. anthony; and a third wished they could hear mrs. nichols. on the heels of these wishes, the announcement of colonel pomeroy, that "mrs. nichols was at the door," was the signal for triumphant cheering. "the boys" wanted a lecture in the evening. the doctor said: "no; mrs. nichols is tired. to-morrow the thatching of the church will be completed, and she can dedicate the building." thus truths sown broadcast among the stereotyped beliefs and prejudices of the old and populous communities of the east, had wrought a genial welcome for myself and the advocacy of woman's cause on the disputed soil of kansas. but, alas! for the "stony ground." one of "the boys" didn't stay to the "dedication." he had "come to kansas to get away from the women," and left at once for leavenworth. i wonder if the judge--he is that now, and a benedict--remembers? i still regret that lost opportunity for making his acquaintance. at lawrence, the objective point of all the free state immigration, where i spent six weeks in assisting my sons to make a home for the winter, i mingled freely with the incoming population, and gave several lectures to audiences of from two to three hundred, the entire population coming together at the ringing of the city dinnerbell. i returned to vermont early in january, , and in april following, with two hundred and fifty emigrants (my husband and younger son accompanying me), rejoined my other sons in the vicinity of baldwin city, where we took claims and commenced homes. i presented the whole subject of woman's rights on the boats in going and returning, as at first, by invitation. in the summer of , delegates were elected to a constitutional convention, which later convened at topeka. governor robinson, who with six other delegates voted for the exclusion of the word "male" from qualification for elector, sent me an invitation to attend its sessions, speak before it for woman's equality, and they would vote me a secretary's or clerk's position in the convention. my husband's fatal illness prevented me from going. in january, , i returned from kansas to vermont, widowed and broken in health, to attend to matters connected with my husband's estate. prevented by the ruffian blockade of the missouri from returning as intended, i spent some time in the summer and all of the autumn of and january, , lecturing upon kansas, the character and significance of its political involvements, its promise and importance as a free or slave state, and its claims to an efficient support in the interest of freedom. in september, being appealed to by the "kansas national aid committee," at the instance of horace greeley, i engaged for two months in a canvass of western new york, lecturing and procuring the appointment of committees of women to collect supplies for the suffering people of kansas; my two oldest sons, c. h. and a. o. carpenter being among its armed defenders, the latter having been wounded in the fight between the invaders under captain pate and the forces under john brown and captain s. shores, at black jack. between may, , and february, (not counting my engagement with the aid committee), i gave some fifty kansas lectures in the states of vermont, new hampshire, massachusetts, connecticut, pennsylvania, and new york, followed occasionally by one or two lectures on the legal and political disabilities of women; receiving more invitations on both subjects than i could possibly fill. my experiences in these semi-political labors were often racy, never unsatisfactory. in a public conveyance one day, an honest old pennsylvania farmer asked if i was "the lady who made an appointment to speak in his place on kansas, and did not come?" i replied that i had filled all the appointments made for me with my knowledge; that i made a point of keeping my promises. "i believe you, ma'am," said he. "i suspicioned then it was jest a republican trick. you see, ma'am, our folks all are dimocrats and wouldn't turn out to hear the republican speakers; so they appointed a meeting for _you_ and everybody turned out, for we'd hearn of your lectures. but instid of you, general d---- and lawyer c---- came, and we were mad enough. i was madder, 'cause i'd opened my house, seein' as it was the largest and most convenient in the neighborhood." occasionally i stumbled on a loose segment of woman's sphere, even among the friends of "free kansas." in a populous vermont village, at a meeting called for the purpose, a committee was appointed to invite me to speak, composed of the two clergymen of the village and judge s----. reverend w---- excused himself from the service on the ground of "conscientious scruples as to the propriety of women speaking in public." judge s----, a man who for a quarter of a century had, by a racy combination of wit and logic, maintained his ground against the foes of temperance and freedom, with inimitable gravity thanked the audience for the honor conferred on him; adding, "i have no conscientious scruples about getting desirable information wherever i can find it." in sinclairville, chautauque county, new york, where i arrived late, in consequence of a railroad accident, i found a crowded church. a gentleman introduced to me as "mr. bull" was sitting at a table in the extreme front corner of the spacious platform, recording the names and advance payments of a class in music, which, as i had been told outside, was being organized by a gentleman who had arrived with the news of my probable detention. during the next half hour gentlemen rose at three several times and requested mr. b---- to "postpone the class business till the close of the lecture: that people had come from a distance to hear the lecture, and were anxious to return home, the night being dark and rainy." "i will be through soon. i like to finish a thing when i begin." "there'll be time enough," were the several replies, given in a tone and with an emphasis that suggested to my mind a doubt of the speaker's sympathy with my subject. when the clock pointed to eight, i quietly took my seat in the desk and was smoothing my page of notes when there fell on my astonished ear--"i was about to introduce the lady speaker, but she has suddenly disappeared." stepping forward, i said, "excuse me, sir; as the hour is very late i took my place to be in readiness when you should be through with your class." "madam, you will speak on this platform." "i noticed, sir, that i could not see my audience from the platform, also that the desk was lighted for me." "madam, you can't speak in that pulpit!" "this is very strange. will you give me your reasons?" "it's none of your business!" "indeed, sir, i do not understand it. will you give me your authority?" "it's my pulpit, and if you speak in this house to-night you speak from this platform!" "excuse me, sir; i mistook you for the music-teacher, who, as i was told, was organizing a class in music." and stepping quickly to the platform to restore the equanimity of the house, i remarked, as indicating my position, that my self-respect admonished me to be the lady always, no matter how ungentlemanly the treatment i might receive; that the cause of humanity, the cause of suffering kansas was above all personal considerations, and proceeded with my lecture. at the close, mr. b---- arose and said: "i owe this audience an apology for my ungentlemanly language to mrs. nichols. i am aware that i shall get into the public prints, and i wish to set myself right." a gentleman in the audience rose and moved, "that we excuse the rev. r. b---- for his ungentlemanly language to mrs. nichols to-night, on the score of his ignorance." the motion was seconded with emphasis by a man of venerable presence. "friends," i appealed, "this is a personal matter; it gives me no concern. it will affect neither me nor my work. please name suitable women for the committee of relief which i am here to ask." business being concluded, i turned to mr. b----, who was shut in with me by a press of sympathizing friends, and expressed my regret, that he should have said anything to place him under the necessity of apologizing, adding, "but i hope in future you will remember the words of solomon: 'greater is he that controlleth his own spirit, than he that taketh a city.' good-night, sir." i learned that a few months before he had prevented his people from inviting antoinette brown to speak to them on temperance, by declaring that "he would never set his foot in a pulpit that had been occupied by a woman." when three weeks later i heard of his dismissal from his charge in s----, i could appreciate the remark of his brother clergyman in a neighboring town, to whom i related the incident, that "brother b---- is rather given to hooking with those horns of his, but he's in hot water now." in the winter and spring of , i had, by invitation of its editor, written a series of articles on the subject of woman's legal disabilities, preparatory to a plea for political equality, for the columns of the kansas _herald of freedom_, the last number of which went down with the "_form_" and press of the office to the bottom of the kansas river, when the border ruffians sacked lawrence in . in march, , i again returned to kansas, and with my daughter and youngest son, made a permanent home in wyandotte county. the constitution was adopted in november, , by popular vote. in january, , kansas having been admitted to the union, the first state legislature met at topeka, the capital of the new state. i attended its sessions, as i had those of the convention, and addressed both in behalf of justice for the women of the state, as delegate of the kansas woman's rights association. this association was formed in the spring of with special reference to the convention which had already been called to meet in the july following, in the city of wyandotte. the association--if i recollect aright--numbered some twenty-five earnest men and women of the john brown type, living in moneka, linn county; john o. wattles, president; susan wattles, secretary. wendell phillips, treasurer of the francis jackson woman's rights fund, guaranteed payment of expenses, and the association sent me, with limited hopes and unstinted blessings, to canvass the principal settlements in the territory, obtain names to petitions and represent them--if allowed by courtesy of the convention--in behalf of equal civil and political rights for the women of the state to be organized. i was appealed to as the only woman in the territory who had experience and could take the field, which was i believe true. we had no material for conventions, and the population was so sparse, distances so great, and means of conveyance and communication so slow and uncertain, that i felt sure an attempt at conventions would be disastrous, only betraying the weakness of our reserves, for i must have done most, if not all the speaking. it was the policy of the republicans to "keep shady," as a party. john wattles came to wyandotte before i addressed the convention, counseled with members, and reported to me that "i didn't need him, that it was better that no man appear in it." after spending some four weeks in the field, i went to the convention, and with a very dear friend, mrs. lucy b. armstrong, of wyandotte, was given a permanent seat beside the chaplain, rev. mr. davis, presiding elder of the methodist episcopal church of the district, which i occupied till the adjournment of the convention, laboring to develop an active and corresponding interest in outsiders as well as members, until my petitions had been acted upon and the provisions finally passed; purposely late in the session. having at the commencement, only two known friends of our cause among the delegates to rely upon for its advocacy, against the compact opposition of the sixteen democratic members, and the bitter prejudices of several of the strongest republicans, including the first chief justice of the new state and its present unreconstructed senator ingalls, an early report upon our petitions would have been utter defeat. persistent "button-holing" of the delegates, any "unwomanly obtrusiveness" of manners, a vague apprehension of which, at that period of our movement, was associated in the minds of even good men and women, with the advocacy of the cause, was the "big-'fraid" followed by more than one "little 'fraid," that made my course one of anxiety, less only than my faith in the ultimate adoption of the provisions named. of political suffrage i had, as i confidentially told my friends of the association, no hope, and for the very reason given me later by members of the convention who consented to school suffrage; viz: "even if endorsed by popular vote, such a provision would probably defeat admission to the union." none the less, however, was the necessity for disarming the prejudices and impressing upon delegates and citizens the justice of the demand for political enfranchisement. fortunately, the hospitable tea-table of mrs. armstrong, with whom i was domiciled for the session, offered abundant womanly opportunity for conference and discussion with delegates; and in the homes of leading citizens i met a hearty sympathy which i can never forget. during a recess of the convention, a friendly member introduced me to governor medary, as "the lady who, by vote of the convention, will speak here this evening in behalf of equal constitutional rights for the women of kansas." "but, mrs. nichols, you would not have women go down into the muddy pool of politics?" asked the governor. "even so, governor, i admit that you know best how muddy that pool is, but you remember the bethesda of old; how the angel had to go in and trouble the waters before the sick could be healed. so i would have the angels trouble this muddy pool that it may be well with the people; for you know, governor medary, that this people is very sick. but here is a petition to which i am adding names as i find opportunity; will you place your name on the roll of honor?" "not now, madam, not now. i will _sign the bill_." and the governor, quite unconscious of his mistake, with a smile and a bow, hurried away amid the good-natured raillery of the little circle that had gathered around us. but it was governor robinson, the life-long friend of woman and a free humanity, that had the pleasure of "signing the bills." in compliance with the earnest request of delegates, supported by the action of the association, i labored from the adjournment of the convention till the vote on the adoption of the constitution, to "remove the prejudices"--as the delegates expressed it--"of their constituents, against the woman's rights provisions" of that document. the death of mr. wattles on the eve of the campaign sent me alone into the lecture field. for with the exception of hon. charles robinson, our first state governor, and always an outspoken friend of our cause, the politicians in the field either ignored or ridiculed the idea of women being entitled under the school provision to vote. at bloomington, when i had presented its merits in contrast with existing legal provisions, a venerable man in the audience rose and remarked that the hon. james h. lane, in addressing them a few days before, denied that the provision regarding common schools meant anything more than equal educational privileges, and that the courts would so decide. that it would never do to allow women to vote, for only vile women would go to the polls. and now, added the old gentleman, "i would like to hear what mrs. nichols has to say on this point?" taking counsel only of my indignation, i replied: "mrs. nichols has to say, that vile men who seek out vile women elsewhere, may better meet them at the polls under the eyes of good men and good women:" and dropped into my seat 'mid a perfect storm of applause, in which women joined as heartily as men. policy restrained the few republican members who had voted against the provisions[ ] from open opposition, and the more that everywhere democrats, whom i appealed to as "friends in political disguise," treated me with marked courtesy; often contributing to my expenses. one such remarked, "there, mrs. nichols, is a democratic half-dollar; i like your woman's rights." at troy, don. co., sitting behind the closed shutters of an open window, i heard outside a debate between republicans and democrats. one of the latter, an ex-secretary of the territory, at one time acting governor, and a member of the constitutional convention, who had dwelt much on the superior prerogatives of the anglo-saxon race, was saying, "you go for political equality with the negro; we democrats won't stand that, it would demoralize the white man." on my way to lecture in the evening, a friend forewarned me that the ex-secretary, with two or three of his political stripe, had engaged a shrewd democratic lawyer, by getting him half drunk, to reply to me. so when in my concluding appeal i turned as usual to the democrats, i narrated the above incident and bowed smilingly to the ex-secretary, with whom i was acquainted, and said, "gentlemen who turn up their 'anglo-saxon' noses at the idea of 'political equality with the negro,' as demoralizing to the white man, forget that in all these years the white woman has been 'on a political equality with the negro'; they forget, that in keeping their own mothers, wives and daughters in the negro pew, to save them from demoralization by political equality with the white man, they are paying themselves a sorry compliment." the drunken lawyer was quietly hustled out by his friends, the democrats themselves joining the audience in expressions of respect at the close of my lecture. but these from hundreds of telling incidents must suffice to initiate you in the spirit of that ever memorable campaign. [illustration: clarina howard nichols (with autograph).] in , when i was about leaving vermont for kansas, an earnest friend of our cause protested that i was "going to bury myself in kansas, just as i had won an influence and awakened a public sentiment that assured the success of our demand for equal rights." i replied that it was a thousand times more difficult to procure the repeal of unjust laws in an old state, than the adoption of just laws in the organization of a new state. that i could accomplish more for woman, even the women of the old states, and with less effort, in the new state of kansas, than i could in conservative old vermont, whose prejudices were so much stronger than its convictions, that justice to women must stand a criminal trial in every court of the state to win, and then pay the costs. my husband went to kansas for a milder climate; my sons to make homes under conditions better suited than the old states to their tastes and means. i went to work for a government of "equality, liberty, fraternity," in the state to be. i had learned from my experience with the legal fraternity, that as a profession they were dead-weights on our demands, and the reason why. when pressed to logical conclusions, which they were always quick to see, and in fair proportion to admit, were in our favor, they almost invariably retreated under the plea that the reforms we asked "being fundamental, would destroy the harmony of the statutes!" and i had come to the conclusion that it would cost more time and effort to disrupt the woman's "disabilities" attachment from the legal and political harmonicons of the old states, than it would to secure vantage ground for legal and political equality in the new. i believed then and believe now that woman suffrage would have received a majority vote in kansas if it could have been submitted unembarrassed by the possibility of its being made a pretext for keeping kansas out of the union. and but for judge kingman, i believe it would have received the vote of a majority in convention. he played upon the old harmonicon, "organic law," and "the harmony of the statutes." my pleas before the constitutional convention and the people, were for equal legal and political rights for women. in detail i asked: st. equal educational rights and privileges in all the schools and institutions of learning fostered or controlled by the state. d. an equal right in all matters pertaining to the organization and conduct of the common schools. d. recognition of the mother's equal right with the father to the control and custody of their mutual offspring. th. protection in person, property, and earnings for married women and widows the same as for men. the first three were fully granted. in the final reading. kingman changed the wording of the fourth, so as to leave the legislature a chance to preserve the infamous common law right to personal services. there were too many old lawyers in the convention. the democracy had four or five who pulled with kingman, or he with them against us. not a democrat put his name to the constitution when adopted. the debate published in the wyandotte _gazette_ of july , , on granting mrs. nichols a hearing in the constitutional convention, and the committee's report on the woman's petition, furnishes a page of history of which some of the actors, at least, will have no reason to read with special pride. report of judiciary franchise committee on woman suffrage petitions. the committee on the judiciary, to whom in connection with the committee on franchise was referred the petition of sundry citizens of kansas, "protesting against any constitutional distinctions based on difference of sex," have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to make the following report: your committee concede the point in the petition upon which the right is claimed, that "the women of the state have individually an evident common interest with its men in the protection of life, liberty, property, and intellectual culture, and are not disposed to deny, that sex involves greater and more complex responsibilities, but the committee are compelled to dissent from conclusion of petition; they think the rights of women are safe in present hands. the proof that they are so is found in the growing disposition on the part of different legislatures to extend and protect their rights of property, and in the enlightened and progressive spirit of the age which acts gently, but efficiently upon the legislation of the day. such rights as are natural are now enjoyed as fully by women as men. such rights and duties as are merely political they should be relieved from, that they may have more time to attend to those greater and more complicated responsibilities which petitioners claim, and which your committee admit devolves upon woman. all of which is respectfully submitted. sam. a. kingman, geo. h. lillie, p. s. parks, john p. slough, sam. a. stinson, john f. burns, j. d. greer, g. blunt, ben. wrigley. missouri. in the spring of , having arranged my home affairs, i set about the prosecution of a plan for widening the area of woman's work and influence on the missouri border. separated only by the steam-plowed river from my kansas home, missouri towns and hamlets lay invitingly before me. for more than three years i had held my opportunity in reserve. the time to improve it seemed to have come. when our company landed at kansas city, october, , members of a missouri delegation opposed to the free state emigration to that territory met us. more than half the company that preceded ours had been turned back by their representations without a look at the territory. as our boat touched the landing, col. scott, of st. joseph, stepped on board, and commenced questioning hon. e. m. thurston, of maine, who, as committee of arrangements for the transfer of the company's baggage, excused himself, and turning to me, added: "here, sir, is a lady who can give you the information you desire--mrs. nichols, editor of the _windham county democrat_." in accepting the introduction, i caught the surprised and quizzical survey of a pair of keen, black eyes, culminating in an unmistakable expression of humorous anticipation; and, certain that my interviewer was intelligent and a gentleman, i resolved to follow his lead in kind. "madam," he inquired, "can you tell me where all these people are from, and where they are going?" they are from the new england states, and are going to kansas. "and what are they going to do in kansas?" make homes and surround themselves with the institutions, social and political, to which they are accustomed. "but, madam, they can't make homes on the kansas prairies with free labor; it is impossible!" why, sir, our ancestors felled the primitive forests and cleared the ground to grow their bread, but kansas prairies are ready for the plow; their rank grasses invite the flocks and herds. do you know what a country we come from? did you never hear how in new hampshire and vermont the sheeps' noses have to be sharpened, so that they can pluck the spires of grass from between the rocks? with a humorous, give-it-up sort of laugh, he remarked, abruptly: "you are an editor; do you ever lecture?" sometimes i do. "on what subjects?" education, temperance, woman's rights--"oh, woman's rights! will you go to st. joseph and lecture on woman's rights? our people are all anxious to hear on that subject." why, sir, i am an abolitionist, and they would tar and feather me! "you don't say anything about slavery in your woman's rights' lectures, do you?" no, sir; i never mix things. after a sharp, but good natured tilt on the slavery question, the colonel returned to the lecture, about which he was so evidently in earnest--guaranteeing "a fine audience, courteous treatment, and ample compensation"; that i gave a promise to visit st. joseph on my return if there should be time before the closing of navigation, a promise i was prevented from fulfilling. and now after three years, in which the emigrants had made homes and secured them against the aggressions of the slave power, i wrote him that if the people of st. joseph still wished to hear, and it pleased him to renew his guarantees of aid and protection, i was at leisure to lecture on woman's rights. his reply was prompt; his assurances hearty. i had "only to name the time," and i would find everything in readiness. that the truce-like courtesy of the compact between us may be appreciated, i copy a postscript appended to his letter and a postscript in reply added to my note of appointment; with the explanation, that in our kansas city interview, the colonel had declared the negro incapable of education, and that emancipation would result in amalgamation. postscript no. .--have you tried your experiment of education on any little nigger yet? j. s. postscript no. .--no, i have not tried my educational experiment, for the reason that the horrid amalgamationists preceded us, and so bleached the "niggers" that i have not been able to find a pure-blood specimen. c. i. h. n. the subject of slavery was not again mentioned between us. and when we shook hands in the cabin of the steamer at parting, he remarked, with a manly frankness in grateful contrast with the covert contempt felt, rather than expressed, in his previous courtesies, that he thought it proper i should know, that my audiences, composed of the most intelligent and respectable people of st. joseph, were pleased with my lectures. one of its most eminent citizens had said to him, that he "had not thought of the subject in the light presented, but he really could see no objection to women voting." only one lecture had been proposed. by a vote of my audience i gave a second, and had reason to feel that i had effectually broken ground in missouri; that i had not only won a respectful consideration for woman's cause and its advocacy, but improved my opportunity to vindicate new england training, in face of southern prejudices. one little episode, as rich in its significance, as in the inspiration it communicated, will serve to round out my st. joseph experience. in introducing me to my audience, the colonel--remembering, perhaps, that i did not "mix things," or feeling that he might trust my consciousness of being cornered on the slavery question--remarked in a vein of courteously concealed irony: "it looks very strange to us for a lady to speak in public, but we must remember that in the section of country from which this lady comes, the necessity of self-support bears equally upon women, and crowds them out of domestic life into vocations more congenial to the sterner sex. happily our domestic institutions, by relieving women of the necessity to labor, protect them in the sacred privacy of home." in his ignorance of the subject, my friend had unwittingly resined the bow. in bringing his "domestic institution" to the front, he had so "mixed things," that in my showing of the legal disabilities of women, of the _no_-right of the white wife and mother to herself, her children, and her earnings, my audience could not fail to appreciate the anomalous character of a "protection" so pathetically suggestive of the legal level of the slave woman, to which man, in his greed of wealth and power, had "crowded" both. some months later, at the breakfast-table of a missouri river steamer, a gentleman of st. joseph recognized me, and reported my lectures to ex-governor rollins, who was also on board, and asked an introduction. after a long and pleasant discussion with the governor, who entered at once upon the subject, in its legal, political, and educational aspects, it was agreed that i should lecture at my earliest convenience in several of the principal towns of the state, the capital included; the governor himself proposing to communicate with influential citizens to make the necessary arrangements. an early compliance with my promise was prevented by the kansas movement for a constitutional convention; my connection with which left me no leisure till late in the autumn, when i commenced my proposed lecture course in missouri by an appointment at westport, by arrangement of a gentleman of that place, whose acquaintance i had made in my kansas campaign. arrived at the westport hotel, where my entertainment had been bespoken, i was taken by the landlady to her own cosy sitting-room, and made pleasantly at home. later in the day i became aware of considerable excitement in the bar-room and street of the town. the landlord held several hurried consultations with his wife in the ante-room. my dinner was served in the private room, it "being more pleasant," my hostess said, "than eating at the public table with a lot of strange men." an hour after time, the gentleman who was to call for myself and the landlady, announced an assembly of a "dozen rude boys," and that in consequence of the news of john brown's raid at harper's ferry (of which i had not before heard), the excitement was such that he could not persuade the ladies to come out. with some hesitation he added, that it "had even been suggested that i might be an emissary or accomplice, in what was suspected to be a general and preconcerted abolition movement." this explained the questionings of my hostess, and the provision against any possible rudeness which i might have received from the "strange men" at the public table. thus ended my projected campaign in missouri. for every city and hamlet in the state was so haunted by the marching spirit of the kansas hero, that to have suggested a lecture on any subject from a known abolitionist, would have ruined the political prospects of even an ex-governor. three years later, assisted by a former resident of kansas, i lectured to a very small, but respectful audience in kansas city; and in the spring of was invited by a committee of ladies to lecture at a fair of the congregational society of that city, with accompanying assurances from the pastor and his wife, of their confidence in the salutary influence of such a lecture, on a community which had been recently treated to an unfriendly presentation of the woman's rights movement and its advocates. i was too ill at the time to leave home, but the difference between my anxious efforts three years before to be heard, and this more than cordial assurance of a waiting audience, was a happy tonic. it was from persons who knew me only through my advocacy of woman's equality, and evidenced the progress of our cause. in december, , on my return from kansas to vermont, i spent several days in st. louis, in the pleasant family of my friend, mrs. frances d. gage, who, very much to my regret, was away in illinois. the judge having recently removed to the city, the family were comparatively strangers; abolitionists in a pro-slavery community. mrs. gage, i think, had broken ground for temperance, but they could tell me of no friends to woman's rights. rev. mr. elliot was not then one of us, as i learned through a son of mrs. gage, who called on him in my behalf for the use of his lecture-room. i felt instinctively that, unfettered by home and business interests, i was less constrained than my friend, and resolved, if possible, to win a hearing for woman. having secured a hall, i called at the business office of a gentleman of wealth and high social position--a slave-holder and opposed to free kansas, with whom i had formed a speaking acquaintance in brattleboro'--and procured from him a voucher for my respectability. armed with this i called on the editors of the _republican_ (pro-slavery), and secured a paid notice of my lecture. the editor of the _democrat_, who had an interest in free kansas, and was glad of news items from its immigrants, received me cordially, and gave the "lady lecturer" a handsome "personal," though he had no more interest in my subject than either of the other gentlemen, and gave me little encouragement of an audience. nevertheless, when the evening came, i met an audience intelligent and respectful, and larger than i had ventured to expect, but not numerous enough to warrant the venture of a second lecture in the expensive hall, which from the refusal of church lecture-rooms, i had been obliged to occupy. but here, as often before and after, a good providence interposed. rev. mr. weaver, universalist, claimed recognition as "a reader in his boyhood of mrs. nichols' paper"--his father was a patron of the _windham county democrat_--and tendered the use of his church for further lectures. i had found a friend of the cause. the result was a full house, and hearty appeals for "more." as isolated, historical facts, how very trivial all these "reminiscences" appear! how egotistical the pen that presumes upon anything like a popular interest in their perusal! but to the social and political reformer, as to the kanes and livingstons, trifles teach the relations of things, and indicate the methods and courses of action that result in world-wide good or evil. seeds carried by the winds and waves plant forests and beautify the waste places of the earth. truths that flowed from the silent nib of my pen in vermont, had been garnered in a boy's sympathies to yield me a man's welcome and aid in st. louis. how clear the lesson, that for seed-sowing, all seasons belong to god's truth! the autumn and winter of - i spent in wisconsin and ohio; in wisconsin, visiting friends and lecturing. in ohio, mrs. frances d. gage, mrs. hannah tracy cutler, and myself were employed under direction of mrs. elizabeth jones, of salem, to canvass the state, lecturing and procuring names to petitions to the legislature for equal legal and political rights for the women of the state. the time chosen for this work was inopportune for immediate success--the opening scenes of the rebellion alike absorbing the attention of the people and their legislature. women in goodly numbers came out to hear, but men of all classes waited in the streets, or congregated in public places to hear the news and discuss the political situation. from december, , to march, , i was in washington, d. c., writing in the military or revenue departments, or occupying the position of matron in the home for colored orphans, which had been opened in the second year of the rebellion, by the help of the government and the untiring energy of a few noble women intent on saving the helpless waifs of slavery cast by thousands upon the bare sands of military freedom. in the autumn of , the legislature of kansas having submitted to the voters of the state a woman suffrage amendment to its constitution, i gave some four weeks to the canvass, which was engaged in by some of the ablest friends of the cause from other states, among them lucy stone, rev. olympia brown, elizabeth cady stanton, and susan b. anthony. in our own state, among others, governor robinson, john ritchie, and s. n. wood of the old free state guard, rallied to the work. with the canvass of atchison and jefferson counties, and a few lectures in douglass, shawnee, and osage counties, i retired from a field overlaid with happy reminders of past trials merged in present blessings. the work was in competent hands, but the time was ill-chosen on account of the political complications with negro suffrage, and failure was the result. since december, , my home has been in california, where family cares and the infirmities of age limit my efforts for a freer and a nobler humanity to the pen. trusting that love of god and man will ever point it with truth and justice, i close this _exposé_ of my public life. footnotes: [ ] mrs. nichols had written up a case occurring among the subscribers to the _democrat_, in which $ , the whole estate, was divided, the half of that amount being all the law allowed for the support of a woman, then in the decline of life, and sent fifty marked copies of the paper to members of the legislature elect. one of them introduced the bill, which passed the first day of the session. [ ] the violent throbbing of mrs. nichols' heart, caused by her unusual position and her intense anxiety that her plea might be successful, had stopped her speaking at the close of a brief preface to her plea. she, however, soon rallied, though her voice was tremulous throughout, from the conviction that only an eminently successful presentation of her subject, could spike the enemy's batteries and win a verdict of "just and womanly." mrs. nichols hoped no further than that. she did not expect conservative vermont to yield at once for what she asked, as she stood alone with her paper among the press; and there was no other advocate in the state to take the field. [ ] the head and front of the opposition was judge kingman, chairman of the judiciary committee, to which, with the committee on elections, my petition was referred. he wrote the report against granting our demand, and of those who signed it all but (gen.) blunt and himself were democrats. the report was adopted by a solid vote of the democrats ( ), and enough republicans to make a majority. thirty-six republicans and democrats comprised the whole delegation. if my memory is not at fault, republicans voted in caucus for the provisions which were ultimately carried in our behalf, which was a majority of the whole convention. in caucus a majority were in favor of political rights; but only a minority, from conviction that woman suffrage would prevent admission to the union, would vote it in convention. chapter viii. massachusetts. women in the revolution--anti-tea leagues--phillis wheatley--mistress anne hutchinson--heroines in the slavery conflict--women voting under the colonial charter--mary upton ferrin petitions the legislature in --woman's rights conventions in , ' --letter of harriet martineau from england--letter of jeannie deroine from a prison cell in paris--editorial from _the christian inquirer_--_the una_, edited by paulina wright davis--constitutional convention in --before the legislature in --harriet k. hunt's protest against taxation--lucy stone's protest against the marriage laws--boston conventions--theodore parker on woman's position. during the revolutionary period, the country was largely indebted to the women of massachusetts. their patriotism was not only shown in the political plans of mercy otis warren,[ ] and the sagacious counsels of abigail smith adams, but by the action of many other women whose names history has not preserved. it was a woman who sent paul revere on his famous ride from boston to concord, on the night of april , , to warn the inhabitants of the expected invasion of the british on the morrow. the church bells pealing far and near on the midnight air, roused tired sleepers hurriedly to arm themselves against the invaders of their homes. during the war two women of concord dressed in men's clothing, captured a spy bearing papers which proved of the utmost importance to the patriot forces. during these early days, the women of various colonies--virginia, new york, rhode island, massachusetts--formed anti-tea leagues. in providence, r. i., young ladies took the initiative; twenty-nine daughters of prominent families, meeting under the shade of the sycamore trees at roger williams' spring, there resolving to drink no more tea until the duty upon it was repealed. the name of one of these young ladies, miss coddington, has been preserved, to whose house they all adjourned to partake of a frugal repast; hyperion[ ] taking the place of the hated bohea. in newport, at a gathering of ladies, where both hyperion and bohea were offered, every lady present refused the hated bohea, emblem of political slavery. in boston, early in , the matrons of three hundred families bound themselves to use no more tea until the tax upon it was taken off. the young ladies also entered into a similar covenant, declaring they took this step, not from personal motives, but from a sense of patriotism and a regard for posterity.[ ] liberty, as alone making life of value, looked as sweet to them as to their fathers. the women's anti-tea leagues of boston were formed nearly five years previous to the historic "boston tea party," when men disguised as indians, threw the east india company's tea overboard, and six years before the declaration of war. american historians ignoring woman after man's usual custom, have neglected to mention the fact that every paper in boston was suspended during its invasion by the british, except the chief rebel newspapers of new england, _the massachusetts gazette_ and _north boston news-letter_, owned and edited by a woman, margaret draper. they make small note of women's anti-tea leagues, and the many instances of their heroism during the revolutionary period, equaling, as they did, any deeds of self-sacrifice and bravery that man himself can boast. the men of boston, in , could with little loss to themselves, throw overboard a cargo of foreign tea, well knowing that for the last five years this drink had not been allowed in their houses by the women of their own families. their reputation for patriotism was thus cheaply earned in destroying what did not belong to them and what was of no use to them. their wives, daughters, mothers, and sisters drank raspberry, sage, and birch, lest by the use of foreign tea they should help rivet the chains of oppression upon their country. why should not the american revolution have been successful, when women so nobly sustained republican principles, taking the initiative in self-sacrifice and pointing the path to man by patriotic example. in massachusetts, as in other states, were also formed associations known as "daughters of liberty."[ ] these organizations did much to fan the nascent flames of freedom. the first naval battle of the revolution was fought at machias, maine, then a part of massachusetts. an insult having been offered its inhabitants, by a vessel in the harbor, the men of the surrounding country joined with them to avenge this indignity to their "liberty tree," arming themselves, from scarcity of powder, with scythes, pitchforks, and other implements of peace. at a settlement some twenty miles distant, a quantity of powder was discovered, after the men had left for machias. what was to be done, was the immediate question. every able-bodied man had already left, only small boys and men too aged or too infirm for battle having remained at home. upon that powder reaching them the defeat of the british, might depend. in this emergency the heroism of woman was shown. two young girls, hannah and rebecca weston, volunteered their services. it was no holiday excursion for them, but a trip filled with unseen dangers. the way led through a trackless forest, the route merely indicated by blazed trees. bears, wolves, and wild-cats were numerous. the distance was impossible to be traversed in a single day; these young girls must spend the night in that dreary wilderness. worse than danger from wild animals, was that to be apprehended from indians, who might kill them, or capture and bear them away to some distant tribe. but undauntedly they set out on their perilous journey, carrying twenty pounds of powder. they reached machias in safety, before the attack on the british ship, finding their powder a most welcome and effective aid in the victory which soon crowned the arms of the colonists. the heroism of these young girls was far greater than if they had fought in the ranks, surrounded by companions,'mid the accompaniments of beating drums, waving flags, and all the paraphernalia of war. in the war of two young girls of scituate, rebecca and abigail w. bates, by their wit and sagacity, prevented the landing of the enemy at this point.[ ] congress, during its session of , nearly seventy years afterward, granted them pensions, just as from extreme age they were about to drop into the grave. though it is not considered important to celebrate the virtues of the pilgrim mothers in gala days, grand dinners, toasts, and speeches, yet a little retrospection would enable us to exhume from the past, many of their achievements worth recording. more facts than we have space to reproduce, testify to the heroism, religious zeal, and literary industry of the women who helped to build up the early civilization of new england. their writings, for some presumed on authorship, are quaint and cumbrous; but in those days, when few men published books, it required marked courage for women to appear in print at all. they imitated the style popular among men, and received much attention for their literary ability. charles t. congdon, as the result of his explorations through old book-stores, has brought to light some of these early writers. in , mrs. anne bradstreet, known as quite a pretentious writer, came to boston with her husband, simon bradstreet, governor of massachusetts. her first work was entitled "the tenth muse lately sprung up in america." the first edition was published in london in , and the first boston edition was published in . if mrs. bradstreet loved praise, she was fortunate in her time and position. it would have been in bad taste, as it would have been bad policy, not to eulogize the poems of the governor's wife. she was frequently complimented in verse as bad as her own. her next great epic was entitled "a complete discourse and description of the four elements, constitutions, ages of man, seasons of the year, together with an exact epitome of the four monarchies, viz: the assyrian, persian, grecian, and roman." "glad as we were," says the owner, "to obtain this book at a considerable price, we are still gladder of the privilege of closing it." although this lady had eight children, about whom she wrote some amusing rhymes, she found time in the wilds of america to perpetuate also these ponderous-titled poems. phillis wheatly, a colored girl, also wrote poetry in colonial boston, years before our declaration of independence startled the world. she was brought from africa, and sold in the slave market of boston, when only six years old. mr. sparks, the biographer of washington, thinks "that the poems contained in her published volume, exhibit the most favorable evidence on record, of the capacity of the african intellect for improvement." when the rev. george whitefield died, at newburyport, mass., in , the same writer from whom we quote these facts, says: "it was quite natural, his demise being much talked of in religious families, that our sable phillis should burst into monody. that expression of grief i have before me. of the most rhetorical preacher of his age, it is not inspiring to read: "he prayed that grace in every heart might dwell. he louged to see america excel." phillis married badly, and died at the age of thirty-one, in , utterly impoverished, leaving three little children. her own copy of her poems is in the library of harvard college. when she died it was sold for her husband's debts. in a letter thanking her for an acrostic on himself, general washington said: "if you should ever come to cambridge, or near headquarters, i shall be happy to see a person so gifted by the muses, and to whom nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations." was there ever any story, which had such a hold upon the readers of a generation, as "charlotte temple"? it is said , copies were sold soon after publication--an enormous sale for that day. mrs. rowson, who wrote the book, was a daughter of a lieutenant in the royal navy; she was an actress in philadelphia, and afterward kept a school in boston for young ladies, where she died, in . her seminary was highly recommended. women in the last age naturally drifted into the didactic. they should have the credit of trying always to be useful. they go through so many pages, seeking to give the little people some notion of botany, of natural history, of other branches of human intelligence. there is no book cleverer in its way than miss hannah adams' "history of new england," of which the second edition was published in boston in . the object of this lady was, as she tells us in the preface, "to impress the minds of young persons with veneration for those eminent men to whom their posterity are so highly indebted." all the tradition is that miss adams was a wonderfully learned lady. she is best known by her "history of the jews." she wrote pretty good english, of which this may be considered a specimen: "exalted from a feeble state to opulence and independence, the federal americans are now recognized as a nation throughout the globe." to a sentence so admirably formed, possibly there is nothing to add. mistress anne hutchinson. mistress anne hutchinson, founder of the antinomian party of new england, was a woman who exerted great influence upon the religious and political free thought of those colonies. she was the daughter of an english clergyman, and with her husband, followed pastor cotton, to whom she was much attached, to this country in , and was admitted a member of the boston church, becoming a resident of massachusetts one hundred and forty years before the revolutionary war. she was of commanding intellect, and exerted a powerful influence upon the infant colony. it was a long established custom for the brethren of the boston church to hold, through the week, frequent public meetings for religious exercises. women were prohibited from taking part in these meetings, which chafed the free spirit of mistress hutchinson, and soon she called meetings of the sisters, where she repeated the sermons of the lord's day, making comments upon them. her illustrations of scripture were so new and striking that the meetings were rendered more interesting to the women than any they had attended. at first the clergy approved, but as the men attracted by the fame of her discourses, crowded into her meetings, they began to perceive danger to their authority; the church was passing out of their control. her doctrines, too, were alarming. she taught the indwelling of the holy spirit in each believer, its inward revelations, and that the conscious judgment of the mind should be the paramount authority. she was the first woman in america to demand the right of individual judgment upon religious questions. her influence was very great, yet she was not destined to escape the charge of heresy. the first synod in america was called upon her account. it convened august , , sat three weeks, and proclaimed eighty-two errors extant; among them the tenets taught by mistress hutchinson. she was called before the church and ordered to retract upon twenty-nine points. the infant colony was shaken by this discussion, which took on a political aspect.[ ] mistress hutchinson remained steadfast, and was sustained by many important people, among whom was the young governor vane. church and state became united in their opposition to mistress anne hutchinson. the fact that she presumed to teach men, was prominently brought up, and in november, , she was arbitrarily tried before the massachusetts general court upon a joint charge of sedition and heresy. she was examined for two days by the governor and prominent members of the clergy. the boston church, which knew her worth, sustained her, with the exception of five members, one of them the associate pastor, wilson. but the country churches and clergy were against her, and she was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment and banishment. as the winter was very severe, she was allowed to remain in roxbury until spring, when she joined roger williams in rhode island, where she helped form a body-politic, democratic in principle, in which no one was "accounted delinquent for doctrine." mistress hutchinson thus helped to dissever church and state, and to found religious freedom in the united states. after her residence in rhode island, four men were sent to reclaim her, but she would not return. upon the death of her husband she moved, for greater security, to "the dutch colony," and died somewhere in the state of new york. thus, through the protracted struggle of the american colonies for religious and political freedom, woman bravely shared the dangers and persecutions of those eventful years. as spy in the enemy's camp; messenger on the battle-field; soldier in disguise; defender of herself and children in the solitude of those primeval forests; imprisoned for heresy; burned, hung, drowned as a witch: what suffering and anxiety has she not endured! what lofty heroism has she not exemplified! and when the crusade against slavery in our republic was inaugurated in , another spartan band of women stood ready for the battle, and the storm of that fierce conflict, surpassing in courage, moral heroism, and conscientious devotion to great principles, all that woman in any age had done or dared. with reverent lips we mention the names of sarah and angelina grimke, lydia maria child, maria weston chapman, mary s. parker, abby kelly, whose burning words of rebuke aroused a sleeping nation to a new-born love of liberty. to their brave deeds, pure lives, and glowing eloquence, we pay our tributes of esteem and admiration. to such as these let south carolina and massachusetts build future monuments, not in quincy granite, or parian marble, but in more enduring blessing to the people; inviolable homesteads for the laborer; free schools and colleges for boys and girls, both black and white; justice and mercy in the alms-house, jail, prison, and the marts of trade, thus securing equal rights to all. woman's early political rights. in massachusetts, women voted at an early day. first, under the old province charter, from to , for all elective officers; second, they voted under the constitution for all elective officers except the governor, council, and legislature, from to . the bill of rights, adopted with the constitution of , declared that all men were born free and equal. upon this, some slaves demanded their freedom, and their masters yielded.[ ] restrictions upon the right of suffrage were very great in this state; church membership alone excluded for thirty years three-fourths of the male inhabitants from the ballot-box.[ ] that women exercised the right of suffrage amid so many restrictions, is very significant of the belief in her right to the ballot, by those early fathers.[ ] the first step in massachusetts. woman's rights petitions were circulated in massachusetts as early as . mary upton ferrin, of salem, in the spring of that year, consulting samuel merritt, known as "the honest lawyer of salem," in regard to the property rights of married women, and the divorce laws, learned that the whole of the wife's personal property belonged to the husband, as also the improvements upon her real estate; and that she could only retain her silver and other small valuables by secreting them, or proving them to have been loaned to her. to such deception did the laws of massachusetts, like those of most states, based on the old common law idea of the wife's subjection to the husband, compel the married woman in case she desired to retain any portion of her own property. mrs. ferrin reported the substance of the above conversation to mrs. phebe king,[ ] of danvers, who at once became deeply interested, saying, "if such are the laws by which women are governed, every woman in the state should sign a petition to have them altered." "will you sign one if drawn up?" queried mrs. ferrin. "yes," replied mrs. king, "and i should think every woman would sign such a petition." as the proper form of petitions was something with which women were then quite unfamiliar, the aid of several gentlemen was asked, among them hon. d. p. king and judge john heartley, but all refused. miss betsy king then suggested that judge pitkin[ ] possessed sufficient influence to have the laws amended without the trouble of petitioning the legislature. strong in their faith that the enactment of just laws was the business of legislative bodies, these ladies believed they but had to bring injustice to the notice of a law-maker in order to have it done away. therefore, full of courage and hope, judge pitkin was respectfully approached. but, to their infinite astonishment, he replied: "the law is very well as it is regarding the property of married women. women are not capable of taking care of their own property; they never ought to have control of it. there is already a law by which a woman can have her property secured to her." "but not one woman in fifty knows of the existence of such a law," was the reply. "they ought to know it; it is no fault of the law if they don't. i do not think the legislature will alter the law regarding divorce. if they do, they will make it more stringent than it now is." repulsed, but not disheartened, mrs. ferrin herself drew up several petitions, circulated them, obtaining many hundred signatures of old and young; though finding the young more ready to ask for change than those inured to ill-usage and injustice. many persons laughed at her; but knowing it to be a righteous work, and deeming laughter healthful to those indulging in it, mrs. ferrin continued to circulate her petitions. they were presented to the legislature by rev. john m. usher, a universalist minister of lynn, and member of the lower house. although too late in the session for action, these petitions form the initiative step for woman suffrage in massachusetts. early the next fall, similar petitions were circulated. it was determined to attack the legislature in such good season, that lateness of time would not again be brought up as an excuse for non-attention to the prayers of women. mrs. king's interest continued unabated, and through her advice, mrs. ferrin prepared an address to accompany the petitions. hon. charles w. upham, minister of the first unitarian church of salem, afterward representative in congress, was state senator that year. from him they received much encouragement. "i concur with you in every sentiment," said he, "but please re-write your address, making two of it; one in the form of a memorial to the legislature, and the other, an address to the judiciary committee, to whom your petitions will be referred." these two documents will be found to suggest most of the important demands, afterward made in every state, for a change of laws relating to woman. the fallacy of "sacredness" for these restrictive laws was shown; the rights of humanity as superior to any outside authority, asserted; and justice made the basis of the proposed reformation. the right of woman to trial by a jury of her peers was claimed, followed by the suggestion that woman is capable of making the laws by which she is governed. the memorial excited much attention, and was printed by order of the legislature, though the possibility of a woman having written it was denied.[ ] but in , as in , no action was taken, the petitioners having "leave to withdraw." petitions of a similar character were again circulated throughout salem and danvers, in , ' , ' , ' , making six successive years, in each of which the petitioners had "leave to withdraw," as the only reply to their prayers for relief. the hon. mr. upham, however, remained woman's steadfast friend through all this period, and mrs. phebe upton king was as constantly found among the petitioners. in the petitions were signed only by ladies over sixty years of age, women of large experience and matured judgment, whose prayers should have received at least respectful consideration from the legislators of the state. we give the appeal accompanying their petition: gentlemen:--your petitioners, who are tax-payers and originators of these petitions, are upwards of three-score years; ten of them are past three-score years and ten; three of them three-score and twenty. if length of days, a knowledge of the world and the rights of man and woman entitle them to a respectful hearing, few, if any, have prior or more potent claims, for reason has taught them what individual rights are, experience, what woman and her children suffer for the want of just protection in those, and humanity impels them once more to appear before you, it may be for the last time. let not their gray hairs go down in sorrow to the grave for the want of this justice in your power to extend, as have several of their number whose names are no longer to be found with theirs, whose voices can plead never more in behalf of your own children and those of your constituents. in a petition[ ] bearing only mrs. king's name was presented. in the political organization called the "know nothings" came into power, and although no petition was presented, a bill securing the control of their own property to all women married subsequent to the passage of the law, was passed. the power to make a will without the husband's consent, was also secured to wives, though not permitted to thus will more than one-half of their personal property. this law also gave to married women having no children, whose husbands should die without a will, five thousand dollars, and one-half of the remainder of the husband's property. the following year the divorce law[ ] was amended, and shortly thereafter two old ladies, nearly seventy years of age, having no future marriage in view, but solely influenced by a desire to secure their own property to their own children, which without such divorce they would be unable to do, although one of their husbands had not provided for his wife in twenty years, nor the other in thirty years, availed themselves of its new privileges. the first change in the tyrannous laws of massachusetts was really due to the work of this one woman, mary upton ferrin, who for six years, after her own quaint method, poured the hot shot of her earnest conviction of woman's wrongs into the legislature. in circulating petitions, she traveled six hundred miles, two-thirds of this distance on foot. much money was expended besides her time and travel, and her name should be remembered as that of one of the brave pioneers in this work. although two thousand petitions were sent into the constitutional convention of , from other friends of woman's enfranchisement in the state, mrs. ferrin totally unacquainted with that step, herself petitioned this body for an amendment to the constitution securing justice to women, referring to the large number of petitions sent to the legislature during the last few years for this object. working as she did, almost unaided and alone, mrs. ferrin is an exemplification of the dissatisfaction of women at this period with unjust laws.[ ] mrs. ferrin's address to the judiciary committee of the massachusetts legislature in . long have our liberties and our lives been lauded to the skies, to our amusement and edification, and until our sex has been as much regaled as has the southern slave, with "liberty and law." but, says one, "women are free." so likewise are slaves free to submit to the laws and to their masters. "a married woman is as much the property of her husband, likewise her goods and chattels, as is his horse," says an eminent judge, and he might have added, many of them are treated much worse. no more apt illustration could have been given. though man can not beat his wife like his horse, he can kill her by abuse--the most pernicious of slow poisons; and, alas, too often does he do it. it is for such unfortunate ones that protection is needed. existing laws neither do nor can protect them, nor can society, on account of the laws. if they were men, society would protect and defend them. long, silently, and patiently have they waited until forbearance ceases to be a virtue. should a woman make her will without her husband's consent in writing, it is of no use. it is as just and proper that a woman should dispose of her own property to her own satisfaction as that a man should dispose of his. in many cases she is as competent, and sadly to be pitied if not in many cases more so. and even with her husband's consent she can not bequeath to him her real estate. she can sell it with his consent, but the deeds must pass and be recorded, and then, if the husband pleases, he can take the money and buy the property back again. does justice require that a man and his wife should use so much deception, and be at so much unnecessary expense and trouble, to settle their own private affairs to their own satisfaction--affairs which do not in the least affect any other individual? reason, humanity, and common sense answer--no! "all men are created free and equal," and all women are born subject to laws which they have neither the power to make or to repeal, but which they are taxed, directly or indirectly, to support, and many of which are a disgrace to humanity and ought to be forthwith abolished. a woman is compelled by circumstances to work for less than half an ordinary man can earn, and yet she is as essential to the existence, happiness, and refinement of society as is man. we are told "a great deal has already been done for woman;" in return we would tender our grateful acknowledgments, with the assurance that when ours is the right, we will reciprocate the favor. much that has been done, does not in the least affect those who are already married; and not one in ten of those who are not married, will ever be apprised of the existence of the laws by which they might be benefited. few, if any, would marry a man so incompetent as in their opinion to render it necessary to avail themselves of such laws; neither would any spirited man knowingly marry a woman who considered him so incompetent; hence, instead of being a blessing, much labor and expense accrue to those who desire to avail themselves of their benefit; and such a step often induces the most bitter contention. we are told "the bible does not provide for divorce except for one offence." neither does the bible prohibit divorce for any other justifiable cause. inasmuch as men take the liberty to legislate upon other subjects of which the bible does, and does not, take particular notice, so likewise are they equally at liberty to legislate and improve upon this, when the state of society demands it.... a woman who has a good husband glides easily along under his protection, while those who have bad husbands, of which, alas! there are too many, are not aware of the depths of their degradation until they suddenly and unexpectedly find themselves, through the influence of the law, totally destitute, condemned to hopeless poverty and servitude, with an ungrateful tyrant for a master. no respectable man with a decent woman for a wife, will ever demean himself so much as to insult or abuse his wife. wherever such a state of things exists, it is a disgrace to the age and to society, by whomsoever practiced, encouraged, or protected, whether public or private--whether social, political, or religious. a very estimable and influential lady, whose property was valued at over $ , , married a man, in whom she had unbounded, but misplaced confidence, as is too often the case; consequently the most of her property was squandered through intemperance and dissipation, before she was aware of the least wrong-doing. so deeply was she shocked by the character of her husband, that she soon found a premature grave, leaving several small children to be reared and educated upon the remnant of her scattered wealth. nearly twelve years since, a woman of a neighboring town, whose husband had forsaken her, hired a man to carry her furniture in a wagon to her native place, with her family, which consisted of her husband's mother, herself, and six children, the eldest of which was but twelve years old. on her arrival there, she had only food enough for one meal, and nine-pence left. during the summer, in consequence of hardships and deprivations, she was taken violently sick, being deprived of her reason for several weeks. her husband had not, as yet, appeared to offer her the least assistance, although apprised of her situation. but, being an uncommonly mean man, he had sold her furniture, piece by piece, and reduced her to penury, so that nothing but the aid of her friends and her own exertions, saved her and her family from the alms-house. says the law to this heroic woman, "what, though your property is squandered, your health and spirits broken, and you have six small children, besides yourself and your husband's mother to support! after five years of incessant toil in humility and degradation, why should not your lord and master intrude his loathsome person, like a blood-sucker upon your vitals, never offering you any assistance; and should your precarious life be protracted to that extent of time, for twenty dollars you can buy a divorce from bed and board, and have your property secured to you. such, madam, is your high privilege. complain then not to us, lest instead of alleviating your sufferings, we strengthen the cords that already bind you." the moral courage of the "hero of the battle-field" would shrink in horror from scenes like these; but such is the fate of woman, to whom god grant no future "hell." in case a man receives a trifle from a departed friend or any other source, the wife's signature is not required. recently a poor man left his daughter twenty dollars, of which her husband allowed her ten, retaining the remainder for acknowledging its receipt. it was probably the only ten dollars the woman ever received, except for her own exertions, which were constantly required to supply the necessities of her family, her husband being very intemperate and abusive, often pulling her by the ears so as to cause the blood to flow freely. no bodily pain, however intense, can compare with the mental suffering which we witness and experience, and which would long since have filled our insane asylums to overflowing, were it not for the unceasing drudgery to which we are subjected, in order to save ourselves and families from starvation. often does the drunkard bestow upon his wife from one to a dozen children to rear and support until old enough to render her a little assistance, when they are compelled to seek service in order to clothe themselves decently, and often are their earnings, with those of their mother, appropriated to pay for rum, tobacco, gambling, and other vices. "say not that we exaggerate these evils; neither tongue nor pen can do it!" says the unfortunate wife of a man whose moral character, so far as she knew, was unimpeachable, but who proved to be an insufferable tyrant, depriving her of the necessaries of life, and often ordering her out of the house which her friends provided for them to live in, using the most abusive epithets which ingenuity, or the want of it, could suggest. intemperance degraded the character of the man with whom she lived as long as apprehensions for the safety of her life would warrant; from the fact that her health was rapidly failing under the severity and deprivation to which she was subjected, and the repeated threats of violence to her own life and that of her friends. "but one step farther and you drive us to desperation! sooner would i pour out my heart's blood, drop by drop, than suffer again what i have hitherto experienced, or that my female friends should suffer as i have done, and i know that many of them do. yet, neither sacrifice, sympathy, argument, or influence can avail us anything under existing circumstances." such an appeal from helpless, down-trodden humanity, though it were made to a council of the most benighted north american savages, would not pass unheeded. shall it be made in vain to you? to many of us death would be a luxury compared to what we suffer in consequence of the abusive treatment we receive from unprincipled men, which existing laws sanction and encourage by their indiscriminate severity, and with which we are told "it would be difficult to meddle on account of their sacredness and sublimity." the idea is sufficiently ludicrous to excite the risibility of the most grave. though the sublime and the ridiculous may be too nearly allied for females to distinguish the difference, unjust inequality is to them far more contemptible than sacred, having thus far been ungraciously subjected to it. well may we be called "the weaker sex" if the error in judgment is ours, although we have intellect and energy enough not to respect the circumstances under which we are placed, nor the powers which would designedly inflict such injustice upon us. debased indeed would a man consider himself to employ a woman to plead his cause, with a woman for judge and twelve women for jurors. how much less degraded are women when exposed to a similar assembly of men, who have for them neither interest, sympathy, nor respect, subjected as they are to insolent questions and the uncharitable remarks of an indifferent multitude. it is urged that women are ignorant of the laws. they are sufficiently enlightened to comprehend the meaning of justice--a far more important thing--which admits of neither improvement nor modification, but is applicable to every emergency. with the perceptibility that some can boast, it would require but a short time for them to enact laws sufficient to govern themselves, which is all that the most aspiring can covet; convinced as they are that, as in families, so likewise in government, the mild, indulgent parent who would consult the greatest good of the greatest number, is rewarded with agreeable and honorable children; while the one who is unjust, partial, and severe, is proportionably recompensed for his indiscretion. in regard to unjust imprisonment we are told, "it is of too rare occurrence to require legal enactments." how many a devoted wife, mother, and child can tell a far different story. who of us or our children is secure from false accusation and imprisonment, or, perhaps, an ignominious death upon the gallows, to screen some miserable villain from justice? witnesses, lawyers, judges, jurors, and executioners are paid for depriving innocent persons of their time, liberty, health, and reputation, which, to many, is dearer than life, while the guilty one escapes, and society, when too late, laments the sad catastrophe. the life-blood of many a victim demands not only justice for the guilty, but protection for the innocent. first national convention in worcester, october d and th, . the conventions in new york and ohio, though not extensively advertised, nor planned with much deliberation, for in both cases they were hastily decided upon, yet their novelty attracted much attention, and drew large audiences. those who had long seen and felt woman's wrongs, were now for the first time inspired with the hope that something might be done for their redress by organized action. when massachusetts decided to call a convention, the initiative steps were well considered, as there were many men and women in that state trained in the anti-slavery school, skilled in managing conventions, who were also interested in woman's enfranchisement. but to the energy and earnestness of paulina wright davis, more than to any other one person, we may justly accord the success of the first conventions in massachusetts. in describing the preliminary arrangements in a report read in the second decade meeting in new york in , she says: "in may, , a few women in boston attending an anti-slavery meeting, proposed that all who felt interested in a plan for a national woman's rights convention, should consult in the ante-room. of the nine who went out into that dark, dingy room, a committee of seven were chosen to do the work. worcester was the place selected, and the d and th of october the appointed time. however, the work soon devolved upon one person.[ ] illness hindered one, duty to a brother another, duty to the slave a third, professional engagements a fourth, the fear of bringing the gray hairs of a father to the grave prevented another from serving; but the pledge was made, and could not be withdrawn. "the call was prepared, an argument in itself, and sent forth with earnest private letters in all directions. it covered the entire question, as it now stands before the public. though moderate in tone, carefully guarding the idea of the absolute unity of interests and of the destiny of the two sexes which nature has established, it still gave the alarm to conservatism. "letters, curt, reproachful, and sometimes almost insulting, came with absolute refusals to have the names of the writers used, or added to the swelling list already in hand. there was astonishment at the temerity of the writer in presenting such a request. "some few there were, so cheering and so excellent, that it is but justice to give extracts from them: "'i doubt whether a more important movement has ever been launched, touching the destiny of the race, than this in regard to the equality of the sexes. you are at liberty to use my name. william lloyd garrison.' "'you do me but justice in supposing me deeply interested in the question of woman's elevation. catherine m. sedgwick.' "'the new movement has my fullest sympathy, and my name is at its service. william henry channing.' "none came with such perfect and entire fullness as the one from which i quote the closing paragraph: "'yes, with all my heart i give my name to your noble call. "'elizabeth cady stanton.' "'you are at liberty to append my own and my wife's name to your admirable call, "'ann green phillips, "'wendell phillips.' "rev. samuel j. may's letter, full of the warmest sympathy, well deserves to be quoted entire, but space forbids; suffice it that we have always known just where to find him. "'your business is to launch new ideas--not one of them will ever be wrecked or lost. under the dominion of these ideas, right practice must gradually take the place of wrong, and the first we shall know we shall find the social swallowing up the political, and the whole governing its parts. "'with genuine respect, your co-worker, "'mrs. paulina w. davis. elizur wright.' "letters from gerrit smith, joshua r. giddings, john g. whittier, ralph waldo emerson, a. bronson alcott, caroline kirkland, ann estelle lewis, jane g. swisshelm, william elder, rev. thomas brainard, and many others, expressive of deep interest, are before us. "the convention came together in the bright october days, a solemn, earnest crowd of noble men and women. "one great disappointment fell upon us. margaret fuller, toward whom many eyes were turned as the future leader in this movement, was not with us. the 'hungry, ravening sea,' had swallowed her up, and we were left to mourn her guiding hand--her royal presence. to her, i, at least, had hoped to confide the leadership of this movement. it can never be known if she would have accepted it; the desire had been expressed to her by letter; but be that as it may, she was, and still is, a leader of thought; a position far more desirable than a leader of numbers. "the convention was called to order by mrs. sarah h. earl,[ ] of worcester, and a permanent list of officers presented in due order, and the whole business of the convention was conducted in a parliamentary manner. mrs. earl, to whose memory we pay tribute to-day as one gone before, not lost, was one of the loveliest embodiments of womanhood i have ever known. she possessed a rare combination of strength, gentleness, and earnestness, with a childlike freedom and cheerfulness. i miss to-day her clear voice, her graceful self-poise, her calm dignity. "from our midst another is missing: mrs. sarah tyndale, of philadelphia--one of the first to sign the call. indeed, the idea of such a convention had often been discussed in her home, more than two years before, a home where every progressive thought found a cordial welcome. to this noble woman, who gave herself to this work with genuine earnestness, it is fitting that we pay a tribute of affectionate respect. she was, perhaps, more widely known than any other woman of her time for her practical talents; having conducted one of the largest business houses in her native city for nearly a quarter of a century. genial and largely hospitable, there was for her great social sacrifice in taking up a cause so unpopular; but she had no shrinking from duty, however trying it might be. strong and grand as she was, in her womanly nature, she had nevertheless the largest and tenderest sympathies for the weak and erring. she was prescient, philosophical, just, and generous. the mother of a large family, who gathered around to honor and bless her, she had still room in her heart for the woes of the world, and the latter years of her life were given to earnest, philanthropic work. we miss to-day her sympathy, her wise counsel, her great, organizing power. "many others there are, whose names well deserve to be graven in gold, and it is cause of thanksgiving to god that they are still present with us, their lives speaking better than words. some are in the far west, doing brave service there; others are across the water; others are withheld by cares and duties from being present; but we would fain hope none are absent from choice. "profound feeling pervaded the entire audience, and the talent displayed in the discussions, the eloquence of women who had never before spoken in public, surprised even those who expected most. mrs. c. i. h. nichols, of vermont, made a profound impression. there was a touching, tender pathos in her stories which went home to the heart; and many eyes, all unused to tears, were moistened as she described the agony of the mother robbed of her child by the law. "abby h. price, large-hearted and large-brained, gentle and strong, presented an address on the social question not easily forgotten, and seldom to the present time bettered. "lucy stone, a natural orator, with a silvery voice, a heart warm and glowing with youthful enthusiasm; antoinette l. brown, a young minister, met firmly the scriptural arguments; and dr. harriot k. hunt, earnest for the medical education of woman, gave variety to the discussions of the convention. "in this first national meeting the following resolution was passed, which it may be proper here to reiterate, thus showing that our present demand has always been one and the same: "'_resolved_, that women are clearly entitled to the right of suffrage, and to be considered eligible to office; the omission to demand which, on her part, is a palpable recreancy to duty, and a denial of which is a gross usurpation on the part of man, no longer to be endured; and that every party which claims to represent the humanity, civilization, and progress of the age, is bound to inscribe on its banners, "equality before the law, without distinction of sex or color."' "from north to south the press found these reformers wonderfully ridiculous people. the 'hen convention' was served up in every variety of style, till refined women dreaded to look into a newspaper. hitherto man had assumed to be the conscience of woman, now she indicated the will to think for herself; hence all this odium. but, however the word was preached, whether for wrath or conscience sake, we rejoiced and thanked god. "in july, following this convention, an able and elaborate notice appeared in the _westminster review_. this notice, candid in tone and spirit, as it was thorough and able in discussion, successfully vindicated every position we assumed, reaffirmed and established the highest ground taken in principle or policy by our movement. the wide-spread circulation and high authority of this paper told upon the public mind, both in europe and this country. it was at the time supposed to be by mr. john stuart mill. later we learned that it was from the pen of his noble wife, to whom be all honor for thus coming to the aid of a struggling cause. i can pay no tribute to her memory so beautiful as the following extract from a letter recently received from her husband: "'it gives me the greatest pleasure to know that the service rendered by my dear wife to the cause which was nearer her heart than any other, by her essay in the _westminster review_, has had so much effect and is so justly appreciated in the united states. were it possible in a memoir to have the formation and growth of a mind like hers portrayed, to do so would be as valuable a benefit to mankind as was ever conferred by a biography. but such a psychological history is seldom possible, and in her case the materials for it do not exist. all that could be furnished is her birth-place, parentage, and a few dates, and it seems to me that her memory is more honored by the absence of any attempt at a biographical notice than by the presence of a most meagre one. what she was, i have attempted, though most inadequately, to delineate in the remarks prefaced to her essay, as reprinted with my "dissertations and discussions."' "'i am very glad to hear of the step in advance made by the rhode island legislature in constituting a board of women for some important administrative purposes. your intended proposal, that women be impaneled on every jury where women are to be tried, seems to me very good, and calculated to place the injustice to which women are at present subjected, by the entire legal system, in a very striking light. "'i am, dear madam, yours sincerely, "'mrs. paulina wright davis. j. s. mill.' "immediately after the reports were published, they were sent to various persons in europe, and before the second convention was held, letters of cheer were received from harriet martineau, marion reid, and others. "thus encouraged, we felt new zeal to go on with a work which had challenged the understanding and constrained the hearts of the best and soundest thinkers in the nation; had given an impulse to the women of england and of sweden--for frederika bremer had quoted from our writings and reported our proceedings; our words had been like an angel's visit to the prisoners of state in france and to the wronged and outraged at home! "many letters were received from literary women in this country as well as abroad. if not always ready to be identified with the work, they were appreciative of its good effects, and, like nicodemus, they came by night to inquire 'how these things could be.' self-interest showed them the advantages accruing from the recognition of equality--self-ism held them silent before the world till the reproach should be worn away; but we credit them with a sense of justice and right, which prompts them now to action. the rear guard is as essential in the army as the advance; each should select the place best adapted to their own powers." as mrs. davis has fallen asleep since writing the above, we have thought best to give what seemed to her the salient points of that period in her own words. october , , a large audience assembled in brinley hall, worcester, mass. the convention was called to order by sarah h. earle, of worcester. nine states were represented. there were garrison, phillips, burleigh, foster, pillsbury, leaders in the anti-slavery struggle; frederick douglass and sojourner truth representing the enslaved african race. the channings, sargents, parsons, shaws, from the liberal pulpit and the aristocracy of boston. from ohio came mariana and oliver johnson, who had edited the _anti-slavery bugle_, that sent forth many a blast against the black laws of that state, and many a stirring call for the woman's conventions. from ohio, too, came ellen and marion blackwell, sisters of dr. elizabeth blackwell. pennsylvania sent its lucretia mott, its darlingtons, plumlys, hastings, millers, hicks, who had all taken part in the exciting divisions among the "friends," as a sect. on motion of mariana johnson, a temporary chairman was chosen, and a nominating committee appointed, which reported the following list of officers adopted by the convention: _president_--paulina wright davis, r. i. _vice-presidents_--william henry channing, mass.; sarah tyndale, pa. _secretaries_--hannah m. darlington, pa.; joseph c. hathaway, n. y. the call of the convention was read. it contains so good a digest of the demands then made, in language so calm and choice, in thought so clear and philosophical, that we give it entire, that the women of the future may see how well their mothers understood their rights, and with what modesty and moderation they pressed their wrongs on the consideration of their rulers. the call. a convention will be held at worcester, mass., on the d and th of october next, to consider the question of woman's rights, duties, and relations. the men and women who feel sufficient interest in the subject to give an earnest thought and effective effort to its rightful adjustment, are invited to meet each other in free conference at the time and place appointed. the upward tending spirit of the age, busy in an hundred forms of effort for the world's redemption from the sins and sufferings which oppress it, has brought this one, which yields to none in importance and urgency, into distinguished prominence. one-half the race are its immediate objects, and the other half are as deeply involved, by that absolute unity of interest and destiny which nature has established between them. the neighbor is near enough to involve every human being in a general equality of rights and community of interests; but men and women in their reciprocities of love and duty, are one flesh and one blood; mother, sister, wife, and daughter come so near the heart and mind of every man, that they must be either his blessing or his bane. where there is such mutuality of interests, such an interlinking of life, there can be no real antagonism of position and action. the sexes should not, for any reason or by any chance, take hostile attitudes toward each other, either in the apprehension or amendment of the wrongs which exist in their necessary relations; but they should harmonize in opinion and co-operate in effort, for the reason that they must unite in the ultimate achievement of the desired reformation. of the many points now under discussion, and demanding a just settlement; the general question of woman's rights and relations comprehends these: her education--literary, scientific, and artistic; her avocations--industrial, commercial, and professional; her interests--pecuniary, civil, and political; in a word, her rights as an individual, and her functions as a citizen. no one will pretend that all these interests, embracing as they do all that is not merely animal in a human life, are rightly understood, or justly provided for in the existing social order. nor is it any more true that the constitutional differences of the sexes which should determine, define, and limit the resulting differences of office and duty, are adequately comprehended and practically observed. woman has been condemned for her greater delicacy of physical organization, to inferiority of intellectual and moral culture, and to the forfeiture of great social, civil, and religious privileges. in the relation of marriage she has been ideally annihilated and actually enslaved in all that concerns her personal and pecuniary rights, and even in widowed and single life, she is oppressed with such limitation and degradation of labor and avocation, as clearly and cruelly mark the condition of a disabled caste. but by the inspiration of the almighty, the beneficent spirit of reform is roused to the redress of these wrongs. the tyranny which degrades and crushes wives and mothers sits no longer lightly on the world's conscience; the heart's home-worship feels the stain of stooping at a dishonored altar. manhood begins to feel the shame of muddying the springs from which it draws its highest life, and womanhood is everywhere awakening to assert its divinely chartered rights and to fulfill its noblest duties. it is the spirit of reviving truth and righteousness which has moved upon the great deep of the public heart and aroused its redressing justice, and through it the providence of god is vindicating the order and appointments of his creation. the signs are encouraging; the time is opportune. come, then, to this convention. it is your duty, if you are worthy of your age and country. give the help of your best thought to separate the light from the darkness. wisely give the protection of your name and the benefit of your efforts to the great work of settling the principles, devising the methods, and achieving the success of this high and holy movement. this call was signed by eighty-nine leading men and women of six states.[ ] on taking the chair, mrs. davis said: the reformation we propose in its utmost scope is radical and universal. it is not the mere perfecting of a reform already in motion, a detail of some established plan, but it is an epochal movement--the emancipation of a class, the redemption of half the world, and a conforming reorganization of all social, political, and industrial interests and institutions. moreover, it is a movement without example among the enterprises of associated reformations, for it has no purpose of arming the oppressed against the oppressor, or of separating the parties, or of setting up independence, or of severing the relations of either. its intended changes are to be wrought in the intimate texture of all societary organizations, without violence or any form of antagonism. it seeks to replace the worn-out with the living and the beautiful, so as to reconstruct without overturning, and to regenerate without destroying. our claim must rest on its justice, and conquer by its power of truth. we take the ground that whatever has been achieved for the race belongs to it, and must not be usurped by any class or caste. the rights and liberties of one human being can not be made the property of another, though they were redeemed for him or her by the life of that other; for rights can not be forfeited by way of salvage, and they are, in their nature, unpurchasable and inalienable. we claim for woman a full and generous investiture of all the blessings which the other sex has solely, or by her aid, achieved for itself. we appeal from man's injustice and selfishness to his principles and affections. it was cheering to find in the very beginning many distinguished men ready to help us to the law, gospel, social ethics, and philosophy involved in our question. a letter from gerrit smith to william lloyd garrison says: peterboro, n. y., _oct. , _. my dear sir:--i this evening received from my friend h. h. van amringe, of wisconsin, the accompanying argument on woman's rights. it is written by himself. he is, as you are aware, a highly intellectual man. he wishes me to present this argument to the woman's convention which is to be held in worcester. permit me to do so through yourself. my excessive business engagements compel me to refuse all invitations to attend public meetings not in my own county. may heaven's richest blessings rest on the convention. very respectfully and fraternally yours, gerrit smith. mr. van amringe's paper on "woman's rights in church and state" was read and discussed, and a large portion of it printed in the regular report of the proceedings. the papers read by the women, in style and argument, were in no way inferior to those of the men present. letters were read from elizabeth cady stanton, rev. samuel j. may, l. a. hine, elizur wright, o. s. eowler, esther ann lukens, margaret chappel smith, nancy m. baird, jane cowen, sophia l. little, elizabeth wilson, maria l. varney, and milfred a. spaford.[ ] mrs. abby h. price, of hopedale, made an address on the injustice of excluding girls from the colleges, the trades and the professions, and the importance of training them to some profitable labor, and thus to protect their virtue, dignity, and self-respect by securing their pecuniary independence. she thought the speediest solution of the vexed problem of prostitution was profitable work for the rising generation of girls. the best legislation on the social vice was in removing the legal disabilities that cripple all their powers. woman, in order to be equally independent with man, must have a fair and equal chance. he is in nowise restricted from doing, in every department of human exertion, all he is able to do. if he is bold and ambitious, and desires fame, every avenue is open to him. he may blend science and art, producing a competence for his support, until he chains them to the car of his genius, and, with fulton and morse, wins a crown of imperishable gratitude. if he desires to tread the path of knowledge up to its glorious temple-summit, he can, as he pleases, take either of the learned professions as instruments of pecuniary independence, while he plumes his wings for a higher and higher ascent. not so with woman. her rights are not recognized as equal; her sphere is circumscribed--not by her ability, but by her sex. if, perchance, her taste leads her to excellence, in the way they give her leave to tread, she is worshiped as almost divine; but if she reaches for laurels they have in view, the wings of her genius are clipped because she is a woman. dr. harriot k. hunt, of boston, the first woman who practiced medicine in this country, spoke on the medical education of women. sarah tyndale, a successful merchant in philadelphia, on the business capacity of woman. antoinette l. brown, a graduate of oberlin college, and a student in theology, made a logical argument on woman's position in the bible, claiming her complete equality with man, the simultaneous creation of the sexes, and their moral responsibilities as individual and imperative. the debates on the resolutions were spicy, pointed, and logical, and were deeply interesting, continuing with crowded audiences through two entire days. in these debates lucy stone, lucretia mott, wendell phillips, william henry channing, ernestine l. rose, frederick douglass, martha mowry, abby kelly and stephen foster, elizabeth b. chase, james n. buffam, sojourner truth, eliab capron, and joseph c. hathaway, took part. as there was no phonographic reporter present, most of the best speaking, that was extemporaneous, can not be handed down to history. among the letters to the convention, there was one quite novel and interesting from helene marie weber,[ ] a lady of high literary character, who had published numerous tracts on the rights of woman. she contended that the physical development of woman was impossible in her present costume, and that her consequent enfeebled condition made her incapable of entering many of the most profitable employments in the world of work. miss weber exemplified her teachings by her practice. she usually wore a dress coat and pantaloons of black cloth; on full-dress occasions, a dark blue dress coat, with plain flat gilt buttons, and drab-colored pantaloons. her waistcoat was of buff cassimere, richly trimmed with plain, flat-surfaced, gold buttons, exquisitely polished; this was an elegant costume, and one she wore to great advantage. her clothes were all perfect in their fit, and of paris make; and her figure was singularly well adapted to male attire. no gentleman in paris made a finer appearance. one of the grand results of this convention was the thought roused in england. a good report of the proceedings in the new _york tribune_, for europe, of october , , was read by the future mrs. john stuart mill, then mrs. taylor, and at once called out from her pen an able essay in the _westminster and foreign quarterly review_, entitled "enfranchisement of woman." this attracted the attention of many liberal thinkers, and foremost of these, one of england's greatest philosophers and scholars, the hon. john stuart mill, who became soon after the champion of woman's cause in the british parliament. the essayist in speaking of this convention says: most of our readers will probably learn, from these pages, for the first time, that there has risen in the united states, and in the most civilized and enlightened portion of them, an organized agitation, on a new question, new not to thinkers, nor to any one by whom the principles of free and popular government are felt, as well as acknowledged; but new, and even unheard of, as a subject for public meetings, and practical political action. this question is the enfranchisement of women, their admission in law, and in fact, to equality in all rights, political, civil, social, with the male citizens of the community. it will add to the surprise with which many will receive this intelligence, that the agitation which has commenced is not a pleading by male writers and orators _for_ women, those who are professedly to be benefited remaining either indifferent, or ostensibly hostile; it is a political movement, practical in its objects, carried on in a form which denotes an intention to persevere. and it is a movement not merely _for_ women, but _by_ them.... a succession of public meetings was held, under the name of a "woman's rights convention," of which the president was a woman, and nearly all the chief speakers women; numerously reinforced, however, by men, among whom were some of the most distinguished leaders in the kindred cause of negro emancipation.... according to the report in the _new york tribune_, above a thousand persons were present, throughout, and "if a larger place could have been had, many thousands more would have attended." in regard to the quality of the speaking, the proceedings bear an advantageous comparison with those of any popular movement with which we are acquainted, either in this country or in america. very rarely in the oratory of public meetings is the part of verbiage and declamation so small, and that of calm good sense and reason so considerable. the result of the convention was in every respect encouraging to those by whom it was summoned; and it is probably destined to inaugurate one of the most important of the movements toward political and social reform, which are the best characteristic of the present age. that the promoters of this new agitation take their stand on principles, and do not fear to declare these in their widest extent, without time-serving or compromise, will be seen from the resolutions adopted by the convention[ ]. after giving an able argument in favor of all the demands made in the convention with a fair criticism of some of the weak things uttered there, she concludes by saying: there are indications that the example of america will be followed on this side of the atlantic; and the first step has been taken in that part of england where every serious movement in the direction of political progress has its commencement--the manufacturing districts of the north. on the th of february, , a petition of women, agreed to by a public meeting at sheffield, and claiming the elective franchise, was presented to the house of lords by the earl of carlisle. william henry channing, from the business committee, suggested a plan for organization and the principles that should govern the movement. in accordance with his views a national central committee was appointed, in which every state was represented[ ]. paulina wright davis, chairman; sarah h. earle, secretary; wendell phillips, treasurer. this convention was a very creditable one in every point of view. the order and perfection of the arrangements, the character of the papers presented, and the sustained enthusiasm, reflect honor on the men and women who conducted the proceedings. the large number of letters addressed to mrs. davis show how extensive had been her correspondence, both in the old world and the new. her wealth, culture, and position gave her much social influence; her beauty, grace, and gentle manners drew around her a large circle of admiring friends. these, with her tall fine figure, her classic head and features, and exquisite taste in dress; her organizing talent and knowledge of the question under consideration, altogether made her so desirable a presiding officer, that she was often chosen for that position. the second national convention in worcester. in accordance with a call from the central committee, the friends of woman suffrage assembled again in brinley hall, oct. th and th, . at an early hour the house was filled, and was called to order by paulina wright davis, who was again chosen permanent president. this convention was conducted mainly by the same persons who had so successfully managed the proceedings of the previous year. mrs. davis, on taking the chair, gave a brief _resumé_ of the steps of progress during the year, and at the close of her remarks, letters were read from ralph waldo emerson, henry ward beecher, horace mann, angelina grimke weld, frances d. gage, estelle anna lewis, marion blackwell, oliver johnson, and eliza barney, all giving a hearty welcome to the new idea. mrs. emma r. coe, of the business committee, called upon wendell phillips to read the resolutions[ ] prepared for the consideration of the convention. on rising mr. phillips said: in drawing up some of these resolutions, i have used very freely the language of a thoughtful and profound article in the _westminster review_. it is a review of the proceedings of our convention, held one year ago, and states with singular clearness and force the leading arguments for our reform, and the grounds of our claim in behalf of woman. i rejoice to see so large an audience gathered to consider this momentous subject, the most magnificent reform that has yet been launched upon the world. it is the first organized protest against the injustice which has brooded over the character and the destiny of one-half of the human race. nowhere else, under any circumstances, has a demand ever yet been made for the liberties of one whole half of our race. it is fitting that we should pause and consider so remarkable and significant a circumstance; that we should discuss the questions involved with the seriousness and deliberation suitable to such an enterprise. it strikes, indeed, a great and vital blow at the whole social fabric of every nation; but this, to my mind, is no argument against it.... government commenced in usurpation and oppression; liberty and civilization at present are nothing else than the fragments of rights which the scaffold and the stake have wrung from the strong hands of the usurpers. every step of progress the world has made has been from scaffold to scaffold, from stake to stake.... government began in tyranny and force; began in the feudalism of the soldier and the bigotry of the priest; and the ideas of justice and humanity have been fighting their way like a thunderstorm against the organized selfishness of human nature. and this is the last great protest against the wrong of ages. it is no argument, to my mind, therefore, that the old social fabric of the past is against us. neither do i feel called upon to show what woman's proper sphere is. in every great reform the majority have always said to the claimant, no matter what he claimed, "you are not fit for such a privilege." luther asked of the pope liberty for the masses to read the bible. the reply was that it would not be safe to trust the masses with the word of god. "let them try," said the great reformer, and the history of three centuries of development and purity proclaims the result. the lower classes in france claimed their civil rights; the right to vote, and to a direct representation in government, but the rich and lettered classes cried out, "you can not be made fit." the answer was, "let us try." that france is not as spain, utterly crushed beneath the weight of a thousand years of misgovernment, is the answer to those who doubt the ultimate success of the experiment. woman stands now at the same door. she says: "you tell me i have no intellect. give me a chance." "you tell me i shall only embarrass politics; let me try." the only reply is the same stale argument that said to the jews of europe: you are fit only to make money; you are not fit for the ranks of the army, or the halls of parliament. how cogent the eloquent appeal of macaulay: "what right have we to take this question for granted? throw open the doors of this house of commons; throw open the ranks of the imperial army, before you deny eloquence to the countrymen of isaiah, or valor to the descendants of the maccabees." it is the same now with us. throw open the doors of congress; throw open those court-houses; throw wide open the doors of your colleges, and give to the sisters of the de staëls and the martineaus the same opportunity for culture that men have, and let the results prove what their capacity and intellect really are. when woman has enjoyed for as many centuries as we have the aid of books, the discipline of life, and the stimulus of fame, it will be time to begin the discussion of these questions: "what is the intellect of woman?" "is it equal to that of man?" till then, all such discussion is mere beating of the air. while it is doubtless true, that great minds make a way for themselves, spite of all obstacles, yet who knows how many miltons have died, "mute and inglorious"? however splendid the natural endowments, the discipline of life, after all, completes the miracle. the ability of napoleon--what was it? it grew out of the hope to be cæsar, or marlborough; out of austerlitz and jena--out of his battle-fields, his throne, and all the great scenes of that eventful life. open to woman the same scenes, immerse her in the same great interests and pursuits, and if twenty centuries shall not produce a woman charlemagne, or a napoleon, fair reason will then allow us to conclude that there is some distinctive peculiarity in the intellects of the sexes. centuries alone can lay a fair basis for the argument. i believe on this point there is a shrinking consciousness of not being ready for the battle, on the part of some of the stronger sex, as they call themselves; a tacit confession of risk to this imagined superiority, if they consent to meet their sisters in the lecture halls, or the laboratory of science. my proof of it is this, that the mightiest intellects of the race, from plato down to the present time, some of the rarest minds of germany, france, and england, have successively yielded their assent to the fact, that woman is not, perhaps, identically, but equally endowed with man in all intellectual capabilities. it is generally the second-rate men who doubt; doubt because, perhaps, they fear a fair field. suppose that woman is essentially inferior to man, she still has rights. grant that mrs. norton[ ] never could be byron; that elizabeth barrett never could have written paradise lost; that mrs. somerville never could be la place, nor sirani have painted the transfiguration. what then? does that prove they should be deprived of all civil rights? john smith will never be, never can be, daniel webster. shall he therefore be put under guardianship, and forbidden to vote? suppose woman, though equal, does differ essentially in her intellect from man, is that any ground for disfranchising her? shall the fultons say to the raphaels, because you can not make steam engines, therefore you shall not vote? shall the napoleons or the washingtons say to the wordsworths or the herschels, because you can not lead armies, and govern states, therefore you shall have no civil rights? the following interesting letter from harriet martineau was then read, which we give in full, that the reader may see how clearly defined was her position at that early day: cromer, england, _aug. , _. paulina wright davis: dear madam:--i beg to thank you heartily for your kindness in sending me the report of the proceedings of your woman's rights convention. i had gathered what i could from the newspapers concerning it, but i was gratified at being able to read, in a collected form, addresses so full of earnestness and sound truth, as i found most of the speeches to be. i hope you are aware of the interest excited in this country by that convention, the strongest, proof of which is the appearance of an article on the subject in _the westminster review_ (for july), as thorough-going as any of your own addresses, and from the pen (at least as it is understood here) of one of our very first men, mr. john s. mill. i am not without hope that this article will materially strengthen your hands, and i am sure it can not but cheer your hearts. ever since i became capable of thinking for myself, i have clearly seen, and i have said it till my listeners and readers are probably tired of hearing it, that there can be but one true method in the treatment of each human being, of either sex, of any color, and under any outward circumstances, to ascertain what are the powers of that being, to cultivate them to the utmost, and _then_ to see what action they will find for themselves. this has probably never been done for men, unless in some rare individual cases. it has certainly never been done for women, and, till it is done, all debating about what woman's intellect is, all speculation, or laying down the law, as to what is woman's sphere, is a mere beating of the air. _a priori_ conceptions have long been worthless in physical science, and nothing was really effected till the experimental method was clearly made out and strictly applied in practice, and the same principle holds most certainly through the whole range of moral science. whether we regard the physical fact of what women are able to do, or the moral fact of what women ought to do, it is equally necessary to abstain from making any decision prior to experiment. we see plainly enough the waste of time and thought among the men who once talked of nature abhorring a vacuum, or disputed at great length as to whether angels could go from end to end without passing through the middle; and the day will come when it will appear to be no less absurd to have argued, as men and women are arguing now, about what woman ought to do, before it was ascertained what woman can do. let us once see a hundred women educated up to the highest point that education at present reaches; let them be supplied with such knowledge as their faculties are found to crave, and let them be free to use, apply, and increase their knowledge as their faculties shall instigate, and it will presently appear what is the sphere of each of the hundred. one may be discovering comets, like miss herschell; one may be laying open the mathematical structure of the universe, like mrs. somerville; another may be analyzing the chemical relations of nature in the laboratory; another may be penetrating the mysteries of physiology; others may be applying science in the healing of diseases; others maybe investigating the laws of social relations, learning the great natural laws under which society, like everything else, proceeds; others, again, may be actively carrying out the social arrangements which have been formed under these laws; and others may be chiefly occupied in family business, in the duties of the wife and mother, and the ruler of the household. if, among the hundred women, a great diversity of powers should appear (which i have no doubt would be the case), there will always be plenty of scope and material for the greatest amount and variety of power that can be brought out. if not--if it should appear that women fall below men in all but the domestic functions--then it will be well that the experiment has been tried; and the trial better go on forever, that woman's sphere may forever determine itself to the satisfaction of everybody. it is clear that education, to be what i demand on behalf of women, must be intended to issue in active life. a man's medical education would be worth little, if it was not a preparation for practice. the astronomer and the chemist would put little force into their studies, if it was certain that they must leave off in four or five years, and do nothing for the rest of their lives; and no man could possibly feel much interest in political and social morals, if he knew that he must, all his life long, pay taxes, but neither speak nor move about public affairs. women, like men, must be educated with a view to action, or their studies can not be called education, and no judgment can be formed of the scope of their faculties. the pursuit must be life's business, or it will be mere pastime or irksome task. this was always my point of difference with one who carefully cherished a reverence for woman, the late dr. channing. how much we spoke and wrote of the old controversy, influence vs. office. he would have had any woman study anything that her faculties led her to, whether physical science or law, government and political economy; but he would have her stop at the study. from the moment she entered the hospital as physician and not nurse; from the moment she took her place in a court of justice, in the jury box, and not the witness box; from the moment she brought her mind and her voice into the legislature, instead of discussing the principles of laws at home; from the moment she announced and administered justice instead of looking at it from afar, as a thing with which she had no concern, she would, he feared, lose her influence as an observing intelligence, standing by in a state of purity "unspotted from the world." my conviction always was, that an intelligence never carried out into action could not be worth much; and that, if all the action of human life was of a character so tainted as to be unfit for women, it could be no better for men, and we ought all to sit down together, to let barbarism overtake us once more. my own conviction is, that the natural action of the whole human being occasions not only the most strength, but the highest elevation; not only the warmest sympathy, but the deepest purity. the highest and purest beings among women seem now to be those who, far from being idle, find among their restricted opportunities some means of strenuous action; and i can not doubt that, if an active social career were open to all women, with due means of preparation for it, those who are high and holy now, would be high and holy then, and would be joined by an innumerable company of just spirits from among those whose energies are now pining and fretting in enforced idleness, or unworthy frivolity, or brought down into pursuits and aims which are anything but pure and peaceable. in regard to the old controversy--influence vs. office--it appears to me that if influence is good and office bad for human morals and character, man's present position is one of such hardship, as it is almost profane to contemplate; and if, on the contrary, office is good and a life of influence is bad, woman has an instant right to claim that her position be amended. yours faithfully, harriet martineau. from her letter, we find, that miss martineau shared the common opinion in england that the article in the _westminster review_ on the "enfranchisement of woman" was written by john stuart mill. it was certainly very complimentary to mrs. taylor, the real author of that paper, who afterward married mr. mill, that it should have been supposed to emanate from the pen of that distinguished philosopher. an amusing incident is related of mr. mill, for the truth of which we can not vouch, but report says, that after reading this article, he hastened to read it again to mrs. taylor, and passing on it the highest praises, to his great surprise she confessed herself the author. at this convention mrs. elizabeth oakes smith made her first appearance on our platform. she was well known in the literary circles of new york as a writer of merit in journals and periodicals. she defended the convention and its leaders through the columns of the _new york tribune_, and afterward published a series of articles entitled "woman and her needs." she early made her way into the lyceums and some pulpits never before open to woman. her "bertha and lily," a woman's rights novel, and her other writings were influential in moulding popular thought. angelina grimke, familiar with plantation life, spoke eloquently on the parallel between the slave code and the laws for married women. mehitable haskell, of gloucester, said: perhaps, my friends, i ought to apologize for standing here. perhaps i attach too much importance to my own age. this meeting, as i understand it, was called to discuss woman's rights. well, i do not pretend to know exactly what woman's rights are; but i do know that i have groaned for forty years, yea, for fifty years, under a sense of woman's wrongs. i know that even when a girl, i groaned under the idea that i could not receive as much instruction as my brothers could. i wanted to be what i felt i was capable of becoming, but opportunity was denied me. i rejoice in the progress that has been made. i rejoice that so many women are here; it denotes that they are waking up to some sense of their situation. one of my sisters observed that she had received great kindness as a wife, mother, sister, and daughter. i, too, have brethren in various directions, both those that are natural, and those that are spiritual brethren, as i understand the matter; and i rejoice to say i have found, i say it to the honor of my brothers, i have found more men than women, who were impressed with the wrongs under which our sex labor, and felt the need of reformation. i rejoice in this fact. rebecca b. spring followed with some pertinent remarks. mrs. emma e. coe reviewed in a strain of pungent irony the state laws in relation to woman. in discussing the resolutions, charles list, esq., of boston, said: i lately saw a book wherein the author in a very eloquent, but highly wrought sentence, speaks of woman as "the connecting link between man and heaven." i think this asks too much, and i deny the right of woman to assume such a prerogative; all i claim is that woman should be raised by noble aspiration to the loftiest moral elevation, and thus be fitted to train men up to become worthy companions for the pure, high-minded beings which all women should strive to be. a great duty rests on woman, and it becomes you not to lose a moment in securing for yourselves every right and privilege, whereby you maybe elevated and so prepared to exert the influence which man so much needs. women fall far short now of exerting the moral influence intrusted to them as mothers and wives, consequently men are imperfectly developed in their higher nature. mrs. nichols rejoined: woman has been waiting for centuries expecting man to go before and lift her up, but he has failed to meet our expectations, and now comes the call that she should first grasp heaven and pull man up after her. mrs. coe said: the signs are truly propitious, when man begins to complain of his wrongs--women not fit to be wives and mothers! who placed them in their present position? who keeps, them there? let woman demand the highest education in our land, and what college, with the exception of oberlin, will receive her? i have myself lately made such a demand and been refused simply on the ground of sex. yet what is there in the highest range of intellectual pursuits, to which woman may not rightfully aspire? what is there, for instance, in theology, which she should not strive to learn? give me only that in religion which woman may and should become acquainted with, and the rest may go like chaff before the wind. lucy stone said: i think it is not without reason that men complain of the wives and mothers of to-day. let us look the fact soberly and fairly in the face, and admit that there _is_ occasion to complain of wives and mothers. but while i say this, let me also say that when you can show one woman who is what she ought to be as a wife and a mother, you can show not more than one man who is what he should be as a husband and father. the blame is on both sides. when we add to what woman ought to be for her own sake, this other fact, that woman, by reason of her maternity, must exert a most potent influence over the generations yet to be, there is no language that can speak the magnitude or importance of the subject that has called us together. he is guilty of giving the world a dwarfed humanity, who would seek to hinder this movement for the elevation of woman; for she is as yet a starved and dependent outcast before the law. in government she is outlawed, having neither voice nor part in it. in the household she is either a ceaseless drudge, or a blank. in the department of education, in industry, let woman's sphere be bounded only by her capacity. we desire there should no walls be thrown about it. let man read his own soul, and turn over the pages of his own book of life, and learn that in the human mind there is always capacity for development, and then let him trust woman to that power of growth, no matter who says nay. laying her hand on the helm, let woman steer straight onward to the fulfillment of her own destiny. let her ever remember, that in following out the high behests of her own soul will be found her exceeding great reward. william henry channing then gave the report from the committee on the social relations. those present speak of it as a very able paper on that complex question, but as it was not published with the proceedings, all that can be found is the following meagre abstract from _the worcester spy_: woman has a natural right to the development of all her faculties, and to all the advantages that insure this result. she has the right not only to civil and legal justice, which lie on the outskirts of social life, but to social justice, which affects the central position of society. woman should be as free to marry, or remain single, and as honorable in either relation, as man. there should be no stigma attached to the single woman, impelling her to avoid the possibility of such a position, by crushing her self-respect and individual ambition. a true christian marriage is a sacred union of soul and sense, and the issues flowing from it are eternal. all obstacles in the way of severing uncongenial marriages should be removed, because such unions are unnatural, and must be evil in their results. divorce in such cases should be honorable, without subjecting the parties to the shame of exposure in the courts, or in the columns of the daily papers. much could be accomplished for the elevation of woman by organizations clustering round a social principle, like those already clustered round a religious principle, such as "sisters of mercy," "sisters of charity," etc. there should be social orders called "sisters of honor," having for their object the interests of unfortunate women. from these would spring up convents, where those who have escaped from false marriages and illegal social relations would find refuge. these organizations might send out missionaries to gather the despised magdalens into safe retreats, and raise them to the level of true womanhood. mr. channing spoke at length on the civil and political position of woman, eloquently advocating the rightfulness and expediency of woman's co-sovereignty with man, and closed by reading a very eloquent letter from jeanne deroine and pauline roland, two remarkable french women, then in the prison of st. lagare, in paris, for their liberal opinions. just as the agitation for woman's rights began in this country, pauline roland began in france a vigorous demand for her rights as a citizen. the th of february, , she presented herself before the electoral reunion to claim the right of nominating the mayor of the city where she lived. having been refused, she claimed in april of the same year the right to take part in the elections for the constituent assembly, and was again refused. on april , , jeanne deroine claimed for woman the right of eligibility by presenting herself as a candidate for the legislative assembly, and she sustained this right before the preparatory electoral reunions of paris. on the d of october jeanne deroine and pauline roland, delegates from the fraternal associations, were elected members of the central committee of the associative unions. this central committee was for the fraternal associations what the constituent assembly was for the french republic in . _to the convention of the women of america_: dear sisters:--your courageous declaration of woman's rights has resounded even to our prison, and has filled our souls with inexpressible joy. in france the reaction has suppressed the cry of liberty of the women of the future. deprived, like their brothers, of the democracy, of the right to civil and political equality, and the fiscal laws which trammel the liberty of the press, hinder the propagation of those eternal truths which must regenerate humanity. they wish the women of france to found a hospitable tribunal, which shall receive the cry of the oppressed and suffering, and vindicate in the name of humanity, solidarity, the social right for both sexes equally; and where woman, the mother of humanity, may claim in the name of her children, mutilated by tyranny, her right to true liberty, to the complete development and free exercise of all her faculties, and reveal that half of truth which is in her, and without which no social work can be complete. the darkness of reaction has obscured the sun of , which seemed to rise so radiantly. why? because the revolutionary tempest, in overturning at the same time the throne and the scaffold, in breaking the chain of the black slave, forgot to break the chain of the most oppressed of all of the pariahs of humanity. "there shall be no more slaves," said our brethren. "we proclaim universal suffrage. all shall have the right to elect the agents who shall carry out the constitution which should be based on the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. let each one come and deposit his vote; the barrier of privilege is overturned; before the electoral urn there are no more oppressed, no more masters and slaves." woman, in listening to this appeal, rises and approaches the liberating urn to exercise her right of suffrage as a member of society. but the barrier of privilege rises also before her. "you must wait," they say. but by this claim alone woman affirms the right, not yet recognized, of the half of humanity--the right of woman to liberty, equality, and fraternity. she obliges man to verify the fatal attack which he makes on the integrity of his principles. soon, in fact during the wonderful days of june, , liberty glides from her pedestal in the flood of the victims of the reaction; based on the "right of the strongest," she falls, overturned in the name of "the right of the strongest." the assembly kept silence in regard to the right of one-half of humanity, for which only one of its members raised his voice, but in vain. no mention was made of the right of woman in a constitution framed in the name of liberty, equality, and fraternity. it is in the name of these principles that woman comes to claim her right to take part in the legislative assembly, and to help to form the laws which must govern society, of which she is a member. she comes to demand of the electors the consecration of the principle of equality by the election of a woman, and by this act she obliges man to prove that the fundamental law which he has formed in the sole name of liberty, equality, and fraternity, is still based upon privilege, and soon privilege triumphs over this phantom of universal suffrage, which, being but half of itself, sinks on the st of may, . but while those selected by the half of the people--by men alone--evoke force to stifle liberty, and forge restrictive laws to establish order by compression, woman, guided by fraternity, foreseeing incessant struggles, and in the hope of putting an end to them, makes an appeal to the laborer to found liberty and equality on fraternal solidarity. the participation of woman gave to this work of enfranchisement an eminently pacific character, and the laborer recognizes the right of woman, his companion in labor. the delegates of a hundred and four associations, united, without distinction of sex, elected two women, with several of their brethren, to participate equally with them in the administration of the interests of labor, and in the organization of the work of solidarity. fraternal associations were formed with the object of enfranchising the laborer from the yoke of spoilage and patronage, but, isolated in the midst of the old world, their efforts could only produce a feeble amelioration for themselves. the union of associations based on fraternal solidarity had for its end the organization of labor; that is to say, an equal division of labor, of instruments, and of the products of labor. the means were, the union of labor, and of credit among the workers of all professions, in order to acquire the instruments of labor and the necessary materials, and to form a mutual guarantee for the education of their children, and to provide for the needs of the old, the sick, and the infirm. in this organization all the workers, without distinction of sex or profession, having an equal right to election, and being eligible for all functions, and all having equally the initiative and the sovereign decision in the acts of common interests, they laid the foundation of a new society based on liberty, equality, and fraternity. it is in the name of law framed by man only--by those elected by privilege--that the old world, wishing to stifle in the germ the holy work of pacific enfranchisement, has shut up within the walls of a prison those who had founded it--those elected by the laborers. but the impulse has been given, a grand act has been accomplished. the right of woman has been recognized by the laborers, and they have consecrated that right by the election of those who had claimed it in vain for both sexes, before the electoral urn and before the electoral committees. they have received the true civil baptism, were elected by the laborers to accomplish the mission of enfranchisement, and after having shared their rights and their duties, they share to-day their captivity. it is from the depths of their prison that they address to you the relation of these facts, which contain in themselves high instruction. it is by labor, it is by entering resolutely into the ranks of the working people, that women will conquer the civil and political equality on which depends the happiness of the world. as to moral equality, has she not conquered it by the power of sentiment? it is, therefore, by the sentiment of the love of humanity that the mother of humanity will find power to accomplish her high mission. it is when she shall have well comprehended the holy law of solidarity--which is not an obscure and mysterious dogma, but a living providential fact--that the kingdom of god promised by jesus, and which is no other than the kingdom of equality and justice, shall be realized on earth. sisters of america! your socialist sisters of france are united with you in the vindication of the right of woman to civil and political equality. we have, moreover, the profound conviction that only by the power of association based on solidarity--by the union of the working-classes of both sexes to organize labor--can be acquired, completely and pacifically, the civil and political equality of woman, and the social right for all. it is in this confidence that, from the depths of the jail which still imprisons our bodies without reaching our hearts, we cry to you, faith, love, hope, and send to you our sisterly salutations, jeanne deroine, pauline roland. paris, prison of st. lagare, _june , _. ernestine l. rose, having known something of european despotism, followed mr. channing in a speech of great pathos and power. she said: after having heard the letter read from our poor incarcerated sisters of france, well might we exclaim, alas, poor france! where is thy glory? where the glory of the revolution of , in which shone forth the pure and magnanimous spirit of an oppressed nation struggling for freedom? where the fruits of that victory that gave to the world the motto, "liberty, equality, and fraternity"? a motto destined to hurl the tyranny of kings and priests into the dust, and give freedom to the enslaved millions of the earth. where, i again ask, is the result of those noble achievements, when woman, ay, one-half of the nation, is deprived of her rights? has woman then been idle during the contest between "right and might"? has she been wanting in ardor and enthusiasm? has she not mingled her blood with that of her husband, son, and sire? or has she been recreant in hailing the motto of liberty floating on your banners as an omen of justice, peace, and freedom to man, that at the first step she takes practically to claim the recognition of her rights, she is rewarded with the doom of a martyr? but right has not yet asserted her prerogative, for might rules the day; and as every good cause must have its martyrs, why should woman not be a martyr for her cause? but need we wonder that france, governed as she is by russian and austrian despotism, does not recognize the rights of humanity in the recognition of the rights of woman, when even here, in this far-famed land of freedom, under a republic that has inscribed on its banner the great truth that "all men are created free and equal, and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"--a declaration borne, like the vision of hope, on wings of light to the remotest parts of the earth, an omen of freedom to the oppressed and down-trodden children of man--when, even here, in the very face of this eternal truth, woman, the mockingly so-called "better half" of man, has yet to plead for her rights, nay, for her life. for what is life without liberty, and what is liberty without equality of rights? and as for the pursuit of happiness, she is not allowed to choose any line of action that might promote it; she has only thankfully to accept what man in his magnanimity decides as best for her to do, and this is what he does not choose to do himself. is she then not included in that declaration? answer, ye wise men of the nation, and answer truly; add not hypocrisy to oppression! say that she is not created free and equal, and therefore (for the sequence follows on the premise) that she is not entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. but with all the audacity arising from an assumed superiority, you dare not so libel and insult humanity as to say, that she is not included in that declaration; and if she is, then what right has man, except that of might, to deprive woman of the rights and privileges he claims for himself? and why, in the name of reason and justice, why should she not have the same rights? because she is woman? humanity recognizes no sex; virtue recognizes no sex; mind recognizes no sex; life and death, pleasure and pain, happiness and misery, recognize no sex. like man, woman comes involuntarily into existence; like him, she possesses physical and mental and moral powers, on the proper cultivation of which depends her happiness; like him she is subject to all the vicissitudes of life; like him she has to pay the penalty for disobeying nature's laws, and far greater penalties has she to suffer from ignorance of her more complicated nature; like him she enjoys or suffers with her country. yet she is not recognized as his equal! in the laws of the land she has no rights; in government she has no voice. and in spite of another principle, recognized in this republic, namely, that "taxation without representation is tyranny," she is taxed without being represented. her property may be consumed by taxes to defray the expenses of that unholy, unrighteous custom called war, yet she has no power to give her vote against it. from the cradle to the grave she is subject to the power and control of man. father, guardian, or husband, one conveys her like some piece of merchandise over to the other. at marriage she loses her entire identity, and her being is said to have become merged in her husband. has nature thus merged it? has she ceased to exist and feel pleasure and pain? when she violates the laws of her being, does her husband pay the penalty? when she breaks the moral laws, does he suffer the punishment? when he supplies his wants, is it enough to satisfy her nature? and when at his nightly orgies, in the grog-shop and the oyster-cellar, or at the gaming-table, he squanders the means she helped, by her co-operation and economy, to accumulate, and she awakens to penury and destitution, will it supply the wants of her children to tell them that, owing to the superiority of man she had no redress by law, and that as her being was merged in his, so also ought theirs to be? what an inconsistency, that from the moment she enters that compact, in which she assumes the high responsibility of wife and mother, she ceases legally to exist, and becomes a purely submissive being. blind submission in woman is considered a virtue, while submission to wrong is itself wrong, and resistance to wrong is virtue, alike in woman as in man. but it will be said that the husband provides for the wife, or in other words, he feeds, clothes, and shelters her! i wish i had the power to make every one before me fully realize the degradation contained in that idea. yes! he _keeps_ her, and so he does a favorite horse; by law they are both considered his property. both may, when the cruelty of the owner compels them to, run away, be brought back by the strong arm of the law, and according to a still extant law of england, both may be led by the halter to the market-place, and sold. this is humiliating indeed, but nevertheless true; and the sooner these things are known and understood, the better for humanity. it is no fancy sketch. i know that some endeavor to throw the mantle of romance over the subject, and treat woman like some ideal existence, not liable to the ills of life. let those deal in fancy, that have nothing better to deal in; we have to do with sober, sad realities, with stubborn facts. again, i shall be told that the law presumes the husband to be kind, affectionate, and ready to provide for and protect his wife. but what right, i ask, has the law to presume at all on the subject? what right has the law to intrust the interest and happiness of one being into the hands of another? and if the merging of the interest of one being into the other is a necessary consequence on marriage, why should woman always remain on the losing side? turn the tables. let the identity and interest of the husband be merged in the wife. think you she would act less generously toward him, than he toward her? think you she is not capable of as much justice, disinterested devotion, and abiding affection, as he is? oh, how grossly you misunderstand and wrong her nature! but we desire no such undue power over man; it would be as wrong in her to exercise it as it now is in him. all we claim is an equal legal and social position. we have nothing to do with individual man, be he good or bad, but with the laws that oppress woman. we know that bad and unjust laws must in the nature of things make man so too. if he is kind, affectionate, and consistent, it is because the kindlier feelings, instilled by a mother, kept warm by a sister, and cherished by a wife, will not allow him to carry out these barbarous laws against woman. but the estimation she is generally held in, is as degrading as it is foolish. man forgets that woman can not be degraded without its reacting on himself. the impress of her mind is stamped on him by nature, and the early education of the mother, which no after-training can entirely efface; and therefore, the estimation she is held in falls back with double force upon him. yet, from the force of prejudice against her, he knows it not. not long ago, i saw an account of two offenders, brought before a justice of new york. one was charged with stealing a pair of boots, for which offense he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment; the other crime was assault and battery upon his wife: he was let off with a reprimand from the judge! with my principles, i am entirely opposed to punishment, and hold, that to reform the erring and remove the causes of evil is much more efficient, as well as just, than to punish. but the judge showed us the comparative value which he set on these two kinds of _property_. but then you must remember that the boots were taken by a stranger, while the wife was insulted by her legal owner! here it will be said, that such degrading cases are but few. for the sake of humanity, i hope they are. but as long as woman shall be oppressed by unequal laws, so long will she be degraded by man. we have hardly an adequate idea how all-powerful law is in forming public opinion, in giving tone and character to the mass of society. to illustrate my point, look at that infamous, detestable law, which was written in human blood, and signed and sealed with life and liberty, that eternal stain on the statute book of this country, the fugitive slave law. think you that before its passage, you could have found any in the free states--except a few politicians in the market--base enough to desire such a law? no! no! even those who took no interest in the slave question, would have shrunk from so barbarous a thing. but no sooner was it passed, than the ignorant mass, the rabble of the self-styled union safety committee, found out that we were a law-loving, law-abiding people! such is the magic power of law. hence the necessity to guard against bad ones. hence also the reason why we call on the nation to remove the legal shackles from woman, and it will have a beneficial effect on that still greater tyrant she has to contend with, public opinion. carry out the republican principle of universal suffrage, or strike it from your banners and substitute "freedom and power to one half of society, and submission and slavery to the other." give woman the elective franchise. let married women have the same right to property that their husbands have; for whatever the difference in their respective occupations, the duties of the wife are as indispensable and far more arduous than the husband's. why then should the wife, at the death of her husband, not be his heir to the same extent that he is heir to her? in this inequality there is involved another wrong. when the wife dies, the husband is left in the undisturbed possession of all there is, and the children are left with him; no change is made, no stranger intrudes on his home and his affliction. but when the husband dies, the widow, at best receives but a mere pittance, while strangers assume authority denied to the wife. the sanctuary of affliction must be desecrated by executors; everything must be ransacked and assessed, lest she should steal something out of her own house: and to cap the climax, the children must be placed under guardians. when the husband dies poor, to be sure, no guardian is required, and the children are left for the mother to care and toil for, as best she may. but when anything is left for their maintenance, then it must be placed in the hands of strangers for safe keeping! the bringing-up and safety of the children are left with the mother, and safe they are in her hands. but a few hundred or thousand dollars can not be intrusted with her! but, say they, "in case of a second marriage, the children must be protected in their property." does that reason not hold as good in the case of the husband as in that of the wife? oh, no! when _he_ marries again, he still retains his identity and power to act; but _she_ becomes merged once more into a mere nonentity; and therefore the first husband must rob her to prevent the second from doing so! make the laws regulating property between husband and wife, equal for both, and all these difficulties would be removed. according to a late act, the wife has a right to the property she brings at marriage, or receives in any way after marriage. here is some provision for the favored few; but for the laboring many, there is none. the mass of the people commence life with no other capital than the union of heads, hearts, and hands. to the benefit of this best of capital, the wife has no right. if they are unsuccessful in married life, who suffers more the bitter consequences of poverty than the wife? but if successful, she can not call a dollar her own. the husband may will away every dollar of the personal property, and leave her destitute and penniless, and she has no redress by law. and even where real estate is left she receives but a life-interest in a third part of it, and at her death, she can not leave it to any one belonging to her: it falls back even to the remotest of his relatives. this is law, but where is the justice of it? well might we say that laws were made to prevent, not to promote, the ends of justice. in case of separation, why should the children be taken from the protecting care of the mother? who has a better right to them than she? how much do fathers generally do toward bringing them up? when he comes home from business, and the child is in good humor and handsome trim, he takes the little darling on his knee and plays with it. but when the wife, with the care of the whole household on her shoulders, with little or no help, is not able to put them in the best order, how much does he do for them? oh, no! fathers like to have children good natured, well-behaved, and comfortable, but how to put them in that desirable condition is out of their philosophy. children always depend more on the tender, watchful care of the mother, than of the father. whether from nature, habit, or both, the mother is much more capable of administering to their health and comfort than the father, and therefore she has the best right to them. and where there is property, it ought to be divided equally between them, with an additional provision from the father toward the maintenance and education of the children. much is said about the burdens and responsibilities of married men. responsibilities indeed there are, if they but felt them; but as to burdens, what are they? the sole province of man seems to be centered in that one thing, attending to some business. i grant that owing to the present unjust and unequal reward for labor, many have to work too hard for a subsistence; but whatever his vocation, he has to attend as much to it before as after marriage. look at your bachelors, and see if they do not strive as much for wealth, and attend as steadily to business, as married men. no! the husband has little or no increase of burden, and every increase of comfort after marriage; while most of the burdens, cares, pains, and penalties of married life fall on the wife. how unjust and cruel, then, to have all the laws in his favor! if any difference should be made by law between husband and wife, reason, justice, and humanity, if their voices were heard, would dictate that it should be in her favor. no! there is no reason against woman's elevation, but there are deep-rooted, hoary-headed prejudices. the main cause of them is, a pernicious falsehood propagated against her being, namely, that she is inferior by her nature. inferior in what? what has man ever done, that woman, under the same advantages, could not do? in morals, bad as she is, she is generally considered his superior. in the intellectual sphere, give her a fair chance before you pronounce a verdict against her. cultivate the frontal portion of her brain as much as that of man is cultivated, and she will stand his equal at least. even now, where her mind has been called out at all, her intellect is as bright, as capacious, and as powerful as his. will you tell us, that women have no newtons, shakespeares, and byrons? greater natural powers than even those possessed may have been destroyed in woman for want of proper culture, a just appreciation, reward for merit as an incentive to exertion, and freedom of action, without which, mind becomes cramped and stifled, for it can not expand under bolts and bars; and yet, amid all blighting, crushing circumstances--confined within the narrowest possible limits, trampled upon by prejudice and injustice, from her education and position forced to occupy herself almost exclusively with the most trivial affairs--in spite of all these difficulties, her intellect is as good as his. the few bright meteors in man's intellectual horizon could well be matched by woman, were she allowed to occupy the same elevated position. there is no need of naming the de staëls, the rolands, the somervilles, the wollstonecrofts, the sigourneys, the wrights, the martineaus, the hemanses, the fullers, jagellos, and many more of modern as well as ancient times, to prove her mental powers, her patriotism, her self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of humanity, and the eloquence that gushes from her pen, or from her tongue. these things are too well known to require repetition. and do you ask for fortitude, energy, and perseverance? then look at woman under suffering, reverse of fortune, and affliction, when the strength and power of man have sunk to the lowest ebb, when his mind is overwhelmed by the dark waters of despair. she, like the tender ivy plant bent yet unbroken by the storms of life, not only upholds her own hopeful courage, but clings around the tempest-fallen oak, to speak hope to his faltering spirit, and shelter him from the returning blast of the storm. in looking over the speeches of elizabeth oakes smith, abby kelly foster, clarina howard nichols, antoinette brown, and lucy stone, and the well-digested reports by paulina wright davis on education, abby price on industry, and william henry channing on the social relations, comprising the whole range of woman's rights and duties, we feel that the report of one of these meetings settles the question of woman's capacity to reason. at every session of this two days' convention brinley hall was so crowded at an early hour that hundreds were unable to gain admittance. accordingly, the last evening it was proposed to adjourn to the city hall; and even that spacious auditorium was crowded long before the hour for assembling. it may be said with truth, that in the whole history of the woman suffrage movement there never was at one time more able and eloquent men and women on our platform, and represented by letter there, than in these worcester conventions, which called out numerous complimentary comments and editorial notices, notably the following: [_from the new york christian inquirer_, rev. henry bellows, d.d., editor.] the woman's rights convention at worcester. we have read the report of the proceedings of this convention with lively interest and general satisfaction. we confess ourselves to be much surprised at the prevailing good sense, propriety, and moral elevation of the meeting. no candid reader can deny the existence of singular ability, honest and pure aims, eloquent and forcible advocacy, and a startling power in the reports and speeches of this convention. for good, or for evil, it seems to us to be the most important meeting since that held in the cabin of the _mayflower_. that meeting recognized the social and political equality of one-half the human race; this asserts the social and political equality of the other half, and of the whole. imagine the difference which it would have made in our declaration of independence, to have inserted "and women" in the first clause of the self-evident truths it asserts: "that all men _and women_ are created equal." this convention declares this to be the true interpretation of the declaration, and at any rate, designs to amend the popular reading of the instrument to this effect. nor is it a theoretical change which is aimed at. no more practical or tremendous revolution was ever sought in society, than that which this woman's rights convention inaugurates. to emancipate half the human race from its present position of dependence on the other half; to abolish every distinction between the sexes that can be abolished, or which is maintained by statute or conventional usage; to throw open all the employments of society with equal freedom to men and women; to allow no difference whatsoever, in the eye of the law, in their duties or their rights, this, we submit, is a reform, surpassing, in pregnancy of purpose and potential results, any other now upon the platform, if it do not outweigh magna charta and our declaration themselves. we very well recollect the scorn with which the annual procession of the first abolitionists was greeted in boston, some thirty years ago. the children had no conception of the "bobolition society," but as of a set of persons making themselves ridiculous for the amusement of the public; but that "bobolition society" has shaken the union to its center, and filled the world with sympathy and concern. the woman's rights convention is in like manner a thing for honest scorn to point its finger at; but a few years may prove that we pointed the finger, not at an illuminated balloon, but at the rising sun. we have no hesitation in acknowledging ourselves to be among those who have regarded this movement with decided distrust and distaste. if we have been more free than others to express this disgust, we have perhaps rendered some service, by representing a common sentiment with which this reform has to contend. we would be among the first to acknowledge that our objections have not grown out of any deliberate consideration of the principles involved in the question. they have been founded on instinctive aversion, on an habitual respect for public sentiment, on an irresistible feeling of the ludicrousness of the proposed reform in its details. certainly social instinct has its proper place in the judgments we pass on the manners of both sexes. what is offensive to good taste--meaning by good taste, the taste of the most educated and refined people--has the burden of proof resting upon it when it claims respect and attention. but we should be the last to assert that questions of right and rights have no appeal from the bar of conventional taste to that of reason. and however it may have been at the outset, we think the woman's rights question has now made good its title to be heard in the superior court. the principles involved in this great question we can not now discuss; but we have a few thoughts upon the attitude of the reformer toward society, which we would respectfully commend to attention. if the female sex is injured in its present position, it is an injury growing out of universal mistake; an honest error, in which the sexes have conspired, without intentional injustice on one side, or feeling of wrong on the other. indeed, we could not admit that there had been thus far any wrong or mistake at all, except in details. mankind have hitherto found the natural functions of the two sexes marking out different spheres for them. thus far, as we think, the circumstances of the world have compelled a marked division of labor, and a marked difference of culture and political position between the sexes. the facts of superior bodily strength on the masculine side, and of maternity on the feminine side, small as they are now made to appear, are very great and decisive facts in themselves, and have necessarily governed the organization of society. it is between the sexes, as between the races, the strongest rules; and it has hitherto been supposed to be of service to the common interest of society, that this rule should be legalized and embodied in the social customs of every community. as a fact, woman, by her bodily weakness and her maternal office, was from the first, a comparatively private and domestic creature; her education, from circumstances, was totally different, her interests were different, the sources of her happiness different from man's, and as a fact, all these things, though with important modifications, have continued to be so to this day. the fact has seemed to the world a final one. it has been thought that in her present position, she was in her best position relative to man, which her nature or organization admitted of. that she is man's inferior in respect to all offices and duties requiring great bodily powers, or great moral courage, or great intellectual effort, has been almost universally supposed,--honestly thought too, and without the least disposition to deny her equality, on this account, in the scale of humanity. for in respect to moral sensibility, affections, manners, tastes, and the passive virtues, woman has long been honestly felt to be the superior of man. the political disfranchisement of women, and their seclusion from publicity, have grown out of sincere convictions that their nature and happiness demanded from man an exemption from the cares, and a protection from the perils of the out-of-door world. mankind, in both its parts, may have been utterly mistaken in this judgment; but it has been nearly universal, and thoroughly sincere,--based thus far, we think, upon staring facts and compulsory circumstances. in starting a radical reform upon this subject, it is expedient that it should be put, not on the basis of old grievances, but upon the ground of new light, of recent and fresh experiences, of change of circumstances. it may be that the relative position of the sexes is so changed by an advancing civilization, that the time has come for questioning the conclusion of the world respecting woman's sphere. all surprise at opposition to this notion, all sense of injury, all complaint of past injustice, ought to cease. woman's part has been the part which her actual state made necessary. if another and a better future is opening, let us see it and rejoice in it as a new gift of providence. and we are not without suspicion that the time for some great change has arrived. at any rate, we confess our surprise at the weight of the reasoning brought forward by the recent convention, and shall endeavor henceforth to keep our masculine mind,--full, doubtless, of conventional prejudices,--open to the light which is shed upon the theme. meanwhile, we must beg the women who are pressing this reform, to consider that the conservatism of instinct and taste, though not infallible, in respectable and worth attention. the opposition they will receive is founded on prejudices that are not selfish, but merely masculine. it springs from no desire to keep women down, but from a desire to keep them up; from a feeling, mistaken it may be, that their strength, and their dignity, and their happiness, lie in their seclusion from the rivalries, strifes, and public duties of life. the strength and depth of the respect and love for woman, as woman, which characterize this age, can not be overstated. but woman insists upon being respected, as a kindred intellect, a free competitor, and a political equal. and we have suspicions that she may surprise the conservative world by making her pretensions good. only meanwhile let her respect the affectionate and sincere prejudices, if they be prejudices, which adhere to the other view, a view made honorable, if not proved true, by the experiences of all the ages of the past. we hope to give the whole subject more attention in future. indeed it will force attention. it may be the solution of many social problems, long waiting an answer, is delayed by the neglect to take woman's case into fuller consideration. the success of the present reform would give an entirely new problem to political and social philosophers! at present we endeavor to hold ourselves in a candid suspense. judging dr. bellows by the above editorial, he had made some progress in one year. a former article from his pen called out the following criticism from mrs. rose: after last year's woman's convention, i saw an article in the _christian inquirer_, a unitarian paper, edited by the rev. mr. bellows, of new york, where, in reply to a correspondent on the subject of woman's rights, in which he strenuously opposed her taking part in anything in public, he said: "place woman unbonneted and unshawled before the public gaze and what becomes of her modesty and her virtue?" in his benighted mind, the modesty and virtue of woman is of so fragile a nature, that when it is in contact with the atmosphere, it evaporates like chloroform. but i refrain to comment on such a sentiment. it carries with it its own deep condemnation. when i read the article, i earnestly wished i had the ladies of the writer's congregation before me, to see whether they could realize the estimation their pastor held them in. yet i hardly know which sentiment was strongest in me, contempt for such foolish opinions, or pity for a man that has so degrading an opinion of woman--of the being that gave him life, that sustained his helpless infancy with her ever-watchful care, and laid the very foundation for the little mind he may possess--of the being he took to his bosom as the partner of his joys and sorrows--the one whom, when he strove to win her affection, he courted, as all such men court woman, like some divinity. such a man deserves our pity; for i can not realize that a man purposely and willfully degrades his mother, sister, wife, and daughter. no! my better nature, my best knowledge and conviction forbid me to believe it. the una. in february, , paulina wright davis started a woman's paper called _the una_, published in providence, rhode island, with the following prospectus: usage makes it necessary to present our readers with a prospectus setting forth our aims and objects. our plan is to publish a paper monthly, devoted to the interests of woman. our purpose is to speak clear, earnest words of truth and soberness in a spirit of kindness. to discuss the rights, duties, sphere, and destiny of woman fully and fearlessly. so far as our voice shall be heard, it will be ever on the side of freedom. we shall not confine ourselves to any locality, sex, sect, class, or caste, for we hold to the solidarity of the race, and believe if one member suffers, all suffer, and the highest made to atone for the lowest. our mystical name, _the una_, signifying _truth_, will be to us a constant suggestion of fidelity to all. _the una_ could boast for its correspondents some of the ablest men and women in the nation; such as william h. channing, elizabeth peabody, thomas wentworth higginson, rev. a. d. mayo, dr. william elder, ednah d. cheney, caroline h. dall, fanny fern, elizabeth oakes smith, frances d. gage, hannah tracy cutler, abby h. price, marion finch, of liverpool, hon. john neal, of portland, lucy stone, and elizabeth cady stanton. for some time mrs. dall assisted in the editorial department. _the una_ was the first pronounced woman suffrage paper; it lived three years. glancing over the bound volumes, one may glean much valuable information of what was said and done during that period. we learn that lady grace vandeleur, in person, canvassed the election of kilrush, ireland, and from her ladyship's open carriage, addressed a large assemblage of electors on behalf of her husband, the conservative candidate. she was enthusiastically greeted by the populace. the _maine age_ announces the election of a miss rose to the office of register of deeds, and remarks: "before the morning of the twentieth century dawns, women will not simply fill your offices of register of deeds, but they will occupy seats in your legislative halls, on your judicial benches, and in the executive chair of state and nation. we deprecate it, yet we perceive its inevitability, and await the shock with firmness and composure." this same year, _the una_ narrates the following amusing incident that occurred in the town of p----, new hampshire: it is customary in the country towns for those who choose to do so, to pay their proportion of the highway tax, in actual labor on the roads, at the rate of eight cents an hour, instead of paying money. two able-bodied and strong-hearted women in p----, who found it very inconvenient to pay the ready cash required of them, determined to avail themselves of this custom. they accordingly presented themselves to the surveyor of the highway with hoes in their hands, and demanded to be set to work. the good surveyor was sorely puzzled; such a thing as women working out their taxes, had never been heard of, and yet the law made no provision against it. he consulted his lawyer, who advised him that he had no power to refuse. accordingly the two brave women worked, and worked well, in spreading sand and gravel, saved their pennies, and no doubt felt all the better for their labor. in the april number, , we find the following appeal to the citizens of massachusetts, on the equal political rights of woman: fellow-citizens:--in may next a convention will assemble to revise the constitution of the commonwealth. at such a time it is the right and duty of every one to point out whatever he deems erroneous and imperfect in that instrument, and press its amendment on public attention. we deem the extension to woman of all civil rights, a measure of vital importance to the welfare and progress of the state. on every principle of natural justice, as well as by the nature of our institutions, she is as fully entitled as man to vote, and to be eligible to office. in governments based on force, it might be pretended with some plausibility, that woman being supposed physically weaker than man, should be excluded from the state. but ours is a government professedly resting on the consent of the governed. woman is surely as competent to give that consent as man. our revolution claimed that taxation and representation should be co-extensive. while the property and labor of women are subject to taxation, she is entitled to a voice in fixing the amount of taxes, and the use of them when collected, and is entitled to a voice in the laws that regulate punishments. it would be a disgrace to our schools and civil institutions, for any one to argue that a massachusetts woman who has enjoyed the full advantage of all their culture, is not as competent to form an opinion on civil matters, as the illiterate foreigner landed but a few years before upon our shores--unable to read or write--by no means free from early prejudices, and little acquainted with our institutions. yet such men are allowed to vote. woman as wife, mother, daughter, and owner of property, has important rights to be protected. the whole history of legislation so unequal between the sexes, shows that she can not safely trust these to the other sex. neither have her rights as mother, wife, daughter, laborer, ever received full legislative protection. besides, our institutions are not based on the idea of one class receiving protection from another; but on the well-recognized rule that each class, or sex, is entitled to such civil rights, as will enable it to protect itself. the exercise of civil rights is one of the best means of education. interest in great questions, and the discussion of them under momentous responsibility, call forth all the faculties and nerve them to their fullest strength. the grant of these rights on the part of society, would quickly lead to the enjoyment by woman, of a share in the higher grades of professional employment. indeed, without these, mere book study is often but a waste of time. the learning for which no use is found or anticipated, is too frequently forgotten, almost as soon as acquired. the influence of such a share, on the moral condition of society, is still more important. crowded now into few employments, women starve each other by close competition; and too often vice borrows overwhelming power of temptation from poverty. open to women a great variety of employments, and her wages in each will rise; the energy and enterprise of the more highly endowed, will find full scope in honest effort, and the frightful vice of our cities will be stopped at its fountain-head. we hint very briefly at these matters. a circular like this will not allow room for more. some may think it too soon to expect any action from the convention. many facts lead us to think that public opinion is more advanced on this question than is generally supposed. beside, there can be no time so proper to call public attention to a radical change in our civil polity as now, when the whole framework of our government is to be subjected to examination and discussion. it is never too early to begin the discussion of any desired change. to urge our claim on the convention, is to bring our question before the proper tribunal, and secure at the same time the immediate attention of the general public. massachusetts, though she has led the way in most other reforms, has in this fallen behind her rivals, consenting to learn, as to the protection of the property of married women, of many younger states. let us redeem for her the old pre-eminence, and urge her to set a noble example in this the most important of all civil reforms. to this we ask you to join with us[ ] in the accompanying petition to the constitutional convention. in favor of this appeal lucy stone, theodore parker, wendell phillips, and thomas wentworth higginson, were heard. we find in _the una_ the following report of mr. higginson's speech before the committee of the constitutional convention on the qualification of voters, june , , the question being on the petition of abby may alcott, and other women of massachusetts, that they be permitted to vote on the amendments that may be made to the constitution. mr. higginson's speech. i need hardly suggest to the committee the disadvantage under which i appear before them, in coming to glean after three of the most eloquent voices in this community, or any other [lucy stone, wendell phillips, and theodore parker]; in doing this, moreover, without having heard all their arguments, and in a fragment of time at the end of a two hours' sitting. i have also the minor disadvantage of gleaning after myself, having just ventured to submit a more elaborate essay on this subject, in a different form, to the notice of the convention. i shall therefore abstain from all debate upon the general question, and confine myself to the specific point now before this committee. i shall waive all inquiry as to the right of women to equality in education, in occupations, or in the ordinary use of the elective franchise. the question before this committee is not whether women shall become legal voters--but whether they shall have power to say, once for all, whether they wish to become legal voters. whether, in one word, they desire to accept this constitution which the convention is framing. it is well that the question should come up in this form, since the one efficient argument against the right of women to vote, in ordinary cases, is the plea that they do not wish to do it. "their whole nature revolts at it." very well; these petitioners simply desire an opportunity for massachusetts women to say whether their nature does revolt at it or no. the whole object of this convention, as i heard stated by one of its firmest advocates, is simply this: to "make the constitution of massachusetts consistent with its own first principles." this is all these petitioners demand. give them the premises which are conceded in our existing bill of rights, or even its preamble, and they ask no more. i shall draw my few weapons from this source. i know that this document is not binding upon your convention; nothing is binding upon you but eternal and absolute justice, and my predecessor has taken care of the claims of that. but the bill of rights is still the organic law of this state, and i can quote no better authority for those principles which lie at the foundation of all that we call republicanism. i. my first citation will be from the preamble, and will establish as massachusetts doctrine the principle of the declaration of independence, that all government owes its just powers to the consent of the governed. "the end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic.... the body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals; it is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good.... it is the duty of the people, therefore, in framing a constitution of government, to provide for an equitable mode of making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation and a faithful execution of them," etc., etc. now, women are "individuals"; women are a part of "the people"; women are "citizens," for the constitution elsewhere distinguishes male citizens. this clause, then, concedes precisely that which your petitioners claim. observe how explicit it is. the people are not merely to have good laws, well administered; but they must have an equitable mode of making those laws. the reason of this is, that good laws are no permanent security, unless enacted by equitable methods. your laws may be the best ever devised; yet still they are only given as a temporary favor, not held as a right, unless the whole people are concerned in their enactment. it is the old claim of despots--that their laws are good. when they told alexander of russia that his personal character was as good as a constitution for his people, "then," said he, "i am but a lucky accident." your constitution may be never so benignant to woman, but that is only a lucky accident, unless you concede the claim of these women to have a share in creating it. nothing else "is an equitable mode of making laws." but it is too late to choose female delegates to your convention, and the only thing you can do is to allow women to vote on the acceptance of its results. the claim of these petitioners may be unexpected, but is logically irresistible. if you do not wish it to be renewed, you must remember either to alter or abrogate your bill of rights; for the petition is based on that. the last speaker called this movement a novelty. not entirely so. the novelty is partly the other way. in europe, women have direct political power; witness victoria. it is a false democracy which has taken it away. in my more detailed argument, i have cited many instances of these foreign privileges. in monarchical countries the dividing lines are not of sex, but of rank. a plebeian woman has no political power--nor has her husband. rank gives it to man, and, also, in a degree, to woman. but among us the only rank is of sex. politically speaking, in massachusetts all men are patrician, all women plebeian. all men are equal, in having direct political power; and all women are equal, in having none. and women lose by democracy precisely that which men gain. therefore i say this disfranchisement of woman, as woman, is a novelty. it is a now aristocracy; for, as de tocqueville says, wherever one class has peculiar powers, as such, there is aristocracy and oligarchy. we see the result of this in our general mode of speaking of woman. we forget to speak of her as an individual being, only as a thing. a political writer coolly says, that in massachusetts, "except criminals and paupers, there is no class of persons who do not exercise the elective franchise." women are not even a "class of persons." and yet, most readers would not notice this extraordinary omission. i talked the other day with a young radical preacher about his new religious organization. "who votes under it?" said i. "oh," (he said, triumphantly,) "we go for progress and liberty; anybody and everybody votes." "what!" said i, "women?" "no," said he, rather startled; "i did not think of them when i spoke." thus quietly do we all talk of "anybody and everybody," and omit half the human race. indeed, i read in the newspaper, this morning, of some great festivity, that "all the world and his wife" would be there! women are not a part of the world, but only its "wife." they are not even "the rest of mankind"; they are womankind! all these things show the results of that inconsistency with the first principles of our constitution of which the friends of this convention justly complain. ii. so much for the general statement of the massachusetts bill of rights in its preamble. but one clause is even more explicit. in section , i find the following: "all the inhabitants of this commonwealth, having such qualifications as they shall establish by their form of government, have an equal right to elect officers," etc. as "they" shall establish. who are _they_? manifestly, the inhabitants as a whole. no part can have power, except by the consent of the whole, so far as that consent is practicable. accordingly, you submit your constitution for ratification--to whom? not to the inhabitants of the state, not even to a majority of the native adult inhabitants; for it is estimated that at any given moment--in view of the great number of men emigrating to the west, to california, or absent on long voyages--the majority of the population of massachusetts is female. you disfranchise the majority, then; the greater part of "the inhabitants" have no share in establishing the form of government, or assigning the qualifications of voters. what worse can you say of any oligarchy? true, your aristocracy is a large one--almost a majority, you may say. but so, in several european nations, is nobility almost in a majority, and you almost hire a nobleman to black your shoes; they are as cheap as generals and colonels in new england. but the principle is the same, whether the privileged minority consists of one or one million. it is said that a tacit consent has been hitherto given by the absence of open protest? the same argument maybe used concerning the black majority in south carolina. besides, your new constitution is not yet made, and there has been no opportunity to assent to it. it will not be identical with the old one; but, even if it were, you propose to ask a renewed consent from men, and why not from women? is it because a lady's "yes" is always so fixed a certainty, that it never can be transformed to a "no," at a later period? but i am compelled, by the fixed period of adjournment ( a.m.), to cut short my argument, as i have been already compelled to condense it. i pray your consideration for the points i have urged. believe me, it is easier to ridicule the petition of these women than to answer the arguments which sustain it. and, as the great republic of ancient times did not blush to claim that laws and governments were first introduced by ceres, a woman, so i trust that the representatives of this noblest of modern commonwealths may not be ashamed to receive legislative suggestions from even female petitioners. on tuesday, august , , in committee of the whole, the report that "it is inexpedient to act on the petition" of several parties that women may vote, was taken up. mr. green, of brookfield, opposed the report, contending that women being capable of giving or withholding their assent to the acts of government, should upon every principle of justice and equality, be permitted to participate in its administration. he denied that men were of right the guardians or trustees of women, since they had not been appointed, but had usurped that position. women had inherent natural rights as a portion of the people, and they should be permitted to vote in order to protect those inherent rights. mr. keyes, of abington, paid a warm tribute to the virtues and abilities of the fairer sex, and was willing to concede that they were to some extent oppressed and denied their rights; but he did not believe the granting of the privileges these petitioners claimed would tend to elevate or ameliorate their condition. woman exerted great power by the exercise of her feminine graces and virtues, which she would lose the moment she should step beyond her proper sphere and mingle in the affairs of state! mr. whitney, of boylston, believed that the same reasoning that would deny the divine right of kings to govern men without their consent, would also deny a similar right of men over women. the committee had given the best of reasons for granting the prayer of the petitioners, and then reported that they have leave to withdraw. he expatiated on the grievances to which women are subjected, and concluded by moving as an amendment to the report, that the prayer of the petitioners ought to be granted. the committee then rose, and had leave to sit again. wednesday the first business of importance was the taking up in committee of the report "leave to withdraw," relative to giving certain privileges to women. question on the amendment of mr. whitney to amend the conclusion of the report, by inserting "that the prayer of the petitioners be granted." debate ensued on the subject between messrs. marvin, of winchendon; kingman, of west bridgewater; when the question was taken, and mr. whitney's amendment rejected. mr. marvin then moved to substitute "inexpedient to act" for "leave to withdraw"; which was adopted. the committee then rose, and recommended the adoption of the report as amended, by a vote of to . the prejudices of the outweighed all the able arguments made by those who represented the petitioners, and all the great principles of justice on which a true republic is based. we find the following comments on the character and duties of the gentlemen who composed the convention, from the pen of mr. higginson, in _the una_ of june, : _to the members of the massachusetts constitutional convention:_ the publication in our newspapers of the list of members of your honorable body, has won the just tribute of men of all parties to the happy result of the selection. never, it is thought, has massachusetts witnessed a political assembly of more eminent or accomplished men. and yet there are those to whom the daring thought has occurred, that to convoke such ability and learning, only to decide whether our legislature shall be hereafter elected by towns or districts, is somewhat like the course of columbus in assembling the dignitaries of his nation to decide whether an egg could be best poised upon the larger or the smaller end. a question which was necessarily settled, after all, by a compromise, as this will be. but at that moment, there lay within the brain of the young genoese a dream, which although denounced by prelates and derided by statesmen was yet destined to add another half to the visible earth; so there is brooding in the soul of this generation, a vision of the greatest of all political discoveries, which, when accepted, will double the intellectual resources of society, and give a new world, not to castile and leon only, but to massachusetts and the human race. and lastly, as we owe the labor and the laurels of columbus only to the liberal statesmanship of a woman, it is surely a noble hope, that the future isabellas of this nation may point the way for their oppressed sisters of europe to a suffrage truly universal, and a political freedom bounded neither by station nor by sex. elizabeth oakes smith, writing in _the una_, says of this historical occasion: the massachusetts convention did not deign to notice the prayer of these two thousand women who claimed the privilege of being heard by men who assert that we are represented through them. they decided that "it is inexpedient to act upon said petition." this is no cause for discouragement to those who have the subject at heart. two thousand signers are quite as many, if not more, than we supposed would be procured. the believers in the rights of woman to entire equality with man in every department involving the question of human justice are entirely in the minority. the majority believe that their wives and mothers are household chattels; believe that they were expressly created for no other purposes than those of maternity in their highest aspect; in their next for purposes of passion, with the long retinue of unhallowed sensualities, debasements, and pollutions which follow in the train of evil indulgence. with others, women are sewers on of buttons; darners of stockings; makers of puddings; appendages to wash days, bakings, and brewings; echoes and adjectives to men for ever and ever. they are compounds of tears, hysterics, frettings, scoldings, complainings; made up of craftiness and imbecilities, to be wheedled, and coaxed, and coerced like unmanageable children. _the idea of a true, noble womanhood is yet to be created._ it does not live in the public mind. now, in answer to the petition of these two thousand women, the committee reply that all just governments exist by the consent of the governed. an old truism. we reply, women have given no such consent, and therefore are not bound to allegiance. but our sapient legislators say, since there are two hundred thousand women in massachusetts twenty-one years of age, and only two thousand who sign this petition, therefore it is fair to suppose that the larger part of the women of the state have consented to the present form of government. now, this is assuredly a willful and unworthy perversion of the truth. these women are simply ignorant, simply supine. they have neither affirmed nor denied. they have not thought at all upon the subject. but there are two thousand women in massachusetts who think and act, to say nothing of the thousands of intelligent men there who believe in the same doctrine. now here is a little army in one state alone, and that a conservative one, while through the middle and western states are thousands thinking in the same direction. here is the leaven that must leaven the whole lump. here is the wise minority which will hereafter become the overwhelming majority of the country. the committee remark on the fact that while , women have petitioned for a law to repress the sale of intoxicating liquor, only two thousand petition for the right to vote! while the multitude could readily trace the downfall of father, husband, brother, and son, to the dram-shop, only the thinking few could see the power beyond the law and the lawmaker that protects the traffic, the right to the ballot, with which to strike the most effective blow in the right place. new england woman's rights convention. boston, friday, _june , _. this convention assembled the day on which poor anthony burns was consigned to hopeless bondage;[ ] and though many friends of the woman movement remained in the streets to see his surrender, still at an early hour the hall was literally crowded with earnest men and women, whom a deep interest in the cause had drawn together. sarah h. earle, of worcester, was chosen president; lucy stone, chairman of the business committee, reported the resolutions, among which we find the following: _resolved_, that the common law, which governs the marriage relation, and blots out the legal existence of a wife, denies her right to the product of her own industry, denies her equal property rights, even denies her right to her children, and the custody of her own person, is grossly unjust to woman, dishonorable to man, and destructive to the harmony of life's holiest relation. _resolved_, that the laws which destroy the legal individuality of woman after her marriage are equally pernicious to man as to woman, and may give to him in marriage a slave, or a tyrant, but never a wife. william lloyd garrison, emma e. coe, josephine s. griffing, wendell phillips, dr. harriot k. hunt, rev. s. s. griswold, sarah pellet, abby kelly foster, mrs. morton, and lucy stone took part in the debates. letters were received from thomas w. higginson, rev. a. d. mayo, paulina wright davis, mrs. nichols, and sarah crosby. francis jackson,[ ] of boston, made a contribution of $ . committees were appointed from each of the new england states to circulate petitions for securing a change in the laws regulating the property of married women, and limiting the right of suffrage to men. all the sessions drew crowded audiences, and the enthusiasm was sustained to the end. the sympathy for burns intensified the feelings of those present against all forms of oppression. those who had witnessed the military parade through the streets of boston to drive the slave--a minister of the baptist denomination in his southern home--from the land of the pilgrims where he had sought refuge, were roused to plead with new earnestness and power for equal rights to all without distinction of sex or color. woman's rights convention in boston. _sept. and , ._ this convention was fully attended through six sessions, and gave great satisfaction to all engaged in it. after its close, its officers received such expressions of interest from persons not previously enlisted in the cause, as to convince them that a lasting impression was made. the attendance was the best that boston could furnish in intelligence and respectability, and to a greater degree than usual clerical. mrs. paulina wright davis was again chosen president. business committee--dr. william f. channing, caroline h. dall, wendell phillips, and caroline m. severance. among the vice-presidents we find the names of harriot k. hunt and thomas wentworth higginson. caroline h. dall, ellen m. tarr, and paulina wright davis presented carefully prepared digests of the laws of several of the new england states. mrs. davis said: in a bill was introduced into the legislature of this state (rhode island) by hon. wilkins updike, securing to married women their property "under certain regulations." the step was a progressive one, and hailed at that time as a bright omen for the future. other states have followed the example, and the right of woman to some control of her property has been recognized. in vermont passed similar enactments; in -' , connecticut, new york, and texas; in -' , alabama and maine; in , new hampshire, indiana, wisconsin, and iowa followed. but the provisions "under certain regulations" left married women almost as helpless as before. mrs. davis further says: if in , from the practical workings of these statutes, we find ourselves compelled to pronounce them despotic in spirit, degrading and tyrannical in effect, we do not the less give honor to the man who was so far in advance of his age as to conceive the idea of raising woman a little in the scale of being. we have always claimed the honor for new york as being first in this matter, because the property bill was presented there in , and when finally passed in , was far more liberal than in any other state; and step by step her legislation was broadened, until the revolution was complete, securing to married women their own inheritance absolutely, to use, will, and dispose of as they see fit; to do business in their name, make contracts, sue, and be sued. the speakers on the first day of this convention were wendell phillips, thomas w. higginson, and lucy stone; on the second morning, caroline h. dall, antoinette l. brown, and susan b. anthony. the evening closed with a lecture from ralph waldo emerson, and a poem by elizabeth oakes smith. no report of the debates was preserved. in a letter to her family susan b. anthony, under date of sept. th, says: i went into boston on tuesday, with lucy stone, to attend the convention. we stopped at francis jackson's, where we found antoinette brown and ellen blackwell. a pleasant company in that most hospitable home. the convention passed off pleasantly, but with none of the enthusiasm we have in our new york meetings. as this was my first visit to boston, mr. jackson took antoinette and myself round to see the lions; to the house of correction, the house of reformation, the merchant's exchange, the custom-house, state house, and faneuil hall, and then dined with his daughter, eliza j. eddy, in south boston, returning in the afternoon. lucy and antoinette left, one for new york and the other for brookfield. in the evening, ellen blackwell and i attended a reception at mr. garrison's, where we met several of the _literati_, and were most heartily welcomed by mrs. garrison, a noble, self-sacrificing woman, the loving and the loved, surrounded with healthy, happy children in that model home. mr. garrison was omnipresent now talking and introducing guests, now soothing some child to sleep, and now, with his charming wife, looking after the refreshments. there we met mrs. dall, elizabeth peabody, mrs. mccready, the shakespearian reader, mrs. severance, dr. hunt, charles f. hovey, francis jackson, wendell phillips, sarah pugh, of philadelphia, and others. having worshiped these distinguished people afar off, it was a great satisfaction to see so many face to face. on saturday morning, in company with mr. and mrs. garrison and sarah pugh, i visited mount auburn. what a magnificent resting-place this is! we could not find margaret fuller's monument, which i regretted. i spent sunday with charles lenox remond; we drove to lynn with matchless steeds to hear theodore parker preach. what a sermon! our souls were filled. we discussed its excellence at james buffum's, where, with other friends, we dined. visited the steamer _africa_ next day, in which ellen blackwell was soon to sail for liverpool. monday mr. garrison escorted me to charlestown; we stood on the very spot where warren fell, and mounted the interminable staircase to the top of bunker hill monument, where we had an extensive view of the harbor and surrounding country. then we called on theodore parker; found him up three flights of stairs in his library, covering that whole floor of his house; the room is lined all round with books to the very top-- , volumes--and there, at a large table in the center of the apartment, sat the great man himself. it really seemed audacious in me to be ushered into such a presence, and on such a commonplace errand, to ask him to come to rochester to speak in a course of lectures i am planning. but he received me with such kindness and simplicity, that the awe i felt on entering was soon dissipated. i then called on wendell phillips, in his sanctum, for the same purpose. i have invited ralph waldo emerson by letter, and all three have promised to come. in the evening, with mr. jackson's son james, the most diffident and sensitive man i ever saw, miss b---- and i went to the theater to see dussendoff, the great tragedian, play hamlet. the theater is new, the scenery beautiful, and, in spite of my quaker training, i find i enjoy all these worldly amusements intensely. returning to worcester, i attended the anti-slavery bazaar. i suppose there were many beautiful things exhibited, but i was so absorbed in the conversation of mr. higginson, samuel may, jr., sarah earle, cousin dr. seth rogers, stephen and abby foster, that i really forgot to take a survey of the tables. the next day charles f. hovey drove me out to the home of the fosters, where we had a pleasant call. francis jackson and charles f. hovey, though neither speakers nor writers, yet they furnished the "sinews of war." none contributed more generously than they to all the reforms of their times. they were the first men to make a bequest to our movement. to them we are indebted for the money that enabled us to carry on the agitation for years. beside giving liberally from time to time, francis jackson left $ , in the hands of wendell phillips, which he managed and invested so wisely, that the fund was nearly doubled. charles f. hovey left $ , to be used in anti-slavery, woman suffrage, and free religion. with the exception of $ , from lydia maria child, we have yet to hear of a woman of wealth who has left anything for the enfranchisement of her sex. almost every daily paper heralds the fact of some large bequest to colleges, churches, and charities by rich women, but it is proverbial that they never remember the woman suffrage movement that underlies in importance all others. hearing before the massachusetts legislature, march, . _the boston traveller_ says: the representatives hall yesterday afternoon was completely filled, galleries and all, to hear the arguments before the judiciary committee, to whom was referred the petition of lucy stone and others for equal rights for "females" in the administration of government, for the right of suffrage, etc. rev. james freeman clarke was the first speaker. he said: gentlemen, the question before you is, shall the women of massachusetts have equal rights with the men? the fundamental principles of the constitution set forth equal rights to all. a large portion of the property of massachusetts is owned by women, probably one-third of the whole amount, and yet they are not represented, though compelled to pay taxes. it has been said they are represented by their husbands. so it was said that the american colonies were represented in the british parliament, but the colonies were not contented with such representation; neither are women contented to be represented by men. as long as we put woman's name on the tax-list we should put it in the ballot-box. wendell phillips said: self-government was the foundation of our institutions. july , , sent the message round the world that every man can take care of himself better than any one else can do it for him. if you tax me, consult me. if you hang me, first try me by a jury of my own peers. what i ask for myself, i ask for woman. in the banks, a woman, as a stockholder, is allowed to vote. in the bank of england, in the east india company, in state street, her power is felt, her voice controls millions. three hundred years ago it was said woman had no right to profess any religion, as it would make discord in the family if she differed from her husband. the same conservatism warns us of the danger of allowing her any political opinions. lucy stone said: the argument that the wife, having the right of suffrage, would cause discord in the family, is entirely incorrect. when men wish to procure the vote of a neighbor, do they not approach them with the utmost suavity, and would not the husband who wished to influence the wife's vote be far more gracious than usual? she instanced the heroic conduct of mrs. patton, who navigated her husband's ship into the harbor of san francisco, as an argument in favor of woman's power of command and of government. the captain and mate lying ill with a fever, she had the absolute control of both vessel and crew. mrs. stone's speech was comprehensive and pointed, and called forth frequent applause. dr. harriot k. hunt, a woman of wealth and position, protested every year against being compelled to pay taxes while not recognized in the government. dr. hunt's protest of . _to frederick w. tracy, treasurer, and the assessors, and other authorities of the city of boston, and the citizens generally:_ harriot k. hunt, physician, a native and permanent resident of the city of boston, and for many years a taxpayer therein, in making payment of her city taxes for the coming year, begs leave to protest against the injustice and inequality of levying taxes upon women, and at the same time refusing them any voice or vote in the imposition and expenditure of the same. the only classes of male persons required to pay taxes, and not at the same time allowed the privilege of voting, are aliens and minors. the objection in the case of aliens is their supposed want of interest in our institutions and knowledge of them. the objection in the case of minors, is the want of sufficient understanding. these objections can not apply to women, natives of the city, all of whose property interests are here, and who have accumulated, by their own sagacity and industry, the very property on which they are taxed. but this is not all; the alien, by going through the forms of naturalization, the minor on coming of age, obtain the right of voting; and so long as they continue to pay a mere poll-tax of a dollar and a half, they may continue to exercise it, though so ignorant as not to be able to sign their names, or read the very votes they put into the ballot-boxes. even drunkards, felons, idiots, and lunatics, if men, may still enjoy that right of voting to which no woman, however large the amount of taxes she pays, however respectable her character, or useful her life, can ever attain. wherein, your remonstrant would inquire, is the justice, equality, or wisdom of this? that the rights and interests of the female part of the community are sometimes forgotten or disregarded in consequence of their deprivation of political rights, is strikingly evinced, as appears to your remonstrant, in the organization and administration of the city public schools. though there are open in this state and neighborhood, a great multitude of colleges and professional schools for the education of boys and young men, yet the city has very properly provided two high-schools of its own, one latin, the other english, in which the "male graduates" of the grammar schools may pursue their education still farther at the public expense. and why is not a like provision made for the girls? why is their education stopped short, just as they have attained the age best fitted for progress, and the preliminary knowledge necessary to facilitate it, thus giving the advantage of superior culture to sex, not to mind? the fact that our colleges and professional schools are closed against females, of which your remonstrant has had personal and painful experience; having been in the year , after twelve years of medical practice in boston, refused permission to attend the lectures of harvard medical college. that fact would seem to furnish an additional reason why the city should provide, at its own expense, those means of superior education which, by supplying our girls with occupation and objects of interest, would not only save them from lives of frivolity and emptiness, but which might open the way to many useful and lucrative pursuits, and so raise them above that degrading dependence, so fruitful a source of female misery. reserving a more full exposition of the subject to future occasions, your remonstrant, in paying her tax for the current year, begs leave to protest against the injustice and inequalities above pointed out. this is respectfully submitted, harriot k. hunt, green street, boston, mass. harriot k. hunt commenced the practice of medicine at the age of thirty, in ; twelve years after, was refused admission to harvard medical lectures. she often said that as her love element had all centered in her profession, she intended to celebrate her silver wedding, which she did, in the summer of . her house was crowded with a large circle of loving friends, who decorated it with flowers and many bridal offerings, thus expressing their esteem and affection for the first woman physician, who had done so much to relieve the sufferings of women and children. the degree of m.d. was conferred on her by "the woman's medical college of pennsylvania," in . her biographer says she honored the title more than the title could her. marriage of lucy stone under protest. it was my privilege to celebrate may day by officiating at a wedding in a farm-house among the hills of west brookfield. the bridegroom was a man of tried worth, a leader in the western anti-slavery movement; and the bride was one whose fair name is known throughout the nation; one whose rare intellectual qualities are excelled by the private beauty of her heart and life. i never perform the marriage ceremony without a renewed sense of the iniquity of our present system of laws in respect to marriage; a system by which "man and wife are one, and that one is the husband." it was with my hearty concurrence, therefore, that the following protest was read and signed, as a part of the nuptial ceremony; and i send it to you, that others may be induced to do likewise. rev. thomas wentworth higginson. protest. while acknowledging our mutual affection by publicly assuming the relationship of husband and wife, yet in justice to ourselves and a great principle, we deem it a duty to declare that this act on our part implies no sanction of, nor promise of voluntary obedience to such of the present laws of marriage, as refuse to recognize the wife as an independent, rational being, while they confer upon the husband an injurious and unnatural superiority, investing him with legal powers which no honorable man would exercise, and which no man should possess. we protest especially against the laws which give to the husband: . the custody of the wife's person. . the exclusive control and guardianship of their children. . the sole ownership of her personal, and use of her real estate, unless previously settled upon her, or placed in the hands of trustees, as in the case of minors, lunatics, and idiots. . the absolute right to the product of her industry. . also against laws which give to the widower so much larger and more permanent an interest in the property of his deceased wife, than they give to the widow in that of the deceased husband. . finally, against the whole system by which "the legal existence of the wife is suspended during marriage," so that in most states, she neither has a legal part in the choice of her residence, nor can she make a will, nor sue or be sued in her own name, nor inherit property. we believe that personal independence and equal human rights can never be forfeited, except for crime; that marriage should be an equal and permanent partnership, and so recognized by law; that until it is so recognized, married partners should provide against the radical injustice of present laws, by every means in their power. we believe that where domestic difficulties arise, no appeal should be made to legal tribunals under existing laws, but that all difficulties should be submitted to the equitable adjustment of arbitrators mutually chosen. thus reverencing law, we enter our protest against rules and customs which are unworthy of the name, since they violate justice, the essence of law. (signed), henry. b. blackwell, _worcester spy_, . lucy stone. to the above _the liberator_ appended the following: we are very sorry (as will be a host of others) to lose lucy stone, and certainly no less glad to gain lucy blackwell. our most fervent benediction upon the heads of the parties thus united. this was a timely protest against the whole idea of the old blackstone code, which made woman a nonentity in marriage. lucy stone took an equally brave step in refusing to take her husband's name, respecting her own individuality and the name that represented it. these protests have called down on mrs. stone much ridicule and persecution, but she has firmly maintained her position, although at great inconvenience in the execution of legal documents, and suffering the injustice of having her vote refused as lucy stone, soon after the bill passed in massachusetts giving all women the right to vote on the school question. in , caroline h. dall, of boston, gave a series of literary lectures in different parts of the country, on "woman's claims to education," beginning in her native city. her subjects were: _nov. st._--the ideal standard of education, depressed by public opinion, but developed by the spirit of the age; egypt and algiers. _nov. th._--public opinion, as it is influenced by the study of the classics and history, by general literature, newspapers, and customs. _nov. th._--public opinion as modified by individual lives: mary wollstonecroft, anna jamieson, charlotte bronté, and margaret fuller. in june th, of this year, mrs. dall writes to the _liberator_ of her efforts to circulate the following petition: _to the honorable, the senate and house of representatives of the commonwealth of massachusetts, in general court assembled:_ whereas, the women of massachusetts are disfranchised by its state constitution solely on account of sex. we do respectfully demand the right of suffrage, which involves all other rights of citizenship, and one that can not justly be withheld, as the following admitted principles of government show: st. "all men are born free and equal." d. "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." d. "taxation and representation are inseparable." we, the undersigned, therefore petition your honorable body to take the necessary steps to revise the constitution so that all citizens may enjoy equal political rights. new england convention. may th, , an enthusiastic convention was held in mercantile hall. long before the hour announced the aisles, ante-rooms,, and lobbies were crowded. at three o'clock mrs. caroline h. dall called the meeting to order. mrs. caroline m. severance was chosen president. on taking the chair, she said: this movement enrolls itself among the efforts of the age, and the anniversaries of the week as the most radical, and yet in the best sense the most conservative of them all. it bears the same relation, to all the charities of the day, which strive nobly to serve woman, that the anti-slavery movement bears to all superficial palliations of slavery. like that, it goes beneath effects, and seeks to remove causes. after showing in a very lucid manner the difference in the family institution, when the mother is ignorant and enslaved, and when an educated, harmoniously developed equal, she closed by saying: it will be seen then, that instead of confounding the philosophy of the new movement with theories that claim unlimited indulgence for appetite or passion, the world should recognize in this the only radical cure.... no statement could better define this movement than tennyson's beautiful stanzas: the woman's cause is man's; they sink or rise together, dwarfed or godlike, bond or free, if she be small, slight-natured, miserable, how shall man grow? the woman is not undeveloped man, but diverse. yet in the long years, _liker_ must they grow; the man be more of woman, she of man: _he_ gain in sweetness and in moral height-- _she_ mental breadth, nor fail in childward care, nor lose the childlike in the larger mind. and so these twain, upon the skirts of time sit side by side, full-summed in all their powers, self-reverent each, and reverencing each; distinct in individualities, but like each other, as are those who love. then comes the statelier eden back to man; then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm; then springs the crowning race of humankind. and we who are privileged with the poet to foresee this better eden; we who have the future grand and great,-- the safe appeal of truth to time,-- adopting the victorious cry of the crusaders, "god wills it!" may listen to hear above the present din and discord, the stern mandate of his laws, bidding the world "onward! onward!" and catch the rhythmical reply of all its movements, "we advance." mrs. severance then read an appropriate poem from the pen of mrs. sarah nowell, in which she eulogizes florence nightingale, rosa bonheur, harriet hosmer, and asserts the equality of man and woman in the creation. dr. harriot k. hunt made some pointed remarks on the education of woman. the rev. james freeman clarke was then introduced. he said: i understand the cause advocated on this platform to be an unpopular one. it is a feeble cause, a misunderstood cause, a misrepresented cause. hence, it seems to me, if any one is asked to say anything in behalf of it, and if he really believes it is a good cause, he should speak; and so i have come. certainly any interest which concerns one-half the human race is an important one. every man, no matter how stern, hard, and unrelenting he may have become in the bitter strife and struggle of the world, every man was once a little infant, cradled on a mother's knee, and taking his life from the sweet fountains of her love. he was a little child, watched by her tender, careful eye, and so secured from ill. he was a little, inquiring boy, with a boundless appetite for information, which only his mother could give. at her knee he found his primary school: it is where we have all found it. he had his sisters--the companions of his childhood; he had the little girls, who were to him the ideals of some wonderful goodness and excellence, some strange grace and beauty, though he could not tell what it was. with these antecedents no man on the face of the round world can refuse to hear woman, when she comes earnestly, but quietly saying, "we are not where we ought to be;" "we do not have what we ought to have." i think their demands are reasonable, all of them. what are they? occupation, education, and the highest sphere of work of which they are capable. these i understand to be the three demands. st. occupation. when your child steals on a busy hour and asks for "something to do," you feel ashamed that you have nothing for him--that you can not give him the natural occupation which shall develop all the faculties of mind and body. is it not a reasonable request which women make, when they ask for something to do? they want to be useful in the world. they ask permission to support themselves and those who are dear to them. what can they do now? they can go into factories, a few of them; a few more can be servants in your homes; they can cook your dinner if they have been taught how. if they are women of genius, they can take the pen and write; but how few are there in this world, either men or women of genius. if they have extraordinary business talent, they can keep a boarding-house. if they have some education they can keep school. after this, there is the point of the needle upon which they may be precipitated--and nothing else. we see the gloom that must fall on them, on their children, and on all they love, when the male protector is taken away. this demand for more varied occupation is not a new one. many years ago, one of the wisest and truest men of this country, a philanthropist and reformer--matthew carey, of philadelphia--labored to impress upon the people the fact, that what was wanted for the elevation of woman was to open to her new avenues of business. a very sad book was written a few months ago, "dr. sanger's work on prostitution." it is a very dreadful book; not calculated, i think, to excite any prurient feeling in any one. in that book he says: first, that the majority of the prostitutes of this country are mere children, between the ages of fifteen and twenty. that the lives of these poor, wretched, degraded creatures, last on an average about four years. now, when we hear of slaves used up in six years on a sugar plantation, we think it horrible; but here are these poor girls killed in a more dreadful way, in a shorter time. and he adds that the principal cause of their prostitution is that they have no occupation by which they can support themselves. without support, without resources, they struggle for a while and then are thrown under the feet of the trampling city. give them occupation and they will take care of themselves: they will rise out of the mire of pollution, out of this filth; for it is not in the nature of woman to remain there. give them at least a chance; open wide every door; and whenever they are able to get a living by their head or their hands in an honest way, let them do it. this is the first claim; and it seems to me that no one can reasonably object to it. d. education. you say that public schools are open to girls as well as boys. i know that, but what is it that educates? the school has but little to do with it. when the boy goes there you say, "go there, work with a will, and fit yourself for an occupation whereby you may earn your bread." but you say to the girls, "go to school, get your education, and then come home, sit still, and do nothing." we must give them every chance to fit themselves for new spheres of duty. if a woman wants to study medicine, let her study it; if she wants to study divinity, let her study it; if she wants to study anything, let her have the opportunity. if she finds faculties within her, let them have a chance to expand. that is the second demand--the whole of it. and the third claim is for a sphere of influence. "that is not it," do you say? "you want to take woman _out_ of her sphere." not at all, we wish to give her a sphere, not to take her from any place she likes to fill; to give her a chance to exercise those wonderful, those divine faculties that god has wrapped in the feminine mind, in the woman's heart. as regards voting, why should not women go to the polls? you think it a very strange desire, i know; but we have thought many things stranger which seem quite natural now. one need not live long to find strange things grow common. why not vote, then? is it because they have not as much power to understand what is true and right as man? if you go to the polls, and see the style of men who meet there voting, can you come away, and tell us that the women you meet are not as able to decide what is right as those men? "ah, it will brush off every feminine grace, if woman goes to the polls." why? "because she must meet rude men there." very well, so she must meet them in the street, and they do not hurt her; nor will i believe that there is not sufficient inventive power in the yankee intellect to overcome this difficulty. i can conceive of a broader and more generous activity in politics. i can see her drawing out all the harshness and bitterness when she goes to the polls. these three points are all i intended to touch; and i will give way to those who are to follow. mrs. caroline h. dall was then introduced. she said: i have observed that all public orators labor under some embarrassment when they rise to speak. not to be behind the dignity of my position, i labor under a _double_ embarrassment. the first is the "embarras des richesses." there are so many topics to touch, so many facts to relate, that it is impossible to cover them in one half hour, and the second--perhaps you will think that an embarrassment of riches also; for it is an embarrassment of clarke and phillips. the orator needs no common courage who follows the one and precedes the other. it is my duty to speak of the progress of the cause; it is impossible to keep pace with it. you may work day and night, but this thought of god outstrips you, working hourly through the life of man. yet we must often feel discouraged. our war is not without; our work follows us into the heart of the family. we must sustain ourselves in that dear circle against our nearest friends; against the all-pervading law, "thus far shalt thou come, and no farther." what have we gained since ? many things, so important, that they can not be worthily treated here. i have often mentioned in my lectures, that in his first report to the french government, neckar gave the credit of his retrenchments to his thrifty, order-loving wife. until this year, that acknowledgment stood alone in history. but now john stuart mill, the great philosopher and political economist of england, dedicates his "essay on liberty" to the memory of his beloved wife, who has been the _inspiration of all, and the author of much_ that was best in his writings for many years past. still farther, in a pamphlet on "english political reform," treating of the extension of the suffrage, he has gone so far as to recommend that all householders, without distinction of sex, be adopted into the constituency, upon proving to the registrar's officer that they have a certain income--say fifty pounds--and "that they can read, write, and calculate." a great step was taken also in the establishment of the institution for the advancement of social science. the sexes are equal before it. it has five departments. . jurisprudence, or law reform; . education; . punishment and reformation; . public health; . social economy. the first meeting at liverpool considered the woman's question; and, while it was debated, mary carpenter sat upon the platform, or lifted her voice side by side with brougham, lord john russell, and stanley. at the second meeting (last october), lord john russell was in the chair. the lord chancellor of ireland presided over law reform; the right hon. w. f. cooper, over the department of education; the earl of carlyle--personally known to many on this platform--over that which concerns the reformation of criminals; the earl of shaftesbury over public health; and conolly and charles kingsley and tom taylor and rawlinson bore witness side by side with florence nightingale. sir james stephen presided over social economy. isa craig, the burns poetess, is one of its secretaries. ten communications were read at this session by women; among them, florence nightingale, mary carpenter, isa craig, louisa twining, and mrs. fison. four were on popular education, two upon punishment and reformation, three on the public health in the army and elsewhere, one upon social economy. still another proof of progress may be seen in the examination of florence nightingale by the sanitary commission. [in the establishment of _the englishwoman's journal_ with an honorable corps of writers, in the passage of the new divorce bill, of the married woman's property bill in canada, the cause had gained much; on each of which mrs. dall spoke at some length, especially this property bill, which some foolish member had shorn of its most precious clause--that which secured her earnings to the working-woman, lest, by tempting her to labor, it should create a divided interest in the family]. do you ask me why i have dwelt on this institution for social science, cataloguing the noble names that do it honor? to strengthen the timorous hearts at the west end; to suggest to them that a coronet of god's own giving may possibly rest as secure as one of gold and jewels in the united kingdom. i wish to draw your attention to the social distinction of the men upon that platform. no real nobleness will be imperiled by impartial listening to our plea. would you rest secure in our respect, first feel secure in your own. if ten beacon street ladies would go to work, and take pay for their labor, it would do more good than all the speeches that were ever made, all the conventions that were ever held. i honor women who act. that is the reason that i greet so gladly girls like harriet hosmer, louisa lander, and margurèite foley. whatever they do, or do not do, for art, they do a great deal for the cause of labor. i do not believe any one in this room has any idea of the avenues that are open to women already. let me read you some of the results of the last census of the united kingdom. talk of women not being able to work! women have been doing hard work ever since the world began. you will see by this that they are doing as much as men now. [applause]. in , there were engaged in agriculture, , women. in , , ; nearly double the number. of these, there are , dairy-women; women who lift enormous tubs, turn heavy cheeses, slap butter by the hundred weight. then come market-gardeners, bee-mistresses, florists, flax producers and beaters, haymakers, reapers, and hop-pickers. in natural connection with the soil, we find seven thousand women in the mining interest; not harnessed on all-fours to creep through the shafts, but dressers of ore, and washers and strainers of clay for the potteries. next largest to the agricultural is one not to be exactly calculated--the fishing interest. the pilchard fishery employs some thousands of women. the jersey oyster fishery alone employs one thousand. then follow the herring, cod, whale, and lobster fisheries. apart from the christie johnstones--the aristocrats of the trade--the sea nurtures an heroic class like grace darling, who stand aghast when society rewards a deed of humanity, and cry out in expostulation, "why, every girl on the coast would have done as i did!" then follow the kelp-burners, netters, and bathers. the netters make the fisherman's nets; the bathers manage the machines at the watering-places. and, before quitting this subject, i should like to allude to the french fishwomen; partly as a matter of curiosity, partly to prove that women know how to labor. in the reign of henry iv., there existed in paris a privileged monopoly called the united corporation of fishmongers and herringers. in the reign of louis xiv. this corporation had managed so badly as to become insolvent. the women who had hawked and vended fish took up the business, and managed so well as to become very soon a political power. they became rich, and their children married into good families. you will remember the atrocities generally ascribed to them in the first revolution. it is now known that these were committed by ruffians disguised in their dress. to return: there are in the united kingdom , female servants. separate from these, brewers, custom-house searchers, matrons of jails, lighthouse-keepers, pew-openers. i have no time to question; but should not a christian community offer womanly ministrations to its imprisoned women? oh, that some brave heart, in a strong body, might go on our behalf to the city jail and charlestown! pew-opening has never been a trade in america; but, as there are signs that it may become so in this democratic community, i would advise our women to keep an eye to that. [laughter]. there are in the united kingdom , business women, beer-shop keepers, butcher-wives, milk-women, hack-owners, and shoemakers. as one item of this list, consider , butcher-wives--women who do not merely preside over a business, but buy stock, put down meat, drive a cart even if needed--butchers to all intents and purposes. there are , shop-keepers, but only , shop-women. telegraph reporters are increasing rapidly. their speed and accuracy are much praised. from the bright festival, at manchester, a young woman reported, at the rate of twenty-nine words a minute, six whole columns, with hardly a mistake, though the whole matter was political, such as she was supposed not to understand! phonographic reporters also. a year ago there were but three female phonographers in america; and two of these did not get their bread by the work. now hundreds are qualifying themselves, all over the land; and two young girls, not out of their teens, are at this moment reporting my words. [cheers]. i hope the phonographers will take that clapping to themselves. i wish you would make it heartier. [repeated cheers]. now let us turn to the american census. i must touch it lightly. of factory operatives, i will only say, that, in , there were , men and , women engaged in textile manufactures. you will be surprised at the preponderance of women: it seems to be as great in other countries. then follow makers of gloves, makers of glue, workers in gold and silver leaf, hair-weavers, hat and cap makers, hose-weavers, workers in india rubber, lamp-makers, laundresses, leechers, milliners, morocco-workers, nurses, paper-hangers, physicians, picklers and preservers, saddlers and harness-makers, shoemakers, soda-room keepers, snuff and cigar-makers, stock and suspender-makers, truss-makers, typers and stereotypers, umbrella-makers, upholsterers, card-makers. cards were invented in . in less than seventy years the german manufacture was in the hands of women--elizabeth and margaret, at nuremberg. then grinders of watch crystals, , women in all. my own observation adds to this list phonographers, house and sign painters, fruit-hawkers, button-makers, tobacco-packers, paper-box makers, embroiderers, and fur-sewers. perhaps i should say haymakers and reapers; since, for three or four years, bands of girls have been so employed in ohio, at sixty-two and a half cents a day. in new haven, seven women work with seventy men in a clock factory, at half wages. if the proprietor answered honestly, when asked why he employed them, he would say, "to save money;" but he does answer, "to help our cause." in waltham, a watch factory has been established, whose statistics i shall use elsewhere. in winchester, va., a father has lately taken a daughter into partnership; and the firm is "j. wysong and daughter." [applause]. is it not a shame it should happen first in a slave state? then come registers of deeds and postmistresses. we all know that the rural post-office is chiefly in the hands of irresponsible women. petty politicians obtain the office, take the money, and leave wives and sisters to do the work. [here mrs. dall read an interesting letter from a female machinist in delaware; but, as it will be published in another connection, it is here withheld]. is it easy for women to break the way into new avenues? you know it is not. [here mrs. dall referred to the opposition shown to the employment of women in watch-making, by mr. bennett, in london; to the school at marlborough house; to the employment of women in printing-offices--substantiating her statements by dates and names]. when i first heard that women were employed in staffordshire to paint pottery and china--which they do with far more taste than men--i heard, also, that the jealousy of the men refused to allow them the customary hand-rest, and so kept down their wages. i refused to believe anything so contemptible. [applause]. now the edinburgh review confirms the story. thank god! that could never happen in this country. with us, labor can not dictate to capital. but the great evils which lie at the foundation of depressed wages are: st. that want of respect for labor which prevents ladies from engaging in it. d. that want of respect for women which prevents men from valuing properly the work they do. women themselves must change these facts. [mrs. dall here read some letters to show that wages were at a starving-point in the cities of america as well as in europe]. i am tired of the folly of the political economist, constantly crying that wages can never rise till the laborers are fewer. you have heard of the old law in hydraulics, that water will always rise to the level of its source; but, if by a forcing-pump, you raise it a thousand feet above, or by some huge syphon drop it a thousand feet below, does that law hold? very well, the artificial restrictions of society are such a forcing-pump--are such a syphon. make woman equal before the law with man, and wages will adjust themselves. but what is the present remedy? a very easy one--for employers to adopt the cash system, and be content with rational profits. in my correspondence during the past year, master-tailors tell me that they pay from eight cents to fifty cents a day for the making of pantaloons, including the heaviest doeskins. do you suppose they would dare to tell me how they charge that work on their slowly-paying customer's bills? not they. the eight cents swells to thirty, the fifty to a dollar or a dollar twenty-five. put an end to this, and master-tailors would no longer vault into beacon street over prostrate women's souls; but neither would women be driven to the streets for bread. if i had time, i would show you, women, how much depends upon yourselves. as it is, we may say with the heroine of "adam bede," which you have doubtless all been reading: "i'm not for denying that the women are foolish. god almighty made 'em to match the men!" [laughter]. do you laugh? it is but a step from the ridiculous to the sublime; and goethe, who knew women well, was of the same mind when he wrote: "wilt thou dare to blame the woman for her seeming sudden changes-- swaying east and swaying westward, as the breezes shake the tree? fool! thy selfish thought misguides thee. find the man that never ranges. woman wavers but to seek him. is not, then, the fault in thee?" mrs. dall was followed by the rev. john t. sargent, who said: madam president and friends:--i appreciate the honor of an invitation to this platform, but my words must be few; first, because the call comes to me within a few hours, and amid the cares and responsibilities of the chair on another platform, and i had no time for preconcerted forms of address; second, because the general principles of this organization, and the subject matters for discussion, are so well sifted and disposed of by previous speakers, that nothing new remains for me to say; and, third, because we are all waiting for the words of one [wendell phillips] whose sympathies are never wanting in any cause of truth and justice, whose versatile eloquence never hesitates on any platform where he waves aloft "the sword of the spirit" in behalf of human rights. [applause]. i may truly say, that this is my maiden speech in behalf of maidens and others [laughter]; and, if it amount to nothing else, i may say, as did my friend clarke, i feel bound, at least, to take my stand, and show my sympathy for the noble cause. i come here under the pressure of an obligation to testify in behalf of an interest truly christian, and one of the greatest that can engage the reason or the conscience of a community. i would that you had upon this platform and every other, more women speakers for the upholding and consummation of every righteous cause! and so far am i from being frightened to death or embarrassed, as our friend mrs. dall has intimated any one might be, at the prospect of either following james freeman clarke or preceding wendell phillips, i am much more concerned by the contrast of my speech with such speakers as your president, or dr. hunt, or mrs. dall herself. there is one feature of the general question of "woman's rights" on which i would say a single word; and it may constitute the specialty of my address, so far as it has any. i mean the bearing of social inequalities particularly upon the poor--the poor of a city--the poor women of a city. it may not be unknown to most of you, that for nearly two years past, in connection with the so-called "boston provident association," i have been engaged in an agency wherein the peculiar trials of this class have been revealed to me as never before. hundreds of poor, desolate, forsaken women, especially in the winter months, have come to that office with the same pitiable tale of poverty, desertion, and tyranny on the part of their worthless and drunken husbands, who had gone off to california, kansas, or the west, taking away from their wives and children every possible means of support, and leaving them the pauper dependents on a public charity. now, if this be not the denial of woman's rights, i know not what is. had we time, i might fill the hour with a journal of statistics in painful illustration of these facts. now, i say, that a system of society which can tolerate such a state of things, and, by sufferance even, allow such men to wrench away the plain rights of their wives and families, needs reforming. but let us look a little higher in the social scale, to the rights and claims of a class of women not so dependent--a class who, by their education and culture, are competent to fill, or who may be filling, the position of clerks, secretaries, or assistant agents. how inadequate and insufficient, as a general thing, is the compensation they receive! there was associated with me in the agency and office to which i have referred, as office-clerk and coadjutor, among others, an intelligent and very worthy young woman, whose term of service there has been coeval and coincident with the association itself, even through the whole seven years or more; and there she still survives, through all the vicissitudes of the general agency by death or otherwise, with a fidelity of service worthy of more liberal compensation; for she receives, even now, for an amount of service equal to that of any other in the office, only about one-third the salary paid to a male occupant of the same sphere! look next at the professional sphere of women, properly so called; and who shall deny her right and claim to that position? a young brother clergyman came to my office one day, wanting his pulpit supplied; and, in the course of conversation, asked very earnestly, "how would it do to invite a woman-preacher into my pulpit?" "do!" said i (giving him the names of mrs. dall, dr. hunt, etc., as the most accessible) "of course it'll do." and all i have to say is, if i ever resume again the charge of a pulpit myself, and either of those preachers want an exchange, i shall be honored in the privilege of so exchanging. well, my young friend, the brother clergyman referred to, whom i am glad to see in this audience, went and did according to my suggestion; and, by the professional service of mrs. dall in his pulpit, more than once, i think, ministered no little edification to his people. and, in this connection, let me say: if the argument against woman's preaching be, "oh! it looks so awkward and singular to see a woman with a gown on in the pulpit" (for that's the whole gist of it), why, then, the same logic might as well disrobe the male priesthood of their silken paraphernalia, cassock and bands. but there are other and better words in waiting, and i yield the floor. charles g. ames expressed his gratitude at being permitted to occupy this platform, and identify himself with the cause of those noblest of living women who had dared the world's scorn--had dared to stand alone on the ground of their moral convictions. he thought rev. mr. clarke had spoken but half the truth in saying, "half the human race are concerned in the woman's rights movement." if the mohammedan doctrine (that woman has no soul) be true, then the opponents of this cause are justifiable. but concede that she has a rational soul, and you concede the equality of her rights. concede that she is capable of being a christian, and you concede that she has a right to help do the christian's work; and the christian's work includes all forms of noble activity, as well as the duty of self-development. but some people are afraid of agitation. you remember the story of the rustic, who fainted away in the car when taking his first railroad ride, and gasped out, on coming to himself, "has the thing lit?" he belonged, probably, to that large class of people who go into hysterics every time the world begins to move, and who are never relieved from their terror till quiet is restored. great alarm prevails lest this agitation should breed a fatal quarrel between man and woman; as though there could be a want of harmony, a collision of rights, between the sexes. sad visions are conjured up before us of family feuds, mutual hair-pullings, and a general wreck of all domestic bliss. certainly, there are difficulties about settling some domestic questions. marriage is a partnership between two; no third person to give the casting vote. then they must "take turns"; the wife yielding to the husband in those cases where he is best qualified to judge, and the husband yielding to the wife in those matters which most concern her, or concerning which she can best judge. yet man is the senior partner of the firm: his name comes first. few women would be pleased to see the firm styled in print as "mrs. so-and-so and husband." woman wants more self-reliance. has she not always been taught that it is very proper to faint at the sight of toads and spiders and fresh blood, and whenever a gentleman pops the question? has she not always been taught that man was the strong, towering oak, and she the graceful, clinging vine, sure to collapse like an empty bag whenever his mighty support was withdrawn? until all this folly is unlearned, how can she be self-dependent and truly womanly? women are afraid to claim their rights; and not timidity only, but laziness--the love of ease--keeps them back from the great duty of self-assertion. true, it is a good deal like work to summon up the soul to such a conflict with an opposing and corrupt public opinion. but woman must do that work for herself, or it will never be done. woman's _rights_ we talk of. there is a grandeur about these great questions of right, which makes them the glory of our age; and it is the shame of our age, that right and rights in every form get so generally sneered at. what use have i for my conscience, what remains of my noble manhood, if, when half the human race complain that i am doing them a wrong, i only reply with a scoff? a man without a conscience to make him quick and sensitive to right and duty, is neither fit for heaven nor for hell. he is an outsider, a monster! conservatism says, "let the world be as it is"; but christianity says, "make it what it should be." no man need call himself a christian, who admits that a wrong exists, and yet wishes it to continue, or is indifferent to its removal. let us "strike for that which ought to be, and god will bless the blows." [illustration: paulina wright davis (with autograph).] the speaker spoke of the abuse and injustice done to the bible by those who make it the shelter and apologist for all the wrong, vileness, and sneaking meanness that the world bears up; and closed with a testimony against the cowardice of those time-serving ministers who allow their manhood to be suffocated by a white cravat, and who never publicly take sides with what they see to be a good cause, until "popular noises" indicate that the time has come for speaking out their opinions. the president then introduced to the audience wendell phillips, esq., of boston: madam president:--i am exceedingly happy to see that this question calls together so large an audience; and perhaps that circumstance will make me take exception to some representations of the previous speakers as to the unpopularity of this movement. the gentleman who occupied this place before me thought that perhaps he might count the numbers of those that occupied this platform as the real advocates of that question. oh, no! the number of those who sympathize with us must not be counted so. our idea penetrates the whole life of the people. the shifting hues of public opinion show like the colors on a dove's neck; you can not tell where one ends, or the other begins. [cheers]. everybody that holds to raising human beings above the popular ideas, and not caring for artificial distinctions, is on our side; i think i can show my friend that. whenever a new reform is started, men seem to think that the world is going to take at once a great stride. the world never takes strides. the moral world is exactly like the natural. the sun comes up minute by minute, ray by ray, till the twilight deepens into dawn, and dawn spreads into noon. so it is with this question. those who look at our little island of time do not see it; but, a hundred years later, everybody will recognize it. no one need be at all afraid; there is no disruption, no breaking away from old anchorage--not at all. in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, there were two movements--first, the peasants in the town were striving to fortify each man his own house--to set up the towns against the kings; then, in the colleges, the great philosophers were striving each to fortify his own soul to make a revolution against rome. the peasants branded the collegians as "infidels," and the collegians showed the peasants to be "traitors." cordially they hated each other; blindly they went down to their graves, thinking they had been fighting each other; but, under the providence of god, they were entwined in the same movement. now, if i could throw you back to-day into the civilization of greece and rome, i could show you the fact that our question is two thousand years old. [cheers.] in the truest sense, it did not begin in , as my friend dr. hunt stated; it began centuries ago. did you ever hear of the old man who went to the doctor, and asked him to teach him to speak prose? "why, my dear fellow," was the reply, "you have been speaking prose all your life." but he did not know it. so with some people in regard to the movement for woman's rights. many think the steps taken since are shaking this land with a new infidelity. now, this infidelity is a good deal older than the new testament. when man began his pilgrimage from the cradle of asia, woman was not allowed to speak before a court of justice. to kill a woman was just as great a sin as to kill a cow, and no greater. to sell an unlicensed herb in the city of calcutta, was exactly the same crime as to kill a woman. she did not belong to the human race. come down thousands of years, and the civilization of greece said, "woman has not got enough of truth in her to be trusted in the court of justice;" and, if her husband wants to give her to a brother or friend, he can take her to their door, and say, "here, i give you this." and so it continues till you reach the feudal ages; when woman, though she might be queen or duchess, was often not competent to testify in a court of justice. she had not soul enough, men believed, to know a truth from a lie. that is the code of the feudal system. but all at once the world has waked up, and thinks a man is not a man because he has a pound of muscle, or because he has a stalwart arm; but because he has thoughts, ideas, purposes: he can commit crime, and he is capable of virtue. no man is born in a day. a baby is always six months old before he is twenty-one. our fathers, who first reasoned that god made all men equal, said: "you sha'n't hang a man until you have asked him if he consents to the law." some meddlesome fanatic, engaged in setting up type, conceived the idea, that he need not pay his tax till he was represented before the law: then why should woman do so? now, i ask, what possible reason is there that woman, as a mother, as a wife, as a laborer, as a capitalist, as an artist, as a citizen, should be subjected to any laws except such as govern man? what moral reason is there for this, under the american idea? does not the same interest, the same strong tie, bind the mother to her children, that bind the father? has she not the same capacity to teach them that the father has? and often more? now, the law says: "if the father be living, the mother is nothing; but, if the father be dead, the mother is everything." did she inherit from her husband his great intellect? if she did not, what is the common sense of such a statute? the mother has the same rights, in regard to her children, that the father has: there should be no distinction. yours is not a new reform. the gentleman who occupied the platform a few moments ago gave the common representation of this cause: "if a husband doesn't do about right, his wife will pull his hair; and, if you let her have her way, she may vote the democratic ticket, and he the republican; and _vice versa_." well, now, my dear friend, suppose it were just so; it is too late to complain. that point has long been settled; if you will read history a little, you will see it was settled against you. in the time of luther, it was a question: "can a woman choose her own creed?" the feudal ages said: "no; she believes as her husband believes, of course." but the reformers said: "she ought to think for herself; her husband is not her god." "but," it was objected, "should there be difference of opinion between man and wife, the husband believing one creed and the wife another, there would be continual discord." but the reply was: "god settled that; god has settled it that every responsible conscience should have a right to his own creed." and christendom said: "amen." the reformers of europe, to this day, have allowed freedom of opinion; and who says that the experience of three centuries has found the husband and wife grappling each other's throats on religious differences? it would be papal and absurd to deny woman her religious rights. then why should she not be allowed to choose her party? we claim the precedents in this matter. it was arranged and agreed upon, in the reform of europe, that women should have the right to choose their religious creeds. i say, therefore, this is not a new cause; it is an old one. it is as old as the american idea. we are individuals by virtue of our brains, not by virtue of our muscles. "why do you women meddle in politics?" asked napoleon of de staël. "sire, so long as you will hang us, we must ask the reason," was the answer. the whole political philosophy of the subject is in that. the instant you say, "woman is not competent to go to the ballot-box," i reply: "she is not competent to go to the gallows or the state prison. if she is competent to go to the state prison, then she is competent to go to the ballot-box, and tell how thieves should be punished." [applause]. man is a man because he thinks. woman has already begun to think. she has touched literature with the wand of her enchantment, and it rises to her level, until woman becomes an author as well as reader. and what is the result? we do not have to expurgate the literature of the nineteenth century before placing it in the hands of youth. those who write for the lower level sink down to dwell with their kind. mr. sargent and mr. clarke expatiated on the wholesome influence of the side-by-side progress of the sexes. there are no women more deserving of your honest approbation than those who dare to work singly for the elevation of their sex.... woman's rights and negro rights! what rights have either women or negroes that we have any reason to respect? the world says: "none!" there has lately been a petition carried into the british parliament, asking--for what? it asks that the laws of marriage and divorce shall be brought into conformity with the creed and civilization of great britain in the middle of the nineteenth century. the state of british law, on the bill of divorce, was a disgrace to the british statute-book. whose was the intellect and whose the heart to point out, and who had the courage to look in the face of british wealth and conservatism, and claim that the law of divorce was a disgrace to modern civilization? it was the women of great britain that first said her statute-book disgraced her. who could say, that if those women had been voters, they might not have reformed it? douglas jerrold said: "woman knows she is omnipotent"; and so she is. she may be ignorant, she may not have a dollar, she may have no right given her to testify in the court of justice; she may be a slave, chained by a dozen statutes; but, when her husband loves her, she is his queen and mistress, in spite of them all; and the world knows it. all history bears testimony to this omnipotent influence. what we are here for is to clear up the choked channel; make hidden power confess itself, and feel its responsibility, feel how much rests upon it, and therefore gird itself to its duty. we are to say to the women: "yours is one-half of the human race. come to the ballot-box, and feel, when you cast a vote in regard to some great moral question, the dread post you fill, and fit yourself for it." woman at home controls her son, guides her husband--in reality, makes him vote--but acknowledges no responsibility, and receives no education for such a throne. by her caprices in private life, she often ruins the manhood of her husband, and checks the enthusiastic purposes of her son. many a young girl, in her married life, loses her husband, and thus is left a widow with two or three children. now, who is to educate them and control them? we see, if left to her own resources, the intellect which she possesses, and which has remained in a comparatively dormant state, displayed in its full power. what a depth of heart lay hidden in that woman! she takes her husband's business--guides it as though it were a trifle; she takes her sons, and leads them; sets her daughters an example; like a master-leader, she governs the whole household. that is woman's influence. what made that woman? responsibility. call her out from weakness, lay upon her soul the burden of her children's education, and she is no longer a girl, but a woman! horace greeley once said to margaret fuller: "if you should ask a woman to carry a ship round cape horn, how would she go to work to do it? let her do this, and i will give up the question." in the fall of , a boston girl, only twenty years of age, accompanied her husband to california. a brain-fever laid him low. in the presence of mutiny and delirium, she took his vacant post, preserved order, and carried her cargo safe to its destined port. looking in the face of mr. greeley, miss fuller said: "lo! my dear horace, it is done; now say, what shall woman: do next?" [cheers]. mrs. caroline h. dall then dismissed the assembly.[ ] in _the liberator_ of july , , we find a brief mention of what was called mrs. dall's "drawing-room" convention, in which it was proposed to present the artistic and æsthetic view of the question. the meeting was held june st, in the melodeon. mrs. caroline m. severance presided. mrs. dall, rev. samuel j. may, r. j. hinton, moses (harriet tubman), james freeman clarke, dr. mercy b. jackson, elizabeth m. powell, and wendell phillips took part in the discussions. we close our chapter on massachusetts, with a few extracts from a sermon by theodore parker, to show his position on the most momentous question of his day and generation. in march, , he gave two discourses in music hall, boston, one on the domestic, and one on the public function of woman, in which he fully expressed himself on every phase of the question. theodore parker--the public function of woman. if woman is a human being, first, she has the nature of a human being; next, she has the right of a human being; third, she has the duty of a human being. the nature is the capacity to possess, to use, to develop, and to enjoy every human faculty; the right is the right to enjoy, develop, and use every human faculty; and the duty is to make use of the right, and make her human nature, human history. she is here to develop her human nature, enjoy her human rights, perform her human duty. womankind is to do this for herself, as much as mankind for himself. a woman has the same human nature that a man has; the same human rights, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; the same human duties; and they are as inalienable in a woman as in a man. each man has the natural right to the normal development of his nature, so far as it is general-human, neither man nor woman, but human. each woman has the natural right to the normal development of her nature, so far as it is general-human, neither woman nor man. but each man has also a natural and inalienable right to the normal development of his peculiar nature as man, where he differs from woman. each woman has just the same natural and inalienable right to the normal development of her peculiar nature as woman, and not man. all that is undeniable. now see what follows. woman has the same individual right to determine her aim in life, and to follow it; has the same individual rights of body and of spirit--of mind and conscience, and heart and soul; the same physical rights, the same intellectual, moral, affectional, and religious rights, that man has. that is true of womankind as a whole; it is true of jane, ellen, and sally, and each special woman that can be named. every person, man or woman, is an integer, an individual, a whole person; and also a portion of the race, and so a fraction of humankind. well, the rights of individualism are not to be possessed, developed, used, and enjoyed, by a life in solitude, but by joint action. accordingly, to complete and perfect the individual man or woman, and give each an opportunity to possess, use, develop, and enjoy these rights, there must be concerted and joint action; else individuality is only a possibility, not a reality. so the individual rights of woman carry with them the same domestic, social, ecclesiastical, and political rights, as those of man. the family, community, church and state, are four modes of action which have grown out of human nature in its historical development; they are all necessary for the development of mankind; machines which the human race has devised, in order to possess, use, develop, and enjoy their rights as human beings, their rights also as men. these are just as necessary for the development of woman as of man; and, as she has the same nature, right, and duty, as man, it follows that she has the same right to use, shape, and control these four institutions, for her general human purpose and for her special feminine purpose, that man has to control them for his general human purpose and his special masculine purpose. all that is as undeniable as anything in metaphysics or mathematics. if woman had been consulted, it seems to me theology would have been in a vastly better state than it is now. i do not think that any woman would ever have preached the damnation of babies new-born; and "hell, paved with the skulls of infants not a span long," would be a region yet to be discovered in theology. a celibate monk--with god's curse writ on his face, which knew no child, no wife, no sister, and blushed that he had a mother--might well dream of such a thing. he had been through the preliminary studies. consider the ghastly attributes which are commonly put upon god in the popular theology; the idea of infinite wrath, of infinite damnation, and total depravity, and all that. why, you could not get a woman, that had intellect enough to open her mouth, to preach these things anywhere. women think they think that they believe them; but they do not. celibate priests, who never knew marriage, or what paternity was, who thought woman was a "pollution"--they invented these ghastly doctrines; and when i have heard the athanasian creed and the dies iræ chanted by monks, with the necks of bulls and the lips of donkeys--why, i have understood where the doctrine came from, and have felt the appropriateness of their braying out the damnation hymns; woman could not do it. we shut her out of the choir, out of the priest's house, out of the pulpit; and then the priest, with unnatural vows, came in, and taught these "doctrines of devils." could you find a woman who would read to a congregation, as words of truth, jonathan edwards' sermon on a future state--"sinners in the hands of an angry god," "the justice of god in the damnation of sinners," "wrath upon the wicked to the uttermost," "the future punishment of the wicked," and other things of that sort? nay, can you find a worthy woman, of any considerable culture, who will read the fourteenth chapter of numbers, and declare that a true picture of the god she worships? only a she-dragon could do it in our day. the popular theology leaves us nothing feminine in the character of god. how could it be otherwise, when so much of the popular theology is the work of men who thought woman was a "pollution," and barred her out of all the high places of the church? if women had had their place in ecclesiastical teaching, i doubt that the "athanasian creed" would ever have been thought a "symbol" of christianity. the pictures and hymns which describe the last judgment are a protest against the exclusion of woman from teaching in the church. "i suffer not a woman to teach, but to be in silence," said a writer in the new testament. the sentence has brought manifold evil in its train. so much for the employments of women. * * * * * by nature, woman has the same political rights that man has--to vote, to hold office, to make and administer laws. these she has as a matter of right. the strong hand and the great head of man keep her down; nothing more. in america, in christendom, woman has no political rights, is not a citizen in full; she has no voice in making or administering the laws, none in electing the rulers or administrators thereof. she can hold no office--can not be committee of a primary school, overseer of the poor, or guardian to a public lamp-post. but any man, with conscience enough to keep out of jail, mind enough to escape the poor-house, and body enough to drop his ballot into the box, he is a voter. he may have no character--even no money; that is no matter--he is male. the noblest woman has no voice in the state. men make laws, disposing of her property, her person, her children; still she must bear it, "with a patient shrug." looking at it as a matter of pure right and pure science, i know no reason why woman should not be a voter, or hold office, or make and administer laws. i do not see how i can shut myself into political privileges and shut woman out, and do both in the name of inalienable right. certainly, every woman has a natural right to have her property represented in the general representation of property, and her person represented in the general representation of persons. looking at it as a matter of expediency, see some facts. suppose woman had a share in the municipal regulation of boston, and there were as many alderwomen as aldermen, as many common council women as common council men, do you believe that, in defiance of the law of massachusetts, the city government, last spring, would have licensed every two hundred and forty-fourth person of the population of the city to sell intoxicating drink? would have made every thirty-fifth voter a rum-seller? i do not. do you believe the women of boston would spend ten thousand dollars in one year in a city frolic, or spend two or three thousand every year, on the fourth of july, for sky-rockets and firecrackers; would spend four or five thousand dollars to get their canadian guests drunk in boston harbor, and then pretend that boston had not money enough to establish a high-school for girls, to teach the daughters of mechanics and grocers to read french and latin, and to understand the higher things which rich men's sons are driven to at college? i do not. do you believe that the women of boston, in , would have spent three or four thousand dollars to kidnap a poor man, and have taken all the chains which belonged to the city and put them round the court-house, and have drilled three hundred men, armed with bludgeons and cutlasses, to steal a man and carry him back to slavery? i do not. do you think, if the women had had the control, "fifteen hundred men of property and standing" would have volunteered to take a poor man, kidnapped in boston, and conduct him out of the state, with fire and sword? i believe no such thing. do you think the women of boston would take the poorest and most unfortunate children in the town, put them all together into one school, making that the most miserable in the city, where they had not and could not have half the advantages of the other children in different schools, and all that because the unfortunates were dark-colored? do you think the women of boston would shut a bright boy out of the high-school or latin-school, because he was black in the face? women are said to be cowardly. when thomas sims, out of his dungeon, sent to the churches his petition for their prayers, had women been "the christian clergy," do you believe they would not have dared to pray? if women had a voice in the affairs of massachusetts, do you think they would ever have made laws so that a lazy husband could devour all the substance of his active wife--spite of her wish; so that a drunken husband could command her bodily presence in his loathly house; and when an infamous man was divorced from his wife, that he could keep all the children? i confess i do not. if the affairs of the nation had been under woman's joint control, i doubt that we should have butchered the indians with such exterminating savagery, that, in fifty years, we should have spent seven hundred millions of dollars for war, and now, in time of peace, send twenty annual millions more to the same waste. i doubt that we should have spread slavery into nine new states, and made it national. i think the fugitive slave bill would never have been an act. woman has some respect for the natural law of god. i know men say woman can not manage the great affairs of a nation. very well. government is political economy--national housekeeping. does any respectable woman keep house so badly as the united states? with so much bribery, so much corruption, so much quarrelling in the domestic councils? but government is also political morality, it is national ethics. is there any worthy woman who rules her household as wickedly as the nations are ruled? who hires bullies to fight for her? is there any woman who treats one-sixth part of her household as if they were cattle and not creatures of god, as if they were things and not persons? i know of none such. in government as housekeeping, or government as morality, i think man makes a very poor appearance, when he says woman could not do as well as he has done and is doing. i doubt that women will ever, as a general thing, take the same interest as men in political affairs, or find therein an abiding satisfaction. but that is for women themselves to determine, not for men. in order to attain the end--the development of man in body and spirit--human institutions must represent all parts of human nature, both the masculine and the feminine element. for the well-being of the human race, we need the joint action of man and woman, in the family, the community, the church, and the state. a family without the presence of woman--with no mother, no wife, no sister, no womankind--is a sad thing. i think a community without woman's equal social action, a church without her equal ecclesiastical action, and a state without her equal political action, is almost as bad--is very much what a house would be without a mother, wife, sister, or friend. you see what prevails in the christian civilization of the nineteenth century; it is force--force of body, force of brain. there is little justice, little philanthropy, little piety. selfishness preponderates everywhere in christendom--individual, domestic, social, ecclesiastical, national selfishness. it is preached as gospel and enacted as law. it is thought good political economy for a strong people to devour the weak nations; for "christian" england and america to plunder the "heathen" and annex their land; for a strong class to oppress and ruin the feeble class; for the capitalists of england to pauperize the poor white laborer; for the capitalists of america to enslave the poorer black laborer; for a strong man to oppress the weak men; for the sharper to buy labor too cheap, and sell its product too dear, and so grow rich by making many poor. hence, nation is arrayed against nation, class against class, man against man. nay, it is commonly taught that mankind is arrayed against god, and god against man; that the world is a universal discord: that there is no solidarity of man with man, of man with god. i fear we shall never get far beyond this theory and this practice, until woman has her natural rights as the equal of man, and takes her natural place in regulating the affairs of the family, the community, the church, and the state. it seems to me god has treasured up a reserved power in the nature of woman to correct many of those evils which are christendom's disgrace to-day. circumstances help or hinder our development, and are one of the two forces which determine the actual character of a nation or of mankind, at any special period. hitherto, amongst men, circumstances have favored the development of only intellectual power, in all its forms--chiefly in its lower forms. at present, mankind, as a whole, has the superiority over womankind, as a whole, in all that pertains to intellect, the higher and the lower. man has knowledge, has ideas, has administrative skill; enacts the rules of conduct for the individual, the family, the community, the church, the state, and the world. he applies these rules of conduct to life, and so controls the great affairs of the human race. you see what a world he has made of it. there is male vigor in this civilization, miscalled "christian"; and in its leading nations there are industry and enterprise, which never fail. there is science, literature, legislation, agriculture, manufactures, mining, commerce, such as the world never saw. with the vigor of war, the anglo-saxon now works the works of peace. england abounds in wealth--richest of lands; but look at her poor, her vast army of paupers, two million strong, the irish whom she drives with the hand of famine across the sea. martin luther was right when he said: "the richer the nation, the poorer the poor." look at the cities of england and america. what riches, what refinement, what culture of man and woman too! ay; but what poverty, what ignorance, what beastliness of man and woman too! the christian civilization of the nineteenth century is well summed up in london and new york--the two foci of the anglo-saxon tribe, which control the shape of the world's commercial ellipse. look at the riches and the misery; at the "religious enterprise" and the heathen darkness; at the virtue, the decorum, and the beauty of woman well-born and well bred; and at the wild sea of prostitution, which swells and breaks and dashes against the bulwarks of society--every ripple was a woman once! oh, brother-men, who make these things, is this a pleasant sight? does your literature complain of it--of the waste of human life, the slaughter of human souls, the butchery of woman? british literature begins to wail, in "nicholas nickleby" and "jane eyre" and "mary barton" and "alton locke," in many a "song of the shirt"; but the respectable literature of america is deaf as a cent to the outcry of humanity expiring in agonies. it is busy with california, or the presidency, or extolling iniquity in high places, or flattering the vulgar vanity which buys its dross for gold. it can not even imitate the philanthropy of english letters; it is "up" for california and a market. does not the church speak?--the english church, with its millions of money; the american, with its millions of men--both wont to bay the moon of foreign heathenism? the church is a dumb dog, that can not bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. it is a church without woman, believing in a male and jealous god, and rejoicing in a boundless, endless hell! hitherto, with woman, circumstances have hindered the development of intellectual power, in all its forms. she has not knowledge, has not ideas or practical skill to equal the force of man. but circumstances have favored the development of pure and lofty emotion in advance of man. she has moral feeling, affectional feeling, religious feeling, far in advance of man; her moral, affectional, and religious intuitions are deeper and more trustworthy than his. here she is eminent, as he is in knowledge, in ideas, in administrative skill. i think man will always lead in affairs of intellect--of reason, imagination understanding--he has the bigger brain; but that woman will always lead in affairs of emotion--moral, affectional, religious--she has the better heart, the truer intuition of the right, the lovely, the holy. the literature of women in this century is juster, more philanthropic, more religious, than that of men. do you not hear the cry which, in new england, a woman is raising in the world's ears against the foul wrong which america is working in the world? do you not hear the echo of that woman's voice come over the atlantic--returned from european shores in many a tongue--french, german, italian, swedish, danish, russian, dutch? how a woman touches the world's heart! because she speaks justice, speaks piety, speaks love. what voice is strongest, raised in continental europe, pleading for the oppressed and down-trodden? that also is a woman's voice! well, we want the excellence of man and woman both united; intellectual power, knowledge, great ideas--in literature, philosophy, theology, ethics--and practical skill; but we want something better--the moral, affectional, religious intuition, to put justice into ethics, love into theology, piety into science and letters. everywhere in the family, the community, the church, and the state, we want the masculine and feminine element co-operating and conjoined. woman is to correct man's taste, mend his morals, excite his affections, inspire his religious faculties. man is to quicken her intellect, to help her will, translate her sentiments to ideas, and enact them into righteous laws. man's moral action, at best, is only a sort of general human providence, aiming at the welfare of a part, and satisfied with achieving the "greatest good of the greatest number." woman's moral action is more like a special human providence, acting without general rules, but caring for each particular case. we need both of these, the general and the special, to make a total human providence. if man and woman are counted equivalent--equal in rights, though with diverse powers,--shall we not mend the literature of the world, its theology, its science, its laws, and its actions too? i can not believe that wealth and want are to stand ever side by side as desperate foes; that culture must ride only on the back of ignorance; and feminine virtue be guarded by the degradation of whole classes of ill-starred men, as in the east, or the degradation of whole classes of ill-starred women, as in the west; but while we neglect the means of help god puts in our power, why, the present must be like the past--"property" must be theft, "law" the strength of selfish will, and "christianity"--what we see it is, the apology for every powerful wrong. * * * * * to every woman let me say--respect your nature as a human being, your nature as a woman; then respect your rights, then remember your duty to possess, to use, to develop, and to enjoy every faculty which god has given you, each in its normal way. and to men let me say--respect, with the profoundest reverence, respect the mother that bore you, the sisters who bless you, the woman that you love, the woman that you marry. as you seek to possess your own manly rights, seek also, by that great arm, by that powerful brain, seek to vindicate her rights as woman, as your own as man. then we may see better things in the church, better things in the state, in the community, in the home. then the green shall show what buds it hid, the buds shall blossom, the flowers bear fruit, and the blessing of god be on us all. reminiscences of paulina wright davis. by e. c. s. hearing that my friend had returned from europe too ill to leave her room, i hastened to her charming home in the suburbs of providence, rhode island. there in her pleasant chamber, bright with the sunshine of a clear december day,[ ] surrounded with her books and pictures of her own painting, looking out on an extensive lawn, grand old trees, and the busy city in the distance, we passed three happy days together reviewing our own lives, the progress of the reforms we advocated, and in speculations of the unknown world. in my brief sketch of the "woman's rights movement" and its leaders for the "eminent women of the age," i made no mention of mrs. davis, being ignorant of the main facts of her life. i waited for her return from florida, until it was too late, as the work was hurried to press. hence i was glad of this opportunity to dot down fresh from her own lips some of the incidents and personal experiences of her life. paulina kellogg was born in bloomfield, new york, the very day, capt. hall delivered up the fort at detroit. her father, capt. kellogg, being a volunteer in the army at that time, would often jocosely refer to those two great events on the th of august, . her grandfather saxton was a colonel in the revolution, and on lafayette's staff. both her father and mother possessed great personal beauty, and were devotedly attached to each other, and were alike conservative in their opinions and associations. when paulina was four years old her grandfather bought a large tract of land at cambria, near niagara falls, where all his children settled. that trip was the first memory of her childhood. a cavalcade of six army wagons, men, women, children, horses, cattle, dogs, hens, pushed their weary way eleven days through wild woods, cutting their own roads, and fording creeks and rivers. crossing the genesee in a scow, one immense cow walked off into the water, others followed and swam ashore. the little girl thinking that everything was going overboard, trembled like an aspen leaf until she felt herself safe on land. the picnics under the trees, the beds in the wagons drawn up in a circle to keep the cattle in, the friendly meetings with the indians, all charmed her childish fancies. the summer the first bridge was built to goat island, her uncle caught her in his arms, ran across the beams, and set her down, saying: "there, you are probably the first white child that ever set foot on goat island." when seven years old she was adopted by an aunt, and moved to le roy, new york, where she was educated. her aunt was a strict orthodox presbyterian, a stern, strong puritan. her life in her new home was sad and solitary, and one of constant restraint. in the natural reaction of the human mind, with such early experiences, we can readily account for paulina's love of freedom, and courage in attacking the wrongs of society. in referring to these early years, she said: "i was not a happy child, nor a happy woman, until in mature life, i outgrew my early religious faith, and felt free to think and act from my own convictions." having joined the church in extreme youth, and being morbidly conscientious, she suffered constant torment about her own sins, and those of her neighbors. she was a religious enthusiast, and in time of revivals was one of the bright and shining lights in exhortation and prayer. she was roused to thought on woman's position by a discussion in the church as to whether women should be permitted to speak and pray in promiscuous assemblies. some of the deacons protested against a practice, in ordinary times, that might be tolerated during seasons of revival. but those who had discovered their gifts in times of excitement were not so easily remanded to silence; and thus the church was distracted then as now with the troublesome question of woman's rights. sometimes a liberal pastor would accord a latitude denied by the elders and deacons, and sometimes one church would be more liberal than others in the same neighborhood, or synod; hence individuals and congregations were continually persecuted and arraigned for violation of church discipline and god's law, according to man's narrow interpretation. "thus," she says, "my mind was confused and uncertain with conflicting emotions and opinions in regard to all human relations. and it was many years before i understood the philosophy of life, before i learned that happiness did not depend on outward conditions, but on the harmony within, on the tastes, sentiments, affections, and ambitions of the individual soul." on leaving school, paulina had made up her mind to be a missionary to the sandwich islands, as that was the mecca in those days to which all pious young women desired to go. but after five months of ardent courtship, mr. francis wright, a young merchant of wealth and position in utica, new york, persuaded her that there were heathen enough in utica to call out all the religious zeal she possessed, to say nothing of himself as the chief of sinners, hence in special need of her ministrations. so they began life together, worshiped in bethel church, and devoted themselves to the various reforms that in turn attracted their attention. they took an active part in the arrangements for the first anti-slavery convention, held in utica, oct. , , a day on which anti-slavery meetings were mobbed and violently dispersed in different parts of the country. it was at this meeting that gerrit smith gave in his adhesion to the anti-slavery movement and abandoned the idea of the colonization of slaves to liberia. as the mob would not permit a meeting to be held in utica, mr. smith invited them to peterboro, where they adjourned. it was a fearful day for abolitionists throughout that city, as the mob of roughs was backed by its leading men. mr. wright's house was surrounded, piazzas and fences torn down and piled up with wood and hay against it, with the evident intention of burning it down. but several ladies who had come to attend the convention were staying there, and, as was their custom, they had family prayers that night. the leaders of the mob peeping through the windows, saw a number of women on their knees, and the sight seemed to soften their wrath and change their purpose, for they quietly withdrew their forces, leaving the women in undisturbed possession of the house. the attitude of the church at this time being strongly pro-slavery, mr. and mrs. wright withdrew, as most abolitionists did, from all church organizations, and henceforth their religious zeal was concentrated on the anti-slavery, temperance, and woman's rights reforms. thus passed twelve years of happiness in mutual improvement and co-operation in every good work. having no children, they devoted themselves unreservedly to one another. but mr. wright, being a man of great executive ability, was continually overworking, taxing his powers of mind and body to the uttermost, until his delicate organization gave way and his life prematurely ended. having occupied her leisure hours in the study of anatomy and physiology, mrs. wright gave a course of lectures to women. as early as she began this public work. she imported from paris the first _femme modele_ that was ever brought to this country. she tells many amusing anecdotes of the effect of unveiling this manikin in the presence of a class of ladies. some trembled with fear, the delicacy of others was shocked, but their weaknesses were overcome as their scientific curiosity was awakened. many of mrs. wright's pupils were among the first to enter the colleges, hospitals, and dissecting-rooms, and to become successful practitioners of the healing art. while lecturing in baltimore, a "friend," by the name of anna needles, attended the course. another "friend," seeing her frequently pass, hailed her on one occasion, and said, "anna, where does thee go every day?" "i go to hear mrs. wright lecture." "what, anna, does thee go to hear that fanny wright?" "oh, no! paulina wright!" "ah! i warn thee, do not go near her, she is of the same species." many women, now supporting themselves in ease, gratefully acknowledge her influence in directing their lives to some active pursuits. thus passed the four years of her widowed life, lecturing to women through most of the eastern and western states. in , she was married to the hon. thomas davis, a solid, noble man of wealth and position, who has since been a member of the rhode island legislature seven years, and served one term in congress. as he is very modest and retiring in his nature, i will not enumerate his good qualities of head and heart, lest he should be pained at seeing himself in print; and perhaps "the highest praise for a true _man_ is never to be spoken of at all." with several successive summers in newport and winters in providence, mrs. davis gave more time to fashionable society than she ever had at any period of her life. when her husband was elected to congress, in , she accompanied him to washington and made many valuable acquaintances. as she had already called the first national woman suffrage convention, and started _the una_, the first distinctively woman's rights journal ever published, and was supposed to be a fair representative of the odious, strong-minded "bloomer," the ladies at their hotel, after some consultation, decided to ignore her, as far as possible. but a lady of her fine appearance, attractive manners, and general intelligence, whose society was sought by the most cultivated gentlemen in the house, could not be very long ostracised by the ladies. what a writer in the british quarterly for january, says of mrs. john stuart mill, applies with equal force to mrs. davis. "she seems to have been saved from the coarseness and strenuous tone of the typical strong-minded woman, although probably some of her opinions might shock staid people who are innocent alike of philosophy and the doctrines of the new era." though in fact this typical strong-minded woman of whom we hear so much in england and america, is after all a "myth"; for the very best specimens of womanhood in both countries are those who thoroughly respect themselves, and maintain their political, civil, and social rights. for nearly three years mrs. davis continued _the una_, publishing it entirely at her own expense. it took the broadest ground claimed to-day: individual freedom in the state, the church, and the home; woman's equality and suffrage a natural right. in , she visited europe for the first time, and spent a year traveling in france, italy, austria, and germany, giving her leisure hours to picture galleries and the study of art. she made many valuable friends on this trip, regained her health, and returned home to work with renewed zeal for the enfranchisement of woman. having decided to celebrate the second decade of the national woman suffrage movement, in new york, mrs. davis took charge of all the preliminary arrangements, including the foreign correspondence. she gave a good report at the opening session of the convention, of what had been accomplished in the twenty years, and published the proceedings in pamphlet form, at her own expense. one of mrs. davis' favorite ideas was a woman's congress in washington, to meet every year, to consider the national questions demanding popular action; especially to present them in their moral and humanitarian bearings and relations, while our representatives discussed them, as men usually do, from the material, financial, and statistical points of view. in this way only, said she, "can the complete idea on any question ever be realized. all legislation must necessarily be fragmentary, so long as one-half the race give no thought whatever on the subject." in , mrs. davis, with her niece and adopted daughter, again visited europe, and pursued her studies of art, spending much time in julian's life studio, the only one open to women. she took lessons of carl marko in florence. when in paris she spent hours every day copying in the louvre and luxembourg. the walls of her home were decorated with many fine copies, and a few of her own creations. her enthusiasm for both art and reform may seem to some a singular combination; but with her view of life, it was a natural one. believing, as she did, in the realization of the ultimate equality of the human family, and the possibility of the race sometime attaining comparative perfection, when all would be well-fed, clothed, sheltered, and educated; humanity in its poverty, ignorance, and deformity, were to her but the first rude sketch on the canvas, to be perfected by the skillful hand of the great artist. hence she labored with faith and enthusiasm to realize her ideal alike in both cases. in naples she made the acquaintance of mary somerville, then in her ninetieth year. she found her quite conversant with american affairs, and she expressed great pleasure in reading mrs. davis' history of the suffrage movement in this country. there too she met mrs. merrycoyf, a bright, accomplished woman, a sister of josephine butler, and like her, engaged in english reforms. she had many discussions with mrs. proby, the wife of the english consul, who thought mrs. davis was wasting her efforts for the elevation of woman, as she considered it a hopeless case to make women rational and self-reliant. however, before they parted, mrs. davis inspired her with some faith in her own sex. i read a very interesting letter from mrs. proby acknowledging the benefit derived from her acquaintance with mrs. davis, in giving her new hope for woman. at rome she received the blessing of the pope, and met père hyacinthe and his charming wife, and attended one of his lectures, but the crowd was so great she could not get in, so she went the sunday after to hear the prayers for the pope and the church against the influence of the dangerous père. she says: "it was a most impressive occasion, the immense crowd, the grand music swelling through the arches of that vast cathedral, the responses of the ten thousand voices, rolling like the great tidal waves of the mighty ocean, were altogether sublime beyond description." at paris she met mrs. crawford, wife of the corresponding editor of _the london times_, a woman of fine conversational powers, and a brilliant writer, now the paris correspondent of _the new york tribune_. she found her a woman of very liberal opinions. at one of her breakfasts she met martin, the historian, and several members of the assembly. she also visited the countess delacoste, who sympathized deeply with the republican movement, and had concealed clusaret three months in her house. there she met several distinguished russians and frenchmen. in london she attended one of mrs. peter taylor's receptions, where she met mrs. margaret lucas, sister of john bright, and other notables. she visited josephine butler at her home in liverpool. friends sent her tickets of admission to the lady's gallery, in the house of commons, where she heard jacob bright make his opening speech on the woman's disability bill, and fawcett, the blind member, also on the same bill. and with all these distinguished people, in different countries, speaking different languages, she found the same interest in the progressive ideas that had gladdened and intensified her own life. on the th of may she sailed for america, and reached her home in safety, but the disease that had been threatening her for years (rheumatic gout) began to develop itself, until in the autumn she was confined to her room, and unable at times even to walk. it was thus i found her in a large arm-chair quietly making all her preparations for the sunny land, resigned to stay or to go, to accept the inevitable, whatever that might be.[ ] as she was an enthusiastic spiritualist, the coming journey was not to her an unknown realm, but an inviting home where the friends of her earlier days were waiting with glad hearts to give her tin heavenly welcome. footnotes: [ ] mercy otis, born at barnstable, mass., september , , married james warren, about . reference has been made to her correspondence with the eminent men of the revolution. aside from her patriotism, mrs. warren was a woman of high literary ability. she wrote several dramatic and satirical works in , against the royalists, which, with two tragedies, were included in a volume of dramatic and miscellaneous poems, published in . she also wrote "a history of the rise, progress, and termination of the american revolution, interspersed with biographical, political, and moral observations," in three volumes, published in boston, . mrs. warren lived quite into the present century, dying october , . mrs. ellet, "queens of society," says: "in point of influence, mercy warren was the most remarkable woman who lived in the days of the american revolution." rochefoucauld, "tour in the united states," says: "seldom has a woman in any age acquired such ascendency by the mere force of a powerful intellect, and her influence continued through her life." generals lee and gates were among her correspondents; knox wrote: "i should be happy to receive your counsels from time to time." mrs. washington was frequently entertained by mrs. warren, at one time when the former was in massachusetts with the general, mrs. warren going with her chariot to headquarters at cambridge for her. [ ] dried leaves of the raspberry.--lossing. [ ] lossing, "field-book of the revolution," says: "on february , , the mistresses of three hundred families met and formed a league, and upon the second day the young ladies assembled in great numbers, signing the following covenant: 'we, the daughters of those patriots who have, and do now, appear for public interest, and in proper regard for their posterity as such, do, with pleasure, engage with them in denying ourselves the drink of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan which tends to deprive a whole country of all that is valuable in life." [ ] lossing's "field-book of the revolution" states that on the th of june, , the "daughters of liberty," met at the house of pastor moorehead, in such numbers that in one afternoon they spun two hundred and ninety skeins of fine yarn, which they presented to him. after supper they were joined by many "sons of liberty," who united with the "daughters" in patriotic songs. [ ] these girls, then only about twelve and fourteen years of age, saw the enemy making preparations to land at an isolated point. no men were near to defend the place, or to whom warning could be given. a bright thought struck one of the girls. accustomed to play the drum, she well knew how to beat the call to arms, and no sooner had this thought entered her mind, than she began a tattoo, calling her sister to take the fife as an accompaniment. together they marched toward the shore, careful to keep hidden by the rocks, among whose intricacies they wound back and forth, the sound of their instruments falling upon the enemy's ears, now far, now near, as though a force of many hundred men was marching down upon them, and thoroughly frightened, they beat a retreat to their boats. [ ] "this dispute infused its spirit into everything. it interfered with the levy of troops for the pequot war; it influenced the respect shown to the magistrates, the distribution of town lots, the assessment of rates, and at last the continued existence of the two parties was considered inconsistent with the public peace."--bancroft, "history of the united states." [ ] _atlantic monthly_, june, . [ ] in three new england colonies church membership was required for the franchise.--frothingham, "rise of the republic." [ ] dr. john weis, of new york, now an aged gentleman, well remembers his grandmother saying, that at an early day women were allowed to vote in all the new england colonies. [ ] mother of the late daniel p. king, at that time a member of the massachusetts legislature, and since then a representative in congress. [ ] benj. c. pitkin, of salem, at that time state senator. [ ] hon. mr. upham saying: "a great many of the members told me they didn't believe a woman wrote it." [ ] this petition was put in the hands of a gentleman to secure his mother's name (who had signed numbers of petitions before), and those of certain other ladies, but unfaithful to this trust, he forwarded the petition with but its single name, which, mrs. ferrin remarks, was powerful in itself. [ ] james w. north, a lawyer, of augusta, maine, to his honor be it said, assisted mrs. ferrin, by perfecting the divorce petition, in circulation during her six years of petition work. [ ] a lady commenting upon unjust legislation, said: "when the laws were made regarding women and children, the most impotent men were employed to make them; decent men had other business to do." from time to time, mrs. ferrin sent in memorials and addresses with the petitions she yearly forwarded. one of these, in reply to the oft-made boast of man's unsolicited amelioration of woman's condition, carried the following retort: "the powers tell us much has been done to ameliorate the condition of woman without any effort on woman's part. it would add a huge feather to their caps should they give us the history of the cause of the need of such reformation. it can not be because woman placed herself in so degrading a position. so, the merit of the up-lifting hardly reaches the demerit of the down-treading." [ ] mrs. davis herself. [ ] wife of john milton earl, editor of the _worcester spy_. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix [ ] see appendix [ ] see appendix. [ ] mrs. caroline norton, a distinguished english author, who separated from her husband because of cruel treatment. he robbed nor of all the profits of her books, and of her children, and when she appealed to the courts, english law sustained the husband in all his violations of natural justice. [ ] abby may alcott, abby kelly foster, lucy stone, thomas w. higginson, ann green phillips, wendell phillips, anna q. t. parsons, theodore parker, william j. bowditch, samuel e. sewall, ellis gray loring, charles k. whipple, wm. lloyd garrison, harriot k. hunt, thomas t. stone, john w. browne, francis jackson, josiah f. flagg, mary flagg, elizabeth smith, eliza barney, abby h. price, william c. nell, samuel may, jr., robert f. wallcott, robert morris, a. bronson alcott. [ ] anthony burns, the slave, was a baptist minister in his southern home, and had sought freedom in boston, but was pursued and recaptured. [ ] a gentleman of wealth, who gave most liberally to all reforms, and in his will bequeathed $ , to the cause of woman suffrage. [ ] the publishing committee do not willingly print the above report of one of the ablest and most eloquent speeches ever delivered in boston. mr. phillips never writes his speeches. he is now too far distant to be consulted. two very young girl reporters--after a week's hard practice, and three hours' excessive heat--wrote these heads down, without the most distant idea of publication. all the committee can do is to rejoice that the accident did not happen to a young speaker, but to one whose reputation is established, and whose immortality is certain. c. h. d. [ ] in the year . [ ] see appendix. chapter ix. indiana and wisconsin. indiana missionary station--gen. arthur st. clair--indian surprises--the terrible war whoop--one hundred women join the army, and are killed fighting bravely--prairie schooners-- manufactures in the hands of women--admitted to the union in --robert dale owen--woman suffrage conventions--wisconsin--c. l. sholes' report. the earliest settlement of indiana was a missionary one, in , though it was not admitted as a territory until , then including the present states of michigan and illinois. a number of indian wars took place in this part of the country during the twenty-five years between and . what was known as the northwest territory was organized in , and general arthur st. clair appointed governor, an office he held until . in a war of unusually formidable character broke out among the indian tribes of the northwest, and in , st. clair was created general-in-chief of the forces against them. many of the settlers of this portion of the country joined his army, among whom were one hundred women, who accompanied their husbands in preference to being left at home subject to the surprises and tortures of the savages with whom the country was at war. in giving command of these forces to st. clair, washington warned him against unexpected assaults from the enemy; but this general who was of foreign birth, a scotchman, was no match for the cunning of his wily foe, who suddenly fell upon him, november th, near the miami villages (present site of terra haute), making great havoc among his forces. when, the terrible war-whoop was heard, the heroism of these hundred women rose equal to the emergency. they did not cling helplessly to their husbands--the women of those early days were made of sterner stuff--but with pale, set faces, they joined in the defense, and the records say, were most of them killed fighting bravely. they died a soldier's death upon the field of battle in defense of home and country. they died that the prairies of the west and the wilderness of the north should at a later period become the peaceful homes of untold millions of men and women. they were the true pioneers of the northwest, the advance-guard of civilization, giving their lives in battle against a terrible enemy, in order that safety should dwell at the hearth-stones of those who should settle this garden of the continent at a future period. history is very silent upon their record; not a name has been preserved; but we do know that they lived, and how they died, and it is but fitting that a record of woman's work for freedom should embalm their memory in its pages. many other women defended homes and children against the savage foe, but their deeds of heroism have been forgotten. there is scarcely a portion of the world so far from civilization as indiana was at that day. no railroads spanned the continent, making neighbors of people a thousand miles apart; no steamboat sailed upon the western lakes, nor indeed upon the broad atlantic; telegraphy, with its annihilation of space, was a marvel as yet unborn; even the lucifer match, which should kindle fire in the twinkling of an eye, lay buried in the dark future. little was known of these settlements; the genesee valley of new york was considered the _far west_, to which people traveled (the erie canal was not then in existence) in strong, spring less wagons, over which large hoops, covered with white cloth, were securely fastened, thus sheltering the inmates from sun and storm. these wagons, afterward known as "prairie schooners," were for weeks and months the traveling homes of many a family of early settlers. but even in indiana could boast her domestic manufactures, for within the state at this time were "two thousand five hundred and twelve looms and two thousand seven hundred spinning-wheels, most of them in private cabins, whose mistresses, by their slow agencies, converted the wool which their own hands had often sheared, and the flax which their own fingers had pulled, into cloth for the family wardrobe."[ ] thus in the manufactures of indiana were chiefly in the hands of its women. it is upon the industries of the country that a nation thrives. its manufactures build up its commerce and make its wealth. from this source the government derives the revenue which is the life-blood circulating in its veins. its strength and its perpetuity alike depend upon its industries, and when we look upon the work of women through all the years of the republic, and remember their patriotic self-devotion and self-sacrifice at every important crisis, we are no less amazed at the ingratitude of the country for their services in war than at its non-recognition of their existence as wealth-producers, the elements which build up and sustain every civilized people. viewing its early record, we are not surprised that indiana claims to have organized the first state woman's rights society, though we are somewhat astonished to know that at the time of the first convention held in indianapolis, a husband of position locked his wife within the house in order to prevent her presence thereat, although doubtless, as men have often done before and since, he deemed it not out of the way that he himself should be a listener at a meeting he considered it contrary to family discipline that his wife should attend. december , , indiana was admitted into the union. william henry harrison, who had been governor of the territory, and brigadier-general in the army, with the command of the northwest territory, was afterward president of the united states. he encountered the indians led by tecumseh at tippecanoe, on the wabash, and after a terrible battle they fled. this was the origin of the song, "tippecanoe and tyler too," that was sung with immense effect by the whigs all over the country in the presidential campaign of , when harrison and tyler were the candidates; and when women, for the first time, attended political meetings. indiana, though one of the younger states, by her liberal and rational legislation on the questions of marriage and divorce, has always been the land of freedom for fugitives from the bondage and suffering of ill-assorted unions. many an unhappy wife has found a safe asylum on the soil of that state. her liberality on this question was no doubt partly due to the influence of robert owen, who early settled at new harmony, and made the experiment of communal life; and later, to his son, the hon. robert dale owen, who was in the legislature several years, and in the constitutional convention of . the following letter from mr. owen gives a few facts worth perusing: lake george, n. y., _sept. , _. dear miss anthony:--i know you will think the reply i am about to make to your favor of september th unsatisfactory, but it is the best i can do. . as regards frances wright: all the particulars regarding her and her noble but unsuccessful experiment at nashoba, near memphis, which i thought it important to make public, are contained in an article of mine entitled "an earnest sowing of wild oats," in the _atlantic monthly_ for july, . . as to ernestine l. rose, i think it probable that you know more of her than i do. i remember that she was the daughter of a polish rabbi; the wife of william rose, a silversmith; and that she came with her husband to this country at an early day. she was a great admirer and follower of my father, robert owen, and was a skeptic as to any future beyond the grave; greatly opposed to spiritualism. . as to my action in the indiana legislature: i was a member of that body during the sessions of -' , and ' , and in , but i have not the materials here that would enable me to give particulars. in a general way i had the state law so altered that a married woman owned and had the right to manage her own property, both real and personal; and i had the law of descents so changed that a widow, instead of dower, which is a mere tenancy or life interest, now has, in all cases, an absolute fee in one-third of her husband's estate; if only one child, then a half; and if no children, i think two-thirds. i also had an additional clause added to the divorce law, making two years' habitual drunkenness imperative cause for divorce. i took no action in regard to suffrage while in the legislature. in those days it would have been utterly unavailing. all this is very meagre, which i the more regret, sympathizing as i do with the object you have in view. give my kindest regards to my old friend, mrs. stanton, and believe me, faithfully your friend, miss anthony. robert dale owen. before , frances wright had visited mr. owen's colony, and assisted him in the editorial department of the _new harmony gazette_, changed afterward to the _free enquirer_, published in new york. such a circle of remarkably intelligent and liberal-minded people, all effective speakers and able writers, was not without influence in moulding the sentiment of that young community. as a glimpse into the domestic life of this remarkable family may be interesting to the reader, we give a pleasing sketch from the pen of mr. owen's daughter. no monument of the whitest parian marble could shed such honor on the memory of a venerated father and mother as this tribute from an affectionate, appreciative child: robert dale owen and mary robinson. by rosamond dale owen. some fifty years ago a large audience was gathered in one of the public halls of new york listening to a lecture. in the sea of faces upturned to him, the speaker read a cold response, the opinions he was expounding being exceedingly unpopular, and rarely expressed in those days. the theme was the equality of the sexes, the right of woman to control person and property in the marriage relation, the right to breathe, to think, to act as an untrammeled citizen, the co-equal of man. his eyes searched tier after tier, seeking in vain for that magnetism of sympathy which is as wine to a man who stands before his people pleading with them that he may save them from their errors. suddenly his wandering gaze was arrested by a face, a child's face, with short, clustering curls, but a strong soul steadied the deep eyes, and on the rounded cheek paled and glowed the earnestness of a woman's searching thought. his words grew clear and strong as he looked into the upturned eyes, as he answered the listening face. the speaker was robert dale owen; the hearer, mary robinson. that night when she reached her own room, mary robinson flung off bonnet and shawl with a swift gesture, and, slipping into her accustomed seat, gazed at the steady-glowing background of coals, with the blue flames licking in and out like the evil tongues of fire-scourged elves. a strong excitement held her in thrall; she did not seem to see her elder sister's wondering looks; she did not seem to hear the great clocks, far and near, chiming out eleven, and then twelve, with that deep resonance which sounds in the silence of the night like a solemn requiem over lost hours. presently she became aware that her sister was kneeling beside her, with anxious questioning look; she seemed, this elder sister, in her long, white night-dress, with pale, straight hair pushed back from the clear-tinted, oval face, like a youthful madonna, and mary drawing the gentle face close to her own with sudden impulse, said: "i have seen the man i shall marry, i have seen him to-night; he is the homeliest man i have ever known, but if i am married at all, he is to be my husband." a few months later this prophecy was verified. on the th day of april, , robert dale owen and mary robinson were joined in those sacred bonds, which, in every true marriage, can be broken only by the shadow hand of death. the ceremony was simple and unique; it consisted in signing a document written by the bridegroom himself, with a justice of the peace and the immediate family as witnesses. the following extracts will show the character of the compact: new york, tuesday, _april , _. this afternoon i enter into a matrimonial engagement with mary jane robinson, a young person whose opinions on all important subjects, whose mode of thinking and feeling, coincide more intimately with my own than do those of any other individual with whom i am acquainted.... we have selected the simplest ceremony which the laws of this state recognize.... this ceremony involves not the necessity of making promises regarding that over which we have no control, the state of human affections in the distant future, nor of repeating forms which we deem offensive, inasmuch as they outrage the principles of human liberty and equality, by conferring rights and imposing duties unequally on the sexes. the ceremony consists of a simply written contract in which we agree to take each other as husband and wife according to the laws of the state of new york, our signatures being attested by those friends who are present. of the unjust rights which in virtue of this ceremony an iniquitous law tacitly gives me over the person and property of another, i can not legally, but i can morally divest myself. and i hereby distinctly and emphatically declare that i consider myself, and earnestly desire to be considered by others, as utterly divested, now and during the rest of my life, of any such rights, the barbarous relics of a feudal, despotic system, soon destined, in the onward course of improvement, to be wholly swept away; and the existence of which is a tacit insult to the good sense and good feeling of this comparatively civilized age. i concur in this sentiment, robert dale owen. mary jane robinson. after a wedding tour in europe, the young couple returning to america, settled in new harmony, indiana, a small western village, where their father, robert owen, had been making experiments in community life. it was a strange, new world into which these two young creatures were entering. the husband had passed his youth in a well-ordered, wealthy english household; the wife had passed the greater part of her girlhood in virginia, among slaves. they were now thrown upon the crudities of western life, and encountered those daily wearing trials which strain the marriage tie to the utmost, even though it be based upon principles of justice. but there was a reserve of energy and endurance in this delicately reared pair; they felt themselves to be pioneers in every sense of the word, and the animus which sustains many a struggling soul seeking to turn a principle into a living reality, sustained these two. we of a later civilization can scarcely realize the strain upon women in those earlier days. the housekeepers of new harmony were obliged to buy their groceries in bulk, and have them shipped by slow stages from cincinnati; meat was bought from the surrounding farmers, a quarter of a beef at a time, to be cut up and disposed of by the housewife; vegetables and most of the small fruits could not be bought at all; stoves were an unknown luxury, all cooking being done in huge fire-places or brick ovens. for thirty years my father and mother labored with unabated energy; his work leading him into the highways of public affairs, while her way lay through the by-paths of home and village life. through these thirty years my father used such influence as he had on the side of the weak and oppressed. in the matter of procuring a more respectful consideration of the property rights of women, he was a pioneer. to attempt a detailed statement of the amelioration of those legal hardships under which women labored, is beyond the scope or purpose of this article. i will only mention, in brief, the more important provisions he was instrumental in passing in the face of ridicule and violent opposition. these amendments were: the abolition of simple dower, giving to widows instead, a fee simple interest; procuring for women the right to their own earnings; abolishing tenancy by courtesy, which, in effect, made the husband the beneficiary of the wife's lands, and in several matters of less radical change rectifying, so far as he could, the injustice of the common law toward widows; always keeping in view, however, the proper heirship of children of a former marriage, and guarding the rights of creditors. in the matter of the divorce laws of indiana, my father has not taken as prominent a part as is generally supposed. these laws were referred to him in conjunction with another member of the legislature for the revision, and they amended them in a single point, namely: by adding to the causes for divorce "habitual drunkenness for two years." my father has expressed himself in full on this point in a discussion between horace greeley and himself, first published in the _new york tribune_. as early as , my father advocated an equal position for woman, publishing these views through _the free enquirer_, a weekly paper edited by frances wright and himself in new york. my father's political life comprised several terms in the legislature of his own state, being elected in a member of the convention which amended the constitution of indiana, and chairman of its revision committee. the debates in this convention show the difference in the position of my father and his antagonists. constitutional debates. mr. owen: no subject of greater importance has come up since we met here, as next in estimation to the right of enjoying life and liberty, our constitution enumerates the right of acquiring, possessing, protecting property. and these sections refer to the latter right, heretofore declared to be natural, inherent, inalienable, yet virtually withheld from one-half the citizens of our state. women are not represented in our legislative halls; they have no voice in selecting those who make laws and constitutions for them; and one reason given for excluding women from the right of suffrage, is an expression of confident belief that their husbands and fathers will surely guard their interests. i should like, for the honor of my sex, to believe that the legal rights of women are, at all times, as zealously guarded as they would be if women had votes to give to those who watch over their interests. suffer me, sir, in defense of my skepticism on this point, to lay before you and this convention, an item from my legislative recollection. it will be thirteen years next winter, since i reported from a seat just over the way, a change in the then existing law of descent. at that time the widow of an intestate dying without children, was entitled, under ordinary circumstances, to dower in her husband's real estate, and one-third of his personal property. the change proposed was to give her one-third of the real estate of her husband absolutely, and two-thirds of his personal property--far too little, indeed; but yet as great an innovation as we thought we could carry. this law remained in force until . how stands it now? the widow of an intestate, in case there be no children, and in case there be father, or mother, or brother, or sister of the husband, is heir to no part whatever of her deceased husband's real estate; she is entitled to dower only, of one-third of his estate. i ask you whether your hearts do not revolt at the idea, that when the husband is carried to his long home, his widow shall see snatched from her, by an inhuman law, the very property her watchful care had mainly contributed to increase and keep together? yet this idea, revolting as it is, is carried out in all its unmitigated rigor, by the statute to which i have just referred. out of a yearly rental of a hundred and fifty dollars, the widow of an intestate rarely becomes entitled to more than fifty. the other hundred dollars goes--whither? to the husband's father or mother? yes, if they survive! but if they are dead, what then? a brother-in-law or a sister-in-law takes it, or the husband's uncle, or his aunt, or his cousin! do husbands toil through a life-time to support their aunts, and uncles, and cousins? if but a single cousin's child, a babe of six months, survive, to that infant goes a hundred dollars of the rental, and to the widow fifty. can injustice go beyond this? what think you of a law like that, on the statute book of a civilized and a christian land? when the husband's sustaining arm is laid in the grave, and the widow left without a husband to cherish, then comes the law more cruel than death, and decrees that poverty shall be added to desolation! say, delegates of the people of indiana, answer and say whether you, whether those who sent you here are guiltless in this thing? have you done justice? have you loved mercy? but let us turn to the question more immediately before us. let us pass from the case of the widow and look to that of the wife: first, the husband becomes entitled, from the instant of marriage, to all the goods and chattels of his wife. his right is absolute, unconditional. secondly, the husband acquires, in virtue of the marriage, the rents and profits (in all cases during her life) of his wife's real estate. the flagrant injustice of this has been somewhat modified by a statute barring the marital right to the rent of lands, but this protection does not extend to personal property. is this as it should be? are we meting out fair and equal justice?... there is a species of very silly sentimentalism which it is the fashion to put forth in after-dinner toasts and other equally veracious forms, about woman being the only tyrant in a free republic; about the chains she imposes on her willing slaves, etc.; it would be much more to our credit, if we would administer a little less flattery and a little more justice. from pages upon pages of eloquence delivered in reply, i cull the following extracts, which are a sample of the spirit of the opposition: "i am of opinion that to adopt the proposition of the gentleman from posey (mr. owen), will not ameliorate the condition of married women." "i can not see the propriety of establishing for women a distinct and separate interest, the consideration of which would, of necessity, withdraw their attention from that sacred duty which nature has, in its wisdom, assigned to their peculiar care. i think the law which unites in one common bond the pecuniary interests of husband and wife should remain. the sacred ordinance of marriage, and the relations growing out of it, should not be disturbed. the common law does seem to me to afford sufficient protection." "if the law is changed, i believe that a most essential injury would result to the endearing relations of married life. controversies would arise, husbands and wives would become armed against each other, to the utter destruction of true felicity in married life." "to adopt it would be to throw a whole population morally and politically into confusion. is it necessary to explode a volcano under the foundation of the family union?" "i object to the gentleman's proposition, because it is in contravention of one of the great fundamental principles of the christian religion. the common law only embodies the divine law." "give to the wife a separate interest in law, and all those high motives to restrain the husband from wrong-doing will be, in a great degree, removed." "i firmly believe that it would diminish, if it did not totally annihilate woman's influence." "woman's power comes through a self-sacrificing spirit, ready to offer up all her hopes upon the shrine of her husband's wishes." "sir, we have got along for eighteen hundred years, and shall we change now? our fathers have for many generations maintained the principle of the common law in this regard, for some good and weighty reasons." "the immortal jefferson, writing in reference to the then state of society in france, and the debauched condition thereof, attributes the whole to the effects of the civil law then in force in france, permitting the wife to hold, acquire, and own property, separate and distinct from the husband." "the females of this state are about as happy and contented with their present position in relation to this right (suffrage), as it is necessary they should be, and i do not favor the proposition (of woman's suffrage), which my friend from posey, mr. owen, appears to countenance." "it is not because i love justice less, but woman more, that i oppose this section." "this doctrine of separate estate will stifle all the finer feelings, blast the brightest, fairest, happiest hopes of the human family, and go in direct contravention of that law which bears the everlasting impress of the almighty hand. sir, i consider such a scheme not only as wild, but as wicked, if not in its intentions, at least in its results." it is incredible that men in their sane minds should argue day after day, that if women were allowed to control their own property, it would "strike at the root of christianity," "ruin the home," and "open wide the door to license and debauchery." and yet these men did so argue through weeks of stormy debate; the bitterest feeling being shown, not with regard to the proposed change in the law of descent, but with regard to the right of women to "acquire and possess property to their sole use and disposal," during the husband's life-time. it is strange, indeed, that the man who advocated this "most meagre justice," as he truly says, should have been a target, not only for ridicule, but for abuse. i append one extract of the latter description, to illustrate how violent and unreasoning was the prejudice with which my father contended. one gentleman after quoting from the marriage contract of my father and mother, the extract in which he, my father, divests himself of the right to control the "person and property of another," proceeds as follows: sir, i would that my principles on this, in contradistinction with those of the gentlemen from posey, were written in characters of light across the noon-day heavens, that all the world might read them. (applause). i have in my drawer numerous other extracts from the writings of the gentleman from posey, but am not allowed to read them; and, indeed, sir, under the circumstances, decency forbids their use. but if i were permitted to read them, and show their worse than damning influence upon society, in conjunction with this system of separate interests, i venture to aver that gentlemen would turn from them with disgust; aye, sir, they would shun them as they would shun man's worst enemy, and flee from them as from a poisonous reptile. (page , "debates in indiana convention"). the section was finally reconsidered and rejected a few days before adjournment (p. ). but my father, with his characteristic perseverance, continued his efforts until they were finally crowned with success in the legislature, after fifteen years of endeavor. most of the arguments used by those delegates, if they can be called by so dignified a name, bear a singular resemblance to the arguments used to-day by the opponents of woman's suffrage. may we not then conclude that the fears which have been proved absolutely groundless in the one case, may be equally so in the other? an enthusiastic public meeting was held in indianapolis in honor of my father by the women of the state, mrs. sarah t. bolton taking a prominent part. on this occasion a beautiful silver pitcher was presented to him as a token of gratitude for his persevering efforts in behalf of women. this pitcher still holds a place of honor in our family dinings on gala days. in reply to several slurs in regard to this memorial, my father during the debates in the convention thus retorted: since i have had occasion to allude to the testimonial which it is proposed to offer me on behalf of the women of my adopted state, i will say here, that regarding it as the greatest compliment--if in so grave a connection a word often so lightly used may be properly employed--the greatest compliment i ever received in my life, or ever can receive till i die: it matters little to me what may be said of myself in that connection; i am accustomed to personal attack, and am proof against ridicule. but if any man, whether he disgrace a chair on this floor, or dishonor by his presence some of the bar-rooms of the city, utter an insinuation, cast a reproach, directly or indirectly, by open assertion, or covert insinuation, against the motives or the character of those courageous women who may have met in lawrenceburg or elsewhere, to consult regarding rights shamefully denied to them, or those who may have publicly expressed gratitude to the defenders of these rights--if such a man there be, within or without the walls of this capitol, i say here of such a one, let him receive it as he will, that i would give my hand more freely to the inmate of the penitentiary than to him. (page , "debates in indiana convention"). in and my father was elected to congress, serving until . in he was appointed minister to naples, remaining there until . during the war his exertions were unremitting. he was the friend of governor morton, and was consulted by that energetic statesman in all his more important plans. he wrote several letters on the political crises of the time, which had a wide circulation and influence. mr. lincoln said to several of his friends, that a letter addressed to him by mr. owen, and a conversation consequent thereon, had done more toward deciding him in favor of the emancipation proclamation, than any other influence which had been brought to bear. my father also made strenuous efforts during the winter of -' to postpone the enfranchisement of the freedmen ten years, until . (see _atlantic monthly_, june, ). subsequent events have shown his judgment to have been correct and far-sighted. he believed the conferring of suffrage upon the negro, dim-visioned in the sudden light of a new liberty, to be a most dangerous experiment; he foresaw that the ballot which the north gave to them as a protection against their arrogant masters, would prove a two-edged sword with a terrible reactionary force in the hands of an untrained race just freed from mental leading-strings; he knew the difficulty to be inherent, a difficulty which the existence of slavery must necessarily have produced. he maintained that although the sword had struck off the outward chains, the white-heat of ire kindled in the hearts of the conquered had not fused the inward shackles of the slave, but had riveted them the firmer, and that the invisible fetters welded by revengeful hate should be broken most carefully. in the latter years of his life my father gave his entire attention to the study of modern spiritualism, or rather to the study of spiritualism in both its ancient and its modern phases. he published two works on this subject, "footfalls on the boundary of another world," and "the debatable land between this world and the next." in a letter written shortly before his death, he expresses himself as follows: "i hope, my child, that you will never, at any period of your life, be less happy than you now are. if you cultivate your spiritual nature rationally, i feel assured you never will. for one effect of rational spiritualism is to make one more satisfied the longer one lives, and to make the last scenes of life, hours of pleasant anticipation, instead of a season of dread, or, as with many it has been, of horror." it would be well for non-investigators who maintain that my father's belief in spiritualism necessarily proves him to have been illogical, to see to it that they are not falling into the inconsequence which they are ascribing to him. reasoning _a priori_, should we not believe that the man who saw so clearly the dangers which were unperceived by some of our keenest statesmen, could not become, except in a rare instance and for a short time, a misled dupe? has any one the right to condemn such a man unproved? while my father was exerting his energies for the welfare of the nation, my mother was giving her life to her children. sons and daughters were welcomed into the owen homestead, and the wide halls and great rooms of the rambling country house rang with the voices of children. three of these little ones slipped back to heaven before the portals had closed. the stricken parents with blinded eyes met only the rayless emptiness of unbelief. may god help the mother, fainting beneath a bereavement greater than she can bear, who cries for help and finds none; who stretches her empty arms upward in an agony of appeal and is answered by the hollow echo of her own cry; may god help her, for she is beyond the help of man. other children came to fill the vacant places, other voices filled the air, but the hearts of father and mother were not filled until years later, when a sweet faith thrilled the hopeless blank. the story of these two is the story of many beside. husband and wife began the long journey side by side with equal talent, hope, energy; his work led him along the high-road, hers lay in a quiet nook; his name became world-known, hers was scarcely heard beyond the precinct of her own village; and yet who can say that his life was the more successful, who can say that the quiet falling rain, with its slow resultant of flower and fruit in each little garden nook, is less important than the mighty ship-laden river bearing its wealth of commerce in triumph to the sea? george eliot, in "middlemarch," says of dorothea: her finely-touched spirit had its fine issues, though they were not widely visible.... the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive; for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. this is true of many dorotheas; it is true of the dorothea of whom i am writing. geographically, mary owen's field of labor was narrow; but a small western village of a thousand souls may hold within its ethical strata all the developments of a continent. let her who feels that her small limits imprison her, remember that emotions are not registered by the census. lovers and business men, struggling youths and perplexed mothers, children and veterans, poured their griefs and fears, their hopes and disappointments, into the listening ear of sympathy, knowing that the clear judgment of this little woman could unravel much that seemed to be in hopeless entanglement. well do i remember the cheer of this our home. simple were its duties, simple indeed its pleasures. well do i remember the busy troop of boys and girls, with the busy mother at their head, directing their exuberant energy with a rare administrative ability. besides her own children, four of whom reached maturity, she took during her life seven other young people under her protection, so that the great old-fashioned house was always filled to overflowing with fresh young life. pasture and stable, hennery and dairy, yard and garden, kitchen and parlor, all were under her immediate guidance and control. well do i remember the pots of golden butter, fresh from her cool hand; the delicious hams cured under her supervision; the succulent vegetables and juicy fruits fresh from her garden--that trim, symmetrical garden, with its well-weeded beds, its well-kept walks! many a bright summer morning have i seen her resting on a low bench beneath a huge overhanging elm, overlooking the field of our labors. to a stranger the flushed face with its irregular features, might have seemed plain; the earnest, energetic manner might have seemed almost abrupt; but to the children who sat on the grass at her feet looking upward, the face was beautiful. that calm eye had pierced through so many childish intricacies and made them clear; the firm mouth could smile so gently at any youthful shortcoming, and the strong voice rang with a hope which sent fear and doubt skulking away in shamefaced silence. it was the brightest part of the day, this short respite, before mother, marshalling her young army, led them to the study-room. this impromptu lesson-hour was filled with a teaching so trenchant, that oftentimes, in these lonelier days, when perplexed in the intricacies of life's journeyings, a word spoken in some long ago summer morning, floats down the years and rises before my troubled vision a guiding star. when her children were grown, and the task she had undertaken years before had been well done, our mother turned her attention for a time to public work. she gave much thought to the woman question, especially that portion of it pertaining to woman's work, and addressed one or two meetings in new york on this subject. miss anthony recently said to me: "miss owen, you do not know how great an impression your mother made upon us--a woman who had lived nearly her whole life in a small western village, absorbed in petty cares, and yet who could stand before us[ ] with a calm dignity, telling us searching truths in simple and strong words." the only lecture i heard my mother deliver was in the church of our village. her subject was the rearing of children. a calm light rested on her silver hair and broad brow; her manner was the earnest manner of a woman who has looked into the heart of life. blessed is the daughter to whom it is given to reverence a mother as i reverenced mine that night. a quiet, but deep attention was given to her words, for the fathers and mothers who were listening to her knew that she was speaking on a subject to which she had given long years of careful thought and faithful endeavor. it would not be possible in the space allotted me to give a detailed account of my mother's teachings with regard to the rearing of children; but i will state a few of the more prominent theories--theories proved by practice, which i remember. self-government was the primary principle, the broad foundation. she held this qualification to be the only guarantee of success in the broadest sense of the word, and that to be effectual and never-failing it must be interwoven into the very fiber of the child. during the earliest years our mother administered punishment, or rather she invented some means by which the child should be made to feel the result of its bad conduct. injuring another was held to be a cardinal sin. for this misdeed our hands were tied behind us for an interminable length of time; for running away we were tied to the bed-post; for eating at irregular hours we were deprived of dainties at the next meal, etc. but as soon as we reached the age of reason, she exerted, not a controlling, but a guiding hand. we were restricted by few rules, for our mother believed in the largest possible liberty, and she held that it was better to pass over the smaller shortcomings unnoticed, than constantly to be finding fault. she maintained that scolding should be indulged in most sparingly, as much of it was detrimental both to the temper of the child and the dignity of the mother. she believed that too little allowance was made for the heedlessness growing out of pure exuberance of spirits. but when a law was once established it was unalterable, and no child ever thought of resisting it. for instance, no one, large or small, was allowed to exhibit a peevish ill-nature, either by word or manner, in the public rooms of the house. my mother merely said, in a quiet tone: "my child, you are either tired or sick; in either case, it would be better to go to your own room and lie down until you are quite restored." the result of this simple rule was an almost uniform cheerfulness. i have lived in many homes, in many parts of the world, but i have never seen one which equaled my mother's in this respect. i do not remember a single command issued by my mother to her older children; but i can well remember her saying: "i think you had better do so and so"; and i recollect distinctly that when we obstinately followed our own unreasoning will, as we were often inclined to do, we were invariably taught a bitter but wholesome lesson. she believed these lessons to be much more effectual for good than any arbitrary prohibition on her part would have been; she reserved such prohibition for the cases where the consequences were not confined to ourselves, or were of too serious a nature. the one mistake made by my mother was in the physical management of her children. like many mothers whose bodies and minds are kept at the highest tension, she failed to give vital strength to her children. the most promising of these died in early childhood, "by the will of god," as we say in our blindness. one of them especially, the "little king," as he was called, being a magnificent child, both in mental and moral development. of those who came to maturity, one died at the age of twenty-seven, one has been an invalid for years, one has fair health, and one only rejoices in a vigorous physique. this boy was born in my grandmother's house, near the sea, where my mother had spent, as she expressed it, "the laziest year of her whole life." these children have all had a keen love of study, an energy which carried them far beyond their strength, and she failed sufficiently to curb them. but in other respects, our mother has done to the uttermost. her children had strong propensities both for good and ill. she has, so far as is possible, strengthened the virtues and repressed the faults of every child given into her keeping. "the sun shines," is a sentence simple and short, but how infinite is its meaning; myriads of unfolding blossoms flash it back in vivid coloring; myriads of stalwart trees whisper it; myriads of breathing things revel in it; myriads of men thank god for it. so is it with the influence of a good mother. it is not given us to follow each tiny shaft of light in its endless searchings, neither do we note how the riot of the waste places within us is pruned by deft hands into a tenuous symmetry, nor how, in the midst of this life's growth, is laid the foundation of the kingdom of heaven, by the silent masonry of a mother's constant endeavor. mothers, all over this broad land, heavy-laden with the puerile details of daily living, fling off your shrouding cares, and lift your worn faces that you may see with a broad outlook how full-fruited is the vineyard in which you are toiling; the thorns are irritating; the glebe is rough; your spirit faints in the heat of the toilsome day. look up! the lengthening shadows are falling like dew upon you! tired hearts, look up! purple-red hangs the clustering fruit of your life-long work; the vintage has come, the freest from blight that can ever come--the vintage of a faithful mother! the name of mary owen was not written upon the brains of men, but it is graven upon the hearts of these her children; so long as they live, the blessed memory of that home shall abide with them, a home wherein all that was sweet, and strong, and true, was nurtured by a wise hand, was sunned into blossoming by a loving heart. a benediction rests upon the brow of him who has given his best work to help this world onward, even though it be but a hair's-breadth; but the mother who has given herself to her children through long years of an unwritten self-abnegation, who has thrilled every fiber of their beings with faith in god and hope in man, a faith and a hope which no canker-worm of worldly experience can ever eat away, she shall be crowned with a sainted halo. reminiscences by dr. mary f. thomas and amanda m. way. at an anti-slavery meeting held in greensboro, henry co., in , a resolution was offered by amanda m. way, then an active agent in the "underground railroad," as follows: whereas, the women of our land are being oppressed and degraded by the laws and customs of our country, and are in but little better condition than chattel slaves; therefore, _resolved_, that we call a woman's rights convention, and that a committee be now appointed to make the necessary arrangements. the resolution was adopted. amanda m. way, joel davis, and fanny hiatt were appointed. the convention met in october, , in dublin, wayne co., and organized by electing hannah hiatt, president; amanda way, vice-president; and henry hiatt, secretary. miss way made the opening address, and stated the object of the convention to be a full, free, and candid discussion of the legal and social position of women. the meetings continued two days. henry c. wright addressed large audiences at the evening sessions. a letter was received from mary f. thomas, of north manchester, urging all those who believe in woman's rights to be firm and outspoken. she encouraged young ladies to enter the trades and professions, to fit themselves in some way for pecuniary independence, and adds, "although a wife, mother, and housekeeper, with all that that means, i am studying medicine, and expect to practice, if i live." such a convention being a novel affair, called out some ridicule and opposition, but the friends were so well pleased with their success, that a committee was appointed to arrange for another the next year, which was held in richmond, oct. and , . a few of the resolutions[ ] will show the spirit of the leaders at that time. a woman's rights society was formed at this convention, a constitution and by-laws adopted, and it became one of the permanent organizations of the state. hannah hiatt, president; jane morrow, vice-president; mary b. birdsall, secretary; amanda way, treasurer. another convention was held at richmond october , . the president being absent, lydia w. vandeburg presided with dignity and ability. frances d. gage, josephine s. griffing, emma r. coe, and lydia ann jenkins were among the prominent speakers. having heard that antoinette brown had been denied admission as a delegate to the "world's temperance convention," held in new york, on account of her sex, they passed a resolution condemning this insult offered to all womankind. thirty-two persons[ ] signed the constitution in the first convention, and the movement spread rapidly in the hoosier state. the fourth annual meeting convened in masonic hall, indianapolis, october , . frances d. gage, caroline m. severance, and l. a. hine were the invited speakers, and right well did they sustain the banner of equal rights in the capital of the state. j. w. gordon, then a young and promising lawyer, and since one of the leading men of the state, avowed himself in favor of woman suffrage, and added much to the success of the convention. the press, as usual, ridiculed, burlesqued, and misrepresented the proceedings; but the citizens manifested a serious interest, and requested that the next convention be held at the capital. about this time the "maine liquor law" was passed in this state. the women took an active part in the temperance campaign, and helped to secure the prohibitory law. this made the suffrage movement more popular, as was shown in the increased attendance at the next convention in indianapolis, october , , at which emma b. swank presided. the prominent speakers were james and lucretia mott, frances d. gage, ernestine l. rose, joseph barker, amanda way, henry hiatt, and j. w. gordon. with such women as these to declare the gospel of equality, and to enforce it with their pure faces, womanly graces, and noble lives, the people could not fail to give their sympathy, and to be convinced of the rightfulness of our cause. the two leading papers again did their best to make the movement ridiculous. the reporters gave glowing pen sketches of the "masculine women" and "feminine men"; they described the dress and appearance of the women very minutely but said little of the merits of the question, or the arguments of the speakers. amanda way was chosen president of the society; dr. mary thomas, vice-president; mary b. birdsall, secretary; abbe lindley, treasurer. the next annual meeting was held in winchester, october and , . in her introductory remarks, the president referred to the great change that had taken place in five years. women were now often seen on the platform making speeches on many questions, behind the counters as clerks, in the sick-room as physicians. the temperance organization of good templars, now spreading rapidly over the state, makes no distinction in its members; women as well as men serve on committees, hold office, and vote on all business matters. emma b. swank and sarah e. underhill were the principal speakers at this convention. for logical argument and beauty of style, miss swank was said to have few equals. dr. mary thomas was chosen president for the next year. the annual meeting of was again held in winchester, by an invitation from the citizens, and the methodist episcopal church was tendered for their use. on taking the chair, the president, dr. mary f. thomas, said: this is the first time i have had the pleasure of meeting with this association, still my heart, my influence, and my prayers have all been with the advocates of this cause. although i have not enjoyed the privilege of attending the annual meetings, owing to my many cares, i have not been an idler in the vineyard. by my example, as well as my words, i have tried to teach women to be more self-reliant, and to prepare themselves for larger and more varied spheres of activity. frances d. gage, who was always a favorite speaker in indiana, was again present, and scattered seeds of truth that have produced abundant fruit. on motion of amanda way, who said she believed it was time for us to begin to knock at the doors of the legislature, a committee of three was appointed to prepare a form of petition to be circulated and presented to the next legislature. in the convention again met in richmond, sarah underhill, president. adeline t. swift and anne d. cridge, of ohio, both excellent speakers, were present. the committee appointed to draft a form of petition, reported the following: _to the honorable senate and house of representatives of the state of indiana:_ the undersigned, residents of the state of indiana, respectfully ask you to grant to women the same rights in property that are enjoyed by men. we also ask you to take the necessary steps to amend the constitution so as to extend to woman the right of suffrage. sarah underhill, emma swank, mary birdsall, agnes cook, dr. mary f. thomas, and amanda way were appointed to present said petition to the legislature. the interest was so great, and the discussions so animated, for many new speakers from all parts of the state had risen up, that the convention continued through three days. on the th of january, , the petition was presented to the legislature by mary birdsall, agnes cook, and dr. mary thomas. an account of the proceedings was given in _the lily_, a woman's rights paper, published and edited by dr. mary thomas. the occasion of the presentation of petitions in person by a delegation of the indiana woman's rights association before the assembled houses of the legislature, drew an immense crowd long before the appointed hour. on the arrival of the committee, they were escorted to the speaker's stand. the president, j. r. cravens, introduced them to their representatives. mrs. agnes cook, in a few brief remarks, invited a serious and candid consideration of the intrinsic merits of the petition about to be presented, and the arguments of the petitioners. dr. mary thomas read the petition signed by over one thousand residents of indiana, and urged the legislature to pass laws giving equal property rights to married women, and to take the necessary steps to so amend the constitution of the state as to secure to all women the right of suffrage. she claimed these rights on the ground of absolute justice, as well as the highest expediency, pointing out clearly the evils that flow from class legislation. mrs. birdsall being introduced, read a clear, concise address, occupying about half an hour. the following resolution, offered by gen. steele, was unanimously adopted: _resolved_, that the addresses just read be spread upon the journal, and that copies be requested for publication in the city papers. after the senate adjourned, the speaker called the house to order, and on the motion of mr. murray, it resolved itself into committee of the whole on the memorial just presented. on motion of mr. hamilton, the petition was made the special order for friday, when it was referred to the committee on "rights and privileges," who reported "that legislation on this subject is inexpedient at this time," which report was concurred in by the house. the ninth annual meeting was held in good templars' hall, richmond, in october, . it continued but one day, as the time was fully occupied in business plans for future work. mary b. birdsall was chosen president of the association. the intense excitement of the political campaign of , and the civil war that followed, absorbed every other interest. the women who had so zealously worked for their own rights, were just as ready to help others. some hastened to the hospitals; others labored in the sanitary movement. others did double duty at home, tilling the ground and gathering in the harvests, that their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons might go forth to fight the battles of freedom. no conventions were held for ten years; but public sentiment had taken a long stride during those years of conflict, and when the pioneers of this reform, who had been accustomed to opposition and misrepresentation, again began the work, they were astonished to find themselves in a comparatively popular current. we find the following letters from henry c. wright and esther ann lukens, in _the liberator_: dublin, wayne co., indiana, _oct. , _. dear garrison:--i am in a woman's rights convention, the first ever held in this state, called by the women of indiana to consider the true position of woman. an excellent but short address was made by the president, hannah hiatt, on the importance of the movement and the ruinous consequences of dividing the interests of men and women, and making their relations antagonistic in the state, the church, and the affairs of every-day life. much was said against woman's taking part in government. it would degrade her to vote and hold office, and destroy her influence as mother, wife, daughter, sister. it was an answer that if voting and holding office would degrade women, they would degrade men also; whatever is injurious to the moral nature, delicacy, and refinement of woman is equally so to man. moral obligations rest equally on both sexes. man should be as refined and chaste as woman if we would make our social life pure. women may as well say to men, "keep away from the ballot-box and from office, for it degrades you and unfits you to be our companions," as for man to say so to women. dr. curtis, a methodist class-leader, said the bible had placed the _final appeal_ in all disputes in man; that if woman refused obedience, god gave man the right to use force. this "christian teacher" was the only person in the convention who appealed to the spirit of rowdyism, whose language was unbecoming the subject and the occasion. he was the only one who appealed to the bible to justify the subjection of woman. and while he awarded to man the right to use force, he said the only influence the bible authorized woman to use was moral suasion. man is to rule woman by violence; woman must rule man by love, kindness, and long-suffering. so says the bible according to the interpretation of the learned dr. curtis. the convention lasted two days. it was a thrilling meeting. yours, henry c. wright. new garden, ohio, _oct. , _. dear friends:--when goethe was asked if the world would be better if the golden age were restored, he answered, "a synod of good women shall decide." could his spirit look down upon us he would see those synods, of which he perhaps prophetically spoke, assembling all over the land, not to restore an age of semi-barbarism, but to hasten the advent of a new and far more golden era, when there will be no dangerous pilgrimage of years' duration to win back the holy sepulchre, but a far more divine and sacred inheritance shall have been sought and found; namely, freedom for woman to exercise every right, capacity, and power with which god has endowed her. if there are any natural rights, then they belong to all by virtue of our humanity, and are not graduated by degrees of superiority. if the privilege of voting had been limited to those men who were strong in mind and morals, we should never have had a governor's signature to "the black laws of ohio." it is perverse and cruel to raise the cry that we make war upon domestic life; that we would destroy its natural order and attraction by allowing woman to mingle in the coarse and noisy scenes of political life. is not the aid of man equally important in the family, and would his necessary duties in the home conflict with his duties as a citizen and a patriot? man can not wrong and oppress woman without jeopardizing his own liberty. cramped and crippled as she may be by inexorable law, she avenges herself, and decides his destiny. so long as woman is outlawed, man pays the penalty in ignorance, poverty, and suffering. our interests are one, we rise or fall together. sisters of indiana, accept my heartfelt sympathy in the work you have undertaken. it is well for the pioneers of a new country to call down god's blessing on their labors by an early claim to an equality of rights. yours, for justice to all, esther ann lukens. having never met the brave women who endured the first shower of ridicule in indiana, we asked to be introduced to them in some brief pen-sketches, and in the following manner they present themselves: rev. amanda m. way may be truthfully called the mother of "the woman suffrage association" in indiana organized in , and took an active part in all the conventions until she became a resident in kansas in . miss way was always an abolitionist, a prohibitionist, and an uncompromising suffragist--the great pioneer of all reforms. it is amusing to hear how many places she has been the first to fill; yet she has done it all in such a quiet way that no one seemed to feel that she was ever out of place. it was a common remark, "amanda can do that, but she is not like other people." she was the first woman elected grand secretary of the "indiana order of good templars," in ; the first state lecturer and organizer; the first in the world to be elected grand worthy chief templar; the first one in her state to be a representative to the national lodge; the first one admitted as a regular representative to the grand division, sons of temperance, and the first to be a licensed preacher in the methodist episcopal church. what is better still, she continues in the work she began, gaining power and influence with the experience of years. an editor, speaking of her, said: "there is no woman more widely and favorably known in this state than amanda way. her name is a household word, and in the hearts of the temperance reformers her memory will ever be sacred." in , she was associated with mrs. underhill in editing _the ladies' tribune_, and has since been connected with the press much of the time. during the rebellion, her time and thoughts were given to active labors in the hospitals and the sanitary movement. many a soldier returned to his home who would have died but for her care. in company with mrs. swank she presented a memorial, to the legislature in , asking the elective franchise for women, and made a very effective speech on the occasion. her home-life has been equally active and faithful; a widowed mother and a sister's orphaned children, have been her special care, depending on her for support. once, when asked why she never married, she laughingly replied, "i never had time." she has been a consistent member of the methodist church twenty years, and ten years ago, unsolicited by herself, she was licensed as a minister by the winchester quarterly conference, rev. milton mahin, presiding elder. in her travels over the state she preaches almost every sunday, being invited to fill many pulpits, both in kansas and this state. she is a calm, forcible, earnest speaker, and, though quiet and reserved in manner, she is genial and warm in her affections. she is now fifty-two years old, and though her life has been a constant battle with wrongs, she has not become misanthropic nor despondent. knowing that progress is the law of life, she has full faith that the moral world, though moving slowly, is still moving in the right direction. helen y. austin, corresponding secretary of the state suffrage association for many years, a position for which she was eminently fitted, being gifted as a writer. having had a liberal education, and great enthusiasm in our cause, her labors have been valuable and effective. she is a correspondent for several journals and periodicals, is very active in "the state horticultural society," and takes a deep interest in all the progressive movements of the day. louise v. boyd. mrs. boyd is a lady of fine poetical genius and superior literary attainments. she has been an earnest advocate of woman suffrage for many years, and is herself a living argument of woman's ability to use the rights she asks. in she read a very able essay on the "women of the bible," before the state association of the christian church. it was the first time a woman's voice had been heard in that religious body. the success of her effort on that occasion opened the way for other women. mrs. boyd and her husband (dr. s. s. boyd, who is also a zealous friend of our cause), have both been officers of the state w. s. association for many years, taking an active part in all our conventions. rev. mary t. clark. mrs. clark has been an acceptable lecturer and preacher for many years in different parts of the state. she was early a recognized minister among the congregational quakers. more recently she has been ordained in the universalist church, and enjoys equal rights and honors with the clergymen of that denomination. she is a woman of education and culture, and of english parentage. emma b. swank. mrs. swank is one of the most pleasing speakers of indiana. she is a graduate of antioch, and while yet in college she gained quite a reputation by her lecturing on astronomy. she spent several years lecturing to classes of women on physiology, anatomy, and hygiene. of late, she has devoted herself to woman suffrage and temperance. she served as president of the state society one year before the war and one since, and has always done good, service to the cause of woman with both pen and tongue. sarah e. underhill. mrs. underhill was first known in indiana as the editor and proprietor of the _ladies' tribune_ at indianapolis in . she associated with her amanda way as office editor, that she might devote her entire time to lecturing. though she remained in the state but three years, she was widely and favorably known as an earnest and effective speaker on woman suffrage and temperance. when the war began, she was among the first to go to the sick and wounded soldiers. a brief account of her work in the hospitals will be found in the "women of the war." jane morrow. miss morrow was a pioneer in our movement; attended the second convention in . she was not a speaker, but a practical business woman, owning and successfully carrying on a dry-goods store in richmond for many years. by precept and example, she taught the doctrine of woman's independence and self-reliance. she was a kind, genial, sunny-hearted woman, who made all about her bright and happy, though she was what the world calls an "old maid." in , she died suddenly, without a moment's warning or parting word; but "aunt jane," as she was familiarly called, will long be remembered in her native town. mary b. birdsall was secretary of the convention of , and held that position for three years. she purchased _the lily_, a woman's rights paper, of amelia bloomer, in , and published it for three years. her home is in richmond. mary robinson owen. mrs. owen, wife of robert dale owen, was not known to the public until after the war. it is said, however, that she suggested and helped prepare the amendments to the laws with reference to woman's property rights, that her husband carried through our legislature. she had a strong, clear intellect, and her lectures were more argumentative and pointed than rhetorical and flinched. she sympathized with and aided her husband in all his reformatory movements, and was his equal in mental power. she was one of the vice-presidents of our indiana state woman suffrage association at the time of her death, . mary f. thomas. mary f. thomas, m.d., was born october . , in montgomery county, maryland. her parents, samuel and mary myers, were members of the society of friends, and resided in their early days in berks and chester counties, in pennsylvania. her father was the associate of benjamin lundy, in organizing and attending the first anti-slavery meeting held in washington, at the risk of their lives. desiring to place his family beyond the evil influences of slavery, he moved to columbiana county, ohio. he purchased a farm there; his daughters assisted him in his outdoor labors in the summer, and studied under his instructions in the winter. while in washington he frequently took his daughters to the capitol to listen to the debates, which gave them interest in political questions. mary was early roused to the consideration of woman's wrongs by the unequal wages paid to teachers of her own sex. in she was much moved in listening to the preaching of lucretia mott at a yearly meeting in salem, ohio, and resolved that her best efforts should be given to secure justice for woman. in she was married to dr. owen thomas. she has three daughters, all well educated, self-reliant women. her youngest daughter, a graduate of cornell university, ithaca, new york, took the greek prize in the intercollegiate contest in . as mrs. thomas' husband was a physician, she studied medicine with him, and graduated at the penn medical college of philadelphia in . she was the first woman to take her place in the state medical association as a regularly admitted delegate. she is a member of the wayne county medical association; has been physician for "the home for friendless women" in the city of richmond for nine years, and has filled the office of city physician by the appointment of the commissioners for several years. though deeply interested in the woman suffrage reform, owing to her domestic cares and medical studies she could not attend any public meetings until ; since that time she has been one of the most responsible standard-bearers, and for several years president of the state association. mrs. thomas was always a conscientious abolitionist; the poor fugitive from bondage did not knock at her door in vain. the temperance reform, too, has had her warm sympathy and the benefit of her pure example. she is a member of the grand lodge of good templars, and has held important offices in that order, having been a faithful disciple in spreading the gospel of temperance over forty years, always a member of some organization. during the war of the rebellion she gave herself in every way that was open to woman to the loyal service of her country. as assistant physician in hospitals, looking after the sick and wounded, and in sanitary work at home, she manifested as much patriotism as any man did on the battle-field. after her long experience, she comes to the conclusion, that with the ballot in her own hand, with the power to coin her will into law, a woman might do a far more effective work in preventing human misery and crime, than she ever can accomplish by indirect influence, in merely mitigating the evils man perpetuates by law. (_from the liberator of may, _). rights of women in wisconsin. minority report of c. l. sholes, from the "committee on expiration and re-enactment of laws," to whom were referred sundry petitions, praying that steps may be taken to confer upon women the right of suffrage in wisconsin. the minority of the committee on expiration and re-enactment of laws, beg leave to report: the theory of our government, proclaimed some eighty years since, these petitioners ask may be reduced to practice. the undersigned is aware that the opinion has been announced from a high place and high source, that this theory is, in the instrument which contains it, a mere rhetorical flourish, admirable to fill a sentence and round a period, but otherwise useless and meaningless; that so far from all mankind being born free and equal, it is those only who have rights that are entitled to them; those yet out of the pale of that fortunate condition being intended by providence always to be and remain there. but notwithstanding this opinion has the weight of high authority, and notwithstanding the practice of the american people has thus far been in strict accordance with such opinion, the undersigned believes the theory proclaimed is not simply a rhetorical flourish, nor meaningless, but that it means just what it says; that it is true, and being true, is susceptible of an application as broad as the truth proclaimed. all humankind, says the theory, are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. other governments proclaim the divine right of kings, and assume that man is the mere creature of the government, deriving all his rights from its concessions, and forever subject to all its impositions, while this government (or at least its theory) elevates all men to an equality with kings, brings every man face to face with the author of his being and the arbiter of his destiny, deriving his rights from that source alone; and makes government his creature instead of his master, instituted by him solely for the better protection and application of his god given rights. it is important to keep in mind this theory of our government and its difference with the theories of all other governments. endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, it says, because those rights are necessary to correct relations between each individual of humanity and his creator. herein is the whole merit of the american theory of government, and of its practice too, so far as that practice has gone. it is a grand theory, opening as it does to every human being the boundless plains of progress which stretch out to the foot of the eternal throne, and implying as it does such noble powers in humanity, and such noble conditions and uses for those powers. its effect upon those who have enjoyed the benefit of its application has been in harmony with its own exalted character. though but a day old, as it were, in the history of nations, the united states, in a great many respects, outstrip all other nations of the earth, and are inferior in few or no particulars to any. the mass of her people are conceded to be the most intelligent people of the world, and manifest, individually and collectively, the fruits of superior intelligence. it will not be denied that our theory of government, viewing as it does every man as a sovereign, opening up to every man all the distinctions, all the honors, and all the wealth which man is capable of desiring, appreciating, or grasping, exercises a powerful, indeed a controlling influence in making our people what they are, and our nation what it is. these petitions ask only that these rights, enjoyed by one portion of the american people, may be extended to embrace the whole, not less for the abstract but all-sufficient reason, that they have been given to the whole by the creator, than that by their application to the whole, the more general will be the benefits experienced; and the deeper, broader, more prevailing and more enduring will become those benefits. manifestly, such must be the case; for as these rights belong to humanity, and produce their exalted and beneficial fruits by their application to and upon humanity, it follows that, wherever humanity is, there they belong, and there they will work out their beneficial results. to exclude woman from the possession of equal political rights with man, it should be shown that she is essentially a different being; that the creator of man is not her creator; that she has not the same evil to shun, the same heaven to gain; in short, the same grand, immortal destiny which is supposed to invite to high uses the capacity of man, does not pertain to nor invite her. we say this must be shown; and if it can not be, as certainly it can not, then it follows that to withhold these rights, so beneficial to one portion, is to work an immediate and particular injury to those from whom they are withheld, and, although a more indirect, not a less certain injury to all. man-masculine is not endowed by his creator with certain inalienable rights because he is male, but because he is human; and when, in virtue of our strong and superior physical capacity, we deny to man-feminine the rights which are ours only in virtue of our humanity, we exercise the same indefensible tyranny against which _we_ felt justified in taking up arms, and perilling life and fortune. the argument against conceding these rights all are familiar with. they are precisely the same which have been in the mouths of tyrants from the beginning of time, and have been urged against any and every demand for popular liberty. a want of capacity for self-government--freedom will be only licentiousness--and out of the possession of rights will grow only the practice of follies and wrongs. this is the argument, in brief, applied to every step of gradual emancipation on the part of the male, and now by him applied to the female struggling to reach the common platform. should the american male, in the van of human progress, as the result of this theory of a capacity for self-government, turn round and ignore this divinity, this capacity in another branch of the human family? the theory has worked only good in its application thus far, and it is a most unreasonable, a most unwarrantable distrust to expect it to produce mischief when applied to others in all respects mentally and morally the equals of those who now enjoy it. it neither can nor will do so; but, necessarily, the broader and more universal its application, the broader and more universal its benefits. the possession of political rights by woman does not necessarily imply that she must or will enter into the practical conduct of all the institutions, proper and improper, now established and maintained by the male portion of the race. these institutions may be right and necessary, or they may not, and the nature of woman may or may not be in harmony with them. it is not proposed to enact a law compelling woman to do certain things, but it is proposed simply to place her side by side with man on a common platform of rights, confident that, in that position, she will not outrage the "higher law" of her nature by descending to a participation in faults, follies, or crimes, for which she has no constitutional predilections. the association of woman with man, in the various relations of life in which such association is permitted, from the first unclosing of his eyes in the imbecility of infancy, till they close finally upon all things earthly, is conceded to be highly beneficial. indeed, we think it will be found, on scrutiny, that it is only those institutions of society in which women have no part, and from which they are entirely excluded, which are radically wrong, and need either thorough renovation or entire abrogation. and if we have any duties so essentially degrading, or any institution so essentially impure, as to be beyond the renovating influence which woman can bring to bear on them, beyond question they should be abrogated without delay--a result which woman's connection with them would speedily bring about. who dares say, then, that such association would not be equally beneficial, if in every sphere of activity opened to man, woman could enter with him and be at his side? are our politics, in their practice, so exalted, so dignified, so pure, that we need no new associations, no purer and healthier influences, than now connected with them? is our government just what we would have it; are our rulers just what we would have them; in short, have we arrived at that happy summit where perfection in these respects is found? not so. on the contrary, there is an universal prayer throughout the length and breadth of the land, for reform in these respects; and where, let us ask, could we reasonably look for a more powerful agent to effect this reform, than in the renovating influences of woman? that which has done so much for the fireside and social life generally, neither can nor will lose its potent, beneficial effect when brought to bear upon other relations of life. to talk of confining woman to her proper sphere by legal disabilities, is an insult to the divinity of her nature, implying, as it does, the absence of instinctive virtue, modesty, and sense on her part. it makes her the creature of law--of our law--from which she is assumed to derive her ability to keep the path of rectitude, and the withdrawal of which would leave her to sink to the depths of folly and vice. do we really think so badly of our mothers, wives, sister, daughters? is it really we only of the race who are instinctively and innately so sensible, so modest, so virtuous, as to be qualified, not only to take care of ourselves, but to dispense all these exalted qualities to the weaker, and, as we assume, inferior half of the race? if it be so, it may be doubted whether heaven's last gift was its best. kings, emperors, and dictators confine their subjects, by the interposition of law, to what they consider their proper spheres; and there is certainly as much propriety in it as in the dictation, by one sex, of the sphere of a different sex. in the assumption of our strength, we say woman must not have equal rights with us, because she has a different nature. if so, by what occult power do we understand that different nature to dictate by metes and bounds its wants and spheres? fair play is a yankee characteristic; and we submit, if but one-half of the race can have rights at a time because of their different natures, whether it is not about time the proscribed half had its chance in, to assume the reins of government, and dictate _our_ sphere. it is no great compliment to that part of the race to venture the opinion, that the country would be full as well governed as it now is, and our sphere would be bounded with quite as much liberality as now is theirs. let every human being occupy a common platform of political rights, and all will irresistibly gravitate exactly to their proper place and sphere, without discord, and with none but the most beneficial results. in this way human energy and capacity will be fully economized and expended for the highest interest of all humanity; and this result is only to be obtained by opening to all, without restriction, common spheres of activity. woman has all the interests on earth that man has--she has all the interest in the future that man has. man has rights only in virtue of his relations to earth and heaven; and woman, whose relations are the same, has the same rights. the possession of her rights, on the part of woman, will interfere no more with the duties of life, than their possession by man interferes with his duties; and as man is presumed to become a better man in all respects by the possession of his rights, such must be the inevitable effect of their possession upon woman. the history of the race, thus far, has been a history of tyranny by the strong over the weak. might, not right, has been as yet the fundamental practice of all governments; and under this order of things, woman, physically weak, from a slave, beaten, bought, and sold in the market, has but become, in the more civilized and favored portions of the earth, the toy of wealth and the drudge of poverty. but we now have at least a new and different theory of government; and as the aspiration of one age is sure to be the code of the next, and practice is sure at some time to overtake theory, we have reason to expect that principle will take the place of mere brute force, and the truth will be fully realized, "that men and women have one glory and one shame; everything that's done inhuman injures all of us the same." never, till woman stands side by side with man, his equal in the eye of the law as well as the creator, will the high destiny of the race be accomplished. she is the mother of the race, and every stain of littleness or inferiority cast upon her by our institutions will soil the offspring she sends into the world, and clip and curtail to that extent his fair proportions. if we would abrogate that littleness of her character which finds a delight in the gewgaws of fashion, and an enjoyment in the narrow sphere of gossipping, social life, or tea-table scandal, so long the ridicule of our sex; open to her new and more ennobling fields of activity and thought--fields, the exploration of which has filled the american males with great thoughts, and made them the foremost people of the world, and which will place the american females on their level, and make them truly helps meet for them. when we can add to the men of america a race of women educated side by side with them, and enjoying equal advantages with them in all respects, we may expect an offspring of giants in the comprehension and application of the great truths which involve human rights and human happiness. these petitions ask that the necessary steps may be taken to strike from the constitution the legal distinction of sex. your committee is in favor of the prayer of the petitions; but, under the most favorable circumstances, that is a result which could not be attained in less than two years. in all probability, it will not be longer than that before the constitution will come up directly for revision, which will be a proper, appropriate, and favorable time to press the question. your committee, therefore, introduces no bill, and recommends no action at present. all of which is respectfully submitted. c. l. sholes. this able report was the result, in a great measure, of the agitation started by mrs. nichols and mrs. fowler in , and by lucy stone's lecturing tour in , thus proving that no true words or brave deeds are ever lost. the experiences of these noble pioneers in their first visits to wisconsin, though in many respects trying and discouraging, brought their own rich rewards, not only in higher individual development, but in an improved public opinion and more liberal legislation in regard to the rights of women in that state. footnotes: [ ] "the relation of woman to industry in indiana," by may wright sewall. [ ] the vast audience of women alone, in apollo hall, to discuss the mcfarland and richardson tragedy. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. chapter x. pennsylvania. william penn--independence hall--british troops--heroism of women--lydia darrah--who designed the flag--anti-slavery movements in philadelphia--pennsylvania hall destroyed by a mob--david paul brown--fugitives--millard fillmore--john brown--angelina grimké--abby kelly--mary grew--temperance in --hannah darlington and ann preston before the legislature-- medical college for women in --westchester woman rights convention, --philadelphia convention, --lucretia mott answers richard h. dana--jane grey swisshelm--sarah josepha hale--anna mcdowell--rachel foster searching the records. in , charles ii., king of england, granted to william penn a tract of land in consideration of the claims of his father, admiral penn, which he named pennsylvania. the charter for this land is still in existence at harrisburg, among the archives of the state. the principal condition of the bargain with the indians was the payment of two beaver skins annually. this was the purchase money for the great state of pennsylvania. penn landed at new castle october , , and in november visited the infant city of philadelphia, where so many of the eventful scenes of the revolution transpired. penn had been already imprisoned in england several times for his quaker principles, which had so beneficent an influence in his dealings with the indians, and on the moral character of the religious sect he founded in the colonies. while yet a student he was expelled from christ church, oxford, because he was converted to quakerism under the preaching of thomas loe. he was imprisoned in cork for attending a quaker meeting, and in the tower of london in for writing "the sandy foundation shaken," and while there he wrote his great work, "no cross, no crown." in , he was again imprisoned for preaching quakerism, and as he would take no oath on his trial, he was thrown into newgate, and while there he wrote his other great work on "toleration." in the foundations of independence hall, the old state house, were laid, and the building was completed in . here the first continental congress was held in september, ; a provincial convention in january, ; the declaration of independence proclaimed july , , and on the th, read to thousands assembled in front of the building. these great events have made philadelphia the birthplace of freedom, the mecca of this western world, where the lovers of liberty go up to worship; and made the keystone state so rich in memories, the brightest star in the republican constellation, where in freedom was proclaimed, and in slavery was abolished. philadelphia remained the seat of government until . the british troops occupied the city from september , , to june , . during this period we find many interesting incidents in regard to the heroism of women. in every way they aided the struggling army, not only in providing food and clothes, ministering to the sick in camp and hospitals, but on active duty as messengers and spies under most difficult and dangerous circumstances. the brave deeds and severe privations the women of this nation endured with cheerfulness would fill volumes, yet no monuments are built to their memory, and only by the right of petition have they as yet the slightest recognition in the government. a few instances that occurred at philadelphia will illustrate the patriotism of american women.[ ] while the american army remained encamped at white marsh, the british being in possession of philadelphia, gen. howe made some vain attempts to draw washington into an engagement. the house opposite the headquarters of gen. howe, tenanted by william and lydia darrah, members of the society of friends, was the place selected by the superior officers of the army for private conference, whenever it was necessary to hold consultations. on the afternoon of the d of december, the british adjutant-general called and informed the mistress that he and some friends were to meet there that evening, and desired that the back room up-stairs might be prepared for their reception. "and be sure, lydia," he concluded, "that your family are all in bed at an early hour. when our guests are ready to leave the house, i will myself give you notice, that you may let us out and extinguish the candles." having delivered this order, the adjutant-general departed. lydia betook herself to getting all things in readiness. but she felt curious to know what the business could be that required such secrecy, and resolved on further investigation. accordingly, in the midst of their conference that night, she quietly approached the door, and listening, heard a plan for the surprise of washington's forces arranged for the next night. she retreated softly to her room and laid down; soon there was a knocking at her door. she knew well what the signal meant, but took no heed until it was repeated again and again, and then she arose quickly and opened the door. it was the adjutant-general who came to inform her they were ready to depart. lydia let them out, fastened the door, extinguished the fire and lights, and returned to her chamber, but she was uneasy, thinking of the threatened danger. at the dawn of day she arose, telling her family that she must go to frankfort to procure some flour. she mounted her horse, and taking the bag, started. the snow was deep and the cold intense, but lydia's heart did not falter. leaving the grist at the mill, she started on foot for the camp, determined to apprise gen. washington of his danger. on the way she met one of his officers, who exclaimed in astonishment at seeing her, but making her errand known, she hastened home. preparations were immediately made to give the enemy a fitting reception. none suspected the grave, demure quakeress of having snatched from the english their anticipated victory; but after the return of the british troops gen. howe summoned lydia to his apartment, locked the door with an air of mystery, and motioned her to a seat. after a moment of silence, he said: "were any of your family up, lydia, on the night when i received my company here?" "no," she replied, "they all _retired_ at eight o'clock." "it is very strange," said the officer, and mused a few minutes. "i know you were asleep, for i knocked at your door three times before you heard me; yet it is certain that we were betrayed." afterward some one asked lydia how she could say her family were all in bed while she herself was up; she replied, "husband and wife are one, and that one is the husband, and my husband was in bed." thus the wit and wisdom of this quaker woman saved the american forces at an important crisis, and perhaps turned the fate of the revolutionary war. during that dreadful winter, , at valley forge, the ladies of philadelphia combined to furnish clothing for the army. money and jewels were contributed in profusion. those who could not give money, gave their services freely. not less than $ , were contributed to an association for this purpose, of which esther de berdt reed was president. though an english woman, the french secretary said of her: "she is called to this office as the best patriot, the most zealous and active, and the most attached to the interests of the country." the archives of the keystone state prove that she can boast many noble women from the time of that great struggle for the nation's existence, the signal for which was given when the brave old bell rang out from independence hall its message of freedom. the very colors then unfurled, and for the first time named the flag of the united states, were the handiwork, and in part the invention of a woman. that to the taste and suggestions of mrs. elizabeth ross, of philadelphia, we owe the beauty of the union's flag can not be denied. there are those who would deprive her of all credit in this connection, and assert that the committee appointed to prepare a flag gave her the perfected design; but the evidence is in favor of her having had a large share in the change from the original design to the flag as it now is; the same flag which we have held as a nation since the memorable year of the declaration of independence, the flag which now floats on every sea, whose stars and stripes carry hope to all the oppressed nations of the earth; though to woman it is but an _ignis fatuus_, an ever waving signal of the ingratitude of the republic to one-half its citizens. an anecdote of a female spy is related in the journal of major tallmadge. while the americans were at valley forge he was stationed in the vicinity of philadelphia with a detachment of cavalry to observe the enemy and limit the range of british foraging parties. his duties required the utmost vigilance, his squad seldom remained all night in the same position, and their horses were rarely unsaddled. hearing that a country girl had gone into the city with eggs; having been sent by one of the american officers to gain information; tallmadge advanced toward the british lines, and dismounted at a small tavern within view of their outposts. the girl came to the tavern, but while she was communicating her intelligence to the major, the alarm was given that the british light-horse were approaching. tallmadge instantly mounted, and as the girl entreated protection, bade her get up behind him. they rode three miles at full speed to germantown, the damsel showing no fear, though there was some wheeling and charging, and a brisk firing of pistols. tradition tells of some women in philadelphia, whose husbands used to send intelligence from the american army through a market-boy, who came into the city to bring provisions, and carried the dispatches sent in the back of his coat. one morning, when there was some fear that his movements were watched, a young girl undertook to get the papers. in a pretended game of romps, she threw her shawl over his head, and secured the prize. she hastened with the papers to her friends, who read them with deep interest, after the windows were carefully closed. when news came of burgoyne's surrender, the sprightly girl, not daring to give vent openly to her exultation, put her head up the chimney and hurrahed for gates. and not only in the exciting days of the revolution do we find abundant records of woman's courage and patriotism, but in all the great moral movements that have convulsed the nation, she has taken an active and helpful part. the soil of pennsylvania is classic with the startling events of the anti-slavery struggle. in the first anti-slavery society, of which benjamin franklin was president, women took part, not only as members, but as officers. the name of lydia gillingham stands side by side with jacob m. ellis as associate secretaries, signing reports of the "association for the abolition of slavery." the important part women took in the later movement, inaugurated by william lloyd garrison, has already passed into history. the interest in this question was intensified in this state, as it was the scene of the continued recapture of fugitives. the heroism of the women, who helped to fight this great battle of freedom, was only surpassed by those who, taking their lives in their hands, escaped from the land of slavery. the same love of liberty that glowed in eloquent words on the lips of lucretia mott, angelina grimké, and mary grew, was echoed in the brave deeds of margaret garner, linda brent, and mrs. stowe's eliza. on december , , the abolitionists assembled in philadelphia to hold a national convention, and to form the american anti-slavery society. during all the sessions of three days, women were constant and attentive listeners. lucretia mott, esther more, sidney ann lewis, and lydia white, took part in the discussions. the following resolution, passed at the close of the third day, without dissent, or a word to qualify or limit its application, shows that no one then thought it improper for women to speak in public: _resolved_, that the thanks of the convention be presented to our female friends for the deep interest they have manifested in the cause of anti-slavery, during the long and fatiguing sessions of this convention. samuel j. may, in writing of this occasion many years after, says: "it is one of the proudest recollections of my life that i was a member of the convention in philadelphia, in december, , that formed the american anti-slavery society. and i well remember the auspicious sequel to it, the formation of the philadelphia female anti-slavery society. nor shall i ever forget the wise, the impressive, the animating words spoken in our convention by dear lucretia mott and two or three other excellent women who came to that meeting by divine appointment. but with this last recollection will be forever associated the mortifying fact, that we _men_ were then so blind, so obtuse, that we did not recognize those women as members of our convention, and insist upon their subscribing their names to our 'declaration of sentiments and purposes.'" philadelphia anti-slavery society. no sooner did the national society adjourn, than the women who had listened to the discussions with such deep interest, assembled to organize themselves for action. a few extracts from mary grew's final report of the philadelphia female anti-slavery society in show that-- a meeting convened at the school-room of catherine mcdermott, th mo. th, , to take into consideration the propriety of forming a female anti-slavery society; addresses were made by samuel j. may, of brooklyn, conn., and nathaniel southard, of boston, who pointed out the important assistance that might be rendered by our sex in removing the great evil of slavery. after some discussion upon this interesting subject, it was concluded to form a society, in the belief that our combined efforts would more effectually aid in relieving the oppression of our suffering fellow-creatures. for this purpose a committee was appointed to draft a constitution, and to propose such measures as would be likely to promote the abolition of slavery, and to elevate the people of color from their present degraded situation to the full enjoyment of their rights, and to increased usefulness in society. at a meeting held th mo. th, the committee appointed on the th submitted a form of constitution, which was read and adopted. after its adoption, the following persons signed their names: lucretia mott, esther moore, mary ann jackson, margaretta forten, sarah louisa forten, grace douglass, mary sleeper, rebecca hitchins, mary clement, a. c. eckstein, mary wood, leah fell, sidney ann lewis, catherine mcdermott, susan m. shaw, lydia white, sarah mccrummell, hetty burr. the society then proceeded to the choice of officers for the ensuing year; when the following persons were elected: esther moore, presiding officer; margaretta forten, recording secretary; lucretia mott, corresponding secretary; anna bunting, treasurer; lydia white, librarian. the annual reports of the first two years of this society are not extant; but from its third, we learn that in each of those years the society memorialized congress, praying for the abolition of slavery in the district of columbia and the territories of the united states. in the second year of its existence, it appointed a standing committee for the purpose of visiting the schools for colored children in this city, and aiding them in any practicable way. in the third year it appointed a committee "to make arrangements for the establishment of a course of scientific lectures, which our colored friends were particularly invited to attend." the phraseology of this statement implies that white persons were not to be excluded from these lectures, and indicates a clear-sighted purpose, on the part of the society, to bear its testimony against distinctions founded on color. in this year it published an address to the women of pennsylvania, calling their attention to the claims of the slave, and urging them to sign petitions for his emancipation. mrs. elizabeth heyrick's well-known pamphlet, entitled "immediate, not gradual emancipation," was during the same year republished by the "anti-slavery sewing society," a body composed of some of the members of this association, but not identical with it, which met weekly at the house of our vice-president, sidney ann lewis. another event, important and far-reaching beyond our power then to foresee, had marked the year. a member of this society[ ] had received and accepted a commission to labor as an agent of the american anti-slavery society. it is evident, from the language of the report, that the newly-appointed agent and her fellow-members regarded the mission as one fraught with peculiar trial of patience and faith, and anticipated the opposition which such an innovation on the usages of the times would elicit. her appointed field of labor was among her own sex, in public or in private; but in the next year's report it is announced that she had enlarged her sphere. the fact should never be forgotten by us that it was a member of this society who first broke the soil in that field where so many women have since labored abundantly, and are now reaping so rich a harvest. the next year, , was made memorable by a still greater innovation upon established usage--the first national convention of american anti-slavery women. it is interesting and profitable to notice, as the years passed, that new duties and new responsibilities educated woman for larger spheres of action. each year brought new revelations, presented new aspects of the cause, and made new demands. our early reports mention these conventions of women, which were held during three consecutive years in new york and this city, as a novel measure, which would, of course, excite opposition; and they also record the fact that "the editorial rebukes, sarcasm, and ridicule" which they elicited, did not exceed the anticipations of the abolitionists. the second of these conventions was held in this city, in the midst of those scenes of riot when infuriated southern slaveholders and cowardly northern tradesmen combined for purposes of robbery and arson, and surrounded pennsylvania hall with their representatives, the mob which plundered and burnt it, while the city government looked on consenting to these crimes. that convention was the last assembly gathered in that hall, then just dedicated to the service of freedom. its fifth session, on the th of may, , was held, calmly and deliberately, while the shouts of an infuriated mob rose around the building, mingling with the speakers' voices, and sometimes overwhelming them; while stones and other missiles crashing through the windows imperilled the persons of many of the audience. the presence of an assembly of women was supposed to be a partial protection against the fury of the rioters; and believing that the mob would not fire the building while it was thus filled, a committee of anti-slavery men sent a request to the convention to remain in session during the usual interval between the afternoon and evening meetings, if, with their knowledge of their perilous surroundings, they felt willing to do so. the president laid the request before the convention, and asked, will you remain? a few minutes of solemn deliberation; a few moments' listening to the loud madness surging against the outer walls; a moment's unvoiced prayer for wisdom and strength, and the answer came: _we will_; and the business of the meeting proceeded. but before the usual hour of adjournment arrived, another message came from the committee, withdrawing their request, and stating that further developments of the spirit pervading the mob and the city, convinced them that it would be unwise for the convention to attempt to hold possession of the hall for the evening. the meeting adjourned at the usual hour, and, on the next morning, the burnt and crumbling remains of pennsylvania hall told the story of philadelphia's disgrace, and the temporary triumph of the spirit of slavery. the experience of that morning is very briefly mentioned in the published "proceedings," which state that "the convention met, pursuant to adjournment, at temperance hall, but found the doors closed by order of the managers"; that they were offered the use of a school-room, in which they assembled; and there the convention held its closing session of six hours. but they who made a part of the thrilling history of those times well remember how the women of that convention walked through the streets of this city, from the hall on third street, closed against them, to the school-room on cherry street, hospitably opened to them by sarah pugh and sarah lewis, and were assailed by the insults of the populace as they went. it was a meeting memorable to those who composed it; and was one of many interesting associations of our early anti-slavery history which cluster around the school-house, which in those days was always open to the advocacy of the slave's cause.[ ] an incident in connection with the last of these conventions, shows how readily and hopefully, in the beginning of our work, we turned for help to the churches and religious societies of the land; and how slowly and painfully we learned their real character. it is long since we ceased to expect efficient help from them; but in those first years of our warfare against slavery, we had not learned that the ecclesiastical standard of morals in a nation _can not_ be higher than the standard of the populace generally. a committee of arrangements appointed to obtain a house in which the convention should be held, reported: "that in compliance with a resolution passed at a meeting of this society, an application was made to each of the seven monthly meetings of friends, in this city, for one of their meeting-houses, in which to hold the convention." two returned respectful answers, declining the application; three refused to hear it read; one appointed two persons to examine it, and then decided "that it should be _returned without being read_," though a few members urged "that it should be treated more respectfully"; and that from one meeting no answer was received. as to other denominations of professed christians, similar applications had been frequently refused by them, although there was one exception which should be ever held in honorable remembrance by the abolitionists of philadelphia. the use of the church of the covenanters, in cherry street, of which rev. james m. wilson was for many years the pastor, was never refused for an anti-slavery meeting, even in the most perilous days of our enterprise. another fact in connection with the convention of it is pleasant to remember now, when the faithful friend whose name it recalls has gone from among us. the committee of arrangements reported that their difficulties and perplexities "were relieved by a voluntary offer from that devoted friend of the slave, john h. cavender, who, with kindness at once unexpected and gratifying, offered the use of a large unfurnished building in filbert street, which had been used as a riding school; which was satisfactorily and gratefully occupied by the convention." in the year , our society sent delegates to the assembly called "the world's anti-slavery convention," which was held in london, in the month of may of that year. as is well known, that body refused to admit any delegates excepting those of the male sex, though the invitation was not thus limited; consequently, this society was not represented there. the year was an epoch in the history of the anti-slavery cause. the guilt and disgrace of the nation was then intensified by that infamous statute known by the name of "the fugitive slave law." its enactment by the thirty-first congress, and its ratification by millard fillmore's signature, was the signal for an extensive and cruel raid upon the colored people of the north. probably no statute was ever written, in the code of a civilized nation, so carefully and cunningly devised for the purpose of depriving men of liberty. it put in imminent peril the personal freedom of every colored man and woman in the land. it furnished the kidnapper all possible facilities, and bribed the judge on the bench to aid him in his infamous work. the terrible scenes that followed; the cruel apathy of the popular heart and conscience; the degradation of the pulpit, which sealed the deed with its loud amen! the mortal terror of a helpless and innocent race; the fierce assaults on peaceful homes; the stealthy capture, by day and by night, of unsuspecting free-born people; the blood shed on northern soil; the mockeries of justice acted in united states courts; are they not all written in our country's history, and indelibly engraven on the memories of abolitionists? the case of adam gibson, captured in this city by the notorious kidnapper, alberti, and tried before the scarcely less notorious ingraham, in the year , and which was succeeded in the next year by the christiana tragedy, are instances of many similar outrages committed in pennsylvania. no pen can record, no human power can estimate, the aggregate of woe and guilt which was the legitimate result of that fugitive slave bill. the year was marked by a series of events unique in our history. a citizen of philadelphia, whose name will always be associated with the cause of american liberty, in the legal performance of his duty, quietly informed three slaves who had been brought into this state by their master, a virginia slaveholder, that by the laws of pennsylvania they were free. the legally emancipated mother, jane johnson, availing herself of this knowledge, took possession of her own person and her own children; and their astonished master suddenly discovered that his power to hold them was gone forever. no judge, commissioner, or lawyer, however willing, could help him to recapture his prey. but a judge of the united states district court could assist him in obtaining a mean revenge upon the brave man who had enlightened an ignorant woman respecting her legal right to freedom. judge kane, usurping jurisdiction in the case, and exercising great ingenuity to frame a charge of contempt of court, succeeded in his purpose of imprisoning passmore williamson in our county jail. the baffled slaveholder also found sympathizers in the grand jury, who enabled him to indict for riot and assault and battery, passmore williamson, william still, and five other persons. during the trial which ensued, the prosecutor and his allies were confounded by the sudden appearance of a witness whose testimony that she was not forcibly taken from her master's custody, but had left him freely, disconcerted all their schemes, and defeated the prosecution. the presence of jane johnson in that court room jeoparded her newly-acquired freedom; for though pennsylvania was pledged to her protection, it was questionable whether the slave power, in the person of united states officers and their ever ready minions, would not forcibly overpower state authority and obtain possession of the woman. it was an intensely trying hour for her and for all who sympathized with her. among those who attended her through that perilous scene, were the president of this society, sarah pugh, and several of its members. all those ladies will testify to the calm bearing and firm courage of this emancipated slave-mother, in the hour of jeopardy to her newly-found freedom. protected by the energy and skill of the presiding judge, william d. kelley, and of the state officers, her safe egress from the court-room was accomplished; and she was soon placed beyond the reach of her pursuers. in we reaped a rich harvest from long years of sowing, in the result of the trial of the alleged fugitive slave, daniel webster. this trial will never be forgotten by those of us who witnessed it. the arrest was made in harrisburg, in the month of april, and the trial was in this city before united states commissioner john c. longstreth. we do not, at this distance of time, need the records of that year, to remind us that "it was with heavy and hopeless hearts that the abolitionists of this city gathered around that innocent and outraged man, and attended him through the solemn hours of his trial." the night which many of the members of this society passed in that court, keeping vigils with the unhappy man whose fate hung tremulous on the decision of the young commissioner, was dark with despair; and the dawn of morning brought no hope to our souls. we confidently expected to witness again, as we had often witnessed before, the triumph of the kidnapper and his legal allies over law and justice and human liberty. in the afternoon of that day we re-assembled to hear the judicial decision which should consign the wretched man to slavery, and add another page to the record of pennsylvania's disgrace. but a far different experience awaited us. commissioner longstreth obeyed the moral sentiment around him, and doubtless the voice of his conscience, and pronounced the captive free. "the closing scenes of this trial; the breathless silence with which the crowded assembly in the court-room waited to hear the death-knell of the innocent prisoner; the painfully sudden transition from despair to hope and thence to certainty of joy; the burst of deep emotion; the fervent thanksgiving, wherein was revealed that sense of the brotherhood of man which god has made a part of every human soul; the exultant shout which went up from the multitude who thronged the streets waiting for the decision"; these no language can portray, but they are life-long memories for those who shared in them. this event proved the great change wrought in the popular feeling, the result of twenty-five years of earnest effort to impress upon the heart of this community anti-slavery doctrines and sentiments. then for the first time the abolitionists of philadelphia found their right of free speech protected by city authorities. alexander henry was the first mayor of this city who ever quelled a pro-slavery mob. our last record of a victim sacrificed to this statute, is of the case of moses horner, who was kidnapped near harrisburg in march, , and doomed to slavery by united states judge john cadwallader, in this city. one more effort was made a few months later to capture in open day in the heart of this city a man alleged to be a fugitive slave, but it failed of ultimate success. the next year south carolina's guns thundered forth the doom of the slave power. she aimed them at fort sumter and the united states government. god guided their fiery death to the very heart of american slavery. if the history of this society were fully written, one of its most interesting chapters would be a faithful record of its series of annual fairs. beginning in the year , the series continued during twenty-six years, the last fair being held in december, . the social attraction of these assemblies induced many young persons to mingle in them, besides those who labored from love of the cause. brought thus within the circle of anti-slavery influence, many were naturally converted to our principles, and became earnest laborers in the enterprise which had so greatly enriched their own souls. the week of the fair was the annual social festival of the abolitionists of the state. though held under the immediate direction of this society, it soon became a pennsylvania institution. hither our tribes came up to take counsel together, to recount our victories won, to be refreshed by social communion, and to renew our pledges of fidelity to the slave. there were years when these were very solemn festivals, when our skies were dark with gathering storms, and we knew not what peril the night or the morning might bring. but they were always seasons from which we derived strength and encouragement for future toil and endurance, and their value to our cause is beyond our power to estimate. the pro-slavery spirit which always pervaded our city, and which sometimes manifested itself in the violence of mobs, never seriously disturbed our fair excepting in one instance. in the year our whole southern country quaked with mortal fear in the presence of john brown's great deed for freedom. the coward north trembled in its turn lest its southern trade should be imperilled, and in all its cities there went up a frantic cry that the union must be saved and the abolitionists suppressed. the usual time for holding our fair was at hand. before it was opened a daily newspaper of this city informed its readers that notwithstanding the rebuke which the abolitionists had received from a recent meeting of union-savers, they had audaciously announced their intention of holding another fair, the avowed purpose of which was the dissemination of anti-slavery principles. the indignant journalist asked if philadelphia would suffer such a fair to be held. this was doubtless intended as a summons to a mob, and a most deadly mob responded to the call. it did not expend its violence upon our fair, but against an assembly in national hall, gathered to listen to a lecture by george w. curtis, upon the present aspect of the country. the high constable, mayor, and sheriff were the agents employed by the slave power to take and hold possession of concert hall, and in its behalf, if not in its name, to eject us and our property. the work was commenced by the mayor, who sent the high constable with an order that our flag should be removed from the street. its offensiveness consisted in the fact that it presented to the view of all passers-by a picture of the liberty bell in independence hall, inscribed with the words, "proclaim liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof." the next step was an attempt to induce the lessee to eject us from the hall. on his refusal to violate his contract with us, the trustees obtained legal authority to dispossess us on the plea that the hall had been rented for a purpose which tended to excite popular commotion. the sheriff entered, took possession, and informed the managers that our property must be removed within three hours. then were the doors of this hall,[ ] where we are now assembled, opened to us, and here our fair was held, with great success, during the remainder of the week. in the stormiest seasons of our enterprise these saloons have never been closed against anti-slavery meetings; and our fair of was welcomed to them amidst the loud threatenings of a mob which were seeking to appease the angry south, then just rising in open rebellion against the united states government. the experience of those four days of december spent in these rooms will never be forgotten by us. it was a season of trial, of rejoicing, and of victory. the veterans of our cause, long accustomed to the threats and the presence of mobs, found reason for rejoicing in the courage and serenity with which the young recruits in our ranks faced the peril of scenes so new to them, and proved their faith in the principles of our cause and their devotion to the right. our victory was complete, our right of peaceful assemblage maintained, without any active demonstration of hostility from the indignant citizens who had fiercely resolved that the anti-slavery fair should be suppressed. such demonstrations were, doubtless, restrained by a knowledge of the fact that they would be met by vigorous and effectual opposition by the mayor of the city, who, upon that occasion, as upon many other similar ones, was faithful to the responsibility of his office. in the year the nation was convulsed with the war consequent upon the southern rebellion; our soldiers, wounded and dying in hospitals and on battle-fields; claimed all possible aid from the community; anti-slavery sentiments were spreading widely through the north, and it was believed to be feasible and expedient to obtain the funds needful for our enterprise by direct appeal to the old and new friends of the cause. therefore, our series of fairs closed with the twenty-sixth, in december, . the money raised by this society in various ways amounted to about $ , . nearly the whole of this revenue has been expended in disseminating the principles of our cause, by means of printed documents and public lectures and discussions. in the earlier years of this society, a school for colored children, established and taught by sarah m. douglass, was partially sustained from our treasury. we occasionally contributed, from our treasury, small sums for the use of the vigilance committees, organized to assist fugitive slaves who passed through this state on their way to a land where their right to liberty would be protected. but these enterprises were always regarded as of secondary importance to our great work of direct appeal to the conscience of the nation, in behalf of the slave's claim to immediate, unconditional emancipation. to this end a large number of tracts and pamphlets have been circulated by this society; but its chief agencies have been the anti-slavery newspapers of the country. regarding these as the most powerful instrumentalities in the creation of that public sentiment which was essential to the overthrow of slavery, we expended a considerable portion of our funds in the direct circulation of _the liberator_, _the pennsylvania freeman_, and _the national anti-slavery standard_, and a small amount in the circulation of other anti-slavery papers. our largest appropriations of money have been made to the pennsylvania and american anti-slavery societies, and by those societies to the support of their organs and lecturing agents. the financial statistics of this society are easily recorded. certain great and thrilling events which marked its history are easily told and written. but the life which it lived through all its thirty-six years; the influence which flowed from it, directly and indirectly, to the nation's heart; the work quietly done by its members, individually, through the word spoken in season, the brave, self-sacrificing deed, the example of fidelity in a critical hour, the calm endurance unto the end; these can be written in no earthly book of remembrance. its life is lived; its work is done; its memorial is sealed. it assembles to-day to take one parting look across its years; to breathe in silence its unutterable thanksgiving; to disband its membership, and cease to be. reviewing its experience of labor and endurance, the united voices of its members testify that it has been a service whose reward was in itself; and contemplating the grandeur of the work accomplished (in which it has been permitted to bear a humble part), the overthrow of american slavery, the uplifting from chattelhood to citizenship of four millions of human souls; with one heart and one voice we cry, "not unto us, o lord! not unto us, but unto thy name" be the glory; for thy right hand and thy holy arm "hath gotten the victory." in , philadelphia was the scene of one of the most disgraceful mobs that marked those eventful days. the lovers of free speech had found great difficulty in procuring churches or halls in which to preach the anti-slavery gospel. accordingly, a number of individuals of all sects and no sect, of all parties and no party, erected a building wherein the principles of liberty and equality could be freely discussed. david paul brown, one of pennsylvania's most distinguished lawyers, was invited to give the oration dedicating this hall to "freedom and the rights of man." in accepting the invitation, he said: for some time past i have invariably declined applications that might be calculated to take any portion of my time from my profession. but i always said, and now say again, that i will fight the battle of liberty as long as i have a shot in the locker. of course, i will do what you require. yours truly, david paul brown. s. webb and wm. h. scott, esqs. whenever fugitives were arrested on the soil of pennsylvania, this lawyer stood ready, free of charge, to use in their behalf his skill and every fair interpretation of the letter and spirit of the law, and availing himself of every quirk for postponements, thus adding to the expense and anxiety of the pursuer, and giving the engineers of the underground railroad added opportunities to run the fugitive to canada. pennsylvania hall was one of the most commodious and splendid buildings in the city, scientifically ventilated and brilliantly lighted with gas. it cost upward of $ , . over the forum, in large gold letters, was the motto, "virtue, liberty, independence." on the platform were superb chairs, sofas, and desk covered with blue silk damask; everything throughout the hall was artistic and complete. abolitionists from all parts of the country hastened to be present at the dedication; and among the rest came representatives of the woman's national convention, held in new york one year before. notices had been posted about the city threatening the speedy destruction of this temple of liberty. during this three days' convention, the enemy was slowly organizing the destructive mob that finally burned that grand edifice to the ground. there were a large number of strangers in the city from the south, and many southern students attending the medical college, who were all active in the riot. the crowds of women and colored people who had attended the convention intensified the exasperation of the mob. black men and white women walking side by side in and out of the hall, was too much for the foreign plebeian and the southern patrician. as it was announced that on the evening of the third day some ladies were to speak, a howling mob surrounded the building. in the midst of the tumult mr. garrison introduced maria chapman,[ ] of boston, who rose, and waving her hand to the audience to become quiet, tried in a few eloquent and appropriate remarks to bespeak a hearing for angelina e. grimké, the gifted orator from south carolina, who, having lived in the midst of slavery all her life, could faithfully describe its cruelties and abominations. but the indescribable uproar outside, cries of fire, and yells of defiance, were a constant interruption, and stones thrown against the windows a warning of coming danger. but through it all this brave southern woman stood unmoved, except by the intense earnestness of her own great theme. angelina grimkÉ's address. do you ask, "what has the north to do with slavery?" hear it, hear it! those voices without tell us that the spirit of slavery is _here_, and has been roused to wrath by our conventions; for surely liberty would not foam and tear herself with rage, because her friends are multiplied daily, and meetings are held in quick succession to set forth her virtues and extend her peaceful kingdom. this opposition shows that slavery has done its deadliest work in the hearts of our citizens. do you ask, then, "what has the north to do?" i answer, cast out first the spirit of slavery from your own hearts, and then lend your aid to convert the south. each one present has a work to do, be his or her situation what it may, however limited their means or insignificant their supposed influence. the great men of this country will not do this work; the church will never do it. a desire to please the world, to keep the favor of all parties and of all conditions, makes them dumb on this and every other unpopular subject. as a southerner, i feel that it is my duty to stand up here to-night and bear testimony against slavery. i have seen it! i have seen it! i know it has horrors that can never be described. i was brought up under its wing. i witnessed for many years its demoralizing influences and its destructiveness to human happiness. i have never seen a happy slave. i have seen him dance in his chains, it is true, but he was not happy. there is a wide difference between happiness and mirth. man can not enjoy happiness while his manhood is destroyed. slaves, however, may be, and sometimes are mirthful. when hope is extinguished, they say, "let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." [here stones were thrown at the windows--a great noise without and commotion within]. what is a mob? what would the breaking of every window be? what would the levelling of this hall be? any evidence that we are wrong, or that slavery is a good and wholesome institution? what if the mob should now burst in upon us, break up our meeting, and commit violence upon our persons, would that be anything compared with what the slaves endure? no, no; and we do not remember them, "as bound with them," if we shrink in the time of peril, or feel unwilling to sacrifice ourselves, if need be, for their sake. [great noise]. i thank the lord that there is yet life enough left to feel the truth, even though it rages at it; that conscience is not so completely seared as to be unmoved by the truth of the living god. [another outbreak of the mob and confusion in the house]. how wonderfully constituted is the human mind! how it resists, as long as it can, all efforts to reclaim it from error! i feel that all this disturbance is but an evidence that our efforts are the best that could have been adopted, or else the friends of slavery would not care for what we say and do. the south know what we do. i am thankful that they are reached by our efforts. many times have i wept in the land of my birth over the system of slavery. i knew of none who sympathized in my feelings; i was unaware that any efforts were made to deliver the oppressed; no voice in the wilderness was heard calling on the people to repent and do works meet for repentance, and my heart sickened within me. oh, how should i have rejoiced to know that such efforts as these were being made. i only wonder that i had such feelings. but in the midst of temptation i was preserved, and my sympathy grew warmer, and my hatred of slavery more inveterate, until at last i have exiled myself from my native land, because i could no longer endure to hear the wailing of the slave. i fled to the land of penn; for here, thought i, sympathy for the slave will surely be found. but i found it not. the people were kind and hospitable, but the slave had no place in their thoughts. i therefore shut up my grief in my own heart. i remembered that i was a carolinian, from a state which framed this iniquity by law. every southern breeze wafted to me the discordant tones of weeping and wailing, shrieks and groans, mingled with prayers and blasphemous curses. my heart sank within me at the abominations in the midst of which i had been born and educated. what will it avail, cried i, in bitterness of spirit, to expose to the gaze of strangers the horrors and pollutions of slavery, when there is no ear to hear nor heart to feel and pray for the slave? but how different do i feel now! animated with hope, nay, with an assurance of the triumph of liberty and good-will to man, i will lift up my voice like a trumpet, and show this people what they can do to influence the southern mind and overthrow slavery. [shouting, and stones against the windows]. we often hear the question asked, "what shall we do?" here is an opportunity. every man and every woman present may do something, by showing that we fear not a mob, and in the midst of revilings and threatenings, pleading the cause of those who are ready to perish. let me urge every one to buy the books written on this subject; read them, and lend them to your neighbors. give your money no longer for things which pander to pride and lust, but aid in scattering "the living coals of truth upon the naked heart of the nation"; in circulating appeals to the sympathies of christians in behalf of the outraged slave. but it is said by some, our "books and papers do not speak the truth"; why, then, do they not contradict what we say? they can not. moreover, the south has entreated, nay, commanded us, to be silent; and what greater evidence of the truth of our publications could be desired? women of philadelphia! allow me as a southern woman, with much attachment to the land of my birth, to entreat you to come up to this work. especially, let me urge you to petition. men may settle this and other questions at the ballot-box, but you have no such right. it is only through petitions that you can reach the legislature. it is, therefore, peculiarly your duty to petition. do you say, "it does no good!" the south already turns pale at the number sent. they have read the reports of the proceedings of congress, and there have seen that among other petitions were very many from the women of the north on the subject of slavery. men who hold the rod over slaves rule in the councils of the nation; and they deny our right to petition and remonstrate against abuses of our sex and our kind. we have these rights, however, from our god. only let us exercise them, and, though often turned away unanswered, let us remember the influence of importunity upon the unjust judge, and act accordingly. the fact that the south looks jealously upon our measures shows that they are effectual. there is, therefore, no cause for doubting or despair. it was remarked in england that women did much to abolish slavery in her colonies. nor are they now idle. numerous petitions from them have recently been presented to the queen to abolish apprenticeship, with its cruelties, nearly equal to those of the system whose place it supplies. one petition, two miles and a quarter long, has been presented. and do you think these labors will be in vain? let the history of the past answer. when the women of these states send up to congress such a petition our legislators will arise, as did those of england, and say: "when all the maids and matrons of the land are knocking at our doors we must legislate." let the zeal and love, the faith and works of our english sisters quicken ours; that while the slaves continue to suffer, and when they shout for deliverance, we may feel the satisfaction of "having done what we could." abby kelly, of lynn, massachusetts, rose, and said: i ask permission to pay a few words. i have never before addressed a promiscuous assembly; nor is it now the maddening rush of those voices, which is the indication of a moral whirlwind; nor is it the crashing of those windows, which is the indication of a moral earthquake, that calls me before you. no, these pass unheeded by me. but it is the "still small voice within," which may not be withstood, that bids me open my mouth for the dumb; that bids me plead the cause of god's perishing poor; aye, _god's_ poor. the parable of lazarus and the rich man we may well bring home to ourselves. the north is that rich man. how he is clothed in purple and fine linen, and fares sumptuously! yonder, yonder, at a little distance, is the gate where lies the lazarus of the south, full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fall from our luxurious table. look! see him there! even the dogs are more merciful than we. oh, see him where he lies! we have long, very long, passed by with averted eyes. ought not we to raise him up; and is there one in this hall who sees nothing for himself to do? lucretia mott, of philadelphia, then stated that the present was not a meeting of the anti-slavery convention of american women, as was supposed by some, and explained the reason why their meetings were confined to females; namely, that many of the members considered it improper for women to address promiscuous assemblies. she hoped that such false notions of delicacy and propriety would not long obtain in this enlightened country. while the large hall was filled with a promiscuous audience, and packed through all its sessions with full three thousand people, the women held their convention in one of the committee-rooms. as they had been through terrible mobs already in boston and new york, they had learned self-control, and with their coolness and consecration to the principles they advocated, they were a constant inspiration to the men by their side. the second national anti-slavery convention of american women assembled in the lecture-room of pennsylvania hall in philadelphia, may , , at ten o'clock a.m. the following officers were appointed: president--mary l. parker, of boston. vice-presidents--maria weston chapman, catharine m. sullivan, susan paul, of boston, mass.; mariana johnson, providence, r. i.; margaret prior, sarah t. smith, of new york; martha w. storrs, of utica, n. y.; lucretia mott, of philadelphia; mary w. magill, of buckingham, pa.; sarah moore grimké, of charleston, s. c. secretaries--anne w. weston, martha v. ball, of boston; juliana a. tappan, of new york; sarah lewis, of philadelphia. treasurer--sarah m. douglass, of philadelphia. business committee--sarah t. smith, sarah r. ingraham, margaret dye, juliana a. tappan, martha w. storrs, new york; miriam hussey, maine; louisa whipple, new hampshire; lucy n. dodge, miriam b, johnson, maria truesdell, waity a. spencer, rebecca pittman, rhode island; lucretia mott, mary grew, sarah m. douglass, hetty burr, martha smith, pennsylvania; angelina grimké weld, south carolina. on motion of sarah push, elizabeth m. southard, mary g. chapman, and abby kelly were appointed a committee to confer with other associations and the managers of pennsylvania hall to arrange for meetings during the week. sarah t. smith, from the business committee, presented letters from the female anti-slavery societies of salem and cambridgeport, massachusetts, signed by their respective secretaries, mary spencer and l. williams. at this time, even the one and only right of woman, that of petition, had been trampled under the heel of slavery on the floor of congress, which roused those noble women to a just indignation, as will be seen in their resolutions on the subject, presented by juliana a. tappan: _resolved_, that whatever may be the sacrifice, and whatever other rights may be yielded or denied, we will maintain practically the right of petition until the slave shall go free, or our energies, like lovejoy's, are paralyzed in death. _resolved_, that for every petition rejected by the national legislature during their last session, we will endeavor to send five the present year; and that we will not cease our efforts until the prayers of every woman within the sphere of our influence shall be heard in the halls of congress on this subject. mary grew offered the following resolution, which was adopted: whereas, the disciples of christ are commanded to have no fellowship with the "unfruitful works of darkness"; and whereas, union in his church is the strongest expression of fellowship between men; therefore _resolved_, that it is our duty to keep ourselves separate from those churches which receive to their pulpits and their communion tables those who buy, or sell, or hold as property, the image of the living god. this resolution was supported by miss grew, lucretia mott, abby kelly, maria w. chapman, anne w. weston, sarah t. smith, and sarah lewis; and opposed by margaret dye, margaret prior, henrietta wilcox, martha w. storrs, juliana a. tappan, elizabeth m. southard, and charlotte woolsey. those who voted in the negative stated that they fully concurred with their sisters in the belief that slaveholders and their apologists were guilty before god, and that with the former, northern christians should hold no fellowship; but that, as it was their full belief that there was moral power sufficient in the church, if rightly applied, to purify it, they could not feel it their duty to withdraw until the utter inefficiency of the means used should constrain them to believe the church totally corrupt. and as an expression of their views, margaret dye moved the following resolution: _resolved_, that the system of american slavery is contrary to the laws of god and the spirit of true religion, and that the church is deeply implicated in this sin, and that it therefore becomes the imperative duty of her members to petition their ecclesiastical bodies to enter their decided protests against it, and exclude slaveholders from their pulpits and communion tables. the last session was opened by the reading of the sixth chapter of corinthians, and prayer by sarah m. grimké. an address to anti-slavery societies was read by sarah t. smith, and adopted. we copy from it the plea and argument for woman's right and duty to be interested in all questions of public welfare: address to anti-slavery societies. dear friends:--in that love for our cause which knows not the fear of man, we address you in confidence that our motives will be understood and regarded. we fear not censure from you for going beyond the circle which has been drawn around us by physical force, by mental usurpation, by the usages of ages; not any one of which can we admit gives the right to prescribe it; else might the monarchs of the old world sit firmly on their thrones, the nobility of europe lord it over the man of low degree, and the chains we are now seeking to break, continue riveted, on the neck of the slave. our faith goes not back to the wigwam of the savage, or the castle of the feudal chief, but would rather soar with hope to that period when "right alone shall make might"; when the truncheon and the sword shall lie useless; when the intellect and heart shall speak and be obeyed; when "he alone whose right it is shall rule and reign in the hearts of the children of men." we are told that it is not within "the province of woman" to discuss the subject of slavery; that it is a "political question," and that we are "stepping out of our sphere" when we take part in its discussion. it is not true that it is merely a political question; it is likewise a question of justice, of humanity, of morality, of religion; a question which, while it involves considerations of immense importance to the welfare, and prosperity of our country, enters deeply into the home--concerns the every-day feelings of millions of our fellow beings. whether the laborer shall receive the reward of his labor, or be driven daily to unrequited toil: whether he shall walk erect in the dignity of conscious manhood, or be reckoned among the beasts which perish; whether his bones and sinews shall be his own, or another's; whether his child shall receive the protection of its natural guardian, or be ranked among the live-stock of the estate, to be disposed of as the caprice or interest of the master may dictate; whether the sun of knowledge shall irradiate the hut of the peasant, or the murky cloud of ignorance brood darkly over it; whether "every one shall have the liberty to worship god according to the dictates of his own conscience," or man assume the prerogative of jehovah and impiously seek to plant himself upon the throne of the almighty. these considerations are all involved in the question of liberty or slavery. and is a subject comprehending interests of such magnitude, merely a "political question," and one in which woman "can take no part without losing something of the modesty and gentleness which are her most appropriate ornaments"? may not the "ornament of a meek and quiet spirit" exist with an upright mind and enlightened intellect? must woman necessarily be less gentle because her heart is open to the claims of humanity, or less modest because she feels for the degradation of her enslaved sisters, and would stretch forth her hand for their rescue? by the constitution of the united states, the whole physical power of the north is pledged for the suppression of domestic insurrections; and should the slaves maddened by oppression endeavor to shake off the yoke of the task-master, the men of the north are bound to make common cause with the tyrant, to put down at the point of the bayonet every effort on the part of the slave for the attainment of his freedom. and when the father, husband, son, and brother shall have left their homes to mingle in the unholy warfare; "to become the executioners of their brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands," will the mother, wife, daughter, and sister feel that they have no interest in this subject? will it be easy to convince them that it is no concern of theirs, that their homes are rendered desolate and their habitations the abodes of wretchedness? surely this consideration is of itself sufficient to arouse the slumbering energies of woman, for the overthrow of a system which thus threatens to lay in ruins the fabric of her domestic happiness; and she will not be deterred from the performance of her duty to herself, her family, and her country, by the cry of "political question." but, admitting it to be a political question, have we no interest in the welfare of our country? may we not permit a thought to stray beyond the narrow limits of our own family circle and of the present hour? may we not breathe a sigh over the miseries of our countrywomen nor utter a word of remonstrance against the unjust laws that are crushing them to the earth? must we witness "the headlong rage of heedless folly" with which our nation is rushing onward to destruction, and not seek to arrest its downward course? shall we silently behold the land which we love with all the heart-warm affection of children, rendered a hissing and a reproach throughout the world by the system which is already "tolling the death-knell of her decease among the nations"? no; the events of the last two years have "cast their dark shadows before," overclouding the bright prospects of the future, and shrouding our country in more than midnight gloom; and we can not remain inactive. our country is as dear to us as to the proudest statesman; and the more closely our hearts cling to "our altars and our homes," the more fervent are our aspirations, that every inhabitant of our land may be protected in his fireside enjoyments by just and equal laws; that the foot of the tyrant may no longer invade the domestic sanctuary, nor his hand tear asunder those whom god himself has united by the most holy ties. let our course then still be onward! justice, humanity, patriotism; every high and every holy motive urge us forward, and we dare not refuse to obey. the way of duty lies open before us, and though no pillar of fire be visible to the outward sense, yet an unerring light shall illumine our pathway, guiding us through the sea of persecution and the wilderness of prejudice and error, to the promised land of freedom, where "every man shall sit under his own vine and fig-tree, and none shall make him afraid." thankful southwick[ ] moved the following: _resolved_, that it is the duty of all those who call themselves abolitionists, to make the most vigorous efforts to procure for the use of their families the products of free labor, so that their hands may be clean in this particular when inquisition is made for blood. esther moore made remarks upon the importance of carrying into effect the resolutions that had been passed. this was the last meeting held in pennsylvania hall! business connected with the safety of the building made it necessary for members of the board of managers to pass several times through the saloon, when this convention was in session, and they said they never saw a more dignified, calm, and intrepid body of persons assembled. although the building was surrounded all day by the mob who crowded about the doors, and at times even attempted to enter the saloon, yet the women were perfectly collected, unmoved by the threatening tempest. the cause which they were assembled to promote is one that nerves the soul to deeds of noble daring. the convention had already adjourned late in the afternoon, when the mob which destroyed the building began to assemble. the doors were blocked up by the crowd, and the streets almost impassable from the multitude of "fellows of the baser sort." but these "american women" passed through the whole without manifesting any sign of fear, as if conscious of their own greatness and of the protecting care of the god of the oppressed. we give our readers these interesting pages of anti-slavery history because they were the initiative steps to organized public action and the woman suffrage movement _per se_, and to show how much more enthusiasm women manifested in securing freedom for the slaves, than they ever have in demanding justice and equality for themselves. where are the societies to rescue unfortunate women from the bondage they suffer under unjust law? where are the loving friends who keep midnight vigils with young girls arraigned in the courts for infanticide? where are the underground railroads and watchful friends at every point to help fugitive wives from brutal husbands? the most intelligent, educated women seem utterly oblivious to the wrongs of their own sex; even those who so bravely fought the anti-slavery battle have never struck as stout blows against the tyranny suffered by women. take, for example, the resolution presented by mary grew, and passed in the woman's anti-slavery convention forty-three years ago, declaring that it was the christian duty of every woman to withdraw from all churches that fellowshiped with slavery, which was a sin against god and man. compare the conscience and religious earnestness for a principle implied in such a resolution with the apathy and supineness of the women of to-day. no such resolution has ever yet passed a woman's rights convention. and yet is injustice to a colored man a greater sin than to a woman? is liberty and equality more sweet to him than to her! is the declaration by the church that woman may not be ordained or licensed to preach the gospel, no matter how well fitted, how learned or devout, because of her sex, less insulting and degrading than the old custom of the negro pew? the attitude of the church to-day is more hostile and insulting to american womanhood than it ever was to the black man, by just so much as women are nearer the equals of priests and bishops than were the unlettered slaves. when women refuse to enter churches that do not recognize them as equal candidates for the joys of earth and heaven, equal in the sight of man and god, we shall have a glorious revival of liberty and justice everywhere. how fully these pages of history illustrate the equal share woman has had in the trials and triumphs of all the political and moral revolutions through which we have passed, from feeble colonies to an independent nation; suffering with man the miseries of poverty and war, all the evils of bad government, and enjoying with him the blessings of luxury and peace, and a wise administration of law. the experience of the heroines of anti-slavery show that no finespun sentimentalism in regard to woman's position in the clouds ever exempt her from the duties or penalties of a citizen. neither state officers, nor mobs in the whirlwind of passion, tempered their violence for her safety or benefit. when women proposed to hold a fair in concert hall, their flag was torn down from the street, while they and their property were ejected by the high constable. when women were speaking in pennsylvania hall, brickbats were hurled at, them through the windows. when women searched philadelphia through for a place where they might meet to speak and pray for the slave-mother and her child (the most miserable of human beings), halls and churches were closed against them. and who were these women? eloquent speakers, able writers, dignified wives and mothers, the most moral, religious, refined, cultured, intelligent citizens that massachusetts, new york, south carolina, and pennsylvania could boast. there never was a queen on any european throne possessed of more personal beauty, grace, and dignity than maria weston chapman.[ ] the calmness and impassioned earnestness of angelina grimké, speaking nearly an hour 'mid that howling mob, was not surpassed in courage and consecration even by paul among the wild beasts at ephesus. here she made her last public speech, and as the glowing words died upon her lips, a new voice was heard, rich, deep, and clear upon the troubled air; and the mantle of self-sacrifice, so faithfully worn by south carolina's brave daughter, henceforth rested on the shoulders of an equally brave and eloquent quaker girl from massachusetts,[ ] who for many years afterward preached the same glad tidings of justice, equality, and liberty for all. temperance. in this reform, also, the women of pennsylvania took an equally active part. we are indebted to hannah darlington, of kennett square, chester co., for the following record of the temperance work in this state: kennett square, mo., , . dear mrs. stanton:--i did not think our early temperance work of sufficient account to preserve the reports, hence with considerable research am able to send you but very little. many mixed meetings were held through the county before . woods-meetings, with decorated stands, were fashionable in chester in warm weather, for several years before we branched off with a call for a public meeting. that brought quite a number together in friends' meeting-house at kennett square, where we discussed plans for work and appointed committees to carry them out. sidney peirce, ann preston, and myself, each prepared addresses to read at meetings called in such places as the committee arranged; and with chandler darlington to drive us from place to place, we addressed many large audiences, some in the day-time and some in the evening; scattered appeals and tracts, and collected names to petitions asking for a law against licensing liquor-stands. in , we went to harrisburg, taking an address to the legislature written by ann preston, and sanctioned by the meeting that appointed us. the address, with our credentials and petitions, was presented to the two houses, read in our presence, and referred to the committee on "vice and immorality," which called a meeting and invited us to give our address. sidney peirce, who was a good reader, gave it with effect to a large roomful of the committee and legislators. it was listened to with profound attention, complimented highly, and i think aroused a disposition among the best members to give the cause of temperance more careful consideration. the local option law was passed by that legislature. we also aided the mixed meetings by our presence and addresses, and by circulating petitions, and publishing appeals in the county papers; helping in every way to arouse discussion and prepare the people to sustain the new law. but the supreme court of the state, through the liquor influence, declared the law unconstitutional, after a few months' successful trial. drinking, however, has not been as respectable since that time. we continued active work in our association until the inauguration of the good templars movement, in which men and women worked together on terms of equality. respectfully yours, hannah m. darlington. temperance convention. a temperance convention of women of chester county, met at marlborough friends' meeting-house, on saturday, the th of december, , and was organized by the appointment of martha hayhurst, president; sidney peirce and hannah pennock, secretaries. letters received by a committee of correspondence, appointed at a convention last winter, were read; one, from pope bushnell, chairman of the committee on vice and immorality, to which temperance petitions were referred; and also from our representatives in the legislature, pledging themselves to use all their influence to obtain the passage of a law to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage amongst us. the business committee reported addresses to the men and women of chester county, which were considered, amended, and adopted, as follows: _to the women of chester county_: dear sisters:--again we would urge upon you the duty and necessity of action in the temperance cause. notwithstanding the exertions that have been made, intoxicating liquors continue to be sold and drank in our midst. still, night after night, the miserable drunkard reels to that home he has made desolate. still, wives and sisters weep in anguish as they look on those dearer to them than life, and see, trace by trace, their delicacy and purity of soul vanishing beneath the destroying libations that tempt them when they pass the domestic threshold. we need not depict to you the poverty and crime and unutterable woe that result from intemperance, nor need you go far to be reminded of the revolting fact, that under the sanction of laws, men still make it a deliberate business to deal out that terrible agent, the only effect of which is to darken the god-like in the human soul, and to foster in its place the appetites of demons. the law passed the th of april, , under which the sale of intoxicating drinks was prohibited by vote of the people in most of the townships in chester county, has been decided by the supreme court to be unconstitutional; and this decision, by inspiring confidence in the dealers and consumers of the fatal poison, seems to have given a new impetus to this diabolical traffic. wider and deeper its ravages threaten to extend themselves; and to every benevolent mind comes the earnest question, what must now be done? it is too late for women to excuse themselves from exertion in this cause, on the ground that it would be indelicate to leave the sheltered retirement of home. alas! where is the home-shelter that guards the delicacy of the drunkard's wife and daughter? we all recognize the divine obligation to relieve suffering and to cherish virtue as binding alike on man and woman. our hearts thrill at the mention of those women who were "last at the cross and earliest at the grave" of the crucified nazarine. we commend her whose prayers and entreaties once saved her native rome from pillage. we admire the heroism of a joan of arc, as it is embalmed in history and song. we boast of virgin martyrs to the faith of their convictions, and we dare not now put forth the despicable plea of feminine propriety to excuse our supineness, when fathers, sons, and brothers are falling around us, degraded, bestialized, thrice murdered by this foe at our doors. no! we have solemn obligations resting upon us, and we should be unfaithful to the holiest call of duty, false to the instincts of womanhood and the pleading voice of love, if we should sit quietly down in careless ease while vice is thus spreading around us, and human souls are falling into the fell snare of the destroyer. by meeting together and taking counsel one with another, we will become more alive to our duty in relation to this momentous subject. the more we prize the sweet privacy of happy homes, the more strong is the appeal to us to labor to make sacred and joyful the hearth-stones of others. if _men_ will remain comparatively supine we must the more energetically sound the alarm, and point them to the danger. if rulers will devise wickedness by law, we must give them no rest, till, like the unjust judge, they yield to our very importunity, and repeal their iniquitous statutes. the temporal and spiritual welfare of many an immortal being is at stake, and we should esteem it a high privilege to labor in this holy cause with an earnest and, if need be, a life-long consecration. let us, then, apply ourselves devotedly to the work, and a fresh and resistless impulse will be given to the temperance reformation. the electrical fervor of earnest spirits ever communicates itself to others, and the legislature itself can not long resist our united efforts. in such a cause "we have great allies." god and humanity are on our side, our own souls will be strengthened and elevated by the work; "failure" is a word that belongs not to us, since our efforts are in a righteous cause. _to the men of chester county:_ permit us once more to plead with you on behalf of temperance. we know that to some of you this may seem an old and wearisome subject, but we know also that the sorrow and crime caused by intemperance are _not_ old; new, fresh cases are around us now. its ravages are repeated every day, and we must beseech you to "hear us for our cause." we can not be silent while the grog-shop stands like the poisonous upas amongst us, and men openly deal out crime and wretchedness in the form of intoxicating drinks. we need not in this place enlarge upon the danger ever attendant upon the use of those stimulants, nor will we now stop long to dwell upon the solemn fact, that whoever, at the demand of appetite, drinks even the sweet cider, weakens his own moral strength, becomes a tempter to the weak, and casts away the pure influence of an unsullied example. reckless and guilty indeed is that man who, in the light of this day, dares to insult humanity and defy heaven by publicly putting the glass to his lips. men of chester county! you possess the power to put a stop to the traffic in liquors, and we conjure you by the sacred obligations of virtue and humanity, as you hope to stand acquitted before the just tribunal of god, to arise in your might and banish it from the community; think, we beseech you, of the depths of pollution to which intemperance leads, of the bestial appetites it fosters, of all the unnameable impurities that revel in its abodes; think of the hearth-stones desolated, of the mothers and daughters whose earthly hopes and joys have been destroyed by that charnel-house, the tavern. the incendiary who applies the midnight torch to peaceful dwellings, the robber who commits murder to secure his prey, is not an enemy to society half so dangerous, as he who inflames all evil passions and scatters wretchedness through a community, by dispensing alcoholic poison. oh! are there not sorrows enough in our best condition? have we not temptations strong enough within and without? shall men progress too fast in the "onward and upward" road of virtue and happiness, that you leave before them these sinks of pollution, these trap-doors of ruin, these fatal sirens, enticing the unwary listener to destruction? call us not fanatical. indifference is crime; silence is fatal here. when the midnight cry of fire is sounded, you rush from your slumbers, and, heedless of danger, hasten to extinguish the flames; but here is a devouring element, burning on from year to year, consuming not mere shingles and rafters, but the priceless hopes and aspirations of immortal souls, leaving blackened ruins in the place of beauty; and we must continue to cry "fire! fire!" until you hasten to stop the fearful conflagration. tell us not of liberty and natural right, as a plea for this traffic. it is the liberty to rob innocent families and reduce them to pauperism; the right to break hearts and hopes, to reduce men to demons, to scatter vice and anguish and desolation around the land. well may we exclaim with madame roland, when she was taken along the bloody streets of paris, about to be murdered in the abused name of freedom, "oh, liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!" fathers and brothers, shall woman in her agony, and man in his degradation, appeal to you in vain? too long has this evil been borne, too long have minor points of public good taken precedence of this reform. it must not be that you will be content to dwell in quiet indifference, in the midst of a rum-selling community, and die, leaving your children exposed to the tempter's snare. it must not be endured that this infernal traffic, this shame to civilization, this slur on christianity, shall continue amongst us. it must not be endured that men shall be clothed with the monstrous authority to demoralize neighborhoods and scatter the fire-brands of death and destruction. the power to arrest this horrible work is in your hands. be vigilant, be active. there is resistless might in the energy of earnest wills devoted to a noble cause. petition, remonstrate, work while yet it is day. say not that we can gain nothing by petitioning. was it not through this means, we obtained the law under which a vote of the majority excluded the sale of intoxicating liquors amongst us? did not our petitions last winter cause a bill for its prohibition to be reported in the legislature, which was lost in the house by a small majority? true, the law we desire may not entirely prevent drunkenness, but it will certainly act as a restraint. it will make drinking less reputable, and thus prevent drunkard-making. it will have the moral influence of a state verdict against the practice. the dread responsibility of this traffic must rest upon you, if, through silent acquiescence, you permit its ravages. do what you can, and peace and prosperity will soon sit where the blackness of ruin has brooded, and the sweet reward of approving consciences and the blessings of joyful hearts will gladden your pathway. the following resolutions were adopted: _resolved_, that petitioning the legislature is the most definite and efficient means at our command, whereby to obtain a law to abolish the sale of intoxicating drinks, as a beverage amongst us. _resolved_, that the following persons be appointed to obtain names in their respective neighborhoods, to the petition referred to: sarah evans, grace anna lewis, jane kimber, h. a. pennypacker, catherine hawley, deborah way, sarah wood, m. b. thomas, anna parke, margaret lea, susannah cox, elizabeth evans, e. garrett, m. darlington, eliza agnew, m. p. wilson, eliza pyle, mary chambers, h. m. barnard, mrs. jefferis, alice speakman, sarah s. barnard, susan fulton, mary w. coates, millicent stern, mrs. ramsey, mrs. hamilton, a. e. valentine, ruth ann seal, r. w. taylor, m. k. darlington, lydia agnew, m. taylor, alice lewis, ann barnard, rebecca pugh, lydia jacobs, margaret ross, rachel leake, ann preston, m. w. cox, ann coates, rachel good, esther jane kent, ellen wilkinson, mary pugh, sarah ann cunningham, eliza lysle, beulah hughes, sarah ann conard. _resolved_, that we urgently solicit those having care of petitions, to make use of every opportunity to obtain men's and women's names in different columns, or on separate petitions, and thus aid the chester county temperance society in procuring the names of those favorable to obtaining a prohibitory law. _resolved_, that hannah cox, sidney peirce, ann preston, mary cox, mary ann fulton, dinah mendenhall, mary k. darlington, mary s. agnew, and hannah m. darlington, be a committee to call meetings of the people in different neighborhoods, at which to read the addresses to men and women, obtain signatures to petitions, etc. _resolved_, that we offer the proceedings of this meeting for publication in the county papers and _temperance standard_. _resolved_, that we adjourn to meet in kennett square, on saturday, the d of february, . martha hayhurst, _president_. sidney peirce } } _secretaries_. hannah pennock } at their next convention in kennett square, another stirring appeal was issued, and the following resolutions adopted: whereas, the peace of our homes, the security of our property, and our inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, are all jeoparded by intemperance; and whereas, this monstrous vice, with all its attendant train of evils, will continue to spread its ravages over our fair country so long as the traffic in intoxicating drinks is supported and sanctioned by law; and, whereas, the people have the same right to be protected from the desolations of this vice, that they have to be protected from the depredations of the incendiary, the robber, and the murderer, whose deeds are but too often instigated by it; therefore, _resolved_, that we demand of the representatives of the people, at the next session, a law for the total prohibition of the traffic in intoxicating drinks as a beverage, within the limits of chester county. _resolved_, that we see neither reason nor consistency in the conduct of our law-makers in restraining the thief, the burglar, the counterfeiter, and the robber, while they let loose upon society the legalized rum-seller. "will they the felon fox restrain, and yet take oft the tiger's chain?" _resolved_, that we hail with joy the appearance of a recent pastoral letter issued by the synod of the free church of cincinnati, containing sentiments in regard to the advancement of this reform, which meet our hearty approval, and which, if adopted by all religious bodies, would insure the speedy triumph of temperance, with all the blessings that follow in its train. _resolved_, that we adjourn to meet at old kennett, on saturday, the th of december, . hannah m. darlington, _president_. alice lewis } }_secretaries_. mary s. agnew, } north american and united state gazette, feb. , . the ladies of the city and county of philadelphia, and all other persons who feel impressed with the importance of petitioning the legislature to enact a law prohibiting the use of all intoxicating drinks as a beverage, are earnestly requested to attend a meeting to be held at the chinese museum, corner of ninth and george streets, on saturday evening, feb. th, at - / o'clock. the meeting will be addressed by the rev. albert barnes, rev. john chambers, judge kelley, dr. jas. bryan, and wm. j. mullen. judge allison will preside. the ladies' temperance union is particularly invited to attend. admittance five cents, to defray expenses. two weeks after this, feb. st, a woman's temperance mass meeting was held in philadelphia; an immense assemblage of both sexes. _the pennsylvania freeman_ of march , , says: "a large number of petitions from various parts of the state, most of them numerously signed, asking for the passage of the maine anti-liquor law, have been presented in both houses. on tuesday, in the senate, one was presented from this city signed by , ladies; and another in the house, signed by , ladies. what the legislature will do we shall not venture to predict." it is interesting to note the same successive steps in every state, and how naturally, in laboring for anti-slavery and temperance, women have at last in each case demanded freedom for themselves. in the anti-slavery school, 'mid violence and persecution they learned the a, b, c of individual rights; in the temperance struggle they learned that the ultimate power in moral movements is found in wise legislation, and in graduating on the woman suffrage platform, they have learned that prayers and tears are worth little until coined into law, and that to command the attention of legislators, petitioners must represent votes. a moral power that has no direct influence on the legislation of a nation, is an abstraction, and might as well be expended in the clouds as outside of codes and constitutions, and this has too long been the realm where women have spent their energies fighting shadows. the power that makes laws, and baptizes them as divine at every church altar, is the power for woman to demand now and forever. westchester convention. _june , _. the first woman's rights convention held in pennsylvania was called in the leafy month of june, in the quiet quaker town of west chester, in one of the loveliest regions of that state. chester county had long been noted for its reform movements and flourishing schools, in which the women generally took a deep interest. it was among these beautiful hills that bayard taylor lived and wrote his "hannah thurston," a most contemptible burlesque of his own neighbors and the reforms they advocated. kennett square and longwood have for years been noted for their liberal religious meetings, in which the leading reformers of the nation have in turn been annually represented. in those gatherings of the progressive friends, all the questions of the hour were freely discussed, and their printed testimonies sent forth to enlighten the people. the convention assembled at ten o'clock in horticultural hall, and was called to order by lucretia mott, and the following officers chosen: president.--mariana johnson. service-presidents.--mary ann fulton, william jackson, chandler darlington. secretaries.--sarah l. miller, hannah darlington, sidney peirce, edward webb. business committee.--james mott, ann preston, lucretia mott, frances d. gage, sarah d. barnard, dr. harriot k. hunt, joseph a. dugdale, margaret jones, ernestine l. rose, alice jackson, jacob painter, phebe goodwin. finance committee, appointed by the chair.--hannah darlington, jacob painter, isaac mendenhall, elizabeth miller. mrs. mott read the following call: the friends of justice and equal rights are earnestly invited to assemble in convention, to consider and discuss the present position of woman in society, her natural eights and relative duties. the reasons for such a convention are obvious. with few exceptions, both the radical and conservative portions of the community agree that woman, even in this progressive age and country, suffers under legal, educational, and vocational disabilities which ought to be removed. to examine the nature of these disabilities, to inquire into their extent, and to consider the most feasible and proper mode of removing them, will be the aim of the convention which it is proposed to hold. if it shall promote in any degree freedom of thought and action among women; if it shall assist in opening to them any avenues to honorable and lucrative employment (now unjustly and unwisely closed); if it shall aid in securing to them more thorough intellectual and moral culture; if it shall excite higher aspirations; if it shall advance by a few steps just and wise public sentiment, it will not have been held in vain. the elevation of woman is the elevation of the human race. her interests can not be promoted or injured without advantage or injury to the whole race. the call for such a convention is therefore addressed to those who desire the physical, intellectual, and moral improvement of mankind. all persons interested in its objects are respectfully requested to be present at its sessions and participate in its deliberations. the president's address the position in which woman has been placed is an anomaly. on the one hand she is constantly reminded of duties and responsibilities from which an angel might shrink. the world is to be saved by her prayers, her quiet and gentle efforts. man, she is told, is ruled by her smiles; his whole nature subdued by the potency of her tears. priests, politicians, and poets assure her with flattering tongue, that on her depend the progress and destiny of the race. on the other hand, she is told that she must lovingly confide in the strength and skill of man, who has been endowed with superior intellectual powers; that she must count it her highest honor to reflect upon the world the light of his intelligence and wisdom, as the moon reflects the light of the sun! we may congratulate one another on this occasion in view of the cheering indications so manifest on every hand that the ignorance and darkness which have so long brooded over the prospects of woman, are beginning to give place to the light of truth. in the summer of , in the village of seneca falls, a small number of women, disregarding alike the sneers of the ignorant and the frowns of the learned, assembled in convention and boldly claimed for themselves, and for their sex, the rights conferred by god and so long withheld by man. their courageous words were the expression of sentiments which others had felt as deeply as themselves, but which the restraints imposed by long-established custom had taught them to suppress. but now the hour had come, and the world stood prepared for the reception of a new thought, which is destined to work a revolution in human society, more beneficent than any that has preceded it. the seeds of truth which that convention planted in faith and hope were not left to perish. in many thoughtful minds they germinated apace and brought forth fruit. that fruit was seen in the large convention held in ohio in the spring of , in that held in massachusetts in the autumn of the same year, and in those which have followed since in new england and the west. woman at length is awaking from the slumber of ages. many of the sex already perceive that knowledge, sound judgment, and perfect freedom of thought and action are quite as important for the mothers as for the fathers of the race. they weary of the senseless talk of "woman's sphere," when that sphere is so circumscribed that they may not exert their full influence and power to save their country from war, intemperance, slavery, licentiousness, ignorance, poverty, and crime, which man, in the mad pursuit of his ambitious schemes, unchecked by their presence and counsel, permits to desolate and destroy all that is fair and beautiful in life and fill the world with weeping, lamentation, and woe. woman begins to grow weary of her helpless and dependent position, and of being treated as if she were formed only to cultivate her affections, that they may flow in strong and deep currents merely to gratify the self-love of man. she does not listen with delight, as she once did, when she hears her relations to her equal brother represented by the poetical figure of the trellis and creeping tendril, or of the oak and the gracefully clinging vine. no, she feels that she is, like him, an accountable being--that the infinite father has laid responsibilities upon her which may not be innocently transferred to another, but which, in her present ignorance, she is not prepared to meet. she is becoming rapidly imbued with the spirit of progress, and will not longer submit, without remonstrance, to the bondage of ancient dogmas and customs. in the retirement and seclusion of life, the stirring impulse of the times has reached even the heart of woman, and she feels the necessity of a more thorough culture and a wider field of usefulness. she sees the glaring injustice by which she has long been deprived of all fair opportunity to earn an independent livelihood, and thus, in too many instances, constrained to enter the marriage relation, as a choice of evils, to secure herself against the ills of impending poverty. the wrong she so deeply feels she is at length arousing herself to redress. what, then, is the substance of our demand? i answer, we demand for woman equal freedom with her brother to raise her voice and exert her influence directly for the removal of all the evils that afflict the race; and that she be permitted to do this in the manner dictated by her own sense of propriety and justice. we ask for her educational advantages equal to those enjoyed by the other sex; that the richly endowed institutions which she has been taxed to establish and support, may be open alike to all her children. we claim for her the right to follow any honorable calling or profession for which she may be fitted by her intellectual training and capacity. we claim for her a fair opportunity to attain a position of pecuniary independence, and to this end that she receive for her labor a compensation equivalent to its recognized value when performed by the other sex. these demands, we think, must be admitted to be essentially wise and just. we make them in no spirit of selfish antagonism to the other sex, but under a deep conviction that they are prompted by an enlightened regard for the highest welfare of the race. some one has justly said that god has so linked the human family together that any violence done at one end of the chain is felt throughout its length. the true interests of the sexes are not antagonistic, but harmonious. there can be no just conflict between their respective rights and duties. for the coming of the day when this great truth shall be universally received, we must work and pray as we have opportunity. when that day shall arrive, it will be clearly perceived that in the true harmonic order "woman and her brother are pillars in the same temple and priests of the same worship." the secretary, sidney peirce, read the following letter from sarah m. grimkÉ. when an insect emerges with struggles from its chrysalis state, how feeble are all its movements, how its wings hang powerless until the genial air has dried and strengthened them, how patiently the insect tries again and again to spread them, and visit the flowers which bloom around, till at last it enjoys the recompense of its labors in the nectar and the fragrance of the garden. this illustrates the present condition of woman. she is just emerging from the darkness and ignorance by which she has been shrouded. she looks forth from her chrysalis and sees the natural and intellectual world lying around her clothed in radiant beauty, and inviting her to enter and possess this magnificent inheritance. how came i, she asks, to be excluded from all these precious privileges? i will arise and go to my father and say, "father, permit me to share the labors of my brethren and partake of the fruits which they enjoy." "go, my daughter," is the paternal response. "be unto man, in an infinitely higher sense than heretofore, a help-meet." how is woman fulfilling her divine mission? is she looking on the benefits she is commissioned to bestow on the human race, or is she keeping her eye on her own interests and seeking her own elevation, with little of that expansive benevolence, that philosophical foresight which seeks the development of all? woman is now in the transition state, a glorious mission is before her, a glorious destiny awaits her. to fulfill that mission, to be worthy of that destiny, she must patiently wait and quietly hope, blessing those who scorn and deride her feeble and often unsuccessful efforts, to free herself from her entanglements. she must expect many failures in her attempts to emancipate herself from the thralldom of public opinion. those who have long held the reins of power and the rank of superiority, naturally look with distrust on a movement which threatens to overturn long established customs and transform the baby and the toy into an intellectual being, desiring equal rights with themselves and asserting her claim to all the immunities they enjoy. woman must be willing to see herself as she is, the slave of fashion, assuming all the proteus forms she invents, without reference to health or convenience. she must remember how few of us give evidence of sufficient development to warrant our claims; and whilst we feel a divine impulse to proceed in achieving the enlargement of woman, whilst we hear a voice saying, "ye have compassed this mountain long enough; speak to the people that they go forward," let us not be dismayed at the hindrances we shall encounter from those whom we are laboring to release from the swaddling bands of infancy, or the grave-clothes of superstition, time-honored opinion and crushing circumstances. we are now in a perilous and difficult position. we feel all the inconveniences of our past condition, all the disadvantages and uneasiness of the one we are constrained to occupy, and see in bold relief all the advantages which a change will yield us. but let us remember that our transition state, although replete with temptations and suffering, is necessary to our improvement; we need it to strengthen us and enable us to bear hardships as good soldiers of truth. to regard any state of society as fixed, is to regard it as the ultimate good, as the best condition to which we can attain. but when man has progressed, when his morality and his religion have assumed a higher tone, it is impossible to perpetuate his childhood, or to give permanence to institutions and opinions whose days are numbered. when reform has truth for its basis and is instinct with the life of progression, no power can dress it in the habiliments of the grave, and bury it out of sight, either in the potter's-field or under the magnificent mausoleum. there is nothing so precious to man as progress; he has defended it with his heart's best blood, and according to his development has aided it, although sometimes in his blindness he has scattered fire and sword, destruction and misery around, in endeavoring to force mankind to adopt the truths he thought essential to progress. "woman has come on the stage," says horace mann, " , years after man, to profit by his misdeeds and correct his errors." until now, the world was not prepared to receive, in full measure, the hallowed influence which woman is designed to shed. her holy mission is to bring peace on earth and good-will to man. she does not ask for irresponsible power; she has seen that from the earliest records of the human race the possession of such power is fraught with danger, that it has always made tyrants. she feels divinity stirring within her, and its irrepressible aspirings can not, should not be controlled. mankind have always rejected the means appointed by infinite wisdom to assist their upward flight. let us then go calmly forward, alike regardless of the scorn and ridicule of the shallow, the grave denunciations of the bigot, or the weighty counsel of the narrow-minded and selfish, who would point out the exact position fitted for us to occupy, and with seeming condescension invite us to fill some posts of honor and profit, while they undertake to confine us within their bounds, leaving nothing to our good sense, intelligence, intuitive desires, and aspiring hopes. the truth is, "it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." god alone is competent to do this, and in the present movement his power, wisdom, and will, are so conspicuous, that it will be well to set no bounds to his work, but let it have free course, expecting that contradictions and inconsistencies will mar it, but believing that those contradictions will cease, those inconsistencies disappear, and the perfected human being be developed. if we adopt as our watchword the language of margaret fuller, we can not but overcome all obstacles, outlive all opposition: "give me truth. cheat me by no illusion. oh, the granting of this prayer is sometimes terrible; i walk over the burning plowshares and they sear my feet--yet nothing but truth will do." sarah m. grimkÉ lucretia mott addressed the convention, briefly referring to the importance of the movement and expressing her gratification on seeing the response given to the call, by the great number of persons assembled. she saw before her not only a large delegation from the immediate vicinity, but a goodly number from other and distant states. the movement for the enfranchisement of woman is indeed making rapid progress. since the first convention held at seneca falls, in , where a few women assembled, and notwithstanding their ignorance of the parliamentary modes of conducting business, promulgated these principles, which took deep root, and are already producing important results. other large conventions have been held in different places, which have done much toward disseminating the great principles of equality between the sexes; and a spirit of earnest inquiry has been aroused. she referred to the fact that the agitation commenced in those states most distinguished for intellectual and moral culture, while we in pennsylvania are ready to embrace their views on this subject; and trusted that the convention now assembled, would be neither less interesting nor less efficient than those that have been already held. mrs. clarina howard nichols, of brattleboro, vermont, spoke briefly on the absurdity of the popular idea of woman's sphere. she thought the sphere of sex could only be determined by capacity and moral obligation. she had once thought politics necessarily too degrading for woman, but she had changed her views. the science of government, it is said, is of divine origin; a participation in its administration can not then necessarily involve anything to deteriorate from the true dignity of woman. the world's interests have never yet been fully represented. the propriety of woman voting had been to her a stumbling-block; the idea was repelling. she was not yet allowed to vote, but she had ceased to consent to the arrangement which deprived her of that right, and therefore experienced a freedom of spirit which she had not known before. the idea that woman could not go to the ballot-box without a sacrifice of her delicacy was absurd. women were allowed to vote in church matters unquestioned. they can hold railroad stock, bank stock, and stock of other corporations, where their influence is in proportion to the amount held. but we are not called upon to maintain the position of the propriety or expediency of women voting. the question is, shall they have the right so to do?--the propriety should be left to themselves. woman can now travel alone securely, where formerly it was considered a risk. she can deposit her vote with men, with as much propriety as she can ride with them in railroad cars, on steamboats, etc. she came all the way from the green mountains without any male attendant; she traveled with members of congress and delegates to the baltimore convention, and not a "bear" among them offered her the least indignity. ernestine l. rose quoted the testimony of horace mann,[ ] that our legislatures were "bear gardens, our representatives too rude and rough for woman's association, hence the impropriety and indelicacy of her mingling in politics." but we are told it is woman's province to soothe the angry passions and calm the belligerent feelings of man, and if what horace mann says is true, where can we find a riper harvest awaiting us than in the halls of legislation! harriet k. hunt then read an address upon the medical education of women; on concluding, she offered the following resolutions: _ st. resolved_, that the present position of medical organizations, precluding women from the same educational advantages with men, under pretext of delicacy, virtually acknowledges the impropriety of his being her medical attendant. _ d. resolved_, that we will do all in our power to sustain those women who, from a conviction of duty, enter the medical profession, in their efforts to overcome the evils that have accumulated in their path, and in attacking the strongholds of vice. _ d. resolved_, that the past actions and present indications of our medical schools should not affect us at all; and notwithstanding geneva and cleveland medical colleges closed their doors after graduating one woman each, and harvard, through the false delicacy of the students, declared it inexpedient to receive one who had been in successful practice many years, we would still earnestly follow in peace and love where duty points, and leave the verdict to an enlightened public sentiment. the address of dr. hunt called out a discussion on the importance of a thorough medical training for women in all departments of science belonging to that profession. mrs. nichols spoke earnestly of the imperfect education of woman. with no knowledge of the laws of health, she has no means of obtaining the required information. men hold the purse even when it is filled by the labor of both. they close the college doors, though we have helped to build and endow them. and at what a fearful cost of life and health are we thus wronged. does it cost too much to educate the future mothers of this nation in the science of life? who can estimate how much greater are the expenses incurred by our ignorant violation of the laws of health? frances dana gage, of ohio, spoke of the high scholarship and very successful examinations of those women who had been admitted into the medical colleges, far surpassing the young men in their recitations and general intelligence. so long as the lives of children are conceded to be in the hands of their mothers, it is of vital consequence to the race that women be thoroughly educated for the medical profession. mrs. rose said: these are mighty questions. when our little ones are removed by death from our care and affection, we feel most keenly our ignorance, and long to know something of those immutable laws of life and health we have so long violated. woman should at least know enough to be physician to herself and children, but she is denied the advantages granted to man for obtaining knowledge of these things more necessary if possible to her than to him. the idea of a female doctor is ridiculed. but what is she worth as a nurse of the sick without a knowledge of the art of healing? why am i in the prime of life in such feeble health? in my country, the laws of life are, comparatively speaking, kept in a nutshell. the girl must not exercise; it is not fashionable. she must not be seen in active life; it is not feminine. the boy may run, the girl must creep. it is to discuss all these grave inequalities that we have assembled here, and i trust the influence of this convention may be felt in opening to woman all honest and honorable means of self-support and self-development, and in removing all the legal shackles that block her pathway through life. eva pugh said: the degradation of one sex is the degradation of the other. this question is universal, affecting all alike. no fact is better established than that the character of the parent is inherited by the child. can noble men be born of infirm women? who are the mothers of great men? women of mind, of thought, of independence; not women degraded by man's tyranny, laboring in prescribed limits, thinking other people's thoughts, and echoing their opinions. this question of woman's rights affects the whole human race. we know from sad experience that man can not rise while woman is degraded. mrs. mott spoke of the great change in public sentiment within her recollection in regard to the so-called sphere of woman. twenty years ago people wondered how a modest girl could attend lectures on botany; but modest girls did attend them and other places frequented only by men, and the result was not a loss of delicacy, but a higher and nobler development; a true modesty. joseph a. dugdale made a few remarks on the injustice of the laws by which happy households are often broken up on the death of the husband and father. he said there remained one way in which this great evil could be avoided even while the law remains unchanged, and that was by a will of the husband conveying the whole property of their joint industry and economy to the wife, in the event of his death. he urged this as the duty of every husband and father. he closed his remarks with the following extract from the will of martin luther, proving that other errors than those of the church, were deemed by the great reformer of sufficient magnitude to awaken his earnest opposition: martin luther's will. "this is all i am worth, and i give it all to my wife for the following reasons: " . because she has always conducted herself toward me lovingly, worthily, and beautifully, like a pious, faithful, and noble wife; and by the rich blessings of god, she has borne and brought up five living children, who yet live, and god grant they may long live. " . because she will take upon herself and pay the debts which i owe and may not be able to pay during my life, which, so far as i can estimate, may amount to about florins, or perhaps a little more. " . but most of all, because i will not have her dependent on the children, but the children on her; that they may hold her in honor, and submit themselves to her as god has commanded. for i see well and observe, how the devil, by wicked and envious mouths, heats and excites children, even though they be pious, against this command; especially when the mothers are widows, and the sons get wives, and the daughters get husbands, and again _socrus murum, nurus socrum_. for i hold that the mother will be the best guardian for her own children, and will use what little property and goods she may have, not for their disadvantage and injury, but for their good and improvement, since they are her own flesh and blood, and she carried them under her heart. "and if, after my death, she should find it necessary or desirable to marry again (for i can not pretend to set limits to the will or providence of god), yet i trust and herewith express my confidence that she will conduct herself toward our mutual children as becometh a mother, and will faithfully impart to them property, and do whatever else is right. "and herewith i humbly pray my most gracious lord, his grace duke john frederick, elector of saxony, graciously to guard and protect the above-named gifts and property. "i also entreat all my good friends to be witnesses for my dear catey, and help to defend her should any good-for-nothing mouth reprove and slander her, as if she had secretly some personal property of which she would defraud the poor children. for i testify there is no personal property except the plate and jewelry enumerated above. "finally, i beg, since in this will or testament i have not used legal forms or words (and thereto i have my reasons), that every one may let me be the person that i am in truth, namely, openly and known both in heaven and earth, and in hell, and let me have respect and authority enough so that i may be trusted and believed more than any lawyer. for so god the father of all mercies hath entrusted to me, a poor, miserable, condemned sinner, the gospel of his dear son, and therein thus far i have behaved and conducted myself truly and faithfully, and it has made much progress in the world through me, and i am honored as a teacher of truth, notwithstanding the curse of the pope and the wrath of emperors, kings, princes, priests, and all kinds of devils; much rather then let me be believed in this little matter, especially as here in my hand which is very well known; and i hope it may be enough, when it can be said and proved that this is the serious and deliberate desire of dr. martin luther (who is god's lawyer and witness of his gospel) to be proved by his own hand and seal, sept. , ." lucretia mott (see th resolution) thought it important that we should not disclaim the antagonism that woman's present position rendered it necessary she should assume. too long had wrongs and oppressions existed without an acknowledged wrong-doer and oppressor. it was not until the slaveholder was told, "thou art the man," that a healthful agitation was brought about. woman is told that the fault is in herself, in too willingly submitting to her inferior condition; but, like the slave, she is pressed down by laws in the making of which she has had no voice, and crushed by customs that have grown out of such laws. she can not rise, therefore, while thus trampled in the dust. the oppressor does not see himself in that light until the oppressed cry for deliverance. in commenting on the will just read, she further said: the extract from luther's will which has been read, while it gives evidence of the appreciation of the services of his wife, to a certain extent, and manifests a generous disposition to reward her as a faithful wife, still only proves the degrading relation she bore to her husband. there is no recognition of her equal right to their joint earnings. while the wife is obliged to accept as a gift that which in justice belongs to her, however generous the boon, she is but an inferior dependent. the law of our state and of new york, has within a few years been so amended that the wife has some control over a part of her property. much yet remains to be done; and if woman "contend earnestly" for the right, man will co-operate with her in adjusting all her claims. we have only to look back a few years, to satisfy ourselves that the demands already made are met in a disposition to redress the grievances. when a delegation of women to the world's anti-slavery convention in , could find no favor in london, what were the reasons assigned for the exclusion? not that the right of representation was not as much woman's as man's, but that "they would be ridiculed in the morning papers." daniel o'connell felt the injustice done to those delegates, and in a letter on the subject to me, expressed his deep regret, that owing to business engagements, he was not able to attend the convention and take part in the discussion.[ ] dr. bowring advocated the admission of the delegates at that time; and afterward in a letter to this country, said: "how often have i regretted that the woman's question, to me of singular interest, was launched with so little preparation, so little knowledge of the manner in which it had been entangled, by the fears of some and the follies of others! but, bear up! for the coming of those women will form an era in the future history of philanthropic daring. they made a deep, if not a wide impression; and have created apostles, if as yet they have not multitudes of followers. the experiment was well worth making. it honored america--it will instruct england. if in some matters of high civilization you are behind us, in this matter of courageous benevolence how far are you before us!" since that time women have fairly entered the field as students of medicine and as physicians, as editors and lecturers, engaged in schools of design, and in the taking of daguerres, as well as in some other works of art, and in holding conventions in several of the states of our union for the advocacy of our entire claims. a national society has been formed; and the proceedings of these conventions and society meetings have been fairly reported, and have received favorable notices in many of the papers of this country, as well as in the _westminster review_ in england. frances d. gage said that allusion had been made in the address to the popular sentiment, that men are what their mothers made them. she repelled this sentiment as an indignity to her sex. what mother, she asked, ever taught her son to drink rum, gamble, swear, smoke, and chew tobacco? the truth was, that the boy was virtually taught to regard his mother as inferior, and that it was not manly to follow her instructions. when he left the hearth-stone he was beyond her reach. he found men, and those, too, in elevated stations, addicted to vulgar and vicious practices, and he was liable, in forgetfulness of all that his mother had taught him, to fall into such habits himself. men allowed grog-shops to be set up on the street corners, and permitted gambling-houses to exist, to tempt the boy from the path of virtue; and when the mothers asked for the abatement of these evils, they were told to keep in their sphere. in the town where she resided (mcconnellsville, morgan co., ohio), the women sent a large petition to the court asking that grog-shops might not be licensed. the judge thereupon remarked that "woman's place was in the nursery and the parlor, and that when she interfered with public affairs, or set herself up as an instructor of the courts, she was out of her sphere." thus men perpetuate institutions which undermine the influence of the mothers, and corrupt the morals of the sons. the boys were, therefore, in many cases, what men made them. true, there were some cases in which the mother, by superior power, shaped the destiny of her sons, in spite of adverse influences. such cases were not the rule, but the exception. mothers, generally, could not exert their full influence over their sons, unless they were permitted to stand by them as the equals of their fathers in all relations of life. the following address, written by ann preston, and adopted as an exposition of the principles and purposes of the convention, was impressively read by the author: ann preston's address. the question is repeatedly asked by those who have thought but little upon the subject of woman's position in society, "what does woman want more than she possesses already? is she not beloved, honored, guarded, cherished? wherein are her rights infringed, or her liberties curtailed?" glowing pictures have been drawn of the fitness of the present relations of society, and of the beauty of woman's dependence upon the protecting love of man, and frightful visions have been evoked of the confusion and perversion of nature which would occur if the doctrine of the equal rights of man and woman was once admitted. the idea seems to prevail that movements for the elevation of woman arise, not from the legitimate wants of society, but from the vague restlessness of unquiet spirits; not from the serene dictates of wisdom, but from the headlong impulses of fanaticism. we came not here to argue the question of the relative strength of intellect in man and woman; for the reform which we advocate depends not upon its settlement. we place not the interests of woman in antagonism to those of her brother, for "the woman's cause is man's: they rise or sink together, dwarfed or god-like, bond or free." we maintain not that woman should lose any of that refinement and delicacy of spirit which, as a celestial halo, ever encircles the pure in heart. we contend not that she shall become noisy and dictatorial, and abjure the quiet graces of life. we claim not that she, any more than her brother, should engage in any vocation or appear in any situation to which her nature and abilities are not fitted. but we ask for her, as for man, equality before the law, and freedom to exercise all her powers and faculties under the direction of her own judgment and volition. when a woman dies, leaving behind her a husband and children, no appraisers come into the desolated home to examine the effects; the father is the guardian of his offspring; the family relation is not invaded by law. but when a man dies the case is entirely different; in the hour of the widow's deep distress strangers come into the house to take an inventory of the effects, strangers are appointed to be the guardians of her children, and she, their natural care-taker, thenceforth has no legal direction of their interests; strangers decide upon the propriety of the sale of the property--earned, perhaps, by her own and her husband's mutual efforts--and her interest in the estate is coolly designated as the "widow's incumbrance!" in the extremity of her bereavement there is piled upon her, not only the dread of separation from her children, but that of being sent homeless from the spot where every object has been consecrated by her tenderest affections. nor is the practical working of this law better than its theory; all over the country there are widows who have been made doubly desolate by its provisions--widows separated from their children, who, if they had had the disposal of their own and their husbands' mutual property, might have retrieved their circumstances, and kept the household band together. we ask for such change in public sentiment as shall procure the repeal of this oppressive law. we ask that woman shall have free access to vocations of profit and honor, the means of earning a livelihood and independence for herself! as a general rule, profitable employments are not considered open to woman, nor are her business capabilities encouraged and developed by systematic training. gloomy must be the feelings of the father of a family of young daughters, when he is about to bid farewell to the world, if he is leaving them without the means of pecuniary support. their brothers may go out into society and gain position and competency; but for them there is but little choice of employment, and, too often, they are left with repressed and crippled energies to pine and chafe under the bitter sense of poverty and dependence. their pursuits are to be determined, not by their inclination, judgment, and ability, as are those of man, but by the popular estimate of what is proper and becoming. in turkey public delicacy is outraged if a woman appears unveiled beyond the walls of the harem; in america a sentiment no less arbitrary presumes to mark out for her the precise boundaries of womanly propriety; and she who ventures to step beyond them, must do it at the peril of encountering low sneers, coarse allusions, and the withering imputation of want of feminine delicacy. even for the same services woman generally receives less than man. the whole tendency of our customs, habits, and teaching, is to make her dependent--dependent in outward circumstances, dependent in spirit. as a consequence of her fewer resources, marriage has been to her the great means of securing position in society. thus it is that this relation--which should ever be a "holy sacrament," the unbiased and generous election of the free and self-sustained being--too often is degraded into a mean acceptance of a shelter from neglect and poverty! we ask that woman shall be trained to unfold her whole nature; to exercise all her powers and faculties. it is said that the domestic circle is the peculiar province of woman; that "men are what mothers make them." but how can that woman who does not live for self-culture and self-development, who has herself no exalted objects in life, imbue her children with lofty aspirations, or train her sons to a free and glorious manhood? she best can fulfill the duties of wife and mother, who is fitted for other and varied usefulness. the being who lives for one relation only can not possess the power and scope which are required for the highest excellence even in that one. if the whole body is left without exercise, one arm does not become strong; if the tree is stunted in its growth, one branch does not shoot into surpassing luxuriance. that woman whose habits and mental training enable her to assist and sustain her husband in seasons of difficulty, and whose children rely on her as a wise counselor, commands a life-long reverence far deeper and dearer than can be secured by transient accomplishments, or the most refined and delicate imbecility! all women are not wives and mothers, but all have spirits needing development, powers that grow with their exercise. those who are best acquainted with the state of society know that there is, at this time, a vast amount of unhappiness among women for want of free outlets to their powers; that thousands are yearning for fuller development, and a wider field of usefulness. the same energies which in man find vent in the professions, and in the thousand forms of business and study, must find an ennobling channel in woman, else they will be frittered away in trifles, or turned into instruments to prey upon their possessor. to follow the empty round of fashion, to retail gossip and scandal, to be an ornament in the parlor or a mere drudge in the kitchen, to live as an appendage to any human being, does not fill up nor satisfy the capacities of a soul awakened to a sense of its true wants, and the far-reaching and mighty interests which cluster around its existence. we protest against the tyranny of that public sentiment which assigns any arbitrary sphere to woman. god has made the happiness and development of his creatures to depend upon the free exercise of their powers and faculties. freedom is the law of beauty, written by his fingers upon the human mind, and the only condition upon which it can attain to its fall stature, and expand in its natural and beautiful proportions. it is recognized, in reference to man, that his judgment, opportunities, and abilities are the proper measure of his sphere. "the tools to him who can use them." but the same principles are not trusted in their application to woman, lest, forsooth, she should lose her feminine characteristics, and, like the lost pleiad, forsake her native sphere! it seems to be forgotten that the laws of nature will not be suspended; that the human mind, when released from pressure, like water, must find its own level; that woman can not, if she would, cast away her nature and instincts; that it is only when we are left free to obey the inward attractions of our being that we fall into our natural places, and move in our god-appointed orbits. we ask that none shall dare to come in between woman and her maker, and with unhallowed hands attempt to plant their shallow posts and draw their flimsy cords around the heaven-wide sphere of an immortal spirit! we maintain that god has not so failed in his adaptations as to give powers to be wasted, talents to be wrapped in a napkin; and that the possession of faculties and capabilities is the warrant of nature, the command of the all-wise for their culture and exercise. we believe that the woman who is obeying the convictions of her own soul, and whose ability is commensurate with her employment, is ever in her own true sphere; whether in her quiet home she is training her children to nobleness and virtue, or is standing as a physician by the bed of sickness and sorrow; whether, with elizabeth fry, she is preaching the gospel of glad tidings to the sad dwellers in prison, or like the italian, lauri bassi, is filling a professor's chair and expounding philosophy to admiring and instructed listeners. while we demand for woman a more complete physical, intellectual, and moral education, as the means of strengthening and beautifying her own nature, and of ennobling the whole race, we also ask for a more elevated standard of excellence and moral purity in man; and we maintain that if there is any place of resort or employment in society, which necessarily would sully the delicacy of woman's spirit, in that, man also must be contaminated and degraded. woman indeed should wear about her, wherever she moves, the protecting investment of innocence and purity; but not less is it requisite that he, who is the companion of her life, should guard his spirit with the same sacred and beautiful covering. we believe that woman, as an accountable being, can not innocently merge her individuality in that of her brother, or accept from him the limitations of her sphere. in all life's great extremities she also is thrown upon her inward resources, and stands alone. man can not step in between her and the "accusing angel" of her own conscience; alone in the solitude of her spirit she must wrestle with her own sorrows; none can walk for her "the valley of the shadow of death!" when her brother shall be able to settle for her accountabilities, and "give to god a ransom for her soul," then, and not till then, may she rightly commit to him the direction of her powers and activities. we ask, in fine, for the application of the fundamental principles of christianity and republicanism to this, as to all other questions of vital importance; and appealing to all who desire the progression and happiness of the whole race, we ask them, as magnanimous men and true women, to examine this subject in the spirit of a generous and candid investigation. rush plumly said: although institutions which recognize all the rights of all classes of the people, and allow scope for the growth and activity of every faculty, must, in their very nature, increase in power and permanence; yet, compared with the duration of things, the oldest nations and the best founded governments have had but an ephemeral existence, appearing, maturing, and decaying with startling rapidity and endless succession. no form has been exempt from this national mortality. theocracies, oligarchies, monarchies, despotisms, republics, have arisen, flourished, and vanished into history or tradition. so inevitable does the successive ruin appear, that we have incorporated into our religious faith the idea that limitation, conflict, and decay, rather than expansion, permanence, and peace, are inherent in all human governments, and, in despair man postpones his hope of national, as well as of individual stability and happiness, to some future existence. for results so certain and so universal among all people, in every age, there must be some profound and radical cause which religion and philosophy have not discovered, or for which they have proposed no remedy. it is not sufficient to say that these are consequences of human imperfection; that we know; but whence arises the imperfection? it does not satisfy us to assert that they proceed from the depravity of man; how came he depraved? nor is it more consoling to declare that all human institutions must change and perish. why must they? human institutions, if founded upon eternal principles, become divine, and may be immortal; it is not the human, but the inhuman institutions which perish; not humanity, but inhumanity which fills the earth with strife and blood. no! there is behind and below all these imaginary causes, a real cause for the degeneracy of the race. it may be traced to the long continued disregard of the laws of god in relation to woman, and the retribution is worked out physiologically upon the whole nature of man, reaching every tissue of his body and every faculty of his mind. it is a law of god, well understood, that whenever and wherever any community forcibly depresses any class of its people below the general level, it not only injures and degrades that class, but is itself injured, degraded, and deranged in exact proportion to the wrong it perpetrates. whenever we crowd any portion of our fellow-beings into an abyss of ignorance and servitude, we are drawn irresistibly, by their weight, to the brink of the same gulf. if this be the inevitable result of the oppression of an individual, or a class, how much more forcibly must it apply when one-half the world, the "mothers of the living," are made subject to systematic deprivation of rights and tyrannous restriction in the exercise of high and noble faculties. i do not propose to detail the disabilities under which woman suffers. they have been ably depicted by women in this meeting. but i wish to indicate the breadth and basis of this reform, for the consideration of those people who suppose it to be a fractional and transient movement. whatever suffering or degradation woman is subjected to, by the depression of the whole sex below the level of society, reacts with frightful force upon man; who is thus compelled to compensate for the cruel and mistaken policy, which, in all time, has denied to her equal opportunities of education and development, closed to her those avenues to profit and progress open to him, ignored her in the church and state as feeble and inferior, rejected her counsels, and derided her authority in the creation of those institutions of society to which not only she, but her children are to be subject; although, if there be any induction more striking than another it is this, that a child, who is the offspring of the physical union of man and woman, can only be truly educated and nurtured by institutions springing from the unity of mental and moral elements in the father and mother. this universal ignoring of the feminine element pervades not only the politics, but the religion of every country on earth. men worship, as their supreme god, only an embodiment of the masculine element--"power," whether in jove or jehovah; and ever in the christian trinity or unity, the same masculine ideal is maintained. jesus did, indeed, recognize the feminine element in his emphatic declaration that "god is love," but his professed followers have "not so learned him," for they not only declare god to be a triune masculinity, but they have driven woman from the pulpit, and would dispute with her the place at the cross and the sepulchre. the religions of antiquity permitted woman to be a priestess at the expense of wifehood and maternity, but our christian protestantism denies to her the mission of minister, even with that penalty. it is true the catholic church does recognize women among its divinities, and it might be a curious and instructive inquiry, how far that church owes its perpetuity, despite its gigantic crimes and crushing despotism, to the recognition of "mary the mother of god." in its effort to perpetuate the servitude of woman, as in other attempts to defend oppression and falsehood, society has suborned the handmaids of progress, religion and science, to justify its wickedness; the one to prove inferiority from her organism, the other to add the weight of its anathema against any effort at equality. but nature vindicates herself against the first, by presenting de staël, margaret fuller, and others; and to the cavilling bigot it may be said that whoever declared that "man is the head of the woman," if he designed to justify the present interpretation of that expression, has forfeited all claim to the apostleship of a religion whose highest merit it is to equalize the people by elevating the oppressed. but paul taught no such doctrine. the result of all this circumscription of woman has been to enfeeble and misdirect her faculties, to weaken the influence of her nature upon society and especially upon her offspring. driven from the thousand avenues to wealth and position open to man, denied access to the best institutions of learning, permitted to acquire only superficial accomplishments, she is ushered into society at an age when her brothers are preparing to enter colleges and halls of learning from which she is excluded, and thus undeveloped and comparatively helpless, her instincts vitiated and no freedom for her affinities, she is turned adrift to encounter obstacles for which she is unprepared, and in the severe conflict to barter her honor for subsistence; or if she escape that horrible contingency, to exchange her beauty or her services for a matrimonial establishment, and thus prepare to perpetuate human degeneracy. there are many exceptions to this statement, but the statement is the rule. from these unequal and discordant relations, and the feeble and restricted influence of the mother, spring generations of children who are born constitutionally defective in the feminine qualities of gentleness, purity, and love; and the utter rejection of that element in the societary arrangements under which they grow to manhood, aggravates their inherited tendencies, until whole nations of warriors founding governments of blood have filled the earth, and war and rapine have not only become the occupation and the pastime of man, but have grown into his religion and become incarnate in the deities he worships. it is thus that the seeds of violence and vice are sown with the germs of the generations, and they spring to a frightful harvest in each succeeding growth of the race. millions of human beings issue into life, pre-ordained--not in the theological, but in the physiological sense--to violence and crime, and they go forth to make their calling and election sure. from these the world recruits its armies, renews its tyrants, refills its slave-pens and its brothels, populates its prisons, alms-houses, and asylums. it is in vain to hope for other results while woman, upon whom, as "mother of the living," depends the progress of man, is denied any other than a limited and indirect influence in the fabric of society. we may abolish slavery, remove intemperance, banish war and licentiousness, but they will have frightful reproduction in the elemental discord of our natures; for that which is "in us will be revealed." man indicates his condition by the institutions he creates; they are the issues of the life he lives at the time, the outward sign of his inward state. to improve that inward condition, and arrest at their origin these causes of human degeneracy, is the object of this reform. it proposes, as before stated, not only to cure, but to prevent the diseases of the body politic; to place man and woman in such natural and true relations of equal and mutual development, and to so sanctify marriage that from their union under the highest auspices, a regenerate humanity shall not only cease to be violent and vicious, but shall outgrow the dispositions to violence and vice. we know that this is a work for whole generations, but as we believe it to be radical and effectual, it should be at once begun. we think the first great step is to clear away the rubbish of ages from the pathway of woman, to abolish the onerous restrictions which environ her in every direction, to open to her the temples of religion, the halls of science and of art, and the marts of commerce, affording her the same opportunity for education and occupation now enjoyed by man; no longer, by corrupt public sentiment and partial legislation, to limit her to a few and poorly paid pursuits to obtain subsistence and thus increase her dependence upon the charity of man, nor to deny her admission to any institution of learning, whose richly endowed professorships and vast advantages she by her labor has contributed to create, only to see them monopolized by man. i know that in answer to this it is urged that she has organic limits intellectually which deny to her such attainments. it is sufficient to reply, that under all the disabilities to which she is subject, her sex has produced de staël and margaret fuller. letters were read from mary mott, of auburn, de kalb county, indiana; paulina wright davis, dr. elizabeth blackwell, william and mary johnson, and a series of resolutions passed.[ ] oliver johnson took an active part in the discussions, and at the close of the convention, moved a resolution of thanks to the friends who had come from a distance, and contributed so much to the success of the meeting. the convention then adjourned _sine die_. in , richard h. dana, of boston, well known as a man of rare literary culture, delivered a lecture on womanhood throughout the country. he ridiculed the new demand of american women for civil and political rights, and for a larger sphere of action, and eulogized shakespeare's women, especially desdemona, ophelia, and juliet, and recommended them to his dissatisfied countrywomen as models of innocence, tenderness, and confiding love in man, for their study and imitation. he gave this lecture in philadelphia, and lucretia mott was in the audience. at the close she asked an introduction, and told him that while she had been much interested in his lecture, and profited by the information it contained, she could not respond to his idea of woman's true character and destiny. "i am very sorry," he replied quickly, at the first word of criticism, and rushed out of the house, leaving mrs. mott, who had hoped to modify his views, somewhat transfixed with surprise. in describing the scene to some friends afterward, she remarked that she had never been treated with more rudeness by one supposed to understand the rules of etiquette that should always govern the behavior of a gentleman. soon after this, she delivered the following discourse in the assembly buildings in philadelphia. after giving the bible view of woman's position as an equal, lucretia mott said: i have not come here with a view of answering any particular parts of the lecture alluded to, in order to point out the fallacy of its reasoning. the speaker, however, did not profess to offer anything like argument on that occasion, but rather a sentiment. i have no prepared address to deliver to you, being unaccustomed to speak in that way; but i felt a wish to offer some views for your consideration, though in a desultory manner, which may lead to such reflection and discussion as will present the subject in a true light. why should not woman seek to be a reformer? if she is to shrink from being such an iconoclast as shall "break the image of man's lower worship," as so long held up to view; if she is to fear to exercise her reason, and her noblest powers, lest she should be thought to "attempt to act the man," and not "acknowledge his supremacy"; if she is to be satisfied with the narrow sphere assigned her by man, nor aspire to a higher, lest she should transcend the bounds of female delicacy; truly it is a mournful prospect for woman. we would admit all the difference, that our great and beneficent creator has made, in the relation of man and woman, nor would we seek to disturb this relation; but we deny that the present position of woman is her true sphere of usefulness; nor will she attain to this sphere, until the disabilities and disadvantages, religious, civil, and social, which impede her progress, are removed out of her way. these restrictions have enervated her mind and paralyzed her powers. while man assumes that the present is the original state designed for woman, that the existing "differences are not arbitrary nor the result of accident," but grounded in nature; she will not make the necessary effort to obtain her just rights, lest it should subject her to the kind of scorn and contemptuous manner in which she has been spoken of. so far from her "ambition leading her to attempt to act the man," she needs all the encouragement she can receive, by the removal of obstacles from her path, in order that she may become the "true woman." as it is desirable that man should act a manly and generous part, not "mannish," so let woman be urged to exercise a dignified and womanly bearing, not womanish. let her cultivate all the graces and proper accomplishments of her sex, but let not these degenerate into a kind of effeminacy, in which she is satisfied to be the mere plaything or toy of society, content with her outward adornings, and the flattery and fulsome adulation too often addressed to her. [illustration: lucretia mott (with autograph).] did elizabeth fry lose any of her feminine qualities by the public walk into which she was called? having performed the duties of a mother to a large family, feeling that she owed a labor of love to the poor prisoner, she was empowered by him who sent her forth, to go to kings and crowned heads of the earth, and ask audience of these, and it was granted her. did she lose the delicacy of woman by her acts? no. her retiring modesty was characteristic of her to the latest period of her life. it was my privilege to enjoy her society some years ago, and i found all that belonged to the feminine in woman--to true nobility, in a refined and purified moral nature. is dorothea dix throwing off her womanly nature and appearance in the course she is pursuing? in finding duties abroad, has any "refined man felt that something of beauty has gone forth from her"? to use the contemptuous word applied in the lecture alluded to, is she becoming "mannish"? is she compromising her womanly dignity in going forth to seek to better the condition of the insane and afflicted? is not a beautiful mind and a retiring modesty still conspicuous in her? indeed, i would ask, if this modesty is not attractive also, when manifested in the other sex? it was strikingly marked in horace mann, when presiding over the late national educational convention in this city. the retiring modesty of william ellery channing was beautiful, as well as of many others who have filled elevated stations in society. these virtues, differing as they may in degree in man and woman, are of the same nature, and call forth our admiration wherever manifested. the noble courage of grace darling is justly honored for risking her own life on the coast of england, during the raging storm, in order to rescue the poor, suffering, shipwrecked mariner. woman was not wanting in courage in the early ages. in war and bloodshed this trait was often displayed. grecian and roman history have lauded and honored her in this character. english history records her courageous women too, for unhappily we have little but the records of war handed down to us. the courage of joan of arc was made the subject of a popular lecture not long ago by one of our intelligent citizens. but more noble, moral daring is marking the female character at the present time, and better worthy of imitation. as these characteristics come to be appreciated in man too, his warlike acts with all the miseries and horrors of the battle-ground will sink into their merited oblivion, or be remembered only to be condemned. the heroism displayed in the tented field must yield to the moral and christian heroism which is shadowed in the signs of our times. the lecturer regarded the announcement of woman's achievements, and the offering of appropriate praise through the press, as a gross innovation upon the obscurity of female life--he complained that the exhibition of attainments of girls in schools was now equal to that of boys, and the newspapers announce that "miss brown received the first prize for english grammar," etc. if he objected to so much excitement of emulation in schools, it would be well; for the most enlightened teachers discountenance these appeals to love of approbation and self-esteem. but while prizes continue to be awarded, can any good reason be given why the name of the girl should not be published as well as that of the boy? he spoke with scorn, that "we hear of mrs. president so and so; and committees and secretaries of the same sex." but if women can conduct their own business, by means of presidents and secretaries of their own sex, can he tell us why they should not? they will never make much progress in any moral movement while they depend upon men to act for them. do we shrink from reading the announcement that mrs. somerville is made an honorary member of a scientific association? that miss herschel has made some discoveries, and is prepared to take her equal part in science? or that miss mitchell, of nantucket, has lately discovered a planet, long looked for? i can not conceive why "honor to whom honor is due" should not be rendered to woman as well as man; nor will it necessarily exalt her, or foster feminine pride. this propensity is found alike in male and female, and it should not be ministered to improperly in either sex. in treating upon the affections, the lecturer held out the idea that as manifested in the sexes they were opposite if not somewhat antagonistic, and required a union as in chemistry to form a perfect whole. the simile appeared to me far from a correct illustration of the true union. minds that can assimilate, spirits that are congenial, attract one another. it is the union of similar, not of opposite affections, which is necessary for the perfection of the marriage bond. there seemed a want of proper delicacy in his representing man as being bold in the demonstration of the pure affection of love. in persons of refinement, true love seeks concealment in man as well as in woman. i will not enlarge upon the subject, although it formed so great a part of his lecture. the contrast drawn seemed a fallacy, as has much, very much, that has been presented in the sickly sentimental strains of the poet from age to age. the question is often asked, "what does woman want, more than she enjoys? what is she seeking to obtain? of what rights is she deprived? what privileges are withheld from her?" i answer, she asks nothing as favor, but as right; she wants to be acknowledged a moral, responsible being. she is seeking not to be governed by laws in the making of which she has no voice. she is deprived of almost every right in civil society, and is a cipher in the nation, except in the right of presenting a petition. in religious society her disabilities have greatly retarded her progress. her exclusion from the pulpit or ministry, her duties marked out for her by her equal brother man, subject to creeds, rules, and disciplines made for her by him, is unworthy her true dignity. in marriage there is assumed superiority on the part of the husband, and admitted inferiority with a promise of obedience on the part of the wife. this subject calls loudly for examination in order that the wrong may be redressed. customs suited to darker ages in eastern countries are not binding upon enlightened society. the solemn covenant of marriage may be entered into without these lordly assumptions and humiliating concessions and promises. there are large christian denominations who do not recognize such degrading relations of husband and wife. they ask no aid from magistrate or clergyman to legalize or sanctify this union. but acknowledging themselves in the presence of the highest and invoking his assistance, they come under reciprocal obligations of fidelity and affection, before suitable witnesses. experience and observation go to prove that there may be as much harmony, to say the least, in such a union, and as great purity and permanence of affection, as can exist where the common ceremony is observed. the distinctive relations of husband and wife, of father and mother of a family, are sacredly preserved, without the assumption of authority on the one part, or the promise of obedience on the other. there is nothing in such a marriage degrading to woman. she does not compromise her dignity or self-respect; but enters married life upon equal ground, by the side of her husband. by proper education, she understands her duties, physical, intellectual, and moral; and fulfilling these, she is a helpmeet in the true sense of the word. i tread upon delicate ground in alluding to the institutions of religious associations; but the subject is of so much importance that all which relates to the position of woman should be examined apart from the undue veneration which ancient usage receives. "such dupes are men to custom, and so prone to reverence what is ancient, and can plead a course of long observance for its use, that even servitude, the worst of ills, because delivered down from sire to son, is kept and guarded as a sacred thing." so with woman. she has so long been subject to the disabilities and restrictions with which her progress has been embarrassed, that she has become enervated, her mind to some extent paralyzed; and like those still more degraded by personal bondage, she hugs her chains. liberty is often presented in its true light, but it is liberty for man. i would not go so far, either as regards the abject slave or woman; for in both cases they may be so degraded by the crushing influences around them, that they may not be sensible of the blessings of freedom. liberty is not less a blessing, because oppression has so long darkened the mind that it can not appreciate it. i would, therefore, urge that woman be placed in such a situation in society, by the recognition of her rights, and have such opportunities for growth and development, as shall raise her from this low, enervated, and paralyzed condition, to a full appreciation of the blessing of entire freedom of mind. it is with reluctance that i make the demand for the political rights of women, because this claim is so distasteful to the age. woman shrinks, in the present state of society, from taking any interest in politics. the events of the french revolution, and the claim for woman's rights, are held up to her as a warning. let us not look at the excesses of women alone, at that period; but remember that the age was marked with extravagances and wickedness in men as well as women. political life abounds with these excesses and with shameful outrage. who knows but that if woman acted her part in governmental affairs, there might be an entire change in the turmoil of political life? it becomes man to speak modestly of his ability to act without her. if woman's judgment were exercised, why might she not aid in making the laws by which she is governed? lord brougham remarked that the works of harriet martineau upon political economy were not excelled by those of any political writer of the present time. the first few chapters of her "society in america," her views of a republic, and of government generally, furnish evidence of woman's capacity to embrace subjects of universal interest. far be it from me to encourage women to vote, or to take an active part in politics in the present state of our government. her right to the elective franchise, however, is the same, and should be yielded to her, whether she exercise that right or not. would that man, too, would have no participation in a government recognizing the life-taking principle; retaliation and the sword. it is unworthy a christian nation. but when in the diffusion of light and intelligence a convention shall be called to make regulations for self-government on christian principles, i can see no good reason why women should not participate in such an assemblage, taking part equally with man. professor walker, of cincinnati, in his "introduction to american law," says: "with regard to political rights, females form a positive exception to the general doctrine of equality. they have no part or lot in the formation or administration of government. they cannot vote or hold office. we require them to contribute their share in the way of taxes to the support of government, but allow them no voice in its direction. we hold them amenable to the laws when made, but allow them no share in making them. this language applied to males would be the exact definition of political slavery; applied to females custom does not teach us so to regard it." woman, however, is beginning so to regard it. he further says: "the law of husband and wife, as you gather it from the books, is a disgrace to any civilized nation. the theory of the law degrades the wife almost to the level of slaves. when a woman marries, we call her condition coverture, and speak of her as a _femme covert_. the old writers call the husband baron, and sometimes in plain english, lord.... the merging of her name in that of her husband is emblematic of the fate of all her legal rights. the torch of hymen serves but to light the pile on which these rights are offered up. the legal theory is, that marriage makes the husband and wife one person, and that person is the husband. on this subject, reform is loudly called for. there is no foundation in reason or expediency for the absolute and slavish subjection of the wife to the husband, which forms the foundation of the present legal relations. were woman, in point of fact, the abject thing which the law in theory considers her to be when married, she would not be worthy the companionship of man." i would ask if such a code of laws does not require change? if such a condition of the wife in society does not claim redress? on no good ground can reform be delayed. blackstone says: "the very being and legal existence of woman is suspended during marriage; incorporated or consolidated into that of her husband under whose protection and cover she performs everything." hurlbut, in his essay upon human rights, says: "the laws touching the rights of women are at variance with the laws of the creator. rights are human rights, and pertain to human beings without distinction of sex. laws should not be made for man or for woman, but for mankind. man was not born to command, nor woman to obey.... the law of france, spain, and holland, and one of our own states, louisiana, recognizes the wife's right to property, more than the common law of england.... the laws depriving woman of the right of property are handed down to us from dark and feudal times, and are not consistent with the wiser, better, purer spirit of the age. the wife is a mere pensioner on the bounty of her husband. her lost rights are appropriated to himself. but justice and benevolence are abroad in our land awakening the spirit of inquiry and innovation; and the gothic fabric of the british law will fall before it, save where it is based upon the foundation of truth and justice." may these statements lead you to reflect upon this subject, that you may know what woman's condition is in society, what her restrictions are, and seek to remove them. in how many cases in our country the husband and wife begin life together, and by equal industry and united effort accumulate to themselves a comfortable home. in the event of the death of the wife the household remains undisturbed, his farm or his workshop is not broken up or in any way molested. but when the husband dies he either gives his wife a portion of their joint accumulation, or the law apportions to her a share; the homestead is broken up, and she is dispossessed of that which she earned equally with him; for what she lacked in physical strength she made up in constancy of labor and toil, day and evening. the sons then coming into possession of the property, as has been the custom until of later time, speak of having to keep their mother, when she in reality is aiding to keep them. where is the justice of this state of things? the change in the law of this state and of new york in relation to the property of the wife, goes to a limited extent toward the redress of these wrongs which are far more extensive and involve much more than i have time this evening to point out. on no good ground can the legal existence of the wife be suspended during marriage, and her property surrendered to her husband. in the intelligent ranks of society the wife may not in point of fact be so degraded as the law would degrade her; because public sentiment is above the law. still, while the law stands, she is liable to the disabilities which it imposes. among the ignorant classes of society, woman is made to bear heavy burdens, and is degraded almost to the level of the slave. there are many instances now in our city, where the wife suffers much from the power of the husband to claim all that she can earn with her own hands. in my intercourse with the poorer class of people, i have known cases of extreme cruelty from the hard earnings of the wife being thus robbed by the husband, and no redress at law. an article in one of the daily papers lately presented the condition of needle-women in england. there might be a presentation of this class in our own country which would make the heart bleed. public attention should be turned to this subject in order that avenues of more profitable employment may be opened to women. there are many kinds of business which women, equally with men, may follow with respectability and success. their talents and energies should be called forth, and their powers brought into the highest exercise. the efforts of women in france are sometimes pointed to in ridicule and sarcasm, but depend upon it, the opening of profitable employment to women in that country is doing much for the enfranchisement of the sex. in england and america it is not an uncommon thing for a wife to take up the business of her deceased husband and carry it on with success. our respected british consul stated to me a circumstance which occurred some years ago, of an editor of a political paper having died in england; it was proposed to his wife, an able writer, to take the editorial chair. she accepted. the patronage of the paper was greatly increased, and she a short time since retired from her labors with a handsome fortune. in that country, however, the opportunities are by no means general for woman's elevation. in visiting the public school in london a few years since, i noticed that the boys were employed in linear drawing, and instructed upon the black-board in the higher branches of arithmetic and mathematics; while the girls, after a short exercise in the mere elements of arithmetic, were seated during the bright hours of the morning, stitching wristbands. i asked why there should be this difference made; why the girls too should not have the black-board? the answer was, that they would not probably fill any station in society requiring such knowledge. the demand for a more extended education will not cease until girls and boys have equal instruction in all the departments of useful knowledge. we have as yet no high-school in this state. the normal school may be a preparation for such an establishment. in the late convention for general education, it was cheering to hear the testimony borne to woman's capabilities for head teachers of the public schools. a resolution there offered for equal salaries to male and female teachers when equally qualified, as practiced in louisiana. i regret to say, was checked in its passage by bishop potter; by him who has done so much for the encouragement of education, and who gave his countenance and influence to that convention. still, the fact of such a resolution being offered, augurs a time coming for woman which she may well hail. at the last examination of the public schools in this city, one of the alumni delivered an address on woman, not as is too common in eulogistic strains, but directing the attention to the injustice done to woman in her position in society in a variety of ways, the unequal wages she receives for her constant toil, etc., presenting facts calculated to arouse attention to the subject. women's property has been taxed equally with that of men's to sustain colleges endowed by the states; but they have not been permitted to enter those high seminaries of learning. within a few years, however, some colleges have been instituted where young women are admitted upon nearly equal terms with young men; and numbers are availing themselves of their long denied rights. this is among the signs of the times, indicative of an advance for women. the book of knowledge is not opened to her in vain. already is she aiming to occupy important posts of honor and profit in our country. we have three females editors in our state, and some in other states of the union. numbers are entering the medical profession; one received a diploma last year; others are preparing for a like result. let woman then go on, not asking favors, but claiming as right, the removal of all hindrances to her elevation in the scale of being; let her receive encouragement for the proper cultivation of all her powers, so that she may enter profitably into the active business of life; employing her own hands in ministering to her necessities, strengthening her physical being by proper exercise and observance of the laws of health. let her not be ambitious to display a fair hand and to promenade the fashionable streets of our city, but rather, coveting earnestly the best gifts, let her strive to occupy such walks in society as will befit her true dignity in all the relations of life. no fear that she will then transcend the proper limits of female delicacy. true modesty will be as fully preserved in acting out those important vocations, as in the nursery or at the fireside ministering to man's self-indulgence. then in the marriage union, the independence of the husband and wife will be equal, their dependence mutual, and their obligations reciprocal. in conclusion, let me say, with nathaniel p. willis: "credit not the old-fashioned absurdity that woman's is a secondary lot, ministering to the necessities of her lord and master! it is a higher destiny i would award you. if your immortality is as complete, and your gift of mind as capable as ours of increase and elevation, i would put no wisdom of mine against god's evident allotment. i would charge you to water the undying bud, and give it healthy culture, and open its beauty to the sun; and then you may hope that when your life is bound up with another, you will go on equally and in a fellowship that shall pervade every earthly interest." national convention in philadelphia. october , , the fifth national convention was held in sansom street hall, where a large audience, chiefly of ladies, assembled at an early hour. at half-past ten o'clock lucretia mott made her appearance on the platform, accompanied by several ladies and gentlemen, notably lucy stone in bloomer costume. she was the observed of all observers; the neatness of her attire, and the grace with which she wore it, did much to commend it to public approval. the press remarked that the officers of the convention were all without bonnets, and that many ladies in the audience had their knitting-work. "a casual visitor," says _the bulletin_, "would have been impressed with the number and character of this assembly, both among the actors and spectators. every variety of age, sex, race, color, and costume were here represented. bloomers were side by side with the mouse-colored gowns and white shawls of the wealthy quaker dames, and genteelly dressed ladies of the latest paris fashion." the house was crowded, and on the steps ascending the platform were seated william lloyd garrison and james mott, side by side with men of the darkest hue. the colored people scattered through the audience seemed quite at their ease, and were evidently received on grounds of perfect equality, which was the subject of much comment by outsiders. mrs. frances d. gage, president of the last convention at cleveland, called the assembly to order, and read the call. in accordance with a vote passed at the adjournment of the woman's rights convention held in cleveland, ohio, in october, , the fifth national convention will be held in philadelphia, october th, to continue three days. the subjects for consideration will be the equal right of woman to all the advantages of education, literary, scientific, artistic; to full equality in all business avocations, industrial, commercial, professional; briefly, all the rights that belong to her as a citizen. this wide range of subjects for discussion can not fail to awaken the attention of all classes; hence we invite all persons irrespective of sex or color to take part in the deliberations of the convention, and thus contribute to the progress of truth and the redemption of humanity. on behalf of the central committee, paulina wright davis, _president_. antoinette l. brown, _secretary_. the following officers were chosen for the convention: president.--ernestine l. rose, of new york. vice-presidents.--lucretia mott, philadelphia; frances d. gage, missouri; thomas wentworth higginson, massachusetts; martha c. wright, new york; thomas garrett, delaware; hannah tracy cutler, illinois; robert purvis; pennsylvania; john o. wattles, indiana; marenda b. randall, vermont; george sunter, canada. secretaries.--joseph a. dugdale, abby kimber, hannah m. darlington. business committee.--lucy stone, william lloyd garrison, myra townsend, mary p. wilson, sarah pugh, lydia mott, mary grew. finance committee.--susan b. anthony, james mott, ruth dugdale, rebecca plumbly. mrs. rose, on taking the chair, said: there is one argument which in my estimation is the argument of arguments, why woman should have her rights; not on account of expediency, not on account of policy, though these too show the reasons why she should have her rights; but we claim--i for one claim, and i presume all our friends claim--our rights on the broad ground of human rights; and i for one again will say, i promise not how we shall use them. i will no more promise how we shall use our rights than man has promised before he obtained them, how he would use them. we all know that rights are often abused; and above all things have human rights in this country been abused, from the very fact that they have been withheld from half of the community. by human rights we mean natural rights, and upon that ground we claim our rights, and upon that ground they have already been conceded by the declaration of independence, in that first great and immutable truth which is proclaimed in that instrument, "that all men are created equal," and that therefore all are entitled to "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." our claims are based upon that great and immutable truth, the rights of all humanity. for is woman not included in that phrase, "all men are created free and equal"? is she not included in that expression? tell us, ye men of the nation, ay, ye wise law-makers and law-breakers of the nation, whether woman is not included in that great declaration of independence? and if she is, what right has man to deprive her of her natural and inalienable rights? it is natural, it is inherent, it is inborn, it is a thing of which no one can justly deprive her. upon that just and eternal basis do we found our claims for our rights; political, civil, legal, social, religious, and every other. but, at the outset, we claim our equal political rights with man, not only from that portion of the declaration of independence, but from another, equally well-established principle in this country, that "taxation and representation are inseparable." woman, everybody knows, is taxed; and if she is taxed, she ought to be represented. i will simply here throw out a statement of these principles upon which our claims are based; and i trust each separate resolution will be taken up by this convention, fully canvassed and commented upon, so as to show it not only an abstract right, but a right which can be wisely made practical. again, it is acknowledged in this country, and it is eternally true, that "all the just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed." if so, then, as woman is a subject of government, she ought to have a voice in enacting the laws. if her property is taxed to maintain government, she ought to have a voice in forming that government. if she has to pay taxes to maintain government, she ought to have a voice in saying how those taxes shall be applied. on these grounds we make our claims, on natural, humane, eternal, and well-recognized laws and principles of this republic. on these grounds we ask man to meet us, and meet us in the spirit of inquiry, in the spirit of candor and honesty, as rational human beings ought to meet each other, face to face, and adduce arguments, if they can, to convince us that we are not included in that great declaration of independence; that although it is a right principle that taxation and representation are inseparable, yet woman ought to be taxed, and ought not to be represented; and that although it is an acknowledged principle that all just power of government is derived from the consent of the governed, yet woman should be governed without her consent. let them meet us fairly and openly; let them meet us like rational men, men who appreciate their own freedom, and we will hear them. if they can convince us that we are wrong, we will give up our claims; but if we can convince them that we are right in claiming our rights, as they are in claiming theirs, then we expect them in a spirit of candor and honesty to acknowledge it. joseph dugdale read several letters, which, as usual, seemed to be something of a bore to the audience. when he finished, lucretia mott suggested that if there were any more lengthy epistles to be read, it would be well for the secretaries to look them over, and omit all that in their wisdom might not be worth reading. lucy stone, from the business committee, read a series of resolutions,[ ] and as some one from the audience called, "louder!" she remarked that if ladies would keep their bonnets tied down over their ears, they must not ask others to find lungs of sufficient power to penetrate the heavy pasteboard and millinery over them. she spoke briefly on the resolutions, and the steadily increasing interest in the subject of woman's rights. hannah tracy cutler gave a report of illinois, frances dana gage of missouri, and susan b. anthony of new york. thomas wentworth higginson, of massachusetts, said he had a matter of business to present. mrs. paulina wright davis being too ill to attend the convention, mr. higginson read a letter from her sister, mary k. spaulding, suggesting the establishment of a newspaper in the city of new york as "the national organ" of the woman's rights movement. he doubted the wisdom of such a step, and after setting forth the expense of a central organ and the great danger of its creating a schism, he offered the following resolutions: _resolved_, that in the opinion of this convention it is not expedient, at present, to establish a newspaper as the national organ of the woman's rights movement. _resolved_, that it is expedient to appoint a committee who shall provide for the preparation and publication, in widely circulated journals, facts and arguments relating to the cause. mrs. mott approved of the resolutions, and said they had arrived at a similar conclusion in the syracuse convention; she fully concurred in the views of mr. higginson. william lloyd garrison replied, that if organization for any good cause be right, it was right for this. every reform movement needs an organ of its own. and this cause needs a paper of the most radical character; that shall make no compromises with popular prejudices; far above the paralyzing influences of church and state. mrs. mott said she did not oppose organization, but was in favor of individual freedom and responsibility. _the liberator_, mr. garrison's paper, has done far more good than _the anti-slavery standard_, the organ of the anti-slavery movement. mr. garrison said _the liberator_ was not simply an anti-slavery paper, but an advocate of general reform. remarks were made on this point by elizabeth paxton, susan h. cox, george p. davis, and george sunter, of canada. lucy stone advocated the resolutions; her experience in the anti-slavery cause had taught her a lesson of wisdom for this movement. we are rich in principle and enthusiasm, but not in silver and gold, and therefore should avoid taking on our shoulders a national organ. widely circulated journals are now open to us, in which we can express our opinions with freedom and without expense. there is nothing so strong as individual purpose and freedom to carry it out. the papers established by mrs. davis and mrs. bloomer are good, and she hoped the friends would give generously to their support. the resolutions were unanimously adopted, and elizabeth cady stanton, of new york; paulina wright davis, of rhode island; thomas wentworth higginson and lucy stone, of massachusetts; and oliver johnson, of new york, were appointed as the committee to superintend the work. lucy stone said she had a new item of business to propose. she knew that those who came to these conventions went away feeling stronger and better. she held in her hand a pamphlet containing five tracts; one from wendell phillips, one from theodore parker, one from _the westminster review_, by mrs. john stuart mill, one from mr. higginson, and last, but not least, one from mrs. c. i. h. nichols, which should be distributed. they were able papers, and all interested in the movement should exert themselves to circulate them. the people only wanted light. another mode of disseminating the principles was by stories illustrating the wrongs of women under the present laws. the right of a woman to what she earns; to the custody of her person; to the guardianship of her children, and all of her other rights, should be illustrated in fiction. prizes should be offered for the best stories upon these subjects. she pledged herself to raise $ for the purpose. she pointed to "uncle tom's cabin" to show what fiction could accomplish, and trusted that action would be taken upon the subject before the convention adjourned. mr. garrisonarose to say "ditto to lucy stone." in regard to "uncle tom's cabin," it was known that mrs. stowe was induced to write it from a request of dr. bailey, of _the national era_, to write a story for his paper. and he thought that such an offer might now call forth something to aid the cause of woman. he praised the tracts to which miss stone alluded. the president appointed wendell phillips, elizabeth cady stanton, and mary channing higginson, the committee on prize tracts.[ ] mrs. tracy cutler read an invitation from the female medical college for the members of the convention to visit that institution and attend its lectures, and took the opportunity to compliment philadelphia as being the first city, not only in the united states, but in the world, to establish a medical college for women. dr. ann preston gave an interesting report of the woman's medical college; of all the persecutions women had encountered in securing a medical education and entering that profession. she noted the signs of a growing liberality with satisfaction. the rev. henry grew, of philadelphia, then appeared upon the platform, and said he was sorry to differ from the general tone of the speakers present, but he felt it to be his duty to give his views on the questions under consideration. his opinions as to woman's rights and duties were based on the scriptures. he quoted numerous texts to show that it was clearly the will of god that man should be superior in power and authority to woman; and asserted that no lesson is more plainly and frequently taught in the bible, than woman's subjection. mrs. cutler replied at length, and skillfully turned every text he had quoted directly against the reverend gentleman, to the great amusement of the audience. she showed that man and woman were a simultaneous creation, with equal power and glory on their heads, and that dominion over the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and every creeping thing on the earth was given to them, and not to man alone. the time has come for woman to read and interpret scripture for herself; too long have we learned god's will from the lips of man and closed our eyes on the great book of nature, and the safer teaching of our own souls. it is a pity that those who would recommend the bible as the revealed will of the all-wise and benevolent creator, should uniformly quote it on the side of tyranny and oppression. i think we owe it to our religion and ourselves to wrest it from such hands, and proclaim the beautiful spirit breathed through all its commands and precepts, instead of dwelling so much on isolated texts that have no application to our day and generation. mrs. mott said: it is not christianity, but priestcraft that has subjected woman as we find her. the church and state have been united, and it is well for us to see it so. we have had to bear the denunciations of these reverend (irreverend) clergymen, as in new york, of late. but if we look to their authority to see how they expound the text, quite likely we shall find a new reading. why, when john chambers returned to philadelphia from the world's temperance convention at new york, he gave notice that he would give an address, and state the rights of woman as defined by the bible. great allowance has been made by some of the speakers in this convention, on account of his ignorance, and certainly this was charitable. but i heard this discourse. i heard him bring up what is called the apostolic prohibition, and the old eastern idea of the subjection of wives; but he kept out of view some of the best ideas in the scriptures. blame is often attached to the position in which woman is found. i blame her not so much as i pity her. so circumscribed have been her limits that she does not realize the misery of her condition. such dupes are men to custom that even servitude, the worst of ills, comes to be thought a good, till down from sire to son it is kept and guarded as a sacred thing. woman's existence is maintained by sufferance. the veneration of man has been misdirected, the pulpit has been prostituted, the bible has been ill-used. it has been turned over and over as in every reform. the temperance people have had to feel its supposed denunciations. then the anti-slavery, and now this reform has met, and still continues to meet, passage after passage of the bible, never intended to be so used. instead of taking the truths of the bible in corroboration of the right, the practice has been, to turn over its pages to find example and authority for the wrong, for the existing abuses of society. for the usage of drinking wine, the example of the sensualist solomon, is always appealed to. in reference to our reform, even admitting that paul did mean preach, when he used that term, he did not say that the recommendation of that time was to be applicable to the churches of all after-time. we have been so long pinning our faith on other people's sleeves that we ought to begin examining these things daily ourselves, to see whether they are so; and we should find on comparing text with text, that a very different construction might be put upon them. some of our early quakers not seeing how far they were to be carried, became greek and hebrew scholars, and they found that the text would bear other translations as well as other constructions. all bible commentators agree that the church of corinth, when the apostle wrote, was in a state of great confusion. they fell into discussion and controversy; and in order to quiet this state of things and bring the church to greater propriety, the command was given out that women should keep silence, and it was not permitted them to speak, except by asking questions at home. in the same epistle to the same church, paul gave express directions how women shall prophesy, which he defines to be preaching, "speaking to men," for "exhortation and comfort." he recognized them in prophesying and praying. the word translated servant, is applied to a man in one part of the scripture, and in another it is translated minister. now that same word you will find might be applied to phebe, a deaconess. that text was quoted in the sermon of john chambers, and he interlarded it with a good many of his ideas, that women should not be goers abroad, and read among other things "that their wives were to be teachers." but properly translated would be "deaconesses." it is not so apostolic to make the wife subject to the husband as many have supposed. it has been done by law and public opinion since that time. there has been a great deal said about sending missionaries over to the east to convert women who are immolating themselves on the funeral pile of their husbands. i know this may be a very good work, but i would ask you to look at it. how many women are there now immolated upon the shrine of superstition and priestcraft, in our very midst, in the assumption that man only has a right to the pulpit, and that if a woman enters it she disobeys god; making woman believe in the misdirection of her vocation, and that it is of divine authority that she should be thus bound. believe it not, my sisters. in this same epistle the word "prophesying" should be "preaching"--"preaching godliness," etc. on the occasion of the first miracle which it is said christ wrought, a woman went before him and said, "whatsoever he biddeth you do, that do." the woman of samaria said, "come and see the man who told me all the things that ever i did." these things are worthy of note. i do not want to dwell too much upon scripture authority. we too often bind ourselves by authorities rather than by the truth. we are infidel to truth in seeking examples to overthrow it. the very first act of note that is mentioned when the disciples and apostles went forth after jesus was removed from them, was the bringing up of an ancient prophecy to prove that they were right in the position they assumed on that occasion, when men and women were gathered together on the holy day of pentecost, when every man heard and saw those wonderful works which are recorded. then peter stood forth--some one has said that peter made a great mistake in quoting the prophet joel--but he stated that "the time is come, this day is fulfilled the prophecy, when it is said, i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy," etc.--the language of the bible is beautiful in its repetition--"upon my servants and my handmaidens i will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy." now can anything be clearer than that? rev. henry grew again quoted scripture in reply to mrs. mott, and said the coming of christ into the world did not restore man and woman to the original condition of our first parents. if the position assumed by the women be true, then must the divine word from genesis to revelation be set aside as untrue, that woman may be relieved from the, perhaps, unfortunate limitations that hold her back in this age of progress. mr. higginson related a story of an old methodist clergyman who by chance stepped into a quaker meeting where he heard a woman speaking, which so shocked him that he thought anti-christ was now bound to rule. he went home sad. he had four daughters, one of whom, at the age of sixteen, in a few minutes opened the eyes of his understanding after he had groped in darkness a long time, by showing him a passage in the testament describing a friend of paul's at phillippi, who had four daughters that prophesied. this girl referred her father to the greek testament, and showed him that the original word, properly translated, means to preach instead of to prophesy. before we resort to scriptural texts we should be careful to ascertain that they are right, or all arguments founded on them must fall. mr. grew did not consider that the story of the four daughters invalidated his position. mr. garrison said: consulting the bible for opinions as to woman's rights, is of little importance to the majority of this convention. we have gone over the whole ground, and placed our cause upon the decrees of nature. we _know_ that man and woman are equal in the sight of god. we know that texts and books are of no importance, and have no taste for the discussion of dry doctrinal points. but with the american people the case is different. the masses believe the bible directly from god; that it decrees the inequality of the sexes; and that settles the question. there is no doubt that there are many persons connected with the protestant churches who would be with the movement were it not for the supposed bible difficulty. they shudder at anything they think against the bible, as against the will of god. take away this incubus, and these persons would experience a change in their views; they would be with us. in regard to mr. grew, mr. g. said he had long known him and loved him. he was a man of purity and charity, and he was glad he had given his views. yet this kindly man did not stand upon a solid foundation. why go to the bible to settle this question? as a nation, we have practically ignored the bible. the assertion of the equality and inalienability of the rights of man, in the declaration of independence, includes the whole of the human race. he would never attempt to prove to an american the right of any man to liberty. he asserted the fact; and considered that in holding slaves while they proclaimed liberty to all men, the american people were hypocrites and tyrants. mr. grew goes to st. paul to prove that woman is not equal to man. why go to the bible? what question was ever settled by the bible? what question of theology or any other department? none that i ever heard of! with this same version of the bible, and the same ability to read it, we find that it has filled all christendom with theological confusion. all are ishmaelites; each man's hand against his neighbor. the human mind is greater than any book. the mind sits in judgment on every book. if there be truth in the book, we take it; if error, we discard it. why refer this to the bible? in this country, the bible has been used to support slavery and capital punishment; while in the old countries, it has been quoted to sustain all manner of tyranny and persecution. all reforms are anti-bible. we must look at all things rationally. we find women endowed with certain capacities, and it is of no importance if any book denies her such capacities. would mr. grew say that woman can not preach, in the face of such a preacher as lucretia mott? mrs. mott begged leave to substitute friend grew's own daughter, mary grew, who has already spoken on this platform!! and said, mr. grew himself does not take all the bible as inspiration, in which most of the speakers concurred. she expressed her attachment to the scriptures, and said many excellent lessons could be learned from them. she showed the misinterpretations of the texts quoted by mr. grew and others against the equality of the sexes. mr. grew does not take the bible for his guide, altogether. mrs. mott then quoted st. paul in regard to marriage, and said: why in opposition to that text has mr. grew married a second time? it was because he did not really believe that the scriptures were entirely inspired. emma r. coe made a few remarks on the position of the clergy generally toward this reform, the most beneficent in its results of any, man has ever yet been called upon to consider. we often hear it remarked that woman owes so much to christianity. it can not be the christianity that the clergy have proclaimed on our platform. from them we hear only of woman's degradation and subjection. we have certainly nothing to be thankful for if such are the principles christ came into the world to declare; the subjection of one-half of the race to the other half, as far as we are concerned, is no improvement upon the religions of all nations and ages. at the close of this protracted discussion on the bible position of woman, the following resolutions, presented by mr. garrison, were unanimously adopted: _resolved_, that while remembering and gladly acknowledging the exceptional cases which exist to the contrary, we feel it a duty to declare in regard to the sacred cause which has brought us together, that the most determined opposition it encounters is from the clergy generally, whose teachings of the bible are intensely inimical to the equality of woman with man. _resolved_, that whatever any book may teach, the rights of no human being are dependent upon or modified thereby, but are equal, absolute, essential, inalienable in the person of every member of the human family, without regard to sex, race, or clime. john sidney jones made a few remarks on the monopoly of the pulpit. susan b. anthony wished to remind the friends, before separating, of one practical measure to be considered in the advancement of our noble enterprise. for the purpose of holding conventions, circulating tracts and petitions, giving prizes for good stories, supporting newspapers and agents, the first great requisite is money, and i hope every one present will contribute generously to help us carry on this grand reform. mr. garrison seconded miss anthony's demand for "the sinews of war." he said we americans are a theoretical people, and we are also a practical people. if the women intend to knock at the door of every state house to demand their rights, the question must be argued in a practical way with facts and statistics. when i undertook to have the gallows abolished in massachusetts, i asked the committee of the legislature if they wanted a certain number of bible texts quoted on each side of the question, they said, "no, we want facts and statistics; we do not ask the opinions of moses and aaron on this point, but the result of human experience in the punishment of crime." so in this case; legislatures will not ask for nor appreciate bible arguments; they will ask for facts as to woman's achievements in education, industry, and practical usefulness. joseph dugdale, whose special concern always seemed to be the action of dead men on this question, said it had been his fortune to be present at the making of the last wills and testaments of many men, and he never knew of a case where a dying husband would practically admit that his wife was his equal. he stated a case in which a husband of his acquaintance proposed to leave a large property, the inheritance and accumulation of his wife's labors, to _her_ as long as she remained his widow, and then to divide it among _his_ family relatives. and yet this husband claimed to have great admiration and affection for this woman whom he would deliberately rob of her inheritance from her own father. the magnanimity of man passes all understanding! mrs. prince, a colored woman, invoked the blessing of god upon the noble women engaged in this enterprise, and said she understood woman's wrongs better than woman's rights, and gave some of her own experiences to illustrate the degradation of her sex in slavery. on a voyage to the west indies the vessel was wrecked, and she was picked up and taken to new orleans. going up the mississippi she saw the terrible suffering of a cargo of slaves on board, and on the plantations along the shores. on her return voyage, attached to the steamboat was a brig containing several hundred slaves, among them a large number of young quadroon girls with infants in their arms as fair as any lady in this room. matilda joslyn gage spoke at length of the brilliant record of women in the past in every department of human activity--in art, science, literature, invention; of their heroism and patriotism in time of war, and their industry and endurance in many equally trying emergencies in time of peace. woman has so fully proved her equality with man in every position she has filled, that it is too late now for clergymen on our platform to remand us to the subjection of the women of corinth centuries ago. we have learned too well the lessons of liberty taught in our revolution to accept now the position of slaves. mrs. tracy cutler: it would appear, after all, that we women are placed pretty much in the condition of the veriest slave. we must prove our own humanity by exhibiting our skill in work. we must bring forth our own samples; put them, as it were, on the auction-block, and thus make our claim to equality of rights a matter of dollars and cents. is it here only that woman can touch man's sympathy? she then described the degraded condition of women in europe, and particularly in london, where poverty and the tyranny of man have driven women to despair, until they were forced to prostitute their own bodies to procure bread. this vice, horribly revolting as it is, seems to go hand in hand with intemperance. she did not wish women to go into the field to be yoked with mules, or to turn scavenger, to pick up rags and crusts in the streets to carry home in their aprons. men bring the elements to their aid, and we wish women to do the same. she then adverted to the difference in the labor of the kitchen and other pursuits open to women. let the printer advertise for two girls to set type, and a hundred applications will be made, while women for the kitchen are very scarce. the reason for this is, that all other kinds of work are better paid. when woman's labor is justly remunerated and equally respected in all departments of industry, there will be no such difference in the supply of help for the factory, shop, and kitchen. frances d. gage said: the reason why the work of the kitchen is looked upon as degrading, is because the girl is never taken by the hand. where are your philanthropic ladies who assist her? where is she to go when her work is done? does she sit in the same room with you? does she eat at the same table? no, to your shame, she is confined to the basement and the garret. it is not so much because the pay for kitchen labor is not so good, as it is chiefly because of the public opinion that they are employed to _serve_. it is true that there are many who will take a quarter off the wages of a girl to put a new bow on their own bonnets. the men are not to be blamed for this; they have enough sins to answer for. mrs. coe said: it would afford women great pleasure to be able to pay their own expenses on pleasure excursions and to the concert-room, instead of being always compelled to allow the gentlemen to foot the bills for them. women must have equal pay for equal work. among the quakers the sexes stand on an equality, and everything moves on smoothly and happily. susan b. anthony, after relating several instances of the injustice of the laws that made the wife subject to the husband, said: and all these wrongs are to be redressed by appeals to the state legislatures. in new york and ohio the women had already commenced with every prospect of success. thousands of petitions had been sent into both legislatures asking for suffrage and equal property rights, and their committees had granted hearings to our representatives--caroline m. severance, in ohio; ernestine l. rose, rev. william henry channing, elizabeth cady stanton, rev. antoinette l. brown, and herself, in new york. and closed with an earnest appeal to the women of every state to petition, petition, remembering that "what is worth having is worth asking for," and that "who would be free must themselves strike the blow." frances d. gage moved that the next national convention be held at cincinnati, ohio. a gentlemen suggested washington, to which mr. garrison replied, "we shall go there by and by."[ ] after discussion by mrs. mott, mrs. rose, and others, the motion was unanimously adopted. mrs. gage then spoke of the press of the city; its faithful reports of the proceedings of the convention, and moved a vote of thanks. edward m. davis begged mrs. gage to accept as a substitute the following resolutions: _resolved_, that the thanks of this convention are due, and are hereby conveyed, to mrs. ernestine l. rose, of new york, for the courtesy, impartiality, and dignity with which she has presided over its proceedings. _resolved_, that in the crowded and intelligent audiences which have attended the sessions of this convention; in the earnest attention given to its proceedings from the commencement to its close; in the fair reports of the press of the city, and in the spirit of harmony and fraternity which has prevailed amongst its members, we see evidence of the rapid progress of our cause, and find incitement to renewed and more earnest efforts in its behalf. thus closed another most successful convention. notwithstanding an admission fee of ten cents during the day and twenty-five at night, the audiences grew larger every session, until the last evening the spacious hall, aisles, stairs, and all available standing-room, was densely packed, and hundreds went away unable to get in. let us remember that behind the chief actors in these conventions, there stands in each state, a group of women of stern moral principle, large experience, refinement and cultivation, filling with honor the more private walks of life, who, by their sympathy, hospitality, and generous contributions, are the great sources of support and inspiration to those on the platform, who represent the ideas they hold sacred, whose tongues and pens proclaim their thoughts. among such in pennsylvania, let us ever remember sarah pugh, mary ann mcclintock, elizabeth phillips, anna and adeline thomson, abby and gertrude kimber, margaretta forten, harriet forten purvis, hannah m. darlington, dinah mendenhall, sarah pierce, elizabeth and sarah miller, and ruth dugdale. when success shall at last crown our efforts, in according due praise to those who have achieved the victory, such names as these must not be forgotten. alice bradley neal, of philadelphia, ridiculed this woman's rights convention in her husband's[ ] paper, and jane grey swisshelm indignantly replied in her _pittsburgh saturday visitor_ as follows: mrs. neal can not be ignorant that the principal object of the convention, and all the agitation about woman's rights, is to secure to the toiling millions of her own sex a just reward for their labor; to save them from the alternative of prostitution, starvation, or incessant life-destroying toil; and yet the whole subject furnishes her with material for scorn and merriment! tell it not in gath! publish it not in the streets of askelon, lest the sons of the phillistines rejoice that one of the daughters of eve, beautiful and gentle, throws down her knitting-pins, and tries her strength to wield the hammer of old vulcan to aid them in forging fetters for the wrists of her unfortunate sisters. we would that it had been some one else than the gentle alice neal who had volunteered to soil her white hands and sweat her fair face, laboring in such a blacksmith-shop. while ever and anon during the last forty years mrs. swisshelm has seized some of these _dilettante_ literary women with her metaphysical tweezers, and held them up to scorn for their ridicule of the woman suffrage conventions, yet in her own recently published work in her mature years, she vouchsafes no words of approval for those who have inaugurated the greatest movement of the centuries. she complains that in some of the woman suffrage conventions she attended, there was not a strict observance of parliamentary rules, and that the resolutions and speeches were unworthy the occasion. yet the only time mrs. swisshelm ever honored our platform at a national convention, her speech was far below the level of most of the others, and the resolutions she offered were so verbose and irrelevant, that the committee declined to present them to the convention. it is quite evident from her last pronunciamento that she has no just appreciation of the importance and dignity of our demand for justice and equality. a soldier without a leg is a fact so much more readily understood, than all women without ballots, and his loss so much more readily comprehended and supplied, that we can hardly blame any one for doing the work of the hour, rather than struggling a life-time for an idea. hence it is not a matter of surprise that most women are more readily enlisted in the suppression of evils in the concrete, than in advocating the principles that underlie them in the abstract, and thus ultimately doing the broader and more lasting work. on this ground we can excuse the author of "half a century" for giving the reader one hundred and twenty-five pages of her own work in hospitals and three to the woman suffrage movement, but considering the tone of the three pages, the advocates of the measure should be thankful she gave no more. mrs. swisshelm's contempt is only surpassed by mrs. hale's "jeremiad" over the infidelity of the noble leader of our movement. for a woman so thoroughly politic and time-serving, who, unlike the great master she professed to follow, never identified herself with one of the unpopular reforms of her day, whose pen never by any chance slipped outside the prescribed literary line of safety, to cheer the martyrs to truth in her own generation; lamentations from such a source over lucretia mott, are presumptuous and profane. if such a life of self-sacrifice and devotion to the best interests of humanity; such courage to stand alone, to do and say the right,'mid persecution, violence and mobs; such charity and faithfulness in every relation of life, as daughter, sister, wife, mother, and friend; such calm declining years and peaceful death could all be realized without a belief in the creed of sarah josepha hale; the philosophical conclusion is that there may be some divine light and love outside of mrs. hale's horizon; that her shibboleth may after all not be the true measure for the highest christian graces. sarah j. hale, shuddering over the graves of such women as harriet martineau, frances wright, mary wollstonecroft, george sand, george eliot and lucretia mott, might furnish a subject for an artist to represent as "bigotry weeping over the triumphs of truth." nevertheless, as mrs. hale lived in pennsylvania forty years, the women of that state may rejoice in the fact that in her great work, "woman's record," she has given "sketches of all the distinguished women from the creation to a.d. "; a labor for which our sex owe her a debt of gratitude. to exhume nearly seventeen hundred women from oblivion, classify them, and set forth their distinguished traits of character, was indeed an herculean labor. this is a valuable book of reference for the girls of to-day. when our opponents depreciate the achievements of woman they can turn to the "woman's record" and find grand examples of all the cardinal virtues, of success in art, science, literature, and government. in jane grey swisshelm, pennsylvania can boast a successful editor of a liberal political newspaper during the eventful years of our anti-slavery struggle. _the pittsburgh saturday visitor_ was established jan. , . it was owned and edited by mrs. swisshelm for some years; merged into _the family journal and visitor_ in , in which she was co-editor until , when she removed to minnesota. in spite of a few idiosyncrasies, mrs. swisshelm is a noble woman, and her influence has been for good in her day and generation. however much we may differ from her in some points, we must concede that she is a strong, pointed writer. among the editors of pennsylvania, anna e. mcdowell deserves mention. in _the una_ of january, , we find the following: the woman's advocate. we have received the first number of a paper bearing the above name. it is a fair, handsome sheet, seven columns in width, edited by miss anna e. mcdowell, in philadelphia. it claims to be an independent paper. its design is not to press woman's right to suffrage, but to present her wrongs, and plead for their redress. it is owned by a joint stock company of women, and is printed and all the work done by women. we most heartily bid it god-speed, for the great need of woman now is work, work, that she may eat honest bread. miss mcdowell continued her paper several years, and has ever since been a faithful correspondent in many journals, and now edits a "woman's department" in _the philadelphia sunday republic_. she pleads eloquently for the redress of all the wrongs of humanity. jails, prisons, charitable institutions, the oppression of women and children, the laborer, the indian, have all in turn been subjects of her impartial pen. philadelphia was the first city in this country to open her retail stores to girls as clerks, and among the first to welcome them as type-setters in the printing offices. in the city press, from to , we find the following announcements, which show the general agitation on woman's position: _the pennsylvania freeman_: "a discourse on woman," to be delivered by lucretia mott, at the assembly buildings, december , . lectures by elizabeth oakes smith, april , , and , , on "manhood," "womanhood," "humanity." _north american and united states gazette_: lucretia mott will deliver a lecture on the "medical education of woman," february , . horace mann will lecture on "woman," february , . _philadelphia public ledger_, january , : lucy stone will deliver a lecture on "woman's rights," at musical fund hall, saturday evening, january . april , : mrs. ernestine l. rose will lecture on thursday evening, april , at spring garden institute, on "the education and influence of woman"; and on friday evening, april th, at sansom street hall, on "the legal disabilities of woman." tickets, cents. woman's medical college of pennsylvania. in september, , in a rented building, no. arch street, philadelphia, the college began its first session with six pupils; others were added before the class graduated, so that it then numbered eight:--hannah e. longshore, ann preston, phebe w. may, susanna h. ellis, anna m. longshore, pennsylvania; martha m. laurin, massachusetts; angonette a. hunt, new york; frances g. mitchell, england. since its foundation, the "woman's medical college of pennsylvania" has prospered, and on its lists of graduates we see, among other familiar names, those of dr. laura ross wolcott ( ), dr. mary j. scarlett dixon ( ), and dr. emeline h. cleveland ( ). chief among those interested in placing the medical education of woman on a sound foundation was ann preston. the "woman's medical college of pennsylvania" was the first ever chartered for this purpose, and dr. preston early became identified with its interests. she was one of its first students, and a graduate at its first commencement. after the didactic teaching of the regular college course was well established, each year showed to her more clearly the necessity for clinical and hospital instruction, since its students were denied such advantages in other places; and to dr. preston's thorough appreciation of this need may be traced the very origin of the woman's hospital in philadelphia. speaking of her efforts in this direction, she says: "i went to every one who i thought would give me either money or influence." she was liberally assisted by many noble and true-hearted men and women, and at last raised sufficient funds, obtained the charter, found competent men and women willing to serve as managers, and skillful physicians who would act on a consulting board; and, when the hospital was opened, was herself appointed one of the managers, corresponding secretary, and consulting physician--offices which she held till her death, april , . at the same time, she was serving with equal fidelity and ability the college whose advancement had so long been one of the chief interests of her life. for nineteen years she had been one of its professors, for six years dean of the faculty, and for four years a member of its board of corporators. she lived long enough to see the fruits of her labors, and to foresee to some extent the position which both college and hospital would hold in the medical world. and when, after her death, her will was published, the friends of the college and hospital found that both institutions had been remembered by endowments. almost contemporary in length of days with the medical college is another useful institution, the philadelphia school of design for women, which began its corporate existence the first monday of november, . there had previously been a class for women in connection with the franklin institute, and this school was its further development. it was mainly supported by contributions, the scholars' fees paying merely for the coal, gas, and other necessaries of the house. the management of the institution was vested in a board of twelve directors, elected annually, and a board of twelve lady managers, elected by the board of directors at the first stated meeting after the election; these ladies disburse the money received at the school, and also that appropriated monthly by the directors. it is noticeable in the first report of the school of design for women, that men held the leading positions and received the highest salaries, but that has since been changed. that there was no organized action in this state, no woman suffrage association formed, until after the war, was undoubtedly due to the fact that the same women were prominent in both the anti-slavery and woman's rights movements. and as pennsylvania bordered on three slave states, the escape of fugitives and their innumerable trials in the courts, just as the whole system was on the eve of dissolution, compelled the philadelphia friends to incessant vigilance in the care and concealment of the unhappy victims. thus their hands and thoughts were wholly occupied until the first gun at sumter proclaimed freedom in the united states. for collecting many of the facts contained in this chapter we are indebted to julia and rachel foster, daughters of heron foster, who founded _the pittsburgh dispatch_. what an inspiring vision it would have been to the earnest women sitting in that convention in , could they in imagination have stretched forward to the bright winter days of , and seen these two young girls tastefully attired, enthusiastic in the cause of woman's suffrage, tripping through the streets of philadelphia, paper and pencil in hand, intent on some important errand, now here, now there, climbing up long flights of stairs into the offices of the various journals, to find out from the records what lucretia mott, frances dana gage, and ernestine l. rose had said over a quarter of a century before, about the rights and wrongs of women. turning over the dusty journals hour after hour as they copied page by page, it would have been a pleasing study to watch their earnest faces, now sad, now pleased, reflecting with every changing sentiment they read the feelings of their souls, just as their diamonds paled and glowed in the changing light. could the satisfaction of these girls in reading garrison's stern logic, mrs. mott's repartee and earnest appeal, and all the arguments by which their opponents had been fairly vanquished; could the new-born dignity they realized in the conscious possession of rights and liberties once unknown, confident that full equality could not be long deferred; could all this have been pre-visioned by the actors in those scenes, they would have felt themselves fully compensated for the persecution and ridicule they had endured. and thus the great work of life goes on; the toils of one generation are the joys of the next. we have reaped what other hands have planted; let us then in turn sow bountifully for those who shall follow us, that our children may enter into a broader inheritance than any legal parchment can bequeath. angelina grimkÉ. _reminiscences by e. c. s._ my first introduction to mrs. weld was two years after her marriage, when she and her husband had retired from the stormy scenes of the anti-slavery conflict, and in their own home found a harbor of rest, for quiet though useful occupation. in company with my husband and charles stuart, a scotch abolitionist, we took one of those long closely-covered stages peculiar to new jersey, for a twelve miles drive to belleville, where at the door of an old dutch-built stone house, theodore weld and the famous daughters of south carolina gave us a welcome. there was nothing attractive at first sight in those plain, frail women, except their rich voices, fluent language, and angelina's fine dark eyes. the house with its wide hall, spacious apartments, deep windows, and small panes of glass was severely destitute of all tasteful, womanly touches, and though neat and orderly, had a cheerless atmosphere. neither was there one touch of the artistic in the arrangement of the ladies' hair and dresses. they were just then in the graham dispensation, and the peculiar table arrangements, with no tray to mark the charmed circle whence the usual beverages were dispensed, the cold dishes without a whiff of heat, or steam, gave one a feeling of strangeness; all those delightful associations gathering round a covered dish and hot beefsteak, the tea-pot and china cups and saucers, were missing. a cool evening in the month of may, after a long drive had left us in a condition peculiarly susceptible to the attractions of something hot and stimulating; but they came not. there was no catering in this household to the weaknesses of those who were not yet weaned from the flesh-pots of egypt. the sharp edge of our appetite somewhat dulled with the simple fare, we were thrown on our own resources, and memories of tea and coffee for stimulus. after our repast, the high discourse was slightly interrupted by the appearance of the infant, charles stuart weld, and his formal presentation to the distinguished gentleman after whom he was named. and when mr. weld told us how near the boy, in the initiative steps of his existence, came to being sacrificed to a theory, the old stone walls rang with bursts of laughter.[ ] but the chilling environments of these noble people were modified by the sincere hospitality with which we were received. my husband and mr. weld had been classmates in lane seminary, and were among the students who left that institution when the discussion of the slavery question was forbidden by the president, dr. lyman beecher. they talked with zest of those early days until a late hour. as charles stuart and the two sisters were also good conversationalists, i listened with pleasure and profit, and during the three days under that roof obtained much general knowledge of anti-slavery and church history; volumes of information were condensed in those familiar talks, of lasting benefit to me, who then knew so little of reforms. how changed was the atmosphere of that home to me next day. true, there were still no pictures on the walls, but the beautiful boy in his bath, the sunlight on his golden hair, with some new grace or trick each day, surpassed what any brush could trace. no statues graced the corners; but the well-built northern hero of many slavery battles, bound with the silken cords of love and friendship to those brave women from the south, together sacrificing wealth and fame and ease for a great principle, formed a group worthy the genius of a rogers to portray. it has been my good fortune to meet these noble friends occasionally in the course of our busy lives, sometimes under their roof, sometimes under mine, and as, day by day, the nobility, the transparency, the unselfishness of their characters have grown upon me, the memories of the old stone house and its care-worn inmates, have stood transfigured before me, with almost a celestial radiance. in grouping the main facts of this eventful life, and analyzing the impelling motives that made angelina grimké the heroic woman she was, i can not serve her memory better than in giving the beautiful tributes of loving friends at the close of her life. angelina, the youngest daughter of judge grimké, of the supreme court of south carolina, was born in charleston, s. c., february , . from her earliest years, her sympathies were with the cruelly treated race around her; and when a child, she had her little bottle of oil, and other simple medicaments, with which in the darkness she would steal out of the house to some wretched creature who had been terribly whipped, and do what she could to assuage his sufferings. at the age of fourteen, she was asked by the rector of the episcopal church to which her family belonged, to be confirmed--a form, she was told, which all her companions went through as a matter of course. but she insisted on knowing the meaning of this form, and, on reading it in the prayer-book, she said she could not promise what was there required. "but it is only a form," she was told. "if with my feelings and views as they now are, i should go through that form, it would be a lie. i can not do it." this single-hearted truthfulness, without regard to personal consequences to herself, was the key to all her conduct. some years afterward, under the influence of an eloquent presbyterian preacher, her religious sensibilities were awakened. her eyes were opened to a new world. through deeper and more vital spiritual experiences, she entered into a new life, which took entire possession of all her faculties. she joined the presbyterian church, and carried into it the fervor and strength of a regenerated nature. she became a teacher in its sunday-school, and after a lapse of fifty years, there came a letter from one of her first sunday-school scholars, living in georgia, to express thanks for the benefits which her instructions had been to her. angelina soon endeavored to impress upon the officers of the church a sense of what they should do for the slaves, but her pleadings for them found no response. "could it then," said she, "be a church of christ?" there was in charleston at that time a friends' meeting-house, where there were only two worshipers, and they agreed with her in regard to slavery. for a year she worshiped there in silence. no word was spoken. the two aged men, and this young, accomplished, attractive woman, sat there under a canopy of divine silence, sanctified and blessed to her. at length she felt that her mission there was ended. her elder sister, sarah, had united with the friends in philadelphia; and she joined her in , giving up in agony of heart all the dear ties that bound her to her home. but even in the friends' meeting-house, her eye was quick to see negro seats where women of the despised race were still publicly humiliated. she and her sister seated themselves with them. the friends were grieved by their conduct, and called them to account. the sisters replied: "while you put this badge of degradation on our sisters, we feel that it is our duty to share it with them." in , they attached themselves to the american anti-slavery society, and lent their powerful aid to the work which it was doing. there was no more effective or eloquent speaker in the cause than angelina grimké. she had not thought at first of speaking in public; but wherever she was, among friends and neighbors, she sought relief to her burdened spirit by testifying to the cruel and fatal influences of slavery. a few women at first came together to meet her and her sister sarah. the numbers and the interest increased till she became widely known. she and her sister talked to them about slavery in their own parlors. soon no parlors could hold the throngs that gathered to hear her. the small vestry of a church was given to her, then a large vestry. but this was too small, and the body of the church was opened to the crowd which had been attracted by her. there, on a platform beneath the pulpit, for the first time she stood and spoke at what might be called a public meeting, though she spoke only to women. in the spring of , the sisters went through a similar experience in boston, speaking to women only. she went to lynn to address the women, and there men crowded in with their wives and daughters. that was the beginning of women's speaking to promiscuous assemblies in massachusetts. "hers was the eloquence of a broken heart. as she gave way to the deep yearnings of affection for the mother that bore her, still a slaveholder, for her brothers and sisters, a large family circle, and for all who had been most closely bound to her by ties of kindred and neighborhood, she must have felt the desolation of a soul disappointed and broken in its dearest earthly hopes and love. all the sweet and tender affections which intertwine themselves so inseparably with the thought of home had been turned into instruments of torture. as she thought of her native city, and spoke out her feelings toward it, her language might well remind one of the lamentations of the ancient prophets, 'o jerusalem, jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee!' but this broken heart had a higher life and a mightier voice than can be given or taken away by any earthly affection. while therefore she often spoke with a pathos which melted and subdued those who listened to her, she also rose into a loftier strain, and spoke with the mingled love and sternness of a messenger from god." passages like the following may give some idea of the solemnity and power with which she, who had left all and taken up her cross in defence of a poor and friendless race, could appeal to assembled multitudes: the sufferings of the slaves are not only innumerable, but they are indescribable. i may paint the agony of kindred torn from each other's arms, to meet no more in time; i may depict the inflictions of the blood-stained lash; but i can not describe the daily, hourly, ceaseless torture, endured by the heart that is constantly trampled under the foot of arbitrary power. this is a part of the horrors of slavery which, i believe, no one has ever attempted to delineate. i wonder not at it; it mocks all power of language. who can describe the anguish of that mind which feels itself impaled upon the iron of arbitrary power--its living, writhing, helpless victim! every human susceptibility tortured, its sympathies torn, and stung, and bleeding--always feeling the death weapon in its heart, and yet not so deep as to kill that humanity which is made the curse of its existence? no one who has not been an integral part of a slaveholding community can have any idea of its abominations. it is a whited sepulchre, full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. blessed be god, the angel of truth has descended, and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre, and sits upon it. the abominations so long hidden are now brought forth before all israel and the sun. yes, the angel of truth sits upon this stone, and it can never be rolled back again. there is a spirit abroad in this country which will not consent to barter principle for an unholy peace--a spirit which will not hide god's eternal principles of right and wrong, but will stand erect in the storm of human passion, prejudice, and interest, holding forth the light of truth in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; a spirit which will never slumber nor sleep till man ceases to hold dominion over his fellow-creatures, and the trump of universal liberty rings in every forest, and is re-echoed by every mountain and rock. "she who spoke in tones like these never lost one of her purely feminine qualities. graceful, gentle, retiring, taking upon herself the lowliest duties as if she had been born to them, this woman, who stood up that her light might shine on all, and reveal to them the terrible atrocities of slavery, was like jeremy taylor's taper, which cast ever a modest shadow round itself. she had a very lofty idea of what a woman should be. 'whatever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do. i recognize no rights but human rights. i know nothing of men's rights and women's rights; for in christ jesus there is neither male nor female.' 'sure i am that woman is not to be, as she has been, a mere "second-hand agent" in the regeneration of a fallen world, but the acknowledged equal and co-worker with man in this glorious work.... just in proportion as her moral and intellectual capacities become enlarged, she will rise higher and higher in the scroll of creation, until she reaches that elevation prepared for her by her maker, and upon whose summit she was originally stationed, only 'a little lower than the angels.'" in the darkest hours of that fearful conflict with slavery in which she was engaged, when its advocates were everywhere met with violence, and threatened with death, she wrote to william lloyd garrison as follows: i can hardly express to thee the deep and solemn interest with which i have viewed the violent proceedings of the last few weeks. although i expected opposition, yet i was not prepared for it so soon; it took me by surprise, and i greatly feared the abolitionists would be driven back in the first onset and thrown into confusion. i was afraid of even opening one of thy papers lest i should see some indications of a compromise, some surrender, some palliation. but i read thy appeal to the citizens of boston, and found my fears were utterly groundless, and that thou stoodest firm in the midst of the storm, determined to suffer and to die rather than yield one inch! religious persecution always begins with mobs; it is always unprecedented in any age or country in which it commences, and therefore there are no laws by which reformers can be punished; consequently, a lawless band of unprincipled men determine to take the matter into their hands, and act out in mobs what they know are the principles of a large majority of those who are too high in church and state to condescend to mingle with them, though they secretly approve and rejoice over their violent measures. the first martyr who ever died was stoned by a lawless mob; and, if we look at the rise of various sects--methodists, friends, etc.--we shall find that mobs began the persecution against them; and it was not until after the people had thus spoken out their wishes that laws were framed to fine, imprison, or destroy them. let us, then, be prepared for the enactment of laws, even in our free states, against abolitionists. and how ardently has the prayer been breathed that god would fit us for all he is preparing for us! my mind has been especially turned toward those who are standing in the fore-front of the battle; and the prayer has gone up for their preservation, not the preservation of their lives, but the preservation of their minds in humility and patience, faith, hope, and charity, that charity which is the bond of perfectness. if persecution is the means which god has ordained for the accomplishment of this great end--emancipation--then, in dependence upon him for strength to bear it, i feel as if i could say, let it come; for it is my deep, solemn conviction that this is a cause worth dying for. at one time, i thought this system would be overthrown in blood, with the confused noise of the warrior; but a hope gleams across my mind that our blood will be spilt instead of the slaveholders'; that our lives will be taken, and theirs spared. i say a hope; for of all things i desire to be spared the anguish of seeing our beloved country desolated with the horrors of a servile war. "these words were written by one who was standing not apart in a place of safety, but in the foremost post of danger, and who knew that she was as likely as any one to share in the martyrdom which she foresaw. the spirit which dictated these sentences went through her whole life as its ruling influence. "there is the courage of the mariner who buffets the angry waves. there is the courage of the warrior who marches up to the cannon's mouth, coolly pressing forward amidst engines of destruction on every side. but hers was a courage greater than theirs. she not only faced death at the hands of stealthy assassins and howling mobs in her loyalty to truth, duty, and humanity, but she encountered unflinchingly the awful frowns of the mighty consecrated leaders of society, the scoffs and sneers of the multitude, the outstretched finger of scorn, and the whispered mockery of pity, standing up for the lowest of the low. nurtured in the very bosom of slavery, by her own observation and thought, of one thing she became certain, that it was a false, cruel, accursed relation between human beings. and to this conviction, from the very budding of her womanhood, she was true." "well do i remember," said one, "when, after the american anti-slavery society, founded in , had battled for a year or two with the combined forces of the mob, the press, and the commercial, political, and ecclesiastical authorities, and it was said in the highest quarters that we had only exasperated the slaveholders, and made all the north sympathize with them, when the storm of public indignation, gathering over the whole heavens, was black upon us, and we were comparatively only a handful, there appeared in the _anti-slavery_ office in new york this mild, modest, soft-speaking woman, then in the prime of her beauty, delicate as the lily-of-the-valley. she placed in my hands a roll of manuscript, beautifully written. it was her 'appeal to the christian women of the south.' it was like a patch of blue sky breaking through that storm cloud." the manuscript was passed round among the members of our executive committee, and read with wet eyes. the society printed it in a pamphlet of thirty-six pages, and circulated it widely. it made its author a forced exile from her native state, but it touched hearts that had been proof against everything else. i remember that the quarterly anti-slavery magazine for october, , said of it something to this effect: this eloquent pamphlet is from the pen of a sister of the late thomas s. grimké, of charleston, s. c. we need hardly say more of it than that it is written with that peculiar felicity and unction which characterized the works of her lamented brother. among anti-slavery writings there are two classes, one specially adapted to make new converts, the other to strengthen the old. we can not exclude miss grimké's appeal from either class. it belongs pre-eminently to the former. the converts that will be made by it, we have no doubt, will be not only numerous, but thorough-going. "many of us remember," said another, "with what awakening power such god-inspired souls have roused us from the apathy of our lives. some great wrong, like slavery, over which the world had slept for ages, becomes thus revealed to the clearer vision. slavery, war, intemperance, licentiousness, injustice to woman, have thus one after another been brought to the light, as violations of god's eternal laws. the soul of angelina grimké, and that of her sister sarah, were in vital sympathy with all attempts to reform these great wrongs; but the one which then had pre-eminence above all was human slavery. all of us who are advanced in years can recall with what almost overwhelming effect the appeals of our beloved and lamented garrison first came to our minds. the conscience of the community was slumbering over this sin: his utterances stung it to frenzy. in the midst of it, and in the heartiest response to his appeals, came the gentle, calm voices of sarah and angelina grimké, enforcing those appeals by facts of their own observation and experience. i have said that their nature was full of tenderness and compassion; but, in addition to this, angelina, especially, possessed a rare gift of eloquence, a calm power of persuasion, a magnetic influence over those that listened to her, which carried conviction to hearts that nothing before had reached." "i shall never forget the wonderful manifestation of this power during six successive evenings in what was then called the odeon, at the corner of franklin and federal streets. it was the old boston theater, which had been converted into a music hall, the four galleries rising above the auditorium all crowded with a silent audience, carried away with the calm, simple eloquence which narrated what she and her sister had seen from their earliest days. and yet this odeon scene, the audience so quiet and intensely absorbed, occurred at the most enflamed period of the anti-slavery contest. the effective agent in this phenomenon was angelina's serene, commanding eloquence, a wonderful gift, which enchained attention, disarmed prejudice, and carried her hearers with her." wendell phillips said: friends, this life carries us back to the first chapter of that great movement with which the name of angelina grimké is associated--when our cities roared with riot, when william lloyd garrison was dragged through the streets, when dresser was mobbed in nashville, and mackintosh burned in st. louis. at that time, the hatred toward abolitionists was so bitter and merciless that the friends of lovejoy left his grave a long time unmarked; and at last ventured to put, with his name, on his tombstone, only this piteous entreaty: _jam parce sepulto_, "spare him now in his grave." we were but a handful then, and our words beat against the stony public as powerless as if against the north wind. we got no sympathy from most northern men: their consciences were seared as with a hot iron. at this time, a young girl came from the proudest state in the slave-holding section. she come to lay on the altar of this despised cause, this seemingly hopeless crusade, both family and friends, the best social position, a high place in the church, genius, and many gifts. no man at this day can know the gratitude we felt for this help from such an unexpected source. after this came james g. birney from the south, and many able and influential men and women joined us. at last john brown laid his life, the crowning sacrifice, on the altar of the cause. but no man who remembers and its lowering clouds will deny that there was hardly any contribution to the anti-slavery movement greater or more impressive than the crusade of these grimké sisters from south carolina through the new england states. gifted with rare eloquence, she swept the chords of the human heart with a power that has never been surpassed, and rarely equaled. i well remember, evening after evening, listening to eloquence such as never then had been heard from a woman. her own hard experience, the long, lonely, intellectual and moral struggle from which she came out conqueror, had ripened her power, and her wondrous faculty of laying bare her own heart to reach the hearts of others, shone forth till she carried us all captive. she was the first woman to whom the halls of the massachusetts legislature were opened. my friend, james c. alvord, was the courageous chairman who broke that door open for the anti-slavery women. it gave miss grimké the opportunity to speak to the best culture and character of massachusetts; and the profound impression then made on a class not often in our meetings was never wholly lost. it was not only the testimony of one most competent to speak, but it was the profound religious experience of one who had broken out of the charmed circle, and whose intense earnestness melted all opposition. the converts she made needed no after-training. it was when you saw she was opening some secret record of her own experience, that the painful silence and breathless interest told the deep effect and lasting impression her words were making on minds, that afterward never rested in their work. in , ' , this anti-slavery movement was broken in halves by the woman question. the people believed in the silence of women. but, when the grimkés went through new england, such was the overpowering influence with which they swept the churches that men did not remember this dogma till after they had gone. when they left, and the spell weakened, some woke to the idea that it was wrong for a woman to speak to a public assembly. the wakening of old prejudice to its combat with new convictions was a fearful storm. but she bore it, when it broke at last, with the intrepidity with which she surmounted every obstacle. by the instinctive keenness of her conscience, she only needed to see truth to recognize it, as the flower turns to the sun. god had touched that soul so that it needed no special circumstance, no word of warning or instruction from those about her; for she was ever self-poised. when i think of her, there comes to me the picture of the spotless dove in the tempest, as she battles with the storm, seeking for some place to rest her foot. she reminds me of innocence personified in spencer's poem. in her girlhood, alone, heart-led, she comforts the slave in his quarters; mentally struggling with the problems his position wakes her to. alone, not confused, but seeking something to lean on, she grasps the church, which proves a broken reed. no whit disheartened, she turns from one sect to another, trying each by the infallible touchstone of that clear, childlike conscience. the two old lonely quakers in their innocence rest her foot awhile. but the eager soul must work, not rest in testimony. coming north, at last, she makes her own religion,--one of sacrifice and toil. breaking away from, rising above all forms, the dove floats at last in the blue sky where no clouds reach. and thus exiled from her native city, she goes forth with her sister to seek the spot where she can most effectually strike at the institution. were i to single out the moral and intellectual trait which most won me, it was her serene indifference to the judgment of those about her. self-poised, she seemed morally sufficient to herself. her instincts were all so clear and right she could trust their lesson. but a clear, wide, patient submission to all suggestion and influence preceded opinion, and her public addresses were remarkable for the fullness and clearness of the arguments they urged. she herself felt truths, but patiently argued them to others. the testimony she gave touching slavery was, as she termed it, "the wail of a broken-hearted child." it was known to a few that the pictures she drew were of her own fireside. that loving heart! how stern a sense of duty must have wrung it before she was willing to open that record! but with sublime fidelity, with entire self-sacrifice, she gave all she could to the great argument that was to wake a nation to duty. listen to the fearful indictment she records against the system. and this was not slavery in its most brutal, repulsive form. it was slavery hid in luxury, when refinement seemed to temper some of its worst elements. but, with keen sense of right, even a child of a dozen years saw through the veil, saw the system in its inherent vileness, saw the real curse of slavery in the hardened heart of the slave-holder. a few years of active life, extensive and most influential labor, many sheaves and a rich harvest, god's blessing on her service, then illness barring her from the platform. how serenely she took up the cross! so specially endowed; men bowing low so readily to the power and magic of her words; she could not but have seen the grand possibilities that were opening before her. how peacefully she accepted the bond, and set herself to training others for the work against which her own door was shut! east, west, north, and south, come up to give testimony that these later years bore ample fruit. how many souls have cause to thank that enforced silence! i have listened to such testimonies, spoken sometimes in tears, on the shores of the great lakes and beyond the mississippi." from the following facts and anecdotes told by her husband, we see that angelina united with the highest moral heroism, the physical courage and coolness in the hour of danger that but few men can boast. theodore d. weld, in his published sketch, says: though high physical courage is also fairly inferrable from her anti-slavery career, yet only those most with her in life's practical affairs can appreciate her self-poise in danger. peril was to her a sedative; it calmed and girded her, bringing out every resource, and making self-command absolute. she knew nothing of that flutter which confuses. great danger instantly brought thought and feeling to a focus, and held them there. several perilous emergencies in her life are vividly recalled--such as being overturned while in a carriage with a child in her arms, the horse meanwhile floundering amid the _débris_, a shaft broken, and dash-board kicked into splinters. at another time, shots at the road-side set off the horses in a run. seeing her husband, in his struggle to rein them in, jerked up from his seat and held thus braced and half-standing, she caught him round the waist, adding her weight to his, and thus enabled him to pull the harder, till the steady, silent tug upon the reins tamed down the steeds. her residence at belleville, n. j., had no near neighbors, stood back from the road, and was nearly hidden by trees and shrubbery. the old stone structure, dating back to , was known as the "haunted house." being very large, with barn, sheds, and several out-houses, it was specially attractive to stragglers and burglars. stories had been long afloat of outrages perpetrated there, among which was a murder a century before, with a burglary and robbery more recent. we had not been long there, when one night angelina, waked by suspicious noises, listened, till certain that a burglar must be in the house. then, stealing softly from the room, she struck a light, and explored from cellar to attic, looking into closets, behind doors, and under beds. for a slight, weak woman, hardly able to lift an empty tea-kettle, thus to dare, shows, whether we call it courage or presumption, at least the absence of all fear. none of the family knew of this fact, until an accident long after revealed it. some years after this, when visiting in a friend's family in the absence of the parents, she often took the children to ride. upon returning one day, she said to the cook, "maggie, jump in, and i'll give you a ride." so away they went. soon a by-road struck off from the main one. turning in to explore it, she found that it ran a long way parallel to the railroad. suddenly maggie screamed: "o missus! i forgot. this is just the time for the express, and this is the horse that's awful afraid of the cars, and nobody can hold him. oh, dear, dear!" seeing maggie's fright, she instantly turned back, saying, "now, maggie, if the train should come before we get back to the turn, do just what i tell you, and i'll bring you out safe." "oh, yes, missus! i will! i will!" "mark, now. don't scream; don't touch the reins; don't jump out; 'twill kill you dead if you do. listen, and, as soon as you hear the cars coming, drop down on the bottom of the wagon. don't look out; keep your eyes and mouth shut tight. i'll take care of you." down flat dropped maggie on the bottom, without waiting to hear the train. soon the steam-whistle screamed in front, instead of rear, as expected! short about she turned the horse, and away he sprang, the express thundering in the rear. for a mile the road was a straight, dead level, and right along the track. at utmost speed the frantic animal strained on. on plunged the train behind. neither gained nor lost. no sound came but the rushing of steed and train. it was a race for life, and the blood horse won. then, as the road turned from the track up a long slope, the train shot by, taming the horse's fright; but, as his blood was up, she kept him hard pushed to the crest of the slope, then slacked his pace, and headed him homeward. faithful maggie stuck fast to her promise and to the wagon-bottom, until told, "it's all over," when she broke silence with her wonderments. when she got home the kitchen rang with exclamations. that race was long her standing topic, she always insisting that she wasn't scared a bit, not she, because she "knew the missus wasn't." while living in new jersey, word came that a colored man and his wife, who had just come to the township, were lying sick of malignant small-pox, and that none of their neighbors dared go to them. she immediately sought them out, and found them in a deplorable plight, neither able to do anything for the other, and at once became to them eyes, hands, feet, nurse, care-taker and servant in all needed offices; and thus, relieved in nursing and watching by a friend, her patients were able, after three days, to minister in part to each other. meanwhile, no neighbor approached them. some striking traits were scarcely known, except by her special intimates; and they were never many. her fidelity in friendship was imperishable. friends might break with her; she never broke with them, whatever the wrong they had done her. she never stood upon dignity, nor exacted apology, nor resented an unkindness, though keenly feeling it; and, if falsely accused, answered nothing. she never spoke disparagingly of others, unless clearest duty exacted it. gossips, tattlers, and backbiters were her trinity of horrors. her absolute truthfulness was shown in the smallest things. with a severe sincerity, it was applied to all those customs looked upon as mere forms involving no principle--customs exacting the utterance of what is not meant, of wishes unfelt, sheer deceptions. she never invited a visit or call not desired. if she said, "stay longer," the words voiced a wish felt. she could not be brought under bondage to any usage or custom, any party watch-word, or shibboleth of a speculative creed, or any mode of dress or address. in charleston, she was exact in her quaker costume, because, to the last punctilio, it was an anti-slavery document; and for that she would gladly make any sacrifice of personal comfort. but, among the "friends" in philadelphia, she would not wear an article of dress which caused her physical inconvenience, though it might be dictated by the universal usage of "friends." upon first exchanging the warmth of a carolina winter for the zero of a northern one, she found the "regulation" bonnet of the "friends" a very slight protection from the cold. so she ordered one made of fur, large enough to protect both head and face. for this departure from usage, she was admonished, "it was a grief to 'friends,'" "it looked like pride and self-will," "it was an evil example," etc. while adhering strictly to the principles of "friends," neither she nor her sister sarah could conform to all their distinctive usages, nor accept all their rules. consequently, their examples were regarded as quiet protests against some of the settled customs of the society. such they felt bound to make them in word and act. thus they protested against the negro-seat in their meeting-house, by making it their seat. they also felt constrained to testify against a rule requiring that no friend should publish a book without the sanction of the "meeting for sufferings"; so, also, the rule that any one who should marry out of the society should, unless penitent, be disowned. consequently, when angelina thus married, she was disowned, as was sarah for sanctioning the marriage by her presence. the committee who "dealt" with them for those violations of the rule, said that if they would "express regret," they would relieve the meeting from the painful necessity of disowning them. the sisters replied that, feeling no regret, they could express none; adding that, as they had always openly declared their disapproval of the rule, they could neither regret their violation of it, nor neglect so fit an occasion for thus emphasizing their convictions by their acts; adding that they honored the "friends" all the more for that fidelity which constrained them to do, however painful, what they believed to be their duty. angelina's "appeal to the christian women of the south" "made her a forced exile from her native state." as she never voluntarily spoke of what she had done or suffered, few, if any, of the abolitionists, either knew then, or know now, that she was really exiled by an act of the charleston city government. when her "appeal" came out, a large number of copies were sent by mail to south carolina. most of them were publicly burned by postmasters. not long after this, the city authorities learned that miss grimké was intending to visit her mother and sisters, and pass the winter with them. thereupon the mayor of charleston called upon mrs. grimké, and desired her to inform her daughter that the police had been instructed to prevent her landing while the steamer remained in port, and to see to it that she should not communicate, by letter or otherwise, with any persons in the city; and, further, that if she should elude their vigilance, and go on shore, she would be arrested and imprisoned, until the return of the steamer. her charleston friends at once conveyed to her the message of the mayor, and added that the people of charleston were so incensed against her, that if she should go there, despite the mayor's threat of pains and penalties, she could not escape personal violence at the bands of the mob. she replied to the letter, that her going would doubtless compromise her family; not only distress them, but put them in peril, which she had neither heart nor right to do; but for that fact, she would certainly exercise her constitutional right as an american citizen, and go to charleston to visit her relatives, and, if for that the authorities should inflict upon her pains and penalties, she would willingly bear them, assured that such an outrage would help to reveal to the free states the fact that slavery defies and tramples alike constitutions and laws, and thus outlaws itself. when the american anti-slavery society wrote to miss grimké, inviting her to visit new york city, and hold meetings in private parlors with christian women, on the subject of slavery, upon reading their letter, she handed it to her sister sarah, saying, "i feel this to be god's call. i can not decline it." a long conversation followed, the details of which i received from sarah not long after; and, as they present vividly the marked characteristics of both sisters, i give in substance such as i can recall. s.--but you know that you are constitutionally retiring, self-distrustful, easily embarrassed. you have a morbid shrinking from whatever would make you conspicuous. a.--yes, you have drawn me to the life. i confess that i have all that, and yet at times i have nothing of it. i know that i am diffident about assuming responsibilities; but when i feel that anything is mine to do, no matter what, then i have no fear. s.--you are going among strangers, you wear strange garments, speak in a strange language, will be in circumstances wholly novel, and about a work that you never attempted, and most of those who will listen to you have prejudices against abolitionists, and also against a woman's speaking to any audience. now in all there embarrassing circumstances, and in your lack of self-confidence when you come to face an unsympathizing audience, does not it seem likely that you will find it impossible to speak to edification, and thus will be forced to give it up altogether? a.--yes, it seems presumptuous for me to undertake it; but yet i can not refuse to do it. the conviction is a part of me. i can not absolve myself from it. the responsibility is thrust upon me. i can not thrust it off. s.--i know you will not and can not. my only desire is for you deliberately to look at all things just as they are, and give each its due weight. if, after that, your conviction is unchanged, with my whole heart i'll help you to carry it out. there is but one thing more that i think of. if you were to go upon this mission without the sanction of the "meeting for sufferings," it would be regarded as disorderly, a violation of the established usage of the society, and they would probably feel compelled to disown you. [this was prior to the disownment that followed the marriage]. a.--as my mind is made up absolutely to go, i can not ask their leave to go. for their fidelity to their views of duty, i honor them. it is a grief to me to grieve them, but i have no alternative. very unpleasant it will be to be disowned, but misery to be self-disowned. s.--i have presented these considerations, that you might carefully traverse the whole question and count all the costs. i dare not say a word against your decision. i see that it is final, and that you can make no other. to me, it is sacred. while we have been talking, i, too, have made my decision. it is this: where you go, i will go; what you do, i will to my utmost help you in doing. we have always thought and wept and prayed together over this horrible wrong, and now we will go and work together. there will be a deal to be done in private also; that i can help you about, and thus you will have the more strength to give to the meetings. so miss grimké wrote at once to the committee, accepting their invitation, thanking them for the salary offered, but declining to receive any; informing them that her sister would accompany her, and that they should both go exclusively at their own expense. in , mr. and mrs. weld removed to hyde park, where the sisters spent the rest of their days. no one who met angelina there would have any suspicion of the great work which she had done: she was interested in her household duties, and the little charities of the neighborhood. once, during the war, she was persuaded to go out of her daily routine, and to attend a small meeting called for the purpose of assisting the southern people--freedmen, and those who had formerly held them in slavery. very simply and modestly, but very clearly and impressively, she spoke of the condition of things at the south, of her friends there, and how we could best help them--all in the most loving and tender spirit, as if she had only grateful memories of what they had been, and as if no thought of herself mingled with the thought of them. the simplicity, directness, and practical good sense of her speech then, its kindliness toward those who had done her the greatest wrong, and the entire absence of self-consciousness, made those who heard her feel that a woman might speak in public without violating any of the proprieties or prejudices of social traditions and customs. there was a refinement and dignity about her, an atmosphere of gentleness and sweetness and strength, which won their way to the heart. to those who knew her history, there was something very affecting, sublime, in her absolute self-forgetfulness. as one who knew her most intimately said, "she seems to have been born in that mood of mind which made vanity or display impossible. she was the only person i have ever known who was absolutely free from all ambition." space prevents a fitting record of the noble words and deeds of sarah moore grimké. she published in , a volume of "letters on the equality of the sexes," which called out much discussion on woman's position in both state and church. the last time angelina spoke in public was at the loyal league convention in new york in . she took an active part in the discussion of resolutions, speaking clearly and concisely on every point, and read a beautiful address she had prepared--"to the soldiers of our second revolution." all through the years that angelina was illustrating woman's capacity on the platform by holding her audiences spell-bound, sarah was defending woman's right to be there with her pen. footnotes: [ ] mrs. ellet's "women of the revolution." [ ] angelina e. grimké. [ ] this building, the property of jacob peirce, was thus imperilled with his free consent. [ ] the assembly buildings, opened to us by the kindness of the lessee, mr. john toy. [ ] she was the positive power of so much anti-slavery work, that james russell lowell spoke of her as "the coiled-up mainspring of the movement." [ ] in speaking of her, lydia maria child said in her obituary notice in the _national anti-slavery standard_ of may , : "all survivors of the old abolition band will remember thankful southwick as one of the very earliest, the noblest, and the most faithful of that small army of moral combatants who fought so bravely and so perseveringly for the deliverance of the down-trodden. mrs. southwick was born and educated in the society of friends, and to their calmness of demeanor she added their indomitable persistence in the path of duty. one of the most exciting affairs that ever occurred in boston was known as the 'baltimore slave case.' two girls had escaped in a boston vessel, and when about to be carried back, were brought out on a writ of 'habeas corpus.' all boston was in a ferment for and against the fugitives. the commercial world were determined that this southern property should be restored to the white claimants, and the abolitionists were determined that it should remain in the possession of the original owners until a bill of sale from the almighty could be produced. by the vigilance and ingenious arrangements of 'father snowden' and thankful southwick, at a given signal the slaves were spirited away from the crowded court-room, and out of the city. the agent of the slaveholders standing near mrs. southwick, and gazing with astonishment at the empty space, where an instant before the slaves stood, she turned her large gray eyes upon him and said, 'thy prey hath escaped thee.' wherever working or thinking was to be done for our righteous cause, there was thankful southwick ever ready with wise counsel and energetic action. she and her excellent husband were among the very first to sustain garrison in his unequal contest with the strong goliath of slavery. at that time they were in affluent circumstances, and their money was poured forth freely for the unpopular cause which had as yet found no adherents among the rich. their commodious house was a caravansary for fugitive slaves, and for anti-slavery pilgrims from all parts of the country. at the anniversary meetings when most of the abolitionists were desirous to have for their guests, friend whittier, the hon. james g. birney, george thompson, theodore, or angelia weld, joseph and thankful southwick were quietly looking about for such of the anti-slavery brothers and sisters as were too little known to be likely to receive invitations. always kindly unpretending, clear-sighted to perceive the right, and faithful in following it wherever it might lead. they were upright in all their dealings with the world, tender and true in the relations of private life and the memory they have left is a benediction." [ ] on a recent visit at the home of robert purvis, of philadelphia, in talking over those eventful days one evening in company with daniel neale, it was amusing and gratifying to hear those gentlemen dilate on the grandeur of her bearing through those mobs in pennsylvania hall. it seems on that occasion she had a beautiful crimson shawl thrown gracefully over her shoulders. one of these gentlemen remarked, "i kept my eye on that shawl, which could be seen now here, now there, its wearer consulting with one, cheering another; and i made up my mind that until that shawl disappeared, every man must stand by his guns." [ ] abby kelly. [ ] just previous to this convention horace mann, president of antioch college, had been giving a lecture through the country, and made many severe strictures on the false philosophy of the woman suffrage movement, or rather what he supposed it to be. this was considered the more damaging because mr. mann so strongly favored co-education. it was as if one in our own camp had suddenly turned traitor. among other things he said that our legislative halls were such bear gardens that they were not fit for women to enter. it is to this remark reference is made in the debates. [ ] this letter will be found in "reminiscences of lucretia mott," at the close of this chapter. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] in accordance with this plan matilda joslyn gage prepared a story, entitled "the household," treating different phases of woman's wrongs, and presented it to the committee. but as nothing was ever done to carry out the proposition, the manuscript was returned to the author, and slumbers in her garret with other rejected manuscripts. [ ] the first national convention held in washington was in january, . [ ] joseph c. neal. [ ] it seems these inexperienced parents had armed themselves with the most approved works on the construction and capacities of infants, in one of which they found the statement that the stomach of a new-born child could hold only one tablespoonful of milk. accordingly the boy was restricted to that amount, once an hour. although he protested against this limited supply by constant wailing, and shrivelled from day to day into a miniature mummy, the system was pursued, until at last "sister sarah," who had had suspicions for some time that the child's capacity was underrated, thought she would assume the responsibility of giving him for once all the milk he could take. what he did do, so far outmeasured what the doctrinaire said he could do, that the child was happily permitted ever after to decide for himself. the faith of the trusting parents was thus visibly shaken in one theory, and i am happy to add, in due time in many others, regarding the graham system of dietetics. chapter xi lucretia mott. eulogy at the memorial services[ ] held in washington by the national woman suffrage association, january , . by elizabeth cady stanton. on the d of january, , the little island of nantucket, fifteen miles by three and a half, lying far out into the sea on the coast of massachusetts, welcomed to its solitude a child destined to be one of america's most famous women. this was a fitting birthplace for lucretia mott; as the religion and commerce of the island (named for a woman) had been guided by a woman's brain. in mary starbuck, known as "the great merchant," a woman of remarkable breadth of intellect, as well as great executive ability, converted the colony to quakerism, and vindicated woman's right to interest herself in the commerce of the world. perhaps she, like the good genii of old, brought her gifts to that cradle and breathed into the new life the lofty inspiration that made this woman the prophet and seer she was. here were the descendants of john wolman, william rotch, george fox, the macys, the franklins, the folgers; and in this pure atmosphere, and from these distinguished ancestors, lucretia mott received her inheritance. her father was an honest, sea-faring quaker. her mother belonged to the folger family, whose culture, genius, common-sense, and thrift culminated in benjamin franklin, and later, in lucretia mott. the resemblance between her head and that of the philosopher and statesman, was apparent to the most casual observer. mrs. mott says in her diary: "i always loved the good in childhood, and desired to do the right. in those early years i was actively useful to my mother, who, in the absence of my father on his long voyages, was engaged in mercantile business, often going to boston to purchase goods in exchange for oil and candles, the staple of the island. the exercise of women's talents in this line, as well as the general care which devolved upon them, in the absence of their husbands, tended to develop and strengthen them mentally and physically. "in my father's family removed to boston, and in the public and private schools of that city i mingled with all classes without distinction. it was the custom then to send the children of such families to select schools; but my parents feared that would minister to a feeling of class pride, which they felt was sinful to cultivate in their children. and this i am glad to remember, because it gave me a feeling of sympathy for the patient and struggling poor, which but for this experience i might never have known." under such humane influences, with such ancestors and associations, in the public schools, in the friends' meeting, on the adventurous island, and in the suburbs of boston, the child passed into girlhood, with lessons of industry and self-denial well learned, and with her life all before. she lived in a period when women of genius had vindicated their right to be recognized in art, science, literature, and government, and through many of the great events that have made the united states a nation. it was such a combination of influences that developed lucretia mott into the exceptional woman she was. in an unlucky hour her father endorsed for a friend, and to save his honor, was compelled to lose his property. it was a blow from which he did not recover, and henceforward much of the support of the family devolved upon the mother, who had remarkable tact, energy, and courage. both parents were ambitious for their children, and did all they could for their education; that was one thing about which all quakers were tenacious. in her fourteenth year lucretia and her elder sister were sent to "the nine partners," a friends boarding-school in dutchess county, new york, and there pursuing her studies with patient zeal, she remained two years without once going home for a holiday vacation. at fifteen, a teacher having left, lucretia was made an assistant, and at the end of the second year, was tendered the place of teacher, with the inducement beside, that her services would entitle a younger sister to her education. her well-balanced character enabled her to meet with calmness, all life's varied trials, of which she had her full share. as one of eight children in her father's house, with his financial embarrassments, and sudden death: and afterward with five children of her own, and her husband's reverses; lucretia's heroism and strength of mind were fairly tested. in both of these financial emergencies, she opened a school, and by her success as a teacher, bridged over the chasm. in her eighteenth year, lucretia coffin and james mott, according to quaker ceremony, became husband and wife, the result of an attachment formed at boarding-school, which proved to be an exceptionally happy union, and through their long wedded life, of over half a century, they remained ever loyal to one another. james mott, though a quaker, was in all personal qualities the very opposite of his wife. he had the cool judgment, she the enkindling enthusiasm. he had the slow, sure movement; she the quick, impulsive energy. he enjoyed nothing more than silence; she nothing more than talking. the one was completely the complement of the other. she possessed a delicate love of fun, and was full of dry humor. once during a visit from her husband's brother, richard mott, of toledo, ohio, who like james was a very silent man, she became suddenly aware of their absence and started to look for them. finding them seated on either side of a large wood fire in the drawing-room, she said, "oh, i thought you must both be here it was so quiet." in speaking of them, robert collyer says: "if james and lucretia had gone around the world in search of a mate, i think they would have made the choice which heaven made for them. they had lived together more than forty years when i first knew them. i thought then, as i think now, that it was the most perfect wedded life to be found on earth. they were both of a most beautiful presence. he, large, fair, with kindly blue eyes, and regular features. she, slight, with dark eyes and hair. both, of the sunniest spirit; both, free to take their own way, as such fine souls always are, and yet their lives were so perfectly one that neither of them led or followed the other, so far as one could observe, by the breadth of a line. he could speak well, in a slow, wise way, when the spirit moved him, and the words were all the choicer because they were so few. but his greatness, for he was a great man, lay still in that fine, silent manhood, which would only break into fluent speech as you sat with him by the bright wood fire in winter, while the good wife went on with her knitting, putting it swiftly down a score of times in an hour, to pound a vagrant spark which had snapped on the carpet, or as we sat under the trees in the summer twilight. then james mott would open his heart to those he loved, and touch you with wonder at the depth and beauty of his thoughts; or tell you stories of the city where when a young man he lived, or of the choice humors of ancient quakers, who went through the world esteeming laughter vain, and yet set the whole world which knew them laughing at their quaint ways and curious fancies." in his young days, james mott was a teacher; later on he engaged in the cotton business, but abandoned it when it was becoming remunerative, because of its connection with slave labor. he finally took up the wool business, and retired with a competency some years before his death, which enabled them to take a trip to europe, and afterward live the life of leisure they desired, indulging their literary tastes. james mott wrote a very creditable book of their travels, and lucretia carried enough observations of foreign life in her head to fill folios. mrs. mott was a housekeeper of the old school, in so far as everything from garret to cellar passed under her supervision. she took the entire care of her children, and although with remarkable economy supplying the wants and guarding against the wastes of a large family, she did not allow these necessary cares to absorb all her time and thought, but cultivated the talents entrusted to her in broader interests than family life. she felt she had duties in the church and the state as well as the home. the time most wives and mothers spend in gaiety and embroidery, she spent in reading and committing to memory choice thoughts in poetry and prose. the money others spent in filling their homes with bric-a-brac she spent in books, and the result proves the superior wisdom of her course. when conventions were held in philadelphia, her house was always filled with guests. as presiding officer in a woman's convention nothing escaped her notice. she felt responsible that everything should be done in good taste and order. her opinions on woman's nature, sphere, destiny, were thoroughly digested, and any speaker that did not come up to her exact ideal, was taken delicately to task when her turn came to speak. as some one remarks, "she had a playful way of tapping a speaker in a public meeting, as a skillful driver touches his horses with the tip end of his whip." once, says wendell phillips, she tried the experiment on me when i had ventured to say that one of the drawbacks to the movement, was the indifference of women themselves. other speakers too expressed sentiments on which mrs. mott differed from them. when she arose she touched them all round with her gentle raillery, offending no one, just pronounced enough in her speech to be effective, and in no way compromising herself. glancing at the platform on one occasion in philadelphia, the central figure, is lucretia mott in quaker costume, in the zenith of her refined beauty; around her are grouped james mott, william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips, thomas wentworth higginson, robert purvis, charles burleigh, ernestine l. rose, frances dana gage, hannah tracy cutler, lydia mott, martha c. wright, ann preston, sarah pugh, hannah darlington, mary grew, matilda joslyn gage, susan b. anthony, and lucy stone, as refined and remarkable an assembly of men and women as could be found in any european court. yet these were the people so hated and ridiculed by the press and the pulpit, whose grand utterances and spicy debates were stigmatized as "the maudlin sentimentalisms of unsexed men and women." but let us follow these friends to the home of lucretia mott. a large house on arch street, like all buildings in the city of brotherly love, with white shutters, marble cappings and steps, and dining-room on the second floor of the rear building. there are our stern reformers, round the social board, as genial a group of martyrs as one could find. without the shadow of a doubt as to the rightfulness of their own position, and knowing too that the common sense of the nation was on their side, they made merry over the bigotry of the church, popular prejudices, conservative fears, absurd laws and customs hoary with age. how they did hold up in their metaphysical tweezers the representatives of the dead past that ever and anon ventured upon our platform. with what peals of laughter their assumptions and contradictions were chopped into mince meat. on this occasion, william lloyd garrison occupied the seat of honor at mrs. mott's right hand, and led the conversation which the hostess always skillfuly managed to make general. when seated around her board, no two-and-two side talk in monotone was ever permissible; she insisted that the good things said should be enjoyed by all. at the close of the meal, while the conversation went briskly on, with a neat little tray and snowy towel, she washed up the silver and china as she uttered some of her happiest thoughts. james mott at the head of the table maintained the dignity of his position, ever ready to throw in a qualifying word, when these fiery reformers became too intense. theirs was the ideal home, perfect in its appointments, and where discussion on all subjects took the widest range. being alike in search of truth, one felt no fear of shocking them. those accustomed to see priests and bigots, whenever a doubt was expressed as to any of their cherished opinions, rise and leave the room with a deeply wounded expression, were surprised to see james and lucretia mott calmly discussing with guests, their own most cherished creeds, and questioning the wisdom of others in turn. freedom was not a deity in their home to be worshiped afar off, but the patron saint of the household, influencing all who entered there, giving her benedictions to each at every feast. their home was the castle of safety for runaway slaves, and the paradise of the unfortunate. all knew that if the mistress met them empty handed, she would cheer their lonely hearts with kind words, recognizing their humanity, and with sure promise of some future consideration. her house was a resort too for people of distinction. when frederika bremer, harriet martineau, lord morpeth, lord and lady amberley, visited this country, the reformers were the people they desired to see, and chief among them lucretia mott, after whom lady amberley named her first daughter. thus titled foreigners, scholars, and politicians often met at her fireside. i have frequently heard gerrit smith describe a call he once made there. in a conversation of an hour, she was interrupted half a dozen times with applications for charity. at last, in came the glorious fanny kemble, meeting mrs. mott in a manner that clearly showed they were warm and well-known friends; and soon came frederick douglass. there sat the millionaire philanthropist, the world-renowned actor, the grandest representative of slavery, and the fearless disciple of elias hicks. i doubt if the quaker city ever unveiled so magnificent a tableaux for the pen of an artist. in her diary mrs. mott says: "at twenty-five years of age, surrounded with a family and many cares, i felt called to a more public life of devotion to duty, and engaged in the ministry in the 'society of friends,' receiving every encouragement from those in authority until the separation amongst us in , when my convictions led me to adhere to those who believed in the sufficiency of the light within, resting on 'truth for authority rather than authority for truth.' the popular doctrine of original sin never commended itself to my reason or conscience, except on the theory of original holiness also. i searched the scriptures daily, ofttimes finding a construction of the text wholly different from that which had been pressed on our acceptance. the highest evidence of a sound faith being the practical life of the christian, i have felt a far greater interest in the moral movements of the age than in any theological discussion." in she began to preach in "friends' meeting," and through new england, pennsylvania, maryland, and virginia, she spoke at an early day on the tenets of her sect. she affiliated with the branch called "hicksite," or "unitarian quakers." as mrs. mott was a disciple of elias hicks, we can get some insight as to her religious faith by a few extracts from different points in his creed as stated by himself. in one of his sermons he says: as many as are led by the spirit of god they are the sons of god. what is the spirit of god? it is the light and life in the soul of man. all that men and books can do is to point us to this great principle which is only to be known in our own souls. the way to arrive at a knowledge of this divine love and divine light, and to fulfill the whole law, is to love all the creation of god, and do right to all men and beasts. again he speaks of the divine love and divine light which he says are one, indivisibly one. the lord is love, and love may be considered as comprehending all his power and all his wisdom; but goodness is the most proper term that we can apply. every one, he says, is enlightened by the same divine light that enlightened jesus, and we receive it from the same source. he had the fullness of it as we have our several allotments. all the varied names given in scripture to this divine light and life such as, "emmanuel," "jesus," "sent of god," "great prophet," "christ our lord," "grace," "unction," "anointed," mean one and the same thing, and are nothing less nor more than the spirit and power of god in the soul of man as his creator, preserver, condemner, redeemer, saviour, sanctifier, and justifier. the hicksites differed from the other friends in that they placed the light within above all external authority, while the orthodox friends make the scriptures the surer guide, though some make the written word and inner light of equal authority. in a letter to john c. sanders, in , elias hicks says: not all the books ever written, nor all the miracles recorded in the scriptures, nor all other external evidence of what kind soever, has ever revealed god (who is an eternal invisible spirit) to any one of the children of men. heaven is not a fixed place above, nor hell below, but both are states of the soul. the blood of christ shed upon the cross has no more power to cleanse us from sin than the blood of bullocks and rams poured out on jewish altars could cleanse that people from their sins. we must know christ within us to save us from sin; men depend so much on the crucifixion that they heed not the light within. this wonderful prophet and seer was seventy-nine years old when the separation began in philadelphia. the division in this country created great excitement among the quakers in england, who were very active in their hostility to elias hicks and his doctrines. some of them came to america to bear their testimony. among others, annie braithwaite traveled extensively and addressed friends' meetings. mrs. mott states that on one occasion when she was present, the english quakeress, in preaching salvation by the blood of christ, had spoken with more than usual unction and enthusiasm. as soon as she finished a profound silence reigned. elias hicks, slowly rising and removing his hat, said in deep inspired tones: "friends, to the christ that never was crucified; to the christ that never was slain; to the christ that can not die. i commend you." many of the professed followers of elias hicks lacked the courage and conscience to maintain his principles when the magnetism of his direct influence was withdrawn by his death. hence even in that division of the friends to which she belonged, mrs. mott encountered much opposition, especially for her public identification with unpopular reforms. many would have gladly seen her withdraw from their membership, and others were desirous that she should be disowned. but she understood her own rights and friends discipline too well to violate a single rule. although her enemies kept close watch, they never caught her off her guard. at the time of the division, she remarked to an acquaintance: "it seemed to me almost like death at first to be shut out of the friends meeting where i had loved to go for religious communion, to see the cold averted looks from those whose confidence i once enjoyed, to be shunned as unworthy of notice; all this was hard to endure, but it was the price i paid for being true to the convictions of my own soul." her spiritual life was deep and earnest, but entirely her own. it was intuitional, not emotional. it was expressed in her love for man in god, and not god in creeds and ceremonies. she prized the free sentiments of william ellery channing, read his works with avidity, and always had some volume of his at hand. the life of rev. joseph blanco white, a rare book, was for years one of the companions of her solitude. it was thoroughly worn, and the margin covered with her notes and marks of approval. dean stanley and buckle's "history of civilization" were favorites with her also. cowper's "task" and young's "night thoughts," which had been her text-books at "nine partners," never lost their charm for her. she could repeat pages of them. in her last days she read "the light of asia" with intense pleasure. when she had already passed her eighty-seventh year, susan b. anthony visiting her, says: "she read aloud to us from that charming poem until after eleven o'clock at night." her conversation, as well as her public addresses, were sprinkled with beautiful and apt citations from her favorite authors, as it was the habit of her life to commit to memory sentiments she most valued in poetry and prose. it was not possible that a woman like lucretia mott should keep silence in the churches, no matter what paul might say to the contrary, because that great brain was created to think, that noble heart to beat through making and moulding speech, and those fine gray eyes to see what the prophets in all times have seen. i can not imagine her as one of the silent sisters who though having something to say, dare not say it though to save her own soul or the souls of those about her. an old friend in lancaster county, says robert collyer, told me of his first hearing her in the early days when as yet she was almost unknown. it had been a dreary time among friends up there, and being a man who did not care for the traditions of "first day" and "fourth day," he was getting tired of silence. one "first day" he went to his meeting expecting nothing as usual, and pretty sure he would not be disappointed. nor was he for a time. but presently a young woman arose in the high seat he had never seen before, whose presence touched him with strange new expectations. she looked, he said, as one who had no great hold on life, and began to speak in low tones, with just a touch of hesitation as of one feeling after her thought, and there was a tremor in her voice as if she felt the burden of the spirit. but she soon found her way out of this, and then he said he began to hold his breath. he had never heard such speaking in all his life, so born of conviction, so radiant with that inward light for which he had been waiting, that he went home feeling as he supposed they must have felt in the olden time who thought they had heard an angel. i once heard such an outpouring. it was at a woods-meeting up among the hills where quite a number of us had our say, and then my friend's turn came. she was well on in years then, but the old fire still burned clear, and god's breath touched her out of heaven and she prophesied. i suppose she spoke for two hours, but after the first moment she never faltered or failed to hold the multitude spell-bound, and waiting on her words. yet there was not the least hint of premeditation, while there was boundless wealth of meditation in her deep, pregnant thoughts. i have said she prophesied, no other term would answer to her speech. her eyes had seen the coming glory of the lord, and she testified that she had seen; and this was all the more wonderful to me, because it was the habit of her mind in later years to reason, as president mccosh does, from premise to conclusion. but she had seen a vision there sitting in the august splendor with the voice of god's presence whispering in the trees, and the vision had set the heart high above the brain. these were care-worn and work-worn folks she saw about her with knotted hands resting on the staff, or folded quietly on the lap. they had nearly done the good day's work, and now preacher and prophet were needed to tell them what that day's work meant, where they keep the books for us, and so it was not a speech, but a psalm of life. mrs. mott was safe at all points in taking elias hicks for a teacher of morals, as he was pronounced on every reform. on the question of woman's rights, he says: if paul said of women preachers what we find in corinthians and timothy, i judge that he had no allusion at all to their preaching or prophesying in the churches; and if he had, we have no right to admit it as sound doctrine, as it contradicts a number of his own declarations (and the general testimony of scripture), which are more rational and clear, as in the fourteenth chapter of romans; and in philippians where he speaks of the women who labored with him in the gospel; and in st corinthians where he speaks of women praying and prophesying; and paul assures us that male and female are one in christ. also under the law there were prophetesses as well as prophets, and the effusion of the spirit in the latter days as prophesied by joel was to be equally on sons and daughters, servants and handmaids. to believe otherwise is irrational and inconsistent with the divine attributes, and would charge the almighty with partiality and injustice to one-half of his rational creation. therefore i believe it would be wrong to admit it, although asserted in the most plain and positive manner by men or angels. in our last conflict with great britain, elias hicks called the attention of "friends" to a faithful support of their testimony against war and injustice, desiring them to maintain their christian liberties against encroachment of the secular powers, laws having been enacted levying taxes for the support of the war. at one meeting there was considerable altercation; as some friends who refused payment had been distrained some three or four fold more than the tax demanded, while others complied, paid the tax, and justified themselves in so doing. on this point his mind was deeply exercised and he labored to encourage friends to faithfulness to exalt their testimonies for the prince of peace. elias hicks preached against slavery both in maryland and virginia. he says of a meeting in baltimore that he especially addressed slave-holders. further, he opposed the use of slave-grown goods. at a meeting in providence, r. i., he said he was moved to show the great and essential difference there is between the righteousness of man comprehended in his laws, customs, and traditions, and the righteousness of god which is comprehended in pure, impartial, unchangeable justice. they who continue this traffic, and enrich themselves, by the labor of these deeply oppressed africans, violate these plain principles of justice, and no cunning sophistical reasoning in the wisdom of this world can justify them, or silence the convictions of conscience. some other friends were much opposed to the use of slave products, but the society in general "had no concern" on this point. lucretia mott used "free goods," and thought that elias' preaching such extreme doctrines on all these practical reforms, had their effect in the division. to refuse to pay taxes, or to use any "slave produce," involved more immediate and serious difficulties, than any theoretical views of the hereafter, and even friends may be pardoned for feeling some interest in their own pecuniary independence. to see their furniture, cattle, houses, lands, all swept away for exorbitant taxes, seemed worse than paying a moderate one to start with. from these quotations from the great reformer and religious leader, we see how fully mrs. mott accepted his principles; not because they were his principles, for she called no man master, but because she felt them to be true. in her diary she says: my sympathy was early enlisted for the poor slave by the class-books read in our schools, and the pictures of the slave-ship, as published by clarkson. the ministry of elias hicks and others on the subject of the unrequited labor of slaves, and their example in refusing the products of slave labor, all had effect in awakening a strong feeling in their behalf. the unequal condition of woman in society, also early impressed my mind. learning while at school that the charge for the education of girls was the same as that for boys, and that when they became teachers women received but half as much as men for their services, the injustice of this was so apparent, that i early resolved to claim for my sex all that an impartial creator has bestowed. the temperance reform too engaged my attention; and for more than forty years i have practiced total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks. the cause of peace has had a share of my efforts; leading to the ultra non-resistance ground; that no christian can consistently uphold a government based on the sword, or relying on that as an ultimate resort. the oppression of the working classes by existing monopolies, and the lowness of wages often engaged my attention; and i have held many meetings with them, and heard their appeals with compassion, and a great desire for a radical change in the system which makes the rich richer, and the poor poorer. the various associations and communities, tending to greater equality of condition, have had from me a hearty god-speed. but the millions of down-trodden slaves in our land being the most oppressed class, i have felt bound to plead their cause, in season and out of season, to endeavor to put my soul in their souls' stead, and to aid in every right effort for their immediate emancipation. this duty was impressed upon me at the time i consecrated myself to that gospel which anoints to "preach deliverance to the captive," to "set at liberty them that are bruised." from that time the duty of abstinence, as far as practicable, from slave-grown products was so clear that i resolved to make the effort "to provide things honest" in this respect. since then, our family has been supplied with free labor, groceries, and to some extent, with cotton goods unstained by slavery. the labors of the devoted benjamin lundy, and his "genius of universal emancipation," published in baltimore, added to the untiring exertions of clarkson, wilberforce, and others in england, including elizabeth heyrick, whose work on slavery aroused them to a change in their mode of action; and of william lloyd garrison, in boston, prepared the way for a convention in philadelphia, to take the ground of immediate, not gradual emancipation, and to impress the duty of unconditional liberty without expatriation. december , , the american anti-slavery society was formed in philadelphia. among the sixty-two people present were lucretia mott, lydia white, and esther moore, rev. beriah green in the chair. in reading and discussing their declaration of sentiments, mrs. mott wishing to make some suggestions, asked the chairman in her modest way if she might speak. mr. green promptly and enthusiastically responded, "certainly, certainly, say all you are moved to say." she at once proposed to strike out two words from one sentence in the declaration, "we may be personally defeated, but our principles never (can be)." one readily sees how much stronger the sentence is made by striking out the last two words. the quickness of mrs. mott in grasping the sentiment and phraseology of a resolution or appeal was always remarkable in our conventions. mr. garrison, who wrote the anti-slavery declaration, readily accepted her amendment. when the members were asked for their signatures, as james mott pen in hand stood near the desk, thomas shipley said that before signing it would be well to consider, as it would bring down on their heads terrible persecutions and great losses in their business relations. he said he should sign it himself, but he would advise james mott and others to pause. the moment mr. shipley ceased speaking, lucretia, in a brave inspiring tone said, "james, put down thy name," which he quickly did, joining in the general smile of satisfaction. soon after the burning of pennsylvania hall, at a social gathering one evening, dr. moore in conversation with mrs. mott strongly condemned the fanaticism and impolicy of the abolitionists, and especially the women; he said they should do all their reform work through the friends' meeting. being much excited, in the course of his remarks, he became very insulting. mrs. mott patiently reasoned with him for awhile; at last becoming very indignant, she arose, and leaving him remarked: "all i have to say to thee in parting is, 'get thee behind me, satan.'" he immediately took his hat and in silence left the house. lucretia mott ante-dated even mr. garrison in her protests against slavery. robert purvis, of philadelphia, says he heard her as early as preach against slavery, on several occasions in the colored church. in , says mrs. mott, the philadelphia female anti-slavery society was formed, and being actively associated in the efforts for the slaves' redemption, i have traveled thousands of miles in this country, holding meetings in some of the slave states, have been in the midst of mobs and violence, and have shared abundantly in the odium attached to the name of an uncompromising modern abolitionist, as well as partaken richly of the sweet return of peace, attendant on those who would "undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free; and break every yoke." in , a world's anti-slavery convention was called in london. women from boston, new york, and philadelphia, were delegates to that convention. i was one of the number; but, on our arrival in england, our credentials were not accepted, because we were women. we were, however, treated with the greatest courtesy and attention, as strangers, and were admitted to chosen seats as spectators and listeners, while our right of membership was denied. this brought the woman question more into view, and an increase of interest on the subject has been the result. in this work, too, i have engaged heart and hand; as my labors, travels, and public discourses evince. the misrepresentation, ridicule, and abuse heaped upon this, as well as other reforms, do not in the least deter me from my duty. to those whose name is cast out as evil for the truth's sake, it is a small thing to be judged of man's judgment. this imperfect sketch may give some idea of the mode of life of one who has found it "good to be always zealously affected in a good thing." when, as an enthusiastic abolitionist, mrs. mott crossed the ocean to take part in the deliberations of the world's anti-slavery convention, the last drop in her cup of sorrow was the humiliation she was called to suffer on account of sex. the vote by which this injustice was perpetrated, was due to the overwhelming majority of the clergy, who, with bible in hand, swept all before them. no man can fathom the depths of rebellion in woman's soul when insult is heaped upon her sex, and this is intensified when done under the hypocritical assumption of divine authority. this fresh baptism into woman's degradation impelled the current of her thoughts into a new channel, and returning home, she, with a few friends as rebellious as herself, called the first woman's rights convention. to this cause she brought a zeal unknown before, as here she could see the wrongs of a class from a purely subjective point of view. there are often periods in the lives of earnest, imaginative beings, when some new book or acquaintance comes to them like an added sun in the heavens, lighting the darkest recesses and chasing every shadow away. thus came lucretia mott to me, at a period in my young days when all life's problems seemed inextricably tangled; when, like noah's dove on the waters, my soul found no solid resting-place in the whole world of thought. the misery of the multitude was too boundless for comprehension, too hopeless for tender feeling; despair supplanted all other emotions, and the appalling views of the future threw their dark shadows over the sweetest and most innocent pleasures of life. before meeting mrs. mott, i had heard a few men of liberal opinions discuss various political, religious, and social theories, but with my first doubt of my father's absolute wisdom, came a distrust of all men's opinions on the character and sphere of woman; and i naturally inferred that if their judgments were unsound on a question i was sure i did understand, they were quite likely to be so on those i did not. hence, i often longed to meet some woman who had sufficient confidence in herself to frame and hold an opinion in the face of opposition, a woman who understood the deep significance of life to whom i could talk freely; my longings were answered at last. in june, , i met mrs. mott for the first time, in london. crossing the atlantic in company with james g. birney, then the liberty party candidate for president, soon after the bitter schism in the anti-slavery ranks, he described to me as we walked the deck day after day, the women who had fanned the flames of dissension, and had completely demoralized the anti-slavery ranks. as my first view of mrs. mott was through his prejudices, no prepossessions in her favor biased my judgment. when first introduced to her at our hotel in great queen street, with the other ladies from boston and philadelphia who were delegates to the world's convention, i felt somewhat embarrassed, as i was the only lady present who represented the "birney faction," though i really knew nothing of the merits of the division, having been outside the world of reforms. still, as my husband and my cousin, gerrit smith, were on that side, i supposed they would all have a feeling of hostility toward me. however, mrs. mott, in her sweet, gentle way, received me with great cordiality and courtesy, and i was seated by her side at dinner. no sooner were the viands fairly dispensed, than several baptist ministers began to rally the ladies on having set the abolitionists all by the ears in america, and now proposing to do the same thing in england. i soon found that the pending battle was on woman's rights, and that unwittingly i was by marriage on the wrong side. as i had thought much on this question in regard to the laws, church action, and social usages, i found myself in full accord with the other ladies, combating most of the gentlemen at the table; our only champion, george bradburn, was too deaf to hear a word that was said. in spite of constant gentle nudgings by my husband under the table, and frowns from mr. birney opposite, the tantalizing tone of the conversation was too much for me to maintain silence. calmly and skillfully mrs. mott parried all their attacks, now by her quiet humor turning the laugh on them, and then by her earnestness and dignity silencing their ridicule and sneers. i shall never forget the look of recognition she gave me when she saw by my remarks that i fully comprehended the problem of woman's rights and wrongs. how beautiful she looked to me that day. i had always regarded a quaker woman, as one does a sister of charity, a being above ordinary mortals, ready to be translated at any moment. i had never spoken to one before, nor been near enough to touch the hem of a garment. mrs. mott was to me an entire new revelation of womanhood. i sought every opportunity to be at her side, and continually plied her with questions, and i shall never cease to be grateful for the patience and seeming pleasure with which she fed my hungering soul. seeing the lions in london together, on one occasion with a large party we visited the british museum, where it is supposed all people go to see the wonders of the world. on entering, mrs. mott and myself sat down near the door to rest for a few moments, telling the party to go on, that we would follow. they accordingly explored all the departments of curiosities, supposing we were slowly following at a distance; but when they returned, after an absence of three hours, there we sat in the same spot, having seen nothing but each other, wholly absorbed in questions of theology and social life. she had told me of the doctrines and divisions among "friends," of the inward light, of elias hicks, of channing, of a religion of practical life, of mary wollstonecroft, her social theories, and her demands of equality for women. i had been reading combe's "constitution of man" and "moral philosophy," channing's works, and mary wollstonecroft, though all tabooed by orthodox teachers, but i had never heard a woman talk what, as a scotch presbyterian, i had scarcely dared to think. on the following sunday i went to hear mrs. mott preach in a unitarian church. though i had never heard a woman speak, yet i had long believed she had the right to do so, and had often expressed the idea in private circles; but when at last i saw a woman rise up in the pulpit and preach as earnestly and impressively as mrs. mott always did, it seemed to me like the realization of an oft-repeated happy dream. the day we visited the zoological gardens, as we were admiring the gorgeous plumage of some beautiful birds, one of our gentlemen opponents remarked, "you see, mrs. mott, our heavenly father believes in bright colors. how much it would take from our pleasure if all the birds were dressed in drab." "yes," said she, "but immortal beings do not depend on their feathers for their attractions. with the infinite variety of the human face and form, of thought, feeling, and affection, we do not need gorgeous apparel to distinguish us. moreover, if it is fitting that woman should dress in every color of the rainbow, why not man also? clergymen, with their black clothes and white cravats, are quite as monotonous as the quakers." i remember on one occasion the entire american delegation were invited to dine with samuel gurney, a rich quaker banker. he had an elegant place, a little out of london. the duchess of sutherland and lord morpeth, who had watched our anti-slavery struggle in this country with great interest, were quite desirous of meeting the american abolitionists, and had expressed the wish to call on them at this time. standing near mrs. mott when the coach and four gray horses with the six out-riders drove up, mr. gurney, in great trepidation, said, "what shall i do with the duchess?" "give her your arm," said mrs. mott, "and introduce her to each member of the delegation." a suggestion no commoner in england would have presumed to follow. when the duchess was presented to mrs. mott, her gracious ease was fully equaled by that of the simple quaker woman. oblivious to all distinctions of rank, she talked freely and wisely on many topics, and proved herself in manner and conversation the peer of the first woman in england. mrs. mott did not manifest the slightest restraint or embarrassment during that marked social occasion. no fictitious superiority ever oppressed her, neither did she descend in familiar surroundings from her natural dignity, but always maintained the perfect equilibrium of respect for herself and others. i found in this new friend a woman emancipated from all faith in man-made creeds, from all fear of his denunciations. nothing was too sacred for her to question, as to its rightfulness in principle and practice. "truth for authority, not authority for truth," was not only the motto of her life, but it was the fixed mental habit in which she most rigidly held herself. it seemed to me like meeting a being from some larger planet, to find a woman who dared to question the opinions of popes, kings, synods, parliaments, with the same freedom that she would criticise an editorial in the _london times_, recognizing no higher authority than the judgment of a pure-minded, educated woman. when i first heard from the lips of lucretia mott that i had the same right to think for myself that luther, calvin, and john knox had, and the same right to be guided by my own convictions, and would no doubt live a higher, happier life than if guided by theirs, i felt at once a new-born sense of dignity and freedom; it was like suddenly coming into the rays of the noon-day sun, after wandering with a rushlight in the caves of the earth. when i confessed to her my great enjoyment in works of fiction, dramatic performances, and dancing, and feared from underneath that quaker bonnet (i now loved so well) would come some platitudes on the demoralizing influence of such frivolities, she smiled, and said, "i regard dancing a very harmless amusement"; and added, "the evangelical alliance that so readily passed a resolution declaring dancing a sin for a church member, tabled a resolution declaring slavery a sin for a bishop." sitting alone one day, as we were about to separate in london, i expressed to her my great satisfaction in her acquaintance, and thanked her for the many religious doubts and fears she had banished from my mind. she said, "there is a broad distinction between religion and theology. the one is a natural, human experience common to all well-organized minds. the other is a system of speculations about the unseen and the unknowable, which the human mind has no power to grasp or explain, and these speculations vary with every sect, age, and type of civilization. no one knows any more of what lies beyond our sphere of action than thou and i, and we know nothing." everything she said seemed to me so true and rational, that i accepted her words of wisdom with the same confiding satisfaction that did the faithful crito those of his beloved socrates. and yet this pure, grand woman was shunned and feared by the orthodox friends throughout england. while in london a rich young quaker of bigoted tendencies, who made several breakfast and tea parties for the american delegates, always omitted to invite mrs. mott. he very politely said to her on one occasion when he was inviting others in her presence, "thou must excuse me, lucretia, for not inviting thee with the rest, but i fear thy influence on my children!!" on several occasions when we all met at social gatherings in london, elizabeth fry studiously avoided being in the same apartment with lucretia mott. if mrs. mott was conversing with a circle of friends on the lawn, mrs. fry would glide into the house. if mrs. mott entered at one door, mrs. fry walked out the other. she really seemed afraid to breathe the same atmosphere. on another occasion, at william ball's, at tottenham, when more circumscribed quarters made escape impossible, it was announced that mrs. fry felt a concern to say something to those present. when all was silent she knelt and prayed, pouring forth a solemn jeremiad against the apostasy and infidelity of the day in language so pointed and personal, that we all felt that mrs. mott was the special subject of her petition. she accepted the intercession with all due humility, and fortunately for the harmony of the occasion was not moved to pray for mrs. fry, that she might have more love and charity for those who honestly differed with her on unimportant points of theology. how hateful such bigotry looks to those capable of getting outside their own educational prejudices. how pitiable, that even good people should thus allow themselves to ostracise and persecute those who hold different opinions from their own. elizabeth fry was not afraid to mingle in newgate prison with the scum of the earth, but she was afraid to touch the hem of lucretia mott's garment. if mrs. fry felt that she had a higher truth, how did she know that she might not influence mrs. mott for good? lucretia was never afraid of anybody. nothing would have pleased her better than to compare her pearls of thought and faith with elizabeth fry. visiting in many quaker families during our travels in england, i was amazed to hear mrs. mott spoken of as a most dangerous woman. again and again i was warned against her influence. she was spoken of as an infidel, a heretic, a disturber, who had destroyed the peace in the friends society in pennsylvania, and thrown a firebrand into the world's convention, and that in a recent speech in london she quoted sentiments from mary wollstonecroft and thomas paine. having just learned to worship lucretia mott as the embodiment of all that was noble and charming in womanhood, the terrible fear that she inspired among english "friends" filled me with sorrow and surprise. i never ventured to mention her name in their homes unless they first introduced it. sitting in the world's convention one day after half the world had been voted out, when joseph sturge, a wealthy quaker, occupied the chair, i suggested to mrs. mott a dangerous contingency. said i, "suppose in spite of the vote of excommunication the spirit should move you to speak, what could the chairman do, and which would you obey? the spirit or the convention?" she promptly replied, "where the spirit of god is, there is liberty." many anecdotes are told of mrs. mott's rigid economy, such as sewing together the smallest rags to be woven into carpets, and writing letters on infinitesimal bits of paper; but it must not be inferred from this peculiarity that she was penurious, as she was generous in her charities, and in the support of every good cause. considering her means and the self-denial she practiced in her personal expenses, her gifts were lavish. alfred love, president of the peace society, who frequently received letters from mrs. mott, says: "the one before me is two and a half inches wide by two and a quarter inches long, written on both sides, and contains one hundred and forty-one words, and treats of seven distinct matters, and disposes of them in good order, apologizing for her apparent economy of paper, and enclosing a contribution of five dollars for a benevolent object." though she always dressed in quaker costume, she attached no special significance to it as a means of grace. one sunday morning at a religious meeting, she was in her accustomed seat in the gallery, when a young man, a stranger to many, spoke in behalf of peace. at the close of the meeting some one who could not see the speaker asked lucretia mott his name, and added: "does he wear a standing collar and dress plain?" she replied in her happy, cheerful manner, "well, really i did not look to see, i was too much interested in what he said to look at the cut of his coat." 'mid all the differences, dissensions, and personal antagonisms, through the years we have labored together in the woman's rights movement, i can not recall one word or occasion in which mrs. mott's influence has not been for harmony, good-will, and the broadest charity. she endured too much persecution herself ever to join in persecuting others. in every reform she stood in the fore-front of the battle. wherever there was a trying emergency to be met, there you could rely on lucretia mott. she never dodged responsibility nor disagreeable occasions. at one time when excitement on the divorce question ran high in new york, and there was a great hue and cry about free love on our platform, i was invited to speak before the legislature on the bill then pending asking "divorce for drunkenness." we chose the time at the close of one of our conventions, that mrs. mott might be present, which she readily consented to do, and promised to speak if she felt moved. she charged ernestine rose and myself not to take too radical ground, in view of the hostility to the bill, but to keep closely to the merits of the main question. i told her she might feel sure of me, as i had my speech written, and i would read it to her, which i did, and received her approval. the time arrived for the hearing, and a magnificent audience greeted us at the capitol. the bill was read, i made the opening speech, mrs. rose followed. we had asked for the modification of certain statutes and the passage of others making the laws more equal for man and woman. mrs. mott having listened attentively to all that was said, and coming to the conclusion that with eighteen different causes for divorce in the different states, there might as well be no laws at all on the question, she arose and said, that "she had not thought profoundly on this subject, but it seemed to her that no laws whatever on this relation would be better than such as bound pure, innocent women in bondage to dissipated, unprincipled men. with such various laws in the different states, and fugitives from the marriage bond fleeing from one to another, would it not be better to place all the states on the same basis, and thus make our national laws homogeneous?" she was surprised on returning to the residence of lydia mott, to hear that her speech was altogether the most radical of the three. the bold statement of "no laws," however, was so sugar-coated with eulogies on good men and the sacredness of the marriage relation, that the press complimented the moderation of mrs. mott at our expense. we have had many a laugh over that occasion. an amusing incident occurred the first year, , we held a convention in washington. chaplain gray, of the senate, was invited to open the convention with prayer. mrs. mott and i were sitting close together, with our heads bowed and eyes closed, listening to the invocation. as the chaplain proceeded, he touched the garden scene in paradise, and spoke of woman as a secondary creation, called into being for the especial benefit of man, an afterthought with the creator. straightening up, mrs. mott whispered to me, "i can not bow my head to such absurdities." edward m. davis, in the audience, noticed his mother's movements, and knowing that what had struck his mind had no doubt disturbed hers also, he immediately left the hall, returning shortly after bible in hand, that he might confound the chaplain with the very book he had quoted. he ascended the platform just as mr. gray said "amen," and read from the opening chapter of genesis, the account of the simultaneous creation of man and woman, in which dominion was given to both alike over every living thing. after mr. davis made a few pertinent remarks on the allegorical character of the second chapter of genesis, mrs. mott followed with a critical analysis of the prayer, and the portion of the scripture read by her son, showing the eternal oneness and equality of man and woman, the union of the masculine and feminine elements, like the positive and negative magnetism, the centripetal and centrifugal forces in nature, pervading the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, the whole world of thought and action, as there could have been no perpetuation of creation without these elements equal and eternal in the godhead. the press commented on the novelty of reviewing an address to the throne of grace, particularly when uttered by the chaplain of congress. mrs. mott remarked on these criticisms, "if we can teach clergymen to be as careful what they say to god as to man, our conventions at the capital will be of great service to our representatives." as a writer mrs. mott was clear and concise; her few published sermons, her charming private letters and diary, with what those who knew her best can remember, are all of her thoughts bequeathed to posterity. as a speaker she was calm, clear, and unimpassioned; indulged but little in wit, humor, or pathos, but by her good common sense and liberality on all questions, by her earnestness and simplicity, she held the most respectful attention of her audiences. hence an occasional touch of humor or sarcasm, or an outburst of eloquent indignation came from her with great power. she had what the friends call unction; that made the most radical utterances from her lips acceptable. in her conversation she was original and brilliant, earnest and playful. such was her persuasiveness of voice and manner that opinions received with hisses from another speaker, were applauded when uttered by mrs. mott. some one has said that "sagacity, a mental quick-wittedness for meeting an emergency, a sagacity that might have been called shrewdness, had it not been for a pervading heart quality that went with it, was one of her prominent traits." perhaps a wise diplomacy might express this quality more nearly. no one knew better than she how to avoid the sharp angles of a character or an occasion, as the many anecdotes told of her so fully illustrate. returning from england in , in a merchant vessel, a large number of irish emigrants were on board in the steerage. on the voyage mrs. mott was moved to hold a religious meeting among them, but the matter being broached to them, their catholic prejudices objected. they would not hear a woman preach, for women priest were not allowed in their church. but the spirit that was pressing upon the "woman preacher" for utterance was not to be prevented from delivering its message without a more strenuous effort to remove the obstacle. she asked that the emigrants might be invited to come together to consider with her whether they would have a meeting. this was but fair and right, and they came. she then explained how different her idea of a meeting was from a church service to which they were accustomed; that she had no thought of saying anything derogatory of that service nor of the priests who ministered to them; that her heart had been drawn to them in sympathy, as they were leaving their old homes for new ones in america; and that she had wanted to address them as to their habits and aims in their every-day life in such a way as to help them in the land of strangers to which they were going. and then asking if they would listen (and they were already listening because her gracious voice and words so entranced them they could not help it), she said she would give an outline of what she had wanted to say at the meeting, and so she was drawn on by the silent sympathy she had secured until the spirit's message was delivered; and only the keenest witted of her catholic hearers waked up to the fact, as they were going out, that they had got the preachment from the woman priest after all. presiding at a woman's convention on one occasion, a speaker painted a very vivid picture in the darkest colors of this nation's injustice to oppressed classes, and from the experience of other nations not based upon principle, he foretold the certain downfall of our republic. on rising, he had said that "he feared he should not be able to do his theme justice, as he had just risen from a bed of sickness," but warming up with his subject he rivaled isaiah in his jeremiad, and left his audience in gloom and despair, the president sharing in the general feeling, for the appeal had been thrilling and terrible. in a moment, however, mrs. mott arose, saying: "i trust our future is not as hopeless as our faithful friend, parker pillsbury, has just pictured. we must remember he told us in starting that he had just risen from a bed of sickness, and that may in a measure account for his gloomy forebodings." the audience burst forth into a roar of applause and laughter, and the president introduced the next speaker, seemingly unconscious that she had stabbed the prophet through and through, and dissipated the effect of his warnings. mrs. mott was frequently chosen the presiding officer of the early conventions. though she seldom regarded cushing's manual in her rulings, she maintained order and good feeling by the persuasiveness and serenity of her voice and manner. emerson says: "it is not what the man says, but it is the spirit behind it which makes the impression." it was this subtle magnetism of the true, grand woman, ever faithful to her highest convictions of truth, that made her always respected in every position she occupied. hers was pure moral power, for in that frail organization there could be but little of what is called physical magnetism. her placid face showed that she was at peace with herself, the first requisite in a successful leader of reform. that mrs. mott could have maintained her sweetness and charity to the end, is a marvel in view of the varied and protracted persecutions she endured. rarely have so many different and superior qualities been combined in one woman. she had great personal beauty; her brow and eye were remarkable. although small in stature, it is said of her as it was of channing, he too being of diminutive size, that she made you think she was larger than she was. she had a look of command. the amount of will force and intelligent power in her small body was enough to direct the universe; yet she was modest and unassuming and had none of the personal airs of leadership. her manners were gentle and self-possessed under all circumstances. her conversation, though generally serious, earnest and logical, was sometimes playful and always good humored. her attitude of mind was receptive. she never seemed to think even in her latest years that she had explored all truth. though she had very clearly defined opinions on every subject that came under her consideration, she never dogmatized. it was this healthy balance of good qualities that made her great among other women of genius; and the multiplicity of her interests in human affairs that kept her fresh and young to the last. the thinkers, the scholars, the broadest intellects are often the octogenarians, while the narrow selfish souls dry up in their own channels. one of her noble sisters in reform has truly said, "birth made victoria a queen, but her own pure, sweet life made lucretia mott a queen; queen of a realm on which the sun never sets, the realm of humanity. if ever any one inherited the earth it was this blessed quaker woman." space fails me to tell of all the pleasant memories of our forty years friendship, of the inspiration she has been to those on our platform, of the bond of union to hold us together, of the innumerable conventions over which she has presided, of the many long journeys both north and south to carry the glad tidings of justice, liberty, and equality to all. a missionary who always traveled at her own expense, giving her best thoughts freely, asking nothing in return, neither money, praise, nor honor; for misrepresentation and cruel persecution were the only return she had for years. both in religion and reform hers was a free gospel to the multitude. as division has been the law in politics, religion, and reform, woman suffrage proved no exception. but lucretia mott and her noble sister, martha o. wright, remained steadfast with those who had taken the initiative steps in calling the first convention, and with the larger and more radical division their sympathies remained, both being prominent officers of the national woman suffrage association at the time of their death. they fully endorsed the great lesson of the war, national protection for united states citizens, applied to woman as well as to the african race, the doctrine the association to which they belonged has so successfully advocated at washington for twelve years. reading the numerous complimentary obituary notices of our long loved friend, so fair, so tender, so full of praise, we have exclaimed, what changes the passing years have wrought in the popular estimate of a woman once considered so dangerous an innovator in the social and religious world; and yet the lucretia mott of to-day is only the perfected, well-rounded character of half a century ago. but the slowly moving masses that feared her then as an infidel, a fanatic, an unsexed woman, have followed her footsteps until a broader outlook has expanded their moral vision. the "vagaries" of the anti-slavery struggle, in which she took a leading part, have been coined into law; and the "wild fantasies" of the abolitionists are now the xiii., xiv., and xv. amendments to the national constitution. the prolonged and bitter schisms in the society of friends have shed new light on the tyranny of creeds and scriptures. the infidel hicksite principles that shocked christendom, are now the corner-stones of the liberal religious movement in this country. the demand for woman's social, civil, and political equality--in which she was foremost--laughed at from the atlantic to the pacific, has been recognized in a measure by courts and legislatures, in great britain and the united states. the old blackstone code for woman has received its death-blow, and the colleges, trades, and professions have been opened for her admission. the name of lucretia mott represents more fully than any other in the nineteenth century, the sum of all womanly virtues. as wife, mother, friend, she was marked for her delicate sentiments, warm affections, and steadfast loyalty; as housekeeper, for her rigid economy, cleanliness, order, and exhaustless patience with servants and children; as neighbor, for justice and honor in all her dealings; as teacher, even at the early age of fifteen, for her skill and faithfulness. one who has lived eighty-eight years 'mid a young, impressible people like ours, ever reflecting the exalted virtues of the true woman, the earnest reformer, the religious teacher, must have left her impress for good in every relation of life. when we remember that every word we utter, every act we perform, the individual atmosphere we create have their effect, not only on all who come within the circle of our daily life, but through them are wafted to innumerable other circles beyond, we can in a measure appreciate the far-reaching influence of one grand life. great as has been the acknowledged, moral power of lucretia mott, it would have been vastly greater, had her opinions been legitimately recognized in the laws and constitutions of the nation; and could she have enjoyed the consciousness of exerting this direct influence, it would have intensified the holy purpose of her life. "the highest earthly desire of a ripened mind," says thomas arnold, "is the desire of taking an active share in the great work of government." those only who are capable of appreciating this dignity can measure the extent to which this noble woman has been defrauded as a citizen of this great republic. neither can they measure the loss to the councils of the nation, of the wisdom of such a representative woman. in the manifold tributes to the memory of our beloved friend, we have yet to see the first mention of her political degradation, which she so keenly felt and so often deplored on our platform. why are the press and the pulpit, with all their eulogiums of her virtues, so oblivious to the humiliating fact of her disfranchisement? are political disabilities, accounted such grievous wrongs to the southern aristocrat, to the emancipated slave, to the proud anglo-saxon man in every latitude, of so little value to woman that when a nation mourns the loss of the grandest representative of our sex, no tear is shed, no regret expressed, no mention even made of her political degradation? we might ask the question why this universal outpouring of tributes to our venerated friend, exceeding all honors hitherto paid to the great women of our nation, who, one by one, have passed away it is because lucretia mott was a philanthropist; her life was dedicated to the rights of humanity. when the poet, the novelist, the philosopher, and the metaphysican have been forgotten, the memory of the true reformer will remain engraven on the hearts of the multitude. behold! the beauty of yonder fountain, after its upward flight, is where it turns again to earth, so is the life of one morally beautiful, ever drawn by a law of its being from the clouds of speculation to the common interests of humanity. the question is often asked of us on this platform, will the children of these reformers take up the work that falls from their hands? it is more than probable they will not. it is with reformers' children as others, they seldom follow in the footsteps of their parents. as a general thing the son of a farmer hates the plow, the son of a lawyer is not attracted to the bar, nor the son of a clergyman to the pulpit. the daughter of the pattern housekeeper turns to literature or art, and the child of the reformer has no heart for martyrdom. it is philosophical that our sons and daughters should not be here. to a certain extent they have shared the odium and persecution we have provoked, they have been ostracised and ignored for heresies they have never accepted. the humiliation of our children has been the bitterest drop in the cup of reformers. look around our platform, not one representative of the brave band of women who inaugurated this movement is here! not one of our kindred has ever yet in these conventions echoed our demands. nevertheless we are, and shall be represented! we see bright new faces; we hear eloquent new voices; brave young women are gathering round us, to plead our cause in more august assemblies, and to celebrate the victory at last. these are our kindred, by holier ties than blood. as their way through life will be smoother for all our noble friend has dared and suffered, may they by the same courage and conscientious devotion to principle, shed new light on the path of those who follow their footsteps. this is the great moral lesson the life of our dear friend should impress on the coming generation. having known lucretia mott, not only in the flush of life, when all her faculties were at their zenith, but in the repose of advanced age, her withdrawal from our midst seems as natural and as beautiful as the changing foliage of some grand oak from the spring-time to the autumn. english correspondence. the following interesting correspondence in regard to the exclusion of women from the world's convention, reveals the fact that the action was the result, after all, of religious bigotry more than prejudice against sex. and this opinion is further confirmed by the decided opposition promptly manifested to lucretia mott's proposal to have a series of meetings for women alone. some of the orthodox friends said they were afraid, that under the plea of discussing emancipation for the slave, other subjects might be introduced. mrs. mott, desiring to know what daniel o'connell thought of the action of the convention, wrote him as follows: _to daniel o'connell, m.p.:_ the rejected delegates from america to the "general anti-slavery conference," are desirous to have the opinion of one of the most distinguished advocates of universal liberty, as to the reasons urged by the majority for their rejection, viz: that the admission of women being contrary to english usage would subject them to ridicule, and that such recognition of their acknowledged principles would prejudice the cause of human freedom. permit me, then, on behalf of the delegation, to ask daniel o'connell the favor of his sentiments as incidentally expressed in the meeting on the morning of the th inst., and oblige his sincere friend, lucretia mott. london, _sixth mo., , _. pall mall, _ th june, _. madam:--taking the liberty of protesting against being supposed to adopt any of the complimentary phrases in your letter as being applicable to me, i readily comply with your request to give my opinion as to the propriety of the admission of the female delegates into the convention. i should premise by avowing that my first impression was strong against that admission; and i believe i declared that opinion in private conversation. but when i was called on by you to give my personal decision on the subject, i felt it my duty to investigate the grounds of the opinion i had formed; and upon that investigation i easily discovered that it was founded on no better grounds than an apprehension of the ridicule it might excite if the convention were to do what is so unusual in england--admit women to an equal share and right of the discussion. i also without difficulty recognized that this was an unworthy, and, indeed, a cowardly motive, and i easily overcame its influence. my mature consideration of the entire subject convinces me of the right of the female delegates to take their seats in the convention, and of the injustice of excluding them. i do not care to add that i deem it also impolitic; because, that exclusion being unjust, it ought not to have taken place even if it could also be politic. my reasons are: _first._ that as it has been the practice in america for females to act as delegates and office-bearers, as well as in common capacity of members of anti-slavery societies, the persons who called this convention ought to have warned the american anti-slavery societies to confine their choice to males, and for want of this caution many female delegates have made long journeys by land and crossed the ocean to enjoy a right which they had no reason to fear would be withheld from them at the end of their tedious voyage. _secondly._ the cause which is so intimately interwoven with every good feeling of humanity and with the highest and most sacred principles of christianity--the anti-slavery cause in america--is under the greatest, the deepest, the most heart-binding obligations to the females who have joined the anti-slavery societies in the united states. they have shown a passive but permanent courage, which ought to put many of the male advocates to the blush. the american ladies have persevered in our holy cause amidst difficulties and dangers, with the zeal of confessors and the firmness of martyrs; and, therefore, emphatically they should not be disparaged or discouraged by any slight or contumely offered to their rights. neither are this slight and contumely much diminished by the fact that it was not intended to offer any slight or to convey any contumely. both results inevitably follow from the fact of rejection. this ought not to be. _thirdly._ even in england, with all our fastidiousness, women vote upon the great regulation of the bank of england; in the nomination of its directors and governors, and in all other details equally with men; that is, they assist in the most awfully important business--the regulation of the currency of this mighty empire--influencing the fortunes of all commercial nations. _fourthly._ our women in like manner vote at the india house; that is, in the regulation of the government of more than one hundred millions of human beings. _fifthly._ mind has no sex; and in the peaceable struggle to abolish slavery all over the world, it is the basis of the present convention to seek success by peaceable, moral, and intellectual means alone, to the utter exclusion of armed violence. we are engaged in a strife not of strength, but of argument. our warfare is not military; it is christian. we wield not the weapons of destruction or injury to our adversaries. we rely entirely on reason and persuasion common to both sexes, and on the emotions of benevolence and charity, which are more lovely and permanent amongst women than amongst men. in the church to which i belong the female sex are devoted by as strict rules and with as much, if not more, unceasing austerity to the performance (and that to the exclusion of all worldly or temporal joys and pleasures) of all works of humanity, of education, of benevolence, and of charity, in all its holy and sacred branches, as the men. the great work in which we are now engaged embraces all these charitable categories; and the women have the same duties, and should, therefore, enjoy the same rights with men in the performance of their duties. i have a consciousness that i have not done _my_ duty in not sooner urging these considerations on the convention. my excuse is that i was unavoidably absent during the discussion on the subject. i have the honor to be, very respectfully, madam, your obedient servant, lucretia mott. daniel o'connell. the following earnest and friendly letter from william howitt, was highly prized by mrs. mott: london, _june , _. dear friend:--....i regret that i was prevented from making a part of the convention, as nothing should have hindered me from stating there in the plainest terms my opinion of the _real grounds_ on which you were rejected. it is a pity that you were excluded on the plea of being women; but it is disgusting that under that plea you were actually excluded as heretics. that is the real ground, and it ought to have been at once proclaimed and exposed by the liberal members of the convention; but i believe they were not aware of the fact. i heard of the circumstance of your exclusion at a distance, and immediately said: "excluded on the ground that they are women?" no, that is not the real cause; there is something behind. and what are these female delegates? are they orthodox in religion? the answer was "no, they are considered to be of the hicksite party of friends." my reply was, "that is enough; _there_ lies the real cause, and there needs no other. the influential friends in the convention would never for a moment tolerate their presence there if they could prevent it. they hate them because they have dared to call in question their sectarian dogmas and assumed authority; and they have taken care to brand them in the eyes of the calvinistic dissenters, who form another large and influential portion of the convention, as unitarians; in their eyes the most odious of heretics." but what a miserable spectacle is this! the "world's convention" converting itself into the fag-end of the yearly meeting of the society of friends! that convention met from various countries and climates to consider how it shall best advance the sacred cause of humanity; of the freedom of the race, independent of caste or color, immediately falls the victim of bigotry; and one of its first acts is to establish a caste of sectarian opinion, and to introduce color into the very soul! had i not seen of late years a good deal of the spirit which now rules the society of friends, my surprise would have been unbounded at seeing _them_ argue for the exclusion of women from a public assembly, _as women_. but nothing which they do now surprises me. they have in this case to gratify their wretched spirit of intolerance, at once abandoned one of the most noble and most philosophical of the established principles of their own society. that society claims, and claims justly, to be the first christian party which has recognized the great christian doctrine that there is no sex in souls; that male and female are one in christ jesus. there were fox and penn and the first giants of the society who dared in the face of the world's prejudices to place woman in her first rank; to recognize and maintain her moral and intellectual equality. it was this society which thus gave to woman her inalienable rights, her true liberty; which restored to her the exercise of mind, and the capacity to exhibit before her assumed ancient lord and master, the highest qualities of the human heart and understanding; discretion, sound counsel, sure sagacity, mingled with feminine delicacy, and that beautiful innate modesty which avails more to restrain its possessor within the bounds of prudence and usefulness than all the laws of corrupt society. it was this society which, at once fearless in its confidence in woman's goodness and sense of propriety, gave its female portion its own meetings of discipline, meetings of civil discussion and transaction of actual and various business. it was this society which did more; which permitted its women in the face of a great apostolic injunction to stand forth in its churches and preach the gospel. it has, in fact, sent them out armed with the authority of its certificates to the very ends of the earth to preach in public; to visit and persuade in private. and what has been the consequence? have the women put their faith and philosophy to shame? have they disgraced themselves or the society which has confided in them? have they proved by their follies, their extravagances, their unwomanly boldness and want of a just sense of decorum that these great men were wrong? on the contrary, i will venture to say, and i have seen something of all classes, that there is not in the whole civilized world a body of women to be found of the same numbers, who exhibit more modesty of manner and delicacy of mind than the ladies of the society of friends; and few who equal them in sound sense and dignity of character. there can be no question that the recognition of the moral and intellectual equality of the most lovely and interesting portion of our society has tended, and that very materially, to raise them greatly in value as wives, as bosom friends and domestic counselors, whose inestimable worth is only discovered in times of trial and perplexity. and here have gone the little men of the present day, and have knocked down in the face of the world all that their ancestors, in this respect, had built up! if they are at all consistent they must carry out their new principle and sweep it through the ancient constitution of their own society. they must at once put down meetings of discipline among their women; they must call home such as are in distant countries, or are traversing this, preaching and visiting families. there must be no appointments of women to meet committees of men to deliberate on matters of great importance to the society. but the fact is, my dear friend, that bigotry is never consistent except that is always narrow, always ungracious, and always under plea of uniting god's people, scattering them one from another, and rendering them weak as water. i want to know what religious opinions have to do with a "world's convention." did you meet to settle doctrines, or to conspire against slavery? many an august council has attempted to settle doctrines, and in vain; and you had before you a subject so vast, so pressing, so momentous, that in presence of its sublimity, any petty jealousy and fancied idea of superiority ought to have fallen as dust from the boughs of a cedar. you as delegates, had to meet this awful fact in the face, and to consider how it should be grappled with; how the united power of civilized nations should be brought to bear upon it! the fact that after nearly a century of gradually growing and accumulating efforts to put down slavery and the slave trade, little has been done; that there are now more slaves in the world than ever, and that the slave trade is far more extensive and monstrous than it was when clarkson raised his voice against its extinction; that is a fact which, if the men who now take the lead in warring on the evil were truly great men, it would silence in them every other feeling than that of its enormity, and the godlike resolve that all hands and all hearts should be raised before heaven and united in its spirit to chase this spreading villainy from the earth speedily and forever. but men, however benevolent, can not be great men if they are bigots. bigots are like the peasants who build their cabins in the mighty palaces of the ancient cæsars. the cæsars who raised the past fabrics are gone, and the power in which they raised them is gone with them. poor and little men raise their huts within those august palace walls, and fancy themselves the inhabitants of the palaces themselves. so in the mighty fane of christianity, bigots and sectarians are continually rearing their little cabins of sects and parties, and would fain persuade us, while they fill their own narrow tenements, that they fill the glorious greatness of christianity itself! it is surely high time that after eighteen hundred years of christ's reign we should be prepared to allow each other to hold an opinion on the most important of all subjects to ourselves! it is surely time that we opened our eyes sufficiently to see what is so plain in the gospel: the sublime difference between the spirit of christ and the spirit of his disciples when they fain would have made a bigot of him. "we saw men doing miracles in thy name; and we forbade them." "forbid them not, for they who are not against us are for us." it is not by _doctrines_ that christ said his disciples should be known, but by their fruits; and by the greatest of all fruits--love. you, dear friend, and those noble women to whom i address myself when addressing you, have shown in your own country the grand christian testimonial of love to mankind in the highest degree. you have put your lives in your hands for the sake of man's freedom from caste, color, and mammon; and the greatest disgrace that has of late years befallen this country is, that you have been refused admittance as delegates to the convention met ostensibly to work that very work for which you have so generously labored and freely suffered. the convention has not merely insulted you, but those who sent you. it has testified that the men of america are at least far ahead of us in their opinion of the discretion and usefulness of women. but above all, this act of exclusion has shown how far the society of friends is fallen from its ancient state of greatness and catholic nobleness of spirit. but my time is gone. i have not said one-half, one-tenth, one-hundredth part of what i could say to you and to your companions on this subject; but of this be assured, time and your own delegators will do you justice. the true christians in all ages were the heretics of the time; and this i say not because i believe exactly as you do, for in truth i neither know nor desire to know exactly how far we think alike. all that i know or want to know is, that you have shown the grand mark of christian truth--love to mankind. i have heard the noble garrison blamed that he had not taken his place in the convention because you and your fellow-delegates were excluded. i, on the contrary, honor him for his conduct. in mere worldly wisdom he might have entered the convention and there made his protest against the decision; but in at once refusing to enter where you, his fellow-delegates, were shut out, he has made a far nobler protest; not in the mere convention, but in the world at large. i honor the lofty principle of that true champion of humanity, and shall always recollect with delight, the day mary and i spent with you and him. i must apologize for this most hasty and i fear illegible scrawl, and with our kind regards and best wishes for your safe return to your native country, and for many years of honorable labor there for the truth and freedom, i beg to subscribe myself, most sincerely your friend, william howitt. harriet martineau, who had visited mrs. mott when in america, and was prevented from attending the convention by illness, wrote as follows: i can not be satisfied without sending you a line of love and sympathy. i think much of you amidst your present trials, and much indeed have i thought of you and your cause since we parted. may god strengthen you. it is a comfort to me that two of my best friends, mrs. reid and julia smith, are there to look upon you with eyes of love. i hear of you from them, for busy as they are, they remember me from day to day, and make me a partaker of your proceedings.... i can not but grieve for you in the heart-sickness which you have experienced this last week. we must trust that the spirit of christ will in time enlarge the hearts of those who claim his name, that the whites as well as the blacks will in time be free. after the convention, mrs. mott visited miss martineau, who was an invalid, staying at tynemouth, for the benefit of sea air. and on her return to london, she received another letter, from which we extract the following: i felt hardly as if i knew what i was about that morning, but i was very happy, and i find that i remember every look and word. i did not make all the use i might of the opportunity; but when are we ever wise enough to do it? i do not think we shall ever meet again in this world, and i believe that was in your mind when you said farewell. i feel that i have derived somewhat from my intercourse with you that will never die, and i am thankful that we have been permitted to meet. you will tell the furnesses (rev. wm. h.) where and how you found me. tell them of my cheerful room and fine down and sea. i wish my friends would suffer for me no more than i do for myself. i hope you have yet many years of activity and enjoyment before you. my heart will ever be in your cause and my love with yourself. in james mott's published volume, "three months in great britain," he speaks of many distinguished persons who extended to them most gracious hospitalities, for although mrs. mott had been ostracised by some of the more bigoted "friends," others were correspondingly marked in their attentions. among such was that noble-hearted young woman, elizabeth pease, of darlington, who was one of the first to call upon them on their arrival in london, and the last to bid them farewell on the morning they sailed from liverpool; having in company with her father gone from manchester for that purpose. her cultivated mind and fine talents were devoted to subjects of reform, with an energy and perseverance rarely equaled. ann knight, another sincere friend and advocate of human rights, was quite indignant, that a convention called for such liberal measures should reject women on the flimsy plea, "that it being contrary to english usage, it would subject them to ridicule and prejudice their cause." she was unremitting in her attentions to the american women, doing many things to make their visit pleasant while in london, and afterward, entertaining several as guests in her own "quiet home." amelia opie, with her happy face and genial manners, was in constant attendance at the convention. on entering one of the sessions, she accosted mrs. mott, saying, "though in one sense the women delegates were rejected, yet they were held in high esteem, and their coming would have immense influence on the action of future assemblies." at the "crown and anchor," one evening, the members of the convention took a parting cup of tea; nearly five hundred persons were present. as the resolution excluding women did not extend to this company, mrs. mott gave her views on the use of slave products, which were well received. in the course of her remarks she referred to the example and faithfulness of the "society of friends," in using as far as possible the produce of free labor in their families. josiah forster, ever vigilant on the battlements of bigotry, could not allow this allusion to pass unnoticed, and when mrs. mott sat down, he arose and said he "could not conscientiously refrain from informing the company, that mrs. mott did not represent the society of friends. he did so with no other than feelings of kindness, but,"--when he had proceeded thus far it was evident he was about to disclaim religious fellowship with her, and a general burst of disapprobation was manifested by cries of "down, down! order, order! shame, shame!"--but he finished his disavowal amidst the confusion, though few heard what he said, neither did they wish to hear his expressions of intolerance. as soon as he had finished his speech he left the room, probably displeased that his feelings met with so little sympathy, or at the manifestation of dissatisfaction with his remarks. at a dinner party, at elizabeth j. reid's, a few days after, lady byron was one of the company; with whom mr. and mrs. mott had a previous acquaintance, through a letter of introduction from george combe. as colonel miller, one of the american delegation, had been in the greek war with lord byron, and knew him well, several interesting interviews with the wife and daughter grew out of that acquaintance. they also visited dr. bowring and his interesting family several times, and on one occasion met there charles pelham villiers, the leading advocate in parliament for the modification of their corn laws. dr. bowring was a near neighbor and great admirer of jeremy bentham, and entertained them with many anecdotes of his original friend. william h. ashurst, a lawyer of eminence in london, gave them a cordial welcome to his family circle, where they met william and mary howitt, and robert owen, the philanthropist. mr. ashurst took an active part in favor of reducing the postage on letters and papers. at birmingham, they passed a few days with their liberal "friend," william boultbee, and visited several of the great manufacturing establishments. here they made the acquaintance of a catholic priest, thomas m. mcdonald, a man of broad views and marked liberality. he tendered mrs. mott the use of a large room at his disposal, and urged her to hold a meeting. at liverpool, they were the guests of william rathbone and family. in dublin, they met james houghton, richard allen, richard webb, and the huttons, who entertained them most hospitably and gave them many charming drives in and about the city. at edinburgh, they joined sarah pugh and abby kimber, who had just returned from the continent, and had a cordial reception at the home of george thompson. they passed two days with george combe, the great phrenologist, who examined and complimented mrs. mott's head, as indicating a strong symmetrical character. they took tea with his brother, andrew combe, the author of that admirable work on "infancy," which has proved a real blessing to many young mothers. at a meeting in glasgow, to hear george thompson on the subject of british india, mrs. mott asked the chairman for the liberty of addressing the audience for a few minutes, but was denied, though a colored man, charles lenox remond, of salem, massachusetts, was listened to with attention, as he had been in london and other places, showing that the unholy prejudice against color was not so bitter in england as that against sex. george harris, the minister of the unitarian chapel in glasgow, cordially extended to mrs. mott the use of his church for a lecture on slavery, which was gladly accepted. the house was crowded, and there was abundant reason to believe the people were well pleased. but the small handful of "friends" in that city did not suffer so good an opportunity of disclaiming them to pass, and accordingly had the following communication published in the papers: _to the editor of the glasgow gazette:_ respected friend:--intimation having been given on the th, current, by means of placards extensively posted throughout the city, that "on sabbath first, the th instant, mrs. lucretia mott, a minister of the society of friends, philadelphia, would hold a meeting in the christian unitarian chapel"; and that the meeting was held and numerously attended by our fellow-citizens, we deem it right on behalf of the society of friends residing in glasgow, to inform the public that we hold no religious fellowship with lueretia mott, nor with the body in the united states called hicksites, to which she belongs, they not being recognized by the society of friends in the united kingdom, nor by those "friends" with whom we are in connection in america; and that we do not wish to be in any way identified with, or considered responsible for any sentiments that lucretia mott may have uttered at the meeting above referred to. we are, respectfully, thy friends, william smeal, william white, john maxwell, james smeal, edward white. glasgow, _ th of th mo., _. to us who knew, loved, and honored lucretia mott for her many virtues, these manifestations of bigotry, so narrowing and embittering in their effect on the mind, should be an added warning against that evil spirit of persecution that has brought such sorrow to mankind. we sincerely hope these few examples we have endeavored to place in their true light, may awaken thought in the minds of our readers, and incline them to renewed charity and a wiser appreciation of what is and what is not vital in religion. surely life must ever stand for more than faith. footnotes: [ ] in the midst of our first volume the announcement of the death of lucretia mott, nov. th, , reached us. as she was identified with so many of the historical events of pennsylvania, where nearly seventy years of her life were passed, it is fitting that this sketch should follow the state in which she resided for so long a period. chapter xii. new jersey. in , william penn purchased eastern jersey, and under a governor of his choosing, robert barclay, the colony became a refuge for the persecuted "friends." it was no doubt due to the peaceful measures of william penn in his dealings with the indians, that this colony was free from all troubles with them. the last loyal governor of new jersey-- --was william franklin, a natural son of benjamin franklin, and a bitter tory. the struggle for independence was at this time interesting and exciting, and behind the governor was a strong party for reconciliation with great britain. besides the governor's instructions against independence, the assembly had resolved on a separate petition to the king. aware of this feeling in new jersey, congress sent that illustrious trio, john dickinson, john jay, and george wythe, to procure a reversal of their determination. they were courteously received on the floor, and urged in their addresses that nothing but unity and bravery in the colonies would bring great britain to terms; that she wanted to procure separate petitions, but that such a course would break the union, when the colonies would be like a rope of sand. the assembly yielded to their entreaties, and on the th of june, , governor franklin, who opposed the action of congress, was deposed,[ ] and william livingston, a true patriot, was elected governor, and re-elected for fourteen years. the intense excitement of this period in new jersey roused many women loyal to freedom and the independence of the colonies to persistent action. among these was hannah arnett, of elizabethtown, whose story was first made public one hundred years after the date of its occurrence.[ ] the latter part of the year was a period of doubt and despondency to the patriot troops. although the colonies had declared their independence several months before, the american forces had since suffered many severe defeats, and it seemed not unlikely that great britain would be victorious in her struggle with the new-born republic. on the th of november, gen. howe had issued his celebrated proclamation offering amnesty and protection to all who, within sixty days, should declare themselves peaceable british subjects, and bind themselves to neither take up arms nor encourage others to do so. after his victory at fort lee, lord cornwallis marched his army to new jersey, encamping at elizabethtown. his presence on new jersey soil so soon after gen. howe's proclamation, and the many defeats of the patriot army, had a very depressing effect. of this period dr. ashbel green wrote: "i heard a man of some shrewdness once say, that when the british troops overran the state of new jersey, in the closing part of the year , the whole population could have been bought for eighteen pence a head." but however true this statement may have been of the men of new jersey, it could not be justly made in regard to its women, one of whom, at least, did much to stem the tide of panic so strong at this point where cornwallis was encamped. a number of men of elizabeth assembled one evening in one of the spacious mansions for which this place was rather famous, to discuss the advisability of accepting the proposed amnesty. the question was a momentous one, and the discussion was earnest and protracted. some were for accepting this proffer at once; others hesitated; they canvassed the subject from various points, but finally decided that submission was all that remained to them. their hope was gone, and their courage with it; every remnant of patriotic spirit seemed swept away in the darkness of the hour. but there was a listener of whom they were ignorant; a woman, hannah arnett, the wife of the host, sitting at her work in an adjoining room. the discussion had reached her ears, rousing her intense indignation. she listened until she could sit still no longer; springing to her feet she pushed open the parlor door, confronting the amazed men. the writer from whom we glean these facts, says: "can you fancy the scene? a large, low room, with the dark, heavy furniture of the period, dimly lighted by the tall wax candles and the wood fire which blazed on the hearth. around the table the group of men, pallid, gloomy, dejected, disheartened. in the door-way the figure of the woman in in antique costume, with which in these centennial days we have become so familiar. can you not fancy the proud poise of her head, the indignant light of her blue eyes, the crisp, clear tones of her voice, the majesty, and defiance, and scorn, which clothed her as with a garment?" the men were appalled and started at the sight. she seemed like some avenging angel about to bring them to judgment for the words they had spoken; and, indeed, such she proved. it was strange to see a woman thus enter the secret councils of men, and her husband hastily approaching her, whispered: "hannah, hannah, this is no place for you, we do not want you here just now;" and he tried to take her hand to lead her from the room. but she pushed him gently back, saying to the startled group: "have you made your decision, gentlemen? have you chosen the part of men, or traitors?" they stammered and blundered as they tried to find answer. things appeared to them in a new light as this woman so pointedly questioned them. their answers were a mixture of excuses and explanations. they declared the country to be in a hopeless condition; the army starving, half-clothed, undisciplined, the country poor, while england's trained troops were backed by the wealth of a thousand years. hannah arnett listened in silence until the last abject word was spoken, when she rapidly inquired: "but what if we should live after all?" the men looked at each other, but not word was spoken. "hannah, hannah," cried her husband, "do you not see these are no questions for you? we are discussing what is best for us all. women do not understand these things; go to your spinning-wheel and leave us to discuss these topics. do you not see that you are making yourself ridiculous?" but mrs. arnett paid no heed. speaking to the men in a strangely quiet, voice, she said: "can you not tell me? if, after all, god does not let the right perish; if america should win in the conflict, after you have thrown yourselves upon british clemency, where will you be then?" "then?" spoke a hesitating voice, "why then, if it ever could be so, we should be ruined. we must then leave home and country forever. but the struggle is an entirely hopeless one. we have no men, no money, no arms, no food, and england has everything." "no," said mrs. arnett, "you have forgotten one thing which england has not, and which we have--one thing which outweighs all england's treasures, and that is the right. god is on our side; and every volley from our muskets is an echo of his voice. we are poor and weak and few, but god is fighting for us. we counted the cost before we began; we knew the price and were willing to pay; and now, because for the time the day is going against us, you would give up all and sneak back like cravens, to kiss the feet that have trampled upon us! and you call yourselves men; the sons of those who gave up homes and fortune and fatherland to make for themselves and for dear liberty a resting-place in the wilderness! oh, shame upon you, cowards!" the words had rushed out in a fiery flood which her husband had vainly striven to check. turning to the gentlemen present, mr. arnett said: "i beg you will excuse this most unseemly interruption to our council. my wife is beside herself, i think. you all know her, and that it is not her custom to meddle with politics. to-morrow she will see her folly; but now i beg your patience." but her words had roused the slumbering manhood of her hearers. each began to look upon himself as a craven, and to withdraw from the position he had taken. no one replied to her husband, and mrs. arnett continued. "take your protection if you will. proclaim yourselves traitors and cowards, false to your country and your god, but horrible will be the judgment upon your heads and the heads of those that love you. i tell you that england will never conquer. i know it and feel it in every fiber of my heart. has god led us thus far to desert us now? will he who led our fathers across the stormy winter seas forsake their children who have put their trust in him? for me, i stay with my country, and my hand shall never touch the hand, nor my heart cleave to the heart of him who shames her"; and she turned a glance upon her husband; "isaac, we have lived together for twenty years, and for all of them i have been a true and loving wife to you. but i am the child of god and of my country, and if you do this shameful thing, i will never again own you for my husband." "my dear wife!" he cried, aghast, "you do not know what you are saying. leave me for such a thing as this?" "for such a thing as this!" she cried, scornfully. "what greater cause could there be? i married a good man and true, a faithful friend, and it needs no divorce to sever me from a traitor and a coward. if you take your amnesty you lose your wife, and i--i lose my husband and my home!" with the last words her voice broke into a pathetic fall, and a mist gathered before her eyes. the men were deeply moved; the words of mrs. arnett had touched every soul. gradually the drooping heads were raised, and eyes grew bright with manliness and resolution. before they left the house that night they had sworn a solemn oath to stand by the cause they had adopted, and the land of their birth through good or evil, and to spurn as deadliest insult the proffered amnesty of their tyrannical foe. some of the men who met in this secret council afterward fought nobly, and died upon the field of battle for their country. others lived to rejoice when the day of triumph came; but the name of this woman was found upon no heroic roll, nor is it on the page of any history that men have since written, although she made heroes of cowards, and helped to stay the wave of desolation which, in the dark days of ' , threatened to overwhelm the land. at one time some british officers quartered themselves at the house of mrs. dissosway, situated at the western end of staten island, opposite amboy. her husband was a prisoner; but her brother, captain nat. randolph, was in the american army, and gave much annoyance to the tories by his frequent incursions. a tory colonel promised mrs. dissosway to procure the release of her husband on condition of her prevailing on her brother to stay quietly at home. "and if i could," she replied, with a look of scorn, drawing up her tall figure to its utmost height, "if i could act so dastardly a part, think you general washington has but one captain randolph in his army?" at a period when american prospects were most clouded, and new jersey overrun by the british, an officer stationed at borden-town (said to be lord cornwallis) endeavored to intimidate mrs. borden into using her influence over her husband and son, who were absent in the american army. the officer promised her that if she would induce them to quit the standard they followed and join the royalists, her property should be protected; while in case of refusal, her estate would be ravaged and her elegant mansion destroyed. mrs. borden answered, "begin your threatened havoc then; the sight of my house in flames would be a treat to me; for i have seen enough to know that you never injure what you have power to keep and enjoy. the application of a torch to my dwelling i should regard as a signal for your departure." the house was burned in fulfillment of the threat, and the estate laid waste; but, as mrs. borden predicted, the retreat of the spoiler quickly followed. during the battle of monmouth a gunner named pitcher was killed, and the call was made for some one to take his place; his wife, who had followed him to the camp and thence to the field of conflict, unhesitatingly stepped forward and offered her services. the gun was so well managed as to draw the attention of general washington to the circumstance, and to call forth an expression of his admiration of her bravery and fidelity to her country. to show his appreciation of her virtues and her highly valuable services, he conferred on her a lieutenant's commission. she afterward went by the name of "captain molly." as early as , thomas chalkley, visiting the conestogae indians, near susquehannah, says: "we treated about having a meeting with them in a religious way, upon which they called a council, in which they were very grave, and spoke one after another without any heat or jarring (and some of the most esteemed of their women do sometimes speak in their councils). i asked our interpreter why they suffered or permitted the women to speak; he answered: 'some women are wiser than some men.' our interpreter told me that they had not done anything for many years without the counsel of an ancient, grave woman, who, i observed, spoke much in their councils, for i was permitted to be present, and asked what she said. he replied that she was an empress, and that they gave much heed to what she said amongst them; that she then said to them that she looked upon our coming to be more than natural, because we did not come to buy nor sell nor get gain, but came in love and respect to them, and desired their well doing both here and hereafter; and that our meeting among them might be very beneficial to their young people. she related a dream she had three days before, and interpreted it, advising them to hear us and entertain us kindly, etc., which they did. chief justice green, in behalf of miss leake, of trenton, presented to the new jersey historical society copies of the correspondence between colonel mawhood of the british forces, and colonel hand of the american army, proposing to the latter to surrender, and each man to go to his home, etc., dated salem county, march, . the new jersey historical society has a photographic copy of a print, contemporary with the event, representing the triumphal arch erected by the ladies of trenton in honor of washington, on his passage through the place in april, , and a photographic copy of the following original note (now in possession of the lady who received it), which was written by washington at the time: general washington can not leave this place without expressing his acknowledgements to the matrons and young ladies who received him in so novel and grateful a manner at the triumphal arch in trenton, for the exquisite sensations he experienced in that affecting scene. the astonishing contrast between his former and actual situation at the same spot, the elegant taste with which it was adorned for the present occasion, and the innocent appearance of the _white-robed choir_, who met him with the gratulatory song, have made such an impression on his remembrance as he assures them will never be effaced. trenton, _april , _. the origin, practice, and prohibition of female suffrage in new jersey. william a. whitehead, corresponding secretary of the new jersey historical society, read the following paper at their annual meeting, january , : by the proprietary laws, the right of suffrage in new jersey was expressly to the _free men_ of the province; and in equally explicit terms a law passed in prescribing the qualifications of electors, confined the privilege to male freeholders having one hundred acres of land in their own right, or worth fifty pounds, current money of the province, in real and personal estate, and during the whole of the colonial period these qualifications remained unaltered. by the constitution adopted july , , the elective franchise was conferred upon all inhabitants of this colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds, proclamation money, clear estate in the same, and have resided within the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election; and the same, or similar language, was used in the different acts regulating elections until ; but i have not discovered any instance of the exercise of the right by females, under an interpretation which the full import of the words, "all inhabitants," was subsequently thought to sanction, during the whole of this period. in , however, a revision of the election law then in force was proposed, and upon the committee of the legislature to whom the subject was referred was mr. joseph cooper, of west jersey, a prominent member of the society of friends. as the regulations of that society authorized females to vote in matters relating thereto, mr. cooper claimed for them the like privilege in matters connected with the state, and to support his views, quoted the provisions of the constitution as sanctioning such a course. it was therefore to satisfy him that the committee consented to report a bill in which the expression, "he or she," applied to the voter, was introduced into the section specifying the necessary qualifications; thus giving a legislative endorsement of the alleged meaning of the constitution. still, no cases of females voting by virtue of this more definite provision are on record, and we are warranted in believing that the women of new jersey then, as now, were not apt to overstep the bounds of decorum, or intrude where their characteristic modesty and self-respect might be wounded. this law and its supplements were repealed in , and it is some proof that the peculiar provision under review had not been availed of to any extent, if at all (as its evil consequences would otherwise have become apparent), that we find similar phraseology introduced into the new act. the right of suffrage was conferred upon "all free inhabitants of this state of full age," etc., thus adopting the language of the constitution with the addition of the word "free," and "no person shall be entitled to vote in any other township or precinct than that in which he or she doth actually reside," etc., and in two other places is the possible difference in the sex of the voters recognized. the first occasion on which females voted, of which any precise information has been obtained, was at an election held this year ( ) at elizabethtown, essex county, for members of the legislature. the candidates between whom the greatest rivalry existed, were john condit and william crane, the heads of what were known a year or two later as the "federal republican" and "federal aristocratic" parties, the former the candidate of newark and the northern portions of the county, and the latter the candidate of elizabethtown and the adjoining country, for the council. under the impression that the candidates would poll nearly the same number of votes, the elizabethtown leaders thought that by a bold _coup d'état_ they might secure the success of mr. crane. at a late hour of the day, and, as i have been informed, just before the close of the poll, a number of females were brought up, and under the provisions of the existing laws, allowed to vote; but the manoeuvre was unsuccessful, the majority for mr. condit, in the county, being ninety-three, notwithstanding. these proceedings were made the topic of two or three brief articles in the _newark sentinel_, in one of which the fact that "no less than seventy-five women were polled at the late election in a neighboring borough," was used as a pretended argument for the admission of females to office, and to service in the diplomatic corps; while another ironically asserts that "too much credit can not be given to the federal leaders of elizabethtown for the heroic virtue displayed in advancing in a body to the poll to support their favorite candidates." so discreditable was this occurrence thought, that although another closely contested election took place the following year, we do not find any other than male votes deposited then, in essex county, or elsewhere, until the presidential election of , between mr. adams and mr. jefferson, at which females voted very generally throughout the state; and such continued to be the practice until the passage of the act positively excluding them from the polls. at first the law had been so construed as to admit single women only, but as the practice extended, the construction of the privilege became broader and was made to include females eighteen years old, married or single; and even women of color. at a contested election in hunterdon county, in , the votes of two or three such, actually electing a member of the legislature. it is remarkable that these proceedings did not sooner bring about a repeal of the laws which were thought to sanction them; but that event did not occur until , and it is noticeable that, as the practice originated in essex county, so the flagrant abuses which resulted from it reached their maximum in that county, and brought about its prohibition. [illustration: antoinette l. brown (with autograph).] the circumstances attendant upon this event afford abundant matter for a most interesting chapter of local history, which i am happy to say has been written by a member of the society (mr. james ross),[ ] and will be communicated before long, i trust, for insertion in our proceedings. but the scope of this paper merely calls for a statement of facts. these are as follows: in the year a new court house and jail were to be erected in the county of essex. strenuous exertions were made to have them located elsewhere than at newark, which had been the county town from a very early period. sufficient influence was brought to bear upon the legislature to secure the passage of an act (approved november th of that year) authorizing a special election, at which "the inhabitants" of the county, "qualified to vote in elections for members of the state legislature," etc., were described as the qualified electors to determine by their votes where the buildings should be located. the contest caused a great excitement throughout the county, and, under the existing laws, when the election was held in february, , women of "full age," whether single or married, possessing the required property qualification, were permitted by the judges of election to vote. but as the conflict proceeded, and the blood of the combatants waxed warmer, the number of female voters increased, and it was soon found that every single and every married woman in the county was not only of "full age," but also "worth fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate," and as such entitled to vote if they chose. and not only once, but as often as by change of dress or complicity of the inspectors, they might be able to repeat the process. this was not confined to any one precinct, but was more or less the case in all, and so apparent were these and many other frauds that the legislature at the ensuing session did not hesitate to sat it aside as having been illegally conducted; and, by repealing the act authorizing it, left the buildings to be erected in newark, to which they legitimately belonged. and, in order that no future occurrence of the kind should take place, an act was passed (approved november , ), the preamble to which is as follows: "whereas, doubts have been raised and great diversities in practice obtained throughout the state in regard to the admission of aliens, females, and persons of color or negroes to vote in elections, as also in regard to the mode of ascertaining the qualifications of voters in respect to estate; and whereas, it is highly necessary to the safety, quiet good order and dignity of the state to clear up the said doubts by an act of the representatives of the people declaratory of the true sense and meaning of the constitution, and to ensure its just execution in these particulars according to the intent of the framers thereof: therefore," etc., etc. this act confined the right of suffrage to free white male citizens twenty-one years of age, worth fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate; and disposed of the property qualification by declaring that every person otherwise entitled to vote whose name should be enrolled on the last tax-lists for the state or county should be considered as worth the fifty pounds, thus by legislative enactment determining the meaning of the constitution and settling the difficulty. the law remained unchanged until the adoption of the new constitution a few years since, which instrument is equally restrictive as to persons who shall vote, and removes the property qualification altogether. very recently a refusal to respond to a demand for taxes legally imposed, was received from a distinguished advocate of "woman's rights" in one of the northern counties; who gave as her reasons "that women suffer taxation, and yet have no representation, which is not only unjust to one-half of the adult population, but is contrary to our theory of government"--and that when the attention of men is called to the wide difference between their theory of government and its practice in this particular, that they can not fail to see the mistake they now make, by imposing taxes on women when they refuse them the right of suffrage.[ ] similar arguments were advanced by a sister of richard henry lee, in ,[ ] when, if ever, they were calculated to receive due consideration, yet the distinguished virginian did not hesitate to show the unreasonableness of the demand; in the course of his able answer remarking that (setting aside other motive for restricting the power to males) "perhaps 'twas thought rather out of character for women to press into those tumultuous assemblages of men where the business of choosing representatives is conducted!" and as it is very evident that when in times past the right was, not only claimed, but exercised in new jersey, it never accorded with public sentiment; so it maybe safely predicted that, as was the case in , "the safety, quiet, good order, and dignity of the state," will ever call for its explicit disavowal in times to come. in his speech at the woman's rights convention, , in new york, rev. john pierpont said: "i can go back forty years; and forty years ago, when most of my present audience were not in, but behind, their cradles, passing a stranger, through the neighboring state of new jersey, and stopping for dinner at an inn, where the coach stopped, i saw at the bar where i went to pay, a list of the voters of the town stuck up. my eye ran over it, and i read to my astonishment the names of several women. 'what!' i said, 'do women vote here?' 'certainly,' was the answer, 'when they have real estate.' then the question arose in my mind, why should not women vote: laws are made regulating the tenure of real estate, and the essence of all republicanism is, that they who feel the pressure of the law should have a voice in its enactment." defects in the constitution of new jersey. in a very singular pamphlet published in trenton, , called "eumenes: a collection of papers on the errors and omissions of the constitution of new jersey," the writer is very severe upon the fact that women were allowed to exercise the same right as the sterner sex; observing that "nothing can be a greater mockery of this inalienable right, than to suffer it to be exercised by persons who do not pretend any judgment on the subject."[ ] extract from "eumenes," page , no. : "defects of the constitution respecting the qualification of electors and elected": it will not be denied that a constitution ought to point out what persons may elect and who may be elected; and that it should as distinctly prescribe their several qualifications, and render those qualifications conformable to justice and the public welfare. indeed, on the proper adjustment of the elective franchise depends, in a great measure, the liberty of the citizen and the safety of the government. upon examination it will be found that the constitution requires amendment upon this head in several particulars. it has ever been a matter of dispute upon the constitution, whether females, as well as males, are entitled to elect officers of government. if we were to be guided by the letter of the charter, it would seem to place them on the same footing in this particular; and yet, recurring to _political right_ and the nature of things, a very forcible construction has been raised against the admission of _women_ to participate in the public suffrage. the th article of the constitution declares that "_all the inhabitants_ of this colony of full age who are worth fifty pounds, shall be entitled to vote for representatives." those who support the rights of women say, that "all inhabitants" must mean "_all women_" inhabitants as well as "_all men_." whereas, it is urged on the other side that the makers must have meant "all _male_ inhabitants," and that the expression is to be restrained so as to arrive at the _intent_ of the framers of the instrument. this difference of sentiment has given rise to diversity of _practice_ on this head, and furnished a pretence from which many an electioneering trick has resulted. i could refer to instances which would prove what is advanced, but the people want no proofs. it is well known that women are admitted or rejected, just as may suit the views of the persons in direction. the thing should be rectified. if women are fit persons to take part in this important franchise, though excluded from other public functions, it should be expressed in the constitution. they would then know their rights, and those rights could not be sported with to serve the wretched purposes of a party election. to my mind, without going into an historical or philosophical deduction of particulars on the subject, it is evident that women, generally, are neither by nature, nor habit, nor education, nor by their necessary condition in society, fitted to perform this duty with credit to themselves or advantage to the public. in a note the author adds: it is perfectly disgusting to witness the manner in which women are polled at our elections. nothing can be greater mockery of this invaluable and sacred right, than to suffer it to be exercised by persons who do not even pretend to any judgment on the subject. the great practical mischief, however, resulting from their admission under our present form of government, is that the towns and populous villages gain an unfair advantage over the country, by the greater facility they enjoy over the latter in drawing out their women to the elections. many important election contests have been terminated at last by these auxiliaries in favor of candidates supported by town interests. i believe that the convention which framed the constitution had no view to the admission of females, either single women or widows, to elect the public officers. but such is the phraseology of the constitution that it seems a violation of it not to admit their votes. the best constitutions have guarded against mistakes on this head. those of massachusetts, new york, pennsylvania, maryland, vermont, etc., do not admit of female electors. whether this be right or wrong, the objection to our constitution is, that it does not settle the point one way or the other with an absolute certainty. the practice is variable. the generally received opinion, however, is that the constitution permits it. in this state of the matter it is not competent for the legislature to interfere. nothing short of a constitutional declaration can decide the question; which is, in fact, an important one, and is growing more and more so to the country in proportion as the towns and villages increase in numbers and population. for, independent of the theoretic question, it is evident that the admission of these votes gives a vast advantage to the thickly settled places over the more dispersed population of the country. in another note the author says: "mr. fox in his late harangue in the british house of commons, in favor of more _equal_ suffrage, concedes the unfitness of _females_ to share in elections. he says no instance of their participation of public suffrage in any government can be shown; and that this right (which many of his party hold to be a natural one, though he affects to stop short of that) is properly denied to the fairest productions of nature. of widows and spinsters above twenty-one, there can not, i imagine, be fewer than , . it is certainly not unimportant to leave doubtful the rights of so great a number of people." mr. whitehead's report clearly shows three unjust inferences from the facts stated: _first._ that all the corruptions of that special election in essex county could be traced to the women. _second._ that the quiet, good order, and dignity of the state could be secured only by the restriction of the suffrage to "free white male citizens worth fifty pounds." _third._ "the unreasonableness of the demand" for representation by women tax-payers. st. tradition shows that the voting early and often in varied feminine costume, was done by men five feet four, "picked men," not for their bravery, but for their inferiority. depriving women of their right to vote, because the men abused their privilege, under cover of sex, in , was, however, on the same principle that politicians in propose to disfranchise the women of utah, because of their polygamous relations. that is, punish the women who claim a right to only one-sixth part of a man's time and affections, because the men claim six wives apiece. the question naturally suggests itself to any fair mind, why not deprive the men of the suffrage, and let the women vote themselves each one husband? who doubts the fate of the system under such legislation? every woman in her normal condition, unless wholly perverted by the religious dogma of self-sacrifice and self-crucifixion, desires to own the man she loves as absolutely and completely, as every man desires to consecrate to himself alone the woman he loves. so to deprive the women of essex of their right to vote to have the county buildings in elizabeth, because of the undue excitement and dishonesty of the men, was to punish the best class of citizens for the crimes of the worst. d. the assumption that "free white male citizens worth fifty pounds," could legislate for "aliens, women, and negroes," better than those classes could for themselves, is to deny the fundamental principle of republicanism; governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; and to reassert the despotic ideas of the old world that national safety depends on the wisdom of privileged orders--nobles, kings, and czars. the experiment in wyoming has fully proved that when "free white male citizens" reigned supreme, the polls there were scenes of drunkenness, violence, and death; men knocking each other down and putting bullets through each other's brains were of annual occurrence. but when the suffrage was extended, and women admitted to the polling booths, quiet, good order, and dignity were inaugurated. d. "taxation without representation is tyranny." james otis said: "to tax a man's property without his consent, is in effect disfranchising him of every civil right. for what one civil right is worth a rush, after a man's property is subject to be taken from him at the pleasure of another?" is not such injustice as grievous to woman as man? does the accident of sex place woman outside of all ordinary principles of law and justice? it is the essence of cruelty and tyranny to take her hard earnings without her consent, blocked as her way is to wealth and independence, to make sidewalks, highways, and bridges; to build jails, prisons, and alms-houses, the legitimate outgrowth of the whisky traffic, which she abhors. on what principle of republican government is one class of tax-payers thus defrauded of one of the most sacred rights of citizenship? what logical argument can be made to prove "the unreasonableness of this demand," for one class above all others? principles of justice, to have any value or significance, must be universal in their application to all humanity. th. as to the point made by "eumenes," "that women are not fit persons to take part in government," "that they do not even pretend to any judgment on the subject," we have simply to say that the writer's prejudices contradict all the facts of our common experience. women are so pre-eminently fitted for government, that the one fear in all ages among men has been lest by some chance they should be governed by women; and the smaller the man the greater the fear. blackstone says "the elements of sovereignty are three: 'wisdom, goodness, and power.'" admitting for the sake of argument that "power" in this connection means physical force, the distinctive point of male superiority, and not moral power, which may be equal in both sexes, all must concede the remaining necessary elements to woman as well as man. who so bold, or blind, as to deny wisdom and goodness, the chief elements of beneficent government, to woman, with the long record of illustrious and saintly characters gilding every page of history before him? whatever doubts the women known to the author of "eumenes" might have had as to their own capacities; the women of to-day do assume to know that they are more capable of self-government than men are, and that they understand the principles that underlie a republic far better than the vast majority of foreigners now crowding our shores, the right honorable james charles fox to the contrary notwithstanding. yea, without danger of contradiction, we may say there are women in this nation even now, who understand the political issues of this hour quite as well as those who stand at the head of our government. we are very apt to accept popular assertions ofttimes repeated as truisms, and in this way man's superiority has passed into a proverb, and the sex in general believe it. when milton penned the line, "god, thy will, thou mine," and made his eve thus reverently submissive to her adam, he little thought of bright girls in the nineteenth century, well versed in science, philosophy, and the languages, sitting in the senior class of a college of the american republic, laughing his male conceit to scorn. footnotes: [ ] the _new york tribune_, feb. , , gives the following interesting facts: "william franklin, the illegitimate son of benjamin, who was long a resident of new york and hereabout, conducted in person his father's postal system. at amboy, or perth amboy, a little town of once high aristocratic standing, which dozes on the edge of the jersey hills and overlooks the oyster groves of prince's bay, began the post-office of north america under john hamilton in . it was a private patent, and he sold it to the government. many years afterward william franklin settled at the same place, where once his father passed in hamilton's day a footsore vagrant pressing from boston to philadelphia to get bread. there the younger franklin reared a 'palace,' and lived in it as governor of new jersey till his adherence to the crown, that had done better for him than his father--made him an exile and a captive. he was sent under guard to east windsor, conn., and his jail was made in the house of captain ebenezer grant there, of the family of president grant's ancestors, and he was prohibited the use of pen, ink, and paper--a needless punishment to a man who had delivered so many letters to others." [ ] in the _new york observer_, . [ ] after a diligent search for mr. james ross and his promised "interesting chapter of local history," we learned that the author was in his grave, and that from his posthumous papers this valuable document had not yet been exhumed by his literary executor. [ ] the following letter contains the sentiments referred to in the text: orange, n. j., _dec. , _. mr. mandeville, tax collector, sir:--enclosed i return my tax bill, without paying it. my reason for doing so is, that women suffer taxation, and yet have no representation, which is not only unjust to one-half the adult population, but is contrary to our theory of government. for years some women have been paying their taxes under protest, but still taxes are imposed, and representation is not granted. the only course now left us is to refuse to pay the tax. we know well what the immediate result of this refusal must be. but we believe that when the attention of men is called to the wide difference between their theory of government and its practice, in this particular, they can not fail to see the mistake they now make, by imposing taxes on women, while they refuse them the right of suffrage, and that the sense of justice which is in all good men, will lead them to correct it. then we shall cheerfully pay our taxes--not till then. respectfully, lucy stone. [ ] see _washington national intelligencer_ for oct. , , and _historical magazine_, vol. i., page . [ ] _frank leslie's magazine_, feb., . chapter xiii. reminiscences. by e. c. s. the reports of the conventions held in seneca falls and rochester, n. y., in , attracted the attention of one destined to take a most important part in the new movement--susan b. anthony, who for her courage and executive ability was facetiously called by william henry charming, the napoleon of our struggle. at this time she was teaching in the academy at canajoharie, a little village in the beautiful valley of the mohawk. "the woman's declaration of independence" issued from those conventions, startled and amused her, and she laughed heartily at the novelty and presumption of the demand. but on returning home to spend her vacation, she was surprised to find that her sober quaker parents and sisters having attended the rochester meetings, regarded them as very profitable and interesting, and the demands made as proper and reasonable. she was already interested in the anti-slavery and temperance reforms, and was an active member of an organization called "the daughters of temperance," and had spoken a few times in their public meetings. but the new gospel of "woman's rights," found a ready response in her mind, and from that time her best efforts have been given to the enfranchisement of woman. it was in the month of may, of , that i first met miss anthony. that was to both of us an eventful meeting, that in a measure henceforth shaped our lives. as our own estimate of ourselves and our friendship may differ somewhat from that taken from an objective point of view, i will give an extract from what a mutual friend wrote of us some years ago: miss susan b. anthony, a well-known, indefatigable and life-long advocate of temperance, anti-slavery, and woman's rights, has been, since , mrs. stanton's intimate associate in reformatory labors. these celebrated women are of about equal ages, but of the most opposite characteristics, and illustrate the theory of counterparts in affection by entertaining for each other a friendship of extraordinary strength. mrs. stanton is a fine writer, but a poor executant; miss anthony is a thorough manager, but a poor writer. both have large brains and great hearts; neither has any selfish ambition for celebrity; but each vies with the other in a noble enthusiasm, for the cause to which they are devoting their lives. nevertheless, to describe them critically, i ought to say that opposites though they be, each does not so much supplement the other's difficiencies as augment the other's eccentricities. thus they often stimulate each other's aggressiveness, and at the same time diminish each other's discretion. but whatever may be the imprudent utterances of the one, or the impolitic methods of the other, the animating motives of both are evermore as white as the light. the good that they do is by design; the harm by accident. these two women sitting together in their parlors, have for the last thirty years been diligent forgers of all manner of projectiles, from fire works to thunderbolts, and have hurled them with unexpected explosion into the midst of all manner of educational, reformatory, religious, and political assemblies, sometimes to the pleasant surprise and half welcome of the members, more often to the bewilderment and prostration of numerous victims; and in a few signal instances, to the gnashing of angry men's teeth. i know of no two more pertinacious incendiaries in the whole country! nor will they themselves deny the charge. in fact this noise-making twain are the two sticks of a drum for keeping up what daniel webster called "the rub-a-dub of agitation." how well i remember the day i first met my life-long friend. george thompson and william lloyd garrison having announced an anti-slavery meeting in seneca falls, miss anthony came to attend it. these gentlemen were my guests. walking home after the adjournment, we met mrs. bloomer and miss anthony on the corner of the street waiting to greet us. there she stood with her good earnest face and genial smile, dressed in gray silk, hat and all the same color, relieved with pale blue ribbons, the perfection of neatness and sobriety. i liked her thoroughly, and why i did not at once invite her home with me to dinner, i do not know. she accuses me of that neglect and never has forgiven me, as she wished to see and hear all she could of our noble friends. i suppose my mind was full of what i had heard, or my coming dinner, or the probable behavior of three mischievous boys who had been busily exploring the premises while i was at the meeting. that i had abundant cause for anxiety in regard to the philosophical experiments these young savages might try, the reader will admit when informed of some of their performances.[ ] it is often said by those who know miss anthony best, that she has been my good angel, always pushing and guiding me to work, that but for her pertinacity i should never have accomplished the little i have; and on the other hand, it has been said that i forged the thunderbolts and she fired them. perhaps all this is in a measure true. with the cares of a large family, i might in time, like too many women, have become wholly absorbed in a narrow family selfishness, had not my friend been continually exploring new fields for missionary labors. her description of a body of men on any platform, complacently deciding questions in which women had an equal interest, without an equal voice, readily roused me to a determination to throw a firebrand in the midst of their assembly. thus, whenever i saw that stately quaker girl coming across my lawn, i knew that some happy convocation of the sons of adam were to be set by the ears, by one of our appeals or resolutions. the little portmanteau stuffed with facts was opened, and there we had what the rev. john smith and the hon. richard roe had said, false interpretations of bible texts, the statistics of women robbed of their property, shut out of some college, half paid for their work, the reports of some disgraceful trial, injustice enough to turn any woman's thoughts from stockings and puddings. then we would get out our pens and write articles for papers, or a petition to the legislature, letters to the faithful here and there, stir up the women in ohio, pennsylvania, or massachusetts, call on _the lily_, _the una_, _the liberator_, and _the standard_, to remember our wrongs as well as those of the slave. we never met without issuing a pronunciamento on some question. we were at once fast friends, in thought and sympathy we were one, and in the division of labor we exactly complemented each other. in writing we did better work together than either could alone. while she is slow and analytical in composition, i am rapid and synthetic. i am the better writer, she the better critic. she supplied the facts and statistics, i the philosophy and rhetoric, and together we have made arguments that have stood unshaken by the storms of thirty long years: arguments that no man has answered. our speeches may be considered the united product of our two brains. so entirely one are we, that in all our associations, ever side by side on the same platform, not one feeling of jealousy or envy has ever shadowed our lives. we have indulged freely in criticism of each other when alone, and hotly contended whenever we have differed, but in our friendship of thirty years there has never been a break of one hour. to the world we always seem to agree and uniformly reflect each other. like husband and wife, each has the feeling that we must have no differences in public. thus united, at an early day we began to survey the state and nation, the future field of our labors. we read with critical eyes the proceedings of congress and legislatures, of general assemblies and synods, of conferences and conventions, and discovered that in all alike the existence of woman was entirely ignored. night after night by an old-fashioned fireplace we plotted and planned the coming agitation, how, when, and where each entering wedge could be driven, by which woman might be recognized, and her rights secured. speedily the state was aflame with disturbances in temperance and teachers' conventions, and the press heralded the news far and near that women delegates had suddenly appeared demanding admission in men's conventions; that their rights had been hotly contended session after session, by liberal men on the one side; the clergy and learned professors on the other; an overwhelming majority rejecting the women with terrible anathemas and denunciations. such battles were fought over and over in the chief cities of many of the northern states, until the bigotry of men in all the reforms and professions was thoroughly tested. every right achieved: to enter a college; to study a profession; to labor in some new industry, or to advocate a reform measure, was contended for inch by inch. many of those enjoying all these blessings, now complacently say, "if these pioneers in reform, had only pressed their measures more judiciously; in a more ladylike manner; in more choice language; in a more deferential attitude, the gentlemen could not have behaved so rudely." we give in these pages enough of the characteristics of these women, of the sentiments they expressed, of their education, ancestry, and position, to show that no power could have met the prejudice and bigotry of that period more successfully than they did, who so bravely and persistently fought and conquered them. true, those gentlemen were all quite willing that women should join their societies and churches, to do the drudgery, to work up the enthusiasm in fairs and revivals, conventions and flag presentations, to pay a dollar apiece into their treasury for the honor of being members of their various organizations, to beg money for the church, circulate petitions from door to door, to visit saloons, to pray with or defy rum-sellers, to teach school at half-price, and sit round the outskirts of a hall like so many wall flowers in teachers' state conventions; but they would not allow them to sit on the platform, address the assembly, nor vote for men and measures. those who had learned the first lessons of human rights from the lips of beriah green, samuel j. may, and gerrit smith, would not accept any such position. when women abandoned the temperance reform, all interest in the question gradually died out in the state, and practically nothing was done in new york for nearly twenty years. gerrit smith made one or two attempts toward an "anti-dram-shop party," but as women could not vote they felt no interest in the measure, and failure was the result. i soon convinced my new friend that the ballot was the key to the situation, that when we had a voice in the laws we should be welcomed to any platform. in turning the intense earnestness and religious enthusiasm of this great-souled woman into this one channel, i soon felt the power of my convert in goading me forever forward to more untiring work. soon fastened heart to heart with hooks of steel in a friendship that thirty years of confidence and affection have steadily strengthened, we have labored faithfully together. after twelve added years of agitation, from the passage of the property bill, new york conceded other civil rights to married women. pending the discussion of these various bills, susan b. anthony circulated petitions both for the civil and political rights of woman throughout the state, traveling in stage coaches and open wagons and sleighs in all seasons, and on foot from door to door through towns and cities, doing her uttermost to rouse women to some sense of their natural rights as human beings, to their civil and political rights as citizens of a republic; and while expending her time, strength, and money to secure these blessings for the women of the state, they would gruffly tell her they had all the rights they wanted, or rudely shut the door in her face, leaving her to stand outside, petition in hand, with as much contempt as if she were asking alms for herself. none but those who did that petition work in the early days for the slaves and the women, can ever know the hardships and humiliations that were endured. but it was done because it was only through petitions, a power seemingly so inefficient, that disfranchised classes could be heard in the national councils, hence their importance. the frivolous objections some women made to our appeals were as exasperating as ridiculous. to reply to them politely at all times, required a divine patience. on one occasion, after addressing the legislature, some of the ladies in congratulating me, inquired in a deprecating tone, "what do you do with your children?" "ladies," i said, "it takes me no longer to speak than you to listen; what have you done with your children the two hours you have been sitting here? but to answer your questions. i never leave my children to go to saratoga, washington, newport, or europe, nor even to come here. they are at this moment with a faithful nurse at the delavan house, and having accomplished my mission, we shall all return home together." miss anthony, who was a frequent guest at my home, sometimes stood guard on such occasions.[ ] the children of our household say that among their earliest recollections is the tableau of "mother and susan," seated by a large table covered with books and papers, always writing and talking about the constitution, interrupted with occasional visits from others of the faithful. hither came elizabeth oakes smith, paulina wright davis, frances dana gage, dr. harriot hunt, antoinette brown, lucy stone, abby kelly, by turn, until all these names were as familiar as household words to the children. martha c. wright, of auburn, was a frequent visitor at the center of the rebellion, as my sequestered cottage on locust hill was facetiously called. she brought to these councils of war not only her own individual wisdom, but that of the wife and sister of william h. seward, and sometimes encouraging suggestions from the great statesman himself, from whose writings we often gleaned grand and radical sentiments. lucretia mott, too, being an occasional guest at her sister's in auburn, added the dignity of her presence at many of these important consultations. she was uniformly in favor of toning down our fiery pronunciamentoes. for miss anthony and myself, the english language had no words strong enough to express the indignation we felt in view of the prolonged injustice to woman. we found, however, that after expressing ourselves in the most vehement manner, and thus in a measure giving our feelings an outlet, we were reconciled to issue the documents at last in milder terms. if the men of the state could have known the stern rebukes, the denunciations, the wit, the irony, the sarcasm that were garnered there, and then judiciously pigeon-holed, and milder and more persuasive appeals substituted, they would have been truly thankful that they fared no worse. mr. seward, in the brief intervals in his washington life, made frequent visits in our neighborhood at the house of judge g. v. sackett, a man of wealth and some political influence. one of the senator's standing anecdotes at dinner to illustrate the purifying influence of woman at the polls, which he always told with great zest for my special benefit, was in regard to the manner his wife's sister exercised the right of suffrage. "mrs. worden having the supervision of a farm near auburn, was obliged to hire two or three men for its cultivation. it was her custom, having examined them as to their capacity to perform the required labor, their knowledge of tools, horses, cattle, gardening, and horticulture, to inquire as to their politics. she informed them that being a woman and a widow, and having no one to represent her, she must have republicans to do her voting, to represent her political opinions, and it always so happened that the men who offered their services belonged to the republican party. "some one remarked to her one day, 'are you sure your men vote as they promise?' 'yes,' she replied, 'i trust nothing to their discretion. i take them in my carriage within sight of the polls, put them in charge of some republican who can be trusted. i see they have the right tickets, then i feel sure i am faithfully represented, and i know i am right in so doing. i have neither husband, father, nor son; am responsible for my own taxes; am amenable to all the laws of the state; must pay the penalty of my own crimes if i commit any; hence i have the right, according to the principles of our government, to representation, and so long as i am not permitted to vote in person, i have a right to do so by proxy, hence i hire men to vote my principles.'" thus she disposed of the statesman and his seriocomic morality. these two sisters, daughters of judge miller, an influential man of wealth and position, were women of culture and remarkable natural intelligence, and interested in all progressive ideas. they had rare common-sense and independence of character, great simplicity of manner, and were wholly indifferent to the little arts of the toilet. i was often told by fashionable women that one great objection to the woman's rights movement was the publicity of the conventions; the immodesty of speaking from a platform; and the trial of seeing one's name in the papers. several ladies made such remarks to me one day as a bevy of us were sitting together in one of the fashionable hotels in newport. we were holding a convention there at that time, and some of them had been present at one of the sessions. "really," said i, "ladies, you surprise me; our conventions are not as public as the ball-room where i saw you all dancing last night. as to modesty, it may be a question in many minds whether it is less modest to speak words of soberness and truth, plainly dressed with one's person decently covered on a platform, than gorgeously arrayed with bare arms and shoulders, to waltz in the arms of strange gentlemen. "and as to the press, i noticed you all reading with evident satisfaction the personal compliments and full descriptions of your dresses at the last ball, in this morning's papers. i presume that any one of you would have felt slighted if your name had not been mentioned in the general description. when my name is mentioned, it is in connection with some great moral movement, as making a speech, or reading a resolution. thus we all suffer or enjoy the same publicity, we are all alike ridiculed, wise men pity and ridicule you, fops and fools pity and ridicule me, you as the victims of folly and fashion, me as the representative of many of the disagreeable 'isms' of the age, as they choose to distinguish liberal opinions. it is amusing in analyzing prejudices to see on what slender foundations they rest," and the ladies around me were so completely cornered that no one attempted an answer. i remember being at a party at gov. seward's one evening, when mr. burlingame and his chinese delegation were among the guests. as soon as the dancing commenced, and young ladies and gentlemen locked in each other's arms, began to whirl in the giddy waltz, these chinese gentlemen were so shocked that they covered their faces with their fans, occasionally peeping out each side and expressing their surprise to each other. they thought us the most immodest women on the face of the earth. modesty and good taste are questions of latitude and education; the more people know, the more their ideas are expanded, by travel, experience, and observation; the less easily they are shocked. the narrowness and bigotry of women, are the result of their circumscribed sphere of thought and action. soon after judge hurlbut had published his work on "human rights," and i had addressed the legislature the first time, we met at a dinner party in albany; mr. and mrs. seward were there. the senator was very merry on that occasion, and made judge hurlbut and myself the target for all his ridicule on the woman's rights question, in which most of the company joined, so that we stood quite alone. sure that we had the right on our side, and the arguments clearly defined in our own minds, and both being cool and self-possessed, and with wit and sarcasm quite equal to any of them, we fought the senator inch by inch until he had a very narrow platform to stand on. mrs. seward maintained an unbroken silence, while those ladies who did open their lips were with the opposition, supposing, no doubt, that mr. seward represented his wife's opinions. when the ladies withdrew from the table, my embarrassment may be easily imagined. separated from the judge, i should now be an hour with a bevy of ladies who evidently felt a repulsion to all my most cherished opinions. it was the first time i had met mrs. seward, and i did not then know the broad liberal tendencies of her mind. what a tide of disagreeable thoughts rushed through me in that short passage from the dining-room to the parlor; how gladly i would have glided out the front door, but that was impossible, so i made up my mind to stroll round as if self-absorbed and look at the books and paintings until the judge appeared, as i took it for granted that after all i said at the table on the political, religious, and social equality of woman, not a lady would have anything to say to me. imagine then my surprise when the moment the parlor door was closed upon us, mrs. seward, approaching me most affectionately said, "let me thank you for all the brave words you uttered at the dinner-table, and for your speech before the legislature, that thrilled my soul as i read it over and over." i was filled with joy and astonishment. recovering myself, i said, "is it possible, mrs. seward, that you agree with me? then why, when i was so hard pressed with foes on every side, did you not come to the defence? i supposed that all you ladies were hostile to every one of my ideas on this question!" "no, no!" said she, "i am with you thoroughly, but i am a born coward; there is nothing i dread more than mr. seward's ridicule. i would rather walk up to the cannon's mouth than encounter it." "i too am with you," "and i," said two or three others who had been silent at the table. i never had a more serious, heartfelt conversation than with these ladies. mrs. seward's spontaneity and earnestness had moved them all deeply, and when the senator appeared the first word he said was, "before we part i must confess that i was fairly vanquished by you and the judge, on my own principles (for we had quoted some of his most radical utterances). you have the argument, but custom and prejudice are against you, and they are stronger than truth and logic." we had quite a magnetic circle of reformers in central new york, that kept the missives flying. at rochester, were william h. ohanning, frederick douglass, the anthonys, the posts, the hallowells, the stebbins, some grand quaker families in farmington, and waterloo; mrs. bloomer and her sprightly weekly called _the lily_, at seneca falls; mrs. wright, mrs. worden, mrs. seward, at auburn; gerrit smith's family at peterboro; beriah green's at whitesboro, with the sedgwicks and mays, and matilda joslyn gage at syracuse. although mrs. gage was surrounded with a family of small children for years, yet she was always a student, an omnivorous reader and liberal thinker, and her pen was ever at work answering the attacks on the woman movement in the county and state journals. in the village of manlius, where she lived some time after her marriage, she was the sole representative of this unpopular reform. when walking the street she would often hear some boy, shielded by a dry-goods box or a fence, cry out "woman's rights." on one occasion, at a large evening party at mr. van schaick's, the host read aloud a poem called rufus chubb, a burlesque on "strong-minded" women, ridiculing careers and conventions, and the many claims being made for larger freedom. mrs. gage, then quite young, was surprised and embarrassed. every eye was fixed on her, as evidently the type of womanhood the author was portraying. as soon as the reader's voice died away, mrs. gage, with marked coolness and grace, approached him, and with an imaginary wreath crowned him the poet-laureate of the occasion, and introduced him to the company as "the immortal rufus chubb." the expressive gesture and the few brief words conferring the honor, turned the laugh on mr. van schaick so completely, that he was the target for all the merriment of the evening. mrs. gage was the only daughter of dr. hezekiah joslyn, a man of learning and philanthropic tendencies. he gave much attention to the direction of his daughter's thought and reading. she always had a knack of rummaging through old libraries, bringing more startling facts to light than any woman i ever knew.[ ] in the winter of , just after the election of lincoln, the abolitionists decided to hold a series of conventions in the chief cities of the north. all their available speakers were pledged for active service. the republican party, having absorbed the political abolitionists within its ranks by its declared hostility to the extension of slavery, had come into power with overwhelming majorities; hence the garrisonian abolitionists, opposed to all compromises, felt this was the opportune moment to rouse the people to the necessity of holding that party to its declared principles, and pushing it, if possible, a step or two forward. i was invited to accompany miss anthony and beriah green to a few points in central new york. but we soon found, by the concerted action of republicans all over the country, the conventions were broken up at every point. this furnished one occasion on which republicans and democrats could work harmoniously together, and they made common cause against the abolitionists. the john brown raid the year before had intimidated northern politicians as much as southern slaveholders, and the general feeling was that the discussion of the question at the north should be altogether suppressed. from buffalo to albany our experience was the same, varied only by the fertile resources of the actors and their surroundings. thirty years of education had somewhat changed the character of northern mobs. they no longer dragged men through the streets with ropes round their necks, nor broke up women's prayer-meetings; they no longer threw eggs and brickbats at the apostles of reform, nor dipped them in barrels of tar and feathers; they simply crowded the halls, and with laughing, groaning, clapping, and cheering, effectually interrupted the proceedings. thus we passed the two days we had advertised for a convention in st. james' hall, buffalo. as we paid for the hall, the mob enjoyed themselves at our expense in more ways than one. at the appointed time every session we took our places on the platform, making at various intervals of silence renewed efforts to speak. not succeeding, we sat and conversed with each other and many friends who crowded the platform and ante-rooms. thus among ourselves we had a pleasant reception and a discussion of many phases of the question that brought us together. the mob not only vouchsafed to us the privilege of talking to our friends without interruption, but delegations of their own came behind the scenes from time to time, to discuss with us the right of free speech and the constitutionality of slavery. these buffalo rowdies were headed by ex-justice hinson, aided by younger members of the fillmore and seymour families and the chief of police and fifty subordinates, who were admitted to the hall free for the express purpose of protecting our right of free speech, which in defiance of the mayor's orders, they did not make the slightest effort to do. at lockport there was a feeble attempt in the same direction. at albion neither hall, church, nor school-house could be obtained, so we held small meetings in the dining-room of the hotel. at rochester, corinthian hall was packed long before the hour advertised. this was a delicately appreciative jocose mob. at this point aaron powell joined us. as he had just risen from a bed of sickness, looking pale and emaciated, he slowly mounted the platform. the mob at once took in his look of exhaustion, and as he seated himself they gave an audible, simultaneous sigh, as if to say, what a relief it is to be seated! so completely did the tender manifestation reflect mr. powell's apparent condition, that the whole audience burst into a roar of laughter. here, too, all attempts to speak were futile. at port byron a generous sprinkling of cayenne pepper on the stove, soon cut short all constitutional arguments and paeans to liberty. and so it was all the way to albany. the whole state was aflame with the mob spirit, and from boston and various points in other states, the same news reached us. as the legislature was in session, and we were advertised in albany, a radical member sarcastically moved "that as mrs. stanton and miss anthony were about to move on albany, the militia be ordered out for the protection of the city." happily, albany could then boast a democratic mayor, a man of courage and conscience, who said the right of free speech should never be trodden underfoot where he had the power to prevent it. and grandly did that one determined man maintain order in his jurisdiction. through all the sessions of the convention mayor thatcher sat on the platform, his police stationed in different parts of the hall and outside the building, to disperse the crowd as fast as collected. if a man or boy hissed or made the slightest interruption, he was immediately ejected. and not only did the mayor preserve order in the meetings, but with a company of armed police, he escorted us every time to and from the delavan house. the last night gerrit smith addressed the mob from the steps of the hotel, after which they gave him three cheers, and dispersed in good order. when proposing for the mayor a vote of thanks at the close of the convention, mr. smith expressed his fears that it had been a severe ordeal for him to listen to these prolonged anti-slavery discussions, he smiled, and said: "i have really been deeply interested and instructed. i rather congratulate myself that a convention of this character has at last come in the line of my business, otherwise i should have probably remained in ignorance of many important facts and opinions i now understand and appreciate." whilst all this was going on publicly, we had an equally trying experience progressing day by day behind the scenes. miss anthony had been instrumental in helping a fugitive mother with her child, escape from a husband who had immured her in an insane asylum. the wife, belonging to one of the first families of new york, her brother a united states senator, and the husband a man of position, a large circle of friends and acquaintances were interested in the result. though she was incarcerated in an insane asylum for eighteen months, yet members of her own family again and again testified that she was not insane. miss anthony knowing that she was not, and believing fully that the unhappy mother was the victim of a conspiracy, would not reveal her hiding-place. knowing the confidence miss anthony felt in the wisdom of mr. garrison and mr. phillips, they were implored to use their influence with her to give up the fugitives. letters and telegrams, persuasions, arguments, warnings, from mr. garrison, mr. phillips, the senator, on the one side, and from lydia mott, mrs. elizabeth f. ellet, abby hopper gibbons, on the other, poured in upon her day after day, but miss anthony remained immovable, although she knew she was defying authority and violating law, and that she might be arrested any moment on the platform. we had known so many aggravated cases of this kind, that in daily counsel we resolved that this woman should not be recaptured if it was possible to prevent it. to us it looked as imperative a duty to shield a sane mother who had been torn from a family of little children and doomed to the companionship of lunatics, and to aid her in fleeing to a place of safety, as to help a fugitive from slavery to canada. in both cases an unjust law was violated; in both cases the supposed owners of the victims were defied, hence, in point of law and morals, the act was the same in both cases. the result proved the wisdom of miss anthony's decision, as all with whom mrs. p. came in contact for years afterward, expressed the opinion that she was perfectly sane and always had been. could the dark secrets of these insane asylums be brought to light, we should be shocked to know the countless number of rebellious wives, sisters, and daughters that are thus annually sacrificed to false customs and conventionalisms, and barbarous laws made by men for women. quite an agitation occurred in , on woman's costume. in demanding a place in the world of work, the unfitness of her dress seemed to some, an insurmountable obstacle. how can you, it was said, ever compete with man for equal place and pay, with garments of such frail fabrics and so cumbrously fashioned, and how can you ever hope to enjoy the same health and vigor with man, so long as the waist is pressed into the smallest compass, pounds of clothing hung on the hips, the limbs cramped with skirts, and with high heels the whole woman thrown out of her true equilibrium. wise men, physicians, and sensible women, made their appeals, year after year; physiologists lectured on the subject; the press commented, until it seemed as if there were a serious demand for some decided steps, in the direction of a rational costume for women. the most casual observer could see how many pleasures young girls were continually sacrificing to their dress: in walking, running, rowing, skating, dancing, going up and down stairs, climbing trees and fences, the airy fabrics and flowing skirts were a continual impediment and vexation. we can not estimate how large a share of the ill-health and temper among women is the result of the crippling, cribbing influence of her costume. fathers, husbands, and brothers, all joined in protest against the small waist, and stiff distended petticoats, which were always themes for unbounded ridicule. but no sooner did a few brave conscientious women adopt the bifurcated costume, an imitation in part of the turkish style, than the press at once turned its guns on "the bloomer," and the same fathers, husbands, and brothers, with streaming eyes and pathetic tones, conjured the women of their households to cling to the prevailing fashions.[ ] the object of those who donned the new attire, was primarily health and freedom; but as the daughter of gerrit smith introduced it just at the time of the early conventions, it was supposed to be an inherent element in the demand for political equality. as some of those who advocated the right of suffrage wore the dress, and had been identified with all the unpopular reforms, in the reports of our conventions, the press rung the changes on "strong-minded," "bloomer," "free love," "easy divorce," "amalgamation." i wore the dress two years and found it a great blessing. what a sense of liberty i felt, in running up and down stairs with my hands free to carry whatsoever i would, to trip through the rain or snow with no skirts to hold or brush, ready at any moment to climb a hill-top to see the sun go down, or the moon rise, with no ruffles or trails to be limped by the dew, or soiled by the grass. what an emancipation from little petty vexatious trammels and annoyances every hour of the day. yet such is the tyranny of custom, that to escape constant observation, criticism, ridicule, persecution, mobs,[ ] one after another gladly went back to the old slavery and sacrificed freedom to repose. i have never wondered since that the chinese women allow their daughters' feet to be encased in iron shoes, nor that the hindoo widows walk calmly to the funeral pyre. i suppose no act of my life ever gave my cousin, gerrit smith, such deep sorrow, as my abandonment of the "bloomer costume." he published an open letter[ ] to me on the subject, and when his daughter, mrs. miller, three years after, followed my example, he felt that women had so little courage and persistence, that for a time he almost despaired of the success of the suffrage movement; of such vital consequence in woman's mental and physical development did he feel the dress to be. gerrit smith[ ] samuel j. may, j. c. jackson, c. d. miller and d. c. bloomer, sustained the women who lead in this reform, unflinchingly, during the trying experiment. let the names of those who made this protest be remembered. we knew the bloomer costume never could be generally becoming, as it required a perfection of form, limbs, and feet, such as few possessed, and we who wore it also knew that it was not artistic. though the martyrdom proved too much for us who had so many other measures to press on the public conscience, yet no experiment is lost, however evanescent, that rouses thought to the injurious consequences of the present style of dress, sacrificing to its absurdities so many of the most promising girls of this generation. footnotes: [ ] one imagined himself possessed of rare powers of invention (an ancestral weakness for generations), and had just made a life-preserver of corks, and tested its virtues on a brother about eighteen months old. accompanied by a troop of expectant boys, the baby was drawn in his carriage to the banks of the seneca, stripped, the string of corks tied under his arms, and set afloat in the river, the philosopher and his satellites in a row-boat, watching the experiment. the child, accustomed to a morning bath in a large tub, splashed about joyfully, keeping his head above water. he was as blue as indigo, and as cold as a frog when rescued by his anxious mother. the next day, the same victimized infant was seen by a passing friend, seated on the chimney, on the highest peak of the house. without alarming any one, the friend hurried up to the house-top, and rescued the child from the arms of the philosopher. another time, three elder brothers entered into a conspiracy, and locked up the fourth in the smoke-house. fortunately, he sounded the alarm loud and clear, and was set free in safety, whereupon the three were imprisoned in a garret with two barred windows. they summarily kicked out the bars, and sliding down on the lightning-rod betook themselves to the barn for liberty. the youngest boy, then only five years old, skinned his hands in the descent. this is a fair sample of the quiet happiness i enjoyed in the first years of motherhood. it was 'mid such exhilarating scenes that miss anthony and i wrote addresses for temperance, anti-slavery, educational and woman's rights conventions. here we forged resolutions, protests, appeals, petitions, agricultural reports, and constitutional arguments, for we made it a matter of conscience to accept every invitation to speak on every question, in order to maintain woman's right to do so. to this end, we took turns on the domestic watch-towers, directing amusements, settling disputes, protecting the weak against the strong, and trying to secure equal rights to all in the home as well as the nation. i can recall many a stern encounter between my friend and the young experimenter. it is pleasant to remember that he never seriously injured any of his victims, and only once came near shooting himself with a pistol. the ball went through his hand; happily a brass button prevented it from penetrating his heart. [ ] when the flock reached the magic number of seven, my good angel would sometimes take one or two to her own quiet home just out of rochester, where on a well-cultivated little farm, one could enjoy uninterrupted rest and the choicest fruits of the season. that was always a safe harbor for my friend, as her family sympathized fully in the reforms to which she gave her life. i have many pleasant memories of my own flying visits to that hospitable quaker home and the broad catholic spirit of daniel and lucy anthony. whatever opposition and ridicule their daughter endured elsewhere, she enjoyed the steadfast sympathy and confidence of her own home circle. her faithful sister mary, a most successful principal in the public schools of rochester for a quarter of a century, and a good financier, who with her patrimony and salary has laid by a competence, took on her shoulders double duty at home in cheering the declining years of her parents, that susan might do the public work in these reforms, in which the sisters were equally interested. at one time when susan had expended her last dollar in the publication of her paper, _the revolution_, and also $ , given her by a wealthy cousin, anson lapham, mary generously advanced another five thousand, and thus bridged the last chasm. and now with life's earnest work nearly accomplished, the sisters are living happily together, illustrating another of the many charming homes of single women so rapidly multiplying in later years. [ ] mrs. gage received a somewhat remarkable early training. not only was her father a man of profound thought, a reformer thoroughly studying all the new questions coming up, but his house was a station on the underground railroad, the home of anti-slavery speakers and advanced thinkers upon every subject, as well as that of a large number of clergymen, who yearly held "protracted meetings" in the place. sitting up until midnight listening to the discussions of those reverend gentlemen upon baptism, original sin, predestination, and other doctrinal points, her thought was early turned to religious questions. she read the bible through before she was nine years old, and became a church member at the early age of eleven, her parents, in accordance with their habits, not attempting to influence her mind for or against this step. dr. joslyn paid great attention to his daughter's education. from her earliest years it was a law of the household that her childish questions should not be put off with an idle reply, but must be reasonably answered; and when she was older, he himself instructed her in mathematics, greek, and physiology. but that for which she feels most indebted to him, as she often says--the grandest training given her--was to think for herself. she was taught to accept no opinion because of its authority, but to question the truth of all things. thus was laid the foundation of mrs. gage's reform tendencies and of her non-acceptance of masculine authority in matters of religion and politics. nor was she, in a certain way, less indebted to her mother, a scotch lady, belonging to the noble, old, and influential family of leslie, a woman of refined and elevated tastes, universally respected and beloved. from this side mrs. gage inherited her antiquarian tastes and habits of delving into old histories, from which she has unearthed so many facts bearing upon woman's degradation. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] gerrit smith's home was ever a charming resort for lovers of liberty as well as lovers of eve's daughters. in his leisure hours my cousin had a turn for match-making, and his chief delight in this direction was to promote unions between good abolitionists and the sons and daughters of conservative families. here james g. birney, among others, wooed and won his wife. here one would meet the first families in the state, with indians, africans, slaveholders, religionists of all sects, and representatives of all shades of humanity, each class alike welcomed and honored, feasting, feting, dancing--joining in all kinds of amusements and religious worship together (the indians excepted, as they generally came for provisions, which, having secured, they departed). his house was one of the depots of the underground railroad. one day mr. smith summoned all the young girls then visiting there, saying he had a great secret to tell them if they would sacredly pledge themselves not to divulge it. having done so, he led the way to the third story, ushered us into a large room, and there stood a beautiful quadroon girl to receive us. "harriet," said mr. smith, "i want you to make good abolitionists of these girls by describing to them all you have suffered in slavery." he then left the room, locking us in. her narrative held us spell-bound until the lengthening shadows of the twilight hour made her departure safe for canada. one remark she made impressed me deeply. i told her of the laws for women such as we then lived under, and remarked on the parallel condition of slaves and women. "yes," said she, "but i am both. i am doubly damned in sex and color. yea, in class too, for i am poor and ignorant; none of you can ever touch the depth of misery where i stand to-day." we had the satisfaction to see harriet dressed in quaker costume, closely veiled, drive off in the moonlight that evening, to find the liberty she could not enjoy in this republic, under the shadow of a monarch's throne. chapter xiv. new york. first steps in new york--woman's temperance convention, albany, january, --new york woman's state temperance society, rochester, april, --women before the legislature pleading for a maine law--women rejected as delegates to men's state conventions at albany and syracuse, ; at the brick church meeting and world's temperance convention in new york, --horace greeley defends the rights of women in _the york tribune_--the teachers' state conventions--the syracuse national woman's rights convention, --mob in the broadway tabernacle woman's rights convention through two days, --state woman's rights convention at rochester, december, --albany convention, february, , and hearing before the legislature demanding the right of suffrage--a state committee appointed--susan b. anthony general agent--conventions at saratoga springs, , ' , ' --annual state conventions with legislative hearings and reports of committees, until the war--married women's property law, --bill before the legislature granting divorce for drunkenness--horace greeley and thurlow weed oppose it--ernestine l. rose, lucretia mott, and elizabeth cady stanton address the legislature in favor of the bill--robert dale owen defends the measure in _the new york tribune_--national woman's rights conventions in new york city, , ' , ' , ' --status of the woman's rights movement at the opening of the war, . a full report of the woman's rights agitation in the state of new york, would in a measure be the history of the movement. in this state, the preliminary battles in the anti-slavery, temperance, educational, and religious societies were fought; the first governmental aid given to the higher education of woman, and her voice first heard in teachers' associations. here the first woman's rights convention was held, the first demand made for suffrage, the first society formed for this purpose, and the first legislative efforts made to secure the civil and political rights of women; commanding the attention of leading members of the bar; of savage, spencer, hertell, and hurlbut. here too the pulpit made the first demand for the political rights of woman. here was the first temperance society formed by women, the first medical college opened to them, and woman first ordained for the ministry. in , in the city of buffalo, , women petitioned the common council not to license the sale of intoxicating drinks; and the following year, they sent a petition to the legislature, signed by , , asking for an act authorizing some official body to take into custody, and provide for the swarms of vagrant children, growing up in ignorance and vice. this may be considered the initiative step to a board of charities. in the same year, a number of spirited women in fulton, oswego co., disgusted with the inefficient action of the temperance men, entered complaint against the liquor dealers, for the violation of the license laws, and some of them attended the trials in person. in , the ladies of cardiff, onondaga co., appeared before the grand jury, and made complaint against the liquor dealers and overseers of the poor, the one for violating the law, the other for neglecting to prosecute the violators on their complaint, and they succeeded in getting both indicted. in , a petition was sent from ontario county, praying the legislature to exempt women from taxation. september , , antoinette l. brown was ordained as pastor of a church in south butler, and november , performed the ceremony at the marriage of a daughter of rhoda de garmo, of rochester. in this year, at a large convention of liberal people, to promote christian union, held in syracuse, she made an address. all denominations took part on the occasion and listened to her with respectful attention. in new york, woman's voice was first heard on the nation's great festal day. in , mary vaughan gave the fourth of july oration at speedsville, emily clarke at watkins, amelia bloomer at hartford, and antoinette brown at south butler. everything on these occasions was conducted as usual: the grand procession to the grove, or town hall, the military escort, reading the declaration, martial music, cannon, fire-crackers, torpedoes, roast pig, and green peas; none of the usual accompaniments were omitted. in the same year, antoinette brown and lucy stone canvassed the twenty-second district, to secure the election of the hon. gerrit smith for congress, and were successful in their efforts. in april, , the daughters of temperance at johnson's creek, sent thirty pieces of silver to gov. seymour, for vetoing a bill for a prohibitory law, and thus betraying the friends of temperance. in new york, the first anti-tax association, the first woman's club and loyal league were formed. here, too, a woman, mrs. josephine shaw lowell, was appointed state commissioner of charities, by gov. samuel j. tilden. whether the governor of any other state had preceded him in a more profitable or honorable appointment, has not yet been discovered. lest women should feel too deep a sense of gratitude, they should understand that this office involves arduous labors, but no pecuniary recompense. this may be a reason that such positions are being gradually assigned to women. at the time of this general uprising, new york was thoroughly stirred with temperance and anti-slavery excitement. george thompson, the great english reformer and orator, who had been mobbed in all the chief cities of the north, accompanied by william lloyd garrison, was holding a series of conventions through the state. and as these conventions were held in the midst of the "jerry rescue trials,"[ ] the apostles of freedom spoke with terrible vehemence and denunciation. popular orators, too, were rushing here and there in the furor of a presidential campaign, and as all these reforms were thrown into the governmental cauldron for discussion, the whole people seemed to be on the watch towers of politics and philanthropy. women shared in the general unrest, and began to take many steps before unknown. since , they had generally attended political meetings, as with the introduction of moral questions into legislation, they had manifested an increasing interest in government. the repeal of the license law of , filled the temperance hosts throughout the state with alarm, and roused many women to the assertion of their rights. impoverished, broken-hearted wives and mothers, were for the first time looking to the state for some protection against the cruelties and humiliations they endured at the hands of liquor dealers, when suddenly the beneficent law was repealed, and their reviving hopes crushed. the burning indignation of women, who had witnessed the protracted outrages on helpless wives and children in the drunkard's home, roused many to public speech, and gave rise to the secret organizations called "daughters of temperance." others finding there was no law nor gospel in the land for their protection, took the power in their own hands, visiting saloons, breaking windows, glasses, bottles, and emptying demijohns and barrels into the streets. coming like whirlwinds of vengeance, drunkards and rum-sellers stood paralyzed before them. though women were sometimes arrested for these high-handed proceedings, a strong public sentiment justified their acts, and forced the liquor dealers to withdraw their complaints.[ ] there is nothing more terrible than the reckless courage of despairing women, who, though knowing they have eternal truth and justice on their side, know also their helplessness against the tide of misery engulphing the drunkard's home. women were applauded for these acts of heroism by the press and temperance leagues; they were welcomed too as speakers sometimes on their platforms, just as slaves were in the olden days, to move an audience with their tales of woe. but when they organized themselves into associations, adopted constitutions, passed resolutions, and sent their delegates to men's conventions, asking to be recognized as equals, then began the battle in the temperance ranks, vindictive and protracted for years. the clergy were the most bitter opponents of the public action of women; but throughout the conflict they were sustained by the purest men in the nation, such as horace greeley, joshua r. giddings, rev. e. h. chapin, rev. samuel j. may, thomas w. higginson, william h. channing, gerrit smith, wendell phillips, william lloyd garrison, and others. all this persecution on the ground of sex, intensified the love of liberty in woman's soul, and deepened the oft repeated lesson of individual rights. on january , , "the daughters of temperance" assembled in albany to take part in a mass meeting of all the "divisions" in the state. among the delegates present were susan b. anthony, mary c. vaughan, and lydia fowler, who were received as members of the convention. but at the first attempt by miss anthony to speak, they were informed that the ladies were invited to listen, and not to take part in the proceedings. those women present who were not satisfied with such a position withdrew, announcing that they would hold a meeting that evening in which men and women would stand on equal ground. at the appointed time they assembled in the vestry-room of the presbyterian church on hudson street. samuel j. may, who was in albany attending one of the "jerrey rescue trials," was present, and opened the meeting with prayer. mrs. vaughan was chosen president,[ ] and on taking the chair, said: we have met to consider what we, as women, can do and may do, to forward the temperance reform. we have met, because, as members of the human family, we share in all the sufferings which error and crime bring upon the race, and because we are learning that our part in the drama of life is something beside inactive suffering and passive endurance. we would act as well as endure; and we meet here to-day because many of us have been trying to act, and we would combine our individual experiences, and together devise plans for the future, out of which shall arise well-based hopes of good results to humanity. we are aware that this proceeding of ours, this calling together of a body of women to deliberate publicly upon plans to carry out a specified reform, will rub rather harshly upon the mould of prejudice, which has gathered thick upon the common mind. .... there are plenty of women, as well as men, who can labor for reforms without neglecting business or duty. it is an error that clings most tenaciously to the public mind, that because a part of the sex are wives and mothers and have absorbing duties, that all the sex should be denied any other sphere of effort. to deprive every unmarried woman, spinster, or widow, or every childless wife, of the power of exercising her warm sympathies for the good of others, is to deprive her of the greatest happiness of which she is capable; to rob her highest faculties of their legitimate operation and reward; to belittle and narrow her mind; to dwarf her affections; to turn the harmonies of her nature to discord; and, as the human mind must be active, to compel her to employ hers with low and grovelling thoughts, which lead to contemptible actions. there is no reform in which woman can act better or more appropriately than temperance. i know not how she can resist or turn aside from the duty of acting in this; its effects fall so crushingly upon her and those whose interests are identical with her own; she has so often seen its slow, insidious, but not the less surely fatal advances, gaining upon its victim; she has seen the intellect which was her dearest pride, debased; the affections which were her life-giving springs of action, estranged; the children once loved, abused, disgraced and impoverished; the home once an earthly paradise, rendered a fit abode for lost spirits; has felt in her own person all the misery, degradation, and woe of the drunkard's wife; has shrunk from revilings and cowered beneath blows; has labored and toiled to have her poor earnings transferred to the rum-seller's ill-gotten hoard; while her children, ragged, fireless, poor, starving, gathered shivering about her, and with hollow eyes, from which all smiles had fled, begged vainly for the bread she had not to bestow. oh! the misery, the utter, hopeless misery of the drunkard's wife! .... we account it no reason why we should desist, when conscience, an awakened sense of duty, and aroused heart-sympathies, would lead us to show ourselves something different than an impersonation of the vague ideal which has been named, woman, and with which woman has long striven to identify herself. a creature all softness and sensibility, who must necessarily enjoy and suffer in the extreme, while sharing with man the pleasures and the ills of life; bearing happiness meekly, and sorrow with fortitude; gentle, mild, submissive, forbearing under all circumstances; a softened reflex of the opinions and ideas of the masculines who, by relationship, hold mastery over her; without individualism, a mere adjunct of man, the chief object of whose creation was to adorn and beautify his existence, or to minister to some form of his selfishness. this is nearly the masculine idea of womanhood, and poor womanhood strives to personify it. but not all women. this is an age of iconoclasms; and daring hands are raised to sweep from its pedestal, and dash to fragments, this false image of woman. we care not how soon, if the true woman but take its place. this is also, and most emphatically, an age of progress. one old idea, one mouldering form of prejudice after another, is rapidly swept away. thought, written and spoken, acts upon the mass of mind in this day of railroads and telegraphs, with a thousandfold more celerity than in the days of pillions and slow coaches. scarce have the lips that uttered great thoughts ceased to move, or the pen which wrote them dropped from the weary hand, ere they vibrate through the inmost recesses of a thousand hearts, and awaken deep and true responses in a thousand living, truthful souls. thence they grow, expand, fructify, and the result is progress. mrs. lydia f. fowler then gave several very touching recitals of the evils of intemperance in family circles within her own observation. her lectures on hygiene and physiology through the state, illustrating as she did the effect of alcohol on the system, and pointing out to mothers what they could do to promote the health of their children, and thus ensure temperance and morality, were most effective in their bearings on this question. letters were read from elizabeth cady stanton, clarina howard nichols, and amelia bloomer. mr. may, on rising, said: the sudden and unjustifiable repeal of the license law of , changed the face of the community, which had everywhere brightened with new hope under the brief but salutary operation of that law. that repeal, which it was indecorous if not presumptuous in the representatives of the people to make, seeing the law had been enacted directly by the people in their primary assemblies; that repeal brought back all the evils of intemperance aggravated by the successful efforts which had been openly and covertly made to break down the barriers which the law of had set up. the flood-gates of this loathsome vice were slammed open, as if never to be shut again. what i have seen and heard since i came to the capital, has encouraged me not a little. i have met with gentlemen from all parts of the state, who seem to be convinced that the people are ready for the passage of a stringent law similar to that which has recently gone into operation in maine. but i am particularly encouraged that the women of the state have made an especial and somewhat novel movement in this behalf. it has in all ages of the world been ominous when the women of a country have come out of the retirement they generally choose, to take a public part in the affairs of the state. what if this convention be not a large one, it is significant nevertheless. i could cite you to a reform in our own country which commenced with less than twelve individuals twenty years ago, and now that reform has drawn into its vortex all the living spirits in the land, and has created an agitation of the public mind that will never be quelled until slavery is buried out of sight forever. if the women of new york will act up to the noble sentiments that have been expressed in the addresses and letters written by women to this convention, great and glorious results must follow. and there are especial reasons why women should be earnest in this cause. their sex, though not so much addicted as ours to the use of intoxicating drinks, suffers more from the effects of the evil. to them it is the destruction of all domestic peace, the wreck of all conjugal and maternal hopes; it is ignorance, poverty, misery, for themselves and children. my own attention was first called to this reform by the sufferings of women. (mr. may here related several touching anecdotes of most estimable women he had known, devoted wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, who had been utterly despoiled of all earthly comfort by the intemperance of those they loved). at one time i thought this evil might be repressed by man alone; but i have learned that humanity is dual. god made man male and female. the sexes are equally concerned in the welfare of the race. what god has joined together must not be put asunder. women are constituent parts of the state and the church, as well as of the home; and their influence is as indispensable to the well-being of the former as the latter. a state or church that excludes woman from its councils, is like a family without a mother, in a condition of half orphanage. in the days of our revolution women made as many sacrifices and endured as great sufferings for independence, as did the men. it is most ungrateful when we are speaking of that event, and the actors in it, not to make mention of our revolutionary mothers. in the french revolution women were conspicuous actors. if madame roland and her coadjutors had been allowed to sway the public councils, the results would have been far happier for france. in moral revolutions women have ever signalized themselves. it was a woman, elizabeth fry, who in england commenced the reform in the discipline of prisons, and prosecuted it in person for years, until she had proven her plans feasible, and inspired others with a faith like her own. it was dorothea dix (a very delicately organized woman), who first in this country recognized the claims and acknowledged the rights of the insane. she found these poor victims of man's ignorance everywhere suffering terrible hardships. they were dreaded by all, and abhorred by many who had charge of them, and believed to be incapable of suffering as sane people suffer, and to be beyond the reach of those kindly influences which more than all others control those who are in their right minds. miss dix penetrated their cheerless, dark, damp abodes. she brought to light the wrongs that were inflicted upon them. she exposed the folly of the fears which were entertained of them. she showed by her own courageous experiments that even furious maniacs could be controlled by the spirit of christian love. the asylums in many of our states to-day are noble monuments to the inestimable value of her services. when miss dix first visited the insane department of the jail in cambridge, to look after one miserable human being she had chanced to hear was immured there, she little thought of the career of benevolent effort and of high distinction as a philanthropist that was opening before her. she went only to give relief to a solitary sufferer. but the dejected, helpless and wretched condition in which she found the insane there, raised the inquiry in her mind whether it could be that the same class of unfortunates were treated in this wise elsewhere. such an inquiry could not be suppressed in a heart like hers; it urged her on to further investigation. it led to new developments of the methods that philanthropists and scientists were advocating in france. she came at last to feel that she had a mission to that class of "the lost ones," and she has fulfilled it gloriously. she has been the angel of the lord to the insane in almost all the states of the union. the anti-slavery cause in both england and america, owes as much to woman as to man. if in great britain the suppression of the african slave trade was commenced by men, the abolition of west india slavery was begun by women; and it is acknowledged that they did more than the men to accomplish the overthrow of that system of all imaginable wickedness, which, while it endured, stimulated the cupidity of the slave-trader, so that he prosecuted his accursed traffic as much as ever, notwithstanding the acts of the american congress and the british parliament. in our country the most efficient, untiring laborers in the anti-slavery cause, have from the beginning been women. lydia maria child, a lady highly distinguished among the authors of america, was the first to publish a sizable book upon slavery. its very title was a pregnant one, viz, "an appeal in behalf of that class of americans called africans." its contents were of great and permanent value. the publication of that volume was to her a costly sacrifice of popularity as an author. at a very early period of the enterprise, elizabeth m. chandler published many essays and poems that will live forever. the bravery and persistence of prudence crandall in maintaining a school for colored girls in connecticut, in the face of terrible persecution, is beyond praise. maria weston chapman, since , has been among the leaders of the anti-slavery host, directing their movements and stimulating them to effort. lucretia mott, sarah pugh, eliza lee follen, abby kelly, mary grew, are all worthy of mention--there is no end to the names of excellent, wise, courageous women who have contended nobly for the anti-slavery faith and practice. they have been traduced, reviled, persecuted, but nothing has deterred them from advocating the rights of humanity. new york state temperance convention, rochester, n. y., _april and , _. at ten o'clock a large audience assembled in corinthian hall. the morning session was composed entirely of women; more than five hundred being present. the meeting was called to order by susan b. anthony, who read the following call that had been extensively circulated throughout the state: the women of the state of new york who desire to aid in advancing the cause of temperance, and are willing to labor earnestly and truthfully for its success, are respectfully invited to meet at corinthian hall in the city of rochester on the th of april, for the purpose of devising, maturing, and recommending such a course of associated action as shall best subserve for the protection of their interests and of society at large, too long invaded and destroyed by legalized intemperance. feeling that woman has hitherto been greatly responsible for the continuance of this vice by encouraging social drinking, and by not sufficiently exerting her influence for its overthrow, and realizing that upon her rest the heaviest burthens which follow in its train, the committee are convinced that they will be sustained by all good men and women in urging upon the sex such noble and energetic action as shall tend to the downfall of the traffic in intoxicating drinks. arrangements have been made to render the occasion one of interest to all friends of the cause. addresses and communications from both ladies and gentlemen of known ability will be presented, and a general and comprehensive plan of operation proposed, whereby woman may aid in the promotion of a cause which appeals to her sympathy through the avenue of every relation which binds her to the race. it is earnestly hoped that this meeting will be numerously attended.[ ] susan b. anthony, h. attilia albro, and mary c. vaughan, _central committee_. the officers of the convention were then chosen. elizabeth cady stanton, president,[ ] who on rising said: i fully appreciate, ladies, the compliment intended, in choosing me to fill this place on an occasion of such interest and importance. if a sincere love for the principles of temperance, a fervent zeal in the welfare of woman, and an unwavering faith in the final triumph of truth, fits one for this post of honor, then am i not unworthy, though i must confess myself, from the novelty of the position, ignorant alike of the rights and duties of the office of president. i shall deeply regret if in any omissions or commissions of duty i fail to reflect back on this convention a full share of the honor now conferred upon me. how my heart throbs to see women assembling in convention to inquire what part they have in the great moral struggles of humanity! verily a new era is dawning upon the world, when woman, hitherto the mere dependent of man, the passive recipient alike of truth and error, at length shakes off her lethargy, the shackles of a false education, customs and habits, and stands upright in the dignity of a moral being, and not only proclaims her own freedom, but demands what she shall do to save man from the slavery of his own low appetites. we have come together at this time to consult each other as to what woman may do in banishing the vice of intemperance from the land. we can do much by years of preparation and education of ourselves, for a great moral revolution will burst forth with the regeneration of woman. we shall do much when the pulpit, the forum, the professor's chair, and the ballot-box are ours; but the question is, what can we do to-day, under existing circumstances, under all the adverse influences that surround us? i will briefly mention several points for your consideration that have suggested themselves to my mind. . let no woman remain in the relation of wife with the confirmed drunkard. let no drunkard be the father of her children. let no woman form an alliance with any man who has been suspected even of the vice of intemperance; for the taste once acquired can never, never be eradicated. be not misled by any pledges, resolves, promises, prayers, or tears. you can not rely on the word of a man who is, or has been, the victim of such an overpowering appetite. . let us petition our state governments so to modify the laws affecting marriage, and the custody of children, that the drunkard shall have no claims on either wife or child. . let us touch not, taste not, handle not, the unclean thing in any combination. let us eschew it in all culinary purposes, and refuse it in all its most tempting and refined forms. . with an efficient organization, lectures, tracts, newspapers, and discussion, we shall accomplish much. i would give more for the agitation of any question on sound principles, thus enlightening and convincing the public mind, than for all the laws that could be written or passed in a century. by the foolishness of preaching, must all moral revolutions be achieved; but remember the truth, the whole truth must be faithfully preached. . we must raise the standard of temperance in all things. the man who over-eats takes a little wine to aid digestion, and he who exhausts himself by licentious indulgence takes a little as a stimulus; thus one vice induces another, and all go hand in hand together. . let us endeavor to make labor honorable in all. work is worship, says emerson. let us honor the hard hand and sun-burnt brow. remember idleness is the parent of vice; and there is no surer way to banish vice from our land, than to see that the young just coming on the stage of life are wisely and fully employed. and lastly, inasmuch as charity begins at home, let us withdraw our mite from all associations for sending the gospel to the heathen across the ocean, for the education of young men for the ministry, for the building up of a theological aristocracy and gorgeous temples, to the unknown god, and devote ourselves to the poor and suffering about us. let us feed and clothe the hungry and naked, gather children into schools, and provide reading-rooms and decent homes for young men and women thrown alone upon the world. good schools and homes where the young could ever be surrounded by an atmosphere of purity and virtue, would do much more to prevent immorality and crime in our cities than all the churches in the land could ever possibly do toward the regeneration of the multitude sunk in poverty, ignorance, and vice. susan b. anthony, chairman of the central committee, addressed the meeting in a clear, forcible manner, alluding to the indifference manifested by many women on the subject of temperance, and stated the object of calling the women of the state together at this time. she read letters[ ] from frances dana gage, clarina howard nichols, elizabeth oakes smith, abby kelly foster, and horace greeley. in the discussion of the resolutions[ ] during the different sessions, giles b. stebbins, benjamin fish, william barnes, amy post, mrs. albro, mrs. vaughan, william c. bloss, george w. clark, and the rev. mr. goodwin, all took part. one resolution denouncing mr. gale, a state senator, for his insulting epithets in regard to the women who had petitioned for a maine law, called down on that gentleman some well-deserved reprimands. the rev. mr. goodwin expressed his indignation and shame, that any man of education and position should use such language in speaking of women who were so faithfully laboring in all the great reforms of the day. mrs. bloomer in the course of her remarks also criticised mr. gale for saying in a sneering way "that representatives were not accustomed to listen to the voice of woman in legislating upon great public questions; that the constitution of the female mind was such as to render woman incapable of correctly deciding upon the points involved in the passage of the proposed bill." after rousing the attention of the people of the state by large and enthusiastic meetings in all the chief cities, and sending into the legislature a mammoth petition for a maine law, this was woman's answer. on the divorce resolution, mrs. bloomer said: we believe the teachings which have been given to the drunkard's wife touching her duty--the commendable examples of angelic wives which she has been exhorted to follow, have done much to continue and aggravate the vices and crimes of society growing out of intemperance. drunkenness is good ground for divorce, and every woman who is tied to a confirmed drunkard should sunder the ties; and if she do it not otherwise the law should compel it--especially if she have children. we are told that such sentiments are "exceptional," "abhorrent," that the moral sense of society is shocked and outraged by their promulgation. can it be possible that the moral sense of a people is more shocked at the idea of a pure-minded, gentle woman sundering the ties which bind her to a loathsome mass of corruption, than it is to see her dragging out her days in misery, tied to his besotted and filthy carcass? are the morals of society less endangered by the drunkard's wife continuing to live in companionship with him, giving birth to a large family of children who inherit naught but poverty and disgrace, and who will grow up criminal and vicious, filling our prisons and penitentiaries and corrupting and endangering the purity and peace of community, than they would be, should she separate from him and strive to win for herself and the children she may have, comfort and respectability? the statistics of our prisons, poor-houses, and lunatic asylums, teach us a fearful lesson on this subject of morals. the idea of living with a drunkard is so abhorrent, so revolting to all the finer feelings of our nature, that a woman must fall very low before she can endure such companionship. every pure-minded woman must look with loathing and disgust upon such a union of virtue and vice; and he who would compel her to it, or dissuade the drunkard's wife from separating herself from such wretchedness and degradation, is doing much to perpetuate drunkenness and crime, and is wanting in the noblest feelings of human nature. thanks to our legislature, if they have not given us the maine law, they are deliberating upon the propriety of giving to the wives of drunkards and tyrants a loop-hole of escape from the brutal cruelty of their self-styled lords and masters. a bill of this kind has passed the house, but may be lost in the senate. should it not pass now, it will be brought up again, and passed at no distant day. then if women have any spirit, they will free themselves from much of the oppression and wrong which they have hitherto of necessity borne. a brief address was read by mrs. robinson, of darien. this woman had been for many years the wife of a drunkard; she had overcome many obstacles to attend this convention for the purpose of relating her experience, and offering words of encouragement. her narration of the trials and sufferings she had endured was very affecting. she fully endorsed the tenth resolution, "that the woman who consents to live in the relation of wife with a confirmed drunkard, is, in so doing, recreant to the cause of humanity, and to the dignity of a true womanhood." an organization was effected called "the woman's new york state temperance society"; large numbers of the members of the convention signed the constitution, and elected elizabeth cady stanton president[ ]. a vote of thanks was passed to horace greeley for the kind manner in which he had uniformly sustained the women in their temperance efforts in _the new york tribune_, and after six long sessions, the convention adjourned. as president of "the woman's state temperance society," mrs. stanton issued a plain, strong appeal to the women of the state in which it was said woman's rights predominated over temperance. the strong point she uniformly pressed on the temperance question was the right and duty of divorce for drunkenness. a letter of hers to the convention in albany on this point, was so radical, that the friends feared to read it; however, after much discussion, susan b. anthony took the responsibility. it was read to the convention, and published in _the lily_ and other papers, and called out many condemnatory notices by the press. _the troy journal_ was much excited at the idea of "a virtuous woman severing the tie that bound her to a confirmed drunkard," and spoke of such a union of virtue and vice as a "divine institution," sacred in the eye of the "divine author," and declared mrs. stanton's teachings "reviling christianity." however, these bold utterances roused the consciences of many women to the sinfulness of such relations, and encouraged them in sundering such unholy ties. at the rochester convention, gerrit smith, susan b. anthony, and amelia bloomer were appointed delegates to "the men's state temperance society," to be held in june, at syracuse. the call for the meeting contained these words, "temperance associations of every name are invited to send delegates." hence the woman's state society being earnestly enlisted in the good work, responded to this invitation. miss anthony and mrs. bloomer accepted the appointment, and on arriving at syracuse, found many of the delegates already there, and everything indicating a large convention. the next morning, while preparing to go to the hall, a gentleman was announced, who wished to see them in the parlor. on descending thither, they were happy to meet samuel j. may. he came to inform them that their arrival had created great excitement among some of the clergy, who were shocked at the idea of women delegates to the convention, and threatened if they were admitted, to withdraw. this had alarmed others who were not quite so conservative, but who feared to have anything occur to create disturbance. they had persuaded mr. may to wait upon the ladies and urge them quietly to withdraw. mr. may performed his part well, merely stating the facts of the case, and leaving them to act upon their own judgment. but when they decided to present their credentials and demand their rights as members of the convention, his face beamed with joy, as he said to them, "you are right." at the appointed time they were seated with other ladies in attendance at the side of the platform. presently rev. dr. mandeville, of albany, arose, turned his chair facing them, his back to the audience, and stared at them with all the impudence of a boor, as if to wither them with his piercing glance. william h. burleigh, says _the lily_,[ ] read the annual report, which, among other things, "hailed the formation of the woman's state society as a valuable auxiliary in the cause of temperance." rev. j. marsh moved that the report be accepted and adopted. dr. mandeville objected in a speech of some length, characterized by more venom and vulgarity than it had ever before been our fortune to hear; and such as the most foul-mouthed politician or bar-room orator would have hesitated to utter before respectable audiences. he denounced the woman's state temperance society, and all women who took an active public part in promoting the cause. spoke contemptuously of woman going from home to attend a temperance convention, and characterized such as a sort of "hybrid species, half man and half woman, belonging to neither sex." the short dress and woman's rights questions were "handled without gloves." these movements must be put down; cut up root and branch, etc., etc., and finally his reverence wound up with a threat that if the report was adopted without striking out the offensive sentence he would dissolve his connection with the society. having thus discharged his venom, and issued his commands, he took his hat and with a pompous air left the house and did not again show himself at the meetings. a warm discussion followed the motion for striking out, which it would be impossible to describe. mr. havens, of new york, offered an amendment--substituting a sort of unmeaning compliment to the ladies, and asking their influence in their proper sphere--the domestic circle. the discussion was kept up, but amid the confusion of "mr. president!" "mr. president!" "order!" "order!" "i have the floor!" "i will speak, right or wrong!" from at least half a dozen voices, until all lost sight of both motion and amendment. miss anthony arose and addressed the chair, but was at once called to order by rev. fowler, of utica. he denied woman's right to speak in that meeting. here the confusion again began. "mr. president!" "mr. president!" "order!" "order!" "hear the lady!" "hear the lady!" "let her speak!" "let her speak!" "go on, go on!" "order! order!" in the midst of which the president left the chair, and said if there was any gentleman present who could keep order he would thank him to take the chair; he could hear nothing when so many were talking at once, and if order was not preserved he would not attempt to preside. a moment's quiet followed, and then all was confusion again. the conservatives were determined to have their way, and nearly every attempt on the part of the liberals to make themselves heard was frustrated. a. n. cole, of belfast, succeeded in keeping the floor a few moments, and spoke ably in defence of woman and of her right to be heard. he declared that man had no more right to prescribe woman's sphere and mark out a course of action for her, than she had to prescribe man's sphere and dictate his course of action. woman had ever been untiring and earnest in her labors in this cause, and he was ready at all times and everywhere to acknowledge her aid, and hail her as a co-worker. he insisted that woman had a right to be heard on that floor; that she was there on the invitation of the society, and they could not refuse her a voice in the proceedings. but points of order were raised, and a determination manifested not to permit a fair discussion of the subject. the chair was at length appealed to for a decision. he decided that the letter of the constitution of the state society, and also the call for this meeting would admit woman to an equal participation in the proceedings, and allow her a vote; but as there were no female societies in existence five years ago when this society was organized, such a thing was not contemplated at that time; he therefore considered her inadmissible. "the letter of the constitution and call would admit her, but the spirit would not." mr. camp must have been very ignorant not to know that ten years before there were efficient woman's temperance societies all over the state. he was doubtless right in saying that such a thing as a woman presuming to speak or vote in the meetings of that society was not contemplated by its founders, but he greatly erred in giving a reason for their short-sightedness. the decision of the chair was appealed from, and the excitement continued. all tried to talk at the same time, but those possessing more firmness than others succeeded in having their say; while the opponents of woman were allowed to express their sentiments freely, those in favor were called to order and forced to yield the floor. the decision of the chair was finally sustained by two votes. as the delegates had not been required to make themselves known, it was not ascertained how many were present, or who they were; nor how many persons in the crowd voted who had no right to do so. all men were permitted to vote, without its even being known whether they were temperance men or not. and so, after spending the whole afternoon in hot discussion of the woman's rights question, the disgraceful affair terminated by refusing woman the right of uttering her sentiments on a subject in which she was deeply interested, and of pleading in behalf of the poor crushed victims of man's injustice and cruelty. rev. luther lee offered his church just before the adjournment, and mr. may announced that miss anthony and mrs. bloomer would speak there in the evening. they had a crowded house, while the conservatives had scarce fifty people. the general feeling was hostile to the action of the convention. this same battle on the temperance platform was fought over and over in various parts of the state, and the most deadly opposition uniformly came from the clergy, though a few noble men in that profession ever remained true to principle through all the conflicts of those days, in the anti-slavery, temperance, and woman's rights movements. susan b. anthony's letter, from the "carson league." buffalo, _july , _. dear league:--permit me to say a few words to your readers, relative to the plan of action, recommended by the "women's new york state temperance society." we have now three agents lecturing, who are endeavoring, by a novel application of woman's "marvelous gift of tongue," to rouse their sisters of western new york, to render active service in aid of the temperance cause. woman has so long been accustomed to "non-intervention" with the business of law-making--so long considered it men's business to regulate the liquor traffic, that it is with much cautiousness that she receives the new doctrine which we preach; the doctrine that it is her right and her duty to speak out against the liquor traffic and all men and institutions that in any way sanction, sustain, or countenance it; and since she can not vote, to duly instruct her husband, father, or brother how she would have him vote, and if he longer continue to misrepresent her, take the right to march to the ballot-box, with firm, unwavering tread, and deposit a vote indicative of her highest ideas of practical temperance. for women longer to submit to be ruled by men and legislators who sanction license laws, is to act the part of slaves and cowards. men are just beginning to see that they must carry this temperance question into politics, but can see no farther than to vote for a rum-drinking president, vice-president, and congressmen. if they can place temperance men in those offices which directly control the license system of our own state, they seem to think they need look to, nor care for, the habits and principles of the men who fill the national offices. and it is for woman now, in the present presidential campaign, to say to her husband, father, or brother, if you vote for any candidate for any office whatever, who is not pledged to total abstinence and the maine law, we shall hold you alike guilty with the rum-seller. he who loves not humanity better than his whig or loco partyism, is not worthy the name of man nor the love and respect of woman. but to our society. we recommend that women form temperance societies in their respective cities, towns, and villages, which shall be auxiliary to the state association. the work which we propose to do is a missionary one. we therefore suggest the name "temperance home missionary society," whose object shall be to raise funds, by means of an admission fee and donations, to be expended in subscribing for temperance newspapers, for gratuitous distribution among all families, both rich and poor, who do not furnish themselves with such reading. during the last two weeks i have visited several villages in genesee and erie counties, have found the women ready for work, and now and then a temperance man who had taken in the whole idea of political action. home missionary societies are formed in all of the places visited except two, and will doubtless soon be in those. i recommend them to take _the lily_ and _carson league_. _the lily_, because it is particularly devoted to woman's interest in temperance and kindred reforms, and because it is their duty to sustain the only paper in the state owned and edited by a woman. _the carson league_, because it presents and advocates a definite plan for temperance political action. it is to be hoped that the state alliance, at its session at rochester, the th of august, will make converts not only of all the professed temperance men of western new york, but of all the temperance newspapers. alliances must be formed in every county and town of the state. an additional clause must be appended to the pledge, "that no member of the society shall vote for any officer who is not an open and avowed total abstinence man, and pledged to use his influence to secure the enactment of the maine law." there must be concert of action; every man must know exactly how and for whom all other men of the state are going to vote. let there be combined political action and the maine law is ours. yours for temperance politics, s. b. a. during this year the society was active, its agents visiting nearly every county, forming auxiliary societies, circulating tracts and petitions, and rolling up subscribers to _the lily_. in january, , a great mass-meeting of all the temperance organizations of the state was held in albany. nearly every hall and church in the city was occupied, with different associations of men and women. "the woman's society" met in the baptist church in state street, which was crowded at every session. susan b. anthony presided. emily clark, mrs. bloomer, mrs. vaughan and mrs. albro were appointed a committee to present to the legislature a petition signed by , women for a prohibitory law. on motion of s. m. burroughs, of orleans, the rules of the house were suspended and the ladies invited to the speaker's desk. in a brief and dignified speech, miss clark presented the petition, after which they returned to the convention, and reported the success of their mission, in full confidence that their prayers would be answered. but alas! they forgot that women were a disfranchised class, and that legislators give no heed to the claims of such for protection. in the evening, the ladies had two immense meetings, one in the church, and one in the assembly chamber of the capitol. at the latter, susan b. anthony read mrs. stanton's "appeal to the legislature," and addresses were made by mary c. vaughan and antoinette brown; the galleries as well as the floor of the house being literally packed; while at the former, mrs. bloomer, mrs. fowler, mrs. albro, and miss clark addressed an equally crowded audience. following this convention, mrs. bloomer, miss brown, and miss anthony went to new york, on the invitation of s. p. townsend, and addressed , people in metropolitan hall; lydia f. fowler presided; mr. and mrs. horace greeley, abby hopper gibbons, and other prominent gentlemen and ladies sat on the platform. they also addressed large audiences in the broadway tabernacle and knickerbocker hall, and in brooklyn. and during march and april made a most successful tour through the state, speaking at sing sing, poughkeepsie, hudson, troy, cohoes, utica, syracuse, rochester, lockport, buffalo, and many of the smaller cities, and were greeted everywhere with large audiences and the most respectful attention from both press and people. _the new york tribune_, under the heading of great gathering of the women of new york, said of their metropolitan meeting: the women's grand temperance demonstration at metropolitan hall last evening, was a most brilliant and successful affair. the audience which assembled on that occasion to welcome mrs. bloomer and her assistants in the cause of temperance, was almost as large and fully as respectable as the audiences that nightly greeted jenny lind and catharine hays during their engagement in that hall. good order was observed throughout the evening, and earnest and hearty applause was frequent. the only hissing evidently intended for the speakers was when mrs. bloomer reviewed the sentiments of hon. horace mann relative to woman; and then the plaudits came to her rescue and triumphantly sustained the speaker. the audience was a smiling one; some smiled at the novelty of the occasion; others with admiration; the latter, judging from the twinkling of eyes and clapping of hands, were in the majority. while some evidently writhed under the application of the lash for their disregard of the principles of temperance; others enjoyed the rigor of the infliction and manifested their satisfaction by applause. the _new york evening post_ said: the first meeting of the women's temperance society was held last evening in metropolitan hall. there were about three thousand persons present, a large proportion of whom were ladies. it was the first time that an audience in this hall was to be addressed by women, and the novelty of the occasion doubtless attracted a large number who would otherwise have been absent. the proceedings, however, were conducted in the most orderly manner, and the speakers apparently felt themselves as much at home with their hearers, as if they were merely a private company. they were listened to with much attention and frequently applauded. altogether, the meeting was very successful and would compare most favorably with any that has ever been held in the same building. the proceedings were commenced by mrs. lydia f. fowler being appointed president, and miss mary s. rich secretary. prayer was offered by rev. antoinette l. brown, after which mrs. amelia bloomer was introduced amid warm applause. she was dressed in the peculiar costume to which her name is given. her speech, which occupied more than an hour in its delivery, was an able exposition of the reasons why women should be amongst the foremost of the advocates of the temperance reformation. her remarks on the position of woman under the law, and the subordinate part she was compelled to play in all the relations of life, were listened to with much attention, and though sometimes very caustic and severe upon the other sex, they were received not only with forbearance, but were frequently applauded. rev. antoinette l. brown made a very effective and eloquent address, urging the necessity for legislative action against the evils of intemperance, and recommended the passage of the maine law in our legislature. addresses were also made by susan b. anthony, and horace greeley. _the tribune_, under the heading of "grand temperance rally," said: last evening an exceedingly numerous and enthusiastic meeting was convened in the tabernacle, under the auspices of the "fifth ward temperance alliance," it then gave a full report of the addresses of the four ladies, and closed with: horace greeley then came forward in response to numerous and repeated calls, and said that within his immediate recollection the temperance cause had been utterly ruined (as it was said) three distinct times; first when the pledge of total abstinence was introduced; again when the washingtonian movement was set on feet, and then when the maine liquor law came out, every rum-drinker in the country mourned the cause as irrevocably ruined. but now, however, it was gone entirely, because some women came forward to speak for temperance. he had spoken so often on the subject that he had nothing new to say; but he rejoiced to see that there was another army coming up who could speak, as they had heard them that evening and on other occasions. there was something of freshness in them; and if they did not advance new truth, we, at least, heard truth from a new point of view. he had often heard of the fascinating influence of woman, and he was glad if she had such that it should be put forth for temperance. he was happy to hear her explain the wants of the poor mother, or sister, or wife of the unfortunate drunkard; he would not object to her saying if her home had become intolerable that she should be allowed a separation, and permitted to earn a living for herself, seeing that her brute of a husband was unwilling or unable to give her a support. the great cause would be advanced, he thought, by the advocacy of it by women. he considered that the people would be called upon to vote for the maine liquor law one way or the other within a year, for the politicians were becoming tired of this mischievous element. it was one on which they could not calculate, and would be glad to get it out of the way by submitting it to the people for their disposition. the friends of the cause should be rejoiced if women who could speak on this subject did come forward and speak until the law was passed. he would feel their advocacy an additional assurance of success. the women of new york brought to this work a religious earnestness and intense enthusiasm, that seemed determined to override every obstacle that blocked the way to family purity and peace. every phase of the question, without a thought of policy or conciliation, was freely discussed. seeing the evils in social life, in the destruction of all domestic harmony, they demanded divorce for drunkenness. seeing wine on the tables of clergymen and bishops, liquor-dealers and wine-bibbers dignified and honored as elders and deacons in churches, they called on the women to leave all such unholy organizations. thus besieging legislators for a "maine law," demanding purity at the family altar, denouncing the church for its apathy, and the clergy for their hostility to the public action of woman, this state temperance society roused the enmity of many classes, and was the target for varied criticism. politicians said such radical measures as the women proposed would destroy the whig party, if carried into legislation. churchmen said such infidel measures would undermine the influence of the clergy and the foundations of the church. conservatives said the divorce measures proposed would upheave the whole social fabric. thus a general disintegration of society was threatened, if freedom was granted to woman. not being allowed to vote themselves, they used their influence both in the anti-slavery and temperance reforms, to strengthen many men in their determination not to vote for any man who was in favor of slavery and license; hence there had been a steadily increasing defection in the whig ranks, that cost clay his election in , and scott in . mr. pierce's administration, beginning in , was a period of great political overturning. innumerable small office-holders being thrown out of employment, and feeling hostile to all "isms," as the opposition designated the reforms of the day, they became a troublesome element in our conventions. to avoid this class in organizing "the woman's temperance society," it was decided to enroll men as members, but not to allow them to vote and hold office. they were permitted to attend the meetings, talk, and contribute money, but they were to have no direct power. on this basis the society was formed, and maintained its integrity one year. however, as the justice of such discrimination on the ground of sex was questionable, and some women and many men refused to unite with a society thus prescriptive, the constitution was amended, and men admitted to full membership. first annual meeting of the woman's state temperance society. rochester, june and , . _the rochester advertiser_ gives the following report: in corinthian hall yesterday, at ten o'clock, a large audience assembled. the society was called to order by mrs. e. c. stanton, who said if any one present desired to offer vocal prayer, there was now an opportunity. prayer was then offered by a young man in one of the side seats. the platform was occupied by mrs. stanton, emily clark, lucy stone, mrs. vaughan, dr. harriot hunt, mrs. nichols, mrs. fish, mrs. albro, mrs. alling, elizabeth c. wright, and mrs. lydia f. fowler. the attendance at this opening session is much larger this year than last, and a more hopeful spirit prevails. there are several of the notabilities of the woman's rights cause present, and a fair sprinkling of bloomers is scattered through the audience. there were many out, attracted by curiosity, though probably the most are earnest friends of the society. the proceedings were of a deeply interesting character, both from their novelty and their importance. after the prayer was concluded, mrs. stanton gave her opening address, as follows: mrs. stanton's address. a little more than one year ago, in this same hall, we formed the first woman's state temperance society. we believed that the time had come for woman to speak on this question, and to insist on her right to be heard in the councils of church and state. it was proposed at that time that we, instead of forming a society, should go _en masse_ into the men's state temperance society. we were assured that in becoming members by paying the sum of $ , we should thereby secure the right to speak and vote in their meetings. we who had watched the jealousy with which man had ever eyed the slow aggressions of woman, warned you against the insidious proposition made by agents from that society. we told you they would no doubt gladly receive the dollar, but that you would never be allowed to speak or vote in their meetings. many of you thought us suspicious and unjust toward the temperance men of the empire state. the fact that abby kelly had been permitted to speak in one of their public meetings, was brought up as an argument by some agent of that society to prove our fears unfounded. we suggested that she spoke by favor and not right, and our right there as equals to speak and vote, we well knew would never be acknowledged. a long debate saved you from that false step, and our predictions have been fully realized in the treatment our delegates received at the annual meeting held at syracuse last july, and at the recent brick church meeting in new york. in forming our society, the mass of us being radical and liberal, we left our platform free; we are no respecters of persons, all are alike welcome here without regard to sect, sex, color, or caste. there have been, however, many objections made to one feature in our constitution, and that is, that although we admit men as members with equal right to speak in our meetings, we claim the offices for women alone. we felt, in starting, the necessity of throwing all the responsibility on woman, which we knew she never would take, if there were any men at hand to think, act, and plan for her. the result has shown the wisdom of what seemed so objectionable to many. it was, however, a temporary expedient, and as that seeming violation of man's rights prevents some true friends of the cause from becoming members of our society, and as the officers are now well skilled in the practical business of getting up meetings, raising funds, etc., and have fairly learned how to stand and walk alone, it may perhaps be safe to raise man to an entire equality with ourselves, hoping, however, that he will modestly permit the women to continue the work they have so successfully begun. i would suggest, therefore, that after the business of the past year be disposed of, this objectionable feature of our constitution be brought under consideration. our experience thus far as a society has been most encouraging. we number over two thousand members. we have four agents who have traveled in various parts of the state, and i need not say what is well known to all present, that their labors thus far have given entire satisfaction to the society and the public. i was surprised and rejoiced to find that women, without the least preparation or experience, who had never raised their voices in public one year ago, should with so much self-reliance, dignity, and force, enter at once such a field of labor, and so ably perform the work. in the metropolis of our country, in the capital of our state, before our legislature, and in the country school-house, they have been alike earnest and faithful to the truth. in behalf of our society, i thank you for your unwearied labors during the past year. in the name of humanity, i bid you go on and devote yourselves humbly to the cause you have espoused. the noble of your sex everywhere rejoice in your success, and feel in themselves a new impulse to struggle upward and onward; and the deep, though silent gratitude that ascends to heaven from the wretched outcast, the wives, the mothers, and the daughters of brutal drunkards, is well known to all who have listened to their tales of woe, their bitter experience, the dark, sad passages of their tragic lives. i hope this, our first year, is prophetic of a happy future of strong, united, and energetic action among the women of our state. if we are sincere and earnest in our love of this cause, in our devotion to truth, in our desire for the happiness of the race, we shall ever lose sight of self; each soul will, in a measure, forget its own individual interests in proclaiming great principles of justice and right. it is only a true, a deep, and abiding love of truth, that can swallow up all petty jealousies, envies, discords, and dissensions, and make us truly magnanimous and self-sacrificing. we have every reason to think, from reports we hear on all sides, that our society has given this cause a new impulse, and if the condition of our treasury is a test, we have abundant reason to believe that in the hearts of the people we are approved, and that by their purses we shall be sustained. it has been objected to our society that we do not confine ourselves to the subject of temperance, but talk too much about woman's rights, divorce, and the church. it could be easily shown how the consideration of this great question carries us legitimately into the discussion of these various subjects. one class of minds would deal with effects alone; another would inquire into causes; the work of the former is easily perceived and quickly done; that of the latter requires deep thought, great patience, much time, and a wise self-denial. our physicians of the present day are a good type of the mass of our reformers. they take out cancers, cut off tonsils, drive the poison which nature has wisely thrown to the surface, back again, quiet unsteady nerves with valerian, and by means of ether infuse an artificial courage into a patient that he may bravely endure some painful operation. it requires but little thought to feel that the wise physician who shall trace out the true causes of suffering; who shall teach us the great, immutable laws of life and health; who shall show us how and where in our every-day life, we are violating these laws, and the true point to begin the reform, is doing a much higher, broader, and deeper work than he who shall bend all his energies to the temporary relief of suffering. those temperance men or women whose whole work consists in denouncing rum-sellers, appealing to legislatures, eulogizing neal dow, and shouting maine law, are superficial reformers, mere surface-workers. true, this outside work is well, and must be done; let those who see no other do this, but let them lay no hindrances in the way of that class of mind, who, seeing in our present false social relations the causes of the moral deformities of the race, would fain declare the immutable laws that govern mind as well as matter, and point out the true causes of the evils we see about us, whether lurking under the shadow of the altar, the sacredness of the marriage institution, or the assumed superiority of man. . we have been obliged to preach woman's rights, because many, instead of listening to what we had to say on temperance, have questioned the right of a woman to speak on any subject. in courts of justice and legislative assemblies, if the right of the speaker to be there is questioned, all business waits until that point is settled. now, it is not settled in the mass of minds that woman has any rights on this footstool, and much less a right to stand on an even pedestal with man, look him in the face as an equal, and rebuke the sins of her day and generation. let it be clearly understood, then, that we are a woman's rights society; that we believe it is woman's duty to speak whenever she feels the impression to do so; that it is her right to be present in all the councils of church and state. the fact that our agents are women, settles the question of our character on this point. again, in discussing the question of temperance, all lecturers, from the beginning, have made mention of the drunkards' wives and children, of widows' groans and orphans' tears; shall these classes of sufferers be introduced but as themes for rhetorical flourish, as pathetic touches of the speaker's eloquence; shall we passively shed tears over their condition, or by giving them their rights, bravely open to them the doors of escape from a wretched and degraded life? is it not legitimate in this to discuss the social degradation, the legal disabilities of the drunkard's wife? if in showing her wrongs, we prove the right of all womankind to the elective franchise; to a fair representation in the government; to the right in criminal cases to be tried by peers of her own choosing, shall it be said that we transcend the bounds of our subject? if in pointing out her social degradation, we show you how the present laws outrage the sacredness of the marriage institution; if in proving to you that justice and mercy demand a legal separation from drunkards, we grasp the higher idea that a unity of soul alone constitutes and sanctifies true marriage, and that any law or public sentiment that forces two immortal, high-born souls to live together as husband and wife, unless held there by love, is false to god and humanity; who shall say that the discussion of this question does not lead us legitimately into the consideration of the important subject of divorce? but why attack the church? we do not attack the church; we defend ourselves merely against its attacks. it is true that the church and reformers have always been in an antagonistic position from the time of luther down to our own day, and will continue to be until the devotional and practical types of christianity shall be united in one harmonious whole. to those who see the philosophy of this position, there seems to be no cause for fearful forebodings or helpless regret. by the light of reason and truth, in good time, all these seeming differences will pass away. i have no special fault to find with that part of humanity that gathers into our churches; to me, human nature seems to manifest itself in very much the same way in the church and out of it. go through any community you please--into the nursery, kitchen, the parlor, the places of merchandise, the market-place, and exchange, and who can tell the church member from the outsider? i see no reason why we should expect more of them than other men. why, say you, they lay claim to greater holiness; to more rigid creeds; to a belief in a sterner god; to a closer observance of forms. the bible, with them, is the rule of life, the foundation of faith, and why should we not look to them for patterns of purity, goodness, and truth above all other men? i deny the assumption. reformers on all sides claim for themselves a higher, position than the church. our god is a god of justice, mercy, and truth. their god sanctions violence, oppression, and wine-bibbing, and winks at gross moral delinquencies. our bible commands us to love our enemies; to resist not evil; to break every yoke and let the oppressed go free; and makes a noble life of more importance than a stern faith. their bible permits war, slavery, capital punishment, and makes salvation depend on faith and ordinances. in their creed it is a sin to dance, to pick up sticks on the sabbath day, to go to the theater, or large parties during lent, to read a notice of any reform meeting from the altar, or permit a woman to speak in the church. in our creed it is a sin to hold a slave; to hang a man on the gallows; to make war on defenseless nations, or to sell rum to a weak brother, and rob the widow and the orphan of a protector and a home. thus may we write out some of our differences, but from the similarity in the conduct of the human family, it is fair to infer that our differences are more intellectual than spiritual, and the great truths we hear so clearly uttered on all sides, have been incorporated as vital principles into the inner life of but few indeed. [illustration: amelia bloomer (with autograph).] we must not expect the church to leap _en masse_ to a higher position. she sends forth her missionaries of truth one by one. all of our reformers have, in a measure, been developed in the church, and all our reforms have started there. the advocates and opposers of the reforms of our day, have grown up side by side, partaking of the same ordinances and officiating at the same altars; but one, by applying more fully his christian principles to life, and pursuing an admitted truth to its legitimate results, has unwittingly found himself in antagonism with his brother. belief is not voluntary, and change is the natural result of growth and development. we would fain have all church members sons and daughters of temperance; but if the church, in her wisdom, has made her platform so broad that wine-bibbers and rum-sellers may repose in ease thereon, we who are always preaching liberality ought to be the last to complain. having thus briefly noticed some of the objections to our movement, i will not detain the audience longer at this time. an able report of the executive committee was then read by mrs. vaughan. the president, on motion, appointed the various committees,[ ] and read a letter from gerrit smith to susan b. anthony: peterboro, _may , _. dear madam:--i thank you for your letter. so constantly am i employed in my extensive private concerns, that i can attend none of the anniversaries this spring. i should be especially happy to attend yours; and to testify by my presence, if not by my words, that woman is in her place when she is laboring to redeem the world from the curse of drunkenness. i know not why it is not as much the duty of your sex, as it is of mine, to establish newspapers, write books, and hold public meetings for the promotion of the cause of temperance. the current idea, that modesty should hold women back from such services, is all resolvable into nonsense and wickedness. female modesty! female delicacy! i would that i might never again hear such phrases. there is but one standard of modesty and delicacy for both men and women; and so long as different standards are tolerated, both sexes will be perverse and corrupt. it is my duty to be as modest and delicate as you are; and if your modesty and delicacy may excuse you from making a public speech, then may mine excuse me from making one. the quakers are the best people i have ever known--the most serious and chaste, and yet the most brave and resisting. but there is no other people who are so little concerned, lest man get out of his sphere, or lest woman get out of hers. no people make so little difference as they do, between man and woman. others appear to think that the happiness and safety of the world consist in magnifying the difference. but when reason and religion shall rule the world, there will be felt to be no other difference between man and woman, than that of their physical constitutions. none will then be acknowledged in respect to the intellect, the heart, or the manners. very respectfully, your friend, gerrit smith. the attendance at this convention was larger than the year previous, and the debates more interesting, as mrs. nichols, william henry channing, lucy stone, antoinette brown, and frederick douglass all took an active part in the proceedings. during one of the sessions quite a heated discussion took place on the subject of divorce, mrs. stanton and lucy stone taking the ground that it was not only woman's right, but her duty, to withdraw from all such unholy relations, mrs. nichols and miss brown taking the opposite position. as it was decided at this second convention to admit gentlemen, a schism was the immediate result. by their party tactics, in which they were well versed, they took the initiative steps to scatter the forces so successfully gathered. the society, with its guns silenced on the popular foes, lingered a year or two, and was heard of no more. it was the policy of these worldly wise men to restrict the debate on temperance within such narrow limits as to disturb none of the existing conditions of society. they said, treat it as a purely moral and religious question; "pray over it," it being too knotty a problem to be solved on earth, they proposed to have the whole case adjusted in the courts of heaven: very much as the wise men to-day think best to dispose of the temperance reform. thus these politic gentlemen manipulated the association, eliminated the woman's rights element _per se_, which, having been educated in the anti-slavery school of morals, could not be blinded with any male sophistries or considerations of policy. it was the universal plea then as now, in advocating reforms, "sacrifice principle to numbers, if you would secure victory," forgetting that one company of brave men could clear their path to the enemy quicker than a battalion of cowards. a multitude of timid, undeveloped men and women, afraid of priests and politicians, are a hindrance rather than help in any reform. when garrison's forces had been thoroughly sifted, and only the picked men and women remained, he soon made political parties and church organizations feel the power of his burning words. the temperance cause has had no organized body of fearless leaders. psalm singing and prayer it was supposed would accomplish what only could be done by just laws, enlightened public sentiment, and pure religion, applied to the practical interests of mankind. when abolitionists left parties and churches, because of their pro-slavery codes and creeds, they began alike to purify their organizations in order to win back that noble army of patriots. women were urged to enroll themselves as members of men's associations, pay their initiation fee of one dollar, gather petitions, do all in their power to rouse enthusiasm; but they must not presume to sit on the platform, nor speak, nor vote in the meetings. those women who had no proper self-respect accepted the conditions; those who had, tested their status on the platform, and not being received as equals, abandoned all temperance organizations, as the same proper pride that forbade them to accept the conditions of a proscribed class in men's conventions, also prevented their affiliation with women who would tolerate such insults to the sex. the long, persistent struggle at last culminated in the world's temperance convention, which may be called our waterloo in that reform. brick church meeting. may th, , the friends of temperance assembled in new york to make arrangements for a world's temperance convention. the meeting was held in dr. spring's old brick church, on franklin square, where the _new york times_ building now stands. it was organized by nominating the hon. a. c. barstow, of rhode island, chairman; the rev. r. c. crampton, of new york, and the rev. george duffield, of pennsylvania, secretaries. the meeting opened with prayer, "asking god's blessing on the proceedings."[ ] a motion was made that all gentlemen present be admitted as delegates. dr. trall, of new york, moved an amendment that the word "ladies" be inserted, as there were delegates present from the woman's state temperance society. the motion was carried, and credentials received, and every man and woman became members of the convention. a business committee of one from each state was appointed. a motion was made that susan b. anthony, secretary of the woman's state temperance society, be added to the business committee. then the war commenced in earnest. d.d.'s, m.d.'s, and honorables were horrified. speech followed speech in rapid succession, with angry vehemence. as the committee was already full, the motion was ruled out of order. thomas wentworth higginson asked that he be excused from serving on the committee, and moved that lucy stone be added in his place. then the confusion was increased. abby kelly foster arose and tried to explain, but shouts of "order" drowned her voice, and after persisting in her attempt to speak for ten minutes the uproar was frightful, and she was compelled to sit down. emily clark made a similar attempt, with the same result. hon. bradford r. wood, of albany, then moved, that as there was a party present determined to introduce the question of woman's rights, and to run it into the ground, that this convention adjourn _sine die_; but on request he withdrew it, and moved that a committee on credentials be appointed to decide who were members of the convention. this committee, consisting of rev. john chambers, of philadelphia, hon. b. r. wood, of albany, and dr. condit, of new jersey, were absent fifteen minutes, and then reported that, as in their opinion, the call for this meeting was not intended to include female delegates, and custom had not sanctioned the public action of women in similar situations, the credentials of the ladies should be rejected. the report was received, and after a disgraceful contest on the part of those from whom we look for honor, truth, and nobleness, and every christian virtue, on account of their sacred calling and high position, it was adopted by a vote of to , ten of those voting in the negative being women. during the progress of the discussion--if discussion it could be called, where all the women who attempted to speak were silenced, and the men who attempted to speak for them were almost as rudely treated--mayor barstow twice requested the appointment of another chairman in his stead, stating that he would not preside over a meeting where woman's rights were introduced, or women allowed to speak. having finally silenced them, he was henceforward content to wear the honors of his temporary office. mr. higginson protested against the action of the meeting as disgraceful to the leaders, and tendered his resignation as one of the business committee. he then stated that all persons favorable to calling a _whole_ world's temperance convention were invited to meet at dr. trall's office at o'clock. the ladies present, and the gentlemen who had contended for their admission as delegates, then withdrew. another disgraceful scene occurred on a protest from dr. townsend against the action of the convention, and a motion to pay the expenses of the ladies who had come some distance as delegates and been excluded. the motion was seconded. again shouts of "order," "order," arose, and the confusion was worse than ever. dr. t. finally withdrew his motion, on being told that the ladies would accept no such favor at the hands of a convention of rowdies. several speeches then followed, mostly from, clergymen; all condemning the public action of women in any reforms, and defending the position of the convention, quoting scripture and the divine will to sanction their injustice. one rev. gentleman stated that he would have nothing to do with the women. rev. john chambers said, for one, he rejoiced that the women were gone; they were now rid of the scum of the convention!! other clergymen spoke in the same strain. a motion was made by dr. snodgrass that the committee assign some part of the work of the world's convention to women, which called out from mr. barstow some remarks too indecent for repetition. the motion was withdrawn. the gall and bitterness, the ridicule and vulgarity of the rev. d.d.'s being expended on some of the grandest women our nation could boast, they adjourned, after deciding to hold a four days' convention, beginning the th of september. the other wing of the temperance army decided to do the same, and held a meeting of protest a few days after in the tabernacle. the _new york tribune_ says of the meeting of protest, saturday evening, may , : a grand temperance demonstration was held in the broadway tabernacle saturday evening. there could not have been less than , persons present. the floor of the house, the aisles, the galleries, every inch of sitting and standing room was literally packed. the greatest enthusiasm prevailed throughout. the officers of the meeting were: president--susan b. anthony.[ ] lucy stone, in a letter to _the una_, says: last week, at new york, we had a foretaste of what woman is to expect when she attempts to exercise her equal rights as a human being. in conformity with a resolution adopted by the mass convention recently held in boston, a call was issued, inviting "the _friends of temperance_" to meet in new york, may th, and prepare for a "world's convention." under that call, the woman's state society of new york, an active and efficient body, sent delegates; but though regularly elected, their credentials were rejected with scorn. the chairman of the committee reported that those who called the meeting never intended to include women. think of it, a _world's_ convention, in which woman is voted not of the world!! rev. dr. hewitt affirmed it a burning shame for women to be there; and though it was entirely out of order, he discussed the question of "woman's rights," taking the ground that women should be nowhere but at home. rev. e. m. jackson, gave it as his opinion, that "the women came there expressly to disturb." the rev. mr. fowler, of utica, showed the same contempt for woman that he did last year, at the n. y. state temperance society, at syracuse. rev. mr. chambers was particularly bitter. it would have been well for those women who accept the foolish flattery of men, to have been present to see the real estimate in which woman is held by these men who surely represent a large class. the president of the meeting, mayor barstow, of your city, indignantly refused to put the motion made--that susan b. anthony should be on a committee, declaring "that he would resign rather than do it." he said it "was not fit that a woman should be in such places." after we left, if the papers reported him correctly, he used language which proved that he was not fit to be where decent people are. it was next to impossible for us or our friends to get a hearing. the "previous question" was called, or we were voted out of order, or half a dozen of the opposing party talked at once to keep us silent. rev. t. w. higginson declined serving on a committee from which women were excluded, and when it became apparent that only half of the world could be represented, he entered his protest, and invited those who were in favor of a _whole_ world's temperance convention to meet that afternoon at dr. trall's. a large minority withdrew, including several ministers, and arranged for a convention that shall know "neither male nor female," to be held in new york sometime during the world's fair. a large and enthusiastic meeting was held at the broadway tabernacle, to protest against the above proceedings, and although twelve and a half cents were charged at the door, every seat was occupied, and much of the "standing room" also. the same gentlemen who excluded us, held a meeting subsequently in metropolitan hall. there your major barstow said: "god has placed woman in the moral world where he has the sun in the physical, to regulate, enlighten, and cheer." c. c. burleigh, alluding to this remark, in our meeting at the tabernacle, said: "thus he calls his convention, in which mars, jupiter, saturn, mercury, and neptune are appointed a committee of arrangements, and says the sun shall be excluded." at this meeting, _ladies_ were especially invited to vote, as though they had a heart in it, and were urged also to give their money to aid these very men by whom every soul of us had been insulted. i am sorry to say some gave. but taught such lessons, by such masters, woman will one day be wiser. yours, for humanity, without distinction of sex, lucy stone. after the brick church meeting was over, some of the actors being ashamed of themselves, the rev. john marsh tried to defend himself and his coadjutors, but mr. greeley very summarily brushed his sophistry aside, and placed all the actors in that disgraceful farce in their true colors. _the new york daily tribune, wednesday, may , ._ the world's temperance convention. _to the editor of the new york tribune:_ sir:--your "inquirer," it appears to me, is bent on throwing firebrands into the temperance ranks, and the worst kind of firebrands, those of vile sectarianism. will you permit me to answer and remark upon a few of his inquiries? . "are there to be _two_ world's conventions?" _answer_. that will be, i suppose, as people please. there may be a dozen; and i know not that any harm will be done. . "did mayor barstow occasion the schism in the temperance ranks, by refusing to recognize the feminine element in the movement?" _ans_. no. the schism, such as there was, was caused by a proposal of rev. mr. higginson, and a persistence in it, that a representative of the women's state society should be added to the business committee of one from each state; and this after the committee was full. with as good reason, it was said, might one be pressed from the _men's_ state society or state alliance. mr. higginson pertinaciously pressed the matter; and because he could not have his own way and rule the convention, he refused to serve on the committee; and hence arose all the disturbance and the schism. . "did dr. hewitt rule out from office mr. barnum on the ground that he (mr. barnum) was an infidel?" _ans_. no. i am confident he used no such phraseology; and "inquirer" has no more right to ask such a question, than he has to ask if dr. hewitt did not rule him out on the ground that mr. barnum was a horse thief. the very question amounts to an assertion (as is announced in the next inquiry) that he _did_ say it; which, if he did not, is calumny. dr. h. _did_ object to mr. barnum, as he had a perfect right to do, as one of the appointing committee. it was desirable to find the best men to get up to the world's convention. i proposed mr. barnum as one, knowing his amazing efficiency. dr. h. objected, on the ground that he (barnum) was a very exceptionable man in his part of connecticut, and would do injury to the convention; and, as harmony was desirable, and unexceptionable men should be put upon the committee, his name was withdrawn. it was agreed that what was said in committee should not go abroad. . "does mr. barnum's infidelity consist in his attending another church in bridgeport from dr. hewitt's?" here appears the cloven foot of sectarianism. one sect is to be held up as persecuted. here the writer assumes that dr. hewitt did say that mr. b. was an infidel; and, assuming it and knowing it, why does he hypocritically ask whether dr. h. _did_ say it? . "is it true that dr. h. refused his pulpit for a temperance lecture by rev. e. h. chapin, on the ground that he was a universalist?" sectarianism again! what has all this to do with the meeting at the brick chapel? why is it brought here but to kindle up sectarian fires? a pastor of a church has everywhere conceded to him the control of his pulpit, and no one may contend with him in this matter. whether that was so or not, i know not, nor is it any concern of mine, nor of the public. such a rule the world knows does not govern us in selecting temperance speakers. we will not invite speakers to speak at temperance meetings who have something else more at heart than temperance, which they will most offensively thrust in their speech upon the meeting. but we, without hesitation, invite men of all sorts to speak at temperance meetings, who will speak to the point, and do us good and not hurt. rev. mr. chapin, we all know, is of this character, and, without hesitation, i invited him to speak at the late anniversary of the american temperance union (as i did rev. mr. higginson, who differs from me perhaps as much in religious belief), and he (mr. c.) would have spoken, but was to be out of the city. . "how can the proposed convention be a _world's_ convention, if women and all who do not belong to a particular church are to be excluded?" sectarianism again! who has said a word about church but this writer, and about excluding women from the convention and all its entertainments? no one. the basis of the convention has not been settled. it probably will be as broad as the world. the last query i think unworthy an answer. and i must be permitted to say the whole inquiry manifests a very bad spirit, and is calculated to promote evils which the public press should suppress rather than foster. as i sent you an anonymous communication explaining some of these matters last saturday, which you declined publishing, because, i suppose, it was anonymous, i feel constrained, though reluctantly, to give this my name. yours, etc., john marsh, _office of am. temp. union, no. nassau st._ horace greeley's reply. rev. john! we have allowed you to be heard at full length; now you and your set will be silent and hear us. very palpably your palaver about mr. higginson's motion is a dodge, a quirk, a most contemptible quibble, reluctant as we are to speak thus irreverently of the solemn utterances of a doctor of divinity. right well do you know, reverend sir, that the particular form, or time, or fashion in which the question came up is utterly immaterial, and you interpose it only to throw dust in the eyes of the public. suppose a woman had been nominated at the right time, and in the right way, according to your understanding of punctilios, wouldn't the same resistance have been made and the same row got up? you know right well that there would. then what is all your pettifogging about technicalities worth? the only question that anybody cares a button about is this, shall woman be allowed to participate in your world's temperance convention on a footing of perfect equality with man? if yea, the whole dispute turns on nothing, and isn't worth six lines in _the tribune_. but if it was and is the purpose of those for whom you pettifog to keep woman off the platform of that convention, and deny her any part in its proceedings except as a spectator, what does all your talk about higginson's untimeliness and the committees being full amount to? why not treat the subject with some show of honesty? now as to barnum and hewitt: it is eminently proper that the public should know exactly on what ground h. ruled b. off the business committee, and it is self-criminating to plead that a mantle of secrecy was spread over the doings in committee. if hewitt protested against barnum on the assumption that the latter is a sinner, while this is to be a convention of saints, let that fact be known, so that sinners may keep away from the convention. if on the assumption that mr. barnum is an infidel or a heretic, let that fact come squarely out, so that we may know that infidels or heretics, either or both, are to be proscribed at the hewitt-marsh convention. for if there is to be really and truly a world's temperance convention, according to any fair meaning of the phrase, then we say women, as well as men, youth, as well as adults, colored, as well as white, heretic, as well as orthodox, sinners, as well as saints--so that they be earnest and undoubted upholders of total abstinence--should be invited to send delegates, who should be equally welcome to its platform and eligible to its offices. an orthodox white male adult saints' convention may be very proper and very useful, but it should be called distinctly as such, and not unqualifiedly as a world's convention. dr. marsh thinks it nobody's business whether dr. hewitt did or did not refuse the use of his church for a temperance-meeting at which mr. chapin was to speak, because he (mr. c.) was a universalist. yes, reverend sir, it is a good many people's business if the public are purposely left in doubt as to the character of the world's convention that is to issue from the brick church meeting. for if dr. hewitt shut his pulpit against so unexceptionable, assiduous, effective an advocate of temperance as mr. chapin confessedly is (see marsh, above), then we have a cue to his objection to barnum and to the general bearings of the "world's convention" to be incubated under his auspices. that single incident of the pulpit-shutting will have a great deal of significance to many other people; wherefore the fact that it has none to marsh is overruled. whenever a real "world's temperance convention" shall assemble, an inquiry may be found necessary as to what dr. hewitt has done and sacrificed for temperance these five years that should authorize him to rule p. t. barnum off a temperance committee; also, whether men who live by temperance, like dr. marsh, are in the right position to judge those, like barnum, who labor and spend money for it. for the present, however, we will leave these inquiries on the general orders. one word as to sectarianism. if "inquirer," or mr. barnum, or mr. chapin has proposed or intrigued to keep any one out of office, or otherwise overslaughed in the brick church meeting, or any of its meetings, because of said body's religious opinions or associations, then said intriguer has been guilty of a very faulty and culpable sectarian dodge, which can not be too severely reproached. but if it be in fact t'other fellow's bull that has gored this one's ox, then the facts should come out, and the culprit can not escape censure by raising the stop-thief cry of "sectarianism." "_thou_ art the man!" let the women of this nation ponder horace greeley's arraignment of the reverend gentlemen who were the chief actors in this farce, and remember that in all ages of the world the priesthood have found their pliant tools and most degraded victims in the women of their respective sects. in all of these meetings there were intelligent, sincere women, so blinded by the sophistry and hypocrisy of marsh, chambers, hewitt, _et al._, that they gave them their countenance and support throughout this disgraceful mob, so-shocking and revolting to the best men of that day and generation. in consequence of the action in the brick church two temperance conventions were called, to meet in new york the first week in september. one designated "the whole world's convention," including men and women, black and white, orthodox and heretic; the other the "half world's convention," restricted to the "simon pure, white (male) orthodox saints"; which for ribaldry of speech and rudeness of action surpassed in its proceedings the outside mob, that raged and raved through an entire week, making pandemonium of our metropolis. a grand gathering--anti-slavery--woman's rights--temperance--the world's fair, september, . the opening days of the autumn of this year were days of intense excitement in the city of new york. added to the numbers attracted by the world's fair was the announcement of the anti-slavery, woman's rights, and two temperance conventions. the reformers from every part of the country assembled in force, each to hold their separate meetings, though the leaders were to take a conspicuous part in all. the anti-slavery meetings began on sunday, and every day two or three of these conventions were in session, all drawing crowds to listen or to disturb. william henry channing. william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips and thomas wentworth. higginson eloquently pleading for the black man's freedom on the anti-slavery platform, and for the equality of their mothers, wives, and daughters on the woman's rights platform, and for both the woman and the black man on the temperance platform; now face to face with rynders and his mob, and then with the rev. john chambers, marsh and hewitt and their mob, the viler of the two. the half world's temperance convention, led by chambers, hewitt, and marsh, was in session in metropolitan hall several days. as it was simply an organized mob, we find in the journals of the day no speeches or resolutions on the great question on which they nominally assembled. in trying to get rid of antoinette l. brown, who had been sent as a delegate from two respectable and influential societies, and of james mccune smith, a colored delegate, they quarrelled through most of the allotted time for the convention over what class of persons could be admitted. in summing up the proceedings of these meetings horace greeley says, in the _tribune_, september , : "this convention has completed three of its four business sessions, and the results may be summed up as follows: "_first day_--crowding a woman off the platform. "_second day_--gagging her. "_third day_--voting that she shall stay gagged. having thus disposed of the main question, we presume the incidentals will be finished this morning." antoinette brown was asked why she went to that convention, knowing, as she must, that she would be rejected. "i went there," she said, "to assert a principle--a principle relevant to the circumstances of that convention, and one which would promote _all_ good causes and retard _all_ bad ones. i went there, as an item of the world, to contend that the sons and daughters of the race, without distinction of sex, sect, class or color, should be recognized as belonging to the world, and i planted my feet upon the simple _rights of a delegate_. i asked no favor as a woman, or in behalf of woman; no favor as a woman advocating temperance; no recognition of the cause of woman above the cause of humanity; the indorsement of no 'ism' and of no measure; but i claimed, in the name of the world, the rights of a delegate in a world's convention. "is it asked. why did you make that issue at that time? i answer, i have made it at all times and in all places, whenever and wherever providence has given me the opportunity, and in whatever way it could be made to appear most prominent. last spring, when woman claimed the supremacy--the right to hold all the offices in the woman's state temperance society--i contended, from this platform, for the equality of man; the equal rights of all the members of this society. i have claimed everywhere the equality of humanity in church and in state; god helping me, i here pledge myself anew to him, and to you all, to be true everywhere to the central principle--the soul of the divine commandment, 'thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' the temperance cause was not injured by our course at that convention. we went there with thoughtful hearts. said wendell phillips: 'take courage, and remember that whether you are received or rejected, you are going to make the most effectual speech for temperance, for woman, and humanity that you have ever made in your life.' 'god bless you,' were the fervent words of mr. channing, in a moment when there was most need of divine assistance; and when i stood on the platform for an hour and a half, waiting to be heard, i could read in the faces of men such as these, and in the faces, too, of our opposers, the calm assurance, 'you are making the most effectual speech for temperance, for woman, and humanity, that you have ever made in your life.' i believed it then; i believe it now."[ ] rev. william henry channing, in giving his report of the world's temperance convention to the toronto division of sons of temperance of the city of rochester, said: and now it becomes my disagreeable duty, as one of your delegates, to report to the toronto division how my highly honored fellow-delegate was treated. her credentials were received without dissent; she was, of course, then entitled, _equally_ with every other delegate, to take part in all the proceedings of the conventions. at a suitable time and in a perfectly orderly manner she rose to speak; the floor was adjudged to her by hon. neal dow, the president, but her right to the platform was questioned. again and again the president declared your delegate to be in order; again and again appeal was made to the convention and the decision of the president sustained; but a factious minority succeeded in silencing her voice, and so ended the first session in storm. on the second morning your delegate wisely waited until the resolutions offered to the convention by the business committee were opened for discussion. when the first resolution, declaring the _religious character_ of the temperance movement, was submitted to the meeting, miss brown rose to speak. she rose calmly in the body of the house; she was a minister of religion, an advocate of temperance; she had it in her heart to press this reformation onward in a religious spirit; she had avoided all disputes on petty points of order, and now wished to address herself earnestly to the momentous theme. had she not a perfect right to do so? and what fitter occasion could occur? the very topic was of a kind to banish personalities and hush low passions. your delegate was invited by the president to take the platform; she did so with quiet dignity, but scarcely had she reached the stand when all around her on the platform itself, and among the officers of the convention, began that disgraceful row, which led an onlooker in the gallery to cry out, "are those men drunk?" i have no wish to dwell upon that cowardly transaction, but this remark i am bound in honor to make: if any man says that antoinette brown forced the subject of "woman's rights" on that temperance convention in plain saxon speech, _he lies_. she never dreamed of asking any _privilege_ as a woman; she stood there in her _right_ as a delegate; her aim was to urge forward the temperance reform. no! the whole uproar on "woman's rights" came from the professed friends of temperance, and began with the insulting cry--from a man on the platform--of, "shame on the woman!" that man i need hardly tell you was the notorious john chambers, of philadelphia--the so-called rev. john chambers!--he it was who, with brazen face and clanging tongue, stood stamping until he raised a cloud of dust around him, pointing with coarse finger and rudely shouting "shame on the woman," until he even stood abashed before the indignant cry from the convention of "shame on john chambers." the reverend john chambers! _reverend_ for what? for his piety; manifested in the fact that he, a professed minister of the gospel, could by rowdy tumult drown the voice of another minister of the gospel while she was asserting the religious character of the temperance reform! _reverend_ for what? for his charity; manifested by low cries and insulting gestures, to a gentlewoman who stood there firm yet meek, before him! strange that he, of all, should thus seek a bad eminence in outraging the decencies of social life; for unless report is false, john chambers owes whatever position he may have to woman. it is said--i believe on good authority--that he was educated for the ministry by the contributions of women; that he preaches in a church built and endowed by a woman; that his salary is chiefly paid by hard-working needle-women; finally, that he married a rich wife! now what a sight was there! a man, whose brain had been fed with books by woman, whose body had been fattened with bread by woman, every fragment and stitch of whose ministerial garb, from his collar to his boot-heels, had been paid for by woman, whose very traveling ticket to that convention had been bought by woman, could find no better way to discharge his mission as minister of the gospel than to point his finger and shout, "shame on the woman!" mr. channing then bore his testimony to the admirable combination of energy and mildness, by which miss brown's whole air and manner were distinguished amid these hours of tumult. he said: "such serene strength comes only from religious principle and life. i know not how it may have been with nerves and pulses--there was no apparent tremor. but of this i am assured, whatever disturbance there was in the outer court of the temple, in the holy of holies was the heart of peace, and the dove of the spirit brooded in light on the tabernacle of conscience." in an editorial of _the una_, headed "rev. john chambers recommended to mercy," mrs. davis says: "we publish the letter of rev. wm. henry channing because it is a noble defence of woman and a part of the history of the movement. we do not give mr. chambers' reply, st, because we find in it no evidence of penitence nor any testimony as to who was the guilty party--if he was not; and d, because the tone and language of the letter is of a character we trust will never sully the pages of _the una_. mr. channing's rebuke is severe, but we believe it to have been richly deserved and given in true christian love." rochester, n. y., oct. , . editors sunday mercury:--you ask for proof that rev. john chambers took part in the brutal insult offered to a christian gentlewoman at the late "world's temperance convention." i was _witness_ of the conduct of that man and his abettors during that _cowardly transaction_, and i hereby charge him with being a ringleader in that platform row. when my honored friend and fellow-delegate, the rev. antoinette l. brown, was standing calm, yet firm, amidst those rude scoffers, the words of the psalmist kept sounding in my ear: "strong bulls of bashan have beset me roundabout, gaping upon me with their mouths." i marked the _biggest_ of the herd with the purpose, at the first suitable season, of laying on one blow of the lash with such a will that it should cut through any hide, however callous. that season came when, as a delegate, i was called upon to report to the "toronto division of the sons of temperance" how my fellow-delegate had been treated. but having thus _indicted the bully_ and put him on trial in open court, i merely record my testimony and leave him to go to judgment; the public will render a verdict, pass sentence, and inflict the _penalty_ in the pillory where he has placed himself; may their justice be tempered with mercy. it was necessary, in order to _protect women_ in future from the _insolence of tyrants_, to make this example; yet let him be cordially pardoned as soon as he gives sincere proof of penitence. william henry channing. another letter of mr. channing's of same date to the editor of _the daily register_: sir:--respect for yourself, your readers, and your paper, prompts me to reply at once to your article headed, "answer," etc., by rev. john chambers, which, through the courtesy of some friend, reached me last evening. i must be frank, but will aim to be brief. and first, mr. birney, a word to yourself. you knew me in "former days as mild," etc., and were not prepared for such a speech; you charitably suggest that its "vindictiveness" may be owing to a substitution of the reporter's language for my own, and "are not without hope of seeing a disclaimer." now, far from wishing to disclaim the _one real accusation_ made in my remarks, i am ready, anywhere and everywhere, to reiterate that charge. yet there is no "vindictiveness" in my heart toward the criminal whom i thus arraign, and no emotion which i should not honor any man for feeling toward myself, if i was consciously guilty of having played so base a part. you were not wrong in thinking me "mild in former days"; i trust i am milder now than then. but my mildness never was, and never will be, of that mean quality, which can tamely see a sister insulted, whether by a pugilist from the ring, or by a _rowdy from the pulpit_. my principle is peace, but i remember the saying, "you can not become an angel till you are first a man.".... womanhood, as such, claims honorable courtesy of every manly heart; and he is unmanly who does not rejoice to testify this respect. the man who can be rude to even a poor prostitute in the street, will be rude to wife or daughter at his own fireside; while he who is a _gentle_ man to any woman, will be a _gentle_ man to all women. _his spirit is brutal_, who could ever dream of applying the slang phrase "creature" to any woman under any conceivable conditions. what shall be thought then of the moral grade of him who chose as the mark for his missiles of "contempt," a young lady of rare refinement in her whole presence and manner, of spotless delicacy and gentlest dignity, of commanding talent and philanthropic earnestness, and who stood there before him, serene amid the tumult, clad, even then, in the bright robe of heavenly peace? and now one word in closing. let mr. chambers, and all of like spirit, be assured, that i am but a representative of a large, rapidly growing, and influential body in every community throughout our land, who are resolved, that women shall no longer be insulted in public assemblies with impunity. wm. henry channing. through this fierce conflict horace greeley, with his personal presence on the platform, and his brave editorials in the _new york tribune_, fought a great battle for free speech and human equality. speaking of the _whole_ world's convention, he said: _new york tribune, september , ._ this has been the most spirited and able convention on behalf of temperance that was ever held. it has already done good, and can not fail to do more. the scarcity of white neck-ties on the platform so fully atoned for by the presence of such champions of reform and humanity as antoinette l. brown, lucy stone, and mrs. jackson, of england, mrs. c i. h. nichols, mrs. frances d. gage, etc., that like the absence of wine from our festive board when it is graced by women, it was the theme of no general or very pointed regret. it was a great occasion, and we know truth was there uttered which will bear fruit through coming years. _tribune, september , ._ when the call of the world's temperance convention was issued, we were appealed to by valued friends, whom we know as devoted to the temperance cause, to discountenance all efforts to get up a rival convention. "the call is unexceptionably broad," we were reminded, "it invites all and excludes nobody, then why not accept it and hold but one convention?" the question was fair and forcible, and had there been no antecedents we should have acceded to its object. but we could not forget the preliminary meeting at the brick church chapel, and we could not take the hazard of having many whom we knew as among the most efficient and faithful laborers in the temperance cause shut out of a world's convention of its advocates; so we cast our lot with them about whose catholicity of sentiment and action there could be no dispute, and yesterday's doings at the metropolitan convention maintained the conviction created by the whole world's convention that our decision was right. we ask especial attention to the proceedings of the world's convention yesterday morning, particularly with reference to antoinette brown, who had been chosen by two separate temperance organizations of men to represent them at this convention. how she was received, how treated, and how virtually crowded off the platform, our report most faithfully exhibits. they who are sure that the age of chivalry is not gone, are urged to ponder this treatment of a pure and high-souled woman, a teacher of christian truth, an ornament of her sex, and an example to all, by a convention of reformers and gentlemen, many of them from that section of the union where the defence of woman from insult has been deemed a manly grace, if not a manly duty. we presume the matter will be further considered to-day. of the _whole_ world's temperance convention a correspondent of _the una_ says: "throughout, the meeting has been one of intense interest; not a moment's flagging, not a poor or unworthy speech made by either man or woman. again and again, as we passed into the large hall, filled with eager listeners, we felt it to be one of the most sublime scenes we had ever looked upon. there the audience remained, hour after hour, patient, earnest, full of enthusiasm, and yet hundreds could scarcely hear a single connected sentence. the majority were women, but the larger number of the speakers were men. the right and equality being recognized, there was no longer a necessity for controversy to maintain principle, hence no woman attempted to speak except she had something to say. mrs. jackson, of england, mrs. nichols, mrs. vaughan, miss stone, rev. a. l. brown, lucretia mott, and mrs. f. d. gage addressed the convention during the different sessions." the same correspondent says of the _world's_ temperance convention: "there was one feature more anomalous than the rejection and gagging of miss brown, darker and far more cruel, for it has not the excuse of custom, nor can the bible be tortured into any justification of it. this was the exclusion of dr. james mccune smith, a gentleman, a graduate of the edinburgh university, a member of a long-established temperance society, and a regularly appointed delegate. and wherefore? simply for the reason that nature had bestowed on his complexion a darker, richer tint than upon some of the sycophants who gathered there; it appears to have been simply to pander to a bigoted priesthood and a corrupt populace." in deciding the action of the convention to be worse in its treatment toward mr. smith than toward miss brown, we think _the una_ correspondent makes a grave mistake. in point of courtesy the treatment of a lady of culture and refinement, the peer of any man in that assembly, with the unpardonable rudeness they did, was infinitely worse than to have done the same thing to any man, white or black, because by every code of honor or chivalry all men are bound to defend woman. again, as a question of morals, custom, and prejudice, they occupied the same position in the state and the church. the "white male" in the constitutions placed women and black men on the same platform as citizens. the popular interpretation of scripture sanctioned the same injustice in both cases. in the mouths of the false prophets, "servants, obey your masters," was used for the same purpose, and with equal effect, as "wives, be in subjection to your own husbands." "servant of servants shall he be" has been used with the same prophetic force as the more cruel curse pronounced on woman. the white man's bible has been uniformly used to show that the degradation of the woman and the black man was in harmony with god's will. on what principle is proscription on account of color more cruel than on account of sex? most of the liberal men and women now withdrew from all temperance organizations, leaving the movement in the hands of time-serving priests and politicians, who, being in the majority, effectually blocked the progress of the reform for the time--destroying, as they did, the enthusiasm of the women in trying to press it as a moral principle, and the hope of the men, who intended to carry it as a political measure. henceforward women took no active part in temperance until the ohio crusade revived them again all over the nation, and gathered the scattered forces into "the woman's national christian temperance union," of which miss frances e. willard is president. as now, so in , intelligent women saw that the most direct way to effect any reform was to have a voice in the laws and lawmakers. hence they turned their attention to rolling up petitions for the civil and political rights of women, to hearings before legislatures and constitutional conventions, giving their most persistent efforts to the reform technically called "woman's rights." susan b. anthony had a similar battle to fight in the educational conventions. having been a successful teacher in the state of new york fifteen years of her life, she had seen the need of many improvements in the mode of teaching and in the sanitary arrangements of school buildings; and more than all, the injustice to women in their half-pay as teachers. her interest in educational conventions was first roused by listening to a tedious discussion at elmira on the "divine ordinance" of flogging children, in which charles anthony, principal of the albany academy, quoted solomon's injunction, "spare the rod, and spoil the child." in , the annual convention being held in rochester, her place of residence, miss anthony conscientiously attended all the sessions through three entire days. after having listened for hours to a discussion as to the reason why the profession of teacher was not as much respected as that of the lawyer, minister, or doctor, without once, as she thought, touching the kernel of the question, she arose to untie for them the gordian knot, and said, "mr. president." if all the witches that had been drowned, burned, and hung in the old world and the new had suddenly appeared on the platform, threatening vengeance for their wrongs, the officers of that convention could not have been thrown into greater consternation. there stood that quaker girl, calm and self-possessed, while with hasty consultations, running to and fro, those frightened men could not decide what to do; how to receive this audacious invader of their sphere of action. at length president davies, of west point, in fall dress, buff vest, blue coat, gilt buttons, stepped to the front, and said, in a tremulous, mocking tone, "what will the lady have?" "i wish, sir, to speak to the question under discussion," miss anthony replied. the professor, more perplexed than before, said: "what is the pleasure of the convention?" a gentleman moved that she should be heard; another seconded the motion; whereupon a discussion pro and con followed, lasting full half an hour, when a vote of the men only was taken, and permission granted by a small majority; and lucky for her, too, was it, that the thousand women crowding that hall could not vote on the question, for they would have given a solid "no." the president then announced the vote, and said: "the lady can speak." we can easily imagine the embarrassment under which miss anthony arose after that half hour of suspense, and the bitter hostility she noted on every side. however, with a clear, distinct voice, which filled the hall, she said: "it seems to me, gentlemen, that none of you quite comprehend the cause of the disrespect of which you complain. do you not see that so long as society says a woman is incompetent to be a lawyer, minister, or doctor, but has ample ability to be a teacher, that every man of you who chooses this profession tacitly acknowledges that he has no more brains than a woman? and this, too, is the reason that teaching is a less lucrative profession, as here men must compete with the cheap labor of woman. would you exalt your profession, exalt those who labor with you. would you make it more lucrative, increase the salaries of the women engaged in the noble work of educating our future presidents, senators, and congressmen." this said, miss anthony took her seat, amid the profoundest silence, broken at last by three gentlemen, messrs. cruttenden, coburn, and fanning, walking down the broad aisle to congratulate the speaker on her pluck and perseverance, and the pertinency of her remarks. the editor of _the rochester democrat_ said the next morning, that "whatever the schoolmasters might think of miss anthony, it was evident that she hit the nail on the head." to give the women of to-day some idea of what it cost those who first thrust themselves into these conventions, at the close of the session miss a. heard women remarking: "did you ever see anything like this performance?" "i was actually ashamed of my sex." "i felt so mortified i really wished the floor would open and swallow me up." "who can that creature be?" "she must be a dreadful woman to get up that way and speak in public." "i was so mad at those three men making such a parade to shake hands with her; that will just encourage her to speak again." these ladies had probably all been to theatres, concerts, operas, and gone into ecstasies over fanny kemble, rachel, and jenny lind; and fanny elsler, balanced on one toe, the other foot in the air, without having their delicacy shocked in the least. but a simple quaker girl rising in a teachers' convention to make a common-sense remark modestly, dressed, making no display of her neck, or arms, or legs, so tried their delicate sensibilities that they were almost afraid to attend the next session. at the opening of the next morning's session, after miss anthony's début, professor davies, in all his majesty and pomposity, with his thumbs in the arm-holes of his regulation buff vest, called the convention to order, and said: "i have been asked by several persons, why no provisions have been made for women to speak, and vote, and act on committees, in these assemblies?" my answer is, "be hold yonder beautiful pilaster of this superb hall! contemplate its pedestal, its shaft, its rich entablature, the crowning glory of the whole. each and all the parts in their appropriate place contribute to the strength, symmetry, and beauty of the whole. could i aid in taking down that magnificent entablature from its proud elevation, and placing it in the dust and dirt that surround the pedestal? neither could i drag down the mother, wife, and daughter, whom we worship as beings of a higher order, on the common plane of life with ourselves." if all men were pedestals and shafts capable of holding the women of their households above the dirt and dust of common life, in a serene atmosphere of peace and plenty, the good professor's remarks would have had some significance; but as the burdens of existence rest equally on the shoulders of men and women, and we must ever struggle together on a common plane for bread, his metaphor has no foundation. miss anthony attended these teachers' conventions from year to year, at oswego, utica, poughkeepsie, lockport, syracuse, making the same demands for equal place and pay, until she had the satisfaction to see every right conceded. women speaking and voting on all questions; appointed on committees, and to prepare reports and addresses, elected officers of the association, and seated on the platforms. in , she was chairman of a committee herself, to report on the question of co-education; and at troy, before a magnificent audience of the most intelligent men and women of the state, she read her report, which the press pronounced able and conclusive. the president, mr. hazeltine, of new york, congratulating miss anthony on her address, said: "as much as i am compelled to admire your rhetoric and logic, the matter and manner of your address and its delivery, i would rather follow a daughter of mine to her grave, than to have her deliver such an address before such an assembly." superintendent randall, overhearing the president, added: "i should be proud, madam, if i had a daughter capable of making such an eloquent and finished argument, before this or any assembly of men and women. i congratulate you on your triumphant success." in , at binghamton, professor fowler, of rochester, took up the gauntlet thrown down by miss anthony, and presented the other side of the question, taking the ground that boys and girls should not be educated together, and that women should not be paid equal wages even for equally good work. the gentlemen who sustained the side demanding equal rights for women in these conventions, were randall, rice, cruttenden, cavert, fanning, johonett, coburn, wilder, and farnham. the opposition was led by davies, valentine, buckley, anthony (not s. b. a.), ross, an old bachelor, the butt of ridicule, the clown of the convention; and mcelligott, the latter hardly ranking with the rest, for though opposed, he was always a gentleman, the others being ofttimes so coarse in their sneers and innuendoes, that they disgraced the positions they occupied, as the educators of the youth of the state. in the discussion at binghamton, where miss anthony introduced a resolution in favor of co-education, mr. mcelligott said "he was in favor of allowing her full and equal opportunity with any other member to present resolutions, or to call them up for discussion. standing up as she does before large audiences, to advocate what she conscientiously considers the rights and privileges of her sex, gives a touch of moral sublimity to our proceedings worthy the admiration of all." professor davies denounced the resolutions in the strongest terms. "he had for four years been trying to escape this discussion; but if the question must come, let it be boldly met and disposed of. these resolutions involve a great social rather than an educational question, calculated to introduce a vast social evil; they are the first step in that school which seeks to abolish marriage, and behind the picture presented by them, i see a monster of deformity."[ ] in view of the grand experiment of co-education, so successful in every part of our country, the fears of those timid men thirty years ago provoke nothing now but a passing smile. how few of them with a sober face could at this time defend their old positions. it is creditable to the stronger sex that so many men in all those encounters, took no counsel with their fears nor prejudices, but seeing the principle steadfastly maintained it. but the temperance and educational conventions, the clergy and the pedagogues, were alike abandoned now for the legislators. all this escapading of miss anthony's was mere child's play, compared with the steady bombardment kept up until the war on the legislators of the empire state. calls, appeals, petitions to rouse the women, fell like snow-flakes in every county, asking for the civil and political rights of woman; they were carried into the legislature, frequent hearings secured, the members debating the question as hotly there as it had already been discussed in popular conventions. as new york could boast a larger number of strong-minded women than any other state, whose continuity of purpose knew no variableness nor shadow of turning, the agitation was persistently continued in all directions. the syracuse national convention, _september , , and , ._ this convention, lasting three days, was in many respects remarkable, even for that "city of conventions." it called out immense audiences, attracted many eminent persons from different points of the state, and was most favorably noticed by the press; the debates were unusually earnest and brilliant, and the proceedings orderly and harmonious throughout. notwithstanding an admission fee of one shilling, the city hall was densely packed at every session, and at the hour of adjournment it was with difficulty that the audience could gain the street. the preliminary[ ] editorials of the city papers reflected their own conservative or progressive tendencies. in no one respect were the participants in these early conventions more unsparingly ridiculed, and more maliciously falsified, than in their personal appearance; it may therefore be wise to say that in dignity and grace of manner and style of dress, the majority of these ladies were superior to the mass of women; while the neat and unadorned quaker costume was worn by some, many others were elegantly and fashionably attired; two of them in such extreme style as to call forth much criticism from the majority, to whom a happy medium seemed desirable. the convention was called to order by paulina wright davis, chairman of the central committee, and prayer offered by the rev. samuel j. may, pastor of the unitarian church in syracuse. although this was the first woman's rights convention at which mr. may was ever present, he had been represented in nearly all by letter, and as early as had preached an able sermon advocating the social, civil, and political rights of woman. he had been an early convert to this doctrine, and enjoyed telling the manner of his conversion. speaking once in providence on the question of slavery, he was attracted by the earnest attention he received from an intelligent-looking woman. at the close of the meeting, she said to him: "i have listened to you with an interest that only a woman can feel. i doubt whether you see how much of your description of the helpless dependence of slaves applies equally to all women." she ran the parallel rapidly, quoting law and custom, maintaining her assertion so perfectly that mr. may's eyes were opened at once, and he promised the lady to give the subject his immediate consideration. lucy stone read the call[ ] and expressed the wish that every one present, even if averse to the new demands by women, would take part in the debates, as it was the truth on this question its advocates were seeking. among the most noticeable features of these early conventions was the welcome given to opposing arguments. the nominating committee reported the list of officers,[ ] with lucretia mott as permanent president. she asked that the vote be taken separately, as there might be objections to her appointment. the entire audience (except her husband, who gave an emphatic "no!") voted in her favor. the very fact that mrs. mott consented, under any circumstances, to preside over a promiscuous assemblage, was proof of the progress of liberal ideas, as four years previously she had strenuously opposed placing a woman in that position, and as a member of the society of friends, by presiding over a meeting to which there was an admission fee, she rendered herself liable to expulsion. the vote being taken, mrs. mott, who sat far back in the audience, walked forward to the platform, her sweet face and placid manners at once winning the confidence of the audience. this impression was further deepened by her opening remarks. she said she was unpracticed in parliamentary proceedings, and felt herself incompetent to fulfill the duties of the position now pressed upon her, and was quite unprepared to make a suitable speech. she asked the serious and respectful attention of the convention to the business before them, referred to the success that had thus far attended the movement, the respect shown by the press, and the favor with which the public generally had received these new demands, and closed by inviting the cordial co-operation of all present. in commenting upon mrs. mott's opening address, the press of the city declared it to have been "better expressed and far more appropriate than those heard on similar occasions in political and legislative assemblages." the choice of mrs. mott as president was pre-eminently wise; of mature years, a member of the society of friends, in which woman was held as an equal, with undoubted right to speak in public, and the still broader experience of the anti-slavery platform, she was well fitted to guide the proceedings and encourage the expression of opinions from those to whom public speaking was an untried experiment. "it was a singular spectacle," said the _syracuse standard_, "to see this gray-haired matron presiding over a convention with an ease, dignity, and grace that might be envied by the most experienced legislator in the country." delegates were present from canada and eight different states. letters were received from mrs. marion reid, of england, author of an able work upon woman; from john neal, of maine, the veteran temperance reformer; from william lloyd garrison, rev. william henry channing, rev. a. d. mayo, margaret h. andrews, sarah d. fish, angelina grimké weld, elizabeth cady stanton, from g. w. johnson, chairman of the state committee of the liberty party, and horace greeley, the world-renowned editor of the _tribune_. mr. johnson's letter enclosed ten dollars and the following sentiments: . woman has, equally with man, the inalienable right to education, suffrage, office, property, professions, titles, and honors--to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. . false to our sex, as well as her own, and false to herself and to god, is the woman who approves, or who submits without resistance or protest, to the social and political wrongs imposed upon her in common with the rest of her sex throughout the world. mrs. stanton's letter[ ] presented three suggestions for the consideration of the convention, viz.: that all women owning property should refuse to pay taxes as long as unrepresented; that man and woman should be educated together, and the abuse of the religious element in woman. this letter created much discussion, accompanied as it was by a series of resolutions of the most radical character, which were finally, with one exception, adopted. thus at that early day was the action of those women, who have since refused to pay taxes, prefigured and suggested. one of the remarkable aspects of this reform, is the fact that from the first its full significance was seen by many of the women who inaugurated it. horace greeley's letter. new york, _sept. , _. my friend:--i have once or twice been urged to attend a convention of the advocates of woman's rights; and though compliance has never been within my power, i have a right to infer that some friends of the cause desire suggestions from me with regard to the best means of advancing it. i therefore venture to submit some thoughts on that subject. to my mind the bread problem lies at the base of all the desirable and practical reforms which our age meditates. not that bread is intrinsically more important to man than temperance, intelligence, morality, and religion, but that it is essential to the just appreciation of all these. vainly do we preach the blessings of temperance to human beings cradled in hunger, and suffering at intervals the agonies of famine; idly do we commend intellectual culture to those whose minds are daily racked with the dark problem, "how shall we procure food for the morrow?" morality, religion, are but words to him who fishes in the gutters for the means of sustaining life, and crouches behind barrels in the street for shelter from the cutting blasts of a winter's night. before all questions of intellectual training or political franchises for women, not to speak of such a trifle as costume, do i place the question of enlarged opportunities for work; of a more extended and diversified field of employment. the silk culture and manufacture firmly established and thriftily prosecuted to the extent of our home demand for silk, would be worth everything to american women. our now feeble and infantile schools of design should be encouraged with the same view. a wider and more prosperous development of our manufacturing industry will increase the demand for female labor, thus enhancing its average reward and elevating the social position of woman. i trust the future has, therefore, much good in store for the less muscular half of the human race. but the reform here anticipated should be inaugurated in our own households. i know how idle is the expectation of any general and permanent enhancement of the wages of any class or condition above the level of equation of supply and demand; yet it seems to me that the friends of woman's rights may wisely and worthily set the example of paying juster prices for female assistance in their households than those now current. if they would but resolve never to pay a capable, efficient woman less than two-thirds the wages paid to a vigorous, effective man employed in some corresponding vocation, they would very essentially aid the movement now in progress for the general recognition and conception of equal rights to woman. society is clearly unjust to woman in according her but four to eight dollars per month for labor equally repugnant with, and more protracted than that of men of equal intelligence and relative efficiency, whose services command from ten to twenty dollars per month. if, then, the friends of woman's rights could set the world an example of paying for female service, not the lowest pittance which stern necessity may compel the defenceless to accept, but as approximately fair and liberal compensation for the work actually done, as determined by a careful comparison with the recompense of other labor, i believe they would give their cause an impulse which could not be permanently resisted. with profound esteem, yours, horace greeley. mrs. paulina w. davis, providence, r. i. mr. greeley's letter bore two remarkable aspects. first, he recognized the poverty of woman as closely connected with her degradation. one of the brightest anti-slavery orators was at that time in the habit of saying, "it is not the press, nor the pulpit, which rules the country, but the counting-room"; proving his assertion by showing the greater power of commerce and money, than of intellect and morality. so mr. greeley saw the purse to be woman's first need; that she must control money in order to help herself to freedom. second, ignoring woman's pauperized condition just admitted, he suggested that women engaged in this reform should pay those employed in the household larger wages than was customary, although these very women were dependent upon others for their shelter, food, and clothes; so impossible is it for a governing class to understand the helplessness of dependents, and to fully comprehend the disabilities of a subject class. the declaration of sentiments[ ] adopted at the westchester convention was read by martha c. wright, and commented upon as follows by clarina howard nichols: there _is_ no limit to personal responsibility. our duties are as wide as the world, and as far-reaching as the bounds of human endeavor. woman and man must act together; she, _his_ helper. she has no sphere peculiar to herself, because she could not then be his helper. it is only since i have met the varied responsibilities of life, that i have comprehended woman's sphere; and i have come to regard it as lying within the whole circumference of humanity. if, as is claimed by the most ultra opponents of the wife's legal individuality, the _interests of the parties are identical_, then i claim as a legitimate conclusion that their spheres are also identical. for interests determine duties, and duties are the land-marks of spheres. the dependence of the sexes is mutual. it is in behalf of our sons, the future men of the republic, as well as of our daughters, its future mothers, that we claim the full development of our energies by education, and legal protection in the control of all the issues and profits of our lives called _property_. woman must seek influence, independence, representation, that she may have power to aid in the elevation of the human race. when men kindly set aside woman from the national councils, they say the moral field belongs to her; and the strongest reason why woman should seek a more elevated position, is because her moral susceptibilities are greater than those of man. mrs. mott thought differently from mrs. nichols; she did not believe that woman's moral feelings were more elevated than man's; but that with the same opportunities for development, with the same restrictions and penalties, there would probably be about an equal manifestation of virtue. elizabeth oakes smith: my friends, do we realize for what purpose we are convened? do we fully understand that we aim at nothing less than an entire subversion of the present order of society, a dissolution of the whole existing social compact? do we see that it is not an error of to-day, nor of yesterday, against which we are lifting up the voice of dissent, but that it is against the hoary-headed error of all times--error borne onward from the foot-prints of the first pair ejected from paradise, down to our own time? in view of all this, it does seem to me that we should each and all feel as if anointed, sanctified, set apart as to a great mission. it seems to me that we who struggle to restore the divine order to the world, should feel as if under the very eye of the eternal searcher of all hearts, who will reject any sacrifice other than a pure offering. we are said to be a "few disaffected, embittered women, met for the purpose of giving vent to petty personal spleen and domestic discontent." i repel the charge; and i call upon every woman here to repel the charge. if we have personal wrongs, here is not the place for redress. if we have private griefs (and what human heart, in a large sense, is without them?), we do not come here to recount them. the grave will lay its cold honors over the hearts of all here present, before the good we ask for our kind will be realized to the world. we shall pass onward to other spheres of existence, but i trust the seed we shall here plant will ripen to a glorious harvest. we "see the end from the beginning," and rejoice in spirit. we care not that we shall not reach the fruits of our toil, for we know in times to come it will be seen to be a glorious work. bitterness is the child of wrong; if any one of our number has become embittered (which, god forbid!), it is because social wrong has so penetrated to the inner life that we are crucified thereby, and taste the gall and vinegar with the divine master. all who take their stand against false institutions, are in some sense embittered. the conviction of wrong has wrought mightily in them. their large hearts took in the whole sense of human woe, and bled for those who had become brutalized by its weight, and they spoke as never man spoke in his own individualism, but as the embodied race will speak, when the full time shall come. thus huss and wickliffe and luther spoke, and the men of ' . no woman has come here to talk over private griefs, and detail the small coin of personal anecdote; and yet did woman speak of the wrongs, which unjust legislation; the wrongs which corrupt public opinion; the wrongs which false social aspects have fastened upon us; wrongs which she hides beneath smiles, and conceals with womanly endurance; did she give voice to all this, her smiles would seem hollow and her endurance pitiable. i hope this convention will be an acting convention. let us pledge ourselves to the support of a paper in which our views shall be fairly presented to the world. at our last convention in worcester, i presented a prospectus for such a paper, which i will request hereafter to be read here. we can do little or nothing without such an organ. we have no opportunity now to repel slander, and are restricted in disseminating truth, from the want of such an organ. _the tribune_, and some other papers in the country, have treated us generously; but a paper to represent us must be sustained by ourselves. we must look to our own resources. we must work out our own salvation, and god grant it be not in fear and trembling! woman must henceforth be the redeemer, the regenerator of the world. we plead not for ourselves alone, but for humanity. we must place woman on a higher platform, and she will raise the race to her side. we should have a literature of our own, a printing-press and a publishing-house, and tract writers and distributors, as well as lectures and conventions; and yet i say this to a race of beggars, for women have no pecuniary resources. well, then, we must work, we must hold property, and claim the consequent right to representation, or refuse to be taxed. our aim is nothing less than an overthrow of our present partial legislation, that every american citizen, whether man or woman, may have a voice in the laws by which we are governed. we do not aim at idle distinction, but while we would pull down our present worn-out and imperfect human institutions, we would help to reconstruct them upon a new and broader foundation. lucy stone: it seems to me that the claims we make at these conventions are self-evident truths. the second resolution affirms the right of human beings to their persons and earnings. is not that self-evident? yet the common law which regulates the relation of husband and wife, and which is modified only in a very few instances where there are statutes to the contrary, gives the "custody" of the wife's person to her husband, so that he has a right to her even against herself. it gives him her earnings, no matter with what weariness they have been acquired, or how greatly she may need them for herself or her children. it gives him a right to her personal property, which he may will entirely from her, also the use of her real estate; and in some of the states, married women, insane persons, and idiots are ranked together as not fit to make a will. so that she is left with only one right, which she enjoys in common with the pauper, viz.: the right of maintenance. indeed when she has taken the sacred marriage vow, her legal existence ceases. and what is our position politically? why, the foreigner who can't speak his mother tongue correctly; the negro, who to our own shame, we regard as fit only for a boot-black (whose dead even we bury by themselves), and the drunkard, all are entrusted with the ballot, all placed by men politically higher than their own mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters. the woman who, seeing and feeling this, dare not maintain her rights, is the woman to hang her head and blush. we ask only for justice and equal rights--the right to vote, the right to our own earnings, equality before the law--these are the gibraltar of our cause. rev. antoinette l. brown: man can not represent woman. they differ in their nature and relations. the law is wholly masculine; it is created and executed by man. the framers of all legal compacts are restricted to the masculine stand-point of observation, to the thought, feelings, and biases of man. the law then could give us no representation as woman, and therefore no impartial justice even if the present lawmakers were honestly intent upon this; for we can be represented only by our peers. it is expected then under the present administration, that woman should be the legal subject of man, legally reduced to pecuniary dependence upon him; that the mother should have lower legal claims upon the children than the father, and that, in short, woman should be in all respects the legal inferior of man, though entitled to full equality. here is the fact and its cause. when woman is tried for crime, her jury, her judges, her advocates, are all men; and yet there may have been temptations and various palliating circumstances connected with her peculiar nature as woman, such as man can not appreciate. common justice demands that a part of the law-makers and law executors should be of her own sex. in questions of marriage and divorce, affecting interests dearer than life, both parties in the compact are entitled to an equal voice. then the influences which arise from the relations of the sexes, when left to be exerted in our halls of justice, would at least cause decency and propriety of conduct to be maintained there; but now low-minded men are encouraged to jest openly in court over the most sacred and most delicate subjects. from the nature of things, the guilty woman can not now have justice done her before the professed tribunals of justice; and the innocent but wronged woman is constrained to suffer on in silence rather than ask for redress. clarina howard nichols said: there is one peculiarity in the laws affecting woman's property rights, which as it has not to my knowledge been presented for the consideration of the public, except by myself to a limited extent in private conversation and otherwise, i wish to speak of here. it is the unconstitutionality of laws cutting off the wife's right of dower. it is a provision of our national and state constitutions, that property rights shall not be confiscated for political or other offences against the laws. yet in all the states, if i am rightly informed, the wife forfeits her right of dower in case of divorce for infidelity to the marriage vow. in massachusetts and several other states, if the wife desert her husband for any cause, and he procure a divorce on the ground of her desertion, she forfeits her right of dower. but it is worthy of remark that in no case is the right of the husband to possess and control the estate which is their joint accumulation, set aside; no, not even when the wife procures a divorce for the most aggravated abuse and infidelity combined. she, the innocent party, goes out childless and portionless, by decree of law; and he, the criminal, retains the home and the children, by the favor of the same law. i claim, friends, that the laws which cut off the wife's right of dower, in any case do confiscate property rights, and hence are _unconstitutional_. the property laws compel the wife to seek divorce in order to protect her earnings for the support of her children. a rum-drinker took his wife's clothing to pay his rum bill, and the justice decided that the clothing could be held, because the wife belonged to him. only under the common law of england has woman been deprived of her natural rights. instances are frequent where the husband's aged parents are supported by the wife's earnings, and the wife's parents left paupers. mrs. nichols here offered the following resolution: _resolved_, that equally involved as they are in all the natural relations which lie at the base of society, the sexes are equally entitled to all the rights necessary to the discharge of the duties of those relations. elizabeth oakes smith presented the following resolution offered by lucretia mott: _resolved_, that as the imbruted slave, who is content with his own lot, and would not be free if he could, if any such there be, only gives evidence of the depth of his degradation; so the woman who is satisfied with her inferior condition, avering that she has all the rights she wants, does but exhibit the enervating effects of the wrongs to which she is subjected. susan b. anthony read the resolutions.[ ] the audience called upon hon. gerrit smith for a speech. his rising was received with cheers. this was mr. smith's first appearance upon our platform, although in letters to different conventions he had already expressed his sympathy. his commanding presence, his benevolent countenance, and deep rich voice, made a profound impression, and intensified the power of his glowing words. being well known in syracuse for his philanthropy, his presence added dignity and influence to the assembly.[ ] mr. smith said: the women who are engaged in this movement are ridiculed for aspiring to be doctors, lawyers, clergymen, sea captains, generals, presidents. for the sake of argument admitting this to be true, what then? shall we block the way to any individual aspiration? but women are totally unfit for these places. let them try, and their failure will settle the matter to their own satisfaction. there is not the slightest danger of a human being holding any position that he is incapable of attaining. we can not lay down a rule for all women. because all women are not born with a genius for navigation, shall we say that one who is by skill and education able to take observations, who understands the chart and compass, the dangerous shores, currents, and latitudes, shall not, if she chooses, be a sea captain? suppose we apply that rule to man. because i can not stand on my head, shall we deny that right to all acrobats in our circuses? because i can not make a steam engine, shall all other men be denied that right? because all men can not stand on a platform and make a speech, shall i be denied the exercise of that right? each individual has a sphere, and that sphere is the largest place that he or she can fill. these women complain that they have been robbed of great and essential rights. they do not ask favors; they demand rights, the right to do whatever they have the capacity to accomplish, the right to dictate their own sphere of action, and to have a voice in the laws and rulers under which they live. suppose i should go to vote, and some man should push me back and say, "you want to be governor, don't you?" "no," i reply, "i want to exercise my god-given right to vote." such a taunt as this would be no more insulting than those now cast at women, when they demand rights so unjustly denied. i make no claim that woman is fit to be a member of congress or president; all i ask for her is what i ask for the negro, a fair field. all will admit that woman has a right to herself, to her own powers of locomotion, to her own earnings, but how few are prepared to admit her right to the ballot. but all rights are held by a precarious tenure, if this one be denied. when women are the constituents of men who make and administer the laws, they will pay due consideration to their interests and not before. the right of suffrage is the great right that guarantees all others. mr. smith set forth the education, the dignity, the power of self-government, and took his seat amid great applause. lucy stone said: it is the duty of woman to resist taxation as long as she is not represented. it may involve the loss of friends as it surely will the loss of property. but let them all go; friends, house, garden spot, and all. the principle at issue requires the sacrifice. resist, let the case be tried in the courts; be your own lawyers; base your cause on the admitted self-evident truth, that taxation and representation are inseparable. one such resistance, by the agitation that will grow out of it, will do more to set this question right than all the conventions in the world. there are $ , , of taxable property owned by women of boston who have no voice either in the use or imposition of the tax. j. b. brigham, a school teacher, said: that the natures of men and women showed that their spheres were not the same, and woman was only truly lovely and happy when in her own element. he wished woman to recognize the feminine element in her being, for if she understood this, it would guide her in everything. in the domestic animals even this difference was manifest. women should be keepers at home, and mind domestic concerns. the true object of this convention is, i fear, not so much to acquire any real or supposed rights, as to make the speakers and actors conspicuous. i urge those engaged in this movement to claim nothing masculine for woman. mrs. nichols said: mr. brigham's allusion to the animal world is not a happy one, as no animal has been discovered which legislated away the rights of the female. gerrit smith said: he would hand his esteemed friend over to lucretia mott, that he might be slain like abimelech of old, by the hand of a woman; as evidently from his estimate of the sex, that would be the most humiliating death he could suffer. i trust no gentleman on this platform will consent to play the part of the armor-bearer in his behalf, and rescue him from his impending fate. lucretia mott said: it was impossible for one man to have arbitrary power over another without becoming despotic. she did not expect man to see how woman is robbed. slaveholders did not see that they were oppressors, but slaves did. gerrit smith alluded to one woman that he intends me to personify, whom our friend would consider far out of her sphere. yet if he believes his bible, he must acknowledge that deborah, a mother in israel, arose by divine command, and led the armies of israel,--the wife of heber the kenite, who drove the nail into the head of the canaanite general, and her praises were chanted in the songs of israel. the preaching of women, too, is approved in the bible. paul gives special directions to women how to preach, and he exhorts them to qualify themselves for this function and not to pin their faith on the sleeves of the clergy. i would advise mr. bingham not to set up his wisdom against the plain decrees of the almighty. as to woman's voice being too weak to be heard as a public speaker, did mr. brigham send a protest to england against victoria's proroguing parliament? mr. may moved that mrs. stephen smith be placed on a committee in his stead. the president quickly replied: woman's rights' women do not like to be called by their husbands' names, but by their own. mr. may corrected himself and said--_rosa smith_. matilda joslyn gage made her first public appearance in an address to this convention. she pressed the adoption of some settled plan for the future--brought up many notable examples of woman's intellectual ability, and urged that girls be trained to self-reliance. although mrs. gage, whose residence was onondaga county, had not before taken part in a convention, yet from the moment she read of an organized effort for the rights of woman, she had united in it heart and soul, merely waiting a convenient opportunity to publicly identify herself with this reform; an opportunity given by the syracuse convention. personally acquainted with none of the leaders except mr. may, it was quite a test of moral courage for mrs. gage, then quite a young woman, in fact the youngest person who took part in that convention, to speak upon this occasion. she consulted no one as to time or opportunity, but when her courage had reached a sufficiently high point, with palpitating heart she ascended the platform, where she was cordially given place by mrs. mott, whose kindness to her at this supreme moment of her life was never forgotten. mrs. gage said: this convention has assembled to discuss the subject of woman's rights, and form some settled plan of action for the future. while so much is said of the inferior intellect of woman, it is by a strange absurdity conceded that very many eminent men owe their station in life to their mothers. women are now in the situation of the mass of mankind a few years since, when science and learning were in the hands of the priests, and property was held by vassalage. the pope and the priests claimed to be not only the teachers, but the guides of the people; the laity were not permitted to examine for themselves; education was held to be unfit for the masses, while the tenure of their landed property was such as kept them in a continual state of dependence on their feudal lords. it was but a short time since the most common rudiments of education were deemed sufficient for any woman; could she but read tolerably and write her own name it was enough. trammeled as women have been by might and custom, there are still many shining examples, which serve as beacon lights to show what may be attained by genius, labor, energy, and perseverance combined. "the longer i live in the world," says göethe, "the more i am certain that the difference between the great and the insignificant, is energy, invincible determination, an honest purpose once fixed, and then victory." although so much has been said of woman's unfitness for public life, it can be seen, from semiramis to victoria, that she has a peculiar fitness for governing. in poetry, sappho was honored with the title of the tenth muse. helena lucretia corano, in the seventeenth century, was of such rare scientific attainments, that the most illustrious persons in passing through venice, were more anxious to see her than all the curiosities of the city; she was made a doctor, receiving the title of unalterable. mary cunity, of silesia, in the sixteenth century, was one of the most able astronomers of her time, forming astronomical tables that acquired for her a great reputation, anna maria schureman was a sculptor, engraver, musician, and painter; she especially excelled in miniature painting. constantina grierson, an irish girl, of humble parentage, was celebrated for her literary acquirements, though dying at the early age of twenty-seven. with the learning, energy, and perseverance of lady jane grey, mary and elizabeth, all are familiar. mrs. cowper was spoken of by montague as standing at the head of all that is called learned, and that every critic veiled his bonnet at her superior judgment. joanna baillie has been termed the woman shakespeare. caroline herschell shares the fame of her brother as an astronomer. the greatest triumphs of the present age in the drama, music, and literature have been achieved by women, among whom may be mentioned, charlotte cushman, jenny lind, the misses carey, mrs. stowe, and margaret fuller. mrs. somerville's renown has long been spread over both continents as one of the first mathematicians of the present age. self-reliance is one of the first lessons to be taught our daughters; they should be educated with our sons, and equally with them, taught to look forward to some independent means of support, either to one of the professions or the business best fitted to exercise their talents. being placed in a position compelling them to act, has caused many persons to discover talents in themselves they were before unaware of possessing. great emergencies produce great leaders, by arousing hitherto dormant energies. let us look at the rights it is boasted women now possess. after marriage the husband and wife are considered as one person in law, which i hold to be false from the very laws applicable to married parties. were it so, the act of one would be as binding as the act of the other, and wise legislators would not need to enact statutes defining the peculiar rights of each; were it so, a woman could not legally be a man's inferior. such a thing would be a veritable impossibility. one-half of a person can not be made the protection or direction of the other half. blackstone says "a woman may indeed be attorney for her husband, for that implies no separation from, but rather a representation of, her lord. and a husband may also bequeath anything to his wife by will; for it can not take effect till the coverture is determined by his death." after stating at considerable length, the reasons showing their unity, the learned commentator proceeds to cut the knot, and show they are not one, but are considered as two persons, one superior, the one inferior, and not only so, but the inferior in the eye of the law as acting from compulsion. j. elizabeth jones, of ohio: this is a time of progress; and man may sooner arrest the progress of the lightning, or the clouds, or stay the waves of the sea, than the onward march of truth with her hand on her sword and her banner unfurled. i am not in the habit of talking much about rights; i am one of those who take them. i have occupied pulpits all over the country five days out of seven, in lecturing on science, and have found no objection. i do not know what all the women want, but i do know what i want myself, and that is, what men are most unwilling to grant; the right to vote. that includes all other rights. i want to go into the legislative hall, sit on the judicial bench, and fill the executive chair. now do you understand me? this i claim on the ground of humanity; and on the ground that taxation and representation go together. the whole question resolves itself into this; there has been no attempt to dispute this. no man will venture to deny the right of woman to vote. he may urge many objections against the expediency of her exercising it, but the right is hers. but though women are deprived of political rights, there are other rights which no law prevents. we can take our rights as merchants and in other avocations, by investing our capital in them; but we stand back and wait till it is popular for us to become merchants, doctors, lecturers, or practitioners of the mechanic arts. i know girls who have mechanical genius sufficient to become arkwrights and fultons, but their mothers would not apprentice them. which of the women of this convention have sent their daughters as apprentices to a watchmaker? there is no law against this!! mrs. mott: the church and public opinion are stronger than law. lydia jenkins: is there any law to prevent women voting in this state? the constitution says "white male citizens" may vote, but does not say that white female citizens may not. mrs. jones said: i do not understand that point sufficiently well to explain, but whether the statute book is in favor or opposed, every citizen in a republic (and a woman is a citizen) has a natural right to vote which no human laws can abrogate; the right to vote is the right of self-government. antoinette brown said: i know instances of colored persons voting under the same circumstances, and their votes being allowed by the legal authorities; but john a. dix declared the proceedings of a school meeting void because two women voted at it. benjamin s. jones said, in ohio where there is much splitting of hairs between white and black blood, the judges decided in favor of a certain colored man's right to vote, because there was per cent. of white blood in the person in question. mrs. davis: the first draft of the rhode island constitution said "all citizens," but as soon as some one suggested that the door was thus left open for women to vote, the word "male" was promptly inserted. mrs. davis read an interesting letter from the rev. a. d. mayo.[ ] samuel j. may read letters from william lloyd garrison, of boston, and margaret h. andrews, of newburyport, massachusetts. newburyport, mass., _september , _. rev. samuel j. may. dear friend--i wish to express my deep sympathy with those brave women who are struggling against ancient prejudices and modern folly, and who will eventually elevate our sex to a position which will command the respect of those who now regard them with derision and contempt, and my gratitude to the noble-minded men who are extending a helping hand to those who have hitherto been considered the weak and dependent portion of society, and are endeavoring to raise them to _their_ level, instead of trying to establish their superiority over them. such conduct shows true greatness and dignity of character. i wish to bear my share of the reproach and contumely which will be liberally bestowed upon this movement by many who ought to know and to do better; this is indeed the actuating motive which impels me to write. with regard to the counsel which has been requested, i have little to say. if there be any one subject which has not been sufficiently insisted on, it is the aimless life which young women generally lead after they have left school. a large portion are occupied in forming matrimonial plans when they are wholly unfit to enter into that sacred state. dr. johnson makes his nekayah say of young ladies with whom she associated, "some imagined they were in love, when they were only idle." if young ladies directed their attention to some definite employment, this evil would be remedied. i am, dear sir, very truly yours, margaret h. andrews. lucy stone said: mrs. jones' idea of taking our rights is inspiring, but it can not be done. in massachusetts some women apprenticed themselves as printers, but were expelled because men would not set type beside them. dr. harriot k. hunt asked permission to attend medical lectures at harvard, but the students declared that if she were admitted they would leave, and so she was sacrificed. harriet k. hunt: no; i am here. lucy stone: mrs. mott says she was only suspended. so, too, when the grimké sisters and abby kelley began publicly to plead the cause of the slave, they were assailed both by pulpit and press, and every species of abuse was heaped upon them; but they persevered and proved their capacity to do it, and now we meet in quietness, and our right to speak in public is not questioned. the woman who first departs from the routine in which society allows her to move must suffer. let us bravely bear ridicule and persecution for the sake of the good that will result, and when the world sees that we can accomplish what we undertake, it will acknowledge our right. we must be true to each other. we must stand by the woman whose work of hand or brain removes her from the customary sphere. employ the woman physician, dentist, and artist rather than a man of the same calling, and in time all professions and trades will be as free to us as to our brothers. abby price, of hopedale, said: i shall briefly consider woman's religious position, her relation to the church, and show that by its restrictions she has suffered great injustice; that alike under all forms of religion she has been degraded and oppressed, the church has proscribed her, and denied the exercise of her inalienable rights, and in this the church is false to the plainest principles of christianity. "there is neither jew nor greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for ye all are one in christ jesus." gal., chap, iii., v. . "so god created man in his _own_ image; in the image of god created he him; male and _female_ created he _them_, and said unto _them_: have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air; over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." genesis i., v. , . notwithstanding these explicit declarations of equality, even in the godhead, the church claiming to be "christian" denies woman's right of free speech. the priesthood, from paul down, say gravely: "it is not permitted for woman to speak in the churches." some denominations have gravely debated whether she should be allowed in the service, or chants, to respond amen! the whole arrangement of nature in her beautiful and wise manifestations to us evinces that the divine order is for the sexes to mingle their different and peculiar characteristics in every relation of life. in jesus the masculine and feminine elements of humanity were blended harmoniously. these different characteristics in his own person were distinctly and plainly seen. the masculine, when he fixed his eye in stern rebuke, and made the hypocrite and the pharisee tremble; and the feminine gleamed often through his tears of affection and pity, and shone ever a glorious halo of patience and love around him in the midst of suffering the most wasting and intense. the church, as his representative, should also exhibit these peculiarities in as full and glorious harmony. yet very few of the sects allow woman to assume the responsibility as religious teacher. however great she may feel the duty to be upon her, and however well qualified she may be, all ecclesiastical authorities, with one accord, begin to make excuses whenever a woman presents herself to be properly authorized, according to the popular usage of that church, to preach the gospel to a people, one-half of whom are her own sex. again, _woman is denied_ a representation in all _ecclesiastical assemblies_. the male portion of the church assemble in delegation from the different bodies with which they are connected to legislate in behalf of the churches, but woman has no representation in these councils. her opinion of what is best to promote the interests of religion is not respected; her right to representation being denied, her claim to just recognition is solemnly mocked. the church places its hands on woman's lips, and says to her, "you shall not _speak_; you shall not be represented; you are not eligible to office because _you are a woman_!" is not this crucifying with a strange presumption the soul of christ?--treating with contempt the purity of the christian character?--trampling upon _human rights?_ and yet woman patiently bears this contumely and scorn. the poor young men that she often educates by toil early and late, labor, arduous and half paid, teach her, when properly prepared, that this absurd tyranny is supported by the word of god! woman may speak when the thoughtless crowd the halls of fashion, with no aim but amusement, in the theatre, opera, or concert hall; she may meet with ministers in revivals, camp meetings, and sociables, and reply with smile and bow to the hollow compliments addressed to her vanity, but she must keep silence in the churches and all religious meetings; if there are only six persons present woman may not ask god's blessing to rest there, nor presume, should one man be present, to give utterance to her religious aspiration. every class of society, and especially each sex, need religious teachers of their own class and sex with themselves, having the same experience, the same hopes, aims, and relations. human minds are so constituted as to need not merely intellectual instruction, but the strength imparted by an earnest sympathy born of a like experience. in order rightly to appreciate the wants of others, we must know and realize the trials of their situation, the struggles they may encounter, the burthens, the toils, the temptations that beset their different relations. these should be apprehended to some extent, and the more the better by the person qualified to speak to the spiritual wants of all. each relation, therefore, needs its teacher--its peculiar ministry. no one can demonstrate by college lore the weight of a mother's responsibility. no man--not even the kindest father--can fully apprehend the wearisome cares and anxious solicitude for children of her who bore them. the tremblings of a mother's soul none save a mother can feel. man may prepare sound and logical discourses; he may clearly define a mother's duty; he may talk eloquently about her responsibility; he may urge upon her strong motives to faithfulness in the discharge of her maternal duties; he may tell her what her children should be in all life's varied aspects. she hears the good instruction and advice with more or less of the feeling, "_you_ cannot _know_ of what you are talking.".... the church needs a varied ministry. not alone is the power of mind needed, but the zeal and the inspiration of the inner life; the unction of love and faith and courage produced by a struggle amid life's realities. not the dreamer, but the toiler can best affect the lives of others through their hearts. in this ministry the sexes must blend harmoniously their ministrations to others from their own lives and experiences. this must be the divine order. reason teaches it to the calm observer. our souls respond to this truth from their deepest chambers. ... doom woman no longer to banishment from the hallowed ground of church and state. she has too long been but as the pariah of the desert. welcome her ministrations reverently to her human nature, kindly to her present weakness, encouragingly to her hopes; receive her counsels with respect and confidence, so far as they are worthy, and be assured that a better day will begin to dawn. the birth of a new spiritual life will be given in this new marriage, and melody as from the harps of angels will be breathed from the circles of earth. paulina wright davis: ... we commence life where our fathers left it. we have their mistakes and their achievements. we attempt to walk in the paths they trod, and wear the garments left by them; but they are all too short and narrow for us; they deform and cramp our energies; for they demand the procrustean process to conform the enlarged natures of the present to the past. while the human soul, like the infinite in wisdom and love, is ever governed by the eternal law of progress, creeds and codes are always changing. all things founded in immutable truth grow only the stronger by every trial. ... the sacred traditions of both jew and gentile agree in ascribing to woman a primary agency in the introduction of human evils. in the greek mythology, she is indeed not the first offender; but she is the bearer of the box that contained all the crimes and diseases which have punished our world for the abuse of liberty. it is worthy of remark that pandora, who is the eve of the grecian system, being like her hebrew correspondent, created for special purposes, was the joint work of all the gods. venus gave her beauty, minerva wisdom, apollo the art of music, mercury eloquence, and the rest the perfection and completeness of all her divine accomplishments. her name signifies gifts from all. "a combination and a form indeed where every god did seem to set his seal, to give the world assurance of a paragon." prometheus made the first man of clay and animated him with fire stolen from heaven. jupiter is represented as attaching the terrible consequences of a rational and responsible vitality, thus conferred upon a creation of earth, by sending this wonderfully gifted pandora into the world loaded with all the evils which it was fated to endure. it was her destiny to be the occasion of the fall, the instrument of doom; but her fortunes are linked to the resurrection and life, as well as the suffering and death of the race. among the gifts of pandora which had otherwise been fatal, she brought hope which lay concealed after all the others had flown abroad on their missions of mischief. in our sacred story this point in the parable has a clear explanation: "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." if she brought death into the world, she brought forth a son who "taketh away the sins of the world.".... these myths, whether received as simple facts, or poetic fiction, whose oracles always reveal the deepest signification of facts, alike indicate the eminent agency of woman in the fall and rising again of the human image of the divine upon earth. ... from the marriage hour woman is presented only in a series of dissolving views. first. she stands beside her husband radiant in girlish beauty. she worships. one side of the lesson is well learned, that of entire dependence. not once has she dreamed that there must be mutual dependence and separate fountains of reciprocal life.... in the next scene the child wife appears withering away from life as from the heart she is not large or noble enough to fill--pining in the darkness of her home-life, made only the deeper by her inactivity, ignorance, and despair.... in another view she has passed the season of despair, and appears as the heartless votary of fashion, a flirt, or that most to be dreaded, most to be despised being, a married coquette; at once seductive, heartless, and basely unprincipled; or as beauty of person has faded away, she may be found turning from these lighter styles of toys to a quiet kind of hand-maiden piety and philanthropy. ... marriage as it now exists is only a name, a form without a soul, a bondage, legal and therefore honorable. only equals can make this relation. true marriage is a union of soul with soul, a blending of two in one, without mastership or helpless dependence. the true family is the central and supreme institution among human societies. all other organizations, whether of church or state, depend upon it for their character and action. its evils are the source of all evils; its good the fountain of all good. the correction of its abuses is the starting-point of all the reforms which the world needs. dr. harriot k. hunt attracted much attention from the fact of her yearly protest against taxation. in the course of her remarks she said, "unseen spirits have been with us in this convention; the spirits of our shaker sisters whom untold sorrows have driven into those communal societies, the convents of our civilization." after quite a brilliant discussion, in which mr. brigham made himself a target for lucy stone, martha c. wright, eliza aldrich, clarina howard nichols, harriot k. hunt, and mrs. palmer to shoot at, antoinette l. brown offered the following resolution, and made a few good points on the bible argument: _resolved_, that the bible recognizes the rights, duties, and privileges of woman as a public teacher, as every way equal with those of man; that it enjoins upon her no subjection that is not enjoined upon him; and that it truly and practically recognizes neither male nor female in christ jesus. god created the first human pair equal in rights, possessions, and authority. he bequeathed the earth to them as a joint inheritance; gave them joint dominion over the irrational creation; but none over each other. (gen. i. ). they sinned. god announced to them the results of sin. one of these results was the rule which man would exercise over woman. (gen. iii. ). this rule was no more approved, endorsed, or sanctioned by god, than was the twin-born prophecy, "thou (satan) shalt bruise his (christ's) heel." god could not, from his nature, command satan to injure christ, or any other of the seed of woman. what particle of evidence is there then for supposing that in the parallel announcement he commanded man to rule over woman? both passages should have been translated will, instead of shall. either auxiliary is used indifferently according to the sense, in rendering that form of the hebrew verb into english. because thou hast done this, is god's preface to the announcement. the results are the effects of sin. can woman then receive evil from this rule, and man receive good? man should be blessed in exercising this power, if he is divinely appointed to do so; but the two who are one flesh have an identity of interests, therefore if it is a curse or evil to woman, it must be so to man also. we mock god, when we make him approve of man's thus cursing himself and woman. the submission enjoined upon the wife in the new testament, is not the unrighteous rule predicted in the old. it is a christian submission due from man towards man, and from man towards woman: "yea, all of you be subject one to another" ( pet. v. ; eph. v. ; rom. xii. , etc.) in i cor. xvi. , the disciples are besought to submit themselves "to every one that helpeth with us and laboreth." the same apostle says, "help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with clement also, and with other of my fellow-laborers." man is the head of the woman. true, but only in the sense in which christ is represented as head of his body, the church. in a different sense he is head of all things--of wicked men and devils. if man is woman's head in this sense, he may exercise over her all the prerogatives of god himself. this would be blasphemous. the mystical head and body, or christ and his church, symbolize oneness, union. christ so loved the church he gave himself for it, made it his own body, part and parcel of himself. so ought men to love their wives. then the rule which grew out of sin, will cease with the sin. it is said woman is commanded not to teach in the church. there is no such command in the bible. it is said ( cor. xiv. ), "let your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak." this injunction, taken out of its connection, forbids singing also; interpreted by its context, woman is merely told not to talk unless she does teach. on the same principle, one who has the gift of tongues is told not to use it in the church, unless there is an interpreter. the rule enforced from the beginning to the end of the chapter is, "let all things be done unto edifying." their women, who had not been previously instructed like the men, were very naturally guilty of asking questions which did not edify the assembly. it was better that they should wait till they got home for the desired information, rather than put an individual good before the good of the church. nothing else is forbidden. there is not a word here against woman's teaching. the apostle says to the whole church, woman included, "ye may all prophesy, one by one." in tim. ii. , the writer forbids woman's teaching over man, or usurping authority over him; that is, he prohibits dogmatizing, tutoring, teaching in a dictatorial spirit. this is prohibited both in public and private; but a proper kind of teaching is not prohibited. verse --a reference to eve, who, though created last, sinned first, is merely such a suggestion as we would make to a daughter whose mother had been in fault. the daughters are not blamed for the mother's sin, merely warned by it; and cautioned against self-confidence, which could make them presume to teach over man. the bible tells us of many prophetesses approved of god. the bible is truly democratic. do as you would be done by, is its golden commandment, recognizing neither male nor female in christ jesus. ernestine l. rose: if the able theologian who has just spoken had been in indiana when the constitution was revised, she might have had a chance to give her definitions on the bible argument to some effect. at that convention robert dale owen introduced a clause to give a married woman the right to her property. the clause had passed, but by the influence of a minister was recalled; and by his appealing to the superstition of the members, and bringing the whole force of bible argument to bear against the right of woman to her property, it was lost. had miss brown been there, she might have beaten him with his own weapons. for my part, i see no need to appeal to any written authority, particularly when it is so obscure and indefinite as to admit of different interpretations. when the inhabitants of boston converted their harbor into a teapot rather than submit to unjust taxes, they did not go to the bible for their authority; for if they had, they would have been told from the same authority to "give unto cæsar what belonged to cæsar." had the people, when they rose in the might of their right to throw off the british yoke, appealed to the bible for authority, it would have answered them, "submit to the powers that be, for they are from god." no! on human rights and freedom, on a subject that is as self-evident as that two and two make four, there is no need of any written authority. but this is not what i intended to speak upon. i wish to introduce a resolution, and leave it to the action of the convention: _resolved_, that we ask not for our rights as a gift of charity, but as an act of justice. for it is in accordance with the principles of republicanism that, as woman has to pay taxes to maintain government, she has a right to participate in the formation and administration of it. that as she is amenable to the laws of her country, she is entitled to a voice in their enactment, and to all the protective advantages they can bestow; and as she is as liable as man to all the vicissitudes of life, she ought to enjoy the same social rights and privileges. and any difference, therefore, in political, civil, and social rights, on account of sex, is in direct violation of the principles of justice and humanity, and as such ought to be held up to the contempt and derision of every lover of human freedom. ... but we call upon the law-makers and law-breakers of the nation, to defend themselves for violating the fundamental principles of the republic, or disprove their validity. yes! they stand arrayed before the bar, not only of injured womanhood, but before the bar of moral consistency; for this question is awakening an interest abroad, as well as at home. whatever human rights are claimed for man, moral consistency points to the equal rights of woman; but statesmen dare not openly face the subject; knowing well they can not confute it, and they have not moral courage enough to admit it; and hence, all they can do is to shelter themselves under a subterfuge which, though solidified by age, ignorance, and prejudice, is transparent enough for the most benighted vision to penetrate. a strong evidence of this, is given in a reply of mr. roebuck, member of parliament, at a meeting of electors in sheffield, england. mr. r., who advocated the extension of the franchise to the occupants of five-pound tenements, was asked whether he would favor the extension of the same to women who pay an equal amount of rent? that was a simple, straight-forward question of justice; one worthy to be asked even in our republican legislative halls. but what was the honorable gentleman's reply? did he meet it openly and fairly? oh, no! but hear him, and i hope the ladies will pay particular attention, for the greater part of the reply contains the draught poor, deluded woman has been accustomed to swallow--flattery: "there is no man who owes more than i do to woman. my education was formed by one whose very recollections at this moment make me tremble. there is nothing which, for the honor of the sex, i would not do; the happiness of my life is bound up with it; mother, wife, daughter, woman, to me have been the oasis of the desert of life, and, i have to ask myself, would it conduce to the happiness of society to bring woman more distinctly than she now is brought, into the arena of politics? honestly i confess to you i believe not. i will tell you why. all their influences, if i may so term it, are gentle influences. in the rude battle and business of life, we come home to find a nook and shelter of quiet comfort after the hard and severe, and, i may say, the sharp ire and the disputes of the house of commons. i hie me home, knowing that i shall there find personal solicitude and anxiety. my head rests upon a bosom throbbing with emotion for me and our child; and i feel a more hearty man in the cause of my country, the next day, because of the perfect, soothing, gentle peace which a mind sullied by politics is unable to feel. oh! i can not rob myself of that inexpressible benefit, and therefore i say, no." well, this is certainly a nice little romantic bit of parliamentary declamation. what a pity that he should give up all these enjoyments to give woman a vote! poor man! his happiness must be balanced on the very verge of a precipice, when the simple act of depositing a vote by the hand of woman, would overthrow and destroy it forever. i don't doubt the honorable gentleman meant what he said, particularly the last part of it, for such are the views of the unthinking, unreflecting mass of the public, here as well as there. but like a true politician, he commenced very patriotically, for the happiness of society, and finished by describing his own individual interests. his reply is a curious mixture of truth, political sophistry, false assumption, and blind selfishness. but he was placed in a dilemma, and got himself out as he could. in advocating the franchise to five-pound tenement-holders, it did not occur to him that woman may possess the same qualification that man has, and in justice, therefore, ought to have the same rights; and when the simple question was put to him (simple questions are very troublesome to statesmen), having too much sense not to see the justness of it, and too little moral courage to admit it, he entered into quite an interesting account of what a delightful little creature woman is, provided only she is kept quietly at home, waiting for the arrival of her lord and master, ready to administer a dose of purification, "which his politically sullied mind is unable to feel." well! i have no desire to dispute the necessity of it, nor that he owes to woman all that makes life desirable--comforts, happiness, aye, and common sense too, for it's a well-known fact that smart mothers always have smart sons, unless they take after their father. but what of that? are the benefits woman is capable of bestowing on man, reasons why she must pay the same amount of rent and taxes, without enjoying the same rights that man does? but the justice of the case was not considered. the honorable gentleman was only concerned about the "happiness of society." society! what does the term mean? as a foreigner, i understand by it a collection or union of human beings--men, women, and children, under one general government, and for mutual interest. but mr. roebuck, being a native briton and a member of parliament, gave us a parliamentary definition, namely; society means the male sex only; for in his solicitude to consult "the happiness of society," he enumerated the benefits man enjoys from keeping woman from her rights, without even dreaming that woman was at all considered in it; and this is the true parliamentary definition, for statesmen never include woman in their solicitude for the happiness of society. oh, no! she is not yet recognized as belonging to the honorable body, unless taxes are required for its benefit, or the penalties of the law have to be enforced for its security. thus, being either unwilling or afraid to do woman justice, he first flattered her, then, in his ignorance of her true nature, he assumed that if she has her rights equal with man, she would cease to be woman--forsake the partner of her existence, the child of her bosom, dry up her sympathies, stifle her affections, turn recreant to her own nature. then his blind selfishness took the alarm, lest, if woman were more independent, she might not be willing to be the obedient, servile tool, implicitly to obey and minister to the passions and follies of man; "and as he could not rob himself of these inexpressible benefits, therefore he said, no." the speech of antoinette brown, and the resolution she presented opened the question of authority as against individual judgment, and roused a prolonged and somewhat bitter discussion, to which mrs. stanton's letter,[ ] read in a most emphatic manner by susan b. anthony, added intensity. it continued at intervals for two days, calling out great diversity of sentiment. rev. junius hatch, a congregational minister from massachusetts, questioned the officers of the convention as to their belief in the paramount authority of the bible, saying the impression had gone abroad that the convention was infidel in character. the president ruled that question not before the convention. thomas mcclintock[ ] said, to go back to a particular era for a standard of religion and morality, is to adopt an imperfect standard and impede the progress of truth. the best minds of to-day surely understand the vital issues of this hour better than those possibly could who have slumbered in their graves for centuries. mrs. nichols, whom the city press spoke of as wielding a trenchant blade, announced herself as having been a member of a baptist church since the age of eight years, thus sufficiently proving her orthodoxy. mrs. rose, expressing the conviction that belief does not depend upon voluntary inclination, deemed it right to interpret the bible as he or she thought best, but objected to any such interpretation going forth as the doctrine of the convention, as, at best, it was but mere opinion and not authority. the debate upon miss brown's resolution was renewed in the afternoon, during which the rev. junius hatch made so coarse a speech that the president was obliged to call him to order.[ ] paying no heed to this reprimand he continued in a strain so derogatory to his own dignity and so insulting to the convention, that the audience called out, "sit down! sit down! shut up!" forcing the reverend gentleman to his seat. the discussion still continued between the members of the convention; miss brown sustaining her resolution, mrs. rose opposing it. mrs. mott, vacating the chair, spoke in opposition to the resolution, and related her anti-slavery experience upon the bible question; one party taking great pains to show that the bible was opposed to slavery, while the other side quoted texts to prove it of divine origin, thus wasting their time by bandying scripture texts, and interfering with the business of their meetings. the advocates of emancipation soon learned to adhere to their own great work--that of declaring the inherent right of man to himself and his earnings--and that self-evident truths needed no argument or outward authority. we already see the disadvantage of such discussions here. it is not to be supposed that all the advice given by the apostles to the women of their day is applicable to our more intelligent age; nor is there any passage of scripture making those texts binding upon us. a gentleman said: "all scripture is given by inspiration of god, and profitable, etc." does not this apply to the latest period? lucretia mott: if the speaker will turn to the passage he will find that the word "_is_," being in italics, was inserted by the translators. she accepted it as in the original, "all scriptures _given_ by inspiration of god, is profitable, etc." she was somewhat familiar with the scriptures, and at a suitable time would have no objection to discuss the question. she concluded by moving that the resolution be laid on the table, which was unanimously carried. on the morning of the last day the president stated that the subject of organizing a national society was to be discussed, and at her suggestion mr. may read a long and interesting letter from angelina grimké weld, from which we give the salient points: "organization is two-fold--natural and artificial, divine and human. natural organizations are based on the principle of progression; the eternal law of change. but human or artificial organizations are built upon the principle of crystallization; they _fix_ the conditions of society; they seek to daguerreotype themselves, not on the present age only, but on future generations; hence, they fetter and distort the expanding mind. organizations do not protect the sacredness of the individual; their tendency is to sink the individual in the mass, to sacrifice his rights, and immolate him on the altar of some fancied good. it is not to organization that i object, but to an _artificial society_ that must prove a burden, a clog, an incumbrance, rather than a help. such an organization as now actually exists among the women of america i hail with heartfelt joy. we are bound together by the natural ties of spiritual affinity; we are drawn to each other because we are attracted toward one common center--the good of humanity. we need no external bonds to bind us together, no cumbrous machinery to keep our minds and hearts in unity of purpose and effort we are not the lifeless staves of a barrel which can be held together only by the iron hoops of an artificial organization. the present aspect of organizations, whether in church, or state, or society at large, foretokens dissolution. the wrinkles and totterings of age are on them. the power of organization has been deemed necessary only because the power of truth has not been appreciated, and just in proportion as we reverence the individual, and trust the unaided potency of truth, we shall find it useless. what organization in the world's history has not encumbered the unfettered action of those who created it? indeed, has not been used as an engine of oppression. the importance of this question can hardly be duly magnified. how few organizations have ever had the power which this is destined to wield! the prayers and sympathies of the ripest and richest minds will be ours. vast is the influence which true-hearted women will exert in the coming age. it is a beautiful coincidence, that just as the old epochs of despotism and slavery, priestcraft and political intrigue are dying out, just as the spiritual part of man is rising into the ascendency, woman's rights are being canvassed and conceded, so that when she becomes his partner in office, higher and holier principles of action will form the basis of governmental administration. angelina grimkÉ weld. the reading of mrs. weld's letter was followed by a spirited discussion, resulting in the continuance of the central committee, composed of representative men and women of the several states, which was the only form of national organization until after the war. mary springstead moved that the convention proceed to organize a national woman's rights society. mrs. smith and mrs. davis did not like to be bound by a constitution longer than during the sessions of the convention. both recommended the formation of state societies. dr. harriot k. hunt spoke as a physician in deeming spontaneity as a law of nature. ernestine l. rose declared organizations to be like chinese bandages. in political, moral, and religious bodies they hindered the growth of men; they were incubi; she herself had cut loose from an organization into which she had been born[ ]; she knew what it had cost her, and having bought that little freedom for what was dearer to her than life itself, she prized it too highly to ever put herself in the same shackles again. lucy stone said, that like a burnt child that dreads the fire, they had all been in permanent organizations, and therefore dread them. she herself had had enough of thumb-screws and soul screws ever to wish to be placed under them again. the present duty is agitation. rev. samuel j. may deemed a system of action and co-operation all that was needed. there is probably not one woman in a thousand, not one in ten thousand who has well considered the disabilities, literary, pecuniary, social, political, under which she labors. ample provision must be made for woman's education, as liberal and thorough as that provided for the other sex. mrs. c. i. h. nichols favored organization as a means to collect and render operative the fragmentary elements now favoring the cause. rev. abram pryne, in an able speech, favored national and state organization. the discussion was closed by the adoption of the following resolution, introduced by paulina wright davis: _resolved_, that this national convention earnestly recommends to those who are members of it from several states, and to those persons in any or all of our states, who are interested in this great reform, that they call meetings of the states or the counties in which they live, certainly as often as once a year, to consider the principles of this reform, and devise measures for their promulgation, and thus co-operate with all throughout the nation and the world, for the elevation of woman to a proper place in the mental, moral, social, religious, and political world. it is impossible to more than give the spirit of the convention, though glimpses of it and its participants may be caught in the brief sketch of its proceedings. in accordance with the call, woman's social, civil, and religious rights were all discussed. lucy stone made a brilliant closing address, the doxology was sung to "old hundred," and the convention adjourned. the character and influence of this convention can best be shown by the reports of the city press.[ ] _the standard, september , _. the woman's rights convention was in session during three days of last week in this city, and was attended by a large number of persons, not less, probably, than , . such a convention, even in this city of conventions, was something new under the sun.... the discussions were characterized by a degree of ability that would do credit to any deliberative body in the country.... some able letters were read to the convention. among the most noteworthy was that of mrs. stanton.... mrs. mott presided over the convention with much dignity and ability.... if any of the natural rights belonging to women are withheld from them by the laws and customs of society, it is due to them that a remedy should be applied;.... those among them who are aggrieved should have an opportunity to give free expression to their opinions. this will hurt nobody, and those who profess to be alarmed at the result, should dismiss their fears. _the daily journal_ (_whig_), _september , _. the national woman's rights convention--after a duration of three mortal days this august convention came to a "happy and peaceful end" friday evening.... all who attended any portion of the convention, or the whole, will unite with us in pronouncing it the most dignified, orderly, and interesting deliberative body ever convened in this city. the officers, and most especially the distinguished woman who occupied the president's chair, evinced a thorough acquaintance with the duties of their station, and performed them in an admirable manner.... no person acquainted with the doings of the assembly and capable of passing judgment in the matter, will deny there was a greater amount of talent in the woman's rights convention than has characterized any public gathering in this state during ten years past, and probably a longer period, if ever.... for compact logic, eloquent and correct expression, and the making of plain and frequent points, we have never met the equal of two or three of the number. the appearance of all before the audience was modest and unassuming, though prompt, energetic, and confident. business was brought forward, calmly deliberated upon, and discussed with unanimity, and in a spirit becoming true woman, and which would add an unknown dignity and consequent influence to the transactions of public associations of the "lords.".... the appearance of the platform was pleasing and really imposing in the extreme. the galaxy of bold women--for they were really bold, indeed they are daring women--presented a spectacle the like of which we never before witnessed. a glance at the "good old lady" who presided with so much dignity and propriety, and through the list to the youngest engaged in the cause, was enough to impress the unprejudiced beholder with the idea that there must be something in the movement.... the audience was large and more impressive than has marked any convention ever held here.... we feel in a mood to dip lightly into a discussion of the woman's rights question.... our sober second thought dictates that a three days' enlightenment at the intellectual feast spread by beauty and genius, may have turned our brains, and consequently we desist. the discussions of this convention did not end with its adjournment; its _sine die_ had effect only upon the assembled body; for months afterward controversies and discussions, both public and private, took place. clergymen of syracuse and adjoining cities kept the interest glowing by their efforts to destroy the influence of the convention by the cry of "infidel." a clergyman of auburn not only preached against the convention as "infidel," but as one holding authority over the consciences of his flock, boldly asserted that "no member of his congregation was tainted with the unholy doctrine of woman's rights." rev. byron sunderland, pastor of the plymouth congregational church of syracuse (since chaplain of the united states senate), characterized it in his sermon[ ] as a "bloomer convention," taking for his text deut. xxii. : the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto man; neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for all that do so are an abomination to the lord thy god. mrs. gage's reply, in the absence of the editor, appeared in _the star_, in whose columns rev. mr. sunderland's sermon had been given the public, calling forth the following letter: washington, _nov. , _. the readers of _the star_ are aware that the editor does not sanction the ridiculous stuff which appeared in the issues of the th and th insts. over the signature of "m" upon the subject of "woman's rights," nor does he approve of its admission in the columns of the paper, and hereby disclaims having authorized the publication of any such emanations from the pit during his absence from home. when at his post he sometimes gives publicity to such communications for the purpose of showing up the fallacy of the positions taken, but never does he intend, so long as he has control of its columns, to allow _the star_ to become the medium of disseminating corrupt and unwholesome doctrines. such doctrines have found and will continue to find means enough with which to do their duty in syracuse without the aid of a _reputable_ newspaper in their behalf; and the editor indeed is greatly surprised that those who temporarily fill his place, should lend _the star_ to so base purposes. we trust that these words (if discretion does not) will prevent further encroachment upon our good nature. _the carson league_, quoting the above editorial, says: it is the first paragraph of the above letter that is noticeable. _the star_ is the organ of a certain class of ministers. messrs. sunderland and ashley and _the star_ nestle in a common sympathy. it is significant of the character of their published sermons, that _the star_ stands alone in their defence. more significant still that _the star_ negates all replies to them, even by a lady. "_put out the light_," says the thief. "_put out the light_," says the assassin. "_put out the light_," says _the star_; and verily if these gentlemen had their way, the light would go out in egyptian darkness. it is wholesome doctrine, in the opinion of _the star_, to deny woman's rights and negro's rights and the right of free discussion, to maintain them is to countenance "corrupt and unwholesome doctrines." the subject of woman's rights somehow is attracting general attention. rev. mr. sunderland, of this city, in a published sermon, sought to bring the whole matter into contempt under cover of the ridicule of the bloomer dress. his position is, that if god made man a little lower than the angels, he made woman a little lower still. his sermon we gave last week. this week we give a woman's reply to it. nobly has she shown him up. we like her review. she treats his argument gravely, and answers it logically. she has touched the tender in him. he will begin to think women are somebody after all. we think he should have measured his _calibre_ before making such a tilt.... regarding his condition as rather awkward, and finding it difficult to be quiet, he appears in the friday _star_ with the following equivocal communication: _the woman's rights question._--mr. editor: the last two numbers of _the star_ contain an article purporting to review my sermon from deut. xxii. , but the author does not appear. the article in question contains inaccuracies which should be noticed for the author's future benefit. if the author should turn out to be a man, i should have no objection to point out those inaccuracies through your columns. but if the writer is a lady, why, i really don't know yet what i shall do. if i thought she would consent to a personal interview, i should like to see her. very truly, b. sunderland. _syracuse, nov. _. some other person, under the head of "a reader," addressed the following to _the star_, which, in the editor's absence, was published: how is this, mr. editor? a few days since i read in your papers a sermon, on woman's rights by rev. byron sunderland. in your numbers of wednesday and thursday i found an able and respectful review of that discourse--a review which, in some points, is unanswerable, especially in the matter of scripture and female dress. the dominie appealed to scripture, and the reviewer "has him fast." i have heard it more than once intimated that the writer of this able, and in some instances most eloquent, review, is a lady of this city. are we to understand that it is an article in the code of anti-progressive ethics, that the same article written by a man, will be answered by mr. sunderland, but if written by a woman, will not be answered? i may have misunderstood mr. sunderland's note in this morning's _star_, but i so understood it. if correctly understood no comment is necessary. a reader. _november , ._ upon the expression of mr. sunderland's desire to meet the reviewer of his sermon, if a lady, and his willingness to continue the controversy, _the star_ finally opened its columns to mrs. gage, although delaying the publication of her articles, sometimes for weeks, to suit the dominie's convenience, and allowing his reply to appear in the same issue of the paper with her answer to his preceding article. mr. sunderland's reply to "a reader" was characteristic of the spirit of the clergy, not only of their intolerance, but of their patronizing and insulting manner toward all persons who presumed to question either their authority or learning. the impertinence of "a reader" is quite characteristic. that individual probably knows as much about the bible as a wild ass' colt, and is requested at this time to keep a proper distance. when a body is trying to find out and pay attention to a lady, it is not good manners for "a reader" to be thrust in between us. rev. mr. ashley, rector of st. paul's, the first episcopal church of syracuse, also preached a sermon against woman, which was published in pamphlet form, and scattered over the state. this sermon was reviewed by a committee of ladies appointed by the ladies' lyceum. it was an able and lengthy document from the pen of the chairman of the committee, a member of the episcopal church, and was a significant sign of woman's growing independence of clerical authority. this sermon and its reply was also published by the city press; the church, the press, and the fireside all aiding in the continued dissemination of the woman's rights discussion. the publication of the proceedings of the convention in pamphlet form gave _the star_ occasion for a new fulmination which not only farther showed the base character of this sheet, but which shocked all devout minds by its patronizing tone toward the deity. both in the convention and its following debate, syracuse well maintained its character for radicalism. mob convention in new york. broadway tabernacle, _sept. and , _. this week as already stated was one of unusual excitement in the city of new york, as representatives of all the unpopular reforms were holding their several conventions. the fact that the anti-slavery society held a meeting on sunday morning, and antoinette brown preached to five thousand people the same evening, called out the denunciations of the religious press, which intensified the mob spirit, culminating at last in the woman's rights convention. that portion of the secular press which had shown the most bitter opposition to the anti-slavery cause, now manifested the same spirit toward the enfranchisement of woman. the leading papers in the united states were _the tribune_, _the herald_, _the times_, _the evening post_, and _the express_, which gave tone to the entire press of the country. all these journals were edited by men of marked ability, each representing a different class of thought in the community. _the tribune_ was independent, and fearless in the expression of opinions on unpopular reforms; its editor, horace greeley, ever ready for the consideration of new ideas, was on many points the leader of liberal thought. _the herald_ was recognized by reformers as at the head of the opposition, and its diatribes were considered "satanic." its editor, james gordon bennett, pandered to the lowest tastes in the community, not merely deriding reforms, but holding their advocates up to the ridicule of a class too degraded to understand the meaning of reform. _the times_ held a middle position; established at a much later date, its influence was not so great nor extended as either _the tribune_ or _the herald_. it represented that large conservative class that fears all change, and accepts the conditions of its own day and generation, knowing that in all upheavals the wealthy class is the first and greatest loser. from this source the mob spirit draws its inspiration. violence being the outgrowth of superstition and despotism; the false morality and philosophy taught by the press and the pulpit are illustrated by the lower orders in hisses, groans, and brick-bats. although far below horace greeley in sagacity, intelligence, and conscience, henry j. raymond claimed for his paper a position superior in respectability. having originated the present system of reporting, and thereby acquired his first reputation, mr. raymond prided himself upon reportorial sharpness, even at the expense of veracity and common self-respect. that woman so long degraded should dare to speak of injustice, so long defrauded of her social, civil, and political rights, should dare to demand some restitution, was to mr. raymond so fit a subject for ridicule that he could not refrain from making even such women as lucretia mott and ernestine l. rose targets for his irony. _the empress_, an organ of the democratic party, was in its debasement on a par with _the herald_ and _times_, though each had different styles, more or less refined, of doing the same thing. encouraged by these three papers, the mob element held high carnival through that eventful week. starting in the anti-slavery and temperance meetings, they assembled at every session in the woman's rights convention. gentlemen and ladies alike who attempted to speak were interrupted by shouts, hisses, stamping, and cheers, rude remarks, and all manner of noisy demonstrations. the clergy, the press, and the rowdies combined to make those september days a disgrace to the metropolis, days never to be forgotten by those who endured the ridicule and persecution. although the mayor with a large police force at his command made no show even of protecting the right of free speech, the editor of _the tribune_ sent forth his grand fulminations against bigotry, hypocrisy, and vulgarity in every issue of his journal. william cullen bryant, editor of _the post_, one of the purest men that ever stood at the head of a daily paper, also spoke out grandly against mob law, and for the rights of woman. we have made this brief episode on the press, that our readers may see how characteristic are the comments of each paper that we give here and there in this chapter. this convention, interrupted throughout by the mob, has an unique and historic value of its own. it was the first overt exhibition of that public sentiment woman was then combating. the mob represented more than itself; it evidenced that general masculine opinion of woman, which condensed into law, forges the chains which enslave her. owing to the turmoil we have no fair report of the proceedings; it was impossible for the representatives of the press to catch what was said, hence their reports, as well as the one issued by our central committee, are alike fragmentary. and yet with such a brilliant array of speakers of both men and women, it should have been one of our most interesting and successful conventions. the tabernacle, holding three thousand persons, was packed long before the hour announced. at ten o'clock lucy stone called the convention to order, and presented a list of officers[ ] nominated at a preliminary meeting, which was adopted. in this list we find england, germany, and eleven states represented. the rev. william henry channing opened the meeting with prayer. after which mrs. mott made a few appropriate remarks. lucy stone read a series of resolutions[ ] which were accepted and laid on the table for discussion. charles burleigh and lydia a. jenkins spoke briefly on the many grounds of opposition to this movement, which in all respects commends itself as one of the greatest reforms of the age. mr. garrison said: the first pertinent question is, what has brought us together? why have we come from the east and from the west, and from the north? i was about to add, and from the south; but the south, alas! is so cursed by the spirit of slavery, that there seems to be no vitality left there in regard to any enterprise, however good; hence the south is not represented on an occasion like this. it is because justice is outraged. we have met to protest against proud, rapacious, inexorable usurpation. what is this usurpation? what is this oppression of which we complain? is it local? does it pertain to the city of new york, or to the empire state? no! it is universal--broader than the empire state--broader than our national domains--wide as the whole world, weighing on the entire human race. how old is the oppression which we have met to look in the face? is it of to-day? is it young in years, or is it as old as the world itself? in all ages men have regarded women as inferior to themselves, and have robbed them of their co-equal rights. we are, therefore, contesting hoary tyranny--universal tyranny. and what follows, as a natural result? that the land is beginning to be convulsed. the opposition to the movement is assuming a malignant, desperate, and satanic character; every missile of wickedness that can be hurled against it is used. the pulpit is excited, the press is aroused; church and state are in arms to put down a movement on behalf of justice to one-half of the whole human race. (laughter and cheers). the bible, revered in our land as the inspired word of god, is, by pulpit interpreters, made directly hostile to what we are endeavoring to obtain as a measure of right and justice; and the cry of infidelity is heard on the right hand and on the left, in order to combine public opinion so as to extinguish the movement. now, beloved, let us not imagine that any strange thing has happened to us. we are but passing through one of the world's great crises; we, too, in our day, are permitted to contend with spiritual wickedness in high places--with principalities and powers. what reform was ever yet begun and carried on with any reputation in the day thereof? what reform, however glorious and divine, was ever advocated at the outset with rejoicing? and if they have called the master of the house beelzebub, how much more them of his household? (cheers and stamping). i have been derisively called a "_woman's rights man_." i know no such distinction. i claim to be a human rights man, and wherever there is a human being, i see god-given rights inherent in that being whatever may be the sex or complexion. to the excellence of the movement god has given witnesses in abundance, on the right hand and on the left. show me a cause anathematized by the chief priests, the scribes, and the pharisees; which politicians and demagogues endeavor to crush, which reptiles and serpents in human flesh try to spread their slime over, and hiss down, and i will show you a cause which god loves, and angels contemplate with admiration. such is our movement. do you want the compliments of the satanic press, _the new york times_, _express_, and _herald_? (roars of laughter). if you want the compliments of such journals, you will be bad enough to take a place among the very vilest and lowest of the human race. they are animated by a brutal, cowardly, and devilish spirit. let us rejoice at the manifestation! not for the wickedness, but at the evidence thus afforded by god, that our cause is of heaven, and therefore has on its side all the power and might of god, and in due season is destined to have a glorious triumph! charles c. burleigh said: there is a feeling to-day that woman has some rights, that she has some reason to complain of the present relation in which she is placed. in this country we congratulate ourselves that woman occupies a higher position than elsewhere, although some think it would be a calamity to improve her condition still further, and mere fanaticism to raise her still higher. the cry is--"unnatural!" the aspiration of woman for a better lot, say her oppressors, is not natural, it is abnormal! so they say; but why not hear her on the matter? is she, the most interested party, to have no voice in the solution of a question which is to her of such overwhelming interest? i ask, did god give woman aspirations which it is a sin for her to gratify? abnormal! no, it is to be found everywhere. the man whose soul is so callous that he can hold his fellow-man as a slave, cries out (as in excuse) that the slave is contented. the autocrat exclaims that it is only a turbulent kossuth or a factious mazzini who feels that uneasy discontent which preys not on the hearts of his millions of legal slaves. will that be, to us, an argument that the tyrant is in the right? no! the aspirations to liberty and justice are universal, and ever though the volcanic blaze breaks into the air only through the loftiest mountain peaks, the volcano is in itself an index to the ocean of molten fire that boils inaudibly beneath it. and so the deep discontent of humble millions breaks through the mountain-minds of their great leaders. woman is a part of the human commonwealth; why deprive her of a voice in its government? woman herself, a component part of the community, must be called into the councils which direct it, else a wrong is done her, the responsibility of which lies heavily on those who do it. we ask rights for woman, because she has a human nature, and it is not only ungenerous and unmanly, but in the highest degree unjust to banish her from the discussion of questions which so nearly and dearly concern her, and in which nature, reason, and god have announced that she should have a voice. either there is a distinction between the sphere of man and that of woman, or there is not. if there is, it is unfair to have one determine both; if there is not, why does tyrannous custom separate her? the dilemma is clear, and can not be escaped. both should be called into counsel, every note in the scale of harmony should be sounded; and to say that hers, because an octave higher, should not be heard, is downright nonsense. (rousing cheers and laughter). we claim for woman simply the right to decide her own sphere, or, in conjunction with man, to determine what should be the relative position of both. w. h. channing said: when i was returning from the first woman's rights meeting at worcester, a friend said to me, "i intend getting up a man's rights society; you misunderstand the matter; all the efforts of society are for the elevation of woman, and man has to perform the drudgery. the consequence is, the women are far better educated than the men." the answer was obvious. "if women are, according to your admission, fitted for the higher plane, why keep them on the lower?" my friend then went on to say, that the whole of this scheme was considered to be of the most morally visionary character, and the proof of this feeling was the slight opposition it met, "for," said he "if it were looked on by society as serious, it would be at once, and forcibly, opposed in the church, by the press, in all public assemblies and private circles." now, the object of this, and all such conventions, is to prove that we have made up our minds as regards operation and method; that we have looked clearly into the future; and that we have at heart this movement, as we have no other of the day, believing that out of this central agitation of society will come healthful issues of life. the inhabitants of eastern india speak of a process for gaining immortality, namely, churning together the sea and the earth. they say the gods had the serpent by the head, and the devils had it by the tail, and out of the churning of the foam came the waters of immortality. the movement we are engaged in, may be typified by the indian allegory; and out of the commotion we make shall be drawn a new principle which shall be one of immortal growth to all society. (stamping, cheers, and laughter). as regards the differences between men and women, we say that out of them grows union, not separation. every organ of the body is double; in the pulsations of the heart a double machinery is used, there is a double auricle and a double ventricle. it is so in the inspirations which flow from god to society; they must pass twice, once through the heart of man, once through the heart of woman; they must stream through the reforming and through the conservative organ; and thus, out of the very difference which exists between man and woman, arises the necessity for their co-operation. it has never been asserted that man and woman are alike; if they were, where would be the necessity for urging the claims of the one? no; they differ, and for that very reason it is, that only through the action of both, can the fullness of their being find development and expression. we know that woman exerts an influence on man, as man does on woman, to call forth his latent resources. in the difference, we find a call for union. and to this union we perceive no limit; on the contrary, whatever necessity there is for the combination in the private, there is the same necessity for it in the public sphere. (long continued stamping and cheers). and now i will meet the two great objections made. it is not objectionable, it is said, that woman, in some spheres of life, should give an expression of her intellect; but, on the platform, she loses her character of woman, and becomes incidentally masculine. just observe the practical absurdities of which society is guilty. the largest assemblies greet with clamors jenny lind, when she enchains the ear and exalts the soul with the sublime strain, "i know that my redeemer liveth"; but when mrs. mott or miss brown stands with a simple voice, and in the spirit of truth, to make manifest the honor due to our redeemer, rowdies hiss, and respectable christians veil their faces! so, woman can sing, but not speak, that "our redeemer liveth." again, the great men of our land do not consider it unworthy of their character to take from fanny ellsler what she makes by the movement of her limbs, by a mere mechanical action,[ ] to aid in erecting a column to commemorate our struggles for liberty. the dollars are received and built into the column; but when mrs. rose or mrs. foster, who feels the spirit of justice within her, and who has felt the injustice of the laws, stands up to show truth and justice, and build a spiritual column, she is out of her sphere! and the honorable men turn aside, and leave her to be the victim of rowdyism, disorder, and lawlessness! it is not out of character that fanny kemble should read shakespeare on the stage, to large circles. the exercise of the voice on the stage is womanly, while she gives out the thoughts of another; but suppose (and it is not unsupposable) a living female shakespeare to appear on a platform, and utter her inspirations, delicacy is shocked, decency is outraged, and society turns away in disgust! such are the consistencies of the nineteenth century! (great uproar). this is simply and merely prejudice, and it reminds me of the proverb, "if you would behold the stars aright, blow out your own taper." i say there is a special reason why woman should come forward as a speaker; because she has a power of eloquence which man has not, arising from the fineness of her organization and the intuitive power of her soul; and i charge any man with arrogance, if he pretend to match himself in this respect with many women here, and thousands throughout our country. (hissing). i take it, the hissing comes from men who never had a mother to love and honor, a sister to protect, and who never knew the worth of a wife. woman's power to cut to the quick and touch the conscience, is beautifully accompanied by her unmatched adaptation to pour balm into the wound; and though the flame she applies may burn into the soul, it also affords a light to the conscience which never can be dimmed. there is an exquisite picture by retsch, which represents angels showering roses on devils; to the angels they are roses, but the devils writhe under them as under fire. on sinful souls the words of women fall as coals from the altar of god. and here let me offer my humble gratitude to the women who have borne the brunt of the test with the calm courage which women alone can exhibit; to the women who have taught us that, as daughters of god, they are the equals of his children everywhere on earth. (cheers and stamping). let me add another word upon this interference, or, rather, entrance of woman into the sphere of politics. as a spiritual being, her duties are like those of man; but, inasmuch as she is different from man, man can not discharge them; and if there be any truth in holding (as our institutions do), that the voice of the whole is the nearest approach we can make to eternal truth, we, of course, can not arrive at it till woman, as well as man, is heard in the search for it. god, not man, nor herself, made her woman; there is nothing arbitrary in the distinction; and let the true woman go where she may, she will retain her womanhood. we wish to see her enter into politics, not to degrade herself, but to bring them up to her own level of simple-heartedness and purity of soul. can man ever raise them to that lofty height? never! woman alone can do it; it is a work reserved for her, and by her and her alone will it be done. (roars of laughter). whose exploits leave the brightest lines of moral courage on the historic page? those of woman! when the french had broken through the barriers, the maid of saragossa rushed to the breach. the demand of the invader came to palafox, and he trembled; but what the heart of man was unequal to, the courage of woman could perform, and the answer of the heroic maiden was, "war to the knife!" and so, always when man has faltered, woman, earnest and simple-hearted, has answered, war to the knife with evil! (a frightful yell from the gallery.) i perceive my friend is anxious to hear a woman speak to him as only a woman can. i will soon give way and let him be gratified; but, first, i will tell him an anecdote. a woman once told me she never saw a horse so wild that she could not tame him. i asked her how, and she answered, "simply by whispering in his ear." our wild friend in the gallery will probably receive some benefit listening to the voice of a woman, if his ears be only long enough to hear her. (prolonged cheers). antoinette brown said: our cause is progressing triumphantly; and yet it is not without some to oppose it. who are they? persons utterly ignorant of the claims which its advocates advance, ignorant alike of the wrongs existing and of the remedy proposed. they suppose that a few mad-cap reformers are endeavoring to overthrow dame nature, to invert society, to play the part of merciless innovators to imperil religion, to place all civil and religious freedom in jeopardy; that if our ends were accomplished all the public and private virtues would be melted as in a crucible and thrown upon the ground, thence to cry aloud to heaven like the blood of righteous abel. were it not that curiosity is largely developed in this class, they would go down to their graves wholly uninformed of our true principles, motives, and aims. they look upon us as black beetles or death's-heads, to be turned away from with horror; but their curiosity overcomes their repugnance, and they would investigate some of our properties, as a naturalist does those of a noxious animal. (cheers and laughter). there is another class, that of genuine bigots, with hearts so ossified that no room can be found for one noble and expansive principle within those little stony cells. many of this class may be persons of excellent intentions; they would do us good if they could, but they approach us with somewhat of the feeling with which miss ophelia regarded topsy, the abhorrence that is experienced on drawing near a large black spider. they try to show us our errors, but if we attempt to justify by argument the ground we have taken, they cry aloud that we are obstinate and unreasonable, especially when we quote text for text, as christ did when talking with a certain person of old. but the most hopeless and spiteful of our opponents is that large class of women whose merits are not their own; who have acquired some influence in society, not by any noble thoughts they have framed and uttered, not by any great deed they have done, but by the accident of having fathers, brothers, or husbands whose wealth elevates them to the highest wave of fashion, and there enables them to roll in luxurious and indolent pomp, like venus newly risen from the ocean. they feel how much easier it is to receive the incense of honor and respect (however insincerely paid to them) without any effort of their own, than to undergo the patient toil after excellence which wrings from the heart of all that homage of true honor which can not be denied to it. they, unused to any noble labor (as all labor is), either physical or mental, will be careful, to a degree of splenetic antagonism, how they will allow the introduction, into the acknowledged rights and duties of their sex, of a new element which may establish the necessity of their being themselves energetic and efficient. we need never hope to find any of this class change, until compelled to do so by public sentiment. the opposition here is really rabid. intellectual women! oh, they are monsters! as soon allow wild beasts to roam at large as these to be let loose on society. like lions and tigers, keep them in their menagerie; perhaps they needn't be actually chained, but see that they are well secured in their cages! (stamping, groans, and laughter). these are far more bitterly hostile than the men of small proportions, who are willing to have a great woman tower above them from time to time--as a madame de stael. such a case, however, they would rank as an exception, not admit as a rule. to allow women to stand every day in the foremost lines of intellect and ability, is a thought altogether too expansive to be entertained by them. such are the oppositions we meet; but they are all melting down like frost-work before the morning sun. the day is dawning when the intellect of woman shall be recognized as well as that of man, and when her rights shall meet an equal and cordial acknowledgment. the greatest wrong and injustice ever done to woman is that done to her intellectual nature. this, like goliath among the philistines, overtops all the rest. drones are but the robbers of the hive; ladies educated to no purpose are but surfeited to a dronish condition on the sweets of literature. such minds are not developed, but molded in a fashionable pattern. lucy stone said: it has been stated that we women were not fit for anything but to stay in the house! i look over the events of the last five years, and almost smile at the confutation of this statement which they supply. let it not be supposed that i wish to depreciate the value of house-duties, or the worth of the woman who fitly discharges them. no! i think that any woman who stands on the throne of her own house, dispensing there the virtues of love, charity, and peace, and sends out of it into the world good men, who may help to make the world better, occupies a higher position than any crowned head. however, we said women could do more; they could enter the professions, and there serve society and do themselves honor. we said that women could be doctors of medicine. well, we can now prove the statement by fact. harriot k. hunt is among us to-day, who, by recognized attainment and successful practice, has shown that women can be physicians, and good ones. you have in your city two women who are good physicians; there are female medical colleges, with their classes, as well ordered, and showing as good a proficiency as any classes of men. thus that point is gained. it was said women could not be merchants. we thought they could; we saw nothing to prevent women from using the power of calculation, the knowledge of goods, and the industry necessary to make a successful trader. here, again, we have abundant examples. many women could be pointed to whose energy and ability for business have repaired the losses of their less competent husbands, i will mention a particular case. mrs. tyndal, of lowell, mass., has for years carried on business in a quiet way; she has made herself rich by conducting a ladies' shoe store in lowell. she said to herself: "what is to hinder me from going into this business? i should know ladies' shoes, whether they were good or bad, and what price they can bring. the ladies should support me." and so they did, and that woman has given a proof that her sex does not incapacitate for successful mercanti le operations. it is said women could not be ministers of religion. last sunday, at metropolitan hall, antoinette l. brown conducted divine service, and was joined in it by the largest congregation assembled within the walls of any building in this city. (hisses). some men hiss who had no mothers to teach them better. but i tell you that some men in new york, knowing that they can hear the word of god from a woman, as well as from a man, have called her to be their pastor, and she is to be ordained in this month. some of you reporters said she was a unitarian, but it is not so; she is among the most orthodox, and so is her church. we have caused woman's right to address an audience to be more fully recognized than before. i once addressed an assemblage of men, and did so without giving previous notice, because i feared the opposition of prejudice. a lady who was among the audience said to me afterward, "how could you do it? my blood ran cold when i saw you up there among those men!" "why," i asked, "are they bad men?" "oh, no! my own husband is one of them; but to see a woman mixing among men in promiscuous meetings, it was horrible!" that was six or seven years ago last fall; and that self-same woman, in columbus, ohio, was chosen to preside over a temperance meeting of men and women; yes, and she took the chair without the least objection! in chicago, a woman is cashier of a bank; and the men gave her a majority of three hundred votes over her man-competitor. in another state, a woman is register of deeds. women can be editors; two sit behind me, paulina w. davis and mrs. nichols. thus we have an accumulation of _facts_ to support our claims and our arguments. _daily tribune, sept. , ._ the woman's rights convention was somewhat disturbed last evening by persons whose ideas of the rights of free speech are these: two thousand people assemble to hear a given public question discussed under distinct announcement that certain persons whose general views are well known, are to speak throughout the evening. at least nineteen-twentieths come to hear those announced speakers, and will be bitterly disappointed if the opportunity be not afforded them. but one-twentieth have bought tickets and taken seats on purpose to prevent the hearing of those speakers, by hissing, yelling, and stamping, and all manner of unseemly interruptions. under such circumstances, which should prevail; the right of the speakers to be heard and the great body of the audience to hear them according to the announcement, or the will of the disturbers who choose to say that nineteen out of twenty shall not have what they have paid for, and what the promised speakers are most willing to give them? to state the case exactly as it is, precludes the necessity of arguing it. we rejoice to say that the will of the great majority prevailed, and that the discussion which was marked in its earlier days by occasional tumult was closed in good order, and amid hushed and gratified attention. we ought, perhaps, to return thanks to the disturbers for so stirring the souls of the speakers that their words came gushing forth from their lips with exceeding fluency and power. we certainly never before heard antoinette brown, mrs. rose, and lucy stone speak with such power and unction as _last night_. it was never before so transparent that a hiss or a blackguard yell was the only answer that the case admitted of, and when lucy stone closed the discussion with some pungent, yet pathetic remarks on the sort of opposition that had been manifest, it was evident that if any of the rowdies had an ant-hole in the bottom of his boot, he would inevitably have sunk through it and disappeared forever. _herald, sept. , ._ the last vagary of the greeley clique--the women, their rights, and their champions. the assemblage of rampant women which convened at the tabernacle yesterday was an interesting phase in the comic history of the nineteenth century. we saw, in broad daylight, in a public hall in the city of new york, a gathering of unsexed women--unsexed in mind all of them, and many in habiliments--publicly propounding the doctrine that they should be allowed to step out of their appropriate sphere, and mingle in the busy walks of every-day life, to the neglect of those duties which both human and divine law have assigned to them. we do not stop to argue against so ridiculous a set of ideas. we will only inquire who are to perform those duties which we and our fathers before us have imagined belonged solely to women. is the world to be depopulated? are there to be no more children? or are we to adopt the french mode, which is too well known to need explanation? another reason why we will not answer the logic which is poured out from the lips of such persons as lucy stone, mrs. mott, mrs. amelia bloomer, and their male coadjutors, greeley, garrison, oliver, johnson, burleigh, and others, is because they themselves do not believe in the truth or feasibility of the doctrines they utter. in some cases eccentricity is a harmless disease; but the idiosyncrasies of these people spring from another source. they admit the principle that fame and infamy are synonymous terms. disappointed in their struggle for the first, they grasp the last, and at the same time pocket all the money they can wring from the "barren fools" who can be found in any community eager to grasp at any doctrine which is novel, no matter how outrageous it may be. they are continually advertising from their platforms some "thrilling narrative," or "account of the adventures of a fugitive," which may be had at the low price of one shilling each, or eight dollars per hundred. recently they have discovered that the great body of their audiences came only to be amused, and they have therefore imposed an admission fee. lucy stone, who is a shrewd yankee, has gone a step further, and in her management of the business of the "woman's rights convention," has provided for season tickets, to be had at "the extremely low price of two shillings." it is almost needless for us to say that these women are entirely devoid of personal attractions. they are generally thin maiden ladies, or women who perhaps have been disappointed in their endeavors to appropriate the breeches and the rights of their unlucky lords; the first class having found it utterly impossible to induce any young or old man into the matrimonial noose, have turned out upon the world, and are now endeavoring to revenge themselves upon the sex who have slighted them. the second, having been dethroned from their empire over the hearts of their husbands, for reasons which may easily be imagined, go vagabondizing over the country, boring unfortunate audiences with long essays lacking point or meaning, and amusing only from the impudence displayed by the speakers in putting them forth in a civilized country. they violate the rules of decency and taste by attiring themselves in eccentric habiliments, which hang loosely and inelegantly upon their forms, making that which we have been educated to respect, to love, and to admire, only an object of aversion and disgust. a few of these unfortunate women have awoke from their momentary trance, and quickly returned to the dress of decent society; but we saw yesterday many disciples of the bloomer school at the tabernacle. there was yesterday, and there will be to-day, a wide field for all such at the tabernacle. the "compliments" showered upon _the herald_ by the wretched garrison yesterday afternoon, at the woman's wrong convention, fully show that he and his coadjutors, greeley and the rest, are beginning to feel the truth of our remarks during the time they have been amusing our citizens. his insane attack shows that our course has been the true one. to the credit of mr. greeley, he made an effort to suppress the disturbance. raymond, of _the times_, gave the following report: _times, september , ._ (evening of the first day, mrs. rose speaking). mr. greeley was among the audience, and in passing through the gallery, it was supposed he remonstrated with the sibillating gentlemen, and a great rumpus was raised. some cheered the peace-maker, others hissed, the rush collected about the scene of the disturbance, and all proceedings were interrupted. mrs. rose suspended her remarks for a few moments, but presently said: "friends, be seated, and i will continue." the audience would not listen, however. the uproar still continued. cries of "order," "mrs. president," "put him out," "hurrah!" hisses, groans, and cheers. mr. greeley and a policeman presently succeeded in stilling the tumult, the officer collaring several men and compelling them to keep quiet. mrs. rose resumed and continued her remarks. second day, morning session, opened at a.m. mrs. mott: the uproar and confusion which attended the close of our proceedings of last night, although much to be regretted, as indicating an unreasonable and unreasoning disposition on the part of some, to close their ears against the truth, or rather, to drown its voice by vulgar clamor, yet, when viewed aright, and in some phases, present to us matter of congratulation. i do suppose that never, at any meeting, was public propriety more outraged, than at ours of last evening. i suppose no transactions of a body assembled to deliberate, were ever more outrageously invaded by an attempt to turn them into a mere tumult; yet, though voices were loud and angry, and the evil passions exhibited themselves with much of that quality to affright, which usually, if not always, attends their exhibition, not a scream was heard from any woman, nor did any of the "weaker sex" exhibit the slightest terror, or even alarm at the violent manifestations which invaded the peace of our assemblage. i felicitate the women on this exhibition of fortitude; of calm moral courage. should not our opponents, if they have any reason among them, reflect that these exhibitions are, in reality, some of the strongest arguments that can be offered to support the claims which we stand here to advocate? do they not show, on the one hand, that men, by whom such an overpowering superiority is arrogated, can betimes demean themselves in such a way as to show that they are wholly unfit for the lofty functions which they demand as their exclusive right? and, on the other hand, do they not conclusively show, that women are possessed of, at least, some of those qualities which assist in calmness of deliberation during times of excitement and even danger? i think it was really a beautiful sight to see how calm the women remained during last evening's excitement; their self-possession i consider something truly admirable. i know that in the tumult and noise it would have been vain for any woman to raise her voice in an attempt to check it. indeed, i am satisfied the outrage was predetermined, and i regret that the aid of the police had to be called in to quell it. had there been here a company of women who were taught to rely upon others, they would, doubtless, have felt bound to scream for "their protectors"; but the self-reliance displayed, which must have its basis in a consciousness of the truth and justice of our cause, and which kept the members of the convention unmoved, amid all the prevailing confusion, gives us matter of real congratulation. let us rejoice in this, my friends; and let us remember, that when we have a true cause--while our cause rests on the basis of right--we have nothing to fear, but may go on unmoved by all these petty circumstances, by which we may be surrounded. mr. burleigh said: a request was made last night by some person, i don't know who, or rather a challenge was offered, that three good reasons should be given why women should vote. perhaps, had the person making this demand had this question put to him, namely: "what reasons are there why men should vote?" he would have considered them so self-evident as to make any answer superfluous. yet it would be found difficult, i apprehend, to assign any reason why men should vote, which would not be found to be an equally good one for extending the elective franchise to women. he asked, however, why women should be allowed to take a part in the civil government of the country. this question will, i doubt not, be answered to-day by some one more able than myself; and if the person who asked it be present, and open to conviction, he will hear reasons sufficient to convince him. why should women vote? she should vote, first, because she has to bear her portion of the burdens imposed by the government which the voting makes. is not this one reason amply sufficient for any honest-minded man? taxation and representation go hand in hand, says a principle of our body politic. is woman represented? no. is woman taxed? yes. how is that? is it consistent with the profession; and, if there were no profession, is it right, is it just? the burden falls equally on woman and her brother; but he has all the power of applying it; she must bear it to the end of the journey, and then know nothing, say nothing, as to how it is to be disposed of. what kind of justice is that? were woman exempted from those burdens, why, then, the exemption would so far be an argument on the other side; although even that would fail on investigation, because other equally immutable principles show that neither exemption nor representation is the condition in which any portion of the political body should be allowed to remain. but where there is no exemption, but a full apportionment of the burden, and, at the same time, no representation, the absurdity of injustice has reached its climax. (laughter and cheers). in the second place, woman should vote, because she ought to be a sharer in those benefits which government is formed to confer upon the governed. she has property which the government must protect, a person which it must defend, and rights which it is bound to secure. were the millennium arrived, were there no such thing as selfishness on earth; were simple truth and justice the prominent elements in all men's minds, and the guiding spirit of all men's actions, then indeed might woman confide herself to man; then might she rely on him to secure those governmental benefits which are her due, as a portion of the general community. but is this the state of things? alas! not yet; and, until it is, the horrible injustice of the laws which exclude woman from a share in making them, while they are her only security for the advantages she ought to enjoy, will never cease crying aloud to all men for purification. one of the great aims of all government, one of the strong considerations which alone makes its restrictions endurable, is the assurance which it gives the governed, that the sum of their happiness, and even of their liberty, shall, by individual restraints, become greater on the whole. it holds out a bonus to society, or rather, to its individual members, "give me this little, and i will give you in exchange this much." thus each individual puts a stake into the common fund, has an interest in the common weal, which demands careful watching. can woman watch the large, the all-absorbing interest she has at stake? she, above all, the most tender, the most sensitive of beings, the most keenly alive to wrong, to insult, to oppression, to aught that bruises her womanly nature, can she give a careful eye to the disposal of those important questions which touch the very core of her heart? why, when reduced to these, its naked dimensions, the injustice seems so horrible, as not to be credible, and did we not know the facts, we would find it hard to believe that man, made in the image of his maker, could violate justice so barbarously. surely woman lies under no moral obligation to any laws which, wanting her assent, yet assume to control her every action, word, and even thought. her property, her person, all her rights, her most sacred affections, come within the province of those enactments; yet she can have no voice, no weight in determining what those enactments shall be. (stamping and groans). in the third place, woman is entitled to vote, because she is liable to all the penalties imposed by government. not only is it that she confides, or rather, that government compels her to confide to it, the custody of person, property, rights, and all dearest interests, but it goes a step further, and thus adds another link (though quite a superfluous one) to the adamantine chain of argument which it supplies to bind down its own injustice. it stands not merely in a passive or receiving relation to woman, it becomes the active arbiter of her doom; it declares itself competent to lay hands on her, to shut her up in prison, to take away her life, the life of one who has made with it no compact--giving such awful power--the life of one who never consented to the laws which assert over her so terrible a supremacy! all the principles already applied come in here with perhaps renewed force, as being the arbiters of a question which may be regarded by some as of a still more absorbing interest, although to woman it may not be so, for when did she value life more highly than tenderness, domestic confidence, and affection? (prolonged laughter). dr. h. k. root, of new york, rose in his place among the audience and declared his intention of arguing against the principles and demands of the convention. being requested to take the rostrum, he did so, and spoke thus: mrs. president and ladies: i do not come here with the slightest intention of offering to the ladies any opposition for mere opposition's sake. if they are proved to have more knowledge and intelligence than men, let them govern! my purpose, ladies, is to try and attain truth, which, i think, will not be found favorable to the views you express. i come, rather, as a matter of intelligence than opposition. i do not come here for the purpose of opposing the ladies too much; but as the question was not only open yesterday, but still is for discussion, i maintain that if the ladies have more intelligence, and more energy, and science than the male sex, they should rule. i think i can give three reasons why men should vote, and one why woman should not vote. (cheers). my first reason is, because there was an original command from god that man should rule. it may be supposed that we are in the garden of eden now, as in the days of adam and eve. now, it will be remembered, when adam and eve fell, adam, because eve tempted him, was placed in the garden as its keeper, and it was necessary in those days, as it is now, that woman should be a helpmeet for him; but you recollect that by the eating of the forbidden fruit, original sin came into the world. what was the expression of god to adam? he says in the third chapter of genesis, th verse: "because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which i commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." now, permit us to be in the relation that adam and eve were originally. it behooves the male sex to answer the objections of the female sex--not that we wish to combat them in public; but it behooves us, as a matter of justice, to put the question on a right foundation. it may be necessary, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, that the ladies should be here, but in the hundredth it may be necessary that man should say, "thus far shalt thou go, and no farther." you see the original cause of sin was because man, being placed in the garden, gave way to woman, and the curse fell upon him; the original cause of sin was because man gave up his judgment to woman; and it may be, if we now give up our rights to woman, some great calamity may fall upon us. had woman only sinned, perhaps we might still have been in eden. (great applause). my second reason why man should vote is the law of physical force over the woman--because man's strength is greater than woman's. the third reason is, because if women enter the field of competition with men, it may lead not only to domestic unhappiness, but a great many other ill feelings. and i will give another reason why men should be dictators. if woman says she shall vote, and man says she sha'n't, he is in duty bound to maintain what he says. if he says she sha'n't, that is reason enough why she should not." (cheers and laughter). alexander parker, of philadelphia, rose in his place, and on being invited to the platform, spoke thus: adam was the first gardener in the world; he belonged to my business, for i am a gardener--a business i took up myself, so i should have something to say about the garden of eden. well, i have often thought about the fall, and i have often pictured it in this manner: the very moment the charge was given not to do such a thing, that was just the time they wanted to do it. (prolonged cheers). it is often said that woman has a great deal of curiosity, and no doubt it was whispered into her ear, that the moment she ate of the forbidden fruit she should become a god. now, i have seen more reason this morning why women should vote than i have ever seen before. in pennsylvania a man has got but one vote, while a woman has three--her husband's and her two sons'. eve tried to get over the temptation, but she could not; and so, after many efforts, she clutched the apple she looked at so, and so, and she reached out to it; afraid at first, but at last she laid hold of it, and, seeing that her fear was over, she kissed its lovely cheek. then she ran to adam, and said it was good, and he ate of it. then his eyes were opened and he saw he was naked, and ran and hid himself. he tried to hide himself among the bushes, but he could not deny the eating of it, because the core was sticking in his throat, and it is sticking there still; but woman has not got the core sticking in her throat. well, adam pretended to be innocent, like all the rest of mankind, and said it was not he, but the woman that did it. no, no; it was not his fault, it was the woman who gave it to him. oh, yes! he was not to blame, no more than any lord of creation. well, then, there was a curse upon him; but there was a promise to woman that her seed should bruise the head of the serpent with her heel. (shouts of laughter). mrs. nichols: as to the text which says that woman must obey her husband, surely that is no reason why she should obey all the bachelors and other women's husbands in the community. my husband would have me advocate the claims i do, therefore by the logic of our cause my husband wishes me to vote, and, according to the scripture, the gentleman must, even in his own reasoning, allow me the right to vote. in one place the gentleman said that woman had already turned the world over; and that man must be cautious not to allow her to do so again. perhaps, if he reconsidered these statements he might be willing to retract the latter; because, if she turned the world over once and put the wrong side up, he ought now to allow her to turn it back, that she may bring the right side up again. mrs. rose said: as to the personal property, after all debts and liabilities are discharged, the widow receives one-half of it; and, in addition, the law kindly allows her her own wearing apparel, her own ornaments, proper to her station, one bed, with appurtenances for the same; a stove, the bible, family pictures, and all the school-books; also, all spinning-wheels and weaving-looms, one table, six chairs, tea cups and saucers, one tea-pot, one sugar dish, and six spoons. (much laughter). but the law does not inform us whether they are to be tea or table spoons; nor does the law make any provision for kettles, sauce-pans, and all such necessary things. but the presumption seems to be that the spoons meant are teaspoons; for, as ladies are generally considered very delicate, the law presumed that a widow might live on tea only; but spinning-wheels and weaving-looms are very necessary articles for ladies nowadays. (hissing and great confusion). why, you need not hiss, for i am expounding the law. these wise law-makers, who seem to have lived somewhere about the time of the flood, did not dream of spinning and weaving by steam-power. when our great-great-grandmothers had to weave every article of apparel worn by the family, it was, no doubt, considered a very good law to allow the widow the possession of the spinning-wheels and the weaving-looms. but, unfortunately for some laws, man is a progressive being; his belief, opinions, habits, manners, and customs change, and so do spinning-wheels and weaving-looms; and, with men and things, law must change too, for what is the value of a law when man has outgrown it? as well might you bring him to the use of his baby clothes, because they once fitted him, as to keep him to such a law. no. laws, when man has outgrown them, are fit only to be cast aside among the things that were. but i must not forget, the law allows the widow something more. she is allowed one cow, all sheep to the number of ten, with the fleeces and the cloth from the same, two swine, and the pork therefrom. (great laughter). my friends, do not say that i stand here to make these laws ridiculous. no; if you laugh, it is at their own inherent ludicrousness; for i state them simply and truly as they are; for they are so ridiculous in themselves, that it is impossible to make them more so. mrs. nichols said: as widow, too, the law bears heavily on woman. if her children have property, she is adjudged unworthy of their guardianship; and although the decree of god has made her the true and natural guardian of her children, she is obliged to pay from her scanty means to be constituted so by law. i have conversed with judges and legislators, and tried to learn a reason for these things, but failed to find it. a noble man once gave me what he probably thought was a good one. "women," he said to me, "can not earn as much as men!" we say they should be allowed to earn as much. they have the ability, and the means should not be shut out from them. i have heard of another man who held woman's industrial ability at a low rate. "his wife," he said, "had never been able to do anything but attend to her children." "how many have you?" he was asked; and the answer was, "nine." nine children to attend to! nine children cared for! and she could do nothing more, the wife of this most reasonable man. now, which is of more importance to the community, the property which that reasonable husband made, or the nine children whom that mother brought, with affectionate and tender toil, through the perils of infancy and youth, until they were men and women? which was of more importance to this land, the property which the father of george washington amassed, or the george washington whom a noble mother gave to his country? the name of washington, his glorious deeds, and the enduring benefits he secured for us, still remain, and will long after the estates of washington have passed from his name forever! in the state of vermont, a wife sought a divorce from her husband on the ground of his intemperance. they were persons moving among our highest circles--wealthy people; and the wife knew that she could, through the aid of her friends and relations, with the influence and sympathy of the community, obtain a divorce and a support for her children. that father carried away into canada one child, a little girl, and paid three hundred dollars to a low, vile frenchman, that he might keep her from her mother and friends. three times her almost heart-broken mother went in search of her; twice in vain, but the third time she was found. so badly had the poor child been treated in the vile hands in which her father had placed her, that, when recovered, she was almost insensible; and when, by her mother's nursing care, her intelligence was at length restored, her joy at seeing her mother was so violent, that it was feared its excess might prove fatal. the case came into court, and the judge decided that the two daughters should be given to their mother, but that the custody of the son should be given to the father. she was acquitted of the least impropriety or indiscretion; yet, though the obscenity and profanity of her husband in his own family was shocking, and it was in the last degree painful to that high-minded woman to see her son brought up under the charge of such a man, the law decided that the unworthy father was the more proper guardian for the boy! in the green mountain state a great many sermons have lately been preached on the text, "wives, submit yourselves to your husbands." the remaining words, "in the lord," are generally omitted; so that the text is made to appear like an injunction that the wives should submit to their husbands, whether they were in the lord or in the devil. and the best of all is, that we are told that if we would be submissive, we could change our husbands from devils into angels. mrs. mott: i now introduce to the convention frances dana gage, of st. louis, mo., better known as "aunt fanny," the poet. mrs. gage said: this morning, when i was leaving my boarding-house, some one said to me, "so you are ready armed and equipped to go and fight the men." i was sorry, truly sorry, to hear the words--they fell heavily on my heart. i have no fight with men. i am a daughter, a sister, a wife, and a mother, and in all these relations i live in harmony with man. neither i, nor any of the sisters with whom i am united in this movement, have any quarrel with men. what is it that we oppose? what do we seek to overturn? the bad laws and customs of society. these are our only enemies, and against these alone is our hostility directed; although they be "hallowed by time," we seek to eradicate them, because the day for which they were suited, if such ever existed, is long since gone by. the men, we may suppose, are above and beyond the laws, and we assail the laws only. there is one law which i do not remember having heard any of my sisters touch upon, that is the law of wills, as far as it relates to married women, and as far as it allows a husband (which it fully does), along with his power to determine the lot of his wife while he is alive, also to control her when he is dead. would any gentleman like to have that law reversed? let me read to you a will after that odd fashion. it will fall on your ears, gentlemen, with as loud a tone of injustice as it does on mine: will of bridget smith.--in the name of god, amen. i, bridget smith, being weak in body, though sound in mind, blessed be god for the same, do make and declare this my last will and testament. item first: i give my soul to god, and my body to the earth, from which it came. item second: i give to my beloved husband, john smith, sen., my bible, and forty acres of wild land which i own in bear marsh, ill, for the term of his natural life, when it shall descend to our son, john smith, jr. item third: i give and bequeath to my daughter, tabitha, my farm, house, outhouse, barns, and all the stock on said farm, situated in pleasant valley, and which said farm consists of acres. i also give to my said daughter tabitha, the wagons, carriages, harnesses, carts, plows, and all other property that shall be on said farm at the time of my death. item fourth: i give to my son, john smith, jr., my family horse, my buggy, harness, and saddle, and also eighty acres of wild land which i own in the state of iowa, for which i have a patent. item fifth: i give to my beloved husband, john smith, sen., the use of the house in which we live, together with my bed, so long as he shall live, or remain my widower; but in case he shall die, or get married, then it is my will that my house and bed shall descend to my said daughter, tabitha. recommending my said husband to her care, whom i make the sole executrix of this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all others. signed, sealed, and proclaimed this ---- day of ----, , in the presence of john doe and richard roe. bridget smith. would any of you like such power as that to be placed in our hands? yet, is it not as fair that married women should dispose of their property, as that married men should dispose of theirs? it is true, the power thus given to husbands is not always used to the detriment of women, and this is frequently urged in support of the law. but i reply, that law is made for extreme cases; and while any such statutes remain on the books, no good man will cease to exert himself for their removal. i ask the right to vote, not because it would create antagonism, but because it would create harmony. i want to do away with antagonism by removing oppression, for where oppression exists, there antagonism must exist also. ernestine l. rose: in allusion to the law respecting wills, i wish to say that, according to the revised statutes of our state, a married woman has not a right to make a will. the law says that wills may be made by all persons, except idiots, persons of unsound mind, married women, and infants. mark well, all but idiots, lunatics, married women, and infants. male infants ought to consider it quite an insult to be placed in the same category with married women. no, a married woman has no right to bequeath a dollar of the property, no matter how much she may have brought into the marriage, or accumulated in it. not a dollar to a friend, a relative, or even to her own child, to keep him from starving. and this is the law in the nineteenth century, in the enlightened united states, under a republic that declares all men to be free and equal. lucy stone: just one word. i think mrs. rose is a little mistaken; i wish to correct her by saying that of some states in-- mrs. rose: i did not say this was the universal law; i said it was the law in the state of new york. lucy stone: i was not paying close attention, and must have been mistaken. in massachusetts the law makes a married woman's will valid in two cases: the first is, where the consent of her husband is written on the will; the second, where she wills all she has to her husband, in which case his written consent is not deemed requisite. dr. harriot k. hunt spoke on the fruitful theme of taxation without representation! and read her annual protest[ ] to the authorities of boston against being compelled to submit to that injustice. she said: i wish to vote, that women may have, by law, an equal right with men in property. in october, , i went to pay my taxes in boston. going into the assessor's office, i saw a tall, thin, weak, stupid-looking irish boy. it was near election time, and i looked at him scrutinizingly. he held in his hand a document, which, i found on inquiry, was one of naturalization; and this hopeful son of erin was made a citizen of the united states, and he could have a voice in determining the destinies of this mighty nation, while thousands of intellectual women, daughters of the soil, no matter how intelligent, how respectable, or what amount of taxes they paid, were forced to be dumb! now, i am glad to pay my taxes, am glad that my profession enables me to pay them; but i would like very much to have a voice in directing what is to be done with the money i pay. i meditated on what i had seen, and, in , when paying my taxes, i took to the treasurer's office my protest. the case of the hon. mrs. norton before the english courts, then attracting much attention, was a fair exemplification of the injustice of the law to married women. lucy stone said: i have before me, in a newspaper, a case which shows strongly the necessity for woman's legislating for herself. i mean the case of the hon. mrs. norton, which lately transpired in a court in london, and which fully proves that it is never right for one class to legislate for another. there are, probably, few here who have not been made better and wiser by the beautiful things which have fallen from the pen of that lady. in her husband obtained a separation from her on the charge of infidelity. eighteen years of a blameless life since, and the conviction every pure mind must feel, that nothing impure could ever dwell in a mind such as her productions show hers to be, will fully relieve her of any suspicion that she ever was guilty of acts justifying that charge. she was a woman of transcendent abilities; and her works brought her in £ , a year--sometimes more, sometimes less. this her husband procured to be paid over to himself, by securing the profits of her copyrights; and this husband allowed her only £ a year! and, at last, refused to pay her even this sum; so that, for her necessary expenses, she was obliged to go into debt, and her debtors brought a suit against her husband, which was taken into court. in the court she stood before her husband's lawyer, and said to him: "if you are afraid of what i may say, beware how you ask me questions!" wealth and power were against her, and the lawyer _did_ ask questions which wrung from her what she had concealed for seventeen long years, and the world at last knew how her husband had kept the money she earned by her pen. she stood in court, and said: "i do not ask for rights; i have no rights, i have only wrongs. i will go abroad, and live with my son." her husband had proposed to take her children from her, but she said: "i would rather starve than give them up." and for a time she did starve. i will read for you her poem of "twilight," and you will all see what kind of woman has been so wronged, and has so suffered. that woman, gifted, noble, and wealthy, with such great yearnings in her soul, whose heart was so bound up in her children, was thus robbed not only of her own rights, but also of theirs. men! we can not trust you! you have deceived us too long! since this movement began, _some_ laws have been passed, securing to woman her personal property, but they are as nothing in the great reform that is needed. i can tell you a case. a woman married a man, whom she did not love, because he had a fortune. he died, and she married the man whom she loved before her first marriage. he died, too, and the fortune which was hers through her first husband was seized on by the relatives of the second, and she was left penniless in the wide world. here, as in england, women earn large sums by their literary fame and talents; and i know a _man_ who watches the post-office, and, because the law gives him the power, secures the letters which contain the wages of his wife's intellectual toil, and pockets them for his own use. i will conclude by reading a letter from an esteemed friend, mr. higginson. it proposes certain questions which i should wish to hear our enemies answer. worcester, _sept. , _. dear friend:--you are aware that domestic duties alone prevent my prolonging my stay in new york during the session of the woman's rights convention. but you know, also, that all my sympathies are there. i hope you will have a large representation of the friends of the great movement--the most important of the century; and that you will also assemble a good many of the opposition during the discussion. perhaps from such opponents i might obtain answers to certain questions which have harassed my mind, and are the following: if there be a woman's sphere, as a man's sphere, why has not woman an equal voice in fixing the limits? if it be unwomanly for a girl to have a whole education, why is it not unwomanly for her to have even a half one? should she not be left where the turkish women are left? if women have sufficient political influence through their husbands and brothers, how is it that the worst laws are confessedly those relating to female property? if politics are necessarily corrupting, ought not good men, as well as good women, to be exhorted to quit voting? if, however, man's theory be correct--that none should be appointed jurors but those whose occupations fit them to understand the matters in dispute--where is the propriety of empanneling a jury of men to decide on the right of a divorced mother to her child? if it be proper for a woman to open her lips in jubilee to sing nonsense, how can it be improper for her to open them and speak sense? these afford a sample of the questions to which i have been trying in vain to find an answer. if the reasonings of men on this subject are a fair specimen of the masculine intellect of the nineteenth century, i think it is certainly quite time to call in women to do the thinking. yours, respectfully and cordially, t. w. higginson. miss lucy stone. matilda joslyn gage cited the convention to a case recently tried before the court of common pleas of new york, as illustrating the husband's ownership of the wife, the court deciding that the friends of a woman who had "harbored" and detained her from her husband, though with her own consent and desire, should pay him $ , . he recovered this sum on the principle of ownership; the wife's services were due him, and he recovered their value. mrs. gage also commented on the divorce laws, which she declared were less just in christian than in mohammedan countries. in those countries if the husband sues for a divorce he is obliged to restore the dower, but in christian america the husband not only retains all the property in case he sues for a divorce, but where the wife, being the innocent party, sues, she even then receives neither property nor children, unless by an express decree of the court. she is alike punished, whether innocent or guilty. mrs. gage also discussed the question so often put, "what has woman to do with politics?" she said the country must look to women for its salvation. sojourner truth, a tall colored woman, well known in anti-slavery circles, and called the lybian sybil, made her appearance on the platform. this was the signal for a fresh outburst from the mob; for at every session every man of them was promptly in his place, at twenty-five cents a head. and this was the one redeeming feature of this mob--it paid all expenses, and left a surplus in the treasury. sojourner combined in herself, as an individual, the two most hated elements of humanity. she was black, and she was a woman, and all the insults that could be cast upon color and sex were together hurled at her; but there she stood, calm and dignified, a grand, wise woman, who could neither read nor write, and yet with deep insight could penetrate the very soul of the universe about her. as soon as the terrible turmoil was in a measure quelled she said: is it not good for me to come and draw forth a spirit, to see what kind of spirit people are of? i see that some of you have got the spirit of a goose, and some have got the spirit of a snake. i feel at home here. i come to you, citizens of new york, as i suppose you ought to be. i am a citizen of the state of new york; i was born in it, and i was a slave in the state of new york; and now i am a good citizen of this state. i was born here, and i can tell you i feel at home here. i've been lookin' round and watchin' things, and i know a little mite 'bout woman's rights, too. i come forth to speak 'bout woman's rights, and want to throw in my little mite, to keep the scales a-movin'. i know that it feels a kind o' hissin' and ticklin' like to see a colored woman get up and tell you about things, and woman's rights. we have all been thrown down so low that nobody thought we'd ever get up again; but we have been long enough trodden now; we will come up again, and now i am here. i was a-thinkin', when i see women contendin' for their rights, i was a-thinkin' what a difference there is now, and what there was in old times. i have only a few minutes to speak; but in the old times the kings of the earth would hear a woman. there was a king in the scriptures; and then it was the kings of the earth would kill a woman if she come into their presence; but queen esther come forth, for she was oppressed, and felt there was a great wrong, and she said i will die or i will bring my complaint before the king. should the king of the united states be greater, or more crueler, or more harder? but the king, he raised up his sceptre and said: "thy request shall be granted unto thee--to the half of my kingdom will i grant it to thee!" then he said he would hang haman on the gallows he had made up high. but that is not what women come forward to contend. the women want their rights as esther. she only wanted to explain her rights. and he was so liberal that he said, "the half of my kingdom shall be granted to thee," and he did not wait for her to ask, he was so liberal with her. now, women do not ask half of a kingdom, but their rights, and they don't get 'em. when she comes to demand 'em, don't you hear how sons hiss their mothers like snakes, because they ask for their rights; and can they ask for anything less? the king ordered haman to be hung on the gallows which he prepared to hang others; but i do not want any man to be killed, but i am sorry to see them so short-minded. but we'll have our rights; see if we don't; and you can't stop us from them; see if you can. you may hiss as much as you like, but it is comin'. women don't get half as much rights as they ought to; we want more, and we will have it. jesus says: "what i say to one, i say to all--watch!" i'm a-watehin'. god says: "honor your father and your mother." sons and daughters ought to behave themselves before their mothers, but they do not. i can see them a-laughin', and pointin' at their mothers up here on the stage. they hiss when an aged woman comes forth. if they'd been brought up proper they'd have known better than hissing like snakes and geese. i'm 'round watchin' these things, and i wanted to come up and say these few things to you, and i'm glad of the hearin' you give me. i wanted to tell you a mite about woman's rights, and so i came out and said so. i am sittin' among you to watch; and every once and awhile i will come out and tell you what time of night it is. _the times_ next day commented as follows: _the new york times, sept. , ._ the row of yesterday.--row no. was a very jolly affair, a regular break-down, at the woman's convention. the women had their rights, and more beside. the cause was simply that the rowdyish diathesis is just now prevalent. true, a colored woman made a speech, but there was nothing in that to excite a multitude; she did not speak too low to be heard; she did not insult them with improper language; nor did the audience respond at all insultingly. they did not curse, they only called for "half a dozen on the shell." they did not swear, they only "hurried up that stew." they did wrong, however. if we had our own way every rascally rowdy among them should have bloomers of all colors preaching at them by the year--a year for every naughty word they uttered, a score of them for every hiss. out upon the villains who go to any meeting to disturb it. let anybody who can hire a house and pay for it have his way, and let none be disturbed; the opposers can stay away. but for us, let us be thankful that in such hot weather there is something to amuse us, something to season our insipid dishes, something to spice our dull days with. _mem._ it was cooler in the evening. * * * * * caroline m. severance, of ohio, presented an argument and appeal based upon the following propositions: that as the manifest dissimilarities which cause the _nations_ of the earth to differ, physically, and in degree of mental and moral development and cultivation, are not found justly to invalidate their claim to a place in the vast brotherhood of man--to fullness of family communion and rights; so there are no radical differences of _the sexes_ in these respects, which can at all impair the integrity of an equal humanity--no sufficient basis for a distinction in so comprehensive a classification. the fundamental facts and faculties--the higher and more essential attributes which make up the accepted definition of humanity in our day, are identical in both--are no more confined or unduly allotted to one sex than to one nation. on the broad basis of this philosophy, on the ground of woman's undeniable and equal humanity, proven by the possession of identical human faculties, and equal human needs, we claim for her the recognition of that humanity and its rights--for the freedom, protection, development, and use of those faculties, and the supply of those needs. and we maintain that no accident of sex, no prejudged or proven dissimilarity _in degree_ of physical, mental, or moral endowment, or development, can at all stand in the way of the admission of such just claim; and no denial of such claim but must necessarily be fraught with evil, as subversive of the creator's economy and design. [shouts and laughter.] rev. john pierpont, who, for the first time, took part in a woman's rights convention, said: ladies and gentlemen, a woman, at this hour, occupies the throne of the mightiest kingdom of the globe. under her sway there are some hundred and fifty millions of the human race. has she a right to sit there? [several voices, "no!"] the vote here is--no; but a hundred and fifty millions vote the contrary. if a woman can thus have the highest right conceded to her, why should not woman have a lower? therefore, some women have some rights. is not the question a fair one,--how many women have any rights? and, also, how many rights has any woman? are not these fair subjects for discussion? i do not come here to advocate any specific right for women; i come merely for the consideration of the question, what right she has. what are the rights which can not rightfully be denied her? surely, some belong to the sex at large, as part of the great family of man. we lay it, down as the foundation of our civil theory, that man, as man, has, and by nature is endowed with certain natural, inviolable, indefeasible rights; not that men who have attained the age of majority alone possess those rights; not that the older, the young, the fair, or the dark, are alone endowed with them; but that they belong to _all_. the rights are not of man's giving; god gave them; and if you deny or withhold them, you place yourself in antagonism with your creator. the more humble and despised is the human being claiming those rights, the more prompt should be the feeling of every manly bosom to stand by that humble creature of god, and see that its right is not withheld from it! is it a new thing in this country to allow civil rights to a woman? susan b. anthony, who had been a teacher for fifteen years, gave an amusing description of her recent experience in attempting to speak at a teachers' convention. paulina wright davis offered the following resolution: _resolved_, that inasmuch as this great movement is intended to meet the wants, not of america only, but of the whole world, a committee be appointed to prepare an address from this convention to the women of great britain and the continent of europe, setting forth our objects, and inviting their co-operation in the same.[ ] wm. lloyd garrison: i second the resolution, because it shows the universality of our enterprise. i second it heartily, for it manifests the grandeur of the object we are pursuing. there never yet was a struggle for liberty which was not universal, though, for the time, it might have appeared to be no more than local. if the women of this country have to obtain rights which have been denied them, the women of england, of france, of the world, have to obtain the same; and i regard this as a struggle for the race, sublime as the world itself. it is right that this convention should address the women of the whole world, in order that they should announce precisely how they regard their own position in the universe of god. what rights they claim are god-given; what rights they possess, and what rights they have still to achieve. it is time that the women of america should ask the women beyond the atlantic to consider their own condition, and to co-operate with them in the same glorious struggle. there is not an argument that god ever permitted a human being to frame, that can be brought against this cause. this is a free convention, and we are willing that any man or woman who has aught against its principles, should come here and freely urge it. and yet, with a free platform, where is the human being who cares to argue the question? where is the man who presents himself decently, and proffers a word of reasonable argument against our cause? i have yet to see that man. instead, we have blackguardism, defamation, rowdyism, profanity; we have all the indications that hell from beneath is stirred up against this divine convention, for it is divine--it takes hold of heaven and the throne of god! (hisses). hiss, ye serpents! ye have nothing else to offer. there is not one of you to whom god has given a brain to fashion an argument. but it goes on record, and all the journals of this city will themselves bear testimony, that no one takes the platform, like an honest and honorable man, to argue this cause down. therefore, the whole ground is won, and we stand, as we have stood from the beginning, on the rock of victory. it was rather singular that in this convention, so entirely under the control of a mob, that there should be found one man who dared to stand upon the platform and announce that he had been an opponent for ten years, and was connected with a journal which had initiated this mob; and now he desired to give in his adhesion, and to confess his conversion. this was one of the remarkable incidents of the occasion. isaac c. pray said: until within two years i have been an incessant opponent of the persons on this platform, in a leading journal in this city, which gives the cue to the hisses in that gallery. i have myself given--(applause). pray spare your plaudits; i do not wish for them. in november, , i retired from that journal, and i have since applied myself to study. this movement, among others, has come under my notice, and i have given it much attention. the result is, that i have entirely changed my opinion with regard to it. i know, not only that my former opinion was wrong, but that this movement is one which you can not stop; it emanates from the deity himself, whose influence urges man forward on the path of progress. i say to the clergy, if they ignore this movement, they ignore that accountability to the almighty which they preach. i do not mean to enter into any argument on this subject, but merely wish to say, as each one is accountable for his energies to god, you must go on in this good and holy cause; also, i wish to show that there is such a thing as a man's changing his opinion. this cause has been the butt of all the ridicule i could command. i scoffed at it, in season and out of season. there is not a lady on this platform whom my pen has not assailed; and now i come to make all the reparation in my power, by thus raising my voice on behalf of them and the cause committed to their hands. (cheers and stamping). as it was inconsistent with mrs. mott's quaker principles to call upon the police for the forcible suppression of the mob, she vacated the chair, inviting ernestine l. rose to take her place. the last evening session opened with a song by g. w. clark; but the music did not soothe the mob soul; he was greeted with screeches, which his voice only at brief intervals could drown. the president then introduced a german lady, madame mathilde francesca anneké, editor of a liberal woman's rights newspaper which had been suppressed in germany. she had but recently landed in our country, and hastened to the convention to enjoy the blessings of free speech in a republic. she had heard so much of freedom in america, that she could hardly express her astonishment at what she witnessed. after many attempts, and with great difficulty, owing to the tumult and interruption by impertinent noises, she spoke as follows, in german, mrs. rose translating her remarks into english: i wish to say only a few words. on the other side of the atlantic there is no freedom of any kind, and we have not even the right to claim freedom of speech. but can it be that here, too, there are tyrants who violate the individual right to express opinions on any subject? and do you call yourselves republicans? no; there is no republic without freedom of speech. (the tumult showing no signs of abatement), wendell phillips came forward, and said: allow me to say one word, purely as a matter of the self-respect which you owe to yourselves. we are citizens of a great country, which, from maine to georgia, has ex tended a welcome to kossuth, and this new york audience is now looking upon a noble woman who stood by his side in the battle-fields of hungary; one who has faced the cannon of francis joseph of austria, for the rights of the people. is this the welcome you give her to the shores of republican america? a woman who has proved her gallantry and attachment to principles, wishes to say five words to you of the feelings with which she is impressed toward this cause. i know, fellow-citizens, that you will hear her. the audience showing a better disposition to hear madame anneké, she proceeded thus: i saw this morning, in a paper, that the women of america have met in convention to claim their rights. i rejoiced when i saw that they recognized their equality; and i rejoiced when i saw that they have not forgotten their sisters in germany. i wished to be here with my american sisters, to tell them that i sympathize in their efforts; but i was too sick to come, and would probably not have been here but that another german woman, a friend of this movement, came to newark and took me out of my sick bed. but it was the want of a knowledge of the english language which kept me away, more than sickness. before i came here, i knew the tyranny and oppression of kings; i felt it in my own person, and friends, and country; and when i came here i expected to find that freedom which is denied us at home. our sisters in germany have long desired freedom, but there the desire is repressed as well in man as in woman. there is no freedom there, even to claim human rights. here they expect to find freedom of speech; here, for if we can not claim it here, where should we go for it? here, at least, we ought to be able to express our opinions on all subjects; and yet, it would appear, there is no freedom even here to claim human rights, although the only hope in our country for freedom of speech and action, is directed to this country for illustration and example. that freedom i claim. the women of my country look to this for encouragement and sympathy; and they, also, sympathize with this cause. we hope it will go on and prosper; and many hearts across the ocean in germany are beating in unison with those here. madame anneké retired amid a great uproar, which increased when mr. phillips presented himself again. he persisted against frequent clamorous interruptions in his purpose to speak, and addressed the meeting as follows: mr. phillips: i am not surprised at the reception i meet. (interruption). mrs. rose: as presiding officer for this evening, i call upon the police. the mayor, too, promised to see that our meetings should not be disturbed, and i now call upon him to preserve order. as citizens of new york, we have a right to this protection, for we pay our money for it. my friends, keep order, and then we shall know who the disturbers are. mr. phillips: you are making a better speech than i can, by your conduct. this is proof positive of the necessity of this convention. the time has been when other conventions have been met like this--with hisses. (renewed hisses). go on with your hisses; geese have hissed before now. if it be your pleasure to argue the question for us, by proving that the men here, at least, are not fit for exercising political rights. (great uproar). mrs. rose: i regret that i have again to call upon the police to keep order; and if they are not able to do it, i call upon the meeting to help them. mr. phillips: you prove one thing to-night, that the men of new york do not understand the meaning of civil liberty and free discussion. antoinette brown made an attempt to speak, but soon ceased amidst the most indescribable uproar. mr. elliott then jumped upon the platform, and harangued the audience as a representative of the rowdies, though he claimed for himself great fairness and respectability. he said: if taxation without representation be robbery, then robbery is right, and i am willing to be robbed. for twelve years i have paid taxes; and here and in other countries i have, in return, got protection. robbery is, to take away property forcibly without giving an equivalent for it; but a good equivalent is given for taxation. in this and other countries, the property of individuals is taken from them, as when an owner of land is deprived of it by the state to make a railroad through it; that is no robbery; an equivalent is given, and the owner is fairly dealt by. we have heard many instances of the tyranny inflicted on women; but is that a reason that they should vote? if it be, minors, who are under a double tyranny, that of father and mother-- here the audience seemed to have lost all patience, and mr. elliott's voice was completely drowned in the uproar. he retired, repeating that he had proved the rowdies were not all on one side. the confusion now reached its climax. a terrific uproar, shouting, yelling, screaming, bellowing, laughing, stamping, cries of "burleigh," "root," "truth," "shut up," "take a drink," "greedey," etc., prevented anything orderly being heard, and the convention, on the motion of mrs. rose, was adjourned _sine die_; the following resolution having first been read by dr. harriot k. hunt, and passed without dissent: _resolved_, that the members of this convention, and the audience assembled, tender their thanks to lucretia mott for the grace, firmness, ability, and courtesy with which she has discharged her important and often arduous duties. _daily tribune, sept. , ._ woman's rights convention:--meeting at the tabernacle. _evening session_.--tremendous uproar--close of the convention. yesterday evening being the last sitting of this convention, the approach to the tabernacle was thronged long before the hour for opening the doors, and considerable excitement seemed to prevail. at about seven o'clock the tabernacle doors were thrown open, and the rush for tickets and admission to the anxious throng could only be equalled by that of a jenny lind night. the building, capable of holding some , persons, was immediately filled to excess, and the principal promoters of the movement took their places on the platform.... mr. george w. clark, who had been requested to sing a song on "freedom of thought," did so in a style apparently not much approved by the audience, who at a very early stage began to give vent to all kinds of groans and ironical cheers. mrs. martin, of this state, was then introduced, and with considerable difficulty began her address. (cries--"no! no!" and tremendous yells and laughter). "time's up," "that'll do." (loud hisses, groans, laughter, tigers, and demoniac sounds from the galleries). cries of "phillips! phillips." (hisses and yells). _tribune, sept. , ._ we do not know whether any of the _gentlemen_ who have succeeded in breaking up the woman's rights convention, or of the other _gentlemen_ who have succeeded in three sessions at metropolitan hall in silencing a regularly appointed and admitted delegate, will ever be ashamed of their passion and hostility, but we have little doubt that some of them will live to understand their own folly. at any rate, they have accomplished a very different thing from what they now suppose. for if it had been their earnest desire to strengthen the cause of woman's rights, they could not have done the work half so effectively. nothing is so good for a weak and unpopular movement as this sort of opposition. had antoinette brown been allowed to speak at metropolitan hall, her observations would certainly have occupied but a fraction of the time now wasted, and would have had just the weight proper to their sense and appropriateness, and no more. but instead of this the world's convention was disturbed and its orators silenced. the consequences will be the mass of people throughout the country who might otherwise not know of its existence, will have their attention called and their sympathies enlisted in its behalf. so, too, when antoinette brown is put down by rev. john chambers and his colleagues, and denied what is her clear right as a member of the temperance convention by a vociferous mob, composed, we are sorry to say, very largely of clergymen, every impartial person sees that she is surrounded with a prestige and importance which, whatever her talents as a speaker, she could hardly hope to have attained. many who question the propriety of woman's appearing in public, will revolt at the gagging of one who had a right to speak and claimed simply to use it on a proper occasion. there is in the public mind of this country an intuitive love of fair play and free speech, and those who outrage it for any purpose of their own merely reinforce their opponents, and bestow a mighty power on the ideas they hate and fain would suppress. _tribune, sept. , ._ arguments _pro_ and _con_. the meetings at the tabernacle tuesday and wednesday last, exhibited some features not often paralleled in the progress of any public agitation for the redress of grievances, or the vindication of rights. the advocates of an enlargement of the allotted sphere of woman, had hired the house, paid the advertising and other expenses, gathered at their own expense from their distant homes, and taken all the responsibilities of the outlay, yet they offered and desired throughout to surrender their own platform for one-half of the time, to any respectable and capable antagonists who should see fit to appear and attempt to show why their demands were not just and their grievances real. consequently, though they are engaged in a struggle, not only against numbers and power, and fashion and immemorial custom, but with the pulpit and the press actively and bitterly leading and spurring on their antagonists, and with no access to the public ear but from the public platform, we consider this proposition more than liberal--it was chivalric and generous. we listened with interest to some of the arguments _pro_ and _con_, and propose here to recapitulate their substance, that our readers may see at a glance the present position and bearing of the controversy. we will begin with the first speech we heard, that of rev. wm. h. channing: they say the public platform is not in woman's sphere; but let us understand why. jenny lind stands on that platform before thousands of men and women, and sings, "i know that my redeemer liveth," with all hearts approving, all voices applauding, and nobody lisps a word that she is out of her sphere. well, antoinette brown believes the sentiment so sang to be the hope of a lost world, and feels herself called to bear witness in behalf of that religion, and to commend his salvation to the understanding and hearts of all who will hear her. why may she not obey this impulse, and bear the tidings of a world's salvation to those perishing in darkness and sin? what is there unfeminine or revolting in her preaching the truth which jenny lind may sing without objection and amid universal applause? answer by things "in male costumes." hiss-s-s. mrs. ernestine l. rose: the law declares husband and wife one; and such we all feel that they should be, and must be when the marriage is a true one. now, why should that same law base their union or oneness on inequality or subjugation? the wife dies and the husband inherits all her property, as is right; but let the husband die, and the greater part of the property is taken from the wife and given to others, even though all that property was earned or inherited by the wife. she may be turned out of the house she was born in and which was hers until marriage, and see it given to her husband's brothers or other kindred who are strangers to her. i insist that the wife should own and inherit the property of the husband just to the same extent that the husband inherits that of the wife--why not? answer to the aforesaid--hiss-s-s-s! bow-ow-ow! harriot k. hunt: i plant myself on the basis of the declaration of independence and insist, with our revolutionary sires, that taxation without representation is tyranny. well; here am i, an independent american woman, educated for and living by the practice of medicine. i own property, and pay taxes on that property. i demand of the government that taxes me that it should allow me an equal voice with the other tax-payers in the disposal of the public money. i am certainly not less intelligent than thousands who, though scarcely able to read their ballots, are entitled to vote. i am allowed to vote in any bank or insurance company when i choose to be a stockholder; why ought i not to vote in the disposition of public money raised by tax, as well as those men who do not pay taxes, or those who do either? answer of the aforesaid--yah! wow! hiss-s-s-s! lucy stone: i plead for the right of woman to the control of her own person as a moral, intelligent, accountable being. i know a wife who has not set foot outside of her husband's house for three years, because her husband forbids her doing so when he is present, and locks her up when he is absent. that wife is gray with sorrow and despair though now in middle life, but there is no redress for her wrongs because the law makes her husband her master, and there is no proof that he beats or bruises her; there is nothing in his treatment of her that the law does not allow. i protest against such a law and demand its overthrow; and i protest against any law which limits the sphere of woman, as a bar to her intellectual development. you say she _can not_ do this and that, but if so, what need of a law to prevent her? you say her intellectual achievements have not equaled those of man; but i answer, that she has had no motive, no opportunity for such achievement. close all the avenues, take away all the incitement for man's ambition, and he would do no more than woman does. grant her freedom, education, and opportunity, and she will do what god intended she should do, no less, no more. men! you dwarf, you wrong yourselves in restraining and fettering the intellectual development of woman! i ask for her liberty to do whatever moral and useful deed she proves able to do--why should i ask in vain? answer by time-serving press: men, women, and bloomers! faugh! bah! antoinette brown: i plead that the mother may not be legally robbed of her children. i know a mother who was left a widow with three young children. she was able, and most willing to support them in humble independence; but her husband before he died, had secretly given two of them to his relatives, and the law tore them from the mother's bosom, and left her but the youngest, who was soon taken from her by death. that, mother lived to see her two surviving children, grow up, the one to be a drunkard and the other a felon, all through neglect and the want of that care and guardianship which none so well as a parent can be relied on to afford. i plead for woman as a mother, that her right to her children be recognized as at least equal to that of the father, and that he, being dead, no other can have a right to their guardianship paramount or even equal to hers. pantalooned mob as aforesaid: oh, dry up! bow-ow! waugh! hiss-s-s! get out! the case is still on. [illustration: susan b. anthony (with autograph).] woman's rights state convention, rochester, n. y., november and december , . as william henry channing resided at rochester, and felt that the time had come for some more active measures, he was invited to prepare the call and resolutions for the convention. the following was issued and extensively circulated, and signed by many of the leading men and women of the state: the just and equal rights of women. _to the men and women of new york:_ the "woman's rights" movement is a practical one, demanding prompt and efficient action for the relief of oppressive wrongs; and, as the conventions held for several years past in different states, have answered their end of arousing earnest public attention, the time has come for calling upon the people to reform the evils from which women suffer, by their representatives in legislative assemblies. the wise and humane of all classes in society, however much they may differ upon speculative points as to woman's nature and function, agree that there are actual abuses of women, tolerated by custom and authorized by law, which are condemned alike by the genius of republican institutions and the spirit of the christian religion. conscience and common sense, then, unite to sanction their immediate redress. thousands of the best men and women, in all our communities, are asking such questions as these: . why should not woman's work be paid for according to the quality of the work done, and not the sex of the worker? . how shall we open for woman's energies new spheres of well remunerated industry? . why should not wives, equally with husbands, be entitled to their own earnings? . why should not widows, equally with widowers, become by law the legal guardians, as they certainly are by nature the natural guardians, of their own children? . on what just ground do the laws make a distinction between men and women, in regard to the ownership of property, inheritance, and the administration of estates? . why should women, any more than men, be taxed without representation? . why may not women claim to be tried by a jury of their peers, with exactly the same right as men claim to be and actually are? . if women need the protection of the laws, and are subject to the penalties of the laws equally with men, why should they not have an equal influence in making the laws, and appointing legislatures, the judiciary, and executive? and, finally, if governments--according to our national declaration of independence--"derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," why should women, any more than men, be governed without their own consent; and why, therefore, is not woman's right to suffrage precisely equal to man's? for the end of finding out practical answers to these and similar questions, and making suitable arrangements to bring the existing wrongs of women, in the state of new york, before the legislature at its next session, we, the undersigned, do urgently request the men and women of the commonwealth to assemble in convention, in the city of rochester, on wednesday, november th, and thursday, december , .[ ] the convention assembled at corinthian hall at o'clock. rev. samuel j. may, of syracuse, in the chair.[ ] after thanking the convention for the honor conferred, he ran the parallel between the laws for married women and the slaves on the southern plantation, and then introduced ernestine l. rose, to paint in more vivid colors the picture he had outlined. mrs. rose said: the remarks of the president have impressed us to do our duty with all the earnestness in our power. this is termed a woman's rights movement. alas! that the painful necessity should exist, for woman's calling a convention to claim her rights from those who have been created to go hand in hand, and heart in heart with her; whose interests can not be divided from hers. why does she claim them? because every human being has a right to all the advantages society has to bestow, if his having them does not injure the rights of others. life is valueless without liberty, and shall we not claim that which is dearer than life? in savage life, liberty is synonymous with aggression. in civilized countries it is founded on equality of rights. oppression always produces suffering through the whole of the society where it exists; this movement ought, therefore, to be called a human rights movement. the wrongs of woman are so many (indeed there is scarcely anything else but wrongs) that there is not time to mention them all in one convention. she would speak at present of legal wrongs, and leave it to her hearers, if all are not--men, perhaps, more than women--sufferers by these wrongs. how can woman have a right to her children when the right to herself is taken away? at the marriage altar the husband says in effect, "all this is mine, all mine is my own." she ceases to exist legally, except when she violates the laws; then she assumes her identity just long enough to receive the penalty. when the husband dies poor, leaving the widow with small children (here the speaker pictured thrillingly the suffering of a poor, weak-minded, helpless woman, with small children dependent on her), she is then acknowledged the guardian of her children. but any property left them takes away her right of control. if there is property the law steps in as guardian of it and therefore of the children. the widowed mother is their guardian, only on condition that the husband has made her so by will. can any human being be benefited by such gross violations of humanity? matilda joslyn gage said: the legal disabilities of woman are many, as not only known to those who bear them, but they are acknowledged by kent, story, and many other legal authorities. a wife has no management in the joint earnings of herself and her husband; they are entirely under control of the husband, who is obliged to furnish the wife merely the common necessaries of life; all that she receives beyond these is looked upon by the law as a favor, and not held as her right. a mother is denied the custody of her own child; a most barbarous and unjust law, which robs her of the child placed in her care by the great creator himself. a widow is allowed the use merely of one-third of the real estate left at the husband's death; and when her minor children have grown up she must surrender the personal property, even to the family bible, and the pictures of her dear children. in view of such laws the women engaged in this movement ask that the wife shall be made heir to the husband to the same extent that he is now her heir. taxation without representation is another of the wrongs that woman endures. in this she is held below the negro in the political scale; for the black man, when not possessing property to the extent of two hundred and fifty dollars, is not allowed to vote, but neither is he taxed. the present law of divorce is very unjust; the husband, whether the innocent or the guilty party, retaining all the wife's property, as also the control of the children unless by special decree of the court they are assigned to the mother. rev. antoinette brown said: the wife owes service and labor to her husband as much and as absolutely as the slave does to his master. this grates harshly upon the ears of christendom; but it is made palpably and practically true all through our statute books, despite the poetic fancy which views woman as elevated in the social estate; but a little lower than the angels. letters were read from paulina wright davis, dr. trail, mary c. vaughan, and hon. william hay. a series of fourteen resolutions were presented by mr. channing, and discussed, which suggested the appointment of various committees. one to prepare an address to the legislature, and to ask a special hearing before a joint committee to consider the whole subject of the just and equal rights of woman; another to prepare an address to the capitalists and industrialists of new york on the best modes of employing and remunerating women. _resolved_, that the movement, now in progress throughout the united states, for securing the just and equal rights of women, in education, industry, law, politics, religion, and social life, is timely, wise, and practical; that it is authorized by all the essential principles of republican institutions, and sanctioned by the spirit of the christian religion; and finally that it is but a carrying on to completeness of a reform, already begun, by legal provisions, in the most advanced states of the union. _resolved_, that the design of all true legislation should be the elevation of every member of the community--and that the violation of this legitimate design, in depriving woman of her just and equal rights, is not only highly injurious to her, but by reason of the equilibrium which pervades all existence, that man, too, is impeded in his progress by the very chains which bind woman to the lifeless skeleton of feudal civilization. _resolved_, that we do not ask for woman's political, civil, industrial, and social equality with man, in the spirit of antagonism, or with a wish to produce separate and conflicting interests between the sexes, but because the onward progress of society and the highest aspirations of the human race, demand that woman should everywhere be recognized as the co-equal and co-sovereign of man. _resolved_, that women justly claim an equally free access with men, to the highest means of mental, moral, and physical culture, provided in seminaries, colleges, professional and industrial schools; and that we call upon all friends of progress and upon the legislature of new york, in establishing and endowing institutions, to favor pre-eminently those which seek to place males and females on a level of equal advantages in their system of education. _resolved_, that, inasmuch as universal experience proves the inseparable connection between dependence and degradation--while it is plain to every candid observer of society that women are kept poor, by being crowded together, to compete with and undersell one another in a few branches of labor, and that from this very poverty of women, spring many of the most terrible wrongs and evils, which corrupt and endanger society: therefore do we invite the earnest attention of capitalists, merchants, traders, manufacturers, and mechanics, to the urgent need, which everywhere exists, of opening to women new avenues of honest and honorable employment, and we do hereby call upon all manly men to make room for their sisters to earn an independent livelihood. _resolved_, that, whereas, the custom of making small remuneration for woman's work, in all departments of industry, has sprung from her dependence, which dependence is prolonged and increased by this most irrational and unjust habit of half pay; therefore do we demand, in the name of common sense and common conscience, that women equally with men, should be paid for their services according to the quality and quantity of the work done, and not the sex of the worker. _resolved_, that, whereas, the state of new york, in the acts of and , has honorably and justly placed married women on the footing of equality with unmarried women, in regard to the receiving, holding, conveying, and devising of all property, real and personal, we call upon the legislature of the state to take the next step--so plainly justified by its own precedents--of providing that husbands and wives shall be joint owners of their joint earnings--the community estate passing to the survivor at the death of either party. _resolved_, that, whereas, the evident intent of the legislature of the state of new york has for many years been progressively to do away with the legal disabilities of women, which existed under the savage usages of the old common law, therefore we do urgently call upon the legislature of this state, at its next session, to appoint a joint committee to examine and revise the statutes, and to propose remedies for the redress of all legal grievances from which women now suffer, and suitable measures for the full establishment of women's legal equality with men. _resolved_, that, whereas, under the common law, the father is regarded as the guardian, by nature, of his children, having the entire control of their persons and education, while only upon the death of the father, does the mother become the guardian by nature; and, whereas, by the revised statutes of new york, it is provided, that where an estate in lands shall become vested in an infant, the guardianship of such infant, with the rights, powers, and duties of a guardian in soccage, shall belong to the father, and only in case of the father's death, to the mother; and, whereas, finally and chiefly, by the revised statutes of new york, it is provided, that every father may, by his deed or last will, duly executed, dispose of the custody and tuition of his children, during their minority, "to any person or persons in possession or remainder"; therefore, do we solemnly protest against the utter violation of every mother's rights, authorized by existing laws, in regard to the guardianship of infants, and demand, in the name of common humanity, that the legislature of new york so amend the statutes, as to place fathers and mothers on equal footing in regard to the guardianship of their children. especially do we invite the legislature instantly to pass laws, entitling mothers to become their children's guardians, in all cases where, by habitual drunkenness, immorality, or improvidence, fathers are incompetent to the sacred trust. _resolved_, that, whereas, according to the amendments of the constitution of the united states, it is provided that "in all criminal cases, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury," and that "in suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved"; and, whereas, according to the revised statutes of new york, it is provided, that "no member of this state can be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges, secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land, or the judgment of his peers"; therefore, do we demand, that women, as "members" and "citizens" of this state, equally with men, should be entitled to claim a trial by "an impartial jury of their peers." and especially do we remonstrate against the partial, mean, and utterly inequitable custom, everywhere prevalent, that in questions of divorce, men, and men alone, should be regarded as "an impartial jury." _resolved_, that, whereas, in the declaration of independence of the united states, one of the "injuries and usurpation" complained of is taxation without the consent of the persons taxed; and, whereas, it is provided in the revised statutes of new york, that "no tax, duty, aid or imposition whatever--except such as may be laid by a law of the united states--can be taken or levied within this state, without the grant and assent of the people of this state; by their representatives in senate and assembly"; and that "no citizen of this state can be compelled to contribute to any gift, loan, tax, or other like charge, not laid or imposed by a law of the united states, or by the legislature of the state"; therefore do we proclaim, that it is a gross act of tyranny and usurpation, to tax women without their consent, and we demand, either that women be represented by their own appointed representatives, or that they be freed from the imposition of taxes. _resolved_, that inasmuch as it is the fundamental principle of the nation and of every state in this union, that all "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed"--it is a manifest violation of the supreme law of the land for males to govern females without their consent; and therefore do we demand, of the people of new york, such a change in the constitution of the state, as will secure to women the right of suffrage which is now so unjustly monopolized by men. _resolved_, that elizabeth cady stanton, samuel j. may, ernestine l. rose, william hay, susan b. anthony, burroughs phillips, antoinette l. brown, w. h. channing, and lydia a. jenkins, be a committee to prepare and to present an address to the legislature of new york, at its next session, stating, as specifically as they shall see fit, the legal disabilities of women, and to ask a hearing before a joint committee, specially appointed to consider the whole subject of the just and equal rights of women. _resolved_, that horace greeley, mary c. vaughan, abram pryne, sarah pellet, and matilda joslyn gage be a committee to prepare an address to capitalists and industrialists of new york, on the best modes of employing and remunerating the industry of women. the president invited any one who saw errors or fallacies in the arguments brought forward, to make them apparent. mr. pryne, of cazenovia, editor of the _progressive christian_, said: if women desire to enter the ordinary avocations of men, they must be brave enough to become shopkeepers and mechanics. there is no law to prevent it, neither is there to woman's voting. the men have made an arrangement by which their votes are not counted, but still they might provide ballot-boxes, and decide upon whom they would prefer as magistrates and legislators. a man who was thus voted to stay at home, by an overwhelming majority of women, even if elected by the men, would find himself in an uncomfortable position. mr. channing said he understood that in a town in ohio the women did so, and cast sixty votes. mr. pryne was glad to hear that there were practical women in ohio. man is where he is because he is what he is, and when woman gets the same elements of moral and physical power she will have no more wrongs to complain of. mrs. rose said it was a true maxim that he who would be free, himself must strike the blow. but woman could not, as things were, help herself. as well might the slaveholder say that the slave was fit for no other condition while he consents to occupy that position. to a certain extent this is true, and the same principles apply to both classes. but all human beings are not martyrs; the majority accept the conditions in which they find themselves, rather than make their lives one long struggle for freedom. woman must be educated to take the stand which mr. pryne invites her to assume. the only object for which woman is now reared is to be married; and is she fitted even for that; to become a companion, an assistant, an aid, a comforter to man; and above all, a mother? that alone; to fit a woman for that sphere; she must possess all the extended education which would fit her to take any position in life to which man aspires. mary f. love said there might be hindrances in the way of woman too great for her to surmount. men in their straggles for liberty have sometimes met insuperable obstacles; there have been unsuccessful revolutions at all stages of human development. frederick douglass, in discussing the injustice to woman in the world of work, said: some one whispers in my ear that as teachers women get one-fourth the pay men do, while a girl's tuition is the same as a boy's. the president observed, that the girl gets twice as much education, being uniformly more studious and attentive. e. a. hopkins, a lawyer of rochester, spoke to the eighth resolution, which asks fora committee to examine the whole subject; he said: i believe if this question was properly presented to the legislature, we might have well grounded hope for the relief of women from their legal disabilities, and indicated the amendments which ought to be made in the present laws regulating the relations of the married state. he argued against making the man and wife joint owners of property, execpt in certain specific cases. rev. mr. channing said that in louisiana and california this joint ownership was recognized by the laws. mr. hopkins was not aware of that; and he did not see why labor, worth in the market no more than one or two dollars per week, should be paid for at the rate of, it may be, $ per week. he thought the law should be altered so that the widow may have control of property while her children are minors. the right to vote, which was claimed under the idea that representation should go before taxation, he discussed with ability, taking ground against women voting. the arguments used by the other side were shown to be fallacious, or at least partaking of the aristocratic element. women are already tried by "their peers," though not by those of their own sex. as to women holding office, this movement had proved the position of dr. channing, in his discussion with miss martineau, that "influence was good, and office bad." women should be content to exercise influence, without seeking for the spoils and risking the temptations of office. he argued upon the maxim that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," contending that it was not true; those powers are derived from the majority who are brave enough to set up and sustain the government.[ ] frederick douglass, in the course of his remarks, said he had seen two young women assistants in the county clerk's office, also young women going into printing-offices to set type; and he might have added the following, which we clip from the _the una_ of the same date: female compositors have been employed in the offices of the three cincinnati daily papers which stood out against the demands of the printer's union. the pittsburg _daily dispatch_ is also set up entirely by females. the experiment was commenced on that paper two months ago, and the proprietors now announce its entire success. the louisville _courier_ announces its intentions to try the experiment in the spring. wherever the change has been made it seems to be completely successful.--_courier and enquirer_. mr. may said: if a woman should not leave her family to go to the legislature, neither should a man. the obligation is mutual: and while children require the care of both parents, both should share the duty, and not leave them from ambitious motives. it is only those who have well discharged their duties to their families who are fit to become legislators. we are now giving the nation into the hands of boys and half-grown men. had we such women as lucretia mott and angelina grimké in the legislature, there would be more wisdom there than we have to-day. when i look through the nation and see the shameful mismanagement, i am convinced that it is the result, in part, of the absence of the feminine element in high stations; it is because the maternal influence is wanting that we run riot as we do. the state is in a condition of half orphanage, and needs the care and guidance of a mother. e. a. hopkins, esq.: thought the movement was not entirely timely, wise, and practicable, though parts of it might be. he took up and answered each of the questions appended to the call for the convention. his speech was characteristic of the lawyer, and the frequent recurrence of the idea, _it is right because it is customary_, will illustrate its moral character. he stated three several points where he thought woman was aggrieved and should have legislative redress. office was a temptation, and he thought woman was better off without it. miss brown proposed that the men, for a while, be relieved from this great evil, and excused from the burdens of office. if this necessary duty was so burdensome, woman should be a helper and share its burdens with him. we are taught to be grateful for small favors. our friend has been giving you milk, but to me it seems, even at that, diluted with water. there is one law, "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." when our brothers are ready to be paid a dollar a week for keeping house and nursing the children, let them dictate this also to us. we women now offer to take the burden and responsibility of government upon ourselves. we would be willing to save our friends for a time from temptation and care, as they have so generously done by us; if we are to be satisfied with things as they are, so should the slave be. he should be grateful for the care of his master, for according to the established price paid for labor, he does not earn enough to take care of himself. we should be satisfied with our present license laws; they are right, just, and good, judged by our friend's reasoning. if our offer to rule alone is not liked, we are ready, then, to co-operate with man in this according to the original design and arrangement of the creator. mr. hopkins opposed with several objections, one of which was, that private stations demand as high qualifications, and more surely command a just recompense, than public offices; woman has yet taken few lucrative private employments; why, then, till these are taken, should she seek for public office? frederick douglass again raised the inquiry, in the investment of money or the use of property, where there is joint ownership, and in regard to which there may be disagreement between husband and wife, how shall the matter be settled between them? law is not a necessity of human nature; if love ruled, statutes would be obsolete; genuine marriages and harmonious co-operations would prevent any such necessity. miss brown proposed to reply in a word: law must regulate differences where there is not true union, and as a business copartnership, if the matter could not be adjusted between themselves to mutual satisfaction, let it be referred to a third person; where it is a property transaction, let the usual business custom be observed; but if there be a difficulty of a different nature, so serious that the parties, bound to each other for life, can not enjoy existence together if they can not make each other happy, but are to each other a mutual source of discomfort, why, let them separate; let them not be divorced, but let them each be content to live alone for the good of society. mrs. love, of randolph, read an address, flowery in style, but full of truth, upon the discord that pervades social life. homes should be reformed; from domestic uncongeniality spring the chief evils of society. she advised men and women to beware of inharmonious alliances, and made a touching appeal in behalf of the fallen of her sex. mr. channing said: whenever he heard a woman, in face of existing prejudices, speak the simple truth in regard to the social wrongs of her sisters, as mrs. love had done, asking no leave of the convention, and making no apology for her sincere words, however they might startle false delicacy, he felt bound as a man, and in the name of man, to offer her the tribute of his hearty respect. mr. channing presented two forms of petitions--one for property rights, the other for suffrage--which were adopted. rev. lydia a. jenkins read a carefully prepared address. emma r. coe made a full review of the laws, which, at that early day, was the burden of almost every speech. at the close of the sixth session, the audiences having grown larger and larger, until the spacious and beautiful corinthian hall was packed to its utmost, the convention adjourned, to begin its real work in canvassing the state with lectures and petitions, preparing an address to the legislature, securing a hearing, and holding a convention at albany during the coming session of that body. an appeal[ ] to the women of the state was at once issued, and all editors requested to publish it with the forms of petitions. the responses came back in the form of , signatures in two months, gathered in thirty out of the sixty counties of the empire state. the lecturers were: susan b. anthony, mary f. love, sarah pellet, lydia a. jenkins, and matilda joslyn gage. over sixty women were engaged in the work of circulating the petitions. horace greeley, chairman of the committee on industry, published in _the new york tribune_ the following report: woman and work. whether women should or should not be permitted to vote, to hold office, to serve on juries, and to officiate as lawyers, doctors, or divines, are questions about which a diversity of opinions is likely long to exist. but that the current rates of remuneration for woman's work are entirely, unjustly inadequate, is a proposition which needs only to be considered to insure its hearty acceptance by every intelligent, justice-loving human being. consider a few facts: every able-bodied man inured to labor, though of the rudest sort, who steps on shore in america from europe, is worth a dollar per day, and can readily command it. though he only knows how to wield such rude, clumsy implements as the pick and spade, there are dozens of places where his services are in request at a dollar per day the year through, and he can even be transported hence to the place where his services are wanted, on the strength of his contract to work and the credit of his future earnings. we do not say this is the case every day in the year, for it may not be at this most inclement and forbidding season; but it is the general fact, as every one knows. and any careful, intelligent, resolute male laborer is morally certain to rise out of the condition of a mere shoveler, into a position where the work is lighter and the pay better after a year or two of faithful service. but the sister of this same faithful worker, equally careful, intelligent, and willing to do anything honest and reputable for a living, finds no such chances proffered her. no agent meets her on the dock to persuade her to accept a passage to illinois or upper canada, there to be employed on fair work at a dollar per day and expectations. on the contrary, she may think herself fortunate if a week's search opens to her a place where by the devotion of all her waking hours she can earn five to six dollars per month, with a chance of its increase, after several years' faithful service, to seven or eight dollars at most. the brother is in many respects the equal of his employer; may sit down beside him at the hotel where they both stop for dinner; their votes may balance each other at any election; the laborer lives with those whose company suits him, and needs no character from his last place to secure him employment or a new job when he gets tired of the old one. but the sister never passes out of the atmosphere of caste--of conscious and galling inferiority to those with whom her days must be spent. there is no election day in her year, and but the ghost of a fourth of july. she must live not with those she likes, but with those who want her; she is not always safe from libertine insult in what serves her for a home; she knows no ten-hour rule, and would not dare to claim its protection if one were enacted. though not a slave by law, she is too often as near it in practice as one legally free can be. now this disparity between the rewards of man's and woman's labor at the base of the social edifice, is carried up to its very pinnacle. of a brother and sister equally qualified and effective as teachers, the brother will receive twice as much compensation as the sister. the mistress who conducts the rural district school in summer, usually receives less than half the monthly stipend that her brother does for teaching that same school in winter, when time and work are far less valuable; and here there can be no pretence of a disparity in capacity justifying that in wages. between male and female workers in the factories and mills, the same difference is enforced. who does not feel that this is intrinsically wrong? that the sister ought to have equal (not necessarily identical) opportunities with the brother--should be as well taught, industrially as well as intellectually, and her compensation made to correspond with her capacity, upon a clear understanding of the fact that, though her muscular power is less than his, yet her dexterity and celerity of manipulation are greater? where does the wrong originate? suppose that, by some inexorable law in the spirit of hindoo caste, it were settled that negroes, regardless of personal capacity, could do nothing for a living but black boots, and that red-haired men were allowed to engage in no avocation except horse-currying; who does not perceive that, though boot-blacking and horse-currying might be well and cheaply done, black-skinned and also red-haired men would have but a sorry chance for making a living? who does not see that their wages, social standing, and means of securing independence, would be far inferior to those they now enjoy? the one great cause, therefore, of the inadequate compensation and inferior position of woman, is the unjust apportionment of avocation. man has taken the lion's share to himself, and allotted the residue to woman, telling her to take that and be content with it, if she don't want to be regarded as a forward, indelicate, presuming, unwomanly creature, who is evidently no better than she should be. and woman has come for the most part to accept the lot thus assigned her, with thankfulness, or, rather, without thought, just as the mussulman's wife rejoices in her sense of propriety which will not permit her to show her face in the street, and the brahmin widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. what is the appropriate remedy? primarily and mainly, a more rational and healthful public sentiment with regard to woman's work; a sentiment which shall welcome her to every employment wherein she may be useful and efficient without necessarily compromising her purity or overtasking her strength. let her be encouraged to open a store, to work a garden, plant and tend an orchard, to learn any of the lighter mechanical trades, to study for a profession, whenever her circumstances and her tastes shall render any of these desirable. let woman, and the advocates of justice to women, encourage and patronize her in whatever laudable pursuits she may thus undertake; let them give a preference to dry-goods stores wherein the clerks are mainly women; and so as to hotels where they wait at table, mechanics' shops in which they are extensively employed and fairly paid. let the ablest of the sex be called to the lecture-room, to the temperance rostrum, etc.; and whenever a post-office falls vacant and a deserving woman is competent to fill and willing to take it, let her be appointed, as a very few have already been. there will always be some widow of a poor clergyman, doctor, lawyer, or other citizens prematurely cut off, who will be found qualified for and glad to accept such a post if others will suggest her name and procure her appointment. thus abstracting more and more of the competent and energetic from the restricted sphere wherein they now struggle with their sister for a meager and precarious subsistence, the greater mass of self-subsisting women will find the demand for their labor gradually increasing and its recompense proportionally enhancing. with a larger field and more decided usefulness will come a truer and deeper respect; and woman, no longer constrained to marry for a position, may always wait to marry worthily and in obedience to the dictates of sincere affection. hence constancy, purity, mutual respect, a just independence and a little of happiness, may be reasonably anticipated. horace greeley, mary vaughan, abraham pryne, sarah pellet, matilda joslyn gage. albany convention. february and , . although the weather was inclement, a large audience assembled in association hall on the morning of the th, representing the different portions of the state. susan b. anthony called the convention to order and read the call, which had been written by rev. wm. henry channing, and published in all the leading papers of the state. justice to women--convention at albany, feb. and , . the petition asking for such amendments in the statutes and constitution of new york as will secure to the women of the state legal equality with the men, and to females equally with the males a right to suffrage, will be presented to the legislature about the middle of february. we, the committee appointed at the convention held at rochester in december--by whose authority these petitions were issued--do hereby invite all fellow-citizens, of either sex, who are in favor of these measures, to assemble in convention, at albany, on tuesday and wednesday, february th and th. the so-called "woman's rights movement" has been so much misrepresented, that it is desirable to make the appeal for justice earnest, imposing, and effective, by showing how eminently equitable are its principles, how wise and practical are its measures. let the serious-minded, generous, hopeful men and women of new york then gather in council, to determine whether there is anything irrational or revolutionary in the proposal that fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, should treat their daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers as their peers. this reform is designed, by its originators, to make woman womanly in the highest sense of that term--to exalt, not to degrade--to perfect, not to impair her refining influence in every sphere. the demand is made only to take off burdens, to remove hindrances, to leave women free as men are free, to follow conscience and judgment in all scenes of duty. on what ground--except the right of might--do men, claiming to be republicans and christians, deny to woman privileges which they would die to gain and keep for themselves? what evil--what but good can come from enlarging woman's power of usefulness? how can society be otherwise than a gainer by the increased moral and mental influence of one-half of its members? let these and similar questions be fairly, candidly, thoroughly discussed in the hearing of the legislature of new york. come then, fellow-citizens, to this convention prepared to speak, to hear, to act. lucy stone, wendell phillips, mrs. c. i. h. nichols, and other earnest friends of the cause from new england and the west, as well as from our own state, are to be with us. and may the spirit of truth preside over all. elizabeth c. stanton, samuel j. may, ernestine l. rose, antoinette l. brown, william henry channing, wm. hay, burroughs phillips, lydia ann jenkins, susan b. anthony. those having petitions in their hands will please send them to susan b. anthony, rochester, until the first of february, after which they should be forwarded to lydia mott, albany. n. b.--editors please copy. _january , ._ the officers[ ] of the convention being reported, mrs. elizabeth cady stanton (president) took the chair, and after returning her acknowledgments for the honor conferred, introduced rev. antoinette l. brown, who read a series of resolutions: . _resolved_, that the men who claim to be christian republicans, and yet class their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters among aliens, criminals, idiots, and minors, unfit to be their coequal citizens, are guilty of absurd inconsistency and presumption; that for males to govern females, without consent asked or granted, is to perpetuate an aristocracy, utterly hostile to the principles and spirit of free institutions; and that it is time for the people of the united states and every state in the union to put away forever that remnant of despotism and feudal oligarchy, the caste of sex. . _resolved_, that women are human beings whose rights correspond with their duties; that they are endowed with conscience, reason, affection, and energy, for the use of which they are individually responsible; that like men they are bound to advance the cause of truth, justice, and universal good in the society and nation of which they are members; that in these united states women constitute one-half the people; men constitute the other half; that women are no more free in honor than men are to withhold their influence and example from patriotic and philanthropic movements, and that men who deny women to be their peers, and who shut them out from exercising a fair share of power in the body politic, are arrogant usurpers, whose only apology is to be found in prejudices transmitted from half-civilized and half-christianized ages. whereas, the family is the nursery of the state and the church--the god-appointed seminary of the human race. therefore . _resolved_, that the family, by men as well as women, should be held more sacred than all other institutions; that it may not, without sin, be abandoned or neglected by fathers any more than by mothers, for the sake of any of the institutions devised by men--for the government of the state or the nation any more than for the voluntary association of social reformers. . _resolved_, that women's duties and rights as daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers, are not bounded within the circle of home; that in view of the sacredness of their relations, they are not free to desert their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons amidst scenes of business, politics, and pleasure, and to leave them alone in their struggles and temptations, but that as members of the human family, for the sake of human advancement, women are bound as widely as possible to give to men the influence of their aid and presence; and finally, that universal experience attests that those nations and societies are most orderly, high-toned, and rich in varied prosperity, where women most freely intermingle with men in all spheres of active life. . _resolved_, that the fundamental error of the whole structure of legislation and custom, whereby women are practically sustained, even in this republic, is the preposterous fiction of law, that in the eye of the law the husband and wife are one person, that person being the husband; that this falsehood itself, the deposit of barbarism, tends perpetually to brutalize the marriage relation by subjecting wives as irresponsible tools to the capricious authority of husbands; that this degradation of married women re-acts inevitably to depress the condition of single women, by impairing their own self-respect and man's respect for them; and that the final result is that system of tutelage miscalled protection, by which the industry of women is kept on half-pay, their affections trifled with, their energies crippled, and even their noblest aspirations wasted away in vain efforts, ennui, and regret. . _resolved_, that in consistency with the spirit and intent of the statutes of new york, enacted in and , the design of which was to secure to married women the entire control of their property, it is the duty of the legislature to make such amendments in the laws of the state as will enable married women to conduct business, to form contracts, to sue and be sued in their own names--to receive and hold the gains of their industry, and be liable for their own debts so far as their interests are separate from those of their husbands--to become joint owners in the joint earnings of the partnership, so far as these interests are identified--to bear witness for or against their husbands, and generally to be held responsible for their own deeds. . _resolved_, that as acquiring property by all just and laudable means, and the holding and devising of the same is a human right, women married and single are entitled to this right, and all the usages or laws which withhold it from them are manifestly unjust. . _resolved_, that every argument in favor of universal suffrage for males is equally in favor of universal suffrage for females, and therefore if men may claim the right of suffrage as necessary to the protection of all their rights in any government, so may women for the same reason. . _resolved_, that if man as man, has any peculiar claim to a representation in the government, for himself, woman as woman, has a paramount claim to an equal representation for herself. . _resolved_, therefore, that whether you regard woman as like or unlike man, she is in either case entitled to an equal joint participation with him in all civil rights and duties. . _resolved_, that although men should grant us every specific claim, we should hold them all by favor rather than right, unless they also concede, and we exercise, the right of protecting ourselves by the elective franchise. . _resolved_, that if the essence of a trial by an "impartial jury" be a trial by one's own equals, then has never a woman enjoyed that privilege in the hour of her need as a culprit. we, therefore, respectfully demand of our legislature that, at least, the right of such trial by jury be accorded to women equally with men--that women be eligible to the jury-box, whenever one of their own sex is arraigned at the bar. . _resolved_, that could the women of the state be heard on this question, we should find the mass with us; as the mother's reluctance to give up the guardianship of her children; the wife's unwillingness to submit to the abuse of a drunken husband, the general sentiment in favor of equal property rights, and the thousands of names in favor of our petition, raised with so little effort, conclusively prove. whereas, the right of petition is guaranteed to every member of this republic; therefore . _resolved_, that it is the highest duty of legislators impartially to investigate all claims for the redress of wrong, and alter and amend such laws as prevent the administration of justice and equal rights to all. _resolved_, that all true-hearted men and women pledge themselves never to relinquish their unceasing efforts in behalf of the full and equal rights of women, until we have effaced the stigma resting on this republic, that while it theoretically proclaims that all men are created equal, deprives one-half of its members of the enjoyment of the rights and privileges possessed by the other. the salient points of the question as embodied in the resolutions and the address were ably presented by william henry channing, samuel j. may, mrs. nichols, mrs. rose, mrs. love, miss brown, miss anthony, mrs. jenkins, hon. william hay, and giles b. stebbins. at the evening session mrs. stanton read her address prepared for the legislature, which miss anthony had stereotyped and published. a copy was laid on the desk of every legislator, and twenty thousand scattered like snow-flakes over the state. mrs. stanton's address. _to the legislature of the state of new york_: "the thinking minds of all nations call for change. there is a deep-lying struggle in the whole fabric of society; a boundless, grinding collision of the new with the old." the tyrant, custom, has been summoned before the bar of common-sense. his majesty no longer awes the multitude--his sceptre is broken--his crown is trampled in the dust--the sentence of death is pronounced upon him. all nations, ranks, and classes have, in turn, questioned and repudiated his authority; and now, that the monster is chained and caged, timid woman, on tiptoe, comes to look him in the face, and to demand of her brave sires and sons, who have struck stout blows for liberty, if, in this change of dynasty, she, too, shall find relief. yes, gentlemen, in republican america, in the nineteenth century, we, the daughters of the revolutionary heroes of ' , demand at your hands the redress of our grievances--a revision of your state constitution--a new code of laws. permit us then, as briefly as possible, to call your attention to the legal disabilities under which we labor. st. look at the position of woman as woman. it is not enough for us that, by your laws we are permitted to live and breathe, to claim the necessaries of life from our legal protectors--to pay the penalty of our crimes; we demand the full recognition of all our rights as citizens of the empire state. we are persons; native, free-born citizens; property-holders, tax-payers; yet are we denied the exercise of our right to the elective franchise. we support ourselves, and, in part, your schools, colleges, churches, your poor-houses, jails, prisons, the army, the navy, the whole machinery of government, and yet we have no voice in your councils. we have every qualification required by the constitution, necessary to the legal voter, but the one of sex. we are moral, virtuous, and intelligent, and in all respects quite equal to the proud white man himself, and yet by your laws we are classed with idiots, lunatics, and negroes; and though we do not feel honored by the place assigned us, yet, in fact, our legal position is lower than that of either; for the negro can be raised to the dignity of a voter if he possess himself of $ ; the lunatic can vote in his moments of sanity, and the idiot, too, if he be a male one, and not more than nine-tenths a fool; but we, who have guided great movements of charity, established missions, edited journals, published works on history, economy, and statistics; who have governed nations, led armies, filled the professor's chair, taught philosophy and mathematics to the savants of our age, discovered planets, piloted ships across the sea, are denied the most sacred rights of citizens, because, forsooth, we came not into this republic crowned with the dignity of manhood! woman is theoretically absolved from all allegiance to the laws of the state. sec. , bill of rights, r. s., , says that no authority can, on any pretence whatever, be exercised over the citizens of this state but such as is or shall be derived from, and granted by the people of this state. now, gentlemen, we would fain know by what authority you have disfranchised one-half the people of this state? you who have so boldly taken possession of the bulwarks of this republic, show us your credentials, and thus prove your exclusive right to govern, not only yourselves, but us. judge hurlburt, who has long occupied a high place at the bar in this state, and who recently retired with honor from the bench of the supreme court, in his profound work on human rights, has pronounced your present position rank usurpation. can it be that here, where we acknowledge no royal blood, no apostolic descent, that you, who have declared that all men were created equal--that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, would willingly build up an aristocracy that places the ignorant and vulgar above the educated and refined--the alien and the ditch-digger above the authors and poets of the day--an aristocracy that would raise the sons above the mothers that bore them? would that the men who can sanction a constitution so opposed to the genius of this government, who can enact and execute laws so degrading to womankind, had sprung, minerva-like, from the brains of their fathers, that the matrons of this republic need not blush to own their sons! woman's position, under our free institutions, is much lower than under the monarchy of england. "in england the idea of woman holding official station is not so strange as in the united states. the countess of pembroke, dorset, and montgomery held the office of hereditary sheriff of westmoreland, and exercised it in person. at the assizes at appleby, she sat with the judges on the bench. in a reported case, it is stated by counsel, and substantially assented to by the court, that a woman is capable of serving in almost all the offices of the kingdom, such as those of queen, marshal, great chamberlain and constable of england, the champion of england, commissioner of sewers, governor of work-house, sexton, keeper of the prison, of the gate-house of the dean and chapter of westminster, returning officer for members of parliament, and constable, the latter of which is in some respects judicial. the office of jailor is frequently exercised by a woman. "in the united states a woman may administer on the effects of her deceased husband, and she has occasionally held a subordinate place in the post-office department. she has therefore a sort of post mortem, post-mistress notoriety; but with the exception of handling letters of administration and letters mailed, she is the submissive creature of the old common law." true, the unmarried woman has a right to the property she inherits and the money she earns, but she is taxed without representation. and here again you place the negro, so unjustly degraded by you, in a superior position to your own wives and mothers; for colored males, if possessed of a certain amount of property and certain other qualifications, can vote, but if they do not have these qualifications they are not subject to direct taxation; wherein they have the advantage of woman, she being subject to taxation for whatever amount she may possess. (constitution of new york, article , sec. ). but, say you, are not all women sufficiently represented by their fathers, husbands, and brothers? let your statute books answer the question. again we demand in criminal cases that most sacred of all rights, trial by a jury of our own peers. the establishment of trial by jury is of so early a date that its beginning is lost in antiquity; but the right of trial by a jury of one's own peers is a great progressive step of advanced civilization. no rank of men have ever been satisfied with being tried by jurors higher or lower in the civil or political scale than themselves; for jealousy on the one hand, and contempt on the other, has ever effectually blinded the eyes of justice. hence, all along the pages of history, we find the king, the noble, the peasant, the cardinal, the priest, the layman, each in turn protesting against the authority of the tribunal before which they were summoned to appear. charles the first refused to recognize the competency of the tribunal which condemned him: for how, said he, can subjects judge a king? the stern descendants of our pilgrim fathers refused to answer for their crimes before an english parliament. for how, said they, can a king judge rebels? and shall woman here consent to be tried by her liege lord, who has dubbed himself law-maker, judge, juror, and sheriff too?--whose power, though sanctioned by church and state, has no foundation in justice and equity, and is a bold assumption of our inalienable rights. in england a parliament-lord could challenge a jury where a knight was not empanneled; an alien could demand a jury composed half of his own countrymen; or, in some special cases, juries were even constituted entirely of women. having seen that man fails to do justice to woman in her best estate, to the virtuous, the noble, the true of our sex, should we trust to his tender mercies the weak, the ignorant, the morally insane? it is not to be denied that the interests of man and woman in the present undeveloped state of the race, and under the existing social arrangements, are and must be antagonistic. the nobleman can not make just laws for the peasant; the slaveholder for the slave; neither can man make and execute just laws for woman, because in each case, the one in power fails to apply the immutable principles of right to any grade but his own. shall an erring woman be dragged before a bar of grim-visaged judges, lawyers, and jurors, there to be grossly questioned in public on subjects which women scarce breathe in secret to one another? shall the most sacred relations of life be called up and rudely scanned by men who, by their own admission, are so coarse that women could not meet them even at the polls without contamination? and yet shall she find there no woman's face or voice to pity and defend? shall the frenzied mother, who, to save herself and child from exposure and disgrace, ended the life that had but just begun, be dragged before such a tribunal to answer for her crime? how can man enter into the feelings of that mother? how can he judge of the agonies of soul that impelled her to such an outrage of maternal instincts? how can he weigh the mountain of sorrow that crushed that mother's heart when she wildly tossed her helpless babe into the cold waters of the midnight sea? where is he who by false vows thus blasted this trusting woman? had that helpless child no claims on his protection? ah, he is freely abroad in the dignity of manhood, in the pulpit, on the bench, in the professor's chair. the imprisonment of his victim and the death of his child, detract not a tithe from his standing and complacency. his peers made the law, and shall law-makers lay nets for those of their own rank? shall laws which come from the logical brain of man take cognizance of violence done to the moral and affectional nature which predominates, as is said, in woman? statesmen of new york, whose daughters, guarded by your affection, and lapped amidst luxuries which your indulgence spreads, care more for their nodding plumes and velvet trains than for the statute laws by which their persons and properties are held--who, blinded by custom and prejudice to the degraded position which they and their sisters occupy in the civil scale, haughtily claim that they already have all the rights they want, how, think ye, you would feel to see a daughter summoned for such a crime--and remember these daughters are but human--before such a tribunal? would it not, in that hour, be some consolation to see that she was surrounded by the wise and virtuous of her own sex; by those who had known the depth of a mother's love and the misery of a lover's falsehood; to know that to these she could make her confession, and from them receive her sentence? if so, then listen to our just demands and make such a change in your laws as will secure to every woman tried in your courts, an impartial jury. at this moment among the hundreds of women who are shut up in prisons in this state, not one has enjoyed that most sacred of all rights--that right which you would die to defend for yourselves--trial by a jury of one's peers. d. look at the position of woman as wife. your laws relating to marriage--founded as they are on the old common law of england, a compound of barbarous usages, but partially modified by progressive civilization--are in open violation of our enlightened ideas of justice, and of the holiest feelings of our nature. if you take the highest view of marriage, as a divine relation, which love alone can constitute and sanctify, then of course human legislation can only recognize it. men can neither bind nor loose its ties, for that prerogative belongs to god alone, who makes man and woman, and the laws of attraction by which they are united. but if you regard marriage as a civil contract, then let it be subject to the same laws which control all other contracts. do not make it a kind of half-human, half-divine institution, which you may build up, but can not regulate. do not, by your special legislation for this one kind of contract, involve yourselves in the grossest absurdities and contradictions. so long as by your laws no man can make a contract for a horse or piece of land until he is twenty-one years of age, and by which contract he is not bound if any deception has been practiced, or if the party contracting has not fulfilled his part of the agreement--so long as the parties in all mere civil contracts retain their identity and all the power and independence they had before contracting, with the full right to dissolve all partnerships and contracts for any reason, at the will and option of the parties themselves, upon what principle of civil jurisprudence do you permit the boy of fourteen and the girl of twelve, in violation of every natural law, to make a contract more momentous in importance than any other, and then hold them to it, come what may, the whole of their natural lives, in spite of disappointment, deception, and misery? then, too, the signing of this contract is instant civil death to one of the parties. the woman who but yesterday was sued on bended knee, who stood so high in the scale of being as to make an agreement on equal terms with a proud saxon man, to-day has no civil existence, no social freedom. the wife who inherits no property holds about the same legal position that does the slave on the southern plantation. she can own nothing, sell nothing. she has no right even to the wages she earns; her person, her time, her services are the property of another. she can not testify, in many cases, against her husband. she can get no redress for wrongs in her own name in any court of justice. she can neither sue nor be sued. she is not held morally responsible for any crime committed in the presence of her husband, so completely is her very existence supposed by the law to be merged in that of another. think of it; your wives may be thieves, libelers, burglars, incendiaries, and for crimes like these they are not held amenable to the laws of the land, if they but commit them in your dread presence. for them, alas! there is no higher law than the will of man. herein behold the bloated conceit of these petruchios of the law, who seem to say: "nay, look not big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret, i will be master of what is mine own; she is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, my household stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything; and here she stands, touch her whoever dare; i'll bring my action on the proudest he, that stops my way, in padua." how could man ever look thus on woman? she, at whose feet socrates learned wisdom--she, who gave to the world a saviour, and witnessed alike the adoration of the magi and the agonies of the cross. how could such a being, so blessed and honored, ever become the ignoble, servile, cringing slave, with whom the fear of man could be paramount to the sacred dictates of conscience and the holy love of heaven? by the common law of england, the spirit of which has been but too faithfully incorporated into our statute law, a husband has a right to whip his wife with a rod not larger than his thumb, to shut her up in a room, and administer whatever moderate chastisement he may deem necessary to insure obedience to his wishes, and for her healthful moral development! he can forbid all persons harboring or trusting her on his account. he can deprive her of all social intercourse with her nearest and dearest friends. if by great economy she accumulates a small sum, which for future need she deposit, little by little, in a savings bank, the husband has a right to draw it out, at his option, to use it as he may see fit. "husband is entitled to wife's credit or business talents (whenever their inter-marriage may have occurred); and goods purchased by her on her own credit, with his consent, while cohabiting with him, can be seized and sold in execution against him for his own debts, and this, though she carry on business in her own name."-- _howard's practice reports, , lovett agt. robinson and whitbeck, sheriff, etc_. "no letters of administration shall be granted to a person convicted of infamous crime; nor to any one incapable by law of making a contract; nor to a person not a citizen of the united states, unless such person reside within this state; nor to any one who is under twenty-one years of age; nor to any person who shall be adjudged incompetent by the surrogate to execute duties of such trust, by reason of drunkenness, improvidence, or want of understanding, nor to any married woman; but where a married woman is entitled to administration, the same may be granted to her husband in her right and behalf." there is nothing that an unruly wife might do against which the husband has not sufficient protection in the law. but not so with the wife. if she have a worthless husband, a confirmed drunkard, a villain, or a vagrant, he has still all the rights of a man, a husband, and a father. though the whole support of the family be thrown upon the wife, if the wages she earns be paid to her by her employer, the husband can receive them again. if, by unwearied industry and perseverance, she can earn for herself and children a patch of ground and a shed to cover them, the husband can strip her of all her hard earnings, turn her and her little ones out in the cold northern blast, take the clothes from their backs, the bread from their mouths; all this by your laws may he do, and has he done, oft and again, to satisfy the rapacity of that monster in human form, the rum-seller. but the wife who is so fortunate as to have inherited property, has, by the new law in this state, been redeemed from her lost condition. she is no longer a legal nonentity. this property law, if fairly construed, will overturn the whole code relating to woman and property. the right to property implies the right to buy and sell, to will and bequeath, and herein is the dawning of a civil existence for woman, for now the "femme covert" must have the right to make contracts. so, get ready, gentlemen; the "little justice" will be coming to you one day, deed in hand, for your acknowledgment. when he asks you "if you sign without fear or compulsion," say yes, boldly, as we do. then, too, the right to will is ours. now what becomes of the "tenant for life"? shall he, the happy husband of a millionaire, who has lived in yonder princely mansion in the midst of plenty and elegance, be cut down in a day to the use of one-third of this estate and a few hundred a year, as long he remains her widower? and should he, in spite of this bounty on celibacy, impelled by his affections, marry again, choosing for a wife a woman as poor as himself, shall he be thrown penniless on the cold world--this child of fortune, enervated by ease and luxury, henceforth to be dependent wholly on his own resources? poor man! he would be rich, though, in the sympathies of many women who have passed through just such an ordeal. but what is property without the right to protect that property by law? it is mockery to say a certain estate is mine, if, without my consent, you have the right to tax me when and how you please, while i have no voice in making the tax-gatherer, the legislator, or the law. the right to property will, of necessity, compel us in due time to the exercise of our right to the elective franchise, and then naturally follows the right to hold office. d. look at the position of woman as widow. whenever we attempt to point out the wrongs of the wife, those who would have us believe that the laws can not be improved, point us to the privileges, powers, and claims of the widow. let us look into these a little. behold in yonder humble house a married pair, who, for long years, have lived together, childless and alone. those few acres of well-tilled land, with the small, white house that looks so cheerful through its vines and flowers, attest the honest thrift and simple taste of its owners. this man and woman, by their hard days' labor, have made this home their own. here they live in peace and plenty, happy in the hope that they may dwell together securely under their own vine and fig-tree for the few years that remain to them, and that under the shadow of these trees, planted by their own hands, and in the midst of their household gods, so loved and familiar, they may take their last farewell of earth. but, alas for human hopes! the husband dies, and without a will, and the stricken widow, at one fell blow, loses the companion of her youth, her house and home, and half the little sum she had in bank. for the law, which takes no cognizance of widows left with twelve children and not one cent, instantly spies out this widow, takes account of her effects, and announces to her the startling intelligence that but one-third of the house and lot, and one-half the personal property, are hers. the law has other favorites with whom she must share the hard-earned savings of years. in this dark hour of grief, the coarse minions of the law gather round the widow's hearth-stone, and, in the name of justice, outrage all natural sense of right; mock at the sacredness of human love, and with cold familiarity proceed to place a moneyed value on the old arm-chair, in which, but a few brief hours since, she closed the eyes that had ever beamed on her with kindness and affection; on the solemn clock in the corner, that told the hour he passed away; on every garment with which his form and presence were associated, and on every article of comfort and convenience that the house contained, even down to the knives and forks and spoons--and the widow saw it all--and when the work was done, she gathered up what the law allowed her and went forth to seek another home! this is the much-talked-of widow's dower. behold the magnanimity of the law in allowing the widow to retain a life interest in one-third the landed estate, and one-half the personal property of her husband, and taking the lion's share to itself! had she died first, the house and land would all have been the husband's still. no one would have dared to intrude upon the privacy of his home, or to molest him in his sacred retreat of sorrow. how, i ask you, can that be called justice, which makes such a distinction as this between man and woman? by management, economy, and industry, our widow is able, in a few years, to redeem her house and home. but the law never loses sight of the purse, no matter how low in the scale of being its owner may be. it sends its officers round every year to gather in the harvest for the public crib, and no widow who owns a piece of land two feet square ever escapes this reckoning. our widow, too, who has now twice earned her home, has her annual tax to pay also--a tribute of gratitude that she is permitted to breathe the free air of this republic, where "taxation without representation," by such worthies as john hancock and samuel adams, has been declared "intolerable tyranny." having glanced at the magnanimity of the law in its dealings with the widow, let us see how the individual man, under the influence of such laws, doles out justice to his helpmate. the husband has the absolute right to will away his property as he may see fit. if he has children, he can divide his property among them, leaving his wife her third only of the landed estate, thus making her a dependent on the bounty of her own children. a man with thirty thousand dollars in personal property, may leave his wife but a few hundred a year, as long as she remains his widow. the cases are without number where women, who have lived in ease and elegance, at the death of their husbands have, by will, been reduced to the bare necessaries of life. the man who leaves his wife the sole guardian of his property and children is an exception to the general rule. man has ever manifested a wish that the world should indeed be a blank to the companion whom he leaves behind him. the hindoo makes that wish a law, and burns the widow on the funeral pyre of her husband; but the civilized man, impressed with a different view of the sacredness of life, takes a less summary mode of drawing his beloved partner after him; he does it by the deprivation and starvation of the flesh, and the humiliation and mortification of the spirit. in bequeathing to the wife just enough to keep soul and body together, man seems to lose sight of the fact that woman, like himself, takes great pleasure in acts of benevolence and charity. it is but just, therefore, that she should have it in her power to give during her life, and to will away at her death, as her benevolence or obligations might prompt her to do. th. look at the position of woman as mother. there is no human love so strong and steadfast as that of the mother for her child; yet behold how ruthless are your laws touching this most sacred relation. nature has clearly made the mother the guardian of the child; but man, in his inordinate love of power, does continually set nature and nature's laws at open defiance. the father may apprentice his child, bind him out to a trade, without the mother's consent--yea, in direct opposition to her most earnest entreaties, prayers and tears. he may apprentice his son to a gamester or rum-seller, and thus cancel his debts of _honor_. by the abuse of this absolute power, he may bind his daughter to the owner of a brothel, and, by the degradation of his child, supply his daily wants: and such things, gentlemen, have been done in our very midst. moreover, the father, about to die, may bind out all his children wherever and to whomsoever he may see fit, and thus, in fact, will away the guardianship of all his children from the mother. the revised statutes of new york provide that "every father, whether of full age or a minor, of a child to be born, or of any living child under the age of twenty-one years, and unmarried, may by his deed or last will, duly executed, dispose of the custody and tuition of such child during its minority, or for any less time, to any person or persons, in possession or remainder." r. s., page , sec. . thus, by your laws, the child is the absolute property of the father, wholly at his disposal in life or at death. in case of separation, the law gives the children to the father; no matter what his character or condition. at this very time we can point you to noble, virtuous, well-educated mothers in this state, who have abandoned their husbands for their profligacy and confirmed drunkenness. all these have been robbed of their children, who are in the custody of the husband, under the care of his relatives, whilst the mothers are permitted to see them but at stated intervals. but, said one of these mothers, with a grandeur of attitude and manner worthy the noble roman matron in the palmiest days of that republic, i would rather never see my child again, than be the medium to hand down the low animal nature of its father, to stamp degradation on the brow of another innocent being. it is enough that one child of his shall call me mother. if you are far-sighted statesmen, and do wisely judge of the interests of this commonwealth, you will so shape your future laws as to encourage woman to take the high moral ground that the father of her children must be great and good. instead of your present laws, which make the mother and her children the victims of vice and license, you might rather pass laws prohibiting to all drunkards, libertines, and fools, the rights of husbands and fathers. do not the hundreds of laughing idiots that are crowding into our asylums, appeal to the wisdom of our statesmen for some new laws on marriage--to the mothers of this day for a higher, purer morality? again, as the condition of the child always follows that of the mother, and as by the sanction of your laws the father may beat the mother, so may he the child. what mother can not bear me witness to untold sufferings which cruel, vindictive fathers have visited upon their helpless children? who ever saw a human being that would not abuse unlimited power? base and ignoble must that man be who, let the provocation be what it may, would strike a woman; but he who would lacerate a trembling child is unworthy the name of man. a mother's love can be no protection to a child; she can not appeal to you to save it from a father's cruelty, for the laws take no cognizance of the mother's most grievous wrongs. neither at home nor abroad can a mother protect her son. look at the temptations that surround the paths of our youth at every step; look at the gambling and drinking saloons, the club rooms, the dens of infamy and abomination that infest all our villages and cities--slowly but surely sapping the very foundations of all virtue and strength. by your laws, all these abominable resorts are permitted. it is folly to talk of a mother moulding the character of her son, when all mankind, backed up by law and public sentiment, conspire to destroy her influence. but when woman's moral power shall speak through the ballot-box, then shall her influence be seen and felt; then, in our legislative debates, such questions as the canal tolls on salt, the improvement of rivers and harbors, and the claims of mr. smith for damages against the state, would be secondary to the consideration of the legal existence of all these public resorts, which lure our youth on to excessive indulgence and destruction. many times and oft it has been asked us, with, unaffected seriousness, "what do you women want? what are you aiming at?" many have manifested a laudable curiosity to know what the wives and daughters could complain of in republican america, where their sires and sons have so bravely fought for freedom and gloriously secured their independence, trampling all tyranny, bigotry, and caste in the dust, and declaring to a waiting world the divine truth that all men are created equal. what can woman want under such a government? admit a radical difference in sex, and you demand different spheres--water for fish, and air for birds. it is impossible to make the southern planter believe that his slave feels and reasons just as he does--that injustice and subjection are as galling as to him--that the degradation of living by the will of another, the mere dependent on his caprice, at the mercy of his passions, is as keenly felt by him as his master. if you can force on his unwilling vision a vivid picture of the negro's wrongs, and for a moment touch his soul, his logic brings him instant consolation. he says, the slave does not feel this as i would. here, gentlemen, is our difficulty: when we plead our cause before the law-makers and savants of the republic, they can not take in the idea that men and women are alike; and so long as the mass rest in this delusion, the public mind will not be so much startled by the revelations made of the injustice and degradation of woman's position as by the fact that she should at length wake up to a sense of it. if you, too, are thus deluded, what avails it that we show by your statute books that your laws are unjust--that woman is the victim of avarice and power? what avails it that we point out the wrongs of woman in social life; the victim of passion and lust? you scorn the thought that she has any natural love of freedom burning in her breast, any clear perception of justice urging her on to demand her rights. would to god you could know the burning indignation that fills woman's soul when she turns over the pages of your statute books, and sees there how like feudal barons you freemen hold your women. would that you could know the humiliation she feels for sex, when she thinks of all the beardless boys in your law offices, learning these ideas of one-sided justice--taking their first lessons in contempt for all womankind--being indoctrinated into the incapacities of their mothers, and the lordly, absolute rights of man over all women, children, and property, and to know that these are to be our future presidents, judges, husbands, and fathers; in sorrow we exclaim, alas! for that nation whose sons bow not in loyalty to woman. the mother is the first object of the child's veneration and love, and they who root out this holy sentiment, dream not of the blighting effect it has on the boy and the man. the impression left on law students, fresh from your statute books, is most unfavorable to woman's influence; hence you see but few lawyers chivalrous and high-toned in their sentiments toward woman. they can not escape the legal view which, by constant reading, has become familiarized to their minds: "_femme covert_," "dower," "widow's claims," "protection," "incapacities," "incumbrance," is written on the brow of every woman they meet. but if, gentlemen, you take the ground that the sexes are alike, and, therefore, you are our faithful representatives--then why all these special laws for woman? would not one code answer for all of like needs and wants? christ's golden rule is better than all the special legislation that the ingenuity of man can devise: "do unto others as you would have others do unto you." this, men and brethren, is all we ask at your hands. we ask no better laws than those you have made for yourselves. we need no other protection than that which your present laws secure to you. in conclusion, then, let us say, in behalf of the women of this state, we ask for all that you have asked for yourselves in the progress of your development, since the _mayflower_ cast anchor beside plymouth rock; and simply on the ground that the rights of every human being are the same and identical. you may say that the mass of the women of this state do not make the demand; it comes from a few sour, disappointed old maids and childless women. you are mistaken; the mass speak through us. a very large majority of the women of this state support themselves and their children, and many their husbands too. go into any village you please, of three or four thousand inhabitants, and you will find as many as fifty men or more, whose only business is to discuss religion and politics, as they watch the trains come and go at the depot, or the passage of a canal boat through a lock; to laugh at the vagaries of some drunken brother, or the capers of a monkey dancing to the music of his master's organ. all these are supported by their mothers, wives, or sisters. now, do you candidly think these wives do not wish to control the wages they earn--to own the land they buy--the houses they build? to have at their disposal their own children, without being subject to the constant interference and tyranny of an idle, worthless profligate? do you suppose that any woman is such a pattern of devotion and submission that she willingly stitches all day for the small sum of fifty cents, that she may enjoy the unspeakable privilege, in obedience to your laws, of paying for her husband's tobacco and rum? think you the wife of the confirmed, beastly drunkard would consent to share with him her home and bed, if law and public sentiment would release her from such gross companionship? verily, no! think you the wife with whom endurance has ceased to be a virtue, who, through much suffering, has lost all faith in the justice of both heaven and earth, takes the law in her own hand, severs the unholy bond, and turns her back forever upon him whom she once called husband, consents to the law that in such an hour tears her child from her--all that she has left on earth to love and cherish? the drunkards' wives speak through us, and they number , . think you that the woman who has worked hard all her days in helping her husband to accumulate a large property, consents to the law that places this wholly at his disposal? would not the mother whose only child is bound out for a term of years against her expressed wish, deprive the father of this absolute power if she could? for all these, then, we speak. if to this long list you add the laboring women who are loudly demanding remuneration for their unending toil; those women who teach in our seminaries, academies, and public schools for a miserable pittance; the widows who are taxed without mercy; the unfortunate ones in our work-houses, poor-houses, and prisons; who are they that we do not now represent? but a small class of the fashionable butterflies, who, through the short summer days, seek the sunshine and the flowers; but the cool breezes of autumn and the hoary frosts of winter will soon chase all these away; then they, too, will need and seek protection, and through other lips demand in their turn justice and equity at your hands. the friends of woman suffrage may be said to have fairly held a protracted meeting during the two following weeks in albany, with hearings before both branches of the legislature, and lectures evening after evening in association hall, by mrs. rose, mr. channing, mr. phillips, and miss brown, culminating in a discussion by the entire press of the city and state; for all the journals had something to say on one side or the other, mrs. rose, mr. channing, miss brown, and several anonymous writers taking part in the newspaper debate. as this was the first convention held at the capitol, it roused considerable agitation on every phase of the question, not only among the legislators on the bills before them, but among the people throughout the state. _the albany transcript_ thus sums up the woman's rights convention.--the meeting last evening was attended by the largest and most brilliant audience of the series. a large number of members of the legislature were there, and a full representation of our most influential citizens. indeed they could not have asked for a more numerous or talented body of hearers. mrs. rose was the sole speaker, owing to the necessity which had called the others away.... she was listened to with the most profound attention, and encouraged by frequent and prolonged applause. thus has ended the first convention of women designed to influence political action. on monday the , petitions will be presented in the legislature, and the address be placed on the members' tables. whatever may be the final disposition of the matter, it is well to make a note of this _first effort_ to influence the legislature. it was originated by miss susan b. anthony, and has been managed financially by her. though a stranger amongst us, she has made the contracts for the room, advertised in the papers, employed the speakers, published the address, and performed much other arduous labor. mrs. nichols, one of the speakers, has long been connected with the press, and is a woman of no mean ability. her mild, beaming countenance and the affectionate tones of her voice, disprove that she is any less a woman than those who do not "speak in public on the stage." mrs. love is a new caterer to public favor, and promises well. some have remarked that she is well named, being a "love of a woman." mrs. jenkins is a fluent and agreeable speaker, and has a good degree of power in swaying an audience. but mrs. rose is the queen of the company. on the educational question in particular, she rises to a high standard of oratorical power. when speaking of hungary and her own crushed poland, she is full of eloquence and pathos, and she has as great a power to chain an audience as any of our best male speakers. _the evening journal_ (thurlow weed, editor): woman's rights.--mr. channing and mrs. rose pleaded the cause of woman's rights before the senate committee of bachelors yesterday. the only effect produced was a determination more fixed than ever in the minds of the committee, to _remain_ bachelors in the event of the success of the movement. and who would blame them? the same champions, with others probably, will speak to the house committee in the assembly chamber this afternoon; and mr. channing and mrs. rose make addresses in association hall this evening. price twenty-five cents. _the albany register_: women in the senate chamber.--the senate was alarmed yesterday afternoon. it surrendered to progress. the select committee to whom the women's rights petitions had been referred, took their seats on the president's platform, looking as grave as possible. never had senators robertson, yost, and field been in such responsible circumstances. they were calm, but evidently felt themselves in great peril. in the circle of the senate, ranged in invincible row, sat seven ladies, from quite pretty to quite plain. ernestine l. rose and rev. william henry channing presented the arguments and appeals to the committee, and mrs. rose invited them to ask questions. _the register_ concludes: the honorable senators quailed beneath the trial. there was a terrible silence, and the audience eager to hear what the other ladies had to say, were wretched when they found that the committee had silently dissolved--surrendered. oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen! _the albany argus_ of march th, says: the rights of women defined by themselves.--miss anthony and mrs. rose before the house committee, march d. the committee took their seats in the clerk's desk, and the ladies took possession of the members' seats, filling the chamber, many members of the legislature being present. miss anthony presented a paper prepared by judge william hay, of saratoga, asking that husband and wife should be tenants in common of property without survivorship, but with a partition on the death of one; that a wife shall be competent to discharge trusts and powers the same as a single woman; that the statute in respect to a married woman's property descend as though she had been unmarried; that married women shall be entitled to execute letters testamentary, and of administration; that married women shall have power to make contracts and transact business as though unmarried; that they shall be entitled to their own earnings, subject to their proportionable liability for support of children; that post-nuptial acquisitions shall belong equally to husband and wife; that married women shall stand on the same footing with single women, as parties or witnesses in legal proceedings; that they shall be sole guardians of their minor children; that the homestead shall be inviolable and inalienable for widows and children; that the laws in relation to divorce shall be revised, and drunkenness made cause for absolute divorce; that better care shall be taken of single women's property, that their rights may not be lost through ignorance, that the preference of males in descent of real estate shall be abolished; that women shall exercise "the right of suffrage," and be eligible to all offices, occupations, and professions; entitled to act as jurors; eligible to all public offices; that courts of conciliation shall be organized as peace-makers; that a law shall be enacted extending the masculine designation in all statutes of the state to females. mrs. rose then addressed the committee, saying: the right of petition is of no avail unless the reform demanded be candidly considered by the legislators. we judge of the intellectual inferiority of our fellow-men by the amount of resistance they oppose to oppression, and to some extent we judge correctly by this test. the same rule holds good for women; while they tamely submit to the many inequalities under which they labor, they scarcely deserve to be freed from them.... these are not the demands of the moment or the few; they are the demands of the age; of the second half of the nineteenth century. the world will endure after us, and future generations may look back to this meeting to acknowledge that a great onward step was here taken in the cause of human progress. mrs. rose took her seat amidst great applause from the galleries and lobbies. the committee adjourned. * * * * * _albany register_, march : woman's rights in the legislature.--while the feminine propagandists of women's rights confined themselves to the exhibition of short petticoats and long-legged boots, and to the holding of conventions, and speech-making in concert-rooms, the people were disposed to be amused by them, as they are by the wit of the clown in the circus, or the performances of punch and judy on fair days, or the minstrelsy of gentlemen with blackened faces, on banjos, the tambourine, and bones. but the joke is becoming stale. people are getting cloyed with these performances, and are looking for some healthier and more intellectual amusement. the ludicrous is wearing away, and disgust is taking the place of pleasurable sensations, arising from the novelty of this new phase of hypocrisy and infidel fanaticism. people are beginning to inquire how far public sentiment should sanction or tolerate these unsexed women, who make a scoff of religion, who repudiate the bible and blaspheme god; who would step out from the true sphere of the mother, the wife, and the daughter, and taking upon themselves the duties and the business of men, stalk into the public gaze, and by engaging in the politics, the rough controversies, and trafficking of the world, upheave existing institutions, and overturn all the social relations of life. it is a melancholy reflection, that among our american women who have been educated to better things, there should be found any who are willing to follow the lead of such foreign propagandists as the ringleted, glove-handed exotic, ernestine l. rose. we can understand how such men as the rev. mr. may, or the sleek-headed dr. channing may be deluded by her to becoming her disciples. they are not the first instances of infatuation that may overtake weak-minded men, if they are honest in their devotion to her and her doctrines. nor would they be the first examples of a low ambition that seeks notoriety as a substitute for true fame, if they are dishonest. such men there are always, and honest or dishonest, their true position is that of being tied to the apron-strings of some "strong-minded woman," and to be exhibited as rare specimens of human wickedness, or human weakness and folly. but, that one educated american woman should become her disciple and follow her infidel and insane teachings, is a marvel. ernestine l. rose came to this country, as she says, from poland, whence she was compelled to fly in pursuit of freedom. seeing her course here, we can well imagine this to be true. in no other country in the world, save possibly one, would her infidel propagandism and preachings in regard to the social relations of life be tolerated. she would be prohibited by the powers of government from her efforts to obliterate from the world the religion of the cross--to banish the bible as a text-book of faith, and to overturn social institutions that have existed through all political and governmental revolutions from the remotest time. the strong hand of the law would be laid upon her, and she would be compelled back to her woman's sphere. but in this country, such is the freedom of our institutions, and we rejoice that it should be so, that she, and such as she, can give their genius for intrigue full sway. they can exhibit their flowing ringlets and beautiful hands, their winning smiles and charming stage attitudes to admiring audiences, who, while they are willing to be amused, are in the main safe from their corrupting theories and demoralizing propagandism. the laws and the theory of our government suppose that the people are capable of taking care of themselves, and hence need no protection against the wiles of domestic or foreign mountebanks, whether in petticoats or in breeches and boots. but it never was contemplated that these exotic agitators would come up to our legislators and ask for the passage of laws upholding and sanctioning their wild and foolish doctrines. that was a stretch of folly, a flight of impudence which was hardly regarded as possible. it was to be imagined, of course, that they would enlist as their followers, here and there one among the restless old maids and visionary wives who chanced to be unevenly tempered, as well as unevenly yoked. it was also to be assumed, as within the range of possibility, that they might bring within the sphere of their attractions, weak-minded, restless men, who think in their vanity that they have been marked out for great things, and failed to be appreciated by the world, men who comb their hair smoothly back, and with fingers locked across their stomachs, speak in a soft voice, and with upturned eyes. but no man supposed they would abandon their "private theatricals" and walk up to the capitol, and insist that the performances shall be held in legislative halls. and yet so it is. this mrs. ernestine l. rose, with a train of followers, like a great kite with a very long tail, has, for a week, been amusing senatorial and assembly committees, with her woman's rights performances, free of charge, unless the waste of time that might be better employed in the necessary and legitimate business of legislation, may be regarded as a charge. those committees have sat for hours, grave and solemn as owls, listening to the outpourings of fanaticism and folly of this polish propagandist, mrs. ernestine l. rose, and her followers in pantalets and short gowns. the people outside, and especially those interested in the progress of legislation, are beginning to ask one another how long this farce is to continue. how long this most egregious and ridiculous humbug is to be permitted to obstruct the progress of business before the committees and the houses, and whether mrs. ernestine l. rose and her followers ought not to be satisfied with the notoriety they have already attained. the great body of the people regard mrs. rose and her followers as making themselves simply ridiculous, and there is some danger that these legislative committees will make themselves so too. lecture of the rev. antoinette l. brown.--it will be seen the rev. antoinette l. brown delivers a lecture at association hall to-morrow evening. it has been said that we have done the women's rights people injustice in charging upon them the infidelity of mrs. ernestine l. rose. if we have done them injustice in this matter it is but right that we should make amends by calling attention to the lecture of miss brown, which, as we understand, will embrace the bible argument in favor of the measures which they advocate. miss brown is a talented woman, and we have no doubt an exemplary christian. _for the albany daily state register._ woman's rights. mr. editor:--in your paper of monday the th inst., i perceive you pass judgment upon the woman's rights cause, upon those engaged in it, and particularly upon myself--how justly, i leave to your conscience to decide. every one who ever advanced a new idea, no matter how great and noble, has been subjected to criticism, and therefore we too must expect it. and, in accordance with the spirit of the critic, will be the criticism. whether dictated by the spirit of justice, kindness, gentleness, and charity, or by injustice, malice, rudeness, and intolerance, it is still an index of the man. but it is quite certain that no true soul will ever be deterred from the performance of a duty by any criticism. but there is one thing which i think even editors have no right to do, namely: to state a positive falsehood, or even to imply one, for the purpose of injuring another. and, as the spirit of charity induces me to believe that in your case it was done more from a misunderstanding than positive malice, therefore i claim at your hands the justice to give this letter a place in your paper. in the article alluded to, you say: "ernestine l. rose came to this country, as she says, from poland, whence she was compelled to fly in pursuit of freedom." it is true that i came from poland; but it is false that i was compelled to fly from my country, except by the compulsion, or dictates of the same spirit of "propagandism," that induced so many of my noble countrymen to shed their blood in the defence of the rights of this country, and the rights of man, wherever he struggles for freedom. but i have no desire to claim martyrdom which does not belong to me. i left my country, not flying, but deliberately. i chose to make this country my home, in preference to any other, because if you carried out the theories you profess, it would indeed be the noblest country on earth. and as my countrymen so nobly aided in the physical struggle for freedom and independence, i felt, and still feel it equally my duty to use my humble abilities to the uttermost in my power, to aid in the great moral struggle for human rights and human freedom. hoping that you will acede to my (i think) just claim to give this a place in your paper, i am, very respectfully, ernestine l. rose. new york, _mar. , _. william henry channing asks the following questions in the _albany evening journal_: woman's rights. a lady actively and prominently connected with, the movement which is expected to secure "justice to woman," personally requested us to publish the following communication. it is proper to state that it is written in reply to an article of one of our morning contemporaries, published a day or two ago: "let us take it for granted that your pop-gun of pleasantry has killed off the six thousand 'strong-minded' women and 'weak-minded' men who signed the petitions to the legislature for justice to woman. and thus having disposed of personalities, will you be pleased to pass on to a discussion of the following questions: " . are women, in new york, persons, people, citizens, members of the state? if they are not, then why are they numbered in the census, taxed by assessors, and subjected to legal penalties? if they are, then why is authority exercised over them without their consent asked or granted? " . if among the male half of the people, only criminals, aliens, and minors are excluded from the right of suffrage are all women excluded from exercising this right, on the ground of criminality, idiocy, foreign associations, or infantile imbecility? " . if the mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters of new york are the peers and equals of their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, why should they not enjoy all civil and political rights equally with them? if they are, on the contrary, an inferior caste, how can a jury of men thus avowedly superior, be regarded as peers and equals of any woman whom they are summoned to try? " . would the editor of _the register_ consider himself justly treated if he would some day find himself governed by women, without his consent, taxed by women without power of voting for his representative, tried by a jury of women under laws made and administered by women? " . if prosecuted under the law of libel before a court of women for his late remarks, does he think he would get his deserts? "fair play." _knickerbocker_, albany, march , : going it blind.--the editor of _the state register_ is going it blind on woman's rights matters. he was out on monday with a half column leader that touched everything except the matter in dispute. we quote a paragraph: "people are beginning to inquire how far public sentiment should sanction or tolerate these unsexed women, who make a scoff at religion, who repudiate the bible, and blaspheme god; who would step out from the true sphere of the mother, the wife, and the daughter, and take upon themselves the duties and the business of men; stalk into the public gaze, and by engaging in the politics, the rough controversies, and trafficking of the world, upheave existing institutions, and overturn all the social relations of life." _the register_ either misunderstands matters, or else willfully misrepresents them. the leading women connected with this new movement do not scoff at religion, repudiate the bible, nor blaspheme god. mrs. stanton and miss brown are no more opposed to god and religion than the editor of _the register_ is. they are educated, christian women, and would no sooner "overturn society" than they would bear false witness against their neighbors. before _the register_ again attacks the reforms proposed by the woman's rights conventions, it should become acquainted with them. "going it blind," not only exposes one's prejudices, but ignorance. many of the innovations proposed by mrs. stanton are such as every common-sense man would or should vote for. we mean those improvements which she would have made in the rights of property and the care of children. there are other propositions in her platform which we should dissent from. _the state register_ may do the same. all the "woman's rights" women claim is fair play and truthful criticism. they object, however, to any misstatements. they are willing to fall before truth, but not before detraction. _the state register_ will please notice and act accordingly. mrs. stanton's address to the legislature was laid upon the members' desks monday morning, feb. , . when the order of petitions was reached, mr. d. p. wood, of onondaga, presented in the assembly a petition signed by , men and women, praying for the just and equal rights of women, which, after a spicy debate, was referred to the following select committee: james l. angle, of monroe co.; george w. thorn, of washington co.; derrick l. boardman, of oneida co.; george h. richards, of new york; james m. munro, of onondaga; wesley gleason, of fulton; alexander p. sharpe, of new york. in the senate, on the same day, mr. richards, or warren county, presented a petition signed by , men and women, praying for the extension of the right of suffrage to women, and on his motion it was referred to the following select committee: george yost, of montgomery co.; ben. field, of orleans co.; w. h. robertson, of westchester co. we give the report of the presentation and discussion of the petitions from _the albany evening journal_ of feb. , : woman's rights. assembly, monday, _february , _. mr. d. p. wood: i am requested by a committee of the woman's rights convention recently assembled in this city, to present to this body their address, together with a petition signed by , men and women, asking that certain withheld rights shall be granted to the women of the state. i ask the reference of these two documents to a select committee of seven; and in making this motion, i wish the speaker to waive the courtesy which would require him, under ordinary circumstances, to place me at the head of this committee. i am already on several committees which are pressed with business, and i would not, in my present state of health, be able to give the subject that careful consideration which the importance requires. i am satisfied, sir, that these ladies are entitled to some relief. they think so, and they say so, in language equally eloquent and impressive. mr. burnett: i hope the house will not act at all on this subject without due consideration. i hope before even this motion is put, gentlemen will be allowed to reflect upon the important question whether these individuals deserve any consideration at the hands of the legislature. whatever may be their pretensions or their sincerity, they do not appear to be satisfied with having unsexed themselves, but they desire to unsex every female in the land, and to set the whole community ablaze with unhallowed fire. i trust, sir, the house may deliberate before we suffer them to cast this firebrand into our midst. (here was heard a "hiss" from some part of the chamber). true, as yet, there is nothing officially before us, but it is well known that the object of these unsexed women is to overthrow the most sacred of our institutions, to set at defiance the divine law which declares man and wife to be one, and establish on its ruins what will be in fact and in principle but a species of legalized adultery. that this is their real object, however they may attempt to disguise it, is well known to every one who has looked, not perhaps at the intentions of all who take part in it, but at the practical and inevitable result of the movement. it is, therefore, a matter of duty, a duty to ourselves, to our consciences, to our constituents, and to god, who is the source of all law and of all obligations, to reflect long and deliberatively before we shall even seem to countenance a movement so unholy as this. the spartan mothers asked no such immunities as are asked for by these women. the roman mothers were content to occupy their legitimate spheres; and our own mothers, who possessed more than spartan or roman virtue, asked for no repudiation of the duties, obligations, or sacred relations of the marital rite. are we, sir, to give the least countenance to claims so preposterous, disgraceful, and criminal as are embodied in this address? are we to put the stamp of truth upon the libel here set forth, that men and women, in the matrimonial relation, are to be equal? we know that god created man as the representative of the race; that after his creation, his creator took from his side the material for woman's creation; and that, by the institution of matrimony, woman was restored to the side of man, and became one flesh and one being, he being the head. but this law of god and creation is spurned by these women who present themselves here as the exponents of the wishes of our mothers, wives, and daughters. they ask no such exponents, and they repel their sacrilegious doctrines. but again, sir, our old views of matrimony were, that it was a holy rite, having holy relations based on mutual love and confidence; and that while woman gave herself up to man, to his care, protection, and love, man also surrendered something in exchange for this confidence and love. he placed his happiness and his honor, all that belongs to him of human hopes and of human happiness, in the keeping of the being he received in the sacred relationship of wife. i say, sir, that this ordinance, sought to be practically overthrown by these persons, was established by god himself; and was based on the mutual love and confidence of husband and wife. but we are now asked to have this ordinance based on jealousy and distrust; and, as in italy, so in this country, should this mischievous scheme be carried out to its legitimate results, we, instead of reposing safe confidence against assaults upon our honor in the love and affection of our wives, shall find ourselves obliged to close the approaches to those assaults by the padlock. (the "hiss" was here repeated). mr. lozier: mr. speaker, twice i have heard a hiss from the lobby. i protest against the toleration of such an insult to any member of this house, and call for proper action in view of it. the speaker: the chair observed the interruption, and was endeavoring to discover its source, but has been unable to do so. if, however, its author can be recognized, the chair will immediately order the person to the bar of the house. mr. burnett: i have nothing further. the leading features of this address are well known; and i do not wish at present to further enter upon the argument of its character. i merely wish that members be afforded time for consideration. i therefore move to lay the pending motion on the table. d. p. wood: i am surprised that the gentleman from essex, who professes to desire light, and to afford members time for examination, should make a motion which, if carried, will preclude light and prevent examination. the gentleman sees fit to regard the memorial of these , men and women as a firebrand. i do not believe the ladies who presented it intended it as such; and they will be surprised to learn that a gentleman of his age and experience should have taken fire from it. their requests are simple. they ask for "justice and equal rights," and this simple request is made the excuse for an attack upon them as unheard of as it is unjust. they ask only for "justice and equal rights." if the house does not see fit to grant them what they ask, let my motion be voted down, and send the memorial to the judiciary committee, of which the gentleman from essex is chairman. let such a disposition be made of it, and there will then be no danger that any one will be fired up by it, for it will then be sure to sleep the sleep of death. sir, when a petition like this comes before the legislature, it should not only be respectfully received, but courteously considered; particularly when it asks, as this petition does, a review of the entire code of our statute laws. it should not be sent to a committee adverse to its request. that would be unparliamentary and the end of it. if sent to such a committee it would be smothered. the house, i am sure, is not prepared for any such disposition of the matter, but is willing to look candidly at the alleged grievances, and, if consistent with public policy, redress them, although in doing so we may infringe upon time-honored notions and usages. mr. peters: i am not surprised at the direction which the gentleman from essex seeks to give this memorial. any gentleman who would assail these ladies as he has done, would be prepared to make any disrespectful disposition of their rights. i may regret that he has sought to deny a hearing to these petitioners, but i am not surprised that he has done so. i trust that no other member on this floor will refuse, practically, to receive this petition--refuse to our mothers, wives, and sisters, what we every day grant to our fathers, brothers, and sons. these women come here with a respectful petition, and we should give them a candid and respectful hearing. if it be true, and true it is, that there are real grievances complained of, i hope they may be redressed after careful and candid consideration. the time has gone by, sir, when we may say progress must stop. it is well known that in many particulars the laws are glaringly unjust in regard to the female sex. the education of the sex is defective; and this fact unfolds the secret germ of this movement. we should review the structure of our institutions of learning, and see whether there be not there room for reform. i do not believe it to be a part of the duty of women to sit in the jury-box, to vote, or to participate in all the tumultuous strifes of life; but i do believe that those who differ from me in opinion should have respectful hearing. nor, because women are not allowed to vote, do i admit that they are precluded from all agency in the direction of national affairs. they, more than their husbands, have power over the future history of the country, by imparting a correct fireside education to their sons. but there are legal disabilities imposed upon women which i would be willing to see removed, in regard to property, etc. whether those disabilities are of a character to justify affirmative action on the part of this house or not, is not now the question. the question simply is, shall this petition be received? i trust that it may be, and that it may afterward be sent to a select committee. mr. benedict: the gentleman from onondaga asks that this petition shall be sent to a select committee of seven, although he admits that the judiciary committee would be more appropriate, if it would not be sure, if sent to that committee, to sleep the sleep of death. sir, i am one of that committee, and protest against any such imputation upon it. i will not only not vote to reject any petition offered the house, but i will give every petition sent to any committee of which i am a member a respectful hearing. this is a petition signed by some , men and women. they ask "justice" and relief. what kind of relief they may desire is no matter. it is enough for me to know that they ask to be heard. i shall vote to give them a hearing; and i can assure the gentleman from onondaga that if sent to the judiciary committee it will sleep no sleep of death, but will be respectfully considered. a contrary intimation is an unjust reflection on that committee. mr. wood: my remark was not intended to reflect upon that committee. i referred merely to the great amount of business before it. mr. benedict: there the gentleman is equally at fault. that committee is a working committee, and disposed of all the business before it on friday last. i am, however, in favor of the motion for a select committee, and desire that the petition should receive legitimate and careful consideration, not only because the petition is largely signed, but because every petition from any portion of the people on any subject, should receive a respectful hearing from the people's representatives. i i hope, therefore, that not a single member may vote against the reception of this petition, whatever his views may be in regard to granting its prayer. i am in favor of the right of petition. mr. burnett: it was not my wish in the motion i made to have this petition rejected. had i intended any such thing i should have said so; for i always go directly at what i want to accomplish, and never fail to call things by their right names. i merely wished, before any disposition was made of the petition, that the members should have time to examine the address, which is the key of the whole subject. this is all i desire; and it was simply an expression of this desire that has awakened all this windy gust of passion. after members shall examine the address which accompanies this petition, they can make such disposition of the petition itself as they shall deem wise and proper. this is the length and breadth of my object and desire. mr. wood: i think the house understands the subject sufficiently to justify action upon my motion of reference. the motion for the select committee prevailed, ayes, ; the committee appointed, and mr. wood excused from serving. report of the select committee. in assembly, monday, _march , _. the select committee, to whom was referred the various petitions requesting "the senate and assembly of the state of new york to appoint a joint committee to revise the statutes of new york, and to propose such amendments as will fully establish the legal equality of women with men," report: that they have examined the said petition, and have heard and considered the suggestions of persons who have appeared before them on behalf of the petitioners. your committee are well aware that the matters submitted to them have been, and still are, the subject of ridicule and jest; but they are also aware that ridicule and jest never yet effectually put down either truth or error; and that the development of our times and the progression of our age is such, that many thoughts laughed at to-day as wild vagaries, are to-morrow recorded as developed principles or embodied as experimental facts. a higher power than that from which emanates legislative enactments has given forth the mandate that man and woman shall not be equal; that there shall be inequalities by which each in their own appropriate sphere shall have precedence to the other; and each alike shall be superior or inferior as they well or ill act the part assigned them. both alike are the subjects of government, equally entitled to its protection; and civil power must, in its enactments, recognize this inequality. we can not obliterate it if we would, and legal inequalities must follow. the education of woman has not been the result of statutes, but of civilization and christianity; and her elevation, great as it has been, has only corresponded with that of man under the same influences. she owes no more to these causes than he does. the true elevation of the sexes will always correspond. but elevation, instead of destroying, show? more palpably those inherent inequalities, and makes more apparent the harmony and happiness which the creator designed to accomplish by them. your committee will not attempt to prescribe, or, rather, they will not attempt to define the province and peculiar sphere which a power that we can not overrule has prescribed for the different sexes. every well-regulated home and household in the land affords an example illustrative of what is woman's proper sphere, as also that of man. government has its miniature as well as its foundation in the homes of our country; and as in governments there must be some recognized head to control and direct, so must there also be a controlling and directing power in every smaller association; there must be some one to act and to be acted with as the embodiment of the persons associated. in the formation of governments, the manner in which the common interest shall be embodied and represented is a matter of conventional arrangement; but in the family an influence more potent than that of contracts and conventionalities, and which everywhere underlies humanity, has indicated that the husband shall fill the necessity which exists for a head. dissension and distraction quickly arise when this necessity is not answered. the harmony of life, the real interest of both husband and wife, and of all dependent upon them, require it. in obedience to that requirement and necessity, the husband is the head--the representative of the family. it was strongly urged upon your committee that women, inasmuch as their property was liable to taxation, should be entitled to representation. the member of this house who considers himself the representative only of those whose ballots were cast for him, or even of all the voters in his district, has, in the opinion of your committee, quite too limited an idea of his position on this floor. in their opinion he is the representative of the inhabitants of his district, whether they be voters or not, whether they be men or women, old or young; and he who does not alike watch over the interests of all, fails in his duty and is false to his trust. your committee can not regard marriage as a _mere contract_, but as something above and beyond; something more binding than records, more solemn than specialties; and the person who reasons as to the relations of husband and wife as upon an ordinary contract, in their opinion commits a fatal error at the outset; and your committee can not recommend any action based on such a theory. as society progresses new wants are felt, new facts and combinations are presented which constantly call for more or less of addition to the body of our laws, and often for innovations upon customs so old that "the memory of man runneth not to the contrary thereof." the marriage relation, in common with everything else, has felt the effects of this progress, and from time to time been the subject of legislative action. and while your committee report adversely to the prayer of the petitions referred to them, they believe that the time has come when certain alterations and amendments are, by common consent, admitted as proper and necessary. your committee recommend that the assent of the mother, if she be living, be made necessary to the validity of any disposition which the father may make of her child by the way of the appointment of guardian or of apprenticeship. the consent of the wife is now necessary to a deed of real estate in order to bar her contingent interest therein; and there are certainly far more powerful reasons why her consent should be necessary to the conveyance or transfer of her own offspring to the care, teaching, and control of another. when the husband from any cause neglects to provide for the support and education of his family, the wife should have the right to collect and receive her own earnings and the earnings of her minor children, and apply them to the support and education of the family free from the control of the husband, or any person claiming the same through him. there are many other rules of law applicable to the relation of husband and wife which, in occasional cases, bear hard upon the one or the other, but your committee do not deem it wise that a new arrangement of our laws of domestic relations should be attempted to obviate such cases; they always have and always will arise out of every subject of legal regulation. there is much of wisdom (which may well be applied to this and many other subjects) in the quaint remark of an english lawyer, philosopher, and statesman, that "it were well that men in their innovations would follow the example of time, which innovateth greatly but quietly, and by degrees scarcely to be perceived. it is good also in states not to try experiments, except the necessity be urgent and the utility evident; and well to beware that it be the reformation that draweth on the change, and not the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation." in conclusion, your committee recommend that the prayer of the petitioners be denied; and they ask leave to introduce a bill[ ] corresponding with the suggestions hereinbefore contained. the report was signed by james l. angle and all the members of the committee except mr. richards. of the report on the petitions, mr. weed says: mr. angle, from the select committee of the assembly, to which the woman's rights petitions were referred, made a report last evening, which we publish elsewhere to-day. it is a compact, lucid, and ably drawn document, highly creditable to its author, and becomingly respectful to the petitioners. the committee report adversely to the petitions, but recommend one or two changes in our existing law, which will, we think, commend themselves as well to the opponents, as to the advocates of woman's rights. the work in the state of new york was now thoroughly systematized. susan b. anthony was appointed general agent, and it was decided to hold a series of conventions in all the counties and chief cities of the state, in order to roll up mammoth petitions with which to bombard the legislature at every annual session. two appeals[ ] were issued to the women of the state, one in june, prepared by mr. channing, and one in december, by mrs. stanton. a number of able speakers[ ] joined in the work, and the state was thoroughly canvassed every year until the war, and petitions presented by the thousands until the bill securing the civil rights of married women was passed in march, . lest our readers should think that there was no variety to our lives in these early days, that we did nothing but resolve, complain, petition, protest, hold conventions, and besiege legislatures, we record now and then some cheerful item from the metropolitan papers concerning some of our leading women. new york, _march , _. anniversary of the d birthday of robert owen at broadway. when the reporter entered the room he found the ladies and gentlemen assembled there tripping the light fantastic toe to the music of a harp, piano, and violin. ernestine l. rose was president of the occasion, and gave a very interesting sketch of the life and labors of this noble man. after which they had a grand supper, and lucy stone replied to the toast, "woman, coequal with man." the ladies not only danced and made speeches, but they partook of the supper. they did not sit in the galleries, as the custom then was, to look at the gentlemen eat, and listen to their after-dinner speeches, but enjoyed an equal share in the whole entertainment. mrs. rose and miss stone seemed to feel as much at home on this festive occasion, as amid the more important proceedings of a convention. as the agitation was kept up from year to year with frequent conventions, ever and anon some prominent person who had hitherto been silent, would concede a modicum of what we claimed, so timidly, however, and with so many popular provisos, that the concessions were almost buried in the objections. it was after this manner that henry ward beecher, then in the zenith of his popularity, vouchsafed an opinion. he believed in woman's right to vote and speak in public. there was no logical argument against either, but he would not like to see his wife or mother go to the polls or mount the platform. this utterance called out the following letter from gerrit smith in _the boston liberator_: peterboro, n. y., _nov. , _. dear garrison:--i am very glad to see in your paper that henry ward beecher avows himself a convert to the doctrine of woman's voting. but i regret that this strong man is nevertheless not strong enough to emancipate himself entirely from the dominion of superstition. mr. beecher would not have his wife and sister speak in public. of course he means that he would not, however competent they might be for such an exercise. i will suppose that they all remove to peterboro, and that a very important, nay, an entirely vital question springs up in our community, and profoundly agitates it; and i will further suppose that the wife and sister of mr. beecher are more capable than any other persons of taking the platform and shedding light upon the subject. are we not entitled to their superior light? certainly. and certainly therefore are they bound to afford it to us. nevertheless mr. beecher would have them withhold it from us. pray what is it but superstition that could prompt him to such violation of benevolence and common-sense? will mr. beecher go to the bible for his justification? that blessed book is to be read in the life of jesus christ; and in that life is the fullness of benevolence and common-sense, and no superstition at all. will mr. beecher limit his wife and sisters in the given case to their pens?[ ] such limitation would he then be bound in consistency to impose upon himself. would he impose it? again, it takes lips as well as pens to carry instruction to the utmost. your friend, gerrit smith. saratoga conventions, august, -' . seeing calls for two national conventions, by the friends of temperance, and the anti-nebraska movement, to be held in saratoga the third week of august, the state woman suffrage committee decided to embrace that opportunity to hold a convention there at the same time.[ ] as it was at the height of the fashionable season it was thought much good might be accomplished by getting the ear of a new class of hearers. but after the arrangements were all made, and miss anthony on the ground, she received messages from one after another of the speakers on whom she depended, that none of them could be present. accordingly, encouraged by the hon. william hay, she decided to go through alone. happily, matilda joslyn gage and sarah pellet being in saratoga, came forward and volunteered their services, and thus was the convention carried successfully through.[ ] the meeting was held in st. nicholas hall, which was well filled throughout, three-hundred dollars being taken at the door. the following _resumé_ of this occasion is from the pen of judge william hay, in a letter to _the north star_ of rochester (frederick douglass, editor): the saratoga convention. miss sarah pellet addressed an audience of six hundred persons in the afternoon, most of whom returned with others to st. nicholas hall in the evening, thus manifesting their satisfaction with what they had heard and their interest in the cause, which was farther discussed by mrs. gage, whose address was an elaborate argument for the removal of woman's legal and social disabilities. among other authorities she quoted with judgment, was the following from wm. w. story: "in respect to the powers and rights of married women, the law is by no means abreast the spirit of the age. here are seen the old fossil prints of _feudalism_. the law relating to woman tends to make every family a barony, a monarchy, or a despotism, of which the husband is the baron, king, or despot, and the wife the dependent, the serf, or slave. that this is not always the fact, is not due to the law, but to the enlarged humanity which spurns the narrow limits of its rules; for if the husband choose, he has his wife as firmly in his grasp and dominion, as the _hawk_ has the _dove_ upon whom he has pounced. this age is ahead of the law. public opinion is a check to legal rules on this subject, but the rules are feudal and stern. it can not, however, be concealed that the position of woman is always the criterion of the freedom of a people or an age, and when man shall despise that right which is founded only on might, woman will be free to stand on an equal level with him--a friend and not a dependent." mrs. gage also, and with like effect, cited from the same learned jurist, laws, which, had her lecture been a sermon, might have been prefixed as a text. such opinions, although but seldom known to any but lawyers, and not appreciated by many of them, have frequently been printed in books, which, however, being professional, are perused by few persons only. mrs. gage[ ] concluded her excellent discourse with bryant's celebrated stanza, relative to truth and error. miss anthony's situation had become embarrassing, if not critical. at a late hour of a summer night, she was to follow mrs. gage on the same subject, and before a fastidious audience, almost surfeited during three days with public addresses in several different conventions, and many of whom desired to contrast her expected effort with the splendid platform eloquence of henry j. raymond, wm. h. burleigh, and "their like," fearlessly advocating the redress of wrongs and the promotion of human rights. miss anthony, who had conciliated her audience by lady-like conduct and courtesy, in providing seats for the accommodation of those standing, commenced with an appropriate apology for unavoidable repetition, when it was her lot to follow mrs. gage. sufficient here to say that she acquitted herself admirably. the simplicity and repose of her manner, the dignity of her deportment, the distinctiveness of her enunciation, her emphatic earnestness, the pathos of her appeals, and completeness of her arguments, convinced the understanding and persuaded all hearts. the gossip of mustached dandies, and the half-suppressed giggle of bedizened beauty, soon settled down into respectful attention, if not appreciation. indeed many of the most intelligent hearers before retiring, audibly confessed that they came to find fault, but had seen nothing to censure. so some who came to scoff remained to applaud. with such advocates there can be no retrogression of woman's rights. equality is their motto, and onward their destiny. wm. hay. this convention was so successful in point of numbers and receipts, and the sale of woman suffrage literature, that it was decided to repeat the experiment the next year; accordingly the following call was issued early in the season: saratoga convention, . a convention will be held at saratoga springs on the th and th of august next, to discuss woman's right to suffrage. in the progress of human events, woman now demands the recognition of her civil existence, her legal rights, her social equality with man. how her claims can be the most easily and speedily established on a firm, enduring basis, will be the subject of deliberation at the coming convention. the friends of the movement, and the public generally, are most respectfully invited to attend. many of the advocates of the cause are expected to be in attendance. elizabeth cady stanton, lydia mott, ernestine l. rose, antoinette l. brown, samuel j. may, susan b. anthony. this convention also was held in st. nicholas hall, and a large audience greeted the speakers of the occasion as they appeared upon the platform. a brief report of the secretaries in _the una_ of september, , says: a large audience assembled on the morning of august th at st. nicholas hall. susan b. anthony called the meeting to order, and presented a list of officers[ ] nominated at a preliminary gathering, which was accepted. martha c. wright, on taking the chair, made a brief statement of the object of the convention, and invited all those who were opposed to our demands to come to the platform and state their objections. during the absence of the business committee, ernestine l. rose briefly reviewed the rise and progress of the woman's rights movement. antoinette brown reported a series of resolutions, on which she commented at some length, when the rev. samuel j. may was introduced. although he spoke to the entire edification of the platform, yet he was constantly interrupted by the audience. it was a novelty to hear women speak, and the audience having assembled for that purpose, preferred to listen to woman's pathetic statements of her wrongs, than to the most gifted orators that men could boast. it was not until after repeated requests for order from the president, and assurances from several of the ladies that they would not speak until mr. may had finished his remarks, that quiet was restored. it was at this convention that mary l. booth[ ] made her first appearance on our platform, as one of the secretaries. one feature of these meetings was the freedom and warm sympathy between the audience and the platform. at the close of almost every speech, some one on the floor asked questions, or stated some objections which were quickly answered and refuted by the speakers in the most pleasant conversational manner. mrs. rose presented the wrongs of woman in her most happy manner, demanding the ballot as the underlying power to protect all other rights. thomas wentworth higginson made an address especially adapted to the fashionable audience. many of the thoughtless ones whom idle curiosity had led to the hall, must have felt like the woman of samaria (john iv. ) at the well, when she reported that she had seen a man who told her all the things that ever she had done, so nearly did mr. higginson picture to them their thoughts and feelings, the ennui of their daily lives. lucy stone, whom the papers now call mrs. blackwell, arriving in the midst of the convention, was greeted with long and repeated cheers, and spoke with her wonted simplicity and earnestness. the resolutions covering all the different phases of the movement were duly discussed through two entire days. antoinette brown was called on as usual to meet the bible argument. a clergyman accused her of misapplying texts. he said genesis iv. did not allude to cain and abel, and that the language in genesis iii. , as applied to eve, did not mean the same thing. miss brown maintained her position that the texts were the same in letter and spirit; and that authority to all men over all women could be no more logically inferred from the one, than authority to all elder brothers over the younger could be from the other; and that there was no divine authority granted in either case. miss anthony announced that woman's rights tracts and papers were for sale at the door, and urged all who had become interested in the subject to procure them not only for their own benefit, but to circulate among their neighbors. if they would be intelligent as to the real claims of the movement, they must take _the una_, a paper owned and edited by one of its leaders. no one would expect to get temperance truths from bennett's _herald_, nor anti-slavery facts from _the new york observer_, or _christian advocate_; no more can we look to any of the popular newspapers, political or religious, for reliable information on the woman's rights movement. she also presented the claims of _the woman's advocate_, a paper just started in philadelphia by anna e. mcdowell, devoted chiefly to woman's right to work--equal pay for equal service (she was sorry that it did not see that the right of suffrage underlies the work problem); nevertheless the existence of a paper owned, edited, published, and printed all by women, was a living woman's rights fact, and she hoped every one would give it encouragement and support. she then gave a brief report of the work done in the state during the past year,[ ] and closed by presenting the form of petition that had just been adopted.[ ] mr. may moved the appointment of a committee of five[ ] to engage lecturing agents and raise funds for their compensation. the president thanked the people for the respect and attention manifested during the several sessions, and adjourned the convention.[ ] the saratoga papers were specially complimentary in their notices of ernestine l. rose and lucy stone, pronouncing them logical and eloquent, and miss anthony was highly praised for her skill in getting contributions and distributing documents. she sold over twenty thousand pamphlets that year. as there were many southern people always at saratoga, this was considered a grand opportunity through tracts to sow the seeds of rebellion all through the southern states. this convention afforded a new theme for conversation at the hotels, and was discussed for many days after with levity or seriousness, to be laughed over and thought over by the women at their leisure.[ ] letters to the convention. boston, _june , _. susan b. anthony. dear madam:--your note of the th has just come to hand. i am sorry to say that my engagements are such that it will not be possible for me to be present at the woman's rights convention at saratoga, which i should very much rejoice to attend. heartily and hastily yours, theodore parker. syracuse, _june , _. dear friend:--i like your call to the convention at saratoga, and i shall endeavor to be there on my return from massachusetts, where i deliver an oration on education on the th of august. by all means put judge hay's name on the central committee. invite theodore parker without delay. in great haste, but very truly yours, samuel j. may philadelphia, _sixth mo., , _. my dear susan b. anthony:--returning home, i hasten to answer thy letter forwarded to me a week ago by sister m. c. wright. it is always with regret that i have to answer any letter of the kind in the negative. but the time fixed for the saratoga convention renders it impracticable for me to be present. my husband and i hope to attend the national convention at cincinnati in october. thy active interest and exertions in this cause are greatly cheering. we are doing little hereaway. pennsylvania is always slow in every reformatory movement. we have circulated many of the pamphlets. wishing you all success at the convention, and sure of thy "great recompense and reward," i am thine affectionately, lucretia mott. boston, _june , _. dear friend:--i have kept your letter by me, and omitted to reply, hoping, and indeed expecting, that though i give up all but two or three routine and neighboring engagements in the summer. i might plan so as to accept yours. but i find i can not come as you ask. my summer months must be devoted otherwise. i hope you will not nickname me _no_, for my so constantly using that monosyllable to you. indeed, i will try to oblige you next winter. with much regard, yours truly, wendell phillips. high rock, lynn, mass., _august , _. earnest friend:--we have just received your hearty invitation to the convention at saratoga. nothing would give us more pleasure than to be with you on that occasion. we are all interested in woman's rights, and in liberty for all humanity. long submission has smothered the hope and extinguished the desire in many for any change of condition. but the light of the nineteenth century should awake all to earnest battle for their god-given rights. we will consult together, and if we can make up a quartette we will try and be with you to sing once more our songs[ ] of freedom for another struggling class. with much esteem i remain yours truly, john w. hutchinson, (for the family). following the convention the usual attacks were made by the press, accusing the members of "infidelity and free love," which miss brown refuted through _the new york tribune_. in this way, with conventions being continually held at the fashionable watering places[ ] in the summer, and at the center of legislative assemblies in the winter, new york was compelled to give some attention to the question. a woman's eights meeting and a hearing were of annual occurrence as regular as the convening of the legislature. albany convention, . the second convention at albany was held in the green street universalist church, february and , . martha c. wright presided; the usual speakers[ ] were present, and letters of sympathy were received from wendell phillips, t. w. higginson, elizabeth oakes smith, elizabeth cady stanton, expressing regret at not being able to attend. letter from horace greeley. new york, _february , _. susan b. anthony. dear friend:--i can not be in albany next week, because i some time since promised to speak on wednesday in maine, and must keep my engagement. nor, indeed, can i deem it of any consequence that i should attend your convention. you know, already, that i am thoroughly committed to the principle that _woman shall decide for herself_ whether she shall have a voice and a vote in legislation, or shall continue to be represented and legislated for exclusively by man. my own judgment is that woman's presence in the arena of politics would be useful and beneficent; but i do not assume to judge for her. she must consider, determine, and act for herself. whenever she shall in earnest have resolved that her own welfare and that of the race will be promoted by her claiming a voice in the direction of civil government, as i think she ultimately will do, then the day of her emancipation will be near. that day i will hope yet to see. yours, horace greeley. of the hearings before the legislature which followed this convention, we give the report from _the albany register, february , ._ just and equal rights--hearing before the assembly committee. the select committee of the assembly, to which was referred the petition for woman's rights, granted a bearing to the petitioners in the assembly chamber on saturday evening, ernestine l. rose, antoinette brown, and susan b. anthony represented the petitioners. the arguments were able, and well received. members of the 'committee and others sent up a number of questions which the ladies promptly answered, with a due sprinkling of wit, logic, and sarcasm, greatly to the entertainment of the audience, which did not disperse until after eleven o'clock. mr. rickerson, from the select committee, to whom was referred "the petition for the right of suffrage," stated that "after mature consideration the committee unanimously report adversely to the prayer of the petitioners." mr. rickerson, from the same committee to whom was referred--the petition for the just and equal civil rights of woman, said: "the committee have given the petition that examination which time and circumstances would allow, and report favorably thereon, as embraced in the bill," which they introduced.[ ] the petitions of were referred to the judiciary committee, samuel a. foote, chairman. mr. foote was at one time a member of the bar of new york, associating with some of the first families in the state--a son, a husband, a father--and yet in his maturer years he had so little respect for himself, his mother, wife, and daughters as to present in a dignified legislative assembly the following report on a grave question of human rights--a piece of buffoonery worthy only a mountebank in a circus: legislative report on women's rights. _the register_, albany, _march, _. mr. foote, from the judiciary committee, made a report on women's rights that set the whole house in roars of laughter: "the committee is composed of married and single gentlemen. the bachelors on the committee, with becoming diffidence, have left the subject pretty much to the married gentlemen. they have considered it with the aid of the light they have before them and the experience married life has given them. thus aided, they are enabled to state that the ladies always have the best place and choicest titbit at the table. they have the best seat in the cars, carriages, and sleighs; the warmest place in the winter, and the coolest place in the summer. they have their choice on which side of the bed they will lie, front or back. a lady's dress costs three times as much as that of a gentleman; and, at the present time, with the prevailing fashion, one lady occupies three times as much space in the world as a gentleman. "it has thus appeared to the married gentlemen of your committee, being a majority (the bachelors being silent for the reason mentioned, and also probably for the further reason that they are still suitors for the favors of the gentler sex), that, if there is any inequality or oppression in the case, the gentlemen are the sufferers. they, however, have presented no petitions for redress; having, doubtless, made up their minds to yield to an inevitable destiny. "on the whole, the committee have concluded to recommend no measure, except that as they have observed several instances in which husband and wife have both signed the same petition. in such case, they would recommend the parties to apply for a law authorizing them to change dresses, so that the husband may wear petticoats, and the wife the breeches, and thus indicate to their neighbors and the public the true relation in which they stand to each other." assembly--women's rights. mr. prendergast presented several petitions asking for an extension of women's rights. mr. p. stated that undoubtedly the judiciary was the proper committee to receive these petitions; but the petitioners had signified to him that, from a recent manifestation on the part of the chairman of that committee (judge foote), they would prefer that the petition should be referred to some other committee. he therefore moved their reference to the committee on claims. mr. northup seconded the motion. mr. foote remarked, that if there was any other committee of this house that would or could unsex the female sex, he had no objection to the reference moved. the motion prevailed. lydia mott, in a letter to susan b. anthony, under date of albany, march , , says: i mail a paper to you, containing the hon. samuel a. foote's report on our petitions. i hardly expected any report this winter. i am glad he made one; am only sorry it was verbal. there ought to have been a large number printed for circulation. i hope you won't get discouraged; remember the good work goes bravely on, the honorable legislature to the contrary notwithstanding. we shall get all we demand one of these days. our reform is so comprehensive, we must not expect a sudden change in public opinion. only see how long we have been laboring to convert people to the one self-evident truth that a man has a right to himself; and where are we now after a quarter of a century? no; we must not be disheartened. our labor has not been in vain. i see its good effects every day, and they will continue to multiply. only think, here in our midst we have a constant testimony borne to good audiences every sunday. i don't know whether i wrote you what a true man we have in the unitarian church, and what a treat his sermons are to me. you remember a. d. mayo, who has written letters to our conventions; he doesn't come as an unitarian, but as an independent. it can not be otherwise than that he will do a world of good. he gave to day one of the boldest as well as finest sermons i have ever heard--full of noble thoughts. he always recognizes woman in every department. it amuses me to see the effect on rome of the women as he portrays woman side by side with man, always making her his equal in every position. mr. mayo is the first minister who has filled the church, and the only one that has not seemed afraid of his own shadow. mr. garrison heard him when here; said he could not wish to change one word or to add one to his sermon. that from garrison is saying a great deal. the hon. wm. hay, who always aided us and watched the legislature very closely in its action upon our question, in a letter to miss anthony, dated march , , said: i write this in the assembly chamber which has so recently been disgraced by an old fogy--sam. a. foote. he can not, however, prevent the agitation as to woman's rights. that of suffrage has been discussed several times this week, incidentally, in both houses, and will be up here again to-morrow directly.... march st, he says: the petition from milton, ulster county, was presented yesterday, and referred to the committee on claims, instead of the judiciary or a select committee. it is thus manifest that the cause is not to be put down or even passed by with contemptuous silence, vulgar abuse, or conservative scorn. foote squealed out his angry opposition, in the old stupid slang (of shakespeare perverted from "macbeth"), about unsexing woman with the right of suffrage, and endeavored to contrast it with property-claims; as if the revolutionary maxim concerning taxation and representation going together is not a property rule. i suspect, too, that personal rights, secured by the right preservative of all rights, are more important than mere property rights. but they need not be distinguished in that respect. the proceeding is (even if without any present beneficial result) a triumph; because it proves to judge foote and others that the woman's rights petitions (or rather demands) must receive suitable consideration and, at least, a respectful report. next winter we may hope to be more successful--if not then, success is merely postponed. it has become a question of time only, and perhaps of place--probably nebraska! the seventh national woman's eights contention. pursuant to a call issued by the central committee, the seventh national woman's rights convention was held in new york, at the broadway tabernacle, november and , . the convention was called to order by martha c. wright, president of the last convention. the officers were duly appointed.[ ] lucy stone, on taking the chair, said: i am sure that all present will agree with me that this is a day of congratulation. it is our seventh annual national woman's rights convention. our first effort was made in a small room in boston, where a few women were gathered, who had learned woman's rights by woman's wrongs. there had been only one meeting in ohio, and two in new york. the laws were yet against us, custom was against us, prejudice was against us, and more than all, women were against us. we were strong only "in the might of our right"--and, now, when this seventh year has brought us together again, we can say as did a laborer in the republican party, though all is not gained, "we are without a wound in our faith, without a wound in our hope, and stronger than when we began." never before has any reformatory movement gained so much in so short a time. when we began, the statute books were covered with laws against women, which an eminent jurist (judge walker) said would be a disgrace to the statute books of any heathen nation. now almost every northern state has more or less modified its laws. the legislature of maine, after having granted nearly all other property rights to wives, found a bill before it asking that a wife should be entitled to what she earns, but a certain member grew fearful that wives would bring in bills for their daily service, and, by an eloquent appeal to pockets, the measure was lost for the time, but that which has secured other rights will secure this. in massachusetts, by the old laws, a wife owned nothing but the fee simple in her real estate. and even for that, she could not make a will without the written endorsement of her husband, permitting her to do so. two years ago the law was so changed that she now holds the absolute right to her entire property, earnings included. vermont, new hampshire, and rhode island have also very much amended their statutes. new york, the proud empire state, has, by the direct effort of this movement, secured to wives every property right except earnings. during two years a bill has been before the legislature, which provides that if a husband be a drunkard, a profligate, or has abandoned his wife, she may have a right to her own earnings. it has not passed. two hundred years hence that bill will be quoted as a proof of the barbarism of the times; now it is a proof of progress. ohio, illinois, and indiana have also very materially modified their laws. and wisconsin--god bless these young states--has granted almost all that has been asked except the right of suffrage. and even this, senator sholes,[ ] in an able minority report on the subject, said, "is only a question of time, and as sure to triumph as god is just." it proposed that the convention which meets in two years to amend the constitution of the state should consider the subject. in michigan, too, it has been moved that women should have a right to their own babies, which none of you, ladies, have here in new york. the motion caused much discussion in the legislature, and it would probably have been carried had not a disciple of brigham young's, a mormon member, defeated the bill. in nebraska everything is bright for our cause. mrs. bloomer is there, and she has circulated petitions, claiming for women the right to vote. a bill to that effect passed the house of representatives, and was lost in the senate, only because of the too early closing of the session. that act of justice to woman would be gained in nebraska first, and scores of women would go there that they might be made citizens, and be no longer subjects. in addition to these great legal changes, achieved so directly by this reform, we find also that women have entered upon many new and more remunerative industrial pursuits; thus being enabled to save themselves from the bitterness of dependent positions, or from lives of infamy. our demand that harvard and yale colleges should admit women, though not yielded, only waits for a little more time. and while they wait, numerous petty "female colleges" have sprung into being, indicative of the justice of our claim that a college education should be granted to women. not one of these female colleges (which are all second or third rate, and their whole course of study only about equal to what completes the sophomore year in our best colleges) meets the demand of the age, and so will eventually perish. oberlin and antioch colleges in ohio, and lima college in new york, admit women on terms nearly equal with men. in england, too, the claims of women are making progress. the most influential papers in london have urged the propriety of women physicians. also a petition was sent to parliament last year, signed by the brownings, the howitts, harriet martineau, mrs. gaskell, and mrs. jameson, asking for just such rights as we claim here. it was presented by lord brougham, and was respectfully received by parliament. the ballot has not yet been yielded; but it can not be far off when, as in the last presidential contest,[ ] women were urged to attend political meetings, and a woman's name was made one of the rallying cries of the party of progress. the enthusiasm which everywhere greeted the name of jessie[ ] was so far a recognition of woman's right to participate in politics. encouraged by the success of these seven years of effort, let us continue with unfailing fidelity to labor for the practical recognition of the great truth, that all human rights inhere in each human being. we welcome to this platform man and women irrespective of creed, country, or color; those who dissent from us as freely as those who agree with us. ernestine l. rose, from the business committee, reported a series of resolutions.[ ] the president stated that several letters had been received, one from francis jackson, of boston, one of the noblest of the noble men of the age, inclosing $ , which, he says, he gives "to help this righteous cause along." also a letter from the rev. samuel johnson, of salem, massachusetts, which would be read by mr. higginson. rev. t. w. higginson said he was much more willing to be called upon to read the words of others at this time, than to utter poor words of his own. there were many who came into a woman's rights convention and started to find men on the platform. he could only say, that in these times, and with the present light, there was no place where a man could redeem his manhood better than on the woman's rights platform. gentlemen in distant seats were perhaps trembling to think that they had actually got that far into this dangerous place. they might think themselves well off--no, badly off--if the maelstrom did not draw them nearer and nearer and nearer in, as it did him. he began, like them, hesitating and smiling on the back seats; they saw what he had got to now, and he hoped they, too, might get into such noble company before long. he was prouder to train in this band than to be at the head of the play-soldiers who were marching through the streets to-day, and immortalizing themselves by not failing, so utterly as some of their companions, to hit some easy target. those were play-soldiers; these were soldiers in earnest. men talk a great deal of nonsense about the woman's rights movement. he never knew a husband who was demolished in an argument by his wife, or a young gentleman who found his resources of reason entirely used up by a young lady, who did not fall back at last when there was no retreat, and say: "it's no use; you can't reason with a woman." well, so it would seem in their case. others shelter themselves behind the general statement, that they don't wish to marry a woman's rights woman. i have no doubt the woman's rights women reciprocate the wish. these appear to have some anxiety about dinner--that seems to be the trouble. jean paul, the german, wanted to have a wife who could cook him something good; and mrs. frederica bremer, the novelist, remarked, that a wife can always conciliate her husband by having something to stop his mouth. in a conversation in philadelphia the other day, a young lawyer, when told that mrs. emma r. coe was studying law with the intention of practicing, remarked, that he should never see her in court, but she would remind him of mince pies; to which the gentleman he was in conversation with, observed that he had better not get her as his antagonist in trying a suit, or she would remind him of minced meat. having given two or three examples of the nonsense of men upon this subject, he would now read them some sense. the letter was from one of the most eloquent and learned of the younger clergy of new england; a man possessed of powers of genius and practical wisdom which would yet make him heard in a larger sphere than that which he now occupied. it was not the old english sam. johnson who said that "there never was a lawsuit or a quarrel where a woman was not at the bottom of it." this was sam. johnson americanized, and of course he was a woman's rights man. letter from rev. samuel johnson. salem, _october , _. dear friend:--in complying with your desire that i should send a few words to the woman's rights convention, i am quite aware that in this matter infinitely more depends upon what women do than upon what men say; nevertheless, if my confession of faith will be of the least service, it shall not be wanting. i regard this movement as no less than the sum and crown of all our moral enterprises; as a proclamation of entire social freedom, never practicable until now. i welcome it, not merely because it aims at delivering half the human race from constraints that degrade and demoralize the whole, but also because it is opening a new spiritual hemisphere, destined to put a new heart into our semi-barbarian theology, politics, manners, literature, and law. and especially do i rejoice, that having defrauded the feminine element of its due share in practical affairs for so many ages, and found ourselves, as a natural consequence, drifting toward barbarism with all our wealth and wisdom, we are compelled at last to learn that justice to woman is simply mercy to ourselves. doubtless the main obstacles to this work come from her own sex. strange if it were not so; if the meagre hope doled out to women hitherto should have unfitted them to believe that such a function awaits them. strange if they did not fear a thousand perils in the untried way of freedom. but the unwise distrust will have to be abandoned; and so will the conventional flippancy and contempt. i think the grand duty of every honorable man toward this effort at emancipation is simply _not to stand in its way_. for how much is really covered by that duty? it means that he must wash his hands of every law or prejudice that dooms woman to an inferior position, and makes her the victim of miserable wages and fatal competitions with herself. it means that he must clear himself of this senseless twaddle about "woman's sphere," a matter surely no more for his legislation, than his "sphere" is for hers; and one upon which, at this stage of their experience, it is unbecoming in either to dogmatize; and it means that as a simple act of justice, he must resign to her the control of her own earnings, secure her fair and full culture, and welcome her to the pulpit, the bar, the medical profession, and to whatever other posts of public usefulness she may prepare herself to fill. as long as he fails of doing this, he is unjustly interfering with her sacred rights; and _after_ he has done this, he may safely leave the rest to her. it is humiliating indeed that numbers of well-disposed persons should not recognize so plain a duty. i have no patience to argue it. the moral logic of this movement is as patent as the simplest rule in arithmetic. every argument brought against it resolves itself into a sneer at woman's capacity, or an anxiety lest the distinction god has established between the sexes will not bear testing; or, what is more common still, though covered up in a thousand ways, the brutish assertion that "might makes right." there is but one answer to these impertinences, and that is the success of individual women in the work they set about. the current ridicule at "doing justice to women" will pass for the sheer vulgarity it is, when so many women shall do justice to themselves, that they can not be taken as exceptions to prove the rule. and this success depends on their own wills. the noble use of god's gifts shall make its mark in this world. as sure as god lives, it shall compel a becoming respect. for more and more of these lessons in true honor do we pray; for the very name of manhood must make us blush, so long as it is identified with these airs of patronage and control, these insulting obeisances, these flatterers of what is childish in women, these sarcasms upon what is noblest; worse than all, this willingness to derive gain from the degradation and suffering of the sex it professes to adore. and words are poor to express the gratitude that shall be forever due to those women whose moral energy shall rebuke this littleness, and stir true manliness in man. with sincere respect, i am truly your friend, samuel johnson. ernestine l. rose remarked, that in the letter read by mr. higginson there was one sentence that struck her with great force, viz: that it is of far greater importance what woman does than what man thinks; and, she would add, what woman thinks. the influence of what she had done was felt not only in this country, but throughout the entire continent of europe. the author of that letter had expressed another sentiment to which she wished briefly to advert. he said that where ten men could be convinced of the truth of woman's rights, hardly one woman could be gained. at first sight it might so appear. but it should be borne in mind, that men were more accustomed to think and reflect and argue upon everything connected with the legal and political rights of men, at least, and, therefore, they were more easily convinced. nevertheless, the subject, whenever presented to the mind of woman in its proper light, would not fail to find an echo in her heart. whenever the subject was broached to a woman hitherto unacquainted with it, it first caused a smile, and, perchance, a sneer; but, put to her a few common-sense questions, and the smile disappeared, and her countenance assumed a serious expression. ask her if she is not entitled to self-government, to the full development of her mental powers, to the free choice of her industrial avocations, to proper remuneration for her labor, to equal control of her offspring with that of her husband, to the possession and control of her own property, and to a voice in making the laws that impose taxes upon property that she may hold--ask her a few simple, straight-forward questions like these, and see if an immediate, hearty, and warm assent is not elicited. in spite of a violent storm a large number assembled in the evening. the speakers announced were mrs. elizabeth jones and wendell phillips. mrs. jones' address was a clear and logical statement of the whole claim of woman. by her own request, it was not published. wendell phillips:--ladies and gentlemen. i am told that the _times_ of to-day warns the women of this convention that if they proceed in their crusade they will forfeit the protection of the men. perhaps, before it is offered, the question had better be asked whether it is needed. i do not think that i should run the risk of much difference of opinion if i claimed, that nine men out of ten would not be able to defend their right to vote as logically as the lady who has just addressed us has defended her right to vote. i question whether one-quarter of what we call the men educated by the colleges, and in active life--the better education of the two--would be able, arrogating to themselves as they do a far greater political and civil capacity, to state the grounds of civil rights and responsibilities, to mark out the limits, to vindicate the advantages, and to analyze the bases on which these rest, as we have just had it done. if participation in civil rights is based on mind--as in this country we claim it to be--then certainly to-night we have no right to deny that the cause is gained, for the friend who has preceded me has left very little for any one to say; she has covered the whole ground. in fact this question is a question of civilization, nothing less. the position of woman anywhere is the test of civilization. you need not ask for the statistics of education, of national wealth, or of crime; tell me the position of woman, and you answer the question of the nation's progress. utah is barbarism; we need no evidence; we read it in the single custom that lowers the female sex. wherever you go in history this is true. step by step as woman ascends, civilization ripens. i warn the anxious and terrified that their first efforts should be to conquer their fears, for the triumph of this crusade is written as certain on the next leaf that turns in the great history of the race, as that the twentieth century will open. the time was when a greek dared not let his wife go out of doors, and in the old comic play of athens, one of the characters says, "where is your wife?" "she has gone out." "death and furies! what does she do out?" doubtless, if any "fanatic" had claimed the right of woman to walk out of doors, he would have been deemed crazy in athens; had he claimed the right of a modest married woman to be seen out of doors it would have been considered fanaticism, and i do not know but that the _herald_ of that day would have branded him as an infidel. but spite of the anchored conservatism of others, women got out of doors and the country grew, and the world turned round, and so modern europe has progressed. now the pendulum swung one way, and now another, but woman has gained right after right until with us, to the astonishment of the greek, could he see it--of the turk, when he hears it--she stands almost side by side with man in her civil rights. the saxon race has led the van. i trample underfoot contemptuously the jewish--yes, the jewish--ridicule which laughs at such a convention as this; for we are the saxon blood, and the first line of record that is left to the saxon race is that line of tacitus, "on all grave questions they consult their women." when the cycle of saxondom is complete, when the saxon element culminates in modern civilization, another tacitus will record in the valley of the mississippi, as he did in the valley of the rhine, "on all grave questions they consult their women." the fact is, there is no use of blinking the issue. it is paul against the saxon blood; it is a religious prejudice against the blood of the race. the blood of the race accords to woman equality; it is a religious superstition which stands in the way and balks the effort. europe has known three phases. the first was the dominion of force; the second the dominion of money; the third is beginning--the dominion of brains. when it comes, woman will step out on the platform side by side with her brother. the old hindoo dreamed that he saw the human race led out to its varied fortune, and first he saw a man bitted and curbed, and the reins went back to an iron hand. then he saw a man led on and on, under various changes, until, at last, he saw the man led by threads that came from the brain and went back to an invisible hand. the first was the type of despotism--the reign of force, the upper classes keeping down the under. the last is ours--the dominion of brains. we live in a government where _the new york herald_ and _new york tribune_, thank god, are more really the government than franklin pierce and caleb cushing. ideas reign. i know some men do not appreciate this fact; they are overawed by the iron arm, by the marble capitol, by the walls of granite--palpable power, felt, seen. i have seen the palace of the cæsars, built of masses that seemed as if giants alone could have laid them together, to last for eternity, as if nothing that did not part the solid globe could move them. but the tiny roots of the weeds of italian summers had inserted themselves between them, and the palace of the cæsars lies a shapeless ruin. so it is with your government. it may be iron, it may be marble, but the pulses of right and wrong push it aside; only give them time. i hail the government of ideas. there is another thing i claim. you laugh at woman's rights conventions; you ridicule socialism (i do not accept that); you dislike the anti-slavery movement. the only discussion of the grave social questions of the age, the questions of right and wrong that lie at the basis of society--the only voices that have stirred them and kept those questions alive have been those of these three reforms. smothered with gold--smothered with material prosperity, the vast masses of our countrymen were living the lives of mere getters of money; but the ideas of this half of the nineteenth century have been bruited by despised reformers, kept alive by three radical movements, and whoever in the next generation shall seek for the sources of mental and intellectual change will find it here; and in a progressive people like ours that claim is a most vital and significant one.... i contend that woman, broadly considered, makes half the money that is made. go the world over, take either europe or america, the first source of money is intelligence and thrift; it is not speculation.... out of the twenty millions of american people that make money, woman does more than half of the work that insures the reward. i claim for that half of the race whose qualities garner up wealth, the right to dispose of it, and to control it by law. again, take thought. i know our sister has modestly told us how utterly they are deprived of what are called the institutions of education; but we know very well that book learning is a miserably poor thing, and that the best education in the world is what we clutch in the streets; and of that education, by hook or by crook, woman has so far gained enough, that, europe and america through, where is the man presumptuous enough to doubt that the hand of woman is not felt as much on the helm of public opinion as that of man? to be sure, she does not have an outside ambitious distinction; but at home, in the molding hours, in youth, in the soft moments when the very balance-wheel of character is touched, we all know that woman, though she may not consciously enunciate ideas, does as much to form public opinion as man. the time has been--and every man who has ever analyzed history knows it--when in france, the mother to europe of all social ideas; france that has lifted up germany from mysticism, and told england what she means and what she wants: france that has construed england to herself, and interpreted to her what she was blindly reaching out for; when in that very france, at the fountain-head of that eighteenth century of civil progress, it was in the saloons of woman that man did his thinking, and it was under the brilliant inspiration of her society that that mighty revolution in the knowledge and science of civil affairs was wrought. in this country, too, at this hour, woman does as much to give the impulse to public opinion as man does. wherever i find silent power i want recognition of the responsibility. i am not in favor of a power behind the throne. i do not want half the race concealed behind the curtain and controlling without being responsible. drag them to the light, hold them up as you do men to the utmost study of public questions, and to a personal responsibility for their public settlement. corruption--it often takes the very form of the passions of woman. in paris, to-day, we are told, when the government approaches a man, the way is, not to give him wealth for his own enjoyment, but to dower his daughter. it is the pride of woman through which they reach him. drag that woman forward on the platform of public life; give to her manifest ability a fair field, let her win wealth by her own exertions, not by the surrender of principle in the person of her husband; and although my friend doubts it, i believe, when you put the two sexes harmoniously in civil life, you will secure a higher state of civilization--not because woman is better, not because she is more merciful, or more just, or more pure than man, as man naturally, but because god meant that a perfect human being should be made up of man and woman allied, and it is only when the two march side by side on the pathway of civilization that the harmonious development of the race begins. then, again, you can not educate woman, in the sense that we use education. she has no motive. as my friend said, when she marries, education ceases. at that age the education of man commences: he has wealth, ambition, social position, as his stimulus: he knows that by keeping his mind on the alert he earns them all. you furnish a woman with books--you give her no motive to open them. you open to her the door of science: why should she enter? she can gain nothing except in individual and exceptional cases; public opinion drives her back, places a stigma upon her of blue-stocking, and the consequence is, the very motive for education is taken away. now, i believe, a privileged class, an aristocracy, a set of slaveholders, does just as much harm to itself as it does to the victimized class. when man undertakes to place woman behind him, to assume the reins of government and to govern for her, he is an aristocrat; and all aristocracies are not only unjust, but they are harmful to the progress of society. i welcome this movement, because it shows that we have got a great amount of civilization. every other movement to redress a wrong in the past generations of the world has been yielded to only from fear. bentham says truly, the governing race never yielded a right unless they were bullied out of it. that is true historically; but we have come to a time--and this movement shows it--when civilization has rendered man capable of yielding to something different from fear. this movement has only been eight years on foot, and during that time, we who have watched the statute-book are aware to admiration of the rapid changes that have taken place in public opinion, and in legislation, all over the states. within the last four years, in different localities, woman has been allowed the right to protect her earnings, and to make a will--two of the great points of property. aye, and one little star of light begins to twinkle in the darkness of the political atmosphere: kentucky allows her to vote. yes, from the land where on one question they are so obstinate, the white race have remembered justice to their white co-equals. in her nobly-planned school system, kentucky divides her state into districts; the trustees are annually chosen for the state funds; and it is expressly provided, that besides the usual voters in the election of trustees for the school fund, which is coveted by millions, there shall be allowed to vote, every widow who has a child betwixt six and eighteen years old, and she shall go to the ballot-box in person or by proxy. kentucky repudiates the doctrine that to go to the ballot-box forfeits the delicacy of the sex; for she provides, in express terms, that she shall go to the ballot-box in person, or by proxy, as she pleases. it is the first drop of the coming storm--it is the first ray of light in the rising sun. civilization can not defend itself, on american principles, against this claim. my friend of brooklyn claims the right to make political speeches, as well as sermons, because he is a citizen. well, woman is a citizen too: and if a minister can preach politics because he is a citizen, woman can meddle in politics and vote, because she is a citizen too. when mr. beecher based his right, not on the intellect which flashes from maine to georgia, not on the strength of that nervous right arm, but solely on his citizenship, he dragged to the platform twelve millions of american women to stand at his side. but the difficulty is, no man can defend his own right to vote, without granting it to woman. the only reason why the demand sounds strange, is because man never analyzed his own right. the moment he begins to analyze it, he can not defend it without admitting her. our fathers proclaimed, sixty years ago, that government was co-equal with the right to take money and to punish for crime. now, all that i wish to say to the american people on this question is, let woman go free from the penal statute--let her property be exempt from taxation, until you admit her to the ballot-box--or seal up the history of the revolution, make bancroft and hildreth prohibited books, banish the argument of ' , and let mr. simms have his own way with the history of all the states, as well as south carolina. yes, the fact is, women make opinion for us; and the only thing we shut them out from is the ballot-box. i would have it constantly kept before the public, that we do not seek to prop up woman; we only ask for her space to let her grow. governments are not made; they grow. they are not buildings like this, with dome and pillars; they are oaks, with roots and branches, and they grow, by god's blessing, in the soil he gives to them. now man has been allowed to grow, and when pharaoh tied him down with bars of iron, when europe tied him down with privilege and superstition, he burst the bonds and grew strong. we ask the same for woman. göethe said that if you plant an oak in a flower-pot, one of two things was sure to happen: either the oak will be dwarfed, or the flower-pot will break. so we have planted woman in a flower-pot, hemmed her in by restrictions, and when we move to enlarge her sphere, society cries out, "oh! you'll break the flower-pot!" well, i say, let it break. man made it, and the sooner it goes to pieces the better. let us see how broadly the branches will throw themselves, and how beautiful will be the shape, and how glorious against the moonlit sky, or glowing sunset, the foliage shall appear. [illustration: martha c. wright (with autograph).] i say the very first claim, the middle and last claim of all our conventions should be the ballot. everywhere, in each state, we should claim it; not for any intrinsic value in the ballot, but because it throws upon woman herself the responsibility of her position. man never grew to his stature until he was provoked to it by the pressure and weight of responsibility; and i take it woman will grow up the same way. the first three resolutions on the presidential election were brought up for discussion and adopted. those persons in the audience who desired to speak were urged to do so. mrs. rose said: in reference to this last election, though it was not my good fortune to be here during the time of that great excitement, being then on the continent of europe; yet, even at that great distance, the fire of freedom that was kindled here spread itself across the atlantic. the liberal, intelligent, and reformatory portion of the people of europe, as well as in england, have most warmly, most heartily sympathized with us in the last struggle of freedom against slavery. it is a most glorious epoch. i will not enter into a political or anti-slavery lecture, but simply state this fact--the time has come when the political parties are entirely annihilated. they have ceased to exist. there is no longer whig and no longer democrat--there is freedom or slavery. we have here an equally great purpose to achieve. this, too, is not woman's rights or man's rights, but it is human rights. it is based on precisely the same fundamental truths with the other question. in the last election the general feeling prevailed that woman ought to take more interest in political affairs, and with the noble work she did during the campaign, it seems to me most extraordinary that the men who have worked thus nobly for the freedom of one class, should yet refuse freedom to the other class. phillip d. moore rose in the body of the building and said: during this last presidential canvass i heard more than once the oldest member of congress declare that freedom was based upon the law of god, which was declared in our bill of rights--our declaration of independence--that it was the inalienable right of all mankind to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness. he placed this last presidential struggle upon that right higher than all human law; and upon that it seems this contest in behalf of human rights is based. i think that we should adopt these resolutions, and also appeal to the legislative bodies, where, i believe, there are men who will hear and heed the voice of justice. rev. t. w. higginson took the floor, and expressed his hope that they would have more speaking from the floor and less from the platform. as a republican voter, he would take his stand in support of these resolutions; and he would declare that it was true that the close of the presidential election was the time for a woman's convention to be held. it was true that the republican party was pledged, if it had any manliness in it, to support the cause of women, to whom it had applied to support its cause every day; and it was positively true that, if there were such a thing in the land as a democratic party, that party was the party of the women also. as a further illustration of the idea expressed by the gentleman who had preceded him, he would state the fact that, when he was invited to vermont to address the legislature in favor of the appropriation of $ , for kansas,[ ] the meeting was postponed, on the ground that the shortness of the notice would not allow time for procuring the attendance of the women of the village to fill the galleries, and by their sympathy to influence the determination of the members of the legislature who might be present. accordingly they waited a little longer, gave sufficient notice, got the gallery full of ladies, and ultimately got the $ , appropriation, too. but always when the women had given their sympathy and began to demand some in return, it was found out that they were very "dependent" creatures, and that, if they persisted in it, they would forfeit the "protection" of the men; and this in the face of the fact, that when politicians wanted votes and clergymen wanted money, their invariable practice was to appeal to the women! the last time he had considered woman's rights he was in a place where man's rights needed to be defended--it was in kansas. no man could go to kansas and see what woman had done there, and come back and see the little men who squeak and shout on platforms in behalf of kansas, and then turn to deride and despise women, without a feeling of disgust. he would like to place some of these parlor orators and dainty platform speakers where the women of kansas had stood, and suffered, and acted. he saw, while in kansas, a new york woman[ ]--whose story they might remember in the newspapers--how she hospitably prepared, in one day, three dinners for the marauders who were hovering around her house, and in their starvation became respectful at last, and asked her for the hospitality they did not then quite dare to enforce; and how they ate her dinner and abused her husband, until the good woman could stand it no longer, and at last opened her lips and gave them a piece of her mind. he saw that woman. she had lived for weeks together in the second story of a log hut, with the windows of the lower story boarded up, so that the inmates had to climb in by a ladder. she was surrounded by pro-slavery camps; and while her husband was in the army, she was left alone. the house had been visited again and again, and plundered. the wretches would come at night, discharge their rifles, and howl like demons. her little girl, a nervous child, had sickened and died from sheer fright. but still, after the death of that child, the mother lived on, and still gave hospitality to free-soil men, and still defended the property of her husband by her presence. at last the marauders burned her house over her head, and she retreated for a time. the speaker saw her when she was on her way back to that homestead, to rebuild the house which she had seen once reduced to ashes by the enemy; and she said that if her husband was killed there in kansas, she should preempt that claim, and defend the property for her children. he saw another woman, a girl of twenty. he visited a mill which had been burnt by missourians, where piles of sawdust were still in flames before his eyes, and there he met her; and when he asked to whom that house belonged, she said to her father. and when he inquired about her adventures in connection with that burning house, this was the story. twenty-eight hundred missourians were encamped around that house the morning after they had burned it. the girl had fled with her mother a mile off, but had come back to see if she could save any of the property. she walked into the midst of the crowd, and found a man she had previously known seated upon her favorite horse. said she, "that is my horse; get off." he laughed at her. she repeated her demand. he loaded her with curses and insults. she turned to the bystanders--the herd of ruffians who had burned her father's house--and said: "this is my horse; make that man get off." those fellows obeyed her; they shrank before that heroic girl, and made their companion dismount. she mounted the horse and rode off. when she had gone about half a mile, she heard a trampling of horses' hoofs behind her. the thief, mounted on a fleeter horse, was riding after her. he overtook her, and reining his horse in front of her, he seized hers by the bridle, and commanded her to let go. she held on. said he, "let go, or it will be the worse for you." she still held on. he took out his bowie-knife, and drew it across her hand, so that she could feel the sharpness of the edge. said he, "if you don't let go, i will cut your hand off." said she, "cut if you dare." he cut the rope close to her hand, and took the bridle from her. it was useless to resist any longer, so she slipped off and walked away. but it was not ten minutes before she again heard trampling behind, and as she looked around, she saw two companions of this miscreant--two men less utterly villainous than he--bringing back her horse. moved by her heroism, they had compelled him again to give up the horse, had brought it back to her, and she owns it now. that was what great emergencies made out of woman. that girl had splendid physical proportions, and though some accident had deprived her of her left arm, she had a right arm, however, which was worth a good many. she had one arm, and the editor of _the new york times_, he supposed, had two. he was not much accustomed to seeking defence of anybody, but he must say that, if he ever did get into difficulty as a woman's rights man, and had to choose between the protection of the one arm of that girl in kansas, and the two of the new york editor, he thought his first choice would not be the lieutenant-governor. seeing the heroism of the women of kansas, he told the men of lawrence, that when the time came for them to assert their rights, he hoped they would not imitate the border ruffians of the eastern states, who asserted rights for man, and denied them to woman. mr. higginson then reported the following resolution from the business committee: _resolved_, that the warm sympathies of this convention are respectfully offered to those noble women in england, who are struggling against wrongs even greater than those of american women, but the same in kind; and we trust that they will follow on their demands in logical consistency, until they comprise the full claim for the equality of the sexes before the law. this resolution referred, as some of them knew, to the recent action of some of the noblest women in england, in behalf of juster rights of property and a larger construction of human rights than had hitherto prevailed there. the list included a few of the very noblest of the women who had helped to make england's name glorious by their deeds in literature and in art. it included mrs. norton, to whom wendell phillips had referred, as a living proof of the intellectual greatness of woman; she had a husband who, after blasting her life by an infamous charge against her, which he confessed to his counsel he did not believe, now lived on the earnings of the brains of his wife. it included, also, mrs. somerville, a woman who had forever vindicated the scientific genius of her sex, by labors that caused the wonder and admiration of scientific men; a woman of whom it is said, that she is in all respects true to her sex, because while studying the motions of the heavenly bodies, she does not forget the motion of the tea-cups around her own table, and is as exquisite a housekeeper, as she is wise and accomplished as a student. it included also harriet martineau, that woman who, perhaps more than any other person in this age, had contributed to place the last half century in europe in a clear light, by her admirable history, and shown in her treatise on political economy, a grasp and clearness which few men attain. it included also the name of elizabeth barrett browning, that woman of rarest genius, of whom her husband, himself the greatest of england's living poets, had said that his wife's heart, which few knew, was greater than her intellect, which everybody knew; a woman whose inspiration had drawn from that husband, in the closing poem of his latest volume, the very highest strain which modern english poetry had struck, and the noblest utterance of emotion that ever man produced toward woman, in the speaker's judgment, since the world began. it also included mary howitt, whose beautiful union with her husband is a proof of what true marriage will be, when man and woman are equals, and whose genius had brought forth the wonderful powers of another woman whom we may fearlessly claim as a co-laborer, frederica bremer. these were the women of england to whom the resolution referred; women who had taken the first step in that movement, of which the full enfranchisement of woman will be the last. he could not quite accept the opinion by mrs. jones in her admirable essay in regard to the superior education of the women of england. the women of england, as he took it, did not equal the women of america in their average education, although they did surpass them in that physical vigor of constitution which, in the end, gave greater power of action and thought. whilst the english woman was, by the necessity of the case, taught more of the modern languages, she was not so commonly taught either the ancient languages or the mathematics, and had not, therefore, the same amount of mental training. in england, too, this woman's rights movement was met by more serious obstacles. it had to encounter all the thunders of _the thunderer_--all the terrors of _the times_--whilst here it had to undergo the very diluted thunders of _the times the little_. a recent traveler has remarked that he could distinguish the massachusetts women from the women of any other state--not because they spoke through their nose, or sung psalms, but because they had "views." every woman had her "views" upon every subject. it was true that the english women had superb frames, grand muscles, fine energies, that they spoke two or three languages, but then they usually didn't have any "views"; and he thanked god that he lived in a state where women had them. he had spoken for woman and to woman, because he was a man. he did not dare, as a republican voter, to throw his vote with one hand, without doing something for woman's rights with the other. men and women were one before god, and this union can not be perfect until their equality be recognized. so long as woman is cut off from education, man is deprived of his just education. so long as woman is crushed into a slave, so long will man be narrowed into a despot. without this movement, the political conventions of the present day would only prove to posterity that the nation was half civilized; but now future historians will record that in , new york had not only her caucuses and her ballot-boxes, but her woman's rights convention also. mrs. rose wished to remark, in reference to the resolution offered by mr. higginson, that english women, to her knowledge, were very active in forwarding the woman's rights movement throughout great britain. and not only english women, but young and noble english girls--girls, who were too timid to take part publicly in the movement, but who were untiring and indefatigable in making converts and enlisting aid. there was miss smith, miss fox, the daughter of the celebrated w. j. fox, the eloquent lecturer and member of parliament for oldham, miss parkes, and others. they had devoted themselves to the great work, which was more difficult in that country than this. they had no declaration of independence to appeal to, declaring that all men were created equal, and endowed with the incalculable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. they had no such standard to appeal to there, because men there were not recognized as free. banking interests, manufacturing interests, land monopolies, and monopolies of every other kind were represented in england, but not men. the principle of universal suffrage had not yet obtained in england, and hence the greater difficulties that woman had to encounter there. another obstacle was the division of the people into classes and castes. no movement could make headway in england unless it was commenced among what are termed the higher classes. every petition to parliament must first have some names that have a title attached to them before it can obtain other signatures. the thinking portion of the middle classes were kept silent to a great extent, because of their utter inability to do anything unless it was taken up and supported by the higher classes. but this state of things would not continue long; there was "a good time coming" there as well as here. signatures by thousands had been obtained to the woman's petition, and she presumed by the time it was presented to parliament it would contain tens of thousands of names. mrs. rose then offered the following resolution from the committee: _resolved_, that we also present our assurances of respect and sympathy to the supporters of the cause of women in paris, the worthy successors of pauline roland and jeanne deroine, who, in the face of imperial despotism, dare to tell the truth. in commenting on this resolution, mrs. rose remarked that if the difficulties surrounding english women who advocated an amelioration of woman's condition were great, how much greater were those which surrounded the french women, owing to the blight of despotism in that country. they could write their thoughts, but their writings could not be published in france. they had to send them to the one state in italy which was not crushed by dark and bitter despotism. that bright spot is sardinia. the works of the noble french women had to be sent to turin, printed there, and sent back to paris for private, secret distribution. and when these women met in consultation, they had to watch the doors and windows, to see that all was secure. she knew many of them, but dared not mention their names, for fear they might be borne across the atlantic, and lead to their oppression and proscription. the noblest thoughts that had ever been uttered in france were by women, not only before the revolution, but down to the present day. madame roland was imprisoned for uttering the truth, in consequence of which imprisonment she lost her arm. jeanne deroine was exiled, and now resides in london, where she supports herself, two daughters and son. she was teaching them herself, because she had no means to pay for their education. she filled their minds with noble thoughts and feelings, even to the very sacrifice of themselves for the benefit of the race, and more especially for the elevation of woman, without which she feels convinced that the elevation of man can never be accomplished. but while the names of a few such noble women were made public, hundreds, nay, thousands, who had done as much, and even more than these, were in obscurity. they were constantly watching to find what was done in america. and there was one thing which characterized these french women, and that was, the entire absence of jealousy and envy of the talents and virtues of others. wherever they see a man or woman of intellect or virtue, they recognize them as a brother or sister; and they never ask from whom a great thought or a virtuous action comes, but, is it good, is it noble? it seemed to her that the character of the french women was the very essence of human nobility. they are ready to welcome, with heart and hand, every reformer, without stopping to inquire whether he is english, american, german, or turk. but poor france was oppressed as she never was before. the usurper that now disgraces the throne, as well as the name he bears, does not allow the free utterance of a single free thought. men and women are taken up privately and imprisoned, and no newspaper dares to publish any account of it. when mrs. rose had concluded, a young gentleman in the rear of the hall rose from his seat, and desired to make a few remarks. we subsequently understood he was from virginia, and that his name was leftwich, a theological student. he asked whether the claims of woman, which had been stated and advocated in the convention, were founded on nature or revelation? he wished mr. higginson would enlighten him and several of his friends on that subject. rev. mr. higginson said that he was very glad that it was not a place for theological discussion. he was requested to answer the query whether the claims of woman, as stated in this convention, were founded in nature or revelation. to define either what nature or revelation was, would involve metaphysical argument and abstract considerations that would take up the entire day. the basis of the movement was not due to this or that creed. every woman's rights man or woman does his or her own thinking. he (the speaker) did his own. included in the movement were men and women of all sects. there was wendell phillips, who thought himself a strict calvinist; there were on the other hand professed atheists among them, and there were, he believed, roman catholics, so that it would be, in the highest degree, presumptuous for any one man to speak on that peculiar topic. antoinette l. brown had formed her idea of woman's rights from the bible, and some of her friends thought that she was wasting her time in writing a treatise on woman's rights, deduced from scripture. she was an orthodox congregational minister, ordained in a methodist meeting-house, while a baptist minister preached the ordination sermon. there were some of the woman's rights friends who believed that we could get support from the bible, and some who believed we could not, and who did not care whether we can or not. there were, also, those who simply believed that god made man and woman, and knew what he was about when he made them--giving them rights founded on the eternal laws of nature. it was upon these laws of nature that he (mr. h.) founded his woman's rights doctrines. if there was any book or teacher in the world which contradicted them, he was sorry for that book and for that teacher. was the gentleman answered? the gentleman from virginia rose, in his place, in the rear of the building, and replied that he was not answered. although earnestly invited to come upon the platform and address the audience, he declined to do so. his remarks, in consequence, were inaudible to about one-half the audience. he said it seemed to him that there was an inconsistency and an antagonism between theology and mr. higginson's views, as expressed by himself. the gentleman had contradicted himself. he refused to treat the question on the ground of revelation, and then declared that the claim of woman's rights was founded on the fundamental laws of god and nature. here he took issue with mr. h. the test of the naturalness of a claim was its universality. the principles upon which it was based must be found wherever man was found, and must have existed through all time and under every condition of life. what was found everywhere under all circumstances was natural. this woman's rights claim was not found everywhere even in this country, let alone others. he knew many enlightened and refined districts which had never heard the principles of this society, much less felt them. they were not popular anywhere in the age in which they were inaugurated. therefore they were not founded in nature, and the claim of naturalism must fall to the ground. the taste for the beautiful, and the love of right, were innate faculties of the mind, because they existed everywhere; not so with the recognition of the claim of woman's rights. again, the claim was not based on revelation, which he would prove in this way: revelation is never inconsistent with itself. the claim for woman of the right to vote, inasmuch as she would of necessity vote as she pleased, and therefore sometimes contrary to her husband, involved a disobedience of her husband, which was directly antagonistic to the injunction of the scriptures requiring wives to obey their husbands. an elderly quaker lady in the body of the audience rose, and told the gentleman from the old dominion that if he wished to do any good he must come on the platform where he could be heard. the gentleman declined. lucy stone said that men had rights as well as women, and she would not insist on the gentleman coming to the platform if he chose to remain where he was, but it would be more convenient if he would come. the gentleman from virginia still declined, and proceeded to quote scripture against the woman's rights movement. the quaker lady again started up, and told him he had got hold of the letter of the bible, but not the spirit. lucy stone desired that each speaker would take his or her turn, "in due order, so that all might be edified." the gentleman from virginia proceeded. referring to a remark of mr. phillips on the preceding evening, in connection with a quotation from tacitus, "that this movement was paul against the anglo-saxon blood," he stood by the apostle to the gentiles, and mr. phillips might stand by the corrupted saxon blood. a gentleman rose and requested him to go upon the platform, as half the audience were breaking their necks by trying to listen to him. still the gentleman declined. the virginian argued that woman was not fitted for the pulpit, the rostrum, or the law court, because her voice was not powerful enough. god gave her a mild, sweet voice, fitted for the parlor and the chamber, for the places for which he had designed her. god has not given her a constitution to sustain fatigue, to endure as man endures, to brave the dangers which man can brave. she was too frail, too slender--too delicate a flower for rough blasts and tempests. in her whole physical organization there was proof that she was not capable of what man was capable. hers was a more beautiful mission than man's--a pure atmosphere was hers to breathe. surrounded by all gentle influences, let her be content with the holy and beautiful position assigned to her by her maker. he did not rise to make a speech. he was urged into it by the desultory, erratic, shallow, superficial reasonings of the gentleman who in one breath invited them to free discussion, and in the next defamed and scandalized the editor of _the times_, because he took the liberty to discuss this question freely in his paper. mr. higginson came forward promptly to reply. he thanked the gentleman for his speech. such speeches were just what the convention wanted. he was glad to hear from the applause which followed the gentleman's remarks, that there was a large number of persons present who were opposed to the views of the convention. it was of little use talking to friends who already agreed with you, but it was always of advantage to talk to opponents, whom you might hope to convert. he was glad that those who differed with them were there, because it showed that the question was one of interest, and was beginning to excite those who probably had bestowed but little thought on it before. he did not think the gentleman could have meant what he said when he accused him of slander. he did not mean to slander anybody. and he did not think he quite meant what he said about his erratic and shallow reasonings. he would appeal to all if he had not treated the gentleman with courtesy. he thought he had answered the gentleman's inquiry, when in reply to the question whether he founded this claim on nature or on revelation, he said that he personally founded it on nature. if there was in the compass of the english language any simpler way of answering the question than that he did not know it. the gentleman, from the scope of his remarks, evinced a considerable love for metaphysical theology. his reasoning appeared to be a little dim; perhaps it was for want of comprehension on his part. he liked to plant himself on the fundamental principles of human nature, and work out his opinions from them. in reply to the gentleman's reasoning about the universality of a thing being a test of its naturalness, he could say that there were a good many races who did not know that two and two make four. according to the gentleman's idea of natural laws, therefore, it was not natural that two and two should make four. but it had always been a question among metaphysicians, which was really the most natural condition for man--the savage or the civilized state? his own opinion was that the state of highest cultivation was the most natural state of man. he tried to develop his own nature in that way, and one of the consequences of that development was the conviction that two and two made four; while another was the conviction that his wife had as much right to determine her sphere in life for herself as he had for himself. and having come to that conviction, he should endeavor to carry it out, and he hoped by the time the young gentleman came to have a wife, he would be converted to that principle. in reference to his attack on the editor of _the daily times_ for the article on the woman's convention, which had appeared in the edition of the previous day, he remarked that he had read that article without any particular reverence for its author. he knew the quarter from which it came. there was not a man in new york who better understood on which side his bread is buttered than the editor of _the daily times_. that gentleman always wished people to understand that his journal was _the times_, and was not _the tribune_, and never failed to avail himself of the woman's rights movement as giving him such an opportunity. have you ever seen a little boy running along the street, and carefully dodging between two big boys? if you have, that was the editor of _the times_ between greeley and bennett. _the times_ seeks to be a journal and nothing else. i will always say of it, continued the speaker, that the _reports_ in _the times_ are very perfect and very excellent. i do not mean any disrespect to the other reporters present when i say that the report of yesterday's proceedings of this convention, published in this morning's _times_, was fuller and far more perfect than the report of any other paper. and so it always is with the reports of _the times_. they are as full, as its criticisms on moral subjects are empty. lucy stone vacated the chair to address the meeting. she was more than glad, for the sake of the cause, that this discussion had arisen. she was glad that the question had been asked, whether this claim was based on nature or on revelation. many were asking the same question, and it was proper that it should be answered. if we were living in new zealand where there is no revelation and nobody has ever heard of one, there would yet be an everlasting truth or falsehood on this question of woman's rights, and the inhabitants of that island would settle it in some way, without revelation. the true test of every question is its own merits. what is true will remain. what is false will perish like the leaves of autumn when they have served their turn. but in regard to this question of nature and revelation, we found our claim on both. by revelation i suppose the gentleman means scripture. i find it there, "he who spake as never man spake" held up before us all radiant with god's own sunlight the great truth, "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them"; and that revelation i take as the foundation of our claim, and tell the gentleman who takes issue with us, that if he would not take the position of woman, denied right of access to our colleges, deprived of the right of property, compelled to pay taxes, to obey laws that he never had a voice in making, and be defrauded of the children of his love, then, according to the revelation which he believes in, he must not be thus unjust to me. the gentleman says he believes in paul. so do i. when paul declares that there is neither jew nor greek, neither bond nor free, male nor female in christ, i believe he meant what he said. the gentleman says he believes in paul more than in the anglo-saxon blood. i believe in both. but when paul tells us to "submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake," and to "fear god and honor the king," the heavy tread of the anglo-saxon blood walks over the head of paul and sweeps away from this republic the possibility of a king. and the gentleman himself, i presume, would not assent to the sway of a crowned monarch, paul to the contrary, notwithstanding. just as the people have outgrown the injunction of paul in regard to a king, so have the wives his direction to submit themselves to their husbands. the gentleman intimates that wives have no right to vote against their husbands, because the scriptures command submission, and he fears that it would cause trouble at home if they were to do so. let me give him the reply of an old lady, gray with the years which bring experience and wisdom. she said that when men wanted to get their fellow-men to vote in the way they desire, they take especial pains to please them, they smile upon them, ask if their wives and children are well, and are exceedingly kind. they do not expect to win their vote by quarreling with them--that would be absurd. in the same way, if a man wanted his wife to vote for his candidate he will be sure to employ conciliatory means. the golden rule settles this whole question. we claim it as ours, and whatever is found in the bible contradictory to it, never came from god. if men quote other texts in conflict with this, it is their business, not mine, to make them harmonize. i did not quite understand the gentleman's definition of what is natural. but this i do know, that when god made the human soul and gave it certain capacities, he meant these capacities should be exercised. the wing of the bird indicates its right to fly; and the fin of the fish the right to swim. so in human beings, the existence of a power, presupposes the right to its use, subject to the law of benevolence. the gentleman says the voice of woman can not be heard. i am not aware that the audience finds any difficulty in hearing us from this platform. all europe and america have listened to the voice of madam rachel and jenny lind. the capacity to speak indicates the right to do so, and the noblest, highest, and best thing that any one can accomplish, is what that person ought to do, and what god holds him or her accountable for doing, nor should we be deterred by the senseless cry, "it is not our proper sphere." as regards woman's voting, i read a letter from a lady traveling in the british provinces, who says that by a provincial law of nova scotia and new brunswick, women were actually voters for members of parliament; and still the seasons come and go, children are born, and fish flock to that shore. the voting there is _viva voce_. in canada it is well known that women vote on the question of schools. a friend told me when the law was first passed giving women who owned a certain amount of property, or who paid a given rental, a right to vote, he went trembling to the polls to see the result. the first woman who came was a large property holder in toronto; with marked respect the crowd gave way as she advanced. she spoke her vote and walked quietly away, sheltered by her womanhood. it was all the protection she needed. in face of all the arguments in favor of the incapacity of woman to be associated in government, stood the fact that women had sat on thrones and governed as successfully as men. england owes more to queen elizabeth than to any other sovereign except alfred the great. we must not always be looking for precedents. new ideas are born and old ones die. ideas that have prevailed a thousand years have been at last exploded. every new truth has its birth-place in a manger, lives thirty years, is crucified, and then deified. columbus argued through long years that there must be a western world. all europe laughed at him. five crowned heads rejected him, and it was a woman at last who sold her jewels and fitted out his ships. so, too, the first idea of applying steam to machinery was met with the world's derision. but its triumphs are recognized now. what we need is to open our minds wide and give hospitality to every new thought, and prove its truth. i want to say a word upon the resolutions. the present time, just after a presidential election, is most appropriate to consider woman's demand for suffrage. the republican party claims especially to represent the principles of freedom, and during the last campaign has been calling upon women for help. one of the leaders of that party went to elizabeth cady stanton and said he wanted her help in this campaign; and before she told me what answer she made, she asked me how i would have felt if the same had been asked of me. i told her i should have felt as samson did when the philistines put out his eyes, and then asked that he should make merriment for them. the republican party are a part of those who compel us to obey laws we never had a voice in making--to pay taxes without our consent; and when we ask for our political and legal rights, it laughs in our face, and only says: "help _us_ to places of power and emolument, and _we_ will rule over you." i know there are men in the republican party who, like our friend mr. higginson, take a higher stand, and are ready to recognize woman as a co-sovereign; but they are the exceptions. there is but one party--that of gerrit smith--that makes the same claim for woman that it does for man. but while the republican and democratic parties deny our political existence, they must not expect that we shall respond to their calls for aid. madame de staël said to bonaparte, when asked why she meddled with politics: "sire, when women have their heads cut off, it is but just they should know the reason." whatever political influence springs into being, woman is affected by it. we have the same rights to guard that men have; we shall therefore insist upon our claims. we shall go to your meetings, and by and by we shall meet with the same success that the roman women did, who claimed the repeal of the appian law. war had emptied the treasury, and it was still necessary to carry it on; women were required to give up their jewels, their carriages, etc. but by and by, when the war was over, they wished to resume their old privileges. they got up a petition for the repeal of the law; and when the senators went to their places, they found every avenue to the forum thronged by women, who said to them as they passed, "do us justice." and notwithstanding cato, the censor, was against them, affirming that men must have failed in their duty or women would not be clamorous for their rights, yet the obnoxious law was repealed. in that story of mr. higginson's, of the heroic woman in kansas whose left arm was cut off, there is a lesson for us to learn. i tell you, ladies, though we have our left hand cut off by unjust laws and customs, we have yet the right hand left; and when we once demand the ballot with as much firmness as that kansas daughter did her horse, believe me, it will not be in the power of men to withhold it--even the border ruffians among them will hasten to restore it. after all, the fault is our own. we have sat to "suckle fools, and chronicle small beer;" and, in inglorious ease, have forgotten that we are integral parts in the fabric of human society--that all that interests the race, interests us. we have never once, as a body, claimed the practical application of the principles of our government. it is our own fault. let it be so no longer. let us say to men: "government is just only when it obtains the consent of the governed": we are governed, _surrender to us our ballot_. if they deride, still answer: surrender our ballot! _and they will give it up_. "it is not in our stars that we are underlings, but in ourselves." woman has sat, like mordecai at the king's gate, hoping that her silent presence would bring justice; but justice has not come. the world has talked of universal suffrage; but it has made it universal only to man. it is time we spoke and acted. it is time we gave man faith in woman--and, still more, woman faith in herself. it is time both men and women knew that whatever has been achieved by woman in the realm of mind or matter, has been achieved by right womanly women. let us then work, and continue to work, until the world shall assent to our right to do whatever the capacities god has given us enable us to do. susan b. anthony rose and said that several gentlemen had handed her contributions, one $ , another $ . she trusted that all new york men and women would find they had something more to do than listen to speeches. letter from horace greeley. new york, _november , _. my friend:--you are promised to be present and speak at the approaching "woman's rights convention." i, too, mean to attend its deliberations, or some portion thereof, but not to take part in them. for i find this evil apparently inseparable from all radical gatherings: a very large and influential portion of the press, including, i grieve to say, religious as well as secular journals, are prone and eager to expose to odium those whom they would undermine and destroy, by attributing to them, not the sentiments they have personally expressed, but those of others with whom they are or have been associated in some reformatory movement. he, then, who appears as a speaker at a woman's rights convention is made responsible for whatever may be uttered at such convention--no matter by whom--which is most likely to excite popular prejudice and arouse popular hostility. i have borne a good share of this unfairly exalted and unjust odium, with regard to the dietetic, anti-slavery, and social reforms suggested in our day, and shall bear on as patiently as i may; but i grow older, and do not confront the world on a fresh issue with so light a heart, so careless a defiance, as i might have done twenty years ago. allow me, then, through you, to say what i think of the woman's rights movement, its objects, incitements, and limitations. if i may thus attain perspicuity, i can bear the imputation of egotism. . i deem the intellectual, like the physical capacities of women unequal in the average to those of men; but i perceive no reason in this natural diversity for a factitious and superinduced legal inequality. on the contrary, it seems to me that the fact of a natural and marked discrepancy in the average mental as well as muscular powers of men and women ought to allay any apprehensions that the latter, in the absence of legal interdicts and circumscriptions, would usurp the functions and privileges of the former. . i believe the range of employment for woman, in our age and country, far too restricted, and the average recompense of her labor, consequently far less than it should be. in saying this, i do not intimate a doubt that the best possible employment for most women is to be found in the care and management of their own households respectively, with the rearing and training of their children. but many women, including some of the most noble and estimable, are never called to preside over households; while some of the called are impelled to decline the invitation. in point of fact, then, there is and always will be a large proportion of the gentler sex who are, at least temporarily, required to earn their own subsistence, and vindicate their own usefulness in some other capacity than that of the loved and honored wife and mother. the maiden or widow, blessed with opulence, ought to be insured against the worse calamities of a reverse of fortune, by the mastery of some handicraft or industrial avocation; she ought to lead a life of persistent and efficient industry, as the fulfillment of a universal duty; while her unportioned sister must do this or grovel in degrading idleness and dependence on a father's or brother's overtaxed energies, looking to marriage as her only chance of escape therefrom. for man's sake, no less than woman's, it is eminently desirable that that large portion of our women, who are not absorbed in domestic cares, should be attracted and stimulated to industry by a wider range of pursuits, and a consequent increase of recompense. i deem it at once unjust and--like all injustice--impolitic, that a brother and sister, hired by the same farmer, the one to aid him in his own round of labor, the other to assist his wife in hers, should be paid, the one twelve to twenty, the other but four to six dollars per month. the difference in their wages should be no greater than in their physical and mental ability. still more glaring is this discrepancy, when the two are employed as teachers, and, though of equal efficiency, the one is paid five hundred dollars per annum, the other but two, or in that proportion, merely because the former is a man and the latter a woman. while such disparities exist, right here in this metropolis of american civilization and christianity, it is in vain that conservatism stops its ears and raises its eyebrows at the announcement of a woman's rights convention. . regarding marriage as the most important, most sacred, and tender of human relations, and deeming it irrevocable, save by death, it seems to me essential that woman should be proffered such a range of employments, with such adequate recompense, as to enable her at all times to support herself in honored and virtuous independence, so that marriage shall be accepted by her at the dictates of love, and not of hunger. much might be urged on this point, but i choose simply to commend it to the consideration of others. . as to woman's voting or holding office, i defer implicitly to herself. if the women of this or any other country believe their rights would be better secured and their happiness promoted by the assumption on their part of the political franchises and responsibilities of men, i, a republican in principle from conviction, shall certainly interpose no objection. i perceive what seem to be serious practical difficulties in the way of realizing such assumption; but these are difficulties, not for me, but for them. i deem it unjust that men should be so constantly and unqualifiedly impeached as denying rights to woman which the great majority of women seem quite as reluctant to claim as men are to concede. i apprehend that whenever women shall generally and earnestly desire an equality of political franchises with men, they will meet with little impediment from the latter. . i can not share at all in the apprehensions of those who are alarmed at the woman's rights agitation, lest it should result in the unsexing of woman, or her general deflection from her proper sphere. on the contrary, i feel sure that the freest inquiry and discussion will only result in a clearer and truer appreciation of woman's proper position, and a more general and rigid adherence thereto. "let there be light!" for this is an indispensable condition of all true and healthy growth. let all convictions find free utterance--all grievances be stated and considered. in the range of my observation, i have found those women who were conscious of defects in the present legal and social position of their sex among the most zealous, faithful, and efficient in the discharge of their household and parental duties. i feel confident that a general discussion of the subject of woman's rights will result in a more general recognition and cheerful performance of woman's appropriate duties. very truly yours, horace greeley. rev. samuel j. may. letter from hon. william hay, of saratoga springs. i acknowledge, with much pleasure, the receipt of a printed circular, calling for the seventh woman's rights annual convention. i also acknowledge, with increased pleasure, and perhaps with more pride than becomes me, the accompanying invitation to attend that convention, and take part in its proceedings. i like this word, because it implies progress. pre-engagement will prevent my personal attendance at the broadway tabernacle, but, be assured, my heart shall be there, with all its desires and hopes for the future of humanity; because i am convinced that until the individual and social rights of our whole race, without distinction of caste or sex, shall have been universally recognized, the tyrannies of earth will not cease from oppressing it. i wish that every woman in the united states could be at new york, throughout the continuance of your convention, where each might see for herself, in mrs. lucretia mott, what woman may be, and should be, and must be, before her sex can attain, individually and socially, "that equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle" her. for physical and mental improvement of man's condition, according to his birthright and educational capacity, there must be, in america, more marys, the mothers of washingtons. the great political and legal reform announced in your circular, contemplating complete development of the entire human race, is already operating, sympathetically and auspiciously, in europe, upon preeminent minds, like that of lord brougham, and may favorably react, in practical adoption here, of jefferson's elementary truth (almost a self-evident proposition, and yet treated as theory), that government derives its just powers from suffrage-consent of all (not half) of the governed. partial consent (especially by and to a moiety of mankind, arrogantly claiming, like louis xiv., to be the state) can confer only unjust power, which heaven's higher law of liberty, equality, and justice never sanctioned. your convention is most opportune, for this continent is threatened with permanent and peculiar danger, produced by the feudal condition of women. i allude to the increasing curse of mormonism, a consequence of woman's legalized inferiority or nonentity. with power from your local situation and undoubted sphere, to influence, for all time, the destiny of every civilized country, the members of your convention, conscious of their duty, will never flinch from the responsibility of their position. it requires an unequivocal and uncompromising claim for perfect equality of rights in every department of manual and machine labor, of thought, of speech, of government, of society, and of life itself. indeed, testamentary provision for assertion of that claim, by those few fortunate women who have, like mrs. blandina dudley[ ], wealth to bestow, should become a ruling principle, instead of that passion, so strong in death, for posthumous pulpit and newspaper applause, which protestantism has sagaciously substituted in lieu of the saving ordinances of the roman catholic church. respectfully yours, william hay. letter from frances d. gage st. louis, _november , _. dear lucy stone:--most earnestly did i desire to attend this seventh national convention, more especially as i felt that i should be the only representative from the west side of the great father of waters. but it is impossible for me to remove the barriers just now opposed to so long a journey and absence from home. there is much thought in the free states of the great west--much less of conservatism and rigid adherence to the old-time customs of law and theology among the masses, than in the east. thousands are becoming ready to be baptized into a new faith, a broader and holier recognition of the rights of humanity. the harvest-fields are ripening for the reapers. the gloomy night is breaking-- e'en now the sunbeams rest with a bright and cheering radiance on the hill-tops of the west; the mists are slowly rising from the valley and the plain, and a spirit is awaking that shall never sleep again. but since i can not meet you in your councils, i will endeavor to allay the disappointment by striving to reach with my pen some of the sunset homes in the far west, and endeavor to arouse woman there to her duties and responsibilities, that she may sympathize more fully with her eastern sisters, who caught the first glow of the sunrise hour of our great reform movement. with sincere and earnest wishes for your advancement in right and truth, i am respectfully yours, frances d. gage. mr. higginson was then introduced. mrs. president, and ladies and gentlemen: i think, as perhaps some of you do, that a disproportionately large portion of the time of the meeting to-day has been taken up by the speeches of men; therefore i do not intend that this man's speech shall be a very long one. i remember a certain sermon, of which it was said it had nothing good in it except its subject and its shortness. my speech is going to be like that sermon. but there is one great advantage which men, enjoy in speaking on a woman's rights platform: they can not help doing good to the movement, no matter how they speak; for if a man speaks well, of course he helps it by his speech; and if he speaks ill on the subject, he still helps it, because there are women about him who won't speak ill, and the comparison is useful. i wish to take up a point which, as a man, i am entitled to claim should have more prominence given it than has yet been the case; a point touched upon by me previously, in something i said yesterday, which some of you thought was not correct; and a point touched upon by wendell phillips this afternoon. i mean the claim of the woman's rights movement on woman; the wrong done by woman to that movement; and the injustice of the charge against man, that he especially resists it. and yet i can not fully accept the position taken by rev. mr. johnson and horace greeley, that man's duty is only to stand aside and let woman take her rights. not so. it is not so easy as that, let me tell you, gentlemen, to get rid of the responsibility of years of wrong. we men have been standing for years with our hands crushing down the shoulders of woman, so that she should not attain her true altitude; and it is not so easy, after we have cramped, dwarfed, and crippled her, to get rid of our responsibility by standing back at last, and saying, "there, we will let you go; stand up for yourself." if it is true, as these women say, that we have wronged them for centuries, we have got to do something more than mere negative duty. by as much as we have helped to wrong them, we have got to help to right them; by as much as we have discouraged them heretofore, we have got to encourage them hereafter; and that is why i wish to speak to women to-night of their duties, as these women have spoken to us of ours. i want to remind them that the time has come when men must appeal to them; for be assured that when women are ready to claim their rights, men will be ready to grant them. there are three special obstacles, mrs. president, to the willingness of woman to do her simple duty to the woman's rights movement. the first is the obstacle of folly--sheer, unadulterated folly--the folly in which women are trained, and in which we men help to train them, and for which we then denounce them. the reason why many women don't like the woman's rights movement, is because they have too little real thought in them to appreciate it at all. they have been brought up as fashionable society brings up woman on one side, or as mere household drudgery brings them up on the other--in each case, without power to appreciate a great principle--without power to appreciate a sublime purpose--without power to appreciate anything but a "good match," and the way to obtain it. on their entrance into life, their choice lies, for social position, for enjoyment, for occupation, for usefulness, in this narrow alternative--between a husband and nothing; and that, as theodore parker once said, is very often a choice between two nothings. these women may have literary culture and social polish; but, for want of an idea to light up their eyes and strengthen their souls, these things are only glitter and worthlessness. a certain celebrated french woman in the last century (mlle. de launay), who made mathematical science her study, at last had a lover; whereupon she partially forgot her mathematics, and only remembered enough of it for practical purposes. and, in her memoirs, she mentions the fact that her lover at length began to be less attentive to her; so much so, that she observed that whereas in walking home with her in the evening, he used to take pains to go round the two sides of the public square, in order to make the walk as long as possible, he now cut it short by always striking across the center; "so that his love for me," she observes, "must have decreased in the inverse ratio between the diagonal of a rectangular parallelogram and the sum of two adjacent sides." who shall say that mathematics are wasted on a woman after that? now, that is the sum of the science that is taught in half our institutions of education, in more than half our fashionable boarding-schools, in nearly all the most cultivated social circles in the land. how can you expect, from such women, any nobleness or appreciation of nobleness? how can you expect any from such a woman's husband, when all his thoughts of woman have been crushed down, by sad experience, to the level of his wife's capacities? when i find a man who is obstinate against woman's rights, i try to find out either what sort of a mother or what sort of a wife that man has, and there i find the key to his position; for how can you expect any man to have a noble and equal idea of woman, when his mother knows nothing in the universe beyond a cooking-stove, and his wife has not much experimental acquaintance even with that? no; the first obstacle to this woman's rights movement is the feminine, that builds all its hopes upon the wretched adulation and flattery of men--that thinks "the gentlemen admire weakness in a woman." well, so they do admire to flatter it and to laugh at it! those are the women who have called out from gifted men, age after age, those terrible denunciations of which literature is full. women who are here, who think men admire weakness in a woman, let me tell you that if you want to know what men really think of women, you must go beyond the flatteries of the ball-room; you must go beyond the compliments of the public speaker. you must follow your young admirer from the ball-room into the bar-room, where he ridicules you among his companions, and laughs at the folly he has been flattering. you must pass from the public meeting into the office or study, to learn how the man who flatters woman most may despise her in his heart. think what great men of the world have said of woman. voltaire said: "ideas are like beards--women and young men have none." lessing, the german, says: "the woman who thinks is like a man who puts on rouge--ridiculous." dr. maginn, that accomplished literary man, says: "we like to hear a few words of wit from a woman, just as we like to hear a few words of sense from a parrot--because they are so unexpected." these things were never said to women, but they were said of them. in the presence of female intellect, men are very often like that englishman who was reproached by the judge in the police-court, because he, being a very large, athletic man, allowed his wife, who was a very delicate, puny woman, occasionally, to beat him. said the judge: "how can you allow it? you have ten times her strength." "oh," said the giant, drawing himself up to his full stature, "it is no great matter; it pleases her, and it don't hurt me." that is the way men deal with female intellect--they like to amuse themselves with it, to flatter it as an entertaining trifle. but when it comes in earnest, and shows itself, then it is that these men stand apart from the new spectacle of a woman transformed into a thinker and worker; while true men rejoice to see nobleness in a woman. there is not a man here who does not, in his own highest moments, reverence in woman the same qualities he admires in himself, if he thinks he claims them. power of clear thought and of heroic action--every man admires these in woman in the best moments of his life. it is when he lowers himself to the level of the public meeting, or of the fashionable drawing-room, that he is changed into a flatterer, and he who flatters always despises the object of his flattery. another source of opposition to this movement among women is founded in fear. it does not require much courage for a man to stand on a woman's rights platform. i do not say that it does not require more than a good many men have, for it would be difficult to find a thing so easy as not to do that. he, of course, has to run the gauntlet of the old nonsense of "strong-minded women and weak-minded men." well, i am willing to be accounted weak-minded in the presence of strength of mind and heart, with which it has been my privilege to be associated in this movement. that is a small thing, and it is the experience of every man who has entered into this reform, that if he had a fiber of manhood in him heretofore, that fiber had been doubled, trebled, and quadrupled before he had been in it a year. instead of requiring courage for a man to enter into this movement, it rather requires courage to keep out of it, if he is a logical, clear-headed man. but with a woman it is different. she needs much courage. a woman who, for instance, has been engaged in some literary avocation, and obtained some position, does not wish to risk her reputation by connecting herself with those who advocate the right of woman, not merely to write and to speak, but to vote also; hence, while admitting, secretly admitting, the justice of the claim, she will shrink back from avowing it for fear of "losing her position." how can any brave man honor such a recreant woman as that, who, having gained all she wants to herself, under cover of the bolder efforts of these nobler spirits, then settles back upon the ease and comfort of that position, and turns her small artillery on her own sisters? i feel a sense of shame for american literature, when i think how our literary women shrink, and cringe, and apologize, and dodge to avoid being taken for "strong-minded women." oh, there's no danger. i don't wonder that their literary efforts are stricken with the palsy of weakness from the beginning. i don't wonder that our magazines are filled with diluted stories, in which sentimental heroines sigh, cry, and die through whole pages of weary flatness, and not a single noble thought relieves that sahara of emptiness and barrenness. it is a retribution on them. a man or woman can not put in a book more than they have in themselves, and if woman is not noble enough to appreciate a great thought, she is not noble enough to write one. i don't wonder that their fame does not keep the promise of its dawn, when that dawn is so dastardly. the time will come, let me tell you, ladies, when the first question asked about any woman in this age who is worth remembering will be, "did that woman comprehend her whole sphere? did she stand beside her sisters who were laboring for the right? if she did not this, it is no matter what she did." it is thus we already begin to judge the american women of the past. the time will come, when of all mrs. adams' letters, the passage best remembered will be that, where she points out to her great husband, that while emancipating the world, he still believes in giving men the absolute control over women. so the time will come when harriet beecher stowe will be less honored, even as the authoress of "uncle tom's cabin," than as the woman who in _the new york independent_, that repository of religious thought, dared to place it among her religious thoughts, that antoinette brown had a right to stand in the pulpit. i wish mrs. stowe were yet more consistent; i wish she were not satisfied with merely wishing that others would attend woman's rights conventions, and support woman's rights lectures, but would join and take part in these things herself, as i believe she will when her brave spirit has gone a little further. her heroic brother, henry ward beecher, is with us already in the public advocacy of the right of suffrage for women. the third obstacle that sets woman against this movement is _prejudice_. it is the honest feeling of multitudes of women that their "natural sphere," their domestic duties, will be interfered with by any other career. let me tell you that so judging, you have only learned half the story we have to tell. we encourage these domestic duties most fully and amply. there is not a woman here who is not proud to claim them. of all the women who have stood or spoken on this platform since this convention began, there is only one who is not a married woman; there are very few who are not mothers; and among them all there is not one who does not give, by the nobleness of her domestic life, a proof of the consistency of that with the rest of the claims she makes for her sex. some there are who doubt this; some there are who do not see how the elective franchise is any way connected with home duties and cares. i tell you there is the closest connection. if any one thing caps the sum of the argument for the rights of woman, it is the fact of those domestic duties which some idly array against it. what has a man at stake in society? what has he to risk by his ballot? ask him at the ballot-box, and you will hear his statement. you will hear it in a thousand ways, and in a thousand voices. his own personal interest. a man invests _himself_ in society; woman invests infinitely more, for she throws in _her child_. the man can run away to california with his interests, and from his duties; the woman is anchored to her home. it is important to him, you say, whether the community provides, by its statutes, schools or dram-shops. then how vast, how unspeakable the importance to her! deprive every man in the nation of the ballot, if you will, but demand, oh, demand its protection for the wife and the mother! see the unjust workings of the present system. i knew in a town in massachusetts a widow woman, who paid the highest tax bill in the town; nay, for every dollar that any man paid in the town, she paid two, and yet that woman had not the right to the ballot, which belonged to the most ignorant irishman in her employ. she hadn't the right to protect her child from the misappropriation of his property; and if she had owned the whole town, and there had not been any other person to pay a property tax except that solitary woman, the case would have been the same, and not the slightest power of protection would have been in her hands, against the most outrageous misappropriation. in another town of massachusetts there is a story told of a man, a member of the society of friends. he was once sending his wife on a long journey. as she was about to set forth in the stage, "my dear," said she, "thee has forgotten to give me any money for my journey." "why," said the quaker, "thee knows very well that i paid thy fare in the stage." "but thee knows," said she, "that i am going to be away for some weeks, and perhaps it may be well for me to have some little money, in case i should have any expenses." "rachel," said the astonished husband, "where is that ninepence i gave thee day before yesterday?" that man had gained all the money he had in the world through that wife. he obtained her property by marriage; he invested that property in real estate, and had grown richer and richer, until he grew rich enough to spare a ninepence for rachel the day before yesterday. it is such marriages as that, that we wish to avert, by placing woman in an honorable position, by substituting an equal union in marriage; such a union as is shown in the lives of those who stand behind me now. the movement which these women urge is sweeping on with resistless power. within the last seven years, every legislature, every school, every industrial avocation has been reached by it. this is preliminary work. the final malakoff, the right of suffrage, is yet to be gained. already it has been partially conceded, in communities differing in all else, in canada and in kentucky. we have only to press on. strange to say, the reform is reversing the ordinary weapons of the sexes, for the women have all the logic, and the men only gossip and slander. but it finds its answering echo in the very hostility it creates. it has a million hearts. silence every woman on this platform, and the movement still goes on. elevate woman at any point, and you lead directly to this. the thousand schools of new york are educating a woman's rights advocate in every house. during the latter part of mr. higginson's remarks, a frequent disturbance was made by some of the occupants of the galleries, who were evidently curious to hear the female speakers. the president then introduced ernestine l. rose, who said she wished to say to all self-respecting men, that this is the last place in which they should create a disturbance, especially in a matter which concerns their sisters, their wives, and their mothers. mrs. rose: this morning a young man made some remarks in opposition to our claims. we were glad to hear him, because he gave evidence of an earnest, sincere spirit of inquiry, which is always welcome in every true reform movement. and as we believe our cause to be based on truth, we know it can bear the test of reason, and, like gold doubly refined, will come out purer and brighter from the fiery ordeal. the young man, who, i hope, is present, based his principal argument against us, "because," said he, "you can bring no authority from revelation or from nature." i will not enter into an inquiry as to what he meant by these terms, but i will show him the revelation from which we derive our authority, and the nature in which it is written in living characters. it is true we do not go to revelations written in books; but ours is older than all books, and whatever of good there is in any written revelations, must necessarily agree with ours, or it is not true, for ours only is the true revelation, based in nature and in life. that revelation is no less than the living, breathing, thinking, feeling, acting revelation manifested in the nature of woman. in her manifold powers, capacities, needs, hopes, and aspirations, lies her title-deed, and whether that revelation was written by nature or nature's god, matters not, for here it is. no one can disprove it. no one can bring an older, broader, higher, and more sacred basis for human rights. do you tell me that the bible is against our rights? then i say that our claims do not rest upon a book written no one knows when, or by whom. do you tell me what paul or peter says on the subject? then again i reply that our claims do not rest on the opinions of any one, not even on those of paul and peter, for they are older than they. books and opinions, no matter from whom they came, if they are in opposition to human rights, are nothing but dead letters. i have shown you that we derive our claims from humanity, from revelation, from nature, and from your declaration of independence; all proclaim our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and having life, which fact i presume you do not question, then we demand all the rights and privileges society is capable of bestowing, to make life useful, virtuous, honorable, and happy. but i am told that woman needs not as extensive an education as man, as her place is only the domestic sphere; _only_ the domestic sphere! oh, how utterly ignorant is society of the true import of that term! go to your legislative halls, and your congress; behold those you have sent there to govern you, and as you find them high or low, great or small, noble or base, you can trace it directly or indirectly to the domestic sphere. the wisest in all ages have acknowledged that the most important period in human education is in childhood--that period when the plastic mind may be moulded into such exquisite beauty, that no unfavorable influences shall be able entirely to destroy it--or into such hideous deformity, that it shall cling to it like a thick rust eaten into a highly polished surface, which no after-scouring shall ever be able entirely to efface. this most important part of education is left entirely in the hands of the mother. she prepares the soil for future culture; she lays the foundation upon which a superstructure shall be erected that shall stand as firm as a rock, or shall pass away like the baseless fabric of a vision, and leave not a wreck behind. but the mother can not give what she does not possess; weakness can not impart strength. sisters, you have a duty to perform--and duty, like charity, begins at home. in the name of your poor, vicious, outcast, down-trodden sister! in the name of her who once was as innocent and as pure as you are! in the name of her who has been made the victim of wrong, injustice, and oppression! in the name of man! in the name of all, i ask you, i entreat you, if you have an hour to spare, a dollar to give, or a word to utter--spare it, give it, and utter it, for the elevation of woman! and when your minister asks you for money for missionary purposes, tell him there are higher, and holier, and nobler missions to be performed at home. when he asks for colleges to educate ministers, tell him you must educate woman, that she may do away with the necessity of ministers, so that they may be able to go to some useful employment. if he asks you to give to the churches (which means to himself) then ask him what he has done for the salvation of woman. when he speaks to you of leading a virtuous life, ask him whether he understands the causes that have prevented so many of your sisters from being virtuous, and have driven them to degradation, sin, and wretchedness. when he speaks to you of a hereafter, tell him to help to educate woman, to enable her to live a life of intelligence, independence, virtue, and happiness here, as the best preparatory step for any other life. and if he has not told you from the pulpit of all these things; if he does not know them; it is high time you inform him, and teach him his duty here in this life. this subject is deep and vast enough for the wisest heads and purest hearts of the race; it underlies our whole social system. look to your criminal records--look to your records of mortality, to your cemeteries, peopled by mothers before the age of thirty or forty, and children under the age of five; earnestly and impartially investigate the cause, and you can trace it directly or indirectly to woman's inefficient education; her helpless, dependent position; her inexperience; her want of confidence in her own noble nature, in her own principles and powers, and her blind reliance in man. we ask, then, for woman, an education that shall cultivate her powers, develop, elevate, and ennoble her being, physically, mentally, and morally; to enable her to take care of herself, and she will be taken care of; to protect herself, and she will be protected. but to give woman as full and extensive an education as man, we must give her the same motives. no one gathers keys without a prospect of having doors to unlock. man does not acquire knowledge without the hope to make it useful and productive; the highest motives only can call out the greatest exertion. there is a vast field of action open to man, and therefore, he is prepared to enter it; widen the sphere of action for woman, throw open to her all the avenues of industry, emolument, usefulness, moral ambition, and true greatness, and you will give her the same noble motives, the same incentives for exertion, application, and perseverance that man possesses--and this can be done only by giving her her legal and political rights--pronounce her the equal of man in all the rights and advantages society can bestow, and she will be prepared to receive and use them, and not before. it would be folly to cultivate her intellect like that of man without giving her the same chances to use it--to give her an industrial avocation without giving her the right to the proceeds of her industry, or to give her the right to the proceeds of her industry without giving her the power to protect the property she may acquire; she must therefore have the legal and political rights, or she has nothing. the ballot-box is the focus of all other rights, it is the pivot upon which all others hang; the legal rights are embraced in it, for if once possessed of the right to the ballot-box, to self-representation, she will see to it that the laws shall be just, and protect her person and her property, as well as that of man. until she has political rights she is not secure in any she may possess. one legislature may alter some oppressive law, and give her some right, and the next legislature may take it away, for as yet it is only given as an act of generosity, as a charity on the part of man, and not as her right, and therefore it can not be lasting, nor productive of good. mothers, women of america! when you hear the subject of woman's rights broached, laugh at it and us, ridicule it as much as you please; but never forget, that by the laws of your country, you have no right to your children--the law gives the father as uncontrolled power over the child as it gives the husband over the wife; only the child, when it comes to maturity, the father's control ceases, while the wife never comes to maturity. the father may bequeath, bestow, or sell the child without the consent of the mother. but methinks i hear you say that no man deserving the name of man, or the title of husband and father, could commit such an outrage against the dearest principles of humanity; well, if there are no such men, then the law ought to be annulled, a law against which nature, justice, and humanity revolt, ought to be wiped off from the statute book as a disgrace; and if there are such--which unhappily we all know there are--then there is still greater reason why the laws ought to be changed, for bad laws encourage bad men and make them worse; good men can not be benefited by the existence of bad laws; bad men ought not to be; laws are not made for him who is a law unto himself, but for the lawless. the legitimate object of law is to protect the innocent and inexperienced against the designing and the guilty; we therefore ask every one present to demand of the legislatures of every state to alter these unjust laws; give the wife an equal right with the husband in the property acquired after marriage; give the mother an equal right with the father in the control of the children; let the wife at the death of the husband remain his heir to the same extent that he would be hers, at her death; let the laws be alike for both, and they are sure to be right; but to have them so, woman must help to make them. we hear a great deal about the heroism of the battle-field. what is it? compare it with the heroism of the woman who stands up for the right, and it sinks into utter insignificance. to stand before the cannon's mouth, with death before him and disgrace behind, excited to frenzy by physical fear, encouraged by his leader, stimulated by the sound of the trumpet, and sustained by the _still emptier sound of glory_, requires no great heroism; the merest coward could be a hero in such a position; but to face the fire of an unjust and prejudiced public opinion, to attack the adamantine walls of long-usurped power, to brave not only the enemy abroad, but often that severest of all enemies, your own friends at home, requires a heroism that the world has never yet recognized, that the battle-field can not supply, but which woman possesses. when the allied powers endeavored to take sebastopol they found that every incision and inroad they made in the fortress during the day was filled up by the enemy during the night; and even now, after the terrible sacrifice of life to break it down, they are not safe, but the enemy may build it up again. but in a moral warfare, no matter how thick and impenetrable the fortress of prejudice may be, if you once make an inroad in it, that space can never be filled up again; every stone you remove is removed for aye and for good; and the very effort to replace it tends only to loosen every other stone, until the whole foundation is undermined, and the superstructure crumbles at our feet. the president: before this convention closes, i want to say a word to the women who hear me. this work lies chiefly in our hands. we have undertaken no child's play. it is nothing less than a change in customs hoary with age--in laws which have existed through long years--in mistaken religious interpretations and views of duty, which have received the sanction and veneration of antiquity. it is to place woman where she may make herself fit for life's duties, in whatever department she may find herself, whether as woman, daughter, wife, or mother. every influence around us to-day tends to the reverse. the young girl stands beside her brother in the world's wide arena, and looks out to see what it shall assign her. to him, everything that power can win is open, while the world cheers him, by so much as he grasps and conquers. to her is presented, what kind of a life? there is not a man in the world, who, if such a life were offered him, would not sooner lie down peacefully in his grave, than in a paltry cage fret away a life that ought to have been broad and grand, as god who gave it intended it should be. horace greeley says he thinks the intellect of woman is not equal to that of man. horace greeley was a poor boy, and had to make his way up in the world. he has reached a position that is attained by few. when he speaks the nation listens. suppose that he had been told by his mother, as she placed her hand upon his little head, with all the tenderness that gushes from a mother's heart, "my son, here is your brother; he shall grow up in the world of society, and no school or college shall be closed against him; the great school of life shall be free to him; he shall have a voice in making the laws he is to obey; he shall pay taxes, and he shall direct the use of the tax; but for you, alas! none of these places will be open; you must therefore rest satisfied with helping your brother. he will win power and wealth, but none of it shall be your own; if you seek to enter into the same position that he is in, the world will scorn and deride you." and if when he came into life he had found all that his mother told him was true, what think you would have been the success of horace greeley, with all this mountain-weight upon him? would he have taken the place he has now? i am glad he was not hindered; i am only sorry that woman is. it is too early for him or us to say what the intellect of woman is, till she has had the freedom to try its powers. i am reminded of what frederick douglass said of the negroes: "you shut us out of the schools and colleges, you put your foot on us, and then say, why don't you know something?" that is just what is said to us. let us teach men who talk of the wrongs perpetrated in kansas, that they are doing the very same thing to us here. one need not go to kansas to find border ruffians, or bogus legislation, for they can all be found here; and when the future historian shall record that in kansas, missourians deprived free state men of the franchise, and that new york men deprived the women of the same, it will be said that the border ruffians of missouri and the border ruffians of new york were very much alike--one came with the gloved hand, and smiled and bowed, saying, i can't let you vote; while the other said, if you do i will blow out your brains. the result is the same. i look in the faces of men and marvel that they can meet us in the way they do, when they have made such laws against us. clear-headed and far-sighted, they do not appear to realize that the outrages they condemn in kansas, they are themselves all the while inflicting upon us. john randolph, when the women of virginia were making garments for the greeks, pointed to long gangs of slaves, and said, "ladies, the greeks are at your doors." in addition to the annual canvass of the state, lectures from the most popular orators were secured in the large cities. in the winter of , by invitation of miss anthony, theodore parker, william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips, ralph waldo emerson, lectured in corinthian hall, rochester, to good audiences. in the spring of , miss emily howland managed a course of lectures in mozart hall, new york, in aid of "the shirt-sewers' and seamstresses' union," viz: george wm. curtis, "fair play for women"; lucy stone, "woman and the elective franchise"; hon. eli thayer, "benefit to women of organized emigration"; and rev. e. h. chapin, "woman and her work." in the autumn of the same year, through the enterprise of elizabeth m. powell, henry ward beecher, james t. brady, solon robinson, and others addressed a large audience in dr. chapin's church, mayor tieman presiding, to aid in the establishment of a "free library for working women." in january, , antoinette l. brown gave a series of sunday sermons in rochester, and in she preached in hope chapel, new york, for six months. in rochester during the winter of , miss anthony had a series of lectures by george william curtis, wendell phillips, antoinette brown, ernestine l. rose, and others. the following letter will show that thomas starr king was in full sympathy with our movement: boston, _sep. , _. susan b. anthony. dear madam:--it would afford me great satisfaction to be able to serve you as you request. i am compelled to say, however, that it is entirely out of my power. i have already engaged for so much work beyond my regular duties, that i shall have no leisure even to prepare a new lyceum address. not having any lecture upon the position of woman that is full enough, and adequate in any way to the present state of the discussion, i must reluctantly decline the opportunity you offer. with sincere thanks, i remain truly yours, t. s. king. in the autumn of , francis jackson, of boston, placed $ , in the hands of wendell phillips for woman's enfranchisement, as will be seen by the following letter: boston, _nov. , _. dear friends:--i have had given me five thousand dollars, to be used for the woman's rights cause; to procure tracts on that subject, publish and circulate them, pay for lectures, and secure such other agitation of the question as we deem fit and best to obtain equal civil and social position for woman. the name of the giver of this generous fund i am not allowed to tell you; the only condition of the gift is, that the fund is to remain invested in my keeping. in other respects, we three are a committee of trustees to spend it wisely and efficiently. let me ask you to write me what plan strikes you as best to begin with. i think some agitation specially directed to the legislature very important. it is wished that we should begin our efforts at once. yours truly, wendell phillips, miss susan b. anthony. mrs. lucy stone. it was in the year that charles f. hovey of boston left by will,[ ] a sum of $ , to be expended annually in the promotion of various reforms. woman's rights among them. mozart hall, new york, may , , . the year seems to have passed without a national convention, although the work was still vigorously prosecuted in the state of new york, but in the spring of , the ninth national convention was called in new york during the week of the anniversaries when crowds were always attracted to attend the various religious and reformatory meetings. henceforward, for many years, a woman's rights convention was a marked feature of this period in the month of may. there were several persons at this convention who had not before honored our platform.[ ] these, with the usual familiar speakers,[ ] filled the platform with quite a striking group of ladies and gentlemen. the morning session was occupied with the usual preliminary business matters, choosing officers, presenting resolutions, and planning new aggressive steps for the coming year. susan b. anthony was president on this occasion, and fulfilled her duties to the general satisfaction. during the evening session the hall was crowded, all the available space for either sitting or standing was occupied, the platform and steps were densely packed, and this at twenty-five cents admission. mr. phillips, mrs. mott, mrs. rose, mr. garrison, mr. higginson, miss brown, and lucy stone all spoke with their usual effect. mrs. eliza woodson farnham, the author of "woman and her era," spoke at length on the "superiority of woman." she presented a series of resolutions, recognizing the right of man in the primary era in his physical and cerebral structure, to be the conqueror, the mechanic, the inventor, the clearer of forests, the pioneer of civilization, but she looked to the dawning of a higher era, when woman should assume her true position in harmony with her superior organism, her delicacy of structure, her beauty of person, her great powers of endurance, and thus prove herself not only man's equal in influence and power, but his superior in many of the noblest virtues. in woman's creative power during maternity, she recognized her as second only to god himself. woman should recognize man as a john the baptist, going before to prepare the world for her coming, he recognizing her greater divinity as equal in the godhead, as heavenly mother as well as father. mrs. farnham[ ] enforced her theory of woman's superiority in a long speech, which was received with apparent satisfaction by the audience, though several on the platform dissented from the claim of superiority, thinking it would be a sufficient triumph over the tyrannies of the past, if popular thought could be educated to the idea of the equality of the sexes. mrs. sarah hallock read an extract from the statutes of new york, giving the items set aside by law for use of the wife and minor children, in case the husband died without a will. (extract from the statutes of new york). articles inventoried, but not approved, belonging to the widow and minor children. st. all spinning-wheels, weaving-looms, or stoves put up for use. d. the family bible, family pictures, school-books, and books not exceeding in value fifty dollars. [mrs. hallock here interjected, husbands had better give their wives cheap books]. d. ten sheep and their fleeces, and the yarn and cloth manufactured from the same; one cow, two swine, and the pork of such swine. [laughter], th. all necessary wearing apparel, beds, bedsteads, and bedding; the clothing of the widow and her ornaments proper to her station (as to ornaments, tastes differ as to those proper to her station), one table, six chairs (suppose there were seven or ten children, what then? queried mrs. hallock [laughter],) six knives and forks, six tea-cups and saucers, one sugar-dish, one milk-pot, one tea-pot, and six spoons. "so great a favorite is the female sex of the laws of england and america," says blackstone. mrs. rose protested against _one_ tea-pot; the law didn't mention tea-pot at all. [great laughter]. mrs. hallock: oh, yes! but not a coffee-pot. [renewed laughter]. mrs. gage: in ohio they give twelve spoons. [convulsive laughter]. mrs. hallock: we'll get up a delegation to ohio, then. mrs. farnham: i would say that i will give up all these things if the state will only give us in return one of our children. [applause and laughter]. mrs. hallock: isn't it a pity that our laws--are they ours? mrs. rose: no. mrs. hallock: well, then, your laws. it is a pity that those statutes should not be revised so as to give a widow a carpet and other smaller articles of luxury. [great laughter]. and such was the boasted "protection" secured to the wives and mothers by the laws of the most civilized nations on the globe, and such the law-makers in whose hands woman's interests were supposed to be secure, when we began our battle for equality. class laws, class legislation, legalized robbery from the unborn child, down to the commonest necessaries of life, has been the "protection" woman has complained of from fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. those just awaking to an interest in this reform, see but the smoke of the former battles; they can not appreciate all the tyranny from which this agitation has freed them. step by step, custom by custom, law by law, a partial victory has been wrested, and a public opinion slowly created that promises other victories in the near future. those who have not been through the conflict will never realize how dark the prospect was in starting. denied education, and a place in the world of work, denied the rights of property, whether of her own earnings, or her inheritance, with the press and the pulpit, custom, and public opinion sustaining the law, was there ever a struggle entered upon, which at its beginning seemed more hopeless than this for woman? but these constant presentations of the laws, with the comments and arguments in our conventions, gradually appealed to the understanding of sensible men and women, and opened the eyes of the community to the wrongs of woman, perpetrated under the specious name of justice. all the sessions of this convention were interrupted by the rowdyism of a number of men occupying the rear part of the hall. parker pillsbury said he had attended three of these conventions, but had not spoken in one before. he thought the ladies encroached a little on the men's rights, as in the first and second, the methodists gave the ladies the use of their church in a city of the west, on condition that parker pillsbury should not be allowed to speak. [applause and laughter]. now that the door was open, and he had ventured in, he did not know what to say. [laughter and cries of "go on"]. he would recommend the women to hold their next convention at the ballot-box, as that would do more good than a hundred such as these. if their votes were refused, let them look the tax collectors in the face and defy them to come for taxes, as long as they were not allowed a voice in the government. and carry the war into the church, too, demand equality there as well as in the state. he knew an orthodox church, consisting of twelve members. one was a man and a deacon, the remainder were women. a vote had to be taken for changing the day for the prayer-meeting, but some difficulty arose between the minister and the deacon, and the only way it could be settled was by the votes of the women. so the deacon went round on tip-toe, and put his head under each bonnet, and held a little private caucus meeting with one after another, and then returned to the altar and reported to the minister that the vote was unanimous. if women had any proper self-respect, they would scorn to remain one hour in any church in which they were not considered and recognized as equals. oliver johnson said there was a new church formed called "progressive friends," in which men and women stood on perfect equality. he said there was another church (henry ward beecher's) in brooklyn, where women were expected to vote on all questions connected with the business affairs of the congregation. another church in this city (rev. dr. cheever's) had a difficulty in which the capitalists tried to dismiss the pastor, because he maintained the right of the slave to freedom, and of the woman to the elective franchise. he agreed with mr. pillsbury that it was woman's duty to test her equality in the church as well as the state. aaron m. powell took the same ground. as women made the large majority in the churches, they could easily secure equal rights there if united in an effort to do so. why, said he, are there no young women sitting at the reporters' desks, taking note of the proceedings of this convention? he advocated the elective franchise, saying that no class could be protected in all its rights without a voice in the laws. a mr. warren said he had no objection to woman's claiming equality, but when they declared their superiority, they injured themselves and the rising generation in teaching the young to disrespect the men of the household. (great laughter and hisses). woman might be the savior of man, but was not god, and had no place in the godhead. (laughter and cheers). he spoke from experience when he said men had already suffered much from the tyrannical usurpations of women. let woman be the true helpmate of man, religiously, politically, morally, socially; but, oh! said he, in a sorrowful tone, it will be a sad day for the race when woman takes command, and man is pushed aside. (convulsive laughter, and cries of "give us your experience.") mrs. farnham was glad the subject of woman's superiority had been broached, and only regretted that as a scientific fact it could not be more seriously discussed. a gentleman deprecated the fact that mr. warren had not been more fully heard. the president said it was the audience and not the platform that laughed. loud calls were made for douglass, to which he responded, claiming woman's right to freedom and equality on the same grounds he based his own. william lloyd garrison maintained woman's right to sit in congress and the legislatures--that there should be the same number of women as men in all the national councils. he said respect for his sainted mother, love for his noble wife, and for the only daughter of his house and heart (my own fanny), compel me to defend the rights of all women. those who have inaugurated this movement are worthy to be ranked with the army of martyrs and confessors in the days of old. blessings on them! they should triumph, and every opposition be removed, that peace and love, justice and liberty, might prevail throughout the world. a mr. tyler remarked that a fear had been expressed that in coming to the polls, woman would be compelled to meet men who drink and smoke. do women encounter no such evils in their homes? whisky and tobacco are much greater obstacles at the marriage altar than at the polls--in the relation of wife than in that of citizen. george william curtis, then in the height of his reputation (as howadji), spoke at length in favor of suffrage for woman, but amid constant interruptions. with a short speech from mrs. rose, the convention adjourned amid great confusion. ninth national convention. in accordance with a call issued by the central committee, the ninth national woman's rights convention was held in the city of new york on thursday, may , . the sessions commenced with a business meeting, on the afternoon of that day, in mozart hall. the meeting was called to order by susan b. anthony, of rochester, new york, who made a few introductory remarks, after which, the question of the expediency of memorializing the legislatures of the different states, on the subject of granting equal rights to woman, was discussed at some length. at the close of the debate, a resolution was adopted, that it was expedient so to memorialize the several legislatures, and a committee[ ] was appointed for that purpose, and a series of resolutions[ ] offered by caroline h. dall. these resolutions were discussed by mrs. dall, mrs. hallock, mrs. elizabeth neal gay, lucretia mott, a. m. powell, charles c. burleigh, and others. evening session. at an early hour, mozart hall was crowded to overflowing, every seat being occupied, and crowds standing in the aisle, and the rear of the hall. lucretia mott had been chosen to preside, but was not able, on account of the crowd, to reach the platform at the hour appointed. the convention was therefore called to order by susan b. anthony. mrs. caroline h. dall, of boston, was the first speaker. she desired to commemorate the century which had just closed since the death of mary woolstonecraft, and to show that what she did in the old world, margaret fuller had done in the new; but the noise and restlessness among the audience were so great (much of which, we charitably hope, was attributable rather to the discomfort of their position than to any want of respect for the speaker, or for the cause which the convention represented), that she yielded to the wish of the presiding officer, and sat down without speaking of margaret fuller. short speeches were made by lucretia mott, antoinette brown blackwell, and ernestine l. rose; but as it proved to be another turbulent meeting, wendell phillips, who understood from long experience how to play with and lash a mob, and thrust what he wished to say into their long ears, all with one consent yielded the platform to him, and for nearly two hours he held that mocking crowd in the hollow of his hand. in closing he said: i will not attempt to detain you longer. ["go on"--"go on."] i have neither the disposition nor the strength to trespass any longer upon your attention. the subject is so large that it might well fill days, instead of hours. it covers the whole surface of american society. it touches religion, purity, political economy, wages, the safety of cities, the growth of ideas, the very success of our experiment. i gave to-night a character to the city of washington which some men hissed. you know it is true. if this experiment of self-government is to succeed, it is to succeed by some saving element introduced into the politics of the present day. you know this: your websters, your clays, your calhouns, your douglases, however intellectually able they may have been, have never dared or cared to touch that moral element of our national life. either the shallow and heartless trade of politics had eaten out their own moral being, or they feared to enter the unknown land of lofty right and wrong. neither of these great names has linked its fame with one great moral question of the day. they deal with money questions, with tariffs, with parties, with state law, and if by chance they touch the slave question, it is only like jewish hucksters trading in the relics of saints. the reformers--the fanatics, as we are called--are the only ones who have launched social and moral questions. i risk nothing when i say, that the anti-slavery discussion of the last twenty years has been the salt of this nation; it has actually kept it alive and wholesome. without it, our politics would have sunk beyond even contempt. so with this question. it stirs the deepest sympathy; it appeals to the highest moral sense; it enwraps within itself the greatest moral issues. judge it, then, candidly, carefully, as americans, and let us show ourselves worthy of the high place to which god has called us in human affairs. (applause). memorial. to the honorable the legislature of the state of ---- the national woman's rights convention, held in new york city, may , , appointed your memorialists a committee to call your attention to the anomalous position of one-half the people of this republic. all republican constitutions set forth the great truth that every human being is endowed with certain inalienable rights--such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness--and as a consequence, a right to the use of all those means necessary to secure these grand results. st.--a citizen can not be said to have a right to life, who may be deprived of it for the violation of laws to which she has never consented--who is denied the right of trial by a jury of her peers--who has no voice in the election of judges who are to decide her fate. d.--a citizen can not be said to have a right to liberty, when the custody of her person belongs to another; when she has no civil or political rights--no right even to the wages she earns; when she can make no contracts--neither buy nor sell, sue or be sued--and yet can be taxed without representation. d.--a citizen can not be said to have a right to happiness, when denied the right to person, property, children, and home; when the code of laws under which she is compelled to live is far more unjust and tyrannical than that which our fathers repudiated at the mouth of the cannon nearly one century ago. now, we would ask on what principle of republicanism, justice, or common humanity, a minority of the people of this republic have monopolized to themselves all the rights of the whole? where, under our declaration of independence, does the white saxon man get his power to deprive all women and negroes of their inalienable rights? the mothers of the revolution bravely shared all dangers, persecutions, and death; and their daughters now claim an equal share in all the glories and triumphs of your success. shall they stand before a body of american legislators and ask in vain for their right of suffrage--their right of property--their right to the wages they earn--their right to their children and their homes--their sacred right to personal liberty--to a trial by a jury of their peers? in view of these high considerations, we demand, then, that you shall, by your future legislation, secure to women all those rights and privileges and immunities which in equity belong to every citizen of a republic. and we demand that whenever you shall remodel the constitution of the state in which you live, the word "male" shall be expurgated, and that henceforth you shall legislate for all citizens. there can be no privileged classes in a truly democratic government. elizabeth cady stanton, martha c. weight, wendell phillips, caroline m. severance, caroline h. dall, thomas w. higginson, ernestine l. rose, susan b. anthony, antoinette brown blackwell, _committee_. the above memorial was extensively circulated and sent to the legislature of every state in the nation, but, owing to the john brown raid and the general unrest and forebodings of the people on the eve of our civil war, it commanded but little attention. form of appeal and petition circulated in the state of new york during the summer and autumn of . _to the women of the empire state:_ it is the desire and purpose of those interested in the woman's rights movement, to send up to our next legislature an overwhelming petition, for the civil and political rights of woman. these rights must be secured just as soon as the majority of the women of the state make the demand. to this end, we have decided thoroughly to canvass our state before the close of the present year. we shall hold conventions in every county, distribute tracts and circulate petitions, in order, if possible, to arouse a proper self-respect in woman. the want of funds has heretofore crippled all our efforts, but as large bequests have been made to our cause during the past year, we are now able to send out agents and to commence anew our work, which shall never end, until, in church and state, and at the fireside, the equality of woman shall be fully recognized. we hope much from our republican legislators. their well-known professions encourage us to believe that our task is by no means a hard one. we shall look for their hearty co-operation in every effort for the elevation of humanity. we have had bills before the legislature for several years, on some of which, from time to time, have had most favorable reports. the property bill of ' was passed by a large majority. the various bills of rights, to wages, children, suffrage, etc., have been respectfully considered. the bill presented at the last session, giving to married women their rights to make contracts, and to their wages, passed the house with only three dissenting votes, but owing to the pressure of business at the close of the session, it was never brought before the senate. whilst man, by his legislation and generous donations, declares our cause righteous and just--whilst the very best men of the nation, those who stand first in church and state, in literature, commerce, and the arts, are speaking for us such noble words and performing such god-like deeds--shall woman, herself, be indifferent to her own wrongs, insensible to all the responsibilities of her high and holy calling? no! no!! i let the women of the empire state now speak out in deep and earnest tones that can not be misunderstood, demanding all those rights which are at the very foundation of republicanism--a full and equal representation with man in the administration of our state and national government. do you know, women of new york! that under our present laws married women have no right to the wages they earn? think of the , drunkards' wives in this state--of the wives of men who are licentious--of gamblers--of the long line of those who do nothing; and is it no light matter that all these women who support themselves, their husbands and families, too, shall have no right to the disposition of their own earnings? roll up, then, your petitions[ ] on this point, if no other, and secure to laboring women their wages at the coming session! now is the golden time to work! before another constitutional convention be called, see to it that the public sentiment of this state shall demand suffrage for woman! remember, "they who would be free, themselves must strike the blow!" e. cady stanton, _chairman central committee._ of the canvass of and ' , we find the following letter in _the new york tribune_, february, . _to the editor of the tribune:_ sir:--the readers of _the tribune_ who have perused its columns closely for the last six months will have noticed repeated announcements of county conventions in different parts of the state to be addressed by certain ladies engaged in advocating equal rights for woman. it may not be uninteresting to them to know that every one of those appointments was filled by said ladies. over fifty counties of the state have been thus visited, and petitions presented to the people for their signatures, praying for equal property rights, and for steps to be taken to so amend the constitution as to secure to woman the right of suffrage, which have been numerously signed and duly presented to the legislature. in the rural districts the success has been wonderful, considering the unpopularity of the subject; our most violent opposers being demagogical democrats who frankly acknowledge that if our doctrines prevail, anti-slavery, temperance, moral reform, and republicanism will conquer. large bequests have been made in the east for the furtherance of this movement, and under the direction of a committee appointed for that purpose, these ladies have gone forth to proclaim the doctrine of civil and political equality for woman. no laggards are they in their work. in the language of mr. greeley, they have found a work to be done, and have gone at it with ready and resolute will; they have not been able to answer all the calls made upon their time and talent. one of them (i can speak but for one) between the th of november and the st of january, has given sixty-eight lectures, not missing one appointment, resting only through the holidays and on sundays. the others have doubtless done as well. in most instances all have been able to pay their own expenses, and in some cases their own salaries. these ladies are not disappointed old maids, desolate widows, or unhappy wives, though there is one widow and one who has passed what is called the sunny side of twenty-five. miss susan b. anthony, the general agent, resides at rochester, and is unmarried. mrs. ernestine l. rose, of new york city, is too widely known to need comment. the same may be said of antoinette brown blackwell, the eloquent minister, accomplished scholar, and amiable wife and mother. mrs. j. elizabeth jones, of ohio, is a lady in the ripeness of womanhood, to whom, equally with the above, all these adjectives apply. mrs. hannah tracy cutler, of illinois, has been twice married, and has superintended two families of children satisfactorily; she has been teacher in a high school in columbus, ohio, and matron of a deaf and dumb asylum, has taken premiums on sorghum sugar made by her own hands, and is also a physician among the poor of her neighborhood. mrs. lucy n. colman, of new york, is a widow, and has fought life's battle bravely and well for herself and children. mrs. frances d. gage, of missouri, formerly of ohio, might claim the nomination for president under the authority of henry ward beecher, "having brought up six unruly boys," whose aggregate height would form a column of thirty-six feet in honor of their mother, who will all vote the republican ticket in but one, and he is not old enough; and no one of them smokes or chews, or stimulates the inner man with intoxicating beverages. she is also the mother of two daughters. two years ago mr. greeley said to one of the ladies, "why don't you ladies go to work?" they have gone to work; and with the help of such men as garrison, phillips, parker, giddings, curtis, beecher, chapin, brady, and a host of others whom the world delights to honor, their cause will surely triumph. it is a question of time only; not of fact. god speed the day. the state convention of was held in association hall, albany, february d and th, with fine audiences throughout, and the usual force of speakers. as the outpourings of miss anthony's love element all flowed into the suffrage movement, she was sorely tried with the imperative cares that the domestic experiments of most of her coadjutors so constantly involved. her urgent missives coming ever and anon to arouse us to higher duties, are quite inspiring even at this date. in a letter to martha c. wright, she says: mr. bingham, the chairman of the judiciary committee, will bring in a radical report in favor of all our claims, but previous to his doing so he wishes our strongest arguments made before the committee, and he says mrs. stanton must come. i write her this mail, but i wish you would step over there and make her feel that the salvation of the empire state, at least the women in it, depends upon her bending all her powers to moving the hearts of our law-makers at this time. mr. bingham says our convention here has wrought wondrous changes with a large number of the members who attended, and so says mr. mayo, of the albanians; indeed our claims are so patent they need only to be known to be approved. mrs. stanton must move heaven and earth now to secure this bill, and she can, if she will only try. i should go there myself this very night, but i must watch and encourage friends here. the earnings bill has passed the house, and is in committee of the whole in the senate. then a guardianship bill must be drafted and put through if possible. i returned from new york last evening; have taken the "cooper union," for our national convention in may. saw miss howland; she said mr. beecher's lecture is to be in this week's _independent_. only think how many priestly eyes will be compelled to look at its defiled page. theodore tilton told me that mr. beecher had had a severe battle to get into _the independent_. mrs. stanton, in answering miss anthony's appeal, says: i am willing to do the appointed work at albany. if napoleon says cross the alps, they are crossed. i can not, my dear friend, "move heaven and earth," but i will do what i can with pen and brain. you must come here and start me on the right train of thought, as your practical knowledge of just what is wanted is everything in getting up the right document. kind regards to the anti-slavery host now with you. i did not think that the easy arm-chair i occupied on the auburn platform was to bring me so much glory. did you know the resolutions of that meeting were read on the floor of congress?--that pleased me greatly. i am very proud to stand maternal sponsor for the whole string. i wish our albany resolutions had more snap in them. the garrison clique are the only men in this nation that know how to write a resolution. on the th of february mrs. stanton addressed the legislature on woman's right of suffrage and the bill then pending in the senate. a magnificent audience greeted her in the capitol. she occupied the speaker's desk, and was introduced by senator hammond, and spoke as follows: gentlemen of the judiciary:--there are certain natural rights as inalienable to civilization as are the rights of air and motion to the savage in the wilderness. the natural rights of the civilized man and woman are government, property, the harmonious development of all their powers, and the gratification of their desires. there are a few people we now and then meet who, like jeremy bentham, scout the idea of natural rights in civilization, and pronounce them mere metaphors, declaring that there are no rights aside from those the law confers. if the law made man too, that might do, for then he could be made to order to fit the particular niche he was designed to fill. but inasmuch as god made man in his own image, with capacities and powers as boundless as the universe, whose exigencies no mere human law can meet, it is evident that the man must ever stand first; the law but the creature of his wants; the law giver but the mouthpiece of humanity. if, then, the nature of a being decides its rights, every individual comes into this world with rights that are not transferable. he does not bring them like a pack on his back, that may be stolen from him, but they are a component part of himself, the laws which insure his growth and development. the individual may be put in the stocks, body and soul, he may be dwarfed, crippled, killed, but his rights no man can get; they live and die with him. though the atmosphere is forty miles deep all round the globe, no man can do more than fill his own lungs. no man can see, hear, or smell but just so far; and though hundreds are deprived of these senses, his are not the more acute. though rights have been abundantly supplied by the good father, no man can appropriate to himself those that belong to another. a citizen can have but one vote, fill but one office, though thousands are not permitted to do either. these axioms prove that woman's poverty does not add to man's wealth, and if, in the plenitude of his power, he should secure to her the exercise of all her god-given rights, her wealth could not bring poverty to him. there is a kind of nervous unrest always manifested by those in power, whenever new claims are started by those out of their own immediate class. the philosophy of this is very plain. they imagine that if the rights of this new class be granted, they must, of necessity, sacrifice something of what they already possess. they can not divest themselves of the idea that rights are very much like lands, stocks, bonds, and mortgages, and that if every new claimant be satisfied, the supply of human rights must in time run low. you might as well carp at the birth of every child, lest there should not be enough air left to inflate your lungs; at the success of every scholar, for fear that your draughts at the fountain of knowledge could not be so long and deep; at the glory of every hero, lest there be no glory left for you.... if the object of government is to protect the weak against the strong, how unwise to place the power wholly in the hands of the strong. yet that is the history of all governments, even the model republic of these united states. you who have read the history of nations, from moses down to our last election, where have you ever seen one class looking after the interests of another? any of you can readily see the defects in other governments, and pronounce sentence against those who have sacrificed the masses to themselves; but when we come to our own case, we are blinded by custom and self-interest. some of you who have no capital can see the injustice which the laborer suffers; some of you who have no slaves, can see the cruelty of his oppression; but who of you appreciate the galling humiliation, the refinements of degradation, to which women (the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters of freemen) are subject, in this the last half of the nineteenth century? how many of you have ever read even the laws concerning them that now disgrace your statute-books? in cruelty and tyranny, they are not surpassed by any slaveholding code in the southern states; in fact they are worse, by just so far as woman, from her social position, refinement, and education, is on a more equal ground with the oppressor. allow me just here to call the attention of that party now so much interested in the slave of the carolinas, to the similarity in his condition and that of the mothers, wives, and daughters of the empire state. the negro has no name. he is cuffy douglas or cuffy brooks, just whose cuffy he may chance to be. the woman has no name. she is mrs. richard roe or mrs. john doe, just whose mrs. she may chance to be. cuffy has no right to his earnings; he can not buy or sell, or lay up anything that he can call his own. mrs. roe has no right to her earnings she can neither buy nor sell, make contracts, nor lay up anything that she can call her own. cuffy has no right to his children; they can be sold from him at any time. mrs. roe has no right to her children; they may be bound out to cancel a father's debts of honor. the unborn child, even by the last will of the father, may be placed under the guardianship of a stranger and a foreigner. cuffy has no legal existence; he is subject to restraint and moderate chastisement. mrs. roe has no legal existence; she has not the best right to her own person. the husband has the power to restrain, and administer moderate chastisement. blackstone declares that the husband and wife are one, and learned commentators have decided that that one is the husband. in all civil codes, you will find them classified as one. certain rights and immunities, such and such privileges are to be secured to white male citizens. what have women and negroes to do with rights? what know they of government, war, or glory? the prejudice against color, of which we hear so much, is no stronger than that against sex. it is produced by the same cause, and manifested very much in the same way. the negro's skin and the woman's sex are both _prima facie_ evidence that they were intended to be in subjection to the white saxon man. the few social privileges which the man gives the woman, he makes up to the negro in civil rights. the woman may sit at the same table and eat with the white man; the free negro may hold property and vote. the woman may sit in the same pew with the white man in church; the free negro may enter the pulpit and preach. now, with the black man's right to suffrage, the right unquestioned, even by paul, to minister at the altar, it is evident that the prejudice against sex is more deeply rooted and more unreasonably maintained than that against color. as citizens of a republic, which should we most highly prize, social privileges or civil rights? the latter, most certainly. to those who do not feel the injustice and degradation of the condition, there is something inexpressibly comical in man's "citizen woman." it reminds me of those monsters i used to see in the old world, head and shoulders woman, and the rest of the body sometimes fish and sometimes beast. i used to think, what a strange conceit! but now i see how perfectly it represents man's idea! look over all his laws concerning us, and you will see just enough of woman to tell of her existence; all the rest is submerged, or made to crawl upon the earth. just imagine an inhabitant of another planet entertaining himself some pleasant evening in searching over our great national compact, our declaration of independence, our constitutions, or some of our statute-books; what would he think of those "women and negroes" that must be so fenced in, so guarded against? why, he would certainly suppose we were monsters, like those fabulous giants or brobdignagians of olden times, so dangerous to civilized man, from our size, ferocity, and power. then let him take up our poets, from pope down to dana; let him listen to our fourth of july toasts, and some of the sentimental adulations of social life, and no logic could convince him that this creature of the law, and this angel of the family altar, could be one and the same being. man is in such a labyrinth of contradictions with his marital and property rights; he is so befogged on the whole question of maidens, wives, and mothers, that from pure benevolence we should relieve him from this troublesome branch of legislation. we should vote, and make laws for ourselves. do not be alarmed, dear ladies! you need spend no time reading grotius, coke, puffendorf, blackstone, bentham, kent, and story to find out what you need. we may safely trust the shrewd selfishness of the white man, and consent to live under the same broad code where he has so comfortably ensconced himself. any legislation that will do for man, we may abide by most cheerfully.... but, say you, we would not have woman exposed to the grossness and vulgarity of public life, or encounter what she must at the polls. when you talk, gentlemen, of sheltering woman from the rough winds and revolting scenes of real life, you must be either talking for effect, or wholly ignorant of what the facts of life are. the man, whatever he is, is known to the woman. she is the companion, not only of the accomplished statesman, the orator, and the scholar; but the vile, vulgar, brutal man has his mother, his wife, his sister, his daughter. yes, delicate, refined, educated women are in daily life with the drunkard, the gambler, the licentious man, the rogue, and the villain; and if man shows out what he is anywhere, it is at his own hearthstone. there are over forty thousand drunkards in this state. all these are bound by the ties of family to some woman. allow but a mother and a wife to each, and you have over eighty thousand women. all these have seen their fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, in the lowest and most debased stages of obscenity and degradation. in your own circle of friends, do you not know refined women, whose whole lives are darkened and saddened by gross and brutal associations? now, gentlemen, do you talk to woman of a rude jest or jostle at the polls, where noble, virtuous men stand ready to protect her person and her rights, when, alone in the darkness and solitude and gloom of night, she has trembled on her own threshold, awaiting the return of a husband from his midnight revels?--when, stepping from her chamber, she has beheld her royal monarch, her lord and master--her legal representative--the protector of her property, her home, her children, and her person, down on his hands and knees slowly crawling up the stairs? behold him in her chamber--in her bed! the fairy tale of "beauty and the beast" is far too often realized in life. gentlemen, such scenes as woman has witnessed at her own fireside, where no eye save omnipotence could pity, no strong arm could help, can never be realized at the polls, never equaled elsewhere, this side the bottomless pit. no, woman has not hitherto lived in the clouds, surrounded by an atmosphere of purity and peace--but she has been the companion of man in health, in sickness, and in death, in his highest and in his lowest moments. she has worshiped him as a saint and an orator, and pitied him as madman or a fool. in paradise, man and woman were placed together, and so they must ever be. they must sink or rise together. if man is low and wretched and vile, woman can not escape the contagion, and any atmosphere that is unfit for woman to breathe is not fit for man. verily, the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation. you, by your unwise legislation, have crippled and dwarfed womanhood, by closing to her all honorable and lucrative means of employment, have driven her into the garrets and dens of our cities, where she now revenges herself on your innocent sons, sapping the very foundations of national virtue and strength. alas! for the young men just coming on the stage of action, who soon shall fill your vacant places--our future senators, our presidents, the expounders of our constitutional law! terrible are the penalties we are now suffering for the ages of injustice done to woman. again, it is said that the majority of women do not ask for any change in the laws; that it is time enough to give them the elective franchise when they, as a class, demand it. wise statesmen legislate for the best interests of the nation; the state, for the highest good of its citizens; the christian, for the conversion of the world. where would have been our railroads, our telegraphs, our ocean steamers, our canals and harbors, our arts and sciences, if government had withheld the means from the far-seeing minority? this state established our present system of common schools, fully believing that educated men and women would make better citizens than ignorant ones. in making this provision for the education of its children, had they waited for a majority of the urchins of this state to petition for schools, how many, think you, would have asked to be transplanted from the street to the school-house? does the state wait for the criminal to ask for his prison-house? the insane, the idiot, the deaf and dumb for his asylum? does the christian, in his love to all mankind, wait for the majority of the benighted heathen to ask him for the gospel? no; unasked and unwelcomed, he crosses the trackless ocean, rolls off the mountain of superstition that oppresses the human mind, proclaims the immortality of the soul, the dignity of manhood, the right of all to be free and happy. no, gentlemen, if there is but one woman in this state who feels the injustice of her position, she should not be denied her inalienable rights, because the common household drudge and the silly butterfly of fashion are ignorant of all laws, both human and divine. because they know nothing of governments, or rights, and therefore ask nothing, shall my petitions be unheard? i stand before you the rightful representative of woman, claiming a share in the halo of glory that has gathered round her in the ages, and by the wisdom of her past words and works, her peerless heroism and self-sacrifice, i challenge your admiration; and, moreover, claiming, as i do, a share in all her outrages and sufferings, in the cruel injustice, contempt, and ridicule now heaped upon her, in her deep degradation, hopeless wretchedness, by all that is helpless in her present condition, that is false in law and public sentiment, i urge your generous consideration; for as my heart swells with pride to behold woman in the highest walks of literature and art, it grows big enough to take in those who are bleeding in the dust. now do not think, gentlemen, we wish you to do a great many troublesome things for us. we do not ask our legislators to spend a whole session in fixing up a code of laws to satisfy a class of most unreasonable women. we ask no more than the poor devils in the scripture asked, "let us alone." in mercy, let us take care of ourselves, our property, our children, and our homes. true, we are not so strong, so wise, so crafty as you are, but if any kind friend leaves us a little money, or we can by great industry earn fifty cents a day, we would rather buy bread and clothes for our children than cigars and champagne for our legal protectors. there has been a great deal written and said about protection. we, as a class, are tired of one kind of protection, that which leaves us everything to do, to dare, and to suffer, and strips us of all means for its accomplishment. we would not tax man to take care of us. no, the great father has endowed all his creatures with the necessary powers for self-support, self-defense, and protection. we do not ask man to represent us; it is hard enough in times like these for man to carry backbone enough to represent himself. so long as the mass of men spend most of their time on the fence, not knowing which way to jump, they are surely in no condition to tell us where we had better stand. in pity for man, we would no longer hang like a millstone round his neck. undo what man did for us in the dark ages, and strike out all special legislation for us; strike the words "white male" from all your constitutions, and then, with fair sailing, let us sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish together. at athens, an ancient apologue tells us, on the completion of the temple of minerva, a statue of the goddess was wanted to occupy the crowning point of the edifice. two of the greatest artists produced what each deemed his masterpiece. one of these figures was the size of life, admirably designed, exquisitely finished, softly rounded, and beautifully refined. the other was of amazonian stature, and so boldly chiselled that it looked more like masonry than sculpture. the eyes of all were attracted by the first, and turned away in contempt from the second. that, therefore, was adopted, and the other rejected, almost with resentment, as though an insult had been offered to a discerning public. the favored statue was accordingly borne in triumph to the place for which it was designed, in the presence of applauding thousands, but as it receded from their upturned eyes, all, all at once agaze upon it, the thunders of applause unaccountably died away--a general misgiving ran through every bosom--the mob themselves stood like statues, as silent and as petrified, for as it slowly went up, and up the soft expression of those chiselled features, the delicate curves and outlines of the limbs and figure, became gradually fainter and fainter, and when at last it readied the place for which it was intended, it was a shapeless ball, enveloped in mist. of course, the idol of the hour was now clamored down as rationally as it had been cried up, and its dishonored rival, with no good will and no good looks on the part of the chagrined populace, was reared in its stead. as it ascended, the sharp angles faded away, the rough points became smooth, the features full of expression, the whole figure radiant with majesty and beauty. the rude hewn mass, that before had scarcely appeared to bear even the human form, assumed at once the divinity which it represented, being so perfectly proportioned to the dimensions of the building, and to the elevation on which it stood, that it seemed as though pallas herself had alighted upon the pinnacle of the temple in person, to receive the homage of her worshippers. the woman of the nineteenth century is the shapeless ball in the lofty position which she was designed fully and nobly to fill. the place is not too high, too large, too sacred for woman, but the type that you have chosen is far too small for it. the woman we declare unto you is the rude, misshapen, unpolished object of the successful artist. from your stand-point, you are absorbed with the defects alone. the true artist sees the harmony between the object and its destination. man, the sculptor, has carved out his ideal, and applauding thousands welcome his success. he has made a woman that from his low stand-point looks fair and beautiful, a being without rights, or hopes, or fears but in him--neither noble, virtuous, nor independent. where do we see, in church or state, in school-house or at the fireside, the much talked-of moral power of woman? like those athenians, we have bowed down and worshiped in woman, beauty, grace, the exquisite proportions, the soft and beautifully rounded outline, her delicacy, refinement, and silent helplessness--all well when she is viewed simply as an object of sight, never to rise one foot above the dust from which she sprung. but if she is to be raised up to adorn a temple, or represent a divinity--if she is to fill the niche of wife and counsellor to true and noble men, if she is to be the mother, the educator of a race of heroes or martyrs, of a napoleon, or a jesus--then must the type of womanhood be on a larger scale than that yet carved by man. in vain would the rejected artist have reasoned with the athenians as to the superiority of his production; nothing short of the experiment they made could have satisfied them. and what of your experiment, what of your wives, your homes? alas! for the folly and vacancy that meet you there! but for your club-houses and newspapers, what would social life be to you? where are your beautiful women? your frail ones, taught to lean lovingly and confidingly on man? where are the crowds of educated dependents--where the long line of pensioners on man's bounty? where all the young girls, taught to believe that marriage is the only legitimate object of a woman's pursuit--they who stand listlessly on life's shores, waiting, year after year, like the sick man at the pool of bethesda, for some one to come and put them in? these are they who by their ignorance and folly curse almost every fireside with some human specimen of deformity or imbecility. these are they who fill the gloomy abodes of poverty and vice in our vast metropolis. these are they who patrol the streets of our cities, to give our sons their first lessons in infamy. these are they who fill our asylums, and make night hideous with their cries and groans. the women who are called masculine, who are brave, courageous, self-reliant and independent, are they who in the face of adverse winds have kept one steady course upward and onward in the paths of virtue and peace--they who have taken their gauge of womanhood from their own native strength and dignity--they who have learned for themselves the will of god concerning them. this is our type of womanhood. will you help us raise it up, that you too may see its beautiful proportions--that you may behold the outline of the goddess who is yet to adorn your temple of freedom? we are building a model republic; our edifice will one day need a crowning glory. let the artists be wisely chosen. let them begin their work. here is a temple to liberty, to human rights, on whose portals behold the glorious declaration, "all men are created equal." the sun has never yet shone upon any of man's creations that can compare with this. the artist who can mold a statue worthy to crown magnificence like this, must be godlike in his conceptions, grand in his comprehensions, sublimely beautiful in his power of execution. the woman--the crowning glory of the model republic among the nations of the earth--what must she not be? (loud applause).[ ] an act concerning the rights and liabilities of husband and wife. the act of [ ] was offered by andrew j. colvin in the senate as a substitute for a bill from the assembly, which was simply an amendment of the law of . senators hammond, ramsey, and colvin constituted the judiciary committee, to whom the bill was referred. mr. colvin objected to it for want of breadth in giving to married women the rights to which he thought them entitled, and urged that a much more liberal measure was demanded by the spirit of the times. in one of miss anthony's interviews with mr. colvin, she handed him a very radical bill just introduced in the massachusetts legislature, which after due examination and the addition of two or three more liberal clauses, was accepted by the committee, reported to the senate by mr. colvin, and adopted by that body february , [ ]. the bill was concurred in by the assembly, and signed by the governor, edwin d. morgan. it is quite remarkable that the bill in its transit did not receive a single alteration, modification, or amendment from the time it left mr. colvin's hands until it took its place on the statute-book. the women of the state who labored so persistently for this measure, felt that the victory at last was due in no small degree to the deep interest and patient skill of andrew j. colvin. hon. anson bingham, chairman of the judiciary committee, who did good service in the assembly at this time, should be gratefully remembered by the women of new york. mr. bingham acted in concert with mr. colvin, both earnestly putting their shoulders to the wheel, one in the assembly and one in the senate, and with the women pulling all the wires they could outside, together they pushed the grand measure through. judge bingham served our cause also by articles on all phases of the question over the signature of "senex," published in many journals throughout the state. and this, too, at an early day, when every word in favor of woman's rights was of immense value in breaking down the prejudice of the ages. in addition to this, another act of great benefit to a large number of housekeepers, called the "boarding house law," was secured by the same members. miss emily howland, mrs. margaret murray, mrs. manning, and mrs. griffith satterlee spent some weeks in albany using their influence in favor of this measure. in february, , emily howland arranged a course of lectures on woman's rights, to be given in cooper institute, new york. henry ward beecher delivered his first lecture on the question in this course, receiving his fee of $ in advance, as it was said he considered no engagement of that sort imperative without previous payment. mr. beecher's speech was published in full in _the new york independent_, of which he was then editor-in-chief. the state committee purchased a large number, which lydia mott, of albany, laid on the desk of every member of both houses. at the time we felt the speech worth to our cause all it cost. tenth national woman's rights convention. cooper institute, new york, may - , . a large audience assembled in cooper institute at - / o'clock, thursday morning. susan b. anthony called the convention to order, and submitted a list of officers,[ ] nominated at a preliminary meeting, which was adopted without dissent. the president, martha c. wright, of auburn, on taking the chair, addressed the convention as follows: i have only to thank you for the honor you have conferred by electing me to preside over the deliberations of this convention. i shall leave it to others to speak of the purposes of this great movement and of the successes which have already been achieved. there are those in our movement who ask, "what is the use of these conventions? what is the use of this constant iteration of the same things?" when we see what has been already achieved, we learn the use of this "foolishness of preaching:" and after all that we demand has been granted, as it will be soon, _the new york observer_ will piously fold its hands and roll up its eyes, and say, "this beneficent movement we have always advocated," and the pulpits will say "amen!" (laughter and applause). then will come forward women who have gained courage from the efforts and sacrifices of others, and the great world will say, "here come the women who are going to do something, and not talk." there are those, too, who find fault with the freedom of our platform, who stand aloof and criticise, fearful of being involved in something that they can not fully endorse. forgetting that, as macaulay says, "liberty alone can cure the evils of liberty," they fear to trust on the platform all who have a word to say. but we have invited all to come forward and speak, and not to stand aside and afterward criticise what has been said. we trust that those present who have an opinion, who have a word to say, whether they have ever spoken before or not, will speak now. if they disapprove of our resolutions, if they disapprove of anything that is said on this platform, let them oppose if they can not unite with us. (applause.) susan b. anthony was then introduced, and read the following report: for our encouragement in laboring for the elevation of woman, it is well ever and anon to review the advancing steps. each year we hail with pleasure new accessions to our faith. strong words of cheer have come to us on every breeze. brave men and true, from the higher walks of literature and art, from the bar, the bench, the pulpit, and legislative halls, are ready now to help woman wherever she claims to stand. the press, too, has changed its tone. instead of ridicule, we now have grave debate. and still more substantial praises of gold and silver have come to us. a gift of $ , from unknown hands; a rich legacy from the coffers of a boston merchant prince--the late charles f. hovey; and, but a few days ago, $ , from mr. vassar, of poughkeepsie, to found a college for girls, equal in all respects to yale and harvard. we had in new york a legislative act passed at the last session, securing to married women their rights to their earnings and their children. other states have taken onward steps. and, from what is being done on all sides, we have reason to believe that, as the northern states shall one by one remodel their constitutions, the right of suffrage will be granted to women. six years hence new york proposes to revise her constitution. these should be years of effort with all those who believe that it is the right and the duty of every citizen of a state to have a voice in the laws that govern them. woman is being so educated that she will feel herself capable of assuming grave responsibilities as lawgiver and administrator. she is crowding into higher avocations and new branches of industry. she already occupies the highest places in literature and art. the more liberal lyceums are open to her, and she is herself the subject of the most popular lectures now before the public. the young women of our academies and high schools are asserting their right to the discipline of declamation and discussion, and the departments of science and mathematics. pewholders, of the most orthodox sects, are taking their right to a voice in the government of the church, and in the face of priests, crying "let your women keep silence in the churches," yes, at the very horns of the altar, calmly, deliberately, and persistently casting their votes in the choice of church officers and pastors.[ ] mass-meetings to sympathize with the "strikers" of massachusetts are being called in this metropolis by women. women are ordained ministers, and licensed physicians. elizabeth blackwell has founded a hospital in this city, where she proposes a thorough medical education, both theoretical and practical, for young women. and this institute in which we are now assembled, with its school of design, its library and reading-room, where the arts and sciences are freely taught to women, and this hall, so cheerfully granted to our convention, shows the magnanimity of its founder, peter cooper. all these are the results of our twenty years of agitation. and it matters not to us, though the men and the women who echo back our thought do fail to recognize the source of power, and while they rejoice in each onward step achieved in the face of ridicule and persecution, ostracise those who have done the work. who of our literary women has yet ventured one word of praise or recognition of the heroic enunciators of the great idea of woman's equality--of mary woolstonecraft, frances wright, ernestine l. rose, lucretia mott, elizabeth cady stanton? it matters not to those who live for the race, and not for self alone, who has the praise, so that justice be done to woman in church, in state, and at the fireside--an equal everywhere with man--they will not complain, though even _the new york observer_ itself does claim to have done for them the work. during the past six years this state has been thoroughly canvassed, and every county that has been visited by our lecturers and tracts has rolled up petitions by the hundreds and thousands asking for woman's right to vote and hold office--her right to her person, her wages, her children, and her home. again and again have we held conventions at the capital, and addressed our legislature, demanding the exercise of all our rights as citizens of the empire state. during the past year, we have had six women[ ] lecturing in new york for several months each. conventions have been held in forty counties, one or more lectures delivered in one hundred and fifty towns and villages, our petitions circulated, and our tracts and documents sold and gratuitously distributed throughout the entire length and breadth of the state. a state convention was held at albany early in february. large numbers of the members of the legislature listened respectfully and attentively to the discussions of its several sessions, and expressed themselves converts to the claims for woman. the bills for woman's right to her property, her earnings, and the guardianship of her children passed both branches of the legislature with scarce a dissenting voice, and received the prompt signature of the governor. our legislature passed yet another bill that brings great relief to a large class of women. it was called the boarding-house bill. it provides that the keepers of private boarding-houses shall have the right of lien on the property of boarders, precisely the same as do hotel-keepers. we closed our work by a joint hearing before the committees of the judiciary at the capitol on the th of march. elizabeth cady stanton addressed them. the assembly chamber was densely packed, and she was listened to with marked attention and respect. the judiciary committees of neither house reported on our petition for the right of suffrage, though the chairman, with a large minority of the house committee and a majority of the senate committee, favored the claim. the hon. a. j. colvin, of the senate committee, in a letter to me, says: "the subject was presented at so late a day as to preclude action. while a majority of the senate committee i think were favorable, a majority of the house committee, so far as i could learn, were opposed. so many progressive measures had passed both houses that i felt apprehensive we might perhaps be running too great a risk by urging this question of justice and reform at this session. i did not therefore press it. should i remain in the senate, i may take occasion at an early day in the next session to bring up the subject and present my views at length. the more reflection i give, the more my mind becomes convinced that in a republican government, we have no right to deny to woman the privileges she claims. besides, the moral element which those privileges would bring into existence would, in my judgment, have a powerful influence in perpetuating our form of government. it may be deemed best, at the next session, to urge an early constitutional convention. in case one should be called, your friends should be prepared to meet the emergency. is the public mind sufficiently enlightened to accept a constitution recognizing the right of women to vote and hold office? you should consider this." the entire expense of the new york state work during the past year is nearly four thousand dollars. the present year we propose to expend our funds and efforts mostly in ohio, to obtain, if possible, for the women of that state, the liberal laws we have secured for ourselves. ohio, too, is soon to revise her constitution, and we trust she will not be far behind new york in recognizing the full equality of woman. we who have grasped the idea of woman's destiny, her power and influence, the trinity of her existence as woman, wife, and mother, can most earnestly work for her elevation to that high position that it is the will of god she should ever fill. though we have not yet realized the fullness of our hopes, let us rest in the belief that in all these years of struggle, no earnest thought, or word, or prayer has been breathed in vain. the influence has gone forth, the great ocean has been moved, and those who watch, e'en now may see the mighty waves of truth slowly swelling on the shores of time. "one accent of the holy ghost, a heedless word hath never lost." ernestine l. rose being introduced, said: frances wright was the first woman in this country who spoke on the equality of the sexes. she had indeed a hard task before her. the elements were entirely unprepared. she had to break up the time-hardened soil of conservatism, and her reward was sure--the same reward that is always bestowed upon those who are in the vanguard of any great movement. she was subjected to public odium, slander, and persecution. but these were not the only things that she received. oh, she had her reward!--that reward of which no enemies could deprive her, which no slanders could make less precious--the eternal reward of knowing that she had done her duty; the reward springing from the consciousness of right, of endeavoring to benefit unborn generations. how delightful to see the molding of the minds around you, the infusing of your thoughts and aspirations into others, until one by one they stand by your side, without knowing how they came there! that reward she had. it has been her glory, it is the glory of her memory; and the time will come when society will have outgrown its old prejudices, and stepped with one foot, at least, upon the elevated platform on which she took her position. but owing to the fact that the elements were unprepared, she naturally could not succeed to any great extent. after her, in , the subject of woman's rights was again taken hold of--aye, taken hold of by woman; and the soil having been already somewhat prepared, she began to sow the seeds for the future growth, the fruits of which we now begin to enjoy. petitions were circulated and sent to our legislature, and who can tell the hardships that then met those who undertook that great work! i went from house to house with a petition for signatures simply asking our legislature to allow married women to hold real estate in their own name. what did i meet with? why, the very name exposed one to ridicule, if not to worse treatment. the women said: "we have rights enough; we want no more"; and the men, as a matter of course, echoed it, and said: "you have rights' enough; nay, you have too many already." (laughter). but by perseverance in sending petitions to the legislature, and, at the same time, enlightening the public mind on the subject, we at last accomplished our purpose. we had to adopt the method which physicians sometimes use, when they are called to a patient who is so hopelessly sick that he is unconscious of his pain and suffering. we had to describe to women their own position, to explain to them the burdens that rested so heavily upon them, and through these means, as a wholesome irritant, we roused public opinion on the subject, and through public opinion, we acted upon the legislature, and in - , they gave us the great boon for which we asked, by enacting that a woman who possessed property previous to marriage, or obtained it after marriage, should be allowed to hold it in her own name. thus far, thus good; but it was only a beginning, and we went on. in we had the first woman's rights convention, and then some of our papers thought it only a very small affair, called together by a few "strong-minded women," and would pass away like a nine-days' wonder. they little knew woman! they little knew that if woman takes anything earnestly in her hands, she will not lay it aside unaccomplished. (applause). we have continued our conventions ever since. a few years ago, when we sent a petition to our legislature, we obtained, with but very little effort, upward of thirteen thousand signatures. what a contrast between this number and the five signatures attached to the first petition, in ! since then, we might have had hundreds of thousands of signatures, but it is no longer necessary. public opinion is too well known to require a long array of names. we have been often asked. "what is the use of conventions? why talk? why not go to work?" just as if the thought did not precede the act! those who act without previously thinking, are not good for much. thought is first required, then the expression of it, and that leads to action; and action based upon thought never needs to be reversed; it is lasting and profitable, and produces the desired effect. i know that there are many who take advantage of this movement, and then say: "you are doing nothing; only talking." yes, doing nothing! we have only broken up the ground and sowed the seed; they are reaping the benefit, and yet they tell us we have done nothing! mrs. swisshelm, who has proclaimed herself to be "no woman's rights, woman," has accepted a position as inspector of logs and lumber. (laughter). well, i have no objection to her having that avocation, if she have a taste and capacity for it--far from it. but she has accepted still more, and i doubt not with a great deal more zest and satisfaction--the five hundred dollars salary; and i hope she will enjoy it. then, having accepted both the office and the salary, she folds her arms, and says: "i am none of your strong-minded women; i don't go for woman's rights." well, she is still welcome to it. i have not the slightest objection that those who proclaim themselves not strong-minded, should still reap the benefit of a strong mind (applause and laughter); it is for them we work. so there are some ladies who think a great deal can be done in the legislature without petitions, without conventions, without lectures, without public claim, in fact, without anything, but a little lobbying. well, if they have a, taste for it, they are welcome to engage in it; i have not the slightest objection. yes, i have. i, as a woman, being conscious of the evil that is done by these lobby loafers in our legislature and in the halls of congress, object to it. (loud cheers). i will wait five years longer to have a right given to me legitimately, from a sense of justice, rather than buy it in an underhand way by lobbying. whatever my sentiments may be, good, bad, or indifferent, i express them, and they are known. nevertheless, if any desire it, let them do that work. but what has induced them, what has enabled them, to do that work? the woman's rights movement, although they are afraid or ashamed even of the name "woman's rights." you have been told, and much more might be said on the subject, that already the woman's rights platform has upon it lawyers, ministers, and statesmen--men who are among the highest in the nation. i need not mention wm. lloyd garrison, or wendell phillips; but there are others, those even who are afraid of the name of reformer, who have stood upon our platform. brady! who would ever have expected it? chapin! beecher! think of it for a moment! a minister advocating the rights of woman, even her right at the ballot-box! what has done it? our agitation has purified the atmosphere, and enabled them to see the injustice that is done to woman. mrs. elizabeth jones, of ohio, was the next speaker. she said: i wish to preface my remarks with this resolution: _resolved_, that woman's sphere can not be bounded. its prescribed orbit is the largest place that in her highest development she can fill. the laws of mind are as immutable as are those of the planetary world, and the true woman most ever revolve around the great moral sun of light and truth. as a general proposition, we say that capacity determines the true sphere of action, and indicates the kind of labor to be performed. i often hear women discussing this subject, much more in earnest than in jest, though they profess to be simply amusing themselves. one says: "if i were a man, i should be a mechanic"; another says: "i should be a merchant." one says: "i am sure i should be rich"; another, in the excess of her humor, thinks she should be distinguished. why do women talk thus? because one feels that she has mechanical genius; the power to construct, to perfect. another understands the secrets of trade, and would like to incur the heavy responsibilities it involves. a third is conscious that she was born a financier; while a fourth has an intuitive perception of the elements of success. many women are beginning to judge for themselves the proper sphere of action, and are not only jesting about what they should do under other circumstances, but are already entering upon such paths as their taste and capacity indicate. some will doubtless make mistakes, which experience will rectify, and others will perhaps persist in striving to do that which it will be very evident they have no ability to perform. this is the case with men who have had freedom in every sphere. look at the american pulpit, for instance. go through the country, and listen to those who claim to be the messengers of god, and if you do not say that many are destitute of capacity to fill the sphere they have chosen, we shall regard it as an act of obedience on your part to the command which says: "judge not, lest ye be judged." (laughter). let adaptation be the rule for pulpit occupancy, and while it would eject some who are now no honor to the station, and no benefit to the people, it would open the place to many an anna and miriam and deborah to fulfill the mission which god has clearly indicated by the talents he has bestowed. the world says now, man is god's minister, and woman is not fit to call sinners to repentance; but let it say: "those who have faith in the principles of eternal right, and have power to give it utterance; those who have the clearest perceptions of moral truth; those who understand the wants of the people, are the proper persons, whether they be men or women, to dispense to the needy multitude the bread of life." this would elevate the standard of pulpit qualifications, and bring into the field a far greater amount of talent to choose from, and thus would the intellectual and spiritual needs of the people be more fully answered. what is true of this profession will apply with equal force to others. should i be told that the american bar needs no more talent, i would reply that it needs decency, and a well-founded self-respect. when you enter a court-room, and listen to a cross-examination of a delicate nature, one where woman is concerned, and she would rather die a hundred deaths, if she could, than to have the case dragged before the public, you will see it treated in the coarsest way, as if her holiest affections and her most sacred functions were fitting themes for brutish men to jeer at. and even in the most ordinary cases, gentlemen who would spurn the imputation of incivility in social life, will so browbeat and badger a witness, that the most disgusting bear-baiting would become by comparison a refined amusement. if the young aspirants for legal honors should meet among the advocates and judges sensible, dignified, and highly cultivated women, they would, if i am not much mistaken, get the benefit of certain lessons, upon manners and morals, that it is essential for all young men to learn. (applause). it appears to me that by association of men and women in this profession, the bar might be purged of this indecorum, and possess the humanity, the wisdom, and the dignity that should ever characterize a court of justice. you need not tell me that the profession would be overstocked, if women should enter it, for, like men, they must stand on their merits. let there be no proscription on account of sex. let talent be brought fairly into competition, and although many a young man, as well as young woman, would sit down forever briefless, having neither the capacity nor the acquirements to bring or retain clients, yet their loss would be for the public good, and for the honor and respectability of the profession. let the talents of women be fully developed, and no man will lose any place that he is qualified to fill in consequence, and no woman will obtain that place who has not peculiar fitness. all these matters will find their own level, ultimately. i can point you to localities now where the people prefer women for teachers. a union school in northern ohio, which is made up of ten departments, employs women for teachers, and a woman as superintendent of the whole. the people reason this way: we prefer women, because they bring us the best talent. not that they have better talents than men, but with the latter, teaching is generally a stepping-stone to a profession. woman accepts it as her highest post, and brings her best energies. with man, it is often a subordinate interest, and his best talents will be exercised upon what he regards as something higher and better. as in this, so in other things. the time will come when talent or capacity will govern the choice and not sex. it is so now in art, to a great extent. i think there is not much known of sex there. the world does not care who wrote "aurora leigh." it does not recognize it as the production of a woman, but as the work of genius. let the artists say what they please, the world does not care who chisels zenobia, so that zenobia be well chiseled. it does not care whether landseer or rosa bonheur paints animals, so that animals are well painted. no one says this or that is well done for a woman, but he says, this is the work of an artist, that has no merit; not because a woman did it, not because a man did it, but because the author was destitute of capacity to embody the idea. again, read the little village newspapers, got out by little editors, and you will find, in many cases, an utter want of ability to fill the place that has been chosen. i hope young women will not make such mistakes as these young men have done, who might have been supposed to know something, if they had only kept still. (laughter). if these papers, to which i have referred, were all in the hands of women, and so destitute of editorial pith and point as they now are, i should counsel against any further efforts for the elevation of the sex, believing the case to be hopeless. (applause). if i mistake not, women have a peculiar fitness for trade. mrs. dall says, in her second lecture, that on the island of nantucket, women have engaged in commerce very successfully. they did it in the war, and afterward, when destitution drove the men to the whale fisheries, and again when they went to california. they have had much experience; and eliza barney tells of seventy women who engaged in trade, and retired with a competence, and besides brought up and educated large families of children. she says, also, that failures were very uncommon when women managed the business, and some of the largest and safest fortunes in boston were founded by women. whenever, therefore, one shows any ability for trade, that is her license for engaging in it--a license granted under the higher law, and therefore valid. i went into a bonnet store the other day, and saw a man-milliner holding up a bonnet on his soft white hand to a lady customer, and expatiating upon the beauties of the article with an earnestness, if not the eloquence, of an orator. she tried it on, and he went into ecstacies. (laughter). it was so becoming! it was so charming! he complimented her, and he complimented the bonnet, and had she not been a strong-minded woman, i do not know how much of the flattery she would have taken for truth. i thought that man was out of his sphere: and not only that, but he had crowded some woman out of her appropriate place, out of the realm of taste and fashion. (applause). when i passed out on the street, the harsh, discordant tone of a fish-woman fell upon my ear. i saw that she bore a heavy tub upon her head, evidently seeking by this branch of merchandise to procure a living for herself and family. so few were the avenues open to her, as she thought, and so much had men monopolized the places she could fill, that she was compelled to carry fish on her head, until she could raise money enough to procure a better conveyance. again, i see young men selling artificial flowers, and laces and embroidery, crinolines and balmorals, and i think to myself they had better be out digging coal or making brick. when i go back home to the west, i could take a car-load with me, and set them to work, and i would greatly benefit their condition, while the places they vacate here might be filled by the girls who are now starving in your garrets. (applause). at a shoe-store, instead of finding a sprightly miss, to select and fit the ladies gaiters, you often see a strong, healthy man, kneeling before the customer with a gallantry that would be admirable in a drawing-room, and worth infinitely more than the price of the article he is selling; and he fusses over the gaiters and over the lady's foot, until you wonder if she is not tempted to propel him into a more appropriate sphere. (laughter). whatever possessed men to imagine that god designed them to fit ladies' gaiters, is more than i can imagine. (applause). i am unable to realize how they obtained the revelation that for a woman to thus officiate would take her out of her appropriate sphere. shall i be held to my principles here, and told that these men succeed in business, and success being the test of sphere, therefore they are in their place? it remains to be proved that they have succeeded. a man may jump jim crow from morning till night, or make a fool of himself in any other way, and succeed admirably in pleasing auditors and gathering pennies; but when you take into consideration his high and heavenly origin, and the noble purposes for which he was made, you can hardly call it a success. neither should i think a woman was in suitable business, even if it were ever so lucrative and well done, unless that business developed her talents; made her stronger, more self-reliant, and better fitted her for life and its duties. these stores would be a good discipline for young girls, but not for men. this whole question lies in a small compass. our reform would leave woman just where god placed her--a moral, accountable being, endowed with talents whose scope and character indicate the work she is to do; and who is responsible primarily to her creator for the use she makes of those talents. he says to every man and to every woman, go work in my vineyard! that vineyard i understand to be the world, embracing all the varied responsibilities of life. whether man shall pursue science, literature, or art, whether he shall engage in agriculture, manufactures, or mechanics, is for _him_ to determine, and whether woman shall engage in any of these things is for _her_ to determine. nothing but an internal consciousness of power to perform certain work, and that it will be for her own good, can aid her in her choice. if a woman can write vigorous verse, then let her write verse. if she can build ships, then let her be a ship-builder. i know no reason why. if she can keep house, and that takes as much brains as any other occupation, let her be a housekeeper. they tell us that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"; eternal vigilance is the price of a well-ordered home, and every woman before me knows it. (applause). i know that the conservative, in his fear, says, surely you would not have woman till the soil, sail the seas, run up the rigging of a ship like a monkey (i use the language of one of your most distinguished men), go to war, engage in political brawls? no! i would not have her do anything. she must be her own judge. in relation to tilling the soil, the last census of the united kingdom reports , women employed in agriculture. examples are by no means rare where a woman carries on a farm which her deceased husband has left, and i have, seen much skill evinced in the management. "in media, pa., two girls named miller carry on a farm of acres, raising hay and grain, hiring labor, but working mostly themselves." i have been on a farm in your own state where i saw, not tennyson's six mighty daughters of the plow, but i saw three[ ] who plowed, and not only that, but they plowed well. doubtless, some of our fastidious young ladies would be greatly shocked at such an exhibition, and i must acknowledge that it was to me a novel sight; but the more i considered it, the more i thought that i would rather see a young woman holding the plow, than to see her leading such an aimless, silly life as many a young lady leads. i would rather see a young woman holding the plow, than to see her decked out in her finery, and sitting idle in the parlor, waiting for an offer of marriage. (applause). i hope women will not copy the vices of men. i hope they will not go to war; i wish men would not. i hope they will not be contentious politicians; i am sorry that men are. i hope they will not regard their freedom as a license to do wrong; i am ashamed to acknowledge that men do. but we need not fear. we may safely trust the judgment of those who tell us that politics and morals, and every department into which woman may enter, will be elevated and refined by her influence. so far as navigation is concerned, i think many women would not be attracted to that life. there might be now and then a betsy miller, who could walk the quarter-deck in a gale, and that certainly would indicate constitutional ability to become a sailor. i do not suppose so much violence would be done to her nature by navigating the seas, as by helping a drunken husband to navigate the streets habitually. (applause). in relation to running up the rigging like a monkey, or in regard to any other monkey performance, i do not believe that women will ever enter into competition with men in these things, because the latter have shown such remarkable aptitude for that business. (laughter and applause). but after all that may be said on this subject, we fail to reach one class in the community who have spare time, spare energies, abundance of power for work. i mean young ladies of wealth and rank. the world shows a degree of toleration now toward any young woman who from necessity has engaged in any industrial avocation to which women have not heretofore applied themselves. but there is no such toleration for the rich. many of these are now striving to kill time with fancy-work and fiction, with flirtation and flaunting. some are destitute of aspiration for anything better. these could be moved only by some convulsion in the social system, like the earthquake, or like the volcano that opens the ground at our feet and shows us our danger. but there are others whose convictions lead them to desire something better; who feel that they are living to no purpose; who know that their own powers, good as any god ever created, are lying in inglorious repose. some of the advocates of our cause have said that for these there is no profession but marriage. if they are not literary, artistic, or philanthropic, what can they do? they are held by a cable, made up of home influence, of fashion, and of perverted scripture, which binds them down to an insipid existence. hence, they suppress all desire for a fuller, larger life; they smile graciously upon their fetters; they profess to be the happiest of all happy women, and thus they glide along through the thoroughfares of society with a lying tongue and an aching heart. i wish these had enough vitality of soul and enough energy of character to rise superior to the circumstances around them, and make some approach to their own ideal. i know this is asking them to martyrize themselves. but could they see the beauty and the glory that will invest the future woman, when she shall have her proper place among the children of the father; when she shall infuse her love, her moral perceptions, her sense of justice, into the ethics and governments of the earth; when she shall be united to man in a divine harmony, and her children shall go forth to bless all coming generations, they would regard martyrdom but dust in the balance compared with such blessing. and when the world shall see the moral grandeur, the sublime position of a race redeemed by the sanctifying influences of this divine harmony, it will weave for them a brighter chaplet than it has ever woven for any of its martyrs who have suffered at the stake. (loud applause). * * * * * rev. beriah green, of whitesboro', n. y., was next introduced, and said: it is not, i suppose, at all the design of this platform in any way to abolish what the grammarians call "the distinction of sex"; and when we speak of "woman's rights," we admit, in the very language which is thus employed, that she is a "woman"--that that is appropriately her character--that under this name she is fitly described. now, a comprehensive description of all the rights which any member of the human family, whoever and whatever and wherever he may be, is entitled to challenge and maintain, we have in the brief and simple expression, the right to be himself; the right to be true to the nature which he has inherited; the right to the free and full development of the powers with which he is endowed; the right to lay out those resources of which he is constructed happily, effectively, properly; the right to rise to the highest position in excellence and in blessedness to which his capacities and powers may elevate him. this is a comprehensive description of man's rights, a comprehensive description of woman's rights, and a comprehensive description of human rights, under every form and phase of application of which human rights may be supposed capable. now, i regard it as a repulsive feature of the age, that one sex should feel itself constrained to come forward and defend itself from the other sex; to demand a redress of the wrongs to which it may be exposed, and a vindication of the rights to which it may be entitled; for, look you! most obviously and clearly, the relation between the sexes is naturally most intimate. the one lives in and through the other. they do not make two distinct classes, most obviously and certainly. they do not in nature; they do not according to the divine arrangement; and it always seems to me to be most absurd, and in the highest degree ungrateful, to present the subject with which we are now occupied, under any such aspect. mankind are divided, doubtless--divided now by accident, and now by arrangement--into different classes; but to make the women one class, and the men another class, seems to me to be essentially and flagrantly absurd. (applause). manifestly, the grand right of man (employing the term man here not generally, but specifically), in his relations to woman, as well as in all his other relations, is to be grandly, vigorously beautiful; in every way a man; in all the relations of life to be true to whatever may be characteristic of his nature, and to whatever may be distinctive in his sex. and what may be affirmed of him in this respect may be affirmed of his mother, of his wife, of his sister. it is a general law of our humanity, an all-comprehensive and all controlling principle, that we belong, as human beings, to each other. every man belongs to the whole human family, and the whole human family belongs to every one of its members. we are mutually, as a matter of course, under the controlling influence of this great law; we are mutually to contribute, as effectively and wisely as we may, to each other's improvement and welfare. this is the great general law which lies at the very basis of our being; this is the law which asserts its majesty in the depths of our consciousness. this law has manifestly a specific and beneficent application to the relation which binds man to woman, and unites woman to man. in a natural state of things, where the ordinances of our true father were regarded, where the principles of our existence were reverently heeded, as a matter of course, individually and generally, man would devote himself, as man, generously, magnanimously, his entire self, whatever belongs to his manhood, in every department of his being--he would devote himself, as man, to woman; and woman, on the other hand, would just as characteristically, just as nobly, just as cheerfully, just as gratefully, just as effectively, devote herself to the improvement and welfare of man; and according to the nature of the relation which unites them, the one would supply whatever might seem to be demanded in the construction of the other. a man is never completely himself until he is united to woman, and a woman is never completely herself until she is united to man; and thus they become a beautiful unit, playing continually into each other's hands, their hearts beating in delightful harmony with each other. this is the great fundamental law of our social existence. the very germ of the social is to be found in the sexual relations which bind men and women together, and society, in all its forms and phases, is nothing under heaven but the development, the fit, symmetrical, and full development of the germ to which i have thus referred. as has already been intimated in the beautiful thoughts which have been expressed by those who have preceded me, the great law, which was, perhaps, as intelligibly and impressively presented by napoleon as by any other man, giving liberty to every man to use the tools who is qualified to use them--"the tools to him who can use them!"--or, in better language still, as it fell from the lips of the great teacher, "every man according to his ability"--this great law applies with equal force to woman as to man. there have been women greatly distinguished for physical power. you remember the old story of kate guardinier. a distinguished wrestler, who came to lay hold of her brother, her muscular and gigantic brother, and measure strength with him, found that he was absent. "well," says kate, "i will wrestle with you, and if i throw you, you need not wait the return of my brother." and so she did, and he went away, fully satisfied that there was no occasion for him, to wait for any more vigorous arm than kate guardinier wielded. now, wherever there is a strong arm, adapt its task to its powers--that is the will of high heaven. wherever there are well-trained powers, let these be recognized powers, and of course the general results can not be otherwise than happy. in regard to the great question who shall take the lead in the family or the community, let me say, that i do not care through what medium wisdom may reach me, through what medium i may secure the benefit of healthful guidance. what i want is wisdom. wisdom, goodness, and power are the soul of all government. wherever these are combined, there you have the results of wisdom, goodness, and power. now, then, if the mother in a household, or even if a daughter in a household, is more distinguished for these high qualities, for these grand attainments, than any other member of that family, why, it is nothing but rebellion against god, it is nothing but gibbering madness, that would make any member of that family hesitate to avail himself of the guidance thus offered, of the light of the wisdom which may thus be poured around him. in god's name, give me wisdom, give me genuine power, give me magnanimity!--as to the incidents of the matter, i do not insist upon them. whether it be through my father or my mother that true guidance is afforded, whether it be by my wife or my daughter that good counsel is offered, very clearly, to reject these is to spurn the kindness of benignant heaven. * * * * * wendell phillips said:--we are here to enforce, on the consideration of the civil state, those elements of power which have already made the social state. you do not find it necessary to-day to say to a husband, "your wife has a right to read"; or necessary to say to dickens, "you have as many women over your pages as men." you do not find it necessary to say to the male members of a church that the women members have a right to change their creed. all that is settled; nobody contests it. if a man stood up here and said, "i am a calvinist, and therefore my wife is bound to be one," you would send him to a lunatic asylum. you would say, "poor man! don't judge him by what he says; he don't mean it." but law is halting back just where that old civilization was; we want to change it. we are not doing anything new. there is no fanaticism about it. we are merely extending the area of liberty--nothing else. we have made great progress. the law passed at the last session of the new york legislature grants, in fact, the whole question. the moment you grant us anything, we have gained the whole. you can not stop with an inconsistent statute-book. a man is uneasy who is inconsistent. as thomas fuller says, "you can not make one side of the face laugh, and the other cry!" you can not have one-half your statute-book jewish, and the other christian; one-half of the statute-book oriental, the other saxon. you have granted that woman may be hung, therefore you must grant that woman may vote. you have granted that she may be taxed, therefore, on republican principles, you must grant that she ought to have a voice in fixing the laws of taxation--and this is, in fact, all that we claim--the whole of it. now, i want to consider some of the objections that are made to this claim. men say, "woman is not fit to vote; she does not know enough; she has not sense enough to vote." i take this idea of the ballot as the gibraltar of our claim, for this reason, because i am speaking in a democracy; i am speaking under republican institutions. the rule of despotism is that one class is made to protect the other; that the rich, the noble, the educated are a sort of probate court, to take care of the poor, the ignorant, and the common classes. our fathers got rid of all that. they knocked it on the head by the simple principle, that no class is safe, unless government is so arranged that each class has in its own hands the means of protecting itself. that is the idea of republics. the briton says to the poor man, "be content; i am worth five millions, and i will protect you." and america says, "thank you, sir; i had rather take care of myself!"--and that is the essence of democracy. (applause). it is the corner-stone of progress, also; because, the moment you have admitted that poor ignorant heart as an element of the government, able to mold your institutions, those five millions of dollars, feeling that their cradle is not safe and their life is in peril, unless that heart is bulwarked with education and informed with morality, selfishness dictates that wealth and education should do its utmost to educate poverty and hold up weakness--and that is the philosophy of democratic institutions. (applause). i am speaking in a republic which admits the principle that the poor are not to be protected by the rich, but to have the means of protecting themselves. so, too, the ignorant; so, too, races. the irish are not to trust to the sense of justice in the saxon; the german is not to trust to the native-born citizen; the catholic is not to trust to the protestant; but all sects, all classes, are to hold in their own hands the scepter--the american scepter--of the ballot, which protects each class. we claim it, therefore, for woman. the reply is, that woman has not got sense enough. if she has not, so much the more shame for your public-schools--educate her! for you will not say that woman naturally has not mind enough. if god did not give her mind enough, then you are brutes, for you say to her: "madam, you have sense enough to earn your own living--don't come to us!" you make her earn her own bread, and, if she has sense enough to do that, she has enough to say whether fernando wood or governor morgan shall take one cent out of every hundred to pay for fireworks. when you hold her up in both hands, and say, "let me work for you! don't move one of your dainty fingers! we will pour wealth into your lap, and be ye clothed in satin and velvet, every daughter of eve!"--then you will be consistent in saying that woman has not sense enough to vote. but if she has sense enough to work, to depend for her bread on her work, she has sense enough to vote.... but men say it would be very indelicate for woman to go to the ballot-box or sit in the legislature. well, what would she see there? why, she would see men. (laughter). she sees men now. in "cranford village," that sweet little sketch by mrs. gaskill, one of the characters says, "i know these men--my father was a man." (laughter). i think every woman can say the same. she meets men now; she could meet nothing but men at the ballot-box, or, if she meets brutes, they ought not to be there. (applause). indelicate for her to go to the ballot-box!--but you may walk up and down broadway any time from nine o'clock in the morning until nine at night, and you will find about equal numbers of men and women crowding that thoroughfare, which is never still. you may get into an omnibus--women are there, crowding us out, sometimes. (laughter). you can not go into a theater without being crowded to death by two women to one man. if you go to the lyceum, woman is there. i have stood on this very platform, and seen as many women as men before me, and one time, at least, when they could not have met any worse men at the ballot-box than they met in this hall. (laughter and applause). you may go to church, and you will find her facing men of all classes--ignorant and wise, saints and sinners. i do not know anywhere that woman is not. it is too late now to say that she can not go to the ballot-box. go back to turkey, and shut her up in a harem; go back to greece, and shut her up in the private apartments of women; go back to the old oriental phases of civilization, that never allowed woman's eyes to light a man's pathway, unless he owned her, and you are consistent; but you see, we have broken down the bulwark, centuries ago. you know they used to let a man be hung in public, and said that it was for the sake of the example. they got ashamed of it, and banished the gallows to the jail-yard, and allowed only twelve men to witness an execution. it is too late to say that you hang men for the example, because the example you are ashamed to have public can not be a wholesome example. so it is with this question of woman. you have granted so much, that you have left yourselves no ground to stand on. my dear, delicate friend, you are out of your sphere; you ought to be in turkey. my dear, religiously, scrupulously fashionable, exquisitely anxious hearer, fearful lest your wife, or daughter, or sister shall be sullied by looking into your neighbors' faces at the ballot-box, you do not belong to the century that has ballot-boxes. you belong to the century of tamerlane and timour the tartar; you belong to china, where the women have no feet, because it is not meant that they shall walk. you belong anywhere but in america; and if you want an answer, walk down broadway, and meet a hundred thousand petticoats, and they are a hundred thousand answers; for if woman can walk the streets, she can go to the ballot-box, and any reason of indelicacy that forbids the one covers the other. men say, "why do you come here? what good are you going to do? you do nothing but talk." oh, yes, we have done a great deal besides talk! but suppose we had done nothing but talk? i saw a poor man the other day, and said he (speaking of a certain period in his life), "i felt very friendless and alone--i had only god with me"; and he seemed to think that was not much. and so thirty millions of thinking, reading people are constantly throwing it in the teeth of reformers that they rely upon talk! what is talk? why, it is the representative of brains. and what is the characteristic glory of the nineteenth century? that it is ruled by brains, and not by muscle; that rifles are gone by, and ideas have come in; and, of course, in such an era, talk is the fountain-head of all things. but we have done a great deal. in the first place, you will meet dozens of men who say, "oh, woman's right to property, the right of the wife to her own earnings, we grant that; we always thought that; we have had that idea for a dozen years." i met a man the other day in the cars, and we read the statute of your new york legislature. "why," said he, "that is nothing; i have assented to that for these fifteen years." all i could say to that was this: "this agitation has either given you the idea, or it has given you the courage to utter it, for nobody ever heard it from you until to-day." ... what do we toil for? why, my friends, i do not care much whether a woman actually goes to the ballot-box and votes--that is a slight matter; and i shall not wait, either, to know whether every woman in this audience wants to vote. some of you were saying to-day, in these very seats, coming here out of mere curiosity, to see what certain fanatics could find to say, "why, i don't want any more rights; i have got rights enough." many a lady, whose husband is what he ought to be, whose father is what fathers ought to be, feeling no want unsupplied, is ready to say, "i have all the rights i want." so the daughter of louis sixteenth, in the troublous time of , when somebody told her that the people were starving in the streets of paris, exclaimed, "what fools! i would eat bread first!" thus wealth, comfort, and ease say, "i have rights enough." nobody doubted it, madam! but the question is not of you; the question is of some houseless wife of a drunkard; the question is of some ground-down daughter of toil, whose earnings are filched from her by the rum debts of a selfishness which the law makes to have a right over her, in the person of a husband. the question is not of you, it is of some friendless woman of twenty, standing at the door of the world, educated, capable, desirous of serving her time and her race, and saying, "where shall i use these talents? how shall i earn bread?" and orthodox society, cabined and cribbed in st. paul, cries out, "go sew, jade! we have no other channel for you. go to the needle, or wear yourself to death as a school-mistress." we come here to endeavor to convince you, and so to shape our institutions that public opinion, following in the wake, shall be willing to open channels for the agreeable and profitable occupation of women as much as for men. people blame the shirt-makers and tailors because they pay two cents where they ought to pay fifty. it is not their fault. they are nothing but the weathercocks, and society is the wind. trade does not grow out of the sermon on the mount; merchants never have any hearts, they have only ledgers; two per cent. a month is their sermon on the mount, and a balance on the wrong side of the ledger is their demonstration. (laughter). nobody finds fault with them for it. everything according to the law of its life. a man pays as much for making shirts or coats as it is necessary to pay, and he would be a fool and a bankrupt if he paid any more. he needs only a hundred workwomen; there are a thousand women standing at his door saying, "give us work; and if it is worth ten cents to do it, we will do it for two"; and a hundred get the work, and nine hundred are turned into the street, to drag down this city into the pit that it deserves. (loud applause). now, what is the remedy? to take that tailor by the throat, and gibbet him in _the new york tribune_? not at all; it does the women no good, and he does not deserve it. i will tell you what is to be done. behind the door at which those women stand asking for work, on one side stands an orthodox disciple of st. paul, and on the other a dainty exquisite; and the one says, it is not religious, and the other says, it is not fashionable, for woman to be anything but a drudge. now, strangle the one in his own creed, and smother the other in his own perfumes, and give to those thousand women freedom to toil. let public opinion only grant that, like their thousand brothers, those thousand women may go out, and wherever they find work to do, do it, without a stigma being set upon them. let the educated girl of twenty have the same liberty to use the pen, to practice law, to write books, to attend the telegraph, to go into the artist's studio, to serve in a library, to tend in a gallery of art, to do anything that her brother can do. st. paul is dead and rotten, and ought to be forgotten--(applause, laughter, and a few hisses)--so far as this doctrine goes, mark you! for his is the noblest figure in all history, except that of christ, the broadest and most masterly intellect of any age; but he was a jew and not a christian; he lived under jewish civilization and not ours, and was speaking by his own light, and not by inspiration of god. this is all we claim; and we claim the ballot for this reason; the moment you give woman power, that moment men will see to it that she has the way cleared for her. there are two sources of power: one is civil, the ballot; the other is physical, the rifle. i do not believe that the upper classes--education, wealth, aristocracy, conservatism--the men that are in--ever yielded, except to fear. i think the history of the race shows that the upper classes never granted a privilege to the lower out of love. as jeremy bentham says, "the upper classes never yielded a privilege without being bullied out of it." when man rises in revolution, with the sword in his right hand, trembling wealth and conservatism say, "what do you want? take it; but grant me my life." the duke of tuscany, elizabeth barrett browning has told us, swore to a dozen constitutions when the tuscans stood armed in the streets of florence, and he forgot them when the austrians came in and took the rifles out of the tuscans' hands. you must force the upper classes to do justice by physical or some other power. the age of physical power is gone, and we want to put ballots into the hands of women.... political economy puts in every man's hand, by the labor of half a day, money enough to be drunk a week. there is one temptation, dragging down the possibility of self-government into the pit of imbruted humanity; and on the other side, is that hideous problem of modern civilized life--prostitution--born of orthodox scruples and aristocratic fastidiousness--born of that fastidious denial of the right of woman to choose her own work, and, like her brother, to satiate her ambition, her love of luxury, her love of material gratifications, by fair wages for fair work. as long as you deny it, as long as the pulpit covers with its fastidious orthodoxy this question from the consideration of the public, it is but a concealed brothel, although it calls itself an orthodox pulpit. (applause and hisses). i know what i say; your hisses can not change it. go, clean out the gehenna of new york! (applause). go, sweep the augean stable that makes new york the lazar-house of corruption! you know that on one side or the other of these temptations lies very much of the evil of modern civilized life. you know that before them, statesmanship folds its hands in despair. here is a method by which to take care of at least one. give men fair wages, and ninety-nine out of a hundred will disdain to steal. the way to prevent dishonesty is to let every man have a field for his work, and honest wages; the way to prevent licentiousness is to give to woman's capacity free play. give to the higher powers activity, and they will choke down the animal. the man who loves thinking, disdains to be the victim of appetite. it is a law of our nature. give a hundred women honest wages for capacity and toil, and ninety-nine out of the hundred will disdain to win it by vice. _that_ is a cure for licentiousness. (applause). i wish to put into our civil life the element of woman's right to shape the laws, for all our social life copies largely from the statute-book. let woman dictate at the capital, let her say to wall street, "my votes on finance are to make stocks rise and fall," and wall street will say to columbia college, "open your classes to woman; it needs be that she should learn." the moment you give her the ballot, you take bonds of wealth and fashion and conservatism, that they will educate this power, which is holding their interest in its right hand. i want to spike the gun of selfishness; or rather, i want to double-shot the cannon of selfishness. let wall street say, "look you! whether the new york central stock shall have a toll placed upon it, whether my million shares shall be worth sixty cents in the market or eighty, depends upon whether certain women up there at albany know the laws of trade and the secrets of political economy"--and wall street will say, "get out of the way, dr. adams!--absent yourself, dr. spring!--we don't care for jewish prejudices; these women must have education!" (loud applause). show me the necessity in civil life, and i will find you forty thousand pulpits that will say st. paul meant just that. (renewed applause). now, i am orthodox; i believe in the bible; i reverence st. paul; i believe his was the most masterly intellect that god ever gave to the race; i believe he was the connecting link, the bridge, by which the asiatic and european mind were joined; i believe that plato ministers at his feet; but, after all, he was a man, and not god. (applause). he was limited, and made mistakes. you can not anchor this western continent to the jewish footstool of st. paul; and, after all, that is the difficulty--religious prejudice. it is not fashion--we shall beat it; it is not the fastidiousness of the exquisite--we shall smother it; it is the religious prejudice, borrowed from a mistaken interpretation of the new testament. that is the real gibraltar with which we are to grapple, and my argument with that is simply this: you left it when you founded a republic; you left it when you inaugurated western civilization; we must grow out of one root. let me, in closing, show you, by one single anecdote, how mean a thing a man can be. you have heard of mrs. norton, "the woman byron," as critics call her--the granddaughter of sheridan, and the one on whose shoulders his mantle has rested--a genius by right of inheritance and by god's own gift. perhaps you may remember that when the tories wanted to break down the reform administration of lord melbourne, they brought her husband to feign to believe his wife unfaithful, and to sue her before a jury. he did so, brought an action, and an english jury said she was innocent; and his own counsel has since admitted, in writing, under his own signature, that during the time he prosecuted that trial, the honorable mr. norton (for so he is in the herald's book) confessed all the time that he did not believe a word against his wife, and knew she was innocent. she is a writer. the profits of her books, by the law of england, belong to her husband. she has not lived with him--of course not, for she is a woman!--since that trial; but the brute goes every six months to john murray, and eats the profits of the brain of the wife whom he tried to disgrace. (loud cries of "shame," "shame"). and the law of england says it is right; the orthodox pulpit says, "if you change it, it will be the pulling down of the stars and st. paul." i do not believe that the honorable mr. norton is half as near to the mind of st. paul as the honorable mrs. norton. i go, therefore, for woman having her right to her brain, to her hands, to her toil, to her ballot. "the tools to him that can use them"--and let god settle the rest. if he made it just that we should have democratic institutions, then he made it just that everybody who is to suffer under the law should have a voice in making it; and if it is indelicate for woman to vote, then let him stop making women (applause and laughter), because republicanism and such women are not consistent. i say it reverently; and i only say it to show you the absurdity. why, my dear man and woman, we are not to help god govern the world by telling lies! he can take care of it himself. if he made it just, you may be certain that he saw to it that it should be delicate; and you need not insert your little tiny roots of fastidious delicacy into the great giant rifts of god's world--they are only in the way. (applause). the first evening session was called to order at - / o'clock. the president in the chair. the audience was very large, the hall being uncomfortably full, and the attention unremitting and profound. the most excellent order was preserved; the meeting, in this respect, furnishing a marked and gratifying contrast with the evening sessions of the last two years at mozart hall. mrs. rose, from the business committee, presented a series of resolutions[ ], which were read by miss anthony. elizabeth cady stanton was the first speaker of the evening. by particular request she gave the same address recently delivered before the legislature at albany, and was followed by ernestine l. rose with one of her logical and convincing arguments. susan b. anthony then read the following letters: letter from hon. gerrit smith. peterboro, _may , _. elizabeth cady stanton: my very dear cousin:--it is proper that one of the first letters which i write in my new life, should be to the cousin whose views are most in harmony with my own. i call it my new life, because i have come up into it from the gates of death. may it prove a new life also, in being a far better and nobler one than that which i had hitherto lived! i wake up with joy to see my old fellow-laborers still in their work of honoring god, in benefiting and blessing man. your own zeal for truth is unabated. i see that you are still laboring to free the slave from his chains, and woman from her social, civil, and political disabilities; and to preserve both man and woman from defiling and debasing themselves with intoxicating liquors and tobacco. precious reforms are these which have enlisted your powers! it is true that they do not cover the whole ground of religious duty. but it is also true that the religion, which, like the current one, opposes or ignores them all, is spurious; and so, too, that the religion which opposes or ignores any one of them is always sadly defective, if not always spurious. please add the inclosed draft for $ to the fund for serving the cause of woman's rights. to no better cause can money, time, or talents be appropriated. i am in high, health, compared with any i have enjoyed since the succession of my frightful diseases, begun two and a half years ago. my nerves, however, are still weak, and most of the year is still full of confusion and darkness to me. your friend and cousin, gerrit smith. letter from francis jackson, esq. boston, _may , _. lucy stone: dear friend:--i intend to be at the annual meeting of the american anti-slavery society, but my engagements are such that i shall not stop long enough in new york to attend your meeting of woman's rights. i herewith inclose you $ to help the cause along. francis jackson. hon. erastus d. culver, of brooklyn, new york, being present among that portion of the audience seated upon the platform, was recognized and loudly called for, and came forward in response to the call, and spoke as follows: mrs. president, ladies, and gentlemen:--they used to have, in old times, in the country where i was brought up, a minister, who, after delivering his sermon, would call upon some brother to get up and make the application. now, i want to give you an application of what i have heard to-night, and there seems to be a sort of providence in it. this very day, since i opened my court this morning, three cases have come in review before me, each one of them directly connected with the subject matter of this evening's deliberations, and with the law which has been alluded to to-night. the first was the case of a woman who had brought a suit, in conjunction with her husband (as she had to do, as the law was) against the city of brooklyn, for personal injuries, received by falling into a hole; and on the first trial, it was found very difficult to make out the case, because we were obliged to exclude the woman as a witness. if her husband had fallen into that hole, and hurt his side, making him a cripple for life, he might have brought a suit, and he would have been by law a competent witness: but his wife was not; and as he was not with her at the time of the accident, of course he could not testify. to-day the case came on again, and they were making a very poor show at proving the accident, when the lawyer for the lady said, "i will offer the lady as a witness." the other lawyer started up (he is an old fogy, who does not keep up with the times) and said, "she is a party out of sight in law; in law, she is one of the invisibles"; when, to my great surprise and joy (for i had lost track of it myself) the lady's lawyer pulled out from his pocket a slip from a newspaper, which contained the noble law of the th of march, , and that law says that "any married woman may bring and maintain an action in her own name for damages against any person or body corporate for any injury to her person or character." that obviated the difficulty. the law was handed to the opposite lawyer, and when he had read it through, with a frown on his face, he said, ill-naturedly, "if your honor please, it is so; they have emancipated the women from all obligations to their husbands." now, just look at that old presumption of the law, that a married woman could not tell the truth, even in a matter about which she knew better than any one else, on the ground that she was a _feme covert_, and was _nil_--nothing! that was one case. another was that of a woman who made a bitter complaint against her husband, saying that he had become a drunkard, and was squandering her estate, and threatened to take their two children away. i signed the writ, and the husband and two children were brought in. he addressed the court in his own defence, and i have not heard such eloquence in court for many a year. he told how he loved his wife, how devoted he was, and that it would ruin him for ever to be separated from her. he said to his lawyer, "do you keep still; i can talk better than you can." "now," said he to the court, "i adjure you, by the feelings of a father and a man, restore to me my wife and children! do not disgrace me in this way!" all present were deeply affected, and it seemed as if he had carried the people with him, whether he had the court or not. his speech sounded admirably; but i am sorry to say, that when his wife's turn came, she had not spoken five minutes before she had taken the wind entirely out of his sails. "i was married," she said, "eleven years ago, and not a fortnight after, he beat me, and left his bruises upon me. he has pawned all my clothes, everything i have in the house has been pledged, and i am left destitute; and here, your honor, are the wounds upon my head, here are the bruises that he has left. i can not live with him any longer; i can not be reconciled, until he abjures rum and comes home resolved to live a sober life." "well," said the husband's lawyer, "we claim our paramount rights--that the father shall have the custody of the children." then came up this very law again, and this lawyer was as much surprised as the one to whom i first referred. there is a clause in that law which declares that, from this time forward, there shall be no such thing as "paramount rights." it is declared in that statute that from this day "every married woman is constituted and declared to be the joint guardian of her children, with equal powers, rights, and duties in regard to them, with her husband." in view of that law, i said, "i can not take the children away from the mother; she has just as much right to them as her husband, and if she says she must have them, i will let her have them." (loud applause). now, ladies and gentlemen, i have never been identified with this woman's rights movement, but i tell you what it is, we have got to admit some things. we have got to admit that these indefatigable laborers, amid obloquy and reproach, in church and state, by buffoons and by men, have at last set the under-current in motion. the statute-book is their vindication to-night. the last measure passed has relieved woman, to a great extent, from the disabilities under which she was placed. i am one who believes that she may go forward. there will come a time, friends, when we shall see the ballot-box open, and one particular department (as we have at the post-office) where the ladies will all march up and vote. (applause, and a few hisses). now, you men that hiss, you would like to have them help you elect your candidate this year, wouldn't you? i wish most sincerely that they could help elect our republican candidate. (applause). there is to be a still further advance in this matter. i do not think it at all degrading to say, that there will come a time when ladies will sit in the jury-box, to pass upon certain cases that come particularly within their sphere; and i will say (now that i am off the bench) that they would make better judges than some who are on the benches now. (laughter and applause). mrs. rose added: i have been most happy to hear the remarks of judge culver. who can doubt of our success, when judges, and noble ones, too--for it is only noble ones who are ready to identify themselves with this cause before it becomes fully successful--come forward to endorse our movement! all we now have to do is, to continue in the good cause, and, depend upon it, the time will come when we shall look back to this last spring's enactment of the legislature, as the commencement of the real "good time coming." but we have yet some duties to perform. what we have gained, has not been gained without labor. freedom, my friends, does not come from the clouds, like a meteor; it does not bloom in one night; it does not come without great efforts and great sacrifices; all who love liberty, have to labor for it. we expect that from this hour, you will all help us to work out that glorious problem, whether or not woman can govern herself quite as well as man can govern her. give us the elective franchise, and we ask for no more. when we have obtained that, it shall be our fault if we do not take all the rights we now claim. (applause). elizabeth jones said: the adoption of the plans now proposed would place woman above the necessity of any mercenary marriages. she could leave her father's home if she didn't like it, and engage in business and support herself. who cared for the husband of jenny lind, or of mrs. norton? it was not necessary for florence nightingale, harriet hosmer, or elizabeth blackwell to marry to secure the world's consideration. the wife should have equal and joint proprietorship with her husband. two brothers, john and henry, go to california and form a partnership; john cooks while henry digs. henry finds one day a lump of gold worth a hundred dollars. will he pay john fifty cents for cooking, and take the rest himself? of course not; he will divide with him. so the husband should regard the property that he accumulates as owned by his wife jointly and equally with himself. woman would have her rights, let man do what he might. she asked no rights from man, for man had none to give her--none to spare from himself. satan promised jesus all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, if he would fall down and worship him; but it was well known that the poor devil had not a foot to give. and so man could give no rights to woman. she was born with rights, and only wanted man to recognize them. her purpose was to demand them persistently, or, if need be, like the prince of orange, die in the last ditch before she surrendered them. (applause). rev. samuel longfellow, of brooklyn, n. y., brother of the poet, was next introduced, and spoke as follows: mrs. president:--it might seem, that on a platform like this, when a woman speaks, her presence is not merely a plea and an argument, but also a proof. when a woman speaks, and speaks well, speaks so as to interest and move and persuade men, there is no need of any argument back of that to prove that she has the liberty and the right, and that it is a part of her sphere to do it. she has done it; and that of itself is the whole argument--both premise and conclusion in one. and i think if there were none but men present here, it would be better that only women should speak; for there is a subtle power which god implanted from the first in woman over man, so that the thought of her mind and the tone of her voice are more powerful over us than almost any man, be he eloquent as he may; but not only men are here, but women, also; and as our friend who has just spoken has addressed herself to men, i will address myself to women. i have often thought that the obstacle in the way of a full allowance and recognition of woman's right to stand side by side with man in all the departments of life, and to add her feminine influence and fiber twined in with man's influence and fiber, in all things that are thought and done, that the obstacle lay more in woman than in man. i have often thought that men were more willing to accept these ideas and grant these claims than women were even to make the claims for themselves; and i have no doubt that those women who have labored, through so much difficulty, through so much scorn and obloquy, in behalf of these simple rights, will tell you that they have often found the greatest opposition among their own sex. the simple proposition which, it seems to me, includes the whole of this matter, is, what i should call a self-evident truth--that, in all departments of life, men and women, made from the first to be co-mates and partners, should stand side by side, and work hand to hand. not because men and women are identical, not because they are not different, but because they are different; because each has a special quality running through the whole organization of the man and the woman, which quality is needed to make a complete manhood and womanhood. and then there is another proposition, which is this: that whatever any human being can do well, that being has a right to do, and the ability of any person marks the sphere of that person. ("hear"--"hear"). this, i say, i count to be strictly a self-evident proposition. (applause). if you want to know what the level of water is at any particular spot upon the face of the earth, you do not force the water up with a force-pump, you do not build a great reservoir with high stone walls, to hold it, you simply leave it alone, and it finds its level. so, if you want to know what is the true sphere of man or woman, just leave the man or the woman alone, and the natural law, and the divine law, which can not be broken, and which are as sure in the moral and human world as they are in the external world, will settle the matter. if you want to know, really and sincerely, what woman's sphere is, leave her unhampered and untrammeled, and her own powers will find that sphere. she may make mistakes, and try, as man often does, to do things which she can not, but the experiment will settle the matter; and nothing can be more absurd than for man, especially, _a priori_, to establish the limits which shall bound woman's sphere, or for woman, as a mere matter of speculation, to debate what her sphere shall be, since the natural laws are revealed, not to speculation, but to action. the obstacle to the progress of the simple ideas which underlie this movement and to their being carried out into practice, i take to be nothing else than this--the _vis inertiæ_ of prejudice, the dead-weight of the customary and familiar--that which has been; and that is simply the dead-weight which hangs upon the wheels of every movement of reform. a thing has not not been, it is not customary, it is strange, it disturbs our ordinary modes of thought, and we will have nothing to do with it. when you are driving with your carriage along the track of the horse-railroad, your wheels run very smoothly; but if you are obliged to turn out, it wrenches the wheels and jars your carriage; and the deeper the ruts, the more disturbance and trouble will you have if you are obliged to move out of them. we all move in the ruts of habit and custom; and it disturbs and troubles us to be asked to move out of them--to do or think anything unusual. this _vis inertiae_ is what stands in the way, first and most of all, of the success of this movement, of the reception of these ideas, as of every other movement of reform. and this dead-weight of prejudice, this _vis inertiae_ of old and traditional thought, is concentrated in this phrase, uttered with tones of indifference or with tones of self-satisfaction and pride, "i think, for my part, that woman's sphere is home." this phrase you hear everywhere--in the parlors, in the streets, in conventions, and in pulpits, and read in books--"woman's sphere is home!" (applause). "well, is it not?" some one asks among you, perhaps. now, i have no desire to deny that the home is for woman, as for man, the most noble sphere of life. i am sure that there is not one who will stand upon this platform, or speak or write in this cause, who will deny that; not one but will declare that they count home a sacred and noble sphere for woman, as for man--a sphere for grand and high influence, for noble consecration and devoted work; whether it be the simple duties of housekeeping, which a high and cultivated soul can make beautiful by the spirit in which they are done--or whether it be the care of children and the training up of the youthful mind into noble thought and preparation for noble action, which is a sphere so high, that none of us, perhaps, know how high it is--or whether it be as the friend and comforter, encourager and inspirer, to all things noble in thought and grand in action, of man. but if home be the sphere of woman--as none of us deny or doubt for a moment--if it be a sphere for woman high and noble, and to some altogether sufficient to bound their capacities and bound their desires, it is also a sphere for man--a sphere which he altogether too much neglects, not knowing how high and noble it is, and that his duty lies at home, however much he ignores it, with his wife and with his children. but when it is said that home is woman's only sphere--and that is what is meant--it is simply a mistake; it is simply a narrow statement. take the very woman who says this. as she passes along the street, she sees a placard for a woman's rights meeting, and with scornful lip she says, "i think woman's sphere is home"--and goes promenading up and down the street to meet acquaintances, and spends all the morning in shopping--because woman's sphere is home! (applause and laughter). and after dinner, she says to her husband, "where shall we go this evening?" "i think we will go to the opera," he says; and so she leaves the children with the servant, and spends half the night at the opera, because woman's sphere is home! (laughter). on sunday she goes to church morning and evening, because woman's sphere is home! and during the week goes to concerts and lectures and balls, perhaps, because woman's sphere is home! this is the answer to be given to all those who claim that woman can do nothing but attend to household affairs, or to those duties which are called especially the duties of home. no woman attends to these utterly. no woman need neglect the duties of home in order to fulfill duties in a wider sphere. it takes as much time to sit and hear a lecture as to stand and deliver it; to sit and hear a concert as to stand before the audience and sing. there is time enough, and if one has a talent for either, that is the sphere for him or her. but when this claim is made that woman's sphere is at home, it is quite forgotten how many women there are who have not imposed upon them the cares of a home; what numbers there are who are not at the head of families; what numbers there are who have not these domestic ties to call upon them for effort; and it is also forgotten how many there are who can not possibly always remain at home, because upon their going forth depends the getting of the money that shall provide for the wants of the home--that shall bring the clothing and the bread that are to supply the home's outward wants. to do this, these women must go from their homes; and oh! hundreds and thousands of working-women in this city are women whose sphere can not be home alone. it is upon this ground that there is pressed home upon us the consideration of the demands for a wider sphere of work for woman, that she shall not be cut off from this and that means of getting a living, which are freely opened to man, but from which woman is excluded, through prejudices and fears. let the wide sphere of work be opened to woman, that she may select from it, just as man does, whatever her strength and skill are sufficient for her to accomplish. she is not to be shut up, it is claimed, and justly, to a few poor, small, and wretchedly-paid employments, by which she can, with her own hands and skill, gain a living, but is to be allowed and encouraged to open to herself every variety of employment wherein she shall be paid an equal sum with that which man is paid for doing the same work; a claim which has been too long ignored and set aside, but which will press itself until its manifest justice shall compel its admission. the woman who has not the care of a family is to be encouraged to expand her powers, her talents, and genius, and to apply them to the purpose of securing a livelihood, without any obstacle whatever being put in the way; for when we talk of man's sphere and woman's sphere, it is all a farce. there is no one sphere fitted for all men, any more than for all women. some men can not make good business men, and must fail if they try; and some men can not possibly write books, or preach, or speak in public, and must fail if they try. they do not try, because they have wisdom enough to know that they could not succeed. so it will be with women. people commonly think, that if you grant this claim of woman's right to make her own sphere, that all women will immediately rush into public speaking, and be crowding to the platform, or into the pulpit, or writing books, or carving statues, or painting pictures. there is not the slightest danger of that. of course, if either of these is the true sphere of any woman, she ought to go there; but those who have not a talent for these things will not try them. if the right to vote was granted to woman--from which i do not see how we can escape--i do not suppose that all women would go to the polls, for i know that many men do not, although they have much to say about the great privilege which every man enjoys, of having a voice in the government, and the responsibility of a voter. things would remain much as now if to-morrow every obstacle were removed from woman's path. only gradually would the change occur, as individual after individual found larger room for action than that in which she is now pent. as this discussion has been going on, woman after woman has been enlarging the sphere allowed her. women write admirable books, paint admirable pictures, chisel admirable statues, make most excellent and well-instructed physicians. women are doing everything which it is now claimed they have the right to do, except voting, which they are not yet permitted to do; and i am not sure, in regard to that, that the best plan would not be, as our platonic friend in new england once said, for the women to go quietly and vote, without waiting to be asked or told that they would be permitted to do so. to be sure, he said, their votes could not be counted, but there they would be, and they would have their force. he thought that the moral influence of those votes would go a great ways, and it is quite possible that they would have that effect. but i hope, whether in that way or some other--perhaps before that step is taken--men will be led to see, that in the sphere of politics, as well as in the sphere of literature and art, woman's influence is needed; and all the objections that are made to woman's voting are of the most trivial character, that would not stand a day before any serious desire that she should have her simple right in this matter, so far as she chooses to claim it. and her right lies simply in these old propositions, so dear to our fathers--upon which they stood and fought an eight years' war--"taxation without representation is tyranny," and that "all just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed." and there is nothing in these two propositions which confines their application to man; there is nothing in them which does not demand that woman should be included as well as man. wherever woman is taxed, she has a right to vote, by this fundamental principle of our government; and wherever she is legislated for and governed, she is entitled to a voice in that legislation and government. this is a very simple matter. to-day, it is only a question of time, when, from a matter of speculation, it will become a matter of fact, the details of which can be managed as well as anything in the world. women will not be obliged to enter into a scramble with dirty and fighting men at the polls--though it is possible, if she went where such men are, they would be put on their good manners, and be as well-behaved as anybody; but she could have a separate place to vote, and go to the polls as quietly, and with as little loss of time, as she now goes to the post-office, or walks the streets, where rough, rude men congregate, but where she has enough room to go and purchase her silks and satins and laces in broadway. (applause). i congratulate those who, taking an interest in this cause, espoused it when it was a great cross to bear--who took it up with the simple courage of woman, the patient perseverance of woman, and have carried it through as far as it has gone now--upon the advances which it has made, upon the opening and enlightenment of the public mind, and upon its favorable reception, spite of all the obstacles that still remain. i bid them be of good cheer, and remember that the great law of progress is a law of steps; so that we must needs all be patient, while we must also all needs be persevering. it is but a question of time and of steps. the great psalm of human progress is (to borrow a phrase from the hebrew bible) a psalm of degrees. by patient steps man rises out of falsehood into truth, out of wrongs into rights. so it is with woman, as a part of humanity. let every woman be true to this as her mission; let no woman dare to place any obstacle or coldness in the way of this movement; but let all calmly consider it, hear the arguments that are made, and allow them to have their full weight; look at the simple facts, and decide. then we may, perhaps, all of us live to see the day when, throughout all the spheres of his life, and all the departments of his action, side by side with man and the manly quality, there shall be woman and the womanly quality, and a new eden begin on earth. (applause). the president said:--before introducing the next speaker, i want to express the gratitude which we women feel to mr. longfellow and the other gentlemen who have identified themselves with an unpopular and ridiculed cause. permit me to say one word in relation to this matter of woman's sphere. there is a lady in my neighborhood, who was speaking to me not long since, in the most enthusiastic terms, of this recent law that has passed through our legislature, and of gratitude toward susan b. anthony, through whose untiring exertions and executive ability, aided by two or three other women, this law has been secured. after she had expatiated for a while on this subject, her husband said, "miss anthony had a great deal better have been at home, taking care of her husband and children." thank heaven! there is one woman who has leisure to care for others as well as herself. (applause). elizabeth cady stanton then presented a series of resolutions,[ ] in support of which she addressed the convention as follows: mrs. president:--in our common law, in our whole system of jurisprudence, we find man's highest idea of right. the object of law is to secure justice. but inasmuch as fallible man is the maker and administrator of law, we must look for many and gross blunders in the application of its general principles to individual cases. the science of theology, of civil, political, moral, and social life, all teach the common idea, that man ever has been, and ever must be, sacrificed to the highest good of society; the one to the many--the poor to the rich--the weak to the powerful--and all to the institutions of his own creation. look, what thunderbolts of power man has forged in the ages for his own destruction!--at the organizations to enslave himself! and through those times of darkness, those generations of superstition, behold all along the relics of his power and skill, that stand like mile-stones, here and there, to show how far back man was great and glorious! who can stand in those vast cathedrals of the old world, as the deep-toned organ reverberates from arch to arch, and not feel the grandeur of humanity? these are the workmanship of him, beneath whose stately dome the architect himself now bows in fear and doubt, knows not himself, and knows not god--a mere slave to symbols--and with holy water signs the cross, whilst he who died thereon declared man god. i repudiate the popular idea of man's degradation and total depravity. i place man above all governments, all institutions--ecclesiastical and civil--all constitutions and laws. (applause). it is a mistaken idea, that the same law that oppresses the individual can promote the highest good of society. the best interests of a community never can require the sacrifice of one innocent being--of one sacred right. in the settlement, then, of any question, we must simply consider the highest good of the individual. it is the inalienable right of all to be happy. it is the highest duty of all to seek those conditions in life, those surroundings, which may develop what is noblest and best, remembering that the lessons of these passing hours are not for time alone, but for the ages of eternity. they tell us, in that future home--the heavenly paradise--that the human family shall be sifted out, and the good and pure shall dwell together in peace. if that be the heavenly order, is it not our duty to render earth as near like heaven as we may? for years, there has been before the legislature of this state a variety of bills, asking for divorce in cases of drunkenness, insanity, desertion, cruel and brutal treatment, endangering life. my attention was called to this question very early in life, by the sufferings of a friend of my girlhood, a victim of one of those unfortunate unions, called marriage. what my great love for that young girl, and my holy intuitions, then decided to be right, has not been changed by years of experience, observation, and reason. i have pondered well these things in my heart, and ever felt the deepest interest in all that has been written and said upon the subject, and the most profound respect and loving sympathy for those heroic women, who, in the face of law and public sentiment, have dared to sunder the unholy ties of a joyless, loveless union. if marriage is a human institution, about which man may legislate, it seems but just that he should treat this branch of his legislation with the same common-sense that he applies to all others. if it is a mere legal contract, then should it be subject to the restraints and privileges of all other contracts. a contract, to be valid in law, must be formed between parties of mature age, with an honest intention in said parties to do what they agree. the least concealment, fraud, or deception, if proved, annuls the contract. a boy can not contract for an acre of land, or a horse, until he is twenty-one, but he may contract for a wife at fourteen. if a man sell a horse, and the purchaser find in him great incompatibility of temper--a disposition to stand still when the owner is in haste to go--the sale is null and void, and the man and his horse part company. but in marriage, no matter how much fraud and deception are practiced, nor how cruelly one or both parties have been misled; no matter how young, inexperienced, or thoughtless the parties, nor how unequal their condition and position in life, the contract can not be annulled. think of a husband telling a young and trusting girl, but one short month his wife, that he married her for her money; that those letters so precious to her, that she had read and re-read, and kissed and cherished, were written by another; that their splendid home, of which, on their wedding-day, her father gave him the deed, is already in the hands of his creditors; that she must give up the elegance and luxury that now surround her, unless she can draw fresh supplies of money to meet their wants! when she told the story of her wrongs to me--the abuse to which she was subject, and the dread in which she lived--i impulsively urged her to fly from such a monster and villain, as she would before the hot breath of a ferocious beast of the wilderness. (applause). and she did fly; and it was well with her. many times since, as i have felt her throbbing heart against my own, she has said, "oh, but for your love and sympathy, your encouragement, i should never have escaped from that bondage. before i could, of myself, have found courage to break those chains my heart would have broken in the effort." marriage, as it now exists, must seem to all of you a mere human institution. look through the universe of matter and mind--all god's arrangements are perfect, harmonious, and complete! there is no discord, friction, or failure in his eternal plans. immutability, perfection, beauty, are stamped on all his laws. love is the vital essence that pervades and permeates, from the center to the circumference, the graduating circles of all thought and action. love is the talisman of human weal and woe--the open sesame to every human soul. where two beings are drawn together, by the natural laws of likeness and affinity, union and happiness are the result. such marriages might be divine. but how is it now? you all know our marriage is, in many cases, a mere outward tie, impelled by custom, policy, interest, necessity; founded not even in friendship, to say nothing of love; with every possible inequality of condition and development. in these heterogeneous unions, we find youth and old age, beauty and deformity, refinement and vulgarity, virtue and vice, the educated and the ignorant, angels of grace and goodness, with devils of malice and malignity: and the sum of all this is human wretchedness and despair; cold fathers, sad mothers, and hapless children, who shiver at the hearthstone, where the fires of love have all gone out. the wide world, and the stranger's unsympathizing gaze, are not more to be dreaded for young hearts than homes like these. now, who shall say that it is right to take two beings, so unlike, and anchor them right side by side, fast bound--to stay all time, until god shall summon one away? do wise, christian legislators need any arguments to convince them that the sacredness of the family relation should be protected at all hazards? the family, that great conservator of national virtue and strength, how can you hope to build it up in the midst of violence, debauchery, and excess? can there be anything sacred at that family altar, where the chief-priest who ministers makes sacrifice of human beings, of the weak and the innocent? where the incense offered up is not to the god of justice and mercy, but to those heathen divinities, who best may represent the lost man in all his grossness and deformity? call that sacred, where woman, the mother of the race--of a jesus of nazareth--unconscious of the true dignity of her nature, of her high and holy destiny, consents to live in legalized prostitution!--her whole soul revolting at such gross association!--her flesh shivering at the cold contamination of that embrace, held there by no tie but the iron chain of the law, and a false and most unnatural public sentiment? call that sacred, where innocent children, trembling with fear, fly to the corners and dark places of the house, to hide themselves from the wrath of drunken, brutal fathers, but, forgetting their past sufferings, rush out again at their mother's frantic screams, "help, oh help"? behold the agonies of those young hearts, as they see the only being on earth they love, dragged about the room by the hair of the head, kicked and pounded, and left half dead and bleeding on the floor! call that sacred, where fathers like these have the power and legal right to hand down their natures to other beings, to curse other generations with such moral deformity and death? men and brethren, look into your asylums for the blind, the deaf and dumb, the idiot, the imbecile, the deformed, the insane; go out into the by-lanes and dens of this vast metropolis, and contemplate that reeking mass of depravity; pause before the terrible revelations made by statistics, of the rapid increase of all this moral and physical impotency, and learn how fearful a thing it is to violate the immutable laws of the beneficent ruler of the universe; and there behold the terrible retributions of your violence on woman! learn how false and cruel are those institutions, which, with a coarse materialism, set aside those holy instincts of the woman to bear no children but those of love! in the best condition of marriage, as we now have it, to woman comes all the penalties and sacrifices. a man, in the full tide of business or pleasure, can marry and not change his life one iota; he can be husband, father, and everything beside; but in marriage, woman gives up all. home is her sphere, her realm. well, be it so. if here you will make us all-supreme, take to yourselves the universe beside; explore the north pole; and, in your airy car, all space; in your northern homes and cloud-capt towers, go feast on walrus flesh and air, and lay you down to sleep your six months' night away, and leave us to make these laws that govern the inner sanctuary of our own homes, and faithful satellites we will ever be to the dinner-pot, the cradle, and the old arm-chair. (applause). fathers, do you say, let your daughters pay a life-long penalty for one unfortunate step? how could they, on the threshold of life, full of joy and hope, believing all things to be as they seemed on the surface, judge of the dark windings of the human soul? how could they foresee that the young man, to-day so noble, so generous, would in a few short years be transformed into a cowardly, mean tyrant, or a foul-mouthed, bloated drunkard? what father could rest at his home by night, knowing that his lovely daughter was at the mercy of a strong man drunk with wine and passion, and that, do what he might, he was backed up by law and public sentiment? the best interests of the individual, the family, the state, the nation, cry out against these legalized marriages of force and endurance. there can be no heaven without love, and nothing is sacred in the family and home, but just so far as it is built up and anchored in love. our newspapers teem with startling accounts of husbands and wives having shot or poisoned each other, or committed suicide, choosing death rather than the indissoluble tie; and, still worse, the living death of faithless wives and daughters, from the first families in this state, dragged from the privacy of home into the public prints and courts, with all the painful details of sad, false lives. what say you to facts like these? now, do you believe, men and women, that all these wretched matches are made in heaven? that all these sad, miserable people are bound together by god? i know horace greeley has been most eloquent, for weeks past, on the holy sacrament of ill-assorted marriages; but let us hope that all wisdom does not live, and will not die with horace greeley. i think, if he had been married to _the new york herald_, instead of the republican party, he would have found out some scriptural arguments against life-long unions, where great incompatibility of temper existed between the parties. (laughter and applause). our law-makers have dug a pit, and the innocent have fallen into it; and now will you coolly cover them over with statute laws, _tribunes_, and weeds,[ ] and tell them to stay there and pay the life-long penalty of having fallen in? nero was thought the chief of tyrants, because he made laws and hung them up so high that his subjects could not read them, and then punished them for every act of disobedience. what better are our republican legislators? the mass of the women of this nation know nothing about the laws, yet all their specially barbarous legislation is for woman. where have they made any provision for her to learn the laws? where is the law school for our daughters? where the law office, the bar, or the bench, now urging them to take part in the jurisprudence of the nation? [illustration: elizabeth cady stanton (with autograph).] but, say you, does not separation cover all these difficulties? no one objects to separation when the parties are so disposed. but, to separation there are two very serious objections. first, so long as you insist on marriage as a divine institution, as an indissoluble tie, so long as you maintain your present laws against divorce, you make separation, even, so odious, that the most noble, virtuous, and sensitive men and women choose a life of concealed misery, rather than a partial, disgraceful release. secondly, those who, in their impetuosity and despair, do, in spite of public sentiment, separate, find themselves in their new position beset with many temptations to lead a false, unreal life. this isolation bears especially hard on woman. marriage is not all of life to man. his resources for amusement and occupation are boundless. he has the whole world for his home. his business, his politics, his club, his friendships with either sex, can help to fill up the void made by an unfortunate union or separation. but to woman, marriage is all and everything; her sole object in life--that for which she is educated--the subject of all her sleeping and her waking dreams. now, if a noble, generous girl of eighteen marries, and is unfortunate, because the cruelty of her husband compels separation, in her dreary isolation, would you drive her to a nunnery; and shall she be a nun indeed? her solitude is nothing less, as, in the present undeveloped condition of woman, it is only through our fathers, brothers, husbands, sons, that we feel the pulsations of the great outer world. one unhappy, discordant man or woman in a neighborhood, may mar the happiness of all the rest. you can not shut up discord, any more than you can small-pox. there can be no morality where there is a settled discontent. a very wise father once remarked, that in the government of his children, he forbade as few things as possible; a wise legislation would do the same. it is folly to make laws on subjects beyond human prerogative, knowing that in the very nature of things they must be set aside. to make laws that man can not and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt. it is very important in a republic, that the people should respect the laws, for if we throw them to the winds, what becomes of civil government? what do our present divorce laws amount to? those who wish to evade them have only to go into another state to accomplish what they desire. if any of our citizens can not secure their inalienable rights in new york state, they may in connecticut and indiana. why is it that all agreements, covenants, partnerships, are left wholly at the discretion of the parties, except the contract, which of all others is considered most holy and important, both for the individual and the race? this question of divorce, they tell us, is hedged about with difficulties; that it can not be approached with the ordinary rules of logic and common-sense. it is too holy, too sacred to be discussed, and few seem disposed to touch it. from man's standpoint, this may be all true, as to him they say belong reason, and the power of ratiocination. fortunately, i belong to that class endowed with mere intuitions, a kind of moral instinct, by which we feel out right and wrong. in presenting to you, therefore, my views of divorce, you will of course give them the weight only of the woman's intuitions. but inasmuch as that is all god saw fit to give us, it is evident we need nothing more. hence, what we do perceive of truth must be as reliable as what man grinds out by the longer process of reason, authority, and speculation. horace greeley, in his recent discussion with robert dale owen, said, this whole question has been tried, in all its varieties and conditions, from indissoluble monogamic marriage down to free love; that the ground has been all gone over and explored. let me assure him that but just one-half of the ground has been surveyed, and that half but by one of the parties, and that party certainly not the most interested in the matter. moreover, there is one kind of marriage that has not been tried, and that is, a contract made by equal parties to live an equal life, with equal restraints and privileges on either side. thus far, we have had the man marriage, and nothing more. from the beginning, man has had the sole and whole regulation of the matter. he has spoken in scripture, he has spoken in law. as an individual, he has decided the time and cause for putting away a wife, and as a judge and legislator, he still holds the entire control. in all history, sacred and profane, the woman is regarded and spoken of simply as the toy of man--made for his special use--to meet his most gross and sensuous desires. she is taken or put away, given or received, bought or sold, just as the interest of the parties might dictate. but the woman has been no more recognized in all these transactions, through all the different periods and conditions of the race, than if she had had no part nor lot in the whole matter. the right of woman to put away a husband, be he ever so impure, is never hinted at in sacred history. even jesus himself failed to recognize the sacred rights of the holy mother of the race. we can not take our gauge of womanhood from the past, but from the solemn convictions of our own souls, in the higher development of the race. no parchments, however venerable with the mould of ages, no human institutions, can bound the immortal wants of the royal sons and daughters of the great i am,--rightful heirs of the joys of time, and joint heirs of the glories of eternity. if in marriage either party claims the right to stand supreme, to woman, the mother of the race, belongs the scepter and the crown. her life is one long sacrifice for man. you tell us that among all womankind there is no moses, christ, or paul,--no michael angelo, beethoven, or shakspeare,--no columbus, or galileo,--no locke or bacon. behold those mighty minds attuned to music and the arts, so great, so grand, so comprehensive,--these are our great works of which we boast! into you, o sons of earth, go all of us that is immortal. in you center our very life-thoughts, our hopes, our intensest love. for you we gladly pour out our heart's blood and die, knowing that from our suffering comes forth a new and more glorious resurrection of thought and life. (loud applause). rev. antoinette brown blackwell followed, and prefaced her remarks by saying: "ours has always been a free platform. we have believed in the fullest freedom of thought and in the free expression of individual opinion. i propose to speak upon the subject discussed by our friend, mrs. stanton. it is often said that there are two sides to every question; but there are three sides, many sides, to every question. let mrs. stanton take hers; let horace greeley take his; i only ask the privilege of stating mine. (applause). i have embodied my thought, hastily, in a series of resolutions,[ ] and my remarks following them will be very brief." mrs. blackwell continued: i believe that the highest laws of life are those which we find written within our being; that the first moral laws which we are to obey are the laws which god's own finger has traced upon our own souls. therefore, our first duty is to ourselves, and we may never, under any circumstances, yield this to any other. i say we are first responsible to ourselves, and to the god who has laid the obligation upon us, to make ourselves the grandest we may. marriage grows out of the relations of parties. the law of our development comes wholly from within; but the relation of marriage supposes two persons as being united to each other, and from this relation originates the law. mrs. stanton calls marriage a "tie." no, marriage is a _relation_; and, once formed, that relation continues as long as the parties continue with the natures which they now essentially have. let, then, the two parties deliberately, voluntarily consent to enter into this relation. it is one which, from its very nature, must be permanent. can the mother ever destroy the relation which exists between herself and her child? can the father annul the relation which exists between himself and his child? then, can the father and mother annul the relation which exists between themselves, the parents of the child? it can not be. the interests of marriage are such that they can not be destroyed, and the only question must be, "has there been a marriage in this case or not?" if there has, then the social law, the obligations growing out of the relation, must be life-long. but i assert that every woman, in the present state of society, is bound to maintain her own independence and her own integrity of character; to assert herself, earnestly and firmly, as the equal of man, who is only her peer. this is her first right, her first duty; and if she lives in a country where the law supposes that she is to be subjected to her husband, and she consents to this subjection, i do insist that she consents to degradation; that this is sin, and it is impossible to make it other than sin. true, in this state, and in nearly all the states, the idea of marriage is that of subjection, in all respects, of the wife to the husband--personal subjection, subjection in the rights over their children and over their property; but this is a false relation. marriage is a union of equals--equal interests being involved, equal duties at stake; and if any woman has been married to a man who chooses to take advantage of the laws as they now stand, who chooses to subject her, ignobly, to his will, against her own, to take from her the earnings which belong to the family, and to take from her the children which belong to the family, i hold that that woman, if she can not, by her influence, change this state of things, is solemnly obligated to go to some state where she can be legally divorced; and then she would be as solemnly bound to return again, and, standing for herself and her children, regard herself, in the sight of god, as being bound still to the father of those children, to work for his best interests, while she still maintains her own sovereignty. of course, she must be governed by the circumstances of the case. she may be obliged, for the protection of the family, to live on one continent while her husband is on the other: but she is never to forget that in the sight of god and her own soul, she is his wife, and that she owes to him the wife's loyalty; that to work for his redemption is her highest social obligation, and that to teach her children to do the same is her first motherly duty. legal divorce may be necessary for personal and family protection; if so, let every woman obtain it. this, god helping me, is what i would certainly do, for under no circumstances will i ever give my consent to be subjected to the will of another, in any relation, for god has bidden me not to do it. but the idea of most women is, that they must be timid, weak, helpless, and full of ignoble submission. only last week, a lady who has just been divorced from her husband said to me--"i used to be required to go into the field and do the hardest laborer's work, when i was not able to do it; and my husband would declare, that if i would not thus labor, i should not be allowed to eat, and i was obliged to submit." i say the fault was as much with the woman as with the man; she should never have submitted. our trouble is not with marriage as a relation between two; it is all individual. we have few men or women fit to be married. they neither fully respect themselves and their own rights and duties, nor yet those of another. they have no idea how noble, how godlike is the relation which ought to exist between the husband and wife. tell me, is marriage to be merely a contract--something entered into for a time, and then broken again--or is the true marriage permanent? one resolution read by mrs. stanton said that, as men are incompetent to select partners in business, teachers for their children, ministers of their religion, or makers, adjudicators, or administrators of their laws, and as the same weakness and blindness must attend in the selection of matrimonial partners, the latter and most important contract should no more be perpetual than either or all of the former. i do not believe that, rightly understood, she quite holds to that position herself. marriage must be either permanent, or capable of being any time dissolved. which ground shall we take? i insist that, from the nature of things, marriage must be as permanent and indissoluble as the relation of parent and child. if so, let us legislate toward the right. though evils must sometimes result, we are still to seek the highest law of the relation. self-devotion is always sublimely beautiful, but the law has no right to require either a woman to be sacrificed to any man, or a man to be sacrificed to any woman, or either to the good of society; but if either chooses to devote himself to the good of the other, no matter how low that other may have fallen, no matter how degraded he may be, let the willing partner strive to lift him up, not by going down and sitting side by side with him--that is wrong--but by steadily trying to win him back to the right: keeping his own sovereignty, but trying to redeem the fallen one as long as life shall endure. i do not wish to go to the other state of being, and state what shall be our duty there, but i do say, that where there is sin and suffering in this universe of ours, we may none of us sit still until we have overcome that sin and suffering. then if my husband was wretched and degraded in this life, i believe god would give me strength to work for him while life lasted. i would do that for the lowest drunkard in the street, and certainly i would do as much for my husband. i believe that the greatest boon of existence is the privilege of working for those who are oppressed and fallen; and those who have oppressed their own natures are those who need the most help. my great hope is, that i may be able to lift them upwards. the great responsibility that has been laid upon me is the responsibility never to sit down and sing to myself psalms of happiness and content while anybody suffers. (applause). then, if i find a wretched man in the gutter, and feel that, as a human sister, i must go and lift him up, and that i can never enjoy peace or rest until i have thus redeemed him and brought him out of his sins, shall i, if the man whom i solemnly swore to love, to associate with in all the interests of home and its holiest relations--shall i, if he falls into sin, turn him off, and go on enjoying life, while he is sunk in wretchedness and sin? i will not do it. to me there is a higher idea of life. if, as an intelligent human being, i promised to co-work with him in all the higher interests of life, and if he proves false, i will not turn from him, but i must seek first to regenerate him, the nearest and dearest to me, as i would work, secondly, to save my children, who are next, and then my brothers, my sisters, and the whole human family. (applause). mrs. stanton asks, "would you send a young girl into a nunnery, when she has made a mistake?" does mrs. stanton not know that nunneries belong to a past age, that people who had nothing to do might go there and try to expiate their own sins? i would teach the young girl a higher way. i do not say to her, "if you have foolishly united yourself to another" (not "if you have been tied by the law"; for, remember, it was not the law that tied her; she said, "i will do it," and the law said, "so let it be!")--"sunder the bond"; but i say to her, that her duty is to reflect, "now that i see my mistake, i will commence being true to myself; i will become a true unit, strong and noble in myself; and if i can never make our union a true one, i will work toward that good result, i will live for this great work--for truth and all its interests." let me tell you, if she is not great enough to do this, she is not great enough to enter into any union! look at those who believe in thus easily dissolving the marriage obligation! in very many cases they can not be truly married, or truly happy in this relation, because there is something incompatible with it in their own natures. it is not always so; but when one feels that it is a relation easily to be dissolved, of course, incompatibility at once seems to arise in the other, and every difficulty that occurs, instead of being overlooked, as it ought to be, in a spirit of forgiveness, is magnified, and the evil naturally increased. we purchase a house, the deed is put into our hands, and we take possession. we feel at once that it is really very convenient. it suits us, and we are surprised that we like it so much better than we supposed. the secret is, that it is our house, and until we are ready to part with it, we make ourselves content with it as it is. we go to live in some country town. at first we do not like it; it is not like the home we came from; but soon we begin to be reconciled, and feel that, as dr. holmes said of boston, our town is the hub of the universe. so, when we are content to allow our relations to remain as they are, we adapt ourselves to them, and they adapt themselves to us, and we constantly, unconsciously (because god made us so) work toward the perfecting of all the interests arising from those relations. but the moment we wish to sell a house, or remove from a town, how many defects we discover! the place has not the same appearance to us at all; we wish we could get out of it; we feel all the time more and more dissatisfied. so, let any married person take the idea that he may dissolve this relation, and enter into a new one, and how many faults he may discover that otherwise never would have been noticed! the marriage will become intolerable. the theory will work that result; it is in the nature of things, and that to me is everything. of course, i would not have man or woman sacrificed--by no means. first of all, let every human being maintain his own position as a self-protecting human being. at all hazards, let him never sin, or consent to be sacrificed to the hurt of himself or of another; and when he has taken this stand, let him act in harmony with it. would i say to any woman, "you are bound, because you are legally married to one who is debased to the level of the brute, to be the mother of his children?" i say to her, "no! while the law of god continues, you are bound never to make one whom you do not honor and respect, as well as love, the father of any child of yours. it is your first and highest duty to be true to yourself, true to posterity, and true to society." (applause). thus, let each decide for himself and for herself what is right. but, i repeat, either marriage is in its very nature a relation which, once formed, never can be dissolved, and either the essential obligations growing out of it exist forever, or the relation may at any time be dissolved, and at any time those obligations be annulled. and what are those obligations? two persons, if i understand marriage, covenant to work together, to uphold each other in all excellence, and to mutually blend their lives and interests into a common harmony. i believe that god has so made man and woman, that it is not good for them to be alone, that they each need a co-worker. there is no work on god's footstool which man can do alone and do well, and there is no work which woman can do alone and do well. (applause). we need that the two should stand side by side everywhere. all over the world, we need this co-operation of the two classes--not because they are alike, but because they are unlike--in trying to make the whole world better. then we need something more than these class workers. two persons need to stand side by side, to stay up each other's hands, to take an interest in each other's welfare, to build up a family, to cluster about it all the beauties and excellencies of home life; in short, to be to each other what only one man and one woman can be to each other in all god's earth. no grown-up human being ought to rush blindly into this most intimate, most important, most enduring of human relations; and will you let a young man, at the age of fourteen, contract marriage, or a young maiden either? if the law undertakes to regulate the matter at all, let it regulate it upon principles of common-sense. but this is a matter which must be very much regulated by public opinion, by our teachers. what do you, the guides of our youth, say? you say to the young girl, "you ought to expect to be married before you are twenty, or about that time; you should intend to be; and from the time you are fifteen, it should be made your one life purpose; and in all human probability, you may expect to spend the next ten or twenty years in the nursery, and at forty or fifty, you will be an old woman, your life will be well-nigh worn out." i stand here to say that this is all false. let the young girl be instructed that, above her personal interests, her home, and social life, she is to have a great life purpose, as broad as the rights and interests of humanity. i say, let every young girl feel this, as much as every young man does. we have no right, we, who expect to live forever, to play about here as if we were mere flies, enjoying ourselves in the sunshine. we ought to have an earnest purpose outside of home, outside of our family relations. then let the young girl fit herself for this. let her be taught that she ought not to be married in her teens. let her wait, as a young man does, if he is sensible, until she is twenty-five or thirty. (applause). she will then know how to choose properly, and probably she will not be deceived in her estimate of character; she will have had a certain life-discipline, which will enable her to control her household matters with wise judgment, so that, while she is looking after her family, she may still keep her great life purpose, for which she was educated, and to which she has given her best energies, steadily in view. she need not absorb herself in her home, and god never intended that she should; and then, if she has lived according to the laws of physiology, and according to the laws of common-sense, she ought to be, at the age of fifty years, just where man is, just where our great men are, in the very prime of life! when her young children have gone out of her home, then let her enter in earnest upon the great work of life outside of home and its relations. (applause). it is a shame for our women to have no steady purpose or pursuit, and to make the mere fact of womanhood a valid plea for indolence; it is a greater shame that they should be instructed thus to throw all the responsibility of working for the general good upon the other sex. god has not intended it. but as long as you make women helpless, inefficient beings, who never expect to earn a farthing in their lives, who never expect to do anything outside of the family, but to be cared for and protected by others throughout life, you can not have true marriages; and if you try to break up the old ones, you will do it against the woman and in favor of the man. last week i went back to a town where i used to live, and was told that a woman, whose husband was notoriously the most miserable man in the town, had in despair taken her own life. i asked what had become of the husband, and the answer was, "married again." and yet everybody there knows that he is the vilest and most contemptible man in the whole neighborhood. any man, no matter how wretched he maybe, will find plenty of women to accept him, while they are rendered so helpless and weak by their whole education that they must be supported or starve. the advantage, if this theory of marriage is adopted, will not be on the side of woman, but altogether on the side of man. the cure for the evils that now exist is not in dissolving marriage, but it is in giving to the married woman her own natural independence and self-sovereignty, by which she can maintain herself. yes, our women and our men are both degenerate; they are weak and ignoble. "dear me!" said a pretty, indolent young lady, "i had a great deal rather my husband would take care of me, than to be obliged to do it for myself." "of course you would," said a blunt old lady who was present; "and your brother would a great deal rather marry an heiress, and lie upon a sofa eating lollypops, bought with her money, than to do anything manly or noble. the only difference is, that as heiresses are not very plenty, he may probably have to marry a poor girl, and then society will insist that he shall exert himself to earn a living for the family; but you, poor thing, will only have to open your mouth, all your life long, like a clam, and eat." (applause and laughter). so long as society is constituted in such a way that woman is expected to do nothing if she have a father, brother, or husband able to support her, there is no salvation for her, in or out of marriage. when you tie up your arm, it will become weak and feeble; and when you tie up woman, she will become weak and helpless. give her, then, some earnest purpose in life, hold up to her the true ideal of marriage, and it is enough--i am content! (loud applause). ernestine l. rose said:--mrs. president--the question of a divorce law seems to me one of the greatest importance to all parties, but i presume that the very advocacy of divorce will be called "free love." for my part (and i wish distinctly to define my position), i do not know what others understand by that term; to me, in its truest significance, love must be free, or it ceases to be love. in its low and degrading sense, it is not love at all, and i have as little to do with its name as its reality. the rev. mrs. blackwell gave us quite a sermon on what woman ought to be, what she ought to do, and what marriage ought to be; an excellent sermon in its proper place, but not when the important question of a divorce law is under consideration. she treats woman as some ethereal being. it is very well to be ethereal to some extent, but i tell you, my friends, it is quite requisite to be a little material, also. at all events, we are so, and, being so, it proves a law of our nature. (applause). it were indeed well if woman could be what she ought to be, man what he ought to be, and marriage what it ought to be; and it is to be hoped that through the woman's rights movement--the equalizing of the laws, making them more just, and making woman more independent--we will hasten the coming of the millennium, when marriage shall indeed be a bond of union and affection. but, alas! it is not yet; and i fear that sermons, however well meant, will not produce that desirable end; and as long as the evil is here, we must look it in the face without shrinking, grapple with it manfully, and the more complicated it is, the more courageously must it be analyzed, combated, and destroyed. (applause). mrs. blackwell told us that, marriage being based on the perfect equality of husband and wife, it can not be destroyed. but is it so? where? where and when have the sexes yet been equal in physical or mental education, in position, or in law? when and where have they yet been recognized by society, or by themselves, as equals? "equal in rights," says mrs. b. but are they equal in rights? if they were, we would need no conventions to claim our rights. "she can assert her equality." yes, she can assert it, but does that assertion constitute a true marriage? and when the husband holds the iron heel of legal oppression on the subjugated neck of the wife until every spark of womanhood is crushed out, will it heal the wounded heart, the lacerated spirit, the destroyed hope, to assert her equality? and shall she still continue the wife? is that a marriage which must not be dissolved? (applause). according to mr. greeley's definition, viz., that there is no marriage unless the ceremony is performed by a minister and in a church, the tens of thousands married according to the laws of this and most of the other states, by a lawyer or justice of the peace, a mayor or an alderman, are not married at all. according to the definition of our reverend sister, no one has ever yet been married, as woman has never yet been perfectly equal with man. i say to both, take your position, and abide by the consequences. if the few only, or no one, is really married, why do you object to a law that shall acknowledge the fact? you certainly ought not to force people to live together who are not married. (applause). mr. greeley tells us, that, marriage being a divine institution, nothing but death should ever separate the parties; but when he was asked, "would you have a being who, innocent and inexperienced, in the youth and ardor of affection, in the fond hope that the sentiment was reciprocated, united herself to one she loved and cherished, and then found (no matter from what cause) that his profession was false, his heart hollow, his acts cruel, that she was degraded by his vice, despised for his crimes, cursed by his very presence, and treated with every conceivable ignominy--would you have her drag out a miserable existence as his wife?" "no, no," says he; "in that case, they ought to separate." separate? but what becomes of the union divinely instituted, which death only should part? (applause). the papers have of late been filled with the heart-sickening accounts of wife-poisoning. whence come these terrible crimes? from the want of a divorce law. could the hardings be legally separated, they would not be driven to the commission of murder to be free from each other; and which is preferable, a divorce law, to dissolve an unholy union, which all parties agree is no true marriage, or a murder of one, and an execution (legal murder) of the other party? but had the unfortunate woman, just before the poisoned cup was presented to her lips, pleaded for a divorce, mrs. blackwell would have read her a sermon equal to st. paul's "wives, be obedient to your husbands," only she would have added, "you must assert your equality," but "you must keep with your husband and work for his redemption, as i would do for my husband"; and mr. greeley would say, "as you chose to marry him, it is your own fault; you must abide the consequences, for it is a 'divine institution, a union for life, which nothing but death can end.'" (applause). the tribune had recently a long sermon, almost equal to the one we had this morning from our reverend sister, on "fast women." the evils it spoke of were terrible indeed, but, like all other sermons, it was one-sided. not one single word was said about fast men, except that the "poor victim had to spend so much money." the writer forgot that it is the demand which calls the supply into existence. but what was the primary cause of that tragic end? echo answers, "what?" ask the lifeless form of the murdered woman, and she may disclose the terrible secret, and show you that, could she have been legally divorced, she might not have been driven to the watery grave of a "fast woman." (applause). but what is marriage? a human institution, called out by the needs of social, affectional human nature, for human purposes, its objects are, first, the happiness of the parties immediately concerned, and, secondly, the welfare of society. define it as you please, these are only its objects; and therefore if, from well-ascertained facts, it is demonstrated that the real objects are frustrated, that instead of union and happiness, there are only discord and misery to themselves, and vice and crime to society, i ask, in the name of individual happiness and social morality and well-being, why such a marriage should be binding for life?--why one human being should be chained for life to the dead body of another? "but they may separate and still remain married." what a perversion of the very term! is that the union which "death only should part"? it may be according to the definition of the rev. mrs. blackwell's theology and mr. greeley's dictionary, but it certainly is not according to common-sense or the dictates of morality. no, no! "it is not well for man to be alone," before nor after marriage. (applause). i therefore ask for a divorce law. divorce is now granted for some crimes; i ask it for others also. it is granted for a state's prison offense. i ask that personal cruelty to a wife, whom he swore to "love, cherish, and protect," may be made a heinous crime--a perjury and a state's prison offense, for which divorce shall be granted. willful desertion for one year should be a sufficient cause for divorce, for the willful deserter forfeits the sacred title of husband or wife. habitual intemperance, or any other vice which makes the husband or wife intolerable and abhorrent to the other, ought to be sufficient cause for divorce. i ask for a law of divorce, so as to secure the real objects and blessings of married life, to prevent the crimes and immoralities now practiced, to prevent "free love," in its most hideous form, such as is now carried on but too often under the very name of marriage, where hypocrisy is added to the crime of legalized prostitution. "free love," in its degraded sense, asks for no divorce law. it acknowledges no marriage, and therefore requires no divorce. i believe in true marriages, and therefore i ask for a law to free men and women from false ones. (applause). but it is said that if divorce were easily granted, "men and women would marry to-day and unmarry to-morrow." those who say that, only prove that they have no confidence in themselves, and therefore can have no confidence in others. but the assertion is false; it is a libel on human nature. it is the indissoluble chain that corrodes the flesh. remove the indissolubility, and there would be less separation than now, for it would place the parties on their good behavior, the same as during courtship. human nature is not quite so changeable; give it more freedom, and it will be less so. we are a good deal the creatures of habit, but we will not be forced. we live (i speak from experience) in uncomfortable houses for years, rather than move, though we have the privilege to do so every year; but force any one to live for life in one house, and he would run away from it, though it were a palace. but mr. greeley asks, "how could the mother look the child in the face, if she married a second time?" with infinitely better grace and better conscience than to live as some do now, and show their children the degrading example, how utterly father and mother despise and hate each other, and still live together as husband and wife. she could say to her child, "as, unfortunately, your father proved himself unworthy, your mother could not be so unworthy as to continue to live with him. as he failed to be a true father to you, i have endeavored to supply his place with one, who, though not entitled to the name, will, i hope, prove himself one in the performance of a father's duties." (applause). finally, educate woman, to enable her to promote her independence, and she will not be obliged to marry for a home and a subsistence. give the wife an equal right with the husband in the property acquired after marriage, and it will be a bond of union between them. diamond cement, applied on both sides of a fractured vase, re-unites the parts, and prevents them from falling asunder. a gold band is more efficacious than an iron law. until now, the gold has all been on one side, and the iron law on the other. remove it; place the golden band of justice and mutual interest around both husband and wife, and it will hide the little fractures which may have occurred, even from their own perception, and allow them effectually to re-unite. a union of interest helps to preserve a union of hearts. (loud applause). wendell phillips then said: i object to entering these resolutions upon the journal of this convention. (applause). i would move to lay them on the table; but my conviction that they are out of order is so emphatic, that i wish to go further than that, and move that they do not appear on the journals of this convention. if the resolutions were merely the expressions of individual sentiments, then they ought not to appear in the form of resolutions, but as speeches, because a resolution has a certain emphasis and authority. it is assumed to give the voice of an assembly, and is not taken as an individual expression, which a speech is. of course, every person must be interested in the question of marriage, and the branch that grows out of it, the question of divorce; and no one could deny, who has listened for an hour, that we have been favored with an exceedingly able discussion of those questions. but here we have nothing to do with them, any more than with the question of intemperance, or kansas, in my opinion. this convention is no marriage convention--if it were, the subject would be in order; but this convention, if i understand it, assembles to discuss the laws that rest unequally upon women, not those that rest equally upon men and women. it is the laws that make distinctions between the sexes. now, whether a man and a woman are married for a year or a life is a question which affects the man just as much as the woman. at the end of a month, the man is without a wife exactly as much as the woman is without a husband. the question whether, having entered into a contract, you shall be bound to an unworthy partner, affects the man as much as the woman. certainly, there are cases where men are bound to women carcasses as well as where women are bound to men carcasses. (laughter and applause). we have nothing to do with a question which affects both sexes equally. therefore, it seems to me we have nothing to do with the theory of marriage, which is the basis, as mrs. rose has very clearly shown, of divorce. one question grows out of the other; and therefore the question of the permanence of marriage, and the laws relating to marriage, in the essential meaning of that word, are not for our consideration. of course i know, as everybody else does, that the results of marriage, in the present condition of society, are often more disastrous to woman than to men. intemperance, for instance, burdens a wife worse than a husband, owing to the present state of society. it is not the fault of the statute-book, and no change in the duration of marriage would alter that inequality. the reason why i object so emphatically to the introduction of the question here is because it is a question which admits of so many theories, physiological and religious, and what is technically called "free-love," that it is large enough for a movement of its own. our question is only unnecessarily burdened with it. it can not be kept within the convenient limits of this enterprise; for this woman's rights convention is not man's convention, and i hold that i, as a man, have an exactly equal interest in the essential question of marriage as woman has. i move, then, that these series of resolutions do not appear at all upon the journal of the convention. if the speeches are reported, of course the resolutions will go with them. most journals will report them as adopted. but i say to those who use this platform to make speeches on this question, that they do far worse than take more than their fair share of the time; they open a gulf into which our distinctive movement will be plunged, and its success postponed two years for every one that it need necessarily be. of course, in these remarks, i intend no reflection upon those whose views differ from mine in regard to introducing this subject before the convention; but we had an experience two years ago on this point, and it seems to me that we might have learned by that lesson. no question--anti-slavery, temperance, woman's rights--can move forward efficiently, unless it keeps its platform separate and unmixed with extraneous issues, unmixed with discussions which carry us into endless realms of debate. we have now, under our present civilization, to deal with the simple question which we propose--how to make that statute-book look upon woman exactly as it does upon man. under the law of divorce, one stands exactly like the other. all we have asked in regard to the law of property has been, that the statute-book of new york shall make the wife exactly like the husband; we do not go another step, and state what that right shall be. we do not ask law-makers whether there shall be rights of dower and courtesy--rights to equal shares--rights to this or that interest in property. that is not our business. all we say is, "gentlemen law-makers, we represent woman; make what laws you please about marriage and property, but let woman stand under them exactly as man does; let sex deprive her of no right, let sex confer no special right; and that is all we claim." (applause). society has done that as to marriage and divorce, and we have nothing more to ask of it on this question, as a woman's rights body. abby hopper gibbons, of new york city, seconded the motion of mr. phillips, and said that she wished the whole subject of marriage and divorce might be swept from that platform, as it was manifestly not the place for it. mr. garrison said he fully concurred in opinion with his friend, mr. phillips, that they had not come together to settle definitely the question of marriage, as such, on that platform; still, he should be sorry to have the motion adopted, as against the resolutions of mrs. stanton, because they were a part of her speech, and her speech was an elucidation of her resolutions, which were offered on her own responsibility, not on behalf of the business committee, and which did not, therefore, make the convention responsible for them. it seemed to him that, in the liberty usually taken on that platform, both by way of argument and illustration, to show the various methods by which woman was unjustly, yet legally, subjected to the absolute control of man, she ought to be permitted to present her own sentiments. it was not the specific object of an anti-slavery convention--for example--to discuss the conduct of rev. nehemiah adams, or the position of stephen a. douglas, or the course of _the york herald_; yet they did, incidentally, discuss all these, and many other matters closely related to the great struggle for the freedom of the slave. so this question of marriage came in as at least incidental to the main question of the equal rights of woman. mrs. blackwell: i should like to say a few words in explanation. i do not understand whether our friend wendell phillips objects to both series of resolutions on the subject of divorce, or merely to mine. mr. phillips: to both. mrs. blackwell: i wish simply to say, that i did not come to the convention proposing to speak on this subject, but on another; but finding that these resolutions were to be introduced, and believing the subject legitimate; i said, "i will take my own position." so i prepared the resolutions, as they enabled me at the moment better to express my thought than i could do by merely extemporizing. now does this question grow legitimately out of the great question of woman's equality? the world says, marriage is not an alliance between equals in human rights. my whole argument was based on the position that it is. if this question is not legitimate, what is? then do we not ask for laws which are not equal between man and woman? what have we been doing here in new york state? i spent three months asking the state to allow the drunkard's wife her own earnings. do i believe that the wife ought to take her own earnings, as her own earnings? no; i do not believe it. i believe that in a true marriage, the husband and wife earn for the family, and that the property is the family's--belongs jointly to the husband and wife. but if the law says that the property is the husband's, if it says that he may take the wages of his wife, just as the master does those of the slave, and she has no right to them, we must seek a temporary redress. we must take the first step, by compelling legislators, who will not look at great principles, to protect the wife of the drunkard, by giving her her own earnings to expend upon herself and her children, and not allow them to be wasted by the husband. i say that it is legitimate for us to ask for a law which we believe is merely a temporary expedient, not based upon the great principle of human and marriage equality. just so with this question of marriage. it must come upon this platform, for at present it is a relation which legally and socially bears unequally upon woman. we must have temporary redress for the wife. the whole subject must be incidentally opened for discussion. the only question is one of present fitness. was it best, under all the circumstances, to introduce it now? i have not taken the responsibility of answering in the affirmative. but it must come here and be settled, sooner or later, because its interests are everywhere, and all human relations center in this one marriage relation. (applause). susan b. anthony: i hope mr. phillips will withdraw his motion that these resolutions shall not appear on the records of the convention. i am very sure that it would be contrary to all parliamentary usage to say, that when the speeches which enforced and advocated the resolutions are reported and published in the proceedings, the resolutions shall not be placed there. and as to the point that this question does not belong to this platform,--from that i totally dissent. marriage has ever been a one-sided matter, resting most unequally upon the sexes. by it, man gains all--woman loses all; tyrant law and lust reign supreme with him--meek submission and ready obedience alone befit her. woman has never been consulted; her wish has never been taken into consideration as regards the terms of the marriage compact. by law, public sentiment and religion, from the time of moses down to the present day, woman has never been thought of other than as a piece of property, to be disposed of at the will and pleasure of man. and this very hour, by our statute-books, by our (so called) enlightened christian civilization, she has no voice whatever in saying what shall be the basis of the relation. she must accept marriage as man proffers it, or not at all. and then again, on mr. phillips' own ground, the discussion is perfectly in order, since nearly all the wrongs of which we complain grow out of the inequality, the injustice of the marriage laws, that rob the wife of the right to herself and her children--that make her the slave of the man she marries. i hope, therefore, the resolutions will be allowed to go out to the public, that there may be a fair report of the ideas which have actually been presented here, that they may not be left to the mercy of the secular press. i trust the convention will not vote to forbid the publication of those resolutions with the proceedings. rev. wm. hoisington, the blind preacher: publish all that you have said and done here, and let the public know it. the question was then put on the motion of mr. phillips, and it was lost. after which, the resolutions reported by the business committee were adopted without dissent. miss mary grew, of philadelphia, said: friends, we are about to separate. this convention was called for the consideration of one of the most important questions before the american people. the press may ridicule your movement, the pulpit denounce it, but, as time rolls on, it will be seen--the press and pulpit will see--that it is one of the most important questions that has ever agitated the community. it is well that those who are engaged in this movement should go forth deeply impressed with the importance of the work that is before them. it is well that you who have assembled from curiosity, to listen to what these "fanatics" have to say, should take home with you to your souls one thought which is sufficient to settle this whole question. all the arguments that have been adduced against us, and against granting to woman all her rights, come to us in one form or another of prejudice or expediency. talk with whom you will about it,--the priest, politician, merchant, farmer, mechanic, and one after another says, (you have heard them, i have heard them, we all hear them,) to every right which woman claims, "i grant you that, in the abstract, you are right; but it is not expedient, nor wise, nor safe for woman nor man, nor good for the world." let me tell you, that the man who grants that the position we assume is, in the abstract, right, has granted all we want; and if he is not ready to take that step of abstract right, he only assumes to be wiser than he who made the world. mrs. president, i hear every day of my life, almost, the assertion that it is fanaticism to say that it is always safe and right to follow abstract right. this principle does not belong to any one belief; it is the living soul of god's universe, that the absolute right is safe. if woman has the same right as man to read, to vote, to rule, to learn, to teach, there is nothing further to be said about it; and i never care to argue with the man who says it is right, but for some reason or other, it ought not to be granted, for he has granted everything, and has no ground left to stand upon. is it fanaticism to believe that god is wiser than man; that he, "who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth," who "commanded the morning, and caused the day-spring to know its place," is wise enough to give laws to the universe which it shall be safe for you and me to obey? (applause). into this fanaticism this world is to be educated, if it is to be saved from going down to moral ruin and death. remember, then, o man! father, husband, brother, clergyman, and politician--remember, when these words slip so easily from your tongues, as they often do, "i grant you have the same abstract right to do this that man has," you grant all that woman claims; and remember, as you stand reverently in the presence of god, that if you assert that that is not safe which he has pronounced to be right, you claim to be wiser, not than these women or these men who stand on the platform of the "woman's rights convention," but you claim to be wiser than the creator of man and woman. (applause). allusion was made here this morning--well and wisely made--to the charge that when woman walks out into the avenues of public life, there to gain a living for herself and her children, or to help guide the nation, she ceases to be domestic, and faithful to the cares and shrine of home. we heard something well said this morning on the sphere of woman being the home, and we are told that this objection to our movement was altogether dishonest, contemptible, and ridiculous. it is not always such. good men and true, and sometimes wise men, also, really in their souls believe that if a woman touches a ballot, her hand will be unfit for domestic duties; that if she teaches in the public congregation, she can not act well her part in the family circle. as i listened to what was said here, the words called to my mind the image of a woman of america, known as a religious and moral teacher, who bears a name of which this nation will one day be proud, but now slandered by a venal press, scorned by an arrogant pulpit, little appreciated by the mass of men and women, for whom the bearer of it is laboring night and day. the image of that woman rose before me. the world regards her as a public woman, as out of her sphere, and infers that she is neglectful of the cares and insensible to the loveliness of domestic life; and as i remembered her, i felt as i ever feel, that there is not a woman who, as a representative of my own sex, i would sooner show to the world as the embodiment of all domestic beauty and wifely care and motherly fidelity. i only wish that they and you might know her as i know her. i only wish that you might see in her, as i see in her, the very best possible illustration of the power of guiding and guarding all the sanctity of home, of blessing husband and children and grandchildren, and exerting in the guidance of her household an intellectual power which would be the glory of this or any other platform. not only do husband and children "rise up and call her blessed," but in the time to come, the children and children's children of those who now scorn her name--of priests who have despised it, editors who have ridiculed and slandered it, and heaped upon it all of the ignominy of their souls--will thank god, as they reap the benefit of her exertions and her beautiful life, for the name of lucretia mott. (applause). the word i would impress upon you all, as you go hence, is this--it is always safe to do right. carry away with you from this convention, my friends, this one thought--god is wiser than man. what he has made right, he has also made safe. his paths are paths of pleasantness, and all his ways are peace. and to those who go forward, bearing this great cause in their hands, to work for themselves, for their sisters, for their mothers--to them i would say, "be not discouraged at any obstacles that may lie in your way! forget, for a little while, the sneers of the press and the pulpit, the laugh of the fashionable lady, who calls you unladylike, and the scorn of arrogant men, who appreciate not your labors! you need not pay back the laughter and the scorn with scorn. your work is too great, too high, too holy. forgive them, and pass on! rejoice to think that, in a few years, they, too, will rise up and thank you for it. those who work for mankind must be content not to receive their reward in the appreciation of their services as they pass through life. it is of little consequence. the only thing is to be sure we are doing right, and living for some great purpose; for, of all the afflictions that can befall a man or woman, there is none so great as to pass through life without effecting anything--to die and leave the world no better than we found it, never being missed in consequence of any useful work we have done. (applause). no good cause can go backward. no good cause declines. nothing can put us down if we are right. all that we need to sustain and strengthen us in any great work is to be quite satisfied with the smile of god, and to have faith and hope that man shall at last be wholly and utterly redeemed and saved." (applause). the convention then adjourned _sine die_. _from the new york tribune of may _. marriage and divorce. _to the editor of the new york tribune_: sir:--at our recent national woman's rights convention many were surprised to hear wendell phillips object to the question of marriage and divorce, as irrelevant to our platform. he said: "we had no right to discuss there any laws or customs but those where inequality existed in the sexes; that the laws on marriage and divorce rested equally on man and woman; that he suffered, as much as she possibly could, the wrongs and abuses of an ill-assorted marriage." now, it must strike every careful thinker, that an immense difference rests in the fact, that man has made the laws, cunningly and selfishly, for his own purpose. from coke down to kent, who can cite one clause of the marriage contract where woman has the advantage? when man suffers from false legislation, he has his remedy in his own hands. shall woman be denied the right of protest against laws in which she has had no voice--laws which outrage the holiest affections of her nature--laws which transcend the limits of human legislation--in a convention called for the express purpose of considering her wrongs? he might as well object to a protest against the injustice of hanging a woman, because capital punishment bears equally on man and woman. the contract of marriage is by no means equal. the law permits the girl to marry at twelve years of age, while it requires several years more of experience on the part of the boy. in entering this compact, the man gives up nothing that he before possessed--he is a man still; while the legal existence of the woman is suspended during marriage, and henceforth she is known but in and through the husband. she is nameless, purseless, childless--though a woman, an heiress, and a mother. blackstone says: "the husband and wife are one, and that one is the husband." kent says: "the legal effects of marriage are generally deducible from the principle of the common law, by which the husband and wife are regarded as one person, and her legal existence and authority lost or suspended during the continuance of the matrimonial union."--vol. , p. . kent refers to coke on littleton, , a. , b. litt. sec. , . the wife is regarded by all legal authorities as a "_feme-covert_," placed wholly _sub potestate viri_. her moral responsibility, even, is merged in the husband. the law takes it for granted that the wife lives in fear of her husband; that his command is her highest law: hence a wife is not punishable for theft committed in presence of her husband.--kent, vol. , p. . an unmarried woman can make contracts, sue and be sued, enjoy the rights of property, to her inheritance--to her wages--to her person--to her children; but, in marriage, she is robbed by law of all and every natural and civil right. "the disability of the wife to contract, so as to bind herself, arises not from want of discretion, but because she has entered into an indissoluble connection, by which she is placed under the power and protection of her husband."--kent, vol. , p. . she is possessed of certain rights until she is married; then all are suspended, to revive again the moment the breath goes out of the husband's body.--see "cowen's treatise," vol. , p. . if the contract be equal, whence come the terms "marital power"--"marital rights"--"obedience and restraint"--"dominion and control"--"power and protection," etc., etc.? many cases are stated, showing the exercise of a most questionable power over the wife, sustained by the courts.--see bishop on divorce, p. . the laws on divorce are quite as unequal as those on marriage; yes, far more so. the advantages seem to be all on one side, and the penalties on the other. in case of divorce, if the husband be the guilty party, he still retains the greater part of the property. if the wife be the guilty party, she goes out of the partnership penniless.--kent, vol. , p. ; bishop on divorce, p. . in new york and some other states, the wife of the guilty husband can now sue for a divorce in her own name, and the costs come out of the husband's estate; but, in the majority of the states, she is still compelled to sue in the name of another, as she has no means of paying costs, even though she may have brought her thousands into the partnership. "the allowance to the innocent wife of _ad interim_ alimony and money to sustain the suit, is not regarded as strict right in her, but of sound discretion in the court."--bishop on divorce, p. . "many jurists," says kent, vol. , p. , "are of opinion that the adultery of the husband ought not to be noticed or made subject to the same animadversions as that of the wife, because it is not evidence of such entire depravity, nor equally injurious in its effects upon the morals, good order, and happiness of domestic life. montesquieu, pothier, and dr. taylor all insist that the cases of husband and wife ought to be distinguished, and that the violation of the marriage vow, on the part of the wife, is the most mischievous, and the prosecution ought to be confined to the offense on her part.--"esprit des loix," tom. , ; "traité du contrat de mariage," no. ; "elements of civil law," p. . say you, "these are but the opinions of men"? on what else, i ask, are the hundreds of women depending, who this hour demand in our courts a release from burdensome contracts? are not these delicate matters left wholly to the discretion of courts? are not young women from the first families dragged into the public courts--into assemblies of men exclusively--the judges all men, the jurors all men?--no true woman there to shield them by her presence from gross and impertinent questionings, to pity their misfortunes, or to protest against their wrongs? the administration of justice depends far more on the opinions of eminent jurists, than on law alone, for law is powerless when at variance with public sentiment. do not the above citations clearly prove inequality? are not the very letter and spirit of the marriage contract based on the idea of the supremacy of man as the keeper of woman's virtue--her sole protector and support? out of marriage, woman asks nothing at this hour but the elective franchise. it is only in marriage that she must demand her rights to person, children, property, wages, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. how can we discuss all the laws and conditions of marriage, without perceiving its essential essence, end, and aim? now, whether the institution of marriage be human or divine, whether regarded as indissoluble by ecclesiastical courts, or dissoluble by civil courts, woman, finding herself equally degraded in each and every phase of it, always the victim of the institution, it is her right and her duty to sift the relation and the compact through and through, until she finds out the true cause of her false position. how can we go before the legislatures of our respective states, and demand new laws, or no laws, on divorce, until we have some idea of what the true relation is? we decide the whole question of slavery by settling the sacred rights of the individual. we assert that man can not hold property in man, and reject the whole code of laws that conflicts with the self-evident truth of that assertion. again i ask, is it possible to discuss all the laws of a relation, and not touch the relation itself? yours respectfully, elizabeth cady stanton. horace greeley in _the new york tribune_, may , . _one thousand persons present, seven-eighths of them women, and a fair proportion young and good-looking_.--whether the woman's rights convention will finally succeed or not in enlarging the sphere of woman, they have certainly been very successful in enlarging that of their platform. having introduced easy divorce as one of the reforms which the new order of things demands, we can see no good reason why the platform should not be altogether replanked. we respectfully suggest that with this change of purpose there shall also be a change in name, and that hereafter these meetings shall be called not by name of woman, but in the name of wives discontented. hitherto we have supposed that the aim of this movement related to wrongs which woman suffered as woman, political and social inequalities, and disabilities with which she was mightily burdened. a settlement of the marriage relation, we conceive, does not come within this category. as there can be no wives without husbands, the subject concerns the latter quite as much as it does the former. one of the wrongs which it is charged woman suffers from man, is that he legislates for her when she is not represented. we acknowledge the justice of that plea, and, for that very reason, complain that she, under the name of woman's rights, should attempt to settle a question of such vital importance to him where he is supposed to be admitted only on suffrance. we believe in woman's rights; we have some conclusions(?) on the rights of husbands and wives; we are not yet, we confess, up to that advanced state which enables us to consider the rights of wives as something apart from that of husbands. on the subject of marriage and divorce we have some very positive opinions, and what they are is pretty generally known. but even were they less positive and fixed, we should none the less protest against the sweeping character of the resolutions introduced at the woman's rights convention on friday by mrs. elizabeth cady stanton. we can not look upon the marriage relation as of no more binding force than that which a man may make with a purchaser for the sale of dry-goods, or an engagement he may contract with a schoolmaster or governess. such doctrine seems to us simply shocking. the intimate relation existing between one man and one woman, sanctified by, at least, the memory of an early and sincere affection, rendered more sacred by the present bond of dependent children, the fruit of that love, hallowed by many joys and many sorrows, though they be only remembered joys and sorrows, with other interests that can be broken in upon only to be destroyed--such a relation, we are very sure, has elements of quite another nature than those which belong to the shop or the counting-house. in our judgment, the balance of duty can not be struck like the balance of a mercantile statement of profit and loss, or measured with the calculations we bestow on an account current. such a doctrine we regard as pernicious and debasing. we can conceive of nothing that would more utterly sap the foundations of sound morality, or give a looser rein to the most licentious and depraved appetites of the vilest men and women. upon the physiological and psychological laws which govern generation, we do not care here to enter, even if mrs. stanton leads the way; but we believe that the progress of the world, springing out of connections formed under such a dispensation of humanity as is here indicated, with so little of duty or conscience, with so little hope or expectation of abiding affection, with so little intention of permanency as must necessarily belong to them, would be more monstrous than the world has ever dreamed of. for such a rule of married life contemplates no married life at all, and no parental relation. it destroys the family; it renders the dearest word in the saxon tongue (home) a vague and unmeaning term; it multiplies a thousand-fold and renders universal all the evils which in the imperfections of human nature are now occasional under the binding force of a moral sense, the duty of continency, and the remnant of nothing else is left of love. there are some other things besides in these resolutions to which we might object on the score of truth, some things which we rather marvel, modest women should say, and that modest women, in a mixed assembly, should listen to with patience. but these are secondary matters. the thought--more than them all--that the marriage tie is of the same nature as a mere business relation, is so objectionable, so dangerous, that we do not care to draw attention from that one point. in asserting that marriage is an equal relation for husbands and wives, mr. greeley, like mr. phillips, begs the whole question. if it is legitimate to discuss all laws that bear unequally on man and woman in woman's rights conventions, surely those that grow out of marriage, which are the most oppressive and degrading on the statute-book, should command our first consideration. there could be no slaveholders without slaves; the one relation involves the other, and yet it would be absurd to say that slaves might not hold a convention to discuss the inequality of the laws sustaining that relation, and incidentally the whole institution itself, because the slaveholder shared in the evils resulting from it. there never has been a woman's convention held in which the injustice suffered by wives and mothers has not been a topic for discussion, and legitimately so. and if the only way of escape from the infamous laws by which all power is placed in the hands of man, is through divorce, then that is the hospitable door to open for those who wish to escape. no proposition contained in mrs. stanton's speech on divorce, viewed in any light, can be a tenth part so shocking as the laws on the statute-books, or the opinions expressed by many of the authorities in the english and american systems of jurisprudence. it is difficult to comprehend that the release of the miserable from false relations, would necessarily seduce the contented from happy ones, or that the dearest word in the saxon tongue (home) should have no significance, after drunkards and villains were denied the right to enter it. it is a pleasant reflection, in view of the dolorous results mr. greeley foresees from the passage of a divorce law, that the love of men and women for each other and their children in no way depends on the statutes of new york. in the state of indiana, where the laws have been very liberal for many years, family life is as beautiful and permanent as in south carolina and new york, where the tie can be dissolved for one cause only. when we consider how little protection the state throws round the young and thoughtless in entering this relation, stringent laws against all escape are cruel and despotic, especially to woman, for if home life, which is everything to her, is discordant, where can she look for happiness? appeal to the women of new york. women of new york:--once more we appeal to you to make renewed efforts for the elevation of our sex. in our marital laws we are now in advance of every state in the union. twelve years ago new york took the initiative step, and secured to married women their property, received by gift or inheritance. our last legislature passed a most liberal act, giving to married women their rights, to sue for damages of person or property, to their separate earnings and their children; and to the widow, the possession and control of the entire estate during the minority of the youngest child. women of new york! you can no longer be insulted in the first days of your widowed grief by the coarse minions of the law at your fireside, coolly taking an inventory of your household goods, or robbing your children of their natural guardian. while we rejoice in this progress made in our laws, we see also a change in the employment of women. they are coming down from the garrets and up from the cellars to occupy more profitable posts in every department of industry, literature, science, and art. in the church, too, behold the spirit of freedom at work. within the past year, the very altar has been the scene of well-fought battles; women claiming and exercising their right to vote in church matters, in defiance of precedent, priest, or paul. another evidence of the importance of our cause is seen in the deep interest men of wealth are manifesting in it. three great bequests have been given to us in the past year. five thousand dollars from an unknown hand,[ ] a share in the munificent fund left by that noble man of boston, charles f. hovey, and four hundred thousand dollars by mr. vassar, of poughkeepsie, to found a college for girls, equal in all respects to yale and harvard. is it not strange that women of wealth are constantly giving large sums of money to endow professorships and colleges for boys exclusively--to churches and to the education of the ministry, and yet give no thought to their own sex--crushed in ignorance, poverty, and prostitution--the hopeless victims of custom, law, and gospel, with few to offer a helping hand, while the whole world combine to aid the boy and glorify the man? our movement is already felt in the old world. the nobility of england, with lord brougham at their head, have recently formed a "society for promoting the employments of women." all this is the result of the agitation, technically called "woman's rights," through conventions, lectures, circulation of tracts and petitions, and by the faithful word uttered in the privacy of home. the few who stand forth to meet the world's cold gaze, its ridicule, its contumely, and its scorn, are urged onward by the prayers and tears, crushed hopes and withered hearts of the sad daughters of the race. the wretched will not let them falter; and they who seem to do the work, ever and anon draw fresh courage and inspiration from the noblest women of the age, who, from behind the scene, send forth good words of cheer and heartfelt thanks. six years hence, the men of new york purpose to revise our state constitution. among other changes demanded, is the right of suffrage for women--which right will surely be granted, if through all the intervening years every woman does her duty. again do we appeal to each and all--to every class and condition--to inform themselves on this question, that woman may no longer publish her degradation by declaring herself satisfied in her present position, nor her ignorance by asserting that she has "all the rights she wants." any person who ponders the startling fact that there are four millions of african slaves in this republic, will instantly put the question to himself, "why do these people submit to the cruel tyranny that our government exercises over them?" the answer is apparent--"simply because they are ignorant of their power." should they rise _en masse_, assert and demand their rights, their freedom would be secure. it is the same with woman. why is it that one-half the people of this nation are held in abject dependence--civilly, politically, socially, the slaves of man? simply because woman knows not her power. to find out her natural rights, she must travel through such labyrinths of falsehood, that most minds stand appalled before the dark mysteries of life--the seeming contradictions in all laws, both human and divine. but, because woman can not solve the whole problem to her satisfaction, because she can not prove to a demonstration the rottenness and falsehood of our present customs, shall she, without protest, supinely endure evils she can not at once redress? the silkworm, in its many wrappings, knows not it yet shall fly. the woman, in her ignorance, her drapery, and her chains, knows not that in advancing civilization, she too must soon be free, to counsel with her conscience and her god. the religion of our day teaches that in the most sacred relations of the race, the woman must ever be subject to the man; that in the husband centers all power and learning; that the difference in position between husband and wife is as vast as that between christ and the church; and woman struggles to hold the noble impulses of her nature in abeyance to opinions uttered by a jewish teacher, which, alas! the mass believe to be the will of god. woman turns from what she is taught to believe are god's laws to the laws of man; and in his written codes she finds herself still a slave. no girl of fifteen could read the laws, concerning woman, made, executed, and defended by those who are bound to her by every tie of affection, without a burst of righteous indignation. few have ever read or heard of the barbarous laws that govern the mothers of this christian republic, and fewer still care, until misfortune brings them into the iron grip of the law. it is the imperative duty of educated women to study the constitution and statutes under which they live, that when they shall have a voice in the government, they may bring wisdom and not folly into its councils. we now demand the ballot, trial by jury of our peers, and an equal right to the joint earnings of the marriage copartnership. and, until the constitution be so changed as to give us a voice in the government, we demand that man shall make all his laws on property, marriage, and divorce, to bear equally on man and woman. { e. cady stanton, _president_. { lydia mott,[ ] _sec. and treas_. _new york state woman's rights { ernestine l. rose. committee_. { martha c. wright. { susan b. anthony. _november, ._ n. b.--let every friend commence to get signatures to the petition without delay, and send up to albany early in january, either to your representative or to lydia mott. how can any wife or mother, who to-day rejoices in her legal right to the earnings of her hands, and the children of her love, withhold the small pittance of a few hours or days in getting signatures to the petition, or a few shillings or dollars to carry the work onward and upward, to a final glorious consummation. convention in albany and hearing before the judiciary committee in the assembly chamber. february th and th, . the last convention before the war was held in albany. ernestine l. rose, lucretia mott, william lloyd garrison, rev. beriah green, aaron m. powell, elizabeth cady stanton, and susan b. anthony were the speakers. they had a hearing also before the judiciary committee on the bill then pending asking divorce for various causes.[ ] the interest in the question was intense at this time, owing to several very aggravated cases among leading families, both in this country and england. the very liberal bill pending in the legislature had drawn special attention to it in the empire state, which not only made the whole question of marriage and divorce a topic of conversation at every fireside, but of many editorial debates in our leading journals. among others, horace greeley, in _the new york tribune_, had a prolonged discussion with the hon. robert dale owen,[ ] in which it was generally thought that the weight of argument rested with mr. owen; but it was evident that mr. greeley did not think so, as he afterward republished the whole controversy at his own expense. _the albany evening journal_ also took strong grounds against the bill. but the opponents invariably discussed the question on the basis that marriage was an _equal_ relation, in which man suffered as much as woman, ignoring the fact that _man_ had made the laws governing it, and all to his own advantage. from the following letter of lucretia mott, we see how clear she was as to the merits of the position we had taken in the discussion of this vital question: roadside, near philadelphia, th mo., th, ' . my dear lydia mott:--i have wished ever since parting with thee and our other dear friends in albany to send thee a line, and have only waited in the hope of contributing a little "substantial aid" toward your neat and valuable "depository." the twenty dollars enclosed is from our female anti-slavery society. i see the annual meeting in new york is not to be held this spring. sister martha is here, and was expecting to attend both anniversaries. but we now think the woman's rights meeting had better not be attempted, and she has written elizabeth c. stanton to this effect. i was well satisfied with being at the albany meeting. i have since met with the following from a speech of lord brougham's, which pleased me, as being as radical as mine in your stately hall of representatives: "before woman can have any justice by the laws of england, there must be a total reconstruction of the whole system; for any attempt to amend it would prove useless. the great charter, in establishing the supremacy of law over prerogative, provides only for justice between man and man; for woman nothing is left but common-law, accumulations and modifications of original gothic and roman heathenism, which no amount of filtration through ecclesiastical courts could change into christian laws. they are declared unworthy a christian people by great jurists; still they remain unchanged." so elizabeth stanton will see that i have authority for going to the root of the evil. we had a delightful golden-wedding on the th inst. all our children and children's children were present, and a number of our friends hereaway. our sister mary w. hicks and her grand daughter may were all of james's relatives from new york. brother richard and daughter cannie could not feel like coming. brother silas and sarah cornell could not come. love to all, lucretia mott. in came "the war of the rebellion," the great conflict between the north and the south, the final struggle between freedom and slavery. the women who had so perseveringly labored for their own enfranchisement now gave all their time and thought to the nation's life; their patriotism was alike spontaneous and enduring. in the sanitary movement, in the hospitals, on the battle-field, gathering in the harvests on the far-off prairies--all that heroic women dared and suffered through those long dark years of anxiety and death, should have made "justice to woman" the spontaneous cry on the lips of our rulers, as we welcomed the return of the first glad days of peace. all specific work for her own rights she willingly thrust aside. no conventions were held for five years; no petitions circulated for her civil and political rights; the action of state legislatures was wholly forgotten. in their stead, loyal leagues were formed, and petitions by the hundred thousand for the emancipation of the slaves rolled up and sent to congress--a measure which with speech and pen they pressed on the nation's heart, seeing clearly as they did that this was the pivotal point of the great conflict. thus left unwatched, the legislature of new york amended the law of , taking from the mother the lately guaranteed right to the equal guardianship of her children, replacing it by a species of veto power, which did not allow the father to bind out or will away a child without the mother's consent in writing. the law guaranteeing the widow the control of the property, which the husband should leave at death, for the care and protection of minor children, was also repealed. this cowardly act of the legislature of [ ] is the strongest possible proof of woman's need of the ballot in her own hand for protection. had she possessed the power to make and unmake legislators, no state assembly would have dared thus to rob the mother of her natural rights. but without the suffrage she was helpless. while, in her loyalty to the government and her love to humanity, she was encouraging the "boys in blue" to fight for the freedom of the black mothers of the south, these dastardly law-makers, filled with the spirit of slaveholders, were stealing the children and the property of the white mothers in the empire state! when susan b. anthony heard of the repeal of , she was filled with astonishment, and wrote thus to miss lydia mott: dear lydia:--your startling letter is before me. i knew some weeks ago that that abominable thing was on the calendar, with some six or eight hundred bills _before it_, and hence felt sure it would not come up this winter, and that in the meantime we should sound the alarm. well, well; while the old guard sleep the young "devils" are wide-awake, and we deserve to suffer for our confidence in "man's sense of justice," and to have all we have gained thus snatched from us. but nothing short of this can rouse our women again to action. all our reformers seem suddenly to have grown politic. all alike say, "have no conventions at this crisis"! garrison, phillips, mrs. mott, mrs. wright mrs. stanton, etc., say, "wait until the war excitement abates"; which is to say, "ask our opponents if they think we had better speak, or, rather, if they do not think we had better remain silent." i am sick at heart, but i can not carry the world against the wish and the will of our best friends. but what can we do now, when even the motion to retain the mother's joint guardianship is voted, down? twenty thousand petitions rolled up for that--a hard year's work!--the law secured!--the echoes of our words of gratitude in the capitol have scarce died away, and now all is lost! and, worse still, in ,[ ] after the black man was not only emancipated, but enfranchised, by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, which, overriding state constitution and statute law, abolished the property qualification for colored voters in the state of new york, another step of retrogressive legislation was taken against woman, in the repeal of section nine[ ] of the act of , re-enacting the spirit and letter of the old common law, which holds that the children born in legal wedlock belong to the father alone. had woman held the ballot--that weapon of protection--in her hand to punish legislators, by withholding her vote from those thus derelict to duty, no repeal of the law of could have possibly taken place. albany, _april , _. dear miss anthony:--your esteemed favor of the th duly received. the statute of , laws of , chapter , page , repealed the grandest and crowning section of the statute of , viz: sections , , , , , and , copies of which sections i herewith inclose you. had these sections remained, wives in this state would have possessed equal rights with their husbands, save simply the right of voting. it was a great mistake and wrong to repeal them. had i been a member of the senate at that time, as i was not, i don't think it would have been done. i do not know who was the author of the repeal bill, nor did i know of its existence until i saw it in the statute-book. i think judge charles j. folger, now chief-justice of the court of appeals, was chairman of the senate judiciary committee, and the bill of must therefore have passed through the hands of that committee, in which it originated, or through which it was reported, and by the influence of which it must have been adopted. strange that you women, so watchful and so regardful of your rights, should have allowed the repeal of those important sections, without strenuous opposition. very sincerely yours, andrew j. colvin. we were busily engaged rolling up petitions for the thirteenth amendment to the federal constitution, our hearts and hands full of work for the government in the midst of the war, supposing all was safe at albany. but how comes it that the author of the bill of , residing at the capital, never heard of its repeal? if the bill was so slyly passed that mr. colvin himself did not know of it until he saw it in the statute-book, it is not remarkable that it escaped our notice in time to prevent it. genena, n. y., _april , _. miss anthony, dear madam:--i was chairman of the judiciary committee of the new york senate in -' -' -' -' -' -' -' . judge john willard, of saratoga county, was a member of the state senate in that year, and a member of that committee. he was the author of the act of . his object, as i have always understood it, was to simplify, make clear, consistent, and practical some of the legislation in regard to married women. i think, with deference i say it, that you are not strictly accurate in calling the legislation of a repealing one. the first section of the act of (chap. , p. ) _amends_ the third section of the act of (chap. , p. ), by striking out the provision requiring the assent of the husband, and giving the wife the right (or privilege) to contract and convey as a _feme sole_, and to covenant for title, etc., etc. that amendment rendered unnecessary the fourth, fifth, and sixth sections of the act of . they would have fallen of themselves, that is, have been repealed by implication, as inconsistent with the greater power and freedom attained by married women by the amendment of to the act of . but _ex abundanti cautela_, as judge willard would have said, there was an express repeal of them. the tenth and eleventh sections of the act of were also repealed expressly; but not to the sole detriment of married women. the tenth section gave to married men and married women a life estate in certain cases in one-third of all the real estate of which the wife or husband died seized. the wife had before the act of , and has now, that estate. the tenth section gave her nothing. the repeal of it took nothing from her. the eleventh section, so far as it gave a life estate, is the same as the tenth. so far as it gave the use of all the real estate of the intestate for the minority of the youngest child, it was an addition to the property rights of the wife, but it was also an addition to the property rights of the husband. i am not able from memory to say why it was repealed; and it is remembrance and not reasoning that you ask for. the third section of the act of amends the seventh of the act of by striking out the phrase, "_except her husband_," thus enabling a married woman to protect the property given to her by the husband, in which the act of was lame, and in other ways gave more freedom and power to married women. the fourth section of the act of amends the eighth section of the act of , but only in its verbiage. the fifth section of the act of does not impair the act of ; it simply puts the woman before the courts, and the law as an entity able to go alone. the sixth section of the act of increases the powers of a married woman, by giving her a veto on some acts of her husband. the seventh section is like the fifth. in no other respect than those i have named did the act of affect the act of . in but one thing did it repeal, in the sense of taking away any right or power or privilege or freedom that the act of gave. on the contrary, in some respects, it gave more or greater. i am glad that you wrote to me. i am glad that i have the opportunity to defend the memory of a good man, judge john willard. i make bold to ask you to turn to the thirty-seventh volume of barbour's supreme court reports, appendix, pp. et seq., and read the words spoken of him by his peers. i am glad also to have the opportunity to speak a word for my judiciary committee. and i will not close this lengthened answer, without suggesting a suspicion, that those who have taken the notion that the act of was a retrograde step, have done so without comparing for themselves the two acts. for myself, i have the distinction of being one of less than half-a-dozen senators who voted that women have the right to vote for delegates to the constitutional convention of ; and one of about a dozen and a half members of that convention who voted to erase from the suffrage article the word "male." i have never been convinced of the expediency of giving to females the privilege of suffrage; but i have never been able to see the argument by which they were not as much entitled to the _right_ as males. trusting that you will forgive the length of this epistle, i am with respect, yours, etc., etc., charles j. folger. miss susan b. anthony. as will be seen by the above letters, both mr. colvin and mr. folger make mistakes in regard to the effect of these bills. in speaking of the complete equality of husbands and wives under the law of , mr. colvin said, "all the wife then had to ask was the right of suffrage," quite forgetting that the wife has never had an equal right to the joint earnings of the copartnership, as no valuation has ever been placed on her labor in the household, to which she gives all her time, thought, and strength, the absolute sacrifice of herself, mind and body, all possibility of self-development and self-improvement being in most cases out of the question. mr. folger in saying the repeal of section eleven affected man as much as woman, falls into the same mistake, assuming that the joint earnings belong to man. we say that the wife who surrenders herself wholly to domestic life, foregoing all opportunities for pecuniary independence and personal distinction in the world of work, or the higher walks of literature and art, in order to make it possible for the husband to have home and family ties, and at the same time, his worldly successes and ambitions, richly earns the place of an equal partner. in their joint accumulations, her labor and economy should be taken into account. this is _the vital point_ of interest to the vast majority of married women, since it is only the _few_ who ever possess anything through separate earnings or inheritance. a law securing to the wife the absolute right to one-half the joint earnings, and at the death of the husband, the same control of property and children that he has when she dies, might make some show of justice; but it is a provision not yet on the statute-books of any civilized nation on the globe. the seeming sophistry of judge folger may be traced to the universal fact that man does not appreciate the arduous and unremitting labors of the wife in the household, or her settled dissatisfaction in having no pecuniary recompense for her labors. no man with cultured brain and skilled hands would consider himself recompensed for a life of toil in being provided with shelter, food, and clothes while his employer was living, to be cut down in his old age to a mere pittance; yet such is the fate of the majority of wives and widows under the most beneficent provisions of our statutes in this favored republic. true, the law says "the husband shall maintain the wife in accordance with his circumstances"; he being judge, jury, executive. though she may toil incessantly, and her duties be far more exhaustive than his, yet he is supposed to maintain her, and the joint property is always disposed of on that basis. legislation for woman proceeds on the assumption, that all she needs is a bare support; and that she is destitute of the natural human desire to accumulate, possess, and control the results of her own labor. [illustration: matilda joslyn gage (with autograph).] footnotes: [ ] jerry mchenry was an athletic mulatto, a cooper by trade, who had been living in syracuse for many years, since his escape from slavery. on the th of october, , there was an attempt to kidnap him, but the abolitionists, with such men as samuel j. may and gerrit smith at their head, succeeded in rescuing him by a _coup d'état_, from the officers of the law, which involved several trials in auburn, canandaigua, buffalo, and albany. as this occurred soon after the passage of the fugitive slave law, the leading abolitionists were determined to test its constitutionality in the courts. it was so systematically and universally violated, that it soon became a dead letter. [ ] a heroic woman.--mrs. margaret freeland, of syracuse, was recently arrested upon a warrant issued on complaint of emanuel rosendale, a rum-seller, charging her with forcing an entrance to his house, and with stones and clubs smashing his doors and windows, breaking his tumblers and bottles, and turning over his whisky barrels and spilling their contents. great excitement was produced by this novel case. it seems that the husband of mrs. freeland was a drunkard--that he was in the habit of abusing his wife, turning her out of doors, etc., and this was carried so far that the police frequently found it necessary to interfere to put a stop to his ill-treatment of his family. rosendale, the complainant, furnished freeland with the liquor which turned him into a demon. mrs. freeland had frequently told him of her sufferings and besought him to refrain from giving her husband the poison. but alas! she appealed to a heart of stone. he disregarded her entreaties and spurned her from his door. driven to desperation she armed herself, broke into the house, drove out the base-hearted landlord and proceeded upon the work of destruction. she was brought before the court and demanded a trial. the citizens employed charles b. sedgwick, esq., as her counsel, and prepared to justify her assault upon legal grounds. rosendale, being at once arrested on complaint of thomas l. carson for selling liquor unlawfully, and feeling the force of the storm that was gathering over his head, appeared before the justice, withdrew his complaint against mrs. freeland, paid the costs, and gave bail on the complaint of mr. carson, to appear at the general sessions, and answer to an indictment should there be one found. mrs. freeland is said to be "the pious mother of a fine family of children, and a highly respectable member of the episcopal church." the _carson league_ commenting on this affair says: "the rum-seller cowered in the face of public feeling. this case shows that public feeling will justify a woman whose person or family is outraged by a rum-seller, for entering his grocery or tavern and destroying his liquor. if the law lets loose a tiger upon her, she may destroy it. she has no other resort but force to save herself and her children. were the women of this city to proceed in a body and destroy all the liquor of all the taverns and groceries, they would be justified by law and public opinion. women should take this war into their hands, when men take side with the murderers of their peace. "a tavern or grocery which makes the neighbors drunken and insane is a public nuisance, and may be pulled down and destroyed by the neighbors who are injured by it. it is worse than the plague. and if men will not put hands on it, then should the women do it. tell us not it is property. it ceases to be property when it is employed to destroy the people. if a man lights his torch and sets about putting fire to the houses about him, any person may seize the torch and destroy it. so if a man takes a pistol and passes through the streets shooting the people, the pistol ceases to be property and may be taken from him by force and destroyed by any person who can do it. we sincerely hope that the women of the state will profit by this example, and go to destroying the liquor vessels; and their contents." to all of which we respond amen. _the lily_, june, . [ ] mrs. thompson, of albany; mrs. cushman, of new york, _vice-presidents_. mrs. fowler and miss anthony, _secretaries_. lydia mott, of albany; phebe hoag jones, of troy; eliza hoxie shove, of easton; and elizabeth van alstine, of canajoharie, _business committee_. [ ] the following citizens of rochester concur in the above call: samuel richardson, rev. wm. h. goodwin, samuel chipman, geo. a. avery, james p. fogg, j. o. bloss, wm. k. hallowell, james vick, jr., e. c. williams, daniel anthony. [ ] _vice-presidents_.--mary c. vaughan, olivia fraser, frances stanton avery, rhoda de garmo, sarah d. fish, and mrs. d. c. ailing. _secretaries_.--amelia bloomer and susan b. anthony. _resolutions_.--amy post, elizabeth monroe, rachel van lew. _finance_.--susan b. anthony, mary h. hallowell, h. attilia albro. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] _vice-presidents_--mrs. gerrit smith, peterboro; mrs. e. c. delevan, ballston spa; mrs. d. c. alling, rochester; lydia f. fowler, mrs. j. t. coachman, mary s. rich, new york; julia clark lewis, oswego; olivia fraser, elmira; emily clark, le roy; mrs. a. n. cole, belfast; betsy hawks, bethany centre; antoinette l. brown, henrietta. _recording secretaries_--susan b. anthony, rochester; mary c. vaughan, oswego. _corresponding secretary_--amelia bloomer, seneca falls. _treasurer_--elvira marsh, rochester. _executive committee_--sarah t. gould, mary h. hallowell, and mrs. samuel richardson, rochester. [ ] _the lily_ was a temperance paper started in seneca falls, n. y., in . it was owned and edited by mrs. amelia bloomer. though starting as the organ of a society, it soon became her individual property. she carried it successfully six years, her subscription list reaching , . it was as pronounced on woman's rights as temperance, and did good service in both reforms. we are indebted to _the lily_ for most of our facts on the temperance movement in new york. [ ] _nomination_--lemira kedzie, lydia f. fowler, amy post, mary h. hallowell, frederick douglass, lydia jenkins. _business committee_--emily clark, w. h. channing, mary h. hallowell, rev. s. j. may, mrs. robie, mrs. c. i. h. nichols. _finance_--susan b. anthony, mrs. bloomer, h. attilia albro. also, on motion, the president was added to the business committee. [ ] throughout this protracted, disgraceful assault on american womanhood, the clergy baptized each new insult and act of injustice in the name of the christian religion, and uniformly asked god's blessing on proceedings that would have put to shame an assembly of hottentots. [ ] _vice-presidents_--dr. harriot k. hunt, mass.; charles c. burliegh, ct.; edward m. davis, pa.; frances dana gage, mo.; ashby pierce, oregon; rowland t. robinson, vt.; melissa j. driggs, ind.; thomas garrett, del.; angelina grimké weld, n. j.; hannah tracy cutler, ill. [ ] see page --cleveland convention--for the full description of this mob by miss brown herself. [ ] _the binghamton daily republican_ said: miss anthony vindicated her resolutions with great eloquence, spirit, and dignity, and showed herself a match, at least, in debate, for any member of the convention. she was _equal_ if not _identical_. whatever may be thought of her notions, or sense of propriety in her bold and conspicuous positions, personally, intellectually, and socially speaking, there can be but one opinion as to her superior ability, energy, and moral courage; and she may well be regarded as an evangel and heroine by her sex; especially by the "strong minded" portion of them. [ ] _the daily standard_, sept. th, , said: the woman's rights convention will assemble at the city hall this morning. some of the most able women of the country will be present, and the discussion can not fail to be particularly interesting. _the daily star_, a pro-slavery paper of the most pronounced and reckless character, said: the women are coming! they flock in upon us from every quarter, all to hear and talk about woman's rights. the blue stockings are as thick as grasshoppers in hay-time, and mighty will be the force of "jaw-logic" and "broom-stick ethics" preached by the females of both sexes. [ ] the national woman's rights convention. the friends of equality, justice, and truth are earnestly invited to meet in syracuse, n. y., sept. th, th, and th, , to discuss the important question of "woman's rights." we propose to review not only the past and consider the present, but to mark out new and broader paths for the future. the time has come for the discussion of woman's social, civil, and religious rights, and also for a thorough and efficient organization; a well-digested plan of operation whereby these social rights, for which our fathers fought, bled, and died, may be secured by us. let woman no longer supinely endure the evils she may escape, but with her own right hand carve out for herself a higher, nobler destiny than has heretofore been hers. inasmuch as through the folly and imbecility of woman, the race is what it is, dwarfed in mind and body; and as through her alone it can yet be redeemed, all are equally interested in the objects of this convention. we therefore solemnly urge those men and women who desire the elevation of humanity, to be present at the coming convention, and aid us by their wisdom. our platform will be free to all who are capable of discussing the subject with candor and truth. on behalf of the central committee, elizabeth cady stanton, paulina wright davis, william henry channing, lucy stone, samuel j. may. [ ] _president._--lucretia mott, philadelphia. _vice-presidents._--paulina wright davis, rhode island; caroline m. severance, ohio; elizabeth oakes smith, new york; clarina i. h. nichols, vermont; gerrit smith, peterboro; sarah l. miller, pennsylvania. _secretaries._--susan b. anthony, martha c. wright, samuel j. may, lydia f. fowler. _business committee._--elizabeth oakes smith, lucy stone, caroline m. severance, harriot k. hunt, jane elizabeth jones, james mott, ernestine l. rose, elizabeth w. phillips, pliny sexton, benjamin s. jones. _committee on finance._--rosa smith, joseph savage, caroline m. severance. many earnest friends beside the officers were present and took part in the discussions; among them amy post, mary and sarah hallowell, catharine a. f. stebbins, thomas and mary ann mcclintock, elizabeth smith miller, rev. lydia ann jenkins, rev. antoinette l. brown, lydia mott, phebe h. jones, mary a. springstead, abby h. price, rev. abraham pryne, eliza a. aldrich, editor _genius of liberty_; dr. cutcheon, of mcgrawville college; matilda joslyn gage, lydia p. savage, sarah hallock, griffith m. cooper. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see pennsylvania chapter, page . [ ] _the syracuse journal_ said: "miss anthony has a capital voice and deserves to be made clerk of the assembly." [ ] when gerrit smith was in congress, elected on account of his anti-slavery principles, his power to make friends even among foes was fully illustrated. at his elegant dinners distinguished southerners were frequent guests. hence it was said of him that he dined with slaveholders, and would have wined with them but for his temperance principles. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] this noble man was among the first to append his name to the declaration of rights issued at seneca falls, and he did not withdraw it when the press began to ridicule the proceedings of the convention. [ ] rev. mr. hatch gave his idea of female loveliness. it consisted in that shrinking delicacy which, like the modest violet, hid itself until sought; that modesty which led women to blush, to cast down their eyes when meeting men, or walking up the aisle of a church to drop the veil; to wear long skirts, instead of imitating the sun-flower, which lifted up its head, seeming to say: "come and admire me." he repeated the remarks made near the door on some of the speakers. the president hoped he would keep in order, and not relate the vulgar conversation of his associates. he went on in a similar strain until the indignation of the audience became universal, when he was summarily stopped. in the midst of his remarks miss anthony suggested that the reverend gentleman doubtless belonged to the pin-cushion ministry, educated by women's sowing societies! which, on inquiry, proved true. it was almost always the case that the "poor but pious" young man, who had studied his profession at the expense of women, proved most narrow and bigoted in his teachings. [ ] the jewish. [ ] see appendix for comments of _syracuse star_ and _new york herald_. [ ] this sermon was reviewed by matilda joslyn gage, and a newspaper controversy between mr. sunderland, mrs. gage, and others inaugurated. for several months the press of the city was enlivened by these supplementary debates. [ ] _president._--lucretia mott. _vice-presidents._--ernestine l. rose, new york; paulina w. davis, rhode island; clarina i. h. nichols, vermont; mary jackson, england; caroline m. severance, ohio; s. m. booth, wisconsin; wm. lloyd garrison, massachusetts; mrs. j. b. chapman, indiana; charlotte hubbard, illinois; ruth dugdale, pennsylvania; c. c. burleigh, connecticut; angelina g. weld, new jersey; mathilde franceska anneké, germany. _secretaries._--lydia f. fowler, sidney peirce, oliver johnson. _business committee._--lucy stone, antoinette l. brown, james mott, harriot k. hunt, mariana johnson, lydia mott, wendell phillips, sarah hallock, wm. h. channing, ruth dugdale, martha j. tilden, ernestine l. rose, elizabeth oakes smith. _finance committee._--susan b. anthony, lydia a. jenkins, edward a. stansbury. [ ] see appendix. [ ] fanny ellsler danced for the bunker hill monument. [ ] see p. . [ ] the committee were: lueretia mott, ernestine l. rose, marion c. houghton, lucy stone, caroline h. dall, paulina wright davis, dr. harriot k. hunt, mathilde franceska anneké, dr. elizabeth blackwell. [ ] elizabeth cady stanton, seneca falls; james m'cune smith, new york; mary cheney greeley, new york; s. g. love, randolph; ernestine l. rose, new york; mary f. love, randolph; samuel j. may, syracuse; c. m. crowley, randolph; george w. jonson, buffalo; r. t. trail, new york; antoinette l. brown, south butler; emily s. trail, new york; frederick douglass, rochester; oliver johnson, new york; hiram corliss, greenwich; mariana w. johnson, new york; lydia a. jenkins, geneva; sydney howard gay, new york: william h. channing, rochester; catharine e. welling, elmira; william hay, saratoga springs; mrs. holbrook, elmira; amy post, rochester; h. a. zoller, little falls; mary h. hallowell, rochester; stephen haight, dutchess county; susan b; anthony, rochester; sarah a. burtis, rochester; william r. hallowell, rochester; lydia p. savage, syracuse; isaac post, rochester; lydia mott, albany; mary b. f. curtis, rochester; j. b. sands, canandaigua; lemira kedzie, rochester; catharine h. sands, canandaigua. [ ] _vice-presidents._--ernestine l. rose, new york; s. c. cuyler, wayne; amy post, rochester; mary f. love, randolph; amelia bloomer, seneca falls; caroline keese, cayuga; griffith m. cooper, wayne.; rev. antoinette l. brown, south butler; matilda joslyn gage, manlius; rev. j. w. loguin, syracuse; sarah a. burtis, rochester; emma r. coe, buffalo. _secretaries._--susan b. anthony, sarah pellet, wm. j. watkins, and sarah willis. _finance committee._--mary s. anthony, mary h. hallowell, e. j. jenkins, lucy colman, and mary cooper. _business committee._--ernestine l. rose, william henry channing, antoinette l. brown, frederick douglass, amy post, and samuel j. love. [ ] mr. hopkins further stated that, tenancy by the courtesy operates in favor of the husband, not of the wife. it is the husband's right during his life to the use of the wife's real estate from her death, in case of a child or children born of the marriage. it is defeasible now by the wife's will.--cow. rep. , k. s., th ed. . tenancy by right of dower is the wife's right during her life to the use of one-third of the husband's real estate from his death. it operates in favor of the wife and not in favor of the husband, and is indefeasible by the husband's will or the husband's acts while living, and does not depend upon the birth of a child by the marriage. the order of distribution of the husband's personal property on his death is as follows, viz.: st, the widow of a family takes articles exempt from execution as hers, also $ worth of property besides. d, she has one-third of the personal property, absolutely--if there be no children, one-half, and if there be no parent or descendant, she is entitled, of the residue, to $ , , and if also no brother, sister, nephew, or niece, all the residue. this order may be varied or defeated by his will. the order of distribution of the wife's personal property on her death without will is as follows: it goes, after paying her debts, to her husband, if living; if not, then st, to her children, d to her father, d to her mother, th to her collateral relatives. this order may be varied or defeated by her will. she may devise it as she may please. his property before marriage continues his after marriage, subject to her inchoate rights of dower. her property before marriage continues hers absolutely. upon marriage he is liable to support her, and may be compelled to do it if he prove refractory. she is not liable to support him, however wealthy she may be, or poor he may be. he is liable to support the children. she is not so liable, though possessed of millions. the husband is the guardian of the wife, as against third persons. (page ). but he has no power to preserve, retain, or regain the custody of her against her will. (page ). he may maintain his action against third persons for enticing her away or harboring her. but this harboring, to be actionable, must be more than a mere permission to her to stay with such third person. ( barb. ). if the husband seek to take away his wife by force, it is an assault and battery upon her. if a third person, resists such force at her request he is not liable to any action. (barb. ). the wife is not the husband's guardian, but if he will desert her he may be put under bonds for her support and the support of her children by him. ( rev. stat., th ed., pp. , ). the husband is liable for the debts of the wife contracted before marriage, but only now to the extent of her property received by him. ( w. r. , st chitty pl., to , laws of ). and he is liable for her debts contracted during marriage, if permitted by him, or if for necessaries which he neglected to provide. the wife is not liable for her husband's debts contracted at any time. the law casts the custody of the minor children upon the father and not upon the mother. but if this custody is abused, it is by the court to the mother. the father may appoint a guardian for his infant children. ( rev. stat. .) but the court will not allow such guardian to take the children out of the state against the mother's will, much less to separate them unjustly from the mother even though the father's will command it. ( , page ). during the separation of husband and wife, it is for the court now to decide, under the circumstances of each case, whether father or mother has such custody. ( r. s. , ). when both seek such custody, and both are equally qualified for it, that of daughters and young children is usually given to the mother, and that of the sons to the father, but this is in the discretion of the court. the earnings of the husband are his. the earnings of the wife are his, if she live with him and he support her. but he can not compel her to work for him. and if she separate from him for cause, he may be restrained for intermeddling with her earnings. the husband's abandonment and his refusal or neglect to provide for her, are good causes of separation. ( r. s. , sec. , sub. ). for the husband's torts the wife is not liable. for the wife's torts, committed by her before marriage or during marriage the husband is liable jointly with the wife. if committed by the wife and husband, or committed by the wife in his presence and without objecting, the husband is liable alone. ( chitty pl., , th american edition). nay, even felonies (excepting murder, manslaughter, treason, and robbery), are excusable in the wife if committed in the husband's presence and by his coercion--and such coercion is presumed from his presence. for this he must suffer and she must be spared. (barb. crim. law, and , and cases there cited). in actions or lawsuits between men and women, the law in theory claims to be impartial, but in practice it has not been impartial. before a court of male judges or a jury of men the bias is in favor of the woman; and if she is pleasing, in person and manners, such bias is sometimes pretty strong. if the man and woman between whom litigation arises are husband and wife, the court may accord an allowance to be advanced by her husband, to enable her to defray the expenses of the litigation. [ ] woman's rights.--_circulate the petitions_.--the design of the convention held last week in rochester, was to bring the subject of woman's legal and civil disabilities, in a dignified form, before the legislature of new york. convinced, as the friends of the movement are, that in consistency with the principles of republicanism, females, equally with males, are entitled to freedom, representation, and suffrage, and confident as they are that woman's influence will be found to be as refining and elevating in public as all experience proves it to be in private, they claim that one-half of the people and citizens of new york should no longer be governed by the other half, without consent asked and given. encouraged by reforms already made, in the barbarous usages of common law, by the statutes of new york, the advocates of woman's just and equal rights demand that this work of reform be carried on, until every vestige of partiality is removed. it is proposed, in a carefully prepared address to specify the remaining legal disabilities from which the women of this state suffer; and a hearing is asked before a joint committee of both houses, specially empowered to revise and amend the statutes. now is this movement right in principle? is it wise in policy? should the females of new york be placed on a level of equality with males before the law? if so, let us petition for impartial justice to women. in order to ensure this equal justice should the females of new york, like the males, have a voice in appointing the law-makers and law-administrators? if so let us petition for woman's right to suffrage. finally, what candid man will be opposed to a reference of the whole subject to the representatives of new york, whom the men of new york themselves elected. let us then petition for a hearing before the legislature. a word more, as to the petitions, given below. they are two in number; one for the just and equal rights of woman; one for woman's right to suffrage. it is designed that they should be signed by men and women, of lawful age--that is, of twenty-one years and upwards. the following directions are suggested: . let persons, ready and willing, sign each of the petitions; but let not those, who desire to secure woman's just and equal rights, hesitate to sign that petition because they have doubts as to the right or expediency of women's voting. the petitions will be kept separate, and offered separately. all fair-minded persons, of either sex, ought to sign the first petition. we trust that many thousands are prepared to sign the second also. . in obtaining signatures, let men sign in one column, and women in another parallel column. . let the name of the town and county, together with the number of signatures, be distinctly entered on the petitions before they are returned. . let every person, man or woman, interested in this movement, instantly and energetically circulate the petitions in their respective neighborhoods. we must send in the name of every person in the state, who desires full justice to woman, so far as it is possible. up then, friends, and be doing, to-day. . let no person sign either petition but once. as many persons will circulate petitions in the same town and county, it is important to guard against this possible abuse. . finally, let every petition be returned to rochester, directed to the secretary of the convention, susan b. anthony, on the first of february, without fail. in behalf of the business committee. william henry channing. rochester, _dec. , _. petition for the just and equal rights of women.--the legislature of the state of new york have, by the acts of and , testified the purpose of the people of this state to place married women on an equality with married men, in regard to the holding, conveying, and devising of real and personal property. we, therefore, the undersigned petitioners, inhabitants of the state of new york, male and female, having attained to the legal majority, believing that women, alike married and single, do still suffer under many and grievous legal disabilities, do earnestly request the senate and assembly of the state of new york to appoint a joint committee of both houses, to revise the statutes of new york, and to propose such amendments as will fully establish the legal equality of women with men; and we hereby ask a hearing before such committee by our accredited representatives. petition for woman's right to suffrage.--whereas, according to the declaration of our national independence, governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, we earnestly request the legislature of new york to propose to the people of the state such amendments of the constitution of the state as will secure to females an equal right to the elective franchise with males; and we hereby ask a hearing before the legislature by our accredited representatives. n. b.--editors throughout the state in favor of this movement are respectfully requested to publish this address and the petitions. [ ] _president_.--elizabeth cady stanton. _vice-presidents_.--rev. s. j. may, ernestine l. rose, new york; hon. william hay saratoga; william h. topp, albany; lydia a. jenkins, geneva; lydia mott, albany; mary f. love, randolph. _business committee_.--rev. antoinette l. brown, south butler; w. h. channing, rochester; mrs. catherine a. f. stebbins, mrs. phebe h. jones, troy. _secretaries_.--susan b. anthony, sarah pellet. _finance committee_.--mary s. anthony, rochester; anna w. anthony, cayuga. [ ] an act relative to the rights of married women:--_the people of the state of new york, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows_: . any married woman whose husband, from drunkenness, profligacy, or any other cause, shall neglect and refuse to provide for her support and education, or the support and education of her children, and any married woman who may be deserted by her husband, shall have the right, by her own name, to receive and collect her own earnings, and apply the same for her own support, and the support and education of her children, free from the control and interference of her husband, or from any person claiming to be released from the same by and through her husband. . hereafter it shall be necessary to the validity of any indenture of apprenticeship executed by the father, that the mother of such child, if she be living, shall, in writing, consent to such indentures; nor shall any appointment of a general guardian of the person of a child by the father be valid, unless the mother of such child, if she be living, shall, in writing, consent to such appointment. [ ] see appendix. [ ] ernestine l. rose, francis d. gage, hannah tracy cutler, lucy n. coleman, antoinette l. brown, matilda joslyn gage, marietta richmond, sarah pellet, carrie d. filkins, lydia a. jenkins, susan b. anthony, dividing their time and forces, held conventions in nearly every county of the state, traversing some new section each year. in , miss anthony and miss brown made a successful tour of the fashionable resorts and the northern counties. all this work the state committee assigned to its general agent, giving her all honor and power, without providing one dollar. but miss anthony with rare executive ability, accomplished the work and paid all expenses.--e. c. s. [ ] it is pleasant to record that a few years later mr. beecher's vision was clear on the whole question, and he was often found on the woman's rights platform, not only speaking himself, but his sister, mrs. isabella beecher hooker, also. on one occasion he conducted miss kate field to the platform in plymouth church as gracefully as he ever handed a lady out to dinner, introduced her to the audience, and presided during her address. sitting there he seemed to feel as much at his ease as if col. robert g. ingersoll had been the speaker. [ ] as this meeting was hastily decided upon, there was no call issued; it was merely noticed in the county papers. _the saratoga whig_, august , , says: women's rights.--the series of conventions that have been holding sessions in the village during the week, will close this day with a meeting for the discussion of the social, legal, and political rights of women, at which miss susan b. anthony, mrs. matilda joslyn gage, and miss sarah pellet will appear. the meetings will be held at st. nicholas hall this afternoon at and a half o'clock, and in the evening at o'clock. [ ] any one but the indomitable susan b. anthony would have abandoned all idea of a meeting, but, as it was advertised, she felt bound to make it a fact. this decision may seem the more remarkable in view of other facts, that miss anthony had but little experience as a speaker, and was fully aware of her deficiencies in that line; her forte lay in planning conventions, raising money, marshalling the forces, and smoothing the paths for others to go forward, make the speeches, and get the glory. having listened in st. nicholas hall for several days to some of the finest orators in the country, it was with great trepidation that she resolved to attempt to hold such audiences as had crowded all the meetings during the week, and would no doubt continue to do so. however, she had one written speech, which she decided to divide, giving the industrial disabilities of women in the afternoon, and their political rights in the evening, supplementing each with whatever extemporaneous observations might strike her mind as she proceeded. with mrs. gage to speak at one session and miss pellet at the other, miss anthony rounded out both meetings to the general satisfaction. it was thus she always stood ready for every emergency; when nobody else would or could speak she did; when everybody wished to speak she was silent.--e. c. s. [ ] _the daily saratogian_. august th, said: mrs. matilda joslyn gage, a medium-sized, lady-like looking woman, dressed in a tasty plum-colored silk with two flounces, made the first address upon some of the defects in the marriage laws, quoting story, kent, and blackstone. she closed by speaking of mrs. marcet, an able writer on political economy, her book much used in schools. she referred to miss pinckney, of south carolina, who in nullification times, wrote powerfully on that subject. it was said that party was consolidated by the nib of a lady's pen. she was the first woman in the united states who was honored with a public funeral. [ ] _president_.--martha c. wright, of auburn. _vice-presidents_.--rev. samuel j. may, syracuse; lydia mott, albany; ernestine l. rose, new york; antoinette l. brown, new york; susan b. anthony, rochester; augusta a. wiggins, saratoga springs. _secretaries_.--emily jaques, nassau; aaron m. powell, ghent; mary l. booth, williamsburgh. _finance committee_.--susan b. anthony, marietta richmond, mary s. anthony, phebe h. jones. _business committee_.--antoinette l. brown, ernestine l. rose, t. w. higginson, charles f. hovey, of boston; phebe merritt, of michigan; hon. william hay, of saratoga springs. [ ] now the successful editor of _harper's bazar_. [ ] this year miss anthony canvassed the state, holding conventions in fifty-four counties, organizing societies, getting signatures to petitions, and subscribers to _the una_. at some of these meetings mrs. rose, miss brown, and miss filkins assisted by turn, but the chief part she carried through alone. she had posters for the entire state printed in rochester, her father, brother merritt, and mary luther folding and superscribing to all the postmasters and the sheriff of every county. the sheriffs, with but few exceptions, opened the court houses for the meetings, posted the bills, and attended to the advertising. miss anthony entered on this work without the pledge of a dollar. but with free meetings and collections in the afternoon, and a shilling admission in the evening, she managed to cover the entire expenses of the campaign. [ ] women's rights petition. _to the honorable, the senate and assembly of the state of new york_: whereas, the women of the state of new york are recognized as citizens by the constitution, and yet are disfranchised on account of sex; we do respectfully demand the right of suffrage; a right which involves all other rights of citizenship, and which can not be justly withheld, when we consider the admitted principles of popular government, among which are the following: st. that all men are born free and equal. d. that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. d. that taxation and representation should go together. th. that those held amenable to laws should have a share in framing them. we do, therefore, petition that you will take the necessary steps so to revise the constitution of our state, as that all her citizens may enjoy equal political privileges. [ ] the committee were susan b. anthony, ernestine l. rose, antoinette l. brown, elizabeth cady stanton, martha c. wright, lydia mott. [ ] at the close of this convention, charles f. hovey, as was his usual custom, planned an excursion for those who had taken part in the meetings. he invited them to take a drive to the lake, a few miles out of saratoga, gave them a bountiful repast, and together they spent a day rich in pleasant memories. listening day after day to the wrongs perpetrated on woman by law and gospel of man's creation, mr. hovey always seemed to feel that he was in duty bound to throw what sunshine and happiness he could into the lives of women, and thus in a measure atone for the injustice of his sex, and most royally he did this whenever an opportunity offered, not only while he lived, but by bequests at his death. [ ] twenty years after this mrs. stanton met a lady in texas, who told her about this saratoga convention. she said her attention was first called to the subject of woman's rights by some tracts a friend of hers, then living in georgia, brought home at that time, and that we could form but little idea of the intense interest with which they were read and discussed by quite a circle of ladies, who plied her aunt with innumerable questions about the convention and the appearance and manners of the ladies who led the movement. [ ] it is now over forty years that the various branches of the hutchinson family have been singing the liberal ideas of their day on the anti-slavery, temperance, and woman's rights platforms, and they are singing still ( ) with the infusion of some new blood in the second and third generation. only one year ago traveling in kansas, on a dreary night train, with no sleeping car attached, i had worried through the weary hours until three o'clock in the morning, when the cars stopped at fort scott. i was slowly pacing up and down the aisle, when in came asa hutchinson, violin in hand, and a troop of boys and girls behind him. there we stood face to face, both well on the shady side of sixty-five, our locks as white as snow, each thinking the other was too old for such hard journeys, he still singing, i still preaching "equal rights to all." "well," said i, "asa, this is a very unchristian hour for you to be skylarking over the prairies of kansas." "ah!" said he, dolorously, "this is no skylarking; we sung last night until near eleven o'clock, shook hands, and talked until twelve; arose about two, waited an hour at a cold depot, and we all feel as cross as bears." "i can sympathize with you," i replied; "i spent the hours until twelve as you did, entertaining my countrymen and women, and have been trying to rest ever since." in talking over old times until the day dawned we forgot our fatigue, and as i left the cars they gave me a parting salute with the "good time coming." how well i remember the power of the young hutchinsons in the old mob days; four brothers and one sister standing side by side on the platform in faneuil hall, boston. so hated were the abolitionists and their doctrines, that not even wendell phillips or abby kelly could get a hearing, but when the sweet singers from the old granite state came forward silence reigned, to be broken, however, the moment the last notes of harmony died upon their lips. e. c. s. [ ] saratoga, niagara, and trenton falls; clifton, avon, sharon, and ballston springs, lake george, etc. in making the tour in , miss brown and miss anthony had some recherché out-door meetings in the groves of clifton and trenton that were highly praised by the press and the people, and in the long summer days most charming to themselves. [ ] the speakers were samuel j. may, ernestine l. rose, antoinette l. brown, carrie d. filkins, lydia a. jenkins, aaron m. powell, hon. wm. hay, susan b. anthony. [ ] if the intestate be a married man living, and having lived with his wife daring marriage, or if the intestate be a married woman living or having lived with her husband during marriage, and shall die without lawful descendants, born or to be born of such marriage, or a prior marriage, the inheritance shall descend to the surviving husband or wife, as the case may be, during his or her natural life, whether the inheritance came to the intestate on the part of the mother or father or otherwise. [ ] _president_.--lucy stone. _vice-presidents_.--lucretia mott, of pennsylvania; elizabeth jones, of ohio; rev. t. w. higginson, of massachusetts; cornelia moore, of new jersey; a. bronson alcott, of new hampshire; sarah h. hallock, of new york. _secretaries_.--martha c. wright, of new york; oliver johnson, of new york; henrietta johnson, of new jersey. _business committee_.--ernestine l. rose, susan b. anthony, wendell phillips, james mott, mariana johnson, t. w. higginson, william green, jr. _treasurer_.--wendell phillips. _finance_.--susan b. anthony. [ ] at the close of chapter on indiana, p. . [ ] john c. fremont's campaign. [ ] mrs. jessie benton fremont. [ ] . _resolved_, that the close of a presidential election affords a peculiarly appropriate occasion to renew the demands of woman for a consistent application of democratic principles. . _resolved_, that the republican party, appealing constantly, through its orators, to female sympathy, and using for its most popular rallying cry a female name, is peculiarly pledged by consistency, to do justice hereafter in those states where it holds control. . _resolved_, that the democratic party must be utterly false to its name and professed principles, or else must extend their application to both halves of the human race. . _resolved_, that the present uncertain and inconsistent position of woman in our community, not fully recognized either as a slave or as an equal, taxed but not represented, authorized to earn property but not free to control it, permitted to prepare papers for scientific bodies but not to read them, urged to form political opinions but not allowed to vote upon them, all marks a transitional period in human history which can not long endure. . _resolved_, that the main power of the woman's rights movement lies in this: that while always demanding for woman better education, better employment, and better laws, it has kept steadily in view the one cardinal demand for the right of suffrage; in a democracy the symbol and guarantee of all other rights. . _resolved_, that the monopoly of the elective franchise, and thereby all the powers of legislative government by man, solely on the ground of sex, is a usurpation, condemned alike by reason and common-sense, subversive of all the principles of justice, oppressive and demoralizing in its operation, and insulting to the dignity of human nature. . _resolved_, that while the constant progress of law, education, and industry prove that our efforts for women in these respects are not wasted, we yet proclaim ourselves unsatisfied, and are only encouraged to renewed efforts, until the whole be gained. [ ] during the struggle to extend slavery into that free state. [ ] jeannette brown heath, daughter of nathan brown, of montgomery county, new york. she traveled with abby kelly at one time as a companion. jeannette was a famous horsewoman; the young ladies of the county thought themselves well off when they could purchase a steed that she had trained for the saddle. i remember many an escapade in my youth on a full-blooded black horse from jeannette's equery, as i lived in her neighborhood; she is now residing with two sons and one daughter in rochester, n. y., enjoying the needed rest after such an eventful life.--e. c. s. [ ] she gave $ , to the observatory in albany. [ ] extracts from the will of the late charles f. hovey, esq. article . after setting aside sufficient funds to pay all legacies and bequests herein made, i direct my said trustees to hold all the rest and residue of my estate, real, personal and mixed, in special trust for the following purposes, namely; to pay over, out of the interest and principal of said special trust, a sum of not less than eight thousand dollars annually, until the same be all exhausted, to said wendell phillips, william lloyd garrison, stephen s. foster, abby k. foster, parker pillsbury, henry c. wright, francis jackson and charles k. whipple, and their survivors and survivor, for them to use and expend, at their discretion, without any responsibility to any one, for promotion of the anti-slavery cause and other reforms, such as woman's rights, non-resistance, free trade and temperance, at their discretion; and i request said wendell phillips and his said associates to expend not less than eight thousand dollars annually, by the preparation and circulation of books, newspapers, employing agents, and the delivery of lectures that will, in their judgment, change public opinion, and secure the abolition of slavery in the united states, and promote said other reforms. believing that the chain upon four millions of slaves, with tyrants at one end and hypocrites at the other, has become the strongest bond of the union of the states, i desire said phillips and his associates to expend said bequest by employing such agents as believe and practice the doctrine, of "no union with slaveholders, religiously or politically"; and by circulating such publications as tend to destroy every pro-slavery institution. article . in case chattel slavery should be abolished in the united states before the expenditure of the said residue of my estate, as stated in said sixteenth article of this will; then, in that case, i desire that the unexpended part of said residue be applied by said phillips and his associates, in equal proportions, for the promotion of non-resistance, woman's rights and free trade; requesting that no agents be employed by them for the promotion of said causes, except such as believe it wrong to have any voluntary connection with any government of violence, and such as believe that the natural rights of men and women are equal. whether slavery be abolished or not, i desire that a part of the said residue of my estate may be applied to the promotion of the kindred causes of temperance, woman's rights, non-resistance and free trade, at the discretion of the said phillips and his associates. article . i particularly request that no prayers be solicited from any person, and that no priest be invited to perform any ceremony whatever, over or after my body. the priesthood are an order of men, as i believe, falsely assuming to be reverend and divine, pretending to be called of god; the great body of them in all countries have been on the side of power and oppression; the world has been too long cheated by them; the sooner they are unmasked, the better for humanity. as i have heretofore borne my testimony against slavery, intemperance, war, tariffs and all indirect taxation, banks and all monopolies, i desire to leave on record my abhorrence of them all. the fear of being buried before i am dead is slight, nevertheless it is greater than the fear of death itself. i therefore request my executors not to bury my body until at least three days after my decease. in witness whereof, i have hereto set my hand and seal, this twenty-eighth day of march, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-nine. charles f. hovey. signed, sealed, published and declared by the said testator to be his last will and testament, in presence of us, who, at his request, and in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereto subscribed our names as witnesses. george l. lovett. thomas mack. william w. howe. i do prove, approve and allow the same, and order it to be recorded. given under my hand and seal of office, the day and year above written. isaac ames, _may , _. _judge of probate and insolvency._ [ ] george william curtis, mrs. eliza w. farnham, parker pillsbury, sarah hallock, mrs. sidney howard gay, sarah m. grimké, charles lenox remond, lucy a. coleman, sarah p. remond, and the hutchinson family, consisting of jessie, his wife, and two children, and abby, who sung among many other sweet ballads, "the good time coming." [ ] frederick douglas, thomas wentworth higginson, ernestine l. rose, lucretia mott, frances dana gage, wendell phillips, wm. lloyd garrison, oliver johnson, susan b. anthony, caroline h. dall, lucy stone, antoinette brown, aaron m. powell. [ ] eliza farnham was in many respects a remarkable woman. as matron of the sing sing prison at one time, she introduced many humane improvements in the occupation and discipline of the women under her charge. she had a piano in the corridor, and with sweet music touched the tender chords in their souls. instead of tracts on hell-fire and an angry god, she read aloud to them from dickens' most touching stories. in every way, assisted by mariana johnson and georgiana bruce, she treated them as women, and not as criminals. [ ] wendell phillips, elizabeth cady stanton, caroline h. dall, caroline m. severance, ernestine l. rose, antoinette brown blackwell, thomas w. higginson, susan b. anthony. [ ] _resolved_, that while every newspaper in the land carries on its face the record of woman's dishonor, the women who seek to elevate their sex are bound to inquire into its causes and save from its paralysis. _resolved_, that while we have no daughters too tender and pure, no sons too innocent, to escape from the influence of such tragedies as those at north adams and washington, the true modesty of every mother, the true dignity of every wife, should forbid her to put aside the questions they involve. _resolved_, that the dishonor of single women proceeds in great measure from destitution, and the dishonor of married women as much from their own want of education and utter absence of purpose in life as from the inability of their husbands to inspire them with true respect and help them to true living: therefore, _resolved_, that it is our bounden duty to open, in every possible way, new vocations to women, to raise their wages by every advisable means, and to secure to them an education which shall be less a decoration to their persons than a tool to their hands. _resolved_, that while courts adjourn in honor of a man like philip barton key, while the whole bar of the district of columbia pass resolutions in his honor, and vote to attend his funeral, as a mark of respect, while the public opinion of a whole community sustains a man who could not defend his murderous indignation by the witness of an unspotted life, it is our duty to rate public opinion as a corrupting power, and to bring up our children in the knowledge and sanction of a higher law. [ ] form of petition. _to the senate and assembly of the slate of new york:_ the undersigned, citizens of ----, new york, respectfully ask that you will take measures to submit to the people an amendment of the constitution, allowing women to vote and hold office. and that you will enact laws securing to married women the full and entire control of all property originally belonging to them, and of their earnings during marriage; and making the rights of the wife over the children the same as a husband enjoys, and the rights of a widow, as to her children, and as to the property left by her husband, the same that a husband has in the property and over the children of his deceased wife. [ ] lydia mott, in writing to a friend, says: "i have heard but one opinion about the merits of the address and the manner of its delivery, and the press is very complimentary. it was better that one like mrs. stanton should speak on the occasion than two, unless the other might have been wendell phillips. mr. mayo expressed himself thoroughly satisfied; the whole effect was grand. even old father woolworth stood the whole time, and very often he would nod assent at certain points. the house was packed, but so still that not one word was lost. it was worth as much to our cause as our whole convention, though we could not have spared either." [ ] an act concerning the rights and liabilities of husband and wife. passed march , . _the people of the state of new york, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:_ section . the property, both real and personal, which any married woman now owns, as her sole and separate property; that which comes to her by descent, devise, bequest, gift, or grant; that which she acquires by her trade, business, labor, or services, carried on or performed on her sole or separate account; that which a woman married in this state owns at the time of her marriage, and the rents, issues, and proceeds of all such property, shall notwithstanding her marriage, be and remain her sole and separate property, and may be used, collected, and invested by her in her own name, and shall not be subject to the interference or control of her husband, or liable for his debts, except such debts as may have been contracted for the support of herself or her children, by her as his agent. § . a married woman may bargain, sell, assign, and transfer her separate personal property, and carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or services on her sole and separate account, and the earnings of any married woman from her trade, business, labor, or services shall be her sole and separate property, and may be used or invested by her in her own name. § . any married woman possessed of real estate as her separate property may bargain, sell, and convey such property, and enter into any contract in reference to the same; but no such conveyance or contract shall be valid without the assent, in writing, of her husband, except as hereinafter provided. § . in case any married woman possessed of separate real property, as aforesaid, may desire to sell or convey the same, or to make any contract in relation thereto, and shall be unable to procure the assent of her husband as in the preceding section provided, in consequence of his refusal, absence, insanity, or other disability, such married woman may apply to the county court in the county where she shall at the time reside, for leave to make such sale, conveyance, or contract, without the assent of her husband. § . such application may be made by petition, verified by her, and setting forth the grounds of such application. if the husband be a resident of the county and not under disability from insanity or other cause, a copy of said petition shall be served upon him, with a notice of the time when the same will be presented to the said court, at least ten days before such application. in all other cases, the county court to which such application shall be made, shall, in its discretion, determine whether any notice shall be given, and if any, the mode and manner of giving it. § . if it shall satisfactorily appear to such court, upon application, that the husband of such applicant has willfully abandoned his said wife, and lives separate and apart from her, or that he is insane, or imprisoned as a convict in any state prison, or that he is an habitual drunkard, or that he is in any way disabled from making a contract, or that he refuses to give his consent without good cause therefor, then such court shall cause an order to be entered upon its records, authorizing such married woman to sell and convey her real estate, or contract in regard thereto without the assent of her husband, with the same effect as though such conveyance or contract had been made with his assent. § . any married woman may, while married, sue and be sued in all matters having relation to her property, which may be her sole and separate property, or which may hereafter come to her by descent, devise, bequest, or the gift of any person except her husband, in the same manner as if she were sole. and any married woman may bring and maintain an action in her own name, for damages against any person or body corporate, for any injury to her person or character, the same as if she were sole; and the money received upon the settlement of any such action, or recovered upon a judgment, shall be her sole and separate property. § . no bargain or contract made by any married woman, in respect to her sole and separate property, or any property which may hereafter come to her by descent, devise, bequest, or gift of any person except her husband, and no bargain or contract entered into by any married woman in or about the carrying on of any trade or business under the statutes of this state, shall be binding upon her husband, or render him or his property in any way liable therefor. § . every married woman is hereby constituted and declared to be the joint guardian of her children, with her husband, with equal powers, rights, and duties in regard to them, with the husband. § . at the decease of husband or wife, leaving no minor child or children, the survivor shall hold, possess, and enjoy a life estate in one-third of all the real estate of which the husband or wife died seized. § . at the decease of the husband or wife intestate, leaving minor child or children, the survivor shall hold, possess, and enjoy all the real estate of which the husband or wife died seized, and all the rents, issues, and profits thereof during the minority of the youngest child, and one-third thereof during his or her natural life. [ ] on the final passage of the bill the following senators, as _the journal_ shows, voted in favor of the measure, viz: senators abell, bell, colvin, conally, fiero, goss, hillhouse, kelly, lapham, sessions, manierre, montgomery, munroe, p. p. murphy, truman, prosser, ramsey, robertson, rotch, warner, williams-- . [ ] _president._--martha wright, of auburn, new york. _vice-presidents._--abby hopper gibbons, of new york; asa fairbanks, of rhode island; rev. antoinette brown blackwell, of new jersey; thomas garrett, of delaware; wendell phillips, of massachusetts; robert purvis, of pennsylvania; j. elizabeth jones, of ohio; giles b. stebbins, of michigan. _secretaries._--ellen wright and mary l. booth. _finance committee._--susan b. anthony, lucy n. colman, and marietta richmond. _business committee._--ernestine l. rose, a. l. b. blackwell, wm. lloyd garrison, e. cady stanton, mary grew, and wendell phillips. [ ] in the scotch presbyterian church at johnstown, n. y., there was great excitement at one time on the question of temperance, the pastor being a very active friend to that movement. the opposition were determined to get rid of him, and called a church meeting for that purpose. to the surprise of the leading men of the congregation, the women came in force, armed with ballots, to defeat their proposed measures. when the time came to vote, according to arrangement, my mother headed the line marching up to the altar, where stood the deacon, hat in hand, to receive the ballots. as soon as he saw the women coming, he retreated behind the railing in the altar, closing the little door after him, which the women deliberately opened, and soon filled the space, completely surrounding the _inspector of election_, and, whichever way he turned, the ballots were thrown into the hat; and, when all had voted, my mother put her hand into the hat and stirred them up with the men's votes, so that it would be impossible to separate them. the pastor, representing the interests of temperance, had a large majority for his retention. but the men declared the election void because of the illegal voting, and, barricading the women out, with closed doors, voted their own measures the next day. rev. jeremiah wood presided on the occasion, and whilst the women were contending for their rights under the very shadow of the altar, he recited various scriptural texts on woman's sphere, to which these rebellious ones paid not the slightest attention. one dignified scotch matron, looking him steadily in the face, indignant, at the behavior of the men, said with sternness and emphasis: "i protest against such high-handed proceedings." the result of this outbreak, was a decree by the judicature of the church, "that the women of the congregation should have the right to vote in all business matters," which they have most judiciously done ever since. e. c. s. [ ] frances d. gage, hannah tracy cutler, j. elizabeth jones, antoinette brown blackwell, lucy n. colman, and susan b. anthony. [ ] mrs. roberts and her daughters in niagara county. [ ] _resolved_, that inasmuch as man, in the progress of his development, found that at each advancing step new wants demanded new rights, and naturally walked out of those places, customs, creeds, and laws that in any way crippled and trammeled his freedom of thought, word, or action, it is his duty to stand aside and leave to woman the same rights--to grow up into whatever the laws of her being demand. _resolved_, that inasmuch as on woman are imposed by her creator the duties of self-support and self-defense, and by government the responsibilities of taxation and penalties of violated law, she should be protected in her natural, inalienable rights, and secured in all the privileges of citizenship. _resolved_, that we demand a full recognition of our equal rights, civil and political--no special legislation can satisfy us--the enjoyment of a right to-day is no security that it will be continued to-morrow, so long as it is granted to us by a privileged class, and not secured to us as a sacred right. whereas, the essence of republican liberty is the principle that no class shall depend for its rights on the mercy or justice of any other class, therefore, _resolved_, that woman demands her right to the jury-box and the ballot, that she may have, as man has, the means of her own protection in her own hands. _resolved_, that woman, in consenting to remain in any organization or church where she has no voice in the choice of officers, trustees, or pastor--no right of protest against false doctrines or action--is wanting in a proper self-respect, in that dignity which, as a philanthropist and a christian, she should ever manifest. _resolved_, that we from this platform instruct our legal representatives to make no more appropriations to colleges for boys exclusively. now that we are large property holders and tax-payers, we protest against the injustice of being compelled to build and endow colleges into which we are forbidden to enter. _resolved_, that we advise women to apply to the trustees and heads of public libraries, galleries of art, and similar institutions, for employment as clerks and attendants, thus securing to themselves, when admitted, a more liberal means of support, and furnishing a stepping-stone to other occupations. _resolved_, that we return thanks to the legislature of new york for its acts of justice to woman during the last session. but the work is not yet done. we still claim the ballot, the right of trial by a jury of our own peers, the control and custody of our persons in marriage, and an equal right to the joint earnings of the co-partnership. the geographical position and political power of new york make her example supreme; hence we feel assured that when she is right on this question, our work is done. [ ] . _resolved_, that, in the language (slightly varied) of john milton, "those who marry intend as little to conspire their own ruin, as those who swear allegiance, and as a whole people is to an ill government, so is one man or woman to an ill marriage. if a whole people, against any authority, covenant, or statute, may, by the sovereign edict of charity, save not only their lives, but honest liberties, from unworthy bondage, as well may a married party, against any private covenant, which he or she never entered, to his or her mischief, be redeemed from unsupportable disturbances, to honest peace and just contentment." . _resolved_, that all men are created equal, and all women, in their natural rights, are the equals of men, and endowed by their creator with the same inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. . _resolved_, that any constitution, compact, or covenant between human beings, that failed to produce or promote human happiness, could not, in the nature of things, be of any force or authority; and it would be not only a right, but a duty, to abolish it. . _resolved_, that though marriage be in itself divinely founded, and is fortified as an institution by innumerable analogies in the whole kingdom of universal nature, still, a true marriage is only known by its results; and, like the fountain, if pure, will reveal only pure manifestations. nor need it ever be said, "what god hath joined together, let no man put asunder," for man could not put it asunder; nor can he any more unite what god and nature have not joined together. . _resolved_, that of all insulting mockeries of heavenly truth and holy law, none can be greater than that physical impotency is cause sufficient for divorce, while no amount of mental or moral or spiritual imbecility is ever to be pleaded in support of such a demand. . _resolved_, that such a law was worthy those dark periods when marriage was held by the greatest doctors and priests of the church to be a work of the flesh only, and almost, if not altogether, a defilement; denied wholly to the clergy, and a second time, forbidden to all. . _resolved_, that an unfortunate or ill-assorted marriage is ever a calamity, but not ever, perhaps never, a crime--and when society or government, by its laws or customs, compels its continuance, always to the grief of one of the parties, and the actual loss and damage of both, it usurps an authority never delegated to man, nor exercised by god himself. . _resolved_, that observation and experience daily show how incompetent are men, as individuals, or as governments, to select partners in business, teachers for their children, ministers of their religion, or makers, adjudicators, or administrators of their laws; and as the same weakness and blindness must attend in the selection of matrimonial partners, the dictates of humanity and common sense alike show that the latter and most important contract should no more be perpetual than either or all of the former. . _resolved_, that children born in these unhappy and unhallowed connections are, in the most solemn sense, of unlawful birth--the fruit of lust, but not of love--and so not of god, divinely descended, but from beneath, whence proceed all manner of evil and uncleanliness. . _resolved_, that next to the calamity of such a birth to the child, is the misfortune of being trained in the atmosphere of a household where love is not the law, but where discord and bitterness abound; stamping their demoniac features on the moral nature, with all their odious peculiarities--thus continuing the race in a weakness and depravity that must be a sure precursor of its ruin, as a just penalty of long-violated law. [ ] thurlow weed, editor of _the albany evening journal_, opposed the passage of the divorce bill before the new york legislature in . [ ] _resolved_, that marriage is the voluntary alliance of two persons of opposite sexes into one family, and that such an alliance, with its possible incidents of children, its common interests, etc., must be, from the nature of things, as permanent as the life of the parties. _resolved_, that if human law attempts to regulate marriage at all, it should aim to regulate it according to the fundamental principles of marriage; and that as the institution is inherently as continuous as the life of the parties, so all laws should look to its control and preservation as such. _resolved_, that as a parent can never annul his obligations towards even a profligate child, because of the inseparable relationship of the parties, so the married partner can not annul his obligations towards the other, while both live, no matter how profligate that other's conduct may be, because of their still closer and alike permanent relationship; and, therefore, that all divorce is naturally and morally impossible, even though we should succeed in annulling all legalities. _resolved_, that gross fraud and want of good faith in one of the parties contracting this alliance, such as would invalidate any other voluntary relation, are the only causes which can invalidate this, and this, too, solely upon the ground that the relation never virtually existed, and that there are, therefore, no resulting moral obligations. _resolved_, however, that both men and women have a first and inviolable right to themselves, physically, mentally, and morally, and that it can never be the duty of either to surrender his personal freedom in any direction to his own hurt. _resolved_, that the great duty of every human being is to secure his own highest moral development, and that he can not owe to society, or to an individual, any obligation which shall be degrading to himself. _resolved_, that self-devotion to the good of another, and especially to the good of the sinful and guilty, like all disinterestedness, must redound to the highest good of its author, and that the husband or wife who thus seeks the best interests of the other, is obedient to the highest law of benevolence. _resolved_, that this is a very different thing from the culpable weakness which allows itself to be immolated by the selfishness of another, to the hurt of both; and that the miserable practice, now so common among wives, of allowing themselves, their children and family interests, to be sacrificed to a degraded husband and father, is most reprehensible. _resolved_, that human law is imperatively obligated to give either party ample protection to himself, to their offspring, and to all other family interests, against wrong, injustice, and usurpation on the part of the other, and that, if it be necessary to this, it should grant a legal separation; and yet, that even such separation can not invalidate any real marriage obligation. _resolved_, that every married person is imperatively obligated to do his utmost thus to protect himself and all family interests against injustice and wrong, let it arise from what source it may. _resolved_, that every woman is morally obligated to maintain her equality in human rights in all her relations in life, and that if she consents to her own subjugation, either in the family, church or state, she is as guilty as the slave is in consenting to be a slave. _resolved_, that a perfect union can not be expected to exist until we first have perfect units, and that every marriage of finite beings must be gradually perfected through the growth and assimilation of the parties. _resolved_, that the permanence and indissolubility of marriage tend more directly than anything else toward this result. [ ] francis jackson. this fund was drawn upon by several of the states. $ , . was expended in the campaigns in new york, the publication of , tracts, and the appropriation of several hundred to a series of sermons by the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, delivered in hope chapel, new york; $ , was expended in the ohio canvass of , and tracts in large numbers were also sent there. both money and tracts were contributed to the kansas campaign of . lucy stone had $ , to expend in kansas in , and thus in various ways the fund was finally expended, lucy stone drawing out the last $ , in . so careful had been the management of this fund, that the accumulation of the interest had greatly increased the original sum. [ ] lydia mott was one of the quiet workers who kept all things pertaining to the woman's rights reform in motion at the capital. living in albany, she planned conventions and hearings before the legislature. she knew a large number of the members and men of influence, who all felt a profound respect for that dignified, judicious quaker woman. her home was not only one of the depots of the underground railroad, where slaves escaping to canada were warmed and fed, but it was the hospitable resort for all reformers. everything about the house was clean and orderly, and the table always bountiful, and the food appetizing. as such men as seward and marcy, leaders from opposite political parties, gerrit smith, garrison, phillips, pillsbury, remond, foster, douglass, representing all the reforms, met in turn at miss mott's dinner-table, she had the advantage of hearing popular questions discussed from every standpoint. and miss mott was not merely hostess at her table, but on all occasions took a leading part in the conversation. all of us who enjoyed her friendship and hospitality deeply feel her loss in that conservative city. [ ] [introduced, on notice, by mr. ramsey; read twice, and referred to the committee on the judiciary; reported from said committee for the consideration of the senate, and committed to the committee of the whole]. an act in regard to divorces dissolving the marriage contract. _the people of the state of new york, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:_ section . in addition to the cases in which a divorce, dissolving the marriage contract, may now be decreed by the supreme court, such a divorce may be decreed by said court in either of the cases following: . where either party to the marriage shall, for the period of three years next preceding the application for such divorce, have willfully deserted the other party to the marriage, and neglected to perform to such party the duties imposed by their relation. . where there is and shall have been for the period of one year next preceding the application for such divorce, continuous and repeated instances of cruel and inhuman treatment by either party, so as greatly to impair the health or endanger the life of the other party, thereby rendering it unsafe to live with the party guilty of such cruelty or inhumanity. § . the foregoing sections shall not apply to any person who shall not have been an actual resident of this state for the period of five years next preceding such application for such divorce. § . specifications one, two, and three of original section thirty-eight, of article three, of title one, of chapter eight, of part two of the revised statutes, shall apply to these causes for divorce as they now apply to the cause of adultery. § . the other provisions of the revised statutes relating to the granting of divorces for adultery, and regulating the form and manner of proceedings and decrees, and the effects thereof, and the restrictions and defences to the application thereof, shall be applicable to the granting of divorces for causes hereinabove specified, and all proceedings therefor and therein, so far and in such manner as the same may be capable of such application. § . this act shall take effect immediately. [ ] published at the close of mr. greeley's "recollections of a busy life." [ ] passed april , . sect. . any married woman, possessed of real estate as her separate property, may bargain, sell, and convey such property, and enter into any contract in reference to the same, with the like effect in all respects as if she were unmarried; and she may in like manner enter into such covenant or covenants for title as are usual in conveyances of real estate, which covenants shall be obligatory to bind her separate property, in case the same or any of them be broken. § . the fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh sections of the said act are hereby repealed. th. any married woman may, while married, sue and be sued, in all matters having relation to her sole and separate property, or which may hereafter come to her by descent, devise, bequest, purchase, or the gift or grant of any person, in the same manner as if she were sole; and any married woman may bring and maintain an action in her own name, for damages, against any person or body corporate, for any injury to her person or character, the same as if she were sole; and the money received upon the settlement of any such action, or recovered upon a judgment, shall be her sole and separate property. in case it shall be necessary in the prosecution or defense of any action brought by or against a married woman, to enter into any bond or undertaking, such bond or undertaking may be executed by such married woman, with the same effect in all respects as if she were sole; and in case the said bond or undertaking shall become broken or forfeited, the same may be enforced against her separate estate. th. no bargain or contract made by any married woman, in respect to her sole and separate property, or any property which may hereafter come to her by descent, devise, bequest, purchase, or the gift or grant of any person (except her husband), and no bargain or contract entered into by any married woman, in or about the carrying on of any trade or business, under any statute of this state, shall be binding upon her husband, or render him or his property in any way liable therefor. th. in an action brought or defended by any married woman in her name, her husband shall not, neither shall his property, be liable for the costs thereof, or the recovery therein. in an action brought by her for an injury to her person, character, or property, if judgment shall pass against her for costs, the court in which the action is pending shall have jurisdiction to enforce payment of such judgment out of her separate estate, though the sum recovered be less than one hundred dollars. th. no man shall bind his child to apprenticeship or service, or part with the control of such child or create any testamentary guardian therefor, unless the mother, if living, shall in writing signify her assent thereto. th. a married woman may be sued in any of the courts of this state, and whenever a judgment shall be recovered against a married woman, the same may be enforced by execution against her sole and separate estate in the same manner as if she were sole. [ ] the guardianship law, passed april , . th. the surrogate, to whom application may be made under either of the preceding sections, shall have the same power to allow and appoint guardians as is possessed by the supreme court, and may appoint a guardian for a minor whose father is living, upon personal service of notice of the application for such appointment upon such father, at least ten days prior thereto; and in all cases the surrogate shall inquire into the circumstances of the minor and ascertain the amount of his personal property, and the value of the rents and profits of his real estate, and for that purpose may compel any person to appear before him and testify in relation thereto. [ ] see law of . chapter xv. woman, church, and state. by matilda joslyn gage. woman under old religions--woman took part in offices of early christian church councils--original sin--celibacy of the clergy--their degrading sensuality--feudalism--marriage--debasing externals and debasing ideas--witchcraft--three striking points for consideration--burning of witches--witchcraft in new england--marriage with devils--woman's right of property not recognized--wife ownership--women legislated for as slaves--marriage under the greek church--the salic law--cromwellian era--the reformation--woman under monastic rules in the protestant home--polygamy taught by luther and other protestant divines--the mormon doctrine regarding woman its logical result--milton responsible for many existing views in regard to woman--woman's subordination taught to-day--the see trial--right rev. dr. cox--rev. knox-little--pan-presbyterians-- quakers not as liberal as they have been considered--restrictive action of the methodist church--offensive debate upon ordaining miss oliver--the episcopal church and its restrictions--sunday-school teachings--week-day-school teachings--sermon upon woman's subordination by the president of a baptist theological seminary--professor christlieb of germany--"dear, will you bring me my shawl?"--female sex looked upon as a degradation--a sacrilegious child--secretary evarts, in the beecher-tilton trial, upon woman's subordination--women degraded in science and literature--large-hearted men upon woman's degradation--wives still sold in the market-place as "mares," led by a halter around their necks--degrading servile labor performed by woman in christian countries--a lower degradation--"queen's women"--"government women"--interpolations in the bible--letter from howard crosby, d.d., ll.d--what is truth? woman is told that her present position in society is entirely due to christianity, and this assertion is then made the basis of opposition to her demands for exact equality with man in all the relations of life. knowing that the position of every human being keeps pace with the religion and civilization of his country, and that in many ancient nations woman had secured a good degree of respect and power, as compared even with that she has in the present era, it has been decided to present this subject from a historical standpoint, and to show woman's position under the christian church for the last , years. if in so doing we shall help to show man's unwarranted usurpation over woman's religious and civil rights, and the very great difference between true religion and theology, this chapter will not have been written in vain, as it will prove that the most grievous wound ever inflicted upon woman has been in the teaching that she was not created equal with man, and the consequent denial of her rightful place and position in church and state. woman had acquired great liberty under the old civilizations. in rome she had not only secured remarkable personal and property rights,[ ] but she officiated as priestess in the most holy offices of religion. not only as vestal virgin did she guard the sacred fire, upon whose preservation the welfare of rome was held to depend, but at the end of every consular period women officiated in private worship and sacrifice to the _bono dea_, with mystic ceremonies which no man's presence was suffered to profane. the eleusinian mysteries were attributed to ceres herself, and but few men had the courage to dare initiation into their most secret rites. in ancient egypt, woman bought and sold in the markets, was physician, colleges for her instruction in medicine existing , years before christ; she founded its literature, the "sacred songs" of isis being deemed by plato literally , years old; as priestess she performed the most holy offices of religion, holding the sacred sistrum and offering sacrifices to the gods; she sat upon its throne and directed the civilization of this country at the most brilliant period of its history; while in the marriage relation she held more than equality; the husband at the ceremony promising obedience to the wife in all things, a rule which according to wilkinson, wrought no harm, but, on the contrary, was productive of lasting fidelity and regard, the husband and wife sitting together upon the same double chair in life, and lying together in the same tomb after death. crimes against women were rare in olden egypt, and were punished in the most severe manner. in persia, woman was one of the founders of the ancient parsee religion, which taught the existence of but a single god, thus introducing monotheism into that rare old kingdom. the germans endowed their wives upon marriage with a horse, bridle, and spear, emblematic of equality, and they held themselves bound to chastity in the marital relation. the women of scandinavia were regarded with respect, and marriage was held as sacred by both men and women. these old berserkers reverenced their alruna, or holy women, on earth, and worshiped goddesses in heaven. all pagandom recognized a female priesthood, some making their national safety to depend upon them, like rome; sybils wrote the books of fate, and oracles where women presided were consulted by many nations. the proof of woman's also taking part in the offices of the christian church at an early date is to be found in the very restrictions which were at a later period placed upon her. the council of laodicea, a.d. , in its eleventh canon[ ] forbade the ordination of women to the ministry, and by its forty-fourth canon prohibited them from entering into the altar. the council of orleans, a.d. , consisting of twenty-six bishops and priests, promulgated a canon declaring that on account of their frailty, women must be excluded from the deaconship. nearly five hundred years later than the council of laodicea, we find the council of paris (a.d. ) bitterly complaining that women serve at the altar, and even give to the people the body and blood of jesus christ. the council of aix-la-chapelle, only eight years previously, had forbidden abbesses from taking upon themselves any priestly function. through these canons we have the negative proof that for many hundred years women preached, baptized,[ ] administered the sacrament, and filled various offices of the church, and that men took it upon themselves to forbid them from such functions through prohibitory canons. a curious old black-letter volume published in london in , entitled "the lawes and resolutions of women's rights," says, "the reason why women have no control in parliament, why they make no laws, consent to none, abrogate none, is their original sin." this doctrine of her original sin lies at the base of the religious and political disqualifications of woman. christianity, through this doctrine, has been interpreted as sustaining man's rights alone. the offices held by her during the apostolic age, she has been gradually deprived of through ecclesiastical enactments. to augustine, whose early life was spent in company with the most degraded of woman-kind, is christianity indebted for the full development of the doctrine of original sin, which, although to be found in the religious systems of several ancient nations, was not a primitive one of the christian church.[ ] taught as one of the most sacred mysteries of religion, which to doubt or to question was to hazard eternal damnation, it at once exerted a most powerful and repressing influence upon woman, fastening upon her a bondage which the civilization of the nineteenth century has not been able to cast off. to this doctrine of woman's created inferiority we can trace those irregularities which for many centuries filled the church with shame, for practices more obscene than the orgies of babylon or corinth, and which dragged christendom to a darkness blacker than the night of heathendom in pagan countries--a darkness upon which the most searching efforts of historians cast scarcely one ray of light--a darkness so profound that from the seventh to the eleventh century no individual thought can be traced. all was sunk in superstition; men were bound by church dogmas, and looked only to aggrandizement through her. the priesthood, which alone possessed a knowledge of letters, prostituted their learning to the basest uses; the nobility spent their lives in warring upon each other; the peasantry were the sport and victim by turns of priest and noble, while woman was the prey of all; her person and her rights possessing no consideration only as they could be made to advance the interest or serve the pleasure of noble, husband, father, or priest--some man-god to whose lightest desire all her wishes were made to bend. the most pronounced doctrine of the church during this period was, that through woman sin had been introduced into the world; that woman's whole tendency was toward evil, and that had it not been for the unfortunate oversight of her creation, man would be dwelling in the paradisical innocence and happiness of eden blessed with immortality. the church looking upon woman as under a curse, considered man as god's divinely appointed agent for its enforcement, and that the restrictions she suffered under christianity were but parts of a just punishment for having caused the fall of man. christian theology thus at once struck a blow at these old beliefs in woman's equality, broadly inculcating the doctrine that woman was created for man, was subordinate to him and under obedience to him. it bade woman stand aside from sacerdotal offices, forbidding her to speak in the church, commanding her to ask her husband at home for all she wished to know, at once repressing all tendency toward her freedom among those who adopted the new religion, and by various decretals taught her defilement through the physical peculiarities of her being. it placed the legality of marriage under priestly control, secured to husbands a right of divorce for causes not freeing the wife, and so far set its ban upon this relation as to hold single women above the wife and mother in holiness. after having forbidden woman the priestly office, it forbade her certain benefits to be derived therefrom, thus unjustly punishing her for an ineligibility of its own creation; offices in the church, learning, and property rights, freedom of thought and action, all were held as improper for a being secondary to man, who came into the world, not as part of the great original plan, but as an afterthought of the creator. while it took many hundred years to totally exclude woman from the priesthood, the strict celibacy of the male clergy was during the same period the constant effort of the church. at first its restrictions were confined to a single marriage with a woman who had never before entered that relation. a council of a.d. , consisting of twenty-one bishops, forbade the ordination of those priests who had been twice married, or who had married a widow. a council of a.d. , ruled that a bishop who had children after ordination, should be excluded from the major orders. the council of a.d. , deposed chelidonius, bishop of besancon, for having married a widow; while the council of orleans, a.d. , consisting of thirty-two bishops, decided that any monk who married should be expelled from the ecclesiastical order. in the sixth century a council was held at macon ( ), consisting of forty-three bishops with sees, sixteen bishops without sees, and fifteen envoys. at this council the celebrated discussion took place of which it has often been said, the question was whether woman had a soul. it arose in this wise. a certain bishop insisted that woman should not be called "homo"; but the contrary was argued by others from the two facts that the scriptures say that god created man, male and female, and that jesus christ, son of a woman, is called the son of man. woman was, therefore, allowed to remain a human being in the eyes of the clergy, even though considered a very weak and bad one. the church held two entirely opposing views of marriage. inasmuch as it taught that the fall came through marriage, this relation was regarded by many priests with holy horror as a continuance of the evil which first brought sin into the world. it was declared that god would have found some method of populating the world outside of marriage, and that condition was looked upon as one of peculiar temptation and trial. another class taught its necessity, though in it woman was under complete subordination to man. these views can be traced to the early fathers; through clerical contempt of marriage, the conditions of celibacy and virginity were regarded as those of highest virtue. jerome respected marriage as chiefly valuable in that it gave virgins to the church, while augustine, although he admitted the possibility of salvation to the married, yet spoke of a mother and daughter in heaven, the mother shining as a dim star, the daughter as one of the first magnitude. in the "apostolic constitutions," held by the episcopal church as regulations established by the apostles themselves, and which are believed by many to be among the earliest christian records, there are elaborate directions for the places of all who attend church, the unmarried being most honored. the virgins and widows and elder women stood, or sat first of all. the emperor honorius banished jovinius for asserting the possibility of a man being saved who lived with his wife, even though he obeyed all the ordinances of the church and lived a good life. st. chrysostom, whose prayer is repeated at every sunday morning service of the episcopal church, described woman as "a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic peril, a deadly fascination, and a painted ill." the doctrine of priestly celibacy which was early taught, though not thoroughly enforced until the eleventh century, and the general tenor of the church against marriage, together with its teaching woman's greater sinfulness, were the great causes of undermining the morals of the christian world for fifteen hundred years. with these doctrines was also taught the duty of woman to sacrifice herself in every way to man. the loss of chastity in a woman was held as a light sin in comparison to the degradation that marriage would bring upon the priesthood, and young girls ruined by some candidate or priest, considered themselves as doing god service by refusing a marriage that would cause the expulsion of their lovers from this order. with woman's so-called divine self-sacrifice, heloise chose to remain abelard's mistress rather than destroy his prospects of advancement in the church.[ ] to the more strict enforcement of priestly celibacy, the barons were permitted to make slaves of the wives and children of married priests. while by common law children were held as following the condition of their fathers, under church legislation they were held to follow the condition of their mothers. serf mothers have thus borne serf children to free-born fathers, and slave mothers have borne slave children to their masters; while unmarried mothers still bear bastard children to unknown fathers, the church thus throwing the taint of illegitimacy upon the innocent. the relations of man and woman to each other, the sinfulness of marriage, and the license of illicit relations employed most of the thought of the church.[ ] the duty of woman to obey, not only her husband, but all men by virtue of their sex, was sedulously inculcated. she was trained to hold her own desires and even her own thoughts in complete abeyance to those of man; father, husband, brother, son, priest, alike held themselves as her rightful masters, and every holy principle of her nature was subverted in this most degrading assumption. a great many important effects followed the full establishment of priestly celibacy. the doctrine of woman's inherent wickedness took new strength; a formal prohibition of the scriptures to the laity was promulgated from toulouse in the twelfth century; the canon law gained control of the civil law; the absolute sinfulness of divorce, which had been maintained in councils, yet allowed by the civil law, was established; the inquisition arose; the persecution of woman for witchcraft took on a new phase, and a tendency to suicide was developed. the wives of priests rendered homeless, and with their children suddenly ranked among the vilest of the earth, were powerless and despairing, and not a few of them shortened their agony by death at their own hands. for all these crimes the church was directly responsible. priestly celibacy did not cause priestly purity of life,[ ] but looking upon themselves as especially sanctified and set apart by virtue of that celibacy, priests made their holy office the cover of the most degrading sensuality.[ ] methods were taken to debauch the minds of women as well as their bodies. as late as the seventeenth century it was taught that a priest could commit no sin. this was an old doctrine, but received new strength from the illumines. it was said that "the devout, having offered up and annihilated their own selves, exist no longer but in god. thenceforth they can do no wrong. the better part of them is so divine that it no longer knows what the other is doing." the doctrine of some protestant sects, "once in grace, always in grace," is of the same character. the very incarnation was used as a means of weakening woman's virtue. an enforcement of the duty of an utter surrender of the soul and the will was taught by the example of the virgin, "who obeyed the angel gabriel and conceived, without risk of evil, for impurity could not come of a spirit."[ ] another lesson, of which the present century has some glimpse, was "that sin could be killed by sin, as the better way of becoming innocent again." the result of this doctrine was seen in the mistresses of the priests, known as "the hallowed ones." under such religious teaching as to woman, naught could be expected but that the laity would closely imitate the priesthood. although church and state may not be legally united, it is impossible for any religious opinion to become widely prevalent without its influencing legislation. among the anglo-saxons, the priesthood possessed great influence; but after the norman conquest, ecclesiasticism gained greater control in england. previous to this, a man was compelled by law to leave his wife one-third of his property, and could leave her as much, more as he pleased. under ecclesiastical law he was not permitted to will her more than one-third, and could leave her as much less as he pleased. glanville laid it down as a law of the kingdom that no one was compelled to leave another person any portion of his property, and that the part usually devised to wives was left them at the dictate of affection and not of law. women were not permitted to testify in court unless on some question especially concerning themselves. it is but twenty years since this law was annulled in scotland, and but three years since, that by the influence of signor morelli,[ ] the parliament of italy repealed the old restriction upon woman's testimony. sisters were not allowed to inherit with brothers, the property, according to old ecclesiastical language, going "to the worthiest of blood." blackstone acknowledges that this distinction between brothers and sisters reflects shame upon england, and was no part of the old roman law, where the children of a family inherited equally without distinction of sex. it is but two years since the old law of inheritance of sons alone was repealed in one of the swiss cantons. even in this enlightened age its repeal met much opposition, men piteously complaining that they would be ruined by this act of justice done their sisters. the minds of people having been corrupted through centuries by church doctrines regarding woman, it was an easy step for the state to aid in her degradation. the system of feudalism rising from the theory of warfare as the normal condition of man, still further oppressed woman by bringing into power a class of men accustomed to deeds of violence, and finding their chief pleasure in the sufferings of others. to be a woman, appealed to no instinct of tenderness in this class. to be a woman was not to be protected even, unless she held power in her own right, or was acting in place of some feudal lord. the whole body of villeins and serfs were under absolute dominion of the feudal lords. they were held as possessing no rights of their own: the priest had control of their souls, the lord of their bodies. but it was not upon the male serfs that the greatest oppression fell. although the tillage of the soil, the care of swine and cattle was theirs, the masters claiming the half or more of everything even to one-half the wool shorn from the flock,[ ] and all exactions upon them were great while their sense of security was slight, it was upon their wives and daughters that the greatest outrages were inflicted. it was a pastime of the castle retainers to fall upon peaceful villages to the consternation of its women, who were struck, tortured, were great, while their sense of security was slight, it was upon and made the sport of the ribald soldiery, "serfs of the body," they had no protection. the vilest outrages were perpetrated by the feudal lords under the name of rights. women were taught by church and state alike, that the feudal lord or seigneur had a right to them, not only as against themselves, but as against any claim of husband or father. the law known as _marchetta_, or marquette, compelled newly-married women to a most dishonorable servitude. they were regarded as the rightful prey of the feudal lord from one to three days after their marriage, and from this custom, the oldest son of the serf was held as the son of the lord, "as perchance it was he who begat him." from this nefarious degradation of woman, the custom of borough-english arose, in which the youngest son became the heir. the original signification of the word borough being to make secure, the peasant through borough-english made secure the right of his own son to what inheritance he might leave, thus cutting off the claim of the possible son of his hated lord. france, germany, prussia, england, scotland, and all christian countries where feudalism existed, held to the enforcement of marquette. the lord deemed this right as fully his as he did the claim to half the crops of the land, or to the half of the wool sheared from the sheep. more than one reign of terror arose in france from the enforcement of this law, and the uprisings of the peasantry over europe during the twelfth century, and the fierce jacquerie, or peasant war, of the fourteenth century in france owed their origin, among other causes, to the enforcement of these claims by the lords upon the newly-married wife. the edicts of marly securing the seigneural tenure in lower canada, transplanted that claim to america when canada was under the control of france. to persons not conversant with the history of feudalism, and of the church for the first fifteen hundred years of its existence, it will seem impossible that such foulness could ever have been part of christian civilization. that the crimes they have been trained to consider the worst forms of heathendom could have existed in christian europe, upheld by both church and state for more than a thousand five hundred years, will strike most people with incredulity. such, however, is the truth; we can but admit well-attested facts of history how severe a blow soever they strike our preconceived beliefs. marquette was claimed by the lords spiritual[ ] as well as by the lords temporal. the church, indeed, was the bulwark of this base feudal claim. with the power of penance and excommunication in its grasp, this feudal demand could neither have originated nor been sustained unless sanctioned by the church. in scotland, margaret, wife of malcolm conmore, generally known, from her goodness, as st. margaret,[ ] exerted her royal influence in , against this degradation of her sex, but despite the royal prohibition and the substitution of the payment of a merk in money instead, the custom had such a foothold and appealed so strongly to man's licentious appetite it still continued, remaining in existence nearly seven hundred years after the royal edict against its practice. these customs of feudalism were the customs of christianity during many centuries.[ ] these infamous outrages upon woman were enforced under christian law by both church and state.[ ] the degradation of the husband at this infringement of the lord spiritual and temporal upon his marital right, has been pictured by many writers, but history has been quite silent upon the despair and shame of the wife. no hope appeared for woman anywhere. the church, which should have been the great conserver of morals, dragged her to the lowest depths, through the vileness of its priestly customs. the state, which should have defended her civil rights, followed the example of the church in crushing her to the earth. god himself seemed to have forsaken woman. freedom for the peasants was found alone at night. known as the birds of the night, foxes and birds of prey, it was only at these night assemblages they enjoyed the least happiness or security. here, with wives and daughters, they met together to talk, of their gross outrages. out of these foul wrongs grew the sacrifice of the "black mass," with woman as officiating priestess, in which the rites of the church were travestied in solemn mockery, and defiance cast at that heaven which seemed to permit the priest and lord alike to trample upon all the sacred rights of womanhood in the names of religion and law. during this mocking service a true sacrifice of wheat was offered to the spirit of the earth who made wheat to grow, and loosened birds bore aloft to the god of freedom the sighs and prayers of the serfs asking that their descendants might be free. we can not do otherwise than regard this sacrifice as the most acceptable offering made in that day of moral degradation, a sacrifice and prayer more holy than all the ceremonials of the church. this service, where woman, by virtue of her greater despair, acted both as altar and priest, opened by the following address and prayer: "i will come before thine altar, but save me, o lord, from the faithless and violent man!" (from the priest and the baron).[ ] from these assemblages, known as "sabbat," or "the sabbath," from the old pagan midsummer-day sacrifice to "bacchus sabiesa," rose the belief in the "witches' sabbath," which for several hundred years formed a new source of accusation against women, and sent tens of thousands of them to the most horrible death. not until canon or church law had become quite engrafted upon the civil law, did the full persecutions for witchcraft arise. a witch was held to be a woman who had deliberately sold her soul to the evil one, who delighted in injuring others, and who chose the sabbath day for the enactment of her impious rites, and who was especially connected with black animals; the black cat being held as her familiar in many countries. in looking at the history of witchcraft, we see three striking points for consideration: _first._ that women were chiefly accused, a wizard being seldom mentioned. _second._ that man, believing in woman's inherent wickedness, and understanding neither the mental nor the physical peculiarities of her being, ascribed all her idiosyncrasies to witchcraft. _third._ that the clergy inculcated the idea that woman was in league with the devil, and that strong intellect, remarkable beauty, or unusual sickness, were in themselves a proof of that league. catholic and protestant countries alike agreed in holding woman as the chief accessory of the devil. luther said, "i would have no compassion for a witch; i would burn them all." as late as , john wesley declared the giving up of witchcraft to be in effect giving up the bible. james i., on his accession to the throne, ordered the learned work of reginald scot against witchcraft, to be burned in compliance with the act of parliament of , which ratified a belief in witchcraft over the three kingdoms. under henry viii., from whose reign the protestant reformation in england dates, an act of parliament made witchcraft felony; this act was again confirmed under elizabeth. to doubt witchcraft was as heretical under protestantism as under catholicism. even the widely extolled pilgrim fathers brought this belief with them when they stepped ashore at plymouth rock. with the "ducking-stool" and the "scarlet letter" of shame for woman, while her companion in sin went free, they also brought with them a belief in witches. richard baxter, the "greatest of the puritans," condemned those who disbelieved in witchcraft as "wicked sadducees," his work against it adding intensity to the persecution. cotton mather was active in fomenting a belief in this doctrine. so convinced were those in power of the tendency of woman to diabolism that the learned sir matthew hale condemned two women without even summing up the evidence. old women, for no other reason than that they were old, were held as most susceptible to the assaults of the devil, and most especially endowed with supernatural powers for evil, to doubt which was equivalent to doubting the bible. we see a reason for this hatred of old women, in the fact that woman was chiefly viewed from a sensual stand-point, and when by reason of age or debility, she no longer attracted the physical admiration of man, he looked upon her as of no farther use to the world, and as possessing no right to life. at one period it was very unusual for an old woman in the north of europe to die peaceably in her bed. the persecution against them raged with special virulence in scotland, where upon the act of the british parliament in --, abolishing the burning and hanging of witches, the assembly of the calvinistic church of scotland "confessed" this act of parliament "as a great national sin." looked upon as a sin rather than a crime, the church sought its control, and when coming under its power, witchcraft was punished with much greater severity than when falling under lay tribunals. it proved a source of great emolument to the church, which was even accused of fostering it for purposes of gain. a system of "witch finders" or "witch persecutors" arose. cardan, a famous italian physician, said of them: "in order to obtain forfeit property, the same persons acted as accusers and judges, and invented a thousand stories as proof." witchcraft was as a sin almost confined to woman; a wizard was rare, one writer saying: to every witches, we find but one wizard. in the time of louis xiii. this proportion was greatly increased; "to one wizard, , witches," another person declared there were , witches in france alone. sprenger, the great inquisitor, author of "the witch hammer,"[ ] through whose persecutions many countries were flooded with victims, said, "heresy of witches, not of wizards, must we call it, for these latter are of very small account." no class or condition escaped sprenger; we read of witches of fifteen years, and two "infernally beautiful"[ ] of seventeen years. the parliament of toulouse burned witches at one time. four hundred women at one hour on the public square, dying the horrid death of fire, for a crime which never existed save in the imagination of those persecutors, and which grew in their imagination from a false belief in woman's extraordinary wickedness, based upon a false theory as to original sin. not a christian country but was full of the horrors of witch persecution and violent death. remy, judge of nancy, acknowledged to having himself burnt in sixteen years. many women were driven to suicide in fear of the torture in store for them. in sixteen of those accused by remy, destroyed themselves rather than fall into his terrible hands. six hundred were burnt in one small bishopric in one year; during the same period in another. seven thousand lost their lives at treves; , in the province of como in italy in a single year; were executed at geneva in a single month. under the reign of francis i. more than , witches are said to have been put to death, and for hundreds of years this superstition controlled the church. in scotland the most atrocious tortures were invented, and women died "shrieking to heaven for that mercy denied them by christian men." one writer casually mentions seeing nine burning in a single day's journey. when for "witches" we read "women," we shall gain a more direct idea of the cruelties inflicted by the church upon woman. friends were encouraged to cast accusations upon friends, and rewards were offered for conviction. from the pulpit people were exhorted to bring the witch to justice. husbands who had ceased to care for their wives, or in any way found them a burden, or who for any reason wished to dissolve the marriage tie, now found an easy method. they had but to accuse them of witchcraft, and the marriage was dissolved by the death of the wife at the stake. mention is made of wives dragged by their husbands before the arch-inquisitor, sprenger, by ropes around their necks. in protestant, as in catholic countries, the person accused was virtually dead. she was excommunicated from humanity; designated and denounced as one whom all must shun, with whom none must buy or sell, to whom no one must give food or lodging or speech or shelter; life was not worth the living. besides those committing suicide, others brought to trial, tired of life amid so many horrors, falsely accused themselves, preferring a death by the torture of fire to a life of endless isolation and persecution. an english woman on her way to the stake, with a greatness of soul all must admire, freed her judges from responsibility by saying to the people, "do not blame my judges, i wished to put an end to my own self. my parents kept aloof from me; my husband had denied me. i could not live on without disgrace. i longed for death, and so i told a lie." of sir george mackenzie, the eminent scotch advocate, it was said: he went to examine some women who had confessed,[ ] and one of them told him "under secrecie" that she had not confessed because she was guilty, but being a poor wretch who wrought for her meat, and being defined for a witch, she knew she would starve, for no person thereafter would give her either meat or lodging, and that all men would beat her and hound dogs at her, and therefore she desired to be out of the world, whereupon she wept most bitterly, and upon her knees called upon god to witness what she said. the death these poor women chose to suffer rather than accept a chance of life with the name of witch clinging to them,[ ] was one of the most painful of which we can conceive,[ ] although in the diversity of torture inflicted upon "the witch," it is scarcely possible to say which was the least agonizing. not only was the persecution for witchcraft brought to new england by the puritans, but it has been considered and treated as a capital offense by the laws of both pennsylvania and new york. trials took place in both colonies not long before the salem tragedy; the peaceful quaker, william penn, presiding upon the bench at the time of the trial of two swedish women accused of witchcraft. the grand jury acting under instruction given in a charge delivered by him, found bills against them, and his skirts were only saved from the guilt of their blood by some technical irregularity in the indictment. marriage with devils was long one of the most ordinary accusations in witch trials. the knowledge of witches was admitted, as is shown in the widely extended belief of their ability to work miracles. a large part of the women termed witches were in reality the profoundest thinkers, the most advanced scientists of those ages. for many hundred years the knowledge of medicine, and its practice among the poorer classes was almost entirely in their hands, and many discoveries in this science are due to them; but an acquaintance with herbs soothing to pain, or healing in their qualities, was then looked upon as having been acquired through diabolical agency. even those persons cured through the instrumentality of some woman were ready when the hour came to assert their belief in her indebtedness to the devil for that knowledge. not only were the common people themselves ignorant of all science, but their brains were filled with superstitious fears, and the belief that knowledge had been first introduced to the world through woman's obedience to the devil. thus the persecution which for ages raged against witches, was in reality an attack upon science at the hands of the church. the entire subordination of the common law to ecclesiasticism, dates in england to the reign of stephen, who ascended the throne in . its new growth of power must be ascribed to avarice, as it then began to take cognizance of crimes, establishing an equivalent in money for every species of wrong-doing. the church not only remitted penalties for crimes already perpetrated, but sold indulgences for the commission of new ones. its touch upon property soon extended to all the relations of life. marriages within the seventh degree were forbidden by the church as incestuous, but those who could buy indulgence were enabled to get a dispensation. no crime so great that it could not be condoned for money. canon law gained its greatest power in the family relation in its control over wills, the guardianship of orphans, marriage and divorce. under ecclesiastical law, marriage was held as a sacrament, was performed at the church door, the wife being required to give up her name, her person, her property, her own sacred individuality, and to promise obedience to her husband in all things. certain hours of the day were even set aside as canonical after which no marriage could be celebrated.[ ] wherever it became the basis of legislation, the laws of succession and inheritance, and those in regard to children, constantly sacrificed the interests of wives and daughters to those of husbands and sons. ecclesiastical law ultimately secured such a hold upon family property and became so grasping in its demands, that the civil law interfered, not, however, in the interests of wives and children, but in the interests of creditors. canon law had its largest growth through the pious fictions of woman's created inferiority. to the credit of humanity it must be said that the laity did not readily yield to priestly power, but made many efforts to wrest their temporal concerns from ecclesiastical control. but in the general paucity of education, together with the abnegation of the will, sedulously taught by the church, which brought all its dread power to bear in threats of excommunication and future eternal torment, the rights of the people were gradually lost. the control of the priesthood over all things of a temporal, as well as of a spiritual nature, tended to make them a distinct body from the laity, and rights were divided into those pertaining to persons and things, the rights of persons belonging to the priesthood alone; but inasmuch as every man, whatever his condition, could become a priest, and no woman, however learned or pious or high in station, could, the whole tendency of ecclesiastical law was to separate man and woman into a holy or divine sex, and an unholy or impious sex, creating an antagonism between those whose interests are by nature the same. thus canon law, bearing upon the business of ordinary life between man and man, fell with its greatest weight upon woman; it not only corrupted the common law in england, but perverted the civil law of other countries. the denial under common law of the right of woman to make a contract, grew out of the denial of her right of ownership. not possessing control over her own property or her future actions, she was held as legally unable to make a binding contract. property is a delicate test of the condition of a nation. it is a singular fact of history that the rights of property have everywhere been recognized before the rights of persons, and wherever the rights of any class to property are attacked, it is a most subtle and dangerous assault upon personal rights. the chief restrictive element of slavery was the denial to the slave of the proceeds of his own labor. as soon as a slave was allowed to hire his time, the door of freedom began to open to him. the enslavement of woman has been much increased from the denial of the rights of property to her, not merely to the fruits of her own labor, but to the right of inheritance. the great school of german jurists[ ] teach that ownership increases both physical and moral capacity, and that as owner, actual or possible, man is a more capable and worthy being than he would otherwise be. inasmuch as under canon law woman was debarred from giving testimony in courts of law, sisters were prohibited from taking an inheritance with brothers, and wives were deprived of property rights, it is entirely justifiable to say ecclesiastical law injured civilization by its destruction of the property rights of women.[ ] the worst features of canon law, as blackstone frankly admits, are those touching upon the rights of woman. these features have been made permanent to this day by the power the church gained over common law,[ ] between the tenth and sixteenth centuries, since which period the complete inferiority and subordination of the female sex has been as fully maintained by the state as by the church. the influence of canon law upon the criminal codes of england and america has but recently attracted the attention of legal minds. wharton, whose "criminal law" has for years been a standard work, did not examine their relation until his seventh edition, in which he gave a copious array of authors, english, german, and latin, from whom he deduced proof that the criminal codes of these two countries are pre-eminently based upon ecclesiastical law. canon law gave to the husband the power of compelling the wife's return if, for any cause, she left him. she was then at once in the position of an outlaw, branded as a run-away who had left her master's service, a wife who had left "bed and board" without consent, and whom all persons were forbidden "to harbor" or shelter "under penalty of the law." the absconding wife was in the position of an excommunicate from the catholic church, or of a woman condemned as a witch. any person befriending her was held accessory to the wife's theft of herself from her husband, and rendered liable to fine and other punishment for having helped to rob the husband (master) of his wife (slave). the present formula of advertising a wife, which so frequently disgraces the press, is due to this belief in wife-ownership. whereon my wife ... has left my bed and board without just cause or provocation, i hereby forbid all persons from harboring or trusting her on my account. by old english law, in case the wife was in danger of perishing in a storm, it was allowable "to harbor" and shelter her. it is less than thirty years since the dockets of a court in new york city, the great metropolis of our nation, were sullied by the suit of a husband against parties who had received, "harbored" and sheltered his wife after she left him, the husband recovering $ , damages. although england was christianized in the fourth century, it was not until the tenth that a daughter had a right to reject the husband selected for her by her father;[ ] and it was not until this same century that the christian wife of a christian husband acquired the right of eating at table with him. for many hundred years the law entered families, binding out to servile labor all unmarried women between the ages of eleven and forty. for more than a thousand years women in england were legislated for as slaves. they were imprisoned for crimes that, if committed by a man, were punished by simple branding in the hand; and other crimes which he could atone for by a fine, were punished in her case by burning alive. down to the end of the eighteenth century the punishment of a wife who had murdered her husband was burning[ ] alive; while if the husband murdered the wife, his was hanging, "the same as if he had murdered any stranger." her crime was petit treason, and her punishment was the same as that of the slave who had murdered her master. for woman there existed no "benefit of clergy," which in a man who could read, greatly lessened his punishment; this ability to read enabling him to perform certain priestly functions and securing him immunity in crime. the church having first made woman ineligible to the priesthood, punished her on account of the restrictions of its own making. we who talk of the burning of wives upon the funeral pyres of husbands in india, may well turn our eyes to the records of christian countries. where marriage is wholly or partially under ecclesiastical law, woman's degradation surely follows; but in catholic and protestant countries a more decent veil has been thrown over this sacrifice of woman than under some forms of the greek church, where the wife is delivered to the husband under this formula: "here, wolf, take thy lamb!" and the bridegroom is presented with a whip, giving his bride a few blows as part of the ceremony, and bidding her draw off his boots as a symbol of her subjugation to him. with such an entrance ceremony, it may well be surmised that the marriage relation permits of the most revolting tyranny. in russia, until recently, the wife who killed her husband while he was chastising her, was buried alive, her head only being left above ground. many lingered for days before the mercy of death reached them. ivan panim, a russian exile, now a student in harvard college, made the following statement in a speech at the massachusetts woman suffrage convention, held in february, : a short time ago the wife of a well-to-do peasant came to a justice of one of the district courts in russia and demanded protection from the cruelty of her husband. she proved conclusively by the aid of competent witnesses, that he had bound her naked to a stake during the cold weather, on the street, and asked the passers-by to strike her; and whenever they refused, he struck her himself. he fastened her, moreover, to the ground, put heavy stones and weights on her and broke one of her arms. the court declared the husband "not guilty." "it cannot afford," it said, "to teach woman to disobey the commands of her husband." this is by no means an extreme or isolated case. few, indeed, become known to the public through the courts or through the press.[ ] canon law made its greatest encroachments at the period that chivalry was at its height; the outward show of respect and honor to woman keeping pace in its false pretense with the destruction of her legal rights. woman's moral degradation was at this time so great that a community of women was even proposed, and was sustained by jean de meung, the "poet of chivalry," in his roman de la rose. christine of pisa, the first strictly literary woman of western europe, took up her pen in defense of her sex against the general libidinous spirit of the age, writing in opposition to meung. under feudalism, under celibacy, under chivalry, under the reformation, under the principles of new sects of the nineteenth century--the perfectionists and mormons alike--we find this one idea of woman's inferiority, and her creation as a subject of man's passions openly or covertly promulgated. the salic law not only denied to women the right to reign, but to the inheritance of houses and lands. one of its famous articles was: "salic land shall not fall to women; the inheritance shall devolve exclusively on the males." the fact of sex not only prohibited woman's inheritance of thrones and of lands, but there were forms in this law by which a man might "separate himself from his family, getting free from all obligations of relationship and entering upon an entire independence." history does not tell us to what depths of degradation this disseverance of all family ties reduced the women of his household, who could neither inherit house or land. the formation of the salic code is still buried in the mists of antiquity; it is, however, variously regarded as having originated in the fourth and in the seventh century, many laws of its code being, like english common law, unwritten, and others showing "double origin." but our interest does not so greatly lie in its origin, as in the fact that after the conversion of the franks to christianity the law was revised, and all parts deemed inconsistent with this religion were revoked. the restrictions upon woman were retained. woman's wrongs under the reformation, we discover by glancing at different periods. the cromwellian era exhibited an increase of piety. puritanism here had its birth, but brought no element of toleration to woman. lydia maria child, in her "history of woman," says: under the commonwealth society assumed a new and stern aspect. women were in disgrace; it was everywhere reiterated from the pulpit that woman caused man's expulsion from paradise, and ought to be shunned by christians as one of the greatest temptations of satan. "man," said they, "is conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity; it was his complacency to woman that caused his first debasement; let him not, therefore, glory in his shame; let him not worship the fountain of his corruption." learning and accomplishments were alike discouraged; and women confined to a knowledge of cooking, family medicines, and the unintelligible theological discussions of the day. a writer about this period, said: "she that knoweth how to compound a pudding is more desirable than she who skillfully compoundeth a poem." at the time of the reformation, luther at first continued celibate, but thinking "to vex the pope," he suddenly, at the age of forty-two, gave his influence against celibacy by marriage with catherine von bora, a former nun. but although thus becoming an example of priestly marriage under the new order of things, luther's whole course shows that he did not believe in woman's equality with man. he took with him the old theory of her subordination. it was his maxim that "no gown or garment worse becomes a woman than that she will be wise." although opposing monastic life, the home under the reformation was governed by many of its rules for woman. _first_. she was to be under obedience to the masculine head of the household. _second_. she was to be constantly employed for his benefit. _third_. her society was strictly chosen for her by her master and head. _fourth_. this masculine family head was a general father confessor, to whom she was held responsible in thought and deed. _fifth_. neither genius nor talent could free woman from such control, without consent. luther, though free from the lasciviousness of the old priesthood, was not monogamic in principle. when applied to by the german elector, philip,[ ] landgrave of hesse-cassel, for permission to marry a second wife, while his first, margaret of savoy, was still living, luther called a synod of six of the principal reformers, who in joint consultation decided that as the bible nowhere condemned polygamy, and as it had been invariably practiced by the highest dignitaries of the church, the required permission should be granted. history does not tell us that the wife was consulted in the matter. she was held as in general subordination to the powers that be, as well as in special subordination to her husband; but more degrading than all else is the fact that the doctrine of unchastity for man was brought into the reformation, as not inconsistent with the principles of the gospel.[ ] many protestant divines have written in favor of polygamy. john lyser, a lutheran minister, living in the latter part of the seventeenth century, defended it strongly in a work entitled "polygamia triumphatrix." a former general of the capuchin order, converted to the protestant faith, published, in the sixteenth century, a book of "dialogues in favor of polygamy." rev. mr. madan, a protestant divine, in a treatise called "thalypthora," maintained that paul's injunctions that bishops should be the husbands of one wife, signified that laymen were permitted to marry more than one. the scholarly william ellery channing could find no prohibition of polygamy in the new testament. in his "remarks on the character and writings of john milton," he says: "we believe it to be an indisputable fact, that although christianity was first preached in asia, which had been from the earliest days the seat of polygamy, the apostles never denounced it as a crime, and never required their converts to put away all wives but one. no express prohibition of polygamy is found in the new testament." the legitimate result of such views is seen in mormonism, the latest protestant sect, which claims its authority from the bible as well as from the book of mormon. we give the remarks recently made in defence of polygamy by bishop lunt of the mormon church, to a reporter of _the san francisco chronicle_: god revealed to joseph smith the polygamous system. it is quite true that his widow declared that no such revelation was ever made, but that was because she had lost the spirit. god commanded the human race to multiply and replenish the earth. abraham had two wives, and the almighty honored the second one by a direct communication, jacob had leah and zilpah. david had a plurality of wives, and was a man after god's own heart. god gave him saul's wives, and only condemned his adulteries. moses, gideon, and joshua had each a plurality of wives. solomon had wives and concubines by hundreds, though we do not believe in the concubine system. we leave that to the gentiles. virtue and chastity wither beneath the monogamic institution, which was borrowed from the pagan nations by the early christians. it was prophesied that in the latter days seven women would lay hold of one man and demand to bear his name, that they might not be held in dishonor. the protestants and catholics assail us with very poor grace when it is remembered that the first pillars of the religion they claim to profess were men like the saints of utah--polygamists. the fact can not be denied. polygamy is virtually encouraged and taught by example by the old testament. it may appear shocking and blasphemous to gentiles for us to say so, but we hold that jesus christ himself was a polygamist. he was surrounded by women constantly, as the scriptures attest, and those women were his polygamous wives. the vast disparity between the sexes in all settled communities is another argument in favor of polygamy, to say nothing of the disinclination among young male gentiles to marrying. the monogamic system condemns millions of women to celibacy. a large proportion of them stray from the path of right, and these unfortunates induce millions of men to forego marriage. as i have said, virtue and chastity wither under the monogamic system. there are no illegitimate children in utah; there are no libertines; there are no brothels, excepting where the presence of gentiles creates the demand for them. even then our people do what they can to root out such places. there is a positive advantage in having more than one wife. it is impossible to find a gentile home, where comforts and plenty prevail, in which there is only one woman. no one woman can manage a household. she must have assistance. hence we claim that when a man marries a second wife, he actually benefits the first one, and contributes to her ease, and relieves her of a large burden of care. the duties of the household are divided between the two women, and everything moves on harmoniously and peacefully. the whole thing is a matter of education. a girl reared under the monogamic system may look with abhorrence on ours; our young women do not do so. they expect, when they marry a man, that he will some day take another wife, and they consider it quite natural that he should do so. in wealthy gentile communities the concubine system largely takes the place of the polygamous system. any man of intelligence, observation, and travel, knows that such is the case. the fact is ignored by general consent, and little is said about it, and nothing is written about it. it is not regarded as a proper subject of conversation or of publication. how much better to give lonely women a home while they are uncontaminated, and honor them with your name, and perpetually provide for them, and before the world recognize your own offspring! the polygamous system is the only natural one, and the time rapidly approaches when it will be the most conspicuous and beneficent of american institutions. it will be the grand characteristic feature of american society. our women are contented with it--more, they are the most ardent defenders of it to be found in utah. if the question were put to a vote to-morrow, nine-tenths of the women of utah would vote to perpetuate polygamy. the mormons claim that polygamy is countenanced by the new testament as well as by the old. they interpret paul's teaching in regard to bishops, while commanding them to marry one wife, as also not prohibiting them from marrying more than one; their interpretation of this passage slightly varying from that of rev. mr. madan. rev. c. p. lyford, of the methodist church, long a resident of utah, in a letter of february , , to _the northern christian advocate_, a methodist paper published in syracuse, says: we read of the stories of india and china, and the wonder of their existence is lost in their antiquity. mohammedanism, with its , years of existence, amazes us that it should have obtained such a footing. but here, in our day, surrounded with all the advantages of the nineteenth century, that a people should have come up from nothing; that a man of low family, himself a worthless character, should have come up with a lie in his mouth and a stolen manuscript in his hand, and be found dictating terms to a strong government, and become an absolute despot in a republic, is the most amazing fact of history. it took the methodist church forty years to get a membership of , . mormonism in forty-four years counted , . it seems incredible, nevertheless it is a fact. in this brief space of time it has also been able to nullify our laws, oppose our institutions, openly perpetrate crimes, be represented in congress, boast of the helplessness of the nation to prevent these things, and give the church supremacy over the state and the people. bills introduced in congress adequate to their overthrow have been year after year allowed to fall to the ground without action upon them. our public men can only pronounce against the crime of polygamy; the press can see only polygamy in utah; the public mind is impressed with only the heinousness of polygamy. back of polygamy is the tree that produces it and many kindred evils more dear to the mormon rulers. they do not care for all the sentiment or law against this one fruit of the tree, if the tree itself is left to stand. the tree--the prolific cause of so many and so great evils in utah, the greatest curse of the territory, the strength of mormonism, and its impregnable wall of defence against christianity and civilization, is that arbitrary, despotic, and absolute hierarchy known as the mormon priesthood. mr. lyford has partial insight into the truth when he says "back of polygamy is the tree that produces it and many kindred evils"; but in defining that tree as the hierarchy--the priesthood--he has not reached the entire truth. he does not touch the ground which supports the tree. polygamy is but one development of the doctrine of woman's created inferiority, the constant tendency of which is to make her a mere slave, under every form of religion extant, and of which the complex marriage of the oneida community was but another logical result. when woman interprets the bible for herself, it will be in the interest of a higher morality, a purer home. monogamy is woman's doctrine, as polygamy is man's. backofen, the swiss jurist, says that the regulation of marriage by which, in primitive times, it became possible for a woman to belong only to one man, came about by a religious reformation, wherein the women, in armed conflict, obtained a victory over men. in christian countries to-day, the restrictions on woman in the married relation are much greater than upon man.[ ] adultery, which is polygamy outside of the married relation, is everywhere held as more venial in man than in woman. in england, while the husband can easily obtain a divorce from his wife, upon the ground of adultery, it is almost impossible for the wife to obtain a divorce upon the same ground. nothing short of the husband's bringing another woman into the house, to sustain wifely relations to him, at all justifies her in proceeding for a separation; and even then, the husband retains control of the wife's property. a trial[ ] in england is scarcely ended in which a husband willed his wife's property to his mistress and illegitimate children. the courts not only decided in his favor, but to this legal robbery of the wife, added the insult of telling her that a part of her own money was enough for her, and that she ought to be willing that her husband's mistress and illegitimate children should share it with her. milton's "paradise lost" is responsible for many existing views in regard to woman. after the reformation, as women began to waken to literature, came milton, a patriot of patriots--as patriots were held in those days, a man who talked of liberty for men--but who held man to stand in god's place toward woman. although it has been affirmed that in his blindness milton dictated his great epic to his daughters, and a scotch artist has painted the scene (a picture recently purchased by the lenox library), yet this is one of the myths men call history, and amuse themselves in believing. this tale of blind milton dictating "paradise lost" to his daughters, is a trick[ ] designed to play upon our sympathies. old dr. johnson said of milton, that he would not allow his daughters[ ] even to learn to write. between milton and his wives, we know there was tyranny upon one side and hatred on the other. he could not gain the love of either wife or daughter, and yet he is the man who did so much to popularize the idea of woman's subordination to man. "he, for god; she, for god in him"--as taught in the famous line: "god thy law, thou mine." that the clerical teaching of woman's subordination to man was not alone a doctrine of the dark ages, is proven by the most abundant testimony of to-day. the famous see trial of , which shook not only the presbytery of newark, but the whole synod of new jersey, and finally, the general presbyterian assembly of the united states, was based upon the doctrine of the divinely appointed subordination of woman to man, and arose simply because dr. see admitted two ladies[ ] to his pulpit to speak upon temperance; which act, rev. dr. craven, the prosecutor, declared to have been "an indecency in the sight of jehovah." he expressed the general clerical and church view, when he said: i believe the subject involves the honor of my god. i believe the subject involves the headship and crown of jesus. woman was made for man and became first in the transgression. my argument is that subordination is natural, the subordination of sex. dr. see has admitted marital subordination, but this is not enough; there exists a created subordination; a divinely arranged and appointed subordination of woman as woman, to man as man. woman was made for man and became first in the transgression. the proper condition of the adult female is marriage; the general rule for ladies is marriage. women without children, it might be said, could preach, but they are under the general rule of subordination. it is not allowed women to speak in the church. man's place is on the platform. it is positively base for a woman to speak in the pulpit; it is base in the sight of jehovah. the whole question is one of subordination. thus, before a large audience composed mainly of women, dr. craven stood, and with denunciatory manner, frequently bringing his fists or his bible emphatically down, devoted a four hours' speech to proving that the bible taught woman's subordination; one of his statements being that "in every country, under every clime, from the peasant woman of naples with a handkerchief over her hair, to the women before him with bonnets, every one wore something upon her head in token of her subordination." dr. craven's position was fully sustained by many brother clergymen, some of whom enthusiastically shouted "amen!" dr. ballantine considered the subject too simple for an argument. dr. few smith, although he admired miss smiley, more than almost any other orator he had ever listened to, did not want her or any other woman to permanently occupy the presbyterian pulpit. dr. wilson rejoiced to see so many women crowding in the lecture-room; but brother see should not take all the glory to himself. he was glad to see the women take so deep an interest in the subject under discussion; but as he looked at them he asked himself, "what will all the little children do, while these women are away from home?"[ ] the christianity of to-day thus continues to teach the existence of a superior and an inferior sex within the church, possessing different rights, and held accountable to a different code of morals, when even woman's dress is held as typical of her inferiority. not alone did dr. craven express this idea, but the right rev. dr. coxe refused the sacrament to the lady patients at the clifton springs sanitarium in , whose heads were uncovered. this same right rev. dr. coxe, in a speech at his installation as first president of ingham seminary for young ladies, declared "the laws of god to be plainly salic." rev. knox-little, a high-church clergyman of england, spent a few weeks in the united states during the fall of . in the course of his stay in philadelphia he preached a "sermon to women," in the large church of st. clements. the following extract from the report in the times of that city shows its teachings: "god made himself to be born of a woman to sanctify the virtue of endurance; loving submission is an attribute of woman; men are logical, but women lacking this quality, have an intricacy of thought. there are those who think women can be taught logic; this is a mistake. they can never by any power of education arrive at the same mental status as that enjoyed by men, but they have a quickness of apprehension, which is usually called leaping at conclusions, that is astonishing. there, then, we have distinctive traits of a woman, namely, endurance, loving submission, and quickness of apprehension. wifehood is the crowning glory of a woman. in it she is bound for all time. to her husband she owes the duty of unqualified obedience. there is no crime which a man can commit which justifies his wife in leaving him or applying for that monstrous thing, divorce. it is her duty to subject herself to him always, and no crime that he can commit can justify her lack of obedience. if he be a bad or wicked man she may gently remonstrate with him, but refuse him never. let divorce be anathema; curse it; curse this accursed thing, divorce; curse it, curse it! think of the blessedness of having children. i am the father of many children and there have been those who have ventured to pity me, 'keep your pity for yourself,' i have replied. 'they never cost me a single pang.' in this matter let woman exercise that endurance and loving submission which with intricacy of thought are their only characteristics." such a sermon as the above, preached to woman, under the fall blaze of nineteenth century civilization, needs few comments. in it woman's inferiority and subordination are as openly asserted as at any time during the dark ages. according to rev. knox-little, woman possesses no responsibility; she is deprived of conscience, intelligent thought, self-respect, and is simply an appendage to man, a thing. as the clergy in the middle ages divided rights into those of persons and things, themselves being the persons, the laity, things, so the rev. knox-little and his ilk of to-day divide the world into persons and things,--men being the persons and women the things. it should require but little thought upon woman's part to see how closely her disabilities are interwoven with present religious belief as to her inferiority and pre-destined subordination. if she needs aid to thought, the knox-littles will help her. have protests against his blasphemous doctrine been made by his brother clergymen? not one. has a single church denied his degrading theory? not one. he has been allowed in this sermon to stand as the representative, not only of high-church theology in regard to woman, but as expressing the belief of all churches in her creation and existence as an inferior and appendage to man. there is scarcely a protestant sect that has not, within a few years, in some way, placed itself upon record in regard to woman's subordination. the pan-presbyterian council that assembled in edinburgh a few years since, refused to admit a woman even as a listener to its proceedings, although women constitute at least two-thirds of the membership of that church. a solitary woman who persisted in remaining to listen to the discussions of this body, was removed by force; "six stalwart presbyterians" lending their ungentle aid to her ejection. the same pan-presbyterian body when in session in philadelphia in the summer of , laughed to scorn the suggestion of a liberal member, that the status of woman in the church should receive some consideration. the speaker referred to the sisters of charity in the catholic church, and to the position of woman among the quakers; but although the question was twice introduced, it was as often met with derisive laughter, and no action was taken upon it. a vote of the new england society of friends at their meeting in newport, , proves that as liberal as they have been considered toward woman, even they have not in the past held her as upon a plane of perfect equality. this body voted that hereafter "women shall be eligible to office in the management of the society, shall sign all conveyances of real estate made by the society, and shall be considered equal to the opposite sex." the congregational church is placed upon record through laws governing certain of its bodies: "by the word 'church' is meant the adult males duly admitted and retained in the first evangelical congregational church in cambridgeport, present at any regular meeting of said church and voting by a majority."[ ] in the unitarian and universalist churches, which ordain women to preach and administer the ordinances, these women pastors are made to feel that the innovation is not universally acceptable. the methodist church, professing to stand upon a broad basis, still refuses to ordain its most influential women preachers, and, within the year, has even deprived them of license, though one of them[ ] has brought more converts to the church than a dozen of its most influential bishops during the same period. to such bitter lengths has the opposition to woman's ordination been carried, that a certain reverend gentlemen, in debating the subject, declared that he would oppose the admission of the mother of our lord into the ministry, the debate taking on a most unseemly form. the _syracuse sunday morning courier_ of march , , reported this debate as follows: women as preachers. the subject of permitting women to preach in methodist pulpits was incidentally, but rather racily discussed at the methodist ministers' meeting in new york city a few days since. a miss oliver--a more or less reverend lady--had been invited to preach to the ministers at their next meeting, and the question was raised, by what authority she was invited? thereupon brother buckley took the floor and gave expression to his dissent in the following terms: i am opposed to inviting any woman to preach before this meeting. if the mother of our lord were on earth i should oppose her preaching here. [sensation and murmurs of disapproval]. oh, i do not mind that, i like at the beginning of a speech to find that there are two sides to my question. there is no power in the methodist church by which a woman can be licensed to preach; this is history, this is the report made at the last general conference. it is, therefore, not legal for any quarterly conference to license a woman to preach, nevertheless here is a woman who claims to have such a license, and we are asked to invite her to preach. a brother: we have the right! brother buckley: oh, you have the right to believe the moon is made of green cheese, but yet have no right to commit the ministers of this city on an unsettled church question. [laughter and applause]. the tendency of men--now here is a chance to hiss--the tendency of men to endeavor to force female preachers on the church, and the desire to run after female preachers, is, as dr. finney said to the students at oberlin, an aberration of amativeness. [roars of laughter and applause]. when men are moved by women, then by men under the same circumstances, it is certainly due to an aberration of amativeness. [applause and more laughter]. for some time the male and female students at oberlin used to have their prayer-meetings together, but after a time they divided, and the young men complained to dr. finney that the holy ghost no longer came with equal force. dr. finney said this showed amativeness, or that the men were back-sliding. [applause]. brother dickinson: as to the talk of amativeness, what about our holiness meetings and seaside meetings, where we go to hear woman, and to be moved by her words and her personality? [applause]. why are there so many women in the church? it must be amativeness which urges them to go and hear men preach. [laughter]. dr. roach: if this meeting has any dignity, has any christian intelligence, has any weight of character, it ought not to take this action. [laughter]. what wildness, what fanaticism, what strange freaks will we not take on next? [laughter and applause]. brother mcallister and others took part in the discussion, and finally, amid cries of "motion," "question," points of order, and the utmost confusion, the question was put, and the meeting refused to invite miss oliver to preach by a vote of to . the result was received with ejaculations of "amen" and "thank god" and "god bless brother buckley." the chair announced that brother kittrell will preach next monday on "entire satisfaction," and the meeting adjourned. miss oliver appealed to the general conference of the methodist episcopal church in session in cincinnati, may, , for full installment and ordination. in this appeal she said: i am so thoroughly convinced that the lord has laid commands upon me in this direction, that it becomes with me a question of my own soul's salvation. i have passed through tortures to which the flames of martyrdom would be nothing, for they would end in a day; and through all this time, and to-day, i could turn off to positions of comparative ease and profit. i ask you, fathers and brethren, tell me what you would do in my place? tell me what you would wish the church to do toward you, were you in my place? please apply the golden rule, and vote in conference accordingly. as answer to this appeal, and in reply to all women seeking the ministry of that church, the conference passed the following resolution: _resolved_, that women have already all the rights and privileges in the methodist church that are good for them, and that it is not expedient to make any change in the books of discipline that would open the doors for their ordination to the ministry.[ ] an episcopal church convention meeting in boston in the summer of , busied itself in preparing canons upon marriage and divorce, thus aiming to reach the finger of the protestant church down to a control of this most private family relation. the diocesan convention of south carolina, in the spring of , denied women the right to vote upon church matters, although some churches in the diocese counted but five male members. not alone in her request for ordination has woman met with opposition, but in her effort for any separate church work. the formation of woman's foreign missionary societies was bitterly opposed by the different evangelical denominations, although they have raised more money than the male societies have ever been able to do--even helping them pay old debts--and have reached large classes of their own sex whom the male societies were powerless to touch. by thus supplementing men's work, they have made themselves acceptable. not only do councils, convocations, conferences, conventions, synods, and assemblies proclaim woman's inferiority, but sunday-schools teach the same doctrine. a letter from a correspondent of _the national citizen and ballot-box_ (syracuse, n. y.), in august, , said: our sunday-schools here have just finished the lesson on the creation and fall of man, and those of us who are capable of feeling, felt keenly the thrusts at woman for her infidelity to god's laws, and her overpowering influence in dragging man from his exalted position in life into a bondage of sin and death, and that she is to be held responsible for all the accumulated sins of the ages. one man said that "had not eve been _lurking_ around where she had no business, the devil would never have tempted her." another said, "had it not been for woman, we might to-day be living in ease and splendor," and i listened to hear them say the fallen angel was a woman. this same doctrine is taught in the public schools. _the republican_, of havre de grace, maryland, in its issue of august , , gave the following report of a speech at that time: thus spoke master showell at the berlin (wicomico county) high-school commencement: "by woman was eden lost and man cursed. if you trust her, give up all hopes of heaven. she can not love, because she is too selfish. she may have a fancy, but that is fleeting. her smiles are deceit; her vows are traced in sand. she is a thread of candor with a web of wiles. her charity is hypocrisy; she is deception every way--hair, teeth, complexion, heart, tongue, and all. oh, i hate you, ye cold composition of art!" sermons are frequently preached in opposition to woman's demand for equality of right in church and state. on the sunday following the thirtieth anniversary woman suffrage convention, held in rochester, , the rev. a. h. strong, d.d., president of the baptist theological seminary of that city, preached upon "woman's place and work," saying: in the very creation of mankind in the garden of beauty, god ordained the subordination of woman. this president of a theological seminary, where christian theology is taught to embryo christian ministers, said that woman's subordination would be most perfectly seen in the "christian humility and gentleness and endurance of her character, and in her indisposition to assume the place or do the work of man," forgetting, apparently, that subordination, humility, and endurance are precisely the qualities which tend to destroy nobleness of character. the sermon was especially directed against the following resolutions of this convention, which throughout the country met much clerical criticism and opposition: _resolved_, that as the duty of every individual is self-development, the lessons of self-sacrifice and obedience taught women by the christian church have been fatal, not only to her own highest interests, but through her have also dwarfed and degraded the race. _resolved_, that the fundamental principle of the protestant reformation, the right of individual conscience and judgment in the interpretation of scripture, heretofore conceded to and exercised by man alone, should now be claimed by woman, and that in her most vital interests she should no longer trust authority, but be guided by her own reason. _resolved_, that it is through the perversion of the religious element in woman, cultivating the emotions at the expense of her reason, playing upon her hopes and fears of the future, holding this life, with all its high duties, forever in abeyance to that which is to come, that she, and the children she has trained, have been so completely subjugated by priestcraft and superstition. professor christlieb, a distinguished german clergyman who was in attendance upon the evangelical alliance in new york, a few years since, expressed severe condemnation of the marriage relation as he saw it in this country. his criticism is a good exemplification of the general religious view taken of woman's relation to man. after his return to germany, a young american student called, it is related, upon the professor with a note of introduction, and was cordially received by the german, who, while he praised this country, expressed much solicitude about its future. on being asked his reasons, he frankly expressed his opinion that "the spirit of christ" was not here, and proceeded to illustrate his meaning. he seriously declared that on more than one occasion he had heard an american woman say to her husband, "dear, will you bring me my shawl?" and the husband had brought it! worse than this, he had seen a husband, returning home at evening, enter the parlor where his wife was sitting--perhaps in the very best chair in the room--and the wife not only did not go and get his slippers and dressing-gown, but she even remained seated, and left him to find a chair as he could. in the view of this noted german clergyman, the principles of the wife's equality with the husband, as shown in the american home, is destructive of christian principles.[ ] clerical action to-day, proves woman to hold the same place in the eyes of the church that she did during the dark ages. woman is as fully degraded, taking into consideration our civilization, as she ever was. the form alone has changed. she is no longer burned at the stake as a witch; she is no longer prostituted to feudal lords. the age has outgrown a belief in the supernatural, and feudalism is dead; yet the same principle which degraded her five hundred or a thousand years since, still exists, even though its manifestation is not the same. the feminine principle is still looked upon as secondary and inferior,[ ] though all the facts of nature and science prove it to extend throughout creation. it is through the church idea of woman that the press of the world is filled with scandals like the one that recently agitated the romish church, in which the dead cardinal antonelli's name was bandied about in courts of law. it is through church interpretation of woman's position that the suit of his putative daughter, the countess lambertina, for his property, was decided against her on the ground that she was "a sacrilegious child." the person who commits sacrilege steals sacred things. "sacrilegious" means violating sacred things. "a sacrilegious child" is a child who "violated sacred things" by coming into existence. her father was holy; he did not violate holy things when he violated and ruined a woman's life. he committed no sacrilege in the eyes of the church. his sin was nothing; but the unfortunate result of his sin was a violation of holy things by the mere fact of her coming into existence. what irony of all that is called holy! it is because the church has taught that woman was created solely for man, that in tearing asunder a recent will in new york, it was proven that the husband, indebted though he was to his wife for the beginning of his vast fortune, incarcerated her while sane in a lunatic asylum, because she objected to his practical polygamy by his introduction of a mistress into the family. political despotism has now its strongest hold in the theory of woman's created subordination. woman has been legislated for as a class, and not as a human being upon a basis of equality with man, but as an inferior to whom a different code was applicable. our recent secretary of state, william m. evarts, when counsel in the beecher-tilton trial, defined woman's legal and theological position as that of subordination to man, declaring that notwithstanding changing customs and the amenities of modern life, women were not free, but were held in the hollow of man's hand, to be crushed at his will. then mr. evarts read from various legal authorities instances and opinions bearing upon the subjugation of weak wives by strong husbands, the gist of them being that confessions of guilt obtained by such husbands from such wives are not entitled to great weight. he continued: recognizing the principles of marriage. this institution of marriage, framed in our nature, built up in our civilization, studied, contemplated, understood by the jurisprudence of ages, is a solid and real institution, and for its great benefits, and as a necessary part of them, it carries not only the fact of the wife's subordination to the husband, but of the merciful interpretation of that subordination[ ] which sensible, instructed men ever accord in practical life, and which the judges pronounce from the bench, and the juries confirm by their verdicts. now, gentlemen, you may think that is our advanced civilization, when so much of independence is assumed for women, and such entire equality is accorded to them in feeling and in sentiment by their husbands and by the world, that the old rule of the common law interpreting this institution of marriage, by which a wife was never held responsible to the law, or subject to punishment for any crime committed in the presence or under the influence of her husband, was one of those traits of human nature belonging to ruder ages and to past times; but, gentlemen, in our own court of appeals, and in the highest tribunals of england, within the last few years, there is an explicit recognition of these principles. mr. evarts cited an english case in which a wife, who participated in a robbery under the guidance of her husband, was acquitted on the ground that she was irresponsible; and he added an argument that the principle of law involved was correct. then he called attention to a recent case in this state, which he held was a confirmation of the same sound theory. the teachings of the church that it was sinful for woman to use her own reason, to think for herself, to question authority, thus fettering her will, together with a false interpretation of scripture, have been the instruments to hold her, body and soul, in a slavery whose depths of degradation can never be fathomed, whose indescribable tortures can never be understood by man. not only has woman suffered in the church, in society, under the laws, and in the family by this theological degradation of her sex, but in science and literature she has met a like fate. hypatia, who succeeded her father, theon, in the government of the alexandrian school, and whose lectures were attended by the wisest men of europe, asia, and africa, was torn in pieces by a christian mob afraid of her learning. a monument erected to catherine sawbridge macaulay, as "patroness of liberty," was removed from the church by order of its rector. harriet martineau met the most strenuous opposition from bishops in her effort to teach the poor; her day-schools and even her sunday-schools were broken up by clerical influence. madam pepe-carpentier, founder of the french system of primary instruction, of whom froebel caught his kindergarten idea, found her labors interrupted, and her life harassed by clerical opposition. mary somerville, the most eminent english mathematician of this century, was publicly denounced in church by dean cockburn, of york; and when george eliot died a few weeks since, her lifeless remains were refused interment in westminster abbey, where so many inferior authors of the privileged sex lie buried; the grave even not covering man's efforts toward the degradation of woman. when susannah wesley dared to conduct religious services in her own house, and to pray for the king, contrary to her husband's wishes, he separated from her in consequence. the husband of annie besant left her because she dared to investigate the scriptures for herself, and was sustained by the courts in taking from her the control of her little daughter, simply because the mother thought best not to train her in a special religious belief, but to allow her to wait until her reason developed, that she might decide her religious views for herself. a woman writing in the "woman's kingdom" department of the _chicago inter-ocean_, says: the orthodox church has been almost suicidal in its treatment of women (and i write as one whose name still stands on the membership list of the presbyterian church). persons who have not walked with wounded, lacerated hearts through the terrible realities, can form no idea of the suffering occasioned young women whose conscience summoned them to speak for temperance and woman suffrage, by the persecutions encountered in the church. we have known clergymen come straight from the pulpit where they have talked eloquently of "moral courage," of the heroism of martin luther and calvin and wesley, and even of garrison and harriet beecher stowe, to meet with a sneer some brave young woman, who, with the same moral courage was proclaiming the truth as revealed unto her. our young women have been denied admittance into theological schools; they have been compelled to go out into the by-ways and hedges; they have been persecuted for righteousness' sake. the church has decreed that two-thirds of its members shall be governed by the masculine one-third; but despite this decision, woman will preach and the world will listen. not only has woman recognized her own degradation, but the largest-hearted men have also seen it. thomas w. higginson, in an address at the anniversary of the young men's christian union, in new york city, as long ago as , in an address upon women in christian civilization, said: no man can ever speak of the position of woman so mournfully as she has done it for herself. charlotte bronté, caroline norton, and indeed the majority of intellectual women, from the beginning to the end of their lives, have touched us to sadness even in mirth, and the mournful memoirs of mrs. siddons, looking back upon years when she had been the chief intellectual joy of english society, could only deduce the hope, "that there might be some other world hereafter, where justice would be done to woman." the essayist, e. p. whipple, in a recent speech before the papyrus club of boston, said of george eliot: the great masculine creators and delineators of human character, homer, cervantes, shakespeare, göethe, scott, and the rest, cheer and invigorate us even in the vivid representation of our common humanity in its meanest, most stupid, most criminal forms. now comes a woman endowed not only with their large discourse of reason, their tolerant views of life, and their intimate knowledge of the most obscure recesses of the human heart and brain, but with a portion of that rich, imaginative humor which softens the savageness of the serious side of life by a quick perception of its ludicrous side, and the result of her survey of life is, that she depresses the mind, while the men of genius animate it, and that she saddens the heart, while they fill it with hopefulness and joy. i do not intend to solve a problem so complicated as this, but i would say, as some approach to an explanation, that this remarkable woman was born under the wrath and curse of what our modern philosophers call "heredity." she inherited the results of man's dealings with woman during a thousand generations of their life together. contempt for woman, the result of clerical teaching, is shown in myriad forms. wife-beating is still so common, even in america, that a number of the states have of late introduced bills especially directed to the punishment of the wife-beater. great surprise is frequently shown by these men when arrested. "is she not my wife?" is cried in tones proving the brutal husband had been trained to consider this relationship a sufficient justification for any abuse. in england, wives are still occasionally led to the market by a halter around the neck to be sold by the husband to the highest bidder.[ ] george borrow, in his singular narrative, "the rommany rye," says: the sale of a wife with a halter around her neck is still a legal transaction in england. the sale must be made in the cattle market, as if she were a mare, "all women being considered as mares by old english law, and indeed called 'mares' in certain counties where genuine old english is still preserved." it is the boast of america and europe that woman holds a higher position in the world of work under christianity than under pagandom. heathen treatment of woman in this respect often points the moral and adorns the tale of returned missionaries, who are apparently forgetful that servile labor[ ] of the severest and most degrading character is performed by christian women in highly christian countries. in germany, where the reformation had its first inception, woman carries a hod of mortar up steep ladders to the top of the highest buildings; or, with a coal basket strapped to her back, climbs three or four flights of stairs, her husband remaining at the foot, pipe in mouth, awaiting her return to load the hod or basket, that she may make another ascent, the payment for her work going into the husband's hands for his uncontrolled use. or mayhap this german wife works in the field harnessed by the side of a cow, while her husband-master holds the plough and wields the whip. or perhaps, harnessed with a dog, she serves the morning's milk, or drags her husband home from work at night. in france women act as porters, carrying the heaviest burdens and performing the most repulsive labors at the docks, while eating food of so poor a quality that the lessening stature of the population daily shows the result. in holland and prussia women drag barges on the canal, and perform the most repulsive agricultural duties. on the alps[ ] husbands borrow and lend their wives, one neighbor not scrupling to ask the loan of another's wife to complete some farming task, which loan is readily granted, with the understanding that the favor is to be returned in kind. in england, scantily clothed women work by the side of nude men in coal pits, and, harnessed to trucks, perform the severe labor of dragging coal up inclined planes to the mouth of the pit, a work testing every muscle and straining every nerve, and so severe that the stoutest men shrink from it; while their degradation in brick-yards and iron mines has commanded the attention of philanthropists and legislators.[ ] a gentleman recently travelling in ireland blushes for his sex when he sees the employments of women, young and old. they are patient drudges, staggering over the bogs with heavy creels of turf on their backs, or climbing the slopes from the seashore, laden like beasts of burden with the heavy sand-dripping seaweed, or undertaking long journeys on foot into the market towns, bearing weighty hampers of farm produce. in montenegro, women form the beasts of burden in war, and are counted among the "animals" belonging to the prince. in italy, that land which for centuries led the world in art, women work in squalor and degradation under the shadow of st. peter's and the vatican for four-pence a day; while in america, under the christianity of the nineteenth century, until within twenty years, she worked on rice and cotton plantations waist-deep in water, or under a burning sun performed the tasks demanded by a cruel master, at whose hands she also suffered the same kind of moral degradation exacted of the serf under feudalism. in some portions of christendom the "service"[ ] of young girls to-day implies their sacrifice to the moloch of man's unrestrained passions. augustine, in his work, "the city of god," taunts rome with having caused her own downfall. he speaks of her slaves, miserable men, put to labors only fit for the beasts of the field, degraded below them; their condition had brought rome to its own destruction. if such wrongs contributed to the overthrow of rome, what can we not predict of the christian civilization which, in the twentieth century of its existence, degrades its christian women to labors fit only for the beasts of the field; harnessing them with dogs to do the most menial labors; which drags them below even this, holding their womanhood up to sale, putting both church and state sanction upon their moral death; which, in some places, as in the city of berlin, so far recognizes the sale of women's bodies for the vilest purposes as part of the christian religion, that license for this life is refused until they have partaken of the sacrament; and which demands of the " , licensed women of the town" of the city of hamburg, certificates showing that they regularly attend church and also partake of the sacrament? a civilization which even there has not reached its lowest depths, but which has created in england, as a result of its highest christian civilization, a class of women under the protection of the state, known as "queen's women," or "government women," with direct purpose of more fully protecting man in his departure from the moral law, and which makes woman the hopeless slave of man's lowest nature; a system not confined to england, but already in practice in france, in italy, in switzerland, in germany, and nearly every country in europe. a system of morality which declares "the necessity" of woman's degradation, and which annually sends its tens of thousands down to a death from which society grants no resurrection. in a letter to the national woman's suffrage convention, held at st. louis, may, , upon this condition of licensed vice, from josephine e. butler, hon. secretary of the federation and the ladies' national association for the protection of women; a society which has its branches over europe, and has for years been actively at work against this last most hideous form of slavery for women, mrs. butler says: england holds a peculiar position in regard to the question. she was the last to adopt this system of slavery, and she adopted it in that thorough manner which characterizes the actions of the anglo-saxon race. in no other country has prostitution been regulated by law. it has been understood by the latin races, even when morally enervated, that the law could not without risk of losing its majesty and force sanction illegality and violate justice. in england alone the regulations are law. this legalization of vice, which is the endorsement of the "necessity" of impurity for man and the institution of the slavery of woman, is the most open denial which modern times have seen of the principle of the sacredness of the individual human being. an english high-class journal dared to demand that women who are unchaste shall henceforth be dealt with "not as human beings, but as foul sewers," or some such "material nuisance" without souls, without rights, and without responsibility. when the leaders of public opinion in a country have arrived at such a point of combined skepticism and despotism as to recommend such a manner of dealing with human beings, there is no crime which that country may not presently legalize, there is no organization of murder, no conspiracy of abominable things that it may not, and in due time will not--have been found to embrace in its guilty methods. were it possible to secure the absolute physical health of a whole province or an entire continent by the destruction of one, only one poor and sinful woman, woe to that nation which should dare, by that single act of destruction, to purchase this advantage to the many! it will do it at its peril. god will take account of the deed not in eternity only, but in time, it may be in the next or even in the present generation. the fact of governments lending their official aid to the demoralization of woman by the registration system, shows an utter debasement of law. this system is directly opposed to the fundamental principle of right, that of holding the accused innocent until proven guilty, which until now has been recognized as a part of modern law. under the registration or license system, all women within the radius of its action are under suspicion; all women are held as morally guilty until they prove themselves innocent. where this law is in force, all women are under an irresponsible police surveillance, liable to accusation, arrest, examination, imprisonment, and the entrance of their names upon the list of the lewd women of a town. upon this frightful infraction of justice, we have the sentiments of sheldon amos, professor of jurisprudence in the law college of london university. in "the science of law," he says, in reference to this very wrong: the loss of liberty to the extent to which it exists, implies a degradation of the state, and, if persisted in, can only lead to its dissolution. no person or class of persons must be under the cringing fear of having imputed to them offences of which they are innocent, and of being taken into custody in consequence of such imputation. they must not be liable to be detained in custody without so much as a _prima facie_ case being made out, such as in the opinion of a responsible judicial officer leaves a presumption of guilt. they must not be liable to be detained for an indefinite time without having the question of their guilt or innocence investigated by the best attainable methods. when the fact comes to be inquired into, the best attainable methods of eliciting the truth must be used. in default of any one of these securities, _public liberty_ must be said to be proportionately at a very low ebb. great effort has been made to introduce this system into the united states, and a national board of health, created by congress in , is carefully watched in its action, lest its irresponsible powers lead to its encroachment upon the liberties and personal rights of woman. a resolution adopted march , , at a meeting of the new york committee appointed to thwart the effort to license vice in this country, shows the need of its watchful care. _resolved_, that this committee has learned with much regret and apprehension of the action of the american public health association, at its late annual meeting in new orleans, in adopting a sensational report commending european governmental regulation of prostitution, and looking to the introduction in this country, with modifications, through the medium of state legislative enactments and municipal ordinances, of a kindred immoral system of state-regulated social vice. from all these startling facts in church and state we see that our government and religion are alike essentially masculine in their origin and development. all the evils that have resulted from dignifying one sex and degrading the other may be traced to this central error: a belief in a trinity of masculine gods in one, from which the feminine element is wholly eliminated.[ ] and yet in the scriptural account of the simultaneous creation of man and woman, the text plainly recognizes the feminine as well as the masculine element in the godhead, and declares the equality of the sexes in goodness, wisdom, and power. genesis i. , : "and god said: let us make man _in our own, image, after our own likeness_.... so god created man in his own image; in the image of god created he him; _male_ and _female_ created he them.... and gave them dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." while woman's subordination is taught as a scriptural doctrine, the most devout and learned biblical scholars of the present day admit that the bible has suffered many interpolations in the course of the centuries. some of these have doubtless occurred through efforts to render certain passages clearer, while others have been forged with direct intention to deceive. disraeli says that the early english editions contain , errors, which were constantly introduced, and passages interpolated for sectarian purposes, or to sustain new creeds. sometimes, indeed, they were added for the purpose of destroying all scriptural authority by the suppression of texts. _the church union_ says of the present translation, that there are more than , variations from the received hebrew text, and more than , from the received greek text. these , variations in the old testament and , in the new testament, are very significant facts. the oldest manuscripts of the new testament are the alexandrine codex, known since the commencement of the seventeenth century, and believed to date back to the middle of the fifth century, the sinaitic, and the vatican codices, each believed to have been executed about the middle of the fourth century. the sinaitic codex was discovered by professor tischendorf, a german scholar, at a monastery upon mt. sinai, in fragments, and at different periods from to , a period of eleven years elapsing from his discovery of the first fragment until he secured the last one. the vatican codex has been in the vatican library since its foundation, but it has been inaccessible to scholars until very recently. it is not known from whence it came or by whom executed, but is deemed the oldest and most authentic copy of the bible extant. as these oldest codices only date to the middle of the fourth century, we have no record of the new testament, in its present form, for the first three hundred and fifty years of this era. a commission of eminent scholars has been engaged for the past eleven years upon a revision of the bible. the new testament portion is now about ready for the public, but so great and so many are its diversities from the old version, that it is prophesied the orthodox church will be torn by disputes between adherents of the old and the new, while those anxious for the truth, touch where it may, will be honestly in doubt if either one is to be implicitly trusted. various comments and inquiries in regard to this revision have already appeared in the press.[ ] the oldest codices do not contain many texts we have learned to look upon as especially holy. portions of the sermon on the mount are not in these old manuscripts, a proof of their interpolation to serve the purpose of some one at a later date. in the same way additions have been made to the lord's prayer. neither of these manuscripts contain the story of the woman taken in adultery, as narrated john viii. - , so often quoted as proof of the divine mercy of jesus. a letter upon this so long accepted story, from the eminent scholar, howard crosby, d.d., ll.d., a member of the revisory commission, will be read with interest: mrs. m. j. gage: dear madame:--the passage in john viii. - , is _not_ in the alexandrian, nor is it in the sinaitic, vatican, and ephraim codices. it is found in twelve uncials (though marked _doubtful_ in five of these) and in over cursives. yours very truly, howard crosby. east th, n. y., _march , ' _. the world still asks, what is truth? a work has recently been published entitled, "the christian religion to a.d. ." it is the fruit of several-years' study of a period upon which the church has but little record. it finds no evidence of the existence of the new testament in its present form during that time; neither does it find evidence that the gospels in their present form date from the lives of their professed authors. all biblical scholars acknowledge that the world possesses no record or tradition of the original manuscripts of the new testament, and that to attempt to reestablish the old text is hopeless. no reference by writers to any part of the new testament as authoritative is found earlier than the third century (a.d. ). the first collection, or canon, of the new testament was prepared by the synod or council of laodicea in the fourth century (a.d. ). it entirely omitted the book of revelation from the list of sacred works. this book has met a similar fate from many sources, not being printed in the syriac testament as late as . amid this vast discrepancy in regard to the truth of the scriptures themselves; with no hebrew manuscript older than the twelfth century; with no greek one older than the fourth; with the acknowledgment by scholars of , errors in the old testament, and , in the new; with assurance that these interpolations and changes have been made by men in the interest of creeds, we may well believe that the portions of the bible quoted against woman's equality are but interpolations of an unscrupulous priesthood, for the purpose of holding her in subjection to man. amid this conflict of authority over texts of scripture we have been taught to believe divinely inspired, destroying our faith in doctrines heretofore declared essential to salvation, how can we be sure that the forthcoming version of the bible from the masculine revisers of our day will be more trustworthy than those which have been accepted as of divine origin in the past? this chapter is condensed from the writer's forthcoming work, "woman, church, and state." footnotes: [ ] maine (gaius) says of the position of woman under roman law before the introduction of christianity: "the juriconsulists had evidently at this time assumed the equality of the sexes as a principle of the code of equity. the situation of the roman woman, whether married or single, became one of great personal and property independence ... but christianity tended somewhat, from the very first, to narrow this remarkable liberty. the prevailing state of religious sentiment may explain why modern jurisprudence has adopted these rules concerning the position of woman which belong peculiarly to an imperfect civilization.... no society which preserves any tincture of christian institutions, is likely to restore to married women the personal liberty conferred on them by middle roman law. canon law has deeply injured civilization." [ ] canon law is the whole body of church decrees enacted by councils, bulls, decretals, etc., and is recognized as a system of laws primarily established by the christian church, and enforced by ecclesiastical authority. it took cognizance first merely of what were considered spiritual duties, but ultimately extended itself to temporal rights. it was collected and embodied in the ninth century, since which period numerous additions have been made. [ ] the women claimed the right to baptize their own sex. but the bishops and presbyters did not care to be released from the pleasant duty of baptizing the female converts.--_hist. of christian religion from a.d. to _, _p. , waite_. the constitution of the church of alexandria, which is thought to have been established about the year , required the applicant for baptism to be divested of clothing, and after the ordinance had been administered, to be anointed with oil.--_ibid._, _p. - _. the converts were first exorcised of the evil spirits that were supposed to inhabit them; then, after undressing and being baptized, they were anointed with oil.--_bunsen's christianity of mankind_, _vol. vii._, _p. - _; _ d vol. analecta_. [ ] all, or at least the greater part of the fathers of the greek church before augustine, denied any real, original sin.--"augustinism and pelagianism," p. , emerson's translations (waite). the doctrine had a gradual growth, and was fully developed by augustine, a.d. .--_hist. christian religion to a.d. (waite)_, _p. _. [ ] milman says that heloise sacrificed herself on account of the impediments the church threw in the way of the married clergy's career of advancement. as his wife she would close the ascending ladder of ecclesiastical honors, priory, abbacy, bishopric, metropolitane, cardinalade, and even that which was above and beyond all.--"_latin christianity_." [ ] the christian church was swamped by hysteria from the third to the sixteenth century.--_rev. charles kingsley's life and letters_. [ ] in an old catholic priest of switzerland, about to follow père hyacinth's example in abandoning celibacy, announced his betrothal in the following manner: "i marry because i wish to remain an honorable man. in the seventeenth century it was a proverbial expression, 'as corrupt as a priest,' and this might be said to-day. i marry, therefore, because i wish to get out of the ultramontane slough."--_galignani's messenger_, _september , _. [ ] the abbot elect of st. augustine, at canterbury, in was found, on investigation, to have seventeen illegitimate children in a single village. an abbot of st. pelayo in spain in was proved to have kept no less than seventy mistresses. henry d, bishop of liege, was deposed in for having sixty-five illegitimate children.--_lecky_, "_hist. of european morals_," _p. _. this same bishop boasted in a public banquet, that in twenty-two months, fourteen children had been born to him. a tax called "cullagium," which was, in fact, a license to clergymen to keep concubines, was during several centuries systematically levied by princes.--_ibid_, _vol. _, _p. _. it was openly attested that , women in england were made dissolute by the clergy.--_draper's "intellectua. development of europe_," _p. _. [ ] "_le sorcerie_," p. , _michelet_. [ ] _died in _. [ ] in the dominion of the count de foix the lord had right once in his lifetime to take, without payment, a certain quantity of goods from the stores of each tenant.--"_histoire universelle_," _cesar cantu_. [ ] in days to come people will be slow to believe that the law among christian nations went beyond anything decreed concerning the olden slavery; that it wrote down as an actual right the most grievous outrage that could ever wound man's heart. the lord spiritual had this right no less than the lord temporal. the parson being a lord, expressly claimed the first fruits of the bride, but was willing to sell his rights to the husband. the courts of berne openly maintain that this right grew up naturally.--"_la sorcerie_," _michelet_, p. . [ ] margaret was canonized in , and made the patron saint of scotland in . several of the scotch feudalry, despite royal protestation, kept up the infamous practice till a late date. one of the earls of crawford, a truculent and lustful anarch, popularly known and dreaded as "earl brant," in the sixteenth century, was probably among the last who openly claimed leg-right (the literal translation of _droit de jambage_).--_sketches of feudalism_. [ ] at the beginning of the christian era, corinth possessed a thousand women who were devoted to the service of its idol, the corinthian venus. "to corinthianize" came to express the utmost lewdness, but cornith, as sunken as she was in sensual pleasure, was not under the pale of christianity. she was a heathen city, outside of that light which, coming into the world, is held to enlighten every man that accepts it. [ ] les cuisiniers et les marmitons de l'arehevêques de vienne avaient imposé un tribut sur les mariages; on croit que certains feuditaires extgeaient un droit obscène de leur vassaux qui se marienient, quel fut transformé ensuite en droit de _cuissage_ consistant, de la part du seigneur, à mettre une jambe nue dans le lit des nouveaux époux. dans d'autres pays l'homme ne pouvait couche avec sa femme les trois premières nuits sans le consentement de l'evêque ou du seigneur du feif.--_cesar cantu_, "_histoire universelle_," _vol. ix._, p. - . [ ] _le michelet_, "_le sorcerie_," _p. _. [ ] the very word _femina_ (woman) means one wanting in faith; for _fe_ means faith, and _minus_, less.--_witch hammer_. this work was printed in mo, an unusually small size for that period, for the convenience of carrying it in the pocket, where its assertions, they could not be called arguments, could be always within reach, especially for those traveling witch inquisitors, who proceeded from country to country, like sprenger himself, to denounce witches. this work bore the sanction of the pope, and was followed, even in protestant countries, until the eighteenth century. it based its theories upon the bible, and devoted thirty-three pages to a proof that women were especially addicted to sorcery. [ ] it was observed they (devils) had a peculiar attachment to women with beautiful hair, and it was an old catholic belief that st. paul alluded to this in that somewhat obscure passage in which he exhorts women to cover their heads because of the angels.--sprangler. [ ] one of the most powerful incentives to confession was systematically to deprive the suspected witch of her natural sleep.... iron collars, or witches' bridles, are still preserved in various parts of scotland, which had been used for such iniquitous purposes. these instruments were so constructed that by means of a loop which passed over the head, a piece of iron having four points or prongs, was forcibly thrust into the mouth, two of these being directed to the tongue and palate, the others pointing outward to each cheek. this infernal machine was secured by a padlock. at the back of the collar was fixed a ring, by which to attach the witch to a staple in the wall of her cell. thus equipped, and day and night waked and watched by some skillful person appointed by her inquisitors, the unhappy creature, after a few days of such discipline, maddened by the misery of her forlorn and helpless state, would be rendered fit for confessing anything, in order to be rid of the dregs of her wretched life. at intervals fresh examinations took place, and they were repeated from time to time until her "_contumacy_," as it was termed, was subdued. the clergy and kirk sessions appear to have been the unwearied instruments of "purging the land of witchcraft," and _to them, in the first instance, all the complaints and informations were made_.--_pitcairn_, vol. i., part , p. . [ ] the following is an account of the material used, and the expenses attending the execution of two witches in scotland: for loads of coal to burn the witches..............£ " a tar barrel....................................... " towes.............................................. " hurdles to be jumps for them....................... " making of them.................................... " one to go to tinmouth for the lord to sit upon the assize as judge ............................... " the executioner for his pains...................... " his expenses there................................. _--lectures on witchcraft in salem, charles w. upham._ [ ] see an account of the tortures and death of alison balfour, in which not only she, but her husband and her young children were also grievously tortured in order to wring confession from the wife and mother. this poor woman bore everything applied to herself, nor did the sufferings of her husband and son compel a confession of guilt. not until her little daughter of seven or eight years was put to the torture in her presence did the constancy of the mother give way. to spare the innocent child, the equally innocent mother confessed she was a witch. after enduring all the agonies applied to herself, and all she was made to bear in the persons of her innocent family, she was still made to undergo the frightful suffering of death at the stake. she was one of those who died calling upon god for that mercy she could not find at the hands of christian men. [ ] no marriage could take place after m., which is even now the rule of the established church of england. [ ] science of law. [ ] gerard say the doctrines of the canon law most favorable to the power of the clergy, are founded on ignorance, or supported by fraud and forgery. [ ] whoever wishes to gain insight into that great institution, canon law, can do so most effectively by studying common law, in regard to woman.--blackstone.. i have arrived at conclusions which i keep to myself as yet, and only utter as greek [greek: phônanta, sunetotsi], the principle of which is that there will never be a good world for woman till the last monk, and therewith the last remnant of the monastic idea of, and legislation for, woman, _i.e._, the canon law, is civilized off the face of the earth. meanwhile all the most pure and high-minded women in england and in europe, have been brought up under the shadow of the canon law, and have accepted it with the usual divine self-sacrifice, as their destiny by law of god and nature, and consider their own womanhood outraged when it, their tyrant, is meddled with.--_charles kingsley_, _life and letters. letter to john stuart mill, of june , _. [ ] wives in england were bought from the fifth to the eleventh century (_descriptive sociology_, _herbert spencer_). by an ancient law of india, a father was forbidden to sell his daughter in marriage. _keshub chunder sen_, who recently spent a few years in england, objected, after his return home, to the introduction of english customs in regard to woman into india, on account of their degradation of the female sex. [ ] our laws are based on the all-sufficiency of man's rights; society exists for men only; for women, merely in so far as they are represented by some man, are in the _mundt_, or keeping of some man (_descriptive sociology, england, herbert spencer_). in england, as late as the seventeenth century, husbands of decent station were not ashamed to beat their wives. gentlemen arranged parties of pleasure to bridewell, for the purpose of seeing the wretched women who beat hemp there whipped. it was not until that the public whipping of woman was abolished in england.--_ibid._ [ ] wives in russia.--a peasant in the village of zelova baltia, having reason to doubt the fidelity of his spouse, deliberately harnessed her to a cart in company with a mare--a species of double harness for which the lady was probably unprepared when she took the nuptial vow. he then got into the cart in company with a friend, and drove the ill-assorted team some sixteen versts (nearly eleven english miles), without sparing the whip-cord. when he returned from his excursion he shaved the unlucky woman's head, tarred and feathered her, and turned her out of doors. she naturally sought refuge and consolation from her parish priest; but he sent her back to her lord and master, prescribing further flagellation. an appeal to justice by the poor woman and her relatives resulted in a non-suit, and any recourse to a higher court will probably terminate in the same manner. woman's lot in russia.--here and there the popular songs hear traces of the griefs which in the rough furrows of daily life the russian woman finds it prudent to conceal. "ages have rolled away," says the poet nekrasof; "the whole face of the earth has brightened; only the sombre lot of mowjik's wife god forgets to change." and the same poet makes one of his village heroines say, _apropos_ of the enfranchisement of the serfs, "god has forgotten the nook where he hid the keys of woman's emancipation." [ ] one of the powerful german electors, who formerly made choice of the emperor of germany. [ ] even as late as the sixteenth century a plurality of wives was allowed in some of the christian countries of europe, and the german reformers were inclined to permit bigamy as not inconsistent with the principles of the gospel.--"_woman in all countries and nations_," nichols. [ ] see report of the seney trial in ohio, , in which the judge decided against the prosecuting wife, upon the ground of her lack of the same ownership over the husband that the husband possessed over the wife. [ ] the birchall case. [ ] "history," says voltaire, "is only a parcel of tricks we play with the dead." [ ] john milton and his daughters.--milton's oriental views of the function of women led him not only to neglect, but to positively prevent the education of his daughters. they were sent to no school at all, but were handed over to a schoolmistress in the house. he would not allow them to learn any language, saying, with a sneer, that "for a woman one tongue was enough." the nemesis, however, that follows selfish sacrifice of others is so sure of stroke that there needs no future world of punishment to adjust the balance. the time came when milton would have given worlds that his daughters had learned the tongues. he was blind, and could only get at his precious book--could only give expression to his precious verses--through the eyes and hands of others. whose hands and whose eyes so proper for this as his daughters? he proceeded to train them to read to him, parrot-like, in five or six languages, which he (the schoolmaster) could at one time have easily taught them; but of which they could not now understand a word. he turned his daughters into reading-machines. it is appalling to think of such a task. that mary should revolt, and at last, after repeated contests with her taskmaster, learn to hate her father--that she should, when some one spoke in her presence of her father's approaching marriage, make the dreadful speech that "it was no news to hear of his wedding, but if she could hear of his death, that were something"--is unutterably painful, but not surprising.--_the athenæum_. [ ] mrs. robinson, of indiana, and mrs. e. s. whitney, of new york. [ ] while in the midst of correcting proof, march d, the new york press comes with an article showing how generally women are rousing to their rights. it is headed: "women at the church poll--_what came of reviving an old statute in portchester_.--the trustees of the presbyterian church in portchester, although elected on the th of february last, did not organize until about ten days ago. the reason for this delay lies in the claim made by some of the congregation that the election was irregular, owing to women having been allowed to vote. some of the trustees who held over were at first inclined to resign, and the matter has been much discussed. when opposition was made to women voting, h. t. smith produced the statute of , which says that any member of the church at full age shall have a right to vote for trustees. there is nothing in the act prohibiting women from voting. there are, i believe, statutes forbidding women to vote in the dutch reformed and episcopal churches; but this is a regular presbyterian church. it seems to me that the women have worked hard for this church, and that they ought to have a vote at the election of trustees and other officers. a sun reporter called upon the ladies for their version of the troubles. miss pink, who is a school teacher, said: 'we women do four-fifths of the work, and contribute more than one-half the money to support the church. two years ago we were allowed to vote for a minister, and we don't see why we shouldn't vote for trustees and at other elections.' miss camp gave similar reasons for voting. mrs. montgomery lyon said: 'if the old trustees didn't know that we had a right to vote, it isn't our fault. we women do all the work, and why shouldn't we vote!' women will vote for president, soon." [ ] the above is article xiv. of the by-laws of the society connected with the aforesaid church. thus the society undertakes to dictate to the church who shall have a voice in the selection of a pastor. it is a matter of gratitude that the society, if it forbids females to vote in the church, yet allows them to pray and to help the society raise money.--_independent_, _n. y._, _feb. , _. [ ] broken down.--mrs. van cott, the woman evangelist, has retired from the field, probably forever. her nervous system is broken down. during the fourteen years of her ministry she has traveled , miles, has preached , sermons, besides conducting , other religious meetings, and writing , letters.--_ex_. [ ] but this conference, which could not recognize woman's equality of rights in the church, adjourned in a body to chicago, before its business was completed, by its presence there to influence the republican nominating convention in favor of general grant's name for the presidency. [ ] a professor of theology said a while ago, how sorry he should be to have the law recognize that one-half of the income of the family belonged to his wife, "it would establish such a mine-and-thine relation." it evidently seemed to him, somehow, more harmonious, less of the earth, earthy, that he could say, "all mine, my love," and that she could sweetly respond, "all thine, dearest."--_state prohibitionist_, _des moines, ia._, _jan. , _. [ ] the great botanist, linnæus, was persecuted when he first presented his sexual system in vegetation to the world. [ ] the legal subordination of one sex to another is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no powers or privileges on the one side or disability on the other.--_subjection of woman, john stuart mill_. [ ] the _worcester chronicle_ of recent date gives an account of a wife sale in england. thomas middleton delivered up his wife mary m. to philip rostius, and sold her for one shilling and a quart of ale, and parted from her solely and absolutely for life, "not to trouble one another for life." philip rostius made his mark as a witness. a second witness was s. h. shore, crown inn, trim street. [ ] in the peace made by the sabines with the romans, after the forcible abduction of the sabine maidens, one of the provisions was that no labor, except spinning, should be required of these roman wives. [ ] the fair sex in the alps.--the farmers in the upper alps, though by no means wealthy, live like lords in their houses, while the heaviest portion of agricultural labors devolves on the wife. it is no uncommon thing to see a woman yoked to the plough with an ass, while her husband guides it. an alpine farmer accounts it an act of politeness to lend his wife to a neighbor who has too much work, and the neighbor in return lends his wife for a few days' labor whenever requested. [ ] lord shaftesbury bringing the subject before parliament. [ ] a story of ireland in .--recently, a young girl named catherine cafferby, of belmullet, in county mayo--the pink of her father's family--fled from the "domestic service" of a landlord as absolute as lord leitrim, the moment the poor creature discovered what that "service" customarily involved. the great man had the audacity to invoke the law to compel her to return, as she had not given statutable notice of her flight. she clung to the door-post of her father's cabin; she told aloud the story of her terror, and called on god and man to save her. her tears, her shrieks, her piteous pleadings were all in vain. the petty sessions bench ordered her back to the landlord's "service," or else to pay £ , or two weeks in jail. this is not a story of bulgaria under murad iv., but of ireland in the reign of the present sovereign. that peasant girl went to jail to save her chastity. if she did not spend a fortnight in the cells, it was only because friends of outraged virtue, justice, and humanity paid the fine when the story reached the outer world. [ ] the son of the late william ellery channing, in a recent letter to a friend on this point, says: "religions like the jewish and christian, which make god exclusively _male_, consign woman logically to the subordinate position which is definitely assigned to her in mahometanism. history has kept this tradition. the subjection of woman has existed as an invariable element in christian civilization. it could not be otherwise. if god and christ were both represented as male (and the holy ghost, too, in the pictures of the old masters), it stood to reason and appealed to fanaticism that the male form was the godlike. hence, logically, intellect and physical force were exalted above the intuition of conscience and attractive charm. the male religion shaped government and society after its own form. theodore parker habitually addressed god as our father and mother. what we call god is the infinite ideal of humanity. the preposterous, ridiculous absurdity of supposing god so defined to be of the male sex, and to call god 'him,' does not need a word to make it apparent. this ideal which we all reverence, and for which we yearn, necessarily enfolds in _one_ the attributes which, separated in our human race, express themselves in manhood and womanhood." [ ] some person, over the signature of "a bible reader," writing in the _sun_ of march , says: "i would be sincerely glad to know what guarantee we have that ere long we shall not have another revision of scripture? it is not so long ago since the discovery of tischendorf of an important manuscript of the new testament, which gave a number of new readings. there may be in existence other and older manuscripts of the bible than any we now have, from which may be omitted the narratives of the crucifixion and the resurrection. should we then have to give these up? if the revisers act consistently they would certainly have to do so. "it appears that already the calvinists and the trinitarians have been deprived by the revisers of the texts they relied upon to uphold their peculiar doctrines. it remains to be seen how the universalists, baptists, and other christian sects will fare." appendix. chapter i. preceding causes. margaret fuller possessed more influence upon the thought of america, than any woman previous to her time. men of diverse interests and habits of thought, alike recognized her power and acknowledged the quickening influence of her mind upon their own. ralph waldo emerson said of her: "the day was never long enough to exhaust her opulent memory; and i, who knew her intimately for ten years, never saw her without surprise at her new powers." william r. channing, in her "memoirs," says: "i have no hope of conveying to my readers my sense of the beauty of our relation, as it lies in the past, with brightness falling on it from margaret's risen spirit. it would be like printing a chapter of autobiography, to describe what is so grateful in memory--its influence upon oneself." rev. james freeman clarke says: "socrates without his scholars, would be more complete than margaret without her friends. the insight which margaret displayed in finding her friends; the magnetism by which she drew them toward herself; the catholic range of her intimacies; the influence which she exerted to develop the latent germ of every character; the constancy with which she clung to each when she had once given and received confidence; the delicate justice which kept every intimacy separate, and the process of transfiguration which took place when she met any one on this mountain of friendship, giving a dazzling lustre to the details of common life--all these should be at least touched upon and illustrated, to give any adequate view of these relations." horace greeley, in his "recollections of a busy life," said: "when i first made her acquaintance she was mentally the best instructed woman in america." when transcendentalism rose in new england, drawing the brightest minds of the country into its faith, margaret was accepted as its high-priestess; and when _the dial_ was established for the expression of those views, she was chosen its editor, aided by ralph waldo emerson and george ripley. nothing could be more significant of the place margaret fuller held in the realm of thought than the fact, that in this editorship she was given precedence over the eminent philosopher and eminent scholar, her associates. she sought to unveil the mysteries of life and enfranchise her own sex from the bondage of the past, and while still under thirty planned a series of conversations (in boston) for women only, wherein she took a leading part. the general object of these conferences, as declared in her programme, was to supply answers to these questions: "what are we born to do?" and "how shall we do it?" or, as has been stated, "her three special aims in those conversations were, to pass in review the departments of thought and knowledge, and endeavor to place them in one relation to one another in our minds. to systematize thought and give a precision and clearness in which our sex are so deficient, chiefly, i think, because they have so few inducements to test and classify what they receive. to ascertain what pursuits are best suited to us, in our time and state of society, and how we may make the best use of our means of building up the life of thought upon the life of action." these conversations continued for several successive winters, and were in reality a vindication of woman's right to think. in calling forth the opinions of her sex upon life, literature, mythology, art, culture, and religion, miss fuller was the precursor of the woman's rights agitation of the last thirty-three years. her work, "the great lawsuit; or, man _vs._ woman, woman _vs._ man," was declared by horace greeley to be the loftiest and most commanding assertion made of the right of woman to be regarded and treated as an independent, intelligent, rational being, entitled to an equal voice in framing and modifying the laws she is required to obey, and in controlling and disposing of the property she has inherited or aided to acquire. in this work margaret said: "it is the fault of marriage and of the present relation between the sexes, that the woman _belongs_ to the man, instead of forming a whole with him.... woman, self-centered, would never be absorbed by any relation; it would only be an experience to her, as to man. it is a vulgar error that love--_a_ love--is to woman her whole existence; she is also born for truth and love in their universal energy. would she but assume her inheritance, mary would not be the only virgin mother." margaret fuller was the first woman upon the staff of _the new york tribune_, a position she took in , when she was but thirty-four. mrs. greeley having made margaret's acquaintance, attended her conversations and accepted her leading ideas, planned to have her become a member of the greeley family, and a writer for _the tribune_; a position was therefore offered her by mr. greeley upon his wife's judgment. it required but a short time, however, for the great editor to feel her power, although he failed to fully comprehend her greatness. it has been declared not the least of horace greeley's services to the nation, that he was willing to entrust the literary criticisms of _the tribune_ to one whose standard of culture was so far above that of his readers or his own. margaret fuller opened the way for many women, who upon the editorial staff of the great new york dailies, as literary critics and as reporters, have helped impress woman's thought upon the american mind. theodore parker, who knew her well, characterized her as a critic, rather than a creator or seer. but whether we look upon her as critic, creator, or seer, she was thoroughly a woman. one of her friends wrote of her, "she was the largest woman, and not a woman who wanted to be a man." woman everywhere, to-day, is a critic. enthralled as she has been for ages, by both religious and political despotism, no sooner does she rouse to thought than she necessarily begins criticism. the hoary wrongs of the past still fall with heavy weight upon woman--their curse still exists. before building society anew, she seeks to destroy the errors and injustice of the past, hence we find women critics in every department of thought. * * * * * chapter iv. new york. _seneca falls and rochester conventions._ women out of their latitude. we are sorry to see that the women in several parts of this state are holding what they call "woman's rights conventions," and setting forth a formidable list of those rights in a parody upon the declaration of american independence. the papers of the day contain extended notices of these conventions. some of them fall in with their objects and praise the meetings highly; but the majority either deprecate or ridicule both. the women who attend these meetings, no doubt at the expense of their more appropriate duties, act as committees, write resolutions and addresses, hold much correspondence, make speeches, etc., etc. they affirm, as among their rights, that of unrestricted franchise, and assert that it is wrong to deprive them of the privilege to become legislators, lawyers, doctors, divines, etc., etc.; and they are holding conventions and making an agitatory movement, with the object in view of revolutionizing public opinion and the laws of the land, and changing their relative position in society in such a way as to divide with the male sex the labors and responsibilities of active life in every branch of art, science, trades, and professions. now, it requires no argument to prove that this is all wrong. every true hearted female will instantly feel that this is unwomanly, and that to be practically carried out, the males must change their position in society to the same extent in an opposite direction, in order to enable them to discharge an equal share of the domestic duties which now appertain to females, and which must be neglected, to a great extent, if women are allowed to exercise all the "rights" that are claimed by these convention-holders. society would have to be radically remodelled in order to accommodate itself to so great a change in the most vital part of the compact of the social relations of life; and the order of things established at the creation of mankind, and continued _six thousand years_, would be completely broken up. the organic laws of our country, and of each state, would have to be licked into new shapes, in order to admit of the introduction of the vast change that it contemplated. in a thousand other ways that might be mentioned, if we had room to make, and our readers had patience to hear them, would this sweeping reform be attended by fundamental changes in the public and private, civil and religious, moral and social relations of the sexes, of life, and of the government. but this change is impracticable, uncalled for, and unnecessary. _if effected_, it would set the world by the ears, make "confusion worse confounded," demoralize and degrade from their high sphere and noble destiny, women of all respectable and useful classes, and prove a monstrous injury to all mankind. it would be productive of no positive good, that would not be outweighed tenfold by positive evil. it would alter the relations of females without bettering their condition. besides all, and above all, it presents no remedy for the _real_ evils that the millions of the industrious, hard-working, and much suffering women of our country groan under and seek to redress.--_mechanic's_ (albany, n. y.) _advocate_. insurrection among the women. a female convention has just been held at seneca falls, n. y., at which was adopted a "declaration of rights," setting forth, among other things, that "all men and _women_ are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights." the list of grievances which the _amazons_ exhibit, concludes by expressing a determination to insist that woman shall have "immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the united states." it is stated that they design, in spite of all misrepresentations and ridicule, to employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the state and national legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in their behalf. this is _bolting_ with a vengeance.--_worcester_ (mass.) _telegraph_. the reign of petticoats. the women in various parts of the state have taken the field in favor of a petticoat empire, with a zeal and energy which show that their hearts are in the cause, and that they are resolved no longer to submit to the tyrannical rule of the _heartless_ "lords of creation," but have solemnly determined to demand their "natural and inalienable right" to attend the polls, and assist in electing our presidents, and governors, and members of congress, and state representatives, and sheriffs, and county clerks, and supervisors, and constables, etc., etc., and to unite in the general scramble for office. this is right and proper. it is but just that they should participate in the beautiful and feminine business of politics, and enjoy their proportion of the "spoils of victory." nature never designed that they should be confined exclusively to the drudgery of raising children, and superintending the kitchens, and to the performance of the various other household duties which the cruelty of men and the customs of society have so long assigned to them. this is emphatically the age of "democratic progression," of _equality_ and _fraternization_--the age when all colors and sexes, the bond and free, black and white, male and female, are, as they by right ought to be, all tending downward and upward toward the common level of equality. the harmony of this great movement in the cause of freedom would not be perfect if women were still to be confined to petticoats, and men to breeches. there must be an "interchange" of these "commodities" to complete the system. why should it not be so? can not women fill an office, or cast a vote, or conduct a campaign, as judiciously and vigorously as men? and, on the other hand, can not men "nurse" the babies, or preside at the wash-tub, or boil a pot as safely and as well as women? if they can not, the evil is in that arbitrary organization of society which has excluded them from the practice of these pursuits. it is time these false notions and practices were changed, or, rather, removed, and for the political millennium foreshadowed by this petticoat movement to be ushered in. let the women keep the ball moving, so bravely started by those who have become tired of the restraints imposed upon them by the antediluvian notions of a paul or the tyranny of man.--_rochester_ (n. y.) _daily advertiser_, henry montgomery, editor. "progress," is the grand bubble which is now blown up to balloon bulk by the windy philosophers of the age. the women folks have just held a convention up in new york state, and passed a sort of "bill of rights," affirming it their right to vote, to become teachers, legislators, lawyers, divines, and do all and sundries the "lords" may, and of right now do. they should have resolved at the same time, that it was obligatory also upon the "lords" aforesaid, to wash dishes, scour up, be put to the tub, handle the broom, darn stockings, patch breeches, scold the servants, dress in the latest fashion, wear trinkets, look beautiful, and be as fascinating as those blessed morsels of humanity whom god gave to preserve that rough animal man, in something like a reasonable civilization. "progress!" progress, forever!--_lowell_ (mass.) _courier_. to us they appear extremely dull and uninteresting, and, aside from their novelty, hardly worth notice.--_rochester advertiser_. this has been a remarkable convention. it was composed of those holding to some one of the various _isms_ of the day, and some, we should think, who embraced them all. the only practical good proposed--the adoption of measures for the relief and amelioration of the condition of indigent, industrious, laboring females--was almost scouted by the leading ones composing the meeting. the great effort seemed to be to bring out some new, impracticable, absurd, and ridiculous proposition, and the greater its absurdity the better. in short, it was a regular _emeute_ of a congregation of females gathered from various quarters, who seem to be really in earnest in their aim at revolution, and who evince entire confidence that "the day of their deliverance is at hand." verily, this is a progressive era!--_rochester democrat_. the women of philadelphia. our philadelphia ladies not only possess beauty, but they are celebrated for discretion, modesty, and unfeigned diffidence, as well as wit, vivacity, and good nature. whoever heard of a philadelphia lady setting up for a reformer, or standing out for woman's rights, or assisting to man the election grounds, raise a regiment, command a legion, or address a jury? our ladies glow with a higher ambition. they soar to rule the hearts of their worshipers, and secure obedience by the sceptre of affection. the tenure of their power is a law of nature, not a law of man, and hence they fear no insurrection, and never experience the shock of a revolution in their dominions. but all women are not as reasonable as ours of philadelphia. the boston ladies contend for the rights of women. the new york girls aspire to mount the rostrum, to do all the voting, and, we suppose, all the fighting too.... our philadelphia girls object to fighting and holding office. they prefer the baby-jumper to the study of coke and lyttleton, and the ball-room to the palo alto battle. they object to having a george sand for president of the united states; a corinna for governor; a fanny wright for mayor; or a mrs. partington for postmaster.... women have enough influence over human affairs without being politicians. is not everything managed by female influence? mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and sweethearts manage everything. men have nothing to do but to listen and obey to the "of course, my dear, you will, and of course, my dear, you won't." their rule is absolute; their power unbounded. under such a system men have no claim to rights, especially "equal rights." a woman is nobody. a wife is everything. a pretty girl is equal to ten thousand men, and a mother is, next to god, all powerful.... the ladies of philadelphia, therefore, under the influence of the most serious "sober second thoughts," are resolved to maintain their rights as wives, belles, virgins, and mothers, and not as women."--_public ledger and daily transcript_. woman's rights convention. this is the age of revolutions. to whatever part of the world the attention is directed, the political and social fabric is crumbling to pieces; and changes which far exceed the wildest dreams of the enthusiastic utopians of the last generation, are now pursued with ardor and perseverance. the principal agent, however, that has hitherto taken part in these movements has been the rougher sex. it was by man the flame of liberty, now burning with such fury on the continent of europe, was first kindled; and though it is asserted that no inconsiderable assistance was contributed by the gentler sex to the late sanguinary carnage at paris, we are disposed to believe that such a revolting imputation proceeds from base calumniators, and is a libel upon woman. by the intelligence, however, which we have lately received, the work of revolution is no longer confined to the old world, nor to the masculine gender. the flag of independence has been hoisted, for the second time, on this side of the atlantic; and a solemn league and covenant has just been entered into by a convention of women at seneca falls, to "throw off the despotism under which they are groaning, and provide new guards for their future security." little did we expect this new element to be thrown into the cauldron of agitation which is now bubbling around us with such fury. we have had one baltimore convention, one philadelphia convention, one utica convention, and we shall also have, in a few days, the buffalo convention. but we never dreamed that lucretia mott had convened a fifth convention, which, if it be ratified by those whom it purposes to represent, will exercise an influence that will not only control our own presidential elections, but the whole governmental system throughout the world.... the declaration is a most interesting document. we published it in _extenso_ the other day. the amusing part is the preamble, where they assert their equality, and that they have certain inalienable rights, to secure which governments, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, are instituted; and that after the long train of abuses and usurpations to which they have been subjected, evincing a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government. the declaration is, in some respects, defective. it complains of the want of the elective franchise, and that ladies are not recognized as teachers of theology, medicine, and law.... these departments, however, do not comprise the whole of the many avenues to wealth, distinction, and honor. we do not see by what principle of right the angelic creatures should claim to compete with the preacher, and refuse to enter the lists with the merchant. a lawyer's brief would not, we admit, sully the hands so much as the tarry ropes of a man-of-war; and a box of brandreth's pills are more safely and easily prepared than the sheets of a boiler, or the flukes of an anchor; but if they must have competition in one branch, why not in another? there must be no monopoly or exclusiveness. if they will put on the inexpressibles, it will not do to select those employments only which require the least exertion and are exempt from danger. the laborious employments, however, are not the only ones which the ladies, in right of their admission to all rights and privileges, would have to undertake. it might happen that the citizen would have to doff the apron and buckle on the sword. now, though we have the most perfect confidence in the courage and daring of miss lucretia mott and several others of our lady acquaintances, we confess it would go to our hearts to see them putting on the panoply of war, and mixing in scenes like those at which, it is said, the fair sex in paris lately took prominent part. it is not the business, however, of the despot to decide upon the rights of his victims; nor do we undertake to define the duties of women. their standard is now unfurled by their own hands. the convention of seneca falls has appealed to the country. miss lucretia mott has propounded the principles of the party. ratification meetings will no doubt shortly be held, and if it be the general impression that this lady is a more eligible candidate for the presidential chair than mclean or cass, van buren or old "rough and ready," then let the salic laws be abolished forthwith from this great republic. we are much mistaken if lucretia would not make a better president than some of those who have lately tenanted the white house.--_new york herald_, james gordon bennett, proprietor. mrs. stanton's reply. in answer to all the newspaper objections, elizabeth cady stanton, in an article published in the _national reformer_, rochester, n. y., geo. g. cooper, editor, sept. , , said as follows: there is no danger of this question dying for want of notice. every paper you take up has something to say about it, and just in proportion to the refinement and intelligence of the editor, has this movement been favorably noticed. but one might suppose from the articles that you find in some papers, that there were editors so ignorant as to believe that the chief object of these recent conventions was to seat every lord at the head of a cradle, and to clothe every woman in her lord's attire. now, neither of these points, however important they be considered by humble minds, were touched upon in the conventions.... for those who do not yet understand the real objects of our recent conventions at rochester and seneca falls, i would state that we did not meet to discuss fashions, customs, or dress, the rights or duties of man, nor the propriety of the sexes changing positions, but simply our own inalienable rights, our duties, our true sphere. if god has assigned a sphere to man and one to woman, we claim the right to judge ourselves of his design in reference to _us_, and we accord to man the same privilege. we think a man has quite enough in this life to find out his own individual calling, without being taxed to decide where every woman belongs; and the fact that so many men fail in the business they undertake, calls loudly for their concentrating more thought on their own faculties, capabilities, and sphere of action. we have all seen a man making a jackass of himself in the pulpit, at the bar, or in our legislative halls, when he might have shone as a general in our mexican war, captain of a canal boat, or as a tailor on his bench. now, is it to be wondered at that woman has some doubts about the present position assigned her being the true one, when her every-day experience shows her that man makes such fatal mistakes in regard to himself? there is no such thing as a sphere for a sex. every man has a different sphere, and one in which he may shine, and it is the same with every woman; and the same woman may have a different sphere at different times. the distinguished angelina grimké was acknowledged by all the anti-slavery host to be in her sphere, when, years ago, she went through the length and breadth of new england, telling the people of her personal experience of the horrors and abominations of the slave system, and by her eloquence and power as a public speaker, producing an effect unsurpassed by any of the highly gifted men of her day. who dares to say that in thus using her splendid talents in speaking for the dumb, pleading the cause of the poor friendless slave, that she was out of her sphere? angelina grimké is now a wife and the mother of several children. we hear of her no more in public. her sphere and her duties have changed. she deems it her first and her most sacred duty to devote all her time and talents to her household and to the education of her children. we do not say that she is not _now_ in her sphere. the highly gifted quakeress, lucretia mott, married early in life, and brought up a large family of children. all who have seen her at home agree that she was a pattern as a wife, mother, and housekeeper. no one ever fulfilled all the duties of that sphere more perfectly than did she. her children are now settled in their own homes. her husband and herself, having a comfortable fortune, pass much of their time in going about and doing good. lueretia mott has now no domestic cares. she has a talent for public speaking; her mind is of a high order; her moral perceptions remarkably clear; her religious fervor deep and intense; and who shall tell us that this divinely inspired woman is out of her sphere in her public endeavors to rouse this wicked nation to a sense of its awful guilt, to its great sins of war, slavery, injustice to woman and the laboring poor. as many inquiries are made about lucretia mott's husband, allow me, through your columns, to say to those who think he must be a _nonentity_ because his wife is so distinguished, that james mott is head and shoulders above the greater part of _his sex_, intellectually, morally, and physically. as a man of business, his talents are of the highest order. as an author, i refer you to his interesting book of travels, "three months in great britain." in manners he is a gentleman; in appearance, six feet high, and well-proportioned, dignified, and sensible, and in every respect worthy to be the companion of lueretia mott. mrs. c. i. h. nichols. miss barber, of _the madison_ (ga.) _visitor_, promises to "sit in the corner and be a good girl," if we will admit her to our next "editorial _soirée_." indeed we will, and brother lamb, of _the greenfield democrat_, shall sit in the other corner and "cast sheep's (lamb's) eyes" at her; for he copies her naughty declaration of inferiority, and adds that she "is just the editress for him"; that he "don't like mrs. swisshelm, mrs. pierson, and that class." we will let him off with a whispered reminder that there is a _mr._ swisshelm, _mr._ pierson, and more of the same sort for "_that class_." he has nobody on his side but the musty, fusty old bachelors of the ----, and ----, and ----, who, never having wanted for anything but _puddings_ and _shirts_, imagine, as mrs. pierson says, that "a shirt and a pudding are the two poles of woman's sphere." but we can not let miss barber off so lightly. she says "it is written in the volume of inspiration, as plainly as if traced in sunbeams, that man, the creature of god's own image, is superior to woman, who was afterward created to be his companion. he has a more stately form, stronger nerves and muscles, and, in nine cases out of ten, a more vigorous intellect." in the first place, it is paying no great compliment to man to suppose that god created an inferior to be his companion. but a man, "_the_ creature of god's own image!" and was the material for god's image all worked up in creating adam? and if so, whose images are the men of to-day, who can't possibly lay claim to more of the original stock than mother eve, who set up existence with an _entire rib_! and what has it to do with the question of her intellectual equality, that she was created _afterward_? if precedence in creation gave any advantage intellectually, the inferior animals may claim superiority of intellect over both man and woman. it would be quite as sound logic to maintain, as some do, that, as last in the series which commenced in nothing (?) and rose by gradations to image god, woman's superiority to all that preceded her in the creation, is probable.... again, if women have less nerves and muscles, the ox and the ass have a great deal more--while god and angels and disembodied spirits have none at all; so that nerves and muscles are of no more significance in this question of the intellectual equality or inequality of the sexes, than is the beard that grows on a man's face and not on a woman's. and arguments drawn from such premises always remind us of the profound logic of a gentleman we once met in a stage coach, and who is now holding a high office under government at washington. he professed to set great store by whiskers and mustaches--he had none himself--and gave as a reason why the beard should be tenderly cherished, that "it was given to man as a badge of his superiority over woman." we were young and mischievous then, and so we told him, most complacently, that the ladies would readily concede the point, and give him the full benefit of his argument and of his beard, since men shared their "badge of superiority" with goats, monkeys, and many other inferior animals. some fifteen years have passed, but we never think of the honorable gentleman or see his name attached to official reports, without a laugh. miss barber assumes woman's entire intellectual equality, in claiming that she "may mould the mind of the future statesman into _whatsoever_ she will--that "through him she _can_ and _will_ make the laws." and we only regret that she should speak so lightly of "depositing a little strip of paper in the ballot-box." to us it is a serious thing, that the depositing of that strip of paper gives and takes the rights, whose possession is the means of the highest intellectual and moral culture and enjoyment.--_windom county democrat_, brattleboro, vermont. mrs. jane g. swisshelm. a mistake.--_dear brother wright_:--in printing my former letter, there was a mistake made which i intended to let pass; but as some of your cotemporaries have taken an agony over the letter, it may be as well to set it right. the last sentence reads, "now, i move grace be let alone, and her moral power be no longer invoked by those who have set her and all the rest of her sex, down on a stool mid-way between free negroes and laborers." i wrote it "between free negroes and _baboons_," and meant just what i said. man, in his code of laws, has assigned woman a place somewhere between the rational and irrational creation. our constitutions provide that all "free white male citizens" of a certain age shall have a right to vote. here indians, negroes, and women stand side by side. our gallant legislators excluded the "inferior races" from the elective franchise because of their inferiority; and just threw their wives and mothers into the same heap, because of their great superiority! one was excluded because they hated them, the other because they loved them so very well. yet one sentence covers both cases. women and negroes stand side by side in this case, and also in that of exclusion from our colleges. a negro can not be admitted into one of our colleges or seminaries of the highest class. neither can a woman. witness the refusal of some half dozen of your medical colleges to admit miss blackwell. but free negroes can acquire property, can sell it, keep it, give it away, or divide it. a baboon has no such rights; neither has a woman in her highest state of existence here. the right to acquire and hold property is a distinguishing trait between mankind and the brute creation. woman is deprived of that distinction; for all that she has and all she can acquire, belongs to her master. custom says she should be fed and clothed, dandled and fondled, her freaks borne with and her graces admired; it awards the same attentions, in a little different degree, to a pet monkey. so woman has been "set down mid-way between free negroes and baboons." your good-tempered friend and sister, jane g. swisshelm. borders of monkeydom, _sept. , _. p. s.--there is a man who edits _the sunday age_ of new york--h. p. grattan--who appears to be in a peck of trouble about "blue-stocking effusions" in general, and my letter to you in particular. he says, "we love woman. we bow down to them in adoration. but they have their proper place; but the moment they step from the pedestal upon which heaven stood them, they fail to elicit our admiration," etc. then, to show what the pedestal is on which he adores them, he adds, "if they gave evidence of a knowledge of puddings and pies, how much happier they might be," in the sunlight of his admiration, of course. well, freedom of conscience in this free land! the faithful may bow to his prophet; the persian adore his sun; the egyptian may kneel to his crocodile; and why should not mr. grattan go into rhapsodies before his cook, as the dispenser of the good things of this life? the good book speaks of "natural brute beasts who make a god of their bellies," and it might be natural to transfer the homage to her who ministers to the stomach. i can see his chosen divinity now, mounted on her "pedestal," a kitchen stool, her implements before her, crowned with a pudding-pan, her sceptre a batter spoon, and mr. grattan down, in rapt adoration, with eyes upturned, and looks of piteous pleading! poor fellow! do give him his dinner! j. g. s.--_saturday visitor_, pittsburg, penn. here are some of the titles of editorials and communications in respectable papers all over the country: "bolting among the ladies," "women out of their latitude," "insurrection among the women," "the reign of petticoats," "office-seeking women," "petticoats _vs._ boots." the reader can judge, with such texts for inspiration, what the sermons must have been. resolutions at rochester. the following resolutions, which had been separately discussed, were again read. amy post moved their adoption by the meeting, which was carried with but two or three dissenting voices: . _resolved_, that we petition our state legislature for our right to the elective franchise, every year, until our prayer be granted. . _resolved_, that it is an admitted principle of the american republic, that the only just power of the government is derived from the consent of the governed; and that taxation and representation are inseparable; and, therefore, woman being taxed equally with man, ought not to be deprived of an equal representation in the government. . _resolved_, that we deplore the apathy and indifference of woman in regard to her rights, thus restricting her to an inferior position in social, religious, and political life, and we urge her to claim an equal right to act on all subjects that interest the human family. . _resolved_, that the assumption of law to settle estates of men who die without wills, having widows, is an insult to woman, and ought to be regarded as such by every lover of right and equality. . whereas, the husband has the legal right to hire out his wife to service, collect her wages, and appropriate it to his own exclusive and independent benefit; and, whereas, this has contributed to establish that hideous custom, the promise, of obedience in the marriage contract, effectually, though insidiously, reducing her almost to the condition of a slave, whatever freedom she may have in these respects being granted as a privilege, not as a right; therefore, _resolved_, that we will seek the overthrow of this barbarous and unrighteous law; and conjure women no longer to promise obedience in the marriage covenant. _resolved_, that the universal doctrine of the inferiority of woman has ever caused her to distrust her own powers, and paralyzed her energies, and placed her in that degraded position from which the most strenuous and unremitting effort can alone redeem her. only by faithful perseverance in the practical exercise of those talents, so long "wrapped in a napkin and buried under the earth," she will regain her long-lost equality with man. _resolved_, that in the persevering and independent course of miss blackwell, who recently attended a series of medical lectures in geneva, and has now gone to europe to graduate as a physician, we see a harbinger of the day when woman shall stand forth "redeemed and disenthralled," and perform those important duties which are so truly within her sphere. _resolved_, that those who believe the laboring classes of women are oppressed, ought to do all in their power to raise their wages, beginning with their own household servants. _resolved_, that it is the duty of woman, whatever her complexion, to assume, as soon as possible, her true position of equality in the social circle, the church, and the state. _resolved_, that we tender our grateful acknowledgment to the trustees of the unitarian church, who have kindly opened their doors for the use of this convention. _resolved_, that we, the friends who are interested in this cause, gratefully accept the kind offer from the trustees of the use of protection hall, to hold our meetings whenever we wish. signatures to the declaration adopted at seneca falls. firmly relying upon the final triumph of the right and the true, we do this day affix our signatures to this declaration: lucretia mott, hannah plant, harriet cady eaton, lucy jones, margaret pryor, sarah whitney, elizabeth cady stanton, mary h. hallowell, eunice newton foote, elizabeth conklin, mary ann mcclintock, sally pitcher, margaret schooley, mary conklin, martha c. wright, susan quinn, jane c. hunt, mary s. mirror, amy post, phebe king, catharine f. stebbins, julia ann drake, mary ann frink, charlotte woodward, lydia mount, martha underhill, delia matthews, dorothy matthews, catharine c. paine, eunice barker, elizabeth w. mcclintock, sarah k. woods, malvina seymour, lydia gild, phebe mosher, sarah hoffman, catherine shaw, elizabeth leslie, deborah scott, martha ridley, sarah hallowell, rachel d. bonnel, mary mcclintock, betsy tewksbury, mary gilbert, rhoda palmer, sophronie taylor, margaret jenkins cynthia davis, cynthia fuller, mary martin, eliza martin, p. a. culvert, maria e. wilbur, susan r. doty, elizabeth d. smith, rebecca race, caroline barker, sarah a. mosher, ann porter, mary e. vail, experience gibbs, lucy spalding, antoinette f. segur, lavinia latham, hannah j. latham, sarah smith, sarah sisson. the following are the names of the gentlemen present in favor of the movement: richard p. hunt, charles l. hoskins, samuel d. tilman, thomas mcclintock, justin williams, saron phillips, elisha foote, jacob chamberlain, frederick douglass, jonathan metcalf, henry w. seymour, nathan j. milliken, henry seymour, s. e. woodworth, david spalding, edward f. underhill, william g. barker, george w. pryor, elias j. doty, joel bunker, john jones, isaac van tassel, william s. dell, thomas dell, james mott, e. w. capron, william burroughs, stephen shear, robert smalldridge henry hatley, jacob matthews, azaliah schooley. many persons signed the declaration at rochester, among them daniel anthony, lucy read anthony, mary s. anthony, the officers of the convention, and others. * * * * * chapter vi. ohio. _salem convention_, _april , , _. letter from elizabeth cady stanton. seneca falls, n. y., _april _. dear mariana:--how rejoiced i am to hear that the women of ohio have called a convention preparatory to the remodeling of their state constitution. the remodeling of a constitution, in the nineteenth century, speaks of progress, of greater freedom, and of more enlarged views of human rights and duties. it is fitting that, at such a time, woman, who has so long been the victim of ignorance and injustice, should at length throw off the trammels of a false education, stand upright, and with dignity and earnestness manifest a deep and serious interest in the laws which are to govern her and her country. it needs no argument to teach woman that she is interested in the laws which govern her. suffering has taught her this already. it is important now that a change is proposed, that she speak, and loudly too. having decided to petition for a redress of grievances, the question is, _for what shall you first petition?_ for the exercise of your right to the elective franchise--nothing short of this. the grant to you of this right will secure all others; and the granting of every other right, whilst this is denied, is a mockery. for instance: what is the right to property without the right to protect it? the enjoyment of that right to-day is no security that it will be continued to-morrow, so long as it is granted to us as a favor, and not claimed by us as a right. woman must exercise her right to the elective franchise, and have her own representatives in our national councils, for two good reasons: st. men can not represent us. they are so thoroughly educated into the belief that woman's nature is altogether different from their own, that they have no idea that she can be governed by the same laws of mind as themselves. so far from viewing us like themselves, they seem, from their legislation, to consider us their moral and intellectual antipodes; for whatever law they find good for themselves, they forthwith pass its opposite for us, and express the most profound astonishment if we manifest the least dissatisfaction. for example: our forefathers, _full of righteous indignation_, pitched king george, his authority, and his tea-chests, all into the sea, and because, forsooth, they were forced to pay taxes without being represented in the british government. "taxation without representation," was the text for many a hot debate in the forests of the new world, and for many an eloquent oration in the parliament of the old. yet, in forming our new government, they have taken from us the very rights which they fought and bled and, died to secure to themselves. they not only tax us, but in many cases they strip us of all we inherit, the wages we earn, the children of our love; and for such grievances we have no redress in any court of justice this side of heaven. they tax our property to build colleges, then pass a special law prohibiting any woman to enter there. a married woman has no legal existence; she has no more absolute rights than a slave on a southern plantation. she takes the name of her master, holds nothing, owns nothing, can bring no action in her own name; and the principle on which she and the slave is educated is the game. the slave is taught what is considered best for him to know--which is nothing; the woman is taught what is best for her to know--which is little more than nothing, man being the umpire in both cases. a woman can not follow out the impulses of her own mind in her sphere, any more than the slave can in his sphere. civilly, socially, and religiously, she is what man chooses her to be, nothing more or less, and such is the slave. it is impossible for us to convince man that we think and feel exactly as he does; that we have the same sense of right and justice, the same love of freedom and independence. some men regard us as devils, and some as angels; hence, one class would shut us up in a certain sphere for fear of the evil we might do, and the other for fear of the evil that _might be done to us_; thus, except for the sentiment of the thing, for all the good that it does us, we might as well be thought the one as the other. but we ourselves have to do with what we are and what we _shall_ be. d. men can not legislate for us. our statute books and all past experience teach us this fact. his laws, where we are concerned, have been, without one exception, unjust, cruel, and aggressive. having denied our identity with himself, he has no data to go upon in judging of our wants and interests. if we are alike in our mental structure, then there is no reason why we should not have a voice in making the laws which govern us; but if we are not alike, most certainly we must make laws for ourselves, for who else can understand what we need and desire? if it be admitted in this government that all men and women are free and equal, then must we claim a place in our senate chamber and house of representatives. but if, after all, it be found that even here we have classes and caste, not "lords and commons," but lords and women, then must we claim a lower house, where our representatives can watch the passage of all bills affecting our own welfare, or the good of our country. had the women of this country had a voice in the government, think you our national escutcheon would have been stained with the guilt of aggressive warfare upon such weak, defenceless nations as the seminoles and mexicans? think you we should cherish and defend, in the heart of our nation, such a wholesale system of piracy, cruelty, licentiousness, and ignorance as is our slavery? think you that relic of barbarism, the gallows, by which the wretched murderer is sent with blood upon his soul, uncalled for, into the presence of his god, would be sustained by law? verily, no, or i mistake woman's heart, her instinctive love of justice, and mercy, and truth! who questions woman's right to vote? we can show our credentials to the right of self-government; we get ours just where man got his; they are all heaven-descended, god-given. it is our duty to assert and reassert this right, to agitate, discuss, and petition, until our political equality be fully recognized. depend upon it, this is the point to attack, the stronghold of the fortress--_the one_ woman will find the most difficult to take, _the one_ man will most reluctantly give up; therefore let us encamp right under its shadow; there spend all our time, strength, and _moral_ ammunition, year after year, with perseverance, courage, and decision. let no sallies of wit or ridicule at our expense; no soft nonsense of woman's beauty, delicacy, and refinement; no promise of gold and silver, bank stock, road stock, or landed estate, seduce us from our position until that one stronghold totters to the ground. this done, the rest they will surrender _at discretion_. then comes equality in church and state, in the family circle, and in all our social relations. the cause of woman is onward. for our encouragement, let us take a review of what has occurred during the last few years. not two years since the women of new york held several conventions. their meetings were well attended by both men and women, and the question of woman's true position was fully and freely discussed. the proceedings of those meetings and the declaration of sentiments were all published and scattered far and near. before that time, the newspapers said but little on that subject. immediately after, there was scarcely a newspaper in the union that did not notice these conventions, and generally in a tone of ridicule. now you seldom take up a paper that has not something about woman; but the tone is changing--ridicule is giving way to reason. our papers begin to see that this is no subject for mirth, but one for serious consideration. our literature is also assuming a different tone. the heroine of our fashionable novel is now a being of spirit, of energy, of will, with a conscience, with high moral principle, great decision, and self-reliance. contrast jane eyre with any of bulwer's, scott's, or shakespeare's heroines, and how they all sink into the shade compared with that noble creation of a woman's genius! the january number of _the westminster review_ contains an article on "woman," so liberal and radical, that i sometimes think it must have crept in there by mistake. our fashionable lecturers, too, are now, instead of the time-worn subjects of "catholicism," "the crusades," "st. bernard," and "thomas à becket," choosing woman for their theme. true, they do not treat this new subject with much skill or philosophy; but enough for us that the great minds of our day are taking this direction. mr. dana, of boston, lectured on this subject in philadelphia. lucretia mott followed him, and ably pointed out his sophistry and errors. she spoke to a large and fashionable audience, and gave general satisfaction. dana was too sickly and sentimental for that meridian. the women of massachusetts, ever first in all moral movements, have sent, but a few weeks since, to their legislature, a petition demanding their right to vote and hold office in their state. woman seems to be preparing herself for a higher and holier destiny. that same love of liberty which burned in the hearts of our sires, is now being kindled anew in the daughters of this proud republic. from the present state of public sentiment, we have every reason to look hopefully into the future. i see a brighter, happier day yet to come; but woman must say how soon the dawn shall be, and whether the light shall first shine in the east or the west. by her own efforts the change must come. she must carve out her future destiny with her own right hand. if she have not the energy to secure for herself her true position, neither would she have the force or stability to maintain it, if placed there by another. farewell! yours sincerely, e. c. stanton. letter from lucretia mott. dear friends:--the call for this convention, so numerously signed, is indeed gratifying, and gives hope of a large attendance. the letter of invitation was duly received, and i need scarcely say how gladly i would be present if in my power. engagements in another direction, as well as the difficulty to travel at this season of the year, will prevent my availing myself of so great a privilege. you will not, however, be at a loss for speakers in your midst, for among the signers to the call are the names of many whose hearts "believe unto righteousness"; out of their abundance, therefore, the mouth will make "confession unto salvation." the wrongs of woman have too long slumbered. they now begin to cry for redress. let them be clearly pointed oat in your convention; and then, not _ask_ as _favor_, but _demand_ as _right_, that every civil and ecclesiastical obstacle be removed out of the way. rights are not dependent upon equality of mind; nor do we admit inferiority, leaving that question to be settled by future developments, when a fair opportunity shall be given for the equal cultivation of the intellect, and the stronger powers of the mind shall be called into action. if, in accordance with your call, you ascertain "the bearing which the circumscribed sphere of woman has on the great political and social evils that curse and desolate the land," you will not have come together in vain. may you, indeed, "gain strength" by your contest with "difficulty!" may the whole armor of "right, truth, and reason" be yours; then will the influence of the convention be felt in the assembled wisdom of _men_ which is to follow; and the good results, as well as your example, will ultimately rouse other states to action in this most important cause. i herewith forward to you a "discourse on woman," which, though brought out by local circumstances, may yet contain principles of universal application. wishing you every success in your noble effort, i am yours, for woman's redemption and consequent elevation, lucretia mott. philadelphia, _ th mo., , _. letter from lucy stone. _for the woman's rights convention:_ dear friends:--the friends of human freedom in massachusetts rejoice that a woman's rights convention is to be held in ohio. we hail it as a sign of progress, and deem it especially fitting that such a convention should be held _now_, when a state constitution is to be formed. it is easier, when the old is destroyed, to build the _new_ right, than to right it _after_ it is built. the statute books of every state in the union are disgraced by an article which limits the right to the elective franchise to "male citizens of twenty-one years of age and upwards," thus excluding one-half the population of the country from all political influence, subjecting woman to laws in the making of which she has neither vote nor voice. the lowest drunkard may come up from wallowing in the gutter, and, covered with filth, _reel_ up to the ballot-box and deposit his vote, and his right to do so is not questioned. the meanest foreigner who comes to our shores, who can not speak his mother-tongue correctly, has secured for him the right of suffrage. the negro, crushed and degraded, as if he were not a brother man, made the lowest of the law, even he, in some of the states, can vote; but woman, in every state, is politically plunged in a degradation lower than _his_ lowest depths. woman is taxed under laws made by those who profess to believe that taxation and representation are inseparable, while, in the use and imposition of the taxes, as in representation, she is absolutely without influence. should she hint that the profession and practice do not agree, she is gravely told that "women should not talk politics." in most of the states the married woman loses, by her marriage, the control of her person and the right of property, and, if she is a mother, the right to her children also: while she secures what the town paupers have--the right to be maintained. the legal disabilities under which women labor have no end: i will not attempt to enumerate them. let the earnest women who speak in your convention enter into the detail of this thing, nor stop to "patch fig-leaves for the naked truth," but "before all israel and the sun," expose the atrocities of the laws relative to women, until the ears of those who hear shall tingle. so that the men who meet in convention to form the new constitution for ohio, shall, for very shame's sake, make haste to put away the last remnant of the barbarism which your statute book (in common with other states) retains in its inequality and injustice to woman. we know too well the stern reform spirit of those who have called this woman's eights convention, to doubt for a moment that what can be done by you to secure equal rights for all, will be done. massachusetts _ought_ to have taken the lead in the work you are now doing, but if she chooses to linger, let her young sisters of the west set her a worthy example; and if the "pilgrim spirit is not dead," _we'll pledge massachusetts to follow her_. yours, for justice and equal rights, lucy stone. southampton, _april , _. letter from sarah pugh "lawrencian villa is extremely beautiful; the grounds full of shrubbery and flowers; the splendid dairy, the green-houses and conservatories--four or five of them appropriated to fruit, flowers, and rare plants in large numbers--the whole presenting great taste and skill. mrs. lawrence's improvements are not completed; she is extending her shrubbery and walks. she is undoubtedly one of the most skillful cultivators and florists in the country (a country abounding with them), and carries off more prizes at the horticultural exhibitions than almost any one else. i am told mr. lawrence is an eminent surgeon in london, and that the whole of the country place is under mrs. lawrence's management."--_colman's letters from europe_. dear friends:--as i finished reading this paragraph, your letter, inviting me to your convention, to be held on the th inst., was received. i can not, as i gladly would, be with you. that my mite may not be wanting in aid of the cause, taking the above extract for my text, i would add as a commentary, that, according to the laws and usages of a large portion of christendom, in the event of the death of mr. lawrence, mrs. lawrence, the one whose skill and taste has formed this elegant establishment, would be left by the will of mr. lawrence an income from a part of the estate, and the "privilege" of occupying "during her natural life," two or three rooms in the large mansion, but powerless as a stranger in the beautiful demesne made valuable by her industry and skill! this is not "supposing" a case, only in the application of it to mrs. l. in this country, where, as a general rule, women take their full share of the labor and responsibility of a household, and thus by their constant assiduity contribute their full proportion to the means by which a comfortable competence is secured, do we not see the disposal of it assumed as a matter of right by the male partner of the firm? that women contribute their full share in the building-up of an estate by _labor_--the only rightful mode--no one that is capable of taking an enlightened view of the prevailing condition of things will deny. true, she may not wield the axe or guide the plough, braced by the invigorating air, for hers is the wearisome task, and the one which requires the most skill to attend to the complicated machinery within doors; she may not handle the awl or the plane for "ten hours a day," with but a small tax on the intellectual, but by her _perpetual_ oversight and unvarying labor she may make one dollar, two, or more. this is one form of the many grievances to which women are subjected, all arising from the false assumption of their inferiority by nature and by the "ordination of providence." may your convention aid in dispelling this delusion from the minds of men, but chiefly from the minds of women; for to themselves, in a great degree, is their degraded position owing. rouse them to a belief in their natural equality, and to a desire to sustain it by cultivation of their noblest powers. there is much that crowds on me for utterance, but there will be those among you that will be able to give a fuller and fitter expression to the thoughts that cluster around this all-important question, the "rights and duties of women"--her rights equal to those of men--she alone the judge of her duties. may your convention hasten the day when these rights shall be acknowledged as equal to those of man and independent of him, and when men and women shall equally co-operate for the good of all mankind. with great interest, your friend, sarah pugh. _to the ohio convention of women, phila., april , ._ resolutions of the salem (ohio) convention, . th. _resolved_, that in those laws which confer on man the power to control the property and person of woman, and to remove from her at will the children of her affection, we recognize only the modified code of the slave plantation; and that thus we are brought more nearly in sympathy with the suffering slave, who is despoiled of all his rights. th. _resolved_, that we regard those women who content themselves with an idle, aimless life, as involved in the guilt as well as the suffering of their own oppression; and that we hold those who go forth into the world, in the face of the frowns and the sneers of the public, to fill larger spheres of labor, as the truest preachers of the cause of woman's rights. th. _resolved_, that, as woman is not permitted to hold office, nor have any voice in the government, she should not be compelled to pay taxes out of her scanty wages to support men who get eight dollars a day for _taking_ the right to _themselves_ to enact laws _for_ her. th. _resolved_, that we, the women of ohio, will hereafter meet annually in convention, to consult upon and adopt measures for the removal of the various disabilities--political, social, religious, legal, and pecuniary--to which women, as a class, are subjected, and from which results so much misery, degradation, and crime. after the akron convention in , _the new york sunday mercury_ published a woodcut covering a whole page, representing the convention. every woman in coat and breeches and high-heeled boots, sitting cross-legged smoking cigars (truly manly arguments for equal political rights). there was not a bloomer present. elizabeth cady stanton. _to the woman's convention, held at akron, ohio, may , :_ dear friends:--it would give me great pleasure to accept your invitation to attend the convention, but as circumstances forbid my being present with you, allow me, in addressing you by letter, to touch on those points of this great question which have, of late, much occupied my thoughts. it is often said to us tauntingly, "well, you have held conventions, you have speechified and resolved, protested and appealed, declared and petitioned, and now, what next? why do you not do something?" i have as often heard the reply, "we know not what to do." having for some years rehearsed to the unjust judge our grievances, our legal and political disabilities and social wrongs, let us glance at what we may do, at the various rights of which we may, even now, quietly take possession. true, our right to vote we can not exercise until our state constitutions are remodelled; but we can petition our legislators every session, and plead our cause before them. we can make a manifestation by going to the polls, at each returning election, bearing banners, with inscriptions thereon of great sentiments handed down to us by our revolutionary fathers--such as, "no taxation without representation," "no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed," etc. we can refuse to pay all taxes, and, like the english dissenters, suffer our goods to be seized and sold, if need be. such manifestations would appeal to a class of minds that now take no note of our conventions or their proceedings; who never dream, even, that woman thinks herself defrauded of a single right. the trades and professions are all open to us; let us quietly enter and make ourselves, if not rich and famous, at least independent and respectable. many of them are quite proper to woman, and some peculiarly so. as merchants, postmasters, and silversmiths, teachers, preachers, and physicians, woman has already proved herself fully competent. who so well fitted to fill the pulpits of our day as woman? all admit her superior to man in the affections, high moral sentiments, and religious enthusiasm; and so long as our popular theology and reason are at loggerheads, we have no need of acute metaphysicians or skillful logicians in our pulpits. we want those who can make the most effective appeals to our imaginations, our hopes and fears. again, as physicians. how desirable are educated women in this profession! give her knowledge commensurate with her natural qualifications, and there is no position woman could assume that would be so pre-eminently useful to her race at large, and her own sex in particular, as that of ministering angel to the sick and afflicted; an angel, not capable of sympathy merely, but armed with the power to relieve suffering and prevent disease. the science of obstetrics is a branch of the profession which should be monopolized by woman. the fact that it is now almost wholly in the hands of the male practitioner, is an outrage on common decency that nothing but the tyrant _custom_ can excuse. "from the earliest history down to , it was practiced by women. the distinguished individual first to make the innovation on this ancient, time-sanctified custom, was no less a personage than a court prostitute, the duchess of villiers, a favorite mistress of louis xiv. of france." this is a formidable evil, and productive of much immorality, misery, and crime. but now that some colleges are open to woman, and the "female medical college of pennsylvania" has been established for our sex exclusively, i hope this custom may be abolished as speedily as possible, for no excuse can be found for its continuance, in the want of knowledge and skill in our own sex. it seems to me, the existence of this custom argues a much greater want of delicacy and refinement in woman, than would the practice of the profession by her in all its various branches. but the great work before us is the education of those just coming on the stage of action. begin with the girls of _to-day_, and in twenty years we can revolutionize this nation. the childhood of woman must be free and untrammeled. the girl must be allowed to romp and play, climb, skate, and swim; her clothing must be more like that of the boy--strong, loose-fitting garments, thick boots, etc., that she may be out at all times, and enter freely into all kinds of sports. teach her to go alone, by night and day, if need be, on the lonely highway, or through the busy streets of the crowded metropolis. the manner in which all courage and self-reliance is educated _out_ of the girl, her path portrayed with dangers and difficulties that never exist, is melancholy indeed. better, far, suffer occasional insults or die outright, than live the life of a _coward_, or never move without a protector. the best protector any woman can have, one that will serve her at all times and in all places, is _courage_; this she must get by her own experience, and experience comes by exposure. let the girl be thoroughly developed in body and soul, not modeled, like a piece of clay, after some artificial specimen of humanity, with a body like some plate in godey's book of fashion, and a mind after the type of father gregory's pattern daughters, loaded down with the traditions, proprieties, and sentimentalities of generations of silly mothers and grandmothers, but left free to be, to grow, to feel, to think, to act. development is one thing, that system of cramping, restraining, torturing, perverting, and mystifying, called education, is quite another. we have had women enough befooled under the one system, pray let us try the other. the girl must early be impressed with the idea that she is to be "a hand, not a mouth"; a worker, and not a drone, in the great hive of human activity. like the boy, she must be taught to look forward to a life of self-dependence, and early prepare herself for some trade or profession. woman has relied heretofore too entirely for her support on the _needle_--that one-eyed demon of destruction that slays its thousands annually; that evil genius of our sex, which, in spite of all our devotion, will never make us healthy, wealthy, or wise. teach the girl it is no part of her life to cater to the prejudices of those around her. make her independent of public sentiment, by showing her how worthless and rotten a thing it is. it is a settled axiom with me, after much examination and reflection, that public sentiment is false on every subject. yet what a tyrant it is over us all, woman especially, whose very life is to please, whose highest ambition is to be approved. but once outrage this tyrant, place yourself beyond his jurisdiction, taste the joy of free thought and action, and how powerless is his rule over you! his sceptre lies broken at your feet; his very babblings of condemnation are sweet music in your ears; his darkening frown is sunshine to your heart, for they tell of your triumph and his discomfort. think you, women _thus_ educated would long remain the weak, dependent beings we now find them? by no means. depend upon it, they would soon settle for themselves this whole question of woman's rights. as educated capitalists and skillful laborers, they would not be long in finding their true level in political and social life. e. c. stanton. seneca falls, _may ._ resolutions of the massilon (ohio) convention, . st. _resolved_, that in the proposition affirmed by the nation to be self-evidently true, that "all men are created equal," the word "men" is a general term, including the whole race, without distinction of sex. d. _resolved_, that this equality of the sexes must extend, and does extend, to rights personal, social, legal, political, industrial, and religious, including, of course, representation in the government, the elective franchise, free choice in occupations, and an impartial distribution of the reward of effort; and in reference to all these particulars, woman has the same right to choose _her_ sphere of action, as man to choose _his_. d. _resolved_, that since every human being has an individual sphere, and that is the largest he or she can fill, no one has the right to determine the proper sphere of another. th. _resolved_, that the assertion of these rights for woman, equally with man, involves the doctrine that she, equally with him, should be _protected in their exercise_. th. _resolved_, that we do not believe any legal or political restriction necessary to preserve the distinctive character of woman, and that in demanding for women equality of rights with their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, we neither deny that distinctive character, nor wish them to avoid any duty, or to lay aside that feminine delicacy which legitimately belongs to them as mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters. th. _resolved_, that to perfect the marriage union and provide for the inevitable vicissitudes of life, the individuality of both parties should be equally and distinctively recognised by the parties themselves, and by the laws of the land; and, therefore, justice and the highest regard for the interests of society require that our laws be so amended, that married women may be permitted to conduct business on their own account; to acquire, hold, invest, and dispose of property in their own separate and individual right, subject to all corresponding and appropriate obligations. th. _resolved_, that the clause of the constitution of the state of ohio, which declares that "all men have the right of acquiring and possessing property," is violated by the judicial doctrine that the labor of the wife is the property of the husband. th. _resolved_, that in the general scantiness of compensation of woman's labor, the restrictions imposed by custom and public opinion upon her choice of employments, and her opportunities of earning money, and the laws and social usages which regulate the distribution of property as between men and women, have produced a pecuniary dependence of woman upon man, widely and deeply injurious in many ways; and not the least of all in too often perverting marriage, which should be a holy relation growing out of spiritual affinities, into a mere bargain and sale--a means to woman of securing a subsistence and a home, and to man of obtaining a kitchen drudge or a parlor ornament. th. _resolved_, that sacred and inestimable in value as are the rights which we assert for woman, their possession and exercise are not the ultimate end we aim at; for rights are not ends, but only means to ends, implying duties, and are to be demanded in order that duties may be performed. th. _resolved_, that god, in constituting woman the mother of mankind, made her a living providence, to produce, nourish, guard, and govern his best and noblest work from helpless infancy to adult years. having endowed her with faculties ample, but no more than sufficient, for the performance of her great work, he requires of her, as essentially necessary to its performance, the full development of those faculties. th. _resolved_, that we do not charge woman's deprivation of her rights upon man alone, for woman also has contributed to this result; and as both have sinned together, we call on both to repent together, that the wrong done by both may, by the united exertions of both, be undone. fifth national woman's rights convention, cleveland, ohio, . st. _resolved_, that by human rights, we mean natural rights, in contradistinction to conventional usages, and that because woman is a human being, she, _therefore_, has human rights. d. _resolved_, because woman is a human being, and man is no more, she has, by virtue of her constitutional nature, equal rights with man; and that state of society must necessarily be wrong which does not, in its usages and institutions, afford equal opportunities for the enjoyment and protection of these rights. th. _resolved_, the common law, by giving the husband the custody of the wife's person, does virtually place her on a level with criminals, lunatics, and fools, since these are the only classes of adult persons over which the law-makers have thought it necessary to place keepers. th. _resolved_, that if it be true, in the language of john c. calhoun, that "he who digs the money out of the soil, has a right to it against the universe," then the law which gives to the husband the power to use and control the earnings of the wife, makes robbery legal, and is as mean as it is unjust. th. _resolved_, that woman will soonest free herself from the legal disabilities she now suffers, by securing the right to the elective franchise, thus becoming herself a lawmaker; and that to this end we will petition our respective state legislatures to call conventions to amend their constitutions, so that the right to the elective franchise shall not be limited by the word "male." th. _resolved_, that there is neither justice nor sound policy in the present arrangements of society, restricting women to so comparatively a narrow range of employments; excluding them from those which are most lucrative; and even in those to which they are admitted, awarding them a compensation less, generally by one-half or two-thirds, than is paid to men for an equal amount of service rendered. th. _resolved_, that, although the question of the intellectual strength and attainments of woman has nothing to do with the settlement of their rights, yet in reply to the oft-repeated inquiry, "have women, by nature, the same force of intellect with men?" we will reply, that this inquiry can never be answered till women shall have such training as shall give their physical and intellectual powers as full opportunities for development, by being as heavily taxed and all their resources as fully called forth, as are now those of man. mr. garrison, on being called for, replied that the resolutions would do for his speech to-night, and read as follows: st. _resolved_, that the natural rights of one human being, are those of every other, in all cases equally sacred and inalienable; hence the boasted "rights of man," about which we hear so much, are simply the "rights of woman," of which we hear so little; or, in other words, they are the rights of humanity, neither affected by, nor dependent upon, sex or condition. d. _resolved_, that those who deride the claims of woman to a full recognition of her civil rights and political equality, exhibit the spirit which tyrants and usurpers have displayed in all ages toward the mass of mankind; strike at the foundation of all truly free and equitable government; contend for a sexual aristocracy, which is as irrational and unjust in principle, as that of wealth and hereditary descent, and show their appreciation of liberty to be wholly one-sided and supremely selfish. d. _resolved_, that for the men of this land to claim for themselves the elective franchise, and the right to choose their own rulers and enact their own laws, as essential to their freedom, safety, and welfare, and then to deprive all the women of all these safeguards, solely on the ground of a difference of sex, is to evince the pride of self-esteem, the meanness of usurpation, and the folly of a self-assumed superiority. th. _resolved_, that woman, as well as man, has a right to the highest mental and physical development; to the most ample educational advantages; to the occupancy of whatever position she can reach, in church and state, in science and art, in poetry and music, in painting and sculpture, in civil jurisprudence and political economy, and in all the varied departments of human industry, enterprise, and skill; to the elective franchise, and to a voice in the administration of justice, and the passage of laws for the general welfare. th. _resolved_, that to pretend that the granting of these claims would tend to make woman less amiable and attractive, less regardful of her peculiar duties and obligations as wife and mother, a wanderer from her proper sphere, bringing confusion into domestic life, and strife into the public assembly, is the cant of papal rome as to the discordant and infidel tendencies of the right of private judgment in matters of faith; is the outcry of legitimacy as to the incapacity of the people to govern themselves; is the false allegations which selfish and timid conservatism is ever making against every new measure of reform, and has no foundation in reason, experience, fact, or philosophy. th. _resolved_, that the consequences arising from the exclusion of woman from the possession and exercise of her natural rights and the cultivation of her mental faculties, have been calamitous to the whole human race; making her servile, dependent, unwomanly; the victim of a false gallantry on the one hand, and of tyrannous subjection on the other; obstructing her mental growth, crippling her physical development, and incapacitating her for general usefulness; and thus inflicting an injury upon all born of woman, and cultivating in man a lordly and arrogant spirit, a love of dominion, a disposition to lightly regard her comfort and happiness, all which have been indulged to a fearful extent, to the curse of his own soul and the desecration of her nature. th. _resolved_, that so long as the most ignorant, degraded, and worthless men are freely admitted to the ballot-box, and practically acknowledged to be competent to determine who shall be in office and how the government shall be administered, it is preposterous to pretend that women are not qualified to use the elective franchise, and that they are fit only to be recognized, politically speaking, as _non compos mentis_. rebecca m. sanford to the cleveland convention. new london, huron co., o., _october , _. friends of reform:--not being present at the convention, i can but express my interest by a few lines. the mere question of woman's civil rights is not a deep one, for it is a natural one, and closely follows her mission in this world. she was not created anything else than a helpmeet to man, and where to limit that assistance there is no rule in nature, except her physical functions; _there is a limit in law_, but whether the law has the right to place her where she is, is the question. it must be conceded that the law has drawn too great an inference from her ancient social attitude, and from present custom and prejudice. but has the law the right to be prejudiced--ought it not to stand pure, and noble, and magnanimous, founded on the natural rights of the human soul? the law grants woman protection; it also grants negroes, animals, and property protection in their certain spheres. it gives no more to woman. woman's sphere is her capability of performing her duty to herself, her family, and to society, taking self-preservation as the first law of her nature. at present she does not fully act in her sphere. the lid of the ballot-box shuts out more than one-half of her duty to herself, family, and society. the eye of the law is diseased, and woman must be made assistant occulist, to render that eye pure and single-sighted. let not this convention close until some way and means are decided upon to secure woman's vote at the polls. the propriety or impropriety of the same place and box and other objections, can be disposed of in a short time, as occasion requires. this done, the monster evils of society, intemperance, etc., can be handled with ungloved hands. at this time, as far as custom, made potent by law, permits woman to lead her sons on in the journey of life, she keeps them pure and unspotted from the world; but where she leaves off, hell's avenues are opened, and man too often leads them through. allow me, as one who has been obliged to look upon our conventions from many points of observation, and to note their effects upon the community by actual communication with that community; as one who feels identified in principle and purpose, to suggest perfect unity and but few resolutions, and those well-digested and fully acted upon. beware of _ultraisms_. give a high tone and elevation to your deliberations; bring out the true, the beautiful, the divine of your own souls, to meet the true, the grand, the divine inspirations of this agitation. one thing else i would strongly recommend. let no gentleman be appointed to office in the convention, or by the convention. you will then secure yourselves from outside coarseness, and secure to yourselves greater respect from the public at large. if you do not come to this _now_, you will be obliged to come to it before you receive the credit for a _wisdom_ you justly deserve. may god guide you and bless you. yours, strong in the right, rebecca m. sanford. sixth national woman's rights convention, cincinnati, ohio, . officers: _president_--martha c. wright, new york. _vice-presidents_--ernestine l. rose, new york; james mott, pennsylvania; frances d. gage, missouri; hannah tracy cutler, emily robinson, ohio; euphemia cochrain, michigan; paulina wright davis, rhode island. _business committee_--lucy stone blackwell, ohio; lucretia mott, pennsylvania; josephine s. griffing, adelaide swift, henry b. blackwell, ohio. _secretaries_--rebecca plumly, pennsylvania; wm. henry smith, editor of _the type of the times_. resolutions. whereas, all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and, whereas, to secure these rights governments are instituted among them, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; therefore _resolved_, that the legislators of these united states are self-convicted of the grossest injustice and of inconsistency with their own admitted principles, while they refuse these rights to women. _resolved_, that taxation without representation is tyranny. _resolved_, that in accordance with an universally admitted and self-evident truth, woman should possess the elective franchise, as a basis of all legal and political rights, as the only effective protection of their interests, as a remedy against present oppression, and as a school for character. _resolved_, that the right to acquire knowledge should be limited only by the capacity of the individual; and, therefore, we deprecate, especially, that social usage, inexorable as a written statute, which excludes woman from all our best colleges, universities, schools of law, medicine, and divinity, and that we demand equal scholastic advantages for our daughters and our sons; that while only three out of the one hundred and fifty american colleges are open to women, and while every avenue to scientific and professional culture is closed against her, it is unfair to judge woman by the same intellectual standard as man, and impossible to define a limit to her capacities and talents. _resolved_, that the inadequate compensation which the labor of women now commands, is the source of inexpressible individual misery and social demoralization; that inasmuch as the law of supply and demand will always regulate the remuneration of labor, the diversity of female employments and her free access to every branch of business, are indispensable to the virtue, happiness, and well-being of society. * * * * * chapter viii. massachusetts. _first worcester convention, ._ names of persons who signed the call of . massachusetts. lucy stone, b. s. treanor, dr. seth rogers, wm. h. channing, mary m. brooks, eliza f. taft, harriot k. hunt, t. w. higginson, dr. a. c. taft, a. bronson alcott, mary e. higginson, charles k. whipple, nathaniel barney, emily winslow, mary bullard, eliza barney, r. waldo emerson, emma c. goodwin, wendell phillips, william l. garrison, abby price, ann greene phillips, helen e. garrison, thankful southwick, adin ballou, charles f. hovey, eliza j. kenney, anna q. t. parsons, sarah earle louisa m. sewall, mary h. l. cabot, abby k. foster sarah southwick. rhode island. sarah h. whitman, sarah brown, george clarke, thomas davis, elizabeth b. chace, mary adams, paulina w. davis, mary clarke, george adams. joseph a. barker, john l. clarke, new york gerrit smith, charlotte g. coffin, joseph savage, nancy smith, mary g. taber, l. n. fowler, elizabeth c. stanton, elizabeth s. miller, lydia fowler, catharine wilkinson, elizabeth russell, sarah smith, samuel j. may, stephen smith, charles d. miller. charlotte c. may, rosa smith, pennsylvania. william elder, jane g. swisshelm, myra townsend, sarah elder, charlotte darlington, mary grew, sarah tyndale, simon barnard, sarah lewis, warner justice, lucretia mott, sarah pugh, huldah justice, james mott, hannah darlington, william swisshelm, w. s. pierce, sarah d. barnard. maryland. mrs. eliza stewart. ohio. elizabeth wilson, mary cowles, benjamin s. jones, mary a. johnson, maria l. giddings, lucius a. hine, oliver johnson, jane elizabeth jones, sylvia cornell. resolutions. wendell phillips presented, from the business committee, the following resolutions: _resolved_, that every human being of full age, and resident for a proper length of time on the soil of the nation, who is required to obey law, is entitled to a voice in its enactments; that every such person, whose property or labor is taxed for the support of the government, is entitled to a direct share in such government; therefore, _resolved_, that women are clearly entitled to the right of suffrage, and to be considered eligible to office; the omission to demand which on her part, is a palpable recreancy to duty, and the denial of which is a gross usurpation, on the part of man, no longer to be endured; and that every party which claims to represent the humanity, civilization, and progress of the age, is bound to inscribe on its banners, "equality before the law, without distinction of sex or color." _resolved_, that political rights acknowledge no sex, and, therefore, the word "male" should be stricken from every state constitution. _resolved_, that the laws of property, as affecting married parties, demand a thorough revisal, so that all rights may be equal between them; that the wife may have, during life, an equal control over the property gained by their mutual toil and sacrifices, be heir to her husband precisely to the same extent that he is heir to her, and entitled at her death to dispose by will of the same share of the joint property as he is. _resolved_, that since the prospect of honorable and useful employment, in after life, for the faculties we are laboring to discipline, is the keenest stimulus to fidelity in the use of educational advantages, and since the best education is what we give ourselves in the struggles, employments, and discipline of life; therefore, it is impossible that woman should make full use of the instruction already accorded to her, or that her career should do justice to her faculties, until the avenues to the various civil and professional employments are thrown open to arouse her ambition and call forth all her nature. _resolved_, that every effort to educate woman, until you accord to her her rights, and arouse her conscience by the weight of her responsibilities, is futile, and a waste of labor. _resolved_, that the cause we have met to advocate--the claim for woman of all her natural and civil rights--bids us remember the two millions of slave women at the south, the most grossly wronged and foully outraged of all women; and in every effort for an improvement in our civilization, we will bear in our heart of hearts the memory of the trampled womanhood of the plantation, and omit no effort to raise it to a share in the rights we claim for ourselves. from mildred a. spoford. paulina wright davis.--_dear madam_:--i take the liberty of enclosing you an extract from a long epistle i have just received from helene marie weber. it speaks of matter interesting to us all, and i ask of you the favor to submit it to the convention. miss weber, as a literary character, stands in the front rank of essayists in france. she has labored zealously in behalf of her sex, as her numerous tracts on subjects of reform bear testimony. no writer of the present age, perhaps, has done more to exalt woman than she has by her powerful essays. my personal knowledge of miss weber enables me to speak confidently of her private character. it is utterly false that she is a masculine woman. her deportment is strictly lady-like, modest, and unassuming, and her name is beyond reproach. she is a protestant of the lutheran order; exemplary in all her religious duties, and unaffectedly pious and benevolent. she is, as you are doubtless aware, a practical agriculturist. the entire business of her farm is conducted by herself, and she has been eminently successful. she has proved the capacity of woman for business pursuits. her success in this vocation is a practical argument worth a thousand theories. i find no difficulty with her because she dresses like a man. her dress has not changed her nature. those who censure her for abandoning the female dress, make up their judgment without proper reflection. she has violated no custom of her own country, and has merely acted according to the honest dictates of her mind--"_honi soit qui mal y pense._" miss weber is now about twenty-five years of age. she is a ripe scholar, and has a perfect command of the english language. i am decidedly of the opinion that her visit among us will do a vast deal of good to our cause, and we ought to give her a hearty welcome when she comes. i can assure our most rigid friends that they will all be reconciled to her attire on five minutes' acquaintance.... i remain, dear madam, yours sincerely, mildred a. spoford. _extract from a letter of_ h. m. weber. la pelouse, _august , _. .... circumstances place it out of my power to visit america during the present season.... the newspapers, both of england and america, have done me great injustice. while they have described my apparel with the minute accuracy of professional tailors, they have seen fit to charge me with a disposition to undervalue the female sex, and to identify myself with the other. such calumnies are annoying to me. i have never wished to be an iphis--never for a moment affected to be anything but a woman. i do not think any one ever mistook me for a man, unless it may have been some stranger who slightly glanced at me while passing along the street or the highway. i adopted male attire as a measure of convenience in my business, and not through any wish to appear eccentric or to pass for one of the male sex; and it has ever been my rule to dress with the least possible ostentation consistent with due neatness. i have never had cause to regret my adoption of male attire, and never expect to return to a female toilette. i am fully aware, however, that my dress will probably prejudice the great body of our friends in america against me, while present impressions on that subject exist; and it was with the view of allaying this feeling that i wished to address the assembly at worcester. by this means i think i could satisfy any liberal-minded person, of either sex, that there is no moral or political principle involved in this question, and that a woman may, if she like, dress in male habiliments without injury to herself or others.... those who suppose that woman can be "the political, social, pecuniary, religious equal of man" without conforming to his dress, deceive themselves, and mislead others who have no minds of their own. while the superiority of the male dress for all purposes of business and recreation is conceded, it is absurd to argue that we should not avail ourselves of its advantages. there are no well-founded objections to women dressing, as we term it, _en cavalier_. the only two i ever heard are these: "to do so is contrary to law, both human and divine," and, "the male dress is _outre_ and less graceful than our own." these objections may be answered in a few words. the human statutes on this subject should be repealed, as they surely will be in due time, or be regarded as they now are in european states--as dead letters. the practice is not contrary to divine law. the alleged prohibition, as contained in the fifth book of moses, had reference to a religious custom of the amorites, and was limited in its application to the children of israel, who had by divine command dispossessed that pagan nation of their territory, and destroyed their temples of idolatrous worship. the context will show two other prohibitions on this subject. in the th and th verses of the same chapter (deut, xxii.) it is forbidden to "wear garments of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen together," and to wear fringes on the vesture. these prohibitions are all of the same character, and had an obvious reference to the ceremonies used by the pagans in their worship of idols. if one of these prohibitions be binding upon nations of the present age, the others are not less so. to the second objection, it may be said that beauty and grace in matters of dress are determined by no rules, and if the fashion of men's clothes be awkward it can easily be improved. women who prefer the gown should, of course, consult their own pleasure by continuing to wear it; while those whose preference is a male dress, ought not to be blamed for adopting it. i close this homily by recording my prediction, that in ten years male attire will be generally worn by the women of most civilized countries, and that it will precede the consummation of many great measures which are deemed to be of paramount importance. i hope to visit america next year. thanks to the invention of steam, a voyage across the ocean is now a mere _bagatelle_. i have not much of the spirit of travel remaining. my agricultural pursuits confine me at home nearly the whole year, but my captivity is a delightful one. affectionately yours, h. m. weber. william henry channing, from the business committee, suggested a plan for organization, and the principles which should govern the movement for establishing woman's co-sovereignty with man, and reported the following: _resolved_, that as women alone can learn by experience and prove by works, what is their rightful sphere of duty, we recommend, as _next steps_, that they should demand and secure: st. _education_ in primary and high-schools, universities, medical, legal, and theological institutions, as comprehensive and exact as their abilities prompt them to seek and their capabilities fit them to receive. d. _partnership_ in the labors, gains, risks, and remunerations of productive industry, with such limits only as are assigned by taste, intuitive judgment, or their measure of spiritual and physical vigor, as tested by experiment. d. a _co-equal share_ in the formation and administration of law, municipal, state, and national, through legislative assemblies, courts, and executive offices. th. _such unions_ as may become the guardians of pure morals and honorable manners--a high court of appeal in cases of outrage which can not be, and are not touched by civil or ecclesiastical organizations, as at present existing, and a medium for expressing the highest views of justice dictated by human conscience and sanctioned by holy inspiration. _resolved_, that a central committee be appointed by this convention, empowered to enlarge its numbers, on ( st) education; ( d) industrial avocations; ( d) civil and political rights and regulations; ( th) social relations; who shall correspond with each other and with the central committee, hold meetings in their respective neighborhoods, gather statistics, facts, and incidents to illustrate, raise funds for the movement; and through the press, tracts, books, and the living agent, guide public opinion upward and onward in the grand social reform of establishing woman's co-sovereignty with man. _resolved_, that the central committee be authorized to call conventions at such times and places as they see fit, and that they hold office until the next annual convention. to carry out the plan suggested by mr. channing, the following committees were appointed: members of committees. _central committee_.--paulina w. davis, chairman; sarah h. earle, secretary; wendell phillips, treasurer; mary a. w. johnson, wm. h. channing, gerrit smith, john g. forman, martha h. mowry, lucy stone, abby k. foster, pliny sexton, j. elizabeth jones, william elder, william stedman, emily robinson, abby h. price, william lloyd garrison, lucretia mott, ernestine l. rose, elizabeth c. stanton, angelina grimké weld, antoinette l. brown, harriot k. hunt, emma r. coe, clarina i. h. nichols, charles c. burleigh, adin ballou, sarah h. hallock, joseph a. dugdale. _educational committee_.--eliza barney, chairman; marian blackwell, secretary; elizabeth c. stanton, eliza taft, clarina i. h. nichols, calvin fairbanks, hannah darlington, ann eliza brown, elizabeth oakes smith. _industrial committee_.--elizabeth blackwell, harriot k. hunt, benjamin s. treanor, ebenezer d. draper, phebe goodwin, alice jackson, maria waring, sarah l. miller. _committee on civil and political functions_.--ernestine l. rose, lucy stone, wendell phillips, hannah stickney, sarah hallock, abby k. foster, charles c. burleigh, elizabeth c. stanton, william l. garrison. _committee on social relations_.--lucretia mott, william h. channing, anna q. t. parsons, william h. fish, rebecca plumley, elizabeth b. chace, john g. forman, henry fish, mary grew. _committee on publication_.--wm. henry channing, chairman; ernestine l. rose, charlotte fowler wells. members worcester convention, . _massachusetts_.--james n. buffam, w. a. alcott, a. h. johnson, w. h. harrington, e. b. briggs, a. c. lackey, ora ober, olive w. hastings, thomas provan, rebecca provan, a. w. thayer, m. m. munyan, w. h. johnson, g. w. benson, mrs. c. m. carter, h. s. brigham, e. a. welsh, mrs. j. h. moore, margaret s. merritt, martha willard, a. n. lamb, mrs. chaplin, n. b. hill, k. h. parsons, c. jillson, l. wait, chas. bigham, j. t. partridge, eliza c. clapp, daniel steward, sophia foord, e. a. clarke, e. h. taft, mrs. e. j. henshaw, edward southwick, e. a. merrick, mrs. c. merrick, lewis ford, j. t. everett, loring moody, sojourner truth, e. jane alden, elizabeth dayton, lima h. ober, thomas hill, elizabeth frail, eli belknap, m. m. frail, valentine belknap, mary r. metcalf, r. h. ober, d. a. mundy, dr. s. rogers, elizabeth earle, g. d. williams, dorothy whiting, emily whiting, abigail morgan, susan fuller, thomas earle, allen c. earle, martha b. earle, anne h. southwick, joseph a. howland, adeline h. howland, o. t. harris, julia t. harris, john m. spear, e. d. draper, d. r. p. hewitt, l. c. wilkins, j. h. binney, mary adams, anna goulding, e. a. parrington, mrs. parrington, harriot k. hunt, chas. f. hovey, mrs. j. g. hodgden, c. m. shaw, ophelia d. hill, mrs. p. allen, anna q. t. parsons, c. d. mclane, w. h. channing, wendell phillips, abby k. foster, s. s. foster, effingham l. capron, frances h. drake, e. m. dodge, eliza barney, lydia barney, wm. d. cady, c. s. dow, e. goddard, mary f. gilbert, josiah henshaw, andrew wellington, louisa gleason, paulina gerry, lucy stone, mary abbot, anna e. fish, c. g. munyan, maria l. southwick, f. h. underwood, j. b. willard, perry joslin, elizabeth johnson, seneth smith, marian hill, wm. coe, e. t. smith, s. aldrich, m. a. maynard, s. p. r., j. m. cummings, nancy fay, m. jane davis, d. r. crandell, e. m. burleigh, sarah chafee, adeline perry, lydia e. chase, j. a. fuller, sarah prentice, emily prentice, h. n. fairbanks, mrs. a. crowl, dwight tracy, j. s. perry, isaac norcross, julia a. mcintyre, emily sanford, h. m. sanford, c. d. m. lane, elizabeth firth, s. c. sargeant, c. a. k. ball, m. a. thompson, lucinda safford, s. e. hall, s. d. holmes, z. w. harlow, n. b. spooner, ignatius sargent, a. b. humphrey, m. r. hadwen, j. h. shaw, olive darling, m. a. walden, mrs. chickery, mrs. f. a. pierce, c. m. trenor, r. c. capron, wm. lloyd garrison, emily loveland, mrs. s. worcester, phebe worcester, adeline worcester, joanna r. ballou, abby h. price, b. willard, t. pool, m. b. kent, e. h. knowlton, g. valentine, a. prince, lydia wilmarth, j. g. warren, mrs. e. a. stowell, martin stowell, mrs. e. stamp, c. m. barbour, annie e. ruggles, t. b. elliot, a. h. metcalf, eliza j. kenney, rev. j. g. forman, andrew stone, m.d., samuel may, jr., sarah r. may, m. s. firth, a. p. b. rawson, nathaniel barney, sarah h. earle, f. c. johnson. _maine_.--anna r. blake, ellen m. prescott, oliver dennett, lydia dennett. _new york_.--frederick douglass, lydia mott, s. h. hallock, ernestine l. rose, joseph carpenter, pliny sexton, j. c. hathaway, lucy n. colman, antoinette l. brown, edgar hicks. _new hampshire._--p. b. cogswell, julia worcester, parker pillsbury, sarah pillsbury, asa foster. _vermont._--clarina i. howard nichols. mrs. a. e. brown. _pennsylvania._--hannah m. darlington, sarah tyndale, emma parker, lucretia mott, s. l. miller, isaac l. miller, alice jackson, janette jackson, anna r. cox, jacob pierce, lewis e. capen, olive w. hastings, rebecca plumley, s. l. hastings, phebe goodwin. _connecticut._--c. c. burleigh, martha smith, lucius holmes, benj. segur, buel picket, asa cutler, lucy t. dike, c. m. collins, anna cornell, s. monroe, anna e. price, m. c. monroe, gertrude r. burleigh. _rhode island._--betsy f. lawton, paulina w. davis, cynthia p. bliss, rebecca c. capron, martha mowry, mary eddy, daniel mitchell, g. davis, susan sisson, dr. s. mowry, elizabeth b. chase, rebecca b. spring, susan r. harris, a. barnes. _iowa._--silas smith. _ohio._--mariana johnson, oliver johnson, ellen blackwell, marian blackwell, diana w. ballou. _california._--mrs. mary g. wright. asenath fuller, denney m. f. walker, eunice d. f. pierce, elijah houghton, l. h. ober, a. wyman, silence bigelow, adeline s. greene, josephine reglar, anna t. draper, e. j. alden, sophia taft, alice h. easton, calvin fairbanks, d. h. knowlton, e. w. k. thompson, caroline farnum, mary r. hubbard. * * * * * second worcester convention, . resolutions. . _resolved_, that while we would not undervalue other methods, the right of suffrage for women is, in our opinion, the corner-stone of this enterprise, since we do not seek to protect woman, but rather to place her in a position to protect herself. . _resolved_, that it will be woman's fault if, the ballot once in her hand, all the barbarous, demoralizing, and unequal laws relating to marriage and property, do not speedily vanish from the statute-book; and while we acknowledge that the hope of a share in the higher professions and profitable employments of society is one of the strongest motives to intellectual culture, we know, also, that an interest in political questions is an equally powerful stimulus; and we see, beside, that we do our best to insure education to an individual when we put the ballot into his hands; it being so clearly the interest of the community that one upon whose decisions depend its welfare and safety, should both have free access to the best means of education, and be urged to make use of them. . _resolved_, that we do not feel called upon to assert or establish the equality of the sexes, in an intellectual or any other point of view. it is enough for our argument that natural and political justice, and the axioms of english and american liberty, alike determine that rights and burdens--taxation and representation--should be co-extensive; hence women, as individual citizens, liable to punishment for acts which the laws call criminal, or to be taxed in their labor and property for the support of government, have a self-evident and indisputable right, identically the same right that men have, to a direct voice in the enactment of those laws and the formation of that government. . _resolved_, that the democrat, or reformer, who denies suffrage to women, is a democrat only because he was not born a noble, and one of those levelers who are willing to level only down to themselves. . _resolved_, that while political and natural justice accords civil equality to woman; while great thinkers of every age, from plato to condorcet and mill, have supported their claim; while voluntary associations, religious and secular, have been organized on this basis, still, it is a favorite argument against it, that no political community or nation ever existed in which women have not been in a state of political inferiority. but, in reply, we remind our opponents that the same fact has been alleged, with equal truth, in favor of slavery; has been urged against freedom of industry, freedom of conscience, and the freedom of the press; none of these liberties having been thought compatible with a well-ordered state, until they had proved their possibility by springing into existence as facts. besides, there is no difficulty in understanding why the subjection of woman has been a _uniform custom_, when we recollect that we are just emerging from the ages in which _might_ has been always right. . _resolved_, that, so far from denying the overwhelming social and civil influence of women, we are fully aware of its vast extent; aware, with demosthenes, that "measures which the statesman has meditated a whole year may be overturned in a day by a woman"; and for this very reason we proclaim it the very highest expediency to endow her with full civil rights, since only then will she exercise this mighty influence under a just sense of her duty and responsibility; the history of all ages bearing witness, that the only safe course for nations is to add open responsibility wherever there already exists unobserved power. . _resolved_, that we deny the right of any portion of the species to decide for another portion, or of any individual to decide for another individual what is and what is not their "proper sphere"; that the proper sphere for all human beings is the largest and highest to which they are able to attain; what this is, can not be ascertained without complete liberty of choice; woman, therefore, ought to choose for herself what sphere she will fill, what education she will seek, and what employment she will follow, and not be held bound to accept, in submission, the rights, the education, and the sphere which man thinks proper to allow her. . _resolved_, that we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and we charge that man with gross dishonesty or ignorance, who shall contend that "men," in the memorable document from which we quote, does not stand for the human race; that "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," are the "inalienable rights" of half only of the human species; and that, by "the governed," whose consent is affirmed to be the only source of just power, is meant that _half_ of mankind only who, in relation to the other, have hitherto assumed the character of _governors_. . _resolved_, that we see no weight in the argument that it is _necessary_ to exclude women from civil life because domestic cares and political engagements are incompatible; since we do not see the fact to be so in the case of men; and because, if the incompatibility be real, it will take care of itself, neither men nor women needing any law to exclude them from an occupation when they have undertaken another incompatible with it. second, we see nothing in the assertion that women, themselves, do not desire a change, since we assert that superstitious fears and dread of losing men's regard, smother all frank expression on this point; and further, if it be their real wish to avoid civil life, laws to keep them out of it are absurd, no legislator having ever yet thought it necessary to compel people by law to follow their own inclination. . _resolved_, that it is as absurd to deny all women their civil rights because the cares of household and family take up all the time of some, as it would be to exclude the whole male sex from congress, because some men are sailors, or soldiers in active service or merchants, whose business requires all their attention and energies. glen haven, _feb. , _. paulina wright davis.--_my dear friend_:--bless you for _the una_, and for sending me a copy. i am pleased with its appearance and with the heartiness of your correspondents. would you find room for some of my lucubrations? if so, i will drive my quill a little for you some of these evenings. perhaps i might utter something readable. i do not ask you to send me _the una_, for the dollar must go with the request, and the dollar has yet to be earned by _quill-work_, a task quite as hard as was work when a child at the _quill-wheel_, winding yarn from the reel. drop me a line if you would like my assistance as a correspondent, and what i can do, i will cheerfully. very truly, your friend, j. c. jackson, m.d.[ ] footnotes: [ ] at present the head of the water-cure establishment, dansville, new york. dr. jackson has been identified with all the leading reforms of his generation--anti-slavery, temperance, woman suffrage--and an earnest advocate for a new dress for woman that shall give freedom to her lungs and powers of locomotion. petition of harriot k. hunt to the massachusetts constitutional convention. _to the constitutional convention now sitting in boston_: your petitioner respectfully prays your honorable body to insert into the constitution a clause securing to females paying town, county, and states taxes upon property held in their own right, and who have no husbands or other guardians to represent and act for them, the same right of voting possessed by male tax-paying citizens; or, should your honorable body not deem such females capable of exercising the right of suffrage with due discretion, at least excuse them from the paying of taxes, in the appropriation of which they have no voice, thus carrying out the great principle on which the american revolution was based--that taxation and representation ought to go together. all of which your petitioner will ever pray. paulina wright davis died august , , after two years of great suffering. a large circle of friends gathered at her elegant residence near providence, rhode island, to pay their last tributes of friendship and respect. the chief speaker on the occasion was, at her request, elizabeth cady stanton. she left her noble husband, hon. thomas davis, and two adopted daughters, to mourn her loss. it was a soft, balmy day, just such as our friend would have chosen, when she was laid in her last resting-place. dr. and mrs. channing, theodore tilton, and joaquin miller, were among those who followed in the funeral _cortège_. * * * * * chapter ix. indiana. _dublin convention, october, ._ resolutions. _resolved_, that all laws and customs having for their perpetuation the only plea that they are time-honored, which in any way infringe on woman's equal rights, cramp her energies, cripple her efforts, or place her before the eyes of her family or the world as an inferior, are wrong, and should be immediately abolished. _resolved_, that the avenues to gain, in all their varieties, should be as freely opened to woman as they now are to man. _resolved_, that the rising generation of boys and girls should be educated together in the same schools and colleges, and receive the same kind and degree of education. _resolved_, that woman should receive for equal labor, equal pay with man. _resolved_, that as the qualification for citizenship in this country is based on capacity and morality, and as the sexes in their mental condition are equal, therefore woman should enjoy the same rights of citizenship with man. an association was organized and a constitution was adopted, to which the following names were appended: amanda m. way, minerva maulsby, jane morrow, agnes cook, rebecca shreves, rebecca williams, wilson d. schooley, samuel mitchell, elda ann smith, dr. o. p. baer, mrs. o. p. baer, hannah birdsall, melissa j. diggs, hannah hiatt, jas. p. way, b. f. diggs, mary b. birdsall, fanny hiatt, henry hiatt, thomas birdsall, elizabeth hoover, elijah c. wright, elizabeth wright, a. w. pruyne, dr. mary f. thomas, dr. owen thomas, emi b. swank, joel p. davis. lydia p. davis, thursey a. way, rebecca a. c. murray. * * * * * chapter x. pennsylvania. saxe, dana, and grace greenwood. mr. saxe not long since, in a poem, satirized literary women very keenly, upon which grace greenwood wrote a severe criticism on his volume, which was published in _the evening post_. mr. saxe, after seeing the criticism, wrote a note to the editor of the _post_, in which he makes an exception in favor of grace. this calls forth another letter from her, from which we make the following extract: new brighton, _jan. , _. gentlemen:--....at the time of my writing, i was feeling peculiarly sensitive in regard to my womanly, as well as literary position. the grandpapaish lectures of mr. dana had troubled and discouraged me. i said, "if so speak and write our poets, surely the age is on the backward line of march." i had become impatient and indignant for my sex, thus lectured to, preached at, and satirized eternally. i had grown weary of hearing woman told that her sole business here, the highest, worthiest aims of her existence were to be loving, lovable, feminine, to win thus a lover and a lord whom she might glorify abroad and make comfortable at home. we have had enough of this. man is not best qualified to mark out woman's life-path. he knows, indeed, what he desires her to be, but he does not yet understand all that god and nature require of her. woman should not be made up of love alone, the other attributes of her being should not be dwarfed that this may have a large, unnatural growth. hers should be a distinct individuality, an independent moral existence--or, at least, the dependence should be mutual. woman can best judge of woman, her wants, capacities, aspirations, and powers. she can best speak to her on the life of the affections, on the loves of her heart, on the peculiar joys and sorrows of her lot. she can best teach her to be true to herself, to her high nature, to her brave spirit; and then, indeed, shall she be constant in her love and faithful to her duties, all, even to the most humble. woman can strengthen woman for the life of self-sacrifice, of devotion, of ministration, of much endurance which lies before her. a woman of intellect and right feeling would never dream of pointing out the weak and unfilial desdemona as an example to her sex in this age; would never dare to hold up as "our destined end and aim," a one love, however romantic and poetical, which might be so selfishly sought and so unscrupulously secured. thank heaven, woman herself is awaking to a perception of the causes which have hitherto impeded her free and perfect development, which have shut her out from the large experiences, the wealth and fullness of the life to which she was called. she is beginning to feel, and to cast off the bonds which oppress her--many of them, indeed, self-imposed, and many gilded and rarely wrought, covered with flowers and delicate tissues, but none the less bonds--bonds upon the speech, upon the spirit, upon the life. there surely is a great truth involved in this question of "woman's rights," and agitated as it may be, with wisdom and mildness, or with rashness and the bold, high spirit which shocks and startles at the first, good will come out of it eventually, great good, and the women of the next age will be the stronger and the freer, aye, and the happier, for the few brave spirits who stood up fearlessly for unpopular truth against the world. i know that i expose myself to the charge of being unfeminine in feeling, of ultraism. well, better that than conservatism, though conservatism were safer and more respectable. senselessness is always safety, and a mummy is a thoroughly respectable personage. but to return to mr. saxe. our poet satirized rather keenly literary women, as a class, in the poem on which i remarked, but afterwards, in his communication to the _post_, most politely intimates that he excepts me as one of the "women of real talent." but i will not be excepted. i stand in the ranks, liable to all the penalties of the calling--exposed to the hot shot of satire and the stinging arrows of ridicule. i will not be received as an exception, where full justice is not done to the class to which i belong. suppose, now, that i should write a poem to deliver before some "woman's rights convention" or "ladies' literary association," on "the times," which should come down sharp and heavy on the literary men of the day, for usurping the delicate employ by right and nature the peculiar province of woman, "the weaker vessel"; for neglecting their shops, their fields, their counting-houses, and their interesting families, and wasting their precious time in writing love-tales, "doleful ditties," and "distressful strains," for the magazines; for flirting with the muse, while their wives are wanting shoes, or perpetrating puns, while their children cry for "buns"! suppose that, pointing every line with wit, i should hold them up to contempt as careless, improvident lovers of pleasure, given to self-indulgence; taking their helicon more than dashed with gin; seekers after notoriety, eccentric in their habits and unmanly in all their tastes! after this, should i very handsomely make an exception in favor of mr. saxe, would he feel complimented? as far as i have known literary women, and as far as they have been made known to us in literary biography, the unwomanly and unamiable, the poor wives, and daughters, and sisters, have been the rare exceptions. i mean not alone "women of genius," but would include those of mere talent, of mediocre talent even, devoted to letters as a profession, and who, by their estimable characters and blameless lives, are an honor to their calling. i believe that for one woman whom the pursuits of literature, the ambition of authorship, and the love of fame have rendered unfit for home-life, a thousand have been made thoroughly undomestic by poor social strivings, the follies of fashion, and the intoxicating distinction which mere personal beauty confers. grace greenwood. westchester convention, june and , . letter from mary mott. auburn, de kalb county, indiana, _may , _. sisters:--you have called another convention, and all who are the friends of equal rights are invited to attend and participate in the deliberations. the invitation will probably meet the eye of thousands who would gladly encourage you by their presence, did circumstances permit them to do so. your aim is the moral, physical, and intellectual elevation of woman, and through her to benefit the whole human race. can a convention be called for a nobler purpose? have men ever aimed so high? they have had conventions without stint; old men and young men, whigs, democrats, abolitionists, and slaveholders, all have had conventions; but how few have aimed at anything higher than political power for themselves and party. we have looked upon their contests without personal interest in their result. some benefits might come to our husbands and brothers, but none to us. we are permitted to talk about liberty, but we may not enjoy it. we may water the tree with our tears, while our husbands pluck and enjoy the fruit. of what advantage is it to us to live in a republic? our social position is no better than it was in the days of queen elizabeth. men have made great progress since that day; from being subjects they have become sovereigns, ruling, as she professed to rule, by _divine right_. true, many of these sovereigns have not a foot of ground, and but one subject, a wife; but then he has absolute control over that one. yes, they have made progress; but for that progress they are much indebted to men who, being in possession of power, were only anxious to retain and extend it. the great charter was extorted from king john by the barons in order to consolidate their power; they attended to the interests of the common people (who then were in a state of villanage) just so far as they could clearly see would be for their own interest, and no further. the world is much indebted to those sturdy barons; they did more good than they ever thought of doing. there were germs in that charter that have borne excellent fruit since that day. error delights in obscurity; surrounded with clouds and darkness, it is comparatively secure; but let these clouds be scattered, let the light of reason fall upon it, and it is dangerous no longer. any act that causes men to think, is so far an advantage to society. the ideas will not be lost. when king james i talked and wrote upon the doctrine of the divine right of kings, he little thought it would result in the beheading of his son charles, and the expulsion of his son james from the throne. shrouded in mystery, it was approached with reverence, and seldom critically examined, until he lifted the veil and invited others to behold its beauty. what had been a mystery was a mystery no longer. he forgot what others remembered--that it might have different aspects for the sovereign and subject. it was judged unworthy of national homage, but very desirable as a household god. and men who thought paul was in the dark when he wrote, "let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of god. the powers that be are ordained of god. whosoever resisteth the powers resisteth the ordinance of god; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation;" the men, i say, who could not and would not receive such doctrine from paul, found him worthy of all praise when he said, "wives, obey your husbands." after a while england proposed taxing the colonies. one party held that protection gave them the right of taxation. the other said the british constitution gave the government no power to tax, unless the persons were represented in parliament. they declared their resolution to pay no taxes without representation. much was said about the rights of man. and when at last a three-penny tax was laid upon tea, the men, being brimful of patriotism, cared nothing for the tax; it was the principle they cared for, and they would fight for their principles. how very sincere they were, let the millions of wives answer, whose very existence is ignored in law. there was one thing women gained by that contest; they gained a clearer knowledge of their rights, a better understanding of their wrongs, which, according to blackstone, are a deprivation of rights. a knowledge of these has produced a strong desire to seek a remedy. hence the call for a woman's convention. we must expect some difference of opinion as to the extent of the reforms proposed; but none who have carefully examined the subject will see reason to doubt that our rights run parallel with the rights of man. that being granted, we may then inquire into their expediency. many things we have a right to do which are inexpedient; but it is for us to say what rights we will waive and what we will enjoy. we claim that the professions should be open to woman, believing she can preach as acceptably, study the law as thoroughly, and practice medicine as successfully, as man. the business of a clerk seems to us to be peculiarly feminine, and we claim the right to choose any trade or business for which we have strength and capacity. if it is true that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, we would respectfully ask by what authority men legislate for us, and who gave them that authority? if the power is a just one, from what source did they derive it? certainly not from the consent of the governed. we presume neither men nor women care for the privilege of voting, except as a means of securing the enjoyment of the rights with which they have been endowed by their creator, and for the protection of which "governments were first instituted among men." the rights of women have been long in abeyance, but no lapse of time can deprive her of them; they are not transferable. she does not ask the law to confer upon her new rights. she only asks to have her just rights recognized and protected. a glance at the present position of women will show that the law does not effect this. it places minors, idiots, insane persons, and married women in the same category. man takes all that the wife has to his own use, and such robberies are so common that they excite no indignation in the breasts of his fellow-men. he can spend all she has at the gaming-table, and who can hinder him? he can spend it in dissipation, while his deceived wife is suffering at home for the necessaries of life. the law gives him the property, and with that he can usually find tools to work out his designs. the law interposes no barriers between him and his victim. if a married woman had equal protection with her husband, she would be ambitious to acquire property by her own industry, and the habit of industry and forethought thus acquired, would be found valuable in the marriage relation, and she would not be compelled to enter matrimony as a house of refuge. but we are told that marriage is a contract, voluntarily entered into by competent parties, and by this contract the rights of the woman are transferred to the man. but _marriage is not a contract_, it is an union instituted by god himself, anterior to any contract whatever. man was not pronounced good until woman was created, and god said, let us make man in our image after our own likeness, and let them _have dominion_. but some one may meet us here with the question, did he not say to the woman, after the fall, "thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee?" yes, the bible says so; and in the next chapter we are told that adam and eve had two sons, the eldest called cain, the youngest abel; and god said to cain when speaking of abel, "unto thee shall be his desire, and _thou shalt rule over him_." you see they are the very words used to eve; therefore, if dominion was taken from the woman and given to the man, it was taken from all younger brothers and given to the first-born. if marriage be a contract, why is it not governed by the same rules that govern other contracts? a consideration is necessary to the existence of a contract. in marriage, the man offers love for love and hand for hand, but what is the consideration for those personal rights of which he dispossesses her? if a contract, why is there no remedy for its violation either in law or equity, as is the case with other contracts? the bridegroom says in the marriage service, "with all my worldly goods i thee endow." those who framed that impressive service no doubt considered it but just that he who received all by the courtesy of england, should endow her as liberally, and they thus reminded every bridegroom of his duty, even before the altar; and what honest man will say he should not keep his word? mary mott. letter from dr. elizabeth blackwell. new york, _may , _. mrs. darlington.--_dear madam_:---i thank you cordially for your very kind invitation, and would willingly attend your convention did not my duties in new york prevent my leaving the city. the convention could not choose a more important subject than education for discussion, and great good will be done if public attention is roused to the imperfection of our present system, in which the _physical nature_ and the _duties of life_ are equally neglected. i believe that the chief source of the false position of women is, the _inefficiency of women themselves_--the deplorable fact that they are so often careless mothers, weak wives, poor housekeepers, ignorant nurses, and frivolous human beings. if they would perform with strength and wisdom the duties which lie immediately around them, every sphere of life would soon be open to them. they might be priests, physicians, rulers, welcome everywhere, for all restrictive laws and foolish customs would speedily disappear before the spiritual power of strong, good women. in order to develop such women, our present method of educating girls, which is an injurious waste of time, must be entirely remodeled, and i shall look forward with great interest to any plan of action that may be suggested by your convention. with hearty sympathy in every aspiration, and the right hand of fellowship to every conscientious worker, believe me, very truly yours, elizabeth blackwell. letter from paulina wright davis. it is also often asked if women want more rights, why do they not take them? let us see how that may be. does a woman desire a _thorough_ medical education, where is the institution fully and property endowed to receive her? two women, it is true, have made their way through two separate colleges, and when they had honorably won their diplomas, and even the voice of scandal could not cast a shadow upon them, they were publicly insulted by having the doors of those institutions closed upon all others of their sex. if she desires a course of thorough disciplinary study for any purpose whatsoever, where is she to find means or the institution to receive her? the academic shades are forbidden ground to her, while their massive doors turn with no harsh grating sound at the magic word of man for man. if we did not feel too deeply the injustice of this, we might comfort ourselves with the idea that our brains are so superior that we do not need the same amount of study and discipline as the other sex.... when socrates was advocating the equal education of women for governmental offices, he was met by ridicule. his words in consideration of it are full of wisdom. says the sage, "the man who laughs at women going through their exercises, reaps the unripe fruit of a ridiculous wisdom, and seems not rightly to know at what he laughs, or why he does it, for that ever was and will be deemed a noble saying, that the profitable is beautiful and the hurtful base.".... the harmony, unity, and oneness of the race, can not be secured while there is class legislation; while one half of humanity is cramped within a narrow sphere and governed by arbitrary power. this unrecognized half desires these factitious restraints removed, and to be placed side by side with the other, simply that there may be full, free, and equal development in the future. the moral life which urges this claim is the god within us. the force which opposes it, it matters not whence it comes, "is of the earth, earthy.".... letter from wm. h. and mary johnson. the influence of woman as a wife and a mother has been so often portrayed, that it would be difficult to find a moral writer who has not indulged in the fruitful theme, but we can not omit the occasion of quoting the sentiments of the eloquent wm. wirt on this subject: "is not _our_ conduct toward this sex ill-advised and foolish in relation to our own happiness? is it not to reject a boon which providence kindly offers to us, and which, were we to embrace and cultivate it with skill, would refine and enlarge the sources of our own enjoyment, and purify, raise, and ennoble our own character beyond the power of human calculation? "as the companion of a man of sense and virtue, as an instrument and partner of his earthly happiness, what is the most beautiful woman in the world without a mind--without a cultivated mind, capable of an animated correspondence with his own, and of reciprocating all his thoughts and feelings? is not our conduct on this head ungenerous and ignoble to the other sex? do we not deprive them of the brightest and most angelic portion of their character, degrade them from the rank of intelligence which they are formed to hold; and instead of making them the partners of our souls, attempt to debase them into mere objects of sense? "is not our conduct mean and dastardly? does it not look as if we were afraid that, with equal opportunities, they would rival us in intelligence, and examine and refute our pretended superiority?" we congratulate the convention on the selection of the place for holding their deliberations. in no part of the state could a community be found better qualified to appreciate the objects of such a meeting, or the means for their accomplishment. chester has undoubtedly taken the lead of all her sister counties in educational movements, as may be witnessed in her numerous flourishing schools for both sexes, which are attracting, as to a common focus, pupils from all parts of the country. and it affords us unmingled pleasure to observe the numerous female schools that have been established in this quarter, and the patronage that has been extended toward them. these are sure indications of an improved public sentiment in relation to the development of the female mind. but there are other indications of advancement in this particular still more encouraging, because they exhibit fruits of the most ennobling powers of the human understanding. we allude to those benevolent associations particularly for promoting temperance, in which the females of chester county have borne such a conspicuous and effective part. the reflection is, indeed, animating, that at a period when almost all kindred associations in the state, among the other sex, had languished, and intemperance seemed likely once more to overwhelm the land with more desolating evils than had ever yet been known, there was yet to be found in chester county an association of females who were nobly bearing the standard of total abstinence, and by their well-timed labors giving evidence that there was yet vitality in the cause! thus we have seen not only in this, but in other fields of moral reform, that the progress has uniformly been commensurate with the intellectual and moral culture of the female mind. let the sex, then, give their influence in promoting a system of education that will, if carried out, secure to every woman in the land the blessings of thorough practical instruction. may the deliberations of the convention tend to the promotion of this most desirable object. with such developments as must result from the more general diffusion of knowledge, not only rights, but duties that have been hidden by the suggestions of ignorance and bigotry will be brought to light, and the sex will realize the noble sentiment of one of new england's gifted sons, that "new occasions teach new duties--time makes ancient good uncouth, they must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth!" desiring that your discussions may be guided by that spirit which has heretofore characterized them, we remain your friends, wm. h. johnson and mary johnson. resolutions of the westchester convention, . _resolved_, that every party which claims to represent the humanity, the civilization, or the progress of the age, is bound to inscribe on its banner, "equality before the laws, without distinction of sex." _resolved_, that the science of government is not necessarily connected with the violence and intrigue which are now frequently practised by party politicians, neither does the exercise of the elective franchise, or the _proper_ discharge of governmental duties necessarily involve the sacrifice of the refinement or sensibilities of true womanhood. _resolved_, that in demanding for women that equal station among their brethren to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle them, we do not urge the claim in the spirit of an adverse policy, or with any idea of separate advantages, or in any apprehension of conflicting interests between the sexes. _resolved_, that while we regret the antagonism into which we are necessarily brought to some of the laws, customs, and monopolies of society, we have cause to rejoice that the exposure of the great wrongs of woman has been so promptly met by a kind spirit, and a disposition to redress these wrongs, to open avenues for her elevation, and to co-operate for her entire enfranchisement. _resolved_, that the greatest and most varied development of the human mind, and the widest sphere of usefulness, can be obtained only by the highest intellectual culture of the whole people, and that all obstructions should be removed which tend to prevent women from entering, as freely as men, upon the study of the physical, mental, and moral sciences. _resolved_, that we can not appreciate the justice or generosity of the laws which require women to pay taxes, and thus enable legislators richly to endow colleges and universities for their own sex, from which the female sex is entirely excluded. _resolved_, that the growing liberality of legislation and judicial construction, in regard to the property rights of married women, affords gratifying evidence of the equity of our demands and of their progress in public sentiment. _resolved_, that the disposition of property by law as affecting married parties, ought to be the same for the husband and the wife, "that she should have, during life, an equal control over the property gained by their mutual toil and sacrifices; and be heir to her husband, precisely to the extent that he is heir to her." _resolved_, that the mother being as much the natural guardian of the child as the father, ought so to be recognized in law, and if it is justly the province of the court to appoint guardians for minors, want of qualification in the surviving parent should be the required condition of the appointment. _resolved_, that the inequality of the remuneration paid for woman's labor compared with that of man, is unjust and degrading, for so long as custom awards to her smaller compensation for services of equal value, she will be held in a state of dependence, not by any order of nature, but by an arbitrary rule of man. _resolved_, that the distinctive traits of female character, like its distinct physical organism, having its foundation in nature, the widest range of thought and action, and the highest cultivation and development of all its varied powers, will only make more apparent those sensibilities and graces which are considered its peculiar charm. _resolved_, that in claiming for woman all the rights of human beings we are but asserting her humanity, leaving the differences actually existing in the male and female constitutions to take care of themselves, these differences furnishing no reason for subjecting one sex to the other. _resolved_, that a committee be appointed to prepare and circulate petitions, asking of our legislature such a change in the constitution and laws of this state, as shall extend to woman the privilege of the elective franchise, and equality in the division and inheritance of property. _resolved_, that said committee be instructed to collect information upon the rights acknowledged and privileges guaranteed to women by other states and governments, publishing it in such way as by them shall be deemed best for promoting political and legal equality between the sexes. _resolved_, that h. m. darlington, p. e. gibbons, hannah wright, mary ann fulton, sarah e. miller, lea pusey, and ruth dugdale be the committee. oliver johnson offered a resolution expressing the satisfaction afforded to the members of the convention by the presence and labors of those friends who had come from their distant homes in other states to be with us on this occasion. it was unanimously adopted. the convention adjourned _sine die_. fourth national w. r. convention, philadelphia, october , , , . resolutions. _resolved_, that we congratulate the true friends of woman upon the rapid progress which her cause has made during the year past, in spite of the hostility of the bad and the prejudices of the good. _resolved_, that woman's aspiration is to be the only limit of woman's destiny. _resolved_, that so long as woman is debarred from an equal education, restricted in her employments, denied the right of independent property if married, and denied in all cases the right of controlling the legislation which she is nevertheless bound to obey, so long must the woman's rights agitation be continued. _resolved_, that in perfect confidence that what we desire will one day be accomplished, we commit the cause of woman to god and to humanity. _resolved_, that in demanding the educational rights of woman, we do not deny the natural distinctions of sex, but only wish to develop them fully and harmoniously. _resolved_, that in demanding the industrial rights of woman, we only claim that she should have "a fair day's wages for a fair day's work," which is, however, impossible while she is restricted to few ill-paid avocations, and unable (if married) to control her own earnings. _resolved_, that in demanding the political rights of woman, we simply assert the fundamental principle of democracy--that taxation and representation should go together, and that, if this principle is denied, all our institutions must fall with it. _resolved_, that our present democracy is an absurdity, since it deprives woman even of the political power which is allowed to her in europe, and abolishes all other aristocracy only to establish a new aristocracy of sex, which includes _all_ men and excludes all women. _resolved_, that it is because we recognize the beauty and sacredness of the family, that we demand for woman an equal position there, instead of her losing, as now, the control of her own property, the custody of her own children, and, finally, her own legal existence, under laws which have all been pronounced by jurists "a disgrace to a heathen nation." _resolved_, that we urge it upon the women of every american state: first, to petition the legislatures for universal suffrage and a reform in the rights of property; second, to use their utmost efforts to improve female education; third, to open as rapidly as possible new channels for female industry. mrs. tracy cutler made an address upon the objects of the movement. * * * * * chapter xi. lucretia mott's funeral. lueretia mott died at her quiet home, "roadside," near philadelphia, nov. , . notwithstanding the associated press dispatch said, "funeral strictly private by special request," the attendance on that occasion was large. _the philadelphia times_ thus describes it: the funeral of lucretia mott, attended by an immense concourse of people, at her residence as well as in the cemetery, was an impressive scene not soon to be forgotten. a handsome stone house, standing in tastefully laid out and carefully kept grounds studded with forest trees, just west of the old fork road in cheltenham township, montgomery county, was the home of lucretia mott. on this occasion the road and grounds were densely packed with carriages, people on horseback and on foot, coming from many miles about to pay their last tributes of respect to this noble woman. the funeral was conducted according to the custom of the society of friends, and was in all its appointments simple and unostentatious, in keeping with the character of the noble woman who had passed away. no set forms were observed. the body, in her usual quaker costume, lay in a room adjoining the library, in a plain, unpolished walnut coffin, padded and lined with some white material, but without any ornamentation whatever. there were no flowers and no uttered demonstrations of grief, but a profound sadness seemed to pervade the house, and for half an hour no sound was heard in the densely thronged rooms save the muffled tread over the thick carpets of fresh arrivals and the whispered directions of a servant, pointing the way to the room where a last look at the dead might be had. at half-past o'clock deborah wharton arose from her seat in the parlor, and made a brief but touching address on the life and character of the deceased. she began by a quotation from the bible: "this day a mighty prince has fallen in israel." she then contrasted the condition in life of lucretia mott and that of a prince, and showed how she had accomplished more for humanity than the most powerful princes, but without noise and tumult and the shedding of blood. dr. furness paid a beautiful tribute to the dead. he quoted the beatitudes from the the fifth chapter of matthew, and applied them to her. "we are accustomed," he said, "to speak of the dead as having gone to their reward, but lucretia mott had her reward here, and she shall have it hereafter a hundred fold." dr. furness closed with an eloquent prayer that the example of the beautiful life ended upon earth might not be lost upon the living. phoebe couzins paid a tender and loving tribute that touched every heart. then loving hands took up the little coffin--it looked hardly larger than a child's--and bore it to the gravelled drive in front of the house. the route was down york road to fairhill, the friends' cemetery, at germantown avenue and cambria street, in this city, which was reached about three o'clock. here several hundred people were already gathered to witness the interment. fairhill is a little cemetery, about the size of a city square. it is mound-shaped, sloping up from all sides to the center. it is filled with trees and shrubbery, but does not contain a single monument, the graves being simply marked with little marble blocks, which do not rise more than six inches above the ground. in the highest part of the grounds was the open grave, by the side of the husband, james mott, who was buried about twelve years ago. above the grave spread the branches of an aspen tree, and near it is a weeping willow. while thousands stood about, the coffin was reverently, solemnly, and silently lowered. the grave was then filled up, the friends turned away, and slowly the cemetery was deserted. memorial services were held the same day and hour by liberal germans in milwaukie, wisconsin, and by the city suffrage association in new york. dr. clement lozier, president of the society, presided. charles g. ames, of philadelphia; frederick hinckley, of providence; robert collyer, of new york, gave memorial sermons in their respective churches. * * * * * chapter xiii mrs. stanton's reminiscences. peterboro, _december , _. elizabeth c. stanton.--_my dear friend_:--the "woman's rights movement" has deeply interested your generous heart, and you have ever been ready to serve it with your vigorous understanding. it is, therefore, at the risk of appearing somewhat unkind and uncivil, that i give my honest answer to your question. you would know why i have so little faith in this movement. i reply, that it is not in the proper hands; and that the proper hands are not yet to be found. the present age, although in advance, of any former age, is, nevertheless, very far from being sufficiently under the sway of reason to take up the cause of woman, and carry it forward to success. a much stronger and much more widely diffused common sense than has characterized any of the generations, must play its mightiest artillery upon the stupendous piles of nonsense, which tradition and chivalry and a misinterpreted and superstitious christianity have reared in the way of this cause, ere woman can have the prospect of the recognition of her rights and of her confessed equality with man. the object of the "woman's rights movement" is nothing less than to recover the rights of woman--nothing less than to achieve her independence. she is now the dependent of man; and, instead of rights, she has but privileges--the mere concessions (always revocable and always uncertain) of the other sex to her sex. i say nothing against this object. it is as proper as it is great; and until it is realized, woman can not be half herself, nor can man be half himself. i rejoice in this object; and my sorrow is, that they, who are intent upon it, are not capable of adjusting themselves to it--not high-souled enough to consent to those changes and sacrifices in themselves, in their positions and relations, essential to the attainment of this vital object. what if a nation in the heart of europe were to adopt, and uniformly adhere to, the practice of cutting off one of the hands of all their new-born children? it would from this cause be reduced to poverty, to helpless dependence upon the charity of surrounding nations, and to just such a measure of privileges as they might see fit to allow it, in exchange for its forfeited rights. very great, indeed, would be the folly of this strange nation. but a still greater folly would it be guilty of, should it, notwithstanding this voluntary mutilation, claim all the wealth, and all the rights, and all the respect, and all the independence which it enjoyed before it entered upon this systematic mutilation. now, this twofold folly of this one-hand nation illustrates the similar twofold folly of some women. voluntarily wearing, in common with their sex, a dress which imprisons and cripples them, they, nevertheless, follow up this absurdity with the greater one of coveting and demanding a social position no less full of admitted rights, and a relation to the other sex no less full of independence, than such position and relation would naturally and necessarily have been, had they scorned a dress which leaves them less than half their personal power of self-subsistence and usefulness. i admit that the mass of women are not chargeable with this latter absurdity of cherishing aspirations and urging claims so wholly and so glaringly at war with this voluntary imprisonment and this self-degradation. they are content in their helplessness and poverty and destitution of rights. nay, they are so deeply deluded as to believe that all this belongs to their natural and unavoidable lot. but the handful of women of whom i am here complaining--the woman's rights women--persevere just as blindly and stubbornly as do other women, in wearing a dress that both marks and makes their impotence, and yet, o amazing inconsistency! they are ashamed of their dependence, and remonstrate against its injustice. they claim that the fullest measure of rights and independence and dignity shall be accorded to them, and yet they refuse to place themselves in circumstances corresponding with their claim. they demand as much for themselves as is acknowledged to be due to men, and yet they refuse to pay the necessary, the never-to-be-avoided price of what they demand--the price which men have to pay for it. i admit that the dress of woman is not the primal cause of her helplessness and degradation. that cause is to be found in the false doctrines and sentiments of which the dress is the outgrowth and symbol. on the other hand, however, these doctrines and sentiments would never have become the huge bundle they now are, and they would probably have all languished, and perhaps all expired, but for the dress. for, as in many other instances, so in this, and emphatically so in this, the cause is made more efficient by the reflex influence of the effect. let woman give up the irrational modes of clothing her person, and these doctrines and sentiments would be deprived of their most vital aliment by being deprived of their most natural expression. in no other practical forms of folly to which they might betake themselves, could they operate so vigorously and be so invigorated by their operation. were woman to throw off the dress, which, in the eye of chivalry and gallantry, is so well adapted to womanly gracefulness and womanly helplessness, and to put on a dress that would leave her free to work her own way through the world, i see not but that chivalry and gallantry would nearly or quite die out. no longer would she present herself to man, now in the bewitching character of a plaything, a doll, an idol, and now in the degraded character of his servant. but he would confess her transmutation into his equal; and, therefore, all occasion for the display of chivalry and gallantry toward her on the one hand, and tyranny on the other, would have passed away. only let woman attire her person fitly for the whole battle of life--that great and often rough battle, which she is as much bound to fight as man is, and the common sense expressed in the change will put to flight all the nonsensical fancies about her superiority to man, and all the nonsensical fancies about her inferiority to him. no more will then be heard of her being made of a finer material than man is made of; and, on the contrary, no more will then be heard of her being but the complement of man, and of its taking both a man and a woman (the woman, of course, but a small part of it) to make up a unit. no more will it then be said that there is sex in mind--an original sexual difference in intellect. what a pity that so many of our noblest women make this foolish admission! it is made by the great majority of the women who plead the cause of woman. i am amazed that, the intelligent women engaged in the "woman's rights movement," see not the relation between their dress and the oppressive evils which they are striving to throw off. i am amazed that they do not see that their dress is indispensable to keep in countenance the policy and purposes out of which those evils grow. i hazard nothing in saying, that the relation between the dress and degradation of an american woman, is as vital as between the cramped foot and degradation of a chinese woman; as vital as between the uses of the inmate of the harem and the apparel and training provided for her. moreover, i hazard nothing in saying, that an american woman will never have made her most effectual, nor, indeed, any serviceable protest against the treatment of her sex in china, or by the lords of the harem, so long as she consents to have her own person clothed in ways so repugnant to reason and religion, and grateful only to a vitiated taste, be it in her own or in the other sex. women are holding their meetings; and with great ability do they urge their claim to the rights of property and suffrage. but, as in the case of the colored man, the great needed change is in himself, so, also, in the case of woman, the great needed change is in herself. of what comparative avail would be her exercise of the right of suffrage, if she is still to remain the victim of her present false notions of herself and of her relations to the other sex?--false notions so emphatically represented and perpetuated by her dress? moreover, to concede to her the rights of property would be to benefit her comparatively little, unless she shall resolve to break out from her clothes-prison, and to undertake right earnestly, as right earnestly as a man, to get property. solomon says: "the destruction of the poor is their poverty." the adage that knowledge is power, is often repeated; and there are, indeed, many instances to verify it. nevertheless, as a general proposition, it is a thousandfold more emphatically true that property is power. knowledge helps to get property, but property is the power. that the slaves are a helpless prey, is chiefly because they are so poor and their masters so rich. the masses almost everywhere are well-nigh powerless, because almost everywhere they are poor. how long will they consent to be poor? just so long as they shall consent to be robbed of their god-given right to the soil. that women are helpless is no wonder, so long as women are paupers. as long as woman shall be silly enough to learn her lessons in the schools of gallantry and chivalry, so long will it be the height of her ambition to be a graceful and amiable burden upon the other sex. but as soon as she shall consent to place herself under the instructions of reason and common sense, and to discard, as wholly imaginary, those differences between the nature of man and the nature of woman, out of which have grown innumerable nonsensical doctrines and notions, and all sorts of namby pamby sentiments, so soon will she find that, to no greater extent than men are dependent on each other, are women to foster the idea of their dependence on men. then, and not till then, will women learn that, to be useful and happy, and to accomplish the high purposes of their being, they must, no less emphatically than men, stand upon their own feet, and work with own hands, and bear the burdens of life with their own strength, and brave its storms with their own resoluteness. the next "woman's rights convention" will, i take it for granted, differ but little from its predecessors. it will abound in righteous demands and noble sentiments, but not in the evidence that they who enunciate these demands and sentiments are prepared to put themselves in harmony with what they conceive and demand. in a word, for the lack of such preparation and of the deep earnestness, which alone can prompt to such preparation, it will be, as has been every other woman's rights convention, a failure. could i see it made up of women whose dress would indicate their translation from cowardice to courage; from slavery to freedom; from the kingdom of fancy and fashion and foolery to the kingdom of reason and righteousness, then would i hope for the elevation of woman, aye, and of man too, as perhaps i have never yet hoped. what should be the parts and particulars of such dress, i am incapable of saying. whilst the "bloomer dress" is unspeakably better than the common dress, it nevertheless affords not half that freedom of the person which woman is entitled and bound to enjoy. i add, on this point, that however much the dresses of the sexes should resemble each other, decency and virtue and other considerations require that they should be obviously distinguishable from each other. i am not unaware that such views as i have expressed in this letter will be regarded as serving to break down the characteristic delicacy of woman. i frankly admit that i would have it broken down; and that i would have the artificial and conventional, the nonsensical and pernicious thing give place to the natural delicacy which would be common to both sexes. as the delicacy, which is made peculiar to one of the sexes, is unnatural, and, therefore, false, this, which would be common to both, would be natural, and, therefore, true. i would have no characteristic delicacy of woman, and no characteristic coarseness of man. on the contrary, believing man and woman to have the same nature, and to be therefore under obligation to have the same character, i would subject them to a common standard of morals and manners. the delicacy of man should be no less shrinking than that of woman, and the bravery of woman should be one with the bravery of man. then would there be a public sentiment very unlike that which now requires the sexes to differ in character, and which, therefore, holds them amenable to different codes--codes that, in their partiality to man, allow him to commit high crimes, and that, in their cruelty to woman, make the bare suspicion of such crimes on her part the justification of her hopeless degradation and ruin. they who advocate that radical change in her dress which common sense calls for, are infidels in the eyes of such as subscribe to this interpretation of the bible. for if the bible teaches that the heaven-ordained condition of woman is so subordinate and her heaven-ordained character so mean, then they are infidels who would have her cast aside a dress so becoming that character and condition, and have her put on a dress so entirely at war with her humble nature, as to indicate her conscious equality with man, and her purpose to assert, achieve, and maintain her independence. alas, how misapprehended are the true objects and true uses of the bible! that blessed book is given to us, not so much that we may be taught by it what to do, as that we may be urged by its solemn and fearful commands and won by its melting entreaties, to do what we already know we should do. such, indeed, is the greatest value of its recorded fact that jesus christ died to save us from our sins. we already know that we should repent of our sins and put them away; and it is this fact which furnishes our strongest possible motive for doing so. but men run to the bible professedly to be taught their duty in matters where their very instincts--where the laws, written in large, unmistakable, ineffaceable letters upon the very foundations of their being--teach them their duty. i say _professedly_, for generally it is only so. they run to the bible, not to learn the truth, but to make the bible the minister to folly and sin. they run from themselves to the bible, because they can more easily succeed in twisting its records into the service of their guilty passions and guilty purposes than they can their inflexible convictions. they run to the bible for a paramount authority that shall override and supplant these uncomfortable convictions. they run from the teachings of their nature and the remonstrances of their consciences to find something more palatable. hence, we find the rum-drinker, and slaveholder, and polygamist, and other criminals going to the bible. they go to it for the very purpose of justifying their known sins. but not only may we not go to the bible to justify what we ourselves have already condemned, but we must not take to the judicature of that book, as an open question, any of the wrongs against which nature and common sense cry out--any of the wrongs which nature and common sense call on us to condemn. so fraught with evil, and ruinous evil, is this practice, on the part of the church as well as the world, of inquiring the judgment of the bible in regard to sins, which the natural and universal conscience condemns, but which the inquirer means to persist in, if only he can get the bible to testify against his conscience and in favor of his sins; so baleful, i say, is this practice, as to drive me to the conclusion that the bible can not continue to be a blessing to mankind in spite of it. the practice, in its present wide and well-nigh universal extent, turns the heavenly volume into a curse. owing to this practice, the bible is, this day, a hindrance rather than a help to civilization. but if woman is of the same nature and same dignity with man, and if as much and as varied labor is needed to supply her wants as to supply the wants of man, and if for her to be, as she so emphatically is, poor and destitute and dependent, is as fatal to her happiness and usefulness and to the fulfillment of the high purposes of her existence, as the like circumstances would be to the honor and welfare of man, why then put her in a dress which compels her to be a pauper--a pauper, whether in ribbons or rags? why, i ask, put her in a dress suited only to those occasional and brief moods, in which man regards her as his darling, his idol, and his angel; or to that general state of his mind in which he looks upon her as his servant, and with feelings certainly much nearer contempt than adoration. strive as you will to elevate woman, nevertheless the disabilities and degradation of this dress, together with that large group of false views of the uses of her being and of her relations to man, symbolized and perpetuated, as i have already said, by this dress, will make your striving vain. woman must first fight against herself--against personal and mental habits so deep-rooted and controlling, and so seemingly inseparable from herself, as to be mistaken for her very nature. and when she has succeeded there, an easy victory will follow. but where shall be the battle-ground for this indispensable self-conquest? she will laugh at my answer when i tell her, that her dress, aye, her dress, must be that battle-ground. what! no wider, no sublimer field than this to reap her glories in! my further answer is, that if she shall reap them anywhere, she must first reap them there. i add, that her triumph there will be her triumph everywhere; and that her failure there will be her failure everywhere. affectionately yours, gerrit smith. mrs. stanton's reply. seneca falls, _dec. , _. my dear cousin:--your letter on the "woman's right movement" i have thoroughly read and considered. i thank you, in the name of woman, for having said what you have on so many vital points. you have spoken well for a man whose convictions on this subject are the result of reason and observation; but they alone whose souls are fired through personal experience and suffering can set forth the height and depth, the source and center of the degradation of women; they alone can feel a steadfast faith in their own native energy and power to accomplish a final triumph over all adverse surroundings, a speedy and complete success. you say you have but little faith in this reform, because the changes we propose are so great, so radical, so comprehensive; whilst they who have commenced the work are so puny, feeble, and undeveloped. the mass of women are developed at least to the point of discontent, and that, in the dawn of this nation, was considered a most dangerous point in the british parliament, and is now deemed equally so on a southern plantation. in the human soul, the steps between discontent and action are few and short indeed. you, who suppose the mass of women contented, know but little of the silent indignation, the deep and settled disgust with which they contemplate our present social arrangements. you claim to believe that in every sense, thought, and feeling, man and woman are the same. well, now, suppose yourself a woman. you are educated up to that point where one feels a deep interest in the welfare of her country, and in all the great questions of the day, in both church and state; yet you have no voice in either. little men, with little brains, may pour forth their little sentiments by the hour, in the forum and the sacred desk, but public sentiment and the religion of our day teach us that silence is most becoming in woman. so to solitude you betake yourself, and read for your consolation the thoughts of dead men; but from the bible down to mother goose's melodies, how much complacency, think you, you would feel in your womanhood? the philosopher, the poet, and the saint, all combine to make the name of woman synonymous with either fool or devil. every passion of the human soul, which in manhood becomes so grand and glorious in its results, is fatal to womankind. ambition makes a lady macbeth; love, an ophelia; none but those brainless things, without will or passion, are ever permitted to come to a good end. what measure of content could you draw from the literature of the past? again, suppose yourself the wife of a confirmed drunkard. you behold your earthly possessions all passing away; your heart is made desolate; it has ceased to pulsate with either love, or hope, or joy. your house is sold over your head, and with it every article of comfort and decency; your children gather round you, one by one, each newcomer clothed in rags and crowned with shame; is it with gladness you now welcome the embrace of that beastly husband, feel his fevered breath upon your cheek, and inhale the disgusting odor of his tobacco and rum? would not your whole soul revolt from such an union? so do the forty thousand drunkards' wives now in this state. they, too, are all discontented, and but for the pressure of law and gospel would speedily sunder all these unholy ties. yes, sir, there are women, pure and virtuous and noble as yourself, spending every day of all the years of their existence in the most intimate association with infamous men, kept so by that monstrous and unnatural artifice, baptized by the sacred name of marriage. i might take you through many, many phases of woman's life, into those sacred relations of which we speak not in our conventions, where woman feels her deepest wrongs, where in blank despair she drags out days, and weeks, and months, and years of silent agony. i might paint you pictures of real life so vivid as to force from you the agonized exclamation, how can women endure such things! we who have spoken out, have declared our rights, political and civil; but the entire revolution about to dawn upon us by the acknowledgment of woman's social equality, has been seen and felt but by the few. the rights, to vote, to hold property, to speak in public, are all-important; but there are great social rights, before which all others sink into utter insignificance. the cause of woman is, as you admit, a broader and a deeper one than any with which you compare it; and this, to me, is the very reason why it must succeed. it is not a question of meats and drinks, of money and lands, but of human rights--the sacred right of a woman to her own person, to all her god-given powers of body and soul. did it ever enter into the mind of man that woman too had an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of her individual happiness? did he ever take in the idea that to the mother of the race, and to her alone, belonged the right to say when a new being should be brought into the world? has he, in the gratification of his blind passions, ever paused to think whether it was with joy and gladness that she gave up ten or twenty years of the heyday of her existence to all the cares and sufferings of excessive maternity? our present laws, our religious teachings, our social customs on the whole question of marriage and divorce, are most degrading to woman; and so long as man continues to think and write, to speak and act, as if maternity was the one and sole object of a woman's existence--so long as children are conceived in weariness and disgust--you must not look for high-toned men and women capable of accomplishing any great and noble achievement. but when woman shall stand on an even pedestal with man--when they shall be bound together, not by withes of law and gospel, but in holy unity and love, then, and not till then, shall our efforts at minor reforms be crowned with complete success. here, in my opinion, is the starting-point; here is the battle-ground where our independence must be fought and won. a true marriage relation has far more to do with the elevation of woman than the style and cut of her dress. dress is a matter of taste, of fashion; it is changeable, transient, and may be doffed or donned at the will of the individual; but institutions, supported by laws, can be overturned but by revolution. we have no reason to hope that pantaloons would do more for us than they have done for man himself. the negro slave enjoys the most unlimited freedom in his attire, not surpassed even by the fashions of eden in its palmiest days; yet in spite of his dress, and his manhood, too, he is a slave still. was the old roman in his toga less of a man than he now is in swallow-tail and tights? did the flowing robes of christ himself render his life less grand and beautiful? in regard to dress, where you claim to be so radical, you are far from consistent. believing, as you do, in the identity of the sexes, that all the difference we see in tastes, in character, is entirely the result of education--that "man is woman and woman is man"--why keep up these distinctions in dress? surely, whatever dress is convenient for one sex must be for the other also. whatever is necessary for the perfect and full development of man's physical being, must be equally so for woman. i fully agree with you that woman is terribly cramped and crippled in her present style of dress. i have not one word to utter in its defense; but to me, it seems that if she would enjoy entire freedom, she should dress just like man. why proclaim our sex on the house-tops, seeing that it is a badge of degradation, and deprives us of so many rights and privileges wherever we go? disguised as a man, the distinguished french woman, "george sand," has been able to see life in paris, and has spoken in political meetings with great applause, as no woman could have done. in male attire, we could travel by land or sea; go through all the streets and lanes of our cities and towns by night and day, without a protector; get seven hundred dollars a year for teaching, instead of three, and ten dollars for making a coat, instead of two or three, as we now do. all this we could do without fear of insult, or the least sacrifice of decency or virtue. if nature has not made the sex so clearly defined as to be seen through any disguise, why should we make the difference so striking? depend upon it, when men and women in their every-day life see and think less of sex and more of mind, we shall all lead far purer and higher lives. your letter, my noble cousin, must have been written in a most desponding mood, as all the great reforms of the day seem to you on the verge of failure. what are the experiences of days and months and years in the lifetime of a mighty nation? can one man in his brief hour hope to see the beginning and end of any reform? when you compare the public sentiment and social customs of our day with what they were fifty years ago, how can you despair of the temperance cause? with a maine law and divorce for drunkenness, the rum-seller and drunkard must soon come to terms. let woman's motto be, "no union with drunkards," and she will soon bring this long and well-fought battle to a triumphant close. neither should you despair of the anti-slavery cause; with its martyrs, its runaway slaves, its legal decisions in almost every paper you take up, the topic of debate in our national councils, our political meetings, and our literature, it seems as if the nation were all alive on this question. true, four millions of slaves groan in their chains still, but every man in this nation has a higher idea of individual rights than he had twenty years ago. as to the cause of woman, i see no signs of failure. we already have a property law, which in its legitimate effects must elevate the _femme covert_ into a living, breathing woman, a wife into a property-holder, who can make contracts, buy and sell. in a few years we shall see how well it works. it needs but little forethought to perceive that in due time these large property-holders must be represented in the government; and when the mass of women see that there is some hope of becoming voters and law-makers, they will take to their rights as naturally as the negro to his heels when he is sure of success. their present seeming content is very much like sambo's on the plantation. if you truly believe that man is woman, and woman is man; if you believe that all the burning indignation that fires your soul at the sight of injustice and oppression, if suffered in your own person, would nerve you to a life-long struggle for liberty and independence, then know that what you feel, i feel too, and what i feel the mass of women feel also. judge by yourself, then, how long the women of this nation will consent to be deprived of their social, civil, and political rights; but talk not to us of failure. talk not to us of chivalry, that died long ago. where do you see it? no gallant knight presents himself at the bar of justice to pay the penalty of our crimes. we suffer in our own persons, on the gallows, and in prison walls. from blackstone down to kent, there is no display of gallantry in your written codes. in social life, true, a man in love will jump to pick up a glove or bouquet for a silly girl of sixteen, whilst at home he will permit his aged mother to carry pails of water and armfuls of wood, or his wife to lug a twenty-pound baby, hour after hour, without ever offering to relieve her. i have seen a great many men priding themselves on their good breeding--gentlemen, born and educated--who never manifest one iota of spontaneous gallantry toward the women of their own household. divines may preach thanksgiving sermons on the poetry of the arm-chair and the cradle; but when they lay down their newspapers, or leave their beds a cold night to attend to the wants of either, i shall begin to look for the golden age of chivalry once more. if a short dress is to make the men less gallant than they now are, i beg the women at our next convention to add at least two yards more to every skirt they wear. and you mock us with dependence, too. do not the majority of women in every town support themselves, and very many their husbands, too? what father of a family, at the loss of his wife, has ever been able to meet his responsibilities as woman has done? when the mother dies the house is made desolate, the children are forsaken--scattered to the four winds of heaven--to the care of any one who chooses to take them. go to those aged widows who have reared large families of children, unaided and alone, who have kept them all together under one roof, watched and nursed them in health and sickness through all their infant years, clothed and educated them, and made them all respectable men and women, ask them on whom they depended. they will tell you on their own hands, and on that never-dying, never-failing love, that a mother's heart alone can know. it is into hands like these--to these who have calmly met the terrible emergencies of life--who, without the inspiration of glory, or fame, or applause, through long years have faithfully and bravely performed their work, self-sustained and cheered, that we commit our cause. we need not wait for one more generation to pass away, to find a race of women worthy to assert the humanity of women, and that is all we claim to do. affectionately yours, elizabeth cady stanton. frances d. gage's reply to gerrit smith. [from frederick douglass' paper]. frederick douglass.--_dear sir_:--in your issue of dec. st, i find a letter from hon. gerrit smith to elizabeth c. stanton, in reference to the woman's rights movement, showing cause, through labored columns, why it has proved a failure. this article, though addressed to mrs. stanton, is an attack upon every one engaged in the cause. for he boldly asserts that the movement "is not in proper hands, and that the proper hands are not yet to be found." i will not deny the assertion, but must still claim the privilege of working in a movement that involves not only my own interest, but the interests of my sex, and through us the interests of a whole humanity. and though i may be but a john the baptist, unworthy to unloose the latchet of the shoes of those who are to come in _short skirts_ to redeem the world, i still prefer that humble position to being peter to deny my master, or a gerrit smith to assert that truth _can_ fail. i do not propose to enter into a full criticism of mr. smith's long letter. he has made the whole battle-ground of the woman's rights movement her dress. nothing brighter, nothing nobler than a few inches of calico or brocade added to or taken from her skirts, is to decide this great and glorious question--to give her freedom or to continue her a slave. this argument, had it come from one of less influence than gerrit smith, would have been simply ridiculous. but coming from _him_, the almost oracle of a large portion of our reformers, it becomes worthy of an answer from every earnest woman in our cause. i will not say one word in defense of our present mode of dress. not i; but bad as it is, and cumbersome and annoying, i still feel that we can wear it, and yet be lovers of liberty, speaking out our deep feeling, portraying our accumulated wrongs, saving ourselves for a time yet from that antagonism which we must inevitably meet when we don the semi-male attire. we _must own ourselves under the law first_, own our bodies, our earnings, our genius, and our consciences; then we will turn to the lesser matter of what shall be the garniture of the body. was the old roman less a man in his cumbrous toga, than washington in his tights? was christ less a christ in his vesture, woven without a seam, than he would have been in the suit of a broadway dandy? "moreover, to concede to her rights of property, would be to benefit her comparatively little, unless she shall resolve to break out of her clothes-prison, and to undertake right earnestly, as earnestly as a man, to get property." so says gerrit smith. and he imputes the want of earnestness to her clothes. it in a new doctrine that high and holy purposes go from without inward, that the garments of men or women govern and control their aspirations. but do not women _now_ work right earnestly? do not the german women and our market women labor right earnestly? do not the wives of our farmers and mechanics toil? is not the work of the _mothers_ in our land as important as that of the father? "labor is the foundation of wealth." the reason that our women are "paupers," is not that they do not labor "right earnestly," but that the law gives their earnings into the hands of manhood. mr. smith says, "that women are helpless, is no wonder, so long as they are paupers"; he might add, no wonder that the slaves of the cotton plantation are helpless, so long as they are paupers. what reduces both the woman and the slave to this condition? the law which gives the husband and the master entire control of the person and earnings of each; the law that robs each of the rights and liberties that every "free white male citizen" takes to himself as god-given. truth falling from the lips of a lucretia mott in long skirts is none the less truth, than if uttered by a lucy stone in short dress, or a helen maria weber in pants and swallow-tail coat. and i can not yet think so meanly of manly justice, as to believe it will yield simply to a change of garments. let us assert our right to be free. let us get out of our prison-house of law. let us own ourselves, our earnings, our genius; let us have power to control as well as to earn and to own; then will each woman adjust her dress to her relations in life. mr. smith speaks of reforms as failures; what can he mean? "the temperance reform still drags." i have been in new york thirty-seven days; have given thirty-three lectures; have been at taverns, hotels, private houses, and depots; rode in stages, country wagons, omnibuses, carriages, and railroad cars; met the masses of people daily, and yet have not seen one drunken man, scarce an evidence that there was such a thing as intemperance in the empire state. if the whole body has been diseased from childhood and a cure be attempted, shall we cry out against the physician that his effort is a failure, because the malady does not wholly disappear at once? oh, no! let us rather cheer than discourage, while we see symptoms of amendment, hoping and trusting that each day will give renewed strength for the morrow, till the cure shall be made perfect. the accumulated ills of centuries can not be removed in a day or a year. shall we talk of the anti-slavery cause as a "failure," while our whole great nation is shaking as if an etna were boiling below? when did the north ever stand, as now, defiant of slavery? anti-slavery may be said to be written upon the "chariots and the bells of the horses." our national congress is nothing more or less than a great anti-slavery convention. not a bill, no matter how small or how great its importance, but hinges upon the question of slavery. the anti-slavery cause is no failure; right can not fail. "the next woman's rights convention will be, as has every other woman's rights convention, a failure, notwithstanding it will abound in righteous demands and noble sentiments." so thinks mr. smith. has any woman's rights convention been a failure? no movement so radical, striking so boldly at the foundation of all social and political order, has ever come before the people, or ever so rapidly and widely diffused its doctrine. the reports of our conventions have traveled wherever newspapers are read, causing discussion for and against, and these discussions have elicited truth, and aroused public thought to the evils growing out of woman's position. new trades and callings are opening to us; in every town and village may be found advocates for the equality of privilege under the law, for every thinking, reasoning human soul. shall we talk of failure, because forty, twenty, or seven years have not perfected all things? when intemperance shall have passed away, and the four million chattel slaves shall sing songs of freedom; when woman shall be recognized as man's equal, socially, legally, and politically, there will yet be reforms and reformers, and men who will despair and look upon one branch of the reform as the great _battle-ground_, and talk of the failure of the eternal law of progress. still there will be stout hearts and willing hands to work on, honestly believing that truth and right are sustained by no single point, and their watchword will be "onward!" we can not fail, for our cause is just. frances d. gage. rochester, _dec. , _. the names of those who wore the bloomer costume at that early day are: elizabeth smith miller, elizabeth cady stanton, amelia bloomer, sarah and angelina grimké, mrs. william burleigh, charlotte beebe wilbour, lucy stone, susan b. anthony, helen jarvis, lydia sayre hasbrook, amelia williard, celia burleigh, harriet n. austin, lydia jenkins, and many patients at sanitariums, many farmers' wives, and many young ladies for skating and gymnastic exercises. looking back to this experiment, we are not surprised at the hostility of men in general to the dress, as it made it very uncomfortable for them to go anywhere with those who wore it. people would stare; some men and women make rude remarks; boys follow in crowds, or shout from behind fences, so that the gentleman in attendance felt it his duty to resent the insult by showing fight, unless he had sufficient self-control to pursue the even tenor of his way without taking the slightest notice of the commotion his companion was creating. no man went through the ordeal with the coolness and dogged determination of charles dudley miller, escorting his wife and cousin on long journeyings, at fashionable resorts, in new york and washington, to the vexation of all his gentleman friends and acquaintances. amelia bloomer comments on jane g. swisshelm. _to the editor of the nonpareil:_ jane grey swisshelm thinks it is dare-devil independence that is ruining the women of this country.--_nonpareil_. and what woman of them all has shown so much "dare-devil independence" as jane g. swisshelm? one of the first women to wield the pen-editorial thirty years ago, she was so independent and fearless as to excite the wonder of her readers. the first woman admitted to the reporters' gallery in the capitol of the nation, she astonished and shocked the country by her attacks upon daniel webster and other prominent senators at that day, and was expelled from the gallery for her "dare-devil independence." while publishing a paper at st. cloud, she was so outspoken and offensive in her personalities, that her press and type were destroyed by indignant politicians. after the war she obtained an office in one of the departments at washington, and started a paper called the _reconstructionist_ in that city. for her "dare-devil independence" as a writer in attacking president johnson and charging that he had part in the assassination of president lincoln, she was relieved of her office and her press destroyed. and so in whatever she has part; to whatever she sets her hand, she ever displays a reckless independence that is truly a marvel to those who watch her uncertain course. she fearlessly attacks both friend and foe, if they go contrary to her views of right; and both people and measures that to-day have her countenance and approval, are liable to-morrow to receive an unmerciful lashing from her pen. no woman has set an example of more "dare-devil independence" before "the women of this country" than jane g. swisshelm, and if it is proving their ruin she has much to answer for. but we are not prepared to believe her assertion, and we can not think her a ruined woman, notwithstanding her many years of "dare-devil independence." the writer has known her long, has engaged in many a pen-tilt with her, but has never met her personally. she regards her as an able, outspoken defender of the wronged and oppressed, a fearless advocate of the right as she sees it, and an "independent dare-devil" writer on whatever subject she deems worthy of her pen. amelia bloomer. council bluffs, _july , _. * * * * * chapter xiv. new york. new york state temperance convention, rochester, april , , . letter from frances dana gage. mcconnellsville, o., _april , _. my dear miss anthony:--yours of march d, asking of me words of counsel and encouragement for the friends of temperance, who are to meet at rochester on the th inst., is before me. need i tell you how earnestly my heart responds to that request, and with what joy i hail every demonstration on the part of woman that evidences an awakening energy in her mind, to the great duties and responsibilities of her being! if we examine the statistics of crime in the united states, we shall find that a very large proportion of the criminals of our land are the victims of intemperance. the records of poverty, shame, and degradation furnish the same evidence against the traffic and use of ardent spirits. examine those same statistics, and another great truth stares us in the face--that nine-tenths of all the manufacturers of ardent spirits, of all the drinkers of ardent spirits, and of all the criminals made by ardent spirits, are men. but we find, too, in our search, a fact equally interesting to us, that the greatest sufferers from all this crime and shame and wrong, are women. is it not meet, then, that women should lay aside the dependent inactivity which has hitherto held them powerless, and give their strength to the cause of reform which is now agitating the minds of the people? what is woman? the answer is returned to me in tones that shake my very soul. she is the mother of mankind! the living providence, under god, who gives to every human being its mental, moral, and physical organism--who stamps upon every human heart her seal for good or for evil! who then, but she, should cry aloud, and spare not, when the children she has borne--forgetting their allegiance to her and their duty to themselves, have assumed the power to rule over her, shutting her out from their counsels, and surrounding her, without her own consent, with circumstances which lead to misery and death; and, in their pride and strength, trampling upon justice, love, and mercy, withering her heart by violence and oppression, and yet compelling her, in her dependence as a wife, to perpetuate in her offspring their own depraved appetites and disorganized faculties? it will not be denied that woman in all past ages has been made, by both law and custom, the inferior of her own children. man has assumed to himself the power of being "lord of creation"; yet what has he done for his kind? look at the present state of society and receive your answer! he has filled the world with madness, with oppression and wrong; he has allowed snares to be laid at every turn, to entangle the feet of our children, and lead them away into vice and crime. he has legalized the causes which fill the jails, the penitentiaries, the houses of correction, the poorhouses, and asylums with the blood of our hearts, even our children, and our children's children. there is not a drunkard in the land, not a criminal that has been made by strong drink, but is the child of a woman. yet not one woman's vote has ever been given to legalize the sale of ardent spirits, that have maddened the brain of her child. no woman's vote ever sanctioned the rum-seller's bar, at which her husband has bartered away his manhood, and made himself more vile than the brutes that perish. shall i be answered that woman's home influence must keep her children and her husband in the paths of virtue and honor? what! disfranchised woman--made by her law-maker an appendage to himself, her intellect shackled, her labor underrated, her physical power dwarfed and enfeebled by custom--is she expected to do this mighty thing? i hear again an answer--"woman is responsible for the moral atmosphere that surrounds her." is this indeed so? men have taken from her every power to protect herself, even the dignity and respect which the right of suffrage confers upon the lowest man in the community, and which makes his opinion worth its price among men, is denied her. men are in the daily habit of indulging in immoralities and vices, while they enjoin it upon woman--"poor, frail, weak woman," as they call us--to destroy the influence they have created. they place the temptation before the child, then sternly demand of its suffering mother her vigilance and care to control the appetite, which he has, it may be, inherited from his fathers, back from the third and fourth generation. perchance, even through her own breast, he has sucked the poison that is corrupting all the streams of his young life. she may have grappled with the tempter, and come off conqueror; but can she hold him, the drunkard's child--the drunkard's grandchild--with the twofold curse upon his brow, while men place this direful temptation ever within his reach, glaring out upon him in beautiful enticement at every corner of the street, and at every turn of his daily and nightly walks, and add their influence and example to draw him away from the counsels of a mother's love, and the endearments of home? then, when, under the influence of men, he outrages society, and in his maniac madness violates the law of the land, and becomes a felon, wasting away his days in the gloomy prison, or expiating his crimes upon the gallows, they forget what they have done, and, turning to the poor, crushed, and bleeding heart, which they have pierced with a thousand sorrows, cry out, "you, o mother of that guilty man, have not done your duty, and society holds you responsible for all his suffering and for all his crimes. o god! is this not adding insult to injury? how can the weak control the strong? how can the servant, bound hand and foot by the master, do the bidding of the tyrant? but all men are not weak--all men are not oppressive--all men are not unjust. there is a strong force, ever in the field of battle, struggling for truth and right with earnest heart and firm resolve. let us arouse, o my sisters, and add our strength to theirs. the time is coming, aye, now is, when we must shake off our dependence and inactivity, and live more true to ourselves; when we must refuse to live the wives of drunkards, perpetuating, as mothers, their vices and crimes, to pollute society. let us unite with the good and true among men, that our efforts may overcome the legions who have hitherto conquered on the side of wrong, and raise high the standard of love and humanity, where falsehood and hate have ruled rampant. let every woman, everywhere, speak out her bold, free thought on the subject of temperance; and while we plead with our rulers to deliver our husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers from the temptations to sin, let us demand with earnestness the right hereafter to protect ourselves; that we may redeem ourselves from the unjust law that now taxes every woman, without her own consent, according to her property or ability to labor, to pay her proportion for the support of vice and crime--that hereafter, when such great moral questions are under public discussion, and we, as one-half of the people, send up our petitions to our law-makers for a redress of wrongs, or an abatement of evils, our voice of pleading shall not be spurned by the heartless sneer, "they are only women, and the voice of a woman can not affect us at the polls, or disturb the course of our political parties. what care we for her progress or her wrongs?" thus have we too often been answered, and shall be again, if we do not prove worthy of the chaplet of freedom, by winning it for ourselves. let us then unite heart and hand in this great temperance reform--laying aside all local animosities, all sectional prejudices and sectarian jealousies--and, as it were, with one voice and one spirit, take hold of the work before us, resolved, if we fail to-day, to rise with renewed energy to-morrow, and "never give up!" be our motto, till, without bloodshed, without hate, or uncharitableness, we gain the victory over those who cater to the most uncontrollable and destructive passion that has ever cursed humanity--the passion for strong drink--and then, and not till then, will we fold our arms and take our rest, amid the hallelujahs of the redeemed. yours, in the cause of humanity, frances d. gage. s. b. anthony, _chairman of committee_. letter from mrs. c. i. h. nichols. brattleboro, vt., _april , _. sisters and friends of temperance:--in resorting to the pen as a medium of communication with your convention, i feel, most sensibly, its inferiority to a _vis-à-vis_ talk--it tells so little, and that so meagerly! but, remembering that a single just thought, or vital truth, communicated to intelligent minds and willing hearts, is an investment sure of increase, i will bless god for the pen, and ask of him to make it a tongue for humanity. the limits of a written communication will forbid me to say much, and i would address myself to a single point broached in your albany convention, and a point that seems to me of the first importance; because a mistake in morals, a wrong perpetrated in the home relations, is the greatest of all wrongs to humanity. and marred, indeed, would be your triumph, if, in preventing the repeal of one unjust statute, you sanction the enactment of another. so true it is that one injustice becomes the source of another, i fear to contemplate the enactment of a trifling encroachment even upon inalienable rights or divinely sanctioned pursuits. in addressing myself to the position that "drunkenness be made a good and sufficient cause for divorce," i am secured from any fear that you will regard me as warring with abstractions, since such a bill has found its way into your legislature, proving that the popular sympathy for suffering women and children is already concentrating on divorce as the remedy. i have hesitated about addressing you on this subject, lest i might render myself obnoxious to the charge of diverting the objects of your meeting, to an occasion for the discussion of forbidden topics. but an irresistible conviction, that since the subject is already launched upon your reform, it is important that a just view of its bearings should be presented, impels me to throw myself upon your sympathy, trusting in the divine power of truth to commend both my motives and my positions to your judgments and your hearts. and first, let me say, i would not be understood as opposed to emancipating the wretched victims of irremediable abuse. and if there be a benevolence, under the warm heaven of almighty love, it is the protecting of helplessness and innocence from the sufferings that result, inevitably, from the rum traffic. but while i fully agree with mrs. stanton, that no pure-hearted and understanding woman can innocently become the mother of a drunkard's offspring--while i rely upon the general diffusion of physiological truths to create a sentiment abhorrent to the idea of raising a posterity, the breath of whose life shall be derived from the animalized and morally tainted vitality of the drunkard--i differ with her in the remedy proposed. if drunkenness were irremediable, and beyond the reach of legislation, then would i accept her remedy as the final resort. but regarding divorce as, at best, only affording a choice of evils, and drunkenness as equally within the power of legislation, i propose that drunkenness be legislated out of existence, and thus the necessity for divorce, which it creates, be avoided. let a thoroughly prohibitive law destroy the traffic, and the drunkard will be found "clothed" again and "in his right mind." it will come to this glorious consummation at last; and, though years may intervene, it becomes us to act with reference to the discerned future, and beware that transient evils do not betray us into planting life-long regrets. allow me to illustrate my idea by narrating incidents of a case in point, and which is inwoven with the recollections and tenderest sympathies of my whole life. the young and lovely mother of five little ones procured a divorce from her husband, whose incompetency and unkindness was the result solely of intemperance, and that intemperance the consequence of his strong social bias and inability to resist the temptations of a period, when every man put the bottle to his neighbor's month as proof of his generosity, his friendship, and his good-breeding. his father, on whom the family were dependent for support, urged it upon the wife, as a duty to her children and due to her own self-respect, to procure a divorce, when, at last, the miserable husband had been sent to prison for a forgery, involving a small sum, and which he had thought to meet--before the note came to maturity--undetected. she submitted, and, before the period of his imprisonment expired, married again, by the advice and persuasion of her kind father-in-law, to a wealthy and excellent man, who offered a father's care and home to her children, in proof of his affection for herself. but the heart never yielded its first love; and, when more than twenty years had passed, she confessed to a friend "that, should he reform at the eleventh hour, she must be the most wretched of women." he did reform! and for many years has exhibited those cheerful graces of the christian, which, added to his naturally amiable disposition and unselfish deportment, make his three-score and tenth year seem rather the morning than the evening of a life, stretching far away into the glories of eternity. and now, tell me, friends, if the picture of that youthful affection, strengthened and intensified in the hearts of both by long years of unavailing regret, does not awaken in you a conviction of some better way for protecting helpless women and children from the evils of drunkenness? oh, say, can you calmly contemplate the hundreds and thousands of hearts which would throb with repressed anguish, when the wretchedness which drove them to divorce shall have vanished with the doomed traffic, and reformed men, by the strong arm of law, reclaim their children from the weeping rachels of the land? but think not, friends, that i am unmindful of the misery of years, or months even, when i plead that divorce shall not be made the necessity of hunted and betrayed affections, the factitious barrier against abuse and starvation. i present to your consideration a remedy equally effective, and far more grateful to the delicate sensibilities and hopeful affection of the woman and the wife--a remedy which possesses the merit of a preventive power, and the collateral security of a reclaiming influence. the advantage proposed to be secured to the wife of the drunkard, by divorce, is the release from his control of her property and person. secure to the innocent and suffering wife the guardianship of her children, and the control of her own earnings--in short, make her a free, instead of a bond-woman--and you secure to the family of the drunkard all the alleviation in the power of legislation, and without compelling the wife, from pecuniary necessity or self-immolating regard for her children, to sever her conjugal relation, and quench the hope of a future of rational companionship. the pauperism and extreme degradation of the drunkard's family is mainly chargeable to the laws, which wreck the energies, by merging the means of the wife and mother in the will of the irresponsible husband and father. with these views--gathered from facts and heart-broken confidences open to few--i appeal to you in the name of the most sacred affections--i protest, in behalf of humanity, against compelling the unfortunate of my dependent sex to choose between their present bondage of means and divorce. to the christian, who shrinks from divorce, as separating what god hath joined, i appeal to carry out the principle, preserving everywhere what god hath joined. hath he not joined mother and child in body and spirit? sever them not. hath he not joined in each human being necessities and ability to supply them? but, alas! by man's carpentry, the ability of woman to supply her wants is pressed into the service of man's carnal and wicked appetites, to supply him with liquid fire, while herself and babes become miserable paupers in body and in mind! i leave the subject here, praying that god may bless your deliberations, and guide you into all truth. yours, for the oppressed, ever, c. i. h. nichols. syracuse convention, sept. , , , . elizabeth cady stanton's letter. seneca falls, _sept. _. my dear friends:--as i can not be present with you, i wish to suggest three points for your sincere and earnest consideration. . should not all women living in states where woman has the right to hold property refuse to pay taxes, so long as she is unrepresented in the government of that state? such a movement, if simultaneous, would no doubt produce a great deal of confusion, litigation, and suffering on the part of woman; but shall we fear to suffer for the maintenance of the same glorious principle for which our forefathers fought, bled, and died? shall we deny the faith of the old revolutionary heroes, and purchase for ourselves a false power and ignoble ease, by declaring in action that taxation without representation is just? ah, no! like the english dissenters and high-souled quakers of our own land, let us suffer our property to be seized and sold, but let us never pay another tax until our existence as citizens, our civil and political rights be fully recognized.... the poor, crushed slave, but yesterday toiling on the rice plantation in georgia, a beast, a chattel, a thing, is to-day, in the empire state (if he own a bit of land and a shed to cover him), a person, and may enjoy the proud honor of paying into the hand of the complaisant tax-gatherer the sum of seventy-five cents. even so with the white woman--the satellite of the dinner-pot, the presiding genius of the wash-tub, the seamstress, the teacher, the gay butterfly of fashion, the _feme covert_ of the law, man takes no note of her through all these changing scenes. but, lo! to-day, by the fruit of her industry, she becomes the owner of a house and lot, and now her existence is remembered and recognized, and she too may have the privilege of contributing to the support of this mighty republic, for the "white male citizen claims of her one dollar and seventy-five cents a year, because, under the glorious institutions of this free and happy land, she has been able, at the age of fifty years, to possess herself of a property worth the enormous sum of three hundred dollars. it is natural to suppose she will answer this demand on her joyously and promptly, for she must, in view of all her rights and privileges so long enjoyed, consider it a great favor to be permitted to contribute thus largely to the governmental treasury. one thing is certain, this course will necessarily involve a good deal of litigation, and we shall need lawyers of our own sex whose intellects, sharpened by their interests, shall be quick to discover the loopholes of retreat. laws are capable of many and various constructions; we find among men that as they have new wants, that as they develop into more enlarged views of justice, the laws are susceptible of more generous interpretation, or changed altogether; that is, all laws touching their own interests; for while man has abolished hanging for theft, imprisonment for debt, and secured universal suffrage for himself, a married woman, in most of the states in the union, remains a nonentity in law--can own nothing; can be whipped and locked up by her lord; can be worked without wages, be robbed of her inheritance, stripped of her children, and left alone and penniless; and all this, they say, according to law. now, it is quite time that we have these laws revised by our own sex, for man does not yet feel that what is unjust for himself, is also unjust for woman. yes, we must have our own lawyers, as well as our physicians and priests. some of our women should go at once into this profession, and see if there is no way by which we may shuffle off our shackles and assume our civil and political rights. we can not accept man's interpretation of the law. . do not sound philosophy and long experience teach us that man and woman should be educated together? this isolation of the sexes in all departments, in the business and pleasure of life, is an evil greatly to be deplored. we see its bad effects on all sides. look at our national councils. would men, as statesmen, ever have enacted such scenes as the capitol of our country has witnessed, had the feminine element been fairly represented in their midst? are all the duties of husband and father to be made subservient to those of statesman and politician? how many of these husbands return to their homes as happy and contented, as pure and loving, as when they left? not one in ten.... experience has taught us that man has discovered the most profitable branches of industry, and we demand a place by his side. inasmuch, therefore, as we have the same objects in life, namely, the full development of all our powers, and should, to some extent, have the same employments, we need precisely the same education; and we therefore claim that the best colleges of our country be open to us.... this point, the education of boys and girls together, is a question of the day; it was prominent at the late educational convention in newark, and it is fitting that in our convention it should be fully discussed. my ground is, that the boy and the girl, the man and the woman, should be always together in the business and pleasures of life, sharing alike its joys and sorrows, its distinction and fame; nor will they ever be harmoniously developed until they are educated together, physically, intellectually, and morally. i hope, therefore, that in the proposed people's college, some place will be provided where women can be educated side by side with man. there is no better test of the spirituality of a man, than is found in his idea of the true woman. men having separated themselves from women in the business of life, and thus made their natures coarse by contact with their own sex exclusively, now demand separate pleasures too; and in lieu of the cheerful family circle, its books, games, music, and pleasant conversation, they congregate in clubs to discuss politics, gamble, drink, etc., in those costly, splendid establishments, got up for such as can not find sufficient excitement in their own parlors or studios. it seems never to enter the heads of these fashionable husbands, that the hours drag as heavily with their fashionable wives, as they sit alone, night after night, in their solitary elegance, wholly given up to their own cheerless reflections; for what subjects of thought have they? gossip and fashion will do for talk, but not for thought. their theology is too gloomy and shadowy to afford them much pleasure in contemplation; their religion is a thing of form and not of life, so it brings them no joy or satisfaction. as to the reforms of the day, they are too genteel to feel much interest in them. there is no class more pitiable than the unoccupied woman of fashion thrown wholly upon herself.... does not the abuse of the religious element in woman demand our earnest attention and investigation? priestcraft did not end with the beginning of the reign of protestantism. woman has always been the greatest dupe, because the sentiments act blindly, and they alone have been educated in her. her veneration, not guided by an enlightened intellect, leads her as readily to the worship of saints, pictures, holy days, and inspired men and books, as of the living god and the everlasting principles of justice, mercy, and truth. there is the education society, in which women who can barely read and write and speak their own language correctly, form sewing societies, and beg funds to educate a class of lazy, inefficient young men for the ministry, who, starting in life on the false principle that it is a blessing to escape physical labor, begin at once to live on their piety. what is the result? why, after going through college, theological seminaries, and a brief struggle at fitting up skeleton sermons, got up by older heads for the benefit of beginners, and after preaching them for a season to those who hunger and thirst for light and truth, they sink down into utter insignificance, too inefficient to keep a place, and too lazy to earn the salt to their porridge, whilst the women work on to educate more for the same destiny. look at the long line of benevolent societies, all filled with these male agents, living, like so many leeches, on the religious element in our natures, most of them from the ranks of the clergy, who, unable to build up or keep a church, have taken refuge in some of these theological asylums for the intellectually maimed, halt, and blind of this profession. woman really thinks she is doing god service when she casts her mite into their treasury, when in fact not one-tenth of all the funds raised ever reach the ultimate object. among the clergy we find our most violent enemies--those most opposed to any change in woman's position; yet no sooner does one of these find himself out of place and pocket, than, if all the places in the various benevolent societies chance to be occupied, he takes a kind of philanthropic survey of the whole habitable globe, and forthwith forms a female benevolent society for the conversion of the jews, perhaps, or for sending the gospel to the feejee islands, and he is, in himself, the law for one and the gospel for the other. now, the question is, not whether the jews are converted, or whether the gospel ever reaches the islands, but, does the agent flourish? is his post profitable? and does woman beg and stitch faithfully for his support and for the promotion of his _glorious mission?_ now, i ask women with all seriousness, considering that we have little to give, had we not better bestow our own charities with our own hands? and instead of sending our benevolent outgushings in steamers to parts unknown, had we not better let them flow in streams whose length and breadth we can survey at pleasure, knowing their source and where they empty themselves? instead of any further efforts in behalf of a pin-cushion ministry, i conjure my countrywomen to devote themselves from this hour to the education, elevation, and enfranchisement of their own sex. if the same amount of devotion and self-sacrifice could be given in this direction now poured out on the churches, another generation would give us a nobler type of womanhood than any yet molded by any bishop, priest, or pope. woman in her present ignorance is made to rest in the most distorted views of god and the bible and the laws of her being; and like the poor slave "uncle tom," her religion, instead of making her noble and free, and impelling her to flee from all gross surroundings, by the false lessons of her spiritual teachers, by the wrong application of great principles of right and justice, has made her bondage but more certain and lasting, her degradation more helpless and complete. elizabeth cady stanton. gloucester, mass., _august , _. _to mrs. paulina w. davis:_ dear madam:...--i have never questioned what i understand to be the central principle of the reform in which you are engaged. i believe that every mature soul is responsible directly to god, not only for its faith and opinions, but for the details of its life in the world. in every crisis of duty there can be consultation, at last, only between one spirit and its creator. the assertion that woman is responsible to man for her belief or conduct, in any other sense than man is responsible to woman, i reject, not as a believer in any theory of "woman's rights," but as a believer in that religion which knows neither male nor female, in its imperative demand upon the individual conscience. this being true, i know not by what logic the obligation of woman to form her own ideal of life, and pursue the career which her reason and conscience dictate, can be denied. the sphere of activity in which any person will shine, is always an open question until answered by experience. i may admire the wisdom of the mind which has discovered that half the people in the world are incompetent to act beyond one circle of duty; but until the fact has been established by the universal failure of your sex, everywhere outside that fatal line, i must admire rather than believe. every real position in society is achieved by conquest. i must convince my people that i am a true minister of the gospel, before i can claim their respect and support. and when a woman, in the possession of the powers and opportunities given her by god, tells me she must trade, or instruct the young, or heal the sick, or paint, or sing, or act upon the stage, or call sinners to repentance, i _can_ say but one thing--just what i must say to the man who affirms the same--"my friend, show your _ability_ to serve society in this way, and all creation can not deprive you of the right. if you _can do_ this to which you aspire--can do it well, then you and everybody will be the gainers. and whoever says you have forfeited any essential grace or virtue of womanhood by your act, betrays, by the accusation, an utter incompetency to judge upon questions of human responsibility and obligation." .... i therefore believe the method of this reform is that declared by god when he said to adam: "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." there is no "royal road" to womanhood, as there is certainly none to manhood. _you_ must achieve what you desire.... woman must do much before man can help her. i suppose the sexes are about equally culpable; and i make no peculiar charge, when i say that until i can see more individual consecration, more clearness of perception and firmness of conduct in regions outside of the walls of the household among the mass of women, than now, i shall not cherish extravagant hopes of the great immediate success of your noble object. .... your movement is a part of the great onward march of society, and must be exposed to the reverses from outward hostility and inward faithlessness, that have always hindered the progress of the race.... this reform will be a sword of division, and you will not be surprised when those who have entered it from any motive less exalted than consecration to duty, fall away in weariness and disgust. yet all the more honorable will it be to those who are content to remain, and abide the fatal conditions of sincere human effort. you are not very near your journey's end; but you are doing much for your sex, in a mode which will "tell" inevitably upon society. i often encounter a new spirit of self-respect and honorable independence; a new hope, and works corresponding to it, among young women, which i can trace back to these conventions. i believe cultivated men in all professions are becoming ashamed to treat your arguments with open ridicule or quiet contempt, and occupy a position, at least, of fair-minded neutrality, to a greater degree than ever before, while the popular sympathies are every year more enlisted in your success.--with great respect, i remain your friend and fellow-laborer in the cause of truth, a. d. mayo. samuel j. may read the following extract from a letter from wm. lloyd garrison, of boston: "much, very much, do i regret that i can not be at the woman's rights convention which is to assemble to-morrow in syracuse; but circumstances prevent. i shall be there in spirit, from its organization to its dissolution. it has as noble an object in view, aye, and as christian a one, too, as was ever advocated beneath the sun. heaven bless all its proceedings. "yours for all human rights, wm. lloyd garrison. "rev. s. j. may." comments of the press after the syracuse convention. _the syracuse standard, sept. th_ (a liberal democratic paper). great interest was manifested in the proceedings yesterday, and the hall was densely crowded during the day and evening. much difficulty was found in getting out of the convention after the adjournment. each lady covered at least three steps of the stairway with her dress, and little groups of ladies gathered in the passage-ways and went through the ceremony of shaking hands and kissing each other, as though they had been separated for years and never expected to meet again. this operates as a serious obstacle, and we noticed some ladies exhibiting a petulant spirit in being jostled by the crowd which they themselves had occasioned, as their dresses were torn and soiled by the feet of those who were using their utmost efforts to keep the crowd from pushing them all down-stairs together. this is a great annoyance to those who are not fond of going through the world at the slow and steady pace of a fashionable lady, and we suggest the practice of making the outside of the hall a place for retailing gossip. those who sweep the dirty stairway with their dresses should don the bloomer costume without delay. _the star_, belonging to that portion of the press called "the satanic," held to its original character while speaking of the convention. it was through this paper that reverends sunderland and ashley made public their sermons against woman's rights. _the star, september th._ the women at the tomfoolery convention now being held in this city, talk as fluently of the bible and god's teachings in their speeches, as if they could draw an argument from inspiration in maintenance of their woman's rights stuff.... the poor creatures who take part in the silly rant of "brawling women" and aunt nancy men, are most of them "ismizers" of the rankest stamp, abolitionists of the most frantic and contemptible kind, and christian(?) sympathizers with such heretics as wm. lloyd garrison, parker pillsbury, c. c. burleigh, and s. s. foster. these men are all woman's righters, and preachers of such damnable doctrines and accursed heresies, as would make demons of the pit shudder to hear. we have selected a few appropriate passages from god's bible for the consideration of the infuriated gang (bloomers and all) at the convention: gen. iii. ; tit. ii. , ; prov. ix. , xxi. , ; cor. xi. , ; tim. ii. - ; cor. xiv. , ; eph. v. - . _daily star, sept. th._ our usual amount of editorial matter is again crowded out this morning by the extreme quantity of gabble the woman's righters got off yesterday. perhaps we owe an apology for having given publicity to the mass of corruption, heresies, ridiculous nonsense, and reeking vulgarities which these bad women have vomited forth for the past three days. our personal preference would have been to have entirely disregarded these folks _per signe de mepris_, but the public appetite cries for these novelties and eccentricities of the times, and the daily press is expected to gratify such appetites; furthermore, we are of opinion that reporting such a convention as this, is the most effectual way of checking the mischief it might otherwise do. the proceedings of these three days' pow-wow are a most shocking commentary upon themselves, and awaken burning scorn for the participants in them. the convention adjourned _sine die_ last evening at ten o'clock, and, for the credit of our city, we hope its members will adjourn out of town as soon as possible, and stay so adjourned, unless they can come among us for more respectable business. syracuse has become a by-word all through the country because of the influence which goes out from these foolish conventions held here, and it is high time that we should be looking after our good name. when the pamphlet report of the convention's proceedings appeared, _the star_ said: it gives the written speeches quite full, but only the skeleton of the spoken ones, which in reality constituted the cream of the affair.... this portion of the world's history in relation to these agitating questions, is very appropriately treated upon by the lord himself: "_the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on earth; for the power of heaven shall be shaken_." we recognize the sea as symbolizing the ideas which are drifted over the earth's surface, and the waves roaring, the agitating topics which the times have brought upon us. _the new york herald_ (editorial), _sept. , _. the woman's rights convention--the last act of the drama. the farce at syracuse has been played out. we publish to-day the last act, in which it will be seen that the authority of the bible, as a perfect rule of faith and practice for human beings, was voted down, and what are called the laws of nature set up instead of the christian code. we have also a practical exhibition of the consequences that flow from woman leaving her true sphere where she wields all her influence, and coming into public to discuss questions of morals and politics with men. the scene in which rev. mr. hatch violated the decorum of his cloth, and was coarsely offensive to such ladies present as had not lost that modest "feminine element," on which he dwelt so forcibly, is the natural result of the conduct of the women themselves, who, in the first place, invited discussion about sexes; and in the second place, so broadly defined the difference between the male and the female, as to be suggestive of anything but purity to the audience. the women of the convention have no right to complain; but, for the sake of his clerical character, if no other motive influenced him, he ought not to have followed so bad an example. his speech was sound and his argument conclusive, but his form of words was not in the best taste. the female orators were the aggressors; but, to use his own language, he ought not to have measured swords with a woman, especially when he regarded her ideas and expressions as bordering upon the obscene. but all this is the natural result of woman placing herself in a false position. as the rev. mr. hatch observed, if she ran with horses she must expect to be betted upon. the whole tendency of these conventions is by no means to increase the influence of woman, to elevate her condition, or to command the respect of the other sex. who are these women? what do they want? what are the motives that impel them to this course of action? the _dramatis personæ_ of the farce enacted at syracuse present a curious conglomeration of both sexes. some of them are old maids, whose personal charms were never very attractive, and who have been sadly slighted by the masculine gender in general; some of them women who have been badly mated, whose own temper, or their husbands, has made life anything but agreeable to them, and they are therefore down upon the whole of the opposite sex; some, having so much of the virago in their disposition, that nature appears to have made a mistake in their gender--mannish women, like hens that crow; some of boundless vanity and egotism, who believe that they are superior in intellectual ability to "all the world and the rest of mankind," and delight to see their speeches and addresses in print; and man shall be consigned to his proper sphere--nursing the babies, washing the dishes, mending stockings, and sweeping the house. this is "the good time coming." besides the classes we have enumerated, there is a class of wild enthusiasts and visionaries--very sincere, but very mad--having the same vein as the fanatical abolitionists, and the majority, if not all of them, being, in point of fact, deeply imbued with the anti-slavery sentiment. of the male sex who attend these conventions for the purpose of taking a part in them, the majority are hen-pecked husbands, and all of them ought to wear petticoats. in point of ability, the majority of the women are flimsy, flippant, and superficial. mrs. rose alone indicates much argumentative power. how did woman first become subject to man as she now is all over the world? by her nature, her sex, just as the negro is and always will be, to the end of time, inferior to the white race, and, therefore, doomed to subjection; but happier than she would be in any other condition, just because it is the law of her nature. the women themselves would not have this law reversed. it is a significant fact that even mrs. swisshelm, who formerly ran about to all such gatherings from her husband, is now "a keeper at home," and condemns these conventions in her paper. how does this happen? because, after weary years of unfruitfulness, she has at length got her rights in the shape of a baby. this is the best cure for the mania, and we would recommend a trial of it to all who are afflicted. what do the leaders of the woman's rights convention want? they want to vote, and to hustle with the rowdies at the polls. they want to be members of congress, and in the heat of debate to subject themselves to coarse jests and indecent language, like that of rev. mr. hatch. they want to fill all other posts which men are ambitious to occupy--to be lawyers, doctors, captains of vessels, and generals in the field. how funny it would sound in the newspapers, that lucy stone, pleading a cause, took suddenly ill in the pains of parturition, and perhaps gave birth to a fine bouncing boy in court! or that rev. antoinette brown was arrested in the middle of her sermon in the pulpit from the same cause, and presented a "pledge" to her husband and the congregation; or, that dr. harriot k. hunt, while attending a gentleman patient for a fit of the gout or _fistula in ano_, found it necessary to send for a doctor, there and then, and to be delivered of a man or woman child--perhaps twins. a similar event might happen on the floor of congress, in a storm at sea, or in the raging tempest of battle, and then what is to become of the woman legislator? world's temperance convention. comments of the press. "_the new york herald_" (editorial article), _september , _. .... "we are at length--praised be the stars!--drawing to the termination of the clamorous conventions, which have kept the city in a state of ferment and agitation, excitement and fun, for the past two weeks.... "the world's temperance convention commenced its sittings on tuesday, and is still in session. this organization was calculated to effect much good, had it not been leavened with the elements of discord, which had brought contempt and ridicule on that of the 'whole world.' the rev. miss antoinette brown cast the brand of disorder into it, by presenting herself as a delegate from the other association. this was a virtual declaration of woman's rights, and a resolute effort to have them recognized by the convention. neal dow, as president and as a man of gallantry, decided on receiving miss antoinette's credentials, and for a time victory appeared to smile on the amazons. the triumph, however, was only ephemeral and illusive. the motion was put and carried that none but the officers and invited guests of the convention should be permitted to occupy places on the platform, and so, by this indirect movement, miss brown saw herself, in the moment of her brightest hopes, expelled from the stage, and once more the anti-woman's righters were in the ascendancy. "this was on tuesday. next day another stormy scene, arising from the same cause, was enacted. the meek, temperate dow--the light of the reformation, the apostle of the maine liquor law, the president of the world's temperance convention--no longer able to control the stormy elements which had developed themselves in the council, resolved by a _coup d'état_ to give the world an instance of his temperate demeanor and of the liberality of the reformers, and accordingly directed the police officers in attendance to clear the hall. the order was enforced, and even miss antoinette brown, notwithstanding she was the bearer of credentials, was compelled to evacuate with the rest of the throng, and leave metropolitan hall to the quiet and peaceful possession of the male delegates to the world's temperance convention. thus harmony was restored in that obstreperous assembly. "'they made a solitude, and called it peace.'" "_herald," september , _. .... "thus stands the case, then. this world's temperance, or maine law convention, headed by neal dow, the founder of the aforesaid statute, has turned adrift the woman's rights party, male and female, black and white, the socialists, the amalgamationists, the infidels, the vegetarians, and the free colored americans ... what is to follow from these proceedings, excluding miss brown, phillips, douglass, and smith from the holy cause of temperance? agitation? of course. what else? very likely a separate maine law coalition movement, comprising the abolitionists, the strong-minded women, and free colored americans all over the north, in opposition to neal dow and the orthodox maine law party. thus the house will be divided--is, indeed, already divided--against itself. what then? the scriptures say that such a house can't stand. it can't. and thus the maine law is crippled in a miserable squabble with fugitive slaves, bloomers, and abolitionists. how strange! great country this, anyhow." "_national democrat," september _ (rev. chauncey c. burr, editor). "time was when a full-blooded nigger meeting in new york would have been heralded with the cry of 'tar and feathers!' but, alas! in these degenerate days, we are called to lament only over an uproarious disturbance. _the tribune_ groans horribly, it is true, because a set of deistical fanatics were interrupted in their villainous orgies; but it should rather rejoice that no harsher means were resorted to than 'tufts of grass.' talk about freedom! is any land so lost in self-respect--so sunk in infamy--that god-defying, bible-abhorring sacrilege will be civilly allowed? because the bell-wether of _the tribune_, accompanied by a phalanx of blue petticoats, is installed as the grand-master of outrages, is that any reason for personal respect and public humiliation? in view of all the aggravating circumstances of the case, we congratulate the foolhardy fanatics on getting off as easy as they did; and we commend the forbearance of the considerate crowd in not carrying their coercive measures to extremes, because, the humbug being exploded, all that is necessary now is to laugh, hiss, and vociferously applaud. when men make up their minds to vilify the bible, denounce the constitution, and defame their country (although this is a free country), they should go down in some obscure cellar, remote from mortal ken, and, even there, whisper their hideous treason against god and liberty." mob convention, . . _resolved_, that this movement for the rights of woman makes no attempt to decide whether woman is better or worse than man, neither affirms nor denies the equality of her intellect with that of man--makes no pretense of protecting woman--does not seek to oblige woman any more than man is now obliged, to vote, take office, labor in the professions, mingle in public life, or manage her own property. . _resolved_, that what we do seek is to gain these rights and privileges for those women who wish to enjoy them, and so to change public opinion that it shall not be deemed indecorous for women to engage in any occupation which they deem fitted to their habits and talents. . _resolved_, that the fundamental principle of the woman's rights movement is--that every human being, without distinction of sex, has an inviolable right to the full development and free exercise of all energies; and that in every sphere of life, private and public, functions should always be commensurate with powers. . _resolved_, that each human being is the sole judge of his or her sphere, and entitled to choose a profession without interference from others. . _resolved_, that whatever differences exist between man and woman, in the quality or measure of their powers, are originally designed to be and should become bonds of union and means of co-operation in the discharge of all functions, alike private and public. . _resolved_, that the monopoly of the elective franchise, and thereby of all the powers of legislation and government, by men, solely on the ground of sex, is a monstrous usurpation--condemned alike by reason and common-sense, subversive of all the principles of justice, oppressive and demoralizing in its operations, and insulting to the dignity of human nature. . _resolved_, that we see no force in the objection, that woman's taking part in politics would be a fruitful source of domestic dissension; since experience shows that she may be allowed to choose her own faith and sect without any such evil result, though religious disputes are surely as bitter as political--and if the objection be sound, we ought to go further, and oblige a wife to forego all religious opinions, or to adopt the religious as well as the political creed of her husband. . _resolved_, that women, like men, must be either self-supported and self-governed, or dependent and enslaved; that an unobstructed and general participation in all the branches of productive industry, and in all the business functions and offices of common life, is at once their natural right, their individual interest, and their public duty; the claim and the obligation reciprocally supporting each other; that the idleness of the rich, with its attendant physical debility, moral laxity, passional intemperance and mental dissipation, and the ignorance, wretchedness, and enforced profligacy of the poor, which are everywhere the curse and reproach of the sex, are the necessary results of their exclusion from those diversified employments which would otherwise furnish them with useful occupation, and reward them with its profits, honors, and blessings, that this enormous wrong cries for redress, for reparation by those whose delinquency allows its continuance. _whereas_, the energies of man are always in proportion to the magnitude of the objects to be obtained; and, whereas, it requires the highest motive for the greatest exertion and noblest action; therefore, . _resolved_, that woman must be recognized politically, legally, socially, and religiously the equal of man, and all the obstructions to her highest physical, intellectual, and moral culture and development be removed, that she may have the highest motive to assume her place in that sphere of action and usefulness which her capacities enable her to fill. . _resolved_, that this movement gives to the cause of education a new motive and impulse; makes a vast stride toward the settlement of the question of wages and social reform; goes far to cure that widespread plague--the licentiousness of cities; adds to civilization a new element of progress; and in all these respects commends itself as one of the greatest reforms of the age. first appeal of . woman's rights.--circulate the petition. the albany woman's rights convention, held in february last, resolved to continue the work of petitioning our state legislature, from year to year, until the law of justice and equality shall be dispensed to the whole people, without distinction of sex. in order to systematize and facilitate the labors of the friends who shall engage in the work of circulating the petitions, a committee was appointed to devise and present some definite plan of action. in the estimation of that committee, the first and most important work to be done is to enlighten the people as to the real claims of the woman's rights movement, thereby dispelling their many prejudices, and securing their hearty good-will. to aid in the accomplishment of this first great object, the committee purpose holding woman's rights meetings in all the cities and many of the larger villages of the state, during the coming fall and winter, and gladly, could they command the services of lecturing agents, would they thoroughly canvass the entire state. but, since to do so is impossible, they would urge upon the friends in every county, town, village, and school district, to hold public meetings in their respective localities, and, if none among their own citizens feel themselves competent to address the people, invite speakers from abroad. let the question be fully and freely discussed, both pro and con, by both friends and opponents. though the living speaker can not visit every hearthstone throughout the length and breadth of the empire state, and personally present the claims of our cause to the hearts and consciences of those who surround them, his arguments, by the aid of the invaluable art of printing, may. therefore the committee have resolved to circulate as widely as possible the written statement of woman's political and legal rights, as contained in the address written by elizabeth cady stanton, of seneca falls, n. y., and adopted by the albany convention--presented to our legislature at its last session. this address has been highly spoken of by many of the best papers in the state, and pronounced, by eminent lawyers and statesmen, an able and unanswerable argument. and the committee, being fully confident of its power to convince every candid inquirer after truth of the justice and mercy of our claims, do urgently call upon the friends everywhere to aid them in giving to it a thorough circulation. there is no reform question of the day that meets so ready, so full, so deep a response from the masses, as does this woman's rights question. to ensure a speedy triumph, we have only to take earnest hold of the work of disseminating its immutable truths. let us, then, agitate the question, hold public meetings, widely circulate woman's rights tracts, and show to the world that we are in earnest--that we will be heard--that our demands stop not short of justice and perfect equality to every human being. let us, at least, see to it, that this admirable address of mrs. stanton is placed in the hands of every intelligent man and woman in the state, and thus the way prepared for the gathering up of a mighty host of names to our petitions to be presented to our next legislature, a mammoth roll, that shall cause our law-makers to know that the people are with us, and that if our prayer be not wisely and justly answered by them, other and truer representatives will fill those legislative halls. the success of our first appeal to our legislature, made last winter, encourages us to persevere. that the united prayer of only , men and women should cause the reporting and subsequent passage in the house, of a bill granting two of our most special claims--that of the wife to her earnings, and the mother to her children--is indeed a result the most sanguine scarce dared to hope for. what may we not expect from our next appeal, that shall be , , nay, more, if we but be faithful, , strong. to the work, then, friends, of renovating public sentiment and circulating petitions. there is no time to be lost. our fourth of july gatherings will afford an opportunity for both distributing the address and circulating the petitions. and, women of the empire state, it is for you to do the work, it is for you to shake from your feet the dust of tyrant custom, it is for you to remember that "he who would be free must himself strike the blow." the petitions to be circulated are the same as last year--one asking for the just and equal rights of women, and the other for woman's right of suffrage. the petitions are to be signed by both men and women, the men's names placed in the right column, and the women's in the left. all intelligent persons must be ready and willing to sign the first, asking a revision of the laws relative to the property rights of women, and surely no true republican can refuse to give his or her name to the second, asking for woman the right of representation--a practical application of the great principles of ' . it is desirable that there shall be one person in each county to whom all the petitions circulated in its several towns, villages, and school districts, shall be forwarded, and who shall arrange and attach them in one roll, stating upon a blank sheet, placed between the petition and the signatures, the number of signers, the name of the county, and the number of towns represented, and forward them as early as the st of december next, to susan b. anthony, rochester, n. y. where no person volunteers, or is appointed such county agent, the petitions, properly labeled, may be sent directly to rochester. mrs. stanton's address is published in neat pamphlet form, in large type, and may be had at the following prices: $ per , - / cts. per dozen; or if sent by mail, $ per , and cts. per dozen. packages of over may be sent by express to all places on the line of the railroads at a less cost than by mail. it is hoped that every person who reads this notice, and feels an interest in the universal diffusion of the true aim and object of the woman's rights agitation, will, without delay, order copies of this address to distribute gratuitously or otherwise, among their neighbors and townsmen. should there be any wishing to aid in this work, who can not command the money necessary to purchase the address, their orders will be cheerfully complied with free of charge. the committee have on hand a variety of woman's rights tracts, written by s. j. may, wendell phillips, elizabeth c. stanton, mrs. c. i. h. nichols, ernestine l. rowe, t. w. higginson, and others. also, the reports of the several national woman's rights conventions, all of which may be had at very low prices. all correspondence and orders for address, petitions, etc., should be addressed to susan b. anthony, general agent, rochester, n. y. _june , _. second appeal of . _to the women of the state of new york:_ we purpose again this winter to send petitions to our state legislature--one, asking for the just and equal rights of woman, and one for woman's right of suffrage. the latter, we think, covers the whole ground, for we can never be said to have just and equal rights until the right of suffrage is ours. some who will gladly sign the former may shrink from making the last demand. but be assured, our cause can never rest on a safe, enduring basis, until we get the right of suffrage. so long as we have no voice in the laws, we have no guarantee that privileges granted us to-day by one body of men, may not be taken from us to-morrow by another. all man's laws, his theology, his daily life, go to prove the fixed idea in his mind of the entire difference in the sexes--a difference so broad that what would be considered cruel and unjust between man and man, is kind and just between man and woman. having discarded the idea of the oneness of the sexes, how can man judge of the needs and wants of a being so wholly unlike himself? how can he make laws for his own benefit and woman's too at the same time? he can not. he never has, as all his laws relative to woman most clearly show. but when man shall fully grasp the idea that woman is a being of like feelings, thoughts, and passions with himself, he may be able to legislate for her, as one code would answer for both. but until then, a sense of justice, a wise self-love, impels us to demand a voice in his councils. to every intelligent, thinking woman, we put the question, on what sound principles of jurisprudence, constitutional law, or human rights, are one-half of the people of this state disfranchised? if you answer, as you must, that it is done in violation of all law, then we ask you, when and how is this great wrong to be righted? we say now; and petitioning is the first step in its accomplishment. we hope, therefore, that every woman in the state will sign her name to the petitions. it is humiliating to know that many educated women so stultify their consciences as to declare that they have all the rights they want. have you who make this declaration ever read the barbarous laws in reference to woman, to mothers, to wives, and to daughters, which disgrace our statute books? laws which are not surpassed in cruelty and injustice by any slaveholding code in the united states; laws which strike at the root of the glorious doctrine for which our fathers fought and bled and died, "no taxation without representation"; laws which deny a right most sacredly observed by many of the monarchies of europe--"the right of trial by a jury of one's own peers"; laws which trample on the holiest and most unselfish of all human affections--a mother's love for her child--and with ruthless cruelty snap asunder the tenderest ties; laws which enable the father, be he a man or a minor, to tear the infant from the mother's arms and send it, if he chooses, to the feejee islands--yea, to will the guardianship of the _unborn_ child to whomsoever he may please, whether to the sultan of turkey or the imam of muscat; laws by which our sons and daughters may be bound to service to cancel their father's debts of _honor_, in the meanest rum-holes and brothels in the vast metropolis; laws which violate all that is most pure and sacred in the marriage relation, by giving to the cruel, beastly drunkard the rights of a man, a husband, and father; laws which place the life-long earnings of the wife at the disposal of the husband, be his character what it may; laws which leave us at the mercy of the rum-seller and the drunkard, against whom we have no protection for our lives, our children, or our homes; laws by which we are made the watch-dogs to keep a million and a half of our sisters in the foulest bondage the sun ever shone upon--which forbid us to give food and shelter to the panting fugitive from the land of slavery. if, in view of laws like these, there be women in this state so lost to self-respect, to all that is virtuous, noble, and true, as to refuse to raise their voices in protest against such degrading tyranny, we can only say of that system which has thus robbed womanhood of all its glory and greatness, what the immortal channing did of slavery, "if," said he, "it be true that the slaves are contented and happy--if there is a system that can blot out all love of freedom from the soul of man, destroy every trace of his divinity, make him happy in a condition so low and benighted and hopeless, i ask for no stronger argument against such a slavery as ours." no! never believe it; woman falsifies herself and blasphemes her god, when in view of her present social, legal, and political position, she declares she has all the rights she wants. if a few drops of saxon blood gave our frederick douglass such a clear perception of his humanity, his inalienable rights, as to enable him, with the slaveholder's bible, the slaveholder's constitution, a southern public sentiment and education all laid heavy on his shoulders, to stand upright and walk forth in search of freedom, with as much ease as did samson of old with the massive gates of the city, shall we, the daughters of our hancocks and adamses, we in whose veins flow the blood of the pilgrim fathers, shall we never try the strength of these withes of law and gospel with which in our blindness we have been bound hand and foot? yes, the time has come. "the slumber is broken, the sleeper is risen, the day of the goth and the vandal is o'er. and old earth feels the tread of freedom once more." fail not, women of the empire state, to swell our petitions. let no religious scruples hold you back. take no heed to man's interpretation of paul's injunctions to women. to any thinking mind, there is no difficulty in explaining those passages of the apostle as applicable to the times in which they were written, as having no reference whatever to the women of the nineteenth century. "honor the king," heroes of ' ! those leaden tea-chests of boston harbor cry out, "render unto cæsar the things that are cæsar's." when the men of , with their priests and rabbis, shall rebuke the disobedience of their forefathers--when they shall cease to set at defiance the british lion and the apostle paul in their national policy, then it will be time enough for us to bow down to man's interpretation of law touching our social relations, and acknowledge that god gave us powers and rights, merely that we might show forth our faith in him by being helpless and dumb. the writings of paul, like our state constitutions, are susceptible of various interpretations. but when the human soul is roused with holy indignation against injustice and oppression, it stops not to translate human parchments, but follows out the law of its inner being, written by the finger of god in the first hour of its creation. our petitions will be sent to every county in the state, and we hope that they will find at least ten righteous women to circulate them. but should there be any county so benighted that a petition can not be circulated throughout its length and breadth, giving to every man and woman an opportunity to sign their names, then we pray, not that "god will send down fire and brimstone" upon it, but that the "napoleon" of this movement will flood it with woman's rights tracts and missionaries. elizabeth cady stanton, _chairman n. y. state woman's rights committee._ seneca falls, _dec. , _. n. b.--all orders for forms of petitions and woman's rights tracts, and all communications relating to the movement in this state, should be addressed to our general agent, susan b. anthony, rochester, n. y. let the petitions be returned, as soon as possible, to lydia mott, albany, n. y., as we wish to present them early in the session, and thereby give our legislature due time for the consideration of this important question. national woman's rights convention, cooper institute, . letter from mrs. stanton. seneca falls, _november , _. dear lucy stone:--we may continue to hold our conventions, we may talk of our right to vote, to legislate, to hold property, but until we can arouse in woman a proper self-respect, she will hold in contempt the demands we now make for our sex. we shall never get what we ask for until the majority of women are openly with us; and they will never claim their civil rights until they know their social wrongs. from time to time i put these questions to myself: how is it that woman can longer silently consent to her present false position? how can she calmly contemplate the barbarous code of laws which govern her civil and political existence? how can she devoutly subscribe to a theology which makes her the conscientious victim of another's will, forever subject to the triple bondage of the man, the priest, and the law? how can she tolerate our social customs, by which womankind is stripped of all true virtue, dignity, and nobility? how can she endure our present marriage relations, by which woman's life, health, and happiness are held so cheap, that she herself feels that god has given her no charter of rights, no individuality of her own. i answer, she patiently bears all this because in her blindness she sees no way of escape. her bondage, though it differs from that of the negro slave, frets and chafes her just the same. she too sighs and groans in her chains; and lives but in the hope of better things to come. she looks to heaven; whilst the more philosophical slave sets out for canada. let it be the object of this convention to show that there is hope for woman this side of heaven, and that there is a work for her to do before she leaves for the celestial city. marriage is a divine institution, intended by god for the greater freedom and happiness of both parties--whatever therefore conflicts with woman's happiness is not legitimate to that relation. woman has yet to learn that she has a right to be happy in and of herself; that she has a right to the free use, improvement, and development of all her faculties, for her own benefit and pleasure. the woman is greater than the wife or the mother; and in consenting to take upon herself these relations, she should never sacrifice one iota of her individuality to any senseless conventionalisms, or false codes of feminine delicacy and refinement. marriage, as we now have it, is opposed to all god's laws. it is by no means an equal partnership. the silent partner loses everything. on the domestic sign, the existence of a second person is not recognized by even the ordinary abbreviation, co. there is the establishment of john jones. perhaps his partner supplies all the cents and the senses--but no one knows who she is or whence she came. if john is a luminous body, she shines in his reflection; if not, she hides herself in his shadow. but she is nameless, for a woman has no name! she is mrs. john or james, peter or paul, just as she changes masters; like the southern slave, she takes the name of her owner. many people consider this a very small matter; but it is the symbol of the most cursed monopoly on this footstool; a monopoly by man of all the rights, the life, the liberty, and happiness of one-half of the human family--all womankind. for what man can honestly deny that he has not a secret feeling that where his pleasure and woman's seems to conflict, the woman must be sacrificed; and what is worse, woman herself has come to think so too. she believes that all she tastes of joy in life is from the generosity and benevolence of man; and the bitter cup of sorrow, which she too often drinks to the very dregs, is of the good providence of god, sent by a kind hand for her improvement and development. this sentiment pervades the laws, customs, and religions of all countries, both christian and heathen. is it any wonder, then, that woman regards herself as a mere machine, a tool for men's pleasure? verily is she a hopeless victim of his morbidly developed passions. but, thank god, she suffers not alone! man too pays the penalty of his crimes in his enfeebled mind, dwarfed body, and the shocking monstrosities of his deformed and crippled offspring. call yourselves christian women, you who sacrifice all that is great and good for an ignoble peace, who betray the best interests of the race for a temporary ease? it were nobler far to go and throw yourselves into the ganges than to curse the earth with a miserable progeny, conceived in disgust and brought forth in agony. what mean these asylums all over the land for the deaf and dumb, the maim and blind, the idiot and the raving maniac? what all these advertisements in our public prints, these family guides, these female medicines, these madame restells? do not all these things show to what a depth of degradation the women of this republic have fallen, how false they have been to the holy instincts of their nature, to the sacred trust given them by god as the mothers of the race? let christians and moralists pause in their efforts at reform, and let some scholar teach them how to apply the laws of science to human life. let us but use as much care and forethought in producing the highest order of intelligence, as we do in raising a cabbage or a calf, and in a few generations we shall reap an abundant harvest of giants, scholars, and christians. the first step in this improvement is the elevation of woman. she is the protector of national virtue; the rightful lawgiver in all our most sacred relations. yours truly, elizabeth cady stanton. letter from n. h. whiting. marshfield, mass., _september , _. dear friend:--i do not see that i can do much to aid you in your effort for self-emancipation from the injustice your sex encounters in the present social and political arrangements of the world. you know the old maxim, "the gods help them who help themselves." this is true of all times and circumstances. the two inevitable conditions that are found in, and are essential to all bondage, are the spirit of oppression, the desire to exercise unlawful dominion on the one side, and ignorance, servility, the willingness, if not the desire to be enslaved on the other. the absence of either is fatal to the existence of the thing itself. i apprehend the principal thing you want from our sex, as a preliminary to your growth and equal position in the great struggle of life, is what diogenes wanted of alexander, viz., that we shall "get out of your sunshine." in other words, that we shall remove the obstacles we have placed in your way. to this end, politically, all laws which discriminate between man and woman, to the injury of the latter, should at once be blotted out. women should have an equal voice in the creation and administration of that government to which they are subject. this will be a fair start in that direction. the first thing to be done, socially, is to so regulate and arrange the industrial machinery that women shall have an equal chance to labor in all the departments, and that the same work shall receive the same pay whether done by man or woman. this will do much to clear the track, so that all can have a fair chance. this is all you ask, as i take it. this you should have. justice demands it.... but, save in the removal of the outward forms of society, which now environ and hedge up your way, the active work in all this change in the most important human relations must be done by yourselves. "they who would be free, themselves must strike the blow." what woman is capable of we shall never know until she has a fair chance in the wide arena of universal human life. if the love of frivolity and show and of empty admiration, which now so generally obtains, is an unfailing characteristic in the female sex, legislation can not help you. encouragement, sympathy, can not help you. it is of no use to fight against the eternal laws. but if this be only a perversion or misdirection of noble and lovely powers and faculties, the result of accidental circumstances and vicious institutions, as i believe, then, when the outward pressure is removed, the elastic spring of the genuine human spirit, encased in the form of woman, shall return; the great curse of civil and domestic strife shall cease; the true marriage of the male and female heart can then take place, because that perfect equality, under which alone it can exist, will be recognized and established. you are engaged in a great work. may you have faith and resolution to continue to the end. it is a long way before you. man is a plant of slow growth. his education and development are the work of ages. it is only by a landmark extending far back into the dim and misty past we can trace his upward path. but though the race grows so slow, and the forward wave is go often pressed backward by the prevailing currents of ignorance, superstition, and oppression, still, it is cheering to know that no true word was ever spoken, or good deed ever done, but it cast some rays of light into the surrounding darkness, while it gave strength and vigor to the spirit that sent it forth. that is a grand truth whose utterance is attributed to jesus, "it is more blessed to give than to receive." by that gift we may relieve the want of others, but we gain far more to ourselves by creating from the chaos of human crime and misery a beautiful and godlike act. that act is wrought into the fibers of our own individual life, and we are nobler, better, happier than before. so you, in the thankless task before you, subject to ribald jest, to the cold, heartless sneer, to obloquy and abuse of all sorts from our and even your sex, who are most immediately to be benefited by your labors, will have this great truth to console and stimulate you, that in every step of this grand procession in which you are marching, you will gather rich and substantial food for the sustenance and growth of your own mental and moral natures. truly yours, n. h. whiting. new york, _november , _. _to the seventh national woman's rights convention_: the central claim for woman is her right to be, and to do, as well as to suffer. allow her everywhere to represent herself and her own interests. custom and law both deny her this right. if she is too cowardly to contend with custom, and to overcome it, let her remain its slave. but the law has bound her hand and foot. here she can not act. the law-makers have forged her chains and riveted them upon her. they alone can take them off. shall we not, then, at once demand of them--demand of every sovereign state in the union--the elective franchise for woman? with this franchise she can make for herself a civil and political equality with man. without it she is utterly without power to protect herself. she does not need to be protected like a child. she does need freedom to use the powers of self-protection with which her own nature is endowed. each of the several states has its specific laws--statutes and constitution--varying in details, but all more or less unjust to her as wife, mother, property-holder; in short, unjust to her in all her relations as citizen. every state denies to her the right to represent herself politically. once give her this, and she can take all the rest. would it not be wholly appropriate, then, for this national convention to demand the right of suffrage for her from the legislature of each state in the nation? we can not petition the general government on this point. allow me, therefore, respectfully to suggest the propriety of appointing a committee, which shall be instructed to prepare a memorial adapted to the circumstances of each legislative body; and demanding of each, in the name of this convention, the elective franchise for woman. such a memorial, presented to the several states during the coming winter, could not fail of doing good. it would be pressing home this great question upon all the powers that be in the whole nation; and, with comparatively little effort, would, at least, create a healthful agitation. who shall say that the just men of some state will not even accord to us the franchise we claim? with this hint to the wise, i remain, as ever, yours, for equal human rights, antoinette l. brown blackwell. mr. hattelle moved that a committee be at once appointed to draft such a memorial, which was adopted. wendell phillips rose to offer as an amendment, that a recommendation go forth from this convention to the women of each state, to inaugurate their presentation of the subject to their several legislatures. thomas wentworth higginson proposed that the friends of woman suffrage should publish an almanac each year giving the advance steps in their movement. he issued one for , from which we clip the following: the woman's rights almanac. the history of woman in three pictures. i. hindoo laws. b. c.--"a man, both day and night, must keep his wife so much in subjection, that she by no means be mistress of her own actions. if the wife have her own free-will, notwithstanding she be of a superior caste, she will behave amiss." "the creator formed woman for this purpose, that man might have sexual intercourse with her, and that children might be born from thence." "a woman shall never go out of the house without the consent of her husband.... and shall act according to the orders of her husband, and shall pay a proper respect to the deity, her husband's father, the spiritual guide, and the guests; and shall not eat until she has served them with victuals (if it is physic, she may take it before they eat); a woman also shall never go to a stranger's house, and shall not stand at the door, and must never look out of a window." "if a woman, following her own inclinations, goes whithersoever she choose, and does not regard the words of her master, such a woman shall be turned away." "if a man goes on a journey, his wife shall not divert herself by play, nor shall see any public show, nor shall laugh, nor shall dress herself with jewels and fine clothes, nor shall see dancing, nor hear music, nor shall sit in the window, nor shall ride out, nor shall behold anything choice or rare, but shall fasten well the house-door and remain private; and shall not eat any dainty victuals, and shall not view herself in a mirror; she shall never exercise herself in any such agreeable employment during the absence of her husband." "it is proper for every woman, after her husband's death, to burn herself in the fire with his corpse." it will be seen that the following laws scarcely vary at all, in principle, from the preceding: ii. anglo-saxon laws. .--"by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is, _the very being or existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage_, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband, under whose wing, protection, and _covert_ she performs everything; and is, therefore, called in our law-french a _feme-covert_, is said to be _covert-baron_, or under the protection and influence of her husband, her baron, or lord; and her condition during her marriage is called her _coverture_. upon this principle, of an union of person in husband and wife, depend almost all the legal rights, duties, and disabilities that either of them acquire by the marriage."--_ blackstone com_., . "the husband also, by the old law, might give his wife moderate correction. for, as he is to answer for her misbehavior, the law thought it reasonable to intrust him with this power of restraining her by domestic chastisement, in the same moderation that a man is allowed to correct his apprentices or children. but this power of correction was confined within reasonable bounds, and the husband was prohibited from using any violence to his wife, _aliter quam ad virum, ex causa regiminis et castigationis uxoris suae licite et rationabiliter pertinet_ (except as lawfully and reasonably belongs to a husband, for the sake of governing and disciplining his wife). the civil law gave the husband the same, or a larger authority over his wife, allowing him, for some misdemeanors, _flagellis et fustibus acriter verberare uxorem_ (to beat his wife severely with whips and cudgels); for others only _modicam castigationem adhibere_ (to administer moderate chastisement). but with us, in the politer reign of charles ii., this power of correction began to be doubted, and a wife may now have security of peace against the husband, or, in return, a husband against his wife. yet the lower rank of people, who were always fond of the old common law, still claim and exact their ancient privilege, and the courts of law will still permit a husband to restrain a wife of her liberty in case of any gross misbehavior."--_ blackstone_, . "the legal effects of marriage are generally deducible from the principle of the common law by which the husband and wife are regarded as one person, and her legal existence and authority are in a degree lost or suspended during the continuance of the matrimonial union."--_ kent's comm. on am. law_, . "even now, in countries of the most polished habits, a considerable latitude is allowed to marital coercion. in england the husband has the right of imposing _such corporal restraints as he may deem necessary_, for securing to himself the fulfillment of the obligations imposed on the wife by virtue of the marriage contract. he may, in the plenitude of his power, adopt every act of physical coercion which does not endanger the life or health of the wife, or render cohabitation unsafe."--_petersdorff's abridgement, note_. "the husband hath, by law, power and dominion over his wife, and _may keep her by force within the bounds of duty, and may beat her_, but not in a violent or cruel manner."--_bacon's abridgement, title "baron aud feme," b. _. "_the wife is only the servant of her husband._"--_baron alderson_ (_wharton's laws relating to the women of england_), _p. _. "it is probably not generally known, that whenever a woman has accepted an offer of marriage, all she has, or expects to have, becomes virtually the property of the man thus accepted as a husband; and no gift or deed executed by her between the period of acceptance and the marriage is held to be valid; for were she permitted to give away or otherwise settle her property, he might be disappointed in the wealth he looked to in making the offer."--_roper, law of husband and wife, book i., ch. xiii_. "a lady whose husband had been unsuccessful in business, established herself as a milliner in manchester. after some years of toil, she realized sufficient for the family to live upon comfortably, the husband having done nothing meanwhile. they lived for a time in easy circumstances, after she gave up business, and then the husband died, _bequeathing all his wife's earnings to his own illegitimate children_. at the age of sixty-two, she was compelled, in order to gain her bread, to return to business."--_westminster review, oct., _. mr. justice coleridge's judgment "_in re cochrane_."--the facts were briefly these. a writ of _habeas corpus_ had been granted to the wife, who, having been brought into the power of the husband by strategem, had since that time been kept in confinement by him. by the return to the writ, it appeared that the parties had lived together for about three years after their marriage on terms of apparent affection, and had two children; that in may, , mrs. cochrane withdrew herself and offspring from his house and protection, and had resided away from him against his will, for nearly four years. while absent from her husband, mrs. cochrane had always resided with her mother, nor was there the slightest imputation on her honor. in ordering her to be restored to her husband, the learned judge, after stating the question to be whether by the common law, the husband, in order to prevent his wife from eloping, _has a right to confine her in his own dwelling-house, and restrain her from liberty for an indefinite time_, using no cruelty nor imposing any hardship or unnecessary restraint on his part, and on hers there being no reason from her past conduct to apprehend that she will avail herself of her absence from his control to injure either his honor or his property, stated, "_that there could be no doubt of the general dominion which the law of england attributes to the husband over the wife_."--_ dowling's p. c. _. _quoted in westminster review, oct., _. iii. signs of the times. .--it is obvious that the english common law, as above stated, is scarcely a step beyond barbarism. yet this law remained almost unaltered in the united states, as respects woman, till the year --the year of the first local woman's rights convention, the first national one being held in . since then every year has brought improvements, and even those who denounce the woman's rights movement, admit the value of these its results. there is near trenton, says _the newark advertiser_, a woman who is a skillful mechanic. she has made a carriage, and can make a violin or a gun. she is only years old. this is told as though it were something wonderful for a woman to have mechanical genius; when the fact is, that there are thousands all over the country who would make as good mechanics and handle tools with as much skill and dexterity as men, if they were only allowed to make manifest their ingenuity and inclinations. a girl's hands and head are formed very much like those of a boy, and if put to a trade at the age when boys are usually apprenticed, she will master her business quite as soon as the boy--be the trade what it may. sale of a wife at worcester, england.--one of these immoral and illegal transactions was recently completed at worcester. the agreement between the fellow who sold and the fellow who bought is given in _the worcester chronicle_: "thomas middleton delivered up his wife, mary middleton, to phillip rostins, and sold her for one shilling and a quart of ale, and parted wholly and solely for life, not trouble one another for life. witness, signed thomas |x| middleton. witness, mary middleton, his wife. witness, phillip |x| rostins. witness, s. h. stone, crown inn, friar street." female inventors.--"man, having excluded woman from all opportunity of mechanical education, turns and reproaches her with having invented nothing. but one remarkable fact is overlooked. society limits woman's sphere to the needle, the spindle, and the basket; and tradition reports that she _herself invented all three_. if she has invented her tools as fast as she has found opportunity to use them, can more be asked?"--_t. w. higginson_. in the ancient hindoo dramas, wives do not speak the same language with their husbands, but employ the dialect of slaves. a correspondent of _the london spectator_ suggests:--"the employment of women _as clerks at railway stations_ would not be an unprecedented innovation; they not unfrequently fill that position abroad; and i can recall at least one instance, when, at a principal station in france, a female clerk displayed under difficult circumstances an amount of zeal and intelligence which showed her to be admirably suited to her office--'the right _woman_ in the right place.'" the word courage is, in the spanish and portuguese languages, a _feminine_ noun. upwards of ten thousand females in new york, forty thousand in paris, and eighty thousand in london, are said, by statisticians, to regularly earn a daily living by immoral practices. and yet all these are christian cities! a widow lady of bury, mary chapman, who would appear to have been a warlike dame, making her will in , leaves to one of her sons, among other things, "also _my_ muskett, rest, bandileers, sword, and headpiece, _my_ jacke, a fine paire of sheets, and a hutche." addison, in _the spectator_, refers to a french author, who mentions that the ladies of the court of france, in his time, thought it ill-breeding and a kind of female pedantry, to pronounce a hard word right, for which reason they took frequent occasion to use hard words, that they might show a politeness in murdering them. the author further adds, that a lady of some quality at court, having accidentally made use of a hard word in a proper place, and pronounced it right, the whole assembly was out of countenance for her. sewing in new york.--"i am informed from one source, that based on a calculation some two years ago, the number of those who live by sewing in new york exceeds fifteen thousand. another, who has good means of information, tells me there are forty thousand earning fifteen shillings ($ . - / ) per week, and paying twelve shillings ($ . ) for board, making shirts at four cents."--_e. h. chapin_, "_moral aspects of city life_." the first "pilgrim" who stepped ashore on plymouth rock is said, by tradition, to have been a young girl, named mary chilton. the _st. louis republican_ mentions that there is one feature about the steamer illinois belle, of peculiar attractiveness--a lady clerk. "look at her bills of lading, and 'mary j. patterson, clerk,' will be seen traced to a delicate and very neat style of chirography. a lady clerk on a western steamer! it speaks strongly of our moral progress." george borrow, in his singular narrative, "the romany rye," states that the sale of a wife, with a halter round her neck, is still a legal transaction in england. it must be done in the cattle-market, as if she were a mare, "all women being considered as mares by old english law, _and indeed called mares in certain counties where genuine old english is still preserved_." testimonial to miss mitchell.--the fame of our talented countrywoman, miss maria mitchell, of nantucket, has spread far and wide among astronomers, and is cherished with pride by all americans. we are glad to learn that it is proposed to present her a testimonial which will be at once an appropriate tribute to her talents, and an aid to the future prosecution of her astronomical researches. an observatory on nantucket island is for sale on very favorable terms, and a plan is on foot for its purchase, to be presented to her. the sum needed is $ , , of which more than a third has been raised by ladies in philadelphia and its neighborhood. miss mitchell is now in europe, visiting the principal observatories and astronomers there, and it is hoped that she will soon be gratefully surprised by learning that the very imperfect means hitherto at her disposal in pursuing her favorite science are to be replaced on her return by a collection of instruments which she will be delighted to possess. drs. bond, of harvard college observatory, and hall, of providence, have interested themselves in securing this object, and express strongly their opinion that valuable results to science can not fail to be realized by furnishing so skillful and diligent an observer as miss mitchell the proposed aids to her researches. dr. bond expresses the conviction that nantucket enjoys special advantages as an astronomical site, on account of its comparative exemption from thermometrical disturbances of the atmosphere. we hope this worthy tribute to our countrywoman's scientific merit will not fail to be paid. miss mitchell's friends have the refusal of the observatory only till september st, and several other purchasers are ready to take it at once. dr. geo. choate, of salem, has consented to receive the pledges of such as desire to be enrolled among the subscribers to the fund, among whose names are already the honored ones of edward everett, j. i. bowditch, john c. brown, of providence, and f. peabody, of salem, besides other munificent patrons of science.--_journal of commerce._ learn to swim.--when the steamer alida was sinking from her collision with the fashion, a kentucky girl of seventeen was standing on the guard, looking upon the confusion of the passengers, and occasionally turning and looking anxiously toward the shore. a gallant young man stepped up to her and offered to convey her safely to shore. "thank you," replied the lady, "you need not trouble yourself; i am only waiting for the crowd to get out of the way, when i can take care of myself." soon the crowd cleared the space, and the lady plunged into the water, and swam to the shore with ease, and without any apparent fear. a lady horsebreaker in france.--in consequence of the success obtained by madame isabelle in breaking in horses for the russian army, the french minister of war lately authorized her to proceed officially before a commission, composed of general and superior officers of cavalry, with general regnault de st. jean d'angely at their head, to a practical demonstration of her method on a certain number of young cavalry horses. after twenty days' training, the horses were so perfectly broken in, that the minister no longer hesitated to enter into an arrangement with madame isabelle to introduce her system into all the imperial schools of cavalry, beginning with that of saumur.--_galignani's messenger_. since the passage of what is called the married woman's act, in , in pennsylvania, there have been brought, in the court of common pleas, one thousand one hundred and thirty-five suits for divorce. a large majority of the cases are brought by the wives, on the ground of cruel treatment and desertion. "women ruled all, and ministers of state were at the doors of women forced to wait-- women, who've oft as sovereigns graced the land, but never governed well at second-hand." _churchill's satires, a.d. ._ senator anthony. "a woman's rights convention is in session in new york. a collection of women arguing for political rights, and for the privileges usually conceded only to the other sex, is one of the easiest things in the world to make fun of. there is no end to the smart speeches and the witty remarks that may be made on the subject. but when we seriously attempt to show that a woman who pays taxes ought not to have a voice in the manner in which the taxes are expended, that a woman whose property and liberty and person are controlled by the laws, should have no voice in framing those laws, it is not so easy. if women are fit to rule in monarchies, it is difficult to say why they are not qualified to vote in a republic; nor can there be greater indelicacy in a woman going up to the ballot-box than there is in a woman opening a legislature or issuing orders to an army. "we do not say that women ought to vote; but we say that it is a great deal easier to laugh down the idea than to argue it down. moreover, there are a great many things besides voting that are confined to men, and that women can do quite as well, or even better. there are many employments which ought to be opened to women, there are many ways in which women can be made to contribute more largely to their own independence and comfort, and to the general good of society. all well-directed plans to this end should receive the support of thinking men. the danger is that conventions of this kind are apt to overlook the present and attainable good, in their efforts for results which are of less certain value and far less practicable."--_providence journal, edited by ex-governor anthony._ wisconsin legislature, . wisconsin report on the suffrage question.--the following extract from the report on the extension of the right of suffrage in wisconsin, we find in _the milwaukee free democrat_: "perhaps no question ever submitted to a community would call forth so much of its mental activity, such a crusade into the realms of history, such a balancing of good and evil, of the past with the present, such an examination of the social and political rights and relations, as the question whether the right of suffrage ought to be extended to all citizens over the age of twenty-one, which would, of course, include both sexes. the giddy devotee of fashion would be surprised in the midst of her frivolity, and be compelled to think and reason, in view of a new responsibility which is menacing her. even if opposed to the proposition, she would be compelled to organize and inspire the public opinion necessary to defeat it. whatever might be the event, woman's intellectual position would be changed, and changed forever, and with hers that of all other classes.... "let no one imagine that he can dispose of this question by a contemptuous fling at strong-minded women and hen-pecked husbands. the principle will gain more strength from the character of the arguments of its opponents than from any number of bloomer conventions. the modern idea of the fashionable belle, floating like a bird of paradise through the soiree; the impersonation of motion and grace in the ball-room, indulging alternately in syncope and rapture over the marvelous adventures and despair of the hero of a mushroom romance, her rapid transition from one excitement to another, to fill up the dreary vacuum of life, provoking as it does the secret derision of sensible men; all this comes from that legislation, from that public opinion, which drives women away from real life; from the discussion of questions in which her happiness and destiny are involved. a senseless, though a false fondness, denies her a participation in all questions of the actual world around her. the novel writers therefore create a fictitious world, filled with fantastic and hollow characters, for her to range in. awhile she believes she is an angel, till some unfortunate husband finds her to be a moth on his fortune, and a baleful shadow stretching across his pathway, without curiosity or interests in all those practical realities, which the world, outside of her charmed existence, is attending to. these are the abortions of a false public opinion. for ages they have been regarded as the natural results of female organism. hence, woman has become famed as a gossip, because she would degrade herself by discussing judge a.'s qualifications for judge of probate, though judge a. may yet appoint a guardian for her children. in the sewing society, she sews scandal, or reads brocades, silks, and crinolines, because it would be extremely coarse and vulgar in her to read the statutes of wisconsin, where her rights of person and property, marriage and divorce, are regulated. in those statutes she would find that though $ , are appropriated to build a university, she is as effectually excluded from that institution as though it was a convent of monks. so there is some inconvenience at last in being regarded as a _bona-fide_ angel, for angels have no use for universities. some indignant school-ma'am begins to suspect the hollow compliments of moon-struck admirers, and demands a direct voice in the laws which provide for the mutual improvement of her sex. but the grave doctor of law puts on his spectacles, and tells her she is fully and exactly represented in man, only more so. when he eats, she eats; when he thinks, she thinks; when he gets drunk, she gets drunk; that it would be as absurd to provide for the board and education of one's own shadow as to provide a separate establishment for woman, who possesses all things, enjoys all things, and sways all things in man, as fully as though she did it herself. and a single woman, or widow, may pay taxes, but it would be outrageous for her to have a choice in the men who are to spend the money and then cry out for more. when married, ten years ago, her education was equal to her husband's, now she can not write a grammatical letter: her husband's mind has been enlarged by the influx of new ideas, and by contacts with the electric atmosphere of thought in the great world without; but denied as she has been the right of expressing her will by a direct vote, she has lost all interest in passing events; the globe has dwindled to a half-acre lot and the village church. her partner finds the match unequal, spends his time with more congenial society, and is out-and-out in favor of moses' law of a galloping divorce. the old stager has filled the political arena with frauds and brawls, and bruises and blood; and having levelled the morals of the ballot-box with those of the race-ground or box-ring, he has yet virtue enough left to declare that woman shall not enter this moral aceldama. "yet it may be that democracy, for self-preservation, will be compelled to invite women to the ballot-box, to restrain and overawe the ruffianism of man. though man smiles with secret derision at the competition of woman, in dress and show, yet he is too tender of her reputation to allow her the same field with himself wherein to exercise her powers. we believe that this contortion of character is justly attributable to the denial of the right of voting, the great mode by which the questions of the day are decided in this country. politics are our national life. as civilization advances, its issues will penetrate still deeper into social and every-day life of the people; and no man or woman can be regarded as an entity, as a power in society, who has not a direct agency in governing its results. without a direct voice in molding the spirit of the age, the age will disown us. "but the objection is argued seriously. political rivalry will arm the wife against the husband; a man's foes will be those of his own household. but we believe that political equality will, by lending the thoughts and purposes of the sexes, to a just degree, into the same channel, more completely carry out the designs of nature. women will be possessed of a positive power, and hollow compliments and rose-water flatteries will be exchanged for a pure admiration and a well-grounded respect, when we see her nobly discharging her part in the great intellectual and moral struggles of the age, that wait their solution by a direct appeal to the ballot-box. woman's power is, at present, poetical and unsubstantial; let it be practical and real. there is no reality in any power that can not be coined into votes. the demagogue has a sincere respect and a salutary fear of the voter; and he that can direct the lightning flash of the ballot-box is greater than he who possesses a continent of vapor, gilded with moonshine. "it is true, the right of voting would carry with it the right to hold office; but since it is true that the sexes have appropriate spheres, the discretion of individual voters would recognize this fact, and seldom elect a woman to an office, for which she is unfitted by nature and education, as incompetent men are now elected. but the cruelty of our laws is seen in this--that where nature makes exceptions, the laws are inexorable. "we have shown that woman is not correctly represented by man at the ballot-box. could her voice be heard, it would alter the choice of public men and their character. with legislators compelled to respect her opinions, the law itself, constitutions, and politics reflect, to a just extent, her peculiar views and interests. nor is it for us to decide whether these would be for the better or worse. let the majority rule. _vox populi vox dei._ woman's intellect would enlarge with her more commanding political condition, and though she might blight the hopes of many a promising aspirant, yet the union would not be dissolved under her administration. believing the time has come when an appeal on her behalf to the voters of this state will not be in vain, we have prepared to submit the question to the people, by our amendment to the senate bill. "david noggle. "j. t. mills. "i altogether prefer the committee's amendment to the senate bill. "_february , _. hopewell coxe." one year's work.--the following are a portion of the results of the woman's rights petitions, presented during the winter of - : in ohio and wisconsin, legislative committees have reported favorably to the right of suffrage, and extracts from the reports are given above. ohio, maine, indiana, and missouri have passed laws giving to married women the right to control their own earnings. the ohio and maine statutes are printed below; also a maine act, giving the husband title to an allowance from a deceased wife's property, similar to that now given by the law to widows. the memorial presented to the new york legislature, owing to some mistake, was not offered till too late for action. ohio statute.--bill passed by the ohio legislature, april , . sec. . be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of ohio, that no married man shall sell, dispose of, or in any manner part with, any personal property, which is now, or may hereafter be, exempt from sale upon execution, without having first obtained the consent of his wife thereto. sec. . if any married man shall violate the provisions of the foregoing section, his wife may, in her own name, commence and prosecute to final judgment and execution, in civil action, for the recovery of such property or its value in money. sec. . any married woman, whose husband shall desert her, or from intemperance or other cause become incapacitated, or neglect to provide for his family, may, in her own name, make contracts for her own labor and the labor of her minor children, and in her own name, sue for and collect her own or their earnings. maine statute.--at the recent session of the legislature of maine, the following acts were passed: "an act relating to the property of deceased married women. be it enacted," etc. "when a wife dies intestate and insolvent, her surviving husband shall be entitled to an allowance from her personal estate, and a distributive share in the residue thereof, in the same manner as a widow is in the estate of her husband; and if she leaves issue he shall have the use of one-third, if no issue, one-half of her real estate for life, to be received and assigned in the manner and with the rights of dower." approved april , . "an act in relation to the rights of married women. "any married woman may demand and receive the wages of personal labor performed other than for her own family, and may hold the same in her own right against her husband or any other person, and may maintain an action therefore in her own name." approved april , . female suffrage in kentucky.--kentucky revised statutes, , ch. . "schools and seminaries." art. , sec. : "an election shall be held at the school-house of each school district, from nine o'clock in the morning till two o'clock in the evening, of the first saturday of april of each year, for the election of three trustees for the district for one year, and until others are elected and qualified. the qualified voters in each district shall be the electors, and _any widow having a child between six and eighteen years of age, may also vote in person or by written proxy_." [but if the suffrage is not limited to _widows_ who have a child between six and eighteen, but extended to _unmarried, married_, and _childless_ men, why not give it to women in those positions also? such a partial concession, though valuable as recognizing a principle, is not likely to be extensively used. for in this case, as in that of women who are stockholders in corporations, the female voters will be deterred by their own small numbers and by the prejudices of society. but give woman the equal right of suffrage, and the prejudice will soon be swept away]. female suffrage in canada.--[the following is the canadian law under which women vote. the omission of the word _male_ was intentional, and was done to secure the weight of the protestant property in the hands of women, against the roman catholic aggressions and demands for separate schools. the law works well. "a friend of mine in canada west told me," said lucy stone recently, "that when the law was first passed giving women who owned a certain amount of property, or who paid a given rental, a right to vote, he went trembling to the polls to see the result. the first woman who came was a large property holder in toronto; with marked respect the crowd gave way as she advanced. she spoke her vote and walked quietly away, sheltered by her womanhood. it was all the protection she needed."] xviii. and xiv. victoria, cap .--an act for the better establishment and maintenance of common schools in upper canada. passed july , . sec. . preamble--repeals former acts. sec. . enacts that the election of school trustees shall take place on the second wednesday of january in each year. sec. . and be it enacted, that in each ward, into which any city or town is or shall be divided according to law, two fit and proper persona shall be elected school trustees by a majority of all the _taxable inhabitants_. sec. . enacts that on the second wednesday in january there shall be a meeting of all the taxable inhabitants of every incorporated village, and at such meeting six fit and proper persons, from among the resident householders, shall be elected school trustees. sec. . provides that in all _country_ school districts _three_ trustees shall be similarly elected by a majority of _the freeholders or householders_ of such school section. "the emancipation of women."--a very curious controversy, on paper, is going on at present in the _reveu philosophique et religieuse_, between m. proudhon and mme. jenny d'hericourt. the latter defends, with great warmth, the moral, civil, and political emancipation of woman. proudhon, in reply, declares that all the theories of mme. d'hericourt are inapplicable, in consequence of the inherent weakness of her sex. the periodical in which the contest is going on was founded and is conducted by the old st. simoniens. * * * * * report of the select committee of the ohio senate, on giving the right of suffrage to females. columbus, . the following petition, numerously signed by both men and women, citizens of this state, was, at the first session of the legislature, referred to the undersigned select committee: "whereas, the women of the state of ohio are disfranchised by the constitution solely on account of their sex; "we do, respectfully, demand for them the right of suffrage--a right which involves all other rights of citizenship--one that can not, justly, be withheld, as the following admitted principles of government show: "first. 'all men are born free and equal.' "second. 'government derives its just power from the consent of the governed.' "third. 'taxation and representation are inseparable.' "we, the undersigned, therefore, petition your honorable body to take the necessary steps for a revision of the constitution, so that all citizens may enjoy equal political rights." your committee have given the subject referred to them a careful examination, and now report. your committee believe that the prayer of the petitioners ought to be granted. our opinion is based both upon grounds of principle and expediency, which we will endeavor to present as briefly as is consistent with a due consideration of this subject. the founders of this republic claimed and asserted with great emphasis, the essential equality of human rights as a self-evident truth. they scouted the venerable old dogma of the divine right of kings and titled aristocracies to rule the submissive multitude. they were equally explicit in their claim that "taxation and representation are inseparable." the house of representatives of massachusetts, , declared, "that the imposition of duties and taxes, by the parliament of great britain, upon a _people not represented_ in the house of commons, is absolutely irreconcilable with their rights." a pamphlet entitled "the rights of the british colonies asserted," was sent to the agent of the colony in england, to show him the state of the public mind, and along with it an energetic letter. "the silence of the province," said this letter, alluding to the suggestion of the agent that he had taken silence for consent, "should have been imputed to any cause--even to despair--rather than be construed into a tacit cession of their rights, or the acknowledgment of a right in the parliament of great britain, to impose duties and taxes on a people who are not represented in the house of commons." "_if we are not represented we are slaves!_" some of england's ablest jurists acknowledge the truth of this doctrine. chief justice pratt said: "my position is this--taxation and representation are inseparable. the position is founded in the law of nature. it is more; it is itself an eternal law of nature." in defence of this doctrine they waged a seven years' war: and yet, when they had wrung from the grasp of great britain the colonies she would not govern upon this principle, and undertook to organize them according to their favorite theory, most of the colonies, by a single stroke of the pen, cut off one-half of the people from any representation in the government which claimed their obedience to its laws, the right to tax them for its support, and the right to punish them for disobedience. this disparity between their theory and practice does not seem to have excited much, if any notice, at the time, nor until its bitter fruits had long been eaten in obscurity and sorrow by thousands who suffered, but did not complain. indeed, so apathetic has been the public mind upon this subject, that no one is surprised to see such a remark as the following by a distinguished commentator upon american institutions: "in the free states, except criminals and paupers, _there is no class of persons_ who do not exercise the elective franchise." it seems women are not even a class of persons. they are fairly dropped from the human race, and very naturally, since we have grown accustomed to recognize as _universal_ suffrage, that which excludes by constitutional taboo one-half of the people. to declare that a voice in the government is the right of _all_, and then give it only to a _part_--and that the part to which the claimant himself belongs--is to renounce even the appearance of principle. as ought to have been foreseen, the class of persons thus cut off from the means of self-protection, have become victims of unequal and oppressive legislation, which runs through our whole code. we first bind the hands, by the organic law, and then proceed with deliberate safety, by the statute, to spoil the goods of the victim. whatever palliation for the past hoary custom, false theology, and narrow prejudice may furnish, it is certainly time now to remedy those evils, and reduce to practice our favorite theory of government. the citizens thus robbed of a natural right complain of the injustice. they protest against taxation without representation. they claim that all _just_ government must derive its power from the consent of the governed. a forcible female writer says: "even this so-called free government of the united states, as at present administered, is nothing but a political, hereditary despotism to woman; she has no instrumentality whatever in making the laws by which she is governed, while her property is taxed _without_ representation." but this feeling, it is claimed, is entertained but by few women; on the contrary, they generally disown such claim when made in their behalf. supposing the fact to be true to the fullest extent ever asserted, if it proves that american women ought to remain as they are, it proves exactly the same with respect to asiatic women; for they, too, instead of murmuring at their seclusion and at the restraint imposed upon them, pride themselves on it, and are astonished at the effrontery of women who receive visits from male acquaintances, and are seen in the streets unveiled. habits of submission make women, as well as men, servile-minded. the vast population of asia do not desire or value--probably would not accept--political liberty, nor the savages of the forest civilization; which does not prove that either of these things is undesirable for them, or that they will not, at some future time, enjoy it. custom hardens human beings to any kind of degradation, by deadening that part of their nature which would resist it. and the case of woman is, in this respect even, a peculiar one, for no other inferior caste that we have heard of has been taught to regard its degradation as their, its, honor. the argument, however, implies a secret consciousness that the alleged preference of women for their dependent state is merely apparent, and arises from their being allowed no choice; for, if the preference be natural, there can be no necessity for enforcing it by law. to make laws compelling people to follow their inclinations, has not, hitherto, been thought necessary by any legislator. the plea that women do not desire any change is the same that has been urged, times out of mind, against the proposal of abolishing any social evil. "there is no complaint," which is generally, and in this case certainly not true, and when true, only so because there is not that hope of success, without which complaint seldom makes itself audible to unwilling ears. how does the objector know that women do not desire equality of freedom? it would be very simple to suppose that if they do desire it they will all say so. their position is like that of the tenants and laborers who vote against their own political interests to please their landlords or employers, with the unique admission that submission is inculcated in them from childhood, as the peculiar attraction and grace of their character. they are taught to think that to repel actively even an admitted injustice, done to themselves, is somewhat unfeminine, and had better be left to some male friend or protector. to be accused of rebelling against anything which admits of being called an ordinance of society, they are taught to regard as an imputation of a serious offence, to say the least, against the propriety of their sex. it requires unusual moral courage, as well as disinterestedness in a woman, to express opinions favorable to woman's enfranchisement, until, at least, there is some prospect of obtaining it. the comfort of her individual life and her social consideration, usually depend on the good-will of those who hold the undue power; and to the possessors of power, any complaint, however bitter, of the misuse of it, is scarcely a less flagrant act of insubordination than to protest against the power itself. the professions of women in this matter remind us of the state offenders of old, who, on the point of execution, used to protest their love and devotion to the sovereign by whose unjust mandate they suffered. grlselda, himself, might be matched from the speeches put by shakespeare into the mouths of male victims of kingly caprice and tyranny; the duke of buckingham, for example, in "henry viii.," and even wolsey. the literary class of women are often ostentatious in disclaiming the desire for equality of citizenship, and proclaiming their complete satisfaction with the place which society assigns them; exercising in this, as in many other respects, a most noxious influence over the feelings and opinions of men, who unsuspectingly accept the servilities of toadyism as concessions to the force of truth, not considering that it is the personal interest of these women to profess whatever opinions they expect will be agreeable to men. it is not among men of talent, sprung from the people, and patronized and flattered by the aristocracy, that we look for the leaders of a democratic movement. successful literary women are just as unlikely to prefer the cause of woman to their own social consideration. they depend on men's opinion for their literary, as well as for their feminine successes; and such is their bad opinion of men, that they believe there is not more than one in a thousand who does not dislike and fear strength, sincerity, and high spirit in a woman. they are, therefore, anxious to earn pardon and toleration for whatever of these qualities their writings may exhibit on other subjects, by a studied display of submission on this; that they may give no occasion for vulgar men to say--what nothing will prevent vulgar men from saying--that learning makes woman unfeminine, and that literary ladies are likely to be bad wives. but even if a large majority of women do not desire any change in the constitution, that would be a very bad reason for withholding the elective franchise from those who do desire it. freedom of choice, liberty to choose their own sphere, is what is asked. we have not heard that the most ardent apostles of female suffrage propose to compel any woman to make stump speeches against her will, or to march a fainting sisterhood to the polls under a police, in bloomer costume. women who condemn their sisters for discontent with the laws as they are, have their prototype in those men of america who, in our revolutionary struggle with england, vehemently denounced and stigmatized as fanatics and rebels the leaders and malcontents of that day. but neither their patriotism nor wisdom have ever been much admired by the american people, perhaps not even by the english. the objection urged against female suffrage with the greatest confidence and by the greatest number, is that such a right is incompatible with the refinement and delicacy of the sex. that it would make them harsh and disputative, like male voters. this objection loses most, if not all of its force, when it is compared with the well-established usages of society as relates to woman. she already fills places and discharges duties with the approbation of most men, which are, to say the least, quite as dangerous to her refinement and retiring modesty, as the act of voting or even holding office would be. in our political campaigns all parties are anxious to secure the co-operation of women. they are urged to attend our political meetings, and even in our mass meetings, when whole acres of men are assembled, they are importunately urged to take a conspicuous part, sometimes as the representatives of the several states, and sometimes as the donors of banners and flags, accompanied with patriotic speeches by the fair donors. and in great moral questions, such as temperance, for example, in the right disposition of which woman is more interested than man, she often discharges a large amount of the labor of the campaign; but yet, when it comes to the crowning act of voting, she must stand aside--delicacy forbids--that is too masculine, too public, too exposing, though it could be done, in most cases, with as little difficulty and exposure as a letter can be taken out or put in the post-office. then there is that large class of concert singers and readers of the drama, who are eulogized and petted by those who are most shocked at the idea of women submitting themselves to the exposure of voting. in fact, the whole question of publicity is settled to the fullest extent; at least every man must be silent who acquiesces in the concert, the drama, or the opera. we need not dwell on the exposures of the stage or the indelicacies of the ballet, but if jenny lind was "an angel of purity and benevolence" for consenting to stand, chanting and enchanting, before three thousand excited admirers; if madame sontag could give a full-dress rehearsal (which does not commonly imply a superfluity of apparel) for the special edification of the clergy of boston, and be rewarded with duplicate bibles, it is difficult to see why a woman may not vote on questions vitally affecting the interests of herself, or children, or kindred. but, with all our dainty notions of female proprieties, women are, by common consent, dragged into court as witnesses, and subjected to the most scrutinizing and often indelicate examinations and questions, if either party imagines he can gain a sixpence, or dull the edge of a criminal prosecution, by her testimony. the interest, convenience, and prejudices of men, and not any true regard for the delicacy of the sex, seem to be the standard by which woman's rights and duties are to be measured. it is prejudice, custom, long-established usage, and not reason, which demand the sacrifice of woman's natural rights of self-government; a relic of barbarism still lingering in all political, and nearly all religions organizations. among the purely savage tribes, woman takes position as a domestic drudge--a mere beast of burden, whilst the sensual civilization of asia regard her more in the light of a domestic luxury, to be jealously guarded from the profane sight of all men but her husband. both positions equally and widely remote from the noble one god intended her to fill. in persia and turkey women grossly offend the public taste if they suffer their faces to be seen in the streets. in the latter country they are prohibited by law, in common with "pigs, dogs, and other unclean animals," as the law styles them, from so much as entering their mosques. _our_ ideas of the proper sphere, duties, and capabilities of woman do not differ from these so much in kind as degree. they are all based upon the assumption that man has the right to decide what are the rights, to point out the duties, and to fix the boundaries of woman's sphere; which, taking for true, our cherished theory of government, to wit: the _inalienability and equality of human rights_ can hardly be characterized by a milder term than that of an impudent and oppressive usurpation. who has authorized us, whilst railing at miters, and crosiers, and scepters, and shouting in the ears of the british lion, as self-evident truths, "representation and taxation are, and _shall_ be, inseparable,"--"governments, to be _just_, must have the consent of the governed;" to say woman, one-half of the whole race, shall, nevertheless, be taxed without representation and governed without her consent? who hath made us a judge betwixt her and her maker? it is said woman's mental and moral organization is peculiar, differing widely from that of man. perhaps so. she must then have a peculiar fitness of qualification to judge what will be wise and just government for her. let her be free to choose for herself, in the light of her peculiar organization, to what she is best adapted. she is better qualified to judge of her proper sphere than man can be. she knows her own wants and capabilities. let us leave her, as god created her, a free agent, accountable to him for any violation of the laws of her nature. he has mingled the sexes in the family relation; they are associated on terms of equality in some churches. they are active working and voting members of literary and benevolent societies. they vote as share-holders in stock companies, and in countries where less is said about freedom, and equality, and representation, they are often called to, and fill, with distinguished ability, very important positions, and often discharge the highest political trusts known to their laws. which of england's kings has shown more executive ability than elizabeth, or which has been more conscientious and discreet than annie and victoria? spain, too, had her isabella, and france her maid of orleans, her madame roland, yes, and her charlotte corday. austria and hungary their maria theresa. russia her catharine; and even the jealous jewish theocracy was judged forty years by a woman. it is too late, by thirty centuries, to put in the plea of her incompetency in political affairs. but it is objected that it would not do for woman, particularly a married woman, to be allowed to vote. it might bring discord into the family if she differed from her husband. if this objection were worth anything at all, it would lie with tenfold greater force against religious than political organizations. no animosities are so bitter and implacable as those growing out of religions disagreements; yet we allow women to choose their religious creeds, attend their favorite places of worship, and in some of them take an equal part in the church business, and all this, though the husband is of another religion, or of no religion, and no one this side of turkey claims that the law should compel woman to have no religion, or adopt that of her husband. but, even if that objection were a good one, more than half the adult women of the state are unmarried. it is said, too, that as woman is not required to perform military duty, and work on the roads, she ought not to vote. none but "able-bodied" men, under a certain age, are required to do military duty, and the effect is practically the same in regard to the two days' work on the roads, whilst women pay tax for military and road purposes the same as man. a _man's_ right to vote does not depend on his ability to perform physical labor, why should a _woman's?_ by the exclusion of woman from her due influence and voice in the government, we lose that elevating and refining influence which she gives to religious, social, and domestic life. her presence at our political meetings, all agree, contributes greatly to their order, decorum, and decency. why should not the polls, also, be civilized by her presence? does not the morality of our politics demonstrate a great want of the two qualities so characteristic of woman, heart and conscience? the female element which works such miracles of reform in the rude manners of men, in all the departments of life where she has the freedom to go, is nowhere more needed than in our politics, or at the polls. we have endeavored to show that the constitutional prohibition of female suffrage is not only a violation of natural right, but equally at war with the fundamental principles of the government. let us now look at the practical results of this organic wrong. after having taken away from woman the means of protecting her person and property, by the peaceable, but powerful ballot, how have we discharged the self-imposed duty of legislating for her? by every principle of honor, or even of common honesty, we are bound to see that her interests do not suffer in our hands. that, if we depart at all from the principle of strict equality, it should be in her favor. let as see what are the facts. when a woman marries she becomes almost annihilated in the eyes of the law, except as a subject of punishment. she loses the right to receive and control the wages of her own labor. if she be an administratrix, or executrix, she is counted as dead, and another must be appointed. if she have children, they may be taken from her against her will, and placed in the care of any one, no matter how unfit, whom the father may select. he may even give them away by will. "the personal property of the wife, such as money, goods, cattle, and other chattels, which she had in possession at the time of her marriage, in her own right, and not in the right of another, vest immediately in the husband, and he can dispose of them as he pleases. on his death, they go to his representatives, like the residue of his property. so, if any such goods or chattels come to her possession in her own right, after the marriage, they, in like manner, immediately vest in the husband." "such property of the wife, as bonds, notes, arrears of rent, legacies, which are termed _choses in action_, do not vest in the husband by mere operation of marriage. to entitle him to them, he must first reduce them into possession, by recovering the money, or altering the security, as by making them payable to himself. if the husband appoint an attorney to receive a debt or claim due the wife, and the attorney received it, or if he mortgaged the claim or debt, or assign it for a valuable consideration, or recover judgment by suit, in his own name, or if he release it, in all these cases the right of the wife, upon the decease of the husband, is gone." the real estate of the wife, such as houses and lands, is in nearly the same state of subjection to the husband's will. he is entitled to all the rents and profits while they both live, and the husband can hold the estate during his life, even though the wife be dead. a woman may thus be stripped of every available cent she ever had in the world, and even see it squandered in ministering to the low appetite or passions of a drunken debauchee of a husband. and when, by economy and toil, she may have acquired the means of present subsistence, this, too, may be _lawfully_ taken from her, and applied to the same base purpose. even her family bible, the last gift of a dying mother, her only remaining comfort, can be lawfully taken and sold by the husband, to buy the means of intoxication. _this very thing has been done._ can any one believe that laws, so wickedly one-sided as these, were ever honestly designed for the equal benefit of woman with man? yet wives are said to have quite a sufficient representation in the government, through their husbands, to secure them protection. but the cruel inequality of the laws relating to woman as wife are quite outdone by those relating to her as widow. it is these stricken and sorrowful victims, the law seems especially to have selected as its prey. upon the death of the husband, the law takes possession of the whole of the estate. the smallest items of property must be turned out for valuation, to be handled by strangers. the clothes that the deceased had worn, the chair in which he sat, the bed on which he died, all these sacred memorials of the dead, must undergo the cold scrutiny of officers of the law. the widow is counted but as an alien, and an incumbrance on the estate, the bulk of which is designed for other hands. she is to have doled out to her, like a pauper, by paltry sixes, the furniture of her own kitchen. "one table, six chairs, six knives and forks, six plates, six tea-cups and saucers, one sugar-dish, one milk-pail, one tea-pot, and _twelve_ spoons!" all this munificent provision for, perhaps, a family of only a dozen-persons. think of it, ye widows, and learn to be grateful for man's provident care of you in your hour of need! then comes the sale of "the effects of the deceased," as they are called; and amid the fullness and freshness of her grief, the widow is compelled to see sold into the hands of strangers, amid the coarse jokes and levity of a public auction, articles to her beyond all price, and around which so many tender memories cling. experience alone can fully teach the torture of this fiery ordeal. but this is only the beginning of her sorrows. if she have children, the estate is considered to belong to them, while she is but an "incumbrance" upon it. she is to have the rents and profits of one-third part of the real estate her lifetime, which, to the vast majority of cases, is so unproductive as to compel her to leave that spot, endeared to her by so many tender ties--the home of her early love, the birthplace of her children--for a cheaper and less comfortable home. but, bereaved of her husband and robbed of her property, "the law hath yet another hold on her." following up the insulting and injurious assumption of her incompetency and untrustworthiness, implied in the denial of her right of suffrage, the guardianship of her children is taken from her. her daughter, at the age of twelve, and her son, at fifteen, are to go through the mockery of choosing for themselves a _competent_ guardian--a proceeding calculated to destroy the beautiful trust and confidence in the wisdom and fitness of the mother to govern and direct them, so natural and so essential to the happiness of children. when the justifying pretext for the infliction of all this misery is the benefit of the children, her maternal nature will struggle hard to endure it with patience. but, until the passage of the law of , "regulating descents and distributions," when there were no children of either parent, the law did not abate its rigor toward her, in the disposition of the real estate, which is generally all that is left, after paying the debts and costs of "settlement," though the whole of the houses and lands might have been bought with her money, two-thirds were immediately handed over to the relatives of the husband, however above need; and though they might have been strangers, or even enemies, to her. she had but a life estate in the other third, which, at her death, also went, as the other, to her husband's heirs. she could not indulge her benevolent feelings or gratify her friendships, by devising by will, to approved charities or favorite friends, the means she no longer needed. with a bitter sense of injustice and despairing sorrow, she might well adopt the language of the unhappy jew: "nay, take my life and all, pardon not that; you take my house, when you do take the prop that doth sustain my house; you take my life, when you do take the means whereby i live." such is the famous right of dower, which has been the subject of so many stupid eulogies by lawyers and commentators. take an example of the effect of these laws upon an overburdened heart, which occurred just before the passage of the act of . a young couple, by their united means and patient industry, had secured for themselves a small, but comfortable home. it furnished the means of supplying all their simple wants. it was their own; doubly endeared by the struggles and sacrifices it had cost them. they were content. they had no children, but they had each other, and were happy in their mutual love. death seemed a great way off; and life--it was a real joy. they knew little of the laws of estates. owing nothing, they feared no intrusion upon the sanctity of their home. but the husband was killed by the falling of a tree; and, after some hours, was found dead by the agonized wife. there was no will. the wrung heart of the childless widow, in her utter bereavement, still clung to her home, which, though blighted and desolate, was still dear to her. there, at least, she would find shelter. but soon the inexorable law laid its cold, unwelcome hand upon that darkened home. there must be letters of administration had--an inventory of the "effects"--an appraisement. everything was explained by sympathizing counsel. the "right of dower" set conspicuously in the foreground--"one equal third part"--at length she comprehended it all. her home was to pass into other hands: henceforth she was to be counted only as an incumbrance on it. looking from the misery of the present down the gloom of the future, she could see only widowhood and penury. and whilst the appraisers were performing their ungracious task of overhauling cupboards and drawers, and estimating the value in cash of presents received in her courtship, she, in her quiet despair at this last bitter drop added to her full cup, arrayed herself in her best apparel (which the law generously provides "she shall retain"), and, without uttering a word of complaint or farewell, walked to the nearest water and drowned herself. if "oppression maketh even a wise man mad," ought we to wonder that a woman, almost crazed by a sudden and terrible bereavement, upon finding that her calamity, instead of giving her the jealous and compassionate protection of the law, was to be made the pretext for robbing her of what yet remained of earthly comforts, should, in the madness of her despair, cast away the burden of a life no longer tolerable? in india she would have been burned upon the funeral pile of her dead husband; we drive her to madness and suicide by the slower, but no less cruel torture, of starvation and a breaking heart. whilst persisting in such legislation, how could we expect to escape the woe, denounced by the compassionate and long-suffering saviour, against the "hypocrites who devour widows' houses"? it is said woman can accomplish any object of her desire better by persuasion, by her smiles and tears and eloquence, than she could ever compel by her vote. but with all her powers of coaxing and eloquence, she has never yet coaxed her partner into doing her simple justice. shall we never get beyond the absurd theory that every woman is legally and politically represented by her husband, and hence has an adequate guarantee? the answer is, that she has been so represented ever since representation began, and the result appears to be that, among the anglo-saxon race generally, the entire system of laws in regard to women is, at this moment, so utterly wrong, that lord brougham is reported to have declared it useless to attempt to amend it--"there must be a total reconstruction before a woman can have any justice." the wrong lies not so much in any special statute as in the fundamental theory of the law, yet no man can read the statutes on this subject of the most enlightened nation, without admitting that they were obviously made by man, not with a view to woman's interest, but his own. our ohio laws may not be so bad as the law repealed in vermont in , which _confiscated to the state_ one-half the property of every childless widow, unless the husband had other heirs. but they must compel from every generous man the admission, that neither justice nor gallantry has yet availed to procure anything like impartiality in the legal provisions for the two sexes. with what decent show of justice, then, can man, thus dishonored, claim a continuance of this suicidal confidence? there is something respectable in the frank barbarism of the old russian nuptial consecration, "here, wolf, take thy lamb." but we can not easily extend the same charity to the civilized wolf of england and america, clad in the sheep's clothing of a volume of revised statutes, caressing the person of the bride and devouring her property. it is said the husband can, by will, provide against these cases of hardship and injustice. true, he can, if he will, but does he? the number is few, some of the more thoughtful and conscientious; but this is only obtaining justice as a favor, and not as a natural right. but it is a majority of husbands who make these laws, and they generally have no desire to amend them by will. besides, the will of the husband is sometimes even worse than the law itself. such cases are by no means rare. almost every man's memory may furnish one or more examples that have fallen under his immediate notice. one or two only we will mention. a woman, advanced in life, who owned a valuable farm in her own right, in the border of a flourishing town, married a man who had little or no property. the farm was soon cut up into town lots and sold at high prices. in a few years the husband died, leaving no children, but, by will, directed the division of nearly the whole of the estate among his relatives, persons who the wife never saw. the only remedy in this case was to fall back upon her right of dower, and submit to the robbery of the law, in order to escape the worse robbery of the will. this will was not the result of any disagreement between the husband and the wife. it was only the natural outgrowth of the whole policy of our laws as regards the property rights of woman. permit us to notice one other case, which occurred in a neighboring state. many similar ones, no doubt, have occurred in our own, the law in both states being the same. a woman who had a fortune of fifty thousand dollars in "personal property," married. all this, by the law, belonged absolutely to the husband. in a year he died, leaving a will directing that the widow should have the proceeds of a certain part of this money, _so long as she remained unmarried_. if she married again, or at her death, it was to go to his heirs. how different in all these cases is the condition of the husband upon the death of the wife. there in then no officious intermeddling of the law in his domestic affairs. his house, sad and desolate though it be, is still sacred and secure from the foot of unbidden guests. there is no legal "settlement" to eat up his estate. he is not told that "one equal third part" of all his lands and tenements shall be set apart for his use during his lifetime. "he has all, everything, even his wife's bridal presents too are his. if the wife had lands in her own right, and if they have ever had a living child, he has a life estate in the whole of it, not a beggarly 'third part.'" such is the result of man's government of woman without her consent. such is the protection he affords her. she now asks the means of protecting herself, by the same instrumentality which man considers so essential to his freedom and security, representation, political equality--the right of suffrage. the removal of this constitutional restriction is of great consequence, because it casts upon woman a stigma of inferiority, of incompetency, of unworthiness of trust. it ranks her with criminals and madmen and idiots. it is essential to her, practically, as being the key to all her rights, which will open to her the door of equality and justice. does any one believe that if woman had possessed an equal voice in making our laws, we should have standing on our statute books, for generations, laws so palpably unequal and unjust toward her? the idea is preposterous. if our sense of natural justice and our theory of government both agree, that the being who is to suffer under laws shall first personally assent to them, and that the being whose industry the government is to burden should have a voice in fixing the character and amount of that burden, then, while woman is admitted to the gallows, the jail, and the tax-list, _we have no right_ to debar her from the ballot-box. your committee recommend the adoption of the following resolution: _resolved_, that the judiciary committee be instructed to report to the senate, a bill to submit to the qualified electors at the next election for senators and representatives, an amendment to the constitution whereby the elective franchise shall be extended to the citizens of ohio, without distinction of sex. j. d. cattell, h. canfield. * * * * * transcriber's note: the transcriber made changes as below indicated to the text to correct obvious errors: . p. , "worhips" --> "worships" . p. , "evironments" --> "environments" . p. , "resoultion" --> "resolution" . p. , "spoliage" --> "spoilage" . p. , "pacifcally" --> "pacifically" . p. , "politicans" --> "politicians" . p. , "wilness" --> "wilderness" . p. , "itoxicating" --> "intoxicating" . p. , "probibitory" --> "prohibitory" . p. , "legiture" --> "legislature" . p. , "dipossessed" --> "dispossessed" . p. , "monoply" --> "monopoly" . p. , "jospeh" --> "joseph" . p. , "penalities" --> "penalties" . p. , "coup d'etat" --> "coup d'état" . p. , "recolletion" --> "recollection" . p. , "beleive" --> "believe" . p. , "wrold" --> "world" . p. , "familar" --> "familiar" . p. , "lawer" --> "lawyer" . p. , "prentence" --> "pretence" . p. , "womahood" --> "womanhood" . p. , "gods" --> "goods" . p. , "moden" --> "modern" . p. , "congratlate" --> "congratulate" . p. , "nonsenical" --> "nonsensical" . p. , "characacteristic" --> "characteristic" . p. , "virtuons" --> "virtuous" the wife of sir isaac harman by h. g. wells new york the macmillan company all rights reserved copyright, , by h. g. wells. set up and electrotyped. published september, . contents chapter page i. introduces lady harman ii. the personality of sir isaac iii. lady harman at home iv. the beginnings of lady harman v. the world according to sir isaac vi. the adventurous afternoon vii. lady harman learns about herself viii. sir isaac as petruchio ix. mr. brumley is troubled by difficult ideas x. lady harman comes out xi. the last crisis xii. love and a serious lady the wife of sir isaac harman chapter the first introduces lady harman § the motor-car entered a little white gate, came to a porch under a thick wig of jasmine, and stopped. the chauffeur indicated by a movement of the head that this at last was it. a tall young woman with a big soft mouth, great masses of blue-black hair on either side of a broad, low forehead, and eyes of so dark a brown you might have thought them black, drooped forward and surveyed the house with a mixture of keen appreciation and that gentle apprehension which is the shadow of desire in unassuming natures.... the little house with the white-framed windows looked at her with a sleepy wakefulness from under its blinds, and made no sign. beyond the corner was a glimpse of lawn, a rank of delphiniums, and the sound of a wheel-barrow. "clarence!" the lady called again. clarence, with an air of exceeding his duties, decided to hear, descended slowly, and came to the door. "very likely--if you were to look for a bell, clarence...." clarence regarded the porch with a hostile air, made no secret that he thought it a fool of a porch, seemed on the point of disobedience, and submitted. his gestures suggested a belief that he would next be asked to boil eggs or do the boots. he found a bell and rang it with the needless violence of a man who has no special knowledge of ringing bells. how was _he_ to know? he was a chauffeur. the bell did not so much ring as explode and swamp the place. sounds of ringing came from all the windows, and even out of the chimneys. it seemed as if once set ringing that bell would never cease.... clarence went to the bonnet of his machine, and presented his stooping back in a defensive manner against anyone who might come out. he wasn't a footman, anyhow. he'd rung that bell all right, and now he must see to his engine. "he's rung so _loud!_" said the lady weakly--apparently to god. the door behind the neat white pillars opened, and a little red-nosed woman, in a cap she had evidently put on without a proper glass, appeared. she surveyed the car and its occupant with disfavour over her also very oblique spectacles. the lady waved a pink paper to her, a house-agent's order to view. "is this black strands?" she shouted. the little woman advanced slowly with her eyes fixed malevolently on the pink paper. she seemed to be stalking it. "this is black strands?" repeated the tall lady. "i should be so sorry if i disturbed you--if it isn't; ringing the bell like that--and all. you can't think----" "this is black _strand_," said the little old woman with a note of deep reproach, and suddenly ceased to look over her glasses and looked through them. she looked no kindlier through them, and her eye seemed much larger. she was now regarding the lady in the car, though with a sustained alertness towards the pink paper. "i suppose," she said, "you've come to see over the place?" "if it doesn't disturb anyone; if it is quite convenient----" "mr. brumley is _hout_," said the little old woman. "and if you got an order to view, you got an order to view." "if you think i might." the lady stood up in the car, a tall and graceful figure of doubt and desire and glossy black fur. "i'm sure it looks a very charming house." "it's _clean_," said the little old woman, "from top to toe. look as you may." "i'm sure it is," said the tall lady, and put aside her great fur coat from her lithe, slender, red-clad body. (she was permitted by a sudden civility of clarence's to descend.) "why! the windows," she said, pausing on the step, "are like crystal." "these very 'ands," said the little old woman, and glanced up at the windows the lady had praised. the little old woman's initial sternness wrinkled and softened as the skin of a windfall does after a day or so upon the ground. she half turned in the doorway and made a sudden vergerlike gesture. "we enter," she said, "by the 'all.... them's mr. brumley's 'ats and sticks. every 'at or cap 'as a stick, and every stick 'as a 'at _or_ cap, and on the 'all table is the gloves corresponding. on the right is the door leading to the kitching, on the left is the large droring-room which mr. brumley 'as took as 'is study." her voice fell to lowlier things. "the other door beyond is a small lavatory 'aving a basing for washing 'ands." "it's a perfectly delightful hall," said the lady. "so low and wide-looking. and everything so bright--and lovely. those long, italian pictures! and how charming that broad outlook upon the garden beyond!" "you'll think it charminger when you see the garding," said the little old woman. "it was mrs. brumley's especial delight. much of it--with 'er own 'ands." "we now enter the droring-room," she proceeded, and flinging open the door to the right was received with an indistinct cry suggestive of the words, "oh, _damn_ it!" the stout medium-sized gentleman in an artistic green-grey norfolk suit, from whom the cry proceeded, was kneeling on the floor close to the wide-open window, and he was engaged in lacing up a boot. he had a round, ruddy, rather handsome, amiable face with a sort of bang of brown hair coming over one temple, and a large silk bow under his chin and a little towards one ear, such as artists and artistic men of letters affect. his profile was regular and fine, his eyes expressive, his mouth, a very passable mouth. his features expressed at first only the naïve horror of a shy man unveiled. intelligent appreciation supervened. there was a crowded moment of rapid mutual inspection. the lady's attitude was that of the enthusiastic house-explorer arrested in full flight, falling swiftly towards apology and retreat. (it was a frightfully attractive room, too, full of the brightest colour, and with a big white cast of a statue--a venus!--in the window.) she backed over the threshold again. "i thought you was out by that window, sir," said the little old woman intimately, and was nearly shutting the door between them and all the beginnings of this story. but the voice of the gentleman arrested and wedged open the closing door. "i----are you looking at the house?" he said. "i say! just a moment, mrs. rabbit." he came down the length of the room with a slight flicking noise due to the scandalized excitement of his abandoned laces. the lady was reminded of her not so very distant schooldays, when it would have been considered a suitable answer to such a question as his to reply, "no, i am walking down piccadilly on my hands." but instead she waved that pink paper again. "the agents," she said. "recommended--specially. so sorry if i intrude. i ought, i know, to have written first; but i came on an impulse." by this time the gentleman in the artistic tie, who had also the artistic eye for such matters, had discovered that the lady was young, delightfully slender, either pretty or beautiful, he could scarcely tell which, and very, very well dressed. "i am glad," he said, with remarkable decision, "that i was not out. _i_ will show you the house." "'ow _can_ you, sir?" intervened the little old woman. "oh! show a house! why not?" "the kitchings--you don't understand the range, sir--it's beyond you. and upstairs. you can't show a lady upstairs." the gentleman reflected upon these difficulties. "well, i'm going to show her all i can show her anyhow. and after that, mrs. rabbit, you shall come in. you needn't wait." "i'm thinking," said mrs. rabbit, folding stiff little arms and regarding him sternly. "you won't be much good after tea, you know, if you don't get your afternoon's exercise." "rendez-vous in the kitchen, mrs. rabbit," said mr. brumley, firmly, and mrs. rabbit after a moment of mute struggle disappeared discontentedly. "i do not want to be the least bit a bother," said the lady. "i'm intruding, i know, without the least bit of notice. i _do_ hope i'm not disturbing you----" she seemed to make an effort to stop at that, and failed and added--"the least bit. do please tell me if i am." "not at all," said mr. brumley. "i hate my afternoon's walk as a prisoner hates the treadmill." "she's such a nice old creature." "she's been a mother--and several aunts--to us ever since my wife died. she was the first servant we ever had." "all this house," he explained to his visitor's questioning eyes, "was my wife's creation. it was a little featureless agent's house on the edge of these pine-woods. she saw something in the shape of the rooms--and that central hall. we've enlarged it of course. twice. this was two rooms, that is why there is a step down in the centre." "that window and window-seat----" "that was her addition," said mr. brumley. "all this room is--replete--with her personality." he hesitated, and explained further. "when we prepared this house--we expected to be better off--than we subsequently became--and she could let herself go. much is from holland and italy." "and that beautiful old writing-desk with the little single rose in a glass!" "she put it there. she even in a sense put the flower there. it is renewed of course. by mrs. rabbit. she trained mrs. rabbit." he sighed slightly, apparently at some thought of mrs. rabbit. "you--you write----" the lady stopped, and then diverted a question that she perhaps considered too blunt, "there?" "largely. i am--a sort of author. perhaps you know my books. not very important books--but people sometimes read them." the rose-pink of the lady's cheek deepened by a shade. within her pretty head, her mind rushed to and fro saying "brumley? brumley?" then she had a saving gleam. "are you _george_ brumley?" she asked,--"_the_ george brumley?" "my name _is_ george brumley," he said, with a proud modesty. "perhaps you know my little euphemia books? they are still the most read." the lady made a faint, dishonest assent-like noise; and her rose-pink deepened another shade. but her interlocutor was not watching her very closely just then. "euphemia was my wife," he said, "at least, my wife gave her to me--a kind of exhalation. _this_"--his voice fell with a genuine respect for literary associations--"was euphemia's home." "i still," he continued, "go on. i go on writing about euphemia. i have to. in this house. with my tradition.... but it is becoming painful--painful. curiously more painful now than at the beginning. and i want to go. i want at last to make a break. that is why i am letting or selling the house.... there will be no more euphemia." his voice fell to silence. the lady surveyed the long low clear room so cleverly prepared for life, with its white wall, its dutch clock, its dutch dresser, its pretty seats about the open fireplace, its cleverly placed bureau, its sun-trap at the garden end; she could feel the rich intention of living in its every arrangement and a sense of uncertainty in things struck home to her. she seemed to see a woman, a woman like herself--only very, very much cleverer--flitting about the room and making it. and then this woman had vanished--nowhither. leaving this gentleman--sadly left--in the care of mrs. rabbit. "and she is dead?" she said with a softness in her dark eyes and a fall in her voice that was quite natural and very pretty. "she died," said mr. brumley, "three years and a half ago." he reflected. "almost exactly." he paused and she filled the pause with feeling. he became suddenly very brave and brisk and businesslike. he led the way back into the hall and made explanations. "it is not so much a hall as a hall living-room. we use that end, except when we go out upon the verandah beyond, as our dining-room. the door to the right is the kitchen." the lady's attention was caught again by the bright long eventful pictures that had already pleased her. "they are copies of two of carpaccio's st. george series in venice," he said. "we bought them together there. but no doubt you've seen the originals. in a little old place with a custodian and rather dark. one of those corners--so full of that delightful out-of-the-wayishness which is so characteristic, i think, of venice. i don't know if you found that in venice?" "i've never been abroad," said the lady. "never. i should love to go. i suppose you and your wife went--ever so much." he had a transitory wonder that so fine a lady should be untravelled, but his eagerness to display his backgrounds prevented him thinking that out at the time. "two or three times," he said, "before our little boy came to us. and always returning with something for this place. look!" he went on, stepped across an exquisite little brick court to a lawn of soft emerald and turning back upon the house. "that dellia robbia placque we lugged all the way back from florence with us, and that stone bird-bath is from siena." "how bright it is!" murmured the lady after a brief still appreciation. "delightfully bright. as though it would shine even if the sun didn't." and she abandoned herself to the rapture of seeing a house and garden that were for once better even than the agent's superlatives. and within her grasp if she chose--within her grasp. she made the garden melodious with soft appreciative sounds. she had a small voice for her size but quite a charming one, a little live bird of a voice, bright and sweet. it was a clear unruffled afternoon; even the unseen wheel-barrow had very sensibly ceased to creak and seemed to be somewhere listening.... only one trivial matter marred their easy explorations;--his boots remained unlaced. no propitious moment came when he could stoop and lace them. he was not a dexterous man with eyelets, and stooping made him grunt and his head swim. he hoped these trailing imperfections went unmarked. he tried subtly to lead this charming lady about and at the same time walk a little behind her. she on her part could not determine whether he would be displeased or not if she noticed this slight embarrassment and asked him to set it right. they were quite long leather laces and they flew about with a sturdy negligence of anything but their own offensive contentment, like a gross man who whistles a vulgar tune as he goes round some ancient church; flick, flock, they went, and flip, flap, enjoying themselves, and sometimes he trod on one and halted in his steps, and sometimes for a moment she felt her foot tether him. but man is the adaptable animal and presently they both became more used to these inconveniences and more mechanical in their efforts to avoid them. they treated those laces then exactly as nice people would treat that gross man; a minimum of polite attention and all the rest pointedly directed away from him.... the garden was full of things that people dream about doing in their gardens and mostly never do. there was a rose garden all blooming in chorus, and with pillar-roses and arches that were not so much growths as overflowing cornucopias of roses, and a neat orchard with shapely trees white-painted to their exact middles, a stone wall bearing clematis and a clothes-line so gay with mr. brumley's blue and white flannel shirts that it seemed an essential part of the design. and then there was a great border of herbaceous perennials backed by delphiniums and monkshood already in flower and budding hollyhocks rising to their duty; a border that reared its blaze of colour against a hill-slope dark with pines. there was no hedge whatever to this delightful garden. it seemed to go straight into the pine-woods; only an invisible netting marked its limits and fended off the industrious curiosity of the rabbits. "this strip of wood is ours right up to the crest," he said, "and from the crest one has a view. one has two views. if you would care----?" the lady made it clear that she was there to see all she could. she radiated her appetite to see. he carried a fur stole for her over his arm and flicked the way up the hill. flip, flap, flop. she followed demurely. "this is the only view i care to show you now," he said at the crest. "there was a better one beyond there. but--it has been defiled.... those hills! i knew you would like them. the space of it! and ... yet----. this view--lacks the shining ponds. there are wonderful distant ponds. after all i must show you the other! but you see there is the high-road, and the high-road has produced an abomination. along here we go. now. don't look down please." his gesture covered the foreground. "look right over the nearer things into the distance. there!" the lady regarded the wide view with serene appreciation. "i don't see," she said, "that it's in any way ruined. it's perfect." "you don't see! ah! you look right over. you look high. i wish i could too. but that screaming board! i wish the man's crusts would choke him." and indeed quite close at hand, where the road curved about below them, the statement that staminal bread, the true staff of life, was sold only by the international bread shops, was flung out with a vigour of yellow and prussian blue that made the landscape tame. his finger directed her questioning eye. "_oh!_" said the lady suddenly, as one who is convicted of a stupidity and coloured slightly. "in the morning of course it is worse. the sun comes directly on to it. then really and truly it blots out everything." the lady stood quite silent for a little time, with her eyes on the distant ponds. then he perceived that she was blushing. she turned to her interlocutor as a puzzled pupil might turn to a teacher. "it really is very good bread," she said. "they make it----oh! most carefully. with the germ in. and one has to tell people." her point of view surprised him. he had expected nothing but a docile sympathy. "but to tell people _here_!" he said. "yes, i suppose one oughtn't to tell them here." "man does not live by bread alone." she gave the faintest assent. "this is the work of one pushful, shoving creature, a man named harman. imagine him! imagine what he must be! don't you feel his soul defiling us?--this summit of a stupendous pile of--dough, thinking of nothing but his miserable monstrous profits, seeing nothing in the delight of life, the beauty of the world but something that attracts attention, draws eyes, something that gives him his horrible opportunity of getting ahead of all his poor little competitors and inserting--_this!_ it's the quintessence of all that is wrong with the world;--squalid, shameless huckstering!" he flew off at a tangent. "four or five years ago they made this landscape disease,--a knight!" he looked at her for a sympathetic indignation, and then suddenly something snapped in his brain and he understood. there wasn't an instant between absolute innocence and absolute knowledge. "you see," she said as responsive as though he had cried out sharply at the horror in his mind, "sir isaac is my husband. naturally ... i ought to have given you my name to begin with. it was silly...." mr. brumley gave one wild glance at the board, but indeed there was not a word to be said in its mitigation. it was the crude advertisement of a crude pretentious thing crudely sold. "my dear lady!" he said in his largest style, "i am desolated! but i have said it! it isn't a pretty board." a memory of epithets pricked him. "you must forgive--a certain touch of--rhetoric." he turned about as if to dismiss the board altogether, but she remained with her brows very faintly knit, surveying the cause of his offence. "it isn't a _pretty_ board," she said. "i've wondered at times.... it isn't." "i implore you to forget that outbreak--mere petulance--because, i suppose, of a peculiar liking for that particular view. there are--associations----" "i've wondered lately," she continued, holding on to her own thoughts, "what people _did_ think of them. and it's curious--to hear----" for a moment neither spoke, she surveyed the board and he the tall ease of her pose. and he was thinking she must surely be the most beautiful woman he had ever encountered. the whole country might be covered with boards if it gave us such women as this. he felt the urgent need of some phrase, to pull the situation out of this pit into which it had fallen. he was a little unready, his faculties all as it were neglecting his needs and crowding to the windows to stare, and meanwhile she spoke again, with something of the frankness of one who thinks aloud. "you see," she said, "one _doesn't_ hear. one thinks perhaps----and there it is. when one marries very young one is apt to take so much for granted. and afterwards----" she was wonderfully expressive in her inexpressiveness, he thought, but found as yet no saving phrase. her thought continued to drop from her. "one sees them so much that at last one doesn't see them." she turned away to survey the little house again; it was visible in bright strips between the red-scarred pine stems. she looked at it chin up, with a still approval--but she was the slenderest loveliness, and with such a dignity!--and she spoke at length as though the board had never existed. "it's like a little piece of another world; so bright and so--perfect." there was the phantom of a sigh in her voice. "i think you'll be charmed by our rockery," he said. "it was one of our particular efforts. every time we two went abroad we came back with something, stonecrop or alpine or some little bulb from the wayside." "how can you leave it!" he was leaving it because it bored him to death. but so intricate is the human mind that it was with perfect sincerity he answered: "it will be a tremendous wrench.... i have to go." "and you've written most of your books here and lived here!" the note of sympathy in her voice gave him a sudden suspicion that she imagined his departure due to poverty. now to be poor as an author is to be unpopular, and he valued his popularity--with the better sort of people. he hastened to explain. "i have to go, because here, you see, here, neither for me nor my little son, is it life. it's a place of memories, a place of accomplished beauty. my son already breaks away,--a preparatory school at margate. healthier, better, for us to break altogether i feel, wrench though it may. it's full for us at least--a new tenant would be different of course--but for _us_ it's full of associations we can't alter, can't for the life of us change. nothing you see goes on. and life you know _is_ change--change and going on." he paused impressively on his generalization. "but you will want----you will want to hand it over to--to sympathetic people of course. people," she faltered, "who will understand." mr. brumley took an immense stride--conversationally. "i am certain there is no one i would more readily see in that house than yourself," he said. "but----" she protested. "and besides, you don't know me!" "one knows some things at once, and i am as sure you would--understand--as if i had known you twenty years. it may seem absurd to you, but when i looked up just now and saw you for the first time, i thought--this, this is the tenant. this is her house.... not a doubt. that is why i did not go for my walk--came round with you." "you really think you would like us to have that house?" she said. "_still?_" "no one better," said mr. brumley. "after the board?" "after a hundred boards, i let the house to you...." "my husband of course will be the tenant," reflected lady harman. she seemed to brighten again by an effort: "i have always wanted something like this, that wasn't gorgeous, that wasn't mean. i can't _make_ things. it isn't every one--can _make_ a place...." § mr. brumley found their subsequent conversation the fullest realization of his extremest hopes. behind his amiable speeches, which soon grew altogether easy and confident again, a hundred imps of vanity were patting his back for the intuition, the swift decision that had abandoned his walk so promptly. in some extraordinary way the incident of the board became impossible; it hadn't happened, he felt, or it had happened differently. anyhow there was no time to think that over now. he guided the lady to the two little greenhouses, made her note the opening glow of the great autumnal border and brought her to the rock garden. she stooped and loved and almost kissed the soft healthy cushions of pampered saxifrage: she appreciated the cleverness of the moss-bed--where there were droseras; she knelt to the gentians; she had a kindly word for that bank-holiday corner where london pride still belatedly rejoiced; she cried out at the delicate iceland poppies that thrust up between the stones of the rough pavement; and so in the most amiable accord they came to the raised seat in the heart of it all, and sat down and took in the whole effect of the place, and backing of woods, the lush borders, the neat lawn, the still neater orchard, the pergola, the nearer delicacies among the stones, and the gable, the shining white rough-cast of the walls, the casement windows, the projecting upper story, the carefully sought-out old tiles of the roof. and everything bathed in that caressing sunshine which does not scorch nor burn but gilds and warms deliciously, that summer sunshine which only northward islands know. recovering from his first astonishment and his first misadventure, mr. brumley was soon himself again, talkative, interesting, subtly and gently aggressive. for once one may use a hackneyed phrase without the slightest exaggeration; he was charmed... he was one of those very natural-minded men with active imaginations who find women the most interesting things in a full and interesting universe. he was an entirely good man and almost professionally on the side of goodness, his pen was a pillar of the home and he was hostile and even actively hostile to all those influences that would undermine and change--anything; but he did find women attractive. he watched them and thought about them, he loved to be with them, he would take great pains to please and interest them, and his mind was frequently dreaming quite actively of them, of championing them, saying wonderful and impressive things to them, having great friendships with them, adoring them and being adored by them. at times he had to ride this interest on the curb. at times the vigour of its urgencies made him inconsistent and secretive.... comparatively his own sex was a matter of indifference to him. indeed he was a very normal man. even such abstractions as goodness and justice had rich feminine figures in his mind, and when he sat down to write criticism at his desk, that pretty little slut of a delphic sibyl presided over his activities. so that it was a cultivated as well as an attentive eye that studied the movements of lady harman and an experienced ear that weighed the words and cadences of her entirely inadequate and extremely expressive share in their conversation. he had enjoyed the social advantages of a popular and presentable man of letters, and he had met a variety of ladies; but he had never yet met anyone at all like lady harman. she was pretty and quite young and fresh; he doubted if she was as much as four-and-twenty; she was as simple-mannered as though she was ever so much younger than that, and dignified as though she was ever so much older; and she had a sort of lustre of wealth about her----. one met it sometimes in young richly married jewesses, but though she was very dark she wasn't at all of that type; he was inclined to think she must be welsh. this manifest spending of great lots of money on the richest, finest and fluffiest things was the only aspect of her that sustained the parvenu idea; and it wasn't in any way carried out by her manners, which were as modest and silent and inaggressive as the very best can be. personally he liked opulence, he responded to countless-guinea furs.... soon there was a neat little history in his mind that was reasonably near the truth, of a hard-up professional family, fatherless perhaps, of a mercenary marriage at seventeen or so--and this.... and while mr. brumley's observant and speculative faculties were thus active, his voice was busily engaged. with the accumulated artistry of years he was developing his pose. he did it almost subconsciously. he flung out hint and impulsive confidence and casual statement with the careless assurance of the accustomed performer, until by nearly imperceptible degrees that finished picture of the two young lovers, happy, artistic, a little bohemian and one of them doomed to die, making their home together in an atmosphere of sunny gaiety, came into being in her mind.... "it must have been beautiful to have begun life like that," she said in a voice that was a sigh, and it flashed joyfully across mr. brumley's mind that this wonderful person could envy his euphemia. "yes," he said, "at least we had our spring." "to be together," said the lady, "and--so beautifully poor...." there is a phase in every relationship when one must generalize if one is to go further. a certain practice in this kind of talk with ladies blunted the finer sensibilities of mr. brumley. at any rate he was able to produce this sentence without a qualm. "life," he said, "is sometimes a very extraordinary thing." lady harman reflected upon this statement and then responded with an air of remembered moments: "isn't it." "one loses the most precious things," said mr. brumley, "and one loses them and it seems as though one couldn't go on. and one goes on." "and one finds oneself," said lady harman, "without all sorts of precious things----" and she stopped, transparently realizing that she was saying too much. "there is a sort of vitality about life," said mr. brumley, and stopped as if on the verge of profundities. "i suppose one hopes," said lady harman. "and one doesn't think. and things happen." "things happen," assented mr. brumley. for a little while their minds rested upon this thought, as chasing butterflies might rest together on a flower. "and so i am going to leave this," mr. brumley resumed. "i am going up there to london for a time with my boy. then perhaps we may travel-germany, italy, perhaps-in his holidays. it is beginning again, i feel with him. but then even we two must drift apart. i can't deny him a public school sooner or later. his own road...." "it will be lonely for you," sympathized the lady. "i have my work," said mr. brumley with a sort of valiant sadness. "yes, i suppose your work----" she left an eloquent gap. "there, of course, one's fortunate," said mr. brumley. "i wish," said lady harman, with a sudden frankness and a little quickening of her colour, "that i had some work. something--that was my own." "but you have----there are social duties. there must be all sorts of things." "there are--all sorts of things. i suppose i'm ungrateful. i have my children." "you have children, lady harman!" "i've _four_." he was really astonished, "your _own_?" she turned her fawn's eyes on his with a sudden wonder at his meaning. "my own!" she said with the faintest tinge of astonished laughter in her voice. "what else could they be?" "i thought----i thought you might have step-children." "oh! of course! no! i'm their mother;--all four of them. they're mine as far as that goes. anyhow." and her eye questioned him again for his intentions. but his thought ran along its own path. "you see," he said, "there is something about you--so freshly beginning life. so like--spring." "you thought i was too young! i'm nearly six-and-twenty! but all the same,--though they're mine,--_still_----why shouldn't a woman have work in the world, mr. brumley? in spite of all that." "but surely--that's the most beautiful work in the world that anyone could possibly have." lady harman reflected. she seemed to hesitate on the verge of some answer and not to say it. "you see," she said, "it may have been different with you.... when one has a lot of nurses, and not very much authority." she coloured deeply and broke back from the impending revelations. "no," she said, "i would like some work of my own." § at this point their conversation was interrupted by the lady's chauffeur in a manner that struck mr. brumley as extraordinary, but which the tall lady evidently regarded as the most natural thing in the world. mr. clarence appeared walking across the lawn towards them, surveying the charms of as obviously a charming garden as one could have, with the disdain and hostility natural to a chauffeur. he did not so much touch his cap as indicate that it was within reach, and that he could if he pleased touch it. "it's time you were going, my lady," he said. "sir isaac will be coming back by the five-twelve, and there'll be a nice to-do if you ain't at home and me at the station and everything in order again." manifestly an abnormal expedition. "must we start at once, clarence?" asked the lady consulting a bracelet watch. "you surely won't take two hours----" "i can give you fifteen minutes more, my lady," said clarence, "provided i may let her out and take my corners just exactly in my own way." "and i must give you tea," said mr. brumley, rising to his feet. "and there is the kitchen." "and upstairs! i'm afraid, clarence, for this occasion only you must--what is it?--let her out." "and no 'oh clarence!' my lady?" she ignored that. "i'll tell mrs. rabbit at once," said mr. brumley, and started to run and trod in some complicated way on one of his loose laces and was precipitated down the rockery steps. "oh!" cried the lady. "mind!" and clasped her hands. he made a sound exactly like the word "damnation" as he fell, but he didn't so much get up as bounce up, apparently in the brightest of tempers, and laughed, held out two earthy hands for sympathy with a mock rueful grimace, and went on, earthy-green at the knees and a little more carefully towards the house. clarence, having halted to drink deep satisfaction from this disaster, made his way along a nearly parallel path towards the kitchen, leaving his lady to follow as she chose to the house. "_you'll_ take a cup of tea?" called mr. brumley. "oh! _i'll_ take a cup all right," said clarence in the kindly voice of one who addresses an amusing inferior.... mrs. rabbit had already got the tea-things out upon the cane table in the pretty verandah, and took it ill that she should be supposed not to have thought of these preparations. mr. brumley disappeared for a few minutes into the house. he returned with a conscious relief on his face, clean hands, brushed knees, and his boots securely laced. he found lady harman already pouring out tea. "you see," she said, to excuse this pleasant enterprise on her part, "my husband has to be met at the station with the car.... and of course he has no idea----" she left what it was of which sir isaac had no idea to the groping speculations of mr. brumley. § that evening mr. brumley was quite unable to work. his mind was full of this beautiful dark lady who had come so unexpectedly into his world. perhaps there are such things as premonitions. at any rate he had an altogether disproportionate sense of the significance of the afternoon's adventure,--which after all was a very small adventure indeed. a mere talk. his mind refused to leave her, her black furry slenderness, her dark trustful eyes, the sweet firmness of her perfect lips, her appealing simplicity that was yet somehow compatible with the completest self-possession. he went over the incident of the board again and again, scraping his memory for any lurking crumb of detail as a starving man might scrape an insufficient plate. her dignity, her gracious frank forgiveness; no queen alive in these days could have touched her.... but it wasn't a mere elaborate admiration. there was something about her, about the quality of their meeting. most people know that sort of intimation. this person, it says, so fine, so brave, so distant still in so many splendid and impressive qualities, is yet in ways as yet undefined and unexplored, subtly and abundantly--for _you_. it was that made all her novelty and distinction and high quality and beauty so dominating among mr. brumley's thoughts. without that his interest might have been almost entirely--academic. but there was woven all through her the hints of an imaginable alliance, with _us_, with the things that are brumley, with all that makes beautiful little cottages and resents advertisements in lovely places, with us as against something over there lurking behind that board, something else, something out of which she came. he vaguely adumbrated what it was out of which she came. a closed narrow life--with horrid vast enviable quantities of money. a life, could one use the word _vulgar_?--so that carpaccio, della robbia, old furniture, a garden unostentatiously perfect, and the atmosphere of _belles-lettres_, seemed things of another more desirable world. (she had never been abroad.) a world, too, that would be so willing, so happy to enfold her, furs, funds, freshness--everything. and all this was somehow animated by the stirring warmth in the june weather, for spring raised the sap in mr. brumley as well as in his trees, had been a restless time for him all his life. this spring particularly had sensitized him, and now a light had shone. he was so unable to work that for twenty minutes he sat over a pleasant little essay on shakespear's garden that by means of a concordance and his natural aptitude he was writing for the book of the national shakespear theatre, without adding a single fancy to its elegant playfulness. then he decided he needed his afternoon's walk after all, and he took cap and stick and went out, and presently found himself surveying that yellow and blue board and seeing it from an entirely new point of view.... it seemed to him that he hadn't made the best use of his conversational opportunities, and for a time this troubled him.... toward the twilight he was walking along the path that runs through the heather along the edge of the rusty dark ironstone lake opposite the pine-woods. he spoke his thoughts aloud to the discreet bat that flitted about him. "i wonder," he said, "whether i shall ever set eyes on her again...." in the small hours when he ought to have been fast asleep he decided she would certainly take the house, and that he would see her again quite a number of times. a long tangle of unavoidable detail for discussion might be improvised by an ingenious man. and the rest of that waking interval passed in such inventions, which became more and more vague and magnificent and familiar as mr. brumley lapsed into slumber again.... next day the garden essay was still neglected, and he wrote a pretty vague little song about an earthly mourner and a fresh presence that set him thinking of the story of persephone and how she passed in the springtime up from the shadows again, blessing as she passed.... he pulled himself together about midday, cycled over to gorshott for lunch at the clubhouse and a round with horace toomer in the afternoon, re-read the poem after tea, decided it was poor, tore it up and got himself down to his little fantasy about shakespear's garden for a good two hours before supper. it was a sketch of that fortunate poet (whose definitive immortality is now being assured by an influential committee) walking round his stratford garden with his daughter, quoting himself copiously with an accuracy and inappropriateness that reflected more credit upon his heart than upon his head, and saying in addition many distinctively brumley things. when mrs. rabbit, with a solicitude acquired from the late mrs. brumley, asked him how he had got on with his work--the sight of verse on his paper had made her anxious--he could answer quite truthfully, "like a house afire." chapter the second the personality of sir isaac § it is to be remarked that two facts, usually esteemed as supremely important in the life of a woman, do not seem to have affected mr. brumley's state of mind nearly so much as quite trivial personal details about lady harman. the first of these facts was the existence of the lady's four children, and the second, sir isaac. mr. brumley did not think very much of either of these two facts; if he had they would have spoilt the portrait in his mind; and when he did think of them it was chiefly to think how remarkably little they were necessary to that picture's completeness. he spent some little time however trying to recall exactly what it was she had said about her children. he couldn't now succeed in reproducing her words, if indeed it had been by anything so explicit as words that she had conveyed to him that she didn't feel her children were altogether hers. "incidental results of the collapse of her girlhood," tried mr. brumley, "when she married harman." expensive nurses, governesses--the best that money without prestige or training could buy. and then probably a mother-in-law. and as for harman----? there mr. brumley's mind desisted for sheer lack of material. given this lady and that board and his general impression of harman's refreshment and confectionery activity--the data were insufficient. a commonplace man no doubt, a tradesman, energetic perhaps and certainly a little brassy, successful by the chances of that economic revolution which everywhere replaces the isolated shop by the syndicated enterprise, irrationally conceited about it; a man perhaps ultimately to be pitied--with this young goddess finding herself.... mr. brumley's mind sat down comfortably to the more congenial theme of a young goddess finding herself, and it was only very gradually in the course of several days that the personality of sir isaac began to assume its proper importance in the scheme of his imaginings. § in the afternoon as he went round the links with horace toomer he got some definite lights upon sir isaac. his mind was so full of lady harman that he couldn't but talk of her visit. "i've a possible tenant for my cottage," he said as he and toomer, full of the sunny contentment of english gentlemen who had played a proper game in a proper manner, strolled back towards the clubhouse. "that man harman." "not the international stores and staminal bread man." "yes. odd. considering my hatred of his board." "he ought to pay--anyhow," said toomer. "they say he has a pretty wife and keeps her shut up." "she came," said brumley, neglecting to add the trifling fact that she had come alone. "pretty?" "charming, i thought." "he's jealous of her. someone was saying that the chauffeur has orders not to take her into london--only for trips in the country. they live in a big ugly house i'm told on putney hill. did she in any way _look_--as though----?" "not in the least. if she isn't an absolutely straight young woman i've never set eyes on one." "_he_," said toomer, "is a disgusting creature." "morally?" "no, but--generally. spends his life ruining little tradesmen, for the fun of the thing. he's three parts an invalid with some obscure kidney disease. sometimes he spends whole days in bed, drinking contrexéville water and planning the bankruptcy of decent men.... so the party made a knight of him." "a party must have funds, toomer." "he didn't pay nearly enough. blapton is an idiot with the honours. when it isn't mrs. blapton. what can you expect when ---- ----" (but here toomer became libellous.) toomer was an interesting type. he had a disagreeable disposition profoundly modified by a public school and university training. two antagonistic forces made him. he was the spirit of scurrility incarnate, that was, as people say, innate; and by virtue of those moulding forces he was doing his best to be an english gentleman. that mysterious impulse which compels the young male to make objectionable imputations against seemly lives and to write rare inelegant words upon clean and decent things burnt almost intolerably within him, and equally powerful now was the gross craving he had acquired for personal association with all that is prominent, all that is successful, all that is of good report. he had found his resultant in the censorious defence of established things. he conducted the _british critic_, attacking with a merciless energy all that was new, all that was critical, all those fresh and noble tentatives that admit of unsavoury interpretations, and when the urgent yahoo in him carried him below the pretentious dignity of his accustomed organ he would squirt out his bitterness in a little sham facetious bookstall volume with a bright cover and quaint woodcuts, in which just as many prominent people as possible were mentioned by name and a sauce of general absurdity could be employed to cover and, if need be, excuse particular libels. so he managed to relieve himself and get along. harman was just on the border-line of the class he considered himself free to revile. harman was an outsider and aggressive and new, one of mrs. blapton's knights, and of no particular weight in society; so far he was fair game; but he was not so new as he had been, he was almost through with the running of the toomer gauntlet, he had a tremendous lot of money and it was with a modified vehemence that the distinguished journalist and humourist expatiated on his offensiveness to mr. brumley. he talked in a gentle, rather weary voice, that came through a moustache like a fringe of light tobacco. "personally i've little against the man. a wife too young for him and jealously guarded, but that's all to his credit. nowadays. if it wasn't for his blatancy in his business.... and the knighthood.... i suppose he can't resist taking anything he can get. bread made by wholesale and distributed like a newspaper can't, i feel, be the same thing as the loaf of your honest old-fashioned baker--each loaf made with individual attention--out of wholesome english flour--hand-ground--with a personal touch for each customer. still, everything drifts on to these hugger-mugger large enterprises; chicago spreads over the world. one thing goes after another, tobacco, tea, bacon, drugs, bookselling. decent homes destroyed right and left. not harman's affair, i suppose. the girls in his london tea-shops have of course to supplement their wages by prostitution--probably don't object to that nowadays considering the novels we have. and his effect on the landscape----until they stopped him he was trying very hard to get shakespear's cliff at dover. he did for a time have the toad rock at tunbridge. still"--something like a sigh escaped from toomer,--"his private life appears to be almost as blameless as anybody's can be.... thanks no doubt to his defective health. i made the most careful enquiries when his knighthood was first discussed. someone has to. before his marriage he seems to have lived at home with his mother. at highbury. very quietly and inexpensively." "then he's not the conventional vulgarian?" "much more of the rockefeller type. bad health, great concentration, organizing power.... applied of course to a narrower range of business.... i'm glad i'm not a small confectioner in a town he wants to take up." "he's--hard?" "merciless. hasn't the beginnings of an idea of fair play.... none at all.... no human give or take.... are you going to have tea here, or are you walking back now?" § it was fully a week before mr. brumley heard anything more of lady harman. he began to fear that this shining furry presence would glorify black strand no more. then came a telegram that filled him with the liveliest anticipations. it was worded: "coming see cottage saturday afternoon harman...." on saturday morning mr. brumley dressed with an apparent ease and unusual care.... he worked rather discursively before lunch. his mind was busy picking up the ends of their previous conversation and going on with them to all sorts of bright knots, bows and elegant cats' cradling. he planned openings that might give her tempting opportunities of confidences if she wished to confide, and artless remarks and questions that would make for self-betrayal if she didn't. and he thought of her, he thought of her imaginatively, this secluded rare thing so happily come to him, who was so young, so frank and fresh and so unhappily married (he was sure) to a husband at least happily mortal. yes, dear reader, even on that opening morning mr. brumley's imagination, trained very largely upon victorian literature and _belles-lettres_, leapt forward to the very ending of this story.... we, of course, do nothing of the sort, our lot is to follow a more pedestrian route.... he lapsed into a vague series of meditations, slower perhaps but essentially similar, after his temperate palatable lunch. he was apprised of the arrival of his visitor by the sudden indignant yaup followed by the general subdued uproar of a motor-car outside the front door, even before clarence, this time amazingly prompt, assaulted the bell. then the whole house was like that poem by edgar allan poe, one magnificent texture of clangour. at the first toot of the horn mr. brumley had moved swiftly into the bay, and screened partly by the life-size venus of milo that stood in the bay window, and partly by the artistic curtains, surveyed the glittering vehicle. he was first aware of a vast fur coat enclosing a lean grey-headed obstinate-looking man with a diabetic complexion who was fumbling with the door of the car and preventing clarence's assistance. mr. brumley was able to remark that the gentleman's nose projected to a sharpened point, and that his thin-lipped mouth was all awry and had a kind of habitual compression, the while that his eyes sought eagerly for the other occupant of the car. she was unaccountably invisible. could it be that that hood really concealed her? could it be?... the white-faced gentleman descended, relieved himself tediously of the vast fur coat, handed it to clarence and turned to the house. reverentially clarence placed the coat within the automobile and closed the door. still the protesting mind of mr. brumley refused to believe!... he heard the house-door open and mrs. rabbit in colloquy with a flat masculine voice. he heard his own name demanded and conceded. then a silence, not the faintest suggestion of a feminine rustle, and then the sound of mrs. rabbit at the door-handle. conviction stormed the last fastness of the disappointed author's mind. "oh _damn_!" he shouted with extreme fervour. he had never imagined it was possible that sir isaac could come alone. § but the house had to be let, and it had to be let to sir isaac harman. in another moment an amiable though distinguished man of letters was in the hall interviewing the great _entrepreneur_. the latter gentleman was perhaps three inches shorter than mr. brumley, his hair was grey-shot brown, his face clean-shaven, his features had a thin irregularity, and he was dressed in a neat brown suit with a necktie very exactly matching it. "sir isaac harman?" said mr. brumley with a note of gratification. "that's it," said sir isaac. he appeared to be nervous and a little out of breath. "come," he said, "just to look over it. just to see it. probably too small, but if it doesn't put you out----" he blew out the skin of his face about his mouth a little. "delighted to see you anyhow," said mr. brumley, filling the world of unspoken things with singularly lurid curses. "this. nice little hall,--very," said sir isaac. "pretty, that bit at the end. many rooms are there?" mr. brumley answered inexactly and meditated a desperate resignation of the whole job to mrs. rabbit. then he made an effort and began to explain. "that clock," said sir isaac interrupting in the dining-room, "is a fake." mr. brumley made silent interrogations. "been there myself," said sir isaac. "they sell those brass fittings in ho'bun." they went upstairs together. when mr. brumley wasn't explaining or pointing out, sir isaac made a kind of whistling between his clenched teeth. "this bathroom wants refitting anyhow," he said abruptly. "i daresay lady harman would like that room with the bay--but it's all--small. it's really quite pretty; you've done it cleverly, but--the size of it! i'd have to throw out a wing. and that you know might spoil the style. that roof,--a gardener's cottage?... i thought it might be. what's this other thing here? old barn. empty? that might expand a bit. couldn't do only just this anyhow." he walked in front of mr. brumley downstairs and still emitting that faint whistle led the way into the garden. he seemed to regard mr. brumley merely as a source of answers to his questions, and a seller in process of preparation for an offer. it was clear he meant to make an offer. "it's not the house i should buy if i was alone in this," he said, "but lady harman's taken a fancy somehow. and it might be adapted...." from first to last mr. brumley never said a single word about euphemia and the young matrimony and all the other memories this house enshrined. he felt instinctively that it would not affect sir isaac one way or the other. he tried simply to seem indifferent to whether sir isaac bought the place or not. he tried to make it appear almost as if houses like this often happened to him, and interested him only in the most incidental manner. they had their proper price, he tried to convey, which of course no gentleman would underbid. in the exquisite garden sir isaac said: "one might make a very pretty little garden of this--if one opened it out a bit." and of the sunken rock-garden: "that might be dangerous of a dark night." "i suppose," he said, indicating the hill of pines behind, "one could buy or lease some of that. if one wanted to throw it into the place and open out more. "from my point of view," he said, "it isn't a house. it's----" he sought in his mind for an expression--"a cottage ornay." this history declines to record either what mr. brumley said or what he did not say. sir isaac surveyed the house thoughtfully for some moments from the turf edging of the great herbaceous border. "how far," he asked, "is it from the nearest railway station?..." mr. brumley gave details. "four miles. and an infrequent service? nothing in any way suburban? better to motor into guildford and get the express. h'm.... and what sort of people do we get about here?" mr. brumley sketched. "mildly horsey. that's not bad. no officers about?... nothing nearer than aldershot.... that's eleven miles, is it? h'm. i suppose there aren't any _literary_ people about here, musicians or that kind of thing, no advanced people of that sort?" "not when i've gone," said mr. brumley, with the faintest flavour of humour. sir isaac stared at him for a moment with eyes vacantly thoughtful. "it mightn't be so bad," said sir isaac, and whistled a little between his teeth. mr. brumley was suddenly minded to take his visitor to see the view and the effect of his board upon it. but he spoke merely of the view and left sir isaac to discover the board or not as he thought fit. as they ascended among the trees, the visitor was manifestly seized by some strange emotion, his face became very white, he gasped and blew for breath, he felt for his face with a nervous hand. "four thousand," he said suddenly. "an outside price." "a minimum," said mr. brumley, with a slight quickening of the pulse. "you won't get three eight," gasped sir isaac. "not a business man, but my agent tells me----" panted mr. brumley. "three eight," said sir isaac. "we're just coming to the view," said mr. brumley. "just coming to the view." "practically got to rebuild the house," said sir isaac. "there!" said mr. brumley, and waved an arm widely. sir isaac regarded the prospect with a dissatisfied face. his pallor had given place to a shiny, flushed appearance, his nose, his ears, and his cheeks were pink. he blew his face out, and seemed to be studying the landscape for defects. "this might be built over at any time," he complained. mr. brumley was reassuring. for a brief interval sir isaac's eyes explored the countryside vaguely, then his expression seemed to concentrate and run together to a point. "h'm," he said. "that board," he remarked, "quite wrong there." "_well!_" said mr. brumley, too surprised for coherent speech. "quite," said sir isaac harman. "don't you see what's the matter?" mr. brumley refrained from an eloquent response. "they ought to be," sir isaac went on, "white and a sort of green. like the county council notices on hampstead heath. so as to blend.... you see, an ad. that hits too hard is worse than no ad. at all. it leaves a dislike.... advertisements ought to blend. it ought to seem as though all this view were saying it. not just that board. now suppose we had a shade of very light brown, a kind of light khaki----" he turned a speculative eye on mr. brumley as if he sought for the effect of this latter suggestion on him. "if the whole board was invisible----" said mr. brumley. sir isaac considered it. "just the letters showing," he said. "no,--that would be going too far in the other direction." he made a faint sucking noise with his lips and teeth as he surveyed the landscape and weighed this important matter.... "queer how one gets ideas," he said at last, turning away. "it was my wife told me about that board." he stopped to survey the house from the exact point of view his wife had taken nine days before. "i wouldn't give this place a second thought," said sir isaac, "if it wasn't for lady harman." he confided. "_she_ wants a week-end cottage. but _i_ don't see why it _should_ be a week-end cottage. i don't see why it shouldn't be made into a nice little country house. compact, of course. by using up that barn." he inhaled three bars of a tune. "london," he explained, "doesn't suit lady harman." "health?" asked mr. brumley, all alert. "it isn't her health exactly," sir isaac dropped out. "you see--she's a young woman. she gets ideas." "you know," he continued, "i'd like to have a look at that barn again. if we develop that--and a sort of corridor across where the shrubs are--and ran out offices...." § mr. brumley's mind was still vigorously struggling with the flaming implications of sir isaac's remark that lady harman "got ideas," and sir isaac was gently whistling his way towards an offer of three thousand nine hundred when they came down out of the pines into the path along the edge of the herbaceous border. and then mr. brumley became aware of an effect away between the white-stemmed trees towards the house as if the cambridge boat-race crew was indulging in a vigorous scrimmage. drawing nearer this resolved itself into the fluent contours of lady beach-mandarin, dressed in sky-blue and with a black summer straw hat larger than ever and trimmed effusively with marguerites. "here," said sir isaac, "can't i get off? you've got a friend." "you must have some tea," said mr. brumley, who wanted to suggest that they should agree to sir isaac's figure of three thousand eight hundred, but not as pounds but guineas. it seemed to him a suggestion that might prove insidiously attractive. "it's a charming lady, my friend lady beach-mandarin. she'll be delighted----" "i don't think i can," said sir isaac. "not in the habit--social occasions." his face expressed a panic terror of this gallant full-rigged lady ahead of them. "but you see now," said mr. brumley, with a detaining grip, "it's unavoidable." and the next moment sir isaac was mumbling his appreciations of the introduction. i must admit that lady beach-mandarin was almost as much to meet as one can meet in a single human being, a broad abundant billowing personality with a taste for brims, streamers, pennants, panniers, loose sleeves, sweeping gestures, top notes and the like that made her altogether less like a woman than an occasion of public rejoicing. even her large blue eyes projected, her chin and brows and nose all seemed racing up to the front of her as if excited by the clarion notes of her abundant voice, and the pinkness of her complexion was as exuberant as her manners. exuberance--it was her word. she had evidently been a big, bouncing, bright gaminesque girl at fifteen, and very amusing and very much admired; she had liked the rôle and she had not so much grown older as suffered enlargement--a very considerable enlargement. "ah!" she cried, "and so i've caught you at home, mr. brumley! and, poor dear, you're at my mercy." and she shook both his hands with both of hers. that was before mr. brumley introduced sir isaac, a thing he did so soon as he could get one of his hands loose and wave a surviving digit or so at that gentleman. "you see, sir isaac," she said, taking him in, in the most generous way; "i and mr. brumley are old friends. we knew each other of yore. we have our jokes." sir isaac seemed to feel the need of speech but got no further than a useful all-round noise. "and one of them is that when i want him to do the least little thing for me he hides away! always. by a sort of instinct. it's such a small thing, sir isaac." sir isaac was understood to say vaguely that they always did. but he had become very indistinct. "aren't i always at your service?" protested mr. brumley with a responsive playfulness. "and i don't even know what it is you want." lady beach-mandarin, addressing herself exclusively to sir isaac, began a tale of a shakespear bazaar she was holding in an adjacent village, and how she knew mr. brumley (naughty man) meant to refuse to give her autographed copies of his littlest book for the book stall she was organizing. mr. brumley confuted her gaily and generously. so discoursing they made their way to the verandah where lady harman had so lately "poured." sir isaac was borne along upon the lady's stream of words in a state of mulish reluctance, nodding, saying "of course" and similar phrases, and wishing he was out of it all with an extreme manifestness. he drank his tea with unmistakable discomfort, and twice inserted into the conversation an entirely irrelevant remark that he had to be going. but lady beach-mandarin had her purposes with him and crushed these quivering tentatives. lady beach-mandarin had of course like everybody else at that time her own independent movement in the great national effort to create an official british theatre upon the basis of william shakespear, and she saw in the as yet unenlisted resources of sir isaac strong possibilities of reinforcement of her own particular contribution to the great work. he was manifestly shy and sulky and disposed to bolt at the earliest possible moment, and so she set herself now with a swift and concentrated combination of fascination and urgency to commit him to participations. she flattered and cajoled and bribed. she was convinced that even to be called upon by lady beach-mandarin is no light privilege for these new commercial people, and so she made no secret of her intention of decorating the hall of his large but undistinguished house in putney, with her redeeming pasteboard. she appealed to the instances of venice and florence to show that "such men as you, sir isaac," who control commerce and industry, have always been the guardians and patrons of art. and who more worthy of patronage than william shakespear? also she said that men of such enormous wealth as his owed something to their national tradition. "you have to pay your footing, sir isaac," she said with impressive vagueness. "putting it in round figures," said sir isaac, suddenly and with a white gleam of animosity in his face, the animosity of a trapped animal at the sight of its captors, "what does coming on your committee mean, lady beach-mandarin?" "it's your name we want," said the lady, "but i'm sure you'd not be ungenerous. the tribute success owes the arts." "a hundred?" he threw out,--his ears red. "guineas," breathed lady beach-mandarin with a lofty sweetness of consent. he stood up hastily as if to escape further exaction, and the lady rose too. "and you'll let me call on lady harman," she said, honestly doing her part in the bargain. "can't keep the car waiting," was what brumley could distinguish in his reply. "i expect you have a perfectly splendid car, sir isaac," said lady beach-mandarin, drawing him out. "quite the modernest thing." sir isaac replied with the reluctance of an income tax return that it was a forty-five rolls royce, good of course but nothing amazing. "we must see it," she said, and turned his retreat into a procession. she admired the car, she admired the colour of the car, she admired the lamps of the car and the door of the car and the little fittings of the car. she admired the horn. she admired the twist of the horn. she admired clarence and the uniform of clarence and she admired and coveted the great fur coat that he held ready for his employer. (but if she had it, she said, she would wear the splendid fur outside to show every little bit of it.) and when the car at last moved forward and tooted--she admired the note--and vanished softly and swiftly through the gates, she was left in the porch with mr. brumley still by sheer inertia admiring and envying. she admired sir isaac's car number z . (such an easy one to remember!) then she stopped abruptly, as one might discover that the water in the bathroom was running to waste and turn it off. she had a cynicism as exuberant as the rest of her. "well," she said, with a contented sigh and an entire flattening of her tone, "i laid it on pretty thick that time.... i wonder if he'll send me that hundred guineas or whether i shall have to remind him of it...." her manner changed again to that of a gigantic gamin. "i mean to have that money," she said with bright determination and round eyes.... she reflected and other thoughts came to her. "plutocracy," she said, "_is_ perfectly detestable, don't you think so, mr. brumley?" ... and then, "i can't _imagine_ how a man who deals in bread and confectionery can manage to go about so completely half-baked." "he's a very remarkable type," said mr. brumley. he became urgent: "i do hope, dear lady beach-mandarin, you will contrive to call on lady harman. she is--in relation to _that_--quite the most interesting woman i have seen." § presently as they paced the croquet lawn together, the preoccupation of mr. brumley's mind drew their conversation back to lady harman. "i wish," he repeated, "you would go and see these people. she's not at all what you might infer from him." "what could one infer about a wife from a man like that? except that she'd have a lot to put up with." "you know,--she's a beautiful person, tall, slender, dark...." lady beach-mandarin turned her full blue eye upon him. "_now!_" she said archly. "i'm interested in the incongruity." lady beach-mandarin's reply was silent and singular. she compressed her lips very tightly, fixed her eye firmly on mr. brumley's, lifted her finger to the level of her left eyelash, and then shook it at him very deliberately five times. then with a little sigh and a sudden and complete restoration of manner she remarked that never in any year before had she seen peonies quite so splendid. "i've a peculiar sympathy with peonies," she said. "they're so exactly my style." chapter the third lady harman at home § exactly three weeks after that first encounter between lady beach-mandarin and sir isaac harman, mr. brumley found himself one of a luncheon party at that lady's house in temperley square and talking very freely and indiscreetly about the harmans. lady beach-mandarin always had her luncheons in a family way at a large round table so that nobody could get out of her range, and she insisted upon conversation being general, except for her mother who was impenetrably deaf and the swiss governess of her only daughter phyllis who was incomprehensible in any european tongue. the mother was incalculably old and had been a friend of victor hugo and alfred de musset; she maintained an intermittent monologue about the private lives of those great figures; nobody paid the slightest attention to her but one felt she enriched the table with an undertow of literary associations. a small dark stealthy butler and a convulsive boy with hair (apparently) taking the place of eyes waited. on this occasion lady beach-mandarin had gathered together two cousins, maiden ladies from perth, wearing valiant hats, toomer the wit and censor, and miss sharsper the novelist (whom toomer detested), a gentleman named roper whom she had invited under a misapprehension that he was the arctic roper, and mr. brumley. she had tried mr. roper with questions about penguins, seals, cold and darkness, icebergs and glaciers, captain scott, doctor cook and the shape of the earth, and all in vain, and feeling at last that something was wrong, she demanded abruptly whether mr. brumley had sold his house. "i'm selling it," said mr. brumley, "by almost imperceptible degrees." "he haggles?" "haggles and higgles. he higgles passionately. he goes white and breaks into a cold perspiration. he wants me now to include the gardener's tools--in whatever price we agree upon." "a rich man like that ought to be easy and generous," said lady beach-mandarin. "then he wouldn't be a rich man like that," said mr. toomer. "but doesn't it distress you highly, mr. brumley," one of the perth ladies asked, "to be leaving euphemia's home to strangers? the man may go altering it." "that--that weighs with me very much," said mr. brumley, recalled to his professions. "there--i put my trust in lady harman." "you've seen her again?" asked lady beach-mandarin. "yes. she came with him--a few days ago. that couple interests me more and more. so little akin." "there's eighteen years between them," said toomer. "it's one of those cases," began mr. brumley with a note of scientific detachment, "where one is really tempted to be ultra-feminist. it's clear, he uses every advantage. he's her owner, her keeper, her obstinate insensitive little tyrant.... and yet there's a sort of effect, as though nothing was decided.... as if she was only just growing up." "they've been married six or seven years," said toomer. "she was just eighteen." "they went over the house together and whenever she spoke he contradicted her with a sort of vicious playfulness. tried to poke clumsy fun at her. called her 'lady harman.' only it was quite evident that what she said stuck in his mind.... very queer--interesting people." "i wouldn't have anyone allowed to marry until they were five-and-twenty," said lady beach-mandarin. "sweet seventeen sometimes contrives to be very marriageable," said the gentleman named roper. "sweet seventeen must contrive to wait," said lady beach-mandarin. "sweet fourteen has to--and when i was fourteen--i was ardent! there's no earthly objection to a little harmless flirtation of course. it's the marrying." "you'd conduce to romance," said miss sharsper, "anyhow. eighteen won't bear restriction and everyone would begin by eloping--illegally." "i'd put them back," said lady beach-mandarin. "oh! remorselessly." mr. roper, who was more and more manifestly not the arctic one, remarked that she would "give the girls no end of an adolescence...." mr. brumley did not attend very closely to the subsequent conversation. his mind had gone back to black strand and the second visit that lady harman, this time under her natural and proper protection, had paid him. a little thread from the old lady's discourse drifted by him. she had scented marriage in the air and she was saying, "of course they ought to have let victor hugo marry over and over again. he would have made it all so beautiful. he could throw a splendour over--over almost anything." mr. brumley sank out of attention altogether. it was so difficult to express his sense of lady harman as a captive, enclosed but unsubdued. she had been as open and shining as a celandine flower in the sunshine on that first invasion, but on the second it had been like overcast weather and her starry petals had been shut and still. she hadn't been in the least subdued or effaced, but closed, inaccessible to conversational bees, that astonishing honey of trust and easy friendship had been hidden in a dignified impenetrable reserve. she had had the effect of being not so much specially shut against mr. brumley as habitually shut against her husband, as a protection against his continual clumsy mental interferences. and once when sir isaac had made a sudden allusion to price mr. brumley had glanced at her and met her eyes.... "of course," he said, coming up to the conversational surface again, "a woman like that is bound to fight her way out." "queen mary!" cried miss sharsper. "fight her way out!" "queen mary!" said mr. brumley, "no!--lady harman." "_i_ was talking of queen mary," said miss sharsper. "and mr. brumley was thinking of lady harman!" cried lady beach-mandarin. "well," said mr. brumley, "i confess i do think about her. she seems to me to be so typical in many ways of--of everything that is weak in the feminine position. as a type--yes, she's perfect." "i've never seen this lady," said miss sharsper. "is she beautiful?" "i've not seen her myself yet," said lady beach-mandarin. "she's mr. brumley's particular discovery." "you haven't called?" he asked with a faint reproach. "but i've been going to--oh! tremendously. and you revive all my curiosity. why shouldn't some of us this very afternoon----?" she caught at her own passing idea and held it. "let's go," she cried. "let's visit the wife of this ogre, the last of the women in captivity. we'll take the big car and make a party and call _en masse_." mr. toomer protested he had no morbid curiosities. "but you, susan?" miss sharsper declared she would _love_ to come. wasn't it her business to study out-of-the-way types? mr. roper produced a knowing sort of engagement--"i'm provided for already, lady beach-mandarin," he said, and the cousins from perth had to do some shopping. "then we three will be the expedition," said the hostess. "and afterwards if we survive we'll tell you our adventures. it's a house on putney hill, isn't it, where this christian maiden, so to speak, is held captive? i've had her in my mind, but i've always intended to call with agatha alimony; she's so inspiring to down-trodden women." "not exactly down-trodden," said mr. brumley, "not down-trodden. that's what's so curious about it." "and what shall we do when we get there?" cried lady beach-mandarin. "i feel we ought to do something more than call. can't we carry her off right away, mr. brumley? i want to go right in to her and say 'look here! i'm on your side. your husband's a tyrant. i'm help and rescue. i'm all that a woman ought to be--fine and large. come out from under that unworthy man's heel!'" "suppose she isn't at all the sort of person you seem to think she is," said miss sharsper. "and suppose she came!" "suppose she didn't," reflected mr. roper. "i seem to see your flight," said mr. toomer. "and the newspaper placards and head-lines. 'lady beach-mandarin elopes with the wife of an eminent confectioner. she is stopped at the landing stage by the staff of the dover branch establishment. recapture of the fugitive after a hot struggle. brumley, the eminent _littérateur_, stunned by a spent bun....'" "we're all talking great nonsense," said lady beach-mandarin. "but anyhow we'll make our call. and _i_ know!--i'll make her accept an invitation to lunch without him." "if she won't?" threw out mr. roper. "i _will_," said lady beach-mandarin with roguish determination. "and if i can't----" "not ask him too!" protested mr. brumley. "why not get her to come to your social friends meeting," said miss sharsper. § when mr. brumley found himself fairly launched upon this expedition he had the grace to feel compunction. the harmans, he perceived, had inadvertently made him the confidant of their domestic discords and to betray them to these others savoured after all of treachery. and besides much as he had craved to see lady harman again, he now realized he didn't in the least want to see her in association with the exuberant volubility of lady beach-mandarin and the hard professional observation, so remarkably like the ferrule of an umbrella being poked with a noiseless persistence into one's eye, of miss sharsper. and as he thought these afterthoughts lady beach-mandarin's chauffeur darted and dodged and threaded his way with an alacrity that was almost distressing to putney. they ran over the ghost of swinburne, at the foot of putney hill,--or perhaps it was only the rhythm of the engine changed for a moment, and in a couple of minutes more they were outside the harman residence. "here we are!" said lady beach-mandarin, more capaciously gaminesque than ever. "we've done it now." mr. brumley had an impression of a big house in the distended stately-homes-of-england style and very necessarily and abundantly covered by creepers and then he was assisting the ladies to descend and the three of them were waiting clustered in the ample victorian doorway. for some little interval there came no answer to the bell mr. brumley had rung, but all three of them had a sense of hurried, furtive and noiseless readjustments in progress behind the big and bossy oak door. then it opened and a very large egg-shaped butler with sandy whiskers appeared and looked down himself at them. there was something paternal about this man, his professional deference was touched by the sense of ultimate responsibility. he seemed to consider for a moment whether he should permit lady harman to be in, before he conceded that she was. they were ushered through a hall that resembled most of the halls in the world, it was dominated by a handsome oak staircase and scarcely gave miss sharsper a point, and then across a creation of the victorian architect, a massive kind of conservatory with classical touches--there was an impluvium in the centre and there were arches hung with manifestly costly syrian rugs, into a large apartment looking through four french windows upon a verandah and a large floriferous garden. at a sideways glance it seemed a very pleasant garden indeed. the room itself was like the rooms of so many prosperous people nowadays; it had an effect of being sedulously and yet irrelevantly over-furnished. it had none of the large vulgarity that mr. brumley would have considered proper to a wealthy caterer, but it confessed a compilation of "pieces" very carefully authenticated. some of them were rather splendid "pieces"; three big bureaus burly and brassy dominated it; there was a queen anne cabinet, some exquisite coloured engravings, an ormolu mirror and a couple of large french vases that set miss sharsper, who had a keen eye for this traffic, confusedly cataloguing. and a little incongruously in the midst of this exhibit, stood lady harman, as if she was trying to conceal the fact that she too was a visitor, in a creamy white dress and dark and defensive and yet entirely unabashed. the great butler gave his large vague impression of lady beach-mandarin's name, and stood aside and withdrew. "i've heard so much of you," said lady beach-mandarin advancing with hand upraised. "i had to call. mr. brumley----" "lady beach-mandarin met sir isaac at black strand," mr. brumley intervened to explain. miss sharsper was as it were introduced by default. "my vividest anticipations outdone," said lady beach-mandarin, squeezing lady harman's fingers with enthusiasm. "and what a charming garden you have, and what a delightful situation! such air! and on the very verge of london, high, on this delightful _literary_ hill, and ready at any moment to swoop in that enviable great car of yours. i suppose you come a great deal into london, lady harman?" "no," reflected lady harman, "not very much." she seemed to weigh the accuracy of this very carefully. "no," she added in confirmation. "but you should, you ought to; it's your duty. you've no right to hide away from us. i was telling sir isaac. we look to him, we look to you. you've no right to bury your talents away from us; you who are rich and young and brilliant and beautiful----" "but if i go on i shall begin to flatter you," said lady beach-mandarin with a delicious smile. "i've begun upon sir isaac already. i've made him promise a hundred guineas and his name to the shakespear dinners society,--nothing he didn't mention eaten (_you_ know) and all the profits to the national movement--and i want your name too. i know you'll let us have your name too. grant me that, and i'll subside into the ordinariest of callers." "but surely; isn't his name enough?" asked lady harman. "without yours, it's only half a name!" cried lady beach-mandarin. "if it were a _business_ thing----! different of course. but on my list, i'm like dear old queen victoria you know, the wives must come too." "in that case," hesitated lady harman.... "but really i think sir isaac----" she stopped. and then mr. brumley had a psychic experience. it seemed to him as he stood observing lady harman with an entirely unnecessary and unpremeditated intentness, that for the briefest interval her attention flashed over lady beach-mandarin's shoulder to the end verandah window; and following her glance, he saw--and then he did not see--the arrested figure, the white face of sir isaac, bearing an expression in which anger and horror were extraordinarily intermingled. if it was sir isaac he dodged back with amazing dexterity; if it was a phantom of the living it vanished with an air of doing that. without came the sound of a flower-pot upset and a faint expletive. mr. brumley looked very quickly at lady beach-mandarin, who was entirely unconscious of anything but her own uncoiling and enveloping eloquence, and as quickly at miss sharsper. but miss sharsper was examining a blackish bureau through her glasses as though she were looking for birthmarks and meant if she could find one to claim the piece as her own long-lost connection. with a mild but gratifying sense of exclusive complicity mr. brumley reverted to lady harman's entire self-possession. "but, dear lady harman, it's entirely unnecessary you should consult him,--entirely," lady beach-mandarin was saying. "i'm sure," said mr. brumley with a sense that somehow he had to intervene, "that sir isaac would not possibly object. i'm sure that if lady harman consults him----" the sandy-whiskered butler appeared hovering. "shall i place the tea-things in the garden, me lady?" he asked, in the tone of one who knows the answer. "oh _please_ in the garden!" cried lady beach-mandarin. "please! and how delightful to _have_ a garden, a london garden, in which one _can_ have tea. without being smothered in blacks. the south-west wind. the dear _english_ wind. all your blacks come to _us_, you know." she led the way upon the verandah. "such a wonderful garden! the space, the breadth! why! you must have acres!" she surveyed the garden--comprehensively; her eye rested for a moment on a distant patch of black that ducked suddenly into a group of lilacs. "is dear sir isaac at home?" she asked. "he's very uncertain," said lady harman, with a quiet readiness that pleased mr. brumley. "yes, snagsby, please, under the big cypress. and tell my mother and sister." lady beach-mandarin having paused a moment or so upon the verandah admiring the garden as a whole, now prepared to go into details. she gathered her ample skirts together and advanced into the midst of the large lawn, with very much of the effect of a fleet of captive balloons dragging their anchors. mr. brumley followed, as it were in attendance upon her and lady harman. miss sharsper, after one last hasty glance at the room, rather like the last hasty glance of a still unprepared schoolboy at his book, came behind with her powers of observation strainingly alert. mr. brumley was aware of a brief mute struggle between the two ladies of title. it was clear that lady harman would have had them go to the left, to where down a vista of pillar roses a single large specimen cypress sounded a faint but recognizable italian note, and he did his loyal best to support her, but lady beach-mandarin's attraction to that distant clump of lilac on the right was equally great and much more powerful. she flowed, a great and audible tide of socially influential womanhood, across the green spaces of the garden, and drew the others with her. and it seemed to mr. brumley--not that he believed his eyes--that beyond those lilacs something ran out, something black that crouched close to the ground and went very swiftly. it flashed like an arrow across a further space of flower-bed, dropped to the ground, became two agitatedly receding boot soles and was gone. had it ever been? he glanced at lady harman, but she was looking back with the naïve anxiety of a hostess to her cypress,--at lady beach-mandarin, but she was proliferating compliments and decorative scrolls and flourishes like the engraved frontispiece to a seventeenth-century book. "i know i'm inordinately curious," said lady beach-mandarin, "but gardens are my joy. i want to go into every corner of this. peep into everything. and i feel somehow"--and here she urged a smile on lady harman's attention--"that i shan't begin to know _you_, until i know all your environment." she turned the flank of the lilacs as she said these words and advanced in echelon with a stately swiftness upon the laurels beyond. lady harman said there was nothing beyond but sycamores and the fence, but lady beach-mandarin would press on through a narrow path that pierced the laurel hedge, in order, she said, that she might turn back and get the whole effect of the grounds. and so it was they discovered the mushroom shed. "a mushroom shed!" cried lady beach-mandarin. "and if we look in--shall we see hosts and regiments of mushrooms? i must--i must." "i _think_ it is locked," said lady harman. mr. brumley darted forward; tried the door and turned quickly. "it's locked," he said and barred lady beach-mandarin's advance. "and besides," said lady harman, "there's no mushrooms there. they won't come up. it's one of my husband's--annoyances." lady beach-mandarin had turned round and now surveyed the house. "what a splendid idea," she cried, "that wistaria! all mixed with the laburnum. i don't think i have ever seen such a charming combination of blossoms!" the whole movement of the party swept about and faced cypress-ward. away there the sandy-whiskered butler and a footman and basket chairs and a tea-table, with a shining white cloth, and two ladies were now grouping themselves.... but the mind of mr. brumley gave little heed to these things. his mind was full of a wonder, and the wonder was this, that the mushroom shed had behaved like a living thing. the door of the mushroom shed was not locked and in that matter he had told a lie. the door of the mushroom shed had been unlocked quite recently and the key and padlock had been dropped upon the ground. and when he had tried to open the mushroom shed it had first of all yielded to his hand and then it had closed again with great strength--exactly as a living mussel will behave if one takes it unawares. but in addition to this passionate contraction the mushroom shed had sworn in a hoarse whisper and breathed hard, which is more than your mussel can do.... § mr. brumley's interest in lady harman was to be almost too crowded by detail before that impulsive call was over. superposed upon the mystery of the mushroom shed was the vivid illumination of lady harman by her mother and sister. they had an effect of having reluctantly become her social inferiors for her own good; the mother--her name he learnt was mrs. sawbridge--had all lady harman's tall slenderness, but otherwise resembled her only in the poise of her neck and an occasional gesture; she was fair and with a kind of ignoble and premeditated refinement in her speech and manner. she was dressed with the restraint of a prolonged and attenuated widowhood, in a rich and complicatedly quiet dress of mauve and grey. she was obviously a transitory visitor and not so much taking the opulence about her and particularly the great butler for granted as pointedly and persistently ignoring it in an effort to seem to take it for granted. the sister, on the other hand, had lady harman's pale darkness but none of her fineness of line. she missed altogether that quality of fineness. her darkness was done with a quite perceptible heaviness, her dignity passed into solidity and her profile was, with an entire want of hesitation, handsome. she was evidently the elder by a space of some years and she was dressed with severity in grey. these two ladies seemed to mr. brumley to offer a certain resistance of spirit to the effusion of lady beach-mandarin, rather as two small anchored vessels might resist the onset of a great and foaming tide, but after a time it was clear they admired her greatly. his attention was, however, a little distracted from them by the fact that he was the sole representative of the more serviceable sex among five women and so in duty bound to stand by lady harman and assist with various handings and offerings. the tea equipage was silver and not only magnificent but, as certain quick movements of miss sharsper's eyes and nose at its appearance betrayed, very genuine and old. lady beach-mandarin having praised the house and garden all over again to mrs. sawbridge, and having praised the cypress and envied the tea things, resumed her efforts to secure the immediate establishment of permanent social relations with lady harman. she reverted to the question of the shakespear dinners society and now with a kind of large skilfulness involved mrs. sawbridge in her appeal. "won't _you_ come on our committee?" said lady beach-mandarin. mrs. sawbridge gave a pinched smile and said she was only staying in london for quite a little time, and when pressed admitted that there seemed no need whatever for consulting sir isaac upon so obviously foregone a conclusion as lady harman's public adhesion to the great movement. "i shall put his hundred guineas down to sir isaac and lady harman," said lady beach-mandarin with an air of conclusion, "and now i want to know, dear lady harman, whether we can't have _you_ on our committee of administration. we want--just one other woman to complete us." lady harman could only parry with doubts of her ability. "you ought to go on, ella," said miss sawbridge suddenly, speaking for the first time and in a manner richly suggestive of great principles at stake. "ella," thought the curious mind of mr. brumley. "and is that eleanor now or ellen or--is there any other name that gives one ella? simply ella?" "but what should i have to do?" fenced lady harman, resisting but obviously attracted. lady beach-mandarin invented a lengthy paraphrase for prompt acquiescences. "i shall be chairwoman," she crowned it with. "i can so easily _see you through_ as they say." "ella doesn't go out half enough," said miss sawbridge suddenly to miss sharsper, who was regarding her with furtive intensity--as if she was surreptitiously counting her features. miss sharsper caught in mid observation started and collected her mind. "one ought to go out," she said. "certainly." "and independently," said miss sawbridge, with meaning. "oh independently!" assented miss sharsper. it was evident she would now have to watch her chance and begin counting all over again from the beginning. mr. brumley had an impression that mrs. sawbridge had said something quite confidential in his ear. he turned perplexed. "such charming weather," the lady repeated in the tone of one who doesn't wish so pleasant a little secret to be too generally discussed. "never known a better summer," agreed mr. brumley. and then all these minor eddies were submerged in lady beach-mandarin's advance towards her next step, an invitation to lunch. "there," said she, "i'm not victorian. i always separate husbands and wives--by at least a week. you must come alone." it was clear to mr. brumley that lady harman wanted to come alone--and was going to accept, and equally clear that she and her mother and sister regarded this as a very daring thing to do. and when that was settled lady beach-mandarin went on to the altogether easier topic of her social friends, a society of smart and influential women; who devoted a certain fragment of time every week to befriending respectable girls employed in london, in a briskly amiable manner, having them to special teas, having them to special evenings with special light refreshments, knowing their names as far as possible and asking about their relations, and generally making them feel that society was being very frank and amiable to them and had an eye on them and meant them well, and was better for them than socialism and radicalism and revolutionary ideas. to this also lady harman it seemed was to come. it had an effect to mr. brumley's imagination as if the painted scene of that lady's life was suddenly bursting out into open doors--everywhere. "many of them are _quite_ lady-like," echoed mrs. sawbridge suddenly, picking up the whole thing instantly and speaking over her tea cup in that quasi-confidential tone of hers to mr. brumley. "of course they are mostly quite dreadfully sweated," said lady beach-mandarin. "especially in the confectionery----" she thought of her position in time. "in the inferior class of confectioners' establishments," she said and then hurried on to: "of course when you come to lunch,--agatha alimony. i'm most anxious for you and her to meet." "is that _the_ agatha alimony?" asked miss sawbridge abruptly. "the one and only," said lady beach-mandarin, flashing a smile at her. "and what a marvel she is! i do so want you to know her, lady harman. she'd be a revelation to you...." everything had gone wonderfully so far. "and now," said lady beach-mandarin, thrusting forward a face of almost exaggerated motherliness and with an unwonted tenderness suffusing her voice, "show me the chicks." there was a brief interrogative pause. "your chicks," expanded lady beach-mandarin, on the verge of crooning. "your _little_ chicks." "_oh!_" cried lady harman understanding. "the children." "lucky woman!" cried lady beach-mandarin. "yes." "one hasn't begun to be friends," she added, "until one has seen--them...." "so _true_," mrs. sawbridge confided to mr. brumley with a look that almost languished.... "certainly," said mr. brumley, "rather." he was a little distraught because he had just seen sir isaac step forward in a crouching attitude from beyond the edge of the lilacs, peer at the tea-table with a serpent-like intentness and then dart back convulsively into cover.... if lady beach-mandarin saw him mr. brumley felt that anything might happen. § lady beach-mandarin always let herself go about children. it would be unjust to the general richness of lady beach-mandarin to say that she excelled herself on this occasion. on all occasions lady beach-mandarin excelled herself. but never had mr. brumley noted quite so vividly lady beach-mandarin's habitual self-surpassingness. she helped him, he felt, to understand better those stories of great waves that sweep in from the ocean and swamp islands and devastate whole littorals. she poured into the harman nursery and filled every corner of it. she rose to unprecedented heights therein. it seemed to him at moments that they ought to make marks on the walls, like the marks one sees on the houses in the lower valley of the main to record the more memorable floods. "the dears!" she cried: "the _little_ things!" before the nursery door was fairly opened. (there should have been a line for that at once on the jamb just below the lintel.) the nursery revealed itself as a large airy white and green apartment entirely free from old furniture and done rather in the style of an æsthetically designed hospital, with a tremendously humorous decorative frieze of cocks and puppies and very bright-coloured prints on the walls. the dwarfish furniture was specially designed in green-stained wood and the floor was of cork carpet diversified by white furry rugs. the hospital quality was enhanced by the uniformed and disciplined appearance of the middle-aged and reliable head nurse and her subdued but intelligent subordinate. three sturdy little girls, with a year step between each of them, stood up to receive lady beach-mandarin's invasion; an indeterminate baby sprawled regardless of its dignity on a rug. "aah!" cried lady beach-mandarin, advancing in open order. "come and be hugged, you dears! come and be hugged!" before she knelt down and enveloped their shrinking little persons mr. brumley was able to observe that they were pretty little things, but not the beautiful children he could have imagined from lady harman. peeping through their infantile delicacy, hints all too manifest of sir isaac's characteristically pointed nose gave mr. brumley a peculiar--a eugenic, qualm. he glanced at lady harman and she was standing over the ecstasies of her tremendous visitor, polite, attentive--with an entirely unemotional speculation in her eyes. miss sawbridge, stirred by the great waves of violent philoprogenitive enthusiasm that circled out from lady beach-mandarin, had caught up the baby and was hugging it and addressing it in terms of humorous rapture, and the nurse and her assistant were keeping respectful but wary eyes upon the handling of their four charges. miss sharsper was taking in the children's characteristics with a quick expertness. mrs. sawbridge stood a little in the background and caught mr. brumley's eye and proffered a smile of sympathetic tolerance. mr. brumley was moved by a ridiculous impulse, which he just succeeded in suppressing, to say to mrs. sawbridge, "yes, i admit it looks very well. but the essential point, you know, is that it isn't so...." that it wasn't so, indeed, entirely dominated his impression of that nursery. there was lady beach-mandarin winning lady harman's heart by every rule of the game, rejoicing effusively in those crowning triumphs of a woman's being, there was miss sawbridge vociferous in support and mrs. sawbridge almost offering to join hands in rapturous benediction, and there was lady harman wearing her laurels, not indeed with indifference but with a curious detachment. one might imagine her genuinely anxious to understand why lady beach-mandarin was in such a stupendous ebullition. one might have supposed her a mere cold-hearted intellectual if it wasn't that something in her warm beauty absolutely forbade any such interpretation. there came to mr. brumley again a thought that had occurred to him first when sir isaac and lady harman had come together to black strand, which was that life had happened to this woman before she was ready for it, that her mind some years after her body was now coming to womanhood, was teeming with curiosity about all she had hitherto accepted, about sir isaac, about her children and all her circumstances.... there was a recapitulation of the invitations, a renewed offering of outlooks and vistas and agatha alimony. "you'll not forget," insisted lady beach-mandarin. "you'll not afterwards throw us over." "no," said lady harman, with that soft determination of hers. "i'll certainly come." "i'm so sorry, so very sorry, not to have seen sir isaac," lady beach-mandarin insisted. the raid had accomplished its every object and was drifting doorward. for a moment lady beach-mandarin desisted from lady harman and threw her whole being into an eddying effort to submerge the already subjugated mrs. sawbridge. miss sawbridge was behind up the oak staircase explaining sir isaac's interest in furniture-buying to miss sharsper. mr. brumley had his one moment with lady harman. "i gather," he said, and abandoned that sentence. "i hope," he said, "that you will have my little house down there. i like to think of _you_--walking in my garden." "i shall love that garden," she said. "but i shall feel unworthy." "there are a hundred little things i want to tell you--about it." then all the others seemed to come into focus again, and with a quick mutual understanding--mr. brumley was certain of its mutuality--they said no more to one another. he was entirely satisfied he had said enough. he had conveyed just everything that was needed to excuse and explain and justify his presence in that company.... upon a big table in the hall he noticed that a silk hat and an umbrella had appeared since their arrival. he glanced at miss sharsper but she was keenly occupied with the table legs. he began to breathe freely again when the partings were over and he could get back into the automobile. "toot," said the horn and he made a last grave salutation to the slender white figure on the steps. the great butler stood at the side of the entrance and a step or so below her, with the air of a man who has completed a difficult task. a small attentive valet hovered out of the shadows behind. § (a fragment of the conversation in lady beach-mandarin's returning automobile may be recorded in a parenthesis here. "but did you see sir isaac?" she cried, abruptly. "sir isaac?" defended the startled mr. brumley. "where?" "he was dodging about in the garden all the time." "dodging about the garden!... i saw a sort of gardener----" "i'm sure i saw him," said lady beach-mandarin. "positive. he hid away in the mushroom shed. the one you found locked." "but my _dear_ lady beach-mandarin!" protested mr. brumley with the air of one who listens to preposterous suggestions. "what can make you think----?" "oh i _know_ i saw him," said lady beach-mandarin. "i know. he seemed all over the place. like a boy scout. didn't you see him too, susan?" miss sharsper was roused from deep preoccupation. "what, dear?" she asked. "see sir isaac?" "sir isaac?" "dodging about the garden when we went through it." the novelist reflected. "i didn't notice," she said. "i was busy observing things.") § lady beach-mandarin's car passed through the open gates and was swallowed up in the dusty stream of traffic down putney hill; the great butler withdrew, the little manservant vanished, mrs. sawbridge and her elder daughter had hovered and now receded from the back of the hall; lady harman remained standing thoughtfully in the large bulwer-lyttonesque doorway of her house. her face expressed a vague expectation. she waited to be addressed from behind. then she became aware of the figure of her husband standing before her. he had come out of the laurels in front. his pale face was livid with anger, his hair dishevelled, there was garden mould and greenness upon his knees and upon his extended hands. she was startled out of her quiet defensiveness. "why, isaac!" she cried. "where have you been?" it enraged him further to be asked so obviously unnecessary a question. he forgot his knightly chivalry. "what the devil do you mean," he cried, "by chasing me all round the garden?" "chasing you? all round the garden?" "you heard me breaking my shins on that infernal flower-pot you put for me, and out you shot with all your pack of old women and chased me round the garden. what do you mean by it?" "i didn't think you were in the garden." "any fool could have told i was in the garden. any fool might have known i was in the garden. if i wasn't in the garden, then where the devil was i? eh? where else could i be? of course i was in the garden, and what you wanted was to hunt me down and make a fool of me. and look at me! look, i say! look at my hands!" lady harman regarded the lord of her being and hesitated before she answered. she knew what she had to say would enrage him, but she had come to a point in their relationship when a husband's good temper is no longer a supreme consideration. "you've had plenty of time to wash them," she said. "yes," he shouted. "and instead i kept 'em to show you. i stayed out here to see the last of that crew for fear i might run against 'em in the house. of all the infernal old women----" his lips were providentially deprived of speech. he conveyed his inability to express his estimate of lady beach-mandarin by a gesture of despair. "if--if anyone calls and i am at home i have to receive them," said lady harman, after a moment's deliberation. "receiving them's one thing. making a fool of yourself----" his voice was rising. "isaac," said lady harman, leaning forward and then in a low penetrating whisper, "_snagsby!_" (it was the name of the great butler.) "_damn_ snagsby!" hissed sir isaac, but dropping his voice and drawing near to her. what his voice lost in height it gained in intensity. "what i say is this, ella, you oughtn't to have brought that old woman out into the garden at all----" "she insisted on coming." "you ought to have snubbed her. you ought to have done--anything. how the devil was i to get away, once she was through the verandah? there i was! _bagged!_" "you could have come forward." "what! and meet _her_!" "_i_ had to meet her." sir isaac felt that his rage was being frittered away upon details. "if you hadn't gone fooling about looking at houses," he said, and now he stood very close to her and spoke with a confidential intensity, "you wouldn't have got that holy terror on our track, see? and now--here we are!" he walked past her into the hall, and the little manservant suddenly materialised in the middle of the space and came forward to brush him obsequiously. lady harman regarded that proceeding for some moments in a preoccupied manner and then passed slowly into the classical conservatory. she felt that in view of her engagements the discussion of lady beach-mandarin was only just beginning. § she reopened it herself in the long drawing-room into which they both drifted after sir isaac had washed the mould from his hands. she went to a french window, gathered courage, it seemed, by a brief contemplation of the garden, and turned with a little effort. "i don't agree," she said, "with you about lady beach-mandarin." sir isaac appeared surprised. he had assumed the incident was closed. "_how?_" he asked compactly. "i don't agree," said lady harman. "she seems friendly and jolly." "she's a holy terror," said sir isaac. "i've seen her twice, lady harman." "a call of that kind," his wife went on, "--when there are cards left and so on--has to be returned." "you won't," said sir isaac. lady harman took a blind-tassel in her hand,--she felt she had to hold on to something. "in any case," she said, "i should have to do that." "in any case?" she nodded. "it would be ridiculous not to. we----it is why we know so few people--because we don't return calls...." sir isaac paused before answering. "we don't _want_ to know a lot of people," he said. "and, besides----why! anybody could make us go running about all over london calling on them, by just coming and calling on us. no sense in it. she's come and she's gone, and there's an end of it." "no," said lady harman, gripping her tassel more firmly. "i shall have to return that call." "i tell you, you won't." "it isn't only a call," said lady harman. "you see, i promised to go there to lunch." "lunch!" "and to go to a meeting with her." "go to a meeting!" "--of a society called the social friends. and something else. oh! to go to the committee meetings of her shakespear dinners movement." "i've heard of that." "she said you supported it--or else of course...." sir isaac restrained himself with difficulty. "well," he said at last, "you'd better write and tell her you can't do any of these things; that's all." he thrust his hands into his trousers pockets and walked to the french window next to the one in which she stood, with an air of having settled this business completely, and being now free for the tranquil contemplation of horticulture. but lady harman had still something to say. "i am going to _all_ these things," she said. "i said i would, and i will." he didn't seem immediately to hear her. he made the little noise with his teeth that was habitual to him. then he came towards her. "this is your infernal sister," he said. lady harman reflected. "no," she decided. "it's myself." "i might have known when we asked her here," said sir isaac with an habitual disregard of her judgments that was beginning to irritate her more and more. "you can't take on all these people. they're not the sort of people we want to know." "i want to know them," said lady harman. "i don't." "i find them interesting," lady harman said. "and i've promised." "well you oughtn't to have promised without consulting me." her reply was the material of much subsequent reflection on the part of sir isaac. there was something in her manner.... "you see, isaac," she said, "you kept so out of the way...." in the pause that followed her words, mrs. sawbridge appeared from the garden smiling with a determined amiability, and bearing a great bunch of the best roses (which sir isaac hated to have picked) in her hands. chapter the fourth the beginnings of lady harman § lady harman had been married when she was just eighteen. mrs. sawbridge was the widow of a solicitor who had been killed in a railway collision while his affairs, as she put it, were unsettled; and she had brought up her two daughters in a villa at penge upon very little money, in a state of genteel protest. ellen was the younger. she had been a sturdy dark-eyed doll-dragging little thing and had then shot up very rapidly. she had gone to a boarding-school at wimbledon because mrs. sawbridge thought the penge day-school had made georgina opiniated and unladylike, besides developing her muscular system to an unrefined degree. the wimbledon school was on less progressive lines, and anyhow ellen grew taller and more feminine than her sister and by seventeen was already womanly, dignified and intensely admired by a number of schoolmates and a large circle of their cousins and brothers. she was generally very good and only now and then broke out with a venturesome enterprise that hurt nobody. she got out of a skylight, for example, and perambulated the roof in the moonshine to see how it felt and did one or two other little things of a similar kind. otherwise her conduct was admirable and her temper in those days was always contagiously good. that attractiveness which mr. brumley felt, was already very manifest, and a little hindered her in the attainment of other distinctions. most of her lessons were done for her by willing slaves, and they were happy slaves because she abounded in rewarding kindnesses; but on the other hand the study of english literature and music was almost forced upon her by the zeal of the two visiting professors of these subjects. and at seventeen, which is the age when girls most despise the boyishness of young men, she met sir isaac and filled him with an invincible covetousness.... § the school at wimbledon was a large, hushed, faded place presided over by a lady of hidden motives and great exterior calm named miss beeton clavier. she was handsome without any improper attractiveness, an associate in arts of st. andrew's university and a cousin of mr. blenker of the _old country gazette_. she was assisted by several resident mistresses and two very carefully married visiting masters for music and shakespear, and playground and shrubbery and tennis-lawn were all quite effectively hidden from the high-road. the curriculum included latin grammar--nobody ever got to the reading of books in that formidable tongue--french by an english lady who had been in france, hanoverian german by an irascible native, the more seemly aspects of english history and literature, arithmetic, algebra, political economy and drawing. there was no hockey played within the precincts, science was taught without the clumsy apparatus or objectionable diagrams that are now so common, and stress was laid upon the carriage of the young ladies and the iniquity of speaking in raised voices. miss beeton clavier deprecated the modern "craze for examinations," and released from such pressure her staff did not so much give courses of lessons as circle in a thorough-looking and patient manner about their subjects. this turn-spit quality was reflected in the school idiom; one did not learn algebra or latin or so-forth, one _did_ algebra, one was _put into_ latin.... the girls went through this system of exercises and occupations, evasively and as it were _sotto voce_, making friends, making enemies, making love to one another, following instincts that urged them to find out something about life--in spite of the most earnest discouragement.... none of them believed for a moment that the school was preparing them for life. most of them regarded it as a long inexplicable passage of blank, grey occupations through which they had to pass. beyond was the sunshine. ellen gathered what came to her. she realized a certain beauty in music in spite of the biographies of great musicians, the technical enthusiasms and the general professionalism of her teacher; the literature master directed her attention to memoirs and through these she caught gleams of understanding when the characters of history did for brief intervals cease to be rigidly dignified and institutional like miss beeton clavier and became human--like schoolfellows. and one little spectacled mistress, who wore art dresses and adorned her class-room with flowers, took a great fancy to her, talked to her with much vagueness and emotion of high aims, and lent her with an impressive furtiveness the works of emerson and shelley and a pamphlet by bernard shaw. it was a little difficult to understand what these writers were driving at, they were so dreadfully clever, but it was clear they reflected criticism upon the silences of her mother and the rigidities of miss beeton clavier. in that suppressed and evasive life beneath the outer forms and procedures of school and home, there came glimmerings of something that seemed charged with the promise of holding everything together, the key, religion. she was attracted to religion, much more attracted than she would confess even to herself, but every circumstance in her training dissuaded her from a free approach. her mother treated religion with a reverence that was almost indistinguishable from huffiness. she never named the deity and she did not like the mention of his name: she threw a spell of indelicacy over religious topics that ellen never thoroughly cast off. she put god among objectionable topics--albeit a sublime one. miss beeton clavier sustained this remarkable suggestion. when she read prayers in school she did so with the balanced impartiality of one who offers no comment. she seemed pained as she read and finished with a sigh. whatever she intended to convey, she conveyed that even if the divinity was not all he should be, if, indeed, he was a person almost primitive, having neither the restraint nor the self-obliteration of a refined gentlewoman, no word of it should ever pass her lips. and so ellen as a girl never let her mind go quite easily into this reconciling core of life, and talked of it only very rarely and shyly with a few chosen coevals. it wasn't very profitable talk. they had a guilty feeling, they laughed a little uneasily, they displayed a fatal proclivity to stab the swelling gravity of their souls with some forced and silly jest and so tumble back to ground again before they rose too high.... yet great possibilities of faith and devotion stirred already in the girl's heart. she thought little of god by day, but had a strange sense of him in the starlight; never under the moonlight--that was in no sense divine--but in the stirring darkness of the stars. and it is remarkable that after a course of astronomical enlightenment by a visiting master and descriptions of masses and distances, incredible aching distances, then even more than ever she seemed to feel god among the stars.... a fatal accident to a schoolfellow turned her mind for a time to the dark stillnesses of death. the accident happened away in wales during the summer holidays; she saw nothing of it, she only knew of its consequence. hitherto she had assumed it was the function of girls to grow up and go out from the grey intermediate state of school work into freedoms and realities beyond. death happened, she was aware, to young people, but not she had thought to the people one knew. this termination came with a shock. the girl was no great personal loss to ellen, they had belonged to different sets and classes, but the conception of her as lying very very still for ever was a haunting one. ellen felt she did not want to be still for evermore in a confined space, with life and sunshine going on all about her and above her, and it quickened her growing appetite for living to think that she might presently have to be like that. how stifled one would feel! it couldn't be like that. she began to speculate about that future life upon which religion insists so much and communicates so little. was it perhaps in other planets, under those wonderful, many-mooned, silver-banded skies? she perceived more and more a kind of absurdity in the existence all about her. was all this world a mere make-believe, and would miss beeton clavier and every one about her presently cast aside a veil? manifestly there was a veil. she had a very natural disposition to doubt whether the actual circumstances of her life were real. her mother for instance was so lacking in blood and fire, so very like the stiff paper wrapping of something else. but if these things were not real, what was real? what might she not presently do? what might she not presently be? perhaps death had something to do with that. was death perhaps no more than the flinging off of grotesque outer garments by the newly arrived guests at the feast of living? she had that feeling that there might be a feast of living. these preoccupations were a jealously guarded secret, but they gave her a quality of slight detachment that added a dreaming dignity to her dark tall charm. there were moments of fine, deep excitement that somehow linked themselves in her mind with these thoughts as being set over against the things of every day. these too were moments quite different and separate in quality from delight, from the keen appreciation of flowers or sunshine or little vividly living things. daylight seemed to blind her to them, as they blinded her to starshine. they too had a quality of reference to things large and remote, distances, unknown mysteries of light and matter, the thought of mountains, cool white wildernesses and driving snowstorms, or great periods of time. such were the luminous transfigurations that would come to her at the evening service in church. the school used to sit in the gallery over against the organist, and for a year and more ellen had the place at the corner from which she could look down the hazy candle-lit vista of the nave and see the congregation as ranks and ranks of dim faces and vaguely apprehended clothes, ranks that rose with a peculiar deep and spacious rustle to sing, and sang with a massiveness of effect she knew in no other music. certain hymns in particular seemed to bear her up and carry her into another larger, more wonderful world: "heart's abode, celestial salem" for example, a world of luminous spiritualized sensuousness. of such a quality she thought the heavenly city must surely be, away there and away. but this persuasion differed from those other mystical intimations in its detachment from any sense of the divinity. and remarkably mixed up with it and yet not belonging to it, antagonistic and kindred like a silver dagger stuck through a mystically illuminated parchment, was the angelic figure of a tall fair boy in a surplice who stood out amidst the choir below and sang, it seemed to her, alone. she herself on these occasions of exaltation would be far too deeply moved to sing. she was inundated by a swimming sense of boundaries nearly transcended, as though she was upon the threshold of a different life altogether, the real enduring life, and as though if she could only maintain herself long enough in this shimmering exaltation she would get right over; things would happen, things that would draw her into that music and magic and prevent her ever returning to everyday life again. there one would walk through music between great candles under eternal stars, hand-in-hand with a tall white figure. but nothing ever did happen to make her cross that boundary; the hymn ceased, the "amen" died away, as if a curtain fell. the congregation subsided. reluctantly she would sink back into her seat.... but all through the sermon, to which she never gave the slightest attention, her mind would feel mute and stilled, and she used to come out of church silent and preoccupied, returning unwillingly to the commonplaces of life.... § ellen met sir isaac--in the days before he was sir isaac--at the house of a school friend with whom she was staying at hythe, and afterwards her mother and sister came down and joined her for a fortnight at a folkstone boarding house. mr. harman had caught a chill while inspecting his north wales branches and had come down with his mother to recuperate. he and his mother occupied a suite of rooms in the most imposing hotel upon the leas. ellen's friend's people were partners in a big flour firm and had a pleasant new æsthetic white and green house of rough-cast and slates in the pretty country beyond the hythe golf links, and ellen's friend's father was deeply anxious to develop amiable arrangements with mr. harman. there was much tennis, much croquet, much cycling to the hythe sea-wall and bathing from little tents and sitting about in the sunshine, and mr. harman had his first automobile with him--they were still something of a novelty in those days--and was urgent to take picnic parties to large lonely places on the downs. there were only two young men in that circle, one was engaged to ellen's friend's sister, and the other was bound to a young woman remote in italy; neither was strikingly attractive and both regarded harman with that awe tempered by undignified furtive derision which wealth and business capacity so often inspire in the young male. at first he was quiet and simply looked at her, as it seemed any one might look, then she perceived he looked at her intently and continuously, and was persistently close to her and seemed always to be trying to do things to please her and attract her attention. and then from the general behaviour of the women about her, her mother and mrs. harman and her friend's mother and her friend's sister, rather than from any one specific thing they said, it grew upon her consciousness that this important and fabulously wealthy person, who was also it seemed to her so modest and quiet and touchingly benevolent, was in love with her. "your daughter," said mrs. harman repeatedly to mrs. sawbridge, "is charming, perfectly charming." "she's _such_ a child," said mrs. sawbridge repeatedly in reply. and she told ellen's friend's mother apropos of ellen's friend's engagement that she wanted all her daughters to marry for love, she didn't care what the man had so long as they loved each other, and meanwhile she took the utmost care that isaac had undisputed access to the girl, was watchfully ready to fend off anyone else, made her take everything he offered and praised him quietly and steadily to her. she pointed out how modest and unassuming he was, in spite of the fact that he was "controlling an immense business" and in his own particular trade "a perfect napoleon." "for all one sees to the contrary he might be just a private gentleman. and he feeds thousands and thousands of people...." "sooner or later," said mrs. harman, "i suppose isaac will marry. he's been such a good son to me that i shall feel it dreadfully, and yet, you know, i wish i could see him settled. then _i_ shall settle--in a little house of my own somewhere. just a little place. i don't believe in coming too much between son and daughter-in-law...." harman's natural avidity was tempered by a proper modesty. he thought ellen so lovely and so infinitely desirable--and indeed she was--that it seemed incredible to him that he could ever get her. and yet he had got most of the things in life he had really and urgently wanted. his doubts gave his love-making an eager, lavish and pathetic delicacy. he watched her minutely in an agony of appreciation. he felt ready to give or promise anything. she was greatly flattered by his devotion and she liked the surprises and presents he heaped upon her extremely. also she was sorry for him beyond measure. in the deep recesses of her heart was an oleographic ideal of a large brave young man with blue eyes, a wave in his fair hair, a wonderful tenor voice and--she could not help it, she tried to look away and not think of it--a broad chest. with him she intended to climb mountains. so clearly she could not marry mr. harman. and because of that she tried to be very kind indeed to him, and when he faltered that she could not possibly care for him, she reassured him so vaguely as to fill him with wild gusts of hope and herself with a sense of pledges. he told her one day between two sets of tennis--which he played with a certain tricky skill--that he felt that the very highest happiness he could ever attain would be to die at her feet. presently her pity and her sense of responsibility had become so large and deep that the dream hero with the blue eyes was largely overlaid and hidden by them. then, at first a little indirectly and then urgently and with a voice upon the edge of tears, harman implored her to marry him. she had never before in the whole course of her life seen a grown-up person on the very verge of tears. she felt that the release of such deep fountains as that must be averted at any cost. she felt that for a mere schoolgirl like herself, a backward schoolgirl who had never really mastered quadratics, to cause these immense and tragic distresses was abominable. she was sure her former headmistress would disapprove very highly of her. "i will make you a queen," said harman, "i will give all my life to your happiness." she believed he would. she refused him for the second time but with a weakening certainty in a little white summer-house that gave a glimpse of the sea between green and wooded hills. she sat and stared at the sea after he had left her, through a mist of tears; so pitiful did he seem. he had beaten his poor fists on the stone table and then caught up her hand, kissed it and rushed out.... she had not dreamt that love could hurt like that. and all that night--that is to say for a full hour before her wet eyelashes closed in slumber--she was sleepless with remorse for the misery she was causing him. the third time when he said with suicidal conviction that he could not live without her, she burst into tears of pity and yielded. and instantly, amazingly, with the famished swiftness of a springing panther he caught her body into his arms and kissed her on the lips.... § they were married with every circumstance of splendour, with very expensive music, and portraits in the illustrated newspapers and a great glitter of favours and carriages. the bridegroom was most thoughtful and generous about the sawbridge side of the preparations. only one thing was a little perplexing. in spite of his impassioned impatience he delayed the wedding. full of dark hints and a portentous secret, he delayed the wedding for twenty-five whole days in order that it should follow immediately upon the publication of the birthday honours list. and then they understood. "you will be lady harman," he exulted; "_lady_ harman. i would have given double.... i have had to back the _old country gazette_ and i don't care a rap. i'd have done anything. i'd have bought the rotten thing outright.... lady harman!" he remained loverlike until the very eve of their marriage. then suddenly it seemed to her that all the people she cared for in the world were pushing her away from them towards him, giving her up, handing her over. he became--possessive. his abjection changed to pride. she perceived that she was going to be left tremendously alone with him, with an effect, as if she had stepped off a terrace on to what she believed to be land and had abruptly descended into very deep water.... and while she was still feeling quite surprised by everything and extremely doubtful whether she wanted to go any further with this business, which was manifestly far more serious, out of all proportion more serious, than anything that had ever happened to her before--and _unpleasant_, abounding indeed in crumpling indignities and horrible nervous stresses, it dawned upon her that she was presently to be that strange, grown-up and preoccupied thing, a mother, and that girlhood and youth and vigorous games, mountains and swimming and running and leaping were over for her as far as she could see for ever.... both the prospective grandmothers became wonderfully kind and helpful and intimate, preparing with gusto and an agreeable sense of delegated responsibility for the child that was to give them all the pride of maternity again and none of its inconveniences. chapter the fifth the world according to sir isaac § her marriage had carried ellen out of the narrow world of home and school into another that had seemed at first vastly larger, if only on account of its freedom from the perpetual achievement of small economies. hitherto the urgent necessity of these had filled life with irksome precautions and clipped the wings of every dream. this new life into which sir isaac led her by the hand promised not only that release but more light, more colour, more movement, more people. there was to be at any rate so much in the way of rewards and compensation for her pity of him. she found the establishment at putney ready for her. sir isaac had not consulted her about it, it had been his secret, he had prepared it for her with meticulous care as a surprise. they returned from a honeymoon in skye in which the attentions of sir isaac and the comforts of a first-class hotel had obscured a marvellous background of sombre mountain and wide stretches of shining sea. sir isaac had been very fond and insistent and inseparable, and she was doing her best to conceal a strange distressful jangling of her nerves which she now feared might presently dispose her to scream. sir isaac had been goodness itself, but how she craved now for solitude! she was under the impression now that they were going to his mother's house in highbury. then she thought he would have to go away to business for part of the day at any rate, and she could creep into some corner and begin to think of all that had happened to her in these short summer months. they were met at euston by his motor-car. "_home_," said sir isaac, with a little gleam of excitement, when the more immediate luggage was aboard. as they hummed through the west-end afternoon ellen became aware that he was whistling through his teeth. it was his invariable indication of mental activity, and her attention came drifting back from her idle contemplation of the shoppers and strollers of piccadilly to link this already alarming symptom with the perplexing fact that they were manifestly travelling west. "but this," she said presently, "is knightsbridge." "goes to kensington," he replied with attempted indifference. "but your mother doesn't live this way." "_we_ do," said sir isaac, shining at every point of his face. "but," she halted. "isaac!--where are we going?" "home," he said. "you've not taken a house?" "bought it." "but,--it won't be ready!" "i've seen to that." "servants!" she cried in dismay. "that's all right." his face broke into an excited smile. his little eyes danced and shone. "everything," he said. "but the servants!" she said. "you'll see," he said. "there's a butler--and everything." "a butler!" he could now no longer restrain himself. "i was weeks," he said, "getting it ready. weeks and weeks.... it's a house.... i'd had my eye on it before ever i met you. it's a real _good_ house, elly...." the fortunate girl-wife went on through brompton to walham green with a stunned feeling. so women have felt in tumbrils. a nightmare of butlers, a galaxy of possible butlers, filled her soul. no one was quite so big and formidable as snagsby, towering up to receive her, upon the steps of the home her husband was so amazingly giving her. the reader has already been privileged to see something of this house in the company of lady beach-mandarin. at the top of the steps stood mrs. crumble, the new and highly recommended cook-housekeeper in her best black silk flounced and expanded, and behind her peeped several neat maids in caps and aprons. a little valet-like under-butler appeared and tried to balance snagsby by hovering two steps above him on the opposite side of the victorian mediæval porch. assisted officiously by snagsby and amidst the deferential unhelpful gestures of the under-butler, sir isaac handed his wife out of the car. "everything all right, snagsby?" he asked brusquely if a little breathless. "everything in order, sir isaac." "and here;--this is her ladyship." "i 'ope her ladyship 'ad a pleasent journey to 'er new 'ome. i'm sure if i may presume, sir isaac, we shall all be very glad to serve her ladyship." (like all well-trained english servants, snagsby always dropped as many h's as he could when conversing with his superiors. he did this as a mark of respect and to prevent social confusion, just as he was always careful to wear a slightly misfitting dress coat and fold his trousers so that they creased at the sides and had a wide flat effect in front.) lady harman bowed a little shyly to his good wishes and was then led up to mrs. crumble, in a stiff black silk, who curtseyed with a submissive amiability to her new mistress. "i'm sure, me lady," she said. "i'm sure----" there was a little pause. "here they are, you see, right and ready," said sir isaac, and then with an inspiration, "got any tea for us, snagsby?" snagsby addressing his mistress inquired if he should serve tea in the garden or the drawing-room, and sir isaac decided for the garden. "there's another hall beyond this," he said, and took his wife's arm, leaving mrs. crumble still bowing amiably before the hall table. and every time she bowed she rustled richly.... "it's quite a big garden," said sir isaac. § and so the woman who had been a girl three weeks ago, this tall, dark-eyed, slightly perplexed and very young-looking lady, was introduced to the home that had been made for her. she went about it with an alarmed sense of strange responsibilities, not in the least feeling that anything was being given to her. and sir isaac led her from point to point full of the pride and joy of new possession--for it was his first own house as well as hers--rejoicing over it and exacting gratitude. "it's all right, isn't it?" he asked looking up at her. "it's wonderful. i'd no idea." "see," he said, indicating a great brass bowl of perennial sunflowers on the landing, "your favourite flower!" "my favourite flower?" "you said it was--in that book. perennial sunflower." she was perplexed and then remembered. she understood now why he had said downstairs, when she had glanced at a big photographic enlargement of a portrait of doctor barnardo, "your favourite hero in real life." he had brought her at hythe one day a popular victorian device, a confession album, in which she had had to write down on a neat rose-tinted page, her favourite author, her favourite flower, her favourite colour, her favourite hero in real life, her "pet aversion," and quite a number of such particulars of her subjective existence. she had filled this page in a haphazard manner late one night, and she was disconcerted to find how thoroughly her careless replies had come home to roost. she had put down "pink" as her favourite colour because the page she was writing upon suggested it, and the paper of the room was pale pink, the curtains strong pink with a pattern of paler pink and tied with large pink bows, and the lamp shades, the bedspread, the pillow-cases, the carpet, the chairs, the very crockery--everything but the omnipresent perennial sunflowers--was pink. confronted with this realization, she understood that pink was the least agreeable of all possible hues for a bedroom. she perceived she had to live now in a chromatic range between rather underdone mutton and salmon. she had said that her favourite musical composers were bach and beethoven; she really meant it, and a bust of beethoven materialized that statement, but she had made doctor barnardo her favourite hero in real life because his name also began with a b and she had heard someone say somewhere that he was a very good man. the predominance of george eliot's pensive rather than delightful countenance in her bedroom and the array of all that lady's works in a lusciously tooled pink leather, was due to her equally reckless choice of a favourite author. she had said too that nelson was her favourite historical character, but sir isaac with a delicate jealousy had preferred to have this heroic but regrettably immoral personality represented in his home only by an engraving of the battle of copenhagen.... she stood surveying this room, and her husband watched her eagerly. she was, he felt, impressed at last!... certainly she had never seen such a bedroom in her life. by comparison even with the largest of the hotel apartments they had occupied it was vast; it had writing-tables and a dainty bookcase and a blushing sofa, and dressing-tables and a bureau and a rose-red screen and three large windows. her thoughts went back to the narrow little bedroom at penge with which she had hitherto been so entirely content. her own few little books, a photograph or so,--they'd never dare to come here, even if she dared to bring them. "here," said sir isaac, flinging open a white door, "is your dressing-room." she was chiefly aware of a huge white bath standing on a marble slab under a window of crinkled pink-stained glass, and of a wide space of tiled floor with white fur rugs. "and here," he said, opening a panel that was covered by wall paper, "is _my_ door." "yes," he said to the question in her eyes, "that's my room. you got this one--for your own. it's how people do now. people of our position.... there's no lock." he shut the door slowly again and surveyed the splendours he had made with infinite satisfaction. "all right?" he said, "isn't it?"... he turned to the pearl for which the casket was made, and slipped an arm about her waist. his arm tightened. "got a kiss for me, elly?" he whispered. at this moment, a gong almost worthy of snagsby summoned them to tea. it came booming in to them with a vast officious arrogance that brooked no denial. it made one understand the imperatives of the last trump, albeit with a greater dignity.... there was a little awkward pause. "i'm so dirty and trainy," she said, disengaging herself from his arm. "and we ought to go to tea." § the same exceptional aptitude of sir isaac for detailed administration that had relieved his wife from the need of furnishing and arranging a home, made the birth of her children and the organization of her nursery an almost detached affair for her. sir isaac went about in a preoccupied way, whistling between his teeth and planning with expert advice the equipment of an ideal nursery, and her mother and his mother became as it were voluminous clouds of uncommunicative wisdom and precaution. in addition the conversation of miss crump, the extremely skilled and costly nurse, who arrived a full advent before the child, fresh from the birth of a viscount, did much to generalize whatever had remained individual of this thing that was happening. with so much intelligence focussed, there seemed to lady harman no particular reason why she should not do her best to think as little as possible about the impending affair, which meant for her, she now understood quite clearly, more and more discomfort culminating in an agony. the summer promised to be warm, and sir isaac took a furnished house for the great event in the hills behind torquay. the maternal instinct is not a magic thing, it has to be evoked and developed, and i decline to believe it is indicative of any peculiar unwomanliness in lady harman that when at last she beheld her newly-born daughter in the hands of the experts, she moaned druggishly, "oh! please take it away. oh! take it--away. anywhere--anywhere." it was very red and wrinkled and aged-looking and, except when it opened its mouth to cry, extraordinarily like its father. this resemblance disappeared--along with a crop of darkish red hair--in the course of a day or two, but it left a lurking dislike to its proximity in her mind long after it had become an entirely infantile and engaging baby. § those early years of their marriage were the happiest period of sir isaac's life. he seemed to have everything that man could desire. he was still only just forty at his marriage; he had made for himself a position altogether dominant in the world of confectionery and popular refreshment, he had won a title, he had a home after his own heart, a beautiful young wife, and presently delightful children in his own image, and it was only after some years of contentment and serenity and with a certain incredulity that he discovered that something in his wife, something almost in the nature of discontent with her lot, was undermining and threatening all the comfort and beauty of his life. sir isaac was one of those men whom modern england delights to honour, a man of unpretentious acquisitiveness, devoted to business and distracted by no æsthetic or intellectual interests. he was the only son of his mother, the widow of a bankrupt steam-miller, and he had been a delicate child to rear. he left mr. gambard's college at ealing after passing the second-class examination of the college of preceptors at the age of sixteen, to go into a tea-office as clerk without a salary, a post he presently abandoned for a clerkship in the office of a large refreshment catering firm. he attracted the attention of his employers by suggesting various administrative economies, and he was already drawing a salary of two hundred and fifty pounds a year when he was twenty-one. many young men would have rested satisfied with so rapid an advancement, and would have devoted themselves to the amusements that are now considered so permissible to youth, but young harman was made of sterner stuff, and it only spurred him to further efforts. he contrived to save a considerable proportion of his salary for some years, and at the age of twenty-seven he started, in association with a firm of flour millers, the international bread and cake stores, which spread rapidly over the country. they were not in any sense of the word "international," but in a search for inflated and inflating adjectives this word attracted him most, and the success of the enterprise justified his choice. originally conceived as a syndicated system of baker's shops running a specially gritty and nutritious line of bread, the staminal bread, in addition to the ordinary descriptions, it rapidly developed a catering side, and in a little time there were few centres of clerkly employment in london or the midlands where an international could not be found supplying the midday scone or poached egg, washed down by a cup of tea, or coffee, or lemonade. it meant hard work for isaac harman. it drew lines on his cheeks, sharpened his always rather pointed nose to an extreme efficiency, greyed his hair, and gave an acquired firmness to his rather retreating mouth. all his time was given to the details of this development; always he was inspecting premises, selecting and dismissing managers, making codes of rules and fines for his growing army of employees, organizing and reorganizing his central offices and his central bakeries, hunting up cheaper and cheaper supplies of eggs and flour, and milk and ham, devising advertisements and agency developments. he had something of an artist's passion in these things; he went about, a little bent and peaky, calculating and planning and hissing through his teeth, and feeling not only that he was getting on, but that he was getting on in the most exemplary way. manifestly, anybody in his line of business who wanted to be leisurely, or to be generous, who possessed any broader interests than the shop, who troubled to think about the nation or the race or any of the deeper mysteries of life, was bound to go down before him. he dealt privately with every appetite--until his marriage no human being could have suspected him of any appetite but business--he disposed of every distracting impulse with unobtrusive decision; and even his political inclination towards radicalism sprang chiefly from an irritation with the legal advantages of landlordism natural to a man who is frequently leasing shops. at school sir isaac had not been a particularly prominent figure; his disposition at cricket to block and to bowl "sneaks" and "twisters" under-arm had raised his average rather than his reputation; he had evaded fights and dramatic situations, and protected himself upon occasions of unavoidable violence by punching with his white knuckles held in a peculiar and vicious manner. he had always been a little insensitive to those graces of style, in action if not in art, which appeal so strongly to the commoner sort of english mind; he played first for safety, and that assured, for the uttermost advantage. these tendencies became more marked with maturity. when he took up tennis for his health's sake he developed at once an ungracious service that had to be killed like vermin; he developed an instinct for the deadest ball available, and his returns close up to the net were like assassinations. indeed, he was inherently incapable of any vision beyond the express prohibitions and permissions of the rules of the games he played, or beyond the laws and institutions under which he lived. his idea of generosity was the undocumented and unqualified purchase of a person by payments made in the form of a gift. and this being the quality of sir isaac's mind, it followed that his interpretations of the relationship of marriage were simple and strict. a woman, he knew, had to be wooed to be won, but when she was won, she was won. he did not understand wooing after that was settled. there was the bargain and her surrender. he on his side had to keep her, dress her, be kind to her, give her the appearances of pride and authority, and in return he had his rights and his privileges and undefined powers of control. that you know, by the existing rules, is the reality of marriage where there are no settlements and no private property of the wife's. that is to say, it is the reality of marriage in ninety-nine cases out of the hundred. and it would have shocked sir isaac extremely, and as a matter of fact it did shock him, for any one to suggest the slightest revision of so entirely advantageous an arrangement. he was confident of his good intentions, and resolved to the best of his ability to make his wife the happiest of living creatures, subject only to reasonable acquiescences and general good behaviour. never before had he cared for anything so much as he did for her--not even for the international bread and cake stores. he gloated upon her. she distracted him from business. he resolved from the outset to surround her with every luxury and permit her no desire that he had not already anticipated. even her mother and georgina, whom he thought extremely unnecessary persons, were frequent visitors to his house. his solicitude for her was so great that she found it difficult even to see her doctor except in his presence. and he bought her a pearl necklace that cost six hundred pounds. he was, in fact, one of those complete husbands who grow rare in these decadent days. the social circle to which sir isaac introduced his wife was not a very extensive one. the business misadventures of his father had naturally deprived his mother of most of her friends; he had made only acquaintances at school, and his subsequent concentration upon business had permitted very few intimacies. renewed prosperity had produced a certain revival of cousins, but mrs. harman, established in a pleasant house at highbury, had received their attentions with a well-merited stiffness. his chief associates were his various business allies, and these and their wives and families formed the nucleus of the new world to which ellen was gradually and temperately introduced. there were a few local callers, but putney is now too deeply merged with london for this practice of the countryside to have any great effect upon a new-comer's visiting circle. perhaps mr. charterson might claim to be sir isaac's chief friend at the time of that gentleman's marriage. transactions in sugar had brought them together originally. he was sir isaac's best man, and the new knight entertained a feeling of something very like admiration for him. moreover, mr. charterson had very large ears, more particularly was the left one large, extraordinarily large and projecting upper teeth, which he sought vainly to hide beneath an extravagant moustache, and a harsh voice, characteristics that did much to allay the anxieties natural to a newly married man. mr. charterson was moreover adequately married to a large, attentive, enterprising, swarthy wife, and possessed a splendid house in belgravia. not quite so self-made as sir isaac, he was still sufficiently self-made to take a very keen interest in his own social advancement and in social advancement generally, and it was through him that sir isaac's attention had been first directed to those developing relations with politics that arise as a business grows to greatness. "i'm for parliament," said charterson. "sugar's in politics, and i'm after it. you'd better come too, harman. those chaps up there, they'll play jiggery-pokery with sugar if we aren't careful. and it won't be only sugar, harman!" pressed to expand this latter sentence, he pointed out to his friend that "any amount of interfering with employment" was in the air--"any amount." "and besides," said mr. charterson, "men like us have a stake in the country, harman. we're getting biggish people. we ought to do our share. i don't see the fun of leaving everything to the landlords and the lawyers. men of our sort have got to make ourselves felt. we want a business government. of course--one pays. so long as i get a voice in calling the tune i don't mind paying the piper a bit. there's going to be a lot of interference with trade. all this social legislation. and there's what you were saying the other day about these leases...." "i'm not much of a talker," said harman. "i don't see myself gassing in the house." "oh! i don't mean going into parliament," said charterson. "that's for some of us, perhaps.... but come into the party, make yourself felt." under charterson's stimulation it was that harman joined the national liberal club, and presently went on to the climax, and through him he came to know something of that inner traffic of arrangements and bargains which does so much to keep a great historical party together and maintain its vitality. for a time he was largely overshadowed by the sturdy radicalism of charterson, but presently as he understood this interesting game better, he embarked upon a line of his own. charterson wanted a seat, and presently got it; his maiden speech on the sugar bounties won a compliment from mr. evesham; and harman, who would have piloted a monoplane sooner than address the house, decided to be one of those silent influences that work outside our national assembly. he came to the help of an embarrassed liberal weekly, and then, in a fleet street crisis, undertook the larger share of backing the _old country gazette_, that important social and intellectual party organ. his knighthood followed almost automatically. such political developments introduced a second element into the intermittent social relations of the harman household. before his knighthood and marriage sir isaac had participated in various public banquets and private parties and little dinners in the vaults of the house and elsewhere, arising out of his political intentions, and with the appearance of a lady harman there came a certain urgency on the part of those who maintain in a state of hectic dullness the social activities of the great liberal party. horatio blenker, sir isaac's editor, showed a disposition to be socially very helpful, and after mrs. blenker had called in a state of worldly instructiveness, there was a little dinner at the blenkers' to introduce young lady harman to the great political world. it was the first dinner-party of her life, and she found it dazzling rather than really agreeable. she felt very slender and young and rather unclothed about the arms and neck, in spite of the six hundred pound pearl necklace that had been given to her just as she stood before the mirror in her white-and-gold dinner dress ready to start. she had to look down at that dress ever and again and at her shining arms to remind herself that she wasn't still in schoolgirl clothes, and it seemed to her there was not another woman in the room who was not fairly entitled to send her off to bed at any moment. she had been a little nervous about the details of the dinner, but there was nothing strange or difficult but caviare, and in that case she waited for some one else to begin. the chartersons were there, which was very reassuring, and the abundant flowers on the table were a sort of protection. the man on her right was very nice, gently voluble, and evidently quite deaf, so that she had merely to make kind respectful faces at him. he talked to her most of the time, and described the peasant costumes in marken and walcheren. and mr. blenker, with a fine appreciation of sir isaac's watchful temperament and his own magnetism, spoke to her three times and never looked at her once all through the entertainment. a few weeks later they went to dinner at the chartersons', and then she gave a dinner, which was arranged very skilfully by sir isaac and snagsby and the cook-housekeeper, with a little outside help, and then came a big party reception at lady barleypound's, a multitudinous miscellaneous assembly in which the obviously wealthy rubbed shoulders with the obviously virtuous and the not quite so obviously clever. it was a great orgy of standing about and seeing the various blenkers and the cramptons and the weston massinghays and the daytons and mrs. millingham with her quivering lorgnette and her last tame genius and lewis, and indeed all the tapirs and tadpoles of liberalism, being tremendously active and influential and important throughout the evening. the house struck ellen as being very splendid, the great staircase particularly so, and never before had she seen a great multitude of people in evening dress. lady barleypound in the golden parlour at the head of the stairs shook hands automatically, lest it would seem in some amiable dream, mrs. blapton and a daughter rustled across the gathering in a hasty vindictive manner and vanished, and a number of handsome, glittering, dark-eyed, splendidly dressed women kept together in groups and were tremendously but occultly amused. the various blenkers seemed everywhere, horatio in particular with his large fluent person and his luminous tenor was like a shop-walker taking customers to the departments: one felt he was weaving all these immiscibles together into one great wise liberal purpose, and that he deserved quite wonderful things from the party; he even introduced five or six people to lady harman, looking sternly over her head and restraining his charm as he did so on account of sir isaac's feelings. the people he brought up to her were not very interesting people, she thought, but then that was perhaps due to her own dreadful ignorance of politics. lady harman ceased even to dip into the vortex of london society after march, and in june she went with her mother and a skilled nurse to that beautiful furnished house sir isaac had found near torquay, in preparation for the birth of their first little daughter. § it seemed to her husband that it was both unreasonable and ungrateful of her to become a tearful young woman after their union, and for a phase of some months she certainly was a tearful young woman, but his mother made it clear to him that this was quite a correct and permissible phase for her, as she was, and so he expressed his impatience with temperance, and presently she was able to pull herself together and begin to readjust herself to a universe that had seemed for a time almost too shattered for endurance. she resumed the process of growing up that her marriage had for a time so vividly interrupted, and if her schooldays were truncated and the college phase omitted, she had at any rate a very considerable amount of fundamental experience to replace these now customary completions. three little girls she brought into the world in the first three years of her married life, then after a brief interval of indifferent health she had a fourth girl baby of a physique quite obviously inferior to its predecessors, and then, after--and perhaps as a consequence of--much whispered conversation of the two mothers-in-law, protests and tactful explanation on the part of the elderly and trustworthy family doctor and remarks of an extraordinary breadth (and made at table too, almost before the door had closed on snagsby!) from ellen's elder sister, there came a less reproductive phase.... but by that time lady harman had acquired the habit of reading and the habit of thinking over what she read, and from that it is an easy step to thinking over oneself and the circumstances of one's own life. the one thing trains for the other. now the chief circumstance in the life of lady harman was sir isaac. indeed as she grew to a clear consciousness of herself and her position, it seemed to her he was not so much a circumstance as a circumvallation. there wasn't a direction in which she could turn without immediately running up against him. he had taken possession of her extremely. and from her first resignation to this as an inevitable fact she had come, she hardly knew how, to a renewed disposition to regard this large and various universe beyond him and outside of him, with something of the same slight adventurousness she had felt before he so comprehensively happened to her. after her first phase of despair she had really done her best to honour the bargain she had rather unwittingly made and to love and to devote herself and be a loyal and happy wife to this clutching, hard-breathing little man who had got her, and it was the insatiable excesses of his demands quite as much as any outer influence that made her realize the impossibility of such a concentration. his was a supremely acquisitive and possessive character, so that he insulted her utmost subjugations by an obtrusive suspicion and jealousy, he was jealous of her childish worship of her dead father, jealous of her disposition to go to church, jealous of the poet wordsworth because she liked to read his sonnets, jealous because she loved great music, jealous when she wanted to go out; if she seemed passionless and she seemed more and more passionless he was jealous, and the slightest gleam of any warmth of temperament filled him with a vile and furious dread of dishonouring possibilities. and the utmost resolution to believe in him could not hide from her for ever the fact that his love manifested itself almost wholly as a parade of ownership and a desire, without kindliness, without any self-forgetfulness. all his devotion, his self-abjection, had been the mere qualms of a craving, the flush of eager courtship. do as she would to overcome these realizations, forces within her stronger than herself, primordial forces with the welfare of all life in their keeping, cried out upon the meanness of his face, the ugly pointed nose and the thin compressed lips, the weak neck, the clammy hands, the ungainly nervous gestures, the tuneless whistling between the clenched teeth. he would not let her forget a single detail. whenever she tried to look at any created thing, he thrust himself, like one of his own open-air advertisements, athwart the attraction. as she grew up to an achieved womanhood--and it was even a physical growing-up, for she added more than an inch of stature after her marriage--her life became more and more consciously like a fencing match in which her vision flashed over his head and under his arms and this side of him and that, while with a toiling industry he fought to intercept it. and from the complete acceptance of her matrimonial submission, she passed on by almost insensible degrees towards a conception of her life as a struggle, that seemed at first entirely lonely and unsupported, to exist--_against_ him. in every novel as in every picture there must be an immense simplification, and so i tell the story of lady harman's changing attitude without any of those tangled leapings-forward or harkings-back, those moods and counter moods and relapses which made up the necessary course of her mind. but sometimes she was here and sometimes she was there, sometimes quite back to the beginning an obedient, scrupulously loyal and up-looking young wife, sometimes a wife concealing the humiliation of an unhappy choice in a spurious satisfaction and affection. and mixed up with widening spaces of criticism and dissatisfaction and hostility there were, you must understand, moments of real liking for this outrageous little man and streaks of an absurd maternal tenderness for him. they had been too close together to avoid that. she had a woman's affection of ownership too, and disliked to see him despised or bettered or untidy; even those ridiculous muddy hands had given her a twinge of solicitude.... and all the while she was trying to see the universe also, the great background of their two little lives, and to think what it might mean for her over and above their too obliterating relationship. § it would be like counting the bacteria of an infection to trace how ideas of insubordination came drifting into sir isaac's paradise. the epidemic is in the air. there is no tempter nowadays, no definitive apple. the disturbing force has grown subtler, blows in now like a draught, creeps and gathers like the dust,--a disseminated serpent. sir isaac brought home his young, beautiful and rather crumpled and astonished eve and by all his standards he was entitled to be happy ever afterwards. he knew of one danger, but against that he was very watchful. never once for six long years did she have a private duologue with another male. but mudie and sir jesse boot sent parcels to the house unchecked, the newspaper drifted in not even censored: the nurses who guided ellen through the essential incidents of a feminine career talked of something called a "movement." and there was georgina.... the thing they wanted they called the vote, but that demand so hollow, so eyeless, had all the terrifying effect of a mask. behind that mask was a formless invincible discontent with the lot of womanhood. it wanted,--it was not clear what it wanted, but whatever it wanted, all the domestic instincts of mankind were against admitting there was anything it could want. that remarkable agitation had already worked up to the thunderous pitch, there had been demonstrations at public meetings, scenes in the ladies' gallery and something like rioting in parliament square before ever it occurred to sir isaac that this was a disturbance that touched his home. he had supposed suffragettes were ladies of all too certain an age with red noses and spectacles and a masculine style of costume, who wished to be hugged by policemen. he said as much rather knowingly and wickedly to charterson. he could not understand any woman not coveting the privileges of lady harman. and then one day while georgina and her mother were visiting them, as he was looking over the letters at the breakfast table according to his custom before giving them out, he discovered two identical newspaper packets addressed to his wife and his sister-in-law, and upon them were these words printed very plainly, "votes for women." "good lord!" he cried. "what's this? it oughtn't to be allowed." and he pitched the papers at the wastepaper basket under the sideboard. "i'll thank you," said georgina, "not to throw away our _votes for women_. we subscribe to that." "eh?" cried sir isaac. "we're subscribers. snagsby, just give us those papers." (a difficult moment for snagsby.) he picked up the papers and looked at sir isaac. "put 'em down there," said sir isaac, waving to the sideboard and then in an ensuing silence handed two letters of no importance to his mother-in-law. his face was pale and he was breathless. snagsby with an obvious tactfulness retired. sir isaac watched the door close. his remark pointedly ignored georgina. "what you been thinking about, elly," he asked, "subscribing to _that_ thing?" "i wanted to read it." "but you don't hold with all that rubbish----" "_rubbish!_" said georgina, helping herself to marmalade. "well, rot then, if you like," said sir isaac, unamiably and panting. with that as snagsby afterwards put it--for the battle raged so fiercely as to go on even when he presently returned to the room--"the fat was in the fire." the harman breakfast-table was caught up into the great controversy with heat and fury like a tree that is overtaken by a forest fire. it burnt for weeks, and smouldered still when the first white heats had abated. i will not record the arguments of either side, they were abominably bad and you have heard them all time after time; i do not think that whatever side you have taken in this matter you would find much to please you in sir isaac's goadings or georgina's repartees. sir isaac would ask if women were prepared to go as soldiers and georgina would enquire how many years of service he had done or horrify her mother by manifest allusion to the agonies and dangers of maternity,--things like that. it gave a new interest to breakfast for snagsby; and the peculiarly lady-like qualities of mrs. sawbridge, a gift for silent, pallid stiffness, a disposition, tactful but unsuccessful, to "change the subject," an air of being about to leave the room in disdain, had never shone with such baleful splendour. our interest here is rather with the effect of these remarkable disputes, which echoed in sir isaac's private talk long after georgina had gone again, upon lady harman. he could not leave this topic of feminine emancipation alone, once it had been set going, and though ellen would always preface her remarks by, "of course georgina goes too far," he worried her slowly into a series of definite insurgent positions. sir isaac's attacks on georgina certainly brought out a good deal of absurdity in her positions, and georgina at times left sir isaac without a leg to stand on, and the net result of their disputes as of most human controversies was not conviction for the hearer but release. her mind escaped between them, and went exploring for itself through the great gaps they had made in the simple obedient assumptions of her girlhood. that question originally put in paradise, "why shouldn't we?" came into her mind and stayed there. it is a question that marks a definite stage in the departure from innocence. things that had seemed opaque and immutable appeared translucent and questionable. she began to read more and more in order to learn things and get a light upon things, and less and less to pass the time. ideas came to her that seemed at first strange altogether and then grotesquely justifiable and then crept to a sort of acceptance by familiarity. and a disturbing intermittent sense of a general responsibility increased and increased in her. you will understand this sense of responsibility which was growing up in lady harman's mind if you have felt it yourself, but if you have not then you may find it a little difficult to understand. you see it comes, when it comes at all, out of a phase of disillusionment. all children, i suppose, begin by taking for granted the rightness of things in general, the soundness of accepted standards, and many people are at least so happy that they never really grow out of this assumption. they go to the grave with an unbroken confidence that somewhere behind all the immediate injustices and disorders of life, behind the antics of politics, the rigidities of institutions, the pressure of custom and the vagaries of law, there is wisdom and purpose and adequate provision, they never lose that faith in the human household they acquired amongst the directed securities of home. but for more of us and more there comes a dissolution of these assurances; there comes illumination as the day comes into a candle-lit uncurtained room. the warm lights that once rounded off our world so completely are betrayed for what they are, smoky and guttering candles. beyond what once seemed a casket of dutiful security is now a limitless and indifferent universe. ours is the wisdom or there is no wisdom; ours is the decision or there is no decision. that burthen is upon each of us in the measure of our capacity. the talent has been given us and we may not bury it. § and as we reckon up the disturbing influences that were stirring lady harman out of that life of acquiescences to which women are perhaps even more naturally disposed than men, we may pick out the conversation of susan burnet as something a little apart from the others, as something with a peculiar barbed pointedness of its own that was yet in other respects very representative of a multitude of nudges and nips and pricks and indications that life was giving lady harman's awaking mind. susan burnet was a woman who came to renovate and generally do up the putney curtains and furniture and loose covers every spring; she was mrs. crumble's discovery, she was sturdy and short and she had open blue eyes and an engaging simplicity of manner that attracted lady harman from the outset. she was stuck away in one of the spare bedrooms and there she was available for any one, so long, she explained, as they didn't fluster her when she was cutting out, with a flow of conversation that not even a mouth full of pins seemed to interrupt. and lady harman would go and watch susan burnet by the hour together and think what an enviably independent young woman she was, and listen with interest and something between horror and admiration to the various impressions of life she had gathered during a hardy and adventurous career. their early conversations were about susan burnet's business and the general condition of things in that world of upholsterers' young women in which susan had lived until she perceived the possibilities of a "connexion," and set up for herself. and the condition of things in that world, as susan described it, brought home to lady harman just how sheltered and limited her own upbringing had been. "it isn't right," said susan, "the way they send girls out with fellers into empty houses. naturally the men get persecuting them. they don't seem hardly able to help it, some of them, and i will say this for them, that a lot of the girls go more than half way with them, leading them on. still there's a sort of man won't leave you alone. one i used to be sent out with and a married man too he was, oh!--he used to give me a time. why i've bit his hands before now, bit hard, before he'd leave go of me. it's my opinion the married men are worse than the single. bolder they are. i pushed him over a scuttle once and he hit his head against a bookcase. i was fair frightened of him. 'you little devil,' he says; 'i'll be even with you yet....' oh! i've been called worse things than that.... of course a respectable girl gets through with it, but it's trying and to some it's a sort of temptation...." "i should have thought," reflected lady harman, "you could have told someone." "it's queer," said susan; "but it never seemed to me the sort of thing a girl ought to go telling. it's a kind of private thing. and besides, it isn't exactly easy to tell.... i suppose the firm didn't want to be worried by complaints and disputes about that sort of thing. and it isn't always easy to say just which of the two is to blame." "but how old are the girls they send out?" asked lady harman. "some's as young as seventeen or eighteen. it all depends on the sort of work that's wanted to be done...." "of course a lot of them have to marry...." this lurid little picture of vivid happenings in unoccupied houses and particularly of the prim, industrious, capable susan burnet, biting aggressive wrists, stuck in lady harman's imagination. she seemed to be looking into hitherto unsuspected pits of simple and violent living just beneath her feet. susan told some upholsteress love tales, real love tales, with a warmth and honesty of passion in them that seemed at once dreadful and fine to lady harman's underfed imagination. under encouragement susan expanded the picture, beyond these mere glimpses of workshop and piece-work and furtive lust. it appeared that she was practically the head of her family; there was a mother who had specialized in ill-health, a sister of defective ability who stayed at home, a brother in south africa who was very good and sent home money, and three younger sisters growing up. and father,--she evaded the subject of father at first. then presently lady harman had some glimpses of an earlier phase in susan burnet's life "before any of us were earning money." father appeared as a kindly, ineffectual, insolvent figure struggling to conduct a baker's and confectioner's business in walthamstow, mother was already specializing, there were various brothers and sisters being born and dying. "how many were there of you altogether?" asked lady harman. "thirteen there was. father always used to laugh and say he'd had a fair baker's dozen. there was luke to begin with----" susan began to count on her fingers and recite braces of scriptural names. she could only make up her tale to twelve. she became perplexed. then she remembered. "of course!" she cried: "there was nicodemus. he was still-born. i _always_ forget nicodemus, poor little chap! but he came--was it sixth or seventh?--seventh after anna." she gave some glimpses of her father and then there was a collapse of which she fought shy. lady harman was too delicate to press her to talk of that. but one day in the afternoon susan's tongue ran. she was telling how first she went to work before she was twelve. "but i thought the board schools----" said lady harman. "i had to go before the committee," said susan. "i had to go before the committee and ask to be let go to work. there they was, sitting round a table in a great big room, and they was as kind as anything, one old gentleman with a great white beard, he was as kind as could be. 'don't you be frightened, my dear,' he says. 'you tell us why you want to go out working.' 'well,' i says, '_somebody's_ got to earn something,' and that made them laugh in a sort of fatherly way, and after that there wasn't any difficulty. you see it was after father's inquest, and everybody was disposed to be kind to us. 'pity they can't all go instead of this educational tommy rot,' the old gentleman says. 'you learn to work, my dear'--and i did...." she paused. "father's inquest?" said lady harman. susan seemed to brace herself to the occasion. "father," she said, "was drowned. i know--i hadn't told you that before. he was drowned in the lea. it's always been a distress and humiliation to us there had to be an inquest. and they threw out things.... it's why we moved to haggerston. it's the worst that ever happened to us in all our lives. far worse. worse than having the things sold or the children with scarlet fever and having to burn everything.... i don't like to talk about it. i can't help it but i don't.... "i don't know why i talk to you as i do, lady harman, but i don't seem to mind talking to you. i don't suppose i've opened my mouth to anyone about it, not for years--except to one dear friend i've got--her who persuaded me to be a church member. but what i've always said and what i will always say is this, that i don't believe any evil of father, i don't believe, i won't ever believe he took his life. i won't even believe he was in drink. i don't know how he got in the river, but i'm certain it wasn't so. he was a weak man, was father, i've never denied he was a weak man. but a harder working man than he was never lived. he worried, anyone would have worried seeing the worries he had. the shop wasn't paying as it was; often we never tasted meat for weeks together, and then there came one of these internationals, giving overweight and underselling...." "one of these internationals?" "yes, i don't suppose you've ever heard of them. they're in the poorer neighbourhoods chiefly. they sell teas and things mostly now but they began as bakers' shops and what they did was to come into a place and undersell until all the old shops were ruined and shut up. that was what they tried to do and father hadn't no more chance amongst them than a mouse in a trap.... it was just like being run over. all the trade that stayed with us after a bit was bad debts. you can't blame people i suppose for going where they get more and pay less, and it wasn't till we'd all gone right away to haggerston that they altered things and put the prices up again. of course father lost heart and all that. he didn't know what to do, he'd sunk all he had in the shop; he just sat and moped about. really,--he was pitiful. he wasn't able to sleep; he used to get up at nights and go about downstairs. mother says she found him once sweeping out the bakehouse at two o'clock in the morning. he got it into his head that getting up like that would help him. but i don't believe and i won't believe he wouldn't have seen it through if he could. not to my dying day will i believe that...." lady harman reflected. "but couldn't he have got work again--as a baker?" "it's hard after you've had a shop. you see all the younger men've come on. they know the new ways. and a man who's had a shop and failed, he's lost heart. and these stores setting up make everything drivinger. they do things a different way. they make it harder for everyone." both lady harman and susan burnet reflected in silence for a few seconds upon the international stores. the sewing woman was the first to speak. "things like that," she said, "didn't ought to be. one shop didn't ought to be allowed to set out to ruin another. it isn't fair trading, it's a sort of murder. it oughtn't to be allowed. how was father to know?..." "there's got to be competition," said lady harman. "i don't call that competition," said susan burnet. "but,--i suppose they give people cheaper bread." "they do for a time. then when they've killed you they do what they like.... luke--he's one of those who'll say anything--well, he used to say it was a regular monopoly. but it's hard on people who've set out to live honest and respectable and bring up a family plain and decent to be pushed out of the way like that." "i suppose it is," said lady harman. "what was father to _do_?" said susan, and turned to sir isaac's armchair from which this discourse had distracted her. and then suddenly, in a voice thick with rage, she burst out: "and then alice must needs go and take their money. that's what sticks in _my_ throat." still on her knees she faced about to lady harman. "alice goes into one of their ho'burn branches as a waitress, do what i could to prevent her. it makes one mad to think of it. time after time i've said to her, 'alice,' i've said, 'sooner than touch their dirty money i'd starve in the street.' and she goes! she says it's all nonsense of me to bear a spite. laughs at me! 'alice,' i told her, 'it's a wonder the spirit of poor father don't rise up against you.' and she laughs. calls that bearing a spite.... of course she was little when it happened. she can't remember, not as i remember...." lady harman reflected for a time. "i suppose you don't know," she began, addressing susan's industrious back; "you don't know who--who owns these international stores?" "i suppose it's some company," said susan. "i don't see that it lets them off--being in a company." § we have done much in the last few years to destroy the severe limitations of victorian delicacy, and all of us, from princesses and prime-ministers' wives downward, talk of topics that would have been considered quite gravely improper in the nineteenth century. nevertheless, some topics have, if anything, become more indelicate than they were, and this is especially true of the discussion of income, of any discussion that tends, however remotely, to inquire, who is it at the base of everything who really pays in blood and muscle and involuntary submissions for _your_ freedom and magnificence? this, indeed, is almost the ultimate surviving indecency. so that it was with considerable private shame and discomfort that lady harman pursued even in her privacy the train of thought that susan burnet had set going. it had been conveyed into her mind long ago, and it had settled down there and grown into a sort of security, that the international bread and cake stores were a very important contribution to progress, and that sir isaac, outside the gates of his home, was a very useful and beneficial personage, and richly meriting a baronetcy. she hadn't particularly analyzed this persuasion, but she supposed him engaged in a kind of daily repetition, but upon modern scientific lines, of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, feeding a great multitude that would otherwise have gone hungry. she knew, too, from the advertisements that flowered about her path through life, that this bread in question was exceptionally clean and hygienic; whole front pages of the _daily messenger_, headed the "fauna of small bakehouses," and adorned with a bordering of _blatta orientalis_, the common cockroach, had taught her that, and she knew that sir isaac's passion for purity had also led to the _old country gazette's_ spirited and successful campaign for a non-party measure securing additional bakehouse regulation and inspection. and her impression had been that the growing and developing refreshment side of the concern was almost a public charity; sir isaac gave, he said, a larger, heavier scone, a bigger pat of butter, a more elegant teapot, ham more finely cut and less questionable pork-pies than any other system of syndicated tea-shops. she supposed that whenever he sat late at night going over schemes and papers, or when he went off for days together to cardiff or glasgow or dublin, or such-like centres, or when he became preoccupied at dinner and whistled thoughtfully through his teeth, he was planning to increase the amount or diminish the cost of tea and cocoa-drenched farinaceous food in the stomachs of that section of our national adolescence which goes out daily into the streets of our great cities to be fed. and she knew his vans and catering were indispensable to the british army upon its manoeuvres.... now the smashing up of the burnet family by the international stores was disagreeably not in the picture of these suppositions. and the remarkable thing is that this one little tragedy wouldn't for a moment allow itself to be regarded as an exceptional accident in an otherwise fair vast development. it remained obstinately a specimen--of the other side of the great syndication. it was just as if she had been doubting subconsciously all along.... in the silence of the night she lay awake and tried to make herself believe that the burnet case was just a unique overlooked disaster, that it needed only to come to sir isaac's attention to be met by the fullest reparation.... after all she did not bring it to sir isaac's attention. but one morning, while this phase of new doubts was still lively in her mind, sir isaac told her he was going down to brighton, and then along the coast road in a car to portsmouth, to pay a few surprise visits, and see how the machine was working. he would be away a night, an unusual breach in his habits. "are you thinking of any new branches, isaac?" "i may have a look at arundel." "isaac." she paused to frame her question carefully. "i suppose there are some shops at arundel now." "i've got to see to that." "if you open----i suppose the old shops get hurt. what becomes of the people if they do get hurt?" "that's _their_ look-out," said sir isaac. "isn't it bad for them?" "progress is progress, elly." "it _is_ bad for them. i suppose----wouldn't it be sometimes kinder if you took over the old shop--made a sort of partner of him, or something?" sir isaac shook his head. "i want younger men," he said. "you can't get a move on the older hands." "but, then, it's rather bad----i suppose these little men you shut up,--some of them must have families." "you're theorizing a bit this morning, elly," said sir isaac, looking up over his coffee cup. "i've been thinking--about these little people." "someone's been talking to you about my shops," said sir isaac, and stuck out an index finger. "if that's georgina----" "it isn't georgina," said lady harman, but she had it very clear in her mind that she must not say who it was. "you can't make a business without squeezing somebody," said sir isaac. "it's easy enough to make a row about any concern that grows a bit. some people would like to have every business tied down to a maximum turnover and so much a year profit. i dare say you've been hearing of these articles in the _london lion_. pretty stuff it is, too. this fuss about the little shopkeepers; that's a new racket. i've had all that row about the waitresses before, and the yarn about the normandy eggs, and all that, but i don't see that you need go reading it against me, and bringing it up at the breakfast-table. a business is a business, it isn't a charity, and i'd like to know where you and i would be if we didn't run the concern on business lines.... why, that _london lion_ fellow came to me with the first two of those articles before the thing began. i could have had the whole thing stopped if i liked, if i'd chosen to take the back page of his beastly cover. that shows the stuff the whole thing is made of. that shows you. why!--he's just a blackmailer, that's what he is. much he cares for my waitresses if he can get the dibs. little shopkeepers, indeed! i know 'em! nice martyrs they are! there isn't one wouldn't _skin_ all the others if he got half a chance...." sir isaac gave way to an extraordinary fit of nagging anger. he got up and stood upon the hearthrug to deliver his soul the better. it was an altogether unexpected and illuminating outbreak. he was flushed with guilt. the more angry and eloquent he became, the more profoundly thoughtful grew the attentive lady at the head of his table.... when at last sir isaac had gone off in the car to victoria, lady harman rang for snagsby. "isn't there a paper," she asked, "called the _london lion_?" "it isn't one i think your ladyship would like," said snagsby, gently but firmly. "i know. but i want to see it. i want copies of all the issues in which there have been articles upon the international stores." "they're thoroughly volgar, me lady," said snagsby, with a large dissuasive smile. "i want you to go out into london and get them now." snagsby hesitated and went. within five minutes he reappeared with a handful of buff-covered papers. "there 'appened to be copies in the pantry, me lady," he said. "we can't imagine 'ow they got there; someone must have brought them in, but 'ere they are quite at your service, me lady." he paused for a discreet moment. something indescribably confidential came into his manner. "i doubt if sir isaac will quite like to 'ave them left about, me lady--after you done with them." she was in a mood of discovery. she sat in the room that was all furnished in pink (her favourite colour) and read a bitter, malicious, coarsely written and yet insidiously credible account of her husband's business methods. something within herself seemed to answer, "but didn't you know this all along?" that large conviction that her wealth and position were but the culmination of a great and honourable social service, a conviction that had been her tacit comfort during much distasteful loyalty seemed to shrivel and fade. no doubt the writer was a thwarted blackmailer; even her accustomed mind could distinguish a twang of some such vicious quality in his sentences; but that did not alter the realities he exhibited and exaggerated. there was a description of how sir isaac pounced on his managers that was manifestly derived from a manager he had dismissed. it was dreadfully like him. convincingly like him. there was a statement of the wages he paid his girl assistants and long extracts from his codes of rules and schedules of fines.... when she put down the paper she was suddenly afflicted by a vivid vision of susan burnet's father, losing heart and not knowing what to do. she had an unreasonable feeling that susan burnet's father must have been a small, kindly, furry, bunnyish, little man. of course there had to be progress and the survival of the fittest. she found herself weighing what she imagined susan burnet's father to be like, against the ferrety face, stooping shoulders and scheming whistle of sir isaac. there were times now when she saw her husband with an extreme distinctness. § as this cold and bracing realization that all was not right with her position, with sir isaac's business procedure and the world generally, took possession of lady harman's thoughts there came also with it and arising out of it quite a series of new moods and dispositions. at times she was very full of the desire "to do something," something that would, as it were, satisfy and assuage this growing uneasiness of responsibility in her mind. at times her consuming wish was not to assuage but escape from this urgency. it worried her and made her feel helpless, and she wanted beyond anything else to get back to that child's world where all experiences are adventurous and everything is finally right. she felt, i think, that it was a little unfair to her that this something within her should be calling upon her to take all sorts of things gravely--hadn't she been a good wife and brought four children into the world...? i am setting down here as clearly as possible what wasn't by any means clear in lady harman's mind. i am giving you side by side phases that never came side by side in her thoughts but which followed and ousted and obliterated one another. she had moods of triviality. she had moods of magnificence. she had moods of intense secret hostility to her urgent little husband, and moods of genial tolerance for everything there was in her life. she had moods, and don't we all have moods?--of scepticism and cynicism, much profounder than the conventions and limitations of novel-writing permit us to tell here. and for hardly any of these moods had she terms and recognitions.... it isn't a natural thing to keep on worrying about the morality of one's material prosperity. these are proclivities superinduced by modern conditions of the conscience. there is a natural resistance in every healthy human being to such distressful heart-searchings. strong instincts battled in lady harman against this intermittent sense of responsibility that was beginning to worry her. an immense lot of her was for simply running away from these troublesome considerations, for covering herself up from them, for distraction. and about this time she happened upon "elizabeth and her german garden," and was very greatly delighted and stimulated by that little sister of montaigne. she was charmed by the book's fresh gaiety, by its gallant resolve to set off all the good things there are in this world, the sunshine and flowers and laughter, against the limitations and thwartings and disappointments of life. for a time it seemed to her that these brave consolations were solutions, and she was stirred by an imitative passion. how stupid had she not been to let life and sir isaac overcome her! she felt that she must make herself like elizabeth, exactly like elizabeth; she tried forthwith, and a certain difficulty she found, a certain deadness, she ascribed to the square modernity of her house and something in the putney air. the house was too large, it dominated the garden and controlled her. she felt she must get away to some place that was chiefly exterior, in the sunshine, far from towns and struggling, straining, angry and despairing humanity, from syndicated shops and all the embarrassing challenges of life. somehow there it would be possible to keep sir isaac at arm's length; and the ghost of susan burnet's father could be left behind to haunt the square rooms of the london house. and there she would live, horticultural, bookish, whimsical, witty, defiant, happily careless. and it was this particular conception of evasion that had set her careering about the countryside in her car, looking for conceivable houses of refuge from this dark novelty of social and personal care, and that had driven her into the low long room of black strand and the presence of mr. brumley. of what ensued and the appearance and influence of lady beach-mandarin and how it led among other things to a lunch invitation from that lady the reader has already been informed. chapter the sixth the adventurous afternoon § you will perhaps remember that before i fell into this extensive digression about lady harman's upbringing, we had got to the entry of mrs. sawbridge into the house bearing a plunder of sir isaac's best roses. she interrupted a conversation of some importance. those roses at this point are still unwithered and fragrant, and moreover they are arranged according to mrs. sawbridge's ideas of elegance about sir isaac's home.... and sir isaac, when that conversation could be renewed, categorically forbade lady harman to go to lady beach-mandarin's lunch and lady harman went to lady beach-mandarin's lunch. she had some peculiar difficulties in getting to that lunch. it is necessary to tell certain particulars. they are particulars that will distress the delicacy of mrs. sawbridge unspeakably if ever she chances to read this book. but a story has to be told. you see sir isaac harman had never considered it advisable to give his wife a private allowance. whatever she wished to have, he maintained, she could have. the bill would afterwards be paid by his cheque on the first day of the month following the receipt of the bill. he found a generous pleasure in writing these cheques, and lady harman was magnificently housed, fed and adorned. moreover, whenever she chose to ask for money he gave her money, usually double of what she demanded,--and often a kiss or so into the bargain. but after he had forbidden her to go to lady beach-mandarin's so grave an estrangement ensued that she could not ask him for money. a door closed between them. and the crisis had come at an unfortunate moment. she possessed the sum of five shillings and eightpence. she perceived quite early that this shortness of money would greatly embarrass the rebellion she contemplated. she was exceptionally ignorant of most worldly things, but she knew there was never yet a campaign without a war chest. she felt entitled to money.... she planned several times to make a demand for replenishment with a haughty dignity; the haughty dignity was easy enough to achieve, but the demand was not. a sensitive dread of her mother's sympathetic curiosity barred all thoughts of borrowing in that direction,--she and her mother "never discussed money matters." she did not want to get georgina into further trouble. and besides, georgina was in devonshire. even to get to lady beach-mandarin's became difficult under these circumstances. she knew that clarence, though he would take her into the country quite freely, had been instructed, on account of sir isaac's expressed dread of any accident happening to her while alone, not to plunge with her into the vortex of london traffic. only under direct orders from sir isaac would clarence take her down putney hill; though she might go up and away--to anywhere. she knew nothing of pawnshops or any associated methods of getting cash advances, and the possibility of using the telephone to hire an automobile never occurred to her. but she was fully resolved to go. she had one advantage in the fact that sir isaac didn't know the precise date of the disputed engagement. when that arrived she spent a restless morning and dressed herself at last with great care. she instructed peters, her maid, who participated in these preparations with a mild astonishment, that she was going out to lunch, asked her to inform mrs. sawbridge of the fact and, outwardly serene, made a bolt for it down the staircase and across the hall. the great butler appeared; she had never observed how like a large note of interrogation his forward contours could be. "i shall be out to lunch, snagsby," she said, and went past him into the sunshine. she left a discreetly astonished snagsby behind her. ("now where are we going out to lunch?" said snagsby presently to peters. "i've never known her so particular with her clothes," said the maid. "never before--not in the same way; it's something new and special to this affair," snagsby reflected, "i wonder now if sir isaac...." "one can't help observing things," said the maid, after a pause. "mute though we be.") lady harman had the whole five and eightpence with her. she had managed to keep it intact in her jewel case, declaring she had no change when any small demands were made on her. with an exhilaration so great that she wanted sorely to laugh aloud she walked out through her big open gates and into the general publicity of putney hill. why had she not done as much years ago? how long she had been, working up to this obvious thing! she hadn't been out in such complete possession of herself since she had been a schoolgirl. she held up a beautifully gloved hand to a private motor-car going downhill and then to an engaged taxi going up, and then with a slightly dashed feeling, picked up her skirt and walked observantly downhill. her reason dispelled a transitory impression that these two vehicles were on sir isaac's side against her. there was quite a nice taxi on the rank at the bottom of the hill. the driver, a pleasant-looking young man in a white cap, seemed to have been waiting for her in particular; he met her timid invitation halfway and came across the road to her and jumped down and opened the door. he took her instructions as though they were after his own heart, and right in front of her as she sat was a kind of tin cornucopia full of artificial flowers that seemed like a particular attention to her. his fare was two and eightpence and she gave him four shillings. he seemed quite gratified by her largesse, his manner implied he had always thought as much of her, from first to last their relations had been those of sunny contentment, and it was only as she ascended the steps of lady beach-mandarin's portico, that it occurred to her that she now had insufficient money for an automobile to take her home. but there were railways and buses and all sorts of possibilities; the day was an adventure; and she entered the drawing-room with a brow that was beautifully unruffled. she wanted to laugh still; it animated her eyes and lips with the pleasantest little stir you can imagine. "a-a-a-a-a-h!" cried lady beach-mandarin in a high note, and threw out--it had an effect of being quite a number of arms--as though she was one of those brass indian goddesses one sees. lady harman felt taken in at once to all that capacious bosom involved and contained.... § it was quite an amusing lunch. but any lunch would have been amusing to lady harman in the excitement of her first act of deliberate disobedience. she had never been out to lunch alone in all her life before; she experienced a kind of scared happiness, she felt like someone at lourdes who has just thrown away crutches. she was seated between a pink young man with an eyeglass whose place was labelled "bertie trevor" and who was otherwise unexplained, and mr. brumley. she was quite glad to see mr. brumley again, and no doubt her eyes showed it. she had hoped to see him. miss sharsper was sitting nearly opposite to her, a real live novelist pecking observations out of life as a hen pecks seeds amidst scenery, and next beyond was a large-headed inattentive fluffy person who was mr. keystone the well-known critic. and there was agatha alimony under a rustling vast hat of green-black cock's feathers next to sir markham crosby, with whom she had been having an abusive controversy in the _times_ and to whom quite elaborately she wouldn't speak, and there was lady viping with her lorgnette and adolphus blenker, horatio's younger and if possible more gentlemanly brother--horatio of the _old country gazette_ that is--sole reminder that there was such a person as sir isaac in the world. lady beach-mandarin's mother and the swiss governess and the tall but retarded daughter, phyllis, completed the party. the reception was lively and cheering; lady beach-mandarin enfolded her guests in generosities and kept them all astir like a sea-swell under a squadron, and she introduced lady harman to miss alimony by public proclamation right across the room because there were two lavish tables of bric-à-brac, a marble bust of old beach-mandarin and most of the rest of the party in the way. and at the table conversation was like throwing bread, you never knew whom you might hit or who might hit you. (but lady beach-mandarin produced an effect of throwing whole loaves.) bertie trevor was one of those dancing young men who talk to a woman as though they were giving a dog biscuits, and mostly it was mr. brumley who did such talking as reached lady harman's ear. mr. brumley was in very good form that day. he had contrived to remind her of all their black strand talk while they were still eating _petites bouchées à la reine_. "have you found that work yet?" he asked and carried her mind to the core of her situation. then they were snatched up into a general discussion of bazaars. sir markham spoke of a great bazaar that was to be held on behalf of one of the many shakespear theatre movements that were then so prevalent. was lady beach-mandarin implicated? was anyone? he told of novel features in contemplation. he generalized about bazaars and, with an air of having forgotten the presence of miss alimony, glanced at the suffrage bazaar--it was a season of bazaars. he thought poorly of the suffrage bazaar. the hostess intervened promptly with anecdotes of her own cynical daring as a bazaar-seller, miss sharsper offered fragments of a reminiscence about signing one of her own books for a bookstall, blenker told a well-known bazaar anecdote brightly and well, and the impending skirmish was averted. while the bazaar talk still whacked to and fro about the table mr. brumley got at lady harman's ear again. "rather tantalizing these meetings at table," he said. "it's like trying to talk while you swim in a rough sea...." then lady beach-mandarin intervened with demands for support for her own particular bazaar project and they were eating salad before there was a chance of another word between them. "i must confess that when i want to talk to people i like to get them alone," said mr. brumley, and gave form to thoughts that were already on the verge of crystallization in her own mind. she had been recalling that she had liked his voice before, noting something very kindly and thoughtful and brotherly about his right profile and thinking how much an hour's talk with him would help to clear up her ideas. "but it's so difficult to get one alone," said lady harman, and suddenly an idea of the utmost daring and impropriety flashed into her mind. she was on the verge of speaking it forthwith and then didn't, she met something in his eye that answered her own and then lady beach-mandarin was foaming over them like a dam-burst over an american town. "what do _you_ think, mr. brumley?" demanded lady beach-mandarin. "?" "about sir markham's newspaper symposium. they asked him what allowance he gave his wife. sent a prepaid reply telegram." "but he hasn't got a wife!" "they don't stick at a little thing like that," said sir markham grimly. "i think a husband and wife ought to have everything in common like the early christians," said lady beach-mandarin. "_we_ always did," and so got the discussion afloat again off the sandbank of mr. brumley's inattention. it was quite a good discussion and lady harman contributed an exceptionally alert and intelligent silence. sir markham distrusted lady beach-mandarin's communism and thought that anyhow it wouldn't do for a financier or business man. he favoured an allowance. "so did sir joshua," said the widow viping. this roused agatha alimony. "allowance indeed!" she cried. "is a wife to be on no better footing than a daughter? the whole question of a wife's financial autonomy needs reconsidering...." adolphus blenker became learned and lucid upon pin-money and dowry and the customs of savage tribes, and mr. brumley helped with corroboration.... mr. brumley managed to say just one other thing to lady harman before the lunch was over. it struck her for a moment as being irrelevant. "the gardens at hampton court," he said, "are delightful just now. have you seen them? autumnal fires. all the september perennials lifting their spears in their last great chorus. it's the _götterdämmerung_ of the year." she was going out of the room before she appreciated his possible intention. lady beach-mandarin delegated sir markham to preside over the men's cigars and bounced and slapped her four ladies upstairs to the drawing-room. her mother disappeared and so did phyllis and the governess. lady harman heard a large aside to lady viping: "isn't she perfectly lovely?" glanced to discover the lorgnette in appreciative action, and then found herself drifting into a secluded window-seat and a duologue with miss agatha alimony. miss alimony was one of that large and increasing number of dusky, grey-eyed ladies who go through life with an air of darkly incomprehensible significance. she led off lady harman as though she took her away to reveal unheard-of mysteries and her voice was a contralto undertone that she emphasized in some inexplicable way by the magnetic use of her eyes. her hat of cock's feathers which rustled like familiar spirits greatly augmented the profundity of her effect. as she spoke she glanced guardedly at the other ladies at the end of the room and from first to last she seemed undecided in her own mind whether she was a conspirator or a prophetess. she had heard of lady harman before, she had been longing impatiently to talk to her all through the lunch. "you are just what we want," said agatha. "what who want?" asked lady harman, struggling against the hypnotic influence of her interlocutor. "_we_," said miss agatha, "the cause. the g.s.w.s. "we want just such people as you," she repeated, and began in panting rhetorical sentences to urge the militant cause. for her it was manifestly a struggle against "the men." miss alimony had no doubts of her sex. it had nothing to learn, nothing to be forgiven, it was compact of obscured and persecuted marvels, it needed only revelation. "they know nothing," she said of the antagonist males, bringing deep notes out of the melodious caverns of her voice; "they know _nothing_ of the deeper secrets of woman's nature." her discourse of a general feminine insurrection fell in very closely with the spirit of lady harman's private revolt. "we want the vote," said agatha, "and we want the vote because the vote means autonomy. and then----" she paused voluminously. she had already used that word "autonomy" at the lunch table and it came to her hearer to supply a long-felt want. now she poured meanings into it, and lady harman with each addition realized more clearly that it was still a roomy sack for more. "a woman should be absolute mistress of herself," said miss alimony, "absolute mistress of her person. she should be free to develop----" germinating phrases these were in lady harman's ear. she wanted to know about the suffrage movement from someone less generously impatient than georgina, for georgina always lost her temper about it and to put it fairly _ranted_, this at any rate was serene and confident, and she asked tentative ill-formed questions and felt her way among miss alimony's profundities. she had her doubts, her instinctive doubts about this campaign of violence, she doubted its wisdom, she doubted its rightness, and she perceived, but she found it difficult to express her perception, that miss alimony wasn't so much answering her objections as trying to swamp her with exalted emotion. and if there was any flaw whatever in her attention to miss alimony's stirring talk, it was because she was keeping a little look-out in the tail of her eye for the reappearance of the men, and more particularly for the reappearance of mr. brumley with whom she had a peculiar feeling of uncompleted relations. and at last the men came and she caught his glance and saw that her feeling was reciprocated. she was presently torn from agatha, who gasped with pain at the parting and pursued her with a sedulous gaze as a doctor might watch an injected patient, she parted with lady beach-mandarin with a vast splash of enthusiasm and mutual invitations, and lady viping came and pressed her to come to dinner and rapped her elbow with her lorgnette to emphasize her invitation. and lady harman after a still moment for reflection athwart which the word autonomy flickered, accepted this invitation also. § mr. brumley hovered for a few moments in the hall conversing with lady beach-mandarin's butler, whom he had known for some years and helped about a small investment, and who was now being abjectly polite and grateful to him for his attention. it gave mr. brumley a nice feudal feeling to establish and maintain such relationships. the furry-eyed boy fumbled with the sticks and umbrellas in the background and wondered if he too would ever climb to these levels of respectful gilt-tipped friendliness. mr. brumley hovered the more readily because he knew lady harman was with the looking-glass in the little parlour behind the dining-room on her way to the outer world. at last she emerged. it was instantly manifest to mr. brumley that she had expected to find him there. she smiled frankly at him, with the faintest admission of complicity in her smile. "taxi, milady?" said the butler. she seemed to reflect. "no, i will walk." she hesitated over a glove button. "mr. brumley, is there a tube station near here?" "not two minutes. but can't i perhaps take you in a taxi?" "i'd rather walk." "i will show you----" he found himself most agreeably walking off with her. still more agreeable things were to follow for mr. brumley. she appeared to meditate upon a sudden idea. she disregarded some conversational opening of his that he forgot in the instant. "mr. brumley," she said, "i didn't intend to go directly home." "i'm altogether at your service," said mr. brumley. "at least," said lady harman with that careful truthfulness of hers, "it occurred to me during lunch that i wouldn't go directly home." mr. brumley reined in an imagination that threatened to bolt with him. "i want," said lady harman, "to go to kensington gardens, i think. this can't be far from kensington gardens--and i want to sit there on a green chair and--meditate--and afterwards i want to find a tube railway or something that will take me back to putney. there is really no need for me to go directly home.... it's very stupid of me but i don't know my way about london as a rational creature should do. so will you take me and put me in a green chair and--tell me how afterwards i can find the tube and get home? do you mind?" "all my time, so long as you want it, is at your service," said mr. brumley with convincing earnestness. "and it's not five minutes to the gardens. and afterwards a taxi-cab----" "no," said lady harman mindful of her one-and-eightpence, "i prefer a tube. but that we can talk about later. you're sure, mr. brumley, i'm not invading your time?" "i wish you could see into my mind," said mr. brumley. she became almost barefaced. "it is so true," she said, "that at lunch one can't really talk to anyone. and i've so wanted to talk to you. ever since we met before." mr. brumley conveyed an unfeigned delight. "since then," said lady harman, "i've read your _euphemia_ books." then after a little unskilful pause, "again." then she blushed and added, "i _had_ read one of them, you know, before." "exactly," he said with an infinite helpfulness. "and you seem so sympathetic, so understanding. i feel that all sorts of things that are muddled in my mind would come clear if i could have a really good talk. to you...." they were now through the gates approaching the albert memorial. mr. brumley was filled with an idea so desirable that it made him fear to suggest it. "of course we can talk very comfortably here," he said, "under these great trees. but i do so wish----have you seen those great borders at hampton court? the whole place is glowing, and in such sunshine as this----a taxi--will take us there under the hour. if you are free until half-past five." _why shouldn't she?_ the proposal seemed so outrageous to all the world of lady harman that in her present mood she felt it was her duty in the cause of womanhood to nerve herself and accept it.... "i mustn't be later than half-past five." "we could snatch a glimpse of it all and be back before then." "in that case----it would be very agreeable." (_why shouldn't she?_ it would no doubt make sir isaac furiously angry--if he heard of it. but it was the sort of thing other women of her class did; didn't all the novels testify? she had a perfect right---- and besides, mr. brumley was so entirely harmless.) § it had been lady harman's clear intention to have a luminous and illuminating discussion of the peculiar difficulties and perplexities of her position with mr. brumley. since their first encounter this idea had grown up in her mind. she was one of those women who turn instinctively to men and away from women for counsel. there was to her perception something wise and kindly and reassuring in him; she felt that he had lived and suffered and understood and that he was ready to help other people to live; his heart she knew from his published works was buried with his dead euphemia, and he seemed as near a thing to a brother and a friend as she was ever likely to meet. she wanted to tell him all this and then to broach her teeming and tangled difficulties, about her own permissible freedoms, about her social responsibilities, about sir isaac's business. but now as their taxi dodged through the traffic of kensington high street and went on its way past olympia and so out westwards, she found it extremely difficult to fix her mind upon the large propositions with which it had been her intention to open. do as she would to feel that this was a momentous occasion, she could not suppress, she could not ignore an obstinate and entirely undignified persuasion that she was having a tremendous lark. the passing vehicles, various motors, omnibuses, vans, carriages, the thronging pedestrians, the shops and houses, were all so distractingly interesting that at last she had to put it fairly to herself whether she hadn't better resign herself to the sensations of the present and reserve that sustained discussion for an interval she foresaw as inevitable on some comfortable seat under great trees at hampton court. you cannot talk well and penetratingly about fundamental things when you are in a not too well-hung taxi which is racing to get ahead of a vast red motor-omnibus.... with a certain discretion mr. brumley had instructed the chauffeur to cross the river not at putney but at hammersmith, and so they went by barnes station and up a still almost rural lane into richmond park, and there suddenly they were among big trees and bracken and red deer and it might have been a hundred miles from london streets. mr. brumley directed the driver to make a detour that gave them quite all the best of the park. the mind of mr. brumley was also agreeably excited and dispersed on this occasion. it was an occasion of which he had been dreaming very frequently of late, he had invented quite remarkable dialogues during those dreams, and now he too was conversationally inadequate and with a similar feeling of unexpected adventure. he was now no more ready to go to the roots of things than lady harman. he talked on the way down chiefly of the route they were following, of the changes in the london traffic due to motor traction and of the charm and amenity of richmond park. and it was only after they had arrived at hampton court and dismissed the taxi and spent some time upon the borders, that they came at last to a seat under a grove beside a long piece of water bearing water lilies, and sat down and made a beginning with the good talk. then indeed she tried to gather together the heads of her perplexity and mr. brumley did his best to do justice to confidence she reposed in him.... it wasn't at all the conversation he had dreamt of; it was halting, it was inconclusive, it was full of a vague dissatisfaction. the roots of this dissatisfaction lay perhaps more than anything else in her inattention to him--how shall i say it?--as _him_. hints have been conveyed to the reader already that for mr. brumley the universe was largely a setting, a tangle, a maze, a quest enshrining at the heart of it and adumbrating everywhere, a mystical her, and his experience of this world had pointed him very definitely to the conclusion that for that large other half of mankind which is woman, the quality of things was reciprocal and centred, for all the appearances and pretences of other interests, in--him. and he was disposed to believe that the other things in life, not merely the pomp and glories but the faiths and ambitions and devotions, were all demonstrably little more than posings and dressings of this great duality. a large part of his own interests and of the interests of the women he knew best, was the sustained and in some cases recurrent discovery and elaboration of lights and glimpses of him or her as the case might be, in various definite individuals; and it was a surprise to him, it perplexed him to find that this lovely person, so beautifully equipped for those mutual researches which constituted, he felt, the heart of life, was yet completely in her manner unaware of this primary sincerity and looking quite simply, as it were, over him and through him at such things as the ethics of the baking, confectionery and refreshment trade and the limits of individual responsibility in these matters. the conclusion that she was "unawakened" was inevitable. the dream of "awakening" this sleeping beauty associated itself in a logical sequence with his interpretations. i do not say that such thoughts were clear in mr. brumley's mind, they were not, but into this shape the forms of his thoughts fell. such things dimly felt below the clear level of consciousness were in him. and they gave his attempt to take up and answer the question that perplexed her, something of the quality of an attempt to clothe and serve hidden purposes. it could not but be evident to him that the effort of lady harman to free herself a little from her husband's circumvallation and to disentangle herself a little from the realities of his commercial life, might lead to such a liberation as would leave her like a nascent element ready to recombine. and it was entirely in the vein of this drift of thought in him that he should resolve upon an assiduous proximity against that moment of release and awakening.... i do not do mr. brumley as the human lover justice if i lead you to suppose that he plotted thus clearly and calculatingly. yet all this was in his mind. all this was in mr. brumley, but it wasn't mr. brumley. presented with it as a portrait of his mind, he would have denied it indignantly--and, knowing it was there, have grown a little flushed in his denials. quite equally in his mind was a simple desire to please her, to do what she wished, to help her because she wanted help. and a quite keen desire to be clean and honest about her and everything connected with her, for his own sake as well as for her sake--for the sake of the relationship.... so you have mr. brumley on the green seat under the great trees at hampton court, in his neat london clothes, his quite becoming silk-hat, above his neatly handsome and intelligent profile, with his gloves in his hand and one arm over the seat back, going now very earnestly and thoughtfully into the question of the social benefit of the international bread and cake stores and whether it was possible for her to "do anything" to repair any wrongs that might have arisen out of that organization, and you will understand why there is a little flush in his cheek and why his sentences are a trifle disconnected and tentative and why his eye wanders now to the soft raven tresses about lady harman's ear, now to the sweet movement of her speaking lips and now to the gracious droop of her pose as she sits forward, elbow upon crossed knee and chin on glove, and jabs her parasol at the ground in her unaccustomed efforts to explain and discuss the difficulties of her position. and you will understand too why it is that he doesn't deal with the question before him so simply and impartially as he seems to do. obscuring this extremely interesting problem of a woman growing to man-like sense of responsibility in her social consequences, is the dramatic proclivity that makes him see all this merely as something which must necessarily weaken lady harman's loyalty and qualify her submission to sir isaac, that makes him want to utilize it and develop it in that direction.... § moreover so complex is the thought of man, there was also another stream of mental activity flowing in the darker recesses of mr. brumley's mind. unobtrusively he was trying to count the money in his pockets and make certain estimates. it had been his intention to replenish his sovereign purse that afternoon at his club and he was only reminded of this abandoned plan when he paid off his taxi at the gates of hampton court. the fare was nine and tenpence and the only piece of gold he had was a half-sovereign. but there was a handful of loose silver in his trouser pocket and so the fare and tip were manageable. "will you be going back, sir?" asked the driver. and mr. brumley reflected too briefly and committed a fatal error. "no," he said with his mind upon that loose silver. "we shall go back by train." now it is the custom with taxi-cabs that take people to such outlying and remote places as hampton court, to be paid off and to wait loyally until their original passengers return. thereby the little machine is restrained from ticking out twopences which should go in the main to the absent proprietor, and a feeling of mutuality is established between the driver and his fare. but of course this cab being released presently found another passenger and went away.... i have written in vain if i have not conveyed to you that mr. brumley was a gentleman of great and cultivated delicacy, that he liked the seemly and handsome side of things and dreaded the appearance of any flaw upon his prosperity as only a man trained in an english public school can do. it was intolerable to think of any hitch in this happy excursion which was to establish he knew not what confidence between himself and lady harman. from first to last he felt it had to go with an air--and what was the first class fare from hampton court to putney--which latter station he believed was on the line from hampton court to london--and could one possibly pretend it was unnecessary to have tea? and so while lady harman talked about her husband's business--"our business" she called it--and shrank from ever saying anything more about the more intimate question she had most in mind, the limits to a wife's obedience, mr. brumley listened with these financial solicitudes showing through his expression and giving it a quality of intensity that she found remarkably reassuring. and once or twice they made him miss points in her remarks that forced him back upon that very inferior substitute for the apt answer, a judicious "um." (it would be quite impossible to go without tea, he decided. he himself wanted tea quite badly. he would think better when he had had some tea....) the crisis came at tea. they had tea at the inn upon the green that struck mr. brumley as being most likely to be cheap and which he pretended to choose for some trivial charm about the windows. and it wasn't cheap, and when at last mr. brumley was faced by the little slip of the bill and could draw his money from his pocket and look at it, he knew the worst and the worst was worse than he had expected. the bill was five shillings (should he dispute it? too ugly altogether, a dispute with a probably ironical waiter!) and the money in his hand amounted to four shillings and sixpence. he acted surprise with the waiter's eye upon him. (should he ask for credit? they might be frightfully disagreeable in such a cockney resort as this.) "tut, tut," said mr. brumley, and then--a little late for it--resorted to and discovered the emptiness of his sovereign purse. he realized that this was out of the picture at this stage, felt his ears and nose and cheeks grow hot and pink. the waiter's colleague across the room became interested in the proceedings. "i had no idea," said mr. brumley, which was a premeditated falsehood. "is anything the matter?" asked lady harman with a sisterly interest. "my dear lady harman, i find myself----ridiculous position. might i borrow half a sovereign?" he felt sure that the two waiters exchanged glances. he looked at them,--a mistake again--and got hotter. "oh!" said lady harman and regarded him with frank amusement in her eyes. the thing struck her at first in the light of a joke. "i've only got one-and-eightpence. i didn't expect----" she blushed as beautifully as ever. then she produced a small but plutocratic-looking purse and handed it to him. "most remarkable--inconvenient," said mr. brumley, opening the precious thing and extracting a shilling. "that will do," he said and dismissed the waiter with a tip of sixpence. then with the open purse still in his hand, he spent much of his remaining strength trying to look amused and unembarrassed, feeling all the time that with his flushed face and in view of all the circumstances of the case he must be really looking very silly and fluffy. "it's really most inconvenient," he remarked. "i never thought of the--of this. it was silly of me," said lady harman. "oh no! oh dear no! the silliness i can assure you is all mine. i can't tell you how entirely apologetic----ridiculous fix. and after i had persuaded you to come here." "still we were able to pay," she consoled him. "but you have to get home!" she hadn't so far thought of that. it brought sir isaac suddenly into the picture. "by half-past five," she said with just the faintest flavour of interrogation. mr. brumley looked at his watch. it was ten minutes to five. "waiter," he said, "how do the trains run from here to putney?" "i don't _think_, sir, that we have any trains from here to putney----" an a.b.c. railway guide was found and mr. brumley learnt for the first time that putney and hampton court are upon two distinct and separate and, as far as he could judge by the time-table, mutually hostile branches of the south western railway, and that at the earliest they could not get to putney before six o'clock. mr. brumley was extremely disconcerted. he perceived that he ought to have kept his taxi. it amounted almost to a debt of honour to deliver this lady secure and untarnished at her house within the next hour. but this reflection did not in the least degree assist him to carry it out and as a matter of fact mr. brumley became flurried and did not carry it out. he was not used to being without money, it unnerved him, and he gave way to a kind of hectic _savoir faire_. he demanded a taxi of the waiter. he tried to evolve a taxi by will power alone. he went out with lady harman and back towards the gates of hampton court to look for taxis. then it occurred to him that they might be losing the . up. so they hurried over the bridge of the station. he had a vague notion that he would be able to get tickets on credit at the booking office if he presented his visiting card. but the clerk in charge seemed to find something uncongenial in his proposal. he did not seem to like what he saw of mr. brumley through his little square window and mr. brumley found something slighting and unpleasant in his manner. it was one of those little temperamental jars which happen to men of delicate sensibilities and mr. brumley tried to be reassuringly overbearing in his manner and then lost his temper and was threatening and so wasted precious moments what time lady harman waited on the platform, with a certain shadow of doubt falling upon her confidence in him, and watched the five-twenty-five gather itself together and start londonward. mr. brumley came out of the ticket office resolved to travel without tickets and carry things through with a high hand just as it became impossible to do so by that train, and then i regret to say he returned for some further haughty passages with the ticket clerk upon the duty of public servants to point out such oversights as his, that led to repartee and did nothing to help lady harman on her homeward way. then he discovered a current time-table and learnt that now even were all the ticket difficulties over-ridden he could not get lady harman to putney before twenty minutes past seven, so completely is the south western railway not organized for conveying people from hampton court to putney. he explained this as well as he could to lady harman, and then led her out of the station in another last desperate search for a taxi. "we can always come back for that next train," he said. "it doesn't go for half an hour." "i cannot blame myself sufficiently," he said for the eighth or ninth time.... it was already well past a quarter to six before mr. brumley bethought himself of the london county council tramcars that run from the palace gates. along these an ample four-pennyworth was surely possible and at the end would be taxis----there _must_ be taxis. the tram took them--but oh! how slowly it seemed!--to hammersmith by a devious route through interminable roads and streets, and long before they reached that spot twilight had passed into darkness, and all the streets and shops were flowering into light and the sense of night and lateness was very strong. after they were seated in the tram a certain interval of silence came between them and then lady harman laughed and mr. brumley laughed--there was no longer any need for him to be energetic and fussy--and they began to have that feeling of adventurous amusement which comes on the further side of desperation. but beneath the temporary elation lady harman was a prey to grave anxieties and mr. brumley could not help thinking he had made a tremendous ass of himself in that ticket clerk dispute.... at hammersmith they got out, two quite penniless travellers, and after some anxious moments found a taxi. it took them to putney hill. lady harman descended at the outer gates of her home and walked up the drive in the darkness while mr. brumley went on to his club and solvency again. it was five minutes past eight when he entered the hall of his club.... § it had been lady harman's original intention to come home before four, to have tea with her mother and to inform her husband when he returned from the city of her entirely dignified and correct disobedience to his absurd prohibitions. then he would have bullied at a disadvantage, she would have announced her intention of dining with lady viping and making the various calls and expeditions for which she had arranged and all would have gone well. but you see how far accident and a spirit of enterprise may take a lady from so worthy a plan, and when at last she returned to the victorian baronial home in putney it was very nearly eight and the house blazed with crisis from pantry to nursery. even the elder three little girls, who were accustomed to be kissed goodnight by their "boofer muvver," were still awake and--catching the subtle influence of the atmosphere of dismay about them--in tears. the very under-housemaids were saying: "where _ever_ can her ladyship 'ave got to?" sir isaac had come home that day at an unusually early hour and with a peculiar pinched expression that filled even snagsby with apprehensive alertness. sir isaac had in fact returned in a state of quite unwonted venom. he had come home early because he wished to vent it upon ellen, and her absence filled him with something of that sensation one has when one puts out a foot for the floor and instead a step drops one down--it seems abysmally. "but where's she gone, snagsby?" "her ladyship _said_ to lunch, sir isaac," said snagsby. "good gracious! where?" "her ladyship didn't _say_, sir isaac." "but where? where the devil----?" "i have--'ave no means whatever of knowing, sir isaac." he had a defensive inspiration. "perhaps mrs. sawbridge, sir isaac...." mrs. sawbridge was enjoying the sunshine upon the lawn. she sat in the most comfortable garden chair, held a white sunshade overhead, had the last new novel by mrs. humphry ward upon her lap, and was engaged in trying not to wonder where her daughter might be. she beheld with a distinct blenching of the spirit sir isaac advancing towards her. she wondered more than ever where ellen might be. "here!" cried her son-in-law. "where's ellen gone?" mrs. sawbridge with an affected off-handedness was sure she hadn't the faintest idea. "then you _ought_ to have," said isaac. "she ought to be at home." mrs. sawbridge's only reply was to bridle slightly. "where's she got to? where's she gone? haven't you any idea at all?" "i was not favoured by ellen's confidence," said mrs. sawbridge. "but you _ought_ to know," cried sir isaac. "she's your daughter. don't you know anything of _either_ of your daughters. i suppose you don't care where they are, either of them, or what mischief they're up to. here's a man--comes home early to his tea--and no wife! after hearing all i've done at the club." mrs. sawbridge stood up in order to be more dignified than a seated position permitted. "it is scarcely my business, sir isaac," she said, "to know of the movements of your wife." "nor georgina's apparently either. good god! i'd have given a hundred pounds that this shouldn't have happened!" "if you must speak to me, sir isaac, will you please kindly refrain from--from the deity----" "oh! shut it!" said sir isaac, blazing up to violent rudeness. "why! don't you know, haven't you an idea? the infernal foolery! those tickets. she got those women----look here, if you go walking away with your nose in the air before i've done----look here! mrs. sawbridge, you listen to me----georgina. i'm speaking of georgina." the lady was walking now swiftly and stiffly towards the house, her face very pale and drawn, and sir isaac hurrying beside her in a white fury of expostulation. "i tell you," he cried, "georgina----" there was something maddeningly incurious about her. he couldn't understand why she didn't even pause to hear what georgina had done and what he had to say about it. a person so wrapped up in her personal and private dignity makes a man want to throw stones. perhaps she knew of georgina's misdeeds. perhaps she sympathized.... a sense of the house windows checked his pursuit of her ear. "then go," he said to her retreating back. "_go!_ i don't care if you go for good. i don't care if you go altogether. if _you_ hadn't had the upbringing of these two girls----" she was manifestly out of earshot and in full yet almost queenly flight for the house. he wanted to say things about her. _to_ someone. he was already saying things to the garden generally. what does one marry a wife for? his mind came round to ellen again. where had she got to? even if she had gone out to lunch, it was time she was back. he went to his study and rang for snagsby. "lady harman back yet?" he asked grimly. "no, sir isaac." "why isn't she back?" snagsby did his best. "perhaps, sir isaac, her ladyship has experienced--'as hexperienced a naxident." sir isaac stared at that idea for a moment. then he thought, 'someone would have telephoned,' "no," he said, "she's out. that's where she is. and i suppose i can wait here, as well as i can until she chooses to come home. degenerate foolish nonsense!..." he whistled between his teeth like an escape of steam. snagsby, after the due pause of attentiveness, bowed respectfully and withdrew.... he had barely time to give a brief outline of the interview to the pantry before a violent ringing summoned him again. sir isaac wished to speak to peters, lady harman's maid. he wanted to know where lady harman had gone; this being impossible, he wanted to know where lady harman had seemed to be going. "her ladyship _seemed_ to be going out to lunch, sir isaac," said peters, her meek face irradiated by helpful intelligence. "oh _get_ out!" said sir isaac. "_get_ out!" "yes, sir isaac," said peters and obeyed.... "he's in a rare bait about her," said peters to snagsby downstairs. "i'm inclined to think her ladyship will catch it pretty hot," said snagsby. "he can't _know_ anything," said peters. "what about?" asked snagsby. "oh, _i_ don't know," said peters. "don't ask _me_ about her...." about ten minutes later sir isaac was heard to break a little china figure of the goddess kwannon, that had stood upon his study mantel-shelf. the fragments were found afterwards in the fireplace.... the desire for self-expression may become overwhelming. after sir isaac had talked to himself about georgina and lady harman for some time in his study, he was seized with a great longing to pour some of this spirited stuff into the entirely unsympathetic ear of mrs. sawbridge. so he went about the house and garden looking for her, and being at last obliged to enquire about her, learnt from a scared defensive housemaid whom he cornered suddenly in the conservatory, that she had retired to her own room. he went and rapped at her door but after one muffled "who's that?" he could get no further response. "i want to tell you about georgina," he said. he tried the handle but the discreet lady within had turned the key upon her dignity. "i want," he shouted, "to tell you about georgina.... georgina! oh _damn_!" silence. tea awaited him downstairs. he hovered about the drawing-room, making noises between his teeth. "snagsby," said sir isaac, "just tell mrs. sawbridge i shall be obliged if she will come down to tea." "mrs. sawbridge 'as a '_ead_ache, sir isaac," said mr. snagsby with extreme blandness. "she asked me to acquaint you. she 'as ordered tea in 'er own apartment." for a moment sir isaac was baffled. then he had an inspiration. "just get me the _times_, snagsby," he said. he took the paper and unfolded it until a particular paragraph was thrown into extreme prominence. this he lined about with his fountain pen and wrote above it with a quivering hand, "these women's tickets were got by georgina under false pretences from me." he handed the paper thus prepared back to snagsby. "just take this paper to mrs. sawbridge," he said, "and ask her what she thinks of it?" but mrs. sawbridge tacitly declined this proposal for a correspondence _viâ_ snagsby. § there was no excuse for georgina. georgina had obtained tickets from sir isaac for the great party reception at barleypound house, under the shallow pretext that she wanted them for "two spinsters from the country," for whose good behaviour she would answer, and she had handed them over to that organization of disorder which swayed her mind. the historical outrage upon mr. blapton was the consequence. two desperate and misguided emissaries had gone to the great reception, dressed and behaving as much as possible like helpful liberal women; they had made their way towards the brilliant group of leading liberals of which mr. blapton was the centre, assuming an almost whig-like expression and bearing to mask the fires within, and had then suddenly accosted him. it was one of those great occasions when the rank and file of the popular party is privileged to look upon court dress. the ministers and great people had come on from buckingham palace in their lace and legs. scarlet and feathers, splendid trains and mysterious ribbons and stars, gave an agreeable intimation of all that it means to be in office to the dazzled wives and daughters of the party stalwarts and fired the ambition of innumerable earnest but earnestly competitive young men. it opened the eyes of the labour leaders to the higher possibilities of parliament. and then suddenly came a stir, a rush, a cry of "tear off his epaulettes!" and outrage was afoot. and two quite nice-looking young women! it is unhappily not necessary to describe the scene that followed. mr. blapton made a brave fight for his epaulettes, fighting chiefly with his cocked hat, which was bent double in the struggle. mrs. blapton gave all the assistance true womanliness could offer and, in fact, she boxed the ears of one of his assailants very soundly. the intruders were rescued in an extremely torn and draggled condition from the indignant statesmen who had fallen upon them by tardy but decisive police.... such scenes sprinkle the recent history of england with green and purple patches and the interest of this particular one for us is only because of georgina's share in it. that was brought home to sir isaac, very suddenly and disagreeably, while he was lunching at the climax club with sir robert charterson. a man named gobbin, an art critic or something of that sort, one of those flimsy literary people who mar the solid worth of so many great clubs, a man with a lot of hair and the sort of loose tie that so often seems to be less of a tie than a detachment from all decent restraints, told him. charterson was holding forth upon the outrage. "that won't suit sir isaac, sir robert," said gobbin presuming on his proximity. sir isaac tried to give him a sort of look one gives to an unsatisfactory clerk. "they went there with sir isaac's tickets," said gobbin. "they _never_----!" "horatio blenker was looking for you in the hall. haven't you seen him? after all the care they took. the poor man's almost in tears." "they never had tickets of mine!" cried sir isaac stoutly and indignantly. and then the thought of georgina came like a blow upon his heart.... in his flurry he went on denying.... the subsequent conversation in the smoking-room was as red-eared and disagreeable for sir isaac as any conversation could be. "but how _could_ such a thing have happened?" he asked in a voice that sounded bleached to him. "how could such a thing have come about?" their eyes were dreadful. did they guess? could they guess? conscience within him was going up and down shouting out, "georgina, your sister-in-law, georgina," so loudly that he felt the whole smoking-room must be hearing it.... § as lady harman came up through the darkness of the drive to her home, she was already regretting very deeply that she had not been content to talk to mr. brumley in kensington gardens instead of accepting his picturesque suggestion of hampton court. there was an unpleasant waif-like feeling about this return. she was reminded of pictures published in the interests of doctor barnardo's philanthropies,--dr. barnardo her favourite hero in real life,--in which wistful little outcasts creep longingly towards brightly lit but otherwise respectable homes. it wasn't at all the sort of feeling she would have chosen if she had had a choice of feelings. she was tired and dusty and as she came into the hall the bright light was blinding. snagsby took her wrap. "sir isaac, me lady, 'as been enquiring for your ladyship," he communicated. sir isaac appeared on the staircase. "good gracious, elly!" he shouted. "where you been?" lady harman decided against an immediate reply. "i shall be ready for dinner in half an hour," she told snagsby and went past him to the stairs. sir isaac awaited her. "where you been?" he repeated as she came up to him. a housemaid on the staircase and the second nursemaid on the nursery landing above shared sir isaac's eagerness to hear her answer. but they did not hear her answer, for lady harman with a movement that was all too reminiscent of her mother's in the garden, swept past him towards the door of her own room. he followed her and shut the door on the thwarted listeners. "here!" he said, with a connubial absence of restraint. "where the devil you been? what the deuce do you think you've been getting up to?" she had been calculating her answers since the moment she had realized that she was to return home at a disadvantage. (it is not my business to blame her for a certain disingenuousness; it is my business simply to record it.) "i went out to lunch at lady beach-mandarin's," she said. "i told you i meant to." "lunch!" he cried. "why, it's eight!" "i met--some people. i met agatha alimony. i have a perfect right to go out to lunch----" "you met a nice crew i'll bet. but that don't account for your being out to eight, does it? with all the confounded household doing as it pleases!" "i went on--to see the borders at hampton court." "with _her_?" "_yes_," said lady harman.... it wasn't what she had meant to happen. it was an inglorious declension from her contemplated pose of dignified assertion. she was impelled to do her utmost to get away from this lie she had uttered at once, to eliminate agatha from the argument by an emphatic generalization. "i've a perfect right," she said, suddenly nearly breathless, "to go to hampton court with anyone i please, talk about anything i like and stay there as long as i think fit." he squeezed his thin lips together for a silent moment and then retorted. "you've got nothing of the sort, nothing of the sort. you've got to do your duty like everybody else in the world, and your duty is to be in this house controlling it--and not gossiping about london just where any silly fancy takes you." "i don't think that _is_ my duty," said lady harman after a slight pause to collect her forces. "of _course_ it's your duty. you know it's your duty. you know perfectly well. it's only these rotten, silly, degenerate, decadent fools who've got ideas into you----" the sentence staggered under its load of adjectives like a camel under the last straw and collapsed. "_see?_" he said. lady harman knitted her brows. "i do my duty," she began. but sir isaac was now resolved upon eloquence. his mind was full with the accumulations of an extremely long and bitter afternoon and urgent to discharge. he began to answer her and then a passion of rage flooded him. suddenly he wanted to shout and use abusive expressions and it seemed to him there was nothing to prevent his shouting and using abusive expressions. so he did. "call this your duty," he said, "gadding about with some infernal old suffragette----" he paused to gather force. he had never quite let himself go to his wife before; he had never before quite let himself go to anyone. he had always been in every crisis just a little too timid to let himself go. but a wife is privileged. he sought strength and found it in words from which he had hitherto abstained. it was not a discourse to which print could do justice; it flickered from issue to issue. he touched upon georgina, upon the stiffness of mrs. sawbridge's manner, upon the neurotic weakness of georgina's unmarried state, upon the general decay of feminine virtue in the community, upon the laxity of modern literature, upon the dependent state of lady harman, upon the unfairness of their relations which gave her every luxury while he spent his days in arduous toil, upon the shame and annoyance in the eyes of his servants that her unexplained absence had caused him. he emphasized his speech by gestures. he thrust out one rather large ill-shaped hand at her with two vibrating fingers extended. his ears became red, his nose red, his eyes seemed red and all about these points his face was wrathful white. his hair rose up into stiff scared listening ends. he had his rights, he had some _little_ claim to consideration surely, he might be just nobody but he wasn't going to stand this much anyhow. he gave her fair warning. what was she, what did she know of the world into which she wanted to rush? he lapsed into views of lady beach-mandarin--unfavourable views. i wish lady beach-mandarin could have heard him.... ever and again lady harman sought to speak. this incessant voice confused and baffled her; she had a just attentive mind at bottom and down there was a most weakening feeling that there must indeed be some misdeed in her to evoke so impassioned a storm. she had a curious and disconcerting sense of responsibility for his dancing exasperation, she felt she was to blame for it, just as years ago she had felt she was to blame for his tears when he had urged her so desperately to marry him. some irrational instinct made her want to allay him. it is the supreme feminine weakness, that wish to allay. but she was also clinging desperately to her resolution to proclaim her other forthcoming engagements. her will hung on to that as a man hangs on to a mountain path in a thunderburst. she stood gripping her dressing-table and ever and again trying to speak. but whenever she did so sir isaac lifted a hand and cried almost threateningly: "you hear me out, elly! you hear me out!" and went on a little faster.... (limburger in his curious "_sexuelle unterschiede der seele_," points out as a probably universal distinction between the sexes that when a man scolds a woman, if only he scolds loudly enough and long enough, conviction of sin is aroused, while in the reverse case the result is merely a murderous impulse. this he further says is not understood by women, who hope by scolding to produce the similar effect upon men that they themselves would experience. the passage is illustrated by figures of ducking stools and followed by some carefully analyzed statistics of connubial crime in berlin in the years - . but in this matter let the student compare the achievement of paulina in _the winter's tale_ and reflect upon his own life. and moreover it is difficult to estimate how far the twinges of conscience that lady harman was feeling were not due to an entirely different cause, the falsification of her position by the lie she had just told sir isaac.) and presently upon this noisy scene in the great pink bedroom, with sir isaac walking about and standing and turning and gesticulating and lady harman clinging on to her dressing-table, and painfully divided between her new connections, her sense of guilty deception and the deep instinctive responsibilities of a woman's nature, came, like one of those rows of dots that are now so frequent and so helpful in the art of fiction, the surging, deep, assuaging note of snagsby's gong: booooooom. boom. boooooom.... "damn it!" cried sir isaac, smiting at the air with both fists clenched and speaking as though this was ellen's crowning misdeed, "and we aren't even dressed for dinner!" § dinner had something of the stiffness of court ceremonial. mrs. sawbridge, perhaps erring on the side of discretion, had consumed a little soup and a wing of chicken in her own room. sir isaac was down first and his wife found him grimly astride before the great dining-room fire awaiting her. she had had her dark hair dressed with extreme simplicity and had slipped on a blue velvet tea-gown, but she had been delayed by a visit to the nursery, where the children were now flushed and uneasily asleep. husband and wife took their places at the genuine sheraton dining-table--one of the very best pieces sir isaac had ever picked up--and were waited on with a hushed, scared dexterity by snagsby and the footman. lady harman and her husband exchanged no remarks during the meal; sir isaac was a little noisy with his soup as became a man who controls honest indignation, and once he complained briefly in a slightly hoarse voice to snagsby about the state of one of the rolls. between the courses he leant back in his chair and made faint sounds with his teeth. these were the only breach of the velvety quiet. lady harman was surprised to discover herself hungry, but she ate with thoughtful dignity and gave her mind to the attempted digestion of the confusing interview she had just been through. it was a very indigestible interview. on the whole her heart hardened again. with nourishment and silence her spirit recovered a little from its abasement, and her resolution to assert her freedom to go hither and thither and think as she chose renewed itself. she tried to plan some way of making her declaration so that she would not again be overwhelmed by a torrent of response. should she speak to him at the end of dinner? should she speak to him while snagsby was in the room? but he might behave badly even with snagsby in the room and she could not bear to think of him behaving badly to her in the presence of snagsby. she glanced at him over the genuine old silver bowl of roses in the middle of the table--all the roses were good _new_ sorts--and tried to estimate how he might behave under various methods of declaration. the dinner followed its appointed ritual to the dessert. came the wine and snagsby placed the cigars and a little silver lamp beside his master. she rose slowly with a speech upon her lips. sir isaac remained seated looking up at her with a mitigated fury in his little red-brown eyes. the speech receded from her lips again. "i think," she said after a strained pause, "i will go and see how mother is now." "she's only shamming," said sir isaac belatedly to her back as she went out of the room. she found her mother in a wrap before her fire and made her dutiful enquiries. "it's only quite a _slight_ headache," mrs. sawbridge confessed. "but isaac was so upset about georgina and about"--she flinched--"about--everything, that i thought it better to be out of the way." "what exactly has georgina done?" "it's in the paper, dear. on the table there." ellen studied the _times_. "georgina got them the tickets," mrs. sawbridge explained. "i wish she hadn't. it was so--so unnecessary of her." there was a little pause as lady harman read. she put down the paper and asked her mother if she could do anything for her. "i--i suppose it's all right, dear, now?" mrs. sawbridge asked. "quite," said her daughter. "you're sure i can do nothing for you, mummy?" "i'm kept so in the dark about things." "it's quite all right now, mummy." "he went on--dreadfully." "it was annoying--of georgina." "it makes my position so difficult. i do wish he wouldn't want to speak to me--about all these things.... georgina treats me like a perfect nonentity and then he comes----it's so inconsiderate. starting disputes. do you know, dear, i really think--if i were to go for a little time to bournemouth----?" her daughter seemed to find something attractive in the idea. she came to the hearthrug and regarded her mother with maternal eyes. "don't you _worry_ about things, mummy," she said. "mrs. bleckhorn told me of such a nice quiet boarding-house, almost looking on the sea.... one would be safe from insult there. you know----" her voice broke for a moment, "he was insulting, he _meant_ to be insulting. i'm--upset. i've been thinking over it ever since." § lady harman came out upon the landing. she felt absolutely without backing in the world. (if only she hadn't told a lie!) then with an effort she directed her course downstairs to the dining-room. (the lie had been necessary. it was only a detail. it mustn't blind her to the real issue.) she entered softly and found her husband standing before the fire plunged in gloomy thoughts. upon the marble mantel-shelf behind him was a little glass; he had been sipping port in spite of the express prohibition of his doctor and the wine had reddened the veins of his eyes and variegated the normal pallor of his countenance with little flushed areas. "hel-lo," he said looking up suddenly as she closed the door behind her. for a moment there was something in their two expressions like that on the faces of men about to box. "i want you to understand," she said, and then; "the way you behaved----" there was an uncontrollable break in her voice. she had a dreadful feeling that she might be going to cry. she made a great effort to be cold and clear. "i don't think you have a right--just because i am your wife--to control every moment of my time. in fact you haven't. and i have a right to make engagements.... i want you to know i am going to an afternoon meeting at lady beach-mandarin's. next week. and i have promised to go to miss alimony's to tea." "go on," he encouraged grimly. "i am going to lady viping's to dinner, too; she asked me and i accepted. later." she stopped. he seemed to deliberate. then suddenly he thrust out a face of pinched determination. "you _won't_, my lady," he said. "you bet your life you won't. _no!_ so _now_ then!" and then gripping his hands more tightly behind him, he made a step towards her. "you're losing your bearings, lady harman," he said, speaking with much intensity in a low earnest voice. "you don't seem to be remembering where you are. you come and you tell me you're going to do this and that. don't you know, lady harman, that it's your wifely duty to obey, to do as i say, to behave as i wish?" he brought out a lean index finger to emphasize his remarks. "and i am going to make you do it!" he said. "i've a perfect right," she repeated. he went on, regardless of her words. "what do you think you can do, lady harman? you're going to all these places--how? not in _my_ motor-car, not with _my_ money. you've not a thing that isn't mine, that _i_ haven't given you. and if you're going to have a lot of friends i haven't got, where're they coming to see you? not in _my_ house! i'll chuck 'em out if i find 'em. i won't have 'em. i'll turn 'em out. see?" "i'm not a slave." "you're a wife--and a wife's got to do what her husband wishes. you can't have two heads on a horse. and in _this_ horse--this house i mean, the head's--_me_!" "i'm not a slave and i won't be a slave." "you're a wife and you'll stick to the bargain you made when you married me. i'm ready in reason to give you anything you want--if you do your duty as a wife should. why!--i spoil you. but this going about on your own, this highty-flighty go-as-you-please,--no man on earth who's worth calling a man will stand it. i'm not going to begin to stand it.... you try it on. you try it, lady harman.... you'll come to your senses soon enough. see? you start trying it on now--straight away. we'll make an experiment. we'll watch how it goes. only don't expect me to give you any money, don't expect me to help your struggling family, don't expect me to alter my arrangements because of you. let's keep apart for a bit and you go your way and i'll go mine. and we'll see who's sick of it first, we'll see who wants to cry off." "i came down here," said lady harman, "to give you a reasonable notice----" "and you found _i_ could reason too," interrupted sir isaac in a kind of miniature shout, "you found i could reason too!" "you think----reason! i _won't_," said lady harman, and found herself in tears. by an enormous effort she recovered something of her dignity and withdrew. he made no effort to open the door, but stood a little hunchbacked and with a sense of rhetorical victory surveying her retreat. § after lady harman's maid had left her that night, she sat for some time in a low easy chair before her fire, trying at first to collect together into one situation all the events of the day and then lapsing into that state of mind which is not so much thinking as resting in the attitude of thought. presently, in a vaguely conceived future, she would go to bed. she was stunned by the immense dimensions of the row her simple act of defiance had evoked. and then came an incredible incident, so incredible that next day she still had great difficulty in deciding whether it was an actuality or a dream. she heard a little very familiar sound. it was the last sound she would have expected to hear and she turned sharply when she heard it. the paper-covered door in the wall of her husband's apartment opened softly, paused, opened some more and his little undignified head appeared. his hair was already tumbled from his pillow. he regarded her steadfastly for some moments with an expression between shame and curiosity and smouldering rage, and then allowed his body, clad now in purple-striped pyjamas, to follow his head into her room. he advanced guiltily. "elly," he whispered. "elly!" she caught her dressing-gown about her and stood up. "what is it, isaac?" she asked, feeling curiously abashed at this invasion. "elly," he said, still in that furtive undertone. "_make it up!_" "i want my freedom," she said, after a little pause. "don't be _silly_, elly," he whispered in a tone of remonstrance and advancing slowly towards her. "make it up. chuck all these ideas." she shook her head. "we've got to get along together. you can't go going about just anywhere. we've got--we've got to be reasonable." he halted, three paces away from her. his eyes weren't sorrowful eyes, or friendly eyes; they were just shiftily eager eyes. "look here," he said. "it's all nonsense.... elly, old girl; let's--let's make it up." she looked at him and it dawned upon her that she had always imagined herself to be afraid of him and that indeed she wasn't. she shook her head obstinately. "it isn't reasonable," he said. "here, we've been the happiest of people----anything in reason i'll let you have." he paused with an effect of making an offer. "i want my autonomy," she said. "autonomy!" he echoed. "autonomy! what's autonomy? autonomy!" this strange word seemed first to hold him in distressful suspense and then to infuriate him. "i come in here to make it up," he said, with a voice charged with griefs, "after all you've done, and you go and you talk of autonomy!" his feelings passed beyond words. an extremity of viciousness flashed into his face. he gave vent to a snarl of exasperation, "ya-ap!" he said, he raised his clenched fists and seemed on the verge of assault, and then with a gesture between fury and despair, he wheeled about and the purple-striped pyjamas danced in passionate retreat from her room. "autonomy!..." a slam, a noise of assaulted furniture, and then silence. lady harman stood for some moments regarding the paper-covered door that had closed behind him. then she bared her white forearm and pinched it--hard. it wasn't a dream! this thing had happened. § at a quarter to three in the morning, lady harman was surprised to find herself wide awake. it was exactly a quarter to three when she touched the stud of the ingenious little silver apparatus upon the table beside her bed which reflected a luminous clock-face upon the ceiling. and her mind was no longer resting in the attitude of thought but extraordinarily active. it was active, but as she presently began to realize it was not progressing. it was spinning violently round and round the frenzied figure of a little man in purple-striped pyjamas retreating from her presence, whirling away from her like something blown before a gale. that seemed to her to symbolize the completeness of the breach the day had made between her husband and herself. she felt as a statesman might feel who had inadvertently--while conducting some trivial negotiations--declared war. she was profoundly alarmed. she perceived ahead of her abundant possibilities of disagreeable things. and she wasn't by any means as convinced of the righteousness of her cause as a happy warrior should be. she had a natural disposition towards truthfulness and it worried her mind that while she was struggling to assert her right to these common social freedoms she should be tacitly admitting a kind of justice in her husband's objections by concealing the fact that her afternoon's companion was a man. she tried not to recognize the existence of a doubt, but deep down in her mind there did indeed lurk a weakening uncertainty about the right of a woman to free conversation with any man but her own. her reason disowned that uncertainty with scorn. but it wouldn't go away for all her reason. she went about in her mind doing her utmost to cut that doubt dead.... she tried to go back to the beginning and think it all out. and as she was not used to thinking things out, the effort took the form of an imaginary explanation to mr. brumley of the difficulties of her position. she framed phrases. "you see, mr. brumley," she imagined herself to be saying, "i want to do my duty as a wife, i have to do my duty as a wife. but it's so hard to say just where duty leaves off and being a mere slave begins. i cannot believe that _blind_ obedience is any woman's duty. a woman needs--autonomy." then her mind went off for a time to a wrestle with the exact meaning of autonomy, an issue that had not arisen hitherto in her mind.... and as she planned out such elucidations, there grew more and more distinct in her mind a kind of idealized mr. brumley, very grave, very attentive, wonderfully understanding, saying illuminating helpful tonic things, that made everything clear, everything almost easy. she wanted someone of that quality so badly. the night would have been unendurable if she could not have imagined mr. brumley of that quality. and imagining him of that quality her heart yearned for him. she felt that she had been terribly inexpressive that afternoon, she had shirked points, misstated points, and yet he had been marvellously understanding. ever and again his words had seemed to pierce right through what she had been saying to what she had been thinking. and she recalled with peculiar comfort a kind of abstracted calculating look that had come at times into his eyes, as though his thoughts were going ever so much deeper and ever so much further than her blundering questionings could possibly have taken them. he weighed every word, he had a guarded way of saying "um...." her thoughts came back to the dancing little figure in purple-striped pyjamas. she had a scared sense of irrevocable breaches. what would he do to-morrow? what should she do to-morrow? would he speak to her at breakfast or should she speak first to him?... she wished she had some money. if she could have foreseen all this she would have got some money before she began.... so her mind went on round and round and the dawn was breaking before she slept again. § mr. brumley, also, slept little that night. he was wakefully mournful, recalling each ungraceful incident of the afternoon's failure in turn and more particularly his dispute with the ticket clerk, and thinking over all the things he might have done--if only he hadn't done the things he had done. he had made an atrocious mess of things. he felt he had hopelessly shattered the fair fabric of impressions of him that lady harman had been building up, that image of a wise humane capable man to whom a woman would gladly turn; he had been flurried, he had been incompetent, he had been ridiculously incompetent, and it seemed to him that life was a string of desolating inadequacies and that he would never smile again. the probable reception of lady harman by her husband never came within his imaginative scope. nor did the problems of social responsibility that lady harman had been trying to put to him exercise him very greatly. the personal disillusionment was too strong for that. about half-past four a faint ray of comfort came with the consideration that after all a certain practical incapacity is part of the ensemble of a literary artist, and then he found himself wondering what flowers of wisdom montaigne might not have culled from such a day's experience; he began an imitative essay in his head and he fell asleep upon this at last at about ten minutes past five in the morning. there were better things than this in the composition of mr. brumley, we shall have to go deep into these reserves before we have done with him, but when he had so recently barked the shins of his self-esteem they had no chance at all. chapter the seventh lady harman learns about herself § so it was that the great and long incubated quarrel between lady harman and her husband broke into active hostilities. in spite of my ill-concealed bias in favour of lady harman i have to confess that she began this conflict rashly, planlessly, with no equipment and no definite end. particularly i would emphasize that she had no definite end. she had wanted merely to establish a right to go out by herself occasionally, exercise a certain choice of friends, take on in fact the privileges of a grown-up person, and in asserting that she had never anticipated that the participation of the household would be invoked, or that a general breach might open between herself and her husband. it had seemed just a definite little point at issue, but at sir isaac's angry touch a dozen other matters that had seemed safely remote, matters she had never yet quite properly thought about, had been drawn into controversy. it was not only that he drew in things from outside; he evoked things within herself. she discovered she was disposed to fight not simply to establish certain liberties for herself but also--which had certainly not been in her mind before--to keep her husband away from herself. something latent in the situation had surprised her with this effect. it had arisen out of the quarrel like a sharpshooter out of an ambuscade. her right to go out alone had now only the value of a mere pretext for far more extensive independence. the ultimate extent of these independences, she still dared not contemplate. she was more than a little scared. she wasn't prepared for so wide a revision of her life as this involved. she wasn't at all sure of the rightfulness of her position. her conception of the marriage contract at that time was liberal towards her husband. after all, didn't she owe obedience? didn't she owe him a subordinate's co-operation? didn't she in fact owe him the whole marriage service contract? when she thought of the figure of him in his purple-striped pyjamas dancing in a paroxysm of exasperation, that sense of responsibility which was one of her innate characteristics reproached her. she had a curious persuasion that she must be dreadfully to blame for provoking so ridiculous, so extravagant an outbreak.... § she heard him getting up tumultuously and when she came down,--after a brief interview with her mother who was still keeping her room,--she found him sitting at the breakfast-table eating toast and marmalade in a greedy malignant manner. the tentative propitiations of his proposal to make things up had entirely disappeared, he was evidently in a far profounder rage with her than he had been overnight. snagsby too, that seemly domestic barometer, looked extraordinarily hushed and grave. she made a greeting-like noise and sir isaac scrunched "morning" up amongst a crowded fierce mouthful of toast. she helped herself to tea and bacon and looking up presently discovered his eye fixed upon her with an expression of ferocious hatred.... he went off in the big car, she supposed to london, about ten and she helped her mother to pack and depart by a train a little after midday. she made a clumsy excuse for not giving that crisp little trifle of financial assistance she was accustomed to, and mrs. sawbridge was anxiously tactful about the disappointment. they paid a visit of inspection and farewell to the nursery before the departure. then lady harman was left until lunch to resume her meditation upon this unprecedented breach that had opened between her husband and herself. she was presently moved to write a little note to lady beach-mandarin expressing her intention of attending a meeting of the social friends and asking whether the date was the following wednesday or thursday. she found three penny stamps in the bureau at which she wrote and this served to remind her of her penniless condition. she spent some time thinking out the possible consequences of that. how after all was she going to do things, with not a penny in the world to do them with? lady harman was not only instinctively truthful but also almost morbidly honourable. in other words, she was simple-minded. the idea of a community of goods between husband and wife had never established itself in her mind, she took all sir isaac's presents in the spirit in which he gave them, presents she felt they were on trust, and so it was that with a six-hundred pound pearl necklace, a diamond tiara, bracelets, lockets, rings, chains and pendants of the most costly kind--there had been a particularly beautiful bracelet when millicent was born, a necklace on account of florence, a fan painted by charles conder for annette and a richly splendid set of old spanish jewellery--yellow sapphires set in gold--to express sir isaac's gratitude for the baby--with all sorts of purses, bags, boxes, trinkets and garments, with a bedroom and morning-room rich in admirable loot, and with endless tradespeople willing to give her credit it didn't for some time occur to her that there was any possible means of getting pocket-money except by direct demand from sir isaac. she surveyed her balance of two penny stamps and even about these she felt a certain lack of negotiable facility. she thought indeed that she might perhaps borrow money, but there again her paralyzing honesty made her recoil from the prospect of uncertain repayment. and besides, from whom could she borrow?... it was on the evening of the second day that a chance remark from peters turned her mind to the extensive possibilities of liquidation that lay close at hand. she was discussing her dinner dress with peters, she wanted something very plain and high and unattractive, and peters, who disapproved of this tendency and was all for female wiles and propitiations, fell into an admiration of the pearl necklace. she thought perhaps by so doing she might induce lady harman to wear it, and if she wore it sir isaac might be a little propitiated, and if sir isaac was a little propitiated it would be much more comfortable for snagsby and herself and everyone. she was reminded of a story of a lady who sold one and substituted imitation pearls, no one the wiser, and she told this to her mistress out of sheer garrulousness. "but if no one found out," said lady harman, "how do you know?" "not till her death, me lady," said peters, brushing, "when all things are revealed. her husband, they say, made it a present of to another lady and the other lady, me lady, had it valued...." once the idea had got into lady harman's head it stayed there very obstinately. she surveyed the things on the table before her with a slightly lifted eyebrow. at first she thought the idea of disposing of them an entirely dishonourable idea, and if she couldn't get it out of her head again at least she made it stand in a corner. and while it stood in a corner she began putting a price for the first time in her life first upon this coruscating object and then that. then somehow she found herself thinking more and more whether among all these glittering possessions there wasn't something that she might fairly regard as absolutely her own. there were for example her engagement ring and, still more debateable, certain other pre-nuptial trinkets sir isaac had given her. then there were things given her on her successive birthdays. a birthday present of all presents is surely one's very own? but selling is an extreme exercise of ownership. since those early schooldays when she had carried on an unprofitable traffic in stamps she had never sold anything--unless we are to reckon that for once and for all she had sold herself. concurrently with these insidious speculations lady harman found herself trying to imagine how one sold jewels. she tried to sound peters by taking up the story of the necklace again. but peters was uninforming. "but where," asked lady harman, "could such a thing be done?" "there are places, me lady," said peters. "but where?" "in the west end, me lady. the west end is full of places--for things of that sort. there's scarcely anything you can't do there, me lady--if only you know how." that was really all that peters could impart. "how _does_ one sell jewels?" lady harman became so interested in this side of her perplexities that she did a little lose sight of those subtler problems of integrity that had at first engaged her. do jewellers buy jewels as well as sell them? and then it came into her head that there were such things as pawnshops. by the time she had thought about pawnshops and tried to imagine one, her original complete veto upon any idea of selling had got lost to sight altogether. instead there was a growing conviction that if ever she sold anything it would be a certain sapphire and diamond ring which she didn't like and never wore that sir isaac had given her as a birthday present two years ago. but of course she would never dream of selling anything; at the utmost she need but pawn. she reflected and decided that on the whole it would be wiser not to ask peters how one pawned. it occurred to her to consult the _encyclopædia britannica_ on the subject, but though she learnt that the chinese pawnshops must not charge more than three per cent. per annum, that king edward the third pawned his jewels in and that father bernardino di feltre who set up pawnshops in assisi and padua and pavia was afterward canonized, she failed to get any very clear idea of the exact ritual of the process. and then suddenly she remembered that she knew a finished expert in pawnshop work in the person of susan burnet. susan could tell her everything. she found some curtains in the study that needed replacement, consulted mrs. crumble and, with a view to economizing her own resources, made that lady send off an urgent letter to susan bidding her come forthwith. § it has been said that fate is a plagiarist. lady harman's fate at any rate at this juncture behaved like a benevolent plagiarist who was also a little old-fashioned. this phase of speechless hostility was complicated by the fact that two of the children fell ill, or at least seemed for a couple of days to be falling ill. by all the rules of british sentiment, this ought to have brought about a headlong reconciliation at the tumbled bedside. it did nothing of the sort; it merely wove fresh perplexities into the tangled skein of her thoughts. on the day after her participation in that forbidden lunch millicent, her eldest daughter, was discovered with a temperature of a hundred and one, and then annette, the third, followed suit with a hundred. this carried lady harman post haste to the nursery, where to an unprecedented degree she took command. latterly she had begun to mistrust the physique of her children and to doubt whether the trained efficiency of mrs. harblow the nurse wasn't becoming a little blunted at the edges by continual use. and the tremendous quarrel she had afoot made her keenly resolved not to let anything go wrong in the nursery and less disposed than she usually was to leave things to her husband's servants. she interviewed the doctor herself, arranged for the isolation of the two flushed and cross little girls, saw to the toys and amusements which she discovered had become a little flattened and disused by the servants' imperatives of tidying up and putting away, and spent the greater part of the next two days between the night and day nurseries. she was a little surprised to find how readily she did this and how easily the once entirely authoritative mrs. harblow submitted. it was much the same surprise that growing young people feel when they reach some shelf that has hitherto been inaccessible. the crisis soon passed. at his first visit the doctor was a little doubtful whether the harman nursery wasn't under the sway of measles, which were then raging in a particularly virulent form in london; the next day he inclined to the view that the trouble was merely a feverish cold, and before night this second view was justified by the disappearance of the "temperatures" and a complete return to normal conditions. but as for that hushed reconciliation in the fevered presence of the almost sacrificial offspring, it didn't happen. sir isaac merely thrust aside the stiff silences behind which he masked his rage to remark: "this is what happens when wimmen go gadding about!" that much and glaring eyes and compressed lips and emphasizing fingers and then he had gone again. indeed rather than healing their widening breach this crisis did much to spread it into strange new regions. it brought lady harman to the very verge of realizing how much of instinct and how much of duty held her the servant of the children she had brought into the world, and how little there mingled with that any of those factors of pride and admiration that go to the making of heroic maternal love. she knew what is expected of a mother, the exalted and lyrical devotion, and it was with something approaching terror that she perceived that certain things in these children of hers she _hated_. it was her business she knew to love them blindly; she lay awake at night in infinite dismay realizing she did nothing of the sort. their weakness held her more than anything else, the invincible pathos of their little limbs in discomfort so that she was ready to die she felt to give them ease. but so she would have been held, she was assured, by the little children of anybody if they had fallen with sufficient helplessness into her care. just how much she didn't really like her children she presently realized when in the feeble irascibility of their sickness they fell quarrelling. they became--horrid. millicent and annette being imprisoned in their beds it seemed good to florence when she came back from the morning's walk, to annex and hide a selection of their best toys. she didn't take them and play with them, she hid them with an industrious earnestness in a box window-seat that was regarded as peculiarly hers, staggering with armfuls across the nursery floor. then millicent by some equally mysterious agency divined what was afoot and set up a clamour for a valued set of doll's furniture, which immediately provoked a similar outcry from little annette for her teddy bear. followed woe and uproar. the invalids insisted upon having every single toy they possessed brought in and put upon their beds; florence was first disingenuous and then surrendered her loot with passionate howlings. the teddy bear was rescued from baby after a violent struggle in which one furry hind leg was nearly twisted off. it jars upon the philoprogenitive sentiment of our time to tell of these things and still more to record that all four, stirred by possessive passion to the profoundest depths of their beings, betrayed to an unprecedented degree in their little sharp noses, their flushed faces, their earnest eyes, their dutiful likeness to sir isaac. he peeped from under millicent's daintily knitted brows and gestured with florence's dimpled fists. it was as if god had tried to make him into four cherubim and as if in spite of everything he was working through. lady harman toiled to pacify these disorders, gently, attentively, and with a faint dismay in her dark eyes. she bribed and entreated and marvelled at mental textures so unlike her own. baby was squared with a brand new teddy bear, a rare sort, a white one, which snagsby went and purchased in the putney high street and brought home in his arms, conferring such a lustre upon the deed that the lower orders, the very street-boys, watched him with reverence as he passed. annette went to sleep amidst a discomfort of small treasures and woke stormily when mrs. harblow tried to remove some of the spikier ones. and lady harman went back to her large pink bedroom and meditated for a long time upon these things and tried to remember whether in her own less crowded childhood with georgina, either of them had been quite so inhumanly hard and grasping as these feverish little mites in her nursery. she tried to think she had been, she tried to think that all children were such little distressed lumps of embittered individuality, and she did what she could to overcome the queer feeling that this particular clutch of offspring had been foisted upon her and weren't at all the children she could now imagine and desire,--gentle children, sweet-spirited children.... § susan burnet arrived in a gusty mood and brought new matter for lady harman's ever broadening consideration of the wifely position. susan, led by a newspaper placard, had discovered sir isaac's relations to the international bread and cake stores. "at first i thought i wouldn't come," said susan. "i really did. i couldn't hardly believe it. and then i thought, 'it isn't _her_. it can't be _her_!' but i'd never have dreamt before that i could have been brought to set foot in the house of the man who drove poor father to ruin and despair.... you've been so kind to me...." susan's simple right-down mind stopped for a moment with something very like a sob, baffled by the contradictions of the situation. "so i came," she said, with a forced bright smile. "i'm glad you came," said lady harman. "i wanted to see you. and you know, susan, i know very little--very little indeed--of sir isaac's business." "i quite believe it, my lady. i've never for one moment thought _you_----i don't know how to say it, my lady." "and indeed i'm not," said lady harman, taking it as said. "i knew you weren't," said susan, relieved to be so understood. and the two women looked perplexedly at one another over the neglected curtains susan had come to "see to," and shyness just snatched back lady harman from her impulse to give susan a sisterly kiss. nevertheless susan who was full of wise intuitions felt that kiss that was never given, and in the remote world of unacted deeds returned it with effusion. "but it's hard," said susan, "to find one's own second sister mixed up in a strike, and that's what it's come to last week. they've struck, all the international waitresses have struck, and last night in piccadilly they were standing on the kerb and picketing and her among them. with a crowd cheering.... and me ready to give my right hand to keep that girl respectable!" and with a volubility that was at once tumultuous and effective, susan sketched in the broad outlines of the crisis that threatened the dividends and popularity of the international bread and cake stores. the unsatisfied demands of that bright journalistic enterprise, _the london lion_, lay near the roots of the trouble. _the london lion_ had stirred it up. but it was only too evident that _the london lion_ had merely given a voice and form and cohesion to long smouldering discontents. susan's account of the matter had that impartiality which comes from intellectual incoherence, she hadn't so much a judgment upon the whole as a warring mosaic of judgments. it was talking upon post impressionist lines, talking in the manner of picasso. she had the firmest conviction that to strike against employment, however ill-paid or badly conditioned, was a disgraceful combination of folly, ingratitude and general wickedness, and she had an equally strong persuasion that the treatment of the employees of the international bread and cake stores was such as no reasonably spirited person ought to stand. she blamed her sister extremely and sympathized with her profoundly, and she put it all down in turn to _the london lion_, to sir isaac, and to a small round-faced person called babs wheeler, who appeared to be the strike leader and seemed always to be standing on tables in the branches, or clambering up to the lions in trafalgar square, or being cheered in the streets. but there could be no mistaking the quality of sir isaac's "international" organization as susan's dabs of speech shaped it out. it was indeed what we all of us see everywhere about us, the work of the base energetic mind, raw and untrained, in possession of the keen instruments of civilization, the peasant mind allied and blended with the ghetto mind, grasping and acquisitive, clever as a norman peasant or a jew pedlar is clever, and beyond that outrageously stupid and ugly. it was a new view and yet the old familiar view of her husband, but now she saw him not as little eager eyes, a sharp nose, gaunt gestures and a leaden complexion, but as shops and stores and rules and cash registers and harsh advertisements and a driving merciless hurry to get--to get anything and everything, money, monopoly, power, prominence, whatever any other human being seemed to admire or seemed to find desirable, a lust rather than a living soul. now that her eyes were at last opened lady harman, who had seen too little heretofore, now saw too much; she saw all that she had not seen, with an excess of vision, monstrous, caricatured. susan had already dabbed in the disaster of sir isaac's unorganized competitors going to the wall--for charity or the state to neglect or bandage as it might chance--the figure of that poor little "father," moping hopelessly before his "accident" symbolized that; and now she gave in vivid splotches of allusion, glimpses of the business machine that had replaced those shattered enterprises and carried sir isaac to the squalid glory of a liberal honours list,--the carefully balanced antagonisms and jealousies of the girls and the manageresses, those manageresses who had been obliged to invest little bunches of savings as guarantees and who had to account for every crumb and particle of food stock that came to the branch, and the hunt for cases and inefficiency by the inspectors, who had somehow to justify a salary of two hundred a year, not to mention a percentage of the fines they inflicted. "there's all that business of the margarine," said susan. "every branch gets its butter under weight,--the water squeezes out,--and every branch has over weight margarine. of course the rules say that mixing's forbidden and if they get caught they go, but they got to pay-in for that butter, and it's setting a snare for their feet. people who've never thought to cheat, when they get it like that, day after day, they cheat, my lady.... and the girls get left food for rations. there's always trouble, it's against what the rules say, but they get it. of course it's against the rules, but what can a manageress do?--if the waste doesn't fall on them, it falls on her. she's tied there with her savings.... such driving, my lady, it's against the very spirit of god. it makes scoffers point. it makes people despise law and order. there's luke, he gets bitterer and bitterer; he says that it's in the word we mustn't muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, but these stores, he says, they'd muzzle the ox and keep it hungry and make it work a little machine, he says, whenever it put down its head in the hope of finding a scrap...." so susan, bright-eyed, flushed and voluble, pleading the cause of that vague greatness in humanity that would love, that would loiter, that would think, that would if it could give us art, delight and beauty, that turns blindly and stumblingly towards joy, towards intervals, towards the mysterious things of the spirit, against all this sordid strenuousness, this driving destructive association of hardfisted peasant soul and ghetto greed, this fool's "efficiency," that rules our world to-day. then susan lunged for a time at the waitress life her sister led. "she has 'er 'ome with us, but some--they haven't homes." "they make a fuss about all this white slave traffic," said susan, "but if ever there were white slaves it's the girls who work for a living and keep themselves respectable. and nobody wants to make an example of the men who get rich out of _them_...." and after some hearsay about the pressure in the bake-houses and the accidents to the van-men, who worked on a speeding-up system that sir isaac had adopted from an american business specialist, susan's mental discharge poured out into the particulars of the waitresses' strike and her sister's share in that. "she _would_ go into it," said susan, "she let herself be drawn in. i asked her never to take the place. better service, i said, a thousand times. i begged her, i could have begged her on my bended knees...." the immediate cause of the strike it seemed was the exceptional disagreeableness of one of the london district managers. "he takes advantage of his position," repeated susan with face aflame, and lady harman was already too wise about susan's possibilities to urge her towards particulars.... now as lady harman listened to all this confused effective picturing of the great catering business which was the other side of her husband and which she had taken on trust so long, she had in her heart a quite unreasonable feeling of shame that she should listen at all, a shyness, as though she was prying, as though this really did not concern her. she knew she had to listen and still she felt beyond her proper jurisdiction. it is against instinct, it is with an enormous reluctance that women are bringing their quick emotions, their flashing unstable intelligences, their essential romanticism, their inevitable profound generosity into the world of politics and business. if only they could continue believing that all that side of life is grave and wise and admirably managed for them they would. it is not in a day or a generation that we shall un-specialize women. it is a wrench nearly as violent as birth for them to face out into the bleak realization that the man who goes out for them into business, into affairs, and returns so comfortably loaded with housings and wrappings and trappings and toys, isn't, as a matter of fact, engaged in benign creativeness while he is getting these desirable things. § lady harman's mind was so greatly exercised by susan burnet's voluminous confidences that it was only when she returned to her own morning room that she recalled the pawning problem. she went back to sir isaac's study and found susan with all her measurements taken and on the very edge of departure. "oh susan!" she said. she found the matter a little difficult to broach. susan remained in an attitude of respectful expectation. "i wanted to ask you," said lady harman and then broke off to shut the door. susan's interest increased. "you know, susan," said lady harman with an air of talking about commonplace things, "sir isaac is very rich and--of course--very generous.... but sometimes one feels, one wants a little money of one's own." "i think i can understand that, my lady," said susan. "i knew you would," said lady harman and then with a brightness that was slightly forced, "i can't always get money of my own. it's difficult--sometimes." and then blushing vividly: "i've got lots of _things_.... susan, have you ever pawned anything?" and so she broached it. "not since i got fairly into work," said susan; "i wouldn't have it. but when i was little we were always pawning things. why! we've pawned kettles!..." she flashed three reminiscences. meanwhile lady harman produced a little glittering object and held it between finger and thumb. "if i went into a pawnshop near here," she said, "it would seem so odd.... this ring, susan, must be worth thirty or forty pounds. and it seems so silly when i have it that i should really be wanting money...." susan displayed a peculiar reluctance to handle the ring. "i've never," she said, "pawned anything valuable--not valuable like that. suppose--suppose they wanted to know how i had come by it." "it's more than alice earns in a year," she said. "it's----" she eyed the glittering treasure; "it's a queer thing for me to have." a certain embarrassment arose between them. lady harman's need of money became more apparent. "i'll do it for you," said susan, "indeed i'll do it. but----there's one thing----" her face flushed hotly. "it isn't that i want to make difficulties. but people in our position--we aren't like people in your position. it's awkward sometimes to explain things. you've got a good character, but people don't know it. you can't be too careful. it isn't sufficient--just to be honest. if i take that----if you were just to give me a little note--in your handwriting--on your paper--just asking me----i don't suppose i need show it to anyone...." "i'll write the note," said lady harman. a new set of uncomfortable ideas was dawning upon her. "but susan----you don't mean that anyone, anyone who's really honest--might get into trouble?" "you can't be too careful," said susan, manifestly resolved not to give our highly civilized state half a chance with her. § the problem of sir isaac and just what he was doing and what he thought he was doing and what he meant to do increased in importance in lady harman's mind as the days passed by. he had an air of being malignantly up to something and she could not imagine what this something could be. he spoke to her very little but he looked at her a great deal. he had more and more of the quality of a premeditated imminent explosion.... one morning she was standing quite still in the drawing-room thinking over this now almost oppressive problem of why the situation did not develop further with him, when she became aware of a thin flat unusual book upon the small side table near the great armchair at the side of the fire. he had been reading that overnight and it lay obliquely--it might almost have been left out for her. she picked it up. it was _the taming of the shrew_ in that excellent folio edition of henley's which makes each play a comfortable thin book apart. a curiosity to learn what it was had drawn her husband to english literature made her turn over the pages. _the taming of the shrew_ was a play she knew very slightly. for the harmans, though deeply implicated like most other rich and striving people in plans for honouring the immortal william, like most other people found scanty leisure to read him. as she turned over the pages a pencil mark caught her eye. thence words were underlined and further accentuated by a deeply scored line in the margin. "but for my bonny kate, she must with me. nay; look not big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret; i will be master of what is mine own: she is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, she is my household stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing: and here she stands, touch her whoever dare; i'll bring mine action on the proudest he, that stops my way in padua." with a slightly heightened colour, lady harman read on and presently found another page slashed with sir isaac's approval.... her face became thoughtful. did he mean to attempt--petruchio? he could never dare. there were servants, there were the people one met, the world.... he would never dare.... what a strange play it was! shakespear of course was wonderfully wise, the crown of english wisdom, the culminating english mind,--or else one might almost find something a little stupid and clumsy.... did women nowadays really feel like these elizabethan wives who talked--like girls, very forward girls indeed, but girls of sixteen?... she read the culminating speech of katherine and now she had so forgotten sir isaac she scarcely noted the pencil line that endorsed the immortal words. "thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign; one who cares for thee, and for thy maintenance commits his body to painful labour both by sea and land, to watch the night in storms, the day in cold, while thou liest warm at home, secure and safe; and craves no other tribute at thy hands but love, fair looks, and true obedience; too little payment for so great a debt. such duty as the subject owes the prince, even such a woman oweth to her husband; and when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour, and not obedient to his honest will, what is she but a foul contending rebel and graceless traitor to her loving lord? i am ashamed that women are so simple to offer war, where they should kneel for peace; * * * * * my mind has been as big as one of yours, my heat as great; my reason, haply, more, to bandy word for word and frown for frown. but now i see our lances are but straws; our strength is weak, our weakness past compare, seeming that most which we indeed least are...." she wasn't indignant. something in these lines took hold of her protesting imagination. she knew that so she could have spoken of a man. but that man,--she apprehended him as vaguely as an anglican bishop apprehends god. he was obscured altogether by shadows; he had only one known characteristic, that he was totally unlike sir isaac. and the play was false she felt in giving this speech to a broken woman. such things are not said by broken women. broken women do no more than cheat and lie. but so a woman might speak out of her unconquered wilfulness, as a queen might give her lover a kingdom out of the fullness of her heart. § the evening after his wife had had this glimpse into sir isaac's mental processes he telephoned that charterson and horatio blenker were coming home to dinner with him. neither lady charterson nor mrs. blenker were to be present; it was to be a business conversation and not a social occasion, and lady harman he desired should wear her black and gold with just a touch of crimson in her hair. charterson wanted a word or two with the flexible horatio on sugar at the london docks, and sir isaac had some vague ideas that a turn might be given to the public judgment upon the waitresses' strike, by a couple of horatio's thoughtful yet gentlemanly articles. and in addition charterson seemed to have something else upon his mind; he did not tell as much to sir isaac but he was weighing the possibilities of securing a controlling share in the _daily spirit_, which simply didn't know at present where it was upon the sugar business, and of installing horatio's brother, adolphus, as its editor. he wanted to form some idea from horatio of what adolphus might expect before he approached adolphus. lady harman wore the touch of crimson in her hair as her husband had desired, and the table was decorated simply with a big silver bowl of crimson roses. a slight shade of apprehension in sir isaac's face changed to approval at the sight of her obedience. after all perhaps she was beginning to see the commonsense of her position. charterson struck her as looking larger, but then whenever she saw him he struck her as looking larger. he enveloped her hand in a large amiable paw for a minute and asked after the children with gusto. the large teeth beneath his discursive moustache gave him the effect of a perennial smile to which his asymmetrical ears added a touch of waggery. he always betrayed a fatherly feeling towards her as became a man who was married to a handsome wife old enough to be her mother. even when he asked about the children he did it with something of the amused knowingness of assured seniority, as if indeed he knew all sorts of things about the children that she couldn't as yet even begin to imagine. and though he confined his serious conversation to the two other men, he would ever and again show himself mindful of her and throw her some friendly enquiry, some quizzically puzzling remark. blenker as usual treated her as if she were an only very indistinctly visible presence to whom an effusive yet inattentive politeness was due. he was clearly nervous almost to the pitch of jumpiness. he knew he was to be spoken to about the sugar business directly he saw charterson, and he hated being spoken to about the sugar business. he had his code of honour. of course one had to make concessions to one's proprietors, but he could not help feeling that if only they would consent to see his really quite obvious gentlemanliness more clearly it would be better for the paper, better for the party, better for them, far better for himself. he wasn't altogether a fool about that sugar; he knew how things lay. they ought to trust him more. his nervousness betrayed itself in many little ways. he crumbled his bread constantly until, thanks to snagsby's assiduous replacement, he had made quite a pile of crumbs, he dropped his glasses in the soup--a fine occasion for snagsby's _sang-froid_--and he forgot not to use a fish knife with the fish as lady grove directs and tried when he discovered his error to replace it furtively on the table cloth. moreover he kept on patting the glasses on his nose--after snagsby had whisked his soup plate away, rescued, wiped and returned them to him--until that feature glowed modestly at such excesses of attention, and the soup and sauces and things bothered his fine blond moustache unusually. so that mr. blenker what with the glasses, the napkin, the food and the things seemed as restless as a young sparrow. lady harman did her duties as hostess in the quiet key of her sombre dress, and until the conversation drew her out into unexpected questionings she answered rather than talked, and she did not look at her husband once throughout the meal. at first the talk was very largely charterson. he had no intention of coming to business with blenker until lady harman had given place to the port and the man's nerves were steadier. he spoke of this and that in the large discursive way men use in clubs, and it was past the fish before the conversation settled down upon the topic of business organization and sir isaac, a little warmed by champagne, came out of the uneasily apprehensive taciturnity into which he had fallen in the presence of his wife. horatio blenker was keenly interested in the idealization of commercial syndication, he had been greatly stirred by a book of mr. gerald stanley lee's called _inspired millionaires_ which set out to show just what magnificent airs rich men might give themselves, and he had done his best to catch its tone and to find _inspired millionaires_ in sir isaac and charterson and to bring it to their notice and to the notice of the readers of the _old country gazette_. he felt that if only sir isaac and charterson would see getting rich as a great creative act it would raise their tone and his tone and the tone of the _old country gazette_ tremendously. it wouldn't of course materially alter the methods or policy of the paper but it would make them all feel nobler, and blenker was of that finer clay that does honestly want to feel nobler. he hated pessimism and all that criticism and self-examination that makes weak men pessimistic, he wanted to help weak men and be helped himself, he was all for that school of optimism that would have each dunghill was a well-upholstered throne, and his nervous, starry contributions to the talk were like patches of water ranunculuses trying to flower in the overflow of a sewer. because you know it is idle to pretend that the talk of charterson and sir isaac wasn't a heavy flow of base ideas; they hadn't even the wit to sham very much about their social significance. they cared no more for the growth, the stamina, the spirit of the people whose lives they dominated than a rat cares for the stability of the house it gnaws. they _wanted_ a broken-spirited people. they were in such relations wilfully and offensively stupid, and i do not see why we people who read and write books should pay this stupidity merely because it is prevalent even the mild tribute of an ironical civility. charterson talked of the gathering trouble that might lead to a strike of the transport workers in london docks, and what he had to say, he said,--he repeated it several times--was, "_let_ them strike. we're ready. the sooner they strike the better. devonport's a man and this time we'll _beat_ 'em...." he expanded generally on strikes. "it's a question practically whether we are to manage our own businesses or whether we're to have them managed for us. _managed_ i say!..." "they know nothing of course of the details of organization," said blenker, shining with intelligence and looking quickly first to the right and then to the left. "nothing." sir isaac broke out into confirmatory matter. there was an idea in his head that this talk might open his wife's eyes to some sense of the magnitude of his commercial life, to the wonder of its scale and quality. he compared notes with charterson upon a speeding-up system for delivery vans invented by an american specialist and it made blenker flush with admiration and turn as if for sympathy to lady harman to realize how a modification in a tailboard might mean a yearly saving in wages of many thousand pounds. "the sort of thing they don't understand," he said. and then sir isaac told of some of his own little devices. he had recently taken to having the returns of percentage increase and decrease from his various districts printed on postcards and circulated monthly among the district managers, postcards endorsed with such stimulating comments in red type as "well done cardiff!" or "what ails portsmouth?"--the results had been amazingly good; "neck and neck work," he said, "everywhere"--and thence they passed to the question of confidential reports and surprise inspectors. thereby they came to the rights and wrongs of the waitress strike. and then it was that lady harman began to take a share in the conversation. she interjected a question. "yes," she said suddenly and her interruption was so unexpected that all three men turned their eyes to her. "but how much do the girls get a week?" "i thought," she said to some confused explanations by blenker and charterson, "that gratuities were forbidden." blenker further explained that most of the girls of the class sir isaac was careful to employ lived at home. their income was "supplementary." "but what happens to the others who don't live at home, mr. blenker?" she asked. "very small minority," said mr. blenker reassuring himself about his glasses. "but what do they do?" charterson couldn't imagine whether she was going on in this way out of sheer ignorance or not. "sometimes their fines make big unexpected holes in their week's pay," she said. sir isaac made some indistinct remark about "utter nonsense." "it seems to me to be driving them straight upon the streets." the phrase was susan's. its full significance wasn't at that time very clear to lady harman and it was only when she had uttered it that she realized from horatio blenker's convulsive start just what a blow she had delivered at that table. his glasses came off again. he caught them and thrust them back, he seemed to be holding his nose on, holding his face on, preserving those carefully arranged features of himself from hideous revelations; his free hand made weak movements with his dinner napkin. he seemed to be holding it in reserve against the ultimate failure of his face. charterson surveyed her through an immense pause open-mouthed; then he turned his large now frozen amiability upon his host. "these are awful questions," he gasped, "rather beyond us don't you think?" and then magnificently; "harman, things are looking pretty queer in the far east again. i'm told there are chances--of revolution--even in pekin...." lady harman became aware of snagsby's arm and his steady well-trained breathing beside her as, tenderly almost but with a regretful disapproval, he removed her plate.... § if lady harman had failed to remark at the time the deep impression her words had made upon her hearers, she would have learnt it later from the extraordinary wrath in which sir isaac, as soon as his guests had departed, visited her. he was so angry he broke the seal of silence he had set upon his lips. he came raging into the pink bedroom through the paper-covered door as if they were back upon their old intimate footing. he brought a flavour of cigars and manly refreshment with him, his shirt front was a little splashed and crumpled and his white face was variegated with flushed patches. "what ever d'you mean," he cried, "by making a fool of me in front of those fellers?... what's my business got to do with you?" lady harman was too unready for a reply. "i ask you what's my business got to do with you? it's _my_ affair, _my_ side. you got no more right to go shoving your spoke into that than--anything. see? what do _you_ know of the rights and wrongs of business? how can _you_ tell what's right and what isn't right? and the things you came out with--the things you came out with! why charterson--after you'd gone charterson said, she doesn't know, she can't know what she's talking about! a decent woman! a _lady_! talking of driving girls on the street. you ought to be ashamed of yourself! you aren't fit to show your face.... it's these damned papers and pamphlets, all this blear-eyed stuff, these decadent novels and things putting narsty thoughts, _narsty dirty_ thoughts into decent women's heads. it ought to be rammed back down their throats, it ought to be put a stop to!" sir isaac suddenly gave way to woe. "what have i _done_?" he cried, "what have i done? here's everything going so well! we might be the happiest of couples! we're rich, we got everything we want.... and then you go harbouring these ideas, fooling about with rotten people, taking up with socialism----yes, i tell you--socialism!" his moment of pathos ended. "no?" he shouted in an enormous voice. he became white and grim. he emphasized his next words with a shaken finger. "it's got to end, my lady. it's going to end sooner than you expect. that's all!..." he paused at the papered door. he had a popular craving for a vivid curtain and this he felt was just a little too mild. "it's going to end," he repeated and then with great violence, with almost alcoholic violence, with the round eyes and shouting voice and shaken fist and blaspheming violence of a sordid, thrifty peasant enraged, "it's going to end a damned sight sooner than you expect." chapter the eighth sir isaac as petruchio § twice had sir isaac come near to betraying the rapid and extensive preparations for the subjugation of his wife, that he hid behind his silences. he hoped that their estrangement might be healed by a certain display of strength and decision. he still refused to let himself believe that all this trouble that had arisen between them, this sullen insistence upon unbecoming freedoms of intercourse and movement, this questioning spirit and a gaucherie of manner that might almost be mistaken for an aversion from his person, were due to any essential evil in her nature; he clung almost passionately to the alternative that she was the victim of those gathering forces of discontent, of that interpretation which can only be described as decadent and that veracity which can only be called immodest, that darken the intellectual skies of our time, a sweet thing he held her still though touched by corruption, a prey to "idees," "idees" imparted from the poisoned mind of her sister, imbibed from the carelessly edited columns of newspapers, from all too laxly censored plays, from "blear-eyed" bookshow he thanked the archbishop of york for that clever expressive epithet!--from the careless talk of rashly admitted guests, from the very atmosphere of london. and it had grown clearer and clearer to him that his duty to himself and the world and her was to remove her to a purer, simpler air, beyond the range of these infections, to isolate her and tranquillize her and so win her back again to that acquiescence, that entirely hopeless submissiveness that had made her so sweet and dear a companion for him in the earlier years of their married life. long before lady beach-mandarin's crucial luncheon, his deliberate foreseeing mind had been planning such a retreat. black strand even at his first visit had appeared to him in the light of a great opportunity, and the crisis of their quarrel did but release that same torrential energy which had carried him to a position of napoleonic predominance in the world of baking, light catering and confectionery, into the channels of a scheme already very definitely formed in his mind. his first proceeding after the long hours of sleepless passion that had followed his wife's hampton court escapade, had been to place himself in communication with mr. brumley. he learnt at mr. brumley's club that that gentleman had slept there overnight and had started but a quarter of an hour before, back to black strand. sir isaac in hot pursuit and gathering force and assistance in mid flight reached black strand by midday. it was with a certain twinge of the conscience that mr. brumley perceived his visitor, but it speedily became clear that sir isaac had no knowledge of the guilty circumstances of the day before. he had come to buy black strand--incontinently, that was all. he was going, it became clear at once, to buy it with all its fittings and furnishings as it stood, lock, stock and barrel. mr. brumley, concealing that wild elation, that sense of a joyous rebirth, that only the liquidation of nearly all one's possessions can give, was firm but not excessive. sir isaac haggled as a wave breaks and then gave in and presently they were making a memorandum upon the pretty writing-desk beneath the traditional rose euphemia had established there when mr. brumley was young and already successful. this done, and it was done in less than fifteen minutes, sir isaac produced a rather crumpled young architect from the motor-car as a conjurer might produce a rabbit from a hat, a builder from aleham appeared astonishingly in a dog-cart--he had been summoned by telegram--and sir isaac began there and then to discuss alterations, enlargements and, more particularly, with a view to his nursery requirements, the conversion of the empty barn into a nursery wing and its connexion with the house by a corridor across the shrubbery. "it will take you three months," said the builder from aleham. "and the worst time of the year coming." "it won't take three weeks--if i have to bring down a young army from london to do it," said sir isaac. "but such a thing as plastering----" "we won't have plastering." "there's canvas and paper, of course," said the young architect. "there's canvas and paper," said sir isaac. "and those new patent building units, so far as the corridor goes. i've seen the ads." "we can whitewash 'em. they won't show much," said the young architect. "oh if you do things in _that_ way," said the builder from aleham with bitter resignation.... § the morning dawned at last when the surprise was ripe. it was four days after susan's visit, and she was due again on the morrow with the money that would enable her employer to go to lady viping's now imminent dinner. lady harman had had to cut the social friends' meeting altogether, but the day before the surprise agatha alimony had come to tea in her jobbed car, and they had gone together to the committee meeting of the shakespear dinner society. sir isaac had ignored that defiance, and it was an unusually confident and quite unsuspicious woman who descended in a warm october sunshine to the surprise. in the breakfast-room she discovered an awe-stricken snagsby standing with his plate-basket before her husband, and her husband wearing strange unusual tweeds and gaiters,--buttoned gaiters, and standing a-straddle,--unusually a-straddle, on the hearthrug. "that's enough, snagsby," said sir isaac, at her entrance. "bring it all." she met snagsby's eye, and it was portentous. latterly snagsby's eye had lost the assurance of his former days. she had noted it before, she noted it now more than ever; as though he was losing confidence, as though he was beginning to doubt, as though the world he had once seemed to rule grew insecure beneath his feet. for a moment she met his eye; it might have been a warning he conveyed, it might have been an appeal for sympathy, and then he had gone. she looked at the table. sir isaac had breakfasted acutely. in silence, among the wreckage and with a certain wonder growing, lady harman attended to her needs. sir isaac cleared his throat. she became aware that he had spoken. "what did you say, isaac?" she asked, looking up. he seemed to have widened his straddle almost dangerously, and he spoke with a certain conscious forcefulness. "we're going to move out of this house, elly," he said. "we're going down into the country right away." she sat back in her chair and regarded his pinched and determined visage. "what do you mean?" she asked. "i've bought that house of brumley's,--black strand. we're going to move down there--_now_. i've told the servants.... when you've done your breakfast, you'd better get peters to pack your things. the big car's going to be ready at half-past ten." lady harman reflected. "to-morrow evening," she said, "i was going out to dinner at lady viping's." "not my affair--seemingly," said sir isaac with irony. "well, the car's going to be ready at half-past ten." "but that dinner----!" "we'll think about it when the time comes." husband and wife regarded each other. "i've had about enough of london," said sir isaac. "so we're going to shift the scenery. see?" lady harman felt that one might adduce good arguments against this course if only one knew of them. sir isaac had a bright idea. he rang. "snagsby," he said, "just tell peters to pack up lady harman's things...." "_well!_" said lady harman, as the door closed on snagsby. her mind was full of confused protest, but she had again that entirely feminine and demoralizing conviction that if she tried to express it she would weep or stumble into some such emotional disaster. if now she went upstairs and told peters _not_ to pack----! sir isaac walked slowly to the window, and stood for a time staring out into the garden. extraordinary bumpings began overhead in sir isaac's room. no doubt somebody was packing something.... lady harman realized with a deepening humiliation that she dared not dispute before the servants, and that he could. "but the children----" she said at last. "i've told mrs. harblow," he said, over his shoulder. "told her it was a bit of a surprise." he turned, with a momentary lapse into something like humour. "you see," he said, "it _is_ a bit of a surprise." "but what are you going to do with this house?" "lock it all up for a bit.... i don't see any sense in living where we aren't happy. perhaps down there we shall manage better...." it emerged from the confusion of lady harman's mind that perhaps she had better go to the nursery, and see how things were getting on there. sir isaac watched her departure with a slightly dubious eye, made little noises with his teeth for a time, and then went towards the telephone. in the hall she found two strange young men in green aprons assisting the under-butler to remove the hats and overcoats and such-like personal material into a motor-van outside. she heard two of the housemaids scurrying upstairs. "'arf an hour," said one, "isn't what i call a proper time to pack a box in." in the nursery the children were disputing furiously what toys were to be taken into the country. lady harman was a very greatly astonished woman. the surprise had been entirely successful. § it has been said, i think, by limburger, in his already cited work, that nothing so excites and prevails with woman as rapid and extensive violence, sparing and yet centring upon herself, and certainly it has to be recorded that, so far from being merely indignant, and otherwise a helplessly pathetic spectacle, lady harman found, though perhaps she did not go quite so far as to admit to herself that she found, this vehement flight from the social, moral, and intellectual contaminations of london an experience not merely stimulating but entertaining. it lifted her delicate eyebrows. something, it may have been a sense of her own comparative immobility amid this sudden extraordinary bustle of her home, put it into her head that so it was long ago that lot must have bundled together his removable domesticities. she made one attempt at protest. "isaac," she said, "isn't all this rather ridiculous----" "don't speak to me!" he answered, waving her off. "don't speak to me! you should have spoken before, elly. _now_,--things are happening." the image of black strand as, after all, a very pleasant place indeed returned to her. she adjudicated upon the nursery difficulties, and then went in a dreamlike state of mind to preside over her own more personal packing. she found peters exercising all that indecisive helplessness which is characteristic of ladies' maids the whole world over. it was from peters she learnt that the entire household, men and maids together, was to be hurled into surrey. "aren't they all rather surprised?" asked lady harman. "yes, m'm," said peters on her knees, "but of course if the drains is wrong the sooner we all go the better." (so that was what he had told them.) a vibration and a noise of purring machinery outside drew the lady to the window, and she discovered that at least four of the large motor-vans from the international stores were to co-operate in the trek. there they were waiting, massive and uniform. and then she saw snagsby in his alpaca jacket _running_ towards the house from the gates. of course he was running only very slightly indeed, but still he was running, and the expression of distress upon his face convinced her that he was being urged to unusual and indeed unsuitable tasks under the immediate personal supervision of sir isaac.... then from round the corner appeared the under butler or at least the legs of him going very fast, under a pile of shirt boxes and things belonging to sir isaac. he dumped them into the nearest van and heaved a deep sigh and returned houseward after a remorseful glance at the windows. a violent outcry from baby, who, with more than her customary violence was making her customary morning protest against being clad, recalled lady harman from the contemplation of these exterior activities.... the journey to black strand was not accomplished without misadventure; there was a puncture near farnham, and as clarence with a leisurely assurance entertained himself with the stepney, they were passed first by the second car with the nursery contingent, which went by in a shrill chorus, crying, "_we-e-e_ shall get there first, _we-e-e_ shall get there first," and then by a large hired car all agog with housemaids and mrs. crumble and with snagsby, as round and distressed as the full moon, and the under butler, cramped and keen beside the driver. there followed the leading international stores car, and then the stepney was on and they could hasten in pursuit.... and at last they came to black strand, and when they saw black strand it seemed to lady harman that the place had blown out a huge inflamed red cheek and lost its pleasant balance altogether. "_oh!_" she cried. it was the old barn flushed by the strain of adaptation to a new use, its comfortable old wall ruptured by half a dozen brilliant new windows, a light red chimney stack at one end. from it a vividly artistic corridor ran to the house and the rest of the shrubbery was all trampled and littered with sheds, bricks, poles and material generally. black strand had left the hands of the dilettante school and was in the grip of those vigorous moulding forces that are shaping our civilization to-day. the jasmine wig over the porch had suffered a strenuous clipping; the door might have just come out of prison. in the hall the carpaccio copies still glowed, but there were dust sheets over most of the furniture and a plumber was moving his things out with that eleventh hour reluctance so characteristic of plumbers. mrs. rabbit, a little tearful, and dressed for departure very respectably in black was giving the youngest and least experienced housemaid a faithful history of mr. brumley's earlier period. "'appy we all was," said mrs. rabbit, "as birds in a nest." through the windows two of the putney gardeners were busy replacing mr. brumley's doubtful roses by recognized sorts, the _right_ sorts.... "i've been doing all i can to make it ready for you," said sir isaac at his wife's ear, bringing a curious reminiscence of the first home-coming to putney into her mind. § "and now," said sir isaac with evident premeditation and a certain deliberate amiability, "now we got down here, now we got away a bit from all those london things with nobody to cut in between us, me and you can have a bit of a talk, elly, and see what it's all about." they had lunched together in the little hall-dining room,--the children had had a noisily cheerful picnic in the kitchen with mrs. harblow, and now lady harman was standing at the window surveying the ravages of rose replacement. she turned towards him. "yes," she said. "i think--i think we can't go on like this." "_i_ can't," said sir isaac, "anyhow." he too came and stared at the rose planting. "if we were to go up there--among the pine woods"--he pointed with his head at the dark background of euphemia's herbaceous borders--"we shouldn't hear quite so much of this hammering...." husband and wife walked slowly in the afternoon sunlight across the still beautiful garden. each was gravely aware of an embarrassed incapacity for the task they had set themselves. they were going to talk things over. never in their lives had they really talked to each other clearly and honestly about anything. indeed it is scarcely too much to say that neither had ever talked about anything to anyone. she was too young, her mind was now growing up in her and feeling its way to conscious expression, and he had never before wanted to express himself. he did now want to express himself. for behind his rant and fury sir isaac had been thinking very hard indeed during the last three weeks about his life and her life and their relations; he had never thought so much about anything except his business economics. so far he had either joked at her, talked "silly" to her, made, as they say, "remarks," or vociferated. that had been the sum of their mental intercourse, as indeed it is the sum of the intercourse of most married couples. his attempt to state his case to her had so far always flared into rhetorical outbreaks. but he was discontented with these rhetorical outbreaks. his dispositions to fall into them made him rather like a nervous sepia that cannot keep its ink sac quiet while it is sitting for its portrait. in the earnestness of his attempt at self-display he vanished in his own outpourings. he wanted now to reason with her simply and persuasively. he wanted to say quietly impressive and convincing things in a low tone of voice and make her abandon every possible view except his view. he walked now slowly meditating the task before him, making a faint thoughtful noise with his teeth, his head sunken in the collar of the motor overcoat he wore because of a slight cold he had caught. and he had to be careful about colds because of his constitutional defect. she too felt she had much to say. much too she had in her mind that she couldn't say, because this strange quarrel had opened unanticipated things for her; she had found and considered repugnances in her nature she had never dared to glance at hitherto.... sir isaac began rather haltingly when they had reached a sandy, ant-infested path that ran slantingly up among the trees. he affected a certain perplexity. he said he did not understand what it was his wife was "after," what she "thought she was doing" in "making all this trouble"; he wanted to know just what it was she wanted, how she thought they ought to live, just what she considered his rights were as her husband and just what she considered were her duties as his wife--if, that is, she considered she had any duties. to these enquiries lady harman made no very definite reply; their estrangement instead of clearing her mind had on the whole perplexed it more, by making her realize the height and depth and extent of her possible separation from him. she replied therefore with an unsatisfactory vagueness; she said she wanted to feel that she possessed herself, that she was no longer a child, that she thought she had a right to read what she chose, see what people she liked, go out a little by herself, have a certain independence--she hesitated, "have a certain definite allowance of my own." "have i ever refused you money?" cried sir isaac protesting. "it isn't that," said lady harman; "it's the feeling----" "the feeling of being able to--defy--anything i say," said sir isaac with a note of bitterness. "as if i didn't understand!" it was beyond lady harman's powers to express just how that wasn't the precise statement of the case. sir isaac, reverting to his tone of almost elaborate reasonableness, expanded his view that it was impossible for husband and wife to have two different sets of friends;--let alone every other consideration, he explained, it wasn't convenient for them not to be about together, and as for reading or thinking what she chose he had never made any objection to anything unless it was "decadent rot" that any decent man would object to his womanfolk seeing, rot she couldn't understand the drift of--fortunately. blear-eyed humbug.... he checked himself on the verge of an almost archiepiscopal outbreak in order to be patiently reasonable again. he was prepared to concede that it would be very nice if lady harman could be a good wife and also an entirely independent person, very nice, but the point was--his tone verged on the ironical--that she couldn't be two entirely different people at the same time. "but you have your friends," she said, "you go away alone----" "that's different," said sir isaac with a momentary note of annoyance. "it's business. it isn't that i want to." lady harman had a feeling that they were neither of them gaining any ground. she blamed herself for her lack of lucidity. she began again, taking up the matter at a fresh point. she said that her life at present wasn't full, that it was only half a life, that it was just home and marriage and nothing else; he had his business, he went out into the world, he had politics and--"all sorts of things"; she hadn't these interests; she had nothing in the place of them---- sir isaac closed this opening rather abruptly by telling her that she should count herself lucky she hadn't, and again the conversation was suspended for a time. "but i want to know about these things," she said. sir isaac took that musingly. "there's things go on," she said; "outside home. there's social work, there's interests----am i never to take any part--in that?" sir isaac still reflected. "there's one thing," he said at last, "i want to know. we'd better have it out--_now_." but he hesitated for a time. "elly!" he blundered, "you aren't--you aren't getting somehow--not fond of me?" she made no immediate reply. "look here!" he said in an altered voice. "elly! there isn't something below all this? there isn't something been going on that i don't know?" her eyes with a certain terror in their depths questioned him. "something," he said, and his face was deadly white--"_some other man, elly?_" she was suddenly crimson, a flaming indignation. "isaac!" she said, "what do you _mean_? how can you _ask_ me such a thing?" "if it's that!" said sir isaac, his face suddenly full of malignant force, "i'll----but i'd _kill_ you...." "if it isn't that," he went on searching his mind; "why should a woman get restless? why should she want to go away from her husband, go meeting other people, go gadding about? if a woman's satisfied, she's satisfied. she doesn't harbour fancies.... all this grumbling and unrest. natural for your sister, but why should you? you've got everything a woman needs, husband, children, a perfectly splendid home, clothes, good jewels and plenty of them, respect! why should you want to go out after things? it's mere spoilt-childishness. of course you want to wander out--and if there isn't a man----" he caught her wrist suddenly. "there isn't a man?" he demanded. "isaac!" she protested in horror. "then there'll be one. you think i'm a fool, you think i don't know anything all these literary and society people know. i _do_ know. i know that a man and a woman have got to stick together, and if you go straying--you may think you're straying after the moon or social work or anything--but there's a strange man waiting round the corner for every woman and a strange woman for every man. think _i_'ve had no temptations?... oh! i _know_, i _know_. what's life or anything but that? and it's just because we've not gone on having more children, just because we listened to all those fools who said you were overdoing it, that all this fretting and grumbling began. we've got on to the wrong track, elly, and we've got to get back to plain wholesome ways of living. see? that's what i've come down here for and what i mean to do. we've got to save ourselves. i've been too--too modern and all that. i'm going to be a husband as a husband should. i'm going to protect you from these idees--protect you from your own self.... and that's about where we stand, elly, as i make it out." he paused with the effect of having delivered himself of long premeditated things. lady harman essayed to speak. but she found that directly she set herself to speak she sobbed and began weeping. she choked for a moment. then she determined she would go on, and if she must cry, she must cry. she couldn't let a disposition to tears seal her in silence for ever. "it isn't," she said, "what i expected--of life. it isn't----" "it's what life is," sir isaac cut in. "when i think," she sobbed, "of what i've lost----" "_lost!_" cried sir isaac. "lost! oh come now, elly, i like that. what!--_lost_. hang it! you got to look facts in the face. you can't deny----marrying like this,--you made a jolly good thing of it." "but the beautiful things, the noble things!" "_what's_ beautiful?" cried sir isaac in protesting scorn. "_what's_ noble? rot! doing your duty if you like and being sensible, that's noble and beautiful, but not fretting about and running yourself into danger. you've got to have a sense of humour, elly, in this life----" he created a quotation. "as you make your bed--so shall you lie." for an interval neither of them spoke. they crested the hill, and came into view of that advertisement board she had first seen in mr. brumley's company. she halted, and he went a step further and halted too. he recalled his ideas about the board. he had meant to have them all altered but other things had driven it from his mind.... "then you mean to imprison me here," said lady harman to his back. he turned about. "it isn't much like a prison. i'm asking you to stay here--and be what a wife _should_ be." "i'm to have no money." "that's--that depends entirely on yourself. you know that well enough." she looked at him gravely. "i won't stand it," she said at last with a gentle deliberation. she spoke so softly that he doubted his hearing. "_what?_" he asked sharply. "i won't stand it," she repeated. "no." "but--what can you do?" "i don't know," she said, after a moment of grave consideration. for some moments his mind hunted among possibilities. "it's me that's standing it," he said. he came closely up to her. he seemed on the verge of rhetoric. he pressed his thin white lips together. "standing it! when we might be so happy," he snapped, and shrugged his shoulders and turned with an expression of mournful resolution towards the house again. she followed slowly. he felt that he had done all that a patient and reasonable husband could do. _now_--things must take their course. § the imprisonment of lady harman at black strand lasted just one day short of a fortnight. for all that time except for such interludes as the urgent needs of the strike demanded, sir isaac devoted himself to the siege. he did all he could to make her realize how restrainedly he used the powers the law vests in a husband, how little he forced upon her the facts of marital authority and wifely duty. at times he sulked, at times he affected a cold dignity, and at times a virile anger swayed him at her unsubmissive silences. he gave her little peace in that struggle, a struggle that came to the edge of physical conflict. there were moments when it seemed to her that nothing remained but that good old-fashioned connubial institution, the tussle for the upper hand, when with a feminine horror she felt violence shouldering her shoulder or contracting ready to grip her wrist. against violence she doubted her strength, was filled with a desolating sense of yielding nerve and domitable muscle. but just short of violence sir isaac's spirit failed him. he would glower and bluster, half threaten, and retreat. it might come to that at last but at present it had not come to that. she could not understand why she had neither message nor sign from susan burnet, but she hid that anxiety and disappointment under her general dignity. she spent as much time with the children as she could, and until sir isaac locked up the piano she played, and was surprised to find far more in chopin than she had ever suspected in the days when she had acquired a passable dexterity of execution. she found, indeed, the most curious things in chopin, emotional phrases, that stirred and perplexed and yet pleased her.... the weather was very fine and open that year. a golden sunshine from october passed on into november and lady harman spent many of these days amidst the pretty things the builder from aleham had been too hurried to desecrate, dump, burn upon, and flatten into indistinguishable mire, after the established custom of builders in gardens since the world began. she would sit in the rockery where she had sat with mr. brumley and recall that momentous conversation, and she would wander up the pine-wood slopes behind, and she would spend long musing intervals among euphemia's perennials, thinking sometimes, and sometimes not so much thinking as feeling the warm tendernesses of nature and the perplexing difficulties of human life. with an amused amazement lady harman reflected as she walked about the pretty borders and the little patches of lawn and orchard that in this very place she was to have realized an imitation of the immortal "elizabeth" and have been wise, witty, gay, defiant, gallant and entirely successful with her "man of wrath." evidently there was some temperamental difference, or something in her situation, that altered the values of the affair. it was clearly a different sort of man for one thing. she didn't feel a bit gay, and her profound and deepening indignation with the alternative to this stagnation was tainted by a sense of weakness and incapacity. she came very near surrender several times. there were afternoons of belated ripened warmth, a kind of summer that had been long in the bottle, with a certain lassitude in the air and a blue haze among the trees, that made her feel the folly of all resistances to fate. why, after all, shouldn't she take life as she found it, that is to say, as sir isaac was prepared to give it to her? he wasn't really so bad, she told herself. the children--their noses were certainly a little sharp, but there might be worse children. the next might take after herself more. who was she to turn upon her appointed life and declare it wasn't good enough? whatever happened the world was still full of generous and beautiful things, trees, flowers, sunset and sunrise, music and mist and morning dew.... and as for this matter of the sweated workers, the harshness of the business, the ungracious competition, suppose if instead of fighting her husband with her weak powers, she persuaded him. she tried to imagine just exactly how he might be persuaded.... she looked up and discovered with an extraordinary amazement mr. brumley with eager gestures and a flushed and excited visage hurrying towards her across the croquet lawn. § lady viping's dinner-party had been kept waiting exactly thirty-five minutes for lady harman. sir isaac, with a certain excess of zeal, had intercepted the hasty note his wife had written to account for her probable absence. the party was to have centred entirely upon lady harman, it consisted either of people who knew her already, or of people who were to have been specially privileged to know her, and lady viping telephoned twice to putney before she abandoned hope. "it's disconnected," she said, returning in despair from her second struggle with the great public service. "they can't get a reply." "it's that little wretch," said lady beach-mandarin. "he hasn't let her come. _i_ know him." "it's like losing a front tooth," said lady viping, surveying her table as she entered the dining-room. "but surely--she would have written," said mr. brumley, troubled and disappointed, regarding an aching gap to the left of his chair, a gap upon which a pathetic little card bearing lady harman's name still lay obliquely. naturally the talk tended to centre upon the harmans. and naturally lady beach-mandarin was very bold and outspoken and called sir isaac quite a number of vivid things. she also aired her views of the marriage of the future, which involved a very stringent treatment of husbands indeed. "half his property and half his income," said lady beach-mandarin, "paid into her separate banking account." "but," protested mr. brumley, "would men marry under those conditions?" "men will marry anyhow," said lady beach-mandarin, "under _any_ conditions." "exactly sir joshua's opinion," said lady viping. all the ladies at the table concurred and only one cheerful bachelor barrister dissented. the other men became gloomy and betrayed a distaste for this general question. even mr. brumley felt a curious faint terror and had for a moment a glimpse of the possibilities that might lie behind the vote. lady beach-mandarin went bouncing back to the particular instance. at present, she said, witness lady harman, women were slaves, pampered slaves if you will, but slaves. as things were now there was nothing to keep a man from locking up his wife, opening all her letters, dressing her in sack-cloth, separating her from her children. most men, of course, didn't do such things, they were amenable to public opinion, but sir isaac was a jealous little ogre. he was a gnome who had carried off a princess.... she threw out projects for assailing the ogre. she would descend to-morrow morning upon the putney house, a living flamboyant writ of habeas corpus. mr. brumley, who had been putting two and two together, was abruptly moved to tell of the sale of black strand. "they may be there," he said. "he's carried her off," cried lady beach-mandarin on a top note. "it might be the eighteenth century for all he cares. but if it's black strand,--i'll go to black strand...." but she had to talk about it for a week before she actually made her raid, and then, with an instinctive need for an audience, she took with her a certain miss garradice, one of those mute, emotional nervous spinsters who drift detachedly, with quick sudden movements, glittering eyeglasses, and a pent-up imminent look, about our social system. there is something about this type of womanhood--it is hard to say--almost as though they were the bottled souls of departed buccaneers grown somehow virginal. she came with lady beach-mandarin quietly, almost humorously, and yet it was as if the pirate glittered dimly visible through the polished glass of her erect exterior. "here we are!" said lady beach-mandarin, staring astonished at the once familiar porch. "now for it!" she descended and assailed the bell herself and miss garradice stood beside her with the light of combat in her eyes and glasses and cheeks. "shall i offer to take her for a drive!" "_let's_," said miss garradice in an enthusiastic whisper. "_right away! for ever._" "_i will_," said lady beach-mandarin, and nodded desperately. she was on the point of ringing again when snagsby appeared. he stood with a large obstructiveness in the doorway. "lady 'arman, my lady" he said with a well-trained deliberation, "is not a tome." "not at home!" queried lady beach-mandarin. "not a tome, my lady," repeated snagsby invincibly. "but--when will she be at home?" "i can't say, my lady." "is sir isaac----?" "sir isaac, my lady, is not a tome. nobody is a tome, my lady." "but we've come from london!" said lady beach-mandarin. "i'm very sorry, my lady." "you see, i want my friend to see this house and garden." snagsby was visibly disconcerted. "i 'ave no instructions, my lady," he tried. "oh, but lady harman would never object----" snagsby's confusion increased. he seemed to be wanting to keep his face to the visitors and at the same time glance over his shoulder. "i will," he considered, "i will enquire, my lady." he backed a little, and seemed inclined to close the door upon them. lady beach-mandarin was too quick for him. she got herself well into the open doorway. "and of whom are you going to enquire?" a large distress betrayed itself in snagsby's eye. "the 'ousekeeper," he attempted. "it falls to the 'ousekeeper, my lady." lady beach-mandarin turned her face to miss garradice, shining in support. "stuff and nonsense," she said, "of course we shall come in." and with a wonderful movement that was at once powerful and perfectly lady-like this intrepid woman--"butted" is not the word--collided herself with snagsby and hurled him backward into the hall. miss garradice followed closely behind and at once extended herself in open order on lady beach-mandarin's right. "go and enquire," said lady beach-mandarin with a sweeping gesture of her arm. "go and enquire." for a moment snagsby surveyed the invasion with horror and then fled precipitately into the recesses of the house. "of _course_ they're at home!" said lady beach-mandarin. "fancy that--that--that _navigable_--trying to shut the door on us!" for a moment the two brightly excited ladies surveyed each other and then lady beach-mandarin, with a quickness of movement wonderful in one so abundant, began to open first one and then another of the various doors that opened into the long hall-living room. at a peculiar little cry from miss garradice she turned from a contemplation of the long low study in which so much of the euphemia books had been written, to discover sir isaac behind her, closely followed by an agonized snagsby. "a-a-a-a-h!" she cried, with both hands extended, "and so you've come in, sir isaac! that's perfectly delightful. this is my friend miss garradice, who's _dying_ to see anything you've left of poor euphemia's garden. and _how_ is dear lady harman?" for some crucial moments sir isaac was unable to speak and regarded his visitors with an expression that was unpretendingly criminal. then he found speech. "you can't," he said. "it--can't be managed." he shook his head; his lips were whitely compressed. "but all the way from london, sir isaac!" "lady harman's ill," lied sir isaac. "she mustn't be disturbed. everything has to be kept quiet. see? not even shouting. not even ordinarily raised voices. a voice like yours--might kill her. that's why snagsby here said we were not at home. we aren't at home--not to anyone." lady beach-mandarin was baffled. "snagsby," said sir isaac, "open that door." "but can't i see her--just for a moment?" sir isaac's malignity had softened a little at the prospect of victory. "absolutely impossible," he said. "everything disturbs her, every tiny thing. you----you'd be certain to." lady beach-mandarin looked at her companion and it was manifest that she was at the end of her resources. miss garradice after the fashion of highly strung spinsters suddenly felt disappointed in her leader. it wasn't, her silence intimated, for her to offer suggestions. the ladies were defeated. when at last that stiff interval ended their dresses rustled doorward, and sir isaac broke out into the civilities of a victor.... it was only when they were a mile away from black strand that fluent speech returned to lady beach-mandarin. "the little--crippen," she said. "he's got her locked up in some cellar.... horrid little face he has! he looked like a rat at bay." "i think perhaps if we'd done _differently_," said miss garradice in a tone of critical irresponsibility. "i'll write to her. that's what i'll do," said lady beach-mandarin contemplating her next step. "i'm really--concerned. and didn't you feel--something sinister. that butler-man's expression--a kind of round horror." that very evening she told it all--it was almost the trial trip of the story--to mr. brumley.... sir isaac watched their departure furtively from the study window and then ran out to the garden. he went right through into the pine woods beyond and presently, far away up the slopes, he saw his wife loitering down towards him, a gracious white tallness touched by a ray of sunlight--and without a suspicion of how nearly rescue had come to her. § so you see under what excitement mr. brumley came down to black strand. luck was with him at first and he forced the defence with ridiculous ease. "lady harman, sir, is not a tome," said snagsby. "ah!" said mr. brumley, with all the assurance of a former proprietor, "then i'll just have a look round the garden," and was through the green door in the wall and round the barn end before snagsby's mind could function. that unfortunate man went as far as the green door in pursuit and then with a gesture of despair retreated to the pantry and began cleaning all his silver to calm his agonized spirit. he could pretend perhaps that mr. brumley had never rung at the front door at all. if not---- moreover mr. brumley had the good fortune to find lady harman quite unattended and pensive upon the little seat that euphemia had placed for the better seeing of her herbaceous borders. "lady harman!" he said rather breathlessly, taking both her hands with an unwonted assurance and then sitting down beside her, "i am so glad to see you. i came down to see you--to see if i couldn't be of any service to you." "it's so kind of you to come," she said, and her dark eyes said as much or more. she glanced round and he too glanced round for sir isaac. "you see," he said. "i don't know.... i don't want to be impertinent.... but i feel--if i can be of any service to you.... i feel perhaps you want help here. i don't want to seem to be taking advantage of a situation. or making unwarrantable assumptions. but i want to assure you--i would willingly die--if only i could do anything.... ever since i first saw you." he said all this in a distracted way, with his eyes going about the garden for the possible apparition of sir isaac, and all the time his sense of possible observers made him assume an attitude as though he was engaged in the smallest of small talk. her colour quickened at the import of his words, and emotion, very rich and abundant emotion, its various factors not altogether untouched perhaps by the spirit of laughter, lit her eyes. she doubted a little what he was saying and yet she had anticipated that somehow, some day, in quite other circumstances, mr. brumley might break into some such strain. "you see," he went on with a quality of appeal in his eyes, "there's so little time to say things--without possible interruption. i feel you are in difficulties and i want to make you understand----we----every beautiful woman, i suppose, has a sort of right to a certain sort of man. i want to tell you--i'm not really presuming to make love to you--but i want to tell you i am altogether yours, altogether at your service. i've had sleepless nights. all this time i've been thinking about you. i'm quite clear, i haven't a doubt, i'll do anything for you, without reward, without return, i'll be your devoted brother, anything, if only you'll make use of me...." her colour quickened. she looked around and still no one appeared. "it's so kind of you to come like this," she said. "you say things--but i _have_ felt that you wanted to be brotherly...." "whatever i _can_ be," assured mr. brumley. "my situation here," she said, her dark frankness of gaze meeting his troubled eyes. "it's so strange and difficult. i don't know what to do. i don't know--what i _want_ to do...." "in london," said mr. brumley, "they think--they say--you have been taken off--brought down here--to a sort of captivity." "i _have_," admitted lady harman with a note of recalled astonishment in her voice. "if i can help you to escape----!" "but where can i escape?" and one must admit that it is a little difficult to indicate a correct refuge for a lady who finds her home intolerable. of course there was mrs. sawbridge, but lady harman felt that her mother's disposition to lock herself into her bedroom at the slightest provocation made her a weak support for a defensive fight, and in addition that boarding-house at bournemouth did not attract her. yet what other wall in all the world was there for lady harman to set her back against? during the last few days mr. brumley's mind had been busy with the details of impassioned elopements conducted in the most exalted spirit, but now in the actual presence of the lady these projects did in the most remarkable manner vanish. "couldn't you," he said at last, "go somewhere?" and then with an air of being meticulously explicit, "i mean, isn't there somewhere, where you might safely go?" (and in his dreams he had been crossing high passes with her; he had halted suddenly and stayed her mule. in his dream because he was a man of letters and a poet it was always a mule, never a _train de luxe_. "look," he had said, "below there,--_italy!_--the country you have never seen before.") "there's nowhere," she answered. "now _where_?" asked mr. brumley, "and how?" with the tone and something of the gesture of one who racks his mind. "if you only trust yourself to me----oh! lady harman, if i dared ask it----" he became aware of sir isaac walking across the lawn towards them.... the two men greeted each other with a reasonable cordiality. "i wanted to see how you were getting on down here," said mr. brumley, "and whether there was anything i could do for you." "we're getting on all right," said sir isaac with no manifest glow of gratitude. "you've altered the old barn--tremendously." "come and see it," said sir isaac. "it's a wing." mr. brumley remained seated. "it was the first thing that struck me, lady harman. this evidence of sir isaac's energy." "come and look over it," sir isaac persisted. mr. brumley and lady harman rose together. "one's enough to show him that," said sir isaac. "i was telling lady harman how much we missed her at lady viping's, sir isaac." "it was on account of the drains," sir isaac explained. "you can't--it's foolhardy to stay a day when the drains are wrong, dinners or no dinners." "you know _i_ was extremely sorry not to come to lady viping's. i hope you'll tell her. i wrote." but mr. brumley didn't remember clearly enough to make any use of that. "everybody naturally _is_ sorry on an occasion of that sort," said sir isaac. "but you come and see what we've done in that barn. in three weeks. they couldn't have got it together in three months ten years ago. it's--system." mr. brumley still tried to cling to lady harman. "have you been interested in this building?" he asked. "i still don't understand the system of the corridor," she said, rising a little belatedly to the occasion. "i _will_ come." sir isaac regarded her for a moment with a dubious expression and then began to explain the new method of building with large prepared units and shaped pieces of reinforced concrete instead of separate bricks that messrs. prothero & cuthbertson had organized and which had enabled him to create this artistic corridor so simply. it was a rather uncomfortable three-cornered conversation. sir isaac addressed his exposition exclusively to mr. brumley and mr. brumley made repeated ineffectual attempts to bring lady harman, and lady harman made repeated ineffectual attempts to bring herself, into a position in the conversation. their eyes met, the glow of mr. brumley's declarations remained with them, but neither dared risk any phrase that might arouse sir isaac's suspicions or escape his acuteness. and when they had gone through the new additions pretty thoroughly--the plumbers were still busy with the barn bathroom--sir isaac asked mr. brumley if there was anything more he would like to see. in the slight pause that ensued lady harman suggested tea. but tea gave them no opportunity of resuming their interrupted conversation, and as sir isaac's invincible determination to shadow his visitor until he was well off the premises became more and more unmistakable,--he made it quite ungraciously unmistakable,--mr. brumley's inventiveness failed. one thing came to him suddenly, but it led to nothing of any service to him. "but i heard you were dangerously ill, lady harman!" he cried. "lady beach-mandarin called here----" "but when?" asked lady harman, astonished over the tea-things. "but you _know_ she called!" said mr. brumley and looked in affected reproach at sir isaac. "i've not been ill at all!" "sir isaac told her." "told her i was ill!" "dangerously ill. that you couldn't bear to be disturbed." "but _when_, mr. brumley?" "three days ago." they both looked at sir isaac who was sitting on the music stool and eating a piece of tea-cake with a preoccupied air. he swallowed and then spoke thoughtfully--in a tone of detached observation. nothing but a slight reddening of the eyes betrayed any unusual feeling in him. "it's my opinion," he said, "that that old lady--lady beach-mandarin i mean--doesn't know what she's saying half the time. she says--oh! remarkable things. saying _that_ for example!" "but did she call on me?" "she called. i'm surprised you didn't hear. and she was all in a flurry for going on.... did you come down, mr. brumley, to see if lady harman was ill?" "that weighed with me." "well,--you see she isn't," said sir isaac and brushed a stray crumb from his coat.... mr. brumley was at last impelled gateward and sir isaac saw him as far as the high-road. "good-bye!" cried mr. brumley with excessive amiability. sir isaac with soundless lips made a good-bye like gesture. "and now," said sir isaac to himself with extreme bitterness, "now to see about getting a dog." "bull mastiff?" said sir isaac developing his idea as he went back to lady harman. "or perhaps a thoroughly vicious collie?" "how did that chap get in?" he demanded. "what had he got to say to you?" "he came in--to look at the garden," said lady harman. "and of course he wanted to know if i had been well--because of lady viping's party. and i suppose because of what you told lady beach-mandarin." sir isaac grunted doubtfully. he thought of snagsby and of all the instructions he had given snagsby. he turned about and went off swiftly and earnestly to find snagsby.... snagsby lied. but sir isaac was able to tell from the agitated way in which he was cleaning his perfectly clean silver at that unseasonable hour that the wretched man was lying. § quite a number of words came to the lips of mr. brumley as he went unwillingly along the pleasant country road that led from black strand to the railway station. but the word he ultimately said showed how strongly the habits of the gentlemanly _littérateur_ prevailed in him. it was the one inevitable word for his mood,--"baffled!" close upon its utterance came the weak irritation of the impotent man. "what the _devil_?" cried mr. brumley. some critical spirit within him asked him urgently why he was going to the station, what he thought he was doing, what he thought he had done, and what he thought he was going to do. to all of which questions mr. brumley perceived he had no adequate reply. earlier in the day he had been inspired by a vague yet splendid dream of large masterful liberations achieved. he had intended to be very disinterested, very noble, very firm, and so far as sir isaac was concerned, a trifle overbearing. you know now what he said and did. "of course if we could have talked for a little longer," he said. from the stormy dissatisfaction of his retreat this one small idea crystallized, that he had not talked enough without disturbance to lady harman. the thing he had to do was to talk to her some more. to go on with what he had been saying. that thought arrested his steps. on that hypothesis there was no reason whatever why he should go on to the station and london. instead----he stopped short, saw a convenient gate ahead, went to it, seated himself upon its topmost rail and attempted a calm survey of the situation. he had somehow to continue that conversation with lady harman. was it impossible to do that by going back to the front door of black strand? his instinct was against that course. he knew that if he went back now openly he would see nobody but sir isaac or his butler. he must therefore not go back openly. he must go round now and into the pine-woods at the back of black strand; thence he must watch the garden and find his opportunity of speaking to the imprisoned lady. there was something at once attractively romantic and repellently youthful about this course of action. mr. brumley looked at his watch, then he surveyed the blue clear sky overhead, with just one warm tinted wisp of cloud. it would be dark in an hour and it was probable that lady harman had already gone indoors for the day. might it be possible after dark to approach the house? no one surely knew the garden so well as he. of course this sort of thing is always going on in romances; in the stories of that last great survivor of the stevensonian tradition, h.b. marriot watson, the heroes are always creeping through woods, tapping at windows, and scaling house-walls, but mr. brumley as he sat on his gate became very sensible of his own extreme inexperience in such adventures. and yet anything seemed in his present mood better than going back to london. suppose he tried his luck! he knew of course the lie of the land about black strand very well indeed and his harmless literary social standing gave him a certain freedom of trespass. he dropped from his gate on the inner side and taking a bridle path through a pine-wood was presently out upon the moorland behind his former home. he struck the high-road that led past the staminal bread board and was just about to clamber over the barbed wire on his left and make his way through the trees to the crest that commanded the black strand garden when he perceived a man in a velveteen coat and gaiters strolling towards him. he decided not to leave the road until he was free from observation. the man was a stranger, an almost conventional gamekeeper, and he endorsed mr. brumley's remark upon the charmingness of the day with guarded want of enthusiasm. mr. brumley went on for some few minutes, then halted, assured himself that the stranger was well out of sight and returned at once towards the point where high-roads were to be left and adventure begun. but he was still some yards away when he became aware of that velveteen-coated figure approaching again. "damn!" said mr. brumley and slacked his eager paces. this time he expressed a view that the weather was extremely mild. "very," said the man in velveteen with a certain lack of respect in his manner. it was no good turning back again. mr. brumley went on slowly, affected to botanize, watched the man out of sight and immediately made a dash for the pine-woods, taking the barbed wire in a manner extremely detrimental to his left trouser leg. he made his way obliquely up through the trees to the crest from which he had so often surveyed the shining ponds of aleham. there he paused to peer back for that gamekeeper--whom he supposed in spite of reason to be stalking him--to recover his breath and to consider his further plans. the sunset was very fine that night, a great red sun was sinking towards acutely outlined hill-crests, the lower nearer distances were veiled in lavender mists and three of the ponds shone like the fragments of a shattered pink topaz. but mr. brumley had no eye for landscape.... about two hours after nightfall mr. brumley reached the railway station. his trousers and the elbow of his coat bore witness to a second transit of the barbed-wire fence in the darkness, he had manifestly walked into a boggy place and had some difficulty in recovering firm ground and he had also been sliding in a recumbent position down a bank of moist ferruginous sand. moreover he had cut the palm of his left hand. there was a new strange stationmaster who regarded him without that respect to which he had grown accustomed. he received the information that the winter train service had been altered and that he would have to wait forty-five minutes for the next train to london with the resignation of a man already chastened by misfortune and fatigue. he went into the waiting-room and after a vain search for the poker--the new stationmaster evidently kept it in a different place--sat down in front of an irritatingly dull fire banked up with slack, and nursed his damaged hand and meditated on his future plans. his plans were still exactly in the state in which they had been when sir isaac parted from him at the gate of black strand. they remained in the same state for two whole days. throughout all that distressing period his general intention of some magnificent intervention on behalf of lady harman remained unchanged, it produced a number of moving visions of flights at incredible speeds in (recklessly hired) motor-cars of colossal power,--most of the purchase money for black strand was still uninvested at his bank--of impassioned interviews with various people, of a divorce court with a hardened judge congratulating the manifestly quite formal co-respondent on the moral beauty of his behaviour, but it evolved no sort of concrete practicable detail upon which any kind of action might be taken. and during this period of indecision mr. brumley was hunted through london by a feverish unrest. when he was in his little flat in pont street he was urged to go to his club, when he got to his club he was urged to go anywhere else, he called on the most improbable people and as soon as possible fled forth again, he even went to the british museum and ordered out a lot of books on matrimonial law. long before that great machine had disgorged them for him he absconded and this neglected, this widowed pile of volumes still standing to his account only came back to his mind in the middle of the night suddenly and disturbingly while he was trying to remember the exact words he had used in his brief conversation with lady harman.... § two days after mr. brumley's visit susan burnet reached black strand. she too had been baffled for a while. for some week or more she couldn't discover the whereabouts of lady harman and lived in the profoundest perplexity. she had brought back her curtains to the putney house in a large but luggable bundle, they were all made and ready to put up, and she found the place closed and locked, in the charge of a caretaker whose primary duty it was to answer no questions. it needed several days of thought and amazement, and a vast amount of "i wonder," and "i just would like to know," before it occurred to susan that if she wrote to lady harman at the putney address the letter might be forwarded. and even then she almost wrecked the entire enterprise by mentioning the money, and it was by a quite exceptional inspiration that she thought after all it was wiser not to say that but to state that she had finished the curtains and done everything (underlined) that lady harman had desired. sir isaac read it and tossed it over to his wife. "make her send her bill," he remarked. whereupon lady harman set mrs. crumble in motion to bring susan down to black strand. this wasn't quite easy because as mrs. crumble pointed out they hadn't the slightest use for susan's curtains there, and lady harman had to find the morning light quite intolerable in her bedroom--she always slept with window wide open and curtains drawn back--to create a suitable demand for susan's services. but at last susan came, too humbly invisible for sir isaac's attention, and directly she found lady harman alone in the room with her, she produced a pawn ticket and twenty pounds. "i 'ad to give all sorts of particulars," she said. "it was a job. but i did it...." the day was big with opportunity, for sir isaac had been unable to conceal the fact that he had to spend the morning in london. he had gone up in the big car and his wife was alone, and so, with susan upstairs still deftly measuring for totally unnecessary hangings, lady harman was able to add a fur stole and a muff and some gloves to her tweed gardening costume, walk unchallenged into the garden and from the garden into the wood and up the hillside and over the crest and down to the high-road and past that great advertisement of staminal bread and so for four palpitating miles, to the railway station and the outer world. she had the good fortune to find a train imminent,--the twelve-seventeen. she took a first-class ticket for london and got into a compartment with another woman because she felt it would be safer. § lady harman reached miss alimony's flat at half-past three in the afternoon. she had lunched rather belatedly and uncomfortably in the waterloo refreshment room and she had found out that miss alimony was at home through the telephone. "i want to see you urgently," she said, and miss alimony received her in that spirit. she was hatless but she had a great cloud of dark fuzzy hair above the grey profundity of her eyes and she wore an artistic tea-gown that in spite of a certain looseness at neck and sleeve emphasized the fine lines of her admirable figure. her flat was furnished chiefly with books and rich oriental hangings and vast cushions and great bowls of scented flowers. on the mantel-shelf was the crystal that amused her lighter moments and above it hung a circular allegory by florence swinstead, very rich in colour, the awakening of woman, in a heavy gold frame. miss alimony conducted her guest to an armchair, knelt flexibly on the hearthrug before her, took up a small and elegant poker with a brass handle and a spear-shaped service end of iron and poked the fire. the service end came out from the handle and fell into the grate. "it always does that," said miss alimony charmingly. "but never mind." she warmed both hands at the blaze. "tell me all about it," she said, softly. lady harman felt she would rather have been told all about it. but perhaps that would follow. "you see," she said, "i find----my married life----" she halted. it _was_ very difficult to tell. "everyone," said agatha, giving a fine firelit profile, and remaining gravely thoughtful through a little pause. "do you mind," she asked abruptly, "if i smoke?" when she had completed her effect with a delicately flavoured cigarette, she encouraged lady harman to proceed. this lady harman did in a manner do. she said her husband left her no freedom of mind or movement, gave her no possession of herself, wanted to control her reading and thinking. "he insists----" she said. "yes," said miss agatha sternly blowing aside her cigarette smoke. "they all insist." "he insists," said lady harman, "on seeing all my letters, choosing all my friends. i have no control over my house or my servants, no money except what he gives me." "in fact you are property." "i'm simply property." "a harem of one. and all _that_ is within the provisions of the law!" "how any woman can marry!" said miss agatha, after a little interval. "i sometimes think that is where the true strike of the sex ought to begin. if none of us married! if we said all of us, 'no,--definitely--we refuse this bargain! it is a man-made contract. we have had no voice in it. we decline.' perhaps it will come to that. and i knew that you, you with that quiet beautiful penetration in your eyes would come to see it like that. the first task, after the vote is won, will be the revision of that contract. the very first task of our women statesmen...." she ceased and revived her smouldering cigarette and mused blinking through the smoke. she seemed for a time almost lost to the presence of her guest in a great daydream of womanstatecraft. "and so," she said, "you've come, as they all come,--to join us." "_well_," said lady harman in a tone that made agatha turn eyes of surprise upon her. "of course," continued lady harman, "i suppose--i shall join you; but as a matter of fact you see, what i've done to-day has been to come right away.... you see i am still in my garden tweeds.... there it was down there, a sort of stale mate...." agatha sat up on her heels. "but my dear!" she said, "you don't mean you've run away?" "yes,--i've run away." "but--run away!" "i sold a ring and got some money and here i am!" "but--what are you going to do?" "i don't know. i thought you perhaps--might advise." "but--a man like your husband! he'll pursue you!" "if he knows where i am, he will," said lady harman. "he'll make a scandal. my dear! are you wise? tell me, tell me exactly, _why_ have you run away? i didn't understand at all--that you had run away." "because," began lady harman and flushed hotly. "it was impossible," she said. miss alimony regarded her deeply. "i wonder," she said. "i feel," said lady harman, "if i stayed, if i gave in----i mean after--after i had once--rebelled. then i should just be--a wife--ruled, ordered----" "it wasn't your place to give in," said miss alimony and added one of those parliament touches that creep more and more into feminine phraseology; "i agree to that--_nemine contradicente_. but--i _wonder_...." she began a second cigarette and thought in profile again. "i think, perhaps, i haven't explained, clearly, how things are," said lady harman, and commenced a rather more explicit statement of her case. she felt she had not conveyed and she wanted to convey to miss alimony that her rebellion was not simply a desire for personal freedom and autonomy, that she desired these things because she was becoming more and more aware of large affairs outside her home life in which she ought to be not simply interested but concerned, that she had been not merely watching the workings of the business that made her wealthy, but reading books about socialism, about social welfare that had stirred her profoundly.... "but he won't even allow me to know of such things," she said.... miss alimony listened a little abstractedly. suddenly she interrupted. "tell me," she said, "one thing.... i confess," she explained, "i've no business to ask. but if i'm to advise----if my advice is to be worth anything...." "yes?" asked lady harman. "is there----is there someone else?" "someone else?" lady harman was crimson. "on _your_ side!" "someone else on my side?" "i mean--someone. a man perhaps? some man that you care for? more than you do for your husband?..." "_i can't imagine_," whispered lady harman, "_anything_----" and left her sentence unfinished. her breath had gone. her indignation was profound. "then i can't understand why you should find it so important to come away." lady harman could offer no elucidation. "you see," said miss alimony, with an air of expert knowledge, "our case against our opponents is just exactly their great case against us. they say to us when we ask for the vote, 'the woman's place is the home.' 'precisely,' we answer, 'the woman's place _is_ the home. _give_ us our homes!' now _your_ place is your home--with your children. that's where you have to fight your battle. running away--for you it's simply running away." "but----if i stay i shall be beaten." lady harman surveyed her hostess with a certain dismay. "do you understand, agatha? i _can't_ go back." "but my dear! what else can you do? what had you thought?" "you see," said lady harman, after a little struggle with that childish quality in her nerves that might, if it wasn't controlled, make her eyes brim. "you see, i didn't expect you quite to take this view. i thought perhaps you might be disposed----if i could have stayed with you here, only for a little time, i could have got some work or something----" "it's so dreadful," said miss alimony, sitting far back with the relaxation of infinite regrets. "it's dreadful." "of course if you don't see it as i do----" "i can't," said miss alimony. "i can't." she turned suddenly upon her visitor and grasped her knees with her shapely hands. "oh let me implore you! don't run away. please for my sake, for all our sakes, for the sake of womanhood, don't run away! stay at your post. you mustn't run away. you must _not_. if you do, you admit everything. everything. you must fight in your home. it's _your_ home. that is the great principle you must grasp,--it's not his. it's there your duty lies. and there are your children--_your_ children, your little ones! think if you go--there may be a fearful fuss--proceedings. lawyers--a search. very probably he will take all sorts of proceedings. it will be a matrimonial case. how can i be associated with that? we mustn't mix up women's freedom with matrimonial cases. impossible! we _dare_ not! a woman leaving her husband! think of the weapon it gives our enemies. if once other things complicate the vote,--the vote is lost. after all our self-denial, after all our sacrifices.... you see! don't you _see_?... "_fight!_" she summarized after an eloquent interval. "you mean," said lady harman,--"you think i ought to go back." miss alimony paused to get her full effect. "_yes_," she said in a profound whisper and endorsed it, "oh so much so!--yes." "now?" "instantly." for an interval neither lady spoke. it was the visitor at last who broke the tension. "do you think," she asked in a small voice and with the hesitation of one whom no refusal can surprise; "you could give me a cup of tea?" miss alimony rose with a sigh and a slow unfolding rustle. "i forgot," she said. "my little maid is out." lady harman left alone sat for a time staring at the fire with her eyes rather wide and her eyebrows raised as though she mutely confided to it her infinite astonishment. this was the last thing she had expected. she would have to go to some hotel. can a woman stay alone at an hotel? her heart sank. inflexible forces seemed to be pointing her back to home--and sir isaac. he would be a very triumphant sir isaac, and she'd not have much heart left in her.... "i _won't_ go back," she whispered to herself. "whatever happens i _won't_ go back...." then she became aware of the evening newspaper miss alimony had been reading. the headline, "suffrage raid on regent street," caught her eye. a queer little idea came into her head. it grew with tremendous rapidity. she put out a hand and took up the paper and read. she had plenty of time to read because her hostess not only got the tea herself but went during that process to her bedroom and put on one of those hats that have contributed so much to remove the stigma of dowdiness from the suffrage cause, as an outward and visible sign that she was presently ceasing to be at home.... lady harman found an odd fact in the report before her. "one of the most difficult things to buy at the present time in the west end of london," it ran, "is a hammer...." then a little further: "the magistrate said it was impossible to make discriminations in this affair. all the defendants must have a month's imprisonment...." when miss alimony returned lady harman put down the paper almost guiltily. afterwards miss alimony recalled that guilty start, and the still more guilty start that had happened, when presently she went out of the room again and returned with a lamp, for the winter twilight was upon them. afterwards, too, she was to learn what had become of the service end of her small poker, the little iron club, which she missed almost as soon as lady harman had gone.... lady harman had taken that grubby but convenient little instrument and hidden it in her muff, and she had gone straight out of miss alimony's flat to the post office at the corner of jago street, and there, with one simple effective impact, had smashed a ground-glass window, the property of his majesty king george the fifth. and having done so, she had called the attention of a youthful policeman, fresh from yorkshire, to her offence, and after a slight struggle with his incredulity and a visit to the window in question, had escorted him to the south hampsmith police-station, and had there made him charge her. and on the way she explained to him with a newfound lucidity why it was that women should have votes. and all this she did from the moment of percussion onward, in a mood of exaltation entirely strange to her, but, as she was astonished to find, by no means disagreeable. she found afterwards that she only remembered very indistinctly her selection of the window and her preparations for the fatal blow, but that the effect of the actual breakage remained extraordinarily vivid upon her memory. she saw with extreme distinctness both as it was before and after the breakage, first as a rather irregular grey surface, shining in the oblique light of a street lamp, and giving pale phantom reflections of things in the street, and then as it was after her blow. it was all visual impression in her memory; she could not recollect afterwards if there had been any noise at all. where there had been nothing but a milky dinginess a thin-armed, irregular star had flashed into being, and a large triangular piece at its centre, after what seemed an interminable indecision, had slid, first covertly downward, and then fallen forward at her feet and shivered into a hundred fragments.... lady harman realized that a tremendous thing had been done--irrevocably. she stared at her achievement open-mouthed. the creative lump of iron dropped from her hand. she had a momentary doubt whether she had really wanted to break that window at all; and then she understood that this business had to be seen through, and seen through with neatness and dignity; and that wisp of regret vanished absolutely in her concentration upon these immediate needs. § some day, when the arts of the writer and illustrator are more closely blended than they are to-day, it will be possible to tell of all that followed this blow, with an approach to its actual effect. here there should stand a page showing simply and plainly the lower half of the window of the jago street post office, a dark, rather grimy pane, reflecting the light of a street lamp--and _broken_. below the pane would come a band of evilly painted woodwork, a corner of letter-box, a foot or so of brickwork, and then the pavement with a dropped lump of iron. that would be the sole content of this page, and the next page would be the same, but very slightly fainter, and across it would be printed a dim sentence or so of explanation. the page following that would show the same picture again, but now several lines of type would be visible, and then, as one turned over, the smashed window would fade a little, and the printed narrative, still darkened and dominated by it, would nevertheless resume. one would read on how lady harman returned to convince the incredulous young yorkshireman of her feat, how a man with a barrow-load of bananas volunteered comments, and how she went in custody, but with the extremest dignity, to the police-station. then, with some difficulty, because that imposed picture would still prevail over the letterpress, and because it would be in small type, one would learn how she was bailed out by lady beach-mandarin, who was clearly the woman she ought to have gone to in the first place, and who gave up a dinner with a duchess to entertain her, and how sir isaac, being too torn by his feelings to come near her spent the evening in a frantic attempt to keep the whole business out of the papers. he could not manage it. the magistrate was friendly next morning, but inelegant in his friendly expedients; he remanded lady harman until her mental condition could be inquired into, but among her fellow-defendants--there had been quite an epidemic of window-smashing that evening--lady harman shone pre-eminently sane. she said she had broken this window because she was assured that nothing would convince people of the great dissatisfaction of women with their conditions except such desperate acts, and when she was reminded of her four daughters she said it was precisely the thought of how they too would grow up to womanhood that had made her strike her blow. the statements were rather the outcome of her evening with lady beach-mandarin than her own unaided discoveries, but she had honestly assimilated them, and she expressed them with a certain simple dignity. sir isaac made a pathetic appearance before the court, and lady harman was shocked to see how worn he was with distress at her scandalous behaviour. he looked a broken man. that curious sense of personal responsibility, which had slumbered throughout the black strand struggle, came back to her in a flood, and she had to grip the edge of the dock tightly to maintain her self-control. unaccustomed as he was to public speaking, sir isaac said in a low, sorrow-laden voice, he had provided himself with a written statement dissociating himself from the views his wife's rash action might seem to imply, and expressing his own opinions upon woman's suffrage and the relations of the sexes generally, with especial reference to contemporary literature. he had been writing it most of the night. he was not, however, permitted to read this, and he then made an unstudied appeal for the consideration and mercy of the court. he said lady harman had always been a good mother and a faithful wife; she had been influenced by misleading people and bad books and publications, the true significance of which she did not understand, and if only the court would regard this first offence leniently he was ready to take his wife away and give any guarantee that might be specified that it should not recur. the magistrate was sympathetic and kindly, but he pointed out that this window-breaking had to be stamped out, and that it could only be stamped out by refusing any such exception as sir isaac desired. and so sir isaac left the court widowed for a month, a married man without a wife, and terribly distressed. all this and more one might tell in detail, and how she went to her cell, and the long tedium of her imprisonment, and how deeply snagsby felt the disgrace, and how miss alimony claimed her as a convert to the magic of her persuasions, and many such matters--there is no real restraint upon a novelist fully resolved to be english and gothic and unclassical except obscure and inexplicable instincts. but these obscure and inexplicable instincts are at times imperative, and on this occasion they insist that here must come a break, a pause, in the presence of this radiating gap in the postmaster-general's glass, and the phenomenon of this gentle and beautiful lady, the mother of four children, grasping in her gloved hand, and with a certain amateurishness, a lumpish poker-end of iron. we make the pause by ending the chapter here and by resuming the story at a fresh point--with an account of various curious phases in the mental development of mr. brumley. chapter the ninth mr. brumley is troubled by difficult ideas § then as that picture of a post office pane, smashed and with a large hole knocked clean through it, fades at last upon the reader's consciousness, let another and a kindred spectacle replace it. it is the carefully cleaned and cherished window of mr. brumley's mind, square and tidy and as it were "frosted" against an excess of light, and in that also we have now to record the most jagged all and devastating fractures. little did mr. brumley reckon when first he looked up from his laces at black strand, how completely that pretty young woman in the dark furs was destined to shatter all the assumptions that had served his life. but you have already had occasion to remark a change in mr. brumley's bearing and attitude that carries him far from the kindly and humorous conservatism of his earlier work. you have shared lady harman's astonishment at the ardour of his few stolen words in the garden, an astonishment that not only grew but flowered in the silences of her captivity, and you know something of the romantic impulses, more at least than she did, that gave his appearance at the little local railway station so belated and so disreputable a flavour. in the chilly ill-flavoured solitude of her prison cell and with a mind quickened by meagre and distasteful fare, lady harman had ample leisure to reflect upon many things, she had already fully acquainted herself with the greater proportion of mr. brumley's published works, and she found the utmost difficulty in reconciling the flushed impassioned quality of his few words of appeal, with the moral assumptions of his published opinions. on the whole she was inclined to think that her memory had a little distorted what he had said. in this however she was mistaken; mr. brumley had really been proposing an elopement and he was now entirely preoccupied with the idea of rescuing, obtaining and possessing lady harman for himself as soon as the law released her. one may doubt whether this extensive change from a humorous conservatism to a primitive and dangerous romanticism is to be ascribed entirely to the personal charm, great as it no doubt was, of lady harman; rather did her tall soft dark presence come to release a long accumulating store of discontent and unrest beneath the polished surfaces of mr. brumley's mind. things had been stirring in him for some time; the latter euphemia books had lacked much of the freshness of their precursors and he had found it increasingly hard, he knew not why, to keep up the lightness, the geniality, the friendly badinage of successful and accepted things, the sunny disregard of the grim and unamiable aspects of existence, that were the essential merits of that optimistic period of our literature in which mr. brumley had begun his career. with every justification in the world mr. brumley had set out to be an optimist, even in the _granta_ his work had been distinguished by its gay yet steadfast superficiality, and his early success, his rapid popularity, had done much to turn this early disposition into a professional attitude. he had determined that for all his life he would write for comfortable untroubled people in the character of a light-spirited, comfortable, untroubled person, and that each year should have its book of connubial humour, its travel in picturesque places, its fun and its sunshine, like roses budding in succession on a stem. he did his utmost to conceal from himself the melancholy realization that the third and the fourth roses were far less wonderful than the first and the second, and that by continuing the descending series a rose might be attained at last that was almost unattractive, but he was already beginning to suspect that he was getting less animated and a little irritable when euphemia very gently and gracefully but very firmly and rather enigmatically died, and after an interval of tender and tenderly expressed regrets he found himself, in spite of the most strenuous efforts to keep bright and kindly and optimistic in the best style, dull and getting duller--he could disguise the thing no longer. and he weighed more. six--eight--eleven pounds more. he took a flat in london, dined and lunched out lightly but frequently, sought the sympathetic friendship of several charming ladies, and involved himself deeply in the affairs of the academic committee. indeed he made a quite valiant struggle to feel that optimism was just where it always had been and everything all right and very bright with him and with the world about him. he did not go under without a struggle. but as max beerbohm's caricature--the one i mean--brought out all too plainly, there was in his very animation, something of the alert liveliness of the hunted man. do what he would he had a terrible irrational feeling that things, as yet scarce imagined things, were after him and would have him. even as he makes his point, even as he gesticulates airily, with his rather distinctively north european nose beerbohmically enlarged and his sensitive nostril in the air, he seems to be looking at something he does not want to look at, something conceivably pursuing, out of the corner of his eye. the thing that was assailing mr. brumley and making his old established humour and tenderness seem dull and opaque and giving this new uneasy quality to his expression was of course precisely the thing that sir isaac meant when he talked about "idees" and their disturbing influence upon all the once assured tranquillities and predominances of putney life. it was criticism breaking bounds. as a basis and substance for the tissue of whimsically expressed happiness and confident appreciation of the good things of life, which mr. brumley had set before himself as his agreeable--and it was to be hoped popular and profitable--life-task, certain assumptions had been necessary. they were assumptions he had been very willing to make and which were being made in the most exemplary way by the writers who were succeeding all about him at the commencement of his career. and these assumptions had had such an air then of being quite trustworthy, as being certain to wash and wear! already nowadays it is difficult to get them stated; they have become incredible while still too near to justify the incredibility that attaches to history. it was assumed, for example, that in the institutions, customs and culture of the middle victorian period, humanity had, so far as the broad lines of things are concerned, achieved its goal. there were of course still bad men and women--individually--and classes one had to recognize as "lower," but all the main things were right, general ideas were right; the law was right, institutions were right, consols and british railway debentures were right and were going to keep right for ever. the abolition of slavery in america had been the last great act which had inaugurated this millennium. except for individual instances the tragic intensities of life were over now and done with; there was no more need for heroes and martyrs; for the generality of humanity the phase of genial comedy had begun. there might be improvements and refinements ahead, but social, political and economic arrangement were now in their main outlines settled for good and all; nothing better was possible and it was the agreeable task of the artist and the man of letters to assist and celebrate this establishment. there was to be much editing of shakespear and charles lamb, much delightful humour and costume romance, and an academy of refined fine writers would presently establish belles-lettres on the reputable official basis, write _finis_ to creative force and undertake the task of stereotyping the language. literature was to have its once terrible ferments reduced to the quality of a helpful pepsin. ideas were dead--or domesticated. the last wild idea, in an impoverished and pitiful condition, had been hunted down and killed in the mobbing of, "the woman who did." for a little time the world did actually watch a phase of english writing that dared nothing, penetrated nothing, suppressed everything and aspired at most to charm, creep like a transitory patch of sunlight across a storm-rent universe. and vanish.... at no time was it a perfectly easy task to pretend that the crazy makeshifts of our legal and political systems, the staggering accidents of economic relationship, the festering disorder of contemporary philosophy and religious teaching, the cruel and stupid bed of king og that is our last word in sexual adjustment, really constituted a noble and enduring sanity, and it became less and less so with the acute disillusionments that arose out of the boer war. the first decade of the twentieth century was for the english a decade of badly sprained optimism. our empire was nearly beaten by a handful of farmers amidst the jeering contempt of the whole world--and we felt it acutely for several years. we began to question ourselves. mr. brumley found his gay but entirely respectable irresponsibility harder and harder to keep up as that decade wore on. and close upon the south african trouble came that extraordinary new discontent of women with a woman's lot which we have been observing as it reached and troubled the life of lady harman. women who had hitherto so passively made the bulk of that reading public which sustained mr. brumley and his kind--they wanted something else! and behind and beneath these immediately disconcerting things still more sinister hintings and questioning were beginning to pluck at contentment. in nobody would have dreamt of asking and in even mr. brumley was asking, "are things going on much longer?" a hundred little incidents conspired to suggest that a christianity that had, to put it mildly, shirked the darwinian challenge, had no longer the palliating influence demanded of a national religion, and that down there in the deep levels of labour where they built railways to carry mr. brumley's food and earn him dividends, where they made engines and instruments and textiles and drains for his little needs, there was a new, less bounded discontent, a grimmer spirit, something that one tried in vain to believe was only the work of "agitators," something that was to be pacified no longer by the thin pretences of liberalism, something that might lead ultimately--optimism scarcely dared to ask whither.... mr. brumley did his best to resist the influence of these darkening ideas. he tried to keep it up that everything was going well and that most of these shadows and complaints were the mischief of a few incurably restless personalities. he tried to keep it up that to belong to the working class was a thoroughly jolly thing--for those who were used to it. he declared that all who wanted to alter our laws or our ideas about property or our methods of production were envious and base and all who wanted any change between the sexes, foolish or vicious. he tried to go on disposing of socialists, agitators, feminists, women's suffragists, educationists and every sort of reformer with a good-humoured contempt. and he found an increasing difficulty in keeping his contempt sufficiently good-humoured. instead of laughing down at folly and failure, he had moments when he felt that he was rather laughing up--a little wryly--at monstrous things impending. and since ideas are things of atmosphere and the spirit, insidious wolves of the soul, they crept up to him and gnawed the insides out of him even as he posed as their manful antagonist. insensibly mr. brumley moved with his times. it is the necessary first phase in the break-up of any system of unsound assumptions that a number of its votaries should presently set about padding its cutting corners and relieving the harsh pressure of its injustices by exuberances of humour and sentimentality. mr. brumley became charitable and romantic,--orthodox still but charitable and romantic. he was all for smashing with the generalization, but now in the particular instance he was more and more for forgiveness. one finds creeping into the later euphemia books a bret-harte-like doctrine that a great number of bad women are really good and a persuasion in the 'raffles' key that a large proportion of criminals are really very picturesque and admirable fellows. one wonders how far mr. brumley's less ostensible life was softening in harmony with this exterior change, this tender twilight of principle. he wouldn't as yet face the sterner fact that most people who are condemned by society, whether they are condemned justly or not, are by the very gregariousness of man's nature debased, and that a law or custom that stamps you as bad makes you bad. a great state should have high and humane and considerate laws nobly planned, nobly administered and needing none of these shabby little qualifications _sotto voce_. to find goodness in the sinner and justification in the outcast is to condemn the law, but as yet mr. brumley's heart failed where his intelligence pointed towards that conclusion. he hadn't the courage to revise his assumptions about right and wrong to that extent; he just allowed them to get soft and sloppy. he waded, where there should be firm ground. he waded toward wallowing. this is a perilous way of living and the sad little end of euphemia, flushed and coughing, left him no doubt in many ways still more exposed to the temptations of the sentimental byway and the emotional gloss. happily this is a book about lady harman and not an exhaustive monograph upon mr. brumley. we will at least leave him the refuge of a few shadows. occasionally he would write an important signed review for the _twentieth century_ or the _hebdomadal review_, and on one such occasion he took in hand several studies of contemporary conditions by various 'new witnesses,' 'young liberals,' _new age_ rebels and associated insurgent authors. he intended to be rather kindly with them, rather disillusioned, quite sympathetic but essentially conventional and conservative and sane. he sat at a little desk near the drooping venus, under the benediction of euphemia's posthumous rose, and turned over the pages of one of the least familiar of the group. the stuff was written with a crude force that at times became almost distinguished, but with a bitterness that he felt he must reprove. and suddenly he came upon a passionate tirade against the present period. it made him nibble softly with his lips at the top of his fountain pen as he read. "we live," said the writer, "in a second byzantine age, in one of those multitudinous accumulations of secondary interests, of secondary activities and conventions and colossal intricate insignificances, that lie like dust heaps in the path of the historian. the true history of such periods is written in bank books and cheque counterfoils and burnt to save individual reputations; it sneaks along under a thousand pretences, it finds its molelike food and safety in the dirt; its outer forms remain for posterity, a huge débris of unfathomable riddles." "hm!" said mr. brumley. "he slings it out. and what's this?" "a civilization arrested and decayed, waiting through long inglorious ages of unscheduled crime, unchallenged social injustice, senseless luxury, mercenary politics and universal vulgarity and weakness, for the long overdue scavenging of the turk." "i wonder where the children pick up such language," whispered mr. brumley with a smile. but presently he had pushed the book away and was thinking over this novel and unpleasant idea that perhaps after all his age didn't matter as some ages have mattered and as he had hitherto always supposed it did matter. byzantine, with the gold of life stolen and the swans changed to geese? of course always there had been a certain qualification upon heroes, even cæsar had needed a wreath, but at any rate the age of cæsar had mattered. kings no doubt might be more kingly and the issues of life plainer and nobler, but this had been true of every age. he tried to weigh values against values, our past against our present, temperately and sanely. our art might perhaps be keener for beauty than it seemed to be, but still--it flourished. and our science at least was wonderful--wonderful. there certainly this young detractor of existing things went astray. what was there in byzantium to parallel with the electric light, the electric tram, wireless telegraphy, aseptic surgery? of course this about "unchallenged social injustice" was nonsense. rant. why! we were challenging social injustice at every general election--plainly and openly. and crime! what could the man mean about unscheduled crime? mere words! there was of course a good deal of luxury, but not _wicked_ luxury, and to compare our high-minded and constructive politics with the mere conflict of unscrupulous adventurers about that semi-oriental throne! it was nonsense! "this young man must be spanked," said mr. brumley and, throwing aside an open illustrated paper in which a full-length portrait of sir edward carson faced a picture of the king and queen in their robes sitting side by side under a canopy at the coronation durbar, he prepared himself to write in an extremely salutary manner about the follies of the younger generation, and incidentally to justify his period and his professional contentment. § one is reminded of those houses into which the white ants have eaten their way; outwardly still fair and solid, they crumble at the touch of a hand. and now you will begin to understand those changes of bearing that so perplexed lady harman, that sudden insurgence of flushed half-furtive passion in the garden, through the thin pretences of a liberal friendship. his hollow honour had been gripped and had given way. he had begun so well. at first lady harman had occupied his mind in the properest way. she was another man's wife and sacred--according to all honourable standards, and what he wanted was merely to see more of her, talk to her, interest her in himself, share whatever was available outside her connubial obligations,--and think as little of sir isaac as possible. how quickly the imaginative temperament of mr. brumley enlarged that to include a critical hostility to sir isaac, we have already recorded. lady harman was no longer simply a charming, suppressed young wife, crying out for attentive development; she became an ill-treated beautiful woman--misunderstood. still scrupulously respecting his own standards, mr. brumley embarked upon the dangerous business of inventing just how sir isaac might be outraging them, and once his imagination had started to hunt in that field, it speedily brought in enough matter for a fine state of moral indignation, a white heat of not altogether justifiable chivalry. assisted by lady beach-mandarin mr. brumley had soon converted the little millionaire into a matrimonial ogre to keep an anxious lover very painfully awake at nights. because by that time and quite insensibly he had become an anxious lover--with all the gaps in the thread of realities that would have made him that, quite generously filled up from the world of reverie. moral indignation is jealousy with a halo. it is the peculiar snare of the perplexed orthodox, and soon mr. brumley was in a state of nearly unendurable moral indignation with sir isaac for a hundred exaggerations of what he was and of what conceivably he might have done to his silent yet manifestly unsuitably mated wife. and now that romantic streak which is as i have said the first certain symptom of decay in a system of moral assumptions began to show itself in mr. brumley's thoughts and conversation. "a marriage like that," said mr. brumley to lady beach-mandarin, "isn't a marriage. it flouts the true ideal of marriage. it's slavery--following a kidnapping...." but this is a wide step from the happy optimism of the cambridge days. what becomes of the sanctity of marriage and the institution of the family when respectable gentlemen talk of something called "true marriage," as non-existent in relation to a lady who is already the mother of four children? i record this lapsing of mr. brumley into romanticism without either sympathy or mitigation. the children, it presently became apparent, were not "true" children. "forced upon her," said mr. brumley. "it makes one ill to think of it!" it certainly very nearly made him ill. and as if these exercises in distinction had inflamed his conscience mr. brumley wrote two articles in the _hebdomadal_ denouncing impure literature, decadence, immorality, various recent scandalous instances, and the suffragettes, declaring that woman's place was the home and that "in a pure and exalted monogamy lies the sole unitary basis for a civilized state." the most remarkable thing about this article is an omission. that sir isaac's monogamy with any other instances that might be akin to it was not pure and exalted, and that it needed--shall we call it readjustment? is a view that in this article mr. brumley conspicuously doesn't display. it's as if for a moment, pen in hand, he had eddied back to his old absolute positions.... in a very little while mr. brumley and lady beach-mandarin had almost persuaded each other that sir isaac was applying physical torture to his proudly silent wife, and mr. brumley was no longer dreaming and glancing at but steadily facing the possibility of a pure-minded and handsomely done elopement to "free" lady harman, that would be followed in due course by a marriage, a "true marriage" on a level of understanding far above any ordinary respectable wedding, amidst universal sympathy and admiration and the presence of all the very best people. in these anticipations he did rather remarkably overlook the absence of any sign of participation on the part of lady harman in his own impassioned personal feelings, and he overlooked still more remarkably as possible objections to his line of conduct, millicent, florence, annette and baby. these omissions no doubt simplified but also greatly falsified his outlook. this proposal that all the best people shall applaud the higher rightness that was to be revealed in his projected elopement, is in the very essence of the romantic attitude. all other people are still to remain under the law. there is to be nothing revolutionary. but with exceptional persons under exceptional conditions---- mr. brumley stated his case over and over again to his utmost satisfaction, and always at great moral altitudes and with a kind of transcendent orthodoxy. the more difficult any aspect of the affair appeared from the orthodox standpoint the more valiantly mr. brumley soared; if it came to his living with lady harman for a time before they could be properly married amidst picturesque foreign scenery in a little _casa_ by the side of a stream, then the water in that stream was to be quite the purest water conceivable and the scenery and associations as morally faultless as a view that had passed the exacting requirements of mr. john ruskin. and mr. brumley was very clear in his mind that what he proposed to do was entirely different in quality even if it was similar in form from anything that anyone else had ever done who had ever before made a scandal or appeared in the divorce court. this is always the way in such cases--always. the scandal was to be a noble scandal, a proud scandal, one of those instances of heroical love that turn aside misdemeanours--admittedly misdemeanours--into edifying marvels. this was the state of mind to which mr. brumley had attained when he made his ineffectual raid upon black strand, and you will remark about it, if you are interested in the changes in people's ideas that are going on to-day, that although he was prepared to make the most extensive glosses in this particular instance upon the commonly accepted rules of what is right and proper, he was not for a moment prepared to accord the terrible gift of an independent responsibility to lady harman. in that direction lay regions that mr. brumley had still to explore. lady harman he considered was married wrongly and disastrously and this he held to be essentially the fault of sir isaac--with perhaps some slight blame attaching to lady harman's mother. the only path of escape he could conceive as yet for lady harman lay through the chivalry of some other man. that a woman could possibly rebel against one man without the sympathy and moral maintenance of another was still outside the range of mr. brumley's understanding. it is still outside the range of most men's understandings--and of a great many women's. if he generalized at all from these persuasions it was in the direction that in the interest of "true marriage" there should be greater facilities for divorce and also a kind of respectable-ization of divorce. then these "false marriages" might be rectified without suffering. the reasons for divorce he felt should be extended to include things not generally reprehensible, and chivalrous people coming into court should be protected from the indelicate publicity of free reporting.... § mr. brumley was still contemplating rather inconclusively the possibility of a long and intimate talk leading up to and preparing for an elopement with lady harman, when he read of her jago street escapade and of her impending appearance at the south hampsmith police court. he was astonished. the more he contemplated the thing the greater became his astonishment. even at the first impact he realized that the line she had taken wasn't quite in the picture with the line he had proposed for her. he felt--left out. he felt as though a door had slammed between himself and affairs to which he had supposed himself essential. he could not understand why she had done this thing instead of coming straight to his flat and making use of all that chivalrous service she surely knew was at her disposal. this self-reliance, this direct dealing with the world, seemed to him, even in the height of his concern, unwomanly, a deeper injury to his own abandoned assumptions than any he had contemplated. he felt it needed explanation, and he hurried to secure an elbowed unsavoury corner in the back of the court in order to hear her defence. he had to wait through long stuffy spaces of time before she appeared. there were half a dozen other window smashers,--plain or at least untidy-looking young women. the magistrate told them they were silly and the soul of mr. brumley acquiesced. one tried to make a speech, and it was such a poor speech--squeaky.... when at last lady harman entered the box--the strangest place it seemed for her--he tried to emerge from the jostling crowd about him into visibility, to catch her eye, to give her the support of his devoted presence. twice at least she glanced in his direction but gave no sign of seeing him. he was surprised that she could look without fear or detestation, indeed once with a gesture of solicitude, at sir isaac. she was astonishingly serene. there seemed to be just the faintest shadow of a smile about her lips as the stipendiary explained the impossibility of giving her anything less than a month. an uneasy object like the smashed remains of a colossal box of bonbons that was riding out a gale, down in the middle of the court, turned round at last completely and revealed itself as the hat of lady beach-mandarin, but though mr. brumley waved his hand he could not even make that lady aware of his presence. a powerful rude criminal-looking man who stood in front of him and smelt grossly of stables, would not give him a fair chance of showing himself, and developed a strong personal hostility to him on account of his alleged "shoving about." it would not he felt be of the slightest help to lady harman for him to involve himself in a personal struggle with a powerful and powerfully flavoured criminal. it was all very dreadful. after the proceedings were over and lady harman had been led away into captivity, he went out and took a taxi in an agitated distraught manner to lady beach-mandarin's house. "she meant," said lady beach-mandarin, "to have a month's holiday from him and think things out. and she's got it." perhaps that was it. mr. brumley could not tell, and he spent some days in that state of perplexity which, like the weariness that heralds a cold, marks so often the onset of a new series of ideas.... why hadn't she come to him? had he after all rather overloaded his memory of her real self with imaginative accessories? had she really understood what he had been saying to her in the garden? afterwards when he had met her eyes as he and she went over the new wing with sir isaac she had so manifestly--and, when one came to think of it, so tranquilly--seemed to understand.... it was such an extraordinary thing to go smashing a window like that--when there he was at hand ready to help her. she knew his address? did she? for a moment mr. brumley cherished that wild surmise. was that perhaps it? but surely she could have looked in the telephone directory or who's who.... but if that was the truth of the matter she would have looked and behaved differently in court--quite differently. she would have been looking for him. she would have seen him.... it was queer too to recall what she had said in court about her daughters.... could it be, he had a frightful qualm, that after all--he wasn't the man? how little he knew of her really.... "this wretched agitation," said mr. brumley, trying to flounder away anyhow from these disconcerting riddles; "it seems to unbalance them all." but he found it impossible to believe that lady harman was seriously unbalanced. § and if mr. brumley's system of romantically distorted moral assumptions was shattered by lady harman's impersonal blow at a post office window when all the rules seemed to require her to fly from the oppression of one man to the chivalry of another, what words can convey the devastating effect upon him of her conduct after her release? to that crisis he had been looking forward continually; to record the variety of his expectations would fill a large volume, but throughout them all prevailed one general idea, that when she came out of prison her struggle with her husband would be resumed, and that this would give mr. brumley such extraordinary opportunities of displaying his devotion that her response, which he was now beginning to suspect might be more reluctant than his earlier dreams had assumed, was ultimately inevitable. in all these dreams and meditations that response figured as the crown. he had to win and possess lady harman. the idea had taken hold of his busy yet rather pointless life, had become his directing object. he was full of schemes for presently arresting and captivating her imagination. he was already convinced that she cared for him; he had to inflame interest and fan liking into the fire of passion. and with a mind so occupied, mr. brumley wrote this and that and went about his affairs. he spent two days and a night at margate visiting his son at his preparatory school, and he found much material for musing in the question of just how the high romantic affairs ahead of him would affect this delicately intelligent boy. for a time perhaps he might misjudge his father.... he spent a week-end with lady viping and stayed on until wednesday and then he came back to london. his plans were still unformed when the day came for lady harman's release, and indeed beyond an idea that he would have her met at the prison gates by an enormous bunch of snowy-white and crimson chrysanthemums he had nothing really concrete at all in his mind. she had, however, been released stealthily a day before her time, and this is what she had done. she had asked that--of all improbable people!--sir isaac's mother should meet her, the biggest car had come to the prison gates, and she had gone straight down with mrs. harman to her husband--who had taken a chill and was in bed drinking contrexéville water--at black strand. as these facts shaped themselves in answer to the blanched inquiries of mr. brumley his amazement grew. he began to realize that there must have been a correspondence during her incarceration, that all sorts of things had been happening while he had been dreaming, and when he went round to lady beach-mandarin, who was just packing up to be the life and soul of a winter-sports party at a nice non-lunnite hotel at lenzerheide, he learnt particulars that chilled him to the marrow. "they've made it up," said lady beach-mandarin. "but how?" gasped mr. brumley, with his soul in infinite distress. "but how?" "the ogre, it seems, has come to see that bullying won't do. he's given in tremendously. he's let her have her way with the waitress strike and she's going to have an allowance of her own and all kinds of things. it's settled. it's his mother and that man charterson talked him over. you know--his mother came to me--as her friend. for advice. wanted to find out what sort of things we might have been putting in her head. she said so. a curious old thing--vulgar but--_wise_. i liked her. he's her darling--and she just knows what he is.... he doesn't like it but he's taken his dose. the thought of her going to prison again----! he's let her do anything rather than that...." "and she's gone to him!" "naturally," said lady beach-mandarin with what he felt to be deliberate brutality. surely she must have understood---- "but the waitress strike--what has it got to do with the waitress strike?" "she cared--tremendously." "_did_ she?" "tremendously. and they all go back and the system of inspection is being altered, and he's even forgiven babs wheeler. it made him ill to do it but he did." "and she's gone back to him." "like godiva," said lady beach-mandarin with that sweeping allusiveness that was part of her complicated charm. § for three days mr. brumley was so staggered by these things that it did not occur to him that it was quite possible for him to see lady harman for himself and find out just how things stood. he remained in london with an imagination dazed. and as it was the christmas season and as george edmund in a rather expectant holiday state had now come up from margate, mr. brumley went in succession to the hippodrome, to peter pan and to an exhibition at olympia, assisted at an afternoon display of the kinemacolor at la scala theatre, visited hamley's and lunched george edmund once at the criterion and twice at the climax club, while thinking of nothing in all the world but the incalculable strangeness of women. george edmund thought him a very passive leadable parent indeed, less querulous about money matters and altogether much improved. the glitter and colour of these various entertainments reflected themselves upon the surface of that deep flood of meditation, hook-armed wooden-legged pirates, intelligent elephants, ingenious but extremely expensive toys, flickering processions, comic turns, snatches of popular music and george edmund's way of eating an orange, pictured themselves on his mind confusedly without in any way deflecting its course. then on the fourth day he roused himself, gave george edmund ten shillings to get himself a cutlet at the café royal and do the cinematographs round and about the west end, and so released reached aleham in time for a temperate lunch. he chartered the aleham car to take him to black strand and arrived there about a quarter past three, in a great effort to feel himself a matter-of-course visitor. it ought to be possible to record that mr. brumley's mind was full of the intensest sense of lady harman during that journey and of nothing else, but as a matter of fact his mind was now curiously detached and reflective, the tensions and expectation of the past month and the astonishment of the last few days had worked themselves out and left him as it were the passive instrument of the purpose of his more impassioned moods. this distressed lover approached black strand in a condition of philosophical lassitude. the road from aleham to black strand is a picturesque old english road, needlessly winding and badly graded, wriggling across a healthy wilderness with occasional pine-woods. something in that familiar landscape--for his life had run through it since first he and euphemia on a tandem bicycle and altogether very young had sought their ideal home in the south of england--set his mind swinging and generalizing. how freshly youthful he and euphemia had been when first he came along that road, how crude, how full of happy expectations of success; it had been as bright and it was now as completely gone as the sunsets they had seen together. how great a thing life is! how much greater than any single romance, or any individual affection! since those days he had grown, he had succeeded, he had suffered in a reasonable way of course, still he could recall with a kind of satisfaction tears and deep week-long moods of hopeless melancholy--and he had changed. and now dominating this landscape, filling him with new emotions and desires and perplexing intimations of ignorance and limitations he had never suspected in his youth, was this second figure of a woman. she was different from euphemia. with euphemia everything had been so simple and easy; until that slight fading, that fatigue of entire success and satisfaction, of the concluding years. he and euphemia had always kept it up that they had no thought in the world except for one another.... yet if that had been true, why hadn't he died when she did. he hadn't died--with remarkable elasticity. clearly in his case there had been these unexplored, unsuspected hinterlands of possibility towards which lady harman seemed now to be directing him. it came to him that afternoon as an entirely fresh thought that there might also have been something in euphemia beyond their simple, so charmingly treated relationship. he began to recall moments when euphemia had said perplexing little things, had looked at him with an expression that was unexpected, had been--difficult.... i write of mr. brumley to tell you things about him and not to explain him. it may be that the appetite for thorough good talks with people grows upon one, but at any rate it did occur to mr. brumley on his way to talk to lady harman, it occurred to him as a thing distressingly irrevocable that he could now never have a thorough good talk with euphemia about certain neglected things between them. it would have helped him so much.... his eyes rested as he thought of these things upon the familiar purple hill crests, patched that afternoon with the lingering traces of a recent snowstorm, the heather slopes, the dark mysterious woods, the patches of vivid green where a damp and marshy meadow or so broke the moorland surface. to-day in spite of the sun there was a bright blue-white line of frost to the northward of every hedge and bank, the trees were dripping down the white edgings of the morning into the pine-needle mud at their feet; he had seen it so like this before; years hence he might see it all like this again; all this great breezy countryside had taken upon itself a quality of endurance, as though it would still be real and essential in his mind when lady harman had altogether passed again. it would be real when he himself had passed away, and in other costumes and other vehicles fresh euphemias and new crude george brumleys would come along, feeling in the ultimate bright new wisdom of youth that it was all for them--a subservient scenery, when really it was entirely indifferent in its careless permanence to all their hopes and fancies.... § mr. brumley's thoughts on the permanence of landscape and the mutability of human affairs were more than a little dashed when he came within sight of black strand and perceived that once cosily beautiful little home clipped and extended, its shrubbery wrecked and the old barn now pierced with windows and adorned--for its new chimneys were not working very well--by several efficient novelties in chimney cowls. up the slopes behind sir isaac had extended his boundaries, and had been felling trees and levelling a couple of tennis courts for next summer. something was being done to the porch, and the jasmine had been cleared away altogether. mr. brumley could not quite understand what was in progress; sir isaac he learnt afterwards had found a wonderful bargain in a real genuine georgian portal of great dignity and simplicity in aleham, and he was going to improve black strand by transferring it thither--with the utmost precaution and every piece numbered--from its original situation. mr. brumley stood among the preparatory débris of this and rang a quietly resolute electric bell, which was answered no longer by mrs. rabbit but by the ample presence of snagsby. snagsby in that doorway had something of the preposterous effect of a very large face beneath a very small hat. he had to mr. brumley's eyes a restored look, as though his self-confidence had been thoroughly done up since their last encounter. bygones were bygones. mr. brumley was admitted as one is admitted to any normal home. he was shown into the little study-drawing-room with the stepped floor, which had been so largely the scene of his life with euphemia, and he was left there for the better part of a quarter of an hour before his hostess appeared. the room had been changed very little. euphemia's solitary rose had gone, and instead there were several bowls of beaten silver scattered about, each filled with great chrysanthemums from london. sir isaac's jackdaw acquisitiveness had also overcrowded the corner beyond the fireplace with a very fine and genuine queen anne cabinet; there were a novel by elizabeth robins and two or three feminist and socialist works lying on the table which would certainly not have been visible, though they might have been in the house, during the brumley régime. otherwise things were very much as they always had been. a room like this, thought mr. brumley among much other mental driftage, is like a heart,--so long as it exists it must be furnished and tenanted. no matter what has been, however bright and sweet and tender, the spaces still cry aloud to be filled again. the very essence of life is its insatiability. how complete all this had seemed in the moment when first he and euphemia had arranged it. and indeed how complete life had seemed altogether at seven-and-twenty. every year since then he had been learning--or at any rate unlearning. until at last he was beginning to realize he had still everything to learn.... the door opened and the tall dark figure of lady harman stood for a moment in the doorway before she stepped down into the room. she had always the same effect upon him, the effect of being suddenly remembered. when he was away from her he was always sure that she was a beautiful woman, and when he saw her again he was always astonished to see how little he had borne her beauty in mind. for a moment they regarded one another silently. then she closed the door behind her and came towards him. all mr. brumley's philosophizing had vanished at the sight of her. his spirit was reborn within him. he thought of her and of his effect upon her, vividly, and of nothing else in the world. she was paler he thought beneath her dusky hair, a little thinner and graver.... there was something in her manner as she advanced towards him that told him he mattered to her, that his coming there was something that moved her imagination as well as his own. with an almost impulsive movement she held out both her hands to him, and with an inspiration as sudden he took them and kissed them. when he had done so he was ashamed of his temerity; he looked up to meet in her dark eyes the scared shyness of a fallow deer. she suddenly remembered to withdraw her hands, and it became manifest to both of them that the incident must never have happened. she went to the window, stood almost awkwardly for a moment looking out of it, then turned. she put her hands on the back of the chair and stood holding it. "i knew you would come to see me," she said. "i've been very anxious about you," he said, and on that their minds rested through a little silence. "you see," he explained, "i didn't know what was happening to you. or what you were doing." "after asking your advice," she said. "exactly." "i don't know why i broke that window. except i think that i wanted to get away." "but why didn't you come to me?" "i didn't know where you were. and besides--i didn't somehow want to come to you." "but wasn't it wretched in prison? wasn't it miserably cold? i used to think of you of nights in some wretched ill-aired cell.... you...." "it _was_ cold," she admitted. "but it was very good for me. it was quiet. the first few days seemed endless; then they began to go by quickly. quite quickly at last. and i came to think. in the day there was a little stool where one sat. i used to sit on that and brood and try to think things out--all sorts of things i've never had the chance to think about before." "yes," said mr. brumley. "all this," she said. "and it has brought you back here!" he said, with something of the tone of one who has a right to enquire, with some flavour too of reproach. "you see," she said after a little pause, "during that time it was possible to come to understandings. neither i nor my husband had understood the other. in that interval it was possible--to explain. "yes. you see, mr. brumley, we--we both misunderstood. it was just because of that and because i had no one who seemed able to advise me that i turned to you. a novelist always seems so wise in these things. he seems to know so many lives. one can talk to you as one can scarcely talk to anyone; you are a sort of doctor--in these matters. and it was necessary--that my husband should realize that i had grown up and that i should have time to think just how one's duty and one's--freedom have to be fitted together.... and my husband is ill. he has been ill, rather short of breath--the doctor thinks it is asthma--for some time, and all the agitation of this business has upset him and made him worse. he is upstairs now--asleep. of course if i had thought i should make him ill i could never have done any of this. but it's done now and here i am, mr. brumley, back in my place. with all sorts of things changed. put right...." "i see," said mr. brumley stupidly. her speech was like the falling of an opaque curtain upon some romantic spectacle. she stood there, almost defensively behind her chair as she made it. there was a quality of premeditation in her words, yet something in her voice and bearing made him feel that she knew just how it covered up and extinguished his dreams and impulses. he heard her out and then suddenly his spirit rebelled against her decision. "no!" he cried. she waited for him to go on. "you see," he said, "i thought that it was just that you wanted to get away----that this life was intolerable----that you were----forgive me if i seem to be going beyond--going beyond what i ought to be thinking about you. only, why should i pretend? i care, i care for you tremendously. and it seemed to me that you didn't love your husband, that you were enslaved and miserable. i would have done anything to help you--anything in the world, lady harman. i know--it may sound ridiculous--there have been times when i would have faced death to feel you were happy and free. i thought all that, i felt all that,--and then--then you come back here. you seem not to have minded. as though i had misunderstood...." he paused and his face was alive with an unwonted sincerity. his self-consciousness had for a moment fallen from him. "i know," she said, "it _was_ like that. i knew you cared. that is why i have so wanted to talk to you. it looked like that...." she pressed her lips together in that old familiar hunt for words and phrases. "i didn't understand, mr. brumley, all there was in my husband or all there was in myself. i just saw his hardness and his--his hardness in business. it's become so different now. you see, i forgot he has bad health. he's ill; i suppose he was getting ill then. instead of explaining himself--he was--excited and--unwise. and now----" "now i suppose he has--explained," said mr. brumley slowly and with infinite distaste. "lady harman, _what_ has he explained?" "it isn't so much that he has explained, mr. brumley," said lady harman, "as that things have explained themselves." "but how, lady harman? how?" "i mean about my being a mere girl, almost a child when i married him. naturally he wanted to take charge of everything and leave nothing to me. and quite as naturally he didn't notice that now i am a woman, grown up altogether. and it's been necessary to do things. and naturally, mr. brumley, they shocked and upset him. but he sees now so clearly, he wrote to me, such a fair letter--an unusual letter--quite different from when he talks--it surprised me, telling me he wanted me to feel free, that he meant to make me--to arrange things that is, so that i should feel free and more able to go about as i pleased. it was a _generous_ letter, mr. brumley. generous about all sorts of affairs that there had been between us. he said things, quite kind things, not like the things he has ever said before----" she stopped short and then began again. "you know, mr. brumley, it's so hard to tell things without telling other things that somehow are difficult to tell. yet if i don't tell you them, you won't know them and then you won't be able to understand in the least how things are with us." her eyes appealed to him. "tell me," he said, "whatever you think fit." "when one has been afraid of anyone and felt they were ever so much stronger and cruel and hard than one is and one suddenly finds they aren't. it alters everything." he nodded, watching her. her voice fell nearly to a whisper. "mr. brumley," she said, "when i came back to him--you know he was in bed here--instead of scolding me--he _cried_. he cried like a vexed child. he put his face into the pillow--just misery.... i'd never seen him cry--at least only once--long ago...." mr. brumley looked at her flushed and tender face and it seemed to him that indeed he could die for her quite easily. "i saw how hard i had been," she said. "in prison i'd thought of that, i'd thought women mustn't be hard, whatever happens to them. and when i saw him like that i knew at once how true that was.... he begged me to be a good wife to him. no!--he just said, 'be a wife to me,' not even a good wife--and then he cried...." for a moment or so mr. brumley didn't respond. "i see," he said at last. "yes." "and there were the children--such helpless little things. in the prison i worried about them. i thought of things for them. i've come to feel--they are left too much to nurses and strangers.... and then you see he has agreed to nearly everything i had wanted. it wasn't only the personal things--i was anxious about those silly girls--the strikers. i didn't want them to be badly treated. it distressed me to think of them. i don't think you know how it distressed me. and he--he gave way upon all that. he says i may talk to him about the business, about the way we do our business--the kindness of it i mean. and this is why i am back here. where else _could_ i be?" "no," said mr. brumley still with the utmost reluctance. "i see. only----" he paused downcast and she waited for him to speak. "only it isn't what i expected, lady harman. i didn't think that matters could be settled by such arrangements. it's sane, i know, it's comfortable and kindly. but i thought--oh! i thought of different things, quite different things from all this. i thought of you who are so beautiful caught in a loveless passionless world. i thought of the things there might be for you, the beautiful and wonderful things of which you are deprived.... never mind what i thought! never mind! you've made your choice. but i thought that you didn't love, that you couldn't love--this man. it seemed to me that you felt too--that to live as you are doing--with him--was a profanity. something--i'd give everything i have, everything i am, to save you from. because--because i care.... i misunderstood you. i suppose you can--do what you are doing." he jumped to his feet as he spoke and walked three paces away and turned to utter his last sentences. she too stood up. "mr. brumley," she said weakly, "i don't understand. what do you mean? i have to do what i am doing. he--he is my husband." he made a gesture of impatience. "do you understand nothing of _love_?" he cried. she pressed her lips together and remained still and silent, dark against the casement window. there came a sound of tapping from the room above. three taps and again three taps. lady harman made a little gesture as though she would put this sound aside. "love," she said at last. "it comes to some people. it happens. it happens to young people.... but when one is married----" her voice fell almost to a whisper. "one must not think of it," she said. "one must think of one's husband and one's duty. life cannot begin again, mr. brumley." the taps were repeated, a little more urgently. "that is my husband," she said. she hesitated through a little pause. "mr. brumley," she said, "i want friendship so badly, i want some one to be my friend. i don't want to think of things--disturbing things--things i have lost--things that are spoilt. _that_--that which you spoke of; what has it to do with me?" she interrupted him as he was about to speak. "be my friend. don't talk to me of impossible things. love! mr. brumley, what has a married woman to do with love? i never think of it. i never read of it. i want to do my duty. i want to do my duty by him and by my children and by all the people i am bound to. i want to help people, weak people, people who suffer. i want to help him to help them. i want to stop being an idle, useless, spending woman...." she made a little gesture of appeal with her hands. "oh!" he sighed, and then, "you know if i can help you----rather than distress you----" her manner changed. it became confidential and urgent. "mr. brumley," she said, "i must go up to my husband. he will be impatient. and when i tell him you are here he will want to see you.... you will come up and see him?" mr. brumley sought to convey the struggle within him by his pose. "i will do what you wish, lady harman," he said, with an almost theatrical sigh. he closed the door after her and was alone in his former study once more. he walked slowly to his old writing-desk and sat down in his familiar seat. presently he heard her footfalls across the room above. mr. brumley's mind under the stress of the unfamiliar and the unexpected was now lapsing rapidly towards the theatrical. "my _god_!" said mr. brumley. he addressed that friendly memorable room in tones that mingled amazement and wrong. "he is her husband!" he said, and then: "the power of words!" ... § it seemed to mr. brumley's now entirely disordered mind that sir isaac, propped up with cushions upon a sofa in the upstairs sitting-room, white-faced, wary and very short of breath, was like proprietorship enthroned. everything about him referred deferentially to him. even his wife dropped at once into the position of a beautiful satellite. his illness, he assured his visitor with a thin-lipped emphasis, was "quite temporary, quite the sort of thing that might happen to anyone." he had had a queer little benumbing of one leg, "just a trifle of nerve fag did it," and the slight asthma that came and went in his life had taken advantage of his condition to come again with a little beyond its usual aggressiveness. "elly is going to take me off to marienbad next week or the week after," he said. "i shall have a cure and she'll have a treat, and we shall come back as fit as fiddles." the incidents of the past month were to be put on a facetious footing it appeared. "it's a mercy they didn't crop her hair," he said, apropos of nothing and with an air of dry humour. no further allusion was made to lady harman's incarceration. he was dressed in a lama wool bedroom suit and his resting leg was covered by a very splendid and beautiful fur rug. all euphemia's best and gayest cushions sustained his back. the furniture had been completely rearranged for his comfort and convenience. close to his hand was a little table with carefully selected remedies and aids and helps and stimulants, and the latest and best of the light fiction of the day was tossed about between the table, the couch and the floor. at the foot of the couch euphemia's bedroom writing-table had been placed, and over this there were scattered traces of the stenographer who had assisted him to wipe off the day's correspondence. three black cylinders and other appliances in the corner witnessed that his slight difficulty in breathing could be relieved by oxygen, and his eyes were regaled by a great abundance of london flowers at every available point in the room. of course there were grapes, fabulous looking grapes. everything conspired to give sir isaac and his ownership the centre of the picture. mr. brumley had been brought upstairs to him, and the tea table, with scarcely a reference to anyone else, was arranged by snagsby conveniently to his hand. and sir isaac himself had a confidence--the assurance of a man who has been shaken and has recovered. whatever tears he had ever shed had served their purpose and were forgotten. "elly" was his and the house was his and everything about him was his--he laid his hand upon her once when she came near him, his possessiveness was so gross--and the strained suspicion of his last meeting with mr. brumley was replaced now by a sage and wizened triumph over anticipated and arrested dangers. their party was joined by sir isaac's mother, and the sight of her sturdy, swarthy, and rather dignified presence flashed the thought into mr. brumley's mind that sir isaac's father must have been a very blond and very nosey person indeed. she was homely and practical and contributed very usefully to a conversation that remained a trifle fragmentary and faintly uncomfortable to the end. mr. brumley avoided as much as he could looking at lady harman, because he knew sir isaac was alert for that, but he was acutely aware of her presence dispensing the tea and moving about the room, being a good wife. it was his first impression of lady harman as a good wife and he disliked the spectacle extremely. the conversation hovered chiefly about marienbad, drifted away and came back again. mrs. harman made several confidences that provoked the betrayal of a strain of irritability in sir isaac's condition. "we're all looking forward to this marienbad expedition," she said. "i do hope it will turn out well. neither of them have ever been abroad before--and there's the difficulty of the languages." "ow," snarled sir isaac, with a glance at his mother that was almost vicious and a lapse into cockney intonations and phrases that witnessed how her presence recalled his youth, "it'll _go_ all right, mother. _you_ needn't fret." "of course they'll have a courier to see to their things, and go train de luxe and all that," mrs. harman explained with a certain gusto. "but still it's an adventure, with him not well, and both as i say more like children than grown-up people." sir isaac intervened with a crushing clumsiness to divert this strain of explanation, with questions about the quality of the soil in the wood where the ground was to be cleared and levelled for his tennis lawns. mr. brumley did his best to behave as a man of the world should. he made intelligent replies about the sand, he threw out obvious but serviceable advice upon travel upon the continent of europe, and he tried not to think that this was the way of living into which the sweetest, tenderest, most beautiful woman in the world had been trapped. he avoided looking at her until he felt it was becoming conspicuous, a negative stare. why had she come back again? fragmentary phrases she had used downstairs came drifting through his mind. "i never think of it. i never read of it." and she so made for beautiful love and a beautiful life! he recalled lady beach-mandarin's absurdly apt, absurdly inept, "like godiva," and was suddenly impelled to raise the question of those strikers. "your trouble with your waitresses is over, sir isaac?" sir isaac finished a cup of tea audibly and glanced at his wife. "i never meant to be hard on them," he said, putting down his cup. "never. the trouble blew up suddenly. one can't be all over a big business everywhere all at once, more particularly if one is worried about other things. as soon as i had time to look into it i put things right. there was misunderstandings on both sides." he glanced up again at lady harman. (she was standing behind mr. brumley so that he could not see her but--did their eyes meet?) "as soon as we are back from marienbad," sir isaac volunteered, "lady harman and i are going into all that business thoroughly." mr. brumley concealed his intense aversion for this association under a tone of intelligent interest. "into--i don't quite understand--what business?" "women employees in london--hostels--all that kind of thing. bit more sensible than suffragetting, eh, elly?" "very interesting," said mr. brumley with a hollow cordiality, "very." "done on business lines, mind you," said sir isaac, looking suddenly very sharp and keen, "done on proper business lines, there's no end of a change possible. and it's a perfectly legitimate outgrowth from such popular catering as ours. it interests me." he made a little whistling noise with his teeth at the end of this speech. "i didn't know lady harman was disposed to take up such things," he said. "or i'd have gone into them before." "he's going into them now," said mrs. harman, "heart and soul. why! we have to take his temperature over it, to see he doesn't work himself up into a fever." her manner became reasonable and confidential. she spoke to mr. brumley as if her son was slightly deaf. "it's better than his fretting," she said.... § mr. brumley returned to london in a state of extreme mental and emotional unrest. the sight of lady harman had restored all his passion for her, the all too manifest fact that she was receding beyond his reach stirred him with unavailing impulses towards some impossible extremity of effort. she had filled his mind so much that he could not endure the thought of living without hope of her. but what hope was there of her? and he was jealous, detestably jealous, so jealous that in that direction he did not dare to let his mind go. he sawed at the bit and brought it back, or he would have had to writhe about the carriage. his thoughts ran furiously all over the place to avoid that pit. and now he found himself flashing at moments into wild and hopeless rebellion against the institution of marriage, of which he had hitherto sought always to be the dignified and smiling champion against the innovator, the over-critical and the young. he had never rebelled before. he was so astonished at the violence of his own objection that he lapsed from defiance to an incredulous examination of his own novel attitude. "it's not _true_ marriage i object to," he told himself. "it's this marriage like a rat trap, alluring and scarcely unavoidable, so that in we all go, and then with no escape--unless you tear yourself to rags. no escape...." it came to him that there was at least one way out for lady harman: _sir isaac might die!_ ... he pulled himself up presently, astonished and dismayed at the activities of his own imagination. among other things he had wondered if by any chance lady harman had ever allowed her mind to travel in this same post-mortem direction. at times surely the thing must have shone upon her as a possibility, a hope. from that he had branched off to a more general speculation. how many people were there in the world, nice people, kind people, moral and delicate-minded people, to whom the death of another person means release from that inflexible barrier--possibilities of secretly desired happiness, the realization of crushed and forbidden dreams? he had a vision of human society, like the vision of a night landscape seen suddenly in a lightning flash, as of people caught by couples in traps and quietly hoping for one another's deaths. "good heavens!" said mr. brumley, "what are we coming to," and got up in his railway compartment--he had it to himself--and walked up and down its narrow limits until a jolt over a point made him suddenly sit down again. "most marriages are happy," said mr. brumley, like a man who has fallen into a river and scrambles back to safety. "one mustn't judge by the exceptional cases.... "though of course there are--a good many--exceptional cases." ... he folded his arms, crossed his legs, frowned and reasoned with himself,--resolved to dismiss post-mortem speculations--absolutely. he was not going to quarrel with the institution of marriage. that was going too far. he had never been able to see the beginnings of reason in sexual anarchy, never. it is against the very order of things. man is a marrying animal just as much as he was a fire-making animal; he goes in pairs like mantel ornaments; it is as natural for him to marry and to exact and keep good faith--if need be with a savage jealousy, as it is for him to have lobes to his ears and hair under his armpits. these things jar with the dream perhaps; the gods on painted ceilings have no such ties, acting beautifully by their very nature; and here on the floor of the world one had them and one had to make the best of them.... are we making the best of them? mr. brumley was off again. that last thought opened the way to speculative wildernesses, and into these mr. brumley went wandering with a novel desperate enterprise to find a kind of marriage that would suit him. he began to reform the marriage laws. he did his utmost not to think especially of lady harman and himself while he was doing so. he would just take up the whole question and deal with it in a temperate reasonable way. it was so necessary to be reasonable and temperate in these questions--and not to think of death as a solution. marriages to begin with were too easy to make and too difficult to break; countless girls--lady harman was only a type--were married long before they could know the beginnings of their own minds. we wanted to delay marriage--until the middle twenties, say. why not? or if by the infirmities of humanity one must have marriage before then, there ought to be some especial opportunity of rescinding it later. (lady harman ought to have been able to rescind her marriage.) what ought to be the marriageable age in a civilized community? when the mind was settled into its general system of opinions mr. brumley thought, and then lapsed into a speculation whether the mind didn't keep changing and developing all through life; lady harman's was certainly still doing so.... this pointed to logical consequences of an undesirable sort.... (some little mind-slide occurred just at this point and he found himself thinking that perhaps sir isaac might last for years and years, might even outlive a wife exhausted by nursing. and anyhow to wait for death! to leave the thing one loved in the embrace of the moribund!) he wrenched his thoughts back as quickly as possible to a disinterested reform of the marriage laws. what had he decided so far? only for more deliberation and a riper age in marrying. surely that should appeal even to the most orthodox. but that alone would not eliminate mistakes and deceptions altogether. (sir isaac's skin had a peculiar, unhealthy look.) there ought in addition to be the widest facilities for divorce possible. mr. brumley tried to draw up a schedule in his head of the grounds for divorce that a really civilized community would entertain. but there are practical difficulties. marriage is not simply a sexual union, it is an economic one of a peculiarly inseparable sort,--and there are the children. and jealousy! of course so far as economics went, a kind of marriage settlement might meet most of the difficulties, and as for the children, mr. brumley was no longer in that mood of enthusiastic devotion to children that had made the birth of george edmund so tremendous an event. children, alone, afforded no reason for indissoluble lifelong union. face the thing frankly. how long was it absolutely necessary for people to keep a home together for their children? the prosperous classes, the best classes in the community, packed the little creatures off to school at the age of nine or ten. one might overdo--we were overdoing in our writing nowadays this--philoprogenitive enthusiasm.... he found himself thinking of george meredith's idea of ten year marriages.... his mind recoiled to sir isaac's pillowed-up possession. what flimsy stuff all this talk of altered marriage was! these things did not even touch the essentials of the matter. he thought of sir isaac's thin lips and wary knowing eyes. what possible divorce law could the wit of man devise that would release a desired woman from that--grip? marriage was covetousness made law. as well ask such a man to sell all his goods and give to the poor as expect the sir isaacs of this world to relax the matrimonial subjugation of the wife. our social order is built on jealousy, sustained by jealousy, and those brave schemes we evolve in our studies for the release of women from ownership,--and for that matter for the release of men too,--they will not stand the dusty heat of the market-place for a moment, they wilt under the first fierce breath of reality. marriage and property are the twin children of man's individualistic nature; only on these terms can he be drawn into societies.... mr. brumley found his little scheme for novelties in marriage and divorce lying dead and for the most part still-born in his mind; himself in despair. to set to work to alter marriage in any essential point was, he realized, as if an ant should start to climb a thousand feet of cliff. this great institution rose upon his imagination like some insurmountable sierra, blue and sombre, between himself and the life of lady harman and all that he desired. there might be a certain amount of tinkering with matrimonial law in the next few years, of petty tinkering that would abolish a few pretences and give ease to a few amiable people, but if he were to come back to life a thousand years hence he felt he would still find the ancient gigantic barrier, crossed perhaps by a dangerous road, pierced perhaps by a narrow tunnel or so, but in all its great essentials the same, between himself and lady harman. it wasn't that it was rational, it wasn't that it was justifiable, but it was one with the blood in one's veins and the rain-cloud in the sky, a necessity in the nature of present things. before mankind emerged from the valley of these restraints--if ever they did emerge--thousands of generations must follow one another, there must be tens of thousands of years of struggle and thought and trial, in the teeth of prevalent habit and opinion--and primordial instincts. a new humanity.... his heart sank to hopelessness. meanwhile? meanwhile we had to live our lives. he began to see a certain justification for the hidden cults that run beneath the fair appearances of life, those social secrecies by which people--how could one put it?--people who do not agree with established institutions, people, at any rate not merely egoistic and jealous as the crowd is egoistic and jealous, hide and help one another to mitigate the inflexible austerities of the great unreason. yes, mr. brumley had got to a phrase of that quality for the undiscriminating imperatives of the fundamental social institution. you see how a particular situation may undermine the assumptions of a mind originally devoted to uncritical acceptances. he still insisted it was a necessary great unreason, absolutely necessary--for the mass of people, a part of them, a natural expression of them, but he could imagine the possibility--of 'understandings.' ... mr. brumley was very vague about those understandings, those mysteries of the exalted that were to filch happiness from the destroying grasp of the crude and jealous. he had to be vague. for secret and noble are ideas like oil and water; you may fling them together with all the force of your will but in a little while they will separate again. for a time this dream of an impossible secrecy was uppermost in mr. brumley's meditations. it came into his head with the effect of a discovery that always among the unclimbable barriers of this supreme institution there had been,--caves. he had been reading anatole france recently and the lady of _le lys rouge_ came into his thoughts. there was something in common between lady harman and the countess martin, they were tall and dark and dignified, and lady harman was one of those rare women who could have carried the magnificent name of thérèse. and there in the setting of paris and florence was a whole microcosm of love, real but illicit, carried out as it were secretly and tactfully, beneath the great shadow of the cliff. but he found it difficult to imagine lady harman in that. or sir isaac playing count martin's part.... how different were those frenchwomen, with their afternoons vacant except for love, their detachment, their lovers, those secret, convenient, romantically furnished flats, that compact explicit business of _l'amour_! he had indeed some moments of regret that lady harman wouldn't go into that picture. she was different--if only in her simplicity. there was something about these others that put them whole worlds apart from her, who was held so tethered from all furtive adventure by her filmy tentacles of responsibility, her ties and strands of relationship, her essential delicacy. that momentary vision of ellen as the countess martin broke up into absurdities directly he looked at it fully and steadfastly. from thinking of the two women as similar types he passed into thinking of them as opposites; thérèse, hard, clear, sensuous, secretive, trained by a brilliant tradition in the technique of connubial betrayal, was the very antithesis of ellen's vague but invincible veracity and openness. not for nothing had anatole france made his heroine the daughter of a grasping financial adventurer.... of course the cave is a part of the mountain.... his mind drifted away to still more general speculations, and always he was trying not to see the figure of sir isaac, grimly and yet meanly resolute--in possession. always too like some open-mouthed yokel at a fair who knows nothing of the insult chalked upon his back, he disregarded how he himself coveted and desired and would if he could have gripped. he forgot his own watchful attention to euphemia in the past, nor did he think what he might have been if lady harman had been his wife. it needed the chill veracities of the small hours to bring him to that. he thought now of crude egotism as having sir isaac's hands and sir isaac's eyes and sir isaac's position. he forgot any egotism he himself was betraying. all the paths of enlightenment he thought of, led to lady harman. § that evening george edmund, who had come home with his mind aglitter with cinematograph impressions, found his father a patient but inattentive listener. for indeed mr. brumley was not listening at all; he was thinking and thinking. he made noises like "ah!" and "um," at george edmund and patted the boy's shoulder kindly and repeated words unintelligently, such as, "red indians, eh!" or "came out of the water backwards! my eye!" sometimes he made what george edmund regarded as quite footling comments. still george edmund had to tell someone and there was no one else to tell. so george edmund went on talking and mr. brumley went on thinking. § mr brumley could not sleep at all until it was nearly five. his intelligence seemed to be making up at last for years of speculative restraint. in a world for the most part given up to slumber mr. brumley may be imagined as clambering hand over fist in the silences, feverishly and wonderfully overtaking his age. in the morning he got up pallid and he shaved badly, but he was a generation ahead of his own euphemia series, and the school of charm and quiet humour and of letting things slide with a kind of elegant donnishness, had lost him for ever.... and among all sorts of things that had come to him in that vast gulf of nocturnal thinking was some vivid self-examination. at last he got to that. he had been dragged down to very elemental things indeed by the manifest completeness of lady harman's return to her husband. he had had at last to look at himself starkly for the male he was, to go beneath the gentlemanly airs, the refined and elegant virilities of his habitual poses. either this thing was unendurable--there were certainly moments when it came near to being unendurable--or it was not. on the whole and excepting mere momentary paroxysms it was not, and so he had to recognize and he did recognize with the greatest amazement that there could be something else besides sexual attraction and manoeuvring and possession between a beautiful woman and a man like himself. he loved lady harman, he loved her, he now began to realize just how much, and she could defeat him and reject him as a conceivable lover, turn that aside as a thing impossible, shame him as the romantic school would count shame and still command him with her confident eyes and her friendly extended hands. he admitted he suffered, let us rather say he claimed to suffer the heated torments of a passionate nature, but he perceived like fresh air and sunrise coming by blind updrawn and opened window into a foetid chamber, that also he loved her with a clean and bodiless love, was anxious to help her, was anxious now--it was a new thing--to understand her, to reassure her, to give unrequited what once he had sought rather to seem to give in view of an imagined exchange. he perceived too in these still hours how little he had understood her hitherto. he had been blinded,--obsessed. he had been seeing her and himself and the whole world far too much as a display of the eternal dualism of sex, the incessant pursuit. now with his sexual imaginings newly humbled and hopeless, with a realization of her own tremendous minimization of that fundamental of romance, he began to see all that there was in her personality and their possible relations outside that. he saw how gravely and deeply serious was her fine philanthropy, how honest and simple and impersonal her desire for knowledge and understandings. there is the brain of her at least, he thought, far out of sir isaac's reach. she wasn't abased by her surrenders, their simplicity exalted her, showed her innocent and himself a flushed and congested soul. he perceived now with the astonishment of a man newly awakened just how the great obsession of sex had dominated him--for how many years? since his early undergraduate days. had he anything to put beside her own fine detachment? had he ever since his manhood touched philosophy, touched a social question, thought of anything human, thought of art, or literature or belief, without a glancing reference of the whole question to the uses of this eternal hunt? during that time had he ever talked to a girl or woman with an unembarrassed sincerity? he stripped his pretences bare; the answer was no. his very refinements had been no more than indicative fig-leaves. his conservatism and morality had been a mere dalliance with interests that too brutal a simplicity might have exhausted prematurely. and indeed hadn't the whole period of literature that had produced him been, in its straining purity and refinement, as it were one glowing, one illuminated fig-leaf, a vast conspiracy to keep certain matters always in mind by conspicuously covering them away? but this wonderful woman--it seemed--she hadn't them in mind! she shamed him if only by her trustful unsuspiciousness of the ancient selfish game of him and her that he had been so ardently playing.... he idealized and worshipped this clean blindness. he abased himself before it. "no," cried mr. brumley suddenly in the silence of the night, "i will rise again. i will rise again by love out of these morasses.... she shall be my goddess and by virtue of her i will end this incessant irrational craving for women.... i will be her friend and her faithful friend." he lay still for a time and then he said in a whisper very humbly: "_god help me_." he set himself in those still hours which are so endless and so profitable to men in their middle years, to think how he might make himself the perfect lover instead of a mere plotter for desire, and how he might purge himself from covetousness and possessiveness and learn to serve. and if very speedily his initial sincerity was tinged again with egotism and if he drowsed at last into a portrait of himself as beautifully and admirably self-sacrificial, you must not sneer too readily at him, for so god has made the soul of mr. brumley and otherwise it could not do. chapter the tenth lady harman comes out § the treaty between lady harman and her husband which was to be her great charter, the constitutional basis of her freedoms throughout the rest of her married life, had many practical defects. the chief of these was that it was largely undocumented; it had been made piecemeal, in various ways, at different times and for the most part indirectly through diverse intermediaries. charterson had introduced large vaguenesses by simply displaying more of his teeth at crucial moments, mrs. harman had conveyed things by hugging and weeping that were afterwards discovered to be indistinct; sir isaac writing from a bed of sickness had frequently been totally illegible. one cannot therefore detail the clauses of this agreement or give its provisions with any great precision; one can simply intimate the kind of understanding that had had an air of being arrived at. the working interpretations were still to come. before anything else it was manifestly conceded by lady harman that she would not run away again, and still more manifest that she undertook to break no more windows or do anything that might lead to a second police court scandal. and she was to be a true and faithful wife and comfort, as a wife should be, to sir isaac. in return for that consideration and to ensure its continuance sir isaac came great distances from his former assumption of a matrimonial absolutism. she was to be granted all sorts of small autonomies,--the word autonomy was carefully avoided throughout but its spirit was omnipresent. she was in particular to have a banking account for her dress and personal expenditure into which sir isaac would cause to be paid a hundred pounds monthly and it was to be private to herself alone until he chose to go through the cashed cheques and counterfoils. she was to be free to come and go as she saw fit, subject to a punctual appearance at meals, the comfort and dignity of sir isaac and such specific engagements as she might make with him. she might have her own friends, but there the contract became a little misty; a time was to come when sir isaac was to betray a conviction that the only proper friends that a woman can have are women. there were also non-corroborated assurances as to the privacy of her correspondence. the second rolls-royce car was to be entirely at her service, and clarence was to be immediately supplemented by a new and more deferential man, and as soon as possible assisted to another situation and replaced. she was to have a voice in the further furnishing of black strand and in the arrangement of its garden. she was to read what she chose and think what she liked within her head without too minute or suspicious an examination by sir isaac, and short of flat contradiction at his own table she was to be free to express her own opinions in any manner becoming a lady. but more particularly if she found her ideas infringing upon the management or influence of the international bread and cake stores, she was to convey her objections and ideas in the first instance privately and confidentially to sir isaac. upon this point he displayed a remarkable and creditable sensitiveness. his pride in that organization was if possible greater than his original pride in his wife, and probably nothing in all the jarring of their relationship had hurt him more than her accessibility to hostile criticism and the dinner-table conversation with charterson and blenker that had betrayed this fact. he began to talk about it directly she returned to him. his protestations and explanations were copious and heart-felt. it was perhaps the chief discovery made by lady harman at this period of reconstruction that her husband's business side was not to be explained completely as a highly energetic and elaborate avarice. he was no doubt acquisitive and retentive and mean-spirited, but these were merely the ugly aspects of a disposition that involved many other factors. he was also incurably a schemer. he liked to fit things together, to dove-tail arrangements, to devise economies, to spread ingeniously into new fields, he had a love of organization and contrivance as disinterested as an artist's love for the possibilities of his medium. he would rather have made a profit of ten per cent. out of a subtly planned shop than thirty by an unforeseen accident. he wouldn't have cheated to get money for the world. he knew he was better at figuring out expenditures and receipts than most people and he was as touchy about his reputation for this kind of cleverness as any poet or painter for his fame. now that he had awakened to the idea that his wife was capable of looking into and possibly even understanding his business, he was passionately anxious to show her just how wonderfully he had done it all, and when he perceived she was in her large, unskilled, helpless way, intensely concerned for all the vast multitude of incompetent or partially competent young women who floundered about in badly paid employment in our great cities, he grasped at once at the opportunity of recovering her lost interest and respect by doing some brilliant feats of contrivance in that direction. why shouldn't he? he had long observed with a certain envy the admirable advertisement such firms as lever and cadbury and burroughs & wellcome gained from their ostentatiously able and generous treatment of their workpeople, and it seemed to him conceivable that in the end it might not be at all detrimental to his prosperity to put his hand to this long neglected piece of social work. the babs wheeler business had been a real injury in every way to the international bread and cake stores and even if he didn't ultimately go to all the lengths his wife seemed to contemplate, he was resolved at any rate that an affair of that kind should not occur again. the expedition to marienbad took with it a secretary who was also a stenographer. a particularly smart young inspector and graper, the staff manager, had brisk four-day holidays once or twice for consultation purposes; sir isaac's rabbit-like architect was in attendance for a week and the harmans returned to putney with the first vivid greens of late march,--for the putney hill house was to be reopened and black strand reserved now for week-end and summer use--with plans already drawn out for four residential hostels in london primarily for the girl waitresses of the international stores who might have no homes or homes at an inconvenient distance, and, secondarily, if any vacant accommodation remained over, for any other employed young women of the same class.... § lady harman came back to england from the pine-woods and bright order and regimen and foreign novelty of their bohemian kur-ort, in a state of renewed perplexity. already that undocumented magna charta was manifestly not working upon the lines she had anticipated. the glosses sir isaac put upon it were extensive and remarkable and invariably in the direction of restricting her liberties and resuming controls she had supposed abandoned. marienbad had done wonders for him; his slight limp had disappeared, his nervous energy was all restored; except for a certain increase in his natural irritability and occasional panting fits, he seemed as well as he had ever been. at the end of their time at the kur he was even going for walks. once he went halfway up the podhorn on foot. and with every increment in his strength his aggressiveness increased, his recognition of her new freedoms was less cordial and her sense of contrition and responsibility diminished. moreover, as the scheme of those hostels, which had played so large a part in her conception of their reconciliation, grew more and more definite, she perceived more and more that it was not certainly that fine and humanizing thing she had presumed it would be. she began to feel more and more that it might be merely an extension of harman methods to cheap boarding-houses for young people. but faced with a mass of detailed concrete projects and invited to suggest modifications she was able to realize for the first time how vague, how ignorant and incompetent her wishes had been, how much she had to understand and how much she had to discover before she could meet sir isaac with his "i'm doing it all for you, elly. if you don't like it, you tell me what you don't like and i'll alter it. but just vague doubting! one can't do anything with vague doubting." she felt that once back in england out of this picturesque toylike german world she would be able to grasp realities again and deal with these things. she wanted advice, she wanted to hear what people said of her ideas. she would also, she imagined, begin to avail herself of those conceded liberties which their isolation together abroad and her husband's constant need of her presence had so far prevented her from tasting. she had an idea that susan burnet might prove suggestive about the hostels. and moreover, if now and then she could have a good talk with someone understanding and intelligent, someone she could trust, someone who cared enough for her to think with her and for her.... § we have traced thus far the emergence of lady harman from that state of dutiful subjection and social irresponsibility which was the lot of woman in the past to that limited, ill-defined and quite unsecured freedom which is her present condition. and now we have to give an outline of the ideas of herself and her uses and what she had to do, which were forming themselves in her mind. she had made a determination of herself, which carried her along the lines of her natural predisposition, to duty, to service. there she displayed that acceptance of responsibility which is so much more often a feminine than a masculine habit of thinking. but she brought to the achievement of this determination a discriminating integrity of mind that is more frequently masculine than feminine. she wanted to know clearly what she was undertaking and how far its consequences would reach and how it was related to other things. her confused reading during the last few years and her own observation and such leakages of fact into her life as the talk of susan burnet, had all contributed to her realization that the world was full of needless discomfort and hardships and failure, due to great imperfectly apprehended injustices and maladjustments in the social system, and recently it had been borne in upon her, upon the barbed point of the _london lion_ and the quick tongue of susan, that if any particular class of people was more answerable than any other for these evils, it was the people of leisure and freedom like herself, who had time to think, and the directing organizing people like her husband, who had power to change. she was called upon to do something, at times the call became urgent, and she could not feel any assurance which it was of the many vague and conflicting suggestions that came drifting to her that she had to do. her idea of hostels for the international waitresses had been wrung out of her prematurely during her earlier discussions with her husband. she did not feel that it was anything more than a partial remedy for a special evil. she wanted something more general than that, something comprehensive enough to answer completely so wide a question as "what ought i to be doing with all my life?" in the honest simplicity of her nature she wanted to find an answer to that. out of the confusion of voices about us she hoped to be able to disentangle directions for her life. already she had been reading voraciously: while she was still at marienbad she had written to mr. brumley and he had sent her books and papers, advanced and radical in many cases, that she might know, "what are people thinking?" many phrases from her earlier discussions with sir isaac stuck in her mind in a curiously stimulating way and came back to her as she read. she recalled him, for instance, with his face white and his eyes red and his flat hand sawing at her, saying: "i dessay i'm all wrong, i dessay i don't know anything about anything and all those chaps you read, bernud shaw, and gosworthy, and all the rest of them are wonderfully clever; but you tell me, elly, what they say we've got to do! you tell me that. you go and ask some of those chaps just what they want a man like me to do.... they'll ask me to endow a theatre or run a club for novelists or advertise the lot of them in the windows of my international stores or something. and that's about all it comes to. you go and see if i'm not right. they grumble and they grumble; i don't say there's not a lot to grumble at, but give me something they'll back themselves for all they're worth as good to get done.... that's where i don't agree with all these idees. they're wind, elly, weak wind at that." it is distressing to record how difficult it was for lady harman to form even the beginnings of a disproof of that. her life through all this second phase of mitigated autonomy was an intermittent pilgrimage in search of that disproof. she could not believe that things as they were, this mass of hardships, cruelties, insufficiencies and heartburnings were the ultimate wisdom and possibility of human life, yet when she went from them to the projects that would replace or change them she seemed to pass from things of overwhelming solidity to matters more thin and flimsy than the twittering of sparrows on the gutter. so soon as she returned to london she started upon her search for a solution; she supplemented mr. brumley's hunt for books with her own efforts, she went to meetings--sometimes sir isaac took her, once or twice she was escorted by mr. brumley, and presently her grave interest and her personal charm had gathered about her a circle of companionable friends. she tried to talk to people and made great efforts to hear people who seemed authoritative and wise and leaderlike, talking. there were many interruptions to this research, but she persevered. quite early she had an illness that ended in a miscarriage, an accident for which she was by no means inconsolable, and before she had completely recovered from that sir isaac fell ill again, the first of a series of relapses that necessitated further foreign travel--always in elaborately comfortable trains with maid, courier, valet, and secretary, to some warm and indolent southward place. and few people knew how uncertain her liberties were. sir isaac was the victim of an increasing irritability, at times he had irrational outbursts of distrust that would culminate in passionate outbreaks and scenes that were truncated by an almost suffocating breathlessness. on several occasions he was on the verge of quarrelling violently with her visitors, and he would suddenly oblige her to break engagements, pour abuse upon her and bring matters back to the very verge of her first revolt. and then he would break her down by pitiful appeals. the cylinders of oxygen would be resorted to, and he would emerge from the crisis, rather rueful, tamed and quiet for the time. he was her chief disturbance. her children were healthy children and fell in with the routines of governess and tutor that their wealth provided. she saw them often, she noted their increasing resemblance to their father, she did her best to soften the natural secretiveness and aggressiveness of their manners, she watched their teachers and intervened whenever the influences about them seemed to her to need intervention, she dressed them and gave them presents and tried to believe she loved them, and as sir isaac's illness increased she took a larger and larger share in the direction of the household.... through all these occupations and interruptions and immediacies she went trying to comprehend and at times almost believing she comprehended life, and then the whole spectacle of this modern world of which she was a part would seem to break up again into a multitude of warring and discordant fragments having no conceivable common aim or solution. those moments of unifying faith and confidence, that glowed so bravely and never endured, were at once tantalizing and sustaining. she could never believe but that ultimately she would not grasp and hold--something.... many people met her and liked her and sought to know more of her; lady beach-mandarin and lady viping were happy to be her social sponsors, the blenkers and the chartersons met her out and woke up cautiously to this new possibility; her emergence was rapid in spite of the various delays and interruptions i have mentioned and she was soon in a position to realize just how little one meets when one meets a number of people and how little one hears when one has much conversation. her mind was presently crowded with confused impressions of pleasant men evading her agreeably and making out of her gravities an opportunity for bright sayings, and of women being vaguely solemn and quite indefinite. she went into the circle of movements, was tried over by mrs. hubert plessington, she questioned this and that promoter of constructive schemes, and instead of mental meat she was asked to come upon committees and sounded for subscriptions. on several occasions, escorted by mr. brumley--some instinct made her conceal or minimize his share in these expeditions to her husband--she went as inconspicuously as possible to the backs of public meetings in which she understood great questions were being discussed or great changes inaugurated. some public figures she even followed up for a time, distrusting her first impressions. she became familiar with the manners and bearing of our platform class, with the solemn dummy-like chairman or chairwoman, saying a few words, the alert secretary or organizer, the prominent figures sitting with an air of grave responsibility, generously acting an intelligent attention to others until the moment came for them themselves to deliver. then with an ill-concealed relief some would come to the footlights, some leap up in their places with a tenoring eagerness, some would be facetious and some speak with neuralgic effort, some were impertinent, some propitiatory, some dull, but all were--disappointing, disappointing. god was not in any of them. a platform is no setting for the shy processes of an honest human mind,--we are all strained to artificiality in the excessive glare of attention that beats upon us there. one does not exhibit opinions at a meeting, one acts them, the very truth must rouge its cheeks and blacken its eyebrows to tell, and to lady harman it was the acting chiefly and the make-up that was visible. they didn't grip her, they didn't lift her, they failed to convince her even of their own belief in what they supported. § but occasionally among the multitude of conversations that gave her nothing, there would come some talk that illuminated and for the time almost reconciled her to the effort and the loss of time and distraction her social expeditions involved. one evening at one of lady tarvrille's carelessly compiled parties she encountered edgar wilkins the novelist and got the most suggestive glimpses of his attitude towards himself and towards the world of intellectual ferment to which he belonged. she had been taken down by an amiable but entirely uninteresting permanent official who when the time came turned his stereotyped talk over to the other side of him with a quiet mechanical indifference, and she was left for a little while in silence until wilkins had disengaged himself. he was a flushed man with untidy hair, and he opened at once with an appeal to her sympathies. "oh! bother!" he said. "i say,--i've eaten that mutton. i didn't notice. one eats too much at these affairs. one doesn't notice at the time and then afterwards one finds out." she was a little surprised at his gambit and could think of nothing but a kindly murmur. "detestable thing," he said; "my body." "but surely not," she tried and felt as she said it that was a trifle bold. "you're all right," he said making her aware he saw her. "but i've this thing that wheezes and fattens at the slightest excuse and--it encumbers me--bothers me to take exercise.... but i can hardly expect you to be interested in my troubles, can i?" he made an all too manifest attempt to read her name on the slip of card that lay before her among the flowers and as manifestly succeeded. "we people who write and paint and all that sort of thing are a breed of insatiable egotists, lady harman. with the least excuse. don't you think so?" "not--not exceptionally," she said. "exceptionally," he insisted. "it isn't my impression," she said. "you're--franker." "but someone was telling me--you've been taking impressions of us lately. i mean all of us people who go flapping ideas about in the air. somebody--was it lady beach-mandarin?--was saying you'd come out looking for intellectual heroes--and found bernard shaw.... but what could you have expected?" "i've been trying to find out and understand what people are thinking. i want ideas." "it's disheartening, isn't it?" "it's--perplexing sometimes." "you go to meetings, and try to get to the bottom of movements, and you want to meet and know the people who write the wonderful things? get at the wonderful core of it?" "one feels there are things going on." "great illuminating things." "well--yes." "and when you see those great thinkers and teachers and guides and brave spirits and high brows generally----" he laughed and stopped just in time on the very verge of taking pheasant. "oh, take it away," he cried sharply. "we've all been through that illusion, lady harman," he went on. "but i don't like to think----aren't great men after all--great?" "in their ways, in their places--yes. but not if you go up to them and look at them. not at the dinner table, not in their beds.... what a time of disillusionment you must have had! "you see, lady harman," he said, leaning back from his empty plate, inclining himself confidentially to her ear and speaking in a privy tone; "it's in the very nature of things that we--if i may put myself into the list--we ideologists, should be rather exceptionally loose and untrustworthy and disappointing men. rotters--to speak plain contemporary english. if you come to think of it, it has to be so." "but----" she protested. he met her eye firmly. "it has to be." "why?" "the very qualities that make literature entertaining, vigorous, inspiring, revealing, wonderful, beautiful and--all that sort of thing, make its producers--if you will forgive the word again--rotters." she smiled and lifted her eyebrows protestingly. "sensitive nervous tissue," he said with a finger up to emphasize his words. "quick responsiveness to stimulus, a vivid, almost uncontrollable, expressiveness; that's what you want in your literary man." "yes," said lady harman following cautiously. "yes, i suppose it is." "can you suppose for a moment that these things conduce to self-control, to reserve, to consistency, to any of the qualities of a trustworthy man?... of course you can't. and so we _aren't_ trustworthy, we _aren't_ consistent. our virtues are our vices.... _my_ life," said mr. wilkins still more confidentially, "won't bear examination. but that's by the way. it need not concern us now." "but mr. brumley?" she asked on the spur of the moment. "i'm not talking of him," said wilkins with careless cruelty. "he's restrained. i mean the really imaginative people, the people with vision, the people who let themselves go. you see now why they are rotten, why they must be rotten. (no! no! take it away. i'm talking.) i feel so strongly about this, about the natural and necessary disreputableness of everybody who produces reputable writing--and for the matter of that, art generally--that i set my face steadily against all these attempts that keep on cropping up to make figures of us. we aren't figures, lady harman; it isn't our line. of all the detestable aspects of the victorian period surely that disposition to make figures of its artists and literary men was the most detestable. respectable figures--examples to the young. the suppressions, the coverings up that had to go on, the white-washing of dickens,--who was more than a bit of a rip, you know, the concealment of thackeray's mistresses. did you know he had mistresses? oh rather! and so on. it's like that bust of jove--or bacchus was it?--they pass off as plato, who probably looked like any other literary grub. that's why i won't have anything to do with these academic developments that my friend brumley--do you know him by the way?--goes in for. he's the third man down----you _do_ know him. and he's giving up the academic committee, is he? i'm glad he's seen it at last. what _is_ the good of trying to have an academy and all that, and put us in uniform and make out we are somebodies, and respectable enough to be shaken hands with by george and mary, when as a matter of fact we are, by our very nature, a collection of miscellaneous scandals----we _must_ be. bacon, shakespear, byron, shelley--all the stars.... no, johnson wasn't a star, he was a character by boswell.... oh! great things come out of us, no doubt, our arts are the vehicles of wonder and hope, the world is dead without these things we produce, but that's no reason why--why the mushroom-bed should follow the mushrooms into the soup, is it? perfectly fair image. (no, take it away.)" he paused and then jumped in again as she was on the point of speaking. "and you see even if our temperaments didn't lead inevitably to our--dipping rather, we should still have to--_dip_. asking a writer or a poet to be seemly and academic and so on, is like asking an eminent surgeon to be stringently decent. it's--you see, it's incompatible. now a king or a butler or a family solicitor--if you like." he paused again. lady harman had been following him with an attentive reluctance. "but what are we to do," she asked, "we people who are puzzled by life, who want guidance and ideas and--help, if--if all the people we look to for ideas are----" "bad characters." "well,--it's your theory, you know--bad characters?" wilkins answered with the air of one who carefully disentangles a complex but quite solvable problem. "it doesn't follow," he said, "that because a man is a bad character he's not to be trusted in matters where character--as we commonly use the word--doesn't come in. these sensitives, these--would you mind if i were to call myself an Æolian harp?--these Æolian harps; they can't help responding to the winds of heaven. well,--listen to them. don't follow them, don't worship them, don't even honour them, but listen to them. don't let anyone stop them from saying and painting and writing and singing what they want to. freedom, canvas and attention, those are the proper honours for the artist, the poet and the philosopher. listen to the noise they make, watch the stuff they produce, and presently you will find certain things among the multitude of things that are said and shown and put out and published, something--light in _your_ darkness--a writer for you, something for you. nobody can have a greater contempt for artists and writers and poets and philosophers than i, oh! a squalid crew they are, mean, jealous, pugnacious, disgraceful in love, _disgraceful_--but out of it all comes the greatest serenest thing, the mind of the world, literature. nasty little midges, yes,--but fireflies--carrying light for the darkness." his face was suddenly lit by enthusiasm and she wondered that she could have thought it rather heavy and commonplace. he stopped abruptly and glanced beyond her at her other neighbour who seemed on the verge of turning to them again. "if i go on," he said with a voice suddenly dropped, "i shall talk loud." "you know," said lady harman, in a halty undertone, "you--you are too hard upon--upon clever people, but it is true. i mean it is true in a way...." "go on, i understand exactly what you are saying." "i mean, there _are_ ideas. it's just that, that is so--so----i mean they seem never to be just there and always to be present." "like god. never in the flesh--now. a spirit everywhere. you think exactly as i do, lady harman. it is just that. this is a great time, so great that there is no chance for great men. every chance for great work. and we're doing it. there is a wind--blowing out of heaven. and when beautiful people like yourself come into things----" "i try to understand," she said. "i want to understand. i want--i want not to miss life." he was on the verge of saying something further and then his eyes wandered down the table and he stopped short. he ended his talk as he had begun it with "bother! lady tarvrille, lady harman, is trying to catch your eye." lady harman turned her face to her hostess and answered her smile. wilkins caught at his chair and stood up. "it would have been jolly to have talked some more," he said. "i hope we shall." "well!" said wilkins, with a sudden hardness in his eyes and she was swept away from him. she found no chance of talking to him upstairs, sir isaac came for her early; but she went in hope of another meeting. it did not come. for a time that expectation gave dinners and luncheon parties a quite appreciable attraction. then she told agatha alimony. "i've never met him but that once," she said. "one doesn't meet him now," said agatha, deeply. "but why?" deep significance came into miss alimony's eyes. "my dear," she whispered, and glanced about them. "don't you _know_?" lady harman was a radiant innocence. and then miss alimony began in impressive undertones, with awful omissions like pits of darkness and with such richly embroidered details as serious spinsters enjoy, adding, indeed, two quite new things that came to her mind as the tale unfolded, and, naming no names and giving no chances of verification or reply, handed on the fearful and at that time extremely popular story of the awful wickedness of wilkins the author. upon reflection lady harman perceived that this explained all sorts of things in their conversation and particularly the flash of hardness at the end. even then, things must have been hanging over him.... § and while lady harman was making these meritorious and industrious attempts to grasp the significance of life and to get some clear idea of her social duty, the developments of those hostels she had started--she now felt so prematurely--was going on. there were times when she tried not to think of them, turned her back on them, fled from them, and times when they and what she ought to do about them and what they ought to be and what they ought not to be, filled her mind to the exclusion of every other topic. rigorously and persistently sir isaac insisted they were hers, asked her counsel, demanded her appreciation, presented as it were his recurring bill for them. five of them were being built, not four but five. there was to be one, the largest, in a conspicuous position in bloomsbury near the british museum, one in a conspicuous position looking out upon parliament hill, one conspicuously placed upon the waterloo road near st. george's circus, one at sydenham, and one in the kensington road which was designed to catch the eye of people going to and fro to the various exhibitions at olympia. in sir isaac's study at putney there was a huge and rather splendid-looking morocco portfolio on a stand, and this portfolio bore in excellent gold lettering the words, international bread and cake hostels. it was her husband's peculiar pleasure after dinner to take her to turn over this with him; he would sit pencil in hand, while she, poised at his request upon the arm of his chair, would endorse a multitude of admirable modifications and suggestions. these hostels were to be done--indeed they were being done--by sir isaac's tame architect, and the interlacing yellow and mauve tiles, and the doulton ware mouldings that were already familiar to the public as the uniform of the stores, were to be used upon the façades of the new institutions. they were to be boldly labelled international hostels right across the front. the plans revealed in every case a site depth as great as the frontage, and the utmost ingenuity had been used to utilize as much space as possible. "every room we get in," said sir isaac, "adds one to the denominator in the cost;" and carried his wife back to her schooldays. at last she had found sense in fractions. there was to be a series of convenient and spacious rooms on the ground floor, a refectory, which might be cleared and used for meetings--"dances," said lady harman. "hardly the sort of thing we want 'em to get up to," said sir isaac--various offices, the matron's apartments--"we ought to begin thinking about matrons," said sir isaac;--a bureau, a reading-room and a library--"we can pick good, serious stuff for them," said sir isaac, "instead of their filling their heads with trash"--one or two workrooms with tables for cutting out and sewing; this last was an idea of susan burnet's. upstairs there was to be a beehive of bedrooms, floor above floor, and each floor as low as the building regulations permitted. there were to be long dormitories with cubicles at three-and-sixpence a week--make your own beds--and separate rooms at prices ranging from four-and-sixpence to seven-and-sixpence. every three cubicles and every bedroom had lavatory basins with hot and cold water; there were pull-out drawers under the beds and a built-in chest of drawers, a hanging cupboard, a looking-glass and a radiator in each cubicle, and each floor had a box-room. it was ship-shape. "a girl can get this cubicle for three-and-six a week," said sir isaac, tapping the drawing before him with his pencil. "she can get her breakfast with a bit of bacon or a sausage for two shillings a week, and she can get her high tea, with cold meat, good potted salmon, shrimp paste, jam and cetera, for three-and-six a week. say her bus fares and lunch out mean another four shillings. that means she can get along on about twelve-and-six a week, comfortable, read the papers, have a book out of the library.... there's nothing like it to be got now for twice the money. the sort of thing they have now is one room, dingy, badly fitted, extra for coals. "that's the answer to your problem, elly," he said. "there we are. every girl who doesn't live at home can live here--with a matron to keep her eye on her.... and properly run, elly, properly run the thing's going to pay two or three per cent,--let alone the advertisement for the stores. "we can easily make these hostels obligatory on all our girls who don't live at their own homes," he said. "that ought to keep them off the streets, if anything can. i don't see how even miss babs wheeler can have the face to strike against that. "and then we can arrange with some of the big firms, drapers' shops and all that sort of thing near each hostel, to take over most of our other cubicle space. a lot of them--overflow. "of course we'll have to make sure the girls get in at night." he reached out for a ground floor plan of the bloomsbury establishment which was to be the first built. "if," he said, "we were to have a sort of porter's lodge with a book--and make 'em ring a bell after eleven say--just here...." he took out a silver pencil case and got to work. lady harman's expression as she leant over him became thoughtful. there were points about this project that gave her the greatest misgivings; that matron, keeping her eye on the girls, that carefully selected library, the porter's bell, these casual allusions to "discipline" that set her thinking of scraps of the babs wheeler controversy. there was a regularity, an austerity about this project that chilled her, she hardly knew why. her own vague intentions had been an amiable, hospitable, agreeably cheap establishment to which the homeless feminine employees in london could resort freely and cheerfully, and it was only very slowly that she perceived that her husband was by no means convinced of the spontaneity of their coming. he seemed always glancing at methods for compelling them to come in and oppressions when that compulsion had succeeded. there had already hovered over several of these anticipatory evenings, his very manifest intention to have very carefully planned "rules." she felt there lay ahead of them much possibility for divergence of opinion about these "rules." she foresaw a certain narrowness and hardness. she herself had made her fight against the characteristics of sir isaac and--perhaps she was lacking in that aristocratic feeling which comes so naturally to most successful middle-class people in england--she could not believe that what she had found bad and suffocating for herself could be agreeable and helpful for her poorer sisters. it occurred to her to try the effect of the scheme upon susan burnet. susan had such a knack of seeing things from unexpected angles. she contrived certain operations upon the study blinds, and then broached the business to susan casually in the course of an enquiry into the welfare of the burnet family. susan was evidently prejudiced against the idea. "yes," said susan after various explanations and exhibitions, "but where's the home in it?" "the whole thing is a home." "barracks _i_ call it," said susan. "nobody ever felt at home in a room coloured up like that--and no curtains, nor vallances, nor toilet covers, nor anywhere where a girl can hang a photograph or anything. what girl's going to feel at home in a strange place like that?" "they ought to be able to hang up photographs," said lady harman, making a mental note of it. "and of course there'll be all sorts of rules." "_some_ rules." "homes, real homes don't have rules. and i daresay--fines." "no, there shan't be any fines," said lady harman quickly. "i'll see to that." "you got to back up rules somehow--once you got 'em," said susan. "and when you get a crowd, and no father and mother, and no proper family feeling, i suppose there's got to be rules." lady harman pointed out various advantages of the project. "i'm not saying it isn't cheap and healthy and social," said susan, "and if it isn't too strict i expect you'll get plenty of girls to come to it, but at the best it's an institution, lady harman. it's going to be an institution. that's what it's going to be." she held the front elevation of the bloomsbury hostel in her hand and reflected. "of course for my part, i'd rather lodge with nice struggling believing christian people anywhere than go into a place like that. it's the feeling of freedom, of being yourself and on your own. even if the water wasn't laid on and i had to fetch it myself.... if girls were paid properly there wouldn't be any need of such places, none at all. it's the poverty makes 'em what they are.... and after all, somebody's got to lose the lodgers if this place gets them. suppose this sort of thing grows up all over the place, it'll just be the story of the little bakers and little grocers and all those people over again. why in london there are thousands of people just keep a home together by letting two or three rooms or boarding someone--and it stands to reason, they'll have to take less or lose the lodgers if this kind of thing's going to be done. nobody isn't going to build a hostel for them." "no," said lady harman, "i never thought of them." "lots of 'em haven't anything in the world but their bits of furniture and their lease and there they are stuck and tied. there's aunt hannah, father's sister, she's like that. sleeps in the basement and works and slaves, and often i've had to lend her ten shillings to pay the rent with, through her not being full. this sort of place isn't going to do much good to her." lady harman surveyed the plan rather blankly. "i suppose it isn't." "and then if you manage this sort of place easy and attractive, it's going to draw girls away from their homes. there's girls like alice who'd do anything to get a bit of extra money to put on their backs and seem to think of nothing but chattering and laughing and going about. such a place like this would be fine fun for alice; in when she liked and out when she liked, and none of us to ask her questions. she'd be just the sort to go, and mother, who's had the upbringing of her, how's she to make up for alice's ten shillings what she pays in every week? there's lots like alice. she's not bad isn't alice, she's a good girl and a good-hearted girl; i will say that for her, but she's shallow, say what you like she's shallow, she's got no thought and she's wild for pleasure, and sometimes it seems to me that that's as bad as being bad for all the good it does to anyone else in the world, and so i tell her. but of course she hasn't seen things as i've seen them and doesn't feel as i do about all these things...." thus susan. her discourse so puzzled lady harman that she bethought herself of mr. brumley and called in his only too readily accorded advice. she asked him to tea on a day when she knew unofficially that sir isaac would be away, she showed him the plans and sketched their probable development. then with that charming confidence of hers in his knowledge and ability she put her doubts and fears before him. what did he really think of these places? what did he think of susan burnet's idea of ruined lodging-house keepers? "i used to think our stores were good things," she said. "is this likely to be a good thing at all?" mr. brumley said "um" a great number of times and realized that he was a humbug. he fenced with her and affected sagacity for a time and suddenly he threw down his defences and confessed he knew as little of the business as she did. "but i see it is a complex question and--it's an interesting one too. may i enquire into it for you? i think i might be able to hunt up a few particulars...." he went away in a glow of resolution. georgina was about the only intimate who regarded the new development without misgiving. "you think you're going to do all sorts of things with these hostels, ella," she said, "but as a matter of fact they're bound to become just exactly what we've always wanted." "and what may that be?" asked mrs. sawbridge over her macramé work. "strongholds for a garrison of suffragettes," said georgina with the light of the great insane movement in her eyes and a ringing note in her voice. "fort chabrols for women." § for some months in a negative and occasionally almost negligent fashion mr. brumley had been living up to his impassioned resolve to be an unselfish lover of lady harman. he had been rather at loose ends intellectually, deprived of his old assumptions and habitual attitudes and rather chaotic in the matter of his new convictions. he had given most of his productive hours to the writing of a novel which was to be an entire departure from the euphemia tradition. the more he got on with this, the more clearly he realized that it was essentially insignificant. when he re-read what he had written he was surprised by crudities where he had intended sincerities and rhetoric where the scheme had demanded passion. what was the matter with him? he was stirred that lady harman should send for him, and his inability to deal with her perplexities deepened his realization of the ignorance and superficiality he had so long masked even from himself beneath the tricks and pretensions of a gay scepticism. he went away fully resolved to grapple with the entire hostel question, and he put the patched and tortured manuscript of the new novel aside with a certain satisfaction to do this. the more he reflected upon the nature of this study he proposed for himself the more it attracted him. it was some such reality as this he had been wanting. he could presently doubt whether he would ever go back to his novel-writing again, or at least to the sort of novel-writing he had been doing hitherto. to invent stories to save middle-aged prosperous middle-class people from the distresses of thinking, is surely no work for a self-respecting man. stevenson in the very deeps of that dishonourable traffic had realized as much and likened himself to a _fille de joie_, and haggard, of the same school and period, had abandoned blood and thunder at the climax of his success for the honest study of agricultural conditions. the newer successes were turning out work, less and less conventional and agreeable and more and more stiffened with facts and sincerities.... he would show lady harman that a certain debonair quality he had always affected, wasn't incompatible with a powerful grasp of general conditions.... and she wanted this done. suppose he did it in a way that made him necessary to her. suppose he did it very well. he set to work, and understanding as you do a certain quality of the chameleon in mr. brumley's moral nature, you will understand that he worked through a considerable variety of moods. sometimes he worked with disinterested passion and sometimes he was greatly sustained by this thought that here was something that would weave him in with the gravities of her life and give him perhaps a new inlet to intimacy. and presently a third thing came to his help, and that was the discovery that the questions arising out of this attempt to realize the importance of those hostels, were in themselves very fascinating questions for an intelligent person. because before you have done with the business of the modern employé, you must, if you are an intelligent person, have taken a view of the whole vast process of social reorganization that began with the development of factory labour and big towns, and which is even now scarcely advanced enough for us to see its general trend. for a time mr. brumley did not realize the magnitude of the thing he was looking at; when he did, theories sprouted in his mind like mushrooms and he babbled with mental excitement. he came in a state of the utmost lucidity to explain his theories to lady harman, and they struck that lady at the time as being the most illuminating suggestions she had ever encountered. they threw an appearance of order, of process, over a world of trade and employment and competition that had hitherto seemed too complex and mysterious for any understanding. "you see," said mr. brumley--they had met that day in kensington gardens and they were sitting side by side upon green chairs near the frozen writings of physical energy--"you see, if i may lecture a little, putting the thing as simply as possible, the world has been filling up new spaces ever since the discovery of america; all the period from then to about , let us say, was a period of rapid increase of population in response to new opportunities of living and new fulnesses of life in every direction. during that time, four hundred years of it roughly, there was a huge development of family life; to marry and rear a quite considerable family became the chief business of everybody, celibacy grew rare, monasteries and nunneries which had abounded vanished like things dissolving in a flood and even the priests became protestant against celibacy and took unto themselves wives and had huge families. the natural checks upon increase, famine and pestilence, were lifted by more systematized communication and by scientific discovery; and altogether and as a consequence the world now has probably three or four times the human population it ever carried before. everywhere in that period the family prevailed again, the prospering multiplying household; it was a return to the family, to the reproductive social grouping of early barbaric life, and naturally all the thought of the modern world which has emerged since the fifteenth century falls into this form. so i see it, lady harman. the generation of our grandfathers in the opening nineteenth century had two shaping ideas, two forms of thought, the family and progress, not realizing that that very progress which had suddenly reopened the doors of opportunity for the family that had revived the ancient injunction to increase and multiply and replenish the earth, might presently close that door again and declare the world was filled. but that is what is happening now. the doors close. that immense swarming and multiplying of little people is over, and the forces of social organization have been coming into play now, more and more for a century and a half, to produce new wholesale ways of doing things, new great organizations, organizations that invade the autonomous family more and more, and are perhaps destined ultimately to destroy it altogether and supersede it. at least it is so i make my reading of history in these matters." "yes," said lady harman, with knitted brows, "yes," and wondered privately whether it would be possible to get from that opening to the matter of her hostels before it was time for her to return for sir isaac's tea. mr. brumley continued to talk with his eyes fixed as it were upon his thoughts. "these things, lady harman, go on at different paces in different regions. i will not trouble you with a discussion of that, or of emigration, of any of the details of the vast proliferation that preceded the present phase. suffice it, that now all the tendency is back towards restraints upon increase, to an increasing celibacy, to a fall in the birth-rate and in the average size of families, to--to a release of women from an entire devotion to a numerous offspring, and so at last to the supersession of those little family units that for four centuries have made up the substance of social life and determined nearly all our moral and sentimental attitudes. the autonomy of the family is being steadily destroyed, and it is being replaced by the autonomy of the individual in relation to some syndicated economic effort." "i think," said lady harman slowly, arresting him by a gesture, "if you could make that about autonomy a little clearer...." mr. brumley did. he went on to point out with the lucidity of a university extension lecturer what he meant by these singular phrases. she listened intelligently but with effort. he was much too intent upon getting the thing expressed to his own satisfaction to notice any absurdity in his preoccupation with these theories about the population of the world in the face of her immediate practical difficulties. he declared that the onset of this new phase in human life, the modern phase, wherein there was apparently to be no more "proliferating," but instead a settling down of population towards a stable equilibrium, became apparent first with the expropriation of the english peasantry and the birth of the factory system and machine production. "since that time one can trace a steady substitution of wholesale and collective methods for household and family methods. it has gone far with us now. instead of the woman drawing water from a well, the pipes and taps of the water company. instead of the home-made rushlight, the electric lamp. instead of home-spun, ready-made clothes. instead of home-brewed, the brewer's cask. instead of home-baked, first the little baker and then, clean and punctual, the international bread and cake stores. instead of the child learning at its mother's knee, the compulsory elementary school. flats take the place of separate houses. instead of the little holding, the big farm, and instead of the children working at home, the factory. everywhere synthesis. everywhere the little independent proprietor gives place to the company and the company to the trust. you follow all this, lady harman?" "go on," she said, encouraged by that transitory glimpse of the stores in his discourse. "now london--and england generally--had its period of expansion and got on to the beginnings at least of this period of synthesis that is following it, sooner than any other country in the world; and because it was the first to reach the new stage it developed the characteristics of the new stage with a stronger flavour of the old than did such later growths of civilization as new york or bombay or berlin. that is why london and our british big cities generally are congestions of little houses, little homes, while the newer great cities run to apartments and flats. we hadn't grasped the logical consequences of what we were in for so completely as the people abroad did who caught it later, and that is why, as we began to develop our new floating population of mainly celibate employees and childless people, they had mostly to go into lodgings, they went into the homes that were intended for families as accessories to the family, and they were able to go in because the families were no longer so numerous as they used to be. london is still largely a city of landladies and lodgings, and in no other part of the world is there so big a population of lodgers. and this business of your hostels is nothing more nor less than the beginning of the end of that. just as the great refreshment caterers have mopped up the ancient multitude of coffee-houses and squalid little special feeding arrangements of the days of tittlebat titmouse and dick swiveller, so now your hostels are going to mop up the lodging-house system of london. of course there are other and kindred movements. naturally. the y.w.c.a., the y.m.c.a., the london girls club union and so forth are all doing kindred work." "but what, mr. brumley, what is to become of the landladies?" asked lady harman. mr. brumley was checked in mid theory. "i hadn't thought of the landladies," he said, after a short pause. "they worry me," said lady harman. "um," said mr. brumley, thrown out. "do you know the other day i went into chelsea, where there are whole streets of lodgings, and--i suppose it was wrong of me, but i went and pretended to be looking for rooms for a girl clerk i knew, and i saw--oh! no end of rooms. and such poor old women, such dingy, worked-out, broken old women, with a kind of fearful sharpness, so eager, so dreadfully eager to get that girl clerk who didn't exist...." she looked at him with an expression of pained enquiry. "that," said mr. brumley, "that i think is a question, so to speak, for the social ambulance. if perhaps i might go on----that particular difficulty we might consider later. i think i was talking of the general synthesis." "yes," said lady harman. "and what is it exactly that is to take the place of these isolated little homes and these dreary little lodgings? here are we, my husband and i, rushing in with this new thing, just as he rushed in with his stores thirty years ago and overset little bakers and confectioners and refreshment dealers by the hundred. some of them--poor dears--they----i don't like to think. and it wasn't a good thing he made after all,--only a hard sort of thing. he made all those shops of his--with the girls who strike and say they are sweated and driven.... and now here we are making a kind of barrack place for people to live in!" she expressed the rest of her ideas with a gesture of the hands. "i admit the process has its dangers," said mr. brumley. "it's like the supersession of the small holdings by the _latifundia_ in italy. but that's just where our great opportunity comes in. these synthetic phases have occurred before in the world's history and their history is a history of lost opportunities.... but need ours be?" she had a feeling as though something had slipped through her fingers. "i feel," she said, "that it is more important to me than anything else in life, that these hostels, anyhow, which are springing so rapidly from a chance suggestion of mine, shouldn't be lost opportunities." "exactly," said mr. brumley, with the gesture of one who recovers a thread. "that is just what i am driving at." the fingers of his extended hand felt in the warm afternoon air for a moment, and then he said "ah!" in a tone of recovery while she waited respectfully for the resumed thread. "you see," he said, "i regard this process of synthesis, this substitution of wholesale and collective methods for homely and individual ones as, under existing conditions, inevitable--inevitable. it's the phase we live in, it's to this we have to adapt ourselves. it is as little under your control or mine as the movement of the sun through the zodiac. practically, that is. and what we have to do is not, i think, to sigh for lost homes and the age of gold and spade husbandry, and pigs and hens in the home, and so on, but to make this new synthetic life tolerable for the mass of men and women, hopeful for the mass of men and women, a thing developing and ascending. that's where your hostels come in, lady harman; that's where they're so important. they're a pioneer movement. if they succeed--and things in sir isaac's hands have a way of succeeding at any rate to the paying point--then there'll be a headlong rush of imitations, imitating your good features, imitating your bad features, deepening a groove.... you see my point?" "yes," she said. "it makes me--more afraid than ever." "but hopeful," said mr. brumley, presuming to lay his hand for an instant on her arm. "it's big enough to be inspiring." "but i'm afraid," she said. "it's laying down the lines of a new social life--no less. and what makes it so strange, so typical, too, of the way social forces work nowadays, is that your husband, who has all the instinctive insistence upon every right and restriction of the family relation in his private life, who is narrowly, passionately _for_ the home in his own case, who hates all books and discussion that seem to touch it, should in his business activities be striking this tremendous new blow at the ancient organization. for that, you see, is what it amounts to." "yes," said lady harman slowly. "yes. of course, he doesn't know...." mr. brumley was silent for a little while. "you see," he resumed, "at the worst this new social life may become a sort of slavery in barracks; at the best--it might become something very wonderful. my mind's been busy now for days thinking just how wonderful the new life might be. instead of the old bickering, crowded family home, a new home of comrades...." he made another pause, and his thoughts ran off upon a fresh track. "in looking up all these things i came upon a queer little literature of pamphlets and so forth, dealing with the case of the shop assistants. they have a great grievance in what they call the living-in system. the employers herd them in dormitories over the shops, and usually feed them by gaslight in the basements; they fine them and keep an almost intolerable grip upon them; make them go to bed at half-past ten, make them go to church on sundays,--all sorts of petty tyrannies. the assistants are passionately against this, but they've got no power to strike. where could they go if they struck? into the street. only people who live out and have homes of their own to sulk in _can_ strike. naturally, therefore, as a preliminary to any other improvement in the shop assistant's life, these young people want to live out. practically that's an impossible demand at present, because they couldn't get lodgings and live out with any decency at all on what it costs their employers to lodge and feed them _in_. well, here you see a curious possibility for your hostels. you open the prospect of a living-out system for shop assistants. but just in the degree in which you choose to interfere with them, regulate them, bully and deal with them wholesale through their employers, do you make the new living-out method approximate to the living-in. _that's_ a curious side development, isn't it?" lady harman appreciated that. "that's only the beginning of the business. there's something more these hostels might touch...." mr. brumley gathered himself together for the new aspect. "there's marriage," he said. "one of the most interesting and unsatisfactory aspects of the life of the employee to-day--and you know the employee is now in the majority in the adult population--is this. you see, we hold them celibate. we hold them celibate for a longer and longer period; the average age at marriage rises steadily; and so long as they remain celibate we are prepared with some sort of ideas about the future development of their social life, clubs, hostels, living-in, and so forth. but at present we haven't any ideas at all about the adaptation of the natural pairing instinct to the new state of affairs. ultimately the employee marries; they hold out as long as they possibly can, but ultimately they have to. they have to, even in the face of an economic system that holds out no prospects of anything but insecurity and an increasing chance of trouble and disaster to the employee's family group. what happens is that they drop back into a distressful, crippled, insecure imitation of the old family life as one had it in what i might call the multiplying periods of history. they start a home,--they dream of a cottage, but they drift to a lodging, and usually it isn't the best sort of lodging, for landladies hate wives and the other lodgers detest babies. often the young couple doesn't have babies. you see, they are more intelligent than peasants, and intelligence and fecundity vary reciprocally," said mr. brumley. "you mean?" interrupted lady harman softly. "there is a world-wide fall in the birth-rate. people don't have the families they did." "yes," said lady harman. "i understand now." "and the more prosperous or the more sanguine take these suburban little houses, these hutches that make such places as hendon nightmares of monotony, or go into ridiculous jerry-built sham cottages in some garden suburb, where each young wife does her own housework and pretends to like it. they have a sort of happiness for a time, i suppose; the woman stops all outside work, the man, very much handicapped, goes on competing against single men. then--nothing more happens. except difficulties. the world goes dull and grey for them. they look about for a lodger, perhaps. have you read gissing's _paying guest_?..." "i suppose," said lady harman, "i suppose it is like that. one tries not to think it is so." "one needn't let oneself believe that dullness is unhappiness," said mr. brumley. "i don't want to paint things sadder than they are. but it's not a fine life, it's not a full life, that life in a neo-malthusian suburban hutch." "neo----?" asked lady harman. "a mere phrase," said mr. brumley hastily. "the extraordinary thing is that, until you set me looking into these things with your questions, i've always taken this sort of thing for granted, as though it couldn't be otherwise. now i seem to see with a kind of freshness. i'm astounded at the muddle of it, the waste and aimlessness of it. and here again it is, lady harman, that i think your opportunity comes in. with these hostels as they might be projected now, you seem to have the possibility of a modernized, more collective and civilized family life than the old close congestion of the single home, and i see no reason at all why you shouldn't carry that collective life on to the married stage. as things are now these little communities don't go beyond the pairing--and out they drift to find the homestead they will never possess. what has been borne in upon me more and more forcibly as i have gone through your--your nest of problems, is the idea that the new social--association, that has so extensively replaced the old family group, might be carried on right through life, that it might work in with all sorts of other discontents and bad adjustments.... the life of the women in these little childless or one-or-two-child homes is more unsatisfactory even than the man's." mr. brumley's face flushed with enthusiasm and he wagged a finger to emphasize his words. "why not make hostels, lady harman, for married couples? why not try that experiment so many people have talked about of the conjoint kitchen and refectory, the conjoint nursery, the collective social life, so that the children who are single children or at best children in small families of two or three, may have the advantages of playfellows, and the young mothers still, if they choose, continue to have a social existence and go on with their professional or business, work? that's the next step your hostels might take ... incidentally you see this opens a way to a life of relative freedom for the woman who is married.... i don't know if you have read mrs. stetson. yes, charlotte perkins gilman stetson.... yes, _woman and economics_, that's the book. "i know," mr. brumley went on, "i seem to be opening out your project like a concertina, but i want you to see just how my thoughts have been going about all this. i want you to realize i haven't been idle during these last few weeks. i know it's a far cry from what the hostels are to all these ideas of what they might begin to be, i know the difficulties in your way--all sorts of difficulties. but when i think just how you stand at the very centre of the moulding forces in these changes...." he dropped into an eloquent silence. lady harman looked thoughtfully at the sunlight under the trees. "you think," she said, "that it comes to as much as all this." "more," said mr. brumley. "i was frightened before. _now_----you make me feel as though someone had put the wheel of a motor car in my hand, started it and told me to steer...." § lady harman went home from that talk in a taxi, and on the way she passed the building operations in kensington road. a few weeks ago it had been a mere dusty field of operation for the house-wreckers; now its walls were already rising to the second storey. she realized how swiftly nowadays the search for wisdom can be outstripped by reinforced concrete. § it was only by slow degrees and rather in the absence of a more commanding interest than through any invincible quality in their appeal to her mind that these hostels became in the next three years the grave occupation of lady harman's thoughts and energies. she yielded to them reluctantly. for a long time she wanted to look over them and past them and discover something--she did not know what--something high and domineering to which it would be easy to give herself. it was difficult to give herself to the hostels. in that mr. brumley, actuated by a mixture of more or less admirable motives, did his best to assist her. these hostels alone he thought could give them something upon which they could meet, give them a common interest and him a method of service and companionship. it threw the qualities of duty and justification over their more or less furtive meetings, their little expeditions together, their quiet frequent association. together they made studies of the girls' clubs which are scattered about london, supplementary homes that have in such places as walworth and soho worked small miracles of civilization. these institutions appealed to a lower social level than the one their hostels were to touch, but they had been organized by capable and understanding minds and lady harman found in one or two of their evening dances and in the lunch she shared one morning with a row of cheerful young factory girls from soho just that quality of concrete realization for which her mind hungered. then mr. brumley took her once or twice for evening walks, just when the stream of workers is going home; he battled his way with her along the footpath of charing cross railway bridge from the waterloo side, they swam in the mild evening sunshine of september against a trampling torrent of bobbing heads, and afterwards they had tea together in one of the international stores near the strand, where mr. brumley made an unsuccessful attempt to draw out the waitress on the subject of babs wheeler and the recent strike. the young woman might have talked freely to a man alone or freely to lady harman alone but the combination of the two made her shy. the bridge experience led to several other expeditions, to see home-going on the tube, at the big railway termini, on the train--and once they followed up the process to streatham and saw how the people pour out of the train at last and scatter--until at last they are just isolated individuals running up steps, diving into basements. and then it occurred to mr. brumley that he knew someone who would take them over "gerrard," that huge telephone exchange, and there lady harman saw how the national telephone company, as it was in those days, had a care for its staff, the pleasant club rooms, the rest room, and stood in that queer rendez-vous of messages, where the "hello" girl sits all day, wearing a strange metallic apparatus over ear and mouth, watching small lights that wink significantly at her and perpetually pulling out and slipping in and releasing little flexible strings that seem to have a resilient volition of their own. they hunted out mrs. barnet and heard her ideas about conjoint homes for spinsters in the garden suburb. and then they went over a training college for elementary teachers and visited the post office and then came back to more unobtrusive contemplation, from the customer's little table, of the ministering personalities of the international stores. there were times when all these things seen, seemed to fall into an entirely explicable system under mr. brumley's exposition, when they seemed to be giving and most generously giving the clearest indications of what kind of thing the hostels had to be, and times when this all vanished again and her mind became confused and perplexed. she tried to express just what it was she missed to mr. brumley. "one doesn't," she said, "see all of them and what one sees isn't what we have to do with. i mean we see them dressed up and respectable and busy and then they go home and the door shuts. it's the home that we are going to alter and replace--and what is it like?" mr. brumley took her for walks in highbury and the newer parts of hendon and over to clapham. "i want to go inside those doors," she said. "that's just what they won't let you do," said mr. brumley. "nobody visits but relations--and prospective relations, and the only other social intercourse is over the garden wall. perhaps i can find books----" he got her novels by edwin pugh and pett ridge and frank swinnerton and george gissing. they didn't seem to be attractive homes. and it seemed remarkable to her that no woman had ever given the woman's view of the small london home from the inside.... she overcame her own finer scruples and invaded the burnet household. apart from fresh aspects of susan's character in the capacity of a hostess she gained little light from that. she had never felt so completely outside a home in her life as she did when she was in the burnets' parlour. the very tablecloth on which the tea was spread had an air of being new and protective of familiar things; the tea was manifestly quite unlike their customary tea, it was no more intimate than the confectioner's shop window from which it mostly came; the whole room was full of the muffled cries of things hastily covered up and specially put away. vivid oblongs on the faded wallpaper betrayed even a rearrangement of the pictures. susan's mother was a little dingy woman, wearing a very smart new cap to the best of her ability; she had an air of having been severely shaken up and admonished, and her general bearing confessed only too plainly how shattered those preparations had left her. she watched her capable daughter for cues. susan's sisters displayed a disposition to keep their backs against something and at the earliest opportunity to get into the passage and leave susan and her tremendous visitor alone but within earshot. they started convulsively when they were addressed and insisted on "your ladyship." susan had told them not to but they would. when they supposed themselves to be unobserved they gave themselves up to the impassioned inspection of lady harman's costume. luke had fled into the street, and in spite of various messages conveyed to him by the youngest sister he refused to enter until lady harman had gone again and was well out of the way. and susan was no longer garrulous and at her ease; she had no pins in her mouth and that perhaps hampered her speech; she presided flushed and bright-eyed in a state of infectious nervous tension. her politeness was awful. never in all her life had lady harman felt her own lack of real conversational power so acutely. she couldn't think of a thing that mightn't be construed as an impertinence and that didn't remind her of district visiting. yet perhaps she succeeded better than she supposed. "what a family you have had!" she said to mrs. burnet. "i have four little girls, and i find them as much as we can manage." "you're young yet, my ladyship," said mrs. burnet, "and they aren't always the blessings they seem to be. it's the rearing's the difficulty." "they're all such healthy-looking--people." "i wish we could get hold of luke, my ladyship, and show you _'im_. he's that sturdy. and yet when 'e was a little feller----" she was launched for a time on those details that were always so dear to the mothers of the past order of things. her little spate of reminiscences was the only interlude of naturalness in an afternoon of painfully constrained behaviour.... lady harman returned a trifle shamefacedly from this abortive dip into realities to mr. brumley's speculative assurance. § while lady harman was slowly accustoming her mind to this idea that the development of those hostels was her appointed career in life, so far as a wife may have a career outside her connubial duties, and while she was getting insensibly to believe in mr. brumley's theory of their exemplary social importance, the hostels themselves with a haste that she felt constantly was premature, were achieving a concrete existence. they were developing upon lines that here and there disregarded mr. brumley's ideas very widely; they gained in practicality what perhaps they lost in social value, through the entirely indirect relations between mr. brumley on the one hand and sir isaac on the other. for sir isaac manifestly did not consider and would have been altogether indisposed to consider mr. brumley as entitled to plan or suggest anything of the slightest importance in this affair, and whatever of mr. brumley reached that gentleman reached him in a very carefully transmitted form as lady harman's own unaided idea. sir isaac had sound victorian ideas about the place of literature in life. if anyone had suggested to him that literature could supply ideas to practical men he would have had a choking fit, and he regarded mr. brumley's sedulous attentions to these hostel schemes with feelings, the kindlier elements of whose admixture was a belief that ultimately he would write some elegant and respectful approval of the established undertaking. the entire admixture of sir isaac's feelings towards mr. brumley was by no means kindly. he disliked any man to come near lady harman, any man at all; he had a faint uneasiness even about waiters and hotel porters and the clergy. of course he had agreed she should have friends of her own and he couldn't very well rescind that without something definite to go upon. but still this persistent follower kept him uneasy. he kept this uneasiness within bounds by reassuring himself upon the point of lady harman's virtuous obedience, and so reassured he was able to temper his distrust with a certain contempt. the man was in love with his wife; that was manifest enough, and dangled after her.... let him dangle. what after all did he get for it?... but occasionally he broke through this complacency, betrayed a fitful ingenious jealousy, interfered so that she missed appointments and had to break engagements. he was now more and more a being of pathological moods. the subtle changes of secretion that were hardening his arteries, tightening his breath and poisoning his blood, reflected themselves upon his spirit in an uncertainty of temper and exasperating fatigues and led to startling outbreaks. then for a time he would readjust himself, become in his manner reasonable again, become accessible. he was the medium through which this vision that was growing up in her mind of a reorganized social life, had to translate itself, as much as it could ever translate itself, into reality. he called these hostels her hostels, made her the approver of all he did, but he kept every particle of control in his own hands. all her ideas and desires had to be realized by him. and his attitudes varied with his moods; sometimes he was keenly interested in the work of organization and then he terrified her by his bias towards acute economies, sometimes he was resentful at the burthen of the whole thing, sometimes he seemed to scent brumley or at least some moral influence behind her mind and met her suggestions with a bitter resentment as though any suggestion must needs be a disloyalty to him. there was a remarkable outbreak upon her first tentative proposal that the hostel system might ultimately be extended to married couples. he heard her with his lips pressing tighter and tighter together until they were yellow white and creased with a hundred wicked little horizontal creases. then he interrupted her with silent gesticulations. then words came. "i never did, elly," he said. "i never did. reely--there are times when you ain't rational. married couples who're assistants in shops and places!" for a little while he sought some adequate expression of his point of view. "nice thing to go keeping a place for these chaps to have their cheap bits of skirt in," he said at last. then further: "if a man wants a girl let him work himself up until he can keep her. married couples indeed!" he began to expand the possibilities of the case with a quite unusual vividness. "double beds in each cubicle, i suppose," he said, and played for a time about this fancy.... "well, to hear such an idea from you of all people, elly. i never did." he couldn't leave it alone. he had to go on to the bitter end with the vision she had evoked in his mind. he was jealous, passionately jealous, it was only too manifest, of the possible happinesses of these young people. he was possessed by that instinctive hatred for the realized love of others which lies at the base of so much of our moral legislation. the bare thought--whole corridors of bridal chambers!--made his face white and his hand quiver. _his_ young men and young women! the fires of a hundred vigilance committees blazed suddenly in his reddened eyes. he might have been a concentrated society for preventing the rapid multiplication of the unfit. the idea of facilitating early marriages was manifestly shameful to him, a disgraceful service to render, a job for pandarus. what was she thinking of? elly of all people! elly who had been as innocent as driven snow before georgina came interfering! it ended in a fit of abuse and a panting seizure, and for a day or so he was too ill to resume the discussion, to do more than indicate a disgusted aloofness.... and then it may be the obscure chemicals at work within him changed their phase of reaction. at any rate he mended, became gentler, was more loving to his wife than he had been for some time and astonished her by saying that if she wanted hostels for married couples, it wasn't perhaps so entirely unreasonable. selected cases, he stipulated, it would have to be and above a certain age limit, sober people. "it might even be a check on immorality," he said, "properly managed...." but that was as far as his acquiescence went and lady harman was destined to be a widow before she saw the foundation of any hostel for young married couples in london. § the reinforced concrete rose steadily amidst lady harman's questionings and mr. brumley's speculations. the harmans returned from a recuperative visit to kissingen, to which sir isaac had gone because of a suspicion that his marienbad specialist had failed to cure him completely in order to get him back again, to find the first of the five hostels nearly ripe for its opening. there had to be a manageress and a staff organized and neither lady harman nor mr. brumley were prepared for that sort of business. a number of abler people however had become aware of the opportunities of the new development and mrs. hubert plessington, that busy publicist, got the harmans to a helpful little dinner, before lady harman had the slightest suspicion of the needs that were now so urgent. there shone a neat compact widow, a mrs. pembrose, who had buried her husband some eighteen months ago after studying social questions with him with great éclat for ten happy years, and she had done settlement work and girls' club work and had perhaps more power of organization--given a suitable director to provide for her lack of creativeness, mrs. plessington told sir isaac, than any other woman in london. afterwards sir isaac had an opportunity of talking to her; he discussed the suffrage movement with her and was pleased to find her views remarkably sympathetic with his own. she was, he declared, a sensible woman, anxious to hear a man out and capable, it was evident, of a detachment from feminist particularism rare in her sex at the present time. lady harman had seen less of the lady that evening, she was chiefly struck by her pallor, by a kind of animated silence about her, and by the deep impression her capabilities had made on mr. plessington, who had hitherto seemed to her to be altogether too overworked in admiring his wife to perceive the points of any other human being. afterwards lady harman was surprised to hear from one or two quite separate people that mrs. pembrose was the only possible person to act as general director of the new hostels. lady beach-mandarin was so enthusiastic in the matter that she made a special call. "you've known her a long time?" said lady harman. "long enough to see what a chance she is!" said lady beach-mandarin. lady harman perceived equivocation. "now how long is that really?" she said. "count not in years, nor yet in moments on a dial," said lady beach-mandarin with a fine air of quotation. "i'm thinking of her quiet strength of character. mrs. plessington brought her round to see me the other afternoon." "did she talk to you?" "i saw, my dear, i saw." a vague aversion from mrs. pembrose was in some mysterious way strengthened in lady harman by this extraordinary convergence of testimony. when sir isaac mentioned the lady with a kind of forced casualness at breakfast as the only conceivable person for the work of initiation and organization that lay before them, lady harman determined to see more of her. with a quickened subtlety she asked her to tea. "i have heard so much of your knowledge of social questions and i want you to advise me about my work," she wrote, and then scribbled a note to mr. brumley to call and help her judgments. mrs. pembrose appeared dressed in dove colour with a near bonnetesque straw hat to match. she had a pale slightly freckled complexion, little hard blue-grey eyes with that sort of nose which redeems a squarish shape by a certain delicacy of structure; her chin was long and protruding and her voice had a wooden resonance and a ghost of a lisp. her talk had a false consecutiveness due to the frequent use of the word "yes." her bearing was erect and her manner guardedly alert. from the first she betrayed a conviction that mr. brumley was incidental and unnecessary and that her real interest lay with sir isaac. she might almost have been in possession of special information upon that point. "yes," she said, "i'm rather specially _up_ in this sort of question. i worked side by side with my poor frederick all his life, we were collaborators, and this question of the urban distributive employee was one of his special studies. yes, he would have been tremendously interested in sir isaac's project." "you know what we are doing?" "every one is interested in sir isaac's enterprise. naturally. yes, i think i have a fairly good idea of what you mean to do. it's a great experiment." "you think it is likely to answer?" said mr. brumley. "in sir isaac's hands it is _very_ likely to answer," said mrs. pembrose with her eye steadily on lady harman. there was a little pause. "yes, now you wrote of difficulties and drawing upon my experience. of course just now i'm quite at sir isaac's disposal." lady harman found herself thrust perforce into the rôle of her husband's spokeswoman. she asked mrs. pembrose if she knew the exact nature of the experiment they contemplated. mrs. pembrose hadn't a doubt she knew. of course for a long time and more especially in the metropolis where the distances were so great and increasing so rapidly, there had been a gathering feeling not only in the catering trade, but in very many factory industries, against the daily journey to employment and home again. it was irksome and wasteful to everyone concerned, there was a great loss in control, later hours of beginning, uncertain service. "yes, my husband calculated the hours lost in london every week, hours that are neither work nor play, mere tiresome stuffy journeying. it made an enormous sum. it worked out at hundreds of working lives per week." sir isaac's project was to abolish all that, to bring his staff into line with the drapers and grocers who kept their assistants on the living-in system.... "i thought people objected to the living-in system," said mr. brumley. "there's an agitation against it on the part of a small trade union of shop assistants," said mrs. pembrose. "but they have no real alternative to propose." "and this isn't living in," said mr. brumley. "yes, i think you'll find it is," said mrs. pembrose with a nice little expert smile. "living-in isn't _quite_ what we want," said lady harman slowly and with knitted brows, seeking a method of saying just what the difference was to be. "yes, not perhaps in the strictest sense," said mrs. pembrose giving her no chance, and went on to make fine distinctions. strictly speaking, living-in meant sleeping over the shop and eating underneath it, and this hostel idea was an affair of a separate house and of occupants who would be assistants from a number of shops. "yes, collectivism, if you like," said mrs. pembrose. but the word collectivism, she assured them, wouldn't frighten her, she was a collectivist, a socialist, as her husband had always been. the day was past when socialist could be used as a term of reproach. "yes, instead of the individual employer of labour, we already begin to have the collective employer of labour, with a labour bureau--and so on. we share them. we no longer compete for them. it's the keynote of the time." mr. brumley followed this with a lifted eyebrow. he was still new to these modern developments of collectivist ideas, this socialism of the employer. the whole thing mrs. pembrose declared was a step forward in civilization, it was a step in the organization and discipline of labour. of course the unruly and the insubordinate would cry out. but the benefits were plain enough, space, light, baths, association, reasonable recreations, opportunities for improvement---- "but freedom?" said mr. brumley. mrs. pembrose inclined her head a little on one side, looked at him this time and smiled the expert smile again. "if you knew as much as i do of the difficulties of social work," she said, "you wouldn't be very much in love with freedom." "but--it's the very substance of the soul!" "you must permit me to differ," said mrs. pembrose, and for weeks afterwards mr. brumley was still seeking a proper polite retort to that difficult counterstroke. it was such a featureless reply. it was like having your nose punched suddenly by a man without a face. they descended to a more particular treatment of the problems ahead. mrs. pembrose quoted certain precedents from the girls' club union. "the people lady harman contemplates--entertaining," said mr. brumley, "are of a slightly more self-respecting type than those young women." "it's largely veneer," said mrs. pembrose.... "detestable little wretch," said mr. brumley when at last she had departed. he was very uncomfortable. "she's just the quintessence of all one fears and dreads about these new developments, she's perfect--in that way--self-confident, arrogant, instinctively aggressive, with a tremendous class contempt. there's a multitude of such people about who hate the employed classes, who _want_ to see them broken in and subjugated. i suppose that kind of thing is in humanity. every boy's school has louts of that kind, who love to torment fags for their own good, who spring upon a chance smut on the face of a little boy to scrub him painfully, who have a kind of lust to dominate under the pretence of improving. i remember----but never mind that now. keep that woman out of things or your hostels work for the devil." "yes," said lady harman. "certainly she shall not----. no." but there she reckoned without her husband. "i've settled it," he said to her at dinner two nights later. "what?" "mrs. pembrose." "you've not made her----?" "yes, i have. and i think we're very lucky to get her." "but--isaac! i don't want her!" "you should have told me that before, elly. i've made an agreement." she suddenly wanted to cry. "but----you said i should manage these hostels myself." "so you shall, elly. but we must have somebody. when we go abroad and all that and for all the sort of business stuff and looking after things that you can't do. we've _got_ to have her. she's the only thing going of her sort." "but--i don't like her." "well," cried sir isaac, "why in goodness couldn't you tell me that before, elly? i've been and engaged her." she sat pale-faced staring at him with wide open eyes in which tears of acute disappointment were shining. she did not dare another word because of her trick of weeping. "it's all right, elly," said sir isaac. "how touchy you are! anything you want about these hostels of yours, you've only got to tell me and it's done." § lady harman was still in a state of amazement at the altered prospects of her hostels when the day arrived for the formal opening of the first of these in bloomsbury. they made a little public ceremony of it in spite of her reluctance, and mr. brumley had to witness things from out of the general crowd and realize just how completely he wasn't in it, in spite of all his efforts. mrs. pembrose was modestly conspicuous, like the unexpected in all human schemes. there were several reporters present, and horatio blenker who was going to make a loyal leader about it, to be followed by one or two special articles for the _old country gazette_. horatio had procured mrs. blapton for the opening after some ineffectual angling for the princess adeline, and the thing was done at half-past three in the afternoon. in the bright early july sunshine outside the new building there was a crimson carpet down on the pavement and an awning above it, there was a great display of dog-daisies at the windows and on the steps leading up to the locked portals, an increasing number of invited people lurked shyly in the ground-floor rooms ready to come out by the back way and cluster expectantly when mrs. blapton arrived, graper the staff manager and two assistants in dazzling silk hats seemed everywhere, the rabbit-like architect had tried to look doggish in a huge black silk tie and only looked more like a rabbit than ever, and there was a steady driftage of small boys and girls, nurses with perambulators, cab touts, airing grandfathers and similar unemployed people towards the promise of the awning, the carpet and the flowers. the square building in all its bravery of doulton ware and yellow and mauve tiles and its great gilt inscription international hostels above the windows of the second storey seemed typical of all those modern forces that are now invading and dispelling the ancient residential peace of bloomsbury. mrs. blapton appeared only five minutes late, escorted by bertie trevor and her husband's spare secretary. graper became so active at the sight of her that he seemed more like some beast out of the apocalypse with seven hands and ten hats than a normal human being; he marshalled the significant figures into their places, the door was unlocked without serious difficulty, and lady harman found herself in the main corridor beside mr. trevor and a little behind mrs. blapton, engaged in being shown over the new creation. sir isaac (driven by graper at his elbow) was in immediate attendance on the great political lady, and mrs. pembrose, already with an air of proprietorship, explained glibly on her other hand. close behind lady harman came lady beach-mandarin, expanding like an appreciative gas in a fine endeavour to nestle happily into the whole big place, and with her were mrs. hubert plessington and mr. pope, one of those odd people who are called publicists because one must call them something, and who take chairs and political sides and are vice-presidents of everything and organize philanthropies, write letters to the papers and cannot let the occasion pass without saying a few words and generally prevent the institutions of this country from falling out of human attention. he was a little abstracted in his manner, every now and then his lips moved as he imagined a fresh turn to some classic platitude; anyone who knew him might have foretold the speech into which he presently broke. he did this in the refectory where there was a convenient step up at the end. beginning with the customary confession of incontinence, "could not let the occasion pass," he declared that he would not detain them long, but he felt that everyone there would agree with him that they shared that day in no slight occasion, no mean enterprise, that here was one of the most promising, one of the most momentous, nay! he would go further and add with due deference to them all, one of the most pregnant of social experiments in modern social work. in the past he had himself--if he might for a moment allow a personal note to creep into his observations, he himself had not been unconnected with industrial development.--(querulous voice, "who the devil is that?" and whispered explanations on the part of horatio blenker; "pope--very good man--east purblow experiment--payment in kind instead of wages--yes.").... lady harman ceased to listen to mr. pope's strained but not unhappy tenor. she had heard him before, and she had heard his like endlessly. he was the larger moiety of every public meeting she had ever attended. she had ceased even to marvel at the dull self-satisfaction that possessed him. to-day her capacity for marvelling was entirely taken up by the details of this extraordinary reality which had sprung from her dream of simple, kindly, beautiful homes for distressed and overworked young women; nothing in the whole of life had been so amazing since that lurid occasion when she had been the agonized vehicle for the entry of miss millicent harman upon this terrestrial scene. it was all so entirely what she could never have thought possible. a few words from other speakers followed, mrs. blapton, with the young secretary at hand to prompt, said something, and sir isaac was poked forwards to say, "thank you very much. it's all my wife's doing, really.... oh dash it! thank you very much." it had the effect of being the last vestige of some more elaborate piece of eloquence that had suddenly disintegrated in his mind. "and now, elly," he said, as their landaulette took them home, "you're beginning to have your hostels." "then they _are_ my hostels?" she asked abruptly. "didn't i say they were?" the satisfaction of his face was qualified by that fatigued irritability that nowadays always followed any exertion or excitement. "if i want things done? if i want things altered?" "of course you may, of course you may. what's the matter with you, elly? what's been putting ideers into your head? you got to have a directress to the thing; you must have a woman of education who knows a bit about things to look after the matrons and so on. very likely she isn't everything you want. she's the only one we could get, and i don't see----. here i go and work hard for a year and more getting these things together to please you, and then suddenly you don't like 'em. there's a lot of the spoilt child in you, elly--first and last. there they are...." they were silent for the rest of the journey to putney, both being filled with incommunicable things. § and now lady harman began to share the trouble of all those who let their minds pass out of the circle of their immediate affections with any other desire save interest and pleasure. assisted in this unhappy development by the sedulous suggestions of mr. brumley she had begun to offend against the most sacred law in our sensible british code, she was beginning to take herself and her hostels seriously, and think that it mattered how she worked for them and what they became. she tried to give all the attention her children's upbringing, her husband's ailments and the general demands of her household left free, to this complex, elusive, puzzling and worrying matter. instead of thinking that these hostels were just old hostels and that you start them and put in a mrs. pembrose and feel very benevolent and happy and go away, she had come to realize partly by dint of her own conscientious thinking and partly through mr. brumley's strenuous resolve that she should not take sir isaac's gift horse without the most exhaustive examination of its quality, that this new work, like most new things in human life, was capable not only of admirable but of altogether detestable consequences, and that it rested with her far more than with any other human being to realize the former and avoid the latter. and directly one has got to this critical pose towards things, just as one ceases to be content with things anyhow and to want them precisely somehow, one begins to realize just how intractable, confused and disingenuous are human affairs. mr. brumley had made himself see and had made her see how inevitable these big wholesale ways of doing things, these organizations and close social co-operations, have become unless there is to be a social disintegration and set back, and he had also brought himself and her to realize how easily they may develop into a new servitude, how high and difficult is the way towards methods of association that will ensure freedom and permit people to live fine individual lives. every step towards organization raises a crop of vices peculiar to itself, fresh developments of the egotism and greed and vanity of those into whose hands there falls control, fresh instances of that hostile pedantry which seems so natural to officials and managers, insurgencies and obstinacies and suspicions on the part of everyone. the poor lady had supposed that when one's intentions were obviously benevolent everyone helped. she only faced the realities of this task that she had not so much set for herself as had happened to her, after dreadful phases of disillusionment and dismay. "these hostels," said mr. brumley in his most prophetic mood, "can be made free, fine things--or no--just as all the world of men we are living in, could be made a free, fine world. and it's our place to see they are that. it's just by being generous and giving ourselves, helping without enslaving, and giving without exacting gratitude, planning and protecting with infinite care, that we bring that world nearer.... since i've known you i've come to know such things are possible...." the bloomsbury hostel started upon its career with an embarrassing difficulty. the young women of the international stores refreshment departments for whom these institutions were primarily intended displayed what looked extremely like a concerted indisposition to come in. they had been circularized and informed that henceforth, to ensure the "good social tone" of the staff, all girls not living at home with their parents or close relations would be expected to reside in the new hostels. there followed an attractive account of the advantages of the new establishment. in drawing up this circular with the advice of mrs. pembrose, sir isaac had overlooked the fact that his management was very imperfectly informed just where the girls did live, and that after its issue it was very improbable that it would be possible to find out this very necessary fact. but the girls seemed to be unaware of this ignorance at headquarters, miss babs wheeler was beginning to feel a little bored by good behaviour and crave for those dramatic cessations at the lunch hour, those speeches, with cheers, from a table top, those interviews with reporters, those flushed and eager councils of war and all the rest of that good old crisis feeling that had previously ended so happily. mr. graper came to his proprietor headlong, mrs. pembrose was summoned and together they contemplated the lamentable possibility of this great social benefit they had done the world being discredited at the outset by a strike of the proposed beneficiaries. sir isaac fell into a state of vindictiveness and was with difficulty restrained by mr. graper from immediately concluding the negotiations that were pending with three great oxford street firms that would have given over the hostels to their employees and closed them against the international girls for ever. even mrs. pembrose couldn't follow sir isaac in that, and remarked: "as i understand it, the whole intention was to provide proper housing for our own people first and foremost." "and haven't we provided it, _damn_ them?" said sir isaac in white desperation.... it was lady harman who steered the newly launched institutions through these first entanglements. it was her first important advantage in the struggle that had hitherto been going relentlessly against her. she now displayed her peculiar gift, a gift that indeed is unhappily all too rare among philanthropists, the gift of not being able to classify the people with whom she was dealing, but of continuing to regard them as a multitude of individualized souls as distinct and considerable as herself. that makes no doubt for slowness and "inefficiency" and complexity in organization, but it does make for understandings. and now, through a little talk with susan burnet about her sister's attitude upon the dispute, she was able to take the whole situation in the flank. like many people who are not easily clear, lady harman when she was clear acted with very considerable decision, which was perhaps none the less effective because of the large softnesses of her manner. she surprised sir isaac by coming of her own accord into his study, where with an altogether novel disfavour he sat contemplating the detailed plans for the sydenham hostel. "i think i've found out what the trouble is," she said. "what trouble?" "about my hostel." "how do you know?" "i've been finding out what the girls are saying." "they'd say anything." "i don't think they're clever enough for that," said lady harman after consideration. she recovered her thread. "you see, isaac, they've been frightened by the rules. i didn't know you had printed a set of rules." "one must _have_ rules, elly." "in the background," she decided. "but you see these rules--were made conspicuous. they were printed in two colours on wall cards just exactly like that list of rules and scale of fines you had to withdraw----" "i know," said sir isaac, shortly. "it reminded the girls. and that circular that seems to threaten them if they don't give up their lodgings and come in. and the way the front is got up to look just exactly like one of the refreshment-room branches--it makes them feel it will be un-homelike, and that there will be a kind of repetition in the evening of all the discipline and regulations they have to put up with during the day." "have to put up with!" murmured sir isaac. "i wish that had been thought of sooner. if we had made the places look a little more ordinary and called them osborne house or something a little old-fashioned like that, something with a touch of the old queen about it and all that kind of thing." "we can't go to the expense of taking down all those big gilt letters just to please the fancies of miss babs wheeler." "it's too late now to do that, perhaps. but we could do something, i think, to remove the suspicions ... i want, isaac----i think----" she pulled herself together to announce her determination. "i think if i were to go to the girls and meet a delegation of them, and just talk to them plainly about what we mean by this hostel." "_you_ can't go making speeches." "it would just be talking to them." "it's such a come down," said sir isaac, after a momentary contemplation of the possibility. for some time they talked without getting very far from these positions they had assumed. at last sir isaac shifted back upon his expert. "can't we talk about it to mrs. pembrose? she knows more about this sort of business than we do." "i'm not going to talk to mrs. pembrose," said lady harman, after a little interval. some unusual quality in her quiet voice made sir isaac lift his eyes to her face for a moment. so one saturday afternoon, lady harman had a meeting with a roomful of recalcitrant girls at the regent street refreshment branch, which looked very odd to her with grey cotton wrappers over everything and its blinds down, and for the first time she came face to face with the people for whom almost in spite of herself she was working. it was a meeting summoned by the international branch of the national union of waitresses and miss babs wheeler and mr. graper were so to speak the north and south poles of the little group upon the improvised platform from which lady harman was to talk to the gathering. she would have liked the support of mr. brumley, but she couldn't contrive any unostentatious way of bringing him into the business without putting it upon a footing that would have involved the appearance of sir isaac and mrs. pembrose and--everybody. and essentially it wasn't to be everybody. it was to be a little talk. lady harman rather liked the appearance of miss babs wheeler, and met more than an answering approval in that insubordinate young woman's eye. miss wheeler was a minute swaggering person, much akimbo, with a little round blue-eyed innocent face that shone with delight at the lark of living. her three companions who were in the lobby with her to receive and usher in lady harman seemed just as young, but they were relatively unilluminated except by their manifest devotion to their leader. they displayed rather than concealed their opinion of her as a "dear" and a "fair wonder." and the meeting generally it seemed to her was a gathering of very human young women, rather restless, then agog to see her and her clothes, and then somehow allayed by her appearance and quite amiably attentive to what she had to say. a majority were young girls dressed with the cheap smartness of the suburbs, the rest were for the most part older and dingier, and here and there were dotted young ladies of a remarkable and questionable smartness. in the front row, full of shy recognitions and a little disguised by an unfamiliar hat was susan's sister alice. as lady harman had made up her mind that she was not going to deliver a speech she felt no diffidence in speaking. she was far too intent on her message to be embarrassed by any thought of the effect she was producing. she talked as she might have talked in one of her easier moods to mr. brumley. and as she talked it happened that miss babs wheeler and quite a number of the other girls present watched her face and fell in love with her. she began with her habitual prelude. "you see," she said, and stopped and began again. she wanted to tell them and with a clumsy simplicity she told them how these hostels had arisen out of her desire that they should have something better than the uncomfortable lodgings in which they lived. they weren't a business enterprise, but they weren't any sort of charity. "and i wanted them to be the sort of place in which you would feel quite free. i hadn't any sort of intention of having you interfered with. i hate being interfered with myself, and i understand just as well as anyone can that you don't like it either. i wanted these hostels to be the sort of place that you might perhaps after a time almost manage and run for yourselves. you might have a committee or something.... only you know it isn't always easy to do as one wants. things don't always go in this world as one wants them to go--particularly if one isn't clever." she lost herself for a moment at that point, and then went on to say she didn't like the new rules. they had been drawn up in a hurry and she had only read them after they were printed. all sorts of things in them---- she seemed to be losing her theme again, and mr. graper handed her the offending card, a big varnished wall placard, with eyelets and tape complete. she glanced at it. for example, she said, it wasn't her idea to have fines. (great and long continued applause.) there was something she had always disliked about fines. (renewed applause.) but these rules could easily be torn up. and as she said this and as the meeting broke into acquiescence again it occurred to her that there was the card of rules in her hands, and nothing could be simpler than to tear it up there and then. it resisted her for a moment, she compressed her lips and then she had it in halves. this tearing was so satisfactory to her that she tore it again and then again. as she tore it, she had a pleasant irrational feeling that she was tearing mrs. pembrose. mr. graper's face betrayed his shocked feelings, and the meeting which had become charged with a strong desire to show how entirely it approved of her, made a crowning attempt at applause. they hammered umbrellas on the floor, they clapped hands, they rattled chairs and gave a shrill cheer. a chair was broken. "i wish," said lady harman when that storm had abated, "you'd come and look at the hostel. couldn't you come next saturday afternoon? we could have a stand-up tea and you could see the place and then afterwards your committee and i--and my husband--could make out a real set of rules...." she went on for some little time longer, she appealed to them with all the strength of her honest purpose to help her to make this possible good thing a real good thing, not to suspect, not to be hard on her--"and my husband"--not to make a difficult thing impossible, it was so easy to do that, and when she finished she was in the happiest possession of her meeting. they came thronging round her with flushed faces and bright eyes, they wanted to come near her, wanted to touch her, wanted to assure her that for her they were quite prepared to live in any kind of place. for her. "you come and talk to us, lady harman," said one; "_we'll_ show you." "nobody hasn't told us, lady harman, how these hostels were _yours_." "you come and talk to us again, lady harman." ... they didn't wait for the following saturday. on monday morning mrs. pembrose received thirty-seven applications to take up rooms. § for the next few years it was to be a matter of recurrent heart-searching for lady harman whether she had been profoundly wise or extremely foolish in tearing up that card of projected rules. at the time it seemed the most natural and obvious little action imaginable; it was long before she realized just how symbolical and determining a few movements of the hand and wrist can be. it fixed her line not so much for herself as for others. it put her definitely, much more definitely than her convictions warranted, on the side of freedom against discipline. for indeed her convictions like most of our convictions kept along a tortuous watershed between these two. it is only a few rare extravagant spirits who are wholly for the warp or wholly for the woof of human affairs. the girls applauded and loved her. at one stroke she had acquired the terrible liability of partisans. they made her their champion and sanction; she was responsible for an endless succession of difficulties that flowered out of their interpretations of her act. these hostels that had seemed passing out of her control, suddenly turned back upon her and took possession of her. and they were never simple difficulties. right and wrong refused to unravel for her; each side of every issue seemed to be so often in suicidal competition with its antagonist for the inferior case. if the forces of order and discipline showed themselves perennially harsh and narrow, it did not blind her perplexed eyes to the fact that the girls were frequently extremely naughty. she wished very often, she did so wish--they wouldn't be. they set out with a kind of eagerness for conflict. their very loyalty to her expressed itself not so much in any sustained attempt to make the hostels successful as in cheering inconveniently, in embarrassing declarations of a preference, in an ingenious and systematic rudeness to anyone suspected of imperfect devotion to her. the first comers into the hostels were much more like the swelling inrush of a tide than, as mrs. pembrose would have preferred, like something laid on through a pipe, and when this lady wanted to go on with the old rules until sir isaac had approved of the new, the new arrivals went into the cutting-out room and manifested. lady harman had to be telephoned for to allay the manifestation. and then arose questions of deportment, trivial in themselves, but of the gravest moment for the welfare of the hostels. there was a phrase about "noisy or improper conduct" in the revised rules. few people would suspect a corridor, ten feet wide and two hundred feet long, as a temptation to impropriety, but mrs. pembrose found it was so. the effect of the corridors upon undisciplined girls quite unaccustomed to corridors was for a time most undesirable. for example they were moved to _run_ along them violently. they ran races along them, when they overtook they jostled, when they were overtaken they squealed. the average velocity in the corridors of the lady occupants of the bloomsbury hostel during the first fortnight of its existence was seven miles an hour. was that violence? was that impropriety? the building was all steel construction, but one _heard_ even in the head matron's room. and then there was the effect of the rows and rows of windows opening out upon the square. the square had some pleasant old trees and it was attractive to look down into their upper branches, where the sparrows mobbed and chattered perpetually, and over them at the chimneys and turrets and sky signs of the london world. the girls looked. so far they were certainly within their rights. but they did not look modestly, they did not look discreetly. they looked out of wide-open windows, they even sat perilously and protrudingly on the window sills conversing across the façade from window to window, attracting attention, and once to mrs. pembrose's certain knowledge a man in the street joined in. it was on a sunday morning, too, a bloomsbury sunday morning! but graver things were to rouse the preventive prohibitionist in the soul of mrs. pembrose. there was the visiting of one another's rooms and cubicles. most of these young people had never possessed or dreamt of possessing a pretty and presentable apartment to themselves, and the first effect of this was to produce a decorative outbreak, a vigorous framing of photographs and hammering of nails ("dust-gathering litter."--_mrs. pembrose_) and then--visiting. they visited at all hours and in all costumes; they sat in groups of three or four, one on the chair and the rest on the bed conversing into late hours,--entirely uncensored conversations too often accompanied by laughter. when mrs. pembrose took this to lady harman she found her extraordinarily blind to the conceivable evils of this free intercourse. "but lady harman!" said mrs. pembrose, with a note of horror, "some of them--kiss each other!" "but if they're fond of each other," said lady harman. "i'm sure i don't see----" and when the floor matrons were instructed to make little surprise visits up and down the corridors the girls who occupied rooms took to locking their doors--and lady harman seemed inclined to sustain their right to do that. the floor matrons did what they could to exercise authority, one or two were former department manageresses, two were ex-elementary teachers, crowded out by younger and more certificated rivals, one, and the most trustworthy one, mrs. pembrose found, was an ex-wardress from holloway. the natural result of these secret talkings and conferrings in the rooms became apparent presently in some mild ragging and in the concoction of petty campaigns of annoyance designed to soften the manners of the more authoritative floor matrons. here again were perplexing difficulties. if a particular floor matron has a clear commanding note in her voice, is it or is it not "violent and improper" to say "haw!" in clear commanding tones whenever you suppose her to be within earshot? as for the door-locking mrs. pembrose settled that by carrying off all the keys. complaints and incidents drifted towards definite scenes and "situations." both sides in this continuing conflict of dispositions were so definite, so intolerant, to the mind of the lady with the perplexed dark eyes who mediated. her reason was so much with the matrons; her sympathies so much with the girls. she did not like the assured brevity of mrs. pembrose's judgments and decisions; she had an instinctive perception of the truth that all compact judgments upon human beings are unjust judgments. the human spirit is but poorly adapted either to rule or to be ruled, and the honesty of all the efforts of mrs. pembrose and her staffs--for soon the hostels at sydenham and west kensington were open--were marred not merely by arrogance but by an irritability, a real hostility to complexities and difficulties and resisters and troublesome characters. and it did not help the staff to a triumphant achievement of its duties that the girls had an exaggerated perception that lady harman's heart was on their side. and presently the phrase "weeding out" crept into the talk of mrs. pembrose. some of the girls were being marked as ringleaders, foci of mischief, characters it was desirable to "get rid of." confronted with it lady harman perceived she was absolutely opposed to this idea of getting rid of anyone--unless it was mrs. pembrose. she liked her various people; she had no desire for a whittled success with a picked remnant of subdued and deferential employees. she put that to mr. brumley and mr. brumley was indignant and eloquent in his concurrence. a certain mary trunk, a dark young woman with a belief that it became her to have a sweet disorder in her hair, and a large blond girl named lucy baxandall seemed to be the chief among the bad influences of the bloomsbury hostel, and they took it upon themselves to appeal to lady harman against mrs. pembrose. they couldn't, they complained, "do a thing right for her...." so the tangle grew. presently lady harman had to go to the riviera with sir isaac and when she came back mary trunk and lucy baxandall had vanished from both the international hostel and the international stores. she tried to find out why, and she was confronted by inadequate replies and enigmatical silences. "they decided to go," said mrs. pembrose, and dropped "fortunately" after that statement. she disavowed any exact knowledge of their motives. but she feared the worst. susan burnet was uninforming. whatever had happened had failed to reach alice burnet's ears. lady harman could not very well hold a commission of enquiry into the matter, but she had an uneasy sense of a hidden campaign of dislodgement. and about the corridors and cubicles and club rooms there was she thought a difference, a discretion, a flavour of subjugation.... chapter the eleventh the last crisis § it would be quite easy for anyone with the knack of reserve to go on from this point with a history of lady harman that would present her as practically a pure philanthropist. for from these beginnings she was destined to proceed to more and more knowledge and understanding and clear purpose and capable work in this interesting process of collective regrouping, this process which may even at last justify mr. brumley's courageous interpretations and prove to be an early experiment in the beginning of a new social order. perhaps some day there will be an official biography, another addition to the inscrutable records of british public lives, in which all these things will be set out with tact and dignity. horatio blenker or adolphus blenker may survive to be entrusted with this congenial task. she will be represented as a tall inanimate person pursuing one clear benevolent purpose in life from her very beginning, and sir isaac and her relations with sir isaac will be rescued from reality. the book will be illustrated by a number of carefully posed photographer's photographs of her, studies of the putney house and perhaps an unappetizing woodcut of her early home at penge. the aim of all british biography is to conceal. a great deal of what we have already told will certainly not figure in any such biography, and still more certainly will the things we have yet to tell be missing. lady harman was indeed only by the force of circumstances and intermittently a pure philanthropist, and it is with the intercalary passages of less exalted humanity that we are here chiefly concerned. at times no doubt she did really come near to filling and fitting and becoming identical with that figure of the pure philanthropist which was her world-ward face, but for the most part that earnest and dignified figure concealed more or less extensive spaces of nothingness, while the errant soul of the woman within strayed into less exalted ways of thinking. there were times when she was almost sure of herself--mrs. hubert plessington could scarcely have been surer of herself, and times when the whole magnificent project of constructing a new urban social life out of those difficult hostels, a collective urban life that should be liberal and free, broke into grimacing pieces and was the most foolish of experiments. her struggles with mrs. pembrose thereupon assumed a quality of mere bickering and she could even doubt whether mrs. pembrose wasn't justified in her attitude and wiser by her very want of generosity. she felt then something childish in the whole undertaking that otherwise escaped her, she was convicted of an absurd self-importance, she discovered herself an ignorant woman availing herself of her husband's power and wealth to attempt presumptuous experiments. in these moods of disillusionment, her mind went adrift and was driven to and fro from discontent to discontent; she would find herself taking soundings and seeking an anchorage upon the strangest, most unfamiliar shoals. and in her relations and conflicts with her husband there was a smouldering shame for her submissions to him that needed only a phase of fatigue to become acute. so long as she believed in her hostels and her mission that might be endured, but forced back upon her more personal life its hideousness stood unclothed. mr. brumley could sometimes reassure her by a rhetorical effort upon the score of her hostels, but most of her more intimate and inner life was not, for very plain reasons, to be shown to him. he was full of the intention of generous self-denials, but she had long since come to measure the limits of his self-denial.... mr. brumley was a friend in whom smouldered a love, capable she knew quite clearly of tormented and tormenting jealousies. it would be difficult to tell, and she certainly could never have told how far she knew of this by instinct, how far it came out of rapid intuitions from things seen and heard. but she understood that she dared not let a single breath of encouragement, a hint of physical confidence, reach that banked-up glow. a sentinel discretion in her brain was always on the watch for that danger, and that restraint, that added deliberate inexpressiveness, kept them most apart, when most her spirit cried out for companionship. the common quality of all these moods of lassitude was a desolating loneliness. she had at times a need that almost overwhelmed her to be intimate, to be comforted and taken up out of the bleak harsh disappointments and stresses of her customary life. at times after sir isaac had either been too unloving or too loving, or when the girls or the matrons had achieved some new tangle of mutual unreasonableness, or when her faith failed, she would lie in the darkness of her own room with her soul crying out for--how can one put it?--the touch of other soul-stuff. and perhaps it was the constant drift of mr. brumley's talk, the little suggestions that fell drop by drop into her mind from his, that disposed her to believe that this aching sense of solitude in the void was to be assuaged by love, by some marvel of close exaltation that one might reach through a lover. she had told mr. brumley long ago that she would never let herself think of love, she still maintained to him that attitude of resolute aloofness, but almost without noting what she did, she was tampering now in her solitude with the seals of that locked chamber. she became secretly curious about love. perhaps there was something in it of which she knew nothing. she found herself drawn towards poetry, found a new attraction in romance; more and more did she dally with the idea that there was some unknown beauty in the world, something to which her eyes might presently open, something deeper and sweeter than any thing she had ever known, close at hand, something to put all the world into proportion for her. in a little while she no longer merely tampered with these seals, for quite silently the door had opened and she was craning in. this love it seemed to her might after all be so strange a thing that it goes unsuspected and yet fills the whole world of a human soul. an odd grotesque passage in a novel by wilkins gave her that idea. he compared love to electricity, of all things in the world; that throbbing life amidst the atoms that we now draw upon for light, warmth, connexion, the satisfaction of a thousand wants and the cure of a thousand ills. there it is and always has been in the life of man, and yet until a century ago it worked unsuspected, was known only for a disregarded oddity of amber, a crackling in frost-dry hair and thunder.... and then she remembered how mr. brumley had once broken into a panegyric of love. "it makes life a different thing. it is like the home-coming of something lost. all this dispersed perplexing world _centres_. think what true love means; to live always in the mind of another and to have that other living always in your mind.... only there can be no restraints, no reserves, no admission of prior rights. one must feel _safe_ of one's welcome and freedoms...." wasn't it worth the risk of almost any breach of boundaries to get to such a light as that?... she hid these musings from every human being, she was so shy with them, she hid them almost from herself. rarely did they have their way with her and when they did, presently she would accuse herself of slackness and dismiss them and urge herself to fresh practicalities in her work. but her work was not always at hand, sir isaac's frequent relapses took her abroad to places where she found herself in the midst of beautiful scenery with little to do and little to distract her from these questionings. then such thoughts would inundate her. this feeling of the unsatisfactoriness of life, of incompleteness and solitariness, was not of that fixed sort that definitely indicates its demand. under its oppression she tried the idea of love, but she also tried certain other ideas. very often this vague appeal had the quality of a person, sometimes a person shrouded in night, a soundless whisper, the unseen lover who came to psyche in the darkness. and sometimes that person became more distinct, less mystic and more companionable. perhaps because imaginations have a way of following the line of least resistance, it took upon itself something of the form, something of the voice and bearing of mr. brumley. she recoiled from her own thoughts when she discovered herself wondering what manner of lover mr. brumley might make--if suddenly she lowered her defences, freed his suffocating pleading, took him to herself. in my anxiety to draw mr. brumley as he was, i have perhaps a little neglected to show him as lady harman saw him. we have employed the inconsiderate verisimilitude of a novelist repudiating romance in his portrayal; towards her he kept a better face. he was at least a very honest lover and there was little disingenuousness in the flow of fine mental attitudes that met her; the thought and presence of her made him fine; as soon could he have turned his shady side towards the sun. and she was very ready and eager to credit him with generous qualities. we of his club and circle, a little assisted perhaps by max beerbohm's diabolical index finger, may have found and been not unwilling to find his face chiefly expressive of a kind of empty alertness; but when it was turned to her its quite pleasantly modelled features glowed and it was transfigured. so far as she was concerned, with sir isaac as foil, he was real enough and good enough for her. and by the virtue of that unlovely contrast even a certain ineffectiveness--became infinite delicacy.... the thought of mr. brumley in that relation and to that extent of clearness came but rarely into her consciousness, and when it did it was almost immediately dismissed again. it was the most fugitive of proffered consolations. and it is to be remarked that it made its most successful apparitions when mr. brumley was far away, and by some weeks or months of separation a little blurred and forgotten.... and sometimes this unrest of her spirit, this unhappiness turned her in quite another direction as it seemed and she had thoughts of religion. with a deepened shame she would go seeking into that other, that greater indelicacy, from which her upbringing had divorced her mind. she would even secretly pray. greatly daring she fled on several occasions from her visitation of the hostels or slipped out of her home, and evading mr. brumley, went once to the brompton oratory, once or twice to the westminster cathedral and then having discovered saint paul's, to saint paul's in search of this nameless need. it was a need that no plain and ugly little place of worship would satisfy. it was a need that demanded choir and organ. she went to saint paul's haphazard when her mood and opportunity chanced together and there in the afternoons she found a wonder of great music and chanting voices, and she would kneel looking up into those divine shadows and perfect archings and feel for a time assuaged, wonderfully assuaged. sometimes, there, she seemed to be upon the very verge of grasping that hidden reality which makes all things plain. sometimes it seemed to her that this very indulgence was the hidden reality. she could never be sure in her mind whether these secret worshippings helped or hampered her in her daily living. they helped her to a certain disregard of annoyances and indignities and so far they were good, but they also helped towards a more general indifference. she might have told these last experiences to mr. brumley if she had not felt them to be indescribable. they could not be half told. they had to be told completely or they were altogether untellable. so she had them hid, and at once accepted and distrusted the consolation they brought her, and went on with the duties and philanthropies that she had chosen as her task in the world. § one day in lent--it was nearly three years after the opening of the first hostel--she went to saint paul's. she was in a mood of great discouragement; the struggle between mrs. pembrose and the bloomsbury girls had suddenly reopened in an acute form and sir isaac, who was sickening again after a period of better health, had become strangely restless and irritable and hostile to her. he had thwarted her unusually and taken the side of the matrons in a conflict in which susan burnet's sister alice was now distinguished as the chief of the malcontents. the new trouble seemed to lady harman to be traceable in one direction to that ardent unionist, miss babs wheeler, under the spell of whose round-faced, blue-eyed, distraught personality alice had altogether fallen. miss babs wheeler was fighting for the union; she herself lived at highbury with her mother, and alice was her chosen instrument in the hostels. the union had always been a little against the lady-like instincts of many of the waitresses; they felt strikes were vulgar and impaired their social standing, and this feeling had been greatly strengthened by irruptions of large contingents of shop assistants from various department stores. the bloomsbury hostel in particular now accommodated a hundred refined and elegant hands--they ought rather to be called figures--from the great oxford street costume house of eustace and mills, young people with a tall sweeping movement and an elevation of chin that had become nearly instinctive, and a silent yet evident intention to find the international girls "low" at the slightest provocation. it is only too easy for poor humanity under the irritation of that tacit superiority to respond with just the provocation anticipated. what one must regretfully speak of as the vulgar section of the international girls had already put itself in the wrong by a number of aggressive acts before the case came to lady harman's attention. mrs. pembrose seized the occasion for weeding on a courageous scale, and miss alice burnet and three of her dearest friends were invited to vacate their rooms "pending redecoration". with only too much plausibility the threatened young women interpreted this as an expulsion, and declined to remove their boxes and personal belongings. miss babs wheeler thereupon entered the bloomsbury hostel, and in the teeth of three express prohibitions from mrs. pembrose, went a little up the staircase and addressed a confused meeting in the central hall. there was loud and continuous cheering for lady harman at intervals during this incident. thereupon mrs. pembrose demanded sweeping dismissals, not only from the hostels but the shops as an alternative to her resignation, and lady harman found herself more perplexed than ever.... georgina sawbridge had contrived to mingle herself in an entirely characteristic way in these troubles by listening for a brief period to an abstract of her sister's perplexities, then demanding to be made director-general of the whole affair, refusing to believe this simple step impossible and retiring in great dudgeon to begin a series of letters of even more than sisterly bitterness. and mr. brumley when consulted had become dangerously sentimental. under these circumstances lady harman's visit to saint paul's had much of the quality of a flight. it was with an unwonted sense of refuge that she came from the sombre stress and roar of london without into the large hushed spaces of the cathedral. the door closed behind her--and all things changed. here was meaning, coherence, unity. here instead of a pelting confusion of movements and motives was a quiet concentration upon the little focus of light about the choir, the gentle complete dominance of a voice intoning. she slipped along the aisle and into the nave and made her way to a seat. how good this was! outside she had felt large, awkwardly responsible, accessible to missiles, a distressed conspicuous thing; within this living peace she suddenly became no more than one of a tranquil hushed community of small black-clad lenten people; she found a chair and knelt and felt she vanished even from her own consciousness.... how beautiful was this place! she looked up presently at the great shadowy arcs far above her, so easy, so gracious that it seemed they had not so much been built by men as shaped by circling flights of angels. the service, a little clustering advance of voices unsustained by any organ, mingled in her mind with the many-pointed glow of candles. and then into this great dome of worship and beauty, like a bed of voices breaking into flower, like a springtime breeze of sound, came allegri's miserere.... her spirit clung to this mood of refuge. it seemed as though the disorderly, pugnacious, misunderstanding universe had opened and shown her luminous mysteries. she had a sense of penetration. all that conflict, that jar of purposes and motives, was merely superficial; she had left it behind her. for a time she had no sense of effort in keeping hold of this, only of attainment, she drifted happily upon the sweet sustaining sounds, and then--then the music ceased. she came back into herself. close to her a seated man stirred and sighed. she tried to get back her hold upon that revelation but it had gone. inexorably, opaque, impenetrable doors closed softly on her moment of vision.... all about her was the stir of departure. she walked out slowly into the cold march daylight, to the leaden greys, the hurrying black shapes, the chaotic afternoon traffic of london. she paused on the steps, still but half reawakened. a passing omnibus obtruded the familiar inscription, "international stores for staminal bread." she turned like one who remembers, to where her chauffeur stood waiting. § as her motor car, with a swift smoothness, carried her along the embankment towards the lattice bar of charing cross bridge and the remoter towers of the houses of parliament, grey now and unsubstantial against the bright western sky, her mind came back slowly to her particular issues in life. but they were no longer the big exasperatingly important things that had seemed to hold her life by a hundred painful hooks before she went into the cathedral. they were small still under this dome of evening, small even by the measure of the grey buildings to the right of her and the warm lit river to her left, by the measure of the clustering dark barges, the teeming trams, the streaming crowds of people, the note of the human process that sounds so loud there. she felt small even to herself, for the touch of beauty saves us from our own personalities, makes gods of us to our own littleness. she passed under the railway bridge at charing cross, watched the square cluster of westminster's pinnacles rise above her until they were out of sight overhead, ran up the little incline and round into parliament square, and was presently out on the riverside embankment again with the great chimneys of chelsea smoking athwart the evening gold. and thence with a sudden effect of skies shut and curtains drawn she came by devious ways to the fulham road and the crowding traffic of putney bridge and putney high street and so home. snagsby, assisted by a new under-butler, a lean white-faced young man with red hair, received her ceremoniously and hovered serviceably about her. on the hall table lay three or four visiting cards of no importance, some circulars and two letters. she threw the circulars into the basket placed for them and opened her first letter. it was from georgina; it was on several sheets and it began, "i still cannot believe that you refuse to give me the opportunity the director-generalship of your hostels means to me. it is not as if you yourself had either the time or the abilities necessary for them yourself; you haven't, and there is something almost dog-in-the-manger-ish to my mind in the way in which you will not give me my chance, the chance i have always been longing for----" at this point lady harman put down this letter for subsequent perusal and took its companion, which was addressed in an unfamiliar hand. it was from alice burnet and it was written in that sprawling hand and diffused style natural to a not very well educated person with a complicated story to tell in a state of unusual emotion. but the gist was in the first few sentences which announced that alice had been evicted from the hostel. "i found my things on the pavement," wrote alice. lady harman became aware of snagsby still hovering at hand. "mrs. pembrose, my lady, came here this afternoon," he said, when he had secured her attention. "came here." "she asked for you, my lady, and when i told her you were not at 'ome, she asked if she might see sir isaac." "and did she?" "sir isaac saw her, my lady. they 'ad tea in the study." "i wish i had been at home to see her," said lady harman, after a brief interval of reflection. she took her two letters and turned to the staircase. they were still in her hand when presently she came into her husband's study. "i don't want a light," he said, as she put out her hand to the electric switch. his voice had a note of discontent, but he was sitting in the armchair against the window so that she could not see his features. "how are you feeling this afternoon?" she asked. "i'm feeling all right," he answered testily. he seemed to dislike inquiries after his health almost as much as he disliked neglect. she came and stood by him and looked out from the dusk of the room into the garden darkening under a red-barred sky. "there is fresh trouble between mrs. pembrose and the girls," she said. "she's been telling me about it." "she's been here?" "pretty nearly an hour," said sir isaac. lady harman tried to imagine that hour's interview on the spur of the moment and failed. she came to her immediate business. "i think," she said, "that she has been--high-handed...." "you would," said sir isaac after an interval. his tone was hostile, so hostile that it startled her. "don't you?" he shook his head. "my idees and your idees--or anyhow the idees you've got hold of--somewhere--somehow----i don't know where you _get_ your idees. we haven't got the same idees, anyhow. you got to keep order in these places--anyhow...." she perceived that she was in face of a prepared position. "i don't think," she threw out, "that she does keep order. she represses--and irritates. she gets an idea that certain girls are against her...." "and you get an idea she's against certain girls...." "practically she expels them. she has in fact just turned one out into the street." "you got to expel 'em. you got to. you can't run these places on sugar and water. there's a sort of girl, a sort of man, who makes trouble. there's a sort makes strikes, makes mischief, gets up grievances. you got to get rid of 'em somehow. you got to be practical somewhere. you can't go running these places on a lot of littry idees and all that. it's no good." the phrase "littry idees" held lady harman's attention for a moment. but she could not follow it up to its implications, because she wanted to get on with the issue she had in hand. "i want to be consulted about these expulsions. girl after girl has been sent away----" sir isaac's silhouette was obstinate. "she knows her business," he said. he seemed to feel the need of a justification. "they shouldn't make trouble." on that they rested for a little while in silence. she began to realize with a gathering emotion that this matter was far more crucial than she had supposed. she had been thinking only of the reinstatement of alice burnet, she hadn't yet estimated just what that overriding of mrs. pembrose might involve. "i don't want to have any girl go until i have looked into her case. it's----it's vital." "she says she can't run the show unless she has some power." neither spoke for some seconds. she had the feeling of hopeless vexation that might come to a child that has wandered into a trap. "i thought," she began. "these hostels----" she stopped short. sir isaac's hand tightened on the arm of his chair. "i started 'em to please you," he said. "i didn't start 'em to please your friends." she turned her eyes quickly to his grey up-looking face. "i didn't start them for you and that chap brumley to play about with," he amplified. "and now you know about it, elly." the thing had found her unprepared. "as if----" she said at last. "as if!" he mocked. she stood quite still staring blankly at this unmanageable situation. he was the first to break silence. he lifted one hand and dropped it again with a dead impact on the arm of his chair. "i got the things," he said, "and there they are. anyhow,--they got to be run in a proper way." she made no immediate answer. she was seeking desperately for phrases that escaped her. "do you think," she began at last. "do you really think----?" he stared out of the window. he answered in tones of excessive reasonableness: "i didn't start these hostels to be run by you and your--friend." he gave the sentence the quality of an ultimatum, an irreducible minimum. "he's my friend," she explained, "only--because he does work--for the hostels." sir isaac seemed for a moment to attempt to consider that. then he relapsed upon his predetermined attitude. "god!" he exclaimed, "but i have been a fool!" she decided that that must be ignored. "i care more for those hostels than i care for anything--anything else in the world," she told him. "i want them to work--i want them to succeed.... and then----" he listened in sceptical silence. "mr. brumley is nothing to me but a helper. he----how can you imagine, isaac----? _i!_ how can you dare? to suggest----!" "very well," said sir isaac and reflected and made his old familiar sound with his teeth. "run the hostels without him, elly," he propounded. "then i'll believe." she perceived that suddenly she was faced by a test or a bargain. in the background of her mind the figure of mr. brumley, as she had seen him last, in brown and with a tie rather to one side, protested vainly. she did what she could for him on the spur of the moment. "but," she said, "he's so helpful. he's so--harmless." "that's as may be," said sir isaac and breathed heavily. "how can one suddenly turn on a friend?" "i don't see that you ever wanted a friend," said sir isaac. "he's been so good. it isn't reasonable, isaac. when anyone has--_slaved_." "i don't say he isn't a good sort of chap," said sir isaac, with that same note of almost superhuman rationality, "only--he isn't going to run my hostels." "but what do you mean, isaac?" "i mean you got to choose." he waited as if he expected her to speak and then went on. "what it comes to is this, elly, i'm about sick of that chap. i'm sick of him." he paused for a moment because his breath was short. "if you go on with the hostels he's--phew--got to mizzle. _then_--i don't mind--if you want that girl burnet brought back in triumph.... it'll make mrs. pembrose chuck the whole blessed show, you know, but i say--i don't mind.... only in that case, i don't want to see or hear--or hear about--phew--or hear about your mr. brumley again. and i don't want you to, either.... i'm being pretty reasonable and pretty patient over this, with people--people--talking right and left. still,--there's a limit.... you've been going on--if i didn't know you were an innocent--in a way ... i don't want to talk about that. there you are, elly." it seemed to her that she had always expected this to happen. but however much she had expected it to happen she was still quite unprepared with any course of action. she wanted with an equal want of limitation to keep both mr. brumley and her hostels. "but isaac," she said. "what do you suspect? what do you think? this friendship has been going on----how can i end it suddenly?" "don't you be too innocent, elly. you know and i know perfectly well what there is between men and women. i don't make out i know--anything i don't know. i don't pretend you are anything but straight. only----" he suddenly gave way to his irritation. his self-control vanished. "damn it!" he cried, and his panting breath quickened; "the thing's got to end. as if i didn't understand! as if i didn't understand!" she would have protested again but his voice held her. "it's got to end. it's got to end. of course you haven't done anything, of course you don't know anything or think of anything.... only here i am ill.... _you_ wouldn't be sorry if i got worse.... _you_ can wait; you can.... all right! all right! and there you stand, irritating me--arguing. you know--it chokes me.... got to end, i tell you.... got to end...." he beat at the arms of his chair and then put a hand to his throat. "go away," he cried to her. "go to hell!" § i cannot tell whether the reader is a person of swift decisions or one of the newer race of doubters; if he be the latter he will the better understand how lady harman did in the next two days make up her mind definitely and conclusively to two entirely opposed lines of action. she decided that her relations with mr. brumley, innocent as they were, must cease in the interests of the hostels and her struggle with mrs. pembrose, and she decided with quite equal certainty that her husband's sudden veto upon these relations was an intolerable tyranny that must be resisted with passionate indignation. also she was surprised to find how difficult it was now to think of parting from mr. brumley. she made her way to these precarious conclusions and on from whichever it was to the other through a jungle of conflicting considerations and feelings. when she thought of mrs. pembrose and more particularly of the probable share of mrs. pembrose in her husband's objection to mr. brumley her indignation kindled. she perceived mrs. pembrose as a purely evil personality, as a spirit of espionage, distrust, calculated treachery and malignant intervention, as all that is evil in rule and officialism, and a vast wave of responsibility for all those difficult and feeble and likeable young women who elbowed and giggled and misunderstood and blundered and tried to live happily under the commanding stresses of mrs. pembrose's austerity carried her away. she had her duty to do to them and it overrode every other duty. if a certain separation from mr. brumley's assiduous aid was demanded, was it too great a sacrifice? and no sooner was that settled than the whole question reopened with her indignant demand why anyone at any price had the right to prohibit a friendship that she had so conscientiously kept innocent. if she gave way to this outrageous restriction to-day, what fresh limitations might not sir isaac impose to-morrow? and now, she was so embarrassed in her struggle by his health. she could not go to him and have things out with him, she could not directly defy him, because that might mean a suffocating seizure for him.... it was entirely illogical, no doubt, but extremely natural for lady harman to decide that she must communicate her decision, whichever one it was, to mr. brumley in a personal interview. she wrote to him and arranged to meet and talk to him in kew gardens, and with a feeling of discretion went thither not in the automobile but in a taxi-cab. and so delicately now were her two irrevocable decisions balanced in her mind that twice on her way to kew she swayed over from one to the other. arrived at the gardens she found herself quite disinclined to begin the announcement of either decision. she was quite exceptionally glad to see mr. brumley; he was dressed in a new suit of lighter brown that became him very well indeed, the day was warm and bright, a day of scyllas and daffodils and snow-upon-the-mountains and green-powdered trees and frank sunshine,--and the warmth of her feelings for her friend merged indistinguishably with the springtime stir and glow. they walked across the bright turf together in a state of unjustifiable happiness, purring little admirations at the ingenious elegance of creation at its best as gardeners set it out for our edification, and the whole tenor of lady harman's mind was to make this occasion an escape from the particular business that had brought her thither. "we'll look for daffodils away there towards the river under the trees," said mr. brumley, and it seemed preposterous not to enjoy those daffodils at least before she broached the great issue between an irresistible force and an immoveable post, that occupied her mental background. mr. brumley was quite at his best that afternoon. he was happy, gay and deferential; he made her realize by his every tone and movement that if he had his choice of the whole world that afternoon and all its inhabitants and everything, there was no other place in which he would be, no other companion, no other occupation than this he had. he talked of spring and flowers, quoted poets and added the treasures of a well-stored mind to the amenities of the day. "it's good to take a holiday at times," he said, and after that it was more difficult than ever to talk about the trouble of the hostels. she was able to do this at last while they were having tea in the little pavilion near the pagoda. it was the old pavilion, the one that miss alimony's suffragettes were afterwards to burn down in order to demonstrate the relentless logic of women. they did it in the same eventful week when miss alimony was, she declared, so nearly carried off by white slave traders (disguised as nurses but, fortunately for her, smelling of brandy) from the brixton temperance bazaar. but in those simpler days the pavilion still existed; it was tended by agreeable waiters whose evening dress was mitigated by cheerful little straw hats, and an enormous multitude of valiant and smutty cockney sparrows chirped and squeaked and begged and fluttered and fought, venturing to the very tables and feet of the visitors. and here, a little sobered from their first elation by much walking about and the presence of jam and watercress, mr. brumley and lady harman could think again of the work they were doing for the reconstitution of society upon collective lines. she began to tell him of the conflict between mrs. pembrose and alice burnet that threatened the latter with extinction. she found it more convenient to talk at first as though the strands of decision were still all in her hands; afterwards she could go on to the peculiar complication of the situation through the unexpected weakening of her position in relation to mrs. pembrose. she described the particular of the new trouble, the perplexing issue between the "lady-like," for which as a feminine ideal there was so much to be said on the one hand and the "genial," which was also an admirable quality, on the other. "you see," she said, "it's very rude to cough at people and make noises, but then it's so difficult to explain to the others that it's equally rude to go past people and pretend not to see or hear them. girls of that sort always seem so much more underbred when they are trying to be superior than when they are not; they get so stiff and--exasperating. and this keeping out of the union because it isn't genteel, it's the very essence of the trouble with all these employees. we've discussed that so often. those drapers' girls seem full of such cold, selfish, base, pretentious notions; much more full even than our refreshment girls. and then as if it wasn't all difficult enough comes mrs. pembrose and her wardresses doing all sorts of hard, clumsy things, and one can't tell them just how little they are qualified to judge good behaviour. their one idea of discipline is to speak to people as if they were servants and to be distant and crushing. and long before one can do anything come trouble and tart replies and reports of "gross impertinence" and expulsion. we keep on expelling girls. this is the fourth time girls have had to go. what is to become of them? i know this burnet girl quite well as you know. she's just a human, kindly little woman.... she'll feel disgraced.... how can i let a thing like that occur?" she spread her hands apart over the tea things. mr. brumley held his chin in his hand and said "um" and looked judicial, and admired lady harman very much, and tried to grasp the whole trouble and wring out a solution. he made some admirable generalizations about the development of a new social feeling in response to changed conditions, but apart from a remark that mrs. pembrose was all organization and no psychology, and quite the wrong person for her position, he said nothing in the slightest degree contributory to the particular drama under consideration. from that utterance, however, lady harman would no doubt have gone on to the slow, tentative but finally conclusive statement of the new difficulty that had arisen out of her husband's jealousy and to the discussion of the more fundamental decisions it forced upon her, if a peculiar blight had not fallen upon their conversation and robbed it at last of even an appearance of ease. this blight crept upon their minds.... it began first with mr. brumley. mr. brumley was rarely free from self-consciousness. whenever he was in a restaurant or any such place of assembly, then whatever he did or whatever he said he had a kind of surplus attention, a quickening of the ears, a wandering of the eyes, to the groups and individuals round about him. and while he had seemed entirely occupied with lady harman, he had nevertheless been aware from the outset that a dingy and inappropriate-looking man in a bowler hat and a ready-made suit of grey, was listening to their conversation from an adjacent table. this man had entered the pavilion oddly. he had seemed to dodge in and hesitate. then he had chosen his table rather deliberately--and he kept looking, and trying not to seem to look. that was not all. mr. brumley's expression was overcast by the effort to recall something. he sat elbows on table and leant forward towards lady harman and at the blossom-laden trees outside the pavilion and trifled with two fingers on his lips and spoke between them in a voice that was speculative and confidential and muffled and mysterious. "where have i seen our friend to the left before?" she had been aware of his distraction for some time. she glanced at the man and found nothing remarkable in him. she tried to go on with her explanations. mr. brumley appeared attentive and then he said again: "but where have i seen him?" and from that point their talk was blighted; the heart seemed to go out of her. mr. brumley she felt was no longer taking in what she was saying. at the time she couldn't in any way share his preoccupation. but what had been difficult before became hopeless and she could no longer feel that even presently she would be able to make him understand the peculiar alternatives before her. they drifted back by the great conservatory and the ornamental water, aripple with ducks and swans, to the gates where his taxi waited. even then it occurred to her that she ought to tell him something of the new situation. but now their time was running out, she would have to be concise, and what wife could ever say abruptly and offhand that frequent fact, "oh, by the by, my husband is jealous of you"? then she had an impulse to tell him simply, without any explanation at all, that for a time he must not meet her. and while she gathered herself together for that, his preoccupations intervened again. he stood up in the open taxi-cab and looked back. "that chap," he said, "is following us." § the effect of this futile interview upon lady harman was remarkable. she took to herself an absurd conviction that this inconclusiveness had been an achievement. confronted by a dilemma, she had chosen neither horn and assumed an attitude of inoffensive defiance. springs in england vary greatly in their character; some are easterly and quarrelsome, some are north-westerly and wetly disastrous, a bleak invasion from the ocean; some are but the broken beginnings of what are not so much years as stretches of meteorological indecision. this particular spring was essentially a south-westerly spring, good and friendly, showery but in the lightest way and so softly reassuring as to be gently hilarious. it was a spring to get into the blood of anyone; it gave lady harman the feeling that mrs. pembrose would certainly be dealt with properly and without unreasonable delay by heaven, and that meanwhile it was well to take the good things of existence as cheerfully as possible. the good things she took were very innocent things. feeling unusually well and enjoying great draughts of spring air and sunshine were the chief. and she took them only for three brief days. she carried the children down to black strand to see her daffodils, and her daffodils surpassed expectation. there was a delirium of blackthorn in the new wild garden she had annexed from the woods and a close carpet of encouraged wild primroses. even the putney garden was full of happy surprises. the afternoon following her visit to black strand was so warm that she had tea with her family in great gaiety on the lawn under the cedar. her offspring were unusually sweet that day, they had new blue cotton sunbonnets, and baby and annette at least succeeded in being pretty. and millicent, under the new swiss governess, had acquired, it seemed quite suddenly, a glib colloquial french that somehow reconciled one to the extreme thinness and shapelessness of her legs. then an amazing new fact broke into this gleam of irrational contentment, a shattering new fact. she found she was being watched. she discovered that dingy man in the grey suit following her. the thing came upon her one afternoon. she was starting out for a talk with georgina. she felt so well, so confident of the world that it was intolerable to think of georgina harbouring resentment; she resolved she would go and have things out with her and make it clear just how impossible it was to impose a director-general upon her husband. she became aware of the man in grey as she walked down putney hill. she recognized him at once. he was at the corner of redfern road and still unaware of her existence. he was leaning against the wall with the habituated pose of one who is frequently obliged to lean against walls for long periods of time, and he was conversing in an elucidatory manner with the elderly crossing-sweeper who still braves the motor-cars at that point. he became aware of her emergence with a start, he ceased to lean and became observant. he was one of those men whose face suggests the word "muzzle," with an erect combative nose and a forward slant of the body from the rather inturned feet. he wore an observant bowler hat a little too small for him, and there is something about the tail of his jacket--as though he had been docked. she passed at a stride to the acceptance of mr. brumley's hitherto incredible suspicion. her pulses quickened. it came into her head to see how far this man would go in following her. she went on demurely down the hill leaving him quite unaware that she had seen him. she was amazed, and after her first belief incredulous again. could isaac be going mad? at the corner she satisfied herself of the grey man's proximity and hailed a taxi-cab. the man in grey came nosing across to listen to her directions and hear where she was going. "please drive up the hill until i tell you," she said, "slowly"--and had the satisfaction, if one may call it a satisfaction, of seeing the grey man dive towards the taxi-cab rank. then she gave herself up to hasty scheming. she turned her taxi-cab abruptly when she was certain of being followed, went back into london, turned again and made for westridge's great stores in oxford street. the grey man ticked up two pences in pursuit. all along the brompton road he pursued her with his nose like the jib of a ship. she was excited and interested, and not nearly so shocked as she ought to have been. it didn't somehow jar as it ought to have jarred with her idea of sir isaac. watched by a detective! this then was the completion of the conditional freedom she had won by smashing that window. she might have known.... she was astonished and indignant but not nearly so entirely indignant as a noble heroine should have been. she was certainly not nearly so queenly as mrs. sawbridge would have shown herself under such circumstances. it may have been due to some plebeian strain in her father's blood that over and above her proper indignation she was extremely interested. she wanted to know what manner of man it was whose nose was just appearing above the window edge of the taxi-cab behind. in her inexperienced inattention she had never yet thought it was possible that men could be hired to follow women. she sat a little forward, thinking. how far would he follow her and was it possible to shake him off? or are such followers so expert that once upon a scent, they are like the indian hunting dog, inevitable. she must see. she paid off her taxi at westridge's and, with the skill of her sex, observed him by the window reflection, counting the many doors of the establishment. would he try to watch them all? there were also some round the corner. no, he was going to follow her in. she had a sudden desire, an unreasonable desire, perhaps an instinctive desire to see that man among baby-linen. it was in her power for a time to wreathe him with incongruous objects. this was the sort of fancy a woman must control.... he stalked her with an unreal sang-froid. he ambushed behind a display of infants' socks. driven to buy by a saleswoman he appeared to be demanding improbable varieties of infant's socks. are these watchers and trackers sometimes driven to buying things in shops? if so, strange items must figure in accounts of expenses. if he bought those socks, would they appear in sir isaac's bill? she felt a sudden craving for the sight of sir isaac's private detective account. and as for the articles themselves, what became of them? she knew her husband well enough to feel sure that if he paid for anything he would insist upon having it. but where--where did he keep them?... but now the man's back was turned; he was no doubt improvising paternity and an extreme fastidiousness in baby's footwear----now for it!--through departments of deepening indelicacy to the lift! but he had considered that possibility of embarrassment; he got round by some other way, he was just in time to hear the lift gate clash upon a calmly preoccupied lady, who still seemed as unaware of his existence as the sky. he was running upstairs, when she descended again, without getting out; he stopped at the sight of her shooting past him, their eyes met and there was something appealing in his. he was very moist and his bowler was flagging. he had evidently started out in the morning with misconceptions about the weather. and it was clear he felt he had blundered in coming into westridge's. before she could get a taxi he was on the pavement behind her, hot but pursuing. she sought in her mind for corner shops, with doors on this street and that. she exercised him upon peter robinson's and debenham and freebody's and then started for the monument. but on her way to the monument she thought of the moving staircase at harrod's. if she went up and down on this, she wanted to know what he would do, would he run up and down the fixed flight? he did. several times. and then she bethought herself of the piccadilly tube; she got in at brompton road and got out at down street and then got in again and went to south kensington and he darted in and out of adjacent carriages and got into lifts by curious retrograde movements, being apparently under the erroneous impression that his back was less characteristic than his face. by this time he was evidently no longer unaware of her intelligent interest in his movements. it was clear too that he had received a false impression that she wanted to shake him off and that all the sleuth in him was aroused. he was dishevelled and breathing hard and getting a little close and coarse in his pursuit, but he was sticking to it with a puckered intensified resolution. he came up into the south kensington air open-mouthed and sniffing curiously, but invincible. she discovered suddenly that she did not like him at all and that she wanted to go home. she took a taxi, and then away in the wilds of the fulham road she had her crowning idea. she stopped the cab at a dingy little furniture shop, paid the driver exorbitantly and instructed him to go right back to south kensington station, buy her an evening paper and return for her. the pursuer drew up thirty yards away, fell into her trap, paid off his cab and feigned to be interested by a small window full of penny toys, cheap chocolate and cocoanut ice. she bought herself a brass door weight, paid for it hastily and posted herself just within the furniture-shop door. then you see her cab returned suddenly and she got in at once and left him stranded. he made a desperate effort to get a motor omnibus. she saw him rushing across the traffic gesticulating. then he collided with a boy with a basket on a bicycle--not so far as she could see injuriously, they seemed to leap at once into a crowd and an argument, and then he was hidden from her by a bend in the road. § for a little while her mind was full of fragments of speculation about this man. was he a married man? was he very much away from home? what did he earn? were there ever disputes about his expenses?... she must ask isaac. for she was determined to go home and challenge her husband. she felt buoyed up by indignation and the consciousness of innocence.... and then she felt an odd little doubt whether her innocence was quite so manifest as she supposed? that doubt grew to uncomfortable proportions. for two years she had been meeting mr. brumley as confidently as though they had been invisible beings, and now she had to rack her brains for just what might be mistaken, what might be misconstrued. there was nothing, she told herself, nothing, it was all as open as the day, and still her mind groped about for some forgotten circumstance, something gone almost out of memory that would bear misinterpretation.... how should she begin? "isaac," she would say, "i am being followed about london." suppose he denied his complicity! how could he deny his complicity? the cab ran in through the gates of her home and stopped at the door. snagsby came hurrying down the steps with a face of consternation. "sir isaac, my lady, has come home in a very sad state indeed." beyond snagsby in the hall she came upon a lost-looking round-eyed florence. "daddy's ill again," said florence. "you run to the nursery," said lady harman. "i thought i might help," said florence. "i don't want to play with the others." "no, run away to the nursery." "i want to see the ossygen let out," said florence petulantly to her mother's unsympathetic back. "i _never_ see the ossygen let out. mum--my!..." lady harman found her husband on the couch in his bedroom. he was propped up in a sitting position with every available cushion and pillow. his coat and waistcoat and collar had been taken off, and his shirt and vest torn open. the nearest doctor, almsworth, was in attendance, but oxygen had not arrived, and sir isaac with an expression of bitter malignity upon his face was fighting desperately for breath. if anything his malignity deepened at the sight of his wife. "damned climate," he gasped. "wouldn't have come back--except for _your_ foolery." it seemed to help him to say that. he took a deep inhalation, pressed his lips tightly together, and nodded at her to confirm his words. "if he's fanciful," said almsworth. "if in any way your presence irritates him----" "let her stay," said sir isaac. "it--pleases her...." almsworth's colleague entered with the long-desired oxygen cylinder. § and now every other interest in life was dominated, and every other issue postponed by the immense urgencies of sir isaac's illness. it had entered upon a new phase. it was manifest that he could no longer live in england, that he must go to some warm and kindly climate. there and with due precautions and observances almsworth assured lady harman he might survive for many years--"an invalid, of course, but a capable one." for some time the business of the international stores had been preparing itself for this withdrawal. sir isaac had been entrusting his managers with increased responsibility and making things ready for the flotation of a company that would take the whole network of enterprises off his hands. charterson was associated with him in this, and everything was sufficiently definite to be managed from any continental resort to which his doctors chose to send him. they chose to send him to santa margherita on the ligurian coast near rapallo and porto fino. it was old bergener of marienbad who chose this place. sir isaac had wanted to go to marienbad, his first resort abroad; he had a lively and indeed an exaggerated memory of his kur there; his growing disposition to distrust had turned him against his london specialist, and he had caused lady harman to send gigantic telegrams of inquiry to old bergener before he would be content. but bergener would not have him at marienbad; it wasn't the place, it was the wrong time of year, there was the very thing for them at the regency hotel at santa margherita, an entire dépendance in a beautiful garden right on the sea, admirably furnished and adapted in every way to sir isaac's peculiar needs. there, declared doctor bergener, with a proper attendant, due precaution, occasional oxygen and no excitement he would live indefinitely, that is to say eight or ten years. and attracted by the eight or ten years, which was three more than the london specialist offered, sir isaac finally gave in and consented to be taken to santa margherita. he was to go as soon as possible, and he went in a special train and with an immense elaboration of attendance and comforts. they took with them a young doctor their specialist at marienbad had recommended, a bright young bavarian with a perfectly square blond head, an incurable frock coat, the manners of the less kindly type of hotel-porter and luggage which apparently consisted entirely of apparatus, an arsenal of strange-shaped shining black cases. he joined them in london and went right through with them. from genoa at his request they obtained the services of a trained nurse, an amiable fluent-shaped woman who knew only italian and german. for reasons that he declined to give, but which apparently had something to do with the suffrage agitation, he would have nothing to do with an english trained nurse. they had also a stenographer and typist for sir isaac's correspondence, and lady harman had a secretary, a young lady with glasses named summersly satchell who obviously reserved opinions of a harshly intellectual kind and had previously been in the service of the late lady mary justin. she established unfriendly relations with the young doctor at an early date by attempting, he said, to learn german from him. then there was a maid for lady harman, an assistant maid, and a valet-attendant for sir isaac. the rest of the service in the dépendance was supplied by the hotel management. it took some weeks to assemble this expedition and transport it to its place of exile. arrangements had to be made for closing the putney house and establishing the children with mrs. harman at black strand. there was an exceptional amount of packing up to do, for this time lady harman felt she was not coming back--it might be for years. they were going out to warmth and sunlight for the rest of sir isaac's life. he was entering upon the last phase in the slow disorganization of his secretions and the progressive hardening of his arterial tissues that had become his essential history. his appearance had altered much in the last few months; he had become visibly smaller, his face in particular had become sharp and little-featured. it was more and more necessary for him to sit up in order to breathe with comfort, he slept sitting up; and his senses were affected, he complained of strange tastes in his food, quarrelled with the cook and had fits of sickness. sometimes, latterly, he had complained of strange sounds, like air whistling in water-pipes, he said, that had no existence outside his ears. moreover, he was steadily more irritable and more suspicious and less able to control himself when angry. a long-hidden vein of vile and abusive language, hidden, perhaps, since the days of mr. gambard's college at ealing, came to the surface.... for some days after his seizure lady harman was glad to find in the stress of his necessities an excuse for disregarding altogether the crisis in the hostels and the perplexing problem of her relations to mr. brumley. she wrote two brief notes to the latter gentleman breaking appointments and pleading pressure of business. then, at first during intervals of sleeplessness at night, and presently during the day, the danger and ugliness of her outlook began to trouble her. she was still, she perceived, being watched, but whether that was because her husband had failed to change whatever orders he had given, or because he was still keeping himself minutely informed of her movements, she could not tell. she was now constantly with him, and except for small spiteful outbreaks and occasional intervals of still and silent malignity, he tolerated and utilized her attentions. it was clear his jealousy of her rankled, a jealousy that made him even resentful at her health and ready to complain of any brightness of eye or vigour of movement. they had drifted far apart from the possibility of any real discussion of the hostels since that talk in the twilit study. to re-open that now or to complain of the shadowing pursuer who dogged her steps abroad would have been to precipitate mr. brumley's dismissal. even at the cost of letting things drift at the hostels for a time she wished to avoid that question. she would not see him, but she would not shut the door upon him. so far as the detective was concerned she could avoid discussion by pretending to be unaware of his existence, and as for the hostels--the hostels each day were left until the morrow. she had learnt many things since the days of her first rebellion, and she knew now that this matter of the man friend and nothing else in the world is the central issue in the emancipation of women. the difficulty of him is latent in every other restriction of which women complain. the complete emancipation of women will come with complete emancipation of humanity from jealousy--and no sooner. all other emancipations are shams until a woman may go about as freely with this man as with that, and nothing remains for emancipation when she can. in the innocence of her first revolt this question of friendship had seemed to lady harman the simplest, most reasonable of minor concessions, but that was simply because mr. brumley hadn't in those days been talking of love to her, nor she been peeping through that once locked door. now she perceived how entirely sir isaac was by his standards justified. and after all that was recognized she remained indisposed to give up mr. brumley. yet her sense of evil things happening in the hostels was a deepening distress. it troubled her so much that she took the disagreeable step of asking mrs. pembrose to meet her at the bloomsbury hostel and talk out the expulsions. she found that lady alertly defensive, entrenched behind expert knowledge and pretension generally. her little blue eyes seemed harder than ever, the metallic resonance in her voice more marked, the lisp stronger. "of course, lady harman, if you were to have some practical experience of control----" and "three times i have given these girls every opportunity--_every_ opportunity." "it seems so hard to drive these girls out," repeated lady harman. "they're such human creatures." "you have to think of the ones who remain. you must--think of the institution as a whole." "i wonder," said lady harman, peering down into profundities for a moment. below the great truth glimmered and vanished that institutions were made for man and not man for institutions. "you see," she went on, rather to herself than to mrs. pembrose, "we shall be away now for a long time." mrs. pembrose betrayed no excesses of grief. "it's no good for me to interfere and then leave everything...." "that way spells utter disorganization," said mrs. pembrose. "but i wish something could be done to lessen the harshness--to save the pride--of such a girl as alice burnet. practically you tell her she isn't fit to associate with--the other girls." "she's had her choice and warning after warning." "i daresay she's--stiff. oh!--she's difficult. but--being expelled is bitter." "i've not _expelled_ her--technically." "she thinks she's expelled...." "you'd rather perhaps, lady harman, that _i_ was expelled." the dark lady lifted her eyes to the little bridling figure in front of her for a moment and dropped them again. she had had an unspeakable thought, that mrs. pembrose wasn't a gentlewoman, and that this sort of thing was a business for the gentle and for nobody else in the world. "i'm only anxious not to hurt anyone if i can help it," said lady harman. she went on with her attempt to find some way of compromise with mrs. pembrose that should save the spirit of the new malcontents. she was much too concerned on account of the things that lay ahead of them to care for her own pride with mrs. pembrose. but that good lady had all the meagre inflexibilities of her class and at last lady harman ceased. she came out into the great hall of the handsome staircase, ushered by mrs. pembrose as a guest is ushered by a host. she looked at the spacious proportion of the architecture and thought of the hopes and imaginations she had allowed to centre upon this place. it was to have been a glowing home of happy people, and over it all brooded the chill stillness of rules and regulations and methodical suppressions and tactful discouragement. it was an institution, it had the empty orderliness of an institution, mrs. pembrose had just called it an institution, and so susan burnet had prophesied it would become five years or more ago. it was a dream subjugated to reality. so it seemed to lady harman must all dreams be subjugated to reality, and the tossing spring greenery of the square, the sunshine, the tumult of sparrows and the confused sound of distant traffic, framed as it was in the hard dark outline of the entrance door, was as near as the promise of joy could ever come to her. "caught and spoilt," that seemed to be the very essential of her life; just as it was of these hostels, all the hopes, the imaginings, the sweet large anticipations, the generosities, and stirring warm desires.... perhaps lady harman had been a little overworking with her preparations for exile. because as these unhappy thoughts passed through her mind she realized that she was likely to weep. it was extremely undesirable that mrs. pembrose should see her weeping. but mrs. pembrose did see her weeping, saw her dark eyes swimming with uncontrollable tears, watched her walk past her and out, without a word or a gesture of farewell. a kind of perplexity came upon the soul of mrs. pembrose. she watched the tall figure descend to her car and enter it and dispose itself gracefully and depart.... "hysterical," whispered mrs. pembrose at last and was greatly comforted. "childish," said mrs. pembrose sipping further consolation for an unwonted spiritual discomfort. "besides," said mrs. pembrose, "what else can one do?" § sir isaac was greatly fatigued by his long journey to santa margherita in spite of every expensive precaution to relieve him; but as soon as the effect of that wore off, his recovery under the system bergener had prescribed was for a time remarkable. in a little while he was out of bed again and in an armchair. then the young doctor began to talk of drives. they had no car with them, so he went into genoa and spent an energetic day securing the sweetest-running automobile he could find and having it refitted for sir isaac's peculiar needs. in this they made a number of excursions through the hot beauty of the italian afternoons, eastward to genoa, westward to sestri and northward towards montallegro. then they went up to the summit of the monte de porto fino and sir isaac descended and walked about and looked at the view and praised bergener. after that he was encouraged to visit the gracious old monastery that overhangs the road to porto fino. at first lady harman did her duty of control and association with an apathetic resignation. this had to go on--for eight or ten years. then her imagination began to stir again. there came a friendly letter from mr. brumley and she answered with a description of the colour of the sea and the charm and wonder of its tideless shore. the three elder children wrote queer little letters and she answered them. she went into rapallo and got herself a carriageful of tauchnitz books.... that visit to the monastery on the porto fino road was like a pleasant little glimpse into the brighter realities of the middle ages. the place, which is used as a home of rest for convalescent carthusians, chanced to be quite empty and deserted; the bavarian rang a jangling bell again and again and at last gained the attention of an old gardener working in the vineyard above, an unkempt, unshaven, ungainly creature dressed in scarce decent rags of brown, who was yet courteous-minded and, albeit crack-voiced, with his yellow-fanged mouth full of gracious polysyllables. he hobbled off to get a key and returned through the still heat of the cobbled yard outside the monastery gates, and took them into cool airy rooms and showed them clean and simple cells in shady corridors, and a delightful orangery, and led them to a beautiful terrace that looked out upon the glowing quivering sea. and he became very anxious to tell them something about "francesco"; they could not understand him until the doctor caught "battaglia" and "pavia" and had an inspiration. francis the first, he explained in clumsy but understandable english, slept here, when he was a prisoner of the emperor and all was lost but honour. they looked at the slender pillars and graceful archings about them. "chust as it was now," the young doctor said, his imagination touched for a moment by mere unscientific things.... they returned to their dépendance in a state of mutual contentment, sir isaac scarcely tired, and lady harman ran upstairs to change her dusty dress for a fresher muslin, while he went upon the doctor's arm to the balcony where tea was to be served to them. she came down to find her world revolutionized. on the table in the balcony the letters had been lying convenient to his chair and he--it may be without troubling to read the address, had seized the uppermost and torn it open. he was holding that letter now a little crumpled in his hand. she had walked close up to the table before she realized the change. the little eyes that met hers were afire with hatred, his lips were white and pressed together tightly, his nostrils were dilated in his struggle for breath. "i knew it," he gasped. she clung to her dignity though she felt suddenly weak within. "that letter," she said, "was addressed to me." there was a gleam of derision in his eyes. "look at it!" he said, and flung it towards her. "my private letter!" "look at it!" he repeated. "what right have you to open my letter?" "friendship!" he said. "harmless friendship! look what your--friend says!" "whatever there was in my letter----" "oh!" cried sir isaac. "don't come _that_ over me! don't you try it! oooh! phew--" he struggled for breath for a time. "he's so harmless. he's so helpful. he----read it, you----" he hesitated and then hurled a strange word at her. she glanced at the letter on the table but made no movement to touch it. then she saw that her husband's face was reddening and that his arm waved helplessly. his eyes, deprived abruptly of all the fury of conflict, implored assistance. she darted to the french window that opened into the dining-room from the balcony. "doctor greve!" she cried. "doctor greve!" behind her the patient was making distressful sounds. "doctor greve," she screamed, and from above she heard the bavarian shouting and then the noise of his coming down the stairs. he shouted some direction in german as he ran past her. by an inspiration she guessed he wanted the nurse. miss summersley satchell appeared in the doorway and became helpful. then everyone in the house seemed to be converging upon the balcony. it was an hour before sir isaac was in bed and sufficiently allayed for her to go to her own room. then she thought of mr. brumley's letter, and recovered it from the table on the balcony where it had been left in the tumult of her husband's seizure. it was twilight and the lights were on. she stood under one of them and read with two moths circling about her.... mr. brumley had had a mood of impassioned declaration. he had alluded to his "last moments of happiness at kew." he said he would rather kiss the hem of her garment than be the "lord of any other woman's life." it was all so understandable--looked at in the proper light. it was all so impossible to explain. and why had she let it happen? why had she let it happen? § the young doctor was a little puzzled and rather offended by sir isaac's relapse. he seemed to consider it incorrect and was on the whole disposed to blame lady harman. he might have had such a seizure, the young doctor said, later, but not now. he would be thrown back for some weeks, then he would begin to mend again and then whatever he said, whatever he did, lady harman must do nothing to contradict him. for a whole day sir isaac lay inert, in a cold sweat. he consented once to attempt eating, but sickness overcame him. he seemed so ill that all the young doctor's reassurances could not convince lady harman that he would recover. then suddenly towards evening his arrested vitality was flowing again, the young doctor ceased to be anxious for his own assertions, the patient could sit up against a pile of pillows and breathe and attend to affairs. there was only one affair he really seemed anxious to attend to. his first thought when he realized his returning strength was of his wife. but the young doctor would not let him talk that night. next morning he seemed still stronger. he was restless and at last demanded lady harman again. this time the young doctor transmitted the message. she came to him forthwith and found him, white-faced and unfamiliar-looking, his hands gripping the quilt and his eyes burning with hatred. "you thought i'd forgotten," was his greeting. "don't argue," signalled the doctor from the end of sir isaac's bed. "i've been thinking it out," said sir isaac. "when you were thinking i was too ill to think.... i know better now." he sucked in his lips and then went on. "you've got to send for old crappen," he said. "i'm going to alter things. i had a plan. but that would have been letting you off too easy. see? so--you send for old crappen." "what do you mean to do?" "never you mind, my lady, never you mind. you send for old crappen." she waited for a moment. "is that all you want me to do?" "i'm going to make it all right about those hostels. don't you fear. you and your hostels! you shan't _touch_ those hostels ever again. ever. mrs. pembrose go! why! you ain't worthy to touch the heel of her shoe! mrs. pembrose!" he gathered together all his forces and suddenly expelled with rousing force the word he had already applied to her on the day of the intercepted letter. he found it seemed great satisfaction in the sound and taste of it. he repeated it thrice. "zut," cried the doctor, "sssh!" then sir isaac intimated his sense that calm was imperative. "you send for crappen," he said with a quiet earnestness. she had become now so used to terms of infamy during the last year or so, so accustomed to forgive them as part of his suffering, that she seemed not to hear the insult. "do you want him at once?" she asked. "shall i telegraph?" "want him at once!" he dropped his voice to a whisper. "yes, you fool--yes. telegraph. (phew.) telegraph.... i mustn't get angry, you know. you--telegraph." he became suddenly still. but his eyes were active with hate. she glanced at the doctor, then moved to the door. "i will send a telegram," she said, and left him still malignant. she closed the door softly and walked down the long cool passage towards her own room.... § she had to be patient. she had to be patient. this sort of thing had to go on from crisis to crisis. it might go on for years. she could see no remedy and no escape. what else was there to do but be patient? it was all amazing unjust, but to be a married woman she was beginning to understand is to be outside justice. it is autocracy. she had once imagined otherwise, and most of her life had been the slow unlearning of that initial error. she had imagined that the hostels were hers simply because he had put it in that way. they had never been anything but his, and now it was manifest he would do what he liked with his own. the law takes no cognizance of the unwritten terms of a domestic reconciliation. she sat down at the writing-table the hotel management had improvised for her. she rested her chin on her hand and tried to think out her position. but what was there to think out, seeing that nature and law and custom have conspired together to put women altogether under the power of jealous and acquisitive men? she drew the telegram form towards her. she was going to write a telegram that she knew would bring crappen headlong--to disinherit her absolutely. and--it suddenly struck her--her husband had trusted her to write it. she was going to do what he had trusted her to do.... but it was absurd. she sat making patterns of little dots with her pencil point upon the telegram form, and there was a faint smile of amusement upon her lips. it was absurd--and everything was absurd. what more was to be said or thought about it? this was the lot of woman. she had made her struggle, rebelled her little bit of rebellion. most other women no doubt had done as much. it made no difference in the long run. but it was hard to give up the hostels. she had been foolish of course, but she had not let them make her feel _real_. and she wasn't real. she was a wife--just _this_.... she sighed and bestirred herself and began to write. then abruptly she stopped writing. for three years her excuse for standing--everything, had been these hostels. if now the hostels were to be wrenched out of her hands, if at her husband's death she was to be stripped of every possession and left a helpless dependant on her own children, if for all her good behaviour she was to be insulted by his frantic suspicions so long as he lived and then disgraced by his posthumous mistrust; was there any reason why she should go on standing anything any more? away there in england was mr. brumley, _her_ man, ready with service and devotion.... it was a profoundly comforting thing to think of him there as hers. he was hers. he'd given so much and on the whole so well. if at last she were to go to him.... yet when she came to imagine the reality of the step that was in her mind, it took upon itself a chill and forbidding strangeness. it was like stepping out of a familiar house into empty space. what could it be like? to take some odd trunks with her, meet him somewhere, travel, travel through the evening, travel past nightfall? the bleak strangeness of that going out never to return! her imagination could give her no figure of mr. brumley as intimate, as habitual. she could as easily imagine his skeleton. he remained in all this queer speculation something friendly, something incidental, more than a trifle disembodied, entirely devoted of course in that hovering way--but hovering.... and she wanted to be free. it wasn't mr. brumley she wanted; he was but a means--if indeed he was a means--to an end. the person she wanted, the person she had always wanted--was _herself_. could mr. brumley give her that? would mr. brumley give her that? was it conceivable he would carry sacrifice to such a pitch as that?... and what nonsense was this dream! here was her husband needing her. and the children, whose inherent ungainliness, whose ungracious spirits demanded a perpetual palliation of culture and instilled deportment. what honest over-nurse was there for him or helper and guide and friend for them, if she withdrew? there was something undignified in a flight for mere happiness. there was something vindictive in flight from mere insult. to go, because she was disinherited, because her hostels were shattered,--no! and in short--she couldn't do it.... if sir isaac wanted to disinherit her he must disinherit her. if he wanted to go on seizing and reading her letters, then he could. there was nothing in the whole scheme of things to stop him if he did not want to stop himself, nothing at all. she was caught. this was the lot of women. she was a _wife_. what else in honour was there but to be a wife up to the hilt?... she finished writing her telegram. § suddenly came a running in the passage outside, a rap at the door and the nurse entered, scared, voluble in italian, but with gestures that translated her. lady harman rose, realized the gravity and urgency of the moment and hurried with her along the passage. "est-il mauvais?" the poor lady attempted, "est-il----" oh! what words are there for "taken worse"? the woman attempted english and failed. she resorted to her native italian and exclaimed about the "povero signore." she conveyed a sense of pitiful extremities. could it be he was in pain again? what was it? what was it? ten minutes ago he had been so grimly angry. at the door of the sick room the nurse laid a warning hand on the arm of lady harman and made an apprehensive gesture. they entered almost noiselessly. the bavarian doctor turned his face from the bed at their entrance. he was bending over sir isaac. he held up one hand as if to arrest them; his other was engaged with his patient. "no," he said. his attention went back to the sick man, and he remained very still in that position, leaving lady harman to note for the first time how broad and flat he was both between his shoulders and between his ears. then his face came round slowly, he relinquished something heavy, stood up, held up a hand. "zu spät," he whispered, as though he too was surprised. he sought in his mind for english and then found his phrase: "he has gone!" "gone?" "in one instant." "dead?" "so. in one instant." on the bed lay sir isaac. his hand was thrust out as though he grasped at some invisible thing. his open eyes stared hard at his wife, and as she met his eyes he snored noisily in his nose and throat. she looked from the doctor to the nurse. it seemed to her that both these people must be mad. never had she seen anything less like death. "but he's not dead!" she protested, still standing in the middle of the room. "it iss chust the air in his throat," the doctor said. "he went--_so!_ in one instant as i was helping him." he waited to see some symptom of feminine weakness. there was a quality in his bearing--as though this event did him credit. "but--isaac!" it was astounding. the noise in his throat ceased. but he still stared at her. and then the nurse made a kind of assault upon lady harman, caught her--even if she didn't fall. it was no doubt the proper formula to collapse. or to fling oneself upon the deceased. lady harman resisted this assistance, disentangled herself and remained amazed; the nurse a little disconcerted but still ready behind her. "but," said lady harman slowly, not advancing and pointing incredulously at the unwinking stare that met her own, "is he dead? is he really dead? like that?" the doctor's gesture to the nurse betrayed his sense of the fine quick scene this want of confidence had ruined. under no circumstances in life did english people really seem to know how to behave or what was expected of them. he answered with something bordering upon irony. "madam," he said, with a slight bow, "he is _really_ det." "but--like _that_!" cried lady harman. "like that," repeated the doctor. she went three steps nearer and stopped, open-eyed, wonder-struck, her lips compressed. § for a time astonishment overwhelmed her mind. she did not think of sir isaac, she did not think of herself, her whole being was filled by this marvel of death and cessation. like _that_! death! never before had she seen it. she had expected an extreme dignity, an almost ceremonial sinking back, a slow ebbing, but this was like a shot from a bow. it stunned her. and for some time she remained stunned, while the doctor and her secretary and the hotel people did all that they deemed seemly on this great occasion. she let them send her into another room; she watched with detached indifference a post-mortem consultation in whispers with a doctor from rapallo. then came a great closing of shutters. the nurse and her maid hovered about her, ready to assist her when the sorrowing began. but she had no sorrow. the long moments lengthened out, and he was still dead and she was still only amazement. it seemed part of the extraordinary, the perennial surprisingness of sir isaac that he should end in this way. dead! she didn't feel for some hours that he had in any way ended. he had died with such emphasis that she felt now that he was capable of anything. what mightn't he do next? when she heard movements in the chamber of death it seemed to her that of all the people there, most probably it was he who made them. she would not have been amazed if he had suddenly appeared in the doorway of her room, anger-white and his hand quiveringly extended, spluttering some complaint. he might have cried: "here i am dead! and it's _you_, damn you--it's _you_!" it was after distinct efforts, after repeated visits to the room in which he lay, that she began to realize that death was death, that death goes on, that there was no more any sir isaac, but only a still body he had left behind, that was being moulded now into a stiff image of peace. then for a time she roused herself to some control of their proceedings. the doctor came to lady harman to ask her about the meals for the day, the hotel manager was in entanglements of tactful consideration, and then the nurse came for instructions upon some trivial matter. they had done what usage prescribes and now, in the absence of other direction, they appealed to her wishes. she remarked that everyone was going on tiptoe and speaking in undertones.... she realized duties. what does one have to do when one's husband is dead? people would have to be told. she would begin by sending off telegrams to various people, to his mother, to her own, to his lawyer. she remembered she had already written a telegram--that very morning to crappen. should she still let the lawyer come out? he was her lawyer now. perhaps he had better come, but instead of that telegram, which still lay upon the desk, she would wire the news of the death to him.... does one send to the papers? how does one send to the papers? she took miss summersly satchell who was hovering outside in the sunshine on the balcony, into her room, and sat pale and businesslike and very careful about details, while miss summersly satchell offered practical advice and took notes and wrote telegrams and letters.... there came a hush over everything as the day crept towards noon, and the widowed woman sat in her own room with an inactive mind, watching thin bars of sunlight burn their slow way across the floor. he was dead. it was going on now more steadfastly than ever. he was keeping dead. he was dead at last for good and her married life was over, that life that had always seemed the only possible life, and this stunning incident, this thing that was like the blinding of eyes or the bursting of eardrums, was to be the beginning of strange new experiences. she was afraid at first at their possible strangeness. and then, you know, in spite of a weak protesting compunction she began to feel glad.... she would not admit to herself that she was glad, that she was anything but a woman stunned, she maintained her still despondent attitude as long as she could, but gladness broke upon her soul as the day breaks, and a sense of release swam up to the horizons of her mind and rose upon her, flooding every ripple of her being, as the sun rises over water in a clear sky. presently she could sit there no longer, she had to stand up. she walked to the closed venetians to look out upon the world and checked herself upon the very verge of flinging them open. he was dead and it was all over for ever. of course!--it was all over! her marriage was finished and done. miss satchell came to summon her to lunch. throughout that meal lady harman maintained a sombre bearing, and listened with attention to the young doctor's comments on the manner of sir isaac's going. and then,--it was impossible to go back to her room. "my head aches," she said, "i must go down and sit by the sea," and her maid, a little shocked, brought her not only her sunshade, but needless wraps--as though a new-made widow must necessarily be very sensitive to the air. she would not let her maid come with her, she went down to the beach alone. she sat on some rocks near the very edge of the transparent water and fought her gladness for a time and presently yielded to it. he was dead. one thought filled her mind, for a while so filled her mind, that no other thought it seemed could follow it, it had an effect of being final; it so filled her mind that it filled the whole world; the broad sapphire distances of the sea, the lapping waves amidst the rocks at her feet, the blazing sun, the dark headland of porto fino and a small sailing boat that hung beyond came all within it like things enclosed within a golden globe. she forgot all the days of nursing and discomfort and pity behind her, all the duties and ceremonies before her, forgot all the details and circumstances of life in this one luminous realization. she was free at last. she was a free woman. never more would he make a sound or lift a finger against her life, never more would he contradict her or flout her; never more would he come peeping through that papered panel between his room and hers, never more could hateful and humiliating demands be made upon her as his right; no more strange distresses of the body nor raw discomfort of the nerves could trouble her--for ever. and no more detectives, no more suspicions, no more accusations. that last blow he had meant to aim was frozen before it could strike her. and she would have the hostels in her hands, secure and undisputed, she could deal as she liked with mrs. pembrose, take such advisers as she pleased.... she was free. she found herself planning the regeneration of those difficult and disputed hostels, plans that were all coloured by the sun and sky of italy. the manacles had gone; her hands were free. she would make this her supreme occupation. she had learnt her lesson now she felt, she knew something of the mingling of control and affectionate regard that was needed to weld the warring uneasy units of her new community. and she could do it, now as she was and unencumbered, she knew this power was in her. when everything seemed lost to her, suddenly it was all back in her hands.... she discovered the golden serenity of her mind with a sudden astonishment and horror. she was amazed and shocked that she should be glad. she struggled against it and sought to subdue her spirit to a becoming grief. one should be sorrowful at death in any case, one should be grieved. she tried to think of sir isaac with affection, to recall touching generosities, to remember kind things and tender and sweet things and she could not do so. nothing would come back but the white intensities of his face, nothing but his hatred, his suspicion and his pitiless mean mastery. from which she was freed. she could not feel sorry. she did her utmost to feel sorry; presently when she went back into the dépendance, she had to check her feet to a regretful pace; she dreaded the eyes of the hotel visitors she passed in the garden lest they should detect the liberation of her soul. but the hotel visitors being english were for the most part too preoccupied with manifestations of a sympathy that should be at once heart-felt and quite unobtrusive and altogether in the best possible taste, to have any attention free for the soul of lady harman. the sense of her freedom came and went like the sunlight of a day in spring, though she attempted her utmost to remain overcast. after dinner that night she was invaded by a vision of the great open years before her, at first hopeful but growing at last to fear and a wild restlessness, so that in defiance of possible hotel opinion, she wandered out into the moonlight and remained for a long time standing by the boat landing, dreaming, recovering, drinking in the white serenities of sea and sky. there was no hurry now. she might stay there as long as she chose. she need account for herself to no one; she was free. she might go where she pleased, do what she pleased, there was no urgency any more.... there was mr. brumley. mr. brumley made a very little figure at first in the great prospect before her.... then he grew larger in her thoughts. she recalled his devotions, his services, his self-control. it was good to have one understanding friend in this great limitless world.... she would have to keep that friendship.... but the glorious thing was freedom, to live untrammelled.... through the stillness a little breeze came stirring, and she awoke out of her dream and turned and faced the shuttered dépendance. a solitary dim light was showing on the verandah. all the rest of the building was a shapeless mass of grey. the long pale front of the hotel seen through a grove of orange trees was lit now at every other window with people going to bed. beyond, a black hillside clambered up to the edge of the sky. far away out of the darknesses a man with a clear strong voice was singing to a tinkling accompaniment. in the black orange trees swam and drifted a score of fireflies, and there was a distant clamour of nightingales when presently the unseen voice had done. § when she was in her room again she began to think of sir isaac and more particularly of that last fixed stare of his.... she was impelled to go and see him, to see for herself that he was peaceful and no longer a figure of astonishment. she went slowly along the corridor and very softly into his room--it remained, she felt, his room. they had put candles about him, and the outline of his face, showing dimly through the linen that veiled it, was like the face of one who sleeps very peacefully. very gently she uncovered it. he was not simply still, he was immensely still. he was more still and white than the moonlight outside, remoter than moon or stars.... she stood surveying him. he looked small and pinched and as though he had been very tired. life was over for him, altogether over. never had she seen anything that seemed so finished. once, when she was a girl she had thought that death might be but the opening of a door upon a more generous feast of living than this cramped world could give, but now she knew, she saw, that death can be death. life was over. she felt she had never before realized the meaning of death. that beautiful night outside, and all the beautiful nights and days that were still to come and all the sweet and wonderful things of god's world could be nothing to him now for ever. there was no dream in him that could ever live again, there was no desire, no hope in him. and had he ever had his desire or his hope, or felt the intensities of life? there was this beauty she had been discovering in the last few years, this mystery of love,--all that had been hidden from him. she began to realize something sorrowful and pitiful in his quality, in his hardness, his narrowness, his bickering suspicions, his malignant refusals of all things generous and beautiful. he made her feel, as sometimes the children made her feel, the infinite pity of perversity and resistance to the bounties and kindliness of life. the shadow of sorrow for him came to her at last. yet how obstinate he looked, the little frozen white thing that had been sir isaac harman! and satisfied, wilfully satisfied; his lips were compressed and his mouth a little drawn in at the corners as if he would not betray any other feeling than content with the bargain he had made with life. she did not touch him; not for the world would she ever touch that cold waxen thing that had so lately clasped her life, but she stood for a long time by the side of his quiet, immersed in the wonder of death.... he had been such a hard little man, such a pursuing little man, so unreasonable and difficult a master, and now--he was such a poor shrunken little man for all his obstinacy! she had never realized before that he was pitiful.... had she perhaps feared him too much, disliked him too much to deal fairly with him? could she have helped him? was there anything she could have done that she had not done? might she not at least have saved him his suspicion? behind his rages, perhaps he had been wretched. could anyone else have helped him? if perhaps someone had loved him more than she had ever pretended to do---- how strange that she should be so intimately in this room--and still so alien. so alien that she could feel nothing but detached wonder at his infinite loss.... _alien_,--that was what she had always been, a captured alien in this man's household,--a girl he had taken. had he ever suspected how alien? the true mourner, poor woman! was even now, in charge of cook's couriers and interpreters, coming by express from london, to see with her own eyes this last still phase of the son she had borne into the world and watched and sought to serve. she was his nearest; she indeed was the only near thing there had ever been in his life. once at least he must have loved her? and even she had not been very near. no one had ever been very near his calculating suspicious heart. had he ever said or thought any really sweet or tender thing--even about her? he had been generous to her in money matters, of course,--but out of a vast abundance.... how good it was to have a friend! how good it was to have even one single friend!... at the thought of his mother lady harman's mind began to drift slowly from this stiff culmination of life before her. presently she replaced the white cloth upon his face and turned slowly away. her imagination had taken up the question of how that poor old lady was to be met, how she was to be consoled, what was to be said to her.... she began to plan arrangements. the room ought to be filled with flowers; mrs. harman would expect flowers, large heavy white flowers in great abundance. that would have to be seen to soon. one might get them in rapallo. and afterwards,--they would have to take him to england, and have a fine great funeral, with every black circumstance his wealth and his position demanded. mrs. harman would need that, and so it must be done. cabinet ministers must follow him, members of parliament, all blenkerdom feeling self-consciously and, as far as possible, deeply, the chartersons by way of friends, unfamiliar blood relations, a vast retinue of employees.... how could one take him? would he have to be embalmed? embalming!--what a strange complement of death. she averted herself a little more from the quiet figure on the bed, and could not turn to it again. they might come here and do all sorts of things to it, mysterious, evil-seeming things with knives and drugs.... she must not think of that. she must learn exactly what mrs. harman thought and desired. her own apathy with regard to her husband had given way completely now to a desire to anticipate and meet mrs. harman's every conceivable wish. chapter the twelfth love and a serious lady § the news of sir isaac's death came quite unexpectedly to mr. brumley. he was at the climax club, and rather bored; he had had some tea and dry toast in the magazine room, and had been through the weeklies, and it was a particularly uninteresting week. then he came down into the hall, looked idly at the latest bulletins upon the board, and read that "sir isaac harman died suddenly this morning at sta. margherita, in ligure, whither he had gone for rest and change." he went on mechanically reading down the bulletin, leaving something of himself behind him that did not read on. then he returned to that remarkable item and re-read it, and picked up that lost element of his being again. he had awaited this event for so long, thought of it so often in such a great variety of relationships, dreamt of it, hoped for it, prayed for it, and tried not to think of it, that now it came to him in reality it seemed to have no substance or significance whatever. he had exhausted the fact before it happened. since first he had thought of it there had passed four long years, and in that time he had seen it from every aspect, exhausted every possibility. it had become a theoretical possibility, the basis of continually less confident, continually more unsubstantial day dreams. constantly he had tried not to think of it, tried to assure himself of sir isaac's invalid immortality. and here it was! the line above it concerned an overdue ship, the line below resumed a speech by mr. lloyd george. "he would challenge the honourable member to repeat his accusations----" mr. brumley stood quite still before the mauve-coloured print letters for some time, then went slowly across the hall into the breakfast-room, sat down in a chair by the fireplace, and fell into a kind of featureless thinking. sir isaac was dead, his wife was free, and the long waiting that had become a habit was at an end. he had anticipated a wild elation, and for a while he was only sensible of change, a profound change.... he began to feel glad that he had waited, that she had insisted upon patience, that there had been no disaster, no scandal between them. now everything was clear for them. he had served his apprenticeship. they would be able to marry, and have no quarrel with the world. he sat with his mind forming images of the prospect before him, images that were at first feeble and vague, and then, though still in a silly way, more concrete and definite. at first they were quite petty anticipations, of how he would have to tell people of his approaching marriage, of how he would break it to george edmund that a new mother impended. he mused for some time upon the details of that. should he take her down to george edmund's school, and let the boy fall in love with her--he would certainly fall in love with her--before anything definite was said, or should he first go down alone and break the news? each method had its own attractive possibilities of drama. then mr. brumley began to think of the letter he must write lady harman--a difficult letter. one does not rejoice at death. already mr. brumley was beginning to feel a generous pity for the man he had done his utmost not to detest for so long. poor sir isaac had lived like a blind thing in the sunlight, gathering and gathering, when the pride and pleasure of life is to administer and spend.... mr. brumley fell wondering just how she could be feeling now about her dead husband. she might be in a phase of quite real sorrow. probably the last illness had tired and strained her. so that his letter would have to be very fine and tender and soothing, free from all harshness, free from any gladness--yet it would be hard not to let a little of his vast relief peep out. always hitherto, except for one or two such passionate lapses as that which had precipitated the situation at santa margherita, his epistolary manner had been formal, his matter intellectual and philanthropic, for he had always known that no letter was absolutely safe from sir isaac's insatiable research. should he still be formal, still write to "dear lady harman," or suddenly break into a new warmth? half an hour later he was sitting in the writing-room with some few flakes of torn paper on the carpet between his feet and the partially filled wastepaper basket, still meditating upon this difficult issue of the address. the letter he achieved at last began, "my dear lady," and went on to, "i do not know how to begin this letter--perhaps you will find it almost as difficult to receive...." in the small hours he woke to one of his habitual revulsions. was that, he asked himself, the sort of letter a lover should write to the beloved on her release, on the sudden long prayed-for opening of a way to her, on the end of her shameful servitude and his humiliations? he began to recall the cold and stilted sentences of that difficult composition. the gentility of it! all his life he had been a prey to gentility, had cast himself free from it, only to relapse again in such fashion as this. would he never be human and passionate and sincere? of course he was glad, and she ought to be glad, that sir isaac, their enemy and their prison, was dead; it was for them to rejoice together. he turned out of bed at last, when he could lie still under these self-accusations no longer, and wrapped himself in his warm dressing-gown and began to write. he wrote in pencil. his fountain-pen was as usual on his night table, but pencil seemed the better medium, and he wrote a warm and glowing love-letter that was brought to an end at last by an almost passionate fit of sneezing. he could find no envelopes in his bedroom davenport, and so he left that honest scrawl under a paper-weight, and went back to bed greatly comforted. he re-read it in the morning with emotion, and some slight misgivings that grew after he had despatched it. he went to lunch at his club contemplating a third letter that should be sane and fine and sweet, and that should rectify the confusing effect of those two previous efforts. he wrote this letter later in the afternoon. the days seemed very long before the answer to his first letter came to him, and in that interval two more--aspects went to her. her reply was very brief, and written in the large, firm, still girlishly clear hand that distinguished her. "_i was so glad of your letter. my life is so strange here, a kind of hushed life. the nights are extraordinarily beautiful, the moon very large and the little leaves on the trees still and black. we are coming back to england and the funeral will be from our putney house._" that was all, but it gave mr. brumley an impression of her that was exceedingly vivid and close. he thought of her, shadowy and dusky in the moonlight until his soul swam with love for her; he had to get up and walk about; he whispered her name very softly to himself several times; he groaned gently, and at last he went to his little desk and wrote to her his sixth letter--quite a beautiful letter. he told her that he loved her, that he had always loved her since their first moment of meeting, and he tried to express just the wave of tenderness that inundated him at the thought of her away there in italy. once, he said, he had dreamt that he would be the first to take her to italy. perhaps some day they would yet be in italy together. § it was only by insensible degrees that doubt crept into mr. brumley's assurances. he did not observe at once that none of the brief letters she wrote him responded to his second, the impassioned outbreak in pencil. and it seemed only in keeping with the modest reserves of womanhood that she should be restrained--she always had been restrained. she asked him not to see her at once when she returned to england; she wanted, she said, "to see how things are," and that fell in very well with a certain delicacy in himself. the unburied body of sir isaac--it was now provisionally embalmed--was, through some inexplicable subtlety in his mind, a far greater barrier than the living man had ever been, and he wanted it out of the way. and everything settled. then, indeed, they might meet. meanwhile he had a curious little private conflict of his own. he was trying not to think, day and night he was trying not to think, that lady harman was now a very rich woman. yet some portions of his brain, and he had never suspected himself of such lawless regions, persisted in the most vulgar and outrageous suggestions, suggestions that made his soul blush; schemes, for example, of splendid foreign travel, of hotel staffs bowing, of a yacht in the mediterranean, of motor cars, of a palatial flat in london, of a box at the opera, of artists patronized, of--most horrible!--a baronetcy.... the more authentic parts of mr. brumley cowered from and sought to escape these squalid dreams of magnificences. it shocked and terrified him to find such things could come out in him. he was like some pest-stricken patient, amazedly contemplating his first symptom. his better part denied, repudiated. of course he would never touch, never even propose--or hint.... it was an aspect he had never once contemplated before sir isaac died. he could on his honour, and after searching his heart, say that. yet in pall mall one afternoon, suddenly, he caught himself with a thought in his head so gross, so smug, that he uttered a faint cry and quickened his steps.... benevolent stepfather! these distresses begot a hope. perhaps, after all, probably, there would be some settlement.... she might not be rich, not so very rich.... she might be tied up.... he perceived in that lay his hope of salvation. otherwise--oh, pitiful soul!--things were possible in him; he saw only too clearly what dreadful things were possible. if only she were disinherited, if only he might take her, stripped of all these possessions that even in such glancing anticipations begot----this horrid indigestion of the imagination! but then,----the hostels?... there he stumbled against an invincible riddle! there was something dreadful about the way in which these considerations blotted out the essential fact of separations abolished, barriers lowered, the way to an honourable love made plain and open.... the day of the funeral came at last, and mr. brumley tried not to think of it, paternally, at margate. he fled from sir isaac's ultimate withdrawal. blenker's obituary notice in the _old country gazette_ was a masterpiece of tactful eulogy, ostentatiously loyal, yet extremely not unmindful of the widowed proprietor, and of all the possible changes of ownership looming ahead. mr. brumley, reading it in the londonward train, was greatly reminded of the hostels. that was a riddle he didn't begin to solve. of course, it was imperative the hostels should continue--imperative. now they might run them together, openly, side by side. but then, with such temptations to hitherto inconceivable vulgarities. and again, insidiously, those visions returned of two figures, manifestly opulent, grouped about a big motor car or standing together under a large subservient archway.... there was a long letter from her at his flat, a long and amazing letter. it was so folded that his eye first caught the writing on the third page: "_never marry again. it is so clear that our work needs all my time and all my means._" his eyebrows rose, his expression became consternation; his hands trembled a little as he turned the letter over to read it through. it was a deliberate letter. it began-- "_dear mr. brumley, i could never have imagined how much there is to do after we are dead, and before we can be buried._" "yes," said mr. brumley; "but what does this _mean_?" "_there are so many surprises_----" "it isn't clear." "_in ourselves and the things about us._" "of course, he would have made some complicated settlement. i might have known." "_it is the strangest thing in the world to be a widow, much stranger than anyone could ever have supposed, to have no one to control one, no one to think of as coming before one, no one to answer to, to be free to plan one's life for oneself_----" * * * * * he stood with the letter in his hand after he had read it through, perplexed. "i can't stand this," he said. "i want to know." he went to his desk and wrote:-- "_my dear, i want you to marry me._" what more was to be said? he hesitated with this brief challenge in his hand, was minded to telegraph it and thought of james's novel, _in the cage_. telegraph operators are only human after all. he determined upon a special messenger and rang up his quarter valet--he shared service in his flat--to despatch it. the messenger boy got back from putney that evening about half-past eight. he brought a reply in pencil. "_my dear friend_," she wrote. "_you have been so good to me, so helpful. but i do not think that is possible. forgive me. i want so badly to think and here i cannot think. i have never been able to think here. i am going down to black strand, and in a day or so i will write and we will talk. be patient with me._" she signed her name "_ellen_"; always before she had been "e.h." "yes," cried mr. brumley, "but i want to know!" he fretted for an hour and went to the telephone. something was wrong with the telephone, it buzzed and went faint, and it would seem that at her end she was embarrassed. "i want to come to you now," he said. "impossible," was the clearest word in her reply. should he go in a state of virile resolution, force her hesitation as a man should? she might be involved there with mrs. harman, with all sorts of relatives and strange people.... in the end he did not go. § he sat at his lunch alone next day at one of the little tables men choose when they shun company. but to the right of him was the table of the politicians, adolphus blenker and pope of the east purblow experiment, and sir piper nicolls, and munk, the editor of the _daily rectification_, sage men all and deep in those mysterious manipulations and wire-pullings by which the liberal party organization was even then preparing for itself unusual distrust and dislike, and horatio blenker was tenoring away after his manner about a case of right and conscience, "blenking like winking" was how a silent member had put it once to brumley in a gust of hostile criticism. "practically if she marries again, she is a pauper," struck on brumley's ears. "of course," said mr. brumley, and stopped eating. "i don't know if you remember the particulars of the astor case," began munk.... never had mr. brumley come so frankly to eavesdropping. but he heard no more of lady harman. munk had to quote the rights and wrongs of various american wills, and then mr. pope seized his opportunity. "at east purblow," he went on, "in quite a number of instances we had to envisage this problem of the widow----" mr. brumley pushed back his plate and strolled towards the desk. it was exactly what he might have expected, what indeed had been at the back of his mind all along, and on the whole he was glad. naturally she hesitated; naturally she wanted time to think, and as naturally it was impossible for her to tell him what it was she was thinking about. they would marry. they must marry. love has claims supreme over all other claims and he felt no doubt that for her his comparative poverty of two thousand a year would mean infinitely more happiness than she had ever known or could know with sir isaac's wealth. she was reluctant, of course, to become dependent upon him until he made it clear to her what infinite pleasure it would be for him to supply her needs. should he write to her forthwith? he outlined a letter in his mind, a very fine and generous letter, good phrases came, and then he reflected that it would be difficult to explain to her just how he had learnt of her peculiar situation. it would be far more seemly to wait either for a public announcement or for some intimation from her. and then he began to realize that this meant the end of all their work at the hostels. in his first satisfaction at escaping that possible great motor-car and all the superfluities of sir isaac's accumulation, he had forgotten that side of the business.... when one came to think it over, the hostels did complicate the problem. it was ingenious of sir isaac.... it was infernally ingenious of sir isaac.... he could not remain in the club for fear that somebody might presently come talking to him and interrupt his train of thought. he went out into the streets. these hostels upset everything. what he had supposed to be a way of escape was really the mouth of a net. whichever way they turned sir isaac crippled them.... § mr. brumley grew so angry that presently even the strangers in the street annoyed him. he turned his face homeward. he hated dilemmas; he wanted always to deny them, to thrust them aside, to take impossible third courses. "for three years," shouted mr. brumley, free at last in his study to give way to his rage, "for three years i've been making her care for these things. and then--and then--they turn against me!" a violent, incredibly undignified wrath against the dead man seized him. he threw books about the room. he cried out vile insults and mingled words of an unfortunate commonness with others of extreme rarity. he wanted to go off to kensal green and hammer at the grave there and tell the departed knight exactly what he thought of him. then presently he became calmer, he lit a pipe, picked up the books from the floor, and meditated revenges upon sir isaac's memory. i deplore my task of recording these ungracious moments in mr. brumley's love history. i deplore the ease with which men pass from loving and serving women to an almost canine fight for them. it is the ugliest essential of romance. there is indeed much in the human heart that i deplore. but mr. brumley was exasperated by disappointment. he was sore, he was raw. driven by an intolerable desire to explore every possibility of the situation, full indeed of an unholy vindictiveness, he went off next morning with strange questions to maxwell hartington. he put the case as a general case. "lady harman?" said maxwell hartington. "no, not particularly lady harman. a general principle. what are people--what are women tied up in such a way to do?" precedents were quoted and possibilities weighed. mr. brumley was flushed, vague but persistent. "suppose," he said, "that they love each other passionately--and their work, whatever it may be, almost as passionately. is there no way----?" "he'll have a _dum casta_ clause right enough," said maxwell hartington. "_dum----? dum casta!_ but, oh! anyhow that's out of the question--absolutely," said mr. brumley. "of course," said maxwell hartington, leaning back in his chair and rubbing the ball of his thumb into one eye. "of course--nobody ever enforces these _dum casta_ clauses. there isn't anyone to enforce them. ever."--he paused and then went on, speaking apparently to the array of black tin boxes in the dingy fixtures before him. "who's going to watch you? that's what i always ask in these cases. unless the lady goes and does things right under the noses of these trustees they aren't going to bother. even sir isaac i suppose hasn't provided funds for a private detective. eh? you said something?" "nothing," said mr. brumley. "well, why should they start a perfectly rotten action like that," continued maxwell hartington, now addressing himself very earnestly to his client, "when they've only got to keep quiet and do their job and be comfortable. in these matters, brumley, as in most matters affecting the relations of men and women, people can do absolutely what they like nowadays, absolutely, unless there's someone about ready to make a row. then they can't do anything. it hardly matters if they don't do anything. a row's a row and damned disgraceful. if there isn't a row, nothing's disgraceful. of course all these laws and regulations and institutions and arrangements are just ways of putting people at the mercy of blackmailers and jealous and violent persons. one's only got to be a lawyer for a bit to realize that. still that's not _our_ business. that's psychology. if there aren't any jealous and violent persons about, well, then no ordinary decent person is going to worry what you do. no decent person ever does. so far as i can gather the only barbarian in this case is the testator--now in kensal green. with additional precautions i suppose in the way of an artistic but thoroughly massive monument presently to be added----" "he'd--turn in his grave." "let him. no trustees are obliged to take action on _that_. i don't suppose they'd know if he did. i've never known a trustee bother yet about post-mortem movements of any sort. if they did, we'd all be having prayers for the dead. fancy having to consider the subsequent reflections of the testator!" "well anyhow," said mr. brumley, after a little pause, "such a breach, such a proceeding is out of the question--absolutely out of the question. it's unthinkable." "then why did you come here to ask me about it?" demanded maxwell hartington, beginning to rub the other eye in an audible and unpleasant manner. § when at last mr. brumley was face to face with lady harman again, a vast mephitic disorderly creation of anticipations, intentions, resolves, suspicions, provisional hypotheses, urgencies, vindications, and wild and whirling stuff generally vanished out of his mind. there beside the raised seat in the midst of the little rock garden where they had talked together five years before, she stood waiting for him, this tall simple woman he had always adored since their first encounter, a little strange and shy now in her dead black uniform of widowhood, but with her honest eyes greeting him, her friendly hands held out to him. he would have kissed them but for the restraining presence of snagsby who had brought him to her; as it was it seemed to him that the phantom of a kiss passed like a breath between them. he held her hands for a moment and relinquished them. "it is so good to see you," he said, and they sat down side by side. "i am very glad to see you again." then for a little while they sat in silence. mr. brumley had imagined and rehearsed this meeting in many different moods. now, he found none of his premeditated phrases served him, and it was the lady who undertook the difficult opening. "i could not see you before," she began. "i did not want to see anyone." she sought to explain. "i was strange. even to myself. suddenly----" she came to the point. "to find oneself free.... mr. brumley,--_it was wonderful!_" he did not interrupt her and presently she went on again. "you see," she said, "i have become a human being----owning myself. i had never thought what this change would be to me.... it has been----. it has been--like being born, when one hadn't realized before that one wasn't born.... now--now i can act. i can do this and that. i used to feel as though i was on strings--with somebody able to pull.... there is no one now able to pull at me, no one able to thwart me...." her dark eyes looked among the trees and mr. brumley watched her profile. "it has been like falling out of a prison from which one never hoped to escape. i feel like a moth that has just come out of its case,--you know how they come out, wet and weak but--released. for a time i feel i can do nothing but sit in the sun." "it's queer," she repeated, "how one tries to feel differently from what one really feels, how one tries to feel as one supposes people expect one to feel. at first i hardly dared look at myself.... i thought i ought to be sorrowful and helpless.... i am not in the least sorrowful or helpless.... "but," said mr. brumley, "are you so free?" "yes." "altogether?" "as free now--as a man." "but----people are saying in london----. something about a will----." her lips closed. her brows and eyes became troubled. she seemed to gather herself together for an effort and spoke at length, without looking at him. "mr. brumley," she said, "before i knew anything of the will----. on the very evening when isaac died----. i knew----i would never marry again. never." mr. brumley did not stir. he remained regarding her with a mournful expression. "i was sure of it then," she said, "i knew nothing about the will. i want you to understand that--clearly." she said no more. the still pause lengthened. she forced herself to meet his eyes. "i thought," he said after a silent scrutiny, and left her to imagine what he had thought.... "but," he urged to her protracted silence, "you _care_?" she turned her face away. she looked at the hand lying idle upon her crape-covered knee. "you are my dearest friend," she said very softly. "you are almost my only friend. but----. i can never go into marriage any more...." "my dear," he said, "the marriage you have known----." "no," she said. "no sort of marriage." mr. brumley heaved a profound sigh. "before i had been a widow twenty-four hours, i began to realize that i was an escaped woman. it wasn't the particular marriage.... it was any marriage.... all we women are tied. most of us are willing to be tied perhaps, but only as people are willing to be tied to life-belts in a wreck--from fear from drowning. and now, i am just one of the free women, like the women who can earn large incomes, or the women who happen to own property. i've paid my penalties and my service is over.... i knew, of course, that you would ask me this. it isn't that i don't care for you, that i don't love your company and your help--and the love and the kindness...." "only," he said, "although it is the one thing i desire, although it is the one return you can make me----. but whatever i have done--i have done willingly...." "my dear!" cried mr. brumley, breaking out abruptly at a fresh point, "i want you to marry me. i want you to be mine, to be my dear close companion, the care of my life, the beauty in my life.... i can't frame sentences, my dear. you know, you know.... since first i saw you, talked to you in this very garden...." "i don't forget a thing," she answered. "it has been my life as well as yours. only----" the grip of her hand tightened on the back of their seat. she seemed to be examining her thumb intently. her voice sank to a whisper. "i won't marry you," she said. § mr. brumley leant back, then he bent forward in a desperate attitude with his hands and arms thrust between his knees, then suddenly he recovered, stood up and then knelt with one knee upon the seat. "what are you going to do with me then?" he asked. "i want you to go on being my friend." "i can't." "you can't?" "no,--i've _hoped_." and then with something almost querulous in his voice, he repeated, "my dear, i want you to marry me and i want now nothing else in the world." she was silent for a moment. "mr. brumley," she said, looking up at him, "have you no thought for our hostels?" mr. brumley as i have said hated dilemmas. he started to his feet, a man stung. he stood in front of her and quivered extended hands at her. "what do such things matter," he cried, "when a man is in love?" she shrank a little from him. "but," she asked, "haven't they always mattered?" "yes," he expostulated; "but these hostels, these hostels.... we've started them--isn't that good enough? we've set them going...." "do you know," she asked, "what would happen to the hostels if i were to marry?" "they would go on," he said. "they would go to a committee. named. it would include mrs. pembrose.... don't you see what would happen? he understood the case so well...." mr. brumley seemed suddenly shrunken. "he understood too well," he said. he looked down at her soft eyes, at her drooping gracious form, and it seemed to him that indeed she was made for love and that it was unendurable that she should be content to think of friendship and freedom as the ultimate purposes of her life.... § presently these two were walking in the pine-woods beyond the garden and mr. brumley was discoursing lamentably of love, this great glory that was denied them. the shade of perplexity deepened in her dark eyes as she listened. ever and again she seemed about to speak and then checked herself and let him talk on. he spoke of the closeness of love and the deep excitement of love and how it filled the soul with pride and the world with wonder, and of the universal right of men and women to love. he told of his dreams and his patience, and of the stormy hopes that would not be suppressed when he heard that sir isaac was dead. and as he pictured to himself the lost delights at which he hinted, as he called back those covert expectations, he forgot that she had declared herself resolved upon freedom at any cost, and his rage against sir isaac, who had possessed and wasted all that he would have cherished so tenderly, grew to nearly uncontrollable proportions. "here was your life," he said, "your beautiful life opening and full--full of such dear seeds of delight and wonder, calling for love, ready for love, and there came this _clutch_, this clutch that embodied all the narrow meanness of existence, and gripped and crumpled you and spoilt you.... for i tell you my dear you don't know; you don't begin to know...." he disregarded her shy eyes, giving way to his gathered wrath. "and he conquers! this little monster of meanness, he conquers to the end--his dead hand, his dead desires, out of the grave they hold you! always, always, it is clutch that conquers; the master of life! i was a fool to dream, a fool to hope. i forgot. i thought only of you and i--that perhaps you and i----" he did not heed her little sound of protest. he went on to a bitter denunciation of the rule of jealousy in the world, forgetting that the sufferer under that rule in this case was his own consuming jealousy. that was life. life was jealousy. it was all made up of fierce graspings, fierce suspicions, fierce resentments; men preyed upon one another even as the beasts they came from; reason made its crushed way through their conflict, crippled and wounded by their blows at one another. the best men, the wisest, the best of mankind, the stars of human wisdom, were but half ineffectual angels carried on the shoulders and guided by the steps of beasts. one might dream of a better world of men, of civilizations and wisdom latent in our passion-strained minds, of calms and courage and great heroical conquests that might come, but they lay tens of thousands of years away and we had to live, we had to die, no more than a herd of beasts tormented by gleams of knowledge we could never possess, of happiness for which we had no soul. he grew more and more eloquent as these thoughts sprang and grew in his mind. "of course i am absurd," he cried. "all men are absurd. man is the absurd animal. we have parted from primordial motives--lust and hate and hunger and fear, and from all the tragic greatness of uncontrollable fate and we, we've got nothing to replace them. we are comic--comic! ours is the stage of comedy in life's history, half lit and blinded,--and we fumble. as absurd as a kitten with its poor little head in a bag. there's your soul of man! mewing. we're all at it, the poets, the teachers. how can anyone hope to escape? why should i escape? what am i that i should expect to be anything but a thwarted lover, a man mocked by his own attempts at service? why should i expect to discover beauty and think that it won't be snatched away from me? all my life is comic--the story of this--this last absurdity could it make anything but a comic history? and yet within me my heart is weeping tears. the further one has gone, the deeper one wallows in the comic marsh. i am one of the newer kind of men, one of those men who cannot sit and hug their credit and their honour and their possessions and be content. i have seen the light of better things than that, and because of my vision, because of my vision and for no other reason i am the most ridiculous of men. always i have tried to go out from myself to the world and give. those early books of mine, those meretricious books in which i pretended all was so well with the world,--i did them because i wanted to give happiness and contentment and to be happy in the giving. and all the watchers and the grippers, the strong silent men and the calculating possessors of things, the masters of the world, they grinned at me. how i lied to please! but i tell you for all their grinning, in my very prostitution there was a better spirit than theirs in their successes. if i had to live over again----" he left that hypothesis uncompleted. "and now," he said, with a curious contrast between his voice and the exaltation of his sentiments, "now that i am to be your tormented, your emasculated lover to the very end of things, emasculated by laws i hate and customs i hate and vile foresights that i despise----" he paused, his thread lost for a moment. "because," he said, "i'm going to do it. i'm going to do what i can. i'm going to be as you wish me to be, to help you, to serve you.... if you can't come to meet me, i'll meet you. i can't help but love you, i can't do without you. never in my life have i subscribed willingly to the idea of renunciation. i've hated renunciation. but if there is no other course but renunciation, renunciation let it be. i'm bitter about this, bitter to the bottom of my soul, but at least i'll have you know i love you. anyhow...." his voice broke. there were tears in his eyes. and on the very crest of these magnificent capitulations his soul rebelled. he turned about so swiftly that for a sentence or so she did not realize the nature of his change. her mind remained glowing with her distressed acceptance of his magnificent nobility. "i can't," he said. he flung off his surrenders as a savage might fling off a garment. "when i think of his children," he said. "when i think of the world filled by his children, the children you have borne him--and i--forbidden almost to touch your hand!" and flying into a passion mr. brumley shouted "no!" "not even to touch your hand!" "i won't do it," he assured her. "i won't do it. if i cannot be your lover--i will go away. i will never see you again. i will do anything--anything, rather than suffer this degradation. i will go abroad. i will go to strange places. i will aviate. i will kill myself--or anything, but i won't endure this. i won't. you see, you ask too much, you demand more than flesh and blood can stand. i've done my best to bring myself to it and i can't. i won't have that--that----" he waved his trembling fingers in the air. he was absolutely unable to find an epithet pointed enough and bitter enough to stab into the memory of the departed knight. he thought of him as marble, enthroned at kensal green, with a false dignity, a false serenity, and intolerable triumph. he wanted something, some monosyllable to expound and strip all that, some lung-filling sky-splitting monosyllable that one could shout. his failure increased his exasperation. "i won't have him grinning, at me," he said at last. "and so, it's one thing or the other. there's no other choice. but i know your choice. i see your choice. it's good-bye--and why--why shouldn't i go now?" he waved his arms about. he was pitifully ridiculous. his face puckered as an ill-treated little boy's might do. this time it wasn't just the pathetic twinge that had broken his voice before; he found himself to his own amazement on the verge of loud, undignified, childish weeping. he was weeping passionately and noisily; he was over the edge of it, and it was too late to snatch himself back. the shame which could not constrain him, overcame him. a preposterous upward gesture of the hands expressed his despair. and abruptly this unhappy man of letters turned from her and fled, the most grief-routed of creatures, whooping and sobbing along a narrow pathway through the trees. § he left behind him an exceedingly distressed and astonished lady. she had stood with her eyes opening wider and wider at this culminating exhibition. "but mr. brumley!" she had cried at last. "mr. brumley!" he did not seem to hear her. and now he was running and stumbling along very fast through the trees, so that in a few minutes he would be out of sight. dismay came with the thought that he might presently go out of sight altogether. for a moment she seemed to hesitate. then with a swift decision and a firm large grasp of the hand, she gathered up her black skirts and set off after him along the narrow path. she ran. she ran lightly, with a soft rhythmic fluttering of white and black. the long crêpe bands she wore in sir isaac's honour streamed out behind her. "but mr. brumley," she panted unheard. "mister brumley!" he went from her fast, faster than she could follow, amidst the sun-dappled pine stems, and as he went he made noises between bellowing and soliloquy, heedless of any pursuit. all she could hear was a heart-wringing but inexpressive "wa, wa, wooh, wa, woo," that burst from him ever and again. through a more open space among the trees she fancied she was gaining upon him, and then as the pines came together again and were mingled with young spruces, she perceived that he drew away from her more and more. and he went round a curve and was hidden, and then visible again much further off, and then hidden----. she attempted one last cry to him, but her breath failed her, and she dropped her pace to a panting walk. surely he would not go thus into the high road! it was unendurable to think of him rushing out into the high road--blind with sorrow--it might be into the very bonnet of a passing automobile. she passed beyond the pines and scanned the path ahead as far as the stile. then she saw him, lying where he had flung himself, face downward among the bluebells. "oh!" she whispered to herself, and put one hand to her heart and drew nearer. she was flooded now with that passion of responsibility, with that wild irrational charity which pours out of the secret depths of a woman's stirred being. she came up to him so lightly as to be noiseless. he did not move, and for a moment she remained looking at him. then she said once more, and very gently-- "mr. brumley." he started, listened for a second, turned over, sat up and stared at her. his face was flushed and his hair extremely ruffled. and a slight moisture recalled his weeping. "mr. brumley," she repeated, and suddenly there were tears of honest vexation in her voice and eyes. "you _know_ i cannot do without you." he rose to his knees, and never, it seemed to him, had she looked so beautiful. she was a little out of breath, her dusky hair was disordered, and there was an unwonted expression in her eyes, a strange mingling of indignation and tenderness. for a moment they stared unaffectedly at each other, each making discoveries. "oh!" he sighed at last; "whatever you please, my dear. whatever you please. i'm going to do as you wish, if you wish it, and be your friend and forget all this"--he waved an arm--"loving." there were signs of a recrudescence of grief, and, inarticulate as ever, she sank to her knees close beside him. "let us sit quietly among these hyacinths," said mr. brumley. "and then afterwards we will go back to the house and talk ... talk about our hostels." he sat back and she remained kneeling. "of course," he said, "i'm yours--to do just as you will with. and we'll work----. i've been a bit of a stupid brute. we'll work. for all those people. it will be--oh! a big work, quite a big work. big enough for us to thank god for. only----." the sight of her panting lips had filled him with a wild desire, that set every nerve aquivering, and yet for all that had a kind of moderation, a reasonableness. it was a sisterly thing he had in mind. he felt that if this one desire could be satisfied, then honour would be satisfied, that he would cease grudging sir isaac--anything.... but for some moments he could not force himself to speak of this desire, so great was his fear of a refusal. "there's one thing," he said, and all his being seemed aquiver. he looked hard at the trampled bluebells about their feet. "never once," he went on, "never once in all these years--have we two even--once--kissed.... it is such a little thing.... so much." he stopped, breathless. he could say no more because of the beating of his heart. and he dared not look at her face.... there was a swift, soft rustling as she moved.... she crouched down upon him and, taking his shoulder in her hand, upset him neatly backwards, and, doing nothing by halves, had kissed the astonished mr. brumley full upon his mouth. the end the following pages contain advertisements of macmillan books by the same author, and new fiction. by the same author the war in the air _illustrated. mo. $ . net._ "it is not every man who can write a story of the improbable and make it appear probable, and yet that is what mr. wells has done in _the war in the air_."--_the outlook._ "a more entertaining and original story of the future has probably never been written."--_town and country._ " ... displays that remarkable ingenuity for which mr. wells is now famous."--_washington star._ "forcible in the extreme."--_baltimore sun._ "it is an exciting tale, a novel military history."--_n.y. post._ new worlds for old _cloth. mo. $ . net._ _macmillan standard library edition, cents net._ " ... is a readable, straightaway account of socialism it is singularly informing and all in an undidactic way."--_chicago evening post._ "the book impresses us less as a defense of socialism than as a work of art. in a literary sense, mr. wells has never done anything better."--_argonaut._ " ... a very good introduction to socialism. it will attract and interest those who are not of that faith, and correct those who are."--_the dial._ published by the macmillan company - fifth avenue new york new macmillan fiction the mutiny of the elsinore by jack london, author of "the sea wolf," "the call of the wild," etc. _with frontispiece in colors by anton fischer. cloth, mo. $ . net._ everyone who remembers _the sea wolf_ with pleasure will enjoy this vigorous narrative of a voyage from new york around cape horn in a large sailing vessel. _the mutiny of the elsinore_ is the same kind of tale as its famous predecessor, and by those who have read it, it is pronounced even more stirring. mr. london is here writing of scenes and types of people with which he is very familiar, the sea and ships and those who live in ships. in addition to the adventure element, of which there is an abundance of the usual london kind, a most satisfying kind it is, too, there is a thread of romance involving a wealthy, tired young man who takes the trip on the _elsinore_, and the captain's daughter. the play of incident, on the one hand the ship's amazing crew and on the other the lovers, gives a story in which the interest never lags and which demonstrates anew what a master of his art mr. london is. the three sisters by may sinclair, author of "the divine fire," "the return of the prodigal," etc. _cloth, mo. $ . net._ every reader of _the divine fire_, in fact every reader of any of miss sinclair's books, will at once accord her unlimited praise for her character work. _the three sisters_ reveals her at her best. it is a story of temperament, made evident not through tiresome analyses but by means of a series of dramatic incidents. the sisters of the title represent three distinct types of womankind. in their reaction under certain conditions miss sinclair is not only telling a story of tremendous interest but she is really showing a cross section of life. published by the macmillan company - fifth avenue new york new macmillan fiction the rise of jennie cushing by mary s. watts, author of "nathan burke," "van cleeve," etc. _cloth, mo. $ . net._ in _nathan burke_ mrs. watts told with great power the story of a man. in this, her new book, she does much the same thing for a woman. jennie cushing is an exceedingly interesting character, perhaps the most interesting of any that mrs. watts has yet given us. the novel is her life and little else, but it is a life filled with a variety of experiences and touching closely many different strata of humankind. throughout it all, from the days when as a thirteen-year-old, homeless, friendless waif, jennie is sent to a reformatory, to the days when her beauty is the inspiration of a successful painter, there is in the narrative an appeal to the emotions, to the sympathy, to the affections, that cannot be gainsaid. saturday's child by kathleen norris, author of "mother," "the treasure," etc. _with frontispiece in colors by f. graham cootes. decorated cloth, mo. $ . net._ "_friday's child is loving and giving, saturday's child must work for her living._" the title of mrs. norris's new novel at once indicates its theme. it is the story of a girl who has her own way to make in the world. the various experiences through which she passes, the various viewpoints which she holds until she comes finally to realize that service for others is the only thing that counts, are told with that same intimate knowledge of character, that healthy optimism and the belief in the ultimate goodness of mankind that have distinguished all of this author's writing. the book is intensely alive with human emotions. the reader is bound to sympathize with mrs. norris's people because they seem like _real_ people and because they are actuated by motives which one is able to understand. _saturday's child_ is mrs. norris's longest work. into it has gone the very best of her creative talent. it is a volume which the many admirers of _mother_ will gladly accept. published by the macmillan company - fifth avenue new york new macmillan fiction thracian sea a novel by john helston, author of "aphrodite," etc. _with frontispiece in colors. decorated cloth, mo. $ . net._ probably no author to-day has written more powerfully or frankly on the conventions of modern society than john helston, who, however, has hitherto confined himself to the medium of verse. in this novel, the theme of which occasionally touches upon the same problems--problems involving love, freedom of expression, the right to live one's life in one's own way--he is revealed to be no less a master of the prose form than of the poetical. while the book is one for mature minds, the skill with which delicate situations are handled and the reserve everywhere exhibited remove it from possible criticism even by the most exacting. the title, it should be explained, refers to a spirited race horse with the fortunes of which the lives of two of the leading characters are bound up. faces in the dawn a story by hermann hagedorn _with frontispiece in colors. cloth, mo. $ . net._ a great many people already know mr. hagedorn through his verse. _faces in the dawn_ will, however, be their introduction to him as a novelist. the same qualities that have served to raise his poetry above the common level help to distinguish this story of a german village. the theme of the book is the transformation that was wrought in the lives of an irritable, domineering german pastor and his wife through the influence of a young german girl and her american lover. sentiment, humor and a human feeling, all present in just the right measure, warm the heart and contribute to the enjoyment which the reader derives in following the experiences of the well drawn characters. published by the macmillan company - fifth avenue new york new macmillan fiction metzel changes his mind by rachel capen schauffler, author of "the goodly fellowship." _with frontispiece. decorated cloth, mo. $ . net._ the many readers who enjoyed _the goodly fellowship_ have been eagerly awaiting something more from the pen of the same author. this is at last announced. in _metzel changes his mind_, miss schauffler strengthens the impression made by her first book that she is a writer of marked originality. here again she has provided an unusual setting for her tale. the scene is largely laid in a pathological laboratory, surely a new background for a romance. it is a background, moreover, which is used most effectively by miss schauffler in the furtherance of her plot. her characters, too, are as interesting as their surroundings--a woman doctor, attractive as well as sensible, a gruff old german doctor, suspicious of womankind, and a young american. around these the action centers, though half a dozen others, vividly sketched, have a hand in the proceedings. of course _metzel changes his mind_ is a love story, but not of the ordinary type. landmarks by e.v. lucas, author of "over bemerton's," "london lavender," etc. _cloth, mo. $ . net._ mr. lucas's new story combines a number of the most significant episodes in the life of the central figure; in other words, those events of his career from early childhood to the close of the book which have been most instrumental in building up his character and experience. the episodes are of every kind, serious, humorous, tender, awakening, disillusioning, and they are narrated without any padding whatever, each one beginning as abruptly as in life; although in none of his previous work has the author been so minute in his social observation and narration. a descriptive title precedes each episode, as in the moving-picture; and it was in fact while watching a moving-picture that mr. lucas had the idea of adapting its swift selective methods to fiction. published by the macmillan company - fifth avenue new york proofreaders samantha among the brethren. by "josiah allen's wife" (marietta holley) part chapter xxvi. he wuz jest a-countin' out his money prior to puttin' it away in his tin box, and i laid the subject before him strong and eloquent, jest the wants and needs of the meetin' house, and jest how hard we female sisters wuz a-workin', and jest how much we needed some money to buy our ingregiencies with for the fair. he set still, a-countin' out his money, but i know he heard me. there wuz four fifty dollar bills, a ten, and a five, and i felt that at the very least calculation he would hand me out the ten or the five, and mebby both on 'em. but he laid 'em careful in the box, and then pulled out his old pocket-book out of his pocket, and handed me a ten cent piece. [illustration: "handed me a ten cent piece."] i wuz mad. and i hain't a-goin' to deny that we had some words. or at least i said some words to him, and gin him a middlin' clear idee of how i felt on the subject. why, the colt wuz more mine than his in the first place, and i didn't want a cent of money for myself, but only wanted it for the good of the methodist meetin' house, which he ort to be full as interested in as i wuz. yes, i gin him a pretty lucid idee of what my feelin's wuz on the subject--and spozed mebby i had convinced him. i wuz a-standin' with my back to him, a-ironin' a shirt for him, when i finished up my piece of mind. and thought more'n as likely as not he'd break down and be repentent, and hand me out a ten dollar bill. but no, he spoke out as pert and cheerful as anything and sez he: "samantha, i don't think it is necessary for christians to give such a awful sight. jest look at the widder's mit." i turned right round and looked at him, holdin' my flat-iron in my right hand, and sez i: "what do you mean, josiah allen? what are you talkin' about?" [illustration: "what do you mean, josiah allen? what are you talkin' about?"] "why the widder's mit that is mentioned in scripter, and is talked about so much by christians to this day. most probable it wuz a odd one, i dare persume to say she had lost the mate to it. it specilly mentions that there wuzn't but one on 'em. and jest see how much that is talked over, and praised up clear down the ages, to this day. it couldn't have been worth more'n five cents, if it wuz worth that." "how do you spell mit, josiah allen?" sez i. "why m-i-t-e, mit." "i should think," sez i, "that that spells mite." "oh well, when you are a-readin' the bible, all the best commentaters agree that you must use your own judgment. mite! what sense is there in that? widder's mite! there hain't any sense in it, not a mite." and josiah kinder snickered here, as if he had made a dretful cute remark, bringin' the "mite" in in that way. but i didn't snicker, no, there wuzn't a shadow, or trace of anything to be heard in my linement, but solemn and bitter earnest. and i set the flat-iron down on the stove, solemn, and took up another, solemn, and went to ironin' on his shirt collar agin with solemnety and deep earnest. "no," josiah allen continued, "there hain't no sense in that--but mit! there you have sense. all wimmen wear mits; they love 'em. she most probable had a good pair, and lost one on 'em, and then give the other to the church. i tell you it takes men to translate the bible, they have such a realizin' sense of the weaknesses of wimmen, and how necessary it is to translate it in such a way as to show up them weaknesses, and quell her down, and make her know her place, make her know that man is her superior in every way, and it is her duty as well as privilege to look up to him." and josiah allen crossed his left leg over his right one, as haughty and over bearin' a-crossin' as i ever see in my life, and looked up haughtily at the stove-pipe hole in the ceilin', and resoomed, "but, as i wuz sayin' about her mit, the widder's, you know. that is jest my idee of givin', equinomical, savin', jest as it should be." "yes," sez i, in a very dry axent, most as dry as my flat-iron, and that wuz fairly hissin' hot. "she most probable had some man to advise her, and to tell her what use the mit would be to support a big meetin' house." oh, how dry my axent wuz. it wuz the very dryest, and most irony one i keep by me--and i keep dretful ironikle ones to use in cases of necessity. "most probable," sez josiah, "most probable she did." he thought i wuz praisin' men up, and he acted tickled most to death. "yes, some man without any doubt, advised her, told her that some other widder would lose one of hern, and give hers to the meetin' house, jest the mate to hern. that is the way i look at it," sez he "and i mean to mention that view of mine on this subject the very next time they take up a subscription in the meetin' house and call on me." but i turned and faced him then with the hot flat-iron in my hand, and burnin' indignation in my eys, and sez i: "if you mention that, josiah allen, in the meetin' house, or to any livin' soul on earth, i'll part with you." and i would, if it wuz the last move i ever made. but i gin up from that minute the idea of gettin' anything out of josiah allen for the fair. but i had some money of my own that i had got by sellin' three pounds of geese feathers and a bushel of dried apples, every feather picked by me, and every quarter of apple pared and peeled and strung and dried by me. it all come to upwerds of seven dollars, and i took every cent of it the next day out of my under bureau draw and carried it to the meetin' house and gin it to the treasurer, and told 'em, at the request of the hull on 'em, jest how i got the money. and so the hull of the female sisters did, as they handed in their money, told jest how they come by it. sister moss had seated three pairs of children's trouses for young miss gowdy, her children are very hard on their trouses (slidin' down the banesters and such). and young miss gowdy is onexperienced yet in mendin', so the patches won't show. and sister moss had got forty-seven cents for the job, and brung it all, every cent of it, with the exception of three cents she kep out to buy peppermint drops with. she has the colic fearful, and peppermint sometimes quells it. young miss gowdy wuz kep at home by some new, important business (twins). but she sent thirty-two cents, every cent of money she could rake and scrape, and that she had scrimped out of the money her husband had gin her for a woosted dress. she had sot her heart on havin' a ruffle round the bottom (he didn't give her enough for a overshirt), but she concluded to make it plain, and sent the ruffle money. and young sister serena nott had picked geese for her sister, who married a farmer up in zoar. she had picked ten geese at two cents apiece, and serena that tender-hearted that it wuz like pickin' the feathers offen her own back. [illustration: "she had picked ten geese at two cents apiece."] and then she is very timid, and skairt easy, and she owned up that while the pickin' of the geese almost broke her heart, the pickin' of the ganders almost skairt her to death. they wuz very high headed and warlike, and though she put a stockin' over their heads, they would lift 'em right up, stockin' and all, and hiss, and act, and she said she picked 'em at what seemed to her to be at the resk of her life. but she loved the meetin' house, so she grin and bore it, as the sayin' is, and she brung the hull of her hard earned money, and handed it over to the treasurer, and everybody that is at all educated knows that twice ten is twenty. she brung twenty cents. sister grimshaw had, and she owned it right out and out, got four dollars and fifty-three cents by sellin' butter on the sly. she had took it out of the butter tub when brother grimshaw's back wuz turned, and sold it to the neighbors for money at odd times through the year, and besides gettin' her a dress cap (for which she wuz fairly sufferin'), she gin the hull to the meetin' house. there wuz quite dubersome looks all round the room when she handed in the money and went right out, for she had a errent to the store. and sister gowdy spoke up and said she didn't exactly like to use money got in that way. but sister lanfear sprunted up, and brung jacob right into the argument, and the isrealites who borrowed jewelry of the egyptians, and then she brung up other old bible characters, and held 'em up before us. but still we some on us felt dubersome. and then another sister spoke up and said the hull property belonged to sister grimshaw, every mite of it, for he wuzn't worth a cent when he married her--she wuz the widder bettenger, and had a fine property. and grimshaw hadn't begun to earn what he had spent sense (he drinks). so, sez she, it all belongs to sister grimshaw, by right. then the sisters all begin to look less dubersome. but i sez: "why don't she come out openly and take the money she wants for her own use, and for church work, and charity?" "because he is so hard with her," sez sister lanfear, "and tears round so, and cusses, and commits so much wickedness. he is willin' she should dress well--wants her to--and live well. but he don't want her to spend a cent on the meetin' house. he is a atheist, and he hain't willin' she should help on the cause of religeon. and if he knows of her givin' any to the cause, he makes the awfulest fuss, scolds, and swears, and threatens her, so's she has been made sick by it, time and agin." "wall," sez i, "what business is it to him what she does with her own money and her own property?" i said this out full and square. but i confess that i did feel a little dubersome in my own mind. i felt that she ort to have took it more openly. and sister grimshaw's sister amelia, who lives with her (onmarried and older than sister grimshaw, though it hain't spozed to be the case, for she has hopes yet, and her age is kep). she had been and contoggled three days and a half for miss elder minkley, and got fifty cents a day for contogglin'. she had fixed over the waists of two old dresses, and contoggled a old dress skirt so's it looked most as well as new. amelia is a good contoggler and a good christian. and i shouldn't be surprised any day to see her snatched away by some widower or bachelder of proper age. she would be willin', so it is spozed. wall, sister henn kinder relented at the last, and brung two pairs of fowls, all picked, and tied up by their legs. and we thought it wuz kinder funny and providential that one henn should bring four more of'em. but we wuz tickled, for we knew we could sell 'em to the grocer man at jonesville for upwerds of a dollar bill. [illustration: "submit tewksbury did bring that plate."] and submit tewksbury, what should that good little creeter bring, and we couldn't any of us hardly believe our eyes at first, and think she could part with it, but she did bring _that plate_. that pink edged, chiny plate, with gilt sprigs, that she had used as a memorial of samuel danker for so many years. sot it up on the supper table and wept in front of it. wall, she knew old china like that would bring a fancy price, and she hadn't a cent of money she could bring, and she wanted to do her full part towerds helpin' the meetin' house along--so she tore up her memorial, a-weepin' on it for hours, so we spozed, and offered it up, a burnt chiny offerin' to the lord. wall, i am safe to say, that nothin' that had took place that day had begun to affect us like that. to see that good little creeter lookin' pale and considerble wan, hand in that plate and never groan over it, nor nothin', not out loud she didn't, but we spozed she kep up a silent groanin' inside of her, for we all knew the feelin' she felt for the plate. it affected all on us fearfully. but the treasurer took it, and thanked her almost warmly, and submit merely sez, when she wuz thanked: "oh, you are entirely welcome to it, and i hope it will fetch a good price, so's to help the cause along." and then she tried to smile a little mite. but i declare that smile wuz more pitiful than tears would have been. everybody has seen smiles that seemed made up, more than half, of unshed tears, and withered hopes, and disappointed dreams, etc., etc. submit's smile wuz of that variety, one of the very curiusest of 'em, too. wall, she gin, i guess, about two of 'em, and then she went and sot down. chapter xxvii. and now i am goin' to relate the very singulerist thing that ever happened in jonesville, or the world--although it is eppisodin' to tell on it now, and also a-gettin' ahead of my story, and hitchin', as you may say, my cart in front of my horse. but it has got to be told and i don't know but i may as well tell it now as any time. mebby you won't believe it. i don't know as i should myself, if it wuz told to me, that is, if it come through two or three. but any way it is the livin' truth. that very night as submit tewksbury sat alone at her supper table, a-lookin' at that vacent spot on the table-cloth opposite to her, where the plate laid for samuel danher had set for over twenty years, she heard a knock at the door, and she got up hasty and wiped away her tears and opened the door. a man stood there in the cold a-lookin' into the warm cosy little room. he didn't say nothin', he acted strange. he gin submit a look that pierced clear to her heart (so they say). a look that had in it the crystallized love and longin' of twenty years of faithfulness and heart hunger and homesickness. it wuz a strange look. submit's heart begun to flutter, and her face grew red and then white, and she sez in a little fine tremblin' voice, "who be you?" and he sez, "i am samuel danker." and then they say she fainted dead away, and fell over the rockin' chair, he not bein' near enough to ketch her. and he brung her to on a burnt feather that fell out of the chair cushion when she fell. there wuz a small hole in it, so they say, and the feather oozed out. i don't tell this for truth, i only say that _they say_ thus and so. [illustration: "i am samuel danker."] but as to samuel's return, that i can swear to, and so can josiah. and that they wuz married that very night of his return, that too can be swore to. a old minister who lived next door to submit--superanuated, but life enough in him to marry 'em safe and sound, a-performin' the ceremony. it made a great stir in jonesville, almost enormus. but they wuz married safe enough, and happy as two gambolin' lambs, so they say. any way submit looks ten years younger than she did, and i don't know but more. i don't know but she looks eleven or twelve years younger, and samuel, why they say it is a perfect sight to see how happy he looks, and how he has renewed his age. the hull affair wuz very pleasin' to the jonesvillians. why there wuzn't more'n one or two villians but what wuz fairly delighted by it, and they wuz spozed to be envius. and i drew severel morals from it, and drew 'em quite a good ways too, over both religous and seckuler grounds. one of the seekuler ones wuz drawed from her not settin' the table for him that night, for the first time for twenty years, givin' away the plate, and settin' on (with tears) only a stun chiny one for herself. how true it is that if a female woman keeps dressed up slick, piles of extra good cookin' on hand, and her house oncommon clean, and she sets down in a rockin' chair, lookin' down the road for company. [illustration: "they don't come!"] _they don't come!_ but let her on a cold mornin' leave her dishes onwashed, and her floors onswept, and put on her husband's old coat over her meanest dress, and go out (at his urgent request) to help him pick up apples before the frost spiles 'em. she a-layin' out to cook up some vittles to put on to her empty shelves when she goes into the house, she not a-dreamin' of company at that time of day. _they come!_ another moral and a more religeus one. when folks set alone sheddin' tears on their empty hands, that seem to 'em to be emptied of all hope and happiness forever. like es not some divine compensation is a-standin' right on the door steps, ready to enter in and dwell with 'em. also that when submit tewksbury thought she had gin away for conscience' sake, her dearest treasure, she had a dearer one gin to her--samuel danker by name. [illustration: "they come."] also i drew other ones of various sizes, needless to recapitulate, for time is hastenin', and i have eppisoded too fur, and to resoom, and take up agin on my finger the thread of my discourse, that i dropped in the methodist meetin' house at jonesville, in front of the treasurer. wall, submit brought the plate. sister nash brought twenty-three cents all in pennys, tied up in the corner of a old handkercif. she is dretful poor, but she had picked up these here and there doin' little jobs for folks. and we hadn't hardly the heart to take 'em, nor the heart to refuse takin' 'em, she wuz so set on givin' 'em. and it wuz jest so with mahala crane, joe cranes'es widder. she, too, is poor, but a christian, if there ever wuz one. she had made five pair of overhawls for the clothin' store in loontown, for which she had received the princely revenue of fifty cents. she handed the money over to the treasurer, and we wuz all on us extremely worked upon and wrought up to see her do it, for she did it with such a cheerful air. and her poor old calico dress she had on wuz so thin and wore out, and her dingy alpaca shawl wuz thin to mendin', and all darned in spots. we all felt that mahala had ort to took the money to get her a new dress. [illustration: "sister arvilly lanfrar, canvassin' for a book."] but we dasted none on us to say so to her. i wouldn't have been the one to tell her that for a dollar bill, she seemed to be so happy a-givin' her part towerds the fair, and for the good of the meetin' house she loved. wall, sister meachim had earned two dollars above her wages--she is a millinner by perswasion, and works at a millinner's shop in jonesville. she had earned the two dollars by stayin' and workin' nights after the day's work wuz done. and sister arvilly lanfear had earned three dollars and twenty-eight cents by canvassin' for a book. the name of the book wuz: "the wild, wicked, and warlike deeds of man." and arvilly said she had took solid comfort a-sellin' it, though she had to wade through snow and slush half way up to her knees some of the time, a-trailin' round from house to house a-takin' orders fer it. she said she loved to sell a book that wuz full of truth from the front page to the back bindin'. as for me i wouldn't gin a cent for the book, and i remember we had some words when she come to our house with it. i told her plain that i wouldn't buy no book that belittled my companion, or tried to--sez i, "arvilly, men are _jest_ as good as wimmen and no better, not a mite better." and arvilly didn't like it, but i made it up to her in other ways. i gin her some lamb's wool yarn for a pair of stockin's most immegictly afterwerds, and a half bushel of but'nuts. she is dretful fond of but'nuts. [illustration: "old miss balch."] wall, sister shelmadine had sold ten pounds of maple sugar, and brought the worth on it. and sister henzy brung four dollars and a half, her husband had gin her for another purpose, but she took it for this, and thought there wuzn't no harm in it, as she laid out to go without the four dollars and a halt's worth. it was fine shoes he had gin the money for, and she calculated to make the old ones do. and sister henzy's mother, old miss balch, she is eighty-three years old, and has inflamatery rheumatiz in her hands, which makes 'em all swelled up and painful. but sister henzy said her mother had knit three pairs of fringed mittens (the hardest work for her hands she could have laid holt of, and which must have hurt her fearful). but miss henzy said a neighbor had offered her five dollars fer the three pairs, and so she felt it wuz her duty to knit 'em, to help the fair along. she is a very strong methodist, and loved to forwerd the interests of zion. she wuz goin' to give every cent of the money to the meetin' house, so sister henzy said, all but ten cents, that she _had_ to have to get pond's extract with, to bathe her hands. they wuz in a fearful state. we all felt bad for old miss balch, and i don't believe there wuz a woman there but what gin her some different receipt fer helpin' her hands, besides sympathy, lots and lots of it, and pity. wall, sister sypher'ses husband is clost, very clost with her. she don't have anythin' to give, only her labor, as well off as they be. and now he wuz so wrapped up in that buzz saw mill business that she wouldn't have dasted to approach him any way, that is, to ask him for a cent. wall, what should that good little creeter do but gin all the money she had earned and saved durin' the past year or two, and had laid by for emergincies or bunnets. she had got over two dollars and seventy-five cents, which she handed right over to the treasurer of the fair to get materials for fancy work. when they wuz got she proposed to knit three pairs of men's socks out of zephyr woosted, and she said she was goin' to try to pick enough strawberrys to buy a pair of the socks for deacon sypher. she said it would be a comfort for her to do it, for they would be so soft for the deacon's feet. wall, sister gowdy wuz the last one to gin in dress gin to her by her uncle out to the ohio. it wuz gin her to mourn for her mother-in-law in. and what should that good, willin' creeter do but bring that dress and gin it to the fair to sell. we hated to take it, we hated to like dogs, for we knew sister gowdy needed it. but she would make us take it; she said "if her mother gowdy wuz alive, she would say to her, "sarah ann, i'd ruther not be mourned for in bombazeen than to have the dear old meetin' house in jonesville go to destruction. sell the dress and mourn fer me in a black calico." _that_ sister gowdy said would be, she knew, what mother gowdy would say to her if she wuz alive. and we couldn't dispute sarah ann, for we all knew that old miss gowdy worked for the meetin' house as long as she could work for anything. she loved the methodist meetin' house better than she loved husband or children, though she wuz a good wife and mother. she died with cramps, and her last request wuz to have this hymn sung to her funeral: [illustration: "i love thy kingdom, lord."] "i love thy kingdom, lord, the house of thine abode, the church our dear redeemer bought with his most precious blood." the quire all loved mother gowdy, and sung it accordin' to her wishes, and broke down, i well remember, at the third verse-- "for her my tears shall fall, for her my prayers ascend, for her my toil and life be given, till life and toil shall end." the quire broke down, and the minister himself shed tears to think how she had carried out her belief all her life, and died with the thought of the church she loved on her heart and its name on her lips. wall, the dress would sell at the least calculation for eight dollars; the storekeeper had offered that, but sarah ann hoped it would bring ten to the fair. it wuz a cross to sarah ann, so we could see, for she had loved mother gowdy dretful well, and loved the uncle who had gin it to her, and she hadn't a nice black dress to her back. but she said she hadn't lived with mother gowdy twenty years for nothin', and see how she would always sacrifice anything and everything but principle for the good of the meetin' house. sister gowdy is a good-hearted woman, and we all on us honored her for this act of hern, though we felt it wuz almost too much for her to do it. wall, sister gowdy wuz the last one to gin in her testimony, and havin' got through relatin' our experiences we proceeded to business and paperin'. chapter xxviii. sister sylvester bobbet and i had been voted on es the ones best qualified to lead off in the arjeous and hazerdous enterprize. and though we deeply felt the honor they wuz a-heapin' on to us, yet es it hes been, time and agin, in other high places in the land, if it hadn't been fer duty that wuz a-grippin' holt of us, we would gladly have shirked out of it and gin the honor to some humble but worthy constituent. fer the lengths of paper wuz extremely long, the ceilin' fearfully high, and oh! how lofty and tottlin' the barells looked to us. and we both on us, sister sylvester bobbet and i, had giddy and dizzy spells right on the ground, let alone bein' perched up on barells, a-liftin' our arms up fur, fur beyond the strength of their sockets. [illustration: "we felt nerved up to do our best."] but duty wuz a-callin' us, and the other wimmen also, and it wuzn't for me, nor sister sylvester bobbet to wave her nor them off, or shirk out of hazerdous and dangerous jobs when the good of the methodist meetin' house wuz at the bay. no, with as lofty looks as i ever see in my life (i couldn't see my own, but i felt 'em), and with as resolute and martyrous feelin's as ever animated two wimmen's breasts, sister sylvester bobbet and i grasped holt of the length of paper, one on each end on it, sister arvilly lanfear and miss henzy a-holdin' it up in the middle like aaron and hur a-holdin' up moses'ses arms. we advanced and boldly mounted up onto our two barells, miss gowdy and sister sypher a-holdin' two chairs stiddy for us to mount up on. every eye in the meetin' house wuz on us. we felt nerved up to do our best, even if we perished in so doin', and i didn't know some of the time but we would fall at our two posts. the job wuz so much more wearin' and awful than we had foreboded, and we had foreboded about it day and night for weeks and weeks, every one on us. the extreme hite of the ceilin'; the slipperyness and fragility of the lengths of paper; the fearful hite and tottlin'ness of the barells; the dizzeness that swept over us at times, in spite of our marble efforts to be calm. the dretful achin' and strainin' of our armpits, that bid fair to loosen 'em from their four sockets. the tremenjous responsibility that laid onto us to get the paper on smooth and onwrinkled. it wuz, takin' it altogether, the most fearful and wearisome hour of my hull life. every female in the room held her breath in deathless anxiety (about thirty breaths). and every eye in the room wuz on us (about fifty-nine eyes--miss shelmadine hain't got but one workin' eye, the other is glass, though it hain't known, and must be kep). wall, it wuz a-goin' on smooth and onwrinkled--smiles broke out on every face, about thirty smiles--a half a minute more and it would be done, and done well. when at that tryin' and decisive moment when the fate of our meetin' house wuz, as you may say, at the stake, we heard the sound of hurryin' feet, and the door suddenly opened, and in walked josiah allen, deacon sypher, and deacon henzy followed by what seemed to me at the time to be the hull male part of the meetin' house. but we found out afterwerds that there wuz a few men in the meetin' house that thought wimmen ort to set; they argued that when wimmen had been standin' so long they out to set down; they wuz good dispositioned. but as i sez at the time, it looked to us as if every male methodist in the land wuz there and present. they wuz in great spirits, and their means wuz triumphant and satisfied. they had jest got the last news from the conference in new york village, and had come down in a body to disseminate it to us. they said the methodist conference had decided that the seven wimmen that had been stood up there in new york for the last week, couldn't set, that they wuz too weak and fraguile to set on the conference. and then the hull crowd of men, with smiles and haughty linements, beset josiah to read it out to us. so josiah allen, with his face nearly wreathed with a smile, a blissful smile, but as high headed a one as i ever see, read it all out to us. but he should have to hurry, he said, for he had got to carry the great and triumphant news all round, up as fur as zoar, if he had time. [illustration: "the methodist conference had decided that wimmen wuz too weak to set."] and so he read it out to us, and as we see that that breadth wuz spilte, we stopped our work for a minute and heard it. and after he had finished it, they all said it wuz a masterly dockument, the decision wuz a noble one, and it wuz jest what they had always said. they said they had always known that wimmen wuz too weak, her frame wuz too tender, she was onfitted by nater, in mind and in body to contend with such hardship. and they all agreed that it would be puttin' the men in a bad place, and takin' a good deal offen their dignity, if the fair sex had been allowed by them to take such hardships onto 'em. and they sez, some on 'em, "why! what are men in the methodist meetin' house for, if it hain't to guard the more weaker sect, and keep cares offen 'em?" and one or two on 'em mentioned the words, "cooin' doves" and "sweet tender flowerets," as is the way of men at such times. but they wuz in too big a hurry to spread themselves (as you may say) in this direction. they had to hurry off to tell the great news to other places in jonesville and up as fer as loontown and zoar. but sister arvilly lanfear, who happened to be a-standin' in the door as they went off, she said she heard 'em out as fer as the gate a-congratilatin' themselves and the methodist meetin' house and the nation on the decesion, for, sez they, "them angels hain't strong enough to set, and i've known it all the time." and sister sylvester gowdy sez to me, a-rubbin' herachin' armpits-- "if they are as beet out as we be they'd be glad to set down on anything--a conference or anything else." and i sez, a-wipin' the presperatin of hard labor from my forwerd, "for the land's sake! yes! i should think so." and then with giddy heads and strainin' armpits we tackled the meetin' house agin. [illustration: the end] publishers' appendix. in view of the frequent reference, in this work, to the discussion in and preceding the general conference of the methodist episcopal church of , in regard to the admission of women delegates, the publishers have deemed it desirable to append the six following addresses delivered on the floor of the conference during the progress of that discussion. the general conference of the methodist episcopal church is the highest legislative body of that denomination. it is composed of delegates, both ministerial and lay, the former being elected by the annual conferences, and the latter by lay electoral conferences. the sessions of the general conference are held quadrennially. prior to the session held in may, , in new york city, women delegates were elected, one each, by the four following lay electoral conferences--namely, the kansas conference, the minnesota conference, the pittsburgh conference, and the rock river conference. protest was made against the admission of these delegates on the ground that the admission of women delegates was not in accord with the constitutional provisions of the church, embodied in what are termed the restrictive rules. a special committee on the eligibility of women to membership in the general conference was appointed, consisting of seventeen members, to whom the protest was referred. on may d the committee reported adversely to the admission of the four women delegates, the report alleging "that under the constitution and laws of the church as they now are, women are not eligible as lay delegates in the general conference." from the discussion following this report, and lasting several days, the following six addresses, three in favor of and three against the admission of the women delegates, are selected and presented, with a few verbal corrections, as published in the official journal of the conference. address of rev. dr. theodore l. flood. i am in accord, in the main, with dr. potts and dr. brush in what they have said on this question, unless it may be where my friend who last spoke said that these ladies, these elected delegates to this body, ought to be admitted. my judgment and my conscience before the discipline of the methodist episcopal church and the restrictive rules is that these women elected by these electoral conferences are in this general conference. their names may not have been called when the roll was called, and yet it was distinctly stated by the bishop presiding that morning that they would be called, and the challenges presented with their names; and afterward demanded it, the names of these delegates who were not enrolled with the others were called, and the protests were read. their names have been called as members of this body, and they are simply here as "challenged" members. from that standpoint this question must be discussed, and any disposition of this case under the circumstances must be in this direction. these women delegates must be put out of this general conference if they are not granted the rights and privileges of members here. it is not a question of "admitting" them. before this report, before the bar of history, we stand, and will be called upon to vote and act, and millions of people will hold us responsible, and i dare say that our votes will be recorded as to whether they shall be "put out" or "stay in." why, sir, the government of the methodist episcopal church exists for the ministry and membership of the church. the ministry and the membership of the church do not exist for the government. the world was made for man, and not man for the world. that is the fundamental idea in the government of god, as he treats us as human beings. that is the fundamental idea in the government of the methodist episcopal church, as we are enlisted in the support of that government as ministers and members of the church. now under this system of ecclesiastical government a time came in our history when we submitted a grave question to the membership of the church. it was not a question simply of petition, asking the membership to send petitions up to the general conference. on the contrary, it was submitting a constitutional question not simply to the male members of the church, for that grand and noble man of the methodist church, dr. david sherman of the new england conference, moved himself to strike out the word "male" from the report of the committee on lay delegation. it came to a vote, and it was stricken out, two to one in the vote. when that was done, then the general conference of our church submitted to the membership of the church the question of lay delegation. but back of the question of lay delegation was as grave a question, and that was granting the right of suffrage to the women of the church. the general conference assumed the responsibility of giving to the women the right to vote. it may be questioned this way; it may be explained that way; but the facts abide that the general conference granted to the women of the church the right to vote on a great and important question in ecclesiastical law. now if you run a parallel along the line of our government--and it has often been said that there are parallels in the government of the united states corresponding to lines of legislation and legislative action in the government of the church--you will find that the right of suffrage in the country at the ballot-box has been a gradual growth. one of the most sacred rights that a man, an american citizen, enjoys is the right to cast a ballot for the man or men he would have legislate for him; and for no trivial reason can that right, when once granted to the american citizen, be taken away from him. go to the state of massachusetts, and trace the history of citizen suffrage, and you find it commenced in this way: first, a man could vote under the government there who was a member of the church. next, he could vote if he were a freeholder. a little later on he could vote if he paid a poll-tax. in the government, and under the legislation of our church, first the women were granted the right to vote on the principle of lay delegation, not on the "plan" of lay delegation, but on the "principle" of lay delegation. that was decided by bishop simpson in the new hampshire conference, and by bishop janes afterward in one of the new york conferences. on the principle of lay delegation, the women of the church were granted the right of suffrage; presently they appeared in the quarterly conference, to vote as class-leaders, stewards, and sunday-school superintendents; and it created a little excitement, a feverish state of feeling in the church, and the general conference simply passed a resolution or a rule interpreting that action on the part of women claiming this privilege in the quarterly conference as being a "right," and it was continued. presently, as the right of suffrage of women passed on and grew, they voted in the electoral conferences, and there was no outcry made against it. i have yet to hear of any bishop in the church, or any presiding elder, or any minister challenging the right of women to vote in electoral conferences or quarterly conferences; and yet for sixteen years they have been voting in these bodies; voting to send laymen here to legislate; to send laymen to the general conference to elect bishops and editors and book agents and secretaries. they come to where votes count in making up this body; they have been voting sixteen years, and only now, when the logical result of the right of suffrage that the general conference gave to women appears and confronts us by women coming here to vote as delegates, do we rise up and protest. i believe that it is at the wrong time that the protest comes. it should have come when the right to vote was granted to women in the church. it is sixteen years too late, and as was very wisely said by dr. potts, the objection comes not so much from the constitution of the church as from the "constitution of the men," who challenge these women. now, sir, another parallel. you take the united states government just after the war, when the colored people of the south, the freedmen of our land, unable to take care of themselves, their friends, that had fought the battles of the war, in congress determined that they should be protected, if no longer by bayonets and cannon, that they should be protected by placing the ballot in their hands, and the ballot was placed in the hands of the freedman of the south by the action of the national congress, congress submitting a constitutional amendment to the legislatures of the states; and when enough of them had voted in favor of it, and the president had signed the bill, it became an amendment to the constitution of the united states, granting to the people of the south, who had been disfranchised, the right of suffrage. now, what does the right of suffrage do? it carries with it the right to hold office. where women have the privileges of voting on the school question, they are granted the privilege of being school directors, holding the office of superintendents, and the restriction on them stops at that point under statute law. if you go a little further you will find that when the freedmen were enfranchised, and they sent men of their own color to the house of representatives, did that body say "stop!" "we protest, you cannot come in because of illegality"? no. they were admitted on the face of their credentials because they had first been granted the right of suffrage. when men of their color went to the united states senate and submitted their credentials, they were not protested against, but they were admitted as members of the united states senate on the face of their credentials. and why? because the right of suffrage granted to the freedmen of the south under a constitutional amendment of the nation, carried with it the right of the men whom we fought to free, and did free, in an awful war, to hold office in the nation. now, sir, you must interpret the law somewhat by the spirit of the times in which you live. that is a mistaken notion to say that you must always go to the men that made the law to get the interpretation of it. if that were true, would it not always be wise for legislators to give their affidavits and place on file their interpretation of the law they had confirmed, and placed on the statute books? there are legal gentlemen in this body who will tell you that it goes for very little when you come to interpret law. and yet you will find this to be true, that a law must be interpreted somewhat by the spirit of the time in which you live. why, twenty years ago, when the general conference handed the question of lay delegation down to the annual conferences, and the members of our church, there was not a woman practising law in the supreme court of the united states. go back through the history of jurisprudence of this country and in england, and you will find that it had never been known that a woman practised law in the supreme court of this country or england. but to-day women have been admitted to practise law in the supreme court of the united states. no amendment to the constitution of the united states had to be adopted in order to secure this privilege for them. but this is true, that the judges of the supreme court, by a more liberal interpretation of the constitution of the united states, said, "women may be officers of the supreme court, and may practise law there." the same kind of a spirit, in interpreting the discipline and the restrictive rules of the discipline of the church, will place these women delegates in this body where they have been sent. the same thing is true of the supreme court of pennsylvania and in the courts of philadelphia. there is no way out, as my judgment sees, and as my conscience tells me, since before the government of god man and woman are equally responsible. there is no way out of this dilemma for this general conference, but to say that these women delegates shall sit in this body, where they have been sent, and where their names have been called. why, take the missionary operations. the woman's missionary society is to-day raising more money and doing more missionary work than the parent missionary society did fifty years ago. and yet men legislate concerning the missionary operations of women, and give them no voice directly in this body. we bring up the temperance question here against license and in favor of prohibition, and we pass our resolutions after we have given our discussions, and yet the methodist church has the honor of having in the ranks of her membership--(time called.) address of rev. dr. james m. buckley. mr. president, while the last speaker was on the floor, a modification of a passage of scripture occurred to me, "the enemy cometh in like a flood, but i will lift up a standard against him." it is somewhat peculiar that he should begin by making a statement about one of the most honored names in american methodism, a statement that has been published in the papers, and that nine tenths of this body knew as well as he did. it must have been intended as a part of his argument, and i regard it as of as much force as anything he said after it. but in point of fact the question does not turn upon the person, but upon the principle. i have received an anonymous letter containing the following among other things, "beware how you attack the holy cause of woman. do you not know that obstacles to progress are rem-o-o-v-e-d out of the way?" the signature of that letter is ingenious. i cannot tell whether it was a man or a woman, for it reads as follows, "a lover of your soul and of woman." now, mr. president, the only candlestick that ought to be removed out of its place is the candlestick that contains a candle that does not burn the pure oil of truth. and i believe, sir, that with the best of intentions the three speakers who have appeared have given us three chapters in different styles of a work of fiction, and it is my duty to undertake to show where they have slipped. the apocrypha says, "an eloquent man is known far and near; but a man of understanding discerneth where he slippeth." i have no claim to eloquence; never pretended to have any; but i have a claim to some knowledge of methodist history, to some ability to state my sentiments, and to be without any fear of the results, either present or prospective. now, mr. president, you notice from my friends that if they cannot command the judgment of the conference they propose to say the women are in, and defy us to put them out. i am sorry that my friend did not take in the full significance of that. and they say that everybody who has a certificate in form is in until he is put out. why, they do not discriminate between ordinary contested cases and a case where the constitutional point is involved. if these women have a right here, they have had it from the beginning by the constitution. it is not a contested case as to whether john smith was voted for by the people who ought to vote for him, or in the right place. now, they talk of bringing up documents here. i wrote to the hon. george f. edmunds, the most distinguished member of the united states senate, and simply put this question, if a certificate of election in the senate shows anything that would prove the person unworthy of a seat, would he be seated pending an investigation or not? he did not know what it referred to, and i read it _verbatim_. i never mentioned the name of methodist, and i read _verbatim_ from his letter: "no officer of the senate has any right to decide any such question, and, therefore, every person admitted to a seat is admitted by, in fact, a vote of the senate. the ordinary course in the senate is, when the credentials appear to be perfectly regular, and there is no notorious and undisputed fact or circumstance against the qualifications and election of a senator, to admit him at once and settle the question of his right afterward. but there have been cases in which the senate declined to admit a claimant holding a regular certificate upon the ground that enough was known to the senate to justify its declining to receive him until an inquiry should be had. very truly yours, "george f. edmunds." now, mr. president, all this twaddle about the women being in is based upon the pretence that one woman is there now. the certificate shows that they were women, though as yet no action has been taken in regard to them at all. if they were in, they were in with a constitutional challenge. i champion the holy cause of women. i stand here to champion their cause against their being introduced into this body without their own sex having had the opportunity of expressing their opinion upon the subject. i stand here to protect them against being connected with movements without law or contrary to law, and those who wish to bring them in and those who say it is the constitution of the man and prejudice (my friend, dr. potts, said prejudice), they are persons, indeed, to stand up here as, _par excellence_ the champions of women! is it the constitution of the men? have you read the letter of mrs. caroline wright in the _christian advocate_, one of our most distinguished american methodist women? she does not wish to see them here. it is the constitution of the woman in that case, and i am opposed to their being admitted until the general sentiment of the women and the men of our church have an opportunity of being heard upon it. now, mr. president, note these facts.... this is not a fact, but my opinion. i solemnly believe that there was never an hour in the methodist episcopal church when it was in so great danger as it is to-day, not on account of the admission of these women, two of whom i believe to be as competent to sit in judgment on this question as any man on this floor. that is not the question, as i propose to show. i assert freely, here and now, if the women are in under the restrictive rules, no power ought to put them out. if they are not in under the restrictive rules, nothing has been done since, in my judgment, bearing upon it. i am astounded that these brethren fancy that this question has no bearing at all on the meaning of that rule. that is a wonderful thing. but we affirm that when the church voted to introduce lay delegation, it not only did not intend to introduce women, but it did intend to fill up the whole body with men. that is what we affirm. if we can prove it, it is a tower of help to us. if we cannot prove it, we cannot make out our case. but our contention is, that the church did not undertake to put women in, and it did undertake to fill up the capacities and relations of the body with men. now, look at it. no man goes to the dictionary to find the meaning of the word "layman." there is not a man that can find out the meaning of our restrictive rules from the dictionary. no living man can make out the meaning of a word in the restrictive rules from webster's dictionary. you must get it from the history of the church. who is the "general superintendent" by webster or worcester? the methodist episcopacy is the thing that is protected by the restrictive rules. the dictionary does not tell how the chartered fund shall be taken care of. now they talk about laymen. they do not seem, i think, to understand the history of the thing. some of them do not appear to understand the history of the english language. why was the word "layman" ever introduced? because there was a separate class of clergy men in the world, but there was not a class of clergywomen in the world. if there had been, there would have been a term for laywomen and for clergywomen. and the word was invented to distinguish the laymen from the _clergy_men. had there been clergywomen, there would have been laywomen. the "laity" means all the people, men, women, and children. a woman is one of the laity, and so is every child in the country or in the church one of the laity. but when you speak of man acting as a unit he is a layman, but you never say a laywoman. you say: a woman. abraham lincoln said, "all these things are done and suffered, that government of the people, for the people, and by the people should not perish from the earth." now, people, the dictionary says, are men, women, and children. did abraham lincoln mean that any women or children can take any part in the government of the nation? no, no, no! he meant this. when he stood up and delivered his inaugural speech, he said this, "the intent of the lawmaker is the law." i give them something from one of the greatest lawyers that ever lived to think of awhile--john selden: "the only honest meaning of any word is the intent of the man that wrote it." at the time that the plan of lay delegation was adopted, there was not a single conference of the church on this wide globe, not one that distinguished between the ministry and the laity that allowed women to take any part in its law-making body. some one will talk about the quakers. but they deny the existence of the church, the sacraments of the church, and make no distinction between the ministry and the laity. let them get up and show that there was ever one church in the world worthy of the name that allowed women to make its laws. there is not one to-day. let them name a church, let them name one that has allowed women in its law-making body; and yet such is the blinding power of gush that men will say that our fathers all understood it and proposed to put women in. the fact is, that they only proposed to allow them to put us in. as soon as the general conference adjourned the women made an appeal in a public statement. they were asked to vote for lay delegation, and were told that then they could set the church right. the opponents appealed to them to vote against it on the ground that it would not make any difference to them. james porter, daniel curry, dr. hodgson (professor little thinks he was the greatest of them all) wrote a series of articles in the _advocate_, and it never occurred to them that the women could come into the general conference. lay delegation was only admitted by votes. had there been a change of votes they would not have come in. every member of the new york east conference knows that dr. curry's influence was so powerful that he could almost get a majority against it. and they know if any one had set up an opposition to it on this ground, the whole conference would have voted against the movement, and that if it had not been for bishop ames and bishop janes, who went to the wyoming conference where the majority was opposed to lay delegation, and by their influence there converted my friend olin and others, he knows that if this matter of the women had been in or understood, the whole conference would have been against it. it would not have been possible. dr. potts says that it is prejudice. nothing of the kind. do you know there are , methodist ministers that are ciphers all the time except when they vote for delegates? are you going to presume that when the church has a multitude of members, that it is going to sit here and change, by an interpretation, a restrictive rule, or put in what was never in, and never understood to be in? the restrictive rule fills up the ministerial delegates. every time you put a woman in, you put a man out. this subject has never come up here before. the question is this, do those restrictive rules mean anything? if they do, you cannot put in anything that the fathers did not put in. and if you put in women as lawmakers; if you can read those rules and put them in there, you can change any one of the restrictive rules by a majority of one. and i want to say to you, that if you do it, you will prove to the methodist episcopal church that the sole protection we have against the caprice of a majority of the general conference is not worth the paper it is written on. all you have to do is to get a majority of the conference against the episcopacy, and then put any interpretation, and then you get a few women admitted, and this you call the progress of the age. mr. chairman, i believe in progress, and when the church progresses far enough, it can change this law in a constitutional way. but it has not yet gone far enough. these men believe that the church has never done it, or that it is best. dr. flood said that they must be brought in in the light of progress. i affirm that dr. flood's arguments all point in that direction--they must be interpreted in the light of progress. when you do that you have got a despotism. i want to go back to my constituents and say this: i exercise all the power that our charter gives me. but at the moment that anything is proposed, and we put in what the fathers did not have before their eyes, at that moment i stop and say, thus far, but no farther. a despotism is a despotism, whether it is a despotism without restraint, the czar with his wife, the czar without his wife. you will turn this house into a despotism, and you will find it difficult to defend methodism by its peculiar constitution before the american people. if you want women in, there is another way to bring them in. send the question around as you did for lay delegation. there was only a doubt in the general conference of , and yet they had a sense of candor. john m'clintock fought in favor of taking them in. but he said, "i think it best to send the question around." true progress is not gained in any other way. some prefer a shorter cut. let me say to you, "he that cometh in by the door," the same hath a right to come in; but he that cometh in another way, is not as respectable as in the other case. address of rev. dr. a.b. leonard. mr. chairman, unfortunately for me, i have received no anonymous letters. and so i have nothing either sensational or startling with which to introduce my speech. i shall not speak this morning under any fear of being removed as an obstruction, or of having my future prospects blasted. it is my privilege, therefore, to speak to you this morning upon this subject calmly and dispassionately, having no motive to either suppress or exaggerate the truth. the party who wrote dr. buckley, threatening to remove him as an obstruction, must be highly gratified to know that that obstruction has already been removed. brother hughey removed the obstruction, extinguished the candle, and destroyed the candlestick. we are to approach this question this morning, to discuss it purely upon its merits. the ground of constitutional law was traversed thoroughly yesterday morning in the opening speech by dr. potts, a speech that, though he did not hear it himself, was heard by this body, and will be heard through the length and breadth of the church everywhere. it remains for us who follow him simply to turn on a few side-lights here and there, or to give an opportunity of viewing this question from a new point of view. and, first, there is a line of argument that may be helpful to some that has already been presented in part touching the administration of our law and the interpretation of terms that is worthy, i think, of still further consideration. dr. buckley said in the new york _christian advocate_ of march th, : "the question of eligibility turns, first, upon whether the persons claiming seats are laymen; secondly, whether they have been members of the church for five years consecutively, and are at least twenty-five years of age; and, thirdly, upon whether they have been duly elected. if women are found to be eligible under the law, they would stand upon the same plane with men, in this particular, that they must be twenty-five years, etc." now, then, is a woman legally qualified to sit in the general conference as a lay delegate? is she a layman in the sense of that word in the discipline? if she be not in, she cannot be introduced contrary to law by a mere majority vote of the general conference. the doctor sometimes writes more clearly than he speaks, and it was so in the occasion of writing this article. over against this we have one of (as dr. hamilton would say) the "subtle insinuations" of the episcopal address, which declares that no definition of "layman" settles the question of eligibility as to any class of persons. for many are classed as laymen for the purposes of lay representation, and have to do with it officially as laymen, yet themselves are ineligible as delegates. well, in this case, we have the episcopal board over against the editor. both are right and both are wrong. the editor is right when he said of a woman, if she be a lay member her right is clear as that of any duly elected man. but he is wrong when he denies to her a right to a seat in this body as a layman. the episcopal address is wrong when it says that "no definition of the word 'layman' settles the question of eligibility." but it is right when it says, "many are classed as laymen for purposes of lay representation, and have to do with it officially as lay members who are not themselves eligible as delegates." in the practical work of the church, and in the administration of its laws, women have been regarded as laymen from the beginning until now. they pay quarterage. if they did not pay quarterage some of our salaries would be very short. they contribute to our benevolent collections, and if it were not for their contributions, we would not to-day be shouting over the "million dollars for missions." they pray and testify in our class-meetings and prayer-meetings, and but for their presence among us, many of those meetings would be as silent as the grave. they are amenable to law, and must be tried by the very same process by which men are tried. they are subject to the same penalty. they may be suspended; they may be expelled. in all these respects they have been regarded as laymen from the beginning. indeed, we have never recognized more than two orders in our church. we have laymen and ministers. up to but one of these orders was represented in this general conference. this general conference was strictly a clerical organization. but in we marked a new epoch in methodist history, and a new element came into this body, and has been in all our sessions since that date. the first step, as has been mentioned here before, was taken in , when the question of lay delegation was sent down to the members of the church over twenty-one years of age, and to the annual conferences. dr. queal, if i understood him, made what is, in my judgment, a fatal concession on this question. he distinctly stated, if i understood him correctly, and i have not had time to refer to the report of his speech (if i misinterpret him he will correct me), that when the motion to strike out the word "male" was made, it was done for the purpose of putting a "rider" on the motion and cause its defeat, and when that fact was made known to those in favor of lay delegation, they said they would accept it then with that interpretation, and the interpretation was that the amendment would let women into the general conference. now, that being true, all this talk about the idea of the "women coming in" being never entertained until very recently falls to the ground. it was present on that occasion. it was understood by those that opposed lay delegation, and that favored it, that if they passed this amendment and the laymen were allowed to come in, it would open the door to allow women to come in also. l. c. queal said: i think i am entitled now to correct this putting of the case. bishop foss: are you misrepresented? l. c. queal: i am misrepresented in this, that while i stated that dr. sherman put that on as a "rider," with a view to defeating the bill, that immediately after thinking so i thought it might be the occasion of securing the approval of the principle in the laity of the church. that is all i stated. all the rest of dr. leonard's statement is his own inference--a misconstruction of the fact. a.b. leonard: i understood dr. queal as i stated. i have not had time to refer to the speech he made. i leave his statement with you, and you have the privilege of consulting his speech as it is printed this morning, in reference to this matter. it came to my thought very distinctly that the idea of the possibility of women coming in was then lodged in the minds that were both in favor of and opposed to lay delegation. now, then, this vote that was taken, in accordance with the order of , laid the foundation stone for the introduction of women into this body. that sent the question of lay delegation down to be voted on by the laity of the church. if the women were not to be recognized as laity here, why allow them to vote on the question of the laity at all? and, having allowed them to vote on the question of the laity, settling the very foundation principle itself, with what consistency can we disallow them a place in this general conference, when by their votes they opened the way for the laymen coming into this general conference? do you not remember that we had a vote previously, and the men only voted, and that the lay delegation scheme was defeated, and the _methodist_, that was published in this city, being the organ of the lay delegationists, said that "votes ought to be weighed, not counted"? and then the question was sent back to be voted upon by both the men and the women? and let the laymen of this general conference remember that they are in this body to-day by reason of the votes of the women of the methodist episcopal church. in we went still further. we went into the work of construing pronouns. there had been women in the quarterly conferences previously to that date; but there was a mist in the air with regard to their legality there. the general conference by its action did not propose to admit women to the quarterly conferences. it simply proposed to clear away the mist and recognize their legal right to sit in the quarterly conference. being in the quarterly conference, and in the district conference, they have the right to vote on every question that comes before such bodies. they vote to license ministers, to recommend ministers to annual conferences, to recommend local preachers for deacons' and elders' orders. they vote on sending delegates to our lay electoral conferences, and they vote in elections for delegates to lay electoral conferences, and they vote in elections for delegates from lay electoral conferences to this general conference. and there are men on this floor to-day that would not be in this at all if they had not received the support of women in lay electoral conferences. now, brethren, let it be remembered that the votes of the women to send delegates to the lay electoral conferences were never challenged until they came here asking for seats. they were good enough to elect laymen to this body, but not good enough to take seats with laymen in this body. with what consistency can laymen accept seats by the votes of the women and then deprive women of their seats? i am surprised at some of the "subtle insinuations" of the episcopacy concerning constitutional law. allow me to say at this point that, having introduced into the quarterly conference these women, and having given them a right to vote there, and in the district conferences, and in the lay electoral conferences, in all honesty we must do one of two things, if we would be consistent, we must go back and take up that old foundation of lay delegation that we laid in , or we must go forward and allow these women to have their seats. in a word, we must either lay again the "foundation of repentance from dead work, or go forward to perfection." and i am not in favor of going back. if it is true that the body of the constitution is outside of the restrictive rules, and cannot be changed except in the way prescribed for altering the restrictive rules, then i say that this general conference has again and again been both lawless and revolutionary. every paragraph of the chapter, known as the constitution, beginning with § , and closing with § , was put into that constitution without any voice from an annual conference of this foot-stool. not one single one of them was ever submitted to an annual conference; § , ¶ , stood for many years in the constitution of the church, but was transferred bodily from that constitution by the general conference to the position it now occupies. you come and tell us to-day that we cannot change the constitution outside of the restrictive rules without going down to the annual conferences; it is too late in the day to say that. we have made too much history on that point. the present plan of lay delegation was not submitted to the annual conferences. bishop simpson definitely stated when he reported to the general conference the result of the vote ordered in that the question simply of the introduction of the laity into the general conference was presented to be voted upon by the laity and by the annual conferences, but the "plan" was not submitted to either to be voted upon, and the "plan" for lay delegation by which these lay brethren occupy their seats here this morning was made in every jot and tittle by the general conference without any reference to the annual conferences at all. i want to know, then, by what propriety we come here in this general conference to say that there can be no change of part i. of the constitution outside of the restrictive rules. the general conference cannot alter our articles of faith, it cannot abolish our episcopacy; it cannot deprive our members of a right to trial and appeal. these come under the restrictive rules, and cannot be touched by this body without the consent of the annual conferences; but all else has been from beginning, and is now in the hands of the general conference. let it be remembered that this general conference is a unique body. it is at once a legislative and a judicial body; in the former capacity it makes law; in the latter capacity it has the power to construe law. it is at once a congress, if you please, to enact law, and a supreme court to interpret law. now, then, in admitting women to our general conference, we are simply construing the constitution, and not changing the constitution. the supreme court of the united states gives decisions on the construing of the constitution, and who ever heard of a decision of the supreme court being sent down to be ratified by the state legislatures? the supreme court of the united states construes the constitution, without any reference to the state legislatures, and so we construe law without any reference to the annual conferences. if we touch the law inside of the restrictive rules, we must go down to the annual conferences. outside we are free to legislate as we may. what is the constitution for? the constitution is designed simply to limit the powers of the legislature. in my own state of ohio, for illustration, we have an article in our constitution that forbids our legislature to license the liquor traffic, but our legislators give a license under the guise of taxing, but they cannot give us a license law in form. the constitution prevents it. there are states that have constitutions that have no word to say about the liquor traffic at all, while they may either tax, license, or prohibit. this is a fact that is well settled, that the constitution is a limitation of legislative power, and where there is no such limitation there is no restriction. address of rev. dr. alfred wheeler. mr. president, it will be well for us, so far as we have progressed in this discussion, to see how near and how far we agree. it is admitted by the friends of the report, or by the committee, that this is a question of law, and to be decided exclusively upon principles of law. so far as those who are opposed to the report have spoken, they conceive, as i understand it, that the position taken by the committee is taken by those who are advocating its adoption. then we are agreed that it is not a matter of sentiment, it is not a matter of chivalry. there is no place for knighthood, or any of its laws, or any other of the principles that dominated the contests of the knights of old. if it were a matter of knighthood there is not a man on this floor that would deem it necessary to bring a lance into this body. all would be peace and quiet. there are none that would hail with more joy and gladness the women of the church to a seat in this body than those of us who now, under the circumstances, oppose their coming in. it is not either a matter of progressive legislation regarding the franchise of colored men, or of anybody else in the country. it is a question of law, methodist law, and methodist law alone. now, so far as the intention is concerned of those who made the law, i do not see how those who have kept themselves conversant with the history of lay delegation can for a moment claim that it was even the most remote intention of those who introduced lay delegation into the general conference to bring in the women, and for us to transfer the field now toward women, in view of their magnificent work in the last ten or fifteen years, back to twenty years, is to commit an anachronism that would be fatal to all just interpretation of law. i myself was in the very first meeting that was ever called to initiate the movement that at last brought in lay delegation. i voted for it; i wrote for it; i spoke for it in the general conference and in the annual conferences. i was a member of the first lay committee, or committee on lay delegation, that was appointed here by the general conference in . and during all these various processes of discussion, so far as i know, the thought was never suggested that under it women would come in to represent the laity, nor was it ever suggested that it was desirable that they should; so that the intention of the law-maker could never have embraced this design--the design of bringing women into the general conference. i leave that. now, i claim that the general conference has no legal authority to admit them here. we are not an omnipotent body. i know that the supreme court of the united states, in that contest between the northern church, or the methodist episcopal church, and the church south, decided that the general conference was the methodist episcopal church. i used that argument myself upon the conference floor in , that the general conference could, without any other process, by mere legislation, introduce the laity into this body. i claimed there and then that, according to that decision, the methodist episcopal church was in the general conference. the general conference refused to accept that endorsement of that court, or that proposition concerning the prerogatives of this body. and through all the processes that have been ordered concerning the introduction of lay delegation that interpretation of the constitution of the church has been repudiated. the church herself rejected the interpretation that the supreme court placed upon her constitution, and as a loyal son of the church i accepted her interpretation of her own constitution, so that now i claim that the general conference has no authority whatever to change the _personnel_ of the general conference without the vote of the annual conferences. before it can be done constitutionally, you must obtain the consent of the brethren of the annual conferences, and i am in favor of that, and of receiving an affirmative vote on their part. but until this is done i do not see how they can come in only as we trample the organic law of our church under our feet. and to do this, there is nothing but peril ahead of us. a simple body may disregard law with comparative impunity, but an organic body that is complicated, complex in its nature, will find its own security in adhering earnestly, strictly, and everlastingly, to the law that that body passes for the government of its own conduct. let us see, now, with regard to this restrictive rule. as i have said, it has been admitted all along that the action of the annual conferences must be secured. here comes in the decision of the general conference of . i do not need to recite it. but let us bear in mind two facts. one is, that this general conference is a legislative body, and that it is also a judicial body. as a judicial body, it interprets law; as a legislative body, it makes law. the general conference of interpreted law, and the general conference may reverse itself with just as much propriety as a court can reverse itself. and if it be the judgment of this general conference that that interpretation was incorrect, it is perfectly competent for this conference to say so, and have its action correspond with its own decision. there is another point. the case that was before the general conference of was a specific case. it was the case of the relation that local preachers sustain to the church, a particular case. this is the principle of all decisions in law, that when a particular case is decided in general terms, the scope and comprehension of the decision must be limited to the particular case itself. and if a court in its decision embraces more than was involved in the particular case, it has no force whatever. and as this was a particular case submitted to the general conference, and the decision was in general terms, it comprehends simply the case that was before it, and cannot be advanced to comprehend more. and the reason of this is very obvious; for if it was not the case, then cases might be brought before the court for its decision that had never occurred. there is another point i wish to notice. the general conference of did not see the effect that legislation would have by admitting women to certain offices. certain affirmative legislation is also negative legislation. when saloons are permitted to sell in quantities of one gallon, it forbids to sell in quantities of less than one gallon; when it says you can sell in quantities of one barrel, it forbids them to sell in quantities of two. when the general conference of decided that women should be eligible in the quarterly conferences as superintendents of sunday-schools, class-leaders, and as stewards, by that very affirmative conclusion, the subject was passed upon about their taking any other position. that, i think, must be regarded as sound, and a just interpretation of the law. but suppose it is not; the general conference of certainly did not understand the matter as the general conference of did. for if it had, there would have been no necessity for legislation at all, there would have been no need for putting in the law as it now stands, that the pronoun "he," wherever employed, shall not be considered as prohibiting women from holding the offices of sunday-school superintendent, class leader, and steward. now, for this reason, and for the further reason that it is a matter of immense importance that we guard against despotism, i oppose changing the _personnel_ of the general conference without my annual conference has a right to vote upon it, and it is voted upon. despotism is a suitable term. a general conference may become a despot, and just as soon as it goes outside of its legitimate province, then it usurps, and so far as it usurps, it becomes despotic, and is a despot; and you and i, so far as our annual conferences are concerned, do well to regard with a deep jealousy an infringement upon our organic rights. the only safety of the church is the equipoise that is constituted by the relation the annual conferences sustain to the general conference, and far safer is it for us to bring these women of the church, elect, honorable women, into the general conference of the church by the same way that their husbands and brothers are here. there is another thought that i wish to suggest. what are the possibilities with regard to lay delegation, supposing the design of those who wish to bring women in without further action is successful? you make lay delegation a farce in this body. the presiding elders and pastors of the church may act in co-operation, and they can elect their own wives as delegates to this general conference, and thus lay delegation comes to be a farce. some of you may laugh at this suggestion, but it is an _in posse_, and it may easily be made an _in esse_. it is important to us that the laity should hold the place they have by the regulations we have, and they should be changed only to make them more perfect. no body is safe without adherence to law. we may set lightly by law; we may regard it as a thing to be laid aside at the command of excitement or passion, but the nation that does that is a doomed nation, and the church that does that has its history already written. the only safe course for us to pursue is to pursue the wise, careful, judicious, and conservative--i mean every word--and conservative course we have heretofore pursued through all our history. when we boast of what methodism has done, or what she is going to do, let us remember it is because of her firm adherence to law. it is with her as it is with the german nation and the anglo-saxon race--everywhere our glory is in our adherence to wise laws, and if we pass unwise laws, in repealing them in the same wise. address of general clinton b. fisk. mr. president and brethren, to an onlooker of this remarkable scene, this great debate now in the third day of its progress must be suggestive of some of the marvellous plays, woven into song, which have made the hearts of the thronging multitudes who have crowded this place of meeting in the past throb alternately with emotions of hope and fear as to the outcome of the parties involved in plot and counterplot. the visitors to this general conference, seated in their boxes and in the family circle, will say surely these honored men of god who have been called as superintendents of the affairs of our great conquering church, these chosen ministers of reconciliation and peace, these _male_ laymen called by their brethren to their high places in this general conference, whose names at home are the synonym of chivalrous goodness--surely all these of rank and talent and authority, whose able and eloquent words have been ringing through the arches and dome of this temple of music on the wrong side of the question, are but simply acting the parts assigned them. in the final scene they will join hands around the eligible women elect, who, in obedience to the call of the laity in their several conferences, are in their seats with us, and say, "whom god hath joined, let not _male_ put asunder." my brothers, let us briefly restate the case. five noble women of the laymen of the methodist episcopal church have been chosen as delegates to this general conference under the constitution and by the forms prescribed by the laws of the church. as they enter, or attempt to enter, the portals of this great assemblage they hear a voice from the platform, in words not to be misunderstood, "thou shalt not," and voices from all parts of the house take up the prohibitory words, and supplement the voices of the bishops, "thou shalt not." and one would think, from the vehement oratory of the resisting delegates of this general conference, that the foundations of the church were in imminent peril by the presence of these "elect ladies" among us. let us turn back a moment, and review the history of the rise, progress, and triumph of the cause of lay representation. i claim to know a little something about it, as i was on the skirmish line in the conflict, and in all its battles fought until the day of victory. in , to the male members of the church, was submitted the question of lay representation. it failed of securing a majority vote. had it carried, there would have been plausibility in the argument this day made against the eligibility of women to seats in this general conference. the evolution of the succeeding eight years lifted woman to a higher appreciation of her position in the methodist church, and her rights and privileges became the theme of discussion throughout the bounds of the church. among the champions for woman was that magnificent man, that grand old man, dr. daniel d. whedon, who, in discussing this question, said: "if it is _rights_ they talk of, every competent member of the church of christ, of either sex and of every shade of complexion, has equal original rights. those rights, they may be assured, when that question comes fairly up, will be firmly asserted and maintained." and in answer to the expected fling, "but you are a woman's rights man," he replied: "we are a human rights man. and our mother was a human being. and our wives, sisters, and daughters are all human beings. and that these human beings are liable as any other human beings to be oppressed by the stronger sex, and as truly need in self-defence a check upon oppression, the history of all past governments and legislation does most terribly demonstrate. what is best in the state is not indeed with us the question; but never, with our consent, shall the church of the living god disfranchise her who gave to the world its divine redeemer. when that disfranchisement comes to the debate, may the god of eternal righteousness give us strength equal to our will to cleave it to the ground!" the general conference of , after full discussion, submitted the question of lay representation to a vote of all the members of the church, male and female, thus recognizing the women as laymen, as belonging to the great body of the laity, and as vitally interested in the government of the church, and having rights under that government. during the debate on the report of the committee on the plan for submitting the question as in , to the male members, dr. sherman moved to strike out the word "male." while that motion was under consideration, dr. slicer, of baltimore, said, "if it were the last moment i should spend, and the last articulate sound i should utter, i should speak for the wives, mothers, and daughters of the methodist episcopal church.... i am for women's rights, sir, _wherever church privileges are concerned_." dr. sherman's motion was carried by a vote of to , and the question of lay representation was submitted to all the members of the church over twenty-one years of age. the general conference did not ask women to vote on a proposition that only male members of the church should be represented in the general conference, and it did not then enter the thought of any clear-headed man that women were to be deprived of their rights to a seat in the general conference. there were a few noisy, disorderly brethren who cried out from their seats, "no, no," but they were silenced by the presiding bishop and the indignation of the right thinking, orderly delegates. what does the rev. dr. david sherman, the mover of the motion to strike out the word "male," now say of the prevailing sentiment on that day of great debate? i have his freshly written words in response to an inquiry made a few weeks ago. on march st he made this statement: "some of us believed that women were laymen, that the term 'men' in the discipline, as elsewhere, often designated not sex, but genus; and that those who constituted a main part of many of our churches should have a voice in determining under what government they would live. we believed in the rightful equality of the sexes before the law, and hence that women should have the same right as men to vote and hold office. the conference of was a reform body, and it seemed possible to take these views on a stage; hence the amendment was offered, and carried with a rush and heartiness even beyond my expectations....the latter interpretation of the conference making all not members of conferences laymen, fully carried out these views, as they were understood at the moment by the majority party. some, to be sure, cried out against it, but their voices were not heard amid the roar of victory. who can go back of the interpretation of the supreme court of the church?" it is amazing that brethren will stand here to-day and utterly ignore the decision of our supreme court in defining who are laymen. could the utterances of any court be more definite and clear than those of the general conference when it said, "the general conference holds that in all matters connected with the election of lay delegates the word 'laymen' must be understood to include all the members of the church who are not members of the annual conferences"? this decision must include women among the laity of the church. i know it is said that this means the classification of local preachers. we respond that that only appears from the debate. the general conference was settling a great principle in which the personal rights and privileges of two thirds of the membership of our church were involved. surely, our supreme court would have made a strange decision had they, in defining laymen, excepted women. let us see how it would look in cold type had they said, "the general conference holds that in all matters connected with the election of lay delegates the word laymen must be understood to include all the members of the annual conferences, _and who are not women_." we would have become the laughing-stock of christendom had we made such an utterance. the church universal in all ages has always divided its membership into two great classes, and two only, the clergy and the laymen, using the terms laity and laymen synonymously and interchangeably. see bingham's "antiquities," blackstone's "commentaries," schaffs "history," and kindred authorities. it is sheer trifling for sensible males to talk about a distinction between lay_men_ and lay_women_. women were made class-leaders, stewards, and sunday-school superintendents, and employed in these several capacities long before the specific interpretations of the pronouns were made. they were so appointed and employed in saint paul's church in this city during the pastorate of that sainted man, john m'clintock, in , and could the voice of that great leader and lover of the church reach us to day from the skies it would be in protest against the views presented in this debate by the supporters of the committee's report and its amendment. it is a well-established and incontrovertible principle of law that any elector is eligible to the office for which said elector votes, unless there be a _specific enactment discriminating against the elector_. our law says that a lay delegate shall be twenty-five years of age, and five years a member of the methodist episcopal church. it does not say that a delegate must not be a woman, or must be a man. women are eligible to membership in this general conference. women have been chosen delegates as provided by law. they are here in their seats ready for any duty on committees, or otherwise, as they may be invited. we cannot turn them out and slam the door on their exit. it would be revolutionary so to do by a simple vote of this body. it would be a violation of the guarantees of personal liberty, a holding of the just rights of the laity of the church. we cannot exclude them from membership in the general conference, except by directing the annual conferences to vote on the question of their exclusion. are we ready to send that question in that form down to the annual conferences for their action? i trust that a large majority of this general conference will say with emphasis we are not ready for any such action. the women of our methodism have a place in the heart of the church from which they cannot be dislodged. they are our chief working members. they are at the very front of every great movement of the church at home or abroad. in the spirit of rejoicing consecration our matrons and maids uphold the banner of our lord in every conflict with the enemy of virtue and righteousness. looking down upon us from these galleries, tier upon tier, are the magnificent leaders of the woman's foreign and the woman's home missionary societies. our women are at the front of the battle now waging against the liquor traffic in our fair land, and they will not cease their warfare until this nation shall be redeemed from the curse of the saloon. god bless all these women of our great conquering church of the redeemer. twenty years ago bishop hurst accompanied me on a leisurely tour of continental europe. in the old city of nuremberg we wandered among the old churches and market-places, where may be seen the marvellous productions of that evangel of art, albert durer. in an old schloss in that city may be found the diary of albert durer, almost four centuries old. in it you may read as follows: "master gebhart, of antwerp, has a daughter seventeen years old, and she has illuminated the head of a saviour for which i gave a florin. it is a marvel that a woman could do so much." three and a half centuries later rosa bonheur hangs her master-piece in the chief places of the galleries of the world, and harriet hosmer's studio contributes many of the best marbles that adorn the parlors of europe and america, and no one wonders that a woman can do so much. from that day when martin luther, the protesting monk, and catherine von bora, the ex-nun, stood together at the altar and the twain became one, woman has by her own heroism, by her faith in her sex and in god, who made her, fought a good fight against the organized selfishness of those who would withhold from her any right or privilege to which she is entitled, and has lifted herself from slavery and barbarism to a place by the side of man, where god placed her in paradise, his equal in tact and talent, moving upon the world with her unseen influences, and making our christian civilization what it is to-day. let not our methodism in this her chiefest council say or do ought that shall lead the world to conclude that we are retreating from our advanced position of justice to the laity of the church. let us rather strengthen our guarantee of loving protection of every right and privilege of every member of our church, without distinction of race, color, or sex. amen and amen. address of judge z. p. taylor. mr. president and gentlemen, when elected a delegate i had no opinion on the constitutional question here involved. but i had then, and i have now, a sympathy for the women, and a profound admiration of their work. no man on this floor stands more ready and more willing to assist them by all lawful and constitutional means to every right and and to every privilege enjoyed by men. but, sir, notwithstanding this admiration and sympathy, i cannot lose sight of the vital question before the general conference now and here. that question is this: under the constitution and restrictive rules of the methodist episcopal church are women eligible as lay delegates in this general conference? if they are, then this substitute offered by dr. moore does them an injustice, because it puts a cloud upon their right and title to seats upon this floor. if they are not, then this body would be in part an unconstitutional body if they are admitted. it follows that whoever supports this substitute either wrongs the elect ladies or violates the constitution. if they are constitutionally a part of this body, seat them; if they are not, vote down this substitute, and adopt the report of the committee, with the amendment of dr. neely, and then let them in four years hence in the constitutional way. after the most careful study of the vital question in the light of history, ecclesiastical, common, and constitutional law, it is my solemn and deliberate judgment that women are not eligible as lay delegates in this body. facts, records, and testimonials conclusively prove that in , when the general conference submitted the matter of lay delegation to the entire membership of the church, the idea of women being eligible was not the intent. the intent was to bring into the general conference a large number of men of business experience, who could render service by their knowledge and experience touching the temporal affairs of the church. when the principle of admitting lay delegates was voted upon by the laity, this idea, and no other, was intended. when the annual conferences voted for the principle and the plan, this and this only was their intent. when the general conference, by the constitutional majority, acted in favor of admitting the lay delegates provisionally elected, this idea, and none other, actuated them. it was not the intent then to admit women, but to admit men only, and the intent must govern in construing a constitution. dr. fisk said judge cooley is a high authority on constitutional law. i admit it, and am happy to say that i was a student of his over a quarter of a century ago, and ever since then have studied and practised constitutional law, and i am not here to stultify my judgment by allowing sentiment and impulse to influence my decision. those opposing the report of the committee, with few exceptions, admit that it was not the intent and purpose, when the constitution and restrictive rules were amended, to admit women as lay delegates. they claim, however, that times have changed, and now propose to force a construction upon the language not intended by the laity, the annual conferences, or the general conference at the time of the amendment. can this be done without an utter violation of law? i answer, no. in the able address read by bishop merrill, containing the views of the board of bishops, he says: "for the first time in our history several 'elect ladies' appear, regularly certified from electoral conferences, as lay delegates to this body. in taking the action which necessitates the consideration of the question of their eligibility, the electoral conferences did not consult the bishops as to the law in the case, nor do we understand it to be our duty to define the law for these conferences; neither does it appear that any one is authorized to decide questions of law in them. the electoral conferences simply assumed the lawfulness of this action, being guided, as we are informed, by a declarative resolution of the general conference of , defining the scope of the word 'laymen," in answer to a question touching the classification and rights of ordained local and located ministers. of course, the language of that resolution is carried beyond its original design when applied to a subject not before the body when it was adopted, and not necessarily involved in the language itself. this also should be understood, that no definition of the word 'laymen' settles the question of eligibility as to any class of persons, for many are classed as laymen for the purposes of lay representation, and have to do with it officially as laymen, who are themselves not eligible as delegates. even laymen who are confessedly ineligible, who are not old enough to be delegates, or have not been members long enough, may be stewards, class-leaders, trustees, local preachers and exhorters, and, as such, be members of the quarterly conference, and vote for delegates to the electoral conference without themselves being eligible. "the constitutional qualifications for eligibility cannot be modified by a resolution of the general conference, however sweeping, nor can the original meaning of the language be enlarged. if women were included in the original constitutional provision for lay delegates, they are here by constitutional right. if they were not so included, it is beyond the power of this body to give them membership lawfully, except by the formal amendment of the constitution, which cannot be effected without the consent of the annual conferences. in extending to women the highest spiritual privileges, in recognizing their gifts, and in providing for them spheres of christian activity, as well as in advancing them to positions of official responsibility, ours has been a leader of the churches, and gratefully do we acknowledge the good results shown in their enlarged usefulness, and in the wonderful developments of their power to work for god, which we take as evidences of the divine approval of the high ground taken. in all reformatory and benevolent enterprises, especially in the temperance, missionary, and sunday-school departments of church-work, their success is marvellous, and challenges our highest admiration. happily no question of competency or worthiness is involved in the question of their eligibility as delegates. hitherto the assumption underlying the legislation of the church has been that they were ineligible to official positions, except by special provision of law. in harmony with this assumption, they have been made eligible, by special enactment, of the offices of steward, class-leader, and sunday-school superintendent, and naturally the question arises as to whether the necessity for special legislation, in order to their eligibility to those specified offices, does not indicate similar necessity for special provision in order to their eligibility as delegates, and if so it is further to be considered that the offices of steward, class-leader, and sunday-school superintendent may be created and filled by simple enactments of the general conference itself; but to enter the general conference, and form part of the law-making body of the church, requires special provision in the constitution, and, therefore, such provision as the general conference alone cannot make." now, sir, this language moves forward with a grasp of logic akin to that used by chief justice marshall, or that eminent jurist, cooley, from whom i beg leave to quote. cooley, in his great work on "constitutional limitations," says: "a constitution is not made to mean one thing at one time, and another at some subsequent time, when the circumstances may have changed as perhaps to make a different rule in the case seem desirable. a principal share of the benefit expected from written constitutions would be lost, if the rules they establish were so flexible as to bend to circumstances, or be modified by public opinion. "the meaning of the constitution is fixed when it is adopted, and is not different at any subsequent time." this same great author says: "intent governs. the object of construction applied to a written constitution is to give effect to the intent of the people in adopting it. in the case of written laws it is the intent of the lawgiver that is to be enforced. "but it must not be forgotten in construing our constitutions that in many particulars they are but the legitimate successors of the great charters of english liberty whose provisions declaratory of the rights of the subject have acquired a well understood meaning which the people must be supposed to have had in view in adopting them. we cannot understand these unless we understand their history. "it is also a very reasonable rule that a state constitution shall be understood and construed in the light, and by the assistance of the common law, and with the fact in view that its rules are still in force. "it is a maxim with the courts that statutes in derogation of the common law shall be construed strictly." here, sir, we have the language of judge cooley himself. it is as clear as the noonday's sun, and he utterly repudiates the pernicious doctrine that the constitution can grow and develop so as to mean one thing when it is adopted, and something else at another time. you can never inject anything into a constitution by construction which was not in it when adopted. and you are bound, according to all rules of construction, to give it the construction which was intended when adopted. no man of common honesty and common sense dares to assert on this floor that it was the intent when the constitution was amended to admit women as lay delegates. it follows inevitably that they are not constitutionally eligible, and to admit them is to violate the constitution of the church, which, as a court, we are in honor bound not to do. it has been asserted with gravity that the right to vote for a person for office carries with it the right to be voted for unless prohibited by positive enactment. this proposition is not true, and never has been. we have seen, when the constitution and restrictive rules were amended, the intent was to admit men only as lay delegates. no general conference can, by resolution or decision, change the constitution and restrictive rules. grant, if you please, that the general conference, by its action in , had power to make women eligible in the quarterly conference as stewards and class-leaders, this could not qualify her to become a lay delegate in the law-making body of the church. the qualifications of lay delegates to this body must inhere in the constitution and restrictive rules, according to their intent and meaning when adopted. it is fundamental law that where general disabilities exist, not simply by statute, but by common law, the removal of lesser disabilities does not carry with it the removal of the greater ones. legislation qualifying women to vote in wyoming and elsewhere had to be coupled also with positive enactments qualifying her to be voted for, otherwise she would have been ineligible to office. this is so, and i defy any lawyer to show the contrary. § , article i, constitution of the united states, reads: "the senate of the united states shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof for six years. no person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the united states, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the state for which he shall be chosen." these and no other qualifications are worded or found in the constitution of the united states touching the qualification of senators. is there a layman on this floor who will dare assert that under the constitution of the united states women are eligible as representatives or senators? words of common gender are exclusively used as applied to the qualification of senators. the words persons and citizens include women the same as they include men. nevertheless, in the light of the past, i am bold to assert, that any man who would dare stand in the senate of the united states, and contend that women are eligible to the office of united states senators, would be regarded by the civilized world as a person of gush and void of judgment. article , united states constitution, § : "all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states, wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the _privileges_ or _immunities_ of citizens of the united states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, _nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws_." (tax case and what was decided.) (mrs. minor _vs_. judges of election. mo. .) the first case indicates that the word citizen when affecting property rights includes corporations. the second, that the word person, when it relates to the woman claiming the right to vote, does not confer upon her that right. the language is: no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of any citizen of the united states. nevertheless, a republican circuit judge held this language did not entitle mrs. minor to vote. a democratic supreme court of missouri held the same, and the supreme court of the united states, in an able opinion written by men known as the friends of women, conclusively demonstrated that these constitutional guarantees did not confer upon woman the right to vote. why? because, from time immemorial, this right had not obtained in favor of woman, and these words of common gender should not be so construed as to confer this right, since it was not intended when made to affect their status in this regard. [transcriber's note: every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. text that has been changed to correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain as they were in the original.] [illustration: phoebe w. couzins.] history of woman suffrage. edited by elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, and matilda joslyn gage. illustrated with steel engravings. _in three volumes._ vol. iii. - . "women are citizens of the united states, entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities guaranteed to citizens by the national constitution." susan b. anthony, madison st., rochester, n. y. copyright, , by susan b. anthony. preface. the labors of those who have edited these volumes are not only finished as far as this work extends, but if three-score years and ten be the usual limit of human life, all our earthly endeavors must end in the near future. after faithfully collecting material for several years, and making the best selections our judgment has dictated, we are painfully conscious of many imperfections the critical reader will perceive. but since stereotype plates will not reflect our growing sense of perfection, the lavish praise of friends as to the merits of these pages will have its antidote in the defects we ourselves discover. we may however without egotism express the belief that this volume will prove specially interesting in having a large number of contributors from england, france, canada and the united states, giving personal experiences and the progress of legislation in their respective localities. into younger hands we must soon resign our work; but as long as health and vigor remain, we hope to publish a pamphlet report at the close of each congressional term, containing whatever may be accomplished by state and national legislation, which can be readily bound in volumes similar to these, thus keeping a full record of the prolonged battle until the final victory shall be achieved. to what extent these publications may be multiplied depends on when the day of woman's emancipation shall dawn. for the completion of this work we are indebted to eliza jackson eddy, the worthy daughter of that noble philanthropist, francis jackson. he and charles f. hovey are the only men who have ever left a generous bequest to the woman suffrage movement. to mrs. eddy, who bequeathed to our cause two-thirds of her large fortune, belong all honor and praise as the first woman who has given alike her sympathy and her wealth to this momentous and far-reaching reform. this heralds a turn in the tide of benevolence, when, instead of building churches and monuments to great men, and endowing colleges for boys, women will make the education and enfranchisement of their own sex the chief object of their lives. the three volumes now completed we leave as a precious heritage to coming generations; precious, because they so clearly illustrate--in her ability to reason, her deeds of heroism and her sublime self-sacrifice--that woman preeminently possesses the three essential elements of sovereignty as defined by blackstone: "wisdom, goodness and power." this has been to us a work of love, written without recompense and given without price to a large circle of friends. a thousand copies have thus far been distributed among our coadjutors in the old world and the new. another thousand have found an honored place in the leading libraries, colleges and universities of europe and america, from which we have received numerous testimonies of their value as a standard work of reference for those who are investigating this question. extracts from these pages are being translated into every living language, and, like so many missionaries, are bearing the glad gospel of woman's emancipation to all civilized nations. since the inauguration of this reform, propositions to extend the right of suffrage to women have been submitted to the popular vote in kansas, michigan, colorado, nebraska and oregon, and lost by large majorities in all; while, by a simple act of legislature, wyoming, utah and washington territories have enfranchised their women without going through the slow process of a constitutional amendment. in new york, the state that has led this movement, and in which there has been a more continued agitation than in any other, we are now pressing on the legislature the consideration that it has the same power to extend the right of suffrage to women that it has so often exercised in enfranchising different classes of men. eminent publicists have long conceded this power to state legislatures as well as to congress, declaring that women as citizens of the united states have the right to vote, and that a simple enabling act is all that is needed. the constitutionality of such an act was never questioned until the legislative power was invoked for the enfranchisement of women. we who have studied our republican institutions and understand the limits of the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the government, are aware that the legislature, directly representing the people, is the primary source of power, above all courts and constitutions. research into the early history of this country shows that in line with english precedent, women did vote in the old colonial days and in the original thirteen states of the union. hence we are fully awake to the fact that our struggle is not for the attainment of a new right, but for the restitution of one our fore-mothers possessed and exercised. all thoughtful readers must close these volumes with a deeper sense of the superior dignity, self-reliance and independence that belong by nature to woman, enabling her to rise above such multifarious persecutions as she has encountered, and with persistent self-assertion to maintain her rights. in the history of the race there has been no struggle for liberty like this. whenever the interest of the ruling classes has induced them to confer new rights on a subject class, it has been done with no effort on the part of the latter. neither the american slave nor the english laborer demanded the right of suffrage. it was given in both cases to strengthen the liberal party. the philanthropy of the few may have entered into those reforms, but political expediency carried both measures. women, on the contrary, have fought their own battles; and in their rebellion against existing conditions have inaugurated the most fundamental revolution the world has ever witnessed. the magnitude and multiplicity of the changes involved make the obstacles in the way of success seem almost insurmountable. the narrow self-interest of all classes is opposed to the sovereignty of woman. the rulers in the state are not willing to share their power with a class equal if not superior to themselves, over which they could never hope for absolute control, and whose methods of government might in many respects differ from their own. the annointed leaders in the church are equally hostile to freedom for a sex supposed for wise purposes to have been subordinated by divine decree. the capitalist in the world of work holds the key to the trades and professions, and undermines the power of labor unions in their struggles for shorter hours and fairer wages, by substituting the cheap labor of a disfranchised class, that cannot organize its forces, thus making wife and sister rivals of husband and brother in the industries, to the detriment of both classes. of the autocrat in the home, john stuart mill has well said: "no ordinary man is willing to find at his own fireside an equal in the person he calls wife." thus society is based on this fourfold bondage of woman, making liberty and equality for her antagonistic to every organized institution. where, then, can we rest the lever with which to lift one-half of humanity from these depths of degradation but on "that columbiad of our political life--the ballot--which makes every citizen who holds it a full-armed monitor"? list of engravings. vol. iii. phoebe w. couzins _frontispiece._ marilla m. ricker page frances e. willard jane h. spofford harriet h. robinson phebe a. hanaford armenia s. white lillie devereux blake rachel g. foster cornelia c. hussey may wright sewall elizabeth boynton harbert sarah burger stearns clara bewick colby helen m. gougar laura deforce gordon abigail scott duniway caroline e. merrick mary b. clay mentia taylor priscilla bright mclaren george sand contents. page chapter xxvii. the centennial year-- . the dawn of the new century--washington convention--congressional hearing--woman's protest--may anniversary--centennial parlors in philadelphia--letters and delegates to presidential conventions-- , documents sent out--the centennial autograph book--the fourth of july--independence square--susan b. anthony reads the declaration of rights--convention in dr. furness' church, lucretia mott, presiding--the hutchinson family, john and asa--the twenty-eighth anniversary, july , edward m. davis, presiding--letters, ernestine l. rose, clarina i. h. nichols--the _ballot-box_--retrospect--the woman's pavilion chapter xxviii. national conventions, hearings and reports. - - . renewed appeal for a sixteenth amendment--mrs. gage petitions for a removal of political disabilities--ninth washington convention, --jane grey swisshelm--letters, robert purvis, wendell phillips, francis e. abbott-- , petitions referred to the committee on privileges and elections by special request of the chairman, hon. o. p. morton, of indiana--may anniversary in new york--tenth washington convention, --frances e. willard and , temperance women petition congress-- , petition for a sixteenth amendment--hearing before the committee on privileges and elections--madam dahlgren's protest--mrs. hooker's hearing on washington's birthday--mary clemmer's letter to senator wadleigh--his adverse report--thirtieth anniversary, unitarian church, rochester, n. y., july , --the last convention attended by lucretia mott--letters, william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips--church resolution criticised by rev. dr. strong--international women's congress in paris--washington convention, --favorable minority report by senator hoar--u. s. supreme court opened to women--may anniversary at st. louis--address of welcome by phoebe couzins--women in council alone--letter from josephine butler, of england--mrs. stanton's letter to _the national citizen and ballot-box_ chapter xxix. congressional reports and conventions. - . why we hold conventions in washington--lincoln hall demonstration--sixty-six thousand appeals--petitions presented in congress--hon. t. w. ferry of michigan in the senate--hon. geo. b. loring of massachusetts in the house--hon. j. j. davis of north carolina objected--twelfth washington convention--hearings before the judiciary committee of both houses, --may anniversary at indianapolis--series of western conventions--presidential nominating conventions--delegates and addresses to each--mass-meeting at chicago--washington convention, --memorial service to lucretia mott--mrs. stanton's eulogy--discussion in the senate on a standing committee--senator mcdonald of indiana champions the measure--may anniversary in boston--conventions in the chief cities of new england chapter xxx. congressional debates and conventions. - . prolonged discussions in the senate on a special committee to look after the rights of women, messrs. bayard, morgan and vest in opposition--mr. hoar champions the measure in the senate, mr. reed in the house--washington convention--representative orth and senator saunders on the woman suffrage platform--hearings before select committees of senate and house--reception given by mrs. spofford at the riggs house--philadelphia convention--mrs. hannah whitehall smith's dinner--congratulations from the central committee of great britain--majority and minority reports in the senate--e. g. lapham, j. z. george--nebraska campaign--conventions in omaha--joint resolution introduced by hon. john d. white of kentucky, referred to the select committee--washington convention, january , , , --majority report in the house. chapter xxxi. massachusetts. the woman's hour--lydia maria child petitions congress--first new england convention--the new england, american and massachusetts associations--_woman's journal_--bishop gilbert haven--the centennial tea-party--county societies--concord convention--thirtieth anniversary of the worcester convention--school suffrage association--legislative hearing--first petitions--the remonstrants appear--women in politics--campaign of --great meeting in tremont temple--women at the polls--provisions of former state constitutions--petitions, --school-committee suffrage, ,--women threatened with arrest--changes in the laws--woman now owns her own clothing--harvard annex--woman in the professions--samuel e. sewall and william i. bowditch--supreme-court decisions--sarah e. wall--francis jackson--julia ward howe--mary e. stevens--lucia m. peabody--lelia josephine robinson--eliza (jackson) eddy's will chapter xxxii. connecticut. prudence crandall--eloquent reformers--petitions for suffrage--the committee's report--frances ellen burr--isabella beecher hooker's reminiscences--anna dickinson in the republican campaign--state society formed october , , --enthusiastic convention in hartford--governor marshall jewell--he recommends more liberal laws for women--society formed in new haven, --governor hubbard's inaugural, --samuel bowles of the _springfield republican_--rev. phebe a. hanaford, chaplain, --john hooker, esq., champions the suffrage movement--the smith sisters--mary hall--chief-justice park--frances ellen burr--hartford equal rights club chapter xxxiii. rhode island. senator anthony in _north american review_--convention in providence--state association organized, paulina wright davis, president--report of elizabeth b. chase--women on school boards--women's board of visitors to the penal and correctional institutions--dr. wm. f. channing--miss ida lewis--letter of frederick a. hinckley--last words of senator anthony chapter xxxiv. maine. women on school committees--elvira c. thorndyke--first suffrage society organized, , rockland--portland meeting, --john neal--judge goddard--colby university open to girls, august , --mrs. clara hapgood nash admitted to the bar, october , --tax-payers protest--ann f. greeley, --march, , bill for woman suffrage lost in the house, passed in the senate by seven votes--miss frank charles, register of deeds--judge reddington--mr. randall's motion--moral eminence of maine--convention in granite hall, augusta, january, , hon. joshua nye, president--delia a. curtis--opinions of the supreme court in regard to women holding offices--governor dingley's message, --convention, representatives hall, portland, judge kingsbury, president, feb. , ' --the two snow families--hon. t. b. reed chapter xxxv. new hampshire. nathaniel p. rogers--parker pillsbury--galen foster--the hutchinson family--first organized action, --concord convention--william lloyd garrison's letter--rev. s. l. blake opposed--rev. mr. sanborn in favor--_concord monitor_--armenia s. white--a bill to protect the rights of married men--minority and majority reports--women too ignorant to vote--republican state convention--women on school committees, --voting at school district meetings, --mrs. white's address--mrs. ricker on prison reform--judicial decision in regard to married women, --letter from senator blair chapter xxxvi. vermont. clarina howard nichols--council of censors--amending the constitution--st. andrew's letter--mr. reed's report--convention called--h. b. blackwell on the _vermont watchman_--mary a. livermore in the _woman's journal_--sarah a. gibbs' reply to rev. mr. holmes--school suffrage, chapter xxxvii. new york-- - . saratoga convention, july , , --state society formed, martha c. wright, president--_the revolution_ established, --educational movement--new york city society, , charlotte b. wilbour, president--presidential campaign, --hearings at albany, --constitutional commission--an effort to open columbia college, president barnard in favor--centennial celebration, --school officers--senator emerson of monroe, --governor robinson's veto--school suffrage, --governor cornell recommended it in his message--stewart's home for working women--women as police--an act to prohibit disfranchisement--attorney-general russell's adverse opinion--the power of the legislature to extend suffrage--great demonstration in chickering hall, march , --hearing at albany, --mrs. blake, mrs. stanton, mrs. rogers, mrs. howell, gov. hoyt of wyoming chapter xxxviii. pennsylvania. carrie burnham--the canon and civil law the source of woman's degradation--women sold with cattle in --women arrested in pittsburg--mrs. mcmanus--opposition to women in colleges and hospitals; john w. forney vindicates their rights--ann preston--women in dentistry--james truman's letter--swarthmore college--suffrage association formed in , in philadelphia--john k. wildman's letter--judge william s. pierce--the citizens' suffrage association, walnut street, edward m. davis, president--petitions to the legislature--constitutional convention, --bishop simpson, mary grew, sarah c. hallowell, matilda hindman, mrs. stanton, address the convention--messrs. broomall and campbell debate with the opposition--amendment making women eligible to school offices--two women elected to philadelphia school board, --the wages of married women protected--j. edgar thomson's will--literary women as editors--the rev. knox little--anne e. mcdowell--women as physicians in insane asylums--the fourteenth amendment resolution, --ex-gov. hoyt's lecture on wyoming chapter xxxix. new jersey. women voted in the early days--deprived of the right by legislative enactment in --women demand the restoration of their rights in --at the polls in vineland and roseville park--lucy stone agitates the question--state suffrage society organized in --conventions--a memorial to the legislature--mary f. davis--rev. phebe a. hanaford--political science club-- mrs. cornelia c. hussey--orange club, --mrs. devereux blake gives the oration, july , --dr. elizabeth blackwell's letter--the laws of new jersey in regard to property and divorce--constitutional commission, --trial of rev. isaac m. see--women preaching in his pulpit--the case appealed--mrs. jones, jailoress--legislative hearings chapter xl. ohio. the first soldiers' aid society--mrs. mendenhall--cincinnati equal rights association, --homeopathic medical college and hospital--hon. j. m. ashley--state society, --murat halstead's letter--dayton convention, --women protest against enfranchisement--sarah knowles bolton--statistics on coëducation by thomas wentworth higginson--woman's crusade, --miriam m. cole--ladies' health association--professor curtis--hospital for women and children, --letter from j. d. buck, m. d.--march, , degrees conferred on women--toledo association, --sarah langdon williams--_the sunday journal_--_the ballot-box_--constitutional convention--judge waite--amendment making women eligible to office--mr. voris, chairman special committee on woman suffrage--state convention, --rev. robert mccune--centennial celebration--women decline to take part--correspondence--newbury association--women voting, --sophia ober allen--annual meeting, painesville, --state society, mrs. frances m. casement, president--adelbert college chapter xli. michigan. women's literary clubs and libraries--mrs. lucinda h. stone--classes of girls in europe--ernestine l. rose--legislative action, - --state woman suffrage society, --annual conventions--northwestern association--wendell phillips' letter--nannette gardner votes--catharine a. f. stebbins refused--legislative action--amendments submitted--an active canvas of the state by women--election day--the amendment lost, , men voted in favor--university at ann arbor opened to girls, --kalamazoo institute--j. a. b. stone--miss madeline stockwell and miss sarah burger applied for admission to the university in --episcopal church bill--local societies--quincy--lansing--st. johns--manistee--grand rapids--sojourner truth--laura c. haviland--sybil lawrence chapter xlii. indiana. the first woman suffrage convention after the war, --amanda m. way--annual meetings, - , in the larger cities--indianapolis equal suffrage society, --a course of lectures--in may, , national convention in indianapolis--zerelda g. wallace--social entertainment--governor albert g. porter--susan b. anthony's birthday--schuyler colfax--legislative hearings--temperance women of indiana--helen m. gougar--general assembly--delegates to political conventions--women address political meetings--important changes in the laws for women, from to --colleges open to women--demia butler--professors--lawyers--doctors--ministers--miss catharine merrill--miss elizabeth eaglesfield--rev. prudence le clerc--dr. mary f. thomas--prominent men and women--george w. julian--the journals--gertrude garrison chapter xliii. illinois. chicago a great commercial centre--first woman suffrage agitation, --a. j. grover--society at earlville--prudence crandall--sanitary movement--woman in journalism--myra bradwell--excitement in elmwood church, --mrs. huldah joy--pulpit utterances--convention, , library hall, chicago--anna dickinson, robert laird collier debate--manhood suffrage denounced by mrs. stanton and miss anthony--judge charles b. waite on the constitutional convention--hearing before the legislature--western suffrage convention, mrs. livermore, president--annual meeting at bloomington--women eligible to school offices--evanston college--miss alta hulett medical association--dr. sarah hackett stevenson--"woman's kingdom" in the _inter-ocean_--mrs. harbert--centennial celebration at evanston--temperance petition, , --frances e. willard--social science association--art union--jane graham jones at international congress in paris--moline association chapter xliv. missouri. missouri the first state to open colleges of law and medicine to woman--liberal legislation--harriet hosmer--wayman crow--dr. joseph n. mcdowell--works of art--women in the war--adeline couzins--virginia l. minor--petitions--woman suffrage association, may , --first woman suffrage convention, oct. , --able resolutions by francis minor--action asked for in the methodist church--constitutional convention--mrs. hazard's report--national suffrage association, --virginia l. minor before the committee on constitutional amendments--mrs. minor tries to vote--her case in the supreme court--mrs. annie r. irvine--"oregon woman's union"--miss phoebe couzins graduates from the law school, --reception by members of the bar--speeches--dr. walker--judge krum--hon. albert todd--ex-governor e. o. stanard--ex-senator henderson--judge reber--george m. stewart--mrs. minor--miss couzins chapter xlv. iowa. beautiful scenery--liberal in politics and reforms--legislation for women--no right yet to joint earnings--early agitation--frances dana gage, --mrs. amelia bloomer lectures in council bluffs, --mrs. martha h. brinkerhoff--mrs. annie savery, --county associations formed in --state society organized at mt. pleasant, , henry o'connor, president--mrs. cutler answers judge palmer--first annual meeting, des moines--letter from bishop simpson--the state register complimentary--mass-meeting at the capitol--mrs. savery and mrs. harbert--legislative action--methodist and universalist churches indorse woman suffrage--republican plank, --governor carpenter's message, --annual meeting, , many clergymen present--five hundred editors interviewed--miss hindman and mrs. campbell--mrs. callanan interviews governor sherman, --lawyers--governor kirkwood appoints women to office--county superintendents--elizabeth s. cook--journalism--literature-- medicine--ministry--inventions--president of a national bank-- the heroic kate shelly--temperance--improvement in the laws chapter xlvi. wisconsin. progressive legislation--the rights of married women--the constitution shows four classes having the right to vote--woman suffrage agitation--c. l. sholes' minority report, --judge david noggle and j. t. mills' minority report, --state association formed, --milwaukee convention--dr. laura ross--hearing before the legislature--convention in janesville, --state university--elizabeth r. wentworth--suffrage amendment, , ' , ' --rev. olympia brown, racine, --madam anneké--judge ryan--three days' convention at racine, --eveleen l. mason--dr. sarah munro--rev. dr. corwin--lavinia godell, lawyer--angie king--kate kane chapter xlvii. minnesota. girls in state university--sarah burger stearns--harriet e. bishop, the first teacher in st. paul--mary j. colburn won the prize--mrs. jane grey swisshelm, st. cloud--fourth of july oration, --first legislative hearing, --governor austin's veto--first society at rochester--kasson--almira w. anthony--mary p. wheeler--harriet m. white--the w. c. t. u.--harriet a. hobart--literary and art clubs--school suffrage, --charlotte o. van cleve and mrs. c. s. winchell elected to school board--mrs. governor pillsbury--temperance vote, --property rights of married women--women as officers, teachers, editors, ministers, doctors, lawyers chapter xlviii. dakota. influences of climate and scenery--legislative action, --mrs. marietta bones--in february, , school suffrage granted women--constitutional convention, --matilda joslyn gage addressed a letter to the convention and an appeal to the women of the state--mrs. bones addressed the convention in person--the effort to get the word "male" out of the constitution failed--legislature of --major pickler presents the bill--carried through both houses--governor pierce's veto--major pickler's letter chapter xlix. nebraska. clara bewick colby--nebraska came into the possession of the united states, --the home of the dakotas--organized as a territory, --territorial legislature--mrs. amelia bloomer addresses the house--gen. wm. larimer, --a bill to confer suffrage on women--passed the house--lost in the senate--constitution harmonized with the fourteenth amendment--admitted as a state march , --mrs. stanton, miss anthony lecture in the state, --mrs. tracy cutler, --mrs. esther l. warner's letter--constitutional convention, --woman suffrage amendment submitted--lost by , against, , for--prolonged discussion--constitutional convention, --grasshoppers devastate the country--_inter-ocean_, mrs. harbert--omaha _republican_, --woman's column edited by mrs. harriet s. brooks--"woman's kingdom"--state society formed, january , , mrs. brooks president--mrs. dinsmoor, mrs. colby, mrs. brooks, before the legislature--amendment again submitted--active canvass of the state, --first convention of the state association--charles f. manderson--unreliable politicians--an unfair count of votes for woman suffrage--amendment defeated--conventions in omaha--notable women in the state--conventions--_woman's tribune_ established in chapter l. kansas. effect of the popular vote on woman suffrage--anna c. wait--hannah wilson--miss kate stephens, professor of greek in state university--lincoln centre society, --the press--the lincoln _beacon_--election, --sarah a. brown, democratic candidate--fourth of july celebration--women voting on the school question--state society, --helen m. gougar--clara bewick colby--bertha h. ellsworth--radical reform association--mrs. a. g. lord--prudence crandall--clarina howard nichols--laws--women in the professions--schools--political parties--petitions to the legislature--col. f. g. adams' letter chapter li. colorado. great american desert--organized as a territory, february , --gov. mccook's message recommending woman suffrage, --adverse legislation--hon. amos steck--admitted to the union, --constitutional convention--efforts to strike out the word "male"--convention to discuss woman suffrage--school suffrage accorded--state association formed, alida c. avery, president--proposition for full suffrage submitted to the popular vote--a vigorous campaign--mrs. campbell and mrs. patterson of denver--opposition by the clergy--their arguments ably answered--d. m. richards--the amendment lost--_the rocky mountain news_ chapter lii. wyoming. the dawn of the new day, december, --the goal reached in england and america--territory organized, may, --legislative action--bill for woman suffrage--william h. bright--gov. campbell signs the bill--appoints esther morris, justice of the peace, march, --women on the jury, chief-justice howe, presiding--j. w. kingman, associate-justice, addresses the jury--women promptly take their places--sunday laws enforced--comments of the press--judge howe's letter--laramie _sentinel_--j. h. hayford--women voting, --grandma swain the first to cast her ballot--effort to repeal the law, --gov. campbell's veto--mr. corlett--rapid growth of public opinion in favor of woman suffrage chapter liii. california. liberal provisions in the constitution--elizabeth t. schenck--eliza w. farnham--mrs. mills' seminary, now a state institution--jeannie carr, state superintendent of schools--first awakening--_the revolution_--anna dickinson--mrs. gordon addresses the legislature, --mrs. pitts stevens edits _the pioneer_--first suffrage society on the pacific coast, --state convention, january , , mrs. wallis, president--state association formed, mrs. haskell of petaluma, president--mrs. gordon nominated for senator--in , mrs. stanton and miss anthony visit california--hon. a. a. sargent speaks in favor of suffrage for women--ellen clark sargent active in the movement--legislation making women eligible to hold school offices, --july , , state society incorporated, sarah wallis, president--mrs. clara foltz--a bill giving women the right to practice law--the bill passed and signed by the governor--contest over admitting women into the law department of the university--supreme court decision favorable--hon. a. a. sargent on the constitution and laws--journalists and printers silk culture--legislative appropriation--mrs. knox goodrich celebrates july , --imposing demonstration--ladies in the procession chapter liv. the pacific northwest. the long marches westward--abigail scott duniway--mary olney brown--the first steps in oregon--col. c. a. reed--judge g. w. lawson-- --the new northwest, --campaign, mrs. duniway and miss anthony--they address the legislature in washington territory--hon. elwood evans--suffrage societies organized at olympia and portland--before the oregon legislature--donation land act--hon. samuel corwin's suffrage bill--married woman's _sole_ traders' bill--temperance alliance--women rejected--major williams fights their battles and triumphs--mrs. h. a. loughary--progressive legislation, --mob-law in jacksonville, --dr. mary a. thompson--constitutional convention, --woman suffrage bill, --hon. w. c. fulton--women enfranchised in washington territory, nov. , --great rejoicing, bonfires, ratification meetings--constitutional amendment submitted in oregon and lost, june, --suffrage by legislative enactment lost--fourth of july celebrated at vancouvers--benjamin and mary olney brown--washington territory--legislation in - favorable to women--mrs. brown attempts to vote and is refused--charlotte olney french--women vote at grand mound and black river precincts, --retrogressive legislation, --abby h. stuart in land-office--hon. william h. white--idaho and montana chapter lv. louisiana--texas--arkansas--mississippi. st. anna's asylum, managed by women--constitutional convention, --women petition--clara merrick guthrie--petition referred to committee on suffrage--a hearing granted--mrs. keating--mrs. saxon--mrs. merrick--col. john m. sandige--efforts of the women all in vain--action in --gov. mcenery--the _daily picayune_--women as members of the school board--physiology in the schools--miss eliza rudolph--mrs. e. j. nicholson--judge merrick's digest of laws--texas--arkansas--mississippi--sarah a. dorsey chapter lv. (continued). district of columbia--maryland--delaware--kentucky--tennessee--virginia--west virginia--north carolina--south carolina--florida--alabama--georgia. secretary chase--women in the government departments--myrtilla miner--mrs. o'connor's tribute--district of columbia suffrage bill--the universal franchise association, --bill for a prohibitory law presented by hon. s. c. pomeroy, --a bill for equal wages for the women in the departments, introduced by hon. s. m. arnell, --in congress passed the organic act for the district confining the right of suffrage to males--in it withdrew all legislative power from the people--women in law, medicine, journalism and the charities--dental college opened to women--mary a. stewart--the clay sisters--the school of pharmacy--elizabeth avery meriwether--judge underwood--mary bayard clarke--dr. susan dimock--governor chamberlain--coffee-growing--priscilla holmes drake--alexander h. stephens chapter lv. (concluded). canada. miss phelps of st. catharines--the revolt of the thirteen colonies--first parliament--property rights of married women--school suffrage thirty years--municipal suffrage, , --women voting in toronto, --mrs. curzon--dr. emily h. stone--woman's literary club of toronto--nova scotia--new brunswick--miss harriet stewart chapter lvi. great britain. women send members to parliament--sidney smith, sir robert peel, richard cobden--the ladies of oldham--jeremy bentham--anne knight--northern reform society, --mrs. matilda biggs--unmarried women and widows petition parliament--associations formed in london, manchester, edinburgh, --john stuart mill in parliament--seventy-three votes for his bill--john bright's vote--women register and vote--lord-chief-justice of england declares their constitutional right--the courts give adverse decisions--jacob bright secures the municipal franchise--first public meeting--division on jacob bright's bill to remove political disabilities--mr. gladstone's speech--work of - --fourth vote on the suffrage bill--jacob bright fails of reëlection--efforts of mr. forsyth--memorial of the national society--some account of the workers--vote of the new parliament, --organized opposition--diminished adverse vote of --mr. courtney's resolution--letters--great demonstrations at manchester--london--bristol--nottingham--birmingham--sheffield-- glasgow--victory in the isle of man--passage of the municipal franchise bill for scotland--mr. mason's resolution--reduction of adverse majority to --liberal conference at leeds--mr. woodall's amendment to reform bill of --meeting at edinburgh--other meetings--estimated number of women householders--circulars to members of parliament--debate on the amendment--resolutions of the society--further debate--defeat of the amendment--meeting at st. james hall--conclusion chapter lvii. continental europe. the woman question in the back-ground--in france the agitation dates from the upheaval of ;--international women's rights convention in paris, --mlle. hubertine auclert leads the demand for suffrage--agitation began in italy with the kingdom--concepcion arenal in spain--coëducation in portugal--germany: leipsic and berlin--austria in advance of germany caroline svetlá of bohemia--austria unsurpassed in contradictions--marriage emancipates from tutelage in hungary--dr. henrietta jacobs of holland--dr. isala van diest of belgium--in switzerland the catholic cantons lag behind--marie goegg, the leader--sweden stands first--universities open to women in norway--associations in denmark--liberality of russia toward women--poland--the orient--turkey--jewish wives--the greek woman in turkey--the greek woman in greece--an unique episode--woman's rights in the american sense not known chapter lviii. reminiscences. by e. c. s. appendix index chapter xxvii. the centennial year-- . the dawn of the new century--washington convention--congressional hearing--woman's protest--may anniversary--centennial parlors in philadelphia--letters and delegates to presidential conventions-- , documents sent out--the centennial autograph book--the fourth of july--independence square--susan b. anthony reads the declaration of rights--convention in dr. furness' church, lucretia mott, presiding--the hutchinson family, john and asa--the twenty-eighth anniversary, july , edward m. davis, presiding--letters, ernestine l. rose, clarina i. h. nichols--the _ballot-box_--retrospect--the woman's pavilion. during the sessions of - congress enacted laws providing for the celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of american independence, to be held july , , in philadelphia, the historic city from whence was issued the famous declaration of . the first act provided for the appointment by the president of a "centennial commission," consisting of two members from each state and territory in the union; the second incorporated the centennial board of finance and provided for the issue of stock to the amount of $ , , , in , , shares of $ each. it was at first proposed to distribute the stock among the people of the different states and territories according to the ratio of their population, but subscriptions were afterward received without regard to states. the stockholders organized a board of directors, april , . the design of the exhibition was to make it a comprehensive display of the industrial, intellectual and moral progress of the nation during the first century of its existence; but by the earnest invitation of our government foreign nations so generally participated that it was truly, as its name implied, an "international and world's exposition." the centennial year opened amid the wildest rejoicing. in honor of the nation's birthday extensive preparations were made for the great event. crowds of people eager to participate in the celebration, everywhere flocked from the adjacent country to the nearest village or city, filling the streets and adding to the general gala look, all through the day and evening of december , . from early gas-light upon every side the blowing of horns, throwing of torpedos, explosion of fire-crackers, gave premonition of more enthusiastic exultation. as the clock struck twelve every house suddenly blossomed with red, white and blue; public and private buildings burst into a blaze of light that rivaled the noon-day sun, while screaming whistles, booming cannon, pealing bells, joyous music and brilliant fire-works made the midnight which ushered in the centennial , a never-to-be-forgotten hour. portraits of the presidents from washington and lincoln laurel-crowned, to grant, sword in hand, met the eye on every side. stars in flames of fire lighted the foreign flags of welcome to other nations. every window, door and roof-top was filled with gay and joyous people. carriages laden with men, women and children in holiday attire enthusiastically waving the national flag and singing its songs of freedom. battalions of soldiers marched through the streets; roman candles, whizzing rockets, and gaily-colored balloons shot upward, filling the sky with trails of fire and adding to the brilliancy of the scene, while all minor sounds were drowned in the martial music. thus did the old world and the new commemorate the birth of a nation founded on the principle of self-government. the prolonged preparations for the centennial celebration naturally roused the women of the nation to new thought as to their status as citizens of a republic, as well as to their rightful share in the progress of the century. the oft-repeated declarations of the fathers had a deeper significance for those who realized the degradation of disfranchisement, and they queried with each other as to what part, with becoming self-respect, they could take in the coming festivities.[ ] woman's achievements in art, science and industry would necessarily be recognized in the exposition; but with the dawn of a new era, after a hundred years of education in a republic, she asked more than a simple recognition of the products of her hand and brain; with her growing intelligence, virtue and patriotism, she demanded the higher ideal of womanhood that should welcome her as an equal factor in government, with all the rights and honors of citizenship fully accorded. during the entire century, women who understood the genius of free institutions had ever and anon made their indignant protests in both public and private before state legislatures, congressional committees and statesmen at their own firesides; and now, after discussing the right of self-government so exhaustively in the late anti-slavery conflict, it seemed to them that the time had come to make some application of these principles to the women of the nation. hence it was with a deeper sense of injustice than ever before that the national suffrage association issued the call for the annual washington convention of : call for the eighth annual washington convention.--the national woman suffrage association will hold its eighth annual convention in tallmadge hall, washington, d. c., january , , . in this one-hundredth year of the republic, the women of the united states will once more assemble under the shadow of the national capitol to press their claims to self-government. that property has its rights, was acknowledged in england long before the revolutionary war, and this recognized right made "no taxation without representation" the most effective battle-cry of that period. but the question of property representation fades from view beside the greater question of the right of each individual, millionaire or pauper, to personal representation. in the progress of the war our fathers grew in wisdom, and the declaration of independence was the first national assertion of the right of individual representation. that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," thenceforward became the watchword of the world. our flag, which beckons the emigrant from every foreign shore, means to him self-government. but while in theory our government recognizes the rights of all people, in practice it is far behind the declaration of independence and the national constitution. on what just ground is discrimination made between men and women? why should women, more than men, be governed without their own consent? why should women, more than men, be denied trial by a jury of their peers? on what authority are women taxed while unrepresented? by what right do men declare themselves invested with power to legislate for women? for the discussion of these vital questions friends are invited to take part in the convention. matilda joslyn gage, _president_, fayetteville, n. y. susan b. anthony, _ch'n ex. com._, rochester, n. y. at the opening session of this convention the president, matilda joslyn gage, said: i would remind you, fellow-citizens, that this is our first convention in the dawn of the new century. in we inaugurated our experiment of self-government. unbelief in man's capacity to govern himself was freely expressed by every european monarchy except france. when john adams was minister to england, the newspapers of that country were filled with prophecies that the new-born republic would soon gladly return to british allegiance. but these hundred years have taught them the worth of liberty; the declaration of independence has become the alphabet of nations; europe, asia, africa, south america and the isles of the sea, will unite this year to do our nation honor. our flag is everywhere on sea and land. it has searched the north pole, explored every desert, upheld religious liberty of every faith and protected political refugees from every nation, but it has not yet secured equal rights to women. this year is to be one of general discussion upon the science of government; its origin, its powers, its history. if our present declaration cannot be so interpreted as to cover the rights of women, we must issue one that will. i have received letters from many of the western states and from this district, urging us to prepare a woman's declaration, and to celebrate the coming fourth of july with our own chosen orators and in our own way. i notice a general awakening among women at this time. but a day or two since the women of this district demanded suffrage for themselves in a petition of , names. the men are quiet under their disfranchisement, making no attempt for their rights--fit slaves of a powerful ring. the following protest was presented by mrs. gage, adopted by the convention, printed and extensively circulated: _to the political sovereigns of the united states in independence hall assembled:_ we, the undersigned women of the united states, asserting our faith in the principles of the declaration of independence and in the constitution of the united states, proclaiming it as the best form of government in the world, declare ourselves a part of the people of the nation unjustly deprived of the guaranteed and reserved rights belonging to citizens of the united states; because we have never given our consent to this government; because we have never delegated our rights to others; because this government is false to its underlying principles; because it has refused to one-half its citizens the only means of self-government--the ballot; because it has been deaf to our appeals, our petitions and our prayers; therefore, in presence of the assembled nations of all the world, we protest against this government of the united states as an oligarchy of sex, and not a true republic; and we protest against calling this a centennial celebration of the independence of the people of the united states. letters[ ] were read and a series of resolutions were discussed and adopted: _resolved_, that the demand for woman suffrage is but the next step in the great movement which began with _magna charta_, and which has ever since tended toward vesting government in the whole body of the people. _resolved_, that we demand of the forty-fourth congress, in order that it may adequately celebrate the centennial year, the admission to the polls of the women of all the territories, and a submission to the legislatures of the several states of an amendment securing to women the elective franchise. _resolved_, that the enfranchisement of women means wiser and truer wedlock, purer and happier homes, healthier and better children, and strikes, as nothing else does, at the very roots of pauperism and crime. _resolved_, that if colorado would come into the union in a befitting manner for the celebration of the centennial of the declaration of independence, she should give the ballot to brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and thus present to the nation a truly free state. _resolved_, that the right of suffrage being vested in the women of utah by their constitutional and lawful enfranchisement, and by six years of use, we denounce the proposition about to be again presented to congress for the disfranchisement of the women in that territory, as an outrage on the freedom of thousands of legal voters and a gross innovation of vested rights; we demand the abolition of the system of numbering the ballots, in order that the women may be thoroughly free to vote as they choose, without supervision or dictation, and that the chair appoint a committee of three persons, with power to add to their number, to memorialize congress, and otherwise to watch over the rights of the women of utah in this regard during the next twelve months. belva a. lockwood presented the annual report: the question of woman suffrage is to be submitted to the people of iowa during the present centennial year, if this legislature ratifies the action of the previous one. colorado has not embodied the word "male" in her constitution, and a vigorous effort is being made to introduce woman suffrage there. in minnesota women are allowed to vote on school questions and to hold office by a recent constitutional amendment. in michigan, in , the vote for woman suffrage was , , about , more votes than were polled for the new constitution. the connecticut legislature, during the past year appointed a committee to consider and report the expediency of making women eligible to the position of electors for president and vice-president. the committee made a unanimous report in its favor, and secured for its passage votes, while votes were cast against it. in massachusetts, governor rice, in his inaugural address, recommended to the legislature to secure to women the right to vote for presidential electors. an address to the legislature of new york by mesdames gage, blake and lozier upon this question, was favorably received and extensively quoted by the press. at an agricultural fair in illinois the hon. james r. doolittle advocated household suffrage. in the senate of the thirteenth legislature of the state of texas, senator dohoney, chairman of the judiciary committee, made a report strongly advocating woman suffrage; and in , when a member of the constitutional convention, he advocated the same doctrine, and was ably assisted by hon. w. g. l. weaver. the governor of that state, in his message, recommended that women school teachers should receive equal pay for equal work. the word "male" does not occur in the new constitution. in the territories of wyoming and utah, woman suffrage still continues after five years' experiment, and we have not learned that households have been broken up or that babies have ceased to be rocked. women physicians, women journalists and women editors have come to be a feature of our institutions. laura de force gordon, a member of our association, is editing a popular daily--the _leader_--in sacramento, cal. women are now admitted to the bar in kansas, illinois, wisconsin, iowa, missouri, utah, wyoming and the district of columbia. they are eligible and are serving as school superintendents in kansas, nebraska, illinois, iowa and wisconsin. illinois allows them to be notaries public. as postmasters they have proved competent, and one woman, miss ada sweet, is pension agent at chicago. julia k. sutherland has been appointed commissioner of deeds for the state of california. in england women vote on the same terms as men on municipal, parochial and educational matters. in holland, austria and sweden, women vote on a property qualification. the peruvian minister of justice has declared that peru places women on the same footing as men. thus all over the world is the idea of human rights taking root and cropping out in a healthful rather than a spasmodic outgrowth. the grand-daughter of paley, true to her ancestral blood, has excelled all the young men in cambridge in moral science. julia j. thomas, of cornell university, daughter of dr. mary f. thomas, of indiana, in the recent inter-collegiate contest, took the first prize of $ , over eight male competitors, in greek. the recent decision in the united states supreme court, of minor _vs._ happersett, will have as much force in suppressing the individuality and self-assertion of women as had the opinion of judge taney, in the dred-scott case, in suppressing the emancipation of slavery. the day has come when precedents are made rather than blindly followed. the refusal of the superior court of philadelphia to allow carrie s. burnham to practice law, because there was no precedent, was a weak evasion of common law and common sense. one hundred years ago there was no precedent for a man practicing law in the state of pennsylvania, and yet we have not learned that there was any difficulty in establishing a precedent. i do not now remember any precedent for the declaration of independence of the united colonies, and yet during a century it has not been overturned. the rebellion of the south had no precedent, and yet, if i remember, there was an issue joined, and the united states found that she had jurisdiction of the case. the admission of women to cornell university; their reception on equal footing in syracuse university, receiving in both equal honorary degrees; the establishment of wellesley college, with full professorships and capable women to fill them; the agitation of the question in washington of the establishment of a university for women, all show a mental awakening in the popular mind not hitherto known. a new era is opening in the history of the world. the seed sown twenty-five years ago by mrs. stanton and other brave women is bearing fruit. sara andrews spencer said it was interesting to pair off the objections and let them answer each other like paradoxes. women will be influenced by their husbands and will vote for bad men to please them. women have too much influence now, and if we give them any more latitude they will make men all vote their way. owing to the composition and structure of the female brain, women are incapable of understanding political affairs. if women are allowed to vote they will crowd all the men out of office, and men will be obliged to stay at home and take care of the children. that is, owing to the composition and structure of the female brain, women are so exactly adapted to political affairs that men wouldn't stand any chance if women were allowed to enter into competition with them. women don't want it. women shouldn't have it, for they don't know how to use it. grace greenwood (who was one of the seventy-two women who tried to vote) said men were like the stingy boy at school with a cake. "now," said he, "all you that don't ask for it don't want it, and all you that do ask for it sha'n't have it." rev. olympia brown, pastor of the universalist church in bridgeport, conn., gave her views on the rights of women under the constitution, and believed that they were entitled to the ballot as an inalienable right. in this country, under existing rulings of the courts as to the meaning of the constitution, no one appeared likely to enjoy the ballot for all time except the colored men, unless the clause, "previous condition of servitude," as a congressman expressed it, referred to widows. that being true, the constitution paid a premium only on colored men, and widows. if the constitution did not guarantee suffrage, and congress did not bestow it, then the republic was of no account and its boast devoid of significance and meaning. its life had been in vain--dead to the interests for which it was created. she wanted congress to pass a sixteenth amendment, declaring all its citizens enfranchised, or a declaratory act setting forth that the constitution already guaranteed to them that right. hon. frederick douglass said he was not quite in accord with all the sentiments that had been uttered during the afternoon, yet he was willing that the largest latitude should be taken by the advocates of the cause. he was not afraid that at some distant period the blacks of the south would rise and disfranchise the whites. while he was not willing to be addressed as the ignorant, besotted creature that the negro is sometimes called, he was willing to be a part of the bridge over which women should march to the full enjoyment of their rights. miss phoebe couzins of st. louis reviewed in an able manner the decision of the supreme court in the case of virginia l. minor. mrs. devereux blake spoke on the rights and duties of citizenship. she cited a number of authorities, including a recent decision of the supreme court, to prove that women are citizens, although deprived of the privileges of citizenship. taking up the three duties of citizenship--paying taxes, serving on jury, and military service--she said woman had done her share of the first for a hundred years; that the women of the country now contributed, directly and indirectly, one-third of its revenues, and that the house of representatives had just robbed them of $ , to pay for a centennial celebration in which they had no part. as for serving on jury, they did not claim that as a privilege, as it was usually regarded as a most disagreeable duty; but they did claim the right of women, when arraigned in court, to be tried by a jury of their peers, which was not accorded when the jury was composed wholly of men. lastly, as to serving their country in time of war, it was a fact that women had actually enlisted and fought in our late war, until their sex was discovered, when they were summarily dismissed without being paid for their services. hon. aaron a. sargent, of california, in the united states senate, and hon. samuel s. cox, of new york, in the house of representatives, presented the memorial asking the enfranchisement of the women of the district of columbia, as follows: in the senate, tuesday, january , . mr. sargent: i present a memorial asking for the establishment of a government in the district of columbia which shall secure to its women the right to vote. this petition is signed by many eminent ladies of the country: mrs. matilda joslyn gage, president of the national woman suffrage association, and the following officers of that society: lucretia mott, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, henrietta payne westbrook, isabella beecher hooker, mathilde f. wendt, ellen clark sargent; also by mary f. foster, president of the district of columbia woman's franchise association; susan a. edson, m. d.; mrs. e. d. e. n. southworth, the distinguished authoress; mrs. dr. caroline b. winslow; belva a. lockwood, a practicing lawyer in this district; sara andrews spencer, and mrs. a. e. wood. these intelligent ladies set forth their petition in language and with facts and arguments which i think should meet the ear of the senate, and i ask that it be read by the secretary in order that their desires may be known. the president _pro tempore_: is there objection? the chair hears none, and the secretary will report the petition. the secretary read: _to the senate and house of representatives of the united states in congress assembled:_ whereas the supreme court of the united states has affirmed the decision of the supreme court of the district of columbia in the cases of spencer _vs._ the board of registration, and webster _vs._ the judges of election, and has decided that "by the operation of the first section of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states, women have been advanced to full citizenship and clothed with the capacity to become voters; and further, that this first section of the fourteenth amendment does not execute itself, but requires the supervision of legislative power in the exercise of legislative discretion to give it effect"; and whereas the congress of the united states is the legislative body having exclusive jurisdiction over the district of columbia, and in enfranchising the colored men and refusing to enfranchise women, white or colored, made an unjust discrimination against sex, and did not give the intelligence and moral power of the citizens of said district a fair opportunity for expression at the polls; and whereas woman suffrage is not an experiment, but has had a fair trial in wyoming, where women hold office, where they vote, where they have the most orderly society of any of the territories, where the experiment is approved by the executive officers of the united states, by their courts, by their press and by the people generally, and where it has "rescued that territory from a state of comparative lawlessness" and rendered it "one of the most orderly in the union"; and whereas upon the woman suffrage amendment to senate bill number of the second session of the forty-third congress, votes were recorded in favor of woman suffrage by the two senators from indiana, the two from florida, the two from michigan, the two from rhode island, one from kansas, one from louisiana, one from massachusetts, one from minnesota, one from nebraska, one from nevada, one from oregon, one from south carolina, one from texas, and one from wisconsin; and whereas a fair trial of equal suffrage for men and women in the district of columbia, under the immediate supervision of congress, would demonstrate to the people of the whole country that justice to women is policy for men; and whereas the women of the united states are governed without their own consent, are denied trial by a jury of their peers, are taxed without representation, and are subject to manifold wrongs resulting from unjust and arbitrary exercise of power over an unrepresented class; and whereas in this centennial year of the republic the spirit of is breathing its influence upon the people, melting away prejudices and animosities and infusing into our national councils a finer sense of justice and a clearer perception of individual rights; therefore, we pray your honorable body to establish a government for the district of columbia which shall secure to its women the right to vote. mr. sargeant: even if this document were not accompanied by the signatures of eminent ladies known throughout the land for their virtues, intelligence and high character, the considerations which it presents would be worthy of the attention of the senate. i have no doubt that the great movement of which this is a part will prevail. it is working its progress day by day throughout the country. it is making itself felt both in social and political life. the petitioners here well say that there has been a successful experiment of the exercise of female suffrage in one of our territories; that a territory has been redeemed from lawlessness; that the judges, the press, the people generally of wyoming approve the results of this great experiment. i know of no better place than the capital of a nation where a more decisive trial can be made, if such is needed, to establish the expediency of woman suffrage. as to its justice, who shall deny it? i ask, for the purpose of due consideration, that this petition be referred to the committee on the district of columbia, so that in preparing any scheme for the government of the district which is likely to come before this congress, due weight may be given to the considerations presented. the president _pro tempore_: the petition will be referred to the committee on the district of columbia. in the house of representatives, friday, march , . mr. cox: mr. speaker, i am requested to present a memorial, asking for a form of government in the district of columbia which shall secure to its women the right to vote; and i ask the grace and favor to have this memorial printed in the _record_. mr. banks: mr. speaker, i beg the privilege of saying a few words in favor of the request made by the gentleman from new york who presents this memorial. it is a hundred years this day since mrs. abigail adams, of massachusetts, wrote to her husband, john adams, then a member of the continental convention, entreating him to give to women the power to protect their own rights and predicting a general revolution if justice was denied them. mrs. adams was one of the noblest women of that period, distinguished by heroism and patriotism never surpassed in any age. she was wife of the second and mother of the sixth president of the united states, and her beneficent influence was felt in political as well as in social circles. it was perhaps the first demand for the recognition of the rights of her sex made in this country, and is one of the centennial incidents that should be remembered. it came from a good quarter. this memorial represents half a million of american women. they ask for the organization of a government in the district of columbia that will recognize their political rights. i voted some years ago to give women the right to vote in this district, and recalling the course of its government i think it would have done no harm if they had enjoyed political rights. mr. kasson: i suggest that the memorial be printed without the names. mr. cox: there are no names appended except those of the officers of the national woman suffrage association; and i hope they will be printed with the memorial. mr. hendee: i trust the gentleman will allow this petition to be referred to the committee of which i am a member: the committee for the district of columbia. there being no objection, the memorial was read and referred to the committee for the district of columbia, and ordered to be printed in the _record_. at the close of the convention a hearing was granted to the ladies before the committees of the senate and house of representatives on the district of columbia. matilda joslyn gage, of new york, said: _mr. chairman and gentlemen of the committee_: on behalf of the national association, which has its officers in every state and territory of the union, and which numbers many thousands of members, and on behalf of the woman's franchise association of the district of columbia, we appear before you, asking that the right of suffrage be secured equally to the men and women of this district. art. , sec. , clauses , of the constitution of the united states reads: congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district as may become the seat of government of the united states, * * * * * to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers. congress is therefore constitutionally the special guardian of the rights of the people of the district of columbia. it possesses peculiar rights, peculiar duties, peculiar powers in regard to this district. at the present time the men and women are alike disfranchised. our memorial asks that in forming a new government they may be alike enfranchised. it is often said as an argument against granting suffrage to women that they do not wish to vote; do not ask for the ballot. this association, numbering thousands in the united states, through its representatives, now asks you, in this memorial, for suffrage in this district. petitions from every state in the union have been sent to your honorable body. one of these, signed by thirty-five thousand women, was sent to congress in one large roll; but what is the value of a petition signed by even a million of an unrepresented class? the city papers of the national capital, once bitterly opposed to all effort in this direction, now fully recognize the dignity of the demand, and have ceased to oppose it. one of these said, editorially, to-day, that the vast audiences assembling at our conventions, the large majority being women, and evidently in sympathy with the movement, were proof of the great interest women take in this subject, though many are too timid to openly make the demand. the woman's temperance movement began two years ago as a crusade of prayer and song, and the women engaged therein have now resolved themselves into a national organization, whose second convention, held in october last, numbering delegates from twenty-two states, almost unanimously passed a resolution demanding the ballot to aid them in their temperance work. we who make our constant demand for suffrage, knew that these women were in process of education, and would soon be forced to ask for the key to all reform. the ballot says yes or no to all questions. without it women are prohibited from practically expressing their opinions. the very fact that the women of this district make this demand of you more urgently than men proves that they desire it more and see its uses better. the men of this district who quietly remain disfranchised have the spirit of slaves, and if asking for the ballot is any proof of fitness for its use, then the women who do ask for it here prove themselves in this respect superior to men, more alive to the interests of this district, and better fitted to administer the government. women who are not interested in questions of reform would soon become so if they possessed the ballot. they are now in the condition we were when we heard of the famine in persia two years ago. our sympathies were aroused for a brief while, but persia was far away, we could render it no certain aid, and the sufferings of the people soon passed from our minds. our approaching centennial celebration is to commemorate the declaration of independence, which was based on individual rights. for ages it was a question where the governing power rightfully belonged; patriarch, priest, and monarch each claimed it by divine right. our country declared it vested in the individual. not only was this clearly stated in the declaration of independence, but the same ground was maintained in the secret proceedings upon framing the constitution. the old confederation was abandoned because it did not secure the independence and safety of the people. it has recently been asked in congressional debates, "what is the grand idea of the centennial?" the answer was, "it is the illustration in spirit and truth of the principles of the declaration of independence and of the constitution." these principles are: _first_--the natural rights of each individual. _second_--the exact equality of these rights. _third_--that rights not delegated are retained by the individual. _fourth_--that no person shall exercise the rights of others without delegated authority. _fifth_--that non-use of rights does not destroy them. rights did not come new-born into the world with the revolution. our fathers were men of middle age before they understood their own rights, but when they did they compelled the recognition of the world, and now the nations of the earth are this year invited to join you in the celebration of these principles of free government. we have special reasons for asking you to secure suffrage to the women of the district of columbia. woman suffrage has been tried in wyoming, and ample testimony of its beneficial results has been furnished, but it is a far distant territory, and those not especially interested will not examine the evidence. it has been tried in utah, but with great opposition on account of the peculiar religious belief and customs of the people. but the district of columbia is directly under the eye of congress. it is the capital of the nation, and three-fifths of the property of the district belongs to the united states. the people of the whole country would therefore be interested in observing the practical workings of this system on national soil. with , more women than men in this district, we call your special attention to the inconsistency and injustice of granting suffrage to a minority and withholding it from a majority, as you have done in the past. if the district is your special ward, then women, being in the majority here, have peculiar claims upon you for a consideration of their rights. the freedom of this country is only half won. the women of to-day have less freedom than our fathers of the revolution, for they were permitted local self-government, while women have no share in local, state, or general government. our memorial calls your attention to the pembina debate in , when senators from eighteen states recognized the right of self-government as inhering in women. one senator said: "i believe women never will enjoy equality with men in taking care of themselves until they have the right to vote." another, "that the question was being considered by a large portion of the people of the united states." when the discussion was concluded and the vote taken, twenty-two senators recorded their votes for woman suffrage in that distant territory. during the debate several senators publicly declared their intention of voting for woman suffrage in the district of columbia whenever the opportunity was presented. these senators recognize the fact that the ballot is not only a right, but that it is opportunity for woman; that it is the one means of helping her to help herself. in asking you to secure the ballot to the women of the district we do not ask you to create a right. that is beyond your power. we ask you to protect them in the exercise of a right. mrs. sara andrews spencer, secretary of the district of columbia woman's franchise association, said: for no legal or political right i have ever claimed in the district of columbia do i ask a stronger, clearer charter than the declaration of independence, and the constitution of the united states as it stood before the fourteenth amendment had entered the minds of men. a judicial decision, rendered by nine men, upon the rights of ten millions of women of this republic, need not, does not, change the convictions of one woman in regard to her own heaven-endowed rights, duties, and responsibilities. we have resorted to all the measures dictated by those who rule over us for securing the freedom to exercise rights which are sacredly our own, rights which are ours by divine inheritance, and which men can neither confer nor take away. we are not only daughters of our father in heaven, and joint heirs with you there; but we are daughters of this republic, and joint heirs with you here. every act of legislation which has been placed as a bar in our way as citizens has been an act of injustice, and every expedient to which we have resorted for securing recognition of citizenship has been with protest against the existence of these acts of unauthorized power. when any man expresses doubt to me as to the use that i or any other woman might make of the ballot if we had it, my answer is, what is that to you? if you have for years defrauded me of my rightful inheritance, and then, as a stroke of policy, or from late conviction, concluded to restore to me my own domain, must i ask you whether i may make of it a garden of flowers, or a field of wheat, or a pasture for kine? if i choose i may counsel with you. if experience has given you wisdom, even of this world, in managing your property and mine, i should be wise to learn from you. but injustice is not wont to yield wisdom; grapes do not grow of thorns, nor figs of thistles. born of the unjust and cruel subjection of woman to man, we have in these united states a harvest of , paupers, , criminals, and such a mighty host of blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane, feeble-minded, and children with tendencies to crime, as almost to lead one to hope for the extinction of the human race rather than for its perpetuation after its own kind. the wisdom of man licenses the dram-shop, and then rears station-houses, jails, and gibbets to provide for the victims. in this district we have teachers of public schools and police officers, and the last report shows that public safety demands a police force of . we have , children of school age; , reasons why i want to vote. we have here , more children of school age than there are seats in all the public schools, and from the swarm of poor, ignorant, and vagrant children, the lists of criminals and paupers are constantly supplied. to provide for these evils there is an annual expenditure of $ , , not including expenses of courts, while for education the annual expenditure is $ , . will you say that the wives and the mothers, the house and homekeepers of this small territory, have no interest in all these things? if dram-shops are licensed and brothels protected, are not our sons, our brothers, tempted and ruined, our daughters lured from their homes, and lost to earth and heaven? long and patiently women have borne wrongs too deep to be put into words; wrongs for which men have provided no redress and have found no remedy. when five years ago, with our social atmosphere poisoned with vices which as women we had no power to remove, men in authority began a series of attempts to fasten upon us by law the huge typical vice of all the ages--the social evil--in a form so degrading to all womanhood that no man, though he were the prince of profligates, would submit to its regulations for a day; then we cried out so that the world heard us. we know the plague is only stayed for a brief while. the hydra-headed monster every now and then lifts a new front, and must be smitten again. four times in four successive years a little company of women of the district have appeared before committees and compelled the discussion and defeat of bills designed to fasten these measures upon the community under the guise of security for public health and morality. the last annual report of the board of health speaks tenderly of the need of protecting vicious men by these regulations, and says: the legalization of houses of ill-fame for so humane a purpose, startling as it may be to the moral sense, has many powerful advocates among the thoughtful, wise, and philanthropic of communities. the report quotes approvingly dr. gross, of philadelphia, who says in behalf of laws to license the social evil: the prejudices which surround the subject must be swept away, and men must march to the front and discharge their duty, however much they may be reproached and abused by the ignorant and foolish. aside from the higher ground of our inherent right to self-government, we declare here and now that the women of this district are not safe without the ballot. our firesides, our liberties are in constant peril, while men who have no concern for our welfare may legislate against our dearest interests. if we would inaugurate any measure of protection for our own sex, we are bound hand and foot by man. the law is his, the treasury is his, the power is his, and he need not even hear our cry, except at his good will and pleasure. if man had legislated justly and wisely for the interests of this district, if its financial condition was sound, its social and moral atmosphere pure, and all was well, there would be some show of reason in your refusing to hazard a new experiment, even though we could demonstrate it to be founded upon eternal justice. but the history of the successive forms of government in the district of columbia is a history of failures. so will it continue to be until you adopt a plan founded upon truly republican principles. when, a few years ago, you put the ballot into the hands of the swarming masses of freedmen who had gathered here with the ignorance and vices of slaves, and refused to enfranchise women, white or colored, you gave this district no fair trial of a republican form of government. you did not even protect the interests of the colored race. you admitted that the colored man was not really free until he held the ballot in his hand, and therefore you enfranchised him and left the woman twice his slave. i know colored women in washington far the superiors, intellectually and morally, of the masses of men, who declare that they now endure wrongs and abuses unknown in slavery. there is not an interest in this district that is not as vital to me as to any man in washington--that is not more vital to me than it can be to any member of this honorable body. as a citizen, seeking the welfare of this community, as a wife and mother desiring the safety of my children, which of you can claim a deeper interest than i in questions of markets, taxes, finance, banks, railroads, highways, the public debt and interest thereon, boards of health, sanitary and police regulations, station-houses (wherein i find many a wreck of womanhood, ruined in her youth and beauty), schools, asylums, and charities? why deny me a voice in any or all of these? do you doubt that i would use the ballot in the interests of order, retrenchment, and reform? do you deny a right of mine, which you will admit i know how to prize, because there are women who do not appreciate its value, do not demand it, possibly might not (any better than men) know how to use it? what a mockery of justice! what a flagrant violation of individual rights! i would cry out against it if no other woman in the land felt the wrong. but among the , , of mothers of , , of children in this country, vast numbers of thoughtful, philanthropic, and pure women have come to see this truth, and desire to express their mother love and home love at the ballot-box! frederick douglass once said: "whole nations have been bathed in blood to establish the simplest possible propositions. for instance, that a man's head is _his_ head; his body is _his_ body; his feet are _his_ feet, and if he chooses to run away with them it is nobody's business"; and all honor to him, he added, "now, these propositions have been established for the colored man. why does not man establish them for woman, his wife, his mother?" determined to surround the colored man with every possible guarantee of protection in the possession of his freedom, congress stopped the wheels of legislation, and made the whole country wait, while day after day and night after night his friends fought inch by inch the ground for the civil rights bill. during that debate senator frelinghuysen said: when i took the oath as senator, i took the oath to support the constitution of the united states, which declares equality for all: and in advocating this bill i am doing my sworn duty in endeavoring to secure equal rights for every citizen of the united states. but where slept his "sworn duty" when he recorded his vote in the senate against woman suffrage? with marvelous inconsistency, as a reason for opposing woman suffrage, during the pembina debate, may , , senator merrimon said of the relation of women to the constitution of the united states: they have sustained it under all circumstances with their love, their hands, and their hearts; with their smiles and their tears they have educated their children to live for it, and to die for it. therefore the honorable gentleman denies them the right to vote. upon the civil rights bill, senator howe said: i do not know but what the passage of this bill will break up the common schools. i admit that i have some fear on that point. every step of this terrible march has been met with a threat; but let justice be done although the common schools and the heavens do fall. in reply to the point made by mr. stockton that the people of the united states would not accept this bill, mr. howe said: i would not turn back if i knew that of the forty million people of the united states not one million would sustain it. if this generation does not accept it there is a generation to come that will accept it. what does this provide? not that the black man should be helped on his way; not at all; but only that, as he staggers along, he shall not be retarded, shall not be tripped up and made to fall. brave and tender words these for our black brother; but see how prone men are to invert truth, justice, and mercy in dealing with women. during the pembina debate, senator merrimon said: i know there are a few women in the country who complain; but those who complain, compared with those who do not complain, are as one to a million. as a literal fact, the women who have complained, have petitioned, sued, reasoned, plead, have knocked at the doors of your legislatures and courts, are as one to fifty in this country, as we who watch the record know; and even that is a small proportion of those who would, but dare not; who are bound hand and foot, and will be bound until you make them free. but if no others feel the wrong but those who have dared to complain; if the poor, the ignorant, the betrayed, the ruined do not understand the question, and the well-fed and comfortable "have all the rights they want," do you give that for answer to our just demand? what do we ask? not that poor woman "shall be helped on her way"--not at all; but only that, "as she staggers along, she shall not be retarded, shall not be tripped up, shall not be made to fall." and here on this national soil, for the women of this district of columbia--your peculiar wards--i ask you to try the experiment of exact, even-handed justice; to give us a voice in the laws under which we must live, by which we are tried, judged and condemned. i ask it for myself, that i may the better help other women. i ask it for other women, that they may the better help themselves. as you hope for justice and mercy in your hour of need, may you hear and answer. rev. olympia brown, of connecticut; belva a. lockwood, of washington; and phoebe couzins, of st. louis, also addressed the committees; enforcing their arguments with wit, humor, pathos and eloquence. on her way home from washington, mrs. gage stopped in philadelphia to secure rooms for the national association during the centennial summer, and decided upon carpenter hall, in case it could be obtained. this hall belongs to the carpenter company of philadelphia, perhaps the oldest existing association of that city, it having maintained an uninterrupted organization from the year , about forty years after the establishment of the colonial government by william penn, and was much in use during the early days of the revolution. the doors of the state house, where the continental congress intended to meet, were found closed against it; but the carpenter company, numbering many eminent patriots, offered its hall for their use; and here met the first continental congress, september , . john adams, describing its opening ceremonies, said: here was a scene worthy of the painter's art. washington was kneeling there, and randolph, rutledge, lee and jay; and by their side there stood, bowed in reverence, the puritan patriots of new england, who at that moment had reason to believe that an armed soldiery was wasting their humble households. it was believed that boston had been bombarded and destroyed.[ ] they prayed fervently for america, for the congress, for the province of massachusetts bay, and especially for the town of boston. who can realize the emotions with which in that hour of danger they turned imploringly to heaven for divine interposition. it was enough to melt a heart of stone. i saw the tears gush into the eyes of old, gray, pacific quakers of philadelphia. the action of this congress, which sat but seven weeks, was momentous in the history of the world. "from the moment of their first debate," said de tocqueville, "europe was moved." the convention which in framed the constitution of the united states, also met in carpenter hall in secret session for four months before agreeing upon its provisions. this hall seemed the most appropriate place for establishing the centennial rooms of the national woman suffrage association, but the effort to obtain it proved unavailing[ ] as will be seen by the following correspondence: _to the president and officers of the carpenter company of philadelphia:_ the national woman suffrage association will hold its headquarters in philadelphia the centennial season of , and desires to secure your historic hall for that purpose. we know your habit and custom of denying its use to all societies, yet we make our request because our objects are in accord with the principles which emanated from within its walls a hundred years ago, and we shall use it in carrying out those principles of liberty and equality upon which our government is based. we design to advertise our headquarters to the world, and old carpenter hall, if used by us, would become more widely celebrated as the birth-place of liberty. our work in it would cause it to be more than ever held in reverence by future ages, and pilgrimages by men and women would be made to it as to another mecca shrine. we propose to place a person in charge, with pamphlets, speeches, tracts, etc., and to hold public meetings for the enunciation of our principles and the furtherance of our demands. hoping you will grant this request, i am respectfully yours, matilda joslyn gage, _president of the national woman suffrage association._ two months afterward, the following reply was received: hall, carpenter court, chestnut st.,} philadelphia, april , .} matilda joslyn gage, _president of the woman suffrage association_: your communication asking permission to occupy carpenter hall for your convention was duly received, and presented to the company at a stated meeting held the th instant, when on motion it was unanimously resolved to postpone the subject indefinitely. [extract of minutes]. george watson, _secretary_. it was a matter of no moment to those men that women were soon to assemble in philadelphia, whose love of liberty was as deep, whose patriotism was as pure as that of the fathers who met within its walls in , and whose deliberations had given that hall its historic interest. in the midst of these preparations the usual may anniversary was held: call for the may anniversary, .--the national woman suffrage association will hold its ninth annual convention in masonic hall, new york, corner of sixth avenue and twenty-third street, may , , . this convention occuring in the centennial year of the republic, will be a most important one. the underlying principles of government will this year be discussed as never before; both foreigners and citizens will query as to how closely this country has lived up to its own principles. the long-debated question as to the source of the governing power was answered a century ago by the famous declaration of independence which shook to the foundation all recognized power and proclaimed the right of the individual as above all forms of government; but while thus declaring itself, it has held the women of the nation accountable to laws they have had no share in making, and taught as their one duty, that doctrine of tyrants, unquestioning obedience. liberty to-day is, therefore, but the heritage of one-half the people, and the centennial will be but the celebration of the independence of one-half the nation. the men alone of this country live in a republic, the women enter the second hundred years of national life as political slaves. that no structure is stronger than its weakest point is a law of mechanics that will apply equally to government. in so far as this government has denied justice to woman, it is weak, and preparing for its own downfall. all the insurrections, rebellions, and martyrdoms of history have grown out of the desire for liberty, and in woman's heart this desire is as strong as in man's. at every vital time in the nation's life, men and women have worked together; everywhere has woman stood by the side of father, brother, husband, son in defense of liberty; without her aid the republic could never have been established; and yet women are still suffering under all the oppressions complained of in ; which can only be remedied by securing impartial suffrage to all citizens without distinction of sex. all persons who believe republican principles should be carried out in spirit and in truth, are invited to be present at the may convention. matilda joslyn gage, _president_. susan b. anthony, _chairman executive committee_. this may anniversary, commencing on the same day with the opening of the centennial exhibition, was marked with more than usual earnestness. as popular thought naturally turned with increasing interest at such an hour to the underlying principles of government, woman's demand for political equality received a new impulse. the famous smith sisters, of glastonbury, connecticut, attended this convention, and were most cordially welcomed. the officers[ ] for the centennial year were chosen and a campaign[ ] and congressional[ ] committee appointed to take charge of affairs at philadelphia and washington. the resolutions show the general drift of the discussions:[ ] whereas, the right of self-government inheres in the individual before governments are founded, constitutions framed, or courts created; and whereas, governments exist to protect the people in the enjoyment of their natural rights, and when any government becomes destructive of this end, it is the right of the people to resist and abolish it; and whereas, the women of the united states, for one hundred years, have been denied the exercise of their natural right of self-government and self-protection; therefore, _resolved_, that it is the natural right and most sacred duty of the women of these united states to rebel against the injustice, usurpation and tyranny of our present government. whereas, the men of rebelled against a government which did not claim to be of the people, but, on the contrary, upheld the "divine right of kings"; and whereas, the women of this nation to-day, under a government which claims to be based upon individual rights, to be "of the people, by the people, and for the people," in an infinitely greater degree are suffering all the wrongs which led to the war of the revolution; and whereas, the oppression is all the more keenly felt because our masters, instead of dwelling in a foreign land, are our husbands, our fathers, our brothers and our sons; therefore, _resolved_, that the women of this nation, in , have greater cause for discontent, rebellion and revolution, than the men of . _resolved_, that with abigail adams, in , we believe that "the passion for liberty cannot be strong in the breasts of those who are accustomed to deprive their fellow-creatures of liberty"; that, as abigail adams predicted, "we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by laws in which we have no voice or representation." whereas, we believe in the principles of the declaration of independence and of the constitution of the united states, and believe a true republic is the best form of government in the world; and whereas, this government is false to its underlying principles in denying to women the only means of self-government, the ballot; and whereas, one-half of the citizens of this nation, after a century of boasted liberty, are still political slaves; therefore, _resolved_, that we protest against calling the present centennial celebration a celebration of the independence of the people of the united states. _resolved_, that we meet in our respective towns and districts on the fourth of july, , and declare ourselves no longer bound to obey laws in whose making we have had no voice, and, in presence of the assembled nations of the world gathered on this soil to celebrate our nation's centennial, demand justice for the women of this land. whereas, the men of this nation have established for men of all nations, races and color, on this soil, at the cost of countless lives, the proposition (in the language of frederick douglass) "that a man's head is his head, his body is his body, his feet are his feet"; therefore, _resolved_, that justice, equity and chivalry demand that man at once establish for his wife and mother the corresponding proposition, that a woman's head is her head, her body is her body, her feet are her feet, and that all ownership and mastery over her person, property, conscience, and liberty of speech and action, are in violation of the supreme law of the land. _resolved_, that we rejoice in the resistance of julia and abby smith, abby kelly foster, sarah e. wall and many more resolute women in various parts of the country, to taxation without representation. _resolved_, that the thanks of the national woman suffrage association are hereby tendered to hon. a. a. sargent, of california, for his earnest words in behalf of woman suffrage on the floor of the united states senate, jan. , ; and to hon. n. p. banks, of massachusetts, for his appeal in behalf of the centennial woman suffrage memorial in the united states house of representatives, march , . _resolved_, that the repeated attempts to license the social evil are a practical confession of the weakness, profligacy and general unfitness of men to legislate for women, and should be regarded with alarm as a proof that their firesides and liberties are in constant peril while men alone make and execute the laws of this country. whereas, there are , more women than men in the district of columbia, and no form of government for said district has allowed women any voice in making the laws under which they live; therefore, _resolved_, that in this centennial year the congress of the united states having exclusive jurisdiction over that territory should establish a truly republican form of government by granting equal suffrage to the men and women of the district of columbia. immediately at the close of the may convention mrs. gage again went to philadelphia to complete the arrangements in regard to the centennial headquarters. large and convenient rooms were soon found upon arch street, terms agreed upon and a lease drawn, when it transpired that a husband's consent and signature must be obtained, although the property was owned by a woman, as by the laws of pennsylvania a married woman's property is under her husband's control. although arrangements for this room had been made with the real owner, the terms being perfectly satisfactory to her, the husband refused his ratification, tearing up the lease, with abuse of the women who claimed control of their own property, and a general defiance of all women who dared work for the enfranchisement of their sex. thus again were women refused rooms in philadelphia in which to enter their protest against the tyranny of this republic, and for the same reason--they were slaves. had the patriots of the revolutionary period asked rooms of king george, in which to foster their treason to his government, the refusal could have been no more positive than in these cases. the quarters finally obtained were very desirable; fine large parlors on the first floor, on chestnut street, at the fashionable west end, directly opposite the young men's christian association. the other members of the committee being married ladies, miss anthony, as a _feme sole_, was alone held capable of making a contract, and was therefore obliged to assume the pecuniary responsibility of the rooms. thus it is ever the married women who are more especially classed with lunatics, idiots and criminals, and held incapable of managing their own business. it has always been part of the code of slavery, that the slave had no right to property; all his earnings and gifts belonging by law, to the master. married women come under this same civil code. the following letter was extensively circulated and published in all the leading journals: national woman suffrage parlors, } , chestnut street, philadelphia, pa. } the national woman suffrage association has established its centennial headquarters in philadelphia, at , chestnut street. the parlors, in charge of the officers of the association, are devoted to the special work of the year, pertaining to the centennial celebration and the political party conventions; also to calls, receptions, conversazioni, etc. on the table a centennial autograph book receives the names of visitors. friends at a distance, both men and women, who cannot call, are invited to send their names, with date and residence, accompanied by a short expressive sentiment and a contribution toward expenses. in the rooms are books, papers, reports and decisions, speeches, tracts, and photographs of distinguished women; also mottoes and pictures expressive of woman's condition. in addition to the parlor gatherings, meetings and conventions will be held during the season in various halls and churches throughout the city. on july fourth, while the men of this nation and the world are rejoicing that "all men are free and equal" in the united states, a declaration of rights for women will be issued from these headquarters, and a protest against calling this centennial a celebration of the independence of the people, while one-half are still political slaves. let the women of the whole land, on that day, in meetings, in parlors, in kitchens, wherever they may be, unite with us in this declaration and protest. and, immediately thereafter, send full reports, in manuscript or print, of their resolutions, speeches and action, for record in our centennial book, that the world may see that the women of know and feel their political degradation no less than did the men of . the first woman's rights convention the world ever knew, called by lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton, met at seneca falls, n. y., july , , . in commemoration of the twenty-eighth anniversary of that event, the national woman suffrage association will hold in ---- hall, philadelphia, july , , of the present year, a grand mass convention, in which eminent reformers from the new and old world will take part. friends are especially invited to be present on this historic occasion. matilda joslyn gage, _chairman executive committee_. susan b. anthony, _corresponding secretary_. from these headquarters numberless documents were issued during the month of june. as the presidential nominating conventions were soon to meet, letters were addressed to both the republican and democratic parties, urging them to recognize the political rights of women in their platforms. thousands of copies of these letters were scattered throughout the nation: _to the president and members of the national republican convention, cincinnati, o., june , ._ gentlemen: the national woman suffrage association asks you to place in your platform the following plank: _resolved_, that the right to the use of the ballot inheres in every citizen of the united states; and we pledge ourselves to secure the exercise of this right to all citizens, irrespective of sex. in asking the insertion of this plank, we propose no change of fundamental principles. our question is as old as the nation. our government was framed on the political basis of the consent of the governed. and from july , , until the present year, , the nation has constantly advanced toward a fuller practice of our fundamental theory, that the governed are the source of all power. your nominating convention, occurring in this centennial year of the republic, presents a good opportunity for the complete recognition of these first principles. our government has not yet answered the end for which it was framed, while one-half the people of the united states are deprived of the right of self-government. before the revolution, great britain claimed the right to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever; the men of this nation now as unjustly claim the right to legislate for women in all cases whatsoever. the call for your nominating convention invites the coöperation of "all voters who desire to inaugurate and enforce the rights of every citizen, including the full and free exercise of the right of suffrage." women are citizens; declared to be by the highest legislative and judicial authorities; but they are citizens deprived of "the full and free exercise of the right of suffrage." your platform of declared "the republican party mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of the nation for their noble devotion to the cause of freedom." devotion to freedom is no new thing for the women of this nation. from the earliest history of our country, woman has shown herself as patriotic as man in every great emergency in the nation's life. from the revolution to the present hour, woman has stood by the side of father, husband, son and brother in defense of liberty. the heroic and self-sacrificing deeds of the women of this republic, both in peace and war, must not be forgotten. together men and women have made this country what it is. and to-day, in this one-hundredth year of our existence, the women--as members of the nation--as citizens of the united states--ask national recognition of their right of suffrage. the declaration of independence struck a blow at every existent form of government, by declaring the individual the source of all power. upon this one newly proclaimed truth our nation arose. but if states may deny suffrage to any class of citizens, or confer it at will upon any class--as according to the minor-happersett decision of the supreme court--a decision rendered under the auspices of the republican party against suffrage as a constituent element of united states citizenship--we then possess no true national life. if states can deny suffrage to citizens of the united states, then states possess more power than the united states, and are more truly national in the character of their governments. national supremacy does not chiefly mean power "to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce"; it means national protection and security in the exercise of the right of self-government, which comes alone, by and through the use of the ballot. even granting the premise of the supreme-court decision that "the constitution of the united states does not confer suffrage on any one"; our national life does not date from that instrument. the constitution is not the original declaration of rights. it was not framed until eleven years after our existence as a nation, nor fully ratified until nearly fourteen years after the commencement of our national life. this centennial celebration of our nation's birth does not date from the constitution, but from the declaration of independence. the declared purpose of the civil war was the settlement of the question of supremacy between the states and the united states. the documents sent out by the republican party in this present campaign, warn the people that the democrats intend another battle for state sovereignty, to be fought this year at the ballot-box. the national woman suffrage association calls your attention to the fact that the republican party has itself reopened this battle, and now holds the anomalous position of having settled the question of state sovereignty in the case of black men, and again opened it, through the minor-happersett decision, not only in the case of women citizens, but also in the case of men citizens, for all other causes save those specified in the fifteenth amendment. your party has yet one opportunity to retrieve its position. the political power of this country has always shown itself superior to the judicial power--the latter ever shaping and basing its decisions on the policy of the dominant party. a pledge, therefore, by your convention to secure national protection in the enjoyment of perfect equality of rights, civil and political, to all citizens, will so define the policy of the republican party as to open the way to a full and final adjustment of this question on the basis of united states supremacy. aside from the higher motive of justice, we suggest your adoption of this principle of equal rights to women, as a means of securing your own future existence. the party of reform in this country is the party that lives. the party that ceases to represent the vital principles of truth and justice dies. if you would save the life of the republican party you should now take broad national ground on this question of suffrage. by this act you will do most to promote the general welfare, secure the blessings of liberty to yourselves and your posterity, and establish on this continent a genuine republic that shall know no class, caste, race, or sex--where all the people are citizens, and all citizens are equal before the law. matilda joslyn gage, _chairman executive committee_. susan b. anthony, _corresponding secretary_. _centennial headquarters_, , chestnut street, _philadelphia_, june , . _to the president and members of the national democratic convention assembled at st. louis, june , _: gentlemen: in reading the call for your convention, the national woman suffrage association was gratified to find that your invitation was not limited to voters, but cordially extended to all citizens of the united states. we accordingly send delegates from our association, asking for them a voice in your proceedings, and also a plank in your platform declaring the political rights of women. women are the only class of citizens still wholly unrepresented in the government, and yet we possess every qualification requisite for voters in the several states. women possess property and education; we take out naturalization papers and passports; we preëmpt lands, pay taxes, and suffer for our own violation of the laws. we are neither idiots, lunatics, nor criminals; and, according to your state constitutions, lack but one qualification for voters, namely, sex, which is an insurmountable qualification, and therefore equivalent to a bill of attainder against one-half the people; a power no state nor congress can legally exercise, being forbidden in article , sections , , of our constitution. our rulers may have the right to regulate the suffrage, but they can not abolish it altogether for any class of citizens, as has been done in the case of the women of this republic, without a direct violation of the fundamental law of the land. as you hold the constitution of the fathers to be a sacred legacy to us and our children forever, we ask you to so interpret that _magna charta_ of human rights as to secure justice and equality to all united states citizens irrespective of sex. we desire to call your attention to the violation of the essential principle of self-government in the disfranchisement of the women of the several states, and we appeal to you, not only because as a minority you are in a position to consider principles, but because you were the party first to extend suffrage by removing the property qualification from all white men, and thus making the political status of the richest and poorest citizen the same. that act of justice to the laboring masses insured your power, with but few interruptions, until the war. when the district of columbia suffrage bill was under discussion in , it was a democratic senator (mr. cowan, of pennsylvania) who proposed an amendment to strike out the word "male," and thus extend the right of suffrage to the women, as well as the black men of the district. that amendment gave us a splendid discussion on woman suffrage that lasted three days in the senate of the united states. it was a democratic legislature that secured the right of suffrage to the women of wyoming, and we now ask you in national convention to pledge the democratic party to extend this act of justice to the women throughout the nation, and thus call to your side a new political force that will restore and perpetuate your power for years to come. the republican party gave us a plank in their platform in , pledging themselves to a "respectful consideration" of our demands. but by their constitutional interpretations, legislative enactments, and judicial decisions, so far from redeeming their pledge, they have buried our petitions and appeals under laws in direct opposition to their high-sounding promises and professions. and now ( ) they give us another plank in their platform, approving the "substantial advance made toward the establishment of equal rights for women"; cunningly reminding us that the privileges and immunities we now enjoy are all due to republican legislation--although, under a republican dynasty, inspectors of election have been arrested and imprisoned for taking the votes of women; temperance women arrested and imprisoned for praying in the streets; houses, lands, bonds, and stock of women seized and sold for their refusal to pay unjust taxation--and, more than all, we have this singular spectacle: a republican woman, who had spoken for the republican party throughout the last presidential campaign, arrested by republican officers for voting the republican ticket, denied the right of trial by jury by a republican judge, convicted and sentenced to a fine of one hundred dollars and costs of prosecution; and all this for asserting at the polls the most sacred of all the rights of american citizenship--the right of suffrage--specifically secured by recent republican amendments to the federal constitution. again, the supreme court of the united states, by its recent decision in the minor-happersett case, has stultified its own interpretation of constitutional law. a negro, by virtue of his united states citizenship, is declared under recent amendments a voter in every state in the union; but when a woman, by virtue of her united states citizenship, applies to the supreme court for protection in the exercise of this same right, she is remanded to the state by the unanimous decision of the nine judges on the bench, that "the constitution of the united states does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one." all concessions of privileges or redress of grievances are but mockery for any class that has no voice in the laws and lawmakers. hence we demand the ballot--that scepter of power--in our own hands, as the only sure protection for our rights of person and property under all conditions. if the few may grant or withhold rights at their own pleasure, the many cannot be said to enjoy the blessings of self-government. jefferson said, "the god who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." while the first and highest motive we would urge on you is the recognition in all your action of the great principles of justice and equality that underlie our form of government, it is not unworthy to remind you that the party that takes this onward step will reap its just reward. had you heeded our appeals made to you in tammany hall, new york, in , and again in baltimore, in , your party might now have been in power, as you would have had, what neither party can boast to-day, a live issue on which to rouse the enthusiasm of the people. reform is the watchword of the hour; but how can we hope for honor and honesty in either party in minor matters, so long as both consent to rob one-half the people--their own mothers, sisters, wives and daughters--of their most sacred rights? as a party you defended the right of self-government in louisiana ably and eloquently during the last session of congress. are the rights of women in all the southern states, whose slaves are now their rulers, less sacred than those of the men of louisiana? "the whole art of government," says jefferson, "consists in being honest." it needs but little observation to see that the tide of progress, in all countries, is setting toward the emancipation and enfranchisement of women; and this step in civilization is to be taken in our day and generation. whether the democratic party will take the initiative in this reform, and reap the glory of crowning fifteen million women with the rights of american citizenship, and thereby vindicate our theory of self-government, is the momentous question we ask you to decide in this eventful hour, as we round out the first century of our national life. elizabeth cady stanton, _president_. matilda joslyn gage, _chairman executive committee_. susan b. anthony, _corresponding secretary_. _centennial headquarters_, , chestnut street, _philadelphia_, june , . in addition to these letters delegates were sent to both the republican and democratic conventions. sara andrews spencer and elizabeth boynton harbert were present at the republican convention at cincinnati; both addressed the committee on platform and resolutions, and mrs. spencer, on motion of hon. george f. hoar, was permitted to address the convention. mrs. virginia l. minor and miss phoebe w. couzins were the delegates to the democratic convention at st. louis, and the latter addressed that vast assembly.[ ] for a long time there had been a growing demand for a woman's declaration to be issued on july fourth, . "let us then protest against the falsehood of the nation"; "if the old declaration does not include women, let us have one that will"; "let our rulers be arraigned"; "a declaration of independence for women must be issued on the fourth of july, ," were demands that came from all parts of the country. the officers of the association had long had such action in view, having, at the washington convention, early in , announced their intention of working in philadelphia during the centennial season, and were strengthened in their determination by the hearty indorsement they received. at the may convention in new york, matilda joslyn gage, in her opening speech, announced that a declaration of independence for women would be issued on the fourth of july, . in response to this general feeling, the officers of the national association prepared a declaration of rights of the women of the united states, and articles of impeachment against the government. application was made by the secretary, miss anthony, to general hawley, president of the centennial commission, for seats for fifty officers of the association. general hawley replied that "only officials were invited"--that even his own wife had no place--that merely representatives and officers of the government had seats assigned them. "then" said she, "as women have no share in the government, they are to have no seats on the platform," to which general hawley assented; adding, however, that mrs. gillespie, of the woman's centennial commission, had fifty seats placed at her disposal, thus showing it to be in his power to grant places to women whenever he so chose to do. miss anthony said: "i ask seats for the officers of the national woman suffrage association; we represent one-half the people, and why should we be denied all part in this centennial celebration?" miss anthony, however, secured a reporter's ticket by virtue of representing her brother's paper, _the leavenworth times_, and, ultimately, cards of invitation were sent to four others,[ ] representing the , , disfranchised citizens of the nation. mrs. stanton, as president of the association, wrote general hawley, asking the opportunity to present the woman's protest and bill of rights at the close of the reading of the declaration of independence. just its simple presentation and nothing more. she wrote: we do not ask to read our declaration, only to present it to the president of the united states, that it may become an historical part of the proceedings. mrs. spencer, bearer of this letter, in presenting it to general hawley, said: the women of the united states make a slight request on the occasion of the centennial celebration of the birth of the nation; we only ask that we may silently present our declaration of rights. general hawley replied: it seems a very slight request, but our programme is published, our speakers engaged, our arrangements for the day decided upon, and we can not make even so slight a change as that you ask. mrs. spencer replied: we are aware that your programme is published, your speakers engaged, your entire arrangements decided upon, without consulting with the women of the united states; for that very reason we desire to enter our protest. we are aware that this government has been conducted for one hundred years without consulting the women of the united states; for this reason we desire to enter our protest. general hawley replied: undoubtedly we have not lived up to our own original declaration of independence in many respects. i express no opinion upon your question. it is a proper subject of discussion at the cincinnati convention, at the st. louis convention,, in the senate of the united states, in the state legislatures, in the courts, wherever you can obtain a hearing. but to-morrow we propose to celebrate what we have done the last hundred years; not what we have failed to do. we have much to do in the future. i understand the full significance of your very slight request. if granted, it would be the event of the day--the topic of discussion to the exclusion of all others. i am sorry to refuse so slight a demand; we cannot grant it. general hawley also addressed a letter to mrs. stanton: dear madam: i regret to say it is impossible for us to make any change in our programme, or make any addition to it at this late hour. yours very respectfully, jos. r. hawley, _president u. s. c. c._ as general grant was not to attend the celebration, the acting vice-president, thomas w. ferry, representing the government, was to officiate in his place, and he, too, was addressed by note, and courteously requested to make time for the reception of this declaration. as mr. ferry was a well-known sympathizer with the demands of woman for political rights, it was presumable that he would render his aid. yet he was forgetful that in his position that day he represented, not the exposition, but the government of a hundred years, and he too refused; thus this simple request of woman for a half moment's recognition on the nation's centennial birthday was denied by all in authority.[ ] while the women of the nation were thus absolutely forbidden the right of public protest, lavish preparations were made for the reception and entertainment of foreign potentates and the myrmidons of monarchial institutions. dom pedro, emperor of brazil, a representative of that form of government against which the united states is a perpetual defiance and protest, was welcomed with fulsome adulation, and given a seat of honor near the officers of the day; prince oscar of sweden, a stripling of sixteen, on whose shoulder rests the promise of a future kingship, was seated near. count rochambeau of france, the japanese commissioners, high officials from russia and prussia, from austria, spain, england, turkey, representing the barbarism and semi-civilization of the day, found no difficulty in securing recognition and places of honor upon that platform, where representative womanhood was denied. though refused by their own countrymen a place and part in the centennial celebration, the women who had taken this presentation in hand were not to be conquered. they had respectfully asked for recognition; now that it had been denied, they determined to seize upon the moment when the reading of the declaration of independence closed, to proclaim to the world the tyranny and injustice of the nation toward one-half its people. five officers of the national woman suffrage association, with that heroic spirit which has ever animated lovers of liberty in resistance to tyranny, determined, whatever the result, to present the woman's declaration of rights at the chosen hour. they would not, they dared not sacrifice the golden opportunity to which they had so long looked forward; their work was not for themselves alone, nor for the present generation, but for all women of all time. the hopes of posterity were in their hands and they determined to place on record for the daughters of , the fact that their mothers of had asserted their equality of rights, and impeached the government of that day for its injustice toward woman. thus, in taking a grander step toward freedom than ever before, they would leave one bright remembrance for the women of the next centennial. that historic fourth of july dawned at last, one of the most oppressive days of that terribly heated season. susan b. anthony, matilda joslyn gage, sara andrews spencer, lillie devereux blake and phoebe w. couzins made their way through the crowds under the broiling sun to independence square, carrying the woman's declaration of rights. this declaration had been handsomely engrossed by one of their number, and signed by the oldest and most prominent advocates of woman's enfranchisement. their tickets of admission proved open sesame through the military and all other barriers, and a few moments before the opening of the ceremonies, these women found themselves within the precincts from which most of their sex were excluded. the declaration of was read by richard henry lee, of virginia, about whose family clusters so much of historic fame. the close of his reading was deemed the appropriate moment for the presentation of the woman's declaration. not quite sure how their approach might be met--not quite certain if at this final moment they would be permitted to reach the presiding officer--those ladies arose and made their way down the aisle. the bustle of preparation for the brazilian hymn covered their advance. the foreign guests, the military and civil officers who filled the space directly in front of the speaker's stand, courteously made way, while miss anthony in fitting words presented the declaration. mr. ferry's face paled, as bowing low, with no word, he received the declaration, which thus became part of the day's proceedings; the ladies turned, scattering printed copies, as they deliberately walked down the platform. on every side eager hands were stretched; men stood on seats and asked for them, while general hawley, thus defied and beaten in his audacious denial to women the right to present their declaration, shouted, "order, order!" passing out, these ladies made their way to a platform erected for the musicians in front of independence hall. here on this old historic ground, under the shadow of washington's statue, back of them the old bell that proclaimed "liberty to all the land, and all the inhabitants thereof," they took their places, and to a listening, applauding crowd, miss anthony read[ ] the declaration of rights for women by the national woman suffrage association, july , : while the nation is buoyant with patriotism, and all hearts are attuned to praise, it is with sorrow we come to strike the one discordant note, on this one-hundredth anniversary of our country's birth. when subjects of kings, emperors, and czars, from the old world join in our national jubilee, shall the women of the republic refuse to lay their hands with benedictions on the nation's head? surveying america's exposition, surpassing in magnificence those of london, paris, and vienna, shall we not rejoice at the success of the youngest rival among the nations of the earth? may not our hearts, in unison with all, swell with pride at our great achievements as a people; our free speech, free press, free schools, free church, and the rapid progress we have made in material wealth, trade, commerce and the inventive arts? and we do rejoice in the success, thus far, of our experiment of self-government. our faith is firm and unwavering in the broad principles of human rights proclaimed in , not only as abstract truths, but as the corner stones of a republic. yet we cannot forget, even in this glad hour, that while all men of every race, and clime, and condition, have been invested with the full rights of citizenship under our hospitable flag, all women still suffer the degradation of disfranchisement. the history of our country the past hundred years has been a series of assumptions and usurpations of power over woman, in direct opposition to the principles of just government, acknowledged by the united states as its foundation, which are: _first_--the natural rights of each individual. _second_--the equality of these rights. _third_--that rights not delegated are retained by the individual. _fourth_--that no person can exercise the rights of others without delegated authority. _fifth_--that the non-use of rights does not destroy them. and for the violation of these fundamental principles of our government, we arraign our rulers on this fourth day of july, ,--and these are our articles of impeachment: _bills of attainder_ have been passed by the introduction of the word "male" into all the state constitutions, denying to women the right of suffrage, and thereby making sex a crime--an exercise of power clearly forbidden in article i, sections , , of the united states constitution. _the writ of habeas corpus_, the only protection against _lettres de cachet_ and all forms of unjust imprisonment, which the constitution declares "shall not be suspended, except when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety demands it," is held inoperative in every state of the union, in case of a married woman against her husband--the marital rights of the husband being in all cases primary, and the rights of the wife secondary. _the right of trial by a jury of one's peers_ was so jealously guarded that states refused to ratify the original constitution until it was guaranteed by the sixth amendment. and yet the women of this nation have never been allowed a jury of their peers--being tried in all cases by men, native and foreign, educated and ignorant, virtuous and vicious. young girls have been arraigned in our courts for the crime of infanticide; tried, convicted, hanged--victims, perchance, of judge, jurors, advocates--while no woman's voice could be heard in their defense. and not only are women denied a jury of their peers, but in some cases, jury trial altogether. during the war, a woman was tried and hanged by military law, in defiance of the fifth amendment, which specifically declares: "no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases ... of persons in actual service in time of war." during the last presidential campaign, a woman, arrested for voting, was denied the protection of a jury, tried, convicted, and sentenced to a fine and costs of prosecution, by the absolute power of a judge of the supreme court of the united states. _taxation without representation_, the immediate cause of the rebellion of the colonies against great britain, is one of the grievous wrongs the women of this country have suffered during the century. deploring war, with all the demoralization that follows in its train, we have been taxed to support standing armies, with their waste of life and wealth. believing in temperance, we have been taxed to support the vice, crime and pauperism of the liquor traffic. while we suffer its wrongs and abuses infinitely more than man, we have no power to protect our sons against this giant evil. during the temperance crusade, mothers were arrested, fined, imprisoned, for even praying and singing in the streets, while men blockade the sidewalks with impunity, even on sunday, with their military parades and political processions. believing in honesty, we are taxed to support a dangerous army of civilians, buying and selling the offices of government and sacrificing the best interests of the people. and, moreover, we are taxed to support the very legislators and judges who make laws, and render decisions adverse to woman. and for refusing to pay such unjust taxation, the houses, lands, bonds, and stock of women have been seized and sold within the present year, thus proving lord coke's assertion, that "the very act of taxing a man's property without his consent is, in effect, disfranchising him of every civil right." _unequal codes for men and women._ held by law a perpetual minor, deemed incapable of self-protection, even in the industries of the world, woman is denied equality of rights. the fact of sex, not the quantity or quality of work, in most cases, decides the pay and position; and because of this injustice thousands of fatherless girls are compelled to choose between a life of shame and starvation. laws catering to man's vices have created two codes of morals in which penalties are graded according to the political status of the offender. under such laws, women are fined and imprisoned if found alone in the streets, or in public places of resort, at certain hours. under the pretense of regulating public morals, police officers seizing the occupants of disreputable houses, march the women in platoons to prison, while the men, partners in their guilt, go free. while making a show of virtue in forbidding the importation of chinese women on the pacific coast for immoral purposes, our rulers, in many states, and even under the shadow of the national capitol, are now proposing to legalize the sale of american womanhood for the same vile purposes. _special legislation for woman_ has placed us in a most anomalous position. women invested with the rights of citizens in one section--voters, jurors, office-holders--crossing an imaginary line, are subjects in the next. in some states, a married woman may hold property and transact business in her own name; in others, her earnings belong to her husband. in some states, a woman may testify against her husband, sue and be sued in the courts; in others, she has no redress in case of damage to person, property, or character. in case of divorce on account of adultery in the husband, the innocent wife is held to possess no right to children or property, unless by special decree of the court. but in no state of the union has the wife the right to her own person, or to any part of the joint earnings of the co-partnership during the life of her husband. in some states women may enter the law schools and practice in the courts; in others they are forbidden. in some universities girls enjoy equal educational advantages with boys, while many of the proudest institutions in the land deny them admittance, though the sons of china, japan and africa are welcomed there. but the privileges already granted in the several states are by no means secure. the right of suffrage once exercised by women in certain states and territories has been denied by subsequent legislation. a bill is now pending in congress to disfranchise the women of utah, thus interfering to deprive united states citizens of the same rights which the supreme court has declared the national government powerless to protect anywhere. laws passed after years of untiring effort, guaranteeing married women certain rights of property, and mothers the custody of their children, have been repealed in states where we supposed all was safe. thus have our most sacred rights been made the football of legislative caprice, proving that a power which grants as a privilege what by nature is a right, may withhold the same as a penalty when deeming it necessary for its own perpetuation. _representation of woman_ has had no place in the nation's thought. since the incorporation of the thirteen original states, twenty-four have been admitted to the union, not one of which has recognized woman's right of self-government. on this birthday of our national liberties, july fourth, , colorado, like all her elder sisters, comes into the union with the invidious word "male" in her constitution. _universal manhood suffrage_, by establishing an aristocracy of sex, imposes upon the women of this nation a more absolute and cruel depotism than monarchy; in that, woman finds a political master in her father, husband, brother, son. the aristocracies of the old world are based upon birth, wealth, refinement, education, nobility, brave deeds of chivalry; in this nation, on sex alone; exalting brute force above moral power, vice above virtue, ignorance above education, and the son above the mother who bore him. _the judiciary above the nation_ has proved itself but the echo of the party in power, by upholding and enforcing laws that are opposed to the spirit and letter of the constitution. when the slave power was dominant, the supreme court decided that a black man was not a citizen, because he had not the right to vote; and when the constitution was so amended as to make all persons citizens, the same high tribunal decided that a woman, though a citizen, had not the right to vote. such vacillating interpretations of constitutional law unsettle our faith in judicial authority, and undermine the liberties of the whole people. these articles of impeachment against our rulers we now submit to the impartial judgment of the people. to all these wrongs and oppressions woman has not submitted in silence and resignation. from the beginning of the century, when abigail adams, the wife of one president and mother of another, said, "we will not hold ourselves bound to obey laws in which we have no voice or representation," until now, woman's discontent has been steadily increasing, culminating nearly thirty years ago in a simultaneous movement among the women of the nation, demanding the right of suffrage. in making our just demands, a higher motive than the pride of sex inspires us; we feel that national safety and stability depend on the complete recognition of the broad principles of our government. woman's degraded, helpless position is the weak point in our institutions to-day; a disturbing force everywhere, severing family ties, filling our asylums with the deaf, the dumb, the blind; our prisons with criminals, our cities with drunkenness and prostitution; our homes with disease and death. it was the boast of the founders of the republic, that the rights for which they contended were the rights of human nature. if these rights are ignored in the case of one-half the people, the nation is surely preparing for its downfall. governments try themselves. the recognition of a governing and a governed class is incompatible with the first principles of freedom. woman has not been a heedless spectator of the events of this century, nor a dull listener to the grand arguments for the equal rights of humanity. from the earliest history of our country woman has shown equal devotion with man to the cause of freedom, and has stood firmly by his side in its defense. together, they have made this country what it is. woman's wealth, thought and labor have cemented the stones of every monument man has reared to liberty. and now, at the close of a hundred years, as the hour-hand of the great clock that marks the centuries points to , we declare our faith in the principles of self-government; our full equality with man in natural rights; that woman was made first for her own happiness, with the absolute right to herself--to all the opportunities and advantages life affords for her complete development; and we deny that dogma of the centuries, incorporated in the codes of all nations--that woman was made for man--her best interests, in all cases, to be sacrificed to his will. we ask of our rulers, at this hour, no special favors, no special privileges, no special legislation. we ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the united states, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever.[ ] the declaration was warmly applauded at many points, and after scattering another large number of printed copies, the delegation hastened to the convention of the national association. a meeting had been appointed for twelve, in the old historic first unitarian church, where rev. wm. h. furness preached for fifty years, but whose pulpit was then filled by joseph may, a son of rev. samuel j. may. to this place the ladies made their way to find the church crowded with an expectant audience, which greeted them with thanks for what they had just done; the first act of this historic day taking place on the old centennial platform in independence square, the last in a church so long devoted to equality and justice. the venerable lucretia mott, then in her eighty-fourth year, presided. elizabeth cady stanton read the declaration of rights. its reception by the listening audience proclaimed its need and its justice. the reading was followed by speeches upon the various points of the declaration. belva a. lockwood took up the judiciary, showing the way that body lends itself to party politics. matilda joslyn gage spoke upon the writ of _habeas corpus_, showing what a mockery to married women was that constitutional guarantee. lucretia mott reviewed the progress of the reform from the first convention. sara andrews spencer illustrated the evils arising from two codes of morality. mrs. devereux blake spoke upon trial by jury; susan b. anthony upon taxation without representation, illustrating her remarks by incidents of unjust taxation of women during the present year. elizabeth cady stanton spoke upon the aristocracy of sex, and the evils arising from manhood suffrage. judge esther morris, of wyoming, said a few words in regard to suffrage in that territory. mrs. margaret parker, president of the woman suffrage club of dundee, scotland, and of the newly-formed christian woman's international temperance union, said she had seen nothing like this in great britain--it was worth the journey across the atlantic. mr. j. h. raper, of manchester, england, characterized it as the historic meeting of the day, and said the patriot of a hundred years hence would seek for every incident connected with it, and the next centennial would be adorned by the portraits of the women who sat upon that platform. the hutchinsons, themselves of historic fame, were present. they were in their happiest vein, interspersing the speeches with appropriate and felicitous songs. lucretia mott did not confine herself to a single speech, but, in quaker style, whenever the spirit moved made many happy points. when she first arose to speak, a call came from the audience for her to ascend the pulpit in order that she might be seen. as she complied with this request, ascending the long winding staircase into the old-fashioned octagon pulpit, she said, "i am somewhat like zaccheus of old who climbed the sycamore tree his lord to see; i climb this pulpit, not because i am of lofty mind, but because i am short of stature that you may see me." as her sweet and placid countenance appeared above the pulpit, the hutchinsons, by happy inspiration, burst into "nearer, my god, to thee." the effect was marvelous; the audience at once arose, and spontaneously joined in the hymn. phoebe w. couzins, with great pathos, referred to woman's work in the war, and the parade of the grand army of the republic the preceding evening; she said: in such an hour as this, with my soul stirred to its deepest depths, i feel unequal to the task of uttering words befitting the occasion, and to follow the dear saint who has just spoken; how can i? i am but a beginner, and to-day i feel that to sit at the feet of these dear women who have borne the heat and burden of this contest, and to learn of them is the attitude i should assume. it is not the time for argument or rhetoric. it is the time for introspection and prayer. we have come from independence square, where the nation is celebrating its centennial birthday of a masculine freedom. you have just heard from mrs. stanton the reading of woman's declaration of rights; that document has already been presented in engrossed form, tied with the symbolic red, white and blue, to the presiding officer of the day, senator thomas w. ferry, on their platform in yonder square; and the john hampden of our cause, the immortal susan b. anthony, rendered it historic, by reading it from the steps of independence hall, to an immense audience there gathered, that could not gain access to the square or platform. [great applause.] i cannot express to you in fitting language the thoughts and feelings which stirred me as i sat on the platform, awaiting the presentation of that document. we were about to commit an overt act. gen. hawley, president of the centennial commission and manager of the programme, had peremptorily forbidden its presentation. yet in the face of this--in the face of the assembled nation and representatives from the crowned heads of europe, a handful of women actuated by the same high principles as our fathers, stirred by the same desire for freedom, moved by the same impulse for liberty, were to again proclaim the right of self-government; were again to impeach the spirit of king george manifested in our rulers, and declare that taxation without representation is tyranny, that the divine right of one-half of the people to rule the other half is also despotism. as i followed the reading of richard henry lee, and marked the wild enthusiasm of its reception, and remembered that at its close, a document, as noble, as divine, as grand, as historic as that, was to be presented _in silence_; an act, as heroic, as worthy, as sublime, was to be performed in the face of the contemptuous amazement of the assembled world, i trembled with suppressed emotion. when susan anthony arose, with a look of intense pain, yet heroic determination in her face, i silently committed her to the great father who seëth not in part, to strengthen and comfort her heroic heart, and then she was lost to view in the sudden uprising caused by the burst of applause instituted by general hawley in behalf of the brazilian emperor. and thus at the close of the reading of a document which repudiated kings and declared the right of every person to life, to liberty and the pursuit of individual happiness, the american people, applauding a crowned monarch, received _in silence_ the immortal document and protest of its discrowned queens! shall i recount the emotion that swayed me, as i thought of all that woman had done to build up this country; to sustain its unity, to perpetuate its principles; of its self-denying and heroic pilgrim and revolutionary mothers; of the work of woman in the anti-slavery cause; the agony and death of her travail in its second birth for freedom; sustaining the nation by prayers, by self-sacrificing contributions, by patriotic endeavors, by encouraging words; and, reviewing the programme, and all the attendant pageants, remembered that in these grand centennial celebrations, when the nation rounded out its first century, _not a tribute_, not a recognition in any shape, form or manner was paid to woman; that upon the platform, as honored guests, sat those who had been false in the hour of our country's peril; that upon this historic soil, stood the now freeman, once a slave, whose liberty and life were given him at the hands of woman; that the inhabitants of the far off isles of the sea, india, asia, africa, europe, were gladly welcomed as free citizens, while woman, a suppliant beggar, pleaded of one man, invested with autocratic power, for the simple boon of presenting a protest in silence, against her degradation, and was _denied_! i stood yesterday on the corner of broad and chestnut streets, watching the march of the grand army of the republic. as the torn and tattered battle flags came by, all the terrors of that war tragedy suddenly rushed over me, and i sat down and wept. looking again, i saw the car of wounded, soldiers; as in thought i was suddenly transported to the banks of the mississippi i felt the air full of the horrors of the battle of shiloh, and saw two young girls waiting the landing of a steamer that had been dispatched to succor the wounded on that terrible field. they were watching for "mother"--who for the first time had left her home charge, and hushing her own heart's pleadings, heard only her country's call, and gone down to that field of carnage to tenderly care for the soldier. as they boarded the steamer; what a sight met their eyes! maimed, bleeding, dying soldiers by the hundreds, were on cots on deck, on boxes filled with amputated limbs, and the dead were awaiting the last sad rites. like ministering angels walked two women, their mother and the now sainted margaret breckenridge of kentucky, amid these rows of sufferers, with strong nerve and steady arm, comforting the soldier boy, so far from friends and home; binding up the ghastly wound, bathing the feverish brow, smoothing the dying pillow, and with tender mother's prayer and tear, closing the eyes of the dead. the first revelation of war; how it burned our youthful brain! how it moved us to divine compassion, how it stirred us to even give up our mother to the work for years, as we heard the piteous pleading, "don't leave us, mother"--"oh, mother, we can never forget." but alas they _did_ forget! this scene repeated again, and again, during that long conflict, with hundreds of women offering a like service in camp and floating hospital, leaving sweet homes, without money, price or thought of emolument, going to these battle-fields and tenderly nursing the army of the republic to life again; while back of them were tens of thousands other women of the great sanitary army, who, in self-sacrifice at home, were sending lint, bandages, clothing, delicacies of food and raiment of all kinds, by car-load and ship-load, to comfort and ameliorate the sufferings of the grand army of the republic, and yet as i watched its march in this centennial year, its gala day--_not a tribute_ marked its gratitude to her who had proved its savior and friend, in the hour of peril. again, came the colored man in rank and file--and in thought i saw the fifteenth-amendment jubilee, which proclaimed his emancipation. as banner after banner passed me, with the name of garrison, of phillips, of douglass, i looked in vain for the name of harriet beecher stowe, whose one book, "uncle tom's cabin"--did more to arouse the whole world to the horrors of slavery, than did the words or works of any ten men. i searched for a tribute to lucretia mott and other women of that conflict, but none appeared. and so to-day, standing here with heart and brain convulsed with all these memories and scenes, can you wonder that we are stirred to profoundest depths, as we review the base ingratitude of this nation to its women? it has taxed its women, and asked the women, in whose veins flows the blood of their pilgrim and revolutionary mothers, to assist by money, individual effort and presence, to make it a year of jubilee for the proclamation of a ransomed male nationality. zenobia, in gilded chains it may be, but chains nevertheless, marches through the streets of philadelphia to-day, an appendage of the chariot wheels which proclaim the coming of her king, her lord, her master, whether he be white or black, native or foreign-born, virtuous or vile, lettered or unlettered. as the state-house bell, with its inscription, "proclaim liberty--throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof," pealed forth its jubilant reiteration,--the daughters of jefferson, of hancock, of adams, and patrick henry, who have been politically outlawed and ostracized by their own countrymen, here had no liberty proclaimed for them; they are not inhabitants, only sojourners in the land of their fathers, and as the slaves in meek subjection to the will of the master placed the crown of sovereignty on the alien from europe, asia, africa, she is asked to sing in dulcet strains: "the king is dead--long live the king!" and thus to-day we round out the first century of a professed republic,--with woman figuratively representing freedom--and yet all free, save woman. for five long hours of that hot mid-summer's day, that crowded audience listened earnestly to woman's demand for equality of rights before the law. when the convention at last adjourned, the hutchinsons singing, "a hundred years hence,"[ ] it was slowly and reluctantly that the great audience left the house. judged by its immediate influence, it was a wonderful meeting. no elaborate preparations had been made, for not until late on friday evening had it been decided upon, hoping still, as we did, for a recognition in the general celebration on independence square. speakers were not prepared, hardly a moment of thought had been given as to what should be said, but words fitting for the hour came to lips rendered eloquent by the pressure of intense emotion. day after day visitors to the woman suffrage parlors referred to this meeting in glowing terms. ladies from distant states, in philadelphia to visit the exposition, said that meeting was worth the whole expense of the journey. young women with all the attractions of the day and the exposition enticing them, yet said, "the best of all i have seen in philadelphia was that meeting." women to whom a dollar was of great value, said, "as much as i need money, i would not have missed that meeting for a hundred dollars"; while in the midst of conversation visitors would burst forth, "was there _ever_ such a meeting as that in dr. furness' church?" and thus was woman's declaration of rights joyously received. the day was also celebrated by women in convocations of their own all over the country.[ ] an interesting feature of the centennial parlors was an immense autograph book, in which the names of friends to the movement were registered by the thousands, some penned on that historic day and sent from the old world and the new, and others written on the spot during these eventful months. from the tidings of all these enthusiastic assemblies and immense number of letters[ ] received in philadelphia, unitedly demanding an extension of their rights, it was evident that the thinking women of the nation were hopefully waiting in the dawn of the new century for greater liberties to themselves. from "aunt lottie's centennial letters to her nieces and nephews," we give the one describing this occasion: my dears: i suppose i had best tell you in this letter about the fourth of july celebration at the centennial city--at least that portion of it that i know about, and which i would not have missed for the exhibition itself, and which i would not have you miss for all the rest of my letters. i cannot expect you to be as much interested in it as was i, but it is time you were becoming interested in the subject; and, if you live a half century from this time (in less than that, i hope,) you will see that what i am about to relate was, as general hawley admitted it would be, "the event of the occasion." at the commencement of the exhibition, miss susan b. anthony and mrs. matilda joslyn gage came to philadelphia and procured the parlors of , chestnut street for the accommodation of the national woman suffrage association. these rooms were open to the friends of the association, and public receptions were held and well attended every tuesday and friday evening. during these months these two ladies--assisted the latter part of the time by mrs. elizabeth cady stanton--were engaged in preparing a history of the suffrage movement and a declaration of rights to be presented at the great centennial celebration of the fourth of july, . this document is in form like the first declaration of a hundred years ago, handsomely engrossed by mrs. sara andrews spencer, of washington--a lady delegate to the cincinnati republican convention, june . the celebration was held in independence square, just back of the old state-house where the first declaration was signed. there was a great crowd of people collected; a poem was read by bayard taylor and a speech delivered by william m. evarts. but i knew it was useless to go there expecting to hear any portion of either; so i waited until twelve o'clock and then rode down in the cars to dr. furness' church, corner of broad and locust streets, where these ladies were to hold their meeting. the church was full, and the exercises were opened by mrs. mott--the venerable and venerated president--a quaker lady of slight form, attired in a plain, light-silk gown, white muslin neckerchief and cap, after that exquisitely neat and quaint fashion. then the hutchinsons sang a hymn, in which all were requested to join. afterward mrs. stanton came to the front of the pulpit, the house was hushed, to a reverential stillness, and i never yet heard anything so solemn and impressive as her reading of the declaration of rights of the women of the united states. a printed copy had been given me the day before, when between the sessions of the new england american association in the academy of music, where were lucy stone, julia ward howe, rev. antoinette brown blackwell, elizabeth k. churchill and other pleasant-faced, sweet-voiced ladies, i had called at the rooms on chestnut street and folded declarations, for half an hour with mrs. stanton, which they were distributing by post and in every way all over the land. when i read it at home that night i realized its importance, but as the next day (the fourth) was excessively warm, i very nearly gave up going, and then i should have missed the impressiveness of her reading. when she first commenced, her voice seemed choked with emotion. she must have realized what she was doing, as we all knew it was the grandest thing that had been done in a hundred years. thrill after thrill went through my veins, and the whole scene formed a picture that will yet be the subject of artists' pencils and poets' pens. i should have been contented to have had the meeting closed then with that best song of the hutchinsons upon the progress of reform, where the young gentleman was so much applauded for his solo, "when women shall be free." still we were all interested in mrs. spencer's account of her interview with general hawley, and his refusal to permit the silent handing-in of the declaration, which, after her persistence, assuring him "it would not take three minutes," he was obliged to confess was because he was "very well aware it would be the event of the occasion." "immediately," said mrs. spencer, "you cannot imagine what an inspiration we all had to do it; for," added the slight, fair-haired, fluent lady, in a humorous manner that called forth laughter and applause, "i never yet was forbidden by a man to do a thing, but that i resolved to do it." we were also pleased to hear from that earnest woman, susan b. anthony, inspired by the immutable abstract truths of justice and equity. reports say that she has the air of a catholic devotee. she said that in defiance of "the powers that be" she took a place on that platform in independence square, and at the proper time delivered the engrossed copy of the declaration to the hon. t. w. ferry, who received it with a courteous bow; and afterward on the steps of independence hall she read it to an assembled multitude. she had done her centennial day's work for all time; and small wonder that mind and body craved rest after such tension. she is yet under a hundred dollars fine for voting at rochester, and although from her lectures the last six years she has paid $ , indebtedness on _the revolution_, she said she never would have paid that fine had she been imprisoned till now. mrs. lucretia mott, whom the younger hutchinson[ ] assisted into the pulpit--a beautiful sight to see cultured youth supporting refined old age--stated that she went up there, "not because she was higher-minded than the rest, but so that her enfeebled voice might be better heard." the dear old soul is so much stronger than her body, that it would seem that she must have greatly overtasked herself; though an inspired soul has wonderful recuperative forces at command for the temple it inhabits. a goodly number of gentlemen were present at this meeting and that of the day before--three or four of them making short speeches. a mr. raper of england, strongly interested in the temperance and woman suffrage cause, told us that in his country "all women tax-payers voted for guardians of the poor, upon all educational matters, and also upon all municipal affairs. in that respect she was in advance of this professed republic. in england there is an hereditary aristocracy, here, an aristocracy of sex"; or, as the spirited lillie devereux blake who was present once amusingly termed it, of "the bifurcated garment." and now perhaps some materially-minded person will ask, "what are you going to do about it? you can't fight!" forgetting that we are now fighting the greatest of all battles, and that the weapons of woman's warfare, like her nature at its best development, are moral and spiritual. lewise oliver. _philadelphia_, july , . the press of the country commented extensively upon the action of the women: at noon to-day, in the first unitarian church, corner tenth and south, the national woman suffrage association will present the woman's declaration of rights. the association will hold a convention at the same time and place, at which lucretia mott is announced to preside, and several ladies to make speeches. most of the ladies are known as women of ability and earnest apostles of the creed they have espoused for the political enfranchisement of women. their declaration of rights, we do not doubt, will be strongly enforced. these ladies, or some of them, have been assigned places upon the platform at the grand celebration ceremonies to take place in independence square to-day; and they have requested leave to present their declaration of rights in form on that occasion. they do not ask to have it read, we believe, but simply that the statement of their case shall go on file with the general archives of the day, so that the women of may see that their predecessors of did not let the centennial year of independence pass without protest.--[philadelphia _ledger_, july . there was yet another incident of the fourth, in independence square. immediately after the declaration of independence had been read by richard henry lee, and while the strains of the "greeting from brazil" were rising upon the air, two ladies pushed their way vigorously through the crowd and appeared upon the speaker's platform. they were susan b. anthony and matilda joslyn gage. hustling generals aside, elbowing governors, and almost upsetting dom pedro in their charge, they reached vice-president ferry, and handed him a scroll about three feet long, tied with ribbons of various colors. he was seen to bow and look bewildered; but they had retreated in the same vigorous manner before the explanation was whispered about. it appears that they demanded a change of programme for the sake of reading their address; but if so, this was probably a mere form intended for future effect. more than six months ago some of the advocates of female suffrage began in this city their crusade against celebrating the centennial anniversary of a nation wherein women are not permitted to vote. the demand of miss anthony and mrs. gage to be allowed to take part in a commemoration which many of their associates discouraged and denounced, would have been a cool proceeding had it been made in advance. made, as it was, through a very discourteous interruption, it pre-figures new forms of violence and disregard of order which may accompany the participation of women in active partisan politics.--[new york _tribune_. the letter of a correspondent, printed in another column, describing the presentation of a woman's bill of rights, in independence square on the fourth of july, will interest all readers, whether or not they think with the correspondent, that this little affair was the most important of the day's proceedings. we have not a doubt that the persons who were concerned in the affair enjoyed it heartily. those of them who made speeches naturally regarded their eloquence as a thing to stir the nation. all persons who make speeches do. the day was a warm one, and imagination, like the fire-cracker, was on fire. in the heat of the occasion, of course, the women who want to vote and who desire the protection of the writ of _habeas corpus_ against the tyranny of actual or possible husbands, felt that they were making great folios of history; but the sagacity of the press agents and reporters was not at fault. the gatherers of news know very well what they are about; and when they decided to omit this part of the proceedings from their reports, they simply obeyed that instinct upon which their livelihood depends--the instinct, namely, to write only of matters in which the public is interested. the good women who wrote and published this declaration, fancying that they were throwing a bombshell into the gathered crowds of american (male) citizens, are very much in earnest, doubtless, and are entitled--we have platform authority for saying it--to "respectful consideration"; but their movement scarcely rises, as yet at least, to the dignity of a great historical event. there is a prevailing indifference to their cause which is against it. the public is not aroused to a fever heat of indignation over the wrongs which women are everywhere suffering at the hands of the tyrants called husbands. the popular mind is not yet awake to the fact that men usually imprison their wives in back parlors and maltreat them shamefully. the witnesses, wives to wit, refuse to bear testimony to this effect, and the public placidly accepts appearance for reality and believes that the gentlewomen who ride about in their carriages or haunt the shops of our cities in gay apparel are reasonably well contented with their lot in life. in a word, it is not hostility so much as calm indifference with which the advocates of woman suffrage have to contend, and unluckily for them the indifference is very largely feminine.--[new york _evening post_. there is something awful in the thought that should the woman suffragists be continually refused a voice in the affairs of the nation they might at last in a fit of desperation, do what our fathers did, and frame a declaration of independence, no, . just think of an army of crinolines willing to take arms against the tyrant man, and sacrifice their lives, if need be, to carry out their principles! it is easier to ridicule the woman suffrage movement than to answer the arguments advanced by some of the leading advocates of that question. it is only the innate mildness of the position of women in general that has prevented a revolution on this same subject long ago. one hundred thousand such fire-eaters as susan b. anthony or elizabeth cady stanton in the land, could raise a rumpus which would cause the late unpleasantness to pale into insignificance. armed and equipped, what a sight would be presented by an army of strong-minded women! there would be no considering the question of whether the cavalry should ride side-saddle, or _a la_ clothes-pin. such detail would be of too small importance to receive the slightest attention; the more vital questions would be, "how can we slaughter the most men?" "how can we soonest convince the demons that we have rights which must be respected?" the fact is, that if these down-trodden women would take a firm stand in any thing like respectable numbers, and assert their claims to suffrage at the point of the bayonet, they would be allowed everything they asked for. there is not a man in the land who would dare to take up arms against a woman. such a dernier resort on the part of the women would be truly laughable, but the matter would cease to be a joke, if general susan b. anthony, in command of a bloomer regiment, should march into the halls of congress, armed _cap-a-pie_, and demand the passage of a law in behalf of woman suffrage, or the alternative of the general cleaning out of the whole body. there is no immediate prospect of such an event, but "hell hath no furies like a woman scorned." long and loud have been the appeals of the fair sex for recognition at the ballot-box. with that faithful zeal so truly characteristic of her sex, she has each time, for many years in the history of this country, presented herself before the curious gaze of our national conventions, asking, with no little stress of argument, for a woman's plank in the platforms. if she has been heard at all in the framed resolutions of the parties, the feeling prevailing in the conventions has been rather to pacify and put her off, than to grant her request through motives of political policy. if perseverance is to be awarded, the agitators of the woman question will yet carry off the prize they seek. death alone can silence such women as susan b. anthony and cady stanton, and their teachings will live after them and unite others of their sex into strong bands of sisterhood in a common cause. it is safe to say, if events march on in the same direction they have since the calling of the first national woman's convention, another centennial will see woman in the halls of legislation throughout the land, and so far as we are concerned we have no objection, so long as she behaves herself.--[st. louis _dispatch_, july . it is a curious anomaly that the movement for national woman suffrage in our country is most obstructed by women, and that even where the men have doubts, their natural admiration for the gentler sex almost converts them into champions. certain it is that the declaration of rights of the women of the united states that the national woman suffrage association presented to the vice-president, mr. ferry, while he was surrounded by foreign princes and potentates and by the governors of most of the states of the union, faced at the same time by a countless mass of american and foreign visitors--certain it is, we repeat, that when this altogether unique paper was presented by miss susan b. anthony and her sisters, it became a record in the minds and memory of all who witnessed the strange proceeding. and it is a very well written statement, and no doubt one hundred years hence it will be read with an interest not less ecstatic than the enthusiasm of its present pioneers; for, in the interval, these advanced women may have won for their withholding sisters the entire list of male prerogatives. what adds to the force of the present woman suffrage party is the dignity, intelligence and purity of its participants. the venerable lucretia mott; the honest, straightforward susan b. anthony; the cultivated ellen clark sargent (wife of the california senator); the beloved elizabeth cady stanton, and indeed all the names attached to the declaration command our respect. whatever we may think of the points of the declaration itself, with all our sincere admiration of these gentlewomen, increased by the knowledge everywhere that they are ardent republicans, we fear that their weakness, to employ a paradox, consists in their strength, or, in other words, that it is difficult to induce even the most benevolent and sympathetic observer to believe that they are really as much persecuted and oppressed as they claim to be. when the colored man demanded his rights they were given to him because these rights in republican constitutions were regarded as inherent, and also because he had reciprocal duties to discharge, and heavy burdens to carry, and when the southern confederate demanded restitution of his rights, he rested his claim upon the double basis that he had earned forgiveness by his bravery, and that political disfranchisement did not belong to a republican example. fortunately or unfortunately, it is very different with the ladies; and so when they come forward insisting upon rights heretofore accorded to men alone, they must encounter all the differences created by the delicacy of their own sisters and the reverence and love of the men, and the hard fact that these two influences have made it heretofore impossible for women to descend to the arena of politics. having said this much, we present a few of the cardinal points of the woman's declaration of rights laid before the august memorial centennial celebration last tuesday, july , .--[philadelphia _press_, july . on july , the citizens' suffrage association, of philadelphia, joined with the national association in commemorating the first woman's rights convention called by lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton, at seneca falls, n. y., july , --thus celebrating the twenty-eighth anniversary of that historic event. the meeting was presided over by edward m. davis, president of the association, son-in-law of lucretia mott, and one of the most untiring workers in the cause. the venerable lucretia mott addressed the meeting, and miss anthony read letters from several of the earliest and most valued pioneers of the movement: tenafly, new jersey, july , . lucretia mott--_esteemed friend_: it is twenty-eight years ago to-day since the first woman's rights convention ever held assembled in the wesleyan chapel at seneca falls, n. y. could we have foreseen, when we called that convention, the ridicule, persecution, and misrepresentation that the demand for woman's political, religious and social equality would involve; the long, weary years of waiting and hoping without success; i fear we should not have had the courage and conscience to begin such a protracted struggle, nor the faith and hope to continue the work. fortunately for all reforms, the leaders, not seeing the obstacles which block the way, start with the hope of a speedy success. our demands at the first seemed so rational that i thought the mere statement of woman's wrongs would bring immediate redress. i thought an appeal to the reason and conscience of men against the unjust and unequal laws for women that disgraced our statute books, must settle the question. but i soon found, while no attempt was made to answer our arguments, that an opposition, bitter, malignant, and persevering, rooted in custom and prejudice, grew stronger with every new demand made, with every new privilege granted. how well i remember that july day when the leading ladies and gentlemen of the busy town crowded into the little church; lawyers loaded with books, to expound to us the laws; ladies with their essays, and we who had called the convention, with our declaration of rights, speeches, and resolutions. with what dignity james mott, your sainted husband, tall and stately, in quaker costume, presided over our novel proceedings. and your noble sister, martha c. wright, was there. her wit and wisdom contributed much to the interest of our proceedings, and her counsel in a large measure to what success we claimed for our first convention. while so many of those early friends fell off through indifference, fear of ridicule and growing conservatism, she remained through these long years of trial steadfast to the close of a brave, true life. she has been present at nearly every convention, with her encouraging words and generous contributions, and being well versed in cushing's manual, has been one of our chief presiding officers. and my heart is filled with gratitude, even at this late day, as i recall the earnestness and eloquence with which frederick douglass advocated our cause, though at that time he had no rights himself that any white man was bound to respect. i marvel now, that in our inexperience the interest was so well sustained through two entire days, and that when the meeting adjourned everybody signed the declaration and went home feeling that a new era had dawned for woman. what had been done and said seemed so preëminently wise and proper that none of us thought of being ridiculed, ostracised, or suspected of evil. but what was our surprise and chagrin to find ourselves, in a few days, the target for the press of the nation; the new york _tribune_ being our only strong arm of defense. looking over these twenty-eight years, i feel that what we have achieved, as yet, bears no proportion to what we have suffered in the daily humiliation of spirit from the cruel distinctions based on sex. though our state laws have been essentially changed, and positions in the schools, professions, and world of work secured to woman, unthought of thirty years ago, yet the undercurrent of popular thought, as seen in our social habits, theological dogmas, and political theories, still reflects the same customs, creeds, and codes that degrade women in the effete civilizations of the old world. educated in the best schools to logical reasoning, trained to liberal thought in politics, religion and social ethics under republican institutions, american women cannot brook the discriminations in regard to sex that were patiently accepted by the ignorant in barbarous ages as divine law. and yet subjects of emperors in the old world, with their narrow ideas of individual rights, their contempt of all womankind, come here to teach the mothers of this republic their true work and sphere. such men as carl schurz, breathing for the first time the free air of our free land, object to what we consider the higher education of women, fitting them for the trades and professions, for the sciences and arts, and self-complacently point lucretia mott, maria mitchell, harriet beecher stowe, susan b. anthony, to their appropriate sphere, as housekeepers with a string of keys, like madam bismark, dangling around their waists. the rev. j. g. holland, the tupper of our american literature, thanks his creator that woman has no specialty. she was called into being for man's happiness and interest--his helpmeet--to wait and watch his movements, to second his endeavors, to fight the hard battle of life behind him whose brain may be dizzy with excess, whose limbs may be paralyzed, or if sound in body, may be without aim or ambition, without plans or projects, destitute of executive ability or good judgment in the business affairs of life. and such sentimentalists, after demoralizing women with their twaddle, discourage our demand for the right of suffrage by pointing us to the fact that the majority of women are indifferent to this movement in their behalf. suppose they are; have not the masses of all oppressed classes been apathetic and indifferent until partial success crowned the enthusiasm of the few? carl schurz would not have been exiled from his native land could he have roused the majority of his countrymen to the same love of liberty which burned in his own soul. were his dreams of freedom less real because the stolid masses were not awake to their significance? shall a soul that accepts martyrdom for a principle be told he is sacrificing himself to a shadow because the multitude can neither see nor appreciate the idea? i do not feel like rejoicing over any privileges already granted to my sex, until all our rights are conceded and secured and the principle of equality recognized and proclaimed, for every step that brings us to a more equal plane with man but makes us more keenly feel the loss of those rights we are still denied--more susceptible to the insults of his assumptions and usurpations of power. as i sum up the indignities toward women, as illustrated by recent judicial decisions--denied the right to vote, denied the right to practice in the supreme court, denied jury trial--i feel the degradation of sex more bitterly than i did on that july , , and never more than in listening to your speech in philadelphia on the fourth of july, our nation's centennial birthday, remembering that neither years nor wisdom, brave words nor noble deeds, could secure political honor or call forth national homage for women. let it be remembered by our daughters in future generations that lucretia mott, in the eighty-fourth year of her age, asked permission, as the representative woman of this great movement for the enfranchisement of her sex, to present at the centennial celebration of our national liberties, woman's declaration of rights, and was refused! this was the "respectful consideration" vouchsafed american women at the close of the first century of our national life. may we now safely prophesy justice, liberty, equality for our daughters ere another centennial birthday shall dawn upon us! sincerely yours, elizabeth cady stanton. detroit, july , . _to lucretia mott, elizabeth cady stanton, mary ann mcclintock and daughters, amy post, and all associated with them and myself in the first woman's rights convention, held in seneca falls, n. y., july , , as well as to our later and present associates, greeting:_ not able to be with you in your celebration of the nineteenth, i will yet give evidence that i prize your remembrance of our first assemblage and of our earliest work. that is, and will ever be as the present is a memorable year; and may this be memorable too for the same reason, a brave step in advance for human freedom. i would that it could be a conclusive step in legislation for the political freedom of the women of the nation. for it is only in harmony with reason and experience to predict that the men as well as the women of the near future will rejoice if this centennial year is thus marked and glorified by so grand a deed. we may well congratulate each other and have satisfaction in knowing that we have changed the public sentiment and the laws of many states by our advocacy and labors. we also know that while helping the growth of our own souls, we have set many women thinking and reading on this vital question, who in turn have discussed it in private and public, and thus inspired others. so that at this present time few who have examined can deny our claim. but we are grateful to remember many women who needed no arguments, whose clear insight and reason, pronounced in the outset that a woman's soul was as well worth saving as a man's; that her independence and free choice are as necessary and as valuable to the public virtue and welfare; who saw and still see in both, equal children of a father who loves and protects all. men do not need to be convinced of the righteousness of entire freedom for us; they have long been convinced of its justice; they confess that it is only expediency which makes them withhold that which they profess is precious to them. we await only an awakened conscience and an enlarged statesmanship. i bid you and the women of the republic god-speed, and close in the language of one who went before us, mary wollstonecraft, who did so much in a thoughtless age to bring both men and women back to virtue and religion. she says: "contending for the rights of woman, my main argument is built on this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue; for truth must be common to all or it will be inefficacious with respect to its influence in general practice. and how can woman be expected to coöperate unless she know why she ought to be virtuous; unless freedom strengthen her reason till she comprehends her duty and sees in what manner it is connected with her real good? if children are to be educated to understand the true principle of patriotism, their mother must be a patriot; and the love of mankind from which an orderly train of virtues spring, can only be produced by considering the moral and civil interests of mankind; but the education and situation of woman at present, shuts her out from such investigations." with the greatest possible interest in your celebration and deliberations, and assuring you that i shall be with you in thought and spirit, i am most earnestly and cordially yours, catharine a. f. stebbins. rochester, n. y., june , . my dear susan anthony: i thank thee most deeply for the assurance of a welcome to your deliberative councils in our country's centennial year, to reannounce our oft-repeated protest against bondage to tyrant law. most holy cause! woman's equality, why so long denied?... i was ready at the first tap of the drum that sounded from that hub of our country, seneca falls, in , calling for an assembly of men and women to set forth and remonstrate against the legal usurpation of our rights.... i cannot think of anything that would give me as much pleasure as to be able to meet with you at this time. i am exceedingly glad that you appreciate the blessings of frequent visits and wise counsel from our beloved and venerated pioneer, lucretia mott. i hope her health and strength will enable her to see and enjoy the triumphant victory of this work, and i wish you all the blessings of happiness that belong to all good workers, and my love to them all as if named. amy post. pomo, mendocino co., california, june , . july , , our revolutionary fathers--in convention assembled--declared their independence of the mother country; solemnly asserted the divine right of self-government and its relation to constituted authority. with liberty their shibboleth, the colonies triumphed in their long and fierce struggle with the mother country, and established an independent government. they adopted a "bill of rights" embodying their ideal of a free government. with singular inconsistency almost their first act, while it secured to one-half the people of the body politic the right to tax and govern themselves, subjected the other half to the very oppression which had culminated in the rebellion of the colonies, "taxation without representation," and the inflictions of an authority to which they had not given their consent. the constitutional provision which enfranchised the male population of the new state and secured to it self-governing rights, disfranchised its women, and eventuated in a tyrannical use of power, which, exercised by husbands, fathers, and brothers, is infinitely more intolerable than the despotic acts of a foreign ruler. as if left ignobly to illustrate the truths of their noble declarations, no sooner did the enfranchised class enter upon the exercise of their usurped powers than they proceeded to alienate from the mothers of humanity rights declared to be inseparable from humanity itself! had they thrust the british yoke from the necks of their wives and daughters as indignantly as they thrust it from their own, the legal subjection of the women of to-day would not stand out as it now does--the reproach of our republican government. as if sons did not follow the condition of the mothers--as if daughters had no claim to the birthright of the fathers--they established for disfranchised woman a "dead line," by retaining the english common law of marriage, which, unlike that of less liberal european governments, converts the marriage altar into an executioner's block and recognizes woman as a wife only when so denuded of personal rights that in legal phrase she is said to be--"dead in law"! more considerate in the matter of forms than the highwayman who kills that he may rob the unresisting dead, our gallant fathers executed women who must need cross the line of human happiness--legally; and administered their estate; and decreed the disposition of their defunct personalities in legislative halls; only omitting to provide for the matrimonial crypt the fitting epitaph: "here lies the relict of american freedom--taxed to pauperism, loved to death!" with all the modification of the last quarter, of a century, our english law of marriage still invests the husband with a sovereignty almost despotic over his wife. it secures to him her personal service and savings, and the control and custody of her person as against herself. having thus reduced the wife to a dead pauper owing service to her husband, our shrewd forefathers, to secure the bond, confiscated her natural obligations as a child and a mother. whether married or single, only inability excuses a son from the legal support of indigent and infirm parents. the married daughter, in the discharge of her wifely duties, may tenderly care and toil for her husband's infirm parents, or his children and grandchildren by a prior marriage, while her own parents, or children by a prior marriage--legally divested of any claim on her or the husband who absorbs her personal services and earnings--are sent to the poor-house, or pine in bitter privation; except with consent of her husband, she can give neither her personal care nor the avails of her industry, for their benefit. so, to be a wife, woman ceases, in law, to be anything else--yields up the ghost of a legal existence! that she escapes the extreme penalty of her legal bonds in any case is due to the fact that the majority of men, married or single, are notably better than their laws. our fathers taught the quality and initiated the form of free government. but it was left to their posterity to learn from the discipline of experience, that truths, old as the eternities, are forever revealing new phases to render possible more perfect interpretations; and to accumulate unanswerable reasons for their extended application. that the sorest trials and most appreciable failures of the government our fathers bequeathed, to us, have been the direct and inevitable results of their departures from the principles they enunciated, is so patent to all christendom, that free government itself has won from our mistakes material to revolutionize the world--lessons that compel depotisms to change their base and constitutional monarchies to make broader the phylacteries of popular rights. is it not meet then, that on this one-hundredth anniversary of american independence the daughters of revolutionary sires should appeal to the sons to fulfill what the fathers promised but failed to perform--should appeal to them as the constituted executors of the father's will, to give full practical effect to the self-evident truths, that "taxation without representation is tyranny"--that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed"? with an evident common interest in all the affairs of which government properly or improperly takes cognizance, we claim enfranchisement on the broad ground of human right, having proved the justice of our claim by the injustice which has resulted to us and ours through our disfranchisement. we ask enfranchisement in the abiding faith that with our coöperative efforts free government would attain to higher averages of intelligence and virtue; with an innate conviction, that the sequestration of rights in the homes of the republic makes them baneful nurseries of the monopolies, rings, and fraudulent practices that are threatening the national integrity; and that so long as the fathers sequester the rights of the mothers and train their sons to exercise, and the daughters to submit to the exactions of usurped powers, our government offices will be dens of thieves and the national honor trail in the dust; and honest men come out from the fiery ordeals of faithful service, denuded of the confidence and respect justly their due. give us liberty! we are mothers, wives, and daughters of freemen. c. i. h. nichols. london, eng., july , . my dear susan: i sincerely thank you for your kind letter. many times i have thought of writing to you, but i knew your time was too much taken up with the good cause to have any to spare for private correspondence. occasionally i am pleased to see a good account of you and your doings in the boston _investigator_. oh, how i wish i could be with you on this more than ordinarily interesting and important occasion; or that i could at least send my sentiments and views on human rights, which i have advocated for over forty years, to the convention. this being the centenary day of the proclamation of american independence, i must write a few lines, if but to let the friends know that though absent in body i am with you in the cause for which, in common with you, i have labored so long, and i hope not labored in vain. the glorious day upon which human equality was first proclaimed ought to be commemorated, not only every hundred years, or every year, but it ought to be constantly held before the public mind until its grand principles are carried into practice. the declaration that "all men [which means all human beings irrespective of sex] have an equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," is enough for woman as for man. we need no other; but we must reassert in what so gloriously proclaimed, and call upon the law-makers and the law-breakers to carry that declaration to its logical consistency by giving woman the right of representation in the government which she helps to maintain; a voice in the laws by which she is governed, and all the rights and privileges society can bestow, the same as to man, or disprove its validity. we need no other declaration. all we ask is to have the laws based on the same foundation upon which that declaration rests, viz.: upon equal justice, and not upon sex. whenever the rights of man are claimed, moral consistency points to the equal rights of woman. i hope these few lines will fill a little space in the convention at philadelphia, where my voice has so often been raised in behalf of the principles of humanity. i am glad to see my name among the vice-presidents of the national association. keep a warm place for me with the american people. i hope some day to be there yet. give my love to mrs. mott and sarah pugh. with kind regards from mr. rose, yours affectionately, ernestine l. rose. a new paper, _the ballot-box_, was started in the centennial year at toledo, ohio, owned and published by mrs. sarah langdon williams. the following editorial on the natal day of the republic is from her pen: the retrospect.--since our last issue the great centennial anniversary of american independence has come and gone; it has been greeted with rejoicing throughout the land; its events have passed into history. the day in which the great principles embodied in the declaration of independence were announced by the revolutionary fathers to the world has been celebrated through all this vast heritage, with pomp and popular glorification, and the nation's finest orators have signalized the event in "thoughts that breathe and words that burn." everywhere has the country been arrayed in its holiday attire--the gay insignia which, old as the century, puts on fresh youth and brilliancy each time its colors are unfurled. the successes which the country has achieved have been portrayed with glowing eloquence, the people's sovereignty has been the theme of congratulation and the glorious principles of freedom and equal rights have been enthusiastically proclaimed. in the magnificent oration of mr. evarts delivered in independence square, the spot made sacred by the signing of the declaration of independence which announced that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," these words occur: the chief concern in this regard, to us and the rest of the world is, whether the proud trust, the profound radicalism, the wide benevolence which spoke in the declaration and were infused into the constitution at the first, have been in good-faith adhered to by the people, and whether now the living principles supply the living forces which sustain and direct government and society. he who doubts needs but to look around to find all things full of the original spirit and testifying to its wisdom and strength. yet that very day in that very city was a large assemblage of women convened to protest against the gross wrongs of their sex--the representatives of twenty millions of citizens of the united states, composing one-half of the population being governed without their consent by the other half, who, by virtue of their superior strength, held the reins of power and tyrannically denied them all representation. at that very meeting at which that polished falsehood was uttered had the women, but shortly before, been denied the privilege of silently presenting their declaration of rights. more forcibly is this mortifying disregard of the claims of women thrust in their faces from the fact that, amid all this magnificent triumph with which the growth of the century was commemorated, amid the protestations of platforms all over the country of the grand success of the principle of equal rights for all, the possibility of the future according equal rights to women as well as to men was, with the exception of one or two praiseworthy instances, as far as reports have reached us, utterly ignored. the women have no country--their rights are disregarded, their appeals ignored, their protests scorned, they are treated as children who do not comprehend their own wants, and as slaves whose crowning duty is obedience. whether, on this great day of national triumph and national aspiration, the possibilities of a better future for women were forgotten; whether, from carelessness, willfulness, or wickedness, their grand services and weary struggles in the past and hopes and aspirations for the future were left entirely out of the account, certain it is that our orators were too much absorbed in the good done by men and for men, to once recur to the valuable aid, self-denying patriotism and lofty virtues of the nation's unrepresented women. there were a few exceptions: col. wm. m. ferry, of ottawa county, michigan, in his historical address delivered in that county, july fourth, took pains to make favorable mention of the daughter of one of the pioneers, as follows: louisa constant, or "lisette," as she was called, became her father's clerk when twelve years old, and was as well known for wonderful faculties for business as she was for her personal attractions. in , when lisette was seventeen years old, her father died. she closed up his business with the british company, engaged with the american fur company, at mackinaw, receiving from them a large supply of merchandise, and for six years conducted the most successful trading establishment in the northwest. think of it, ye who disparage the ability of woman! this little tribute we record with gratification. colonel ferry remembered woman. henry ward beecher, in his oration, delivered at peekskill, is reported, to have said: and now there is but one step more--there is but one step more. we permit the lame, the halt and the blind to go to the ballot-box; we permit the foreigner and the black man, the slave and the freeman, to partake of the suffrage; there is but one thing left out, and that is the mother that taught us, and the wife that is thought worthy to walk side by side with us. it is woman that is put lower than the slave, lower than the ignorant foreigner. she is put among the paupers whom the law won't allow to vote; among the insane whom the law won't allow to vote. but the days are numbered in which this can take place, and she too will vote. but these words are followed by others somewhat problematical, at least in the respect rendered to women: as in a hundred years suffrage has extended its bounds till it now includes the whole population, in another hundred years everything will vote, unless it be the power of the loom, and the locomotive, and the watch, and i sometimes think, looking at these machines and their performances, that they too ought to vote. but mr. evarts approached the close of his oration with these words--and may they not be prophetic--may not the orator have spoken with a deeper meaning than he knew? with these proud possessions of the past, with powers matured, with principles settled, with habits formed, the nation passes as it were from preparatory growth to responsible development of character and the steady performance of duty. what labors await it, what trials shall attend it, what triumphs for human nature, what glory for itself, are prepared for this people in the coming century, we may not assume to foretell. whether the wise (?) legislators see it or not--whether the undercurrent that is beating to the shore speaks with an utterance that is comprehensible to their heavy apprehensions or not, the coming century has in preparation for the country a truer humanity, a better justice of which the protest and declaration of the fathers pouring its vital current down through the departed century, and surging on into the future, is, to the seeing eye, the sure forerunner, the seed-time, of which the approaching harvest will bring a better fruition for women--and they who scoff now will be compelled to rejoice hereafter. but as mr. evarts remarked in his allusions to future centennials: by the mere circumstance of this periodicity our generation will be in the minds, in the hearts, on the lips of our countrymen at the next centennial commemoration in comparison with their own character and condition and with the great founders of the nation. what shall they say of us? how shall they estimate the part we bear in the unbroken line of the nation's progress? and so on, in the long reach of time, forever and forever, our place in the secular roll of the ages must always bring us into observation and criticism. shall it then be recorded of us that the demand and the protest of the women were not made in vain? shall it be told to future generations that the cry for justice, the effort to sunder the shackles with which woman has been oppressed from the dim ages of the past, was heeded? or, shall it be told of us, in the beginning of this second centennial, that justice has been ignored, that only liberty to men entered at this stage of progress, into the american idea of self-government? freedom to men and women alike is but a question of time--is america now equal to the great occasion? has her development expanded to that degree where her legislators can say in very truth, as of the colored man, "let the oppressed go free"? the woman's pavilion upon the centennial grounds was an after-thought, as theologians claim woman herself to have been.[ ] the women of the country after having contributed nearly $ , to the centennial stock, found there had been no provision made for the separate exhibition of their work. the centennial board, mrs. gillespie, president, then decided to raise funds for the erection of a separate building to be known as the woman's pavilion. it covered an acre of ground and was erected at an expense of $ , , a small sum in comparison with the money which had been raised by women and expended on the other buildings, not to speak of state and national appropriations which the taxes levied on them had largely helped to swell. the pavilion was no true exhibit of woman's work. first, few women are as yet owners of business which their industry largely makes remunerative. cotton factories in which thousands of women work, are owned by men. the shoe business, in some branches of which women are doing more than half, is under the ownership of men. rich embroideries from india, rugs of downy softness from turkey, the muslin of dacca, anciently known as "the woven wind," the pottery and majolica ware of p. pipsen's widow, the cartridges and envelopes of uncle sam, waltham watches whose finest mechanical work is done by women, and ten thousand other industries found no place in the pavilion. said united states commissioner meeker,[ ] of colorado, "woman's work comprises three-fourths of the exposition; it is scattered through every building; take it away and there would be no exposition." but this pavilion rendered one good service to woman in showing her capabilities as an engineer. the boiler which furnished the force for running its work was under the management of a young canadian girl, miss alison, who from a child loved machinery, spending much time in the large saw and grist mills of her father, run by engines of two- and three-hundred horse-power, which she sometimes managed for amusement. when her name was proposed for running the pavilion machinery it brought much opposition. it was said the committee would some day find the pavilion blown to atoms; that the woman engineer would spend her time reading novels, instead of watching the steam gauge; that the idea was impracticable and should not be thought of. but miss alison soon proved her own capabilities and the falseness of these prophecies by taking her place in the engine-room and managing its workings with the ease that a child spins a top. six power looms on which women wove carpets, webbing, silks, etc., were run by this engine. at a later period the printing of _the new century for women_, a paper published by the centennial commission in the woman's building, was also done by its means. miss alison declared the work to be more cleanly, more pleasant, and infinitely less fatiguing than cooking over a kitchen stove. "since i have been compelled to earn my own livelihood," she said, "i have never been engaged in work i liked so well. teaching school is much harder, and one is not paid as well." she expressed confidence in her ability to manage the engine of an ocean steamer, and said there were thousands of small engines in use in various parts of the country, and no reason existed why women should not be employed to manage them--following the profession of engineer as a regular business--an engine requiring far less attention than is given by a nurse-maid or mother to a child. but to have made the woman's pavilion grandly historic, upon its walls should have been hung the yearly protest of harriet k. hunt against taxation without representation; the legal papers served upon the smith sisters when their alderny cows were seized and sold for their refusal to pay taxes while unrepresented; the papers held by the city of worcester for the forced sale of the house and lands of abby kelly foster, the veteran abolitionist, because she refused to pay taxes, giving the same reason our ancestors gave when they resisted taxation; a model of bunker hill monument, its foundation laid by lafayette in , but which remained unfinished nearly twenty years until the famous french _danseuse_ fanny ellsler, gave the proceeds of an exhibition for that purpose. with these should have been exhibited framed copies of all the laws bearing unjustly upon woman--those which rob her of her name, her earnings, her property, her children, her person; also, the legal papers in the case of susan b. anthony, who was tried and fined for seeking to give consent to the laws which governed her; and the decision of mr. justice miller (chief-justice chase dissenting) in the case of myra bradwell, denying national protection for woman's civil rights; and the later decision of chief-justice waite of the supreme court against virginia l. minor, denying to women national protection for their political rights, decisions in favor of state-rights which imperil the liberties not only of all women, but of every white man in the nation. woman's most fitting contributions to the centennial exposition would have been these protests, laws and decisions which show her political slavery. but all this was left for rooms outside of the centennial grounds, upon chestnut street, where the national woman suffrage association hoisted its flag, made its protests, and wrote the declaration of rights of the women of the united states. to many thoughtful people it seemed captious and unreasonable for women to complain of injustice in this free land, amidst such universal rejoicings. when the majority of women are seemingly happy, it is natural to suppose that the discontent of the minority is the result of their unfortunate individual idiosyncrasies, and not of adverse influences in their established conditions. but the history of the world shows that the vast majority in every generation passively accept the conditions into which they are born, while those who demand larger liberties are ever a small, ostracised minority whose claims are ridiculed and ignored. from our stand-point we honor the chinese women who claim the right to their feet and powers of locomotion, the hindoo widows who refuse to ascend the funeral pyre of their husbands, the turkish women who throw off their masks and veils and leave the harem, the mormon women who abjure their faith and demand monogamic relations; why not equally honor the intelligent minority of american women who protest against the artificial disabilities by which their freedom is limited and their development arrested? that only a few under any circumstances protest against the injustice of long established laws and customs does not disprove the fact of the oppressions, while the satisfaction of the many, if real, only proves their apathy and deeper degradation. that a majority of the women of the united states accept without protest the disabilities that grow out of their disfranchisement, is simply an evidence of their ignorance and cowardice, while the minority who demand a higher political status clearly prove their superior intelligence and wisdom. footnotes: [ ] some suggested that the women in their various towns and cities, draped in black, should march in solemn procession, bells slowly tolling, bearing banners with the inscriptions: "taxation without representation is tyranny," "no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed," "they who have no voice in the laws and rulers are in a condition of slavery." others suggested that instead of women wearing crape during the centennial glorification, the men should sit down in sackcloth and ashes, in humiliation of spirit, as those who repented in olden times were wont to do. the best centennial celebration, said they, for the men of the united states, the one to cover them with glory, would be to extend to the women of the nation all the rights, privileges and immunities that they themselves enjoy. others proposed that women should monopolize the day, have their own celebrations, read their own declarations and protests demanding justice, liberty and equality. the latter suggestion was extensively adopted, and the fourth of july, , was remarkable for the large number of women who were "the orators of the day" in their respective localities. [ ] letters were read from the hon. alexander h. stephens, of georgia; william j. fowler, of rochester, n. y.; isabella beecher hooker, of connecticut, and susan b. anthony. [ ] news of the cannonade of boston had been received the day previous. [ ] though thus discourteously refused to an association to secure equality of rights for women, it was subsequently rented to "the international peace association." [ ] _president_--elizabeth cady stanton, tenafly, new jersey. _vice-presidents_--lucretia mott, pa.; ernestine l. rose, england; paulina wright davis, r. i.; clarina i. h. nichols, cal.; amelia bloomer, iowa; mathilde franceska anneke, wis.; virginia l. minor, mo.; catharine a. f. stebbins, mich.; julia and abby smith, conn.; abby p. ela, n. h.; mrs. w. h. h. murray, mass.; ann t. greely, me.; eliza d. stewart, ohio; mary hamilton williams, ind.; elizabeth boynton harbert, ill.; sarah burger stearns, minn.; ada w. lucas, neb.; helen e. starrett, kan.; ann l. quinby, ky.; elizabeth avery meriwether, tenn.; mrs. l. c. locke, texas; emily p. collins, la.; mary j. spaulding, ga.; mrs. p. holmes, drake, ala.; flora m. wright, fla.; frances annie pillsbury, s. c.; cynthia anthony, n. c.; carrie f. putnam, va.; anna ella carroll, md.; abigail scott duniway, oregon; hannah h. clapp, nevada; dr. alida c. avery, col.; mary olney brown, wash. ter.; esther a. morris, wyoming ter.; annie godbe, utah. _advisory committee_--sarah pugh, pa.; isabella beecher hooker, conn.; charlotte b. wilbour, n. y.; mary j. channing, r. i.; elizabeth b. schenck, cal.; judith ellen foster, iowa; lavinia goodell, wis.; annie r. irvine, mo.; marian bliss, mich.; mary b. moses, n. h.; sarah a. vibbart, mass.; lucy a. snowe, me.; marilla m. ricker, n. h.; mary madden, ohio; emma molloy, ind.; cynthia a. leonard, ill.; mrs. dr. stewart, minn.; julia brown bemis, neb.; mrs. n. h. cramer, tenn.; mrs. w. v. tunstall, tex.; mrs. a. millspaugh, la.; hannah m. rogers, fla.; sally holly, va.; sallie w. hardcastle, md.; mary p. sautelle, oregon; mary f. shields, col.; amelia giddings, wash. ter.; amalia b. post, wyoming ter. _corresponding secretaries_--susan b. anthony, rochester, n. y.; laura curtis bullard, new york; jane graham jones, chicago, ill. _recording secretary_--lillie devereux blake, new york. _treasurer_--ellen clark sargent, washington, d. c. _executive committee_--matilda joslyn gage, fayetteville, n. y.; clemence s. lozier, m. d., elizabeth b. phelps, mathilde f. wendt, phebe h. jones, new york; rev. olympia brown, connecticut; sarah r. l. williams, ohio; m. adeline thomson, pennsylvania; henrietta payne westbrook, pennsylvania; nancy r. allen, iowa. [ ] _ campaign committee_--susan b. anthony, n. y.; matilda joslyn gage, n. y.; phoebe w. couzins, mo.; rev. olympia brown, conn.; jane graham jones, ill.; abigail scott duniway, oregon; laura de force gordon, cal.; annie c. savery, iowa. [ ] _resident congressional committee_--sara andrews spencer, ellen clark sargent, ruth carr denison, belva a. lockwood, mrs. e. d. e. n. southworth. [ ] among those who took part in the discussions were dr. clemence lozier, susan b. anthony, helen m. slocum, sarah goodyear, helen m. cook, abby and julia smith, sara andrews spencer, miss charlotte ray, lillie devereux blake and matilda joslyn gage. [ ] letters were written to these conventions from different states. mrs. elizabeth l. saxon, new orleans, la.; elizabeth a. meriwether, memphis, tenn.; mrs. margaret v. longley, cincinnati, o., all making eloquent appeals for some consideration of the political rights of women. [ ] mrs. mott, mrs. stanton, mrs. gage, and mrs. spencer. [ ] on the receipt of these letters a prolonged council was held by the officers of the association at their headquarters, as to what action they should take on the fourth of july. mrs. mott and mrs. stanton decided for themselves that after these rebuffs they would not even sit on the platform, but at the appointed time go to the church they had engaged for a meeting, and open their convention. others more brave and determined insisted that women had an equal right to the glory of the day and the freedom of the platform, and decided to take the risk of a public insult in order to present the woman's declaration and thus make it an historic document.--[e.c.s. [ ] during the reading of the declaration to an immense concourse of people, mrs. gage stood beside miss anthony, and held an umbrella over her head, to shelter her friend from the intense heat of the noonday sun; and thus in the same hour, on opposite sides of old independence hall, did the men and women express their opinions on the great principles proclaimed on the natal day of the republic. the declaration was handsomely framed and now hangs in the vice-president's room in the capitol at washington. [ ] this document was signed by lucretia mott, elizabeth cady stanton, paulina wright davis, ernestine l. rose, clarina i. h. nichols, mary ann mcclintock, mathilde franceska anneke, sarah pugh, amy post, catharine a. f. stebbins, susan b. anthony, matilda joslyn gage, clemence s. lozier, olympia brown, mathilde f. wendt, adleline thomson, ellen clark sargent, virginia l. minor, catherine v. waite, elizabeth b. schenck, phoebe w. couzins, elizabeth boynton harbert, laura de force gordon, sara andrews spencer, lillie devereux blake, jane graham jones, abigail scott duniway, belva a. lockwood, isabella beecher hooker, sarah l. williams, abby p. ela. [ ] one hundred years hence, what a change will be made, in politics, morals, religion and trade, in statesmen who wrangle or ride on the fence, these things will be altered _a hundred years hence_. our laws then will be uncompulsory rules, our prisons converted to national schools. the pleasure of sinning 'tis all a pretense, and the people will find it so, _a hundred years hence_. lying, cheating and fraud will be laid on the shelf, men will neither get drunk, nor be bound up in self, but all live together, good neighbors and friends, just as _christian folks_ ought to, _a hundred years hence_. then woman, man's partner, man's equal shall stand, while beauty and harmony govern the land, to think for oneself will be no offense, the world will be thinking _a hundred years hence_. oppression and war will be heard of no more, nor the blood of a slave leave his print on our shore, conventions will then be a useless expense, for we'll all go _free-suffrage a hundred years hence_. instead of speech-making to satisfy wrong, all will join the glad chorus to sing freedom's song; and if the millenium is not a pretense, we'll all be good brothers _a hundred years hence_. this song was written in , at cleveland, ohio, by frances dana gage, expressly for john w. hutchinson. several of the friends were staying with mrs. caroline m. severance, on their way to the akron convention, where it was first sung. [ ] protests and declarations were read by mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert, in evanston, ill.; sarah l. knox, california; mrs. rosa l. segur, toledo, ohio; mrs. mary olney brown, olympia, washington territory; mrs. henrietta paine westbrook, new york city. in maquoketa, iowa; mrs. nancy r. allen read the declaration at the regular county celebration. madam anneke, wis.; elizabeth avery meriwether, tenn.; lucinda b. chandler, n. j.; jane e. telker, iowa; s. p. abeel, d. c.; mrs. j. a. johns, oregon; elizabeth lisle saxon, la.; mrs. elsie stewart, kan.; and many others impossible to name, sent in protests and declarations. [ ] see appendix. [ ] henry hutchinson, the son of john. [ ] a german legend says, god first made a mouse, but seeing he had made a mistake he made the cat as an afterthought, therefore if woman is god's afterthought, man must be a mistake. [ ] afterwards killed by the indians in colorado. chapter xxviii. national conventions, hearings and reports. - - . renewed appeal for a sixteenth amendment--mrs. gage petitions for removal of political disabilities--ninth washington convention, --jane grey swisshelm--letters, robert purvis, wendell phillips, francis e. abbott-- , petitions referred to the committee on privileges and elections by special request of the chairman, hon. o. p. morton, of indiana--may anniversary in new york--tenth washington convention, --frances e. willard and , temperance women petition congress-- , petition for a sixteenth amendment--hearing before the committee on privileges and elections--madam dahlgren's protest--mrs. hooker's hearing on washington's birthday--mary clemmer's letter to senator wadleigh--his adverse report--favorable minority report by senator hoar--thirtieth anniversary, unitarian church, rochester, n. y., july , --the last convention attended by lucretia mott--letters, william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips--church resolution criticised by rev. dr. strong--international women's congress in paris--washington convention, --u.s. supreme court opened to women--may anniversary at st. louis--address of welcome by phoebe couzins--women in council alone--letter from josephine butler, of england--mrs. stanton's letter to _the national citizen and ballot-box_. with the close of the centennial year the new departure under the fourteenth amendment ended. though defeated at the polls, in the courts, in the national celebration, in securing a plank in the platforms of the republican and democratic parties, and in our own conventions--so far as the few were able to rouse the many to simultaneous action--nevertheless a wide-spread agitation had been secured by the presentation of this phase of the question. although the unanswerable arguments of statesmen and lawyers in the halls of congress and the supreme court of the united states, had alike proved unavailing in establishing the civil and political rights of women on a national basis, their efforts had not been in vain. the trials had brought the question before a new order of minds, and secured able constitutional arguments which were reviewed in many law journals. the equally able congressional debates, reported verbatim, read by a large constituency in every state of the union, did an educational work on the question of woman's enfranchisement that cannot be overestimated. but when the final decision of the supreme court in the case of virginia l. minor made all agitation in that direction hopeless, the national association returned to its former policy, demanding a sixteenth amendment. the women generally came to the conclusion that if in truth there was no protection for them in the original constitution nor the late amendments, the time had come for some clearly-defined recognition of their citizenship by a sixteenth amendment. the following appeal and petition were extensively circulated: _to the women of the united states:_ having celebrated our centennial birthday with a national jubilee, let us now dedicate the dawn of the second century to securing justice to women. for this purpose we ask you to circulate a petition to congress, just issued by the national association, asking an amendment to the united states constitution, that shall prohibit the several states from disfranchising citizens on account of sex. we have already sent this petition throughout the country for the signatures of those men and women who believe in the citizen's right to vote. to see how large a petition each state rolls up, and to do the work as expeditiously as possible, it is necessary that some person in each county should take the matter in charge, urging upon all, thoroughness and haste. * * * the petitions should be returned before january , , , when we shall hold our eighth annual convention at the capital, and ask a hearing before congress. having petitioned our law-makers, state and national, for years, many from weariness have vowed to appeal no more; for our petitions, say they, by the tens of thousands, are piled up in the national archives, unheeded and ignored. yet it is possible to roll up such a mammoth petition, borne into congress on the shoulders of stalwart men, that we can no longer be neglected or forgotten. statesmen and politicians alike are conquered by majorities. we urge the women of this country to make now the same united effort for their own rights that they did for the slaves at the south when the thirteenth amendment was pending. then a petition of over , was rolled up by the leaders of the suffrage movement, and presented in the senate by the hon. charles sumner. but the statesmen who welcomed woman's untiring efforts to secure the black man's freedom, frowned down the same demands when made for herself. is not liberty as sweet to her as to him? are not the political disabilities of sex as grievous as those of color? is not a civil-rights bill that shall open to woman the college doors, the trades and professions--that shall secure her personal and property rights, as necessary for her protection as for that of the colored man? and yet the highest judicial authorities have decided that the spirit and letter of our national constitution are not broad enough to protect woman in her political rights; and for the redress of her wrongs they remand her to the state. if our _magna charta_ of human rights can be thus narrowed by judicial interpretations in favor of class legislation, then must we demand an amendment that, in clear, unmistakable language, shall declare the equality of all citizens before the law. women are citizens, first of the united states, and second of the state wherein they reside; hence, if robbed by state authorities of any right founded in nature or secured by law, they have the same right to national protection against the state, as against the infringements of any foreign power. if the united states government can punish a woman for voting in one state, why has it not the same power to protect her in the exercise of that right in every state? the constitution declares it the duty of congress to guarantee to every state a republican form of government, to every citizen, equality of rights. this is not done in states where women, thoroughly qualified, are denied admission into colleges which their property is taxed to build and endow; where they are denied the right to practice law and are thus debarred from one of the most lucrative professions; where they are denied a voice in the government, and thus, while suffering all the ills that grow out of the giant evils of intemperance, prostitution, war, heavy taxation and political corruption, stand powerless to effect any reform. prayers, tears, psalm-singing and expostulation are light in the balance compared with that power at the ballot-box that coins opinions into law. if women who are laboring for peace, temperance, social purity and the rights of labor, would take the speediest way to accomplish what they propose, let them demand the ballot in their own hands, that they may have a direct power in the government. thus only can they improve the conditions of the outside world and purify the home. as political equality is the door to civil, religious and social liberty, here must our work begin. constituting, as we do, one-half the people, bearing the burdens of one-half the national debt, equally responsible with man for the education, religion and morals of the rising generation, let us with united voice send forth a protest against the present political status of woman, that shall echo and reëcho through the land. in view of the numbers and character of those making the demand, this should be the largest petition ever yet rolled up in the old world or the new; a petition that shall settle forever the popular objection that "women do not want to vote." elizabeth cady stanton, _president._ matilda joslyn gage, _chairman executive committee._ susan b. anthony, _corresponding secretary._ _tenafly, n. j._, november , . _to the senate and house of representatives in congress assembled:_ the undersigned citizens of the united states, residents of the state of ----, earnestly pray your honorable bodies to adopt measures for so amending the constitution as to prohibit the several states from disfranchising united states citizens on account of sex. in addition to the general petition asking for a sixteenth amendment, matilda joslyn gage, this year ( ) sent an individual petition, similar in form to those offered by disfranchised male citizens, asking to be relieved from her political disabilities. this petition was presented by hon. elias w. leavenworth, of the house of representatives, member from the thirty-third new york congressional district. it read as follows: _to the senate and house of representatives of the united states in congress assembled:_ matilda joslyn gage, a native born citizen of the united states, and of the state of new york, wherein she resides, most earnestly petitions your honorable body for the removal of her political disabilities and that she may be declared invested with full power to exercise her right of self government at the ballot-box, all state constitutions, or statute laws to the contrary notwithstanding. the above petition was presented january , and the following bill introduced february : an act _to relieve the political disabilities of matilda joslyn gage_: be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled, that all political disabilities heretofore existing in reference to matilda joslyn gage, of fayetteville, onondaga county, state of new york, be removed and she be declared a citizen of the united states, clothed with all the political rights and powers of citizenship, namely: the right to vote and to hold office to the same extent and in the same degree that male citizens enjoy these rights. this act to take effect immediately. the following year a large number of similar petitions were sent from different parts of the country, the national association distributing printed forms to its members in the various states. the power of congress to thus enfranchise women upon their individual petitions is as undoubted as the power to grant individual amnesty, to remove the political disabilities of men disfranchised for crime against united states laws, or to clothe foreigners, honorably discharged from the army, with the ballot. the first convention[ ] after the all-engrossing events of the centennial celebration assembled in lincoln hall, washington, january , with a good array of speakers, mrs. stanton presiding. after an inspiring song by the hutchinsons and reports from the various states, sara andrews spencer, chairman of the congressional committee, gave some encouraging facts in regard to the large number of petitions being presented to congress daily, and read many interesting letters from those who had been active in their circulation. over , were presented during this last session of the forty-fourth congress. at the special request of the chairman, senator morton of indiana, they were referred to the committee on privileges and elections; heretofore they had always been placed in the hands of the judiciary committee in both senate and house. a list of committees[ ] was reported by mrs. gage which was adopted. mrs. swisshelm of pennsylvania, was introduced. she said: in she inherited an estate from her parents, and then she learned the injustice of the husband holding the wife's property. in , however, she got a law passed giving equal rights to both men and women, and everybody decried her for the injury she had done to all homes by thus throwing the apple of discord into families. so in pennsylvania women now hold property absolutely, and can sell without the consent of the husband. but actually no woman is free. as in the days of slavery the master owned the services, not the body of his slaves, so it is with the wife. the husband owns the services and all that can be earned by his wife. it is quite possible, as things now stand, to legislate a woman out of her home, and yet she cooks, and bakes, and works, and saves, but it all belongs to the man, and if she dies the second wife gets it all, for she always manages him. the extravagance of dress is due alone to-day to the fact that from what woman saves in her own expenses and those of her house she gets no benefit at all, nor do her children, for it goes to the second wife, who, perhaps, turns the children out of doors. the resolutions called out a prolonged discussion, especially the one on compulsory education, and that finally passed with a few dissenting voices: whereas one-half of the citizens of the republic being disfranchised are everywhere subjects of legislative caprice, and may be anywhere robbed of their most sacred rights; therefore, _resolved_, that it is the duty of the congress of the united states to submit a proposition for a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution prohibiting the several states from disfranchising citizens on account of sex. whereas a monarchial government lives only through the ignorance of the masses, and a republican government can live only through the intelligence of the people; therefore, _resolved_, that it is the duty of congress to submit to the state legislatures propositions to so amend the constitution of the united states as to make education compulsory, and to make intelligence a qualification for citizenship and suffrage in the united states; said amendments to take effect january , , when all citizens of legal age, without distinction of sex, who can read and write the english language, may be admitted to citizenship. whereas a century of experience has proven that the safety and stability of free institutions and the protection of all united states citizens in the exercise of their inalienable rights and the proper expression of the will of the whole people, are not guaranteed by the present form of the constitution of the united states; therefore, _resolved_, that it is the duty of the several states to call a national convention to revise the constitution of the united states, which, notwithstanding its fifteen amendments, does not establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, nor secure the blessings of liberty to us and to our posterity. _resolved_, that the thanks of the women of this nation are due to the rev. isaac m. see, of the presbytery of newark, for his noble stand in behalf of woman's right to preach. _resolved_, that the action of the presbytery of newark in condemning the rev. i. m. see for his liberal course is an indication of the tyranny of the clergy over the consciences of women, and a determination to fetter the spirit of freedom. among the many letters to the convention we give the following: boston, th january, . dear friend: these lines will not reach you in time to be of use. i am sorry. but absence and cares must apologize for me. i think you are on the right track--the best method to agitate the question; and i am with you. i mean always to help everywhere and every one. wendell phillips. miss anthony. manchester, eng., january , . my dear miss anthony: it is with great pleasure that i write a word of sympathy and encouragement, on the occasion of your ninth annual convention of the national woman suffrage association. beyond wishing you a successful gathering, i will say nothing about the movement in the united states. women of either country can do nothing directly in promoting the movement in the other; and if they attempt to do so, there is danger that they may hinder and embarrass those who are bearing the burden and heat of the day. the only way in which mutual help can be given is through the women of each nation working to gain ground in their own country. then, every step so gained, every actual advance of the boundaries of civil and political rights for women is a gain, not only to the country which has secured it, but to the cause of human freedom all over the world. this year marks the decennial of the movement in the united kingdom. in the current number of our journal, there is a sketch of the political history of the movement here, which i commend to the attention of your convention, and which i need not repeat. the record will be seen to be one of great and rapid advance in the political rights of women, but there has been an equally marked change in other directions; women's interests in education, and women's questions generally, are treated now with much more respectful consideration than they were ten years ago. we are gratified in believing that much of this consideration is due to the attention roused by our energetic and persistent demand for the suffrage, and in believing that infinitely greater benefits of the same kind will accrue when women shall be in possession of the franchise. beyond the material gains in legislation, we find a general improvement in the tone of feeling and thought toward women--an approach, indeed, to the sentiment recently expressed by victor hugo, that as man was the problem of the eighteenth century, woman is the problem of the nineteenth century. may our efforts to solve this problem lead to a happy issue. yours truly, lydia e. becker. boston, mass., january , . dear mrs. stanton: it is with some little pain, i confess, that i accept your very courteous invitation to write a letter for your washington convention on the th instant; for what i must say, if i say anything at all, is what i know will be very unacceptable--i fear very displeasing--to the majority of those to whom you will read it. if you conclude that my letter will obstruct, and not facilitate the advancement of the cause you have so faithfully labored for these many years, you have my most cheerful consent to deliver it over to that general asylum of profitless productions--the waste-basket. running this risk, however, i have this brief message to send to those who now meet on behalf of woman's full recognition as politically the equal of man, namely: that every woman suffragist who upholds christianity, tears down with one hand what she seeks to build up with the other--that the bible sanctions the slavery principle itself, and applies it to woman as the divinely ordained subordinate of man--and that by making herself the great support and mainstay of instituted christianity, woman rivets the chain of superstition on her own soul and on man's soul alike, and justifies him in obeying this religion by keeping her in subjection to himself. if christianity and the bible are true, woman is man's servant, and ought to be. the bible gave to negro-slavery its most terrible power--that of summoning the consciences of the christians to its defense; and the bible gives to woman-slavery the same terrible power. so plain is this to me that i take it as a mere matter of course, when all the eloquence of the woman-suffrage platform fails to arouse the christian women of this country to a proper assertion of their rights. what else could one expect? women will remain contented subjects and subordinates just so long as they remain devoted believers in christianity; and no amount of argument, or appeal, or agitation can change this fact. if you cannot educate women as a whole out of christianity, you cannot educate them as a whole into the demand for equal rights. the reason of this is short: christianity teaches the rights of god, not the rights of man or woman. you may search the bible from genesis to revelations, and not find one clear, strong, bold affirmation of _human rights as such_; yet it is on human rights as such--on the equality of all individuals, man or woman, with respect to natural rights--that the demand for woman suffrage must ultimately rest. i know i stand nearly alone in this, but i believe from my soul that the woman movement is fundamentally _anti-christian_, and can find no deep justification but in the ideas, the spirit, and the faith of free religion. until women come to see this too, and to give their united influence to this latter faith, political power in their hands would destroy even that measure of liberty which free-thinkers of both sexes have painfully established by the sacrifices of many generations. yet i should vote for woman suffrage all the same, because it is woman's right. yours very cordially, francis e. abbot. washington, d. c., january , . my dear friends: i thank you for your generous recognition of me as an humble co-worker in the cause of equal rights, and regret deeply my inability to be present at this anniversary of your association. i tender to you, however, my hearty congratulations on the marked progress of our cause. wherever i have been, and with whomsoever i have talked, making equal rights invariably the subject, i find no opposing feeling to the simple and just demands we make for our cause. the chief difficulty in the way is the indifference of the people; they need an awakening. some stephen s. foster or anna dickinson should come forward, and with their thunder and lightning, arouse the people from their deadly apathy. i am glad to know that you are to have with you our valued friend, e. m. davis, of philadelphia. we are indebted to him more than all besides for whatever of life is found in the movement in pennsylvania. he has spared neither time, money, nor personal efforts. hoping you will have abundant success, i am, dear friends, with you and the cause for which you have so nobly labored, a humble and sincere worker. robert purvis. oakland, cal., january , . _to the national suffrage convention, washington, d. c.:_ our incorporated state society has deputed mrs. ellen clark sargent, the wife of hon. a. a. sargent, our fearless champion in the united states senate, to represent the women of california in your national convention, and with one so faithful and earnest, we know our cause will be well represented; but there are many among us who would gladly have journeyed to washington to participate in your councils. many and radical changes have taken place in the past year favorable to our sex, not the least of which was the nomination and election of several women to the office of county superintendent of common schools, by both the democratic and republican parties, in which, however, the democrats led. important changes in the civil code favorable to the control of property by married women, have been made by the legislatures during the last four years, through the untiring efforts of mrs. sarah wallis, mrs. knox and mrs. watson, of santa clara county. in our schools and colleges, in every avenue of industry, and in the general liberalization of public opinion there has been marked improvement. yours very truly, laura deforce gordon, _pres. california w. s. s._ (incorporated). mrs. stanton's letter to _the ballot-box_ briefly sums up the proceedings of the convention: tenafly, n. j., january , . dear editor: if the little _ballot-box_ is not already stuffed to repletion with reports from washington, i crave a little space to tell your readers that the convention was in all points successful. lincoln hall, which seats about fifteen hundred people, was crowded every session. the speaking was good, order reigned, no heart-burnings behind the scenes, and the press vouchsafed "respectful consideration." the resolutions you will find more interesting and suggestive than that kind of literature usually is, and i ask especial attention to the one for a national convention to revise the constitution, which, with all its amendments, is like a kite with a tail of infinite length still to be lengthened. it is evident a century of experience has so liberalized the minds of the american people, that they have outgrown the constitution adapted to the men of . it is a monarchial document with republican ideas engrafted in it, full of compromises between antagonistic principles. an american statesman remarked that "the civil war was fought to expound the constitution on the question of slavery." expensive expounding! instead of further amending and expounding, the real work at the dawn of our second century is to make a new one. again, i ask the attention of our women to the educational resolution. after much thought it seems to me we should have education compulsory in every state of the union, and make it the basis of suffrage, a national law, requiring that those who vote after must be able to read and write the english language. this would prevent ignorant foreigners voting in six months after landing on our shores, and stimulate our native population to higher intelligence. it would dignify and purify the ballot-box and add safety and stability to our free institutions. mrs. jane grey swisshelm, who had just returned from europe, attended the convention, and spoke on this subject. belva a. lockwood, who had recently been denied admission to the supreme court of the united states, although a lawyer in good practice for three years in the supreme court of the district, made a very scathing speech, reviewing the decision of the court. it may seem to your disfranchised readers quite presumptuous for one of their number to make those nine wise men on the bench, constituting the highest judicial authority in the united states, subjects for ridicule before an audience of the sovereign people; but, when they learn the decision in mrs. lockwood's case, they will be reassured as to woman's capacity to cope with their wisdom. "to arrive at the same conclusion, with these judges, it is not necessary," said mrs. lockwood, "to understand constitutional law, nor the history of english jurisprudence, nor the inductive or deductive modes of reasoning, as no such profound learning or processes of thought were involved in that decision, which was simply this: 'there is no precedent for admitting a woman to practice in the supreme court of the united states, hence mrs. lockwood's application cannot be considered.'" on this point mrs. lockwood showed that it was the glory of each generation to make its own precedents. as there was none for eve in the garden of eden, she argued there need be none for her daughters on entering the college, the church, or the courts. blackstone--of whose works she inferred the judges were ignorant--gives several precedents for women in the english courts. as mrs. lockwood--tall, well-proportioned, with dark hair and eyes, regular features, in velvet dress and train, with becoming indignation at such injustice--marched up and down the platform and rounded out her glowing periods, she might have fairly represented the italian portia at the bar of venice. no more effective speech was ever made on our platform. matilda joslyn gage, whose speeches are always replete with historical research, reviewed the action of the republican party toward woman from the introduction of the word "male" into the fourteenth amendment of the constitution down to the celebration of our national birthday in philadelphia, when the declaration of the mothers was received in contemptuous silence, while dom pedro and other foreign dignitaries looked calmly on. mrs. gage makes as dark a chapter for the republicans as mrs. lockwood for the judiciary, or mrs. blake for the church. mrs. b. had been an attentive listener during the trial of the rev. isaac see before the presbytery of newark, n. j., hence she felt moved to give the convention a chapter of ecclesiastical history, showing the struggles through which the church was passing with the irrepressible woman in the pulpit. mrs. blake's biblical interpretations and expositions proved conclusively that scott's and clark's commentaries would at no distant day be superceded by standard works from woman's standpoint. it is not to be supposed that women ever can have fair play as long as men only write and interpret the scriptures and make and expound the laws. why would it not be a good idea for women to leave these conservative gentlemen alone in the churches? how sombre they would look with the flowers, feathers, bright ribbons and shawls all gone--black coats only kneeling and standing--and with the deep-toned organ swelling up, the solemn bass voice heard only in awful solitude; not one soprano note to rise above the low, dull wail to fill the arched roof with triumphant melody! one such experiment from maine to california would bring these bigoted presbyteries to their senses. miss phoebe couzins, too, was at the convention, and gave her new lecture, "a woman without a country," in which she shows all that woman has done--from fitting out ships for columbus, to sharing the toils of the great exposition--without a place of honor in the republic for the living, or a statue to the memory of the dead. hon. a. g. riddle and francis miller spoke ably and eloquently as usual; the former on the sixteenth amendment and the presidential aspect, modestly suggesting that if twenty million women had voted, they might have been able to find out for whom the majority had cast their ballots. mr. miller recommended state action, advising us to concentrate our forces in colorado as a shorter way to success than constitutional amendments. his speech aroused susan b. anthony to the boiling point; for, if there is anything that exasperates her, it is to be remanded, as she says, to john morrissey's constituency for her rights. she contends that if the united states authority could punish her for voting in the state of new york, it has the same power to protect her there in the exercise of that right. moreover, she said, we have two wings to our movement. the american association is trying the popular-vote method. the national association is trying the constitutional method, which has emancipated and enfranchised the african and secured to that race all their civil rights. to-day by this method they are in the courts, the colleges, and the halls of legislation in every state in the union, while we have puttered with state rights for thirty years without a foothold anywhere, except in the territories, and it is now proposed to rob the women of their rights in those localities. as the two methods do not conflict, and what is done in the several states tells on the nation, and what is done by congress reacts again on the states, it must be a good thing to keep up both kinds of agitation. in the middle of november the national association sent out thousands of petitions and appeals for the sixteenth amendment, which were published and commented on extensively by the press in every state in the union. early in january they began to pour into washington at the rate of a thousand a day, coming from twenty-six different states. it does not require much wisdom to see that when these petitions were placed in the hands of the representatives of their states, a great educational work was accomplished at washington, and public sentiment there has its legitimate effect throughout the country, as well as that already accomplished in the rural districts by the slower process of circulating and signing the petitions. the present uncertain position of men and parties, has made politicians more ready to listen to the demands of their constituents, and never has woman suffrage been treated with more courtesy in washington. to sara andrews spencer we are indebted, for the great labor of receiving, assorting, counting, rolling-up and planning the presentation of the petitions. it was by a well considered _coup d'etat_ that, with her brave coadjutors, she appeared on the floor of the house at the moment of adjournment, and there, without circumlocution, gave each member a petition from his own state. even miss anthony, always calm in the hour of danger, on finding herself suddenly whisked into those sacred enclosures, amid a crowd of stalwart men, spittoons, and scrap-baskets, when brought _vis-a-vis_ with our champion, mr. hoar, hastily apologized for the intrusion, to which the honorable gentleman promptly replied, "i hope, madam, yet to see you on this floor, in your own right, and in business hours too." then and there the work of the next day was agreed on, the members gladly accepting the petitions. as you have already seen, mr. hoar made the motion for the special order, which was carried and the petitions presented. your readers will be glad to know, that mr. hoar has just been chosen, by massachusetts, as her next senator--that gives us another champion in the senate. as there are many petitions still in circulation, urge your readers to keep sending them until the close of the session, as we want to know how many women are in earnest on this question. it is constantly said, "women do not want to vote." ten thousand told our representatives at washington in a single day that they did! what answer? yours sincerely, elizabeth cady stanton. the press commented as follows: sixteenth amendment.--the woman suffragists, who had a benefit in the house of representatives, on friday, when their petitions were presented, transferred their affections to the senate on saturday to witness the presentation of a large number of petitions in that body. it is impossible to tell whether the results desired by the women will follow this concerted action, but it is certain that they have their forces better organized this year than they ever had before, and they have gone to work on a more systematic plan.--[_national republican._ sixteenth amendment in the senate--the ten thousand petitioners royally treated.--that women will, by voting, lose nothing of man's courteous, chivalric attention and respect is admirably proven by the manner in which both houses of congress, in the midst of the most anxious and perplexing presidential conflict in our history, received their appeals from twenty-three states for a sixteenth amendment protecting the rights of women. in both houses, by unanimous consent, the petitions were presented and read in open session. the speaker of the house gallantly prepared the way yesterday, and the most prominent senators to-day improved the occasion by impressing upon the senate the importance of the question. mr. sargent reminded the senators that there were forty thousand more votes for woman suffrage in michigan than for the new state constitution, and mr. dawes said, upon presenting the petition from massachusetts, that the question was attracting the attention of both political parties in that state, and he commended it to the early and earnest consideration of the senate. mr. cockrell of missouri, merrily declared that his petitioners were the most beautiful and accomplished daughters of the state, which of course he felt compelled to do when miss couzins' bright eyes were watching the proceedings from the gallery. mr. cameron of pennsylvania, suggested that it would have been better to put them all together and not consume the time of the senate with so many presentations. the officers of the national woman suffrage association held a caucus after the adjournment of the senate, and decided to thank mr. cameron for his suggestion, and while they had no anxiety lest senators should consume too much time attending to the interests of women whom they claim to represent, and might reasonably anticipate that ten millions of disfranchised citizens would trouble them considerably with petitions while this injustice continued, yet they would promptly adopt the senator's counsel and roll up such a mammoth petition as the senate had not yet seen from the thousands of women who had no opportunity to sign these. accordingly they immediately prepared the announcement for the friends of woman suffrage to send on their names to the chairman of the congressional committee. they naturally feel greatly encouraged by the evident interest of both parties in the proposed sixteenth amendment, and will work with renewed strength to secure the coöperation of the women of the country.--[_washington star._ the time has evidently arrived when demands for a recognition of the personal, civil and political rights of one-half--unquestionably the better half--of the people cannot be laughed down or sneered down, and recent indications are that they cannot much longer be voted down. it was quite clear on friday and saturday, when petitions from the best citizens of twenty-three states were presented in house and senate, that the leaders of the two political parties vied with each other in doing honor to the grave subject proposed for their consideration. the speaker of the house set a commendable example of courtesy to women by proposing that the petitions be delivered in open house, to which there was no objection. the early advocates of equal rights for women--hoar, kelley, banks, kasson, lawrence, and lapham--were, if possible, surpassed in courtesy by those who are not committed, but are beginning to see that a finer element in the body politic would clear the vision, purify the atmosphere and help to settle many vexed questions on the basis of exact and equal justice. in the senate the unprecedented courtesy was extended to women of half an hour's time on the floor for the presentation of petitions, exactly alike in form, from twenty-one states, and while this kind of business this session has usually been transacted with an attendance of from seven to ten senators, it was observed that only two out of twenty-three senators who had sixteenth amendment petitions to present were out of their seats. senator sargent said the presence of women at the polls would purify elections and give us a better class of public officials, and the state would thus be greatly benefited. the subject was receiving serious consideration in this country and in england. senator dawes, in presenting the petition from massachusetts, said the subject was commanding the attention of both political parties in his own state. the officers of the national association, who had been able to give only a few days' time to securing the coöperation of the women of the several states in their present effort, held a caucus after the adjournment of the senate, and decided to immediately issue a new appeal for a mammoth petition, which would even more decidedly impress the two houses with the importance of protecting the rights of women by a constitutional amendment. considering the many long days and weeks consumed in both houses in discussing the political rights of the colored male citizens, there is an obvious propriety in giving full and fair consideration to the protection of the rights of wives, mothers and daughters.--[_the national republican_, january , . the national association held its anniversary in masonic temple, new york, may , . isabella beecher hooker, vice-president for connecticut, called the meeting to order and invited rev. olympia brown to lead in prayer. mrs. gage made the annual report of the executive committee. dr. clemence s. lozier of new york was elected president for the coming year. pledges were made to roll up petitions with renewed energy; and resolutions were duly discussed[ ] and adopted: whereas, such minor matters as declaring peace and war, the coining of money, the imposition of tariff, and the control of the postal service, are forbidden the respective states; and whereas, upon the framing of the constitution, it was wisely held that these property rights would be unsafe under the control of thirteen varying deliberative bodies; and whereas, by a curious anomaly, power over suffrage, the basis and corner-stone of the nation, is held to be under control of the respective states; and whereas, the experience of a century has shown that the personal right of self-government inhering in each individual, is wholly insecure under the control of thirty-eight varying deliberative bodies; and whereas, the right of self-government by the use of the ballot inheres in the citizen of the united states; therefore, _resolved_, that it is the immediate and most important duty of the government to secure this right on a national basis to all citizens, independent of sex. _resolved_, that the right of suffrage underlies all other rights, and that in working to secure it women are doing the best temperance, moral reform, educational, and religious work of the age. _resolved_, that we solemnly protest against the recent memorial to congress, from utah, asking the disfranchisement of the women of that territory, and that we ask of congress that this request, made in violation of the spirit of our institutions, be not granted. _resolved_, that the thanks of the national woman suffrage association are hereby tendered to the late speaker of the house of representatives, hon. samuel j. randall, pa.; and to representatives banks, mass.; blair, n. h.: bland, mo.; brown, kan.; cox, n. y.; eames, r. i.; fenn, col.; hale, me.; hamilton, n. j.; hendee, vt.; hoar, mass.; holman, ind.; jones, n. h.; kasson, iowa; kelley, pa. knott, ky.; lane, oregon; lapham, n. y.; lawrence, o.; luttrel, cal.; lynde, wis.; mccrary, iowa; morgan, mo.; o'neill, pa.; springer, ill.; strait, minn.; waldron, mich.; warren, conn.; wm. b. williams, mich.; and senators allison, iowa; bogy, mo.; burnside, r. i. (for conn. and r. i.); cameron, pa.; cameron, wis.; chaffee, col.; christiancy, mich.; cockrell, mo.; conkling, n. y.; cragin, n. h.; dawes, mass.; dorsey, ark. (a petition from me.); edmunds, vt.; frelinghuysen, n. j.; hamlin, me.; kernan, n. y.; mccreery, ky.; mitchell, oregon; morrill, vt.; morton, ind.; oglesby, ill.; sargent, cal.; sherman, ohio; spencer, ala. (a petition from the district); thurman, ohio (a petition from kansas); wadleigh, n. h.; wallace, pa.; windom, minn.; wright, iowa, for representing the women of the united states in the presentation of the sixteenth amendment petitions from ten thousand citizens, in open house and senate, at the last session of congress. _resolved_, that while we recognize with gratitude the opening of many new avenues of labor and usefulness to women, and the amelioration of their condition before the law in many states, we still declare there can be no fair play for women in the world of business until they stand on the same plane of citizenship with their masculine competitors. _resolved_, that in entering the professions and other departments of business heretofore occupied largely by men, the women of to-day should desire to accept the same conditions and tests of excellence with their brothers, and should demand the same standard for men and women in business, art, education, and morals. _resolved_, that the thanks of this association are hereby tendered to the hon. geo. f. hoar of massachusetts, for rising in his place in the cincinnati presidential convention, and asking in behalf of the disfranchised women of the united states that the convention grant a hearing to mrs. spencer, of washington, the accredited delegate of the national woman suffrage association. great unanimity was reached in these sentiments and the enthusiasm manifested gave promise of earnest labor and more hopeful results. it was felt that there was reason to thank god and take courage. the day before the opening of the tenth washington convention a caucus was held in the ladies' reception-room[ ] in the senate wing of the capitol. a roll-call of the delegates developed the fact that every state in the union would be represented by women now here and _en route_, or by letter. mrs. spencer said she had made a request in the proper quarter, that the delegates should be allowed to go on the floor when the senate was actually in session, and present their case to the senators. she had been met with the statement that such a proceeding was without precedent. mrs. hooker suggested that inasmuch as there was a precedent for such a course in the house, the delegates should meet the following thursday to canvass for votes in the house of representatives. another delegate recalled the fact that mrs. general sherman and mrs. admiral dahlgren had been admitted upon the floor of the senate while it was in session, to canvass for votes against woman suffrage. this agitation resulted in a resolution introduced by hon. a. a. sargent, january : whereas, thousands of women of the united states have petitioned congress for an amendment to the constitution allowing women the right of suffrage; and whereas, many of the representative women of the country favoring such amendment are present in the city and have requested to be heard before the senate in advocacy of said amendment, _resolved_, that at a session of the senate, to be held on ----, said representative women, or such of them as may be designated for that purpose, may be heard before the senate; but for one hour only. mr. edmunds demanded the regular order. mr. sargent advocated the resolution, and urged immediate action, as delay would detain the women in the city at considerable expense to them. he thought the question not so intricate that senators require time for consideration whether or not the women should be heard. mr. edmunds said there was a rule of long standing that forbids any person appearing before the senate. there was much to be said in favor of the petitions, but it was against the logic of the resolution that the petitioners required more than was accorded any others. he, therefore, insisted on his demand for the regular order. mr. sargent gave notice that he would call up his resolution to-morrow, and reminded the senators that no rule was so sacred that it could not be set aside by unanimous consent. on the next day there was a lively discussion, senators edmunds, thurman and conkling insisting there was no precedent; mr. sargent, assisted by senators burnside, anthony and dawes, reminding them of several occasions when the senate had extended similar courtesies. the resolution was voted down-- to .[ ] hon. wm. d. kelly, of pennsylvania, performed like service in the house: mr. kelly asked leave to offer a resolution, reciting that petitions were about to be presented to the house of representatives from citizens of thirty-five states of the union, asking for the adoption of an amendment to the constitution to prohibit the disfranchisement of any citizen of any state; and that there be a session of the house on saturday, january , at which time the advocates of the constitutional amendment may be heard at the bar. these petitions ask the house to originate a movement which it cannot consumate, but which it can only submit to the states for their action. the resolution only asks that the house will hear a limited number of the advocates of this amendment, who are now in the city, and on a day when there is not likely to be a session for business. they only ask the privilege of stating the grounds of their belief why the constitution should be amended in the direction they indicate. many of these ladies who petition are tax-payers, and they believe their rights have been infringed upon. mr. crittenden of missouri, objected, and the resolution was not entertained. this refusal to women pleading for their own freedom was the more noticeable, as not only had mesdames sherman and dahlgren been heard upon the floor of the senate in opposition, but the floor of the house was shortly after granted to charles stewart parnell, m. p., that he might plead the cause of oppressed ireland. the washington _union_ of january , , largely sustained by federal patronage, commented as follows: to allow the advocates of woman suffrage to plead their cause on the floor of the senate, as proposed yesterday by mr. sargent, would be a decided innovation upon the established usages of parliamentary bodies. if the privilege were granted in this case it would next be claimed by the friends and the enemies of the silver bill, by the supporters and opponents of resumption, by hard money men and soft money men, by protectionists and free-traders, by labor-reformers, prohibitionists and the lord knows whom besides. in fact, the admission of the ladies to speak on the floor of the senate would be the beginning of lively times in that body. the convention was held in lincoln hall, january, , , . the house was filled to overflowing at the first session. a large number of representative women occupied the platform.[ ] in opening the meeting the president, dr. clemence lozier, gave a résumé of the progress of the cause. mrs. stanton made an argument on "national protection for national citizens."[ ] mrs. lockwood presented the following resolutions, which called out an amusing debate on the "man idea"--that he can best represent the home, the church, the state, the industries, etc., etc.: _resolved_, that the president of this convention appoint a committee to select three intelligent women who shall be paid commissioners to the paris exposition; and also six other women who shall be volunteer commissioners to said exposition to represent the industries of american women. _resolved_, that to further this object the committee be instructed to confer with the president, the secretary of state, and commissioner mccormick. a committee was appointed[ ] and at once repaired to the white-house, where they were pleasantly received by president hayes. after learning the object of their visit, the president named the different classes of industries for which no commissioners had been appointed, asked the ladies to nominate their candidates, and assured them he would favor a representation by women. miss julia smith of glastonbury, conn., the veteran defender of the maxim of our fathers, "no taxation without representation," narrated the experience of herself and her sister abby with the tax-gatherers. they attended the town-meeting and protested against unjust taxation, but finally their cows went into the treasury to satisfy the tax-collector. elizabeth boynton harbert of the chicago _inter-ocean_, spoke on the temperance work being done in chicago, in connection with the advocacy of the sixteenth amendment. lillie devereux blake reviewed the work in new york in getting the bill through the legislature to appoint women on school boards, which was finally vetoed by governor robinson. dr. mary thompson of oregon, and mrs. cromwell of arkansas, gave interesting reports from their states, relating many laughable encounters with the opposition. robert purvis of philadelphia, read a letter from the suffragists of pennsylvania, in which congratulations were extended to the convention. mary a. s. carey, a worthy representative of the district of columbia, the first colored woman that ever edited a newspaper in the united states, and who had been a worker in the cause for twenty years, expressed her views on the question, and said the colored women would support whatever party would allow them their rights, be it republican or democratic. rev. olympia brown believed that a proper interpretation of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments did confer suffrage on women. but men don't so understand it, and as a consequence when mahomet would not come to the mountain the mountain must go to mahomet. she said the day was coming, and rapidly, too, when women would be given suffrage. there were very few now who did not acknowledge the justice of it. isabella beecher hooker gave her idea on "a reconstructed police," showing how she would rule a police force if in her control. commencing with the location of the office, she proceeded with her list of feminine and masculine officers, the chief being herself. she would have a superintendent as aid, with coördinate powers, and, besides the police force proper, which she would form of men and women in equal proportions; she would have matrons in charge of all station-houses. her treatment of vagrants would be to wash, feed, and clothe them, make them stitch, wash and iron, take their history down for future reference, and finally turn them out as skilled laborers. the care of vagrant children would form an item in her system. mrs. lawrence of massachusetts, said the country is in danger, and like other republics, unless taken care of, will perish by its own vices. she said twelve hundred thousand men and women of this country now stand with nothing to do, because their legislators of wealth were working not for the many, but the few, drunkenness and vice being superinduced by such a state of things. she insisted that women were to blame for much of the evil of the world--for bringing into life children who grow up in vice from their inborn tendencies. dr. caroline b. winslow of washington, referred to the speech of mrs. lawrence, saying she hoped god would bless her for having the courage to speak as she did. there is no greater reform than for man and woman to be true to the marital relations. belva a. lockwood said the only way for women to get their rights is to take them. if necessary let there be a domestic insurrection. let young women refuse to marry, and married women refuse to sew on buttons, cook, and rock the cradle until their liege-lords acknowledge the rights they are entitled to. there were more ways than one to conquer a man; and women, like the strikers in the railroad riots, should carry their demands all along the line. she dwelt at length upon the refusal of the courts in allowing lavinia dundore to become a constable, and asked why she should not be appointed. the rev. olympia brown said that if they wanted wisdom and prosperity in the nation, health and happiness in the home, they must give woman the power to purify her surroundings; the right to make the outside world fit for her children to live in. who are more interested than mothers in the sanitary condition of our schools and streets, and in the moral atmosphere of our towns and cities? marshal frederick douglass said his reluctance to come forward was not due to any lack of interest in the subject under discussion. for thirty years he had believed in human rights to all men and women. nothing that has ever been proposed involved such vital interests as the subject which now invites attention. when the negro was freed the question was asked if he was capable of voting intelligently. it was answered in this way: that if a sober negro knows as much as a drunken white man he is capable of exercising the elective franchise. lavinia c. dundore, introduced as the lady who had made application for an appointment as a constable and been refused, made a pithy address, in which she alluded to her recent disappointment. matilda joslyn gage spoke of the influence of the church on woman's liberties, and then referred to a large number of law books--ancient and modern, ecclesiastical and lay--in which the liberties of woman were more or less abridged; the equality of sexes which obtained in rome before the christian era, and the gradual discrimination in favor of men which crept in with the growth of the church. mrs. devereux blake said there is no aspect of this question that strikes us so forcibly as the total ignoring of women by public men. however polite they may be in private life, when they come to public affairs they seem to forget that women exist. the men who framed the last amendment to the constitution seemed to have wholly forgotten that women existed or had rights.... huxley said in reply to an inquiry as to woman suffrage, "of course i'm in favor of it. does it become us to lay additional burdens on those who are already overweighted?" it is always the little men who oppose us; the big-hearted men help us along. all in this audience are of the broad-shouldered type, and i hope all will go out prepared to advocate our principles. in reply to the objection that women do not need the right to vote because men represent them so well, she asked if any man in the audience ever asked his wife how he should vote, and told him to stand up if there was such a one. [here a young man in the back part of the hall stood up amidst loud applause.] the various resolutions were discussed at great length and adopted, though much difference of opinion was expressed on the last, which demands that intelligence shall be made the basis of suffrage: _resolved_, that the national constitution should be so amended as to secure to united states citizens at home the same protection for their individual rights against state tyranny, as is now guaranteed everywhere against foreign aggressions. _resolved_, that the civil and political rights of the educated tax-paying women of this nation should take precedence of all propositions and debates in the present congress as to the future status of the chinese and indians under the flag of the united states. whereas, the essential elements of justice are already recognized in the constitution; and, whereas, our fathers proposed to establish a purely secular government in which all forms of religion should be equally protected, therefore, _resolved_, that it is preëminently unjust to tax the property of widows and spinsters to its full value, while the clergy are made a privileged class by exempting from taxation $ , of their property in some states, while in all states parsonages and other church property, amounting to millions of dollars, are exempted, which, if fairly taxed, would greatly lighten the national debt, and thereby the burdens of the laboring masses. _resolved_, that thus to exempt one class of citizens, one kind of property, from taxation, at the expense of all others, is a great national evil, in a moral as well as a financial point of view. it is an assumption that the church is a more important institution than the family; that the influence of the clergy is of more vital consequence in the progress of civilization than that of the women of this republic; from which we emphatically dissent. _resolved_, that universal education is the true basis of universal suffrage; hence the several states should so amend their constitutions as to make education compulsory, and, as a stimulus to the rising generation, declare that after all who exercise the right of suffrage must be able to read and write the english language. for, while the national government should secure the equal right of suffrage to all citizens, the state should regulate its exercise by proper attainable qualifications. on january , , our champion in the senate, hon. a. a. sargent, of california, by unanimous consent, presented the following joint resolution, which was read twice and referred to the committee on privileges and elections: joint resolution _proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states_.-- _resolved_ by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled, two-thirds of each house concurring therein, that the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several states as an amendment to the constitution of the united states, which, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the said constitution, namely: article , sec. .--the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. sec. .--congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. the committee on privileges and elections granted hearings to the national association on january , , when the delegates,[ ] representing the several states, made their respective arguments and appeals. clemence s. lozier, m. d., president of the association, first addressed the committee and read the following extract from a recent letter from victor hugo: our ill-balanced society seems as if it would take from woman all that nature had endowed her with. in our codes there is something to recast. it is what i call the woman-law. man has had his law; he has made it for himself. woman has only the law of man. she by this law is civilly a minor and morally a slave. her education is embued with this twofold character of inferiority. hence many sufferings to her which man must justly share. there must be reform here, and it will be to the benefit of civilization, truth, and light. in concluding, dr. lozier said: i have now the honor to introduce miss julia e. smith, of glastonbury, conn., who will speak to you concerning the resistance of her sister and herself to the payment of taxes in her native town, on the ground that they are unrepresented in all town meetings, and therefore have no voice in the expenditure of the taxes which they are compelled to pay. miss smith said: _gentlemen of the committee_--this is the first time in my life that i have trod these halls, and what has brought me here? i say, oppression--oppression of women by men. under the law they have taken from us $ , worth of meadow-land, and sold it for taxes of less than $ , and we were obliged to redeem it, for we could not lose the most valuable part of our farm. they have come into our house and said, "you must pay so much; we must execute the laws"; and we are not allowed to have a voice in the matter, or to modify laws that are odious. i have come to washington, as men cannot address you for us. we have no power at all; we are totally defenseless. [miss smith then read two short letters written by her sister abby to the springfield _republican_.] these tell our brief story, and may i not ask, gentlemen, that they shall so plead with you that you will report to the senate unanimously in favor of the sixteenth amendment, which we ask in order that the women of these united states who shall come after us may be saved the desecration of their homes which we have suffered, and our country may be relieved from the disgrace of refusing representation to that half of its people that men call the better half, because it includes their wives and daughters and mothers? elizabeth boynton harbert, vice-president for illinois: _gentlemen of the committee_--we recognize your duty as men intrusted with the control and guidance of the government to carefully weigh every phase of this momentous question. has the time arrived when it will be safe and expedient to make a practical application of these great principles of our government to one-half of the governed, one-half of the citizens of the united states? the favorite argument of the opposition has been that women are represented by men, hence have no cause for complaint. any careful student of the progress of liberty must admit that the only possible method for securing justice to the represented is for their representatives to be made entirely responsible to their constituents, and promptly removable by them. we are only secure in delegating power when we can dictate its use, limit the same, or revoke it. how many of your honorable committee would vote to make the presidency an office for life, said office to descend to the heirs in a male line forever, with no reserved power of impeachment? yet you would be more fairly represented than are american women, since they have never elected their representatives. so far as women are concerned you are self-constituted rulers. we cannot hope for complete representation while we are powerless to recall, impeach, or punish our representatives. we meet with a case in point in the history of virginia. bancroft gives us the following quotation from the official records: the freedom of elections was further impaired by "frequent false returns," made by the sheriffs. against these the people had no sufficient redress, for the sheriffs were responsible neither to them nor to officers of their appointment. and how could a more pregnant cause of discontent exist in a country where the elective franchise was cherished as the dearest civil privilege?--if land is to be taxed, none but landholders should elect the legislature.--the other freemen, who are the more in number, may refuse to be bound by those laws in which they have no representation, and we are so well acquainted with the temper of the people that we have reason to believe they had rather pay their taxes than lose that privilege. would those statesmen have dared to tax those landholders and yet deny them the privilege of choosing their representatives? and if, forsooth, they had, would not each one of you have declared such act unconstitutional and unjust? we are the daughters of those liberty-loving patriots. their blood flows in our veins, and in view of the recognized physiological fact that special characteristics are transmitted from fathers to daughters, do you wonder that we tax-paying, american-born citizens of these united states are here to protest in the name of liberty and justice? we recognize, however, that you are not responsible for the present political condition of women, and that the question confronting you, as statesmen called to administer justice under existing conditions, is, "what are the capacities of this great class for self-government?" you have cautiously summoned us to adduce proof that the ballot in the hands of women would prove a help, not a hindrance; would bring wings, not weights. first, then, we ask you in the significant name of history to read the record of woman as a ruler from the time when deborah judged israel, and the land had rest and peace forty years, even down to this present when victoria regina, the empress queen, rules her vast kingdom so ably that we sometimes hear american men talk about a return "to the good old ways of limited monarchy," with woman for a ruler. john stuart mill, after studious research, testifies as follows: when to queens and emperors we add regents and viceroys of provinces, the list of women who have been eminent rulers of mankind swells to a great length. the fact is so undeniable that some one long ago tried to retort the argument by saying that queens are better than kings, because under kings women govern, but under queens, men. especially is her wonderful talent for governing evinced in asia. if a hindoo principality is strongly, vigilantly, and economically governed; if order is preserved without oppression; if cultivation is extending, and the people prosperous, in three cases out of four that principality is under a woman's rule. this fact, to me an entirely unexpected one, i have collected from a long official knowledge of hindoo governments. there are many such instances; for though by hindoo institutions a woman cannot reign, she is the legal regent of a kingdom during the minority of the heir--and minorities are frequent, the lives of the male rulers being so often prematurely terminated through their inactivity and excesses. when we consider that these princesses have never been seen in public, have never conversed with any man not of their own family, except from behind a curtain; that they do not read, and if they did, there is no book in their languages which can give them the smallest instruction on political affairs, the example they afford of the natural capacity of women for government is very striking. in view of these facts, does it not appear that if there is any one distinctively feminine characteristic, it is the mother-instinct for government? but now with clearer vision we reread the record of the past. true, we find no raphael or beethoven, no phidias or michael angelo among women. no woman has painted the greatest picture, carved the finest statue, composed the noblest oratorio or opera. not many women's names appear after joan of arc's in the long list of warriors; but, as a ruler, woman stands to-day the peer of man. while man has rendered such royal service in the realm of art, woman has not been idle. infinite wisdom has intrusted to her the living, breathing marble or canvas, and with smiles and tears, prayers and songs has she patiently wrought developing the latent possibilities of the divine christ-child, the infant washington, the baby lincoln. ah! since god and men have intrusted to woman the weightiest responsibility known to earth, the development and education of the human soul, need you fear to intrust her with citizenship? is the ballot more precious than the soul of your child? if it is safe in the home, in the school-room, the sunday-school, to place in woman's hands the education of your children, is it not safe to allow that mother to express her choice in regard to which one of these sons, her boys whom she has taught and nursed, shall make laws for her guidance? just here, in imagination, is heard the question, "how much help could we expect from women on financial questions?" we accept the masculine idea of woman's mathematical deficiencies. we have had slight opportunity for discovering the best proportions of a silver dollar, owing to the fact that the family specimens have been zealously guarded by the male members; and yet, we may have some latent possibilities in that direction, since already the "brethren" in our debt-burdened churches wail out from the depths of masculine indebtedness and interest-tables, "our sisters, we pray you come over and help us!" and, in view of the fact of the present condition of finances, in view of the fact of the enormous taxes you impose upon us, can you look us calmly in the face and assert that matters might, would, should, or could have been worse, even though julia ward howe, mary a. livermore, or elizabeth cady stanton, had voted on the silver bill? a moment since i referred to the great responsibilities of motherhood, and doubtless your mental comment was, "yes, that is woman's peculiar sphere; there she should be content to remain." it _is_ our sphere--beautiful, glorious, almost infinite in its possibilities. we accept the work; we only ask for opportunity to perform it. the sphere has enlarged, that is all. there has been a new revelation. that historic "first gun" proclaimed a wonderful message to the daughters of america; for, when the smoke of the cannonading had lifted, the entire horizon of woman was broadened, illuminated, glorified. on that april morn, when a nation of citizens suddenly sprang into an army of warriors, with a patriotism as intense, a consecration as true, american women quietly assumed their vacated places and became citizens. new boundaries were defined. a mary somerville or maria mitchell seized the telescope and alone with god and the stars, cast a new horoscope for woman. and the new truth, electrifying, glorifying american womanhood to-day, is the discovery that the state is but the larger family, the nation the old homestead, and that in this national home there is a room and a corner and a duty for "mother." a duty recognized by such a statesman as john adams, who wrote to his wife in regard to her mother: your mother had a clear and penetrating understanding and a profound judgment, as well as an honest, a friendly and charitable heart. there is one thing, however, which you will forgive me if i hint to you. let me ask you rather if you are not of my opinion. were not her talents and virtues too much confined to private, social and domestic life? my opinion of the duties of religion and morality comprehends a very extensive connection with society at large and the great interests of the public. does not natural morality and, much more, christian benevolence make it our indispensable duty to endeavor to serve our fellow-creatures to the utmost of our power in promoting and supporting those great political systems and general regulations upon which the happiness of multitudes depends? the benevolence, charity, capacity and industry which exerted in private life would make a family, a parish or a town happy, employed upon a larger scale and in support of the great principles of virtue and freedom of political regulations, might secure whole nations and generations from misery, want and contempt. intense domestic life is selfish. the home evidently needs fathers as much as mothers. tender, wise fatherhood is beautiful as motherhood, but there are orphaned children to be cared for. these duties to the state and nation as mothers, true to the highest needs of our children, we dare not ignore; and the nation cannot much longer afford to have us ignore them. as statesmen, walking on the shore piled high with the "drift-wood of kings," the wrecks of nations and governments, you have discovered the one word emblazoned as an epitaph on each and every one, "luxury, luxury, luxury!" you have hitherto placed a premium upon woman's idleness, helplessness, dependence. the children of most of our fashionable women are being educated by foreign nurses. how can you expect them to develop into patriotic american statesmen? for the sake of country i plead--for the sake of a responsible, exalted womanhood; for the sake of a purer womanhood; for home and truth, and native land. as a daughter, with holiest, tenderest, most grateful memories clinging to the almost sacred name of father; as a wife, receiving constant encouragement, support, and coöperation from one who has revealed to her the genuine nobility of true manhood; as a mother, whose heart still thrills at the first greeting from her little son; and as a sister, watching with intense interest the entrance of a brother into the great world of work, i could not be half so loyal to woman's cause were it not a synonym for the equal rights of humanity--a diviner justice for all! with one practical question i rest my case. the world objected to woman's entrance into literature, the pulpit, the lyceum, the college, the school. what has she wrought? our wisest thinkers and historians assert that literature has been purified. poets and judges at international collegiate contests award to woman's thought the highest prize. miss lucia peabody received upon the occasion of her second election to the boston school board the highest vote ever polled for any candidate. since woman has proved faithful over a few things, need you fear to summon her to your side to assist you in executing the will of the nation? and now, yielding to none in intense love of womanhood; standing here beneath the very dome of the national capitol overshadowed by the old flag; with the blood of the revolutionary patriots coursing through my veins; as a native-born, tax-paying american citizen, i ask equality before the law. elizabeth cady stanton said: _gentlemen of the committee_: in appearing before you to ask for a sixteenth amendment to the united states constitution, permit me to say that with the hon. charles sumner, we believe that our constitution, fairly interpreted, already secures to the humblest individual all the rights, privileges and immunities of american citizens. but as statesmen differ in their interpretations of constitutional law as widely as they differ in their organizations, the rights of every class of citizens must be clearly defined in concise, unmistakable language. all the great principles of liberty declared by the fathers gave no protection to the black man of the republic for a century, and when, with higher light and knowledge his emancipation and enfranchisement were proclaimed, it was said that the great truths set forth in the prolonged debates of thirty years on the individual rights of the black man, culminating in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution, had no significance for woman. hence we ask that this anomalous class of beings, not recognized by the supreme powers as either "persons" or "citizens" may be defined and their rights declared in the constitution. in the adjustment of the question of suffrage now before the people of this country for settlement, it is of the highest importance that the organic law of the land should be so framed and construed as to work injustice to none, but secure as far as possible perfect political equality among all classes of citizens. in determining your right and power to legislate on this question, consider what has been done already. as the national constitution declares that "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states, and of the state wherein they reside," it is evident: _first_--that the immunities and privileges of american citizenship, however defined, are national in character, and paramount to all state authority. _second_--that while the constitution leaves the qualification of electors to the several states, it nowhere gives them the right to deprive any citizen of the elective franchise; the state may regulate but not abolish the right of suffrage for any class. _third_--as the constitution of the united states expressly declares that no state shall make or enforce any law that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states, those provisions of the several state constitutions that exclude citizens from the franchise on account of sex, alike violate the spirit and letter of the federal constitution. _fourth_--as the question of naturalization is expressly withheld from the states, and as the states would clearly have no right to deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to deprive native-born women-citizens of the right. let me give you a few extracts from the national constitution upon which these propositions are based: _preamble:_ we, the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution. this is declared to be a government "of the people." all power, it is said, centers in the people. our state constitutions also open with the words, "we, the people." does any one pretend to say that men alone constitute races and peoples? when we say parents, do we not mean mothers as well as fathers? when we say children, do we not mean girls as well as boys? when we say people, do we not mean women as well as men? when the race shall spring, minerva-like, from the brains of their fathers, it will be time enough thus to ignore the fact that one-half the human family are women. individual rights, individual conscience and judgment are our great american ideas, the fundamental principles of our political and religious faith. men may as well attempt to do our repenting, confessing, and believing, as our voting--as well represent us at the throne of grace as at the ballot-box. article , sec. .--no bill of attainder, or _ex post facto_ law shall be passed; no title of nobility shall be granted by the united states. sec. .--no state shall pass any bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. notwithstanding these provisions of the constitution, bills of attainder have been passed by the introduction of the word "male" into all the state constitutions denying to woman the right of suffrage, and thereby making sex a crime. a citizen disfranchised in a republic is a citizen attainted. when we place in the hands of one class of citizens the right to make, interpret and execute the law for another class wholly unrepresented in the government, we have made an order of nobility. article , sec. .--the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. the elective franchise is one of the privileges secured by this section approved in dunham _vs._ lamphere ( gray mass. rep., ), and bennett _vs._ boggs (baldwin's rep., p. , circuit court u. s.). article , sec. .--the united states shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government. how can that form of government be called republican in which one-half the people are forever deprived of all participation in its affairs? article .--this constitution, and the laws of the united states which shall be made in pursuance thereof, ... shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. article , sec. .--all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states.... no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states. in the discussion of the enfranchisement of woman, suffrage is now claimed by one class of thinkers as a privilege based upon citizenship and secured by the constitution of the united states, as by lexicographers as well as by the constitution itself, the definition of citizen includes women as well as men. no state can rightfully deprive a woman-citizen of the united states of any fundamental right which is hers in common with all other citizens. the states have the right to regulate, but not to prohibit the elective franchise to citizens of the united states. thus the states may determine the qualifications of electors. they may require the elector to be of a certain age--to have had a fixed residence--to be of sane mind and unconvicted of crime,--because these are qualifications or conditions that all citizens, sooner or later, may attain. but to go beyond this, and say to one-half the citizens of the state, notwithstanding you possess all of these qualifications, you shall never vote, is of the very essence of despotism. it is a bill of attainder of the most odious character. a further investigation of the subject will show that the constitutions of all the states, with the exception of virginia and massachusetts, read substantially alike. "white male citizens" shall be entitled to vote, and this is supposed to exclude all other citizens. there is no direct exclusion except in the two states above named. now the error lies in supposing that an enabling clause is necessary at all. the right of the people of a state to participate in a government of their own creation requires no enabling clause, neither can it be taken from them by implication. to hold otherwise would be to interpolate in the constitution a prohibition that does not exist. in framing a constitution, the people are assembled in their sovereign capacity, and being possessed of all rights and powers, what is not surrendered is retained. nothing short of a direct prohibition can work a deprivation of rights that are fundamental. in the language of john jay to the people of new york, urging the adoption of the constitution of the united states: "silence and blank paper neither give nor take away anything." and alexander hamilton says (_federalist_, no. ): every man of discernment must at once perceive the wide difference between silence and abolition. the mode and manner in which the people shall take part in the government of their creation may be prescribed by the constitution, but the right itself is antecedent to all constitutions. it is inalienable, and can neither be bought nor sold nor given away. but even if it should be held that this view is untenable, and that women are disfranchised by the several state constitutions, directly or by implication, then i say that such prohibitions are clearly in conflict with the constitution of the united states and yield thereto. another class of thinkers, equally interested in woman's enfranchisement, maintain that there is, as yet, no power in the united states constitution to protect the rights of all united states citizens, in all latitudes and longitudes, and in all conditions whatever. when the constitution was adopted, the fathers thought they had secured national unity. this was the opinion of southern as well as northern statesmen. it was supposed that the question of state rights was then forever settled. hon. charles sumner, speaking on this point in the united states senate, march , , said the object of the constitution was to ordain, under the authority of the people, a national government possessing unity and power. the confederation had been merely an agreement "between the states," styled, "a league of firm friendship." found to be feeble and inoperative through the pretension of state rights, it gave way to the constitution which, instead of a "league," created a "union," in the name of the people of the united states. beginning with these inspiring and enacting words, "we, the people," it was popular and national. here was no concession to state rights, but a recognition of the power of the people, from whom the constitution proceeded. the states are acknowledged; but they are all treated as component parts of the union in which they are absorbed under the constitution, which is the supreme law. there is but one sovereignty, and that is the sovereignty of the united states. on this very account the adoption of the constitution was opposed by patrick henry and george mason. the first exclaimed, "that this is a consolidated government is demonstrably clear; the question turns on that poor little thing, 'we, the people,' instead of the states." the second exclaimed, "whether the constitution is good or bad, it is a national government, and no longer a confederation." but against this powerful opposition the constitution was adopted in the name of the people of the united states. throughout the discussions, state rights was treated with little favor. madison said: "the states are only political societies, and never possessed the right of sovereignty." gerry said: "the states have only corporate rights." wilson, the philanthropic member from pennsylvania, afterward a learned judge of the supreme court of the united states and author of the "lectures on law," said: "will a regard to state rights justify the sacrifice of the rights of men? if we proceed on any other foundation than the last, our building will neither be solid nor lasting." those of us who understand the dignity, power and protection of the ballot, have steadily petitioned congress for the last ten years to secure to the women of the republic the exercise of their right to the elective franchise. we began by asking a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution. march , , the hon. george w. julian submitted a joint resolution to congress, to enfranchise the women of the republic, by proposing a sixteenth amendment: article .--the right of suffrage in the united states shall be based on citizenship, and shall be regulated by congress, and all citizens of the united states, whether native or naturalized, shall enjoy this right equally, without any distinction or discrimination whatever founded on sex. while the discussion was pending for the emancipation and enfranchisement of the slaves of the south, and popular thought led back to the consideration of the fundamental principles of our government, it was clearly seen that all the arguments for the civil and political rights of the african race applied to women also. seeing this, some republicans stood ready to carry these principles to their logical results. democrats, too, saw the drift of the argument, and though not in favor of extending suffrage to either black men, or women, yet, to embarrass republican legislation, it was said, they proposed amendments for woman suffrage to all bills brought forward for enfranchising the negroes. and thus, during the passage of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, and the district suffrage bill, the question of woman suffrage was often and ably discussed in the senate and house, and received both republican and democratic votes in its favor. many able lawyers and judges gave it as their opinion that women as well as africans were enfranchised by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. accordingly, we abandoned, for the time being, our demand for a sixteenth amendment, and pleaded our right of suffrage, as already secured by the fourteenth amendment--the argument lying in a nut-shell. for if, as therein asserted, all persons born or naturalized in the united states are citizens of the united states; and if a citizen, according to the best authorities, is one possessed of all the rights and privileges of citizenship, namely, the right to make laws and choose lawmakers, women, being persons, must be citizens, and therefore entitled to the rights of citizenship, the chief of which is the right to vote. accordingly, women tested their right, registered and voted--the inspectors of election accepting the argument, for which inspectors and women alike were arrested, tried and punished; the courts deciding that although by the fourteenth amendment they were citizens, still, citizenship did not carry with it the right to vote. but granting the premise of the supreme court decision, "that the constitution does not confer suffrage on any one," then it inhered with the citizen before the constitution was framed. our national life does not date from that instrument. the constitution is not the original declaration of rights. it was not framed until eleven years after our existence as a nation, nor fully ratified until nearly fourteen years after the inauguration of our national independence. but however the letter and spirit of the constitution may be interpreted by the people, the judiciary of the nation has uniformly proved itself the echo of the party in power. when the slave power was dominant the supreme court decided that a black man was not a citizen, because he had not the right to vote; and when the constitution was so amended as to make all persons citizens, the same high tribunal decided that a woman, though a citizen, had not the right to vote. an african, by virtue of his united states citizenship, is declared, under recent amendments, a voter in every state of the union; but when a woman, by virtue of her united states citizenship, applies to the supreme court for protection in the exercise of this same right, she is remanded to the state, by the unanimous decision of the nine judges on the bench, that "the constitution of the united states does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one." such vacillating interpretations of constitutional law must unsettle our faith in judicial authority, and undermine the liberties of the whole people. seeing by these decisions of the courts that the theory of our government, the declaration of independence, and recent constitutional amendments, have no significance for woman, that all the grand principles of equality are glittering generalities for her, we must fall back once more to our former demand of a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution, that, in clear, unmistakable language, shall declare the status of woman in this republic. the declaration of independence struck a blow at every existent form of government by making the individual the source of all power. this is the sun, and the one central truth around which all genuine republics must keep their course or perish. national supremacy means something more than power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce. it means national protection and security in the exercise of the right of self-government, which comes alone by and through the use of the ballot. women are the only class of citizens still wholly unrepresented in the government, and yet we possess every requisite qualification for voters in the united states. women possess property and education; we take out naturalization-papers and passports and register ships. we preëmpt lands, pay taxes (women sometimes work out the road-tax with their own hands) and suffer for our own violation of laws. we are neither idiots, lunatics, nor criminals, and according to our state constitution lack but one qualification for voters, namely, sex, which is an insurmountable qualification, and therefore equivalent to a bill of attainder against one-half the people, a power neither the states nor the united states can legally exercise, being forbidden in article , sections , , of the constitution. our rulers have the right to regulate the suffrage, but they cannot abolish it for any class of citizens, as has been done in the case of the women of this republic, without a direct violation of the fundamental law of the land. all concessions of privileges or redress of grievances are mockery for any class that have no voice in the laws, and law-makers; hence we demand the ballot, that scepter of power in our own hands, as the only sure protection for our rights of person and property under all conditions. if the few may grant and withhold rights at their pleasure, the many cannot be said to enjoy the blessings of self-government. william h. seward said in his great speech on "freedom and union," in the united states senate, february , : mankind have a natural right, a natural instinct, and a natural capacity for self-government; and when, as here, they are sufficiently ripened by culture, they will and must have self-government, and no other. jefferson said: the god who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of freedom may destroy, but cannot disjoin them. few people comprehend the length and breadth of the principle we are advocating to-day, and how closely it is allied to everything vital in our system of government. our personal grievances, such as being robbed of property and children by unjust husbands; denied admission into the colleges, the trades and professions; compelled to work at starving prices, by no means round out this whole question. in asking for a sixteenth amendment to the united states constitution, and the protection of congress against the injustice of state law, we are fighting the same battle as jefferson and hamilton fought in , as calhoun and clay in , as abraham lincoln and jefferson davis in , namely, the limit of state rights and federal power. the enfranchisement of woman involves the same vital principle of our government that is dividing and distracting the two great political parties at this hour. there is nothing a foreigner coming here finds it so difficult to understand as the wheel within a wheel in our national and state governments, and the possibility of carrying them on without friction; and this is the difficulty and danger we are fast finding out. the recent amendments are steps in the right direction toward national unity, securing equal rights to all citizens, in every latitude and longitude. but our congressional debates, judicial decisions, and the utterances of campaign orators, continually falling back to the old ground, are bundles of contradictions on this vital question. inasmuch as we are, first, citizens of the united states, and second, of the state wherein we reside, the primal rights of all citizens should be regulated by the national government, and complete equality in civil and political rights everywhere secured. when women are denied the right to enter institutions of learning, and practice in the professions, unjust discriminations made against sex even more degrading and humiliating than were ever made against color, surely woman, too, should be protected by a civil-rights bill and a sixteenth amendment that should make her political status equal with all other citizens of the republic. the right of suffrage, like the currency of the post-office department, demands national regulation. we can all remember the losses sustained by citizens in traveling from one state to another under the old system of state banks. we can imagine the confusion if each state regulated its post-offices, and the transit of the mails across its borders. the benefits we find in uniformity and unity in these great interests would pervade all others where equal conditions were secured. some citizens are asking for a national bankrupt law, that a person released from his debts in one state may be free in every other. some are for a religious freedom amendment that shall forever separate church and state; forbidding a religious test as a condition of suffrage or a qualification for office; forbidding the reading of the bible in the schools and the exempting of church property and sectarian institutions of learning or charity from taxation. some are demanding a national marriage law, that a man legally married in one state may not be a bigamist in another. some are asking a national prohibitory law, that a reformed drunkard who is shielded from temptation in one state may not be environed with dangers in another. and thus many individual interests point to a growing feeling among the people in favor of homogeneous legislation. as several of the states are beginning to legislate on the woman suffrage question, it is of vital moment that there should be some national action. as the laws now are, a woman who can vote, hold office, be tried by a jury of her own peers--yea, and sit on the bench as justice of the peace in the territory of wyoming, may be reduced to a political pariah in the state of new york. a woman who can vote and hold office on the school board, and act as county superintendent in kansas and minnesota, is denied these rights in passing into pennsylvania. a woman who can be a member of the school board in maine, wisconsin, iowa, and california, loses all these privileges in new jersey, maryland, and delaware. when representatives from the territories are sent to congress by the votes of women, it is time to have some national recognition of this class of citizens. this demand of national protection for national citizens is fated to grow stronger every day. the government of the united states, as the constitution is now interpreted, is powerless to give a just equivalent for the supreme allegiance it claims. one sound democratic principle fully recognized and carried to its logical results in our government, declaring all citizens equal before the law, would soon chase away the metaphysical mists and fogs that cloud our political views in so many directions. when congress is asked to put the name of god in the constitution, and thereby pledge the nation to some theological faith in which some united states citizens may not believe and thus subject a certain class to political ostracism and social persecution, it is asked not to protect but to oppress the citizens of the several states in their most sacred rights--to think, reason, and decide all questions of religion and conscience for themselves, without fear or favor from the government. popular sentiment and church persecution is all that an advanced thinker in science and religion should be called on to combat. the state should rather throw its shield of protection around those uttering liberal, progressive ideas; for the nation has the same interest in every new thought as it has in the invention of new machinery to lighten labor, in the discovery of wells of oil, or mines of coal, copper, iron, silver or gold. as in the laboratory of nature new forms of beauty are forever revealing themselves, so in the world of thought a higher outlook gives a clearer vision of the heights man in freedom shall yet attain. the day is past for persecuting the philosophers of the physical sciences. but what a holocaust of martyrs bigotry is still making of those bearing the richest treasures of thought, in religion and social ethics, in their efforts to roll off the mountains of superstition that have so long darkened the human mind! the numerous demands by the people for national protection in many rights not specified in the constitution, prove that the people have outgrown the compact that satisfied the fathers, and the more it is expounded and understood the more clearly its monarchical features can be traced to its english origin. and it is not at all surprising that, with no chart or compass for a republic, our fathers, with all their educational prejudices in favor of the mother country, with her literature and systems of jurisprudence, should have also adopted her ideas of government, and in drawing up their national compact engrafted the new republic on the old constitutional monarchy, a union whose incompatibility has involved their sons in continued discussion as to the true meaning of the instrument. a recent writer says: the constitution of the united states is the result of a fourfold compromise: _first_--of unity with individual interests; of national sovereignty with the so-called sovereignty of states; _second_--of the republic with monarchy; _third_--of freedom with slavery; _fourth_--of democracy with aristocracy. it is founded, therefore, on the fourfold combination of principles perfectly incompatible and eternally excluding each other; founded for the purpose of equally preserving these principles in spite of their incompatibility, and of carrying out their practical results--in other words, for the purpose of making an impossible thing possible. and a century of discussion has not yet made the constitution understood. it has no settled interpretation. being a series of compromises, it can be expounded in favor of many directly opposite principles. a distinguished american statesman remarked that the war of the rebellion was waged "to expound the constitution." it is a pertinent question now, shall all other contradictory principles be retained in the constitution until they, too, are expounded by civil war? on what theory is it less dangerous to defraud twenty million women of their inalienable rights than four million negroes? is not the same principle involved in both cases? we ask congress to pass a sixteenth amendment, not only for woman's protection, but for the safety of the nation. our people are filled with unrest to-day because there is no fair understanding of the basis of individual rights, nor the legitimate power of the national government. the republican party took the ground during the war that congress had the right to establish a national currency in every state; that it had the right to emancipate and enfranchise the slaves; to change their political status in one-half the states of the union; to pass a civil rights bill, securing to the freedman a place in the schools, colleges, trades, professions, hotels, and all public conveyances for travel. and they maintained their right to do all these as the best measures for peace, though compelled by war. and now, when congress is asked to extend the same protection to the women of the nation, we are told they have not the power, and we are remanded to the states. they say the emancipation of the slave was a war measure, a military necessity; that his enfranchisement was a political necessity. we might with propriety ask if the present condition of the nation, with its political outlook, its election frauds daily reported, the corrupt action of men in official position, governors, judges, and boards of canvassers, has not brought us to a moral necessity where some new element is needed in government. but, alas! when women appeal to congress for the protection of their natural rights of person and property, they send us for redress to the courts, and the courts remand us to the states. you did not trust the southern freedman to the arbitrary will of courts and states! why send your mothers, wives and daughters to the unwashed, unlettered, unthinking masses that carry popular elections? we are told by one class of philosophers that the growing tendency to increase national power and authority is leading to a dangerous centralization; that the safety of the republic rests in local self-government. says the editor of the boston _index_: what is local self-government? briefly, that without any interference from without, every citizen should manage his own personal affairs in his own way, according to his own pleasure; that every town should manage its own town affairs in the same manner and under the same restriction; every county its own county affairs, every state its own state affairs. but the independent exercise of this autonomy, by personal and corporate individuals, has one fundamental condition, viz.: the maintenance of all these individualities intact, each in its own sphere of action, with its rights uninfringed and its freedom uncurtailed in that sphere, yet each also preserving its just relation to all the rest in an all comprehensive social organization. every citizen would thus stand, as it were, in the center of several concentric and enlarging circles of relationship to his kind; he would have duties and rights in each relation, not only as an individual but also as a member of town, county, state and national organization. his local self-government will be at his highest possible point of realization, when in each of these relations his individual duties are discharged and his rights maintained. on the other hand, what is centralization? it is such a disorganization of this well-balanced, harmonious and natural system as shall result in the absorption of all substantial power by a central authority, to the destruction of the autonomy of the various individualities above mentioned; such as was produced, for instance, when the _municipia_ of the roman empire lost their corporate independence and melted into the vast imperial despotism which prepared the way for the collapse of society under the blows of northern barbarism. such a centralization must inevitably be produced by decay of that stubborn stickling for rights, out of which local self-government has always grown. that is, if individual rights in the citizen, the town, the county, the state, shall not be vindicated as beyond all price, and defended with the utmost jealousy, at whatever cost, the spirit of liberty must have already died out, and the dreary process of centralization be already far advanced. it will thus be evident that the preservation of individual rights is the only possible preventative of centralization, and that free society has no interest to be compared for an instant in importance with that of preserving these individual rights. no nation is free in which this is not the paramount concern. woe to america when her sons and her daughters begin to sneer at rights! just so long as the citizens are protected individually in their rights, the towns and counties and states cannot be stripped; but if the former lose all love for their own liberties as equal units of society, the latter will become the empty shells of creatures long perished. the nation as such, therefore, if it would be itself free and non-centralized, must find its own supreme interest in the protection of its individual citizens in the fullest possible enjoyment of their equal rights and liberties. as this question of woman's enfranchisement is one of national safety, we ask you to remember that we are citizens of the united states, and, as such, claim the protection of the national flag in the exercise of our national rights, in every latitude and longitude, on sea, land, at home as well as abroad; against the tyranny of states, as well as against foreign aggressions. local authorities may regulate the exercise of these rights; they may settle all minor questions of property, but the inalienable personal rights of citizenship should be declared by the constitution, interpreted by the supreme court, protected by congress and enforced by the arm of the executive. it is nonsense to talk of state rights until the graver question of personal liberties is first understood and adjusted. president hayes, in reply to an address of welcome at charlottesville, va., september , , said: equality under the laws for all citizens is the corner-stone of the structure of the restored harmony from which the ancient friendship is to rise. in this pathway i am going, the pathway where your illustrious men led--your jefferson, your madison, your monroe, your washington. if, in this statement, president hayes is thoroughly sincere, then he will not hesitate to approve emphatically the principle of national protection for national citizens. he will see that the protection of all the national citizens in all their rights, civil, political, and religious--not by the muskets of united states troops, but by the peaceable authority of united states courts--is not a principle that applies to a single section of the country, but to all sections alike; he will see that the incorporation of such a principle in the constitution cannot be regarded as a measure of force imposed upon the vanquished, since it would be law alike to the vanquished and the victor. in short, he will see that there is no other sufficient guarantee of that equality of all citizens, which he well declares to be the "corner-stone of the structure of restored harmony." the boston _journal_ of july , said: there are cases where it seems as if the constitution should empower the federal government to step in and protect the citizen in the state, when the local authorities are in league with the assassins; but, as it now reads, no such provision exists. that the constitution does not make such provision is not the fault of the president; it must be attributed to the leading republicans who had it in their power once to change the constitution so as to give the most ample powers to the general government. when attorney-general devens was charged last may with negligence in not prosecuting the parties accused of the mountain meadow massacre, his defense was, that this horrible crime was not against the united states, but against the territory of utah. yet, it was a great company of industrious, honest, unoffending united states citizens who were foully and brutally murdered in cold blood. when chief-justice waite gave his charge to the jury in the ellentown conspiracy cases, at charleston, s. c., june , , he said: that a number of citizens of the united states have been killed, there can be no question; but that is not enough to enable the government of the united states to interfere for their protection. under the constitution that duty belongs to the state alone. but when an unlawful combination is made to interfere with any of the rights of natural citizenship secured to citizens of the united states by the national constitution, then an offense is committed against the laws of the united states, and it is not only the right but the absolute duty of the national government to interfere and afford the citizens that protection which every good government is bound to give. general hawley, in an address before a college last spring, said: why, it is asked, does our government permit outrages in a state which it would exert all its authority to redress, even at the risk of war, if they were perpetrated under a foreign government? are the rights of american citizens more sacred on the soil of great britain or france than on the soil of one of our own states? not at all. but the government of the united states is clothed with power to act with imperial sovereignty in the one case, while in the other its authority is limited to the degree of utter impotency, in certain circumstances. the state sovereignty excludes the federal over most matters of dealing between man and man, and if the state laws are properly enforced there is not likely to be any ground of complaint, but if they are not, the federal government, if not specially called on according to the terms of the constitution, is helpless. citizen a.b., grievously wronged, beaten, robbed, lynched within a hair's breadth of death, may apply in vain to any and all prosecuting officers of the state. the forms of law that might give him redress are all there; the prosecuting officers, judges, and sheriffs, that might act, are there; but, under an oppressive and tyrannical public sentiment, they refuse to move. in such an exigency the government of the united states can do no more than the government of any neighboring state; that is, unless the state concerned calls for aid, or unless the offense rises to the dignity of insurrection or rebellion. the reason is, that the framers of our governmental system left to the several states the sole guardianship of the personal and relative private rights of the people. such is the imperfect development of our own nationality in this respect that we have really no right as yet to call ourselves a nation in the true sense of the word, nor shall we have while this state of things continues. thousands have begun to feel this keenly, of which a few illustrations may suffice. a communication to the new york _tribune_, june , signed "merchant," said: before getting into a quarrel and perhaps war with mexico about the treatment of our flag and citizens, would it not be as well, think you, for the government to try and make the flag a protection to the citizens on our own soil? that is what it has never been since the foundation of our government in a large portion of our common country. the kind of government the people of this country expect and intend to have--state rights or no state rights, no matter how much blood and treasure it may cost--is a government to protect the humblest citizen in the exercise of all his rights. when the rebellion of the south against the government began, one of the most noted secessionists of baltimore asked one of the regular army officers what the government expected to gain by making war on the south. "well," the officer replied, laying his hand on the cannon by which he was standing, "we intend to use these until it is as safe for a northern man to express his political opinions in the south, as it is for a southern man to express his in the north." senator blaine, at a banquet in trenton, n. j., july , declared that a "government which did not offer protection to every citizen in every state had no right to demand allegiance." ex-senator wade, of ohio, in a letter to the washington _national republican_ of july , said of the president's policy: i greatly fear this policy, under cover of what is called local self-government, is but an ignominious surrender of the principles of nationality for which our armies fought and for which thousands upon thousands of our brave men died, and without which the war was a failure and our boasted government a myth. behind the slavery of the colored race was the principle of state rights. their emancipation and enfranchisement were important, not only as a vindication of our great republican idea of individual rights, but as the first blow in favor of national unity--of a consistent, homogeneous government. as all our difficulties, state and national, are finally referred to the constitution, it is of vital importance that that instrument should not be susceptible of a different interpretation from every possible standpoint. it is folly to spend another century in expounding the equivocal language of the constitution. if under that instrument, supposed to be the _magna charta_ of american liberties, all united states citizens do not stand equal before the law, it should without further delay be so amended as in plain, unmistakable language to declare what are the rights, privileges, and immunities that belong to citizens of a republic. there is no reason why the people of to-day should be governed by the laws and constitutions of men long since dead and buried. surely those who understand the vital issues of this hour are better able to legislate for the living present than those who governed a hundred years ago. if the nineteenth century is to be governed by the opinions of the eighteenth, and the twentieth by the nineteenth, the world will always be governed by dead men.... the cry of centralization could have little significance if the constitution were so amended as to protect all united states citizens in their inalienable rights. that national supremacy that holds individual freedom and equality more sacred than state rights and secures representation to all classes of people, is a very different form of centralization from that in which all the forces of society are centered in a single arm. but the recognition of the principle of national supremacy, as declared in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, has been practically nullified and the results of the war surrendered, by remanding woman to the states for the protection of her civil and political rights. the supreme court decisions and the congressional reports on this point are in direct conflict with the idea of national unity, and the principle of states rights involved in this discussion must in time remand all united states citizens alike to state authority for the protection of those rights declared to inhere in the people at the foundation of the government. you may listen to our demands, gentlemen, with dull ears, and smile incredulously at the idea of danger to our institutions from continued violation of the civil and political rights of women, but the question of what citizens shall enjoy the rights of suffrage involves our national existence; for, if the constitutional rights of the humblest citizen may be invaded with impunity, laws interpreted on the side of injustice, judicial decisions based not on reason, sound argument, nor the spirit and letter of our declarations and theories of government, but on the customs of society and what dead men are supposed to have thought, not what they said--what will the rights of the ruling powers even be in the future with a people educated into such modes of thought and action? the treatment of every individual in a community--in our courts, prisons, asylums, of every class of petitioners before congress--strengthens or undermines the foundations of that temple of liberty whose corner-stones were laid one century ago with bleeding hands and anxious hearts, with the hardships, privations, and sacrifices of a seven years' war. he who is able from the conflicts of the present to forecast the future events, cannot but contemplate with anxiety the fate of this republic, unless our constitution be at once subjected to a thorough emendation, making it more comprehensively democratic. a review of the history of our nation during the century will show the american people that all the obstacles that have impeded their political, moral and material progress from the dominion of slavery down to the present epidemic of political corruptions, are directly and indirectly traceable to the federal constitution as their source and support. hence the necessity of prompt and appropriate amendments. nothing that is incorrect in principle can ever be productive of beneficial results, and no custom or authority is able to alter or overrule this inviolate law of development. the catch-phrases of politicians, such as "organic development," "the logic of events," and "things will regulate themselves," have deceived the thoughtless long enough. there is just one road to safety, and that is to understand the law governing the situation and to bring the nation in line with it. grave political problems are solved in two ways--by a wise forethought, and reformation; or by general dissatisfaction, resistance, and revolution. in closing, let me remind you, gentlemen, that woman has not been a heedless spectator of all the great events of the century, nor a dull listener to the grand debates on human freedom and equality. she has learned the lesson of self-sacrifice, self-discipline, and self-government in the same school with the heroes of american liberty.[ ] matilda joslyn gage, of new york, corresponding secretary of the association, said: _mr. chairman and gentlemen of the committee_--you have heard the general argument for woman from mrs. stanton, but there are women here from all parts of the union, and each one feels that she must say a word to show how united we stand. it is because we have respect for law that we come before you to-day. we recognize the fact that in good law lies the security of all our rights, but as woman has been denied the constructive rights of the declaration and constitution, she is obliged to ask for a direct recognition in the adoption of a sixteenth amendment. the first principle of liberty is division of power. in the country of the czar or the sultan there is no liberty of thought or action. in limited monarchies power is somewhat divided, and we find larger liberty and a broader civilization. coming to the united states we find a still greater division of power, a still more extended liberty--civil, religious, political. no nation in the world is as respected as our own; no title so proud as that of american citizen; it carries with it abroad a protection as large as did that of rome two thousand years ago. but as proud as is this name of american citizen, it brings with it only shame and humiliation to one-half of the nation. woman has no part nor lot in the matter. the pride of citizenship is not for her, for woman is still a political slave. while the form of our government seems to include the whole people, one-half of them are denied a right to participate in its benefits, are denied the right of self-government. woman equally with man has natural rights; woman equally with man is a responsible being. it is said women are not fit for freedom. well, then, secure us freedom and make us fit for it. macaulay said many politicians of his time were in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people were fit to be free till they were in a condition to use their freedom; "but," said macaulay, "this maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim. if men [or women] are to wait for liberty till they become good and wise in slavery, they may indeed wait forever." there has been much talk about precedent. many women in this country vote upon school questions, and in england at all municipal elections. i wish to call your attention a little further back, to the time that the saxons first established free government in england. women, as well as men, took part in the witenagemote, the great national council of our saxon ancestors in england. when whightred, king of kent, in the seventh century, assembled the national legislature at baghamstead to enact a new code of laws, the queen, abbesses, and many ladies of quality signed the decrees. also, at beaconsfield, the abbesses took part in the council. in the reign of henry iii. four women took seats in parliament, and in the reign of edward i. ten ladies were called to parliament and helped to govern great britain. also, in , henry left his queen elinor as keeper of the great seal, or lord chancellor, while he went abroad. she sat in the aula regia, the highest court of the kingdom, holding the highest judicial power in great britain. not only among our forefathers in britain do we find that women took part in government, but, going back to the roman empire, we find the emperor heliogabalus introducing his mother into the senate, and giving her a seat near the consuls. he also established a senate of women, which met on the collis quirinalis. when aurelian was emperor he favored the representation of women, and determined to revive this senate, which in lapse of time had fallen to decay. plutarch mentions that women sat and deliberated in councils, and on questions of peace and war. hence we have precedents extending very far back into history. it is sometimes said that women do not desire freedom. but i tell you the desire for freedom lives in every heart. it may be hidden as the water of the never-freezing, rapid-flowing river neva is hidden. in the winter the ice from lake lagoda floats down till it is met by the ice setting up from the sea, when they unite and form a compact mass over it. men stand upon it, sledges run over it, splendid palaces are built upon it; but beneath all the neva still rapidly flows, itself unfrozen. the presence of these women before you shows their desire for freedom. they have come from the north, from the south, from the east, from the west, and from the far pacific slope, demanding freedom for themselves and for all women. our demands are often met by the most intolerable tyranny. the albany _law journal_, one of the most influential legal journals of the great state of new york, had the assurance a few years ago to tell miss anthony and myself if we were not suited with "our laws" we could leave the country. what laws did they mean? men's laws. if we were not suited with these men's laws, made by them to protect themselves, we could leave the country. we were advised to expatriate ourselves, to banish ourselves. but we shall not do it. it is our country, and we shall stay here and change the laws. we shall secure their amendment, so that under them there shall be exact and permanent political equality between men and women. change is not only a law of life; it is an essential proof of the existence of life. this country has attained its greatness by ever enlarging the bounds of freedom. in our hearts we feel that there is a word sweeter than mother, home, or heaven. that word is liberty. we ask it of you now. we say to you, secure to us this liberty--the same liberty you have yourselves. in doing this you will not render yourselves poor, but will make us rich indeed. mrs. stewart of delaware, in illustrating the folly of adverse arguments based on woman's ignorance of political affairs, gave an amusing account of her colored man servant the first time he voted. he had been full of bright anticipations of the coming election day, and when it dawned at last, he asked if he could be spared from his work an hour or so, to vote. "certainly, jo," said she, "by all means; go to the polls and do your duty as a citizen." elated with his new-found dignity, jo ran down the road, and with a light heart and shining face deposited his vote. on his return mrs. stewart questioned him as to his success at the polls. "well," said he, "first one man nabbed me and gave me the tickets he said i ought to vote, and then another man did the same. i said yes to both and put the tickets in my pocket. i had no use for those republican or democratic bits of paper." "well, jo," said mrs. stewart, "what did you do?" "why i took that piece of paper that i paid $ . for and put it in the box. i knew that was worth something." "alas! jo," said his mistress, "you voted your tax receipt, so your first vote has counted nothing." do you think, gentlemen, said mrs. stewart, that such women as attend our conventions, and speak from our platform, could make so ludicrous a blunder? i think not. the rev. olympia brown, a delegate from connecticut, addressed the committee as follows: _gentlemen of the committee_--i would not intrude upon your time and exhaust your patience by any further hearing upon this subject if it were not that men are continually saying to us that we do not want the ballot; that it is only a handful of women that have ever asked for it; and i think by our coming up from these different states, from delaware, from oregon, from missouri, from connecticut, from new hampshire, and giving our testimony, we shall convince you that it is not a few merely, but that it is a general demand from the women in all the different states of the union; and if we come here with stammering tongues, causing you to laugh by the very absurdity of the manner in which we advocate our opinions, it will only convince you that it is not a few "gifted" women, but the rank and file of the women of our country unaccustomed to such proceedings as these, who come here to tell you that we all desire the right of suffrage. nor shall our mistakes and inability to advocate our cause in an effective manner be an argument against us, because it is not the province of voters to conduct meetings in washington. it is rather their province to stay at home and quietly read the proceeding of members of congress, and if they find these proceedings correct, to vote to return them another year. so that our very mistakes shall argue for us and not against us. in the ages past the right of citizenship meant the right to enjoy or possess or attain all those civil and political rights that are enjoyed by any other citizen. but here we have a class who can bear the burdens and punishments of citizens, but cannot enjoy their privileges and rights. but even the meanest may petition, and so we come with our thousands of petitions, asking you to protect us against the unjust discriminations imposed by state laws. nor do we find that there is any conflict between the duties of the national government and the functions of the state. the united states government has to do with general interests, but everything that is special, has to do with sectional interests, belongs to the state. said charles sumner: the state exercises its proper functions when it makes local laws, promotes local charities, and by its local knowledge brings the guardianship of government to the homes of its citizens; but the state transcends its proper functions when in any manner it interferes with those equal rights recorded in the declaration of independence. the state is local, the united states is universal. and, says charles sumner, "what can be more universal than the rights of man?" i would add, "what can be more universal than the rights of woman?" extending further than the rights of man, because woman is the heaven-appointed guardian of the home; because woman by her influence and in her office as an educator makes the character of man; because women are to be found wherever men are to be found, as their mothers bringing them into the world, watching them, teaching them, guiding them into manhood. wherever there is a home, wherever there is a human interest, there is to be felt the interest of women, and so this cause is the most universal of any cause under the sun; and, therefore, it has a claim upon the general government. therefore we come petitioning that you will protect us in our rights, by aiding us in the passage of the sixteenth amendment, which will make the constitution plain in our favor, or by such actions as will enable us to cast our ballots at the polls without being interfered with by state authorities. and we hope you will do this at no distant day. i hope you will not send my sister, the honorable lady from delaware, to the boy, jo, to ask him to define her position in the republic. i hope you will not bid any of these women at home to ask ignorant men whether they may be allowed to discharge their obligations as citizens in the matter of suffrage. i hope you will not put your wives and mothers in the power of men who have never given a half hour's consideration to the subject of government, and who are wholly unfit to exercise their judgment as to whether women should have the right of suffrage. i will not insult your common sense by bringing up the old arguments as to whether we have the right to vote. i believe every man of you knows we have that right--that our right to vote is based upon the same authority as yours. i believe every man understands that, according to the declaration and the constitution, women should be allowed to exercise the right of suffrage, and therefore it is not necessary for me to do more than bear my testimony from the state of connecticut, and tell you that the women from the rank and file, the law-abiding women, desire the ballot; not only that they desire it, but they mean to have it. and to accomplish this result i need not remind you that they will work year in and year out, that they will besiege members of congress everywhere, and that they will come here year after year asking you to protect them in their rights and to see that justice is done in the republic. therefore, for your own peace, we hope you will not keep us waiting a long time. the fact that some states have made, temporarily, some good laws, does not weaken our demand upon you for the protection which the ballot gives to every citizen. our interests are still uncared for, and we do not wish to be thus sent from pillar to post to get our rights. we wish to take our stand as citizens of the united states, as we have been declared to be by the supreme court, and we wish to be protected in the rights of citizenship. we hope the day is at hand when our prayers will be heard by you. let us have at an early day in the _congressional record_, a report of the proceedings of this committee, and the action of the senate in favor of woman's right to vote. brief remarks were also made by mrs. lawrence of massachusetts, mary a. thompson, m. d., of oregon, mary powers filley of new hampshire, mrs. blake of new york, mrs. hooker of connecticut, and sara andrews spencer of washington. at the close of these two day's hearings before the committee on privileges and elections,[ ] senator hoar of massachusetts, offered, and the committee adopted the following complimentary resolution: _resolved_, that the arguments upon the very important questions discussed before the committee have been presented with propriety, dignity and ability, and that the committee will consider the same on tuesday next, at a.m. the washington _evening star_ of january , , said: the woman suffrage question will be a great political issue some day. a movement in the direction of alleged rights by a body of american citizens cannot be forever checked, even though its progress may for many years be very gradual. now that the advocates of suffrage for woman have become convinced that the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments are not sufficiently explicit to make woman's right to vote unquestioned, and that a sixteenth amendment is necessary to effect the practical exercise of the right, the millennial period that they look for is to all intents and purposes indefinitely postponed, for constitutional amendments are not passed in a day. but there are so many sound arguments to be advanced in favor of woman suffrage that it cannot fail in time to be weighed as a matter of policy, after it shall have been overwhelmingly conceded as a matter of right. and it is noticeable that the arguments of the opponents are coming more and more to be based on expediency, and hardly attempt to answer the claim that as american citizens women are entitled to the right. if the whole body of american women desired the practical exercise of this right, it is hard to see what valid opposition to their claims could be made. all this however does not amend the constitution. woman suffrage must become a matter of policy for a political party before it can be realized. congress does not pass revolutionary measures on abstract considerations of right. this question is of a nature to become a living political issue after it has been sufficiently ridiculed. on saturday evening, january , a reception was given to the delegates to the convention by hon. alexander h. stephens of georgia, at the national hotel. the suite of rooms so long occupied by this liberal representative of the south, was thus opened to unwonted guests--women asking for the same rights gained at the point of the sword by his former slaves! seated in his wheel-chair, from which he had so often been carried by a faithful attendant to his place in the house of representatives, he cordially welcomed the ladies as they gathered about him, assuring them of his interest in this question and promising his aid. for the first time miss julia smith of anti-tax fame, of glastonbury, connecticut, was present at a washington convention. she was the recipient of much social attention. a reception was tendered her by mrs. spofford of the riggs house, giving people an opportunity to meet this heroic woman of eighty-three, who, with her younger sister abby, had year after year suffered the sale of their fine jersey cows and beautiful meadow lands, rather than pay taxes while unrepresented. many women, notable in art, science and literature, and men high in political station were present on this occasion. all crowded about miss smith, as, supported by mrs. hooker, in response to a call for a speech, particularly in regard to the gladstonbury cows, as famous as herself, she said: there are but two of our cows left at present, taxey and votey. it is something a little peculiar that taxey is very obtrusive; why, i can scarcely step out of doors without being confronted by her, while votey is quiet and shy, but she is growing more docile and domesticated every day, and it is my opinion that in a very short time, wherever you find taxey there votey will be also. at the close of miss smith's remarks, abby hutchinson patton sang "auld lang syne" in a very effective manner; one or two readings followed, a few modern ballads were sung, and thus closed the first of the many delightful receptions given by mr. and mrs. spofford to the officers and members of the national association. mrs. hooker spent several weeks at the riggs house, holding frequent woman suffrage conversazioni in its elegant parlors; also speaking upon the question at receptions given in her honor by the wives of members of congress, or residents of washington.[ ] during the week of the convention, public attention was called to a scarcely known anti-woman suffrage society, formed in , of which mrs. general sherman, mrs. admiral dahlgren and mrs. almira lincoln phelps were officers, by the publication of an undelivered letter from mrs. phelps to mrs. hooker: _to the editor of the post:_ the following was written nearly seven years since, but was never sent to mrs. hooker. the letter chanced to appear among old papers, and as there is a meeting of women suffragists, with mrs. hooker present, and, moreover, as they have mentioned the names of mrs. dahlgren and mrs. general sherman, opposers, i am willing to bear my share of the opposition, as i acted as corresponding secretary to the anti-suffrage society, which was formed under the auspices of these ladies. mrs. dahlgren. eutaw place, baltimore, january, , . _to mrs. beecher hooker:_ dear madam--hoping you will receive kindly what i am about to write, i will proceed without apologies. i have confidence in your nobleness of soul, and that you know enough of me to believe in my devotion to the best interests of woman. i can scarcely realize that you are giving your name and influence to a cause, which, with some good but, as i think, misguided women, numbers among its advocates others with loose morals. * * * we are, my dear madam, as i suppose, related through our common ancester thomas hooker. * * * your husband, i believe, stands in the same relation to that good and noble man. perhaps he may think with you on this woman suffrage question, but it does seem to me that a wife honoring her husband would not wish to join in such a crusade as is now going on to put woman on an equality with the rabble at the "hustings." if we could with propriety petition the almighty to change the condition of the sexes and let men take a turn in bearing children and in suffering the physical ailments peculiar to women, which render them unfit for certain positions and business, why, in this case, if we really wish to be men, and thought god would change the established order, we might make our petition; but why ask congress to make us men? circumstances drew me from the quiet of domestic life while i was yet young; but success in labors which involved publicity, and which may have been of advantage to society, was never considered as an equivalent to my own heart for the loss of such retirement. in the name of my sainted sister, emma willard, and of my friend lydia sigourney, and i think i might say in the name of the women of the past generation, who have been prominent as writers and educators (the exception may be made of mary wollstonecraft, frances wright, and a few licentious french writers) in our own country and in europe, let me urge the high-souled and honorable of our sex to turn their energies into that channel which will enable them to act for the true interests of their sex. yours respectfully, almira lincoln phelps. to which mrs. hooker, through _the post_, replied: washington, january , . mrs. dahlgren--_dear madam_: permit me to thank you for the opportunity to exonerate myself and the women of the suffrage movement all over the united states from the charge of favoring immorality in any form. i did not know before that mrs. phelps, whom i have always held in highest esteem as an educator and as one of the most advanced thinkers of her day, had so misconceived the drift of our movement; and you will pardon me, dear madam, for saying that it is hardly possible that mrs. sherman and yourself, in your opposition to it, can have been influenced by any apprehension that the women suffragists of the united states would, if entrusted with legislative power, proceed to use it for the desecration of their own sex, and the pollution of the souls of their husbands, brothers and sons. but having been publicly accused through your instrumentality of sympathy with the licentious practices of men, i shall take the liberty to send you a dozen copies of a little book entitled, "womanhood; its sanctities and fidelities," which i published in for the specific purpose of bringing to the notice of american women the wonderful work being done across the water in the suppression of "state patronage of vice." * * * it is with a deep sense of gratitude to god that i am able to say that, according to my knowledge and belief, every woman in our movement, whether officer or private, is in sympathy with the spirit of this little book. i know of no inharmony here, however we may differ upon minor points of expediency as to the best methods of working for the political advancement of woman. and further, it is the deep conviction of us all that the chief stumbling-block in the way of our obtaining the use of the ballot, is the apprehension among men of low degree that they will surely be limited in their base and brutal and sensual indulgencies when women are armed with equal political power. as to my husband, to whose ancestry mrs. phelps so kindly alludes, permit me to say that he is not only descended from thomas hooker, the beloved first pastor of the old centre church in hartford, and founder of the state of connecticut, but further back his lineage takes root in one of england's most honored names, richard hooker, surnamed "the judicious"; and i have been accustomed to say that, however it may be as to learning and position, the characteristic of judiciousness has not departed from the american stock. i will only add that mr. hooker is treasurer of our state suffrage association, and has spoken on the platform with me as president, whenever his professional duties would permit, and that he is the author of a tract on "the bible and woman suffrage." our society has printed several thousand copies of this tract, and the london national women's suffrage society has reprinted it with words of high commendation for distribution in great britain. * * * and now, dear madam, thanking you once more for this most unexpected and most grateful opportunity for correcting misapprehensions that others may have entertained as well as mrs. phelps in regard to the design and tendencies of our movement, may i not ask that you will kindly read and consider the papers i shall take the liberty to send you, and hand them to your co-workers at your convenience? that we all, as women who love our country and our kind, may be led to honor each other in our personal relations, while we work each in her respective way for that higher order of manhood and womanhood that alone can exalt our nation to the ideal of the fathers and mothers of the early republic, and preserve us an honored place among the peoples of the earth, is the prayer of yours sincerely, isabella beecher hooker. evidently left without even the name of mrs. sherman or the anti-suffrage society to sustain her, mrs. dahlgren memorialized the senate committee on privileges and elections against the submission of the sixteenth amendment: _to the honorable committee on privileges and elections:_ gentlemen--allow me, in courtesy, as a petitioner, to present one or two considerations regarding a sixteenth amendment, by which it is proposed to confer the right of suffrage upon the women of the united states. i ask this favor also in the interests of the masses of silent women, whose silence does not give consent, but who, in most modest earnestness, deprecate having the political life forced upon them. this grave question is not one of simple expediency or the reverse; it might properly be held, were this the case, as a legitimate subject for agitation. our reasons of dissent to this dangerous inroad upon all precedent, lie deeper and strike higher. they are based upon that which in all christian nations must be recognized as the higher law, the fundamental law upon which christian society in its very construction must rest; and that law, as defined by the almighty, is immutable. through it the women of this christian land, as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, have distinct duties to perform of the most complex order, yet of the very highest and most sacred nature. if in addition to all these responsibilities, others, appertaining to the domain assigned to men, are allotted to us, we shall be made the victims of an oppression not intended by a kind and wise providence, and from which the refining influences of christian civilization have emancipated us. we have but to look at the condition of our indian sister, upon whose bended back the heavy pack is laid by her lord and master; who treads in subjection the beaten pathway of equal rights, and compare her situation with our own, to thank the god of christian nations who has placed us above that plane, where right is might, and might is tyranny. we cannot without prayer and protest see our cherished privileges endangered, and have granted us only in exchange the so-called equal rights. we need more, and we claim, through our physical weakness and your courtesy as christian gentlemen, that protection which we need for the proper discharge of those sacred and inalienable functions and rights conferred upon us by god. to these the vote, which is not a natural right (otherwise why not confer it upon idiots, lunatics, and adult boys) would be adverse. when women ask for a distinct political life, a separate vote, they forget or they willfully ignore the higher law, whose logic may be thus condensed: marriage is a sacred unity. the family, through it, is the foundation of the state. each family is represented by its head, just as the state ultimately finds the same unity, through a series of representations. out of this come peace, concord, proper representation, and adjustment--union. the new doctrine, which is illusive, may be thus defined: marriage is a mere compact, and means diversity. each family, therefore, must have a separate individual representation, out of which arises diversity or division, and discord is the corner-stone of the state. gentlemen, we cannot displace the corner-stone without destruction to the edifice itself! the subject is so vast, has so many side issues, that a volume might as readily be laid before your honorable committee as these few words hastily written with an aching woman's heart. personally, if any woman in this vast land has a grievance by not having a vote, i may claim that grievance to be mine. with father, brother, husband, son, taken away by death, i stand utterly alone, with minor children to educate and considerable property interests to guard. but i would deem it unpatriotic to ask for a general law which must prove disastrous to my country, in order to meet that exceptional position in which, by the adorable will of god, i am placed. i prefer, indeed, to trust to that moral influence over men which intelligence never fails to exercise, and which is really more potent in the management of business affairs than the direct vote. in this i am doubtless as old-fashioned as were our grandmothers, who assisted to mold this vast republic. they knew that the greatest good for the greatest number was the only safe legislative law, and that to it all exceptional cases must submit. gentlemen, in conclusion, a sophism in legislation is not a mere abstraction; it must speedily bear fruit in material results of the most disastrous nature, and i implore your honorable committee, in behalf of our common country, not to open a pandora's box by way of experiment from whence so much evil must issue, and which once opened may never again be closed. very respectfully, madeleine vinton dahlgren. mrs. dahlgren was ably reviewed by virginia l. minor of st. louis, and the toledo woman suffrage association. mrs. minor said: in assuming to speak for the "silent masses" of women, mrs. dahlgren declares that silence does not give consent; very inconsequently forgetting, that if it does not on one side of the question, it may not on the other, and that she may no more represent them than do we. the toledo society, through its president mrs. rose l. segur, said: we agree with you that this grave question is not one of expediency. it is simply one of right and justice, and therefore a most legitimate subject for agitation. as a moral force woman must have a voice in the government, or partial and unjust legislation is the result from which arise the evils consequent upon a government based upon the enslavement of half its citizens. to this mrs. dahlgren replied briefly, charging the ladies with incapacity to comprehend her. the week following the convention a hearing was granted by the house judiciary committee to dr. mary walker of washington, mary a. tillotson of new jersey and mrs. n. cromwell of arkansas, urging a report in favor of woman's enfranchisement. on january , the house sub-committee on territories granted a hearing to dr. mary walker and sara andrews spencer, in opposition to the bill proposing the disfranchisement of the women of utah as a means of suppressing polygamy. on january the house judiciary committee granted mrs. hooker a hearing. of the eleven members of the committee nearly all were present.[ ] the room and all the corridors leading to it were crowded with men and women eager to hear mrs. hooker's speech. at the close of the two hours occupied in its delivery, chairman knott thanked her in the name of the committee for her able argument. immediately after this hearing mr. frye of maine, in presenting in the house of representatives the petitions of , persons asking the right of women to vote upon the question of temperance, referred in a very complimentary manner to mrs. hooker's argument, to which he had just listened. upon this prayer a hearing was granted to the president and ex-president of the woman's christian temperance union, frances e. willard and annie e. wittenmyer. hon. george f. hoar of massachusetts, february , presented in the senate the petitions with their , signatures, which, by special request of its officers, had been returned to the headquarters of the american association, in boston. in her appeal to the friends to circulate the petitions, both state and national, lucy stone, chairman of its executive committee, said: the american suffrage association has always recommended petitions to congress for a sixteenth amendment. but it recognizes the far greater importance of petitioning the state legislatures. _first_--because suffrage is a subject referred by the constitution to the voters of each state. _second_--because we cannot expect a congress composed solely of representatives of states which deny suffrage to women, to submit an amendment which their own states have not yet approved. just so it would have been impossible to secure the submission of negro suffrage by a congress composed solely of representatives from states which restricted suffrage to white men. while therefore we advise our friends to circulate both petitions together for signature, we urge them to give special prominence to those which apply to their own state legislatures, and to see that these are presented and urged by competent speakers next winter. by request of a large number of the senators,[ ] the committee on privileges and elections granted a special hearing to mrs. hooker on washington's birthday--february , . it being understood that the wives of the senators were bringing all the forces of fashionable society to bear in aid of mrs. dahlgren's protest against the pending sixteenth amendment, the officers of the national association issued cards of invitation asking their presence at this hearing. we copy from the washington _post_: the conflicting rumors as to who would be admitted to hear mrs. hooker's argument before the senate committee on privileges and elections, led to the assembling of large numbers of women in various places about the capitol yesterday morning. at o'clock the doors were opened and the committee-room at once filled.[ ] mrs. hooker, with the fervor and eloquence of her family, reviewed all the popular arguments against woman suffrage. she said she once believed that twenty years was little time enough for a foreigner to live in this country before he could cast a ballot. she understands the spirit of our institutions better now. if disfranchisement meant annihilation, there might be safety in disfranchising the poor, the ignorant, the vicious. but it does not. it means danger to everything we hold dear. the corner-stone of this republic is god's own doctrine of liberty and responsibility. liberty is the steam, responsibility the brakes, and election-day, the safety-valve. the foreigner comes to this country expecting to find it a paradise. he finds, indeed, a ladder reaching to the skies, but resting upon the earth, and he is at the bottom round. but on one day in the year he is as good as the richest man in the land. he can make the banker stand in the line behind him until he votes, and if he has wrongs he learns how to right them. if he has mistaken ideas of liberty, he is instructed what freedom means. wire-pulling politicians may well fear to have women enfranchised. there are too many of them, and they have had too much experience in looking after the details of their households to be easily duped by the tricks of politicians. you can't keep women away from primary meetings as you do intelligent men. women know that every corner in the house must be inspected if the house is to be clean. fathers and brothers want women to vote so that they can have a decent place for a primary meeting, a decent place to vote in and a decent man to vote for. the indian question would have been peacefully and righteously settled long ago without any standing army, if lucretia mott could have led in the councils of the nation, and the millions spent in fighting the indians might have been used in kindergartens for the poor, to some lasting benefit. down with the army, down with appropriation bills to repair the consequences of wrong-doing, when women vote. millions more of women would ask for this if it were not for the cruelty and abuse men have heaped upon the advocates of woman suffrage. men have made it a terrible martyrdom for women even to ask for their rights, and then say to us, "convert the women." no, no, men have put up the bars. they must take them down. mrs. hooker reviewed the chinese question, the labor question, the subjects of compulsory education, reformation, police regulations, the social evil, and many other topics upon which men vainly attempt to legislate without the loving wisdom of mothers, sisters and daughters. the senators most interested in the argument were observed to be those previously most unfriendly to woman suffrage. it was during this winter that marilla m. ricker of new hampshire, then studying criminal law in washington and already having quite an extensive practice, applied to the commissioners of the district of columbia for an appointment as notary public. the question of the eligibility of woman to the office was referred to the district-attorney, hon. albert g. riddle, formerly a member of congress from ohio, and at that time one of the most prominent criminal and civil lawyers before the bar. mr. riddle's reply was an able and exhaustive argument, clearly showing there was no law to prevent women from holding the office. but notwithstanding this opinion from their own attorney, the commissioners rejected mrs. ricker's application.[ ] bills to prohibit the supreme court from denying the admission of lawyers on the ground of sex had been introduced at each session of congress during the past four years. the house bill no. , , entitled "a bill to relieve certain disabilities of women," was this year championed by hon. john m. glover of missouri, and passed by a vote of ayes to nays. in the senate, hon. george f. edmunds of vermont, chairman of the judiciary committee reported adversely. while the question was pending, mrs. lockwood addressed a brief to the senate, ably refuting the assertion of the court that it was contrary to english precedent: _to the honorable, the senate of the united states:_ the provisions of this bill are so stringent, that to the ordinary mind it would seem that the conditions are hard enough for the applicant to have well earned the honor of the preferment, without making _sex_ a disability. the fourteenth amendment to the constitution declares that: all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are _citizens_ of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. to deny the right asked in this bill would be to deny to women citizens the rights guaranteed in the declaration of independence to be self-evident and inalienable, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"; a denial of one of the fundamental rights of a portion of the citizens of the commonwealth to acquire property in the most honorable profession of the law, thereby perpetuating an invidious distinction between male and female citizens equally amenable to the law, and having an equal interest in all of the institutions created and perpetuated by this government. the articles of confederation declare that: the free inhabitants of each of these states--paupers and fugitives from justice excepted--shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states. article of the constitution says: full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. illinois, michigan, minnesota, missouri, north carolina, wyoming, utah, and the district of columbia admit women to the bar. what then? shall the second coördinate branch of the government, the judiciary, refuse to grant what it will not permit the states to deny, the privileges and immunities of citizens, and say to women-attorneys when they have followed their cases through the state courts to that tribunal beyond which there is no appeal, "you cannot come in here we are too holy," or in the words of the learned chancellor declare that: by the uniform practice of the court from its organization to the present time, and by a fair construction of its rules, none but men are admitted to practice before it as attorneys and counselors. this is in accordance with immemorial usage in england, and the law and practice in all the states until within a recent period, and the court does not feel called upon to make a change until such a change is required by statute, or a more extended practice in the highest courts of the states. with all due respect for this opinion, we beg leave to quote the rule for admission to the bar of that court as laid down in the rule book: rule no. .--_attorneys_: it shall be requisite to the admission of attorneys or counselors to practice in this court, that they shall have been such for three years past in the supreme courts of the states to which they respectively belong, and that their private and professional character shall appear to be fair. there is nothing in this rule or in the oath which follows it, either express or implied, which confines the membership of the bar of the united states supreme court to the male sex. had any such term been included therein it would virtually be nullified by the first paragraph of the united states revised statutes, ratified by the forty-third congress, june , , in which occur the following words: in determining the meaning of the revised statutes, or of any act or resolution of congress passed subsequent to february , , words importing the singular number may extend and be applied to several persons or things; words importing the masculine gender may be applied to _females_, etc., etc. now, as to "immemorial usage in england." the executive branch of that government has been vested in an honored and honorable woman for the past forty years. is it to be supposed if this distinguished lady or any one of her accomplished daughters should ask to be heard at the bar of the court of the queen's bench, the practice of which the united states supreme court has set up as its model, that she would be refused? blackstone recounts that ann, countess of pembroke, held the office of sheriff of westmoreland and exercised its duties in person. at the assizes at appleby she sat with the judges on the bench. (see coke on lit., p. .) the scotch sheriff is properly a judge, and by the statute , geo., ii, c. , he must be a lawyer of three years standing. eleanor, queen of henry iii. of england, in the year , was appointed lady-keeper of the great seal, or the supreme chancellor of england, and sat in the _aula regia_, or king's court. she in turn appointed kilkenny, arch-deacon of coventry, as the sealer of writs and common-law instruments, but the more important matters she executed in person. queen elizabeth held the great seal at three several times during her remarkable reign. after the death of lord-keeper bacon she presided for two months in the _aula regia_. it is claimed that "admission to the bar constitutes an office." every woman postmaster, pension agent and notary public throughout the land is a bonded officer of the government. the western states have elected women as school superintendents and appointed them as enrolling and engrossing clerks in their several legislatures, and as state librarians. of what use are our seminaries and colleges for women if after they have passed through the curriculum of the schools there is for them no preferment, and no emolument; no application of the knowledge of the arts and sciences acquired, and no recognition of the excellence attained? but this country, now in the second year of the second century of her history, is no longer in her leading strings, that she should look to mother england for a precedent to do justice to the daughters of the land. she had to make a precedent when the first male lawyer was admitted to the bar of the united states supreme court. ah! this country is one that has not hesitated when the necessity has arisen to make precedents and write them in blood. there was no precedent for this free republican government and the war of the rebellion; no precedent for the emancipation of the slave; no precedent for the labor strikes of last summer. the more extended practice, and the more extended public opinion referred to by the learned chancellor have already been accomplished. ah! that very opinion, telegraphed throughout the land by the associated press, brought back the response of the people as on the wings of the wind asking you for that special act now so nearly consummated, which shall open this professional door to women. belva a. lockwood, _attorney and solicitor_. _washington, d. c._, march , . mrs. lockwood's bill, with senator edmond's adverse report, was reached on the senate calendar april , , and provoked a spirited discussion. hon. a. a. sargent, made a gallant fight in favor of the bill, introducing the following amendment: no person shall be excluded from practicing as an attorney and counselor at law in any court of the united states on account of sex. mr. sargent: mr. president, the best evidence that members of the legal profession have no jealousy against the admission of women to the bar who have the proper learning, is shown by this document which i hold in my hand, signed by one hundred and fifty-five lawyers of the district of columbia, embracing the most eminent men in the ranks of that profession. that there is no jealousy or consideration of impropriety on the part of the various states is shown by the fact that the legislatures of many of the states have recently admitted women to the bar; and my own state, california, has passed such a law within the last week or two; illinois has done the same thing; so have michigan, minnesota, missouri and north carolina; and wyoming, utah and the district of columbia among the territories have also done it. there is no reason in principle why women should not be admitted to this profession or the profession of medicine, provided they have the learning to enable them to be useful in those professions, and useful to themselves. where is the propriety in opening our colleges, our higher institutions of learning, or any institutions of learning, to women, and then when they have acquired in the race with men the cultivation for higher employment, to shut them out? there certainly is none. we should either restrict the laws allowing the liberal education of women, or, we should allow them to exercise the talents which are cultivated at the public expense in such departments of enterprise and knowledge as will be useful to society and will enable them to gain a living. the tendency is in this direction. i believe the time has passed to consider it a ridiculous thing for women to appear upon the lecture platform or in the pulpit, for women to attend to the treatment of diseases as physicians and nurses, to engage in any literary employment, or appear at the bar. some excellent women in the united states are now practicing at the bar, acceptably received before courts and juries; and when they have conducted their cases to a successful issue or an unsuccessful one in any court below, why should the united states courts to which an appeal may be taken and where their adversaries of the male sex may follow the case up, why should these courts be closed to these women? * * * mr. garland: i should like to ask the senator from california if the courts of the united states cannot admit them upon their own motion anyhow? mr. sargent: i think there is nothing in the law prohibiting it, but the supreme court of the united states recently in passing upon the question of the admission of a certain lady, said that until some legislation took place they did not like to depart from the precedent set in england, or until there was more general practice among the states. the learned chief-justice, perhaps, did not sufficiently reflect when he stated that there were no english precedents. the fact is that elizabeth herself sat in the _aula regia_ and administered the law, and in both scotland and england women have fulfilled the function of judges. the instances are not numerous but they are well established in history. i myself have had my attention called to the fact that in the various states the women are now admitted by special legislation to the bar. i do not think there is anything in the law, properly considered, that would debar a woman from coming into this profession. i think the supreme court should not have required further legislation, but it seems to have done so, and that makes the necessity for the amendment which i have now offered. the chairman of the committee in reporting this bill back from the judiciary committee said that the bill as it passed the house of representatives gave privileges to women which men did not enjoy; that is to say, the supreme court can by a change of rule require further qualification of men, whereas in regard to women, if this provision were put into the statute, the supreme court could not rule them out even though it may be necessary in its judgment to get a higher standard of qualifications than its present rules prescribe. although i observe that my time is up, i ask indulgence for a moment or two longer. as this is a question of some interest and women cannot appear here to speak for themselves, i hope i may be allowed to speak for them a moment. now, there is something in the objection stated by the chairman of the committee on the judiciary--that is to say, the bill would take the rule of the supreme court and put it in the statute and apply it to women, thereby conferring exceptional privileges; but that is not my intention at all, and therefore i have proposed that women shall not be excluded from practicing law, if they are otherwise qualified, on account of sex, and that is the provision which i want to send back to the judiciary committee. mr. garland: i wish to ask one question of the senator from california. suppose the court should exclude women, but not on account of sex, then what is their remedy? mr. sargent: i do not see any pretense that the court could exclude them on except on account of sex. mr. garland: if i recollect the rule of the supreme court in regard to the admission of practitioners (and i had to appear there twice to present my claim before i could carry on my profession in that court), i do not think any legislation is necessary to aid them by giving them any more access to that court than they have at present under the rules of the supreme court. mr. sargent: i believe if the laws now existing were properly construed (of course i speak with all deference to the supreme court, but i express the opinion) they would be admitted, but unfortunately the court does not take that view of it, and it will wait for legislation. i purpose that the legislation shall follow. if there is anything in principle why this privilege should not be granted to women who are otherwise qualified, then let the bill be defeated on that ground; but i say there is no difference in principle whatever, not the slightest. there is no reason because a citizen of the united states is a woman that she should be deprived of her rights as a citizen, and these are rights of a citizen. she has the same right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and employment, commensurate with her capacities, as a man has; and, as to the question of capacity, the history of the world shows from queen elizabeth and queen isabella down to madame dudevant and mrs. stowe, that capacity is not a question of sex. mr. mcdonald: i have simply to say, mr. president, that a number of states and territories have authorized the admission of women to the legal profession, and they have become members of the bar of the highest courts of judicature. it may very frequently occur, and has in some instances i believe really occurred, that cases in which they have been thus employed have been brought to the supreme court of the united states. to have the door closed against them when the cause is brought here, not by them, or when in the prosecution of the suits of their clients they find it necessary to come here, seems to me entirely unjust. i therefore favor the bill with the amendment. the proposed amendment is perhaps better because it does away with any tendency to discrimination in regard to the admissibility of women to practice in the supreme court. the presiding officer: the senator from california moves that the bill be recommitted to the committee on judiciary. mr. sargent: i have the promise of the chairman of the committee that the bill will soon be reported back, and therefore i am willing that it go to the committee, and i make the motion that it be recommitted. [the motion was agreed to.] mr. sargent: i ask that the amendment which i propose be printed. the presiding officer: the order to print will be made. mary clemmer, the gifted correspondent of the new york _independent_, learning that senator wadleigh was about to report adversely upon the sixteenth amendment, wrote the following private letter, which, as a record of her own sentiments on the question, she gave to miss anthony for publication in this history: hon. bainbridge wadleigh--_dear sir_: the more i think of it the more i regret that, as chairman of the committee on privileges and elections, you regard with less favor the enfranchisement of women than did your distinguished predecessor, senator morton. at this moment, when your committee is discussing that subject, i sigh for the large outlook, the just mind, the unselfish decision of that great legislator. you were his friend, you respected his intellect, you believed in his integrity, you sit in his seat. you are to prepare the report that he would prepare were he still upon the earth. may i ask you to bring to that labor as fair a spirit, as unprejudiced an outlook, as just a decision as he would have done? i ask this not as a partisan of woman's rights, but as a lover of the human race. in this faint dawn of woman's day, i discern not woman's development of freedom merely, but the promise of that higher, finer, purer civilization which is to redeem the world, the lack of which makes men tyrants and women slaves. you cannot be unconscious of the fact that a new race of women is born into the world, who, while they lack no womanly attribute, are the peers of any man in intellect and aspiration. it will be impossible long to deny to such women that equality before the law granted to the lowest creature that crawls, if he happens to be a man; denied to the highest creature that asks it, if she happens to be a woman. on what authority, save that of the gross regality of physical strength, do you deny to a thoughtful, educated, tax-paying person the common rights of citizenship because she is a woman? i am a property-owner, the head of a household. by what right do you assume to define and curtail for me my prerogatives as a citizen, while as a tax-payer you make not the slightest distinction between me and a man? leave to my own perception what is proper for me as a lady, to my own discretion what is wise for me as a woman, to my own conscience what is my duty to my race and to my god. leave to unerring nature to protect the subtle boundaries which define the distinctive life and action of the sexes, while you as a legislator do everything in your power to secure to every creature of god an equal chance to make the best and most of himself. if american men could say as huxley says, "i scorn to lay a single obstacle in the way of those whom nature from the beginning has so heavily burdened," the sexes would cease to war, men and women would reign together, the equal companions, friends, helpers, and lovers that nature intended they should be. but what is love, tenderness, protection, even, unless rooted in justice? tyranny and servitude, that is all. brute supremacy, spiritual slavery. by what authority do you say that the country is not prepared for a more enlightened franchise, for political equality, if six women citizens, earnest, eloquent, long-suffering, come to you and demand both? no words can express my regret if to the minority report i see appended only the honored name of george f. hoar of massachusetts. your friend, mary clemmer. in response to all these arguments, appeals and petitions, senator wadleigh, from the committee on privileges and elections, presented the following adverse report, june , : _the committee on privileges and elections, to whom was referred the resolution (s. res. ) proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states, and certain petitions for and remonstrances against the same, make the following report:_ this proposed amendment forbids the united states, or any state to deny or abridge the right to vote on account of sex. if adopted, it will make several millions of female voters, totally inexperienced in political affairs, quite generally dependent upon the other sex, all incapable of performing military duty and without the power to enforce the laws which their numerical strength may enable them to make, and comparatively very few of whom wish to assume the irksome and responsible political duties which this measure thrusts upon them. an experiment so novel, a change so great, should only be made slowly and in response to a general public demand, of the existence of which there is no evidence before your committee. [illustration: marilla m. ricker] petitions from various parts of the country, containing by estimate about , names, have been presented to congress asking for this legislation. they were procured through the efforts of woman suffrage societies, thoroughly organized, with active and zealous managers. the ease with which signatures may be procured to any petition is well known. the small number of petitioners, when compared with that of the intelligent women in the country, is striking evidence that there exists among them no general desire to take up the heavy burden of governing, which so many men seek to evade. it would be unjust, unwise and impolitic to impose that burden on the great mass of women throughout the country who do not wish for it, to gratify the comparatively few who do. it has been strongly urged that without the right of suffrage, women are, and will be, subjected to great oppression and injustice. but every one who has examined the subject at all knows that, without female suffrage, legislation for years has improved and is still improving the condition of woman. the disabilities imposed upon her by the common law have, one by one, been swept away, until in most of the states she has the full right to her property and all, or nearly all, the rights which can be granted without impairing or destroying the marriage relation. these changes have been wrought by the spirit of the age, and are not, generally at least, the result of any agitation by women in their own behalf. nor can women justly complain of any partiality in the administration of justice. they have the sympathy of judges and particularly of juries to an extent which would warrant loud complaint on the part of their adversaries of the sterner sex. their appeals to legislatures against injustice are never unheeded, and there is no doubt that when any considerable part of the women of any state really wish for the right to vote, it will be granted without the intervention of congress. any state may grant the right of suffrage to women. some of them have done so to a limited extent, and perhaps with good results. it is evident that in some states public opinion is much more strongly in favor of it than it is in others. your committee regard it as unwise and inexpedient to enable three-fourths in number of the states, through an amendment to the national constitution, to force woman suffrage upon the other fourth in which the public opinion of both sexes may be strongly adverse to such a change. for these reasons, your committee report back said resolution with a recommendation that it be indefinitely postponed. this adverse report was all the more disappointing because mr. wadleigh, as mrs. clemmer's letter states, filled the place of hon. oliver p. morton of indiana, one of the most steadfast friends of woman suffrage, who, at the last session of congress, had asked as a special favor the reference of our petitions to the committee on privileges and elections, of which he was chairman, that they might receive proper attention and that he might report favorably upon them. in the discussion on the pembina bill in , senator morton made an earnest speech in favor of woman's enfranchisement. in his premature death our cause lost one of its bravest champions. senator wadleigh's report called forth severe criticism; notably from the _new northwest_ of oregon, the _woman's journal_ of boston, the _inter-ocean_ of chicago, the _evening telegram_ and the _national citizen_ of new york. we quote from the latter: the report is not a statesman-like answer based upon fundamental principles, but a mere politician's dodge--a species of dust-throwing quite in vogue in washington. "several millions of voters totally inexperienced in political affairs"! they would have about as much experience as the fathers in , as the negroes in , as the irish, english, italians, norwegians, danes, french, germans, portuguese, scotch, russians, turks, mexicans, hungarians, swedes and indians, who form a good part of the voting population of this country. did mr. wadleigh never hear of agnes c. jencks--the woman who has stirred up politics to its deepest depth; who has shaken the seat of president hayes; who has set in motion the whole machinery of government, and who, when brought to the witness stand has for hours successfully baffled such wily politicians as ben butler and mcmahon;--a woman who thwarts alike republican and democrat, and at her own will puts the brakes on all this turmoil of her own raising? does senator wadleigh know nothing of that woman's "experience in politics"? "quite dependent upon the other sex." it used to be said the negroes were "quite dependent" upon their masters, that it would really be an abuse of the poor things to set them free, but when free and controlling the results of their own labor, it was found the masters had been the ones "quite dependent," and thousands of them who before the war rolled in luxury, have since been in the depths of poverty--some of them even dependent upon the bounty of their former slaves. when men cease to rob women of their earnings they will find them generally, as thousands now are, capable of self-care.[ ] "military duty." when women hold the ballot there will not be quite as much military duty to be done. they will then have a voice and a vote in the matter, and the men will no longer be able to throw the country into a war to gratify spite or ambition, tearing from woman's arms her nearest and dearest. all men do not like "military duty." "the key to that horrible enigma, german socialism, is antagonism to the military system," and nations are shaken with fear because of it. but when there is necessity for military duty, women will be found in line. the person who planned the tennessee campaign, in which the northern armies secured their first victories, was a woman, anna ella carroll. gen. grant acted upon her plan, and was successful. she was endorsed by president lincoln, seward, stanton, wade, scott, and all the nation's leaders in its hour of peril, and yet congress has not granted her the pension which for ten years her friends have demanded. mr. wadleigh holds his seat in the united states senate to-day, because of the "military duty" done by this woman. "about , names," to petitions. there have been , sent in during the present session of congress, for a sixteenth amendment, besides hundreds of individual petitions from women asking for the removal of their own political disabilities. men in this country are occasionally disfranchised for crime, and sometimes pray for the removal of their political disabilities. nine such disfranchised men had the right of voting restored to them during the last session of congress. but not a single one of the five hundred women who individually asked to have their political disabilities removed, was even so much as noticed by an adverse report, mr. wadleigh knows it would make no difference if , women petitioned. but whether women ask for the ballot or not has nothing to do with the question. self-government is the natural right of every individual, and because woman possesses this natural right, she should be secured in its exercise. mr. wadleigh says, "nor can woman justly complain of any partiality in the administration of justice." let us examine: a few years ago a married man in washington, in official position, forced a confession from his wife at the mouth of a pistol, and shot his rival dead. upon trial he was triumphantly acquitted and afterwards sent abroad as foreign minister. a few months ago a married woman in georgia, who had been taunted by her rival with boasts of having gained her husband's love, found this rival dancing with him. she drew a knife and killed the woman on the spot. she was tried, convicted, and, although nursing one infant, and again about to become a mother, was sentenced to be hanged by the neck till she was 'dead, dead, dead.' there is mr. wadleigh's equal administration of justice between man and woman! there is "the sympathy of judges and juries." there is the "extent which would warrant loud complaint on the part of their adversaries of the sterner sex." and this woman escaped the gallows not because of "the sympathy of the judge" or "jury," but because her own sex took the matter up, and from every part of the country sent petitions by the hundreds to governor colquitt of georgia, asking her pardon. that pardon came in the shape of ten years' imprisonment;--ten years in a cell for a woman, the mother of a nursing and an unborn infant, while for general sickles the mission to madrid with high honors and a fat salary. messrs. wadleigh of new hampshire, mcmillan of minnesota, ingalls of kansas, saulsbury of delaware, merrimon of north carolina and hill of georgia, all senators of the united states, are the committee that report it "inexpedient" to secure equal rights to the women of the united states. but we are not discouraged; we are not disheartened; all the wadleighs in the senate, all the committees of both houses, the whole congress of the united states against us, would not lessen our faith, nor our efforts. we know we are right; we know we shall be successful; we know the day is not far distant, when this government and the world will acknowledge the exact and permanent political equality of man and woman, and we know that until that hour comes woman will be oppressed, degraded; a slave, without a single right that man feels himself bound to respect. work then, women, for your own freedom. let the early morning see you busy, and dusky evening find you planning how you may become free. but the most severe judgment upon mr. wadleigh's action came from his own constituents, who, at the close of the forty-fifth congress excused his further presence in the united states senate, sending in his stead the hon. henry w. blair, a valiant champion of national protection for national citizens.[ ] in april, , mrs. williams transferred the _ballot-box_ to mrs. gage, who removed it to syracuse, new york, and changed its name to the _national citizen_. in her prospectus mrs. gage said: the _national citizen_ will advocate the principle that suffrage is the citizen's right, and should be protected by national law, and that, while states may regulate the suffrage, they should have no power to abolish it. its especial object will be to secure national protection to women in the exercise of their right to vote; it will oppose class legislation of whatever form. it will support no political party until one arises which is based upon the exact equality of man and woman. as the first step towards becoming well is to know you are ill, one of the principal aims of the _national citizen_ will be to make those women discontented who are now content; to waken them to self-respect and a desire to use the talents they possess; to educate their consciences aright; to quicken their sense of duty; to destroy morbid beliefs, and fit them for their high responsibilities as citizens of a republic. the _national citizen_ has no faith in that old theory that "a woman once lost is lost forever," neither does it believe in the assertion that "a woman who sins, sinks to depths of wickedness lower than man can reach." on the contrary it believes there is a future for the most abandoned, if only the kindly hand of love and sympathy be extended to rescue them from the degradation into which they have fallen. the _national citizen_ will endeavor to keep its readers informed of the progress of women in foreign countries, and will, as far as possible, revolutionize this country, striving to make it live up to its own fundamental principles and become in reality what it is but in name--a genuine republic. instead of holding its usual may anniversary in new york city, the national association decided to meet in rochester to celebrate the close of the third decade of organized agitation in the united states, and issued the following call: the national association will hold a convention in rochester, n. y., july , . this will be the thirtieth anniversary of the first woman's rights convention, held july , , in the wesleyan church at seneca falls, n. y., and adjourned to meet, august , in rochester. some who took part in that convention have passed away, but many others, including both mrs. mott and mrs. stanton, are still living. this convention will take the place of the usual may anniversary, and will be largely devoted to reminiscences. friends are cordially invited to be present. clemence s. lozier, m. d., _president_. susan b. anthony, _chairman executive committee_. the meeting was held in the unitarian church on fitzhugh street, occupied by the same society that had opened its doors in ; and amy post, one of the leading spirits of the first convention, still living in rochester and in her seventy-seventh year, assisted in the arrangements. rochester, known as "the flower city," contributed of its beauty to the adornment of the church. it was crowded at the first session. representatives from a large number of states were present,[ ] and there was a pleasant interchange of greetings between those whose homes were far apart, but who were friends and co-workers in this great reform. the reunion was more like the meeting of near and dear relatives than of strangers whose only bond was work in a common cause. such are the compensations which help to sustain reformers while they battle ignorance and prejudice in order to secure justice. in the absence of the president, dr. clemence s. lozier, mrs. stanton took the chair and said: we are here to celebrate the third decade of woman's struggle in this country for liberty. thirty years have passed since many of us now present met in this place to discuss the true position of woman as a citizen of a republic. the reports of our first conventions show that those who inaugurated this movement understood the significance of the term "citizens." at the very start we claimed full equality with man. our meetings were hastily called and somewhat crudely conducted; but we intuitively recognized the fact that we were defrauded of our natural rights, conceded in the national constitution. and thus the greatest movement of the century was inaugurated. i say greatest, because through the elevation of woman all humanity is lifted to a higher plane. to contrast our position thirty years ago, under the old common law of england, with that we occupy under the advanced legislation of to-day, is enough to assure us that we have passed the boundary line--from slavery to freedom. we already see the mile-stones of a new civilization on every highway. look at the department of education, the doors of many colleges and universities thrown wide open to women; girls contending for, yea, and winning prizes over their brothers. in the working world they are rapidly filling places and climbing heights unknown to them before, realizing, in fact, the dreams, the hopes, the prophesies of the inspired women of by-gone centuries. in many departments of learning woman stands the peer of man, and when by higher education and profitable labor she becomes self-reliant and independent, then she must and will be free. the moment an individual or a class is strong enough to stand alone, bondage is impossible. jefferson davis, in a recent speech, says: "a cæsar could not subject a people fit to be free, nor could a brutus save them if they were fit for subjugation." looking back over the past thirty years, how long ago seems that july morning when we gathered round the altar in the old wesleyan church in seneca falls! it taxes and wearies the memory to think of all the conventions we have held, the legislatures we have besieged, the petitions and tracts we have circulated, the speeches, the calls, the resolutions we have penned, the never-ending debates we have kept up in public and private, and yet to each and all our theme is as fresh and absorbing as it was the day we started. calm, benignant, subdued as we look on this platform, if any man should dare to rise in our presence and controvert a single position we have taken, there is not a woman here that would not in an instant, with flushed face and flashing eye, bristle all over with sharp, pointed arguments that would soon annihilate the most skilled logician, the most profound philosopher. to those of you on this platform who for these thirty years have been the steadfast representatives of woman's cause, my friends and co-laborers, let me say our work has not been in vain. true, we have not yet secured the suffrage, but we have aroused public thought to the many disabilities of our sex, and our countrywomen to higher self-respect and worthier ambition, and in this struggle for justice we have deepened and broadened our own lives and extended the horizon of our vision. ridiculed, persecuted, ostracised, we have learned to place a just estimate on popular opinion, and to feel a just confidence in ourselves. as the representatives of principles which it was necessary to explain and defend, we have been compelled to study constitutions and laws, and in thus seeking to redress the wrongs and vindicate the rights of the many, we have secured a higher development for ourselves. nor is this all. the full fruition of these years of seed-sowing shall yet be realized, though it may not be by those who have led in the reform, for many of our number have already fallen asleep. another decade and not one of us may be here, but we have smoothed the rough paths for those who come after us. the lives of multitudes will be gladdened by the sacrifices we have made, and the truths we have uttered can never die. standing near the gateway of the unknown land and looking back through the vista of the past, memory recalls many duties in life's varied relations we would had been better done. the past to all of us is filled with regrets. we can recall, perchance, social ambitions disappointed, fond hopes wrecked, ideals in wealth, power, position, unattained--much that would be considered success in life unrealized. but i think we should all agree that the time, the thought, the energy we have devoted to the freedom of our countrywomen, that the past, in so far as our lives have represented this great movement, brings us only unalloyed satisfaction. the rights already obtained, the full promise of the rising generation of women more than repay us for the hopes so long deferred, the rights yet denied, the humiliation of spirit we still suffer. and for those of you who have been mere spectators of the long, hard battle we have fought, and are still fighting, i have a word. whatever your attitude has been, whether as cold, indifferent observers--whether you have hurled at us the shafts of ridicule or of denunciation, we ask you now to lay aside your old educational prejudices and give this question your earnest consideration, substituting reason for ridicule, sympathy for sneers. i urge the young women especially to prepare themselves to take up the work so soon to fall from our hands. you have had opportunities for education such as we had not. you hold to-day the vantage-ground we have won by argument. show now your gratitude to us by making the uttermost of yourselves, and by your earnest, exalted lives secure to those who come after you a higher outlook, a broader culture, a larger freedom than have yet been vouchsafed to woman in our own happy land. congratulatory letters[ ] and telegrams were received from all portions of the united states and from the old world. space admits the publication of but a few, yet all breathed the same hopeful spirit and confidence in future success. abigail bush, who presided over the first rochester convention, said: no one knows what i passed through upon that occasion. i was born and baptized in the old scotch presbyterian church. at that time its sacred teachings were, "if a woman would know anything let her ask her husband at home." * * * i well remember the incidents of that meeting and the thoughts awakened by it. * * * say to your convention my full heart is with them in all their deliberations and counsels, and i trust great good to women will come of their efforts. ernestine l. rose, a native of poland, and, next to frances wright, the earliest advocate of woman's enfranchisement in america, wrote from england: how i should like to be with you at the anniversary--it reminds me of the delightful convention we had at rochester, long, long ago--and speak of the wonderful change that has taken place in regard to woman. compare her present position in society with the one she occupied _forty_ years ago, when i undertook to emancipate her from not only barbarous laws, but from what was even worse, a barbarous public opinion. no one can appreciate the wonderful change in the social and moral condition of woman, except by looking back and comparing the past with the present. * * * say to the friends, go on, go on, halt not and rest not. remember that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" and of right. much has been achieved; but the main, the vital thing, has yet to come. the suffrage is the magic key to the statute--the insignia of citizenship in a republic. caroline ashurst biggs, editor of the _englishwoman's review_, london, wrote: i have read with great interest in the _national citizen_ and the _woman's journal_ the announcement of the forthcoming convention in rochester. * * * i cannot refrain from sending you a cordial english congratulation upon the great advance in the social and legal position of women in america, which has been the result of your labor. the next few years will see still greater progress. as soon as the suffrage is granted to women, a concession which will not be many years in coming either in england or america, every one of our questions will advance with double force, and meanwhile our efforts in that direction are simultaneously helping forward other social, legal, educational and moral reforms. our organization in england does not date back so far as yours. there were only a few isolated thinkers when mrs. john stuart mill wrote her essay on the enfranchisement of women in . for twenty years, however, it has progressed with few drawbacks. in some particulars the english laws in respect of women are in advance of yours, but the connection between england and america is so close that a gain to one is a gain to the other. lydia e. becker, editor of the _women's suffrage journal_, manchester, england, wrote: * * * i beg to offer to the venerable pioneers of the movement, more especially to lucretia mott, a tribute of respectful admiration and gratitude for the services they have rendered in the cause of enfranchisement. * * * as regards the united kingdom, the movement in a practical form is but twelve years old, and in that period, although we have not obtained the parliamentary franchise, we have seen it supported by at least one-third of the house of commons, and our claim admitted as one which must be dealt with in future measures of parliamentary reform. we have obtained the municipal franchise and the school-board franchise. women have secured the right to enter the medical profession and to take degrees in the university of london, besides considerable amendment of the law regarding married women, though much remains to be done. senator sargent, since minister to berlin, wrote: i regret that the necessity to proceed at once to california will deprive me of the pleasure of attending your convention of july , the anniversary of the spirited declaration of rights put forth thirty years ago by some of the noblest and most enlightened women of america. women's rights have made vast strides since that day, in juster legislation, in widened spheres of employment, and in the gradual but certain recognition by large numbers of citizens of the justice and policy of extending the elective franchise to women. it is now very generally conceded that the time is rapidly approaching when women will vote. the friends of the movement have faith in the result; its enemies grudgingly admit it. courage and work will hasten the day. the worst difficulties have already been overcome. the movement has passed the stage of ridicule, and even that of abuse, and has entered that of intelligent discussion, its worst adversaries treating it with respect. you are so familiar with all the arguments in favor of this great reform that i will not attempt to state them; but i wish to say that as an observer of public events, it is my deliberate judgment that your triumph is near at hand. there are vastly more men and women in the united states now who believe that women should have the right to vote than there were in who believed the slave should be freed. this is a government of opinions and the growing opinion will be irresistible. respectfully yours, a. a. sargent. the following letters from the great leaders of the anti-slavery movement were gratefully received. as mr. garrison soon after finished his eventful life, this proved to be his last message to our association: boston, june , . my dear miss anthony--your urgent and welcome letter, inviting me to the thirtieth anniversary of the woman's rights movement at rochester, came yesterday. most earnestly do i wish i could be present to help mark this epoch in our movement, and join in congratulating the friends on the marvelous results of their labors. no reform has gathered more devoted and self-sacrificing friends. no one has had lives more generously given to its service; and you who have borne such heavy burdens may well rejoice in the large harvest; for no reform has, i think, had such rapid success. you who remember the indifference which almost discouraged us in , and who have so bravely faced ungenerous opposition and insult since, must look back on the result with unmixed astonishment and delight. temperance, and finance--which is but another name for the labor movement--and woman's rights, are three radical questions which overtop all others in value and importance. woman's claim for the ballot-box has had a much wider influence than merely to protect woman. universal suffrage is itself in danger. scholars dread it; social science and journalists attack it. the discussion of woman's claim has done much to reveal this danger, and rally patriotic and thoughtful men in defense. in many ways the agitation has educated the people. its success shows that the masses are sound and healthy; and if we gain, in the coming fifteen years, half as much as we have in the last thirty, woman will hold spear and shield in her own hands. if i might presume to advise, i should say close up the ranks and write on our flag only one claim--the ballot. everything helps us, and if we are united, success cannot long be delayed. very cordially yours, wendell phillips. boston, july , . my dear friend--the thirtieth anniversary of the first woman's rights convention ever held with special reference to demanding the elective franchise irrespective of sex well deserves to be commemorated in the manner set forth in the call for the same, at rochester, on the th instant. as a substitute for my personal attendance, i can only send a brief but warm congratulatory epistle on the cheering progress which the movement has made within the period named. for how widely different are the circumstances under which that convention was held, and those which attend the celebration of its third decade! then, the assertion of civil and political equality, alike for men and women, excited widespread disgust and astonishment, as though it were a proposition to repeal the laws of nature, and literally to "turn the world upside down"; and it was ridiculed and caricatured as little short of lunacy. now, it is a subject of increasing interest and grave consideration, from the atlantic to the pacific, and what at first appeared to be so foolish in pretension is admitted by all reflecting and candid minds to be deserving of the most respectful treatment. then, its avowed friends, were indeed "few and far between," even among those disfranchised as the penalty of their womanhood. now, they can be counted by tens of thousands, and their number is augmenting--foremost in intelligence, in weight of character, in strength of understanding, in manly and womanly development, and in all that goes to make up enlightened citizenship. then, with rare exceptions, women were everywhere remanded to poverty and servile dependence, being precluded from following those avocations and engaging in those pursuits which make competency and independence not a difficult achievement. now, there is scarcely any situation or profession, in the arrangements of society, to which they may not and do not aspire, and in which many of them are not usefully engaged; whether in new and varied industrial employment, in the arts and sciences, in the highest range of literature, in philosophic and mathematical investigations, in the professions of law, medicine, and divinity, in high scholarship, in educational training and supervision, in rhetoric and oratory, in the lyceum, or in discharging the official duties connected with the various departments of the state and national governments. almost all barriers are down except that which prevents women from going to the polls to help decide who shall be the law-makers and what shall be the laws, so that the general welfare may be impartially consulted, and the blessings of freedom and equal rights be enjoyed by all. that barrier, too, must give way wherever erected, as sure as time outlasts and baffles every device of wrong-doing, and truth is stronger than falsehood, and the law of eternal justice is as reliable as the law of gravitation. yes! the grand fundamental truths of the declaration of independence shall yet be reduced to practice in our land--that the human race are created free and equal; that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed, and that taxation without representation is tyranny. and i confidently predict that this will be witnessed before the expiration of another decade. yours, to abate nothing of heart or hope, william lloyd garrison. mrs. mott never seemed more hopeful for the triumph of our principles than on this occasion. she expressed great satisfaction in the number of young women who for the first time that day graced our platform.[ ] though in her eighty-sixth year, her enthusiasm in the cause for which she had so long labored seemed still unabated, and her eye sparkled with humor as of yore while giving some amusing reminiscences of encounters with opponents in the early days. always apt in biblical quotations she had proved herself a worthy antagonist of the clergy on our platform. she had slain many abimelechs with short texts of scripture, whose defeat was the more humiliating because received at the hand of a woman. as she recounted in her happiest vein the triumphs of her coadjutors she was received with the heartiest manifestations of delight by her auditors. she took a lively interest in the discussion of the resolutions that had been presented by the chairman of the committee, matilda joslyn gage: _resolved_, that a government of the people, by the people and for the people is yet to be realized; for that which is formed, administered and controlled only by men, is practically nothing more than an enlarged oligarchy, whose assumptions of natural superiority and of the right to rule are as baseless as those enforced by the aristocratic powers of the old world. _resolved_, that in celebrating our third decade we have reason to congratulate ourselves on the marked change in woman's position--in her enlarged opportunities for education and labor, her greater freedom under improved social customs and civil laws, and the promise of her speedy enfranchisement in the minor political rights she has already secured. _resolved_, that the international congress[ ] called in paris, july , to discuss the rights of woman--the eminent victor hugo, its presiding officer--is one of the most encouraging events of the century, in that statesmen and scholars from all parts of the world, amid the excitement of the french exposition, propose to give five days to deliberations upon this question. _resolved_, that the majority report of the chairman of the committee on privileges and elections, senator wadleigh of new hampshire, against a sixteenth amendment to secure the political rights of woman in its weakness, shows the strength of our reform. _resolved_, that the national effort to force citizenship on the indians, the decision of judge sawyer in the united states circuit court of california against the naturalization of the chinese, and the refusal of congress to secure the right of suffrage to women, are class legislation, dangerous to the stability of our institutions. whereas, woman's rights and duties in all matters of legislation are the same as those of man. _resolved_, that the problems of labor, finance, suffrage, international rights, internal improvements, and other great questions, can never be satisfactorily adjusted without the enlightened thought of woman, and her voice in the councils of the nation. _resolved_, that the question of capital and labor is one of special interest to us. man, standing to woman in the position of capitalist, has robbed her through the ages of the results of her toil. no just settlement of this question can be attained until the right of woman to the proceeds of her labor in the family and elsewhere is recognized, and she is welcomed into every industry on the basis of equal pay for equal work. _resolved_, that as the first duty of every individual is self-development, the lessons of self-sacrifice and obedience taught woman by the christian church have been fatal, not only to her own vital interests, but through her, to those of the race. _resolved_, that the great principle of the protestant reformation, the right of individual conscience and judgment heretofore exercised by man alone, should now be claimed by woman; that, in the interpretation of scripture, she should be guided by her own reason, and not by the authority of the church. _resolved_, that it is through the perversion of the religious element in woman--playing upon her hopes and fears of the future, holding this life with all its high duties in abeyance to that which is to come--that she and the children she has trained have been so completely subjugated by priestcraft and superstition. this was the last convention ever attended by lucretia mott. her family had specially requested that she should not be urged to go; but on seeing the call, she quietly announced her intention to be at the meeting, and, with the ever faithful sarah pugh as her companion, she made the journey from philadelphia in the intense heat of those july days. mrs. mott was the guest of her husband's nephew, dr. e.m. moore, who, fearing that his aunt would be utterly exhausted, called for her while she was in the midst of her closing remarks. as she descended the platform, she continued speaking while she slowly moved down the aisle, shaking hands upon either side. the audience simultaneously rose, and on behalf of all, frederick douglass ejaculated, "good-by, dear lucretia!" the last three resolutions called out a prolonged discussion[ ] not only in the convention but from the pulpit and press of the state. one amusing encounter in the course of the debate is worthy of note. perhaps it was due to the intense heat that mr. douglass, usually clear on questions of principle, was misled into opposing the resolutions. he spoke with great feeling and religious sentiment of the beautiful christian doctrine of self-sacrifice. when he finished, mrs. lucy coleman, always keen in pricking bubbles, arose and said: "well, mr. douglass, all you say may be true; but allow me to ask you why you did not remain a slave in maryland, and sacrifice yourself, like a christian, to your master, instead of running off to canada to secure your liberty, like a man? we shall judge your faith, frederick, by your deeds." an immense audience assembled at corinthian hall in the evening to listen to the closing speeches[ ] of the convention. mrs. robinson of boston gave an exhaustive review of the work in massachusetts, and her daughter, mrs. shattuck, gave many amusing experiences as her father's[ ] clerk in the legislature of that state. the resolutions provoked many attacks from the clergy throughout the state, led by rev. a.h. strong, d.d., president of the baptist theological seminary in rochester, of his sermon the _national citizen_ said: none too soon have we issued our resolutions, proclaiming woman's right to self-development--to interpret scripture for herself, to use her own faculties. in speaking of what christianity has done for woman, dr. strong stultifies his own assertions by referring to switzerland and germany "where you may see any day hundreds of women wheeling earth for railroad embankments." does he not remember that switzerland and germany are christian countries and that it is part of their civilization that while women do this work, some man takes the pay and puts it in his own pocket quite in heathen fashion? the reverend doctor in the usual style of opposition to woman--which is to quote something or other having no bearing upon the question--refers to cornelia's "jewels," forgetting to say that cornelia delivered public lectures upon philosophy in rome, and that cicero paid the very highest tribute to her learning and genius. dr. strong advocates the old theory that woman and man are not two classes standing upon the same level, but that the two are one--that one on the time-worn theory of common law, the husband; and talks of the "dignity and delicacy of woman" being due to the fact of her not having been in public life, and that this "dignity and delicacy" would all evaporate if once she were allowed to vote, which reminds one of the story of baron munchausen's horn, into which a certain coach-driver blew all manner of wicked tunes. the weather being very cold, these tunes remained frozen in the horn. when hung by the fire, the horn began to thaw out, and these wicked tunes came pealing forth to the great amazement of the by-standers. the reverend gentlemen seems to think women are full of frozen wickedness, which if they enter public life will be thawed out to the utter demolition of their "dignity and delicacy" and the disgust of society. he deems it "too hazardous" to allow women to vote. "bad women would vote." well, what of it? have they not equal right with bad men, to self-government? bad is a relative term. it strikes us that the very reverend dr. strong is a "bad" man--a man who does not understand true christianity--who is not just--who would strike those who are down--who would keep woman in slavery--who quotes the bible as his authority: thus fettering woman's conscience, binding her will, and playing upon her hopes and fears to keep her in subjection. from augustine, down, theologians have tried to compel people to accept their special interpretation of the scripture, and the tortures of the inquisition, the rack, the thumb-screw, the stake, the persecutions of witchcraft, the whipping of naked women through the streets of boston, banishment, trials for heresy, the halter about garrison's neck, lovejoy's death, the branding of captain walker, shouts of infidel and atheist, have all been for this purpose. we know the ignorance that exists upon these points. few have yet begun to comprehend the influence that ecclesiasticism has had upon law. wharton, a recognized authority upon criminal law, issued his seventh edition before he ascertained the vast bearing canon law had had upon the civil code, and we advise readers to consult the array of authorities, english, latin, german, to which he, in his preface, refers. we hope to arouse attention and compel investigation of this subject by lawyers and theologians as well as by women themselves. francis e. abbot, editor of _the index_, the organ of the free religious association, spoke grandly in favor of the resolutions. he said: these resolutions we have read with astonishment, admiration and delight. we should not have believed it possible that the convention could have been induced to adopt them. they will make forever memorable in the history of the organized woman movement, this thirtieth anniversary of its birth. they put the national woman suffrage association in an inconceivably higher and nobler position than that occupied by any similar society. they go to the very root of the matter. they are a bold, dignified, and magnificent utterance. we congratulate the convention on a record so splendid in the eyes of all true liberals. from this day forth the whole woman movement must obey the inspiration of a higher courage and a grander spirit than have been known to its past. opposition must be encountered, tenfold more bitter than was ever yet experienced. but truth is on the side of these brave women; the ringing words they have spoken at rochester will thrill many a doubting heart and be echoed far down the long avenue of the years. during the same week of the rochester convention, the paris international congress opened it sessions, sending us a telegram of greeting to which we responded with two hundred and fifty francs as a tangible evidence of our best wishes. the two remarkable features of that congress were the promise of so distinguished a man as victor hugo to preside over its deliberations, though at last prevented by illness; and the fact that the italian government sent mlle. mozzoni as an official delegate to the congress to study the civil position of woman in various countries, in order that an ameliorating change of its code, in respect to woman, could be wisely made. the newspapers of the french capital in general treated the congress with respect. the _rappel_, victor hugo's organ, spoke of it in a most complimentary manner. theodore stanton, in a letter to the _national citizen_, said: in one important respect this congress differed entirely from an american convention of like character--it made no demand for suffrage. the word was never mentioned except by the american delegates. in continental europe the idea of demanding for woman a share in the government, is never considered. this is the more remarkable in france, as this claim was made at the time of the revolution. but every imaginable side of the question was discussed, except the side that comprehends all the others. to an american, therefore, european woman's rights is rather tame; it is like the play of hamlet with hamlet left out. but europe is moving, and the next international congress will, undoubtedly, give more attention to suffrage and less to hygiene. the eleventh washington convention was held january , , . the resolutions give an idea of the status of the question, and the wide range of discussion covered by the speakers:[ ] _resolved_, that the forty-fifth congress, in ignoring the individual petitions of more than three hundred women of high social standing and culture, asking for the removal of their political disabilities, while promptly enacting special legislation for the removal of the political disabilities of every man who petitioned, furnishes an illustration of the indifference of this congress to the rights of citizens deprived of political power. whereas, senator blaine says, it is the very essence of tyranny to count any citizens in the basis of representation who are denied a voice in their laws and a choice in their rulers; therefore, _resolved_, that counting women in the basis of representation, while denying them the right of suffrage, is compelling them to swell the number of their tyrants and is an unwarrantable usurpation of power over one-half the citizens of this republic. whereas, in president hayes' last message, he makes a truly paternal review of the interests of this republic, both great and small, from the army, the navy, and our foreign relations, to the ten little indians in hampton, va., our timber on the western mountains, and the switches of the washington railroads; from the paris exposition, the postal service, the abundant harvests, and the possible bull-dozing of some colored men in various southern districts, to cruelty to live animals, and the crowded condition of the mummies, dead ducks and fishes in the smithsonian institute--yet forgets to mention twenty million women robbed of their social, civil and political rights; therefore, _resolved_, that a committee of three be appointed from this convention to wait upon the president and remind him of the existence of one-half of the american people whom he has accidentally overlooked, and of whom it would be wise for him to make some mention in his future messages. whereas, all of the vital principles involved in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth constitutional amendments have been denied in their application to women by courts, legislatures and political parties; therefore, _resolved_, that it is logical that these amendments should fail to protect even the male african for whom said courts, legislatures and parties declare they were expressly designed and enacted. _resolved_, that the judges of the supreme court of the united states in denying belva a. lockwood admission to its bar, while she was entitled under the law and under its rules to that right, violated their oath of office. _resolved_, that the senate judiciary committee, mr. edmonds chairman, in its report on the bill to allow women to practice law in the courts of the united states in which it declares that "further legislation is not necessary," evaded the plain question at issue before it in a manner unworthy of judges learned in the honorable profession of the law, and thereby sanctioned an injustice to the women of the whole country. whereas, the general government has refused to exercise federal power to protect women in their right to vote in the various states and territories; therefore, _resolved_, that it should forbear to exercise federal power to disfranchise the women of utah, who have had a more just and liberal spirit shown them by mormon men than gentile women in the states have yet perceived in their rulers. whereas, the proposed legislation for the chinese women on the pacific slope and for outcast women in our cities, and the opinion of the press that no respectable woman should be seen in the streets after dark, are all based upon the presumption that woman's freedom must be forever sacrificed to man's licence; therefore, _resolved_, that the ballot in woman's hand is the only power by which she can restrain the liberty of those men who make our streets and highways dangerous to her, and secure the freedom that belongs to her by day and by night. [illustration: frances e. willard] at the close of the convention it was decided at a meeting of the executive committee to present an address to the president and both houses of congress, and that a printed copy of the resolutions should be laid on the desk of every member. the president having granted a hearing,[ ] the following address was presented: _to his excellency, the president of the united states_: whereas, representatives of associations of women waited upon your excellency before the delivery of your first and second annual messages, asking that in those documents you would remember the disfranchised millions of citizens of the united states; and, whereas, upon careful examination of those messages, we find therein specifically enumerated, the interests, great and small, of all classes of men, and recommendations of needful legislation to protect their civil and political rights, but find no mention made of any need of legislation to protect the political, civil, or social rights of one-half of the people of this republic, and, whereas, there is pending in the senate a constitutional amendment to prohibit the several states from disfranchising united states citizens on account of sex, and a similar amendment is pending upon a tie vote in the house judiciary committee; and as petitions to so amend the constitution have been presented to both houses of congress from more than , well-known citizens of thirty-five states and five territories, therefore, we respectfully ask your excellency, in your next annual message, to make mention of the disfranchised millions of wives, mothers and daughters of this republic, and to recommend to congress that women equally with men be protected in the exercise of their civil and political rights. on behalf of the national woman suffrage association. elizabeth cady stanton, _president_. matilda joslyn gage, _corresponding secretary_. susan b. anthony, _chairman executive committee_. the delegates from the territory of utah were also received by the president. they called his attention to the effect of the enforcement of the law of upon , mormon women, to render them outcasts and their children nameless, asking the chief executive of the nation to give some time to the consideration of the bill pending under different headings in both houses. the president asked them to set forth the facts in writing, that he might carefully weigh so important a matter. a memorial was also presented to congress by these ladies, closing thus: we further pray that in any future legislation concerning the marriage relation in any territory under your jurisdiction you will consider the rights and the consciences of the women to be affected by such legislation, and that you will consider the permanent care and welfare of children as the sure foundation of the state. and your petitioners will ever pray. emmeline b. wells. zina young williams. mr. cannon of utah moved that the memorial be referred to the committee on the judiciary with leave to report at any time. it was so referred. the judiciary committee of the senate brought in a bill legitimatizing the offspring of plural marriages to a certain date; also authorizing the president to grant amnesty for past offenses against the law of . the _congressional record_ of january , under the head of petitions and memorials, said: the vice-president, mr. wheeler of new york, presented the petition of elizabeth cady stanton, matilda joslyn gage and susan b. anthony, officers of the national association, praying for the passage of senate joint resolution no. , providing for an amendment to the constitution of the united states, protecting the rights of women, and also that the house judiciary committee be relieved from the further consideration of a similar resolution. mr. ferry--if there be no objection i ask that the petition be read at length. the vice-president--the chair hears no objection, and it will be reported by the secretary. the petition was read and referred to the committee on privileges and elections, as follows: _to the senate and house of representatives of the united states, in congress assembled:_ whereas, more than , men and women, citizens of thirty-five states and five territories, have petitioned the forty-fifth congress asking for an amendment to the federal constitution prohibiting the several states from disfranchising united states citizens on account of sex; and whereas, a resolution providing for such constitutional amendment is upon the calendar (senate resolution no. , second session forty-fifth congress), and a similar resolution is pending upon a tie vote in the judiciary committee of the house of representatives; and whereas, the women of the united states constitute one-half of the people of this republic and have an inalienable right to an equal voice with men in the nation's councils; and whereas, women being denied the right to have their opinions counted at the ballot-box, are compelled to hold all other rights subject to the favors and caprices of men; and whereas, in answer to the appeals of so large a number of honorable petitioners, it is courteous that the forty-fifth congress should express its opinion upon this grave question of human rights; therefore, we pray your honorable body to take from the calendar and pass senate resolution no. , providing for an amendment to the constitution protecting the rights of women; and we further pray you to relieve the house judiciary committee from the further consideration of the woman suffrage resolution brought to a tie vote in that committee, february , , that it may be submitted to the house of representatives for immediate action. and your petitioners will ever pray. elizabeth cady stanton, _president_. matilda joslyn gage, _corresponding secretary_. susan b. anthony, _chairman executive committee_. at the opening of the last session of the forty-fifth congress most earnest appeals (copies of which were sent to every member of congress) came from all directions for the presentation of a minority report from the committee on privileges and elections. the response from our representatives was prompt and most encouraging. the first favorable report our question had ever received in the senate of the united states was presented by the hon. george f. hoar, february , : _the undersigned, a minority of the committee on privileges and elections, to whom were referred the resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution prohibiting discrimination in the right of suffrage on account of sex, and certain petitions in aid of the same, submit the following minority report:_ the undersigned dissent from the report of the majority of the committee. the demand for the extension of the right of suffrage to women is not new. it has been supported by many persons in this country, in england and on the continent, famous in public life, in literature and in philosophy. but no single argument of its advocates seems to us to carry so great a persuasive force as the difficulty which its ablest opponents encounter in making a plausible statement of their objections. we trust we do not fail in deference to our esteemed associates on the committee when we avow our opinion that their report is no exception to this rule. the people of the united states and of the several states have founded their political institutions upon the principle that all men have an equal right to a share in the government. the doctrine is expressed in various forms. the declaration of independence asserts that "all men are created equal" and that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." the virginia bill of rights, the work of jefferson and george mason, affirms that "no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the rest of the community but in consideration of public services." the massachusetts bill of rights, the work of john adams, besides reaffirming these axioms, declares that "all the inhabitants of this commonwealth, having such qualifications as they shall establish by their frame of government, have an equal right to elect officers, and to be elected for public employment." these principles, after full and profound discussion by a generation of statesmen whose authority upon these subjects is greater than that of any other that ever lived, have been accepted by substantially the whole american people as the dictates alike of practical wisdom and of natural justice. the experience of a hundred years has strengthened their hold upon the popular conviction. our fathers failed in three particulars to carry these principles to their logical result. they required a property qualification for the right to vote and to hold office. they kept the negro in slavery. they excluded women from a share in the government. the first two of these inconsistencies have been remedied. the property test no longer exists. the fifteenth amendment provides that race, color, or previous servitude shall no longer be a disqualification. there are certain qualifications of age, of residence, and, in some instances of education, demanded; but these are such as all sane men may easily attain. this report is not the place to discuss or vindicate the correctness of this theory. in so far as the opponents of woman suffrage are driven to deny it, for the purpose of an argument addressed to the american people, they are driven to confess that they are in the wrong. this people are committed to the doctrine of universal suffrage by their constitutions, their history and their opinions. they must stand by it or fall by it. the poorest, humblest, feeblest of sane men has the ballot in his hand, and no other man can show a better title to it. those things wherein men are unequal--intelligence, ability, integrity, experience, title to public confidence by reason of previous public service--have their natural and legitimate influence under a government wherein each man's vote is counted, to quite as great a degree as under any other form of government that ever existed. we believe that the principle of universal suffrage stands to-day stronger than ever in the judgment of mankind. some eminent and accomplished scholars, alarmed by the corruption and recklessness manifested in our great cities, deceived by exaggerated representations of the misgovernment of the southern states by a race just emerging from slavery, disgusted by the extent to which great numbers of our fellow-citizens have gone astray in the metaphysical subtleties of financial discussion, have uttered their eloquent warnings of the danger of the failure of universal suffrage. such utterances from such sources have been frequent. they were never more abundant than in the early part of the present century. they are, when made in a serious and patriotic spirit, to be received with the gratitude due to that greatest of public benefactors--he who points out to the people their dangers and their faults. but popular suffrage is to be tried not by comparison with ideal standards of excellence, but by comparison with other forms of government. we are willing to submit our century of it to this test. the crimes that have stained our history have come chiefly from its denial, not from its establishment. the misgovernment and corruption of our great cities have been largely due to men whose birth and training have been under other systems. the abuses attributed by political hostility to negro governments at the south--governments from which the intelligence and education of the state held themselves sulkily aloof--do not equal those which existed under the english or french aristocracy within the memory of living men. there have been crimes, blunders, corruptions, follies in the history of our republic. aristides has been banished from public employment, while cleon has been followed by admiring throngs. but few of these things have been due to the extension of the suffrage. strike out of our history the crimes of slavery, strike out the crimes, unparalleled for ferocity and brutality, committed by an oligarchy in its attempt to overthrow universal suffrage, and we may safely challenge for our national and state governments comparison with monarchy or aristocracy in their best and purest periods. either the doctrines of the declaration of independence and the bills of rights are true, or government must rest on no principle of right whatever, but its powers may be lawfully taken by force and held by force by any person or class who have strength to do it, and who persuade themselves that their rule is for the public interest. either these doctrines are true, or you can give no reason for your own possession of the suffrage except that you have got it. if this doctrine be sound, it follows that no class of persons can rightfully be excluded from their equal share in the government, unless they can be proved to lack some quality essential to the proper exercise of political power. a person who votes helps, first, to determine the measures of government; second, to elect persons to be intrusted with public administration. he should therefore possess, first, an honest desire for the public welfare; second, sufficient intelligence to determine what measure or policy is best; third, the capacity to judge of the character of persons proposed for office; and, fourth, freedom from undue influence, so that the vote he casts is his own, and not another's. that person or class casting his or their own vote, with an honest desire for the public welfare, and with sufficient intelligence to judge what measure is advisable and what person may be trusted, fulfill every condition that the state can rightfully impose. we are not now dealing with the considerations which should affect the admission of citizens of other countries to acquire the right to take part in our government. all nations claim the right to impose restrictions on the admission of foreigners trained in attachment to other countries or forms of rule, and to indifference to their own, whatever they deem the safety of the state requires. we take it for granted that no person will deny that the women of america are inspired with a love of country equal to that which animates their brothers and sons. a capacity to judge of character, so sure and rapid as to be termed intuitive, is an especial attribute of woman. one of the greatest orators of modern times has declared: i concede away nothing which i ought to assert for our sex when i say that the collective womanhood of a people like our own seizes with matchless facility and certainty on the moral and personal peculiarities and character of marked and conspicuous men, and that we may very wisely address ourselves to such a body to learn if a competitor for the highest honors has revealed that truly noble nature that entitled him to a place in the hearts of a nation. we believe that in that determining of public policies by the collective judgment of the state which constitutes self-government, the contribution of woman will be of great importance and value. to all questions into the determination of which considerations of justice or injustice enter, she will bring a more refined moral sense than that of man. the most important public function of the state is the provision for the education of youths. in those states in which the public school system has reached its highest excellence, more than ninety per cent. of the teachers are women. certainly the vote of the women of the state should be counted in determining the policy that shall regulate the school system which they are called to administer. it is seldom that particular measures of government are decided by direct popular vote. they are more often discussed before the people after they have taken effect, when the party responsible for them is called to account. the great measures which go to make up the history of nations are determined not by the voters, but by their rulers, whether those rulers be hereditary or elected. the plans of great campaigns are conceived by men of great military genius and executed by great generals. great systems of finance come from the brain of statesmen who have made finance a special study. the mass of the voters decide to which party they will intrust power. they do not determine particulars. but they give to parties their general tone and direction, and hold them to their accountability. we believe that woman will give to the political parties of the country a moral temperament which will have a most beneficent and ennobling effect on politics. woman, also, is specially fitted for the performance of that function of legislative and executive government which, with the growth of civilization, becomes yearly more and more important--the wise and practical economic adjustment of the details of public expenditures. it may be considered that it would not be for the public interest to clothe with the suffrage any class of persons who are so dependent that they will, as a general rule, be governed by others in its exercise. but we do not admit that this is true of women. we see no reason to believe that women will not be as likely to retain their independence of political judgment, as they now retain their independence of opinion in regard to the questions which divide religious sects from one another. these questions deeply excite the feelings of mankind, yet experience shows that the influence of the wife is at least as great as that of the husband in determining the religious opinion of the household. the natural influence exerted by members of the same family upon each other would doubtless operate to bring about similarity of opinion on political questions as on others. so far as this tends to increase the influence of the family in the state, as compared with that of unmarried men, we deem it an advantage. upon all questions which touch public morals, public education, all which concern the interest of the household, such a united exertion of political influence cannot be otherwise than beneficial. our conclusion, then, is that the american people must extend the right of suffrage to woman or abandon the idea that suffrage is a birthright. the claim that universal suffrage will work mischief in practice is simply a claim that justice will work mischief in practice. many honest and excellent persons, while admitting the force of the arguments above stated, fear that taking part in politics will destroy those feminine traits which are the charm of woman, and are the chief comfort and delight of the household. if we thought so we should agree with the majority of the committee in withholding assent to the prayer of the petitioners. this fear is the result of treating the abuses of the political function as essential to its exercise. the study of political questions, the forming an estimate of the character of public men or public measures, the casting a vote, which is the result of that study and estimate, certainly have in themselves nothing to degrade the most delicate and refined nature. the violence, the fraud, the crime, the chicanery, which, so far as they have attended masculine struggles for political power, tend to prove, if they prove anything, the unfitness of men for the suffrage, are not the result of the act of voting, but are the expressions of course, criminal and evil natures, excited by the desire for victory. the admission to the polls of delicate and tender women would, without injury to them, tend to refine and elevate the politics in which they took a part. when, in former times, women were excluded from social banquets, such assemblies were scenes of ribaldry and excess. the presence of women has substituted for them the festival of the christian home. the majority of the committee state the following as their reasons for the conclusion to which they come: _first_--if the petitioners' prayer be granted it will make several millions of female voters. _second_--these voters will be inexperienced in public affairs. _third_--they are quite generally dependent on the other sex. _fourth_--they are incapable of military duty. _fifth_--they are without the power to enforce the laws which their numerical strength may enable them to make. _sixth_--very few of them wish to assume the irksome and responsible duties which this measure thrusts upon them. _seventh_--such a change should only be made slowly and in obedience to a general public demand. _eighth_--there are but thirty thousand petitioners. _ninth_--it would be unjust to impose "the heavy burden of governing, which so many men seek to evade, on the great mass of women who do not wish for it, to gratify the few who do." _tenth_--women now have the sympathy of judges and juries "to an extent which would warrant loud complaint on the part of their adversaries of the sterner sex." _eleventh_--such a change should be made, if at all, by the states. three-fourths of the states should not force it on the others. in any state in which "any considerable part of the women wish for the right to vote, it will be granted without the intervention of congress." the first objection of the committee is to the large increase of the number of the voting population. we believe on the other hand, that to double the numbers of the constituent body, and to compose one-half that body of women, would tend to elevate the standard of the representative both for ability and manly character. macaulay in one of his speeches on the reform bill refers to the quality of the men who had for half a century been members for the five most numerous constituencies in england--westminster, southwark, liverpool, bristol and norwich. among them were burke, fox, sheridan, romilly, windham, tierney, canning, huskisson. eight of the nine greatest men who had sat in parliament for forty years sat for the five largest represented towns. to increase the numbers of constituencies diminishes the opportunity for corruption. size is itself a conservative force in a republic. as a permanent general rule the people will desire their own best interest. disturbing forces, evil and selfish passions, personal ambitions, are necessarily restricted in their operation. the larger the field of operation, the more likely are such influences to neutralize each other. the objection of inexperience in public affairs applies, of course, alike to every voter when he first votes. if it be valid, it would have prevented any extension of the suffrage, and would exclude from the franchise a very large number of masculine voters of all ages. that women are quite generally dependent on the other sex is true. so it is true that men are quite generally dependent on the other sex. it is impossible so to measure this dependence as to declare that man is more dependent on woman or woman upon man. it is by no means true that the dependence of either on the other affects the right to the suffrage. capacity for military duty has no connection with capacity for suffrage. the former is wholly physical. it will scarcely be proposed to disfranchise men who are unfit to be soldiers by reason of age or bodily infirmity. the suggestion that the country may be plunged into wars by a majority of women who are secure from military dangers is not founded in experience. men of the military profession, and men of the military age are commonly quite as eager for war as non-combatants, and will hereafter be quite as indifferent to its risks and hardships as their mothers and wives. the argument that women are without the power to enforce the laws which their numerical strength may enable them to make, proceeds from the supposition that it is probable that all the women will range themselves upon one side in politics and all the men on the other. such supposition flatly contradicts the other arguments drawn from the dependence of women and from their alleged unwillingness to assume political burdens. so men over fifty years of age are without the power to enforce obedience to laws against which the remainder of the voters forcibly rebel. it is not physical power alone, but power aided by the respect for law of the people, on which laws depend for their enforcement. the sixth, eighth and ninth reasons of the committee are the same proposition differently stated. it is that a share in the government of the country is a burden, and one which, in the judgment of a majority of the women of the country, they ought not to be required to assume. if any citizen deem the exercise of this franchise a burden and not a privilege, such person is under no constraint to exercise it. but if it be a birthright, then it is obvious that no other power than that of the individual concerned can rightfully restrain its exercise. the committee concede that women ought to be clothed with the ballot in any state where any considerable part of the women desire it. this is a pretty serious confession. on the vital, fundamental question whether the institutions of this country shall be so far changed that the number of persons in it who take a part in the government shall be doubled, the judgment of women is to be and ought to be decisive. if woman may fitly determine this question, for what question of public policy is she unfit? what question of equal importance will ever be submitted to her decision? what has become of the argument that women are unfit to vote because they are dependent on men, or because they are unfit for military duty, or because they are inexperienced, or because they are without power to enforce obedience to their laws? the next argument is that by the present arrangement the administration of justice is so far perverted that one-half the citizens of the country have an advantage from the sympathies of juries and judges which "would warrant loud complaint" on the part of the other half. if this be true, it is doubtless due to an instinctive feeling on the part of juries and judges that existing laws and institutions are unjust to women, or to the fact that juries composed wholly of men are led to do injustice by their susceptibility to the attractions of women. but certainly it is a grave defect in any system of government that it does not administer justice impartially, and the existence of such a defect is a strong reason for preferring an arrangement which would remove the feeling that women do not have fair play, or for so composing juries that, drawn from both sexes, they would be impartial between the two. the final objection of the committee is that "such a change should be made, if at all, by the states. three-fourths of the states should not force it upon the others. whenever any considerable part of the women in any state wish for the right to vote, it will be granted without the intervention of congress." who can doubt that when two-thirds of congress and three-fourths of the states have voted for the change, a considerable number of women in the other states will be found to desire it, so that, according to the committee's own belief, it can never be forced by a majority on unwilling communities? the prevention of unjust discrimination by states against large classes of people in respect to suffrage is even admitted to be a matter of national concern and an important function of the national constitution and laws. it is the duty of congress to propose amendments to the constitution whenever two-thirds of both houses deem them necessary. certainly an amendment will be deemed necessary, if it can be shown to be required by the principles on which the constitution is based, and to remove an unjust disfranchisement from one-half the citizens of the country. the constitutional evidence of general public demand is to be found not in petitions, but in the assent of three-fourths of the states through their legislatures or conventions. the lessons of experience favor the conclusion that woman is fit for a share in government. it may be true that in certain departments of intellectual effort the greatest achievements of women have as yet never equaled the greatest achievements of men. but it is equally true that in those same departments women have exhibited an intellectual ability very far beyond that of the average of men and very far beyond that of most men who have shown very great political capacity. but let the comparison be made in regard to the very thing with which we have to deal. of men who have swayed chief executive power, a very considerable proportion have attained it by usurpation or by election, processes which imply extraordinary capacity on their part as compared with other men. the women who have held such power have come to it as sovereigns by inheritance, or as regents by the accident of bearing a particular relation to the lawful sovereign when he was under some incapacity. yet it is an undisputed fact that the number of able and successful female sovereigns bears a vastly greater proportion to the whole number of such sovereigns, than does the number of able and successful male sovereigns to the whole number of men who have reigned. an able, energetic, virtuous king or emperor is the exception and not the rule in the history of modern europe. with hardly an exception the female sovereigns or regents have been wise and popular. mr. mill, who makes this point, says: we know how small a number of reigning queens history presents in comparison with that of kings. of this small number a far larger proportion have shown talents for rule, though many of them have occupied the throne in difficult periods. when to queens and empresses we add regents and viceroys of provinces, the list of women who have been eminent rulers of mankind swells to a great length.... especially is this true if we take into consideration asia as well as europe. if a hindoo principality is strongly, vigilantly and economically governed; if order is preserved without oppression; if cultivation is extending and the people prosperous, in three cases out of four that principality is under a woman's rule. this fact, to me an entirely unexpected one, i have collected from a long official knowledge of hindoo governments. certainly history gives no warning that should deter the american people from carrying out the principles upon which their government rests to this most just and legitimate conclusion. those persons who think that free government has anywhere failed, can only claim that this tends to prove, not the failure of universal suffrage, but the failure of masculine suffrage. like failure has attended the operation of every other great human institution, the family, the school, the church, whenever woman has not been permitted to contribute to it her full share. as to the best example of the perfect family, the perfect school, the perfect church, the love, the purity, the truth of woman are essential, so they are equally essential to the perfect example of the self-governing state. geo. f. hoar, john h. mitchell, angus cameron. thousands of copies of this report were published and franked to every part of the country. on february , just one week after the presentation of the able minority report, the bill allowing women to practice before the supreme court passed the senate[ ] and received the signature of president hayes. senators mcdonald, hoar and sargent made the principal speeches. we give mr. hoar's speech in full because of its terse and vigorous presentation of the fact that congress is a body superior to the supreme court of the united states. mr. hoar said: _mr. president_--i understand the brief statement which was made, i think, during this last session by the majority of the judiciary committee in support of their opposition to this bill, did not disclose that the majority of that committee were opposed to permitting women to engage in the practice of law or to be admitted to practice it in the supreme court of the united states, but the point they made, was that the legislation of the united states left to the supreme court the power of determining by rule who should be admitted to practice before that tribunal, and that we ought not by legislation to undertake to interfere with its rules. now, with the greatest respect for that tribunal, i conceive that the law-making and not the law-expounding power in this government ought to determine the question what class of citizens shall be clothed with the office of the advocate. i believe that leaving to the supreme court by rule to determine the qualifications or disqualifications of attorneys and counselors in that court is an exception to the nearly uniform policy of the states of the union. would it be tolerated if the supreme court undertook by rule to establish any other disqualification, any of those disqualifications which have existed in regard to holding any other office in the country? suppose the court were of the opinion we had been too fast in relieving persons who took part in the late rebellion from their disabilities, and that it would not admit persons who had so taken part to practice before the supreme court; is there any doubt that congress would at once interfere? suppose the supreme court were of opinion that the people of the united states had erred in the amendment which had removed the disqualification from colored persons and declined to admit such persons to practice in that court; is there any doubt that congress would interfere and would deem it a fit occasion for the exercise of the law-making power? now, mr. president, this bill is not a bill merely to admit women to the privilege of engaging in a particular profession; it is a bill to secure to the citizen of the united states the right to select his counsel, and that is all. at present a case is tried and decided in the state courts of any state of this union which may be removed to the supreme court of the united states. in the courts of the state, women are permitted to practice as advocates, and a woman has been the advocate under whose direction and care and advocacy the case has been won in the court below. is it tolerable that the counsel who has attended the case from its commencement to its successful termination in the highest court of the state should not be permitted to attend upon and defend the rights of that client when the case is transferred to the supreme court of the united states? everybody knows, at least every lawyer of experience knows, the impossibility of transferring with justice to the interests of a client, a cause from one counsel to another. a suit is instituted under the advice of a counsel on a certain theory, a certain remedy is selected, a certain theory of the cause is the one on which it is staked. now that must be attended to and defended by the counsel under whose advice the suit has taken its shape; the pleadings have been shaped in the courts below. under the present system, a citizen of any state in the union having selected a counsel of good moral character who has practiced three years, who possesses all-sufficient professional and personal qualifications, and having had a cause brought to a successful result in the state court, is denied by the present existing and unjust rule having counsel of his choice argue the cause in the supreme court of the united states. the greatest master of human manners, who read the human heart and who understood better than any man who ever lived the varieties of human character, when he desired to solve just what had puzzled the lawyers and doctors, placed a woman upon the judgment seat; and yet, under the present existing law, if portia herself were alive, she could not defend the opinion she had given, before the supreme court of the united states. the press commented favorably upon this new point gained for women. we give a few extracts: the senators who voted to-day against the bill "to relieve certain legal disabilities of women" are marked men and have reason to fear the result of their action.--[telegraph to the new york _tribune_, february . the women get into the supreme court in spite of the determination of the justices. they gained a decided advantage to-day in the passage by the senate of a bill providing that any woman who shall have been a member of the highest court in any state or territory, or of the supreme court of the district of columbia, for three years, may be admitted to the supreme court. the bill was called up by senator mcdonald, in antagonism to mr. edmunds' amendment to the constitution which was the pending order. mr. edmunds objected to the consideration of the bill and voted against it. there was not much discussion, the main speeches being by mr. sargent and mr. hoar.--[special dispatch to the new york _world_, february . a woman's rights victory in the senate.--the lockwood bill, giving women authority to practice before the supreme court of the united states, passed the senate yesterday by a vote of two to one, and now it only requires the approval of mr. hayes to become a law. the powerful effect of persistent and industrious lobbying is manifested in the success of this bill. when it was first introduced, it is doubtful if one-fourth the members of congress would have voted for it. some of the strong-minded women, who were interested in the bill, stuck to it, held the fort from day to day, and talked members and senators into believing it a just measure. senator mcdonald gave mr. edmunds a rebuff yesterday that he will not soon forget. the latter attempted to administer a rebuke to the indiana senator for calling up a bill during the absence of the senator who had reported it. mr. mcdonald retorted that he knew the objection of the senator from vermont was made for the purpose of defeating the bill and not, as pretended, to give an absent senator opportunity to speak upon it.--[washington _post_, february . the credit for this victory belongs to mrs. belva lockwood, of this city, who, having been refused admission to the bar of the united states supreme court, appealed to congress, and by dint of hard work has finally succeeded in having her bill passed by both houses. she called on mrs. hayes last evening, who complimented her upon her achievement, and informed her that she had sent a bouquet to senator hoar, in token of his efforts in behalf of the bill.--[washington _star_, february . the bill was carried through merely by the energetic advocacy of senators mcdonald, sargent and hoar, whose oratorical efforts were reënforced by the presence of mrs. lockwood. after the struggle was over, all the senators who advocated the bill were made the recipients of bouquets, while the three senators whose names we have given received large baskets of flowers. this is a pleasing omen of that purification of legal business which it is hoped will flow from the introduction of women to the courts. it was not flowers that used to be distributed at washington and albany in the old corrupt times, among legislators, in testimony of gratitude for their votes. let us hope that venal legislation at washington will be extirpated by the rise of this beautiful custom.--[new york _nation_. it was noticeable that all the presidential candidates dodged the issue except senator blaine, who voted for the bill.--[chicago _inter-ocean_. how humiliated poor old judge magruder must feel, since the congress of the united states paid the woman whom he forbade to open her mouth in his august presence, in his little court, so much consideration as to pass an act opening to her the doors of the supreme court of the united states. all honor to the brave woman, who by her own unaided efforts thus achieved honor, fortune and fame--the just rewards of her own true worth.--[_havre republican_, havre de grace, maryland. enter portia.--an act of congress was not necessary to authorize women to be lawyers, if their legal acquirements fitted them for that vocation; nor was it necessary to state, as an expression of opinion by the national legislature, that some women are so fully qualified for the legal profession that no barriers should be permitted to stand in their way. it was needed simply as a key whereby the hitherto locked door of the supreme court of the united states may be opened if a woman lawyer, with the usual credentials, should knock thereon. that is all; and there is no new question opened for profitless debate. the ability of some women to be lawyers is like the ability of others to make bread--it rests upon the facts. there is no room for elaborate argument to prove either their fitness or unfitness for legal studies, so long as in missouri, wisconsin, michigan, the district of columbia, iowa and north carolina there are women in more or less successful practice and repute. * * * nowhere are these great attributes of civilization and regulated liberty--law, conservatism, justice, equity and mercy in the administration of human affairs put in broader light or truer, than they are by the words that shakespeare puts in the mouth of this woman jurist.--[_public ledger_, philadelphia, february . when congress recently passed a law allowing women to practice in the supreme court, it was not a subject of any special or eager comment. a woman who is a lawyer sent flowers to the desks of the members who voted for the bill, and before they had faded, comment was at an end. the home was still safe and the country was not in peril. it was one of the questions which had settled itself and was a foregone conclusion. * * * united states senator edmunds of vermont, has fallen into disfavor with the ladies for voting against the above bill.--[from john w. forney's _progress_, february . on march , by motion of hon. a. g. riddle, mrs. lockwood was admitted to the bar of the united states supreme court,[ ] taking the official oath and receiving the classic sheep-skin; and the following week she was admitted to practice before the court of claims. the forty-sixth congress contained an unusually large proportion of new representatives, fresh from the people, ready for the discussion of new issues, and manifesting a chivalric spirit toward the consideration of woman's claims as a citizen. on tuesday, april , the following resolution was submitted to the committee on rules in the house of representatives: _resolved_, that a select committee of nine members be appointed by the speaker, to be called a committee on the rights of women, whose duty it shall be to consider and report upon all petitions, memorials, resolutions and bills that may be presented in the house relating to the rights of women. admitting the justice of a fair consideration of a question involving every human right of one-half of the population of this country, alex. h. stephens of georgia, james a. garfield of ohio, wm. p. frye of maine, immediately declared themselves in favor of the appointment of said committee, and speaker randall, the chairman, ordered it reported to the house. a similar resolution was introduced in the senate, before the adjournment of the special session. this showed a clearer perception of the magnitude of the question, and the need of its early and earnest consideration, than at any time during the previous thirty years of argument, heroic struggle and sacrifice on the altar of woman's freedom. the anniversary of was held in st. louis, missouri, may , , . mrs. virginia l. minor and miss phoebe w. couzins made all possible arrangements for the success of the meeting and the comfort of the delegates.[ ] mrs. minor briefly stated the object of the convention and announced that, as the president of the association had not arrived, mrs. joslyn gage would take the chair. miss couzins gave the address of welcome: _mrs. president and members of the national woman suffrage association:_ it becomes my pleasant duty to welcome you to the hospitalities of my native city. to extend to you who for the first time meet beyond the mississippi, a greeting--not only in behalf of the friends of woman suffrage, but for those of our citizens who, while not in full sympathy with your views, have a desire to hear you in deliberative council and to cordially tender you the same courtesies offered other conventions which have chosen st. louis as their place of annual gathering. and i am the more happy to do this because of the opportunity it affords me to disabuse your minds of certain impressions which have gone abroad concerning our slowness of action in the line of advanced ideas. certainly in some phases of that reformation to which you and your co-laborers have pledged your lives, your fortunes--the cause of woman--st. louis is the leader. when, eighteen or twenty years since, harriet hosmer desired to study anatomy, to perfect herself in her art, not a college in new england would open its doors to her; she traveled west, and through the generous patronage of wayman crow of this city, she became a pupil of the dean of the st. louis medical college. when other cities had refused equality of wages and position, st. louis placed miss brackett at the head of our normal school, giving her--a heretofore exclusively male prerogative--the highest wages, added to the highest educational rank. and here in st. louis began the advance march which has finally broken down the walls of the highest judicial fortress, the supreme court of the united states. washington university, in response to my request, unhesitatingly opened its doors, and for the first time in the history of america, woman was accorded the right to a legal course of training with man, and, at its close, after successful examination, i was freely accorded the degree of bachelor of laws! a city or a state that could perpetrate the anomaly of a female bachelor, is certainly not far behind the radicalism of the age. again, as i turn to its record on suffrage, i find as early as the hon. b. gratz brown of missouri made a glowing speech for woman's enfranchisement, in the united states senate, on mr. cowan's motion to strike out "male" from the district of columbia suffrage bill, which resulted in an organization in , through the efforts of mrs. virginia l. minor, its first president. and again, i remember when that hydra-headed evil arose in our midst, degrading all women and violating all the sweet and sacred sanctities of life--a blow at our homes and a lasting stigma on our civilization--the people of this community, led by the chancellor of washington university, at the ballot-box but recently laid that monster away in a tomb, never, i trust, to be resurrected. and now, mrs. president, let me add, in words which but faintly express the emotion of my heart, the gratitude we feel towards the noble women who have borne the burden and heat of the day. they who have been ridiculed, villified, maligned, but through it all maintained an unswerving allegiance to truth. in the name of all true womanhood i welcome this association in our midst as worthy of the highest honor. we have lived to see the enlargement of woman's thought in all directions. from our laboratories, libraries, observatories, schools of medicine and law, universities of science, art and literature, she is advancing to the examination of the problems of life, with an eye single only to the glory of truth. like the spartan of old she has thrown her spear into the thickest of the fray, and will fight gloriously in the midst thereof till she regains her own. no specious sophistry or vain delusion--no time-honored tradition or untenable doctrine can evade her searching investigation. mrs. gage responded to this address in a few earnest, appropriate words. of the many letters[ ] read in the convention none was received with greater joy than the few lines, written with trembling hand, from lucretia mott, then in the eighty-seventh year of her age: roadside, fourth month, , . my dear susan anthony--it would need no urgent appeal to draw me to st. louis had i the strength for the journey. you will have no need of my worn-out powers. our cause itself has become sufficiently attractive. edward m. davis has a joint letter on hand for my signature, so this is enough, with my mite toward expenses. and to all assembled in st. louis best wishes for--yes, full faith in your success. i have signed edward's letter, so it is hardly necessary for me to say, lucretia mott. the distinguishing feature of this convention was an afternoon session of ladies alone, prompted by an attempt to reënact a law for the license of prostitution, which had been enforced in st. louis a few years before and repealed through the united efforts of the best men and women of the city. mrs. joslyn gage opened the meeting by reading extracts from the woman's declaration of rights presented at the centennial celebration, and drew especial attention to the clause referring to two separate codes of morals for men and women, arising from woman's inferior political position: there are two points which may be considered open for discussion during the afternoon--one, the fact that there are existing in all forms of society, barbaric, semi-civilized, civilized or enlightened, two separate codes of morals; the strict code to which women are held accountable, and the lax code which governs the conduct of men. the other question which can very properly be discussed at the present time is, "why in this country, and in all civilized nations, do one-half of the population die under five years of age, and in some countries a very large proportion under one year?" a letter was read from mrs. josephine e. butler. as the experiment of licensing prostitution had been extensively tried in england, and she had watched the effects of the system not only in her own country but on the continent, her opinions on this question are worthy of consideration: _to the annual meeting of the national suffrage association in st. louis:_ dear friends--as i am unable to be present at your convention on may , , , and as you ask for a communication from me, i gladly write you on some of the later phases of our struggle against legalized prostitution. a brave battle has been fought in st. louis against that iniquity, and we have regarded it with sympathy and admiration; but you are not yet safe against the devices of those who uphold this white slavery, nor are we safe, although we know that in the end we shall be conquerors. you tell me that "england is held up as an example of the beneficial working of the legalizing of vice." england holds a peculiar position in regard to the question. she was the last to adopt this system of slavery and she adopted it in that thorough manner which characterizes the anglo-saxon race. in no other country has prostitution been regulated by law. it has been understood by the latin races, even when morally enervated, that the law could not without risk of losing its majesty violate justice. in england alone the regulations are law. their promoters, by their hardihood in asking parliament to decree injustice, have brought on unconsciously to themselves, the beginning of the end of the whole system. the englishman is a powerful agent for evil as for good. in the best times of our history my countrymen possessed preëminently vigorous minds in vigorous bodies. but when the animal nature has outgrown the moral, the appetites burst their proper restraints, and man has no other notion of enjoyment save bodily pleasure; he passes by a quick and easy transition into a powerful brute. and this is what the upper-class englishman has to a deplorable extent become. there is no creature in the world so ready as he to domineer, to enslave, to destroy. but together with this development towards evil, there has been in our country a counter development. moral faith is still strong among us. there are powerful women, as well as strong, pure, and self-governed men, of the real old anglo-saxon type. it was in england then, which adopted last the hideous slavery, that there arose first a strong national protest in opposition. english people rose up against the wicked law before it had been in operation three months. english men and women determined to carry abolition not at home only, but abroad, and they promptly carried their standard to every country on the continent of europe. in all these countries men and women came forward at the first appeal, and said, "we are ready, we only waited for you, anglo-saxons, to take the lead; we have groaned under the oppression, but there was not force enough among us to take the initiative step." we have recently had a visit from monsieur aimi humbert of switzerland, our able general secretary for the continent. much encouragement was derived from the reports which reached us from france, holland, denmark, sweden and even spain, where a noble lady, donna concepcion arenal of madrid, and several gentlemen have warmly espoused our cause. the progress is truly encouraging; yet, on the other hand, it is obvious that the partisans of this legislation have recently been smitten with a kind of rage for extending the system everywhere, and are on the watch to introduce it wherever we are off our guard. in almost all british colonies they are very busy. at the cape of good hope, where the cape parliament had repealed the law, the governor, sir bartle frere, has been induced by certain specialists and immoral men, to reïntroduce it. but since he could not count on the parliament at cape town for doing this, he has reintroduced the miserable system by means of a proclamation or edict, without the sanction and probably, to a great extent, without the knowledge of parliament. the same game is being played in other colonies. these facts seem to point to a more decided and bitter struggle on the question than we have yet seen. an energetic member of our executive committee, m. pierson of zetten, in holland, says: i look upon legalized prostitution as the system in which the immorality of our age is crystalized, and that in attacking it we attack in reality the great enemies which are hiding themselves behind its ramparts. but if we do not soon overthrow these ramparts we must not think our work is fruitless. a great work is already achieved; sin is once more called sin instead of necessary evil, and the true standard of morality--equal for men and women, for rich and poor--is once more raised in the face of all the nations. this legalization of vice which recognized the "necessity" of impurity for man and the institution of slavery for woman, is the most open denial which modern times have seen of the principle of the sacredness of the individual human being. it is the embodiment of socialism in its worst form. an english high-class journal confessed this, when it dared to demand that women who are unchaste shall henceforth be dealt with "not as human beings, but as foul sewers," or some such "material nuisance" without souls, without rights and without responsibilities. when the leaders of public opinion in a country have arrived at such a point of combined depotism as to recommend such a manner of dealing with human beings, there is no crime which that country may not legalize. were it possible to secure the absolute physical health of a whole province, or an entire continent by the destruction of one, only one poor and sinful woman, woe to that nation which should dare, by that single act of destruction, to purchase this advantage to the many! it will do it at its peril. we entreat our friends in america to renew their alliance with us in the sacred conflict. union will be strength. the women of england are beginning to understand their responsibilities. like yourselves, we are laboring to obtain the suffrage. the wrong which has fallen upon us in this legalizing of vice has taught us the need of power in legislation. meanwhile, the crusade against immorality is educating women for the right use of suffrage when they obtain it. the two movements must go hand in hand. altogether this was an impressive occasion in which women met heart to heart in discussing the deepest humiliations of their sex. after eloquent speeches by mrs. meriwether, mrs. spencer, mrs. leonard, mrs. thompson and rev. olympia brown, the audience slowly dispersed. the closing scenes of the evening were artistic and interesting. the platform was tastefully decked with flags and flowers, and the immense audience that had assembled at an early hour--hundreds unable to gain admission--made this the crowning session of the convention. miss couzins announced the receipt of an invitation from mr. john wahl, inviting the convention to visit the merchants' exchange, "with assurances of high regard." the announcement was heard with considerable merriment by those who remembered her criticisms on mr. wahl for his failure to deliver the address of welcome at the opening of the convention. she also announced the receipt of an invitation from secretary kalb to visit the fair-grounds, and moved that the convention first visit the exchange and then proceed to the fair-grounds in carriages, the members of the merchants' exchange, of course paying the bill. the motion was carried amidst applause. an invitation was also received from dr. eliot, chancellor of washington university, to attend the art lecture of miss schoonmaker at the mary institute, monday evening. in a letter to the editor of the _national citizen_, mrs. stanton thus describes the incident of the evening: the delegates from the different states, through may wright thompson of indianapolis, presented miss anthony with two baskets of exquisite flowers. she referred in the most happy way to miss anthony's untiring devotion to all the unpopular reforms through years of pitiless persecution, and thanked her in behalf of the young womanhood of the nation, that their path had been made smoother by her brave life. miss anthony was so overcome with the delicate compliments and the fragrant flowers at her feet, that for a few moments she could find no words to express her appreciation of the unexpected acknowledgement of what all american women owe her. as she stood before that hushed audience, her silence was more eloquent than words, for her emotion was shared by all. with an effort she at last said: friends, i have no words to express my gratitude for this marked attention. i have so long been the target for criticism and ridicule, i am so unused to praise, that i stand before you surprised and disarmed. if any one had come to this platform and abused all womankind, called me hard names, ridiculed our arguments or denied the justice of our demands, i could with readiness and confidence have rushed to the defence, but i cannot make any appropriate reply for this offering of eloquent words and flowers, and i shall not attempt it. being advertised as the speaker of the evening, she at once began her address, and as she stood there and made an argument worthy a senator of the united states, i recalled the infinite patience with which, for upwards of thirty years, she had labored for temperance, anti-slavery and woman suffrage, with a faithfulness worthy the martyrs in the early days of the christian church, and said to myself, verily the world now as ever crucifies its saviors. thanks to the untiring industry of mrs. minor and miss couzins, the convention was in every way a success, morally, financially, in crowded audiences, and in the fair, respectful and complimentary tone of the press. looking over the proceedings and resolutions, the thought struck me that the national association is the only organization that has steadily maintained the doctrine of federal power against state rights. the great truths set forth in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of united states supremacy, so clearly seen by us, seem to be vague and dim to our leading statesmen and lawyers if we may judge by their speeches and decisions. your superb speech on state rights should be published in tract form and scattered over this entire nation. how can we ever have a homogeneous government so long as universal principles are bounded by state lines. the delegates remaining in the city went on change in a body at o'clock saturday, on invitation of the president, john wahl. they were courteously received and speeches were made by mesdames couzins, stanton, anthony, meriwether and thompson. mrs. meriwether's speech was immediately telegraphed in full to memphis. all wore badges of silk on which in gold letters appeared "n. w. s. a., may , , merchants' exchange." from the exchange the ladies proceeded in carriages to the fair-grounds, and zoölogical gardens where they took refreshments. on saturday evening miss couzins gave a delightful reception. her parlors were crowded until a late hour, where the friends of woman suffrage had an opportunity to use their influence socially in converting many distinguished guests. on sunday night mrs. stanton was invited by the rev. ross c. houghton to occupy his pulpit in the union methodist church, the largest in the city of that denomination. she preached from the text in genesis i., , . the sermon was published in the _st. louis globe_ the next morning.[ ] mrs. thompson was also invited to occupy a presbyterian pulpit, but imperative duties compelled her to leave the city. the enthusiasm aroused by the convention in woman's enfranchisement was encouraging to those who had so long and earnestly labored in this cause.[ ] this was indeed a week of profitable work. with arguments and appeals to man's reason and sense of justice on the platform, to his religious emotions and conscience in the pulpit, to his honor and courtesy in the parlor, all the varied influences of public and private life were exerted with marked effect; while the press on the wings of the wind carried the glad tidings of a new gospel for woman to every town and hamlet in the state. footnotes: [ ] the annual convention of the national woman suffrage association will be held in lincoln hall, washington, d. c., january , , . as by repeated judicial decisions, woman's right to vote under the fourteenth amendment has been denied, we must now unitedly demand a sixteenth amendment to the united states constitution, that shall secure this right to the women of the nation. in certain states and territories where women had already voted, they have been denied the right by legislative action. hence it must be clear to every thinking mind that this fundamental right of citizenship must not be left to the ignorant majorities in the several states; for unless it is secured everywhere, it is safe nowhere. we urge all suffrage associations and friends of woman's enfranchisement throughout the country to send delegates to this convention, freighted with mammoth petitions for a sixteenth amendment. let all other proposed amendments be held in abeyance to the sacred rights of the women of this nation. the most reverent recognition of god in the constitution would be justice and equality for woman. on behalf of the national woman suffrage association, elizabeth cady stanton, _president_. matilda joslyn gage, _chairman ex. committee_. susan b. anthony, _corresponding secretary_. _tenafly, n. j._, november , . [ ] committees: _finance_--sara a. spencer, ellen clark sargent, lillie devereux blake. _resolutions_--matilda joslyn gage, susan b. anthony. belva a. lockwood, edward m. davis, c. b. purvis, m. d., jane g. swisshelm. _business_--john hutchinson. mary f. foster, rosina m. parnell, mary a. s. carey, ellen h. sheldon, s. j. messer, susan a. edson, m. d. [ ] the speakers at this may anniversary were mrs. devereux blake, rev. olympia brown, clara neyman, helen cooke, helen m. slocum, mrs. hooker, mrs. gage and acting-governor lee of wyoming territory. [ ] this reception-room, a great convenience to the ladies visiting the capitol, has since been removed; and a small, dark, inaccessible room on the basement floor set aside for their use. [ ] _yeas_--anthony, bruce, burnside, cameron of wis., dawes, ferry, hoar, matthews, mitchell, rollins, sargent, saunders, teller-- . _nays_--bailey, bayard, beck, booth, butler, christiancy, cockrell, coke, conkling, davis of w. va., eaton, edmunds, eustis, grover, hamlin, harris, hereford, hill, howe, kernan, kirkwood, lamar, mcdonald, mcmillan, mcpherson, morgan, plumb, randolph, saulsbury, thurman, wadleigh-- . [ ] grace greenwood, clara barton, abby hutchinson patton, mrs. juan lewis, mrs. morgan of mississippi, dr. mary a. thompson of oregon, marilla m. ricker, julia e. smith, rev. olympia brown, mrs. blake, mrs. lockwood, mrs. spencer, mrs. gage, mrs. stanton, dr. lozier and others. [ ] this argument was subsequently given before the committee on privileges and elections and will be found on page . [ ] the members of the committee were belva a. lockwood, matilda joslyn gage, mary a. thompson, m. d., marilla m. ricker, elizabeth boynton harbert. [ ] at this hearing the speakers were clemence s. lozier, m. d., new york; julia e. smith, connecticut; elizabeth cady stanton, new jersey; elizabeth boynton harbert, illinois; matilda joslyn gage, new york; priscilla rand lawrence, massachusetts; rev. olympia brown, connecticut; mary a. thompson, m. d., oregon; mary powers filley, new hampshire; lillie devereux blake, new york; sara andrews spencer, district of columbia; isabella beecher hooker, connecticut; mary a. stewart, delaware. [ ] in the whole course of our struggle for equal rights i never felt more exasperated than on this occasion, standing before a committee of men many years my juniors, all comfortably seated in armchairs, i pleading for rights they all enjoyed though in no respect my superiors, denied me on the shallow grounds of sex. but this humiliation i had often felt before. the peculiarly aggravating feature of the present occasion was the studied inattention and contempt of the chairman, senator wadleigh of new hampshire. having prepared my argument with care, i naturally desired the attention of every member of the committee, all of which, with the exception of senator wadleigh, i seemingly had. he however took special pains to show that he did not intend to listen. he alternately looked over some manuscripts and newspapers before him, then jumped up to open or close a door or window. he stretched, yawned, gazed at the ceiling, cut his nails, sharpened his pencil, changing his occupation and position every two minutes, effectually preventing the establishment of the faintest magnetic current between the speakers and the committee. it was with difficulty i restrained the impulse more than once to hurl my manuscript at his head.--[e. c. s. [ ] the first hearing was held in the committee room, but that not being large enough to accommodate the crowds that wished to hear the arguments, the use of the senate reception room was granted for the second, which although very much larger, was packed, with the corridors leading to it, long before the committee took their places. [ ] mr. and mrs. holt, of , l street, entertained their friends and a numerous company of distinguished guests on friday evening, in honor of mrs. beecher hooker. she delivered one of her ablest speeches on the woman suffrage question. she was listened to with breathless silence by eminent men and women, who confessed, at the termination of her speech, that they were "almost persuaded" to join her ranks--the highest tribute to her eloquent defense of her position. mrs. hooker's intellect is not her only charm. her beautiful face and attractive manners all help to make converts. mrs. julia n. holmes, the poet, one of the most admired ladies present, and mrs. southworth, the novelist, wore black velvet and diamonds. mrs. hodson burnett, that "lass o' lowrie," in colored and rose silk with princess scarf, looked charmingly. mrs. senator sargent, mrs. charles nordhoff and her friends, the elegant miss thurman, of cincinnati, and miss joseph, a brilliant brunette with scarlet roses and jet ornaments, of washington, were much observed. mrs. dr. wallace, of the _new york herald_, wore cuir colored gros-grain with guipure lace trimmings, flowers and diamonds. miss coyle was richly attired. mrs. ingersoll, wife of the exceptional orator, was the center of observation with mrs. hooker; she wore black velvet, roses, and diamonds--has a noble presence and grecian face. general forney, of alabama, hon. john f. wait, m. c., captain dutton and colonel mallory, of u. s. army, judge tabor (fourth auditor), dr. cowes, col. ingersol, mrs. hoffman, of new york, a prominent lady of the woman's congress, lately assembled in this city, wore a distinguished toilette. mrs. spofford, of the riggs house, was among the most noticeable ladies present, elegant and delightful in style and manner. dr. josephs and col. g. w. rice, of boston, were of the most conspicuous gentlemen present, who retired much edified with the entertainment of the evening. h. louise gates. society was divided saturday evening between the literary club which met at willard's under the auspices of mrs. morrell, and the reception given at the residence of senator rollins, on capitol hill, to mrs. beecher hooker, who spoke on the question of woman suffrage. it was said of theodore parker, if all his hearers stood on the same lofty plane that he did, his theology would be all right for them, and so in this matter of woman's rights. if all the advocates were as cultivated, refined, and convincing as mrs. hooker, one might almost be tempted to surrender. she certainly possesses that rare magnetic influence which seems to say, "lend me your ears and i shall take your heart." among her listeners we noticed mrs. joseph ames, grace greenwood, senator and mrs. rollins, senator and mrs. wadleigh, miss rollins, mrs. solomon bundy, mrs. j. m. holmes, mrs. brainerd, mr. and mrs. doolittle, dr. patton and son, prof. thomas taylor, miss robena taylor, mrs. spofford, of the riggs house, prof. g. b. stebbins, mrs. captain platt, and mr. and mrs. holt.--[washington _post_. [ ] the members of the committee present were hon. proctor knott (the chairman), general benjamin f. butler, messrs. lynde, frye, conger, lapham, culberson, mcmahon. among the ladies were mesdames knott, conger, lynde, frye. [ ] mrs. hooker has won, just as we predicted she would. senators howe, ferry, coke, randolph, jones, blaine, beck, booth, allison, wallace, eaton, johnston, burnside, saulsbury, merrimon, and presiding-officer wheeler, together with nineteen other senators, have formally invited her to address the committee on privileges and elections on february , an invitation which she has enthusiastically accepted. nobody but congressmen will be admitted to hear the distinguished advocate of woman suffrage.--[washington _post_. [ ] among those present were mrs. senator beck, mrs. stanley matthews, mrs. sargent, mrs. spofford, mrs. holmes, mrs. snead, mrs. baldwin, miss blodgett of new york; mrs. baldwin, mrs. spencer, mrs. juan lewis of philadelphia; mrs. morgan of mississippi, mrs. brooks, mrs. olcott, mrs. bartlett, miss sweet, mrs. myers, mrs. gibson, miss jenners, mrs. levison, mrs. hereford, mrs. folsom, mrs. mitchell, mrs. lynde, mrs. eldridge, miss snowe, mrs. curtis, mrs. hutchinson patton, mrs. boucher and many others. of the committee and senate there were senators wadleigh, cameron of wisconsin; merrimon, mitchell, hoar, vice-president wheeler, senators jones, bruce, beck and others. several representatives and their wives also were there, and seemed deeply interested.--[washington _post_. [ ] mrs. ricker makes a specialty of looking after the occupants of the jail--so freely is her purse opened to the poor and unfortunate that she is known as the prisoners' friend. many an alleged criminal owes the dawning of a new life, and the determination to make it a worthy one, to the efforts of this noble woman. and mrs. ricker's special object in seeking this office was that prisoners might make depositions before her and thus be saved the expense of employing notaries from the city. [ ] the selfish rats--a fable by lillie devereux blake.--once some gray old rats built a ship of state to save themselves from drowning. it carried them safely for awhile until they grew eager for more passengers, and so took on board all manner of rats that had run away from all sorts of places--irish rats and german rats, and french rats, and even black rats and dirty sewer rats. now there were many lady mice who had followed the rats, and the rats therefore thought them very nice, but in spite of that would not let them have any place on the ship, so that they were forced to cling to a few planks and were every now and then overwhelmed by the waves. but when the mice begged to be taken on board saying, "save us also, we beg you!" the rats only replied, "we are too crowded already; we love you very much, and we know you are very uncomfortable, but it is not expedient to make room for you." so the rats sailed on safely and saw the poor little mice buffeted about without doing the least thing to save them. _moral_: woe to the weaker. [ ] senator blair has just been elected (june, ) to a second term, thus insuring his services to our cause in the senate for another six years. [ ] delegates to the thirtieth anniversary.--alabama, priscilla holmes drake; california, ellen clark sargent; district of columbia, frederick douglass, belva a. lockwood, sara andrews spencer, caroline b. winslow, m. d.; indiana, margaret c. conklin, mary b. naylor, may wright thompson; massachusetts, harriet h. robinson, harriette r. shattuck; maryland, lavinia c. dundore; michigan, catherine a. f. stebbins, frances titus, sojourner truth; missouri, phoebe w. couzins; new hampshire, parker pillsbury; north carolina, elizabeth oakes smith; new jersey, elizabeth cady stanton, sarah m. hurn; new york, _albany county_, arethusa l. forbes; _dutchess_, helen m. loder; _lewis_, mrs. e. m. wilcox; _madison_, helen raymond jarvis; _monroe_, susan b. anthony, amy post, sarah h. willis, mary h. hallowell, mary s. anthony, lewia c. smith and many others; _orleans_, mrs. plumb, mrs. clark; _onondaga_, lucy n. coleman, dr. amelia f. raymond, matilda joslyn gage; _ontario_, elizabeth c. atwell, catherine h. sands, elizabeth smith miller, helen m. pitts; _queens_, mary a. pell; _wayne_, sarah k. rathbone, rebecca b. thomas; _wyoming_, charlotte a. cleveland; _genesee_, the misses morton; _new york_, clemence s. lozier, m. d., helen m. slocum, sara a. barret, m. d., hamilton wilcox; ohio, mrs. ellen sully fray; pennsylvania, lucretia mott, sarah pugh, adeline thomson, maria c. arter, m. d., mrs. watson; south carolina, martha schofield; wisconsin, mrs. c. l. morgan. [ ] from wendell phillips, william lloyd garrison, lucy stone, caroline h. dall, boston; hon. a. a. sargent, washington; clara barton, mathilde f. wendt, abby hutchinson patton, aaron m. powell, father benson, margaret holley, mary l. booth, sarah hallock, priscilla r. lawrence, lillie devereux blake, new york; samuel may, elizabeth powell bond, john w. hutchinson, lucinda b. chandler, sarah e. wall, massachusetts; caroline m. spear, robert purvis, edward m. davis, philadelphia; isabella beecher hooker, julia e. smith, lavinia goodell, connecticut; lucy a. snowe, ann t. greeley, maine; caroline f. barr, bessie bisbee hunt, mary a. powers filley, new hampshire; catherine cornell knowles, rhode island; antoinette brown blackwell, new jersey; annie laura quinby, joseph b. quinby, sarah r. l. williams, rosa l. segur, ohio; sarah c. owen, michigan; laura ross wolcott, m. d., mary king, angie king, wisconsin; frances e. williard, clara lyons peters, elizabeth boynton harbert, illinois; rachel lockwood child, janet strong, nancy r. allen, amelia bloomer, iowa; sarah burger stearns, hattie m. white, minnesota; mary f. thomas, m. d., emma molloy, indiana; matilda hindman, sarah l. miller, pennsylvania; anna k. irvine, virginia l. minor, missouri; elizabeth h. duvall, kentucky; mrs. g.w. church, tennessee; mrs. augusta williams, elsie stuart, kansas; ada w. lucas, nebraska; emeline b. wells, annie godbe, utah; mary f. shields, alida c. avery, m. d., colorado; harriet loughary, mrs. l. f. proebstel, mrs. coburn, abigail scott duniway, oregon; clarina i. h. nichols, elizabeth b. schenck, sarah j. wallis, abigail bush, laura de force gordon, california; mrs. a.h.h. stuart, washington territory; helen m. martin, arkansas; helen r. holmes, district of columbia; caroline v. putnam, virginia; elizabeth avery meriwether, tennessee; elizabeth l. saxon, louisiana; martha goodwin tunstall, texas; priscilla holmes drake, buell d. m'clung, alabama; ellen sully fray, ontario; theodore stanton, france; ernestine l. rose, caroline ashurst biggs, lydia e. becker, england. [ ] while may wright thompson was speaking she turned to mrs. stanton and said. "how thankful i am for these bright young women now ready to fill our soon-to-be vacant places. i want to shake hands with them all before i go, and give them a few words of encouragement. i do hope they will not be spoiled with too much praise." [ ] for account of this international congress, see chapter on continental europe in this volume. [ ] mrs. mott, mrs. gage, mrs. stanton, mrs. coleman, mr. wilcox, mrs. slocum, mrs. dundore, mrs. stebbins, mrs. sands, mrs. amy post, and mrs. elizabeth oakes-smith, who having resided in north carolina had not been on our platform for many years, were among the speakers. [ ] by miss couzins, mr. douglass, mrs. spencer. [ ] mr. robinson, as "warrington," was well known as one of the best writers on the _springfield republican_. [ ] ellen clark sargent, california; elizabeth oakes smith, north carolina; elizabeth cady stanton, new jersey; mrs. devereux blake, mrs. joslyn gage, helen m. slocum, helen cooke, susan b. anthony, new york; julia brown dunham, iowa; marilla m. ricker, new hampshire; lavinia c. dundore, maryland; robert purvis, julia and rachel foster, pennsylvania; emeline b. wells, zina young williams, utah; ellen h. sheldon, dr. caroline winslow, sara andrews spencer, belva a. lockwood, frederick douglass, julia a. wilbur, dr. cora m. bland, washington. [ ] the president invited the ladies into the library, that they might be secure from interruption, and gave them throughout a most respectful and courteous hearing, asking questions and showing evident interest in the subject, and at the close promising sincere consideration of the question. [ ] at its final action, the bill was called up by hon. j. e. mcdonald of indiana. after some discussion it was passed without amendment-- to . _yeas_--allison, anthony, barnum, beck, blaine, booth, burnside, cameron (pennsylvania), cameron (wisconsin), dawes, dorsey, ferry, garland, gordon, hamlin, hoar, howe, ingalls, jones (florida), jones (nevada), kellogg, kirkwood, mccreery, mcdonald, mcmillan, mcpherson, matthews, mitchell, oglesby, ransom, rollins, sargent, teller, voorhees, wadleigh, windom, withers. _nays_--baily, chaffee, coke, davis (illinois), davis (west virginia), eaton, edmunds, eustis, grover, harris, hereford, hill, kernan, maxey, merrimon, morgan, randolph, saulsbury, wallace, white. [ ] conspicuous in the large and distinguished audience present were senator m'donald, attorney-general williams, hon. jeremiah wilson, judge shellabarger, hon. george w. julian, who with many others extended hearty congratulations to mrs. lockwood. [ ] _washington, d. c._--sara a. spencer. _illinois_--clara lyon peters, watseka; mrs. g. p. graham, martha l. mathews, amanda e. and matilda s. frazer, aledo; hannah j. coffee, abby b. trego, orion; mrs. senator hanna, fairfield; sarah f. nourse, moline; mrs. e. p. reynolds, rock island; cynthia leonard, chicago. _missouri_--virginia l. minor, mrs. m. a. peoquine, mrs. p. w. thomas, eliza j. patrick, mrs. e. m. dan, eliza a. robbins, phoebe w. couzins, alex. robbins, st. louis; james l. allen, oregon; miss a. j. sparks, warrensburg. _wisconsin_--rev. olympia brown, racine. _new york_--susan b. anthony, matilda joslyn gage, mary r. pell, florence pell. _indiana_--helen austin, richmond; may wright thompson, amy e. dunn, gertrude garrison, mary e. haggart, indianapolis. _tennessee_--elizabeth avery meriwether, minor lee meriwether, memphis, _kentucky_--mary b. clay, richmond. _louisiana_--emily p. collins, ponchatoula. _ohio_--eva l. pinney, south newbury. _pennsylvania_--mrs. l. p. danforth, julia and rachel foster, philadelphia. [ ] letters sympathizing with the purposes of the convention were received from lucretia mott, pa.; clarina i. h. nichols, cal.; lucinda b. chandler, n. j.; annie laura quinby, ky.; mrs. n. r. allen, ia.; isabella b. hooker, ct.; emeline b. wells, utah; sarah burger stearns, minn.; mary a. livermore, mass.; elizabeth oakes smith, n. y.; hannah tracy cutler, m. d., ill.; mrs. s. f. proebstell, ore.; mrs. c. c. knowles, r. i.; dr. clemence s. lozier, lillie devereux blake, n. y. (with a fable, "nothing new"); lavinia goodell, wis.; elizabeth h. duvall, ky.; alida c. avery, m. d., col.; hattie m. crumb, mo.; mrs. j. h. pattee, ill.; caroline b. winslow, m. d., washington; miss kate trimble, ky.; mrs. m. m'clellan brown, pa.; alice black, mo.; margaret m. baker, mo.; mrs. elsie stewart, kan.; edward m. davis, pa.; mrs. scott saxton, louisville; kate gannett wells, boston; anna r. irvine, mo.; sarah m. kimball, salt lake; lelia e. partridge, pa.; ellen h. sheldon, d. c.; rev. w. c. gannett, minn.; elizabeth l. saxon, new orleans; mrs. j. swain, ill.; geo. m. jackson, john finn, a practical woman, st. louis; maria harkner, mrs. j. martin, kate b. ross, ill.; emma molloy, ind.; maria j. johnston, mo.; zenas brockett, n.y.; kate n. doggett, president of the association for the advancement of women; rebecca n. hazard, president of the american woman suffrage society; madam anneke, for the wisconsin suffrage association; the hutchinson family ("tribe of john"); south newbury ohio woman suffrage society. foreign letters were also received from jessie morrison wellstood, edinburgh; lydia e. becker, manchester, england, editor _woman's suffrage journal_. [ ] though an extra edition was struck off not a paper was to be had by o'clock in the morning. gov. stannard and other prominent members of the suffrage association bought and mailed every copy they could obtain. [ ] on the tuesday following the convention a large number of st. louis people met and formed a woman suffrage society, auxiliary to the national. miss anthony who had remained over, called the meeting to order; mrs. e. c. johnson made an effective speech; mrs. minor was chosen president. over fifty persons enrolled as members. the second meeting held a fortnight after, was also crowded--twenty-five new members were obtained. chapter xxix. congressional reports and conventions. - . why we hold conventions in washington--lincoln hall demonstration--sixty-six thousand appeals--petitions presented in congress--hon. t. w. ferry of michigan in the senate--hon. george b. loring of massachusetts in the house--hon. j. j. davis of north carolina objected--twelfth washington convention--hearings before the judiciary committees of both houses-- --may anniversary at indianapolis--series of western conventions--presidential nominating conventions--delegates and addresses to each--mass-meeting at chicago--washington convention, --memorial service to lucretia mott--mrs. stanton's eulogy--discussion in the senate on a standing committee--senator mcdonald of indiana championed the measure--may anniversary in boston--conventions in the chief cities of new england. the custom of holding conventions at the seat of government in mid-winter has many advantages. congress is then in session, the supreme court sitting, and society, that mystic, headless, power, at the height of its glory. being the season for official receptions, where one meets foreign diplomats from every civilized nation, it is the time chosen by strangers to visit our beautiful capital. washington is the modern rome to which all roads lead, the bright cynosure of all eyes, and is alike the hope and fear of worn-out politicians and aspiring pilgrims. from this great center varied influences radiate to the vast circumference of our land. supreme-court decisions, congressional debates, presidential messages and popular opinions on all questions of fashion, etiquette and reform are heralded far and near, awakening new thought in every state in our nation and, through their representatives, in the aristocracies of the old world. hence to hold a suffrage convention in washington is to speak to the women of every civilized nation. the twelfth annual convention of the national association assembled in lincoln hall, january , . many distinguished ladies and gentlemen occupied the platform, which was tastefully decorated with flags and flowers, and around the walls hung familiar mottoes,[ ] significant of the demands of the hour. on taking the chair susan b. anthony made some appropriate remarks as to the importance of the work of the association during the presidential campaign. mrs. spencer called the roll, and delegates[ ] from sixteen states responded. mrs. gage read the call: the national association will hold its twelfth annual convention in lincoln hall, washington, d. c., january , , . the question as to whether we are a nation, or simply a confederacy of states, that has agitated the country from the inauguration of the government, was supposed to have been settled by the war and confirmed by the amendments, making united states citizenship and suffrage practically synonymous. not, however, having been pressed to its logical results, the question as to the limits of state rights and national power is still under discussion, and is the fundamental principle that now divides the great national parties. as the final settlement of this principle involves the enfranchisement of woman, our question is one of national politics, and the real issue of the hour. if it is the duty of the general government to protect the freedmen of south carolina and louisiana in the exercise of their rights as united states citizens, the government owes the same protection to the women in massachusetts and new york. this year will again witness an exciting presidential election, and this question of momentous importance to woman will be the issue then presented. upon its final decision depends not only woman's speedy enfranchisement, but the existence of the republic. a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution, prohibiting the states from disfranchising united states citizens on the ground of sex, will be urged upon the forty-sixth congress by petitions, arguments and appeals. the earnest, intelligent and far-seeing women of every state should assemble at the coming convention, and show by their wise counsels that they are worthy to be citizens of a free republic. all associations in the united states which believe it is the duty of congress to submit an amendment protecting woman in the exercise of the right of suffrage, are cordially invited to send delegates. those who cannot attend the convention, are urged to address letters to their representatives in congress, asking them to give as careful attention to the proposed amendment and to the petitions and arguments urged in its behalf, as though the rights of men, only, were involved. a delegate from each section of the country will be heard before the committees of the house and senate, to whom our petitions will be referred.[ ] mrs. spencer presented a series of resolutions which were ably discussed by the speakers and adopted: _resolved_, that we are a nation and not a mere confederacy, and that the right of citizens of the united states to self-government through the ballot should be guaranteed by the national constitution and protected everywhere under the national flag. _resolved_, that while states may have the right to regulate the time, place and manner of elections, and the qualifications of voters upon terms equally applicable to all citizens, they should be forbidden under heavy penalties to deprive any citizen of the right to self-government on account of sex. _resolved_, that it is the duty of the forty-sixth congress to immediately submit to the several states the amendment to the national constitution recently proposed by senator ferry and representative loring, and approved by the national suffrage association. _resolved_, that it is the duty of the house of representatives to pass immediately the resolution recommended by the committee on rules directing the speaker to appoint a committee on the rights of women. _resolved_, that the giant labor reform of this age lies in securing to woman, the great unpaid and unrecognized laborer and producer of the whole earth, the fruits of her toil. _resolved_, that the theory of a masculine head to rule the family, the church, or the state, is contrary to republican principles, and the fruitful source of rebellion and corruption. _resolved_, that the assumption of the clergy, that woman has no right to participate in the ministry and offices of the church is unauthorized theocratic tyranny, placing a masculine mediator between woman and her god, which finds no authority in reason, and should be resisted by all women as an odious form of religious persecution. _resolved_, that it is the duty of the congress of the united states to provide a reform school for girls and a home for the children whom no man owns or protects, and who are left to die upon the streets of the nation's capital, or to grow up in ignorance, vice and crime. _resolved_, that since man has everywhere committed to woman the custody and ownership of the child born out of wedlock, and has required it to bear its mother's name, he should recognize woman's right as a mother to the custody of the child born in marriage, and permit it to bear her name. _resolved_, that the national association will send a delegate and an alternate to each presidential nominating convention to demand the rights of woman, and to submit to each party the following plank for presidential platform: _resolved_, that the right to use the ballot _inheres_ in the citizen of the united states, and we pledge ourselves to secure protection in the exercise of this right to all citizens irrespective of sex. _resolved_, that one-half of the number of the supervisors of the tenth census, and one-half of the collectors of said census, should be educated, intelligent women, who can be safely entrusted to enumerate women and children, their occupations, ages, diseases and deaths, and who would not be likely to overlook ten millions of housekeepers. _resolved_, that ulysses s. grant won his first victories through the military plans and rare genius of a woman, anna ella carroll, of maryland, and while he has been rewarded with the presidential office through two terms, and a royal voyage around the world, crowned with glory and honor, miss carroll has for fifteen years been suffering in poverty unrecognized and unrewarded. _resolved_, that the thanks of this association are hereby tendered to governor chas. b. andrews, of connecticut, for remembering in each annual message to ask for justice to women. the comments of the press[ ] were very complimentary, and their daily reports of the convention full and fair. among the many letters[ ] to the convention, the following from a southern lady is both novel and amusing: memphis, tenn., december , . dear mrs. spencer: you want petitions. well i have two which i got up some time ago, but did not send on because i thought the names too few to count much. the one is of _white_ women in number. the other contains names of black women. this last is a curiosity, and was gotten up under the following circumstances: some ladies were dining with me and we each promised to get what names we could to petitions for woman suffrage. my servant who waited on table was a coal-black woman. she became interested and after the ladies went away asked me to explain the matter to her, which i did. she then said if i would give her a paper she could get a thousand names among the black women, that many of them felt that they were as much slaves to their husbands as ever they had been to their white masters. i gave her a petition, and said to her, "tell the women this is to have a law passed that will not allow the men to _whip their wives_, and will put down drinking saloons." "every black woman will go for that law!" she took the paper and procured these signatures against the strong opposition of black men who in some cases threatened to whip their wives if they signed. at length the opposition was so great my servant had not courage to face it. she feared some bodily harm would be done her by the black men. you can see this is a genuine negro petition from the odd way the names are written, sometimes the capital letter in the middle of the name, sometimes at the end. yours, elizabeth avery meriwether. in response to , documents containing appeals to women, issued by the national association, petitions, signed by over , , arrived in washington in time for presentation to congress before the assembling of the convention, and were read on the floor of the senate, with the leading names, january , , , , by forty-seven senators. in the house of representatives this courtesy (reading petitions and names), requires unanimous consent, and one man, hon. j. j. davis of north carolina, who had no petition from the women of his state, objected. sixty-five representatives presented the petitions at the clerk's desk, under the rule, january , , . in answer to these appeals to both houses, on monday, january , hon. t. w. ferry, of michigan, introduced in the senate a joint resolution for a sixteenth amendment, which with all the petitions was referred to the committee on the judiciary. tuesday, january , hon. george b. loring, of massachusetts, introduced the same resolution in the house of representatives, and it was referred, with all the petitions, to the committee on the judiciary. there were also during this congress presented over petitions from law-abiding, tax-paying women, praying for the removal of their political disabilities. on friday and saturday, january , , these committees granted hearings of two hours each to delegates from ten states who had been in attendance at the convention. thoughtful attention was given to arguments upon every phase of the question, and senators and representatives expressed a strong determination to bring the subject fairly before the people. the committees especially requested that only the delegates should be present, wishing, as they said, to give their sole attention to the arguments undisturbed by the crowds who usually seek admittance. even the press was shut out. these private sessions with most of the members present, and the close attention they gave to each speaker, were strong proof of the growth of our reform, as but a few years before representatives sought excuses for absence on all such occasions. the committee on the judiciary, u. s. senate, } friday, jan. , . } the committee assembled at half-past o'clock a.m. present, mr. thurman, _chairman_, mr. mcdonald, mr. bayard, mr. davis of illinois, mr. edmunds. the chairman: several members of the committee are unable to be here. mr. lamar is detained at his home in mississippi by sickness; mr. carpenter is confined to his room by sickness; mr. conkling has been unwell; i do not know how he is this morning; and mr. garland is chairman of the committee on territories, which has a meeting this morning that he could not fail to attend. i do not think we are likely to have any more members of the committee than are here now, and we will hear you, ladies. mrs. zerelda g. wallace of indiana said: _mr. chairman, and gentlemen of the committee_: it is scarcely necessary to say that there is not an effect without a cause. therefore it would be well for the statesmen of this nation to ask themselves the question, what has brought the women from all parts of this nation to the capital at this time? what has been the strong motive that has taken us away from the quiet and comfort of our own homes and brought us before you to-day? as an answer to that question i will read an extract from a speech made by one of indiana's statesmen. he found out by experience and gave us the benefit of it: you can go to meetings; you can vote resolutions; you can attend great demonstrations in the street; but, after all, the only occasion where the american citizen expresses his acts, his opinions, and his power is at the ballot-box; and that little ballot that he drops in there is the written sentiment of the times, and it is the power that he has as a citizen of this great republic. that is the reason why we are here; the reason why we want to vote. we are not seditious women, clamoring for any peculiar rights; it is not the woman question that brings us before you to-day; it is the human question underlying this movement. we love and appreciate our country; we value its institutions. we realize that we owe great obligations to the men of this nation for what they have done. to their strength we owe the subjugation of all the material forces of the universe which give us comfort and luxury in our homes. to their brains we owe the machinery that gives us leisure for intellectual culture and achievement. to their education we owe the opening of our colleges and the establishment of our public schools, which give us these great and glorious privileges. this movement is the legitimate result of this development, and of the suffering that woman has undergone in the ages past. a short time ago i went before the legislature of indiana with a petition signed by , of the best women in the state. i appeal to the memory of judge mcdonald to substantiate the truth of what i say. judge mcdonald knows that i am a home-loving, law-abiding, tax-paying woman of indiana, and have been for fifty years. when i went before our legislature and found that one hundred of the vilest men in our state, merely by the possession of the ballot, had more influence with our lawmakers than the wives and mothers it was a startling revelation. you must admit that in popular government the ballot is the most potent means for all moral and social reforms. as members of society, we are deeply interested in all the social problems with which you have grappled so long unsuccessfully. we do not intend to depreciate your efforts, but you have attempted to do an impossible thing; to represent the whole by one-half, and because we are the other half we ask you to recognize our rights as citizens of this republic. julia smith parker of glastonbury, conn., said: _gentlemen_: you may be surprised to see a woman of over four-score years appear before you at this time. she came into the world and reached years of discretion before any person in this room was born. she now comes before you to plead that she can vote and have all the privileges that men have. she has suffered so much individually that she thought when she was young she had no right to speak before the men; but still she had courage to get an education equal to that of any man at the college, and she had to suffer a great deal on that account. she went to new haven to school, and it was noised around that she had studied the languages. it was such an astonishing thing for girls at that time to have the advantages of education, that i had actually to go to cotillon parties to let people see that i had common sense. [laughter.] she has had to pay $ a year in taxes without knowing what becomes of it. she does not know but that it goes to support grog-shops. she knows nothing about it. she has had to suffer her cows to be sold at the sign-post six times. she suffered her meadow land, worth $ , , to be sold for a tax less than $ . if she could vote as the men do she would not have suffered this insult; and so much would not have been said against her as has been said if men did not have the whole power. i was told that they had the power to take anything that i owned if i would not exert myself to pay the money. i felt that i ought to have some little voice in determining what should be done with what i paid. i felt that i ought to own my own property; that it ought not to be in these men's hands; and i now come to plead that i may have the same privileges before the law that men have. i have seen what a difference there is, when i have had my cows sold, by having a voter to take my part. i have come from an obscure town on the banks of the connecticut, where i was born. i was brought up on a farm. i never had an idea that i should come all the way to washington to speak before those who had not come into existence when i was born. now, i plead that there may be a sixteenth amendment, and that women may be allowed the privilege of owning their own property. i have suffered so much myself that i felt it might have some effect to plead before this honorable committee. i thank you, gentlemen, for hearing me so kindly. elizabeth l. saxon of louisiana, said: _gentlemen_: i feel that after mrs. wallace's plea there is no necessity for me to say anything. i come from the extreme south, she from the west. people have asked me why i came. i care nothing for suffrage merely to stand beside men, or rush to the polls, or to take any privilege outside of my home, only, as mrs. wallace says, for humanity. i never realized the importance of this cause, until we were beaten back on every side in the work of reform. if we attempted to put women in charge of prisons, believing that wherever woman sins and suffers women should be there to teach, help and guide, every place was in the hands of men. if we made an effort to get women on the school-boards we were combated and could do nothing. in the state of texas, i had a niece living whose father was an inmate of a lunatic asylum. she exerted as wide an influence as any woman in that state; i allude to miss mollie moore, who was the ward of mr. cushing. i give this illustration as a reason why southern women are taking part in this movement. mr. wallace had charge of that lunatic asylum for years. he was a good, honorable, able man. every one was endeared to him; the state appreciated him as superintendent of this asylum. when a political change was made and gov. robinson came in, dr. wallace was ousted for political purposes. it almost broke the hearts of some of the women who had sons, daughters or husbands there. they determined at once to try and have him reinstated. it was impossible, he was out, and what could they do? a gentleman said to me a few days ago, "these women ought to marry." i am married; i am a mother; and in our home the sons and brothers are all standing like a wall of steel at my back. i have cast aside the prejudices of the past. they lie like rotted hulks behind me. after the fever of , when our constitutional convention was about to convene, i suppressed the agony and grief of my own heart (for one of my children had died) and took part in the suffrage movement in louisiana with the wife of chief-justice merrick, mrs. sarah a. dorsey, and mrs. harriet keating of new york, the niece of dr. lozier. these three ladies aided me faithfully and ably. i went to lieutenant-governor wiltz, and asked him if he would present or consider a petition which i wished to bring before the convention. he read the petition. one clause of our state law is that no woman can sign a will. some ladies donated property to an asylum. they wrote the will and signed it themselves, and it was null and void, because they were women. that clause, perhaps, will be wiped out. many gentlemen signed the petition on that account. governor wiltz, then lieutenant-governor, told me he would present the petition. he was elected president of the convention. i presented my first petition, signed by the best names in the city of new orleans and in the state. i had the names of seven of the most prominent physicians. three prominent ministers signed it for moral purposes alone. when mrs. dorsey was on her dying bed the last time she ever signed her name was to a letter to go before that convention. mrs. merrick and myself addressed the convention. we made the petition then that we make here; that we, the mothers of the land, should not be barred on every side in the cause of reform. i pledged my father on his dying bed that i would never cease work until woman stood with man equal before the law. i beg of you, gentlemen, to consider this question seriously. we stand precisely in the position of the colonies when they plead, and, in the words of patrick henry, were "spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne." we have been jeered and laughed at; but the question has passed out of the region of ridicule. this clamor for woman suffrage, for woman's rights, for equal representation, is extending all over the land. i plead because my work has been combated in the cause of reform everywhere that i have tried to accomplish anything. the children that fill the houses of prostitution are not of foreign blood and race. they come from sweet american homes, and for every woman that went down some mother's heart broke. i plead by the power of the ballot to be allowed to help reform women and benefit mankind. mary a. stewart of delaware said: the negroes are a race inferior, you must admit, to your daughters, and yet that race has the ballot, and why? it is said they earned it and paid for it with their blood. whose blood paid for yours? the blood of your forefathers and our forefathers. does a man earn a hundred thousand dollars and lie down and die, saying, "it is all my boys'"? not a bit of it. he dies saying, "let my children, be they cripples, be they idiots, be they boys, or be they girls, inherit all my property alike." then let us inherit the sweet boon of the ballot alike. when our fathers were driving the great ship of state we were willing to sail as deck or cabin passengers, just as we felt disposed; we had nothing to say; but to-day the boys are about to run the ship aground, and it is high time that the mothers should be asking, "what do you mean to do?" in our own little state the laws have been very much modified in regard to women. my father was the first man to blot out the old english law allowing the eldest son the right of inheritance to the real-estate. he took the first step, and like all those who take first steps in reform he received a mountain of curses from the oldest male heirs. since i have, by my own individual efforts, by the use of hard-earned money, gone to our legislature time after time and have had this law and that law passed for the benefit of women; and the same little ship of state has sailed on. to-day our men are just as well satisfied with the laws in force in our state for the benefit of women as they were years ago. a woman now has a right to make a will. she can hold bonds and mortgages of her own. she has a right to her own property. she cannot sell it though, if it is real-estate, simply because the moment she marries, her husband has his right of courtesy. the woman does not grumble at that; but still when he dies owning real-estate, she gets only the rental value of one-third, which is called the widow's dower. now i think the man ought to have the rental value of one-third of the woman's maiden property or real-estate, and it ought to be called the widower's dower. it would be just as fair for one as for the other. all that i want is equality. the women of our state, as i said before, are taxed without representation. the tax-gatherer comes every year and demands taxes. for twenty years i have paid tax under protest, and if i live twenty years longer i shall pay it under protest every time. the tax-gatherer came to my place not long since. "well," said i, "good morning, sir." said he, "good morning." he smiled and said, "i have come bothering you." said i, "i know your face well. you have come to get a right nice little woman's tongue-lashing." said he, "i suppose so, but if you will just pay your tax i will leave." i paid the tax, "but," said i, "remember i pay it under protest, and if i ever pay another tax i intend to have the protest written and make the tax-gatherer sign it before i pay the tax, and if he will not sign that protest then i shall not pay, and there will be a fight at once," said he, "why do you keep all the time protesting against paying this small tax?" said i, "why do you pay your tax?" "well," said he, "i would not pay it if i did not vote." said i, "that is the very reason why i do not want to pay it. i cannot vote." who stay at home from the election? the women, and the black and white men who have been to the whipping-post. nice company to put your wives and daughters in. it is said that the women do not want to vote. every woman sitting here wants to vote, and must we be debarred the privilege of voting because some luxurious woman, rolling around in her carriage in her little downy nest that some good, benevolent man has provided for her, does not want to vote? there was a society that existed up in the state of new york called the covenanters that never voted. were all you men disfranchised because that class or sect up in new york would not vote? did you all pay your taxes and stay at home and refrain from voting because the covenanters did not vote? not a bit of it. you went to the election and told them to stay at home if they wanted to, but that you, as citizens, were going to take care of yourselves. that was right. we, as citizens, want to take care of ourselves. one more thought, and i will be through. the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, in my opinion, and in the opinion of a great many smart men in the country, and smart women, too, give the right to women to vote without any "if's" or "and's" about it, and the united states protects us in it; but there are a few who construe the law to suit themselves, and say that those amendments do not mean that, because the congress which passed the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments had no such intention. well, if that congress overlooked us, let the wiser congress of to-day take the eighth chapter and the fourth verse of the psalms, which says, "what is man that thou art mindful of him?" and amend it by adding, "what is woman, that they never thought of her?" nancy r. allen of iowa said: _mr. chairman, and gentlemen of the judiciary committee_: i am a representative of a large class of women of iowa, who are heavy taxpayers. there is now a petition being circulated throughout our state, to be presented to the legislature, praying that women be exempted from taxation until they have some voice in the management of the affairs of the state. you may ask, "do not your husbands protect you? are not all the men protecting you?" we answer that our husbands are grand, noble men, who are willing to do all they can for us, but there are many who have no husbands and who own a great deal of property in the state of iowa. particularly in great moral reforms the women there feel the need of the ballot. by presenting long petitions to the legislature they have succeeded in having better temperance laws enacted, but the men have failed to elect the officials who will enforce those laws. consequently they have become as dead letters upon the statute books. to refer again to taxes. i have a list showing that in my city three women pay more taxes than all the city officials together. they are good temperance women. our city council is composed almost entirely of saloon-keepers, brewers and men who patronize them. there are some good men, but they are in the minority, and the voices of these women are but little regarded. all these officials are paid, and we have to help support them. as sumner said, "equality of rights is the first of rights." if we can only be equal with man under the law, it is all that we ask. we do not propose to relinquish our domestic life, but we do ask that we may be represented. remarks were also made by mrs. chandler, mrs. archibald and mrs. spencer. the time having expired, the committee voted to give another hour to miss anthony to state the reasons why we ask congress to submit a proposition to the several legislatures for a sixteenth amendment, instead of asking the states to submit the question to the popular vote of their electors.[ ] when miss anthony had finished, the chairman, senator thurman of ohio, said: i have to say, ladies, that you will admit that we have listened to you with great attention, and i can certainly say, with great interest; your appeals will be duly and earnestly considered by the committee. mrs. wallace: i wish to make just one remark in reference to what senator thurman said as to the popular vote being against woman suffrage. the popular vote is against it, but not the popular voice. owing to the temperance agitation in the last six years, the growth of the suffrage sentiment among the wives and mothers of this nation has largely increased. house of representatives, washington, d. c., jan. , . the chairman _pro tem._ (mr. harris of virginia): the order of business for the present session of the committee is the delivery of arguments by delegates of the woman suffrage convention now holding its sessions in washington. i am informed that the delegates are in attendance upon the committee. we will be pleased to hear them. a list of the names, of the ladies proposing to speak, with a memorandum of the limit of time allotted to each, has been handed to me for my guidance; and, in the absence of the chairman [mr. knott] it will be my duty to confine the speakers to the number of minutes apportioned to them respectively upon the paper before me. as an additional consideration for adhering to the regulation, i will mention that members of the committee have informed me that, having made engagements to be at the departments and elsewhere on business appointments, they will be compelled to leave the committee-room upon the expiration of the time assigned. the first name upon the list is that of mrs. emma mont. mcrae of indiana, to whom five minutes are allowed. mrs. mcrae said: _mr. chairman, and gentlemen of the judiciary committee_: in indiana the cause of woman has made marked advancement. at the same time we realize that we need the right to vote in order that we may have protection. we need the ballot because through the medium of its power alone we can hope to wield that influence in the making of laws affecting our own and our children's interests. some recent occurences in indiana, one in particular in the section of the state from which i come, have impressed us more sensibly than ever before with the necessity of this right. the particular incident to which i refer was this: in the town of muncie, where i reside, a young girl, who for the past five years had been employed as a clerk in the post-office, and upon whom a widowed mother was dependent for support, was told on the first of january that she was no longer needed in the office. she had filled her place well; no complaint had been made against her. she very modestly asked the postmaster the cause of her discharge, and he replied: "we have a man who has done work for the party and we must give that man a place; i haven't room for both of you." now, there you have at once the reason why we want the ballot; we want to be able to do something for the party in a substantial way, so that men may not tell us they have no room for us because we do nothing _for the party_. when they have the ballot women will work for "the party" as a means of enabling them to hold places in which they may get bread for their mothers and for their children if necessity requires. miss jessie t. waite of illinois said: _mr. chairman, and gentlemen of the judiciary committee_: in the state of illinois we have attained to almost every right except that of the ballot. we have been admitted to all the schools and colleges; we have become accustomed to parliamentary usages; to voting in literary societies and in all matters connected with the interests of the colleges and schools; we are considered members in good standing of the associations, and, in some cases, the young ladies in the institutes have been told they hold the balance of power. the same reason for woman suffrage that has been given by the delegate from indiana [mrs. mcrae] holds good with reference to the state of illinois. women must have the ballot that they may have protection in getting bread for themselves and their families, by giving to the party that looks for their support some substantial evidence of their strength. experience has demonstrated, especially in the temperance movement, how fruitless are all their efforts while the ballot is withheld from their hands. they have prayed; they have petitioned; they have talked; they have lectured; they have done all they could do, except to vote; and yet all avails them nothing. miss frances williard presented to the legislature of illinois a petition of such length that it would have reached around this room. it contained over , signatures. the purpose of the petition was to have the legislature give the women of the state the right to vote upon the question of license or no license in their respective districts. in some of the counties of our state we have ladies as superintendents of schools and professors in colleges. one of the professors in the industrial university at champaign is a lady. throughout the state you may find ladies who excel in every branch of study and in every trade. it was a lady who took the prize at "the exposition" for the most beautiful piece of cabinet-work. this is said to have been a marvel of beauty and extraordinary as a specimen of fine art. she was a foreigner; a scandinavian, i believe. another lady is a teacher of wood-carving. we have physicians, and there are two attorneys, perry and martin, now practicing in the city of chicago. representatives of our sex are also to be found among real-estate agents and journalists, while, in one or two instances as preachers they have been recognized in the churches. catherine a. stebbins of michigan said: "better fifty years of europe than a cycle of cathay!" so said the poet; and i say, better a week with these inspired women in conference than years of an indifferent, conventional society! their presence has been a blessing to the people of this district, and will prove in the future a blessing to our government. these women from all sections of our country, with a moral and spiritual enthusiasm which seeks to lift the burdens of our government, come to you, telling of the obstacles that have beset their path. they have tried to heal the stricken in vice and ignorance; to save our land from disintegration. one has sought to reform the drunkard, to save the moderate drinker, to convert the liquor-seller; another, to shelter the homeless; another, to lift and save the abandoned woman. "abandoned?" once asked a prophet-like man of our time, who added, "there never was an abandoned woman without an abandoned man!" abandoned of whom? let us ask. surely not by the merciful father. no; neither man nor woman is ever abandoned by him, and he sends his instruments in the persons of some of these great-hearted women, to appeal to you to restore their god-given freedom of action, that "the least of these" may be remembered. but in our councils no one has dwelt upon _one_ of the great evils of our civilization, the scourge of war; though it has been said that women will fight. it is true there are instances in which they have considered it a duty; there were such in the rebellion. but the majority of women would not declare war, would not enlist soldiers and would not vote supplies and equipments, because many of the most thoughtful believe there _is_ a better way, and that women can bring a moral power to bear that shall make war needless. let us take one picture representative of the general features of the war--we say nothing of our convictions in regard to the conflict. ulysses s. grant or anna ella carroll makes plans and maps for the campaign; mcclellan and meade are commanded to collect the columbiads, muskets and ammunition, and move their men to the attack. at the same time the saintly clara barton collects her cordials, medicines and delicacies, her lint and bandages, and, putting them in the ambulance assigned, joins the same moving train. mcclellan's men meet the enemy, and men--brothers--on both sides fall by the death-dealing missiles. miss barton and her aids bear off the sufferers, staunch their bleeding wounds, soothe the reeling brain, bandage the crippled limbs, pour in the oil and wine, and make as easy as may be the soldier's bed. what a solemn and heartrending farce is here enacted! and yet in our present development men and women seek to reconcile it with the requirements of religion and the necessities of our conflicting lives. so few recognize the absolute truth! mrs. devereux blake said: _mr. chairman, and gentlemen of the committee_: i come here with your own laws in my hands--and the volume is quite a heavy one, too--to ask you whether women are citizens of this nation? i find in this book, under the heading of the chapter on "citizenship," the following: sec. , . all persons born in the united states and not subject to any foreign power, excluding indians not taxed, are declared to be citizens of the united states. i suppose you will admit that women are, in the language of the section, "persons," and that we cannot reasonably be included in the class spoken of as "indians not taxed." therefore i claim that we are "citizens." the same chapter also contains the following: sec. , . any woman who is now or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the united states, and who might herself be lawfully naturalized, shall be deemed a citizen. under this section also we are citizens. i am myself, as indeed are most of the ladies present, married to a citizen of the united states; so that we are citizens under this count if we were not citizens before. then, further, in the legislation known as "the civil rights bill," i find this language: all persons within the jurisdiction of the united states shall have the same right, in every state and territory, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of persons and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishments, pains, penalties, etc. one would think the logical conclusion from that which i have last read would be that _all citizens_ are entitled to equal protection everywhere. it appears to mean that. then i turn to another piece of legislation--that which is known as "the enforcement act"--one which some of you, gentlemen, did not like very much when it was enacted--and there i find another declaration on the same question. the act is entitled "an act to enforce the right of citizens of the united states to vote in the several states of this union, and for other purposes." the right of "citizens" to vote appears to be conceded by this act. in the second section it says: it shall be the duty of every such person and officer to give to all citizens of the united states the same and equal opportunity to perform such prerequisite, and to become qualified to vote, without distinction of race, color or previous condition of servitude. i ask you, gentlemen of the committee, as lawyers, whether you do not think that, after we have been declared to be citizens, we have the right to claim the protection of this enforcement act? when you gentlemen from the north rise in your places in the halls of congress and make these walls ring with your eloquence, you are prone to talk a great deal about the right of every united states citizen to the ballot, and the necessity of protecting every such citizen in its exercise. what do you mean by it? it occurs to me here to call your attention to a matter of recent occurrence. as you know, there has been a little unpleasantness in maine--a state which is not without a representative among the members of the judiciary committee--and certain gentlemen there, especially mr. blaine, have been greatly exercised in their minds because, as they allege, the people of maine have not been permitted to express their will at the polls. why, gentlemen, i assert that a majority of the people of maine have never been permitted to express their will at the polls. a majority of the people of maine are women, and from the foundation of this government have never exercised any of the inalienable rights of citizens. mr. blaine made a speech a day or two ago in augusta. he began by reciting the condition of affairs, owing to the effort, as he states, "to substitute a false count for an honest ballot," and congratulated his audience upon the instrumentalities by which they had triumphed-- without firing a gun, without shedding a drop of blood, without striking a single blow, without one disorderly assemblage. _the people_ have regained their own right through the might and majesty of their own laws. he goes on in this vein to speak of those whom he calls "the people of maine." well, gentlemen, i do not think you will deny that _women are people_. it appears to me that what mr. blaine said in that connection was nonsense, unless indeed he forgot that there were any others than men among the people of the state of maine. i don't suppose that you, gentlemen, are often so forgetful. mr. blaine said further: the republicans of maine and throughout the land felt that they were not merely fighting the battle of a single year, but for all the future of the state; not merely fighting the battle of our own state alone, but for all the states that are attempting the great problem of state government throughout the world. the corruption or destruction of the ballot is a crime against free government, and when successful is a subversion of free government. does that mean the ballot _for men only_ or the ballot _for the people_, men and women too? if it is to be received as meaning anything, it ought to mean not for one sex alone, but for both. mr. lincoln declared, in one of his noblest utterances, that no man was good enough to govern another man without that man's consent. of course he meant it in its broadest terms; he meant that no man or woman was good enough to govern another man or woman without that other man's or woman's consent. mr. blaine, on another occasion, in connection with the same subject-matter, had much to say of the enormity of the oppression practiced by his political opponents in depriving the town of portland of the right of representation in view of its paying such heavy taxes as it does pay. he expressed the greatest indignation at the attempt, forgetting utterly that great body of women who pay taxes but are deprived of the right of representation. in this connection it may be pertinent for me to express the hope, by way of a suggestion, that hereafter, when making your speeches, you will not use the term "citizens" in a broad sense, unless you mean to include women as well as men, and that when you do not mean to include women you will speak of male citizens as a separate class, because the term, in its general application, is illogical and its meaning obscure if not self-contradictory. president hayes was so pleased with one of the sentences in his message of a year ago that in his message of this year he has reiterated it. it reads thus: that no temporary or administrative interests of government will ever displace the zeal of our people in defense of the primary rights of citizenship, and that the power of public opinion will override all political prejudices and all sectional and state attachments in demanding that all over our wide territory the name and character of citizen of the united states shall mean one and the same thing and carry with them unchallenged security and respect. let me suggest what he ought to have said unless he intended to include women, although i am afraid that mr. hayes, when he wrote this, forgot that there were women in the united states, notwithstanding that his excellent wife, perhaps, stood by his side. he ought to have said: an act having been passed to enforce the rights of _male_ citizens to vote, the true vigor of _half_ the population is thus expressed, and no interests of government will ever displace the zeal of _half_ of our people in defense of the primary rights of our _male_ citizens. _the prosperity of the states depends upon the protection afforded to our male citizens_; and the name and character of _male_ citizens of the united states shall mean one and the same thing and carry with them unchallenged security and respect. if mr. hayes had thus expressed himself, he would have made a perfectly logical and clear statement. gentlemen, i hope that hereafter, when speaking or voting in behalf of the citizens of the united states, you will bear this in mind and will remember that women are citizens as well as men, and that they claim the same rights. this question of woman suffrage cannot much longer be ignored. in the state from which i come, although we have not a right to vote, we are confident that the influence which women brought to bear in determining the result of the election last fall had something to do with sending into retirement a democratic governor who was opposed to our reform, and electing a republican who was in favor of it. recollect, gentlemen, that the expenditure of time and money which has been made in this cause will not be without its effect. the time is coming when the demand of an immense number of the women of this country cannot be ignored. when you see these representatives coming from all the states of the union to ask for this right, can you doubt that, some day, they will succeed in their mission? we do not stand before you to plead as beggars; we ask for that which is our right. we ask it as due to the memory of our ancestors, who fought for the freedom of this country just as bravely as did yours. we ask it on many considerations. why, gentlemen, the very furniture here, the carpet on this floor, was paid for with our money. we are taxed equally with the men to defray the expenses of this congress, and we have a right equally with them to participate in the government. in closing, i have only to ask, is there no man here present who appreciates the emergencies of this hour? is there no one among you who will rise on the floor of congress as the champion of this unrepresented half of the people of the united states? the time is not far distant when we shall have our liberties, and the politician who can now understand the importance of our cause, the statesman who can now see, and will now appreciate the justice of it, that man, if true to himself, will write his name high on the scroll of fame beside those of the men who have been the saviors of the country. gentlemen i entreat you not to let this hearing go by without giving due weight to all that we have said. you can no more stay the onward current of this reform than you can fight against the stars in their courses. mr. willits of michigan: _mr. chairman_: i would like to make a suggestion here. the regulation amendment, as it has heretofore been submitted, provided that the right of citizens of the united states to vote should not be abridged on account of sex. i notice that the amendment which the ladies here now propose has prefixed to it this phrase: "the right of suffrage in the united states shall be based on citizenship." i call attention to this because i would like to have them explain as fully as they may why they incorporate the phrase, "shall be based on citizenship." is the meaning this, that all citizens shall have the right to vote, or simply that citizenship shall be the basis of suffrage? the words, "or for any reason not applicable to all citizens of the united states," also seem to require explanation. the proposition in the form in which it is now submitted, i understand, covers a little more than has been covered by the amendment submitted in previous years. sara a. spencer of washington, d. c.: if the committee will permit me, i will say that the amendment in its present form is the concentrated wish of the women of the united states. the women of the country sent to congress petitions asking for three different forms of constitutional amendment, and when preparing the one now before the committee these three were concentrated in the one now before you (identical with that of the resolution offered in the house by hon. george b. loring and by hon. t. w. ferry in the senate), omitting, at the request of each of the three classes of petitioners, all phrases which were regarded by any of them as objectionable. the amendment as now presented is therefore the combined wish of the women of the country, viz., that citizenship in the united states shall mean suffrage, and that no one shall be deprived of the right to vote for reasons not equally applicable to all citizens. matilda joslyn gage said: it is necessary to refer to a remarkable decision of the supreme court. the case of virginia l. minor, claiming the right to vote under the fourteenth amendment, was argued before the supreme court of the united states, october term, ; decision rendered adversely by chief-justice waite, march, , upon the ground that "the united states had no voters in the states of its own creation." this was a most amazing decision to emanate from the highest judicial authority of the nation, and is but another proof how fully that body is under the influence of the dominant political party. contrary to this decision, i unhesitatingly affirm that the united states has possessed voters in states of its own creation from the very date of the constitution. in article i, sec. , the constitution provides that the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. the persons so designated are voters under state laws; but by this section of the national constitution they are made united states voters. it is directed under what conditions of state qualification they may cast votes in their respective states for members of the lower house of congress. the constitution here created a class of united states voters by adoption of an already voting class. did but this single instance exist, it would be sufficient to nullify chief-justice waite's decision, as article vi, sec. , declares the constitution and the laws of the united states which shall be made in pursuance thereof * * * shall be the supreme law of the land. this supreme law at its very inception created a class of united states voters. if in the minor case alone, the premises of the supreme court and chief-justice waite were wrong, the decision possesses no legal value; but in addition to this class, the united states, by special laws and amendments has from time to time created other classes of united states voters. under the naturalization laws citizenship is recognized as the basis of suffrage. no state can admit a foreigner to the right of the ballot, even under united states laws, unless he is already a citizen, or has formally declared his intention of becoming a citizen of the united states. the creation of the right here is national; its regulation, local. men who commit crimes against the civil laws of the united states forfeit their rights of citizenship. state law cannot re-habilitate them, but within the last five years , such men have been pardoned by congressional enactment, and thus again been made voters in states by united states law. is it not strange that with a knowledge of these facts before him chief-justice waite could base his decision against the right of a woman to the ballot, on the ground that the united states had no voters in the states of its own creation? criminals against the military law of the united states, who receive pardon, are still another class of voters thus created. a very large body of men, several hundred thousand, forfeited their rights of citizenship, their ballot, by participation in the rebellion; they were political criminals. when general amnesty was proclaimed they again secured the ballot. they had been deprived of the suffrage by united states law and it was restored to them by the same law. it may be replied that the rebellious states had been reduced to the condition of territories, over whose suffrage the general government had control. but let me ask why, then, a large class of men remained disfranchised after these states again took up local government? a large class of men were especially exempted from general amnesty and for the restoration of their political rights were obliged to individually petition congress for the removal of their political disabilities, and these men then became "voters in states," by action of the united states. here, again, the united states recognized citizenship and suffrage as synonymous. if the united states has no voters of its own creation in the states, what are these men? a few, the leaders in the rebellion, are yet disfranchised, and no state has power to change this condition. only the united states can again make them voters in states. under the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments the colored men of the south, who never had possessed the ballot, and those colored men of the north over whom some special disqualification hung, were alike made voters by united states law. it required no action of delaware, indiana, new york, or any of those states in which the colored man was not upon voting equality with the white men, to change their constitutions or statutes in order to do away with such disqualifications. the fourteenth amendment created another class of united states voters in states, to the number of a million or more. the fourteenth amendment, and the act of congress to enforce it, were at once recognized to be superior to state law--abrogating and repealing state constitutions and state laws contradictory to its provisions. by an act of congress march , and a presidential proclamation of march , , all deserters who failed to report themselves to a provost marshall within sixty days, forfeited their rights of citizenship as an additional penalty for the crime of desertion, thus losing their ballot without possibility of its restoration except by an act of congress. whenever this may be done collectively or individually, these men will become state voters by and through the united states law. as proving the sophistry used by legal minds in order to hide from themselves and the world the fact that the united states has power over the ballot in states, mention may be made of a case which, in , came before justice strong, then a member of the supreme court of pennsylvania, but since a justice of the supreme court of the united states. for sophistical reasoning it is a curiosity in legal decisions. one point made by judge strong was, that congress may deprive a citizen of the opportunity to enjoy a right belonging to him as a citizen of a state even the right of voting, but cannot deprive him of the right itself. this is on a par with saying that congress may deprive a citizen of the opportunity to enjoy a right belonging to him as an individual, even the right of life, but cannot deprive him of life itself. a still more remarkable class of united states voters than any yet mentioned, exists. soon after the close of the war congress enacted a law that foreigners having served in the civil war and been honorably discharged from the army, should be allowed to vote. and this, too, without the announcement of their intention of becoming citizens of the republic. a class of united states voters were thus created out of a class of non-citizens. i have mentioned eight classes of united states voters, and yet not one of the states has been deprived of the powers necessary to local self-government. to states belong all matters of strictly local interest, such as the incorporation of towns and cities, the settlement of county and other boundaries; laws of marriage, divorce, protection of life and property, etc. it has been said, the ordaining and establishment of a constitution for the government of a state is always the act of a state in its highest sovereign capacity, but if any question as to nationality ever existed, it was settled by the war. even state constitutions were found unable to stand when in conflict with a law of the united states or an amendment to its constitution. all are bound by the authority of the nation. this theory of state sovereignty must have a word. when the union was formed several of the states did not even frame a constitution. it was in that connecticut adopted her first state constitution. rhode island had no constitution until . prior to these years the government of these states was administered under the authority of royal charters brought out from england. where was their state sovereignty? the rights even of suffrage enjoyed by citizens of these states during these respective periods of forty-two and sixty-six years, were either secured them by monarchial england or republican united states. if by the latter all voters in these two states during these years were united states voters. it is a historical fact that no state save texas was ever for an hour sovereign or independent. the experience of the country proves there is but one real sovereignty. it has been said, with truth, there is but one sovereign state on the american continent known to international or constitutional law, and that is the republic itself. this forms the united states and should be so called. i ask for a sixteenth amendment because this republic is a nation and not a confederacy of states. i ask it because the united states not only possesses inherent power to protect its citizens but also because of its national duty to secure to all its citizens the exercise of their rights of self-government. i ask it because having created classes of voters in numberless instances, it is most flagrant injustice to deny this protection to woman. i ask it because the nation and not the state is supreme. phoebe w. couzins of missouri, to whom had been assigned the next thirty minutes, said: _mr. chairman, and gentlemen of the judiciary committee_: i am invited to speak of the dangers which beset us at this hour in the decision of the supreme court of the united states in mrs. minor's case, which not only stultifies its previous interpretation of the recent constitutional amendments and makes them a dead letter, but will rank, in the coming ages, in the history of the judiciary, with the dred scott decision. the law, as explained in the dred scott case, was an infamous one, which trampled upon the most solemn rights of the loyal citizens of the government, and declared the constitution to mean anything or nothing, as the case might be. yet the decision in that case had a saving clause, for it was not the unanimous voice of a democratic judiciary. dissenting opinions were nobly uttered from the bench. in the more recent case, under the rule of a republican judiciary created by a party professing to be one of justice, the rights of one-half of the people were deliberately abrogated without a dissenting voice. this violation of the fundamental principles of our government called forth no protest. in all of the decisions against woman in the republican court, there has not been found one lord mansfield, who, rising to the supreme height of an unbiased judgment, would give the immortal decree that shall crown with regal dignity the mother of the race: "i care not for the dictates of judges, however eminent, if they be contrary to principle. if the parties will have judgment, let justice be done, though the heavens fall." the dred scott decision declared as the law of citizenship, "to be a citizen is to have actual possession and enjoyment, or the perfect right to the acquisition and enjoyment of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political." but the slave-power was then dominant and the court decided that a black man was not a citizen because he had not the right to vote. but when the constitution was so amended as to make "all persons born or naturalized in the united states citizens thereof," a negro, by virtue of his united states citizenship, was declared, under the amendments, a voter in every state in the union. and the supreme court reaffirmed this right in the celebrated slaughter-house cases ( wallace, ). it said, "the negro, having by the fourteenth amendment, been declared to be a citizen of the united states, is thus made a voter in every state in the union." but when the loyal women of missouri, apprehending that "all persons beneath the flag were made citizens and voters by the fourteenth amendment," through mrs. minor, applied to the supreme court for protection in the exercise of that same right, this high tribunal, reversing all its former decisions, proclaims state sovereignty superior to national authority. this it does in this strange language: "being born in the united states, a woman is a person and therefore a citizen"--we are much obliged to them for that definition of our identity as persons--"but the constitution of the united states does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one." and then, in the face of its previous decisions, the court declared: "the united states has no voters in the states of its own creation", that the elective officers of the united states are all elected, directly or indirectly by state voters. it remands woman to the states for her protection, thus giving to the state the supreme authority and overthrowing the entire results of the war, which was fought to maintain national supremacy over any and all subjects in which the rights and privileges of the citizens of the united states are involved. no supreme allegiance, gentlemen of the committee, can be claimed for or by a government, if it has no citizens of its own creation, and constitutional amendments cannot confer authority over matters which have no existence in the constitution. thus, our supreme law-givers hold themselves up for obloquy and ridicule in their interpretation of the most solemn rights of loyal citizens, and make our constitutional law to mean anything or nothing as the case may be. you will see, gentlemen, that the very point which the south contended for as the true one is here acknowledged to be the true one by the supreme court--that of state rights superior to national authority. the whole of the recent contest hinged upon this. the appeal to arms and the constitutional amendments were to establish the subordination of the state to national supremacy, to maintain the national authority over any and all subjects in which the rights and privileges of the citizens of the united states were involved; but this decision in mrs. minor's case completely nullifies the supreme authority of the government, and gives the states more than has hitherto been claimed for them by the advocates of state rights. the subject of the franchise is thus wholly withdrawn from federal supervision and control. if "the united states has no citizens of its own creation," of course no supreme allegiance can be claimed over the various citizens of the states. the constitutional amendments cannot confer authority over a matter which has no existence in the constitution. if it has no voters, it can have nothing whatever to do with the elections and voting in the states; yet the united states invaded the state of new york, sent its officers there to try, convict, and sentence miss anthony for exercising a right in her own state which they declared the united states had no jurisdiction over. they send united states troops into the south to protect the negro in his right to vote, and then declare they have no jurisdiction over his voting. then, mark the grave results which may and can follow this decision and legislation. i do not imagine that the supreme court, in its cowardly dodging of woman's right to all the rights and privileges which citizenship involves, designed to completely abrogate the principles established by the recent contest, or to nullify the ensuing legislation on the subject. but it certainly has done all this; for it must logically follow that if the united states has no citizens, it cannot legislate upon the rights of citizens, and the recent amendments are devoid of authority. it has well been suggested by mr. minor, in his criticism of the decision, that if members of the house of representatives are elected by _state_ voters, as the supreme court has declared, there is no reason why states may not refuse to elect them as in , and thus deprive congress of its power. and if a sufficient number could be united to recall at their pleasure these representatives, what authority has the federal government, under this decision, for coërcing them into subjection or refusing them a separation, if all these voters in the states desired an independent existence? none whatever. mr. garfield, in the house, in his speech last march, calls attention to this subject, but does not allude to the fact that the supreme court has already opened the door. he says: there are several ways in which our government may be annihilated without the firing of a gun. for example, suppose the people of the united states should say, we will elect no representatives to congress. of course this is a violent supposition; but suppose that they do not. is there any remedy? does our constitution provide any remedy whatever? in two years there would be no house of representatives; of course, no support of the government and no government. suppose, again, the states should say, through their legislatures, we will elect no senators. such abstention alone would absolutely destroy this government; and our system provides no process of compulsion to prevent it. again, suppose the two houses were to assemble in their usual order, and a majority of one in this body or in the senate should firmly band themselves together and say, we will vote to adjourn the moment the hour of meeting arrives, and continue so to vote at every session during our two years of existence--the government would perish, and there is no provision of the constitution to prevent it. the states may inform their representatives that they can do this; and, under this position, they have the power and the right so to do. gentlemen, we are now on the verge of one of the most important presidential campaigns. the party in power holds its reins by a very uncertain tenure. if the decision shall favor the one which has been on the anxious bench for lo! these twenty years, and in probation until hope has well-nigh departed, what may be its action if invested again with the control of the destinies of this nation? the next party in power may inquire, and answer, by what right and how far the southern states are bound by the legislation in which they had no part or consent. and if the supreme court of a republican judiciary now declares, _after_ the war, _after_ the constitutional amendments, that federal suffrage does not exist and never had an existence in the constitution, it follows that the south has the right to regulate and control all of the questions arising upon suffrage in the several states without any interference on the part of an authority which declares it has no jurisdiction. an able writer has said: all injustice at last works out a loss. the great ledger of nations does not report a good balance for injustice. it has always met fearful losses. the irrepealable law of justice will, sooner or later, grind a nation to powder if it fail to establish that equilibrium of allegiance and protection which is the essential end of all government. woe to that nation which thinks lightly of the duties it owes to its citizens and imagines that governments are not bound by moral laws. it was the tax on tea--woman's drink prerogative--which precipitated the rebellion of . to allay the irritation of the colonies, all taxes were rescinded save that on tea, which was left to indicate king george's dominion. but our revolutionary fathers and mothers said, "no; the tax is paltry, but the principle is great"; and eve, as usual, pointed the moral for adam's benefit. a most suggestive picture, one which aroused the intensest patriotism of the colonies, was that of a woman pinioned by her arms to the ground by a british peer, with a british red-coat holding her with one hand and with the other forcibly thrusting down her throat the contents of a tea-pot, which she heroically spewed back in his face; while the figure of justice, in the distance, wept over this prostrate liberty. now, gentlemen, we might well adopt a similar representation. here is miss smith of glastonbury, conn., whose cows have been sold every year by the government, contending for the same principle as our forefathers--that of resistance to taxation without representation. we might have a picture of a cow, with an american tax-collector at the horns, a foreign-born assessor at the heels, forcibly selling the birthright of an american citizen, while julia and abby smith, in the background, with veiled faces, weep over the degeneracy of republican leadership. but there are those in authority in the government who do not believe in this decision by the supreme court of the united states. the attorney-general, in his instructions to the united states marshals and their deputies or assistants in the southern states, when speaking of the countenance and support of all good citizens of the united states in the respective districts of the marshals, remarks: it is not necessary to say that it is upon such countenance and support that the united states mainly rely in their endeavor to enforce the right to vote which they have given or have secured. you notice the phraseology. again, he says: the laws of the united states are supreme, and so, consequently, is the action of officials of the united states in enforcing them. secretary sherman said in his speech at steubenville, july : the negroes are free and are citizens and voters. that, at least, is a part of the constitution and cannot be changed. and president hayes in his two last messages, as mrs. blake recited to you, has declared that-- united states citizenship shall mean one and the same thing and carry with it all over our wide territory unchallenged security and respect. and that is what we ask for women. in conclusion, gentlemen, i say to you that a sense of justice is the sovereign power of the human mind, the most unyielding of any; it rewards with a higher sanction, it punishes with a deeper agony than any earthly tribunal. it never slumbers, never dies. it constantly utters and demands justice by the eternal rule of right, truth and equity. and on these eternal foundation-stones we stand. crowning the dome of this great building there stands the majestic figure of a woman representing liberty. it was no idealistic thought or accident of vision which gave us liberty prefigured by a woman. it is the great soul of the universe pointing the final revelation yet to come to humanity, the prophecy of the ages--the last to be first.[ ] when the proposition to print these speeches came before the house a prolonged debate against it showed the readiness of the opposition to avail themselves of every legal technicality to deprive women of equal rights and privileges. but the measure finally passed and the documents were printed. to the hon. elbridge g. lapham of new york we were largely indebted for the success of this measure. the washington _republican_ of february , , describes a novel event that took place at that time: in the supreme court of the united states, on monday, on motion of mrs. belva lockwood, samuel r. lowry of alabama was admitted to practice. mr. lowry is president of the huntsville, ala., industrial school, and a gentleman of high attainments. it was quite fitting that the first woman admitted to practice before this court should move the admission of the first southern colored man. both will doubtless make good records as representatives of their respective classes. this scene was characterized by george w. julian as one of the most impressive he ever witnessed--a fitting subject for an historical painting. in , women were for the first time appointed census enumerators. gen. francis walker, head of that department, said there was no legal obstacle to the appointment of women as enumerators, and he would gladly confirm the nomination of suitable candidates. very different was the action of the head of the post-office department, who refused, on the ground of sex, the application of women for appointment as letter-carriers. in view of the important work to be done in a presidential campaign, the national association decided to issue an appeal to the women of the country to appoint delegates from each state and territory, and prepare an address to each of the presidential nominating conventions. in washington a move was made for an act of incorporation in order that the association might legally receive bequests. tracts containing a general statement of the status of the movement were mailed to all members of congress and officers of the government. at a meeting of the committee on rules, mr. randall, a democratic member of pennsylvania, and mr. garfield, a republican member of ohio, reminded mr. frye of maine that he had been instructed by that committee, nearly a year before, to present to the house a resolution on the rights of women. the _congressional record_ of march contains the following: mr. frye: i am instructed by the committee on rules to report a resolution providing for the appointment of a special committee on the political rights of women, and to move that it be placed on the house calendar. mr. conger: let it be read. the clerk read the resolution as follows: _resolved by the house of representatives_, that the speaker appoint a special committee of nine members, to whom shall be referred all memorials, petitions, bills and resolutions relating to the rights of the women of the united states, with power to hear the same and report thereon by bill or otherwise. the resolution was referred to the house calendar. this was a proof of the advancing status of our question that both republican and democratic leaders regarded the "rights of women" worthy the consideration of a special committee. in the spring of , the national association held a series of mass meetings in the states of indiana, illinois, wisconsin and michigan, commencing with the may anniversary in indianapolis, at which sixteen states were represented.[ ] the convention was held in park theatre, miss anthony presiding. the arrangements devolved chiefly on mrs. may wright thompson, who discharged her responsibilities in a most praiseworthy manner, providing entertainment for the speakers, and paying all the expenses from the treasury of the local association. a series of resolutions was presented, discussed by a large number of the delegates, and adopted. in accordance with the plan decided upon in washington of attending all the nominating conventions, the next meeting was held in chicago, beginning on the same day with the republican convention. farwell hall was filled at an early hour; miss anthony in the chair. a large number of delegates[ ] were present from every part of the union, among whom were many of the most distinguished advocates of woman suffrage. mrs. harbert gave an eloquent address of welcome. committees were appointed to visit the delegates from the different states to the republican convention, to secure seats for the members of the national association, and to ask that a plank recommending a sixteenth amendment be incorporated in the platform adopted by the republican party. the proprietor of the palmer house gave the use of a large parlor to the association for business meetings and the reception of republican delegates, many of whom were in favor of a woman's plank in their platform, and of giving the ladies seats in the convention. strenuous efforts had been made to this end. one hundred and eighteen senators and representatives addressed a letter to the chairman of the national republican committee--don cameron--asking that seventy-six seats should be given in the convention to the representatives of the national woman suffrage association. it would naturally be deemed that a request, proceeding from such a source, would be heeded. the men who made it were holding the highest positions in the body politic; but the party managers presumed to disregard this request, and also the vote of the committee. the question of furnishing seats for our delegates was brought up before the close of their deliberations by mr. finnell, of kentucky, who said: a committee of women have been here and they ask for seventy-six seats in this convention. i move that they be furnished. mr. cary of wyoming, made some remarks showing that woman suffrage in his territory had been to the advantage of the republican party, and seconded the motion of mr. finnell, which was adopted. the following resolution of the arkansas delegation to the national republican convention was read and received with enthusiasm: _resolved_, that we pledge ourselves to secure to women the exercise of their right to vote. it is here to be noted that not only were the arkansas delegation of republicans favorable to the recognition of woman suffrage in the platform of that party, but that the southern delegates were largely united in that demand. mr. new told the ladies that the grant men had voted as a unit in favor of the women, while the blaine and sherman men unanimously voted against them. but the ladies, well knowing the uncertainty of politicians, were soon upon the way to the committee-room, to secure positive assurance from the lips of the chairman himself--don cameron of pennsylvania--that such tickets should be forthcoming, when they were stopped by a messenger hurrying after them to announce the presence of the secretary of the committee, hon. john new, at their headquarters, in the grand parlor of the palmer house, with a communication in regard to the tickets. he said the seventy-six seats voted by the committee had been reduced to _ten_ by its chairman, and these ten were not offered to the association in its official capacity, but as complimentary or "guest tickets," for a seat on the platform back of the presiding officers. the committee on resolutions, popularly known as the platform committee, held a meeting in the palmer house, june , to which belva a. lockwood obtained admission. on motion of mr. fredley of indiana, mrs. lockwood was given permission to present the memorial of the national woman suffrage association to the republican party. _to the republican party in convention assembled, chicago, june , _: seventy-six delegates from local, state and national suffrage associations, representing every section of the united states, are here to-day to ask you to place the following plank in your platform: _resolved_, that we pledge ourselves to secure to women the exercise of their right to vote. we ask you to pledge yourselves to protect the rights of one-half of the american people, and to thus carry your own principles to their logical results. the thirteenth amendment of , abolishing slavery, the fourteenth of , defining citizenship, and the fifteenth of , securing united states citizens in their right to vote, and your prolonged and powerful debates on all the great issues involved in our civil conflict, stand as enduring monuments to the honor of the republican party. impelled by the ever growing demand among women for a voice in the laws they are required to obey, for their rightful share in the government of this republic, various state legislatures have conceded partial suffrage. but the great duty remains of securing to woman her right to have her opinions on all questions counted at the ballot-box. you cannot live on the noble words and deeds of those who inaugurated the republican party. you should vie with those men in great achievements. progress is the law of national life. you must have a new, vital issue to rouse once more the enthusiasm of the people. our question of human rights answers this demand. the two great political parties are alike divided upon finance, free-trade, labor reform and general questions of political economy. the essential point in which you differ from the democratic party is national supremacy, and it is on this very issue we make our demand, and ask that our rights as united states citizens be secured by an amendment to the national constitution. to carry this measure is not only your privilege but your duty. your pledge to enfranchise ten millions of women will rouse an enthusiasm which must count in the coming closely contested election. but above expediency is right, and to do justice is ever the highest political wisdom. the committee then adjourned to meet at the sherman-house club room, where they reässembled at o'clock. soon after the calling to order of our own convention in farwell hall, word came that a hearing had been accorded before the platform committee. this proved to be a sub-committee. ten minutes were given miss anthony to plead the cause of , , --yes, , , citizens of this republic(?), while, watch in hand, mr. pierrepont sat to strike the gavel when this time expired. ten minutes!! twice has the great republican party, in the plentitude of its power, allowed woman _ten_ minutes to plead her cause before it. ten minutes twice in the past eight years, while all the remainder of the time it has been fighting for power and place and continued life, heedless of the wrongs and injustice it was constantly perpetrating towards one-half the people. ten minutes! what a period in the history of time. small hope remained of a committee, with such a chairman, introducing a plank for woman suffrage. the whole arkansas delegation had expressed itself in favor; most of the kentucky delegation were known to be so, while new york not only had friends to woman suffrage among its number, but even an officer of the state association was a delegate to the republican convention. these men were called upon, a form of plank placed in their hands and they were asked to offer it as an amendment when the committee reported, but that plan was blocked by a motion that all resolutions should be referred to the committee for action. senator farr of michigan, a colored man, was the only member of the platform committee who suggested the insertion of a woman suffrage plank, the michigan delegation to a man, favoring such action. the delegates were ready in case opportunity offered, to present the address to the convention. but no such moment arrived. the mass convention had been called for june , but the crowds in the city gave promise of such extended interest that farwell hall was engaged for june , and before the second day's proceedings closed, funds were voluntarily raised by the audience to continue the meeting the third day. so vast was the number of letters and postals addressed to the convention from all parts of the country from women who desired to vote, that the whole time of each session could have been spent in reading them--one day's mail alone bringing letters and postals from twenty-three states and three territories. some of these letters contained hundreds of names, others represented town, county, and state societies. many were addressed to the different nominating conventions, republican, greenback, democratic, while the reasons given for desiring to vote, ranged from the simple demand, through all the scale of reasons connected with good government and morality. so highly important a contribution to history did the chicago historical society[ ] deem these expressions of woman's desire to vote, that it made a formal request to be put in possession of _all_ letters and postals, with a promise that they should be carefully guarded in a fire-proof safe. after the eloquent speeches[ ] of the closing session, miss alice s. mitchell sang julia ward howe's "battle hymn of the republic," mrs. harbert playing the accompaniment, and the immense audience of , people joining in the chorus. this convention held three sessions each day, and at all except the last an admission fee was charged, and yet the hall was densely crowded throughout. for enthusiasm, nothing ever surpassed these meetings in the history of the suffrage movement. a platform and resolution were adopted as the voice of the convention. the special object of the national woman suffrage association is to secure national protection for women in the exercise of their right of suffrage. it recognizes the fact that our government was formed on the political basis of the consent of the governed, and that the declaration of independence struck a blow at every existing form by declaring the individual to be the source of all power. the members of this association, outside of our great question, have diverse political affiliations, but for the purpose of gaining this great right to the ballot, its members hold their party predilections in abeyance; therefore, _resolved_, that in this year of presidential nominations and political campaigns, we announce our determination to support no party by whatever name called, unless such party shall, in its platform, first emphatically endorse our demand for a recognition of the exact and permanent political equality of all citizens. a delegation[ ] went to the greenback convention and presented the following memorial: when a new political party is formed it should be based upon the principles of justice to all classes hitherto unrecognized. the finance question, as broad as it is, does not reach down to the deepest wrong in the nation. beneath this question lies that of the denial of the right of self-government to one-half the people. it is impossible to secure the property rights of the people without first recognizing their personal rights. more than any class of men, woman represents the great unpaid laborer of the world--a slave, who, as wife and daughter, absolutely works for her board and clothes. the question of finance deeply interests woman, but her opinions upon it are valueless while deprived of the right of enforcing them at the ballot box. you are here in convention assembled, not alone to nominate a candidate for president, but also to promulgate your platform of principles to the world. now is your golden opportunity. the republican party presents no vital issue to the country; its platform is a repetition of the platitudes of the past twenty years. it has ceased to be a party of principles. it lives on the past. the deeds of dead men hold it together. its disregard of principles has thrown opportunity into your hands. will you make yourselves the party of the future? will you recognize woman's right of self-government? will you make woman suffrage an underlying principle in your platform? if you will make these pledges, the national association will work for the triumph of your party in the approaching closely contested campaign. the ladies were accorded hearings by several delegations previous to the assembling of the convention. a resolution committee of one from each state was appointed, and each member allowed two minutes to present either by speech or writing such principles as it requested incorporated in the platform. lucinda b. chandler, being a greenbacker on principle, was a regularly elected delegate and by courtesy was added to a sub-committee on resolutions. the one prepared by the national association was placed in her hands, but, as she was forbidden to speak upon it, her support could only be given by vote, and a meaningless substitute took its place. the courtesy of placing mrs. chandler upon the committee was like much of man's boasted chivalry to woman, a seeming favor at the expense of right. after trying in vain for recognition as a political factor from the republican and greenback nominating conventions the delegates went to cincinnati.[ ] committees were at once appointed to visit the different delegations. women were better treated by the democrats at cincinnati than by the republicans at chicago. a committee-room in music hall was at once placed at their disposal, placards pointing to their headquarters were printed by the local committee at its own expense, and sixteen seats given to the ladies upon the floor of the house, just back of the regular delegates. a hearing[ ] before the platform committee was granted with no limit as to time. at the close a delegate approached the table, saying, "i favor giving woman a plank," "so do i," replied mr. watterson, chairman of the committee. many delegates in conversation, favored the recognition of woman's political rights, and a large number of the platform committee favored the introduction of the following plank: that the democratic party, recognizing the rapid growth of the woman suffrage question, suggests a consideration of this important subject by the people in anticipation of the time, near at hand, when it must become a political issue. but although the platform committee sat until a.m., no such result was reached, in consequence, it was said, of the objection of the extreme southern element which feared the political recognition of negro women of the south. the delegations from maine, kansas and new york were favorable, and offered the association the use of their committee-rooms at the burnett house and the grand hotel whenever desired. mayor prince of boston not only offered a committee-room but secured seats for the delegates on the floor of the house. mr. henry watterson, of the louisville _courier-journal_, as chairman of the platform committee, extended every courtesy within his power. mayor harrison of chicago did his best to secure to the delegates a hearing before the convention. he offered to escort miss anthony to the platform that she might at least present the address. "you may be prevented," suggested one. "i'd like to see them do it," he replied. "have i not just brought about a reconciliation between tammany and the rest of new york?" taking miss anthony upon his arm and telling her not to flinch, he made his way to the platform, when the chairman, hon. wade hampton of south carolina, politely offered her a seat, and ordered the clerk to read the address: _to the democratic party in nominating convention assembled, cincinnati, june , :_ on behalf of the women of the country we appear before you, asking the recognition of woman's political rights as one-half the people. we ask no special privileges, no special legislation. we simply ask that you live up to the principles enunciated by the democratic party from the time of jefferson. by what principle of democracy do men assume to legislate for women? women are part of the people; your very name signifies government by the people. when you deny political rights to women you are false to your own principles. the declaration of independence recognized human rights as its basis. constitutions should also be general in character. but in opposition to this principle the party in power for the last twenty years has perverted the constitution of the united states by the introduction of the word "male" three times, thereby limiting the application of its guarantees to a special class. it should be your pride and your duty to restore the constitution to its original basis by the adoption of a sixteenth amendment, securing to women the right of suffrage; and thus establish the equality of all united states citizens before the law. not for the first time do we make of you these demands. at your nominating convention in new york, in , susan b. anthony appeared before you, asking recognition of woman's inherent natural rights. at your convention of , in baltimore, isabella beecher hooker and susan b. anthony made a similar appeal. in , at st. louis, phoebe w. couzins and virginia l. minor presented our claims. now, in , our delegates are present here from the middle states, from the west and from the south. the women of the south are rapidly uniting in their demand for political recognition, as they have been the most deeply humiliated by a recognition of the political rights of their former slaves. to secure to , , of women the rights of citizenship is to base your party on the eternal principles of justice; it is to make yourselves the party of the future; it is to do away with a more extended slavery than that of , , of blacks; it is to secure political freedom to half the nation; it is to establish on this continent the democratic theory of the equal rights of the people. in furtherance of this demand we ask you to adopt the following resolution: whereas, believing in the self-evident truth that all persons are created with certain inalienable rights, and that for the protection of these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; therefore, _resolved_, that the democratic party pledges itself to use all its powers to secure to the women of the nation protection in the exercise of their right of suffrage. on behalf of the national woman suffrage association. matilda joslyn gage, _chairman executive committee_. that the women however, in the campaign of , received the best treatment at the hands of the national prohibition party is shown by the following invitation received at the bloomington convention: _to the national woman suffrage association of the united states:_ the woman suffragists are respectfully invited to meet with and participate in the proceedings of the national prohibition convention to be held at cleveland, ohio, june, . james black, _chairman of national committee._ per j. w. haggard. a letter was received from mr. black urging the acceptance of the invitation. accordingly miss phoebe couzins was sent as a delegate from the association. the prohibition party in its eleventh plank said: we also demand that women having privileges as citizens in other respects, shall be clothed with the ballot for their own protection, and as a rightful means for a proper settlement of the liquor question. after attending all these nominating conventions, some of the delegates[ ] went to wisconsin where the state and national associations held a joint convention, in the opera house at milwaukee, june , . madam anneke gave the address of welcome.[ ] fresh from the exciting scenes of the presidential conventions, the speakers were unusually earnest and aggressive. the resolutions discussed at the indianapolis convention were considered and adopted. carl doerflinger read a greeting in behalf of the german radicals of the city. letters were read from prominent persons, expressing their interest in the movement.[ ] dr. laura ross wolcott made all the arrangements and contributed largely to the expenses of the convention. the roll of delegates shows that the state, at least, was well represented.[ ] thus through the terrible heat of june this band of earnest women held successive conventions in bloomington, ill., grand rapids, mich., lafayette and terre haute, ind. they were most hospitably entertained, and immense audiences greeted them at every point. mrs. cordelia briggs took the entire responsibility of the social and financial interests of the convention at grand rapids, which continued for three days with increasing enthusiasm to the close. mrs. helen m. gougar made the arrangements for lafayette which were in every way successful. after the holding of these conventions, delegations from the national association called on the nominees of the two great parties to ascertain their opinions and proposed action, if any, on the question of woman suffrage. mrs. blake, and other ladies representing the new york city society, called on general hancock at his residence and were most courteously received. in the course of a long conversation in which it was evident that he had given some thought to the question, he said he would not veto a district of columbia woman suffrage bill, provided such a bill should pass congress, thereby putting himself upon better record than horace greely the year of his candidacy, who not only expressed himself as opposed to woman suffrage, but also declared that, if elected, he would veto such a bill provided it passed congress. miss anthony visited james a. garfield at his home in mentor, ohio. he was very cordial, and listened with respect to her presentation of the question. although from time to time in congress he had uniformly voted with our friends, yet he expressed serious doubts as to the wisdom of pressing this measure during the pending presidential campaign. as it was deemed desirable to get some expression on paper from the candidates the following letter, written on official paper, was addressed to the republican and democratic nominees: rochester, n. y., august , . hon. james a. garfield: _dear sir_: as vice-president-at-large of the national woman suffrage association, i am instructed to ask you, if, in the event of your election, you, as president of the united states, would recommend to congress, in your message to that body, the submission to the several legislatures of a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of united states citizens on account of sex. what we wish to ascertain is whether you, as president, would use your _official influence_ to secure to the women of the several states a _national guarantee_ of their right to a voice in the government on the same terms with men. neither platform makes any pledge to secure political equality to women--hence we are waiting and hoping that one candidate or the other, or both, will declare favorably, and thereby make it possible for women, with self-respect, to work for the success of one or the other or both nominees. hoping for a prompt and explicit statement, i am, sir, very respectfully yours, susan b. anthony. to this general hancock vouchsafed no reply, while general garfield responded as follows: mentor, o., august , . dear miss anthony: your letter of the th inst. came duly to hand. i take the liberty of asking your personal advice before i answer your official letter. i assume that all the traditions and impulses of your life lead you to believe that the republican party has been and is more nearly in the line of liberty than its antagonist the democratic party; and i know you desire to advance the cause of woman. now, in view of the fact that the republican convention has not discussed your question, do you not think it would be a violation of the trust they have reposed in me, to speak, "as their nominee"--and add to the present contest an issue that they have not authorized? again, if i answer your question on the ground of my own private opinion, i shall be compelled to say, that while i am open to the freest discussion and fairest consideration of your question, i have not yet reached the conclusion that it would be best for woman and for the country that she should have the suffrage. i may reach it; but whatever time may do to me, that fruit is not yet ripe on my tree. i ask you, therefore, for the sake of your own question, do you think it wise to pick my apples now? please answer me in the frankness of personal friendship. with kind regards, i am very truly yours, james a. garfield. miss susan b. anthony, rochester, n. y. rochester, n. y., september , . hon. james a. garfield: _dear sir_: yours of the th ult. has waited all these days that i might consider and carefully reply. _first_. the republican party did run well for a season in the "line of liberty"; but since , its congressional enactments, majority reports, supreme court decisions, and now its presidential platform, show a retrograde movement--not only for women, but for colored men--limiting the power of the national government in the protection of united states citizens against the injustice of the states, until what we gained by the sword is lost by political surrenders. and we need nothing but a democratic administration to demonstrate to all israel and the sun the fact, the sad fact, that all _is lost_ by the _republican_ party, and not _to be lost_ by the _democratic_ party. i mean, of course, the one vital point of national supremacy in the protection of united states citizens in the enjoyment of their right to vote, and the punishment of states or individuals thereof, for depriving citizens of the exercise of that right. the first and fatal mistake was in ceding to the states the right to "abridge or deny" the suffrage to foreign-born men in rhode island, and all women throughout the nation, in direct violation of the principle of national supremacy. and from that time, inch by inch, point by point has been surrendered, until it is only in _name_ that the republican party is the party of national supremacy. grant did not protect the negro's ballot in --hayes cannot in --nor could garfield in --for the "sceptre has departed from judah." _second_. for the candidate of a party to _add_ to the discussions of the contest an issue unauthorized or unnoted in its platform, when that issue was one vital to its very life, would, it seems to me, be the grandest act imaginable. and, for doing that very thing, with regard to the protection of the negroes of the south, you are to-day receiving more praise from the best men of the party, than for any and all of your utterances _inside_ the line of the platform. and i _know_, if you had in your letter of acceptance, or in your new york speech, declared yourself in favor of "perfect equality of rights for women, civil and political," you would have touched an electric spark that would have fired the heart of the women of the entire nation, and made the triumph of the republican party more grand and glorious than any it has ever seen. _third_. as to picking fruit before it is ripe! allow me to remind you that very much fruit is _never_ picked; some gets nipped in the blossom; some gets worm-eaten and falls to the ground; some rots on the trees before it ripens; some, too slow in ripening, gets bitten by the early frosts of autumn; while some rich, rare, ripe apples hang unpicked, frozen and worthless on the leafless trees of winter! really, mr. garfield, if, after passing through the war of the rebellion and sixteen years in congress;--if, after seeing, and hearing, and repeating, that _no class_ ever got justice and equality of chances from any government except it had the power--the ballot--to clutch them for itself;--if, after all your opportunities for growth and development, you cannot yet see the truth of the great principle of individual self-government;--if you have only reached the idea of class-government, and that, too, of the most hateful and cruel form--bounded by sex--there must be some radical defect in the ethics of the party of which you are the chosen leader. no matter which party administers the government, women will continue to get only subordinate positions and half-pay, not because of the party's or the president's lack of chivalric regard for woman, but because, in the nature of things, it is impossible for any government to protect a disfranchised class in equality of chances. women, to get justice, must have political freedom. but pardon this long trespass upon your time and patience, and please bear in mind that it is not for the many _good_ things the republican party and its nominee have done in extending the area of liberty, that i criticise them, but because they have failed to place the women of the nation on the plane of political equality with men. i do not ask you to go beyond your convictions, but i do most earnestly beg you to look at this question from the stand-point of woman--alone, without father, brother, husband, son--battling for bread! it is to help the millions of these unfortunate ones that i plead for the ballot in the hands of all women. with great respect for your frank and candid talk with one of the disfranchised, i am very sincerely yours, susan b. anthony. as mr. garfield was the only presidential nominee of either of the great parties who deigned a reply to the national association, we have given his letter an honored place in our history, and desire to pay this tribute to his memory, that while not fully endorsing our claims for political equality he earnestly advocated for woman all possible advantages of education, equal rights in the trades and professions, and equal laws for the protection of her civil rights. the thirteenth annual washington convention assembled in lincoln hall, january , . the first session was devoted to memorial services in honor of lucretia mott. a programme[ ] for the occasion was extensively circulated, and the response in character and numbers was such an audience as had seldom before crowded that hall. the spacious auditorium was brilliant with sunlight and the gay dresses, red shawls and flowers of the ladies of the fashionable classes. mrs. hayes with several of her guests from the white house occupied front seats. the stage was crowded with members of the association, mrs. mott's personal friends and wives of members of congress. the decorations which had seldom been surpassed in point of beauty and tastefulness of arrangement, formed a fitting setting for this notable assemblage of women. the background was a mass of colors, formed by the graceful draping of national flags, here and there a streamer of old gold with heavy fringe to give variety, while in the center was a national shield surmounted by two flags. on each side flags draped and festooned, falling at the front of the stage with the folds of the rich maroon curtains. graceful ferns and foliage plants had been arranged, while on a table stood a large harp formed of beautiful red and white flowers.[ ] at the other end was a stand of hot-house flowers, while in the center, resting on a background of maroon drapery, was a large crayon picture of lucretia mott. above the picture a snow-white dove held in its beak sprays of smilax, trailing down on either side, and below was a sheaf of ripened wheat, typical of the life that had ended. the occasion which had brought the ladies together, the placid features of that kind and well-remembered face, had a solemnizing effect upon all, and quietly the vast audience passed into the hall. the late-comers finding all the seats occupied stood in the rear and sat in the aisles. presently miss couzins, stepping to the front of the stage said gently, "in accordance with the custom of mrs. mott and the time-honored practice of the quakers, i ask you to unite in an invocation to the spirit." she bowed her head. the audience followed her example. for several minutes the solemn stillness of devotion pervaded the hall. when miss couzins had taken her seat the quartette choir of st. augustine's church (colored) which was seated on the platform, sang sweetly an appropriate selection, after which mrs. stanton delivered the eulogy,[ ] holding the rapt attention of her audience over an hour. at the close frederick douglass said: he had listened with interest to the fine analysis of the life and services of lucretia mott. he was almost unwilling to have his voice heard after what had been said. he was there to show by his presence his profound respect and earnest love for lucretia mott. he recognized none whose services in behalf of his race were equal to hers. her silence even in that cause was more than the speech of others. he had no words for this occasion. robert purvis at the request of a number of colored citizens of washington, presented a beautiful floral harp to mr. davis, the son-in-law of lucretia mott, the only representative of her family present. he paid a tender tribute to the noble woman whose life-long friendship he had enjoyed. mr. davis having a seat on the platform, received the gift with evident emotion, and returning thanks, he said: he would follow the example of mrs. mott who seldom kept a gift long, and present these rare flowers to mrs. spofford, the treasurer of the association. miss anthony said: the highest tribute she could pay, was, that during the past thirty years she had always felt sure she was right when she had the approval of lucretia mott. next to that of her own conscience she most valued the approval of her sainted friend. and it was now a great satisfaction that in all the differences of opinion as to principles and methods in our movement, mrs. mott had stood firmly with the national association, of which she was to the day of her death the honored and revered vice-president. mrs. sewall, after speaking of the many admirable qualities of mrs. mott, said: in looking around this magnificent audience i cannot help asking myself the question, where are the young girls? they should be here. it is the birthright of every girl to know the life and deeds of every noble woman. i think lucretia mott was as much above the average woman as abraham lincoln above the average man. miss couzins closed with a few graceful words. she expressed her pleasure in meeting so magnificent an audience, and thought the whole occasion was a beautiful tribute to one of america's best and noblest women. she hoped the mothers present would carry away the impressions they had received and teach their daughters to hold the name of lucretia mott ever in grateful remembrance. the choir sang "nearer, my god, to thee." the entire audience arose and joined in the singing, after which they slowly dispersed, feeling that it had indeed been a pentacostal occasion. an able paper from alexander dumas, on "woman suffrage as a means of moral improvement and prevention of crime,"[ ] was translated for this meeting by thomas mott, the only son of james and lucretia mott. this convention continued two days, with the usual number of able speakers.[ ] it was announced at the last session that an effort would be made by senator mcdonald, next day, to call up a resolution providing for the appointment of a standing committee for women; accordingly the ladies' gallery in the senate was well filled with delegates. from the _congressional record_, january , : mr. mcdonald: on february , , i submitted a resolution providing for the appointment of a committee of nine senators, whose duty it shall be to receive, consider and report upon all petitions, memorials, resolutions and bills relating to the rights of women of the united states, said committee to be called "committee on the rights of women." it is on the calendar, and i ask for its present consideration. the vice-president (mr. wheeler of new york): the senator from indiana calls up for consideration a resolution on the calendar, which will be reported. the chief clerk read the resolution, as follows: _resolved_, that a committee of nine senators be appointed by the senate, whose duty it shall be to receive, consider and report upon all petitions, memorials, resolutions and bills relating to the rights of women of the united states, said committee to be called the committee on the rights of women. the vice-president: the question is, will the senate agree to the resolution? mr. mcdonald: mr. president, it seems to me that the time has arrived when the rights of the class of citizens named in the resolution should have some hearing in the national legislature. we have standing committees upon almost every other subject, but none to which this class of citizens can resort. when their memorials come in they are sometimes sent to the committee on the judiciary, sometimes to the committee on privileges and elections, and sometimes to other committees. the consequence is that they pass around from committee to committee and never receive any consideration. in the organization and growth of the senate a number of standing committees have been from time to time created and continued from congress to congress, until many of them have but very little duty now to perform. it seems to me to be very appropriate to consider this question now, and provide some place in the capitol, some room of the senate, some branch of the government, where this class of applicants can have a full and fair hearing, and have such measures as may be desired to secure to them such rights brought fairly and properly before the country. i hope there will be no opposition to the resolution but that it will be adopted by unanimous consent. mr. conkling: does the senator from indiana wish to raise a permanent committee on this subject to take its place and remain on the list of permanent committees? mr. mcdonald: that is precisely what i propose to do. mr. conkling: mr. president, i was in hopes that the honorable senator from indiana, knowing how sincere and earnest he is in this regard, intended that an end should be made soon of this subject; that the prayer of these petitioners should be granted and the whole right established; but now it seems that he wishes to create a perpetual committee, so that it is to go on interminably, from which i infer that he intends that never shall these prayers be granted. i suggest to the senator from indiana that, if he be in earnest, if he wishes to crown with success this great and beneficent movement, he should raise a special committee, which committee would understand that it was to achieve and conclude its purpose, and this presently, and not postpone indefinitely in the vast forever the realization of this hope. i trust, therefore, that the senator from indiana will make this a special committee, and will let that special committee understand that before the sun goes down on the last day of this session it is to take final, serious, intelligent action, for which it is to be responsible, whether that action be one way or the other.[ ] mr. mcdonald: the senator from new york misapprehends one purpose of this committee. i certainly have no desire that the rights of this class of our citizens should be deferred to that far-distant future to which he has made reference, nor would this committee so place them. if it be authorized by the senate, it will be the duty of the committee to receive all petitions, memorials, resolutions and bills relating to the rights of women, not merely presented now but those presented at any future time. it is simply to provide a place where one-half the people of the united states may have a tribunal in this body before which they can have their cases considered. i apprehend that these rights are never to be ended. i do not suppose that the time will ever come in the history of the human race when there will not be rights of women to be considered and passed upon. therefore, to make this merely a special committee would not accomplish the purpose i had in view. while it would of course give a committee that would receive and hear such petitions as are now presented and consider such bills as should now be brought forward, it would be better to have a committee from term to term, where these same plaints could be heard, the same petitions presented, the same bills considered, and where new rights, whatever they might be, can be discussed and acted upon. therefore i cannot accept the suggestion of the senator from new york to make this a special committee. mr. davis of west virginia: i think it a bad idea to raise an extra committee. i move that the resolution be referred to the committee on rules, i think it ought to go there. that is where the rules generally require all such resolutions to be referred. the vice-president: the question is on the motion of the senator from virginia, that the resolution be referred to the committee on rules. which was agreed to by a vote of yeas to nays.[ ] amid all the pleasure of political excitement the social amenities were not forgotten. a brilliant reception[ ] and supper were given to the delegates by mrs. spofford at the riggs house. during the evening mrs. stanton presented the beautiful life-size photograph of lucretia mott which had adorned the platform at the convention, to howard university, and read the following letter from edward m. davis: mrs. elizabeth cady stanton--_dear madam_: as an expression of my gratitude to the colored people of the district for their beautiful floral tribute to the memory of my dear mother, i desire in the name of her children to present to howard university the photograph of lucretia mott which adorned the platform during the convention. it is a fitting gift to an institution that so well illustrates her principles in opening its doors to all youth without regard to sex or color. with sincere regret that i cannot be present this evening at the reception, i am gratefully yours, edward m. davis. in receiving the beautiful gift, dr. patton, president of the institution, made a graceful response. in the spring of , the national association held a series of conventions through new england, beginning with the may anniversary in boston, of which we give the following description from the _hartford courant_: among the many anniversaries in boston the last week in may, one of the most enthusiastic was that of the national woman suffrage association, held in tremont temple. the weather was cool and fair and the audience fine throughout, and never was there a better array of speakers at one time on any platform. the number of thoughtful, cultured young women appearing in these conventions, is one of the hopeful features for the success of this movement. the selection of speakers for this occasion had been made at the washington convention in january, and different topics assigned to each that the same phases of the question might not be treated over and over again. [illustration: jane h. spofford] mrs. harriet hansom robinson (wife of "warrington," so long the able correspondent of the _springfield republican_), who with her daughter made the arrangements for our reception, gave the address of welcome, to which the president, mrs. stanton, replied. rev. frederic hinckley of providence, spoke on "unity of principle in variety of method," and showed that while differing on minor points the various woman suffrage associations were all working to one grand end. anna garlin spencer made a few remarks on "the character of reformers." rev. olympia brown gave an exceptionally brilliant speech a full hour in length on "universal suffrage"; harriette robinson shattuck's theme was "believing and doing"; lillie devereux blake's, "demand for liberty"; matilda joslyn gage's, "centralization"; belva a. lockwood's, "woman and the law". mary f. eastman followed showing that woman's path was blocked at every turn, in the professions as well as the trades and the whole world of work; isabella beecher hooker gave an able argument on the "constitutional right of women to vote"; martha mclellan brown spoke equally well on the "ethics of sex"; mrs. elizabeth avery meriwether of tennessee, gave a most amusing commentary on the spirit of the old common law, cuffing blackstone and coke with merciless sarcasm. mrs. elizabeth l. saxon of louisiana spoke with great effect on "woman's intellectual powers as developed by the ballot." these two southern ladies are alike able, witty and pathetic in their appeals for justice to woman. mrs. may wright sewall's essay on "domestic legislation," showing how large a share of the bills passed every year directly effect home life, was very suggestive to those who in answer to our demand for political power, say "woman's sphere is home," as if the home were beyond the control and influence of the state. beside all these thoroughly prepared addresses, susan b anthony, dr. clemence lozier, dr. caroline winslow, ex-secretary lee of wyoming, spoke briefly on various points suggested by the several speakers. the white-haired and venerable philosopher, a. bronson alcott, was very cordially received, after being presented in complimentary terms by the president. mr. alcott paid a glowing tribute to the intellectual worth of woman, spoke of the divinity of her character, and termed her the inspiration font from which his own philosophical ideas had been drawn. not until the women of our nation have been granted every privilege would the liberty of our republic be assured.[ ] the well-known francis w. bird of walpole, who has long wielded in the politics of the bay state, the same power thurlow weed did for forty years in new york, being invited to the platform, expressed his entire sympathy with the demand for suffrage, notwithstanding the common opinion held by the leading men of massachusetts, that the women themselves did not ask it. he recommended state rather than national action. rev. ada c. bowles of cambridge, and rev. olympia brown, of racine, wis., opened the various sessions with prayer--striking evidence of the growing self-assertion of the sex, and the rapid progress of events towards the full recognition of the fact that woman's hour has come. touching deeper and tenderer chords in the human soul than words could reach, the inspiring strains of the celebrated organist, mr. ryder, rose ever and anon, now soft and plaintive, now full and commanding, mingled in stirring harmony with prayer and speech. and as loving friends had covered the platform with rare and fragrant flowers, the æsthetic taste of the most fastidious artist might have found abundant gratification in the grouping and whole effect of the assemblage in that grand temple. thus through six prolonged sessions the interest was not only kept up but intensified from day to day. the national association was received right royally in boston. on arriving they found invitations waiting to visit governor long at the state house, mayor prince at the city hall, the great establishment of jordan, marsh & co., and the reformatory prison for women at sherborn. invitations to take part were extended to woman suffrage speakers in many of the conventions of that anniversary week. among those who spoke from other platforms, were matilda joslyn gage, ellen h. sheldon, caroline b. winslow, m. d., editor of _the alpha_, and rev. olympia brown. the president of the association, mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, received many invitations to speak at various points, but had time only for the "moral education," "heredity," and "free religious" associations. her engagement at parker memorial hall, prevented her from accepting the governor's invitation, but isabella beecher hooker and susan b anthony led the way to the state house and introduced the delegates from the east, the west, the north and the south, to the honored executive head of the state, who had declared himself, publicly, in favor of woman suffrage. the ceremony of hand-shaking over, and some hundred women being ranged in a double circle about the desk, mrs. hooker stepped forward, saying: speak a word to us, governor long, we need help. stand here, please, face to face with these earnest women and tell us where help is to come from. the governor responded, and then introduced his secretary, who conducted the ladies through the building. mrs. hooker said: permit me, sir, to thank you for this unlooked-for and unusual courtesy in the name of our president who should be here to speak for herself and for us, and in the name of these loyal women who ask only that the right of the _people_ to govern themselves shall be maintained. in this great courtesy extended us by good old massachusetts as citizens of this republic unitedly protesting against being taxed without representation, and governed without our consent, we see the beginning of the end--the end of our wearisome warfare--a warfare which though bloodless, has cost more than blood, by as much as soul-suffering exceeds that of mere flesh. i see as did stephen of old, a celestial form close to that of the son of man, and her name is liberty--always a woman--and she bids us go on--go on--even unto the end. miss anthony standing close to the governor, said in low, pathetic tones: yes, we are tired. sir, we are weary with our work. for forty years some of us have carried this burden, and now, if we might lay it down at the feet of honorable men, such as you, how happy we should be. the next day mayor prince, though suffering from a late severe attack of rheumatism, cordially welcomed the delegates in his room at the city hall, and chatting familiarly with those who had been at the cincinnati convention and witnessed his great courtesy, some one remarked that from that time miss anthony had proclaimed him the prince among men, and mrs. stanton immediately suggested that if the party with which he was identified were wise in their day and generation they would accept his leadership, even to the acknowledgement of the full citizenship of this republic, and thus secure not only their gratitude but their enthusiastic support in the next presidential election. having compassion upon his honor because of his manifest physical disability, the ladies soon withdrew and went directly to the house of jordan, marsh & co., where were assembled in a large hall at the top of the building such a crowd of handsome, happy, young girls as one seldom sees in this work-a-day world; that well-known boston firm within the last six months having fitted up a large recreation room for the use of their employés at the noon hour. half a hundred girls were merrily dancing to the music of a piano, but ceased in order to listen to words of cheer from mrs. lockwood, mrs. hooker and mrs. sewall. at the close of their remarks mr. jordan brought forward a reluctant young girl who could give us, if she would, a charming recitation from "that lass o' lowrie's," in return for our kindness in coming to them. and after saying in a whisper to one who kindly urged compliance to this unexpected call, that this had been such a busy day she feared her dress was not all right, her face became unconscious of self in a moment, and with true dramatic instinct, she gave page after page of that wonderful story of the descent into the mine and the recognition there of one whom she loved, precisely as you would desire to hear it were the scene put upon the stage with all the accessories of scenery and companion actors. from jordan, marsh & co.'s a large delegation proceeded to visit the reformatory prison at sherborn which was established three or four years ago. the board of directors, consisting of three women and two men, has charge of all the prisons of the state. mrs. johnson, one of the directors, a noble, benevolent woman, interested in the great charities of boston, was designated by governor long--through whose desire the association visited the prison--to do the honors and accompany the party from boston. the officers, matron and physician of the sherborn prison, are all women. dr. mosher, the superintendent, formerly the physician, is a fair, noble-looking woman about thirty-five years of age. she has her own separate house connected with the building. the present physician, a delicate, cultured woman, with sympathy for her suffering charges, is a recent graduate of ann arbor. the entire work is done by the women sent there for restraint, and the prison is nearly self-supporting; it is expected that within another year it will be entirely so. laundry work is done for the city of boston, shirts are manufactured, mittens knit, etc. the manufacturing machinery will be increased the coming year. the graded system of reward has been found successful in the development of better traits. it has four divisions, and through it the inmates are enabled to work up by good behavior toward more pleasant surroundings, better clothes and food and greater liberty. from the last grade they reach the freedom of being bound out; of seventy-eight thus bound during the past year but seven were returned. the whole prison, chapel, school-room, dining-room, etc., possesses a sweet, clean, pure atmosphere. the rooms are light, well-ventilated, vines trailing in the windows from which glimpses of green trees and blue sky can be seen. added to all the other courtesies, there came the invitation to a few of the representatives of the movement to dine with the bird club at the parker house, in the same cozy room where these astute politicians have held their councils for so many years, and whose walls have echoed to the brave words of many of new england's greatest sons. the only woman who had ever been thus honored before was mrs. stanton, who, "escorted by warrington," dined with these honorable gentlemen in . on this occasion susan b. anthony and harriet h. robinson accompanied her. around the table sat several well-known reformers and distinguished members of the press and bar. there was elizur wright whose name is a household word in many homes as translator of la fontaine's fables for the children. beside him sat the well-known parker pillsbury and his nephew, a promising young lawyer in boston. at one end of the table sat mr. bird with mrs. stanton on his right and miss anthony on his left. at the other end sat frank sanborn with mrs. robinson (wife of "warrington") on his right. on either side sat judge adam thayer of worcester, charles field, williard phillips of salem, colonel henry walker of boston, mr. ernst of the boston _advertiser_, and judge henry fox of taunton. the condition of russia and the conkling imbroglio in new york; the new version of the testament and the reason why german liberals, transplanted to this soil, immediately become conservative and exclusive, were all considered. carl schurz, with his narrow ideas of woman's sphere and education, was mentioned by way of example. in reply to the question how the suffrage association felt in regard to conkling's reëlection. mrs. robinson said: that the leaders, who are students of politics were unitedly against him. their only hope is in the destruction of the republican party, which is too old and corrupt to take up any new reform. frank sanborn, fresh from the perusal of the new testament, asked if women could find any special consolation in the revised version regarding everlasting punishment. mrs. stanton replied: certainly, as we are supposed to have brought "original sin" into the world with its fearful forebodings of eternal punishment, any modification of hades in fact or name, for the _men_ of the race, the innocent victims of our disobedience, fills us with satisfaction. from the club the ladies hastened to the beautiful residence of mrs. fenno tudor, fronting boston common, where hundreds of friends had already gathered to do honor to the noble woman so ready to identify herself with the unpopular reforms of her day. among the many beautiful works of art, a chief attraction was the picture of the grand-mother of parnell, the irish agitator, by gilbert stuart. the house was fragrant with flowers, and the unassuming manners of mrs. tudor, as she moved about among her guests, reflected the glory of our american institutions in giving the world a generation of common-sense women who do not plume themselves on any adventitous circumstances of wealth or position, but bow in respect to morality and intelligence wherever they find it. at the close of the evening mrs. stanton presented mrs. tudor with the "history of woman suffrage" which she received with evident pleasure and returned her sincere thanks. at the close of the anniversary week in boston, successful meetings were held in various cities,[ ] beginning at providence, where dr. wm. f. channing made the arrangements. these conventions were the first that the national association ever held in the new england states, presenting the national plan of woman's enfranchisement through a sixteenth amendment to the united states constitution. footnotes: [ ] "true labor reform: the ballot for woman, the unpaid laborer of the whole earth." "man's work is from sun to sun, but woman's work is never done." "taxation without representation is tyranny. woman is taxed to support pauperism and crime, and is compelled to feed and clothe the law-makers who oppress her." "women are voting on education, the bulwark of the republic, in kansas, michigan, minnesota, colorado, oregon, new hampshire and massachusetts." "women are voting on all questions in wyoming and utah. the vote of women transformed wyoming from barbarism to civilization." "the financial problem for woman: equal pay for equal work, and one hundred cents on the dollar." "when a woman _will_, she will, and you may depend on it, she will vote." [ ] _california_, jane b. archibald; _connecticut_, julia e. smith (parker), e. c. champion; _delaware_, mary a. stuart; _district of columbia_, sara andrews spencer, jane h. spofford, ellen h. sheldon, sara j. messer, amanda m. best, belva a. lockwood, mary a. s. carey, rosina m. parnell, mary l. wooster, helen rand tindall, lura mcnall orme; _illinois_, miss jessie waite, daughter of caroline v. and judge waite; _indiana_, zerelda g. wallace, emma mont mcrae; flora m. hardin; _iowa_, nancy r. allen; _kansas_, della ross; _louisiana_, elizabeth l. saxon, _maine_, sophronia c. snow; _maryland_, lavinia dundore; _michigan_, catherine a. f. stebbins; _missouri_, phoebe w. couzins; _new hampshire_, marilla m. ricker; _new jersey_, lucinda b. chandler; _new york_, susan b. anthony, matilda joslyn gage, lillie devereux blake, dr. a. w. lozier, jennie de m. lozier, m. d., helen m. slocum; _pennsylvania_, rachel g. foster, julia t. foster; _south carolina_, mary r. pell. [ ] signed by matilda joslyn gage, _chairman executive committee_: susan b. anthony, _vice-president-at-large_; sara andrews spencer, _corresponding secretary_: jane h. spofford, _treasurer_. [ ] this week has been devoted almost exclusively to the women, who as temperance leaders, female suffragists and general reformers, have become a power in the land which can no longer be ridiculed or ignored. yesterday lincoln hall was packed to its utmost capacity with such an audience as no other entertainment or amusement has ever before gathered in this city. women of refinement and cultivation, of thought and purpose, women of standing and position in society, mothers of families, wives of clergymen, were there by the hundreds, to listen to the words of wisdom and eloquence that fell from the lips of that assembly, the most carefully organized, thoroughly governed, harmoniously acting association in this great country. members of congress, professors of colleges, judges and gentlemen of leisure, sat or stood in admiration of the progress of the women, who are so earnestly striving to regenerate our beloved republic, over which the shadow of anarchy and dissolution is hovering with outspread wings. these women are no longer trembling suppliants, feeling their way cautiously and feebly amid an overpowering mass of obstructions; they are now strong in their might, in their unity, and in the righteousness of their cause. men will do wisely if they attract this power instead of repelling it; if they permit women to work in concert with them, instead of compelling them to be arrayed against them. the fate of governor robinson and senator ecelstine of new york, indicates what they can do, and what they will do, if obliged to assume the attitude of aggressors. congress has heard no such eloquence upon its floors this week as we have listened to from the lips of these noble women.--[washington correspondent of the portland (me.) _transcript_, jan. , . these conventions occur yearly and although the ladies have fought long and hard, and seem to have not yet reached a positive assurance of success, still they continue to force the fight with greater earnestness and redoubled energy, and their meetings are conducted with much wisdom and decided spirit. there is one thing to the credit of these ladies which cannot be said of the opposite sex, and that is, their conventions are models of good order and parliamentary eloquence, and they put their work through in a graceful, business-like manner.--[washington _critic_, jan. , . the announcement that the public session of the national woman suffrage convention would begin at one o'clock yesterday afternoon at lincoln hall sufficed to attract a most brilliant audience, composed principally of ladies, occupying every seat and thronging the aisles. the inconvenience of remaining standing was patiently endured by hundreds who seemed loth to leave while the convention was in progress.--[washington _national republican_, jan. , . the session of the woman suffrage convention in washington this week has developed the fact that these strong-minded women are making progress. the convention itself was composed of women of marked ability, and its proceedings were marked by dignity and decorum. the very best citizens of the city attended the meetings.--[washington correspondent syracuse _daily standard_. [ ] letters were read from mary powers filley, n. h.; martha g. tunstall, texas; m. a. darling, mich.; may wright thompson, ind.; sarah burger stearns, minn.; miss martin, ill.; w. g. myers, o.; annie l. quinby, ky.; zina young williams, utah; barbara j. thompson, neb.; mira l. sturgis, me.; orra langhorne, va.; emily p. collins, la.; charles p. wellman, esq., ga. [ ] judge edmunds meeting miss anthony afterwards, complimented her on having made an argument instead of what is usually given before committees, platform oratory. he said her logic was sound, her points unanswerable. nor were the delegates familiar with that line of argument less impressed by it, given as it was without notes and amid many interruptions. it was one of those occasions rarely reached, in which the speaker showed the full height to which she was capable of rising. we have not space for the whole argument, and the train of reasoning is too close to be broken.--[m. j. g. [ ] speeches were also made by mrs. saxon, mrs. spencer and miss anthony. [ ] _alabama_, mrs. p. holmes drake, huntsville. _connecticut_, elizabeth c. champion, bridgeport. _district of columbia_, belva a. lockwood, eveleen l. mason, jerusha g. joy, ellen h. sheldon, sara andrews spencer, jane h. spofford. _illinois_, elizabeth boynton harbert, vice-president of the national association and editor of the "woman's kingdom" in the _chicago inter-ocean_, evanston; dr. ann m. porter, danville. _indiana_, mary e. haggart, vice-president; martha grimes, zerelda g. wallace, may wright thompson, a. p. stanton, indianapolis; salome mccain, frances joslin, crawfordsville; mrs. helen m. gougar, editor of the "bric-a-brac department" of the _lafayette courier_, lafayette; thomas atkinson, oxford; mrs. dr. rogers, greencastle; florence m. hardin, pendelton. _iowa_, mrs. j. c. m'kinney, mrs. weiser, decorah. _kentucky_, mary b. clay, richmond; mrs. carr, mrs. e. t. housh, louisville. _louisiana_, elizabeth l. saxon, new orleans, _maryland_; mary a. butler, baltimore. _michigan_, catherine a. f. stebbins, detroit. _missouri_, mrs. virginia l. minor, mrs. eliza j. patrick, mrs. annie t. anderson, mrs. caroline johnson todd, mrs. endie j. polk, miss phoebe couzins, miss m. a. baumgarten, miss emma neave, miss eliza b. buckley, st. louis; mrs. frances montgomery, oregon. _new hampshire_, parker pillsbury, concord. _new jersey_, lucinda b. chandler. _new york_, mrs. blake, mrs. gage, miss anthony. _ohio_, mrs. amanda b. merrian, mrs. cordelia a. plimpton, cincinnati; sophia l. o. allen, eva l. pinney, south newberry; mrs. n. l. braffet, new paris. _pennsylvania_, rachel foster, julia t. foster, philadelphia. _south carolina_, mary r. pell, cowden p. o. [ ] _colorado_, florence m. haynes, greely. _connecticut_, elizabeth c. champion, bridgeport. _district of columbia_; belva a. lockwood, sara andrews spencer, jane h. spofford, ellen h. sheldon, eveleen l. mason, jersuha g. joy, helen rand tindall, amanda m. best, washington. _illinois_, elizabeth boynton harbert, sarah hackett stephenson, kate newell doggett, catherine v. waite, elizabeth j. loomis, alma van winkle, chicago; dr. ann porter, danville; mrs. f. lillebridge, rockford; ann l. barnett, lockport; mrs. f. a. ross, mrs. i. r. lewison, mansfield; amanda smith, prophetstown. _indiana_, helen m. gougar, lafayette; dr. rachel b. swain, gertrude garrison, indianapolis. _iowa_, nancy r. allen, maquoketa; jane c. m'kinney, mrs. weiser, decorah; virginia cornish, hamburg; ellen j. foster, clinton; clara f. harkness, humboldt. _kansas_, amanda b. way, elizabeth m'kinney, kenneth. _kentucky_, mary b. clay, sallie clay bennett, richmond. _louisiana_, elizabeth l. saxon, new orleans. _maryland_, mary a. butler, baltimore. _massachusetts_, addie n. ayres, boston. _minnesota_, a. h. street, albert lee. _michigan_, catherine a. f. stebbins, detroit; eliza burt gamble, miss mattie smedly, east saginaw; p. engle travis, hartford; dr. elizabeth miller, south frankford. _missouri_, virginia l. minor, phoebe w. couzins, annie t. anderson, caroline j. todd, st. louis; dr. augusta smith, springfield. _new hampshire_, parker pillsbury, concord. _nebraska_, harriet s. brooks, omaha; dr. amy r. post, hastings. _new jersey_, margaret h. ravenhill. _new york_, susan b. anthony, rochester; matilda joslyn gage, fayetteville; lillie devereux blake, new york city. _ohio_, eva l. pinney, south newbury; julia b. cole. _oregon_, mrs. a. j. duniway (as substitute), portland. _pennsylvania_, rachel foster, julia t. foster, lucinda b. chandler, philadelphia; cornelia h. scarborough, new hope. _south carolina_, mary r. pell, cowden p. o. _tennessee_, elizabeth avery meriwether, memphis. _wisconsin_, rev. olympia brown, racine; almedia b. gray, schofield mills. _wyoming territory_, amelia b. post. [ ] historical society rooms, - dearborn ave., chicago, may , . _mrs. e. c. stanton, president national woman suffrage association, west lake street:_ _dear madam:_ i write you in behalf of the chicago historical society, and with the hope that you will obligingly secure for and present to this society a full manuscript record of the _mass-meeting_ to be held in farwell hall in this city, june , , duly signed by its officers. we hope too you will do the society the great favor to deposit in its archives all the letters and postals which you may receive in response to your invitations to attend that meeting. this meeting may be an important one and long to be remembered. it is hard to measure the possibilities of . i hope this meeting will mark an epoch in american history equal to the convention held in independence hall in . how valuable would be the attested manuscript record of that convention and the correspondence connected therewith! the records of the farwell-hall meeting may be equally valuable one hundred years hence. please let the records be kept in the city in which the convention or mass-meeting is held. i am a republican. i hope the party to which i belong will be consistent. on the highest stripe of its banner is inscribed "freedom and equal rights." i hope the party will not be so inconsistent as to refuse to the "better half" of the people of the united states the rights enjoyed by the liberated slaves at the south. the leaders should not be content _to suffer it to be so_, but should work with a will to make it so. i have but little confidence in the sincerity of the man who will shout himself hoarse about "shot guns" and "intimidation" at the south, when ridicule and sneers come from his "shot gun" pointed at those who advocate the doctrine that our mothers, wives and sisters are as well qualified to vote and hold official position as the average senegambian of mississippi. we should be glad to have you and your friends call at these rooms, which are open and free for all. very respectfully, a. d. hager, _librarian_. [ ] by mrs. saxon of new orleans, la.; mrs. meriwether of memphis, mrs. sallie clay bennett, daughter of cassius m. clay of richmond ky.; and others. mrs. bennett related a little home incident. she said: a few days ago she was in her front yard planting with her own hands some roses, when "our ex-governor," passing by, exclaimed: "mrs. bennett, i admire that in you; whatever one wants well done he must do himself." she immediately answered: "that is true governor, and that is why we women suffragists have determined to do our own voting hereafter." she then informed him that she wanted to speak to him on that great question. he was rather anxious to avoid the argument, and expressed his surprise and "was sorry to see a woman like her, surrounded by so many blessings, with a kind husband, numerous friends and loving children, advocating woman suffrage! she ought to be contented with these. she was not like miss anthony--" "stop, governor," i exclaimed, "don't think of comparing me to that lady, for i feel that i am not worthy to touch the hem of her garments." she was, she said, indeed the mother of five dear children, but she [miss anthony] is the mother of a nation of women. she thought the women feared god rather than man, and it was only this which encouraged them to speak on this subject, so dear to their hearts, in public. one lady gave as a reason why she wanted to vote, that it was because "the men did not want them to," which evoked considerable merriment. this induced the chair to remind the audience of napoleon's rule: "go, see what your enemy does not want you to do and do it." of the audience the _inter-ocean_ said: "the speakers of all the sessions were listened to with rapt attention by the audience, and the points made were heartily applauded. it would be difficult to gather so large an audience of our sex whose appearance would be more suggestive of refinement and intelligence." [ ] miss anthony, mrs. gage, mrs. chandler, mrs. spencer and mrs. haggart. [ ] twenty delegates from eleven different states, who had been in attendance at chicago, went to cincinnati. [ ] before which mrs. gage, mrs. meriwether, miss anthony, mrs. spencer and mrs. blake spoke. [ ] miss anthony, mrs. gage, mrs. blake, mrs. meriwether, mrs. saxon, miss. couzins, rev. olympia brown, misses rachel and julia foster. [ ] this was the last time this noble german woman honored our platform, as her eventful life closed a few years after. [ ] among others, from assemblyman lord, state-superintendent-of-public-instruction whitford, j. m. bingham and superintendent macalister. [ ] the delegates were olympia brown, _racine_; l. c. galt, m. m. frazier, _mukwonago_; e. a. brown, _berlin_; e. m. cooley, _eureka_; e. l. woolcott, _ripon_; o. m. patton, m. d., _appleton_; h. suhm, e. hohgrave, _sauk city_; m. w. mabbs, c. m. stowers, _manitowoc_; s. c. guernsey, _janesville_; h. t. patchin, _new london_; jennie pomeroy, _grand rapids_; mrs. h. w. rice, _oconomowoc_; amy winship, _racine_; almedia b. gray, matilda graves, jessie gray, _scholfield mills_; mrs. mary collins, _mukwonago_; mrs. jere witter, _grand rapids_; mrs. lucina e. dewolff, _whitewater_. the milwaukee delegates were: dr. laura r. wolcott, mme. mathilde franceske anneke, mrs. a. m. bolds, mrs. a. flagge, agnes b. campbell, mary a. rhienart, matilda pietsch, n. j. comstock, sarah r. munro, m. d., juliet h. severance, m. d., mrs. emily firega, carl doerflinger. maximillian grossman and carl herman boppe. [ ] . silent invocation. . music. . eulogy, elizabeth cady stanton. . tributes, frederick douglass, susan b. anthony. . music. . tributes, robert purvis, may wright sewall, phoebe w. couzins. . closing hymn--"_nearer, my god, to thee_." [ ] of the floral decorations, to which reference is made above as contributing so largely to the handsome appearance of the stage, the harp was furnished through mr. wormley in behalf of the colored admirers of mrs. mott, and the _epergne_ was provided for the occasion by the national association. there was also a basket of flowers, conspicuous for its beauty, sent in by senator cameron of pennsylvania. [ ] the eulogy will be found in volume i., page . [ ] see _national citizen_ of february, . [ ] edward m. davis, susan b. anthony, marilla m. ricker, rachel and julia foster, frederick douglass, belva a. lockwood, robert purvis, elizabeth cady stanton. this was the first time that mrs. martha m'clellan brown, miss jessie waite, mrs. may wright sewall and mrs. thornton charles were on our washington platform. the latter read a poem on woman's sphere. [ ] a standing committee is a permanent one about which no question can be raised in any congress. a special committee is a transient one to be decided upon at the opening of each congress; hence may be at any time voted out of existence. no one understood this better than new york's stalwart senator, and his plausible manner of killing the measure deceived the very elect. enough senators were pledged to have carried mr. mcdonald's motion had it been properly understood, but they, as well as some of the ladies in the gallery, were entirely misled by mr. conkling's seeming earnest intention to hasten the demands of the women by a short-lived committee, and while those in the gallery applauded, those on the floor defeated the measure they intended to carry. [ ] _yeas_--messrs. beck, booth, brown, coke, davis (w. va.), eaton, edmunds, farley, garland, groome, hill (ga.), harris, ingalls, kernan, lamar, morgan, morrill, pendleton, platt, pugh, ransom, saulsbury, slater, vance, vest and withers-- . _nays_--messrs. anthony, blair, burnside, butler, call, cameron (pa.), cameron (wis.), conkling, dawes, ferry, hoar, johnston, jonas, kellogg, logan, mcdonald, mcmillan, mcpherson, rollins, saunders, teller, williams and windom-- . [ ] of this reception the _national republican_ said: the attractions presented by the fair seekers of the ballot were so much superior to those of the dancing reception going on in the parlors above, that it was almost impossible to form a set of the lanciers until after the gathering in the lower parlors had entirely dispersed. [ ] miss anthony was presented with a beautiful basket of flowers from mrs. mary hamilton williams of fort wayne, ind., and returned her thanks. another interesting incident during the proceedings of the convention was the presentation of an exquisite gold cross from the "philadelphia citizens' suffrage association," to miss anthony. mrs. sewall of indianapolis, in a speech so tender and loving as to bring tears to many eyes, conveyed to her the message and the gift. miss anthony's acceptance was equally happy and impressive. as during the last thirty years the press of the country has made susan b. anthony a target for more ridicule and abuse than any other woman on the suffrage platform, it is worth noting that all who know her now vie with each other in demonstrations of love and honor.--[e. c. s. [ ] providence, r. i.--first light infantry hall, may , . rev. frederick a. hinckley gave the address of welcome. portland, me.--city hall, june , . rev. dr. mckeown of the m. e. church made the address of welcome. letter read from dr. henry c. garrish. among the speakers were charlotte thomas, a. j. grover. dover, n. h.--belknap street church, june , . marilla m. ricker took the responsibility of this meeting. concord, n. h.--white's opera house, june , . speakers entertained by mrs. armenia smith white. olympia brown and miss anthony spoke before the legislature in representatives hall--nearly all the members present--the latter returned on sunday and spoke on temperance and woman suffrage at the opera house in the afternoon, universalist church in the evening. keene, n. h.--liberty, hall, june , . prayer offered by rev. mr. enkins. mayor russell presided and gave the address of welcome. hartford, ct.--unity hall. june , . mrs. hooker presiding; frances ellen burr, emily p. collins, rev. phebe a. hanaford, caroline gilkey rogers, mary a. pell taking part in the meetings. new haven, ct.--athæneum, june , . joseph and abby sheldon, catherine comstock and others entertained the visitors and speakers. the speakers who made the entire new england tour were rev. olympia brown, mrs. gage, mrs. saxon, mrs. meriwether, the misses foster and miss anthony. the arrangements for all these conventions were made by rachel foster of philadelphia. chapter xxx. congressional debates and conventions. - . prolonged discussions in the senate on a special committee to look after the rights of women, messrs. bayard, morgan and vest in opposition--mr. hoar champions the measure in the senate, mr. reed in the house--washington convention--representative orth and senator saunders on the woman suffrage platform--hearings before select committees of senate and house--reception given by mrs. spofford at the riggs house--philadelphia convention--mrs. hannah whitehall smith's dinner--congratulations from the central committee of great britain--majority and minority reports in the senate--nebraska campaign--conventions in omaha--joint resolution introduced by hon. john d. white of kentucky, referred to the select committee--washington convention, january , , , --majority report in the house. although the effort to secure a standing committee on the political rights of women was defeated in the forty-sixth congress, by new york's stalwart senator, roscoe conkling, motions were made early in the first session of the forty-seventh congress, by hon. george f. hoar in the senate, and hon. john d. white in the house, for a special committee to look after the interests of women.[ ] it passed by a vote of to in the house, and by to in the senate. on december , , the senate committee on rules reported the following resolution for the appointment of a special committee on woman suffrage: _resolved_, that a select committee of seven senators be appointed by the chair, to whom shall be referred all petitions, bills and resolves providing for the extension of suffrage to women or the removal of their legal disabilities. december . mr. hoar: i move to take up the resolution reported by the committee on rules yesterday, for the appointment of a select committee on the subject of woman suffrage. mr. vest: mr. president, i am constrained to object to the passage of this resolution, and i do it with considerable reluctance. at present we have thirty standing committees of the senate; four joint and seven special committees, in addition to the one now proposed. the president _pro tempore_: the chair will inform the senator from missouri that a majority of the senate has to decide whether the resolution shall be considered. mr. vest: i understood the chair to state that it was before the senate. the president _pro tempore_: it is before the senate if there be no objection. the chair thought the senator made objection to its consideration. mr. hoar: it went over under the rule yesterday and comes up now. mr. edmunds: it is the regular order now. the president _pro tempore_: certainly. the chair thought the senator from missouri objected to its consideration. mr. vest: no, sir. the president _pro tempore_: the resolution is before the senate and open to debate. mr. vest: i have had the honor for a few years to be a member of the committee on public buildings and grounds, and my colleagues on that committee will bear witness with me to the trouble and annoyance which at every session have arisen in regard to giving accommodations to the special committees. two sessions ago there was a conflict between the senate and house in regard to furnishing committee-rooms for three special committees, and it is only upon the doctrine of _pedis possessio_ that the senate to-day holds three committee-rooms in the capitol, the house still laying claim as a matter of law, through their committee on public buildings and grounds, for the possession of these rooms. at the special session, on account of the exigencies in regard to rooms, we were compelled to take the retiring-room assigned near the gallery to the ladies, and cut it into two rooms, to accommodate select committees. at this session we have created two special committees more, and i should like to make the inquiry when and where this manufacture of special committees is to cease? as soon as any subject becomes one of comment in the newspapers, or, respectfully i say it, a hobby with certain zealous partisans throughout the country, application is made to the senate of the united states and a special committee is to be appointed. for this reason, and for the simple reason that a stop must be had somewhere to the raising of special committees, i oppose the proposition now before the senate. but, mr. president, i will be entirely ingenuous and give another reason. this is simply a step toward the recognition of woman suffrage, and i am opposed to it upon principle in its inception. in my judgment it has nothing but mischief in it to the institutions and to the society of this whole country. i do not propose to enter into a discussion of that subject to-day, but it will be proper for me to make this statement, and i make it intending no reflection upon the zealous ladies who have engaged for the past ten years in manufacturing a public sentiment upon this question. i received to-day a letter from a distinguished lady in my own state, for whom i have personally the greatest admiration and respect, calling my attention to the fact that i propose to deny justice to the women of the country. mr. president, i deny it. it is because i believe that the conservative influence of society in the united states rests with the women of the country that i propose not to degrade the wife and mother to the ward politician, the justice of the peace, or the notary public. it is because i believe honestly that all the best influences for the conservation of society rest upon the women of the country in their proper sphere that i shall oppose this and every other step now and henceforth as violating, as i believe, one of the great essential fundamental laws of nature and of society. mr. president, the revenges of nature are sure and unerring, and these revenges are just as certain in political matters and in social matters as in the physical world. now and here i desire to record once for all my conviction that in this movement to take the women of the country out of their proper sphere of social influence, that great and glorious sphere in which nature and nature's god have placed them, and rush them into the political arena, the attempt is made to put them where they were never intended to be; and i now and here record my opposition to it. this may seem to be but a small matter, but as this letter shows, and i reveal no private confidence, it recognizes the first great step in this reform, as its advocates are pleased to term it. my practice and conviction as a public man is to fight every wrong wherever i believe it to exist. i am opposed to this movement. i am opposed to it upon principle, upon conviction, and i shall call for the yeas and nays in order to record my vote against it. december . the senate resumed the consideration of the resolution reported from the committee on rules by mr. hoar on the th inst. mr. vest: mr. president, i disclaim any intention again to incite or excite any general discussion in regard to woman suffrage. the senator from massachusetts [mr. hoar], for whom i have very great regard, was yesterday pleased to observe that the state governments furnished by the senator from missouri and other senators in the past had been no argument in favor of manhood suffrage. mr. president, i have been under the impression that the american people to-day are the best governed, the best clothed, the best fed, the best housed, the happiest people upon the face of the globe, and that, too, notwithstanding the fact that they have been under the domination of the republican party for twenty long years. i have also been under the impression that the institutions of the states and of the united states are an improvement upon all governmental theories and schemes hitherto known to mortal man; but we are to learn to-day from the senator from massachusetts that this government and the state governments have been failures, and that woman suffrage must be introduced in order to purify the political atmosphere and elevate the suffrage. mr. hoar: will the senator allow me to interrupt him for a moment? mr. vest: of course. mr. hoar: i desire to disclaim the meaning which the honorable senator seems to have put upon my words. i agree with him that the american governments have been the best on the face of the earth, but it is because of their adoption of that principle of equality more than any other government, the logical effect of which will compel them to yield the right prayed for to women, that they are the best. but still best as they are, i said, and mean to say, that the business of governing mankind has been the one business on the face of the earth which has been done most clumsily, which has been, even where most excellent, full of mistakes, expense, injustice, and wrong-doing. what i said was that i did not think the persons to whom that privileged function had been committed so far were entitled to claim any special superiority for the masculine intellect in the results which it had achieved. mr. vest: to say that the governments, state and national, now in existence upon this continent are imperfect is but to announce the truism that everything made by man is necessarily imperfect. but i stand here to declare to-day that the governments of the states, and the national government, in theory, although failing sometimes in practice, are a standing monument to the genius and intellect of the men who created them. but the senator from massachusetts was pleased to say further, that woman suffrage should obtain in this country in the interest of education. i permit not that senator to go further than myself in the line of universal public education. i have declared, over and over again, in every county in my state for the past ten years, that universal education should accompany universal suffrage, that the school-house should crown every mound in prairie and forest, that it was the temple of liberty and the altar of law and order. i well remember that i was thrilled with the eloquence of the distinguished senator from massachusetts at the last session of the last congress, when, upon a bill to provide for general education by a donation of the public lands, he so pathetically and justly described the mass of dark ignorance and illiteracy projected upon the people of the south under the policy of the republican party, and the senator then stood here and said that the people of massachusetts extended the public lands to relieve the people of the south from this monstrous burden. what does the senator propose to do to-day? he proposes with one stroke of the pen to double, and more than double, the illiterate suffrage of the united states. the senator says that one-half the people of the united states are represented in this measure of woman suffrage. i deny it, sir. if the senator means that the women of america, comprising one-half of the population, are interested in this measure, i deny it most emphatically and most peremptorily. not one-tenth of them want it. not one-tenth of the mothers and sisters and christian women of this land want to be turned into politicians or to meddle in a sphere to which god and nature have not assigned them. sir, there are some ladies--and i do not intend to term them anything but ladies--who are zealously engaged in this cause, and they have flooded this hall with petitions, and have called their women's rights conventions all over the land. i assail not their motives, but i deny that they represent the women of the united states. i say that if woman suffrage obtains, the worst class of the women of the country will rush to the polls and the best class will remain away by a large majority. that is my deliberate judgment and firm conviction. but, mr. president, a word in regard to the committees. i desire no general discussion upon woman suffrage, and simply alluded in passing to what had been said by the senator from massachusetts. the president _pro tempore_: the hour of one o'clock has arrived, and the morning hour is closed. december . mr. jones of florida: i desire to call up a resolution now lying on the table, which i introduced on the th instant, calling for information from the secretary of war touching a ship-canal across the peninsula of florida. mr. hoar: mr. president-- the president _pro tempore_: the senator from florida asks leave to call up a resolution submitted by him. mr. hoar: my resolution was before the senate yesterday, and comes up in order. i hope we shall vote on it. mr. jones of florida: i will only say that my resolution was laid over temporarily on the objection of the senator from vermont [mr. edmunds], which he will not insist upon. mr. hoar: allow me to call the attention of the chair to the fact; it is not the question of a resolution which has not been taken up. the resolution reported by me from the committee on rules was taken up, and was under discussion when the senator from missouri [mr. vest] was taken from the floor by the expiration of the morning hour, in the midst of his remarks. certainly his right to conclude his remarks takes precedence of other business under the usual practice of the senate. the president _pro tempore_: the chair thought the senator from missouri had ended his remarks, or he would not have interposed when he did. mr. hoar: no, sir. mr. jones of florida: my resolution involves no debate. it is merely a resolution of inquiry. mr. hoar: the other will be disposed of, i hope, in a few moments. mr. jones of florida: the resolution to which i refer went over informally on the objection of the senator from vermont, and i think he has no objection now. mr. hoar: the other will be disposed of in a moment, and i hope we shall vote on it. the president _pro tempore_: the chair lays before the senate the resolution of the senator from massachusetts [mr. hoar]. the senate resumed the consideration of the resolution reported from the committee on rules by mr. hoar on the th instant. the president _pro tempore_: the chair would state to the senator from missouri [mr. vest] that the chair supposed yesterday that he had finished his remarks, or the chair would not have stopped him at that moment. the question is on agreeing to the resolution, on which the senator from missouri [mr. vest] is entitled to the floor. mr. vest: mr. president, i was on the eve of finishing my remarks yesterday when the morning hour expired, and i do not now wish to detain the senate. i was about to say at that time that the senate now has forty-one committees, with a small army of messengers and clerks, one-half of whom, without exaggeration, are literally without employment. i shall not pretend to specify the committees of this body which have not one single bill, resolution, or proposition of any sort pending before them, and have not had for months. i am very well aware that if i should name one of them, liberty would lie bleeding in the streets at once, and that committee would become the most important on the list of committees of the senate. i shall not venture to do that. i am informed by the sergeant-at-arms that if this resolution is adopted he must have six additional messengers to be added to that body of ornamental employés who now stand or sit at the doors of the respective committee-rooms. i have heard that this committee is for the purpose of giving a committee to a senator in this body. i have heard the statement made, but i cannot believe it, and i am very certain that no senator will undertake to champion the resolution upon any such ground. the senator from massachusetts was pleased to say that the committee on the judiciary had so many important questions pending before it, that the subject of woman suffrage should not be added to them. the committee on territories is open to any complaint or suggestion by the ladies who advocate woman suffrage, in regard to this subject in the territories; and the committee on privileges and elections to which this subject should go most appropriately, as affecting the suffrage, has not now before it, as i am informed, one single bill, resolution, or proposition of any sort whatever. that committee is also open to inquiry upon this subject. but, mr. president, out of all committees without business, and habitually without business, in this body, there is one that beyond any question could take jurisdiction of this matter and do it ample justice. i refer to that most respectable and antique institution, the committee on revolutionary claims. for thirty years it has been without business. for thirty long years the placid surface of that parliamentary sea has been without one single ripple. if the senator from massachusetts desires a tribunal for calm judicial equilibrium and examination, a tribunal far from the "madding crowd's ignoble strife," a tribunal eminently respectable, dignified and unique, why not send this question to the committee on revolutionary claims? when i name the _personnel_ of that committee it will be evident that any consideration on any subject touching the female sex would receive not only deliberate but immediate attention, for the second member upon that committee is my distinguished friend from florida [mr. jones], and who can doubt that he would give his undivided attention to the subject? [laughter.] it is eminently proper that this subject should go to that committee because if there is any revolutionary claim in this country it is that of woman suffrage. [laughter.] it revolutionizes society; it revolutionizes religion; it revolutionizes the constitution and laws; and it revolutionizes the opinions of those so old-fashioned among us as to believe that the legitimate and proper sphere of woman is the family circle as wife and mother and not as politician and voter--those of us who are proud to believe that-- a woman's noblest station is retreat; her fairest virtues fly from public sight; domestic worth--that shuns too strong a light. before that committee on revolutionary claims why could not this most revolutionary of all claims receive immediate and ample attention? more than that, as i said before, if there is any tribunal that could give undivided time and dignified attention, is it not this committee? if there is one peaceful haven of rest, never disturbed by any profane bill or resolution of any sort, it is the committee on revolutionary claims. it is, in parliamentary life, described by that ecstatic verse in watts' hymn: there shall i bathe my wearied soul in seas of endless rest, and not one wave of trouble roll across my peaceful breast. for thirty years there has been no excitement in that committee, and it needs to-day, in western phrase, some "stirring-up." by all natural laws stagnation breeds disease and death; and what could stir up this most venerable and respectable institution more than an application of the strong-minded, with short hair and shorter skirts, invading its dignified realm and elucidating all the excellences of female suffrage? moreover, if these ladies could ever succeed, in the providence of god, in obtaining a report from that committee, it would end this question forever; for the public at large and myself included, in view of that miracle of female blandishment and female influence, would surrender at once, and female suffrage would become constitutional and lawful. sir, i insist upon it that in deference to this committee, in deference to the fact that it needs this sort of regimen and medicine, this whole subject should be so referred. [laughter.] mr. morrill: mr. president, i do not desire to say anything as to the merits of the resolution, but i understand the sole purpose of raising this committee is to have a committee-room. so far as i know, there are some five or six committees now which are destitute of rooms, and it would be impossible for the committee on public buildings and grounds to assign any room to this committee--the object which i understand is at the foundation of the introduction of the proposition; that is to say, to give these ladies an opportunity to be heard in some appropriate committee-room on the questions which they wish to agitate and submit. mr. hoar: they would find room in some other committee-room. they could have the room of the committee on privileges and elections, if there were no other place. the president _pro tempore_: the question is on the adoption of the resolution reported by the senator from massachusetts. mr. harris: did not the senator from missouri [mr. vest] offer an amendment? mr. garland: as i understand, he moved to refer the subject to the committee on revolutionary claims. the president _pro tempore_: does the chair understand that the senator from missouri has offered an amendment? mr. vest: yes, sir; i move to refer the matter to the committee on revolutionary claims. mr. conger: let the resolution be reported. the acting secretary read the resolution. the president _pro tempore_: the senator from missouri offers an amendment, that the subject be referred to the standing committee on revolutionary claims. the question is on the amendment of the senator from missouri. [putting the question.] the noes appear to have it. mr. farley called for the yeas and nays, and they were ordered and taken. mr. blair [after having voted in the negative]: i have voted inadvertently. i am paired with the senator from alabama [mr. pugh]. were he present he would have voted "yea," as i have voted "nay." i withdraw my vote. mr. windom: i am paired with the senator from west virginia [mr. davis], but as i understand he would vote "nay" on this question, i vote "nay." mr. ingalls: i am paired with the senator from mississippi [mr. lamar]. the result was announced--yeas , nays . so the motion was not agreed to. the president _pro tempore_: the question recurs on the adoption of the resolution. mr. bayard: is it in order for me to move the reference of the subject to the committee on the judiciary? the president _pro tempore_: it is in order to move to refer the resolution to the committee on the judiciary, the chair understands. mr. bayard: then i make a motion that the resolution be sent to the committee on the judiciary. i would state that i voted with some regret and hesitancy upon the motion of the senator from missouri [mr. vest] to refer this matter to the committee on revolutionary claims. my regret was owing to the fact that i do not wish even to seem to treat a subject of this character in a spirit of levity, or to indicate the slightest disrespect by such a reference, to those whose opinions upon this subject differ essentially from my own. i cast the vote because i considered it would be taking the subject virtually away from the consideration of congress at its present session. i do, however, hold that there is no necessity for the creation of a special committee to attend to this subject. the committee on the judiciary has within the last few years, upon many occasions, attempted to deal with it. since you, sir, and i have been members of that committee-- mr. hoar: mr. president-- the president _pro tempore_: will the senator from delaware yield to the senator from massachusetts? mr. bayard: i will, if he thinks it necessary to interrupt me. mr. hoar: i desire to ask the senator, if he is willing, having been lately a member of the committee to which he refers, whether it is not the rule of that committee to allow no hearings to individual petitioners, a rule which is departed from only in very rare and peculiar cases? mr. bayard: i will reply to the honorable senator that the occasion which arose to my mind and caused me to remember the action of that committee was the audience given by it to a very large delegation of woman suffragists, _to wit_, the representatives of a convention held in this city, who to the number, i think, of twenty-five, came into the committee-room of the committee on the judiciary, and were heard, as i remember, for more than one day, or certainly had more than one hearing, before that committee, of which you, sir, and i were members. mr. hoar: if the senator will pardon me, however, he has not answered my question. i asked the senator not whether on one particular occasion they gave a hearing on this subject, but whether it is not the rule of that committee, occasioned by the necessity of its business, from which it departs only in very rare cases, not to give hearings? mr. bayard: i cannot answer whether a rule so defined as that suggested by the honorable senator from massachusetts exists in that committee. it is my impression, however, that cases are frequently, by order of that committee, argued before it. we have had very elaborate and able arguments upon subjects connected with the pacific railroads, i remember; and we have had arguments upon various subjects. it is constantly our pleasure to hear members of the senate upon a variety of questions before that committee. it may be only a proof that women's rights are not unrecognized nor their influence unfelt when i state the fact that if there be such a rule as is suggested by the honorable senator from massachusetts of excluding persons from the audience of that committee, on the occasion of the application of the ladies a hearing was granted, and they came in force,--not only force in numbers, but force in the character and intelligence of those who appeared before the committee. they were listened to with great respect, but their views were not concurred in by the committee as it was then composed. we were all entertained by the bright wit, the clever and, in my judgment, in many respects, the just sarcasm of our honorable friend from missouri [mr. vest], but my habit is not to consider public measures in a jocular light; it is not to consider a question of this kind in a jocular light. whatever may be the merits or demerits of this proposition, whatever may be the reasons for or against it, no man can doubt that it will strike at the very roots of the present organization of society, and that its consequences will be most profound and far-reaching should the advocates of the measure proposed prevail. therefore it is that i think this subject should not be considered separately; it should not have a special committee--either of advocates or opponents arranged for its consideration; but it should go where proposed amendments to the fundamental law of the land have always been sent for consideration,--to that committee to which judicial questions, questions of a constitutional nature, have always in the history of this government been committed. there is no need, there is no justice, there is no wisdom in attempting to separate the fate of this question, which affects society so profoundly and generally, from the other questions that affect society. it cannot be made a specialty: it ought not to be. you cannot tear this question from the great contest of human passions, affections, and interests which surround it, and treat it as a thing by itself. it has many sides from which it may be viewed, some that are not proper or fitting for this forum, and a discussion now in public. there are the claims of religion itself to be considered in connection with this case. civil rights, social rights, political rights, religious rights, all are bound up in the consideration of a measure like this. in its consideration you cannot safely attempt to segregate this question and leave it untouched and uninfluenced by all those other questions by which it is surrounded and in the consideration of which it is bound to be connected and concerned. therefore, without going further, prematurely, into a discussion of the merits of the proposition itself or its desirability, i say that it should take the usual course which the practice and laws of this body have given to grave public questions. let it go to the committee on the judiciary, and let them, under their sense of duty, deal with it according to its gravity and importance, and if it be here returned let it be passed upon by the grave deliberations of the senate itself. i hope the special committee proposed will not be raised, and i trust the senate will concur with me in thinking that the subject should be sent to the committee on the judiciary. mr. logan rose. the president _pro tempore_: the morning hour has expired. mr. logan: i want to say just one word. the president _pro tempore_: it requires unanimous consent. mr. logan: i do not wish to make a speech; i merely desire to say a word in response to what the senator from delaware [mr. bayard] has said in relation to the reference to the judiciary committee. mr. harris: i ask unanimous consent that the senator from illinois may proceed. the president _pro tempore_: there being no objection unanimous consent will be presumed to have been given for the senator from illinois to make his explanation. mr. logan: this question having been once before the judiciary committee, and it being a request by many ladies, who are citizens of the united states just as we are, that they should have a special committee of the senate before which they can be heard, i deem it proper and right, without any committal whatever in reference to my own views, that they should have that committee. it is nothing but fair, just, and right that they should have a committee organized as nearly as can be in the senate in favor of the views they desire to present. it is treating them only as other citizens would desire to be treated before a body of this character. i am, therefore, opposed to the reference of the proposition to the judiciary committee, and i hope the senate will give these ladies a special committee where they can be heard, and that that committee may be so organized as that it will be as favorable to their views as possible, so that they may have a fair hearing. that is all i desire to say. mr. morrill: i hope this subject will be concluded this morning, otherwise it is to come up constantly and monopolize all the time of the morning hour. i do not think it will require many minutes more to dispose of it now. the president _pro tempore_: the chair will entertain a motion on that subject. mr. morrill: i move to set aside other business until this resolution shall be disposed of. if it should continue any length of time of course i would withdraw the suggestion. the president _pro tempore_: the senator from vermont-- mr. voorhees: mr. president, i feel constrained to call for the regular order. december , . the president _pro tempore_: are there further "concurrent or other resolutions"? mr. hoar: i call up the resolution in regard to woman suffrage, reported by me from the committee on rules. mr. jones of florida: i ask for information how long the morning hour is to extend? the president _pro tempore_: the regular business of the morning hour is closed. the morning hour, however, will not expire until twenty minutes past one. the senator from massachusetts asks to have taken up the resolution reported by him from the committee on rules. mr. hoar: i hope we may have a vote on the resolution this morning. the president _pro tempore_: the question is on the amendment proposed by the senator from delaware [mr. bayard], that the subject be referred to the committee on the judiciary. mr. hoar: it is not intended by the resolution to commit the senate, or any senator in the slightest degree to any opinion upon the question of woman suffrage, but it is merely the question of a convenient mode of hearing. i hope we shall be allowed to have a vote on the resolution. the president _pro tempore_: is the senate ready for the question on the motion of the senator from delaware? mr. bayard and mr. farley called for the yeas and nays, and they were ordered. mr. beck: mr. president, i have received a number of communications from very respectable ladies in my own state upon this important question; but i am unable to comply with their request and support the female suffrage which they advocate. i shall vote for the reference to the committee on the judiciary in order that there may be a thorough investigation of the question. i wholly disagree with the suggestion of the senator from illinois [mr. logan], that a committee ought to be appointed as favorable to the views of these ladies as possible. i desire a committee that will have no views, for or against them, except what is best for the public good. such a committee i understand the committee on the judiciary to be. i desire to say only in a word that the difficulty i have and the question i desire the committee on the judiciary to report upon is, the effect of this question upon suffrage. by the fifteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states there can be no discrimination made in regard to voting on account of race, color or previous condition. intelligence is properly regarded as one of the fundamental principles of fair suffrage. we have been compelled in the last ten years to allow all the colored men of the south to become voters. there is a mass of ignorance there to be absorbed that will take years and years of care in order to bring that class up to the standard of intelligent voters. the several states are addressing themselves to that task as earnestly as possible. now it is proposed that all the women of the country shall vote; that all the colored women of the south, who are as much more ignorant than the colored men as it is possible to imagine, shall vote. not one perhaps in a hundred of them can read or write. the colored men have had the advantages of communication with other men in a variety of forms. many of them have considerable intelligence; but the colored women have not had equal chances. take them from their wash-tubs and their household work and they are absolutely ignorant of the new duties of voting citizens. the intelligent ladies of the north and the west and the south cannot vote without extending that privilege to that class of ignorant colored people. i doubt whether any man will say that it is safe for the republic now, when we are going through the problem we are obliged to solve, to fling in this additional mass of ignorance upon the suffrage of the country. why, sir, a rich corporation or a body of men of wealth could buy them up for fifty cents apiece, and they would vote without knowing what they were doing for the side that paid most. yet we are asked to confer suffrage upon them, and to have a committee appointed as favorable to that view as possible, so as to get a favorable report upon it! i want the committee on the judiciary to tell the congress and the country whether they think it is good policy now to confer suffrage on all the colored women of the south, ignorant as they are known to be, and thus add to the ignorance that we are now struggling with, and whether the republic can be sustained upon such a basis as that. for that reason, and because i want that information from an unbiased committee, because i know that suffrage has been degraded sufficiently already, and because it would be degraded infinitely more if a report favorable to this extension of suffrage should be adopted and passed through congress, i am opposed to this movement. no matter if there are a number of respectable ladies who are competent to vote and desire it to be done, because of the very fact that they cannot be allowed this privilege without giving all the mass of ignorant colored women in the country the right to vote, thus bringing in a mass of ignorance that would crush and degrade the suffrage of this country almost beyond conception, i shall vote to refer the subject to the judiciary committee, and i shall await their report with a good deal of anxiety. mr. morgan: mr. president-- the president _pro tempore_: the morning hour has expired, and the unfinished business is before the senate. december , . mr. hoar: i now call up the resolution for appointing a special committee on woman suffrage. the president _pro tempore_: the morning hour having expired, the senator from massachusetts calls up the resolution which was under consideration yesterday. mr. ingalls: what is the regular order? the president _pro tempore_: there is no regular unfinished business. the senator from florida [mr. call] gave notice yesterday that he would ask the indulgence of the senate to-day to consider the subject of homestead rights. mr. hoar: i hope this matter may be disposed of. it is very unpleasant to me to stand before the senate in this way, taking up its time with this matter in a five minutes' debate every day in succession for an unlimited period of time. it is a matter which every senator understands. it has nothing to do with the merits of the woman suffrage question at all. it is a mere desire on the part of these people to have a particular form of hearing, which seems to me the most convenient for the senate, and i hope the senate will be willing to vote on the resolution and let it pass. mr. morgan: i have no objection to proceeding to the consideration of the resolution, but i desire to address the senate upon it. mr. hoar: i think i must ask now as a favor of the senator from alabama that he let the resolution be disposed of promptly. the president _pro tempore_: the senator from alabama states that he has no objection to the present consideration of the resolution, but he asks leave to make some remarks upon it. the chair hearing no objection to the consideration of the resolution, it is before the senate. mr. farley: i object to the consideration of the resolution. mr. hoar: i move to take it up. the president _pro tempore_: the senator from massachusetts calls it up as a matter of right. if a majority of the senate agree to take up the resolution it is before the senate, and the chair will put the question. the question is on agreeing to the motion of the senator from massachusetts to proceed to the consideration of the resolution. [the motion was agreed to; and the senate resumed the consideration of the resolution reported from the committee on rules by mr. hoar on the th instant, which was read.] the president _pro tempore_: the pending question is on the motion of the senator from delaware [mr. bayard] to refer the subject to the committee on the judiciary, on which the yeas and nays have been ordered. mr. morgan: mr. president, i stand in a different relation to this question from that of the senator from kentucky [mr. beck], who said yesterday that he had received a number of communications from very respectable ladies in his own state upon this very important subject, and yet felt constrained by a sense of duty to deny the action which they solicited at the hands of congress. i am not informed that any woman from alabama has ever sent a petition to the senate, or to either house, upon this matter. indeed, it is my impression that no petitions or letters have ever been addressed by any lady in the state of alabama to either house of congress upon this question. it may be that that peculiar type of civilization which drives women from their homes to the ballot-box to seek redress and protection against their husbands has never yet reached the state of alabama, and i shall not be disagreeably disappointed if it should never come upon our people, for they have lived in harmony and in prosperity now for many years. besides the relief which the state has seen proper to give to married women in respect of their separate estates, we have not thought it wise or politic in any sense to go further and undertake to make a line of demarkation between the husband and wife as politicians. on the contrary, according to our estimate of a proper civilization, we look to the family relation as being the true foundation of our republican institutions. strike out the family relation, disband the family, destroy the proper authority of the person at the head of the family, either the wife or the husband, and you take from popular government all legitimate foundation. the measure which is now brought before the senate of the united states is but the initial measure of a series which has been urged upon the attention of states and territories, and upon the attention of the congress of the united states in various forms to draw a line of political demarkation through a man's household, through his fireside, and to open to the intrusion of politics and politicians that sacred circle of the family where no man should be permitted to intrude without the consent of both the heads of the family. what picture could be more disagreeable or more disgusting than to have a pot-house politician introduce himself into a gentleman's family, with his wife seated at one side of the fireplace and himself at the other, and this man coming between to urge arguments why the wife should oppose the policy that the husband advocates, or that the husband should oppose the policy that the wife advocates? if this measure means anything it is a proposition that the senate of the united states shall first vote to carry into effect this unjust and improper intrusion into the home circle. suppose this resolution to raise a select committee should be passed: that committee will have its hands full and its ears full of petitions and applications and speeches from strong-minded women, and of course it must make some report to the senate; and we shall have this subject introduced in here as one that requires a peculiar application of the powers of the senate for its digestion and for the completion of the bills and measures founded upon it. at the next session of congress this select committee will become a standing committee of the senate, and then we shall have that which appears to be the most potential and at the same time the most dangerous element in politics to-day, agitation, agitation, agitation. it seems that the legislators of the united states government are not to be allowed to pass in quiet judgment upon measures of this character, but like many other things which are addressing themselves to the attention of the people on this side of the water and the other, they must all be moved against the senate and against the house by agitation. you raise your committee and allow the agitators to come before them, yea, more than that, you invite them to come; and what is the result? the congress of the united states will for the next ten or perhaps twenty years be continually assailed for special and peculiar legislation in favor of the women of the land. i do not understand that a woman in this country has any more right to a select committee than a man has. it would be just as rational and as proper in every legislative and parliamentary sense to have a select committee for the consideration of the rights of men as to have a committee for the consideration of the rights of women. i object, sir, to this disseverance between the sexes, and i object to the senate of the united states giving its sanction in advance or in any way to this character of legislation. it is a false principle, and it will work evil, and only evil, in this country. what jurisdiction do you expect to exercise in the senate of the united states for the benefit of the women in respect of suffrage or in respect of separate estates? where are the boundaries of your jurisdiction? you find them in the territories and in the district of columbia. if you expect to proceed into the states you must have the constitution of the united states amended so as to put our wives and our daughters upon the footing of those who are provided for in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. your jurisdiction is limited to the territories and to the district of columbia. inasmuch as this measure, i understand, has been made a party measure by the decree of a caucus, i propose to make some little inquiry into the past legislation of the congress of the united states under republican rule in respect of the extension of the right of suffrage to certain classes of people in this country. i will take up first the territories. let us look for a moment at the result of woman suffrage in some of the territories. the territorial legislature of utah has gone forward and conferred the right of suffrage upon women. the population in the last decade has reached from , , i believe, to about , . the territorial legislature of utah conferred upon the females of that territory the right of suffrage, and how have they exercised that right? sir, i am ashamed to say it, but it is known to the world that the power of mormonism and polygamy in utah territory is sustained by female suffrage. you cannot get rid of those laws. ninety per cent. of the legislative power of utah territory is mormon and polygamous. if female suffrage is to be incorporated into the laws of our country with a view to the amelioration of our morals or our political sentiments, we stand aghast at the spectacle of what has been wrought by its exercise in the territory of utah. there stands a power supporting the crime of polygamy through what they call a divine inspiration, or teaching from god, and all the power of the judges of the united states and of the congress of the united states has been unavailing to break it down. who have upheld it? those who in the family circle represent one husband to fifteen women. a continual accumulation of the power of the church and of polygamy is going on, and when the gentiles, as they are called, enter that territory with the view of breaking it up they are confronted by the women, who are allowed to vote, and from whom we should naturally expect a better and a higher morality in reference to subjects of the kind. but this only shows the power of man over woman. it only shows how through her tender affections, her delicate sensibilities, and her confiding spirit she can be made the very slave and bond-servant of man, and can scarcely ever be made an independent participant in the stronger exercise of the powers which god seems to have intrusted to him. never was there a picture more disgusting or more condemnatory of the extension of the franchise to women as contradistinguished from men than is presented in the territory of utah to-day. where is the necessity of raising the number of voters in the united states from , , to , , ? that would be the direct effect of conferring suffrage upon the women, for they are at least one-half, if not a little more than one-half, of the entire population of the country above the age of twenty-one. we have now masses of voters so enormous in numbers as that it seems to be almost beyond the power of the law to execute the purposes of the elective franchise with justice, with propriety, and without crime. how much would these difficulties and these intrinsic troubles be increased if we should raise the number of voters from , , to , , in the united states? that would be the direct and immediate effect of conferring the franchise upon the women. what would be the next effect of such an extension of the suffrage? it was described by my friend from missouri [mr. vest] and by other senators who have spoken upon this subject. the effect would be to drive the ladies of the land, as they are termed, the well-bred and well-educated women, the women of nice sensibilities, within their home circle, there to remain, while the ruder of that sex would thrust themselves out on the hustings and at the ballot-box, and fight their way to the polls through negroes and others who are not the best of company even at the polls, to say nothing of the disgrace of association with them. you would paralyze one-third at least of the women of this land by the very vulgarity of the overture made to them that they should go struggling to the polls in order to vote in common with the herd of men. they would not undertake it. the most intelligent and trustworthy part of the suffrage thus placed upon the land would never be available, while that which was not worthy of respect either for its character or for its information would take the matter in hand and move along in the circle of politicians to cast their suffrages at the ballot-box. as the states to be formed out of the territories are admitted into the union, they will come stamped with the characteristics which the legislatures of the territories have imprinted upon them; and if after due consideration in those territories the men who have the regulation of public affairs should come to the conclusion that it was best to have woman suffrage, then we can allow them, under existing laws, to go on and perfect their systems and apply for admission into the union with them as they may choose to adopt them and to shape them. the law upon that subject as it exists is liberal enough, for it gives to the legislatures the right to regulate the qualifications of suffrage. it leaves it to each local community, wherever it may be throughout the territories of the united states, to determine for itself what it may prefer to have. is it the object in the raising of this committee only that it shall have so many speeches made, so much talk about it, or is it to be the object of the committee to have legislation brought here? if you bring legislation here, what will you bring? an amendment to the constitution like the fourteenth amendment, or else some provision obligatory upon the territories by which female suffrage shall be allowed there, whether the people want it or whether they do not? for my part, before this session of congress ends i intend to introduce a bill to repeal woman suffrage in the territory of utah, knowing and believing that that will be the most effectual remedy for the extirpation of polygamy in that unfortunate territory. if you choose to repeal the laws of any territory conferring the right of suffrage upon women you have the power in congress to do it; but there are no measures introduced here and none advocated in that direction. the whole drift of this movement is in the other direction. this committee is sought to be raised either for the accommodation of some senator who wants a chairmanship and a clerk, or it is sought to be raised for the purpose of encouraging a raid on the laws and traditions of this country, which i think would end in our total demoralization, i therefore oppose this measure in the beginning, and i expect to oppose it as far as it may go. now let us notice for a moment the case of the district of columbia. there are some senators here who have given themselves a great deal of trouble in the advocacy of the right of suffrage of the people of the united states, and especially of the colored people. they put themselves to great trouble, and doubtless at some expense of feeling, to worry and beset and harry gentlemen who come from certain states of this union, in reference to the votes of the negroes: and yet these very gentlemen have been either in this house or in the other when the republican party has had a two-thirds majority of both branches and has deliberately taken from the people of the district of columbia the right to elect any officer from a constable to a mayor, all because when the experiment was tried here it was found that the negroes were a little too strong. there was too much african suffrage in the ballot-box, and they must get rid of it, and to get rid of it on terms of equality they have disfranchised every man in the district of columbia. i shall have more faith in the sincerity of the declarations of gentlemen of their desire to have the women vote when i see that they have made some step toward the restoration of the right of suffrage to the people of the district of columbia. while they let this blot remain upon our law, while they allow this damning conviction to stand, they may stare us in the face and accuse us continually of a want of candor and sincerity on this subject, but they will address their arguments to me in vain, even as coming from men who have an infatuation upon the subject. i do not believe a word of it, mr. president. i cannot be convinced against these facts that this new movement in favor of female suffrage means anything more than to add another patch to the worn-out garment of republicanism, which they patched with mahoneism in virginia, with repudiation elsewhere, and which they now seek to patch further by putting on the delicate little silk covering of woman suffrage. i do not believe that this movement has its root and branch in any sincere desire to give to the women of this land the right of suffrage. i think it is a mere party movement with a view of attempting to draw into the reach of the republican party some little support from the sympathy and interest they suppose the ladies will take in their cause if they should advocate it here. no bill, perhaps, is expected to be reported. the committee will sit and listen and profess to be charmed and enlightened and instructed by what may be said, and then the subject will be passed by without any actual effort to secure the passage of a bill. introduce your bills and let them go to the judiciary committee, where the rights of men are to be considered as well as the rights of women. if this subject is of that pressing national importance which senators seem to think it is, it is not to be supposed that the committee on the judiciary will fail to give it profound and early attention. when you bring a select committee forward under the circumstances under which this is to be raised, you must not expect us to give credit generally to the idea that the real purpose is to advance the cause of woman suffrage, but rather that the real purpose is to advance the cause of political domination in this country. i can see no reason for the raising of this select committee, unless it be to furnish some senator, as i have remarked, with a clerk and messenger. if that were the avowed reason or could even be intimated, i think i should be disposed to yield that courtesy to the senator, whoever he might be; but i cannot do it under the false pretext that the real object is to bring forward measures here for the introduction of woman suffrage into the district of columbia, where we have no suffrage, or into the territories, where they have all the suffrage that the territorial legislatures see proper to give them. i therefore shall oppose the resolution. mr. bayard: i move the that senate proceed to the consideration of executive business. [the motion was agreed to.] january , . mr. hoar: i now ask for the consideration of the resolution relating to a select committee on woman suffrage. the president _pro tempore_: there being ten minutes left of the morning hour, the senator from massachusetts [mr. hoar] asks for the consideration of the resolution relating to woman suffrage. the pending question is on the motion of the senator from delaware [mr. bayard] to refer the subject-matter to the committee on the judiciary, on which the yeas and nays have been ordered. the principal legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. mr. butler (when mr. pugh's name was called): i was requested by the senator from alabama [mr. pugh] to announce his pair with the senator from new york [mr. miller]. the roll-call was concluded. mr. teller: on this question i am paired with the senator from alabama [mr. morgan]. if the senator from alabama were present, i should vote "nay." mr. mcpherson (after having voted in the affirmative): i rise to ask the privilege of withdrawing my vote. i am paired with my colleague [mr. sewell] on all political questions, and this seems to have taken a political shape. the president _pro tempore_: the senator from new jersey withdraws his vote. the result was announced--yeas , nays . so the motion was not agreed to. the president _pro tempore_: the question recurs on the adoption of the resolution. mr. edmunds: let it be read for information. the secretary read the resolution. mr. edmunds: "shall" ought to be stricken out and "may" inserted, because the senate ought always to have the power to refer any particular measure as it pleases. mr. hoar: i have no objection to that modification. the president _pro tempore_: the senator from massachusetts accepts the suggestion of the senator from vermont, and the word "may" will be substituted for "shall." mr. hill of georgia: i wish to say that i have opposed all resolutions, whether originating on the other side of the chamber or on this side, appointing special committees. they are all wrong. they are not founded, in my judgment, on a correct principle. there is no necessity to raise a select committee for this business. the standing committees of the senate are ample to do everything that it is proposed the select committee asked for shall do. the only result of appointing more special committees is to have just that many more clerks, just that much more expense, just that many more committee-rooms. this is not the first time i have opposed the raising of a select committee. the president _pro tempore_: the morning hour has expired, and it requires unanimous consent for the senator from georgia to proceed with his remarks. january , . mr. hoar: i move that the senate proceed with the consideration of the resolution. the president _pro tempore_: if there is no objection, unanimous consent will be assumed. mr. farley and others: i object. mr. hoar: i move that the senate proceed with the consideration of the resolution. mr. sherman: let it be proceeded with informally, subject to the call for other business. the president _pro tempore_: the question is on the motion of the senator from massachusetts. [putting the question.] the chair is uncertain from the sound and will ask for a division. the motion was agreed to; there being on a division--ayes , noes . the president _pro tempore_: the resolution is before the senate and the senator from georgia [mr. hill] has the floor. mr. hill of georgia: mr. president, i do not intend to say one word on the subject of woman suffrage. i shall not get into that discussion which was alluded to by the senator from massachusetts. the senator will remember, if he refreshes his recollection, that when my late colleague, now no longer a senator, made a motion for the appointment of a select committee in relation to the inter-oceanic canal, i opposed it distinctly, though it came from my colleague, upon the ground that the appointment of select committees ought to stop, that it was wrong; and i oppose this resolution for the same reason. i voted against a resolution to raise a select committee offered by a senator on this side of the chamber at the present session, and i have voted against all resolutions of that character. no senator, in my judgment, will rise in his place in the senate and say that it is necessary to appoint a special committee to consider the matters referred to in the resolution. it is true i am a member of the committee, and perhaps ought not to refer to it, but we have a standing committee, of which the distinguished senator from massachusetts [mr. hoar] is chairman, the committee on privileges and elections, that, i take occasion to say, is a very proper committee for this matter to go to; and that committee has almost nothing on earth to do. there is but one single subject-matter now before it, and i believe there will be scarcely another question before that committee at this session. there is not a contested election; there is not a dispute about anybody's seat; and yet it is a committee on privileges and elections. what is the reason for going on continually and appointing these select committees, when there are standing committees here, properly organized to consider the very question specified by the resolution, with nothing to do? now, i am going to say one other thing, i do not pretend that the purpose i am now about to state is the purpose of the senator from massachusetts. i have no reflections to make as to what this resolution is intended for, but we do know that there is an idea abroad that select committees are generally appointed for the purpose of giving somebody a chairmanship, that somebody may have a clerk. that is not the case here, i dare say. i do not mean to intimate that it is the case here, but it ought to be put a stop to; it is all wrong. i think, though, that there ought to be a resolution passed by this body giving every senator who has not a committee a clerk. everybody knows that every chairman of a committee has a clerk in the clerk of that committee. the other senators, at least in my opinion, ought each to have a clerk. i would vote for such a resolution. i believe it would be right, and i believe the country would approve it. every senator knows that he has more business to attend to here than he can possibly perform. why, sir, if i were to attend to all the business in the departments and otherwise that my constituents ask me to perform, i could not discharge half my duties in this chamber; and every senator, i dare say, has the same experience. it is to the public interest, therefore, in my judgment, that every senator should have a clerk. i am unable to employ a clerk from my own funds; many other senators are more fortunately situated; but still i must do that or move the appointment of a special committee for the purpose in an indirect way of getting a clerk. it is not right. it has been said that if senators each have a clerk, for instance, a clerk at $ a month salary during the session, which would be a very small matter, the members of the other house would each want a clerk. it does not follow. there is a vast difference. a member of the other house represents a narrow district, a single district; a senator represents a whole state. take the state of new york. there are thirty-three representatives in the house from the state of new york; there are but two senators here from that state. those two senators in all likelihood have as much business to perform here for their constituents as the thirty-three members of the house. there is, therefore, an eminent reason why a senator should have a clerk and why a member of the house should not. i cannot vote for the appointment of select committees unless you raise a select committee for every senator in the body so as to give him a clerk. you have appointed select committees for this business and for that. it gives a few men an advantage when the business of the country does not require it, whereas if you appointed a clerk for each senator, with a nominal salary of $ per month during the session, it would enable every senator to do his work more efficiently both here and for his constituents; it would put all the senators on a just equality; it would be in furtherance of the public interest; and it would avoid what i consider (with all due deference and not meaning to be offensive) the unseemly habit of constantly moving the appointment of select committees in this body. this is all i have to say. i vote against the resolution simply because i am opposed to the appointment of a select committee for this or any other purpose that i can now think of. the president _pro tempore_: the question is on the adoption of the resolution. mr. vest called for the yeas and nays, and they were ordered, and the principal legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. mr. jones of florida (when his name was called): i propose to vote for this resolution, but at the same time i do not regard my vote as in any way committing myself on the subject of female suffrage. if they think an investigation of this subject should be had in this way, i for one am willing to have it. i vote "yea." mr. teller, (when his name was called): on this question i am paired with the senator from alabama [mr. morgan]; otherwise i should vote "yea." the roll-call having been concluded, the result was announced--yeas , nays ; so the resolution was agreed to.[ ] in the house of representatives, december , . mr. white of kentucky: i ask consent to offer for consideration at this time the resolution which i send to the clerk's desk. the clerk read as follows: _resolved_, that a select committee of seven members of the house of representatives be appointed by the speaker, to whom shall be referred all petitions, bills and resolves providing for the extension of suffrage to women, or for the removal of legal disabilities. mr. mills of texas: i object. mr. kelley of pennsylvania: a similar resolution has already been referred to the committee on rules. the speaker (mr. keifer of ohio): objection being made to its consideration at this time, the resolution will be referred to the committee on rules. the resolution was referred accordingly. in the house of representatives, february , . mr. reed of maine: i rise to make a privileged report. the committee on rules, to whom were referred sundry resolutions relating to the subject, have instructed me to report the resolution which i send to the desk. the clerk read as follows: _resolved_, that a select committee of nine members be appointed, to whom shall be referred all petitions, bills and resolves asking for the extension of suffrage to women or the removal of their legal disabilities. the speaker: the question is on the adoption of the report of the committee on rules. mr. holman of indiana: i ask that the latter portion of the resolution be again read. it was not heard in this part of the house. the resolution was again read. mr. townshend of illinois: i rise to make a parliamentary inquiry. the speaker: the gentleman will state it. mr. townshend: my inquiry is whether that resolution should not go to the house calendar. the speaker: it is a privileged report under the rules of the house from the committee on rules. the question is on the adoption of the resolution. mr. mcmillin of tennessee: i make the point of order that it must lie over for one day. the speaker: it is the report of a committee privileged under the rules. mr. mcmillin: the committee are privileged to report, but under the rule the report has to lie over a day. the speaker: the gentleman from tennessee will oblige the chair by directing his attention to any rule which requires such a report to lie over one day. it changes no standing rule or order of the house. mr. mcmillin: it does, by making a change in the number and nature of the committees. all measures of a particular class, the resolution states, must be referred to the proposed committee, whereas heretofore they have been referred to a different committee. therefore the resolution changes the rules of the house. the speaker: the chair is of opinion the resolution does not rescind or change any standing rule of the house. the question is on the adoption of the resolution. mr. springer: mr. speaker, i desire to call the attention of the chair to the fact that this does distinctly change one of the standing rules of the house. one of the standing rules is-- the speaker: the chair has passed on that question, and no appeal has been taken from his decision. mr. springer: i desire to call the attention of the chair to rule , which specifically provides for the appointment of the full number of committees this house is to have, and this is not one of them. the speaker: not one of the standing committees, but a select committee. mr. springer: that rule provides there shall be a certain number of committees, the names of which are therein given. mr. reed: i sincerely hope this will not be made a matter of technical discussion or debate. it is a matter upon which members of this house must have opinions which they can express by voting, in a very short time, without taking up the attention of the house beyond what is really necessary for a bare discussion of the merits of the question. mr. mcmillin: will the gentleman permit me to ask him a question? mr. reed: certainly. mr. mcmillin: would you not, as a parliamentarian, concede that this does change the existing rules of the house? mr. reed: by no manner of means, especially when the accomplished speaker has decided the other way, and no gentleman has taken an appeal from his decision. [laughter.] mr. mcmillin: then you have no opinion beyond his decision? the speaker: the chair will state to the gentleman from illinois [mr. springer] that this resolution does not change any of the standing committees of the house which are provided for in rule . mr. springer: it provides for a new committee. the speaker: it provides for a select committee. the subject was referred to the committee on rules by order of the house, and this is a report on the resolution so referred. mr. springer: the rule provides that no standing rule or order of the house shall be rescinded or changed without one day's notice. the speaker: the chair would decide that this does not propose any change or rescinding of any standing rule of the house. mr. springer: does the chair hold that the making of a new rule is not a change of the existing rules? the speaker: the chair does not decide anything of the kind. mr. springer: what does the chair decide? the speaker: the chair does not undertake to decide any such question, for it is not now presented. mr. springer: is this not a new rule? the speaker: it is not. mr. springer: it is not? the speaker: it is a provision for a select committee. mr. springer: can you have a committee without a rule of the house providing for it? the speaker: the question is on the adoption of the resolution reported from the committee on rules. mr. atkins: on that question i call for the yeas and nays. the yeas and nays were ordered. the question was taken and there were--yeas , nays , not voting ; so the resolution was carried.[ ] mr. reed moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was adopted; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. the latter motion was agreed to. on monday, march , , the chair announced the appointment of the following gentlemen as the select committee on woman suffrage authorized by the house: mr. camp of new york, mr. white of kentucky, mr. sherwin of illinois, mr. stone of massachusetts, mr. hepburn of iowa, mr. springer of illinois, mr. vance of north carolina, mr. muldrow of mississippi and mr. stockslager of indiana. the annual washington convention was held in lincoln hall as usual, january , , , . the afternoon before the convention, at an executive session held at the riggs house, forty delegates were present from fourteen different states.[ ] among these were five from massachusetts, and for the first time that state was represented on the platform of the national association. mrs. stanton gave the opening address, and made some amusing criticisms on a recent debate on senator hoar's proposition for a special committee on the rights and disabilities of women. such a committee had been under debate for several years and it was during this convention that the bill passed the senate. invitations to attend the convention were sent to all the members of congress, and many were present during the various sessions. miss ellen h. sheldon, secretary, read the minutes of the last convention, and, instead of the usual dry skeleton of facts, she gave a glowing description of that eventful occasion. clara b. colby gave an interesting narration of the progress of woman suffrage in nebraska, and of the efforts being made to carry the proposition pending before the people, to strike the word "male" from the constitution in the coming november election. rev. frederick a. hinckley of providence, r. i., spoke upon "our demand in the light of evolution." he said: it is about a century since our forefathers declared that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and about a half century since woman began to see that she ought to be included in this declaration. at present the expressions of the declaration of independence are a "glittering generality," for only one-half of the people "consent." modern science has demonstrated the truth of evolution--like causes produce like results--and this is seen in the progress of government and of woman. from the time when physical force ruled, up to the present, when _ostensibly_ in the united states every person is his own ruler, there have been many steps. the importance of the masses has steadily taken the place of the importance of individuals. at first the idea was "you shall obey because i say so"; then, "you shall obey because i am your superior, and will protect you"; now it is "everyone shall be his own protector." but we do not live up to this idea while only one-half instead of the whole of "everyone" is his own protector. the phases of woman's advancement are fitly described by the four words--slave, subject, inferior, dependent; and no step in this advance has been accomplished without a hard struggle. the logic of evolution in government points to universal suffrage. the same logic points to unqualified individual freedom for woman. mrs. blake in reporting from her state said: governor cornell was the first new york governor to mention woman in an inaugural address, and the bill allowing women to vote in school elections was passed the same winter. there was a great deal of opposition in different parts of the state to the voting of women. in some country districts where the polls are in the school-houses, certain men went early and locked the doors, filled the room with smoke and even put tobacco on the stoves to make it as disagreeable for the women as possible. more respectable men had to ventilate and clean the rooms to make them decent for either man or woman. from this lowest class of opponents up to those who say: "my dear, you'd better not make yourself conspicuous!" the spirit is the same. believing that under our constitution women are already entitled to the ballot, we do not ask for a constitutional amendment, but for a bill extending the suffrage at once. mrs. colby in contrast to this stated that in nebraska the greatest courtesy had always been shown to women who voted at school elections. there is only one organized effort against woman suffrage, and that is made by the "sons of liberty!" "o, consistency, thou art a jewel!" the following resolution introduced into the senate, january , by mr. morgan of alabama, was finally referred to the committee on woman suffrage. this was the first subject brought before them for action. _resolved_, that the committee on "the extension of suffrage to women, or the removal of their disabilities," be directed to examine into the state of the law regulating the right of suffrage in the territory of utah, and report a bill to set aside and annul any law or laws enacted by the legislature of said territory conferring upon women the right of suffrage. miss couzins made an admirable speech on the following resolution: _resolved_, that senator morgan's bill to deprive the _women_ of utah of the right of suffrage because of the social institutions and religious faith originated and maintained by the _men_ of the territory, is a travesty on common justice. while the wife has not absolute possession of even one husband, and the husband has many wives, surely the men and not the women, if either, should be deprived of the suffrage. miss couzins said: the task of dealing fairly and justly with this territorial complication should never be committed to the blundering legislation of man alone. his success as a legislator and executive for woman in the past does not inspire a confidence that in this most serious problem he will be any the less an unbiased judge and law-giver. this government of men permitted the establishment of a religious colony, so called, whose basis of faith was the complete humiliation of women; recognized the system by appointing its chief, brigham young, governor of the territory, under whose fostering care polygamy grew to its present proportions. that woman has not thrown off the yoke of religious despotism can be readily appreciated when we recognize the fact that man, from time immemorial, has played upon her religious faith to exalt his own attributes and degrade hers; that through this teaching her abiding belief in his superior capacity to interpret scriptural truths for her has been the means of sacrificing her power of mind, her tender affections, her delicate sensibilities, on the altar of his base selfishness throughout the ages. orthodoxy recognizes no "inspiration" for woman to-day. she is not "called" save to serve man. under its teaching her thought has been padlocked in the name of divinity, and her lips sealed in sacrilegious pretense of authority from heaven; and nothing so clearly bespeaks the degenerating influence of the ages of this masculine teaching as the absolute faith manifested by the women of utah in this _ipse dixit_ of man's religious doctrine. their emancipation must necessarily be slow. the paternal government allowed polygamy to be planted, take root, and grow in a wilderness where the attraction of nobler minds and freer thoughts was not known. the victims came from the political despotisms of the old world to be shackled in a land of freedom with a still darker despotism, and under the ægis of the american flag they have borne children as a religious duty they owed to god and man; and surely it can not be expected, even with that grand emancipator, from king and priestcraft rule, the ballot, that at once they will vote themselves outcast and their children illegitimate. it took the white men of this nation one hundred years to put away that relic of barbarism, slavery; the removal of the twin relic will come through liberty for woman, higher education for children, and the incoming tide of gentile immigration. the fitting act of justice is not disfranchisement of woman, as senator morgan proposes, and the reënactment of that old adamic cry: "the woman whom thou gavest," but the disfranchisement of man, who is the only polygamist, and the stepping down and out of the sex as a legislator under whose fostering care this evil has grown. retire to your sylvan groves and academic shades, gentlemen, as mrs. stanton suggests, and let the deborahs, the huldahs, and the vashtis come to the front, and let us see what we can do toward the remedy of your wretched legislation. but suffrage for women in utah has accomplished great good. i spent one week there in close observation. outside of their religious convictions, the women are emphatic in condemnation of wrong. their votes banished the liquor saloon. i saw no drunkenness anywhere; the poison of tobacco smoke is not allowed to vitiate the air of heaven, either on the streets or in public assemblies. their court-room was a model of neatness and good order. plants were in the windows and handsome carpets graced the floor. during my stay, the daughter of a mormon, the then advocate-general of the territory, was admitted to the bar by chief-justice mckean of the united states court, who, in fitting and beautiful language, welcomed her to the profession as a woman whose knowledge of the law fitted her to be the peer of any man in his court. she told me that she detested polygamy, but felt that she could render greater service to the emancipation of her sex inside of utah than out. at midnight i wandered, with one of my own sex, about the streets to test the assertion that it was as safe for women then as at mid-day. no bacchanalian shout rent the air; no man was seen reeling in maudlin imbecility to his home. no guardians put in an appearance, save the stars above our heads; no sound awoke the stillness but the purling of the mountain brooks which washed the streets in cleanliness and beauty. what other city on this continent can present such a showing? with murder for man and rapine for woman where man alone is maker and guardian of the laws, it behooves him to pause ere he launches invectives at the one result of woman's votes. mrs. gougar, on our washington platform for the first time, delighted the audience with her readiness and wit. she has a good voice, fine presence, and speaks fluently, without notes. she spoke of the reformatory prison for women in her state, and said that the statistics showed that eighty-two per cent. of the women confined there were sent out reformed. speaking of the gallantry of men, she cited a case of a man who came to an indiana lawyer and desired him to make a will. the following conversation ensued: "i want you to make this will so that my wife will have $ a year; that's enough for any woman." "is she the only wife you ever had?" "yes." "how long have you been married?" "forty-two years." "how many children have you had?" "eleven." "did you have all your property before marriage?" "no; didn't have a cent; i've earned it all." "has your wife helped you in any way to earn it?" "why, yes, i suppose she has; but then i want to fix my will so she can only have $ a year; it's enough." "well, sir, you will have to move out of the state of indiana then, for the law provides for the wife better than that, and you will have to get another lawyer." it is needless to say that this lawyer is a staunch champion of woman suffrage, and it is pleasant to know that there are more such men being educated by this agitation. mrs. maxwell gave a fine recitation of "the dying soldier," at one of the evening sessions. it was evident by the sparkling eyes of the indiana delegation that the ladies had in reserve some pleasant surprise for the convention, which at last revealed itself in the person of judge orth, a live member of congress from indiana, who stood up like a man and avowed his belief in woman suffrage. his words were few but to the point, and his hearers all knew exactly where he stood on the question. the next evening the nebraska delegation, determining not to be outdone, captured one of their united states senators and triumphantly brought him on the platform. it was a point gained to have a congressman publicly give in his adhesion to the question, but how much greater the achievement to appear in the convention with a united states senator. it was a proud moment for mrs. colby when senator saunders, a large man of fine proportions, stepped to the front. but alas! her triumph over the indiana ladies was short indeed, for while the senator surpassed the representative in size and official honors, he fell far below him in the logic of his statements and the earnestness of his principles. in fact the audience and the platform were in doubt at the close of his remarks as to his true position on the question. mrs. may wright sewall, who followed him, sparkled with the satisfaction she expressed in paying most glowing tributes to the men of indiana and their state institutions. she said: the principal objection to woman suffrage has always been that it will take women from their homes and destroy all home life. she showed that there is not an interest of home which is not represented in the state, and that the subordination of the state to the family has kept pace with the subordination of physical to spiritual force. woman has an interest in everything which affects the state, and only lacks the legitimate instrument of these interests--the ballot--with which to enforce them. life regulates legislation. domestic life is woman's sphere, but a sphere of much larger dimensions than has ever yet been accorded it, these dimensions reaching out and controlling the functions of the state. the ballot is not a political or a military, but a domestic necessity. mrs. harriette r. shattuck spoke on the golden rule, asking men to put themselves in the place of disfranchised women, and then legislate for them as they would be legislated for. mrs. robinson gave a résumé of the legal, political and educational position of women in massachusetts. mrs. hooker showed that political equality would dignify woman in home life, give added weight to her opinions on all questions, and command new respect for her from all classes of men. mrs. colby gave an interesting address on "the social evolution of woman": she traced the history of woman from the time when she was bought and sold, up to the present. she said that the first believer in woman's rights was the one who first proposed that women should be allowed to eat with their husbands. this once granted, everything else has followed of necessity, and the ballot will be the crowning right. once women were not allowed to sing soprano because it was the "governing part." from these and many like indignities woman has gradually evolved until she now stands on an equality with man in many social rights. martha mcclellan brown read an able essay on "the power of the veto." she is a woman of fine presence, pleasing manners and a well trained voice that can fill any hall. her address was one of the best in the convention and all felt that in her we had a valuable acquisition to our association. mrs. gage gave an able address on "the moral force of woman suffrage." during the first day of the convention a request, signed by the officers of the association, was sent to the special committee on woman suffrage in the senate, asking for a hearing on the sixteenth amendment to the constitution. the hearing was granted on friday morning, january , . a distinguished speaker in england having advised the friends of suffrage there to employ young and attractive women to advocate the measure, as the speediest means of success, miss anthony took the hint in making the selection for the first hearing before the committee of those who had never been heard before,[ ] of whom some were young, and all attractive as speakers. miss anthony said that she would introduce some new speakers to the committee, in order to disprove the allegation that "it was always the same old set." the committee listened to them with undivided attention throughout, and at the conclusion of the hearing the following resolution, offered by senator george of mississippi, was adopted unanimously: _resolved_, that the committee are under obligations to the representatives of the women of the united states for their attendance this morning, and for the able and instructive addresses which have been made, and that the committee assure them that they will give to the subject of woman suffrage the careful and impartial consideration which its grave importance demands. in describing the occasion for the _boston transcript_, mrs. shattuck said: as we stood in the committee-room and presented our plea for freedom, we felt that at last we had obtained a fair hearing, whatever its result might be. and the most encouraging sign of the impression made by our words was the change in the faces of some of the members of the committee as the speaking went on. at first there was a look of indifference and scorn--merely toleration; this gradually changed to interest mingled with surprise; finally, as miss anthony closed with one of her most eloquent appeals, all the faces showed a decided and almost eager interest in what we had to say. senator george, who certainly looked more unpropitious than any other one, assured the ladies that he would give to the subject of woman suffrage that careful and impartial consideration which its grave importance demands. this, from one who heralded his entrance by inquiring of miss anthony, in stentorian tones, if she "wanted to go to war," was, to say the least, a concession. the speakers were closely questioned by some members of the committee, who afterwards told us "that they had never heard a speech on the subject before and were surprised to find so much in the demand, and to see such ability as was manifested by the women before them." the committee having expressed a wish to hear others on the subject, appointed the next morning at o'clock.[ ] mrs. stanton, being introduced by the chairman, said: gentlemen, when the news of the appointment of this committee was flashed over the wires, you cannot imagine the satisfaction that thrilled the hearts of your countrywomen. after fourteen years of constant petitioning, we are grateful for even this slight recognition at last. i never before felt such an interest in any congressional committee, and i have no doubt that all who are interested in this reform, share in my feelings. fortunately your names make a great couplet in rhyme, lapham, anthony and blair, jackson, george, ferry and fair. which will enable us to remember them always. this i discovered in writing your names in this volume, which allow me to present you. the gentlemen rising in turn received with a gracious bow "the history of woman suffrage" which, mrs. stanton told them, would furnish all the arguments they needed to defend their clients against the ignorance and prejudice of the world. mr. george of mississippi asked why this agitation was confined to northern women; he had never heard the ladies of the south express the wish to vote. mrs. stanton referred him to those to whom the volume before him was dedicated. "there," said she, "you will find the names of two ladies from one of the most distinguished families in south carolina, who came north over forty years ago, and set this ball for woman's freedom in motion. but for those noble women, sarah and angelina grimkè, we might not stand here to-day pleading for justice and equality." as the speakers had requested the committee to ask questions, they were frequently interrupted. all urged the importance of a national protection, preferring congressional action, to submitting the proposition to the popular vote of the several states. on this point mr. jackson of tennessee asked many pertinent questions. mrs. shattuck, writing of this occasion to the _boston transcript_, said: one of the speakers eloquently testified to the interest of many southern women in this subject, and urged the southern members of the committee not to declare that the women of the south do not want the ballot until they have investigated the matter. after the hearing three southern ladies, wives of congressmen, thanked her for what she had said. the member from mississippi showed a great deal of interest and really became quite waked up before the session ended. but, when we look at it in one light, there is something exceedingly humiliating in the thought that women representing the best intellect and the highest morality of our country, should come here in their grand old age and ask men for that which is theirs by right. is it not time that this aristocracy of sex should be overthrown? several of the senators were so moved by the speeches that they personally expressed their thanks, and one who has long been friendly, said the speeches were far above the average committee-hearings on any subject. we might well have replied that the reason is because all the speakers feel what they say and know that the question is one of vital importance. in securing these hearings before this special committee of the senate the friends feel they have reached a milestone in the progress of their reform. to secure the attention for four hours of seven representative men of the united states, must have more effect than would a hundred times that amount of time and labor expended upon their constituents. if one of these senators, for instance, should become convinced of the justice of woman's claim to the ballot, his constituency would begin to look upon that question with respect, whereas it would take years to bring that same constituency up to the position where they could elect such a representative. to convince the representatives is to sound the keynote, and it is for this reason that these hearings before the senate committee are of such paramount importance to the suffrage cause. at the close of the hearing mrs. robinson presented each member of the committee with her little volume, "massachusetts in the woman suffrage movement." january the house committee on rules[ ] gave a hearing to mrs. jane graham jones of chicago, mrs. may wright sewall and miss anthony. during this congress the question of admitting the territory of dakota as a state was discussed in the senate. our committee stood ready to oppose it unless the word "male" were stricken from the proposed constitution. immediately after this most of the speakers went[ ] to philadelphia where rachel foster had made arrangements for a two-days convention. rev. charles g. ames gave the address of welcome. he told of his conversion to woman suffrage from the time when he believed women and men were ordained to be unequal, just as in nature the mountain is different from the valley--he looking down at her, she gazing up at him--until the time when he began to see that women are not of necessity the valleys, nor men of necessity the mountains; and so on, until now he believes women entitled to stand on an equal plane with men, socially and politically. the president, mrs. stanton, responded. hannah whitehall smith of germantown, prominent in the temperance movement, spoke of the hardship of farmers' wives, and asked: if that condition was not one of slavery which obliged a woman to rise early and cook the family breakfast while her husband lay in bed; to work all day long, and then in the evening, while he smoked his pipe or enjoyed himself at the corner grocery, to mend and patch his old clothes. but she thought the position of woman was changing for the better. even among the indians a better feeling is beginning to prevail. it is indian etiquette for the man to kill the deer or bear, and leave it on the spot where it is struck down for the woman to carry home. she must drag it over the ground or carry it on her back as best she may, while he quietly awaits her coming in the family wigwam. a certain indian, after observing that white folks did differently by their women, once resolved to follow their example. but such was the force of public opinion that, when it was discovered that he brought home his own game, both he and his wife were murdered. this shows what fearful results prejudice may bring about; and the only difference between the prejudice which ruled his tribe in regard to woman and that which rules white american men to-day, is a difference in degree, dependent upon the difference in enlightenment. the principle is the same. the result would be the same were each equally ignorant. the familiar faces of edward m. davis, mary grew, adeline thompson, sarah pugh, anna mcdowell and two of lucretia mott's noble daughters, gladdened many a heart during the various sessions of the convention. beautiful tributes were paid to mrs. mott by several of the speakers. the philadelphia convention was supplemented by a most delightful social gathering, without mention of which a report of the occasion would be incomplete: like many historical events, this was entirely unpremeditated, no one who participated in its pleasures had any forewarning, aside from an informal invitation to lunch with mrs. hannah whitehall smith and her generous husband, both earnest friends of temperance and important allies of the woman suffrage movement. mrs. smith met the guests at the station in philadelphia, tickets in hand, marshaling them to their respective seats in the cars as if born to command, and on arriving at germantown, transferred them to carriages in waiting, with the promptness of a railroad official. without noise or confusion one and all crossed the threshold of her well-ordered mansion, and with other invited guests were soon seated in the spacious parlor, talking in groups here and there. "ah!" said mrs. smith on entering, "this will never do, think of all the good things that will be lost in these side talks. my plan is to have a general conversation, a kind of love-feast, each telling her experience. it would be pleasant to know how each has reached the same platform, through the tangled labyrinths of human life." soon all was silence and one after another related the special incidents in childhood, girlhood and mature years that had turned her thoughts to the consideration of woman's position. the stories were as varied as they were pathetic and amusing, and were listened to amidst smiles and tears with the deepest interest. and when all[ ] had finished the tender revelations of the hopes and fears, the struggles and triumphs through which each soul had passed, these sacred memories seemed to bind us anew together in a friendship that we hope may never end. a sumptuous lunch followed, and amid much gaiety and laughter the guests dispersed, giving the hospitable host and hostess a warm farewell--a day to be remembered by all of us. our senate committee, through its chairman, hon. elbridge g. lapham, very soon reported in favor of the submission of a sixteenth amendment. we had had a favorable minority report in the house in and in the senate in --but this was the first favorable majority report we had ever had in either house: in the senate, monday, june , . mr. lapham: i am instructed by the select committee on woman suffrage, to whom was referred the joint resolution (s. r. no. ) proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states, to report it with a favorable recommendation, without amendment, for the consideration of the senate. this is a majority report, and the minority desire the opportunity to present their report also, and have printed the reasons which they give for dissenting. as this is a question of more than ordinary importance, i should like to have , extra copies of the report printed for the use of the committee. mr. george: i present the views of the minority of the committee, consisting of the senator from tennessee [mr. jackson], the senator from nevada [mr. fair], and myself. the president _pro tempore_: it is moved that , extra copies of the report be printed for the use of the senate. mr. anthony: the motion should go by the statute to the committee on printing. mr. lapham: i will present it in the form of a resolution for reference to the committee on printing. the resolution was referred to the committee on printing, as follows: _resolved_, that , additional copies of the report and views of the minority on senate joint resolution no. be printed for the use of the select committee on woman suffrage. in the senate of the united states, june , , mr. lapham, from the committee on woman suffrage, submitted the following report: _the select committee on woman suffrage, to whom was referred senate resolution no. , proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states to secure the right of suffrage to all citizens without regard to sex, having considered the same, respectfully report: _ the gravity and importance of the proposed amendment must be obvious to all who have given the subject the consideration it demands. a very brief history of the origin of this movement in the united states and of the progress made in the cause of female suffrage will not be out of place at this time. a world's anti-slavery convention was held in london on june , , to which delegates from all the organized societies were invited. several of the american societies sent women as delegates. their credentials were presented, and an able and exhaustive discussion was had by many of the leading men of america and great britain upon the question of their being admitted to seats in the convention. they were allowed no part in the discussion. they were denied seats as delegates, and, by reason of that denial, it was determined to hold conventions after their return to the united states, for the purpose of asserting and advocating their rights as citizens, and especially the right of suffrage. prior to this, and as early as the year , a proposal had been made in the legislature of the state of new york to confer upon married women their separate rights of property. the subject was under consideration and agitation during the eventful period which preceded the constitutional convention of new york in the year , and the radical changes made in the fundamental law in that year. in the first act "for the more effectual protection of the property of married women" was passed by the legislature of new york and became a law. it passed by a vote of to in the assembly and to in the senate. it was subsequently amended so as to authorize women to engage in business on their own account and to receive their own earnings. this legislation was the outgrowth of a bill prepared several years before under the direction of the hon. john savage, chief-justice of the supreme court, and of the hon. john c. spencer, one of the ablest lawyers in the state, one of the revisers of the statutes of new york, and afterward a cabinet officer. laws granting separate rights of property and the right to transact business, similar to those adopted in new york, have been enacted in many, if not in most of the states, and may now be regarded as the settled policy of american legislation on the subject. after the enactment of the first law in new york, as before stated, and in the month of july, , the first convention demanding suffrage for women was held at seneca falls in said state. the same persons who had been excluded from the world's convention in london were prominent and instrumental in calling the meeting and in framing the declaration of sentiments adopted by it, which, after reciting the unjust limitations and wrongs to which women are subjected, closed in these words: now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half of the people of this country and their social and religious degradation; in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the united states. in entering upon the great work before us we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object. we shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the state and national legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf. we hope this convention will be followed by a series of conventions embracing every part of the country. the meeting also adopted a series of resolutions, one of which was in the following words: _resolved_, that it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise. this declaration was signed by seventy of the women of western new york, among whom was one or more of those who addressed your committee on the subject of the pending amendment, and there were present, participating in and approving of the movement, a large number of prominent men, among whom were elisha foote, a lawyer of distinction, and since that time commissioner of patents, and the hon. jacob chamberlain, who afterwards represented his district in the other house. from the movement thus inaugurated, conventions have been held from that time to the present in the principal villages, cities and capitals of the various states, as well as the capital of the nation. the first national convention upon the subject was held at worcester, mass., in october, , and had the support and encouragement of many leading men of the republic, among whom we name the following: gerrit smith, joshua r. giddings, ralph waldo emerson, john g. whittier, a. bronson alcott, samuel j. may, theodore parker, william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips, elizur wright, william j. elder, stephen s. foster, horace greeley, oliver johnson, henry ward beecher, horace mann. the fourth national convention was held at the city of cleveland, ohio, october, . the rev. asa mahan, president of oberlin college, and hon. joshua r. giddings were there. horace greeley and william henry channing addressed letters to the convention. the letter of mr. channing stated the proposition to be that-- the right of suffrage be granted to the people, universally, without distinction of sex; and that the age for attaining legal and political majority be made the same for women as for men. in , hon. salmon p. chase, chief-justice of the supreme court of the united states, then governor of ohio, recommended to the legislature a constitutional amendment on the subject, and a select committee of the senate made an elaborate report, concluding with a resolution in the following words: _resolved_, that the judiciary committee be instructed to report to the senate a bill to submit to the qualified electors, at the next general election for senators and representatives, an amendment to the constitution, whereby the elective franchise shall be extended to the citizens of ohio _without distinction of sex_. during the same year a similar report was made in the legislature of wisconsin. from the report on the subject we quote the following: we believe that political equality, by leading the thoughts and purposes of men and women into the same channel, will more completely carry out the designs of nature. woman will be possessed of a positive power, and hollow compliments will be exchanged for well-grounded respect when we see her nobly discharging her part in the great intellectual and moral struggles of the age that wait their solution by a direct appeal to the ballot-box. woman's power is at present poetical and unsubstantial; let it be practical and real. there is no reality in any power that cannot be coined in votes. the effect of these discussions and efforts has been the gradual advancement of public sentiment towards conceding the right of suffrage without distinction of sex. in the territories of wyoming and utah, full suffrage has already been given. in regard to the exercise of the right in the territory of wyoming, the present governor of that territory, hon. john w. hoyt, in an address delivered in philadelphia, april , , in answer to a question as to the operation of the law, said: first of all, the experience of wyoming has shown that the only actual trial of woman suffrage hitherto made--a trial made in a new country where the conditions were not exceptionably favorable--has produced none but the most desirable results. and surely none will deny that in such a matter a single ounce of experience is worth a ton of conjecture. but since it may be claimed that the sole experiment of wyoming does not afford a sufficient guaranty of general expediency, let us see whether reason will not furnish a like answer. the great majority of women in this country already possess sufficient intelligence to enable them to vote judiciously on nearly all questions of a local nature. i think this will be conceded. secondly, with their superior quickness of perception, it is fair to assume that when stimulated by a demand for a knowledge of political principles--such a demand as a sense of the responsibility of the voter would create--they would not be slow in rising to at least the rather low level at present occupied by the average masculine voter. so that, viewing the subject from an intellectual stand-point merely, such fears as at first spring up, drop away, one by one, and disappear. but it must not be forgotten that a very large proportion of questions to be settled by the ballot, both those of principle and such as refer to candidates, have in them a _moral_ element which is vital. and here we are safer with the ballot in the hands of woman; for her keener insight and truer moral sense will more certainly guide her aright--and not her alone, but also, by reflex action, all whose minds are open to the influence of her example. the weight of this answer can hardly be overestimated. in my judgment, this moral consideration far more than offsets all the objections that can be based on any assumed lack of an intellectual appreciation of the few questions almost wholly commercial and economical. last of all, a majority of questions to be voted on touch the interests of woman as they do those of man. it is upon her finer sensibilities, her purer instincts, and her maternal nature that the results of immorality and vice in every form fall with more crushing weight. a criticism has been made upon the exercise of this right by the women of utah that the plural wives in that territory are under the control of their polygamous husbands. be that as it may, it is an undoubted fact that there is probably no city of equal size on this continent where there is less disturbance of the peace, or where the citizen is more secure in his person or property, either by day or night, than in the city of salt lake. a qualified right of suffrage has also been given to women in oregon, colorado, minnesota, nebraska, kansas, vermont, new hampshire, massachusetts, michigan, kentucky, and new york. of the operation of the law in the last-named state, governor cornell in a message to the legislature on may , said: the recent law, , making women eligible as school trustees, has produced admirable results, not only in securing the election of many of them as trustees of schools, but especially in elevating the qualifications of men proposed as candidates for school-boards, and also in stimulating greater interest in the management of schools generally. the effect of these new experiences is to widen the influence and usefulness of women. so well satisfied are the representatives in the legislature of that state with these results that the assembly, by a large majority, recently passed to a third reading an act giving the full right of suffrage to women, the passage of which has been arrested in the senate by an opinion of the attorney-general that a constitutional amendment is necessary to accomplish the object. in england women are allowed to vote at all municipal elections, and hold the office of guardian of the poor. in four states, nebraska, indiana, oregon, and iowa, propositions have passed their legislatures and are now pending, conferring the right of suffrage upon women. notwithstanding all these efforts, it is the opinion of the best informed men and women, who have devoted more than a third of a century to the consideration and discussion of the subject, that an amendment to the federal constitution, analogous to the fifteenth amendment of that instrument, is the most safe, direct, and expeditious mode of settling the question. it is the question of the enfranchisement of half the race now denied the right, and that, too, the most favored half in the estimation of those who deny the right. petitions, from time to time, signed by many thousands, have been presented to congress, and there are now upon our files seventy-five petitions representing eighteen different states. two years ago treble the number of petitions, representing over twenty-five states, were presented. if congress should adopt the pending resolution, the question would go before the intelligent bodies who are chosen to represent the people in the legislatures of the various states, and would receive a more enlightened and careful consideration than if submitted to the masses of the male population, with all their prejudices, in the form of an amendment to the constitutions of the several states. besides, such an amendment, if adopted, would secure that uniformity in the exercise of the right which could not be expected by action from the several states. we think the time has arrived for the submission of such an amendment to the legislatures of the states. we know the prejudices which the movement for suffrage to all without regard to sex, had to encounter from the very outset, prejudices which still exist in the minds of many. the period for employing the weapons of ridicule and enmity has not yet passed. now, as in the beginning, we hear appeals to prejudice and the baser passions of men. the anathema, "woe betide the hand that plucks the wizard beard of hoary error," is yet employed to deter men from acting upon their convictions as to what ought to be done with reference to this great question. to those who are inclined to cast ridicule upon the movement, we quote the answer made while one of the early conventions was in session in the state of new york: a collection of women arguing for political rights and for the privileges usually conceded only to the other sex is one of the easiest things in the world to make fun of. there is no end to the smart speeches and the witty remarks that may be made on the subject. but when we seriously attempt to show that a woman who pays taxes ought not to have a voice in the manner in which the taxes are expended, that a woman whose property and liberty and person are controlled by the laws should have no voice in framing those laws, it is not so easy. if women are fit to rule in a monarchy, it is difficult to say why they are not qualified to vote in a republic; nor can there be greater indelicacy in a woman going to the ballot-box than there is in a woman opening a legislature or issuing orders to an army. to all who are more serious in their opposition to the movement, we would remind them of the words of a few distinguished men:-- i go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens, by no means excluding women.--[abraham lincoln. i believe that the vices in our large cities will never be conquered until the ballot is put into the hands of women.--[bishop simpson. i do not think our politics will be what it ought to be till women are legislators and voters.--[rev. james freeman clarke. women have quite as much interest in good government as men, and i have never heard or read of any satisfactory reason for excluding them from the ballot-box; i have no more doubt of their ameliorating influence upon politics than i have of the influence they exert everywhere else.--[george william curtis. in view of the terrible corruption of our politics, people ask, can we maintain universal suffrage? i say no, not without women. the only bear-gardens in our community are the town-meeting and the caucus. why is this? because these are the only places at which women are not present.--[bishop gilbert haven. i repeat my conviction of the right of woman suffrage. because suffrage is a right and not a grace, it should be extended to women who bear their share of the public cost, and who have the same interest that i have in the selection of officials and the making of laws which affect their lives, their property, and their happiness.--[governor long of massachusetts. however much the giving of political power to woman may disagree with our notions of propriety, we conclude that, being required by that first prerequisite to greater happiness, the law of equal freedom, such a concession is unquestionably right and good.--[herbert spencer. in the administration of a state neither a woman as a woman, nor a man as a man has any special functions, but the gifts are equally diffused in both sexes. the same opportunity for self-development which makes man a good guardian will make woman a good guardian, for their original nature is the same.--[plato. it has become a custom, almost universal, to invite and to welcome the presence of women at political assemblages, to listen to discussions upon the topics involved in the canvass. their presence has done much toward the elevation, refinement, and freedom from insincerity and hypocrisy, of such discussions. why would not the same results be wrought out by their presence at the ballot-box? wherever the right has been exercised by law, both in england and this country, such has been its effect in the conduct of elections. the framers of our system of government embodied in the declaration of independence the statement that to secure the rights which are therein declared to be inalienable and in respect to which all men are created equal, "governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." the system of representative government they inaugurated can only be maintained and perpetuated by allowing all citizens to give that consent through the medium of the ballot-box--the only mode in which the "consent of the governed" can be obtained. to deny to one-half of the citizens of the republic all participation in framing the laws by which they are to be governed, simply on account of their sex, is political despotism to those who are excluded, and "taxation without representation" to such of them as have property liable to taxation. their investiture with separate estates leads, logically and necessarily, to their right to the ballot as the only means afforded them for the protection of their property, as it is the only means of their full protection in the enjoyment of the immeasurably greater right to life and liberty. to be governed without such consent is clear denial of a right declared to be inalienable. it is said that the majority of women do not desire and would not exercise the right, if acknowledged. the assertion rests in conjecture. in ordinary elections multitudes of men do not exercise the right. it is only in extraordinary cases, and when their interests and patriotism are appealed to, that male voters are with unanimity found at the polls. it would doubtless be the same with women. in the exceptional instances in which the exercise of the right has been permitted, they have engaged with zeal in every important canvass. even if the statement were founded in fact, it furnishes no argument in favor of excluding women from the exercise of the franchise. _it is the denial of the right of which they complain._ there are multitudes of men whose vote can be purchased at an election for the smallest and most trifling consideration. yet all such would spurn with scorn and unutterable contempt a proposition to purchase their _right to vote_, and no consideration would be deemed an equivalent for such a surrender. women are more sensitive upon this question than men, and so long as this right, deemed by them to be sacred, is denied, so long the agitation which has marked the progress of this contest thus far will be continued. entertaining these views, your committee report back the proposed resolution without amendment for the consideration of the senate, and recommend its passage. e. g. lapham, t. m. ferry, h. w. blair. the constitution is wisely conservative in the provision for its own amendment. it is eminently proper that whenever a large number of the people have indicated a desire for an amendment, the judgment of the amending power should be consulted. in view of the extensive agitation of the question of woman suffrage, and the numerous and respectable petitions that have been presented to congress in its support, i unite with the committee in recommending that the proposed amendment be submitted to the states. h. b. anthony. june , , mr. george, from the committee on woman suffrage, submitted the following views of the minority: the undersigned are unable to concur in the report of the majority recommending the adoption of the joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states, for reasons which they will now proceed to state. we do not base our dissent upon any ground having relation to the expediency or inexpediency of vesting in women the right to vote. hence we shall not discuss the very grave and important social and political questions which have arisen from the agitation to admit to equal political rights the women of our country, and to impose on them the burden of discharging, equally with men, political and public duties. whether so radical a change in our political and social system would advance the happiness and welfare of the american people, considered as a whole, without distinction of sex, is a question on which there is a marked disagreement among the most enlightened and thoughtful of both sexes. its solution involves considerations so intimately pertaining to all the relations of social and private life--the family circle--the status of women as wives, mothers, daughters, and companions, to the functions in private and public life which they ought to perform, and their ability and willingness to perform them--the harmony and stability of marriage, and the division of the labors and cares of that union--that we are convinced that the proper and safe discussion and weighing of them would be best secured by deliberations in the separate communities which have so deep an interest in the rightful solution of this grave question. great organic changes in government, especially when they involve, as this proposed change does, a revolution in the modes of life, long-standing habits, and the most sacred domestic relations of the people, should result only upon the demand of the people, who are to be affected by them. such changes should originate with, and be molded and guided in their operation and extent by, the people themselves. they should neither precede their demand for them, nor be delayed in opposition to their clearly expressed wishes. their happiness, their welfare, their advancement, are the sole objects of the institution of government; of these they are not only the best, but they are the exclusive judges. they have commissioned us to exercise for their good the great powers which they have intrusted to us by their letter of attorney, the constitution; not to assume to ourselves a superior wisdom, or usurp a guardianship over them, dictating reforms not demanded by them, and attempting to grasp power not granted. the organization of our political institutions is such that the great mass of the powers of government, the proper exercise of which so deeply concerns the welfare of the people, is left to the states. in that depository the will of the people is most certainly ascertained, and the exercise of power is more directly under their guidance. our free institutions have had their great development and owe their stability more to causes connected with the direct exercise of the power of the people in local self-government than to all other causes combined. recent events, though tending strongly to centralization, have not destroyed in the public mind the inestimable value of local self-government. among the powers which have hitherto been esteemed as most essential to the public welfare is the power of the states to regulate their domestic institutions in their own way; and among those institutions none has been preserved by the states with greater jealousy than their absolute control over marriage and the relation between the sexes. another power of the states, deemed by the people when they assented to the constitution of the united states most essential to the public welfare, was the right of each state to determine the qualifications of electors. wherever the federal constitution speaks of elections for a federal office, it adopts the qualifications for electors prescribed by the state in which the election is to be held. nor has this fundamental rule been departed from in the fifteenth amendment. that impairs it only to the extent that race, color, or previous condition of servitude shall not be made a ground of exclusion from the right of suffrage. in all else that pertains to the qualifications of electors the absolute will of the state prevails. this amendment was inserted from considerations which pertain to no other part of the question of suffrage. the negro race had been recently emancipated; it was supposed that the antagonism between them and their old masters and the prejudice of race would be such as to obstruct the equal enjoyment of the rights of freedom conferred by the national forces, and would prevent the white race of the south from admitting the negro race, however deserving it might be, to equal political privileges. and, moreover, it was deemed by the north a point of honor that, having conferred freedom on the negro, he should be provided with the right of suffrage. none of these considerations applies in the present case. it is not pretended that any such antagonism or prejudice exists between the sexes. it is not pretended that women have been redeemed from an intolerable slavery by the power of the government. it is not pretended that the sex in whose hands is the political power of the states is unwilling, from any cause, to do full justice to the other; for it is conceded that if the proposed amendment should be adopted, its incorporation into the constitution must result from the voluntary action of that sex in which is vested this political power. no good reason has been given why the congress of the united states should force or even hasten the states into such action, and no such reason can be given without a reversal of the theories on which our free institutions are based. the history given by the majority, of the legislation of the several states in relation to the rights of persons and property of married women showing as it does a steady advance in the abolition of their common-law disabilities, conclusively demonstrates that this question may be safely left for solution where it now is and has always hitherto belonged. the public mind is now being agitated in many of the states as to the rights of women, not only as to suffrage, but as to their engaging in the various employments from which they have hitherto been excluded. this exclusion from certain employments has not been the result of municipal but of social laws--the strongest of all human regulations. as these social laws have been modified, so the sphere of woman's activities and usefulness has been enlarged. these social laws are in the main the groundwork of the exclusion of women from the right of suffrage. in the establishment of these laws, as in their modification, women themselves have even a greater influence than men. their disability to vote is, therefore, self-imposed; when they shall will otherwise, it is not too much to say that the disability will no longer exist. if in the future it shall be found that these laws deny a right to women the enjoyment of which they desire, and for the exercise of which they are qualified, it cannot be doubted that they will give way. if, on the contrary, neither of these shall be discovered, it will happen that the exclusion of suffrage will not be considered as a denial of a right, but as an exemption granted to women from cares and burdens which a tender and affectionate regard for womanhood refuses to cast on them. we are convinced, therefore, that the best mode of disposing of the question is to leave its solution to that power most amenable to the influences and usages of society in which women have so large and so potential a share, confident that at no distant day a right result will be reached in each state which will be satisfactory to both sexes and perfectly consistent with the welfare and happiness of the people. certainly this must be so if the people themselves, the source and foundation of all power, are capable of self-government. at two of its meetings the committee listened with great pleasure to several eminent ladies who appeared before it as advocates of the proposed amendment. at none of the meetings of the committee, including that at which the members voted on the proposed amendment, was there any discussion of this important subject; none was asked for or desired by any member of the committee, and the vote was taken. the reports of the majority and of the minority of the committee are therefore to be construed only as the individual opinions of the members who respectively concur in them. they are in no sense to be treated as the judgment of a deliberative body charged with the examination of this important subject. the foregoing leads us to but one recommendation: that the committee should be discharged from the further consideration of the subject, that the resolution raising it be rescinded, and that the proposed amendment be rejected. j. z. george, howell e. jackson, james g. fair. in a letter from miss caroline biggs to the president of the national association the following congratulations came from the friends of suffrage in england: central committee of the national society for } woman suffrage, berners street, london, w. } at a meeting of the executive committee, on may , , the following resolution was proposed by mrs. lucas, seconded by miss jane cobden, and passed unanimously: _resolved_, that the executive committee of the national society for woman suffrage have heard with hearty satisfaction that a select committee of the united states senate in washington has passed by a majority of votes the recommendation to adopt a constitutional amendment in favor of women's suffrage. they feel that the cause of woman is one in all countries, and they offer their most cordial congratulations to the women of america on the important step which has just been gained, and their warmest good-wishes for a speedy success in obtaining a measure which will guarantee justice and equal rights to half the population of a sister country. nebraska now became the center of interest, as a constitutional amendment to secure the right of suffrage to woman was submitted to be voted upon in the november election. as the submission of such a proposition makes an important crisis in the history of a state, as well as in the suffrage movement, the notes of preparation were as varied as multitudinous throughout the nation, rousing all to renewed earnestness in the work. both the american and national associations decided to hold their annual conventions in omaha, the chief city of the state, and to support as many speakers[ ] as possible through the campaign, that meetings might be held and tracts distributed in every county of the state, an herculean undertaking, as nebraska comprises , inhabitants scattered over an area of , square miles, divided into sixty-six counties; and yet this is what the friends of the measure proposed to do. the american association[ ] held its convention september , , . the national[ ] continued three days, september , , . the opera house, in which the national association held its meeting, was completely filled during all the sessions. the address of welcome was given by hon. a. j. poppleton, one of the most distinguished lawyers in that state. he said: i deem it no light compliment that, in the face of an explicit declaration that i am not in favor of woman suffrage, i have been asked to make, on behalf of the people of omaha and the state, an address of welcome to the many distinguished men and women whom this occasion has brought together. doubtless the consideration shown me is a recognition of the fact that i have been a life-long advocate of the advancement of women through the agencies of equality in education, equality in employment, equality in wages, equality in property-rights and personal liberty, in short, a fair, open, equal field in the struggle for life. that i cannot go beyond this and embrace equal suffrage, is due rather to long adherence to the political philosophy of edmund burke than any lack of conviction of the absolute equality of men and women in natural rights. in the winter of - , when a student at poughkeepsie, n. y., while the spot on which we now stand was indian country as yet untouched by the formative power of national legislation, i listened to miss susan b. anthony, miss antoinette brown and others in the advocacy of the rights of women. it seems a strange fortune that brings now, nearly thirty years after, one of those speakers, crowned with a national reputation, into a state carved out of that indian country and containing , people, in advocacy of equal suffrage for her sex. this single fact proclaims in thunder tones the bravery, the fidelity, the devotion of these pioneers of reform, and challenges for them the sympathy, respect, esteem and admiration of every good man and woman in america. the thirty years commencing about have been prolific of momentous changes. it is the era of the sewing machine, of the domestication of steam and electricity, the overthrow of the great rebellion, the destruction of slavery, the consolidation of the german empire, the fall of the second napoleon, the birth of the french republic, the incorporation of india into the british empire, and the revolution of commerce by the pacific railways and the suez canal. great changes have likewise taken place in the structure of our own state and national legislation, the most conspicuous and pronounced result being the centralization of power in the federal government. it has been preëminently a period of amelioration, a long stride in the direction of tolerance of opinion, belief, speech and creed. hospitals, asylums, schools, colleges and the manifold agencies of an advanced christian civilization for alleviating the average lot of humanity, have grown and multiplied beyond the experience of former times, and men like matthew vassar, george peabody and john hopkins have hastened to consecrate the abundant fruits of honorable lives to the exaltation and advancement of the race. but in no direction have greater changes occurred in this country than in the condition of woman in respect to employment, wages, personal and property rights. in all heathen countries at this hour the mass of women are slaves or worse, wholly deprived of civil rights. in most christian countries their legal status is one of absolute subordination in person and property to men. in this republic alone have we attained an altitude where some small measure of justice is meted out to women by the laws. in a fair measure of her rights was the grim edict of the common law holding her in guardianship prior to marriage, and upon marriage making her and all her possessions practically the property of her husband, while a cruel, unreasonable and vicious public opinion excluded her from all except menial and ill-paid service. one by one and year by year these barriers have given way, until in many states her property and personal rights enjoy the complete shelter of the law. now more than half the occupations and employments of this age of industrial activity and progress are thronged with the faithful, efficient and contented labor of women. the law has broken forever the thraldom of an odious and hopeless marriage by reasonable laws for divorce for just cause, given her the custody of her children, vested her with the absolute power of disposition and control over her property, inherited or acquired, freed it from the claims of her husband's creditors, and clothed her with ample legal remedies even against her husband. perhaps nebraska alone of all the states, by its court of last resort, has upheld the power of the wife to make contracts with her husband and enforce them against him in her own name by the appropriate legal remedies. this surely is progress. beyond this there lies but one field to win or fortress to reduce. then surely the worn soldier in the long campaign crowned with the garlands of victory may rest from the battle. not many years ago, coming from wisconsin, i think, a girl presented herself in the illinois courts for admission to the bar, and after a rigid and unsparing examination she was admitted with public compliment. she took an office in the great city of chicago and in the short remnant of an uncertain life so wrought in her profession as to attain an average professional income, and win the undivided respect and esteem of her professional associates. and when from a far country, whither she had gone in hope to escape a fell disease, her lifeless corpse was brought back for sepulture, many of the foremost lawyers of chicago gathered about her bier and bore emphatic testimony to her virtues as a woman and her attainments as a lawyer. to me no greater work has been done by any american woman. when alta hulett unobtrusively, silently but indomitably pressed her way to the front of the legal profession, and established herself there, she vindicated the right of her sex to contend for the highest prizes of life, and left her countrywomen a legacy which will ultimately blazon her name imperishably in the history of the advancement of women; and every american woman who, like her, goes to the front of any honorable occupation, employment or profession, and stays there, becomes her coädjutor in work and a sharer in her reward. laden with the trophies of thirty years of conflict, of progress, of measurable success, the vice-president of the national woman suffrage association and her associates present themselves to nebraska and ask a hearing upon the final issue, "shall this work be crowned by granting to women in this state the highest privilege of the citizen--suffrage?" on behalf of the people of a state whose legislature has granted everything else to women--whose devotion to free speech, untrammeled discussion and an independent press has been conspicuous in its constitutional and legislative history--i welcome them to this city and state, and bespeak for them a patient, candid, respectful, appreciative hearing. miss anthony replied briefly to mr. poppleton's eloquent address and returned the thanks of the convention for the courtesy with which its members had been received by the citizens of omaha.[ ] she then read a letter from the president of the convention: toulouse, france, september , . _to the national woman suffrage association in convention assembled:_ dear friends: people never appreciate the magnitude and importance on any step in progress, at the time it is taken, nor the full moral worth of the characters who inspire it, hence it will be in line with the whole history of reform from the beginning if woman's enfranchisement in nebraska should in many minds seem puerile and premature, and its advocates fanatical and unreasonable. nevertheless the proposition speaks for itself. a constitutional amendment to crown one-half of the people of a great state with all their civil and political rights, is the most vital question the citizens of nebraska have ever been called on to consider; and the fact cannot be gainsaid that some of the purest and ablest women america can boast, are now in the state advocating the measure. for the last two months i have been assisting my son in the compilation of a work soon to be published in america, under the title, "the woman question in europe," to which distinguished women in different nations have each contributed a sketch of the progress made in their condition. one interesting and significant fact as shown in this work, is, that in the very years we began to agitate the question of equal rights, there was a simultaneous movement by women for various privileges, industrial, social, educational, civil and political, throughout the civilized world. and this without the slightest concert of action, or knowledge of each other's existence, showing that the time had come in the natural evolution of the species, in the order of human development, for woman to assert her rights, and to demand the recognition of the feminine element in all the vital interests of life. to battle against a palpable fact in philosophy and the accumulated facts in achievement that can be seen on all sides in woman's work for the last forty years, from slavery to equality, is as vain as to fight against the law of gravitation. we shall as surely reach the goal we purposed when we started, as that the rich prairies of nebraska will ere long feed and educate millions of brave men and women, gathered from every nation on the globe. every consideration for the improvement of your home life, for the morality of your towns and cities, for the elevation of your schools and colleges, and the loftiest motives of patriotism should move you, men of nebraska, to vote for this amendment. galton in his great work on heredity says: we are in crying want of a greater fund of ability in all stations of life, for neither the classes of statesmen, philosophers, artisans nor laborers, are up to the modern complexity of their several professions. an extended civilization like ours comprises more interests than the ordinary statesmen or philosophers of our race are capable of dealing with, and it exacts more intelligent work than our ordinary artisans and laborers, are capable of performing. our race is overweighted, and appears likely to be dragged into degeneracy by demands that exceed its powers. if its average ability were raised a grade or two, a new class of statesmen would conduct our complex affairs at home and abroad, as easily as our best business men now do their own private trades and professions. the needs of centralization, communication, and culture, call for more brains and mental stamina, than the average of our race possesses. does it need a prophet to tell us where to begin this work? does not the physical and intellectual condition of the women of a nation decide the capacity and power of its men? if we would give our sons the help and inspiration of woman's thought and interest in the complex questions of our present civilization, we must first give her the power that political responsibility secures. with the ballot in her own right hand, she would feel a new sense of dignity, and command among men a respect they have never felt before. nebraska has now the opportunity of making this grand experiment of securing justice, liberty, equality, for the first time in the world's history, to woman, through her education and enfranchisement, of lifting man to that higher plane of thought where he may be able wisely to meet all the emergencies of the period in which he is called on to act. let every man in nebraska now so do his duty, that, when the sun goes down on the eighth of november, the glad news may be sent round the world that at last one state in the american republic has fully accorded the sacred right of self-government to all her citizens, black and white, men and women. with sincere hope for this victory, cordially yours, elizabeth cady stanton. many interesting letters were received from friends at home and abroad, of which we give a few. the following is from our minister plenipotentiary at the german court: berlin, september , . miss anthony: _esteemed friend_: at this great distance i can only sympathize with the earnest effort to be made this fall to secure political recognition for women in nebraska. i am glad that the prospect is so good and that nebraska, which gave a name, with kansas, to the first successful resistance to the encroachments of slavery, is the arena where the battle is to be fought under such promise of a just result. by recognizing the right of its women to an equal share in all the duties and responsibilities of life, nebraska will honor itself while securing for all time wholesome laws and administration. i believe society would more benefit itself than grant a favor to women by extending the suffrage to them. all the interests of women are promoted by a government that shall guard the family circle, restrain excess, promote education, shield the young from temptation. while the true interests of men lie in the same direction, women more generally appreciate these facts and illustrate in their lives a desire for their attainment. could we bring to the ballot-box the great fund of virtue, intelligence and good intention stored up in the minds and hearts of our wives and sisters, how great the reinforcement would be for all that is noble, patriotic and pure in public life! who should fear the result who desires the public welfare? from the stand-point of better principles applied to the direction of public affairs and the best individuals in office, the argument seems impregnable. it is getting late to resist this measure on the ground that the character of women themselves would be lowered by contact with politics. that objection is identical with the motive which causes the turk to shut up his women in a harem and closely veil them in public. he fears their delicacy will be tarnished if they speak to any man but their proprietor. so prejudice feared woman would be unsexed if she had equal education with man. the professions were closed to women for the same consideration. women have vindicated their ability to endure the education and engage in the dreaded pursuits, yet society is not dissolved, and these fearful imaginings have proved idle dreams. as every advance made by woman since the days when it was a mooted law-point how large could be the stick with which her husband could punish her, down to the day when congress opened to her the bar of the united states supreme court, has been accompanied by constantly refuted assertions that she and society were about to be ruined. i think we can safely trust to her good sense, virtue and delicacy to preserve for us the loved and venerated object we have always known, even if society shall yield the still further measure of complete enfranchisement, and thus add to her social dignity, duties and responsibilities. no class has ever been degraded by the ballot. all have rather been elevated by it. we cannot rationally anticipate less desirable personal consequences to those whose tendencies are naturally good, than to those on whom the ballot has been conferred belonging to a lower plane of being. but these considerations go only to show the policy of granting suffrage to women. from the stand-point of justice the argument is more pressing. if woman asks for the ballot shall man deny it? by what right? certainly not by the right of a majority; for women are at least as numerous. certainly not by any right derived from nature; for our common mother has set no brand on woman. if one woman shall ask for a voice in the regulation of society of which she is at least one-half, who shall say her nay? if any woman shall ask it, who shall deny it because another woman does not ask it? there are many men who do not value their citizenship; shall other men therefore be deprived of the ballot? suppose many women would not avail themselves of such a function, are those with higher, or other views, to be therefore kept in tutelage? i trust you may succeed in this work in nebraska. it is of supreme importance to the cause. the example of nebraska would soon be followed by other states. the current of such a reform knows no retiring ebb. the suffrage once acquired will never be relinquished; first, because it will recommend itself, as it has in wyoming, by its results; second, because the women will jealously guard their rights, and defend them with their ballots. wishing i could do more than send you good wishes for the cause,[ ] i am, respectfully yours, a. a. sargent. the following letter is from a daughter of elizabeth cady stanton (a graduate of vassar college, and classmate of miss elizabeth poppleton), who two years before, on the eve of her departure for europe, gave her eloquent address on edmund burke in that city: toulouse, france, september , . _to the voters of my generation in nebraska:_ it is not my desire to present to you any argument, but only to give you an episode in my own life. i desire to lay before you a fact, not a fiction; a reality, not a supposition; an experience not a theory. i was born in a free republic and in my veins runs very rebellious blood. an ancestor of my father was one of those intrepid men who left the shores of old england and sailed forth to establish on a distant continent the grandest republic that has ever yet been known. that, you see, is not good blood to submit to injustice. and on my mother's side we find a sturdy old puritan from whom our stock is traced, fleeing from england because of the faith that was in him, and joining his rebellious life to one of that honest holland nation which had defied so nobly the oppressions of the catholic church and spanish inquisition. as if this were not sufficiently independent blood to pass on to other generations, my own father became an abolitionist, and step by step fought his belief to victory, and my mother early gave her efforts to the elevation of woman. it is all this, together with my living in the freëst land on the globe and in a century rife with discussions of all principles of government, that has made me in every fiber a believer in republican institutions. having been reared in a large family of boys where we enjoyed equal freedom, and having received the same collegiate education as my brothers, it is not until lately that i have felt the crime of my womanhood. i have dwelt thus upon the antecedents and influences of my life in order to ask you one question: do you not think i can appreciate the real meaning, the true sacredness of a republic? do you not believe i feel the duties it demands of its citizens? but i want you to hold your reply in abeyance, till i give you one bit more of history. a ship at sea crossing on the atlantic between europe and america. of two persons on this vessel i wish to speak to you. of one i have already told you much; i need but add that my two years spent in europe,[ ] previous to my return to america for a few months last winter, had not made me less american, less a lover of republicanism. and now this ship, baffling the february storm, was sweeping nearer the land where the people reign. my heart beat high as i thought it was in my native country where women were free, more honored than in any nation in the world. as i stood on the deck, the strong sea-wind blowing wildly about me, and the ocean bearing on its heart-wave mountains, visions of the grandeur of the nation lying off beyond the western horizon, rose before me. and it was a proud heart that cried--"my country!" and the other person i want to speak of? it is a man, a german, coming to the united states to escape military service in prussia. he came in the steerage; was poor and ignorant. he could speak no english, not one word of your language and mine. his fellows were all irish, so i offered to be an interpreter for him. i visited the steerage quarters, and returned with a heavy heart. such brutal faces as i saw! ignorance, cruelty, subserviency, were everywhere depicted. herds of human beings that i feared, they looked so dull and brutal. the full meaning of a terrible truth rushed upon me. soon these men would be my sovereigns--i their subject! i had just spent a year in that german's native land, and i remembered that i had seen their women doing the work of men in the fields, husbands returning from their day's labor empty-handed, and their wives toiling on behind bent under heavy burdens, and as i thought on this, our ship bore him and me towards the land that glories in having given birth to lucretia mott. in the country where he had been reared, i had seen women harnessed with beasts of burden, dragging laden wagons, and yet our vessel carried him and me at each moment towards a safe harbor, in a land that pays homage to the memory of margaret fuller. our ship sailed on, taking him from a land where he had been taught to worship royalty, whatever its worth or crime; where he had paid cringing submission to an arbitrary rule of police; where he had been surrounded by the degrading effects of the mightiest military system on the globe. the ship plowed on and on through the waves, bringing him to a republic, not one principle of which he comprehended. and now we sail up new york bay. the day is bright, and a softening haze hangs over all. surely this is some vision-land. yes, it is indeed a vision-land, for it has never known the presence of a royal line; against its oppressors it fought in no mean rebellious spirit, but rose in revolution with its motto, "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," written on its brow to be known of all men. and i think as we slowly sail up the bay on our vessel, does that deadened soul respond to what lies before him? does there in his heart rise the prayer, oh, god! make me true to the duties about to be laid upon me; make me worthy of being free? yes, then, for the first time i felt the full depth of the indignity offered to my womanhood. i felt my enthusiasm for america wavering--love of country dead. _my_ country!--i have no country. young men of nebraska, i ask you to free your minds from prejudice, to be just towards the demands of another human soul, to be frank, to be wholly truthful, and answer my demand: why should i not be a citizen of this republic? in replying, read between the lines of my tedious story and bear in mind the words of voltaire: "who would dare change a law that time has consecrated? is there anything more respectable than an ancient abuse! reason is more ancient, replied zadig." respectfully, harriot stanton. manchester national society for woman suffrage, } manchester, england, september , . } dear miss anthony: will you accept a word of cheer and god-speed from your sisters in england in your crusade for the emancipation of woman in nebraska? you carry with you the hopes and sympathetic wishes of all on this side of the water. if you win, as i trust you may, your victory will have a distinct influence on the future of our parliamentary campaign, which we hope to begin in early spring in england. in the name of english women i would appeal to the men of nebraska to assent to the great act of justice to women which is proposed to them by their elected representatives, and by so doing to aid in the enfranchisement of women all over the world. yours faithfully, lydia e. becker. london, september , . dear miss anthony: having heard that the next convention of the national woman suffrage association will meet at omaha this month, i cannot refrain from sending a few lines to assure our friends who are working so steadfastly in america for the same sacred cause as our own, of our loving sympathy and good-wishes for success in the coming struggle. the eyes and hearts of hundreds of women are, like my own, turned to nebraska, where so momentous an issue is to be decided two months hence. the news of their vote, if rightly given, will "echo round the world" like the first shot fired at concord. it will be the expression of their determination to establish their freedom by giving freedom to others, and their example will be followed by indiana and oregon, and soon by the other states of the union and by england. everything points with us to a speedy triumph of the principle of equal justice for woman. next november, about the time when nebraska will be voting for equal suffrage, the women in scotland will be voting for the first time in their municipal elections. the session of will be memorable in future for having passed the act which gives a married woman the right to hold her own property, make contracts, sue and be sued, in the same manner as if she were a single woman. it is nearly thirty years since we first began our efforts in this matter, and each succeeding step has been won very slowly and with great difficulty through the efforts of those who are working to obtain the suffrage. mr. gladstone still expresses the hope that next session will place the franchise on a "fair" basis, meaning thereby the same right of voting for counties as for boroughs. we maintain that the franchise can never be said to be on a fair basis while women are debarred from the right of voting. our progress and your progress will keep even pace together, for if women are free in america no long time can elapse before they are free here. we can but offer you our sympathy and we beg this favor of you, that as soon as you have the returns of the vote ascertained, you will telegraph the news to us, that our english societies may keep the day of rejoicing heart in heart with the american national association. with cordial sympathy in all your efforts, i am, faithfully yours, carolyn ashurst biggs. _to the national woman suffrage association, in convention assembled, at omaha, nebraska, september , , :_ dear friends: the most pressing work before the national woman suffrage convention, is bringing all its forces to bear upon congress for the submission of a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution, which shall prohibit states from disfranchising citizens of the united states, on the ground of sex, or for any cause not equally applicable to all citizens. while we of the national are glad to see an amendment to a state constitution proposed, securing suffrage to woman, as is the case in nebraska this fall, we must not be led by it to forget or neglect our legitimate work, an amendment to the national constitution, which will secure suffrage at one and the same moment to the women of each state. while all action of any kind and everywhere is good because it is educational, the only real, legitimate work of the national woman suffrage association, is upon congress. never have our prospects been brighter than to-day. a select committee on woman suffrage having been appointed in both houses during the last session of congress, and a resolution introduced in the senate, proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states, to secure the right of suffrage to all citizens irrespective of sex, having been referred to this select committee and receiving a favorable majority report thereon, we have every reason to expect the submission of such an amendment at the next session of congress. the work then, most necessary, is with each representative and senator; and the legislatures of the several states should be induced to pass resolutions requesting the senators and representatives from each state to give voice and vote in favor of the submission of such an amendment. this work is vitally important for the coming winter, and none the less so, even should nebraska vote aye november , upon the woman suffrage amendment to its own constitution. in view of the probability of the submission of a sixteenth amendment at the coming session of congress, i offer the following resolution, which i consider one of the most important of the series i have been asked to prepare for adoption by the convention: _resolved_, that it is the duty of every woman to work with the legislature of her own state, to secure from it the passage of a joint resolution requesting its senators and representatives in congress to use voice and vote in favor of the submission of an amendment to the national constitution which shall prohibit states from disfranchising citizens on the ground of sex. i hope the above resolution will be unanimously adopted, and that each woman will strive to carry its provisions into effect as a religious duty. with my best wishes for a grand and successful convention, and the hope that nebraska will set itself right before the world by the adoption of the woman suffrage amendment this fall, i am, very truly yours, matilda joslyn gage.[ ] _the republican_ in describing the closing scenes of the convention, said: fully , people assembled last evening to listen to the closing proceedings of the convention. the stage, which was beautifully furnished and upholstered, was completely occupied by the ladies of the association; and as they all were in full dress, in preparation for the reception at the paxton hotel, the sight was a brilliant one. as respects the audience, not only the seats, but the lobbies were crowded, and hundreds upon hundreds were turned away. manager boyd remarked as we passed in, "you will see to-night the most magnificent gathering that has ever been in the opera house," and such truly it was--the intellect, fashion and refinement of the city. addresses were given by m'me neyman, whose earnest and eloquent words were breathlessly heard; mrs. minor of st. louis, whose utterances were serious and weighty; and miss phoebe couzins, who touched the springs of sentiment, sympathy, pathos and humor by turns. after answering two or three objections that had not been fully touched upon, miss couzins fairly carried away the house, when she said in conclusion, "miss anthony and myself, and another who has addressed you are the only spinsters in the movement. we, indeed, expect to marry, but we don't want our husbands to marry slaves [great merriment]; we are waiting for our enfranchisement. and now, if you want miss anthony and myself to move into your state--" this hit, with all it implied, set the audience into a convulsion of cheers and laughter which was quite prolonged; and after the merriment had subsided, miss couzins completed her sentence by saying, "we are under sailing orders to receive proposals!" whereupon the applause broke out afresh. "however," she added, seeing miss anthony shake her head, "it takes a very superior woman to be an old maid, and on this principle i think miss anthony will stick to her colors." miss couzins quoted hawthorne as speaking through "zenobia": "it is my belief, yea, my prophecy, that when my sex shall have attained its freedom there will be ten eloquent women where there is now one eloquent man," and instanced this convention as an illustration of what might be expected. miss couzins was followed by mrs. saxon, mrs. neyman and miss hindman. the resolutions,[ ] which were presented by mrs. sewall, among their personal commendations expressed the appreciation of the association for the services rendered by mrs. clara bewick colby, in making preparations for the convention. mrs. colby in making her acknowledgments said: there was another to whom the association owed much for the work done which has made possible the brilliant success of the convention--one to whom, while across the water their thoughts and hearts had often turned; and she was sure that all present would gladly join in extending a welcome to the late president, and now chairman of the executive committee of the state association, mrs. harriet s. brooks. mrs. brooks came forward amid applause, and said: that at this late hour while a speech might be silvern, silence was golden; and she would say no more than, on behalf of all the members and officers of the state association, and the friends of the cause in omaha, to tender their most grateful thanks to the national association for "the feast of reason and the flow of soul" with which they have been favored during the last three days. at the close of the convention the spacious parlors of the paxton house were crowded. over a thousand ladies and gentlemen passed through, shaking hands with the delegates and congratulating them on the great success of the convention. another enthusiastic meeting was held at lincoln, the capital of the state, and radiating from this point in all directions these missionaries of the new gospel of woman's equality traversed the entire state, scattering tracts and holding meetings in churches, school-houses and the open air, and thus the agitation was kept up until the day of election. as it was the season for agricultural fairs, the people were more easily drawn together, and the ladies readily availed themselves, as they had opportunity, of these great gatherings. two notable debates were held in omaha in answer to the many challenges sent by the opposition. miss couzins, the first to enter the arena, was obliged to help her antagonist in his scriptural quotations, while miss anthony was compelled to supply hers with well-known statistics. it was evident that neither of the gentlemen had sharpened his weapons for the encounter. to look over the list of counties visited and the immense distances traveled in public and private conveyances, enables one in a measure to appreciate the physical fatigue these ladies endured. in reading of their earnest speeches, debates, conversations at every fireside and dinner-table, in every car and carriage as they journeyed by the way or waited at the station, their untiring perseverance must command the unqualified admiration of those who know what a political campaign involves. during those six weeks of intense excitement they were alike hopeful and anxious as to the result. at last the day dawned when the momentous question of the enfranchisement of , women was to be decided. every train brought some of the speakers to their headquarters in omaha, with cheering news from the different localities they had canvassed. and now one last effort must be made, they must see what can be done at the polls. some of the ladies went in carriages to each of the polling booths and made earnest appeals to those who were to vote for or against the woman's amendment. others stood dispensing refreshments and the tickets they wished to see voted, all day long. and while the men sipped their coffee and ate their viands with evident relish, the women appealed to their sense of justice, to their love of liberty and republican institutions. vain would be the attempt to describe the patient waiting, the fond hopes, the bright visions of coming freedom, that had nerved these brave women to these untiring labors, or to shadow in colors dark enough the fears, the anxieties, the disappointments, all centered in that november election. a fitting subject for an historical picture was that group of intensely earnest women gathered there, as the last rays of the setting sun warned them that whether for weal or for woe the decisive hour had come; no word of theirs could turn defeat to victory. the hours of anxious waiting were not long, the verdict soon came flashing on every wire, from the north, the south, the west: "no!" "no!" "no!" the mothers, wives and daughters of nebraska must still wear the yoke of slavery; they who endured with man the hardships of the early days and bravely met the dangers of a pioneer life, they who have reared two generations of boys and taught them the elements of all they know, who have stood foremost in all good works of charity and reform, who appreciate the genius of free institutions, native-born american citizens, are still to be governed by the ignorant, vicious classes from the old world. what a verdict was this for one of the youngest states in the american republic in the nineteenth century! but these heroic women did not sit down in sackcloth and ashes to weep over the cruel verdict. anticipating victory, they had engaged the opera house to hold their jubilee if the women of nebraska were enfranchised; or, if the returns brought them no cause for rejoicing, they would at least exalt the educational work that had been done in the state, and dedicate themselves anew to this struggle for liberty. they had survived three defeats, in kansas, michigan, colorado, and tasted the bitterness of repeated disappointments, and another could not crush them. when the hour arrived, an immense audience welcomed them in the opera house, and from this new baptism of sorrow they spoke more eloquently than ever before. in their calm, determined manner they seemed to say with milton's hero: "all is not lost: the unconquerable will is ours." a report of the fifteenth annual washington convention, jan. , , , , was written by miss jessie waite of chicago, and published in the _washington chronicle_, from which we give the following extracts: the proceedings of the association were inaugurated at lincoln hall monday evening by a novel lecture, entitled "zekle's wife," by mrs. amy talbot dunn of indianapolis. the personality of mrs. dunn is so entirely lost in that of zekle's wife that it is hard to realize that the old lady of so many and so varied experiences is a happy young wife. as a character sketch mrs. dunn's "zekle's wife" stands on an equality with denman thompson's "joshua whitcomb" and with joe jefferson's "rip van winkle." to sustain a conception so foreign to the natural characteristics of the actor without once allowing the interest of the audience to flag, requires originality of thought, independence of idea, and genius for action. mrs. dunn, herself the author of her sketch, possesses to a remarkable degree the power to impress upon her audience the feeling that the old lady from "kaintuck" is before them, not only to say things for their amusement, but also to impress upon them those great truths which have presented themselves to her mind during the fifty years of her married life. "zekle's wife" is a keen, shrewd, warm-hearted, lovable old woman, without education or culture, yet with an innate sense of refinement and a touching undercurrent of desire "not to be too hard on zekle." as she tells her story, which she informs us is a true one from real life, she engages the attention and wins the sympathy of all her hearers, and frequent bursts of applause evidence the satisfaction of the audience. the convention proper opened on tuesday morning with the appointment of various committees,[ ] and reports[ ] from the different states filled up most of the time during the day. may wright sewall said: women must learn that power gives power; that intelligence alone can appreciate or be influenced by intelligence; that justice alone is moved by appeals based on justice. more than anything in the course of suffrage labor does the nebraska campaign justify the primary method of this national association. we have a right to expect that each legislature will be composed of the picked men of the state. we have a right to believe that as the intelligence, wisdom and justice of the picked men of the nation are superior to the same qualities in the mass of men, so is the fitness of national and state legislators to consider the demands for the ballot. mrs. mills of washington sang, as a solo, "barbara fritchie," in excellent style. mrs. caroline hallowell miller (wife of francis miller, esq., late assistant attorney for the district of columbia) spoke with the greatest ease and most remarkable command of language. she is in every sense a strong woman. she said that, born and reared as she was in a virginia town noted for its intense conservatism, where she had seen a woman stripped to the waist and brutally beaten by order of the law (her skin happened to be of a dark color) whose only crime was that of alleged impertinence, and that impertinence provoked by improper conduct on the part of a young man; that, reared in such a cradle as this, still, through the blessing of a good home, she had learned to deeply appreciate the noble efforts of women who dared to tread new paths, to break their own way through the dense forest of prejudice and ignorance. man cannot represent woman. if woman breaks any law of man, of nature, or of god, she alone must suffer the penalty. "this fact seems to me," said mrs. miller, "to settle the whole question." miss anthony read the following letter from hon. benjamin f. butler, who, she said, had the honor of being an advocate of this cause, in addition to being governor of massachusetts: washington, d. c., jan. , . my dear miss anthony: i received your kind note asking me to attend the national convention of the friends of woman suffrage at washington, for which courtesy i am obliged. my engagements, which have taken me out of the commonwealth, cover all, and more than all, of my time, and i find i am to hurry back, leaving some of them undisposed of. it will therefore be impossible for me to attend the convention. as i have already declared my conviction that the fourteenth amendment fully covers the right of all persons to vote, and as i assume that the women of the country are persons, and very important persons to its happiness and prosperity, i never have been able to see any reason why women do not come within its provisions. i think such will be the decision of the court, perhaps quite as early as you may be able to get through congress and the legislatures of the several states another amendment. but both lines of action may well be followed, as they do not conflict with each other. this course was taken in the case of the fifteenth amendment, which was supposed to be necessary to cover the case of the negro, although many of the friends of the colored man looked coldly upon that amendment, because it seemed to be an admission that the fourteenth amendment was not sufficient. therefore i can without inconsistency, i think, bid you "god speed" in your agitation for the sixteenth amendment. it will have the effect to enlighten the public mind as to the scope of the fourteenth amendment. i am very truly, your friend and servant, benj. f. butler. mrs. blake presented a series of resolutions, which were laid on the table for consideration: whereas, in larger numbers than ever before the women of the united states are demanding the repeal of arbitrary restrictions which now debar them from the use of the ballot; and whereas, the recent defeat in nebraska of a constitutional amendment, giving the women of the state the right to vote, proves that failure is the natural result of an appeal to the masses on a question which is best understood and approved by the more intelligent citizens; therefore, _resolved_, that we call upon this congress to pass, without delay, the sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution now pending in the senate. _resolved_, that all competitive examinations for places in the civil service of the united states should be open on equal terms to citizens of both sexes, and that any so-called civil service reform that does not correct the existing unjust discrimination against women employés, and grade all salaries on merit and not sex, is a dishonest pretense at reform. whereas, the constitution of the united states declares that no state shall be admitted to the union unless it have a republican form of government; and whereas, no true republic can exist unless all the inhabitants are given equal civil and political rights; therefore, _resolved_, that we earnestly protest against the admission of dakota as a state, unless the right of suffrage is secured on equal terms to all her citizens. _resolved_, that the women of these united states have not deserved the infliction of this punishment of disfranchisement, and do most earnestly demand that they be relieved from the cruelties it imposes upon them. whereas, during the war hundreds of women throughout our land entered the service of the nation as hospital nurses; and whereas, many of these women were disabled by wounds and by disease, while many were reduced to permanent invalidism by the hardships they endured; therefore, _resolved_, that these women should be placed on the pension list and rewarded for their services. after the reading of the resolutions an animated discussion followed, miss anthony showing in scathing terms the injustice of the employment of women to do equal work with men at half the salaries, in the departments at washington and elsewhere. an additional resolution was adopted declaring that paying dr. susan a. edson for her services as attendant physician to president garfield, $ , less than was paid for an equivalent service rendered by dr. boynton, a more recent graduate of the same college from which she received her diploma, is an unjust discrimination on account of sex. mrs. sewall said men in the departments were given extra leave of absence each year to go home to vote, and suggested that women be given (until the time comes for them to vote) extra leave to meditate upon the ballot. miss anthony said she had addressed a letter to each secretary asking that such women as desired be given permission to attend the meetings of this convention without loss of time to them. she had received but one answer, which was from secretary folger, who wrote: "_the condition of the public business prevents us from acceding to your request_." mrs. harriette r. shattuck of boston said: tired as some of the audience must be of hearing the same old argument in favor of the ballot for women repeated from year to year, they could not possibly be more tired than the friends of the cause were of hearing the same old objections repeated from year to year. while the forty-year-old objections are raised the forty-year-old rejoinders must be given. we must continue to agitate until we force people to listen. it is like the ringing of a bell. at first no one notices it; in a little while, a few will listen; finally, the perpetual ding-dong, ding-dong, will force itself to be heard by every one. the oldest of all the old arguments is that of right and justice, and the tune which my little bell shall ring is merely this: "_it is right!_" this cry of woman for liberty and equality increases every day, and it is a cry that must some day be heard and responded to. mrs. virginia l. minor of st. louis was then introduced as the woman who stands to this cause in the same relation that dred scott had stood to the republican party. miss couzins said that in introducing mrs. minor she wanted to say one word about the work mrs. minor had done for the soldiers, during the sanitary fair and all through the war. she had canned fruit, refusing the money offered in payment, returning it all to be used for the sick and wounded soldiers [applause]. mrs. minor spoke in a calm, deliberate manner, with perfect conviction in the truth of her statements and with a winning sweetness of expression that indicated the highest sensibilities of a refined nature. she showed that women voted in the early days of the country, and that undoubtedly it was the intention of the framers of the constitution that they should do so. this right had been taken away when the constitution was amended and the word "male" inserted. what is now desired is simply restoration of that which had been taken away. she believed that this restoration was made, unwittingly, by the addition of the fourteenth amendment, which, without doubt, makes women citizens. it is men who have abused the republican institution of suffrage; it is women who desire to restore it to its proper exercise. miss anthony read a letter from mrs. wallace, the wife of one of the former governors of indiana: indianapolis, ind., january , . dear miss anthony: when in the call i read that for fourteen consecutive years the national woman suffrage association had held a convention in washington, i was oppressed by two thoughts: first, how hard it is to overcome prejudice and ignorance when they have been fortified by the usages and customs of ages; and secondly, the sublime faith, courage and perseverance of the advocates of woman's enfranchisement, and their confidence in the ultimate triumph of justice. after all, by what are governments organized and maintained? by brute force alone? despotisms may be, but republics never. what are the qualifications for the ballot? the power to fight? are they not rather intelligence, virtue, truth and patriotism? i scarce think the most obstinate and egotistical of our opponents will assert that men possess a monopoly of these virtues, or even a moiety of them. as to their fighting capacities, of which we hear so much, i think they would have cut a sorry figure in the wars which they have been compelled to wage in order to establish and maintain this government, if they had not had the sympathy and coöperation of woman. i entirely agree with you that, while agitation in the states is necessary as a means of education, a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution is the quickest, surest and least laborious way to secure the success of this great work for human liberty. any legislature of indiana in the last six years would have ratified such an amendment. with highest regards for yourself and the best wishes for the success of the convention, i remain, yours, etc., zerelda g. wallace. after several other speakers,[ ] madame clara neyman of new york city, delivered what was, without question, one of the best addresses of the convention. she spoke with a slightly german accent, which only served to enhance the interest and hold the attention of the audience. her eloquence and argument could not fail to convince all of her earnest purpose. after showing the philosophy of reform movements, and every step of progress, she said: woman's enfranchisement will be wrought out by peaceful means. we shall use no fire-arms, no torpedoes, no heavy guns to gain our freedom. no precious human lives will be sacrificed; no tears will be shed to establish our right. we shall capture the fortresses of prejudice and injustice by the force of our arguments; we shall send shell after shell into these strongholds until their defective reasoning gives way to victorious truth. "inability to bear arms," says herbert spencer, "was the reason given in feudal times for excluding woman from succession," and to-day her position is lowest where the military spirit prevails. a sad illustration of this is my own country. being a born german, and in feeling, kindred, and patriotism attached to the country of my birth and childhood, it is hard for me to make such a confession. but the truth must be told, even if it hurts. it has been observed by those who travel in europe, that germany, which has the finest and best universities, which stands highest in scholarship, nevertheless tolerates, nay, enforces the subjection of woman. the freedom of a country stands in direct relation to the position of its women. america, which has proclaimed the freedom of man, has developed _pari passu_ a finer womanhood, and has done more for us than any other nation in existence. a new type of manhood has been reared on american soil--a type which tennyson describes in his princess: man shall be more of woman, she of man; he gain in sweetness and in moral height, nor lose the thews that wrestle with the world; she, mental breadth, nor fail in childward care, nor lose the childlike in the larger mind; till at the last they set them each to each, like perfect music unto noble words. then comes the statelier eden back to man; then springs the crowning race of human kind. at the evening session the time was divided between lillie devereux blake and phoebe w. couzins. mrs. blake spoke on the question, "is it a crime to be a woman?" she showed in a clear, logical manner that wherever a woman was apprehended for crime the discrimination against her was not because of the crime she had committed, but because the crime was committed by a woman. every woman in this country is treated by the law as if she were to blame for being a woman. in new york an honorable married woman has no right to her children. a man may beat his wife all he pleases; but if he beats another man the law immediately interferes, showing that the woman is not protected simply because she is so indiscreet as to _be a woman_. if it is not a crime to be a woman, why are women subjected to unequal payment with men for the same service? why are they forced at times to don men's clothes in order to obtain employment that will keep them from starvation? miss couzins said that the american-born woman was "a woman without a country"; but before she had closed she had proved that this country belonged exclusively to the women. it was a woman, queen isabella, that enabled a man to discover this country, and in the old flag the initials were "i" and "f," representing isabella and ferdinand, showing that it was acknowledged that the woman's initial was the more important in this matter and to be first considered. it was a woman, mary chilton, that first landed on plymouth rock. it was a woman, betsy ross, that designed our beautiful flag, the original eagle on our silver dollar, and the seal of the united states without which no money is legal. all the way down in our national history woman has been hand in hand with man, has assisted, supported and encouraged him, and now there are women ready to help reform the life of the body politic, and side by side with man work to purify, refine and ennoble the world. miss couzins seemed inspired by her own thoughts and carried the audience along with her in her flights of eloquence. being asked to make a few closing remarks, mrs. may wright sewall said: difficult, indeed, is the task of closing a three days' convention; vain is the hope to do it with fitting words which shall not be mere repetitions of what has been said on this platform. the truth which bases this claim lies in a nut-shell, and the shell seems hard to be cracked. it is unfair, when comparing the ability of men and women, to compare the average woman to the exceptional man, but this is what man always does. if, perchance, he admits not only the equality but the superiority of woman, he tells her she must not vote because she is so nearly an angel, so much better than he is, and this, in the face of the fact that every angel represented or revealed has been shown in the form of a _handsome young man_. if any class then must abstain from meddling in politics on account of relation to the angels, it is the men! but she informed the gentlemen she had no fears for them on that ground, for their relationship was not _near_ enough to cause any serious inconvenience. speaking of the objections to women undertaking grave or deep studies, that woman lacks the logical faculty, that she has only intuition, nerve-force, etc., mrs. sewall said: it is true of every woman who has done the worthiest work in science, literature, or reform, from diotima, the teacher of socrates, to margaret fuller, the pupil of channing and the peer of emerson, that ignoring the methods of nerves and instincts, she has placed herself squarely on the basis of observation, investigation and reason. men will admit that these women had strength and logic, but say they are exceptional women. so are gladstone, bismarck, gambetta, lincoln and garfield exceptional men. she mentioned miss anthony's proposed trip to europe, and said that she had not had a holiday for thirty years. miss anthony said she wished to call attention to the report of the special committee of the senate, which distinctly stated that the question had had "general agitation," and that the petitions at different times presented were both "_numerous_ and respectable." this was sufficient answer, coming from such high authority, that of senator anthony, to all the insinuations and unjust remarks about the petitions presented to congress, and with regard to the assertion that women themselves did not want the ballot. she expressed her obligations to the press, and mentioned that the _sunday chronicle_ had announced its intention of giving much valuable space to the proceedings, and that when she had learned this, she had ordered , copies, which she would send to the address of any friend in the audience free of charge. the "star spangled banner" was then sung, miss couzins and mrs. shattuck singing the solos, mr. wilson of the foundry m. e. church, leading the audience in the chorus, the whole producing a fine effect. miss anthony said the audience could see how much better it was to have a man to help, even in singing. this brought down the house. in closing this report, a word may be said of the persons most conspicuous in it. this year several remarkable additions have been made to our number, and it is of these especially that we would speak. mrs. minor of st. louis, in her manner has all the gentleness and sweetness of the high-born southern lady; her personal appearance is very pleasant, her hair a light chestnut, untouched with gray; her face has lost the color of youth, but her eyes have still their fire, toned down by the sorrow they have seen. madame neyman is also new to the washington platform. she is a piquant little german lady, with vivacious manner, most agreeable accent, and looked in her closely-fitting black-velvet dress as if she might have just stepped out of a painting. in direct contrast is mrs. miller of maryland--a large, dark-haired matron, past middle age, but newly born in her enthusiasm for the cause. she is a worker as well as a talker, and is a decided acquisition to the ranks. the other novice in the work is mrs. amy dunn, who has taken such a novel way to render assistance. mrs. dunn is tall and slender, with dark hair and eyes. she is a shrewd observer, does not talk much socially, but when she says anything it is to the point. her character sketch, "zekle's wife," will be a stepping-stone to many a woman on her way to the suffrage platform. two women who have done and are doing a great work in this city, and who are not among the public speakers, are mrs. spofford, the treasurer, wife of the proprietor of the riggs house, and miss ellen h. sheldon, secretary of the association. to these ladies is due much of the success of the convention. mrs. sheldon is of diminutive stature, with gray hair, and mrs. spofford is of large and queenly figure, with white hair. her magnificent presence is always remarked at the meetings. the following were among the letters read at this convention: duchess street, portland place, london, eng., jan. . dear miss anthony: to you and our friends in convention assembled, i send greeting from the old world. it needs but little imagination to bring lincoln hall, the usual fine audiences, and the well-known faces on the platform, before my mind, so familiar have fifteen years of these conventions in washington made such scenes to me. how many times, as i have sat in your midst and listened to the grand speeches of my noble coädjutors, i have wondered how much longer we should be called upon to rehearse the oft-repeated arguments in favor of equal rights to all. surely the grand declarations of statesmen at every period in our history should make the principle of equality so self-evident as to end at once all class legislation. it is now over half a century since frances wright with eloquent words first asserted the political rights of women in our republic; and from that day to this, inspired apostles in an unbroken line of succession have proclaimed the new gospel of the motherhood of god and of humanity. we have plead our case in conventions of the people, in halls of legislation, before committees of congress, and in the supreme court of the united states, and our arguments still remain unanswered. history shows no record of a fact like this, where so large a class of virtuous, educated, native-born citizens have been subjugated by the national government to foreign domination. while our american statesmen scorn the thought that even the most gifted son of a monarch, an emperor or a czar should ever occupy the proud position of a president of these united states, and by constitutional provision deny to all foreigners this high privilege, they yet allow the very riff-raff of the old world to make laws for the proudest women of the republic, to make the moral code for the daughters of our people, to sit in judgment on all our domestic relations. england has taken two grand steps within the last year in extending the municipal suffrage to the woman of scotland and in passing the married woman's property bill. they are holding meetings all over the country now in favor of parliamentary suffrage. statistics show that women generally _exercise_ the rights already accorded. they have recently passed through a very heated election for members of the school-board in various localities. miss lydia becker was elected in manchester, and miss eva müller in one of the districts of london, and several other women in different cities. a little incident will show you how naturally the political equality of woman is coming about in queen victoria's dominions. i was invited to dine at barn elms, a beautiful estate on the banks of the thames, a spot full of classic associations, the residence of mr. charles mclaren, a member of parliament. opposite me at dinner sat a bright young girl tastefully attired; on my right the gentleman to whom she was engaged; at the head of the table a sparkling matron of twenty-five, one of the most popular speakers here on the woman suffrage platform. the dinner-table talk was such as might be heard in any cultivated circle--art, literature, amusements, passing events, etc., etc.--and when the repast was finished, ladies and gentlemen, in full dinner dress, went off to attend an important school-board meeting, our host to preside and the young lady opposite me to make the speech of the evening, and all done in as matter-of-fact a way as if the party were going to the opera. members of parliament and lord-mayors preside and speak at all their public meetings and help in every way to carry on the movement, giving money most liberally; and yet how seldom any of our senators or congressmen will even speak at our meetings, to say nothing of sending us a check of fifty or a hundred dollars. i trust that we shall accomplish enough this year to place the women of republican america at least on an even platform with monarchical england. with sincere wishes for the success of the convention, cordially yours, elizabeth cady stanton. london, january , . dear miss anthony: i was very glad indeed to receive notice of your mid-winter conference in time to send you a few words about the progress of our work in england. i believe our disappointment at the result of the vote in nebraska must have been greater than yours, as, being on the spot, you saw the difficulties to be surmounted. i had so hoped that the men of a free new state would prove themselves juster and wiser than the men of our older civilizations, whose prejudice and precedents are such formidable barriers. but we cannot, judging from a distance, look upon the work of the campaign as thrown away. twenty-five thousand votes in favor of woman suffrage in the face of such enormous odds is really a victory, and the legislatures of these states are deeply pledged to ratify the constitutional amendment, if passed by congress. we look forward hopefully to the discussion in congress. the majority report of the senate cannot fail to secure attention, and i hope your present convention will bring together national forces that will greatly influence the debate. caroline a. biggs. rue de varenne, paris, january , . my dear miss anthony: perhaps a brief account of what has been done with the two packages of "the history of woman suffrage" which you sent me for distribution in europe may prove interesting to the convention. in the first place, sets in sheep have been deposited already, or will have been before spring, in all the great continental libraries from russia to france, and from denmark to turkey. in the second place, copies in cloth have been presented to reformers, publicists, editors, etc, in every country of the old world. this generous distribution of a costly work has already begun to produce an effect. besides a large number of private letters from all parts of europe acknowledging the receipt of the volumes and bestowing on their contents the highest praise, the history has been reviewed in numerous reform, educational and socialistic periodicals and newspapers in almost every modern european tongue. nor is this all. every week a new pamphlet or book is sent me, or comes under my notice, in which this history is cited, sometimes at great length, and is pronounced to be the authority on the american women's movement. i have carefully kept all these letters, newspaper notices, etc., and at the proper time i hope to prepare a little pamphlet for your publisher on european opinion concerning your great work. very truly yours, theodore stanton. rue de varenne, paris, january , . dear miss anthony: my husband has just read me a letter he has written you concerning the enthusiastic reception your big history has had among liberal people on this side of the atlantic, but he did not inform you that he should send the american public next spring a similar though much smaller work, entitled "the woman question in europe." the putnams of new york are now busy on the volume. you in the new world have little idea how the leaders of the women's movement here watch everything you do in the united states. the great fact which my husband's volume will teach you in america is the important and direct influence your movement is having on the younger, less developed, but growing revolution in favor of our sex, now in progress in every country of the old world. while assisting in the preparation of the manuscript for this book this fact has been thrust upon my notice at every instant, and never before did i fully realize the grand rôle the united states is acting in this nineteenth century, for, rest assured, the moment european women are emancipated monarchy gives way to the republic everywhere. most sincerely yours, margueritte berry stanton. pennsylvania avenue, s. e., january , . dear susan anthony: i believe that this is the only week of the whole winter when i could not come to you nor attend your convention, much as i wish to do so. it has been an exceptional week to me in the way of work and engagements, full of both as i always am. i could not call on you last monday, as i was in my own crowded parlors from till o'clock at night. i tell you this that you may know that i did not of my own accord stay away from you. i have not had a moment to write you a coherent letter, such as i would be willing you should read. but i _have_ saved the best reports of the convention, and it shall have a good notice in the _independent_ of week after next. it shall have only praise. of course i could write a brighter, more characteristic notice could i myself have attended. should you stay over next sunday i can see you yet; but if not, remember i think of you always with the warmest interest, and meet you always with unchanged affection. ever your friend, mary clemmer. may god bless and keep you, i ever pray.[ ] house of representatives, thursday, march , . mr. white, by unanimous consent, from the special committee on woman suffrage, reported back the joint resolution (h. res., ) proposing an amendment to the constitution, which was referred to the house calendar, and, with the accompanying report, ordered to be printed. mr. springer: as a member of that committee i have not seen the report, and do not know whether it meets with my concurrence.[ ] mr. white: i ask by unanimous consent that the minority may have leave to submit their views, to be printed with the majority report. the speaker: the chair hears no objection. mr. white, from the select committee on woman suffrage, submitted the following: _the select committee on woman suffrage, to whom was referred house resolution no. , proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states to secure the right of suffrage to citizens of the united states without regard to sex, having considered the same, respectfully report:_ in attempting to comprehend the vast results that could and would be attained by the adoption of the proposed article to the constitution, a few considerations are presented that are claimed by the friends of woman suffrage to be worthy of the most serious attention, among which are the following: i. there are vast interests in property vested in women, which property is affected by taxation and legislation, without the owners having voice or representation in regard to it. the adoption of the proposed amendment would remove a manifest injustice. ii. consider the unjust discriminations made against women in industrial and educational pursuits, and against those who are compelled to earn a livelihood by work of hand or brain. by conferring upon such the right of suffrage, their condition, it is claimed, would be greatly improved by the enlargement of their influence. iii. the questions of social and family relations are of equal importance to and affect as many women as men. giving to women a voice in the enactment of laws pertaining to divorce and the custody of children and division of property would be merely recognizing an undeniable right. iv. municipal regulations in regard to houses of prostitution, of gambling, of retail liquor traffic, and of all other abominations of modern society, might be shaped very differently and more perfectly were women allowed the ballot. v. if women had a voice in legislation, the momentous question of peace and war, which may act with such fearful intensity upon women, might be settled with less bloodshed. vi. finally, there is no condition, status in life, of rich or poor; no question, moral or political; no interest, present or future; no ties, foreign or domestic; no issues, local or national; no phase of human life, in which the mother is not equally interested with the father, the daughter with the son, the sister with the brother. therefore the one should have equal voice with the other in molding the destiny of this nation. believing these considerations to be so important as to challenge the attention of all patriotic citizens, and that the people have a right to be heard in the only authoritative manner recognized by the constitution, we report the accompanying resolution with a favorable recommendation in order that the people, through the legislatures of their respective states, may express their views: joint resolution _proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states_: _resolved_ by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled, (two-thirds of each house concurring therein), that the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several states as an amendment to the constitution of the united states, which, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, shall be valid as part of said constitution, namely: section . the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. sec. . the congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the provisions of this article. thus closed the forty-seventh congress, and although with so little promise of any substantial good for women, yet this slight recognition in legislation was encouraging to those who had so long appealed in vain for the attention of their representatives. a committee to even consider the wrongs of woman was more than had ever been secured before, and one to propose some measures of justice, sustained by the votes of a few statesmen awake to the degradation of disfranchisement, gave some faint hope of more generous action in the near future. the tone of the debates[ ] in these later years even, on the nature and rights of women, is wholly unworthy the present type of developed womanhood and the age in which we live. footnotes: [ ] during the autumn miss anthony, mrs. jones, miss snow and miss couzins, spending some weeks in washington, asked for an audience with president chester a. arthur, and urged him to recommend in his first message to congress the appointment of a standing committee and the submission of a sixteenth amendment. [ ] _yeas_--aldrich, allison, anthony, blair, cameron of pa., cameron of wis., conger, davis of ill., dawes, edmunds, ferry, frye, harrison, hawley, hill of col., hoar, jones of fla., jones of nev., kellogg, lapham, logan, mcdill, mcmillan, miller of cal., mitchell, morrill, platt, plumb, ransom, rollins, saunders, sawyer, sewell, sherman, windom-- . _nays_--bayard, beck, brown, butler, camden, cockrell, coke, davis of w. va., fair, farley, garland, hampton, hill of ga., jackson, jonas, mcpherson, maxey, saulsbury, slater, vance, vest, walker, williams-- . _absent_--call, george, gorman, groome, grover, hale, harris, ingalls, johnston, lamar, mahone, miller of n. y., morgan, pendleton, pugh, teller, van wyck, voorhees-- . the members of the committee were senators lapham of new york, anthony of rhode island, blair of new hampshire, jackson of tennessee, george of mississippi, ferry of michigan and fair of nevada. [ ] _yeas_--aldrich, anderson, bayne, beach, belford, bingham, black, bliss, brewer, briggs, browne, brumm, buck, burrows, julius c., butterworth, calkins, camp, campbell, candler, cannon, carpenter, caswell, converse, crapo, davis, george r., dawes, deering, de motte, dezendorf, dingley, dwight, farwell, sewall s., finley, flower, geddes, grout, hardenburgh, harris, henry, s., haseltine, haskell, hawk, hazelton, heilman, henderson, hepburn, hill, hiscock, horr, houk, hubbell, humphrey, hutchinson, jacobs, jadwin, jones, phineas, kasson, kelley, ladd, lord, marsh, mason, mcclure, mccoid, mccook, mckinley, miles, miller, moulton, murch, nolan, norcross, o'neill, orth, page, parker, paul, payson, poole, pierce, pettibone, pound, prescott, ranney, ray, reed, rice. theron m., richardson, d. p., ritchie, robeson, robinson, geo. d., robinson, james s., ryan, scranton, shallenberger, sherwin, skinner, smith, a. herr, smith, dietrich c., spaulding, spooner, steele, stephens, stone, strait, taylor, updegraff, j. t., updegraff, thomas, valentine, van aernam, walker, watson, west, white, williams, chas. g., willits-- . _nays_--aiken, atkins, berry, blackburn, bland, blount, bragg, buchanan, buckner, cabell, caldwell, cassiday, chapman, clark, clements, cobb, colerick, cox, william r., covington, cravens, culberson, curtin, deuster, dibrell, dowd, evins, forney, frost, fulkerson, garrison, guenther, gunter, hammond, n. j., hatch, herbert, hewitt, g. w. hoge, holman, house, jones, george w., jones, james k., joyce, kenna, klotz, knott, latham, leedom, manning, martin, matson, mcmillin, mills, money, morrison, mutchler, oates, phister, reagan, rosecrans, ross, schackleford, shelley, simonton, singleton, jas. w., singleton, otho r., sparks, speer, springer, stockslager, thompson, p. b., thompson, wm. g., tillman, tucker, turner, henry g., turner, oscar, upson, vance, warner, whittihore, williams, thomas, willis, wilson, wise, george d., young-- . [ ] _connecticut_, isabella beecher hooker, frances ellen burr. _colorado_, mrs. elizabeth g. campbell, _district of columbia_, ellen h. sheldon, jane h. spofford, dr. caroline b. winslow, ellen m. o'conner, eliza titus ward, belva a. lockwood, mrs. h. l. shephard, martha johnson. _indiana_, helen m. gongar, may wright sewall, laura kregelo, alexiana s. maxwell. _maine_, sophronia c. snow. _massachusetts_, mrs. harriet h. robinson, harriette r. shattuck, laura e. brooks, mary r. brown, emma f. clary. _nebraska_, clara b. colby. _new jersey_, mrs. stanton, mrs. chandler. _new york_, mrs. caroline gilkey rogers, mrs. blake, mrs. gage, miss anthony, mrs. helen m. loder. _pennsylvania_, mrs. mcclellan brown, rachel g. foster, emma c. rhodes. _rhode island_, rev. frederick a hinckley, mrs. burgess. _wisconsin_, miss eliza wilson and mrs. painter. [ ] short speeches were made by mrs. robinson and mrs. shattuck of massachusetts, mrs. sewall and mrs. gougar of indiana, mrs. saxon of louisiana, mrs. colby of nebraska. [ ] when mrs. stanton, mrs. gage and mrs. blake of new york, mrs. hooker of connecticut and mrs. saxon of louisiana, and mrs. sewall, by special request of the chairman, again addressed the committee. [ ] mr. blackburn, mr. robeson, and mr. reed were present. [ ] mrs. saxon, mrs. gage, mrs. sewall, mrs. mcclellan brown, mrs. colby, miss couzins, miss anthony, edward m. davis, robert purvis, mrs. shattuck, rev. frederick a. hinckley, mrs. robinson. [ ] those present were mesdames spofford, stanton, robinson, shattuck, sewall and saxon; misses thompson, anthony, couzins and foster. many pleasant ladies from the society of friends were there also and contributed to the dignity and interest of the occasion. [ ] the speakers in the american convention were lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, margaret w. campbell, mary e. haggart, judge kingman and governor hoyt of wyoming, hannah tracy cutler, mary b. clay, dr. mary f. thomas, rebecca n. hazzard, ada m. bittenbender, mrs. o. c. dinsmore, matilda hindman, rev. w. e. copeland, erasmus m. correll. the speakers at the national convention were virginia l. minor, phoebe couzins, mrs. saxon, mrs. bloomer, mrs. mckinney, mrs. shattuck, mrs. neyman, mrs. colby, mrs. sewall, mrs. mason, mrs. brooks, mrs. blake, miss anthony, mrs. dinsmore, miss hindman, mrs. gougar, mr. correll and mrs. harbert. many of those from both associations took part in the canvass. miss rachel g. foster went out in the spring and made all the arrangements for the work of the national. she studied the geography of the state, and the railroads, and mapped out all the meetings for its twelve speakers. [ ] for full reports of the american convention see the _woman's journal_, edited by lucy stone and published in boston. [ ] for reports of the national see _our herald_, edited by helen m. gougar and published in lafayette, ind. the daily papers of omaha had full reports, the most fair by the _republican_, edited by mr. brooks. [ ] their many courtesies are well summed up by miss foster in a letter to _our herald_:--dear herald: as your readers will know from the report of the executive meetings, it was decided to have a headquarters for national woman suffrage association speakers at omaha. when your editor left, the arrangements had not been completed for office-room and furnishings. it is finally decided that i, as secretary of the national woman's suffrage association, remain in charge of this omaha office, with mrs. c. b. colby as my associate, while mrs. bittenbender has charge of the headquarters at lincoln, and manages the american and state speakers, these two officers of the campaign committee being in constant consultation. i cannot too strongly express the gratitude which our committee, and especially our national woman's suffrage association, owes to the kind firm of kitchen brothers, proprietors of the paxton hotel. during our late convention their attention has been unremitting, and they now crown it by giving us, rent free, a large, well-lighted office to be occupied until election as the omaha headquarters of our campaign committee. i was somewhat puzzled about the suitable furnishings for the room, but mr. kitchen told me he would attend to that himself, and through his kindness it will be made very comfortable for us to occupy for the next five weeks. messrs. dewey and stone of this city, large dealers in furniture, have given the use of a handsome and convenient desk which will enable us to bring order out of chaos. so you can imagine us, surrounded by all convenient appliances, hard at work in our new quarters a good part of every day for this last month before election. we can certainly not complain that we are not made welcome to the best the city affords by these kind citizens of omaha. why, we even had a special engine and car given us by the accommodating manager of the burlington & missouri railroad to run one of our speakers from omaha to lincoln to enable her to attend a meeting which would otherwise have lacked a speaker. mr. montmorency, on behalf of the burlington & missouri railroad, extended this courtesy (and in our need at that hour it was highly appreciated) to us because of the work in which we are engaged. as all know ere this, both this road and the union pacific have given to our speakers and delegates generous reductions over all their lines in this state. mayor boyd, owner of the opera house, has also done his share to aid us toward success, in his great reduction of ordinary rates to us while we occupy his handsome building with our suffrage mass meetings. we have the opera house now secured for october , , , , november and , on which dates large meetings will be addressed by some of our principal speakers. the first date is to be filled by miss phoebe couzins, on "the woman without a country." the full report of our proceedings at the omaha and lincoln conventions, with the newspaper comments upon the size and character of the audiences there assembled, as well as the courtesies which i have just mentioned, will convince our readers that we are seemingly welcome guests here in nebraska, and i may say especially in omaha. i will keep the _herald_ posted from week to week upon campaign committee work. yours for success, rachel g. foster. headquarters of suffrage campaign committee, paxton house, omaha, october , . [ ] a private letter was received from mrs. ellen clark sargent, enclosing a check for $ . [ ] miss stanton, having studied astronomy with professor maria mitchell, went to europe to take a degree in mathematics from the college of france; but before completing her course, she shared the fate of too many of our american girls; she expatriated herself by marrying a foreigner. [ ] letters were also received from rebecca moore, england; mrs. z. g. wallace, indianapolis; frederick douglass, washington, d. c.; theodore stanton, paris, france; sarah knox goodrich, clarina howard nichols, california, and many others. [ ] whereas, the national woman suffrage association has labored unremittingly to secure the appointment of a committee in the congress of the united states to receive and consider the petitions of women and whereas, this association realizes the importance of such a committee, _resolved_, that the thanks of this association are due and are hereby tendered to congress for the appointment at its last session of a select woman suffrage committee in each house. _resolved_, that the thanks of this association are hereby tendered to senators lapham, ferry, blair and anthony, of the select committee, for their able majority report. _resolved_, that it is the paramount duty of congress at its next session to submit a sixteenth amendment to the constitution which shall secure the enfranchisement of the women of the republic. _resolved_, that the recent action of king christian of denmark, in conferring the right of municipal suffrage upon the women in iceland, and the similar enlargement of woman's political freedom in scotland, india and russia, are all encouraging evidences of the progress of self-government even in monarchical countries. and farther, that while the possession of these privileges by our foreign sisters is an occasion of rejoicing to us, it still but emphasizes the inconsistency of a republic which refuses political recognition to one-half of its citizens. _resolved_, that the especial thanks of the officers and delegates of this convention are due and are hereby most cordially tendered to mrs. clara bewick colby, for the exceptionally efficient manner in which she has discharged the onerous duties which devolved upon her in making all preparations for this convention and for the grand success which her efforts have secured. _resolved_, that the national woman suffrage association on the occasion of this, its fourteenth annual convention, does, in the absence of its honored president, desire to send greeting to elizabeth cady stanton, and to express to her the sympathetic admiration with which the members of this body have followed her in her reception in a foreign land. [ ] committee on resolutions, composed of lillie devereux blake of new york city, virginia l. minor of st. louis, harriet r. shattuck of boston, may wright sewall of indianapolis, and ellen h. sheldon of the district of columbia. [ ] mrs. spofford, the treasurer, reported that $ , were spent in nebraska in the endeavor to carry the amendment in that state. [ ] short speeches were made by mrs. rogers, mrs. lockwood, mrs. mckinney, mrs. loder and others. [ ] this was the last word from this dear friend to one of our number. i met her afterward as mrs. hudson with her husband in london. we dined together one evening at the pleasant home of moncure d. conway. she was as full as ever of plans for future usefulness and enjoyment. from england she went for a short trip on the continent. in parting i little thought she would so soon finish her work on earth. e. c. s. [ ] mr. springer had never been present at a single meeting of the committee, though always officially notified. neither did mr. muldrow of mississippi ever honor the committee with his presence. however, mr. stockslager of indiana and mr. vance of north carolina were always in their places, and the latter, we thought, almost persuaded to consider with favor the claims of women to political equality. [ ] reports of congressional action and the conventions of - have been already published in pamphlet form, and we shall print the reports hereafter once in two years, corresponding with the terms of congress. our plan is to bind these together once in six years, making volumes of the size of those already published. these pamphlets, as well as the complete history in three volumes, are for sale at the publishing house of charles mann, elm park, rochester, n. y. chapter xxxi. massachusetts. by harriet h. robinson. the woman's hour--lydia maria child petitions congress--first new england convention--the new england, american and massachusetts associations--_woman's journal_--bishop gilbert haven--the centennial tea-party--county societies--concord convention--thirtieth anniversary of the worcester convention--school suffrage association--legislative hearing--first petitions--the remonstrants appear--women in politics--campaign of --great meeting in tremont temple--women at the polls--provisions of former state constitutions--petitions, --school-committee suffrage, --women threatened with arrest--changes in the laws--woman now owns her own clothing--harvard annex--woman in the professions--samuel e. sewall and william i. bowditch--supreme court decisions--sarah e. wall--francis jackson--julia ward howe--mary e. stevens--lucia m. peabody--lelia josephine robinson--eliza (jackson) eddy's will. from to there is no record to be found of any public meeting on the subject of woman's rights, in massachusetts.[ ] during these years the war of the rebellion had been fought. pending the great struggle the majority of the leaders, who were also anti-slavery, had thought it to be the wiser policy for the women to give way for a time, in order that all the working energy might be given to the slave. "it is not the woman's but the negro's hour"; "after the slave--then the woman," said wendell phillips in his stirring speeches, at this date. "keep quiet, work for us," said other of the anti-slavery leaders to the women. "wait! help us to abolish slavery, and then we will work for you." and the women, who had the welfare of the country as much at heart as the men, kept quiet; worked in hospital and field; sacrificed sons and husbands; did what is always woman's part in wars between man and man--and waited. if anything can make the women of the state regret that they were silent as to their own claims for six eventful years that the freedom of the black man might be secured, it is the fact that now in his vote is ever adverse to women's enfranchisement. when the fourteenth amendment to the united states constitution was proposed, in which the negro's liberty and his right to the ballot were to be established, an effort was made to secure in it some recognition of the rights of woman. massachusetts sent a petition, headed with the name of lydia maria child, against the introduction of the word "male" in the proposed amendment. when this petition was offered to the greatest of america's emancipation leaders, for presentation to congress, he received and presented it under protest. he thought the woman question should not be forced at such a time, and the only answer from congress this "woman-intruding" petition received was found in the fourteenth amendment itself, in which the word "male," with unnecessary iteration, was repeated, so that there might be no mistake in future concerning woman's rights, under the constitution of the united states.[ ] the war was over. the rights of the black man, for whom the women had worked and waited, were secured, but under the new amendment, by which his race had been made free, the white women of the united states were more securely held in political slavery. it was time, indeed, to hold conventions and agitate anew the question of woman's rights. the lesson of the war had been well learned. women had been taught to understand politics, the "science of government," and to take an interest in public events; and some who before the war had not thought upon the matter, began to ask themselves why thousands of ignorant _men_ should be made voters and they, or their sex, still kept in bondage under the law. in , may , the first meeting of the american equal rights association was held at the meionaon in boston.[ ] in the call for a new england convention was issued and the meeting was held november , , at horticultural hall, boston. james freeman clarke presided. in this convention sat many of the distinguished men and women of the new england states,[ ] old-time advocates, together with newer converts to the doctrine, who then became identified with the cause of equal rights irrespective of sex. this convention was called by the rev. olympia brown.[ ] the hall was crowded with eager listeners anxious to hear what would be said on a subject thought to be ridiculous by a large majority of people in the community. some of the teachers of boston sent a letter to the convention, signed with their names, expressing their interest as women. henry wilson avowed his belief in the equal rights of woman, but thought the time had not yet come for such a consummation, and said that, for this reason, he had voted against the question in the united states senate; "though," he continued, "i was afterwards ashamed of having so voted." like another celebrated massachusetts politician, he believed in the principle of the thing, but was "agin its enforcement." at this date the popular interest heretofore given to the anti-slavery question was transferred to the woman suffrage movement. the new england woman suffrage association was formed at this convention. julia ward howe was elected its president, and made her first address on the subject of woman's equality with man. on its executive board were many representative names from the six new england states.[ ] by the formation of this society, a great impetus was given to the suffrage cause in new england. it held conventions and mass-meetings, printed tracts and documents, and put lecturers in the field. it set in motion two woman suffrage bazars, and organized subscription festivals, and other enterprises to raise money to carry on the work. it projected the american, and massachusetts suffrage associations; it urged the formation of local and county suffrage societies, and set up the _woman's journal_. the new england association held its first anniversary in may, , and the meeting was even more successful than the opening one of the preceding year. on this occasion mrs. livermore spoke in boston for the first time, and many new friends coming forward gave vigor and freshness to the movement.[ ] wendell philips, lucy stone and gilbert haven, spoke at this convention. it was on this occasion that the "good bishop," as he afterward came to be called, was met on leaving the meeting by one who did not know his opinion on the subject. this person expressed surprise on seeing him at a woman's rights meeting, and said: "_what! you_ here?" "yes," said he, "i _am_ here! i _believe_ in this reform. i am going to start in the beginning, and ride with the procession." after this, not until his earthly journey was finished, was his place in "the procession" found vacant. since the new england association has held its annual meeting in boston during anniversary week, in may, when reports from various states are offered, concerning suffrage work done during the year. the american woman suffrage association was organized in . since its formation it has held its annual conventions in some of the chief cities of the several states.[ ] a meeting was held in horticultural hall, boston, january , , to organize the massachusetts woman suffrage association.[ ] the massachusetts association is the most active of the three societies named. its work is generally local though it has sent help to colorado, michigan, and other western states. it has kept petitions in circulation, and has presented petitions and memorials to the state legislatures. it has asked for hearings and secured able speakers for them. it has held conventions, mass-meetings, fourth of july celebrations. it has helped organize local woman suffrage clubs and societies, and has printed for circulation numerous woman suffrage tracts. the amount of work done by its lecturing agents can be seen by the statement of margaret w. campbell, who alone, as agent of the american, the new england and the massachusetts associations, traveled in twenty different states and two territories, organizing and speaking in conventions.[ ] as part of the latest work of this society may be mentioned its efforts to present before the women of the state, in clear and comprehensive form, an explanation of the different sections of the new law "allowing women to vote for school committees." as soon as the law passed the legislature of , a circular of instructions to women was carefully prepared by samuel e. sewall, an eminent lawyer and member of the board of the massachusetts association, in which all the points of law in relation to the new right were ably presented. thousands of copies of this circular were sent to women all over the state. the centennial tea party was held in boston, december , , in response to the following call: the women of new england who believe that "taxation without representation is tyranny," and that our forefathers were justified in defying despotic power by throwing the tea into boston harbor, invite the men and women of new england to unite with them in celebrating the one-hundredth anniversary of that event in fanueil hall.[ ] three thousand people were in attendance, and it was altogether an enthusiastic occasion and one long to be remembered. the record of conventions and meetings held by the massachusetts association by no means includes all such gatherings held in different towns and cities of the state. the county and local societies have done a vast amount of work. the hampden society was started in , with eliphalet trask, frank b. sanborn and margaret w. campbell as leading officers. this was the first county society formed in the state. julia ward howe, a fresh convert of the recent convention went to salem to lecture on woman suffrage, and the essex county society was formed with mrs. sarah g. wilkins and mrs. delight r. p. hewitt--the only two salem women who went to the convention at worcester--on its executive board. the middlesex county society followed, planned by ada c. bowles and officered by names well known in that historic old county. the hampshire and worcester societies brought up the rear; the former planned by seth hunt of northampton. notable conventions were held by the middlesex society in --one in malden, one in melrose and one in concord, organized and conducted by its president, harriet h. robinson. this last celebrated town had never before been so favored. these meetings were conducted something after the style of local church conferences. they were well advertised, and many people came. a collation was provided by the ladies of each town, and the feast of reason was so judiciously mingled with the triumphs of cookery, that converts to the cause were never so easily won. many women present said to the president: "i never before heard a woman's rights speech. if these are the reasons why women should vote, i believe in voting." the concord convention was held about a month after the great centennial celebration of april , --a celebration in which no woman belonging to that town took any official part. nor was there any place of honor found for the more distinguished women who had come long distances to share in the festivities. some of the women were descendents of governor john hancock, dr. samuel prescott, major john buttrick, rev. william emerson and lieutenant emerson cogswell. though no seat of honor in the big tent in which the speeches were made was given to the women of to-day, silent memorials of those who had taken part in the events of one hundred years ago, had found a conspicuous place there--the scissors that cut the immortal cartridges made by the women on that eventful day, and the ancient flag that the fingers of some of the mothers of the revolution had made. though the concord women were not permitted to share the centennial honors, they were not deprived of the privilege of paying their part of the expenses incident to the occasion. to meet these, an increased tax-rate was assessed upon all the property owners in the town; and, since one-fifth of the town tax of concord is paid by women, it will be seen what was their share in the great centennial celebration of . the knowledge of the proceedings at concord added new zest to the spirit of the three conventions, and the events of the day were used by the speakers to point the moral of the woman's rights question. lucy stone made one of her most effective and eloquent speeches upon this subject. she said: fellow citizens (i had almost said fellow subjects): what we need is that women should feel their mean position; when that happens, they will soon make an effort to get out of it. everything is possible to him that wills. all that is needed for the success of the cause of woman suffrage is to have women know that they want to vote. concord and lexington got into a fight about the centennial, and concord voted $ , for the celebration in order to eclipse lexington. one-fifth of the tax of concord is paid by the women, yet not one of these women dared to go to the town hall and cast her vote upon that subject. this is exactly the same thing which took place one hundred years ago--taxation without representation, against which the _men_ of concord then rebelled. if i were an inhabitant of concord, i would let my house be sold over my head and my clothes off my back and be hanged by the neck before i would pay a cent of it! men of melrose, concord and malden, why persecute us? would you like to be a slave? would you like to be disfranchised? would you like to be bound to respect the laws which you cannot make? there are , , of women whom the government denies legal rights. it might be supposed that a spot upon which the battle for freedom and independence was first begun would always be the vantage ground of questions relating to personal liberty. but such is not the fact. concord was never an anti-slavery town, though some of its best citizens took active part in all the abolition movements. when the time came that women were allowed to vote for school committees, the same intolerant spirit which ignored and shut them out of the centennial celebration was again manifested toward them--not only by the leading magnates, but also by the petty officials of the town. some of them have from the first shown a great deal of ingenuity in inventing ways to intimidate and mislead the women voters. at the annual convention of the massachusetts association, in may, , the following resolution was passed: whereas, we believe in keeping the land-marks and traditions of our movement; and whereas, it will be thirty years next october since the first woman's rights meeting was held in the state, and it seems fitting that there should be some celebration of the event; therefore, _resolved_, that we will hold a woman suffrage jubilee in worcester, october and next, to commemorate the anniversary of our first convention. a committee[ ] of arrangements was chosen, and the meeting was held. there were present many whose silver hairs told of long and faithful service. the oldest ladies there were mrs. lydia brown of lynn, mrs. wilbour of worcester, and julia e. smith parker of glastonbury, conn. on the afternoon of the first day there was an informal gathering of friends in the ante-room of horticultural hall. old-time memories were recalled by those who had not seen each other for many years, and the common salutation was: "how gray you've grown!" many of them had indeed grown gray in the service, and their faces were changed, but made beautiful by a life devoted to a noble purpose. there were many present who had attended the convention of thirty years ago--abby kelley foster, lucy stone, antoinettë brown blackwell, paulina gerry, rev. samuel may, rev. w. h. channing, joseph a. howland, adeline h. howland, dr. martha h. mowry and many, many others. it was very pleasant indeed to hear these veterans whose clear voices have spoken out so long and so bravely for the cause. the speaking[ ] at all the sessions was excellent, and the spirit of the convention was very reverent and hopeful. the tone of the press concerning woman's rights meetings had changed greatly since thirty years before. "hen conventions" had gone by, and a woman's meeting was now called by its proper name. representatives of leading newspapers from all parts of the state were present, and the reports were written in a just and friendly spirit. [illustration: harriet h. robinson] the massachusetts school suffrage association was formed in , abby w. may, president.[ ] its efforts are mostly confined to boston. an independent movement of women voters in boston, distinct from all organizations, was formed in , and subdivided into ward and city committees. these did much valuable work and secured a larger number of voters than had qualified in previous years. in the number of registered women in the whole state was , , and in boston . in , chiefly owing to the ward and city committees, the number in boston alone was , . this year ( ) a movement among the roman catholic women has raised the number who are assessed to vote to , ; and it is estimated that when the tax-paying women are added, the whole number will be about , . the national woman suffrage association[ ] of massachusetts was formed in january, , of members who had joined the national association at its thirteenth annual meeting, held in tremont temple, boston, may , , . according to article ii. of its constitution, its object is to secure to women their right to the ballot, by working for national, state, municipal, school, or any other form of suffrage which shall at the time seem most expedient. while it is auxiliary to the national association, it reserves to itself the right of independent action. it has held conventions[ ] in boston and some of the chief cities of the state, sent delegates to the annual washington convention[ ] and published valuable leaflets.[ ] it has rolled up petitions to the state legislature and to congress. its most valuable work has been the canvass made in certain localities in the city and country in , to ascertain the number of women in favor of suffrage, the number opposed and the number indifferent. the total result showed that there were in favor, opposed, indifferent, refusing to sign, not seen; that is, over nine who would sign themselves in favor to one who would sign herself opposed. this canvass was made by women who gave their time and labor to this arduous work, and the results were duly presented to the legislature. in this association petitioned the legislature to pass a resolution recommending congress to submit a proposition for a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution. the senate committee on woman suffrage granted a hearing march , and soon after presented a favorable report; but the resolution, when brought to a vote, was lost by to . this was the first time that the national doctrine of congressional action was ever presented or voted upon in the massachusetts legislature. a second hearing[ ] was granted on february , , before the committee on federal relations. they reported leave to withdraw. the associations mentioned are not the only ones that are aiding the suffrage movement. its friends are found in all the women's clubs, temperance associations, missionary movements, charitable enterprises, educational and industrial unions and church committees. these agencies form a network of motive power which is gradually carrying the reform into all branches of public work. the _woman's journal_ was incorporated in and is owned by a joint stock company, shares being held by leading members of the suffrage associations of new england. shortly after it was projected, the _agitator_, then published in chicago by mary a. livermore, was bought by the new england association on condition that she should "come to boston for one year, at a reasonable compensation, to assist the cause by her editorial labor and speaking at conventions." lucy stone and henry b. blackwell, invited by the same society to "return to the work in massachusetts," at once assumed the editorial charge. t. w. higginson, julia ward howe and w. l. garrison were assistant editors. "warrington," kate n. doggett, samuel e. sewall, f. b. sanborn, and many other good writers, lent a helping hand to the new enterprise. the _woman's journal_ has been of great value to the cause. it has helped individual women and brought their enterprises into public notice. it has opened its columns to inexperienced writers and advertised young speakers. to sustain the paper and furnish money for other work, two mammoth bazars or fairs were held in music hall in , . nearly all the new england states and many of the towns in massachusetts were represented by tables in these bazars. donations were sent from all directions and the women worked, as they generally do in a cause in which they are interested, to raise money to furnish the sinews of war. the newspapers from day to day were full of descriptions of the splendors of the tables, and the reporters spoke well of the women who had taken this novel method to carry on their movement. people who had never heard of woman suffrage before came to see what sort of women were those who thus made a public exhibition of their zeal in this cause. in remote places, as well as nearer the scene of action, many people who had never thought of the significance of the woman's rights movement, began to consider it through reading the reports of the woman suffrage bazar. female opponents of the suffrage movement began to make a stir as early as . a remonstrance was sent into the legislature, from two hundred women of lancaster, giving the reasons why women should not enjoy the exercise of the elective franchise: "it would diminish the purity, the dignity and the moral influence of woman, and bring into the family circle a dangerous element of discord." in _the revolution_ of august , , parker pillsbury said: dolly chandler and the hundred and ninety-four other women who asked the massachusetts legislature not to allow the right of suffrage, were very impudent and tyrannical, too, in petitioning for any but themselves. they should have said: "we, dolly chandler and her associates, to the number of a hundred and ninety-five in all, do not want the right of suffrage; and we pray your honorable bodies to so decree and enact that we shall never have it." so far they might go. but when they undertake to prevent a hundred and ninety-four thousand other women who do want the ballot and who have an acknowledged right to it, and are laboring for it day and night, it is proper to ask, what business have dolly chandler and her little coterie to interpose? nobody wants them to vote unless they themselves want to. they can stay at home and see nobody but the assessor, the tax-gatherer and the revenue collector, from christmas to christmas, if they so prefer. those gentlemen they will be pretty likely to see, annually or quarterly, and to feel their power, too, if they have pockets with anything in them, in spite of all petitions to the legislature. it did not occur to these women that by thus remonstrating they were doing just what they were protesting against. what _is_ a vote? an expression of opinion or a desire as to governmental affairs, in the shape of a ballot. the "aspiring blood of lancaster" should have mounted higher than this, since, if it really was the opinion of these remonstrants that woman cannot vote without becoming defiled, they should have kept themselves out of the legislature, should have kept their hands from petitioning and their thoughts from agitation on either side of the subject. just such illogical reasoning on the woman suffrage question is often brought forward and passes for the profoundest wisdom and discreetest delicacy! the same arguments are used by the remonstrants of to-day, who are now fully organized and doing very efficient political work in opposing further political action by women. in their carriages, with footman and driver, they solicit names to their remonstrances. as a boston newspaper says: the anti-woman suffrage women get deeper and deeper into politics year by year in their determination to keep out of politics. by the time they triumph they will be the most accomplished politicians of the sex, and unable to stop writing to the papers, holding meetings, circulating remonstrances, any more than the suffrage sisterhood. these persons, men and women, bring their whole force to bear before legislative committees at woman suffrage hearings, and use arguments that might have been excusable forty years ago. however this is merely a phase of the general movement and will work for good in the end. it can no more stop the progress of the reform than it can stop the revolution of the globe. political agitation on the woman suffrage question began in massachusetts in . a convention to discuss the feasibility of forming a woman suffrage political party was held in boston, at which julia ward howe presided, and rev. augusta chapin offered prayer. the question of a separate nomination for state officers was carefully considered.[ ] delegates were present from the labor reform and prohibition parties, and strong efforts were made by them to induce the convention to nominate wendell phillips, who had already accepted the nomination of those two parties, as candidate for governor. the convention at one time seemed strongly in favor of this action, the women in particular thinking that in mr. phillips they would find a staunch and well tried leader. but more politic counsels prevailed, and it was finally concluded to postpone a separate nomination until after the republican and democratic conventions had been held. a state central committee was formed, and at once began active political agitation. a memorial was prepared to present to each of the last-named conventions; and the candidates on the state tickets of the four political parties were questioned by letter concerning their opinions on the right of the women to the ballot. at the republican state convention held october , , the question was fairly launched into politics, by the admission, for the first time, of two women, lucy stone and mary a. livermore, as regularly accredited delegates. both were invited to speak, and the following resolution drawn up by henry b. blackwell, was presented by charles w. slack: _resolved_, that the republican party of massachusetts is mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of america for their patriotic devotion to the cause of liberty; that we rejoice in the action of the recent legislature in making women eligible as officers of the state; that we thank governor claflin for having appointed women to important political trusts; that we are heartily in favor of the enfranchisement of women, and will hail the day when the educated, intelligent and enlightened conscience of the women of massachusetts has direct expression at the ballot box. this resolution was presented to the committee, who did not agree as to the propriety of reporting it to the convention, and they instructed their chairman, george f. hoar, to state the fact and refer the resolution back to that body for its own action. a warm debate arose, in which several members of the convention made speeches on both sides of the question. the resolution was finally defeated, voting in its favor, and against it. although lost, the large vote in the affirmative was thought to mean a great deal as a guaranty of the good faith of the republican party, and the women were willing to trust to its promises. it was thought then, as it has been thought since, that most of the friends of woman suffrage were in the republican party, and that the interests of the cause could best be furthered by depending on its action. the women were, however, mistaken, and have learned to look upon the famous resolution in its true light. it is now known as the _coup d'état_ of the worcester convention of , which really had more votes than it was fairly entitled to. after that,--"forewarned, forearmed," said the enemies of the enterprise, and woman suffrage resolutions have received less votes in republican conventions. when the memorial prepared by the state central committee was presented to the democratic state convention, that body, in response, passed a resolution conceding the _principle_ of women's right to suffrage, but at the same time declared itself against its being _enforced_, or put into practice. to finish the brief record of the dealings of the democratic party, with the women of the state, it may be said that since , it has never responded to their appeals, nor taken any action of importance on the question. in a resolution endorsing woman suffrage was passed in the republican convention. in june, , the national convention at philadelphia, passed the following: _resolved_, that the republican party is mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of america for their noble devotion to the cause of freedom; their admission to wider fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction; and the honest demand of any class of citizens for additional rights, should be treated with respectful consideration. the massachusetts republican state convention, following this lead, again passed a woman suffrage resolution: _resolved_, that we heartily approve the recognition of the rights of woman contained in the fourteenth clause of the national republican platform; that the republican party of massachusetts, as the representative of liberty and progress, is in favor of extending suffrage to all american citizens irrespective of sex, and will hail the day when the educated intellect and enlightened conscience of woman shall find direct expression at the ballot-box. this was during the campaign of , when general grant's chance of reëlection was thought to be somewhat uncertain, and the republican women in all parts of the country were called on to rally to his support. the national woman suffrage association had issued "an appeal to the women of america," asking them to coöperate with the republican party and work for the election of its candidates. in response to this appeal a ratification meeting was held at tremont temple, in boston, at which hundreds stayed to a late hour listening to speeches made by women on the political questions of the day. an address was issued from the "republican women of massachusetts to the women of america." in this address they announced their faith in and willingness to "trust the republican party and its candidates, as saying what they mean and meaning what they say, and in view of their honorable record we have no fear of betrayal on their part." mrs. livermore, lucy stone and huldah b. loud took part in the canvass, and agents employed by the massachusetts association were instructed to speak for the republican party.[ ] women writers furnished articles for the newspapers and the republican women did as much effective work during the campaign as if each one had been a "man and a voter." they did everything but vote. all this agitation was a benefit to the republican party, but not to woman suffrage, because for a time it arrayed other political parties against the movement and caused it to be thought merely a party issue, while it is too broad a question for such limitation. general grant was reëlected and the campaign was over. when the legislature met and the suffrage question came up for discussion, that body, composed in large majority of republicans, showed the women of massachusetts the difference between "saying what you mean and meaning what you say," the woman suffrage bill being defeated by a large majority. the women learned by this experience that nothing is to be expected of a political party while it is in power. to close the subject of suffrage resolutions in the platform of the republican party, it may be said that they continued to be put in and seemed to mean something until after , when they became only "glittering generalities," and were as devoid of real meaning or intention as any that were ever passed by the old whig party on the subject of abolition. yet from to the republican party had the power to fulfill its promises on this question. since then, it has been too busy trying to keep breath in its own body to lend a helping hand to any struggling reform. at the republican convention, held in worcester in , an attempt was made by mr. blackwell to introduce a resolution endorsing the right conferred upon women in the law allowing them to vote for school committees, passed by the legislature of . this resolution was rejected by the committee, and when offered in convention as an amendment, it was voted down without a single voice, except that of the mover, being raised in its support. yet this resolution only asked a republican convention to endorse an existing right, conferred on the women of the state by a republican legislature! a political party as a party of freedom must be very far spent when it refuses at its annual convention to endorse an act passed by a legislature the majority of whose members are representatives elected from its own body. since that time the republican party has entirely ignored the claims of woman. in , at its annual convention, an effort was made, as usual, by mr. blackwell, to introduce a resolution, but without success, and yet some of the best of our leaders advised the women to "stand by the republican party."[ ] the question of forming a woman suffrage political party had, since , been often discussed.[ ] in thomas j. lothrop proposed the formation of a separate organization. but it was not until that any real effort in this direction was made. the prohibitory (or temperance) party sometimes holds the balance of political power in massachusetts, and many of the members of that party are also strong advocates of suffrage. the feeling had been growing for several years that if forces could be joined with the prohibitionists some practical result in politics might be reached, and though there was a difference of opinion on this subject, many were willing to see the experiment tried. the prohibitory party had at its convention in passed a resolution inviting the women to take part in its primary meetings, with an equal voice and vote in the nomination of candidates and transaction of business. after long and anxious discussions, the massachusetts woman suffrage state central committee, in whose hands all political action rested, determined to accept this invitation. a woman suffrage political convention was held, at which the prohibitory candidates were endorsed and a joint state ticket was decided on, to be headed "prohibition and equal rights." these tickets were sent to women all over the state, and they were strongly urged to go to the polls and distribute them on election day. lucy stone, mary a. livermore and other leading speakers took part in the campaign, and preparations were completed by which it was expected both parties would act harmoniously together. clubs were formed at whose headquarters were seen men and women gathered together to organize for political work. from some of these headquarters hung transparencies with "baker and eddy" on one side, and "prohibition and equal rights" on the other. caucuses and conventions were held in chelsea, taunton, malden, lynn, concord, and other places. a middlesex county (first district) senatorial convention was called and organized by women, and its proceedings were fully reported by the boston newspapers.[ ] the nominations made at these caucuses were generally unanimous, and it seemed at the time as if the two wings of the so-called "baker party" would work harmoniously together. but, with a few honorable exceptions, the prohibitionists, taking advantage of the fact that the voting power of the women was over, once outside the caucus, repudiated the nominations, or held other caucuses and shut the doors of entrance in the faces of the women who represented either the suffrage or the prohibitory party. this was the case invariably, excepting in towns where the majority of the voting members of the prohibitory party were also in favor of woman suffrage. this result is what might have been expected. of what use was woman in the ranks of any political party, with no vote outside the caucus? after being thus ignored in one of their caucuses in malden, middlesex county, the suffragists in that town determined to hold another caucus. this was accordingly done, and two "straight" candidates were nominated as town representatives to the legislature. a "woman suffrage ticket"[ ] was thereupon printed to offer to the voters on election day. the next question was, who would distribute these ballots most effectively at the polls. some men thought that the women themselves should go and present in person the names of their candidates. at first the women who had carried on the campaign shrank from this last test of their faithfulness; but, after carefully considering the matter, they concluded that it was the right thing to do. the repugnance felt at that time, at the thought of "women going to the polls" can hardly be appreciated to-day. since they have begun to vote in massachusetts the terror expressed at the idea of such a proceeding has somewhat abated; but in it was thought to be a rash act for a woman to appear at the polls in company with men. some attempt was made to deter them from their purpose, and stories of pipes and tobacco and probable insults were told; but they had no terrors for women who knew better than to believe that their neighbors would be turned into beasts (like the man in the fairy tale) for this one day in the year.[ ] it was a sight to be remembered, to behold women "crowned with honor" standing at the polls to see the freed slave go by and vote, and the newly-naturalized fellow-citizen, and the blind, the paralytic, the boy of twenty-one with his newly-fledged vote, the drunken man who did not know hayes from tilden, and the man who read his ballot upside down. all these voted for the men they wanted to represent them, but the women, being neither colored, nor foreign, nor blind, nor paralytic, nor newly-fledged, nor drunk, nor ignorant, but only _women_, could not vote for the men they wanted to represent them.[ ] the women learned several things during this campaign in massachusetts. one was, that weak parties are no more to be trusted than strong ones; and another, that men grant but little until the ballot is placed in the hands of those who make the demand. they learned also how political caucuses and conventions are managed. the resolution passed by the prohibitionists enabled them to do this. so the great "open sesame" is reached. it is but fair to state that since the prohibitory party has treated the woman suffrage question with consideration. in its annual convention it has passed resolutions endorsing woman's claims to political equality, and has set the example to other parties of admitting women as delegates. at the state convention in the following resolution was adopted by a good majority: _resolved_, that women having interests to be promoted and rights to be protected, and having ability for the discharge of political duties, should have the right to vote and to be voted for, as is accorded to man. in the early history of massachusetts, when the new colony was governed by laws set down in the province charter ( , third year of william and mary) women were not excluded from voting. the clause in the charter relating to this matter says: the great and general court shall consist of the governor and council (or assistants for the time being) and of such freeholders as shall be from time to time elected or deputed by the major part of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the respective towns or places, who shall be present at such elections. in the original constitution ( ) women were excluded from voting except for certain state officers.[ ] in the constitutional convention of , the word "male" was first put into the constitution of the state, in an amendment to define the qualifications of voters. in this convention, a motion was made at three different times, during the passage of the act, to strike out the intruding word, but the motion was voted down. long before the second attempt was made to revise the constitution of the state, large numbers of women began to demand suffrage. woman's sphere of operations and enterprise had become so widened, that they felt they had not only the right, but also an increasing fitness for civil life and government, of which the ballot is but the sign and the symbol. in the constitutional convention of , twelve petitions were presented, from over , adult persons, asking for the recognition of woman's right to the ballot, in the proposed amendments to the constitution of the state. the committee reported leave to withdraw, giving as their reason that the "consent of the governed" was shown by the small number of petitioners. hearings before this committee were granted.[ ] the chairman of this committee, in presenting the report, moved that all debate on the subject should cease in thirty minutes, and on motion of benjamin f. butler of lowell, the whole report, excepting the last clause, was stricken out. there was then left of the whole document (including more than two closely-printed pages of reasoning) only this: "it is inexpedient for this convention to take any action." legislative action on the woman's rights question began in , when william lloyd garrison presented the first petition on the subject to the state legislature. following him was one from jonathan drake and others, "for a peaceable secession of massachusetts from the union." both these petitions were probably considered by the legislature to which they were addressed as of equally incendiary character, since they both had "leave to withdraw." in an order was introduced asking "whether any legislation was necessary concerning the wills of married women?" in a bill was enacted "to exempt certain property of widows and unmarried women from taxation." in the legislature of the first great and important act relating to the property rights of women was passed. it was to the effect that women could hold all property earned or acquired independently of their husbands. this act was amended and improved the next session. in a hearing was held before the committee on the judiciary to listen to arguments in favor of the petition of lucy stone and others for equal property rights for women and for the "right of suffrage." another hearing was held in the same place in february, , before the joint special committee on the qualifications of voters. a second hearing on the right of suffrage for women was held the following week before the same committee. thomas w. higginson made an address and caroline kealey dall read an essay. in , stephen a. chase of salem, from the same committee on the qualifications of voters, made a long report on the petitions. this report closed with an order that the state board of education make inquiry and report to the next legislature "whether it is not practicable and expedient to provide by law some method by which the women of this state may have a more active part in the control and management of the schools." there is nothing in legislative records to show that the state board of education reported favorably; but from the above statement it appears that ten years before samuel e. sewall's petition on the subject, a movement was made towards making women "eligible to serve as members of school-committees." the petitions for woman's rights were usually circulated by women going from house to house. they did the drudgery, endured the hardships and suffered the humiliations attendant upon the early history of our cause; but their names are forgotten, and others reap the benefit of their labors. these women were so modest and so anxious for the success of their petitions, that they never put their own names at the head of the list, preferring the signature of some leading man, so that others seeing his name, might be induced to follow his example. among the earliest of these silent workers was mary upton ferrin. her petitions were for a change in the laws concerning the property rights of married women, and for the political and legal rights of all women. in she prepared a memorial to the massachusetts legislature in which are embodied many of the demands for woman's equality before the law, which have so often been made to that body since that time.[ ] in the legislature debated a bill to allow a widow, "if she have woodland as a part of her dower, the privilege of cutting wood enough for one fire." this bill failed, and the widow, by law, was _not_ allowed to keep herself warm with fuel from her own wood-lot. in a bill providing that "a wife may be allowed to be a witness and proceed against her husband for desertion," was reported inexpedient, and a bill was passed to _prevent_ women from forming copartnerships in business. in , gov. john a. andrew, seeing the magnitude of the approaching woman question, in his annual message to the legislature, made a memorable suggestion: i know of no more useful object to which the commonwealth can lend its aid, than that of a movement, adopted in a practical way, to open the door of emigration to young women who are wanted for teachers and for every appropriate, as well as domestic, employment in the remote west, but who are leading anxious and aimless lives in new england. by the "anxious and aimless" it was supposed the governor meant the widowed, single or otherwise unrepresented portion of the citizens of the state. no action was taken by the legislature on this portion of the governor's message. but a member of the senate actually made the following proposition before that body: that the "anxious and aimless women" of the state should assemble on the common on a certain day of the year (to be hereafter named), and that western men who wanted wives, should be invited to come here and select them. legislators who make such propositions, do not foresee that the time may come, when perhaps those nearest and dearest to them, may be classed among the superfluous or "anxious and aimless" women! in bills allowing married women to testify in suits at law where their husbands are parties, and permitting them to hold trust estates were rejected. it will be seen that though all this legislation was adverse to woman's interest, the question had forced itself upon the attention of the members of both house and senate. in a joint committee of both houses was appointed to consider: if any additional legislation can be adopted, whereby the means of obtaining a livelihood by the women of this commonwealth may be increased and a more equal and just compensation be allowed for their labor. in , francis w. bird presented the petition of mehitable haskell of gloucester for "an amendment to the constitution extending suffrage to women." in mr. king of boston presented the same petition, and it was at this time, and in answer thereto, that the subject first entered into the regular orders of the day, and became a part of the official business of the house of representatives. attempts to legislate on the property question were continued in , in bills "to further protect the property of married women," "to allow married women to contract for necessaries," and if "divorced from bed and board, to allow them to dispose of their own property." these bills were all defeated. annual legislative hearings on woman suffrage began in . these were first secured through the efforts of the executive committee of the new england woman suffrage association. eight thousand women had petitioned the legislature that suffrage might be allowed them on the same terms as men, and in answer, two hearings were held in the green room at the state house.[ ] in a joint special committee on woman suffrage was formed, and since that time there have been one or more annual hearings on the question. to what extent legislative sentiment has been created will be shown later in the improvement of many laws with regard to the legal status of woman. william claflin was the first governor of massachusetts to present officially to the voters of the commonwealth the subject of woman's rights as a citizen. in his address to the legislature of , he strongly recommended a change in the laws regarding suffrage and the property rights of woman. his attitude toward this reform made an era in the history of the executive department of the state. since that time nearly every governor of the state has, in his annual message, recommended the subject to respectful consideration. in governor thomas talbot proposed a constitutional amendment which should secure the ballot to women on the same terms as to men. in response to this portion of the governor's message, and to the ninety-eight petitions presented on the subject, a general suffrage bill passed the senate by a two-thirds majority, and an act to "give women the right to vote for members of school committees," passed both branches of the legislature and became a law of the state.[ ] governor john d. long, in his inaugural address before the legislature of , expressed his opinion in favor of woman suffrage perhaps more decidedly than any who had preceded him in that high official position. he said: i repeat my conviction of the right of woman suffrage. if the commonwealth is not ready to give it in full by a constitutional amendment, i approve of testing it in municipal elections. the law allowing women to vote for school committees is one of the last results of the legislative agitations, though it is true that the petition, the answer to which was the passage of this act, did not emanate from any suffrage association. it was the outcome of a conference on the subject, held in the parlors of the new england women's club.[ ] but the petitions of the suffragists had always been for general and unrestricted suffrage, and they opposed any scheme for securing the ballot on a class or a restricted basis, holding that the true ground of principle is equality of rights with man. the practical result, so far, of voting for school committees has justified this position; for, as shown by the recent elections, the women of the state have not availed themselves to any extent of their new right to vote, and, therefore, the measure has not forwarded the cause of general suffrage. in fact, the school-committee question is not a vital one with either male or female voters, and it is impossible to get up any enthusiasm on the subject. as a test question upon which to try the desire of the women of the state to become voters, it is a palpable sham. our revolutionary fathers would not have fought, bled and died for such a figment of a right as this; and their daughters, or grand-daughters, inherit the same spirit, and if they vote at all, want something worth voting for. the result is, that the voting has been largely done by those women who have long been in favor of suffrage, and who have gone to the polls on election day from pure principle and a sense of duty.[ ] the law allowing women to vote for school committees was very elastic and capable of many interpretations. it reminded one of the old school exercise in transposing the famous line in gray's elegy, "the ploughman homeward plods his weary way," which has been found to be capable of over twenty different transpositions. the collectors and registrars in some towns and cities took advantage of this obscurity of expression, and interpreted the law according to their individual opinion on the woman suffrage question. in places where these officials were in sympathy, a broad construction was put upon the provisions of the law, the poll-tax payers were allowed to vote upon the payment of one dollar (under the divided tax law of ), and the women voters generally were given all necessary information, and treated courteously both by the assessors and registrars and at the polls. in places where leading officials were opposed to women's voting, the case was far different. without regarding the clause in the law which said that a woman may vote upon paying either state or county poll-tax, such officials have threatened the women with arrest when they refused to pay both. in some towns they have been treated with great indignity, as if they were doing an unlawful act. in one town the women were actually required to pay a poll-tax the second year, in spite of the clause in the law that a female citizen who has paid a state or county tax within two years shall have the right to vote. the town assessor, whose duty it was to inform the women on this point of the law when asked concerning the matter, _willfully_ withheld the desired information, saying he "did not know," though he afterwards said that he _did_ know, but intended to let the women "find out for themselves." this assessor forgot that the women, as legal voters, had a right to ask for this information, and that by virtue of his official position he was legally obliged to answer. in another town two ladies who were property tax-payers were made to pay the two dollars poll-tax, and the record of this still stands on the town books. some ladies were frightened and paid the tax under protest; others ran the risk. here is a letter addressed to a lady years of age: malden, dec. , . harriet hanson: there is a balance of ninety cents due on your poll-tax of , duly assessed upon you. payment of the same is hereby demanded, and if not paid within fourteen days from this date, with twenty cents for the summons, the collector is required to proceed forthwith to collect the same in manner provided by law. theodore n. fogue, _collector_. mrs. hanson paid no attention to the summons, and that was the end of it. in , under the amended act the poll-tax was reduced to fifty cents, and the property tax-paying women (who are not required to pay a poll-tax) are no longer obliged to make a return of property exempt from taxation, as was required under the original statute. though some of the disabilities were removed, yet the privileges are no greater; and it is for members of school-committees and for nothing else, that the women of this state can vote. this is hardly worthy to be called "school suffrage"! it is to be regretted that a better test than that of school-committee suffrage, could not have been given to the women of the state, so that the issue of what under the circumstances cannot be called a fair trial of their desire to vote, might be more nearly what the friends of reform had desired. the first petition to the massachusetts legislature, asking that women might be allowed to serve on school-boards was presented in by samuel e. sewall of boston. the same petition was again presented in . about this time ashfield and monroe, two of the smallest towns in the state, elected women as members of the school committee. worcester and lynn soon followed the good example, and in , boston, for the first time, chose six women to serve in this capacity.[ ] there had hitherto been no open objection to this innovation, but the school committee of boston not liking the idea of women co-workers, declared them ineligible to hold such office. miss peabody applied to the supreme court for its opinion upon the matter, but the judges refused to answer, and dismissed the petition on the ground that the school committee itself had power to decide the question of the qualifications of members of the board. the subject was brought before the legislature of the same year, and that body, almost unanimously, passed "an act to declare women eligible to serve as members of school committees." thus the women members were reïnstated.[ ] this refusal on the part of the supreme judicial court of massachusetts to answer a question relating to woman's rights under the law, was received with a knowing smile by those who remembered the three adverse decisions relating to women which had been given by that august body. the first of these was on the case of sarah e. wall of worcester. the second was concerning a clause in the will of francis jackson of boston, who left $ , and other property to the woman's rights cause. its third adverse decision was given in . in that year, julia ward howe and mary e. stevens were appointed by governor claflin as justices of the peace. some member of the governor's council having doubted whether women could legally hold the office, the opinion of the supreme court was asked and it decided substantially that because women were women, or because women were not _men_, they could _not_ be justices of the peace; and the appointment was not confirmed. changes in the common law began in with reference to the wife's right to hold her own property. in she could legally sign a receipt for money earned or deposited by herself.[ ] before a woman could not hold her own property, either earned or acquired by inheritance. if unmarried, she was obliged to place it in the hands of a trustee, to whose will she was subject. if she contemplated marriage, and desired to call her property her own, she was forced by law to make a contract with her intended husband, by which she gave up all title or claim to it. a woman, either married or unmarried, could hold no office of trust or power. she was not a person. she was not recognized as a citizen. she was not a factor in the human family. she was not a unit; but a zero, a nothing, in the sum of civilization. to-day, a married woman can hold her own property, if it is held or bought in her own name, and can make a will disposing of it. a man is no longer the sole heir of his wife's property. a married woman can make contracts, enter into co-partnerships, carry on business, invest her own earnings for her own use and behoof,--and she is also responsible for her own debts. she can be executor, administrator, guardian or trustee. she can testify in the courts for or against her husband. she can release, transfer, or convey, any interest she may have in real estate, subject only to the life interest which the husband may have at her death. thirty years ago, when the woman's rights movement began, the status of a married woman was little better than that of a domestic servant. by the english common law, her husband was her lord and master. he had the sole custody of her person, and of her minor children. he could "punish her with a stick no bigger than his thumb," and she could not complain against him.[ ] but the real "thumb" story seems to have originated with a certain judge buller of england, who lived about one hundred years ago. in his ruling on one of those cases of wife-beating, now so common in our police courts, he said that a man had a right to punish his wife, "with a stick no bigger than his thumb." that was his opinion. shortly after this some ladies sent the judge a letter in which they prayed him to give the size of his thumb! we are not told whether he complied with their request.] the common law of this state held man and wife to be one person, but that person was the husband. he could by will deprive her of every part of his property, and also of what had been her own before marriage. he was the owner of all her real estate and of her earnings. the wife could make no contract and no will, nor, without her husband's consent, dispose of the legal interest of her real estate. he had the income of her real estate till she died, and if they ever had a living child his ownership of the real estate continued to his death. he could forbid her to buy a loaf of bread or a pound of sugar, or contract for a load of wood to keep the family warm. she did not own a rag of her own clothing. she had no personal rights, and could hardly call her soul her own. her husband could steal her children, rob her of her clothing, and her earnings, neglect to support the family; and she had no legal redress. if a wife earned money by her labor, the husband could claim the pay as his share of the proceeds. there is a clause sometimes found in old wills, to the effect that if a widow marry again, she shall forfeit all right to her husband's property. the most conservative judge in the commonwealth would now rule that a widow cannot be kept from her fair share of the property, by any such unjust restriction. in a husband's eyes of a hundred and fifty years ago, a woman's mission was accomplished after she had been _his_ wife and borne _his_ children. what more could be desired of her, he argued, but a corner somewhere in which, respectably dressed as his _relict_, she could sit down and mourn for him, for the rest of her life.[ ] the law no longer sanctions such a will, but provides that the widow shall have a fair share of all personal property. if a widow permits herself to-day to be defrauded of her legal rights in the division of property, it is her own fault, and because she does not study and understand for herself the general statutes of massachusetts, and the laws concerning the rights of married women. the result of thirty years of property legislation for women is well stated by mr. sewall in his admirable pamphlet, in which he says, "the last thirty years have done more to improve the law for married women than the four hundred preceding." the legislature has, during this time, enacted laws allowing women to vote in parishes and religious societies, declaring that women _must_ become members of the board of trustees of the three state primary and reform schools, of the state workhouse, of the state almshouse at tewksbury, and of the board of prison commissioners; also, that certain officers and managers of the reformatory prison for women at sherborn "shall be women." without legislation, women now are school supervisors, overseers of the poor, trustees of public libraries and members of the state board of education and of the state board of health, lunacy and charity.[ ] these great changes in legislation for the women of massachusetts are the result of their own labors. by conventions and documents they have informed the people and enlightened public sentiment. by continued agitation the question has been kept prominently before their representatives in the legislature. and, though so much has been gained, they are still hard at work, nor will they rest until, woman's equality with man before the law is firmly established. among the most important acts passed recently is one of , by which a married woman is the owner of her own clothing to the value of $ , , although the act granting this calls such apparel the "gifts of her husband," not recognizing the fact that most married women earn or help to earn their own clothes. a law was passed, in , to "mitigate the evils of divorce." two important acts were passed by the legislature of , one allowing women to become practising attorneys, and the other providing, that in case of the death of a married woman intestate and leaving children, one-half only of her personal estate shall go to her husband, instead of the whole, as in previous years. in , a wife was given the right of burial in any lot or tomb belonging to her husband. in , the only measures were a bill providing for the appointment of women on the board of state lunatic hospitals, and another providing for the appointment of women assistant physicians in the same hospitals, and an act giving women the power to dispose of their separate estates by will or deed. in , very little was done to improve the legal status of women. when any vote on the suffrage bill is taken, it is enough to make the women who sit in the gallery weep to hear the "o's" and the "mc's," almost to a man, thunder forth the emphatic "_no!_"; and to think that these men (some of whom a few years ago were walking over their native bogs, with hardly the right to live and breathe) should vote away so thoughtlessly the rights of the women of the country in which they have found a shelter and a home. when they came to this country, poor, and with no inheritance but the "shillalah," the ballot was freely given to them, as the poor man's weapon for defence. why cannot men, who have been political serfs in their own country, see the incongruity of voting against the enfranchisement of over one-half of the inhabitants of the state which has made free human beings of them? it is not long since one of these adopted citizens, in a discussion, said: when the women show that they want to vote, i am willing to give them all the rights they want. give! i thought. where did you get the right to _give_ massachusetts women the right to vote? you did not inherit it. in what consists your prerogative over the women whose ancestors fought to secure the very right of suffrage of which you so glibly talk, and which neither you, nor your father before you, did aught to establish or maintain? the improvement in the social or general condition of woman has been even greater than that in legislation. previous to , women were employed only as teachers of summer schools, to "spell the men" during the haying season; and this only occasionally. they held no responsible position in any public school in the state. to-day there are eight women to one man employed in all grades of this profession, and there are numerous instances where women are head-teachers of departments, or principals of high, normal and grammar schools. previous to , girls could attend only the primary schools of boston. through the influence of rev. john pierpont, the first high-school for girls was opened in that city. there was a great outcry against this innovation; and, because of the excitement on the subject, and the _great number of girls_ who applied for admission, the scheme was abandoned. the public-school system, as it is now called, was established in boston in ; boys were admitted the whole year round; girls, from april to october. this inequality in the opportunities for education roused john pierpont's indignation, and moved him to make strenuous efforts to secure justice for girls. now there are , schools, seventy-two academies, six normal schools, two colleges, boston university and the "harvard annex" all open to girls. in the town of plymouth, where the pilgrim fathers and mothers first landed, when the question whether girls should receive any public instruction first came up in town-meeting, there was great opposition to it. however, the majority showed a liberal spirit, and voted to give the girls one hour of instruction daily. this was in . in a normal school for girls was established in boston; in its name was changed to the girls' high and normal school. in the girls' latin school in boston was founded. the establishment of this successful institution was the result of discussions on the subject first brought before the public by ladies of boston. high schools in almost all the towns and cities of the state have long been established, in which the boys and girls are educated together. in the pupils in the high and normal schools of boston were about , girls to , boys. in the lowell institute and the massachusetts institute of technology advertised classes free to both sexes in french, mathematics and in practical science.[ ] since that time chauncy hall school and boston university have been opened to women, with the equal privileges of male students. it might be explained here that the "harvard annex," or "private collegiate instruction for women," is not an organic part of the university itself. under a certain arrangement, a limited number of young women are allowed a few of the privileges of the young men. they are also permitted to use all the books belonging to the library and to attend many of the lectures. no college-building is appropriated for this purpose, but recitation-rooms are provided in private houses. a witty cambridge lady called this mythical college the "harvard annex"; the public adopted the name, and many people suppose that there is such a building. from the last annual report of the "private collegiate instruction for women," it appears that in sixty-five women availed themselves of the privilege of attending this course of instruction.[ ] three-fourths of this number are massachusetts girls. some of the professors say that the average of scholarship there is higher than in the university. fifty courses of studies are open to women students. miss brown of concord, a graduate of , astonished the faculty by her high per cent. in the classics. her average was higher than that reached by any young man. these students go unattended to the lectures and to the library of the college. a great change indeed, since the time when women began to attend the lowell institute lectures! then it was thought almost disgraceful to go to a public meeting without male protection, and they went with veiled faces, as if ashamed to be seen of men. the "annex" has some advantages, but they cannot compare with girton and newnham of cambridge, england. the treasurer of the "harvard annex" declares the great need that exists for funds to provide a suitable building, etc., for the numerous women who continue to apply there for admission; and he appeals to the generosity of the public for contributions of money to be used for this purpose. the casual observer might suggest that those women who will hereafter become the benefactors of this university should remember the needs of their own sex, and leave their donations or bequests so that they can be used for the benefit of the "harvard annex," which is a wholly private enterprise, conducted by the university instructors and supervised by a committee of ladies. colleges for women have also been founded. wellesley and smith have long been doing good university work. thirty years ago there was no college in the country, except oberlin, to which women were admitted. to-day, even conservative harvard begins to melt a little under this regenerating influence, and invites women, through the doors of its "annex," to come and enjoy some of the privileges found within its sacred halls of learning. this was a late act of grace from a college whose inception was in the mind of a woman[ ] longing for a better opportunity than the new colony could give to educate her afterward ungrateful son. the number of young men educated by the individual efforts of women cannot be estimated. t. w. higginson, in the _woman's journal_, says: the late president walker once told me that, in his judgment, one-quarter of the young men in harvard college were being carried through by the special self-denial and sacrifices of women. i cannot answer for the ratio, but i can testify to having been an instance of this, myself; and to having known a never-ending series of such cases of self-devotion. some of these men, educated by the labor and self-sacrifice of others, look down upon the social position in which their women friends are still forced to remain. the result to the recipient has often been of doubtful value, so far as the development of the affections is concerned. sometimes the great obligation has been forgotten. only in rare instances, to either party did the life-long sacrifice on the part of the women of the family become of permanent and spiritual value! the average woman of forty years ago was very humble in her notions of the sphere of woman. what if she did hunger and thirst after knowledge? she could do nothing with it, even if she could get it. so she made a _fetich_ of some male relative, and gave him the mental food for which she herself was starving, and devoted all her energies towards helping him to become what she felt, under better conditions, she herself might have been. it was enough in those early days to be the _mother_ or _sister_ of somebody. women were almost as abject in this particular as the thracian woman of old, who said: "i am not of the noble grecian race, i'm poor abrotonon, and born in thrace; let the greek women scorn me, if they please, i was the mother of themistocles." there are women still left who believe their husbands, sons, or male friends can study, read and _vote_ for them. they are like some frugal house-mothers, who think their is no need of a dinner if the good-man of the family is not coming home to share it. just as if the man-half of the human family can "eat, learn and inwardly digest," to make either physical or mental strength for the other half! maria mitchell of massachusetts became professor of astronomy and mathematics at vassar, in , the first woman in the country to hold such a position. since that time women have become members of the faculty in several of the large colleges in the country. in the early days of the commonwealth women practiced midwifery, and were very successful. mrs. john eliot, anne hutchinson, mrs. fuller and sarah alcock were the first in the state. janet alexander, a scotchwoman, was a well-trained midwife.[ ] she lived in boston, and was always recognized as a good practitioner in her line by the leading doctors in that city. dr. john c. warren of boston invited this lady to come to this country. his biography, recently published, contains a short record of the matter, in which he says: "we determined to recommend mrs. alexander. she was a scotchwoman, regularly educated, and having dr. hamilton's diploma." quite a storm was raised among the younger physicians of boston by this attempted innovation, because they thought dr. warren was trying to deprive them of profitable practice. but mrs. alexander, supported by dr. warren, and perhaps other physicians, continued her occupation and educated her daughter in the same profession. dr. harriot k. hunt practiced in boston as early as . she sought admission to the harvard medical school, and was many times refused. she was not what is called a "regular physician." in her day there existed no schools or colleges for the medical education of women, but she studied by herself, and acquired some knowledge of diseases peculiar to women. her success was so great in her line of practice that she proved the need existing for physicians of her own sex. dr. hunt's tussle with the medical faculty will long be remembered. she was the first woman in the state who dared assert her right to recognition in this profession. for this, and for her persistent efforts to secure for them a higher education, she deserves the gratitude of every woman who has since followed her footsteps into a profession over which the men had long held undisputed control. in the degree of m. d. was conferred on her by the woman's medical college of pennsylvania. the first medical college for women, organized by dr. samuel gregory of boston, was chartered in , under the name of the new england female medical college, and in , by an act of the legislature, united with the boston university school of medicine. in it had graduated seventy-two women, among whom were dr. lucy e. sewall and dr. helen morton (who afterwards went to paris and studied obstetrics at madame aillot's hospital of maternity) and dr. mercy b. jackson.[ ] there are now regular practitioners in the state. in , dr. zakrzewska, in coöperation with lucy goddard and ednah d. cheney, established the new england hospital for women and children. its avowed objects were: ( ) to provide women the medical aid of competent physicians of their own sex; ( ) to assist educated women in the practical study of medicine; ( ) to train nurses for the care of the sick. this was the first hospital in new england over which women have had entire control, both as physicians and surgeons. boston university is open to both sexes, with equal studies, duties and privileges. this institution was incorporated in , and includes, among other schools and colleges, schools of theology, law and medicine. the faculty consists of many distinguished men and women. boston university school of medicine (homeopathic) was organized in . of the thirty-two lecturers and professors who constitute the faculty, five are women. in the three highest of the four prizes for the best medical thesis were won by women. of the pupils in , were women; sixty of these were in the school of medicine. there are women in all departments, except agriculture and theology. they do not study theology because they cannot be ordained to preach in any of the leading churches. the massachusetts medical society in , on motion of dr. henry i. bowditch, voted to admit women to membership. dr. emma l. call and dr. harriet l. harrington were the first two women admitted. january , , at the monthly meeting of harvard overseers, the question of admitting women to the medical school came before the board. an individual desiring to contribute a fund for the medical education of women in harvard university asked the president and fellows whether such a fund would be accepted and used as designed. majority and minority reports were submitted by the committee in charge, and after a long discussion it was voted, to , to accept the fund, the income to be ultimately used for the medical education of women. at the april meeting, the committee on the medical education of women presented a report, which was adopted by a vote of to : that, in the opinion of the board, it is not advisable for the university to hold out any encouragement that it will undertake the medical education of women. the harvard divinity school at cambridge sometimes admits women, but does not recognize them publicly, nor grant them degrees; but there are other theological schools in the state where a complete preparation for the ministerial profession can be obtained. the attitude of the churches toward women has changed greatly within thirty years. as early as , women began to serve on committees, and to be ordained deaconesses of churches. they also hold important offices connected with the different church organizations. they serve on the boards of state and national religious associations. there are also missionary associations, both home and foreign, and christian unions, all officered and managed exclusively by women. even the treasurers of these large bodies are women, and their husbands or trustees are no longer required to give bonds for them.[ ] at the general conference of the methodist episcopal church, the word "male" was stricken from the discipline, and the word "person" inserted in its place, in all cases save those that concerned the ordination of clergy. olympia brown was the first woman settled as pastor in the state. her parish was at weymouth landing. in she petitioned the massachusetts legislature "that marriages performed by a woman should be made legal." the committee on the judiciary, to whom the matter was referred, reported that no legislation was necessary, as marriages solemnized by women were already legal.[ ] thus the legislature of the state established the precedent, that "he" meant "she" under the law, in one instance at least. phebe hanaford, mary h. graves and lorenza haynes were the first massachusetts women to be ordained preachers of the gospel. rev. lorenza haynes has been chaplain of the maine house of representatives. the three best-known women sculptors in this country were born and bred in massachusetts. they are harriet hosmer, margaret foley and anne whitney. harriet hosmer was the first to free herself from the traditions of her sex and follow her profession as a sculptor. when she desired to fit herself for her vocation there was no art school east of the mississippi river where she could study anatomy, or find suitable models. margaret foley, who, amid the hum of the machinery of the lowell cotton mills, first conceived the idea of chiseling her thought on the surface of a "smooth-lipped shell," was obliged to go to rome in order to get the necessary instruction in cameo-cutting. there her genius developed so much that she began to model in clay, and soon became a successful sculptor in marble. lucy larcom, in her "idyl of work," says of miss foley: "that broad-browed delicate girl will carve at rome faces in marble, classic as her own." one of her finest creations is "the fountain," first exhibited in horticultural hall at the centennial exposition in philadelphia, . a free art-school was opened to women in boston in , and anne whitney was not obliged to go to rome for instruction in the appliances of her art. harriet hosmer and margaret foley have both made statues which adorn the public buildings and parks of their native country; and anne whitney's statues of samuel adams and harriet martineau are the crowning works of her genius. no great work has yet been done by massachusetts women in oil painting; but in water colors, and in decorative art, many have excelled, first prizes in superiority of design having been taken by them over their masculine competitors. lizzie b. humphrey, jessie curtis, sarah w. whitman and fidelia bridges, take high rank as artists. helen m. knowlton, a pupil of william m. hunt, is a skillful artist in charcoal and has produced some fine pictures. women form a large proportion of the students in the school of design recently opened in boston. a great deal of the ornamental painting now so fashionable on cards and all fancy articles is done by the deft fingers of women. the census of reports artists and , musicians and teachers of music. of woman as actress and public singer, it is unnecessary to speak, since she has the right of way in both these professions. here, fortunately, the supply does not exceed the demand; consequently she has her full share of rights, and what is better, equitable pay for her labor. in there were actresses. charlotte cushman, clara louise kellogg and annie louise cary were born in massachusetts. the drama speaks too feebly on the right side of the woman question. no successful modern dramatist has made this "humour" of the times the subject of his play. an effort was made in , by the executive committee of the new england association, to secure a woman suffrage play: but it was not successful, and there is yet to be written a counteractive to that popular burlesque, "the spirit of ' ." it is to be regretted that the stage still continues to ridicule the woman's rights movement and its leaders; for, as hamlet says: "the play's the thing, wherein i'll catch the conscience of the king." in , when anne bradstreet lived and wrote her verses, a woman author was almost unknown in english literature. this lady was the wife of the governor of massachusetts, and because of her literary tendencies was looked upon by the people of her time as a marvel of womankind. her contemporaries called her the "tenth muse lately sprung up in america," and one of them, rev. nathaniel ward, was inspired to write an address to her, in which he declares his wonder at her success as a poet, and playfully foretells the consequences if women are permitted to intrude farther into the domain of man. the closing lines express so well the conflicting emotions which torment the minds of the opponents of the woman suffrage movement, that i venture to quote them: "good sooth," quoth the old don, "tell ye me so? i muse whither at length these girls will go. it half revives my chil, frost-bitten blood to see a woman once do aught that's good. and, chode by chaucer's boots and homer's furrs, let men look to't least women wear the spurrs." in , hannah mather crocker, grand-daughter of cotton mather, published a book, called "observations on the rights of women." in speaking of mary wollstonecraft, mrs. crocker says, that while that celebrated woman had a very independent mind, and her "rights of woman" is replete with fine sentiments, yet, she continues, patronizingly, "we do not coincide with her respecting the total independence of the sex." mrs. crocker evidently wanted her sex to be not too independent, but just independent enough.[ ] in , when lydia maria child edited the _anti-slavery standard_, margaret fuller the _dial_, and harriot f. curtis and harriet farley the _lowell offering_, there were perhaps in new england no other well-known women journalists or editors. cornelia walter of the _evening transcript_ was the first woman journalist in boston. to-day, women are editors and publishers of newspapers all over the united states; and the woman's column is a part of many leading newspapers. sallie joy white was the first regular reporter in boston. she began on the _boston post_, a democratic newspaper, in . her first work was to report the proceedings of a woman suffrage meeting. she is now on the staff of the _boston daily advertiser_. lilian whiting is on the staff of the _traveller_, and most of the other boston newspapers have women among their editors and reporters. some of the best magazine writing of the time is done by women; one needs but to look over the table of contents of the leading periodicals to see how large a proportion of the articles is written by them. really, the sex seems to have taken possession of what carlyle called the "fourth estate"--the literary profession, and they journey into unexplored regions of thought to give the omniverous modern reader something new to feed upon. the census of reports women as authors and literary persons. the newspaper itself, that great engine "whose ambassadors are in every quarter of the globe, whose couriers upon every road," has slowly swung round, and is at last headed in the right direction. reporters for the daily press in massachusetts no longer write in a spirit of flippancy or contempt, and there is not an editor in the state of any account who would permit a member of his staff to report a woman's meeting in any other spirit than that of courtesy. teachers occupying high positions and presidents of colleges have given pronounced opinions in favor of the reform. said president hopkins of williams college, in : i would at this point correct my teaching in "the law of love," to the effect that _home_ is peculiarly the sphere of woman, and civil government that of man. i now regard the home as the joint sphere of man _and_ woman, and the sphere of civil government more of an open question between the two. the new england women's club, parent[ ] of the modern clubs and associations for the advancement of women, has been one of the factors in the woman's rights movement. its members have, in their work and in their lives, illustrated the doctrine of woman's equality with man. it was formed in february, .[ ] there has never been, from time immemorial, much difference of opinion concerning woman's right to do a good share in the _drudgery_ of the world. but in the remunerative employments, before , she was but sparsely represented. in , when harriet martineau visited this country, she found to her surprise that there were only seven vocations, outside home, into which the women of the united states had entered. these were "teaching, needlework, keeping boarders, weaving, type-setting, and folding and stitching in book-bindery." in contrast, it is only necessary to mention that in massachusetts alone, woman's ingenuity is now employed in nearly different branches of industry. it cannot be added that for doing the same kind and amount of work women are paid men's wages. the census does not include the services of the mother and daughter among the _paid_ vocations, though, as is well known, in many instances they do all the housework of the family. they get no wages, and therefore do not appear among the "useful classes." they are not earners, but savers of money. a money-_saver_ is not a recognized factor, either in political economy or in the state census. the mother, daughter or wife is put down in its pages as "keeping house." if they were paid for their services they would be called "housekeepers," and would have their place among the paid employments. among the many rights woman has appropriated to herself must be included the "patent right." the charge has often been made that women never invent anything, but statistics on the subject declare that in patents for their own inventions were issued to eighty-seven different women in the united states. a fair proportion of these were from massachusetts. this progress in the various departments encountered great opposition from certain teachers and writers. dr. bushnell's "reform against nature," dr. fulton's talk both in and out of the pulpit, served to show the weakness of that side of the question. frances parkman, dr. holland, dr. w. h. hammond, rev. morgan dix, and even some women have added their so-called arguments in the vain attempt to keep woman as they think "god made her." much the stronger writers and speakers have been found on the right side of this question. the names of leading speakers, such as william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips and theodore parker, have already been mentioned. perhaps the most suggestive articles in favor of the reform were t. w. higginson's "ought women to learn the alphabet," published in the _atlantic monthly_ of february, , and samuel bowles' "the woman question and sex in politics," published at a later date in the _springfield republican_. "warrington," in his letters to the same newspaper, from to , never failed to present a good and favorable argument on some phase of the woman question. caroline healey dall's lectures before , and her book "the college, the market and the court," published in , were seed-grain sown in the field of this reform. samuel e. sewall's able digest of the laws relating to the legal condition of married women, and william i. bowditch's admirable pamphlets,[ ] have done incalculable service. of women in the civil service, there are: clerks, employés and officials--total, . this includes postmasters and clerks in bureaus. in , general f. a. walker, superintendent of the census, instructed the supervisors of the several districts to appoint women as enumerators when practicable. they were accordingly so appointed in many parts of the united states. carroll d. wright, supervisor of the district of massachusetts was in favor of general walker's instructions, and out of the enumerators appointed by him, thirty were women. this was an exceedingly large proportion compared with the number appointed in states where supervisors were not in favor of women enumerators. thanks to the efforts of caroline healey dall, the american social science association, formed in , put women on its board of officers, as did the boston social science association, organized the same year. these were the first large organizations in the country to admit women on an absolute equality with men. the result of this action vindicated at once and forever woman's fitness to occupy positions of honor in associations that man had hitherto claimed for himself alone. this has encouraged women to express themselves in the presence of the wisest men, and enabled them to present to the public the woman side of some great questions. women are officers as well as members of many societies originally established exclusively for men. a national society for political education, formed in , of which women are members, has at least one woman on its board of officers. what would have been thought thirty years ago, if women had studied finance, banks and banking, money, currency, sociology and political science? the summer school of philosophy at concord was founded in .[ ] a majority of the students are women, as was not the case in the elder schools of philosophy, and they come from far and near to spend a few weeks of their summer vacation in the enjoyment of this halcyon season of rest. day after day they sit patiently on the æsthetic benches of the hillside chapel and bask in the calm light of mild philosophy. its seed was sown forty years ago, in what was called the transcendental movement in new england. the concord school finds in mr. sanborn its executive spirit, without which it could no more have come into existence at this time than its first seed could have been planted forty years ago, without the conceptive thought of mr. emerson, mr. alcott and margaret fuller. boston university long ago offered the advantages of its law-school to women, but they do not much avail themselves of this privilege. lelia j. robinson, in march, , made her application for admission to the bar. in presenting her claim before the court, april , mr. charles r. train admitted that it was a novel one; but in a very effective manner he went on to state the cogent reasons why a woman who had carefully prepared herself for the profession of the law should be permitted to practice in the courts. at the close, chief-justice gray gave the opinion, informally, that the laws, as they now exist, preclude woman from being attorney-at-law; but he reserved the matter for the consideration of the full bench. the supreme judicial court rendered an adverse decision. petitions were then sent to the legislature of , and that body passed an act[ ] declaring that, "the provisions of law relating to the qualification and admission to practice of attorneys-at-law shall apply to women." the petition of lelia josephine robinson to the supreme court was as follows: . the best administration of justice may be most safely secured by allowing the representation of all classes of the people in courts of justice. . to allow women to practice at the bar as attorneys is only to secure to the people the right to select their own counsel. it is to give the women of massachusetts the opportunity of consulting members of their own sex for that advice and assistance which none but authorized attorneys and counsellors are legally qualified to give. . to exclude women from the bar would be to do an injustice to the community, in preventing free and wholesome competition of existing talent, and to do still greater injustice to those women who are qualified for the profession, by shutting them out from an honorable and remunerative means of gaining a livelihood. . to exclude women from the bar because there are certain departments of the profession which are peculiarly ill-adapted to their sex and nature, would be to assume arbitrarily that, with entire lack of judgment or discretion, modesty or policy, they would seek or accept such business; and to close to them those avenues of the profession for which they are generally admitted to be eminently well adapted, for such a reason, and upon such an assumption, would be so grossly unjust that no argument can be based on such an impossible contingency. your applicant, having faithfully and diligently pursued the study of law for three years, being a graduate of the boston university law school, and having complied with the other requirements of the statute and the rules of court upon the subject, respectfully prays that her petition for examination, which was duly filed, may be favorably considered, and that it be included in the general notice to the board of examiners of suffolk county. lelia josephine robinson. the opinion given by the supreme judicial court, so far as it relates to the main point at issue, is as follows: the question presented by this petition and by the report on which it has been reserved for our determination, is whether, under the laws of the commonwealth, an unmarried woman is entitled to be examined for admission as an attorney and counsellor of this court. this being the first application of the kind in massachusetts, the court, desirous that it might be fully argued, informed the executive committee of the bar association of the city of boston of the application, and has received elaborate briefs from the petitioner in support of her petition and from two gentlemen of the bar as _amici curiæ_ in opposition thereto. the statute under which the application is made is as follows: "a citizen of this state, or an alien who has made the primary declaration of his intention to become a citizen of the united states, and who is an inhabitant of this state, at the age of twenty-one years and of good moral character, may, on the recommendation of an attorney, petition the supreme judicial or superior court to be examined for admission as an attorney, whereupon the court shall assign a time and place for the examination, and if satisfied with his acquirements and qualifications he shall be admitted." st. , c. . the word "citizen," when used in its most common and most comprehensive sense, doubtless includes women; but a woman is not, by virtue of her citizenship, vested by the constitution of the united states, or by the constitution of the commonwealth, with any absolute right, independent of legislation, to take part in the government, either as voter or as an officer, or to be admitted to practice as an attorney. _miuor vs. happersett, wall. . bradwell vs. illinois, wall. ._ the rule that "words importing the masculine gender maybe applied to females," like all other general rules of construction of statutes, must yield when such construction would be either "repugnant to the context of the same statute," or "inconsistent with the manifest intent of the legislature." gen. sts. c. , § . the only statute making any provisions concerning attorneys, that mentions women, is the poor-debtor act, which, after enumerating among the cases in which an arrest of the person may be made on execution in an action of contract, that in which "the debtor is attorney-at-law," who has unreasonably neglected to pay to his client money collected, enacts, in the next section but one, "that no woman shall be arrested on any civil process except for tort." gen. sts. c. , §§ , . if these provisions do not imply that the legislature assumed that women should not be attorneys, they certainly have no tendency to show that it intended that they should. the word "citizen," in the statute under which this application is made, is but a repetition of the word originally adopted with a view of excluding aliens, before the statute of , c. , allowed those aliens to be admitted to the bar who had made the preliminary declaration of intention to become citizens. rev. sts., c. , § . gen. sts., c. , § . the reënactment of the act relating to the admission of attorneys in the same words without more so far as relates to the personal qualifications of the applicant, since other statutes have expressly modified the legal rights and capacity of women in other important respects, tends rather to refute than to advance the theory that the legislature intended that these words should comprehend women. no inference of an intention of the legislature to include women in the statutes concerning the admission of attorneys can be drawn from the mere omission of the word "male." the only statute to which we have referred, in which that word is inserted, is the statute concerning the qualifications of voters in town affairs, which, following the language of the article of the constitution that defines the qualifications of voters for governor, lieutenant-governor, senators and representatives, speaks of "every male citizen of twenty-one years of age," etc. gen. sts. c. , § . const. mass. amendments, art. . words which taken by themselves would be equally applicable to women and to men are constantly used in the constitution and statutes, in speaking of offices which it could not be contended, in the present state of law, that women were capable of holding. the courts of the commonwealth have not assumed by their rules to admit to the bar any class of persons not within the apparent intent of the legislature as manifested in the statutes. the word "persons," in the latest rule of court upon the subject, was the word used in the rule of and in the statutes of and , at times when no one contemplated the possibility of a woman's being admitted to practice as an attorney. mass. . . mass. . st. , c. . rev. st. c. , . gen. sts. c. , § . the united states court of claims, at december term, , on full consideration, denied an application of a woman to be admitted to practice as an attorney upon the ground "that under the constitution and laws of the united states a court is without power to grant such an application, and that a woman is without legal capacity to take the office of an attorney." _lockwood's case, ct. of claims, , ._ at october terms of the supreme court of the united states, the same petitioner applied to be admitted to practice as an attorney and counsellor of that court, and her application was denied. the decision has not been officially reported, but upon the record of the court, of which we have an authentic copy, it is thus stated: "upon the presentation of this application, the chief-justice said that notice of this application having been previously brought to his attention, he had been instructed by the court to announce the following decision upon it: by the uniform practice of the court from its organization to the present time, and by the fair construction of its rules, none but men are permitted to practice before it as attorneys and counsellors. this is in accordance with immemorial usages in england, and the law and the practice in all the states until within a recent period, and the court does not feel called upon to make a change until such change is required by statute or a more extended practice in the highest courts of the states." the subsequent act of congress of february , , enables only those women to be admitted to practice before the supreme court of the united states who have been for three years members of the bar of the highest court of a state or territory, or of the supreme court of the district of columbia. the conclusion that women cannot be admitted to the bar under the existing statutes of the commonwealth is in accordance with judgments of the highest courts of the states of illinois and wisconsin. _bradwell's case, ill., . goodell's case, wis., ._ the suggestion in the brief of the petitioner that women have been admitted in other states can have no weight here, in the absence of all evidence that (except under clear affirmative words in a statute) they have ever been so admitted upon deliberate consideration of the question involved, or by a court whose decisions are authoritative. it is hardly necessary to add that our duty is limited to declaring the law as it is, and that whether any change in that law would be wise or expedient is a question for the legislative and not for the judicial department of the government. petition dismissed. marcus morton, _chief-justice_, [signed:] charles devens, william e. endicott, william allen, otis p. lord, charles allen, walbridge a. field. the three preceding decisions of the supreme judicial court of massachusetts against the rights of the women of the commonwealth were as follows: the first decision was in the case of sarah e. wall of worcester, who had refused to pay her taxes under the following protest: believing with the immortal declaration of independence that taxation and representation are inseparable; believing that the constitution of the state furnishes no authority for the taxation of woman; believing also that the constitution of the higher law of god, written on the human soul, requires us, if we would be worthy the rich inheritance of the past and true to ourselves and the future, to yield obedience to no statute that shall tend to fetter its aspirations, i shall henceforth pay no taxes until the word _male_ is stricken from the voting clauses of the constitution of massachusetts. worcester _daily spy_, october , . sarah e. wall. miss wall was prosecuted by the city collector, and she carried her case before the supreme court, where she appeared for herself, w. a. williams appearing for the collector. in an account of this matter in , miss wall says: "although it was in that my resistance to taxation commenced, it was not until that the contest terminated and the decision was rendered. i think the supreme court would always find some way to evade a decision on this question." _wheeler vs. wall, allen, _: by the constitution of massachusetts, c. , § , article , the legislature has power to impose taxes upon all the inhabitants of and persons resident, and estates lying within the said commonwealth. by the laws passed by the legislature in pursuance of this power and authority, the defendant is liable to taxation, although she is not qualified to vote for the officers by whom the taxes were assessed. the court, acting under the constitution, and bound to support it and maintain its provisions faithfully, cannot declare null and void a statute which has been passed by the legislature, in pursuance of an express authority conferred by the constitution.--[opinion by the chief-justice, george tyler bigelow. the second decision on the will of francis jackson is copied _verbatim_ from _allen's reports_: _jackson vs. phillips and others, allen, _: a bequest to trustees, to be expended at their discretion, * * * * "to secure the passage of laws granting whether women, married or unmarried, the right to vote, to hold office, to hold, manage and devise property, and all other civil rights enjoyed by men," is not a charity. _bill in equity by the executor of the will of francis jackson of boston, for instructions as to the validity and effect of the following bequests and devises:_ art. th. "i give and bequeath to wendell phillips of said boston, lucy stone, formerly of brookfield, mass., now the wife of henry blackwell of new york, and susan b. anthony of rochester, n. y., their successors and assigns, $ , , not for their own use, but in trust, nevertheless, to be expended by them without any responsibility to any one, at their discretion, in such sums, at such times and in such places as they may deem fit, to secure the passage of laws granting women, whether married or unmarried, the right to vote, to hold office, to hold, manage and devise property, and all other civil rights enjoyed by men; and for the preparation and circulation of books, the delivery of lectures, and such other means as they may judge best; and i hereby constitute them a board of trustees for that intent and purpose, with power to add two other persons to said board if they deem it expedient. and i hereby appoint wendell phillips president and treasurer, and susan b. anthony secretary of said board. i direct the treasurer of said board not to loan any part of said bequest, but to invest, and, if need be, sell and reïnvest the same in bank or railroad shares, at his discretion. i further authorize and request said board of trustees, the survivor and survivors of them, to fill any and all vacancies that may occur from time to time by death or resignation of any member or any officer of said board. one other bequest, hereinafter made, will, sooner or later, revert to this board of trustees. my desire is that they may become a permanent organization, until the rights of women shall be established equal with those of men; and i hope and trust that said board will receive the services and sympathy, the donations and bequests, of the friends of human rights. and being desirous that said board should have the immediate benefit of said bequest, without waiting for my exit, i have already paid it in advance and in full to said phillips, the treasurer of said board, whose receipt therefor is on my files." opinion.--gray, j. iv. it is quite clear that the bequest in trust to be expended "to secure the passage of laws granting women, whether married or unmarried, the right to vote, to hold office, to hold, manage and devise property, and all other civil rights enjoyed by men," cannot be sustained as a charity. no precedent has been cited in its support. this bequest differs from the others, in aiming directly and exclusively to change the laws; and its object cannot be accomplished without changing the constitution also. whether such an alteration of the existing laws and frame of government would be wise and desirable, is a question upon which we cannot, sitting in a judicial capacity, properly express any opinion. our duty is limited to expounding the laws as they stand. and those laws do not recognize the purpose of overthrowing or changing them, in whole or in part, as a charitable use. this bequest, therefore, not being for a charitable purpose, nor for the benefit of any particular persons, and being unrestricted in point of time, is inoperative and void. for the same reason, the gift to the same object, of one-third of the residue of the testator's estate after the death of his daughter, mrs. eddy, and her daughter, mrs. bacon, is also invalid, and will go to his heirs-at-law as a resulting trust. decision third was on the right of women to hold judicial offices. to quote again from _allen's reports_: on june , , the following order was passed by the governor and council, and on june transmitted to the justices of the supreme judicial court, who, on june , returned the reply which is annexed. _ordered_, that the opinion of the supreme judicial court be requested as to the following questions: _first_--under the constitution of this commonwealth, can a woman, if duly appointed and qualified as a justice of the peace, legally perform all acts appertaining to that office? _second_--under the laws of this commonwealth, would oaths and acknowledgments of deeds, taken before a married or unmarried woman duly appointed and qualified as a justice of the peace, be legal and valid? opinion.--by the constitution of the commonwealth, the office of justice of the peace is a judicial office, and must be exercised by the officer in person, and a woman, whether married or unmarried, cannot be appointed to such an office. the law of massachusetts at the time of the adoption of the constitution, the whole frame and purport of the instrument itself, and the universal understanding and unbroken practical construction for the greater part of a century afterwards, all support this conclusion, and are inconsistent with any other. it follows that, if a woman should be formally appointed and commissioned as a justice of the peace, she would have no constitutional or legal authority to exercise any of the functions appertaining to that office. each of the questions proposed must, therefore, be respectfully answered in the negative. [signed:] reuben a. chapman, horace gray, jr., john wells, james d. colt, seth ames, marcus morton. _boston_, june , . it is to be remarked that the clause on which the court determined its judgment was of no practical consequence, since the money devised had already been paid to wendell phillips, who had disposed of it as the bequest required, and he had given his receipt to the testator for the amount. even the supreme judicial court of massachusetts has begun to understand the trend of the woman's rights movement, and has rendered its first favorable decision, in the famous eddy-will case. wendell phillips told me that he drew up this will, and that its provisions were so carefully worded, that even the supreme court could find no flaw in it. it is in his own hand-writing, and chandler r. ransom was the executor. eliza f. eddy was the daughter of francis jackson, and just before her death in , desiring to help the suffrage cause and thus carry out her father's intentions, she made her will in which she bequeathed $ , for this purpose. the clause relating to this bequest is as follows: whatever is left, after paying the above legacies, i direct shall be divided into equal portions. one of said portions i leave to susan b. anthony of rochester, n. y.; and the other portion i leave to lucy stone, wife of henry b. blackwell, as her own absolute separate property, free from any control by him. i request said susan and lucy to use said fund thus given to further what is called the "woman's rights' cause"; but neither of them is under any legal responsibility to any one or any court to do so. her will was filed and the probate court declared its validity. this decision was appealed from for several unimportant reasons by relatives of mrs. eddy, francis w. and jerome a. bacon, minors; and the case was carried to the supreme judicial court. after many delays it was finally decided in favor of the validity of the will, march, , r. m. morse, jr., and s. j. elder for the plaintiff, and b. f. butler and f. l. washburn for the defendants. the court's final decision, rendered by hon. charles devens, is as follows: albert f. bacon and others, executors and others _vs._ chandler r. ransom, executor, and others. suffolk. march , , . w. allen, colburn and holmes, _js._, absent. after a bequest in trust to a. and b., to be by them expended in securing the passage of laws granting women the right to vote, had been decreed void as not being a charity, a daughter of the testator bequeathed the residue of her estate (being about the amount she had received from her father's estate) to a. and b. "as their absolute property"; and added: "i request said a. and b. to use said fund thus given to further what is called the woman's rights cause. but neither of them is under any legal responsibility to any one or any court to do so." _held_, that the bequest was valid, and did not create a trust. bill in equity by the executors of the will of lizzie f. bacon, and certain legatees thereunder, against the executor of the will of eliza f. eddy, lucy stone, wife of h. b. blackwell, susan b. anthony, and other legatees thereunder, and the attorney-general, to compel the executor of said eddy's will to pay over to the plaintiffs the residue of her estate. the bill alleged the following facts: francis jackson, the father of said eliza f. eddy, died in , leaving a will, by the sixth article of which he gave $ , to wendell phillips, lucy stone blackwell and susan b. anthony, in trust, "to be expended by them without any responsibility to any one, at their discretion, in such sums, at such times, and in such places as they may deem fit, to secure the passage of laws granting women, whether married or unmarried, the right to vote, to hold office, to hold, manage and devise property, and all other civil rights enjoyed by men; and for the preparation and circulation of books, the delivery of lectures, and such other means as they may judge best." by the eighth article he gave one-third of the residue to a trustee, to pay the income to his daughter, eliza f. eddy, during her life, and upon her death one-half of the income to the trustees and on the trusts named in the sixth article, and the other half to mrs. eddy's daughter, mrs. lizzie f. bacon, during her life, and, on the death of mrs. bacon, the principal to the trustees and on the trusts named in the sixth article. it was held by this court that these bequests were not a charity (see _jackson vs. phillips, allen, _). in consequence of this decision, certain agreements, releases, and a partition were made, by which one-third of the residue of mr. jackson's estate became the property of mrs. eddy, subject to being held in trust for herself for life, and thereafter, as to one-half, for her daughter, mrs. bacon, during her life. mrs. eddy died december , , leaving a will by which she gave absolute legacies to the amount of $ , to various persons therein named. this disposed of all her estate except what came to her from her father's estate. her will then provided as follows: "what is left, after paying the above legacies, i direct shall be divided into two equal portions; one of said portions i leave to miss susan b. anthony of rochester, in the state of new york, as her absolute property, and the other portion i leave to lucy stone, wife of h. b. blackwell, as her own absolute and separate property, free from any control of him. i request said susan and lucy to use said fund thus given to further what is called the woman's rights cause; but neither of them is under any legal responsibility to any one or any court to do so." the will further alleged that this residue was substantially the estate received from francis jackson; that the will was intended by the testatrix to defeat the decision of this court, before mentioned; that the testatrix had no personal acquaintance with lucy stone or susan b. anthony; that said gift was intended as a gift _in perpetuam_ to the said cause, and was, without limit of time, upon trust in favor of said cause; and that said cause was not a charity within the meaning of the law, and was null and void. the defendants demurred to the bill for want of equity. the case was heard by c. allen, _j._, on the bill and demurrer, and a decree was entered sustaining the demurrer and dismissing the bill. the plaintiffs appealed to the full court. r. m. morse, jr., and s. j. elder, for the plaintiffs. b. f. butler and f. l. washburn, for the defendants. judge charles devens. the fact that the respective portions of the estate bequeathed by mrs. eddy to mrs. stone and miss anthony were in amount equal to-or precisely the same as those which came to her by descent from her father, francis jackson, is not of importance in the case at bar. it had been held in _jackson vs. phillips, allen, _, that a certain bequest made by mr. jackson in trust was not, legally speaking, a public charity, and that it could not therefore pass to the beneficiaries named in his will. the property which he thus attempted to bequeath descended therefore to his legal representatives, of whom mrs. eddy was one. she received it with the same right to deal with it or dispose of it in her lifetime, or by will at her decease, that she had in any other estate which was her lawful property. the bill alleges "that said will was intended by the testatrix to defeat the decision of the court, before mentioned; that the testatrix had no personal acquaintance with lucy stone or susan b. anthony; that said gift was intended as a gift _in perpetuam_ to the said cause." but if mrs. eddy has complied with the rules of law in the disposition of her property, even if she has hoped thereby to attain the same object as that desired by her father, the decision referred to is not defeated, but is recognized and conformed to; and, whatever her intention may have been, her bequest is to be upheld. her gift to her beneficiaries is absolute in terms. they may do what they will with the property bequeathed to them, as they may with any other property which is lawfully their own. it is true that the gift is accompanied by a request that they will use the fund bequeathed "to further what is called the woman's rights cause." a request made by one who has the right to direct is often, perhaps generally, interpreted as a command. for this reason, recommendatory or precatory words used in a bequest are frequently treated as an express direction. thus, if a legacy were given to a., with a request that out of the sum bequeathed he would pay to another a certain sum, or a portion thereof, it might well be construed as a legacy, to the amount named, to such person. the expression of the desire of the testator would be the expression of his will, and the words in form recommendatory would be held to be mandatory and imperative. where such words are used, it is therefore a question of the fair construction to be attributed to them (_whipple vs. adams, met., ; warner vs. bates, mass., ; spooner vs. lovejoy, mass., _). but the testatrix in the case at bar has left nothing to construction. apparently aware that a request, where she had a right to direct, might be treated as a command, and desirous to make it entirely clear that no restraint or duty in any legal sense was imposed upon her legatees, and that the request of the will was such in the limited sense of the word only, and in no respect mandatory, she adds thereto, referring to the legatees, "but neither of them is under any legal responsibility to any one or to any court to do so." each of the legatees is therefore the sole judge of whether she will follow, or how far or in what way she will follow, the suggestion of the testatrix in the disposition of the estate absolutely bequeathed to her. it is a matter in which she is to be guided only by her judgment and conscience, and no trust is imposed upon the property she receives. as no trust is created, it would be superfluous to consider whether, if the request of the testatrix were treated as a command, one would then be indicated capable of enforcement according to the rules of law. _bill dismissed._ [signed:] marcus morton, _chief-justice_, walbridge abner field, charles devens, william allen, charles allen, waldo coburn, oliver wendell holmes, jr. * * * * * from these decisions our daughters should learn the importance of having some knowledge of law. had not mrs. eddy learned from experience in her father's case that property could not be left in trust to any societies except those called religious and charitable, and made her bequest absolutely to persons, the gift of $ , would have been lost to the woman suffrage movement. as it was, nearly $ , was swallowed up in litigation to secure what the donees did finally obtain. considering that mrs. eddy[ ] is the only woman who has ever had both the desire and the power to make a large bequest to this cause, its friends have great reason to rejoice in her wisdom as well as her generosity. civilization would have been immeasurably farther advanced than it now is, had the many rich women, who have left large bequests to churches, and colleges for boys, concentrated their wealth and influence on the education, elevation and enfranchisement of their own sex. we trust that mrs. eddy's example may not be lost on the coming generation of women.--[editors. footnotes: [ ] for details of early history see vol. i., chap. viii. see also "massachusetts in the woman suffrage movement," roberts bros., boston. [ ] as an original question, no friend of woman suffrage can deny that it was a mean thing to put the word "male" into the fourteenth amendment. it was, doubtless, wise to adopt that amendment. it was an extension of the right of suffrage, and so far in the line of american progress, yet it was also an implied denial of the suffrage to women.--[warrington in the _springfield republican_. [ ] see vol. ii., page . [ ] john neal came from maine; nathaniel and armenia white from new hampshire; isabella hooker from connecticut; thomas w. higginson from rhode island; and john g. whittier, samuel may, jr., gilbert haven, john t. sargent, frank w. bird, wendell phillips, william lloyd garrison, william s. robinson, stephen and abby kelley foster, with a host of others, from massachusetts. lucy stone and henry b. blackwell, who then lived in new jersey, were also among the speakers. [ ] in giving an account of her efforts in this direction she says: "after my return from kansas in , i felt that we ought to do something for the cause in massachusetts. there was at that time no organization in the state, and there had been no revival of the subject in the minds of the people since the war, which had swallowed up every other interest. in the spring of , i wrote to abby kelley foster, telling her my wish to have something done in our own state, and she advised me to call together a few persons known to be in favor of suffrage, some day during anniversary week, in some parlor in boston. i corresponded with adin ballou, e. d. draper, and others, on the subject, and talked the matter over with prof. t. t. leonard, teacher of elocution, who offered his hall for a place of meeting. i wrote a notice inviting all persons interested in woman suffrage to come to mr. leonard's hall, on a certain day and hour. at the time appointed the hall was full of people. i opened the meeting, and stated why i had called it; others took up the theme, and we had a lively meeting. all agreed that something should be done, and a committee of seven was appointed to call a convention for the purpose of organizing a woman suffrage association. caroline m. severance, stephen s. foster, sarah southwick and myself, were of this committee. we held a number of meetings and finally decided to call a convention early in the autumn of . this convention was held in horticultural hall, and the result was the organization of the new england woman suffrage association." [ ] _president_, julia ward howe; _vice-presidents_, william lloyd garrison, boston; paulina w. davis, providence, r. i.; james freeman clarke, boston; sarah shaw russell, boston; neil dow, me.; lucy goddard, boston; samuel e. sewall, melrose; lidian emerson, concord; john hooker, isabella beecher hooker, hartford, ct.; harriot k. hunt, boston; james hutchinson, jr., west randolph, vt.; armenia s. white, concord, n. h.; louisa m. alcott, concord; l. maria child, wayland; john weiss, watertown. _corresponding secretary_, sara clark, boston. _recording secretary_, charles k. whipple, boston. _treasurer_, e. d. draper, boston. _executive committee_: lucy stone, newark, n. j.; t. w. higginson, newport, r. i.; caroline m. severance, west newton; francis w. bird, east walpole; mary e. sargent, boston; nathaniel white, concord, n. h.; richard p. hallowell, boston; stephen s. foster, worcester; sarah h. southwick, grantville; rowland connor, boston; b. f. bowles, cambridge; george h. vibbert, rockport; olympia brown, weymouth; samuel may, jr., leicester; nina moore, hyde park. [ ] ednah d. cheney, rev. c. a. bartol, rev. f. e. abbot, rev. phoebe hanaford and hon. george f. hoar. [ ] for report of american association see vol. ii., page . [ ] lucy stone, mary a. livermore, stephen s. and abby kelley foster, h. b. blackwell, rev. w. h. channing, rev. j. f. clarke, rev. gilbert haven, julia ward howe and elizabeth k. churchill made eloquent speeches. the first board of officers of the massachusetts woman suffrage association was: _president_, julia ward howe. _vice-presidents_: william lloyd garrison, roxbury; anne b. earle, worcester; john g. whittier, amesbury; lidian emerson. concord; hon. robert c. pitman, new bedford; mrs. richmond kingman, cummington; rev. r. b. stratton, worcester; edna d. cheney, jamaica plain; hon. isaac ames, haverhill; sarah shaw ames, boston; j. ingersoll bowditch, west roxbury; lydia maria child, wayland; mary dewey, sheffield; hon. george f. hoar, worcester; sarah grimke, hyde park; sarah r. hathaway, boston; william i. bowditch, boston; harriot k. hunt, m. d., boston; hon. samuel e. sewall, melrose; a. bronson alcott, concord; angelina g. weld, hyde park; hon. henry wilson, natick; rev. james freeman clarke, boston; charlotte a. joy, mendon; jacob m. manning, d. d., lucy sewall, m. d., boston; rev. joseph may, newburyport; maria zakrzewska, m. d., roxbury; rev. william b. wright, boston; rev. jesse h. jones, natick; phoebe a. hanaford, reading; seth hunt, northampton: maria s. porter, melrose. _executive committee_: rev. rowland connor, boston; caroline m. severance, west newton; rev. w. h. h. murray, boston; gordon m. fiske, palmer; sarah a. vibbert, rockport; rev. gilbert haven, maiden; caroline remond putman, salem; frank b. sanborn, springfield; mercy b. jackson, m. d., boston; samuel may, jr., leicester; margaret w. campbell, springfield; rev. c. m. wines, brookline; mary a. livermore, melrose; william s. robinson, maiden; henry b. blackwell, boston; lucy stone, boston; s. s. foster, worcester; mrs. wilcox, worcester; ada r. bowles, cambridge. _corresponding secretary_, nina moore, hyde park. _recording secretary_, charles c. whipple, boston. _treasurer_, e. d. draper, hopedale. [ ] mary f. eastman, ada c. bowles, lorenza haynes, elizabeth k. churchill, hulda b. loud, matilda hindman and other agents in the lecture field have also done a great deal of missionary work. [ ] the committee of arrangements were mrs. isaac ames, harriet h. robinson, sarah b. otis, philip wheeler, jane tenney, mrs. a. a. fellows, mrs. jackson, miss talbot and miss halsey. the speakers were: wendell phillips, mary a. livermore, frederick douglass, william lloyd garrison, elizabeth k. churchill, margaret w. campbell, mary f. eastman, henry b. blackwell, lucy stone and others. julia ward howe and mr. c. p. cranch, read original poems. two old-time tea-party songs, curiosities in their line, were read. one, dated boston, , entitled "lines on bohea tea," was written by susannah clarke, great-aunt of w. s. robinson; the other, copied from thomas' _boston journal_, of december , , was written by mrs. ames, a tailoress. [ ] _committee of arrangements_--lucy stone, abby kelley foster, thomas j. lothrop, timothy k. earle, sarah e. wall, harriet h. robinson and e. h. church. at this public gathering, athol, boston, haverhill, leicester, leominster, lowell, malden, melrose, milford, north brookfield, taunton, and many other massachusetts towns were well represented. [ ] the speakers were lucy stone, rev. w. h. channing, mary a. livermore, mary f. eastman, kate n. doggett, rev. f. a. hinckley, ednah d. cheney, t. wentworth higginson, isabella beecher hooker, anna garlin spencer and julia e. parker. harriet h. robinson read a condensed history of massachusetts in the woman suffrage movement. interesting letters were received from elizabeth stuart phelps, f. w. bird, h. b. blackwell, margaret w. campbell, mrs. c. i. h. nichols and frances d. gage. two original woman suffrage songs, written by anna q. t. parsons and caroline a. mason, were sung on the occasion. [ ] board of officers for : _president_, miss abby w. may; _vice-president_, mrs. edna dean cheney; _secretary_, miss brigham; _treasurer_, miss s. f. king; _assistant-secretary_, miss von arnim; _directors_, miss h, lemist, mrs. j. w. smith, mrs. m. p. lowe, mrs. h. g. jackson, mrs. l. h. merrick, mrs. g. l. ruffin, mrs. walton, mrs. whitman, miss rogers, miss e. foster, miss shaw, miss lougee, miss l. m. peabody, dr. a. e. fisher, mrs. buchanan, mrs. o. a. cheney, mrs. e. hilt, mrs. m. w. nash, mrs. m. h. bray, mrs. fifield, mrs. j. f. clarke, miss l. p. hale, mrs. a. h. spalding; _lecture committee_, miss lucia m. peabody, mrs. fifield and mrs. l. h. king. [ ] it is the only organization in the state whose business is managed by its members. its officers are a president, one or more vice-presidents for each county, a secretary, treasurer, auditor, and a standing committee of seven with power to add to its number. these officers are elected annually. executive meetings, in which all members participate, are held monthly. _president_, harriette r. shattuck; _vice-presidents_, dr. salome merritt, joan d. foster, emma f. clarry, louisa e. brooks, esther p. hutchinson, sarah s. eddy, harriet m. spaulding, martha e. s. curtis, dr. sarah e. sherman, sarah g. todd, abbie m. meserve, sophia a. forbes, esther b. smith, emma a. todd. _treasurer_, sara a. underwood; _auditor_, lavina a. hatch; _secretaries_, hannah m. todd, elizabeth b. atwell, harriet h. robinson; _standing committee_, h. r. shattuck, dr. s. merritt, h. h. robinson, lydia e. hutchings, mary r. brown, e. b. attwill, lucretia h. jones. [ ] south framingham, south boston, winchester, rockland, wakefield, uxbridge, millbury, bedford, westboro', salem, lynn, lowell, rowley, concord, woburn, malden, cambridge, beverly farms. [ ] two of these, harriet h. robinson and harriette r. shattuck, spoke at the first hearing before the senate committee. it chanced that mrs. robinson was the first woman to speak before this special committee. the other delegates were: mary r. brown, emma f. clarry, louisa e. brooks, mrs. g. w. simonds, sarah s. eddy, mr. and mrs. d. w. forbes, mary h. semple, louisa a. morrison and cora b. smart. [ ] the authors and compilers of these leaflets are harriette r. shattuck, sara a. underwood, hannah m. todd and mary r. brown. [ ] the speakers at these hearings were harriette r. shattuck, mary r. brown, sidney d. shattuck, nancy w. covell, dr. julia c. smith, mr. s. c. fay, louisa a. morrison, sara a. underwood and harriet h. robinson. [ ] the speakers were rev. j. t. sargent, a. bronson alcott, h. b. blackwell, dr. mercy b. jackson, s. s. foster, mary a. livermore, rev. b. f. bowles, f. b. sanborn, w. s. robinson, gilbert haven and many others. [ ] in the records of the executive meetings of this association i find the following votes. in october, , it was voted, that any invitation to speak at republican meetings, extended to our agents by republican committees in this state, be accepted by them until the coming election, their usual salaries being paid by this association; that miss loud be notified by lucy stone of our arrangement in regard to republican meetings, and be requested, after the th instant, to hold her meetings in that manner as far as practicable; that the balance of expenses of the woman's meeting held at tremont temple be paid by this association. [this was a political meeting held by the massachusetts woman suffrage association to endorse general grant as the presidential candidate of the republican party.] [ ] the national association of massachusetts at its executive session, august , passed the following: _resolved_, that while we respect the advice of our leaders, as their private political opinion, we deem it worse than useless to "stand by the republican" or any other party while we are deprived of the only means of enforcing a political opinion; and that we advise all associations, to concentrate their efforts upon securing the ballot to women, withholding all attempt at political influence until they possess the right which alone can make their influence effective. [ ] at the executive meeting of the new england association, may, , it was voted that a circular be sent to the friends of woman suffrage, requesting them to meet in boston, may , to consider the expediency of calling a convention to form a political party for woman suffrage. [ ] the call for this convention was signed by harriet h. robinson, rev. a. d. sargent, rev. g. h. vibbert, william johnson, mrs. t. r. woodman, helen gale and mrs. m. slocum. judge robert c. pitman was the candidate for governor. [ ] this "woman suffrage ticket," the first ever offered to a massachusetts voter, received votes out of the , cast in all by the voters of the town, a larger proportion than that first cast by the old liberty party in massachusetts, which began with only votes in the whole state, and ended in the free soil and republican parties. [ ] election day dawned and it rained hard, but the women braved the storm. there they stood from o'clock a.m. till a quarter of p.m. and distributed votes, only leaving their positions long enough to get a cup of coffee and a luncheon, which was provided at the headquarters. they distributed , woman suffrage ballots and , circulars containing arguments on the rights of women. they were treated with unexceptionable politeness and kindness by the voters. [ ] the first time women went to the polls in massachusetts was in , when forty-two women of hyde park, led by angelina grimké weld and sarah grimké, deposited their ballots, in solemn protest "against the political ostracism of women, against leaving every vital interest of a majority of the citizens to the monopoly of a male minority." it is hardly needful to record that these ballots were not counted. [ ] for summary of voting laws relating to women from to , see "massachusetts in the woman suffrage movement," by harriet h. robinson: roberts brothers, boston. [ ] thomas wentworth higginson, lucy stone, theodore parker, wendell phillips, and other speakers of ability, presented able arguments in favor of giving women the right to vote. [ ] this memorial was printed by order of the legislature (leg. doc. ho. ) and is called "memorial of the female signers of the several petitions of henry a. hardy and others," presented march , . the document is not signed and mrs. ferrin's name is not found with it upon the records, neither does her name appear in the journal of the house in connection with any of the petitions and addresses she caused to be presented to the legislature of the state. but for the loyal friendship of the few who knew of her work and were willing to give her due credit, the name of mary upton ferrin [see vol. i., page ] and the memory of her labors as well as those of many another silent worker, would have gone into the "great darkness." [ ] the committee was addressed by wendell phillips, julia ward howe, lucy stone, rev. james freeman clarke and hon. george f. hoar. [ ] two years before ( ), while sitting as visitor in the gallery of the house of representatives, i heard the whole subject of woman's rights referred to the (bogus) committee on graveyards! [ ] it was perhaps intended to serve as a means of reïnstating abby w. may and other women who had been defeated as candidates for reëlection on the boston school-board. the names of isa e. gray, mrs. c. b. richmond, elizabeth p. peabody and john m. forbes led the lists of petitioners. [ ] at the first annual election for school committees in cities and towns in - , about , women became registered voters. [ ] lucretia p. hale, abby w. may, lucia m. peabody, mary j. s. blake, kate g. wells, lucretia crocker. [ ] this act, so brief and so _expressive_, is worthy to be remembered. it simply reads: "_be it enacted, etc., as follows_: sec. . no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve upon a school committee by reason of sex. sec. . this act shall take effect upon its passage. (_approved june , ._) by force of habit, the legislature said not a word in the law about _women_. there are now ( ) women members of school-boards in massachusetts. [ ] see "women under the law of massachusetts," henry h. sprague. boston: w. b. clarke & carruth. [ ] the authority for this old "thumb" tradition, that "a man had the right to whip his wife with a stick no bigger than his thumb," is found in an early edition of _phillip's evidence_. that book was authority in english common law and in it phillips is quoted as saying, that according to the law of his day a husband "might lawfully chastise his wife with a reasonable weapon, as a _broomstick_," adding, however, "but if he use an unreasonable weapon, such as an iron bar, and death ensue, it would be murder."--[chamberlin, p. . [ ] in an old will, made a hundred and fifty years ago, a husband of large means bequeathed to his "dearly beloved wife" $ and a new suit of clothes, with the injunction that she should return to her original, or family home. and with this small sum, as her share of his property, he returned her to her parents. [ ] the little actual gain in votes since , in favor of municipal or general suffrage for women, might cause the careless observer to draw the inference that no great progress had been made in legislative sentiment during all these years. in the vote in the house of representatives on the general woman suffrage bill was to . in the bill giving municipal suffrage was defeated in the house by a vote of to . but this is not a true index of the progress of public opinion. [ ] mrs. ellen m. richards was the first woman who entered. [ ] the harvard annex, so called, began its seventh year with sixty-five young ladies enrolled for study. the enrollment for the preceding six years was as follows: first year, : second, ; third ; fourth, ; fifth, , sixth, . some of the students come from distant places, but a majority are from the cambridge and neighboring high-schools. the institution occupies this year for the first time a building which has been conveniently arranged for its purposes. the endowment of the association which manages the work now amounts to $ , . [ ] this lady was lucy downing, a sister of the first governor of massachusetts. she was the wife of emanuel downing, a lawyer of the inner temple, a friend of governor winthrop and afterward a man of mark in the infant colony. in a letter to her brother, lucy downing expresses the desire of herself and husband to come to new england with their children, but laments that if they do come her son george cannot complete his studies. she says: "you have yet noe societies nor means of that kind for the education of youths in learning. it would make me goe far nimbler to new england, if god should call me to it, than otherwise i should, and i believe a colledge would put noe small life into the plantation." this letter was written early in , and in october of the same year the general court of the massachusetts colony agreed to give £ towards establishing a school or college in newtowne (two years later called cambridge). soon afterwards rev. john harvard died and left one-half of his estate to this "infant seminary," and in it was ordered by the general court that the "colledge to be built at cambridge shall be called harvard colledge." early in lucy downing and her husband arrived in new england, and the name of george downing stands second on the list of the first class of harvard graduates in . the downings had other sons who do not seem to have been educated at harvard, and daughters who were put out to service. the son for whom so much was done by his mother, was afterwards known as sir george downing, and he became rich and powerful in england. downing street in london is named for him. in after life he forgot his duty to his mother, who so naturally looked to him for support; and her last letter written from england after her husband died, when she was old and feeble, tells a sad story of her son's avarice and meanness, and leaves the painful impression that she suffered in her old age for the necessaries of life. it is hard to estimate how much influence the earnest longing of this one woman for the better education of her son, had in the founding of this earliest college in massachusetts. but for her thinking and speaking at the right time the enterprise might have been delayed for half a century. it is to be deplored that lucy downing established the unwise precedent of educating one member of the family at the expense of the rest; an example followed by too many women since her time. harvard college itself has followed it as well, in that it has so long excluded from its privileges that portion of the human family to which lucy downing belonged. although women have never been permitted to become students of this college, or of any of the schools connected with it, yet they have always taken a great interest in its pecuniary welfare, and the university is largely indebted to the generosity of women for its endowment and support. from the records of harvard college, it appears that funds have been contributed by women, which amount, in the aggregate, to $ , . out of these funds a proportion of the university scholarships were founded, and at least one of its professors' chairs. in its divinity school alone five of the ten scholarships bear the names of women. caroline a. plummer of salem gave $ , to found the plummer professorship of christian morals. sarah derby bequeathed $ , towards founding the hersey professorship of anatomy and physic. the holden chapel was built with money given for that purpose by mrs. samuel holden and her daughters. anna e. p. sever, in , left a legacy to this college of $ , . [see harvard roll of honor for women in _harvard register_ in - .] other known benefactors of harvard university are: lady moulson, hannah sewall, mary saltonstall, dorothy saltonstall, joanna alford, mary p. townsend, ann toppan, eliza farrar, ann f. schaeffer, levina hoar, rebecca a. perkins, caroline merriam, sarah jackson, hannah c. andrews, nancy kendall, charlotte harris, mary osgood, lucy osgood, sarah winslow, julia bullock, marian hovey, anna richmond, caroline richmond, clara j. moore and susan cabot.--[h. h. r. the question is often asked, why are women so much more desirous than men to see their children educated? because it is a right that has been denied to themselves. to them education means liberty, wealth, position, power. when the black race at the south were emancipated, they were far more eager for education than the poor whites, and for the same reason.--[eds. [ ] ruth barnaby, aged in , elizabeth phillips and hannah greenway were also members of this branch of the profession. the last was midwife to mrs. judge sewall, who was the mother of nineteen children. judge samuel e. sewall mentions this fact in his diary, recently published. [ ] dr. jackson had a large practice in boston, and filled for five years the chair of professor of diseases of children in the boston university school of medicine. [ ] in , a massachusetts woman could not legally be treasurer of even a sewing society without having some man responsible for her. in , it was necessary that the subscriptions of a married woman for a newspaper or for charities should be in the name of her husband. [ ] olympia brown's own account of this transaction is as follows: in , soon after my settlement in weymouth, i solemnized a marriage. it was the first time a woman had officiated in this capacity, and there was so much talk about the legality of the act, that i petitioned the legislature to take such action as was necessary in order to make marriages solemnized by me legal. the committee to whom it was referred reported that no legislation was necessary. [ ] this little book is worthy of mention, from the fact that it is probably the first publication of its kind in massachusetts, if not in america. the whole title of the book is, "observations on the rights of women, with their appropriate duties agreeable to scripture, reason and common sense." mrs. crocker, in her introduction, says: "the wise author of nature has endowed the female mind with equal powers and faculties, and given them the same right of judging and acting for themselves as he gave the male sex." she further argues that, "according to scripture, woman was the first to transgress and thus forfeited her original right of equality, and for a time was under the yoke of bondage, till the birth of our blessed savior, when she was restored to her equality with man." this is a very fine beginning, and would seem to savor strongly of the modern woman's rights doctrine; but, unfortunately, the author, with charming inconsistency, goes on to say,--"we shall strictly adhere to the principle of the impropriety of females ever trespassing on masculine grounds, as it is morally incorrect, and physically impossible." [ ] in there was a small woman's club of lowell factory operatives, officered and managed entirely by women. this may be a remote first cause of the origin of the new england women's club, since it bears the same relation to that flourishing institution, that the native crab does to the grafted tree. this was the first woman's club in the state, if not in the whole country. [ ] a few ladies met at the house of dr. harriot k. hunt to consider a plan for organization. its avowed object was "to supply the daily increasing need of a great central resting place, for the comfort and convenience of those who may wish to unite with us, and ultimately become a center for united and organized social thought and action." its first president was caroline m. severance. on the executive board were the names of julia ward howe, ednah d. cheney, lucy goddard, harriet m. pitnam, jane alexander, abby w. may, and many others who have since become well known. this club held its first meetings in private houses, but it has for several years occupied spacious club rooms on park street in boston. julia ward howe is its president. the club has its own historian, and when this official gives the result of her researches to the public, there will be seen how many projects for the elevation of women and the improvement of social life have had their inception in the brains of those who assemble in the parlors of the new england woman's club. in , it projected the movement by which women were first elected on the school committee of boston, and also prepared the petition to be sent to the massachusetts legislature of , the result of which was the passage of the law allowing women to vote for school committees. in the _woman's journal_ for will be found a sketch of this club. [ ] "taxation of women in massachusetts"; "woman suffrage a right, not a privilege," and "the forgotten woman in massachusetts." [ ] its projectors were a. bronson alcott, ralph waldo emerson, professor w. t. harris, frank b. sanborn, professor benjamin pierce, dr. h. k. jones, elizabeth p. peabody and ednah d. cheney. [ ] this act is almost as brief as a certain clause in one of the election laws of the state of texas, which says: "the masculine gender shall include the feminine and neuter." [ ] we deeply regret that we have been unable to procure a good photograph of our generous benefactor, as it was our intention to make her engraving the frontispiece of this volume, and thus give the honored place to her through whose liberality we have been enabled at last to complete this work. we are happy to state that mrs. eddy's will was not contested by any of the descendents of the noble francis jackson, but by jerome bacon, a millionaire, the widower of her eldest daughter who survived the mother but one week. when the suit was entered the daughters of mrs. eddy, sarah and amy, her only surviving children, in a letter to the executor of the estate, hon. c. r. ransom, said: "we hereby consent and agree that, in case this suit now pending in the court shall be decided against the claims of lucy stone and susan b. anthony, we will give to them the net amount of any sum that as heirs may be awarded to us, in accordance with our mother's will." chapter xxxii. connecticut. prudence crandall--eloquent reformers--petitions for suffrage--the committee's report--frances ellen burr--isabella beecher hooker's reminiscences--anna dickinson in the republican campaign--state society formed, october , , --enthusiastic convention in hartford--governor marshall jewell--he recommends more liberal laws for women--society formed in new haven, --governor hubbard's inaugural, --samuel bowles of the _springfield republican_--rev. phebe a. hanaford, chaplain, --john hooker, esq., champions the suffrage movement. while connecticut has always been celebrated for its puritanical theology, political conservatism and rigid social customs, it was nevertheless the scene of some of the most hotly contested of the anti-slavery battles. while its leading clergymen and statesmen stoutly maintained the letter of the old creeds and constitutions, the burleighs, the mays, and the crandalls strove to illustrate the true spirit of religion and republicanism in their daily lives by "remembering those that were in bonds as bound with them." the example of one glorious woman like prudence crandall,[ ] who suffered shameful persecutions in establishing a school for colored girls at canterbury, in , should have been sufficient to rouse every woman in connecticut to some thought on the basic principles of the government and religion of the country. yet we have no record of any woman in that state publicly sustaining her in that grand enterprise, though no doubt her heroism gave fresh inspiration to the sermons of samuel j. may, then preaching in the village of brooklyn, and the speeches and poems of the two eloquent reformers, charles c. and william h. burleigh. the words and deeds of these and other great souls, though seeming to slumber for many years, gave birth at last to new demands for another class of outraged citizens. thus liberty is ever born of the hateful spirit of persecution. one question of reform settled forever by the civil war, the initiative for the next was soon taken. in _the revolution_ of january , , we find the following well-considered report on woman's enfranchisement, presented by a minority of the committee on constitutional amendments to the legislature of connecticut at its session of : the undersigned members of the committee believe that the prayer of the petitioners ought to be granted. it would be much easier for us to reject the petition and silently to acquiesce in the opinions of the majority upon the subject to which it relates, but our attention was challenged and an investigation invited by the bold axioms upon which the cause of suffrage for woman was claimed to rest, and the more we have examined the subject the more convinced we have become that the logic of our institutions requires a concession of that right. it is claimed by some that the right to vote is not a natural right, but that it is a privilege which some have acquired, and which may be granted to others at the option of the fortunate holders. but they fail to inform us how the possessors first acquired the privilege, and especially how they acquired the rightful power to withhold that privilege from others, according to caprice or notions of expediency. we hold this doctrine to be pernicious in tendency, and hostile to the spirit of a republican government; and we believe that it can only be justified by the same arguments that are used to justify slavery or monarchy--for it is an obvious deduction of logic that if one thousand persons have a right to govern another thousand without their consent, one man has a right to govern all. mr. lincoln tersely said, "if slavery is not wrong nothing is wrong." so it seems to us that if the right to vote is not a natural right, there is no such thing as a natural right in human relations. the right to freedom and the right to a ballot both spring from the same source. the right to vote is only the right to a legitimate use of freedom. it is plain that if a man is not free to govern himself, and to have a voice in the taxation of his own property, he is not really free in any enlightened sense. even edward i. of england said, "it is a most equitable rule that what concerns all should be approved by all." this must rightfully apply to women the same as to men. and locke, in his essay on civil government, said, "nothing is more evident than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal, one with another, without subordination or subjection." talleyrand said, as an argument for monarchy, "the moment we reject an absolutely universal suffrage, we admit the principle of aristocracy." the founders of this nation asserted with great emphasis and every variety of repetition, the essential equality of human rights as a self-evident truth. the war of the revolution was justified by the maxim, "taxation without representation is tyranny"; and all republics vindicate their existence by the claim that "governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed." yet woman, in connecticut, is governed without her consent, and taxed without representation. lord camden, one of england's ablest jurists, long ago declared, "my position is this--taxation and representation are inseparable. the position is founded in a law of nature--nay more, it is itself an eternal law of nature." our forefathers held to this principle, and fought seven years to establish it. they maintained their favorite theory of government against immense odds, and transmitted to their posterity the great work of putting it logically into practice. it is acknowledged by this legislature that "taxation without representation is tyranny," and that "governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed." if these phrases are anything more than the meaningless utterances of demagogues, anything more than the hypocritical apologies of rebellious colonies in a strait--then we submit that a _primâ facie_ case for woman's right to vote has already been made out. to declare that a voice in the government is the right of all, and then give it to less than half, and that to the fraction to which the theorist himself happens to belong, is to renounce even the appearance of principle. it is plain to your committee that neither the state nor the nation can have peace on this suffrage question until some fair standard shall be adopted which is not based on religion, or color, or sex, or any accident of birth--a test which shall be applicable to every adult human being. in a republic the ballot belongs to every intelligent adult person who is innocent of crime. there is an obvious and sufficient reason for excluding minors, state-prison convicts, imbeciles and insane persons, but does the public safety require that we shall place the women of connecticut with infants, criminals, idiots and lunatics? do they deserve the classification? it seems to your committee that to enfranchise woman--or rather to cease to deprive her of the ballot, which is of right hers, would be reciprocally beneficial. we believe that it would elevate the character of our office-holders; that it would purify our politics; that it would render our laws more equitable; that it would give to woman a protection against half the perils which now beset her; that it would put into her hands a key that would unlock the door of every respectable occupation and profession; that it would insure a reconstruction of our statute laws on a basis of justice, so that a woman should have a right to her own children, and a right to receive and enjoy the proceeds of her own labor. john neal estimates that the ballot is worth fifty cents a day to every american laborer, enabling each man to command that much higher wages. does not gentlemanly courtesy, as well as equal justice, require that that weapon of defense shall be given to those thousands of working women among us who are going down to prostitution through three or four half-paid, over-crowded occupations? it is said that woman is now represented by her husband, when she has one; but what is this representation worth when in connecticut, two years ago, all of the married woman's personal property became absolutely her husband's, including even her bridal presents, to sell or give away, as he saw fit--a statute which still prevails in most of the states? what is that representation worth when even now, in this state, no married woman has the right to the use of her own property, and no woman, even a widow, is the natural guardian of her own children? even in connecticut, under man's representation, a widow whose husband dies without a will is regarded by law as an encumbrance on the estate which she, through years of drudgery, has helped to acquire. she can inherit none of the houses or land, but has merely the use of one-third, while the balance goes to his relatives--rich, perhaps, and persons whom she never saw. does not this suggest reasons why woman should wish to represent herself? it is said that women do not desire the ballot. this is by no means certain. it can be ascertained only by taking a vote. it is not proved by the fact that they have not yet generally clamored for the right, nor by the fact that some protest against it. in persia, it is a law of society that virtuous women shall appear in public with their faces covered, and instead of murmuring at the restraint, they are universal in upholding it, and wonder at the immodesty and effrontery of english women who appear upon the streets unveiled. custom hardens us to any kind of degradation. when woman was not admitted to the dinner-table as an equal with man, she undoubtedly thought the exclusion was perfectly proper, and quite in the nature of things, and the dinner-table became vile and obscene. when she was forbidden to enter the church, she approved the arrangement, and the church became a scene of hilarity and bacchanalian revel. when she was forbidden to take part in literature, she thought it was not her sphere, and disdained the alphabet, and the consequence was that literature became unspeakably impure, so that no man can now read in public some of the books that were written before woman brought chastity and refinement into letters. the asiatics are probably not in favor of political liberty, or the american indians in favor of civilization; but that does not prove that these would be bad for them, especially if thousands of the most enlightened did desire and demand the change. it is assumed that women are not in favor of this right; how can this be better ascertained than by submitting to them the question to vote upon--"yes" or "no." if this legislature shall be averse to trusting woman to give her opinion even on the question of her own enfranchisement, we recommend that an amendment, striking the word "male" from the state constitution, be submitted to the qualified electors of the state. can there be any possible danger in trusting those who have trusted us? they, not we, are the law-makers. an assembly is elected only because it would be inconvenient for all the citizens to vote upon every statute. but when any change in the fundamental law is seriously asked, it should be remitted to the people without hesitation, especially when that proposed change will render our logic consistent, and our institutions harmonious; when it will enforce the democratic doctrine that, in society, every human being has a right to do anything that does not interfere with the rights of others, and when it will establish equality in place of partiality, and vindicate the principle of all rights for all. we therefore recommend the adoption of the following resolution: [here follows a resolution submitting to the people an amendment of the constitution giving women the right to vote equally with men.] the members of the committee who signed this early declaration in favor of the rights of women should be remembered with honor. they are henry ashley, william steele and j. d. gallup, jr. the resolution recommended received votes in the house of representatives, against in opposition. so strong an expression in favor of it at that time is a noteworthy fact in the history of the cause. the petitions that called out this able report were secured through the influence of frances ellen burr, who may be said to have been the pioneer of woman suffrage in connecticut. she had made several attempts, through conversations with influential friends, to organize a state society many years before. from the inauguration of the state association until the present time miss burr has been one of its most efficient members, and has done more to popularize the question of woman suffrage throughout the state than any other person. her accomplishments as a writer and speaker, as a reporter and stenographer, as well as her connection with the _hartford times_ (a journal that has a very large circulation in the state), edited by her brother, have qualified her for wide and efficient influence. her niece, mrs. ella burr mcmanus, edits a column in that paper, under the head of "social notes." she is also an advocate of suffrage for women, and makes telling points, from week to week, on this question. in issuing the first numbers of _the revolution_, the earliest words of good cheer came from frances ellen burr.[ ] the general rebellion among women against the old conditions of society and the popular opinions as to their nature and destiny, has been organized in each state in this union by the sudden awakening of some self-reliant woman, in whose soul had long slumbered new ideas as to her rights and duties, growing out of personal experiences or the distant echoes of onward steps in other localities. in connecticut this woman was isabella beecher hooker, who had scarcely dared to think, and much less to give shape in words, to the thoughts that, like unwelcome ghosts, had haunted her hours of solitude from year to year. elizabeth barrett browning describes a hero as one who does what others do but say; who says what others do but think; and thinks what others do but dream. the successive steps by which mrs. hooker's dreams at last took shape in thoughts, words and actions, and brought her to the woman suffrage platform, are well told by herself: my mind had long been disturbed with the tangled problem of social life, but it involved so many momentous questions that i could not see where to begin nor what to do. i could only protest in my heart, and leave the whole matter for god[ ] to deal with in his wisdom. thus matters stood until the year , when anna dickinson, then a girl of nineteen, came to hartford to speak in behalf of the republican party, particularly on its hostility to the extension of slavery. i shall never forget the dismay--i know not what else to call it--which i felt at the announcement of her first speech in one of our public halls, lest harm should come to the political cause that enlisted my sympathies, and anxiety about the speaker, who would have to encounter so much adverse criticism in our conservative and prejudiced city. it was certainly a most startling occurrence, that here in my very home, where there had been hardly a lisp in favor of the rights of women, this girl should speak on political subjects, and that, too, upon the invitation of the leaders of a great political party. here was a stride, not a mere step; and a stride almost to final victory for the suppressed rights of women. my husband and i, full of anxiety and apprehension, but full, too, of determination to stand by one who so bravely shook off her trammels, went to hear this new joan of arc, and in a few minutes after she began we found ourselves, with the rest of the large audience, entranced by her eloquence. at the close of the meeting we went with many others to be introduced and give her the right hand of fellowship. she came home with us for the night, and after the family retired she and i communed together, heart to heart, as mother and daughter, and from this sweet, grand soul, born to the freedom denied to all women except those known as quakers, i learned to trust as never before the teachings of the inner light, and to know whence came to them the recognition of equal rights with their brethren in the public assembly. it was she who brought me to the knowledge of mrs. john stuart mill, and her remarkable paper on "the enfranchisement of women," in _the westminster review_. she told me, too, of susan b. anthony, a fearless defender of true liberty and woman's right of public speech; but i allowed an old and ignorant prejudice against her and mrs. stanton to remain until the year , when, going south to nurse a young soldier who was wounded in the war, i met mrs. caroline severance from boston, who was residing in south carolina, where her husband was in the service of the government, who confirmed what miss dickinson had told me of miss anthony, and unfolded to me the whole philosophy of the woman suffrage movement. she afterwards invited me to her home near boston, where i joined mr. garrison and others in issuing a call for a convention, which i attended, and aided in the formation of the new england woman suffrage association. at this meeting, which i will not attempt to describe, i met paulina wright davis, whose mere presence upon the platform, with her beautiful white hair and her remarkable dignity and elegance, was a most potent argument in favor of woman's participation in public affairs. i sought an introduction to her, and confessing my prejudice against mrs. stanton and miss anthony, whom i had never yet seen, she urged me to meet them as guests at her home in providence; and a few weeks later, under the grand old trees of her husband's almost ducal estate, we went over the whole subject of man's supremacy and woman's subjection that had lain so many years a burden upon my heart, and, sitting at their feet, i said: "while i have been mourning in secret over the degradation of woman, you have been working, through opposition and obloquy, to raise her to self-respect and self-protection through enfranchisement, knowing that with equal political rights come equal social and industrial opportunities. henceforth, i will at least share your work and your obloquy." in september, , just one year from that time, after spending several weeks in correspondence with friends all over the state, and making careful preliminary arrangements, i issued a call for the first woman suffrage convention that was ever held in connecticut, at which a state society was formed. to my surprise and satisfaction, the city press each day devoted several columns to reports of our proceedings, and the enthusiasm manifested by the large audiences was as unexpected as it was gratifying. the speakers were worthy of the reception given them, and few occasions have gathered upon one platform so notable an assemblage of men and women.[ ] the resolutions which formed the basis of the discussions were prepared and presented by mr. hooker: _resolved_, that there is no consideration whatever that makes the right of suffrage valuable to men, or that makes it the duty or the interest of the nation to concede it to men, that does not make it valuable to women, and the duty and interest of the nation to concede it to women. _resolved_, that the ballot will bring to woman a higher education, larger industrial opportunities, a wider field for thought and action, a sense of responsibility in her relations to the public welfare, and, in place of mere complaisance and flattery, the higher and truer respect of men. _resolved_, that political affairs, involving nearly all those questions that relate to the welfare of the nation and the progress of society towards a perfect christian civilization, ought to interest deeply every intelligent mind and every patriotic heart; and, while women love their country and the cause of christian progress no less than men, they ought to have the same opportunity with men to exert a political power in their behalf. _resolved_, that in the alarming prevalence of public dishonesty and private immorality, which the present forces on the side of public and private virtue are proving wholly unable to control, it is our firm conviction that women, educated to the responsibilities of a participation with men in political rights, would bring to the aid of virtuous men a new and powerful element of good, which cannot be spared, and for which there can be no substitute. _resolved_, that in advocating the opening to woman of this larger sphere, we do not undervalue her relations as a wife and mother, than which none can be more worthy of a true woman's love and pride; but it is only by a full development of her faculties and a wide range for her thought that she can become the true companion of an intelligent husband, and the wise and inspiring educator of her children; while mere domestic life furnishes no occupation to the great number of women who never marry, and a very inadequate one to those who, at middle age, with large experience and ripe wisdom, find their children grown up around them and no longer needing their care. _resolved_, that all laws which recognize a superior right in the husband to the children whom the wife has borne, or a right on the part of the husband to the property of the wife, beyond the right given to her in his property, and all laws which hold that husband and wife do not stand in all respects in the relation of equals, ought to be abrogated, and the perfect equality of husband and wife established. _resolved_, that this equality of position and rights we believe to have been intended by the creator as the ultimate perfection of the social state, when he said, "let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion"; and to have been a part of our savior's plan for a perfect christian society, in which an apostle says, "there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female." the _hartford courant_, in its description of the convention, said: after a speech by mr. garrison, the hutchinsons sang some of the religious songs of the southern negroes with excellent taste, and then, led by them, the whole audience united in the chorus; and as the melody rose strong and clear a pathos fell upon the assembly that brought tears to many eyes. the tableau upon the stage was striking and memorable. there stood the family of singers, with the same cheerful, hopeful courage in their uplifted faces with which for twenty years they have sung of the good time _almost_ here, of every reform; there stood william lloyd garrison, stern puritan, inflexible apostle, his work gloriously done in one reform, lending the weight of his unwearied, solid intellect to that which he believes is the last needed; there was mrs. paulina wright davis, a roman matron in figure, her noble head covered with clustering ringlets of white, courageous after a quarter of a century of unsullied devotion, though she had just confessed that sometimes she was almost weary; there was miss anthony, unselfish, patient, wise and practical; the graceful mrs. julia ward howe, the poet of the movement; the tall and elegant mrs. celia burleigh; the benevolent dr. clemence lozier; mrs. isabella b. hooker, with spiritual face and firm purpose, just taking her place in the reform that has long had her heart and deep conviction, and many others of fine presence and commanding beauty--matrons, with gray hair and countenances illuminated with lives of charity; young women, flushed with hope; and as the grand christian song went on, many a woman, leaning against a supporting pillar, gave way to the tears that would come, tears of hope deferred, tears of weary longings, tears of willing, patient devotion--e'en though it be a cross that raiseth me--and then the benediction, and the assembly dispersed, touched, it may be, into a moment's sympathy. * * * at the closing evening session the opera house was completely filled by an audience whose attendance was a compliment. * * * the chairman, rev. n. j. burton, said: "has not this convention been a success? i say, emphatically, it has. we have had the very best of audiences at every session, and we have provided speakers as good as the audience. we have not given you even one poor speech. i thank the audience and the speakers, one and all. i feel like thanking everybody, myself included, as chairman. in stewart's store in new york they told me , persons were employed, all guided by one brain up-stairs, and that one brain giving the store a national reputation. this convention has been inspired and managed by one person--mrs. hooker of this city." after speculating as to the possible oratorical power of mrs. h., had she received the advantages and enjoyed the practice of her brother, who spoke the previous evening, he said: "but of course mrs. hooker couldn't vote, nor be a member of the legislature, or even a justice of the peace. insufferable nonsense! if such women don't vote before i die--well, like gough's obstinate deacon, i won't die till they do." on motion of franklin chamberlin, esq., the thanks of the convention were tendered to mrs. hooker for her efforts. at her request the chairman said that she was wholly surprised by this reference to herself. she would only say, "thank god for our success," to which the chairman added, "amen and amen." he then introduced mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, daughter of the late judge cady of albany, wife of the hon. henry b. stanton of new york, and editor of _the revolution_. she is perhaps fifty, and in general appearance much resembles mrs. davis. she is apparently in robust health, dresses in black, with just enough of white lace, and, with her gray hair loosely gathered, and her strong, symmetrical and refined face and perfect self-possession, is a noble-looking woman. her address, or oration, was before her, but she was not hampered by it. her voice is clear, her gesticulation simple, and her general manner not surpassed by wendell phillips. rough notes of an oration so finished can only indicate the main drift of her thoughts. * * * the eloquent peroration was heard in profound silence, followed by enthusiastic applause. * * * the chairman read the constitution and offered it for signatures, and the officers of the connecticut woman suffrage association were chosen.[ ] in _the revolution_ of november , , mrs. stanton giving a description of the convention, refers to the liberality of the governor, marshall jewell, and the genial hospitalities of his noble wife:[ ] in company with mrs. howe and miss anthony, we were entertained at the governor's mansion, a fine brick building in the heart of the town. it has a small pond on one side, and eight acres of land, laid out in gardens, walks and lawns, with extensive greenhouses and graperies. the house is spacious, elegantly and tastefully furnished, with all the comforts and luxuries that wealth can command. with a conservatory, library, pictures, statuary, beautiful (strong-minded) wife and charming daughters, the noble governor is in duty bound to remain the happy, genial, handsome man he is to-day. though the governor, owing to his pressing executive duties, did not honor our convention with his presence, we feel assured, in reading over his last able message, that he feels a deep interest in the education and elevation of women. in speaking of their school system, he calls attention to the low wages of female teachers, and the injustice of excluding girls from the scientific schools and polytechnic institutions in the state. he says: i would especially call the attention of the legislature to the importance of furnishing to women such educational facilities as will better fit them for the industrial pursuits which the true progress of the times is opening to them. on the rights of married women, he says: while our laws with regard to married women have been amended from time to time for several years past, so as to secure to them in a more ample manner their property, held before or acquired after marriage, yet we are still considerably behind many of our sister states, and even conservative england, in our legislation on the subject. i would recommend to your favorable consideration such an amendment of our laws as will secure to a married woman all her property, with the full control of it during her married life, and free from liability for any debts, except those contracted by herself or for which she has voluntarily made herself responsible, with the same right on the part of the husband to an interest in her property, on his surviving her, that she now has, or that it may be best to give her, in his. on the subject of divorce the governor says: i recommend a revision of our laws with regard to divorce. according to the report of the state librarian there were in the state last year , marriages and divorces. discontented people come here from other states, to take advantage of what is called our liberal legislation, to obtain divorces which would be denied them at home. as the sacredness of the marriage relation lies at the foundation of civilized society, it should be carefully guarded. under our present laws the causes of divorce are too numerous, and not sufficiently defined, and too wide a discretion is given to the courts. i think the law of should be modified, and so much of the statute as grants divorces for "any such misconduct as permanently destroys the happiness of the petitioner, and defeats the purposes of the marriage relation," should be repealed. i would also suggest that the law provide that no decree of divorce shall take effect till one year after it is granted. in conversation with the governor on this point in his message he stated the singular fact that the majority of the applications for divorce were made by women. if this be so, we suggested that the laws of connecticut should stand as they are until the women have the right of suffrage, that they may have a voice in a social arrangement in which they have an equal interest with man himself. if connecticut, with its blue laws, disloyal hartford convention, and democracy, has, nevertheless, been a canada for fugitive wives from the yoke of matrimony, pray keep that little state, like an oasis in the desert, sacred to sad wives, at least until the sixteenth amendment of the federal constitution shall give the women of the republic the right to say whether they are ready to make marriage, under all circumstances, for better or worse, an indissoluble tie. we have grave doubts as to the sacredness of a relation in which the subject-class has no voice whatever in the laws that regulate it. we shall never know what "laws lie at the foundation of all civilized society" until woman's thought finds expression in the state, the church and the home. it is presumption for man longer to legislate alone on this vital question, when woman, too, should have a word to say in the matter. the morning after the convention we had a pleasant breakfast under mr. and mrs. hooker's hospitable roof, where boston and new york amicably broke bread and discussed the fifteenth amendment together. all the wise and witty sayings that passed around that social board, time fails to chronicle. in governor hubbard called the attention of the legislature to the wrongs of married women, in the following words: there has been for the last few years in this state much slip-shod and fragmentary legislation in respect to the property rights of married women. the old common law assumed the subjugation of the wife, and stripped her of the better part of her rights of person and nearly all her rights of property. it is a matter of astonishment that christian nations should have been willing for eighteen centuries to hold the mothers of their race in a condition of legal servitude. it has been the scandal of jurisprudence. some progress has been made in reforming the law in this state, but it has been done, as i have already said, by patch-work and shreds, sometimes ill-considered, and often so incongruous as to provoke vexatious litigation and defy the wisdom of the courts. the property relations of husband and wife do not to-day rest on any just or harmonious system. not only has the husband absolute disposal of all his own property freed from all dower rights, but he is practically the owner during coverture of all his wife's estate not specially limited to her separate use; and after her death has, in every case, a life use in all her personal, and in most cases in all her real property, by a title which the wife, no matter what may have been his ill-deserts, is powerless to impair or defeat; whereas, on the other hand, the wife has during the husband's life no more power of her own right to sell, convey, or manage her own estate than if she were a lunatic or slave, and in case of his death has a life use in only one-third part of the real estate of which he dies possessed, and no indefeasible title whatever in any of his personal estate. as a consequence, a husband may strip his wife, by mere voluntary disposition to strangers, of all claim on his estate after his death, and thus add beggary to widowhood. i am sure this cannot seem right to any fair-minded man. neither is it strange that some of our countrywomen, stung by the injustice of the law towards their sex, should be demanding, as a mode of redress, a part in the making of the laws which govern them. i am confident there is manhood enough in our own sex to right this obvious wrong to which i have alluded. i therefore recommend that the law on this subject be so recast that, in all marriages hereafter contracted, the wife shall hold her property and all her earnings for personal services not rendered to her husband or minor children, as a sole and separate estate, with absolute power of disposition in her own name, and that the surviving wife shall have, by law, the same measure of estate in the property of the deceased husband, as the surviving husband shall be allowed to have in the property of his deceased wife. this will reduce their property relations to a principle of equality, and, in my judgment, is demanded by the most obvious dictates of justice and equity. those who are not satisfied with this can make a different law for themselves by ante-nuptial settlements. i am not unmindful that the husband alone is liable in the first instance for the support of the family; but this is much more than neutralized by the fact that, in most cases, the wife's whole life is spent in the toilsome and unpaid service of the household, and that the whole drift of her estate, in consequence of her more unselfish and generous nature, is towards the husband's pockets, in spite of all the guards of the law and every consideration of prudence. calling attention to this stirring appeal, the _hartford times_, democratic, used the following language: another notable feature of the message is its outspoken and manly call for a reformation in our laws concerning the property rights of married women. here as in other points it is a model message. the governor's experience as a lawyer has brought him often face to face with this disgraceful one-sidedness of our laws on this subject, and in some terse sentences he shows up the injustice more effectively than has ever been done in any of the so-called women's rights conventions.[ ] the following editorial from the _springfield republican_, gives a good digest of the new law passed upon governor hubbard's recommendation: connecticut has taken a great leap forward in the reform of the property relations of married persons. the law had been long neglected in that state, the obvious right of a married woman to property acquired before marriage, which is now secured in most states by constitutional provision, having been there denied. in massachusetts, the modification of the former inequalities has gone on by piecemeal, till it is said that in some respects the woman is now the more favored party. the new connecticut statute also puts the burden of the family maintenance on the man, as under most circumstances the real bread-winner. it simply lays down the principle of absolute equality in the rights and privileges of the husband and wife, with the above exception. in all marriages hereafter contracted, neither husband nor wife shall acquire any right to or interest in any property of the other, whether held before the marriage or acquired after the marriage, except as provided in this law. the separate earnings of the wife shall be her sole property. she shall have the same right to make contracts with third persons as if she were not married, and to convey her real and personal estate. her property is liable for her debts and not for his; his is not liable for her debts, except those contracted for the support of the family. purchases made by either party shall be presumed to be on the private account of the party, but both shall be liable where any article purchased by either shall have in fact gone to the support of the family, or for the joint benefit of both, or for the reasonable apparel of the wife, or for her reasonable support while abandoned by her husband. it shall, however, be the duty of the husband to support his family, and his property, when found, shall be first applied to satisfy any such joint liability. the wife shall be entitled to indemnity for any money of her own used to pay such claims. we have used almost the precise language of the first and second sections of the act. on the death of either, the survivor shall be entitled to the use for life of one-third the estate of the deceased, which right cannot be defeated by will. if the deceased leaves no children or representatives of children, the survivor is entitled to one-half instead of one-third. when either party gives a legacy to the other, the latter may choose between its rights under the will, and those under the statute. abandonment without cause may defeat this provision, and a marriage contract may supersede it entirely. parties already married may contract to surrender their present rights for those secured by this statute, such contracts to be recorded in the probate court. thus we have a new and clear statute framed in accordance with a simple principle of reform, for which the _republican_ has long done battle--the equality of married persons in their rights and responsibilities of property. the adoption of the reform is due deeply to the general agitation of the rights of women, the efforts of mrs. isabella beecher hooker, the smith girls' cows, and perhaps some flagrant instance of injustice to rich wives by tyrant husbands near the capital. but the great occasion and immediate cause, without which this generation might have pleaded for it in vain, was the perception of the justice of it by governor hubbard, and his open advocacy of it in his message. lawyers have one answer for all reforms regarding property or civil contracts--they are impossible. but here was undeniably the best lawyer in the state who said, and threw the weight of his first state paper on the proposition, that this thing was possible, and, if he said it was possible, there was no man who could gainsay it. the legislature took the reform on its own sense of justice and on the assurance of richard d. hubbard, that it would work. on june , , at a second hearing[ ] before the joint committee on woman suffrage, in the capitol at new haven, rev. phebe a. hanaford of the universalist church, mrs. benchley and mrs. russell were the speakers. during that session of the legislature mrs. hanaford acted as chaplain both in the senate and house of representatives, and received a check for her services which she valued chiefly as a recognition of woman's equality in the clerical profession. mrs. hooker was ably sustained in her new position by her husband, a prominent lawyer of the state. being equally familiar with civil and canon law, with blackstone and the bible, he was well equipped to meet the opponents of the reform at every point. while mrs. hooker held meetings in churches and school-houses through the state, her husband in his leisure hours sent the daily press articles on the subject. and thus their united efforts stirred the people to thought and at last roused a democratic governor of the state to his duty on this question. from the many able tracts issued and articles published in the journals we give a few extracts. in answer to the common objections of "free love" and "easy divorce," in the _evening post_ of january , , mr. hooker said: the persons who advocate easy divorce would advocate it just as strongly if there was no woman suffrage movement. the two have no necessary connection. indeed one of the strongest arguments in favor of woman suffrage is, that the marriage relation will be safer with women to vote and legislate upon it than where the voting and legislation are left wholly to the men. women will always be wives and mothers, above all things else. this law of nature cannot be changed, and i know of nobody who desires to change it. the marriage relation will therefore always be more to woman than to man, and we, who would give her the right to vote, have no fear to trust to her the sanctity and purity of that relation. it is the opponents of woman suffrage who distrust the fidelity of woman to her divine instincts and dare not let her vote. our little state has been two hundred years under male legislation, and yet a long memorial from hundreds of clergymen and other christian men went up to our legislature two years ago, representing our legislation on divorce as demoralizing and as fatal to the best interests of the marriage relation. it really seems as if the incompetency for the management of public affairs which by mere assumption is charged in advance upon women, has been proved with regard to men by an actual experience of many years. the true idea is for man and woman to share together the responsibilities and duties of legislation, and until this is done i have no hope for any real progress towards purity in the administration of our public affairs. we who favor woman suffrage speak confidently on this subject because the reform works so well wherever it has been tried, in england, sweden, austria and wyoming territory. no rational man can suppose for a moment that with woman suffrage established in england and on the continent of europe, we in this country, which so specially stands on equal representation, are going to refuse it. it must be set down as one of the certain things of the future. and when it has come, and women vote, it will excite no more attention or comment than the voting of our colored people. now if woman suffrage is to come, is it worth while to be making the impression that the women of our country are not to be trusted with it, and that the marriage relation is to be imperiled by it? above all, is it manly or just to be charging corrupt motives on nine-tenths of those who advocate the reform? the notoriety which to some extent its advocates must get is almost universally painful to the women who are the subjects of it. one noble woman, whose whole soul is in this cause, and the purity of whose motives in this, as in everything else, i have had good opportunity to learn, said to me, on reading dr. bushnell's remark in his book on woman suffrage, that these women were only trying to make themselves men: "cruel, cruel words! if so noble a man as dr. bushnell so utterly fails to comprehend a woman's nature, shall not she be allowed to speak for herself, and no testimony be taken but hers?"[ ] much might be said in regard to the most famous women of connecticut, the historic "maids of glastonbury," celebrated for their resistance to taxation. after the death of abby, july , , mrs. elizabeth oakes smith, in a beautiful tribute to the sisters, said: many years ago they took a stand akin to that of the illustrious hampden, which has made his name a synonym for patriotism as well as just and manly opposition to unconstitutional revenue exaction. "the tax may be a small matter for an english gentleman to pay, but it is too much for a british freeman to pay," was the ground of his noble resistance, and this view precipitated that great revolution which more than all other modern movements consolidated and strengthened the rights of the british subject. these two women deserve to stand upon a platform side by side with the great hampden. other women have paid their taxes under protest, but abby and julia smith have done more than protest; they have suffered loss as well as inconvenience, their property having been seized and sold again and again because of their honest conviction that taxation without representation was as unjust to women as to men. their steadfastness has been the more remarkable because, by their social position, their learning and their wealth, they might be supposed to be indifferent to the ballot-box, as so many thus situated claim to be. abby and her sister were no ordinary women. the family originally consisted of five sisters, all more or less accomplished. the father was a man of learning, a graduate of yale and a clergyman. the mother was familiar with french and italian, and no mean astronomer. thus parented, it is not surprising that the glastonbury sisters were of marked individualism as well as superior scholarship. they were more or less acquainted with hebrew, greek and latin, and have made a translation of the bible from these sources, giving its original meaning. the maids of glastonbury planted themselves upon the right of the sex to suffrage, from purely philosophic and statesman-like grounds. they had no other disabilities of which to complain--no other grievance--no social ostracism, as is so often charged, and most unjustly, against other advocates of the doctrine. they were unmarried, studious, upright, simple-minded gentlewomen, and were much esteemed and honored in the community in which they lived. they occupied the old homestead, doing their own work, their interests well cared for in the person of mr. kellogg, an intelligent tenant of theirs, as well as friend and neighbor. _the hartford post_, in a tender mention of the life and death of abby, with a brief sketch of the family, thus bears honorable testimony to her worthiness: in the death of miss smith the cause of woman suffrage has met with a severe loss, as her firm resistance to what she believed to be the unjust treatment of women greatly encouraged her companions in the contest; her sister has lost her chief support, and the community in which she lived a faithful friend and a worthy exponent of the virtues of truthfulness, firmness, and adherence to the right as she understood it. _the hartford times_ said: a notable woman who died last week was miss abigail h. smith, of glastonbury, conn., one of the two sisters who resisted the collection of their taxes on the ground that they had no voice in the levy. it will be remembered that their cows were seized and some of their personal property sold two years ago. of course there were friends who were willing and anxious to pay the taxes, but the plucky old ladies were fighting for a principle, and they would allow no one to stand in the way. the notoriety, which they neither sought nor avoided, undoubtedly did a great deal to call public attention to the anomalous condition of woman under the law. it would be very hard for any man to argue successfully that he possessed any stronger natural claim to the suffrage than was possessed by these shrewd, honest, energetic old ladies. many encouraging letters were written the sisters during their many trials, of which the following is a fair specimen: near boston, january , . my dear madam: the account of your hardships is interesting, and your action will be highly beneficial in bringing the subject to public notice, and in leading to the correction of a great injustice. the taxation of the property of women, without allowing them any representation, even in town affairs, is so unfair that it seems only necessary to bring it to public view to make it odious and to bring about a change. therefore you deserve the greater honor, not only because you have suffered in a good cause, but because you have set an example that will be followed, and that will lead to happy results. your case has its parallel in every township of new england. in the town where this is written a widow pays into the treasury $ , a year, while men, a number equal to half the whole number of voters, pay $ , in all. another lady pays $ , . yet neither has a single vote, not even by proxy. that is, each one of men who have no property, who pay only a poll-tax, and many of whom cannot read or write, has the power of voting away the property of the town, while the female _owners_ have no power at all. we have lately spent a day in celebrating the heroism of those who threw overboard the tea; but how trifling was the tea-tax, and how small the injustice to individuals compared with this one of our day! the principle, however, was the same--that there should be no taxation where there is no representation. and this is what we ought to stand by. please to accept the sympathy and respect of one of your fellow citizens. no doubt you will have the same from all in due time; or, at any rate, from all who love to see fair play. very truly yours, amos a. lawrence. _miss abby h. smith, glastonbury, conn._ a marked evidence of the advance of public sentiment was manifested by a decision of the supreme court in , by which the women of connecticut were held to have the right to practice law. the opinion of chief-justice park concerning the legality of the admission of miss mary hall of hartford to the bar, giving her the right to practice in the courts of the state, is as follows: this is an application by a woman for admission to the bar of hartford county. after having completed the prescribed term of study she has passed the examination required and has been recommended by the bar of the county to the superior court for admission, subject to the opinion of the court upon the question whether, as a woman, she can legally be admitted. the superior court has reserved the case for our advice. the statute with regard to the admission of attorneys by the court is the th section of chapter , title , of the general statutes, and is in the following words: "the superior court may admit and cause to be sworn as attorneys such persons as are qualified therefor agreeably to the rules established by the judges of said court; and no other person than an attorney so admitted shall plead at the bar of any court of this state, except in his own cause." it is not contended, in opposition to the application, that the language of this statute is not comprehensive enough to include women, but the claim is that at the time it was passed its application to women was not thought of, while the fact that women have never been admitted as attorneys, either by the english courts or by any of the courts of this country, had established a common-law disability, which could be removed only by a statute intended to have that effect. it is hardly necessary to consider how far the fact that women have never pursued a particular profession or occupied a particular official position, to the pursuit or occupancy of which some governmental license or authority was necessary, constitutes a common-law disability for receiving such license or authority, because here the statute is ample for removing that disability if we can construe it as applying to women; so that we come back to the question whether we are by construction to limit the application of the statute to men alone, by reason of the fact that in its original enactment its application to women was not intended by the legislators that enacted it. and upon this point we remark, in the first place, that an inquiry of this sort involves very serious difficulties. no one would doubt that a statute passed at this time in the same words would be sufficient to authorize the admission of women to the bar, because it is now a common fact and presumably in the minds of legislators, that women in different parts of the country are, and for some time have been, following the profession of law. but if we hold that the construction of the statute is to be determined by the admitted fact that its application to women was not in the minds of the legislators when it was passed, where shall we draw the line? all progress in social matters is gradual. we pass almost imperceptibly from a state of public opinion that utterly condemns some course of action to one that strongly approves it. at what point, in the history of this change, shall we regard a statute, the construction of which is to be affected by it, as passed in contemplation of it? when the statute we are now considering was passed, it probably never entered the mind of a single member of the legislature that black men would ever be seeking for admission under it. shall we now hold that it cannot apply to black men? we know of no distinction in respect to this rule between the case of a statute and that of a constitutional provision. when our state constitution was adopted in it was provided in it that every elector should be "eligible to any office in the state," except where otherwise provided in the constitution. it is clear that the convention that framed, and probably all the people who voted to adopt the constitution, had no idea that black men would ever be electors, and contemplated only white men as within any possible application of the provision, for the same constitution provided that only white men should be electors. but now that black men are made electors, will it do to say that they are not entitled to the full rights of electors in respect to holding office, because an application of the provision to them was never thought of when it was adopted? events that gave rise to enactments may always be considered in construing them. this is little more than the familiar rule that in construing a statute we always inquire what particular mischief it was designed to remedy. thus, the supreme court of the united states has held that in construing the recent amendments of the federal constitution, although they are general in their terms, it is to be considered that they were passed with reference to the exigencies growing out of the emancipation of the slaves, and for the purpose of benefiting the blacks (_slaughter-house cases, wall., _; _strauder vs. west virginia, u. s. reps., _). but this statute was not passed for the purpose of benefiting men as distinguished from women. it grew out of no exigency caused by the relation of the sexes. its object was wholly to secure the orderly trial of causes and the better administration of justice. indeed, the preamble to the first statute providing for the admission of attorneys, states its object to be "for the well-ordering of proceedings and pleas at the bar." the statute on this subject was not originally passed in its present form. the first act with regard to the admission of attorneys was that of , which was as follows: "that no person, except in his own cause, shall be admitted to make any plea at the bar without being first approved by the court before whom the plea is to be made, nor until he shall take in the said court the following oath," etc. (col. records, to , page ). this act seems to have contemplated an approval by the court in each particular case in which an attorney appeared before it. the first act with regard to the general admission of attorneys appears in the revision of , and is as follows: "that the county courts of the respective counties in this colony shall appoint, and they are hereby empowered to approve, nominate and appoint attorneys in their respective counties, as there shall be occasion, to plead at the bar; * * and that no person, except in his own case, shall make any plea at the bar in any court but such as are allowed and qualified attorneys, as aforesaid." thus the statute stood until the revision of ; when, for the first time, it took essentially its present form. up to this time the word "person" had been used in this statute only in the clause that "no person" should be allowed to practice before the courts except where formally admitted by the court, a use of the word which, of course, could not be regarded as limited to the male sex, as women would undoubtedly have been held to be included in the term. the language of the statute as now adopted was as follows: "the county courts may make such rules and regulations as to them shall seem proper relative to the admission and practice of attorneys; and may approve of, admit and cause to be sworn as attorneys, such persons as are qualified therefor agreeably to the rules established; * * and no person not thus admitted, except in his own cause, shall be admitted or allowed to plead at the bar of any court." the statute in this form passed through the compilations of and , the revision of and the compilation of , and appears, with a slight modification, in the revision of . the county courts had now been abolished, and the power to admit attorneys, as well as to make rules on the subject, had been given to the superior court; the expression, "such persons," being preserved, and the provision that "no person" not thus admitted should be allowed to plead, being omitted. the statute finally took its present form in the revision of . it retains the provision that the superior court may make rules for the admission of attorneys, and provides that the court "may admit and cause to be sworn as attorneys such persons as are qualified therefor agreeably to the rules established," and restores the provision, dropt in the revision of , that "no person other than an attorney so admitted shall plead at the bar of any court in this state, except in his own cause." these changes, though not such as to affect the meaning of the statute at any point of importance to the present question, are yet not wholly without importance. the adoption by the legislature of the revision of the statutes becomes, both in law and in fact, a reënactment of the whole body of statutes; and though in determining the meaning of a statute, we are not to regard it as then enacted for the first time, especially if there be no change in its phraseology, yet, where there is such a change, it follows that the attention of the revisers had been particularly directed to that statute, as of course also that of the legislature, and that with the changes made it expresses the present intent of both. thus, in this case, it is clear that the revisers gave particular thought to the phraseology of the statute we are considering, and put it in a form that seemed to them best with reference to the present state of things, and decided to leave the words "such persons" to stand with full knowledge that they were sufficient to include women, and that women were already following the profession of law in different parts of the country. the legislators must be presumed to have acted with the same consideration and knowledge. it would have been perfectly easy, if either had thought best, to insert some words of limitation or exclusion, but it was not done. not only so, but a clause omitted in the revision of was restored, providing that no "person" not regularly admitted should act as an attorney--a term which necessarily included women, and the insertion of which made it necessary, if the word "persons" as used in the first part of the statute should be held not to include women, to give two entirely different meanings to the same word where occurring twice in the same statute and with regard to the same subject matter. the object of a revision of statutes is, that there may be such changes made in them as the changes in political and social matters may demand, and where no changes are made it is to be presumed that the legislature is satisfied with it in its present form. and where some changes are made in a particular statute, and other parts of it are left unchanged, there is the more reason for the inference from this evidence that the matter of changing the statute was especially considered, that the parts unchanged express the legislative will of to-day, rather than that of perhaps a hundred years ago, when it was originally enacted. but this statute, in the revision of , is placed immediately after another with regard to the appointment of commissioners of the superior court, the necessary construction of which, we think, throws light upon the construction of the statute in question. that act was passed in , after women had begun, with general acceptance, to occupy a greatly enlarged field of industry and some professional and even public positions; and it has been held by the superior court, very properly we think, as applying to women, a woman having three years ago been appointed commissioner under it. its language is as follows: "the superior court in any county may appoint any number of persons in such county to be commissioners of the superior court, who, when sworn, may sign writs and subpoenas, take recognizances, administer oaths and take depositions and the acknowledgement of deeds, and shall hold office for two years from their appointment." here the very language is used which is used in the statute with regard to attorneys. in one it is, "any number of persons," in the other, "such persons as are qualified." these two statutes are placed in immediate juxtaposition in the revision of and deal with kindred subjects, and it is reasonable to presume that the revisers and legislature intended both to receive the same construction. it would seem strange to any common-sense observer that an entirely different meaning should be given to the same word in the two statutes, especially when in giving the narrower meaning to the word in the statute with regard to attorneys, we are compelled to give it a different meaning from that which the same word requires in the next line of the same statute. we are not to forget that all statutes are to be construed, as far as possible, in favor of equality of rights. all restrictions upon human liberty, all claims for special privileges, are to be regarded as having the presumption of law against them, and as standing upon their defense, and can be sustained if at all by valid legislation, only by the clear expression or clear implication of the law. we have some noteworthy illustrations of the recognition of women as eligible or appointable to office under statutes of which the language is merely general. thus, women are appointed in all parts of the country as postmasters. the act of congress of was the first one conferring upon the postmaster-general the power of appointing postmasters, and it has remained essentially unchanged to the present time. the language of the act is, that "the postmaster-general shall establish post-offices and appoint postmasters." here women are not included, except in the general term "postmasters," a term which seems to imply a male person; and no legislation from down to the present time authorizes the appointment of women, nor is there any reference in terms to women until the revision of , which recognizes the fact that women had already been appointed, in providing that "the bond of any married woman who may be appointed postmaster shall be binding on her and her sureties." some of the higher grades of postmasters are appointed by the president, subject to confirmation by the senate, and such appointments and confirmations have repeatedly been made. the same may be said of pension agents. the acts of congress on the subject have simply authorized "the president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, to appoint all pension agents, who shall hold their offices for the term of four years, and shall give bond," etc. at the last session of congress a married woman in chicago was appointed for a third term pension agent for the state of illinois, and the public papers stated that there was not a single vote against her confirmation in the senate. public opinion is everywhere approving of such appointments. they promote the public interest, which is benefitted by every legitimate use of individual ability, while mere justice, which is of interest to all, requires that all have the fullest opportunity for the exercise of their abilities. these cases are the more noteworthy as being cases of public offices, to which the incumbent is appointed for a term of years, upon a compensation provided by law, and in which he is required to give bond. if an attorney is to be regarded as an officer, it is in a lower sense. we have had pressed upon us by the counsel opposed to the applicant, the decisions of the courts of massachusetts, wisconsin and illinois, and the united states court of claims, adverse to such an application. while not prepared to accede to all the general views expressed in those decisions, we do not think it necessary to go into a discussion of them, as we regard our statute, in view of all the considerations affecting its construction, as too clear to admit of any reasonable question as to the interpretation and effect which we ought to give it. in this opinion carpenter and loomis, js., concurred; pardee, j., dissented. in , the state society held a spirited and successful convention.[ ] julia smith gave an extemporaneous talk to the great delight of the audience, who applauded continually; mrs. crane, a fine elocutionist, gave a reading from carlyle; mrs. hooker closed with a brief résumé of the work the society had accomplished. we are also indebted to frances ellen burr for many facts, as the following letter will show: hartford, september , . my dear miss anthony: i have received your letter of inquiry. as to that petition in , i was one of the signers, and, probably had something to do with getting the other signatures, though i have nothing but my memory to depend on as to that; but i was pretty much alone here in those days, on the woman suffrage question. who the other signers were i made an attempt to find out in the secretary of state's office the other day, but found that it would take days, instead of the few hours i had at my command. i find in my journal a reference to lucy stone and mr. blackwell addressing the committee in the house of representatives, and that was the committee that made the report afterwards published in _the revolution_. mr. croffut made the opening address on the day of the hearing. he was always ready to aid us in whatever way he could, and i felt grateful to him, for a helping hand was doubly appreciated in those days. i find by the journal of the house for that year that the vote on the question was yeas to nays. the name of miss susie hutchinson heads one petition, with others. how many other petitions there were that year i do not know, but i believe there have been several every year since, besides a number of individual petitions. since that time the house has voted favorably on the question twice, at least, but i believe we have never had a majority in the senate. you ask when i first wrote or spoke for the ballot. my first venture in that line was in . i was then at the age of twenty-two, living with my sister in cleveland, o., and had never given any attention to the subject of woman suffrage, and cared nothing about it any further than the spirit of rebellion--born with me--against everything unjust, might be said to have made me a radical by nature. in the fall of that year a woman's rights convention met in cleveland, and i attended it alone, none of the rest of the family caring to go. in my old journal i find this entry: october , . attended a woman's rights convention which has met here. never saw anything of the kind before. a mr. barker spent most of the morning trying to prove that woman's rights and the bible cannot agree. the rev. antoinette l. brown replied in the afternoon in defense of the bible. she says the bible favors woman's rights. miss brown is the best-looking woman in the convention. they appear to have a number of original and pleasing characters upon their platform, among them miss lucy stone--hair short and rolled under like a man's; a tight-fitting velvet waist and linen collar at the throat; bombazine skirt just reaching the knees, and trousers of the same. she is independent in manner and advocates woman's rights in the strongest terms:--scorns the idea of woman _asking_ rights of man, but says she must boldly assert her own rights, and _take_ them in her own strength. mrs. ernestine l. rose, a polish lady with black eyes and curls, and rosy cheeks, manifests the independent spirit also. she is graceful and witty, and is ready with sharp replies on all occasions. mrs. lucretia mott, a philadelphia quaker, is meek in dress but not in spirit. she gets up and hammers away at woman's rights, politics and the bible, with much vigor, then quietly resumes her knitting, to which she industriously applies herself when not speaking to the audience. she wears the plain quaker dress and close-fitting white cap. mrs. frances d. gage, the president, is a woman of sound sense and a good writer of prose and poetry. mrs. caroline severance has an easy, pleasing way of speaking. mr. charles burleigh, a quaker, appears to be an original character. he has long hair, parted in the middle like a woman's, and hanging down his back. he and miss stone seem to reverse the usual order of things. my first speech in public, i find by my old journal--which serves me better than i thought it would--was given in music hall in this city in november, . this meeting was held under the auspices of the state association, and was presided over by the rev. olympia brown. i find that in the winter of i made addresses in various parts of the state. the journal also tells of a good deal of trotting about to get signatures to petitions, for i had more time to do that thing then than i have now. the first woman suffrage meeting ever held in hartford, and the first, probably, in connecticut, was the one you and mrs. stanton held in allyn hall in december, . our state suffrage association was organized in october, . the signers[ ] to the call for that convention were quite influential persons. in my hunt through the journals of the two legislative houses i found in the house journal for that mr. pratt of meriden had presented the petition of mr. and mrs. isaac c. lewis. mr. clark of enfield, presented the petition of lucy a. allen; mr. gallagher of new haven presented several petitions that year, one of them being headed by mr. henry a. stillman of wethersfield, followed by names, and another by mrs. d. f. connor, m. d. mr. broadhead of glastonbury presented the petition of the smith sisters. this unique petition miss mary hall, who was with me in the secretary's office, chanced to light upon, and she copied it. it is a document well worth handing down on the page of history, and runs as follows: _the petition of julia e. smith and abby h. smith, of glastonbury, to the senate of the state of connecticut:_ this is the first time we have petitioned your honorable body, having twice come before the house of assembly, which the last time gave a majority that we should vote in town affairs; but it was negatived in the senate. we now pray the highest court in our native state that we may be relieved from the stigma of birth. for forty years since the death of our father have we suffered intensely for being born women. we cannot even stand up for the principles of our forefathers (who fought and bled for them) without having our property seized and sold at the sign-post, which we have suffered four times; and have also seen eleven acres of our meadow-land sold to an ugly neighbor for a tax of fifty dollars--land worth more than $ , . and a threat is given out that our house shall be ransacked and despoiled of articles most dear to us, the work of lamented members of our family who have gone before us, and all this is done without the least excuse of right or justice. we are told that it is the law of the land made by the legislature and done to us, two defenceless women, who have never broken these laws, made by not half the citizens of this state. and it was said in our declaration of independence that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." for being born women we are obliged to help support those who have earned nothing, and who, by gambling, drinking, and the like, have come to poverty, and these same can vote away what we have earned with our own hands. and when men meet to take off the dollar poll-tax, the bill for the dinner comes in for the women to pay. neither have we husband, or brother, or son, or even nephew, or cousin, to help us. all men will acknowledge that it is as wrong to take a woman's property without her consent as to take a man's without his consent; and such wrong we suffer wholly for being born women, which we are in no wise to blame for. to be sure, for our consolation, we are upheld by the learned, the wise and the good, from all parts of the country, having received communications from thirty-two of our states, as well as from over the seas, that we are in the right, and from many of the best men in our own state. but they have no power to help us. we therefore now pray your honorable body, who have power, with the house of assembly, to relieve us of this stigma of birth, and grant that we may have the same privileges before the law as though we were born men. and this, as in duty bound, we will ever pray. julia and abby smith. _glastonbury, conn., january , ._ the story of the smith sisters, from and on, will be handed down as one of the most original and unique chapters in the history of woman suffrage. abby smith, with my friend mrs. buckingham, attended with me the first meeting of the woman's congress, in new york, in october, . while there, she said she should, on her return, address her town's people on woman suffrage and taxation, as they had not been treated fairly in the matter of their taxes. she did so on the fifth of november, addressing the glastonbury town meeting in the little red-brick town-house of that place--a building that will always hereafter be connected with the names of abby and julia smith. several years after, wishing to address them again, she was refused entrance there, so she and julia addressed the people from an ox-cart that stood in front. this was after their continued warfare against "taxation without representation" had aroused the opposition of their townsmen, but that first speech in was the beginning of their fame. abby sent it to me for publication in the _times_ of this city, but the editor not having room for it sent it to the _courant_, which gave it a place in its columns, thus (unwittingly) setting a ball in motion that ran all round the country, and even over the ocean. the simplicity and uniqueness of the story of "abby smith and her cows," gave a boom to the cause of woman suffrage as welcome as it was unexpected. the glastonbury mails were more heavily laden than ever before in the history of this hitherto unknown town, for letters came pouring in from all quarters to the sisters. the fame did not rest entirely on abby and her cows; julia and her bible came in for an important share, and the newspaper articles in regard to them were a remarkable blending of cows and biblical lore, dairy products and greek and hebrew. many of the articles were wide of the facts, being written with a view to make a bright and readable column. for instance, a chicago paper got up a highly colored article in which it said that abby smith's mother--hannah hickok--was such an intense student that her father had a glass cage made for her to study in. the only vestage of truth in this story was that, lacking our modern facilities for heating, mr. hickok had an extra amount of glass put into the south side of his daughter's room that the sun might give it a little more heat in cold weather. hannah hickok seems to have had a mental equipment much above that of the average woman of that day; she had a taste for literature, and was something of a linguist, and wrote, moreover, at different times, quite an amount of readable verse. she had a taste for mathematics, and also for astronomy, and made for her own use an almanac, for these were not so plenty then as now; she could, on awakening, tell any hour of the night by the position of the stars. evidently hannah hickok smith was not an ordinary woman; and it is quite as evident that her daughters were equally original, though in a different direction. women who have translated the bible are not to be met with every day--nor men either, for that matter, but julia smith not only did this, but translated it five times,--twice from the hebrew, twice from the greek, and once from the latin; and thirty years later, or after the age of eighty, published the translation; and then, to crown the list of marvels, married at the age of eighty-five. [illustration: phebe a. hanaford] one point more, and the one nearest my heart. you ask me about my "dear friend mrs. buckingham." i can give no details of her suffrage work, but her heart was in it, and her name should be handed down in your history. she was at one time chairman of the executive committee of our state association, and she would, if she had thought it necessary, have spent of her little income to the last cent to help along the cause. she made public addresses and wrote many suffrage articles and letters that were published in different papers, but she made no noise about it; her work was all done with her own characteristic gentleness. generous to a fault, winning and beautiful as the flowers she scattered on the pathway of her friends, she passed on her way; and one memorable easter morning she left us so gently that none knew when the sleep of life passed into the sleep of death; we only knew that the glorious light of her eyes--a light like that which "never shone on sea or land"--had gone out forever. "she died in beauty like the dew of flowers dissolved away; she died in beauty like a star lost on the brow of day." the hartford equal rights club[ ] was organized in march, , and holds semi-monthly meetings. its membership is not large, but what it lacks in numbers it makes up in earnestness. its proceedings are reported pretty fully and published in the _hartford times_, which has a large circulation, thus gaining an audience of many thousands and making its proceedings much more important than they would otherwise be. it is managed as simply as possible, and is not encumbered with a long list of officers. there are simply a president, mrs. emily p. collins;[ ] a vice-president, miss mary hall; and a secretary, frances ellen burr, who is also the treasurer. debate is free to all, the platform being perfectly independent, as far as a platform can be independent within the limits of reason. essays are read and debated, and many interesting off-hand speeches are made. it is an entirely separate organization from the connecticut state suffrage association, founded in . but its membership is not confined to the city; it invites people throughout the state, or in other states, to become members--people of all classes and of all beliefs. opponents of woman suffrage are always welcome, for these furnish the spice of debate. among the topics discussed has been that of woman and the church, and upon this subject mrs. stanton has written the club several letters. last spring ( ) a number of the members of the club were given hearings before the committee on woman suffrage in the legislature in reference to a bill then under consideration, which was exceedingly limited in its provisions. the house of representatives improved it and then passed it, but it was afterwards defeated in the senate. some of the meetings of the club have been held in hartford's handsome capitol, a room having been allowed for its use, and a number of members of the house of representatives have taken part in the discussions. mrs. collins, president of the club, is always to be depended upon for good work, and miss hall, its vice-president, is active and efficient. she is in herself an illustration of what women can become if they only have sufficient confidence and force of will. she is a practicing lawyer, and a successful one. footnotes: [ ] the life of william lloyd garrison, vol. .: the century company, new york. [ ] she was soon followed by mrs. middlebrook and mrs. lucy r. elms, with warm benedictions. the latter called some meetings in her neighborhood in the autumn of , and entertained us most hospitably at her beautiful home. [ ] those who leave the tangled problem of life to god for solution find, sooner or later, that god leaves it to them to settle in their own way.--[e. c. s. [ ] among them were paulina wright davis, dr. clemence lozier, mary a. livermore, julia ward howe, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, celia burleigh, caroline m. severance, rev. olympia brown, frances ellen burr, charlotte b. wilbour, william lloyd garrison, henry ward beecher, nathaniel i. burton, john hooker, the hutchinsons, with sister abby and her husband, ludlow patton. [ ] _president_, rev. n. j. burton, hartford. _vice-presidents_, brigadier-general b. s. roberts, u. s. a., new haven; mrs. harriet beecher stowe, hartford; rev. dr. joseph cummings, middletown; rev. william l. gage, hartford; rev. olympia brown, bridgeport. _secretary_, miss frances ellen burr. _executive committee_, mrs. isabella b. hooker, mrs. lucy elmes, derby; mrs. j. g. parsons and miss emily manning, m. d., hartford. _treasurer_, john hooker. [ ] on her departure for st. petersburg, where her husband was minister plenipotentiary, mrs. jewell left a check of $ for the state society. she was an honored officer of the national suffrage association until the time of her death, in . [ ] mrs. hooker writes us that the act passed upon governor hubbard's recommendation was prepared at his request by mr. hooker, and was essentially the same that had been unsuccessfully urged by him upon the legislature eight years before. she then goes on to say: "what part our society had in our bringing about so beneficent a change in legislation, cannot be better set forth than in two private letters from samuel bowles of the _springfield republican_, and governor hubbard. while these gentlemen were friends of mr. hooker and myself, yet, as politically opposed to each other, their united testimony is exceedingly valuable, and since they have both passed on to a world of more perfect adjustments, i feel that nothing would give them greater satisfaction than to be put upon record here as among the earliest defenders of the rights of women. "springfield, mass., march , . "my dear mrs. hooker:--i return your letters and paper as you desired. it is an interesting story, and a most gratifying movement forward. i am more happy over the bill passed, than i am sorry over the bill that failed. we shall move fast enough. the first great step is this successful measure in connecticut--the establishment in practice of the principle of equal, mutual, legal rights, and equal, mutual, legal responsibilities, for which i have been preaching and praying these twenty years. we owe the success this year, _first_ to the right of the matter; _second_, to the agitation of the whole question which has disseminated the perception of that right; _third_, to you and your husband in particular; and _fourth_, to the fact that you had in connecticut this year a governor who was recognized as the leading lawyer of the state, a genuine natural conservative who yet said the measure was right and ought to go. it is this last element that has given connecticut its chief leadership. it is a bigger thing than it seems at first to have an eminent conservative lawyer on the side of such legislative reform. i hate very much to take your husband's side against you, and yet now that i am over fifty years old, i find i more and more sympathize with his patience and philosophy with the slow-going march of reform. but with such things going forward in national politics, and such a sign in the heavens as this in connecticut, we ought all to be very happy--and i believe i am, in spite of debts, hard work, fatigue and more or less chronic invalidism. at any rate i salute you both with honor and with affection." "very faithfully yours, samuel bowles. "this letter i enclosed to governor hubbard and received the following reply: "easter, april , . "my good friend:--it was a 'good friday' indeed that brought your friendly missive. and what a dainty and gracious epistle sam. bowles does know how to write! he is a good fellow, upon my word, full of generous instincts and ideas. he ought to be at the head of the _london times_ and master of all the wealth it brings. add to this, that the good physician should heal him of his 'chronic invalidism' and then--well what's the use of dreaming? thank _yourself_, and such as you for what there is of progress in respect of woman's rights amongst us. i do believe our bill is a 'great leap forward' as bowles says in his editorial. 'alas!' says my friend ----, 'it has destroyed the divine conception of the unity of husband and wife.' as divine, upon my soul, as the unity of the lamb and the devouring wolf. * * * but enough of this. i salute you my good friend, with a thousand salutations of respect and admiration. i do not agree with you in all things, but i cannot tell you how much i glorify you for your courage and devotion to womanhood. i am a pretty poor stick for anything like good work in the world, but i am not without respect for it in others. and so i present myself to yourself and to your good and noble husband whom i take to be one of the best, with every assurance of affection and esteem. thanking you for your kind letter, i remain, dear madam, "yours very truly, r. d. hubbard." [ ] at the various hearings mrs. anna middlebrook, mr. and mrs. joseph sheldon, julia and abby smith, rev. olympia brown, mr. and mrs. hooker were the speakers. [ ] see appendix for mr. hooker's article, "is the family the basis of the state?" [ ] at the convention of march and , , the speakers were mrs. hooker, susan b. anthony, the rev. charles stowe, julia smith parker, mrs. emily collins, abigail scott duniway, miss leonard, mrs. c. g. rogers, the rev. dr. a. j. sage, mrs. ellis, miss gage, the rev. j. c. kimball, the rev. mr. everts of hartford, mary hall and f. e. burr. the officers elected at this meeting were: isabella b. hooker, _president_: f. ellen burr, _secretary_; mary hall, _assistant-secretary_; john hooker, _treasurer_. _executive committee_; mrs. ellen burr mcmanus, mrs. emily p. collins, mrs. amy a. ellis, mrs. j. g. parsons hartford; mrs. susan j. cheney, south manchester; mrs. john s. dobson, vernon depot; judge joseph sheldon, charles atwater, james gallagher, new haven. [ ] john hooker, isabella b. hooker, the rev. n. j. burton, rachel c. burton, franklin chamberlin, francis gillette, eliza d. gillette, frances ellen burr, catharine e. beecher, esther e. jewell, calvin e. stowe, harriet beecher stowe and others, hartford; joseph cummings, middletown, president of wesleyan university; thomas elmes, lucy r. elmes, derby; charles atwater, new haven; thomas t. stone, laura stone, brooklyn. the officers elected for the association were: _president_, the rev. n. j. burton, hartford; _secretary_, frances ellen burr; _executive committee_, isabella b. hooker; mrs. lucy r. elmes, derby; mrs. j. g. parsons, miss emily manning, m. c., hartford; mr. charles atwater, new haven; mr. ward cheney, mrs. susan j. cheney, south manchester; mrs. virginia smith, hartford. _treasurer_, william b. smith, hartford. there was a long list of vice-presidents, which i presume you do not care for, nor for the other names that were added as changes had to be made in the years that followed. [ ] a member of the club says: "we receive more of our life and enthusiasm from frances ellen burr than all other members combined; indeed, the chief part of the work rests on her shoulders." [ ] see mrs. collins's reminiscences, chapter v., vol. i. chapter xxxiii. rhode island. senator anthony in _north american review_--convention in providence--work of state association--report of elizabeth b. chace--miss ida lewis--letter of frederick a. hinckley--last words from senator anthony. rhode island, though one of the smallest, is, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, one of the wealthiest states in the union. in political organization rhode island, in colonial times, contrasted favorably with the other colonies, nearly all of which required a larger property qualification, and some a religious test for the suffrage. the home of roger williams knew nothing of such narrowness, but was an asylum for those who suffered persecution elsewhere. nevertheless this is now, in many respects, the most conservative of all the states. in the november number of the _north american review_ for , senator anthony, in an article on the restricted suffrage in rhode island, stoutly maintains that suffrage is not a natural right, and that in adhering to her property qualification for foreigners his state has wisely protected the best interests of the people. in his whole argument on the question, he ignores the idea of women being a part of the people, and ranks together qualifications of sex, age, and residence. he quite unfairly attributes much of rhode island's prosperity--the result of many causes--to her restricted suffrage. his position in this article, written so late in life, is the more remarkable as he had always spoken and voted in his place in the united states senate (where he had served nearly thirty years) strongly in favor of woman's enfranchisement. and the _providence journal_, which he owned and controlled, was invariably respectful and complimentary towards the movement. while such a man as senator anthony, one of the political leaders in his state, regarded suffrage as a privilege which society may concede or withhold at pleasure, we need not wonder that so little has been accomplished there in the way of legislative enactments and supreme-court decisions. nevertheless that state has shared in the general agitation and can boast many noble men and women who have taken part in the discussion of this subject. the first woman suffrage association was formed in rhode island in december, . in describing the initiative steps, elizabeth b. chace in a letter to a friend, says: in october , while in boston attending the convention that formed the new england society, paulina wright davis[ ] conceived the idea that the time had come to organize the friends of suffrage in rhode island. after consultation with a few of the most prominent friends of the cause, a call was issued for a convention, to be held in roger williams hall, providence, december th, signed by many leading names. no sooner did the call appear than, as usual, some clergyman publicly declared himself in opposition. the rev. mark trafton, a methodist minister, gave a lecture in his vestry on "the coming woman," who was to be a good housekeeper, dress simply, and not to vote. this was published in the _providence journal_, and called out a gracefull vindication of woman's modern demands from the pen of mrs. sarah helen whitman, the poet, and miss norah perry, a popular writer of both prose and verse. the convention was all that its most ardent friends could have desired, and resulted in forming an association.[ ] the audience numbered over a thousand, at the different sessions, and among the speakers were some of the ablest men in the state. though the friends were comparatively few in the early days, yet there was no lack of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice. weekly meetings were held, tracts and petitions circulated; conventions[ ] and legislative hearings were as regular as the changing seasons, now in providence, and now in newport, following the migratory government. mrs. davis was president of the association for several successive years in which her labors were indefatigable. finally failing health compelled her to resign her position as president of the association.[ ] since then her able coadjutor elizabeth b. chace, has been president of the rhode island suffrage association, and with equal faithfulness and persistence, carried on the work. she steadily keeps up the annual conventions and makes her appeals to the legislature. among the names[ ] of those who have appeared from year to year before the rhode island legislature we find many able men and women from other states as well as many of their own distinguished citizens. in this state an effort was made early to get women on the board of managers for schools, prisons and charitable institutions. in a letter to mrs. davis, john stuart mill says: i am very glad to hear of the step in advance made by rhode island in creating a board of women for some very important administrative purpose. your proposal that women should be empanneled on every jury where women are to be tried seems to me very good, and calculated to place the injustice to which women are subjected at present by the entire legal system in a very striking light. in an effort was made to place women on the providence school board, with what success the following extracts from the daily papers show. the _providence press_ of april , , says: a shabby trick was perpetrated by the friends of john w. angell, which was certainly anything but "angelic," and which ought to consign the parties who committed it to political infamy. yesterday, for the first time in the history of this city, women were candidates for political honors--in the fifth ward, mrs. sarah e. h. doyle, and in the fourth ward, mrs. rhoda a. f. peckham, were candidates for positions on the school committee; both, however, failed of an election. mrs. doyle received the unanimous nomination of the large primary meeting of the national union republican party, and mrs. peckham was run as an outside candidate against the regular nominee. these ladies would undoubtedly have made excellent members of the committee, and unlike a great portion of that body, would have been found in their places at the meetings, and we should have been glad to have seen the experiment tried of women in the position for which their names were presented. when the polls opened in the fifth ward, instead of mrs. doyle's name being on the ballots for the place to which she had been nominated there appeared the name of john w. angell, esq., and until about o'clock a. m. he had the field to himself. at that hour, however, mrs. doyle's friends appeared with the "_regular_" nomination, and from that time to the close of the polls she received votes; mr. angell, notwithstanding his several hours' start in the race, only winning by a majority of . from this fact it is clear that had mrs. doyle's name been in its proper place at the opening of the polls she would have beaten her opponent handsomely. mrs. peckham's opponent obtained but majority in a poll of . it is evident from the vote yesterday, that if they have but a fair show, women will at the next election be successful as candidates for the school committee. had the intelligent ladies of the fifth ward been allowed to vote, mrs. doyle would have led even the gubernatorial vote of that ward. the _providence journal_ makes the following comment: we are sorry to observe that the two estimable and admirably qualified ladies whose names were presented for school committee in this city, failed of success. their influence in official connection with the schools could not have been other than salutary. the treatment accorded mrs. doyle in the fifth ward was wofully shabby. without her solicitation, the republican caucus unanimously nominated her for a member of the school committee. being a novice in political proceedings, she naturally enough supposed that the party that desired her services so much as to place her in nomination, would make provision for electing their candidate. there was not gallantry enough in the ward, however, for that duty, and it was not until o'clock on election day that any tickets bearing the name of mrs. doyle were to be found in the ward-room; but a ticket with the names of two men was on hand at sunrise, and the time lost in procuring tickets for the regular nominee proved fatal to her success. mrs. doyle has now learned something of the ways of politicians, and is not likely to put her trust again in the faithfulness of ward committees. at a meeting of the state association, held in providence, on thursday, may , , the following preamble and resolutions were, after a full and earnest discussion, unanimously adopted: whereas, it is claimed, in opposition to the demand that the elective franchise shall be given to women, that they are represented in the government by men, so that they do not need the ballot for their protection, inasmuch as all their rights are secured to them by the interest of these men in their welfare; and, whereas, in february last, in view of the appalling facts frequently coming to our notice, consequent upon the mismanagement of poor-houses and asylums for the insane, this association did earnestly petition our state legislature to enact a law providing for the appointment of women in all the towns in our state to act as joint commissioners with men in the care and control of these institutions; and, whereas, in utter disregard of our request, the committee on state charities, to whom it was referred, in reporting back our petition to the house of representatives, did recommend that the petitioners be given leave to withdraw, and the house, without (so far as we could learn) one word of protest from any member thereof, did so dispose of our petition; therefore, _resolved_, that this association do most solemnly declare, that so far from being represented in our legislature, the rights of the women of this state were in this instance trampled under foot therein, and the best interests of humanity, in the persons of the poorest and most unfortunate classes, were not sufficiently regarded, under this system of class legislation. _resolved_, that, despairing of obtaining for women even the privileges which would enable them to look after the welfare of the destitute and the suffering, with any power or authority to improve their condition, until equal rights in the government itself are guaranteed to all without regard to sex, we will henceforth make use of this treatment we have received as a new argument in favor of the emancipation of women from the legal status of idiots and criminals, and, with this weapon in our hands, we will endeavor to arouse the women of our state to a keener sense of their degraded condition, and we will never abate our demand until an amendment to the constitution is submitted to the people granting suffrage to the women of rhode island. _resolved_, that this preamble and these resolutions be offered for publication to the daily papers of this city. elizabeth b. chace, _president_. susan b. p. martin, _secretary_. for several years the philanthropic women of rhode island made many determined efforts to secure some official positions in the charitable institutions of the state, with what success the following report by elizabeth b. chace, at the annual meeting of the american association, in philadelphia, in , will show: the rhode island woman suffrage association, while holding its monthly meetings through the year, circulating petitions to the legislature, and, in other ways, constantly endeavoring to revolutionize the entire sentiment of the state on the question of woman suffrage, still has less progress to report than its friends would have desired. our last annual meeting, as usual, drew together a large audience. among our speakers from abroad was william lloyd garrison, who, in a speech of almost anti-slavery force and fervor, appeared to send conviction into many minds. our home speakers included a clergyman of providence and one of our ablest lawyers, and an ex-legislator who had never stood on our platform before. as usual, our petitions went into the legislature. they were referred to the judiciary committee, before whom we had a hearing, at which three providence lawyers gave us their unqualified support and earnest advocacy. one of these men set forth in the strongest light the injustice of our laws in regard to the property of married women and their non-ownership of their minor children. the committee made no report to the legislature, and so our petitions lie over until the next session, when we hope for some evidence of progress. in the meantime we intend to very much increase their number. for many years we have been begging of our law-makers to permit women to share in the management of the penal, correctional and charitable institutions of the state; we have, however, only succeeded in obtaining an advisory board of women, which has been in operation for the last six years. last spring a majority of these women, having become weary of the service in which they had no power to decide that any improvement should be made in the management of these institutions, resigned their positions on this board, some of them giving through the press their reasons therefor. when the time came for making the new appointments for the year, the governor earnestly urged these women to permit him to appoint them, voluntarily pledging himself to recommend at the opening of the next session of the legislature, that a bill should be passed providing for the appointment of women on the boards of management of all these prisons and reformatories, with the same power and authority with which the men are invested, who now alone decide all questions concerning them. on this condition these women consented to serve on the advisory board a few months longer, with the understanding that, if the legislature fails to make this important provision, their advice will be withdrawn, and the men will be left to take care of thieves, criminals and paupers until they are ready to ask for our help on terms of equality and justice. in the _providence journal_ appeared the following: mrs. doyle seems to have learned by experience that the board, as now constituted under the law, can have no real efficiency. the ladies are responsible for the management of no part of any of the institutions which they are permitted officially to visit. their reports are not made to the boards which are charged with the responsibility of managing these institutions, and, in the case of the reform school, are not made to the body which elects and controls the board of management. the state ought not to place ladies in such an anomalous position. the women's board should have positive duties and direct responsibilities in its appropriate sphere, or it should be abolished. the following is mrs. doyle's letter of resignation: _to his excellency henry lippitt, governor of the state:_ sir: please accept my resignation as member of the board of lady visitors to the penal and correctional institutions of the state. the recent action of a part of the board, in regard to the annual report made to the general assembly, makes it impossible for me to continue longer as a member. before the report was submitted, it was carefully examined by the members signing it, and was acquiesced in by them, as their signatures testify. still further, i am confirmed in the opinion that so important a trust as this should be coupled with some power for action; without this we are necessarily confined to suggestions only to the male boards, which suggestions receive only the attention they may consider proper. believing that this board, as now empowered, can have no efficiency except where its suggestions or criticisms meet the entire approval of the male boards, and failing to see any good which can result from our inspections under such conditions, or any honor to the board thus examining, i respectfully tender my resignation. sarah e. h. doyle, _providence, r. i._ three more ladies of the women's board of visitors to the penal and correctional institutions of the state attest the correctness of the repeated suggestions that the board, as organized under the existing laws, must be comparatively powerless for good. the question now comes, will the rhode island general assembly enact a law which shall give to women certain definite duties and responsibilities in connection with the care and correction of female offenders? we propose to refer to this matter further. we are requested to publish the following communications to his excellency, the governor: _to henry lippitt, governor of rhode island:_ my appointment on the women's board of visitors to the penal and correctional institutions of the state, which i received from your hands for this year, i am now compelled respectfully to resign. my experience in this board for nearly six years has convinced me that this office, which confers on its holders no power to decide that any improvement shall be made in the government or workings of these institutions, is so nearly useless that i am forced to the conclusion that, for myself, the time spent in the performance of its duties can be more effectively employed elsewhere. that the influence of women is indispensable to the proper management of these institutions i was never more sure than i am at this moment; but to make it effectual, that influence must be obtained by placing women on the boards of direct control, where their judgment shall be expressed by argument and by vote. a board of women, whose only duties, as defined by the law, are to visit the penal and correctional institutions, elect its own officers and report annually to the legislature, bears within itself the elements of weakness and insufficiency. and if the annual reports contain any exposure of abuses, they are sure to give offense to the managers, to be followed by timidity and vacillation in the board of women itself. our late report, written with great care and conscientious adherence to the truth, which called the attention of the legislature to certain abuses in one of our institutions, and to some defect in the systems established in the others, has, thus far, elicited no official action, has brought censure upon us from the press, while great dissatisfaction has been created in our own body by the failure of a portion of its members to sustain the allegations to which the entire board, with the exception of one absentee, had affixed their names. when the state of rhode island shall call its best women to an equal participation with men in the direction of its penal and reformatory institutions, i have no doubt they will gladly assume the duties and responsibilities of such positions; and i am also sure that the beneficent results of such coöperation will soon be manifest, both in benefit to individuals and in safety to the state. but under present circumstances i most respectfully decline to serve any longer on the advisory board of women. _valley falls, r. i._ elizabeth b. chace. governor lippitt: _dear sir_: when i accepted an appointment on the ladies' board of visitors to the penal and correctional institutions of the state, i did so with the hope that much good might be accomplished, especially toward the young girls at the reform school, in whose welfare i felt a deep interest. to that institution my attention has been chiefly devoted during my brief experience in this office. this experience, however, has convinced me that a board of officers constituted and limited like this can have very little influence toward improvement in an institution whose methods are fixed, and which is under the exclusive control of another set of officers, who see no necessity for change. those causes render this women's board so weak in itself that i cannot consent to retain my position therein. i therefore respectfully tender to you my resignation. abby d. weaver. _providence, r. i._ governor lippitt: please accept the resignation of my commission as a member of the ladies' board of visitors to the penal and correctional institutions of the state, conferred by you in june, . yours respectfully, _westerly, r. i._ eliza c. weeden. early in the year the state association issued the following address: _to the friends of woman suffrage throughout the state of rhode island:_ in behalf of the rhode island woman suffrage association, we beg leave to call your attention to the result of our last year's work, and to our plans for future effort. we went before the general assembly with petitions for suffrage for women on all subjects, and also with petitions asking only for school suffrage. the former, bearing nearly , names, was presented in the senate and finally referred, with other unfinished business, to the next legislature; they will thus be subject to attention the coming year. the latter, bearing nearly , names, was presented in the house and referred to the committee on education. this committee reported unanimously: _resolved_, that the following amendment to the constitution of the state is hereby proposed: article ----. women otherwise qualified are entitled to vote in the election of school committees and in all legally organized school-district meetings. this resolution was adopted in the house by to , but rejected in the senate by to .[ ] nineteen members being required to make a majority of a full senate, the amendment failed by six votes. had the ballots in the two branches been upon a proposition to extend general suffrage to women, they would have been the most encouraging, and, as it is, they show signs of progress; but a resolve to submit the question of school suffrage to the voters of rhode island, ought to have been successful this year. why was it defeated? simply for the lack of political power behind it. to gain this, our cause needs a foothold in every part of the state. we need some person or persons in each town, to whom we can look for hearty coöperation. if our work is to be effective, it must not only continue as heretofore--one of petitioning--but must include also a constant vigilance in securing senators and representatives in the general assembly, favorable to woman suffrage. we propose the coming year: _first_--to petition congress in behalf of the following amendment to our national constitution, viz.: article xvi. section --the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. section --congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. _second_--to secure a hearing and action upon the petitions referred from the last assembly, for such amendment to our state constitution as shall extend general suffrage to women. _third_--to petition the general assembly for the necessary legislation to secure school suffrage to women.[ ] the arguments in the various hearings before the legislature with the majority and minority reports, are the same as many already published, in fact nothing new can be said on the question. as none of the women in this state, by trying to vote, or resisting taxation, have tested the justice of their laws, they have no supreme-court decisions to record. honorable mention should be made of dr. william f. channing, who has stood for many years in providence the noblest representative of liberal thought. he is a worthy son of that great leader of reform in new england, rev. william ellery channing. in him the advocates of woman's rights have always found a steadfast friend. he sees that this is the fundamental reform; that it is the key to the problems of labor, temperance, social purity and the coöperative home. those who have had the good fortune of a personal acquaintance with dr. channing have felt the sense of dignity and self-respect that the delicate courtesy and sincere reference of a noble man must always give to woman. though mrs. channing has not been an active participant in the popular reforms, having led a rather retired life, yet her sympathies have been with her husband in all his endeavors to benefit mankind. she has given the influence of her name to the suffrage movement, and extended the most generous hospitalities to the speakers at the annual conventions. their charming daughters, mary and grace, fully respond to the humanitarian sentiments of their parents, constituting a happy family united in life's purposes and ambitions. the new york _evening post_ of september, , gives the following of one of rhode island's brave women, but the state has not as yet, thought it worth while to honor her in any fitting manner: yesterday noon miss ida lewis again distinguished herself by rescuing a man who was in danger of drowning in the lower newport harbor. miss lewis first came into prominence in , when she saved the life of a soldier who had set out for a sail in a light skiff. it was one of the coldest and most blustering days ever known in this latitude, yet a girl but years old, impelled by the noblest spirit of humanity, ventured to the assistance of a man who had brought himself into a sorry plight through sheer fool-hardiness. one day, during the autumn of the next year, while a terrible gale was raging, two men sat out to cross the harbor with several sheep. one of the animals fell overboard while the boat was rocked by the heavy sea, and its keepers, in trying to save it, were in imminent peril of swamping their craft. ida lewis saw them from the window of her father's lighthouse on lime rock, and in a few minutes was rowing them in safety toward the shore. after landing the men, she went back again and rescued the sheep. these brave deeds, with others of a less striking character, made miss lewis' name famous throughout the world, and won for her the title of "the grace darling of america"; but in the newspapers were filled with the story of what was perhaps her greatest exploit. on march two young soldiers set sail from newport for fort adams in a small boat, under the guidance of a boy who pretended to understand the simple rules of navigation. mrs. lewis chanced to be looking out of the lighthouse window, and saw a squall strike the boat and overturn it. she called to her daughter, telling her of the casualty. ida, though ill at the time, rushed out of the house, launched her life-boat and sprang in, with neither hat on her head nor shoes on her feet. by the time she reached the scene of the disaster the boy had perished, and the two soldiers were clinging desperately to the wreck, almost ready to loose their hold from exhaustion. they were dragged into the life-boat, and carried to lime rock, and, with careful nursing, were soon sufficiently restored to proceed to fort adams. miss lewis' repeated acts of philanthropy have been recognized by gifts at various times, but no national testimonial, so far as we are aware, has yet been offered to her. true generosity, like true virtue, is its own reward, and we of the world are not often disposed to meddle with its quiet enjoyment by its possessor. it seems eminently fitting, however, that among the first to receive the new decoration to be bestowed by congress for heroic deeds in saving life, should be the heroine of newport harbor. writing from valley falls september , , elizabeth b. chace, president of the rhode island association, in summing up the steps of progress, says: on december , , by unanimous consent of our general assembly the state-house was granted to us for the first time, for a woman suffrage convention. a large number of our best men and women, and some of our ablest speakers[ ] were present. an immense audience greeted them and listened with eager interest throughout. the occasion was one of the most pleasant and profitable we have enjoyed in a long time. at the following session of our legislature, , an amendment to our state constitution was proposed giving the franchise to women, on equal terms with men. it passed both houses by a large majority vote, but by some technicality, for which no one seemed to blame, it was not legally started on its round to the vote of the people. hence the proposition to submit the amendment will be again passed upon this year, and with every promise of success. we have strong hopes of making our little commonwealth the banner state in this grand step of progress. the following letter from frederick a. hinckley, makes a fitting mention of some of the noble women who have represented this movement in his state: providence, r. i., sept. , . dear friends: you ask for a few words from me concerning salient points in the history of the woman suffrage movement in rhode island. as you know, ours is a very small state--the smallest in the union--and has a very closely compacted population. with us the manufacturing interest overshadows everything else, representing large investments of capital. on the one hand we have great accumulations of wealth by the few; on the other hand, a large percentage of unskilled foreign labor. for good or for ill we feel all those conservative influences which naturally grow out of this two-fold condition. this accounts in the main, for the rhode islander's extreme and exceptionally tenacious regard for the institutions of his ancestors. this is why we have the most limited suffrage of any state, many _men_ being debarred from voting by reason of the property qualification still required here of foreign-born citizens. such a social atmosphere is not favorable to the extension of the franchise, either to men or women, and makes peculiarly necessary with us, the educational process of a very large amount of moral agitation before much can be expected in the way of political changes. my own residence here dates back only to , though before that from my massachusetts home i was somewhat familiar with rhode-island people and laws. our work has consisted of monthly meetings, made up usually of an afternoon session for address and discussion, followed by a social tea; of an annual state convention in the city of providence; and of petitioning the legislature each year, with the appointment of the customary committees and hearings. for many years the centre of the woman movement with us has been the state association, and since my own connection with that, the leader about whom we have all rallied, has been your beloved friend and mine, elizabeth b. chace. hers is that clear conception of, and untiring devotion to principles, which make invincible leadership, tide over all disaster, and overcome all doubt. by her constant appearance before legislative committees, her model newspaper articles which never fail to command general attention even among those who would not think of agreeing with her, and by her persistent fidelity to her sense of duty in social life, she is the recognized head of our agitation in rhode island. but she has not stood alone. she has been the centre of a group of women whose names will always be associated with our cause in this locality. elizabeth k. churchill lived and died a faithful and successful worker. the woman's club in this city was her child; temperance, suffrage, and the interests of working-women were dear to her heart. she was independent in her convictions, and true to herself, even when it compelled dissent from the attitude of trusted leaders and friends, but her work on the platform, in the press, and in society, made her life a tower of strength to the woman's rights cause and her death a lamentable loss. another active leader in the work here, though not a speaker, who has passed on since my residence in providence, was susan b. p. martin. i think those of us accustomed to act with her always respected mrs. martin's judgment and felt sure of her fidelity. what more can be said of any one than that? it is difficult to speak publicly of one's friends while living. but no history of woman suffrage agitation in rhode island would be complete which did not place among those ever to be relied on, the names of anna garlin spencer, sarah e. h. doyle, anna e. aldrich and fanny p. palmer. mrs. spencer moved from the state just as i came into it, but the influence of her logical mind was left behind her and the loss of her quick womanly tact has been keenly felt. mrs. doyle has long been chairman of the executive committee of the association, mrs. aldrich a safe and trusted counsellor, and mrs. palmer as member of the providence school committee, and more recently as president of the woman's club, has rendered the cause eminent service. if final victory seems farther off here than in some of the newer states, as it certainly does, that is only the greater reason for earnest, and ceaseless work. we know we are right, and be it short or long i am sure we have all enlisted for the war. always sincerely yours, frederic a. hinckley. below is the last utterance of senator anthony on this question. in writing to susan b. anthony, he said: united states senate chamber, washington, march , . my dear cousin: i am honored by your invitation to address the national woman suffrage association at the convention to be held in this city. i regret that it is not in my power to comply with your complimentary request. the enfranchisement of woman is one of those great reforms which will come with the progress of civilization, and when it comes those who witness it will wonder that it has been so long delayed. the main argument against it is that the women themselves do not desire it. many men do not desire it, as is evidenced by their omission to exercise it, but they are not therefore deprived of it. i do not understand that you propose compulsory suffrage, although i am not sure that that would not be for the public advantage as applied to both sexes. a woman has a right to vote in a corporation of which she is a stockholder, and that she does not generally exercise that right is not an argument against the right itself. the progress that is making in the direction of your efforts is satisfactory and encouraging. faithfully yours, h. b. anthony. senator anthony was one of the ever-to-be-remembered nine senators who voted for woman suffrage on the floor of the united states senate in . he also made a most logical speech on our behalf and has ever since been true to our demands. footnotes: [ ] to mrs. davis, a native of the state of new york, belongs the honor of inaugurating this movement in new england, as she called and managed the first convention held in massachusetts in , and helped to arouse all these states to action in . with new england reformers slavery was always the preëminently pressing question, even after the emancipation of the slaves, while in new york woman's civil and political rights were considered the more vital question.--[e. c. s. [ ] _the revolution_ of december , , says: the meeting last week in providence, was, in numbers and ability, eminently successful. mrs. elizabeth b. chace, of valley falls, presided, and addresses were made by colonel higginson, paulina wright davis, lucy stone, frederick douglass, mrs. o. shepard, rev. john boyden, dr. mercy b. jackson, stephen s. and abbey kelly foster. the officers of the association were: _president_, paulina wright davis. _vice-presidents_, elizabeth b. chace of valley falls, col. t. w. higginson of newport, mrs. george cushing, j. w. stillman, mrs. buffum of woonsocket and p. w. aldrich. _recording secretary_, martha w. chase. _corresponding secretary_, mrs. rhoda fairbanks. _treasurer_, mrs. susan b. harris. _executive committee_, mrs. james bucklin, catharine w. hunt, mrs. lewis doyle, anna aldrich, mrs. s. b. g. martin, dr. perry, mrs. churchill, arnold b. chace. [ ] among the speakers at these annual conventions we find rowland g. hazard, rev. john boyden, rev. charles howard malcolm, the brilliant john neal, portland, maine, hon. james m. stillman gen. f. g. lippett, theodore tilton, rev. olympia brown, rev. phebe a. hanaford, elizabeth k. churchill. for a report of the convention held at newport during the fashionable season, august , , , see vol. ii., page , also _the revolution_, september , . [ ] mrs. chace says in a letter, speaking of mrs. davis: "after several years absence in europe she returned, a helpless invalid, unable to resume her labors. but her devotion in early years will long remain fresh in the memory of those associated with her, who were inspired by her self-sacrifice and enthusiasm." for farther details of mrs. davis' earlier labors, see vol. i, pages , . [ ] julia ward howe, celia burleigh, william lloyd garrison, aaron m. powell, caroline h. dall, mrs. ednah d. cheney, miss mary f. eastman, elizabeth k. churchill, rev. augustus woodbury hon. amasa m. eaton, mr. stillman, hon. thomas davis, hon george l. clarke, rev. frederick hinckley, thomas wentworth higginson, hon. a. payne. [ ] in the house. _for the amendment._--davis aldrich, north smithfield; thomas arnold, warwick; clark barber, richmond; thos. p. barnefield, pawtucket; frank m. bates, pawtucket; john beattie, cranston; amos m. bowen, providence; issac b. briggs, jamestown; albert buffum, burillville; john c. barrington, barrington; chas. capwell, west greenwich; geo. b. carpenter, hopkinton; obadiah chase, warren; albert i. chester, westerly; chas. e. chickering, pawtucket; john f. clark, cumberland; lebaron b. colt, bristol; james davis, pawtucket; benjamin t. eames, providence; henry h. fay, newport; edward l. freeman, lincoln; z. herbert gardner, exeter; john p. gregory, lincoln; henry d. heydon, warwick; edwin jenckes, pawtucket; thos. e. kenyon, east greenwich; israel b. mason, providence; b. b. mitchell, jr., new shoreham; francis l. o'reilly, woonsocket; joseph osborn, tiverton; abraham payne, providence; james m. pendleton, westerly; wm. a. pirce, johnston; clinton puffer, woonsocket; olney w. randall, no. providence; john p. sanborn, newport; wm. p. sheffield, newport; israel r. sheldon, warwick; martin s. smith, scituate; wm. h. spooner, bristol; henry a. stearns, lincoln; simon s. steere, smithfield; joseph tillinghast, coventry; wm. c. townsend, newport; stephen a. watson, portsmouth; stillman white, providence; benj. f. wilbor, little compton; andrew winsor, providence-- . in the senate. _for the amendment._--lieut.-gov. howard, e. providence; ariel ballou, woonsocket; cyrus f. cooke, foster; edward t. deblois, portsmouth; rodney f. dyer, johnston; anson greene, exeter; daniel w. lyman, no. providence; jabez w. mowry, smithfield; dexter b. potter, coventry; stafford w. razee, cumberland; t. mumford seabury, newport; lewis b. smith, barrington; john f. tobey, providence-- . [ ] [signed:] _president_, elizabeth b. chace; _secretaries_, fanny p. palmer, elizabeth c. hinckley; _treasurer_, susan b. p. martin; _executive committee_, sarah e. h. doyle, susan sisson, william barker, francis c. frost, anna e. aldrich, frederick a. hinckley, susan g. kenyon, rachael e. fry, a. a. tyng, arnold b. chace. [ ] the speakers were abraham payne, john wyman, matilda hindman, frederick a. hinckley, rev. mr. wendt, elizabeth b. chace, william i. bowditch, mary f. eastman, william lloyd garrison, jr., lucy stone, susan b. anthony, frederick douglass, henry b. blackwell. chapter xxxiv. maine. women on school committees--elvira c. thorndyke--suffrage society, --rockland--the snow sisters--portland meeting, --john neal--judge goddard--colby university open to girls, august , --mrs. clara hapgood nash admitted to the bar, october , --tax-payers protest--ann f. greeley, --march, , bill for woman suffrage lost in the house, passed in the senate by seven votes--miss frank charles, register of deeds--judge reddington--mr. randall's motion--moral eminence of maine--convention in granite hall, augusta, january, , hon. joshua nye, president--delia a. curtis--opinions of the supreme court in regard to women holding offices--governor dingley's message, --convention, representatives hall, portland, judge kingsbury, president, february , . the first movement in maine, in , turned on the question of women being eligible on school committees. here, as in vermont, the men inaugurated the movement. the following letter, from the _portland press_, gives the initiative steps: hiram, march , . mr. editor: a statement is going the rounds of the press that the democrats of hiram supported a lady for a member of the school committee. i am unwilling that any person or party shall be ridiculed or censured for an act of which i was the instigator, and for which i am chiefly responsible. i am in favor of electing ladies to that office, and accordingly voted for one, without her knowledge or consent; several democrats as well as republicans voted with me. i have reason to believe that scores of democrats voted for the able and popular candidate of the republicans (dr. william h. smith), and but for my peculiar notion i should have voted for him myself, as i always vote with the republican party. i am in favor, however, of laying aside politics in voting for school committees, and the question of capability should outweigh the question of sex. a few years ago we had a large number of boy schoolmasters, but agents are learning to appreciate teachers of tact, experience and natural qualifications, as well as book-knowledge. of eleven schools under the care of the writer the past year, but one had a male teacher, and by turning to the reports i find that of forty-nine schools in hiram during the past two years, forty-two were taught by ladies. four of these teachers of the past year have taught respectively twenty, twenty-one, twenty-three and thirty schools. i put the question, why should a lady who has taught thirty schools be considered less suitable for the office of school committee than the undersigned, who has taught but two, or scores of men who never taught school at all? slowly and with hesitation over the ice of prejudice comes that unreasonable reason--"_o, 'cause._" but regardless of pants or crinoline, the question remains unanswered and unanswerable. it is not deemed improper for the ladies of hiram to go with their husbands to the town-house to a cattle show and fair, and serve as committees on butter and cheese, but it is considered unreasonable for ladies to serve as superintendents of school committees. general washington gave a lieutenant's commission to a woman for her skill and bravery in manning a battery at the battle of monmouth. he also granted her half-pay during life. it is stated in "lincoln's lives of the presidents" that "she wore an epaulette, and everybody called her captain molly." and yet i do not read in history that general washington was ever impeached. females have more and better influence than males, and under their instruction our schools have been improving for some years. there is less kicking and cudgeling, and more attention is given to that best of all rules, "the golden rule." if they are more efficient as teachers is it not fair to presume that they would excel as committees? very respectfully yours, llewellyn a. wadsworth. the editor of the _press_ adds to the above his own endorsement, in these words: we are pleased to have mr. wadsworth's explanation of the reform movement in hiram, which we had been misled into crediting to the democrats. * * * go on, mr. wadsworth, you have our best wishes. there is nothing in the way of the general adoption of your ideas but a lot of antiquated and obsolete notions, sustained by the laughter of fools. the same year we have the report of the first suffrage society in that state, which seems to place maine in the van of her new england sisters, notwithstanding the great darkness our correspondent deplores: dear revolution: a society has just been organized here called the equal rights association of rockland. it bids fair to live, although it requires all the courage of heroic souls to contend against the darkness that envelopes the people. but the foundation is laid, and many noble women are catching the inspiration of the hour. when we are fully under way, we shall send you a copy of our preamble and resolutions. elvira c. thorndyke, _cor. sec'y_. the hon. john neal, who was foremost in all good work in maine, in a letter to _the revolution_, describes the first meeting called in portland, in may, , to consider the subject of suffrage for woman. he says: dear revolution: according to my promise, i sent an advertisement to all three of our daily papers last saturday, in substance like the following, though somewhat varied in language: elevation of woman.--all who favor woman suffrage, the sixteenth amendment, and the restoration of woman to her "natural and inalienable rights," are wanted for consultation at the audience room of the portland institute and public library, on wednesday evening next, at half-past seven o'clock. per order john neal. the weather was unfavorable; nevertheless, the small room, holding from sixty to seventy-five, to which the well-disposed were invited for consultation and organization, was crowded so that near the close not a seat could be had; and crowded, too, with educated and intelligent women, and brave, thoughtful men, so far as one might judge by appearances, and about in equal proportions. among the latter were mr. talbot, united states district-attorney, a good lawyer and a self-convinced fellow laborer, so far as suffrage is concerned; but rather unwilling to go further at present, lest if a woman should be sent to the legislature (against her will, of course!) she might neglect her family, or be obliged to take her husband with her, to keep her out of mischief; just as if portland, with , inhabitants and four representatives, would not be likely to find _two_ unmarried women or widows, or married women not disqualified by matrimonial incumbrances or liabilities, to represent the sex; or lest, if she should get into the post-office, being by nature so curious and inquisitive, she might be found peeping--as if the chief distinction between superior and inferior minds was not this very disposition to inquire and investigate; as if, indeed, that which distinguishes the barbarous from the civilized, were not this very inquisitiveness and curiosity; the savage being satisfied with himself and averse to inquiry; the civilized ever on the alert, in proportion to his intelligence, and, like the athenians, always on the look-out for some "new thing." and then, too, we had judge goddard, of the superior court, one of our boldest and clearest thinkers, who could not be persuaded to take a part in the discussion, though declaring himself entirely opposed to the movement. and yet, he is the very man who, at a republican convention several years ago, offered a resolution in favor of impartial suffrage, only to find himself in a minority of two; but persevered nevertheless, year after year, until the very same resolution, word for word, was unanimously adopted by another republican convention! of course, judge goddard will not be likely to shrink from giving his reasons hereafter, if the movement should propagate itself, as it certainly will. we had also for consideration a synopsis of what deserves to be called most emphatically "the maine law," in relation to married women, prepared by mr. drummond, our late speaker and formerly attorney-general, and one of our best lawyers, where it was demonstrated, both by enactments and adjudications, running from march, , to february, , that a married woman--to say nothing of widows and spinsters--has little to complain of in our state, her legal rights being far ahead of the age, and not only acknowledged, but enforced; she being mistress of herself and of her earnings, and allowed to trade for herself, while "her contracts for any lawful purpose are made valid and binding, and to be enforced, as if she were sole agent of her property, but she cannot be arrested." then followed mr. s. b. beckett, just returned from a trip to the holy land, who testified, among other things, that he had seen women both in london and ireland who knew "how to keep a hotel," which is reckoned among men as the highest earthly qualification--and proved it by managing some of the largest and best in the world. and then mr. charles jose, late one of our aldermen, who, half in earnest and half in jest, took t'other side of the question, urging, first, that this was a political movement--as if that were any objection, supposing it true; our whole system of government being a political movement, and that, by which we trampled out the last great rebellion, another, both parties and all parties coöperating in the work; next, that women did not ask for suffrage--it was the men who asked for it, in their names; that there were no complaints and no petitions from women! as if petitions had not gone up and complaints, too, by thousands, from all parts of the country, from school-teachers and office clerks and others, as well as from the women at large, both over sea and here. but enough. the meeting stands adjourned for a week. probably no organization will be attempted, lest it might serve to check free discussion. j. n. _may , ._ mr. w. w. mccann wrote to the _woman's journal_ of this suffrage meeting in portland, in : judge howe's voice, when he addressed the jury of wyoming as "ladies and gentlemen of the grand jury," fell upon the ears of that crowded court-room as a strange and unusual sound. equally strange and impracticable seemed the call for a "woman suffrage meeting," at the city building, to the conservative citizens of portland. however, notwithstanding the suspicion and prejudice with which this movement is regarded, quite a large and highly respectable audience assembled at an early hour to witness the new and wonderful phenomenon of a meeting to aid in giving the ballot to woman. hon. john neal, who issued the call for the meeting, was the first to speak. he reviewed the history of this movement, both in this country and in england. he gave some entertaining reminiscences of his acquaintance with john stuart mill forty years ago. mr. mill was not then in favor of universal suffrage; he advocated the enfranchisement of the male sex only. mr. neal claimed the right for women also. he was happy to learn that since then mr. mill has thrown all the weight of his influence and his masterly intellect in favor of universal suffrage. he then entered into an elaborate discussion of some of the objections brought against woman suffrage, and, much to the surprise of many present, showed that the rights which women demand are just and reasonable, and ought to be granted. john m. todd remarked that he was not so much impressed by the logical arguments in favor of suffrage as by the shallow and baseless arguments of the opposition. the friends of woman suffrage are becoming active and earnest in their efforts, and discussion is freely going on through the daily papers. to-day, the _eastern argus_, a leading democratic organ of this city, denounces this movement as the most "damnable heresy of this generation." we venture the prediction that its friends, if true to the progressive tendencies of the day, will realize the consummation of their cherished heresy in the proposed sixteenth amendment, which will abolish all distinction of class and sex. on august , , the announcement that colby university would be opened to girls gave general satisfaction to the women of maine. a correspondent says: hereafter young women will be admitted to this institution on "precisely the same terms as young men." they may take the regular course, or such a course as they may select, taking at least two studies each term. they will room and board in families in the village, and simply attend the required exercises at the college. the next examination for entrance will be on wednesday, august . one young lady has already signified her purpose to enter the regular course. four new england colleges are now open to women--bates, at lewiston; colby, at waterville, me.; vermont university, at burlington, vt., and wesleyan, at middletown, conn. let's have no more women's colleges established, for the next decade will make them unnecessary, as by that time all the colleges of the country will be opened to them. october , , another advance step was heralded abroad: on motion of the hon. james s. milliken, mrs. clara hapgood nash, of columbia falls, was formally admitted to the bar as an attorney-at-law. during the session of the court in the forenoon, mrs. nash had presented herself before the examining committee, messrs. granger, milliken and walker, and had passed a more than commonly creditable examination. after the opening of the court in the afternoon, mr. milliken arose and said: "may it please the court, i hold in my hand papers showing that mrs. hapgood nash, of columbia falls, has passed the committee appointed by the court to examine candidates for admission to the bar as attorneys-at-law and has paid to the county treasurer the duty required by the statute; and i now move the court that she be admitted to this bar as an attorney-at-law. in making the motion i am not unaware that this is a novel and unusual proceeding. it is the first instance in this county and this state, and, so far as i am aware, the first instance in new england, of the application of a woman to be formally admitted to the bar as a practitioner. but knowing mrs. nash to be a modest and refined lady, of literary and legal attainments, i feel safe in assuring your honor that by a course of honorable practice, and by her courteous intercourse with the members of the profession, she will do her full part to conquer any prejudice that may now exist against the idea of women being admitted as attorneys at law." judge barrows, after examining the papers handed to him, said: "i am not aware of anything in the constitution or laws of this state prohibiting the admission of a woman, possessing the proper qualifications, to the practice of the law. i have no sympathy with that feeling or prejudice which would exclude women from any of the occupations of life for which they may be qualified. the papers put into my hands show that mrs. nash has received the unanimous approval of the examining committee, as possessing the qualifications requisite for an acceptable attorney, and that she has paid the legal duty to the county treasurer, and i direct that she be admitted." on may , , the trustees of the industrial school for girls issued the following appeal to the people of the state: the undersigned, trustees of the maine industrial school for girls, hereby earnestly appeal to the generosity of the state, to the rich and poor alike, for aid to this important movement. our call is to mothers and fathers blessed with virtuous and obedient children; to those who have suffered by the waywardness of some beloved daughter; and to all who would gladly see the neglected, exposed and erring girls in our midst reclaimed. for six years has this subject been agitated in the state and presented to the consideration of several legislatures; and during that time the objects, plans and practical workings of such an institution, have become familiar to the public mind. the project is now so near consummation that by prompt and liberal response to this appeal, the school can be in active operation by the first of july next. by the terms of the resolution of the legislature granting state aid of five thousand dollars, the sum of twenty thousand dollars must first be secured from other sources. of this, five thousand at least has been contributed by two generous ladies in hallowell. for the balance the trustees confidentially look to the citizens of the whole state as equally to be benefited. let them send their contributions, whether large or small, freely and at once, to either of the undersigned and the receipt of the same shall be duly acknowledged.[ ] some of the women tax-payers[ ] in ellsworth, maine, sent the following protest to the assessors of that city: we the undersigned residents of the city of ellsworth, believing in the declaration of our forefathers, that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and that "taxation without representation is tyranny," beg leave to protest against being taxed for support of laws that we have no voice in making. by taxing us you class us with aliens and minors, the only males who are taxed and not allowed to vote, you make us the political inferiors of the most ignorant foreigners, negroes, and men who have not intellect enough to learn to write their names, or to read the vote given them. our property is at the disposal of men who have not the ability to accumulate a dollar's worth and who pay only a poll-tax. we therefore protest against being taxed until we are allowed the rights of citizens. augusta, march , . editors woman's journal: i have never seen a letter in the _woman's journal_ written from augusta, the capital of maine, and as some things have transpired lately which might interest your readers, i take the liberty of writing a few lines. the bill for woman suffrage was defeated in the house, fifty-two to forty-one. in the senate the vote was fifteen in favor to eight against. i think the smallness of the vote was owing to the indifference of some of the members and the determination of a few to kill the bill. some politicians are afraid of this innovation just now, lest the republican party be more disrupted than it already is. day after day, when the session was drawing to a close, women went to the state-house expecting to hear the question debated. wednesday every available place was filled with educated women. the day was spent--if i should say how, my criticism might be too severe. gentlemen from thomaston, biddeford, burlington and waldoborough had the floor most of the time during the afternoon. in the evening, while those same women and some of the members of the legislature were attending a concert, the bill was taken up and voted upon, _without any discussion whatever_. now, i submit to any fair-minded person if this was right. i have listened to discussions upon that floor this winter for which i should have hung my head in shame had they been conducted by women. the whole country, from maine to california, calls loudly for better legislation--for morality in politics. a member of the house said to me yesterday, that he thought that some of the members from the rural districts were not sufficiently enlightened upon the question of woman suffrage, and the bill ought to have been thoroughly discussed. yes, and perhaps treated with respect by its friends. i saw the member from calais while a vote was being taken. standing in his seat, with his hand stretched toward the rear of the house, where it is generally supposed that members sit who are a little slow in voting at the beck of politicians, he said: "_yes_ is the way to vote, gentlemen! yes! yes!" when women have such politicians for champions equal suffrage is secured. but do we want such men? the member from calais voted against woman's right of suffrage. he is said to be an ambitious aspirant in the fifth congressional district. see to it, women of the fifth district, that you do not have him as an opponent of equal rights in congress. there is a throne behind a throne. let woman be _regal_ in the background, where she must stand for the present, in maine. but i am happy and proud to state that some very high-minded men, and some of the best legislators in the house, did vote for the bill, viz.: brown of bangor, judge titcomb of augusta, general perry of oxford, porter of burlington, labroke of foxcroft, and many others; in the senate, the president and fourteen others, the real bone and marrow of the senate, voted for the bill. the signs of the times are good. the watchman of the night discerns the morning light in the broad eastern horizon. [signed:] patience commonsense. the _portland press_, in a summary of progress in maine for , says: women certainly have no reason to complain of the year's dealings with them, for they have been recognized in many ways which indicate the gradual breaking down of the prejudices that have hitherto given them a position of _quasi_ subjection. mrs. mary d. welcome has been licensed to preach by the methodists; mrs. fannie u. roberts of kittery has been commissioned by the governor to solemnize marriages; clara h. nash, of the famous law firm of f. c. & c. h. nash, of columbia falls, has argued a case before a jury in the supreme court; miss mary c. lowe of colby university has taken a college prize for declamation. they are the first maine women who have ever enjoyed honors of the kind. miss cameron spoke, too, at the last congregational conference, and miss frank charles was appointed register of deeds in oxford county. it is further to be noted that the legislature voted as follows on the question of giving the ballot to women: senate-- yeas, nays; house-- yeas, nays. women are rapidly obtaining a recognized position in our colleges. there are now five young women at colby, three at bates, and three at the agricultural college--eleven in all. bates has already graduated two. in the latter college a scholarship for the benefit of women has been endowed by judge reddington. finally, the first woman suffrage association ever formed in maine held its first meeting at augusta last january, and was a great success. carmel, monroe, etna and some other towns have elected women superintendents of schools, but this has been done in other years. for a little movement in the right direction we must credit messrs. amos, abbott & co., woolen manufacturers of dexter, who divide ten per cent. of their profits with their operatives. clara h. nash, the lady who, in partnership with her husband, has recently entered upon the practice of law in maine, says: scarcely a day passes but something occurs in our office to rouse my indignation afresh by reminding me of the utter insignificance with which the law, in its every department, regards woman, and its utter disregard of her rights as an individual. would that women might feel this truth; then, indeed, would their enfranchisement be speedy. in the _woman's journal_ of january , , we find the following call: the people of maine who believe in the extension of the elective franchise to women as a beneficent power for the promotion of the virtues and the correction of the evils of society, and all who believe in the principles of equal justice, equal liberty and equal opportunity, upon which republican institutions are founded, and have faith in the triumph of intelligence and reason over custom and prejudice, are invited to meet at granite hall, in the city of augusta, on wednesday, january , , for the purpose of organizing a state woman suffrage association, and inaugurating such measures for the advancement of the cause as the wisdom of the convention may suggest.[ ] the _portland press_, in a leading editorial on the "moral eminence of maine," says: maine has been first in many things. she has taught the world how to struggle with intemperance, and pilgrims come hither from all quarters of the earth to learn the theory and practice of prohibition. she was among the first to practically abolish capital punishment and to give married women their rights in respect to property. she is, perhaps, nearer giving them political rights, also, than any of her sister commonwealths. if maine should be first among the states to give suffrage to women, she would do more for temperance than a hundred prohibitory laws, and more for civilization and progress than massachusetts did when she threw the tea into boston harbor in , or when she sent the first regiment to the relief of washington in . the leaders of the temperance reform in maine are fully alive to the necessity of woman suffrage as a means to that end. at the meeting of the state temperance association of maine, in augusta, recently, mr. randall said that "as the woman suffrage convention has adjourned over this afternoon in order to attend the temperance meeting, he would move that when we adjourn it be to thursday morning, as the work at both conventions is intimately connected. if the women of maine went to the ballot-box, we should have officers to enforce the law." mr. randall's motion was carried, and the temperance convention adjourned. the woman suffrage association assembled wednesday, january , in granite hall, augusta. there was a very large attendance, a considerable number of those present being members of the legislature. hon. joshua nye presided. he made a few remarks relating to the removal of political disabilities from women, and introduced mrs. agnes a. houghton of bath, who spoke on the "turning of the tide," contending that woman should be elevated socially, politically and morally, enjoying the same rights as man. she was followed by judge benjamin kingsbury, jr., of portland, who declared himself unequivocally in favor of giving woman the right to vote, and who trusted that she would be accorded this right by the present legislature. more than , persons were in the audience, and great enthusiasm prevailed. the morning session was devoted to business and the election of officers.[ ] in order not to conflict with a meeting of the state temperance association, no afternoon session was held, and, in return, the state temperance society gave up its evening meeting to enable its members to attend the suffrage convention. speeches were made by henry b. blackwell of boston, rev. ellen gustin of mansfield, mary eastman of lowell, and others. resolutions were passed pledging the association not to cease its efforts until the unjust discrimination with regard to voting is swept away; that in the election of president, and of all officers where the qualifications of voters are not prescribed by the state constitution, the experiment should be tried of allowing women to vote; that in view of the large amount of money which has been expended in maine for the exclusive benefit of the boys' industrial school during the past twenty years, it is the prayer of the ladies of maine that the present legislature vote the sum asked for the establishment of an industrial school for girls. in we find notices of other onward steps: editors journal: woman's cause works slowly here, though in one respect we have been successful. our county school-superintendent is a lady. she had a large majority over our other candidate, and over two gentlemen, and she is decidedly "the right person in the right place." she is a graduate from the normal school, the mother of four children, a widow for some six years past, and a lady. what more can we ask, unless, indeed, it be for a very conscientious idea of duty? that, too, she has, and also energy, with which she carries it out. the sterner sex admit that women are competent to hold office. but some say we are not intelligent enough to vote. what an appalling amount of wisdom they show in this idea! it would be "unwomanly" in us to suggest such a word as inconsistency. fraternally, m. j. m. _cairo, me., april, ._ in searsport a woman was elected one of the two school-superintendents of the town. the following advertisement appears in the local newspaper: searsport school notice.--the superintending school-committee of searsport will meet to examine teachers at the town library, april and may , , at o'clock p. m. delia a. curtis, john nichols, _s. s. com. of searsport._ teachers will be expected to discountenance the use of tobacco and intoxicating liquors, and to use their best endeavors to impress on the minds of the children and youth committed to their care and instruction a proper understanding of the evil tendency of such habits; and no teacher need apply for a certificate to teach in this town, the ensuing year, who uses either. delia a. curtis. dear journal: aroostook, though occupying the extreme northeastern portion of our good state of maine, and still in the blush of youth, is not behind her sister counties in recognition of woman's fitness for office. the returns of town elections, so far as i have yet seen, give three towns in the county which have elected ladies[ ] to serve as members of the school committee. l. j. y. w. _houlton, maine._ in the autumn of the governor and council requested the opinion of the supreme judicial court on the following questions: _first_--under the constitution and laws of this state, can a woman, if duly appointed and qualified as a justice of the peace, legally perform all acts pertaining to that office? _second_--would it be competent for the legislature to authorize the appointment of a married woman to the office of justice of the peace; or to administer oaths, take acknowledgment of deeds or solemnize marriages, so that the same may be legal and valid? the following responses to these inquiries were received by the governor: the opinion of the court, drawn by chief-justice appleton, and concurred in by justices cutting, peters, danforth and virgin; a dissenting opinion from justices walton and barrows and one from justice dickerson. the opinion of the court is given below: to the questions proposed we have the honor to answer as follows: whether it is expedient that women should hold the office of justice of the peace is not an inquiry proposed for our consideration. it is whether, under the existing constitution, they can be appointed to such office, and can legally discharge its duties. by the constitution of massachusetts, of which we formerly constituted a portion, the entire political power of that commonwealth was vested under certain conditions, in its male inhabitants of a prescribed age. they alone, and in the exclusion of the other sex, as determined by its highest court of law, could exercise the judicial function as existing and established by that instrument. by the act relating to the separation of the district of maine from massachusetts, the authority to determine upon the question of separation, and to elect delegates to meet and form a constitution was conferred upon the "inhabitants of the several towns, districts and plantations in the district of maine qualified to vote for governor or senators," thus excluding the female sex from all participation in the formation of the constitution, and in the organization of the government under it. whether the constitution should or should not be adopted, was especially, by the organic law of its existence, submitted to the vote of the male inhabitants of the state. it thus appears that the constitution of the state was the work of its male citizens. it was ordained, established, and ratified by them, and by them alone; but by the power of government was divided into three distinct departments: legislative, executive and judicial. by article vi., section , justices of the peace are recognized as judicial officers. by the constitution, the whole political power of the state is vested in its male citizens. whenever in any of its provisions, reference is made to sex, it is to duties to be done and performed by male members of the community. nothing in the language of the constitution or in the debates of the convention by which it was formed, indicates any purpose whatever of any surrender of political power by those who had previously enjoyed it or a transfer of the same to those who had never possessed it. had any such design then existed, we cannot doubt that it would have been made manifest in appropriate language. but such intention is nowhere disclosed. having regard then, to the rules of the common law as to the rights of women, married and unmarried, as then existing--to the history of the past--to the universal and unbroken practical construction given to the constitution of this state and to that of the commonwealth of massachusetts upon which that of this state was modeled, we are led to the inevitable conclusion that it was never in the contemplation or intention of those framing our constitution that the offices thereby created should be filled by those who could take no part in its original formation, and to whom no political power was intrusted for the organization of the government then about to be established under its provisions, or for its continued existence and preservation when established. the same process of reasoning which would sanction the conferring judicial power on women under the constitution would authorize the giving them executive power by making them sheriffs and major-generals. but while the offices enacted by the constitution are to be filled exclusively by the male members of the state, we have no doubt that the legislature may create new ministerial offices not enumerated therein, and if it deem expedient, may authorize the performance of the duties of the offices so created by persons of either sex. to the _first_ question proposed, we answer in the negative. to the _second_, we answer that it is competent for the legislature to authorize the appointment of married or unmarried women to administer oaths, take acknowledgment of deeds or solemnize marriages, so that the same shall be legal and valid. john appleton, john a. peters, jonas cutting, wm. wirt virgin, charles danforth. the dissenting opinion was as follows: we, the undersigned, justices of the supreme judicial court, concur in so much of the foregoing opinion as holds that it is competent for the legislature to authorize the appointment of women to administer oaths, take the acknowledgment of deeds and solemnize marriages. but we do not concur in the conclusion that it is not equally competent for the legislature to authorize the appointment of women to act as justices of the peace. the legislature is authorized to enact any law which it deems reasonable and proper, provided it is not repugnant to the constitution of this state, nor to that of the united states. a law authorizing the appointment of women to act as justices of the peace would not, in our judgment, be repugnant to either. we fail to find a single word, or sentence, or clause of a sentence, which, fairly construed, either expressly or impliedly forbids the passage of such a law. so far as the office of justice of the peace is concerned, there is not so much as a masculine pronoun to hang an objection upon. it is true that the right to vote is limited to males. but the right to vote and the right to hold office are distinct matters. either may exist without the other. and it may be true that the framers of the constitution did not contemplate--did not affirmatively intend--that women should hold office. but it by no means follows that they intended the contrary. the truth probably is that they had no intention one way or the other; that the matter was not even thought of. and it will be noticed that the unconstitutionality of such a law is made to rest, not on any expressed intention of the framers of the constitution that women should not hold office, but upon a presumed absence of intention that they should. this seems to us a dangerous doctrine. it is nothing less than holding that the legislature cannot enact a law unless it appears affirmatively that the framers of the constitution intended that such a law should be enacted. we cannot concur in such a doctrine. it would put a stop to all progress. we understand the correct rule to be the reverse of that; namely, that the legislature may enact any law they may think proper, unless it appears affirmatively that the framers of the constitution intended that such a law should not be passed. and the best and only safe rule for ascertaining the intention of the makers of any written law, is to abide by the language which they have used. and this is especially true of written constitutions; for in preparing such instruments it is but reasonable to presume that every word has been carefully weighed, and that none is inserted and none omitted without a design for so doing. taking this rule for our guide we can find nothing in the constitution of the united states, or of this state, forbidding the passage of a law authorizing the appointment of women to act as justices of the peace. we think such a law would be valid. c. w. walton, wm. g. barrows. the right of women to hold office was affirmed in the message of governor dingley, january, : in response to the questions propounded by the governor and council, a majority of the justices of the supreme court have given an opinion that, under the constitution of maine, women cannot act as justices of the peace, nor hold any other office mentioned in that instrument; but that it is competent for the legislature to authorize persons of either sex to hold any ministerial office created by statute. as there can be no valid objection to, but on the contrary great convenience in, having women who may be acting as clerks in public or private offices authorized to administer oaths and take acknowledgment of deeds, i recommend the passage of an act providing for the appointment of persons of either sex, to perform such official duties. indeed, if further legislation be necessary to establish that principle, i suggest the justice and expediency of an enabling act recognizing the eligibility of women to office in the same manner as men; for i know of no sufficient reason why a woman, otherwise qualified, should be excluded from any position adapted to her tastes and acquirements, which the people may desire she should fill. the legislature passed the bill recommended by the governor. in the constitutional committee, by a vote of six to two, defeated the proposition to so amend the constitution as to make women electors under the same regulations and restrictions as men. the maine woman suffrage association held its third annual meeting at augusta on january , , in the hall of the house of representatives, the use of which had been courteously extended to the association. the hall and galleries were crowded in every part with an intelligent audience, whose close attention through all the sessions showed an earnest interest in the cause. the meeting was called to order by judge kingsbury of portland, president of the association.[ ] prayer was offered by miss angell of canton, n. y. judge kingsbury made the introductory address. addresses were also made by h. b. blackwell, miss eastman and lucy stone, showing the right and need of women in politics, and the duty of law-makers to establish justice for them. it was especially urged that the centennial celebration would be only a mockery if the fourth of july, , finds this government still doing to women what the british government did to the colonists a hundred years ago. rev. mr. gage of lewiston urged the right of women to vote in the interest of civilization itself. in the perilous times upon which we have fallen in the great experiment of self-government, some new force is needed to check growing evils. the influence in the home is that which is needed in legislation, and it can only be had by the ballot in the hand of woman. mrs. quinby, from the business committee, reported a series of resolutions. after their adoption mrs. abba g. woolson, in an earnest and forcible speech, claimed the right of women to vote, as the final application of the theory of the consent of the governed. she had personally noticed the good effects of the ballot conferred upon the women in wyoming, and should be glad to have her native state of maine lead in this matter, and give an illustration of the true republic. miss lorenza haynes, who had been the day before ordained over the universalist church in hallowell, followed with a speech of remarkable wit and brilliancy, to which no report can do justice. a writer in the _woman's journal_ about this time said: during the early part of the session of our late legislature woman suffrage petitions were numerously signed by the leading men and women throughout the state receiving an earnest and respectful consideration from the people generally, even from those who were not quite ready to sign petitions. consequently, it seemed an easy matter to get a bill before the legislature, and we were almost certain of a majority in one branch of the house, at least, especially as it was generally understood that our new governor favored the cause; and it is believed yet that governor dingley does sympathize with it, even though he failed to mention it in his otherwise admirable message. the petitions were duly presented and referred to a joint committee, where the matter was allowed to quietly drop. it is neither riches, knowledge, nor culture that constitutes the electoral qualifications, but gender and a certain implied brute force. by this standard legislative bodies have been wont to judge the exigency of this mighty question. more influential than woman, though unacknowledged as such by the average legislator of states and nations, even the insignificant lobster finds earnest champions where woman's claims fail of recognition; which assertion the following incident will substantiate: being present in the representatives hall in augusta when the "lobster question" came up for discussion (the suffrage question was then struggling before the committee), i was struck by the air of earnestness that pervaded the entire house on that memorable occasion. and why not? it was a question that appealed directly to man's appetite, and there he is always interested. after the morning hour a dozen ready debators sprang to their feet, eloquent in advocating the rights of this important member of the crustacean family. the discussion waxed into something like enthusiasm, when finally an old tar exclaimed with terrific violence: "mr. speaker, i insist upon it, this question must be considered. it is a great question; one before which all others will sink into insignificance; one of vastly more importance than any other that will come before this honorable body during this session!" dirigo. in closing this chapter it is fitting to mention some of our faithful friends in maine, whose names have not appeared in societies and conventions as leaders or speakers, but whose services in other ways have been highly appreciated. rockland is the home of lucy and lavinia snow, who, from the organization of the first society in , have never failed to send good words of cheer and liberal contributions to all our national conventions. another branch of the worthy snow family, from the town of hamlin, has given us equally generous coädjutors in mrs. spofford and her noble sisters in washington. as early as , mrs. anna greeley and miss charlotte hill of ellsworth constituted themselves a committee to inaugurate a course of lyceum lectures in that town, taking the entire financial responsibility. miss hill was an excellent violinist and taught a large class of boys and girls, and also played at balls and parties, thus gaining a livelihood. some of her patrons threatened that if she persisted in bringing such people[ ] to that town and affiliated with them, they would no longer patronize her. "very well" she replied, "i shall maintain my principles, and if you break up my classes i can go back to the sea-shore and dig clams for a living as i have done before." tradition says the lecture course was a success. she continued her classes and the neighbors danced as ever to her music. gail hamilton, who resides in maine at least half her time, is one of the most brilliant and pungent american writers. in denouncing the follies and failures of her sex, her critical pen has indirectly aided the suffrage movement by arousing thought upon all phases of the question as to what are the rights and duties of woman, though she stoutly maintains that she is opposed to woman's enfranchisement. in portland there has always been a circle of noble men and women, steadfast friends alike of the anti-slavery, temperance and woman suffrage movements. the names of mr. and mrs. oliver dennett, miss. charlotte a. thomas and mrs. ellen french foster are worthy of mention. that untiring reformer, the hon. neal dow, has clearly seen and declared in the later years of his labors, that suffrage for women is the short path to the advancement of prohibition. the hon. thomas b. reed has done us great service in congress as leader of the republican party in the house, and member of the judiciary committee. his report,[ ] in , on the submission of the sixteenth amendment has had an extended influence. it is an able argument, and as a keen piece of irony it is worthy the pen of a dean swift. in the senate we have a fast friend in william p. frye, who has always voted favorably in both houses on all questions regarding the interests of woman. in , in presenting miss willard's petition of , for woman's right to vote on the temperance question, he made an able speech recommending the measure.[ ] and in closing, the name of maine's venerable statesman, hannibal hamlin, so long honored by his state in a succession of official positions from year to year, must not be forgotten. as chairman of the committee on the district of columbia in he presided at the first hearing of the national woman suffrage association, listened with respect and courtesy, and at the close introduced the ladies to each member of the committee, and said "he had been deeply impressed by the arguments, and was almost persuaded to accept the new gospel of woman's equality." mr. hamlin's vote has always been favorable and we have no words of his recorded in the opposition. hon. james g. blaine has generally maintained a dignified silence on the question. thus far in his history, a reviewer says, "he has ignored the existence of woman"; but perhaps in his researches he has not yet reached the garden of eden, nor taken cognizance of the part the daughters of eve have played in the rise and fall of mighty nations. nevertheless in our prolonged struggle of half a century for equal rights for woman, we have found in every state the traditional ten righteous men necessary to save its people from destruction. footnotes: [ ] signed: _president_, benj. kingsbury, portland; _secretary_, e. r. french, s. chesterville; _treasurer_, william deering portland; _ex officio_, gov. sidney perham, secretary of state geo. g. stacy, superintendent of schools warren johnson; john b. nealley, s. berwick; nelson dingley, jr., lewiston; j. s. wheelright, bangor; h. k. baker, hallowell; mrs. c. a. l. sampson, bath; mrs. james fernald, portland. [ ] ann f. greely, sarah jarvis, c. b. grant, e. e. tinker, a. d. hight, m. j. brooks, c. w. jarvis, e. b. jarvis, rebecca m. avery. [ ] signed by john neal, s. t. pickard, mrs. oliver dennet, mrs. eleanor neal, portland; j. j. eveleth, mayor, joshua nye, chandler beal, william h. libbey, george w. quinby, william p. whitehouse, general selden conner. h. h. hamlen, h. s. osgood, mrs. c. a. quinby, mrs. w. k. lancey, mrs. d. m. waitt, mrs. william b. lapham, mrs. s. m. barton, augusta; mary a. ross and fifty others; rev. w. l. brown, mrs. e. a. dickerson, mrs. w. h. burrill, mrs. n. abbott, mrs. thomas n. marshall, miss a. a. hicks, belfast; john d. hopkins, rev. william h. savary, c. j. peck, mayor, a. e. drinkwater, mrs. ann f. greely, ellsworth; mrs. a. h. savary and twenty others; mrs. m. c. crossman, mrs. s. d. morison, mrs. j. tillson, mrs. sarah j. prentiss, mrs. amos pickard, bangor; miss m. phillips and twelve others; rev. john w. hinds, lewiston; rev. t. p. adams, bowdoinham; a. h. sweetser and twenty others, rockland; rev. w. h. bolster, wiscasset; w. t. c. runnels, searsport; rev. m. v. b. stinson, kittery; john u. hubbard, alfred winslow, west waterville; mrs. m. s. philbrick, skowhegan; mrs. simeon conner, fairfield; george gifford, mrs. mary w. southwick, h. m. n. bush, m. a. bush, a. e. prescott, vassalboro; a. r. dunham and fourteen others; r. c. caldwell and eight others, gardiner; albert crosby, mrs. s. g. crosby, albion; noah f. norton, mercy g. norton, penobscot. [ ] _president_, benjamin kingsbury of portland; _secretary_, miss addie quimby of augusta; _treasurer_, mrs. w. k. lancey of augusta. among the vice-presidents are the hon. s. f. hersey of bangor, and john neal of portland. an executive committee was elected, which included john p. whitehouse, hon. joshua nye, neal dow, jr., and other leading citizens. [ ] miss louisa coffin, dalton; miss annie lincoln, mapleton; miss ada delaite, littleton. [ ] the following officers were elected: _president_, hon. benjamin kingsbury of portland; _chairman executive committee_, hon. joshua nye; _corresponding secretary_, mr. c. a. quinby, augusta; _recording secretary_, mrs. w. d. eaton, dexter; _treasurer_, mrs. w. k. lancey, pittsfield. [ ] those invited were wendell philips, harriet k. hunt, caroline h. dall and susan b. anthony. [ ] mr. reed's report is published in full in our annual report, of , which can be obtained of susan b. anthony, rochester, n. y. [ ] see page . chapter xxxv. new hampshire. nathaniel p. rogers--first organized action, --concord convention--william lloyd garrison's letter--rev. s. l. blake opposed--rev. mr. sanborn in favor--_concord monitor_--armenia s. white--a bill to protect the rights of married men--minority and majority reports--women too ignorant to vote--republican state convention--women on school committees--voting at school-district meetings--mrs. white's address--mrs. ricker on prison reform--judicial decision in regard to married women, --letter from senator blair. a state that could boast four such remarkable families as the rogers, the hutchinsons, the fosters, and the pillsburys, all radical, outspoken reformers, furnishes abundant reason for its prolonged battles with the natural conservatism of ordinary communities. every inch of its soil except its mountain tops, where no man could raise a school-house for a meeting, has been overrun by the apostles of peace, temperance, anti-slavery, and woman's rights in succession. to the early influence of nathaniel p. rogers and his revolutionary journal, _the herald of freedom_, we may trace the general awakening of the true men and women of that state to new ideas of individual liberty. but while some gladly accepted his words as harbingers of a new and better civilization, others resisted all innovations of their time-honored customs and opinions. and when the clarion voices of foster and pillsbury arraigned that state for its compromises with slavery, howling mobs answered their arguments with brickbats and curses; mobs that nothing could quell but the sweet voices of the hutchinson family. their peans of liberty, so readily accepted when set to music, were obstinately resisted when uttered by others, though in most eloquent speech. thus with music, meetings and mobs, new hampshire was at least awake and watching, and when the distant echoes of woman's uprising reverberated through her mountains she gave a ready response. in , simultaneously with other new england states, she felt the time had come to organize for action on the question of suffrage for women. a call for a convention was issued to be held in concord, december , , and signed by one hundred and twenty men and women,[ ] some of the most honored and influential classes of all callings and professions. nathaniel p. white, always ready to aid genuine reformatory movements, was the first to sign the call. as a member of the legislature he had helped to coin into law many of the liberal ideas sown broadcast in the early days[ ] by the anti-slavery apostles. galen foster, a brother of stephen, used his influence also as a member of the legislature, to vindicate the rights of women to civil and political equality. this first convention was held in eagle hall, concord, with large and enthusiastic audiences. a long and interesting letter was read from william lloyd garrison: boston, december , . dear mrs. white: i must lose the gratification of being present at the woman suffrage convention at concord and substitute an epistolary testimony for a speech from the platform. the two conventions recently held in furtherance of the movement for universal and impartial suffrage--one in boston, the other in providence--were eminently successful in respect to numbers, intellectual ability, moral strength and unity of action; and their proceedings such as to challenge attention and elicit wide-spread commendation. i have no doubt that the convention in concord will exhibit the same features, be animated by the same hopeful spirit and produce as cheering results. the only criticism seemingly of a disparaging tone, i have seen, of the speeches made at the conventions alluded to, is, that there was nothing new advanced on the occasion; as though novelty were the main thing, and the reiteration of time-honored truths, with their latest application to the duties of the hour, were simply tedious! for one, i ask no more light upon the subject; nor am i so vain as to assume to be capable of throwing any additional light upon it. one drop of water is very like another, but it is the perpetual dropping that wears away the stone. the importunate widow had nothing fresh or new to present to the unjust judge, but by her persistent coming she wearied him into compliance with her petition. the end of the constant assertion of a right withheld is restitution and victory. the whole anti-slavery controversy was expressed and included in the golden rule, morally, and in the declaration of independence, politically; nor could anything new be added to these by the wisest, the most ingenious, or the most eloquent. "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little"; that is the essential method of reform. if there is nothing new to be said in favor of suffrage for women, is there anything new to be urged against it? but though the objections are exceedingly trite and shallow, it is still necessary to examine and refute them by arguments and illustrations none the less forcible because exhausted at an earlier period. [illustration: armenia s. white] the first objection is positively one of the most urgent reasons for granting suffrage to women; for it is predicated on the concession of the superiority of woman over man in purity of purpose and excellence of character. hence the cry is, that it will not only be descending, but degrading for her to appear at the polls. but, if government is absolutely necessary, and voting not wrong in practice, it is surely desirable that the admittedly purest and best in the nation should find no obstacle to their reaching the ballot-box. nay, the way should be opened at once, by every consideration pertaining to the public welfare, the justice of legislation, the preservation of popular liberty. it is impossible for a portion of the people, to be wiser and more trustworthy than the whole people, or better qualified to decide what shall be the laws for the government of all. the more minds consulted, the more souls included, the more interests at stake, in determining the form and administration of government, the more of justice and humanity, of security and repose, will be the result. the exclusion of half the population from the polls, is not merely a gross injustice, but an immense loss of brain and conscience, in making up the public judgment. as a nation we have discarded absolutism, monarchy, and hereditary aristocracy; but we have not fully attained even to manhood suffrage. men are proscribed on account of their complexion, women because of their sex. the entire body politic suffers from this proscription. the second objection refutes the first; it is based on the alleged natural inferiority of woman to man, and the transition is thus quickly made for her, from a semi-angelic state, to that of a menial, having no rights that men are bound to respect beyond what they choose to allow. in the scale of political power, therefore, one male voter, however ignorant or depraved, outweighs all the women in america! for, no matter how intelligent, cultured, refined, wealthy, intellectually vigorous, or morally great, any of their number may be,--no matter what rank in literature, art, science, or medical knowledge and skill they may reach,--they are political non-entities, unrepresented, discarded, and left to such protection under the laws, as brute force and absolute usurpation may graciously condescend to give. yet they are as freely taxed and held amendable to penal law as strictly as though they had their full share of representation in the legislative hall, on the bench, in the jury-box, and at the polls. this cry of inferiority is not peculiar in the case of woman. it was the subterfuge and defiance of negro slavery. it has been raised in all ages by tyrants and usurpers against the toiling, over-burdened millions, seeking redress for their wrongs, and protection for their rights. it always indicates intense self-conceit, and supreme selfishness. it is at war with reason and common-sense, and is a bold denial of the oneness of the human race. the third objection is, that women do not wish to vote. if this were true, it would not follow that they should not be enfranchised, and left free to determine the matter for themselves. it was confidently declared that the slaves at the south neither wished to be free, nor would they take their liberty if offered them by their masters. had that assertion been true, it would have furnished no justification whatever, for making man the property of his fellow-man, or for leaving the slaves in their fetters. but it was not true. nor is it true that women do not wish to vote. tens of thousands are ready to go to the polls and assume their share of political responsibility, as soon as they shall be legally permitted to do so; and they are not the ignorant and degraded of their sex, but women remarkable for their intelligence and moral worth. the great mass will, ere long, be sufficiently enlightened to claim what belongs to them of right. i hope to be permitted to live to see the day when neither complexion nor sex shall be made a badge of degradation, but men and women shall enjoy the same rights and privileges, and possess the same means for their protection and defense. very faithfully yours, wm. lloyd garrison. mrs. a. s. white. at the close of this convention a state association was formed with mrs. armenia s. white president.[ ] this society has been unremitting in its efforts to rouse popular thought, holding annual conventions, scattering tracts, rolling up petitions, and addressing legislatures. many of the best speakers, from time to time, from other states[ ] have rendered valuable aid in keeping up the agitation. the opposition of a clergyman produced a sensation in concord. on last fast-day, , rev. s.l. blake of the congregational church in concord, preached a sermon in which he came out against the woman's rights convention held there last january, bringing the stale charge of "free-love" against its advocates--a charge that always leaps to the lips of men of prurient imagination--with much similar clap-trap of the fulton type. rev. mr. sanborn of the universalist church replied to him the next sunday evening, an immense audience being in attendance, and completely disproved the baseless allegations of the reverend maligner, to the satisfaction of all. rev. mr. blake has published his discourse in pamphlet form, repeating his disproved charges, whereupon rev. j.f. lovering of the unitarian church came out with a reply, in which he characterized mr. blake's charges as "unmitigated falsehoods" and "an insult to every member of the convention," and demanded of the author to "unsay his words." brainard cogswell, in his journal, the _concord monitor_, of july , , published the following letter: petitions for woman's enfranchisement have been pouring into the new hampshire legislature, until at last they have been referred to a special committee. on thursday week this committee gave the petitioners a hearing; and on their invitation, mrs. julia ward howe, mrs. elizabeth k. churchill and ourself went to concord to give "the reasons why" women should have the ballot. the members of the legislature came out in force to hear, and our good, tried friends, nathaniel and armenia white, learning their intention in advance, opened the spacious eagle hall for their convenience, and that of the towns-people who wished to see and to hear. warm as the evening was, the thermometer up in the nineties, the hall was packed, and great numbers went away that could not gain admittance. rev. mr. blake, a congregationalist minister of concord, has done the cause good service by vilifying and abusing it, until he roused quite an interest. it was partly owing to his efforts that we had so grand an audience. general wilson, who twenty years ago was famed throughout new hampshire for his eloquence and oratory, was chairman of the committee, and presided at the meeting, and very handsomely introduced the speakers. mrs. howe spoke with more pointed and pungent power than usual, dwelling on the deterioration of american womanhood, showing the cause, and suggesting the remedy. we have never been so impressed by her as on this occasion. mrs. churchill read a letter from rev. mr. savage, a congregationalist clergyman of the state, who advocates woman suffrage, and who, in a late ministerial gathering, took up the gauntlet thrown down by mr. blake, and defended the woman's cause and its advocates from the slanders of his brother minister. the president of the new hampshire association, in writing from concord to the _woman's journal_, january , , says: our second annual meeting was a grand success, if we count by money and numbers. the intense cold on wednesday and thursday made our audiences thinner than heretofore, but they were large in spite of the elements, mrs. churchill and mrs. emma coe still, who had never presented the subject here before, were well received. rev. dr. savage of franklin made an excellent address, and encouraged us by timely suggestions. stephen s. foster aroused us, as he always does, with his bold declarations. the resolutions adopted look toward future work, and embody the principles which move us to act. lucy stone, in the _woman's journal_ of june , , says: the select committee, harry bingham, chairman, to whom was referred a bill for the further protection of the rights of married men, reported the bill in a new draft as follows: marriages shall not hereafter render the husband liable for the debts contracted by his wife prior to their marriage: _second section_--no marriage shall hereafter discharge the wife from liability to pay the debts contracted by her before such marriage, but she, and all property which she may hold in her own right, shall be held liable for the payment of all debts, whether contracted before or after marriage; in the same manner as if she continued sole and unmarried. this report was signed by eight of the ten members of the committee. the minority, through mr. sprague of swanzey, made a report recommending that the whole subject be postponed to the time when women in new hampshire have the right to vote. mr. sprague moved that the minority report be substituted for the majority, but the motion was lost by an almost unanimous vote. the majority report was sustained in remarks by messrs. wadleigh of milford and cogswell of gilman. the latter, hard pushed by an interrogatory concerning his social status, admitted that he was not married, but intended to be soon. the bill reported by the majority was then ordered to a second reading. if this action should be sustained by the legislature, we can imagine some future suitor for a lady's hand telling her that he shall expect her duly to keep his house and his wardrobe in order, to prepare his meals, to entertain his visitors, to bear his children, and that she will be required by law to pay her own bills; that for this inestimable privilege she shall be called mrs. john snooks, and may, perhaps, have the honor of being written in the newspapers, and on her tombstone, as the relic of mr. john snooks. could any woman withstand that? the following statistics have been used by speakers in the opposition, to show that women are too ignorant to vote: a decided sensation has been produced throughout the country by the publication in the third number of the "transactions of the american social science association" of statistics concerning the illiteracy of women in the united states. the subject has received very general discussion, and these are the conclusions reached: . that there is a large excess of female illiteracy. . that from to there was an increase of illiterate women to the extent of per cent. in new hampshire, in vermont, in massachusetts, in rhode island, in connecticut, in the district of columbia, in wisconsin and in minnesota. . that this state of things is alarming, and ought to be remedied. when the london _saturday review_ raised the cry of alcoholic drunkenness among women, the conservative journals all over the world swelled the sound and confirmed the charges. now that that story has run itself to death, a new assault is projected, and a general clamor concerning their illiteracy follows. if the charges are true, there is nothing very astonishing about them. the education of women has been considered a matter of secondary importance until very recently, and with our foreign population the education of girls has been almost wholly neglected. when the customs and usages of the world have made ignorance largely compulsory in women, it is somewhat inconsistent in men to go into spasms about the results. january , , at the republican state convention, mayor briggs of manchester, on taking the chair, made a speech, rehearsing the history of the party and laying out its programme for the future, closing as follows: the republican party has future duties. its mission cannot end and its work should not, so long as any radical reform shall yet urge its demands in behalf of humanity. the civil service reform is eminent and important. in this regard the movement of the present administration is in the right direction, and yet it is only a first step of many which must ultimately be taken. to the people, not to a part of the people, belongs the sovereignty of this nation. let them keep it. to this end great care should be taken to guard against the caucus system. nothing should be more scrupulously avoided in the management of political parties. anti-republican in spirit, it is sometimes exclusive in practice. the people have the same right to nominate that they have to elect their own officers. why not? ultimately, too, they will take that right, and for its own sake no party can afford to make itself the nursery of caucus power. the political machinery should be simplified, that nothing which mere politicians can desire shall stand between the people and their government. in a genuine republic, every act of the government should be but a practical expression of its subjects. all the subjects, too, should share equally the power of such expression. there should be no exclusion among intelligent, qualified classes. involved in this principle is the idea of woman suffrage, the next great moral issue, in my judgment, which this country must meet, and a reform which no party can afford to despise. indubitably right, as i believe it to be, i regard its success as inevitable, and that whatever party opposes it is as surely destined to defeat, as was the party which arrayed itself in opposition to the anti-slavery cause. the following letter in the _woman's journal_ shows that something of the spirit of the connecticut smith-sisters has been found in new hampshire: i have long felt a deep interest in the subject of woman's rights, and some fifteen years ago i resisted taxation two successive years. the second year i worked out my highway tax, for which crime i brought down upon my guilty head a severe persecution from both men and women, from clergymen and lawyers, as well as other classes of my fellow townsmen. the tax-collectors came into my house and attached furniture and sold it at auction in order to collect my tax, one of whom made me all the cost the laws would allow. the most incensed town officers threatened that if i resisted taxation the next year, they would take my house from me and sell it at auction. one of the tax-gatherers asked me what i thought i could do alone in resisting taxation. he said he did not believe there was another woman in the state of new hampshire who possessed the hardihood to take such a stand against the laws. the editor of one of our weekly journals, who professed to be an advocate of woman's rights, and who was a candidate for representative in the state legislature, condemned me through the columns of his paper, in order to secure the votes of his fellow townsmen who were opposed to woman's rights. he had nothing to fear from me, knowing that i was only a disfranchised slave. such unjust treatment seemed so cruel that i sometimes felt i could willingly lay down my life, if it would deliver my sex from such degrading oppression. i have, every year since, submissively paid my taxes, humbly hoping and praying that i may live to see the day that women will not be compelled to pay taxes without representation. mary l. harrington. _claremont, n. h., january , ._ in a law was passed allowing women to be members of school committees; and eight years later a law was enacted permitting women to vote at school meetings. on the evening of august , , the house special committee granted a hearing to the friends[ ] of the school-suffrage bill, which had already passed the senate by a unanimous vote; and the next day, when the bill came up for final action in the house, the following debate occurred: mr. batchelder of littleton said: this bill is one of the greatest importance, and before we vote upon it let us have the views of the committee. mr. galen foster of canterbury called upon mr. blodgett to give his opinion as to the power of the legislature upon the question. mr. blodgett of franklin said he had no doubt of the constitutionality of the bill. school districts were created by statute and not by the constitution; hence the legislature had a perfect right to say who should vote in controlling their affairs. mr. foster said: the mothers of our children should have a voice in their education. we have allowed women to hold certain offices in connection with schools, but we have never given them a voice in the control of the money expended upon them. the mothers take ten times more interest in the education of the young than the fathers do, and should have an equal voice in the affairs of the school districts. this is a matter of right and justice. mr. sinclair of bethlehem said: there ought not to be any objection to this bill. if there is any class that ought to have a voice in the education of children, it is the mothers. [applause.] some of the best school committees in the state are women. if they can be elected to that office, is it proper to say they shall have no voice in the elections? mr. whicher of strafford thought they would get a little mixed in carrying out the provisions of this bill, in the face of the statutes relating to school-district meetings. he would move to indefinitely postpone the bill. mr. mosher of dover said: there ought to be a new motion gotten up; to "indefinitely postpone" is getting to be stereotyped. this bill needs no further championing. its justice is apparent. mr. hobbs of ossippee said: if women are capable of holding office they are also capable of saying who shall hold it. [applause.] mr. patten of manchester favored the bill and hoped the motion of mr. whicher would be voted down. the speaker [mr. woolson of lisbon] said: the bill had passed the senate unanimously, been reported unanimously by the committee, and he hoped it would be passed promptly by the house. [applause.] mr. patterson of hanover said he would congratulate the gentleman from bethlehem on being orthodox on this question. mr. sinclair congratulated his friend from hanover on his display of courage in waiting until the ice was broken all round before making a forward step. mr. whicher withdrew his motion to postpone and then moved to lay the bill upon the table. this being lost, the bill was passed, august , . mrs. white, the president of the state association, in a letter to a friend, wrote as follows: to our surprise and delight the bill allowing women to vote at school-district meetings passed the house yesterday amid much cheering and clapping of hands, the ladies in the gallery joining in the demonstration. thus conservative new hampshire leads new england in this branch of reform for women. the governor, b. f. prescott, signed the bill without delay and words of cheer poured into the capital city from all quarters; especially were mr. and mrs. white congratulated upon this good result of their earnest and persistent labors. the following is from the _woman's journal_: at the first election at the state capital of new hampshire under the new law allowing women to vote on school questions, the result was a wonderfully full vote, not less than , ballots being cast, of which over half were deposited by women. the boston _investigator_, from which we gather these facts, says: the balloting extended over three meetings and the number of women who participated was almost exactly doubled on the second and third evenings-- , , . another interesting feature of this election was the fact that the sexes did not rally to the support of opposing tickets, but men and women divided their votes very evenly. a ticket bearing the names of two men was elected by a narrow majority over another which bore the names of a man and woman. of the first evening's election the telegraphic dispatch to the _boston globe_ was headed, "crowds of women voting in new hampshire": concord, n. h., march .--the occasion of the annual meeting of the union-school district of this city, which comprises all of the city proper, this evening, was one of unprecedented interest. for months school matters have been sharply agitated and the election has been looked forward to as an opportunity by all parties. to the uncommon interest centered in the matter the right of women to vote at school meetings, delegated by the last session of the legislature, greatly added. the new condition of affairs had been fully canvassed and the women had determined on making the best of their first opportunity and winning a decisive victory if possible. the night of the meeting proved inauspicious, but notwithstanding the severe storm of snow and sleet that was falling the newly constituted citizens were out in force. at the hour of opening the meeting the city hall was packed to suffocation, of the audience, at least, being ladies. the first business was the choice of a moderator, and in this the ladies may claim a victory, as the candidate a majority of them supported was elected in the person of ex-mayor john kimball. after this came the reading of the report of the board of education, which was strenuously objected to by the male supporters of the ladies. in this they were beaten by a large majority. the reading completed, the meeting commenced to ballot for three members of the board. the scene then became one beyond the power of the reportorial pen to describe. it was an old-fashioned new hampshire town-meeting, with the concomitant boisterousness and profanity subdued by the presence of the ladies. a line was formed to the polls and a struggling mass of humanity in which male and female citizens were incongruously and indecorously mixed, surged towards the ballot-box. the crowding, squeezing and pushing were severe enough for the taste of the masculine voter, and were harsh enough to make it extremely unpleasant for the dear creatures who were undergoing so much to cast their maiden vote. to add to the delay the hon. nathaniel white had planted his somewhat corpulent form directly in front of the ballot-box and stayed the surging tide to shake hands with every woman that voted. having voted, the men were only too glad to leave the crowded hall and let the anxious crowd rush in. the vote was at last all in, and the work of counting completed shortly before o'clock. it was found that there were some ten different tickets in the field, and forty-two candidates voted for; but from this mass of votes there was no choice, though the regular candidates, the outgoing members of the board, who would have been elected had it not been for the new element in the election, were ahead, having a plurality. the meeting was then adjourned till next saturday evening, when the scenes of to-night will be intensified by a larger attendance and still greater interest. the meeting to-night obtains importance in new hampshire, as this is the center of female suffrage sentiment in this state, and the women are determined to win here if possible. in the opening convention of november , , mrs. white, the president, made the following address: _ladies and gentlemen, friends of the n. h. woman suffrage association_: we hold the seventh meeting of this association under circumstances that mark an epoch in the progress of equal rights, irrespective of sex, in this state. after more than a decade of agitation, and petitioning of our legislature, women hold in their hand the ballot on one important matter. let us exchange congratulations on this occasion, that so much has been gained toward the final triumph of our cause. you will remember when this association was last in session, july, , that the bill giving the women of new hampshire the right to vote on the public-school questions, was pending in our legislature. at our first hearing before that body, we hardly dared anticipate the passage of the bill during that session. but agitation, vigilance and perseverance ever bring their sure reward in the end, therefore we continued to press our claim, and soon learned to our great satisfaction that our allies in behalf of this bill, were the very _cream_ of our legislature. we at once took courage, and as day after day we went up to the state-house, with friends who plead for it before the committee, who kindly gave us several hearings; we saw the gradual growth of interest in behalf of this bill soon ripen into a final decision causing it to pass; thereby enacting a law, to which our worthy governor, b. f. prescott, immediately gave his willing signature, securing to the women of this state the high privilege many of them gladly exercised last spring. many feared this law would be repealed; but to show with what favor it has been received, we have only to refer to the legislature of the present year, which passed an additional law, giving to women not only the right to vote for and serve on school boards, but also the power to serve as moderator or clerk in school meetings, for which the former law did not provide. this, it would seem must remove all fears of a repeal. petitions asking municipal suffrage for women, were sent to our last legislature, and a bill to that effect, introduced in the house, was referred to a special committee, who reported in its favor: and after more or less discussion, although the bill did not pass, about one hundred members voted for it, and their names are registered, and with the committee, will be kindly remembered by those women whose cause they did not desert. from past experience we see the importance of continued labor and proper measures for the accomplishment of our work. the present degree of progress indicates the fact that we are not to obtain the full recognition of our rights at one bound, but that they are coming step by step. to note the growth of our principles in the various reform movements, let us look at the temperance organizations throughout the length and breadth of this country; we find nearly all of them now discussing the ballot for women. why, no sooner had massachusetts, following the example of new hampshire, obtained the school ballot for women, than the woman's christian temperance unions all over the state were a unit for the temperance ballot, and the past year have had their agents canvassing the state in the interest of school suffrage and "home protection." all who read the reports last winter of frances e. willard's labors in illinois in behalf of her home protection bill (for it originated with her), of the list of petitioners of both sexes she secured and took to springfield, of the delegation of women who accompanied her there to advocate her bill, must acknowledge the educating force of all such untiring devotion for the right to vote. although she was not victorious, she was successful beyond all expectation, for it is said, "success is not always a victory, nor is victory always a success in the end." let me say here, miss willard believes in the entire enfranchisement of her sex, but in her earnest and faithful labors makes a specialty of the temperance ballot. at the annual meeting of the new hampshire woman's christian temperance union, held here one year ago, a resolution was offered by a most worthy lady, indorsing suffrage for women on all temperance questions. it was at once vigorously opposed by some, while others, although believing in it, feared it would divide their ranks if it passed, and felt too timid to give it their support. the lady offering it, seeing it would be defeated, withdrew it, at the same time giving notice that she should present the same, or one similar, to that body every year as long as she lived, or until it passed. last month the same organization held its annual meeting in portsmouth, and that lady, as good as her word, was there with her resolution on temperance suffrage, and it passed unanimously, about delegates being present and voting, many of whom acknowledged the timidity they felt last year, but now earnestly gave it their support. such experiences give us some idea of the different instrumentalities by which our cause is forced upon conservative minds for consideration, ending in honest conviction. in closing, i know you will all unite with me in tributes to mr. garrison. now that he has gone to join that innumerable host of philanthropists in the higher life, let us rejoice that he was one of the leaders of that reform which brings us here to-day. and now, friends, in view of the present status of our cause, have we not much to encourage us in our work? may we go forward in that spirit of good-will that shall bring us a speedy victory. resolutions of respect to the memory of mrs. abby p. ela, william lloyd garrison and angelina grimké weld were adopted by a rising vote. in the _national citizen_ of december , , we find the following: marilla m. ricker of new hampshire had an executive hearing before the governor and council of that state, november , in regard to the management of the state prison. mrs. ricker, who in winter practices law in washington, and is known as "the prisoner's friend," referred to the cruel treatment of convicts in various states, notably in new hampshire, where prisoners are not permitted to read the magazines or the weekly newspapers which contain no record of crime, nor to receive words from their friends, as in other states they are allowed at stated times to do. when mrs. ricker desired to see a certain prisoner and let him know he had friends who were yet mindful of his comfort, the warden replied that he did not wish that man "to think he had a friend in the world." mrs. ricker warmly protested against such brutality. the attorney-general agreed with mrs. ricker, remarking that the line between crimes punished and those not punished, and the lines between those in prison and those outside who ought to be there, were so dim and shadowy that great care should be exercised in order to secure just and humane treatment for prisoners. mrs. ricker's remarks were earnest and dignified, and were listened to with the closest attention by the governor and his official advisers. at the close of the hearing the governor referred the subject to the special prison committee of the council, directing its members to procure all possible information as to the management of penitentiaries in other states, and report at the next meeting. through mrs. ricker's influence the last legislature passed an act providing that any convict may send sealed letters to the governor or council without their being read by the warden. in a judicial decision in new hampshire recognized the advance legislation of that state in regard to the position of married women. this decision shows that they are no longer under the shadow of the old common law, but now hold equal dignity and power as individuals and joint heads in family life. the "divinely ordained head," with absolute control in the home, to rule according to his will and pleasure, is at last ruled out of the courts altogether, as the following case illustrates: mrs. harris and her husband sued mrs. webster and her husband for slanders uttered by mrs. webster against mrs. harris. the suit was brought on the old theory that the legal personality of the wife is merged in that of her husband; that she is under his control, his chattel, his ox, and therefore he is responsible for her trespasses as for those of his other domestic cattle. the court held that the wife is no longer an "ox" or "chattel," but a person responsible for her acts, and that her innocent husband could not be held responsible for her wrong. in rendering the decision in this case, judge foster further said: "it is no longer possible to say that in new hampshire a married woman is a household slave or a chattel, or that in new hampshire the conjugal unity is represented solely by the husband. by custom and by statute the wife is now joint master of the household, and not a slave or a servant. the rule now is that her legal existence is not suspended. so practically has the ancient unity become dissevered and dissolved that the wife may not only have her separate property, contracts, debts, wages, and causes of separate action growing out of a violation of her personal rights, but she may enter into legal contract with her husband and enforce it by suit against him." the writer of the following letter is a successful farmer, remarkable for her executive ability in all the practical affairs of life, as well as for her broad philanthropy. one year she sent, as a contribution to our washington convention, a tub of butter holding about sixty pounds, which was sold on the platform and the proceeds put into the treasury of the national association: _dear friends assembled in the washington convention:_ last week our new town-house was dedicated. the women accompanied their husbands. one man spoke in favor of woman suffrage--said it was "surely coming." in this town, at the corners, for several years they tried to get a graded school, but the men voted it down. after the women had the school-suffrage, one lady, who had a large family and did not wish to send her children away from home, rallied all the women of the corners, carried the vote, and they now have a good graded school. our village is moving down, that the boys and girls may have the benefit of the good school there. i think the women who have been indifferent and not availed themselves of their small voting privilege, by which we might have established the same class of school in our village, will now regret their negligence, at least every time they have to send three miles for a doctor. thus, stupid people, blind to their own interest, punish themselves. i regret not being able to send a fuller report of the good that woman's use of the ballot, in a limited form, has done for us in this state. the voting in the town-hall is the "infant school" for women in the use of the ballot. thanking the ladies all for meeting at the capital of the nation, and regretting not to be counted among the number, i am, yours sincerely, mary a. p. filley. _north haverill, january , ._ in closing this chapter some mention should be made of the invaluable services of senator blair,[ ] who, in his place, has always nobly defended the rights of women. he was a member of the first special committee ever appointed to look after the interests of women in the united states senate. the leaders of the movement in that state claim that they helped to place senator blair in his present position by defeating his predecessor, mr. wadleigh, who was hostile to the enfranchisement of women. united states senate, washington, d. c., march , . my dear miss anthony: i had the honor duly to receive your invitation to address the national association during its sessions in this city, for which i heartily thank you; but the pressure of duties in the senate, service upon committees being just now specially exacting, makes it impossible for me to accept. i trust that i need not assure you of my full belief that woman has the right and ought to have the privilege to vote. whenever a fundamental right exists both public and individual welfare are promoted by its exercise and injured by its suppression. the exercise of rights is only another name for the discharge of duties, and the denial of the suffrage to an adult human being, not deprived of it for mental or penal disability, is an intolerable wrong. such denial is not only a deprivation of right to the individual, but it is an injury to the state, which is only well governed when controlled by the conflicting opinions, sentiments and interests of the whole, harmonized in the ballot-box, and, by its fiat, elevated to the functions of law. but you have no occasion for expression of theoretical views from me. if i may be pardoned a suggestion, it would be the specification to the public mind of the practical uses and benefits which would result from the exercise of the suffrage by women. men are not conscious that women lack the practical protection of the laws or the comforts and conveniences of material and social relations more than themselves. the possession of the ballot as a practical means of securing happiness does not appear to the masses to be necessary to women in our country. men say: "we do the best we can for our wives and children and relatives. they are as well off as we." in a certain sense this appears to be true. the other and higher truth is that woman suffrage is necessary in order that society may advance. the natural conservatism of an existing order of things will not give way to a new factor in the control of affairs, until it has been shown in what way enlightened selfishness may hope for good to society if the change be made. here it seems to me that the convention may now strike a blow more powerful than for many years. society has not so labored with the great problems which concern its own salvation for generations. what would woman do with the ballot if she had it? what for education? what for sobriety? what for social purity? what for equalizing the conditions and the rewards of labor--the labor of her own sex first--and towards a just division of production among all members of the community? what for the removal, or for the amelioration when removal is impossible, of hunger, cold, disease and degradation, from the daily lives of human beings? what could and what _would_ woman do with the ballot which is not now as well done by man alone, to improve the conditions which envelope individual existence as with bands of iron? what good things--state them _seriatim_, as the lawyers say--could woman do in new hampshire and in new york city, and ultimately among the savage tribes of the earth, which she cannot do as well without as with the suffrage? would woman by her suffrage even _help_ to remove illiteracy from louisiana, intemperance from new england, and stop society from committing murder by the tenement-house abuses of new york? let the convention specify what practical good woman will try to achieve with her god-given rights, provided that men will permit her to enjoy them. show us wherein you will do _us_ good if we will rob you no longer. it might influence us greatly. why should we do right for nothing? in fact, unless you show that the exercise of your alleged right will be useful, can you logically conclude that you have any? we must have proof that the experiment will not fail before we will even try it. you must connect the ballot with progress and reform and convince men that they, as well as women, will be better off for its possession by the whole of the adult community rather than only by a part. theories may be true, but they are seldom reduced to practice by society unless it can be clearly seen that their adoption will heal some hurt or introduce some broad and general good. the increasing discussion of industrial, educational, sanitary, and social questions generally, indicates the domain of argument and effort where victories for the advocates of enlarged suffrage are most likely, and i think are sure to be won. woman should study specially what is called, for the want of a better term, the labor problem--a problem which includes in its scope almost everything important to everybody. i know this is an unnecessary suggestion, for it is just what you are doing. i only write it because repetition of the important is better than to recite platitudes or even to quote the declaration. i believe in your success because i believe in justice and in the advancement of mankind. very respectfully, your obedient servant, henry w. blair. footnotes: [ ] _concord_, nathaniel p. white, mrs. sarah pillsbury, rev. j. f. lovering, p. b. cogswell, mrs. eliza morrill, mrs. louisa w. wood, col. james e. larkin, mrs. j. f. lovering, charles s. piper, mrs. armenia s. white, mrs. m. m. smith, mrs. f. e. kittredge, mrs. sarah piper, mrs. ira abbott, mrs. l. m. bust, dr. a. morrill, mrs. p. ladd, mrs. r. a. smith, george w. brown, mr. and mrs. j. v. aldrich, mr. and mrs. m. b. smith, mrs. t. h. brown, mrs. r. hatch, mrs. j. l. crawford, mrs. anna dumas, miss harriet c. edmunds, miss salina stevens, miss mary a. denning, miss n. e. fessender, miss m. l. noyes, miss clara noyes, james h. chase, peter sanborn; _lancaster_, rev. j. m. l. babcock; _rochester_, mrs. abby p. ela; _bradford_, mrs. l. a. t. lane, miss m. j. tappan; _laconia_, rev. j. l. gorman, william m. blair; _manchester_, dr. m. o. a. hunt; _plymouth_, hon. d. r. burnham; _portsmouth_, hon. a. w. haven; _canterbury_, mr. and mrs. d. m. clough; _lebanon_, a. m. shaw; _keene_, col. and mrs. wilson; _grafton_, mr. and mrs. peter kimball; _northfield_, mrs. d. e. hill; _franklin_, rev. wm. t. savage; _canaan_, william w. george; _littleton_, r. d. runneville. [ ] they had their influence in the church as well as the state, as the following item in _the revolution_, july , , shows: "the new hampshire convention of universalists, at their late anniversary, adopted unanimously a resolution in favor of woman's elevation to entire equality with man in every civil, political and religious right." [ ] _president_, mrs. armenia s. white. _vice-presidents_, rev. j.f. lovering, concord; mrs. a.l. thomas, laconia; ossian ray, lancaster; mrs. s. pillsbury, concord; j.v. aldrich, west concord; mrs. mary worcester, nashua; mrs. mary barker, alton; peter kimball, grafton; e.j. durant, lebanon; mrs. fannie v. roberts, dover; miss a.c. payson, peterboro; mrs. e.a. bartlett, kingston; mr. springfield, south wolfboro; galen foster, canterbury; mrs. r.m. miller, manchester; mrs. nancy gilman, tilton; c. ballou, north weare; d. burnham, plymouth. _executive committee_, nathaniel white, mrs. e.c. lovering, col. j.e. larkin, concord; mrs. j. abby ela, rochester; rev. wm. t. savage, franklin; mrs. eliza morrill, mrs. daniel holden, west concord; miss caroline foster, canterbury; p.b. cogswell, mrs. louisa wood, mrs. m.m. smith, concord; dr. m.v.a. hunt, manchester. _recording secretary_, mrs. e.c. lovering, concord. _corresponding secretary_, dr. j. gallinger. _treasurer_, jas. h. chase. [ ] wendell phillips, william lloyd garrison, thomas wentworth higginson, frederick hinckley, lucy stone, frances ellen harper, dr. sarah h. hathaway, rev. phebe a. hanaford, rev. mr. connor, rev. ada c. bowles, emma coe still, rev. lorenza haynes, mary grew, mary a. livermore, elizabeth k. churchill, margaret w. campbell, anna dickinson, elizabeth cady stanton, matilda joslyn gage, rev. olympia brown, lillie devereux blake, elizabeth a. meriwether, elizabeth lisle saxon, susan b. anthony. [ ] the speakers at this hearing were mr. galen foster of canterbury, senators gallinger and shaw, mrs. abby goold woolson, h. p. rolfe, s. b. page, rev. e. l. conger and mrs. armenia s. white. [ ] reëlected to the senate, june, . chapter xxxvi. vermont. clarina howard nichols--council of censors--amending the constitution--st. andrew's letter--mr. reed's report--convention called--h. b. blackwell on the _vermont watchman_--mary a. livermore in the _woman's journal_--sarah a. gibbs' reply to rev. mr. holmes--school suffrage. after the miseries growing out of the civil war were in a measure mitigated, there was a general awakening in the new england states on the question of suffrage for women, and in one after another organized for action. what nathaniel p. rogers was to new hampshire in the anti-slavery struggle that was clarina howard nichols[ ] to vermont in early calling attention to the unjust laws for woman. from to she edited the _windham county democrat_, in which she wrote a series of editorials on the property rights of women, and from year to year made her appeals in person to successive legislatures. her patient labors for many years prepared the way for the organized action of . the women of that state can never too highly appreciate all that it cost that noble woman to stand alone, as she did, through such bitter persecutions, vindicating for them the great principles of republican government. and now, after a quarter of a century, instead of that one solitary voice in the district school-house and the state capitol, are heard in all vermont's towns and cities, echoing through her valleys and mountains, the clarion voices of a whole band of distinguished men and women from all the eastern states. the revival of the woman question in vermont began with propositions to amend the constitution. we are indebted to a series of letters, written by a citizen of burlington, signed "st. andrew," for many of the interesting incidents and substantial facts as to the initiative steps taken in this campaign. he said: the only way of amending the constitution is for the people (meaning the male voters) to elect, every seventh year, a board called the council of censors, consisting of thirteen persons. this council can, within a certain time, propose amendments to the constitution, and call a convention of one delegate from each town, elected by the freemen, to adopt or reject the articles of amendment proposed by the council. the council of censors, elected in march, , proposed six amendments: ( ) in relation to the creation of corporations; ( ) in relation to biënnial sessions and elections; ( ) in relation to filling vacancies in the office of senators and town representatives; ( ) in relation to the appointment, terms, etc., of judges of the supreme court; ( ) providing that women shall be entitled to vote, and with no other restrictions than the law shall impose on men; ( ) in relation to the manner of amending the constitution. the election of delegates occurs on tuesday, may , and the convention meets on the first wednesday in june. there is no general excitement in the state in relation to any of the proposed changes; and now, upon the eve of the election, it is impossible for the most sagacious political observer to predict the fate of any of the amendments. the fifth is the only one in support of which public meetings have been held, and those took place the early part of the spring at the larger places in the state. the friends have never expected to obtain a majority, nor even a considerable vote in the convention, and the meetings that have been held were not expected to settle the question, but to awaken the public mind upon the subject. these meetings have been a decided success, attended by hundreds of intelligent citizens, many of whom for the first time listened to an address upon the subject. it is true that ladies were advised to remain away, but such advice generally resulted in a larger attendance; and to-day the measure has a firmer support than ever before, and its advocates are more confident of final success. we may not have more than "_ten righteous_" men elected to the convention, but that number was enough to save the cities of the _plain_, and we have full faith that as small a number can save the cities of the _mountains_. the press of the state is divided on the subject. we have two dailies--one, the _rutland herald_, the oldest paper in the state, in favor of the movement, and the _free press_ of burlington, opposed to it. after the coming convention, no change can be made in our constitution for seven years, at least, and if the sixth amendment be adopted, not for ten years. but, in the meantime, the question will assume more importance by a constant agitation as to the equality of the sexes, the admission of women to the state university, the professions, and other rights to which men are entitled. vermont can never emulate in wealth and population the manufacturing states of the seaboard, or the prairie states of the west; but she can win a nobler preëminence in the quality of her institutions. she may be the first state, as wyoming already is the first territory, to give political equality to woman, and to show the world the model of a true republic. st. andrew. _burlington, vt., may , ._ mr. reed of washington county submitted the report in favor of the woman suffrage amendment, from which we give the following: one-half of the people of our state are denied the right of suffrage. yet woman has all the qualifications--the capacity, the desire for the public welfare, that man has. she is among the governed. she pays taxes. even-handed justice, a fair application of the principles of the declaration of independence and of our state constitution, give woman the ballot. there is no reason why woman should not be allowed to do what she is so eminently fit to do. we know no good reason why the most ignorant man should vote and the intelligent woman be refused. our present political institutions were formed and shaped when men had their chief interests and pursuits out of doors, and women remained the humble slaves at home. the social change has been immense. now woman sits by the side of man, is his companion and associate in his amusements, and in his labors, save the one of governing the country. and it is time that she should be in this. the position of woman in regard to the common schools of the state is the most unjust. she must always be the chief instructor of the young in point of time and influence. she is their best teacher at home and in the school. and her share in this ever-expanding work is becoming vaster every day. woman as mother, sister, teacher, has an intelligence, a comprehension of the educational needs of our youth, and an interest in their development, far in advance of the other sex. she can organize, control and teach the most difficult school in the state; yet she has no vote in the selection of teachers, the building, arrangements and equipments of school-houses, nor in the method and extent of instruction. she can pay her share of the expenses of schools, but can have no legal voice in their management. she can teach, but she can have no vote in determining what shall be taught. she is the very corner-stone of institutions which she has no power in shaping. let us have her open, avowed and public coöperation--always safer than indirect influence. the submission of an amendment to the constitution necessarily aroused a general agitation on the proposed changes. the fifth amendment decided on by the board of censors seemed to create a more general interest than either of the others, and accordingly a meeting was called for its full consideration, that efficient steps might be taken for a thorough canvass of the state, preparatory to the may election, and issued the following call: the friends of woman suffrage in vermont are requested to meet in mass convention at montpelier on wednesday, february , at o'clock, for the purpose of considering and advancing the best interests of the cause in this state, in view of the constitutional amendment proposed by the council of censors. the convention will be addressed by several ladies and prominent gentlemen of this state, and by william lloyd garrison, julia ward howe and rev. ada c. bowles of massachusetts; lucy stone and henry b. blackwell of new jersey, and mary a. livermore of illinois. a public meeting will also be held the evening before the convention, which will be addressed by some of the eminent speakers above named. the hutchinson family will be present and sing their woman suffrage songs. the vermont central, passumpsic, rutland and burlington and bennington and rutland lines of railroad will extend the courtesy of free return checks, provided they shall be applied for by twenty-five or more persons paying full fare one way over an average distance of each of their respective roads, which will be determined by the secretary. c. w. willard, james hutchinson, jr., george h. bigelow, charles reed, newman weeks, jonathan ross, james s. peck. _ex. com. vermont woman suffrage association_.[ ] _montpelier_, january , . it is a noticeable fact that the movement for the enfranchisement of woman in vermont was inaugurated wholly by men. not a woman was on its official board, nor was there one to speak in the state. men called the first woman's rights convention, and chose hon. charles reed of montpelier as its presiding officer, as well as president of the state association. however, these gentlemen invited ladies from other states, and a series of meetings[ ] was inaugurated through the chief towns and cities of vermont. the speakers[ ] were heartily welcomed at some points and rudely received at others. the usual "free-love" cry was started by some of the opposition papers--a cry that like "infidel" in the anti-slavery days, oft' times frightened even the faithful from their propriety. henry b. blackwell came to the rescue, and ably answered the _vermont watchman_: the _vermont watchman_ evades the discussion of the question whether women shall be entitled to vote, by raising false issues. the editor asserts that "many of the advocates of suffrage have thrown scorn upon marriage and upon the divine word." that assertion we denounced as an unfounded and wicked calumny. we also objected to it as an evasion of the main question. thereupon the _watchman_, instead of correcting its mistake and discussing the question of suffrage, repeats the charge, and seeks to sustain it by garbled quotations and groundless assertions, which we stigmatized accordingly. the _watchman_ now calls upon us to retract the stigma. we prefer to prove that our censure is deserved, and proceed to do so. the first quotation of the _watchman_ is from an editorial in the _woman's journal_, entitled "political organization." the object of which was to show the propriety of doing what the _watchman_ refuses to do--viz.: of discussing woman suffrage upon its own merits. it showed the unfairness of complicating the question with other topics upon which friends of woman suffrage honestly differ. it regretted that "many well-meaning people insist on dragging in their peculiar views on theology, temperance, marriage, race, dress, finance, labor, capital--it matters not what." it condemned "a confusion of ideas which have no logical connection," and protested "against loading the good ship, woman suffrage, with a cargo of irrelevant opinions." the _watchman_ cites this article as an admission that some of the friends of suffrage advocate free-love. not at all. the editor of the _watchman_ is himself one of the well-meaning people alluded to. he insists on dragging in irrelevant theological and social questions. he refuses to confine himself to the issue of suffrage. the _watchman_ quotes a single sentence of the following statement: the advocates of woman's equality differ utterly upon every other topic. some are abolitionists, others hostile to the equality of races. some are evangelical christians; others catholics, unitarians, spiritualists, or quakers. some hold the most rigid theories with regard to marriage and divorce; others are latitudinarian on these questions. in short, people of the most opposite views agree in desiring to establish woman suffrage, while they anticipate very different results from the reform, when effected. the above is cited as evidence against us. how so? a man may hold "latitudinarian theories in regard to marriage and divorce" without "throwing scorn upon the marriage relation," or having the slightest sympathy with free-love. for instance: the present law of vermont is latitudinarian is these very particulars. it grants divorce for many other causes than adultery. measured by the more conservative standard of henry ward beecher and mary a. livermore, it allows divorce upon insufficient grounds. this law represents the public sentiment of a majority of the people of vermont. will the _watchman_ assert that the people of vermont "throw scorn on the marriage relation"? or that he is in "low company" because he is surrounded by the citizens of a state who entertain views upon the marriage relation less rigid than his own? our indignant protest against the injustice of the common law, which subjects the person, property, earnings and children of married women to the irresponsible control of their husbands, is not a protest against marriage. it is a vindication of marriage, against the barbarism of the law which degrades a noble and life-long partnership of equals into a mercenary and servile relation between superior and dependant. the _watchman_ assails prominent supporters of woman suffrage, and misquotes and misrepresents them. because theodore tilton is unwilling "that men or women shall be compelled to live together as husband and wife against the inward protest of their own souls," therefore he is charged with advocating free-love. is it possible that the editor regards such a relation of protest and disgust as consistent with the unity of christian marriage? is it right that a pure and noble man, the tender husband of a happy wife, the loving father of affectionate children, should be thus causelessly traduced for showing that the essential fact of marriage is in that unity of soul which is recognized and affirmed by the outward form? when the _watchman_ undertakes to brand men and women of irreproachable character for an intellectual difference, he is engaged in a very unworthy business. when he charges immorality upon the _new york independent_ and infidelity upon john stuart mill, he forgets that his readers have minds of their own. but, suppose it were true that newspapers and individuals who believe in woman suffrage held objectionable views on other subjects, what has this to do with the merit of the proposed reform? there are impure and intemperate men in the republican party. is the republican party therefore "low company"? there are brutal and ignorant and disloyal men in the democratic party. does this prove that dr. lord and every other democrat in the state of vermont is brutal and ignorant and disloyal? the supreme court of the united states has just decided that a divorce obtained under the laws of indiana is legal and binding in every other state. in thus affirming mrs. mcfarland's right to marry mr. richardson, has the supreme court of the united states sanctioned free-love? will the _watchman_ call chief-justice chase and the supreme court free-lovers? we have very little hope that the _watchman_ will treat this question with fairness or candor. our cause is too strong. the argument from reason, from revelation, from nature, from history, is on our side. the _watchman_ is fighting against the declaration of independence, the bill of rights of the state of vermont, and the principles of representative government. no wonder that it raises false issues. no wonder that it evades the question. h. b. b. the following editorial in the _woman's journal_, from the pen of mary a. livermore, does not give a very rose-colored view of the reception of the massachusetts missionaries on their first advent into vermont: the vermont constitutional convention has rejected a proposition to give the ballot to woman, by a vote of to . it flouted all discussion of the question, and voted it down with the utmost alacrity. no one cognizant of the bigotry, narrowness and general ignorance that prevail there will be surprised at this result. it is not a progressive state, but the contrary. great stress has been laid on the fact that "vermont never owned a slave"--and from this it has been argued that the green mountain state is and has been especially liberty-loving. but during the two brief visits we made last winter, we were told again and again, by vermont men, that the only reason for the non-introduction of slavery was the impracticability of that form of labor among the green mountains--that slavery could never have been made profitable there, and that this, and not principle and heroic love of freedom, prevented vermont from ever being a slave state. nowhere, not even in the roughest and remotest west, have we met with such vulgar rudeness, ill-manners and heroic lying as we encountered in vermont. the lecturers who were invited into the state by the vermont woman suffrage association, composed wholly of men, were in many instances left unsupported by them, allowed to meet the frequently rough audiences as best they could, to pay their own bills, and to manage the campaign as they might. at the very first intimation of opposition on the part of the _montpelier argus_, the _watchman_ and the _burlington free press_--an unworthy trio of papers that appear to control the majority--many members of the state association showed the "white feather," and either apologetically backed out of the canvass, or ignominiously kept silent in the background. there was, therefore, nothing like a thorough discussion of the question, no fair meeting of truth and error, not even an attempt to canvass the state. for, not ambitious to waste their efforts on such flinty soil, the men and women who were invited to labor there shook off the dust (snow) of vermont from their feet, and turned to more hopeful fields of labor. let it not be supposed, however, that this vote of the delegates of the constitutional convention is any indication of the sentiment of the women on this question. the fact that women of lawful age, residents of brattleborough, and of newfane, sent a petition for woman suffrage, with their reasons for asking it, to charles k. field, delegate from that town to the constitutional convention; that petitions from other hundreds of women have been forwarded to congress, praying for a sixteenth amendment; that, by letters and personal statements, we know the most intelligent and thoughtful women everywhere rebel against the state laws whose heathenism, despotism and absurdity were so well shown by mrs. nichols in --all these facts are proofs that the sentiment of vermont women is not represented by the constitutional convention now in session at montpelier.--[m. a. l. august , , our burlington correspondent says: while conventions, picnics and bazar meetings, in the cause of woman suffrage, have been held in our sister states, an event has very quietly occurred with us which we deem an important step in the right direction, viz.: the admission of women to the university. by an almost unanimous vote of the corporation, a few conservatives opposing it, the matter was referred to the faculty, who are understood to be heartily in favor of the "new departure." the college that has thus thrown its doors wide open to all, is the university of vermont and state agricultural college, founded by the munificence of general ira allen in . it commenced operations in ; the federal troops used its buildings for barracks in the war of ; the buildings (and library) were burned in , and reconstructed in the following year, when the corner-stone was laid by general lafayette. it sent forth nearly all its sons to the great rebellion. indeed, at one time its condition served to remind one of the lines of holmes-- "lord, how the _senior_ knocked about that freshman class of _one_." it has graduated such men as the late senator collamer, john g. smith, president of the northern pacific railroad; william g. t. shedd, the learned theologian; the late henry j. raymond of the new york _times_; john a. kasson of iowa, frederick billings, and a host of others, eminent in all the walks of life. its late president, who was an "angell from providence," and has just been elected president of michigan university, is heartily in favor of the movement, and the president-elect, matthew h. buckham, is no less so. with its new president and its "new departure" the future bids fair even to outshine the past. it may be well to inquire the reason why a college located in a state regarded by outsiders "as the most conservative of the union on the woman suffrage question," should take a step so far in advance of what has been deemed the prevailing sentiment. editors who have been battling the new reform with a zeal equaled only by that manifested against abolitionism a few years since, can see no necessary connection between the new movement and the general cause of woman's emancipation. whether necessary or not, there is a practical connection between them which is being felt more and more every day. i assert, with no fear of contradiction by any observing man, that vermont is no more committed against woman suffrage than any other state in the east, and the fact that but one man in our late convention voted to extend the right of suffrage to all, can well be explained when we consider the manner of choosing delegates by towns; one town, for instance, with twelve voters, having the same voice in the representation that this city has with , . with a popular vote upon that question the state would give such a majority as would fairly astonish all those who regarded the late convention as a complete demolition of the "reformers." st. andrew. the following criticism of the rev. mr. holmes, from the pen of a woman, shows the growing self-assertion of a class hitherto held in a condition of subordination by clerical authority. such tergiversation in the pulpit as his has done much to emancipate woman from the reverence she once felt for the teaching of those supposed to be divinely ordained of heaven: benson, vt., june , . i have heard it stated from the pulpit within a year that the woman suffrage question in vermont is dead. well, we believe in the resurrection. week by week this question of the hour and of the age confronts those who claim to have given it decent burial. the same clergyman who pronounced it dead has since spoken of it as one of the "growing evils of the times," and in this beautiful summer weather he has felt called upon to preach another sermon, ostensibly on "marriage," really upon this "dead question," dragging it out to daylight again, that we might see how easily he could bury it fifty fathoms deep--with mud. it reminded me of robert laird collier's sermon, "the folly of the woman movement," in its logic and its spirit. mr. collier and our mr. holmes see but one thing in all this struggle for truth and justice, and that is "free-love." here are some specimens of mr. holmes' assertions: the advocates of woman's rights want, not the ballot so much as the dissolution of the marriage tie. they propose to form a tie for the term of five, six or seven years. mark the men or women who are the most strenuous advocates of woman suffrage. they are irreligious and immoral. who are more strenuous advocates of woman suffrage than mrs. julia ward howe, mrs. harriet beecher stowe, mrs. isabella beecher hooker, mrs. lucy stone, mrs. lucretia mott, mrs. livermore, t. w. higginson, henry ward beecher, bishop simpson, governor claflin, gilbert haven, wendell phillips, and scores of others whose lives are as pure and intellects as fine as his who dares stand in the sacred desk and call these persons "irreligious and immoral"? his argument seems to be like this: some advocates of woman suffrage are in favor of easy divorces. these men and women advocate woman suffrage; therefore these men and women are in favor of easy divorces. or, to make the matter still plainer, some ministers of the gospel are immoral. mr. h. is a minister of the gospel; therefore mr. h. is immoral. the method of reasoning is the same, but it don't sound quite fair and honorable, does it? "in our land woman is a queen; she is loved and cared for," says mr. holmes. in sight from the window where i write is a sad commentary upon this. one of these queens, so tenderly cared for, is hoeing corn, while her five-months-old baby--the youngest of nine children--lies on the grass while she works. her husband is away from home, but has left word for the "old woman" to "take care of the corn and potatoes, for he has to support the family." when they are out of meat, she must go out washing and earn some, for "he has to support the family," and cannot have her idle. not long since they were planting corn together, she doing as much as he. at noon, although she had a pail of milk and another of eggs, he brought her the two hoes to carry home, as he could not be troubled with them. had he ever read: "i will be master of what is my own; she is my goods, my chattels-- my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything"? "no woman reaches such dignity as the new england wife and mother," says mr. h. is wifehood more honorable, or motherhood more sacred, in new england than in other places? is to be a wife and mother, and nothing else, the sole end and aim of woman? or is there not other work in god's universe which some woman may possibly be called upon to do? is florence nightingale or anna dickinson less dignified than mrs. john smith, who happens physically to be the mother of half-a-dozen children, but mentally and morally is as much of a child as any of them? "woman has just the sphere she wants. she has more privileges than she could vote herself into," says mr. h. has she, indeed? i know women, who would gladly vote themselves into the privilege of having the custody of their own children, whose husbands are notoriously drunken and licentious. they are pure, good women, who, rather than part with their children, live on with men whose very breath is pollution. i know others who would like to vote themselves into the privilege of retaining their own hard earnings instead of having them sacrificed by a drunken husband. widows have been literally turned out of doors after their husbands' death, and the property they had helped to accumulate divided among those who never earned it. do you think such women would not change the laws of inheritance if they had the power? "husband and wife are one, hence one vote is sufficient," says mr. h. follow out the reasoning, if you please. "both one," hence one dinner is sufficient, "both one," hence if a man is a member of a church his wife is also. in plain english, "the husband and wife are both one," and the husband is that one. now in case _that one_ should die, is it fair, or just, or fitting, that the widow--"the relict"--or, in the words of mr. h., "the feminine spirit that has supplemented this masculine nature," whose hands have been tied all these years, should be called upon to pay taxes upon the share of property the law allows her? taxation without representation was the immediate cause of the famous tea-party in boston harbor, and, in fact, of a good many other unpleasant things that followed. "woman has just the sphere she wants," says mr. h., closing the discussion. no, sir, she has not. had those young ladies in philadelphia who were studying medicine, and were insulted day after day by the male medical students, the sphere they wanted? our american girls have been to europe for the sake of pursuing their studies in medicine, and have met with kindness and courtesy, while in this land, where they are called "queens," they received only hisses. last winter governor claflin of massachusetts--one of those "irreligious and immoral" advocates of woman suffrage--reminded the gentlemen of that state who claim to be woman's representatives in the legislature, "that a wife in that state is deprived of the free control of property that was her own before marriage, and is denied an equal right in the property accumulated during the marriage partnership; that a married mother has no legal right to her child; and that a widow has not equal rights with a widower." when woman has the sphere she wants, these things will be changed. as a majority of the men in this community are opposed to woman suffrage, i will relate one circumstance that will do to "point a moral or adorn a tale." of course, the voters in this or any other place always elect their best men to hold office, and the board of selectmen would naturally be the very wisest and best, the "_crème de la crème_." now it so happens that one selectman being away from home, there was not enough arithmetic left with the other two to make out the tax-bills for the town, and they hired a woman, the mother of two children, to do it for them. it certainly took more of her time than it would for her to have walked across the street and voted for men who could make out their own tax-bills. then arithmetic is not a womanly accomplishment, like tatting, crocheting, etc. these things sink into our hearts, and will bear fruit in due season. sarah a. gibbs. in , july , miss thyrza f. pangborn, for the last six years the capable and efficient recorder in the probate office of burlington, was appointed and sworn as a notary public. in a letter of december , , our correspondent says: in the year , the world was somewhat startled by the fact that in the constitutional convention, held that year in vermont, but one vote was cast for the enfranchisement of woman; and no one wonders that the friends of that movement exclaimed, "can any good come out of--vermont"? yesterday the first biënnial session of the legislature closed its session of fifty-seven days. a bill has been pending in each house, giving female tax-payers a right to vote at all school-district meetings. it was advocated by mr. butterfield, one of the leading members of the house, in an able and learned speech, and received votes to against. is not that doing well for such a staid old state as vermont, and one where the enemies of equal suffrage supposed, two years since, that the measure was indefinitely postponed? but this is not all. the measure was introduced in the senate, composed of thirty members, who are supposed to be the balance-wheel of the general assembly. it was warmly discussed by several senators, and the vote taken, when there were three members absent, resulting in, yeas , nays . had the senate been full, the vote would have been, yeas ,[ ] nays . a change of one of the "no" votes would have carried the measure, as the lieutenant-governor, who presides in the senate, would have given the casting vote in its favor. the supporters of the measure included some of the ablest members of the senate, among them the chairmen of the very important committees on finance, claims, education, agriculture, manufactures, railroads and printing. following the defeat of the above-mentioned bill came up a measure granting to women the same right to vote as men have in all elections everywhere in the state. it received the support of all who voted for the school measure, save two, mr. mason and mr. rogers, who prefer to see the first tried as an experiment in the school meetings. you thus perceive that twelve out of our thirty grave and reverend senators are real out-and-out equal suffrage men. verily, the world moves! another year, , we hope will carry off the measure. meanwhile, we say, three cheers for old vermont, and glory enough for one day! st. andrew. _burlington, vt._ in the school suffrage bill passed the vermont house of representatives, with only four dissenting votes. when the bill came to a third reading and only four men stood up for the negative, there was so marked an expression of derision that the speaker called for "order," and reminded the house that "no man was to be scorned for voting alone any more than with a crowd." the action and the voting came cheerily. more than one man, to the objection of "an entering wedge," said "he was ready to grant the whole." the bill passed the senate triumphantly and was approved by the governor, december , : women shall have the same right to vote as men have, in all school-district meetings and in the election of school commissioners in towns and cities, and the same right to hold office relating to school affairs. an item in the _woman's journal_, from vergennes, march , , says: at the city election to-day general j. h. lucia, a staunch friend of woman suffrage, was elected mayor, and principally through his management miss electa s. smith has been chosen to the office of city clerk, which office he has held for the past two years. the legislature of authorized the election of women to the offices of superintendent of schools and town clerk, and some of the friends of the cause were disposed to try the working of the law here. they selected a candidate whose ability, qualifications and thorough fitness all had to concede, and against whom the only objection that could be raised was her being a woman. it took the conservatives some time to get over their surprise at the first suggestion of her name, but they admitted the propriety of the thing and gallantly lent a hand, so that when the election came all the candidates who had been talked about were conspicuous by their absence, and miss smith was elected by acclamation. surely the world does move. springfield, february , . _miss lydia putnam, brattleboro', vt.:_ your letter is at hand. i think but few women have, as yet, availed themselves of the privilege of voting in school meetings in this state, and i am not able to say what the effect upon our schools has been up to the present time. very respectfully, justus dartt. notwithstanding the above reply from the state-superintendent of the public schools of vermont, the associated press reports of every year[ ] since make mention of women being elected to school offices in the various towns and counties of the state. footnotes: [ ] no woman in so many varied fields of action has more steadily and faithfully labored than mrs. nichols, as editor, speaker, teacher, farmer, in vermont, new york, wisconsin, iowa, ohio, kansas, and california where she spent the closing years of her life; and though always in circumstances of hardship and privation, yet no annual convention was held without a long letter from her pen, uniformly the most cheerful and able of all that were received. a great soul that seemed to rise above the depressing influences of her surroundings! the last letter she ever wrote us was in january, , a few days before she passed away. see volume i., page . [ ] officers of the vermont woman suffrage association: _president_, hon. charles reed, montpelier. _vice-presidents_, hon. john b. hollister, bennington; hon. seneca m. dorr, rutland; rev. addison brown, brattleboro'; col. lynus e. knapp, middlebury; hon. james hutchinson, jr., west randolph; hon. russell s. taft, burlington; hon. a. j. willard, st. johnsbury; hon. h. henry powers, hyde park; hon. jasper rand, st. albans. _recording secretary_, henry clark, rutland. _corresponding secretary_, albert clarke, st. albans. _treasurer_, albert d. hager, proctorsville. _executive committee_, hon. c. w. willard, montpelier; hon. charles reed, montpelier; george h bigelow, burlington; newman weeks, rutland; hon. jonathan ross, st. johnsbury; rev. eli ballou, d. d., montpelier. [ ] following the convention at montpelier, meetings were held at st. albans, northfield, barre, burlington, st. johnsbury, brattleboro', rutland, fairhaven, castleton, springfield and bellows falls. [ ] among the speakers were mr. garrison, mrs. howe, mrs. stone, leo miller, mrs. churchill, mrs. livermore, mrs. campbell, dr. sarah hathaway, mrs. bowles, mr. blackwell, hon. a. j. williard. mr. taft, mr. clark, judge carpenter, mr. ivison, the rev. messrs. brigham, eastwood, brown and emerson. [ ] the fourteen who favored the bill were: mr. bigelow of burlington, one of the leading editors in the state; mr. butterfield of grafton, one of the most experienced legislators in the state; mr. carpenter of northfield, who is known to be right on all questions that concern humanity, mr. colton of irasburgh, now serving his second term in the senate; mr. estey of brattleboro', the manufacturer of the celebrated cottage organ; mr. houghton of north bennington, a leading banker and business man who has just been elected one of the directors of our state-prison; mr. king of north montpelier, farmer; mr. lamb of royalton, the oldest member in the senate, a lawyer; mr. mason of richmond, a man who would be described by a yankee as "chock full of honesty and common-sense"; mr. rogers of wheelock and mr. stiles of montgomery, both farmers, and as near like mr. mason as two peas are alike; mr. reynolds of alburgh springs, one of the absentees, but in favor of the bill, a prominent merchant; mr. powers, one of the ablest lawyers in the state, and, finally, mr. sprague of brandon, a leading banker and manufacturer, the head and principal owner of the brandon manufacturing company. [ ] in there were thirty-three women elected to the office of school superintendent in eleven of the fourteen counties of the state, as follows: _addison_, miss a. l. huntley; _bennington_, mrs. r. r. wiley; _caledonia_, miss nellie russell, mrs. a. f. stevens, mrs. e. bradley, miss s. e. rogers; _chittenden_, mrs. s. m. benedict, mrs. l. m. bates, mrs. j. c. draper; _essex_, mrs. henry fuller, hettie w. matthews, jennie k. stanley, mrs. s. m. day; _franklin_, none; _grand isle_, miss i. montgomery; _la moille_, carrie p. carroll, miss c. a. parker; _orange_, miss f. h. graves, miss a. a. clement, miss v. l. farnham, miss f. martin; _orleans_, none; _rutland_, mrs. i. c. adams, miss h. m. bromley, miss m. a. mills, lillian tarbell, mrs. h. m. crowley; _washington_, none; _windham_, mrs. j. m. powers, mrs. j. e. phelps; _windsor_, mrs. e. g. white, miss c. a. lamb, mrs. h. f. vancor, clara e. perkins, mrs. e. m. lovejoy, mrs. l. m. hall. chapter xxxvii. new york-- - . saratoga convention, july , , --state society formed, martha c. wright, president--_the revolution_ established, --educational movement--new york city society, , charlotte b. wilbour, president--presidential campaign, --hearings at albany, --constitutional commission--an effort to open columbia college, president barnard in favor--centennial celebration, --school officers--senator emerson of monroe, --gov. robinson's veto--school suffrage, --gov. cornell recommended it in his message--stewart's home for working women--women as police--an act to prohibit disfranchisement--attorney-general russell's adverse opinion--the power of the legislature to extend suffrage--great demonstration in chickering hall, march , --hearing at albany, --mrs. blake, mrs. stanton, mrs. rogers, mrs. howell, gov. hoyt of wyoming. the new york chapter in volume i. closes with an account of some retrogressive legislation on the rights of married women,[ ] showing that until woman herself has a voice in legislation her rights may be conceded or withheld at the option of the ruling powers, and that her only safety is in direct representation. the chapter on "trials and decisions" in volume ii., shows the injustice women have suffered in the courts, where they have never yet enjoyed the sacred right of trial by a jury of their own peers. after many years of persistent effort for the adjustment of special grievances, many of the leaders, seeing by what an uncertain tenure their civil rights were maintained by the legislative and judicial authorities, ceased to look to the state for redress, and turned to the general government for protection in the right of suffrage, the fundamental right by which all minor privileges and immunities are protected. hence the annual meeting of the national association, which had been regularly held in new york as one of the may anniversaries, was, from , supplemented by a semi-annual convention in washington for special influence upon congress. until the war the work in new york was conducted by a central committee; but in the summer of , the following call was issued for a convention at saratoga springs, to organize a state society: the advocates of woman suffrage will hold a state convention at saratoga springs on the thirteenth and fourteenth of july, . the specific business of this convention will be to effect a permanent organization for the state of new york. our friends in the several congressional districts should at once elect their delegates, in order that the whole state may be represented in the convention. in districts where delegates cannot be elected, any person can constitute himself or herself a representative. the convention will be attended by the ablest advocates of suffrage for woman, and addresses may be expected from elizabeth cady stanton, president of the national association, celia burleigh, president of the brooklyn equal rights association, matilda joslyn gage, advisory counsel for the state, susan b. anthony, of _the revolution_, charlotte b. wilbour of new york city, and others. every woman interested for her personal freedom should attend this convention, and by her presence, influence and money, aid the movement for the restoration of the rights of her sex. mrs. elizabeth b. phelps, _vice-president for the state of new york_. matilda joslyn gage, _advisory counsel_. the opening session of the convention was held in the spacious parlors of congress hall the audience composed chiefly of fashionable ladies[ ] from all parts of the country, who listened with evident interest and purchased the tracts intended for distribution. the remaining sessions were held in hawthorn hall, matilda joslyn gage presiding. a series of spirited resolutions was adopted, also a plan of organization presented by charlotte b. wilbour, for a state association.[ ] many able speakers[ ] were present. the formation of this society was the result of a very general agitation in different localities on several vital questions in the preceding year: _first_--on taxation. women being large property holders, had felt the pressure during the war, especially of the tax on incomes, and had resolved on resistance: accordingly, large meetings[ ] were called at various points, in . while women of wealth were organizing to resist taxation, the working women[ ] were uniting to defend their earnings, and secure better wages. it seemed for a few months as if they were in a chronic condition of rebellion. but after many vain struggles for redress in the iron teeth of the law, and equally vain appeals to have unjust laws amended, the women learned the hopelessness of all efforts made by disfranchised classes. _second_--on prostitution. for the first time in the history of the government, a bill was presented in the new york legislature, in , proposing to license prostitution. this showed the degradation of woman's position as no other act of legislation could have done, and although the editors of _the revolution_ were the only women who publicly opposed the bill (which they did both before the committee of the legislature, and in their journal), yet there was in the minds of many, a deep undercurrent of resistance to the odious provisions of that bill. horace greeley, too, in his editorials in the new york _tribune_, denounced the proposition in such unmeasured terms that, although pressed at three different legislative sessions, no member of the committee could be found with sufficient moral hardihood to present the bill. in connection with this question, the necessity of "women as police," was for some time a topic of discussion. they had proved so efficient in many cases, that it was seriously proposed to have a standing force in new york and brooklyn, to look after young girls,[ ] new to the temptations and dangers of city life. in _the revolution_ of march , , we find the following: it is often asked, would you make women police officers? it has already been done. at least a society of women exists in this country, for the discovery of crimes, conspiracies and such things. the chief of this band was mrs. kate warn, a native of this state, who lately died in chicago. she was engaged in this business, fifteen years ago, by mr. pinkerton, of the national police agency. she did good service for many years in watching, waylaying, exploring and detecting; especially on the critical occasion of president lincoln's journey to washington in . in she was sent to new orleans, as head of the female police department there. there was a general movement in these years for the more liberal education of women in various departments of art and industry, as well as in letters. first on the list stands vassar college, founded in , richly endowed with fine grounds and spacious buildings. we cannot estimate the civilizing influence of the thousands of young women graduating at that institution, now, as cultivated wives and mothers, presiding in households all over this land. cornell university[ ] was opened to girls in , more richly endowed than vassar, and in every way superior in its environments; beautifully situated on the banks of cayuga lake, with the added advantage and stimulus of the system of coëducation. to andrew d. white, its president, all women owe a debt of gratitude for his able and persevering advocacy of the benefits to both sexes, of coëducation. the university at syracuse, in which lima college was incorporated, is also open alike to boys and girls. rochester university,[ ] brown, columbia, union, hamilton, and hobart college at geneva, still keep their doors barred against the daughters of the state, and the three last, in the small number of their students, and their gradual decline, show the need of the very influence they exclude. could all the girls desiring an education in and around rochester, geneva,[ ] clinton and schenectady, enter these institutions, the added funds and enthusiasm they would thus receive would soon bring them renewed life and vigor. peter cooper and catharine beecher's efforts for the working classes of women were equally praiseworthy. miss beecher formed "the american woman's educational association," for the purpose of establishing schools all over the country for training girls in the rudiments of learning and practical work. the cooper institute, founded in , by peter cooper, has been invaluable in its benefits to the poorer classes of girls, in giving them advantages in the arts and sciences, in evening as well as day classes. here both boys and girls have free admission into all departments, including its valuable reading-room and library. it had long been a cherished desire of mr. cooper to found an institution to be devoted forever to the union of art and science in their application to the useful purposes of life. the school of design is specially for women. the ladies art association of new york was founded in , now numbering over one hundred members. one of the most important things accomplished by this society has been the preparation of thoroughly educated teachers, many of whom are now filling positions in southern and western colleges. new york, june , . editors of the revolution: inclosed please find the report of a meeting of new york ladies to consider the important subject of woman's education. the within slip will show that this is a movement quite as earnest and pronounced as the woman suffrage agitation of the day, and more in consonance with prevailing public opinion. we trust that you will aid the effort by inserting the report and resolutions into your columns, and add at least a brief editorial notice. very respectfully, mrs. marshall o. roberts. important meeting of new york ladies.--woman's education.--on monday, the st of may, a large number of influential ladies gathered at dr. taylor's, corner sixth avenue and thirty-eighth street, in response to the call of the secretary of the american woman's educational association. a meeting was organized, mrs. marshall o. roberts presiding, and after a long and interesting discussion the following resolutions were unanimously passed. it is proper to state that the society has been an organized and efficient power in woman's education for over twenty years. the object of its present action is to forward a movement to secure endowed institutions for the training of women to their special duties and professions as men are trained for theirs, particularly the science and duties of home-life: _resolved_, that one cause of the depressed condition of woman is the fact that the distinctive profession of her sex, as the nurse of infancy and of the sick, as educator of childhood, and as the chief minister of the family state, has not been duly honored, nor such provision been made for its scientific and practical training as is accorded to the other sex for their professions; and that it is owing to this neglect that women are driven to seek honor and independence in the institutions and the professions of men. _resolved_, that the science of domestic economy, in its various branches, involves more important interests than any other human science; and that the evils suffered by women would be extensively remedied by establishing institutions for training woman for her profession, which shall be as generously endowed as are the institutions of men, many of which have been largely endowed by women. _resolved_, that the science of domestic economy should be made a study in all institutions for girls; and that certain practical employments of the family state should be made a part of common school education, especially the art of sewing, which is so needful for the poor; and that we will use our influence to secure these important measures. _resolved_, that every young woman should be trained to some business by which she can earn an independent livelihood in case of poverty. _resolved_, that in addition to the various in-door employments suitable for woman, there are other out-door employments especially favorable to health and equally suitable, such as raising fruits and flowers, the culture of silk and cotton, the raising of bees and the superintendence of dairy farms and manufactures. all of these offer avenues to wealth and independence for women as properly as men, and schools for imparting to women the science and practice of these employments should be provided and as liberally endowed as are the agricultural schools for men. _resolved_, that the american woman's educational association is an organization which aims to secure to women these advantages, that its managers have our confidence, and that we will coöperate in its plans as far as we have opportunity. _resolved_, that the protestant clergy would greatly aid in these efforts by preaching on the honor and duties of the family state. in order to this, we request their attention to a work just published by miss beecher and mrs. stowe, entitled "the american woman's home," which largely discusses many important topics of this general subject, while the authors have devoted most of their profits from this work to promote the plans of the american woman's educational association. _resolved_, that editors of the religious and secular press will contribute important aid to an effort they must all approve by inserting these resolutions in their columns. among the influences that brought new thought to the question of woman suffrage was the establishment of _the revolution_ in . radical and defiant in tone, it awoke friends and foes alike to action. some denounced it, some ridiculed it, but all read it. it needed just such clarion notes sounded forth long and loud each week to rouse the friends of the movement from the apathy into which they had fallen after the war. one cannot read its glowing pages to-day without appreciating the power it was just at that crisis.[ ] miss lucy b. hobbs of new york was the first woman that ever graduated in the profession of dentistry. she matriculated in the cincinnati dental college in the fall of --passing through a full course of study, missing but two lectures, and those at the request of the professor of anatomy. she graduated from that institution in february, . a letter from the dean of the college testifies to her worth as follows: she was a woman of great energy and perseverance. studious in her habits, modest and unassuming, she had the respect and kind regard of every member of the class and faculty. as an operator she was not surpassed by her associates. her opinion was asked and her assistance sought in difficult cases almost daily by her fellow-students. and though the class of which she was a member was one of the largest ever in attendance, it excelled all previous ones in good order and decorum--a condition largely due to the presence of a lady. in the final examination she was second to none. having received her diploma, she opened an office in iowa; from thence she removed to chicago, and practiced successfully. the following letter from mrs. taylor (formerly miss hobbs) gives further interesting details. writing to matilda joslyn gage, she says: i am grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to place in history the fact of my study of dentistry. i was born in franklin county, new york, in . you ask my reason for entering the profession. it was to be independent. i first studied medicine, but did not like the practice. my preceptor, professor cleveland, advised me to try dentistry, and i commenced with dr. samuel warde of cincinnati, finishing my studies in march, . at that time the faculty of the ohio dental college would not permit me to attend, and there was not a college in the united states that would admit me, and no amount of persuasion could change their minds. so far as i know, i was the first woman who had ever taken instruction of a private tutor. i went to iowa to commence practice, and was so successful that the dentists of the state insisted i should be allowed to attend the college. their efforts prevailed, and i graduated from the ohio dental college at cincinnati in the spring of --the first woman in the world to take a diploma from a dental college. i am a new-yorker by birth, but i love my adopted country--the west. to it belongs the credit of making it possible for women to be recognized in the dental profession on equal terms with men. should you wish any further proof, write to dr. watt, who was professor of chemistry at the time i graduated, and i know he will take pleasure in giving you any additional information. as early as a system of safe-deposit companies was inaugurated in new york, which has proved a boon to women, enabling them to keep any private papers they may wish to preserve. in , we find the following in the _national citizen_: a ladies' exchange for railroad and mining stocks has been started at broadway, new york. the rooms are provided with an indicator, desks and such other conveniences as are required for business. messenger boys drop in and out, and a telephone connects with the office of a prominent wall-street brokerage firm. miss mary e. gage, daughter of frances dana gage, is the manager and proprietor of the business. in reply to the inquiries of a _graphic_ reporter, miss gage said she had found so much inconvenience and annoyance in transacting her own operations in stocks that she concluded to establish an office. after miss gage was fairly settled, other women who labored under the same disadvantages, began to drop in, their number increasing daily. a ladies' stock exchange also exists at no. fourth street, under charge of mrs. favor. the banking houses of henry clews and the wealthy russell sage are said to be working in union with this exchange. in january we chronicled the formation of a woman's mining company and this month of a woman's stock exchange, each of them an evidence of the wide range of business women are entering. in _the revolution_ of may , , we find the following: sorosis.--this is the name of a new club of literary women, who meet once a month and lunch at delmonico's, to discuss questions of art, science, literature and government. alice carey, who is president, in her opening speech states the object of the club, which is summed up in this brief extract: we have proposed the inculcation of deeper and broader ideas among women, proposed to teach them to think for themselves and get their opinions at first hand, not so much because it is their right as because it is their duty. we have also proposed to open new avenues of employment to women--to make them less dependent and less burdensome--to lift them out of unwomanly self-distrust and disqualifying diffidence into womanly self-respect and self-knowledge. to teach them to make all work honorable, by each doing the share that falls to her, or that she may work out to herself agreeably to her own special aptitude, cheerfully and faithfully--not going down to it, but bringing it up to her. we have proposed to enter our protest against all idle gossip, against all demoralizing and wicked waste of time, also, against the follies and the tyrannies of fashion, against all external impositions and disabilities; in short, against each and every thing that opposes the full development and use of the faculties conferred upon us by our creator. we most heartily welcome all movements for the cultivation of individual thought and character in woman, and would recommend the formation of such clubs throughout the country. the editors of the new york press have made known their dissatisfaction that no gentlemen were to be admitted into this charmed circle. after a calm and dispassionate discussion of this question, it was decided to exclude gentlemen, not because their society was not most desirable and calculated to add brilliancy to the club, but from a fear lest the natural reverence of woman for man might embarrass her in beginning to reason and discuss; lest she should be awed to silence by their superior presence. it was not because they love man less, but their own improvement more. for the comfort of these ostracised ones, we would suggest a hope for the future. after these ladies become familiar with parliamentary tactics, and the grave questions that are to come before them for consideration, it is proposed to admit gentlemen to the galleries, that they may enjoy the same privileges vouchsafed to the fair sex in the past, to look down upon the feast, to listen to the speeches, and to hear "the pale, thoughtful brow," "the silken moustache," "the flowing locks," "the manly gait and form" toasted in prose and verse. this club has met regularly ever since the day of its inauguration, and has been remarkable for the harmony maintained by its members. mrs. charlotte wilbour was president for several years, until she went to reside in paris, in . since that time mrs. croly has been, from year to year, elected to that office. beginning with members,[ ] this club now numbers . the most respected live-stock reporter in new york is a woman. miss middie morgan, pronounced the best judge of horned cattle in this country. she can tell the weight of a beef on foot at a glance, and reports the cattle market for the new york _times_. a correspondent says: her father was a cattle-dealer, and taught her to handle fearlessly the animals he delighted in. she learned to tell at a glance the finest points of live-stock, and to doctor bovine and equine ailments with the utmost skill. with all this, she became a proficient in italian and french, and a terse and rapid writer. a few years ago, after her father's death, she traveled in italy with an invalid sister, having an eye to her pet passion--the horse. while there she met prince poniatowsky, also an ardent admirer of that animal. he mentioned her zoölogical accomplishments to victor emanuel, and the consequence was miss middie was deputed by his majesty to purchase a hundred or so of fine horses. she had charge of the blood-horses of king victor emanuel, who owns the finest stud in europe, and breeds horses of a superior shape, vigor and fire. he beats grant in his admiration for that noble animal. when she decided to come to this country, she made known the fact to hon. george p. marsh, our minister to italy; and he gave her a letter of recommendation to mr. bigelow, of the _times_, who employed her. she is an expert among all kinds of animals. her judgment about the different breeds is sought after and much quoted. she can discuss the nice points about cattle as easily as rosa bonheur can paint them.[ ] from the woman's journal, oct. , : miss barkaloo, the lady just admitted to the st. louis bar as a lawyer, and who has received a license to practice as attorney-at-law from the supreme court of that state, is a native of brooklyn, n. y., and is a woman of more than ordinary ability. two years ago, after having read blackstone and other elementary law-books, she made application for admission as a student at columbia college, new york, and was promptly refused. nothing daunted, she went to st. louis, where she was admitted to the law school. for eighteen months she assiduously devoted her energies to the study of the science, and her fellow-students all agreed in declaring her by far the brightest member of the class. that there was no question of her ability was clearly shown at her examination. judge knight, although overflowing with gallantry, gave the lady no quarter. the most abstruse and erudite questions were propounded to the applicant, but not once did the judge catch the fair student tripping. miss barkaloo was about years of age, of a fine figure, intelligent face and large, expressive eyes. the st. louis papers of last week reported her sudden death of typhoid fever. according to custom, a meeting of the members of the st. louis bar was held to take suitable action and pay respect to her memory. it was the first meeting of the kind in the united states, and was largely attended, not only by the young members of the bar, but by the most distinguished attorneys. miss phoebe couzins, herself a member of the law school, was in attendance, attired in deep mourning for the recent death of a beloved sister. the following resolutions were adopted: _resolved_, that in the death of miss helena barkaloo we deplore the loss of the first of her sex ever admitted to the bar of missouri. _resolved_, that in her erudition, industry and enterprise we have to regret the loss of one who, in the morning of her career, bade fair to reflect credit on our profession, and a new honor upon her sex. _resolved_, that our sympathy and condolence be extended to the relatives of the deceased. major lucien eaton, into whose office she had entered to seek opportunities of perfecting herself in the knowledge of her profession, said that-- he had been requested by an accomplished lady of st. louis to afford her that opportunity, and at first had hesitated to do so; yet he felt that she should have a trial, and when he took her into his office his conduct met with the approbation of the legal fraternity generally. that fraternity cordially sympathized with the efforts she was making, and both old lawyers and young ones tried to put business into her hands, the taking of depositions and other such work as she could perform. he testified to finding her a true woman; modest and retiring, carefully shunning all unnecessary publicity, and avoiding all display. she was earnest in her studies, and being gifted with a fine intellect and a good judgment, gave promise of great attainments. he had never known a student more assiduous in study; she wanted to become mistress of her profession. her death is a calamity, not to her friends alone, but to all who are making an effort for the enlargement of woman's sphere. after the closing of the doors of the geneva medical school to women, the central medical college of syracuse was the first to admit them. four were graduated in . since then the two medical colleges in new york city have graduated hundreds of women. among the many in successful practice are clemence s. lozier, emily blackwell, mary putnam jacobi, new york; eliza p. mosher, brooklyn; sarah r. a. dolley, anna h. searing, fannie f. hamilton, rochester; amanda b. sanford, auburn; eveline p. ballintine, le roy; rachel e. gleason, elmira. in may, , the new york city society was formed, with efficient officers,[ ] and pleasant rooms, at union square, where meetings were regularly held on friday afternoon of each week. these meetings were well attended and sustained with increasing interest from month to month. this society held its first meeting november , , which was addressed by mrs. julia ward howe; and on january , , another, addressed by jennie collins, the indefatigable bostonian who has done so much for the benefit of the working girls. a series of meetings was held under the auspices of this association in many of the chief cities around new york and on the hudson, the chief speakers being the officers of the association. an active german society was soon after formed, with mrs. augusta lillienthal, president, and mrs. matilda f. wendt, secretary. the latter published a paper, _die neue zeit_, devoted to woman suffrage. she was also the correspondent of several leading journals in germany. the society held its first public meeting march , , in turner hall, mrs. wendt presiding. mrs. lillienthal, mrs. clara neyman and dr. adolphe doney were the speakers. clara neyman became afterwards a popular speaker in many suffrage and free-religious associations. petitions were rolled up by both the german and american societies to the legislature, praying for the right of suffrage, and on april , , the petitioners[ ] were granted a hearing, before the judiciary committee of the assembly, hon. l. bradford prince presiding. mrs. wilbour's able address made a most favorable impression. the question was referred to the judiciary committee. the majority report was adverse, the minority, signed by robert a. strahan and c. p. vedder, favorable. a grand demonstration was made april , , in cooper institute, intended specially to emphasize the claims of wives and mothers to the ballot, and to show that the city association had no sympathy with any theories of free-love. five thousand cards of invitation were distributed. in women attempted to vote in different parts of the state, among whom were matilda joslyn gage at fayetteville, and mrs. louise mansfield at nyack, but were repulsed. in others did vote under the fourteenth amendment, conspicuously susan b. anthony, who, as an example for the rest, was arrested, tried, convicted and fined.[ ] mrs. gage published a woman's rights catechism to answer objections made at that time to woman's voting, which proved a valuable campaign document. we find the names of mary r. pell of flushing, helen m. loder of poughkeepsie, and elizabeth b. whitney of harlem, frequently mentioned at this time for their valuable services. the following items show the varied capacity of women for many employments: in march, , miss charlotte e. ray (colored) of new york, was graduated at the howard university law school, and admitted to practice in the courts of the district of columbia at washington.--the headquarters of the women's national relief association is in new york; its object is supplying government stations along the coast with beds, blankets, warm clothing and other necessaries for shipwrecked persons.----miss leggett, for a long time proprietor of a book and paper store in new york, established a home, in , for women, on clinton square, which is in all respects antipodal to stewart's hotel. it is governed by no stringent rules or regulations. no woman is liable without cause, at the mere caprice of the founder, to be suddenly required to leave, as was the case in judge hilton's home. on the contrary, it is the object of the founder to provide a _real_ home for women. the house is not only provided with a library, piano, etc., but its inmates are allowed to bring their sewing-machines, hang pictures upon the walls, put up private book-racks, etc. the price, too, but $ a week, falls more nearly within the means of laboring women than the $ to $ of the stewart hotel.----the first penny lunch-room in new york was established by a woman, who made it a source of revenue.----the inventor of the submarine telescope, a woman, has received $ , for her invention.----deborah powers, now over ninety years of age, is the head of a large oil-cloth manufactory in troy. her sons are engaged in business with her, but she, still bright and active, remains at the head of the firm. this is the largest oil-cloth factory in the united states. she was left a widow with three sons, with a heavy mortgage on her estate. she secured an extension of time, built up the business and educated her sons to the work. she is also president of a bank.----a successful nautical school in new york is conducted by two ladies, mrs. thorne and her daughter, mrs. brownlow. these ladies have made several voyages and studied navigation, both theoretically and practically. during the late war they prepared for the navy , mates and captains bringing their knowledge of navigation up to the standard required by the strict examiners of the naval board.----mrs. wilson, since a new york custom-house inspector, took charge, in , of her husband's ship, disabled in a terrific gale off newfoundland in which his collar-bone was broken and a portion of the crew badly hurt. the main-mast having been cut down she rigged a jury-mast, and after twenty-one days brought ship and crew safe to port. miss jennie turner, a short-hand writer of new york, is a notary public. in a recent law-suit some of the papers were "sworn to" before her in her official capacity, and one of the attorneys claimed that it was not verified, inasmuch as a woman "could not legally hold public office." the judge decided that the paper must be accepted as properly verified, and said that the only way to oust her was in a direct action by the attorney-general. the judge said: whether a female is capable of holding public office has never been decided by the courts of this state, and is a question about which legal minds may well differ. the constitution regulates the right of suffrage and limits it to "male" citizens. disabilities are not favored, and are seldom extended by implication, from which it may be argued that if it required the insertion of the term "male" to exclude female citizens of lawful age from the right of suffrage, a similar limitation would be required to disqualify them from holding office. citizenship is a condition or status and has no relation to age or sex. it may be contended that it was left to the good sense of the executive and to the electors to determine whether or not they would select females to office, and that the power being lodged in safe hands was beyond the danger of abuse. if, on the other hand, it be seriously contended that the constitution, by necessary implication, disqualifies females from holding office, it must follow as a necessary consequence that the act of the legislature permitting females to serve as school officers, and all other legislative enactments of like import removing such disqualification, are unconstitutional and void. in this same connection it may be argued that if the use of the personal pronoun "he" in the constitution does not exclude females from public office, its use in the statute can have no greater effect. the statute, like the constitution, in prescribing the qualifications for office, omits the word "male," leaving the question whether female citizens of lawful age are included or excluded, one of construction. miss anna ballard, a reporter on the staff of the new york _sun_, was elected a member of the press club, in , by a vote of to . within the last ten years women contributors to the press have become numerous. the book-reviewer of the _herald_ is a woman; one of the book-reviewers of the _tribune_, one of its most valued correspondents and several of its regular contributors are women; the agricultural and market reporter of the new york _times_ is a woman; the new york _sun's_ fashion writer is a woman, and also one of its most industrious and sagacious reporters. female correspondents flood the evening papers with news from washington. we instance these not at all as a complete catalogue; for there are, we doubt not, more than a hundred women known and recognized in and about printing-house square as regular contributors to the columns of the daily and weekly press. as a rule they are modest, reputable pains-taking servants of the press; and it is generally conceded that if they are willing to put up with the inconveniences attending journalistic work, it is no part of men's duty to interfere with their attempt to earn an honest livelihood in a profession which has so many avenues as yet uncrowded. miss ellen a. martin, formerly of jamestown, n. y., a graduate of the law school of ann arbor, in , was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of illinois, at the january term, and is practicing in chicago, occupying an office with miss perry, room , no. la salle street. mrs. martha j. lamb was the first woman ever admitted to membership in the new york state historical society. her "history of new york city" is recognized as a standard authority, and has already taken rank among the great histories of the world. during the summer of the presidential campaign agitated the country. as horace greeley, who was opposed to woman suffrage, was running against grant and wilson, who were in favor, and as the republican platform contained a plank promising some consideration for the loyal women of the nation, a great demonstration was held in cooper institute, new york, october . the large hall was crowded by an excited throng. hon. luther r. marsh presided. the speakers[ ] were all unusually happy. mrs. blake's[ ] address was applauded to a recall, when she went forward and asked the audience to give three cheers for the woman suffrage candidates, grant and wilson, which they did with hearty good will. during the winter of a commission was sitting at albany to revise the constitution of new york. as it seemed fitting that women should press their claims to the ballot, memorials were presented and hearings requested by both the state and city societies. accordingly mr. silliman, the chairman, appointed february , to hear the memorialists. a large delegation of ladies went from new york.[ ] the commission was holding its sessions in the common-council chamber, and when the time arrived for the hearing the room was crowded with an attentive audience. the members of the committee on suffrage were all present, mr. silliman presided. matilda joslyn gage represented the state association, speaking upon the origin of government and the rights pertaining thereto. mrs. wilbour and mrs. blake represented the new york city society, and each alike made a favorable impression. the albany _evening journal_ gave a large space to a description of the occasion. the respectful hearing, however, was the beginning and the end, as far as could be seen, of all impression made on the committee, which coolly recommended that suffrage be secured to colored men by ratifying the fifteenth amendment, while making no recognition whatever of the women of the state. a memorial was at once sent to the legislature and another hearing was granted on february . mrs. blake[ ] was the only speaker on that occasion. the hon. bradford prince, of queens, presided. at the close of mrs. blake's remarks james w. husted of westchester, in a few earnest words, avowed himself henceforth a champion of the cause. shortly afterwards the hon. george west presented a constitutional amendment giving to every woman possessed of $ the right to vote, thus placing the women of the state in the same position with the colored men before the passage of the fifteenth amendment; but even this was denied. the amendment was referred to the judiciary committee and there entombed. large meetings[ ] were held at robinson hall during the winter, and at apollo hall in may, and in different localities about new york. july , , an indignation meeting was held by the city society to protest against the sentence pronounced by judge hunt in the case of susan b. anthony. de garmo hall was crowded. the platform was decorated with the united states flag draped with black bunting, while on each side were banners, one bearing the inscription, "respectful consideration for a loyal woman's vote! $ fine!" the other, "shall one federal judge abolish trial by jury?" dr. clemence lozier presided, and mrs. devereux blake made a stirring speech reviewing miss anthony's trial and judge hunt's decision.[ ] mr. hamilton wilcox made a manly protest against judge hunt's high-handed act of oppression, and mrs. marie rachel made another, in behalf of the german association. in october, , mrs. devereux blake made an effort to open the doors of columbia college to women. a class of four young ladies[ ] united in asking admission. taking them with her, mrs. blake went before the president and faculty, who gave her a respectful hearing. she argued that the charter of the college itself declared that it was founded for "the education of the youth of the city", and that the word _youth_ was defined in all dictionaries as "young persons of both sexes," so that by its very foundation it was intended that girls as well as boys should enjoy the benefits of the university, and it was no more than just that they should, seeing that the original endowment was by the "rectors and inhabitants of the city of new york," one-half of these inhabitants being women. mrs. blake's[ ] application was referred to "the committee on the course of instruction," and after some weeks of consideration was refused, on the ground that "it was inexpedient," the rev. morgan dix being especially active in his opposition. however, soon after this, the lectures of the college were open to ladies, and a few years later president barnard warmly recommended that young women should be admitted as students to all the privileges of the university. a woman's congress was organized at new york, october , , , , in the union league theater. representative women[ ] were there from all parts of the country. its object was similar to the social science organizations--the discussion of a wider range of subjects than could be tolerated on the platforms of any specific reform. mary a. livermore presided, and the meeting was considered a great success. the speeches and proceedings were published in pamphlet form, and still are from year to year. this had been an idea long brewing in many minds, and was at last realized through the organizing talent of mrs. charlotte b. wilbour, the originator of sorosis. from year to year they have held regular meetings in the chief cities of the different states. dr. clemence lozier,[ ] president of the city society, early opened her spacious parlors to the monthly meetings, where they have been held for many years. this association has been active and vigilant, taking note of and furthering every step of progress in church and state. mrs. lozier and mrs. blake have worked most effectively together, the former furnishing the sinews of war, and the latter making the attack all along the line, to the terror of the faint-hearted. the era of centennial celebrations was now approaching, and it was proposed to hold a suitable commemoration on the one-hundredth anniversary of the boston tea-party, december , . union league theater was, on the appointed evening, filled to its utmost capacity. the platform was decorated with flowers and filled with ladies, dr. lozier presiding. miss anthony was the speaker of the evening, and made a most effective address; helen potter gave a recitation; hannah m'l. shepherd read letters of sympathy; mrs. blake made a short closing address, and presented a series of resolutions, couched in precisely the same language as that adopted by our ancestors in protesting against taxation without representation: _resolved_, that as an expression of the sentiments of the tax-paying women of new york, we reïterate, as applied to ourselves, the declaration contained in the bill of rights put forth by our ancestors years ago: _first_--that the women of the country are entitled to equal rights and privileges with the men; _second_--that it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of all men and women, that no taxes be imposed on them but by their own consent, given in person or by their representatives; _third_--that the only representatives of these women are persons chosen by themselves, and that no taxes ever have been or can be constitutionally imposed upon them but by legislatures composed of persons so chosen. the report of the state assessors[ ] of brought forcibly to view the injustice done in taxing non-voters. at their meeting with the supervisors of onondaga county, mr. pope of fabius said: "mrs. andrews is assessed too much." mr. hadley replied: "well, mr. briggs says that is the way all the women are assessed." mr. briggs responded: "yes, that is the way we find the assessors treat the women; they can't vote, you know! i am in favor of letting the women vote now." two women in the village of batavia were assessed for more personal property than the entire assessment of like property, exclusive of corporations, in the city of rochester with a population of , ! while declaring they had found very little personal property assessed, mr. fowler said: "we found some cases where town assessors had taxed the personal property of women, and one case of a ward who was assessed to full value, while upon the guardian's property there was no assessment at all." this report not only proved a good woman suffrage document, but the work done by the state assessors, messrs. hadley, briggs and fowler, convinced them personally of woman's need of the ballot for the protection of her property. early in the year , memorials from societies in different parts of the state were sent to the legislature, asking "that all taxes due from women be remitted until they are allowed to vote." the most active of these anti-tax societies was the one formed in rochester through the efforts of mrs. lewia c. smith, whose earnestness and fidelity in this, as in many another good word and work, have been such as to command the admiration even of opponents--a soul of that sweet charity that makes no account of self. a hearing was appointed for the memorialists on january , and the journals[ ] made honorable mention of the occasion. the centennial was approaching and the notes of preparation were heard on all sides. the women who understood their status as disfranchised citizens in a republic, regarded the coming event as one for them of humiliation rather than rejoicing, inasmuch as the close of the first century of the nation's existence found one half the people still political slaves. at the february meeting of the association, mrs. blake presented the following resolution: _resolved_, that the members of this society do hereby pledge themselves not to aid either by their labor, time or money, the proposed celebration of the independence of the men of the nation, unless before july , , the women of the land shall be guaranteed their political freedom. in their own way, however, the members of the society intended to observe such centennials as were fitting, and so preparation was made for a suitable commemoration of the battle of lexington. they held a meeting[ ] in the union league theatre, the evening of april , to protest against their disfranchisement. the journals contained fair reports, with the exception of _the tribune_, which sent no reporter, and closed its account next day of many observances elsewhere by saying, "there was no celebration in new york city." several of the papers published mrs. blake's speech: just as the first rays of dawn stole across our city this morning, the century was complete since the founders of this nation made their first great stand for liberty. the early april sunshine a hundred years ago saw a group of men and boys gathered together, "a few rods north of the meeting-house," in the massachusetts village of lexington. un-uniformed and undisciplined, standing in the chilly morning, that handful of patriots represented the great republic which on that day was to spring from their martyrdom. the rebellious colonists had collected in the hamlets near boston some military stores; these the british officers in command at boston resolved should be seized and destroyed. warned of their design paul revere made his famous ride to arouse the country to resistance, and in the dead of night adams and hancock went out to summon their comrades to arms. as the last stars vanished before the dawn, the drum beat to summon the patriots to action, and in response a little band of about eighty men and boys assembled on the village green. few as they were in numbers, they presented a brave front as the british regulars came up the quiet street, strong. what followed was not a battle, but a butchery. the minute-men refused to surrender to major pitcairn's haughty demand, and a volley of musketry, close and deadly, was poured on this devoted band. in response only a few random shots were fired, which did absolutely no harm, and then, seeing the hopelessness of resistance, the commander of the minute-men ordered them to disperse. the british, elated with their easy victory, pushed on toward concord, thinking that there another speedy success awaited them. in this they soon bitterly learned their error. although they were reinforced on the way, when they reached that village they were met by such a resistance as drove them back, broken and disorganized, on the road they had so proudly followed in the morning. concord nobly avenged the slaughter at lexington. so much for what men did on that day, and let us see what share the women had in its dangers and its sorrows. jonathan harris was shot in front of his own house, while his wife was watching him from a window, seeing him fall with such anguish as no poor words of mine can describe. he struggled to his feet, the blood gushing from a wound in his breast, staggered forward a few paces and fell again, and then crawled on his hands and knees to his threshold only to expire just as his wife reached him. did not this woman bear her portion of the martyrdom? isaac davis, a man in the prime of life, went forth from his home in the morning, and before the afternoon sunlight had grown yellow, was brought back to it dead, and was laid, pale and cold, in his wife's bed, only three hours after he had left her with a solemn benediction of farewell. did not this woman also suffer? she was left a widow in the very flower of her youth, and for seventy years she faithfully mourned his taking off! nor were these the only ones; for every man who fell that day, some woman's heart was wrung. there were others who endured actual physical hardship and suffering. hannah adams lay in bed with an infant only a week old when the british reached her house in their disorderly retreat to boston; they forced her to leave her sick room and to crawl into an adjoining corn shed, while they burned her house to ashes in her sight. three companies of british troops went to the house of major barrett and demanded food. mrs. barrett served them as well as she was able, and when she was offered compensation, refused it, saying gently, "we are commanded if our enemy hunger to feed him." so, in toil or suffering or anguish the women endured their share of the sorrows of that day. do they not deserve a share of its glories also? the battles of lexington and concord form an era in our country's history. when, driven to desperation by a long course of oppression, the people first resolved to revolt against the mother country. discontent, resentment and indignation had grown stronger month by month among the hardy settlers of the land, until they culminated in the most splendid act of audacity that the world has ever seen. a few colonies, scattered at long intervals along the atlantic seaboard, dared to defy the proudest nation in europe, and a few rustics, undisciplined, and almost unarmed, actually ventured to encounter in battle that army which had boasted its conquests over the flower of european chivalry. what unheard of oppressions drove these people to the mad attempt? what unheard of atrocities had the rulers of these people practiced, what unjust confiscations of property, what cruel imprisonments and wicked murders? none of all these; the people of this land were not starving or dying under the iron heel of an alva or a robespierre, but their civil liberties had been denied, their political freedom refused, and rather than endure the loss of these precious things, they were willing to encounter danger and to brave death. the men and women who suffered at concord and at lexington years ago to-day, were martyrs to the sacred cause of personal liberty! looking over the records of the past we find, again and again repeated, the burden of their complaints. not that they were starving or dying, but that they were taxed without their consent, and that they were denied personal representation. the congress which assembled at philadelphia in , declared that "the foundation of liberty and of all free governments is the right of the people to participate in their legislative council"; and the house of burgesses, assembled in virginia in the same year, asserted "that a determined system is formed and pressed for reducing us to slavery, by subjecting us to the payment of taxes imposed without our consent." strong language this, as strong as any we women have ever employed in addressing the men of this nation. our ancestors called the imposition of taxes without their consent, slavery, and the denial of personal representation, tyranny. slavery and tyranny! words which they tell us to-day are too strong for our use. we must find some mild and lady-like phrases in which to describe these oppressions. we must employ some safe and gentle terms to indicate the crimes which our forefathers denounced! my friends, what was truth a century ago is truth to-day! other things may have changed, but justice has not changed in a hundred years! in a presidential election was again approaching, and to meet the exigencies of the campaign a woman suffrage committee was formed to ask the legislature to grant presidential suffrage to women, as it was strictly within their power to do without a constitutional amendment. to this end mrs. gage prepared an appeal which was widely circulated throughout the state: within a year the election of president and vice-president of the united states, will again take place. the right to vote for these functionaries is a national and not a state right; the united states has unquestioned control of this branch of suffrage, and in its constitution has declared to whom it has delegated this power. article of the constitution of the united states, is devoted to the president; the manner of choosing him, his power, his duties, etc. in regard to the method of choosing the president, par. , sec. , art. , reads thus: "each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the congress." there is no other authority for the appointment of presidential electors, either in the constitution of the united states, or in the constitution of any state. the constitution of the state of new york is entirely silent upon the appointment of presidential electors, for the reason that the constitution of the united states declares that they _shall_ be appointed in such manner as the legislature may direct. with the exception of south carolina, every state in the union has adopted the plan of choosing presidential electors by ballot, and it is in the power of the legislature of each state to prescribe the qualifications of those who shall be permitted to vote for such electors. the authority to prescribe the qualifications of those persons in the state of new york who shall be permitted to vote for electors of president and vice-president of the united states, therefore lies alone in the legislature of this state. that body has power in this respect superior to the state constitution; it rises above the constitution; it is invested with its powers by the constitution of the united states; it is under national authority, and need in no way be governed by any representative clause which may exist in the state constitution. in prescribing the qualifications of those persons who shall vote for electors, the legislature has power to exclude all persons who cannot read and write. it has power to say that no person unless possessing a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, shall vote for such electors. it has power to declare that only tax-payers shall vote for such electors, it is even vested with authority to say that no one but church members shall be entitled to vote for electors of president and vice-president of the united states. the legislature of this state at its next session has even power to cut off the right of all white men to vote for electors at the presidential election next fall. it matters not what qualifications the state itself may have prescribed for electors of state officers, the question who shall vote for president and vice-president is on an entirely different basis, and prescribing the qualifications for such electors lies in entirely different hands. it is a question of national import with which the state (in its constitution) has nothing to do, and over which even congress has no power. the legislature which is to assemble in albany, the first tuesday in january next, will have power, by the passage of a simple bill, to secure to the women of this state the right to vote for electors at the presidential election in the fall of , and thus to inaugurate the centennial year by an act of equity and justice that will be in accordance with that part of the declaration of independence which declares that "governments derive their _just_ powers from the consent of the governed." shall it not be done? matilda joslyn gage, lillie devereux blake, clemence s. lozier, m. d., _n. y. state woman suffrage com._ [illustration: lillie devereux blake] a memorial embodying this claim was presented to the legislature, and on, january , the committee went to albany and were heard by the judiciary committee of the assembly, to whom their paper had been referred. hon. robert h. strahan of new york presided. on february , the memorialists[ ] had another meeting before the judiciary committee of the senate, in the senate chamber, hon. bradford l. prince presiding. the audience was overflowing, and the corridors so crowded that the meeting adjourned to the assembly chamber by order of the chairman. soon after, hon. george h. west of saratoga presented a bill giving the women of the state the right to vote for president. it was referred to the judiciary committee and reported adversely, notwithstanding it was twice called up and debated by its friends, messrs. strahan, husted, ogden, hogeboom and west. no vote was reached on the measure, but this much of consideration was a gain over previous years, when nothing had been done beyond the presentation of a bill and its reference to a committee. in governor samuel j. tilden appointed mrs. josephine shaw lowell as commissioner of the state board of charities, the first official position a woman ever held in this state. during the winter of a memorial was sent to the legislature, asking that women be allowed to serve as school officers. the hon. william n. emerson, senator from monroe, presented the following bill: an act _to authorize the election of women to school offices._ the people of the state of new york, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: section . any woman of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and possessing the qualifications prescribed for men, shall be eligible to any office under the general or special school laws of this state, subject to the same conditions and requirements as prescribed to men. sec. . this act shall take effect immediately. petitions and memorials from all parts of the state were poured into the legislature, praying for the passage of the bill. mr. emerson made an eloquent speech in its favor, and labored earnestly for the measure. it passed the senate by a vote of to ; the assembly by a vote of to . this success was hailed with great rejoicing by the women of the state who understood the progress of events. but their delight was turned into indignation and disappointment when the governor, lucius robinson, returned the bill to the senate with the following veto: state of new york, executive chamber, } albany, may , . } _to the senate:_ i return without approval senate bill no. , entitled "an act to authorize the election of women to school offices." this bill goes too far or not far enough. it provides that women may hold any or all of the offices connected with the department of education, that is to say, a woman may be elected superintendent of public instruction, women may be appointed school commissioners, members of boards of education and trustees of school districts. in some of these positions it will become their duty to make contracts, purchase materials, build and repair school-houses, and to supervise and effect all the transactions of school business, involving an annual expenditure of over twelve million dollars in this state. there can be no greater reason that women should occupy these positions than the less responsible ones of supervisors, town clerks, justices of the peace, commissioners of highways, overseers of the poor, and numerous others. if women are physically and mentally fitted for one class of these stations, they are equally so for the others. but at this period in the history of the world such enactments as the present hardly comport with the wisdom and dignity of legislation. the god of nature has appointed different fields of labor, duty and usefulness for the sexes. his decrees cannot be changed by human legislation. in the education of our children the mother stands far above all superintendents, commissioners, trustees and school teachers. her influence in the family, in social intercourse and enterprises, outweighs all the mere machinery of benevolence and education. to lower her from the high and holy place given her by nature, is to degrade her power and to injure rather than benefit the cause of education itself. in all enlightened and christian nations the experience and observations of ages have illustrated and defined the relative duties of the sexes in promoting the best interests of society. few, if any, of the intelligent and right-minded among women desire or would be willing to accept the change which such a law would inaugurate. the bill is moreover a clear infraction of the spirit if not the letter of the constitution. under that instrument women have no right to vote, and it cannot be supposed that it is the intention of the constitution that persons not entitled to the right of suffrage should be eligible to some of the most important offices in the state. l. robinson. on may , , , the national and state conventions were again held in new york, at steinway hall. both conventions passed resolutions denouncing governor robinson's action in his veto. the following address was issued by the state association: _to the voters and legislators of new york:_ the women of the state of new york, in convention assembled, do most earnestly protest against the injustice with which they are treated by the state, where in point of numbers they are in excess of the men: _first_--they are denied the right of choosing their own rulers, but are compelled to submit to the choice of a minority consisting of its male residents, fully one-third of whom are of foreign birth. _second_--they are held amenable to laws they have had no share in making and in which they are forbidden a voice--laws which touch all their most vital interests of education, industry, children, property, life and liberty. _third_--while compelled to bear the burdens and suffer the penalties of government, they are debarred the honors and emoluments of civil service, and the control of offices in the righteous discharge of whose duties their interest is equal to that of men. _fourth_--they are taxed without their consent to sustain men in office who enact laws directly opposing their interests, and inasmuch as the state of new york pays one-sixth the taxes of the united states, its women feel the arm of oppression--like briareus with his hundred hands--touching and crushing them with its burdens. _fifth_--they are under the power of an autocrat whose salary they must pay, but who, in opposition to the will of the people--as recently shown in the passage of the school bill by the legislature--has by his veto denied them all official authority in the control of the public schools, and this despite the fact of there being , more girls of school age than boys, and , more women than men teaching in the state. _sixth_--under pretence of regulating public morals, women of the _femme de pave_ class, many of whom have been driven to this mode of life as a livelihood, are subjected to more oppressive laws than their partners in vice. _seventh_--the laws treat married women as criminals by taking from them all legal control of their children, while those born outside of marriage belong absolutely to the mothers. _eighth_--they forbid the mother's inheritance of property from her children in case the father is living, thus making her of no consideration in the eyes of those to whom she has given birth. _ninth_--they give the husband control of the common property--allow him to spend the whole personal estate in riotous living, or even to sell the home over his wife's head, subject only to her third life-interest in case she survives him. _tenth_--they allow the husband to imprison her at his pleasure within his own house, the court sustaining him in this coërcion until the wife "submits herself to her husband's will." _eleventh_--they allow the husband while the common property is in his possession, "without even the formality of a legal complaint, the taking of an oath or the filing of a bond for the good faith of his action," to advertise his wife through the public press as a deserter and to forbid her credit. _twelfth_--they deny the widow the right of inheritance in the common property that they give the widower, allow her but forty days' residence in the family mansion before paying rent to her husband's heirs, thus treating her as if she were an alien to her own children--set off to her a few paltry articles of household use, close the estate through a process of law, and make the days of her bereavement doubly days of sorrow. the above laws of marriage, placing irresponsible authority in the hands of the husband, have given him a power of moral coërcion over the wife, making her virtually his slave. without entering into fuller details of the injustice and oppression of the laws upon all women, married and single, we will sum the whole subject up in the language of the french woman's rights league, which characterizes woman's position thus: ( ) woman is held _politically_ to have no existence; ( ) _civilly_, she is a minor; ( ) in marriage she is a serf; ( ) in labor she is made inferior and robbed of her earnings; ( ) in public instruction she is sacrificed to man; ( ) out of marriage, answers to the faults committed by both; ( ) as a mother is deprived of her right to her children; ( ) she is only deemed equally responsible, intelligent and answerable in taxes and crimes. by order of the new york state woman suffrage society. may, . matilda joslyn gage, _secretary_. in the summer of another effort was made by women of wealth to be relieved from taxation. several memorials to that effect were sent to the legislature, one headed by susan a. king[ ] of new york, a self-made woman who had accumulated a large fortune and owned much real estate. her memorial, signed by a few others, represented $ , , . the committee bearing these waited on many members of the legislature to secure their influence when such a bill should be presented, which was done march , by col. alfred wagstaff, with warm recommendations. he was followed by senator mccarthy of onondaga, who also introduced a bill for an amendment to the constitution to secure to women the right of suffrage. both these bills called out the determined opposition of thomas c. ecclesine, senator from the eleventh district, and the ridicule of others. the delegation of ladies, sitting there as representatives of half the people of the state, felt insulted to have their demands thus sneered at; it was for them a moment of bitter humiliation. in the evening, however, their time for retaliation came, as they had a hearing in the senate chamber, before the judiciary committee, where an immense crowd assembled at an early hour. the chairman of the committee hon. william h. robertson, presided. each of the ladies, in the course of her speech, referred to the insulting remarks of mr. hughes of washington county. that gentleman, being present, looked as if he regretted his unfortunate jokes, and winced under the sarcasm of the ladies. soon after this, great excitement was created by the close of stewart's home for working women. this fine building, on the corner of thirty-second street and fourth avenue, had been erected by the merchant prince for the use of working women, who could there find a home at a moderate expense. the millionaire dead, his large fortune passed into other hands. the building was completed and furnished in a style of elegance far beyond what was appropriated to that purpose. on april , with a great flourish, the immense building was thrown open for public inspection. a large number of women applied at once for admission, but encountered a set of rules that drove most of them away. this gave judge hilton an excuse for violating his obligation to carry out the plan of his dead benefactor, and in a few weeks he closed the house to working women and opened it as the park hotel, for which it was so admirably furnished and fitted that it was the general opinion that it was intended for this from the beginning. great indignation was felt in the community, the women calling a meeting to express their disappointment and dissatisfaction. this was held in cooper institute, under the auspices of the woman suffrage association.[ ] had mr. stewart provided a permanent home for working women it would have been but a meager return for the underpaid toil of the thousands who had labored for half a century to build up his princely fortune. but even the idea of such an act of justice died with him. in that eminent philanthropist dr. hervey backus wilbur, superintendent of the state idiot asylum at syracuse, urged the passage of a law requiring the employment of competent women as physicians in the female wards of the state insane asylums. petitions prepared by him were circulated by the officers of the women's medical college, of the new york infirmary, by mrs. josephine shaw lowell of the state board of charities, and by drs. willard parker, mary putnam jacobi, and other eminent physicians of new york. the bill prepared by dr. wilbur was introduced in the assembly by hon. erastus brooks, and required the trustees of each of the four state asylums for the insane, "to employ one or more competent, well-educated female physicians to have the charge of the female patients of said asylum, under the direction of the medical superintendents of the several asylums, as in the case of the other or male assistant physicians, and to take the place of such male assistant physician or physicians in the wards of the female patients." although dr. wilbur stood at the head of his profession, his authority upon everything connected with the feeble-minded being not only recognized in this country but in europe also as absolute, yet this bill, which did not contemplate placing a woman in charge of such an institution, and which was so purely moral in its character, met with ridicule and opposition from the press of the state, to which dr. wilbur made an exhaustive reply, showing the need of women as physicians in all institutions in which unfortunate women are incarcerated. when the fall elections of approached, a circular letter was sent to every candidate for office in the city, asking his views on the question of woman suffrage, and delegations waited on the nominees for mayor. mr. edward cooper, the republican candidate, declared he had no sympathy with the movement, while hon. augustus schell, the democratic candidate, received the ladies with great courtesy, and avowed himself friendly at least to the demand for equal wages and better opportunities for education, and in the trades and professions. from the answers received, a list of candidates was prepared. on the evening of october , a crowded mass-meeting was held in steinway hall to advocate the election of those men who were favorable to the enfranchisement of woman. mr. schell was chosen mayor. the re-nomination in , of lucius robinson for governor by the democratic convention, aroused the opposition of the women who understood the politics of the state. he had declared that "the god of nature did not intend women for public life"; they resolved that the same power should retire mr. robinson from public life, and held mass-meetings to that end.[ ] these meetings were all alike crowded and enthusiastic, and the speakers[ ] felt richly paid for their efforts. a thorough canvass of the state was also made, and a protest[ ] extensively circulated, condemning the governor for his veto of the school-bill. mr. f. b. thurber, and miss susan a. king contributed liberally to this campaign. handbills containing the protest and a call for a series of mass-meetings, were distributed by the thousands all over the state. the last meeting was held at the seventh ward republican wigwam, an immense structure, in brooklyn: its use was given by the unanimous vote of the club.[ ] at every one of these meetings resolutions were passed condemning mr. robinson, and electors were urged to cast their votes against him. no doubt the enthusiasm the women aroused for his opponent helped in a measure to defeat him. in the meantime, women in the eleventh senatorial district were concentrating their efforts for the defeat of thomas h. eccelsine. his republican opponent, hon. chas. e. foster, was a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage. miss king,[ ] who resided in this district, exerted all her influence for his election, giving time, money and thought to the canvass. on the morning of november , the day after election, the papers announced that mr. cornell was chosen governor, and that mr. ecclesine, who two years before had been elected by , majority, was defeated by , and mr. foster chosen senator in his stead. this campaign attracted much attention. the journals throughout the country commented upon the action of the women. it was conceded that their efforts had counted for something in influencing the election, and from this moment the leaders of the woman suffrage movement in new york regarded themselves as possessing some political influence. in january, , governor alonzo b. cornell, in his first message to the legislature, among other recommendations, embodied the following: the policy of making women eligible as school officers has been adopted in several states with beneficial results, and the question is exciting much discussion in this state. women are equally competent with men for this duty, and it cannot be doubted that their admission to representation would largely increase the efficacy of our school management. the favorable attention of the legislature is earnestly directed to this subject. with such words from the chief executive it was an easy matter to find friends for a measure making women eligible as school officers. early in the session the following bill was introduced by hon. lorraine b. sessions of cattaraugus: no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve as any school officer, or to vote at any school meeting, by reason of sex, who has the voter's qualifications required by law. senator edwin g. halbert of broome rendered efficient aid and the bill passed at once in the senate by a nearly unanimous vote. hon. g. w. husted of westchester introduced it at once in the assembly and earnestly championed the measure. it passed by a vote of to . the bill was laid before the governor, who promptly affixed his signature to it, and thus, at last, secured to the women of the empire state the right to vote on all school matters, and to hold any school offices to which they might be chosen. the bill was signed on february , and the next day being friday, was the last day of registration in the city of syracuse, the election there taking place on the following tuesday. the news did not reach there until late in the day, the evening papers being the first to contain it. but, although so little was known of the measure, thirteen women registered their names as voters, and cast their ballots at the election. this was the first time the women of new york ever voted, and tuesday, february , , is a day to be remembered.[ ] the voting for officers, like all other-school matters, was provided for, not under the general laws, but by the school statutes. there are two general elections in chartered cities and universal suffrage for school as well as all other officers; no preparation being required of voters but registration. in the rural districts school meetings are held for elections, and there are, by the statutes, three classes of voters described by law. . every person (male or female) who is a resident of the district, of the age of twenty-one years, entitled to hold lands in this state, who either owns or hires real estate in the district liable to taxation for school purposes. . every citizen of the united states (male or female) above the age of twenty-one years, who is a resident of the district, and who owns any personal property assessed on the last preceding assessment roll of the town exceeding $ in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execution. . every citizen of the united states (male or female) above the age of twenty-one years, who is a resident of the district and who has permanently residing with him, or her, a child or children of school age, some one or more of whom shall have attended the school of the district for a period of at least eight weeks within the year preceding the time at which the vote is offered. several of the large cities hold their elections on the first tuesday in march, while the majority of the rural districts hold their school meetings on the second tuesday in october. preparations were at once made to call out a large vote of women in the cities holding spring elections, but all such efforts were checked by official action. the mayor of rochester wrote to the governor, asking him if the new law applied to cities. mr. cornell laid the question before attorney-general ward, who promptly gave an opinion that inasmuch as the words "school meeting" were used in the law, women could only vote where such meetings were held, but were not entitled to vote at the elections in large cities. meantime the new york city association called a meeting of congratulation on the passage of the bill on february , when robinson hall was crowded to overflowing with the friends of woman suffrage, some of whom addressed the vast audience.[ ] a mass-meeting of women was held at albany, in geological hall, mrs. blake presiding. it was especially announced that the meeting was only for ladies, but several men who strayed in were permitted to remain, to take that part in the proceedings usually allowed to women in masculine assemblies, that is, to be silent spectators. resolutions were passed, urging the women to vote at the coming election, and the names of several ladies were suggested as trustees. march , , the albany county woman suffrage association[ ] was formed, whose first active duty was to rouse the women to vote in the coming school election, which they did, in spite of the attorney-general's opinion. mr. edwin g. halbert of broome also introduced a bill in the senate, for a constitutional amendment, to secure to women the right of suffrage, which was passed by that conservative body just before its adjournment. meantime mr. wilcox urged the passage of the bill to prohibit disfranchisement, which was brought to a third reading in the assembly. he prepared and circulated among the members of the legislature a brief,[ ] showing their power to extend the suffrage. the argument is unanswerable, establishing the fact that women had voted through the early days of the colonies, and proving, by unanswerable authorities, their right to do so; thus establishing the right of women to vote in . mr. wilcox' researches on this point will prove invaluable in the enfranchisement of woman, as his facts are irresistible. following is the proposed bill: an act _to prohibit disfranchisement_. introduced in the assembly by hon. alex. f. andrews, march , . reported by the judiciary committee for consideration, may . ordered to third reading, may . again so reported, unanimously, march , . again ordered to third reading, may , ; ayes , noes . vote on passage, may , ; ayes , noes , majority . ( necessary to pass). _whereas_, the common law entitles women to vote under the same qualifications as men; and _whereas_, said common law has never been abrogated in this state; and _whereas_, a practice nevertheless obtains of treating as disfranchised all persons to whom suffrage is not secured by express words of the constitution; and _whereas_, the constitution makes no provision for this practice, but on the contrary declares that its own object is to secure the blessings of freedom to the people, and provides that no member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the privileges secured to any citizen unless by constitutional provision and judicial decision thereunder; and _whereas_, this practice, despite the want of authority therefor, has by continuance acquired the force of law; and _whereas_, many citizens object to this practice as a violation of the spirit and purpose of the constitution, as well as against justice and public policy; and _whereas_, the legislature has corrected this practice in repeated instances, its power to do so being in such instances fully recognized and exercised; therefore the people of the state of new york, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: section . every woman shall be free to vote, under the qualifications required of men, or to refrain from voting, as she may choose; and no person shall be debarred, by reason of sex, from voting at any election, or at any town meeting, school meeting, or other choice of government functionaries whatsoever. sec. . all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act, are hereby repealed. sec. . this act shall take effect immediately. various memorials were sent to the legislature in behalf of this bill, and a hearing was granted to its advocates.[ ] the assembly chamber in the beautiful new capitol was crowded as it had never been before. a large proportion of the senators and assemblymen were present, many of the judges from the various courts, while the governor and lieutenant-governor occupied prominent places, and large crowds of fashionable ladies and leading gentlemen filled the seats and galleries. the chairman of the committee, hon. george l. ferry, presided. the ladies were graciously received by the governor, who, at their request, gave them the pen with which he signed the bill providing "school suffrage for women," and in return they presented him a handsome gold-mounted pen, a gift from the city society. the first voting by women after the passage of the new law, was at syracuse, february , only five days after the bill received the governor's signature, but the great body of women had not the opportunity until october. at that time in fayetteville, the home of matilda joslyn gage, women voted in large numbers; the three who had been placed upon the ticket, trustee, clerk and librarian were all elected. it was an hour of triumph for mrs. gage who was heartily congratulated upon the result. it was remarked that so quiet an election had seldom been known. at middletown, orange county, dr. lydia sayre hasbrook urged the women to take advantage of their new privilege, and when the day of election came, although it was cold and stormy, over voted, and elected the entire ticket of women for trustees, mrs. hasbrook herself being chosen as one. there were many places, however, where no women voted, for the reform had all the antagonisms and prejudices of custom to overcome. many obstacles were thrown in the way to prevent them from exercising this right. the men of their families objecting, and misconstruing the law, kept them in doubt both as to their rights and duties. the clergy from their pulpits warned the women of their congregations not to vote, fathers forbade their daughters, husbands their wives. the wonder is that against such a pressure so many women did vote after all. october , , the elections took place in a large proportion of the eleven thousand school districts of the state, and the daily journals were full of items as to the result. we copy a few of these: lowville, lewis county, oct. , .--the business meeting was held on the evening of the th, and was attended by twenty ladies. on the following day at p.m., the election was held. the ladies had an independent ticket opposing the incumbent clerk and trustee. seven voted. four were challenged. they swore their votes in. boys just turned twenty-one years of age voted unchallenged. the clerk, who is a young sprig of a lawyer, made himself conspicuous by challenging our votes. he first read the opinion of the state superintendent of public instruction, and said that the penalty for illegal voting was not less than six months' imprisonment. my vote was challenged, and although my husband is an owner of much real estate and cannot sell one foot of it without my consent, i could not vote. from penn yan a woman writes:--about seventy ladies voted here, but none who did not either own or lease real estate. the argument so often used against woman suffrage--viz: that the first to avail themselves of the privilege would be those least qualified to do so, is directly refuted, in this town at least, since the ladies who voted are without doubt those who by natural ability and by culture are abundantly competent to vote intelligently as well as conscientiously. a woman in nunda writes:--only six women attended the school meeting in the first district on the th, but over forty went to the polls on the th. two women were on one of the tickets; the opposition ticket was made up entirely of males. we were supported by the best men in the village. the ticket bearing the names of mrs. fidelia j. m. whitcomb, m. d., and mrs. s. augusta herrick, was elected. from poland a woman writes:--our school meeting was attended by about thirty men and two women. the population of the village is between three and four hundred. my neighbor and i were proud of the privilege of casting our first vote. there was nothing of special interest to call out voters, as our trustees are satisfactory to all. if circumstances required, there would be many women voters here. david hopkins and gustave dettloff were candidates for school trustee in district no. of new lots, long island, at the last election. mr. hopkins is a farmer and was seeking reëlection. mr. dettloff is connected with an insurance company in this city, and is a well-known resident of the town. the friends of mr. hopkins about an hour before the closing of the polls, perceived that there was danger of their candidate's defeat. a consultation was held, and it was decided to utilize the new law giving women the privilege of voting. accordingly, several farm wagons were procured and sent through the district to gather in the farmers' wives and daughters. the wagons returned to the polls with women, all of whom voted for mr. hopkins, thus saving him from defeat. it was too late to use a counter poison. the total number of votes cast was , mr. hopkins receiving eighty majority. port jervis. oct. .--the annual election of school trustees occurred to-day and was attended with unusual excitement. eight hundred and thirty votes were polled, , for the women's ticket, the remainder being divided. only fifty ladies voted, a great many being kept from the polls by the crowd of loafers standing around. the protestant ticket, composed of three men, was elected. the election was held in a small room, and this was crowded with men who amused themselves by passing remarks about the ladies until the police were called in. every lady who offered her vote was challenged and a great many left the polls in disgust. in carpenter's point and sparrowbush, two suburbs of the village, the ladies voted and were not molested. only a few women voted on tuesday evening at the election for school trustees in the first district of southfield, staten island. when the poll was opened judge john g. vaughan, the retiring trustee, presided. a motion was made to reëlect him by acclamation. amid great confusion judge vaughan put the motion and declared it carried. then officers fitzgerald and leary had to take charge of the meeting to preserve order, and judge vaughan's opponents withdrew, threatening proceedings to have the election declared invalid. abram c. wood was elected school trustee in the west new brighton (s. i.) district by majority, which included the votes of eight of eleven women present. other women promised to vote if mr. wood needed their support. mr. robert b. minturn presided. sing sing, oct. .--five women voted at the school meeting last night. mount morris, oct. .--one hundred and twenty women voted at the school election here last evening. glen's falls, oct. .--i am informed that women did vote here and in the neighborhood last evening. perry, oct. .--a large woman vote was cast here. two women were elected members of the school-board. peekskill, oct. .--five women voted in one district. shelter island, oct. .--women voted at our school meeting. coffin summit, oct. .--six women voted at the school meeting here. a lady was nominated for trustee and received many votes, but was defeated. stamford, oct. .--four ladies voted at the school meeting. port richmond, oct. .--six ladies attended the school meeting. the chairman, mr. sidney p. ronason, made a speech, welcoming them, stating that an unsuccessful effort had been made by citizens to induce a leading lady to become a candidate for trustee; also, that lester a. scofield, the retiring trustee, would cheerfully give way if any competent lady would take his place. this mr. scofield confirmed, but, no lady being nominated, he was reëlected without opposition. baldwinville, oct. .--thirty-three ladies voted at the school election. lockport, oct. .--two quaker ladies voted at the school meeting of the first district of this township. one of them, dr. sarah lamb cushing, was chosen tax-collector by votes out of . on the entrance of the ladies, smoking and all disorder ceased, and the meeting was uncommonly well-conducted. lawton station, oct. .--of the votes cast at the school meeting here, were given by women. a woman received the highest vote for school trustee, but withdrew in favor of one of the male candidates. the proceedings were enlivened with singing by the pupils under the direction of the teacher. several improvements in the building were ordered at the instance of the ladies. knowlesville, oct. .--many women meant to vote at the school meeting, but a person went from house to house and threatened them with legal penalties if they did. mrs. james kernholtz was nominated for tax-collector at the meeting, but declined, saying the pay was too small. miss adelina lockwood, being nominated for librarian, declined, but was elected by acclamation, amid great applause. the meeting was very large, but unusually orderly. flushing, oct. .--forty women voted at the school meeting here, and in the adjoining district. syracuse, oct. , .--at the fayetteville, onondaga county, school district election yesterday, a direct issue was made on the question of woman's rights. the candidate of the women was chosen. this is the women's second victory in that place, giving them control of the school-board. a correspondent describing what the voters had to encounter, said: is the question asked, why have not more women voted? i answer, hundreds of women in this state were debarred by falsehood and intimidation. no sooner had the school suffrage law passed than the wildest statements about it were made. it was given out that the governor had recalled the bill from the secretary of state after signing it (which he could not do), and vetoed it; that the law was unconstitutional; that it was defective and inoperative; that it did not apply to cities and villages; that it had been repealed; and like untruths. pains was taken to hide its existence by corrupt officials, who told the women that the law did not apply to the places where they lived, or who withheld the fact of its passage. the state was flooded just before the elections with an incorrect statement that only the rich women could vote; that the children's mothers could not unless they held real estate. the story was also set afloat that the attorney-general had indorsed this statement; which that gentleman promptly repudiated. all this we corrected as fast and as far as we could; but it unavoidably did much harm. wholesale hindrance and terrorism too, were used. a few samples are these: in albany, many women were threatened by their own husbands with expulsion from house and home, imprisonment, bodily violence or death if they dared vote; while many others were deterred by insults and threats of social persecution. many persons ridiculed and abused those who sought to vote. in some districts the inspectors refused to register qualified women, while in others votes were refused. statements were widely published that the law did not apply to albany. in knowersville, the village teacher went to every house, and threatened the women with state-prison if they dared to vote. in mount morris, the president of the board of education denounced the ladies who induced others to vote. in fayetteville, saratoga and elsewhere, the ladies' request for some share in making the tickets was scornfully ignored. in port jervis, the board of education declined a hall that was offered, and had the election in a low, dirty little room. smoke was puffed in the ladies' faces, challenges were frequent, and all sorts of impudent questions were asked of the voters. in long island city many ladies were challenged, and stones were thrown in the street at mrs. emma gates conkling, the lady who was most active in bringing out the new voters. in new brighton, the village paper threatened the women with jail if they voted; and when a motion was made in one district that the ladies be invited to attend, a large negative vote was given, one man shouting, "we have enough of women at home; we don't want'em here!" at west new brighton it was openly announced that the meeting should be too turbulent for ladies, insomuch that many who intended to go staid away, and the few who went were obliged to wait till all the men had voted. in newham a gang of low fellows took possession of the polling place early, filled it with smoke of the worst tobacco, and covered the floor with tobacco juice; and through all this the few ladies who ventured to vote had to pass. in new york a man who claims to be a gentleman said: "if my wife undertook to vote i would trample her under my feet." in new rochelle the school trustee told the women they were not entitled to vote, and tried to prevent a meeting being held to inform them. clergymen from the pulpit urged women not to vote, and a mob gathered at the polls and blocked the way. these are but samples of the difficulties under which the new law went into operation; and it is the truth that there was as much bulldozing of voters in new york as ever in the south, though sometimes by other means. in mrs. blake was sent by the new york society to the republican and democratic presidential conventions at chicago and cincinnati, and on her return a meeting was called in republican hall, july , to hear her report as to the comparative treatment received by the delegates in the two conventions. soon afterwards a delegation of ladies[ ] waited on winfield s. hancock, the democratic nominee, who received them with much courtesy, saying he was quite willing to interpret, in its broadest sense, that clause of his letter of acceptance wherein he said: "it is only by a full vote and a fair count that the people can rule in fact, as required by the theory of our government." "i am willing, ladies," said the general, "to have you say that i believe in a free ballot for all the people of the united states, women as well as men." mrs. blake, mrs. slocum and mr. wilcox made quite an extensive canvass through many counties of the state, to rouse the women to use their right to vote on all school matters. the bill to prohibit disfranchisement was again introduced in the legislature of , by joseph m. congdon, and ordered to a third reading may , by a vote of to , and on may came up for final action, when the ladies, by special courtesy, were admitted to the floor of the assembly chamber to listen to the discussion. general francis b. spinola and general james w. husted made earnest speeches in favor of the bill, and hon. erastus brooks and general george a. sharpe in opposition. the roll-call gave ayes to noes--a majority of those present, but not the majority ( ) of all the members of the assembly, which the constitution of new york requires for the final passage of a bill. the vote astonished the opponents, and placed the measure among the grave questions of the day. this substantial success inspired the friends to renewed efforts.[ ] the necessity of properly qualified women in the police stations again came up for consideration. the condition of unfortunate women nightly consigned to these places had long been set forth by the leaders of the suffrage movement. in new york there were thirty-two station-houses in which, from night to night, from five to forty women were lodged, some on criminal charges, some from extreme poverty. all there, young and old, were entirely in the hands of men, in sickness or distress. if search was to be made on charge of theft, it was always a male official who performed the duty. if the most delicate and refined lady were taken ill on the street, or injured in any way, she was liable to be taken to the nearest station, where the needful examinations to ascertain if life yet lingered must be made by men. in view of these facts, a resolution was again passed at the state convention, and request made to the police commissioners, to permit a delegation of ladies to meet with them in conference. the commissioners deigned no reply, but gave the letter to the press, whereupon ensued a storm of comment and ridicule. on consultation with mrs. josephine shaw lowell, commissioner of the state board of charities, a bill was drawn up and sent to albany, providing for the appointment of one or more police-matrons at every station-house in cities of , inhabitants and upwards, the salaries to be $ each. hon. j. c. boyd presented the bill in the senate, where it passed april . in the assembly its passage was urged by hon. michael c. murphy, chairman of the committee on cities. meantime mayor grace and comptroller campbell entered their protest against the bill, declaring the measure ought to originate in the city departments, where there was full power to appoint police-matrons; also, that the proposed salaries would be a heavy drain upon the city treasury. the comptroller was at once informed of the previous application to the police commissioners, from whom no reply had been received, which virtually compelled appeal to the legislature. and as to salaries, it was suggested that there were now on the pay-roll of the police of new york , men whose salaries amounted to over $ , , , whereas the bill before the legislature asked for only sixty matrons, whose salaries would amount to but $ , . this was certainly a most reasonable demand for the protection of one-half the people of the city, who paid fully half the indirect taxes as well as a fair proportion of the direct taxes. finally, it was proposed to the comptroller that the bill should be withdrawn if he would recommend the appointment of police-matrons in the city departments. this was not accepted. the committee on cities gave a hearing to mrs. blake, and reported unanimously in favor of the bill. public sentiment supported the measure, the press generally advocated it, and the assembly passed the bill by a vote of to ; but it failed to receive the signature of the governor,--a most striking proof of the need of the ballot for women; since, friendly as he was to woman's enfranchisement, when he found the police department, with its thousands of attachés, _all with votes_ in their hands, opposed, governor cornell was found wanting in courage and conscience to sign this bill for women who had no votes.[ ] the next year application was again made to the city authorities for the appointment of matrons, but they refused to act. the bill was reïntroduced in the legislature, passed by a large majority in the assembly, but defeated in the senate by the adverse report of the committee on cities. a mass-meeting to discuss this question of police-matrons was held in steinway hall, march , at which the speakers[b] all urged such appointments. during the winter of an effort was made in new york city to secure the enforcement of the law enacted by the previous legislature, which provided that seats should be furnished for the "shop-girls." mrs. emma gates conkling caused the arrest of certain prominent shop-keepers on the charge of not complying with the law, but on coming to trial the suits were withdrawn on the promise of the delinquents to give seats to their employés. during the winter of agitation for the higher education of women was renewed, and a society organized by some of the most influential ladies in the city. they rolled up a petition of , , asking that columbia college be opened to women. president barnard had recommended this in his reports for three years. the agitation culminated in a grand meeting[ ] in the new union league theater. parke godwin of the _evening post_ presided. the audience was chiefly composed of fashionable ladies, whose equipages filled thirty-eighth street blocks away, yet not a woman sat on the platform; not a woman's voice was heard; even the report of the society was read by a man, and every inspiration of the occasion was filtered through the brain of some man. among other things, mr. godwin, son-in-law of the poet bryant, said: we speak of the higher education of women. why not also of men? because they already have the opportunity for obtaining it. the idea upon which our government is built is the idea of equal rights for all; and that means equal opportunities. every society needs all the best intellect that it can get. we have many evil influences acting upon our society here, and we need the all-controlling influence of woman. we cannot fix a standard for her. history shows what she has done, in a vespasia, vittoria colonna, de staël, bremer, evans, somerville and maria mitchell. she does not go out of her sphere when she is so highly educated. she can darn her stockings just as well if she does know the word in half-a-dozen languages. there is no longer novelty in this movement; it has been tried successfully here and abroad in the universities, and always with success. addresses were also made by rev. dr. stowe, dr. william draper, joseph choate, and others eminent in one way or another. the meeting closed by circulating a petition for presentation to the trustees of columbia college, asking that properly qualified women be admitted to lectures and examinations. the bill to prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex was again introduced in the assembly by hon. j. hampden robb, and referred to the committee on grievances, of which major james haggerty was chairman, who gave to it his hearty approval and granted two hearings to the officers of the state society, on behalf of the large number of memorialists who had sent in their petitions from all parts of the state. the women of albany were indefatigable in their personal appeals to the different members of the assembly, urging them to vote for the bill, while major haggerty was untiring in his advocacy of the measure. on may there was an animated discussion:[ ] the bill passed to its third reading by an overwhelming vote, which alarmed the opponents into making a thorough canvass, that proved to them the necessity of some decisive action for the defeat of the bill. the hon. erastas brooks presented a resolution, calling on the attorney-general for his opinion on the constitutionality of the proposed law, which was passed in a moment of confusion, and when many of our friends were absent. following is the opinion elicited: state of new york. office of the attorney-general,} albany, may , .} _to the assembly:_ i have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the resolution of the assembly requesting the attorney-general to report his opinion as to the constitutionality of assembly bill no. , which provides that "every woman shall be free to vote under the qualifications required of men, or to refrain from voting, as she may choose; and no person shall be debarred by reason of sex from voting at any election, or at any town meeting, school meeting, or other choice of government functionaries whatsoever," and whether, without an amendment to the constitution, suffrage can be granted to any class of persons not named in the constitution. i reply: _first_--it has been decided so often by the judicial tribunals of the various states of the union, and by the supreme court of the united states, that suffrage is not a natural inherent right, but one governed by the law-making power and regulated by questions of availability and expediency, instead of absolute, inalienable right ( , ), that the question is no longer open for discussion, either by the judicial forum or legislative assemblies (_burnham vs. laning, legal gazette rep., , supreme court penn.; minor vs. happersett, wallace, ; day vs. jones, california, ; anderson vs. baker, maryland, ; abbott vs. bayley, pickering, ; dallas, - ; in re susan b. anthony, blatchford, _). at the common law women had no right to vote and no political status ( , ) (_maine's ancient law, ; cooley's const. lim., ; blackstone's comm., _). _second_--therefore the constitution of the state of new york, providing that every male citizen of the age of years who shall have certain other qualifications, may vote, the determination of the organic law specifying who shall have the privilege of voting, excludes all other classes ( ), such as women, persons under years of age and aliens. the argument that, because women are not expressly prohibited, they may vote, fails to give the slightest force to the term "male" in the constitution; and by the same force of reasoning, the expression of the term "citizen" and the statement of the age of years would not necessarily exclude aliens and those under years of age from voting ( ). therefore, assuming that our organic law was properly adopted without the participation of women either in making or adopting it ( ), that organic law controls. _third_--it follows, therefore, as a logical consequence that the proposed reform cannot be accomplished except by an amendment of the constitution ratified by two successive legislatures and the people, or by a constitutional convention, whose work shall be sanctioned by a vote of the people. leslie w. russell, _attorney-general_.[ ] weak as was this document, and untenable as were its assertions, it had great weight with many of the members of the legislature coming as the opinion did from the attorney-general of the state. the friends of the bill resolved to call for the vote when the bill should be reached, and on may , the women were present in large numbers, listening with intense interest to the brief speeches of the members for and against, and watching and counting the vote as the roll-call proceeded, which resulted in ayes and noes, lacking three votes of a majority of those present and only eleven of the requisite number, sixty-five. in view of the official opinion against its constitutionality amounting to a legal decision, this was a most gratifying vote.[ ] the presence of leslie w. russell in albany, as attorney-general, rendered it useless to reïntroduce the bill to prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex in the legislature of , but in its stead, dr. john g. boyd of new york introduced a proposition to strike "male" from the suffrage clause of the constitution, which, however, received only fifteen votes. to pass from the state to the church, the winter of was notable for the delivery of a series of lenten lectures on woman by the rev. morgan dix, d. d., rector of trinity church, new york, afterwards published in book form under the title, "the calling of a christian woman and her training to fulfill it." the lectures were delivered each friday evening during lent, in trinity chapel, and at once attracted attention from their conservative, reäctionary, almost monastic views of woman's position and duties. after reading a report of one of these remarkable essays in which women were gravely told their highest happiness should be found in singing hymns, mrs. blake decided to reply to them. she secured a hall on fourteenth street, and on successive sunday evenings gave addresses in reply. both courses of lectures were well attended. the moderate audiences of trinity chapel soon became a throng that more than filled the large building, while the hall in which mrs. blake spoke was packed to suffocation, hundreds going away unable to gain admittance. the press everywhere favored the broad and liberal views presented by mrs. blake, and denounced the old-time narrow theories of dr. dix. mrs. blake's lectures were also published in book form with the title of "woman's place to-day" and had a large circulation. the republicans again nominating mr. russell for attorney-general, an active campaign was organized against him and in favor of the democratic nominee, mr. dennis o'brien. protests[ ] against russell were circulated throughout the state; republican tickets were printed with the name of denis o'brien for attorney-general, and on election day women distributed these tickets, and made every possible effort to ensure the defeat of russell; and he was defeated by , votes. the legislature of showed a marked gain; hon. erastus brooks, general george a. sharpe, and other prominent opponents had been retired, and their seats filled by active friends. our bill was introduced by mr. william howland of cayuga, and referred to the committee on the judiciary. mr. howland also secured the passage of a special act, granting women the right to vote at the charter elections of union springs, cayuga county. under similar enactments women have the right to vote for municipal officers in dansville, newport and other villages and towns in the state. on march , , the annual meeting of the state society was held in the city hall, albany, with a good representation[ ] from the national convention at washington, added to our own state speakers.[ ] on the last evening there was an overflow meeting held in geological hall, presided over by mrs. matilda joslyn gage. governor cleveland accorded the delegates a most courteous reception in his room in the capitol. a hearing was had before the judiciary committee march . the assembly-chamber was crowded. general husted, chairman of the committee, presided, and mrs. blake, the president of the society, introduced the speakers.[ ] a few days later the same committee gave a special hearing to mrs. gougar, who made the journey from indiana to present the case. the committee reported adversely, but by the able tactics of general husted, after an animated debate the bill was placed on the calendar by a vote of to , and shortly after ordered to a third reading by a vote of to . on may the bill was reached for final action. frederick b. howe of new york was the principal opponent, trying to obstruct legislation by one and another pretext. general husted took the floor in an able speech on the constitutionality of the bill, and the vote stood ayes to noes, lacking eight votes of the requisite . while the right of suffrage is still denied, gains in personal and property rights have been granted: in , the law requiring the private acknowledgment by a married woman of her execution of deeds, or other written instruments, without the "fear or compulsion" of her husband, was abolished, leaving the wife to make, take and certify in the same manner as if she were a _feme sole_. march , , the penal code of the state was amended, raising the age of consent from ten to sixteen years, and also providing penalties[ ] for inveigling or enticing any unmarried woman, under the age of twenty-five years, into a house of ill-fame or assignation. under the act of may , , a married woman may contract to the same extent, with like effect and in the same form as if unmarried, and she and her separate estate shall be liable thereon, whether such contract relates to her separate business or estate, or otherwise, and in no case shall a charge upon her separate estate be necessary. it is by court decisions that we most readily learn the legal status of married women, under the favorable legislation of the period covered by this history. while referring the reader to abbott's digest of new york laws for full knowledge upon this point, we give a few of the more recent decisions as illustrating general legal opinion: troy, march , .--the court of appeals decided that married women are the rightful owners of articles of personal adornment or convenience coming from husbands, and can bequeath them to their heirs. the court held that separate and personal possession by a wife of articles specially fitted for and adapted to her personal use, and differing in that respect from household goods kept for the common use of husband and wife, would draw after it a presumption of the executed gift if the property came from the husband, and of the wife's ownership, but for disabilities of the marital relations. now that these disabilities are removed the separate existence and separate property of the wife are recognized, and her capacity to take and hold as her own the gift in good faith and fairly made to her by her husband established, it seemed to the court time to clothe her right with natural and proper attributes, and apply to the gift to her, although made by her husband, the general rules of law unmodified and unimpaired by the old disabilities of the marriage relations. this decision was important as further destroying the old common-law theory of the husband's absolute ownership of his wife's person, property, services and earnings. the same year ( ) the supreme court, at its general term, rendered a decision that a married woman could sue her husband for damages for assault and battery; that by the act of the legislature intended to, and did, change the common-law rule, that a wife could not sue her husband. judge brady rendered the opinion, judge daniels concurring; presiding judge noah davis dissenting. judge brady said: to allow the right (to sue) in an action of this character, in accordance with the language of the statute, would be to promote greater harmony by enlarging the rights of married women and increasing the obligations of husbands, by affording greater protection to the former, and by enforcing greater restraint upon the latter in the indulgence of their evil passions. the declaration of such a rule is not against the policy of the law. it is in harmony with it, and calculated to preserve peace and, in a great measure, prevent barbarous acts, acts of cruelty, regarded by mankind as inexcusable, contemptible, detestable. it is neither too early nor too late to promulgate the doctrine that if a husband commits an assault and battery upon his wife he may be held responsible civilly and criminally for the act, which is not only committed in violation of the laws of god and man, but in direct antagonism to the contract of marriage, its obligations, duties, responsibilities, and the very basis on which it rests. the rules of the common law on this subject have been dispelled, routed, and justly so, by the acts of and . they are things of the past which have succumbed to more liberal and just views, like many other doctrines of the common law which could not stand the scrutiny and analysis of modern civilization. the utter insecurity of woman without the ballot is shown in the reversal of this decision within a few months, by the court of appeals, on the ground that it would be "contrary to the policy of the law, and destructive to the conjugal union and tranquility which it had always been the object of the law to guard and protect." could satire go farther? we record with satisfaction the fact that judge danforth uttered a strong dissenting opinion. the friends of woman suffrage in the legislature of secured the passage of a bill empowering women to vote on all questions of taxation submitted to a popular vote in the village of union springs. governor cleveland was urged to veto it; but after hearing all the objections he signed the bill and it became a law. at clinton, oneida county, twenty-two women voted on june , , at an election on the question of establishing water-works. eight voted for the tax, fourteen against it. fifteen other women appeared at the polls, but were excluded from voting because, though they were real-estate tax-payers, the assessor had left their names off the tax-roll. judge theodore w. dwight, president of the columbia law school, pronounced women tax-payers entitled to vote under the general water-works act, and therefore that the election-officials violated the law in refusing to accept the votes of the women whose names were omitted from the assessors' tax-list. in , there was a report of the committee to allow widows an active voice in the settlement of the family estate and to have the sole guardianship of minor children. a petition in favor of the bill had upon it the names of such well-known men as peter cooper, george william curtis, henry bergh and j. w. simonton. september , , mrs. macdonald of boston argued her own case before the united states circuit court in new york city, in a patent suit. it was a marked event in court circles, she being the first lady pleader that ever appeared in that court, and the second woman who ever argued a case in this state. anne bradstreet was for years a marked character in albany courts, but her claims for justice were regarded as an amusing lunacy. in , governor cornell appointed miss carpenter on the state board of charities. in the suit of mr. edward jones to recover $ which he alleged he had loaned to the rev. anna oliver for the willoughby avenue methodist episcopal church, brooklyn, of which she was pastor, a verdict for the defendant was rendered. miss oliver addressed the following letter to the court: _to his honor, the judge, the intelligent jury, the lawyers and all who are engaged in the case of jones vs. oliver_: gentlemen:--thanking you for the politeness, the courtesy, the chivalry even, that has been shown me to-day, allow me to make of you the following request: please sit down at your earliest leisure, and endeavor to realize in imagination how you would feel if you were sued by a woman, and the case was brought before a court composed entirely of women; the judge a woman; every member of the jury a woman; women to read the oath to you, and hold the bible, and every lawyer a woman. further, your case to be tried under laws framed entirely by women, in which neither you nor any man had ever been allowed a voice. somewhat as you would feel under such circumstances, you may be assured, on reading this, i have felt during the trial to-day. perhaps the women would be lenient to you (the sexes do favor each other), but would you be satisfied? would you feel that such an arrangement was exactly the just and fair thing? if you would not, i ask you on the principle of the golden rule, to use your influence for the enfranchisement of women. _new york, ._ mrs. roebling, wife of the engineer in charge of the construction of the marvelous brooklyn bridge, made the patterns for various necessary shapes of iron and steel such as no mills were making, after her husband and other engineers had for weeks puzzled their brains over the difficulties. when frank leslie died, his printing-house was involved, and mrs. leslie undertook to redeem it, which she did, and in a very short time. speaking of it she says: "i had the property in reach, and the assignees were ready to turn it over to me, but to get it, it was necessary for me to raise $ , , i borrowed it from a woman. how happy i was when she signed the check, and how beautiful it seemed to me to see one woman helping another. i borrowed the money in june, and was to make the first payment of $ , , on the st of november. on the th of october i paid the $ , with interest. from june to the th of october, i made $ , clear. i had also to pay $ , to the creditors who did not come under the contract. while i was paying this $ , of my husband's debts, i spent but $ for myself, except for my board. i lived in a little attic room, without a carpet, and the window was so high that i could not get a glimpse of the sky unless i stood on a chair and looked out. when i had paid the debts and raised a monument to my husband, then i said to myself, 'now for a great big pair of diamond earrings,' and away i went to europe, and here are the diamonds." the diamonds are perfect matches, twenty-seven carats in weight, and are nearly as large as nickles. in lansingburgh the women tax-payers offered their ballots and were repulsed, as follows: september , , the special election of the taxable inhabitants of the village of lansingburgh took place, to vote upon a proposition to raise by tax the sum of $ , for water-works purposes. the measure was voted by for it to against. but a small amount of interest was manifested in the election. several women tax-payers offered their votes, but the inspectors would not receive them, and the matter will be contested in the courts. the call for the election asked for an expression from "the taxable inhabitants," and women tax-payers in the 'burgh claim under the law their rights must be recognized. lansingburgh inspectors have on numerous occasions refused to receive the ballots thus tendered, and the women have lost patience. they are to employ the best of counsel and settle the question at as early a day as possible. women pay tax upon $ , of the property within the village boundaries, and they believe that they, to the number of at least, are entitled to votes on all questions involving a monetary expenditure. in saratoga, clinton, and a number of other places in this state, where elections in relation to water-works have taken place, it has been held by legal authority that women property owners have a right to vote, and they have voted accordingly the same as other tax-payers. in regard to recent efforts to secure legislation favorable to women, mr. wilcox writes: the impression that the school act, passed in , did not apply to cities, led to the introduction by the hon. charles s. baker of rochester, of a bill covering cities. a test vote showed the assembly practically unanimous for it, but it was referred to the judiciary committee to examine its constitutionality. the chairman, hon. geo. l. ferry, and other members, asked me to look up the point and inform the committee, supposing a constitutional amendment needful. when the point was made on this bill, i for the first time closely examined the constitution, and finding there was nought to prevent the legislature enfranchising anyone, promptly apprised the committee of the discovery. the acting-chairman, major wm. d. brennan, requested me to furnish the committee a legal brief on the matter. this (feb. , ) i did, and arranged a public hearing before them in the assembly-chamber, which was attended by governor cornell, lieutenant-governor hoskins, many senators, assemblymen, and state officers; at which mrs. blake, the sainted helen m. slocum and mrs. elizabeth l. saxon were the speakers. from that year to the present there has been a "bill to prohibit disfranchisement" before each legislature. in , it was carried to a majority vote in the assembly. in , two-thirds of the assembly were ready to pass the bill when the attorney-general declared it unconstitutional. in , governor cleveland had approved two suffrage acts, and promised to sign all the friends could carry. in , growing tired of the senseless clamor of "unconstitutionality," i resolved to show how little law the clamorers knew. to the knowledge gained by five years' discussion, i added that obtained by several months' research in the state library at albany, that of the new york bar association, those of the new york law institute and columbia college, and elsewhere. the result was the publication of "cases of the legislature's power over suffrage," wherein it was shown, condensed from a great number of authorities, that all classes have received suffrage, not from the constitution but from the legislature, and that the latter has exercised the power of extending suffrage in hundreds of cases. this document received high praise from general james w. husted and major james haggerty, who have manfully championed our bills in the assembly, general husted reading from it in his speech and it was signally sanctioned by the assembly which, after being supplied with copies, voted down by more than three to one a motion to substitute a constitutional amendment. but while working at this document, i was fortunate enough to make a still greater discovery--that portions of statute law which formerly prevented women's voting were repealed long since; that the constitution and statutes in their present shape secure women the legal right to vote. february , , a hearing was granted to mrs. stanton, mrs. rogers and mrs. blake in the assembly-chamber before the committee on grievances, on the "bill to prohibit disfranchisement." the splendid auditorium was crowded for two hours, and members of the committee lingered a long time after the audience had dispersed to discuss the whole question still further with the speakers. on the next day mrs. mary seymour howell and governor john w. hoyt of wyoming territory had a second hearing. the committee reported for consideration. when the bill came up for a third reading, general martin l. curtis of st. lawrence moved that it be sent to the judiciary committee with instructions to substitute a constitutional amendment; lost, ayes , noes ; carried to a third reading by _viva voce_ vote. the vote on the final passage was, ayes , noes ; the constitutional majority in this state being of the members, it was lost by eight votes. of the republicans, voted for the bill; of the democrats, voted for the bill, showing that more than half the democratic vote was in favor, and only two-fifths of the republican; thus our defeat was due to the republican party. thus stands the question of woman suffrage in the empire state to-day, where women are in the majority.[ ] after long years of unremitting efforts who can read this chapter of woman's faith and patience, under such oft-repeated disappointments, but with pity for her humiliations and admiration for her courage and persistence. for nearly half a century the petitions, the appeals, the arguments of the women of new york have been before the legislature for consideration, and the trivial concessions of justice thus far wrung from our rulers bear no proportion to the prolonged labors we have gone through to achieve them. footnotes: [ ] it has recently been ascertained that the first woman's rights petition sent to the new york state legislature was by miss mary ayers, in , for a change in the property laws. it was ten or fifteen feet long when unrolled, and is still buried in the vaults of the capitol at albany. [ ] many years afterwards, lecturing in texas, i met a party of ladies from georgia, thoroughly awake on all questions relating to women. finding ourselves quite in accord, i said, "how did you get those ideas in georgia?" "why," said one, "some of our friends attended a woman's convention at saratoga, and told us what was said there, and gave us several tracts on all phases of the question, which were the chief topics of discussion among us long after." southern women have suffered so many evils growing out of the system of slavery that they readily learn the lessons of freedom.--[e. c. s. [ ] the following were elected officers of the association. _president_, martha c. wright, auburn. _vice-presidents_, celia burleigh, brooklyn; rachel s. martin, albany; lydia a. strowbridge, cortland; jennie white, syracuse; eliza w. osborn, auburn; sarah g. love, ithaca; w. s. v. rosa, watertown; mary m. r. parks, utica; amy post, rochester; candace s. brockett, brockett's bridge; ida greeley, chappaqua; mary hunt, waterloo. _secretary_, matilda joslyn gage, fayetteville. _executive committee_, lucy a. brand, emeline a. morgan, mrs. h. stewart, samuel j. may, rhoda price, all of syracuse. _advisory counsel_, for first judicial district, susan b. anthony, new york; second, sarah schram, newburgh; third, sarah h. hallock, milton; fourth, caroline mowry holmes, greenwich; fifth, ann t. randall, oswego; sixth, mrs. professor sprague, ithaca, seventh, harriet n. austin, dansville; eighth, helen p. jenkins, buffalo. [ ] the speakers were celia burleigh, susan b. anthony, charlotte b. wilbour, matilda joslyn gage, mrs. bedortha, of saratoga, mrs. strowbridge, of cortland, mrs. norton, j. n. holmes, esq., judge mckean, rev. mr. angier, hon. wm. hay. see vol. ii., page , for mrs. burleigh's letter on this saratoga convention. [ ] the board of trustees of mt. vernon, westchester county, called a meeting of taxpayers of that village on july , , to vote upon the question of levying a tax of $ , for the purpose of making and repairing highways and sidewalks, and for sundry other public improvements. over sixty per cent. of the real-estate owners being women, they resolved upon asserting their right to a voice in the matter, and issued a call for a meeting, signed by the following influential ladies: mrs. m. j. law, mrs. h. h. leaver, mrs. olive leaver, mrs. j. haggerty, mary h. macdonald, mrs. dorothy ferguson, mrs. m. j. farrand, mrs. jeanette oron, mrs. thirza clark, mrs. s. j. clark, mrs. nettie morgan, mrs. d. downs, miss l. m. hale, miss susie law, mrs. celia pratt, mrs. sabra talcott, mrs. mary wilkie, mrs. elizabeth latham, mrs. mary c. brown, mrs. j. m. lockwood, mrs. may howe, mrs. adaline baylis, mrs. j. harper, miss elizabeth eaton, miss c. frederiska scharft, mrs. s. a. hathaway, mrs. margaret hick, mrs. rebecca dimmic, mrs. catharine alphonse, miss julia cheney, mrs. e. watkins, mrs. l. m. pease, mrs. margaret coles, mrs. ruth smith, mrs. mary a. douglas, mrs. sarah valentine, mrs. h. c. jones, mrs. j. tomlinson, mrs. amanda carr, mrs. margaret wooley, mrs. s. seeber, mrs. b. powers, mrs. s. a. waterhouse, mrs. h. m. smith. but notwithstanding the numbers, wealth, and social influence of the women, their demand was rejected, while hundreds of men, who had never paid a dollar's tax into the village treasury, were permitted to deposit their votes, though challenged by friends, and well known to the officers as not possessors of a foot of real estate. [ ] the working women's association was organized in new york, september , , with mrs. anna tobitt, _president_; miss augusta lewis, miss susan johns, miss mary peers. _vice-presidents_; miss elizabeth c. browne, _secretary_, and miss julia browne, _treasurer_. the three vice-presidents were young ladies of about twenty. miss lewis worked upon a newly invented type-setting machine. [ ] "sergeant robinson, of the twenty-sixth precinct, made a raid on the abandoned women patroling the park last evening. at p. m. six unfortunates were caged." thus runs the record. will some one now be kind enough to tell us whether sergeant robinson, or any other sergeant, made a raid upon the abandoned men who were patrolling broadway at the same hour? did any one on that night, or, indeed, upon any other night, within the memory of the oldest knickerbocker, make a raid upon the gamblers, thieves, drunkards and panders that infest houston street? by what authority do the police call women "abandoned" and arrest them because they are patrolling any public park or square? if these women belonged to the class euphemistically called "unfortunate," they were doubtless there because men were already there before them. and if it was illegal in women and deserving of punishment, why should men escape? _prima facie_, if crime were committed, the latter are the greater criminals of the two. we humbly suggest to all who are endeavoring to reform this class of women, that they turn their attention to reforming the opposite sex. if you can make men so pure that they will not seek the society of prostitutes, you will soon have no prostitutes for them to seek; in other words, prostitution will cease when men become sufficiently pure to make no demand for prostitutes. in any event, the police should treat both sexes alike. making a raid, as it is called, upon abandoned women, and shutting them up in prison, never can procure good results. the most repulsive and bestial features of "the social evil" have their origin in the treatment that women receive at the hands of the police; and society itself would be much better if the police would keep their hands off such women.--[p. p. in _the revolution_. [ ] an important decision relating to the eligibility of candidates for the cornell free scholarship has been rendered by judge martin of the supreme court. mary e. wright, who stood third in the recent examination here for the scholarship, contested the appointment on the ground that the candidates who were first and second in the examination were not pupils of a school in the county. the judge decided that candidates for the position must be residents of the county and pupils of a school therein, to be eligible, and he awarded the scholarship to miss wright. this is the first contested scholarship since the establishment of the university.--_ithaca dispatch to new york times._ [ ] dr. lewis h. morgan, who died in , famed in both hemispheres as an ethnologist, left a considerable estate to be devoted at the death of his wife (which has since occurred) and of his son without issue, to the establishment, in connection with the university of rochester, of a collegiate institution for women. this makes it very probable that rochester will ultimately offer equal opportunities to both sexes. [ ] at one time it was said that hobart college had more professors than students, and one year had arrived at such a point of exhaustion as to graduate but one young man. when the proposition to incorporate geneva medical college with the syracuse university was made, hon. george f. comstock, a trustee of the latter institution, vigorously opposed it unless equal advantages were pledged to women. [ ] see volume ii., page . [ ] the twelve were:. mrs. h. m. field, mrs. anna lynch botta, miss kate field, mrs. anna b. allen, miss josephine pollard, mrs. celia burleigh, mrs. fanny barrow, mrs. c. b. wilbour, mrs. j. c. croly, miss ella dietz, alice and phebe cary. [ ] she now reports the cattle-market for four new york papers including the _tribune_ and _times_. [ ] _president_, charlotte b. wilbour; _vice-presidents_, dr. clemence s. lozier, mrs. devereux blake; _secretary_, frances v. hallock; _treasurer_, miss jeannie mcadam. [ ] the petitioners were represented by mrs. wilbour, mrs. hester m. poole, elizabeth b. phelps, elizabeth langdon, mrs. i. d. hull, mrs. charlotte l. coleman, mrs. m. e. leclover, matilda joslyn gage. [ ] see vol. ii., page . [ ] isabella beecher hooker, susan b. anthony, rev. olympia brown, matilda joslyn gage, dr. clemence lozier, helen m. slocum, lillie devereux blake. [ ] lillie devereux blake was born in raleigh, north carolina, in august, . her father, george devereux, was a wealthy southern gentleman of irish descent. her mother's maiden name was sarah elizabeth johnson of stratford, connecticut, a descendant of william samuel johnson who was one of the first two senators from that state. both her parents were descended from jonathan edwards. her father died in , and the widow subsequently removed to new haven, conn., where she was well known for her large and generous hospitality. her daughter, the future favorite writer and lecturer, was a much admired belle, and in was married to frank umsted, a lawyer of philadelphia, with whom she lived two years in st. louis, mo. mr. umsted died in , and his widow, who had written sketches for _harper's magazine_ and published a novel called "southwold," from that date contributed largely to leading newspapers and magazines. she was washington correspondent of the _evening post_ in the winter of , published "rockford" in , and wrote many stories for _frank leslie's weekly_, the _philadelphia press_ and other publications. in she married greenfill blake of new york. in mrs. blake published "fettered for life," a novel designed to show the legal disadvantages of women. ever since she became interested in the suffrage movement mrs. blake has been one of the most ardent advocates. she has taken several lecturing tours in different states of the union. mrs. blake is an easy speaker and writer, and of late has contributed to many of our popular magazines. much of the recent work in the new york legislature is due to her untiring zeal. [ ] mrs. jennie mcadam, mrs. hester poole, charlotte coleman, mrs. hull, mrs. morse and others. a month before, january , miss anthony was invited to address the commission, giving her constitutional argument, showing woman's right to vote under the fourteenth amendment. hon. henry r. selden was in the audience, being in the city on miss anthony's case. at the close of her argument he said: "if i had heard that speech before, i could have made a stronger plea before judge hall this morning." [ ] she was escorted to the capitol by phoebe h. jones and the venerable lydia mott, who for a quarter of a century had entertained at their respective homes the various speakers that had come to albany to plead for new liberties, and had accompanied them, one after another, to the halls of legislation. [ ] addressed by mrs. wilbour, mrs. blake, mrs. lozier, mrs. hallock, hamilton wilcox and dr. hallock. [ ] for judge hunt's decision, see volume ii., page . [ ] miss charlotte c. jackson, the valedictorian of the normal college of new york; miss mary hussey of orange, new jersey; miss mosher of ann arbor, michigan; miss emma wendt, daughter of mathilde wendt. in , mrs. stanton had made a similar application to theodore d. dwight, that the law school might be opened to young women. in the course of their conversation professor dwight said; "do you think girls know enough to study law?" mrs. stanton replied: "all the liberal laws for women that have been passed in the last twenty years are the results of the protests of women; surely, if they know enough to protest against bad laws, they know enough to study our whole system of jurisprudence." [ ] it was peculiarly fitting that this application should be made by mrs. blake, as two of her ancestors had been presidents of the college. the first it ever had, when founded as king's college in , was the rev. samuel johnson, d. d., her great-great-grandfather. his son, the hon. samuel william johnson, was the first president after the revolution, when the name was changed to columbia college. [ ] julia ward howe, elizabeth cady stanton, antoinette brown blackwell, mary f. eastman, helen potter, sarah andrews spencer, augusta cooper bristol, alice fletcher, maria mitchell, professor at vassar college, isabella beecher hooker, frances ellen burr, abby smith, rossella e. buckingham, and others. [ ] dr. clemence lozier was born of a good family in new jersey. she was married at the early age of , and widowed at , left with a young family without means of support. but being an excellent teacher, she soon found employment. for eleven years she was principal of a young ladies' seminary. by natural instinct a physician and a healer, she determined to fit herself for that profession. a physician of the old school assisted her in her medical studies, and in she received a diploma from the eclectic college of syracuse, and shortly after established herself in new york, where her practice steadily increased, until her professional income was one of the largest in the city. in she began a course of free medical lectures to women, which continued for three years, culminating in "the new york medical college for women," which was chartered in . the foundation and establishment of this institution was the crowning work of her life, to which she has devoted time and money. from the first she has been dean of the faculty, and after years of struggle at last has the satisfaction of seeing it a complete success, owning a fine building up town, with hospital and dispensary attached. [ ] several ladies appeared last week before the new york supervisors' committee to protest against excessive taxation. the new york _world_ informs us that mrs. harriet ramsen complained that the appraisement of lot west one hundred and twenty-second street, was increased from $ , to $ , . mrs. p. p. dickinson, house west fifty-sixth street, increased from $ , to $ , ; mrs. cynthia bunce, house west fifty-fourth street, last year's valuation $ , ; this year's, $ , . mrs. daly, who owns a house in seventy-second street, informed the committee that the assessment on the house (a small dwelling) was put at $ , , an increase of $ over last year's valuation. this house stands in an unopened street. supervisor mccafferty said that the committee would do all in its power to have the assessment reduced, and also remarked that it was a positive outrage to assess such a small house at so high a figure. mrs. louisa st. john, who is reputed to be worth $ , , , complained because three lots on fifth avenue, near eighty-sixth street, and five lots on the last-named street, have been assessed at much higher figures than other lots in the neighborhood. mrs. st. john addressed the committee with much eloquence and force. said she: "i do not complain of the assessments that have been laid on my property. i complain of the inequalities practiced by the assessors, and i should like to see them set right." supervisor mccafferty assured mrs. st. john that everything in the power of the committee would be done to equalize assessments in future. mrs. st. john is a heavy speculator in real estate. she attends sales and has property "knocked down" to her. she makes all her own searches in the register's office, and is known, in fact, among property-owners as a very thorough real-estate lawyer. many years ago she was the proprietor of the globe hotel, now frankfort house, corner of frankfort and william streets. [ ] the albany _evening journal_ of january said: a hearing was granted by the judiciary committee to-night, on the petition of the woman's tax-payers association of the city of rochester, for either representation or relief from taxation. the petitioners were heard in the assembly chamber, and in addition to members of the committee, a large audience of ladies and gentlemen were drawn together, including the president of the senate, speaker of the house, and nearly all the leading members of both branches of the legislature. the first speaker was mrs. blake, the youngest of the trio, who occupied about twenty minutes and was well received. she was followed by miss anthony, who made a telling speech, frequently eliciting applause. she recounted her long service in the woman's rights cause, and gave a brief history of the different enactments and repeals on the question for the last thirty years. she related her experience in voting, and said she was fined $ and costs, one cent of which she had never paid and never meant to. she claimed judge waite was in favor of woman suffrage, and believed the present speaker of the assembly of new york was also in favor of the movement. calls being made for general husted, that gentleman replied that miss anthony was perfectly correct in her statement. she summed up by asking the committee to report in favor of legislation exempting women from taxation unless represented by the ballot, remarking that she would not ask for the right to vote, as that was guaranteed her by the constitution of the united states. miss anthony then introduced mrs. joslyn gage, who said if any member of the committee had objections to offer or questions to ask she would like the privilege of answering; but as none of the committee availed themselves, she proceeded for fifteen minutes in about the same strain as her predecessors. calls being made for mr. spencer and eliciting no reply from that gentleman, mrs. blake said they should consider him a convert. [ ] the speakers were dr. clemence lozier, helen m. slocum, henrietta westbrook, mrs. devereux blake. mrs. j. e. frobisher recited paul revere's ride, and helen m. cooke read the resolutions. [ ] helen m. slocum, dr. clemence lozier, mrs. devereux blake. [ ] miss king, the head of a new york tea-dealing firm composed of women, who control a capital of $ , , , has recently gone to china to make purchases. her previous business experience, as narrated by a correspondent of the chicago _tribune_, explains her fitness for her mission, while it incidentally throws some light on the secrets of the tea-company business: "previous to the outbreak of our civil war miss king was extensively engaged in utilizing the leaves of the great blackberry and raspberry crops running to waste in the rich lowlands of georgia and alabama, and kept in that fertile region a large levy of northern women--smart, like herself--to superintend the gathering of the leaves and their preparation for shipment to headquarters in new york. these leaves were prepared for the market at their manipulating halls in one of the narrow streets on the hudson side of new york city. over this stage of the tea preparations miss king had special supervision, and, by a generous use of the genuine imported teas, worked up our american productions into all the accredited varieties of the black and green teas of commerce. here the female supervision apparently ended. in their extensive tea ware-rooms in walker street the business was conducted by the shrewdest representatives of gothamite trade, with all the appliances of the great chinese tea-importing houses. here were huge piles of tea-chests, assorted and unassorted, and the high-salaried tea-taster with his row of tiny cups of hot-drawn tea, delicately sampling and classifying the varieties and grades for market. the breaking out of the war stopped the southern supplies and sent miss king's female agents to their northern homes. but the business was made to conform to the new order of things. large cargoes of imported black teas were bought as they arrived and were skillfully manipulated into those high-cost varieties of green teas so extensively purchased by the government for its commissary and medical departments." [ ] mrs. lozier presided. addresses were made by matilda fletcher of iowa, mrs. helen slocum and mrs. devereux blake. [ ] in poughkeepsie, yonkers, harlem, williamsburgh, brighton, and in several districts in the city of new york. [ ] matilda joslyn gage, helen m. loder, mrs. clara neyman, mrs. slocum, mrs. miller and mrs. blake. [ ] _to the women of the state of new york:_ the undersigned, citizens of the state of new york, who if free to do so, would express themselves at the ballot box, but who by unjust enactments are debarred the exercise of that political freedom whereto "the god of nature" entitles them, earnestly protest against the proposed reëlection of lucius robinson as governor. they say naught against his honor as a man, but they protest because when the legislature of the empire state had passed a bill making women eligible to school-boards. lucius robinson, by his veto, kept this bill from becoming law. they therefore call on all men and women who respect themselves and dare maintain their rights, to do all in their power to defeat the reëlection of one who has set himself against the advance made by iowa, kansas, oregon, illinois, michigan, colorado, california, minnesota, pennsylvania, massachusetts, and new hampshire, in many of which states woman's right to vote on school questions is also recognized. [signed:] matilda joslyn gage, _president n. y. state woman suffrage association_. jennie m. lozier, m. d., _secretary_. lillie devereux blake, _vice-president national association_. clemence s. lozier, m. d., _president n. y. city association_. susan a. king, cordelia s. knapp, helen m. slocum, susan b. anthony, amanda deyo, helen m. cooke, elizabeth b. phelps, charlotte fowler wells, emma s. allen. [ ] chester a. arthur, chairman of the republican campaign committee, presented the motion. [ ] she threw her spacious apartments open, and gave some of the voters a free lunch, that she might have the opportunity of adding her personal persuasions to the public protests. miss king and miss helen potter, the distinguished reader, then residing with miss king, assisted in raising a banner for cornell and foster, applauded by the multitude of by-standers. [ ] mrs. lucy a. brand, principal of the genesee school of this city, a woman with abilities as good as those of any male principal, but who, because she is a woman, receives $ less salary a year than a male principal, was the first woman in the state of new york to cast a vote under the new school law. on saturday afternoon she was at a friend's house, when the _journal_ was thrown in, containing the first editorial notice of the passage of the law. mrs. brand saw the welcome announcement. "let us go and register," she at once said, her heart swelling with joy and thankfulness that even this small quantity of justice had been done woman. "where is my shawl? i feel as if i should die if i don't get there," for the hour was late, and the time for closing the registry lists was near at hand. to have lost this opportunity would have placed her in the position of a second tantalus, the cup withdrawn just as it touched her lips. but she was in time, and the important act of registering accomplished, she had but to possess her soul in patience until the following tuesday. who shall say how long the two intervening days were to her; but tuesday morning at last arrived, when, for the first time, mrs. brand was to exercise the freeman's right of self-government. a gentleman, the owner of the block in which she resided, offered to accompany her to the polls, although he was a democrat and knew mrs. brand would vote the republican ticket. although not hesitating to go alone, mrs. brand accepted this courtesy. as she entered the polling place the men present fell back in a semi-circle. not a sound was heard, not a whisper, not a breath. in silence and with a joyous solemnity well befitting the occasion, mrs. brand cast her first vote, at five minutes past eight in the morning. the post-master of the city, mr. chase, offered his congratulations. a few ordinary remarks were exchanged, and then mrs. brand left the place. and that was all; neither more nor less. no opposition, no rudeness, no jostling crowd of men, but such behavior as is seen when christians come together at the sacrament. i have long known mrs. brand as a noble woman, but talking with her a few days since i could but notice the added sense of self-respecting dignity that freedom gives. "i feel a constant gratitude that even some portion of my rights have been recognized," said she, and i left her, more than ever impressed, if that is possible, with the beauty and sacredness of freedom.--[m. j. g. [ ] rev. robert collyer, elizabeth l. saxon, clara neyman, augusta cooper bristol, helen m. slocum, hamilton wilcox, mrs. devereux blake, and dr. clemence lozier who presided. [ ] mary seymour howell, _president_; miss kate stoneman, _secretary_. miss stoneman cast the first vote at the school election in albany. [ ] see appendix. [ ] mrs. blake, mrs. slocum, mrs. saxon, of louisiana. [ ] miss helen potter, miss susan a. king, miss helen m. slocum, miss harriet k. dolson and mrs. devereux blake. [ ] mrs. rogers organized a society in lansingburg, mrs. loder in poughkeepsie, miss stoneman held meetings in chautauqua county, mrs. howell in livingston county, mrs. blake in ten other counties, and held several parlor meetings in new york city. the annual convention of the state society was held in chickering hall, february , , . [ ] the press generally commented unfavorably. the _herald_ said: "the legislature passed a bill in the interest of decency and humanity, authorizing the appointment of matrons in the several police stations in the city of new york to look after female prisoners who might be placed in the station-houses. this bill was recommended by our best charitable and religious societies, but failed to receive the sanction of the governor, although he very promptly signed a bill to increase the number of the detective force." [ ] mrs. emma gates conkling, mrs. clara neyman, dr. clemence lozier and mrs. blake. [ ] major haggerty, ex-governor thomas g. alvord and hon. james d. mcmellan in its favor; hon. erastus brooks and general sharpe against. [ ] mr. hamilton wilcox at once prepared an able paper, refuting the attorney-general's assertion. it was widely circulated throughout the state. [ ] when the vote was announced, the ladies sent the pages with bouquets to the leading speakers in behalf of the bill, and button-hole sprigs to the fifty-four who voted aye. [ ] _to the women of the state of new york_: the undersigned urge you to exert yourselves to turn every vote possible against leslie w. russell's reëlection as attorney-general. his official acts prove him the unscrupulous foe of your liberties. by informing the legislature that you have no right to vote at common law, he has denied your sacred rights and misrepresented the law to your hurt. by stating that you have no natural right to vote, he has denied your title to freedom and sought to keep your rights at the mercy of those in power. by informing the legislature that the bill to repeal the statutes which keep you from voting was unconstitutional he misled the legislature and kept you disfranchised. by thus continuing your disfranchisement, he has subjected you to many misfortunes and wrongs which the repeal of your disfranchisement would cure, and is personally responsible for these sufferings. he has also sought to rob the mothers of this state of their votes at school elections, and thus to deprive them of the power to control their children's education. [signed:] clemence s. lozier, m. d., new york; mary r. pell, queens; lillie devereux blake, new york; caroline a. bassett, erie; susan a. king, new york; lucy shawler, chenango; mary e. tallman, oneida; hannah m. angel, allegany; ida louise dildine, broome; zerivah l. watkeys, onondaga; asenath c. coolidge, jefferson; sarah h. hallock, ulster; n. w. cooper, jefferson, and others. _to the republican and independent voters of the state of new york_: the undersigned earnestly ask you to cast your votes against leslie w. russell, the present attorney-general. when the legislature last year was about to repeal the election laws which prevent women from exercising the right of suffrage, leslie w. russell stated to that body that women had no right at common law to vote, and that this bill was unconstitutional. by these misstatements he misled the legislature, defeated this most righteous bill and prolonged the disfranchisement of women. thus he inflicted on a majority of our adult citizens, who had committed no offense, the penalty of disfranchisement and the great mischiefs which flow thence, and, like judge taney in the dred-scott decision, perverted law and constitution to justify injustice and continue wrong. a vote for leslie w. russell is a vote to keep these women disfranchised and to prolong these mischiefs. he who thus blocks the way of freedom should be removed from the place which enables him to do this. you can vote at this election for fifteen or more officers. it is but a small thing to ask, that each of you cast one-fifteenth part of his vote to represent women's interest at the polls. [signed:] clemence s. lozier, m. d., bronson murray, susan a. king, hamilton wilcox, lillie devereux blake, albert o. wilcox. [ ] abigail scott duniway, editor _new northwest_, oregon; elizabeth boynton harbert, editor "woman's kingdom," chicago _inter-ocean_; helen m. gougar, editor _our herald_, indiana. [ ] on the evening of march the new york city society gave a reception in honor of the delegates to the national convention, recently held at washington, in the elegant parlors of the hoffman house. [ ] mrs. gage, mrs. howell, mrs. rogers, mrs. duniway and mrs. gougar. [ ] imprisonment for not more than five years, or a fine of not more than $ , , or both. [ ] the last census shows there are , more women than men in new york; that there are , women and girls over ten years of age who support themselves by work outside their own homes, not including the house-keepers who, from the raw material brought into the family, manufacture food and clothing three times its original value. chapter xxxviii. pennsylvania. carrie burnham--the canon and civil law the source of woman's degradation--women sold with cattle in --women arrested in pittsburgh--mrs. mcmanus--opposition to women in the colleges and hospitals; john w. forney vindicates their rights--ann preston--women in dentistry--james truman's letter--swarthmore college--suffrage association formed in , in philadelphia--john k. wildman's letter--judge william s. pierce--the citizens' suffrage association, walnut street, edward m. davis, president--petitions to the legislature--constitutional convention, --bishop simpson, mary grew, sarah c. hallowell, matilda hindman, mrs. stanton, address the convention--messrs. broomall and campbell debate with the opposition--amendment making women eligible to school offices--two women elected to philadelphia school board, --the wages of married women protected--j. edgar thomson's will--literary women as editors--the rev. knox little--anne e. mcdowell--women as physicians in insane asylums--the fourteenth amendment resolution, --ex-governor hoyt's lecture on wyoming. in the demand for the right of suffrage, women are constantly asked by the opposition if they cannot trust their own fathers, husbands and brothers to legislate for them. the answer to this question may be found in an able digest of the old common laws and the revised statutes of pennsylvania,[ ] prepared by carrie s. burnham[ ] of pennsylvania. a careful perusal of this paper will show the relative position of man and woman to be that of sovereign and subject. to get at the real sentiments of a people in regard to the true status of woman we must read the canon and civil laws that form the basic principles of their religion and government. we must not trust to the feelings and actions of the best men towards the individual women whom they may chance to love and respect. the chivalry and courtesy that the few command through their beauty, wealth and position, are one thing; but justice, equality, liberty for the multitude, are quite another. and when the few, through misfortune, are made to feel the iron teeth of the law, they regret that they had not used their power to secure permanent protection under just laws, rather than to have trusted the transient favors of individuals to shield them in life's emergencies. the law securing to married women the right to property,[ ] inherited by will or bequest, passed the legislature of pennsylvania, and was approved by the governor april , , just five days after a similar law had been passed in new york. judge bovier was the mover for the pennsylvania married women's property law. his feelings had been so often outraged with the misery caused by men marrying women for their property, that he was bound the law should be repealed. he prevailed on several young quakers who had rich sisters, to run for the legislature. they were elected and did their duty. judge bovier was a descendent of the waldenses, a society of french quakers who fled to the mountains from persecution. their descendants are still living in france.[ ] the disabilities and degradation that women suffer to-day grow out of the spirit of laws that date from a time when women were viewed in the light of beasts of burden. scarce a century has passed since women were sold in this country with cattle. in the _pennsylvania gazette_ for january , , is the following advertisement: to be seen.--at the crooked billet, near the court-house, philadelphia (price three pence), a two year old hogg, hands high, and in length feet; thought to be the largest of its kind ever seen in america. in the same paper of the following week occurs this yet more extraordinary announcement: to be sold.--a healthy young dutch woman, fit for town or country business; about years old; can spin well; she speaks good english, and has about five years to serve. inquire at james der kinderen's, strawberry alley. in one century of growth a woman's sewing machine was better protected than the woman herself under the old common law: an act _to exempt sewing machines belonging to seamstresses in this commonwealth from levy and sale on execution or distress for rent_: section . be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the commonwealth of pennsylvania in general assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that hereafter all sewing machines belonging to seamstresses in this commonwealth shall be exempt from levy and sale on execution or distress for rent, in addition to any article or money now exempt by law. approved, april , . while the following order reflects the spirit of the seventeenth century, the comments show the dawning of the right idea, and are worthy the time in which the great state of pennsylvania could boast such women as lucretia mott, anna e. dickinson, jane g. swisshelm and sarah j. hale: a woman order in pittsburgh.--the mayor of pittsburgh has ordered the arrest of every woman found on the streets alone after o'clock in the evening; the consequence of which has been that some respectable ladies have recently seen the inside of the lock-up.--_exchange, june, ._ now let the mothers, wives and daughters of pittsburgh obtain the passage, by the city council, of an ordinance causing the arrest of every _man_ found in the streets after o'clock in the evening, and the law will then be equal in its operation. this legislating upon the behavior of one sex by the other exclusively, is one-sided and despotic. give both sexes a chance at reforming each other. another step in progress was indicated by the assumption of some women to influence civil administration, not only for their own protection, but for that of their sires and sons: an exchange says that women are becoming perfect nuisances, and to substantiate the assertion adds that , women in chester county, pennsylvania, have petitioned the court to grant no more liquor licenses. suppose wives should come reeling home, night after night, with curses on their lips, to destroy the food, the dishes, the furniture for which husbands toiled; to abuse trembling children, making the home, from year to year, a pandemonium on earth--would the good men properly be called "nuisances," who should rise up and say this must end; we must protect our firesides, our children, ourselves, society at large? to have women even suggest such beneficent laws for the men of their families is called "a nuisance," while the whole barbarous code for women was declared by lord coke to be the "perfection of reason." the prejudice against sex has been as bitter and unreasonable as against color, and far more reprehensible, because in too many cases it has been a contest between the inferior, with law on his side, and the superior, with law and custom against her, as the following facts in the _sunday dispatch_, by anne e. mcdowell, fully show: the decision of the court of common pleas in the case of mrs. mcmanus, elected principal of the mount vernon boys' grammar school, is to the effect that, no rule being in existence prohibiting the exercise of the duties of such office by a woman, the resolution of the controllers against the exercise of the duties of that office by the lady was unjustifiable and illegal. since the decision was pronounced the controllers have come up to the boundary of the principle held by the court, and a rule has been proposed that in future women shall be ineligible to be principals of boys' grammar schools--the case of mrs. mcmanus being specially excepted. that lady, therefore, will be undisturbed. but she may be, like the celebrated "lady freemason." an exception to her sex. the controllers have not favored the public with their reasons for opposition to the employment of females in the higher positions of teaching. women are good enough for inferior service about a boys' grammar-school, it seems, but they are not capable of superintending it. they may be, and are, teachers in all the classes in such schools, even to the highest; but when the question arises whether a woman, perfectly competent, shall be superintendent of all the classes--for a principal is little more--the controllers say _no_. if this action is influenced by a belief that women cannot control a school of boys, we hope that the experience in the case of mrs. mcmanus will dispel the illusion, and the public can afford to await the result of the trial. but if it is caused by a regard to tradition or precedent, or because there never has yet been an instance of a woman being a principal of a boys' grammar-school before this case of mrs. mcmanus, we hope that the controllers will soon see the error of their course. the complaints from the sections are to the effect that it is very difficult to get a competent male teacher to remain principal of a boys' grammar-school for any length of time. the salary attached to that position is inadequate, according to the increased cost of living of the times. gentlemen who are competent to act as principals of the public schools find that they can make more money by establishing private schools; and hence they are uneasy and dissatisfied while in the public service. a woman able to take charge of a boys' grammar-school will be paid a more liberal salary (such is the injustice of our social system in relation to female labor) in that position than in any other connected with education that she can command, and she will therefore be likely to be better satisfied with the duties and to perform them more properly. that such advantage ought to be held out to ladies competent to be teachers of the highest grade, we firmly believe. the field of female avocations should be extended in every legitimate direction; and it seems to us, unless some reason can be given for the exception, which has not yet been presented in the case of mrs. mcmanus, that the principalships of the boys' grammar-schools ought to be accessible to ladies of the proper character and qualification, without the imputation that by reason of their sex they must necessarily be unfitted for such duties. in preparing themselves for the medical profession, for which the most conservative people now admit that women are peculiarly adapted, students have encountered years of opposition, ridicule and persecution. after a college for women was established in philadelphia,[ ] there was another long struggle before their right to attend the clinics in the hospitals was accorded. the faculty and students alike protested against the admission of women into mixed classes; but as there was no provision to give them the clinics alone, a protest against mixed classes was a protest against such advantages to women altogether. one would have supposed the men might have left the delicacy of the question to the decision of the women themselves. but in this struggle for education men have always been more concerned about the loss of modesty than the acquirement of knowledge and wisdom. from the opinions usually expressed by these self-constituted guardians of the feminine character, we might be led to infer that the virtues of women were not a part of the essential elements of their organization, but a sort of temporary scaffolding, erected by society to shield a naturally weak structure that any wind could readily demolish. at a meeting convened november at the university of pennsylvania, to consider the subject of clinical instruction to mixed classes the following remonstrance was unanimously adopted: the undersigned, professors in the university of pennsylvania, professors in jefferson medical college, members of the medical staff of various hospitals of philadelphia, and members of the medical profession in philadelphia at large, out of respect for their profession, and for the interests of the public, do feel it to be their duty, at the present time, to express their convictions upon the subject of "clinical instruction to _mixed classes_ of male and female students of medicine." they are induced to present their views on this question, which is of so grave importance to medical education, from the fact that it is misunderstood by the public, and because an attempt is now being made to force it before the community in a shape which they conceive to be injurious to the progress of medical science, and to the efficiency of clinical teaching. they have no hesitation in declaring that their deliberate conviction is adverse to conducting clinical instruction in the presence of students of _both sexes_. the judgment that has been arrived at is based upon the following considerations: i. clinical instruction in practical medicine demands an examination of all the organs and parts of the body, as far as practicable; hence, personal exposure becomes for this purpose often a matter of absolute necessity. it cannot be assumed, by any right-minded person, that male patients should be subjected to inspection before a class of females, although this inspection may, without impropriety, be submitted to before those of their own sex. a thorough investigation, as well as demonstration, in these cases--so necessary to render instruction complete and effective--is, by a mixed audience, precluded; while the clinical lecturer is restrained and embarrassed in his inquiries, and must therefore fall short in the conclusions which he may draw, and in the instruction which he communicates. ii. in many operations upon male patients exposure of the body is inevitable, and demonstrations must be made which are unfitted for the observation of students of the opposite sex. these expositions, when made under the eye of such a conjoined assemblage, are shocking to the sense of decency, and entail the risk of unmanning the surgeon--of distracting his mind, and endangering the life of his patient. besides this, a large class of surgical diseases of the male is of so delicate a nature as altogether to forbid inspection by female students. yet a complete understanding of this particular class of diseases is of preëminent importance to the community. moreover, such affections can be thoroughly studied only in the clinics of the large cities, and the opportunity for studying them, so far from being curtailed, should be extended to the utmost possible degree. to those who are familiar with such cases as are here alluded to, it is inconceivable that females should ever be called to their treatment. iii. by the joint participation, on the part of male and female students, in the instruction and in the demonstrations which properly belong to the clinical lecture-room, the barrier of respect is broken down, and that high estimation of womanly qualities, which should always be sustained and cherished, and which has its origin in domestic and social associations, is lost, by an inevitable and positive demoralization of the individuals concerned, thereby entailing most serious detriment to the morals of society. in view of the above considerations, the undersigned[ ] do earnestly and solemnly protest against the admixture of the sexes at clinical instruction in medicine and surgery, and do respectfully lay these their views before the board of managers of the hospitals in philadelphia. _november , ._ at meetings held at the university and jefferson medical colleges, by the students, on wednesday evening, the following preambles and resolutions were adopted: whereas, the managers of the pennsylvania hospital have seen fit to admit female students to the clinics of that establishment, thereby excluding from the lectures many cases, medical and surgical; and whereas, we consider that in our purchase of tickets of admission there was a tacit agreement that we should have the benefit of all cases which the medical and surgical staff of that hospital should deem fit for our instruction: _resolved_, that a respectful request be made to the managers of the pennsylvania hospital that we be informed as to whether the usual character of the clinics will be changed. _resolved_, that pending the action of the managers on this question, we as a class and individually absent ourselves from the clinical lectures. and whereas, the levity of a few thoughtless young men in the presence of the females at the hospital has caused the journals of this city to assume that the whole class of medical students are utterly devoid of all the attributes of gentlemen, _resolved_, that while we do not by any means concede that the published accounts of the affair are correct, we deplore the fact that _any_ demonstration should have taken place; for although the female students may be considered by their presence at the hospital where male students are present, to have cast aside that delicacy and modesty which constitutes the ægis of their sex, they are women, and as such demand our forbearance, if not our respect. _resolved_, that these preambles and resolutions be published in some respectable journal of this city.[ ] on these remonstrances of the faculty and students, _the press_, john w. forney, editor, had many able editorials condemning the action of the medical fraternity. the leading journals throughout the country advocated the right of the women to enjoy the advantages of the hospital clinics. _the press_, november , , said: the proceedings of the meeting held by the faculties of our two leading medical schools evince the disposition which lurks at the bottom of the movement against women as physicians. the hospital managers are to be browbeaten into the stand taken by the students, and now sanctioned by the professors. if the women are to be denied the privilege of clinical lectures, why do not learned professors, or students, or both, have the manliness to suggest and advocate some means of solving the difficulty so that the rights of neither sex shall be impaired? would any professor agree to lecture to the women separately? would any professor favor the admission of women into the female wards of the hospitals? would any professor agree to propose anything, or do anything that would weaken the firm stand taken against the admission of women to professional privileges? if so, why not do it at once? nothing else will make protestations of fairness appear at all genuine. nothing else will remove the stigma of attempting to drag the hospitals into a support of this crusade against women. * * * how absurd the solemn declaration, "it cannot be assumed by any right-minded person that male patients should be subjected to inspection before a class of females, although this inspection may, without impropriety, be submitted to before those of their own sex." this cuts both ways. if it be improper for female students to be present when patients of the other sex are treated, is it proper for male students to witness the treatment of female patients? the practical good sense shown in the following report of a committee of the faculty of the woman's medical college of pennsylvania, makes a very favorable contrast with the unreasonable remonstrances of the so-called superior sex: philadelphia, nov. , . as the relation of students of medicine to public clinics, and the views entertained by those entitled to speak for their medical education, are now extensively discussed in the public journals, it seems necessary for us to state our position. considering it decided that, as practitioners of medicine, the guardianship of life and health is to be placed in the keeping of women, it becomes the interest of society and the duty of those entrusted with their professional training to endeavor to provide for them all suitable means for that practical instruction which is gained at hospital clinics. the taunt has heretofore been frequently thrown out that ladies have not attended the great clinical schools of the country, nor listened to its celebrated teachers, and that, consequently, they cannot be as well prepared as men for medical practice. we believe, as we have always done, that in all special diseases of men and women, and in all operations necessarily involving embarrassing exposure of person, it is not fitting or expedient that students of different sexes should attend promiscuously; that all special diseases of men should be treated by men in the presence of men only, and those of women, where it is practicable, by women in the presence of women only. it was this feeling, founded on the respect due to the delicacy of women as patients, perhaps more than any other consideration, which led to the founding of the women's hospital in philadelphia. there the clinical demonstration of special diseases is made by and before women alone. as we would not permit men to enter these clinics, neither would we be willing--out of regard to the feelings of men as patients, if for no other considerations--that our students should attend clinics where men are specially treated, and there has been no time in the history of our college when our students could intentionally do so, save in direct contravention of our known views. in nearly all the great public hospitals, however, by far the larger proportion of cases suited for clinical illustration--whether medical or surgical--is of those which involve no necessary exposure, and are the results of diseases and accidents to which man and woman are subject alike, and which women are constantly called upon to treat. into these clinics, women also--often sensitive and shrinking, albeit poor--are brought as patients to illustrate the lectures, and we maintain that wherever it is proper to introduce women as patients, there also is it but just and in accordance with the instincts of the truest womanhood for women to appear as physicians and students. we had arranged when our class was admitted to the pennsylvania hospital to attend on alternate clinic days only, so as to allow ample opportunity for the unembarrassed exhibition of special cases to the other students by themselves. we encouraged our students to visit the hospital upon this view, sustained by our confidence in the sound judgment and high-minded courtesy of the medical gentlemen in charge of the wards. all the objections that have been made to our students' admission to these clinics seem to be based upon the mistaken assumption that they had designed to attend them indiscriminately. as we state distinctly and unequivocally that this was not the fact, that they had no idea or intention of being present except on one day of the week, and when no cases which it would not be proper to illustrate before both classes of students would necessarily be brought in--it seems to us that all these objections are destroyed, and we cannot but feel that those fair-minded professional gentlemen, who, under this false impression as to facts, have objected to our course, will, upon a candid reconsideration, acknowledge that our position is just and intrinsically right. the general testimony of those who attended the saturday clinics last winter at the philadelphia hospital at blockley, when about forty ladies made regular visits, was that the tone and bearing of the students were greatly improved, while the usual cases were brought forward and the full measure of instruction given without any violation of refined propriety. we maintain, in common with all medical men, that science is impersonal, and that the high aim of relief to suffering humanity sanctifies all duties: and we repel, as derogatory to the science of medicine, the assertion that the physician who has risen to the level of his high calling need be embarrassed, in treating general diseases, by the presence of earnest women. the movement for woman's medical education has been sustained from the beginning by the most refined, intelligent, and religious women, and by the noblest and best men in the community. it has ever been regarded by these as the cause of humanity, calculated in its very nature to enlarge professional experience, bless women, and refine society. it has in our own city caused a college and a hospital not only to be founded, but to be sustained and endowed by those who have known intimately the character and objects of this work, and the aims and efforts of those connected with it. it has this year brought to this city some fifty educated and earnest women to study medicine, women who have come to this labor enthusiastically but reverently, as to a great life-interest and a holy calling. these ladies purchased tickets, and entered the clinic of the pennsylvania hospital, with no obtrusive spirit, and with no intention of interfering with the legitimate advantages of other students. if they have been forced into an unwelcome notoriety, it has not been of their own seeking. ann preston, m. d., _dean_. emeline h. cleveland, m. d., _secretary_. we are indebted to james truman, d. d. s., of the pennsylvania college of dental surgery, for the following account of the admission of women into that branch of the medical profession: the general agitation of the question: what are women best qualified for in the struggle for existence? naturally led liberal minds to the opening of new avenues for the employment of their talents, shared equally with men. her right to practice in medicine had been conceded after a long and severe conflict. even the domain of the theologian had been invaded, but law and dentistry were as yet closed, and in the case of the latter, unthought of as an appropriate avocation for women. the subject, however, seemed so important, presenting a field of labor peculiarly suited to her, that one gentleman, then professor in the pennsylvania college of dental surgery, felt it his duty to call public attention to this promising work. in a valedictory delivered by him to the class of , at musical fund hall of philadelphia, he included in his theme the peculiar fitness of dentistry for women. the question was briefly stated, but it rather startled the large audience by its novelty, and the effect was no less surprising on the faculty, board of trustees and professional gentlemen on the platform. in the fall of the dean of the pennsylvania college of dental surgery was waited upon by a german gentleman, who desired to introduce a lady who had come to this country with the expectation that all colleges were open to women. although informed that this was not the case, he still entertained the hope that she might be admitted as a student of dentistry. she gave her name as henrietti hirschfeld, of berlin. the matter came up before the faculty, and after a free discussion of the whole subject, she was rejected by a majority vote, but two voting in her favor. in a subsequent interview with professor truman, he learned that she had left her native land with the full assurance that she would have no difficulty in "free america" in securing a dental education. she had also the positive sanction of her government, through the then minister of instruction, dr. falk, that on condition of receiving an american diploma she would be permitted to practice on her return. her distress, therefore, at this initial failure was, naturally, very great. the excitement that this application made was intensified when it was rumored among the students that a woman desired to be matriculated. the opposition became very bitter, and manifested itself in many petty annoyances. in the course of a day or two one gentleman of the faculty, and he the dean, concluded to change his vote, and as this decided the question, she was admitted. the opposition of the professor of anatomy, who belonged to the old school of medical teachers, was so manifest that it was deemed advisable to have her take anatomy in the woman's medical college for that winter. the first year of this was in every way satisfactory. although the students received her and mrs. truman, who accompanied her on the first visit, with a storm of hisses, they gradually learned not only to treat her with respect, but she became a favorite with all, and while not convinced as to the propriety of women in dentistry, they all agreed that mrs. hirschfeld might do as an exception. the last year she was permitted by the irate professor of anatomy, dr. forbes, to take that subject under him. she graduated with honor, and returned to berlin to practice her profession. this was regarded as an exceptional case, and by no means settled the status of the college in regard to women. the conservative element was exceedingly bitter, and it was very evident that a long time must elapse before another woman could be admitted. the great stir made by mrs. hirschfeld's graduation brought several other applications from ladies of germany, but these were without hesitation denied. failing to convince his colleagues of the injustice of their action, dr. truman tried to secure more favorable results from other colleges, and applied personally to dr. gorgas of the baltimore college of dental surgery. the answer was favorable, and he accompanied the applicant and entered her in that institution. this furnished accommodation for the few applicants. the loss in money began to tell on the pockets, if not the consciences, of the faculty of the philadelphia school. they saw the stream had flown in another direction, swelling the coffers of another institution, when, without an effort, they could have retained the whole. they concluded to try the experiment again, and accepted three ladies in and --miss annie d. ramborger of philadelphia, fraulein veleske wilcke and dr. jacoby of germany. their first year was very satisfactory, but at its close it was very evident that there was a determination on the part of the minority of the class to spare no effort to effect their removal from the school. a petition was forwarded to the faculty to this effect, and although one was presented by the majority of the students in their favor, the faculty chose to accept the former as representing public sentiment, and it was decided not to allow them to take another year at this college. this outrage was not accomplished without forcible protest from the gentleman previously named, and he appealed from this decision to the governing power, the board of trustees.[ ] to hear this appeal a special meeting was called for march , , at which the communication of professor truman was read and ordered filed. a similar communication, in opposition, was received, signed by professors t. l. buckingham, e. wildman, george t. barker, james tyson and j. ewing mears. the matter was referred to a committee consisting of hon. henry c. carey, w. s. pierce and g. r. morehouse, m. d. at a special meeting convened for this purpose, march , , this committee made their report. they say: three ladies entered as students of this college at the commencement of the session, - , paid their matriculation fees, attended the course of lectures, and were informed, by a resolution adopted by a majority of the faculty at the close of the session, that they would not be permitted to attend the second course of lectures. no other cause was assigned for the action of the faculty than that they deemed it against the interest of the college to permit them to do so, on account of the dissatisfaction which it gave to certain male students, etc. * * * the goal to which all medical and dental students look, is graduation and the diploma, which is to be the evidence of their qualification to practice their art. to qualify themselves for this they bestow their time, their money and their labor. to deprive them of this without just cause is to disappoint their hopes, and to receive from them money and bestowal of time and labor without the full equivalent which they had a right to expect. after discussing at length the legal aspects of the case, the summing up is as follows: we, therefore, respectfully report that in our opinion it is the legal right of these ladies to attend, and it is the legal duty of this college to give them, as students, a second course of lectures on the terms of the announcement which forms the basis of the contract with them. this report was signed by all the committee, and read by w. s. pierce, one of the number, and judge of the court of common pleas of philadelphia. it carried with it, therefore, all the force of a judicial decision, and was so accepted by the board, and adopted at once. this left the majority of the faculty no choice but to accept the decision as final as far as these ladies were concerned. this they did, and the three were invited to resume their studies. two, misses ramborger and wilcke, accepted, miss jacoby refused and went to baltimore. the most interesting feature of this matter, and that which clearly demonstrated a marked advance in public opinion, was the stir it made in the press. the daily and sunday papers bristled with strong leaders, the faculty being denounced in no measured terms for their action. to such an extent was this carried, and so overwhelming was the indignation, that it practically settled the question for philadelphia, although several years elapsed after these ladies were graduated before others were accepted. when that time did arrive, under the present dean, dr. c. n. pierce, they were accorded everything, without any reservation, and the school has continued ever since to accept them. at the meeting of the national association of dentists, held at saratoga, , dr. truman introduced a resolution looking to the recognition of women in the profession. the resolution and the remarks were kindly received, but were, of course, laid on the table. this was expected, the object being to make the thought familiar in every section of the country. these efforts have borne rich fruit, and now women are being educated at a majority of the prominent dental colleges, and no complaints are heard of coëducation in this department of work. the college that first accepted and then rejected--the pennsylvania of philadelphia--has a yearly average of seven to eight women, nearly equally divided between america and germany. of the three dental schools in philadelphia, two accept women, and the third--the dental department of the university of pennsylvania--would, if the faculty were not overruled by the governing powers. the learned theories that were promulgated in regard to the injury the practice of dentistry would be to women, have all fallen to the ground. the advocates of women in dentistry were met at the outstart with the health question, and as it had never been tested, the most favorably inclined looked forward with some anxiety to the result. fifteen years have elapsed since then, and almost every town in germany is supplied with a woman in this profession. many are also established in america. these have all the usual requisites of bodily strength, and the writer has yet to learn of a single failure from physical deterioration. the first lady, miss lucy b. hobbs, to graduate in dentistry, was sent out from the cincinnati college, and she, i believe, is still in active practice in kansas. she graduated in . mrs. hirschfeld, before spoken of, returned to germany and became at once a subject for the fun of the comic papers, and for the more serious work of the _bajan_ and _�berlana und meer_, both of them containing elaborate and illustrated notices of her. she had some friends in the higher walks of life; notable amongst these was president lette of the _trauen-verein_, whose aid and powerful influence had assisted her materially in the early stages of her effort. the result of these combined forces soon placed her in possession of a large practice. she was patronized by ladies in the highest circles, including the crown princess. she subsequently married, had two boys to rear and educate, and a large household to supervise. she has assisted several of her relatives into professions, two in medicine and two in dentistry, besides aiding many worthy persons. she has established a clinic for women in berlin, something very badly needed there. this is in charge of two physicians, one being her husband's sister, dr. fanny tiburtius. she has also started a hospital for women. these are mainly supported by her individual exertions. notwithstanding all these multifarious and trying duties, she practices daily, and is as well physically and mentally as when she commenced. fraulein valeske wilcke of königsberg has been over twelve years in a very large practice with no evil results; miss annie d. ramborger, an equal time, with an equally large practice, and enjoys apparently far better health than most ladies of thirty. dentistry is, probably, one of the most trying professions, very few men being equal to the severe strain, and many are obliged to succumb. no woman has as yet failed, though it would not be at all remarkable if such were the case. the probabilities are that comparatively few will choose it as a profession, but that another door has been opened for employment is a cause for congratulation with all right-thinking minds. for opening this profession to women a debt of gratitude is due to dr. truman from all his countrywomen, as well as to those noble german students, who have so ably filled the positions he secured for them. similar struggles, both in medicine and dentistry, were encountered in other states, but the result was as it must be in every case, the final triumph of justice for women. already they are in most of the colleges and hospitals, and members of many of the state and national associations. in , the society of friends founded swarthmore college[ ] for the education of both sexes, erecting a fine building in a beautiful locality. at the dedication of this institution, lucretia mott was elected to honorary membership and invited to the platform. with her own hands she planted the first tree, which now adorns those spacious grounds. the persecutions that women encountered in every onward step soon taught them the necessity of remodeling the laws and customs for themselves. they began to see the fallacy of the old ideas, that men looked after the interests of women, "that they were their natural protectors," that they could safely trust them to legislate on their personal and property rights; for they found in almost every case that whatever right and privilege man claimed for himself, he proposed exactly the opposite for women. hence the necessity for them to have a voice as to the laws and the rulers under which they lived. whatever reform they attempted they soon found their labors valueless, because they had no power to remedy any evils protected by law. after laboring in temperance, prison-reform, coëducation, and women's rights in the trades and professions, their hopes all alike centered at last in the suffrage movement. in , a suffrage association was formed in philadelphia at a meeting of the american equal rights society,[ ] held in franklin institute. this convention was marked by a heated debate on the duty of the abolitionists now that the black man was emancipated, to make the demand for the enfranchisement of women, as well as the freedmen. we are indebted to john k. wildman of philadelphia for the following: the pennsylvania association was organized december , , in mercantile library hall, philadelphia. the meeting was called to order by john k. wildman, who said: "the time has arrived when it is necessary for us to take some action towards promoting the cause of woman suffrage. we desire to do our part as far as practicable, in the work of enlightening the people of our state upon this important subject. with this end in view we propose to organize, hoping that all friends of the movement will cordially give us their influence." edward m. davis then proposed the appointment of judge william s. pierce as chairman of the meeting. this was agreed to, and judge pierce announced that the meeting was ready for business, reserving for another stage of the proceedings any remarks he might wish to make. annie heacock was chosen to act as secretary. in accordance with a motion that was adopted, the chairman appointed a committee of five persons[ ] to prepare a constitution, and present the same for the action of the meeting. mary grew spoke at length in her earnest and impressive manner, presenting forcibly those familiar yet solid arguments in favor of woman suffrage which form the basis of the discussion, and which should irrevocably settle the question. dr. henry t. child followed with a brief address, showing his zealous interest in the object of the meeting, and trusting that at no distant period the ballot would be placed in the hands of the women of the land. judge pierce said: i am in favor of giving woman a chance in the world. i feel very much in regard to woman as diogenes did when alexander the great went to see him. when the monarch arrived at the city in which diogenes lived, he sent a request for him to come to see him. diogenes declined to go. the monarch then went to the place of his residence, and found him lying in his court-yard sunning himself. he did not even rise when alexander approached. standing over him, the warrior asked, "diogenes, what can i do for you?" and the philosopher answered, "nothing, except to stand out of my sunshine." now, i am disposed to stand out of woman's sunshine. if she wants the light of the sun upon her, and the breath of heaven upon her, and freedom of action necessary to develop herself, heaven forbid that i should stand in her way. i believe that everything goes to its own place in god's world, and woman will go to her place if you do not impede her. we should not be afraid to trust her, or to apply the same principles to her in regard to suffrage that we apply to ourselves. there should be no distinction. her claims to the ballot rest upon a just and logical foundation. the venerable sojourner truth spoke a few words of encouragement, showing in her humble and fervid way a reverent faith in the final triumph of justice. after the adoption of the constitution, the organization was completed by the election of officers[ ] to serve for the ensuing year. the first thing that claimed the attention of the officers of the new society was the representation of the different counties on the executive committee; and for this purpose the chairman wrote to nearly all of the sixty-three counties, chiefly to the postmasters of the principal towns. the replies that were received presented a curious medley of sentiment and opinion touching the object in view, disclosing every shade of tone and temper between the two extremes of cold indifference and warm enthusiasm. it was evident that, in a large number of cases, the inquiries promptly found their resting-place in the waste-basket. before the close of the year twenty-two counties were represented. thus reinforced, the committee took immediate steps towards distributing documents and circulating petitions throughout the state. many of the county members coöperated earnestly in this work. some of them, not satisfied to limit their action to this particular form of service, aided the movement by collecting funds and holding public meetings in their respective localities. matilda hindman, representing alleghany county, evinced both energy and enterprise in forwarding the movement through the agency of public meetings. she did good service from the beginning, relying almost solely upon her own determined purpose. her deep interest in the work and its object, and the courage that animated her at the first impulse of duty, have continued without abatement to the present time. her usefulness and activity have not confined themselves within the limits of pennsylvania, but have extended to other states, both in the east and west. miss matilda hindman, of philadelphia, pays the following tribute to her parents: in , my father being a member of the school committee of the union township, washington county, secured equal salaries for women; and in spite of steady opposition, there was no difference made for four years. the women who taught the schools in the summer were paid the same as the men who taught in the winter. at the death of my father the board returned to the old system of half pay for women; the result was "incompetent teachers," furnishing the opposition with just the plea they desired--that women were not fit for school teachers. my mother remonstrated, but in vain. they replied, "women never received as much as men for any work"; "it did not cost as much to keep a woman as a man," and moreover, these school matters belonged to men, and women had no right to interfere. in , my mother offered to board the teacher in her district, gratis, if the board would raise her salary proportionally. they received her proposition with scorn. she then refused to pay her taxes. such was the respect for her in the community, and the sense of justice in regard to the teachers, that the authorities suffered the tax to go unpaid, and at the end of the year accepted the proposition, and for many years after, she boarded the teacher in her district, making the woman's net salary equal to that of the man. my mother lived to see her daughters employed in her township on equal salaries with men. but in process of time, another board, for the express purpose of humiliating mother and daughters alike, passed a resolution to take two dollars a month from each of their salaries, when all three resigned. they all honored her, by carrying into their life-work the noble principles for which she suffered so much. she was the grand-daughter of a scotch-irish presbyterian minister, who, with his young family, was among the earliest settlers in the wilderness of what is now known as the prosperous and beautiful county of washington, pennsylvania. her name was sarah campbell. she was born in . from her earliest girlhood she rebelled against the injustice done women by the law. she felt acutely the wrong done her and her sisters by being denied an education equal to their brothers, and denied also an equal share of their inheritance. while the father possessed a large estate, and provided liberally for his sons, he left his daughters a mere pittance. in view of such facts, it is folly to say that women were ever satisfied with the humiliating discriminations of sex they have endured in all periods, and in all ranks in society. the first annual report of the association was prepared by eliza sproat turner. she said: we do not complain that man is slow to realize the injustice of his present attitude towards woman--an attitude once, from necessity, endurable; now, from too long continuance, grown intolerable. it would not be natural for him to feel it with equal keenness. it takes a great-minded fox to find out, what every goose knows, that foxes' teeth are cruel. and while we do not complain of this incapacity on his part, the advocates of this cause feel the necessity for woman to take upon herself whatever share in the management of their mutual affairs shall be needed to right the balance; concluding that the defects in legislation which she is, by reason of her position, more competent to understand, she should be more competent to remedy. not these innovations alone, but others involving matters beyond individual interests, she expects to achieve by the power she shall gain through the exercise of her right of suffrage. we discern, in the consideration of nearly all questions of national welfare, a disposition to press unduly the interests of trade and commerce rather than the interests of the fireside. mary grew presided, and has been elected president of the association every year from the beginning, performing the duties of the position with ability, earnestness and satisfaction. in the winter of - the executive committee recommended the passage of a law that should give married women the control of their own earnings. the appeal to the legislature in behalf of such a law was renewed the following winter, and its passage finally secured. among the resolutions adopted at the annual meeting was the following: _resolved_, that the vote of the legislature of this state for a convention to amend the constitution, makes it our duty to work for the exclusion of the word "male" from the provision defining the qualifications for the elective franchise, and that we call upon all friends of justice to give their best energies to the sustaining of this object. subsequently the executive committee prepared a petition with reference to the formation of the constitutional convention, asking the legislature, in making the needful regulations, to frame them in such a way as to secure the representation of the women of the state. this petition was unavailing. at the next annual meeting, which was held at the time the constitutional convention was in session, a resolution was adopted containing an appeal to that body, earnestly requesting it to present to the people of the state a constitution that should secure the right of suffrage to its citizens without distinction of sex, accompanied by a request for a hearing at such time and place as the convention should decide. the request was willingly granted, and an evening assigned for that purpose. an evening was also given to the citizens' suffrage society of philadelphia for a like object. these meetings were held in the hall of the convention, and were largely attended by the members and by the people generally. addresses were delivered by various friends of woman suffrage, as representatives of the two societies.[ ] still another evening was granted the pennsylvania association for a meeting to be addressed by bishop matthew simpson of the methodist episcopal church. the earnest and forcible words of the eloquent speaker, and his solid array of arguments, made a deep impression on the attentive audience. in the convention the question was discussed during five successive days. hon. john m. broomall introduced a provision in favor of making the ballot free to men and women alike, proposing that it be incorporated in the new constitution. this provision was ably advocated by mr. broomall and many other members of the convention. their firm convictions in behalf of equal and exact justice, however well sustained by sound reasoning and earnest appeal, was an unequal match for the rooted conservatism which recoiled from such a new departure. although the measure was defeated, its discussion had an influence. it was animated, intelligent and exhaustive, and drew public attention more directly to the subject than anything that had occurred since the beginning of its agitation in the state. the only act of the convention that gave hope to the friends of impartial suffrage was the adoption of the third section of article x.: "women twenty-one years of age and upwards shall be eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of this state." it was a very faint gleam of comfort, too small to stir more than a breath of praise. it had the merit of being a step in the right direction, though timid and feeble, and as it has never disturbed the equilibrium of society, it may ultimately be followed by others of more importance. the annual meetings of the association have been held in philadelphia, westchester, bristol, kennett square and media, respectively. an interesting feature of the westchester meeting was the reading of an essay, entitled "four quite new reasons why you should wish your wife to vote." it was written for the occasion by eliza sproat turner, and was subsequently printed and re-printed in tract form by order of the executive committee, and freely circulated among the people. it was likewise published in the _woman's journal_. other documents relative to the question have been printed from time to time by authority of the committee, and large numbers of suffrage tracts have been purchased for distribution year after year, embodying the best thoughts, the soundest arguments, and the most forcible reasoning that the question has elicited. frequent petitions have been sent to the legislature and to congress, all having in view the one paramount object, and showing by their repeated and persistent appearance the indefatigable nature of a living, breathing reform. the executive committee at one time employed matilda hindman as state agent. meetings were held by her chiefly in the western part of the state. in her services extended to the state of michigan, where the question of woman suffrage was specially before the people. lelia e. patridge also represented the association in michigan at that time, where she performed excellent service in addressing numerous meetings in different parts of the state. in miss patridge was appointed to represent the society in colorado. there she labored with others to secure the adoption of a constitutional amendment providing for suffrage without regard to sex. on several occasions the executive committee has contributed to woman suffrage purposes in other states. massachusetts, michigan, colorado and oregon have been recipients of the limited resources of the association. the executive committee has felt the cramping influence of an unfriended treasury. its provision has been the fruit of unwearied soliciting, and should the especial object of the association ever be accomplished, the honors of success may be fitly contested by the fine art of begging. the following report was sent us by mrs. mary byrnes: march , , the citizens' suffrage association of philadelphia was formed, william morris davis, president, with fifty members. the name of the society was chosen to denote the view of its members as to the basis of the elective franchise. the amendments to the united states constitution had clearly defined who were citizens, and shown citizenship to be without sex. woman was as indisputably a citizen as man. whatever rights he possessed as a citizen she possessed also. the supreme law of the land placed her on the same plane of political rights with him. if man held the right of suffrage as a citizen of the united states, either by birthright within the respective states, or by naturalization under the united states, then the right of the female citizen to vote was as absolute as that of the male citizen; and woman's disfranchisement became a wrong inflicted upon her by usurped power. men became voters by reason of their citizenship, having first complied with certain police regulations imposed within and by the respective states. the citizens' suffrage association demanded the same political rights for all citizens, nothing more, nothing less. it repudiated the idea that one class of citizens should ask of another class rights which that other class never possessed, and which those who were denied them never had lost. this society held that the right to give implied the right to take away; and further, that the right to give implied a right lodged somewhere in society, which society had never acquired by any direct concession from the people. this society held also, that the theory of the right to the franchise, as a gift, bore with it the power somewhere to restrict the male citizen's suffrage, and to strike at the principle of self-government. they had seen this doctrine earnestly advanced. they knew that there was a growing class in the country who were inimical to universal suffrage. in view of this they chose the name of citizen suffrage, as the highest and broadest term by which to designate their devotion to the political rights of all citizens. they held that the political condition of the white women of the united states was totally unlike that of the slave population in this: that while the slaves were not considered citizens until the adoption of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, white women had always been citizens, and always entitled to all the political rights of citizenship. the colored male citizen became a voter--subject to the police regulations of the different states--upon acquiring citizenship. no constitutional enactment denied equal political rights to women as citizens. no constitutional enactment was therefore required to enable them to exercise the right to vote, which became the right of male slaves upon their securing citizenship under the law. the first legal argument on the subject of woman's right to the ballot as a citizen of the united states, was made by jacob f. byrnes before the pennsylvania society. had it been published as soon as written, instead of being circulated privately, surprising person after person with the position taken, it would have antedated the report of general benjamin f. butler in the house of representatives in the winter of . edward m. davis, president for many years, was one of the most active and untiring officers of this association, giving generously of his time and money not only to its support but to the general agitation of the suffrage question in every part of the country. the meetings were held regularly at his office, walnut street, as were also those of the radical club. this was composed largely of the same members as the suffrage society, but in this organization they had a greater latitude in discussion, covering all questions of political, religious and social interest. as the division in the national society produced division everywhere, some of the friends in philadelphia made themselves auxiliary to the american association, and the sympathy of others was with the national, thus forming two rival societies, which together kept the suffrage question before the people and roused their attention, particularly to the fact of a pending constitutional convention. hence the necessity of holding meetings throughout the state, and rolling up petitions asking that the constitution be so amended as to secure to women the right to vote. the following appeal was issued by this association: _to the editor of the post:_ sir: there is no political question now before the people of this commonwealth more important than the consideration of the changes to be made in our constitution. the citizens of the state, by an enormous majority of votes, have re-claimed the sovereign powers of government, and evinced a determination to re-form the fundamental law, the constitution of this state, in the interest of a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." in this new adaptation of old rules of government to the advanced ideas of the age, it seems to us fitting and opportune that woman in her new status as a citizen of the united states (under the fourteenth amendment of the constitution), should be allowed the exercise of rights which have been withheld under old rules of action. therefore we respectfully ask you to give this, with our appeal, an insertion in your paper, and to continue the appeal until further notice. and we ask all the friends of woman suffrage to aid our association in placing this appeal in each paper of our city, as well as of the neighboring towns. "there is no distinction in citizenship as has been determined by the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states. the citizens of pennsylvania have decided on a revision of the constitution of the commonwealth. the power of revision is to be delegated by the citizens of the commonwealth to a convention. the foundation of free government is based on the consent of the governed. therefore, the citizens' suffrage association of pennsylvania appeals to the sense of right and justice in the hearts of the citizens of this state, to aid in securing to every citizen, irrespective of sex, an equal voice in the selection of delegates, and an equal right, if elected thereto, to a seat in said constitutional convention." wm. morris davis, _controller_. mr. robert purvis, at the request of the citizens' suffrage association of philadelphia, waited upon mrs. president hayes and presented to her an address adopted by that society. mr. purvis wrote: i have just returned from a very satisfactory and delightful interview with mrs. hayes. she received me most cordially. i read to her the eloquent address from the citizens' suffrage association. she listened with marked attention, was grateful for the high favor conferred upon her, and sent her best wishes for the success of the cause. i made reference to the fact that the address bore the honored name of lucretia mott, which she received with a ready acknowledgment of her great worth and usefulness, and her distinguished place as a reformer and philanthropist. through the liberality of edward m. davis, this society was able to publish and circulate an immense number of tracts covering all phases of the question. he has been one of the few abolitionists who have thrown into this movement all the old-time fervor manifested in the slavery conflict. a worthy son of the sainted lucretia mott, her mantle seems to have fallen on his shoulders. the hon. john m. broomall was ever ready to champion the cause of equality of rights for women, not only in the legislature and in the constitutional conventions of his own state, but on the floor of congress as well. in a letter giving us valuable information on several points, he says: you ask when i made my first declaration for woman suffrage. i cannot tell. i was born in , and one of the earliest settled convictions i formed as a man was that no person should be discriminated against on account of sect, sex, race or color, but that all should have an equal chance in the race which the divine ruler has set before all; and i never missed an opportunity to give utterance to this conviction in conversation, on the stump, on the platform and in legislative bodies. my views were set out concisely in my remarks in congress, on january , , and i cite the commencement and conclusion, as i find them in _the globe_ of that date: every person owing allegiance to the government and not under the legal control of another, should have an equal voice in making and administering the laws, unless debarred for violating those laws; and in this i make no distinction of wealth, intelligence, race, family or sex. if just government is founded upon the consent of the governed, and if the established mode of consent is through the ballot-box, then those who are denied the right of suffrage can in no sense be held as consenting, and the government which withholds that right is as to those from whom it is withheld no just government. * * * * the measure now before the house is necessary to the complete fulfillment of what has gone before it. to hesitate now is to put in peril all we have gained. let this, too, pass into history as an accomplished fact. let it be followed, in due course of time, by the last crowning act of the series--an amendment to the constitution securing to all citizens of full age, without regard to sex, an equal voice in making and amending the laws under which they live, to be forfeited only for crime. then the great mission of the party in power will be fulfilled; then will have been demonstrated the capacity of man for self-government; then a just nation, founded upon the full and free consent of its citizens will be no longer a dream of the optimist. mrs. virginia barnhurst writes: i think you should make mention of the few men who, against the greatest opposition, stood boldly up and avowed themselves in favor of woman's cause. when i think of some of the speeches that i heard from the opposite side--expressions which sent the hot blood to my face, and which showed the low estimate law-makers put upon woman, those few men who dared to defend mothers and sisters, stand out in my mind as worthy of having their names go down in history--and especially in a history written by women. i had a good talk with lawyer campbell. he is one of the most ardent in the cause; he believes the ballot to be a necessity to woman, as a means of self-protection, this necessity being seen in the unequal operation of many laws relating to the guardianship of children and the ownership of property. caleb white's words have in them the just consciousness of their own immortality: "i want my vote to be recorded; not to be judged of here, but to be judged of by coming generations, who, at least, will give to woman the rights which god intended she should have." [illustration: rachel g. foster] the constitutional convention to which reference has been so frequently made in this chapter, assembled november , , and as early as the d, resolutions relative to women holding school-offices and to the property-rights of women were presented. numberless petitions for these and full suffrage for women were sent in during the entire sitting of the convention. february , , john h. campbell presented the minority report of the committee on suffrage and elections: the undersigned, members of the committee on suffrage, election and representation, dissent from that part of the majority report of said committee, which limits the right of suffrage to male electors. we recommend that the question, "shall woman exercise the right of suffrage," be submitted by the convention to the qualified electors of this commonwealth, and also upon the same day therewith, to those women of the commonwealth who upon the day of voting shall be of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and have been residents of the state one year, and in the district where they offered to vote at least sixty days prior thereto; and that if the majority of all the votes cast at said election should be in the affirmative, then the word "male" as a qualification for an elector, contained in section ----, article ---- on suffrage and election shall be stricken out, and women in this state shall thereafter exercise the right of suffrage, subject only to the restrictions placed upon the male voters. john h. campbell, lewis c. cassidy, levi rooke. the amendment for full suffrage was lost by a vote of to , with absent, while the amendment making women eligible for school offices was carried by a vote of to .[ ] the debate by those in favor of the amendment was so ably and eloquently conducted that we would gladly reproduce it, had not all the salient points been so often and so exhaustively presented on the floor of congress, and by some of the members from pennsylvania. after the passage of the school law of , it was immediately tested all over the state, rousing opposition and conflict everywhere, but the struggle resulted favorably to women, who now hold many offices to which they were once ineligible. at the first election of school directors in philadelphia the nomination of two women was hotly contested. the _evening telegraph_ of february , , gives the following: there is progressing in the thirteenth ward a contest which involves so peculiar and important an issue as to merit the widest publicity. it illustrates how the rights guaranteed to women under the new constitution are to be denied them, if cunning and bold chicanery are to be tolerated, by a few ward politicians. at the republican primary election, held january , mrs. harriet w. paist and mrs. george w. woelpper were duly nominated as candidates for members of the board of school directors of the ward. both of these ladies received their certificates, that given to mrs. paist reading as follows: this is to certify that at a meeting of the judges of the different divisions of the thirteenth ward, held in accordance with the rules of the republican party, on the evening of january , , mrs. harriet w. paist was found to be elected as candidate upon the republican ticket from the thirteenth ward, for school director. charles m. carpenter, _president_. james m. stewart, } _clerks_. david j. smith, } no sooner was it ascertained that the ladies had actually become candidates on the republican ticket than a movement was inaugurated to oust them, the old war tocsin of "anything to beat grant" being for this purpose amended thus: "anything to beat the women." this antagonism to the fair candidates was based entirely upon the supposition that their names would so materially weaken the ticket as to place the election of the republican common councilman, henry c. dunlap, in the greatest jeopardy. to save him, therefore, the managers of the movement must sacrifice mesdames woelpper and paist. how was this to be accomplished? each was fortified in her position by a genuine certificate of election, and had, furthermore, expressed her determination to run. what could not be done fairly must be accomplished by strategy. mr. ezra lukens called upon mrs. paist, stating that if she did not withdraw the republicans who were opposed to the lady candidates would unite with the "other party" and defeat the republican ward ticket. mrs. paist inquired if she had not been regularly nominated, and his reply was that she had been, but that her opponents in the party would unite with the "other party" and defeat her. mrs. paist was firm, and mr. lukens retired foiled. a day or two after, the chairman of the thirteenth ward republican executive committee received somehow this letter: philadelphia, february , . dear sir: please accept this as my declination as school director on the thirteenth ward republican ticket. hoping it will please those opposed to a lady director. respectfully yours, harriet w. paist. a week previous to this the husband of mrs. woelpper was called upon by mr. william b. elliott, a member of this executive committee, and was informed by him that mrs. paist had withdrawn, and that it would be unpleasant, if not inexpedient, for mrs. woelpper to run alone. mr. woelpper expressed his belief that if such were the case his wife would withdraw. at a meeting of the executive committee a short time after, it was announced that both the ladies had withdrawn, and everything looked serene for victory, when the next day the members were individually informed that the letter of declination written above was a base forgery, and that neither of the ladies intended to withdraw from the contest. another meeting of the executive committee was held on the d inst., at which mr. woelpper, jr., was present. he declared that the statement made to his father was false, and that he was present to say for his mother that she was still a candidate. this announcement fell like a bomb in a peaceful camp, causing great confusion. after order was restored, william b. elliott, the collector, offered a resolution declaring it inexpedient to have any ladies on the ticket at this time. this resolution was opposed by f. theodore walton and a number of the members, who denied the power of the committee to change the ticket regularly chosen at the primary election. they favored the fair candidates, for whose election as school directors the constitution had made special provisions, and whose presence in the school-boards had been very favorably commented upon by all the papers of the city. besides, the ladies were as legitimately entitled to their candidacy as mr. dunlap, and it would be a gross and unparalelled outrage to sacrifice them from mere prejudice, or in the belief that their presence would injure the chances of mr. dunlap. then arose collector elliott, his face fairly glowing with honest indignation, and his voice sharp and stinging in his tirade against the newspapers. what did he care what the newspapers said? what are the newspapers but sheets sold out to the highest bidder? the newspapers, he cried, are all in the market, to be bought and sold the same as coal! that was their business, and they didn't want stability so long as there was cash to be got. then he came down upon them in a perfect whirlwind of wrath for daring to favor the women candidates for school directors of the thirteenth ward, and sat down as though he had accomplished a noble purpose. the question on the resolution was pressed, and resulted in its adoption by a vote of to .[ ] a resolution was offered by david t. smith that mrs. paist and mrs. woelpper be thrown off the ticket, and this resolution was carried by the same vote as the preceding one. the meeting then adjourned. in consequence of this action mrs. paist addressed to the citizens of the thirteenth ward the following card, in which she declares that she does not intend to resign: _to the citizens of the thirteenth ward.:_ unpleasant though it may be to thus appear before the public, i feel that i must, in justice to myself, expose the fraud and deception that have been practiced to defeat my election on the th of february next. i received the nomination and certificate of election signed by james m. stewart, david t. smith, clerks, and charles m. carpenter, president. certainly they would not be guilty of deceiving, for are they not "all honorable men"? john b. green, george m. taylor and a. w. lyman then (ezra lukens having been on a similar fruitless mission) called on the eve of january , , wishing me to withdraw; stating that mrs. woelpper had done so (which was false), and they thought it would not be pleasant for me to serve. they also placed it on the ground of expediency, fearing that their candidate for council (mr. dunlap) was so weak that a woman on the ticket might jeopardize the election. i knew not before that woman held the balance of power. after sending their emissaries under the false garb of friendship to induce me to decline, without success, they were reduced to the desperate means of producing a letter, which was read by the secretary of the executive meeting, february , purporting to come from me, and withdrawing my name. i pronounce it publicly to be a forgery. i have not withdrawn, neither do i intend to withdraw. would that i had the power of brutus or a patrick henry, that i might put these designing, intriguing politicians in their true light! they deserve to be held up to the contumely and scorn of the community. _february , ._ harriet w. paist. despite the action of the committee, these talented ladies will be run as the regular candidates for school directors. a committee of citizens of the republican party will prepare the tickets and see that they are properly distributed, and take all precautions against fraud at the election and against any effort that may be made to count out the fair candidates at the meeting of the ward return judges. it is of the greatest importance that all good citizens of the ward shall do all in their power to secure not only the fullest possible number of votes for the lady candidates, but a fair count when they have been received. it remains to be seen whether the republican citizens of the ward will endorse the action of a committee which from mere prejudice can throw off regularly-elected candidates from a ticket. the ladies were elected, and mrs. paist served her term. mrs. woelpper died immediately after the election. anna mcdowell, in the _sunday republic_ of april , , in a long article shows the necessity of some legal knowledge for women, enough at least to look after their own interests, and not be compelled through their ignorance to trust absolutely to the protection of others. they should be trained to understand that all pecuniary affairs should be placed on a business basis as strictly between themselves and their fathers and brothers as men require in their contracts with each other. after giving many instances in which women have been grossly defrauded by their relatives, she points to the will of the great railroad king of pennsylvania: let us glance for a moment at the will of the late j. edgar thomson, than which no more unjust testament was ever offered for probate. this gentleman, the sole object of affection of two most worthy and self-sacrificing sisters, married late in life without making any adequate settlement upon the relatives to whom, in a great measure, he owed his success. he always promised to provide for them amply, saying, repeatedly, in effect, in letters which we have seen, "as my fortune advances so also shall yours; my prosperity will be your prosperity," etc. oblivious to the ties of nature and affection, however, when he came to make his will he, out of a fortune of two millions, bequeathed to these sisters, during life, an annuity of $ , per annum only, leaving the rest of the income of his estate to his wife and her niece, the latter a young lady whom he had previously made independent by his skilful investment of a few thousand dollars left her by her father. not content with the will which gave her also a large income for life out of mr. thomson's estate, this niece of his wife brought suit against the executors to recover bonds found after the death of the testator in an envelope on which her name was written, and through the ruling of judge thayer, a relation by marriage to the husband of the lady, the case was decided in her favor, and $ , was thus absolutely and permanently taken from the fund designed for the asylum which it was mr. thomson's long-cherished desire to found for the benefit and education of orphan girls whose fathers had been or might be killed by accident on the pennsylvania and other railroads. the injustice of this decision is made manifest when we reflect that the misses anna and adeline thomson, who worked side by side with their brother as civil engineers in their father's office, and labored, without pay, therein, that he might be educated and sent abroad further to perfect himself in his profession, were cut off with a comparatively paltry stipend for life, this being still further reduced by the collateral-inheritance tax. as high an authority as dr. william a. hammond says that, "for a man to cut off his natural heirs in his will is _prima facie_ evidence of abberation of mind," and we believe this to be true. had these sisters[ ] been brothers they would have been recognized as partners and had their legal proportion of the accumulations of the business in which they labored in early years with equal faithfulness, side by side. this is but another instance of women's blind faith in the men of their families and of the danger in allowing business matters to adjust themselves on the basis of honor, courtesy and protection. among the literary women of the state are sarah c. hallowell, on the editorial staff of the _public ledger_; the daughters of john w. forney, for many years in charge of the woman's department of _forney's progress_; anne mcdowell, editor of the woman's department in _the sunday republic_; mrs. e. a. wade; "bessie bramble" of pittsburg has for many years ably edited a woman's department in the _sunday leader_; matilda hindman, an excellent column in the _pittsburg commercial gazette_. in science grace anna lewis stands foremost. her paper read before the woman's congress in philadelphia in , attracted much attention. these ladies with others organized "the century club"[ ] in , for preëminently practical and benevolent work. its objects are various: looking after working girls, sending children into the country for fresh air during summer, and improving the houses of the poor and needy. the club has a large house to which is attached a cooking-school and lodgings for unfortunates in great emergencies. woman's ambition was not confined at this period to literature and the learned professions; she found herself capable of practical work on a large scale in the department of agriculture. the _philadelphia press_ has the following: the beautiful farm of abel c. thomas, at tacony, near philadelphia, is remarkable chiefly because it is managed by a woman, mrs. louise h. thomas. her husband, the intimate friend of horace greeley, and well known as an author and theologian, in time past, has long been too feeble to take any part in managing the property. that duty has devolved upon mrs. thomas. the house, two hundred yards from the pennsylvania railroad, is hidden from view by the trees which surround it. the grounds are tastefully laid out, and the lawn mowed with a regularity that indicates constant feminine attention. the plot is acres in extent. six acres comprise the orchard and garden. in addition to apple, apricot, pear, peach, plum and cherry, there are specimens of all kinds of trees, from pine to poplar. a _press_ reporter recently walked over the premises, and mrs. thomas explained her manner of doing business. "i look after everything about the farm; take my little sample bags of wheat to the mills, and sell the crop by it; and twice i got ten cents more a bushel than any of my neighbors. but the things i take most interest in are my cows, chickens and bees. my cattle are from jersey island, and pure alderney. they are very gentle and good milkers. from four of them i get about pounds of butter a year. the price of this butter varies from cents to $ . per pound. there's my dog. when it's milking time, the hired man says to the dog, 'shep, go after the cows,' and away he goes, and in a little while the herd come tinkling up. why send a man to do a boy's work, or a boy to do that which a shepherd dog can do just as well? the cows understand him, and readily come when they are sent after. well, so much for the milk department. now, as to the garden; i don't sell much from that. still, if the vegetables were not grown, they would have to be bought, and i take all that into consideration in closing accounts. and that's one thing most farmers don't do; they don't put on the cash side of the ledger the cost of their living, for which they have been to no expense. now, as to the bees. the first cost is about the only expense attached to these little workers. i have twenty-five colonies, and can, and do handle them with as much safety as if they were so much dry wheat. i sell about $ worth of honey yearly, and consume half as much at home. the bees are not troublesome when you know how to handle them, but they require to be delicately handled at swarming time. "now, as to chickens. my stock consists exclusively of the light brahma breed. they come early, grow fast, sell readily, are tender, and have no disposition to forage; they are not all the time wandering round and flying over the garden fence, and scratching up flower and vegetable seeds. in fact, if you'll notice, there is a docility about my live-stock that is very attractive. the cows and chickens only need articulation to carry on conversation. you didn't see the hatching department of my chicken-house? i modeled the building after one used by a madame de linas, a french lady living near paris, and am much pleased with it. i sometimes raise , chickens a season. i sell them at prices all the way up from $ to $ apiece. you must remember that they are full-blooded, and i always have my stock replenished. i keep the best and sell for the highest prices. they are generally sold to private families, who wish to get the stock, and i always sell them alive. they are not much trouble to raise, provided you know how, and have the accommodations for doing it. i feed them corn, milk, meal and water, and pay particular attention to their being properly housed. the eggs of this breed are very rich, and i charge one dollar and a half for a setting--that is, thirteen eggs. "i have some three or four acres of wheat growing and it is heading out finely. oh!" said mrs. thomas, becoming more enthusiastic, as she reviewed the incomes from the cereals, cows, and chickens, "i am making money, and money is a standard of success, although there is to me a greater pleasure than the mere financial part of the business, which comes from the passion i have for the life. i wish, indeed, that young ladies would turn their attention to this matter. to me, it seems to open to them an avenue for acquiring a competency in an independent way; and to one who would pursue it earnestly, i know of no avocation scarcely worth being classed with it." "and you are not lonesome out here?" "oh! no. i never was lonesome an hour in my life--don't have time; i have a great deal of work to do, and am always ready to do it. indeed, the only people i pity are those who do not work, or find no interest in it. no, no; i have plenty of visitors, and last week jennie june, lucretia mott, and anna dickinson paid me a visit and were very much pleased while here. i have two grown-up boys, one in new york and the other in california; and have reared thirteen children besides my own family--colored, french, italian, and i know not what nationalities." mrs. thomas, who is certainly a remarkable woman, is a thoroughly educated one; has traveled extensively both in europe and this country. herself and husband have been intimate acquaintances of many eminent men, among whom were president lincoln and secretary stanton. the activity displayed in managing the estate indicates the possession of marked executive ability, and the exercise she thus receives has doubtless had its share in keeping her young, well-preserved, and good-natured. when the rev. knox little visited this country in , thinking the women of america specially needed his ministrations, he preached a sermon that called out the general ridicule of our literary women. in the sunday _republic_ of december , anne e. m'dowell said: the reverend gentlemen of st. clement's church, of this city, with their frequent english visiting clergymen, are not only trying their best to carry christianity back into the dark ages, by reinvesting it with all old-time traditions and mummeries, but they are striving anew to forge chains for the minds, consciences, and bodies of women whom the spirit of christian progress has, in a measure, made free in this country. the sermon of the rev. knox little, rector of st. alban's church, manchester, england, recently delivered at st. clement's in this city, and reported in the daily _times_, is just such an one as might be looked for from the class of thinkers whom he on that occasion represented. these ritualistic brethren are bitterly opposed to divorce, and hold the belief that so many britons adhere to on their native soil, viz., that "woman is an inferior animal, created only for man's use and pleasure, and designed by providence to be in absolute submission to her lord and master." the feeling engendered by this belief breeds contempt for and indifference to the nobler aspirations of women amongst men of the higher ranks, while it crops out in tyranny in the middle, and brutality in the lower classes of society. even the gentry and nobility of great britain are not all exempt from brutal manifestations of power toward their wives. we once sheltered in our own house for weeks the wife of an english earl who had been forced to leave her home and family through the brutality of her high-born husband--brutality from which the law could not or would not protect her. she died at our house, and when she was robed for her last rest much care had to be taken to arrange the dress and hair so that the scars of wounds inflicted on the throat, neck and cheek by her cruel husband might not be too apparent. the reports of english police courts are full of disclosures of ill-treatment of women by their husbands, and year by year our own courts are more densely thronged by women asking safety from the brutality of men who at the altar have vowed to "love, honor and protect" them. in nearly all these cases, the men who are brought into our courts on the charge of maltreating women are of foreign birth who have been born and brought up under the spiritual guidance of such clergymen as the rev. knox-little, who tell them, as he told the audience of women to whom he preached in this city: "to her husband a wife owes the duty of unqualified obedience. there is _no crime that a man can commit which justifies his wife in leaving him_ or applying for that monstrous thing, a divorce. it is her duty to submit herself to him _always_, and no crime he can commit justifies her lack of obedience. if he is a bad or wicked man she may gently remonstrate with him, but disobey him, never." again, addressing his audience at st. clement's, he says: "you may marry a bad man, but what of that? you had no right to marry a bad man. if you knew it, you deserved it. if you did not know it, you must endure it all the same. you can pray for him, and perhaps he will reform; but leave him--never. never think of that accursed thing--divorce. divorce breaks up families--families build up the church. the christian woman lives to build up the church." this is the sort of sermonizing, reïterated from year to year, that makes brutes of englishmen, of all classes, and sinks the average english woman to the condition of a child-bearing slave, valuable, mostly, for the number of children she brings her husband. she is permitted to hold no opinion unaccepted by her master, denied all reason and forced to frequent churches where she is forbidden the exercise of her common-sense, and where she is told: "men are logical; women lack this quality, but have an intricacy of thought. there are those who think that women can be taught logic; this is a mistake. they can never, by any process of education, arrive at the same mental status as that enjoyed by man; but they have a quickness of apprehension--what is usually called leaping at conclusions--that is astonishing." divorce is a question over which woman now disputes man's absolute control. his canon and civil laws alike have made marriage for her a condition of slavery, from which she is now seeking emancipation; and just in proportion as women become independent and self-supporting, they will sunder the ties that bind them in degrading relations. in september, , governor hoyt was petitioned to appoint a woman as member of the state board of commissioners of public charities. the special business of this commission is to examine into the condition of all charitable, reformatory and correctional institutions within the state, to have a general oversight of the methods of instruction, the well-being and comfort of the inmates, with a supervision of all those in authority in such institutions. dr. susan smith of west philadelphia, from the year of the cruel imprisonment of the unfortunate hester vaughan, regularly for twelve years poured petitions into both houses of the legislature, numerously signed by prominent philanthropists, setting forth the necessity of women as inspectors in the female wards of the jails of the state, and backing them by an array of appalling facts, and yet the legislature, from year to year, turned a deaf ear to her appeals. happily for the unfortunate wards of the state, the law passed in . state hospital for the insane, norristown, pa., sept. , . my dear miss anthony: i have referred your letter to my old friend, dr. hiram corson, of plymouth, pa., who can, if he will, give a much better history of the movement in this state, than any one else, being one of the pioneers. i hope that you will hear from him. if, however, he returns your letter to me, i will give you the few facts that i know. i should be glad to have you visit our hospital and see our work. very respectfully yours, alice bennett. plymouth meeting, pa., oct. , . miss susan b. anthony: _esteemed friend_:--dr. alice bennett has referred your letter with questions to me. alice bennett, m. d., ph. d., is chief physician of the female department of the eastern hospital of pennsylvania, for the insane. she is also member of the montgomery county medical society, and member of the medical society of the state of pennsylvania. she is the only woman in the civilized world, of whom i have ever heard, who has entire charge of the female patients in an institution for the care and treatment of the insane. we have in the harrisburg hospital, dr. jane garver, as physician for the female insane, but she is subordinate to the male physician. she has a female physician to assist her. dr. bennett was appointed and took charge in july, , with dr. anna kingler as her assistant. dr. kingler resigned, and went to india as medical missionary; was succeeded by dr. rebecca s. hunt, who, after more than a year's service, also resigned to go to india as medical missionary. dr. bennett has now two women physicians to assist her in the care of more than six hundred patients, nearly as many as, if not more than, are in the female departments of the harrisburg, danville, and warren hospitals all combined. dr. bennett's hospital is a model one. there is a total absence of physical restraint, as used formerly under male superintendents, and, i may say, as still used in other hospitals than that of norristown. her skill in providing amusement, instruction and employment of various kinds, for the comfort and restoration of her patients to sanity and physical health, i feel sure has never been equaled in any hospital for the treatment of insane women. it is exceedingly interesting to see the school which she has established, and in which a large number of the insane are daily instructed, amused and interested. it is well known, now, that when the mind of the insane can be drawn away from their delusions by employment, or whatever else may interest them and absorb their attention, they are on the road to health. the public are not yet fully awake to the great reform effected in having women physicians for the women insane. insane women have been treated as though there were no diseases peculiar to the sex. never, so far as i have been able to learn, have they been treated by the means used for the relief of women in their homes. an eminent surgeon of philadelphia informed me a few days since, that thirty years ago he was an assistant to dr. kirkbride, and desired to treat a patient for uterine troubles, but was rebuked by dr. k., and told never to attempt to use the appliances relied on in private practice. my informant added that he believed not a single insane woman had ever received special treatment for affections in any of the hospitals under the care of male physicians. while we realize that great advantages would have come to these poor unfortunates by proper treatment, we feel that no male physician having due regard for his own reputation, should attempt to treat an insane woman for uterine diseases by means used in private practice, or even in hospitals with sane women. and this shows the importance of women physicians for women insane. one of the most intellectual and prominent women of this state was, years ago, on account of domestic application, an inmate of our then champion hospital for the insane, for several months, during all of which time her sufferings were, to use her own words, indescribable, and yet she was not once asked in relation to her physical condition. let us turn aside from this, and glance at the last annual report of dr. alice bennett. she reports patients examined for uterine diseases; were placed under treatment; treated for a length of time; benefited by treatment. while dr. bennett does not say that their insanity was caused by the uterine disease, or that they were cured by curing that affection, she observes that in some cases the relief of the mind kept pace with the progress of cure of the uterine affections. i have, perhaps, written more than was needed on this subject, but i am so anxious that we shall have women doctors in every hospital for the treatment of insane women, and know, too, what influence yourself and good mrs. stanton can exert by turning your attention to it, which i am sure you will as you become informed in relation to the facts, that i could not stop short of what i have said. i have prepared a full account of our struggles with the state society during six years to obtain for women doctors their proper recognition by the profession, and also the obstacles and opposition we encountered in our attempt to procure the law empowering boards of trustees to appoint women to hospitals for the insane of their sex. it will give me pleasure to send them to you if they would be of any use to you. respectfully, hiram corson. as i am within a week of my d birthday, and am writing while my heart is beating one hundred and sixty times per minute, you must not criticise me too sharply. h. c. january , , miss rachel foster made all the arrangements for a national convention, to be held in st. george's hall, philadelphia.[ ] she also inaugurated a course of lectures, of which she took the entire financial responsibility, in the popular hall of the young men's christian association. ex-governor hoyt of wyoming, in his lecture, gave the good results of thirteen years' experience of woman's voting in that territory. miss foster employed a stenographer to report the address, had , copies printed, and circulated them in the nebraska campaign during the following summer. at its next session ( ) the legislature passed a resolution recommending congress to submit a sixteenth amendment, securing to women the right to vote: harrisburg, pa., march , .--in the house, mr. morrison of alleghany offered a resolution urging congress to amend the national constitution so that the right of suffrage should not be denied to citizens of any state on account of sex. it was adopted by ayes[ ] to noes, the result being greeted with both applause and hisses. the philadelphia _evening bulletin_ of november , , mentions an attempt to open the university of pennsylvania to women: the trustees held several meetings to consider the applications. beside miss craddock's, there were two others which the faculty referred to the trustees, and which appear not to have been reached in the regular course of business. miss florence kelley, a post-graduate from cornell university, daughter of judge kelley, who applied for admission as a special student in greek, and miss frances henrietta mitchell, a junior student from cornell, who asked to be admitted in the junior class. our information comes from these ladies, who were notified that their cases would be presented. the question of coëducation, which has been seriously occupying the minds of the trustees of the university of pennsylvania, was settled last evening, at least for the present, by the passage of a resolution refusing the admission of girls to the department of arts, but proposing to establish a separate collegiate department for them, whenever the requisite cost, about $ , , is provided. there has been an intelligent and honest difference among both trustees and professors on this interesting question, and the diversity has been complicated by the various grounds upon which the _pros_ and _cons_ are maintained. there are those who advocate the admission of girls to the university as a proper thing _per se_. others consent to it, because the university cannot give the desired education separately. others hold that girls should be admitted because of their equal rights to a university education, although their admission is very undesirable. others oppose coëducation in the abstract, conceding that girls should be as well educated as boys, but insisting that they must be differently and therefore separately educated. these draw a clear line between "equal" and "similar" education, and hold that no university course of studies can be laid out that will not present much of classical literature and much of the mental, moral and natural sciences, that cannot be studied and recited by boys and girls together, without serious risk of lasting injury to both. would it not be better, all things considered, to abjure this kind of classical literature, and instead of subjecting our sons to its baneful influence, give them the refining, elevating companionship of their sisters? if we would preserve the real modesty and purity of our daughters, it is quite as important that we should pay some attention to the delicacy and morality of the men with whom they are to associate. if a girl cannot read the classics with a young man without contamination, how can she live with him in all the intimacies of family life without a constant shock to her refined sensibilities? so long as society considers that any man of known wealth is a fit husband for our daughters, all this talk of the faculties and trustees of our colleges about protecting woman's modesty is the sheerest nonsense and hypocrisy. it is well to remember that these professors and students have mothers, wives and sisters, and if man is coarse and brutal, he invariably feels free to show his worst passions at his own fireside. to warn women against coëducation is to warn them against association with men in any relation whatsoever. footnotes: [ ] see appendix. [ ] carrie s. burnham after long years of preparation and persistent effort for admission to the bar of philadelphia, was admitted in . she was thoroughly qualified to enter that profession and to practice in the courts of that state, and the only reason ever offered for her rejection from time to time was, "that she was a woman." [ ] by an oversight this law was not mentioned in vol. i. in its proper place. [ ] george w. childs married judge bovier's grand-daughter. [ ] transcriber's note: footnote text is missing in original. [ ] _university of pennsylvania_--joseph carson, robert e. rogers, joseph leidy, henry h. smith, francis g. smith, r. a. t. penrose, alfred stille, george b. wood, samuel jackson, hugh l. hodge, r. la roche, george w. norris. _jefferson medical college_--joseph pancoast, s. d. gross, samuel henry dickson, ellerslie wallace, b. howard rand, john b. biddle, james aitken meigs. _pennsylvania hospital_--j. forsyth meigs, james h. hutchinson, j. m. da costa, addinell hewson, william hunt, d. hayes agnew. _philadelphia hospital_--r. j. levis, william h. pancoast, f. f. maury, alfred stille, j. l. ludlow, edward rhodes, d. d. richardson, e. l. duer, e. scholfield, r. m. girvin, john s. parry, william pepper, james tyson. _medical staff of episcopal hospital_--john h. packard., john ashhurst, jr., samuel ashhurst, alfred m. slocum, edward a. smith, william thomson, william s. forbes. _wills hospital for the blind and lame_--thomas george morton, a. d. hall, harrison allen, george c. harlan, r. j. levis. _st. joseph's hospital_--william v. keating, alfred stille, john j. reese, george r. morehouse, a. c. bournonville, edward a. page, john h. brinton, walter f. atlee, c. s. boker. _st. mary's hospital_--c. percy la roche, j. cummiskey, a. h. fish, j. h. grove, w. w. keen, w. l. wells, l. s. bolles. _german hospital_--albert fricke, emil fischer, joseph f. koerper, julius schrotz, julius kamerer, karl beeken, theodore a. demme, _children's hospital_--thomas hewson bache, d. murray cheston, h. lenox hodge, f. w. lewis, hilborn west. _charity hospital_--a. h. fish. l. k. baldwin, horace y. evans, john m. mcgrath, h. st. clair ash, j. m. boisnot, n. hatfield, w. m. welch, h. lycurgus law, h. leaman, j. a. mcarthur. _howard hospital_--thomas s. harper, laurence turnbull, t. h. andrews, horace williams, joseph klapp, william b. atkinson, s. c. brincklee. _physicians-at-large of the city of philadelphia_--e. ward, george h. beaumont, william w. lamb, thomas b. reed, charles schaffer, j. heritage, w. stump forwood, w. j. phelps, richard maris, frank muhlenberg, george m. ward, james collins, william f. norris, samuel lewis, isaac hays, g. emerson, w. w. gerhard, caspar morris, b. h. coates, george strawbridge, s. weir mitchell, i. minis hays, edward b. van dyke, j. sylvester ramsey, g. w. bowman, w. h. h. githens, t. w. lewis, t. m. finley, s. w. butler, robert p. harris, c. moehring, george l. bomberger, philip leidy, d. f. willard, james v. ingham, edward hartshorne, w. s. w. ruschenberger, thomas stewardson, james darrach, s. l. hollingworth, william mayburry, lewis rodman, casper wister, a. nebinger, horace binney hare, edward shippen, s. littell, f. w. lewis, robert bridges, william h. gloninger, james markoe, charles hunter, d. f. woods, herbert norris, harrison allen, charles b. nancrede, w. j. grier, edward j. nolan, richard thomas, lewis h. adler, g. b. dunmire, john neill, wharton sinkler, george pepper, j. j. sowerby, henry c. eckstein, eugene p. bernardy, charles k. miles, j. solis cohen. [ ] c. l. schlatter, j. wm. white, daniel bray, c. e. cassady, robert b. burns, albert trenchard, john g. scott, j. j. bowen, p. collings, e. cullen brayton, joint committee of the university and jefferson medical colleges. [ ] as through the influence of dr. truman miss hirschfeld had first been admitted to the college, he felt in a measure responsible for the fair treatment of her countrywomen who came to the united states to enjoy the same educational advantages. when the discussion in regard to expelling the young women was pending, dr. truman promptly and decidedly told the faculty that if such an act of injustice was permitted he should leave the college also. much of dr. truman's clearsightedness and determination may be traced to the influence of his noble wife and no less noble mother-in-law, mary ann mcclintock, who helped to inaugurate the movement in in central new york. she lamented in her declining years that she was able to do so little. but by way of consolation i often suggested that her influence in many directions could never be measured; and here is one: her influence on dr. truman opened the dental college to women, and kept it open while miss hirschfeld acquired her profession. with her success in germany, in the royal family, every child in the palace for generations that escapes a toothache will have reason to bless a noble friend, mary ann mcclintock, that she helped to plant the seeds of justice to woman in the heart of young james truman. we must also recognize in dr. truman's case that he was born and trained in a liberal quaker family, his own father and mother having been disciples of elias hicks. [ ] philadelphia, nov. , .--the formal opening of swarthmore college took place this afternoon, when a large number of its friends were conveyed thither in a special train on the westchester railroad. the audience assembled in the lecture room, where addresses were delivered by samuel willets and john d. hyoks, of new york, edward parrish, president of the college, wm. dorsey, and lucretia mott. it was stated that the amount spent in land and buildings amounted to $ , and contributions were solicited for $ , additional to fully furnish the building, and supply a library, philosophical and astronomical apparatus. the building is a massive one of five stories, constructed of pennsylvania granite, and appointed throughout, from dormitory, bathroom, recitation-hall, to parlor, kitchen and laundry, in the most refined and substantial taste. it is feet in length, by deep, presenting two wings for the dormitories of the male and female students respectively, and a central part devoted to parlor, library, public hall, etc. especially interesting in this division of the college is a room devoted to quaker antiquities, comprising portraits and writings of the founders of the sect. among them we notice the treaty of william penn, a picture of the treaty assembly, a letter of george fox, etc. the college opens with pupils, about equally divided between the sexes, the system of instruction being a joint education of boys and girls, though each occupy separate wings of the building. the institution was built by the hicksite branch of the society of friends, but the pupils are not confined to members of that persuasion. [ ] the speakers at this convention were lucretia mott, frances dana gage, wendell phillips, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, edward m. davis, robert purvis, aaron m. powell. the officers of the society were: _president_, robert purvis; _vice-presidents_, lucretia mott, william whipper, dinah mendenhall; _recording secretary_, mary b. lightfoot; _corresponding secretary_, frances b. jackson; _treasurer_, john k. wildman; _executive committee_, william still, ellen m. child, harriet purvis, elisha meaner, octavius catts, sarah s. hawkins, sarah pugh, clementina johns, alfred h. love, louisa j. roberts, jay chapel. [ ] j. k. wildman, miss a. ramborger, clementina l. john, ellen m. child, and passmore williamson. [ ] _president_, mary grew; _vice-presidents_, edward m. davis, mrs. c. a. farrington, mary k. williamson; _recording secretary_, annie heacock; _corresponding secretary_, eliza sproat turner; _treasurer_, gulielma m. s. p. jones; _executive committee_, john k. wildman, ellen m. child, annie shoemaker, charlotte l. pierce, and dr. henry t. child. [ ] among those who addressed the members of the convention were bishop matthew simpson, rev. charles g. ames, fanny b. ames, mary grew, sarah c. hallowell, matilda hindman, elizabeth s. bladen and elizabeth cady stanton. [ ] among the men who spoke for woman's enfranchisement were john m. broomall, john m. campbell, lewis c. cassidy, benjamin l. temple, levi rooke, george f. horton, h. w. palmer, william darlington, harry white, frank mantor, thomas macconnell, henry carter, thomas e. cochran. in addition to those who spoke, those who voted _yes_ are john e. addicks, william h. ainey, william d. baker, charles o. bowman, charles brodhead, george n. corson, david craig, matthew edwards, j. gillingham tell, thomas howard, edward c. knight, george lear, john s. mann, h. w. patterson, t. h. b. patton, thomas struthers, john w. f. white. [ ] _ayes_--william styles, william mclain, clerks in the water department; a. w. lyman, clerk in the custom-house; m. c. coppeck, clerk in the highway department, who was defeated by one of the ladies for school directorship; john b. green, a member of the board of education; john buckley, clerk in the post-office; theodore canfield, sergeant of police; john murray, contractor of the highway department; george w. schrack, an ex-clerk, lately resigned from the tax receiver's office; daniel t. smith, ex-detective; asher w. dewees, oliver bowler, mr. agnew, ezra lukens, clerk in the united states assistant treasurer's office, president of the republican invincibles, candidate last year against mr. jonathan pugh for commissioner of city property, and a candidate for the same office next year; william b. elliott, collector of internal revenue; charles m. carpenter, alderman, who signed mrs. paist's certificate; jackson keyser, an employé in the navy yard; alfred ruhl, clerk in the custom-house; mr. jones, and henry c. dunlap, who is republican candidate for common council-- . _nays_--james w. sayre, joseph b. ridge, samuel caldwell, dr. charles hooker, john e. lane, lewis bogy, john mansfield. daniel rieff, william githens, thomas evans, george schimpf and f. theodore walton-- . so the resolution was carried by yeas to nays. [ ] their modest home at north eleventh street has long been a hospitable retreat for reformers, where many of us identified with the suffrage movement have been most courteously entertained. anna and adeline thomson after long lives of industry have been, too, the steadfast representatives of great principles in religious and political freedom, always giving freely of their means to the unpopular reforms of their day and generation.--[e. c. s. [ ] the executive board of the new century club for - , was: _president_, mrs. eliza s. turner; _vice-presidents_, mrs. emily w. taylor, mrs. s. c. f. hallowell; mrs. henry c. townsend, mrs. aubrey h. smith; _corresponding secretary_, miss louise stockton; _recording secretary_, miss anna c. bliss; _treasurer_, mrs. charlotte l. pierce; _directors_, mrs. susan i. lesley, mrs. henry cohen, mrs. huldah justice, miss emily sartain, miss mary grew, mrs. s. b. f. greble, mrs. m. w. coggins, miss mary a. burnham, mrs. ellison l. perot, mrs. thomas roberts. others names found in its annual report as contributing to the efficiency of the club are: mrs. fannie b. ames, miss grace anna lewis, mrs. emma j. bartol, mrs. e. l. head, miss mary c. coxe, mrs. charlotte l. pierce, madam emma seiler, miss amanda l. dods, miss lelia patridge, miss lily ray, miss ella cole, mrs. susan i. lesley, mrs. e. c. mayer, miss bennett, mlle. frasson. the work of the club has its divisions of science, literature, art, music, entertainment, cooking, hospitalities, charities, employment for women, legal protection for working women, prisons and reformatory institutions. [ ] see chapter for an account of this philadelphia convention. [ ] the _yeas_ were as follows: messrs. ayers, barnes, blackford, boyer, boyle, brooks, w. c. brown, i. b. brown, j. l. brown, brosius, burnite, burchfield, chadwick, coburn, e. l. davis, deveney, duggan, eckels, ellsworth, emery, fetters, gahan, gardner, gavitt, gentner, glenn, grier, g. w. hall, f. hall, a. w. hayes, hines, higgins, hoofnagle, hulings, hughes, jenkins, klein, kavanaugh, landis, lafferty, merry, b. b. mitchell, s. n. mitchell, millor, molineaux, a. h. morgan, w. d. morgan, j. w. morrison, e. morrison, myton, mccabe, mcclaran, neill, neeley, nelson, nesbit, nicholson, parkinson, powell, romig, schwartz, short, sinex, slocum, j. smith, sneeringer, snodgrass, stees, sterett, stewart, stubbs, sweeney, trant, vanderslice, vaughn, vogdes, wayne and ziegler-- . chapter xxxix. new jersey. women voted in the early days--deprived of the right by legislative enactment in --women demand the restoration of their rights in --at the polls in vineland and roseville park--lucy stone agitates the question--state suffrage society organized in --conventions--a memorial to the legislature--mary f. davis--rev. phebe a. hanaford--political science club--mrs. cornelia c. hussey--orange club, --july , , mrs. devereux blake gives the oration--dr. elizabeth blackwell's letter--the laws of new jersey in regard to property and divorce--constitutional commission, --trial of rev. isaac m. see--women preaching in his pulpit--the case appealed--mrs. jones, jailoress--legislative hearings. new jersey was the only state that, in adopting her first constitution, recognized woman's right to suffrage which she had exercised during the colonial days, and from time immemorial in the mother country. the fact that she was deprived of this right from to by a legislative enactment, while the constitution secured it,[ ] proves that the power of the legislature, composed of representatives from the people, was considered at that early day to be above the state constitution. if, then, the legislature could abridge the suffrage, it must have the power to extend it, and all the women of this state should demand is an act of the legislature. they need not wait for the slow process of a constitutional amendment submitted to the popular vote. in , in harmony with a general movement in many other states, the women of new jersey began to demand the restoration of their ancient rights. the following is from _the revolution_ of november , , written by elizabeth a. kingsbury: vineland, n. j., nov. , . at a meeting of women, held the week before election, a unanimous vote was taken that we would go to the polls. john gage, chairman of the woman suffrage association of vineland, called a meeting, and though the day was an inclement one, there was a good attendance. a number of earnest men as well as women addressed the audience. among them were colonel moss of missouri, and james m. scovel of camden, state senator, who strengthened us by their words of earnest eloquence. at : a. m., november , john and portia gage and myself entered union hall, where the judges of election had already established themselves for the day. instead of occupying the center of the platform, they had taken one side of it, apparently for the purpose of leaving us room on the other. we seated ourselves in chairs brought for the occasion, when one gentleman placed a small table for our use. another inquired if we were comfortable and the room sufficiently warm. "truly," we thought, "this does not look like a very terrible opposition." as time passed, there came more men and women into the hall. quite a number of the latter presented their votes first at the table where those of men were received, where they were rejected with politeness, and then taken to the other side of the platform and deposited in our box. shall i describe this box, twelve inches long and six wide, and originally a grape-box? very significant of vineland. soon there came to the aid of mrs. gage and myself a blooming and beautiful young lady, estelle thomson, who, with much grace and dignity, sat there throughout the day, recording the names of the voters. it would have done you good to have witnessed the scene. margaret pryor,[ ] who is better known to you perhaps than to many of your readers, as one whose life has been active in the cause of freedom for the negro and for woman; a charming old lady of eighty-four years, yet with the spirit, elasticity and strength of one of thirty-five, sat there in her nice quaker bonnet by the side of miss thomson a great part of the day. sarah pearson, also advanced in years and eminent for her labors of love for the suffering and oppressed everywhere; with her peculiarly delicate organization and placid countenance, remained with us till the last moment. there was no lack of friends and supporters. the platform was crowded with earnest, refined, intellectual women, who felt that it was good for them to be there. one beautiful girl said in my hearing, "i feel so much stronger for having voted." it was pleasant to see husbands and wives enter the hall together, only they had to separate, one turning to the right hand and the other to the left, when no separation should have taken place. some women spent the day in going after their friends and bringing them to the hall. young ladies, after voting, went to the homes of their acquaintances, and took care of the babies while the mothers came out to vote. will this fact lessen the alarm of some men for the safety of the babies of enfranchised women on election day? one lady of refinement and aristocratic birth brought her little girl of ten years with her, and i assure you it did the men good as well as us. they said they never had so quiet and pleasant a time at the polls before, though it is always more quiet here than in many other towns, because the sale of ardent spirits is forbidden. john gage--bless his dear soul--identifies himself completely with this glorious cause, and labors with an earnestness and uniformity of purpose that is truly charming. his team was out all day, bringing women to vote, half-a-dozen at a time, while his personal efforts were unremitting and eminently successful. he and his noble wife, portia, seem to be, indeed, one in thought and action. some time ago he sent a pledge to the candidates for office in this state. by signing it, they promise to sustain the cause of woman suffrage by every means in their power. nixon, candidate for the senate, signed it last year. house, candidate for the assembly, signed the pledge at the eleventh hour, and though he lost two of our votes by the delay, yet he, too, is elected. thus we have, at least, three public men in new jersey pledged to sustain the woman suffrage cause. we think it is time to say to candidates for office: "you tell us we have a good deal of influence, and ask us to exert it for your election. we will do so, if you will promise to advocate our cause. if you do not, we will oppose your election." the result of the ballots cast by the women of vineland is this: for president--grant, ; seymour, ; e. cady stanton, ; fremont, ; and mrs. governor harvey of wisconsin, . the president of the historical society of vineland, s. c. campbell, has petitioned for the ballot-box and list of voters, to put into its archives. he will probably get them. a gentleman said to me last week: "what is the use of your doing this? your votes will count nothing in the election." "it will do good in two ways," i replied. "you say there will not be five women there. we will show you that you are mistaken; that women do want to vote, and it will strengthen them for action in the future." both these ends have been accomplished; and on november we are to meet again, to consider and decide what to do about the taxation that is soon coming upon us. while the vineland women expressed their opinion by voting, other true friends of woman's enfranchisement were moved to do the same. _the revolution_ of november , , gave the following: the newark _daily advertiser_ says that mrs. hannah blackwell, a highly esteemed elderly lady, long resident in roseville, and mrs. lucy stone, her daughter-in-law, both of them property-holders and tax-payers in the county, appeared at the polls in roseville park, accompanied by messrs. bathgate and blackwell as witnesses, and offered their votes. the judges of election were divided as to the propriety of receiving the votes of the ladies, one of them stating that he was in favor of doing so, the two others objecting on the ground of their illegality. the ladies stated that they had taken advice of eminent lawyers, and were satisfied that in new jersey, women were legally entitled to vote, from the fact that the old constitution of the state conferred suffrage upon "all inhabitants" worth $ . under that constitution women did in fact vote until, in , by an arbitrary act of the legislature, women were excluded from the polls. the new constitution, adopted in , was framed by a convention and adopted by a constituency, from both of which women were unconstitutionally excluded, so that they have never been allowed to vote upon the question of their own disfranchisement. the article in the present constitution on the right of suffrage confers it upon white male citizens, but does not expressly limit it to such. it is claimed that from the absence of any express limitation in the present constitution, and from the compulsory exclusion of the parties interested from its adoption, the political rights of women under the old constitution still remain. mrs. stone stated these points to the judges of election with clearness and precision. after consultation, the votes of the ladies were refused. the crowd surrounding the polls gathered about the ballot-box and listened to the discussion with respectful attention; but every one behaved with the politeness which gentlemen always manifest in the presence of ladies. the women of new jersey may have been roused to assert their right to vote by an earnest appeal of that veteran of equal rights, parker pillsbury, in _the revolution_ of march , , suggested by the following: at the recent election in vineland, new jersey, a unanimous vote in favor of "no rum" was polled. the vineland _weekly_ says: "among the incidents of the late election was the appearance of a woman at the polls. having provided herself with a ballot, she marched up to the rostrum and tendered it to the chairman of the board of registry. the veteran politician, john kandle, covered with blushes, was obliged to inform the lady that no one could vote unless his name was registered. she acquiesced in the decision very readily, saying she only wished to test a principle, and retired very quietly from the hall." while thus mentioning the women with uncounted votes, it may be well to embalm here a historical fact, published in april, : in the year widows were allowed to vote in new jersey on their husbands' tax receipts. the election officers paid great deference to the widows on these occasions, and took particular care to send carriages after them, so as to get their votes early and make sure of them. the writer of this has often heard his grandmother state that she voted for john quincy adams for president of the united states when he was elected to that office. her name was sarah sparks, and she voted at barnsboro', her husband having died the year previous. n. m. wallington, washington, d. c. miss anthony held a spirited meeting in rahway on christmas eve, december , . the following october, , mrs. stanton and miss anthony attended a two days' convention in vineland, and helped to rouse the enthusiasm of the people. a friend, writing from there, gives us the following: the unitarian church in this town is highly favored in having for its pastor a young man of progressive and thoroughly liberal ideas. rev. oscar clute is well known as an earnest advocate in the cause of woman. last sunday the communion or lord's supper was administered in his church. one of the laymen who usually assists in the distribution of the bread and wine, was absent, and mr. clute invited one of the women to officiate in his stead. she did so in such a sweet and hospitable manner that it gave new interest to the occasion. even those who do not like innovations could not find fault. and why should any one be displeased? the christ of the sacrament was the emancipator of women. in olden time they had deaconesses, and in most of our churches women constitute a majority of the communicants, so it seems particularly appropriate that they should be served by women. women vote on all matters connected with this church, they are on all "standing committees," and sometimes are chosen and act as trustees. rev. phebe a. hanaford sends us the following reports of the progress of the movement in this state: while lucy stone resided in new jersey, she held several series of meetings in the chief towns and cities before the formation of the state society.[ ] the agitation that began in was probably due to her, more than to any other one person in that state. the state society was organized in the autumn of , and from year to year its annual meetings have been held in vineland, newark, trenton, and other cities. on its list of officers[ ] are some of the best men and women in the state. several distinguished names from other states are among the speakers[ ] who have taken part in their conventions. county and local societies too have been extensively organized. these associations have circulated tracts and appeals, memorialized the legislature, and had various hearings before that body. at the annual meeting held in newark february , , the following memorial to the legislature, prepared by mary f. davis, was unanimously adopted: _to the honorable the senate and general assembly of the state of new jersey:_ section , article , of the constitution of the state of new jersey, expressly declares that "all political power is inherent in the people. government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have the right at all times to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it." throughout the entire article the words "people" and "person" are used, as if to apply to all the inhabitants of the state. in direct contradiction to this broad and just affirmation, section , article , begins with the restrictive and unjust sentence: "every white male citizen of the united states, at the age of twenty-one years * * * shall be entitled to vote," etc., and the section ends with the specification that "no pauper, idiot, insane person, or person convicted of a crime * * * shall enjoy the right of an elector." of the word "white" in this article your memorialists need not speak, as it is made a dead letter by the limitations of the fifteenth amendment to the united states constitution. to the second restriction, indicated by the word "male" we beg leave to call the attention of the legislature, as we deem it unjust and arbitrary, as well as contradictory to the spirit of the constitution, as expressed in the first article. it is also contrary to the precedent established by the founders of political liberty in new jersey. on the second of july, , the provincial congress of new jersey, at burlington, adopted a constitution which remained in force until ; in which section specified as voters, "all the inhabitants of this colony, of full age," etc. in , a committee of the legislature reported a bill regulating elections, in which the words "he and she" are applied to voters, thus giving legislative endorsement to the alleged meaning of the constitution. the legislature of departed from this wise and just precedent, and passed an arbitrary act, in direct violation of the constitutional provision, restricting the suffrage to white male adult citizens, and this despotic ordinance was deliberately endorsed by the framers of the state constitution which was adopted in . this was plainly an act of usurpation and injustice, as thereby a large proportion of the law-abiding citizens of the state were disfranchised, without so much as the privilege of signifying their acceptance or rejection of the barbarous fiat which was to rob them of the sacred right of self-protection by means of a voice in the government, and to reduce them to the political level of the "pauper, idiot, insane person, or person convicted of crime." if this flagrant wrong, which was inflicted by one-half the citizens of a free commonwealth on the other half, had been aimed at any other than a non-aggressive and self-sacrificing class, there would have been fierce resistance, as in the case of the united colonies under the british yoke. it has long been borne in silence. "the right of voting for representatives," says paine, "is the primary right, by which other rights are protected. to take away this right is to reduce man to a state of slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the electing of representatives is in this condition." benjamin franklin wrote: "they who have no voice nor vote in the electing of representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes and to their representatives; for to be enslaved is to have governors whom other men have set over us, and be subject to laws made by the representatives of others, without having had representatives of our own to give consent in our behalf." this is the condition of the women of new jersey. it is evident to every reasonable mind that these unjustly disfranchised citizens should be reïnstated in the right of suffrage. therefore, we, your memorialists, ask the legislature at its present session to submit to the people of new jersey an amendment to the constitution, striking out the word "male" from article , section , in order that the political liberty which our forefathers so nobly bestowed on men and women alike, may be restored to "all inhabitants" of the populous and prosperous state into which their brave young colony has grown. [illustration: cornelia collins hussey] with but a slight change of officers and arguments, these conventions were similar from year to year. there were on all occasions a certain number of the clergy in opposition. at one of these meetings the rev. mr. mcmurdy condemned the ordination of women for the ministry. but woman's fitness[ ] for that profession was successfully vindicated by lucretia mott and phebe a. hanaford. mrs. portia gage writes, december , : there was an election held by the order of the township committee of landis, to vote on the subject of bonding the town to build shoe and other factories. the call issued was for all legal voters. i went with some ten or twelve other women, all taxpayers. we offered our votes, claiming that we were citizens of the united states, and of the state of new jersey, also property-holders in and residents of landis township, and wished to express our opinion on the subject of having our property bonded. of course our votes were not accepted, whilst every _tatterdemalion_ in town, either black or white, who owned no property, stepped up and very pompously said what he would like to have done with his property. for the first time our claim to vote seemed to most of the voters to be a just one. they gathered together in groups and got quite excited over the injustice of refusing our vote and accepting those of men who paid no taxes. in , the woman's political science club[ ] was formed in vineland, which held its meetings semi-monthly, and discussed a wide range of subjects. among the noble women in new jersey who have stood for many years steadfast representatives of the suffrage movement, cornelia collins hussey of orange is worthy of mention. a long line of radical and brave ancestors[ ] made it comparatively easy for her to advocate an unpopular cause. her father, stacy b. collins, identified with the anti-slavery movement, was also an advocate of woman's right to do whatever she could even to the exercise of the suffrage. he maintained that the tax-payer should vote regardless of sex, and as years passed on he saw clearly that not alone the tax-payer, but every citizen of the united states governed and punished by its laws, had a just and natural right to the ballot in a country claiming to be republican. the following beautiful tribute to his memory, by dr. elizabeth blackwell, is found in a letter to his daughter: london, july , . my last letter from america brought me the sad intelligence of your dear father's departure from amongst you; and i cannot refrain from at once writing and begging you to accept the sincere sympathy and inevitable regret which i feel for your loss. the disappearance of an old friend brings up the long past times vividly to my remembrance--the time when, impelled by irresistible spiritual necessity, i strove to lead a useful but unusual life, and was able to face, with the energy of youth, both social prejudice and the hindrance of poverty. i have to recall those early days to show how precious your father's sympathy and support were to me in that difficult time; and how highly i respected his moral courage in steadily, for so many years, encouraging the singular woman doctor, at whom everybody looked askance, and in passing whom so many women held their clothes aside, lest they should touch her. i know in how many good and noble things your father took part; but, to me, this brave advocacy of woman as physician, in that early time, seems the noblest of his actions. speaking of the general activity of the women of orange, mrs. hussey says: the women's club of orange was started in . it is a social and literary club, and at present ( ) numbers about eighty members. meetings are held in the rooms of the new england society once in two weeks, and a reception, with refreshments, given at the house of some member once a year. some matter of interest is discussed at each regular meeting. this is not an equal suffrage club, yet a steady growth in that direction is very evident. very good work has been done by this club. an evening school for girls was started by it, and taught by the members for awhile, until adopted by the board of education, a boys' evening school being already in operation. under the arrangements of the club, a course of lectures on physiology, by women, was recently given in orange, and well attended. at the house of one of the members a discussion was held on this subject: "does the private character of the actor concern the public?" although the subject was a general one, the discussion was really upon the proper course in regard to m'lle sarah bernhardt, who had recently arrived in the country. reporters from the new york _sun_ attended the meeting, so that the views of the club of orange gained quite a wide celebrity. of mrs. hussey's remarks, the newark _journal_ said: the sentiments of the first speaker, mrs. cornelia c. hussey, were generally approved, and therefore are herewith given in full: "i have so often maintained in argument that one has no right to honor those whose lives are a dishonor to virtue or principle, that i cannot see any other side to our question than the affirmative. that the stage wields a potent influence cannot be doubted. let the plays be immoral, and its influence must be disastrous to virtue. let the known character of the actor be what we cannot respect, the glamour which his genius or talent throws around that bad character will tend to diminish our discrimination between virtue and vice, and our distaste for the latter. some one says: 'let me write the songs of a nation, and i care not who makes the laws.' the poetry that byron wrote, together with his well-known contempt for a virtuous life, is said to have had a very pernicious influence on the young men of his time, and probably, too, blinded the eyes of the young women. i recall being quite startled by reading the essay of whittier on byron, which showed him as he was, and not with the halo of his great genius thrown around his vices. it seemed to me that our national government dethroned virtue when it sent a homicide, if not a murderer, to represent us at a foreign court; and again when it sent as minister to another court on the continent a man whose private character was well known to be thoroughly immoral. even to trifle with virtue, or to be a coward in the cause of principle, is a fearful thing; but when, a person comes before the public, saying by his life that he prefers the pleasures of sin to the paths of virtue, it seems to me that the way is plain--to withhold our patronage as a matter of public policy." on the fourth of july, , mrs. lillie devereux blake was invited to make the usual address in east orange, which she did before a large audience in the public hall. says the _journal_: "mrs. blake's speech was characterized by simplicity of style and appropriateness of sentiment." she made mention of molly pitcher, mrs. borden and mrs. hall of new jersey, and of noted women of other states, who did good service in revolutionary times, when the country needed the help of her daughters as well as her sons. in the summer of a noteworthy meeting was held in orange in the interest of women. a number of ladies and gentlemen met in my parlor to listen to statements in relation to what is called the "social evil," to be made by the rev. j. p. gledstone and mr. henry j. wilson, delegates from the "british, continental and general federation for the abolition of government regulation of prostitution." it is due to the english gentlemen to say that they gave some very strong reasons for bringing the disagreeable subject before the meeting, and that they handled it with becoming delicacy, though with great plainness. "ann a. horton, who died in june, , at the old ladies' home, newark, bequeathed $ , to princeton college, to found a scholarship to be called by her name." would not the endowment of a "free bed" in mrs. horton's true alma-mater, the old ladies' home, have been a far wiser bequest than the foundation of a scholarship in princeton--a college which, while fattening on enormous dole received from women, offers them nothing in return? in relation to the law giving the mothers of new jersey some legal claim to their children, mrs. hussey writes: i have often heard it said that kansas is the only state where the married mother has any legal ownership in her children; but the women of new jersey have enjoyed this _privilege_ since , when it was gained for them by the efforts of mrs. ann h. connelly of rahway. she was an american woman, the mother of one daughter, and unhappily married. she desired to be divorced from her husband, but she knew that in such case he might legally take her child from her. such a risk could not be thought of for a moment; so she applied to the legislature for a change of the law. she was assisted by many influential citizens, both men and women; petitions largely signed were presented, and the result was the amendment of the law making the mother and father equal in the ownership of their children. when a copy of the new law appeared in our papers i wrote to mrs. connelly, inclosing a resolution of thanks from the essex county woman suffrage society, of which i was then secretary. in her reply she said: "this unexpected and distinguishing recognition of my imperfect, but earnest, efforts for justice is inexpressibly gratifying." several years after, i went with my daughter to rahway to see mrs. connelly. she seemed to be well known and much respected. she was teaching in one of the public schools, but seemed quite feeble in health. in i saw the notice of her death. she was a woman of much intelligence, and strongly interested in suffrage, and should certainly be held in grateful remembrance by the mothers of new jersey, to whom she restored the right which nature gave them, but which men had taken away by mistaken legislation. this law of february , , composed of several acts purporting to give fathers and mothers equal rights in cases of separation and divorce, is not so liberal as it seems in considering this provision: upon a decree of divorce the court may make such further decree as may be deemed expedient concerning the custody and maintenance of minor children, and determine with which of the parents the children shall remain. this act, though declaring that the mother and father are equal, soon shows by its specifications that the courts can dispose of all woman's interests and affections as they may see fit. what avails a decree of divorce or separation for woman, if the court can give the children to the father at its pleasure? here is the strong cord by which woman is held in bondage, and the courts, all composed of men, know this, and act on it in their decisions. a petition was addressed to the constitutional commission of , requesting an amendment restoring to the women of new jersey their original right to vote, which that body decided would be "inexpedient." a bill introduced in the legislature by senator cutler, of morris county, making women eligible to the office of school-trustee, became a law march , : be it enacted, that hereafter no person shall be eligible to the office of school-trustee, unless he or she can read and write; and women who are residents in the district and over twenty years of age, shall also be eligible to the office of school-trustee, and may hold such office and perform the duties of the same, when duly elected by ten votes of the district.--[chap. . february , , a law for the better protection of the property of married women was passed: . be it enacted by the senate and general assembly of the state of new jersey, that any married woman who now is, or may hereafter become, entitled, by gift, devise or bequest, to any contingent estate, or any interest in any real or personal property or estate, may, with the concurrence of her husband, compound and receipt for, assign and convey the same, in all cases where she lawfully might, if a _feme sole_; and every release, receipt, assignment, discharge, agreement, covenant, or contract, thereupon entered into by her in regard to the same and to the said property, shall be as valid and binding in every respect, upon her, her heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, and any and all persons claiming under her, them or either of them, as if she were at the time of entering into the same, a _feme sole_, and when duly executed and acknowledged in the manner provided by law for conveyance of real estate, may be recorded in the surrogate's office, and whenever it relates to real estate in the clerk's or recorder's office, of the proper county or counties, in the same manner and with like effect as other receipts and discharges may now be recorded therein. . and be it enacted. that this act shall take effect immediately. a most remarkable trial, lately held in newark, new jersey, which involved the question whether it was contrary to scripture, and a violation of the rules of the presbyterian church, to admit women to the pulpit, is well reported by the new york _world_, january , : since the time that the rev. theodore cuyler was obliged by the presbytery of long island to apologize for inviting miss sarah smiley, the quaker preacher, to occupy the pulpit of the lafayette avenue church in brooklyn, the question of the right of women to preach in presbyterian churches, has come up in various parts of the country, but has never been brought judicially before any ecclesiastical body until yesterday, when it occupied the attention of the newark presbytery, under the following circumstances. october , , mrs. l. s. robinson and mrs. c. s. whiting, two ladies who were much interested in the temperance movement, asked and received permission of the rev. isaac m. see, of the wickliffe presbyterian church at newark, to occupy his pulpit, morning and evening of that day. they accordingly addressed the congregation on the subject of temperance. to this the rev. e. r. craven, of the third presbyterian church, of newark, objected, and brought before the newark presbytery the following charge: "the undersigned charges the rev. isaac m. see, pastor of the wickliffe church, of newark, n. j., a member of your body, with disobedience to the divinely enacted ordinance in reference to the public speaking and teaching of women in churches, as recorded in i. corinthians, xiv., to , and i. timothy, ii., , in that: first specification--on sunday, october , , in the wickliffe church of the city of newark, n. j., he did, in the pulpit of the said church, and before the congregation there assembled for public worship at the usual hour of the morning service, viz., : a.m., introduce a woman, whom he permitted and encouraged then and there publicly to preach and teach." the second specification is couched in similar language, except that it charges mr. see with introducing another woman at the evening service upon the same day. the charge was presented at the regular meeting of the presbytery, a short time ago, and the hearing of the case was adjourned until yesterday. the meeting was held in the lecture room of the second presbyterian church in washington street. rev. john l. wells, pastor of the bethany mission chapel, presided, and there was a fair attendance of the members of the body. of the audience at least nine-tenths were women.[ ] dr. craven, the prosecutor, sat on the front row of seats, near to the clerk's table, while dr. see, who is very stout, with a double chin, and the picture of good-nature, sat in the rear of the members of the presbytery, and among the front rows of spectators. dr. mcillvaine introduced the following resolution: _resolved_, that this charge, by common consent of the parties, be dismissed at this stage of the proceedings, with affectionate council to the rev. dr. see not to go contrary to the usages of the presbyterian church for the future. this brought brother see to his feet. he could not, he said, assent to brother mcillvaine's resolution. he had not consented that the charge should be dismissed, as in the resolution. brother mcillvaine expressed himself as sure that brother see had consented, but brother see was again equally sure that he had not. some member here suggested that dr. craven should first have been asked if he consented to dismiss the charge, and this brought that gentleman to his feet. a more complete antithesis to dr. see cannot be imagined. he is tall, gaunt, with full beard and mustache, short, bristling hair, that stands upright in a row from the centre of his forehead to the crown of his head. he said that at the request of dr. mcillvaine and another respected member of the presbytery he had said that if the party charged would give full and free consent to the resolution, he would also assent; "and," he added, "such is now my position." dr. mcillvaine then gave at length his reasons for desiring to arrest the case where it was. no good could come of its discussion, and the result could not but be productive of discord. the moderator reminded dr. see that they waited for an answer from him. dr. see--may we have a season of prayer, sir? the moderator said there was no objection. dr. see explained that the matter at issue was not a personal one; it was a question as to the meaning of the scriptures upon a certain point, and he was there simply to know what the presbytery would do. rev. drs. brinsmayd and fewsmith then prayed, but dr. see's frame of mind was not in the least changed. he still insisted that his was the passive part, to sit and see what they would do with his case. rev. dr. wilson thought that if brother see did not desire to do anything contrary to the usages of the church, he might say so. brother see said it was a question of whether god almighty had said certain things or not, and that he could not answer. in his formal answer to the charge the accused then said: "i believe myself to be not guilty of the charge, but i admit the specifications." dr. craven, in his speech, said it was in no spirit of animosity that he had brought the charge. he believed that the law of god had been broken in this case; not designedly, perhaps, but really. a custom had found lodgment in a presbyterian church that would impair its efficiency and would also injure woman in the sphere which she was called upon by god to fill. no judicial decision had been arrived at upon this question. the case of dr. cuyler was the first that had come before a presbytery, and that was hardly a trial of the question. "why should i," he continued, "bring this charge? because i have felt it to be wrong, and feeling thus, resolved to take the duty upon myself, painful and agonizing as the task may be. i deem it my duty to god to do so." dr. see (_sotto voce_)--"and the lord will bless you for it." dr. craven, continuing, read the passages of scripture referred to in this charge. he did not, he said, affirm that woman had no work in the church. she had a great and glorious sphere; she had no right to teach and speak in public meetings, but she could teach children and ignorant men in private. he would not affirm that some women could not preach as well as, or better than some men, and he did not know but that in the future she might occupy the platform on an equality with men; but at present she could not, and it was expressly forbidden in the passages which he had read. "you may run to hear another man's wife preach, or another man's daughter," said he, "but who would have his own wife stand upon the platform, or his own daughter face the mob? woman is the heart of man, but man is the head. let woman go upon the platform, and she loses that shrinking modesty that gives her such power over children. what child would wish to have a public-speaking mother? i trust this evil will not creep in upon the church. i felt bound to resist it at the outset, and unless i am convinced of my error shall withstand it to the death." * * * * january , , rev. dr. see continued his defense of himself for letting a woman into his pulpit. then the roll was called for the views of the presbytery. dr. mcillvaine said that the two sources of light, as he understood it, were the teachings of the lord and his disciples. the lord didn't select women for his twelve, and vacancies were not filled by women. it wasn't a woman who was chosen to do paul's work. he was the chosen teacher of the church in that and all succeeding ages, and he had said, "i suffer not women to teach, or to usurp authority in the church." dr. brinsmade, who was the pastor of the wickliffe church before dr. see was called there, admitted that women could preach well, but thought the presbytery had better stick by the divine command. dr. canfield also agreed with paul. he loved women and loved their work, but it seemed from the experience of the world that god intended that the pulpit should be the place for men. such, at any rate, had been the principle and the practice of the presbyterian church; and if brother see could not conform to its rules, he would say to him, "go, brother; there are other churches in which you can find a place." dr. canfield was called to order for that addendum. dr. hutchings, of orange, referred to the ancient justification of slavery from the bible, and in view of honest differences of construction accepted by the church, thought the question should be left to the discretion of pastors and church-sessions. rev. jonathan f. stearns, pastor of the first church, demurred to this and stood by the scripture text. nine-tenths of the ladies of the church, he said, would vote against preaching by women. rev. james e. wilson, pastor of the south park church, said that in churches where women had been permitted to preach, they had lost ground. "i have never heard a quaker woman," said he, "preach a sermon worth three cents (laughter), and yet i have heard the spirit move them to get up and speak at most improper times and on most inopportune occasions, and have heard them say most improper and impertinent things." in the methodist church he did not believe that there were over twenty-five women preachers, so the women were losing ground, and not gaining. even the woman suffragists, who made so much noise a few years ago, had subsided, and he did not believe there were a hundred agitators in the whole country now. "see," he said, "where brother see's argument would carry him. any woman that has the spirit upon her may speak, and so, by and by, two or three women may walk up into brother see's pulpit and say,'come down; it's our turn now, we are moved by the spirit.' (laughter). a woman's voice was against her preaching; a man's voice came out with a 'thud,' but a woman spoke soft and pleasing; however, here were the plain words of the text, and any man that could throw it overboard could throw over the doctrine of the atonement. if a mother should teach her son from the pulpit by preaching to him, thus disobeying the plain words of the apostle, she must not be surprised if her son went contrary to some other teaching of the apostle. but the fact was, the women did not desire to preach; otherwise they would have preached long ago. he rejoiced when that convention of temperance women assembled in newark, but he could not help pitying their husbands and families away out in chicago and elsewhere. (laughter). rev. ferd. smith, the pastor of the second church, said the president of the woman's temperance union had asked him if they could have the use of the church, and he had said "yes"; "and," said dr. smith, "i am glad that i did it, and i am sorry that i was not there to hear the address; and now, brethren, i am going to confess that i have sinned a little in this matter of women preaching. two or three years ago i went and heard miss smiley preach. i had heard in the morning--i won't mention his name--one of the most distinguished men of the country preach a very able sermon--a very long one, too. [laughter.] i had heard in the afternoon a doctor of divinity; i don't see him here now, but i have seen him, and i won't mention his name; and i heard miss smiley in the evening. it may be heresy to say it, but i do think i was more fed that evening than i had been by both the others; but i do not on that account say that it is good for women to go, as a regular thing, into the pulpit. if i had heard her a dozen times, i should not have been so much moved. woman-preaching may do for a little time, but it won't do for a permanency. i heard at old orchard, at a temperance convention, the most beautiful argument i ever listened to, delivered with grace and modesty and power. the words fell like dew upon the heart, enriching it, and the speaker was miss willard; but for all this, brethren, i do not approve of women preaching. [great laughter.] we must not, for the sake of a little good, sacrifice a great principle." dr. pollock of lyons farms wanted to shelter women, to prevent them from being talked about as ministers are and criticised as ministers are; it was for this that he would keep them out of the pulpit. rev. drs. findley and prentiss de neuve were in favor of sustaining the charge. rev. dr. haley contended that brother see ought not to be condemned, because he had not offended against any law of the church. drs. seibert, ballantine and hopwood spoke in favor of sustaining the charge. a vote of to found rev. dr. see guilty of violating the scriptures by allowing women to preach, and the case was appealed to the general assembly. the general assembly adopted the following report on this case: the rev. isaac w. see, pastor of the wickliffe church, newark, n. j., was charged by rev. elijah r. craven, d. d., with disobedience to the divinely enacted ordinance in reference to the public speaking and teaching of women in the churches as recorded in i corinthians, xiv., - , and in i timothy, ii., - , in that twice on a specified sabbath, in the pulpit of his said church, at the usual time of public service, he did introduce a woman, whom he permitted and encouraged then and there publicly to preach and teach. the presbytery of newark sustained the charge, and from its decision mr. see appealed to the synod of new jersey, which refused by a decided vote to sustain the appeal, expressing its judgment in a minute of which the following is a part: in sustaining the presbytery of newark as against the appeal of the rev. i. m. see, the synod holds that the passages of scripture referred to in the action of the presbytery, do prohibit the fulfilling by women of the offices of public preachers in the regular assemblies of the church. from this decision mr. see has further appealed to the general assembly, which, having thereupon proceeded to issue the appeal, and having fully heard the original parties and members of the inferior judicatory, decided that the said appeal from the synod of new jersey be not sustained by the following vote: to sustain, . to sustain in part, . not to sustain, . from the following description by mrs. devereux blake, we have conclusive evidence of woman's capacity to govern under most trying circumstances: a certain little woman living in jersey city has, from time to time, occupied a portion of public consideration; this is mrs. ericka c. jones, for four years and a half warden of the hudson county jail, probably the only woman in the world who holds such a position. her history is briefly this: some seven years ago her husband obtained the appointment of jailor at this institution, and moved to it with his bride. from the time of their incoming a marked improvement in the administration of the jail became apparent, which continued, when, after two years, mr. jones was stricken down with softening of the brain, which reduced him to a condition of idiocy for six months before his death. when at last this occurred, by unanimous vote of the board of freeholders the woman who had really performed the duties of jailor was appointed warden of hudson county jail. all this has been a matter of report in the papers, as well as the attempt to oust her from the position, which was made last fall, when certain male politicians wanted the place for some friend and voter, and appealed to attorney-general vanetta, who gave an opinion adverse to the lady's claims. resolutions on the subject were passed by various woman suffrage societies, and anxious to see the subject of so much dispute, and hear her story from her own lips, a party of ladies was made up to call upon her. hudson-county jail stands in the same inclosure with the court-house, a small, neatly-kept park, well shaded by fine trees, and being on very high ground commands a view over the north river and new york bay. the building is a substantial one of stone, with nothing of the repulsive aspect of a jail about it. asking for mrs. jones, we were at once shown into the office. we had expected to see a woman of middle age and somewhat stern aspect. instead, we beheld a pretty, young person, apparently not more than twenty-five years old, with bright, black eyes, waving brown hair, good features and plump figure. she was very neatly dressed and pleasant in manner, making us cordially welcome. we were conducted into the parlor and at once begged her to tell us all about her case, which she did very clearly and concisely. when she was left a widow with two little children she had no idea that this place would be given her, but it was tendered to her by unanimous vote of the board of freeholders. at that time there were in jail three desperate criminals, proctor, demsing and foley, bank robbers, and some persons feared that a woman could not hold them, but they were safely transferred at the proper time from the jail to the state-prison. "and," she added, with a bright smile, "i never have lost a prisoner, which is more than many men-jailors can say. some of them tried to escape last fall, but i had warning in time, sent for the police, and the attempt was prevented." "and do you think there is any danger of your being turned out?" "i don't know. i intend to remain in the place until the end of my term, if possible, since as long as the effort to dismiss me is based solely on the ground of my sex and not of my incompetency, it ought justly to be resisted." "but attorney-general vanetta gave an adverse opinion as to the legality of your appointment?" "yes, but ex-attorney-general robert gilchrist, a very able lawyer, has given an opinion in my favor, while mr. lippincott, counsel of the board when i was appointed, also held that i was eligible for the place." she then went on to tell us some of the petty persecutions and indirect measures which have been resorted to in order to induce her to resign, as her term of office will not expire for two years. when her husband was given the position, the allowance consisted of cents a day for each prisoner, cents for each sick person, cents for every committal, and - / cents for every discharge. the daily allowance has been cut down from to cents, and all the other allowances have been entirely done away with. she is, therefore, at this moment running that jail on cents a day for each prisoner. out of this sum she must pay for all food, all salaries of assistant jailors, etc., all wages of servants, and even the furniture of the place. she is supplied with fuel and gas, but no stores of any description. she has also had other annoyances. the payment of money justly due has been opposed or delayed; and whereas her husband was required to give bond for only $ , , she has been forced to give one for $ , . she has also been troubled by the visits of persons representing themselves to be reporters of papers, who have wished to borrow money of her, and failing in this, have printed disagreeable articles about her. she has, of course, no salary whatever. "however, i do as well as i can with the money i receive," she said, with that pleasant smile. "and now would you like to see the jail?" * * * * ex-attorney gilchrist's opinion on her case is an able indorsement of her position. he says, in the first place, that as attorney-general vanetta's adverse view was not given officially, it is not binding on the board of freeholders, and then goes on to cite precedents. "alice stubbs, in , was appointed overseer of the poor in the county of stafford, england, and the court of king's bench sustained her in the office. a woman was appointed governor of the work-house at chelmsford, england, and the court held it to be a good appointment. lady brangleton was appointed keeper of the gate-house jail in london. lady russell was appointed keeper of the castle of dunnington. all these cases are reported in _stranges r._, as clearly establishing the right and duty of woman to hold office. the case of ann, countess of pembroke, dorsett and montgomery, who was sheriff of westmoreland, is very well known." the opinion winds up by saying: "the argument that a woman is incompetent to perform the duties of such an office is doubly answered--first, by the array of cases in which it is held that she is competent; second, by the resolution of the board when mrs. jones was appointed, that she had for a long time prior thereto actually kept the jail while her husband was jailor." how this whole matter would be simplified if women could vote and hold office, so that merit and not sex should be the only qualification for any place.--_new york record, ._ the following incident shows not only what physical training will do in giving a girl self-reliance in emergencies, but it shows the nice sense of humor that grows out of conscious power with which a girl can always take a presuming youth at disadvantage. no doubt miss mccosh, as a student in princeton, could as easily distance her compeers in science, philosophy and the languages, as she did the dude on the highway. why not open the doors of that institution and let her make the experiment? the distinguished president of princeton college, dr. mccosh, has two daughters who are great walkers. they are in the habit of going to trenton and back, a distance of about twenty miles, where they do their shopping. one day a dude accosted miss bridget on the road, and said, in the usual manner: "beg pardon, but may i walk with you?" she replied, "certainly," and quickened her pace a little. after the first half-mile the masher began to gasp, and then, as she passed on with a smile, he sat down panting on a mile-stone, and mopped the perspiration from his brow. at the sixteenth national convention, held in washington, march, , the state was well represented;[ ] mrs. hanaford gave an address on "new jersey as a leader." in her letter to the convention, mrs. hussey wrote: an old gentleman, aaron burr harrison, a resident of east orange, has just passed on to his long home, full of years--eighty-eight--and with a good record. he told me about his sister's voting in new jersey, when he was a child--probably about . the last time i took a petition for woman suffrage to him, he signed it willingly, and his daughter also. february , , a special committee of the new jersey assembly granted a hearing[ ] on the petition of mrs. celia b. whitehead, and other citizens of bloomfield, asking the restoration of woman's right to vote; fully one-half of the members of the assembly were present. mrs. seagrove handed the committee an ancient printed copy of the original constitution of new jersey, dated july , . the name of james seagrove, her husband's grandfather, is endorsed upon it in his own hand-writing. in the suffrage clause of this document the words "all inhabitants" were substituted for those of "male freeholders" in the provincial charter. hence the constitution of gave suffrage to women and men of color. mrs. seagrove made an appeal on behalf of the women of the state. mr. blackwell gave a résumé of the unconstitutional action of the legislature in its depriving women of their right to vote. mrs. hanaford, in answer to a question of the committee, claimed the right for women not only to vote but to hold office; and instanced from her own observation the need of women as police officers, and especially as matrons in the police stations. the result of these appeals may be seen in a paragraph from the boston _commonwealth_, a paper in hearty sympathy: in the lower house of the new jersey legislature a democratic member recently moved that the word "male" be stricken from the constitution of the state. after some positive discussion a non-partisan vote of to defeated the motion. this occurrence, it is to be observed, is chronicled of one of the most conservative states in the union. the arguments used on both sides were not new or remarkable. but the vote was very close. if such a measure could in so conservative a state be nearly carried, we can have reasonable hope of its favorable reception, in more radical sections. in new jersey we did not expect success for the resolution proposed. the favorable votes really surprised us. we do not mistake the omen. gradually the point of woman's responsibility is being conceded. the arbitrary lines now drawn politically and socially are without reason. indeed, one of the members of the new jersey assembly called attention to the fact that to grant suffrage now would not be the conferring of a new gift on women, but only a restoration of rights exercised in colonial times. footnotes: [ ] see vol. i., page . [ ] mrs. pryor lived formerly in waterloo, new york. she was present at the first convention at seneca falls, and sustained the demand for woman suffrage with earnest sympathy. i have been indebted to her for a splendid housekeeper, trained by her in all domestic accomplishments, who lived in my family for thirty years, a faithful, devoted friend to me and my children. much that i have enjoyed and accomplished in life is due to her untiring and unselfish services. my cares were the lighter for all the heavy burdens she willingly took on her shoulders. the name of amelia willard should always be mentioned with loving praise by me and mine. her sympathies have ever been in our reform. when abby kelly was a young girl, speaking through new york in the height of the anti-slavery mobs, margaret pryor traveled with her for company and protection. abby used to say she always felt safe when she could see margaret pryor's quaker bonnet.--[e. c. s. [ ] in a letter to mary f. davis, february , , asking her for some facts in regard to that period, lucy stone says: "i have never kept any diary or record of my work. i have been too busy with the work itself. i could not answer your questions without a search among old letters and papers, which have been packed away for years, and i have not time to make the search, and cannot be accurate without. i know we had many meetings in new jersey in all the large towns, beginning in newark and orange, and following the line of the railroad to trenton, camden, and vineland, and then another series that included towns reached by stage, salem being one, but i cannot tell whether these meetings were before or after the formation of the state society." the records show that they were before, says mrs. davis; newspaper reports of them are in the archives of the historical society. [ ] _president_, lucy stone, roseville; _vice-presidents_, antoinette brown blackwell, thomas b. peddie, portia gage, rev. robert mcmurdy, cornelia collins hussey, george t. cobb, sarah e. webb, dr. james brotherton, isaac stevens, rev. h. a. butler, a. j. davis, james h. nixon, dr. g. h. haskell, i. m. peebles, rev. c. h. dezanne, william baldwin; _corresponding secretaries_, phebe a. pierson, miss p. fowler; _recording secretary_, c. a. paul; _treasurer_, s. g. silvester; _executive committee_, mary f. davis, mrs. e. l. bush, h. b. blackwell, rev. oscar clute, miss charlotte bathgate, rowland johnson, mrs. robert mcmurdy, dr. d. n. allen, sarah pierson, lizzie prentice, w. d. conan, john whitehead. [ ] among those who addressed the conventions and the legislature we find the names of lucretia mott, ernestine l. rose, lucy stone, antoinette brown blackwell, mary f. davis, charlotte b. wilbour, elizabeth r. churchill, elizabeth a. kingsbury, deborah butler, olive f. stevens, rev. phebe a. hanaford, mrs. devereux blake, rev. oscar clute, rev. olympia brown, rev. mr. mcmurdy, mr. taylor, john whitehead, mrs. seagrove, henry b. blackwell, hon. james scovell. [ ] this has been well illustrated by mrs. hanaford in her own case, she having preached for nearly twenty years with but three changes of place, and ten of these passed successively in the universalist churches in jersey city.--[e. c. s. [ ] vineland, july , .--club met at the residence of mrs. bristol. the meeting was opened with music by mrs. parkhurst, followed by a recitation by miss etta taylor. mrs. andrew read an excellent essay, opposing the national bank system. mrs. bristol gave an instructive lesson in political economy on "appropriation." the next lesson will be upon "changes of matter in place." appropriate remarks were made by mrs. neyman of new york, mr. broom, mrs. duffey and mr. bristol. several new names were added to the list of membership. miss etta taylor gave another recitation, which closed the exercises of the afternoon. in the evening a pleasant reception was held, and many invited guests were present. the exercises consisted of vocal and instrumental music, social converse and dancing. the club will meet again in two weeks.--[c. l. ladd, _secretary_. [ ] isaac collins, her grandfather, died at burlington, march , , a man remarkable alike for his uprightness, industry, intelligence and enterprise. he was a quaker by birth and conviction, and a printer, appointed by king george iii. for the province of new jersey. he printed many valuable books, almanacs, bibles, revised laws, government money, and a weekly paper, _the new jersey gazette_. in making his will he so divided his property that each of his six daughters received twice the sum that he gave to each of the seven sons. this he explained by saying that the latter could go into business and support themselves, but his daughters must have enough to live upon, if they chose to remain single; he did not wish them to be forced to marry for a support. [ ] in the audience were several advocates of woman suffrage, probably there to take observations of the manner in which christian clergymen conduct their meetings. this class of men had been so severe in their criticisms of woman suffrage conventions that we hoped to learn lessons of wisdom from the dignity, refinement and parliamentary order of their proceedings. among these ladies were rev. phebe a. hanaford, miss arathusia forbes, mrs. devereux blake and miss susan king of new york, a wealthy tea-merchant and extensive traveler, and myself. that day the rev. dr. craven was the principal speaker. the whole tenor of his remarks were so insulting to women that miss king proposed to send an artist the following sunday to photograph the women possessing so little self-respect as to sit under his ministrations. he punctuated his four-hours' vulgar diatribe by a series of resounding whacks with the bible on the table before him.--[m. j. g. [ ] rev. phebe a. hanaford, miss ellen miles and mrs. jackson of jersey city. [ ] mrs. theresa walling seagrove of keyport, rev. phebe a. hanaford of jersey city and henry b. blackwell of boston were the speakers. chapter xl. ohio. the first soldiers' aid society--mrs. mendenhall--cincinnati equal rights association, --homeopathic medical college and hospital--hon. j. m. ashley--state society, --murat halstead's letter--dayton convention, --women protest against enfranchisement--sarah knowles bolton--statistics on coëducation--thomas wentworth higginson--woman's crusade, --miriam m. cole--ladies' health association--professor curtis--hospital for women and children, --letter from j. d. buck, m. d.--march, , degrees conferred on women--toledo association, --sarah langdon williams--_the sunday journal_--_the ballot-box_--constitutional convention--judge waite--amendment making women eligible to office--mr. voris, chairman special committee on woman suffrage--state convention, --rev. robert mccune--centennial celebration--women decline to take part--correspondence--newbury association--women voting, --sophia ober allen--annual meeting, painesville, --state society, mrs. frances m. casement, president--adelbert college. early in the year , cincinnati became a hospital for the army operations under general grant and was soon filled with wounded heroes from fort donelson and pittsburg landing, and the women here, as in all other cities, were absorbed in hospital and sanitary work. to the women of cleveland is justly due the honor of organizing the first soldiers' aid society, a meeting being called for this purpose five days after the fall of fort sumter. through the influence of mrs. mendenhall were inaugurated the great sanitary fairs[ ] there, and by her untiring energy and that of the ladies who labored with her, many of our brave soldiers were restored to health. mrs. annie l. quinby writes: in the autumn of mrs. stanton and miss anthony made a lecturing tour through ohio and roused popular thought on the question of suffrage. march , , the cincinnati equal rights association[ ] was formed, auxiliary to the national society, of which lucretia mott was president. april , , mrs. ryder called the attention of the meeting to a resolution offered by mr. gordon in the state legislature, to amend the constitution so as to strike out the word male, proposing that at the october election, "in all precincts in the state, there shall be a separate poll, at which all white women over years of age shall be permitted to vote, and if the votes cast be a majority of all the white women, the constitution shall be amended." mrs. ryder seemed to think the proposition a very fair one, or intended by the mover to give the women, if they wanted to vote, the opportunity of saying so on this amendment to the constitution. mrs. blangy also concurred in this view of the subject. mrs. quinby expressed her indignation at the proposition, saying she believed its passage by the legislature would be detrimental to the cause, both on account of its provisions and the mode of accomplishing the object of the resolution. as it stood, it could but fail, as women were not prepared for it at the present time, and the proposition was not that the majority of votes cast should settle the question, but that the number cast in favor of it should be a majority of all the women in the state years of age. she therefore thought we should express our decided disapproval of this amendment. mrs. leavitt also declared her opposition to this resolution, believing it to have been offered for the sole purpose of stalling the woman suffrage movement for years to come. she thought this association should express its decided opposition to this resolution. mrs. butterwood and others followed in the same strain, and it was finally agreed unanimously that the corresponding secretary be instructed to write to the mover of the resolution, expressing disapprobation of some of the terms of the amendment, with the hope that it will not pass in the form offered, and politely requesting mr. gordon to define his position as the resolution is susceptible of being construed both for and against equal rights. at a meeting held april , , delegates[ ] were elected to attend the may anniversary of the american equal rights association in new york. mrs. margaret v. longley was placed on the executive committee of the national association to represent ohio. on her return from new york she joined with the cincinnati equal rights society in a call for a convention in pike's hall, september , , , for the organization of an ohio state society.[ ] mrs. longley presided; the audiences were large and enthusiastic;[ ] the press of the city gave extended reports. murat halstead, editor of the cincinnati _commercial_, sent the following reply to his invitation: cincinnati, july , . mrs. m. v. longley: _dear madam_--i cannot sign your call for a woman suffrage convention, for i do not feel a serious interest in the subject. that there are woman's wrongs that the law-makers should right, i believe. for instance, i think married women should hold property independently; that they should be able to save and enjoy the fruits of their own industry; and that they should not be absolutely in the power of lazy, dissipated or worthless husbands. but i cannot see clearly how the possession of the ballot would help women in the reform indicated. if, however, a majority of the women of ohio should signify by means proving their active interest in the subject that they wanted to acquire the right of suffrage, i don't think i would offer opposition. m. halstead. mrs. livermore and miss anthony made some amusing strictures on mr. halstead's letter, which called out laughter and cheers from the audience. april and , , a mass-meeting was held in dayton. describing the occasion, miss sallie joy, in a letter to a boston paper, says: the west is evidently wide awake on the suffrage question. the people are working with zeal almost unknown in the east, except to the more immediately interested, who are making a life-labor of the cause. the two days' convention at dayton was freighted with interest. earnest women were there from all parts of the state. they of the west do not think much of distances, and consequently nearly every town of note was represented. cleveland sent her women from the borders of the lake; cincinnati sent hers from the banks of the ohio; columbus, springfield, toledo and sydney were represented. not merely the leaders were there, but those who were comparatively new to the cause; all in earnest,--young girls in the first flush of youth, a new light dawning on their lives and shining through their eyes, waiting, reaching longing hands for this new gift to womanhood,--mothers on the down-hill side of life, quietly but gladly expectant of the good that was coming so surely to crown all these human lives. most of the speakers were western women--mrs. cutler, mrs. cole, mrs. stewart, of ohio, and miss boynton, of indiana. the east sent our own susan b. anthony, and mrs. livermore of boston. like every other convention, it grew more interesting the longer it continued, and just when the speakers were so tired that they were glad the work for the time was done, the listeners, like a whole army of oliver twists, were crying for more. they are likely to have more--a great deal more--before the work is done completely, for it is evident the leaders don't intend to let the thing rest where it is, but to push it forward to final success. from the list of resolutions considered and adopted, i send the following: _resolved_, that as the democratic party has long since abolished the political aristocracy of wealth; and the republican party has now abolished the aristocracy of race; so the true spirit of republican democracy of the present, demands the abolition of the political aristocracy of sex. _resolved_, that as the government of the united states has, by the adoption of the fifteenth amendment, admitted the theory that one man cannot define the rights and duties of another man, so we demand the adoption of a sixteenth amendment on the same principle, that one sex cannot define the rights and duties of another sex. _resolved_, that we rejoice in the noble action of the men of wyoming, by which the right of suffrage has been granted to the women of that territory. _resolved_, that we feel justly proud of the action of those representatives of the general assembly of ohio, who have endeavored to secure an amendment to the state constitution, striking out the word "male" from that instrument. it is rather remarkable that in a state which so early established two colleges admitting women--oberlin in , and antioch in --any intelligent women should have been found at so late a date as april , , to protest against the right of self-government for themselves, yet such is the case, as the following protest shows: we acknowledge no inferiority to men. we claim to have no less ability to perform the duties which god has imposed upon us than they have to perform those imposed upon them. we believe that god has wisely and well adapted each sex to the proper performance of the duties of each. we believe our trusts to be as important and as sacred as any that exist on earth. we feel that our present duties fill up the whole measure of our time and abilities; and that they are such as none but ourselves can perform. their importance requires us to protest against all efforts to compel us to assume those obligations which cannot be separated from suffrage; but which cannot be performed by us without the sacrifice of the highest interests of our families and of society. it is our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons, who represent us at the ballot-box. our fathers and brothers love us. our husbands are our choice, and one with us. our sons are what _we_ make them. we are content that they represent us in the corn-field, the battle-field, at the ballot-box and the jury-box, and we them, in the church, the school-room, at the fireside and at the cradle; believing our representation, even at the ballot-box, to be thus more full and impartial than it could possibly be, were all women allowed to vote. we do, therefore respectively protest against legislation to establish woman suffrage in ohio. the above paper, signed by more than one hundred ladies of lorain county, was presented, march , , to the legislature assembled at columbus. mrs. sarah knowles bolton, criticising the oberlin protestants, said: that so many signed is not strange, because the non-suffrage side is the popular one at present. years hence, when it shall be customary for women to vote, it is questionable whether the lady who drew up that document would have many supporters. if "we are not inferior to men," we must have as clear opinions and as good judgment as they. to say, then, that we are not capable of judging of political questions, is untrue. to say that we are not interested in such things is absurd, for who can be more anxious for good laws and good law-makers than women, who, for the most part, have sons and daughters in this whirlpool of temptation, called social and business life. if we are too ignorant to have an opinion, the fault lies at our own door. these ladies reason upon the premises that the duties imposed upon us as we find them in this nineteenth century, are the duties, conditions, and relations established of god. two things we do certainly find in the bible with regard to this matter; that women are to bear children, and men to earn bread. the first duty we believe has been confined entirely to the female sex, but the male sex have not kept the other in all cases. if anybody has belonged for any considerable time to a benevolent institution, he has ascertained that women sometimes are obliged to earn bread and bear children also. a century or two ago, when women seldom thought of writing books, or being physicians or lawyers, professors or teachers, or doing anything but housework, probably they thought, as the ladies of lorain county do to-day, they were in the blessed noonday of woman's enlightenment and happiness. their husbands, very likely, needed something of the same companionship as the men of the present, but it was unpopular for girls to attend school. if these ladies, after careful study and thought, believe that woman suffrage will work evil in the land, they ought to say that, rather than base it upon lack of time. the enfranchisement of , , women will be a balance of power for good or evil that will need looking after. as for our representing men at the fireside, i think it a great deal pleasanter that they be there in person. nothing is more blessed than the home circle, and here i think if husbands were not so often represented by their wives, while they are absent evening after evening on "important business," the condition of things would be improved. if the ladies aforesaid cannot vote without the highest interests of their families being sacrificed, they ought to be allowed to remain in peace. i am glad they made this protest, not only because this is a country where honest views ought to be expressed, but because agitation pushes forward reform. i am glad that nearly half of our representatives were in favor of submitting this question to the women of the state, and that our interests were so ably defended by a talented representative from our own district. i do not think, however, by submitting it to the women, they would get a correct expression upon the subject. a good many would vote for suffrage, a few against it, and thousands would be afraid to vote. if it is granted, i do not suppose all women will vote immediately. many prejudices will first have to give way. if women vote what they wish to vote, and there is no disorderly conduct at the polls in consequence, and no general disorder in the body politic, i do not see any objection to the voting being continued from year to year. when women like miss jones of our city, now in california, take a few more professorships in a university over half-a-hundred competitors, write a few more libraries, show themselves capable of solving great questions, become ornaments to their professions, it will seem more absurd for them not to be enfranchised than it does now for them to be so. hon. j. m. ashley, of toledo, in a speech on the floor of congress, june , , said: i want citizenship and suffrage to be synonymous. to put the question beyond the power of states to withhold it, i propose the amendment to article fourteen, now submitted. a large number of republicans who concede that the qualifications of an elector ought to be the same in every state, and that it is more properly a national than a state question, do not believe congress has the power under our present constitution to enact a law conferring suffrage in the states, nevertheless they are ready and willing to vote for such an amendment to the constitution as shall make citizenship and suffrage uniform throughout the nation. for this purpose i have added to the proposed amendment for the election of president a section on suffrage, to which i invite special attention. this is the third or fourth time i have brought forward a proposition on suffrage substantially like the one just presented to the house. i do so again because i believe the question of citizenship suffrage one which ought to be met and settled now. important and all-absorbing as many questions are which now press themselves upon our consideration, to me no one is so vitally important as this. tariffs, taxation, and finance ought not to be permitted to supersede a question affecting the peace and personal security of every citizen, and, i may add, the peace and security of the nation. no party can be justified in withholding the ballot from any citizen of mature years, native or foreign born, except such as are _non compos_ or are guilty of infamous crimes; nor can they justly confer this great privilege upon one class of citizens to the exclusion of another class. the _revolution_ of march , , said: notwithstanding the most determined hostility to the demands of the age for female physicians, institutions for their educational preparation for professional responsibilities are rapidly increasing. the ball first began to move in the united states,[ ] and now a female medical college is in successful operation in london, where the favored monopolizers of physic and surgery were resolved to keep out all new ideas in their line by acts of parliament. but the ice-walls of opposition have melted away, and even in russia a woman has graduated with high medical honors. the following statistics from thomas wentworth higginson settle many popular objections to a collegiate education for women: graduates of antioch college.--in a paper read before the social science association in the spring of i pointed out the presumption to be, that if a desire for knowledge was implanted in the minds of women, they had also as a class the physical capacity to gratify it; and that therefore the burden of proof lay on those who opposed such education, on physiological grounds, to collect facts in support of their position. in criticising dr. clarke's book, "sex in education," i called attention to the fact that he has made no attempt to do this, but has merely given a few detached cases, whose scientific value is impaired by the absence of all proof whether they stand for few or many. we need many facts and a cautious induction; not merely a few facts and a sweeping induction. i am now glad to put on record a tabular view[ ] of the graduates of antioch, with special reference to their physical health and condition; the facts being collected and mainly arranged by professor j. b. weston of antioch--who has been connected with that institution from its foundation--with the aid of mrs. weston and rev. olympia brown, both graduates of the college. for the present form of the table, however, i alone am responsible. it appears that of the graduates, ranging from the year to , no fewer than are now living. of these the health of is reported as "very good"; "good"; making in all; is reported as "fair"; "uncertain"; "not good," and "unknown." of the graduates, are reported as married and are single, five of these last having graduated within three years. of the married, have children, numbering or in all. of the childless, are reported as very recently married; one died a few months after marriage, and the facts in the other cases are not given. thirty-four of the forty-one have taught since graduated, and i agree with professor weston that teaching is as severe a draft on the constitution as study. taking these facts as a whole, i do not see how the most earnest advocate of higher education could ask for a more encouraging exhibit; and i submit the case without argument, so far as this pioneer experiment at coëducation is concerned. if any man seriously believes that his non-collegiate relatives are in better physical condition than this table shows, i advise him to question forty-one of them and tabulate the statistics obtained. in the following editorial in the _woman's journal_ mr. higginson pursues the opposition still more closely, and answers their frivolous objections: i am surprised to find that professor w.s. tyler of amherst college, in his paper on "the higher education of woman," in _scribner's monthly_ for february, repeats the unfair statements of president eliot of harvard, in regard to oberlin college. the fallacy and incorrectness of those statements were pointed out on the spot by several, and were afterwards thoroughly shown by president fairchild of oberlin; yet professor tyler repeats them all. he asserts that there has been a great falling off in the number of students in that college; he entirely ignores the important fact of the great multiplication of colleges which admit women; and he implies, if he does not assert, that the separate ladies' course at oberlin has risen as a substitute for the regular college course. his words are these, the italics being my own: in oberlin, where the experiment has been tried under the most favorable circumstances, it has proved a failure so far as the regular college course is concerned. the number of young women in that course, instead of increasing with the prosperity of the institution, _has diminished, so that it now averages only two or three to a class_. the rest pursue a different curriculum, live in a separate dormitory, and study by themselves in a course of their own, reciting, indeed, with the young men, and by way of reciprocity and in true womanly compassion, allowing some of them to sit at their table in the dining-hall, but yet constituting substantially a female seminary, or, if you please, a woman's college in the university.--_scribner, february, page ._ now, it was distinctly stated by president fairchild last summer, that this "different curriculum" was the course originally marked out for women, and that the regular college course was an after-thought. this disposes of the latter part of professor tyler's statement. i revert, therefore, to his main statement, that "the number of young women in the collegiate course has diminished, so that it now averages only two or three to a class." any reader would suppose his meaning to be that taking one year with another, and comparing later years with the early years of oberlin, there has been a diminution of women. what is the fact? the oberlin college triennial catalogue of lies before me, and i have taken the pains to count and tabulate the women graduated in different years, during the thirty-two years after , when they began to be graduated there. dividing them into decennial periods, i find the numbers to be as follows: - , thirty-two women were graduated; - , seventeen women were graduated; - , forty women were graduated. from this it appears that during the third decennial period there was not only no diminution, but actually a higher average than before. during the first period the classes averaged . women; during the second period . women, and during the third period women. or if, to complete the exhibit, we take in the two odd classes at the end, and make the third period consist of twelve classes, the average will still be . , and will be larger than either of the previous periods. or if, disregarding the even distribution of periods, we take simply the last ten years, the average will be . . moreover, during the first period there was one class ( ) which contained no women at all; and during the second period there were three such classes ( - , ); while during the third period every class has had at least one woman. it certainly would not have been at all strange if there had been a great falling off in the number of graduates of oberlin. at the outset it had the field to itself. now the census gives fifty-five "colleges" for women, besides seventy-seven which admit both sexes. many of these are inferior to oberlin, no doubt, but some rose rapidly to a prestige far beyond this pioneer institution. with cornell university on the one side, and the university of michigan on the other--to say nothing of minor institutions--the wonder is that oberlin could have held its own at all. yet the largest class of women it ever graduated (thirteen) was so late as , and if the classes since then "average but two or three," so did the classes for several years before that date. professor tyler knows very well that classes fluctuate in every college, and that a decennial period is the least by which the working of any system can be tested. tried by this test, the alleged diminution assumes a very different aspect. if, however, there were a great decline at oberlin, it would simply show a transfer of students to other colleges, since neither professor tyler nor president eliot will deny that the total statistics of colleges show a rapid increase in the number of women. moreover, i confess that my confidence in professor tyler's sense of accuracy is greatly impaired by these assertions about oberlin, and also by his statement, which i must call reckless, at least, in regard to the inferiority in truth, purity and virtue of those women who seek the suffrage. he asserts (page ) that "women--women generally--the truest, purest and best of the sex--do not wish for the right of suffrage." now, if the women who oppose suffrage are truest, purest and best, the women who advocate it must plainly be inferior at all these points; and that is an assertion which not only these women themselves, but their brothers, husbands and sons are certainly entitled to resent. mr. tyler has a perfect right to argue for his own views, for or against suffrage, but he has no right to copy the oriental imprecation, and say to his opponents, "may the grave of your mother be defiled!." he claims that he holds official relations to one "woman's college," one "female seminary" and one "young ladies' institute." will it conduce to the moral training of those who enter those institutions that their officers set them the example of impugning the purity and virtue of those who differ in opinion from themselves? but supposing professor tyler not to be bound by the usual bonds of courtesy or of justice, he is at least bound by the consistency of his own position. thus, he goes out of his way to compliment mrs. somerville and miss mitchell. both these ladies are identified with the claim for suffrage. he lauds "uncle tom's cabin," but mrs. stowe has written almost as ably for the enfranchisement of woman as for the freedom of the blacks. he praises the "sacramental host of authoresses," who, he says, "will move on with ever-growing power, overthrowing oppression, restraining vice and crime, reforming morals and manners, purifying public sentiment, revolutionizing business, society and government, till every yoke is broken and all nations are won to the truth." but it has been again and again shown that the authoresses of america are, with but two or three exceptions, in favor of woman suffrage, and, therefore, instead of being "sacramental," do not even belong to professor tyler's class of "wisest, truest and best." he thus selects for compliment on one page the very women whom he has traduced on another. his own witnesses testify against him. it is a pity that such phrases of discourtesy and unfairness should disfigure an essay which in many respects says good words for women, recommends that they should study greek, and says, in closing, that their elevation "is at once the measure and the means of the elevation of mankind." in the autumn of an effort was made to exclude women from adelbert college. we give an account thereof from the pen of mrs. sarah knowles bolton, published in the _english woman's review_ of january, : dear editor: the city of cleveland has been stirred for weeks on this question of woman's higher education. western reserve college, founded in , at hudson, was moved to cleveland in , because of a gift of $ , from mr. amasa stone, with the change of name to adelbert college, in memory of an only son. a few young women had been students since . in cleveland, about twenty young ladies availed themselves of such admirable home privileges. their scholarship was excellent--higher than that of the young men. they were absent from exercises only half as much as the men. their conduct was above reproach. a short time since the faculty, except the president, dr. carroll cutler, petitioned the board of trustees to discontinue coëducation at the college, for the assumed reasons that girls require different training from boys, never "identical" education; that it is trying to their health to recite before young men; "the strain upon the nervous system from mortifying mistakes and serious corrections is to many young ladies a cruel additional burden laid upon them in the course of study"; "that the provision we offer to girls is not the best, and is even dangerous"; that "where women are admitted, the college becomes second or third-rate, and that, worst of all, young men will be deterred from coming to this college by the presence of ladies." an "annex" was recommended, not with college degrees, but a subordinate arrangement with "diploma examinations, so far and so fast as the resources of the college shall allow." as soon as the subject became known, the newspapers of the city took up the question. as the public furnishes the means and the students for every college, the public were vitally interested. ministers preached about it, and they, with doctors and lawyers, wrote strong articles, showing that no "annex" was desired; that parents wished thorough, high, self-reliant education for their daughters as for their sons; that health was not injured by the embarrassment (?) of reciting before young men; that young men had not been deterred from going to ann arbor, oberlin, cornell, and other institutions where there are young women; that it was unjust to make girls go hundreds of miles away to vassar or smith or wellesley, when boys were provided with the best education at their very doors; that, with over half the colleges of this country admitting women, with the colleges of italy, switzerland, sweden, holland and france throwing open their doors to women, for adelbert college to shut them out, would be a step backward in civilization. the women of the city took up the matter, and several thousands of our best names were obtained to a petition, asking that girls be retained members of the college; judges and leading persons gladly signed. the trustees met november , . the whole city eagerly waited the result. the chairman of the committee, hon. i. w. chamberlain of columbus, who had been opposed to coëducation at first, from the favorable reports received by him from colleges all over the country, had become a thorough convert, and the report was able and convincing. president angell of michigan university, where there are , students, wrote: "women were admitted here under the pressure of public sentiment against the wishes of most of the professors. but i think no professor now regrets it, or would favor the exclusion of women. we made no solitary modification of our rules or requirements. the women did not become hoydenish; they did not fail in their studies; they did not break down in health; they have been graduated in all departments; they have not been inferior in scholarship to the men. we count the experiment here successful." galusha anderson, president of chicago university, wrote: "our only law here is that the students shall act as gentlemen and ladies. they mingle freely together, just as they do in society, as i think god intended that they should, and the effect in all respects is good. i have never had the slightest trouble from the association of the sexes." chancellor manatt of nebraska university, for four years engaged in university work at yale, in answer to the questions as to whether boys would be driven away from the institution, replied: "this question sounds like a joke in this longitude. as well say a girl's being born into a family turns the boys out of doors. it rather strengthens the home attraction. so in the university. i believe there is not a professor or student here who would not, for good and solid reasons, fight for the system." president warren of boston university, lately the recipient of, £ , , wrote: "the only opponents of coëducation i have ever known are persons who know nothing about it practically, and whose difficulties are all speculative and imaginary. men are more manly and women more womanly when concerted in a wholly human society than when educated in a half-human one." president white of cornell wrote: "i regard the 'annex' for women in our colleges as a mere make-shift and step in the progress toward the full admission of women to all college classes, and i think that this is a very general view among men who have given unprejudiced thought to the subject. having now gone through one more year, making twelve in all since women were admitted, i do not hesitate to say that i believe their presence here is good for us in every respect." professor moses coit tyler of cornell said: "my observation has been that under the joint system the tone of college life has grown more earnest, more courteous and refined, less flippant and cynical. the women are usually among the very best scholars, and lead instead of drag, and their lapses from good health are rather, yes, decidedly, less numerous than those alleged by the men. there is a sort of young man who thinks it not quite the thing, you know, to be in a college where women are; and he goes away, if he can, and i am glad to have him do so. the vacuum he causes is not a large one, and his departure is more than made up by the arrival in his stead of a more robust and manlier sort." the only objectors to coëducation were from those colleges which had never tried it; president porter of yale thought it a suitable method for post-graduate classes, and president seeley for a course of "lower grade" than amherst. president cutler of adelbert college made an able report, showing that the progress of the age is towards coëducation. only fifty-three protestant colleges, founded since , exclude women; while coëducational institutions have been established since that date. some of the trustees thought it desirable to imitate yale,[ ] and others felt that _they_ knew what studies are desirable for woman better than she knew herself! when the vote was taken, to their honor be it said, it was twelve to six, or two to one, in favor of coëducation. the girls celebrated this just and manly decision by a banquet. the inauguration of the women's crusade at this time ( ) in ohio created immense excitement, not only throughout that state, but it was the topic for the pulpit and the press all over the nation. those identified with the woman suffrage movement, while deeply interested in the question of temperance, had no sympathy with what they felt to be a desecration of womanhood and of the religious element in woman. they felt that the fitting place for petitions and appeals was in the halls of legislation, to senators and congressmen, rather than rumsellers and drunkards in the dens of vice and the public thoroughfares. it was pitiful to see the faith of women in god's power to effect impossibilities. like produces like in the universe of matter and mind, and so long as women consent to make licentious, drunken men the fathers of their children, no power in earth or heaven can save the race from these twin vices. the following letter from miriam m. cole makes some good points on this question: if the "woman's war against whisky" had been inaugurated by the woman suffrage party, its aspect, in the eyes of newspapers, would be different from what it now is. if lucy stone had set the movement on foot, it would have been so characteristic of her! what more could one expect from such a disturber of public peace? she, who has no instinctive scruples against miscellaneous crowds at the polls, might be expected to visit saloons and piously serenade their owners, until patience ceases to be a virtue. but for women who are so pressed with domestic cares that they have no time to vote; for women who shun notoriety so much that they are unwilling to ask permission to vote; for women who believe that men are quite capable of managing state and municipal affairs without their interference; for them to have set on foot the present crusade, how queer! their singing, though charged with a moral purpose, and their prayers, though directed to a specific end, do not make their warfare a whit more feminine, nor their situation more attractive. a woman knocking out the head of a whisky barrel with an ax, to the tune of old hundred, is not the ideal woman sitting on a sofa, dining on strawberries and cream, and sweetly warbling, "the rose that all are praising." she is as far from it as susan b. anthony was when pushing her ballot into the box. and all the difference between the musical saint spilling the precious liquid and the unmusical saint offering her vote is, that the latter tried to kill several birds with one stone, and the former aims at only one. intemperance, great a curse as it is, is not the only evil whose effects bear most heavily on women. wrong is hydra-headed, and to work so hard to cut off one head, when there is a way by which all may be dissevered, is not a far-sighted movement; and when you add to this the fact that the head is not really cut off, but only dazed by unexpected melodies and supplications, there is little satisfaction in the effort. we learn that, outside of town corporations that have been lately "rectified," the liquor traffic still goes on, and the war is to be carried into the suburbs. what then? where next? which party can play this game the longer? tears, prayers and songs will soon lose their novelty--this spasmodic effort will be likely soon to spend itself; is there any permanent good being wrought? liquor traffic opposes woman suffrage, and with good reasons. it knows that votes change laws, and it also knows that the votes of women would change the present temperance laws and make them worth the paper on which they are printed. while this uprising of women is a hopeful sign, yet it cannot make one law black or white. it may, for a time, mold public opinion, but depraved passions and appetites need wholesome laws to restrain them. if women would only see this and demand the exercise of their right of suffrage with half the zeal and unanimity with which they storm a man's castle, it would be granted. this is the only ax to lay at the root of the tree. springfield, ohio, has just had a case in a justice court which attracted much attention and awakened much interest. a woman whose husband had reduced his family to utter want by drunkenness, entered a suit against the rumseller. an appeal from the drunkard's wife to the ladies of springfield had been circulated in the daily papers, which so aroused them that a large delegation of the most respectable and pious women of the city came into the court. but the case was adjourned for a week. during this time the excitement had become so great that when the trial came on the court-room was full of spectators, and the number of ladies within the rail was increased three-fold. mrs. e. d. stewart made the plea to the jury. a verdict was rendered against the rumseller. an appeal will be taken; but the citizens of springfield will never forget the influence which the presence of women, in sympathy with another wronged woman, had upon the court. and what added power those women would have had as judges, jurors and advocates; citizens crowned with all the rights, privileges and immunities justly theirs by law and constitution. of the work in geauga county, mrs. sophia ober allen, of south newbury writes: in the winter of - , anson read circulated a petition praying the legislature to protect married women in their property rights; and from that time the subject of women's rights was frequently discussed in social and literary gatherings. in , mrs. lima ober proposed to be one of six women to go to the township election and offer her vote. nine[ ] joined her, but all their votes were rejected, the judges saying they feared trouble would be the result if they received them. from that year to these heroic women of south newbury persisted in offering their votes at the town, state and presidential elections; and though always refused, they would repair to another room with the few noble men who sustained them, and there duly cast their ballots for justice and equality. on one occasion they polled fifty votes--thirty-one women and nineteen men. in they adopted a series of stirring resolutions with a patriotic declaration of principles. in , large meetings were held, and a memorial sent to the constitutional convention, asking for an amendment, that "the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged to any adult citizen except for crime, idiocy or lunacy." on january , , a political club was organized,[ ] which has been active in holding meetings and picnics, circulating petitions and tracts. on july , , a basket picnic was held in ober and allen's grove, at which gen. a. c. voris was among the speakers.[ ] hon. a. g. riddle, whose early life was spent mostly in newbury, encouraged and assisted the work, both by voice and pen. during the winter of , susan b. anthony, in company with my husband and myself, lectured in several towns under the auspices of the club. miss eva l. pinney, a native of newbury, was employed by the club to canvass the county. her success was marked. in the treasury received a bequest of $ , from reuben h. ober, who, though spending much of his time in the east, ever sustained a live interest in the home society.[ ] mrs. sarah langdon williams sends us the following report from the toledo society: in the winter of , mrs. stanton and miss anthony returning from an extended trip through the west, spent a few days in toledo. in addition to public meetings, their coming was the occasion for many pleasant and hospitable gatherings. a large circle of intelligent and earnest women were longing and waiting to do something to speed the movement for woman suffrage, when the coming of these pioneers of reform roused them to action. it was like the match to the fire all ready for kindling, and an organization was speedily effected.[ ] from that time forward, the air seemed magnetized with reform ideas, and to the loyal band who stood true to their flag, new members were added from time to time, and from this little band went forth an influence, a steady force which has operated silently though continuously through both visible and invisible channels, moulding the thought and action of the community. the meetings of this association were regularly reported by the daily press, with more or less justice, according as the reporter present, or the newspaper which reported the proceedings, was more or less friendly. a letter published in _the revolution_ of june , , indicates the practical work of our association: the first skirmish along the line of the suffrage army in ohio has been fought, and the friends of reformation may well rejoice at the result. in this city there has existed for a long time a library association to which women were admitted as members, but in the control or management of which they had no voice. under the pressure of influences set in motion by your visit, it was resolved that this relic of the past should be swept away, that women should be represented in the management as well as in the membership of the association. at the late election six directors were to be chosen among other officers, and miss anna c. mott,[ ] mrs. m. w. bond and mrs. m. j. barker were candidates upon a ticket called the equal rights ticket, headed by mr. a. w. gleason, for president. the dangerous proposition, not only of allowing women to vote, but of giving them offices, was a bombshell in the camp of conservatism, and every influence that could be, was brought to bear against this ticket. after an exciting contest, the result showed that notwithstanding a powerful and influential opposition, the ticket was elected by a vote of from to out of votes. this result has been all the more grateful, because in the opposition were to be found many of the most wealthy and respected citizens of toledo. as an index of the interest the women manifested in that election, three-fourths of them voted. it was interesting to notice the firmness with which the women walked up to the ballot-box. no trembling was perceptible. they carried the ballot with ease, deposited it with coolness, watched to see that no fraud was perpetrated, and then departed as noiselessly as they came. the deed was done. woman's honor, woman's purity, woman's domestic felicity, woman's conjugal love, woman's fidelity to her home duties, all these and a thousand other of the finer qualities were destroyed. no more peace in families; no more quiet home evenings; no more refined domestic women; but wrangling and discords instead. soldiers and sailors, policemen and gravel-shovelers had taken the place of wives and mothers. sick at heart i went to my home and wept for american womanhood. but the sun rose as usual, and the world still revolved. i went to the police-court--all was quiet. i passed to the county-court, and looked over the docket--no new divorce cases met my gaze. with unsteady hand i have opened the morning papers for the past few days, but nothing there betrayed the terrible results of that false step. oh, women! women! in the days of indian warfare, the skilled hunter would tell you that after an attack, when all was quiet, and you thought the enemy had departed, the greatest danger awaited, and the most careful vigilance was required. so i still keep watching, for i know the vengeance of the gods must fall upon this worse than sodom, for since women have voted, surely there be not five righteous within the city. real estate is not falling, however, but then!-- the evening after the election, the friends of the association and of the successful tickets, gathered to witness the incoming of the new administration. hearty words of cheer for the future were spoken. the president, mr. gleason, delivered a beautiful inaugural address, of which i send you a few sentences, and the meeting adjourned. the president said: while thanking you most heartily, ladies and gentlemen, for the distinguished honor conferred upon me in the election, i do not forget that it is due to the great principles of equal rights and universal suffrage--not to any merits of my own. we live in an age of progress. in my humble opinion we have taken a great step forward in admitting ladies to the management of this association--not only from the fact that in this particular institution they hold an equal footing with ourselves, and of right are entitled to all its privileges, but from the more important fact that it is a recognition here of those principles which are now claiming recognition in the political institutions of our country. it is in the natural order of events that this "equal rights" movement should meet with opposition. all movements of a novel and radical character at their commencement meet with opposition. this is the ordeal through which they must pass, but their success or failure depends upon their intrinsic merit. nothing is to be feared from opposition to any movement that possesses these elements. whatsoever idea has its origin in the recesses of human nature, will, sooner or later, become embodied in living action, and so we have this assurance--that as here, so also in the political institutions of our country--this principle of equal rights, both to man and woman, will at last prevail. in the _sunday journal_ offered the association half a column, which was gratefully accepted, and mrs. sarah langdon williams appointed editor. the department increased to a full page, and the circulation of the paper became as large as that of either of the city dailies. when there was danger of its being sold to opponents of the cause, mrs. williams purchased one-half interest, and by so doing kept the other half in the hands of the friendly proprietor. in the _sunday journal_ the association had a medium through which it could promptly answer all unjust attacks, and thus kept up a constant agitation. in november, , the sale of the paper closed for a while direct communication between the association and the public. but soon becoming restive without any medium through which to express itself, the society started _the ballot-box_ in april, , raising money among the citizens in aid of the enterprise. with this first assistance the paper became at once self-supporting, and continued thus until april, ,[ ] when it was transferred to matilda joslyn gage, and published at syracuse, n. y. the convention for the remodeling of the constitution of the state, in - , afforded an opportunity for unflagging efforts of the members of the association in the circulation of petitions; and so successful were they that when their delegates presented themselves with , signatures, asking for an amendment securing the right of suffrage to women, a member of the convention, on scanning the roll, exclaimed: "why, you have here all the solid men of lucas county." mr. m. r. waite, since chief-justice of the supreme court of the united states, was president of the convention, and in presenting the petition said the names on that paper represented fifteen millions of dollars. mr. waite's courtesy indicated stronger convictions regarding the rights of women than he really possessed. in an interview with our committee, appointed to secure a hearing from the members-elect--mr. waite and mr. scribner--mr. waite declared himself in favor of according equal wages to women, and believed them entitled to all other rights, except the right to vote. he thought women were entitled to a hearing in the convention, and would aid them all he could to secure the privilege. mr. waite, with great kindness of nature, possesses an inborn conservatism which curbs his more generous impulses. he adhered to this position in his decision in the case of _minor vs. happersett_, declaring that "the constitution of the united states has no voters." many of the most sanguine friends were greatly disappointed. they had fully believed his love of justice would lead him to the broad interpretation of the constitution, so clearly the true one, set forth in the first article of the fourteenth amendment. it did prevail, however, when, after saying the constitution does not confer the right of suffrage with citizenship, he said: "if the law is wrong, it ought to be changed; but the power is not with the supreme court." when, in february, , an irascible judge of the court of common pleas refused to ratify the appointment of a woman--miss mary sibley--to the office of deputy clerk, which she had filled for eight years with unusual acceptance, on the ground that not being an elector she was legally disqualified, the association determined to dispute the decision in her behalf, and on applying through their president to mr. waite to act as counsel, he gave his unhesitating acceptance, and declared that if the appointment was illegal, the law ought to be changed at once. true to his promise, he defended her most ably, and engaged other counsel to act with him. his services were given gratuitously. subsequently, in the constitutional convention, an amendment was adopted making women eligible to appointive offices, and also to any office under the school control, with the exception of state commissioner. but when voted upon, the new constitution was lost, and with it these amendments. the cause had able advocates in the convention, leading whom was general a. c. voris of akron, who was made chairman of the special committee on woman suffrage. the standing committee on elective franchise was extremely unfriendly, conspicuously so the chairman, mr. sample. a special committee on woman suffrage was appointed, which performed its duty faithfully, and reported unanimously in favor. mr. voris worked for the measure with an enthusiasm equaled only by his ability. when the report came up for discussion he made a masterly speech of two hours, during which the attention was so close that a pin could be heard to drop. other able speeches were also made in favor of the measure by some of the most talented members of the convention. it came within two votes of being carried. the defeat was largely due to the liquor influence in the convention. the cause, however, received a new impetus through the exertions of general voris, to whom, second to no other person in ohio, should the thanks of the women be rendered. during the contest the toledo society was constantly on the alert. on three occasions it sent its delegates to the convention; but it has not limited its work to ohio alone; it has given freely of its means whenever it could to aid the struggle in other states, and has rolled up large petitions to congress asking for a sixteenth amendment. when the state convention met in toledo, february, , the members of the city society exerted themselves to the utmost to have all arrangements for their reception and entertainment of the most satisfactory character, and the delegates unanimously agreed they had never before had so delightful and successful a meeting. many lasting friendships were formed. the opera-house was well filled at every session of the three days' convention. at the opening session a cordial address of welcome was given by rev. robert mccune, one of toledo's most eloquent republicans. the mayor of the city, dr. w. w. jones, a staunch democrat, also made a courteous speech. the toledo society has always held itself an independent organization, though its members, individually, have identified themselves as they chose with other associations. its attitude has been of the most uncompromising character. it has never been cajoled into accepting a crumb in any way in the place of the whole loaf. sometimes this has brought upon it the condemnation of friends, but in the long run it has won respect, even from bitter opponents. an illustration of this was given in its action with regard to the centennial celebration. the fourth of july, , was to be observed in toledo as a great gala day. long before its arrival preparations were in progress through which patriotic citizens were to express their gratitude over the nation's prosperity on the one-hundredth anniversary of freedom. all trades, professions and organizations were to join in one vast triumphal procession. a call was issued for a meeting, to which all organizations were requested to send representatives. the woman suffrage association was not neglected, and a circular of invitation was mailed to its president. this raised a delicate question, for how could women take part in celebrating the triumphs of their country whose laws disfranchised them? but, having received a courteous recognition, they must respond with equal courtesy. the letter was laid before the society, and the president instructed to politely decline the honor. _the ballot-box_ of may, , contains the correspondence: toledo, ohio, april , . at a meeting of citizens, held at white's hall, on the evening of the th inst., the undersigned were instructed to invite your organization, with others, to send a representative to a meeting to be held at white's hall, on the evening of monday, april , which will elect an executive committee, and make other arrangements for a celebration by toledo of the one-hundredth anniversary of american independence in a manner befitting the occasion and the character of our city. it is earnestly desired that every organization, of whatever nature, in toledo, be represented at this meeting. we would, therefore, ask of you that you lay the matter before your organization at its next regular meeting, or in case it shall hold no meeting before the th, that you appear as a representative yourself. guido marx, _chairman_. d. r. locke, james h. emory, _secretaries_. this was laid before the association at a meeting which occurred the same afternoon, and by the order of the society the invitation therein conveyed was replied to in season to be read at the meeting at white's hall, april : toledo, ohio, april , . _hon. guido marx, messrs. d. r. locke and james h. emory_: gentlemen: the printed circular, with your names attached, inclosed to my address as president of the toledo woman suffrage association, inviting that body to send a representative to a meeting to be held at white's hall, monday evening, april , to elect an executive committee and make other arrangements for a celebration by toledo of the one-hundredth anniversary of american independence, was received just in time to lay before the meeting held april . it was there decided that while the members of the association fully appreciate the generosity of the men of toledo, and feel grateful for the implied recognition of their citizenship, yet they manifestly have no centennial to celebrate, as the government still holds them in a condition of political serfdom, denying them the greatest right of citizenship--representation. conscious, however, of the great results which the nation's hundred years have achieved in building up a great people, we are aware that you, as american men, have cause for rejoicing, and we bid you god-speed in all efforts which you may make in the approaching celebration. in an equal degree we feel it inconsistent, as a disfranchised class, to unite with you in the celebration of that liberty which is the heritage of but one-half the people. it is the will, therefore, of the association that i respond to the above effect, thanking you for your courteous invitation, and recognizing with pleasure among your names those who have heretofore extended to us their sympathy and aid. i remain, with sincere respect, yours, sarah r. l. williams, _president t. w. s. a._ the letter was intended to be in all respects courteous, as the writer and the society which she represented had naught but the kindest of feelings toward those who, in so friendly a manner, recognized their citizenship by inviting them to take part in the meeting, and also toward the toledo public, who, as a general thing, had treated their organization with friendly consideration. it appears, however, that their attitude was misconstrued, according to articles subsequently published in the _blade_ and _commercial_, which we reproduce below: the women say they "manifestly have no centennial to celebrate." if we are not mistaken, the women of this country have enjoyed greater progress than the men under our free government, and it illy becomes them now to steadily and persistently pout because they have not yet attained the full measure of their earthly desires--the ballot-box. better by far give a hearty show of appreciation of benefits received, and thereby materially aid in further progress. nothing can be gained by their refusing to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of civil and religious liberty. the rights of all are necessarily restricted wherever there is a government, and time and experience can alone demonstrate just what extension or contraction of rights and liberties may be essential to the general good. in our judgment the women, by refusing to participate in the coming fourth of july celebration, have committed an error, the influence of which cannot but prove prejudicial to the interests of their association. the opposite course would undoubtedly have won friends.--_blade._ a singularly uncourteous letter was the one sent by the woman suffrage association to the meeting at white's hall. ninety-nine-hundredths of the women of the country will be surprised to learn that they "have no centennial to celebrate," and will be still more surprised when they discover that it is "inconsistent" for them to unite with their brothers, fathers, sons and husbands "in the celebration of the liberty which is the heritage" of _all_ the people. we cannot but feel that the claims set forth by the association would command more respectful consideration with the display of a different spirit. the maids and matrons of were of a different mold.--_commercial._ the _blade_ has been a good friend to woman suffrage for many years, but we feel that the present article was written in a spirit of needless irritability, such as we should think might ensue from a fit of indigestion. the _commercial_, since its change of management, has certainly not been unfriendly, and we have thought fair. its present comments are unjust. the following editorial appeared in _the ballot-box_ of the same date: why we cannot celebrate the centennial.--the city dailies criticise the suffrage association somewhat severely for declining to unite in the centennial celebration. perhaps from the outlook of masculine satisfaction it may seem astonishing that patriotism should not inspire us with gratitude for the crumbs from the national table; that we should not rejoice at the great banquet being prepared. but it is as impossible for us to look from their standpoint, as for them to see from ours. while appreciating the kindnesses measured out to us in this city by our friends and the press, yet laboring without visible results for the recognition of our rights as citizens of the united states, we cannot, even through the potent incentive of sympathizing with our "husbands, fathers, brothers and sons," lay aside our grievances and rejoice in a triumph which more clearly marks our own humiliation. can our friends inform us what is our crime, that we are denied the right of representation? can they point to any mental or moral deficiency, to render justifiable our being denied political rights? if not--if there is no just cause for our disfranchisement, it surely should not excite surprise that we cannot rejoice with those who systematically persist in perpetrating this great wrong. with no discredit to any of the sovereign voters of this nation, we cannot forget that the most ignorant negro, the most degraded foreigner, even refugees from justice, are accorded the rights which we have been demanding in vain; and we are conscious every day and hour these privileges are denied us, that we are not only wronged by the american government, but insulted. every year that our appeals for political rights to congress and the legislature are denied, insult is heaped upon injury. women are told by those who are in the full enjoyment of all the privileges which this government can confer, to rejoice in what little they have, and wait patiently until more is bestowed. wait we must, because they have the reins of power, but to wait patiently, with the light we have to perceive our relative condition, would be doing that for which we should despise ourselves. we are not laboring for to-day alone, but for the fruïtion which must come from the establishment of justice. if we fail in this memorial year, a brighter day must surely come. our failure now will be the failure of the country to improve its opportunities. all the successes which may be rejoiced over, all the triumphs of trade, commerce and invention are secondary to the rights of citizens, to those principles which lie at the foundation of national liberty. when women are recognized as citizens of this republic, there will be some occasion for their thankfulness and rejoicing; then they can join in the jubilee which celebrates the birthday of a mighty nation. at the june meeting of the association, a declaration of rights, and a series of radical resolutions were adopted. the president urged the society to stand firm in the determination to take no part in the centennial celebration, and the members of the suffrage association passed the fourth of july quietly at their own homes, but they caused a banner, bearing the inscription, "woman suffrage and equal rights," to be hung across one of the principal streets, under which the whole procession passed. of the original members of the society,[ ] some who during its earlier years took an active part have removed elsewhere, and a few have passed to the beyond. but the majority still remain, and are earnest in their labors with the hope for a better day, undampened by the delays and disappointments which attend every step in progress. there is a flourishing association at cleveland called the western reserve club;[ ] mrs. sarah m. perkins and her highly educated daughters, graduates of vassar college, are among the leading members. they hold regular meetings, have a course of lectures every winter and are exerting a wide influence. the club consists of thirty members, paying five dollars annually into the treasury. the painesville equal rights society,[ ] formed november , , is one of the most flourishing county associations in the state. it numbers members, and it has organized many local societies in the vicinity. the annual meeting of the state society,[ ] held at painesville, may , , , , with a large representation of the most active friends present, by a unanimous vote declared itself no longer auxiliary to the american, and thereby secured the coöperation of the toledo, south newbury, and other independent local organizations of the state. we are indebted to annie laurie quinby for the following account of the founding of a hospital for women and children, and of some of the difficulties women encountered in gaining admittance into the medical colleges: mrs. quinby says: in , some cincinnati ladies met at the residence of mrs. j. l. roberts and organized a health association, the object of which was to obtain and disseminate knowledge in regard to the science of life and health. mrs. leavett addressed the ladies on the importance of instituting a medical school for women, stating a recent conversation she had with prof. curtis, and suggesting that he be invited to lay his views before them. a vote to that effect was passed, and in his address professor curtis touched the following points: women have greater need than men of the knowledge of the science of life, and can make more profitable use of it. _first_: they need this knowledge. in a practice of thirty-six years, full seven-tenths of my services have been devoted to women who, had they been properly instructed in the science of life, and careful to obey those instructions, would not have needed one-seventh of those services, while they would have prevented six-sevenths of their sickness, suffering and loss of time, and a like proportion of the expenses of doctoring, nursing, medicines, etc., etc. _second_: they can make a far better and more profitable use of this knowledge than men can, because they can better appreciate the liabilities, sufferings and wants of their sex, which are far more numerous and imperative than ours; and they are always with us, from infancy to boyhood and womanhood, to watch us and protect us from injury, and to relieve us promptly from the sufferings that may afflict us, as well as to teach us how to avoid them. _third_: their intellectual power to learn principles is as great as ours, their perceptions are quicker than ours, their sympathies are more tender and persistent, and their watchfulness and patient perseverance with the sick are untiring. i regard the teaching and practice of the science of life as woman's peculiarly appropriate sphere. its value to the family of the wife and the mother, is beyond estimation in dollars and cents, by the husband and father. no money that he can properly spend to secure it to his daughters, should be otherwise appropriated; for, should they never enter the family relation, it will be a means of escape from sickness mortification and expense to themselves, and of useful and honorable subsistence, not only priceless in its possession, but totally inalienable by any reverses of fortune. the possession of this knowledge from their infancy up, would do more to prevent their becoming poor and "friendless," than do all the alms houses for the former, and "homes" for the latter that society can build, while it would cost less to each individual than does an elegant modern piano. forty years ago your speaker obtained from the legislature of ohio a liberal university charter under the title of "the literary and botanical medical college of ohio," which was afterwards changed to "the cincinnati literary and scientific institute and physio-medical college." by the aid of able assistants he conducted this institution for the benefit of men only, till, in , the students of the class were between eighty and ninety. from that time to the present, he has received women into the classes and demonstrated that they are not only as competent as men to learn all parts of the science of life, but, in very many particulars, far better qualified for the practice of the art of curing disease. the last session of the college was suspended that he might travel in the country and learn the disposition of the friends of progress to establish the institution on a permanent foundation, and is happy to say that all that seems necessary to that glorious consummation is the prompt and concentrated effort of a few judicious and influential ladies and their friends to secure pecuniary aid. june , , a dispensary for women and children was opened in cincinnati, by drs. ellen m. kirk, and m. may howells, graduates of the new york college and hospital for women. their undertaking proving successful, with other ladies of wealth and ability they soon after established a hospital. november , , the certificate of incorporation[ ] was filed in the office of the secretary of state. the ladies labored unweariedly for the support of these institutions. at two public entertainments they realized nearly a thousand dollars. for the establishment of a homeopathic college they manifested equal earnestness and enthusiasm. many of them interested in this mode of practice, seeing the trials of dr. pulte in introducing this new theory of medicine, determined to help him in building up a college and hospital for that practice. by one fair they raised $ , , net profits, and the pulte medical college was established. but the remarkable fact about these institutions is that after being started through the labors of women, women appealed in vain for admission for scholarships for a long time. for a clear understanding of the matter, and a knowledge of the defense made in behalf of the right of women to enter the college, i send you the following from dr. j. d. buck: pulte medical college, of cincinnati, was organized under the common law, and opened in , for the admission of students, with no provision, either for or against the admission of women. from time to time, during the first seven years, the subject of the admission of women was broached, but generally bullied out of court amid sneers and ridicule. the faculty stood five against and four for. the opposition was the most pronounced and bitter imaginable, the staple argument being that the mingling of the sexes in medical colleges led always and necessarily to licentiousness. finally, in the fall of , seven of the nine members of the faculty voted to admit women. one professor voted no, and the leader of the opposition, prof. s. r. beckwith--a life-long opponent of the broader culture of women--left the meeting with the purpose of arresting all action. in this, however, he failed; the vote was confirmed. on the following day another meeting was held, when the vote was re-considered and again confirmed, each of the seven members agreeing to stand by it. still again, another meeting was called, at the instance of the leader of the opposition, and in the absence of two of the staunch friends, a bare majority of the whole faculty voted to exclude women, as heretofore, and notified the applicants for admission, who had been officially informed of the previous resolution to admit them, that they would not be admitted. forbearance on the part of the friends of justice was no more to be thought of, and notice was given that the wrong should be righted, at all hazards. for the next two years war raged persistent and unflinching on the part of the friends of the rights of women, bitter and slanderous on the part of the opposition. all the tricks of the politician were resorted to to defeat the cause of right, and more than once by misrepresentation they obtained the announcement in the public press that the case was decided, and women forever excluded. still the cause moved on to complete triumph, and to the disgrace and final exclusion from the college of two of the most bitter leaders of the opposition. in the fall of it was announced in the annual catalogue, "that students will be admitted to the lectures of pulte college without distinction of sex," a very simple result indeed, as the outcome of two years' warfare. at the opening of lectures the first of october, four female students presented themselves, and were admitted to matriculation. every prophecy of disaster had failed. the class was an increase in numbers over that of any preceding year, and showed a marked improvement in deportment and moral tone from the presence of ladies, who from their high character and bearing exerted a restraining influence, as they always do, on those disposed to be gentlemen. at the commencement exercises in march, , three women, viz: miss s. c. o'keefe, mrs. mary n. street, and mrs. m. j. taylor, received the degree of the college, after having attended the same lectures and been submitted to the same examination as the male graduates. the prize for the best examination (in writing) in physiology, was awarded to miss stella hunt, of cincinnati. the right of women to admittance to this college cannot again be raised except by a two-thirds vote of both faculty and trustees--a majority which will be difficult to obtain after the record which the women have already made as students in the institution. yours truly, j. d. buck. after all this educational work and this seeming triumph for the recognition of an equal status in the colleges for women, we find this item going the rounds of the daily journals, under date of cleveland, march , : considerable excitement prevails among the homeopathists of cleveland. commencement exercises of the college are to be held next tuesday evening, and miss madge dickson, of chambers, pa., was to have delivered the salutatory address. dr. h. h. baxter, a prominent professor of the college, objected, saying a woman salutatorian would disgrace the college. miss dickson resigned the honor, and no address will be delivered. in april, , miss nettie cronise of tiffin, was admitted to the bar. in the following september, her sister florence was admitted, and they practiced as n. & f. cronise, until miss nettie's marriage with n. b. lutes, with whom she has since been associated under the firm name of lutes & lutes. miss florence cronise has her office in tiffin. soon after commencing practice mrs. lutes was appointed to examine applicants for admission to the bar, the first instance of a woman serving in this capacity in the united states, although florence cronise and one or two other women have since done like duty. these ladies and miss hulett were the first women to open law offices and begin an active, energetic practice of the profession. in , miss mary p. spargo of cleveland, was admitted to the bar. footnotes: [ ] among those associated with mrs. mendenhall were mrs. calvin w. starbuck, mrs. w. woods, miss elizabeth morris, miss ellen thomas, mrs. kendrick, sister to general anderson, mrs. caldwell, mrs. annie ryder, mrs. mary graham, mrs. louisa hill, mrs. hoadly. [ ] the officers of cincinnati equal rights society were: _president_, mrs. h. a. leavitt; _vice-president_, mr. j. b. quinby; _corresponding-secretary_, mrs. a. l. ryder; _recording-secretary_, mrs. l. h. blangy; _treasurer_, mrs. mary moulton; _executive committee_, mrs. j. b. quinby, mr. ---- hill, mrs. a. l. ryder. mrs. dr. mortell, mrs. mary moulton, mrs. mary graham, mrs. annie laurie quinby, mrs. l. h. blangy and mrs. dr. gibson. [ ] the delegates appointed were, mr. and mrs. j. b. quinby, mrs. mary graham, mrs. charles graham, mrs. mary moulton, mrs. dr. morrel, mrs. blangy, mrs. m. v. longley, mr. and mrs. a. g. w. carter, and mrs. soula and daughter. [ ] the officers of the state society were: _president_, mrs. h. tracy cutler, m. d., cleveland; _vice-president_, mrs. m. v. longley; _recording secretary_, mrs. h. m. downey, xenia; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. miriam m. cole, sidney; _treasurer_, mrs. l. h. crall, cincinnati; _warden_, mr. j. b. quinby, cincinnati; _business committee_, a. j. boyer, esq., dayton; elias longley, esq., cincinnati; mrs. r. l. segur, toledo; mrs. morgan k. warwick, cleveland; dr. m. t. organ, urbana; mrs. e. d. stewart, springfield; miss rebecca s. rice, yellow springs. [ ] the speakers at pike's hall were susan b. anthony, mary a. livermore, lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, mrs. dr. chase, miriam m. cole, mr. a. j. boyer, dr. mary walker, j. j. bellville, mary b. hall, mrs. dr. keckeler, mrs. longley, mrs. graham, mrs. griffin, and elizabeth boynton. [ ] at a meeting of the corporators of the cleveland homeopathic medical college and hospital for women, the following board of trustees was appointed: stillman witt, t. s. beckwith, bolivar butts, n. schneider, m. d., t. s. lindsey, mrs. d.r. tilden, mrs. s. f. lester, mrs. peter thatcher, mrs. c. a. seaman, m. d., mrs. m. k. merrick, m. d., mrs. s. d. mcmillan, mrs. m. b. ambler, mrs. lemuel crawford, mrs. henry chisholm, mrs. g. b. bowers. at a subsequent meeting of the board of trustees, the following officers were chosen: _president_, mrs. c. a. seaman, m. d.; _vice-president_, mrs. s. f. lester; _secretary_, mrs. m. b. ambler; _treasurer_, mrs. s. d. mcmillan. [ ] a = individual. b = year of graduation. c = married or single. d = number of children. e = health. +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | a| b | c | d | e |remarks | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | |married| |not living|died, . | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | good |taught eleven years; now in indiana.| +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | " |has taught ever since graduating; | | | | | | |now in ohio. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | |very good |taught five years; now in ohio. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | good |has taught school; slight bronchial | | | | | | |trouble. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | | " | | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | |uncertain |has taught school. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | good |taught thirteen years, till married,| | | | | | |in . | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | or | |no recent intelligence; health good | | | | | | |so far as known. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | |single | | " |taught some years; now in england. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " |married| | |taught three years. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " |single | | " |has taught school. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | |very good |physician in missouri. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " |married| | " " |has taught school. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " |single | | " " |constantly a teacher, except two | | | | | | |years in europe. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " |married| | " " |minister in connecticut; lately | | | | | | |married. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | | good |taught three years; journalist in | | | | | | |ohio. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | |has taught school. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | |not living|died of hereditary consumption. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | " " | | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | good | | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | |very good |resides in ohio. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | " " |resides in vermont. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | " " |resides in new york. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | good |lately married. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | " |has taught school. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | |very good |taught four years, till married. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | | " " |taught one year. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | | not good |troubled with scrofula, dating back | | | | | | |earlier than her school days; | | | | | | |practices medicine in missouri. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | |single | | good |very good & has just returned from | | | | | | |three years in europe, where she | | | | | | |took long pedestrian journeys. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " |married| | " |has taught school and is teaching | | | | | | |now. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | " |taught three years. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | |single | | |taught constantly and is teaching | | | | | | |now. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | |married| |not living|died, . | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | good |has taught school in missouri. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | " |taught one year. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | |single | | unknown |came to college in delicate health, | | | | | | |which improved while there; the | | | | | | |youngest woman ever graduated at | | | | | | |antioch. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | |not living|died, , of hereditary | | | | | | |consumption. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | fair |teaching in massachusetts. | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | | " | | good | | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ | | " | " | | " | | +--+----+-------+-------+----------+------------------------------------+ [ ] but even old yale has to succumb to the on-sweeping tide of equal chances to women, as will be seen by the following associated press item in the new york _sun_ of october , : "new haven, conn., oct. .--miss alice b. jordin, of coldwater, mich., a graduate of the academic and law departments of the university of michigan, entered the yale law school to-day. she is the first woman ever entered in any department of yale outside of the art school. [ ] mesdames lima h. ober, lovina greene, hophni smith, ruth f. munn, perleyette m. burnett, sophia l. o. allen, mary hodges, lydia smith, sarah a. knox. the men who sustained and voted with these women were deacon amplias greene, darius m. allen, ransom knox, apollos d. greene, wesley brown. their tickets were different each year; their first read, "our motto--equal rights for all--taxation without representation is tyranny. our foes--tradition and superstition." among the speakers invited to address the people at the polls were mrs. organ, of yellow springs, and mrs. hope whipple, of clyde. [ ] _president_, ruth f. munn; _vice-presidents_, joel walker, d. m. allen; _recording secretary_, ellen munn; _corresponding secretary_, julia p. greene; _treasurer_, mary hodges; _executive committee_, william munn, sophia l. o. allen, amanda m. greene, apollos d. greene, ransom knox. [ ] at other picnics the speakers were, mrs. s. b. chase, m. d., colonel s. d. harris, j. w. tyler jane o. deforrest, t. w. porter. [ ] the society of south newbury, like that of toledo, refrained from auxiliaryship with the state association from the time of its organization to june, , when such relationship was made possible by the state society voting itself an independent organization, free to coöperate with all national or local associations that have for their object the enfranchisement of women; and to mrs. allen may be ascribed a large share of the credit for the good work and broad platform of the south newbury club. [ ] the presidents of the toledo society have been, emma j. ashley, elizabeth r. collins, sarah r. l. williams, rosa l. segur, julia p. cole, sarah s. bissell, ellen s. fray, mary j. cravens. the vice-presidents, martha stebbins, julia harris, s. r. l. williams, sarah s. bissell, ellen sully fray, mary j. barker. miss charlotte langdon williams rendered valuable service in the business department of _the ballot-box_, and served for three years as secretary and treasurer of the association. [ ] miss anna c. mott, and her father, richard mott, were two strong pillars of the woman suffrage movement in ohio; their beautiful home has for many years been a harbor of rest alike to the advocates of anti-slavery, temperance and woman's rights. [ ] mrs. williams further adds that _the ballot-box_ became also a foster child of the national association, miss anthony canvassing for it after each of her lectures during the winters of and , thus largely increasing the circulation. it, on the other hand, gave full and faithful account of the work of the national association, so that in reality it was the organ of the national as well as of the toledo society. [ ] the officers of the toledo society are, , _president_, mrs. mary j. cravens; _vice-president_, sarah r. l. williams; _recording secretary_ mrs. e. r. collins; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. sarah s. bissell; _treasurer_, mrs. mary j. barker; _executive committee_, mrs. rosa l. segur, mrs. julia p. cole, mrs. caroline t. morgan, miss anna c. mott, mrs. e. m. hawley. [ ] _president_, mrs. judge caldwell; _secretary_, mrs. bushnell; _treasurer_, mrs. ammon. [ ] the officers of the painesville society, , are, _president_, mrs. frances jennings casement; _vice-presidents_, mrs. eliza p. chesney, mrs. lydia wilcox, mrs. cornelia swezey; _recording secretary_, mrs. martha paine; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. lou j. bates; _treasurer_, mrs. adelia j. bates; _trustees_, mrs. j. b. burrows, mrs. a. g. smith, mrs. c. c. beardslee. [ ] the officers of the ohio state association for are, _president_, mrs. frances m. casement, painesville; _vice-presidents_, mrs. n. coe stewart, cleveland; mrs. c. c. swezey, painesville; hon. richard mott, toledo; mrs. u. r. walker, cincinnati; mrs. dr. warren, elyria; _recording secretary_, miss mary p. spargo, cleveland; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. rosa l. segur, toledo; _treasurer_, mrs. elizabeth coit, columbus; _executive committee_, dr. n. s. townshend, columbus; mrs. m. b. haven, cleveland; mrs. m. cole, painesville; mrs. w. j. sheppard, cleveland; mrs. elizabeth coit, columbus; mrs. ports wilson, warren; mrs. sarah m. perkins, cleveland. [ ] the incorporators were, mrs. davies wilson, mrs. john goddard, mrs. jane wendte, mrs. william n. hobart, dr. ellen m. kirk, dr. m. may howells, miss jennie s. smith, and miss harriet m. hinsdale; _resident physician_, dr. sarah j. bebout; _visiting physicians_, drs. ellen m. kirk, m. may howells. chapter xli. michigan. women's literary clubs and libraries--mrs. lucinda h. stone--classes of girls in europe--ernestine l. rose--legislative action, _ - _--state woman suffrage society, --annual conventions--northwestern association--wendell phillips' letter--nannette gardner votes--catharine a. f. stebbins refused--legislative action--amendments submitted--an active canvass of the state by women--election day--the amendment lost, , men voted in favor--university at ann arbor opened to girls, --kalamazoo institute--j. a. b. stone, miss madeline stockwell and miss sarah burger applied for admission to the university in --episcopal church bill--local societies--quincy--lansing--st. johns--manistee--grand rapids--sojourner truth--laura c. haviland--sybil lawrence. traveling through the state of michigan, sufficiently at leisure to make acquaintances, one would readily remark the unusual intelligence and cultivation of the women. every large town can boast a woman's literary club, a reading-room, nicely furnished, with a library containing, in many cases, one and two thousand volumes, a choice collection of scientific, historical and classical works. this may be attributed in part to the fact that the population is largely from new york and new england, partly to the many institutions of learning early opened to girls, and partly to the extensive social influence of mrs. lucinda h. stone,[ ] whose rare culture, foreign travels and liberal views have fitted her, both as a woman and as a teacher, to inspire the girls of michigan with a desire for thorough education. mrs. stone has traveled through many countries in the old world with large classes of young ladies under her charge, superintending their reading and studies, and giving them lectures on history and art on classic ground, where some of the greatest tragedies of the past were enacted; in ancient palaces, temples and grand cathedrals; upon the very spots still rich with the memories of kings and popes, great generals, statesmen, poets and philosophers. we cannot estimate the advantages to these young travelers of having one always at hand, able to point out the beauties in painting and statuary, to interpret the symbols and mysteries of architecture, the language of music, the facts of history, and the philosophy of the rise and fall of mighty nations. mrs. stone has also given courses of parlor lectures to large classes of ladies in every city of the state, thus, with her rare experiences and extensive observations, enriching every circle of society in which she moved. to catharine a. f. stebbins we are indebted for compiling many of the facts contained in this chapter. reviewing the last forty years, she says: the agitation on the question of woman suffrage began in this state in , with the advent of ernestine l. rose,[ ] who spoke twice in the legislative hall in detroit--once on the "science of government," and once on the "antagonisms in society." a resolution was passed by the house of representatives, expressing a high sense of her ability, eloquence and grace of delivery. her work in detroit, ann arbor and other places was three or four years prior to the first report by the special committee of the senate in the general revision of the constitution, nine years before the house committee's report on elections in response to women's petitions, and a dozen years before the favorable "report of the senate upon the memorial of ladies praying for the privilege of the elective franchise," signed by thomas w. ferry. _the revolution_ of april , , gives an account of the manner the women of sturgis voted on the question of prohibition: "a few weeks ago, at a large meeting of the citizens of sturgis, michigan, the ladies were asked to help in the coming election the cause of prohibition. they replied that they would if they were allowed to vote. at a subsequent meeting the gentlemen could do no less than to invite them. a committee of twelve was appointed. they canvassed the village and invited all the ladies to come out and join in the demonstration. at o'clock on election day they assembled at union school hall and marched to the room where the election was held, and one hundred and fourteen deposited their votes in favor of prohibition, and six against it. whilst they were marching through the room the utmost order prevailed, and when they were retiring three hearty cheers were given for the ladies of sturgis. great credit is due to mrs. william kyte, chairman of the committee, as well as to all the other members, for their management of the whole affair. the utmost good feeling prevailed, and not a sneer or a jeer was heard from the lords of creation, but a large majority seemed to hail this as a precursor of what they expect in the future, when the people shall be educated to respect the rights of all." we find the above in the sturgis _journal_, by the way, one of the best in tone and talent of all our western exchanges. its editor, mr. wait, is a prominent leader in the state, a member of the legislature, and a believer in the equal civil and political rights of women. we have more than once suggested in _the revolution_ that the women should appear at the polls on election days and demand their rights as citizens. the effect could not but be beneficial wherever tried. any considerable number of intelligent women in almost any locality would in this way soon inaugurate a movement to result in a speedy triumph. let these noble sturgis women persevere. methodist bishop simpson was right when he declared the vote of woman at the polls would soon extinguish the perdition fires of intemperance. the sturgis women have begun the good work, a hundred and fourteen to six! surely, blessed are the husbands and children of such wives and mothers. p. p. in _the revolution_ of september , , we find the following from the sturgis _star_: last spring the ladies of sturgis went to the polls one hundred and twenty in number, and demonstrated the propriety of the movement. their votes did not count, for they could only be cast in a separate box, and the movement was only good in its moral effect. but at the school meeting the ladies have an equal right to vote with the men. whatever qualifications a man must possess to exercise privileges in that meeting, any woman possessing like qualifications can exercise like privileges there. to substantiate this, it is only necessary to read the school law. section of the primary school law: "the words 'qualified voter' shall be taken and construed to mean and include _all taxable persons_ residing in the district of the age of twenty-one years, and who have resided therein three months next preceding the time of voting." ex-state superintendent john m. gregory's opinion of that is, that "under this section ( ) all persons liable to be taxed in the district, and twenty-one years of age, and having resided three months in the district, without distinction of sex, color, or nationality, may vote in the district meetings." in districts where they elect only a director, assessor and moderator, the women can vote on all questions except the election of officers. in graded districts they can vote on all questions, election of trustees included. men having no taxable property, but who vote at town meetings and general elections, can only vote for trustees at a school meeting. any woman, then, having a watch, cow, buggy, or personal property of any kind, subject to tax, or who has real estate in her own name, or jointly with her husband, can vote. here, then, is a lawful right for women to vote at school meetings, and as there can be no impropriety in it, we advocate it. we believe that it will work good. our union school is something that all should feel an active interest in. we hope, then, that those ladies entitled to vote will exercise the rights that the law grants them. to give these suggestions a practical effect, we cheerfully publish the following notice: the undersigned respectfully request those ladies residing in district no. , of the township of sturgis, who are entitled to vote at the annual meeting, to assemble in mrs. pendleton's parlor, at the exchange hotel, on friday evening next, august , at : o'clock, to consider the matter of exercising the privilege which the law gives them. this call is signed by about twenty of the best women of the borough. last week we called attention in _the revolution_ to the earnestness of the english women in urging their claim to the right of suffrage, and appealed to american women from their example. we hear from different sources that american women will attempt, to some extent, to be registered this year as voters, and we hope so brave an example will become a contagion. a boastful warrior once demanded of his foe, "deliver up your arms." the answer was, "come, if you dare, and take them!" let women become brave enough to take their rights, and there will not be much resistance. according to their faith and their courage, so shall it be. p. p. the michigan state suffrage society--always an independent association--was organized at the close of the first convention held in hamblin's opera-house, battle creek,[ ] january , , and has done the usual work of aiding in the formation of local societies, circulating tracts and petitions, securing hearings before the legislature, and holding its annual meetings from year to year in the different cities of the state. the northwestern association held its first annual convention in the young men's hall, detroit, november , , , with large and appreciative audiences.[ ] legislative action on the question of woman suffrage began in michigan in , when: the special report favorable to senate document no. , for universal suffrage, was signed by dwight webb, edward h. thompson and rix robinson.--house document no. , legislature of : "the committee on elections, to whom was referred the petition of betsy p. parker, lucinda knapp, nancy fleming, electa myers, and several other 'strong-minded' ladies of lenawee county, asking such amendments to the constitution of the state as will secure to women an equal right to the elective franchise with men," reported adversely, ridiculed the petitioners, and was signed by a. p. moorman.--senate document no. , in the session of : on a memorial of ladies praying the legislature to grant them the elective franchise, the report was signed by thomas w. ferry, and was favorable and respectful.--house document no. , legislature of : on constitutional amendments in favor of universal suffrage, the report was favorable for extending suffrage to colored men, but doubtful as to the wisdom of extending it to women. this was signed by fabius miles, chairman.--senate document no. : upon the same constitutional amendments, in the legislature of , the report signed by r. e. trowbridge, chairman of the committee, was adverse to extending suffrage to women. on february , , mr. lamb introduced "a joint resolution granting the privilege of the elective franchise to the women of the state." mr. bartholomew introduced "a joint resolution proposing an amendment to section , article ., of the constitution, in relation to the qualifications of electors." both were referred to the committee on elections, which made the following report: the committee on elections, to whom was referred the joint resolution granting the privilege of the elective franchise to women of this state, respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and have directed me to report the same back to the house without recommendation. we think the time has not arrived for us to decide on so important a matter. we await further developments, and are under the impression that there is no popular demand for the change--at least not sufficient to warrant us in recommending so important a change in our form of government at the present session of the legislature--and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. [signed:] a. hewitt, _acting chairman._ motion carried to lay the joint resolution on the table. march , it was taken from the table and referred to the committee of the whole, who recommended its passage, and april it was lost by a vote of to : the committee have considered the matters embraced in the several resolutions referred to them relative to providing for woman's suffrage, and have instructed me to report against adding any such provision to the constitution at present. the committee ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. [signed:] e. w. meddaugh, _chairman._ october .--a bill for separate submission to a vote of the people of an amendment to the constitution relating to woman's suffrage, was lost by a tie vote-- for and against. at the extra session of the legislature, , in the house, march , mr. hoyt introduced a joint resolution for separate submission to a vote of the people of an amendment to the constitution relating to woman suffrage. referred to the committee on elections and state affairs, jointly. on march the following memorial from the state woman suffrage association[ ] was presented in the house: _to the senate and house of representatives of the state of michigan, in special session convened: _ the executive committee of the michigan state woman suffrage association, at their meeting held in kalamazoo, february , , voted to memorialize your honorable body, at your special session now being held. we beg leave to represent to you that the object of this association is to secure, in a legal way, the enfranchisement of the women of the state. they are, as you well know, already recognized as citizens of the state according to the laws of the united states. they are now taxed for all purposes of public interest as well as the men. but they are not represented in the legislature, nor in any branch of the state government, thus affording a great example, and an unjust one for women, of taxation without representation, which our fathers declared to be tyranny; and which is contrary to the genius of our republican institutions, and to the general polity of this commonwealth. women are also governed, while they have no direct voice in the government, and made subject to laws affecting their property, their personal rights and liberty, in whose enactment they have no voice. we therefore petition your honorable body, that in preparing a new constitution, to be submitted for adoption or rejection by the people of this state, you will strike out the word "male" from the article defining the qualifications of electors; or if deemed best by you, will provide for the separate submission of an article for the enfranchisement of the women of michigan, giving them equal rights and privileges with the men. by thus taking the lead of the states of the union, to more fully secure the personal rights of all the citizens, you will show yourselves in harmony with the spirit of the age and worthy to be called pioneers in this cause, as you are already most honorably accounted pioneers in your educational system, which affords equal and impartial advantages to the population of our state, irrespective of sex or condition in life--thus aiming to elevate the entire people to the highest practicable plane of intelligence and true civilization. by order, and in the name of the michigan woman suffrage association. lucinda h. stone, _corresponding secretary._ mrs. a. h. walker, _president._ on march , the joint committee made the following report: the committees on state affairs and elections, to whom was referred the joint resolution proposing an amendment to section i, article vii., of the constitution, in relation to the qualifications of electors, respectfully report that they have had the same under consideration, and have directed us to report the same back to the house without amendment, and recommend that it do pass and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. the reasons which have influenced the committee in recommending an amendment so radical and sweeping in the changes which it will create if finally adopted by the people, are briefly these: the question of granting the right of suffrage to women equally with men, is one that has been seriously and widely agitated for years, and while, like other political reforms which change in any considerable degree the old and established order of things, it has met with strong opposition, on the other hand it has been ably advocated by men and women distinguished alike for their intellectual ability and their excellent judgment. although we believe that there should be certain necessary and proper restrictions to the exercise of the elective franchise, we are of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to doubt whether the distinction of sex in the matter of voting, is not, in a large measure, a fictitious one. the interests of women in all matters pertaining to good government are certainly identical with those of men. in the matter of property their rights conceded by law are equal, and in some respects superior to those of men; and if the principle of no taxation without representation is a just one as applied among men, it would seem that it might in justice be extended to women. as the reasons given above are strongly urged by the advocates of woman suffrage, and as several petitions, numerously signed by citizens of the state, asking for some action on the part of the house in this matter, are in the hands of the committee, we have deemed it advisable, although not equally agreed as to the main question involved, to recommend the passage of the resolution by the house, in order that the people of the state may have an opportunity of expressing their will at the ballot-box as to the expediency of extending the right of suffrage to women. samuel h. blackman, _chairman of committee on state affairs._ james burnes, _chairman of committee on elections._ report accepted, and joint resolution placed on the general order. on march the following joint resolution passed the house by a vote of to , and passed the senate by a vote of to ,[ ] proposing an amendment to section i of article vii. of the constitution, in relation to the qualification of electors: _resolved, by the senate and house of representatives of the state of michigan_, that at the election when the amended constitution shall be submitted to the electors of this state for adoption or rejection, there shall be submitted to such electors the following propositions, to be substituted in case of adoption, for so much of section i, of article vii., as precedes the proviso therein, in the present constitution of this state as it now stands, and substituted for section i, article vii., in said amended constitution, if the latter is adopted, to wit: section . in all elections, every person of the age of twenty-one years who shall have resided in this state three months, and in the township or ward in which he or she offers to vote ten days next preceding an election, belonging to either of the following classes, shall be an elector and entitled to vote: _first_--every citizen of the united states; _second_--every inhabitant of this state, who shall have resided in the united states two years and six months, and declared his or her intention to become a citizen of the united states pursuant to the laws thereof, six months preceding an election; _third_--every inhabitant residing in this state on the twenty-fourth day of june, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. said proposition shall be separately submitted to the electors of this state for their adoption or rejection, in form following, to wit: a separate ballot may be given by every person having the right to vote, to be deposited in a separate box. upon the ballot given for said proposition shall be written, or printed, or partly written and partly printed, the words, "woman suffrage,--yes"; and upon ballots given against the adoption thereof, in like manner, the words, "woman suffrage,--no." if at said election a majority of the votes given upon said proposition shall contain the words, "woman suffrage,--yes," then said proposition shall be substituted for so much of section i, of article vii., as includes the proviso therein in the present constitution of the state as it now stands, or substituted for section i, of article vii., in said amended constitution, if the latter is adopted. this bill was promptly signed by governor bagley, and from that hour the attention of the advocates of suffrage for women was centered on michigan. the submission of this amendment to a vote of the people, gave an unusual interest and importance to the annual meeting held at lansing, may , ,[ ] at which plans were to be made, and money raised for a vigorous campaign throughout the state. the large number of women ready to do the speaking, and the equally large number of men ready to make generous contributions, were most encouraging in starting. women who could not aid the cause in any other way cast their gold watches into the treasury. from the large number of letters received at this convention we may judge how thoroughly aroused the friends were all over the country. lydia maria child wrote: it is urged, that if women participated in public affairs, puddings would be spoiled, and stockings neglected. doubtless some such cases might occur; for we have the same human nature as men, and men are sometimes so taken up with elections as to neglect their business for a while. but i apprehend that puddings and stockings, to say nothing of nurseries, suffer much greater detriment from the present expenditure of time and thought upon the heartless ostentation of parties, and the flounces and fripperies of fashion, than can possibly accrue from the intellectual cultivation of women, or their participation in public affairs. voting is a mere incident in the lives of men. it does not prevent the blacksmith from shoeing horses, or the farmer from planting fields, or the lawyer from attending courts; so i see no reason why it need to prevent women from attending to their domestic duties. on certain subjects, such as intemperance, licentiousness and war, women would be almost universally sure to exert their influence in the right directions, for the simple reason that they peculiarly suffer from the continuance of these evils. in the discharge of this new function, they would doubtless make some mistakes, and yield to some temptations, just as men do. but the consciousness of being an acknowledged portion of the government of the country would excite a deeper interest in its welfare, and produce a serious sense of responsibility, which would gradually invigorate and ennoble their characters. thomas wentworth higginson wrote: i believe that we fail to establish a truly republican government, or to test the principle of universal suffrage, so long as we enfranchise one sex only. a. bronson alcott wrote: * * * where women lead--the best women--is it unsafe for men to follow? woman's influence cannot be confined to her household; woman is, and will be, womanly wherever placed. no condition can unsex the sexes. the ten commandments will not suffer in her keeping. her vote will tell for the virtues, against the vices all. plato said: "either sex alone is but half itself." socially, we admit his assertion, and are just beginning to suspect that our republican institutions need to be complemented and rounded with woman's counsels, and administrations also. good republicans are asking if our legislation is not unsettled, demoralized by the debauchery of hasty politics, by private vices, and the want of manly integrity, woman's honor. let our courtesy to women be sincere--paid to her modesty as to her person; her intelligence as to her housekeeping; her refining influence in political as in social circles. where a husband would blush to take his wife and daughters, let him blush to be seen by his sons. "revere no god," says euripides, "whom men adore by night." and sophocles: "seek not thy fellow-citizens to guide till thou canst order well thine own fireside." mrs. alcott and louisa join in hearty hopes for your success. edna d. cheney wrote: * * * how i long for the time when this question being settled, we can all go forward, working together, to discuss and settle the really great questions of political and social economy, of labor, of education, and the full development of human life in state and society. john greenleaf whittier wrote: * * * i hope and trust the electors will be wise and generous enough to decide it in your favor. were i a citizen of the state i should esteem it alike a duty and a privilege to vote in the affirmative. asa mahan, president of oberlin college, wrote: the cause which has called you together is a very plain one. it is simply this, whether "taxation without representation" is tyranny to all but one-half of the human race, and the principle that rulers derive their authority to make and administer law from the consent of the governed, holds true of the white man and the black man, of man native or foreign born, and even of the "heathen chinee," if he belong to the male sex, and is a lie in its application to woman.[ ] dr. stone, of kalamazoo, read an able report of what had been done, and all it was necessary to do if the friends desired to carry the pending amendment. the following extract will give some idea of the momentous undertaking in canvassing a state: when the governor decided to call an extra session of the legislature, so as to submit the new constitution to a popular vote next november, the committee had but little time for the circulation of petitions; but enough was done to secure the vote in favor of submission. this was the more easily accomplished because we have in the present legislature so many warm and active friends, who gave that body no rest until their point was carried. and here we find ourselves suddenly brought into a campaign almost as novel as momentous, with scarce a precedent to guide us. we ask the electors of michigan to share their civil and political power with those who have always been denied all electoral rights--to vest the popular sovereignty not merely in themselves, in a quarter of a million of men, as hitherto, but in half a million of men and women, and so make our state what it is not now, a truly republican commonwealth. we have a great work before us, and no time should be lost in organizing a general canvass of the entire state. competent lecturers should be employed wherever hearers can be found, and money raised to defray the expenses. printed documents too, must be circulated; arguments and conclusions framed by those who have thought on these subjects for men, and sometimes for women, who are too indolent to think for themselves. and there are many other things which we must do before the november election; ballots must be furnished for every township and polling place, especially affirmative ballots, and placed in the hands of all the voters. the executive committee cannot be ubiquitous enough to discharge all these multifarious duties. we therefore suggest that there be appointed during this meeting, _first_, a committee on finance. _second_, a committee on printed documents. _third_, a committee on lecturers. _fourth_, a county committee of perhaps three persons in each county, who shall have power also to appoint a sub-committee in each township. whether so many distinct committees will be needed, or more than one class of duties can be entrusted to the same committee, the association can determine. we do not want too much, nor too complicated machinery, but just enough to accomplish the work. we must fall into line; woman expects every man to do his duty; surely she will not fail to be true to herself. representatives from the different counties gave their names[ ] as ready to begin the work arranged by the several committees. with this large and enthusiastic convention the campaign may be said fairly to have opened at lansing early in may, a political organization being formed of republicans and democrats alike, representing nearly every district in the state. governor bagley having promptly signed the bill, and his wife being an earnest advocate of the measure, the social influence of the family was all in the right direction. the influence of the church, too, was in a measure favorable. the methodist denomination, in its general conference, passed a resolution indorsing woman suffrage. mrs. stanton, in a letter to the _golden age_, said: during the time i spent in michigan, speaking every night and twice on sunday to crowded houses, i had abundant opportunities of feeling the pulse of the people, both in public and private, and it seemed to me that the tide of popular thought and feeling was running in the right direction. the people are beginning to regard the idea of woman's equality with man as not only a political, but a religious truth, methodist, congregational, presbyterian, baptist and unitarian churches being all alike thrown open to its consideration. sitting sunday after sunday in the different pulpits with reverend gentlemen, my discourses given in the place of the sermon, in the regular services, i could not help thinking of the distance we had come since that period in civilization when paul's word was law, "let your women keep silence in the churches." able men and women are speaking in every part of the state, and if our triumph should not be complete at the next election, at all events a great educational work will have been accomplished in the distribution of tracts, in the public debates, and in reviewing the fundamental principles of our government and religion. being frequently told that women did not wish to vote, i adopted the plan of calling for a rising vote at the close of my lectures, and on all occasions a majority of the women would promptly rise. knowing that the men had the responsibility of voting before their eyes, and might be diffident about rising, i reversed the manner of expression in their case, requesting all those in favor of woman suffrage to keep their seats, and those opposed to rise up, thus throwing the onerous duty of changing their attitudes on the opposition. so few arose under such circumstances that it was somewhat embarrassing for those who did. those who were engaged in the canvass[ ] had enthusiastic meetings everywhere. they not only filled all their regular appointments, but spoke in the prisons, asylums; even the deaf and dumb were refreshed with the gospel of woman suffrage. the press, too, was generally favorable, though the opposition magnified the occasional adverse criticisms out of all proportion to their severity and number. towards the last of september miss anthony, by invitation of mrs. briggs and mrs. bliss of grand rapids, came into the state and remained until election day. she often brought down the house with her witty comments on the criticisms of the press.[ ] everything that could be done was done by the friends of the amendment throughout the state; meetings held and tracts on every phase of the question scattered in all the most obscure settlements; inspiring songs sung, earnest prayers offered, the press vigilant in its appeals, and on election day women everywhere at the polls, persuading voters to cast their ballots for temperance, moral purity and good order, to be secured only by giving the right of suffrage to their mothers, wives and daughters. but the sun went down, the polls were closed, and in the early dawn of the next morning the women of michigan learned that their status as citizens of the united states had not been advanced one iota by the liberal action of their governor, their legislature, the appeals of the women nor the votes of , of the best men of the state. when the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the national constitution were passed, many advocates of suffrage believed that the right was conferred on women. in a letter to a state convention held at that time, wendell phillips said: the new phase of the woman movement--that claiming the right to vote under the fourteenth amendment--is attracting great attention in washington. whether it ever obtains judicial sanction or not, it certainly gives a new and most effective means of agitation. the argument of the minority report, understood to be written by general butler, is most able. * * * the statement of the argument, and the array of cases and authorities, are very striking. nothing more cogent can be imagined or desired. when two years ago a western advocate of woman's rights started this theory, we never expected to see it assume such importance. in accordance with this opinion, certain women resolved to apply for registration, and offer their votes. on march , , catherine a. f. stebbins and mrs. nannette b. gardner of detroit made the attempt to have their names regularly enrolled as legally qualified voters. mrs. stebbins, accompanied by her husband, made application in the fifth ward to have her name registered, but was refused. she then proposed to her friend, mrs. gardner, to make the trial in her ward, to which she assented. accordingly, they went to the first district of the ninth ward, where peter hill was the enrolling officer. mrs. gardner gave her name, saying she was a "person" within the meaning of the fourteenth amendment, and that she was a widow, and a tax-payer without representation. mr. hill, seeing the justice of her demand, entered her name upon the register. this action took some of the board of registration by surprise, and a motion was made to erase her name, but was decided in the negative.[ ] the board was now asked for a decision in regard to mrs. stebbins' name, as the question very naturally suggested itself to the inspectors, if one woman can vote why not another. mrs. stebbins was notified that her case would have a hearing. when asked to submit her reasons for demanding the right to vote, mrs. s. stated that she asked it simply as the right of a human being under the constitution of the united states. she had paid taxes on personal and real estate, and had conformed to the laws of the land in every respect. since the fourteenth amendment had enfranchised woman as well as the black man, she had the necessary qualifications of an elector. a long debate followed. inspectors bagg, hill and folsom argued in favor of the petitioner; allison, brooks, henderson and hughes against. the opposition confessed that the negro had voted before the word "white" had been expunged from the state constitution; but that was done from a "political necessity." the question of acceptance being put to vote, was negatived-- to . this was counted a victory, and stimulated the opposition to make another effort to strike mrs. gardner's name from the register; but failing in that, the board adjourned. there was now much curiosity to know if alderman hill would have the nerve to stand by his initiative; but with him the rubicon was passed, and on april , messrs. hill and durfee accepted mrs. gardner's vote, mr. bond protesting. the detroit _post_ gave the following account: mrs. gardner arrived at the polls of the first precinct of the ninth ward at about half-past ten o'clock in a carriage, accompanied by her son, a lad of ten years, mrs. starring and mrs. giles b. stebbins. barely a dozen by-standers were present, and the larger part of these were laboring men. no demonstration followed the appearance of the ladies, the men remaining quiet, and contenting themselves with comments _sotto voce_ on this last political development, and with speculations as to how the newly enfranchised would vote. mrs. gardner presented herself at the polls with a vase of flowers and also a prepared ballot, which she had decorated with various appropriate devices. the inspectors asked the questions usually put to all applicants, and her name being found duly registered, her ballot was received and deposited in the box. there was no argument, no challenge, no variation from the routine traversed by each masculine exerciser of the elective franchise. mrs. gardner voted, as we understand; for the republican candidates generally, with one democrat and one lady. at battle creek, mrs. mary wilson voted at the election of . when she registered, she was accompanied by her lawyer. in the fall of , peter hill again registered mrs. gardner, and received her vote. mr. hill had been exposed to many animadversions for his persistence, and as an acknowledgment of her appreciation of his course, mrs. gardner presented him a silk banner suitably inscribed. a city paper gives this account of it: mrs. gardner, who has for years been a recognized voter in the ninth ward of detroit, again voted on tuesday. she came on foot, with mrs. stebbins, in a drenching rain, as no carriage could be obtained. after voting, she presented a beautiful banner of white satin, trimmed with gold fringe, on which was inscribed, "a woman's voting hymn." the reverse side, of blue silk, contained the dedication: "to peter hill, alderman of the ninth ward, detroit. first to register a woman's vote. by recognizing civil liberty and equality for woman, he has placed the last and brightest jewel on the brow of michigan." the city board now felt called upon to pass a vote of censure upon mr. hill's action. the record runs thus: canvasser baxter: _resolved_, that the act of the inspectors of election of the first district of the ninth ward, in receiving the vote of mrs. nannette b. gardner at the election just passed, is emphatically disapproved by this board, on the ground that said act is a plain violation of the election laws and constitution of the state of michigan, and is liable to lead to the grossest abuses and complications. canvasser fulda moved to lay the resolution on the table--lost. adopted as follows: _yeas_--langley, flower, house, lichtenberg, phelps, parsons, christian, allison, buehle, dullea, daly, barbier, baxter-- . _nays_--wooley and fulda-- . chas a. borgman, _secretary_. philo parsons, _chairman_. mrs. stebbins attempted to register at this election with the same result as before. upon the fourth of november she provided herself with a sworn statement that she had been "wrongfully prevented" the record of her name, and offered her vote at the polls, calling attention to the "enforcing act," provided for such cases. it had no terror, however, for the valiant inspectors of the fifth ward. in the fall of , there was the following correspondence between the board and the city counselor: _hon. d. c. holbrook, city counselor_: dear sir:--mrs. giles b. stebbins has applied to this board and demands the right to register. this board has declined to grant the request on the ground that it does not believe her to be a legal elector. mrs. stebbins would have all the required qualifications of an elector, but for the fact of her being a woman, and we therefore respectfully request that you instruct us as to our duty in the premises. very respectfully, s. b. woolley, albert botsford, _inspectors of first ward_. woman cannot be enrolled or registered. let her try it on.[ ] _oct. , ._ d. c. holbrook, _city counselor_. in company with mrs. h. j. boutelle, mrs. stebbins offered her vote in the fifth ward. mr. farwell was in favor of receiving it, and wished to leave the question to a dozen responsible citizens whom he called in as referees, but col. phelps would not be influenced by the judgment of outsiders, and would not agree to the proposal.[ ] mrs. gardner's name was retained on the ward voting list, and she voted every year until she left the city for the education of her children. before the university at ann arbor was opened to girls in , there had been several attempts to establish seminaries for girls alone.[ ] but they were not successful for several reasons. as the state would not endow these private institutions, it made the education of daughters very expensive, and fathers with daughters, seeing their neighbors' sons in the state university educated at the public expense, from financial considerations were readily converted to the theory of coëducation. again the general drift of thought was in favor of coëducation throughout the young western states. then institutions of learning were too expensive to build separate establishments for girls and boys, and the number of boys able to attend through a collegiate course could not fill the colleges ready for their reception. hence from all considerations it was a double advantage both to the state and the girls, to admit them to the universities. james a. b. stone and mrs. lucinda h. stone went to kalamazoo in , immediately after his election to take charge of the literary institute. the name was afterwards changed to kalamazoo college. it is the oldest collegiate institute in the state, having been chartered in , and was designed from the outset for both sexes. in the beginning it did not confer degrees, but was the first, after oberlin, to give diplomas to women. kalamazoo was an object of derision with some of the professors of the university, because it was, they averred, of doubtful gender. but a liberal-minded public grew more and more in favor of epicene colleges. literary seminaries had been established for coëducation at albion, olivet, adrian and hillsdale, but some of their charters were not exactly of a collegiate grade, and it was doubtful whether under the new constitution, new college charters would be granted, so that kalamazoo and ann arbor had the field. in january, , a bill was introduced in the legislature to organize literary institutions under a general law, no collegiate degrees being allowed, unless on the completion of a curriculum equal to that of the state university. the championship of this bill fell to dr. stone, for while it would have no special effect on kalamazoo, it concerned the cause of coëducation in the state, and the friends of the university made it a kind of test of what the state policy should be in reference to the higher learning for women. dr. tappan, then the able president of the university, appeared at lansing, supported by rev. dr. duffield and a force of able lawyers, to oppose it, and the far-seeing friends of education in the legislature and in the lobby, rallied with dr. stone for its support. for several weeks the contest was carried on with earnestness, almost with bitterness, before the legislative committees, before public meetings called in the capitol for discussion, and on the floor of both houses. dr. tappan made frantic appeals to michigan statesmen not to disgrace the state by such a law, which he prophesied would result in "preparatory schools for matrimony," and, shocking to contemplate, young men would marry their classmates. among the friends of the measure present, were president fairfield, professor hosford, and hon. mr. edsell, of otsego, all graduates of oberlin, who had married their classmates, and "been glad ever since." they replied, "what of it? are not those who have met daily in the recitation-room for four years, as well prepared to judge of each other's fitness for life-companionship, as if they had only met a few times at a ball, a dress party, or in private interview?" the legislature was an intelligent one, and the bill passed amid great excitement, crowds of interested spectators listening to the final discussions in the lower house. governor bingham was friendly to the bill from the first. after its passage, he sent a handsome copy signed by himself and other officers, to dr. and mrs. stone, at kalamazoo, to be preserved as a record of the thermopylæ fight for coëducation in michigan. rev. e. o. havens succeeded dr. tappan in the presidency, and was supposed to be less strong in his prejudices, but when efforts were made to open the doors to both sexes, he reported it difficult and inexpedient, if not impossible. but he counted without the broad-minded people of michigan. a growing conviction that the legislature would stop the appropriations to the university unless justice was done to the daughters of the state, finally brought about, at ann arbor, a change of policy. under the light that broke in upon their minds, the professors found there was really no law against the admission of women to that very liberal seat of learning. "to be sure, they never had admitted women, but none had formally applied." this, though somewhat disingenuous, was received in good faith, and soon tested by miss madeline stockwell, who had completed half her course at kalamazoo, and was persuaded by mrs. stone to make application at ann arbor. mrs. stone knew her to be a thorough scholar, as far as she had gone, especially in greek, which some had supposed that women could not master. when she presented herself for examination some members of the faculty were far from cordial, but they were just, and she entered in the grade for which she applied. she sustained herself ably in all her studies, and when examined for her degree--the first woman graduate from the literary department--she was commended as the peer of any of her class-mates, and took an honorable part in the commencement exercises. moreover, she fulfilled the doleful prophecy of dr. tappan, as women in other schools had done before her, and married her class-mate, mr. turner, an able lawyer. the statement by the faculty, or regents, that "no woman had formally applied," was untrue, as we shall see. the university was opened to them in ; eleven years before, miss sarah burger, now mrs. stearns, made the resolve, the preparation, and the application to enter the university of michigan; and young as she was, her clear-sightedness and courage called forth our admiration. as a child, in ann arbor, from , to , she had often attended the commencement exercises of the university, and on those occasions had felt very unhappy, because all the culture given to mind and heart and soul by this institution was given to young men alone. it seemed a cruel injustice to young women that they could not be there with their brothers, enjoying the same. in connection with her efforts and those of her friends to enter those enchanted portals, she bears grateful testimony to the discussions on the question of woman's rights, as follows: when it was my blessed privilege to attend a women's rights convention at cleveland, ohio, in ,--and it was a grand meeting--where dear lucretia mott, ernestine l. rose, frances d. gage, antoinette brown, lucy stone, and others, dwelt upon the manifold wrongs suffered by women, and called upon them to awake and use their powers to secure justice to all, i felt their words to mean that the michigan university as well as all others, should be opened to girls, and that women themselves should first move in the matter. thus aroused, though but sixteen years old, she resolved at once to make application for admission to the state university. early in the autumn of , she entered the high school at ann arbor, and studied greek and latin two years, preparatory to taking the classical course. four young ladies besides herself, recited with the boys who were preparing for college, and they were all declared by a university professor who had attended frequent examinations, to stand head and shoulders in scholarship above many of the young men. miss burger wishing as large a class as possible to appeal for admission, wrote to a number of classical schools for young women, asking coöperation, and secured the names of eleven[ ] who would gladly apply with her. in the spring of , she sent a note to the regents, saying a class of twelve young ladies would apply in june, for admission to the university in september. a reporter said "a certain miss b. had sent the regents warning of the momentous event." at the board meeting in june, the young ladies presented their promised letter of application, and received as reply, that the board should have _more time to consider_. in september their reply was, that it seemed inexpedient for the university to admit ladies at present. in the meantime, a great deal had been said and done on the subject; some members of the faculty had spoken in favor, some against. university students, and citizens of ann arbor also joined in the general discussion. the subject was widely discussed in the press and on the platform; members of the faculty and board of regents applied to the presidents of universities east and west, for their opinions. the people of michigan, thus brought to consider the injustice of the exclusion of their daughters from this state institution, there was offered for signature during the winter of , the following petition: _to the regents of the university of michigan:_ the undersigned, inhabitants of ----, in the county of ----, and state of michigan, respectfully request that young women may be admitted as students in the university, for the following among other reasons: _first_--it is incumbent on the state to give equal educational advantages to both sexes. _second_--all can be educated in the state university with but little more expense than is necessary to educate young men alone. _third_--it will save the state from the expenditure of half a million of dollars, necessary to furnish young ladies in a separate institution with the advantages now enjoyed by young men. _fourth_--it will admit young ladies at once to the benefits of the highest educational privileges of the state. among the most active in lectures, debates, circulation of petitions and general advocacy were james b. gott, judge edwin lawrence, giles b. stebbins and o. p. stearns, the last at that time a student, since a lawyer, and the husband of mrs. sarah burger stearns of minnesota. in the spring of formal application was again made to the regents by a class of young ladies, only to receive the same answer. but the discussion was not dropped; indeed, that was impossible. some of the most intelligent on this question believe that the final admission of women to the university was due to a resolve on the part of the people of the state to place upon the board of regents, as the terms of old members expired, men well known to be favorable. on the election of professor estabrook of the state normal school there was one more noble man "for us," who, with other new members, made a majority in favor of justice. in the autumn of that year ( ) young women were admitted to full privileges in michigan university, and, like political freedom in wyoming, it has for years been confessed to have yielded only beneficent results. as long ago, however, as the first application was made ( ) women were permitted to attend certain lectures. they could not join a class or read a book, but it was the custom for them to go and listen to the beautiful and highly instructive lectures by professor andrew d. white on history, sculpture, and mediæval architecture, and they highly appreciated the privilege. in march, , president havens said in the house of representatives at lansing, "he believed the university should be opened to those who desired to obtain the benefit of the branches of education which they could not obtain elsewhere." the rev. gilbert haven wrote to the american society's meeting held in detroit, in : "i have been identified with your cause through its evil report, and, i was going to add, good report, but that part has not yet very largely set in. i also had the honor to preside over the first ecclesiastical body that has, just now, pronounced in your favor." this church assembly was the methodist state association, which adopted the following in october, , without a negative vote, though several of the delegates refused to vote: whereas, the legislature of michigan, at its recent session, has submitted to the electors of the state a proposition to change the state constitution so as to admit the women of michigan to the elective franchise; therefore, _resolved_, that this convention recognizes the action of the legislature as a step toward a higher and purer administration of the government of our country, and we hope the provision will be adopted. but the above was not the strongest utterance of bishop gilbert haven. once at an equal rights society convention in the academy of music, brooklyn, where from floor to ceiling was gathered an admirable and immense audience, with profound respect i heard these memorable words: "i shall never be satisfied until a _black woman_ is seated in the presidential chair of the united states," than which no more advanced claim for the complete legal recognition of woman has been made in our country. in february, , a spirited debate took place in the legislature upon an amendment to the episcopal church bill, which struck out the word "male" from the qualification of voters. the detroit _post and tribune_ says a vigorous effort was made to defeat the measure, but without success. the justice of allowing women to take part in church government was recognized, and the amendment carried. we have written persistently to leading women all over the state for facts in regard to their local societies, and such responses as have been received are embodied in this chapter. we give interesting reports of a few of the county societies in which much has been accomplished. of the work in quincy mrs. sarah turner says: we never organized a woman suffrage society, although our literary club has done much for the cause in a general way. we had crowded houses on the occasions of a very able speech from elizabeth cady stanton and a most spirited one from miss phoebe couzins. for the past eight years a dozen tax-paying women of this town have availed themselves of the privilege granted them years ago, and voted at the school meetings; and two years ago a woman was elected member of the school-board. lansing reports for january, , mrs. livermore's lecture on "the reasons why" [women should be enfranchised]; the organization of a city society with sixty members at the close of the annual meeting of the state association held in that city in march; a lecture from mrs. stanton before the young men's association; the adoption of a declaration of rights by the ingham county society, march, , signed by of the best people of the county. in , of the many meetings held those of mrs. stanton and miss couzins are specially mentioned. the st. johns society, formed in with six members, reported sixty at the state annual meeting of , and also $ . , raised by fees and sociables, mainly expended in the circulation of tracts and documents throughout the county. from manistee mrs. fannie holden fowler writes: in the campaign of hon. s. w. fowler, one of the committee for northern michigan appointed by the state society, canvassed manistee county and advocated the cause through his paper, the _times and standard_. the election showed the good of educational work, as a large vote was polled in the towns canvassed by mr. fowler, two of them giving a majority for the amendment. in an editorial, after the election, mr. fowler said: "the combined forces of ignorance, vice and prejudice have blocked the wheels of advancing civilization, and michigan, once the proudest of the sisterhood of states, has lost the opportunity of inaugurating a reform; now let the women organize for a final onset." however, no active suffrage work was done until december , , when susan b. anthony was induced to stop over on her way from frankfort to ludington and give her lecture, "woman wants bread; not the ballot." she was our guest, and urged the formation of a society, and through her influence a "woman's department" was added to the _times and standard_, which is still a feature of the paper. in the following spring (april, ), elizabeth cady stanton gave her lecture, "our girls," with two "conversations," before the temperance women and others, which revived the courage of the few who had been considering the question of organization. a call was issued, to which twenty-three responded, and the society was formed june , ,[ ] adopting the constitution of the national and electing delegates to attend a convention to be held under the auspices of that association the following week at grand rapids. the society at once made a thorough canvass of the city, which resulted in the attendance of seventy tax-paying women at the school election in september, when the first woman's vote was cast in manistee county. each succeeding year has witnessed more women at the school election, until, in , they outnumbered the men, and would have elected their ticket but for a fraud perpetrated by the old school-board, which made the election void. in august , mrs. may wright sewall delivered two lectures in manistee. in february , a social, celebrating miss anthony's birthday, was given by the association at the residence of mr. and mrs. fowler, and was voted a success. through the untiring efforts of mrs. lucy t. stansell, who was also a member of the ladies' lever league, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert gave a manistee audience a rich treat in her "homes of representative women," and her conversation on suffrage elicited much interest. during the autumn of , petitions asking for municipal suffrage were circulated. the venerable josiah r. holden of grand rapids, father of mrs. fowler, then in his th year, obtained the largest number of signatures to his petition of any one in the state. a bill granting municipal suffrage to women was drawn by mrs. fowler, introduced in the legislature by hon. george j. robinson, and afterwards tabled. at the session of a similar bill came within a few votes of being carried. in grand rapids there was no revival of systematic work until , when the national association held a very successful two days' convention in the city. in response to a petition from the society, the legislature in the winter of passed a law, giving to the tax-paying women of the city the right to vote on school questions at the charter elections. at the first meeting a hundred women were present, and hundreds availed themselves of their new power and voted at the first election. the state society held its annual meeting at grand rapids, october , , , , at which the address of welcome was given by mrs. loraine immen, president of the city society,[ ] and responded to by mrs. stebbins of detroit.[ ] the only religious sect in the world, unless we except the quakers, that has recognized the equality of woman, is the spiritualists. they have always assumed that woman may be a medium of communication from heaven to earth, that the spirits of the universe may breathe through her lips messages of loving kindness and mercy to the children of earth. the spiritualists in our country are not an organized body, but they are more or less numerous in every state and territory from ocean to ocean. their opinions on woman suffrage and equal rights in all respects must be learned from the utterances of their leading speakers and writers of books, from their weekly journals, from resolutions passed at large meetings, and from their usage and methods. a reliable person widely familiar with spiritualism since its beginning in , says that he has known but very few spiritualists who were not in favor of woman suffrage; that all their representative men and women, and all their journals advocate it, and have always done so; that expressions in its favor in public meetings meet with hearty approval, and that men and women have spoken on their platforms, and held official places as co-workers in their societies through all of these thirty-seven years. all this has taken place with very little argument or discussion, but from an intuitive sense of the justice and consequent benefits of such a course. a single testimony, of many that might be given from their writings, must suffice. in the _religio-philosophical journal_, chicago, ill., november , , its editor, j. c. bundy, says: "although not especially published in the interest of woman, this journal is a stalwart advocate of woman's rights, and has for years given weekly space to 'woman and the household,' a department under the care of mrs. hester m. poole, who has done much to encourage women to renewed and persistent effort for their own advancement." it has been the custom of some of our journals to ask for letters of greeting from distinguished people for new year's day. we find the following in the _inter-ocean_: "sojourner truth, the miriam of the later exodus, sends us this remarkable letter. she is the most wonderful woman the colored race has ever produced, and thus conveys her new year's greeting to our readers: "dear friends: more than a hundred new years have i seen before this one, and i send a new year's greeting to one and all. we talk of a beginning, but there is no beginning but the beginning of a wrong. all else is from god, and is from everlasting to everlasting. all that has a beginning will have an ending. god is without end, and all that is good is without end. we shall never see god, only as we see him in one another. he is a great ocean of love, and we live and move in him as the fishes in the sea, filled with his love and spirit, and his throne is in the hearts of his people. jesus, the son of god, will be as we are, if we are pure, and we will be like him. there will be no distinction. he will be like the sun and shine upon us, and we will be like the sun and shine upon him; all filled with glory. we are the children of one father, and he is god; and jesus will be one among us. god is no respecter of persons, and we will be as one. if it were not so, there would be jealousy. these ideas have come to me since i was a hundred years old, and if you, my friends, live to be a hundred years old, too, you may have greater ideas than these. this has become a new world. these thoughts i speak of because they come to me, and for you to consider and look at. we should grow in wisdom as we grow older, and new ideas will come to us about god and ourselves, and we will get more and more the wisdom of god. i am glad to be remembered by you, and to be able to send my thoughts; hoping they may multiply and bear fruit. if i should live to see another new year's day i hope to be able to send more new thoughts. sojourner truth. "_grand rapids, mich._, dec. , ." this was accompanied by a note from her most faithful friend, mrs. frances w. titus, relating matters of interest as to her present circumstances. she also said: "we have recently another proof that she is over one hundred years old. mention of the 'dark day' may , , was made in her presence, when she said, 'i remember the dark day'; and gave a description of that wonderful phenomenon. as the narrative of sojourner's life has long been before the public, we prefer to anything this latest thought of hers, standing then on the verge of the life of the spirit." sojourner was long a resident and laborer in reform in michigan, from which state she went out to the district of columbia to befriend her people, as well as to other distant fields. she went to help feed and clothe the refugees in kansas in - , and in reaching one locality she rode nearly a hundred miles in a lumber wagon. she closed her eventful life in battle creek, where she passed her last days, having reached the great age of one hundred and ten years. mrs. laura c. haviland is another noble woman worthy of mention. she has given a busy life to mitigating the miseries of the unfortunate. she helped many a fugitive to elude the kidnappers; she nursed the suffering soldiers, fed the starving freedmen, following them into kansas,[ ] and traveled thousands of miles with orphan children to find them places in western homes. she and her husband at an early day opened a manual-labor school, beginning by taking nine children from the county-house, to educate them with their own on a farm near adrian. out of her repeated experiments, and petitions to the legislature for state aid, grew at last the state school for homeless children at coldwater, where for years she gave her services to train girls in various industries. mrs. sybil lawrence, a woman of strong character, and charming social qualities, exerted a powerful influence for many years in ann arbor. being in sympathy with the suffrage movement, and in favor of coëducation, she did all in her power to make the experiment a success, by her aid and counsels to the girls who first entered the university. her mother, sister, and nieces made a charming household of earnest women ready for every good work. their services in the war were indispensable, and their sympathies during the trying period of reconstruction were all on the side of liberty and justice. there are many other noble women in michigan worthy of mention did space permit, such as miss emily ward, a woman of remarkable force of character and great benevolence; mrs. lucy l. stout, who has written many beautiful sentiments in prose and verse: eliza legget and florence mayhew, identified with all reform movements; mrs. tenney, the state librarian; and mrs. euphemia cochrane, a scotch woman by birth, who loved justice and liberty, a staunch friend alike of the slave and the unfortunate of her own sex. under her roof the advocates of abolition and woman suffrage always found a haven of rest. henry c. wright, wendell phillips, william lloyd garrison, sojourner truth, theodore tilton, frederick douglass, abbey kelley and stephen foster could all bear testimony to her generous and graceful hospitality. she was president of the detroit woman suffrage association at the time she passed from earth to a higher life. footnotes: [ ] having made many lyceum trips through michigan, i have had several opportunities of meeting mrs. stone in her own quiet home, and i can readily understand the wide influence she exerted on the women of that state, and what a benediction her presence must have been in all the reform associations in which she took an active part. i always felt that michigan would be a grand state in which to make the experiment of woman suffrage, especially as in mrs. stone we had an enthusiastic coädjutor. in paying this well-deserved tribute to mrs. stone, i must not forget to mention that mrs. janney of flint, a woman of great executive ability, started the first woman's reading-room and library many years ago.--[e. c. s. [ ] a sketch of this brilliant polish woman, who has taken such an active part in the woman suffrage movement, both in this country and england, will be found in volume i., page . [ ] the speakers at the battle creek convention were miriam m. cole, editor of _the woman's advocate_, dayton, ohio; mary a. livermore, editor _woman's journal_, boston; hannah tracy cutler, illinois; rev. j. m. mccarthy, saginaw; mrs. j. c. dexter, ionia; mrs. d. c. blakeman, lucinda h. stone, kalamazoo; adelle hazlett, hillsdale; rev. j. s. loveland, d. m. fox, battle creek; mary t. lathrop, jackson. letters of sympathy were received from b. f. cocker and moses coit tyler, professors of the michigan state university. the officers of the state association were: _president_, professor moses coit tyler, ann arbor; _vice-president_, lucinda h. stone; _recording secretary_, mary t. lathrop; _corresponding secretary_, euphemia cochran, detroit; _treasurer_, colin campbell, detroit; _executive committee_, dr. s. b. thayer, frances w. titus, battle creek; eliza burt gamble, east saginaw; catharine a. f. stebbins, detroit; hon. j. g. wait, sturgis; mrs. d. c. blakeman, kalamazoo; mrs. l. h. t. dexter, ionia. [ ] the speakers at the northwestern convention were mrs. hazlett, the president; hon. c. b. waite, professor d. c. brooks, chicago; susan b. anthony, celia burleigh, new york; lillie peckham, wisconsin; mrs. lathrop, jackson; giles b. stebbins, adam elder, j. b. bloss, detroit. letters were reported from henry ward beecher, wendell phillips, rev. e. o. haven, professor b. f. cocker, moses coit tyler, mrs. livermore, lucy stone, h. b. blackwell, mrs. josephine griffing, t. w. higginson, theodore tilton, phoebe couzins, anna e. dickinson, elizabeth cady stanton, miriam m. cole and rev. robert collyer. the officers elected were: _president_, mrs. a. m. hazlett, michigan; _recording secretary_, mrs. rebecca w. mott, chicago; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. harriet s. brooks, chicago; _treasurer_, hon. fernandol jones, chicago; _vice-presidents_, j. b. bloss, michigan; mrs. myra bradwell, illinois; mrs. e. r. collins, ohio; mrs. dr. ferguson, indiana; miss phoebe couzins, missouri; _executive committee_, c. b. waite, chicago; colin campbell, detroit; mrs. francis minor, missouri; madame anneke, wisconsin; mrs. charles leonard and mrs. e. j. loomis, chicago. [ ] _president_, mrs. a. h. walker; _corresponding secretary_, lucinda h. stone; _recording secretary_, mrs. s. e. emory; _treasurer_, mrs. e. metcalf; _executive committee_, dr. j. a.b. stone, mrs. frances titus, mrs. o. a. jennison, mrs. c. a. f. stebbins, mrs. d. c. blakeman, mrs. l. b. curtiss, dr. j. h. bartholomew. [ ] the following named representatives voted _yea_: messrs, armstrong, bailey, bartholomew, blackman, briggs, brown, brunson, buell, burns, cady, carter, chamberlain, collins, dintruff, drake, drew, edwards, fancher, ferguson, garfield, gravelink, gilmore, goodrich, gordon, green, haire, harden, hewitt, hosner, howard, hoyt, kellogg, knapp, lamb, luce, e. r. miller, r. c. miller, mitchell, morse, o'dell, parker, parsons, pierce, priest, remer, rich, robinson, sanderson, scott, sessions, shaw, smith, taylor, thomas, thompson, vanaken, vanscoy, a. walker, f. walker, walton, warren, welch, welker, wheeler, withington, wixon, speaker-- . the following named senators voted _yea_: messrs. anderson, beattie, brewer, butterfield, childs, clubb, cook, crosby, curry, deland, ely, goodell, gray, hewitt, isham, lewis, mickley, mitchell, mcgowan, neasmith, prutzman, richardson, sparks, sumner, sutton, wells-- . [ ] officers of the michigan state woman suffrage association: _president_, hon. jonas h. mcgowan, coldwater; _vice-presidents_, rev. richmond fiske jr., grand haven, mrs. john j. bagley, detroit; _recording secretary_, mrs. n. geddes, lenawee; _secretary and treasurer_, george h. stickney, grand haven; _executive committee_, chairman, hon. william m. ferry, grand haven; first district--giles b. stebbins, z. r. brockway, wayne; second district--hon. charles e. mickley, lenawee, mrs. m. a. hazlett, hillsdale; third district--hon. w. h. withington, jackson, morgan bates, calhoun; fourth district--james h. stone, kalamazoo, miss sarah clute, st. joseph; fifth district--hon. b. a. harlan, mrs. m. c. bliss, kent; sixth district--hon. i. h, bartholomew, ingham, mrs. a. jenney, genesee; seventh district--hon. j. c. lamb, lapeer, j. p. hoyt, tuscola; eighth district--hon. c. v. deland, saginaw, hon. j. d. lewis, bay; ninth district--hon. e. l. gray, newaygo, mrs. j. g. ramsdell, grand traverse; _vice-presidents by congressional districts_, first district--mrs. eliza leggett, hon. w. n. hudson, wayne; second district--hon. w. s. wilcox, lenawee, hon. talcott e. wing, monroe; third district--mrs. ann e. graves, calhoun, mrs. mary lathrop, jackson; fourth district--hon. levi sparks, berrien, rev. h. c. peck, kalamazoo; fifth district--hon. s. l. withey, hon. james miller, kent; sixth district--hon. randolph strickland, clinton, c. f. kimball, oakland; seventh district--hon. ira butterfield, lapeer, john m. potter, macomb; eighth district--hon. ralph ely, gratiot, mrs. s. m. green, bay; ninth district--elvin l. sprague, grand traverse, s. w. fowler, manistee. [ ] among many others were letters from amos dresser, parker pillsbury, henry b. blackwell, rev. s. reed, of ann arbor, william lloyd garrison, lucy stone, isabella beecher hooker, lucretia mott, elizabeth boynton harbert, dr. henry b. baker, miriam m. cole, margaret v. longley, abby and julia smith, of glastonbury, conn., a. c. voris, from the ohio constitutional convention, hon. j. logan chipman. [ ] the following persons were announced and requested to communicate at once with the executive committee, george h. stickney, secretary, grand haven, mich.: _allegan_, mrs. e. s. nichols; _barry_, mrs. goodyear; _bay_, mrs. s. m. green, mrs. judge holmes; _berrien_, hon. levi sparks, o. e. mead; _branch_, mrs. celia woolley, mrs. h. j. boutelle; _calhoun_, w. f. neil, mrs. judge graves, morgan bates, dr. g. p. jocelyn; _cass_, mr. rice, william l. jaques; _chippewa_, mrs. charles g. shepherd; _clinton_, mrs. lee, mrs. gole; _eaton_, j. chance, hon. a. k. warren, mrs. j. musgrave, mr. and mrs. e. a. foote; _genesee_, mrs. d. stewart; _grand traverse_, hon. w. h. c. mitchell, hon. j. g. ramsdell; _gratiot_, hon. ralph ely; _hillsdale_, mrs. m. a. pendill, mrs. dr. swift, mrs. e. samm; _ingham_, dr. i. h. bartholomew, mrs. o. a. jenison, a. r. burr; _ionia_, mrs. a. williams, mrs. chaddock, mr. j. b. smith; _isabella_, mrs. douglas nelson; _jackson_, mrs. mary lathrop, fidus livermore; _kalamazoo_, j. h. stone, col. f. w. curtenius, merritt moore. dr. n. thomas; _kent_, mrs. e. l. briggs, e. g. d. holden, e. p. churchill; _lapeer_, hon. j. c. lamb, mrs. j. b. wilson; _lenawee_, mrs. dr. fox, mrs. f. a. rowley, hon. charles e. mickley; _livingston_, e. p. gregory; _macomb_, mrs. ambrose campbell, daniel b. briggs; _manistee_, s. w. fowler, hon. b. m. cutcheon, t. j. ramsdell; _marquette_, sidney adams, hiram a. burt; _mason_, mr. foster; _midland_, dr. e. jennings, mrs. sumner; _missaukee_, s. w. davis; _monroe_, hon. j. j. sumner; _montcalm_, mr. j. m. fuller; _muskegon_, lieutenant-governor h. h. holt, mrs. o. b. ingersoll, mrs. barney; _newaygo_, hon. e. l. gray, mrs. lucy utley; _oakland_, mrs. d. b. fox, j. holman, jr., mrs. alexander; _oceana_, john halsted; _osceola_, b. f. gooch; _ottawa_, dwight cutler, mrs. w. c. sheldon; _roscommon_, messrs. davis & hall; _saginaw_, mrs. whiting, mrs. gamble, j. f. driggs, w. p. burdick; _shiawassee_, mrs. dr. parkill, j. h. hartwell, hon. j. m. goodell, dr. king; _st. clair_, hon. b. w. jenks; _st. joseph_, w. s. moore, mrs. mary peck; _tuscola_, mrs. j. p. hoyt; _van buren_, mr. and mrs. c. d. van vechten, a. s. dyckman, hon. s. h. blackman; _washtenaw_, mrs. israel hall, mrs. seth reed, d. cramer, mary e. foster; _wayne_, mrs. c. a. f. stebbins, colin campbell, g. w. bates, lucy l. stout. [ ] miss eastman, miss hindman, phoebe couzins, margaret w. campbell, elizabeth k. churchill, lelia partridge, mrs. hazlett, mrs. samms, miss matilda victor; george w. julian of indiana, giles b. stebbins and clinton r. fisk, representing the michigan association, and the following among volunteer workers: b. a. harlan of grand rapids, mrs. hathaway of cass county, mrs. judge fuller, the hon. j. h. mcgowan and mrs. boutelle of branch county; mrs. l. a. pearsall of macomb, mrs. f. w. gillette of oakland, miss strickland of clinton, j. b. stone of kalamazoo, mrs. lucy l. stout of wayne, and the rev. t. h. stewart of indiana. [ ] it was in this campaign that an editor in a kalamazoo journal said: "that ancient daughter of methuselah, susan b. anthony, passed through our city yesterday, on her way to the plainwell meeting, with a bonnet on her head looking as if she had recently descended from noah's ark." miss anthony often referred to this description of herself, and said, "had i represented , votes in michigan, that political editor would not have known nor cared whether i was the oldest or the youngest daughter of methuselah, or whether my bonnet came from the ark or from worth's.--[e. c. s. [ ] the inspectors voting were: _yeas_--adams, baxter, brooks, dullea, henderson, smith. _nays_--bragg, balch, barclay, barry, bond, christian, hill, hughes, langley, mahoney, o'keefe, sutherland. [ ] we can easily see how little the opponents who talk so much of chivalry, respect women or themselves, by the language they use when they are opposed on this very question. [ ] mrs. boutelle and mrs. stebbins were in the polling place two or three hours, while mr. farwell made efforts to gain favorable opinions enough to convert colonel phelps; many excellent men were in favor of her vote. the ladies lunched from a daintily filled basket, prepared by the wife of inspector farwell. [ ] miss abby rogers, miss delia rogers, miss emily ward, and miss clapp, were all deeply interested in establishing a seminary where girls could have equal advantages with students in the university. this seminary was in existence ten years, but without state aid the struggle was too great, and miss abby rogers, the founder, abandoned the undertaking. [ ] the names of the eleven young women mrs. stearns is unable to recall. [ ] the officers of the manistee society are ( ): _president_, mrs. lucy t. stansell; _corresponding secretary_, fannie holden fowler; _recording secretary_, miss nellie walker; _treasurer_, mrs. susan seymour. [ ] the officers of the grand rapids society are: _president_, mrs. cordelia f. briggs; _vice-presidents_, loraine immen, emma wheeler; _treasurer_, mrs. henry spring; _secretary_, mrs. j. w. adams. [ ] following is a complete list of all officers elected in : _president_, mrs. mary l. doe of carrollton; _vice-president_, mrs. loraine immen of grand rapids; _recording secretary_, mrs. h. s. spring of grand rapids; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. fannie h. fowler of manistee; _treasurer_, mrs. c. a. f. stebbins of detroit; _advisory committee_, mrs. e. l. briggs of grand rapids, and mrs. s. e. v. emery of lansing; _executive committee_--first district, mrs. harriet j. boutell of detroit; second district, mrs. annette b. gardner smith of ann arbor; fifth district, mrs. emily h. ketchum of grand rapids; sixth district, francis m. stuart of flint; eighth district, mrs. frances c. stafford of milwaukee; ninth district, col. s. w. fowler of manistee; eleventh and twelfth districts, mrs. r. a. campbell, traverse city. [ ] spending the summer of at leavenworth, i frequently visited mrs. haviland, then busily occupied in ministering to the necessities of the , refugees just then from the southern states. on may , i aided her in collecting provisions for the steamer, which was to transport over a hundred men, women and children, for whom she was to provide places in michigan. i shall never forget that day nor the admiration and reverence i felt for the magnanimity and self-sacrifice of that wonderful woman.--[s. b. a. chapter xlii. indiana. the first woman suffrage convention after the war, --amanda m. way--annual meetings, - , in the larger cities--indianapolis equal suffrage society, --a course of lectures--in may, , national convention in indianapolis--zerelda g. wallace--social entertainment--governor albert g. porter--susan b. anthony's birthday--schuyler colfax--legislative hearings--temperance women of indiana--helen m. gougar--general assembly--delegates to political conventions--women address political meetings--important changes in the laws for women, from to --colleges open to women--demia butler--professors--lawyers--doctors--ministers--miss catherine merrill--miss elizabeth eaglesfield--rev. prudence le clerc--dr. mary f. thomas--prominent men and women--george w. julian--the journals--gertrude garrison. this was one of the first states to form a woman suffrage society[ ] for thoroughly organized action, with a president, secretary, treasurer, and constitution and by-laws. from october, , this association held annual meetings, sent petitions and appeals to the legislature, and had frequent hearings at the capitol, diligently pressing the question of political equality for woman for ten consecutive years. then, although the society did not disband, we find no record of meetings or aggressive action until , for here, as elsewhere, all other interests were forgotten in the intense excitement of a civil war. but no sooner were the battles fought, victory achieved, and the army disbanded, than woman's protests against her wrongs were heard throughout the northern states; and in indiana the same amanda m. way who took the initiative step in for the first woman's convention, summoned her coädjutors once more to action in [ ], and with the same platform and officers renewed the work with added determination for a final victory. for this interesting chapter we are indebted to mrs. may wright sewall, who has patiently gathered and arranged this material, and laid it, as a free gift, at our feet. those who have ever attempted to unearth the most trivial incidents of history, will appreciate the difficulties she must have encountered in this work, as well as in condensing all she desired to say within the very limited space allowed to this chapter. mrs. sewall writes: the first convention after the war, june , , , was held in masonic hall, and continued two days. the indianapolis _journal_ devoted several columns daily to the proceedings, closing with the following complimentary editorial: as a deliberative assembly it compared favorably with the best that have ever been conducted by our own sex. to say that there was as much order, propriety and dignity as usually characterizes male conventions of a political character is but to put the matter in a very mild shape. whatever was said, was said with earnestness and for a purpose, and while several times the debate was considerably spiced, the ladies never fell below their brothers in sound sense. we have yet to see any sensible man who attended the convention whose esteem for woman has been lowered, while very many have been converted by the captivating speeches of mrs. cole, mrs. swank and mrs. livermore. in the _sentinel_ of june , , an editorial appeared whose evident object was to reässure the public mind and to restore to peace and confidence any souls that might have been agitated during the convention by so unusual and novel an exercise as thought. the nature of the sedative potion thus editorially administered to an alarmed public may be inferred from this sample: no amount of human ingenuity can change the arrangement of nature. the history of the race furnishes the evidence that the species of man and woman are opposite. the distinctions that now exist have existed from the time that the "lord god caused a deep sleep to fall upon adam," and said: "thy desire shall be to thy husband; he shall rule over thee." this brief story comprises the history of man and woman, and defines the relations which shall ever exist between them. when woman ceases to be womanly, woman's rights associations become her fitting province. the editor of the _journal_ at that time was colonel w. r. holloway, the present very liberal manager of the _times_. the editor of the _sentinel_ was joseph j. bingham. the state was then republican, and as the organ of that party the _journal_ probably had the larger number of readers. the state woman suffrage association convened in indianapolis, june , , and held a two days' meeting. the _journal_ contains, as usual, a full report. the _sentinel's_ tone is quite different from that which distinguished its utterances the preceding year. its reports are full and perfectly respectful. this convention is memorable as that at which the indiana society became auxiliary to the american association. the records show that this union was accomplished by a majority of _one_, the ballot on the proposition standing for and against. as soon as the union was thus effected the following was adopted: _resolved_, that this association is in favor of the union of the national and american associations as soon as practicable. on the same day judge bradwell of chicago submitted a resolution favoring the union of the two national societies, which was laid on the table. of the annual meetings from to the indianapolis papers contain no reports, save the briefest mention of those of - . from to short but fair reports may be found. since , the conventions of this society[ ] have been held in different towns throughout the state.[ ] the minutes show that the propriety of withdrawing from the american association and remaining independent was brought before the convention of , under the head of _special business_; that it was decided to postpone action until the next annual meeting, and to make the matter of withdrawal a special order of business, but it does not appear that from that time the subject has ever been broached. at the annual meeting of , held at a time when preparations for celebrating our national centennial were in progress, the following resolution was passed: _resolved_, that we congratulate the voters of the united states on their enjoyment of the right of suffrage, and commend them for the great centenary celebration of the establishment of that right, which they are about to have. but we do earnestly protest against the action of the indiana legislature by which it made appropriations for that purpose of moneys collected by taxing women's property. in november, , the ninth annual meeting of the american association was held in indianapolis, by invitation from the state society.[ ] in the month of march, , some very mysterious whisperings advertised the fact that there was to be a meeting of the ladies of indianapolis known to have "advanced ideas" concerning their sex. in response to a secretly circulated summons, there met at no. circle hall nine women and one man, who, though not mutually acquainted, were the most courageous of those to whom the call had come. probably each of the ten often thinks with amusement of the suspicious glances with which they regarded one another. as a participant, i may say that the company had the air of a band of conspirators. had we convened consciously to plot the ruin of our domestic life, which opponents predict as the result of woman's enfranchisement, we could not have looked more guilty or have moved about with more unnatural stealth. that demeanor i explain as an unconscious tribute to what "madam grundy" would have thought had she known of our conclave. at that meeting one point only was definitely settled; which was, whether the new society should take a name which would conceal from the public its primary object, or one which would clearly advertise it. the honesty of the incipient organization was vindicated by its deciding upon the latter. i do not record in detail the initiative steps of this flourishing society in order to awaken in its members any humiliating memories, but because the fact that ten conscientious, upright persons could thus secretly convene in an obscure room, and that such a question could agitate them for more than two hours, is the best indication that could be given of the conservative atmosphere which enveloped indianapolis, even as late as . the next meeting was appointed for april , at the residence of mrs. zerelda g. wallace. notices were inserted in the papers, and in the meantime some pains was taken to secure not only the presence of persons who had not previously been identified with any reform movement, but also that of some well-known friends. it was attended by twenty-six men and women, representing various religious and political parties, most of whom enjoyed the advantages of education and social position, and resulted in a permanent organization under a constitution whose first article is as follows: this organization shall be known as the indianapolis equal suffrage society, and shall consist of such men and women as are willing to labor for the attainment of equal rights at the ballot-box for all citizens on the same conditions. on the principle that that which has some restrictions is most desired, membership was at first hedged about with certain formalities. while most reform organizations welcome as members all who will pay their annual fee and subscribe to the constitution, this society requires that the names of candidates be presented at one meeting and formally balloted on at the next, thus providing a month for consideration. since this society[ ] has held forty-three public meetings, and distributed throughout the city several thousand tracts. at intervals the society has engaged speakers from abroad. miss anthony gave her "bread and ballot" to a large audience in masonic hall, and many date their conversion from that evening. mrs. stanton has appeared twice under the auspices of the society. on the first occasion it secured for her the court-room in which the upper house of the general assembly was then sitting. tickets of admission were sent to all the members of both houses. her lecture on "the education of girls," made a profound impression. on her second appearance she spoke in the first christian church, on "boys." for miss frances e. willard, robert's park church was obtained, and thus suffrage principles were presented to a new class of minds. mrs. j. ellen foster spoke on "women before the law," in the criminal-court room. the society made every effort to secure the general attendance of members of the bar. before one of its regular meetings in the christian chapel, mrs. louise v. boyd read a very bright paper on "a cheerful outlook for women." at its present parlors, mrs. harbert delivered an address for the benefit of the suffrage campaign in oregon. in may, , this society invited the national association to hold its annual convention in indianapolis. entertainment was provided for eighty-seven delegates, besides the friends who came from different parts of the state. in park theatre, the largest auditorium of the city, eloquent voices for two days pleaded the cause of freedom. the reports in the city press were full and fair, and the editorials commendatory. the fact that the _sentinel_ contained a long editorial advocating the doctrines of equal suffrage, shows the progress since . the evening after the convention a reception was given to the members and friends of the national association in the spacious parlors of mrs. john c. new. from its origin the indianapolis society has held aloof from all formal alliances. thus it has been free to work with individuals and organizations that have woman suffrage for their aim. it habitually sends delegates to the state annual conventions, and in those of the american and national it is usually represented. in december, , the society issued a letter, secured its publication in the leading papers of the state, and addressed a copy to each member of the general assembly, in order to advise that body that there were women ready to watch their official careers and to demand from them the consideration of just claims: indianapolis, dec. , . dear sir: the equal suffrage society of indianapolis, in behalf of citizens of indiana who believe that liberty to exercise the right of suffrage should neither be granted nor denied on the ground of sex, would respectfully notify you that during the next session of the state legislature it will invite the attention of that body to the consideration of what is popularly called "the suffrage question." the society will petition the legislature to devote a day to hearing, from representative advocates of woman suffrage, appeals and arguments for such legislation as may be necessary to abolish the present unjust restriction of the elective franchise to one sex, and to secure to women the free exercise of the ballot, under the same conditions and such only, as are imposed upon men. to this matter we ask your unprejudiced attention, that when our cause shall be brought before the legislature its advocates may have your coöperation. very respectfully yours, zerelda g. wallace, _president_. may wright sewall, _secretary_, by order of the equal suffrage society of indianapolis. the society has lately taken a new departure, giving lunches, parties and literary entertainments, to which invitations[ ] are issued, by the officers, thus becoming a factor in the social life of the city. the invitation, programme, and press comments of its last entertainment indicate the character of these reünions, and the esteem in which they are held. these occasions have been the means of securing for the society greater popular favor than it has hitherto enjoyed. at the conclusion of the formal toasts, the president called upon gov. albert g. porter, who had come in a few minutes before. he thanked the meeting for its reference to what he had done for the cause of equal suffrage, and announced that while he remained governor of indiana he would do all he could for the rights of women.[ ] he referred to the progress made, and to the refining influence that women would have on political matters. of all the social entertainments given, none has secured more converts than the celebration of susan b. anthony's sixty-second birthday. the arrangements for this event were placed in the hands of mrs. mary e.n. carey and mrs. may wright sewall. the following account, prepared by the author of this chapter for the indianapolis _times_ of february , , will sufficiently indicate the spirit of the occasion: the anniversary was a unique event. a number of invitations were issued to citizens interested in suffrage who were not formally connected with the association. as a result, on the evening of february , there were gathered in the spacious parlors of dr. carey's hospitable home, one hundred and fifty persons representing the best circles of indianapolis society. a portrait of miss anthony rested upon an easel, conspicuously placed, that all might see the serene face of the woman who for thirty years has preached the gospel of political freedom, and expounded the constitution of the united states in favor of justice to all. the programme was somewhat informal, all but two of the speeches[ ] being spontaneous expressions of admiration for miss anthony and her fidelity to principle. there were two regrets connected with the programme. these were caused by the absence of gov. porter and hon. schuyler colfax; but the gracious presence of mrs. colfax was a reminder of her husband's fidelity to our cause, and mrs. porter's sympathetic face was a scarcely less potent support than would have been a speech from the governor. just before the close of the meeting the following telegram was sent to miss anthony: _susan b. anthony, tenafly, new jersey_. the indianapolis equal suffrage society, in meeting assembled with many friends sends you greeting on this anniversary occasion, in recognition of your devotion to the cause of women. may wright sewall, _secretary_. to report the details of this social gathering would be wearisome, but some reflections to which the occasion gave rise may be permitted. one lady upon seeing the invitation to the meeting exclaimed: "this little bit of paper is an indication of a higher civilization than i supposed we had yet entered upon. until recently it has been like the betrayal of a secret for a woman, particularly for an unmarried woman, to have a birthday." this exclamation but expresses a historical fact and a prophetic truth. so long as woman's only value depended upon physical charms, the years which destroyed them were deemed enemies. the fact that an unmarried woman's sixty-second birthday can be celebrated, shows the dawning of the idea that the loss of youth and its fresh beauty may be more than compensated by the higher charms of intellectual attainments. the time will never come when women, or men either, will delight in the possession of crows-feet, gray hairs and wrinkles; but the time will come, aye, and now is, when they will view these blemishes as but a petty price to pay for the joy of new knowledge, for the deeper joy of closer contact with humanity, and for the deepest joy of worthy work well done. the first legislative hearing since , was that granted january, , to miss amanda way and mrs. emma b. swank. the two houses received them in joint session, the lieutenant-governor and speaker of the house occupying the speaker's desk. mr. william cumback introduced miss way, who read the following memorial: _mr. president and gentlemen_--we come before you as a committee appointed by the woman suffrage association to memorialize your honorable body in behalf of the women of indiana. we ask you to take the necessary steps to so amend the state constitution as to secure to women the right of suffrage. we believe the extension of the full rights of citizenship to all the people of the state, is in accordance with the fundamental principles of a just government. we believe that as woman has an equal interest with man in all public questions, she should therefore have an equal voice in their decision. we believe that as woman's life, prosperity and happiness are equally dependent upon the order and morality of society, she should have an equal voice in the laws regulating her surroundings. we believe that as woman is human, she has human needs and rights, and as she is held responsible to law, she should have an equal voice in electing her law-makers. we believe that the interests of man and woman are equally improved in securing to both equal education, a place in the trades and professions, equal honor and dignity everywhere; and as the first step to this end is equality before the law, we, your petitioners, ask that you extend to the women of indiana the right of suffrage, and thus enable one-half the citizens of the state to protect themselves in their most sacred rights. miss way spoke briefly to the points in the memorial, urging the legislators to give to women the same chances for improvement, the same means for defense, and the same weapons for protection that they have secured to themselves. mrs. swank also made a logical and eloquent speech. no action was taken by the legislature. on january , , the two houses of the general assembly convened in joint session, to receive petitions from the "temperance women of indiana," who were on this occasion represented by mrs. zerelda g. wallace, mrs. avaline and mrs. robinson, who had been appointed by the state temperance association. mrs. wallace read a memorial and stated that it was signed by , women, and then argued its various points and pleaded for the action of the "honorable body." mrs. avaline and mrs. robinson followed in briefer, but not less earnest appeals. the only answer elicited by these ladies was the assurance made by dr. thompson, a member of the senate, that he and his colleagues were there, "not to represent their _consciences_, but to represent their _constituents_," whose will was directly opposed to the petition offered. on january , , a resolution to the effect that the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution of the united states give the ballot to women, came to its third reading in the lower house. on that occasion, mrs. wallace and dr. mary f. thomas represented the women of indiana, and mrs. mary a. livermore was present to lend the assistance of her oratory. the speeches created a profound impression, but neither native nor foreign eloquence was able to secure the requisite vote. when the ayes and nays were called, the resolution was lost-- to . on february , , once again in joint session, the general assembly received a committee appointed by the state association and the equal suffrage society of indianapolis, to support woman's claim to the ballot. mrs. wallace, dr. mary f. thomas, mary e. haggart and amy e. dunn, each spoke at length on the points clearly set forth in the memorial. whatever arguments could reach the intellect, whatever could touch the sensibilities, were urged by these ladies on that occasion, and the gentlemen did not fail to compliment their abilities, although the exercise of them had no palpable effect upon legislation. before the general assembly of - , had convened, it was known by its members-elect that the women of the state would be a constant factor in their deliberations. they had been notified of this intention by the circular letter from the city society, and by the published fact that the state association had already appointed representatives, whose duty it should be to secure a hearing for such an amendment to the constitution of the state as should enable women to vote. as soon as the legislature assembled, committees on women's claims were appointed in both branches; simeon p. yancey being the chairman of the senate, and j. m. furnas of the house, committee. two points had been determined upon. these were to try to secure the passage of a bill which should immediately authorize women to vote for presidential electors, and such an amendment to the constitution of the state as should enable women to exercise the right of suffrage on all questions. in connection with the first of these points the name of helen m. gougar deserves especial mention. at the washington convention of the american association, mr. blackwell suggested that the states try to secure the electoral ballot for women, and as soon as mrs. gougar returned she urged the members of the legislature to take the matter up. at her suggestion, dr. mary f. thomas addressed a letter to w. d. wallace, esq., a prominent lawyer of lafayette, asking him if, in his opinion, the extension of the electoral ballot to women would be incompatible with the present constitution of the state; in reply to this mr. wallace set forth an exhaustive argument,[ ] proving the entire constitutionality of such an act. five thousand were printed and gratuitously distributed throughout the state. the committee on women's claims in both houses met at sundry times with members of the suffrage association to discuss the merits of these bills and to become familiar with the arguments. during the regular session mrs. wallace and mrs. gougar spent two consecutive weeks in attendance at the legislature, watching the attitude of the different members and lobbying, in the good sense of that word. the immediate object was to secure the passage of the electoral bill, for that once gained, and women by act of the legislature made voters upon the most important question, it was reasonably thought that the passage of the amendment would be thereby facilitated. a hearing was granted on february , , and the house took a recess to listen to the speeches of the women appointed by the state association, mrs. haggart and mrs. gougar. the next day, february , the senate afforded a similar opportunity, and the same ladies addressed that body. in addition to the faithful exertions of mrs. wallace and mrs. gougar, and the public hearing granted by both houses, much quiet but most effective work was done with individual members. to no one is more due than to paulina t. merritt, whose reputation for intelligent charity is widely known. mrs. merritt was a frequent attendant upon the sessions of the legislature and her untiring efforts in private conversations with members were invaluable. in spite of all these influences, when the electoral bill was brought to a vote upon its third reading, it was lost on the ground that it was unconstitutional. at the special session all efforts centered upon the bill for amending section , of article ii., of the state constitution, so as to give women the right to vote in all elections. mrs. wallace and mrs. gougar gave another week to the work, and on april the bill was brought to a vote in the house, and passed--ayes , nays ; in the senate, on april , it also passed--ayes , nays ; and so the first entrenchment was won. no one believed that the bill to amend the constitution would have passed had it not been preceded by the battle over the electoral bill and the consequent education of the general assembly in regard to this great question of political rights. immediately a conference was held as to the proper manner of expressing our gratitude to the committees on women's political claims. it was at first thought the recognition should come from the equal suffrage society, but it was finally considered wiser to have a reception given the honorable body by a voluntary committee of women who should act quite independently of any society.[ ] the passage of the amendment by the legislature of gave the advocates of our cause a common objective point, and the efforts of all during the two years immediately succeeding were directed toward securing the election of such a legislature as might be relied upon to repass the bill in . the state society at its annual meeting enlarged its central committee and instructed it to arrange meetings in various parts of the state, to send out speakers, and to organize local societies.[ ] this committee prepared a letter, for general distribution, indicating to the women of the state their duty in the premises, and suggesting various lines of work. blanks for a special petition to the general assembly were sent to every township, which were industriously circulated and numerously signed. in the spring of the officers of the state society issued a call for a mass-meeting, to which "all women within the boundaries of the state who believed in equal suffrage, or were interested in the fate of the pending amendment," were invited. the meeting was held on may , at the grand opera house, and the attendance exceeded the most extravagant hopes of those who had called it. if any came to scoff, they remained to participate with pride in this remarkable convention, which is yet frequently referred to as the largest and most impressive meeting ever held in the hoosier capital. the call had invited those who could not attend the meeting to manifest their sympathy by sending postal-cards to the corresponding secretary. these were received in such numbers for several days that mrs. adkinson and the half-dozen clerks appointed to assist her in counting them, unable to bring in a full report, announced at the close of the evening session, that having reached , , they desisted from further enumeration. no effort was spared to make the demonstration truly representative of the suffrage interest throughout the state. all the sessions were presided over by mrs. sewall, who called the roll by congressional districts, some one of whose representatives responded. the ease and dignity with which women, many of whom had never spoken before any audience save their own neighbors gathered in sunday-school or prayer-meeting, reported the status of their respective communities on the suffrage question, was matter of astonishment as well as of admiration.[ ] so exceptional in all regards was the conduct of the meeting that the papers united in expressing surprise at the strength of the suffrage sentiment in the state as indicated by the mass-convention. this meeting of may , , struck the key on which the friends in the state spoke during the summer and fall of that year. large numbers of societies were organized and numerous meetings held; the immediate object being to secure the election of a legislature that should vote to submit the amendment passed by the general assembly of to the decision of what is mis-named "a popular vote." the degree to which this action influenced the politicians of the state cannot be accurately known, but we are compelled to believe that it was one of the causes which induced the republicans in convention assembled to declare for the "submission of the pending amendments." the republican state convention was held august , , and the first plank in the platform reads thus: _resolved, first_--that reposing trust in the people as the fountain of power, we demand that the pending amendments to the constitution shall be agreed to and submitted by the next legislature to the voters of the state for their decision thereon. these amendments were not partisan in their origin, and are not so in character, and should not be made so in voting upon them. recognizing the fact that the people are divided in sentiment in regard to the propriety of their adoption or rejection, and cherishing the right of private judgment, we favor the submission of these amendments at a special election, so that there may be an intelligent decision thereon, uninfluenced by partisan issues. at the mass-meeting of may , mrs. p. t. merritt of indianapolis, mrs. m. e. m. price of kokomo, and mrs. j. c. ridpath of greencastle were appointed as delegates to the different political state conventions. as a republican, mrs. merritt was received with great courtesy and accorded time to speak. her address was characterized by sound logic and dignity of expression, and was reported in full with the rest of the proceedings of the republican convention. as a prohibition amendment had also been passed by the legislature of , the interests of suffrage and prohibition in the campaign of were identical. the woman's christian temperance union of indiana sent mrs. helen m. gougar to the republican state convention, by which she was respectfully received and which she ably addressed. the advocates of suffrage did not content themselves during the summer of by merely holding suffrage meetings proper, and addressing political bodies, but they sought every opportunity to reach the ears of the people for whatever purpose convened. the equal suffrage society received from the managers of the acton camp-meeting a place on their programme; accordingly mrs. haggart and mrs. gougar, as delegates, addressed immense audiences. both of these ladies labored indefatigably, discussing the question of submission of the amendments before sunday-school conventions, teachers' associations, agricultural fairs, picnics and assemblies of every name. others rendered less conspicuous, but not less earnest or constant service; and when the political campaign proper opened, it was evident that every candidate would firmly and unreservedly answer the challenge: "submission, or non-submission?" for the first time in the history of indiana, women were employed by party managers to address political meetings and advocate the election of candidates. mrs. gougar addressed republican rallies at various points; she and mrs. haggart together made a canvass of tippecanoe county on behalf of the republican candidate for representative in the general assembly, captain w. de witt wallace, who was committed not only to the submission of the amendments, but also to the advocacy of both woman suffrage and prohibition. the animosity of the liquor league was aroused, and this powerful association threw itself against submission. the result was the election of a legislature containing so large a democratic majority that there was no ground for hoping that the amendments would be re-passed and sent to the voters of the state for final adoption or rejection. though the submission of the amendments was one of the chief issues in the campaign, many candidates who pledged themselves on the ground that they involved questions which it was the privilege of the voters to decide, reserved their own opinions upon their merits. there were, however, candidates who openly espoused woman suffrage _per se_.[ ] knowing that a majority of the members of the general assembly were pledged to vote down the pending amendments, the friends tacitly agreed to maintain a dignified silence toward that body concerning them. the suffrage society at the capital, however, appointed a committee[ ] to watch the interests of woman in the legislature; and through its influence, special committees on women's claims were obtained in both houses. disappointed by the result in the legislature of , but not discouraged, the society continued to labor with undiminished zeal, and sought every legitimate opportunity to prove woman a factor in state politics. several weeks prior to the republican nominating convention at chicago, june , , this society appointed committees to correspond with each of the gentlemen prominently named as candidates for nomination to the office of president, and also appointed committees[ ] to press upon the attention of the different parties the political claims of women. the society instructed each committee to carry on its work according to the united judgment of its members and continue it until the close of the legislative session of . the committee appointed to communicate with the republicans addressed a letter to each of the thirty delegates sent by indiana to the nominating convention at chicago. they also addressed letters to the republican state central committee, and through the courtesy of mr. john overmeyer, chairman, they were given an opportunity to appear before the committee on resolutions. mrs. sewall presented a resolution, and in a brief speech urged its adoption and incorporation into the platform of the republican party. mrs. merritt and mrs. sewall were offered an opportunity to speak before the convention, which they declined in the belief that it was a greater gain to the cause to appear before the resolution and platform committee than before the convention itself. to what an appalling degree women were discriminated against by the law prior to , may be inferred from subsequent legislative enactments. at almost every sitting of the biënnial legislature, since , some important change will be observed. in was passed the following: an act _to enlarge the legal capacity of married women whose husbands are insane, and to enable them to contract as if they were unmarried._ section . be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of indiana: that all married women, or those who may hereafter be married, whose husbands are or may be insane, are, during the continuance of such insanity, hereby enabled and authorized to make and to execute all such contracts, and to be contracted with in relation to their separate property, as they could if they were unmarried, and they may sue and be sued as if they were _sole_. the legislature of was undisturbed by any question concerning women. in the legislature discriminated against women by the passage of a very long act, prescribing the manner in which enumerations of _white male citizens_ shall be made; thus implying that a _white male citizen_ is an honorable and important person, whose existence is to be noted with due care; with a care that distinguishes him equally above the _white female_ and the _black male_ citizen, and in effect places these two unenumerated divisions of human beings into one class. another act of reäffirmed an act of which prescribed the classes of persons capable of making a will, from which married women were excluded. [illustration: may wright sewall] the legislature of passed an act in regard to conveyance of lands by wives of persons of unsound mind, which read as follows: section . be it enacted by the general assembly of indiana: that in cases where the guardian of any person of unsound mind, under the direction of any court of competent jurisdiction has made, or may hereafter make, sale of any lands of such person of unsound mind, the wife of such person of unsound mind may by her separate deed release and convey all her interest in and title to such land, and her deed so made shall thereafter debar her from all claim to such land, and shall have the same effect on her rights as if her husband had been of sound mind and she had joined with such husband in the execution of such conveyance. in , an act passed by the legislature of , providing for the settlement of a decedent's estate, was so amended as to provide that the widow might select articles to the value of $ , or receive the first $ derived from the sale, or in case it was worth no more than $ , might hold it. in the amendment of was further amended so that in case the personal property was less than $ the deficit could be a lien on the real estate, to be settled with other judgments and mortgages. in the possible ability of women to serve the state officially was recognized by the passage of the following bill: section . be it enacted by the general assembly of indiana: that women are hereby declared to be eligible to any office, the election to which is or shall be vested in the general assembly of this state; or the appointment to which is or shall be vested in the governor thereof. sec. . the foregoing shall not include women who shall labor under any disability which may prevent them from binding themselves by an official bond. the legislature of also passed an act regulating the liquor traffic, in which it is formally provided that a wife shall have the same right to sue, to control the suit, and to control the sum recovered by the suit, as a _feme sole_. in an act passed the general assembly making it impossible to sell real property in which a woman has, by virtue of her marriage; an inchoate right, for less than four-ninths of its appraised value: and also providing that upon the sale of any piece or aggregate of pieces of real property not exceeding $ , , the wife has her absolute right; and moreover providing that in case of a judicial sale, the wife's inchoate interests become absolute, and she may demand a partition. in the general assembly passed an act enabling married women whose husbands are insane to sell and to convey real-estate belonging to such married women, in the same way as if _femes soles_. when the act for establishing a female prison passed the legislature of , it provided that the board managing its affairs should consist of three men, who should be assisted by an advisory board composed of one man and two women. by the legislature of this section was so amended as to make the managing board consist of women exclusively, and the advisory board was abolished.[ ] of all the changes effected in the statutory law of indiana since , the following is the most important and may be regarded, so far as women are concerned, the measure of the highest legislative justice thus far attained in any state. this bill was prepared by addison c. harris, then representing indianapolis in the state senate, and was approved march , : an act _concerning married women--approved march , :_ sec. .--be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of indiana: a married woman may bargain, sell, assign and transfer her separate personal property the same as if she were _sole_. sec. .--a married woman may carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or service on her sole and separate account. the earnings and profits of any married woman accruing from her trade, business, services or labor, other than labor for her husband or family, shall be her sole and separate property. sec. .--a married woman may enter into any contract in reference to her personal estate, trade, business, labor or service, and the management and improvement of her separate real property, the same as if she were _sole_; and her separate estate, real and personal, shall be liable therefor on execution or other judicial process. sec. .--no conveyance or contract made by a married woman for the sale of her lands or any interest therein, other than leases for a term not exceeding three years, and mortgages on lands to secure the purchase money of such lands, shall be valid, unless her husband shall join therein. provided, however, that if she shall have attempted to convey her real estate or shall have agreed to convey the same, and shall have received the whole or any part of the consideration therefor, the person paying such consideration, or the person for whose benefit the same was paid, shall have the right to sue and recover judgment therefor, and the same may be enforced against the property of such married woman. sec. .--a married woman shall be bound by the covenants of the title in a deed of conveyance of her real property. sec. .--a married woman may bring and maintain an action in her own name against any person or body corporate for damages for any injury to her person or character, the same as if she were _sole_; and the money recovered shall be her separate property, and her husband in such case shall not be liable for costs. sec. .--whenever the husband causes repairs or improvements to be made on the real property of the wife, with her knowledge and consent thereto in writing, delivered to the contractor or person performing the labor or furnishing the material, she shall alone be liable for material furnished or labor done. sec. .--a husband shall not be liable for any debts contracted by the wife in carrying on any trade, labor or business on her sole and separate account, nor for improvements made by her authority on her separate real property. sec. .--whenever a judgment is recovered against a married woman, her separate property may be sold on execution to satisfy the same, as in other cases. provided, however, that her wearing apparel and articles of personal adornment purchased by her, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value, and all such jewelry, ornaments, books, works of art and _virtu_, and other such effects for personal or household use as may have been given to her as presents, gifts and keep-sakes, shall not be subject to execution. and provided further, that she shall hold as exempt, except for the purchase money therefor, other property to the amount of three hundred dollars to be set apart and appraised in the manner provided by law for exemption of property. sec. .--a married woman shall not mortgage or in any manner encumber her separate property acquired by descent, devise or gift, as a security for the debt or liability of her husband or any other person. the legislature of enacted the following, which is really a sequence of the property-rights statute of : a married woman may sue alone when: _first_--the action concerns her own property. _second_--when the action is between herself and her husband. but in no case shall she be required to sue or defend by guardian or next friend, unless she be under twenty-one years. it further enacted, making it section , to act , that: when a husband or father has deserted his family, or is imprisoned, the wife or mother may prosecute or defend in his name any action which he might have prosecuted or defended, and shall have the same powers and rights therein as he might have had. the legislature of also passed the following: an act _to authorize the election of women to school offices_: sec. .--be it enacted by the general assembly of indiana, that any woman, married or single, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and possessing the qualifications prescribed for men, shall be eligible to any office under the general or special school laws of the state. sec. .--that any woman elected or appointed to any office under the provisions of this act, before she enters upon the discharge of the duties of her office, shall qualify and give bond as required by law; and such bond shall be binding upon her and her securities. the following, enacted by this same legislature of , would indicate that fidelity to his domestic obligations is not even yet esteemed in man as a virtue of high order; the value attached to the fidelity can be measured by the penalty incurred by infidelity, which is thus stated: whoever without cause deserts his wife or children, and leaves wife and child or children as a charge upon any county of this state, shall be fined not more than $ nor less than $ . as has been indicated in another connection, it was the legislature of which distinguished itself by passing a bill for amending section of article ii. of the state constitution so as to give women the right to vote in all elections. the legislature of did nothing to further ameliorate the legal condition of women; and the highest legal rights enjoyed by women of indiana are indicated in the foregoing recital of legislative action upon the subject from to inclusive. for some years after public schools were established in indiana, women had no recognition. i am told by a reliable gentleman, dr. r. t. brown, who served from to as examiner in one of the most advanced counties of the commonwealth, that during that period no woman ever applied to him for a license to teach, and that up to very few were employed in the public schools. at that time it was permitted women to teach "subscription" schools during the vacations, for which purpose the use of the district school-house was frequently granted. it was by demonstrating their capacity in this unobtrusive use of holidays, that women obtained employment in the regular schools. the tables show that in there were , men and , women employed in the primary schools, and men and women in the high schools. from that time up to , owing to the war, the number of men decreased while that of women rapidly increased. the tables for that year show , men and , women in the schools. the number of men employed in was , , of women, , . while the very best places are held by men, the majority of the second-rate places are filled by women, and men fill a majority of the lowest places. the average daily wages received by men engaged in the public schools in was $ . , while the average daily wages of women was $ . . of the twenty-six academies, colleges and universities, all are, with two notable exceptions--hanover and wabash--open to women. of these, butler, at irvington, formerly known as the northwestern christian university, was the first to admit women to a "female course," which its managers arranged to meet the needs of the female mind. in its laudable endeavor to adapt its requirements to this intermediate class of beings, the university substituted music for mathematics, and french for greek. few, however, availed themselves of this course, and it was utterly rejected by demia butler, a daughter of the founder of the institution, who entered it in , and graduated from what was then known as the male course, in , thus winning the right to be remembered as the first woman in indiana to demonstrate the capacity of her sex to cope with the classics and higher mathematics. from that time the "female course" became gradually less popular, until it was discarded. one after another, private and denominational schools have fallen into line, until nearly all of them are open to women without humiliating conditions. up to the indiana university exhibited the anomaly of a great institution of learning supported by the state, and regarding itself as the crown of the public-school system, free to but one-half of the children of the commonwealth. since that date it has been open equally to both sexes in all three of its departments--the state normal school, located at terre haute, the agricultural college, located at lafayette and commonly known as purdue university, and the state university proper, including literary and scientific departments located at bloomington. of this last branch, per cent. are women. that there is no longer any discrimination in these higher institutions of learning is not true. girls must always feel that they are regarded as belonging to a subordinate class, wherever women are not found in the faculty and board of managers. the depressing influence of their absence in superior positions cannot be measured. very few women are found in college faculties in indiana, and none on boards of trustees. those most conspicuous in ability are mrs. sarah a. oren,[ ] who, having served two successive terms as state librarian, was called from that position to fill a chair at purdue university, where she remained several years; miss catharine merrill, professor of english literature in butler university, who throughout her term of service from to enjoyed the deserved reputation of being one of the strongest members of the faculty;[ ] and miss rebecca i. thompson, who is professor of mathematics at franklin college, the leading baptist school in the state. the women occupying these conspicuous positions are all identified with the suffrage movement; professor thompson, of franklin, is the president of the johnson county suffrage association. miss n. cropsey has served the cause of public education in indianapolis in some capacity for twenty years, and has for several years been superintendent of the primary schools, a place which she fills with acknowledged ability. miss cropsey is another living denial of the common assertion, that only half-cultured and ill-paid women want the ballot. of the four medical colleges in indianapolis, two admit women and two exclude them. no theological school in the state receives women, nor does the only law school, which is located at indianapolis; but its former president, hon. james b. black, told me that it was ready to receive them upon application. formerly, many questions now decided by the board of trustees of each school district, were directly settled by the people themselves at the annual school meeting. for instance, the teacher for the coming term was elected from among the candidates for that place; the salary to be paid, the length of term, the location of the school-house, were all questions to be decided by ballot. i have reliable authority for the assertion that in some parts of the state, as early as , widows, and wives whose husbands were necessarily absent from the school meetings, voted upon these questions. during the years of the war this practice became very common, but fell into disuse upon the return of peace. there are many physicians in indiana enjoying the merited esteem of their respective communities and having a lucrative practice. the most notable example of success in this profession is dr. mary f. thomas of richmond.[ ] another living testimony to woman's right in the medical profession is dr. rachel swain of indianapolis, whose patrons are among the first families of the city. by zealous devotion to her profession she has secured the respect and social recognition of the community in which she moves. as an avowed friend of suffrage, whose word in season is never lacking, dr. swain carries a knowledge of our principles into circles where it would otherwise slowly penetrate. dr. mary wilhite of crawfordsville ranks with the best physicians of that city. in her practice she has gained a competence for herself and disseminated among her patients a knowledge of hygienic laws that has improved the health and the morals of the community to which she has ministered. she, too, advocates political equality for woman. dr. sarah stockton of lafayette settled in indianapolis in the autumn of , and was soon, on the petition of leading citizens, including both men and women, appointed as physician to the woman's department of the hospital for the insane. her professional labors at the hospital and in general practice indicate both learning and skill. in november, dr. marie haslep was elected attendant physician at the woman's reformatory, a state institution having some four hundred inmates, where her services have been characterized by faithfulness and caution. elizabeth eaglesfield, a graduate of the law department of michigan university, was admitted to the bar of marion county in the spring of , and is the first woman to open an independent law-office in this state. very few women have served in the ministry. the only one who ever secured any prominence in this profession was miss prudence leclerc, who was pastor of the universalist church in madison in - , and served parishes at different points in south-eastern indiana until her death in . miss leclerc frequently spoke at suffrage conventions, and called meetings wherever she preached, instructing the people in the philosophy of this reform. to obtain accurate statistics as to the professions and industries is extremely difficult, as the year was the first in which the state considered women at all. that year the head of the bureau of statistics sent to each town and county commissioner certain sets of questions relative to women's occupations. the grace with which they were received, the seriousness with which they were considered, the consequent accuracy with which they were answered, may be inferred from the fact that one trustee replied, "the women in our county are mostly engaged in baby-tending," and that his response was generally copied by the press as a manifestation of brilliant wit. although some commissioners felt their time too valuable to spend in gathering information relative to the work of women, from the reports of those who seriously undertook to canvass this matter, a table has been arranged and published, which, though incomplete, must be regarded, both in variety of occupations and in the numbers of women registered, as a most favorable showing for this western state. the total number of women engaged outside of home, in non-domestic and money-making industries, is , ; the number of industries represented by them is . add to these the number of teachers, and we have over , women in the trades and professions denied the ballot, that sole weapon pledged by a republic to every citizen for the protection of person and property. of the men and women prominent in this movement since , whose names are not mentioned in the first volume, the one meriting the first place is beyond doubt dr. r. t. brown of indianapolis. he has the longest record as an advocate of suffrage to be found in the state. as a speaker in the first harrison campaign ( ) he advocated suffrage without regard to sex. engaged as a teacher or inspector in the public schools in the early years, dr. brown argued the adaptation of women to the teacher's profession, and insisted that salaries should be independent of sex; and in many individual cases where he had authority, women secured this recognition before it was generally admitted even in theory to be just. when, in , the northwestern christian (now butler) university was founded, dr. brown, as one of the trustees, advocated coëducation; in he took the chair of natural science, and in that branch taught classes of both sexes until . in he was active in organizing the indiana medical college on the basis of equal rights to women, and filled the chair of chemistry until ; in he was appointed to the chair of physiology, which he held until , and then resigned because the board of trustees determined to exclude women. this proves that dr. brown's devotion to the doctrine of equal rights is of that rare degree which will bear the crucial test of official and pecuniary sacrifice. he has been an active member of the state and city suffrage associations from the beginning. the name of mary e. haggart first appears as a member of the state association at the convention held in indianapolis in . in , mr. hadley made a speech in the state senate against woman suffrage, to which mrs. haggart wrote an able reply which was published and widely commented on by the press of the state. her next notable effort was in a discussion through several numbers of the _ladies' own magazine_, published by mrs. cora bland, where she completely refuted the objections urged by her opponent, a literary gentleman of some note. mrs. haggart has addressed the legislatures of her own state, of massachusetts, rhode island and kentucky, as well as the judiciary committee of the house of representatives at the hearing granted the national association. she seldom speaks without the most careful preparation, and never without manifesting abilities of the highest order. perhaps no woman in the state, as a speaker, has won higher encomiums from the press or has better deserved them. the first active step taken in suffrage by mrs. florence m. adkinson (then miss burlingame) was to call a convention in lawrenceburg. in , , she gave several lectures on suffrage and temperance in ohio, and held a series of meetings in southeastern indiana. though an acceptable speaker, it is as a writer that mrs. adkinson is best known; she is an officer in both the state and the city organizations, and in every capacity serves the cause with rare fidelity. the name of lizzie boynton of crawfordsville frequently occurs in suffrage reports between and . she was a member of the state association and a frequent speaker at its conventions. besides working in that body, she assisted in the organization of the local society at crawfordsville, wrote poems, stories, essays, and won high rank in the state in literature and reform. from mature womanhood her record as mrs. harbert belongs to illinois rather than indiana. the first time i met mrs. zerelda g. wallace she was circulating a temperance petition to present to the legislature. one day while busy on the third floor of the high-school building a fellow-teacher sent up word that a lady wished to see me. descending, i was introduced to mrs. wallace, who, in a bland way, requested me to sign the paper which she extended. never doubting that i might do so, i had taken my pen when my eye caught the words: "while we do not clamor for any additional civil or political rights." "but i do clamor," i exclaimed, and threw down the paper and pen and went back to my work, vexed in soul that i should have been dragged down three flights of stairs to see one more proof of the degree to which honorable women love to humiliate themselves before men for sweet favor's sake. mrs. wallace went forward with her work of solicitation, thinking me, no doubt, to be a very impetuous, if not impertinent, young woman. when, however, upon the presentation of her petition, whose framers had taken such care to disclaim any desire "for additional civil and political rights," mrs. wallace was startled by dr. thompson's avowal (having known the doctor, as she naïvely says, "as a christian gentleman"), that he was not there "to represent his conscience, but to obey his constituents," in her aroused soul there was that instant born the determination to become a "constituent." as soon as the hearing was at an end, mrs. wallace confessed this determination to dr. thompson, thanking him for unintentionally awakening her to a sense of woman's proper position in the republic. this change in mrs. wallace's attitude was not generally known until the following may, when the annual state temperance convention was held in indianapolis; then, in her address before that body, she avowed her conviction that it was woman's duty to seek the ballot as a means of exerting her will upon legislation. from that time mrs. wallace has neglected no opportunity to propagate suffrage doctrines, and has been most potent in influencing her temperance coädjutors to embrace these principles. earnestness and logic are mrs. wallace's abiding forces. her literary work is chiefly confined to correspondence, in which she is so faithful that it is doubtful if any man in public life in indiana can plead ignorance of the arguments in favor of suffrage. mrs. wallace has been an officer in the national, the american and the state suffrage societies, and has served the equal suffrage society of indianapolis as president most of the time since its formation. having lived in this city more than half a century, related to many men who have held high official positions, she has had an opportunity to exert a wide influence, and it may be safe to say that, by virtue of her own consecrated life, she exerts more moral power in this community than any other woman in indiana. mrs. helen m. gougar has addressed the legislatures of new york, kansas and wisconsin, besides that of her own state. as an extempore speaker she has no peer among her co-workers; her first suffrage speech was made at delphi, may, . in july, , mrs. gougar became the editor of _our herald_, a weekly which she conducted with great ability and success in the interest of the two constitutional amendments then pending. in , in an extensive lecturing tour, she addressed large audiences in washington, philadelphia, new york and albany. in the year , mrs. josephine r. nichols of illinois, and mrs. l. may wheeler of massachusetts, came to reside in indianapolis. both these ladies have lectured frequently and with marked effect in various parts of the state. i cannot close without a mention of those public men who have honored this state by their adherence to the principle of woman suffrage and thereby earned a title to the fame which will belong to the advocates of this cause in the hour of its triumph. among these hon. george w. julian is most conspicuous. referring to his services in congress, mr. julian once wrote: my opinions about woman suffrage, however, date much further back. the subject was first brought to my attention in a brief chapter on the "political non-existence of women," in miss martineau's book on "society in america," which i read in . she there pithily stated the substance of all that has since been said respecting the logic of woman's right to the ballot; and finding myself unable to answer, i accepted it. on recently referring to this chapter i find myself more impressed by its force than when i first read it. * * * my interest in anti-slavery was awakened about the same time, and i regarded it as the _previous_ question, and as less abstract and far more important and absorbing than that of suffrage for women. for the sake of the negro i accepted mr. lincoln's philosophy of "one war at a time," though always ready to own and defend my position as to woman's right to the ballot. the sincerity of mr. julian's belief in woman suffrage is proved by his repeated efforts to further the cause in the united states congress. on december , , he submitted an amendment to the constitution, guaranteeing suffrage to all united states citizens, which, as the negro had not then been enfranchised, he numbered article fifteen. on march , , he submitted the same amendment, with the exception that the words "race" and "color" were omitted; on the same day mr. julian offered a bill providing for the immediate enfranchisement of women in all the territories of the united states, thus doubling on one day his claim to the gratitude of american women. on april , , he offered another amendment, numbered article sixteen, which followed the exact form and phraseology of the fifteenth. on january , , he offered an amendment to the bill, providing a government for the district of columbia, striking out the word "male" in the section defining the right of suffrage. it is interesting to note that even so long ago that amendment received yeas against nays.[ ] the bills which mr. julian thus submitted to congress when he was a member of that body prove his constancy to a cause early espoused, his conversion to which was due to that remarkable english woman whose claims to the gratitude of her american sisters are thus enhanced. mr. julian has not worked much with the suffrage societies of his own state, but he has never failed in his repeated canvasses to utter the seasonable word. his conviction that it is the duty of the national government to take the initiative in defining the political rights of its citizens has naturally led him to present this question to the nation as represented in its congress, rather than to agitate it in the state. oliver p. morton and joseph e. mcdonald are two other names conspicuous in indiana history which occur frequently in connection with "aye" in the records which have preserved the action of every member of congress on the various amendments brought before it involving woman's political equality. albert g. porter, ex-governor of indiana, has on more than one public occasion avowed his belief in woman's equality as a citizen, and has assented to the proposition that under a republic the only sign of such equality is the ballot. ardent advocates have often thought him inexcusably reticent in expressing his convictions upon this subject, but such have learned that it is given to but few mortals to "remember those in bonds as bound with them," and no other governor of indiana has ever taken occasion to remind the general assembly of its duties to women, as governor porter habitually did. in his address of he called the attention of the legislature to the improved condition of women under the laws, pointed out disabilities still continuing, and bespoke the respectful attention of the general assembly to the women who proposed to come before it with their claims. in his biënnial message, , the governor recommended the enactment of a statute which should require that at least one of the physicians appointed to attend in the department for women in the hospital for the insane should be a woman. the whole tone of governor porter's administration was liberal toward women; he invariably implied his belief in their equality, and on one or two occasions has evinced his respect for their ability by conferring on them responsible offices. many of the leading men in the republican party, and a few in the democratic, are favorable, and while they do not labor for the enfranchisement of their sisters with the same enthusiasm which personal bondage excites, their constant influence is on the side of woman's emancipation. as to the charities conducted by indiana women, for a condensed narrative of the efficient service of mrs. l. b. wishard and miss susan fussell, i must refer readers to the account kindly prepared for me by mrs. paulina t. merritt.[ ] whether or not justified by the facts, the feeling is current that those whom the masses favor hold themselves aloof from those whom personal experience, or a sense of justice, compels to walk the stony path of reform. the _litteratéurs_ often form a sort of pseudo-intellectual aristocracy, and do not willingly affiliate with reformers, whom they are ready to assume to be less cultivated than themselves. of this weakness our literary women have not been guilty. most of them are members of the suffrage society.[ ] a system is now developing which will not only stimulate women to engage in competitive industries and secure justice in rewarding such labor, but will greatly facilitate the work of ascertaining what part women do take in the general industries of the state. indiana, being mainly agricultural, is divided into sixteen districts, each of which has organized an agricultural society. besides these there are also county societies. these organizations are composed of men and women, the latter having nominally the same powers and privileges as the former. annually the state agricultural association holds a meeting at indianapolis. this is a delegate body, consisting of representatives from the district and county societies. there is no constitutional check against sending women as delegates, though it has not hitherto been done. one chief duty of the primary convention is to elect a state board of agriculture. this board consists of sixteen members, one for each agricultural district. the managers of the woman's state fair association have called an industrial convention, whose sessions will be held at the same time that the agricultural association holds its annual meeting.[ ] if the press reflects the public, it also moulds it; and its conservative attitude is doubtless to a very considerable degree responsible for the tone of opinion which prevailed here up to recent years. papers throughout the state naturally take their cue from the party organs published at the capital, while the few papers identified with no party are wont to adapt themselves even more carefully to popular opinion upon general subjects. the citations made in the earlier part of this chapter from the _sentinel_ and the _journal_ clearly show the spirit of their management in . but it must not be inferred that the _journal_ has through all these years maintained the position occupied by it at that time. had it done so, one may reasonably believe that the women of indiana would before to-day have been enfranchised. on the contrary, that sheet has been very vacillating, speaking for or against the cause according to the principles of its managers, the paper having frequently changed hands; and until recently the principles of the same managers upon this question have been shifting; but for the last five or six years the _journal_ has been a consistent, though somewhat mild, supporter of woman suffrage. on the contrary, the _sentinel_ had been constant in its opposition, until, about eight years since, mr. shoemaker becoming the manager, it announced a sunday issue devoted to the interests of women. the pledge then made has been nobly kept, and although for a few months the _sentinel_ seemed to edit its week-day issues with a view to counteracting the possible good effect of its sunday utterances, the better spirit gradually triumphed, until at last, so far as the woman question is concerned, the paper is from sunday to saturday in harmony with itself. for some time it gave one column in each sunday issue to the control of the state central suffrage committee, and printed two hundred copies of the column for special distribution among the country papers. the _saturday herald_, established in , under the editorial management of george c. harding, deserves mention. from the outset, this paper was the advocate of woman's right to be paid for work done according to its market value, and to protect herself and her property by the ballot. perhaps the best service rendered to women by mr. harding, was that of securing in gertrude garrison as assistant editor of the _herald_. mrs. garrison is, beyond question, one of the ablest journalists indiana can boast, and the influence of her pen in modifying the popular estimate of woman's capabilities has been incalculable. from she did half the work, editorial articles, locals, sketches, and all the varieties of writing required upon a weekly paper, but at her own request her name was not announced as associate editor until . in this capacity she remained upon the _herald_ until january , , when the paper passed from mr. harding's into other hands. during her connection with the _herald_, if there was anything particularly strong in the paper, her associate received the credit. the public will not permit itself to believe a woman capable of humor, though i think mrs. garrison did as much to sustain the paper's reputation for wit as even mr. harding. a. h. dooley succeeded mr. harding as editor of the _saturday herald_, and it remained under his management a sturdy advocate of woman's enfranchisement. the _saturday review_ was established by mr. harding in october, , with mrs. garrison associate editor. upon the death of mr. harding, may , , mr. charles dennis became chief editor, mrs. garrison[ ] remaining on the staff as his assistant. the _times_ was founded in june, . from the first it devoted a column to notes on women's work. from september of that year there appeared in each saturday issue a department devoted to the interests of women, particularly to woman suffrage, under the editorial management of may wright sewall. this department reäppeared in the weekly and was thus widely circulated among country readers. the _times_ is under the management of colonel w. r. holloway. although from the first fair in its discussions of all reform questions, it did not avow itself to be an advocate of woman suffrage until the week after the public entertainment of the equal suffrage society, , when there appeared an editorial nearly one column in length, setting forth its views upon the whole subject. this editorial contained the following paragraph: as the question is likely to become a prominent theme of discussion during the next few years, the _times_ will now say that it is decidedly and unequivocally in favor of woman suffrage. we believe that women have the same right to vote that men have, that it is impolitic and unjust to deprive them of the right, and that its free and full bestowal would conserve the welfare of society and the good of government. in the daily _evening news_, mr. j. h. holliday, with his editorial aids, has set himself to stem the tide of progress which he evidently thinks will, unless a manful endeavor on his part shall prevent it, bear all things down to ruin. the character of his efforts may be inferred from the following extracts which appeared in january and december of : we wish our legislators would go home and ponder this thing. read the bible and understand the scheme of creation. read the new testament, and appreciate the creation of the christian home, and the headship of things. reflect upon what rests the future of this government we have reared, and ask what would become of it if the christian homes in which it is founded were broken up; then reflect upon what would become of the christian homes if men and women were to attend to the same duties in life. to get a realistic notion, let every man who has a wife ask himself how he would relish being told by her, "i have an engagement with john smith to-night to see about fixing up a slate to get mrs. jones nominated for sheriff," and being left to go his own way while she goes with smith. if that wouldn't make hell in the household in one act we don't know what would, yet this is merely one little trivial episode of what this anti-christian woman suffrage scheme means. to what straits must the advocates of suffrage for women be driven when they needs must seek to show that the ballot is not degrading. what becomes of all our fine talk of the ballot as an educator if they who seek to secure it for women must advocate as a reason why it should not be withheld that it is not degrading! but what better can one expect from those who, when it is suggested that there are duties attaching to the ballot as well as rights, solemnly say that the few moments necessary to deposit a ballot will not interfere with women's duties of sweeping and dusting and baby-tending. when one hears talk of this sort, there is indeed a grave doubt as to whether the ballot really is an educator after all. the first of the above citations is from what might be called an article of instruction addressed to the legislature then in session, and considering the question of woman suffrage. the occasion which inspired the second paragraph may be readily inferred. it seems "profitable for the instruction" of the future to preserve a few extracts like the above, that it may be seen how weak and wild, strength itself becomes, when the ally of prejudice and precedent. the _indiana farmer_, exceptionally well edited, having a wide circulation in the agricultural sections of the state, and enjoying there a powerful influence, is an outspoken advocate of equal suffrage. from statistics regarding papers published outside of indianapolis, it may be safe to say that two hundred of them favor, with varying degrees of constancy, giving the ballot to women. on the staff of nearly all the papers whose status is above given, are women, who in their respective departments faithfully serve the common cause. during the last few years, efforts have been directed to the capture of the local press, and many of the county papers now have a department edited by women. in most instances this work is done gratuitously, and their success in this new line, entering upon it as they have without previous training, illustrates the versatility of woman's powers. mrs. m. e. price of kokomo, mrs. sarah p. franklin of anderson, mrs. laura sandafur of franklin, and mrs. ida m. harper of terre haute, deserve especial mention for their admirable work in the papers of their respective towns. mrs. laura c. arnold is the chief editor of the columbus _democrat_, and is the only woman in the state having editorial charge of a political party paper, _our herald_, under the able editorial management of mrs. helen m. gougar, was a weekly published at lafayette. it was devoted to securing the re-passage and adoption of the woman suffrage and prohibition amendments. it was a strong, aggressive sheet, and deserved its almost unparalleled success.[ ] in closing this able report for indiana a few facts in regard to the author may interest the general reader as well as the student of history. mrs. may wright sewall has been well known for many years in indianapolis in the higher departments of education, and has recently crowned her efforts as a teacher by establishing a model classical school for girls, in which she is not only training their minds to vigorous thought, but taking the initiative steps to secure for them an equally vigorous physical development. her pupils are required to wear a comfortable gymnastic costume, all their garments loosely resting on their shoulders; corsets, tight waists and high-heeled boots forbidden, for deep thinking requires deep breathing. the whole upper floor of her new building is a spacious gymnasium, where her pupils exercise every day under the instruction of a skillful german; and on every saturday morning they take lessons from the best dancing master in the city. the result is, she has no dull scholars complaining of headaches. all are alike happy in their studies and amusements. mrs. sewall is a preëminently common-sense woman, believing that sound theories can be put into practice. although her tastes are decidedly literary and æsthetic, she is a radical reformer. hence her services in the literary club and suffrage society are alike invaluable. and as chairman of the executive committee of the national association, she is without her peer in planning and executing the work. as her husband, mr. theodore l. sewall, is also at the head of a classical school, and equally successful in training boys, it may be said that both institutions have the advantage of the united thought of man and woman. as educators, mr. and mrs. sewall have reaped much practical wisdom from their mutual consultations and suggestions, the results of which have been of incalculable benefit to their pupils. peering into the homes of the young women in the suffrage movement, one cannot but remark the deference and respect with which these intelligent, self-reliant wives are uniformly treated by their husbands, and the unbounded confidence and affection they give in return. for happiness in domestic life, men and women must meet as equals. a position of inferiority and dependence for even the best organized women, will either wither all their powers and reduce them to apathetic machines, going the round of life's duties with a kind of hopeless dissatisfaction, or it will rouse a bitter antagonism, an active resistance, an offensive self-assertion, poisoning the very sources of domestic happiness. the true ideal of family life can never be realized until woman is restored to her rightful throne. tennyson, in his "princess," gives us the prophetic vision when he says: "everywhere two heads in council, two beside the hearth, two in the tangled business of the world, two in the liberal offices of life, two plummets dropped for one, to sound the abyss of science, and the secrets of the mind." footnotes: [ ] see vol. i., page . [ ] the call for this convention was signed by amanda m. way, mrs. m. c. bland, mrs. m. m. b. goodwin, mrs. henry blanchard, mrs. emma b. swank, indianapolis; mrs. isaac kinley, richmond; dr. mary f. thomas, camden; dr. mary h. wilhite, miss lizzie boynton, miss mollie krout, dr. e. e. barrett, crawfordsville; mrs. abula pucket nind, fort wayne; mrs. l. s. bidell, crown point; rev. e. p. ingersoll, j. v. r. miller, rev. henry blanchard, rev. william hannaman, professor a. c. shortridge, professor r. t. brown, professor thomas rhodes, dr. t. a. bland, indianapolis; hon. isaac kinley, isaac h. julian, richmond; hon. l. m. nind, fort wayne; hon. s. t. montgomery, kokomo; d. r. pershing and rev. t. sells, warsaw. [ ] the officers of the state association in were: _president_, dr. mary f. thomas: _vice-presidents_, mrs. helen v. austin, mrs. s. s. mccain, mrs. m. v. berg, mrs. g. gifford, mrs. m. p. lindsey, mrs. c. a. p. smith and mrs. f. g. scofield; _secretary_, mrs. m. e. m. price; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. f. m. adkinson; _treasurer_, miss mary d. naylor; _state central committee_, mrs. mary e. haggart, mrs. z. g. wallace and may wright sewall. [ ] annual-- , june , , bloomington; , june , , dublin; , june , , terre haute; semi-annual, november , richmond. annual-- , may , , fort wayne; , may , , liberty; semi-annual, november , , winchester. annual-- , may , , anderson; , september , , knightstown; , june , , richmond: , may , , kokomo; , april , , crawfordsville; , june , , kokomo; semi-annual, october , dublin. annual-- , may, columbus; , june, logansport; , kokomo; , november , , warsaw. [ ] see vol. ii., page . [ ] the equal suffrage society has now, , a membership of , including many representatives of whatever in indianapolis is best in character, culture and social place. the society has lately districted the city for local work, assuming the boundaries of the school districts as its own for this purpose; its present plan is to place each of these twenty-six districts under the especial care of a committee whose business shall be to hold meetings, distribute literature and circulate petitions. the society thus hopes to create a stimulating suffrage atmosphere at the capital which shall inspire the legislators with courage to do good work for women at their next session. [ ] invitation.--the indianapolis equal suffrage society requests the pleasure of your company at a literary and social entertainment to be given in the bates house parlors, friday evening, november , . _committee_--may wright sewall, mary c. raridan, mrs. h.g. carey, mrs. charles kregelo, and miss lydia halley. please present invitation at the door. programme.-- . music, piano solo, miss dietrich; . toast, yorktown, henry d. pierce; . toast, the true republic, mrs. z.g. wallace; . music, solo (vocal), mrs. j.j. cole; . toast, women in indiana, gen. john coburn; . toast, women in the "revised version," arthur w. tyler; . music, solo (vocal), arthur miller: . toast. the literary women of indiana. . toast, women in the u.s. school system, horace s. tarbell; . recitation, lida hood talbott; . toast, our forefathers, rev. myron w. reed; . a reply, mary c. raridan; . music, solo (vocal), mrs. j.c. new. music in charge of mrs. john c. new. w.b. stone, accompanist. [ ] the speakers were helen m. gouger, florence m. adkinson, mary a. haggart, ex-gov. baker, judge martindale, mrs. wallace, messrs. walker and dooley, editors of the _times_ and _herald_, mr. tarbell, superintendent of the city schools, and may wright sewall. [ ] see indiana appendix, note a. [ ] see appendix to indiana, note b. [ ] the following invitation was sent to every member of the legislature who had voted for the amendment, and also to all the leading people of the city: the pleasure of your company is requested at the parlors of the new-denison, friday evening, april , from to , where a social entertainment will be given in honor of the passage of the suffrage amendment by our state legislature. [signed:] mrs. zerelda g. wallace, miss catherine merrill, mrs. harvey g. carey, mrs. charles kregelo, mrs. henry d. pierce, mrs. thomas a. hendricks, may wright sewall, mrs. george merritt, mrs. john c. new and mrs. john m. judah. the programme was as follows: . music, solo (vocal), zelda seguin wallace. . toast, our legislature, senator spann. . toast, our opponents, colonel dewitt wallace. . toast, the press and progress, laura ream. . toast, the indiana woman under the law, william wallace. . music, solo (vocal), mrs. john c. new. . toast, the ideal man, mrs. j. m. judah. . toast, the ideal woman, mr. a. s. caldwell. . toast, the home of the future, may wright sewall. . music, german song, professor john fiske. . toast, the woman who "don't want to vote," gertrude garrison. . recitation, lida hood talbot. . toast, the attitude of the pulpit toward reform, rev. myron w. reed. . music, solo (vocal), zelda seguin wallace. [ ] the persons thus authorized by the central committee to hold meetings and organize societies were dr. mary f. thomas, mary e. haggart, zerelda g. wallace, helen m. gougar, may wright sewall and l. may wheeler. [ ] besides these five-minute reports, addresses were delivered by rev. myron w. reed, pastor of the first presbyterian church of indianapolis; captain dewitt wallace of lafayette, dr. ridpath of depaun university, colonel maynard, chief editorial writer on the _sentinel_; mrs. haggart, mrs. gougar, mrs. josephine r. nichols, and other men and women of less prominence, but on that occasion of hardly less interest. [ ] among these the names of william dudley foulke of richmond, w. dewitt wallace of lafayette, g. h. thomas of huntington, and s. p. yancey, merit honorable mention. [ ] mrs. sewall, mrs. merritt and mrs. mary e. newman carey. [ ] republican, may wright sewall and paulina t. merritt; democratic, mary e. haggart and florence m. adkinson. [ ] for an account of this prison, see appendix to indiana chapter, note c. [ ] see appendix to indiana chapter, note g. [ ] miss merrill resigned in the autumn of , and was immediately succeeded by miss harriet noble of vincennes, a graduate of vassar, and a lady of most admirable qualities, whose success is assured by the record of her first year in this responsible position. [ ] see sketch of dr. thomas, vol. i., page . [ ] for these bills and amendments, see vol. ii., pages , . [ ] see appendix, indiana chapter, notes e and f. [ ] mrs. sarah t. bolton, laura ream, mrs. lew wallace, mary h. korut, mary dean, margaret holmes (mrs. m. v. bates), mrs. m. e. banta, mrs. louise v. boyd, mrs. helen v. austin, mrs. hettie a. morrison, mrs. e. s. l. thompson, mrs. amy e. dunn, mrs. a. d. hawkins, miss rena l. miner, miss edna c. jackson and mrs. d. m. jordan are all literary women who sympathize with and aid this reform. [ ] the woman's department has constantly grown in extent and value, until it has become one of the most important features of the state fair, and this year, , the managers have allowed to it twice the space hitherto occupied. it is worthy of note that suffrage papers, tracts and books are always to be found among the exhibits. [ ] mrs. garrison left indianapolis for new york in may of . success followed her to the metropolis and she now has, , the entire editorial management of the literary department of the american press association, and her work goes into more than fifty of the best weekly papers in the country. [ ] _our herald_ did royal service in the campaign of ; it subsequently became a monthly and in addition to other admirable efforts, undertook to introduce leading western women to the larger world by publishing a series of biographical sketches of the most prominent. in the winter of mrs. gougar sold _our herald_ to mrs. harbert, who published it in chicago as the _the new era_. chapter xliii. illinois. chicago a great commercial center--first woman suffrage agitation, --a. j. grover--society at earlville--prudence crandall--sanitary movement--woman in journalism--myra bradwell--excitement in elmwood church, --mrs. huldah joy--pulpit utterances--convention, , library hall, chicago--anna dickinson--robert laird collier debate--manhood suffrage denounced by mrs. stanton and miss anthony--judge charles b. waite on the constitutional convention--hearing before the legislature--western suffrage convention, mrs. livermore, president--annual meeting at bloomington--women eligible to school offices--evanston college--miss alta hulett--medical association--dr. sarah hackett stephenson--"woman's kingdom," in the _inter-ocean_--mrs. harbert--centennial celebration at evanston--temperance petition, , --frances e. willard--social science association--art union--international congress at paris--jane graham jones--moline association. illinois, one of the central states in our vast country, stretching over five and a half degrees of latitude, was admitted to the union in . its chief city, chicago, extending for miles round the southern shores of lake michigan, is the great commercial center of the boundless west. we may get some idea of the magnitude of her commerce from the fact that the receipts and shipment of flour, grain and cattle from that port alone in were valued at $ , , . when the battles with the indians were finally ended, the population of the state rapidly increased, and in the census gave , , males and , , females. in the school statistics we find about the same proportionate number of women and girls as teachers and scholars in the public schools and in all the honest walks of life; while men and boys in the criminal ranks are out of all proportion. for example, in the state-prison at joliet there were, in , , criminals; fifteen only were women. and yet the more virtuous, educated, self-governed part of the population, that shared equally the hardships of the early days, and by industry and self-sacrifice helped to build up that great state, is still denied the civil and political rights declared by the constitution to belong to every citizen of the commonwealth. the trials and triumphs of the women of illinois are vividly portrayed in the following records sent us by elizabeth boynton harbert, ph. d.: his biographer asserts that bernini, the celebrated florentine artist, architect, painter and poet, once gave a public opera in rome, for which he painted the scenes, composed the music, wrote the poem, carved the statues, invented the engines, and built the theater. because of his versatile talents the man bernini has passed into history. of almost equal versatility were the women of the equal-rights movement, since in many instances their names appear and reäppear in the records we have consulted as authors, editors, journalists, lecturers, teachers, physicians, lawyers, ordained ministers and home-makers; and in many localities a woman, to be eligible for the lyceum, was expected to be statesmanlike as elizabeth cady stanton, executive as susan b. anthony, spiritual as lucretia mott, eloquent as anna dickinson, graceful as celia burleigh, fascinating as paulina wright davis; a social queen, very domestic, a skillful musician, an excellent cook, very young, and the mother of at least six children; even then she was not entitled to the rights, privileges and immunities of an american citizen. so "the divine rights of the people" became the watchword of thoughtful men and women of the prairie state, and at the dawn of the second half of the present century many caught the echoes of that historic convention at seneca falls and insisted that the fundamental principles of our government should be applied to all the citizens of the united states. in view of the fearless heroism and steady adherence to principle of many comparatively unknown lives, the historian is painfully conscious of the meagerness of the record, as compared with the amount of labor that must necessarily have been performed. in almost every city, village and school district some earnest man or woman has been quietly waging the great moral battle that will eventually make us free; and while it would be a labor of love to recognize every one who has wrought for freedom, doubtless many names worthy of mention may unintentionally be omitted. the earliest account of specific work that we have been able to trace is an address delivered in earlville by a. j. grover, esq., in , who from that time until the present has been an able champion of the constitutional rights of women. as a result of his efforts, and the discussion that followed, a society was formed, of which mrs. susan hoxie richardson (a cousin of susan b. anthony) was elected president, and mrs. octavia grover secretary. this, we believe, was the first suffrage society in illinois. its influence was increased by the fact that, during two years of mr. grover's editorial control, the earlville _transcript_ was a fearless champion of equal rights. while that band of pioneers was actively at work, prudence crandall, who was mobbed and imprisoned in connecticut for teaching a school for colored girls, was actively engaged in mendota, in the same county. a few years later, lectures were delivered[ ] on the subject of equal rights for women in different parts of the state. copies of two of the early appeals have been secured. one by a. j. grover, published in pamphlet form, was extensively circulated; the other by mrs. catharine v. waite, appeared in the earlville _transcript_. both of these documents are yellowed with age, but the arguments presented are as logical as the more recent utterances of our most radical champions. there is a tradition of a convention at galesburg some years later, but we have failed to find any accurate data. during the interim between these dates and that never-to-be-forgotten april day in , but little agitation of this great subject can be traced, and during the six years subsequent to that time we witness all previously defined boundaries of spheres brushed away like cobwebs, when women, north and south, were obliged to fill the places made vacant by our civil war. an adequate record of the work accomplished during those eventful years by illinois women, notably among them being mary a. livermore and jane c. hoge, lies before us in a bound volume of the paper published under the auspices of the northwestern sanitary fair, edited by the hon. andrew shuman. this little journal was called the _voice of the fair_, a prophetic name, as really through the medium of these sanitary fairs were the voices of the _fair_ all potent, and through their patriotic services to our soldiery did the women of the united states first discover their talent for managing and administering great enterprises. in his first editorial lieutenant-governor shuman says: on motion of mrs. elizabeth a. loomis, it was decided to open the fair on february , , washington's birthday, and to continue it till march , the presidential inauguration day. a committee, consisting of mrs. h. h. hoge, mrs. d. p. livermore and mrs. e. w. blatchford for the commission, and mrs. o. e. hosmer, mrs. c. p. dickinson and mr. l. b. bryan for the home, was appointed as executive. this was the little cloud, scarcely larger than a man's hand, which grew till it almost encircled the heavens, spreading into every corner of our broad land, and including every department of industry in its ample details. the undertaking was herculean, and on the grand occasion of the opening of the fair, although we do not find any account of women sharing in the honors of the day, yet they were vouchsafed honorable mention in the following terms by the governor of the state: "i do not know how to praise women, but i can say nothing so good as our late president once said on a similar occasion, 'god bless the women of america.' they have been our faithful allies during this fearful war. they have toiled steadily by our side, with the most enduring constancy through the frightful contest." amid the first impulses of genuine gratitude men recognized what at present they seem to forget, that by inheritance and patriotic service woman has an equal right with man to a share in the rights and privileges of this government. in the winter of hannah tracy cutler, m. d., and mrs. frances d. gage made a canvass of the interior and western parts of the state, procuring signatures to petitions asking for equality before the law, and especially for the right of married women to earn and hold and dispose of property the same as a _feme-sole_. also, that property acquired before marriage, or that may afterward accrue to a married woman by gift, devise, descent or deed, may be held, controlled and disposed of by herself where it had not been intentionally converted to common property by her consent. in response to a request for data on this point, mrs. cutler writes: at the close of our campaign we were summoned to ohio to assist in the canvass in that state. returning to illinois, i learned that no action had been taken on our petitions. the member to whom we had consigned them, and who had promised to act in our behalf, had found no convenient opportunity. i at once repaired to springfield, and, on inquiry, was told that it was now too late in the session--that members were so busy that no one could be induced to draft a bill for an act granting such laws as we desired. i found one member ready to assist to the full measure of his ability--mr. pickett of rock island. by his encouragement i went to the state library and there drew up a bill giving women, during coverture, certain personal and property rights. mr. pickett presented our petitions, got a special committee, took my bill before it, got a favorable report, and a law was passed to that effect. some decisions occurred under this law. i think, however, that in a codification a year or two after, this law was left out, i know not by what authority, and some years later mrs. livermore, mrs. bradwell and others presented the matter afresh, and succeeded in procuring again a similar enactment. the winter following i presented petitions for the right of guardianship; also, i asked that for estates not exceeding $ , the widow should not be required to take out letters of administration, but should be permitted to continue in possession, the same as the husband on the decease of the wife, the property subject to the same liabilities for the payment of debts and the maintenance of children as before the decease of the husband. i made this small claim for the relief of many wives whose husbands had gone into the army, leaving them with all the responsibility; and there seemed no sufficient reason for disturbing and distributing either the family or the estate, when the husband exchanged the battle-field for the "sleep that knows no waking." this petition, asking for these reasonable and righteous laws, was, by motion of colonel mack, in a spirit of burlesque, referred to the committee on internal navigation, and a burlesque report was made in open senate, too indecent to be entered on the records. the grave and reverend seigniors, on this, indulged in a hearty guffaw, hugely enjoyed by his honor lieutenant-governor hoffman, and, to this day, no further action has been taken to give the wife and mother this small modicum of justice, though many of the senators at that time promised the question an early consideration. on saturday, october , , a genuine sensation was produced by the appearance of the chicago _legal news_, edited by mrs. myra bradwell. at this day it is impossible to realize with what supreme astonishment this journal was received. neither can we estimate its influence upon the subsequent legislation of the state. looking through its files we find that no opportunity was lost for exposing all laws unjust to woman, or for noting each indication of progress throughout the world. under date of october , , a short article in regard to the "citizenship of women" reads thus: the act of congress provides that any alien, being a free white person, may become a citizen of the united states. while congress was very careful to limit this great privilege of citizenship to the free white person, it made no distinction or limitation whatever on account of sex. under this statute it has been held that a married woman may be naturalized and become a citizen of the united states, and that, too, without the consent of her husband. a woman may be a citizen of the united states, be subject to the laws, own property, and be compelled to pay taxes to support a government she has no voice in administering or vote in electing its officers. in the same issue of the _news_ we meet with an earnest appeal for the prompt passage of a law conferring upon woman a right to her earnings. when we realize that one of the supreme judges soon after this assured mrs. bradwell that she was editing a paper that no lawyer could afford to do without, we shall understand how important a part this journal has played in the courts. in the sixth number of the _news_ we find the attention of the legal fraternity called to the fact that in the reign of james i. it was held in the cases of _coats vs. lyall_ and _holt vs. lyall_, tried in westminster hall, that a single woman, if a freeholder, had the right to vote for a parliament man; and in the reign of queen elizabeth, lady packington, in right of property held by her, did actually vote for a return of two burgesses to parliament for the borough of aylesburg; and in the time of charles i., mrs. copley voted, in right of her property, for the return of a burgess for gratton. the subject of their return was brought before parliament, and amended by joining other persons with mrs. copley in the right of returning burgesses for gratton. women have actually sat and voted in the english parliament. in , sorosis, a woman's club, was organized in chicago, with mrs. delia waterman president, and soon after several periodicals were established; _the chicago sorosis_, with mrs. mary l. walker, cynthia leonard and agnes l. knowlton, editors; _the inland monthly_, mrs. charlotte clark, editor and publisher; and _the agitator_, with mary a. livermore and mary l. walker editors. though all were short-lived, they serve to show woman's ambition in the direction of journalism. in there was a decided "awakening" on the question of woman suffrage in central illinois. in the town of elmwood, peoria county, the question drew large audiences to lyceum discussions, and was argued in school, church and caucus. the conservatives became alarmed, and announced their determination to "nip the innovation in the bud." a spirited editorial in the new york _independent_ was based upon the following facts, given by request of some of the disfranchised women: rev. w. g. pierce was the pastor of the elmwood congregational church. a large majority of the members were women, and there was no discrimination against them in the church manual. the pastor and two or three members decided that a change of rules was needed. a church meeting was held in march, , at which the number in attendance was very small, owing to some irregularities in issuing the call. the suffrage question was brought up by the pastor, and the talk soon became so insulting that the women present felt compelled to leave the house. the manual was then amended so as to exclude women from voting "in matters pertaining to the welfare of the church," and making a two-thirds vote of adult males necessary to any change thereafter. this was carried by five yeas to one nay--only six votes out of a membership of ! the church was taken by surprise, and there was no little excitement when the fact became known next day. a vigorous protest and a call for reconsideration was quickly signed by nearly a hundred members and sent to the pastor. the meeting was not called for weeks, and when at last it was secured, he, as moderator, ruled reconsideration out, on the ground that there was an error in the announcement of the business (by himself!) from the pulpit. at a later meeting a vote on reconsideration was reached, and enough of the male adult minority were in attendance to make the vote stand to , not two-thirds of the male adult element voting for reconsideration. the contention now became bitter, and twenty-eight of the more intelligent and earnest members withdrew and asked for letters to other churches. such of the "adult males" as "tarried by the altar," refused to give the outgoing members the usual letters, to join in a mutual council on an equal footing, or to discipline the seceders. the latter called an ex-parte council, composed of such men as dr. bascom, of princeton; dr. edward beecher, of galesburg; dr. haven, of evanston; dr. c. d. helmer, of chicago, and others. this council gave the desired letters, but advised reconciliation. among the seceders, mrs. huldah joy, an educated and intensely religious woman, was one of the most active and earnest, her husband, f. r. joy, and her daughters, also doing good service. mrs. h. e. sunderland,[ ] another woman of culture, and mrs. mary ann cone and mrs. s. r. murray were faithful, brave and earnest. the church, which previous to the secession, was strong and flourishing, became an inharmonious organization, and has never rallied from the effects of that unjust action. at a meeting held in chicago, in the autumn of , a resolution was offered to the effect that "a state association be formed, having for its object the advocacy of universal suffrage." among the many interesting facts connected with the "rise and progress" of the equal-rights movement is the large number of representative men and women who have from the first been identified with it.[ ] january , we find among the most progressive utterances from the pulpit, a sermon by the rev. sumner ellis of chicago, while rev. charles fowler and dr. h. w. thomas were ever fearless and earnest in their advocacy of this measure. in february, , the _legal news_ said: a call has been issued, inviting all persons in favor of woman suffrage to meet in convention in library hall, chicago. there are many hundred names appended, including the judges of all the courts of cook county, leading members of the bar throughout the state, representatives of the press, ministers of the gospel, from all denominations, and representatives from every profession and business. elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, and the rev. olympia brown have been invited and are expected to attend. pursuant to the foregoing "call," a notable convention was held.[ ] the _tribune_ devoted nine columns to an account of the proceedings, respectful in tone and fair in statement. during its two days' session, library hall was packed to its utmost capacity with the beauty and fashion of the city. able lawyers, eloquent and distinguished divines and gallant generals occupied seats upon the platform and took part in the deliberations. the special importance of this convention at this time, was the consideration of the immediate duty of securing a recognition of the rights of women in the new constitution, for the framing of which a convention had been called. all the speakers had strong convictions and showed broad differences, continually making sharp points against each other. several clergymen were present, some in favor of woman suffrage, some opposed, some in doubt. among these were the two collyers--one, the rev. robert, the english blacksmith of former days, liberal, progressive, of large physical proportions; the other, the rev. robert laird, a much smaller man, and of conservative tendencies. the rev. robert collyer dissented so entirely from what the preceding speaker, dr. hammond, had said, that he was determined to run the risk of attempting to reply. he thought that a majority of men who began by being reformers, ended by being old fogies, and he thought that might be the case with mr. hammond. he felt no doubt that the whole movement of women's rights was to be established in america. he had seen the effects of woman's presence in associations upon men, and he was sure that this same agency would have the effect of bringing politics to such a condition as that decent people of either sex might take part in it. as to the bible declaring that man shall rule over woman, he found a similar case where it used to be quoted in support of the institution of slavery, but when the grander and more beautiful principles of the bible came to be applied the contrary was clearly established. so it was with the question of woman's rights. to him the bible seemed like an immense pasture wherein any and every species of animal might find its own peculiar food. in regard to what mr. hammond said as to the rights of infants, he wished he had conferred with his wife and got her approval before he said it. the speaker was sure his own wife would not have advised him to say it. he believed that when maternal and home duties conflicted, the children and the home relations would take the preference invariably, and the remarks of mr. hammond seemed to imply a terrible want of confidence in woman. he believed that woman would always do her duty to her children and her home. then, too, he had been surprised, that mr. hammond, in speaking of preventing children from coming into the world, had failed to speak of the complicity of man, in reality the greatest criminal, in that matter. as to the excitement attendant upon political issues, was it worse, viewed as mere excitement, than that which is so earnestly sought to be aroused at religious meetings? elizabeth, anne, and victoria were, with the exception, perhaps, of cromwell, the best rulers england ever had, and, when the administration of andrew johnson was remembered, he thought we might do worse than to have a woman for president, after grant's term shall have expired. [applause.] in conclusion, mr. collyer said that, even if the fearful picture drawn by mr. hammond, of , immoral women marching to the polls in new york, were realized, he could draw another picture--that of , good and pure women marching to the polls to vote the others down. [applause.] rev. edward beecher, of galesburg, said: exclusive class legislation was not safe; it was oppressive and degrading. female influence has procured the repeal of some obnoxious laws, and that proved it was a powerful element. he thought the bible, as regards man being the head, had been misinterpreted. when man took the attitude in relation to women which christ sustains to the church, that of love, of service, of helpfulness and sacrifice, he would be an example of true headship. he read an extract from an editorial in the _tribune_, of february , in regard to the giving way of moral integrity in the affairs of the nation, and commended the question to the consideration of all. the country was never in greater danger than now of having the whole political system destroyed. some great moral influence ought to be brought to eradicate the corruption so prevalent among public men. there were two great vices in existence--drunkenness and licentiousness--and in both, woman was the victim of man in the majority of cases. the legislation which pressed down women was wrong, and should be remedied. he admitted it was an experiment to introduce the female element into legislation, but the success of the male element had thus far been such that, according to his judgment, things could not be much worse than they are. women were always deeply interested in all public questions. if responsibilities were put upon them they would become greater intellectually, morally and socially. several able lawyers also took part in the convention, who brought their legal learning to bear on the question. mrs. stanton and miss anthony, hostile to the action of the republican party as manifested in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, were present with their stern criticisms and scathing resolutions on "manhood suffrage," submitting the following to the convention: _resolved_, that a man's government is worse than a white man's government, because in proportion as you increase the rulers you make the condition of the ostracised more hopeless and degraded. _resolved_, that as the democratic cry of "a white man's government" created an antagonism between the irish and the negro, culminating in the new york riots of ' , so the republican cry of "manhood suffrage" creates an antagonism between the black man and all women, and will culminate in fearful outrages on womanhood, especially in the southern states. _resolved_, that by the establishment of an aristocracy of sex in the district of columbia, by the introduction of the word "male" into the federal constitution in article xiv., section , and by the proposition to enforce manhood suffrage in all the states of the union, the republican party has been guilty of three successive arbitrary acts, three retrogressive steps in legislation, alike invidious and insulting to women and suicidal to the nation. after a long and earnest discussion, the resolutions were voted down. mrs. stanton's speech setting forth six reasons against a "male aristocracy"[ ] was pronounced able and eloquent, though directly in opposition to the general sentiment of the convention, which was mainly republican. miss anna dickinson, having a lyceum engagement in chicago, was present at one of the sessions, and had quite a spirited encounter with robert laird collier. as she appeared on the platform at the close of some remarks by that gentleman, loud calls were made for her, when she came forward and spoke as follows: mrs. president, ladies and gentlemen: it is impossible for me to continue in my seat after so kind and cordial a call from this house, and i thank you for the pleasant and friendly feeling you have shown. i have but a word to say. i had gone out of the room, not because of the discussion, but because it was too warm and the atmosphere so stifling, when i was recalled by hearing something to this effect: "that there had not been a single logical argument used on this platform in behalf of woman suffrage; that woman is abundantly represented by some man of her family; that when a woman lifts herself up in opposition against her husband, she lifts herself up, if i properly and rightly understood the declaration, against god; that the inspired assertion is that the husband is the head of the wife." oh! but mr. collier forgot to say the husband is the head of the wife as christ is the head of the church. in my observation, and it has not been a limited one, though i confess i am not an unprejudiced observer, i have never yet discovered a man who is the head of the wife as christ is the head of the church. furthermore, he announces that these women, being represented by men, if they lift themselves up in opposition to their husbands, lose that womanly and feminine element which is so admirable and pure and beautiful, and nothing can preserve them from the contamination of politics. woman is to lift herself against god if she lifts herself against her husband, and woman is abundantly represented by this same husband, or by some man in her own family. there are a multitude of women who have no husbands [laughter]. there are a multitude of women who never will have any husbands [renewed laughter]. there are a great many women who have no men in their own households to represent them, either for their wrongs or their rights. mr. collier, i suppose, however, is talking about women who have husbands. he says the woman loses her purity, her delicacy, her feminine attributes when she lifts her voice and sentiments against the man whose name she bears. we will say, then, look across these western prairies to utah. if the women there dare to say to the congress of the united states, "amend this constitution that we women of utah can have one husband, and that the husband can take but one wife"; if these women demand decency in the marriage relation, demand justice for themselves, demand purity, they are lifting themselves against the laws of womanhood and the laws of god. every woman represented by her husband is to lose her purity, her delicacy, her refinement, if she dares to lift her hand against him and his will. you have here, within the limits of your state of illinois, , drunkards. every woman who dares to lift her hand, cry out with her voice, "give me the ballot that may offset the votes of these drunkards at the polls and save my children from starvation and myself from being put into the workhouse"--this woman is lifting herself against the laws of god and womanhood. that is not all! last summer this question of prohibition was being tested in massachusetts by votes. i went from town to town--my engagements taking me all over the state at that time--and said my say upon this question of woman suffrage. in whatever city or town i went, women, bowed down with grief, who desired to preserve their womanhood, their persons from blows and abuse, their sons from going to gambling hells and rum shops, their girls from being sent to houses of abomination, came to me and said: "anna dickinson, if you are a woman, speak and use your influence for our cause." women who have drunken husbands, whether they lived in beacon street or at the north end, whether they lived in luxury or poverty, said: "for the sake of womanhood, for the sake of motherhood, for the sake of all things good and true in the world, lift up our hands and voices, through yourself, to protest against these men whose names we bear." ah! that mr. collier could have seen these drunkards' wives, standing with tears streaming down their cheeks, and begging for power, begging for the ballot to save their homes, and themselves, and their children. do you tell this audience--do you tell any mother or daughter here this afternoon, that she protests against the purity of womanhood, and lifts her powers against the laws of god? pardon me for taking this much of your time. i will simply add a thought. this is the cause of purity. this is the cause which is to strengthen young girls, which is to give them self-reliance and self-respect. this is the thing that is to put these girls on their feet; say to them "you are an independent being; you are to earn the clothes that cover you," and this will allow them to walk with steady feet through rough places. this thing which is to give these women such power, certainly will be strengthening to them by making them independent and self-reliant. the ballot is to save womanhood and save purity, which he says is in danger--the feminine element of dependence and weakness and tenderness, of clinging helplessness, which he so much adores. let justice be done. give us the ballot. here is the power to defend yourself when your rights are assailed; when your home is entered. here is the authority to tell the spoiler to stand back; when our sons are being brought up to wickedness and our daughters to lives of shame, here is the power in the mother's hand which says these children shall be taken from the wrong place and put in the right one. for the rights of mothers i plead. let us allow, from one end of this country to the other, every man and woman, black and white, to go to the polls to defend their own rights and the rights of their homes. the rev. r. l. collier said he would to god that every woman in america had such a heart and such a voice for woman's rights. but sympathy was one thing and logic was another. if he thought the ballot in the hand of woman would cure the wrongs she speaks of, he would favor female suffrage, but he was firmly convinced that it would only aggravate their wrongs. he could not fight anna dickinson. anna dickinson: i certainly do not intend to fight mr. collier. i believe i have the name of not being a belligerent woman. mr. collier says sympathy is one thing and logic is another. very true! i did not speak of the , women in the state of massachusetts who are wives of drunkards, as a matter which shall appeal to your sympathies, or move your tears. mr. collier says that these women are to find their rights by influence at home. mr. collier: that is what i mean. miss dickinson: that they are to do it by womanly and feminine love, and i tell him that is the duty of this same feminine element which is so admirable and adorable. i have seen men on your street corners, as i have seen men on the street corners of every city of america, with bloated faces, with mangled forms, and eyes blackened by the horrible vice and orgies carried on in their dens of iniquity and drunkenness and sin. i have seen men with not a semblance of humanity in their form or in their face, and not a sentiment of manhood in their souls. i have seen these men made absolute masters of wives and children; men who reel to their homes night after night to beat some helpless child; to beat some helpless woman. a woman was beaten here in chicago the other day until there was scarcely a trace of the woman's face left, and scarcely a trace of the woman's form remaining. mr. collier tells me, then, that these women whose husbands reel home at , , , o'clock at night, to demolish the furniture, beat the children, and destroy their wives' peace and lives--that these women are to find their rights by influence, by argument, by tenderness. these brutes who deserve the gallows if any human being can deserve anything so atrocious in these days--are these women, their wives, to find their safety, their security for themselves and their children, by influence, through argument and tenderness, or love, when nothing can influence save drink? the law gives man the power to say, "i will have drink; i will put this into my mouth." if the ballot were given to women they would vote against drunkenness. it is not sentiment, it is logic, if there be any logic in votes and in a home saved. the rev. r. l. collier, in reply to miss dickinson, quoted a story from an english author of a drunkard who was reclaimed by a daughter's love and devotion. he never wanted to hear a woman say that law could accomplish what love could not. miss dickinson: i only want to ask mr. collier a question, and it is this: whether he does not think that man would have been a great deal better off if this woman's vote could have offset his vote, and the rum thereby prevented from being sold at the outset? mr. collier: i wish to say that law never yet cured crime; that men are not our only drunkards. women are drunkards as well as men. miss dickinson (excitedly): it is not so, in anything like the same proportion; a drunken woman is a rare sight. mr. collier: i wish to say that intemperance can never be cured by law. miss dickinson: very well. you tell me that there are woman in the land who are drunkards. doubtless there are. then i stand here as a woman to entreat, to beseech, to pray against this sin. for the sake of these drunken woman, i ask the ballot to drag them back from the rum-shops and shut their doors [applause]. god forbid that i should underrate the power of love; that i should discard tenderness. let us have entreaty, let us have prayers, and let us have the ballot, to eradicate this evil. mr. collier says he is full of sympathy, and intimates that women should stand here and elevate love above law. so long as a man can be influenced by love, well and good. when a man has sunk to the point where he beats his wife and children, and burns the house over them, reduces his family to starvation to get this accursed drink; when a man has sunk to such a level, is woman to stand still and entreat? is this all woman is to do? no! she is to have the power added that will drag the firebrand out of his hand, and when sense and reason return, when the fire is extinguished, then, i say, let us have the power of love to interfere. i think keeping a man out of sin is better than trying to drag him out afterward by love. mr. collier said he was placed in a false position of prominence because, unfortunately, he was the only gentleman on the platform who entertained serious convictions on the negative side of the subject. the only question was, would the ballot cure these wrongs? if so, he would like to hear the reasons, philosophical and logical, set forth. the appeals that had been made to the convention were illogical and sympathetic. he believed the persecutors of women were women. fashion and the prejudice in the minds of women had been the barriers to their own elevation. that the ballot in the hands of women would cure these evils he denied. miss dickinson: mr. collier says, "the worst enemies of women are women"; that the worst opponents of this measure are fashion, dress and idleness. i confess there are no bitterer opponents or enemies of this measure than women. on that very ground i assert that the ballot will prove woman's best friend. if woman has something else to think about than simply to please men, something else than the splendor of her diamonds, or the magnificence of her carriage, you may be sure, with broader fields to survey, it would be a good thing for her. if women could earn their bread and buy the houses over their heads, in honorable and lucrative avocations; if they stood in the eye of the law men's equals, there would be better work, more hopeful hearts, more christian magnanimity, and less petty selfishness and meanness than, i confess with sorrow and tears, are found among women to-day. one of the ablest speeches of the convention was made by judge chas. b. waite, on woman's position before the law. immediately after this enthusiastic convention[ ] the illinois state suffrage association was formed, a committee[ ] appointed to visit springfield and request the legislature to so "change the laws that the earnings of a married woman may be secured to her own use; that married women may have the same right to their own property that married men have; and that the mother may have an equal right with the father to the custody of the children." the need of such a committee existed in that year of , and they seemed to have wrought effective service, since on march the married woman's earnings act was approved. an act _in relation to the earnings of married women._ sec. .--be it enacted by the people of the state of illinois, represented in the general assembly, that a married woman shall be entitled to receive, use and possess her own earnings, and sue for the same in her own name, free from the interference of her husband or his creditors: _provided_, this act shall not be construed to give to the wife any compensation for any labor performed for her minor children or husband. mrs. livermore, mrs. stanton, judge waite, judge and mrs. bradwell, had an enthusiastic meeting in the opera house, springfield, most of the members of the legislature being present. september , , , the western convention was held in library hall, chicago; mrs. livermore presided. this influential gathering was largely attended by leading friends from other states.[ ] mrs. kate doggett and dr. mary safford were appointed to attend the woman's industrial congress at berlin. letters were read from wm. lloyd garrison and others.[ ] february , , , the first annual meeting of the state association was held at springfield in the opera house, hon. james b. bradwell in the chair. many members of the legislature were present during the various sessions and a hearing[ ] before the house was granted next day. resolutions were discussed and adopted, declaring that women were enfranchised under the fourteenth amendment. as a constitutional convention was in session, and there was an effort being made to have an amendment for woman suffrage submitted to a vote of the people, greater interest was felt in all that was said at this convention. the strange inconsistency of the opponents of woman suffrage was perhaps never more fully illustrated than by the following occurrence: while the patriotic and earnest women of illinois were quietly acting upon the advice of their representatives, and relying upon their "quiet, moral influence" to secure a just recognition of their rights in the constitutional convention, a conservative woman of michigan, who, afraid that the women of illinois were about to lose their womanliness by asking for the right to have their opinions counted, deserted her home in the peninsular state, went to springfield, secured the hall of the convention, and gave two lectures against woman suffrage. a meeting was called at the close of the second lecture, and in a resolution moved by a member of the convention, as mrs. bradwell pertinently says, "the people of the state were told that _one woman_ had proved herself competent and well qualified to enlighten the constitutional convention upon the evils of woman suffrage."[ ] such was the effect of this self-appointed obtruder from another state that the members of the convention, without giving a woman of their own state opportunity for reply, not only struck out the clause submitting the question to the people in a separate article, but actually incorporated in the body of the constitution a clause which would not allow a woman to hold any office, public position, place of trust or emolument in the state. through the efforts of such staunch friends as judge bradwell, judge waite and others, this latter clause was stricken out, and one inserted which, under a fair construction, will allow a woman to hold almost any office, provided she receives a sufficient number of votes. by the accidental insertion of another clause in the constitution under consideration, section , of article vii., any foreign born woman, naturalized previous to january, , was given the right to vote. so that illinois was the first state in the union, since the time when the women of new jersey were disfranchised, to give to foreign-born women the elective franchise. this mistake of the wise solons was guarded as a state secret. previous to the great fire of , the most popular and influential woman's club in chicago was the organization known as sorosis. this club, by the generous aid of many prominent gentlemen of the city, established pleasant headquarters, where, in addition to bright carpets and artistic decorations, were books, flowers, birds, and other refined accessories. mrs. elizabeth loomis says of the meetings held in those delightful parlors: "at every successive session we could see that we were gaining ground and receiving influential members. i well remember how it encouraged us to number the rev. dr. thomas among our friends; and how gladly i made the motion to have him appointed temporary chairman in the absence of the president--a position which he cheerfully accepted." one of the most brilliant reunions ever enjoyed by the club, was a reception given to mrs. stanton and miss anthony, as they were _en route_ to california, early in june, . of this reception, miss anthony, in a letter from des moines, iowa, to _the revolution_, said: "mrs. stanton and i were in chicago the evening the illinois state and cook county association held their opening reception at their new central bureau, a suite of fine rooms handsomely carpeted and furnished by prominent merchants of the city, where, with music, conversation, speeches, etc., the hours passed delightfully away," forming, as miss anthony might have added, a delightful oasis amid the many discomforts of a continuous appeal to the people to deal justly. in november, , mrs. catharine v. waite, of hyde park, made a written application to the board of registration, asking them to place her name upon the register as a voter, which they refused to do on the ground that she was a woman, whereupon mrs. waite filed a petition in the supreme court of cook county, stating the facts, and praying that the board be compelled by mandamus to place her name upon the register. chief-justice jameson granted an alternative writ, returnable on the following monday, commanding the board to show cause, if any they have, why mrs. waite's name should not be placed upon the register. judge charles b. waite, the husband of the plaintiff, made an exhaustive and unanswerable argument before judge jameson, but to no purpose as far as the result of that case was concerned, as the opinion of the court delivered january , , which was very lengthy,[ ] denied the relator with costs. in , norman t. gassette, esq., clerk of the circuit court of cook county, and recorder of deeds, remembering the limited number of industrial occupations open to women, and seeing no reason why they could not perform the work of that office, resolved to try the experiment. a room was fitted up for the special use of women, a number of whom gladly accepted the proffered positions and received the same pay per folio as that earned by men. the experiment proved entirely satisfactory, major brockway having officially testified in regard to woman's especial fitness for the work. there was an attempt this year to get a law licensing houses of ill-fame in chicago, and an immense petition was rolled up and presented to the legislature by ladies who desired to defeat the proposed enactment. they carried their point by as neat a flank movement as sherman ever executed. a quiet move to springfield with a petition signed by thousands of the best men and women of the city, and our enemies found themselves checkmated before the game had fairly begun. february , , , the state association held its annual meeting at bloomington, with large and interested audiences.[ ] march mrs. jane graham jones secured a hearing before the legislature for miss anthony, who made one of her most convincing arguments, and had in her audience nearly every member of that body who voted for what was termed the alta hulett bill. to myra bradwell and alta c. hulett belongs the credit of a long and persevering struggle to open the legal profession to women. the latter succeeded at last in slipping the bolt which had barred woman from her right to practice law. we take the following statement in regard to miss hulett's experience from the "women of the century": at the age of seventeen, miss alta hulett entered the law office of mr. lathrop, of rockford, as a student, and after a few months' study passed the required examination, and sent her credentials to the supreme court, which, instead of granting or refusing her plea for admission, ignored it altogether. myra bradwell, the successful editor of the _legal news_, had just been denied admission. her case, stated in brief, is this: mrs. bradwell made application for a license to practice law. the court refused it on the ground of her being a married woman. she immediately brought a suit to test the legality of this decision. this interesting case was carried to the supreme court of the united states, which sustained the decision of the lower courts.[ ] miss hulett had reason to expect that since she was unmarried, this decision would not prejudice her case. just on the threshold of her chosen profession, the rewards of youthful aspirations and earnest study apparently within her grasp, her dismay may be imagined when no response whatever was vouchsafed her petition. a fainter heart would have accepted the situation. to battle successfully with old prejudices, entrenched in the strongholds of the law, required not only marked ability, but also a courage which could not surrender. miss hulett took a country school for four months, and bravely went to work again. while teaching and "boarding round," she prepared a lecture, "justice vs. the supreme court," in which she vigorously and eloquently stated her case. this lecture was delivered in rockford, freeport, and many other towns, enlisting everywhere sympathy and admiration in her behalf. after taking counsel with lieutenant-governor early and other prominent members of the legislature, she drafted a bill, the provisions of which are: _be it enacted by the people of the state of illinois represented in the general assembly_, that no person shall be precluded or debarred from any occupation, profession, or employment (except military), on account of sex. provided this act shall not be construed to affect the eligibility of any person to an elective office. nothing in this act shall be construed as requiring any female to work on streets or roads, or serve on juries. all laws inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. friends obtained for this bill a very favorable introduction into the legislature, where it passed and received the governor's signature. passing up the steps to her home one rainy day, the telegram announcing that the bill had become a law was placed in her hands, and in referring to the incident, miss hulett said: "i shall never again know a moment of such supreme happiness." we can only add in this connection that after a most vigorous examination she stood at the head of a class of twenty-eight, all the other members being gentlemen. this time the supreme court made the amende honorable, courteously and cordially welcoming her into the ranks of the profession on her birthday, june , , and at the age of nineteen miss hulett commenced the practice of law. but miss hulett's career, so full of promise, was soon ended. the announcement of her untimely death, which occurred at san diego, cal., march , , sent a pang to the hearts of those who knew her personally, and of thousands who regarded her with pride as a representative woman. a chicago correspondent says: the daily press of the city have already borne ample testimony to her professional talents and success and to the esteem and admiration accorded her by the bar of chicago and by the general public; for her somewhat exceptional position as well as her ability had made her one of the marked characters of the city. her short life, so successful and brilliant to the public eye, was not without its dark and thorny places. unusual responsibilities of a domestic nature, opposition of various kinds and keen disappointments only nerved her to greater persistency, and her courage was upheld by the generous and abundant recognition which she received on every hand from leading members of the bar--a recognition for which she never failed, when opportunity offered, to express her sense of profound obligation--and she was accustomed to say that the law was the most liberal of the professions. much as miss hulett had accomplished hitherto, it was felt that she had only crossed the threshold of a career of surpassing usefulness; all things seemed possible to one so richly endowed; her mental vigor seemed matched by a _physique_, the apparent type of blooming health; but the seeds of disease were inherited and only awaited a combination of circumstances to assert their fatal power. absorbing enthusiasm for her profession, and the cares of a rapidly increasing practice, made her overlook the insidious danger lurking in a cold, and not until her alarmed physician ordered her to the soft climate of southern california did she comprehend her danger. this peremptory order was a terrible shock, and the forced exile from the field of her hopes and ambitions, more bitter than death. she never rallied, but continued rapidly to fail until the end came. at a meeting of the bar of chicago, held to take action in commemoration of the death of miss alta m. hulett, attorney-at-law, the following was one of the resolutions adopted: _resolved_, that although the legal profession has hitherto been almost, if not altogether, considered as exclusively for men to practice, yet we freely recognize miss hulett's right to adopt it as her pursuit in life, and cheerfully bear testimony to the fact that in her practice she never demeaned herself in any way unbecoming a woman. she was always true to her clients and their interests, but she was equally true to her sex and her duty; and if women who now are, or hereafter shall become, members of our profession shall be equally true, its honor will never be tarnished, nor the respect, good-will and esteem which it is the duty and pride of man to accord to woman be in the least diminished by their membership. which, translated, means that men are not only ready to welcome into one of their own professions women having the requisite intellectual qualifications, but that the welcome will be the warmer if the women entering shall not leave behind the more feminine attributes of the sex. portia did deliver judgment, but the counselor's cap became the pretty locks it could not hide, and the jurist's cloak lent additional grace to the symmetry and litheness of female youth. m. fredrica perry began the study of law in the office of shipman & loveridge, coldwater, michigan, in the winter of - . she spent two years in the law-office and then two years in the law-school of michigan university. on graduating from the law-school in march, , she was admitted to the michigan bar. she located in chicago in august, and in september was admitted to the illinois bar and began practice. a few weeks later she was, on motion of miss hulett, admitted to the u.s. circuit and district courts for the northern district of illinois. she was in partnership with ellen a. martin under the name of perry & martin. her death occured june , , and was the result of pneumonia. miss perry was a successful lawyer and combined in an eminent degree the qualities which distinguish able barristers and jurists; her mind was broad and catholic, clear, quick, logical and profound; her information on legal and general matters was extensive. she was an excellent advocate, a skillful examiner of witnesses, and understood as few do, save practitioners who have grown old in experience, the nice discriminations of common-law pleading and the rules of evidence. she was engrossed in the study and practice of law, and gained steadily in efficiency and power year by year. she had the genius and ability for the highest attainment in all branches of civil practice, and joined with these the power of close application and hard work. she belonged to the strong family which has furnished a good deal of the legal talent of the united states. judge tuley, a chancery judge of chicago before whom she often appeared, said of her at the bar meeting called to take action upon her death: "i was surprised at the extent of her legal knowledge and the great legal acumen she displayed." and of her manner and method of conducting a certain bitterly-contested case in his court: "i became satisfied that the influence of woman would be highly beneficial in preserving and sustaining that high standard of professional courtesy which should always exist among the members of our profession."----ellen a. martin, of perry & martin, chicago, spent two years in a law-office and two years in michigan university law-school, and was graduated and admitted to practice in michigan at the same time with miss perry. she was admitted in illinois in january, , and since then to the u. s. circuit court.----in the summer of , mrs. m. b. r. shay, streator, graduating from the bloomington law-school, was admitted to the bar. she has published a book entitled, "students guide to common-law pleading."----in , cora a. benneson, quincy, was graduated from the michigan university law-school and admitted to the michigan and illinois bar.----ada h. kepley, in practice with her husband at effingham, was graduated from the chicago law-school in june, , but was refused admission to the bar. in november of that year, a motion was made in the court at effingham that she should be allowed to act as attorney in a case at that bar, and judge decius said that though the supreme court had refused to license a woman, he yet thought the motion was proper and in accord with the spirit of the age and granted the motion. mrs. kepley was finally admitted, january, .----miss bessie bradwell, graduated from the union college of law of chicago and admitted to the bar in , is associated with her parents, judge and mrs. bradwell, on the _legal news_ and in the preparation of bradwell's appellate court reports. july , , the bill making women eligible as school officers became a law, and in the fall elections of the same year the people gave unmistakable indorsement of the champions of the bill, by electing women as superintendent of schools in ten counties, while in sixteen others women were nominated. many of these earnest women have been in the service ever since. as the practical results of woman's controlling influence as superintendents of schools seems to epitomize her work in all official positions, we submit a report compiled by miss mary allen west, made at the request of the illinois social science association, regretting that we have not space for one of the model reports of miss sarah raymond, also for ten years superintendent of the schools of bloomington: during the session of - , judge bradwell introduced into the legislature the following bill, which became a law april , : "be it enacted by the people of illinois, represented in general assembly, that any woman, married or single, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and possessing the qualifications prescribed for men, shall be eligible to any office under the general school laws of this state." a second section provides for her giving bonds. at the next election, november, , ten ladies were elected to the office of county superintendent of schools for a term of four years. as this term has now expired, it is a favorable time to inquire how women have succeeded in this new line of labor. that the work that devolves upon county superintendents may be understood, i give a part of the synopsis of the duties pertaining to the office, as enumerated by dr. newton bateman: _first_--she must carefully inspect and pass upon the bonds of all township treasurers, and upon the securities given in each case, and is personally liable as well upon her official bond for any loss to the school funds sustained through her neglect or careless performance of duty. _second_--she must keep herself fully and carefully informed as to what townships have and what have not complied with the provisions of the law in respect to maintenance of schools; so that no funds may in ignorance be paid to townships having no legal claim to them. _third_--she must collect, transcribe, classify, verify, tabulate, and transmit annually to the state superintendent the school statistics of her county, together with a detailed written report of the condition of the common schools therein. _fourth_--she must arrange, classify, file and preserve all books, papers, bonds, official correspondence and other documents belonging to her office. _fifth_--she must impart instruction and give directions to inexperienced teachers in the science, art and method of teaching, and must be ready, at all times, to counsel, advise and assist the school officers of her county. _sixth_--she must take an active part in the management of county teachers' institutes, and labor in every way to improve the quality of teaching in her county. _seventh_--she must hear, examine, and determine all questions and controversies under school law, which may be referred to her, and must carefully prepare, to the best of her knowledge and ability, such replies to all letters from school officers and teachers as each case demands. _eighth_--she must examine all candidates desiring to teach in her county, and grant certificates to such, and such only, as she honestly thinks are of good moral character and sufficient scholastic attainments. as no one can teach in a public school without such certificate, this gives her the veto power over all teachers. dr. bateman, commenting on fourteen specifications, of which the foregoing constitute but eight, says these are _some_ of the _many_ duties made obligatory upon the county superintendent by law. besides all these, is the visitation of schools, which every true superintendent considers a very important part of the work. for convenience we will group these duties in three classes: . those concerning finance. . legal duties. . duties to teachers and schools. i. to give an idea of the financial interests intrusted to the hands of these women, we find by reference to the state superintendent's report for last year that the total receipts for school purposes in these ten counties which they superintend was $ , , . so far as can be learned from the records, not one cent of the large sums over which they had supervision has been lost through their dishonesty, or, what was more to be feared, their ignorance of business. unlike those of dora copperfield, their accounts _will_ "add up." in the county (knox) where the receipts are greatest, aggregating $ , . , the greatest difference between receipts and expenditures, as shown by the superintendent's books, is ten cents. in many of these counties the financial affairs were in the greatest confusion when the ladies came into office. in one, perhaps more, the preceding superintendent was a defaulter, in another he was engaged in a law-suit with the county board, and in still others strange irregularities were discovered. in every instance, so far as we can ascertain, these crookednesses have been straightened out, the finances put upon a surer basis, hundreds, we believe thousands, of dollars of bad debts have been collected, treasurers and directors have been induced to keep their books with greater care and in better shape, reckless expenditure of school funds has been discouraged, and directors encouraged to expend the money for things which will permanently benefit the schools. so much for finance. ii. _legal duties._--rightly to discharge the duties imposed by specification , the county superintendent needs to be a very good lawyer, for school law in its ramifications reaches many other departments of law. especially is it inextricably mixed up with election laws, and all know that cases arising under election laws are among the most complex and difficult to handle. probably a school election never occurrs in which some such cases are not referred to the county superintendent. in the settlement of these and other cases arising under school law, these women have been peculiarly successful, and some of them have earned the blessing bestowed upon the peacemakers. we know of one county where, after last spring's election, five contested cases were referred to the superintendent for settlement; these were all satisfactorily adjusted by her. during her four years' administration, scores of controversies were referred to her, and there has never been a single appeal from her decisions. another most complicated case involving a defaulting treasurer, was conducted entirely by the county superintendent until it became necessary to employ a lawyer to argue the case in court. what she had done was then submitted to one of the leading lawyers of the state, and he sanctioned and approved each step. numerous other instances might be cited to show that woman has not failed in the legal part of her work as superintendent of schools. iii. _her work with teachers and schools._--here our superintendents were perfectly at home. each of the ten had taught successfully for years, and so knew the wants of the school-room. this knowledge was invaluable, both in the examination of teachers and in the supervision of schools. fears were expressed lest in the examination of candidates, womanly sympathy would lead them to grant certificates to needy applicants who were not altogether qualified. but the motherliness which is in every true woman's heart, warded off this danger. as one remarked, "i have a great deal of the milk of human kindness in my nature, but its streams flow toward the roomful of children to be injured by an incompetent teacher, rather than toward that teacher, however needy he may be. if his claims rest on his needs rather than his merits, let the poormaster attend to his wants, not the superintendent. school money is not a pauper fund." this motherliness comes in good play in school visitation. it draws the children to the superintendent; keeps them from being afraid of her, and hence leads them to work naturally during her visit; thus she can obtain a true idea of the status of the school, and know just how to advise and direct the teacher. the same thing holds true in regard to teachers; the majority of them are ladies, and they will come to a lady for the solution of their doubts and difficulties much more freely than to a gentleman. this gives her better opportunity to "impart instruction and give directions to inexperienced teachers." woman's power to lift up the teachers under her control to a higher plane, both intellectually and morally, has been signally demonstrated by the experience of the past four years. in looking after the details of official work, those tiresome minutiæ so often left at "loose ends," producing endless confusion, woman has shown great aptitude. you say, "this is but the clean sweeping of a new broom." may be so, in part; but in part it comes from the womanly instinct to "look well to the ways of her household," whether that household be the occupants of a cottage or the schools of a county. in the work of the state association of county superintendents, the ladies have well sustained their part. when placed on the programme, they have come prepared with carefully written papers, showing their desire to give the association the benefit of their best thoughts, and not put off upon it such crudely digested ideas as may spring up at the moment. at the last meeting at springfield, four out of the nine superintendents now in office were present, per cent.; out of the gentlemen in the same office, were present, per cent. the ratio of attendance has been about the same for the four years. how has woman's work as county superintendent impressed other educators? state-superintendent etter, who confesses that he was not in favor of the plan, said at the state teachers' association, above referred to: "the ladies compare very favorably with their gentlemen co-laborers." mr. e.l. wells, for twelve years county superintendent of ogle county, and thoroughly conversant with the work throughout the state, concurs in this opinion. president newton bateman, than whom no man in the state is better fitted to speak on this subject, in his political-economy class in knox college, took occasion to commend the efficiency of women as county superintendents of our state. a gentleman who travels extensively, and looks into school affairs closely, says he is convinced that in every county where a woman was elected four years ago, the efficiency of the office had been doubled and in some cases increased four or even ten fold. if this be not an exaggeration, an explanation may be found in the fact that in most of these counties the best ladies were put in the place of gentlemen most poorly fitted for the place. the office had become a political foot-ball, kicked about as party exigencies demanded, and often came into possession of political hacks who "must be provided for," and for whom no other place could be found. they had no qualifications for the office, and, of course, could not perform its duties. the people, disgusted, turned to the women for relief, and took good care to elect the ones best fitted to do the work. had equal care been used in the selection of their predecessors, they might have done equally good work. in quoting opinions, i have purposely confined myself to those given by gentlemen. the limits of this paper have restricted this discussion to the work of woman as a county superintendent; but in other school offices she is doing efficient work. all over the state we have examples of her efficiency as school director. miss sarah e. raymond, in bloomington, and miss ludlow, in davenport (by the way, the iowa state teachers' association last year honored itself by electing her president), abundantly proves woman's ability to superintend the schools of large cities. m.a.w. in _zion's herald_ , on the origin of the woman's college in evanston, miss frances e. willard writes: in , when we were all tugging away to build heck hall for ministers, i heard several thoughtful women say, "we ought to be doing this for our own sex. men have help from every side, while no one thinks of women." in the summer of mrs. mary f. haskins, who had been treasurer of the american methodist ladies' centenary association, which built heck hall, raising for the purpose $ , , invited the ladies of evanston to her home to talk over the subject of founding a woman's college, which should secure to young women the highest educational advantages. mrs. haskin originated the thought--with her own hands assisted in laying the corner-stone, and in her first address as president she said: "i have often thought that to the successful teacher the words must be full of hope and promise, which a great writer uses of education: 'it is a companion which no misfortune can distress, no crime destroy, no enemy alienate, no despot enslave; at home a friend, abroad an introduction; in solitude a solace, in society an ornament. it chastens vice, it guides virtue, it adds a grace to genius. without it what is man?'--and i would add with emphasis, without an education, what is woman?" this woman's college at evanston is the first on record to which a charter, granting full collegiate powers, was ever given by legislative act, including only names of women in its board of trustees. this board, elected miss frances e. willard president, who presided over the institution for two years, during which term a class of young women was graduated, the first in history to whom diplomas were voted and conferred by women. the degree of a. m. was given mrs. jennie fowler willing, of chicago, who preached the baccalaureate sermon at the unique commencement exercises. mrs. mary f. haskin, and mrs. elizabeth greenleaf were respectively presidents of the board of trustees. later on, as a higher evolution of the central thought, an arrangement was made between the woman's college and the northwestern university, by which the former became the woman's department of the latter, on condition that in its board of trustees, faculty of instruction, and all its departments of culture, women should be admitted on an equality with men, as to opportunities, positions and salaries. miss willard was then chosen dean of the woman's college, and professor of æsthetics in the university. mrs. emily huntington miller was placed on the executive committee of the board, and mrs. r. f. queal, mrs. jennie fowler willing, mrs. mary bannister willard, and mrs. l. l. greenleaf were elected trustees. one year later, miss willard entered the temperance work since which time miss ellen m. soule and miss jane bancroft have successively served in the position of dean. the young women have led in scholarship, taken prizes in composition and oratory, while upon one occasion the delighted students dragged forth the only artillery in the village to voice their enthusiasm over the fact that to miss lizzie r. hunt had been awarded at the great international contest the first prize for the best english essay. in , while filling the duties of professor in wesleyan university, mrs. jennie fowler willing was licensed as a local preacher in the methodist episcopal church, the first woman engaged as evangelist in illinois. the monticello ladies' seminary at godfrey is worthy of mention. miss harriet n. haskell, its president, has done a noble work there in making possible for many girls, by labor under her roof to pay in part for a liberal education. she has been at the head of this institution for thirty years. mrs. f.a. shiner at mt. carroll, is another grand woman worthy of mention. she, too, gives poor girls an opportunity in her household to pay in part for their education. in this way many are being trained in domestic accomplishments as well as the higher branches of education. there is no distinction made between those who work a certain number of hours each day and those who pay in full for their advantages; and in many cases the best scholars have been found from year to year among those who had the stimulus of labor. as miss haskell and mrs. shiner have uniformly entertained all the lyceum lecturers[ ] at their beautiful homes, many have had the pleasure of seeing and talking with these bright girls, and the worthy presidents of the institutions. we believe to illinois belongs the distinction of being the birthplace of the first woman admitted to the american medical association--dr. sarah hackett stevenson, born at buffalo grove, ogle county. dr. stevenson was admitted to this time-honored association june, . the philadelphia _evening bulletin_ thus refers to the innovation: the doctors have combined millennial with centennial glories. the largest assemblage of the medical profession ever held in america yesterday honored itself by bursting the bonds of ancient prejudice, and admitting a woman to its membership by a vote that proved the battle won, and that henceforth professional qualification, and not sex, is to be the test of standing in the medical world. looking over the past fierce resistance by which every advance of woman into the field of medical life was met, yesterday's action seems like the opening of a scientific millennium. it was a most appropriate time and place for the beginning of this new era of medical righteousness and peace. here, in the centennial year, in the "city of brotherly love," where the first organized effort for the medical education of women was made, where the oldest medical college for women in the world is located, and where the fight against woman's entry into the medical profession was most hotly waged, was the place to take the manly new departure, which, so far as the national association is concerned, began yesterday in the election of dr. sarah hackett stevenson as a member in full standing from the state of illinois. dr. mary h. thompson, who was graduated at boston in , and who, removing to chicago, succeeded in establishing a woman's hospital, is included in a short list of notable alumnæ of the boston medical school. dr. lelia g. bedell, dr. e. g. cook, dr. julia holmes smith, dr. alice b. stockham, and many others have won honorable distinction in this profession. one of the marked crises in the history of the reform we trace was the centennial fourth of july. the daughters of the pilgrims realized as never before the cruel injustice by which they were deprived of their birthright, and from the western prairies and eastern hills their earnest protest was given to the nation. as early as may , , at a special convention of the illinois woman suffrage association, two vigorous protests were read as the official utterances of state and national associations. the convention was called to order by mrs. alma van winkle, who stated that mrs. jane graham jones,[ ] the beloved and efficient president of the association, having determined upon a european sojourn, had sent her resignation to the executive committee, and that mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert, recently removed to the state, had been elected to fill her place. this action being ratified, susan b. anthony was introduced, and although she had just concluded an intensely vigorous lyceum tour, extending through many months, she spoke with unusual power. just here i wish to emphasize the great loss to women in the fact that as miss anthony's speeches were never written, but came with thrilling effect from her patriotic soul, scarce any record of them remains, other than the intangible memories of her grateful countrywomen. at this convention the following address was read and adopted: _to the women of the united states of america, greeting:_ while the centennial clock is striking the hour of opportunity for the pilgrims' daughters to prove themselves regenerate children of a worthy ancestry, while the air reverberates to the watchwords of the statesmen of the revolution, let the daughters of the nation, in clear, steady and womanly voices, chorus through the states: "taxation without representation is tyranny," and "all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." womanly hands, firm, capable and loving, have been steadily, persistently and unceasingly knocking, knocking at the doors of judicial, ecclesiastical and legislative halls, until at last the rusty bars are yielding and the persistent knocking is beginning to tell upon iron nerves and all kinds of masculine constitutions. just now, in the centennial year, another door has opened, preparing the way for the pilgrims' daughters to present their claim before the assembled nation on the "fourth of july, ." a joint resolution of congress, signed by the president of the united states, and made the subject of proclamation by the governor of the state, reads as follows: _be it resolved by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america_, that it be, and is hereby, recommended by the senate and the house of representatives to the people of the several states, that they assemble in the several counties and towns on the approaching centennial anniversary of our national independence, and that they cause to have delivered on such day an historical sketch of said county or town from its foundation, and that a copy of said sketch may be filed, in print or manuscript, in the clerk's office of said county, and an additional copy be filed in the office of the librarian of congress at the city of washington, to the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of the progress of our institutions during the first centennial of their existence. the governor of this state earnestly recommends that prompt measures be taken in each county and town for the selection of one or more persons who shall prepare complete, thorough and accurate historical sketches of each county, city, town or village, from the date of the settlement to the present time. in view of the fact that since our civil war thousands of charitable, scientific, philanthropic, religious and political associations have been organized among women, of which but few accurate records are now accessible to the general public, and in view of the fact that the supreme court and many of our legislators construe "persons" to indicate only men (except when persons are to be taxed, fined or executed), we respectfully suggest that in all cases one member of the committee shall be a woman, to the end that there may be submitted to future historians accurate data of the extent and scope of the work of american women; that this historian of woman shall carefully and impartially record the literary, educational, journalistic, industrial, charitable and political work of woman as expressed in temperance, missionary and woman suffrage organization. let a meeting of every woman suffrage organization throughout the state, or, where none exists, let any friend of the cause call a meeting, at which a committee shall be appointed to present this suggestion to the people as they may meet in the different cities, villages and towns, to perfect arrangements for their local celebration. as american citizens we salute the tri-color, emblem of the rights obtained and liberties won by husbands, fathers and sons, meanwhile pledging, if need be, another century of toil and effort to the sacred cause of human rights, and the establishment of a genuine republic. elizabeth boynton harbert, _pres. ill. woman suffrage society._ it was decided at this convention to celebrate the fourth of july in some appropriate manner. under the auspices of mrs. harbert this was done at evanston. the occasion was heralded as "the woman's fourth," and programmes[ ] were scattered through the village. the auditorium of the large methodist church was tastefully decorated with exquisite flowers; flags were gracefully festooned about the pulpit, and all the appointments were pronounced artistic by the most critical, and mrs. harbert's oration, of which we give a few extracts, aimed to be in keeping with her surroundings: if possessed of artistic genius, i would seize the pencil and imprison in rich and gorgeous coloring two pictures for the woman's pavilion of our centennial; for the first i would reproduce that prophetically symbolic scene at the dawn of our history, when with a faith and generosity worthy of honorable mention, isabella of castile placed her jewels in the almost discouraged mariner's hands, and bade columbus give to the world columbia. the second scene would be the antithesis of the first, as to-day, the women of the united states make haste to lay at the feet of our statesmen and prophets their jewels of thought and influence, bidding them, in the name of woman, give to the world a perfected government, a genuine republic, a purer civilization. now, as then, there are many ready with mocking jeers; but, turning not to the right nor the left, the faith of woman and the courage of man move on apace to sure success. that historic "first gun" not only jarred loose every rivet in the manacles of , , slaves, but when the smoke of the cannonading had lifted, the entire horizon of woman was broadened, illuminated, glorified. on that april day when a nation of citizens were suddenly transformed into an army of warriors, american women, with a patriotism as intense as theirs, a consecration as true, quietly assumed their vacated places and became citizens. out from market-place and forum, counting-house and farm--keeping time to the chime of the music of the union--marched father, husband and son; into office, store and farm, called there by no ambitious desire to wander out of their sphere, but by the same dire military necessity that called our men to the front stepped orphaned daughter and widowed wife. anna dickinson captured the lyceum and platform. the almost classic scene of "corinne at the capitol" is not more remarkable than that historic scene of the quaker girl at washington, called there to receive the plaudits of the highest officials of our nation, for services rendered in the then vital political campaigns of new hampshire, connecticut, pennsylvania and new york. the cruel, scarlet days of war dragged wearily on. up from the southern battle-fields, borne northward in the lull of the war tempest, came a wailing appeal from "the boys," who hitherto had never appealed to "mother" in vain: "we are wounded, sick and starving." instantly the mother-heart responded--waiting not for "orders," snapping official red-tape, as though it had been woven of cob-webs, two women started southward with the needed supplies, and this great, anxious, agonized north gave a sob of relief when the message thrilled through the land that jane c. hoge and mary a. livermore had arrived at the front with the needed supplies. idle, helpless, dependent queens were not then in demand, but women fitted to be wives of heroes. because our lake-bordered, tree-fringed village was once her home, i lovingly trace first on evanston's scroll of honor the name of jane c. hoge, while just underneath it i write that of our venerable philanthropist, who was the first woman in these united states to receive the badge of the christian commission, mrs. arza brown. and now, standing here upon the border-land of two centuries, over-shadowed by the dear old flag, re-baptized with the blood of my beloved as of yours--standing here, a native-born citizen, as a woman to whom the honor, purity, peace and freedom of native land is dear as life; as a wife vitally interested in the interests of manhood; as a mother responsible for the best development of her children; as a human being, responsible to her creator for the highest possible usefulness, i claim equality before the law. mrs. mary bannister willard gave some surprising facts in regard to woman's work in connection with the north western university, and reminded us that foremost among the women of the dawning century was eliza garret of chicago, who secured to the garret biblical institute its endowment of a quarter of a million of dollars, with the proviso that a certain increase of income from the same after the wants of the young theologues had been met, should be applied to the erection and endowment of a seminary for young ladies. but alas! the theological appetite has been insatiate, even unto this last, and deliverance has come to our girls from another quarter. and this was the throwing down of university gates and bars, and a free extension of all educational privileges to women. upon the roll of honor connected with this work we gratefully place the names of many brave, self-sacrificing women.[ ] the rev. mr. chappell, pastor of the baptist church, then gave a most eloquent, liberal oration. in closing, he said: "but what think you, sisters, of the dangers that threaten the republic? do they lie on your hearts? are they in your prayers? do they enter into your plans? all compliments and gallantries aside, it makes a vast difference in the destiny of the republic whether you understand and feel its dangers. the scale has turned. no longer need we dread oppression, disability, power; but on the other hand, license, luxury, listlessness, forgetfulness of god and the wholesome truth. this watch-night of the republic augurs well. this gathering of the sisterhood has its meaning. you are the power behind the throne; with you and with god lies the destiny of the republic." after the benediction the audience dispersed, all expressing of the entire programme the most enthusiastic approval. about the close of the year , a noticeable change in the direction of thought and effort was very apparent in the state of illinois. as a result of the ravages of the fire and the severe mental strain to which business men were subjected, women sprang to the rescue, and actively engaged in business. these additional burdens assumed by the many, the few were left to bear the weight of religious, philanthropic and social duties. women had tested their powers sufficiently to realize their strength, and were impatient for immediate results, hence many of the active friends of woman suffrage, believing that the temperance ballot could be more speedily secured than entire political equality, joined the home-protection movement, while through the broadening and helpful influence of the grange in the farm-homes of the northwest, requests for aids to organization came from all quarters. in order that the earnest thoughts of the one class and the practical methods of the other, might be rendered mutually beneficial, i one day entered the sanctum of the progressive editor of the _inter-ocean_, and asked for a ten-minute audience. the request was granted, and wm. penn nixon, esq., courteously listened to the following questions: "as a progressive journalist, and one who must recognize the philanthropic activity of the women of the northwest, has it ever occurred to you that there is nowhere in journalism a special recognition of their interests? we have special fashion departments, special cooking departments, but no niche or corner devoted to the moral, industrial, educational, philanthropic and political interests of women; and does not your judgment assure you that such a department could be rendered popular?" as a result of this conversation a special corner of the _inter-ocean_ was yielded to woman's interests, designated by the editors, "woman's kingdom," and on january , , the following announcement appeared: congratulations to women that we have at last found a home in journalism; that amid the clashing of sabers of our modern press tournament, the knights of the quill recognize that women have some rights that journalists are bound to respect. these columns are in the interest of no class, clique, sect, or section, and we earnestly request accurate data of woman's work. all missionary, literary, temperance and woman suffrage organizations, will be accorded space for announcing their aims. with an occasional review of new books, we will confer in regard to what woman has written; wandering through studios and sanctums, we will record what she is painting and preaching. pleading an intense and loving interest in the splendid opportunities now opening to american women, we shall hope that some truth may be evolved that may enrich their lives. notwithstanding this was the first special department of the kind, much of the best journalistic work of the state was being done by women,[ ] who seemed to have received a new baptism to serve the higher interests of humanity. from the desire for coöperation expressed by many contributors to "woman's kingdom," the following little item was set afloat in may, : many facts recently arresting attention, in connection with the industrial, political, and moral interests of women, seem to render a conference of their representatives in regard to business aims, expedient. there is need of a bureau through which the industrial interests of women can be promoted and some practical answer given to the question everywhere heard, "how can we earn a living?" there is a demand for an educational bureau of correspondence and also a lyceum bureau through whose agency good lectures upon practical subjects can be secured in every city and village. all interested in such a conference are requested to send their names to mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert, evanston, ill., or mrs. louise rockwood wardner, cairo, ill. hon. frank sanborn, in his annual report to the american social science association, mentioned the formation of a branch society[ ] in this state. he said: like the state charities aid association of new york, which was organized and is directed by women, the illinois association devotes itself chiefly to practical applications of social science, though in a somewhat different direction. it was formed in october, , with a membership of some two hundred women; it publishes a monthly newspaper, _the illinois social science journal_, full of interesting communications, and it has organized in its first seven months' existence eight smaller associations in other states. the enthusiasm in this society branching out in so many practical directions, absorbed for a time the energies of the illinois women. our membership reached . this may account for the apparent lethargy of the suffrage association during the years of - . caroline f. corbin dealt an effective blow in her novel, entitled "rebecca; or, a woman's secret." jane grey swisshelm, with trenchant pen, wrote earnest strictures against the shams of society. elizabeth holt babbitt wrote earnestly for all reform movements. myra bradwell persistently held up to the view of the legislators of the state the injustice of the laws for woman. mrs. julia mills dunn and mrs. hannah j. coffee were doing quiet but most effective work in henry county. miss eliza bowman was consecrating her young womanhood to the care of the foundlings' home. mrs. wardner, mrs. candee, mrs. george, and other women in the southern part of the state, were founding the library at cairo, while in every village and hamlet clubs for study or philanthropic work were being organized. mrs. kate n. doggett, as president of the association for the advancement of women, was lending her influence to the formation of art clubs. and all this in addition to the vast army of faithful teachers, represented by sarah b. raymond, professor louisa allen gregory and mary c. larned. mrs. louise rockwood wardner, president of the illinois industrial school for girls, and the noble band of women associated with her, were earnestly at work in the endeavor to secure to the vagrant girls of the state an industrial education. miss frances e. willard and the dauntless army of temperance workers were petitioning for the right to vote on all questions pertaining to the liquor traffic. meanwhile many of the members of the illinois social science association were beginning to realize that every measure proposed for progressive action was thwarted because of woman's inability to crystallize her opinions into law. this has been the uniform experience in every department of reform, and sooner or later all thinking women see plainly that the direct influence secured by political power gives weight and dignity to their words and wishes. mrs. jane graham jones, ex-president of the state association, continued her effective work in europe, and, as a delegate from the national association, prepared the following address of welcome to the international congress, convened in paris, july , : friends, compatriots, and confrères of the international congress assembled to discuss the rights of women: allow me to extend to you the congratulations of the national woman suffrage association of america, which i have the honor to represent. i congratulate you upon this important, this sublime moment, this auspicious place for the meeting of a woman's congress. paris, gorgeous under the grand monarch who surrounded his royal person with a splendid galaxy of beauty, genius, and chivalry; attractive and influential under the great emperor whose meteoric genius held spell-bound the wondering gaze of a world; to-day, with neither king nor court, nor man of destiny, is grander, more gorgeous, more beautiful and more influential than ever before. to-day this is the shrine toward which the pilgrims from every land turn their impatient steps. each balmy breeze comes to us heavily laden with the dialects of all nations. not only are the different parts represented in their economic and industrial products, but each thought, idea, motive and need is brought before the world in the various congresses assembled during this great union festival of liberty, peace and labor. literature, science, religion, education, philosophy, and labor, each has had its eloquent advocates. at this time, when the great ones of the earth are met together in earnest thought and honest discussion, when each mind and conscience is attuned to the highest motive, how appropriate that woman, whose labor, wealth and brain have cemented the stones in every monument that man has reared to himself; that woman, the oppressed, woman, the hater of wars, the faithful, quiet drudge of the centuries, watching while others slept, working while others plundered and murdered; woman, who has died in prison and on the scaffold for liberty, should here and now have her audience and her advocates. as a child of america i love and venerate france. we cannot forget lafayette, although a hundred years have passed since generous france sent him to our aid in our great struggle for freedom. but as a woman i glory in her. [great and deafening applause.] all true women love and honor france. [at this point the reader was interrupted with wild cries of "bravo! bravo!" "live america!" "true, true."] france, in whose prolific soil great and progressive ideas generate and take root, in spite of king, emperor, priest or tyrant; france, the protectress of science, art, and philosophy; france, the home of the scholar and thinker; france, the asylum which generously received the women who came hither seeking those intellectual advantages and privileges cruelly denied them at home; france, that compelled republican america and civilized england to open their educational institutions to women; france, the birth-place of a host of women whose splendid genius, devoted lives, and heroic deaths have encouraged and inspired women of other lands in their struggles to strike off the ignominious shackles which the ages have riveted upon them! [loud applause.] how apropos it is, then, that the women from all nations meet on the free soil of france to give to the world their declaration of rights. to-day we clasp hands and pledge hearts to the sacred cause of woman's emancipation. to-day we meet to thank france for the grand women whose lofty utterances come echoing and reëchoing to us through the corridors of time, and to thank her for her great men who have been the beacon lights to guide the world to higher civilization and greater hatred of oppression. in the name of my great countrywomen, inaugurators and leaders of the woman's rights movement in america, the eloquent and ardent advocates of liberty for men and women alike, both black and white; in the name of the officers of the national woman suffrage association; in the name of those grand women, lucretia mott, elizabeth cady stanton, and susan b. anthony, i salute the women of france and of the world assembled in this congress, and bid them god-speed. when we call to mind what has been accomplished by noble women everywhere, we are encouraged to renewed effort. in america we have accomplished wonders, and yet we demand more; and shall continue to demand until we are equal in the state, in the church, and in the home. twenty years ago woman entered our courts of law only as a criminal to be tried; now she enters as an advocate to plead the cause of justice, and invoke the spirit of mercy. twenty years ago woman entered the sick room only as the poorly-paid nurse; now she is the trusted medical adviser, friend and counsellor. to-day she is in many respects the peer of man, to-morrow she will be in all respects his acknowledged equal. [great and continued applause.] who can measure the influence this congress may have on woman's advancement toward that perfect equality which justice and humanity demand. women of france and of the world, be of good cheer, and continue to agitate for the right, for in the elevation of woman lies the progress of the world. [deafening applause, and cries of hear, hear.] a letter to the chicago _times_ commenting upon the above address says: mrs. jones being indisposed, was replaced momentarily by her daughter, a beautiful young lady of about sixteen summers, who read the opening address of her mother; her rich voice pronouncing with such distinctness and beauty, the earnest words, translated into french, won all hearts, and gave to the opening of the congress such a prestige as it would otherwise never have had. after its close, miss jones regained her seat amidst the hearty congratulations of the throng assembled in that great hall, and i was proud of our little american. her beauty and courage, coupled with her extreme youth, were the principal topics discussed during the day by outsiders. i was thankful that our nation was so well represented at the very first meeting, and the parisian journals were all loud in their praise of mrs. jones' welcoming address, as well as the charming apparition of her young and accomplished daughter. as indicating the numerous lines along which woman's aroused energies have found expression, we would call attention to the art union of central illinois. it is composed of nine societies, "the historical," and "the palladium," of bloomington; the art class at decatur; "art society," of lincoln; "art association," of jacksonville; "art society," of peoria; "art society," of springfield, and "art club," of champagne. mrs. lavilla wyatt latham, wife of col. robert g. latham, of lincoln, was the originator of the art union. their spacious home, built with large piazzas in true southern style, is a museum of curiosities. its library, cabinet, pictures, and statuary, make it a most attractive harbor of rest to the wandering band of lecturers, especially as the cultivated host and hostess are in warm sympathy with all reform movements. mr. latham was a warm friend of abraham lincoln, and entertained him many times under his roof. the _woman's journal_ of march , , said: seventy women of illinois, appointed by the woman's state temperance union, went to the legislature, bearing a petition signed by , persons, asking that no licenses to sell liquor be granted, which are not asked for by a majority of the citizens of the place. mr. sherman moved a suspension of the rules to admit of the presentation of the petition. mr. merritt objected, but, by a decided vote, the rules were suspended, and the petition was received and read. mr. sherman moved that mrs. prof. s. m. d. fry of wesleyan university of bloomington, be invited to address the house upon the subject of the petition. mr. herrington objected to the obtrusion of such trifling matter upon the house, which had business to do. it was well enough to let the petition be received, but he wanted nobody to be allowed to interfere with the business of the house. referring to some forty or fifty ladies of the union who had been admitted to the floor of the house, he wanted to know by what authority persons not entitled to the privilege of the floor had been admitted. he insisted on his prerogative as a member, and asked that the floor and lobbies be cleared of all persons not entitled to the privilege of the house. according to the chicago _tribune_, this speech of herrington created a slight sensation, among the ladies especially, but mr. herrington's demand was ignored, and a recess of thirty minutes was taken to allow mrs. fry to address the house in support of the petition, which she did in a speech put in very telling phrases. at its conclusion, some of the members opposed to temperance legislation, signalized their ill-breeding, to say the least, by derisive yells for mr. herrington and others to answer mrs. fry. presently the hall was resonant with yells and cheers, converting it into a a very babel, and the hubbub was kept up until, at the expiration of the half-hour recess, speaker shaw called "order" and the house immediately adjourned. if any body of men bearing a petition of , voting men, had gone to the same legislature, and by courtesy been admitted to speak for their petition, no member would have dared to insult them. it is because they had no recognized political rights that these women were insulted. claim your right, ladies, to be equal members of the legislature, then you can enact temperance laws, and have an unquestioned right "to the privilege of the floor." in , under the lead of their president, frances e. willard, the women of illinois rolled up a mammoth petition of , , asking the right to vote on the question of license. this prayer, like that of the , , met the fate of all attempts of disfranchised classes to influence legislation. following this repulse, in some ten or fifteen of the smaller cities of the state, boards of common council were prevailed upon to pass ordinances giving the women the right to vote on the question. without an exception, the result was overwhelming majorities for "no license." in the cities where officers were elected at the same time, almost without exception, the majority of them were in favor of license, while in those in which the old board of officers held over, no licenses were granted, until the new board elected only by the votes of the men of the city, was installed. dr. alice b. stockham, in her report at the washington convention of , said: after the city ordinance of keithsburg allowed women to vote, the hardest work was to convert the women themselves. committees were appointed who visited from house to house to persuade women to go to the polls for the suppression of the rule of liquor. on the morning of election they met in a church for conference and prayer. at o'clock forty brave women marched to the polls and cast their first ballot for home protection. carriages were running to and fro all day to bring the invalid and the aged. for once they were induced to leave the making of ruffles and crazy quilts, to give their silent voice for the suppression of vice. three weeks later not a woman could be found in the town opposed to suffrage, and for one year not a glass of liquor could be bought in keithsburg. under the act of , the women of illinois thought their right to pursue every avocation, except the military, secure. but in , a judicial decision proved the contrary. we quote from the _national citizen_: in june, , the circuit court of union county, judge john dougherty presiding, appointed helen a. schuchardt, resident of the county, to the office of master in chancery. mrs. schuchardt gave bond with security approved by the court, taking and subscribing the required oath of office. since that day, she has been the acting master of chancery of that county, taking proofs, making judicial rules, and performing the other various duties incident to such office. at the last term of the court the state attorney, at the instance of mr. frank hall, relator, filed an information in the nature of a _quo warranto_ charging that mrs. schuchardt had usurped and was unlawfully holding and exercising the office. mrs. schuchardt filed pleas setting forth the order of the court appointing her, her bonds with the order of approval, and the oath of office filed by her. to these pleas a general demurrer was interposed and argued. the questions presented by the demurrer were: _first_--is the defendant eligible to this office, she being neither a practicing nor a learned lawyer? _second_--is the defendant eligible to this office, she being a female? the court dismissed the first question on the ground that the statute does not require admission to the bar as a qualification. of the eleven masters in chancery in that judicial circuit, it was shown that only five had been admitted to the bar. as to the second objection, _i. e._, that mrs. schuchardt was a female (!) it was decided that the common law never contemplated the admittance of a woman to the office of master in chancery, and that doubtless it was the first instance in which a woman had been admitted to the office. it was also decided that the act of march , , did not make women eligible to this office; master in chancery--for woman--did not mean "occupation, profession, or employment," and that "persons do not select an office, but are selected for the office." judge harker, in delivering this opinion, said: "it is due to mrs. schuchardt to say in conclusion, that while i am constrained to sustain this demurrer and hold that under the law she cannot retain this office, there is not one of the masters in chancery in the four counties where i preside, who has been more faithful or attentive in the discharge of his duties, and none who has exhibited higher qualifications to discharge well those duties. and it is my sincere hope that at its next session the legislature will make this office accessible to females." one of the most influential local associations has been that of chicago, or cook county.[ ] from to mrs. jane graham jones was its president, as well as the leading spirit in the state society.[ ] she was the one to plan and execute the attacks upon the board of education, the common council, and the legislature, holding many meetings in chicago, and at springfield, the seat of government. another flourishing association is that of moline. we give the following from its secretary: in may, , mrs. eunice g. sayles, and mrs. julia mills dunn, secured mrs. stanton to give a lecture on woman suffrage in moline, and at a reception given to her by mrs. sayles, a society with members was organized, which has held meetings regularly since that time, with the reading of papers on topics previously arranged by the president. it is a matter of pride that not a failure has ever occurred, each member always cheerfully performing the duty assigned her. an evening reception is held annually to celebrate the organization of the society, to which two hundred or more guests are invited, each member being entitled to bring several outside of her own family. the meetings have been valuable, not only in promoting friendly relations between the members, but also in the mental stimulus they have afforded. much of the success of this society is due to the literary culture and earnestness of mrs. anne m. j. dow, who was our president for three years. we have sustained a great loss in the death of mrs. sarah d. nourse, who for thirty-five years was an earnest friend of all reforms. soon after its organization, our society became auxiliary to the national association. we have circulated petitions and forwarded them to springfield and washington, where they have met the fate common to all prayers of the disfranchised; we have circulated tracts, placed on file in the public reading room all the suffrage journals, and secured the best lecturers on the question. we are organizing an afternoon reading society, to have read aloud "the history of woman suffrage," and shall soon place it on the shelves of the public library of the village. while we cannot point to any wonderful revolution in public sentiment because of our work, we are nevertheless full of courage, and under the leadership of our state president, elizabeth boynton harbert, we shall go forward in faith and good works, hoping for the end of woman's political slavery.[ ] in concluding this meager record of the methods of earnest men and women of illinois in their brave work for liberty, we are painfully conscious of a vast aggregate of personal toil and self sacrifice which can never be reported. we write of petitions presented to state and national legislative assemblies, but it is impossible to record the personal sacrifice and moral heroism of the women who went from house to house in the cities and villages, or traveled long distances across the broad prairies to secure the signatures. only those who have carried a petition from door to door can know the fatigue and humiliation of spirit it involves. though these earnest women ask only the influence of the names of persons to help on our reform, they are often treated with less courtesy than the dreaded book-agent and peddler. watseka, ill. i send you petitions, the one circulated by me has names--the other by clara l. peters, .[ ] we are interested heart and soul in the movement, and our efforts here have made many friends for the cause. have been an ardent worker since i was a child, and well remember that grand hero of moral reforms, samuel j. may of syracuse, n. y., at a woman's temperance convention held in rochester in , when i was eight years old. viola hawks archibald.[ ] the following letter from mary l. davis, gives some idea of the toils of circulating petitions: davis, stephenson co., ill., may , . editor _ballot-box_:--the question of suffrage for woman has been thoroughly discussed in our society, and last week i started out with my petition. i could work but a short time each day, but i systematically canvassed our beautiful little village, taking it by streets, and although i have been over but a small portion, i have ninety signatures. i met with but little opposition, and with kind wishes in abundance; with some amusing, some provoking, some pathetic, and some disgusting phases of human nature--with very agreeable disappointments, and very disagreeable ones. very often some person would say to me, there is no use in calling at such a house; the man will not, and the woman dare not, sign. i went to such a place last week, was met with all the courtesy one could ask. the man looked over the petition thoughtfully, affixed his own name, and asked his wife if she did not wish to do so, and called in a beautiful sister who was out playing ball with the children, telling her as it was for the especial benefit of women, she ought to sign it too. i write these things to encourage our young girls, who will take up the work. take every house, ask every person; "no," will not hurt or kill you. be prepared to meet every argument that can possibly be advanced. the one which i meet oftenest, is that woman cannot fight, and therefore she shall not vote; and strange to relate, it is almost always advanced by a person who was never a soldier, through physical disability, cowardice, or over or under age. the shortest "no," without the slightest shadow of courtesy, was shot from the lips of a man who is doing business on capital furnished by his wife, and who lives in a house purchased with his wife's money. graceful return for her devotion, wasn't it? i suppose he prefers to keep her in her present state of serfdom, as, if she should ever find out that she was of any importance in the world, except as his housekeeper, cook, washerwoman, and waiter-in-general, she might possibly inquire into the stewardship of her lord and master. and it seemed to me if that ever came to pass, a man who could say "no" so cavalierly, without even a "thank you, ma'am," or, "you're quite welcome," both could and would manage to make surroundings rather disagreeable to the party of the second part. so far no person who has thought much, read much, or suffered much, has refused to sign, and in the few hours which i have devoted to the work, three grandmothers nearly ninety years of age, wished to have their names recorded on the right side of the question, and in two of those instances the grandmother, daughter, and grandfather affixed their signatures, one after another.[ ] we have been permitted to copy the following private letter from a.j. grover to mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, who is now at her home in tenafly, n. j., busily at work with miss anthony and mrs. gage on the second volume of the "history of woman suffrage." the first volume should be on the center-table of every family in the land as a complete text-book on the woman suffrage question, which is to be one of the great issues, social and political, in the coming years. these three women have grown old and won their crowns of white hair in the cause of not only their sex, but of mankind: chicago, november , . my dear friend: you represent a movement of more importance to mankind than any that ever before claimed attention in the whole history of the race, viz.: the freedom of one-half of it. you have enforced this claim by half a century of heroic discussion--of persistent, unanswerable logic and appeal against the theory and practice of all nations, against all governments, codes and creeds. you proclaimed fifty years ago the novel doctrine that woman by nature is, and by law and usage should be, the absolute equal of man. a claim so self-evident should only have to be stated to be recognized by all civilized nations; and yet to this hour the highest civilization, equally with the lowest, is built on the slavery of woman. in the darkest corners of the earth and on the sunlit heights of civilization, the mothers of the race are by law, religion and custom doomed to degradation. and if the seal of their bondage is never to be broken, they themselves as well as the lords and masters they serve, are equally unconscious of the servitude. no religion, no civil government, has ever taught or recognized any other condition for woman than that of subjection. against the accumulated precedents of all the ages, you and your noble coädjutors have rebelled in the face of derision for fifty long, weary years. was ever such sublime womanly heroism and self-sacrifice before known? was ever such worth of culture, such wealth of womanhood, laid on the altar of country and humanity? and all this comparatively unrecognized and unrewarded. where is the boasted chivalry of the english-speaking nations? it is a virtue we boast of, but do not possess. it never, in fact, had any real existence based on genuine respect for woman. it is a bitter sarcasm in the mouth of an american male citizen. a few men like theodore parker, joshua r. giddings, william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips, gerrit smith, samuel j. may and parker pillsbury have measurably redeemed this nation, recognizing your claim for woman as self-evidently just and righteous, and coöperating with you in maintaining it. there are only a score or two of such men in a generation with sufficient chivalry or perception of justice to publicly claim for women the rights they themselves possess. science has demonstrated that men to be manly must be well born, must have noble mothers. how can a mother give birth to a noble soul while herself a slave? how can she impart a free spirit when her own is servile? a stream cannot rise higher than its fountain. we have thought to bring about a high order of civilization by freeing our sons, while chaining our daughters, by sending sons to college and daughters to menial service for a mere pittance as wages, or selling them in marriage to the highest bidder--by robbing them on the very threshold of life of all noble ambition. by the degradation of our women we take from the inherited qualities of the race as much as is added by culture. we take from the metal before casting as much as we restore by polish afterwards, and thus we curse and stultify both sexes. the law and religion of man can be no better than man himself. if religion, law, justice and social order are to improve, man must first be improved. religion and law are effects, not causes. they are fruits, not the tree--the products of the human mind. if these are to be improved, mankind must first be improved. this will be impossible until freedom and culture shall become the inalienable rights of woman. it would be a thousand times better, if either must be a slave to the other, that man should be a slave to woman. the history of woman suffrage, on which you are engaged, if the second volume shall prove equal to the first, will be the richest legacy this age will bequeath to the future. it is a revelation from god, in which, if men believe, they shall be saved. religion itself, without this great salvation, will continue to remain little else than "a wretched record of inspired crime" against woman. woman must be free! protection as an underling from man, savage or civilized, she in reality never had and never will have. protection she does not want. what she needs is equal rights, when she can protect herself--rights of person, rights of labor, rights of property, rights of culture, rights of leisure, rights to participate in the making and administering of the laws. give her equality in exchange for protection; give her her earnings in exchange for support; give her justice in exchange for charity. let man trust woman as woman trusts man, with entire liberty of action, and she will show the world that liberty is her highest good. in conclusion, let me confess that i read your first volume with a feeling of inexpressible shame and mortification for my sex. yours faithfully, a.j. grover. [illustration: elizabeth boynton harbert] mrs. boynton harbert, to whom we are indebted for this chapter, has from girlhood been an enthusiastic advocate of the rights of women. growing up in crawfordsville, indiana, under the very shadow of a collegiate institution into which girls were not permitted to enter, she early learned the humiliation of sex. after vain attempts to slip the bolts riveted with precedent and prejudice that barred the daughters of the state outside, she tried with pen and voice to rouse those whose stronger hands could open wide the doors to the justice of her appeals. her youthful peäns to liberty in prose and verse early found their way into our eastern journals, and later in arguments before conventions and legislative assemblies in illinois, iowa and other western states. as editor for seven years of the "woman's kingdom" in the chicago _inter-ocean_--one of the most popular journals in the nation--she has exerted a widespread influence over the lives of women, bringing new hope and ambition into many prairie homes. as editor-in-chief of the _new era_, in which she is free to utter her deepest convictions; as wife and mother, with life's multiplied experiences, a wider outlook now opens before her, with added wisdom for the responsibilities involved in public life. in all her endeavors she has been nobly sustained by her husband, mr. william harbert, a successful lawyer, many years in practice in chicago, whose clear judgment and generous sympathies have made his services invaluable in the reform movements of the day. footnotes: [ ] judge and mrs. catharine v. waite, mrs. hannah m. tracy cutler, amelia bloomer, dr. ellen b. ferguson, mrs. e. o. g. willard, the rev. mr. and mrs. harrison of earlville; professor and mrs. d. l. brooks, mrs. m. e. de geer, mrs. frances d. gage. [ ] mrs. sunderland was one of the many new england girls who in the early days went west to teach. speaking of the large number of women elected to the office of county superintendent (one of them her own daughter), she told me that thirty years ago when she arrived at the settlement where she had been engaged as teacher, the trustees being unable to make the "examination" deputed one of their number to take her to an adjoining county, where another new england girl was teaching. the excursion was made in a lumber wagon with an ox-team. all the ordinary questions asked and promptly answered, the trustee rather hesitatingly said, "now, while you're about it, wouldn't you just as lief write out the certificate?" this was readily done, and the man affixing his cross thereto, triumphantly carried the applicant back to his district, announcing her duly qualified to teach; and that trio of unlettered men installed the cultivated new england girl in their log school-house, probably without the thought entering the heads of trustees or teacher, that woman, when better educated, should hold the superior position.--[s. b. a. [ ] dr. mary safford, mrs. a. m. freeman, hon. and mrs. sharon tyndale, hon. e. haines, fernando jones, jane graham jones, professor bailey, mr. and mrs. ezra prince, mr. and mrs. r. m. fell, mrs. belle s. candee, general j. m. thompson, mrs. professor noyes of evanston, charles b. waite, catharine v. waite, susan bronson, e. s. williams, kate n. doggett, c. b. farwell, l. z. leiter, j. l. pickard, henry m. smith, frank gilbert, ann telford, mrs. l. c. levanway, myra bradwell, mary e. haven, mrs. a. l. taylor, elizabeth eggleston, p. d. livermore, james b. bradwell, joseph haven, j. h. bayliss, d. blakely, r. e. hoyt, c. d. helmer, alfred l. sewell, george d. willigton, h. allen, r. n. foster, w. w. smith, m. b. smith, amos g. throop, robert collyer, l. i. colburn, g. percy english, arthur edwards, a. reed and sons, s. m. booth, sumner ellis, george b. marsh, sarah marsh, ruth graham, john nutt, j. w. butler, mrs. j. butler, mrs. s. a. richards, mrs. s. w. roe, f. w. hall, mrs. fanny blake, mary s. waite, j. f. temple, a. w. kellogg, w. h. thomson, j. w. loomis, james e. curtis, elizabeth johnston, e. f. hurlbut, e. e. pratt, mrs. e. m. warren, william doggett, edward beecher, james p. weston, e. r. allen, j. e. forrester, mrs. j. f. temple, mrs. f. w. adams, l. walker, mary a. whitaker, elvira w. ruggles, w. w. corbett, h. b. norton, w. h. davis, i. s. dennis, g. t. flanders, mrs. h. b. manford, edward eggleston, sarah g. cleveland, g. g. lyon, e. manford, william d. babbitt, elizabeth holt babbitt, i. s. page, w. o. carpenter, mrs. w. o. carpenter, mrs. h. w. cobb, t. d. fitch, harriet fitch, mary a. livermore, t. w. eddy, a. g. brackett, andrew shuman, john a. jameson, john v. farwell, b. w. raymond, e. g. taylor, mems root and lady, rev. john mclean, mrs. owen lovejoy, mrs. noyes kendall. [ ] the officers were: _president_, mrs. m. livermore; _vice-presidents_, the rev. dr. goodspeed, mrs. helen m. beveridge, judge bradwell, the rev. edward beecher, the rev. d. eggleston, miss eliza bowman, the rev. dr. fowler, mrs. elizabeth loomis, mrs. m. hawley, mrs. m. wheeler, mrs. myra bradwell; _secretaries_, mrs. jeanne fowler willing, of rockford, mrs. elizabeth babbitt, and george graham, esq.; _committee on finance_, judge bradwell, general beveridge and the hon. s. m. booth. the speakers were anna dickinson, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, rev. robert collyer, rev. mr. hammond, rev. robert laird collier, kate n. doggett, and many of the officers of the convention. [ ] for this speech see vol. ii., page . [ ] the officers of the convention were: _president_, mary a. livermore; _vice-presidents_, the rev. robert collyer, professor haven; _recording secretary_, jeanne willing, of rockford; _corresponding secretary_, myra bradwell; _executive committee_, professor haven, chairman; the rev. dr. edward beecher, elizabeth j. loomis, hannah b. manford, the rev. e. eggleston, the rev. c. h. fowler the rev. e. j. goodspeed, rebecca mott, charlotte l. levanway. [ ] the committee to visit springfield were hon. james b. bradwell, mrs. myra bradwell, mrs. kate n. doggett, the rev. e. goodspeed, the hon. c. b. waite, and mrs. rebecca mott. [ ] _indiana_--elizabeth boynton harbert, dr. mary wilhite, emma mallory, and amanda way; _missouri_--rebecca n. hazzard; _wisconsin_--lelia peckham; _iowa_--mary newbury adams, matilda fletcher; _minnesota_--mrs. bishop; _kansas_--mrs. henry; _ohio_--margaret v. longley; _michigan_--professor stone; _massachusetts_--henry b. blackwell, and lucy stone; _new york_--susan b. anthony, most of whom took part in the discussions. [ ] letters were also received from paulina wright davis, frederick douglass, hon. sharon tyndale, rev. d. h. n. powers, mrs. arabella mansfield, rev. willis lord. [ ] the speakers were mrs. livermore, mrs. stone, hon. sharon tyndale, hon. e. haines, and judge bradwell. [ ] one thousand three hundred and eighty women of peoria also prayed that the constitution might not be so amended as to enfranchise women; another evidence of the demoralizing influence of any form of slavery upon the human mind. had not these women been lacking in a proper self-respect they would not have protested against the right to govern themselves.--[e. c. s. [ ] our limited space prevents the publication of judge waite's argument and judge jameson's decision. [ ] jane graham jones and elizabeth loomis represented the cook county association. delegates from several other districts were present. the speakers were a. j. grover, mrs. jane graham jones, miss anthony, mrs. adelle hazlett of michigan, dr. ellen b. furguson of indiana, mr. and mrs. fell, mr. and mrs. prince. [ ] for mrs. bradwell's case see vol. ii., page . [ ] those who have traveled and lectured through the west and spent many rainy sundays in dreary hotels, know how to appreciate a few days rest in the delightful homes scattered over the country as well as in the towns and cities. how many of these memory recalls in the state of illinois! what a hospitable reception we had in the cozy farm-house of mrs. owen lovejoy at princeton, and in the stately residence of mrs. noyes kendall at la moile, in the home of judge lawrence at galesburg, mrs. judge joslyn at woodstock, mrs. r.m. patrick, marengo; mrs. a.w. brayton, mt. morris; mrs. eldridge norwood, olney; rev. dr. moffatt, monticello; col. e.b. loop, belvidere; mrs. judge greer, decatur; mr. and mrs. prince, bloomington; col. and mrs. latham, lincoln, and others too numerous to mention in all the western states.--[s.b.a. [ ] at her beautiful home, prairie avenue, her social influence was even more than her public work. an unfriendly report in any journal was uniformly followed by an invitation to dinner to the editor or some one of his staff, to meet the lady criticised, or discuss the point of attack. miss emily faithful, mrs. stanton, miss anthony and miss couzins have all in turn shared these dinners and discussions. if the methodist episcopal conference sent an opponent to preach in their church, and a little social attention did not convert him, two persons left the church. neither mrs. jones nor her husband would listen to the rev. dr. hatfield, for fernando jones was always as staunch an advocate of the suffrage for women as his wife, and had no faith in a religion that did not teach human equality.--[s. b. a. [ ] "_ducit amor patriæ_"; " ."--centennial commemoration, evanston, ill. music, prayer, music; recitation, miss m. e. brown; music, "battle hymn"; salutatory, "woman and philanthropy," mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert; "historical record of the educational work of our women," mrs. mary bannister willard; music, "whittier's hymn; recitation, miss m. e. brown; missionary roll of honor, miss jessie brown; oration, rev. f. l. chapell; benediction. [ ] mary f. haskin, melinda hamline, caroline bishop, elizabeth m. greenleaf, harriet s. kidder, mary t. willard, mary i. k. huse, cornelia lunt, harriet n. noyes, maria cook, margaret p. evans, sarah i. hurd, annie h. thornton, abby l. brown, and virginia s. kent. [ ] prominent among these journalists were margaret buchanan sullivan and mrs. annie kerr of the chicago _times_, mrs. hubbard of the _tribune_, miss farrand of the _advance_, virginia fitzgerald and alice hobbins of the _inter-ocean_, mrs. myra bradwell, editor of the _legal news_, mrs. catharine v. waite and mrs. degeer of the _crusader_, mrs. louisa white of the moline _dispatch_, mrs. c. b. bostwick of the mattoon _gazette_, mrs. j. oberly of the cairo _bulletin_, miss mary west of the galesburg _republican_, mrs. celia wooley, miss eliza bowman, mrs. clara lyon peters of the watseka _times_, jane grey swisshelm, elizabeth holt babbitt, and many others. [ ] the officers of the illinois social science association were: _president_, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert, evanston; _recording secretary_, miss sarah a. richards, chicago; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. w. e. clifford, evanston; _treasurer_, mrs. h. h. candee, cairo; _directors_, mrs. helen m. beveredge, evanston; mrs. frank denman, quincy; mrs. c. a. beck, centralia; mrs. r. mcloughrey, joliet; mrs. w. o. carpenter, chicago; miss m. fredricka perry, chicago; _vice-presidents_, first congressional district, mrs. eliza r. sunderland, chicago; second, mrs. w. d. babbitt, chicago; third, mrs. chas. e. brown. evanston; fourth, mrs. carrie a. potter, rockford; fifth, mrs. f. a. w. shimer, mt. carroll; sixth, mrs. sarah c. mcintosh, joliet; thirteenth, mrs. b. m. prince, bloomington; fourteenth, mrs. c. b. bostwick, mattoon; sixteenth, mrs. j. w. seymour, centralia; nineteenth, mrs. j. h. oberly, cairo. [ ] _president_, mrs. fernando jones; _vice-presidents_, mrs. robert collyer, mrs. richard somers, rev. c. d. helmer; _corresponding-secretary_, mrs. c. b. waite; _recording-secretary_, mrs. s. h. pierce; _treasurer_, mrs. j. w. loomis; _executive committee_, mrs. rebecca mott, mrs. h. w. fuller, mrs. dr. c. d. r. levanway, fernando jones, miss thayer, rev. j. m. reid, mrs. jno. jones, mrs. wm. coker, dr. s. c. blake. [ ] the officers of the illinois state association are now, ; _president_, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert, evanston; _vice-president-at-large_, mrs. m. e. holmes, galva; _secretary_, rev. florence kollock, englewood; _treasurer_, dr. l. c. bedell, n. la salle street, chicago; _executive committee_, hon. m. b. castle, sandwich: mrs. e. j. loomis, , wabash avenue, chicago; mrs. clara l. peters, watseka; mrs. l. r. wardner, anna; mrs. julia mills dunn, moline; mrs. helen e. starrett, lake side building, chicago; capt. w. s. harbert, evanston; rev. c. c. harrah, galva. [ ] from time to time we have had for president, mrs. eunice g. sayles, mrs. anna m. j. dow, mrs. flora n. candee, mrs. julia mills dunn, mrs. nettie h. wheelock; for secretaries, mrs. c. w. heald, mrs. lucy anderson, mrs. kate anderson; among those who have been active members of the society from its formation are, harriet b. g. lester, ida peyton, l. f. m'clennan, catharine h. calkins, dr. jane h. miller, margaret osborne, harriet m. gillette, laoti gates, mary f. barnes, mary wright, m. m. hubbard, emma jones, mary a. stewart, kate s. holt, mary a. stephens, abbie a. gould, mrs. m'cord, lydia wheelock, mrs. e. p. reynolds, j. a. tallman, ann eliza reator, dr. s. e. bailey, dr. e. a. taylor, lucy ainsworth, jerome b. wheelock, m. a. young, mary knowles, m. e. abbot, lois forward, mrs. young. [ ] mrs. clara lyon peters of watseka, furnished the largest petition ever sent from illinois; w. b. wright of greenview, mrs. s. eliza lyon of toulon, mrs. hannah j. coffee of orion, mrs. eva edwards of plymouth, mrs. c. e. larned of champaign, mrs. barbara m. prince of bloomington, mrs. f. b. rowe of freedom, mrs. jane barnett, mrs. e. h. blacfan, and mrs. e. t. lippincott of orion, mrs. julia dunn of moline, mrs. clara p. bourland of peoria, sybilla leek browne of odell, mrs. jacob martin, cairo, mary e. higbee, kirkland grove, mary thompson, lasalle, emily z. hall of savoy, elizabeth j. loomis of chicago, have all done worthy work in circulating petitions, both to congress and the state legislature. [ ] mrs. archibald is the daughter of betsey hawks, of genesee county, n. y. i well remember the brave-hearted mother in the early days of the movement, when in i made my first stammering speech in the town-hall at batavia. she arranged the meeting, and entertained the speakers, and was indeed "the cause" in that conservative village.--[s. b. a. [ ] when at durand, near davis, in , mrs. davis and her husband drove over, and at the close of my lecture, she gave me her maiden name and said, "do you not remember me? i sat by your side and fairly pushed you up in that teachers' convention at rochester, in , when you made that first speech you told about; and i have been most earnestly hoping and working for the enfranchisement of women ever since."--[s.b.a. chapter xliv. missouri. missouri the first state to open colleges of law and medicine to woman--liberal legislation--eight causes for divorce--harriet hosmer--wayman crow--works of art--women in the war--adeline couzins--virginia l. minor--petitions--woman suffrage association, may , --first woman suffrage convention, oct. , --able resolutions by francis minor--action asked for in the methodist church--constitutional convention--mrs. hazard's report--national suffrage association, --virginia l. minor before the committee on constitutional amendments--mrs. minor tries to vote--her case in the supreme court--miss phoebe couzins graduated from the law school, --reception by members of the bar--speeches--dr. walker--judge krum--hon. albert todd--ex-governor e. o. stanard--ex-senator henderson--judge reber--george m. stewart--mrs. minor--miss couzins--mrs. annie r. irvine--"oregon woman's union." it has often been a subject for speculation why it was that a slave state like missouri should have been the first to open her medical and law schools to women, and why the suffrage movement from the beginning should there have enlisted so large a number of men[ ] and women of wealth and position, who promptly took an active interest in the inauguration of the work. a little research into history shows that there must have been some liberal statesmen, some men endowed with wisdom and a sense of justice, who influenced the early legislation in missouri. by the constitution, imprisonment for debt is forbidden, except for fines and penalties imposed for violation of law. a homestead not exceeding $ , in value in cities of , inhabitants or more, and not exceeding $ , in smaller cities and in the country, is exempt from levy on execution. the real estate of a married woman is not liable for the debts of her husband. there are eight causes for divorce, so many doors of escape for unfortunate wives from the bondage of a joyless union. the memory of the unjust treatment of miss hosmer will always be a reproach to massachusetts. that she enjoyed the privileges of education in missouri denied her in massachusetts was due in no small measure to the generosity and public spirit of wayman crow. speaking of the gifted sculptor, a correspondent says: harriet hosmer was born in . she studied sculpture in the studio of mr. stephenson, in boston, and also with her father. in , after being denied admission to anatomical lectures in harvard and many other colleges at the east, she went to st. louis, where, through the spirited determination of wayman crow, a most liberal benefactor of washington university, she was admitted to the missouri medical college through the kindness and courtesy of dr. joseph n. mcdowell, its founder and head. here for a whole winter she pursued her studies under the instruction of dr. mcdowell and dr. louis t. pim, the able demonstrator of anatomy of the college, who gave her the benefit of their constant and unremitting aid; also dr. b. gratz moses and dr. j. b. johnson were particularly kind in inviting her to be present when important cases were before them. the names of these men are gratefully mentioned, now that the doors of hundreds of colleges have opened to women. while in st. louis miss hosmer had a constant companion and friend in miss jane peck, a lady well known in society circles, and together they daily attended at the college; indeed, miss peck informed the writer, that on no occasion did miss hosmer go to the college without her. so quietly was this done, it was not until the month of february that the students became aware of their attending, and when informed of it the entire class, numbering about one hundred and thirty, gave them a most cordial and hearty endorsement, and from that time on until the day of graduation they were treated by the young gentlemen with marked attention. the students were not aware of their attending in the earlier part of the course, because it had been the custom for the ladies to attend in the amphitheater after the class had left to go to the various hospitals. on one occasion while on their way to the college, a number of the students being behind them, they heard the gentlemen say to some men they met, "these ladies are under our charge, and if you offer them an insult we will shoot you down." they did not hear the language of the men, only the reply of the students. at the close of the session the students gave a ball and not only were miss hosmer and miss peck invited, but a carriage was specially sent to take them to it. in march, , mrs. stanton and miss anthony again visited st. louis. in a letter to _the revolution_ the former said: we went to the mercantile library to see miss hosmer's works of art, and there read the following letter to wayman crow, who had been a generous friend to her through all those early days of trial and disappointment. one of the best of her productions is an admirable bust of her noble benefactor: boston, october , . dear mr. crow: will you allow me to convey through you to the mercantile library association "the beatrice cenci." this statue is in execution of a commission i received three years ago from a friend who requested me not only to make a piece of statuary for that institution, but to present it in my own name. i have finished the work, but cannot offer it as my own gift--but of one who, with a most liberal hand, has largely ministered to the growth of the arts and sciences in your beautiful city. for your sake, and for mine, i would have made a better statue if i could. the will was not wanting, but the power--but such as it is, i rejoice sincerely that it is destined for st. louis, a city i love, not only because it was there i first began my studies, but because of the many generous and indulgent friends who dwell therein--of whom i number you most generous and indulgent of all, whose increasing kindness i can only repay by striving to become more and more worthy of all your friendship and confidence, and so i am ever affectionately and gratefully yours, _wayman crow, esq._ h.g. hosmer. the very active part that the women of missouri had taken in the civil war, in the hospitals and sanitary department, had aroused their enthusiasm in the preservation of the union and their sense of responsibility in national affairs. the great mass-meetings of the loyal women's leagues, too, did an immense educational work in broadening their sympathies and the horizon of their sphere of action. so wholly absorbed had they been in the intense excitement of that period, that when peace came their hands and hearts, unoccupied, naturally turned to new fields of achievement. while in some states it was the temperance question, in st. louis it was specifically woman suffrage. we are indebted for the main facts of this chapter to mr. francis minor, mrs. rebecca n. hazard, miss couzins and miss arathusa forbes, who have kindly sent us what information they had or could hastily glean from the journals of the time or the imperfect records of the association. the labors of mrs. minor and mrs. couzins were exceptionally protracted and severe. the latter offered her services as nurse at the very opening of the war. the letters received from men in authority show how highly their services were appreciated. dr. pope who writes the following, was the leading surgeon in st. louis: st. louis, april , . mrs. j. e. d. couzins--_dear madam_: your note in which, in case of collision here, you generously offer your services in the capacity of nurse, is just received. should so dire a calamity befall us (which god forbid), i shall, in case of need, most assuredly remember your noble offer. with high regard and sincere thanks, i am, yours very truly, chas. a. pope. headquarters d brig., mo. vol., st. louis, mo., aug. , . mrs. j. e. d. couzins, _present--madam_: i received your kind letter, dated aug. . accept my heartfelt thanks for your generous offer. i regard the nursing of our wounded soldiers by the tender hands of patriotic ladies as a most effectual means of easing their condition and encouraging them to new efforts in defense of our glorious cause. you will please confer with mrs. von wackerbarth, corner seventh and elm streets, in regard to the steps to be taken in this matter. your obedient servant, f. sigel, _brig.-gen. com._ headquarters department of the missouri, february th, . the commanding officers at cairo, paducah, or vicinity, are hereby requested to grant any facilities consistent with the public interests that may be desired by the bearers of this note. they are mrs. couzins and crawshaw, of the ladies' union aid society, who wish to administer relief to our sick and wounded. by order of j. t. price, _a. d. c._ maj.-gen'l halleck. rooms western sanitary commission, st. louis, oct, th, . my dear mrs. couzins: the surgeon-general has notified me that he may want me to send nurses and surgeons to columbus and corinth. i look to you, my dear madam, as one ever ready to volunteer when you can be of real service. in case it should become necessary, may i rely on your valuable services? such other names as you may suggest i would be pleased to have. very respectfully, jas. e. yeatman. office of western sanitary commission, } saint louis, mo., oct. th, . } mrs. couzins has been detailed to service in the hospital steamer t.l. mcgill, as volunteer nurse. n.b.--if the place of service is changed, a new certificate will be issued. james e. yeatman, president of sanitary commission. corinth, oct. , . pass mrs. couzins from corinth to columbus. w. s. rosecranz, _maj.-gen'l u. s. a._ headquarters dep't of the tennessee, } before vicksburg, feb'y st, . } the quartermaster in charge of transportation at memphis, tenn., will furnish transportation on any chartered steamer plying between memphis, tenn., and st. louis, to mrs. couzins and five other ladies, members of the western sanitary commission, and who have been with this fleet distributing sanitary goods for the benefit of sick soldiers. u.s. grant, _maj.-gen. com_. capt. j. b. lewis, _a. q. m. and master of transportation_, memphis, tenn. while mrs. couzins thus gave herself to mitigating the sufferings of the "boys in blue," in camp and hospital, mrs. minor was no less active and energetic in the equally important department of preserving supplies for the sanitary commission. although mrs. minor resided too far from the city to attend the evening meetings, and her name does not appear in the accounts of such gatherings, she was one of the first members of the ladies' union aid society of st. louis, and took part in the meeting of loyal women called and presided over by gen. curtis. having an orchard and dairy on her place, she furnished the hospital with milk and fruit, and for more than two years, sent a supply every day to the soldiers in camp at benton barracks. when the news came that the army around vicksburg was suffering with scurvy, she took her carriage and drove through the country soliciting fruit, and in one week she canned with her own hands, a wagon-load of cherries, the sanitary commission finding the cans and sugar, and from time to time she continued the work until the end of the war. when the great fair was held under the auspices of the western sanitary commission, she was a member of the floral department, and worked with her accustomed energy. the sanitary commission, feeling that she had done so much, wrote her a letter of thanks, and enclosed her a check for a liberal amount; but she returned the check, saying that hers was a work of love, and not for money. although the official letter of the commission thanking mrs. minor for her most valuable services, is lost, the following to mr. minor may fairly be considered as including her also: rooms western sanitary commission, st. louis, oct. , . francis minor, esq.--_my dear sir_: i am directed by our board to return you their thanks in behalf of the soldiers in the hospitals, for your long-continued remembrance of them, and for the daily supply of fresh fruits, vegetables and milk, which you have furnished for the sick, now more than two years. your garner and sympathy have been like the widow's cruse, and may they ever continue to be so. what you have done has been in the most quiet and unobtrusive way. the sick soldier has had no more constant, uniform and untiring friend, and it is with pleasure that i convey the thanks of the board, both to yourself and wife, who have been as indefatigable at home in preparing canned fruits and other delicacies for the sick soldiers in the field, as you have been in providing for those in the hospitals. with grateful feelings and many thanks and best wishes, i remain, very respectfully yours, james e. yeatman, _president western sanitary commission_. the submission of a constitutional amendment in kansas, and the preparations for a thorough canvass of that state, had its influence in heightening the enthusiasm and increasing the agitation in missouri, as most of the speakers going to kansas held meetings at various points. mrs. stanton and miss anthony stopped at st. louis both going and returning, held large meetings in library hall, and had a pleasant reception in the parlors of the southern hotel, where many warm friendships that have lasted ever since, were formed. the subject of woman's enfranchisement had doubtless often occurred to the thoughtful men and women of missouri, long before the movement in its behalf assumed anything like a practical shape. the manifest absurdity and injustice of declaring, as the constitution of the state did, "that all political power is vested in, and derived from the people; that all government of right originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole," and at the same time, denying to one-half of the people any voice whatever in framing their government or making their laws, could not fail to strike the attention of any one who gave the subject the slightest consideration. but no attempt was made towards an organization in behalf of woman suffrage until the winter of - ; and the movement then had its origin from the following circumstance: during the debate in the senate of the united states, on the district suffrage bill, december , , senator brown, of missouri, in the course of his remarks said: i have to say then, sir, here on the floor of the american senate, i stand for universal suffrage, and as a matter of fundamental principle do not recognize the right of society to limit it on any ground of race, color, or sex. i will go further, and say that i recognize the right of franchise as being intrinsically a natural right; and i do not believe that society is authorized to impose any limitation upon it that does not spring out of the necessities of the social state itself. when mrs. francis minor, of st. louis, who had given the subject much thought, read the report of senator brown's speech, she considered that it was due to him from the women of the state that he should receive a letter of thanks for his bold and out-spoken utterances in their behalf. she accordingly wrote him such a letter, obtaining to it all the signatures she could, and it was presented to senator brown on his return home. but although first an advocate of the measure, he soon recanted, and gave his influence against it. it was next determined to petition the legislature of the state then in session, january, , to propose an amendment to the constitution, striking out the word "male," in the article on suffrage. such a petition was presented, and attracted much attention, as it was the first instance of the kind in the history of the state. this move was followed by a formal organization of the friends of the cause, and on may , , the "missouri woman suffrage association" was organized, and officers elected.[ ] we find the following letter from mr. minor in _the revolution_ of january , : _editors of the revolution_: in order to show the steady progress that the grand idea of equal rights is slowly but surely making among the people of these united states, i think it would be well, in the beginning, at least, to make a record in _the revolution_ of the fact of each successive state organization; and for that purpose i send you the list of officers for the association in missouri not yet a year old; as also their petition to the legislature for a change in the organic law, and a brief address to the voters of the state, in support of the movement: _to the voters of missouri:_ the women of this state, having organized for the purpose of agitating their claims to the ballot, it becomes every intelligent and reflecting mind to consider the question fairly and dispassionately. if it has merits, it will eventually succeed; if not, it will fail. i am of the number of those who believe that claim to be just and right, for the following, among other reasons: taxation and representation should go hand in hand. this is the very corner-stone of our government. its founders declared, and the declaration cannot be too often repeated, "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. that to secure those rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." the man who believes in that declaration, cannot justly deny to women the right of suffrage. they are citizens, they are tax-payers; they bear the burdens of government--why should they be denied the rights of citizens? we boast about liberty and equality before the law, when the truth is, our government is controlled by one-half only of the population. the others have no more voice in the making of their laws, or the selection of their rulers, than the criminals who are in our penitentiaries; nay, in one respect, their condition is not as good as that of the felon, for he may be pardoned and restored to a right which woman can never obtain. and this, not because she has committed any crime, or violated any law, but simply because she is, what god made her--a woman! possessed of the same intelligence--formed in the same mold--having the same attributes, parts and passions--held by her maker to the same measure of responsibility here and hereafter, her actual position in society to-day is that of an inferior. no matter what her qualifications may be, every avenue of success is virtually closed against her. even when she succeeds in obtaining employment, she gets only half the pay that a man does for the same work. but, it is said, woman's sphere is at home. would giving her the right to vote interfere with her home duties any more than it does with a man's business? again it is said, that for her to vote would be unfeminine. is it at all more indelicate for a woman to go to the polls, than it is for her to go to the court-house and pay her taxes? the truth is, woman occupies just the position that man has placed her in, and it ill becomes him to urge such objections. give her a chance--give her the opportunity of proving whether these objections are well founded or not. her influence for good is great, notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which she at present labors; and my firm belief is, that that influence would be greatly enhanced and extended by the exercise of this new right. it would be felt at the ballot-box and in the halls of legislation. better men, as a general rule, would be elected to office, and society in all its ramifications, would feel and rejoice at the change. a voter. _to the general assembly of the state of missouri: _ gentlemen: the undersigned women of missouri, believing that all citizens who are taxed for the support of the government and subject to its laws, should have a voice in the making of those laws, and the selection of their rulers; that, as the possession of the ballot ennobles and elevates the character of man, so, in like manner, it would ennoble and elevate that of woman by giving her a direct and personal interest in the affairs of government; and further, believing that the spirit of the age, as well as every consideration of justice and equity, requires that the ballot should be extended to our sex, do unite in praying that an amendment to the constitution may be proposed, striking out the word "male" and extending to women the right of suffrage. and, as in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray. on behalf of the missouri woman suffrage association. [signed:] _president_, mrs. francis minor; _vice-president_, mrs. beverly allen; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. wm. t. hazard; _recording secretary_, mrs. geo. d. hall; _treasurer_, mrs. n. stevens, st. louis, missouri. copies of the petition, and information furnished upon addressing either of above named officers. formation of auxiliary associations in every county requested. petitions when completely signed, to be returned to the head office. these papers will serve to show that the idea has taken root in other states beyond the mississippi besides kansas; and may also be somewhat of a guide to others, who may desire to accomplish the same purpose elsewhere. a work of such magnitude requires, of course, time for development; but the leaven is working. the fountains of the great deep of public thought have been broken up. the errors and prejudices of six thousand years are yielding to the sunlight of truth. in spite of pulpits and politicians, the great idea is making its way to the hearts of the people; and woman may rejoice in believing that the dawn of her deliverance, so long hoped for and prayed for, is at last approaching. f. m. _st. louis_, january, . the following from _the revolution_ shows that the women of st. louis were awake on the question of taxation: the women here have endeavored to find out to what extent taxation without representation, because of sex, obtains in this city, and as the result of their inquiries they are enabled to place on their records the following very suggestive document. assessor's office, st. louis, january , . _to mrs. couzins and emma finkelnburg, committee of the ladies' suffrage association:_ in reply to your request to report to your association the amount of property listed in the city of st. louis in the name of ladies, permit me to state that the property in question is represented by over , tax-paying ladies, and assessed at the value of $ , , . yours very respectfully, robt. j. rombauer, _assessor_. this exhibit has opened the eyes of a good many people. "two thousand on 'em," exclaimed a male friend of mine, "and over fourteen millions of property! whew! what business have these women with so much money?" well, they have it, and now they ask us, "shall , men, not worth a dollar, just because they wear pantaloons go to the polls and vote taxes on us, while we are excluded from the ballot-box for no other reason than sex?" what _shall_ we say to them? they ask us if the american revolution did not turn on this hinge, _no taxation without representation_. who can answer? the advocates of suffrage in st. louis made their attacks at once in both church[ ] and state, and left no means of agitation untried. there has never been an association in any state that comprised so many able men and women who gave their best thoughts to every phase of this question, and who did so grand a work, until the unfortunate division in , which seemed to chill the enthusiasm of many friends of the movement. in the winter of the association sent a large delegation of ladies to the legislature with a petition containing about , signatures. a correspondent in _the revolution_, february , , said: it will not be feminine to say, yet i fear i must say, the women of missouri have stormed their capitol, and if it is not yet taken, the outworks are in our hands, and i believe with a few more well-directed blows the victory will be ours. on february a large delegation of ladies, representing the suffrage association of missouri, visited jefferson city for the purpose of laying before the legislature a large and influentially signed petition, asking the ballot for women; and we were gratified to see the great respect and deference shown to the women of missouri by the wisest and best of her legislators in their respectful and cordial reception of the delegates. both houses adjourned, and gave the use of the house for the afternoon, when eloquent addresses were made by mrs. j.g. phelps of springfield, dr. ada greunan of st. louis, and the future orator of missouri, miss phoebe couzins, whose able and effective address the press has given in full. of the brave men who stood up for us, it is more difficult to speak. to give a list would be impossible; for every name would require a eulogy too lengthy for the pages of _the revolution_. we will, therefore, record them on the tablets of our memory with a hand so firm that they shall stand out brightly till time shall be no more. of the small majority who oppose us we will say nothing, but throw over them the pall of merciful oblivion. the first woman suffrage convention ever held in the city of st. louis, or the state of missouri, assembled in mercantile library, october , , . many distinguished people were on the platform.[ ] at this convention mr. francis minor introduced a very able series of resolutions, on which mrs. minor made a remarkably logical address.[ ] the following letter from mr. minor shows the careful research he gave to the consideration of this question: st. louis, december , . dear revolution: so thoroughly am i satisfied that the surest and most direct course to pursue to obtain a recognition of woman's claim to the ballot, lies through the courts of the country, that i am induced to ask you to republish the resolutions that i drafted, and which were unanimously adopted by the st. louis convention. and i will here add, that to accomplish this end, and to carry these resolutions into practical effect, it is intended by mrs. minor, the president of the state association, to make a test case in her instance at our next election; take it through the courts of missouri, and thence to the supreme court of the united states at washington. i think it will be admitted that these resolutions place the cause of woman upon higher ground than ever before asserted, in the fact that for the first time suffrage is claimed as a privilege based upon citizenship, and secured by the constitution of the united states. it will be seen that the position taken is, that the states have the right to regulate, but not to prohibit, the elective franchise to citizens of the united states. thus the states may determine the qualifications of electors. they may require the elector to be of a certain age, to have had a fixed residence, to be of a sane mind, and unconvicted of crime, etc., because these are qualifications or conditions that all citizens, sooner or later, may attain; but to go beyond this, and say to one-half the citizens of the state, notwithstanding you possess all these qualifications you shall never vote, is of the very essence of despotism. it is a bill of attainder of the most odious character. a further investigation of the subject will show that the language of the constitutions of all the states, with the exception of those of massachusetts and virginia, on the subject of suffrage is peculiar. they almost all read substantially alike: "white male citizens, etc., shall be entitled to vote," and this is supposed to exclude all other citizens. there is no direct exclusion, except in the two states above named. now the error lies in supposing that an enabling clause is necessary at all. the right of the people of a state to participate in a government of their own creation requires no enabling clause; neither can it be taken from them by implication. to hold otherwise would be to interpolate in the constitution a prohibition that does not exist. in framing a constitution the people are assembled in their sovereign capacity; and being possessed of all rights and all powers, what is not surrendered is retained. nothing short of a direct prohibition can work a disseizin of rights that are fundamental. in the language of john jay to the people of new york, urging the adoption of the constitution of the united states, "silence and blank paper neither give nor take away anything," and alexander hamilton says (_federalist_, no. ), "every man of discernment must at once perceive the wide difference between silence and abolition." the mode and manner in which the people shall take part in the government of their creation may be prescribed by the constitution, but the right itself is antecedent to all constitutions. it is inalienable, and can neither be bought, nor sold, nor given away. but even if it should be held that this view is untenable, and that women are disfranchised by the several state constitutions directly, or by implication, then i say that such prohibitions are clearly in conflict with the constitution of the united states, and yield thereto. the language of that instrument is clear and emphatic: "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states, and of the state wherein they reside." "no state shall make, or enforce any law that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." it would be impossible to add to the force or effect of such language, and equally impossible to attempt to explain it away. very respectfully, francis minor. the st. louis _democrat_ spoke of the convention as follows: readers of our report have doubtless been interested to observe the fair spirit and dignified manner of the woman suffrage convention, and the ability displayed in some of the addresses. it is but due to the managers to say that they extended most courteous invitations to gentlemen not identified with the movement to address the convention, and state freely their objections to the extension of the franchise. of those invited some were prevented by duties elsewhere from attending. others, it may be, felt that it would scarcely be a gracious thing, in spite of the liberality of the invitation, to occupy the time of a convention in favor of the extension of the franchise with arguments against it. but the objections which, after all, probably have most weight with candid men are those which it is not easy to discuss in public, namely: "will not extension of suffrage to women have an injurious effect upon the family and sexual relations?" "will not the ballot be used rather by that class who would not use it wisely than by those who are most competent?" we do not argue these questions, but are sure that some frank discussion of them, however delicate the subject may be, is necessary to convince the great majority of those who are still doubting or opposed. meanwhile the reports are of interest, and reflect no little credit upon the women of this city who have taken so prominent a part in the movement. the officers of the missouri society were annually reëlected for several years, and the work proceeded harmoniously until the division in the national association. the members of the missouri society took sides in this division as preference dictated. mr. and mrs. minor, miss forbes, miss couzins and others were already members of the national association, and sympathized with its views and modes of pushing the question. in order that there might be no division in the missouri association, a resolution was introduced by mr. minor and unanimously adopted, declaring that each member of the society should be free to join the national body of his or her choice, and that the missouri association, as a society, should not become auxiliary to either the "national" or the "american." the good faith of the association was thus pledged to respect the feelings and wishes of each member, and as long as this course was observed all went well. but, at the annual meeting in , just after mrs. minor had for the fifth time been unanimously reëlected president, in violation of the previous action of the association a resolution was introduced and passed, declaring that the association should henceforth become auxiliary to the american. this gross disregard of the wishes and feelings of those who were members of the national association left them no alternative, with any feeling of self-respect, but to withdraw; and accordingly mrs. minor at once tendered her resignation as president and her withdrawal as a member of the association. she was followed in this course by mr. minor, miss couzins, miss forbes and others.[ ] however, the work went steadily on. meetings were held regularly from week to week, with occasional grand conventions, tracts and petitions were circulated, and constant agitation in some way kept up. in answer to an earnest solicitation for facts and incidents of the suffrage movement in missouri, mrs. rebecca n. hazard, one of the earliest and most active friends in that state, sends us the following: i think the cruel war had much to do in educating the women of missouri into a sense of their responsibilities and duties as citizens; at least all who first took part in the suffrage movement had been active on the union side during the war, and that having ended in the preservation of the government, they naturally began to inquire as to their own rights and privileges in the restored union. my own feelings were first fully awakened by the hanging of mrs. surrat; for, although a unionist and an abolitionist, i could but regard her execution by the government, considering her helpless position, as judicial murder. i wrote on the subject to the editor of the new york _independent_. the letter was handed to miss anthony, and resulted in an invitation to the next meeting of the equal rights society. this almost frightened me, for i had hitherto looked askance at the woman's rights movement. meeting an old friend and neighbor not long after, the talk turned upon negro suffrage. i expressed myself in favor of that measure, and timidly added, "and go farther--i think women also should vote." she grasped my hand cordially, saying, "and so do i!" this was mrs. virginia l. minor. we had each cherished this opinion, supposing that no other woman in the community held it; and this we afterwards found to have been the experience of many others. this was in ; and in the following autumn mrs. minor prepared and circulated for signatures a card of thanks to hon. b. gratz brown for the recognition of woman's political rights he had given in the united states senate in a speech upon extending the suffrage to the women of the district of columbia.[ ] this card received enough names to justify another step--that of a petition to the missouri general assembly. this was headed by mrs. minor, and circulated with untiring energy by her, receiving several hundred signatures, and was sent to the legislature during the winter, where it received some degree of favor. but as yet no effort had been made toward an organization. the first step in that direction was in may, , by mrs. lucretia p. hall and her sister, miss penelope allen, daughters of mrs. beverly allen, and nieces of general pope, in the parlors of mrs. anna l. clapp, the president of the union aid society during the war. mrs. hall, mrs. clapp and myself called a public meeting on may , when the woman suffrage society of missouri was organized, with mrs. minor president. in the winter of the association sent a large delegation of ladies to jefferson with a petition containing about , names, to present to the legislature. the republicans were then in the ascendency, and the ladies having many professed friends among the members, were received with every demonstration of respect. addresses were made by miss phoebe couzins and dr. ada greunan. the petition was respectfully considered and a fair vote given for the submission of an amendment. subsequent sessions of the legislature have been besieged, as was also the constitutional convention in ; but beyond the passage of several laws improving the general status of women, we have not made much impression upon the law-making power of our state; not so much since the state passed into the hands of the democrats, as while the republicans were in the majority. but the public meetings and social influence of our association have done much for the cause of woman suffrage. strangers are surprised to find so little prejudice existing against a movement so decidedly unpopular in many places. the convention held in st. louis in october, , was one of the very best i have ever known, and its influence was long felt for good. in the spring of our association became auxiliary to the american, and in consequence several of our active members seceded, viz.: mr. and mrs. minor, miss couzins, dr. greunan and others. in the autumn of the american association held its annual meeting in st. louis. the law school of washington university has always been open to women. miss couzins was the first to avail herself of its advantages in , though miss barkaloo of brooklyn, denied admission to columbia law school, soon joined her, and was admitted to the bar in . while miss barkaloo was not the first woman admitted to the bar in the united states, she doubtless was the first to try a case in court. she died after a few months of most promising practice.[ ] miss couzins was admitted to the bar in may, . the st. louis school of design, which has done much for woman, was originated by members of our association; principally by mrs. mary f. henderson, who has given untiring effort in that direction. our members were also instrumental in opening to women the st. louis homeopathic medical college, and active in opposing what was known as the st. louis "social evil law." they aided dr. eliot in his valiant struggle against that iniquity. mrs. e. patrick and myself called the first public meeting to protest against the law. it was repealed march , . you are probably familiar with mrs. minor's suit to obtain suffrage under the fourteenth amendment. we all admired her courageous efforts for that object. previous to that attempt our society had earnestly advocated a sixteenth amendment for the protection of woman's right to vote, but held the matter in abeyance pending the suit. after its failure, we again renewed our efforts for a sixteenth amendment, circulating and sending to washington our petitions. our association holds monthly meetings and proposes to continue the agitation.[ ] i ought to say, perhaps, that our society lends all the help possible to other states. it gave $ to michigan in , and $ to colorado in . r. n. h. to bring the question of woman's right as a citizen of the united states to vote for united states officers before the judiciary, mrs. minor attempted to register in order to vote at the national election in november, , and being refused on account of her sex, brought the matter before the courts in the shape of a suit against the registering officer.[ ] the point was decided adversely to her in all the courts, being finally reported in vol. of wallace's u. s. supreme court reports. the importance of this decision cannot be over-estimated. it affects every citizen of the united states, male as well as female, if, as there pronounced, the united states has no voters of its own creation. the dred-scott decision is insignificant in comparison. mrs. minor made the following points in her petition: . as a _citizen_ of the united states, the plaintiff is entitled to any and all the "privileges and immunities" that belong to such position however defined; and as are held, exercised and enjoyed by other citizens of the united states. . the elective franchise is a "privilege" of citizenship, in the highest sense of the word. it is the privilege preservative of all rights and privileges; and especially of the right of the citizen to participate in his or her government. . the denial or abridgment of this privilege, if it exist at all, must be sought only in the fundamental charter of government--the constitution of the united states. if not found there, no inferior power or jurisdiction can legally claim the right to exercise it. . but the constitution of the united states, so far from recognizing or permitting any denial or abridgment of the privileges of citizens, expressly declares that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." . it follows that the provisions of the missouri constitution and registry law before recited are in conflict with, and must yield to the paramount authority of, the constitution of the united states. at a mass meeting held in st. louis january , , a committee[ ] was appointed to prepare an address to the people of the state, setting forth the necessity of such action by the constitutional convention, soon to assemble, as would insure to all citizens the right of choice in their lawmakers and in the officers whose duty it should be to execute the laws. the address was prepared and widely circulated over the state. in june, the convention being in session at jefferson, mrs. minor, miss couzins, and mrs. dickinson went to the capitol and were granted a gracious hearing, but no action was conceded. in may, , the national woman suffrage association held its annual meeting at st. louis, holding its session through the day, morning, afternoon and evening, and so much interest was aroused that on may a local society was organized under the head of the national woman suffrage association for st. louis,[ ] with mrs. minor president, which has continued to do most efficient service to the present. during the summer of , mrs. minor refused to pay the tax assessed against her: st. louis, mo., august , . hon. david powers, _president board of assessors_: i honestly believe and conscientiously make oath that i have not one dollars' worth of property subject to taxation. the principle upon which this government rests is representation before taxation. my property is denied representation, and therefore can not be taxable. the law which you quote as applicable to me in your notice to make my tax return is in direct conflict with section of the bill of rights of the constitution of the state which declares, "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law," and that surely cannot be due process of law wherein one of the parties only is law-maker, judge, jury and executioner, and the other stands silenced, denied the power either of assent or dissent, a condition of "involuntary slavery" so clearly prohibited in section of the same article, as well as in the constitution of the united states, that no legislation or judicial prejudice can ignore it. i trust you will believe it is from no disrespect to you that i continue to refuse to become a party to this injustice by making a return of property to your honorable body, as clearly the duties of a citizen can only be exacted where rights and privileges are equally accorded. respectfully, virginia l. minor. again, in february, , mrs. minor made an able argument before the legislative committee on constitutional amendments in support of the petition for the enfranchisement of the women of the state. her pivotal point was, "by whatever tenure you, as one-half of the people, hold it, we, the other half, claim it by the same." and again in december of the same year at a meeting of the knights and ladies of the father matthew debating club, at which the subject was, "is the woman's rights movement to be encouraged?" patrick long, daniel o'connel tracy, richard d. kerwen, spoke in the affirmative; several gentlemen and two ladies in opposition, when mrs. minor, who was in the audience, was called out amid great applause, to which she responded in an able speech, showing that the best temperance weapon in the hands of woman is the ballot. of the initial steps taken for the elevation of women in the little village of oregon, mrs. annie r. irvine writes: the woman's union, an independent literary club, designed to improve the mental, moral, and physical condition of women, held its first meeting in oregon, holt county, on the evening of january , , at the residence of dr. asher goslin. temporary officers were elected, and a committee appointed to prepare by-laws for the government of the club. six ladies[ ] were present. the succeeding meetings grew in interest, and took strong hold upon the minds of all classes, from the fact that hitherto no outlet had been found for the energies of our women outside the circle of home and church. during the first two years of its existence, the woman's union had to bear in a small way, many of the sneers and taunts attending more pretentious organizations, but luckily, when the novelty wore off, we were allowed to pursue the quiet tenor of our way, with an occasional slur at the "strong-minded" tendency of the organization. during nearly fourteen years we have held regular meetings in a hall rented for the purpose, and paid for by earnings of the society. an excellent organ is owned by the club; they have a library of several hundred volumes, book-cases, carpet, curtains, pictures, tables, chairs, stove, etc., and the members take great pride in their cosy headquarters. at this writing, interesting meetings are held on each wednesday evening at the homes of the different members of the society.[ ] in the course of so long a time, this organization has had many changes. members have removed to all parts of the united states, and many similar clubs elsewhere trace their origin to our society. several years ago an open letter from here to "woman's kingdom," in the chicago _inter-ocean_ called attention to our plan of work for small towns; as a result fifteen similar unions were organized, some of them still flourishing. in northwest missouri the same kind of clubs were formed in maryville, nodaway county, and savannah, andrew county, but neither of them became permanent. in the course of twelve years many of the best speakers on the american platform have addressed oregon audiences, brought here by the determined efforts of a few women. to-day, public opinion in this part of missouri is in advance of other sections on all questions relating to the great interests of humanity. in march, , a call signed by prominent citizens[ ] brought together a large assembly of men and women in the court-house. an address in favor of woman suffrage was delivered by rev. john wayman of the m. e. church of st. joseph. mr. james l. allen acted as chairman of the meeting, and a society was then organized, to bear the name of the holt county woman suffrage society. at the national woman suffrage convention held at st. louis later in the same year, jas. l. allen acted as delegate from this association and reported our progress. the best organized woman's society in the state is probably the women's christian temperance union. in its different departments, although hampered by too much theological red tape, it is reaching thousands of ignorant, prejudiced, good sectarian women who would expect the "heavens to fall" if they accidentally got into a meeting where "woman's rights" was mentioned even in a whisper. mrs. clara hoffman, of kansas city, is state president, and a woman of great force. she, as well as other leading lights in the women's christian temperance union, is strongly advocating woman suffrage as a _sine qua non_ in the temperance work. the women of this part of the state have been given quite a prominent place among organizations mentioned in a late "history of missouri, by counties." the woman's union has taken the place of honor.[ ] from the very outset we have had the most bitter and persistent opposition from the churches, more particularly the presbyterian, although some of our most capable members were of that faith. exceptions should be made in favor of the christian, or campbellite, and as a general thing, the m. e. churches. the greatest shock we have had to resist, however, came a few months since in the shape of a division among our own members, and has really discouraged the more independent among us more than anything else. the w. c. t. u. sent their mascatine organizer here, to wake up the women in the interests of the state society. although ignorant and prejudiced, he created a fanatical stampede, and in the goodness of their hearts and the weakness of their heads, our church women in the woman's union proposed to give to the three temperance clubs, numbering perhaps , the free use of our rooms and property, and suspend our own club, claiming that our mission was ended, and that a field of greater usefulness was opened in the w. c. t. u. line of work. the liberal element refused to abandon the old organization, although many joined in the w. c. t. u. work and attended both clubs. however, in a small community, where the consciences of many good women are not free, we have met with serious drawbacks. we have had to submit to a sort of boycotting process, for some time, the orthodox, goody-goody people evidently trying to freeze us out; although i must claim that nearly every member of the woman's union is strongly interested in the temperance cause, and as the different departments in the w. c. t. u. fail to cover the ground we occupy, quite a respectable number seem determined to hold on in their own way, trying little by little to better the condition of all, and particularly to increase and strengthen the feeble germ of independent thought in women, so often smothered and destroyed by too much theology. what we need for women is not more spirituality but more hard common-sense, applied to reform as well as religion. one thing connected with our organization is a matter of pride to all women, namely, that no pecuniary obligation has ever been repudiated by the woman's union. besides paying our debts we have given hundreds of dollars to works of charity and education, and keep a standing fund of $ , to be used in case of emergency, when, as often happens, we fail to make expenses on lectures, entertainments, etc. it would not be claiming too much if the woman's union of oregon was to go upon the historic page as the only free, independent woman's club ever successfully carried on for any length of time, in the great state of missouri.[ ] missouri has always felt a becoming pride in the gifted daughter, miss phoebe couzins, who was the first woman to enter the law school, go through the entire course, and graduate with honor to herself and her native state. hence, a reception to her, to mark such an event, was preëminently fitting. this compliment was paid to her by dr. and mrs. g. a. walker, and a large gathering of the elite of st. louis honored her with their presence.[ ] the drawing-rooms were festooned with garlands of evergreens and brilliant forest leaves and hanging-baskets of roses; the bountiful tables were elaborately decorated with fruits and flowers and statuettes, while pictures of distinguished women looked down from the wall on every side. after the feast came letters, toasts and speeches, a brilliant address of welcome was given by dr. walker, and an equally brilliant reply by miss couzins. witty and complimentary speeches were made by judge krum, hon. albert todd, mrs. francis minor, ex-governor stanard, judge reber, professor riley, i. e. meeker, mrs. henrietta noa. congratulatory letters were received from several ladies and gentlemen of national reputation, and the following regrets: rev. w. g. eliot, chancellor of the university, with "compliments and thanks to dr. and mrs. walker. i regret that engagements this evening prevent me from enjoying the pleasure of meeting miss couzins and welcoming her to her new and well-deserved honors, as i had expected to do until an hour ago." james e. yeatman sent regrets accompanied with "his warmest congratulations to miss couzins, with best wishes for her success in the noble profession of the law." george partridge regrets, "hoping every encouragement will be given to those who aspire to high honors by their intellectual and moral attainments." general j. h. hammond, kansas city, mo.: "i would feel honored in being allowed the privilege of congratulating this lady who so practically honors her sex." in addition to the many congratulations showered upon miss couzins, she was the recipient of testimonials of a more enduring and equally flattering character. among many valuable presents were twelve volumes of edmund burke from miss a. l. forbes, who wished to testify her appreciation of the event by deeds rather than words. mrs. e. o. stanard presented a handsomely-bound set of "erskine's speeches," in five volumes. there were other gifts of great intrinsic worth. these tokens of regard were sent from admiring friends scattered all over the country, from the atlantic to the pacific. although miss couzins has never practiced in her chosen profession, yet the knowledge and discipline acquired in the study of our american system of jurisprudence and constitutional law have been of essential service to her in the prolonged arguments on the enfranchisement of woman, in which she has so ably and eloquently advocated the case of the great plaintiff of the nineteenth century, in that famous law-suit begun by margaret fuller in , "woman versus man." our junior advocate has taken the case into the highest courts and made her appeals to a jury of the sovereign people and "the judgment of a candid world." on all principles of precedent and importance our case now stands first on the calendar. when will the verdict be rendered and what will it be? footnotes: [ ] among them were isaac h. sturgeon, francis minor, james e. yeatman, judge john m. krum, judge arnold krekel, hon. thomas noël, ernest decker, dr. g. a. walker, john e. orrick, j. b. roberts, rev. g. w. eliot, bishop bowman, albert todd, rev. john snyder, john datro, j. b. case, h. e. merille, mrs. virginia l. minor, mrs. rebecca n. hazard, mrs. adeline couzins, miss phoebe couzins, mrs. beverly allen, miss mary beedy, miss arathusa forbes, mrs. isaac sturgeon, mrs. hall, and many others. [ ] _president_, mrs. virginia l. minor; _vice-president_, mrs. beverly allen; _secretaries_, mrs. rebecca n. hazard, and mrs. george d. hall; _treasurer_, mrs. george w. banker. there were present, besides the officers, mrs. anna l. clapp, miss penelope allen, mrs. frank fletcher, miss arathusia l. forbes, mrs. nannie c. sturgeon, mrs. harriet b. roberts, mrs. n. stevens, mrs. joseph hodgman, miss a. greenman, etc. among the men who aided the movement were francis minor, isaac w. sturgeon, james e. yeatman, judge john m. krum, judge arnold krekel, hon. thomas noël, who gave the society its first twenty-five dollars, ernest decker, dr. g.a. walker, john c. o'neill, j.b. roberts, wayman crow, rev. dr. wm. g. eliot, bishop bowman, albert todd, rev. john snyder, john datro, j.b. case, h.c. leville. [ ] the following we find in the st. louis papers. it is significant of the sentiment of the methodist women of the west: "we, the undersigned, join in a call for a mass-meeting of the m.e. church in st. louis, to meet at union church on the th inst., at o'clock p.m., to consider a plan for memorializing the general conference to permit the ordination of women as ministers. all women of the m.e. church are requested to attend. mrs. henry kennedy, mrs. t.c. fletcher, mrs. e.o. stanard, mrs. a.c. george, mrs. lucy prescott, mrs. u.b. wilson, mrs. l. jones, mrs. e.l. case, mrs. w.f. brink, mrs. s.c. cummins, mrs. r.n. hazard, mrs. dutro, mrs. m.h. himebaugh." the result of this meeting of the ladies of the methodist churches to discuss a plan for admitting women into the pulpit as preachers was the appointment of a committee to draft a memorial to the general conference to meet at brooklyn, n.y., asking that body to sanction and provide for the ordination of women as ministers of the methodist church. [ ] on the platform were julia ward howe, massachusetts; lillie peckham, wisconsin; miriam m. cole, ohio; mary a. livermore, hon. sharon tyndale, judge waite and rev. mr. harrison, illinois; susan b. anthony, new york. the officers of the woman suffrage association of missouri: _president_, mrs. francis minor: _vice-president_, mrs. beverly allen: _secretary_, mrs. william t. hazard: _treasurer_, mrs. george b. hall; miss mary beady, miss phoebe couzins, mrs. e. tittman, mrs. alfred clapp, miss a. l. forbes, isaac h. sturgeon, mrs. j. c. orrick, mrs. r. j. lackland, francis minor, and many others. [ ] for speech and resolutions, see vol. ii., page . [ ] dissension and division were the effect in every state, except where the associations wisely remained independent and all continued to work together, and the forces otherwise expended in rivalry were directed against the common enemy. [ ] for this speech of b. gratz brown see vol. ii., page . [ ] for full account of miss barkaloo see new york chapter, page . [ ] besides those already named, there are many other women worthy of mention--mrs. hannah stagg, mrs. george h. rha, mrs. s. f. gruff, miss n. m. lavelle, mrs. helen e. starrett, mrs. a. e. dickinson, mrs. e. r. case, miss s. sharman, mrs. mary s. phelps, miss mary e. beedy, mrs. fanny o'haly, mrs. j. c. orrick, miss henrietta moore, mrs. stephen ridgeley, mrs. m. e. bedford, mrs. m. jackson; and among our german friends are mrs. rosa tittman, mrs. dr. fiala, mrs. lena hildebrand, mrs. g. g. fenkelnberg, mrs. rombauer, miss lidergerber. [ ] for a full report of mrs. minor's trial, see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii., page . [ ] the committee were: j. b. merwin, virginia l. minor, john snyder, lydia f. dickinson, maria e. f. jackson. [ ] the officers were: _president_, mrs. virginia l. minor; _vice-presidents_, mrs. eliza j. patrick, mrs. caroline j. todd, miss phoebe w. couzins; _executive committee_, mrs. e. p. johnson, mrs. w. w. polk; _secretary_, miss eliza b. buckley; _treasurer_, miss maggie baumgartner. [ ] they were, mrs. s. l. goslin, mis. a. e. goslin, mrs. m. m. soper, annie e. batcheller, mary curry, annie r. irvine. [ ] _president_, emma g. dobyns; _vice-president_, kate evans thatcher; _secretary_, matilda c. shutts; _treasurer_, lucy s. rancher; _corresponding secretary_, annie r. irvine. [ ] believing that the best interests of society, as well as government, would be best served by admitting all citizens to the full rights of citizenship, we, the undersigned, hereby give notice that a meeting will be held at the court-house, oregon, on saturday, march , , at p. m., for the purpose of organizing a woman suffrage association. those interested are urged to attend. clarke irvine, c. w. lukens, james l. allen, s. b. lukens, samuel stuckey, sudia johnson, d. j. lukens, elvira broedbeck, mary curry, jas. b. curry, annie r. irvine. [ ] in i made my first visit to oregon, and remember my surprise at meeting so large a circle of bright, intelligent women. after taking an old stage at travesty city, and lumbering along two miles or more over bad roads on a dull day in march into a very unpropitious looking town, my heart sank at the prospect of the small audience i should inevitably have in such a spot. wondering as to the character of the people i should find, we jolted round the town to the home of the editor and his charming wife, mrs. lucy s. rancher. their cordial welcome and generous hospitalities soon made the old stage, the rough roads, and the dull town but dim memories of the past. one after another the members of the union club came to greet me, and i saw in that organization of strong, noble women, wisdom enough to redeem the whole state of missouri from its apathy on the question of woman's rights. one of the promising features of the efforts of the immortal six women who took the initiative, was the full sympathy shown by their husbands in their attempts to improve themselves and the community. miss couzins and miss anthony soon followed me, and were alike surprised and delighted with the literary club of oregon. i was there again in ' , and was entertained by mrs. r. a. norman, now living in st. joseph, and in ' , i stayed in a large, old-fashioned brick house near the public square with mrs. montgomery, then "fat, fair and forty," and all three visits, with the teas and dinners at the homes of different members of the club, i thoroughly enjoyed.--[e. c. s. [ ] among progressive women in this part of missouri, mrs. adela m. kelly, of savannah, wife of circuit judge henry s. kelly, is prominent; in mound city, mrs. emma k. hershberger, mrs. mary l. mamcher, mrs. mary c. tracy, mrs. fanny smith, and others, are leading women, and were once residents here, and members of the woman's union. among those actively interested here now, i shall only mention a few, mrs. nancy hershberger, mary curry, elvira broedbeck, lucy a. christian, ella o. fallon, mary stirrell, and many others. [ ] among those present were the following ladies and gentlemen: dr. and mrs. walker, phoebe couzins, esq., hon. and mrs. john b. henderson, gov. and mrs. e. o. stanard, mr. and mrs. chester h. krum, mr. and mrs. francis minor, mr. and mrs. wm. patrick, major and mrs. j. e. d. couzins, major and mrs. j. r. meeker, major and mrs. w. s. pope, mr. and mrs. lippmann, mr. and mrs. leopold noa, miss noa, miss a. l. forbes, judge krum, judge reber, judge todd, geo. m. stuart (dean), prof. riley, state entomologist; prof. hager, state geologist; j. r. stuart, artist, and others. chapter xlv. iowa. beautiful scenery--liberal in politics and reforms--legislation for women--no right yet to joint earnings--early agitation--frances dana gage, --mrs. bloomer before the territorial legislature, --mrs. martha h. brinkerhoff--mrs. annie savery, --county associations formed in --state society organized at mt. pleasant, , henry o'connor, president--mrs. cutler answers judge palmer--first annual meeting, des moines--letter from bishop simpson--the state register complimentary--mass-meeting at the capitol--mrs. savery and mrs. harbert--legislative action--methodist and universalist churches indorse woman suffrage--republican plank, --governor carpenter's message, --annual meeting, , many clergymen present--five hundred editors interviewed--miss hindman and mrs. campbell--mrs. callanan interviews governor sherman, --lawyers--governor kirkwood appoints women to office--county superintendents--elizabeth s. cook--journalism--literature-- medicine--ministry--inventions--president of a national bank-- the heroic kate shelly--temperance--improvement in the laws. the euphonious indian name, iowa, signifying "the beautiful land," is peculiarly appropriate to those gently undulating prairies, decorated in the season of flowers with a brilliant garniture of honey-suckles, jassamines, wild roses and violets, watered with a chain of picturesque lakes and rivers, chasing each other into the bosom of the boundless mississippi. the motto on the great seal of the state, "our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain," is the key-note to the successive struggles made there to build up a community of moral, virtuous, intelligent people, securing justice, liberty and equality to all. iowa has been the state to give large republican majorities; to prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors by a constitutional amendment; and to present propositions before her legislature for eight successive sessions to give the right of suffrage to woman. in the article on iowa, in the american cyclopædia, the writer says: "no distinction is made in law between the husband and the wife in regard to property. one-third in value of all the real estate of either, upon the death of the other, goes to the survivor in fee simple. neither is liable for the separate debts of the other. the wife may make contracts and incur liabilities which may be enforced by or against her in the same manner as if she was unmarried; and so a married woman may sue and be sued without the husband being joined in the action." many women living in iowa often quote these laws with pride, showing the liberality of their rulers as far as they go. but in new countries the number of women that inherit property is very small compared to the number that work all their days to help pay for their humble homes. it is in the right to these joint earnings where the wife is most cruelly defrauded, because the mother of a large family, who washes, irons, cooks, bakes, patches and darns, takes care of the children, labors from early dawn to midnight in her own home, is not supposed to earn anything, hence owns nothing, and all the labors of a long life, the results of her thrift and economy, belong absolutely to the husband, so that when he dies they call it liberality for the husband to make his partner an heir, and give her one-third of their joint earnings. for this chapter we are indebted to mrs. amelia bloomer, who moved into this state from new york in the spring of with her husband, who commenced the practice of law in council bluffs, where they have resided ever since. mrs. bloomer had been the editor for several years of a weekly paper called the _lily_, which advocated both temperance and woman's rights, and for the six years of its publication was of inestimable value alike to both reforms. she was one of the earliest champions of the woman's rights movement, and as writer, editor and lecturer, did much to forward the cause in its infancy.[ ] the first agitation of the question of woman suffrage in iowa was in the summer of , when frances dana gage of ohio gave a series of lectures in the southeastern section of the state on temperance and woman's rights. letters written to _lily_ at the time show that large audiences congregated to see and hear a woman publicly proclaiming the wrongs of her sex, and demanding equal rights before the law. during the year the writer gave several lectures at council bluffs, and in january, , by invitation, addressed the second territorial legislature of nebraska, in representative hall, omaha; and in the year following lectured in council bluffs, omaha, nebraska city, glenwood and other towns. in mrs. martha h. brinkerhoff made a very successful lecture-tour through the northern counties of iowa. she roused great interest and organized many societies, canvassing meanwhile for subscribers to _the revolution_. in the same year mrs. annie c. savery gave a lecture for the benefit of a blind editor at des moines. in february, , by invitation, she responded to a toast at a masonic festival in that city; and during that and the year following she lectured in several places on woman suffrage, and wrote many able articles for the press. on april , , the "northern woman suffrage association" was organized at dubuque.[ ] this was the first society in iowa, though about the same time others were being organized in different localities. j. l. mccreery, in his editorial position, advocated the enfranchisement of woman, and wrote an able paper in favor of the object of the organization. mrs. mary n. adams opened a correspondence with friends of the movement in other parts of the state; henry o'connor, mary a. livermore and others lectured before the society, thus educating the people into a better understanding of woman's rights and needs. mrs. adams not only addressed the home society, but gave lectures before lyceums and educational institutions. des moines has always maintained the most successful organization having a band of earnest women enlisted in the work, and being the capital of the state, where every opportunity was afforded to facilitate their efforts. the liberality of the press, too, aided vastly in moulding public sentiment in favor of the cause. about the earliest work done in that city was in june, , when hannah tracy cutler and amelia bloomer (immediately on returning from the formation of the state society at mt. pleasant) held two meetings there--one in the open air on the grounds where the new capitol now stands, on the question of temperance, sunday afternoon, presided over by governor merrill; the other in the baptist church, on woman suffrage, the following evening, mrs. annie c. savery presiding. the polk county woman suffrage society was formed october , and has never failed to hold its meetings regularly each month since that time. every congress and every legislature have been appealed to by petitions signed by thousands of the best citizens, and it is on record that the senators and representatives of polk county, with one exception,[ ] have always voted in favor of submitting the question of woman's enfranchisement to the electors of the state. when men are talked of for legislative honors they are interviewed by a committee from the society, and pledges secured that they will vote "aye" on any woman suffrage bill that may come before them. this society has from time to time engaged the services of prominent lecturers,[ ] and nearly all of the ministers and lawyers of the city have given addresses in favor of the cause. only one minister has openly and bitterly opposed the measure, and his sermon on the "subordination of woman," published in the _register_, called out spirited replies from mrs. savery and mrs. bloomer in the same journal, which completely demolished the flimsy fancies of the gentleman. about mrs. maria orwig edited a column in the _record_, and mary a. work a column in the _republican_. since , mesdames hunter, orwig, woods and work have filled two columns in _the prohibitionist_, of which laura a. berry is one of the editors. mrs. m. j. coggeshall has for several years served the society as reporter for the _register_, proving herself a very ready and interesting writer. all of these ladies are efficient and untiring in whatever pertains to woman's interest.[ ] the _register_ says: the field of labor in des moines is pretty well occupied by the ladies. you will find them at the desks in the county and united states court-houses, in the pension office, in the insurance office, in the state offices, behind the counters in stores, in attorneys' offices--and there is one woman who assists her husband at the blacksmith's trade, and she can strike as hard a blow with a sledge as the brawniest workman in the shop. in the autumn of a society was organized at burlington, with fifty members. one of the earliest advocates of the cause in this place was mary a. p. darwin, president of the association, who lectured through the southern tier of counties during the summer of . she was an earnest and forcible speaker. at oskaloosa the opening work was done in by frances d. gage, who gave four lectures there, and roused the people to thought and discussion. mattie griffith davenport has long filled a prominent place in the woman suffrage movement in that city. she commenced lecturing in , and during that and the two succeeding years traveled over much of the state, speaking upon temperance and woman's rights. during she edited a column of the davenport _news_ in the interest of suffrage. in the summer of mrs. cutler and mrs. bloomer held two meetings in oskaloosa, in one of which a gentleman engaged in the discussions, and as is usual in such encounters, the women having right and justice on their side, came out the victors; at least so said the listeners. following this a woman's suffrage society was organized.[ ] many prominent speakers lectured here in turn, and helped to keep up the interest. council bluffs also organized a society[ ] in , holding frequent meetings and sociables. there is here a large element in favor of the ballot for woman; and though we are unfortunate in not having an advocate in the press, still council bluffs will give a good report of itself when the question of woman's enfranchisement shall come before the electors for action. the trustees of the public library of this city are women; the librarian is a woman: the post-office is in the hands of a woman; the teachers in the public schools, with one or two exceptions, are women; the principal of the high school is a woman; and a large number of the clerks in the dry goods stores are women. miss ingelletta smith received the nomination of the republican party for school superintendent in the fall of , but was defeated by her democratic competitor. marshalltown had a suffrage organization as early as july, .[ ] nettie sanford lectured in several of the central counties of the state during that and the previous year. josephine guthrie, professor of belles-lettres at le grand college, in a series of able articles in the marshalltown _times_ in , claimed for women equality of rights before the law. in , aubie gifford, a woman of high culture and an experienced teacher, was elected to the office of county superintendent of the public schools of marshall county, by a handsome majority; she was reëlected, serving, in all, four years. at algona a society[ ] was formed in . at the annual meeting of the state society at des moines, in , lizzie b. read delivered an address entitled, "coming up out of the wilderness," and in july, , at a mass-meeting at clear lake, one on "the bible in favor of woman suffrage." mrs. read, formerly as miss bunnel, published a paper called the _mayflower_, at peru, indiana, and in a county paper in this state called the _upper des moines_. since jackson county has had an efficient equal rights society.[ ] on july , , nancy r. allen, at the general celebration at maquoketa, the county-seat, read the "protest and declaration of rights," issued by the national association from its centennial parlors in philadelphia. it was well received by the majority of the people assembled; but, as usual, there were some objectors. the presbyterian minister published a series of articles in the _sentinel_, to each of which mrs. allen replied ably defending the principles of the woman suffrage party. the maquoketa equal rights society celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the woman's rights movement july , , by holding a public meeting in dr. allen's grounds, in the shade of the grand old trees. it was a large gathering, and many prominent gentlemen of the city, by their presence and words of cheer, gave dignity to the occasion. jackson county has long honored women with positions of trust. the deputy recorder is a woman; mrs. allen was notary public; mrs. patton was nominated for auditor by the greenback party in , but was defeated with the rest of the ticket. women are book-keepers, merchants, clerks, teachers; and, in fact, almost every avenue is open to them. of fort dodge, mrs. haviland writes: "the subject has never been much agitated here. i have stood almost alone these long years, watching the work done by my sisters in other parts of the state, and hoping the time would soon come when some move could be made in this place. last spring the annual meeting of our state society was held here, but it was with difficulty that i found places where the few who came could be entertained, people were so afraid of woman's rights. after the refusal of the other churches, the baptists opened theirs; the crowd of curious ones looked on and seemed surprised when they failed to discover the 'horns.'" mrs. a.m. swain also writes: "miss anthony came here first in june, , and has been here twice since. mrs. swisshelm was here in . both were my guests when no other doors were open to the advocates of woman suffrage. the late convention of the state society held here was a decided success; the best class of ladies attended; the dignity and ability shown in the management, and the many interesting and logical papers read disarmed all criticism and awakened genuine interest. i have handed in my ballot for several years, but it has never been received or counted." societies were organized in and , in independence and monticello. humboldt, nevada, west union, corning, osceola, muscatine, sigourney, garden grove, decorah, hamburg, and scores of other towns have their local societies. at west liberty mrs. mary v. cowgill and her good husband are liberal contributors to the work, both state and national. at a convention held at mt. pleasant, june , , , different sections of the state being well represented, the iowa woman suffrage society[ ] was formed. belle mansfield, president, frank hatton,[ ] editor of the mt. pleasant _journal_, secretary. w.r. cole opened the convention with prayer. after many able addresses from various speakers,[ ] in response to an invitation from the president, judge palmer in a somewhat excited manner stated his objections to woman's voting. he wanted some guarantee that good would result from giving her the ballot. he thought "she did not understand driving, and would upset the sleigh. men had always rowed the boat, and therefore always should. men had more force and muscle than women, and therefore should have all the power in their hands." he spoke of himself as the guardian of his wife, and said she did not want to vote. after talking an hour in this style, he took his seat, greatly to the relief of his hearers. mrs. cutler, in her calm, dignified, deliberate manner, answered his arguments. she proved conclusively that muscular force was not the power most needed in our government. if it were, all the little, weak men and women, no matter how intellectual must stand aside, and let only the strong, muscular do the voting and governing. in clearness of perception, and readiness of debate, she distanced her opponent altogether in the opinion of the convention. the first annual meeting of the state society was held at des moines, october , . mrs. bloomer presided[ ] in the absence of the president, gen. o'connor. speakers had been engaged for this convention, a good representation secured, and every arrangement made for a successful meeting. and such it was, barring a difference of opinion among the friends of the movement as to what questions should properly come before a society whose only object, as declared in its constitution, was to secure suffrage for women. the following letters were received: iowa city, october , . mrs. annie savery--_dear madam_: your kind and very flattering invitation to address the woman's state suffrage convention, in des moines, reached me just prior to my departure for this city, and i avail myself of my first leisure to respond. it would not only give me great pleasure, but i should esteem it among my higher duties to accept your invitation, and give my emphatic endorsement to the great reform movement represented by the woman suffrage convention, were it at all practicable. but i have just reached my new charge, and can not dispose of immediate pressing claims upon my time and effort here. please accept my apology for declining, and believe me, ever yours for woman's enfranchisement. c. r. pomeroy. indianola, sept. , . mrs. annie savery--_madam_: i am in receipt of your letter, asking me to take part in your annual convention. i thank you for the honor, as i expect from such a convention results the most salutary, not only to the condition of woman, but also to the progress of our young and vigorous commonwealth. i have read carefully the circular enclosed in your letter, and consider the logic irrefutable, and its suggestions well worthy the attention of all who desire the complete enfranchisement of woman. i fear that i shall not be able to attend, but if i am, i shall be with you, should i do no more than say "amen" to the words of my eloquent countryman, o'connor, whom i learn you have honored with the presidency of your association. wishing for your cause the fullest success, i subscribe myself--one for the enfranchisement of woman. alexander burns. a letter was also received from bishop matthew simpson, of the methodist church, who was always ready to declare his adherence to this great reform: owatoma, oct. , . hon. j. harlan--_dear senator_: yours, inclosing mrs. savery's kind invitation, was received before i left mankota. i would be pleased to comply with her invitation, joined as it is with your earnest solicitation. but i am under bonds--if not to keep the peace, at least to keep silence--so far as either sermons or public addresses are concerned, until the full restoration of my health. i am glad to say my health is improving. i have presided at five conferences this fall--two still await me. but i have not ventured any extra labor, nor dare i for some time to come. please convey to mrs. savery my thanks for her kind invitation, and say to her that i sympathize fully with the suffrage association in its desire to attain for women the ballot. a series of resolutions was discussed, other letters read, and a large number of new converts joined the association. the _state register_ spoke in a very complimentary manner of the deliberations of this convention: it is but just, perhaps, that we should say, in general terms, of the state woman suffrage convention, in session in des moines the past week, that its proceedings were characterized with good sense, dignity, and the best of order. the world has had an impression for five or six thousand years that women cannot talk without wrangling, counsel without confusion. again, many are so unjust as to imagine that a convention composed of ladies, assembled to discuss serious subjects, can be nothing more than a quilting party or tattlers' club enlarged and let loose. we have never seen a convention conducted with more decorum, or a greater degree of intelligent accord exhibited in the routine of proceedings, than was noticeable in this first annual gathering of the friends of suffrage in iowa. a majority of the members were women. they opened the convention and conducted the discussions with a spirit and in a manner after which men might well pattern. in some respects, the ladies who took the lead, showed themselves better posted in general information, in all matters of deliberation, than men. we would not endorse all that was done at the convention, but we would be fair enough to give to it the meed of having been, in all respects, well conducted. the convention strengthened those in whose name it met, not only among themselves, but with the public. all who attended it were impressed with the conviction that its members were earnest and honest, and could see that they were intelligent and well armed. whatever it may have done directly, and that we know was much, it accomplished more good for its cause by impressing the public mind that its adherents in iowa are banded together in union, and bound to make every honorable effort for success. in january, , i received a letter from a very prominent member of the legislature, from which the following is an extract: after consultation i believe the house would resolve itself into committee of the whole (when senators would be likely also to come in), and hear you on the question of woman suffrage. should you desire to press it to vote this session, i should advise that course. as to the time of your hearing, it should be in the day, and appointed soon after the recess. we meet again on february . i think it could be arranged for friday, the th, if agreeable to you. with kind regards, john a. kasson. notwithstanding this kind proposal of mr. kasson, i did not act upon his suggestion. but mrs. harbert and mrs. savery, feeling that something must be done, had the courage and the conscience, on their individual responsibility, to call a mass-meeting at the capitol on the evening previous to the day appointed for the vote on the amendment in the house. mrs. harbert presided and opened the meeting with an earnest appeal; mrs. savery, mr. c.p. holmes, senator converse, and governor carpenter, made eloquent speeches. the governor, in opening his address said he voted to strike "black" from the constitution sixteen years ago, and would then, as now, had the opportunity been presented, have voted to strike out "male." on the following day when the amendment came up in the house for the final vote, it was carried by to . in the senate there was a spirited discussion, hon. charles beardsley making an earnest speech in favor of the resolution. the vote on engrossing the bill for the third reading stood ayes to nays. hope ran high with the friends; but alas! on a final vote, taken but a few minutes later, the bill was lost by nays to ayes.[ ] the general sentiment was well stated by the iowa _state register_: the senate disposed of the woman suffrage question yesterday by voting it down. we think it made a mistake. certainly there was, at the lowest count, thirty out of every hundred voters in the state who desired to have this legislature ratify the action of the last assembly, and submit the question at the polls this fall. the republican party has its own record to meet here. the first time the negro suffrage question was submitted to the people of iowa, it was submitted by a republican legislature, and the submission was made when not over one voter in a hundred desired it done. this latter thing was a plain proposition, a most justly preferred petition. the people who were anxious to have the question submitted, are, it is confidently claimed, in majority. we think their wishes might well and fitly have been granted. even those who were opposed to them must see that the advocates of the reform will now have a chance to claim that the opponents of it are afraid to go with them to the people. this is not merely a defeat for the present year, but practically for four years. our state constitution can be amended only after two legislatures have acted upon the amendment, and the people have voted upon it. the legislature of two years ago passed the resolution voted down yesterday. now, we presume, it will have to take another start. four years of waiting and working before the friends of the reform can be given a chance to get a verdict from the people, is a long and painful ordeal. it will not be endured with patience. it would be asking too much of human nature to expect that. at the annual convention of , at des moines, bishop gilbert haven of the methodist episcopal church, a clear and liberal thinker, made a very impressive speech on the power woman could wield with the ballot in her own hand in making our towns and cities safe for our sons and daughters to live in. this year, the des moines annual conference of the m. e. church passed resolutions advocating woman suffrage as a great moral reform; while the state convention of the universalist association in its resolution said: "this convention recognizes that women are entitled to all the social, religious, and political rights which men enjoy." at the diocesan convention held at davenport may , the episcopal church took a step forward by striking the word male out of a canon, thus enabling women to vote for vestrymen, a right hitherto withheld. it is but a straw in the right direction, but "straws show which way the wind blows," and we may hope for more good things to follow. the republican party, in convention assembled, at des moines, july , , inserted the following, as the tenth plank of its platform: _resolved_, that since the people may be entrusted with all questions of governmental reform, we favor the final submission to them of the question of amending the constitution so as to extend the right of suffrage to women, pursuant to the action of the fifteenth general assembly. the reading of the resolution called forth cheers of approval, and was adopted without a dissenting vote, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert is entitled to great credit for this "woman's plank," she having gone before the committee on resolutions and made an earnest appeal for woman's recognition by the republican party. the _state record_ said: when the republicans, in national convention, recognized woman, and gave her a plank in the platform of the party, it reflected back a spirit of justice and progress which is looked for in vain in the party opposing, of whatever name. but when the republicans of iowa gave to a woman the privilege of bringing in a plank of her own production, and that plank was added to the state platform without a dissenting voice, it placed iowa, men and women alike, in the vanguard of the world's onward march to a more rational life, more even justice, and purer government. in the republican state platform of iowa is the first real and purely woman's plank that ever entered into any political platform--because it originated in the brain of woman. it was by a woman carried to the committee, and in response to an able, dignified, and true womanly appeal, it was accepted, and by the convention incorporated into the platform of the party. it may seem to be a small plank, but it has strength and durability. it is the live oak of a living principle, that will remain sound while other planks of greater bulk around it will have served their purpose and wasted away. it argues thus: if woman is competent to present a political issue, clothed in her own language, with a dignity and modesty that silence opposition, is she not competent to exercise with prudence and intelligence the elective franchise? and would she not, if entrusted with it, exercise it for the elevation of a common humanity? the _record_ tenders hearty congratulations not only to mrs. harbert, who we know will bear the honors modestly, but also to those who by their presence in the convention gave encouragement to greater respect for woman's wishes, and by whose work is demonstrated woman's fitness to be in truth a helpmeet for man. we had a mother, and have sisters, wife, and daughter, and that is why we would have woman enjoy every privilege and opportunity to be useful to herself and her country that we claim for ourself. at the annual meeting of , held at oskaloosa, the following letter from the governor of the state was received: executive department, des moines, iowa. mrs. r. g. orwig, _cor. sec. i. w. s. s.--dear madam_: i have your letter inviting me to be present at your annual meeting. thanking you and the association for the consideration implied, i have to express my regrets that business of an official character will prevent me from coming. i hope your proceedings may be characterized by such wisdom, moderation, and sincerity as to advance the cause to which your efforts are given. i have never been able to discover any argument to sustain my own right to vote that does not equally apply to woman. whether my right is founded upon the interest i have, in common with my fellows, in the preservation of the free institutions of my country; or upon the protection of my personal interests as a citizen; or upon my right to a voice in the creation of laws to which i am held amenable; or upon my right to influence by a vote the direction given to revenues which i am taxed to help supply; or upon any other right, personal, political or moral, i have never been able to see why the reasons which make the vote valuable to me do not apply with equal force to woman. you doubtless think your efforts are comparatively fruitless; but i need not tell you that while your agitation has failed, so far, to bring you the ballot, it has ameliorated the condition of woman in very many particulars. her property rights are better protected; her sphere of activity has been enlarged, and her influence for good is more widely recognized. so i wish you well. yours truly, c. c. carpenter. this year women were members of a lay delegation in the methodist conference, and also lay delegates to the presbyterian synod. and in two or three instances women have been invited to address these bodies, and have received a vote of thanks. many of the orthodox clergy are openly advocating our cause, and in some instances women have been invited by them to occupy their desks on sunday to preach the gospel to the people. this is a wonderful advance in sentiment since , when in new york the clergy would not permit women to speak, even on temperance in a public hall. in the society secured the services of matilda hindman, of pittsburg, pa., who traveled over the greater part of the state, lecturing and organizing societies, and was everywhere spoken of as an eloquent and logical speaker. she was followed by margaret w. campbell, and those who know her feel that the state gained in her a valuable friend in everything pertaining to the interests of woman. what is said of miss hindman as a speaker may also be said of mrs. campbell. the first governor of iowa to officially recognize woman's right to the ballot was the hon. c. c. carpenter, who in his message to the general assembly of , said: the proposed amendment to the constitution, adopted by your predecessors, and which requires your sanction before being submitted to the voters of the state, will come before you. i venture to suggest, that the uniform expression in wyoming territory, where woman suffrage is a fact, is favorable to its continuance, and that wherever in europe and america women have voted for school or minor officers the influence of their suffrage has been beneficent; and in view of the peculiar appropriateness of submitting this question in this year, , when all america is celebrating achievements which were inspired by the doctrine that taxation and representation are of right inseparable, it is recommended that you give the people of iowa an opportunity to express their judgment upon the proposed amendment at the ballot-box. at the request of the state association, miss matilda hindman was granted a hearing before the legislature, and most respectful attention was accorded to her able address. miss anthony was also invited, and, at the suggestion of mrs. savery, she engaged the opera-house. the seats reserved for the members were all filled, and every part of the house occupied. the day following, the vote in the house was taken, and carried by to . after a careful canvass of the senate, it was found that there were ten votes to spare; but alas! when the day for final action came the amendment was lost by one vote.[ ] in senator gaylord of floyd county made a speech, giving twenty-one reasons why he voted against the submission of the proposition for the enfranchisement of women, which was published in full in the des moines _register_, and thus sent broadcast over the state. mrs. bloomer replied to mr. floyd through the same paper, meeting and refuting every objection, thus in a measure antidoting the poisonous influence of the senator's pronunciamento. in the spring of this year dr. harriette bottsford and mrs. jane c. mckinney were appointed by a caucus of republican women, to the powesheik county convention, to choose delegates to the state convention. they presented their credentials to the committee, and the chairman reported them as delegates. on motion, they were accepted--but some men soon bethought them that this was establishing a bad precedent, and began maneuvering to get rid of them. this was finally done by declaring the delegation full without them--two men having been quietly appointed to fill vacancies after the ladies had presented their credentials. mrs. mckinney made a spicy speech, saying they did not expect to be received as delegates, but wished to remind the men that women were citizens, tax-payers and republicans, but unrepresented. at the greenback state convention of , mrs. mary e. nash was nominated as the candidate of that party for state superintendent of schools. mrs. nash declined the honor intended, and said that her political flag, if it were to float at all, would be found in another camp. she would not desert her colors for office. in mrs. h. j. bellangee and mrs. a. m. swain were regularly accredited delegates to the national greenback convention, held at indianapolis, ind., to nominate a candidate for the presidency, where they were received with the greatest courtesy. the annual meeting of , at des moines, was remarkable for the number of clergymen, representing nearly all the different denominations, who took part in its proceedings, each of the nine seeming to vie with the others in expressing his belief that the ballot for woman, as for man, was a right, not a privilege. bishop hurst of the m. e. church, made an able speech. the executive committee sent a memorial to the republican convention, held in june for the nomination of state officers, asking a plank in their platform favoring the submission of the woman suffrage amendment. the request was not granted. leading politicians who professed to believe in equality of rights for women feared that to do so would make too heavy a weight for the party to carry, it having already incorporated a prohibition plank in its platform. the committee also interviewed editors, asking them to open the columns of their papers to the advocacy of woman suffrage. one hundred and twenty replied favorably, while many were courteous and others brusque in their refusals. a committee on legislation (mrs. narcissa t. bemis, chairman) did good work during this session of the legislature, and also published a tract composed of contributions from twelve leading ministers of the state, called "the clergymen's tract." this was sent broadcast. nine hundred of the clergy were favored with a copy. the ministerial association, held in des moines, passed the following: _resolved_, that we are heartily in favor of woman suffrage as advocated by your association, and regard the same as a proper subject for pulpit-teaching, and, as opportunity offers of furthering said cause in our pulpit ministry, we will avail ourselves of the same. during this year the state society contributed liberally to the nebraska campaign. mrs. nancy r. allen and mrs. mary b. lee each left a small legacy to the association. of the annual meeting of ,[ ] held at ottumwa, the local papers gave full and fair reports; while papers of the state published a condensed statement prepared by the secretary. miss hindman and mrs. campbell were again invited to the state. no grander work than theirs was ever done in iowa. there is scarcely a county which they have not canvassed; holding meetings, forming associations, circulating petitions, distributing tracts, preaching on sundays in the churches, traveling, often for months at a time, without a pledge of pecuniary aid, depending for their expenses wholly on funds contributed at their meetings. the state convention of met at the christian church at des moines; mrs. nacissa t. bemis presided. mrs. helen m. gougar of indiana was one of the speakers. a committee, of which mrs. martha c. callanan was chairman, interviewed the governor, asking a recognition of woman's right of suffrage, and were told it should receive consideration. accordingly, in his message to the legislature, governor sherman said: your attention is respectfully directed to the question of impartial suffrage, in respect to which the nineteenth general assembly proposed an amendment to the constitution. should this meet your approval, as preliminary to taking the judgment of the voters, i recommend that it be submitted at a special election, in order that it may be freed from the influence of partisan politics, and thus receive an unprejudiced vote of our citizens. not caring to here express an opinion upon the question itself, it is sufficient to say that now, as heretofore, i am in favor of the submission of any question which is of importance and general interest. governor sherman also gave it as his opinion that a good woman should be placed on the board of trustees of every public institution. this was the second time that an iowa governor had referred to this great political question in his message to the general assembly, governor carpenter having heartily indorsed the measure in . it is said, however, that governor newbold had written a clause on the subject in his message in , but that it was suppressed by the careful counsel of some guardian angel of his party. previous to the assembling of this legislature, petitions had been widely circulated,[ ] praying for the submission of the amendment. over , signatures were obtained. each petition was placed in the hands of a senator or member from the county in which the names were gathered, for presentation in the respective houses. for fifteen consecutive years the state society has met annually, made reports, passed resolutions, elected officers, listened to speeches and transacted what other business has come before it. though its anniversaries have usually been held at des moines, its influence through the press has pervaded the whole state. since , the annual meetings have been held in different cities[ ] outside the capital, thus giving the people of all sections of the state an opportunity to participate in the deliberations. petitions to the legislature and to congress have been circulated by the society, delegates sent to the conventions of the national and american suffrage associations,[ ] and letters addressed to the delegates of the state and national nominating conventions of the political parties, asking for a recognition of woman's right to the ballot in their platforms. a brief recital of the proceedings of the iowa legislature will show that a large majority of the representatives have been in favor of submitting the question of woman suffrage to a direct vote of the men of the state. the proposition was first presented in the house by hon. john p. irish, in . the resolution passed both houses with very little debate, was approved by the governor, and submitted to the next general assembly. in the session of it was discussed in both houses at considerable length, and again passed in the lower house by the strong vote of ayes to nays; while in the senate it was lost by only two majority. the house has never failed at any session since that time, until , to give a majority in its favor; but the senate has not made for itself so good a record. in the vote in the senate stood: ayes, ; nays, . in it was lost by one vote; and in lost on engrossment. in the tables were turned; when the amendment came up in the twentieth general assembly for ratification, the senate passed the bill, while the house, for the first time, defeated it by a small majority. by the constitution of iowa an amendment must be approved by two consecutive legislatures, convened in regular session. when so approved it is then submitted to the popular vote of the electors. as in this state the legislature meets but once in two years, the reader can see how easily a bill passed at one session may, two years later, be defeated by the election of new members who are opposed to it. and thus through all these years those who claim the ballot for woman in this state have been elated or depressed by the action of each succeeding legislature. the thirteenth general assembly not only earned a good name for enlightened statesmanship by passing the constitutional amendment in favor of woman suffrage, but it also, by chapter , approved march , , passed an act admitting women to the practice of law. it was under this that judith ellen foster--so widely known as an eloquent lecturer and able lawyer--annie c. savery, mrs. emma haddock, louisa h. albert, jessie m. johnson, and several others have passed the necessary examination and been admitted to practice as attorneys and counselors in all the courts of the state. mrs. arabella mansfield was admitted to the bar in , just a year previous to the enactment of the law. miss linda m. ramsey, now mrs. hartzell, was employed as a clerk by adjutant-general baker in , and held the office for some time after the war closed. the _record_ says she was the first woman regularly employed and paid by the state for clerical services. miss augusta matthews served as military secretary for governor stone during the war under pay of the state. it was the thirteenth general assembly, , that first elected a woman, miss mary e. spencer, to the office of engrossing clerk; and upon her it devolved to convey the message from the house to the senate, announcing the passage of the woman suffrage amendment. in each house elected one woman among its officers; and each succeeding general assembly since that time has elected from three to six women. the office of postmaster has been filled by women for the last ten years, and is now held by the venerable widow of general n. a. baker, for many years the popular adjutant-general of the state. the office of state librarian was filled by mrs. ada north for seven years, and is now held by mrs. s. b. maxwell. mrs. north is ( ) librarian of the state university at iowa city. the state insane hospitals are inspected by a visiting commission, one of whom is a woman. several of the city hospitals are managed by women of the catholic orders. the reform schools have a woman on their board of trustees, of whom governor sherman was graciously pleased to say that "she discovered more of the true inwardness of the institution in three days than her honorable colleague had done in three years." in governor kirkwood appointed mrs. nancy r. allen notary public. he also appointed mrs. merrill as teacher and chaplain at the state penitentiary, miss mccowen as physician of the state insane asylum, and dr. sara a. pangborn, one of the staff of physicians of the insane hospital at independence. in governor carpenter appointed mrs. deborah cattell a commissioner to investigate the alleged cruelty in the state reform school at eldora; and for this service she was paid the same as men who served on the same commission. governor gear appointed dr. abbie m. cleaves delegate from iowa to the national conference of charities and correction, and to the national association for the protection of the insane and the prevention of insanity, which was held in cleveland, ohio, july, . mrs. mary wright and dr. abbie cleaves were commissioned to the conference of the same associations at louisville, ky., in . the legislature of appointed jane c. mckinney one of the trustees of the hospital for the insane, at independence. the eighteenth general assembly, , passed an act to extend to women the right to hold the office of county recorder. a bill giving them the right to hold the office of county auditor passed the house, but was lost in the senate. under the above law miss addie hayden was elected recorder of warren county by a majority of votes. she ran on an independent ticket. mrs. c. j. hill was chosen recorder of osceola county at the same election. the instruction of the youth of iowa has fallen largely into the hands of women. during the year the number of women employed as teachers was , , while the number of men was , . in the larger towns and cities women are almost exclusively engaged as teachers. miss phebe ludlow, after having for several years acceptably discharged the duties of city superintendent of schools at davenport, was elected professor of english language and literature in the state university at iowa city. the chair is still occupied by a woman, as is that of instructor of mathematics and several other branches in that institution, which, to the honor of iowa be it said, always opened its doors to both sexes alike. the question of the eligibility of women to the office of county superintendent of public schools having arisen by the election of miss julia c. addington in the autumn of , the matter was referred to the attorney-general by the state superintendent of public instruction, and the following was his reply: _hon. a. s. kissell, superintendent of public instruction:_ dear sir: rights and privileges of persons (citizens) are frequently extended but never abridged by implication. the soundness and wisdom of this rule of construction is, i believe, universally conceded. two clauses of the constitution, only, contain express provisions excluding women from the rights and privileges in said provisions. section , of article i., as to the right of suffrage, and section , of article iii., which provides that members of the legislature must be free white male citizens. "free" and "white" have lost their meaning (if the words in that use ever had any suitable or good meaning), but the word "male" still retains its full force and effect. if this express restriction exists in the constitution as to any other office, it has escaped my notice. it is true that the words "person" and "citizen" frequently occur in other parts of the constitution in connection with eligibility and qualification for office, and i fully admit that by usage--"time-honored usage," if you will--these phrases have in common acceptation been taken to mean man in the masculine gender only, and to exclude woman. but a recent decision in the court exchequer, england, holding that the generic term "man" includes woman also, indicates our progress from a crude barbarism to a better civilization. the office of county superintendent was created by chapter of the acts of the seventh general assembly, laws of , pages - . neither in that act, nor in any subsequent legislation on the subject, have i been able to find any express provisions making male citizenship a test of eligibility for the place, or excluding women; and when i look over the duties to be performed by that officer--as i have with some care, and, i trust, not without interest--i deem it exceedingly fortunate for the cause of education in iowa that there is no provision in the law preventing women from holding the office of county superintendent of common schools. i know that the pronoun "he" is frequently used in different sections of the act, and referring to the officer; but, as stated above, this privilege of the citizen cannot be taken away or denied by intendment or implication; and women are citizens as well and as much as men. i need scarcely add that, in my opinion, miss addington is eligible to the office to which she has been elected; that she will be entitled to her pay when she qualifies and discharges the duties of the office, and that her decisions on appeal, as well as all her official acts, will be legal and binding. it is perhaps proper to state that an opinion on this question, substantially in agreement with the present one, was sent from this office to a gentleman writing from osage, in mitchell county, several weeks ago, which for some reason unknown to me, seems not to have been made public in the county. i have the honor to be, etc., henry o'connor, _attorney-general_. miss addington, in her short letter of inquiry to the superintendent, has the following modest conclusion: "the position is not one i should have chosen for myself, but since my friends have shown so much confidence in me, and many of them are desirous that i should accept the office, i feel inclined to gratify them, if it be found there is nothing incompatible in my doing so." the question of the eligibility of women to hold school offices was again raised at the october election of . miss elizabeth s. cooke was elected to the office of superintendent of common schools in warren county. the question of her right to hold the office was carried by her opponent, mr. huff, to the district court of that county, by appeal; and that court decided that the defendant, miss cooke, "being a woman, was ineligible to the office." it was then carried to the supreme court of the state, which held that "there is no constitutional inhibition upon the rights of women to hold the office of county superintendent." in the meantime, however, and immediately following the decision of the warren county judge, the general assembly, march , , promptly came to the rescue and passed the following act, almost unanimously: section . no person shall be deemed ineligible, by reason of sex, to any school office in the state of iowa. sec. . no person who may have been, or shall be, elected or appointed to the office of county superintendent of common schools, or director, in the state of iowa, shall be deprived of office by reason of sex. under the provisions of this law, and the above-cited decision of the supreme court, miss cooke was allowed to serve out her term of office without hindrance. since that time women have been elected, and discharged the duties of county superintendent with great credit to themselves and advantage to the public. women have also been elected to other school offices in different parts of the state. mrs. mary a. work was unanimously elected sub-director in district no. , delaware township, polk county, in the spring of ; and soon after was made president of the board--the first woman, so far as known, to fill the position of president of a school board. in , in frederica, bremer county, mrs. mary fisher attended the school meeting, and was elected as one of the three directors. the two others were men, one of whom immediately resigned, saying he would not hold office with a woman. his resignation was at once accepted. he further remarked that "woman's place was _to hum_; she was out of her _spear_ to school _meetin's_, _holdin'_ office," etc. mrs. fisher had been a teacher for six years. mrs. shirley, another successful teacher, accompanied mrs. fisher to the next school meeting, and both ladies voted on all questions that came up for action, and nothing was said against their doing so. this year ( ) the school board of des moines elected mrs. lou. m. wilson to the office of city superintendent of public schools, with a salary of $ , a year. she has in charge eighty teachers, among whom are two men in the position of principals. at the woman's congress, held at des moines in october, , dr. jennie mccowen, in her report for this state, said: an increasing number of women have been elected on school-boards, and are serving as officers and county superintendents of schools. last year six women served as presidents, thirty-five as secretaries, and fifty as treasurers of school-boards. of the superintendents and principals of graded schools about one in five is a woman; of county superintendents, one in nine; of teachers in normal institutes, one in three; of principals of secondary institutions of learning, one in three; of tutors and instructors in colleges, one in two; and in the twenty-three higher institutions of learning, thirteen young women are officiating as professors, and in three of these colleges the secretary of the faculty is a woman. the state board of examiners has one woman--miss ella a. hamilton of des moines--and the state superintendent of public instruction has for a number of years availed himself of the valued services of a woman for private secretary. the _northwestern educational journal_ is edited by a woman. at the last meeting of the state teachers' association a committee was appointed to prepare a regular course of reading for teachers. this course is mainly professional and literary, with a leaning toward the latter. a large number of these reading circles have already been organized, and much interest, and even enthusiasm, is being manifested by teachers in all parts of the state. the school of domestic economy, in connection with the agricultural college, is in charge of a woman as dean, and, although but a year old, has made an auspicious beginning. a number of young ladies, graduates of the state university and other literary schools, have gone to the school of domestic economy to finish their education. iowa has many women engaged as journalists. prominent among these is miss maggie vanpelt, city editor of the dubuque _times_. she conducts her department very ably, and acceptably to her readers. whether an advocate for suffrage or not, she is certainly a practical woman's rights woman. independent and fearless, she goes about day and night where she pleases, and wherever her business calls her. a revolver, which she is known to carry, makes it safe for her to walk the street at all hours. mrs. will hollingsworth, of the sigourney _review_, does a large part of the writing for that paper, and assists in the management of the establishment. _woman's hour_, edited by mary j. coggeshall, was published by women at des moines two seasons, during the exposition. ten thousand copies were printed for free distribution, and a handsomely decorated department granted the society in the exposition for their work. mrs. e. h. hunter and mrs. woods represented the society. mrs. pauline swaim is noted for her journalistic ability. besides working on her husband's paper, the oskaloosa _herald_, she has done much for the _state register_, reporting for it the proceedings of the senate. in october, , nettie sanford started a paper at marshalltown, called _the woman's bureau_, which she published for two years. during she published the _san gabriel valley news_, in california. mrs. l. m. latham for many years conducted a suffrage column in the cedar rapids _times_; since she has been associated with mrs. j. l. wilson on the _transcript_, an eight column paper devoted to general news, temperance and woman suffrage. the paper is owned by mrs. wilson. mrs. nettie p. fox edits the _spiritual offering_ at ottumwa; mrs. hattie campbell, a suffrage department in _the advance_, at des moines; mary osborne edits the _osceola sentinel_, and is superintendent of the public schools of clark county; mrs. lafayette young is engaged on the _atlantic telegraph_. very many papers in the state have women in charge of one or more columns. in the humbler walks of literature iowa can boast quite a number of women who have made successful attempts at authorship.[ ] in sculpture mrs. harriet a. ketcham, of mt. pleasant, deserves mention. she has the exclusive contract to model the prominent men of iowa for the new capitol. mrs. estelle e. vore, mrs. cora r. fracker, and miss emma g. holt, are known as musical composers. among the lecturers of iowa, mrs. matilda fletcher is worthy of mention. though she has never made woman suffrage a specialty, she is sound on that question, and frequently introduces it incidentally in her lectures. in she was living in obscurity in council bluffs, her husband being employed as a teacher in one of the suburban schools. young, girlish-looking, no one seeing her would have dreamed of her possessing the capabilities she has since displayed. she started out under many discouragements, but has shown a perseverance, a self-reliance, and an indomitable will that few women manifest in the same direction. mrs. fletcher has been employed by the republican party during some of the most important and exciting campaigns, speaking throughout the state, in halls, tents, and in the open air. every such effort on the part of woman is an advantage to the cause we advocate, bringing it nearer to final success. but it is to mrs. stanton, miss anthony, anna dickinson, mrs. livermore, and other lyceum lecturers[ ] that our state is especially indebted for a knowledge of the true principles upon which woman founds her claim to equal civil and political rights with man. in all sections of our land their voices have been heard by interested and delighted audiences. there are about one hundred and fifty women in the medical profession in the different cities of the state. mrs. yeomans, of clinton, is a successful practitioner. mrs. king, allopathist, and mrs. hortz, homeopathist, are regular graduates in good practice at des moines. dr. harding, electrician, and dr. hilton, allopathist, also graduates, have all the practice they can attend to in council bluffs. in , dr. jennie mccowen was elected president of the scott county medical society. this was the first time a woman was ever elected to that office in this state, if not in the united states. it is quite sure that iowa may justly claim the first woman in the profession of dentistry--mrs. lucy b. hobbs, as early as .[ ] at cresco there is the firm of dr. l. f. & mrs. m. e. abbott, dental surgeons. at mt. pleasant, mrs. m. e. hildreth is a licensed dentist in successful practice. rev. augusta chapin was, i think, the first woman to enter the sacred office in this state. miss safford, algona; mrs. gillette, knoxville; mrs. m. a. folsom, marshalltown; florence e. kollock, waverly; mrs. m. j. janes, spencer; mrs. hartsough, ft. dodge, are regularly ordained preachers of the universalist and unitarian faiths. there are several licensed preachers of the m. e. church, but none have received regular ordination. iowa furnished the following women who went to the front as nurses during the war: mrs. harlan, wife of senator harlan; mrs. almira fales, mrs. anne wittenmeyer, miss phebe allen, mrs. jerusha r. small, miss melcena elliott, mrs. arabella tannehill. these all did good service in hospital and on the field, and some of them laid down their lives as a sacrifice. we copy the following as one of the many facts of the war: some years ago adjutant-general baker of des moines received a letter of inquiry asking about a certain soldier in the twenty-fourth iowa infantry. the tone of the letter was so peculiar as to attract considerable attention and create much comment in the office. in reply the general stated that the records of the regiment and the record of the soldier (whom, for the sake of convenience, we will call smith, although that is far from the real name) were in his office. a few days afterwards a gentleman from northern iowa appeared, inquired for general baker, and was closeted with him long enough to divulge the following singular tale: when the war broke out miss mary smith, daughter of the general's visitor, was residing in ohio, working for a farmer. her father's family had moved to iowa the fall preceding the attack on sumter, leaving mary behind to follow in the spring. various causes conspired to delay her departure for her iowa home until autumn, and it was september before she landed at muscatine, from which place she expected to travel by land to her father's house. she was a large-sized, hearty-looking girl, eighteen years of age. arriving at muscatine, some strange freak induced her to assume man's apparel and enlist in the twenty-fourth infantry, then in rendezvous at that city. she did this without exciting any suspicion, burned all her feminine garments and papers, neglected to inform her friends of her arrival, and became a soldier. some comment was elicited by her beardless face and girlish appearance, but as she did her duty promptly and was particularly handy in cooking and taking care of the sick, the young warrior speedily became a general favorite alike with officers and men. she passed through all the campaigns in which the regiment was engaged without a scratch, except a close call from a minie ball at sabine's cross roads, which took the skin off the back of her left hand, voted with the other members of the regiment for president in , and was finally mustered out with her comrades at the close of the war. when she was discharged she procured female apparel--although in doing so she was obliged to make a confidant of one of her own sex--and procured work in illinois, not far from rock island. six months elapsed before the tan of five summers wore off, and when she had again become "white," and had re-learned the almost forgotten customs of womanhood, she presented herself at her father's house, where she was received with open arms. to all the questions which were asked by the various members of the family she replied that she had been honestly employed, and had never forsaken the right way. she had been economical in the army, and invested several hundred dollars in land in northern iowa, which rapidly appreciated in value, and to-day she is well off. with the remainder of her money she attended school. last january a worthy man, who had been in the same regiment, but in a different company, made her an offer of marriage. like a true woman she was unwilling to bestow her hand when any part of her former life was unknown, and before accepting the offer she made to him a full revelation of her soldier-days. at first he could not believe it, but when she proceeded to narrate events and incidents which could be known only to active participants in them, told of marches, camps, skirmishes, battles, and the thousand and one things which never appear in print, but which ever remain living pictures with "old soldiers," he was obliged to accept the strange tale as true. the story, however, did not lessen his regard for her, and about the first of february they were married. the lady's father, after hearing the tale of her life, was still incredulous, and only satisfied himself of its truth by a visit to the adjutant-general's office and an inspection of the records. by comparing dates furnished him by his daughter with the original rolls there on file he became fully convinced that it was all true. a few of the inventions patented by women of iowa are the following: fly-screen door-attachment, by phoebe r. lamborne, west liberty; photograph-album, viola j. angie, spencer; step-ladder, mrs. mary j. gartrell, des moines; baking-powder can with measure combined, mrs. lillie raymond, osceola; egg-stand, mrs. m. e. tisdale, cedar rapids; egg-beater, and self-feeding griddle-greaser, mrs. eugenia kilborn, cedar rapids; tooth-pick holder, mrs. ayers, clinton; thermometer to regulate oven heat, mrs. f. grace, perry; the excelsior ironing-table, mrs. s. l. avery, marion; neck-yoke and pole-attachment, by which horses can be instantly detached from the vehicle, maria dunham, dunlap; invalid bed, mrs. anna p. forbes, dubuque. in the various business avocations i find the following: mrs. t. nodles is the largest fancy grocer in the state, doing a yearly business of $ , . mrs. c. f. barron, cedar rapids, designs and manufactures perforated embroidery patterns. statistics show there are nine hundred and fifty-five iowa women who own and direct farms; eighteen manage farms; six own and direct stock-farms; twenty manage dairy-farms; five own green-houses; nine manage market-gardens; thirty-seven manage high institutions of learning; one hundred and twenty-five are physicians; five attorneys-at-law; ten ministers; three dentists; one hundred and ten professional nurses, and one civil engineer. in the summer of , the fort dodge _messenger_ had this paragraph about a des moines family: miss kate tupper, of des moines, has been in town, visiting at mr. bassett's for a few days. kate comes of a family which is remarkable for intelligent womanly effort and success. her mother is mrs. ellen s. tupper, the bee-queen of iowa, whose work on bee-culture is a recognized authority everywhere; her eldest sister is a very eloquent preacher at colorado springs; miss kate is studying medicine, having taken herself through a full course at the agricultural college by her own work; and miss madge, who is only sixteen, is a famous poultry raiser, and an officer of the state poultry association, who has made money enough in this business to defray her entire expenses through a full collegiate course. mrs. tupper's family is a sufficient answer to the question of woman's work, if there were no other. let any mother in iowa show three boys who can beat this. in this year mrs. louisa b. stevens was elected president of the first national bank at marion, linn county. the important position women are taking in the business world is illustrated by the presence of two delegates at the meeting of the american street railway association held in st. louis in the autumn of --mrs. l. v. gredenburg, proprietor and treasurer of the new albany street railway of new albany, ind., and mrs. m. a. turner, secretary and treasurer of the des moines railway, des moines, ia. one of the gentlemen expressed the belief that fully $ , , of street-railway stock in this country is owned by women. as to the distribution of the cardinal virtues between men and women it is generally claimed that the former possess courage, the latter fortitude. although the pages of history are gilded with innumerable instances of the remarkable courage of women of all ages and conditions, and oftimes dimmed with the records of cowardice in men of all classes, yet what has been said for generations will probably be repeated, even in the face of so remarkable a fact as the following: on march , , the iowa house of representatives, on motion of hon. a. j. holmes, suspended the rules and passed a bill introduced by that gentleman providing for the presentation of a gold medal and the thanks of the general assembly of the state of iowa to miss kate shelly, to which was added a money appropriation of two hundred dollars, which passed both houses and became a law. in support of the bill, mr. holmes spoke as follows: mr. speaker: no apology is required for the introduction of this bill, and i shall make no explanation in regard to it, save a brief _résumé_ of the facts upon which the bill is based. miss kate shelly, with her widowed mother and little sisters and brother, lives in a humble home on the hill-side, in a rugged country skirting the des moines river. her father had died years ago in the service of the great railway company whose line for some distance is overlooked by her home, while her mother, by economy, severe toil, and the assistance of kate, was able to support her little family. on the night of july , , about o'clock, there commenced one of the most memorable storms that ever visited central iowa; nothing like it had ever been witnessed by the oldest inhabitants. the des moines river rose over six feet in one hour--little rills that were dry almost the year round, suddenly developed into miniature rivers--massive railway bridges and lines of track were swept away as if they had been cobwebs. it was while looking out of her window toward the high railroad bridge over honey creek, that kate shelley saw the advancing head-light of a locomotive descend into an abyss and become extinguished, carrying with it the light of two lives. it was then she realized in all its force that a terrible catastrophe had occurred, and another more terrible, if not averted, would soon follow to the east-bound express train, heavily laden with passengers from the pacific. she announced to her mother, sisters and brother, that she must go to the scene of the accident, and render assistance if possible, and also warn the oncoming passenger train. it was in vain they tried to dissuade her. although she was obliged to almost improvise a lantern in many of its parts, it was but a few minutes before she was ready to set out. realizing then that her mission was one of peril, and that she might not again look upon those dear faces, she kissed each of them affectionately, and amid their sobs, hurried out into the gloom, into the descending floods, toward the rushing torrents--drenched to the skin, on she passed toward the railroad to the well remembered foot-log, only to find the waters rushing along high above and beyond the place where it had been. then she thought of the great bluff rising to the west of her home and extending southward toward the railroad track, and she determined to ascend it and reach the bridge over this barrier to the waters. need i recount how she struggled on and up through the thick oak undergrowth, that, being storm-laden drooped and made more difficult her passage; how with clothing torn, and hands and face bleeding she arrived at the end of the bridge, and standing out upon the last tie she peered down into the abyss of waters with her dim light, and called to know if any one was there alive. in answer to her repeated calls came the answer of the engineer, who had caught hold of and made a lodgment in a tree-top, and around whom the waters were still rapidly rising, sending floating logs, trees, and driftwood against his frail support, and threatening momentarily to dislodge and engulf him. it took but a moment to be assured that he was the survivor of four men who went down with the engine, and after a moment's hurried consultation, she started for moingona, a mile distant, to secure assistance and to warn the eastward-bound passenger train then nearly due. as she passed along the high grade it seemed as if she must be blown over the embankment, and still the heavens seemed to give not rain but a deluge. as she approached the railway bridge over the des moines river the light in her lantern, her only guide and protection, went out. it was then that the heroic soul of this child of only sixteen years became most fully apparent; facing the storm which almost took away her breath, and enveloped in darkness that rendered every object in nature invisible, she felt her way to the railroad bridge. here she must pass for a distance of four or five hundred feet over the rushing river beneath on the naked ties. as the wind swept the bridge she felt how unsafe it would be to attempt walking over it, and getting down upon her hands and knees, clutching the timbers with an almost despairing energy, she painfully and at length successfully made the passage. she reached the station, and having told of the catastrophe at the bridge, and requested the stoppage of the passenger train then about due, she fainted and fell upon the platform. this very briefly, wanting in much that is meritorious in it, is the story of kate shelly and the th of july. her parents were countrymen of sarsfield, of emmett, and o'connell--of the land that has given heroes to every other and dishonored none. it was an act well worthy to rank her with that other heroine, who, launching her frail craft from the long stone pier, braved the terrible seas on that northumberland coast to save the lives of others at the risk of her own. mr. holmes then produced a copy of the _state register_, and requested the clerk to read the article therein contained, giving the details of the heroic girl's action, written at the time of its occurrence, and after the clerk had read the article, concluded by saying: "i hope, mr. speaker, that this bill may pass, believing that it is right, and further believing that the state of iowa will do itself as much honor as the young lady named in the bill, in thus recognizing the greatest debt in our power to pay--that to humanity." mr. pickler moved to amend by instructing the gentleman from boone (mr. holmes) to make the presentation. carried, and the bill was amended accordingly, as above. on motion of mr. holmes, the rules were suspended, and the bill passed by a vote of to . the governor of the state, hon. a. j. holmes, and hon. j. d. gillett were authorized to procure a medal of design and inscription to be approved by them, and present the same to the donee with the thanks of the general assembly of the state of iowa. the medal, which is of elegant design and workmanship, was executed by messrs tiffany & co., of new york, and was presented to miss shelly during the holidays of . it is round in form, about three inches in diameter and weighs four ounces five and a half pennyweights. on both sides it is sunken below the circular edges and the figures and decorations are then displayed in bold relief. on the face is a figure emblematic of kate shelly's daring exploit. it represents a young girl with a lantern in her left hand and her right thrown far out in warning, her hair streaming in the wind and her wet drapery clinging to her form, making her way over the ties of a high railroad bridge, in storm and tempest, with the lightning playing about her. in a semi-circle over the figure are the words: "heroism, youth, humanity." on the reverse is the following inscription: "presented by the state of iowa to kate shelly, with the thanks of the general assembly, in recognition of the courage and devotion of a child of fifteen years, whom neither the terror of the elements nor the fear of death could appal in her efforts to save human life during the terrible storm and flood in the des moines valley on the night of july , ." surrounding the inscription is a wreath of leaves and beneath it the great seal of iowa. the presentation was made at ogden in the presence of , people. it was given in the name of the state of iowa by mr. welker given, secretary to governor sherman, july , , who represented the governor in his necessary absence. hon. j. a. t. hull, secretary of state, introduced miss shelly and recounted her heroic deed of that fearful night, after which mr. given made the presentation speech. the response on behalf of miss shelly was made by professor j. d. curran, an old friend and teacher. all very well, but how much better to have placed kate shelly (bearing the name of one of england's great poets) in the university at des moines, and given her a thorough education, from the primary through the whole collegiate course, and the school for law, medicine, or theology. a girl capable of such heroism and self-sacrifice must possess capacities and powers worthy the highest opportunities for development. kate shelly, with the scientific training of a civil engineer, might shed far more honor on her native state than sitting in ignorance and poverty on the banks of the des moines river with a gold medal round her neck. the patrons of husbandry, having at one time as many as , granges in the state, admit women to equal membership and equal rights. they have the same privileges in debate as men, and an equal vote in all matters concerning the grange. the grangers do not seem to fear that the children will suffer, or home interests be neglected, on account of this liberty given to women. miss garretson is state agent and lecturer for this order, and has accomplished much good by her labors among the people of the rural districts. she claims equal rights for woman even to the ballot. the independent order of good templars passed resolutions unqualifiedly committing the grand lodge of the state in favor of granting suffrage to woman, and pledging themselves to labor for the furtherance of that object. temperance women who have heretofore opposed the enfranchisement of their sex, and objected to mixing the two questions, are coming to see that a powerless, disfranchised class can do little toward removing the great evil that is filling the land with pauperism and crime, and sending sixty thousand victims annually to a drunkard's grave. they have prayed and plead with the liquor-seller; they have petitioned electors and law-makers, but all in vain; and now they begin to see that work must accompany prayer, and that if they would save their sons from destruction they must strike a blow in their defense that will be felt by the enemy. hence the christian temperance union, which at the outset declared itself opposed to woman suffrage, has now resolved in favor of that measure as a necessity for the furtherance of their cause. on march , , judith ellen foster, of clinton, made an able and eloquent argument before the senate committee on education and labor, at washington, on senator logan's proposition to constitute the revenue on alcoholic liquors a national educational fund. at a meeting of the state union held in , resolutions were passed, declaring woman's efforts in temperance of no avail, until with ballots in their own hands, they could coin their ideas and sympathies into law, and that henceforward they would labor to secure that power, that would speedily make their prayers and tears of some avail. this action gave a new impetus to the suffrage movement. at the state convention, mrs. jane amy m'kinney was appointed superintendent of franchise. circulars were issued advising the unions to make suffrage a part of their local work, and the advice was promptly followed in many sections of the state. at the election on the prohibitory amendment, june , , women rallied at the polls, and furnished tickets to all whom they could persuade to take them, and this helped to roll up a large vote in favor of the amendment. the laws of iowa have been comparatively liberal to woman, and with each successive codification have been somewhat improved. by the code of , the old right of dower, or life interest in one-third of the real estate of a deceased husband, was made an absolute interest; and this is the law at the present time. of the personal property, the wife takes one-third if there are children, and one-half if there are no children to inherit. the same rule applies to the husband of a deceased wife. the codes of and each provided that the husband could not remove the wife, nor their children, from their homestead without the consent of the wife; and the code of , now in force, changed this only so as to provide that neither shall the wife remove the husband without his consent. deeds of real estate must be signed by both husband and wife, but no private examination of either has ever been required in iowa. a husband and wife may deed property directly to each other. by the code of the personal property of the wife did not vest at once in the husband, but if left within his control it became liable for his debts, unless she filed a notice with the recorder of deeds, setting forth her claim to the property, with an exact description. and the same rule applied to specific articles of personal property. married women abandoned by their husbands could be authorized, on proper application to the district court, to transact business in their own name. the same provisions were substantially reënacted in the code of . under both codes the husband was entitled to the wages and earnings of his wife, and could sue for them in the courts. but the code of made a great advance in recognizing the rights of married women; and it is said the revisers sought, as far as possible, to place the husband and wife on an entire equality as to property rights. by its provisions, a married woman may own, in her own right, real and personal property acquired by descent, gift or purchase; and she may manage, sell, convey, and devise the same by will to the same extent, and in the same manner, that the husband can property belonging to him. and this provision is followed by others which fully confer on the married woman the control of her own property. among other things it is enacted, that a wife may receive the wages of her personal labor, and maintain an action therefor in her own name, and hold the same in her own right; and she may prosecute and defend all actions at law, or in equity, for the preservation and protection of her rights and property. contracts may be made by a wife, and liabilities incurred, and the same may be enforced by, or against her, to the same extent as though she were unmarried. the property of both husband and wife is equally liable for the expenses of the family and the education of their children, and neither is liable for the debts of the other contracted before marriage. by the code of , now in force, it is declared that the parents are the natural guardians of their children, and are equally entitled to their care and custody; and either parent dying before the other, the survivor becomes the guardian. but notwithstanding the seemingly equal provisions of our code, there is still a great disparity in the laws relating to the joint property of husband and wife--or property accumulated during marriage by their joint earnings and savings. such property, whether real or personal, is generally held in the name of the husband--no matter how much his wife may have helped to accumulate it. if the wife dies, the husband still holds it all, and neither law nor lawyers can molest him, or question his right to it. but if the husband dies, the case is very different. instead of being left in quiet possession of what is rightfully her own, to use and guard with all a mother's care and watchfulness for the benefit of her children, the law comes in and claims the right to appoint administrators and guardians--to require bonds and a strict accountability from her, and to set off to her a certain share of what should be as wholly hers as it is the husband's when the wife dies. this is the old common law, that has come down to us from barbarous times, and the light of the nineteenth century has not yet been sufficient to so illumine the minds of iowa legislators as to enable them to render exact justice to woman. footnotes: [ ] in her husband was, appointed post-master, she became his deputy, was duly sworn in, and during the administration of taylor and fillmore served in that capacity. when she assumed her duties the improvement in the appearance and conduct of the office was generally acknowledged. a neat little room adjoining became a kind of ladies' exchange where those coming from different parts of the town could meet to talk over the contents of the last _lily_ and the progress of the woman suffrage movement in general. those who enjoyed the brief interregnum of a woman in the post-office, can readily testify to the loss to the ladies of the village and the void felt by all when mrs. bloomer and the _lily_ left for the west and men again reigned supreme. mr. and mrs. bloomer removed to mt. vernon, ohio, in , and the publication of the _lily_ was continued; she was also the associate editor of the _western home visitor_. mrs. bloomer lectured in the principal cities of ohio and throughout the north-west, and was one of a committee of five appointed to memorialize the legislature of ohio for a prohibitory law, and assisted in the formation of several lodges of good templars. [ ] the officers were: _president_, mrs. d. s. wilson; _vice-president_, mrs. w. p. sage; _secretary_, mrs. j. s. mccreery; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. mary n. adams. [ ] frank allen. [ ] lucy stone, mrs. stanton, miss anthony, mrs. cutler, mrs. livermore, anna dickinson, phoebe couzins, mrs. swisshelm, miss hindman and mrs. campbell, from abroad; mesdames savery, callanan, gray, pittman, boynton, harbert, brown, and messrs. fuller, pomeroy, rutkay, cole, and maxwell, of the city, have each in turn come to the aid and encouragement of the society's work. [ ] for information regarding des moines i am indebted to mary a. work, one of the most able advocates of woman suffrage in the state. [ ] _president_, porte welch; _secretary_, mattie griffith davenport. [ ] _president_, amelia bloomer; _vice-presidents_, c. munger and mary mcpherson; _recording secretary_, ada mcpherson; _corresponding secretary_, will shoemaker; _treasurer_, e. s. barnett. [ ] its officers were: _president_, nettie sanford; _secretary_, mrs. fred. baum; _treasurer_, mrs. dr. whealen. [ ] _president_, m. w. stough; _secretary_, lizzie b. read. mrs. read was president of the state society in , and mrs. c. a. ingham in . [ ] _president_, hon. john e. goodenow; _vice-presidents_, nancy r. allen, mrs. m. j. stephens, mrs. a. b. wilbur; _secretary_, mrs. e. d. stewart; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. julia dunham; _treasurer_, mrs. t. p. connell; _executive committee_, mrs. s. stephens, mrs. julia doe, mrs. polly hamley, dr. j. h. allen, w. s. belden. [ ] _president_, henry o'connor; _vice-presidents_, amelia bloomer, nettie sanford, mrs. frank palmer, joseph dugdale, john p. irish; _secretary_, belle mansfield; _corresponding secretary_, annie c. savery; _executive committee_, mary a. p. darwin, mattie griffith davenport, mrs. j.l. mccreery, rev. augusta chapin, hon. charles beardsley. [ ] assistant postmaster-general under president arthur. [ ] mary a.p. darwin, professor of the college, and hon. charles beardsley, editor of the _hawkeye_, burlington; hon. henry o'connor, muscatine; mary n. adams, dubuque; annie c. savery, des moines; amelia bloomer, council bluffs; a.p. lowrie, marshalltown; mrs. beavers, valisca. hannah tracy cutler of illinois, was the leading speaker; edwin a. studwell of new york representing _the revolution_, col. george corkhill, joseph dugdale, rev. mr. cooper, mt. pleasant, were also in attendance. [ ] the speakers were mr. rutkay, mrs. sanford, mrs. bloomer, mrs. spaulding, mrs. savery. encouraging letters were read from joseph a. dugdale, and hon. henry o'connor, president of the association. the officers for were: _president_, mrs. amelia bloomer; _recording secretary_, mrs. belle mansfield; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. annie savery; _treasurer_, mrs. m. callanan. [ ] _yeas_, senators beardsley, bemis, burke, campbell, chambers, converse, dague, dashiell, dysart, howland, hurley, kephart, maxwell, mccold, mckean, mcnutt, read, shane, smith, vale, west, young-- . _nays_, senators allen, boomer, claussen, crary, fairall, fitch, gault, havens, ireland, ketcham, kinne, larrabee, leavitt, lowry, mccollough, merrill, miles, murray, russell, stone, stewart, taylor, willett, wonn-- . senator murray had voted in the affirmative in the first instance, but changed his vote in order to be able to move a reconsideration of the vote, by which the resolution was lost. [ ] the names of the representatives voting on the woman suffrage amendment are as follows (republicans in roman, democrats in italics): yeas--allen, _baker_, _bolter_, brooks, brush, calvin, campbell, case, chapman, clark of johnson, cleveland, colvin, craver, deweese, giltner, given, glendenning, glover, hall, hoag, homer, horton, _hotchkiss_, _hunt_, irwin of warren, jaqua, jordan, johnson of benton, kauffman, lane, lathrop, _lynch_, mccartney, mchugh, mcneill, madden of polk, _madison_, maris, mills, moffit, morse of wright, norris, palmer, proudfoot, rae, reed of howard, robinson, said, scott, smith, tice, underwood, ure, wilson-- . nays--auld, benton, _birchard_, _brown_, bush, _christy_, _clark_ of marion, _crawford_ of dubuque, danforth, _dixon_, _elliot_, evans, fuller, _gibbons_, gilliland, _gray_, _harned_, hemenway, _hobbs_, _horstman_, _johnston_ of dubuque, johnson of winneshiek, mccune, _madden_ of taylor, manning, _mentzel_, morse of adams, _mueller_, reed of jackson, rees, shaw, simmons, stone, stuart, _stuckey_, _thayer_, _white_, williams, _young_, mr. speaker (john w. gear)-- . absent--shepardson, graves, irwin of lee, seevers, mcelderry, _crawford_ of scott. the vote in the senate was: yeas--arnold, bailey, campbell, conaway, dashiell, dwelle, gallup, gilmore, graham, harmon, hersey, jessup, mccoid, miller of appanoose, miller of blackhawk, mitchell, newton, nichols, perkins, thornburg, wood, woolson-- . nays--bestow, carr, clark, cooley, dows, hartshorn, hebard, _kinne_, larrabee, lovell, _mccormack_, _maginnis_, _merrell_ of clinton, merrill of wapello, _pease_, rothert, rumple, teale, willett, williams, _wilson_, _wonn_, wright-- . absent--hitchcock (who was sick and died in a few days), yea; _murphy_, nay; shane (resigned on account of being appointed district judge), yea; _stoneham_, nay; young, nay. [ ] narcissa t. bemis of independence was reëlected president, and mary a. work chairman of the executive committee, with headquarters at des moines; mrs. margaret w. campbell was made state lecturer and organizer, and mariana t. folsom financial secretary of the association. [ ] mrs. m. a. darwin, mrs. martha callanan, mrs. judith ellen foster, superintendents of the franchise department of the w. c. t. u. of the state, rolled up petitions in their respective districts; and mrs. campbell and miss hindman aided largely in gathering the signatures. [ ] in august, , at oskaloosa; october, , fort dodge; , marshalltown; , ottumwa; , cedar rapids; all of the intervening anniversaries have been held at des moines. the presidents of the state society since its organization have been attorney-general henry o'connor, amelia bloomer, lizzie b. read, elizabeth boynton harbert, mrs. dr. porter, james callanan, martha c. callanan, mrs. caroline a. ingham, narcissa t. bemis, margaret w. campbell. when the society was organized, in , it declared itself independent and remained thus until , when, by a small vote, it was made auxiliary to the american association. the officers for are: _president_, mrs. m. w. campbell, des moines; _treasurer_, mrs. eliza h. hunter, des moines; _recording secretary_, mrs. jennie wilson, cedar rapids; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. martha c. callanan, des moines; _executive committee_, mary j. coggeshall, _chairman_; r. amanda stewart, harriet g. bellanger, des moines; orilla m. james, knoxville; florence english, grinnell; ellen armstrong, ottumwa; narcissa t. bemis, independence; angeline allison, cedar rapids; elizabeth p. gue, des moines. [ ] at the state fair held september, , at des moines, the women had a very handsomely decorated booth where they received many hundred calls, distributed an immense amount of suffrage literature, obtained a thousand signatures to a petition to the legislature and wrote notes of the fair for various newspapers, in all of which woman suffrage was freely discussed. [ ] in literature there is "europe through a woman's eye," by mrs. cutler of burlington; "the waverly dictionary," by miss may rogers, dubuque; "common-school compendium," by mrs. lamphere, des moines; "hospital life," by mrs. sarah young, des moines; "wee folks of no man's land," by mrs. wetmore, dubuque; "two of us," by calista patchin, des moines; "for girls," by mrs. e. r. shepherd, marshalltown; "autumn leaves," by mrs. scott, greencastle; "phonetic pronunciation," by mrs. henderson, salem; "her lovers," by miss claggett, keokuk; "practical ethics," by matilda fletcher. there are several writers of cook-books, of medical and sanitary papers, of poems, of legal papers and of musical compositions. miss adeline m. payne of nevada has compiled catalogues of stock. [ ] miss anthony has given her lecture, entitled "woman wants bread, not the ballot," in over one hundred of the cities and villages of the state; and mrs. stanton and the others have doubtless lectured in fully as many places. [ ] see new york chapter, page . chapter xlvi. wisconsin. progressive legislation--the rights of married women--the constitution shows four classes having the right to vote--woman suffrage agitation--c. l. sholes' minority report, --judge david noggle and j. t. mills' minority report, --state association formed, --milwaukee convention--dr. laura ross--hearing before the legislature--convention in janesville, --state university--elizabeth r. wentworth--suffrage amendment, , ' , ' --rev. olympia brown, racine, --madame anneke--judge ryan--three days' convention at racine, --eveleen l. mason--dr. sarah munro--rev. dr. corwin--lavinia goodell, lawyer--angie king--kate kane. for this digest of facts in regard to the progress of woman in wisconsin we are indebted to dr. laura ross wolcott,[ ] who was probably the first woman to practice medicine in a western state. she was in philadelphia during all the contest about the admission of women to hospitals and mixed classes, maintained her dignity and self-respect in the midst of most aggravating persecutions, and was graduated with high honors in from the woman's medical college of pennsylvania, of which ann preston,[ ] m. d., was professor for nineteen years, six years dean of the faculty, and four years member of the board of incorporators. after graduation laura ross spent two years in study abroad, and, returning, commenced practice in milwaukee, where she has been ever since. by an act of congress approved may , , wisconsin was admitted to the union. its diversity of soil and timber, the healthfulness of its climate and the purity of its waters, attracted people from the new england and middle states, who brought with them fixed notions as to moral conduct and political action, and no little repugnance to many of the features of the old common law. hence in wisconsin's territorial conventions and legislative assemblies many of the progressive ideas of the east were incorporated into her statutes. failing to lift married women into any solid position of independence, the laws yet gave them certain protective rights concerning the redemption of lands sold for taxes, and the right to dispose of any estate less than a fee without the husband's consent. in case of divorce the wife was entitled to her personal estate, dower and alimony, and with the consent of her husband she could devise her real estate. she was entitled to dower in any lands of which the husband was seized during marriage. gen. a. w. randall was active in making the first digest and compilation of the laws of wisconsin. the legislature of was composed of notably intelligent men. nelson dewey was governor, moses m. strong, a leading lawyer, speaker of the assembly, and the late col. samuel w. beal, lieutenant-governor. early in the session a bill was introduced, entitled "an act to provide for the protection of married women in the enjoyment of their own property," which provoked a stormy debate. some saw the dissolution of marriage ties in the destruction of the old common-law doctrine that "husband and wife are one, and that one the husband"; while arguments were made in its favor by hon. david noggle, george crasey, and others. conservative judges held that the right to own property did not entitle married women to convey it; therefore in the law was amended, giving further security to the wife to transact business in her own name, if her husband was profligate and failed to support her; but not until did the law protect a married woman in her right to transact business, make contracts, possess her separate earnings, and sue and be sued in her own name. the legislature of reënacted all the former laws; and married women may now hold, convey and devise real estate; make contracts and transact business in their own names; and join with their husbands in a deed, without being personally liable in the covenants. in the matter of homesteads, the husband cannot convey or encumber without the signature of the wife, and thus a liberal provision is always secure for her and the children. by the law of , if the husband dies leaving no children and no will, his entire estate descends to his widow.[ ] if the owner of a homestead dies intestate and without children, the homestead descends, free of judgments and claims--except mortgages and mechanics' liens--to his widow; if he leaves children, the widow retains a life interest in the homestead, continuing until her marriage or death. thus from the organization of the state, wisconsin has steadily advanced in relieving married women from the disabilities of the old common law. the same liberal spirit which has animated her legislators has admitted women to equality of opportunities in the state university at madison; elected them as county superintendents of public schools; appointed them on the state board of charities, and as state commissioners to a foreign exposition;[ ] and welcomed them to the professions of medicine, law and the ministry. by the constitution of wisconsin the right of suffrage was awarded to four classes of citizens, twenty-one years and over, who have resided in the state for one year next preceding an election. _first_--citizens of the united states. _second_--persons of foreign birth who have declared their intention to become citizens of the united states. _third_--persons of indian blood who have already been declared by act of congress citizens of the united states. _fourth_--civilized persons of indian descent who are not members of any tribe. while thus careful to provide for all males, savage and civilized, down to one thousand indians outside their tribe, the constitution in no way recognizes the women of the state, one-half its civilized citizens. however, the question of woman suffrage was early agitated in this state, and its advocates were able men. in there was an able minority report published, from c. l. sholes, of the committee on expiration and reënactment of laws, to whom were referred sundry petitions praying that steps might be taken to confer upon women the right of suffrage. in , there was another favorable minority report by judge david noggle, and j. t. mills. it has been twice considered by the legislatures of - , and - , failing each time by a small majority. a constitutional amendment is supposed by some to be necessary to effect this needed reform, but the legislature is competent to pass a bill declaring women possessed of the right to vote, without any constitutional amendment. the legislature of new york all through the century has extended the right of suffrage to certain classes and deprived others of its exercise, without changing the constitution. the power of the legislature which represents the people is anterior to the constitution, as the people through their representatives make the constitution. the women, both german and american, awoke to action and organized a local suffrage society at janesville in . _the revolution_ said: from the report of a recent convention held in janesville, we find the leading men and women of that city have formed an impartial suffrage organization, and are resolved to make all their citizens equal before the law. able addresses were made by the rev. s. farrington, rev. sumner ellis, and a stirring appeal issued to the people of the state, signed by hon. j. t. dow, g. b. hickox, mrs. j. h. stillman, joseph baker and mrs. f. harris reed. mrs. paulina j. roberts of racine, a practical farmer in a very large sense, delivered an address which was justly complimented. the first popular convention held in wisconsin, with national speakers, convened in milwaukee february , , .[ ] the bill then pending in the legislature to submit the question of woman suffrage to the electors of the state added interest to this occasion. parker pillsbury, in _the revolution_, said: the wisconsin convention seems to have been quite equal in all respects to its predecessors at chicago and other places. mrs. stanton and miss anthony were accompanied to milwaukee by mrs. livermore, a new western star of "bright particular effulgence," and the proceedings throughout were characterized by argument, eloquence and interest beyond anything of the kind ever witnessed there before. the milwaukee papers teem with accounts of it, most of them of very friendly tone and spirit, even if opposed to the objects under consideration. the _evening wisconsin_ said, if any one supposed for an instant that the call for a woman's suffrage convention would draw out only that class known as strong-minded, such a one was never more deceived in his or her life. at the opening of the convention[ ] yesterday, the city hall was crowded with as highly intelligent an audience of ladies and gentlemen as ever gathered there before. mrs. stanton spoke at the evening session to an immense audience on the following resolutions: _resolved_, that a man's government is worse than a white man's government, because in proportion as you increase the rulers you make the condition of the ostracised more hopeless and degraded. _resolved_, that, as the cry of a "white man's government" created an antagonism between the irish and the negro, culminating in the new york riots of ' , so the republican cry of "manhood suffrage" creates an antagonism between the black man and all women, and will culminate in fearful outrages on womanhood, especially in the southern states. _resolved_, that by the establishment of an aristocracy of sex in the district of columbia, by the introduction of the word "male" into the federal constitution in article , section , and by the proposition now pending to enforce manhood suffrage in all the states of the union, the republican party has been guilty of three excessively arbitrary acts, three retrogressive steps in legislation, alike invidious and insulting to woman, and suicidal to the nation. miss anthony followed showing that every advance step in manhood suffrage added to woman's degradation. quite a number of ladies and gentlemen[ ] of wisconsin spoke well of the various sessions of the convention. altogether it was a most enthusiastic meeting, and the press and the pulpit did their part to keep up the discussion for many weeks after. these resolutions, readily passed in the milwaukee convention, had been rejected at all others held in the west during this campaign, although mrs. stanton and miss anthony had earnestly advocated them everywhere. they early foresaw exactly what has come to pass, and did their uttermost to rouse women to the danger of having their enfranchisement indefinitely postponed. they warned them that the debate once closed on negro suffrage, and the amendments passed, the question would not be opened again for a generation. but their warnings were unheeded. the fair promises of republicans and abolitionists that, the negro question settled, they would devote themselves to woman's enfranchisement, deceived and silenced the majority. how well they have kept their promises is fully shown in the fact that although twenty years have passed, the political status of woman remains unchanged. the abolitionists have drifted into other reforms, and the republicans devote themselves to more conservative measures. the milwaukee convention was adjourned to madison, where mrs. livermore, mrs. stanton and miss anthony addressed the legislature, gov. fairchild presiding. in , march , , a large and enthusiastic convention was held at janesville, in lappin's hall. rev. dr. maxon, lilia peckham and mrs. stanton were among the speakers. after this, the latter being on a lyceum trip, spoke in many of the chief cities of the state and drew general attention to the question. the following clear statement of the petty ways in which girls can be defrauded of their rights to a thorough education by narrow, bigoted men entrusted with a little brief authority, is from the pen of lilia peckham, a young girl of great promise, who devoted her rare talents to the suffrage movement. her early death was an irreparable loss to the women of wisconsin:[ ] ed. news:--we find proofs at every step that one class cannot legislate for another, the rich for the poor, nor men for women. the state university, supported by the taxes of the people and for the benefit of the people, should offer equal advantages to men and women. by amendment of the constitution in , it was declared that the university shall be open to female as well as male students, under such regulations and restrictions as the board of regents may deem proper. at first the students recited together, but mr. chadbourne made it a condition of accepting the presidency that they should be separated. i do not speak of the separation of the sexes to find fault. i conceive that if equal advantages be given women by the state, whether in connection with or apart from men, they have no ground for complaint. my object is to compare the advantages given to the sexes and see the practical effect of legislation by men alone in this department. from all the facts that are now pressed upon us, confused, contradictory and obscure, we begin to obtain a glimpse of the general law that informs them. the university has a college of arts (including the department of agriculture, of engraving and military tactics), a college of letters, preparatory department, law department, post-graduate course, last and certainly least, a female college. the faculty and board of instructors number twenty-one. the college of arts has nine professors, one of natural philosophy, one each of mental philosophy, modern languages, rhetoric, chemistry, mathematics, agriculture, and comparative anatomy, and a tutor. in the department of engineering is an officer of the united states army. in the college of letters is the same faculty, with the addition of william f. allen, professor of ancient languages and history, one coming from a family of scholarly teachers and thoroughly fitted for his post. in the law department are such names as l. s. dixon and byron paine. read now the names composing the faculty of the female college, paul a. chadbourne, m. d., president; t. n. haskell, professor of rhetoric and english literature; miss elizabeth earle, preceptress; miss brown, teacher of music; miss eliza brewster, teacher of drawing and painting. compare these faculties and note what provision is made here for the sciences and languages. look at the course of instruction in the college of arts. during the first year the men study higher algebra, conic sections, plane trigonometry, german (otto's) botany, gibbon's rome. in the college of letters the course is similar, but more attention is given to classical studies; to livy, xenophon and horace. during the same years in the female college, they are studying higher arithmetic, elementary algebra, united states history, grammar, geography and map drawing. truly a high standard! the studies in the first term of the preparatory department (to which none can be admitted under twelve years of age) are identical with those in the female college at the same time, except the latin. indeed, i cannot see why it would not be an advantage to the students of the female college to go into the preparatory department during their first college year, since they can get their own course with geometry added, and if they stay three years a proportional amount of latin and greek. i could compare the whole course in the same way, but my time and the reader's patience would fail. there is no hint either of any thorough prescribed course in any of the languages. in the first and fourth year no foreign language is put down. in each term of the second year french and latin are written as elective, the same for latin or german in the third. this is a wretched course at the best. i have no faith in a course set down so loosely as "latin" instead of being defined as to what course of latin, and what authors are read. in that case we know exactly how much is required and expected, and what the standard of scholarship. in the college of letters we know that they go from livy to cicero on old age, then to horace and tacitus. similar definiteness would be encouraging in the female catalogue. its absence gives us every reason to believe that the course does not amount to enough to add any reputation to the college by being known. under the head of special information we are told that in addition to this prescribed course of "thorough education young ladies will be instructed in any optional study taught in the college of letters or arts, for which they are prepared." by optional i understand any of the studies marked elective, since they are the only optional studies. in the college of letters there is but one, and that is the calculus. in the college of arts the optional studies are generally, not always, those that they could not be prepared for in the course prescribed by their own college. under the head of degrees we find a long account of the a. b., a. m., p. b., s. b., s. m., l. b., ph. d., to which the fortunate gentlemen are entitled after so much study. lastly, the students of the female college may receive "such appropriate degrees as the regents may determine." i wonder how often that solemn body deliberates as to whether a girl shall be a. b., p. b., or a. m., or whether they ever give them any degree at all. it makes little difference. with such a college course a degree means nothing, and only serves to cheapen what may be well earned by the young men of the college. in , the stockholders of the milwaukee female college elected three women on their board of trustees: mrs. wm. p. lynde, mrs. wm. delos love and mrs. john nazro. this is the first time in the history of the institution that women have been represented in the board of trustees. elizabeth r. wentworth was an earnest and excellent writer and kept up a healthy agitation through the columns of her husband's paper at racine. racine, august , . my dear miss anthony: would it not be well for us women to accept the hint afforded by these englishmen, and bind ourselves together by a constitution and by-laws. by so doing we might sooner be enabled to secure the rights which men seem so persistently determined to withhold from us. very respectfully yours, e. r. wentworth. the growing strength of woman suffrage in england has caused considerable commotion in that country, among officials and others. its growth has led the men to form a club in opposition to it, composed of such men as mr. bouverie, a noted member of parliament; sir henry james, late attorney-general; mr. childers, late first lord of the admiralty. the formation of this club calls out a few words from mrs. stanton, who sarcastically says: is not this the first organized resistance in the history of the race, against the encroachment of women; the first manly confession by those high in authority--by lords, attorney-generals, sirs, and gentlemen--of fear at the progressive steps of the daughters of men? these conservative gentlemen had no doubt found lady amberly, lydia becker, and mrs. fawcett too much for them in debate; they had probably winced under the satire of frances power cobbe, and trembled before the annually swelling lists of suffrage petitions. single-handed they saw they were helpless against this incoming tide of feminine persuasiveness, and so it seems they called a meeting of faint-hearted men, and bound themselves together by a constitution and by-laws to protect the franchise from the encroachment of women. in the legislature of , the proposition to submit an amendment for woman suffrage to a vote of the people, passed both houses. in it passed one branch and was lost in the other. senator simpson introduced another bill in [ ] which was lost. these successive defeats discouraged the women and they instructed their friends in the legislature to make no further attempts for a constitutional amendment, because they had not the slightest hope of its passage. the growing interest in the temperance question at this time produced some divisions in the suffrage ranks. some thought it had been one of the greatest obstacles to the success of the suffrage cause, rousing the opposition of a very large and influential class. millions of dollars are invested in this state in breweries and distilleries, and members are elected to the legislature to watch these interests. knowing the terrible sufferings of women and children through intemperance, they naturally infer that the ballot in the hands of women would be inimical to their interests, hence the opposition of this wealthy and powerful class to the suffrage movement. others thought the agitation was an advantage, especially in bringing the women in the temperance movement to a sense of their helplessness to effect any reform without a voice in the laws. they thought, too, that the power behind the liquor interests was readily outweighed by the moral influence of the best men and women in the state, especially as the church began to feel some responsibility in the question. the milwaukee _wisconsin_ of june , , gives this interesting item: the rev. father mahoney, of st. john's cathedral, preached a temperance sermon to a large concourse of people yesterday morning, in which he heartily indorsed the action of mayor stowell in his war against the ordinary saloon, and declared that he should be reëlected. he also said that the men who opposed him were covering themselves with infamy, and that he could not conscientiously administer the sacraments to any saloon-keeper who refused to obey the commands of the church or the laws of the state concerning the good order and welfare of the city. the sermon caused quite a stir, and was much discussed in secular as well as religious circles. the state association[ ] has maintained an unswerving course, between fanatacism and ultra-conservatism. since it has stood as on the watch-tower, quick to see opportunities, and ever ready to coöperate with the legislative bodies in the state, and well may we be proud of our achievements when we remember that by the census of wisconsin is the first foreign and the second roman catholic state in the union, and that at our centennial exposition in our public schools stood number one. rev. olympia brown willis moved into the state of wisconsin in , and became pastor of the church of the good shepherd, in racine, and exerted a wide influence, not only as a liberal theologian, but as an earnest advocate of suffrage for woman. as a result of her efforts a most successful woman's council was held in racine, march , , alternating in the church of the good shepherd and blake's opera house. one of the chief speakers[ ] was dr. corwin, pastor of the first presbyterian church, who was also on the managing committee. the cordiality of many of the western clergy, in strong contrast with those in the east, makes their favorable action worthy of comment, though the liberality of the few is of little avail until in their ecclesiastical assemblies, as organizations, they declare the equality of woman not only before the law, but in all the offices of the church. mrs. katharine r. doud was chosen president of the convention; mrs. olin gave the address of welcome, to which mrs. sewall responded. mrs. doud, in the _advocate_, thus sums up the three days' meetings: during the past week a woman's council has been held in racine, the success of which has been most noticeable. the different sessions have been attended by large audiences of intelligent men and women, who have very thoughtfully and carefully weighed and discussed the various questions under consideration. from the beginning to the end there has never been a hitch or jar; the myriad wheels of the machinery required to make smooth the workings of such large assemblies have moved so quietly, and have been so well oiled and in such perfect order as to be absolutely unnoticed; really, one might have been tempted to feel that the machine had no master, no controlling hand. but now that the council is over; now that we can pause and begin to estimate the good that has been done; now that the seed is sown, from which, please god, a grand harvest shall be reaped--now we can look back and see how one brain has planned it all. one clear-eyed, far-seeing will gathered together these women of genius, who have been with us; one practical, mathematical brain made all estimates of expense, and accepted all risks of failure; one hospitable heart received a house full of guests, and induced others to be hospitable likewise; and one earnest, prayerful soul--and this the best of all--besought and entreated god's blessing upon the work. need we tell you where to find this master-hand which has planned so wisely? the strong will, the clear brain, the warm heart, the pure soul? we all know her; she is indeed a noble woman, and her name--let us whisper lest she hear--is olympia brown willis. the following sketch of the leading events of her life, shows how active and useful she has been in all her public and private relations: olympia brown was born in kalamazoo county, michigan, january , . at the age of fifteen she began to teach school during the winter months, attending school herself in the summer. at eighteen she entered holyoke seminary, but finding the advantages there inadequate for a thorough education, her parents removed, for her benefit, to yellow springs, ohio, where she entered antioch college, horace mann, one of the best educators of his day, being president. there her ambition was thoroughly satisfied, and she was graduated with honor in . she then entered canton theological school, was graduated in , and, duly ordained as a universalist minister, commenced preaching in marshfield and montpelier, vermont, often walking fifteen miles to fill her appointments. in she was regularly installed over her first parish at weymouth, massachusetts. her energy and fidelity soon raised that feeble society into one of numbers and influence. in , she accepted a call to bridgeport, connecticut, where she remained seven years. in , with her husband, john henry willis, and two children she removed to racine, wisconsin, where she became pastor of the church of the good shepherd, without the promise of a dollar. the church had been given up as hopeless by several men in succession, because of the influence of the orthodox theological seminary. but she soon gathered large audiences and earnest members about her; established a sunday school, had courses of lectures in her church during the winter, which she made quite profitable financially for the church, beside educating the people. outside her profession she has also done a grand work, in temperance and woman suffrage.[ ] she is rarely out of her own pulpit; has generally been superintendent of her own sunday school, and head of the young ladies' club, doing at all times more varied duties than any man would deem possible, and with all this she is a pattern wife, mother and housekeeper, and her noble husband, while carrying on a successful business of his own, stands ever ready to second her endeavors with generous aid and wise counsel, another instance of the happy homes among the "strong minded." among the estimable women who have been identified with the cause of woman suffrage in this country, mathilde franziska anneke, a german lady, is worthy of mention: she was born in westphalia, april , . her childhood was passed in happy conditions in a home of luxury, where she received a liberal education, yet her married life was encompassed with trials and disappointments. from her own experiences she learned the injustice of the laws for married women and early devoted her pen to the redress of their wrongs. her articles appeared in leading journals of germany and awoke many minds to the consideration of the social and civil condition of woman. she was identified with the liberal movement of ' , her home being the resort for many of the leaders of the revolution. she published a liberal paper which freely discussed all the abuses of the government, a whole edition of which was destroyed. at length denounced by the government, she secretly made here escape from cologne, and joined her husband at the head of his command in active preparation for a struggle against the prussians. she immediately declared her determination to share the toils of the expedition. accordingly col. anneke appointed her _tolpfofsort_, the duties of which she continued to discharge to the end of the campaign. in one of her works published in , she has given a graphic description of the disastrous termination of the revolution, of their flight into france, of their expulsion from france and switzerland, and of their final determination to come to the united states. they reached new york in the fall of . madame anneke lectured in most of the eastern cities on the social and civil condition of women, claiming for them the right of suffrage and more liberal education. she also published a woman's journal in new york, and was soon recognized as one of the earnest representative women in america. for many years she made her home in milwaukee, where she taught a successful school for young ladies. madame anneke, a widow with one son and two daughters, lived quietly the closing years of her life, and in death found the peace and rest she had never known in her busy life on earth. prof. g. s. albee, president of the state normal school at oshkosh, is a firm friend and outspoken advocate of equal right of the sexes to all the privileges of education, not excepting the education of the ballot-box. john bascom, president of the wisconsin university, has been an advocate of suffrage for women many years. while connected with williams college he worked to secure the admission of women thereto. as one of a committee of five to whom the matter was referred, he, together with david dudley field, presented a minority report favoring their admission. since he has been at the head of our state university he has been in perfect sympathy with its liberal coëducational policy, and has insured to the young women equal advantages in every respect with the young men. to his wise management may be attributed the success of higher coëducation in wisconsin. he gave an able and scholarly address before our convention at madison in ' , and is always found ready to speak for woman suffrage, both in public and private. his influence has done much for the advancement of the cause in our state. a cordial letter was received from mrs. bascom at the last washington convention, which was listened to with interest and prized by the officers of the national association: madison, wis., january , . my dear miss anthony: i am sorry i cannot be present and meet the many wise and great women who will respond to your call for the seventeenth annual convention. what a glorious record these words reveal of unwavering faith in the right, and heroic persistency in its pursuit on one side, and what blindness of prejudice and selfishness of power on the other. the struggle has indeed been a long one, and yet no other moral movement involving so many and so great social changes ever made more rapid progress. you and your fellow-laborers are truly to be congratulated on the full and abundant harvest your faithful seed-sowing has brought to humanity. the irrational sentiment, based upon the methods and customs of barbarous times, is rapidly yielding to reason. the world is learning--women are learning--that character, even womanly character, does not suffer from too much breadth of thought, or from too active a sympathy in human interests and human affairs, but is ever enriched by a larger circle of ideas, larger experience, and more extended activities. the advance of women in position and influence has been especially great during the past year, and in directions especially cheering and hopeful to the heart of every woman. in national political conventions, as your call so justly says, she has "actively participated in the discussion of candidates, platforms and principles." the last mile-stone before the goal has been reached and passed! your convention will offer the final opportunity to the republican party. will it be wise enough to seize it for self preservation, if not from principle? will there be found in this party enough of spiritual life to lay hold of the help now proffered it, and once more renew its strength thereby? or will it, as so repeatedly in the past, turn a deaf ear to reason, and still continue to deny the rights of half the human family? if so, if it continue deaf, dumb and blind, then the republican party has no longer any function, and the power of government will pass forever from its hands. the sixteenth amendment to the national constitution is coming, but it will be the crown of blessing and of fame of another party that will inaugurate this era in social life! i take the liberty to send loving greetings to you and the convention in the name of our wisconsin equal suffrage society. i hope our bright, eloquent rev. olympia brown will be with you. of wisconsin's eleven representatives in congress, i am happy to make honorable mention, as broad-minded advocates of our cause, of three, cameron, price and stephenson. in earnest sympathy with the object and method of the convention, and with high regard for yourself, i remain yours truly, emma c. bascom. in this, as in many other states there was a prolonged struggle over the equal rights of women in the courts. the first woman to practice law in wisconsin was lavinia goodell. she was admitted in the first judicial circuit court, june , , judge h. s. conger, presiding. she commenced practicing in janesville. the following year she had a case which was appealed to the supreme court. when the appeal was made, miss goodell applied to the supreme court for the right to go with her case. she argued her own case and based her claim upon a statute which provides, "that words of the masculine gender may be applied to females; unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intention of the legislature." after she had shown clearly that she had an equal right in the courts in an able and unanswerable argument, judge ryan considered her application for two months and rendered an adverse decision. as a result of the agitation induced by this case, the legislature of passed a law that "no person shall be refused admission to the bar of this state on account of sex," thus showing the power of the legislative branch of the government to over-ride all judicial decisions. miss goodell immediately commenced practice in the supreme court. she reviewed the judicial decision with keen satire,[ ] and ably illustrated the comparative capacity of an educated man and woman to reason logically on american jurisprudence and constitutional law. in the early part of kate kane and angie j. king were admitted to the bar. miss kane studied in a law office and in the law school of michigan university. she practiced in milwaukee until , when she located in chicago. miss king practices in janesville and was at first associated with miss goodell, under the name of goodell & king. cora hurtz, oshkosh, was admitted and began practice in . footnotes: [ ] mrs. wolcott is a remarkable woman, of rare intelligence, keen moral perceptions and most imposing presence. much of her success in life is due no doubt to her gracious manners. her graceful figure, classic face, rich voice and choice language make her attractive in the best social circles, as well as in the laboratory and lecture-room. she is a perfect housekeeper and a most hospitable hostess. having enjoyed many visits at her beautiful home i can speak alike of her public and domestic virtues.--[e. c. s. [ ] see vol. i., page . [ ] during a visit with my school-friend, mrs. elizabeth ford proudfit, at madison, in , i heard a great deal said of the injustice of this law as illustrated in two notable cases of widows in the enjoyment of their husbands' entire estates, while the dead men's relatives, many of them, were living in poverty. this was most shocking! though widowers, from time immemorial, have possessed the life-earnings and inheritance of their wives, while the dead women's mothers and sisters were starving and freezing within sight of the luxurious homes that rightfully belonged to them! it makes a mighty odds whose ox is gored--the widower's or the widow's!--[s. b. a. [ ] in the governor, general lucius fairchild, appointed laura j. ross, m. d., as commissioner to the world's exposition in paris. in mrs. mary e. lynde was appointed on the state board of charities and corrections by governor fairchild. [ ] the committee on resolutions were: dr. laura j. ross, n. s. murphey, mrs. livermore, madame annecke, geo. w peckham and rev. mr. gannett. the officers of the convention were: _president_, rev. miss augusta j. chapin; _vice-presidents_, o. p. wolcott, m. d., laura j. ross, m. d., and madame matilde f. annecke; _secretary_, miss lilia peckham. [ ] for a further description of this convention see mrs. stanton's letters from _the revolution_, vol. i., page . [ ] miss lilia peckham, g. w. peckham, esq., mrs. mary a. livermore, madam matilde annecke, rev. augusta j. chapin, rev. mr. eddy, rev. mr. english, rev. mr. fallows. [ ] miss lilia peckham died in milwaukee, the city of her residence. she had been ill but a few weeks, her physicians considering her recovery certain up to within an hour of her death; but a sudden and unlooked-for change took place. one of the truest, purest and best spirits we have ever met has thus passed from earth to heaven. all who met her soon came to appreciate her gifted nature, her rare talent and spiritual insight. but only those who knew her well can bear witness to her wonderful unselfishness, her remorseless honesty of speech and deed, the loftiness of her ideal and the beauty of her womanly soul. the milwaukee _sentinel_ closes a brief obituary notice of our friend and co-worker as follows: "this talented young woman is well known throughout the country as an earnest advocate of the woman's rights movement. only a few weeks since she made a successful tour through the west, speaking in various city pulpits. fearlessly she spoke all that she had come to feel was truth, though it shook the very foundations of old creeds and ideas. many efforts from her scholarly pen attest to her devotion to every onward movement of the hour. she was to have entered the cambridge divinity school early in the present autumn, having chosen the ministry for her life-work. that a life so full of promise of usefulness should be so suddenly stopped is irreconcilable with our finite judgment. it is hard to say, 'it is well,' though god's fact may be that this young life, with its beauty of character, its sisterly affection, its still larger sisterly sympathy with a suffering humanity, its longings and aspirations, its zealous strivings after the true and good, is full and complete _now_; still we shall mourn her loss, her brief though beautiful career." [ ] the members of the wisconsin senate who voted against the woman suffrage amendment were: ackley, adams, burrows, chase, coleman, delaney, flinkelberg, flint, kusel, palmetier, pingel, rankin, ryland, smith and van schaick-- . no better work can be done by wisconsin suffragists than to try to defeat every one of them at the next election. the following voted for the measure: bennett, crosby, ellis, hamilton, hill, hudd, kingston, meffert, phillipps, scott, simpson, wiley, randall-- . senators wing and mckeeby were paired, and senators erwin and richardson were absent. [ ] the officers of the wisconsin state society for were: _president_, harriet t. griswold, columbus; _vice-presidents_, laura ross wolcott, milwaukee; rev. olympia brown, racine; emma c. bascom, madison; f. a. delagise, antigo; laura james, richland center; _recording secretary_, helen r. olin, madison; _corresponding secretary_, m. w. bentley, schofield; _treasurer_, dr. sarah r. munro, milwaukee; _chairman executive committee_, amelia b. gray, schofield. among others active in the movement are eliza t. wilson, menominee; alura collins, muckwonago; mrs. s. c. burnham, bear valley; sarah h. richards, milwaukee; mrs. w. trippe, whitewater. [ ] eveleen mason, may wright sewall, mary a. livermore, dr. sarah munro, mrs. haggart, mrs. k. r. doud, miss comstock, the grand worthy vice-templar from milwaukee, mrs. le page, and mrs. amy talbot dunn, as zekel's wife, made a deep impression. [ ] see vol. ii. page . [ ] for her argument see _woman's journal_, april, . chapter xlvii. minnesota. girls in state university--sarah burger stearns--harriet e. bishop the first teacher in st. paul--mary j. colburn won the prize--mrs. jane grey swisshelm, st. cloud--fourth of july oration, --first legislative hearing, --governor austin's veto--first society at rochester--kasson--almira w. anthony--mary p. wheeler--harriet m. white--the w. c. t. u.--harriet a. hobart--literary and art clubs--school suffrage, --charlotte o. van cleve and mrs. c. s. winchell elected to school board--mrs. governor pillsbury--temperance vote, --property rights of married women--women as officers, teachers, editors, ministers, doctors, lawyers. minnesota was formally admitted to the union may , . owing to its high situation and dry atmosphere the state is a great resort for invalids, and nowhere in the world is the sun so bright, the sky so blue, or the moon and stars so clearly defined. its early settlers were from new england; hence, the church and the school-house--monuments of civilization--were the first objects in the landscape to adorn those boundless prairies, as the red man was pushed still westward, and the white man seized his hunting-ground. this state is also remarkable for its admirable system of free schools, in which it is said there is a larger proportion of pupils to the population than in any other of the western states. all institutions of learning have from the beginning been open alike to boys and girls. mrs. sarah burger stearns, to whom we are indebted for this chapter, was one of the first young women to apply for admission to the michigan university.[ ] being denied, she finished her studies at the state normal school, and in married mr. o. p. stearns, a graduate of the institution that barred its doors to her. mr. stearns, at the call of his country, went to the front, while his no less patriotic bride remained at home, teaching in the young ladies' seminary at monroe and lecturing for the benefit of the soldiers' aid societies. the war over, they removed to minnesota in , where by lectures, newspaper articles, petitions and appeals to the legislature, mrs. stearns has done very much to stir the women of the state to thought and action upon the question of woman's enfranchisement. she has been the leading spirit of the state suffrage association, as well as of the local societies of rochester and duluth, the two cities in which she has resided, and also vice-president of the national association since . as a member of the school-board, she has wrought beneficent changes in the schools of duluth. she is now at the head of a movement for the establishment of a home for women needing a place of rest and training for self-help and self-protection. mrs. stearns has the full sympathy of her husband and family, as she had that of her mother, mrs. susan c. burger, whose last years were passed in the home of her daughter at duluth. mrs. stearns writes: the advocates of suffrage in minnesota were so few in the early days,[ ] and their homes so remote from each other, that there was little chance for coöperation, hence the history of the movement in this state consists more of personal efforts than of conventions, legislative hearings and judicial decisions. the first name worthy of note is that of harriet e. bishop. she was invited by rev. thomas williamson, m. d., a missionary among the dakotas, to come to his mission home and share in his labors in , where she was introduced to the leading citizens of st. paul. she was the first teacher of a public school in that settlement. she lectured on temperance, wrote for the daily papers, and preached as a regular pastor in a baptist pulpit. she published several books, was one of the organizers of the state suffrage association in , and in rested from her labors on earth. the first lecture in the state on the "rights and wrongs of woman," was by mrs. mary j. colburn, in the village of champlin, in , the same year that minnesota was admitted to the union. in , the state officers promised two prizes for the first and second best essays on "minnesota as a home for emigrants," reserving to the examining committee the right to reject all manuscripts offered if found unworthy. the first prize was accorded to mrs. colburn. most of the other competitors were men, some of them members of the learned professions. mrs. colburn says, in writing to a friend, "i am doing but little now on the suffrage question, for i will not stoop longer to ask of any congress or legislature for that which i know to be mine by the divine law of nature." in , mrs. jane grey swisshelm settled at st. cloud, where she lived until , editing the st. cloud _democrat_, the organ of the republican party, and making a heroic fight for freedom and equality. in she spoke in the hall of representatives, on anti-slavery; in she was invited to speak before the senate on woman's rights, and was listened to with great respect.[ ] in , at a fourth of july celebration, mrs. stearns accepted an invitation to respond to the sentiment, "our young and growing state; may she ever be an honor to her citizens." this offered her an opportunity for an off-hand woman suffrage speech, which elicited hearty cheers, and gave, as an old gentleman present said, "something fresh to think of and act upon." about this time the friends of equality began petitioning the legislature for an amendment to the constitution, striking out the word "male." through the efforts of mr. a. g. spaulding--the editor of the _anoka star_--and others, these petitions were referred to a special committee which granted a hearing to mrs. colburn and mrs. stearns in . mrs. colburn read a carefully prepared argument, and mrs. stearns sent a letter, both of which were ordered to be printed. in a bill was introduced proposing to submit the desired amendment, but when brought to a vote it was defeated by a majority of one. in march, , _the revolution_ copied from the martin county _atlas_ the following: show us the man who from the bottom of his heart, laying aside his prejudices and speaking the unbiased truth, will not say that women should have the same rights that he himself enjoys, and we will show you a narrow-minded sycophant, a cruel, selfish tyrant, or one that has not the moral courage to battle for a principle he knows to be just. equal rights before the law is justice to all, and the more education we give our children and ourselves, as a people, the sooner shall we have equal rights. may the glorious cause speed on. in , a suffrage society was organized in the city of rochester, with fifty members, and another at champlin; the homes of mrs. stearns and mrs. colburn. petitions were again circulated and presented to the legislature early in the session of . it had not then been demonstrated by kansas, michigan, colorado, nebraska and oregon, that the votes of the ignorant classes on this question would greatly outnumber those of the intelligent. the legislature granted the prayer of the petitioners and passed a bill for the submission of an amendment, providing that the women of the state, possessing the requisite qualifications, should also be allowed to vote upon the proposition, and that their votes should be counted as legal. the governor, hon. horace austin, vetoed the bill, saying it was not passed in good faith, and that the submission of the question at that time would be premature. in a private letter to mrs. stearns, the governor said: "had the bill provided for the voting of the women, simply to get an expression of their wishes upon the question, without requiring their votes to be counted as legal in the adoption or rejection of it, the act would not have been vetoed, notwithstanding my second objection that it was premature." in , petitions to congress were circulated in minnesota, asking a declaratory act to protect the women of the nation in the exercise of "the citizen's right to vote" under the new guarantees of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. during that year the national woman suffrage association appointed mrs. addie ballou its vice-president for minnesota. in a suffrage club was formed at kasson. its three originators[ ] entered into a solemn compact with each other that while they lived in that city there should always be an active suffrage society until the ballot for women should be obtained. their secretary, mrs. h. m. white, writes: although our club was at first called a ladies' literary society, the suspicion that its members wished to vote was soon whispered about. our working members were for some years few in number, and our meetings far between. but our zeal never abating, we tried in later years many plans for making a weekly meeting interesting. the most successful was, that every one should bring something that had come to her notice during the week, which she should read aloud, thus furnishing topics of conversation in which all could join. this never failed to make an interesting and profitable meeting. and still later we invited speakers from other states. in our various courses of lectures, kasson audiences have enjoyed the brave utterances of anna dickinson, julia ward howe, susan b. anthony, and others. the pulpit of kasson we have found about evenly balanced for and against us; but those claiming to be friendly generally maintained a "masterly inactivity." our editors have always shown us much kindness by gratuitously advertising our meetings and publishing our articles. our members were all at the first meeting after school suffrage was granted to women, and one lady was elected director for a term of three years. the next year another lady was elected. while they were members of the board, a new and beautiful school house was erected, though some men said, "nothing in the line of building could be safely done until after the women's term of office had expired." our co-workers have always treated us with great courtesy. in this respect our labors were as pleasant as in any church work. at a temperance convention in , a woman suffrage resolution was ably defended by mrs. julia ballard nelson and mrs. harriet a. hobart; mrs. asa hutchinson, of beloved memory, also spoke at this meeting. as the women in several of the states voted on educational matters, the legislature of wished to confer the same privilege upon the women of minnesota. but instead of doing so by direct legislation, as the other states had done, they passed a resolution submitting a proposition for an amendment to the constitution to the electors of the state, as follows: an amendment to the state constitution giving the legislature power to provide by law that any woman of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, may vote at any election held for the purpose of choosing any officers of schools; or upon any measure relating to schools; and also that any such woman shall be eligible to hold any office pertaining solely to the management of schools. no effort was made to agitate the question, lest more should be effected in rousing the opposition than in educating the masses in the few months intervening between the passage of the bill and the election in november. mrs. stearns, however, as the day for the decision of the question approached, wishing to make sure of the votes of the intelligent men of the state, wrote to the editor of the _pioneer press_, the leading paper of minnesota, begging him to urge his readers to do all in their power to secure the adoption of the amendment. the request was complied with, and the editor in a private letter, thanking mrs. stearns, said he "had quite forgotten such an amendment had been proposed." at this last moment the question was, what could be done to secure the largest favorable vote. finding that it would be legal, the friends throughout the state appealed to the committees of both political parties to have "for the amendment of article vii. relating to electors--yes," printed upon all their tickets. this was very generally done, and thereby the most ignorant men were led to vote as they should, with the intelligent, in favor of giving women a voice in the education of the children of the state, while all who were really opposed could scratch the "yes," and substitute a "no." when election day came, november , , the amendment was carried by a vote of , for, to , against. the following legislature passed the necessary law, and at the spring election of , the women of minnesota voted for school officers, and in several cases women were elected as directors. i have given these details because the great wonder has been how the combined forces of ignorance and vice failed to vote down this amendment, as they always have done every other proposition for the extension of suffrage to women in this and every other state where the question has been submitted to a popular vote. i believe our success was largely, if not wholly, attributable to our studied failure to agitate the question, and the affirmative wording of all the tickets of both parties, by which our bitterest opponents forgot the question was to be voted upon, and the ignorant classes who could not, or did not read their ballots, voted unthinkingly for the measure. in the cities the school officers are elected at the regular municipal elections usually held in the spring, while in the rural districts and smaller villages they are chosen at school meetings in the autumn. in east minneapolis, hon. richard chute, chairman of the republican nominating convention, having, without their knowledge, secured the nomination of mrs. charlotte o. vancleve[ ] and mrs. charlotte s. winchell[ ] as school directors, called a meeting of the women of the city to aid in their election. it was a large and enthusiastic gathering. mrs. mary c. peckham presided, mrs. stearns of duluth, and mrs. pillsbury, wife of the governor, made stirring speeches, after which the candidates were called upon, and responded most acceptably. when election day came, the names of mrs. vancleve and mrs. winchell received a handsome majority of the votes of their districts. a correspondent in the _ballot-box_ said: the women of minnesota are rejoicing in the measure of justice vouchsafed them,--the right to vote and hold office in school matters. two hundred and seventy women voted in minneapolis, the governor's wife among others. although it rained all day they went to the polls in great numbers. including both east and west minneapolis, fully , women voted; and while the numbers in other cities and villages were not so great, they were composed of the more intelligent. in st. charles, where dr. adaline williams was elected to the school-board, some of the gentlemen requested her to resign, on the ground that she had not been properly elected. her reply was, "if i have not been elected, i have no need to resign; and if i have been elected, i do not choose to resign." but to satisfy those who doubted, she proposed that another election should be held, which resulted in an overwhelming majority for the doctor. as the law says women are "eligible to any office pertaining solely to the management of schools," one might be elected as state superintendent of public instruction. there have been many women elected to the office of county superintendent, and in several counties they have been twice reëlected,[ ] and wherever women have held school offices, they have been reported as doing efficient service. although the law provided that women might "vote at any election for the purpose of choosing any officers of schools," the attorney-general gave an opinion that it did not entitle them to vote for county superintendent; hence "an act to entitle women to vote for county superintendent of schools," was passed by the legislature of . the ladies' city school committee. miss a. m. henderson, chairman, secured the appointment of a committee of seven women in minneapolis, to meet with a like number of men from each of the political parties, to select such members of the school-board as all could agree upon. having thus aided in the nominations, women were interested in their election. in mrs. merrill and miss henderson stood at the polls all day and electioneered for their candidates. it was said that their efforts not only decided the choice of school officers, but elected a temperance alderman. in many cities of the state the temperance women exert a great influence at the polls in persuading men to vote for the best town-officers. at the special election held in duluth for choosing school officers, one of the judges of election, and the clerks at each of the polling places have for the last two years been women who were teachers in our public schools. the early homestead law of minnesota illustrates how easily men forget to bestow the same rights upon women that they carefully secure to themselves. in , the "protectors of women" enacted a law which exempted a homestead from being sold for the payment of debts so long as the man who held it might live, while it allowed his widow and children to be turned out penniless and homeless. it was not until that this law was so amended that the exemption extended to the widow and fatherless children. in , a law was passed which gave the widow an absolute title--or the same title her husband had--to one-third of all the real estate, exclusive of the homestead, and of that, it gave her the use, during her lifetime. so that now the widow has the absolute ownership, instead of the life use of one-third of whatever she and her husband may have together earned and saved. that is, should there be any real estate left, over and above the homestead, after paying all the husband's debts, she now has, not merely the difference, as heretofore, between the amount of the tax and the income on one-third, but she may avoid the tax and other costs of keeping it, by selling her third, if she prefers, and putting the money at interest. the law still puts whatever may be left of the other two-thirds, after payment of debts, into the hands of the probate judge and others, and the interest thereof, or even the principal, may go to reward them for their services, or, if falling into honest hands, it may be left for the support and education of the children. the legislature of submitted a constitutional amendment giving women a vote on the temperance question. this seemed likely to be carried by default of agitation, as was that of school suffrage, until within a few weeks of the election, when the liquor interest combined all its forces of men and money and defeated it by a large majority. the next year the temperance people made a strong effort to get the proposition re-submitted, but to no purpose. in , acting upon the plan proposed to all the states by the national association, we petitioned for the adoption of a joint resolution asking congress to submit to the several state legislatures an amendment to the national constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of woman. mrs. stearns and others followed up the petitions with letters to the most influential members, in which they argued that the legislatures of the states, not the rank and file of the electors, ought to decide this question; and further, that the same congress that had granted woman the privilege of pleading a case before the supreme court of the united states would doubtless pass a resolution submitting to the legislatures the decision of the question of her right to have her opinion on all questions counted at the ballot-box. the result was a majority of six in the senate in favor of the resolution, while in the house there was a majority of five against it. since , our legislature has met biënnially. in the temperance women of the state again petitioned for the right to vote on the question of licensing the sale of liquor. failing to get that, or a prohibitory law, they became more than ever convinced of the necessity of full suffrage. the annual meetings of the state union[ ] have ever since been spoken of by the press as "suffrage conventions," because they always pass resolutions making the demand. mr. l. bixby, editor of the _state temperance review_, gives several columns to the temperance and suffrage societies. mrs. helen e. gallinger, the editor of these departments, is a lady of great ability and earnestness. mr. charles h. dubois, editor of _the spectator_, gives ample space in his columns to notes of women. miss mary c. le duc is connected with _the spectator_. other journals have aided our cause, though not in so pronounced a way. mrs. c. f. bancroft, editor of the _mantorville express_, and mrs. bella french, of a county paper at spring valley, mrs. annie mitchell, the wife of one editor and the mother of another, for many years their business associate, have all given valuable services to our cause, while pecuniarily benefiting themselves. the necessity of finding a voice when something needed to be said, and of using a pen when something needed to be written, has developed considerable talent for public speaking and writing among the women of this state.[ ] all our state institutions are favorable to coëducation, and give equal privileges to all. the minnesota university has been open to women since its foundation, and from to fifty-six young women were graduated with high honor to themselves and their sex.[ ] miss maria l. sanford has been professor of rhetoric and elocution for many years. the faculties of the state normal schools are largely composed of women. hamline university and carlton college are conducted on principles of true equality. at carlton miss margaret evans is preceptress and teacher of modern languages. of the rochester high school, miss josephine hegeman is principal; of wasioga, miss c. t. atwood; of eyota union school, miss adell m'kinley.[ ] for many years mrs. m. r. smith was employed as state librarian. mrs. h. j. m'caine for the past ten years has been librarian at st. paul, with miss grace a. spaulding as assistant. among the engrossing and enrolling clerks of our legislature, miss alice weber is the only lady's name we find, though the men holding those offices usually employ a half dozen women to assist them in copying, allowing each two-thirds of the price paid by the state, or ten cents per folio. [illustration: sarah burger stearns] in this state the suffrage cause has had the sympathy of not a few noble women in the successful practice of the healing art; thus lending their influence for the political emancipation of their sex, while blessing the community with their medical skill. to doctors hood and whetstone is due the credit of establishing the northwestern hospital for women and children, and training school for nurses, of which they are now the attending physicians; and dr. hood also attends the bethany home, founded by the sisterhood of bethany, for the benefit of friendless girls and women. in the town of detroit may be seen a drug store neatly fitted up, with "ogden's pharmacy" over the door, and upon it, in gilt letters, "emma k. ogden, m. d." while the doctor practices her profession, she employs a young woman as prescription clerk. the minnesota state medical society has admitted nine women to membership.[ ] conspicuous among evangelists in this state are mrs. mary c. nind, minneapolis, mrs. mary a. shepardson, wasioga, mrs. ruth cogswell rowell, winona, and rev. eliza tupper wilkes, rochester. thus far this chapter has been given mainly to individuals in the state, and to the home influences that have aided in creating sentiment in favor of full suffrage for woman. united with these have been other influences coming like the rays of the morning sun directly from the east where so many noble women are at work for the freedom of their sex. among them are some of the most popular lecturers in the country.[ ] in september, , representative women from various localities met at hastings and organized a state woman suffrage association[ ] auxiliary to the national. during the first year one hundred and twenty-four members were enrolled. during the second the membership more than doubled. in october, , the association held its first annual meeting. the audiences were large, and the speakers[ ] most heartily applauded. mrs. nelson presided. in her letter of greeting to this meeting, from which ill-health obliged her to be absent, the president urged the association to firmly adhere to the principles of the national association. let us not ask for an amendment to the state constitution, and thus put it in the power of ignorance and prejudice to deny the boon we seek; while we are auxiliary to the national let us work according to its plans. mrs. stearns was unanimously reëlected president, and her views heartily endorsed. in the spring of ' , at the request of the state society, and with the generous consent of mr. bixby, the editor of the _state temperance review_, mrs. helen e. gallinger commenced editing a woman suffrage column in that paper. this has been a very convenient medium of communication between the state society and the local auxiliaries which have since been organized by mrs. l. may wheeler, who was employed as lecturer and organizer,[ ] in the summer and fall of . auxiliary societies had previously been organized by mrs. stearns, in st. paul and minneapolis. the kasson society, formed in , also became auxiliary to the state. during the northwestern industrial exhibition, held in minneapolis august, , a woman suffrage headquarters was fitted up on the fair-grounds, in a fine large tent, made attractive by flags, banners and mottoes. the state and local societies were represented, officers and members being there to receive all who were in sympathy, to talk suffrage to opposers, to pass out good leaflets, and to exhibit copies of the woman suffrage history. at the annual convention this year we were honored by the presence of julia ward howe and mrs. marianna folsom of iowa, and many of the clergymen[ ] of minneapolis. rev. e. s. williams gave the address of welcome, and paid a beautiful tribute to the self-sacrificing leaders in this holy crusade. mrs. howe not only encouraged us with her able words of cheer, but she presided at the piano while her battle hymn of the republic was sung, and seemed to give it new inspiration. in the course of her remarks the president said: should congress finally adopt that long-pending amendment in the winter of - enfranchising women, we should still have work to do in to secure the ratification of this amendment by our state legislature. but should congress still refuse, let us be thankful that the way is opening for women to secure their freedom by the power of the legislature independent of all constitutional amendments, as there is nothing in ordinary state constitutions to prevent legislators from extending suffrage to women by legislative enactment. the constitution of the state of minnesota simply enfranchises men, and does not even mention women; we have clearly nothing to do but to convince our legislators that they are free to give educated women full suffrage. with this view the society adopted the following resolution: _resolved_, that we accept with joy the argument that comes to us from the east and from the west declaring suffrage amendments to state constitutions unnecessary, because the word "male," occurring as it does in most state constitutions, in no wise restrains legislatures from extending full suffrage to women, should they feel inclined to do so. be it also _resolved_, that it therefore becomes our duty to talk with all men and women who are friendly to our cause, and ask them to examine the argument, and if it commends itself to their judgment, to give us the benefit of their convictions. though passing the above resolutions at that time, the state association of course waits to see what may be done, in view of this new idea, by older and stronger states whose constitutions are similar to ours. although failing health induced mrs. stearns, in the fall of , to resign her suffrage work into other hands, and ask to be excused from any office whatever, she has, with improving health lately accepted the presidency of an equal rights league in duluth. dr. ripley was not present herself at the convention[ ] which chose her for president for the ensuing year, being then at the east, but immediately after returning, she entered upon her new duties with enthusiasm. as there was to be no legislature in , there could be no petitioning, except to continue the work commenced as long ago as , of petitioning congress for a sixteenth amendment. the work was carried on with vigor, and many hundreds of names obtained in a short time. early in mrs. l. may wheeler continued to lecture in the interests of the suffrage cause. while so engaged she issued her "collection of temperance and suffrage melodies." in a woman suffrage headquarters was again fitted up in newspaper row, on the grounds of the northwestern industrial exhibition. the large tent was shared by the state w. c. t. u., and appropriately decked within and without to represent both of the state organizations and their auxiliaries. a large amount of suffrage and temperance literature was distributed among the many who were attracted by the novelty of the sight and sentiments displayed on banners and flags. as minneapolis had already become headquarters for the suffrage work of the state, it was thought best to again hold the annual meeting in that city. this was in october, continuing two days, and was both interesting and encouraging. dr. martha g. ripley presided. many interesting letters were read, and cheering telegrams received.[ ] miss marion lowell recited "the legend," by mary agnes ticknor, and "was he henpecked?" by phebe cary, mrs. a. m. tyng of austin, made a good speech, also recited a poem entitled "jane conquest." mr. lars oure of norway, spoke well upon the "claims of woman." dr. l. w. denton of minneapolis, gave a very good address. dr. martha g. ripley spoke on suffrage as a natural right, and in support of this view read extracts from a pamphlet entitled, "woman suffrage a right, and not a privilege," by wm. i. bowditch; eliza burt gamble of st. paul, read a very able paper on "woman and the church"; mrs. stearns spoke upon the new era to be inaugurated when women have the ballot. miss emma harriman read a bright and entertaining paper. the fine address of the occasion was given by rev. w. w. satterlee, showing the nation's need of woman's vote. judge and mrs. hemiup, of minneapolis, just returned from a visit to wyoming territory, were present. the judge made several speeches, and was enthusiastic in his praise of the workings of woman suffrage there. he and his wife are now active members of the state and city (minneapolis) suffrage societies. the judge is also a member of the state executive committee. wishing to give honor to whom honor is due, we would mention the brave young women who have formed the christian temperance unions, the leading spirits[ ] in this grand movement in minneapolis, st. paul, winona and st. cloud. their names will be usually found as delegates to the annual meetings of all the state unions. the small army of noble girls who have helped to make the good templars' lodges attractive and worthy resorts for their brothers and friends, have done an inestimable work in elevating the moral tone of the community all over the state. they have also done their full share in petitioning congress for a sixteenth amendment, in which they have received most untiring help from the young men of the lodges. in miss frances willard again visited the state, advocating the ballot as well as the bible as an aid to temperance work. her eloquent voice here as elsewhere woke many to serious thought on the danger of this national vice to the safety and stability of our republican institutions. it was through miss willard's influence, no doubt, that the friends of temperance established a department of franchise for the state, and made mrs. e. l. crockett its superintendent. the women of minnesota seem thus far to have no special calling to the legal profession. mrs. martha angle dorsett is the only woman as yet admitted to the bar. she was graduated from the law school at des moines, and admitted to practice before the supreme court of iowa in june, . she was refused admission at first in minnesota, whereupon she appealed to the legislature, which in enacted a law securing the right to women by a vote of to in the house, and to in the senate. in some of the larger cities and towns the literary, musical and dramatic taste of our women[ ] is evidenced by societies and clubs for mutual improvement. many are attending classes for the study of natural history, classic literature, social science, etc. there is an art club in minneapolis, composed wholly of artists, both ladies and gentlemen, which meets every week, the members making sketches from life. miss julie c. gauthier had on exhibition at the new orleans exposition, a full-length portrait, true to life, of a colored man, "pony," a veteran wood-sawer of st. paul, which received very complimentary notices from art critics of that city, as well as from the press generally. in the business colleges of mr. curtis at st. paul and minneapolis, many women are teachers, and many more are educated as shorthand reporters, telegraphers, and book-keepers. these have no difficulty in finding places after completing their college course. nearly fifty young women are employed in the principal towns of the state as telegraphers alone. miss mary m. cary has been employed for seven years as operator and station agent at wayzata, for the st. paul, minneapolis & manitoba r. r. her services are highly valued, as well they may be, for during her absence from the station two men are required to do her work. by her talents and industry she has acquired a thorough education for herself, besides educating her two younger sisters. mrs. anna b. underwood of lake city, has for many years been secretary of a firm conducting a large nursery of fruit trees, plants and flowers. her husband being one of the partners, she has taken a large share of the general management. the orchard yields a profit of over $ , a year. from the list of names to be found in the appendix, we see that minnesota is remarkable for its galaxy of superior women actively engaged as speakers and writers[ ] in many reforms, as well as in the trades and professions, and in varied employments. one of the great advantages of pioneer life is the necessity to man of woman's help in all the emergencies of these new conditions in which their forces and capacities are called into requisition. she thus acquires a degree of self-reliance, courage and independence, that would never be called out in older civilizations, and commands a degree of respect from the men at her side that can only be learned in their mutual dependence. footnotes: [ ] the names of the young women who applied for admission to the classical course of the michigan state university, in , were sarah burger, clara norton, ellen f. thompson, ada a. alvord, rose anderson, helen white, amanda kieff, lizzie baker, nellie baker, anna lathrop, carrie felch, mary becker, adeline ladd and harriet patton. [ ] see appendix, chapter xlvii., note a. [ ] for further account of mrs. swisshelm's patriotic work in minnesota see her "reminiscences of half a century": janson, mcclurg & co., chicago, ill. [ ] the three women were, mrs. almira w. anthony (whose husband was a cousin of susan b. anthony), mrs. mary powell wheeler and mrs. hattie m. white. [ ] in a volume of minnesota biography, mrs. vancleve is reported as a woman of great force of character, strong in her convictions of what is right, and fearless in following the dictates of her conscience. she was one of the original founders of the sisterhood of bethany, a society for the reformation of unfortunate women, and has held the position of president since its formation. through the medium of lectures and social influence, she has enlisted the sympathy of a large number of the community. she has served faithfully as a member of the east minneapolis board of education, and has always improved every opportunity to advocate the right of suffrage for women. she is a member of the state suffrage society, and has been for many years honorary vice-president for this state, of the national suffrage association. the following interesting fact is told of her, on the authority of major-general r. w. johnson. it was given in an address delivered by that gentleman before the old settlers' association of hennepin county, at a reunion in the city of minneapolis: many years ago a soldier at fort snelling received an injury to his feet, and mortification ensued. amputation became necessary and the case could not be postponed until a surgeon could be sent for, because there was none nearer than the post-surgeon at prairie du chien. no gentleman in the garrison was willing to undertake so difficult an operation. equal to any emergency, mrs. vancleve, on hearing of the case, resolved to make the attempt. she performed the operation skillfully, and saved the soldier's life. [ ] mrs. charlotte s. winchell was a graduate of albion college, michigan, and came to this state in , with her husband, prof. newton h. winchell, widely known as minnesota's state geologist. mrs. winchell has always been an advocate of suffrage for woman, and cheerfully accepted the position on the school board, serving as clerk. she took an active part in the nominations and elections of school officers. she was chairman of the committee for introducing temperance text books into the schools, secretary of the woman's board of foreign missions, a member of the state and city suffrage societies, and of the association for the advancement of women. [ ] for names of women elected as school directors and county superintendents, see appendix to minnesota, chapter xlvii., note b. [ ] the officers of the minnesota state w. c. t. u. are: _president_, mrs. h. a. hobart; _vice-presidents_, mrs. mary a. shepardson, mrs. e. j. holley, mrs. r. c. c. gale, mrs. h. c. may, mrs. l. m. wylie; _recording secretary_, mrs. d. s. haywood; _corresponding secretaries_, mrs. e. s. wright, miss m. e. mclntyre; _treasurer_, miss a. m. henderson. editor w. c. t. u. department of _temperance review_, mrs. helen e. gallinger. [ ] see appendix, chapter xlvii., note c. [ ] during the same decade young men were graduated from the different departments of the university. [ ] for names of graduates and professors, see appendix, chapter xlvii., note d. [ ] see appendix, chapter xlvii., note f. [ ] miss anna dickinson, mrs. livermore, mrs. howe, miss alice fletcher, miss frances willard, mrs. wittenmeyer, mrs. sarah b. chase, m. d. in the years - , mrs. stanton favored our state with a series of lectures that awakened much interest. in - , miss anthony came, and spoke in the principal cities. from iowa came mrs. j. ellen foster, matilda fletcher, and marianna folsom, and from missouri, miss phoebe couzins. [ ] _president_, sarah burger stearns; _vice-president_, julia bullard nelson; _recording secretary_, mrs. c. smith; _treasurer_, mrs. h. j. moffit; _executive committee_, mrs. minnie reed, mrs. l. h. clark, mrs. r. coons; _corresponding sec'y_, mrs. laura howe carpenter. the following were the charter members: mrs. harriet e. bishop, mrs. martha luly, st. paul; mrs. a. t. anderson, mrs. h. j. moffit, mrs. c. smith, minneapolis; mrs. harriet a. hobart, julia bullard nelson, mrs. r. coons, red wing; sarah burger stearns, duluth; mrs. l. c. clarke, worthington; mrs. l. g. finen, albert lea; mrs. k. e. webster, mrs. minnie reed, mrs. m. a. vanhoesen, hastings. [ ] mrs. nelson, mrs. hobart, mr. satterlee, mrs. charlotte o. van cleve, mrs. laura howe carpenter, mrs. viola fuller miner. [ ] the societies organized were at wayzata, farmington, red wing, mantorille, excelsior, rochford, lake city, shakopee, and jordan: committees for suffrage work were also formed in the following places: anoka, armstrong, blakely, brooklyn center, champlin, frontenac, long prairie, long lake, and wabashaw. [ ] rev. w. w. satterlee, rev. h. m. simmons, rev. f. j. wagner, whose church we occupied, and others. the speakers at this convention were mr. and mrs. dubois, mrs. wheeler, mrs. elliott, mrs. hobart, mrs. carpenter, miss harriman. letters were received from mrs. devereux blake, dr. clemence lozier, rev. j. b. tuttle, h. b. blackwell, lucy stone and col. t. w. higginson. [ ] the officers elected at this convention were: _president_, martha g. ripley, m. d., minneapolis; _vice-president_, mrs. lizzie manson, shakopee; _recording secretary_, mary t. emery, m. d., st. paul; _corresponding secretary_, emma harriman, minneapolis; _treasurer_, mrs. helen e. gallinger, minneapolis; _executive committee_, mrs. s. k. crawford, anoka; mrs. m. a. warner, hamline; mrs. f. g. gould, excelsior; rev. e. s. williams, prof. w. a. carpenter, mrs. a. t. anderson and mrs. laura howe carpenter, minneapolis. [ ] from john g. whittier, mrs. julia b. nelson (teaching school in tennessee) and henry b. blackwell. [ ] miss carrie holbrook, miss eva mcintyre, miss harriman. [ ] see appendix, chapter xlvii., note f. [ ] see appendix, chapter xlvii., note g. chapter xlviii. dakota. influences of climate and scenery--legislative action, --mrs. marietta bones--in february, , school suffrage granted women--constitutional convention, --matilda joslyn gage addressed a letter to the convention and an appeal to the women of the state--mrs. bones addressed the convention in person--the effort to get the word "male" out of the constitution failed--legislature of --major pickler presents the bill--carried through both houses--governor pierce's veto--major pickler's letter. philosophers have had much to say of the effect of climate and scenery upon the human family--the inspiring influence of the grand and the boundless in broadening the thought of the people and stimulating them to generous action. hence, one might naturally look for liberal ideas among a people surrounded with such vast possessions as are in the territory of dakota. but alas! there seems to be no correspondence in this republic between areas and constitutions. although dakota comprises , , acres, yet one-half her citizens are defrauded of their rights precisely as they are in the little states of delaware and rhode island. the inhabitants denied the right of suffrage by their territorial constitution are, the indians not taxed (a hint that those who pay taxes vote), idiots, convicts and women. but from records sent us by mrs. marietta bones, to whom we are indebted for this chapter, there seem to have been some spasmodic climatic influences at work, though not sufficiently strong as yet to get that odious word "male" out of the constitution. our dakota historian says: the territorial legislature, in the year , came within one vote of enfranchising women. that vote was cast by hon. w. w. moody, who, let it be said to his credit, most earnestly espoused the cause in our constitutional convention in , and said in the course of his remarks: "are not my wife and daughter as competent to vote as i am to hold office?" which question caused prolonged laughter among the most ignorant of the delegates, and cries of, "you're right, judge!" although it is deeply to be regretted that through one vote twelve years ago our women were deprived of freedom, yet we must forgive judge moody on the ground that "it is never too late to mend." in february, , the legislature revised the school law, and provided that women should vote at school meetings. that law was repealed in march, , by the school township law, which requires regular polls and a private ballot, so, of course, excluding women from the small privilege given them in . that act, however, excepted fifteen counties[ ]--the oldest and most populous--which had districts fully established, and therein women still vote at school meetings. in townships which are large and have many schools under one board and no districts, the people select which school they desire their children to attend. the persons who may so select are parents: first, the father; next, the mother, if there be no father living; guardians (women or men), and "persons having in charge children of school age." these persons hold a meeting annually of their "school," and such women vote there, and one of them may be chosen moderator for the school, to hold one year. this office is a sort of responsible agency for the school, and between it and the township board. since the legislation upon the subject of school suffrage there has not been much work done for the promotion of the cause. the wide distances between towns and the sparsely settled country make our people comparative strangers to each other. we lack organization; the country is too new; in fact, the most and only work for woman suffrage has been done by matilda joslyn gage and myself, and, owing to disadvantages mentioned, that has been but little. mrs. gage reached dakota just at the close of the huron convention, held in june, , to discuss the question of territorial division. the resolutions of the convention declared that just governments derived their powers from the consent of the governed; that dakota possessed a population of , , women included; that the people of a territory have the right, in their sovereign capacity, to adopt a constitution and form a state government. accordingly, a convention was called for the purpose of enabling those residing in that part of dakota south of the forty-sixth parallel to organize a state. mrs. gage at once addressed a letter to the women of the territory and to the constitutional convention assembled at sioux falls: _to the women of dakota:_ a convention of men will assemble at sioux falls, september , for the purpose of framing a constitution and pressing upon congress the formation of a state of the southern half of the territory. this is the moment for women to act; it is the decisive moment. there can never again come to the women of dakota an hour like the present. a constitution is the fundamental law of the state; upon it all statute laws are based, and upon the fact whether woman is inside or outside the pale of the constitution, her rights in the state depend. the code of dakota, under the head of "personal relations," says: "the husband is the head of the family. he may choose any reasonable place, or mode of living, and the wife must conform thereto." under this class legislation, which was framed by man entirely in his own interests, the husband may, and in many cases does, file a preëmption claim, build a shanty, and place his wife upon the ground as "a reasonable place and mode of living," while he remains in town in pursuit of business or pleasure. let us examine this condition of affairs a little closer. if the wife is not pleased with this "place and mode of living," but should leave it, she is, under this law of class legislation, liable to be advertised as having left the husband's bed and board, wherefore he will pay no debts of her contracting. and how is it if she remains on this until her continued residence upon it has enabled her husband to prove up? does she then share in its benefits? is she then half owner of the land? by no means. chapter , section , article v. of the code, says: "no estate is allowed the husband or tenant by courtesy upon the death of his wife, nor is any estate in dower allowed to the wife upon the death of the husband." this article carries a specious fairness on its face, but it is a bundle of wrongs to woman. by the united states law, only "the head of the family" is allowed to enter lands--either a preëmption, homestead or tree claim. in unison with the united states, the law of dakota (see chapter , section ) recognizes the husband as the head of the family, and then declares that no estate in dower is allowed to the wife upon the death of her husband. neither has she any claim upon any portion of this land the husband, as head of the family, may take, except the homestead, in which she is recognized as joint owner. the preëmption claim upon which, in a comfortless claim-shanty, she may have lived for six months, or longer, if upon unsurveyed land, as "the reasonable place and mode of living" her husband has selected for her, does not belong to her at all. she has no part nor share in it. upon proving, her husband may at once sell, or deed it away as a gift, and she has no redress. it was not hers. the law so declares; but she is her husband's, to the extent that she can be thus used to secure acres of land for him, over which she has no right, title, claim or interest. i have not space to pursue this subject farther, but will assure the women of dakota that reading the code, and the session laws of the territory will be more interesting to them than any novel. if they wish to still farther know their wrongs, let them look in the code under the heads of "parent and child," "crimes defined," "probate court," etc., etc. every woman in dakota should be immediately at work. inasmuch as the constitution is the fundamental law of the state, it should be the effort of the women of dakota to prevent the introduction of the restrictive word "male." the delegates to the sioux falls convention have now largely been elected. address letters of protest to them against making the constitution an organ of class legislation. in as far as possible have personal interviews with these delegates, and by speech make known your wishes on this point. these are your only methods of representation. you have in no way signified your desire for a constitution. you have not been permitted to help make these laws which rob you of property, and many other things more valuable. many women are settling in dakota. unmarried women and widows in large numbers are taking up claims here, and their property is taxed to help support the government and the men who make these iniquitous laws. i have not mentioned a thousandth part of the wrongs done woman by her being deprived of the right of self-government. every injustice under which she suffers, as wife, mother, woman, child, in property and person, is due to the fact that she is not recognized as man's political equal--and her only power is that of protest. lose not a moment, then, women of dakota, in objecting to the introduction of the word "male" into the proposed new constitution. besides seeing and writing to delegates, make effort to be present at sioux falls during the time of the convention, to labor with delegates from distant points, and to go before committees, and the convention itself, with your protests. above all, remember that _now_ is the decisive hour. matilda joslyn gage, _vice-president-at-large_, _national woman suffrage association_. mrs. gage also addressed the following to the constitutional convention: _gentlemen of the convention_: the work upon which you are now engaged is an important one in the interests of liberty, that of framing a constitution for a proposed new state. as a constitution is the fundamental law, its provisions should be general in their character, equally recognizing the rights of all its citizens by its protective powers. our national principle, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, is becoming more and more widely recognized. at an early day suffrage was restricted by qualifications of property and education in many of the states, and the removal of such restrictions has been left entirely to the states, except in the one instance of color. within the last two decades, by amendments to the national constitution, all states are forbidden to exclude citizens from the ballot upon that account. as "sex" is now the only remaining disqualification, on behalf of the national woman suffrage association i ask you to omit the word "male" from your proposed constitution, and leave the women of dakota free to exercise the right of suffrage. we simply ask you to make your state a true republic, in which all your citizens may stand equal before the law. while foreign men of every nation are welcomed to your magnificent prairies as equals, it is humiliating to the women of the territory, who are helping you to develop its resources, who have endured with you all the hardships of pioneer life, to be treated as inferiors, outside the pale of political consideration. it should be the pride of dakota to take the initiative step in the legislation of the period, now steadily growing more liberal, and by one generous and graceful act accord to the women of this territory all the rights, privileges and immunities that men claim for themselves. matilda joslyn gage, _vice-president-at-large, n. w. s. a._ _aberdeen, dakota, sept. , ._ it is to be regretted that the argument presented by mrs. gage could not convince that honorable body of the injustice of laws towards woman. to me was given the privilege of addressing the convention. i said: _mr. president and gentlemen of the convention_: the honor conferred on me, of being allowed to address you on this important occasion is fully appreciated. i am here in behalf of the women of our territory, who are opposed to being left in the state organization with no more authority in the government than paupers, lunatics and idiots. we are willing to do one-half of the manual labor in this country, and will promptly pay our portion of the taxes. as sober and peaceful citizens, we compare favorably with the other sex. i have the honor to present to you a petition signed by hundreds of day county voters, praying your honorable body not to allow the word "male" to be incorporated within our state constitution. there is no doubt that this petition speaks the honest sentiment of the people throughout the territory. in but a single instance was i refused a name, and in a second case a man hesitated, saying, "well, now, if it's as many rights you're wantin' es i hev got fur meself, you'll be after signin' my name fur me--fur i niver do any writin' at all fur meself." and yet that man whose name i had to write has more rights in this, his adopted country, than i and all other women have in this our native land. the right of franchise, which has heretofore been regarded as a privilege, should more properly be considered a right--a right to be exercised by every citizen for the public good. if there is not another woman in dakota who wants to vote, i do! there is no doubt that many women are indifferent upon this subject, but when once given the ballot you will see that their progress will equal, if not exceed, that of the emancipated slaves in the south. look at wyoming territory, where woman suffrage has a fair test; no one will deny it has proved a marked success. elections there now are quiet and more orderly than they are elsewhere. before the enfranchisement of the women of wyoming, election days were a terror generally, being both boisterous and riotous. it is really true that dakota men are the most energetic and enterprising anywhere to be found, and in number they largely exceed our women. gentlemen, make this the most advantageous state for women, and they will soon be wending their way hither. women have been granted select committees in both houses of congress, and better still, each of those committees has given us a majority report in favor of a sixteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states, prohibiting the disfranchisement of citizens on account of sex. gentlemen, delegates of this state constitutional convention, i now appeal to your highest sense of honor and justice to give us the right to vote--give it to us, not because we possess any particular merit, but give it to us because it is our right! then dakota will in fact be "a home of the free"--honored by all nations, and the banner state of the union [applause]. but, after all our work and pleading, they turned a deaf ear--infinitely worse, they were dishonest; at least this was true of the committee on elections. i was present at every meeting of that committee. at their last, i was with them three hours (the entire session) to answer objections. one member made the motion, "that the word 'male' be not incorporated within our state constitution." the vote on the motion was a tie, when the chairman cast his vote in the affirmative. after weeks of hard work i had reached the goal! and with eyes brim full of tears, thanked that committee. they then adjourned, to report in open convention the next morning to my utter surprise, that "women may vote at school elections and for school officers." no words of mine can express the disappointment and humiliation this defeat of justice caused me. among the hundreds of questions asked me by that committee were these: "do you want a prohibitory plank in our state constitution?" answer: "no; prohibition should be settled by the people; it cannot be with one-half our citizens disfranchised, and that half its most earnest advocates." "do you think prohibition prohibits?" "no; man's prohibitory laws are good enough, but he does not enforce them; women have not the authority to do so; but if you will give us the power, we will soon have prohibition that _will_ prohibit." a voice: "i believe it!" "do you think the majority of women want to vote?" "i do not; but is that any reason why you should deprive the one who does? you do not force men to vote; women, as a rule, have not given this subject the attention they should; many of them are as ignorant of the advantages the ballot would secure as were the negroes when john brown raised the insurrection at harper's ferry." there is a trite saying: "the darkest hour is just before the dawn." the day cannot be far distant when dakota's women will be free; for the most intelligent men, and those occupying the most prominent positions in our territory, are avowed friends of suffrage. chief-justice of the supreme court for dakota, hon. a. j. edgerton, said in his fourth of july oration here: "how necessary it is for us to elect only good and honest men to office! to do this, woman likewise must act her part in the labor of arresting the advance of crime and corruption, although through timidity the politician is slow to invest her with the higher duties and obligations of american citizenship." this same just judge has appointed a woman (mrs. washburn of chamberlain) stenographer of his judicial district--the best salaried office in his gift.[ ] with the assistance of this grand man (occupying the highest position in our territory), and many others equally efficient, it is not to be supposed that our most intelligent women will be obliged to wait for the education of the most ignorant men to consent to their enfranchisement. in the last legislature ( ) major john a. pickler introduced a bill enfranchising the women of the territory, which, after full discussion, passed the house by to ,[ ] and the council by to . the hopes of the friends were soon disappointed by the governor's veto: executive office, bismark, d. t., march , . _to the speaker of the house of representatives:_ i herewith return house file no. , with my objections to its becoming a law. a measure of this kind demands careful and candid consideration, both because of its importance and because of the acknowledged sincerity and high character of those who favor it. there are certain reasons, however, why i cannot approve such a measure at this time, and other reasons why i cannot approve this particular bill. it is desirable, in my judgment, that we act, so far as possible, as if we were governed, restrained and guided by a constitution adopted by ourselves. if we had a constitution modeled after those of the states, an extraordinary proposition like this would be submitted to the people. if congress thinks woman suffrage wise, it has the power to establish it. it is unfair to shift the responsibility on the territory and then hold it responsible for alleged imprudent legislation. i am assured the enactment of this law will delay our claims to statehood, and in so critical a period it is better that no pretext whatever be given for such postponement. it is doubted by many if a majority of the women of dakota want the franchise. the point is made, and a very good one, that the fact that one woman does not want a right is not a justifiable reason for refusing it to another who does, yet it must not be forgotten that the enfranchisement of women confers not only a privilege but a grave burden and responsibility. we condemn the man who neglects to vote as recreant to his duty. if women are enfranchised, the right conferred becomes an obligation as imperious to them as to men; on those opposed as on those who favor the act. i think the women of dakota should have a voice in determining whether they should assume this burden or not. so much for the general proposition. there are two other features of this bill which i can scarcely think satisfactory to the advocates of woman suffrage themselves. i am satisfied that they should appear in a measure claiming to advance the rights of women. if the vote of a woman is needed anywhere, it is in our cities. in many existing city charters a distinct clause appears, providing that males alone shall possess the qualifications of electors. in this bill the word "male" is only stricken out of one chapter of the code, leaving the disability still standing against hundreds of women equally entitled to recognition. the women of sioux falls, the women of mitchell, the women of brookings, the women of chamberlain, of watertown and a great many of the more important cities in southern dakota, would be disqualified from voting under these special enactments, even though this bill became a law at this very session. charters have been created with that provision retained, and they would make this bill abortive and largely inoperative. a still more objectionable feature, and one deliberately inserted, is the clause debarring women from the right to hold office. if the word "male" had been stricken out of the code, and no other action taken, they would have been eligible, and i believe there is a wide feeling that many offices, particularly those connected with penal and benevolent institutions, could be most appropriately filled with women, but this clause practically forbids their appointment. if women are good enough to vote they are good enough to be voted for. if they are qualified to choose officials, they are qualified to be chosen. i don't say that i would approve this measure were it otherwise worded, but i certainly would not indorse a bill which thus keeps the word of promise to the ear and breaks it to the hope, which deliberately and avowedly debars and disqualifies women while assuming to exalt and honor them. these objections are apart from the abstract right of women to the ballot, but they show how necessary it is to approach such a subject with deliberation. if women are to be enfranchised, let it be done, not as a thirty days' wonder, but as a merited reform resulting from mature reflection, approved by the public conscience and sanctioned by the enlightened judgment of the people. [signed:] gilbert a. pierce, _governor_. an effort was promptly made to carry the measure over the governor's veto, which failed by a vote of to . during the last session of the legislature a large public meeting was held in bismarck, at which many of the members spoke strongly in favor of the woman suffrage amendment, the chief-justice and a majority of his associates advocating the measure. mrs. gage, in a letter from dakota, said: an acquaintance of mine, the owner of a green-house, sent each of the members voting "aye" a buttonhole bouquet, a badge of honor which marked our friends for a few hours at least. it is a pertinent fact that, while the opposition insist that women do not want to vote, in a single county of this sparsely settled territory women did vote in the midst of a severe storm. in a series of articles signed "justice," published in the bismarck _tribune_, we find the following: the women of dakota do desire the power to vote. one year ago a majority of the commissioners of kingsbury county signed a request that at an election to be held march , , the women should, with the men, express their wishes by vote upon a specified question of local policy. the women immediately responded, prepared their separate ballot-boxes, placed them in charge of the election officers by the side of the men's boxes upon the same table at de smet and other towns, and voted all day side by side with the men, casting throughout the county votes. a more orderly election was never known. no self-respect was lost and no woman was lowered in public esteem. clergymen, lawyers, merchants, farmers, all voted with their wives, the ballots going into different boxes. one thousand men voted in the county. the day was stormy and snow deep on the ground. if women in one county would without previous experience spring forward to vote on a week's notice, is it to be supposed they do not appreciate the right? justice. mr. pickler, who had taken an active part in the discussion on the amendment, received many letters of thanks from the friends of woman suffrage throughout the nation, and made his acknowledgments in the following cordial letter to mrs. matilda joslyn gage: faulkton, d. t., april , . _matilda joslyn gage, syracuse, n. y._: dear madam: your kind letter addressed to me on the woman suffrage bill, at bismarck, would have been earlier acknowledged had it not been that i suffered quite a severe illness upon my return from the legislature. i beg to assure you that words of encouragement from such able and distinguished personages as yourself have been highly appreciated in my effort to secure suffrage for women in dakota. i am half inclined to think that your indication as to a coming political party, with woman suffrage as one plank in its platform, may not be without foundation. i introduced the bill in the dakota legislature, having previously supported a like measure in the iowa legislature, really without consultation with any one, or without knowledge as to the sentiment of the members upon the question. i have had my convictions since my college days that simple justice demands that woman should have the ballot, and in this opinion i am warmly seconded by my wife, who desires to vote, as i think all sensible women should. i was pleased with the favor the bill received, and after a week or two believed it possible to have it pass the house, with constant exertion and watchfulness. those who at first laughed at the idea, learning i was very much in earnest, stopped to consider and to discuss, and finally came to vote for it. it passed the house, and after considerable difficulty in getting it out of the hands of an adverse committee in the council, who insisted on having it referred to them, it passed with an amendment "to submit to a vote of the people." i managed to have the house refuse to concur in this amendment, which resulted in a conference committee, five out of six of whom reported in favor of the council receding from their amendment, which they did, and yet, after all, and when we thought it safe, it was vetoed. few, if any, supposed that governor pierce, a governor only appointed over us less than six months, would place himself a barrier in the way of the will of the people, and opposed to the advancement of human rights. i deeply regret that he did not rise to the grandest opportunity of his life, but he failed to do so. your words were particularly encouraging, being personally interested in dakota as you are, and i dare say you will bear witness that we have an intelligent people, and a great many good women, land-owners and property-holders, who should have a voice in the taxation of their property, real and personal. we shall not give it up; we shall continue in the work, not doubting that success will finally crown our efforts. our constitution is not yet formed, and if ever the political parties cease to exercise their tyranny over us, by allowing us to be admitted as a state, we shall endeavor at least to secure it so the legislature may grant or prescribe the qualifications of voters without requiring a change in the constitution. will you visit dakota again? in another contest we would be much aided by your presence and assistance, confidently believing that "heaven will one day free us from this slavery." if your children[ ] reside in this section of the territory, i should be pleased to form their acquaintance. again thanking you for your kind words, i am, yours truly, j. a. pickler. as dakota has thus deliberately trampled upon the rights of one-half her people, it is to be hoped that congress will not admit her into the union until that odious word "male" is stricken from her constitution. footnotes: [ ] these counties are union, lincoln, clay, minnehaha, moody, deuel, codington, cass, walsh, grand forks, pembina, barnes, lawrence and hutchinson. [ ] since mrs. bones has held the office of deputy-clerk of the district court of day county; mrs. washburn was appointed to her office in ; miss elizabeth m. cochrane, appointed by judge seward smith, is clerk of the district court of falk county; mrs. virginia a. wilkins is deputy-clerk of the district court of hand county; mrs. dutton, deputy county-clerk, and mrs. hanson deputy-sheriff of day county; and mrs. pease is deputy-receiver of the watertown land-office. [ ] _yeas_--barnes, blackmore, coe, bayard, clark, dermody, gregg, hutson, johnson, miller, mccall, parshall, pierce, roach, southwick, smith, stebbins, j. p. ward, huntington, hutchinson, langan, martin, morgan, pickler, riddell, steele, stevens, sprague, stewart-- . _nays_--davison, hobart, larson, mccumber, oliver, pugh, ruger, strong, eldridge, helvig, myron, mchugh, runkle, swanton, van osdell, williams, mark ward, mr. speaker-- . [ ] mrs. gage has a son and daughter residing in dakota, both well educated, superior young people, whose influence will, no doubt, be felt in every progressive movement in that state. mrs. gage's children sympathize with their mother in her broad, liberal views on all questions.--[e. c. s. chapter xlix. nebraska. clara bewick colby--nebraska came into the possession of the united states, --the home of the dakotas--organized as a territory, --territorial legislature--mrs. amelia bloomer addresses the house--gen. wm. larimer, --a bill to confer suffrage on woman--passed the house--lost in the senate--constitution harmonized with the fourteenth amendment--admitted as a state march , --mrs. stanton, miss anthony lecture in the state, --mrs. tracy cutler, --mrs. esther l. warner's letter--constitutional convention, --woman suffrage amendment submitted--lost by , against, , for--prolonged discussion--constitutional convention, --grasshoppers devastate the country--_inter-ocean_, mrs. harbert--omaha _republican_, --woman's column edited by mrs. harriet s. brooks--"woman's kingdom"--state society formed, january , , mrs. brooks president--mrs. dinsmoore, mrs. colby, mrs. brooks, before the legislature--amendment again submitted--active canvass of the state, --first convention of the state association--charles f. manderson--unreliable petitions--an unfair count of votes for woman suffrage--amendment defeated--conventions in omaha--notable women in the state--conventions--_woman's tribune_ established in . clara bewick colby, the historian for nebraska, is of english parentage, and came to wisconsin when eight years of age. in her country home, as one of a large family, she had but scant opportunities for attending the district school, but her father encouraged and assisted his children to study in the winter evenings, and in this way she fitted herself to teach in country schools. after a few terms she entered, the state university at madison, and while there made a constant effort to secure equal privileges and opportunities for the students of her sex. she was graduated with honors in , and at once became a teacher of history and latin in the institution. she was married to leonard w. colby, a graduate of the same university, and moved to beatrice, nebraska, in . amidst the hardships of pioneer life in a new country, the young wife for a season found her family cares all-absorbing, but her taste for study, her love of literature and her natural desire to improve the conditions about her, soon led her to work up an interest in the establishment of a library and course of lectures. she afterwards edited a department in the beatrice _express_ called "woman's work," and in she started _the woman's tribune_, a paper whose columns show that mrs. colby has the true editorial instinct. for several years she has been deeply interested in the movement for woman's enfranchisement, devoting her journal to the advocacy of this great reform. in addition to her cares as housekeeper[ ] and editor, mrs. colby has also lectured extensively in many states, east and west, not only to popular audiences, but before legislative and congressional committees. in her description of nebraska and the steps of progress in woman's civil and political rights, mrs. colby says: nebraska makes its first appearance in history as part of louisiana and belonging to spain. seized by france in , ceded to spain in ; again the property of france in , and sold to the united states in ; the shifting ownership yet left no trace on that interior and inaccessible portion of louisiana now known as nebraska. it was the home of the dakotas, who had come down from the north pushing the earlier indian races before them. every autumn when _heyokah_, the spirit of the north, puffed from his huge pipe the purpling smoke "enwrapping all the land in mellow haze," the dakotas gathered at the great red pipestone quarry for their annual feast and council. these yearly excursions brought them in contact with the fur traders, who in turn roamed the wild and beautiful country of the niobrara, returning thence to quebec laden with pelts. with the exception of a few military posts, the first established in where the town of fort calhoun now stands, nebraska was uninhabited by white people until the gold hunters of passed through what seemed to them an arid desert, as they sought their eldorado in the mountains beyond. disappointed and homesick, many of the emigrants retraced their steps, and found their former trail through nebraska marked by sunflowers, the luxuriance of which evidenced the fertility of the soil, and encouraged the travelers to settle within its borders. nebraska became an organized territory by the kansas-nebraska bill in , including at first dakota, idaho and colorado, from which it was separated in . the early settlers were courageous, keeping heart amid attacks of savages, and devastations of the fire-demon and the locust. published history is silent concerning the part that women took in this frontier life, but the tales told by the fireside are full of the endurance and heroism of wives whose very isolation kept them hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder, and thought to thought with their husbands. it is not strange then that the men of those early days inclined readily to the idea of sharing the rights of self-government with women who had with them left home and kindred and the comforts of the older states. but it is remarkable, and proof that the thought belongs to the age, that, thirty years ago, when the discussion of woman's status was still new in massachusetts and new york, and only seven years after the first woman-suffrage convention ever held, here--half way across a continent, in a country almost unheard of, and with but scant communication with the older parts of the republic--this instinctive justice should have crystalized into legislative action. in december, , an invitation was extended by the territorial legislature to mrs. amelia bloomer of council bluffs, to deliver an address on woman's rights, in the hall of the house of representatives. this invitation was signed by twenty-five members of the legislature and was accepted by mrs. bloomer for january . the following pleasing account of this address and its reception was written by an omaha correspondent of the council bluffs _chronotype_ of that date: mrs. amelia bloomer, who had been formally invited by members of the legislature and others, arrived at the door of the state-house at o'clock, p. m., and by the gallantry of gen. larimer, a passage was made for her to the platform. the house had been crowded for some time with eager expectants to see the lady and listen to the arguments which were to be adduced as the fruitage of female thought and research. when all had been packed into the house who could possibly find a place for the sole of the foot, mrs. bloomer arose, amid cheers. we watched her closely, and saw that she was perfectly self-possessed--not a nerve seemed to be moved by excitement, and the voice did not tremble. she arose in the dignity of a true woman, as if the importance of her mission so absorbed her thoughts that timidity or bashfulness were too mean to entangle the mental powers. she delivered her lecture in a pleasing, able, and i may say, eloquent manner that enchained the attention of her audience for an hour and a half. a _man_ could not have beaten it. in mingling with the people next day, we found that her argument had met with much favor. as far as property rights are concerned, all seemed to agree with the lady that the laws of our country are wrong, and that woman should receive the same protection as man. all we have time to say now is, that mrs. bloomer's arguments on woman's rights are unanswerable. we may doubt it is policy for women to vote, but who can draw the line and say that naturally she has not a right to do so? mrs. bloomer, though a little body, is among the great women of the united states; and her keen, intellectual eye seems to flash fire from a fountain that will consume the stubble of old theories until woman is placed in her true position in the enjoyment of equal rights and privileges. her only danger is in asking too much. oneida. eight days after mrs. bloomer's address, hon. jerome hoover, member for the counties of nemaha and richardson, introduced in the house a bill to confer suffrage equally upon women. the bill was put upon its third reading, january , and was earnestly championed by general william larimer of douglas county, formerly of pittsburgh, pa. it passed by a vote of to .[ ] the result of the passage of the bill by the house was graphically described by the _chronotype_ of january : on friday afternoon and evening quite an excitement took place, which resulted in offering an insult to one of the ablest members of the legislature, but which, while it reflected no dishonor upon the person against whom it was aimed, should cover the perpetrators with lasting shame. we will state briefly the facts as we have heard them. the bill giving woman the right to vote came up at o'clock, by a special order of the house. a number of ladies entered the hall to listen to the proceedings. general larimer spoke eloquently and ably in favor of the bill, making, perhaps, the best speech that could be made on that side of the question. on the vote being taken, it stood--ayes , nays . the bill was then sent to the council, where it was referred to the committee on elections. its passage by the house of representatives created a great deal of talk, and several members threatened to resign. at the evening session j. s. morton, w. e. moore, a. f. salisbury and l. l. bowen came into the house and proposed to present general larimer with a petticoat, which did not tend much to allay the excitement. the general, of course, was justly indignant at such treatment, as were also the other members. the proposal was characteristic of the prime mover in it, and we are astonished that the other gentlemen named should have been willing to associate themselves with him in offering this indignity to the oldest and most respected member of the body--a man who was elected to the station he has so ably filled by the unanimous vote of the people of douglas county. general larimer had a perfect right to advocate or oppose the bill according to his own sense of duty, and any man, or set of men, who would attempt to cast insult or ridicule upon him for so doing, is worthy only of the contempt of decent people. in saying this we, of course, express no opinion on the merits of the bill itself. the bill was taken up in the council, read twice, and referred to the committee on elections, whose chairman, mr. cowles, reported it back without amendment, and recommended its passage. this being the last day of the session, the bill could not come up again. the _chronotype_, after the adjournment, commented as follows: the bill granting women the right to vote, which had passed the house, was read the first and second time in the council and referred to the committee on elections, where it now remains for want of time to bring it up again. a gentleman who was opposed to the passage of a bill to locate the seat of justice of washington county, obtained the floor, and delivered a speech of many hours on some unimportant bill then under consideration, in order to "kill time" and prevent the washington county bill from coming up. the hour for adjournment _sine die_ arrived before he concluded, and the woman suffrage bill, and many others of great importance, remained upon the clerk's table without being acted upon. it is admitted by every one that want of time only defeated the passage of the bill through the council. the citizens of nebraska are ready to make a trial of its provisions, which speaks volumes for the intelligence of the free and independent squatters of this beautiful territory. mrs. bloomer says that assurance was given by members of the council that the bill would have passed that body triumphantly had more time been allowed, or had it been introduced earlier in the session. the general sentiment was in favor of it, and the gentlemen who talked the last hours away to kill other bills were alone responsible for its defeat. mrs. bloomer followed up her work by lectures in omaha and nebraska city two years later. the exigencies attending the settlement of the territory and the absorbing interests of the civil war occupied the next decade. the character of the settlers may be inferred from the fact that, with only about , voters, nebraska gave over , soldiers for the defense of the union and of their home borders, where the indians had seized the occasion to break out into active hostilities. the war over, nebraska sought to be admitted as a state, and a constitution was prepared on the old basis of white male suffrage. congress admitted nebraska, but provided that the act should not take effect until the constitution should be changed to harmonize with the fourteenth amendment. after some discussion the condition was accepted, and nebraska was thus the first state to recognize in its constitution the sovereignty of all male persons. some of the debates of this time indicate that the appreciation of human rights was growing, nor were allusions wanting making a direct application of the principle to women. the debates and resolutions connected with the ratification of the fourteenth amendment are historically and logically connected with the growth of the idea of woman's political equality. the man who, from regard for justice and civil liberties, advocates the right of franchise for additional classes of men, easily extends the thought until it embraces woman. on the other hand the man who sees men enfranchised whom he deems unworthy to use the ballot, thinks it a disgrace to withhold it from intelligent women. gov. alvin saunders,[ ] in his message urging the ratification of the fourteenth amendment said: the day, in my opinion, is not far distant when property qualifications, educational qualifications, and color qualifications, as precedent to the privilege of voting, will be known no more by the american people, but that intelligence and manhood will be the only qualifications necessary to entitle an american citizen to the privilege of an elector. later, acting-governor a. s. paddock[ ] in his message said: i should hail with joy a radical change in the rule of suffrage which would give the franchise to intelligence and patriotism wherever found, regardless of the color of the possessor. the majority report of the committee to whom was referred that portion of the governor's message which related to rights of suffrage, was as follows: we hold that the dogma of partial suffrage is a dangerous doctrine, and contrary to the laws of nature and the letter and spirit of the declaration of independence. [signed:] isaac wiles, william dailey, george crow. a minority report was brought in by s. m. curran and aug. f. harvey. on its rejection mr. harvey introduced this resolution: _resolved_, that we, the members of the house of representatives, of the legislature of nebraska, are in favor of impartial and universal suffrage, and believe fully in the equality of all races, colors and sexes at the ballot-box. this was not intended to advance the rights of women, but simply to slay the advocates of the enlargement of the franchise with their own weapons. a. b. fuller moved to amend by striking out the word "universal," and all after the word "suffrage," which was carried by a vote of to . the committee on federal relations reported: the constitution recognizes all persons born within the united states, or naturalized in pursuance of the law, to be citizens, and entitled to the rights of citizenship; and a recent act of congress amends the organization acts of the several territories so as to confer the rights of suffrage upon all citizens except such as are disqualified by reason of crime. consequently, when congress decrees that we shall not, as a state, deprive citizens of rights already guaranteed to them, it does not transcend its powers, or impose upon us conditions from which we are now exempt. with these discussions of fundamental principles which, although couched in the most comprehensive terms, strangely enough conserved the rights of only half the citizens, the fourteenth amendment was ratified, and nebraska became a state on march , . the early legislation of nebraska was favorable to woman, and much ahead of that passed in the same period by most of the older states, the records show that a few legislators treated any matter that referred to the rights of woman as a jest, but the majority were liberal or respectful, and the honored names of dailey, reavis, majors, porter, kelley, and others, constantly recur in the records of the earlier sessions as pushing favorable legislation for women. at almost every session, too, the actual question of the ballot for woman was broached. the legislature of bestowed school suffrage on women;[ ] and a joint resolution and a memorial to congress relative to female suffrage were introduced. the journals show that: hon. isham reavis of falls city, introduced in the senate january , a memorial and joint resolution to congress, on the subject of female suffrage. after the second reading, on motion of mr. majors, it was referred to a select committee of bachelors, consisting of senators gere, majors, porter, and goodwill, who reported it back without recommendation. it was afterwards considered in committee of the whole, then taken up by the senate. reavis moved it be taken up for third reading on the following day. the yeas and nays being demanded the motion was lost by a vote of to . on motion of mr. stevenson the matter was referred to the judiciary committee, with the usual result of neglect and oblivion. in the autumn of mrs. stanton and miss anthony lectured in omaha and sowed seed which bore fruit in the large number of petitions sent later from that city. in december , mrs. tracy cutler gave several addresses in lincoln. miss anthony lectured january , , on "the false theory," and before leaving the city looked in on the legislature, which promptly extended to her the privilege of the floor. a number of ladies met miss anthony for consultation, and took the initiatory steps for forming a state association. a meeting was appointed for the following friday, when it was decided to memorialize the legislature. the memorial was headed by mrs. lydia butler, wife of the governor of the state, who spent some days in securing signatures. a lively pen-picture of those times is furnished by private correspondence of mrs. esther l. warner of roca: the first work done for woman suffrage in lincoln was in december, . mrs. tracy cutler stopped when on her way to california, and gave several addresses in lincoln. her womanliness and logic won and convinced her hearers, and had a marked effect upon public sentiment. there are men and women to-day in nebraska who date their conversion to the cause of equal rights from those lectures. some steps were taken towards organization, but the matter was dropped in its incipient stages. during the same winter miss susan b. anthony lectured in lincoln, and presented a petition to be signed by women, asking to be allowed to vote under the fourteenth amendment. she also called a meeting of ladies in a hotel parlor and aided in organizing a state suffrage society. her rare executive ability accomplished what other hands would have failed to do, for the difficulties in the way of such a movement at that early day were great. lydia butler, wife of governor butler, was elected president, and other representative women filled the various offices, but after a short time it was deemed wise to disband, as circumstances made it impossible to keep up an efficient organization. time and money were not plentiful with western women, but we did what we could, and sent a petition to the legislature that winter asking a resolution recommending to the coming state convention to omit the word "male" from the constitution. the petition was signed by about , women, and received respectful attention from the legislature, and speeches were made in its favor by several members. among others the speaker of the house, f. m. mcdougal, favored the resolution. governor butler sent a special message with the petition, recommending the passage of the resolution, for which nebraska women will always honor him. next it was thought best to call a convention in the interest of woman suffrage, to be held while the constitutional convention should be in session the coming summer. two women were commissioned to prepare the call and present it for the signatures of members of the legislature who favored the measure. it was thought this course would give dignity and importance to the call which would secure attention throughout the state. the session of the legislature was very exciting. intrigue accomplished the impeachment of a high state official, and others were being dragged down. as it neared its close the political cauldron boiled and bubbled with redoubled violence. it was more than any woman dared do to approach it. were not the political fortunes and the sacred honor (?) of men in jeopardy? woman's rights sunk into insignificance. we subsided. our hour had not yet come. mrs. butler says of the part she took at this time: "i entertained the speakers because requested to, and found them so pleasant and persuasive that i soon became a convert to their views. the active and intelligent leaders at that time were mesdames cropsey, galey, warner, monell, coda, and many others whose names i cannot recall." as the result of the effort thus made the legislature of memorialized the constitutional convention relative to submitting the question to the electors. the proceedings given in the journals are as follows: february , , mr. j. c. myers announced that ladies were in the gallery, and desired to present a petition. a committee was appointed to wait on them. d. j. quimby introduced a resolution asking an opinion of the attorney-general as to whether in accepting the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments we grant the right of suffrage to women. it was carried, and the memorial, the opinion, and the governor's message were referred to the judiciary committee, which reported through mr. galey as follows: _whereas_, the constitution of the state of nebraska prohibits the women of said state from exercising the right of the elective franchise; and _whereas_, taxation without representation is repugnant to a republican form of government, and applies to women as well as all other citizens of this state; and _whereas_, all laws which make any distinction between the political rights and privileges of males and females are unbecoming to the people of this state in the year of the world's progress, and tend only to deprive the latter of the means necessary for their own protection in the various pursuits and callings of life. therefore be it _resolved_, by the house of representatives of the state of nebraska, that the constitutional convention to be begun and holden on the--day of may, , for the purpose of revising and amending the constitution of said state, is hereby most respectfully and earnestly requested to draft such amendment to the constitution of this state as will allow the women thereof to exercise the right of the elective franchise and afford to them such other and further relief as to that honorable body may be deemed wise, expedient and proper; and be it further _resolved_, that said convention is hereby most respectfully and earnestly requested to make such provision (when said amendment shall be submitted to a vote of the people of said state) as will enable the women of nebraska to vote at said election for the adoption or rejection of the same. _resolved_, further, that the secretary of state is hereby instructed to present a copy of this resolution to said convention as soon as the same shall be convened. mr. porter moved the adoption of the report, which was carried by a vote of to .[ ] in the senate, march , e. c. cunningham offered the following amendment to the bill providing for calling a constitutional convention: that the electors of the state be and are hereby authorized and recommended to vote for and against female suffrage at the election for members of the constitutional convention. provided, that at such election all women above the age of years, possessing the qualifications required of male electors are hereby authorized and requested to vote upon said proposition, and for the purpose of receiving their votes a separate polling place shall be provided. the amendment was lost by a vote of to .[ ] in accordance with the memorial of the legislature, the constitutional convention that met in the following summer by a vote of to [ ] submitted a clause relative to the right of suffrage. the constitution itself was rejected by the voters; and on this clause the ballot stood, for, , ; against, , . had it been carried at the polls, it would only have conferred upon the legislature the right to submit amendments, and it was therefore no special object to the adherents of impartial suffrage to make efforts for its adoption, while the fact that it was the outgrowth of the discussion of that principle brought upon it all the opposition that a clause actually conferring the ballot would have insured. the right of woman to the elective franchise was championed by the ablest men in the convention. night after night the question was argued _pro_ and _con_. petitions from lincoln and omaha were numerously presented. the galleries were filled with women eagerly watching the result. the proposition finally adopted did not touch the point at issue, but was accepted as all that could be obtained on that occasion. as the constitution was not adopted, the succeeding legislature felt no interest in the proceedings of the convention, and the journals were not printed; and the records of this battle for justice and civil liberty were hidden in the dusty archives of the state-house until brought out to tell their story for these pages. as this is the only discussion of the question by nebraska statesmen which has been officially preserved, and as the debaters were among the most prominent men of the state, and many of them retain that position to-day, a few extracts will be of interest: the discussion began with the motion of mr. i. s. hascall to strike out "men" and insert "persons" in the clause "all men are by nature free and independent." the motion was lost. general e. estabrook moved to add "every human being of full age, and resident for a proper length of time on the soil of the nation and state, who is required to obey the law, is entitled to a voice in its enactment; and every such person whose property is taxed for the support of the government is entitled to a direct representation in such government." mr. hascall moved that "man" be inserted in place of "human being." mr. e. s. towle desired to put "male" in the place of "man." general estabrook, on being asked if his amendment was intended to cover "woman's rights," replied: i take pleasure in making the amendment because it is a step in the right direction. justice to woman is the keystone in the arch of the temple of liberty we are now building. that no citizen should be taxed without representation is an underlying principle of a republic and no free government can exist without it. general estabrook seems to have stood alone in considering that the principle of impartial suffrage properly belonged to the bill of rights. the amendments were lost. when the article on extension of suffrage was under discussion, general estabrook opened the subject in a comprehensive speech, lasting all one evening and part of the next. he proved that women were citizens, citing the petitions to congress relative to woman's right to vote under the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, and the reports of the committee thereupon--one in favor and one opposed, but both agreeing that women are citizens. then he showed what rights they were entitled to as citizens, quoting the federal constitution, bouvier's institutes and law dictionary, james madison, paine's dissertation on the principles of government, otis' rights of the colonies, thomas jefferson, benjamin franklin, and others. commenting upon these, he set forth that women vote in corporations, administer estates, manage hospitals and rule empires without harm to themselves and with benefit to everybody else. he made a special argument to the democrats, reviewing the position of some of their leading men, and closed with saying, "this is the most important measure yet considered, because it contains a fundamental principle." general strickland then introduced a resolution that an article for woman suffrage should be submitted to the people, that the women should vote separately, and that if a majority of both men and women should be in favor, it should become a law. the member did not move this because he favored the principle, but because he felt sure the women would not vote for it. he could not understand what a woman could possibly want more than she had, having the privileges while man has the drudgery. he closed with the prophecy that in two years not a woman would vote in wyoming. general charles f. manderson followed. taking the ground that the members were not in convention to look after the rights of the males only, he said: "did we recognize the right of all the people to be represented, we should have to-day on this floor some persons sent here to represent the women of our state. men do not represent women because they are not and cannot be held responsible by them. we have no more right to represent the women here than a man in iowa has to go to congress and presume to represent nebraska there." to illustrate the principle general manderson instanced that in the new york constitutional conventions of and , persons voted for delegates who had not the property qualifications to vote at ordinary elections. even the black man was represented by delegates for whom he had voted. in presenting a petition from lincoln with seventy names of women who desired to vote, general manderson said he had made inquiries, and these were the names of the respectable, influential ladies of lincoln, sixty-three of whom were married. he then reviewed the history and workings of woman suffrage in wyoming, furnishing the highest testimony in its favor, and closed as follows: mr. chairman, i envy not the heart or the head of the man, let him occupy what place he may, let him sit in a legislative body or wield the editorial pen, who is so base as to denounce the advocates of this measure as demagogues, and to say that if the right is extended to woman, the low, the miserable, will outnumber at the polls the thousands of virtuous wives throughout this land who advocate this measure; the lie is thrown in his teeth by that noble woman, mrs. livermore, who did more service in time of war as a soldier battling for the right than did even my gallant friend, and did far more than myself. she inaugurated and carried in her mighty hand and guided by her mighty brain that western ladies' aid society, and helped by some means the western sanitary association that did more than , armed men to suppress the late rebellion. the lie is hurled in the teeth of the vile slanderer by this petition from the honest, virtuous ladies of the city of lincoln. if we have planted one seed, that will bring forth good fruit, god be thanked for that result. mr. kenaston spoke in favor of the measure, and judge moore opposed it in a very witty speech, of which the principal points were that the members were to decide according to expediency, not right; that women had always consented to the government--never trampled the flag in the dust, but always rallied to its support. judge o. p. mason followed in opposition, also j. c. myers, the latter claiming that for twenty years the advocates of woman suffrage have made little, if any, impression on the public mind. e. f. gray had begun speaking in favor when victor vifquain moved the previous question. a lively debate followed this, but it did not prevail. mr. mason said: "if we hold the right on this question let us challenge discussion and meet the opposition. it is not a wasted time that sows the seed of truth in the brain." mr. manderson urged the number of petitions that had been sent in as a reason for full discussion. r. f. stevenson said he was opposed to it in every form. a. l. sprague was against submitting this question at any time, that neither by the laws of god nor of man were women entitled to vote. seth robinson would like to hear the social aspects of the question discussed. he said: "i would like, gentlemen, to show whether it would not have a tendency to regenerate our social system and make women as a class more efficient than they are." the motion for the previous question being lost a motion was made to strike out this section. while this was pending general estabrook insisted that it should be re-committed, saying: "it is the only political question that has essential principle in it. there are not brains enough in this convention to show the justice of taxation without representation. judge george b. lake warmly seconded mr. estabrook's motion. o. p. mason wanted the proposition to be submitted to both sexes separately. j. e. philpott advocated woman suffrage in a comprehensive argument. in closing, he said: i demand that suffrage shall be extended to females for the reason that they have not adequate representation in the electoral department. as evidence of this i cite the undeniable facts that in this state woman has not fair wages for her work--has not a fair field to work in. the law, with all its freedom, does not place her on the same footing as to property that it does males. she has no voice as an elector in the making of the laws which regulate her marital union, no voice in the laws which sever those ties. the motto of the state is "equality before the law." this can no more be among us with women disfranchised than in our nation all men could be free and equal while there were more than , , slaves. a. j. weaver spoke in opposition and was followed by hon. i. s. hascall, who based his advocacy of the principle on the rights that woman has as an individual: because we have started upon the wrong track, because women in the dark ages were in bondage, is no reason, when we have advanced to a higher civilization, that we should continue this barbarous practice. there is a higher point to reach and i want to see the people reach that point. i think that the american people are old enough in experience to bring order out of disorder, and that when the question arises they will meet it in such a way as will be satisfactory to all. mr. stevenson spoke in opposition basing his argument on man's superiority to woman and closed with this remarkable prediction which has probably never been surpassed as a specimen of "spread eagle": finally, mr. president, i really think that if the ballot were placed in the hands of woman the old american eagle that stands with one foot upon the alleghanies and the other upon the rockies, whetting his beak upon the ice-capped mountains of alaska, and covering half the southern gulf with his tail, will cease to scream and sink into the pits of blackness of darkness amidst the shrieks of lost spirits that will forever echo and reëcho through cavernous depths unknown. s. p. majors advocated the measure, and in the course of the discussion, b. i. hinman offered a burlesque resolution, proposing to change the duties and functions of the sexes by law, and john d. neligh said: the gentleman from otoe (mr. mason) will get the commission of the christian mothers, not _against_ the right of female suffrage, but _for_ universal suffrage. that will be a happy day--a day when we shall shine out as a nation more brightly than any other nation under the sun.[ ] the constitution of not having been adopted, it became necessary to present another to the people. accordingly in the summer of delegates of the male citizens met in the capital city. no outside pressure was brought to bear upon them to influence their consideration of this subject. the grasshoppers had ravaged the state the previous year, cutting off entirely the principal crop of the country. again in the spring of , in some of the river counties, the young had hatched in myriads, and devoured the growing crops ere winging their way to their mountain home. gloom overspread the people at the prospect of renewed disaster, and the dismal forebodings were realized even as the delegates sat in council, for at this time occurred the final appearance of the locust. as the people gazed into the sky and watched the silver cloud floating in the sunshine resolve itself into a miniature army clad in burnished steel, women forgot to be concerned for their rights, and the delegates thought only of completing their work with the utmost economy and speed. the new constitution, however, was formed on a more liberal basis. hon. r. b. harrington, of beatrice, in the committee on bill of rights, substituted the word "people" for "men," and it passed without comment. an article on amendments was embodied in the constitution, the same in substance as the one defeated in , under which, as was actually done in , the legislature could present amendments relating to suffrage. the question of adopting the article relating to qualifications of electors being before the convention. judge clinton briggs of omaha sat during the reading of the first clause, "every male," etc., meditating, as he related to a friend, on how many lives had been sacrificed and how many millions of money had been spent in getting rid of the word "white," which had made such an unjust restriction, and how easy it would be, by one dash of the pen, to blot out the word "male," and thus abolish this other unjust restriction. on the inspiration of the moment, he moved to strike out the word "male," r. b. harrington relates that the motion of judge briggs, who had not before expressed his sentiments, and who had not consulted with the known advocates of the measure, so astonished the convention that it was some time before they could realize that he was in earnest. the friends rallied to judge briggs' support. gen. chas. f. manderson--a member of this, as of the preceding convention--seconded the motion, and sustained it with a forcible speech. mr. harrington made a speech in its favor, and after a short and vigorous discussion it came to a vote, which showed fifteen for the motion and fifty-two against.[ ] about this time nebraska was again visited by lecturers on woman suffrage, who found an intelligent class of people, who, with growing material prosperity, were kindly disposed toward progressive ideas. mrs. margaret campbell lectured in nebraska in , at about fifteen places between kearney and the missouri. in - and , mrs. stanton and miss anthony lectured at many points. these, with some local lectures aroused an intelligent interest in equal rights for women. it was attempted to give this expression in the legislature of . resolutions were introduced, favorable reports made and the subject treated with kindly consideration, but for lack of time, or some one deeply interested, nothing was accomplished. the legislation of on the subject of equal suffrage originated with senator mcmeans and c. b. slocumb of fairbury. the former offered a petition from thos. harbine and others, asking a constitutional amendment prohibiting the disfranchising of citizens on account of sex. referred to a committee of whom a majority recommended that its consideration be indefinitely postponed. a minority report was brought in by orlando tefft and chas. h. brown recommending that the prayers of petitioners be granted. in the house, at the same session, c. b. slocumb presented the petition of calvin f. steele and others, with a resolution asking that the committee on constitutional amendments be instructed to provide for the submission of an amendment conferring the franchise upon woman. the resolution was adopted, referred, and reported back with draft of an amendment. the committee were messrs. true, windham, batty, simonton, mitchell, sparks and gaylord. on motion of mr. true the joint resolution was ordered to first reading; no further mention appears of it. the first suffrage society of the state was formed at fairbury by mrs. h. tyler wilcox, and although this organization lived but a short time, it secured petitions and drew the attention of legislators elect--senator mcmeans and c. b. slocumb--to the general interest felt in jefferson county. the second society was formed in thayer county. the sisters, mrs. davis and mrs. cornell, of alexandria, called a meeting, which resulted in organizing the alexandria free suffrage association, sept. , . prof. w. d. vermilion and e. m. correll of hebron, lectured before this society, but, most of the members living in the country, the meetings were given up when the cold weather set in. the first working society was that of hebron, which was organized by mrs. stanton, april , . the citizens were prepared for the undertaking. e. m. correll, editor of the hebron _journal_, in editorials, in lectures by himself and others, had urged on women the dignity and importance of interesting themselves in their own behalf. the society had been encouraged by lectures from miss couzins and mrs. h. t. wilcox, the latter taking the ground then comparatively new, that woman's ballot is necessary for successful temperance effort. meetings were kept up regularly and with increasing membership, and the thayer county woman suffrage association won a deserved triumph in being primarily connected with the origin and successful passage of the joint resolution of . the legislators elected in were senator c. b. coon, and representative e. m. correll. both these gentlemen were active members of the thayer county association, and after their election a committee waited on them, pledging them to special effort during the coming session. meanwhile a general favorable sentiment was growing. in noting this it would not be right to omit mention of mrs. harbert's "woman's kingdom," in the chicago _inter-ocean_, which circulated largely among country readers. the omaha _republican_ passed, in , under the editorial management of d. c. brooks, who, with his wife, had been prominent in the suffrage work of michigan and illinois. the favorable attitude of this paper, and the articles which mrs. brooks from time to time contributed to it, exerted a wide influence. in the winter of , mrs. brooks established a woman's department in the _republican_ which crystallized the growing interest around the leadership of its editor. letters were addressed to her from various sections of the state, urging immediate action. the following from mrs. lucinda russell will show the interest felt: tecumseh, neb., december , . mrs. harriet s. brooks--_dear madam_: i have been shown a form of petition for the suffrage which you enclosed to rev. mary j. delong, of this place. will you please inform me if this is to be the form of petition to be presented during the present session of the legislature? we wish the exact words in order that we may have it published in our local paper. we think it best to call a meeting, even now at this somewhat late day, and send women to lincoln who will attend personally to this matter. we have left these things neglected too long. will you call on all women of the state who can do so to assemble at lincoln during the session of the legislature, appointing the day, etc.? i think we would be surprised at the result. this town contains scarcely a woman who is opposed to woman suffrage. we know we are a power here; and we do not know but the same hearty support which tecumseh would afford may exist in many towns throughout the state. all we need for good earnest work and mighty results is organization. l. r. in accordance with these requests a meeting for conference was called at lincoln, january , , mrs. brooks presiding. a second meeting was held at the m. e. church, january , and a lincoln woman suffrage association was formed. a mass convention was held january , and a state association was formed next day:[ ] the meeting of january was held in the opera-house and was presided over by mrs. franc e. finch. the speakers were john b. finch, rev. mary j. delong, judge o. p. mason and mrs. esther l. warner. reading and music filled the programme. mrs. delong's address was in behalf of the prohibitory and suffrage amendments. judge mason's address was afterwards printed for distribution. it showed how forcible and eloquent the judge could be when on the right side. it will be remembered that judge mason opposed woman suffrage in the constitutional convention of . his closing sentences were: the more intelligent and exalted the character of the electors in a government whose foundation rests upon the franchise, the more safe and secure are the liberties of the people and the property of that government. the higher the social and moral standard of the electors, the better will be the type of manhood that is chosen to make laws and administer the government. as you elevate the standard of intelligence, and increase the ability and intensify the power to recognize the right and a sense of obligation to follow it, you make sure the foundations of civil and religious liberty. you do more, you elevate the character of the laws, and better the administration in every department of government. it has been wisely said that government is best which is best administered. do as we will, however, forget the rights of others, treat them with contempt, summon to our aid the united efforts of great political parties, invoke statutory and constitutional law to aid us in the mad career, yet, let no one forget that god's balances, watched by his angels, are hung across the sky to weigh the conduct of individuals and nations, and that in the end divine wisdom will pronounce the inexorable judgment of compensatory justice. previous to all of these meetings hon. e. m. correll had introduced on january , h. r. , a bill for an amendment to the constitution striking the word "male" from qualifications of electors. this had given impetus to the friends of the measure and inspiration to the meetings. a vote of thanks was tendered mr. correll by both the state and thayer county associations. the bill not being technically correct, mr. correll introduced on february , a joint resolution of the same purport, h. r. . the committees of senate and house on constitutional amendments gave a hearing that evening to the advocates of the measure: of the fourteen members of the committees, ten were present; the full number from the house and three from the senate. mr. correll pressed the claims of the resolution in the first speech, and then introduced the different speakers representing the state association. mrs. harriet s. brooks reviewed the progress of sentiment elsewhere and said that her acquaintance and correspondence in this state led her to think the time ripe for action of this kind. mrs. orpha clement dinsmoor argued the abstract right of it, saying: it has now come to the question of absolute right--whether one class of people shall say to another: "you can come only thus far in the direction of liberty." we realize that woman must be educated to this new privilege, just as man has been educated to it, and just as this nation is now educating millions of the newly enfranchised to it. feeling that in intellectual and moral capacity woman is the peer of man, i think that her actual steps forward in needful preparation have given her the right to say who shall rule over her. mrs. jennie f. holmes based her remarks on the added influence it would give women in securing wise legislation in matters of welfare to the home. clara b. colby answered questions of the committee. it was a most encouraging fact that every member of the committee, after the speakers had finished presenting the case, spoke in favor of the amendment, except one, a bohemian, who was suffering from hoarseness and induced his colleague to express favorable sentiments for him. these gentlemen all remained friendly to the bill until its passage. headquarters were established in lincoln. mrs. brooks remained during the session, and mesdames holmes, russell, dinsmoor and colby all, or most of the time, until the act was passed, interviewing the members and securing the promise of their votes for the measure: the joint resolution went through all the preliminary stages in the house without opposition on account of the discretion of its advocates, the watchfulness of its zealous friends among the members, and the carefulness of mr. correll with regard to all pending measures. the bill was made a special order for february , : a. m., and mrs. brooks, mrs. dinsmoor and mrs. colby addressed the house by invitation. at the close of their remarks mr. roberts offered the following: _resolved_, that, as the sense of this house, we extend our thanks to the ladies who have so ably addressed us in behalf of female suffrage, and we wish them god-speed in their good work. on motion of mr. howe the resolution was unanimously adopted. mr. correll moved that h. r. be ordered engrossed for third reading. the motion prevailed. the final vote in the house, february , stood for the amendment; against.[ ] the passage of the bill had its dramatic features. intense interest was felt by the crowds which daily gathered in the capitol to watch its progress, while the officers of the state association were extended the courtesies of the floor, and came and went, watching every opportunity and giving counsel and assistance at every step. on this eventful monday afternoon but one of these was present, and she watched with anxiety the rapid passage of the bills preceding, which made it evident that h. r. would soon be reached. six more than the needed number of votes had been promised, but three of these were absent from the city. there were barely enough members present to do business, as important bills claimed attention in committee-rooms and lobbies. the last bill ahead of this was reached, and the friends hurried out in every direction to inform the members, who responded quickly to the call. one man pledged to the amendment went out and did not return, the only one to betray the measure. the roll was called amid breathless interest and every one kept the tally. church howe, in voting, said: "i thank god that my life has been spared to this moment, when i can vote to extend the right of suffrage to the women of my adopted state." and c. b. slocumb responded to his name, "believing that my wife is entitled to all the rights that i enjoy, i vote aye." the last name had been called, and all knew that only fifty votes had been cast for the amendment, lacking one of the required three-fifths of all members elect. the chief clerk of the house, b. d. slaughter, usually so glib, slowly repeated the names of those who had voted and more slowly footed up the result. two favorable members were outside; if only one could be reached! the speaker, who had just voted against the amendment, but was kindly disposed towards those interested in it, held the announcement back for a moment which gave church howe time to move the recommitment of the resolution. his motion was seconded all over the house, but just at this juncture one of the absent friends, p. o. heacock, a german member from richardson county, came in, and, being told what was going on, called out, "i desire to vote on this bill." he walked quickly to his place and, in answer to his name, voted "aye." the speaker asked mr. howe if he wished to withdraw his motion, which he did, and the vote was announced. the galleries cheered, and the house was in a hubbub, unrebuked by the speaker, who looked as happy as if he had voted for the bill. the members gathered around the woman who sat in their midst, shook hands and extended congratulations, many even who had voted against the amendment expressing their personal sympathy with its advocates. the joint resolution was immediately sent to the senate, where, after its second reading, it was referred to the committee on constitutional amendments, who returned it with two reports: that of the majority, recommended its passage, while the minority opposed it on the ground that it would be inadvisable to introduce opposing measures into the house and thus create new divisions in politics and a new cause of excitement; but principally upon the claim that in the territory where female suffrage had obtained "for a period of two years" the experiment had been disastrous, the "interests of the territory damaged in emigration," and the administration of justice hindered in the courts. this report was signed by senators j. c. myers and s. b. taylor, who had persistently refused to listen to argument or information on the subject. as soon as the report was made, the senators were informed of their glaring mistake as to the length of time the women of wyoming had voted, and information was laid before them proving that the results in that territory had been in every way beneficial,[ ] but they refused to withdraw or change their report. the parliamentary tactics and watchfulness of senators doane, coon, smith, white, dinsmore, harrington and tefft carried the bill through the bluster of the minority to its final vote; by twenty-two for to eight against.[ ] when senator howe's name was called he offered the following explanation: the question of submitting this proposition to a vote of the people is not to be regarded as a pleasantry, as some members seem to think. however mischievously the experiment of giving the suffrage to women may operate, the power once given cannot be recalled. i have endeavored to look at the question conscientiously. i desire to keep abreast of all legitimate reforms of the day. i would like to see the moral influence of women at the polls, but i would not like to see the immoral influence of politics in the home circle. the almighty has imposed upon woman the highest office to which human nature is subject, that of bearing children. her life is almost necessarily a home life; it should be largely occupied in rearing and training her children to be good men and pure electors. therein her influence is all-powerful. again, i incline to the belief that to strike out the word 'male' in the constitution would not change its meaning so as to confer the suffrage upon women. i am not acquainted with half a dozen ladies who would accept the suffrage if it were offered to them. they are not prepared for so radical a change. for these reasons, briefly stated, and others, i vote _no_. mr. turner explained his vote as follows: our wives, mothers and sisters having an equal interest with us in the welfare of our commonwealth, and being equal to ourselves in intelligence, there appears no good reason why the right to vote should be withheld from them. the genius of our institutions is opposed to taxation without representation; opposed to government without the consent of the governed, and therefore i vote _aye_. the act was then signed by the president of the senate and speaker of the house, and sent to gov. nance. the latter, who, although not personally an advocate of the measure, had given all courtesy and assistance to its supporters, signed it promptly. to take a bill like this, which even a minority are anxious to defeat, through the intricate course of legislation requires work, watchfulness and the utmost tact and discretion on the part of its friends in both houses. the suffrage association immediately arranged to begin a canvass of the state. the vice-president was appointed state organizer and entered upon the duties of the office by forming a society at beatrice, march . the next step was to secure ample and unimpeachable testimonials from wyoming, which were printed in _woman's work_, and then spread broadcast in leaflet form. lectures were given, and societies and working committees formed as rapidly as possible. the _western woman's journal_, a neat monthly magazine, was established in may, by hon. e. m. correll, and a host of women suddenly found themselves gifted with the power to speak and write, which they consecrated to the cause of their civil liberties. the thayer county association, as the elder sister of the numerous family now springing up, maintained its prominence as a centre of activity and intelligence. barbara j. thompson, secretary from its organization, wrote at this time of the enthusiasm felt, and of the willingness of the women to work, but added, "nearly all our women are young mothers with from one to five children, and these cannot do anything more than attend the meetings occasionally when they can leave the children." this might have been said of any society in the state, and this fact must be considered in judging from their achievements of the zeal of the nebraska women. few, comparatively, could take a public part, and all others were constantly reckoned by opponents as unwilling or indifferent. thayer county association celebrated the fourth of july in a novel manner, making every feature an object lesson. _woman's work_ gave an account of it at the time, which is quoted to give a pleasant glance backward at the enthusiasm and interest that marked the work of this society: we found to our surprise that the women of thayer county had in charge the whole celebration. the fourth dawned cool and clear, and with news of the improvement of garfield, everybody felt happy. the procession, marshaled by ladies on their handsome horses, and assisted by senator c. b. coon, was formed in due time, and presented a very imposing appearance. the band wagon was followed by nearly a hundred others, and among the novelties of the occasion was the boys' brigade, consisting of a score of little fellows, some with drums and some with cornets, who played in quite tolerable time. the states were represented to indicate their progress with regard to equal rights. young men represented those wherein no advance had been made; young women those where school suffrage had been granted to women; and wyoming territory was represented by two, a man and a woman. the little girls were all dressed in the appropriate colors, the wagons were gaily decorated, and the procession well managed. after singing and prayer, the president, mrs. ferguson, gave a short address. mrs. vermilion, who is a direct descendant of one of the signers of the declaration of independence, read the woman's declaration of independence and bill of rights, a document couched in such forcible terms as hancock, adams & co., would use if they were women in this year of our lord . then followed the oration of the day, delivered by mrs. colby, and for the audience it had at least two points of interest: first, that the woman suffrage society had acted in defiance of precedent, and had engaged a woman as their orator; and secondly, that it was given from the standpoint of a citizen and not of a woman. there being nothing in the address on the matter of woman suffrage, the society desired the speaker to address them in the evening on that subject. accordingly a meeting was held, and despite the fatigue of the day, there was a good attendance and considerable interest. a good dinner was provided on the grounds, and afterwards they had singing and speaking. mr. hendershot addressed the children. it will be an item of interest to the readers of the _express_ that the w. s. a. of thayer county have had some songs printed appropriate for their use. among them is "hold the polls," a song by the editor of the _express_, and this was sung with considerable enthusiasm. it may be said that the whole affair was a success, and reflected great credit on the executive ability of the ladies in charge. one item of interest must not be forgotten--among the various banners indicative of the virtues which are worthy of cultivation, was one whose motto read, "in mother we trust." a lady being asked the peculiar significance of this, said, "it has always been god and father, now we want the children to learn to trust their mothers, and to think they are of some account." a successful state convention was held at omaha july , , mrs. brooks presiding and making the opening address. the address of mrs. ada m. bittenbender on "the legal disabilities of married women" created quite a discussion among a number of noted lawyers present. of this the _republican_ said: this lady is the well-known recent editor of the osceola _record_, which she has now relinquished for the study and practice of law, in partnership with her husband. her address, although learned, elaborate, comprehensive, and dealing with principles and technicalities, was delivered extemporaneously, with great animation and effect, and in a manner at once womanly, captivating and strong. miss ida edson read a paper on "might and right." mrs. bloomer, whose presence was an interesting feature of the convention, gave reminiscences of her own work for woman's ballot in nebraska. the convention was enlivened by the dramatic readings of mrs. h. p. mathewson, and the inspiring ballads of the poet-singer, james g. clark, who had come from colorado to attend the meeting. a glimpse at the convention through the friendly eyes of the editor of the _republican_ will indicate the interest and ability shown by the women of the state: the first general convention of the woman's state suffrage association commenced its session last evening at masonic hall, the president, mrs. harriet s. brooks, in the chair, assisted by the first vice-president, mrs. clara b. colby of beatrice; the secretary, mrs. a. m. bittenbender of osceola; and the treasurer, mrs. russell of tecumseh. a majority of the members of the executive committee and of the vice-presidents were also present, with several friends of the cause from abroad, including hon. e. m. correll, editor of the _western woman's journal_, who was the "leader of the house" on the bill for submitting the suffrage amendment to the people. the evening was sultry and threatening, and masonic hall was not so full as it would otherwise have been, considering both "promise and performance." the local attendance was representative, including quite a number of our leading citizens, with their wives, and the editors of our contemporaries the _herald_ and the _bee_. the meeting was a very interesting one, more especially the "conversational" portion, in which free discussion was solicited. this was opened by hon. e. rosewater, who spoke in response to a very general call. his address of half an hour in length was marked by apparent sincerity, and was a calm and argumentative presentation of objections, theoretical and practical, which occurred to him against the extension of the franchise to women. it was replied to by mrs. colby, in a running comment, which abounded in womanly wisdom and wit, and incessantly brought down the house. our restricted space will compel us to forego a report of the discussion at present. on the conclusion of mrs. colby's very bright and convincing remarks, dr. mcnamara addressed the convention in a brief speech of great earnestness, depth and power. the last session was most interesting. the hall was nearly filled, and among the audience were representatives of many of our leading families. there was rather too much crowded into this session, but the convention "cleaned up" its work thoroughly, and the audience displayed a patient interest to the very end. besides the address of professor clark, there was a masterly constitutional argument by mrs. clara b. colby, which demonstrated that woman can argue logically, and can support her postulates with the requisite legal learning, embracing a knowledge of the common and statute law authorities from blackstone down. the address abounded in historical and literary allusions which show its author to be a person of broad culture as well as an adept in "book learning." following came another address from mrs. bloomer, in which she disposed--as he expressed, to dr. mcnamara's entire satisfaction--of the stock biblical argument down from moses to paul against "woman's rights" to act in the same spheres, and speak from the same platform with men. this address was given at the special request of several leading ladies of this city, and though the hour was late, it was received with unbroken interest, and was complimented with a special vote of thanks, moved by mrs. colby. most interesting reports of district and local work were made by mrs. holmes, of tecumseh, mrs. chapin of riverton, and mrs. slaughter of osceola. dr. mcnamara closed the convention with a few stirring words of exhortation to the ladies to go right to work from now on to november, . he excused himself from a set speech with the promise that, if "let off" now, he would, at some future time, present a full expression of his views on the reform to which he has so earnestly pledged himself. the closing word in which the _republican_ would sum up the varied proceedings of the first state suffrage convention is the magic word success. a second very successful convention was held at kearney, october , . a score or more societies were represented by delegates and their reports were very encouraging. the principal features of the programme were: address of president, harriet s. brooks; welcome, mrs. h. s. sydenham; response, mrs. a. p. nicholas; addresses by mrs. esther l. warner, gen. s. h. connor (whose name appeared among the votes of the opponents in ); mrs. orpha c. dinsmoor, on "inherent rights"; l. b. fifield, regent of the state university, on "woman's influence for women"; and rev. crissman, resident presbyterian minister, on "expediency." among the letters received was the following, addressed to mrs. dinsmoor, by gen. manderson, whose name has been mentioned as voting for woman's ballot in the constitutional conventions of and : omaha, october, . your esteemed favor inviting me to speak before the convention at kearney, october , , upon the subject of the extension of suffrage to women, was duly received. i have delayed replying to it until to day in the hope that my professional engagements would permit me to meet with you at kearney. the continuing session of our district court prevents my absence at this time. i would like very much to be with you at the meeting of your association. my desire, however, would be to hear rather than to speak. ten years have passed since, with other members of the constitutional convention of , i met in argument those who opposed striking the word "male" from the constitution of nebraska. in those days "the truth was mighty and prevailed," almost to the extent of full success, for, as the result of our effort, we saw the little band of thirteen increase to thirty. i feel that there must be much of new thought and rich argument growing from the agitation of the last ten years, and to listen to those who, like yourself and many other members of your association, have been in the forefront of the battle for the right, would be most interesting. but i must, for the present, forego the pleasure of hearing you. i write merely to keep myself "on the record" in the good fight. now, as ever, i favor the enfranchisement of women, the disfranchisement of ignorance. i would both extend and contract the right to vote in our republic; extend it so that intelligence without regard to color or sex should rule, and contract it so that ignorance should be ruled. if this be not the cure for the political ills that threaten the permanency of american institutions, then there is no cure. may nebraska be the first of the states to apply the remedy. very respectfully yours, charles f. manderson. [illustration: clara bewick colby] the association sent out its scouts, and as a result a convention was held in quite the northern part of the state, at norfolk, november and december . this was much appreciated by the citizens, whose locality was at that time not much frequented by speakers on any topic.[ ] the first annual meeting, held at lincoln in february, , found a large number of delegates, each with reports of kindred local work, ready to receive the record of this year of preparation. everything indicated a favorable termination to the effort, as it became evident that all sections of the state were being aroused to active interest. the address of the president, mrs. harriet s. brooks, was entitled, "work, wages and the ballot." it was a review of a lecture given earlier in the season by chancellor fairchild of the university, in which he had taken the ground that the work of women should not receive the same wages as that of men. rev. dr. mcnamara and others spoke briefly and earnestly. miss lydia bell, at the closing evening session, gave an address which, to use the words of the reporter, "for felicity of composition, strength of argument, and beauty of delivery, fully merited the special resolution of thanks unanimously given by the society."[ ] the work of organizing and lecturing was continued with as much zeal and efficiency as the busy days and limited resources of the women would permit. many of the counties held conventions, took count of their friends, and prepared for a vigorous campaign. as the summer advanced, at picnics, old settlers' gatherings, soldiers' reünions, fairs, and political conventions,--wherever a company of people had assembled, there interested women claimed an opportunity to present the subject to audiences it would otherwise have been impossible to reach. with but few exceptions, officials extended the courtesies asked. during the summer of , the work was greatly aided by the lectures of margaret campbell and matilda hindman; and during the month of september by helen m. gougar. the american suffrage association, at its annual meeting in , elected hon. e. m. correll president, as a recognition of his services to the cause in nebraska, and in , it held its annual meeting in omaha, september and . lucy stone, h. b. blackwell, and hannah tracy cutler remained for some weeks, lecturing in the state, and were warmly received by the local committees. ex-governor john w. hoyt, and judge kingman, of wyoming, gave a few addresses. the national association also held its annual meeting at omaha, sept. , , . a reception was given at the paxton hotel on the close of the last session. following this, a two days' convention was held at lincoln, from which point the speakers diverged to take part in the campaign.[ ] while those friendly to the amendment were laboring thus earnestly, the politicians held themselves aloof and attended strictly to "mending their own fences." after the act had passed the legislature, it was found that almost every prominent man in the state was friendly to the amendment. the bench and bar were especially favorable, while three-fourths of the press and a large majority of the clergy warmly espoused the cause. leading politicians told the women to go ahead and organize, and they would assist in the latter part of the canvass. thayer and clay county republicans endorsed woman suffrage in their platform, while franklin county delegates were instructed to vote for no one who was not in favor of the amendment. previous to the session of the republican state convention, great hopes were entertained that this body would put an endorsement of the amendment in its platform, as a majority of the delegates were personally pledged to vote for such a measure. but the committee on resolutions was managed by a man who feared that such endorsement would hurt the party, and the suffrage resolution which was handed in, was not reported with the rest. on the plea of time being precious, the convention was maneuvered to pass a resolution that the report of the committee should not be discussed. the report was brought in at the last moment of the convention, and adopted as previously arranged, and the convention was adjourned, everybody wondering why a resolution relative to the amendment had not been presented. the republican leaders feared that their party was endangered by the passage of the bill by the legislature, for it was very largely carried by republican votes, and while individually friendly, they almost to a man avoided the subject. as the canvass progressed, it was comical to note how shy the politicians fought of the women to whom they had promised assistance. judge o. p. mason, who had agreed to give ten lectures for the amendment, and whose advocacy would have had immense weight, engaged to speak for the republican party, and at every place but one, the managers stipulated that he should be silent on the amendment. of the vast array of republican speakers, had even those who had expressed themselves in favor of the amendment advocated it intelligently and earnestly, the result would have been different. due credit must be given to ex-united states senator tipton, judge w. h. morris, and a few others who lectured outside of their own counties, as well as at home, while david butler, candidate for senator from pawnee county, e. m. correll of hebron, c. c. chapin of riverton, judge a. p. yocum of hastings, and doubtless a few others, regardless of their political prospects, advocated the cause of woman along with their own. the women of nebraska will always cherish the memory of the enthusiastic young student from ann arbor, michigan, who spent some months of the campaign in nebraska, giving lavishly of his means and talents to aid the cause. wilder m. wooster was a bright, logical speaker, and his death, which occurred in , cost the world a promising and conscientious journalist. towards the close of the campaign it became evident that the saloon element was determined to defeat the amendment. the organ of the brewers' association sent out its orders to every saloon, bills posted in conspicuous places by friends of the amendment mysteriously disappeared, or were covered by others of an opposite character, and the greatest pains was taken to excite the antagonism of foreigners by representing to them that woman suffrage meant prohibition. on the other hand, the temperance advocates were by no means a unit for its support. the morning dawned bright and clear on november , . the most casual observer would have seen that some unusual interest was commanding attention. everything wore a holiday appearance. polling places were gaily decorated; banners floated to the breeze, bearing suggestive mottoes: "are women citizens?" "taxation without representation is tyranny!" "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." "equality before the law," etc., etc. under pavilions, or in adjoining rooms, or in the very shadow of the ballot-box, women presided at well-filled tables, serving refreshments to the voters, and handing to those who would take them, tickets bearing the words: "for constitutional amendment relating to right of suffrage," while the national colors floated alike over governing and governed; alike over women working and pleading for their rights as citizens, and men who were selling woman's birth-right for a glass of beer or a vote. it looked like a holiday picnic--the well-dressed people, the flowers, the badges, and the flags; but the tragic events of that day would fill a volume. the conservative joined hands with the vicious, the egotist with the ignorant, the demagogue with the venial, and when the sun set, nebraska's opportunity to do the act of simple justice was gone--lost by a vote of , to , --so the record gives it. but it must not be forgotten that many tickets were fraudulently printed, and that tickets which contained no mention of the amendment were counted against it, as also were tickets having any technical defect or omission; for instance, tickets having the abbreviated form, "for the amendment," were counted against it. it will always remain an open question whether the amendment did not, after all, receive an actual majority of all votes cast upon that question. in this new state, burdened with the duties incident to the development of a new country, the women had done what women might do to secure their rights, but their hour had not yet struck. on the following evening, the speakers of the national association, who still remained in the state held a meeting[ ] at the opera-house in omaha, at which the addresses were in the main congratulatory for the large vote, making proportionally the largest ever cast for woman's ballot. while history must perforce be silent concerning the efforts and sacrifices of the many, a word will be expected in regard to some of the principal actors. looking back on these two eventful years, not a woman who took part in that struggle would wish to have been inactive in that heroic hour. it is an inspiration and an ennobling of all the faculties that they have once been lifted above all personal aims and transient interests; and for all who caught the true meaning of the moment, life can never again touch the low level of indifference. the officers of the state association who were most active in the canvass are here mentioned with a word as to their subsequent efforts: mrs. harriet s. brooks, whose services have so often been referred to, after working in three states for the privileges of citizenship, is devoting herself to the congenial study of sociology, and her able pen still does service. ada m. bittenbender was admitted to the bar may , , and from that time until the election gave undivided attention to the duties of her office as president of the state association. the campaign song-book, the supplement folded in the county papers, the columns of notes and news prepared for many journals in the state, the headquarters in lincoln from which, with the assistance of e. m. correll and mrs. russell, she sent forth documents, posters, blanks and other campaign accessories, sufficiently attest her energy and ability. she is now a practicing lawyer of lincoln, and was successful during the session of the legislature of in securing the passage of a law making mothers joint and equal guardians of their children. mrs. belle g. bigelow of geneva was an active and reliable officer during the canvass of , and is now prominent in the temperance work of nebraska. mrs. lucinda russell of tecumseh, for two years the treasurer of the state association, edited a department in the local paper in the interest of the amendment, was one of the campaign committee, and spared no effort to push the work in her own county. her sister, mrs. jennie f. holmes, was one of the most efficient members of the executive committee. she drove all over her own county, holding meetings in the school-houses. the efforts of these two women would have carried johnson county for the amendment had not the election officials taken advantage of a technical defect in the tickets used in some of the precincts. mrs. holmes sustained the suffrage work in nebraska through the two following years as chairman of the executive committee, was elected in to the office of president of the state woman's christian temperance union, and reëlected in to the same position. mrs. orpha c. dinsmoor of omaha, as chairman of the executive committee during the first year (mrs. de long having resigned), contributed largely to the most successful conventions of the campaign. one of the most notable lectures given in the state was hers in reply to chancellor fairfield of the nebraska university, on "work and wages." as it was known that the chancellor held the ground that woman should not be paid equally with man, even for the same work and the same skill, the lincoln woman suffrage association invited him to give his lecture on that subject, and mrs. dinsmoor to answer him on the following evening. mrs. dinsmoor is well known for her interest in education and scientific charity, and has, by appointment of the governor of the state, represented nebraska at the national conference of charities and corrections at its last two annual meetings. she is now the president of the nebraska woman's board of associated charities. mrs. barbara j. thompson, of english birth, was one of the leading spirits of the thayer county society, and was active in holding meetings and organizing committees. her principal service was by her ready pen, which furnished articles for a large number of papers. it is pleasant to reflect that one woman who worked so earnestly for the rights of citizenship in nebraska has obtained them in her new home at tacoma, washington territory. mrs. gertrude mcdowell of fairbury lent her wit and wisdom to many conventions, was ready with her pen, and secured a thorough canvass in jefferson county. she was the third president of the state association. mrs. mollie k. maule of fairmont laid by her law studies to serve on the executive board of the state association. in company with mrs. susie fifield and others, she held meetings in all the precincts of fillmore county, securing a good vote. mrs. maule was elected president of the state association in . mrs. jennie g. ford of kearney, for some time member of the executive committee, was one of the leading advocates in buffalo county. always aiding and inspiring others to effort, she was an incessant worker in the causes dear to her heart. she was president of the nebraska woman's christian temperance union from to . she died june , , leaving in the hearts of all who had known her, tender memories of her beautiful life. miss lydia bell, a talented elocutionist of lincoln, devoted some months to lecturing. her great intellectual and rhetorical gifts made her a very effective speaker. dr. hetty k. painter was a graduate of the pennsylvania medical college in . she was a physician in the army during the civil war, and her proudest possession is the badge which proves her membership in the fifth army corps. her practice and her infirmary at lincoln did not prevent her helping largely the cause in which she felt so great an interest. mrs. esther l. warner of roca was the only person actively engaged in the last canvass who had been connected with the effort of . as vice-president of her judicial district, she spoke at many places, organizing wherever practicable. her motherly face, and persuasive but humorous argument, made her a favorite at conventions. coming to nebraska in its early days, a widow with a large family, she purchased a large farm and devoted herself to its management, to the care and education of her children, and to the direction of the village school, being a member of the board of trustees for many years. she had not used tongue or pen for public service since her girlhood until this occasion enlisted her interest and proved her gifts. clara c. chapin, _la petite_, as she was called at conventions, or as a friend styles her, "the dear little english bud that blossomed on american soil," was one of the most zealous of our women, organizing, lecturing and arranging campaigns. she is at present very active in the temperance work, and is one of the editors of a state temperance paper, the _republican valley echo_. an extract from a letter received from her in answer to inquiry will show the spirit that actuates this representative advocate of woman's political enfranchisement: i never thought much about "woman's rights" until within the last five years--that is, _political_ rights. i always had a strong sense of my responsibilities as a woman and a mother (have three children), and realize that we need something more than moral suasion to make our influence practical and effective. my husband, though not what is called a "politician," has been sufficiently in politics for me to know just what power the ballot has, and to see the necessity of woman's work in that direction. i am happy to say that mr. chapin is heart and soul with me in this, and it is a wonder to us how any wife or mother, how any christian woman can say, "i have all the rights i want." hoping to hold the vantage ground already gained, a state convention was held at kearney, december , , the place being selected because buffalo county had carried the amendment by a good majority. the association held three formal sessions, which were well attended and very interesting. speeches of encouragement and congratulation were made, plans for work discussed, and campaign reminiscences recounted. one of the most interesting that was given was that of mrs. beedy of gardner precinct, who said that the women actively interested in the suffrage work talked socially on the subject with every man in the precinct. there were seventy-two votes, and only four against the amendment. of these four persons, two could neither read nor write, a third could not write his own name, and the fourth could not write his name in english. all the delegates present reported that the social work had been a prime cause of such success as they had found. mrs. bigelow said that geneva precinct stood ninety-eight for the amendment and ninety-eight against. at fairmont sixty ladies went to the polls. they wore white ribbon badges on which was printed, "are we citizens?" the general impression among those attending the convention was that the association should petition congress for a sixteenth amendment, petition the nebraska legislature for municipal suffrage, and make use of school suffrage to its fullest extent. the executive committee held four sessions, appointed a number of working committees, and attended to settling up the campaign business of the association. the convention was considered a decided success in every way. the annual meeting was held in january, . mrs. gertrude mcdowell was elected president. the usual business was transacted, and a special committee appointed to secure favorable legislation. in view of the fact that so much of the opposition had been based on the allegation that "women do not want to vote," a resolution was prepared for the immediate re-submission of a constitutional amendment with a provision making it legal for women to vote on its final ratification. the joint resolution was introduced by senator charles h. brown of omaha, and ably advocated by him and others, especially by senator david butler. it was lost by nearly a two-thirds vote. the committee on amendments gave a hearing to lydia bell, clara c. chapin and clara b. colby. the joint resolution was taken up in the senate for discussion february . _woman's work_ gives the record of the proceedings: senator mcshane of douglas moved indefinite postponement. senator brown of douglas, who introduced the resolution, spoke against the motion and made a forcible historical argument for the bill. senator mcshane then spoke at length against the bill, basing his opposition to the enfranchisement of woman on the ground that it would be detrimental to the interests of the foreigner. senator schönheit of richardson opposed the bill on the plea that it would mar the loveliness of woman in her domestic relations. senator reynolds of butler favored the bill. he had voted against the amendment last fall, but he did it because he feared the women did not want the ballot, and he was willing to let them decide for themselves. senator dech of saunders favored the bill in remarks showing a broad and comprehensive philosophy. senator butler of pawnee made a magnificent arraignment of the republican and democratic parties, and an appeal to the anti-monopolists to oppose the monopoly of sex. his speech was the longest and most earnest of the session. several persons expressing a desire to continue the discussion, mcshane withdrew his motion to postpone. the senate adjourned, and on friday morning it was moved and carried that this bill be made the special order for that evening. accordingly, the chamber and gallery were filled. on motion, mrs. colby was unanimously requested to address the senate in behalf of the bill. senator butler escorted her to the clerk's desk, and she delivered an extemporaneous address, of which a fair synopsis was given by the _journal_ reporter. foreseeing the defeat of the bill, she said, in closing, "you may kill this bill, gentlemen, but you cannot kill the principle of individual liberty that is at issue. it is immortal, and rises phoenix-like from every death to a new life of surpassing beauty and vigor. the votes you cast against the bill will, like the dragons' teeth in the myth of old, spring up into armed warriors that shall obstruct your path, demanding of you the recognition of woman's right to 'equality before the law.'" the grave and reverend senators joined in the applause of the gallery, and carried senator reynolds' motion "that the thanks of this senate be returned to mrs. colby for the able, eloquent and instructive address to which we have listened"; but with no apparent reluctance, on senator mcshane's motion being renewed, they postponed the bill by a vote of to .[ ] of the absent ones, senator dech was known to be sick, some of the others were in their seats a moment previous, and it is fairly to be presumed that they did not dare to vote upon the question. of those voting aye, senators brown of clay, and walker of lancaster had favored the bill in the committee, and the friends were counting on their vote, as also some others who had expressed themselves favorable. it is due to senators brown of douglas and butler to say that they championed the bill heartily, and furthered its interests in every possible way. conventions were held at grand island in may, at hastings in august of , and at fremont august, . the annual meeting of was held at york, and that of in lincoln. at all of these enthusiasm and interest were manifested, which indicate that the idea has not lost its foothold. the _woman's tribune_, established in , circulates largely in the state, and maintains an intelligent if not an active interest. when a new occasion comes the women will be able to meet it. their present attitude of hopeful waiting has the courage and faith expressed in the words of lowell: "endurance is the crowning quality, and patience all the passion of great hearts; these are their stay, and when the hard world with brute strength, like scornful conqueror, clangs his huge mace down in the other scale, the inspired soul but flings his patience in, and slowly that out-weighs the ponderous globe; one faith against a whole world's unbelief, one soul against the flesh of all mankind." footnotes: [ ] having visited beatrice twice to speak in different courses of lectures arranged by mrs. colby, i can testify to her executive ability alike in her domestic and public work. she can get up a meeting, arrange the platform, with desk and lights, and introduce a speaker with as much skill and grace as she can spread a table with dainty china and appetizing food, and enliven a dinner with witty and earnest conversation.--[e. c. s. [ ] _yeas_--messrs. boulwere, buck, campbell, chambers, clancy, davis, decker, hail, haygood, hoover, kirk, larimer, rose, sullivan-- . _nays_--messrs. beck, bowen, gibson, harsh, laird, miller, moore, morton, mcdonald, riden, salisbury-- . [ ] it is a pleasure to record that both these gentlemen have reached the logical result of their former views, and now advocate giving the franchise to intelligence and patriotism regardless of the sex of the possessor. governor saunders, in the capacity of united states senator, cast a favorable ballot on measures in any manner referring to woman's civil rights, and in spoke on the platform of the national association, at its washington convention. [ ] the legislature of repealed this law except so far as it referred to unmarried adult women and widows. in the legislature of , senator c. h. gere introduced a bill revising the laws relating to schools. one of the provisions of the bill conferred the school ballot on women on the same terms as on men--viz: any person having children of school age, or having paid taxes on personal property, or being assessed on real estate, within such a period, is entitled to vote at all elections pertaining to schools. this, however, does not include the power to vote for state or county superintendents. the women of the state now vote so largely that it is no longer a matter of comment or record. [ ] the following named representatives voted "yea": messrs. ahmanson, cannon, doone, galey, goodin, hall, jenkins, kipp, majors, myers, nims, patterson, porter, quimby, rhodes, ryan, wickham, riordan, roberts-- . voting "nay": messrs. briggs, beall, e. clark, j. clark, dillon, duby, grenell, hudson, munn, overton, reed, rosewater, rouse, schock, shook, sommerlad-- . [ ] voting in the affirmative: messrs. gerrard, hascall, kennedy, tucker, tennant, and mr. president-- . voting in the negative: messrs. brown, hawke, hillon, metz, sheldon, and thomas-- . [ ] voting "yea": messrs. ballard, boyd, campbell, cassell, estabrook, gibbs, gray, hascall, kenaston, kilburn, kirkpatrick, lake, lyon, majors, mason, manderson, maxwell, neligh, newsome, philpott, price, robinson, stewart, spiece, shaff, thomas, tisdel, towle, wakeley, president strickland-- . voting "nay": messrs. abbott, eaton, granger, griggs, moore, myers, parchin, reynolds, sprague, stevenson, hummel, vifquain, weaver-- . [ ] the gentlemen who advocated the measure most warmly, were among the ablest judges and jurists of the state. of the opposition, judge o. p. mason experienced a change of heart, and ten years later appeared as a foremost advocate. general e. estabrook of omaha lent all his influence to the amendment in the late canvass, and col. philpott of lincoln was also a warm advocate, often accompanying his zealous wife and other members of the effective and untiring lincoln association to the school-house meetings held in all parts of lancaster county. d. t. moore was called out at a meeting in york in , and came forward without hesitation, saying that he was in favor of woman suffrage. he related this incident: that on his return home from the convention of , he found that his wife had been looking after his stock farm and attending to his business so that everything was in good order. he praised her highly, when she replied, "yes, and while i was caring for your interests, you were voting against my rights." the reply set him to thinking, and he thought himself over on the other side. a. j. weaver opposed the clause in a very bitter speech. the friends of the amendment in were given to understand that mr. weaver was friendly, but to prevent the foreigners having that opinion, mr. weaver translated the record of his opposition into german, and distributed the papers among the german voters. having been elected to congress, he was one of only three republican members who voted against the standing committee on woman's claims. these facts cost him a great many votes at the time of his reëlection in , and are not yet forgotten. [ ] the debates of this convention were not reported for the economical reasons mentioned. the names of the honored fifteen are, clinton briggs, w. l. dunlap, r. c. eldridge, j. g. ewan, c. h. frady, c. h. gere, r. b. harrington, d. p. henry, c. f. manderson, j. mcpherson, m. b. reese, s. m. kirkpatrick, l. b. thorne, a. m. walling, j. f. zediker. many of these were active friends of the amendment of . [ ] the officers elected were: _president_, harriet s. brooks, omaha; _vice-president-at-large_, clara bewick colby, beatrice; _vice-presidents_--first judicial district, mrs. b. j. thomson, hebron; second, mrs. e. l. warner, roca; third, mrs. a. p. nicholas, omaha; fourth, mrs. j. s. burns, scribner; fifth, mrs. c. c. chapin, riverton; sixth, mrs. d. b. slaughter, fullerton; _recording secretary_, mrs. ada m. bittenbender, osceola; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. gertrude mcdowell, fairbury; _treasurer_, mrs. l. russell, tecumseh; _executive committee_, rev. m. j. delong, tecumseh; mrs. orpha c. dinsmoor, omaha; mrs. j. c. roberts, david city; mrs. c. b. parker, mrs. j. b. finch, lincoln; mrs. e. m. correll, hebron; mrs. j. h. bowen, hastings. [ ] members voting in the affirmative were: messrs. abbott, babcock; bailey, baldwin, bartlett, broatch, brown, cantlin, carman, cook, cole, correll, dailey, dew, dowty, filley, fried, graham, gray, hall, heacock, herman, hostetter, howe, jackson of pawnee, jensen, johnson, jones, kaley, kempton, kyner, linn, mcclun, mcdougall, mckinnon, mickey, moore of york, montgomery, palmer, paxton, ransom, reed, roberts, root, schick, scott, sill, slocumb, watts, wilsey and windham-- . voting in the negative: messrs. bick, bolln, case, franse, frederick, gates, hollman, jackson of douglas, king, lamb, laughlin, mcshane, moore of otoe, mullen, overton, peterson, putney, sears, wells, whedon, ziegler and mr. speaker-- . [ ] at this time the valuable information from wyoming with which nebraska was afterwards flooded; letters from gov. hoyt, editorials from leading papers of the territory, and testimony from every reputable source, had not been gathered; but two members of the house, j. h. helm and church howe, had been residents of wyoming, and these cheerfully gave their assurance that only good had resulted from the enfranchisement of the women of wyoming. [ ] those voting in the affirmative were: messrs. baker, burns (of dodge), burns (of york), coon, daily, dinsmore, doane, evans, gere, graham, harrington, morse, perkins, pierce, powers, smith, tefft, turner, van wyck, wells, wherry and white-- . those voting in the negative were: messrs. ballentine, cady, ervin, howe, myers, taylor, turk and zehrung-- . two of these names cannot stand in the roll of honor without an explanation; for twenty votes indicate the full strength of the bill. the irrelevance of opponents was illustrated by senators morse and pierce. the former in voting said, he had opposed the measure every step of the way, and now to be consistent he voted aye. senator pierce said he had been watching the other side of the capitol and nothing there seemed popular but whiskey and women, therefore, he voted aye! [ ] the speakers of this convention were clara bewick colby, acting president; mr. sattler, who gave the welcome; ada m. bittenbender, esther l. warner, judge i. n. taylor, mrs. m. e. vandermark, rev. haywood and professor wood of nebraska city college. the latter spoke in english in the afternoon, and in german, his native tongue, in the evening. the announcement that he would do so drew a large number of his countrymen. one of these was allowed the floor by request, when he soundly berated (in german) the women as opposed to foreigners, while at the same time he tried to weaken professor wood's argument by saying it was to be attributed to an american wife. it was reported that the marked contrast between the speakers was commented on by resident germans greatly to the disadvantage of their fellow-townsman. [ ] the officers elected were: _president_, ada m. bittenbender; _vice-president_, clara bewick colby; _secretary_, belle g. bigelow; _corresponding secretary_, gertrude m. mcdowell; _treasurer_, lucinda russell; _executive committee_, harriet s. brooks, e. m. correll, susie noble fifield, george b. skinner, rev. john mcnamara, jennie f. holmes; _vice-presidents of judicial districts_--first, barbara j. thompson; second, dr. ruth m. wood; third, orpha clement dinsmoor; fourth, ada van pelt; fifth, mrs. h. s. sydenham. [ ] most of the speakers spent several weeks in the state. mrs. helen m. gougar, mrs. may wright sewall, mrs. saxon, mrs. blake, mrs. harbert, mrs. shattuck, mrs. neyman, miss anthony, miss couzins and miss hindman were the principal national speakers, and their ability and zeal aroused the whole state. mrs. colby was indefatigable in her exertions from the moment the amendment was submitted to the end of the canvass. mrs. colby and miss rachel foster organized the whole campaign throughout the state, and kept all the speakers in motion.--[s. b. a. [ ] for further details of the closing scenes, see vol. iii. page . [ ] _yeas_--brown (clay), brown (colfax), butler, canfield, conklin, dolan, dunphy, harrison, heist, mcshane, norris, patterson, rogers, sang, schönheit, sowers, thatch and walker-- . senator butler voted with these for the purpose of being able to move a reconsideration. _nays_--bomgardner, brown (douglas), conner, dye, filley and reynolds-- . _absent_--barker, brown (lancaster), case, dech, fisher, harris, kinkaid and rich. chapter l. kansas. effect of the popular vote on woman suffrage--anna c. wait--hannah wilson--miss kate stephens, professor of greek in state university--lincoln centre society, --the press--the lincoln _beacon_--election, --sarah a. brown, democratic candidate--fourth of july celebration--women voting on the school question--state society, --helen m. gougar--clara bewick colby--bertha h. ellsworth--radical reform association--mrs. a. g. lord--prudence crandall--clarina howard nichols--laws--women in the professions--schools--political parties--petitions to the legislature--col. f. g. adams' letter. we closed the chapter on kansas in vol. ii. with the submission and defeat of the woman suffrage amendment, leaving the advocates of the measure so depressed with the result that several years elapsed before any further attempts were made to reorganize their forces for the agitation of the question. this has been the experience of the friends in every state where the proposition has been submitted to a vote of the electors--alike in michigan, colorado, nebraska and oregon--offering so many arguments in favor of the enfranchisement of woman by a simple act of the legislature, where the real power of the people is primarily represented. we have so many instances on record of the exercise of this power by the legislatures of the several states in the regulation of the suffrage, that there can be no doubt that the sole responsibility in securing this right to the women of a state rests with the legislature, or with congress in passing a sixteenth amendment that should override all state action in protecting the rights of united states citizens. we are indebted to anna c. wait for most of the interesting facts of this chapter. she writes: i watched with intense interest from my home in ohio, the progress of the woman suffrage idea in kansas in the campaign of , and although temporary defeat was the result, yet the moral grandeur displayed by the people in seeking to make their constitution an embodiment of the principle of american liberty, decided me to become a citizen of that young and beautiful state. gov. harvey's message was at that time attracting much attention and varied comments by the press. for the benefit of those who have not studied the whole history of the cause, we give the following extracts from his message, published february , : the tendency of this age is towards a civil policy wherein political rights will not be affected by social or ethnological distinctions; and from the moral nature of mankind and the experience of states, we may infer that restrictions merely arbitrary and conventional, like those based upon color and sex, cannot last much longer than they are desired, and cannot be removed much sooner than they should be. this consideration should give patience to the reformer, and resignation to the conservative. let us have a true republic--a "government of the people, by the people, for the people," and we shall hear no more the oligarchical cry of croaking conservatism calling for a "white man's government"--appealing by this, and like slogans of class and caste to the lowest and meanest principles of human nature, dangerous alike to real republicanism and true democracy. expediency, that great pretext for the infringement of human rights, no longer justifies us in the retention of a monopoly of political power in our own favored class of "white male citizens." in the summer of , mr. wait and myself removed to salina, where mrs. hannah wilson resided. she was the only person in this section of kansas i ever heard of doing any suffrage work between the years of and . she was a woman of great force of character, and a strong advocate of suffrage. she was born in hamilton county, ohio, and came to salina in . after miss anthony lectured in that city in , mrs. wilson circulated petitions to the legislature and to congress. she was also active and aggressive in the temperance cause. when she learned of the lincoln _beacon_, and its advocacy of woman suffrage, she wrote an article for the paper, and accompanied it with a kind letter and the price of a year's subscription. mrs. wilson was a quaker, and in her dress and address strictly adhered to the peculiarites of that sect. miss kate stephens, professor of greek in the kansas state university, writes that she has made diligent search during the past summer among the libraries of topeka and lawrence for record of suffrage work since the campaign of , and finds absolutely nothing, so that i am reduced to the necessity of writing, principally, of our little efforts here in central kansas. in the intensely interesting letters of mesdames helen ekin starrett, susan e. wattles, dr. r. s. tenney and hon. j. p. root, in vol. ii., all written since , i find no mention of any woman suffrage organizations. mrs. wattles, of mound city, says: "my work has been very limited. i have only been able to circulate tracts and papers"; and she enumerates all the woman suffrage papers ever published in america, which she had taken and given away. a quiet, unobtrusive method of work, but one of the most effective; and doubtless to the sentiment created and fostered by this sowing of suffrage literature by mrs. wattles, is largely due the wonderful revival which has swept like one of our own prairie fires over south-eastern kansas during the past year; a sentiment so strong as to need but "a live coal from off the altar" to kindle into a blaze of enthusiasm. this it received in the earnest eloquence of mrs. helen m. gougar, who has twice visited that portion of the state. all these writers express their faith in a growing interest in the suffrage cause, and, some of them, the belief that if the question were again submitted to a vote of the people, it would carry. in our state suffrage convention, june, , among the demands which we resolved to make of our incoming legislature, was the submission of an amendment striking out the word "male" from the state constitution. for myself, i entertained no hope that it would succeed further than as a means of agitation and education. on reflection, i hope it will not be done. the women of kansas have once been subjected to the humiliation of having their political disabilities perpetuated by the vote of the "rank and file" of our populace. while i believe the growth of popular opinion in favor of equality of rights for women has nowhere been more rapid than in kansas, yet i do not lose sight of the fact that thousands of foreigners are each year added to the voting population, whose ballots in the aggregate defeat the will of our enlightened, american-born citizens. besides, it is a too convenient way for a legislature to shirk its own responsibility. if the demand is made, i hope it may be done in connection with that for municipal and presidential suffrage. the history of the woman suffrage organizations in kansas since , may be briefly told. the first owes its existence to one copy of the _national citizen and ballot-box_ subscribed for by my husband, w. s. wait, who by the merest chance heard miss anthony deliver her famous lecture, "woman wants bread, not the ballot," in salina, in november, . the paper was religiously read by mrs. emily j. biggs and myself; although we did not need conversion, both being radical in our ideas on this question, we had long felt the need of something being done which would fix public attention and provoke discussion. this was all we felt ourselves competent to do, and the knowledge that nobody else in our section of the country would do it, coupled with the inspiration of the _national citizen_, culminated, in november , in sending to the _saline valley register_, george w. anderson, editor and proprietor, a notice for a meeting of women for the purpose of organizing a suffrage society. in response to the call, mrs. emily j. biggs, mrs. sarah e. lutes, and mrs. wait, met november , , at the house of a. t. biggs, and organized the lincoln auxiliary of the national association. we elected a full corps of officers from among ladies whom we believed to be favorable, interviewed them for their approval, and sent a full report of the meeting to be published as a matter of news in the _register_, which had given our call without comment. the editor had a few weeks previously bought the paper, and we were totally ignorant in regard to his position upon the question. we were not long left in doubt, for the fact that we had actually organized in a way which showed that we understood ourselves, and meant business, had the effect to elicit from his pen a scurrilous article, in which he called us "the three noble-hearted women," classed us with "free-lovers," called us "monstrosities, neither men nor women," and more of the same sort. of course, the effect of this upon the community was to array all true friends of the cause on our side, to bring the opposition, made bold by the championship of such a gallant leader, to the front, and cause the faint-hearted to take to the fence. and here we had the discussion opened up in a manner which, had we foreseen, i fear our courage would have been inadequate to the demand. but not for one moment did we entertain a thought of retreating. knowing that if we maintained silence, the enemy would consider us vanquished, i wrote an article for his paper, quoting largely from walker's american law, which he published; and mrs. biggs also furnished him an article in which she showed him up in a manner so ludicrous and sarcastic that he got rid of printing it by setting it up full of mistakes which he manufactured himself, and sending her the proof with the information that if he published it at all, it would be in that form. it appeared the following week, however, in the first number of _the argus_, a democratic paper, ira c. lutes, editor and proprietor, in which we at once secured a column for the use of our society. about a dozen ladies attended our second meeting, at which the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, all the ladies present being allowed to vote: whereas, the local newspaper is adjudged, by common consent, to be the exponent of the intelligence, refinement, and culture of a community, and, in a large degree, the educator of the rising generation; and whereas, in one issue of the lincoln _register_ there appears no fewer than forty-seven misspelled words, with numerous errors in grammatical construction and punctuation; also a scurrilous article headed "woman vs. man," in which the editor not only grossly misrepresents us, but assails the characters of all advocates of suffrage everywhere in a manner which shocks the moral sense of every true lady and gentleman in this community; therefore _resolved_, that this association present the editor of the _register_ with a copy of some standard english spelling-book, and english language lessons, for his especial use. _resolved_, that as he has been so kind as to offer his advice to us, unsolicited, we reciprocate the favor by admonishing him to confine himself to facts in future, and to remember that the people of lincoln are capable of appreciating truth and common decency. _resolved_, that a copy of these resolutions be furnished the editor of the lincoln _register_, with the books above named. this was promptly done, and so enraged him that the following week he published a tirade of abuse consisting of brazen falsehoods, whereupon a gentleman called a halt, by faithfully promising to chastise him if he did not desist, which had the desired effect so far as his paper was concerned. w. s. wait bought the _argus_ at the end of four months, changed its politics to republican, and its name to the lincoln _beacon_, in which i established a woman suffrage department, under the head of "woman as a citizen," with one of lucretia mott's favorite mottoes, "truth for authority, and not authority for truth"; and weekly, for six years, it has gone to a constantly increasing circle of readers, and contributed its share to whatever strength and influence the cause has gained in this portion of the state. in the summer of , g. w. anderson announced himself a candidate for the legislature. he had just before made himself especially obnoxious by shockingly indecent remarks about the ladies who had participated in the exercises of the fourth of july celebration. at a meeting of the suffrage society, held august , the following resolution, suggested by mrs. s. e. lutes, were unanimously adopted: whereas, we, as responsible members of society, and guardians of the purity of our families and community, are actuated by a sense of duty and our accountability to god for the faithful performance of it; and whereas, george w. anderson, editor and proprietor of the lincoln _register_, during his few months' residence in our county has, by constant calumny and scurrility, both verbal and through the columns of his paper, sought to injure the reputation of the honorable women who compose the lincoln suffrage and temperance associations, and of all women everywhere who sympathize with the aims and purposes which these societies represent; and whereas, his utterances through the columns of the lincoln _register_ are often unfit to be read by any child, or aloud in any family, because of their indecency, we are unanimously of the opinion that his course is calculated to defeat the aims and purposes of christianity, temperance and morality; therefore _resolved_, that whenever george w. anderson aspires to any position of honor, trust or emolument in the gift of the voters of lincoln county, we will use all honorable means in our power to defeat him; and we further urge upon every woman who has the welfare of our county at heart, the duty and necessity of coöperating with us to accomplish this end. the above preamble and resolution appeared in the woman's column of the lincoln _beacon_ the following week, and copies were printed in the form of hand-bills and distributed to the twenty-three post-offices in lincoln county. it did not prevent his election, and we did not expect it would, but we believed it our duty to enter our protest against the perpetration of this outrage upon the moral sense of those who knew him best. we ignored him in the legislature, sending our petitions asking that body to recommend to congress the adoption of the sixteenth amendment, to hon. s. c. millington of crawford, who had come to our notice that winter by offering a woman suffrage resolution in the house. in anderson sought a second indorsement as a candidate for the legislature, but that portion of the community which he really represented had become disgusted with him; he struggled against fate with constantly waning patronage for another year, when he succumbed to the inevitable and sought a new field, a wiser if a sadder man. his mantle has fallen upon e. s. bower, whose capacity and style were graphically portrayed in caustic rhyme by mrs. ellsworth, making him the target for the wit of the women long after. i have given more space and prominence to these two editors than they merit, but the influence of a local newspaper is not to be despised, however despicable the editor and his paper may be; and it takes no small degree of courage to face such an influence as that exerted in this county by the one in question, which, i am happy to say, has gradually dwindled, until to-day it is too trifling, both in extent and character, to deserve recognition. six years ago i do not believe there was a paper in the state of kansas which contained a woman suffrage department, and we rarely saw any reference whatever to the subject; now, within a radius of fifty miles of lincoln centre, fully two-thirds of all newspapers published have a column devoted to suffrage or temperance, or both, edited by women. the reason this is not true of the press of the entire state is because our indefatigable corresponding secretary, mrs. bertha h. ellsworth, has not yet had sufficient time to personally present the matter; but there has been such a growth on the subject that by the press generally it seems to be accepted as one of the living issues of the day. a very efficient agency in bringing about this desirable result was the printed column, entitled "concerning women," sent out gratis every week during the year , by mrs. lucy stone, from the office of _the woman's journal_, to all newspapers that would publish it. many kansas editors availed themselves of this generous offer, greatly to the advantage of their patrons and themselves. but to return to the lincoln woman suffrage association. the first year our membership increased to twenty-seven; the second, to forty, including six gentlemen. we did not invite gentlemen to join the first year; owing to the character and attitude of the opposition, we preferred to demonstrate our ability to conduct the affairs of the society without masculine assistance. during our six years' existence we have enrolled eighty members, eighteen of whom are gentlemen. of this number, forty-five women and fourteen men still reside in lincoln county. we have held, on an average, one parlor meeting a month and ten public meetings. in , mesdames emily j. biggs, mary crawford, bertha h. ellsworth and myself were assigned places on the programme for the fourth of july celebration, after solicitation by a committee from our society. to me was assigned the reading of the declaration of independence, and i embraced the opportunity of interspersing a few remarks not found in that honored document, to the delight of our friends and the disgust of our foes. the other ladies all made original, excellent and well-timed addresses. in we got up the fourth of july celebration[ ] ourselves, and gave the men half the programme without their asking for it. in we had a "foremothers' day" celebration, and confined the programme to our own society. in september, , the society sent the writer as delegate to the annual meeting of the national woman suffrage association, held at omaha, nebraska; and in march, , we sent bertha h. ellsworth to the washington convention in the same capacity. our society has taken an active part in the annual school district elections in lincoln centre. in the last five elections we have been twice defeated and three times successful. our defeats we claimed as victories, inasmuch as we forced our opponents to bring out all their friends to outvote us. fifty per cent. of all the votes cast at the last three elections were by women. only twelve women in the town failed to vote in . this increase is general all over the state; and, although we have only once tried in lincoln centre to elect a woman, and then failed, yet very many of the country districts have one, some two women on the school-board, and at one time all three members in one district were women. that they are honest, capable and efficient is the verdict in every case. in the spring of , mrs. emily j. biggs organized the stanton suffrage society, eight miles from lincoln centre, with a membership of over twenty, more than half of whom were gentlemen. mesdames mary baldwin, n. good, t. faulkner, m. biggs, mrs. swank and others were the leading spirits. all their meetings are public, and are held in the school-house. through this society that portion of the county has become well leavened with suffrage sentiment. failing health alone has prevented mrs. biggs from carrying this school district organization to all parts of the county and beyond its limits, as she has been urgently invited to do. "instant in season and out of season" with a word for the cause, she has, individually, reached more people with the subject than any other half-dozen women in the society. her pen, too, has done good service. over the _nom de plume_ of "nancy," in the _beacon_, she has dealt telling blows to our ancient adversary, the _register_. in october, , the writer went by invitation to ellsworth and organized a society[ ] auxiliary to the national, composed of excellent material, but too timid to do more than hold its own until the summer of , when mrs. gougar, and later, mrs. colby, lectured there, soon after which mrs. ellsworth canvassed the town with literature and a petition for municipal suffrage, which was signed by eighty of the eighty-five women to whom it was presented, showing that there was either a great deal of original suffrage sentiment there, or that the society had exerted a large amount of "silent influence." in october, , mrs. helen m. gougar came to fill some lecture engagements in the southeastern part of the state. during this visit she organized several clubs.[ ] in june, , mrs. gougar again visited kansas, lecturing for a month in different parts of the state. she drew large audiences and made many converts. a suffrage society was organized at emporia, miss m. j. watson, president. the active friends availed themselves of her assistance to call a state suffrage convention, which met in the senate chamber in topeka, june , , and organized a state association.[ ] mrs. gougar, by the unanimous vote of the convention, presided, and dispatched business with her characteristic ability. in view of all the circumstances, this convention and its results were highly satisfactory. the attendance was not large, but the fact that the call was issued from topeka to the press of the state but eight days before the convention met, and probably did not reach half the papers in time for one insertion, accounts for the absence of a crowd. some even in topeka learned that the convention was in progress barely in time to reach its last session. reporters for the topeka _capital_, the topeka _commonwealth_ and kansas city _journal_ attended all the day sessions of the convention, and gave full and fair reports of the proceedings. after the adjournment of the state convention, the women of topeka formed a city society. the corresponding secretary, mrs. ellsworth, with mrs. clara b. colby, made an extensive circuit, lecturing and organizing societies. they were everywhere cordially welcomed.[ ] kansas has a flourishing women's christian temperance union which at its last annual meeting adopted a strong woman suffrage resolution; miss o. p. bray of topeka is its superintendent of franchise. mrs. emma molloy of washington, both upon the rostrum and through her paper, the official organ of the state union, ably and fearlessly advocates woman suffrage as well as prohibition, and makes as many converts to the former as to the latter. mrs. a. g. lord did a work worthy of mention in the formation of the radical reform christian association, for young men and boys, taking their pledge to neither swear, use tobacco nor drink intoxicating liquors. a friend says of mrs. lord: like all true reformers she has met even more than the usual share of opposition and persecution, and mostly because she is a woman and a licensed preacher of the methodist church in kansas. she was a preacher for three years, but refuses to be any longer because, she says, under the discipline as it now is, the church has no right to license a woman to preach. trying to do her work inside the church in which she was born and reared, she has had to combat not only the powers of darkness outside the church, but also the most contemptible opposition, amounting in several instances to bitter persecutions, from the ministers of her own denomination with whom she has been associated in her work as a preacher; and through it all she has toiled on, manifesting only the most patient, forgiving spirit, and the broadest, most christ-like charity. the r. r. c. a. has been in existence two and a half years, and has already many hundreds of members in this and adjoining counties, through the indefatigable zeal of its founder. mitchell county has the honor of numbering among its many enterprising women the only woman who is a mail contractor in the united states, mrs. myra peterson, a native of new hampshire. the _woman's tribune_ of november, , contains the following brief sketch of a grand historic character: marianna t. folsom is lecturing in kansas on woman suffrage. she gives an interesting account of a visit to mrs. prudence crandall philleo. miss crandall over fifty years ago allowed a girl with colored blood in her veins to attend her young ladies' school in connecticut. on account of the social disturbance because of this, she dismissed the white girls and made her school one for colored pupils. protests were followed by indictments, and these by mobbings, until she was obliged to give up her school. for her fortitude, the anti-slavery society had her portrait painted. it became the property of rev. samuel j. may, who donated it to cornell university when opened to women. miss crandall married, but has now been a widow many years. she is in her eighty-third year, and is vigorous in mind and body, having been able to deliver the last fourth of july oration at elk falls, kan., where she now lives and advocates woman suffrage and temperance. in the introduction to chapter vii., vol. i., of this history, appears this sentence: "to clarina howard nichols[ ] the women of kansas are indebted for many civil rights which they have as yet been too apathetic to exercise." uncomplimentary as this statement is, i must admit its truthfulness as applied to a large majority of our women of culture and leisure, those who should have availed themselves of the privileges already theirs and labored for what the devotion of mrs. nichols made attainable. they have neither done this, nor tried to enlighten their less favored sisters throughout the state, the great mass of whom are obliged to exert every energy of body and mind to furnish food, clothes and shelter for themselves and children. probably fully four-fifths of the women of kansas never have heard of clarina howard nichols; while a much larger number do know that our laws favor women more than those of other states, and largely avail themselves of the school ballot. the readiness with which the rank and file of our women assent to the truth when it is presented to them, indicates that their inaction results not so much from apathy and indifference as from a lack of means and opportunity. among all the members of all the woman suffrage societies in central kansas, i know of but just one woman of leisure--one who is not obliged to make a personal sacrifice of some kind each time she attends a meeting or pays a dollar into the treasury. section , article xv., of the constitution of kansas reads: the legislature shall provide for the protection of the rights of women, in acquiring and possessing property, real, personal, and mixed, separate and apart from her husband; and shall also provide for their equal rights in the possession of their children. in accordance with the true spirit of this section, our statute provides that the law of descents and distributions as regards the property of either husband or wife is the same; and the interests of one in the property of the other are the same with each; and that the common-law principles of estates of dower, and by courtesy are abolished.[ ] [illustration: "the world needs women who do their own thinking. cordially yours, helen m. gougar"] the rights of husband and wife in the control of their respective properties, both real and personal, are identical, as provided for in sections , , , and . chapter , page , compiled laws of kansas, : section . the property, real and personal, which any woman in this state may own at the time of her marriage, and the rents, issues, profits, and proceeds thereof, and any real, personal, or mixed property which shall come to her by descent, devise, or bequest, or the gift of any person except her husband, shall remain her sole and separate property, notwithstanding her marriage, and not be subject to the disposal of her husband, or liable for his debts. sec. . a married woman, while the marriage relation subsists, may bargain, sell and convey her real and personal property, and enter into any contract with reference to the same, in the same manner, to the same extent, and with like effect as a married man may in relation to his real and personal property. sec. . a woman may, while married, sue and be sued, in the same manner as if unmarried. sec. . any married woman may carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or services, on her sole and separate account, and the earnings of any married woman from her trade, business, labor or services, shall be her sole and separate property, and may be used and invested by her in her own name. it is a fact worthy of note that the above legislation, also the passage of the law of descents and distributions, immediately followed the woman suffrage campaign of . in , the democrats of kansas, in their state convention at topeka, nominated miss sarah a. brown of douglas county, for superintendent of public instruction, the first instance on record of a woman receiving a nomination from one of the leading political parties for a state office. the following is miss brown's letter of acceptance: office of superintendent of public instruction, douglas } co., kansas,} lawrence, kansas, sept. , . } _to hon. john martin, topeka, kansas, chairman of the state democratic central committee:_ sir:--i am in receipt of your communication of august , advising me of the action of the democratic convention of august , in nominating me as their candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. in making this nomination the democratic party of kansas has, with a liberal and enlightened spirit, and with a generous purpose, yielded to the tendency of the times, which demand equal rights and equal opportunities for all the people, and it has thus shown itself to be a party of progress. it has placed itself squarely and unequivocally before the people upon this great and vital question of giving to woman the right to work in any field for which she may be fitted, thus placing our young and glorious state in the foremost rank on this, as on the other questions of reform. furthermore, in nominating one who has no vote, and for this reason cannot be considered in politics, and in doing this of its own free will, without any solicitation on my part, the democratic party of this state has shown that it is in full accord with the jeffersonian doctrine that the office should seek the man and not the man the office; and also that it fully appreciates the fact which is conceded by all persons who have thought much on educational matters, that the best interests of our schools demand that the office of superintendent, both of the state and county, should be as far as possible disconnected from politics, and it has done what it could to rescue the office from the vortex of mere partisan strife. for this reason i accept the nomination, thanking the party for the honor it has conferred upon me. respectfully, sarah a. brown. miss brown was defeated. the vote of the state showed the average democrat unable to overcome his time-rusted prejudices sufficiently to vote for a woman to fill the highest educational office in the gift of the people, so that miss brown's minority was smaller even than that of the regular democratic ticket. january , , hon. s. c. millington of crawford county introduced in the house a joint resolution providing for the submission to the legal voters of the state of kansas of a proposition to amend the constitution so as to admit of female suffrage. the vote on the adoption of the resolution stood ayes and noes in the house, and a tie in the senate. later in the same session, hon. a. c. pierce of davis county introduced in the house a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution which should confer the right of suffrage on any one over years of age who had resided in the state six months. mr. hackney of cowley county, introduced a like resolution in the senate. in december, , governor st. john appointed mrs. cora m. downs one of the regents of the state university at lawrence. in , mrs. rice was elected to the office of county clerk of harper county, and miss alice junken to the office of recorder of deeds, in davis county. in miss junken was reëlected by a majority of over her competitor, mrs. fleming, while trego county gave a unanimous vote for miss ada clift as register of deeds. in proportion to her population kansas has as many women in the professions as any of the older states. we have lawyers, physicians, preachers and editors, and the number is constantly increasing. in topeka there are eight practicing physicians, holding diplomas from medical colleges, and two or three who are not graduates. in the woman's medical college of chicago, kansas now has four representatives--mrs. sallie a. goff of lincoln, miss thomas of olathe, miss cunningham of garnett, and miss gilman of pittsburg. all female persons over the age of twenty-one years are entitled to vote at any school-district meeting on the same terms as men. the right of a woman to hold any office, state (except member of the legislature), county, township or school-district, in the state of kansas, is the same as that of a man. in , six counties, viz., chase, cherokee, greenwood, labette, pawnee, and woodson, elected women as superintendents of public instruction. section , article ii., constitution of kansas, reads: "the legislature, in providing for the formation and regulation of schools, shall make no distinction between males and females." under the legislation based upon this clause of our constitution, males and females have equal privileges in all schools controlled by the state. the latest report of the state superintendent of public instruction shows that over one-half of the pupils of the normal school, about two-fifths in the university, and nearly one-third in the agricultural college, are females. in the private institutions of learning, including both denominational and unsectarian, over one-half of the students are females who study in the same classes as the males, except in washburn college which has a separate course for ladies. most of these institutions have one woman, or more, in their faculties. one-half of the faculty of the state university is composed of women. in the last report of the state superintendent is the following: the ratio of female teachers is greater than ever before, some per cent. of the entire number employed. it is, indeed, a matter of congratulation that the work of the schools, especially the primary teaching, is falling more and more to the care of women. the republican state convention of , by an overwhelming majority endorsed woman suffrage, which action the lincoln w. s. a. promptly recognized as follows: whereas, the republican party of the state of kansas, by and through its chosen representatives in the republican state convention at topeka, august , , did, by an overwhelming majority, pledge itself to the support of the principle of woman suffrage by the following: _resolved_, that we request the next legislature to submit such an amendment to the constitution of the state as will secure to woman the right of suffrage. and, whereas, by this action the republican party of kansas has placed itself in line with the advanced thought of the times in a manner worthy a great political party of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, thereby proving itself worthy the respect and confidence of the women of the state; therefore, _resolved_, that the lincoln woman suffrage association, in behalf of the women of kansas, does hereby express thanks to the republican party for this recognition of the political rights of the women of the state, and especially to the hon. j. c. root of wyandotte, hon. hackney of winfield, col. graves of montgomery, and gen. kelly, for their able and fearless support of the measure, and to each and every member of the convention who voted for it. in , senator hackney introduced a bill of which we find the following in the _topeka capital_ of that date: senate bill no. , being senator hackney's, an act to provide for the submission of the question of female suffrage to the women of kansas, was taken up, the reading thereof being greeted with applause. it provides that at the general election in the women of the state shall decide, by ballot, whether they want suffrage or not. senator hackney made an address to the senate upon the bill, saying he believed in giving women the same rights as men had. the last republican platform declared in favor of woman suffrage, and those republicans who opposed the platform said they believed the women of the state should have their say about it; the democratic platform said the same as the dissenters from the republican. several humorous amendments were made to the bill. senator kelley favored the bill because there were a great many women in the state who wanted to vote. he hoped the senate would not be so ungallant as to vote the bill down. senator sluss moved the recommendation be made that the bill be rejected. carried. the republican state convention of ignored the woman suffrage question. the anti-monopoly (greenback) party state convention, of august , placed in its platform the following: that we believe the advancing civilization of the past quarter of the nineteenth century demands that woman should have equal pay for equal work, and equal laws with man to secure her equal rights, and that she is justly entitled to the ballot. miss fanny randolph of emporia, was nominated by acclamation for state superintendent of public instruction, by this convention. the prohibition state convention, in session in lawrence, september , , placed the following plank in its platform: we believe that women have the same right to vote as men, and in the language of the republican state platform of two years ago, we request the next legislature to submit such an amendment to the constitution of the state as will secure to woman the right of suffrage. this year we sent from lincoln a petition with names asking for a resolution recommending to congress the adoption of the sixteenth amendment. the results of the election of , showed quite a gain for women in county offices. there are now eleven superintendents of public instruction, several registers of deeds, and county clerks. the number of lawyers,[ ] physicians, notaries public, principals of schools, members of school-boards in cities and school districts, is rapidly increasing, as is also the number of women who vote in school-district elections. miss jessie patterson, who ran as an independent candidate for register of deeds in davis county, beat the regular republican nominee votes, and the democratic candidate votes. the work of organizing suffrage societies has also progressed, though not as rapidly as it should, for want of speakers and means to carry it on. through the efforts of mrs. laura m. johns of salina, vice-president of the state society, several new and flourishing clubs have been formed this summer in saline county, so that it is probably now the banner county in kansas. the lincoln society is preparing to hold a fair in september, for the benefit of the state association, which will hold its next annual convention in october. suffrage columns in newspapers are multiplying and much stress is placed upon this branch of work. on july , a convention was held to organize the prohibition party in lincoln county. a cordial invitation was extended to women to attend. eight were present, and many more would have been had they known of it. i was chosen secretary of the convention, and mesdames ellsworth and goff were appointed upon the platform committee, and several of the central committee are women. the position of the new party upon the question may be inferred from the following clauses in its platform: _resolved_, by the prohibition party of lincoln county, kansas, in convention assembled, that the three vital issues before the people to-day are prohibition, anti-monopoly, and woman suffrage. _resolved_, that we believe in the political equality of the sexes, and we call on the legislature to submit such an amendment to the people for adoption or rejection, to the constitution of the state as will secure to women equal political rights. later the convention nominated me for register of deeds, and dr. sallie a. goff for coroner. i immediately engaged miss jennie newby of tonganoxie, member of the executive committee and state organizer of the prohibition party of kansas, to make a canvass of the county with me in the interest of the party and the county ticket. we held ten meetings and at all points visited made converts to both prohibition and woman suffrage, though nothing was said about the latter. there were two men on the ticket; one of them received more votes than dr. goff and i did, and the other fewer. emma faris ran independently for register of deeds in ellsworth county and received a handsome vote. it is no longer a matter of much comment for a woman to run for an office in kansas. mrs. gougar came again to kansas in june to attend the third annual meeting of the radical reform christian association, and spent a month lecturing on woman suffrage and temperance. january , , , the annual meeting of the state society was held at topeka. large and enthusiastic audiences greeted mrs. gougar on this, her third visit to kansas. she remained at the capital for several days, and largely through her efforts with members of the legislature special committees were voted for in both houses to consider the interests of women. the measure was carried in the house by a vote of to .[ ] in the senate it was a tie, to . the new committee[ ] through its chairman, george morgan of clay, reported in favor of a bill for municipal suffrage. it was so low on the calendar that there was no hope of its being reached, but a motion was made to take it out of its regular course, which was lost by to . the second annual meeting of the state society was held at salina, october , , . mrs. laura m. johns gave the address of welcome, to which mrs. anna c. wait, the president, responded. "mother bickerdyke,"[ ] who followed sherman's army in its march to the sea, was present and cheered all with her stirring words of the work of women in the war.[ ] her introduction was followed with applause and the earnest attention to her remarks showed in what high esteem she is held. she said that half the work of the war was done by women, but she made no complaint, indeed no mention, of the fact that these women had never been pensioned. as it may add force to some facts already stated to have them repeated by one in authority, we give the following letter from the secretary of the kansas historical society: kansas historical society topeka, nov. , miss susan b. anthony, rochester, n. y.: _my dear friend_:--in answer to your request for information upon certain points bearing upon the subject of woman suffrage in kansas, i give the following: the women avail themselves quite generally of their privilege of voting at the annual and special school district meetings, at which district officers are elected, and all questions of taxes and expenditures are voted on and settled. women are, in many instances, elected members of the board of school directors, and thus are charged with the duty of employing teachers, with the supervision of the schools, and with the general management of the affairs of the district. women vote on the question of the issue of school district bonds, and thus they take part in deciding whether new school houses shall be built and the property of the districts be pledged for the future payment of the cost of the same. in the chartered cities women do not generally vote for school officers although, under the constitution, it is believed they have the right to do so, and in one or more instances i am informed they have done so, without the right being contested. in cities, school officers are elected at general elections for other city officers, for which women are not permitted to vote, and as they cannot vote for all they generally do not choose to vote for any. women do not vote for either city, county, or state superintendents, and it is not considered that under our constitution they have the right to do so. in , there were , women teaching in the state, and , men. the average monthly wages of women was $ . , and of men, $ . . there are at present twelve women holding the office of county superintendent of public schools in the state. in counties the office is filled by men. thus, of the organized counties of the state, one-seventh of the school superintendents are women, who generally prove to be competent and efficient, and the number elected is increasing. in one county, harper, a woman holds the office of county clerk. a young woman was recently elected to the office of register of deeds, in davis county. it is conceded that these two offices can very appropriately be filled by women; and now that the movement has begun, no doubt the number of those elected will increase at recurring elections. already, in numerous instances, women are employed as deputies and assistants in these and other public offices. the participation of women in school elections and their election to membership of school district boards, are resulting in a steady growth of sentiment in favor of woman suffrage, generally. it is seen that in the decision of questions involving the proper maintenance of schools, and the supplying of school apparatus, women usually vote for liberal and judicious expenditures, and make faithful school officers. their failures are not those of omission, as is so frequently the case with men holding these offices. if they err in judgment, it is from a lack of that business information and experience which women as non-voters have had little opportunity to acquire, but which, under our kansas system is now rapidly being supplied. among the influences tending to increase the suffrage sentiment in kansas, may be mentioned those growing out of the active part women are taking in the discussion of political, economical, moral and social questions, through their participation in the proceedings of the woman's christian temperance union, the state temperance union, the woman's social science association, the kansas academy of science, the grange, the state and local teachers' associations, and many other organizations in which women have come to perform so prominent a part. in these organizations, and in the part they take in discussions, they show their capacity to grapple with the political, social, and scientific problems of the day, in such a manner as to demonstrate their ability to perform the highest duties of citizenship. still the chief influence which is bringing about a growth of opinion in favor of woman suffrage in kansas, comes from what has now become the actual, and i may say, the popular and salutary practice of woman suffrage at school district meetings. it is seen that the reasons which make it right and expedient for women to vote on questions pertaining to the education of their children, bear with little, if any, less force upon the propriety of their voting upon all questions affecting the public welfare. i think i may truly say to you that the tendencies in kansas are to the steady growth of sentiment in favor of woman suffrage. this is so apparent that few of those even who do not believe in its propriety or expediency now doubt that it will eventually be adopted, and the political consequences fully brought to the test of experience. yours sincerely, f. g. adams. the greatest obstacle to our speedy success in this state, as elsewhere, is the ignorance and indifference of the women themselves. but the earnestness and enthusiasm of the few, in their efforts from year to year, cannot be wholly lost--the fires kindled by that memorable campaign of are not dead, only slumbering, to burst forth with renewed brilliancy in the dawn of the day that brings liberty, justice, and equality for woman. footnotes: [ ] in the centennial year, when protests were in order, the following was sent to the national association at philadelphia, describing the manner in which a lady eighty-four years old celebrated her birthday: "neutral station, kansas, july , . "dear sisters: two days ago, on saturday, the th, as has been usual for three or four years, a company of our friends and neighbors met at our house to celebrate my eighty-fourth birthday. we had a pleasant time. some pieces, composed for the occasion, were read, and a clergyman made some appropriate remarks. i improved the opportunity to obtain the names of the ladies present, and succeeded with all, old and young, except one who was afraid it would get her into a trap; but with _the rest it needed but little electioneering beside reading your advertisement to secure their names_. we, as a neighborhood, are ignorant on the subject. i solicited assistance pecuniarily, and send you what i can, with a word of encouragement still to work and wait, and my earnest prayer for your final success. elsie stewart." the other signatures were: henrietta l. miller, mrs. julia a. ingraham, mrs. hollet, mrs. lottie griffin, selinda miller, celina lake, mollie yeates, betsey j. corse, mary g. hapeman, mrs. maggie clark, miss elsie miller, louie ingraham, malura hickox, c. a. eddy, anna lowe, charlotte h. butler. [ ] _president_, mrs. mary maberly; _secretary_, miss lillie m. hull; _treasurer_, mrs. emma h. johns; and an able executive committee, of which mrs. e. m. alden, mrs. emma faris, mrs. mattie mcdowell and bertha h. ellsworth, who was then teaching there, were members. [ ] arkansas city suffrage club, with mrs. m. b. houghton, _president_; mrs. e. t. ayers, _vice-president_; miss gertrude fowler, _secretary_, and mrs. f. daniels, _treasurer_; also one at winfield, county-seat of cowley county, with mrs. j. cairns, _president_; mrs. m. r. hall, _secretary_, and mrs. e. d. garlick, _treasurer_; and vice-presidents from each of the churches, as follows: mesdames p. p. powell, g. miller, m. burkey and j. c. fuller. [ ] _president_, mrs. hetta p. mansfield, winfield; _vice-president-at-large_, mrs. anna c. wait, lincoln; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. bertha h. ellsworth, lincoln; _recording secretary_, miss georgiana daniels, eureka; _treasurer_, mrs. d. a. millington, winfield; _chaplain_, rev. s. s. cairns, winfield; _vice-presidents_ and _executive committee_, mrs. judge griswold, leavenworth; miss sarah hurtsel, columbus; mrs. anna taylor, wichita; miss myra willets, independence; mrs. w. p. roland, cherryvale; judge lorenzo westover, clyde; mr. v. p. wilson, abilene; hon. albert griffin, manhattan; mrs. a. o. carpenter, emporia; mrs. noble prentis, atchison; mrs. s. s. moore, burden; mrs. emma faris, carnerio; mrs. houghton and mrs. farrer, arkansas city; mrs. finley, topeka. [ ] the towns visited were: beloit, lincoln center, wilson, ellsworth, salina, solomon city, minneapolis, cawker city and clyde. the officers of the topeka society were: _president_, mrs. priscilla finley; _secretary_, mrs. e. g. hammon; _treasurer_, mrs. sarah smith. the officers of beloit were: _president_, mrs. h. still; _vice-presidents_, mrs. j. m. patten, mrs. m. vaughan; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. f. j. knight; _recording secretary_, mary charlesworth; _treasurer_, mrs. m. bailey. at salina, mrs. johns and mrs. christina day are the officers. [ ] the women of kansas should never forget that to the influence of mrs. nichols in the constitutional convention at wyandotte, they owe the modicum of justice secured by that document. with her knitting in hand, she sat there alone through all the sessions, the only woman present, watching every step of the proceedings, and laboring with members to so frame the constitution as to make all citizens equal before the law. though she did not accomplish what she desired, yet by her conversations with the young men of the state, she may be said to have made the idea of woman suffrage seem practicable to those who formed the constitution and statute laws of that state.--[e. c. s. [ ] see compiled laws of kansas, , page , chapter xxxiii. [ ] miss flora m. wagstaff of paoli was among the first to practice law in kansas. in , ida m. tillotson of mill brook, and in , maria e. degeer were admitted. [ ] the names of representatives voting for the committee stand as follows: _yeas_--barnes, beattie, bollinger, bond, bonebrake, brewster, buck, butterfield, caldwell, campbell, carter, clogston, j. b. cook of chetopa, h. c. cook of oswego, collins, cox, currier, davenport, dickson, edwards, faulkner, gillespie, glasgow, gray, grier, hargrave, hatfield, hogue, hollenshead, holman, hopkins, hostetler, johnson of ness city, johnson of marshall, johnson of topeka, johnson (speaker of the house), kelley of cawker city, king, kreger, lawrence, lewis, loofburrow, lower, mcbride, mcnall, mcneal, matlock, maurer, miller, moore, morgan of clay, morgan of osborne, mosher, osborn, patton, pratt, reeves, rhodes, roach, roberts, slavens, spiers, simpson, smith of mcpherson, smith of neosho, stewart, stine, sweezy, talbot, vance, veach, wallace, wentworth, wiggins, willhelm-- . the names of senators were: _yeas_--bowden, congdon, donnell, edmunds, granger, hicks, humphrey, jennings, m. b. kelley, kellogg, kimball, kohler, pickler, ritter, rush, shean, sheldon, white, young-- . [ ] the committee on the political rights of women, granted by the house, were: george morgan of clay, george seitz of ellsworth, david kelso of labette, f. w. rash of butler, w. c. edwards of pawnee, f. j. kelley of mitchell, w. h. deckard of doniphan. [ ] the speakers were: rev. amanda may (formerly of indiana), mrs. martha l. berry, mrs. ada sill, mrs. colby, dr. addie kester, mrs. m. d. vale, rev. c. h. rogers, mrs. de geer, miss jennie newby. officers: _president_, mrs. anna c. wait of lincoln; _vice-president_, mrs. laura m. johns of salina; _treasurer_, mrs. martia l. berry of cawker city; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. b. h. ellsworth of lincoln; _recording secretary_, mrs. alice g. bond of salina. [ ] when miss anthony and i went through kansas in we held an afternoon and evening meeting in salina. our accommodations at the hotel were wretched beyond description. mother bickerdyke was just preparing to open her hotel but was still in great confusion. hearing of our dismal quarters she came and took us to her home, where her exquisitely cooked food and clean beds redeemed in a measure our dolorous impressions of salina. our meetings were held in an unfinished church without a floor, the audience sitting on the beams, our opponents (two young lawyers) and ourselves on a few planks laid across, where a small stand was placed and one tallow candle to lighten the discussion that continued until a late hour. being delayed the next day at the depot a long time waiting for the train we held another prolonged discussion with these same sprigs of the legal profession. we had intended to go on to ellsworth, but hearing of trouble there with the indians we turned our faces eastward. mother bickerdyke and her thrilling stories of the war are the pleasant memories that still linger with us of salina.--[e. c. s. chapter li. colorado. great american desert--organized as a territory, february , --gov. mccook's message recommending woman suffrage, --adverse legislation--hon. amos steck--admitted to the union, --constitutional convention--efforts to strike out the word "male"--convention to discuss woman suffrage--school suffrage accorded--state association formed, alida c. avery, president--proposition for full suffrage submitted to the popular vote--a vigorous campaign--mrs. campbell and mrs. patterson of denver--opposition by the clergy--their arguments ably answered--d. m. richards--the amendment lost--_the rocky mountain news_. that our english readers may appreciate the herculean labors that the advocates of suffrage undertake in this country in canvassing a state, they must consider the vast territory to be traveled over, in stages and open wagons where railroads are scarce. colorado, for example, covers an area of , square miles. it is divided by the rocky mountains running north and south, with two hundred lofty peaks rising thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, and some still higher. to reach the voters in the little mining towns a hundred miles apart, over mountains such as these, involves hardships that only those who have made the journeys can understand. but there is some compensation in the variety, beauty and grandeur of the scenery, with its richly wooded valleys, vast parks and snow-capped mountains. it is the region for those awake to the sublime in nature to reverently worship some of her grandest works that no poet can describe nor artist paint. here, too, the eternal struggle for liberty goes on, for the human soul can never be attuned to harmony with its surroundings, especially the grand and glorious, until the birthright of justice and equality is secured to all. for a history of the early efforts made in the centennial state to secure equal rights for women, we are indebted to mrs. mary g. campbell and mrs. katharine g. patterson, two sisters who have been actively interested in the suffrage movement in colorado, as follows: in , while those immortal women whose names will be found on many another page of the volume in which this chapter is included, were asking in the convention at seneca falls, n. y., that their equal membership in the human family might be admitted by their husbands, fathers and sons, colorado, unnamed and unthought of, was still asleep with her head above the clouds. only two mountain-tops in all the-world were nearer heaven than hers, and they, in far thibet, had seen the very beginnings of the race which, after six thousand years, had not yet penetrated colorado. islanded in a cruel brown ocean of sand, she hid her treasures of gold and silver in her virgin bosom and dreamed, unstirred by any echoes of civilization. when she woke at last it was to the sound of an anvil chorus--to the ring of the mallet and drill, and the hoarse voices of men greedy only for gold. in , when the ninth national convention of women to demand their legal rights was in session in new york, there were only three white women in the now rich and beautiful city of denver. still another ten years of wild border life, of fierce vicissitudes, of unwritten tragedies enacted in forest and mine, and colorado was organized into a territory with a population of , women and , men. the first effort for suffrage was made in , during the fifth session of the legislative assembly, soon after general edward mccook was sent out by president grant to fill the gubernatorial chair. in his message to the legislature, he promptly recommended to the attention of its members the question of suffrage for woman: before dismissing the subject of franchise, i desire to call your attention to one question connected with it, which you may deem of sufficient importance to demand some consideration at your hands before the close of the session. our higher civilization has recognized woman's equality with man in all respects save one--suffrage. it has been said that no great reform was ever made without passing through three stages--ridicule, argument, and adoption. it rests with you to say whether colorado will accept this reform in its first stage, as our sister territory of wyoming has done, or in the last; whether she will be a leader or a follower; for the logic of a progressive civilization leads to the inevitable result of a universal suffrage. this was the first gun of the campaign, and summoned to the field various contending forces, armed with ridicule, argument, or an optimistic diplomacy, urging an immediate surrender of the ground claimed. bills favoring the enfranchisement of women were discussed both in the territorial council chamber and in the lower house of the legislature. the subject was taken up by the press and the people, and not escaping its meed of ridicule, was seriously dealt with by both friend and enemy. perhaps the western champions of woman's recognition as an intelligent part of the body politic were brought to understand the full meaning of her disabilities by their own experiences as territorial minors. certain it is that the high spirit of the citizens of colorado chafed intolerably under the temporary limitations of accustomed rights of sovereign manhood. the federal government, in the capacity of regent, sent to these territorial wards their officers and governors and fixed the rate of their taxation without full representation. these wards were indeed empowered, as were the people of their sister territories, to elect a delegate to the national congress, whose opinions upon territorial matters were allowed expression in that body, but who could no more enforce there his convictions upon important measures, by a vote, than could the most intelligent woman of this territory upon the question of his election to represent her interests. in the colorado papers of those days of territorial tutelage, there appeared repeatedly most impatient protests against these humiliating conditions of citizenship. with the attainment of statehood in there came to the men of colorado a restoration of their full rights as citizens of the republic. according to the proscriptive usage, the humiliating conditions of citizenship without the ballot, remained to the women of the centennial state; and those of their reënfranchised brothers who had felt most keenly their own unaccustomed restrictions, were without doubt the foremost advocates of the movement to secure the full recognition of women's rights. the majority of the territorial legislative assembly of was unexpectedly democratic, and almost as unexpected was the favor promptly shown by the democratic members to the passage of the bill proposing woman suffrage. the measure was indeed characterized by the opposing republicans, as "the great democratic reform," and for weeks seemed destined to triumph through democratic votes, in spite of the frivolous and serious opposition of the republican minority, and the few democratic members who deserted what then seemed the party policy upon this question. the pleas urged in advocacy of the new movement, as well as the protests urged against it, were substantially the same as were used in the east at that stage of the question. accompanying them were the extravagancies of hope and fear incident to the early consideration of every suggested change in a long-accepted social order. an impossible utopia was promised on the one hand no less confidently than was predicted upon the other a dire iconoclasm of the sacred shrine of long-adored ideals, as a consequence of simply granting to intelligent women a privilege justly their due. both the derision and the adverse reasoning of the alarmists were well met by fearless friends, in council and house. bills looking to the removal of woman's disabilities were referred in each to a select committee for consideration, on january . the majority report to the house through the chairman of its special committee, m. defrance, was an able advocacy of the measure under consideration, while the adverse recommendation of the council committee was accompanied by an excellent report by hon. amos steck, setting forth clearly the reasons of the minority for their favorable views. after hearing the reports, both houses went into committee of the whole for a free discussion upon the question. "the criterion of civilization, physical force," "strength as the measure of right,"--as recent writers have defined the divine right of might--seemed the basis of reasoning with those who claimed that woman should not be given the ballot because she might not carry the sword. dark pictures were drawn of possible women as electors plunging their country into wars, from whose consequences they would themselves suffer nothing. by the more hopeful it was urged that the mighty heart, the moral force of humanity, as represented in womanhood, and united with clear womanly intelligence, would prove a greater power in all state interests than sword or bayonet. the strongest speaker in the legislature upon the subject of suffrage--president hinsdale of the council--was, unfortunately, a bitter enemy of the proposed reform. yet some of his most forcible utterances made in committee of the whole, were excellent arguments in favor of, rather than against the measure. excellent arguments in favor of the bill in question were made by leading members of the house--messrs. lea, shepard and defrance. by invitation of the legislature, that body was addressed by a prominent member of the denver bar, mr. willard teller, the brother of one of our u. s. senators. the hall was filled by an interested audience to hear mr. teller's address, which was a strong presentation of the principles upon which rest the claims of american citizens to universal suffrage. outside the assembly halls, governor mccook and his beautiful, accomplished, and gracefully aggressive wife, strongly favored the affirmative of the question at issue, while willard teller, d. m. richards and other distinguished men and women of the territory were active friends during the contest. in the press, the measure had a most influential support in the _daily colorado tribune_, a well-conducted denver journal, edited by mr. r. w. woodbury. space in its columns was given to well-written articles by contributors interested in the success of the cause, and many able editorials appeared, embodying strong arguments in favor of the reform, or answering the opposing bitterness and frivolity of its contemporary the _rocky mountain news_. the interest in the proposed innovation was indeed quite general throughout the territory, but wherever the subject was discussed, in the legislative halls, in private conversation, editorial column, or correspondence of the press, the grounds argumentatively traversed were the same highways and byways of reason and absurdity which have been so often since gone over. there was perhaps one lion in the way of establishing universal suffrage in the west, which the eastern advocates did not fear. it was said that our intelligent women could not be allowed to vote, whatever the principles upon which the right might be claimed, because in that case, the poor, degraded chinese women who might reach our shores, would also be admitted to the voting list, and what then would become of our proud, caucasian civilization? whether it was the thought of the poor mongolian slave at the polls, or some other equally terrifying vision of a yearly visit of american women to the centre of some voting precinct, the majority of the colorado legislative assembly of , in spite of all the free discussion of the campaign of that year, decided adversely. in the latter days of the session, the bill having taken the form of a proposition to submit the question at issue to the already qualified voters of the territory, was lost in the council chamber by a majority of one, and in the house by a two-thirds majority, leaving to the defeated friends of the reform as their only reward, a consciousness of strength gained in the contest. a few years more made denver a city beautiful for habitation, made colorado a garden, filled that goodly land with capable men, and intelligent, spirited women. statehood had been talked of, but lost, and then men began to say: "the one hundredth birthday of our american independence is so near, let us make this a centennial state; let the entrance into the union be announced by the same bells that shall ring in our national anniversary." and so it was decreed. mindful of --mindful too, of the second declaration made by the women at the first equal rights convention in , the friends of equality in colorado determined to gird themselves for a supreme effort in anticipation of the constitution that was to be framed for the new state to be. a notice was published asking all persons favorable to suffrage for women, to convene in denver, january , to take measures to secure the recognition of woman's equality under the pending constitution. in pursuance to this call, a large and eager audience filled unity church long before the hour appointed for the meeting. a number of the orthodox clergy were present. the rev. mrs. wilkes of colorado springs, opened the exercises with prayer. mrs. margaret w. campbell of massachusetts was then introduced, and said: "this convention was called to present woman's claims to the ballot, from her own stand-point, and to take such measures to secure the recognition of her equality in the constitution of colorado, as the friends gathered from different parts of the territory may think proper. we do not ask that women shall take the places of men, or usurp authority over them; we only ask that the principles upon which our government is founded shall be applied to women. rev. mrs. wilkes made an especial point of the fact that in colorado springs women owned one-third of the taxable property, and yet were obliged (at the recent spring election) to see the bonds for furnishing a supply of pure water, voted down because women had no voice in the matter. this had been a serious mistake, as the physicians of the place had pronounced the present supply impure and unwholesome. she referred to the fears of many that the constitution, freighted with woman suffrage, might sink, when it would else be buoyant, and begged her hearers not to fear such a burden would endanger it. the convention continued through two days with enthusiastic speeches from mr. d. m. richards and rev. mr. wright, who preferred to be introduced as the nephew of dr. harriot k. hunt of boston. letters were read from lucy stone and judge kingman, and an extract from the message of governor thayer of wyoming, in which he declared the results of woman suffrage in that territory to have been beneficial and its influence favorable to the best interests of the community. a territorial society was formed with an efficient board of officers;[ ] resolutions, duly discussed, were adopted, and the meeting closed with a carefully-prepared address by dr. avery, the newly-elected president of the territorial association. the committee[ ] appointed to wait upon the constitutional convention were received courteously by that body, and listened to with respectful attention. one would have thought the gentlemen to whom the arguments and appeals of such women were addressed would have found it in their hearts to make some reply, even while disclaiming the official character of their act; but they preserved a decorous and non-committal, if not incurious silence, and the ladies withdrew. the press said, the morning after their visit: "the gentlemen were all interested and amused by the errand of the ladies." the morning following, the constitutional convention was memorialized by the suffrage association of missouri, and was also presented with a petition signed by a thousand citizens of colorado, asking that in the new constitution no distinction be made on account of sex. this was only the beginning. petitions came in afterwards, numerously signed, and were intended to have the force of a sort of ante-election vote. denver presented an interesting social aspect at this time. it was as if the precursive tremor of a moral earthquake had been felt, and people, only half awake, did not know whether to seek safety in the house, or outside of it. women especially were perplexed and inquiring, and it was observed that those in favor of asking a recognition of their rights in the new state, were the intelligent and leading ladies of the city. the wives of ministers, of congressmen, of judges, the prominent members of shakespeare clubs, reading circles, the directors of charitable institutions,--these were the ones who first ranged themselves on the side of equal rights, clearly proving that the man was right who pointed out the danger of allowing women to learn the alphabet. when february came, it was a momentous day for colorado. the report of the committee on suffrage and elections was to come up for final action. as a matter of fact there were two reports; that of the minority was signed by two members of the committee, judge bromwell, whose breadth and scholarship were apparent in his able report, and a mexican named agapita vigil, a legislator from southern colorado where spanish is the dominant tongue. mr. vigil spoke no english, and was one of those representatives for whose sake an interpreter was maintained during the session of the convention. ladies were present in large numbers. some of the gentlemen celebrated the occasion by an unusual spruceness of attire, and others by being sober enough to attend to business. the report with three-fifths of the signatures, after setting forth that the subject had had careful consideration, went on to state the qualifications of voters, namely, that all should be male citizens, with one exception, and that was, that women might vote for school district officers. mr. a. k. yount of boulder, spoke in favor of the motion to strike out the word "male" in section : "that every male person over the age of years, possessing the necessary qualifications, shall be entitled to vote," etc. he called attention to the large number of petitions which had been sent in, asking for this, and to the fact that not a single remonstrance had been received. he believed the essential principles of human freedom were involved in this demand, and he insisted that justice required that women should help to make the laws by which they are governed. the amendment was lost by a vote of to . mr. storm offered an amendment that women be permitted to vote for, and hold the office of, county superintendent of schools. this also was lost. the only other section of the report which had any present interest to women, was the one reading: section . the general assembly may at any time extend by law the right of suffrage to persons not herein enumerated, but no such law shall take effect or be in force until the same shall have been submitted to a vote of the people, at a general election, and approved by a majority of all the votes cast for and against such law. after much discussion it was voted that the first general assembly should provide a law whereby the subject should be submitted to a vote of the electors. after this the curtain fell, the lights were put out, and all the atmosphere and _mise en scène_ of the drama vanished. it was well known, however, that another season would come, the actors would reäppear, and an "opus" would be given; whether it should turn out a tragedy, or a miriam's song of deliverance, no one was able to predict. meantime, the women of colorado--to change the figure--bivouacked on the battle-field, and sent for reïnforcements against the fall campaign. they held themselves well together, and used their best endeavors to educate public sentiment. a column in the denver _rocky mountain news_, a pioneer paper then edited by w. n. byers, was offered the woman suffrage association, through which to urge our claims. the column was put into the hands of mrs. campbell, the wife of e. l. campbell, of the law firm of patterson & campbell of denver, for editorship. this lady, from whose editorials quotations will be given, was too timid (she herself begs us to say cowardly) to use her name in print, and so translated it into its german equivalent of _schlachtfeld_, thus nullifying whatever of weight her own name would have carried in the way of personal and social endorsement of an unpopular cause. her sister, mrs. t. m. patterson, an early and earnest member of the colorado suffrage association, "bore testimony" as courageously and constantly as her environment permitted. mrs. gov. mccook, as previously stated, had been the first woman in colorado to set the example of a spirited claim to simple political justice for her sex, but she, alas! at the date now reached in our sketch, was dead--in her beautiful youth, in the first flower of her sweet, bright womanhood. her loss to the cause can best be measured by those who know what an immense uplifting power is present when an intelligent man in an influential position joins his personal and political force to his wife's personal and social force in the endeavor to accomplish an object dear to both. it is a pity not to register here, however inadequately, some outline of many figures that rise to form a part of the picture of colorado in - . when liberty shall have been achieved, and all citizens shall be comfortably enjoying its direct and indirect blessings, this book should be found to have preserved in the amber of its pages the names of those who bravely wrought for freedom in that earlier time. would that one might indeed summon them all by a roll-call! but they will not answer--they say only: "let our work stand for us, be its out-come small or great." to dr. alida c. avery, however, whatever the outcome, a weighty obligation is due from all past, present and future laborers in this cause in colorado. she it was who set at work and kept at work the interplay of ideas and efforts which accomplished what was done. through her personal acquaintance with the immortals at the east, lucy stone, susan b. anthony, henry b. blackwell, she drew them to colorado during the campaign about to be described, and with them came others. mrs. m. w. campbell and her husband reäppeared to do faithful service, and then came also miss lelia patridge of philadelphia, a young, graceful, and effective speaker,--so the local papers constantly describe her, and then came, in the person of miss matilda hindman of pittsburg pa., one of the ablest women of the whole campaign. gentle, persuasive, womanly, she was at the same time armed at all points with fact, argument, and illustration, and her zeal was only equaled by her power of sustained labor. many of these same qualities belong to mrs. m. f. shields, of colorado springs, one of the committee on constitutional work in the campaign of , and an ardent, unceasing, unselfish laborer in the church, in suffrage and temperance, for more than ten years. she did not lecture, but "talked"; talked to five hundred men at a time as if they were her own sons, and only needed to be shown they were conniving at injustice, in order to turn about and do the right thing. this same element of "motherliness" it was, which gained her the respectful attention of an audience of the roughest and most ignorant cornish miners up in caribou, who would listen to no other woman speaking upon the subject. when the members of the famous constitutional committee were considering the suffrage petition, prior to making their report, judge stone of pueblo, tried to persuade the spanish-speaking member that to grant the franchise to women would be to be false to his party, as those women were all democrats. but senor vigil replied that he had been talking through his interpreter to the "nice old lady, who smiled so much" (meaning mrs. shields), and he knew what they asked was all right, and he should vote for it. of the men who were willing to obey paul's entreaty to "help those women," must be named in the front rank david m. richards of denver, a pioneer of ' , and as brave and generous and true a heart as ever beat in time to the pulse of progress, rev. b. f. crary, a true apostolic helper, mr. henry c. dillon, a young western raleigh for knightly chivalry, hon. j. b. belford, member of congress then and now, judge h. p. h. bromwell, who needs no commendation from the historian, as his eloquent minority report speaks adequately for him; these, and very many more, both men and women, have, as the french say, "deserved well of the state and of their generation." and it was once more to the aid of these men and women that the east sent reïnforcements as soon as the winter of was well ushered in. an annual convention was announced for january , in denver. when the bitter cold evening came it seemed doubtful if any great number of persons would be present, but the large lawrence street methodist church was, on the contrary, packed to its utmost capacity. rev. mr. eads, pastor of the church, opened the meeting with prayer, and dr. avery, as president of the association, gave a brief _résumé_ of the work during its one year of existence. colonel henry logan of boulder (formerly of illinois), made a manly and telling speech in favor of a measure which he called one of axiomatic justice. mrs. wright of new york, after a piquant address, announced the meeting of the convention for the next day. on the following morning a business session was held, and officers elected for the year.[ ] in the afternoon speeches were made by dr. crary, mrs. shields, and mr. david boyd of greeley, and in the evening by mr. henry c. dillon and rev. j. r. eads, the closing and crowning speech of the convention being given by miss laura hanna of denver, a _petite_, pretty young girl, whose remarks made a _bonne bouche_ with which to close the feast. interest in the subject rose to fever heat before october. pulpit, press and fireside were occupied with its discussion. the most effective, and at the same time, exasperating opposition, came from the pulpit, but there was also vigorous help from the same quarter. the catholic bishop preached a series of sermons and lectures, in which he fulminated all the thunders of apostolic and papal revelation against women who wanted to vote: though strong-minded women who are not satisfied with the disposition of providence and who wish to go beyond the condition of their sex, profess no doubt to be christians, do they consult the bible?--do they follow the bible? i fear not. had god intended to create a companion for man, capable of following the same pursuits, able to undertake the same labors, he would have created another man; but he created a woman, and she fell. * * * the class of women wanting suffrage are battalions of old maids disappointed in love--women separated from their husbands or divorced by men from their sacred obligations--women who, though married, wish to hold the reins of the family government, for there never was a woman happy in her home who wished for female suffrage. * * * who will take charge of those young children (if they consent to have any) while mothers as surgeons are operating indiscriminately upon the victims of a terrible railway disaster? * * * no kind husband will refuse to nurse the baby on sunday (when every kind of business is stopped) in order to let his wife attend church; but even then, as it is not his natural duty, he will soon be tired of it and perhaps get impatient waiting for the mother, chiefly when the baby is crying. these, with the omnipresent quotations from st. paul to the effect that women shall keep silence in the church, etc., formed the argument of the bishop in two or three lengthy sermons. indignant men, disgusted with the caliber of the opposition and yet obliged to notice it on account of the position of the divine, made ample rejoinders. rev. dr. crary of golden, in an exhaustive review of the bishop's discourse, deprecated the making permanent and of universal application the commands which with paul were evidently temporary and local, and said half the churches in christendom would be closed if these were literally obeyed: "women should not usurp authority, therefore men should usurp all authority." this is the sort of logic we have always heard from men who are trotting along in the wake of progress and howling because the centuries do not stop rolling onward. in barbarous regions paul is paraded against educating girls at all. in half-civilized nations paul is doing service against educating girls except in the rudiments. among people who are just beginning to see the hill-tops of a higher, nobler world, paul is still on duty crowding off women from high-schools and colleges. proud universities to-day have paul standing guard over medical meanness and pushing down aspiring female souls from the founts of knowledge. within our memory paul has been the standing demonstration in favor of slavery, intemperance and the oppression of women. another sermon in which the bishop lays solemn stress on the one sacred, inevitable duty of women to become wives and mothers, was answered by mr. david boyd of greeley, who, among other things, asks the bishop: how, in view of the injunction to increase and multiply, he can justify the large celibate class created by positive command of the catholic church, not only by the ordination of priests, but by the constant urging of the church that women should become the barren brides of christ by taking on them the vows of nuns. the bishop published his lectures in pamphlet form, that their influence might be far-reaching, and curiously enough, the very same lectures were printed and scattered by the friends of suffrage as the best sort of document for the campaign now fairly inaugurated. d. m. richards, the able chairman of the executive committee, and dr. avery, president of the association, showed themselves capable of both conceiving and executing a plan of operations which had the merit of at least deserving victory. there was no lack of pens to defend women's claim to equal chances in the struggle for existence. in denver, the _rocky mountain news_ and the _times_ planted themselves fairly and squarely in an affirmative attitude, and gave generous aid to the effort. the _tribune's_ columns were in a state of chronic congestion from a plethora of protests, both feminine and masculine. one young lawyer said: "if suffrage is to come, let it come by man's call, and not by woman's clamor"; and, "when all the women of the land can show the ability to rear a family, and at the same time become eminent in some profession or art, then men will gladly welcome them." whereupon the women naturally rushed into print to protest against the qualifications required of them, compared with those required of men. it is safe to say, that from the middle of january, , until the following october, the most prominent theme of public discussion was this question of suffrage for women. miners discussed it around their camp-fires, and "freighters" on their long slow journeys over the mountain trails argued _pro_ and _con_, whether they should "let" women have the ballot. women themselves argued and studied and worked earnestly. one lawyer's wife, who declared that no refined woman would contend for such a right, and that no woman with self-respect would be found electioneering, herself urged every man of her acquaintance to vote against the measure, and even triumphantly reported that she had spoken to seventy-five men who were strangers to her, and secured their promise to vote against the pending amendment. this, however, must not be mistaken for electioneering. on wednesday, august , an equal rights mass-meeting was held in denver, for the purpose of organizing a county central committee, and for an informal discussion of plans for the campaign. judge h. p. h. bromwell and h. c. dillon spoke, with earnest repetition of former pledges of devotion to the cause, and gov. evans said: equal suffrage is necessary to equal rights. it is fortunate that we have in colorado an opportunity of bringing to bear the restraining, purifying and ennobling influence of women upon politics. it is a reform that will require all the benign influences of the country to sustain and carry out, and, as i hope for the perpetuation of our free institutions, i dare not neglect the most promising and potent means of purifying politics, and i regard the influence of women as this means. major bright of wyoming, was introduced as the man who framed and brought in the first bill for the enfranchisement of women. judge w. b. mills said: "it is an anomalous condition of affairs which made it necessary for a woman to ask a man whether she should vote," and referring to all the reforms and changes of the last half century, predicted that the extension of the franchise to woman would be the next in order. the meeting was a full and fervid one, and great confidence of success was felt and expressed. a committee of seventeen was appointed[ ] and this committee did its full duty in districting the territory and sending out speakers. mr. henry b. blackwell, lucy stone and miss anthony arrived almost immediately after this, and henceforth the advocates of suffrage swarmed through the rocky highways and byways of colorado as eagerly, if not as multitudinously, as its gold seekers. mrs. campbell wrote to the _woman's journal_: we have now been at work two weeks. some of our meetings are very encouraging, some not so much so. but the meetings are only one feature of the work. we stop along the way and search out all the leading men in each voting precinct, and secure the names of those who will work on election day. we do more talking out of meeting than in. we rode thirty-five miles yesterday, and arrived here after six o'clock in the evening. while mr. campbell was taking care of the horse, i filled out bills before taking off my hat and duster; in fifteen minutes they were being distributed, and at eight o'clock i was speaking to a good-sized audience. on october , a monster meeting was held in the lawrence street methodist church, and was addressed by lucy stone, miss matilda hindman, mrs. campbell, and dr. avery. the most intense interest was manifested, and the excellent speeches heartily applauded. the next day (sunday) the rev. dr. bliss of the presbyterian church, preached a sermon in his own pulpit, on "woman suffrage and the model wife and mother," in which he alluded to "certain brawling, ranting women, bristling for their rights," and said god had intended woman to be a wife and mother, and the eternal fitness of things forbade her to be anything else. if women could vote, those who were wives now would live in endless bickerings with their husbands over politics, and those who were not wives would not marry." these utterences brought out many replies. one was in the column edited by "mrs. schlachtfeld," and may perhaps be quoted as a specimen of her editorial work, such being, as we have intimated, her one service to suffrage, and that incognito: one of the daily, dismal forecasts of the male cassandras of our time is, that in the event of women becoming emancipated from the legal thralldom that disables them, they will acquire a sudden distaste for matrimony, the direful consequences of which will be a gradual extermination of homes, and the extinction of the human species. this is an artless and extremely suggestive lament. in the first place--accepting that prophecy as true--why will women not marry? because, they will then be independent of men; because in a fair field for competition where ability and not sex shall determine employment and remuneration, women will have an equal chance with men for distinction and reward, for triumphs commercial and professional as well as social, and hence, needing men less, either to make them homes, or to gratify indirectly their ambitions, their affections will become atrophied, the springs of domestic life will disappear in the arid sands of an unfeminine publicity, and marriage, with all the wearying cares and burdens and anxieties that it inevitably brings to every earnest woman, will be regarded more and more as a state to be shunned. the few who enter it will be compassionated much as a minister is who undertakes a dangerous foreign mission. men will stand mateless, and the ruins of the hymeneal altars everywhere crumble mournfully away, and be known to tradition only by their vanishing inscriptions: "to the unknown god." but it is ill jesting over that which tugs at every woman's heartstrings and which impinges upon the very life-centres of society. if women, on being made really free to choose, will not marry, then we must arraign men on the charge of having made the married state so irksome and distasteful to women that they prefer celibacy when they dare enjoy it. observe, however, the inconsistency of another line of reasoning running parallel with this in the floating literature of the day: "motherhood," these writers say, "is the natural vocation of women; is, indeed, an instinct so mighty, even if unconscious, that it draws women toward matrimony with a yearning as irresistible as that which pulls the great sea upon the land in blind response to the moon." if this be true, society is safe, and women will still be wives, no matter how much they may exult in political freedom, no matter how alluringly individual careers may open before them, nor how accessible the tempting prizes of human ambition may become. well, the day came,--the _dies irae_ for one side or the other, and it proved to be for the "one." the measure was defeated. ten thousand votes were for it, twenty thousand against it. women remained at the polls all day, distributing ballots, and answering objections. they had flowers on all the little tables where the tickets were heaped, on which were printed the three words, "woman suffrage approved," words for many pregnant with hope for a new impetus to civilization, for others with a misfortune only to be compared to that which happened in greece when ino boiled the seed corn of a whole kingdom, and thus not only lost the crop of that year, but, by the subtle interplay of the laws by which evolution proceeds, set back humanity for a period not to be reckoned in years. mrs. h. s. mendenhall of georgetown wrote to dr. avery on the evening of election day: before this reaches you the telegraph will have given you the result of the day's work all over the state, but i thought i would jot down a line while the experiences of the last ten hours were fresh in my mind. last evening our committee appointed ladies to represent the interests of woman suffrage at the polls. to my surprise, many evaded the work who were, nevertheless, strongly in favor of the measure. mrs. dr. collins and i were the only ones at the lowest and most important precinct until one o'clock, when we were joined by the wife of the presbyterian minister. our course was somewhat as follows: on the approach of a voter, we would ask him, "have you voted?" if he had, we usually troubled him no further; if he had not, we asked, "can you vote for woman suffrage?" if he approved, we supplied him with his ticket; if he disapproved, we asked him for his objections, and we have listened to some comical ones to-day. one man asked me, though not rudely, "who is cooking your husband's dinner?" i promptly invited him to dine with us. another spoke of neglected household duties, and when i mentioned a loaf of bread i had just baked, and should be glad to have him see, he said, "i expect you can bake bread," but he voted against us. the methodist men were for us; the presbyterians and episcopalians very fairly so, and the roman catholics were not all against us, some of the prominent members of that church working and voting for woman suffrage. the liquor interest went entirely against us, as far as i know. the observations of the day have led me to several general conclusions, to which, of course, exceptions exist: ( ) married men will vote for suffrage if their wives appreciate its importance. ( ) men without family ties, and especially if they have associated with a bad class of women, will vote against it. ( ) boys who have just reached their majority will vote against it more uniformly than any other class of men. we were treated with the utmost respect by all except the last class. destitute of experience, and big with their own importance, these young sovereigns will speak to a woman twice their years with a flippancy which the most ignorant foreigner of mature age would not use, and i have to-day been tempted to believe that no one is fitted to exercise the american franchise under twenty-five years of age. the main objection which i heard repeatedly urged was, women do not want to vote. this seems to be the great stumbling-block to our brethren. men were continually saying that their wives told them not to vote for woman suffrage. if we are defeated this time i know we can succeed in the next campaign, or just as soon as we can educate enough prominent women up to the point of coming out plainly on the subject. then all men, or all but the vicious men who always vote against every good thing, will give in right away. lucy stone, in a letter to the _woman's journal_ describes similar scenes enacted that day in denver; speaks of the order and quiet prevailing at the polls, of the flowers on all the tables, and, in spite of the strangeness of the occasion, of the presence of women as evidently a new and beneficent element there. rev. dr. ellis of the baptist church, who, on the sunday before had preached from the text, "help those women," was using his influence to convert those doubtful or opposed. rev. mr. bliss, who had declared in his pulpit that "the only two women the bible mentioned as having meddled in politics were jezebel and herodias," was there also, to warn men not to vote for equal rights for women. at other polls i saw colored men, once slaves, electioneering and voting against the rights of women. when remonstrated with, one said: "we want the women at home cooking our dinners." a shrewd colored woman asked whether they had provided any dinner to cook, and added that most of the colored women there had to earn their dinner as well as cook it. * * * * * hear the conclusion of the whole matter. in the words of the last editorial of the woman's column in the _rocky mountain news_: woman's hour has not yet struck! the chimes that were waiting to ring out the tidings of her liberty--the candles furtively stored against an illumination which should typify a new influx of light, the achievement of a victory whose meaning and promise at least seemed to those who both prayed and worked for it, neither trivial nor selfish--all these are relegated to the guardianship of patience and hope. colorado has refused to enfranchise its women. * * * * * * the germans, the catholics, and the negroes were said to be against us. naturally, those who themselves most keenly feel, or most recently have felt, the galling yoke of arbitrary rule, are most disposed to derive a certain enjoyment from the daily contemplation of a noble class still in bondage. * * * * * * but _all_ opposition, in whatever guise, comes back at last to be written under one rubric--the immaturity of woman. we make this dispassionate statement of a fact. we feel neither scorn nor anger, and we trust that we shall excite none. it is a fault which time will cure, but meantime it is the grand factor in our account. every other argument has been met--every other stronghold of opposition taken. woman's claim to the ballot has been shown to rest in justice on the very foundation stone of democratic government--has been, from the christian standpoint, as completely exonerated from the charge of impiety as ever anti-slavery and anti-polygamy were, and the fact which was the slogan of the anti-suffragists still remains: the mass of the women do not want it. we do not quarrel with the fact, but state it to give the real reason for our failures--the real objective point for our future work. the complacency with which we are able to state without fear of contradiction that the body of intelligent and thoughtful women _do_ want suffrage must not obscure our perception of the equal truth of what we have just stated above. to accept this verity and turn our energies toward the emancipation of our own sex--toward their emancipation from frivolous aims, petty prejudices, and that attitude toward the other sex which is really the sycophancy born of vanity and weakness; to make them recognize the state as a multiplication of their own families, and patriotism as the broadening of their love of home; to make them see that that mother will be most respected whose son does not, when a downy beard is grown, suddenly tower above her in the supercilious enjoyment of an artificial superiority--a superiority which consists simply, as figaro says, in his having taken the trouble to be born; to make them see, finally, that in the highest exercise of all the powers with which god has endowed her, woman can no more refuse the duties of citizenship, than she can refuse the duties of wifehood and motherhood, once having accepted those sacred relations. this is our first duty, and this the scope of our work, if we would attain suffrage in , or even in . footnotes: [ ] _president_, alida c. avery, m. d., denver. _vice-presidents_, rev. mr. harford, denver; mr. j. e. washburn, big thompson; mrs. h. m. lee, longmont; mrs. m. m. sheetz, cañon city; mrs. l. s. ruhn, del norte; mr. n. c. meeker, greeley; hon. willard teller, central; mr. d. m. richards, denver; mr. j. b. harrington, littleton; mr. a. e. lee, boulder; rev. wm. shephard, cañon city. _recording secretary_, miss eunice d. sewall, denver. _corresponding secretary_, mrs. a. l. washburn, big thompson. _treasurer_, mrs. i. t. hanna, denver. _executive committee_, mrs. m. f. shields, colorado springs; mr. a. l. ellis, boulder; mrs. m. e. hale, denver; mr. w. a. wilkes, colorado springs; mr. j. r. hanna, denver; mrs. s. c. wilber, greeley; rev. dr. crary, pueblo. [ ] of the membership of this committee a grateful word is to be said: mrs. campbell is a woman of agreeable and stately presence, and adds to thorough information on all points connected with the claims made in this campaign, an unusual facility and persuasiveness of language. mrs. shields is one of the most lovable women to be seen in the suffrage panorama; a tower of strength in her own family, where she is at once the comrade and commander of her children--the help-meet and friend of her husband. she inspires immediate confidence whenever she confronts an audience. mrs. washburn is also an attractive and large-hearted woman--a "granger," and thus experienced in united, organized action of men and women for furthering the interests of both. mrs. hanna, a tall, graceful blonde, more reserved in speech but entirely intelligent in faith and in labor, represented to many men of the convention the very qualities they liked in their own wives. [ ] _president_, dr. alida c. avery of denver; _vice-presidents_, d. howe, mrs. m. b. hart, j. e. washburn, mrs. emma moody, willard teller, j. b. harrington, a. e. lee, and n. c. meeker; _recording secretary_, birks carnforth of denver; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. t. m. patterson of denver; _treasurer_, mrs. h. c. lawson of denver; _executive committee_, d. m. richards, mrs. m. f. shields, mrs. m. e. hale, h. mcallister, mrs. birks carnforth, j. a. dresser, a. j. wilber, b. f. crary, miss annie figg, h. logan, j. r. eads, f. m. ellis, c. roby, judge jones, general cameron, b. h. eaton, agapita vigil, w. b. felton, s. c. charles and j. b. campbell. [ ] consisting of dr. r. g. buckingham, chairman, hon. john evans, judge g. w. miller, benjamin d. spencer, a. j. williams, captain richard sopris, e. b. sluth, john armor, hon. e. l. campbell, john walker, j. u. marlow, col. w. h. bright, john g. lilly, john s. mccool, j. w. nesmyth, henry o. wagoner, and dr. martimore. chapter lii. wyoming. the dawn of the new day, december, --the goal reached in england and america--territory organized, may, --legislative action--bill for woman suffrage--william h. bright--gov. campbell signs the bill--appoints esther morris, justice of the peace, march, --women on the jury, chief-justice howe, presiding--j. w. kingman, associate-justice, addresses the jury--women promptly take their places--sunday laws enforced--comments of the press--judge howe's letter--laramie _sentinel_--j. h. heyford--women voting, --grandma swain the first to cast her ballot--effort to repeal the law, --gov. campbell's veto--mr. corlett--rapid growth of public opinion in favor of woman suffrage. after recording such a long succession of disappointments and humiliations for women in all the states in their worthy endeavors for higher education, for profitable employment in the trades and professions and for equal social, civil and political rights, it is with renewed self-respect and a stronger hope of better days to come that we turn to the magnificent territory of wyoming, where the foundations of the first true republic were laid deep and strong in equal rights to all, and where for the first time in the history of the race woman has been recognized as a sovereign in her own right--an independent, responsible being--endowed with the capacity for self-government. this great event in the history of human progress transpired in . neither the point nor the period for this experiment could have been more fitly chosen. midway across this vast western continent, on the highest plane of land, rising from three to eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, where gigantic mountain-peaks shooting still higher seem to touch the clouds, while at their feet flow the great rivers that traverse the state in all directions, emptying themselves after weary wanderings into the pacific ocean at last; such was the grand point where woman was first crowned with the rights of citizenship. and the period was equally marked. to reach the goal of self-government the women of england and america seemed to be vieing with each other in the race, now one holding the advance position, now the other. and in many respects their struggles and failures were similar. when seeking the advantages of collegiate education, the women of england were compelled to go to france, austria and switzerland for the opportunities they could not enjoy in their own country. the women of our eastern states followed their example, or went to western institutions for such privileges, granted by oberlin and antioch in ohio, ann arbor in michigan, washington university in missouri, and refused in all the colleges of the east. for long years, alike they endured ridicule and bitter persecution to secure a foothold in their universities at home. our battles in parliament and in the congress of the united states were simultaneous. while nine senators,[ ] staunch and true, voted in favor of woman suffrage in , and women were rolling up their petitions for a constitutional amendment in ' and ' , with samuel c. pomeroy in the senate and george w. julian in the house, the women of england, keeping step and time, found their champions in the house of commons in john stuart mill and jacob bright in - , and no sooner were their mammoth petitions presented in parliament than ours were rolled into the halls of congress. at last we reached the goal, the women of england in and those of wyoming in . but what the former gained in time the latter far surpassed in privilege. while to the english woman only a limited suffrage was accorded, in the vast territory of wyoming, larger than all great britain, all the rights of citizenship were fully and freely conferred by one act of the legislature--the right to vote at all elections on all questions and to hold any office in the gift of the people. the successive steps by which this was accomplished are given us by hon. j. w. kingman, associate-justice in the territory for several years: it is now sixteen years since the act was passed giving women the right to vote at all elections in this territory, including all the rights of an elector, with the right to hold office. the language of the statute is broad, and beyond the reach of evasion. it is as follows: that every woman of the age of twenty-one years, residing in the territory, may, at every election to be holden under the laws thereof, cast her vote; and her rights to the elective franchise, and to hold office, shall be the same, under the election laws of the territory, as those of the electors. there was no half-way work about it, no quibbling, no grudgingly parting with political power, no fear of consequences, but a manly acknowledgment of equal rights and equal privileges, among all the citizens of the new territory. nor was this the only act of that first legislature on the subject of equal rights. they passed the following: an act _to protect married women in their separate property, and the enjoyment of their labor._ section . that all the property, both real and personal, belonging to any married woman as her sole and separate property, or which any woman hereafter married, owns at the time of her marriage, or which any married woman during coverture acquires in good faith from any person other than her husband, by descent or otherwise, together with all the rents, issues, increase and profits thereof, shall, notwithstanding her marriage, be and remain during coverture, her sole and separate property, under her sole control, and be held, owned, possessed and enjoyed by her, the same as though she were sole and unmarried, and shall not be subject to the disposal, control or interference of her husband, and shall be exempt from execution or attachment for the debts of her husband. sec. . any married woman may bargain, sell, and convey, her personal property, and enter into any contract in reference to the same, as if she were _sole_. sec. . any woman may, while married, sue and be sued in all matters having relation to her property, person or reputation, in the same manner as if she were _sole_. sec. . any married woman may, while married, make a will the same as though she were _sole_. sec. . any married woman may carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or service on her sole and separate account, and the earnings of any married woman from her trade, business, labor or services, shall be her sole and separate property, and may be used and invested by her in her own name; and she may sue and be sued, as if _sole_, in regard to her trade, business, labor, services, and earnings. * * * sec. . the separate deed of the husband shall convey no interest in the wife's lands. under the statute for distributions, the wife is treated exactly as the husband is; each having the same right in the estate of the other. the provisions are so unusual and peculiar, that i venture to copy some of them: * * * * if such intestate leave a husband or wife, _and_ children, him or her surviving, one-half of such estate shall descend to such surviving husband or wife, and the residue thereof * * * * to the children; if such intestate leave a husband or wife and _no_ child, * * * * then the property shall descend as follows, to wit: three-fourths thereof to such remaining husband or wife, and one-fourth thereof to the father and mother of the intestate, or the survivor of them; provided that if the estate of such intestate, real and personal, does not exceed in volume the sum of ten thousand dollars, then the whole thereof shall descend to and rest in the surviving husband or wife as his or her absolute estate. dower and the tenancy by the curtesy are abolished. the school law also provides: sec. . in the employment of teachers no discrimination shall be made, in the question of pay, on account of sex, when the persons are equally qualified. such are some of the radical enactments of the first legislature of wyoming territory in reference to woman's rights; and to a person who has grown up under the common law and the usages of english-speaking people, they undoubtedly appear extravagant if not revolutionary, and well calculated to disturb or overthrow the very foundations of social order. experience has not, however, justified any such apprehensions. the people of wyoming have prospered under these laws, and are growing to like them better and better, and adapt themselves more and more to their provisions. the object of this sketch is to trace the progress and development of this new legislation, and gather up some of its consequences as they have been observed in our social and political relations. the territory of wyoming was first organized in may, . the union pacific railroad was completed on the th of the month, and the transcontinental route opened to the public. there were but few people in the territory at that time, except such as had been brought hither in connection with the building of that road, and while some of them were good people, well-educated, and came to stay, many were reckless, wicked and wandering. the first election was held in september, , for the election of a delegate in congress, and members of the council and house of representatives for the first territorial legislature. there was a good deal of party feeling developed, and election day witnessed a sharp and vigorous struggle. the candidates and their friends spent money freely, and every liquor shop was thrown open to all who would drink. i was about to say that any one could imagine the consequences; but in fact i do not believe that any one could picture to himself the mad follies, and frightful scenes of that drunken election. peaceful people did not dare to walk the streets, in some of the towns, during the latter part of the day and evening. at south pass city, some drunken fellows with large knives and loaded revolvers swaggered around the polls, and swore that no negro should vote. one man remarked quietly that he thought the negroes had as good a right to vote as any of them had. he was immediately knocked down, jumped on, kicked and pounded without mercy, and would have been killed, had not his friends rushed into the brutal crowd and dragged him out, bloody and insensible. it was a long time before the poor fellow recovered from his injuries. there were quite a number of colored men who wanted to vote, but did not dare approach the polls until the united states marshal placed himself at their head and with revolver in hand escorted them through the crowd, saying he would shoot the first man that interfered with them. there was much quarreling and tumult, but the negroes voted. this was only a sample of the day's doings, and characteristic of the election all over the territory. the result was that every republican was defeated, and every democratic candidate elected; and the whisky shops had shown themselves to be the ruling power in wyoming. from such an inspiration one could hardly expect a revelation of much value! yet there were some fair men among those elected. the legislature met october , . wm. h. bright was elected president of the council. as he was the author of the woman suffrage bill, and did more than all others to secure its passage, some account of him may be of interest. he was a man of much energy and of good natural endowments, but entirely without school education. he said frankly, "i have never been to school a day in my life, and where i learned to read and write i do not know." his character was not above reproach, but he had an excellent, well-informed wife, and he was a kind, indulgent husband. in fact, he venerated his wife, and submitted to her judgment and influence more willingly than one could have supposed; and she was in favor of woman suffrage.[ ] there were a few other men in that legislature, whose wives exercised a similar influence; but mr. bright found it up-hill work to get a majority for his bill, and it dragged along until near the close of the session. the character of the arguments he used, and the means he employed to win success are perhaps worthy of notice, as showing the men he had to deal with. i ought to say distinctly, that mr. bright was himself fully and firmly convinced of the justice and policy of his bill, and gave his whole energy and influence to secure its passage; he secured some members by arguing to support their pet schemes in return, and some he won over by even less creditable means. he got some votes by admitting that the governor would veto the bill (and it was generally understood that he would), insisting at the same time, that it would give the democrats an advantage in future elections by showing that they were in favor of liberal measures while the republican governor and the republican party were opposed to them. the favorite argument, however, and by far the most effective, was this: it would prove a great advertisement, would make a great deal of talk, and attract attention to the legislature, and the territory, more effectually than anything else. the bill was finally passed and sent to the governor. i must add, however, that many letters were written from different parts of the territory, and particularly by the women, to members of the legislature, urging its passage and approving its object. on receipt of the bill, the governor was in great doubt what course to take. he was inclined to veto it, and had so expressed himself; but he did not like to take the responsibility of offending the women in the territory, or of placing the republican party in open hostility to a measure which he saw might become of political force and importance. i remember well an interview that chief-justice howe and myself had with him at that time, in which we discussed the policy of the bill, and both of us urged him to sign it with all the arguments we could command. after a protracted consultation we left him still doubtful what he would do.[ ] but in the end he signed it, and drew upon himself the bitter curses of those democrats who had voted for the bill with the expectation that he would veto it. from this time onward, the measure became rather a republican than a democratic principle, and found more of its friends in the former party, and more of its enemies in the latter. soon after the passage of the bill, a vacancy occurred in the office of justice of the peace, at south pass city, the county seat of sweetwater county, and the home of mr. bright and of mrs. esther morris. at the request of the county attorney--who favored woman suffrage--the commissioners, two of whom also approved of it, appointed mrs. morris to fill the vacancy. the legislature had vested the appointment of officers, in case of a vacancy, in the county commissioners, but the organic act of congress, creating the territory, provided that the governor "shall commission all officers who shall be appointed under the laws of said territory." governor campbell being absent from the territory at the time, the secretary, acting as governor, sent mrs. morris her commission. it is due to secretary lee to say that he was an earnest advocate of woman's enfranchisement, and labored for the passage of the bill, and gladly embraced the opportunity to confirm a woman in office. the important fact is, however, that mrs. morris' neighbors first suggested the appointment that secured her the office, and manfully sustained her during her whole term. she tried between thirty and forty cases, and decided them so acceptably that not one of them was appealed to a higher court; and i know of no one who has held the office of justice of the peace in this territory, who has left a more acceptable record, in all respects, than has mrs. esther morris. some other appointments of women to office were made, but i do not find that any of them entered upon its duties. the first term of the district court, under the statutes passed by the first legislature, was to be held at laramie city, on the first monday of march, . when the jurors were drawn, a large number of women were selected, for both grand and petit jurors. as this was not done by the friends of woman suffrage, there was evidently an intention of making the whole subject odious and ridiculous, and giving it a death-blow at the outset. a great deal of feeling was excited among the people, and some effort made to prejudice the women against acting as jurors, and even threats, ridicule and abuse, in some cases, were indulged in. their husbands were more pestered and badgered than the women, and some of them were so much inflamed that they declared they would never live with their wives again if they served on the jury. the fact that women were drawn as jurors was telegraphed all over the country, and the newspapers came loaded with hostile and uncomplimentary criticisms. at this stage of the case col. downey, the prosecuting attorney for the county, wrote to judge howe for advice and direction as to the eligibility of the women as jurors, and what course should be taken in the premises. at first judge howe was much inclined to order the women discharged, and new juries drawn; and it certainly required no small amount of moral courage to face the storm of ridicule and abuse that was blowing from all quarters. we had a long consultation, and came to the conclusion that since the law had clearly given all the rights of electors to the women of the territory, they must be protected in the exercise of these rights if they chose to assume them; that under no circumstances could the judges permit popular clamor to deprive the women of their legal rights in the very presence of the courts themselves. the result was that judge howe wrote the county attorney the following letter: cheyenne, march , . s. w. downey--_my dear sir_: i have your favor of yesterday, and have carefully considered the question of the eligibility of women who are "citizens," to serve on juries. mr. justice kingman has also considered the question, and we concur in the opinion that such women are eligible. my reason for this opinion will be given at length, if occasion requires. i will thank you to make it known to those ladies who have been summoned on the juries, that they will be received, protected, and treated with all the respect and courtesy due, and ever paid, by true american gentlemen to true american ladies, and that the court, in all the power of government, will secure to them all that deference, security from insult, or anything which ought to offend the most refined woman, which is accorded in any walks of life in which the good and true women of our country have heretofore been accustomed to move. thus, whatever may have been, or may now be thought of the policy of admitting women to the right of suffrage and to hold office, they will have a fair opportunity, at least in my court, to demonstrate their ability in this new field, and prove the policy or impolicy of occupying it. of their right to try it i have no doubt. i hope they will succeed, and the court will certainly aid them in all lawful and proper ways. very respectfully, j. h. howe, _chief-justice_. when the time came to hold the court, judge howe, whose duty it was to preside, requested me to go with him to laramie city, and sit with him during the term. i gladly availed myself of the opportunity. as soon as we arrived there, judge howe was waited on by a number of gentlemen who endeavored to induce him to order the discharge of the female jurors without calling them into court. some spoke of the impolicy of the proceeding, and said the women all objected to it and wished to be excused; while some were cross, and demanded the discharge of their wives, saying that it was an intentional insult and they would not submit to it. but judge howe told them all firmly, that the women must come into court, and if, after the whole question was fairly explained to them, they chose to decline, they should be excused. at the opening of the court next morning, the house was crowded, and the female jurors were all there. after the usual preliminaries, an attorney arose and moved that all the women summoned as jurors be excused, saying he made the motion at the request of the women themselves; and that he was assured they did not wish to serve. judge howe then requested me to express my opinion and make some remarks to the women on the duties devolving on them. i said: it was a real pleasure to me to see ladies in the court-room, with the right to take a responsible part in the proceedings, as grand and petit jurors; that no one knew so well as they did, the evils our community suffered from lawless and wicked people; and no one better understood the difficulties the court labored under in its efforts to administer justice and punish crime; that the time had come when the good women of the territory could give us substantial aid, and we looked to them especially, as the power which should make the court efficient in the discharge of its duties; that the new law had conferred on them important rights, and corresponding duties necessarily devolved upon them; that i hoped and believed they would not shrink when so many influences were calling on them for noble and worthy action; that if they failed us now, the cause of equal rights would suffer at their hands, not only in our territory, but in every land where its advocates were struggling for its recognition; that if they would remain, their presence would secure a degree of decorum in the court-room and add a dignity to the proceedings, which the judges had been unable to command; that we required the assistance of good women all over the territory, and i begged them to help us. judge howe then spoke as follows: it is an innovation and a great novelty to see, as we do to-day, ladies summoned to serve as jurors. the extension of political rights and franchise to women is a subject that is agitating the whole country. i have never taken an active part in these discussions, but i have long seen that woman is a victim to the vices, crimes and immoralities of man, with no power to protect and defend herself from these evils. i have long felt that such powers of protection should be conferred upon woman, and it has fallen to our lot here to act as the pioneers in the movement and to test the question. the eyes of the whole world are to-day fixed upon this jury of albany county. there is not the slightest impropriety in any lady occupying this position, and i wish to assure you that the fullest protection of the court shall be accorded to you. it would be a most shameful scandal that in our temple of justice and in our courts of law, anything should be permitted which the most sensitive lady might not hear with propriety and witness. and here let me add that it will be a sorry day for any man who shall so far forget the courtesy due and paid by every american gentleman to every american lady as to ever by word or act endeavor to deter you from the exercise of those rights with which the law has invested you. i conclude with the remark that this is a question for you to decide for yourselves. no man has any right to interfere. it seems to me to be eminently proper for women to sit upon grand juries, which will give them the best possible opportunities to aid in suppressing the dens of infamy which curse the country. i shall be glad of your assistance in the accomplishment of this object. i do not make these remarks from distrust of any of the gentlemen. on the contrary, i am exceedingly pleased and gratified with the indication of intelligence, love of law and good order, and the gentlemanly deportment which i see manifested here. the ladies were then told that those who could not conveniently serve, and those who insisted on being excused, might rise and they should be discharged. only one rose and she was excused. but a victory had been won of no small moment. seeing the earnestness of the judges and the dignified character they had given to the affair, the women were encouraged and pleased, and the enemies of equal rights, who had planned, as they thought, a stunning blow to further progress, were silenced and defeated. the current set rapidly in the other direction and applause, as usual, followed success. the business of the court proceeded with marked improvement. the court-room, always crowded, was quiet and decorous in the extreme. the bar in particular was always on its good behavior, and wrangling, abuse and buncome speeches were not heard. when men moved about they walked quietly, on tip-toe, so as to make no noise, and forbore to whisper or make any demonstrations in or around the court-room. the women when called took their chairs in the jury-box with the men, as they do their seats in church,[ ] and no annoyance or reluctance was visible from the bench. they gave close and intelligent attention to the details of every case, and the men who sat with them evidently acted with more conscientious care than usual. the verdicts were generally satisfactory, except to convicted criminals. they did not convict every one they tried, but "no guilty man escaped," if there was sufficient evidence to hold him. the lawyers soon found out that the usual tricks and subterfuges in criminal cases would not procure acquittal, and they began to challenge off all the women called. the court checkmated this move by directing the sheriff to summon other women in their places, instead of men, and then came motions for continuances. the result was a great success and was so acknowledged by all disinterested persons. on the grand jury were six women and nine men, and they became such a terror to evil-doers that a stampede began among them and very many left the town forever. certainly there was never more fearless or efficient work performed by a grand jury. the legislature copied most of the statutes which it enacted from the laws of nebraska, and among others the following clauses in the crimes act, to wit.: if any person shall keep open any tippling or gaming-house on the sabbath day or night, * * * he shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding six months. any person who shall hereafter knowingly disturb the peace and good order of society by labor on the first day of the week, commonly called sunday (works of necessity and charity excepted), shall be fined, on conviction thereof, in any sum not exceeding fifty dollars. no attention whatever had been paid to these statutes, and sunday was generally the great drinking day of the whole week; the saloons sold more whiskey and made more money that day than any other. the women on that grand jury determined to put a stop to it and enforce these laws. they therefore indicted every liquor saloon in town. this made a great outcry, not only among the liquor-sellers but among their customers also. they were all arrested, brought into court and gave bail; but judge howe told them as this was a new law recently passed, and as it was quite probable that most of them were ignorant of its provisions, he would continue the cases with this express understanding, that if they would strictly obey the law in future these cases should be dismissed; but if any of them violated it, these cases would be tried and the full penalty inflicted. they all agreed to this, and the "sunday law," as it was called, was carefully observed afterwards in laramie city; and so great has been the change in that town in the habits of the people and the quiet appearance of the streets on sunday, as compared with other towns in the territory, that it has been nick-named the "puritan town" of wyoming, and, i may add, rejoices in its singularity. and how was this most successful experiment in equal rights received and treated by the press and the people out of the territory? the new york illustrated papers made themselves funny with caricatures of female juries, and cheap scribblers invented all sorts of scandals and misrepresentations about them. the newspapers were overflowing with abuse and adverse criticism, and only here and there was a manly voice heard in apology or defense. i copy these extracts as a sample of the rest. "lady jurors."--under this head the new orleans _times_, the ablest and largest paper in the south, said: confusion is becoming worse confounded by the hurried march of events. mad theorizings take the form of every-day realities, and in the confusion of rights and the confusion of dress, all distinctions of sex are threatened with swift obliteration. when anna dickinson holds forth as the teacher of strange doctrines in which the masculinity of woman is preposterously asserted as a true warrant for equality with man in all his political and industrial relations; when susan b. anthony flashes defiance from lips and eyes which refuse the blandishment and soft dalliance that in the past have been so potent with "the sex"; when, in fine, the women of wyoming are called from their domestic firesides to serve as jurors in a court of justice, a question of the day, and one, too, of the strangest kind, is forced on our attention. from a careful review of all the surroundings, we think the wyoming experiment will lead to beneficial results. by proving that lady jurors are altogether impracticable--that they cannot sit as the peers of men without setting at defiance all the laws of delicacy and propriety--the conclusion may be reached that it will be far better to let nature alone in regulating the relations of the sexes. the philadelphia _press_ had the following: women as jurors.--now one of the adjuncts of female citizenship is about to be tested in wyoming. eleven women have been drawn as jurors to serve at the march term of the albany county court. it is stated that immense excitement has been created thereby, but the nature of the aforesaid excitement does not transpire. will women revolutionize justice? what is female justice, or what is it likely to be? would twelve women return the same verdict as twelve men, supposing that each twelve had heard the same case? is it possible for a jury of women, carrying with them all their sensitiveness, sympathies, predilections, jealousies, prejudices, hatreds, to reach an impartial verdict? would not every criminal be a monster, provided not a female? can the sex, ordinarily so quick to pronounce pre-judgments, divest itself of them sufficiently to enter the jury-box with unbiased minds? perhaps it were best to trust the answer to events. women may learn to be jurymen, but in so doing they have a great deal to learn. so persistent were the attacks and so malignant were the perversions of truth that judge howe, at the request of the editor, wrote the following letter for publication anonymously in the chicago _legal news_, every statement in which i can confirm from my own observation. the judge, after writing the letter, consented to its publication over his own signature: cheyenne, wyoming, april , . _mrs. myra bradwell, chicago, ill.:_ dear madam: i am in receipt of your favor of march , in which you request me to "give you a truthful statement, over my own signature, for publication in your paper, of the history of, and my observations in regard to, women as grand and petit jurors in wyoming." i will comply with your request, with this qualification, that it be not published over my own signature, as i do not covet newspaper publicity, and have already, without any agency or fault of my own, been subjected to an amount of it which i never anticipated nor conceived of, and which has been far from agreeable to me. i had no agency in the enactment of the law in wyoming conferring legal equality upon women. i found it upon the statute-book of that territory, and in accordance with its provisions several women were legally drawn by the proper officers on the grand and petit juries of albany county, and were duly summoned by the sheriff without any agency of mine. on being apprised of these facts, i conceived it to be my plain duty to fairly enforce this law, as i would any other; and more than this, i resolved at once that, as it had fallen to my lot to have the experiment tried under my administration, it should have a fair trial, and i therefore assured these women that they could serve or not, as they chose; that if they chose to serve, the court would secure to them the most respectful consideration and deference, and protect them from insult in word or gesture, and from everything which might offend a modest and virtuous woman in any of the walks of life in which the good and true women of our country have been accustomed to move. while i had never been an advocate for the law, i felt that thousands of good men and women had been, and that they had a right to see it fairly administered; and i was resolved that it should not be sneered down if i had to employ the whole power of the court to prevent it. i felt that even those who were opposed to the policy of admitting women to the right of suffrage and to hold office would condemn me if i did not do this. it was also sufficient for me that my own judgment approved this course. with such assurances these women chose to serve and were duly impanelled as jurors. they were educated, cultivated eastern ladies, who are an honor to their sex. they have, with true womanly devotion, left their homes of comfort in the states to share the fortunes of their husbands and brothers in the far west and to aid them in founding a new state beyond the missouri. and now as to the results. with all my prejudices against the policy, i am under conscientious obligations to say that these women acquitted themselves with such dignity, decorum, propriety of conduct and intelligence as to win the admiration of every fair-minded citizen of wyoming. they were careful, pains-taking, intelligent and conscientious. they were firm and resolute for the right as established by the law and the testimony. their verdicts were right, and, after three or four criminal trials, the lawyers engaged in defending persons accused of crime began to avail themselves of the right of peremptory challenge to get rid of the female jurors, who were too much in favor of enforcing the laws and punishing crime to suit the interests of their clients. after the grand jury had been in session two days, the dance-house keepers, gamblers and _demi-monde_ fled out of the city in dismay, to escape the indictment of women grand jurors! in short i have never, in twenty-five years of constant experience in the courts of the country, seen more faithful, intelligent and resolutely honest grand and petit juries than these. a contemptibly lying and silly dispatch went over the wires to the effect that during the trial of a. w. howie for homicide (in which the jury consisted of six women and six men) the men and women were kept locked up together all night for four nights. only two nights intervened during the trial, and on these nights, by my order, the jury was taken to the parlor of the large, commodious and well-furnished hotel of the union pacific railroad, in charge of the sheriff and a woman bailiff, where they were supplied with meals and every comfort, and at o'clock the women were conducted by the bailiff to a large and suitable apartment where beds were prepared for them, and the men to another adjoining, where beds were prepared for them, and where they remained in charge of sworn officers until morning, when they were again all conducted to the parlor and from thence in a body to breakfast, and thence to the jury-room, which was a clean and comfortable one, carpeted and heated, and furnished with all proper conveniences. the cause was submitted to the jury for their decision about o'clock in the forenoon, and they agreed upon their verdict, which was received by the court between and o'clock at night of the same day, when they were discharged. everybody commended the conduct of this jury and was satisfied with the verdict, except the individual who was convicted of murder in the second degree. the presence of these ladies in court secured the most perfect decorum and propriety of conduct, and the gentlemen of the bar and others vied with each other in their courteous and respectful demeanor toward the ladies and the court. nothing occurred to offend the most refined lady (if she was a sensible lady) and the universal judgment of every intelligent and fair-minded man present was and is, that the experiment was a success. i dislike the notoriety this matter has given me, but i do not shrink from it. i never sought it nor expected it, and have only performed what i regarded as a plain duty, neither seeking nor desiring any praise, and quite indifferent to any censure or criticism which my conduct may have invoked. thanking you for your friendly and complimentary expressions, i am very respectfully yours, j. h. howe. as showing how the matter was received at home, in laramie city, i copy the following from the _laramie sentinel_ of april , : if we should neglect to give some idea of the results of our jury experiment, the world would say we were afraid or ashamed of it. for our own part we are inclined to admit that it succeeded beyond all our expectations. we naturally wished it to succeed; still we scarcely wished it to demonstrate a theory that women were better qualified for these duties than men. hence, when chief-justice howe said, "in eighteen years' experience i have never had as fair, candid, impartial and able a jury in court, as in this term in albany county," and when associate-justice kingman said, "for twenty-five years it has been an anxious study with me, both on the bench and at the bar, how we are to prevent jury trials from degenerating into a perfect burlesque, and it has remained for albany county to point out the remedy and demonstrate the cure for this threatened evil," we confess to having been _more_ than satisfied with the result. it may be safely stated as the unanimous verdict of bench, bar and public opinion, that the jurors of albany county did well and faithfully discharge their duties, with honor and credit to themselves and to the satisfaction of the public. among the few exceptions to the general abuse of the press, the following from the cincinnati _gazette_ of april , , is well worth preserving: now, in the name of the inalienable right of every person to the pursuit of happiness, we have to ask: are not these women competent to decide for themselves whether their households, their children or their husbands are of more importance than their public duties? and having the best means for deciding this question, have they not the right to decide? who has the right to pick out the females of a jury and challenge them with the question whether they are not neglecting their households or their husbands? who challenges a male juror and demands whether he left his family well provided, and his wife well cherished? or if, through his detention in court, the cupboard will be bare, the wife neglected, or the children with holes in their trousers? this is simply the crack of the familiar whip of man's absolute domination over women. it means nothing short of their complete subjection. not to use rights is to abandon them. there are inconveniences and cares in all possessions; but who argues that therefore they should be abandoned? it would much promote the convenience of man if he would let his political rights and duties be performed by a few willing persons; but he would soon find that he had no rights left. and what is this family impediment which is thus set up as a female disability? the family obligation is just as strong in man as in woman. it is much stronger, for the manners which compel woman to be the passive waiter on the male providence leave to him the real responsibility. yet many men forego marriage and homes and children, and nobody imagines that it disqualifies them for public duties. nobody challenges them as jurors, and demands if they have discharged the family obligation. rather it is held wise in them to give themselves wholly to their pursuits, without the distraction of conjugal joys, until they have achieved success. why should the family requirement, which man throws off so easily, be made a yoke for woman? there is something more fundamental than nursing babies or coddling the appetites of husbands. the sentiment, "give me liberty, or give me death," is the american instinct. breathes there a woman with soul so dead that she would bring forth slaves? babes had better not be born if they are not to have their rights. it is the duty of women to first provide the state of freedom for their progeny. then they may consent to become wives and mothers. liberty and the exercise of all political rights are so bound together, that to neglect one is to abandon all. trial by a jury of one's peers is the essential principle of the administration of justice. to be a peer on a jury involves the whole principle of equal rights. to abandon this to man, is to accept subjection to man. for women to neglect jury duty is to give men the exclusive privilege to _judge women_, and to abandon the right to be tried by a jury of their peers. how can men justly judge a woman? they cannot have that knowledge of her peculiar physical and mental organization which is requisite to the judgment of motives and temptations. they cannot comprehend the variable moods and emotions, nor the power of her impulses. it is monstrous injustice to judge women by the same rules as men. and men lack that intuitive charity and tender sympathy which women always feel for an exposed, erring sister. furthermore, many of the crimes of men are against women. how can men appreciate their injury? that which is her ruin, they call, as anna dickinson says, sowing their wild oats. how can justice be expected from those who instinctively combine to preserve their privilege to abuse women? for the administration of justice to women who are accused, and to men who have wronged women, judges and jurors of their own sex are indispensable. as long as judge howe remained on the bench he had women on his juries.[ ] his first term at cheyenne, after the law was passed, several women were among the jurors, and they did fully as well, and exerted quite as good an influence there, as the women had recently at laramie city. the first election under the woman suffrage law was held in september , for the election of a delegate in congress, and county officers. there was an exciting canvass, and both parties applied to the whisky shops, as before, supposing they would wield the political power of the territory, and that not enough women would vote to influence the result. the morning of election came, but did not bring the usual scenes around the polls. a few women came out early to vote, and the crowd kept entirely out of sight. there was plenty of drinking and noise at the saloons, but the men would not remain, after voting, around the polls. it seemed more like sunday than election day. even the negro men and women voted without objection or disturbance. quite a number of women voted during the day, at least in all the larger towns, but apprehension of a repetition of the scenes of the former election, and doubt as to the proper course for them to pursue, kept very many from voting. the result was a great disappointment all around. the election had passed off with unexpected quiet, and order had everywhere prevailed. the whisky shops had been beaten, and their favorite candidate for congress, although he had spent several thousand dollars to secure an election, was left out in the cold. i cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting at length the following letter of the rev. d. j. pierce, at that time a resident of laramie city, and a very wealthy man, to show the powerful influence that was exerted on the mind of a new england clergyman by that first exhibition of women at the polls, and as evidence of the singular and beneficial change in the character of the election, and the conduct of the men: _editor laramie sentinel:_ i am pleased to notice your action in printing testimonials of different classes to the influence of woman suffrage in wyoming. with the apathy of conservatism and prejudice of party spirit arrayed against the idea in america, it is the duty of the residents in wyoming to note the simple facts of their noted experiment, and lay them before the world for its consideration. i came from the vicinity of boston, arriving in laramie two weeks before the first regular election of . i had never sympathized with the extreme theories of the woman's rights platform, to the advocates of which i had often listened in boston. but i had never been able to learn just why a woman is naturally excluded from the privilege of franchise, and i sometimes argued in favor in lyceum debates. still the question of her degradation stared me in the face, and i came to wyoming unsettled in the matter, determined to be an impartial judge. i was early at the polls, but too late to witness the polling of the first female vote--by "grandma" swain, a much-esteemed quaker lady of summers, who determined by her words and influence to rally her sex to defend the cause of morality and justice. i saw the rough mountaineers maintaining the most respectful decorum whenever the women approached the polls, and heard the timely warning of one of the leading canvassers as he silenced an incipient quarrel with uplifted finger, saying, "hist! be quiet! a woman is coming!" and i was compelled to allow that in this new country, supposed at that time to be infested by hordes of cut-throats, gamblers and abandoned characters, i had witnessed a more quiet election than it had been my fortune to see in the quiet towns of vermont. i saw ladies attended by their husbands, brothers, or sweethearts, ride to the places of voting, and alight in the midst of a silent crowd, and pass through an open space to the polls, depositing their votes with no more exposure to insult or injury than they would expect on visiting a grocery store or meat-market. indeed, they were much safer here, every man of their party was pledged to shield them, while every member of the other party feared the influence of any signs of disrespect. and the next day i sent my impressions to an eastern paper, declaring myself convinced that woman's presence at the polls would elevate the tone of public sentiment there as it does in churches, the social hall, or any other place, while her own robes are unspotted by the transient association with evil characters which she is daily obliged to meet in the street or dry-goods store. my observation at subsequent annual elections has only confirmed my opinion in this respect. without reference to party issues, i noticed that a majority of women voted for men of the most temperate habits, thus insuring success to the party of law and order. after three years' absence from my old home, i could not fail to notice in the elections of and that both parties had been led to nominate men of better standing in moral character, in order to secure the female vote. i confess that i believe in the idea of aristocracy--_i. e._ "the rule of the best ones"--not by blood or position, but the aristocracy of character, to which our laws point when they declare that prison characters shall not vote. the ballot of any community cannot rise above its character. a town full of abandoned women would be cursed by the application of woman suffrage. we need to intrust our state interests to the class most noted for true character. as a class, women are more moral and upright in their character than men. hence america would profit by their voting. d. j. pierce, _pastor baptist church_. the next general election occurred in september, , for members of the second territorial legislature. the usual tactics were employed and considerable sums of money were given to the drinking saloons to secure their influence and furnish free drinks and cigars for the voters. but no one thought of trying to buy up the women, nor was it ever supposed that a woman's vote could be secured with whiskey and cigars! election day passed off with entire quiet and good order around the polling-places; the noise and bustle were confined to the bar-rooms. the streets presented no change from an ordinary business day, except that a large number of wagons and carriages were driven about with the watch-words and banners of different parties, or different candidates, conspicuously posted on them. a much larger number of women voted at this election than at the former one, but quite a number failed or refused to take part in it. the result was again a surprise, and to many a disappointment. some candidates were unexpectedly elected, and some who had spent large amounts of money and worked hard around the drinking saloons, and were ready to bet largely on being elected, were defeated. the republicans had shown an unexpected strength and had returned several members to each house, although it was quite certain that some of the democrats were indebted to the women for their success. it was admitted, however, that their votes had generally gone against the favorites of the whiskey shops and that the power of the saloons had been largely neutralized and in some cases entirely overthrown. some remarkable instances of woman's independence and moral character occurred at this election which i cannot help recording, but must not mention names. as above stated in reference to the grand jury in laramie city, the "sunday law" had there been put into vigorous operation. the evening before the election, and after both the political parties had nominated their candidates for the legislature, the saloon-keepers got together very secretly and nominated a ticket of their own number, pledged to repeal the "sunday law." this move was not discovered until they began to vote that ticket at the polls next day. then it was found that the saloons were pushing it with all their influence and giving free drinks to all who would vote it. this aroused the women and they came out in force; many who had declined to vote before not only voted, but went round and induced others to do the same. at noon the rum-sellers' ticket was far ahead and it looked as though it would be elected by a large majority; at the close of the polls at night it was overwhelmingly defeated. in one case the wife of a saloon-keeper who was a candidate on that ticket, told her husband that she would defeat him if she could. he was beaten, and he was man enough to say he was glad of it--glad he had a wife so much better than he was, and who had so much more influence in town than he had. another candidate on that ticket was a saloon-keeper who had grown rich in the traffic, but whose private character was much above the morals of his business. he had recently married a very nice young lady in the east, and she was much excited when she learned how matters were progressing. she told her husband she was ashamed of him and would vote against him, and would enlist all the members of her church against him if she could; and she went to work in earnest and was a most efficient cause of the defeat of the ticket. her husband also was proud of her, and said it served him right and he was glad of it. i have never heard that the domestic harmony of either of these families was in anyway disturbed by these events, but i know that they have prospered and are still successful and happy. still the legislature was strongly democratic. there were four republicans and five democrats in the council, and four republicans and nine democrats in the house. when they met in november, , many democrats were found to be bitterly opposed to woman suffrage and determined to repeal the act; they said it was evident they were losing ground and the republicans gaining by reason of the women voting, and that it must be stopped. the republicans were all inclined to sustain the law. several caucuses were held by the democrats to determine on their course of action and overcome the opposition in their own ranks. these caucuses were held in one of the largest drinking saloons in cheyenne and all the power of whiskey was brought to bear on the members to secure a repeal of the woman suffrage act. it required considerable time and a large amount of whiskey, but at last the opposition was stifled and the democratic party was brought up solid for repeal. a bill was introduced in the house for the purpose, but was warmly resisted by the republicans and a long discussion followed. it was finally carried by a strict party vote and sent to the council, where it met with the same opposition and the same result followed. it then went to the governor for his approval. there was no doubt in his mind as to the course he ought to take. he had seen the effects produced by the act of enfranchisement, and unhesitatingly approved all of them. he promptly returned the bill with his veto; and the accompanying message is such an able paper and so fully sets forth the reasons in favor of the original act, and the good results of its operation, that at least a few extracts well deserve a prominent place in this record: i return herewith to the house of representatives, in which it originated, a bill for "an act to repeal chapter xxxi. of the laws of the first legislative assembly of the territory of wyoming." i regret that a sense of duty compels me to dissent from your honorable body with regard to any contemplated measure of public policy. it would certainly be more in accordance with the desire i have to secure and preserve the most harmonious relations among all the branches of our territorial government, to approve the bill. a regard, however, for the rights of those whose interests are to be affected by it, and for what i believe to be the best interests of the territory, will not allow me to do so. the consideration, besides, that the passage of this bill would be, on the part of those instrumental in bringing it about, a declaration that the principles upon which the enfranchisement of women is urged are false and untenable, and that our experience demonstrates this, influences me not a little in my present action. while i fully appreciate the great danger of too much attention to abstract speculation or metaphysical reasoning in political affairs, i cannot but perceive that there are times and circumstances when it is not only proper but absolutely necessary to appeal to principles somewhat general and abstract, when they alone can point out the way and they alone can guide our conduct. so it was when, two years ago, the act which this bill is designed to repeal was presented for my approval. there was at that time no experience to which i might refer and test by its results the conclusions to which the application of certain universally admitted principles led me. in the absence of all such experience i was driven to the application of principles which through the whole course of our national history have been powerfully and beneficially operative in making our institutions more and more popular, in framing laws more and more just and in securing amendments to our federal constitution. if the ballot be an expression of the wish, or a declaration of the will, of the tax-payer as to the manner in which taxes should be levied and collected and revenues disbursed, why should those who hold in their own right a large proportion of the wealth of the country be excluded from a voice in making the laws which regulate this whole subject? if, again, the ballot be for the physically weak a guarantee of protection against the aggression and violence of the strong, upon what ground can the delicate bodily organism of woman be forbidden this shelter for her protection? if, once more, each ballot be the declaration of the individual will of the person casting it, as to the relative merit of opposed measures or men, surely the ability to judge and determine--the power of choice--does not depend upon sex, nor does womanhood deprive of personality. if these principles are too general to be free from criticism, and if this reasoning be too abstract to be always practically applicable, neither the principles nor the reasoning can fail of approbation when contrasted with the gloomy misgivings for the future and the dark forebodings of evils, imaginary, vague and undefined, by dwelling upon which the opponents of this reform endeavor to stay its progress. aggressive reasoning and positive principles like these must be met with something more than mere doubtful conjectures, must be resisted by something more than popular prejudices, and overthrown--if overthrown at all--by something stronger than the force of inert conservatism; yet what is there but conjecture, prejudice and conservatism opposing this reform? * * * * * * * * the law granting to women the right to vote and to hold office in this territory was a natural and logical sequence to the other laws upon our statute-book. our laws give to the widow the guardianship of her minor children. will you take from her all voice in relation to the public schools established for the education of those children? our laws permit women to acquire and possess property. will you forbid them having any voice in relation to the taxation of that property? this bill says too little or too much. too little, if you legislate upon the assumption that woman is an inferior who should be kept in a subordinate position, for in that case the other laws affecting her should be repealed or amended; and too much, if she is, as no one will deny, the equal of man in heart and mind, for in that case we cannot afford to dispense with her counsel and assistance in the government of the territory. i need only instance section of the school act, which declares that, "in the employment of teachers no discrimination shall be made in the question of pay on account of sex when the persons are equally qualified." what is more natural than that the men who thought that women were competent to instruct the future voters and legislators of our land, should take the one step in advance of the public sentiment of yesterday and give to her equal wages for equal work? and when this step had been taken, what more natural than that they should again move forward--this time perhaps a little in advance of the public sentiment of to-day--and give to those whom they consider competent to instruct voters, the right to vote. to the statement, so often made, that the law which this bill is intended to repeal was passed thoughtlessly and without proper consideration, i oppose the fact to which i have adverted, that the law perfectly conforms to all the other laws in relation to women upon our statute-book. studied in connection with the other laws it would seem to have grown naturally from them. it harmonizes entirely with them, and forms a fitting apex to the grand pyramid which is being built up as broadly and as surely throughout all the states of the union as it has been built up and capped in wyoming. the world does not stand still. the dawn of christianity was the dawn of light for woman. for eighteen centuries she has been gradually but slowly rising from the condition of drudge and servant for man, to become his helpmeet, counselor and companion. as she has been advanced in the social scale, our laws have kept pace with that advancement and conferred upon her rights and privileges with accompanying duties and responsibilities. she has not abused those privileges, and has been found equal to the duties and responsibilities. and the day is not far distant when the refining and elevating influence of women will be as clearly manifested in the political as it now is in the social world. urged by all these considerations of right, and justice, and expediency, and the strong conviction of duty, i approved that act of which this bill contemplates the repeal, and it became a law. to warrant my reconsidering that action, there ought to be in the experience of the last two years something to show that the reasons upon which it was founded were unsound, or that the law itself was wrong or at least unwise and inexpedient. my view of the teachings of this experience is the very reverse of this. women have voted, and have the officers chosen been less faithful and zealous and the legislature less able and upright? they have sat as jurors, and have the laws been less faithfully and justly administered, and criminals less promptly and adequately punished? indeed the lessons of this two years' experience fully confirm all that has been claimed by the most ardent advocate of this innovation. in this territory women have manifested for its highest interests a devotion strong, ardent, and intelligent. they have brought to public affairs a clearness of understanding and a soundness of judgment, which, considering their exclusion hitherto from practical participation in political agitations and movements, are worthy of the greatest admiration and above all praise. the conscience of women is in all things more discriminating and sensitive than that of men; their sense of justice, not compromising or time-serving, but pure and exacting; their love of order, not spasmodic or sentimental merely, but springing from the heart; all these,--the better conscience, the exalted sense of justice, and the abiding love of order, have been made by the enfranchisement of women to contribute to the good government and well-being of our territory. to the plain teachings of these two years' experience i cannot close my eyes. i cannot forget the benefits that have already resulted to our territory from woman suffrage, nor can i permit myself even to seem to do so by approving this bill. there is another, and in my judgment, a serious objection to this bill, which i submit for the consideration and action of your honorable body. it involves a reference to that most difficult of questions, the limitations of legislative power. high and transcendent as that power undoubtedly and wisely is, there are limits which not even it can pass. two years ago the legislature of this territory conferred upon certain of its citizens valuable rights and franchises. can a future legislature, by the passage of a law not liable to the objection, that it violates the obligation of contracts, take away those rights? it is not claimed, so far as i have been informed, that the persons upon whom these franchises were conferred have forfeited or failed to take advantage of them. but even if such were the case it would be rather a matter for judicial determination than for legislative action. what that determination would be is clearly indicated in the opinion of associate-justice story in the celebrated case of trustees of dartmouth college _vs._ woodward: "the right to be a freeman of a corporation is a valuable temporal right. * * it is founded on the same basis as the right of voting in public elections; it is as sacred a right; and whatever might have been the prevalence of former doubts, since the time of lord holt, such a right has always been deemed a valuable franchise or privilege." but even if we concede that these rights once acquired may be taken away, the passage of this bill would be, in my judgment, a most dangerous precedent. once admit the right of a representative body to disfranchise its own constituents, and who can establish the limits to which that right may not be carried? if this legislature takes from women their franchises or privileges, what is to prevent a future legislature from depriving certain men, or classes of men, that, from any consideration they desire to disfranchise, of the same rights? we should be careful how we inaugurate precedents which may "return to plague the inventors," and be used as a pretext for taking away our liberties. it will be remembered that in my message to the legislature at the commencement of the present session i said: "there is upon our statue book an act granting to the women of wyoming territory the right of suffrage and to hold office which has now been in force two years. under its liberal provisions women have voted in the territory, served on juries, and held office. it is simple justice to say that the women, entering for the first time in the history of the country upon these new and untried duties, have conducted themselves with as much tact, sound judgment, and good sense as the men. while it would be claiming more than the facts justify, to say that this experiment, in a limited field, has demonstrated beyond a doubt the perfect fitness of woman, at all times and under all circumstances, for taking a part in the government, it furnishes at least reasonable presumptive evidence in her favor, and she has a right to claim that, so long as none but good results are made manifest, the law should remain unrepealed." these were no hastily formed conclusions, but the result of deliberation and conviction, and my judgment to-day approves the language i then used. for the first time in the history of our country we have a government to which the noble words of our _magna charta_ of freedom may be applied,--not as a mere figure of speech, but as expressing a simple grand truth,--for it is a government which "derives all its just powers from the consent of the governed." we should pause long and weigh carefully the probable results of our action before consenting to change this government. a regard for the genius of our institutions, for the fundamental principles of american autonomy, and for the immutable principles of right and justice, will not permit me to sanction this change. these reasons for declining to give my consent to the bill, i submit with all deference for the consideration and judgment of your honorable body. j. a. campbell. the republicans in the house made an ineffectual effort to sustain the veto, but the party whip and the power of the saloons were too strong for them, and the bill was passed over the veto by a vote of to . it met a different and better fate, however, in the council, where it was sustained by a vote of to , a strict party vote in each case. mr. corlett, a rising young lawyer, at that time in the council and since then a delegate in congress, made an able defense of the suffrage act and resisted its repeal, sustaining the veto with much skill and final success. and there was much need, for the democrats had made overtures to one of the republican members of the council (they lacked one vote) and had obtained a promise from him to vote against the veto; but mr. corlett, finding out the fraud in season, reclaimed the fallen republican and saved the law. it is due to mr. corlett to say that he has always been an able and consistent supporter of woman's rights and universal suffrage. he is now the leading lawyer of the territory. since that time the suffrage act has grown rapidly in popular favor, and has never been made a party question. the leading men of both parties, seeing its beneficial action, have given it an unqualified approval; and most, if not all, of its former enemies have become its friends and advocates. most of the new settlers in the territory, though coming here with impressions or prejudices against it, soon learn to respect its operation, and admire its beneficial results. there is nowhere in the territory a voice raised against it, and it would be impossible to get up a party for its repeal. the women uniformly vote at all our elections, and are exerting every year a more potent influence over the character of the candidates selected by each party for office, by quietly defeating those most objectionable in point of morals. it is true they are not now summoned to serve on juries, nor are they elected to office; and there are some obvious reasons for this. in the first place, they never push themselves forward for such positions, as the men invariably do; and in the second place, the judges who have been sent to the territory, since the first ones, have not insisted on respecting the women's rights as jurors, and in some cases have objected to their being summoned as such. but these matters will find a remedy by and by. it used to be an important question in the nominating caucuses, "will this candidate put up money enough to buy the saloons, and catch the loafers and drinkers that they control?" now the question is, "will the women vote for this man, if we nominate him?" there have been some very remarkable instances where men, knowing themselves to be justly obnoxious to the women, have forced a nomination in caucus, relying on their money and the drinking shops and party strength to secure an election, who have been taught most valuable lessons by signal defeat at the polls. it would be invidious to call names or describe individual cases, and could answer no necessary purpose. but i would ask particular attention to the following articles, taken from recent newspapers, as full and satisfactory evidence of the truth of these statements, and of the wisdom of granting universal suffrage and equal rights to the citizens of wyoming territory. the laramie city _daily sentinel_ of december , , j. h. hayford, editor, has the following leading editorial: for about eight years now, the women of wyoming territory have enjoyed the same political rights and privileges as the men, and all the novelties of this new departure, all the shock it carried to the sensibilities of the old conservatives, have long since passed away. for a long time--even for years past--we have frequently received letters asking for information as to its practical results here, and still more frequently have received copies of eastern papers with marked articles which purported to be written by persons who resided here, or had visited the territory and witnessed the awful results or the total failure of the experiment. we have usually paid no attention to these false and anonymous scribblers, who took this method to display their shallow wit at the sacrifice of truth and decency. but recently we have received more than the usual number of such missives, and more letters, and from a more respectable source than before, and we take this occasion and method to answer them all at once, and once for always, and do it through the columns of the _sentinel_, one of the oldest and most widely circulated papers in the territory, because it will be readily conceded that we would not publish here at home, false statements and misrepresentations upon a matter with which all our readers are familiar, and which, if false, could be easily refuted. we assert here, then, that woman suffrage in wyoming has been in every particular a complete success. that the women of wyoming value as highly the political franchise, and as generally exercise it, as do the men of the territory. that being more helpless, more dependent and more in need of the protection of good laws and good government than are men, they naturally use the power put into their hands to secure these results. that they are controlled more by principle and less by party ties than men, and generally cast their votes for the best candidates and the best measures. that while women in this territory frequently vote contrary to their husbands, we have never heard of a case where the family ties or domestic relations were disturbed thereby, and we believe that among the pioneers of the west there is more honor and manhood than to abuse a wife because she does not think with her husband about politics or religion. we have never seen any of the evil results growing out of woman suffrage which we have heard predicted for it by its opponents. on the contrary, its results have been only good, and that continually. our elections have come to be conducted as quietly, orderly and civilly as our religious meetings, or any of our social gatherings, and the best men are generally selected to make and enforce our laws. we have long ago generally come to the conclusion that woman's influence is as wholesome and as much needed in the government of the state as in the government of the family. we do not know of a respectable woman in the territory who objects to or neglects to use her political power, and we do not know of a decent man in the territory who wishes it abolished, or who is not even glad to have woman's help in our government. our laws were never respected or enforced, and crime was never punished, or life or property protected until we had woman's help in the jury box and at the polls, and we unhesitatingly say here at home that we do not believe a man can be found who wishes to see her deprived of voice and power, unless it is the one "who fears not god nor regards man," who wants to pursue a life of vice or crime, and consequently fears woman's influence and power in the government. we assert further that the anonymous scribblers who write slanders on our women and our territory to the eastern press, are either fools, who know nothing about what they write, or else belong to that class of whom the poet says: "no rogue e'er felt the halter draw with good opinion of the law." we took some pains to track up and find out the author of one of the articles against woman suffrage to which our attention was called, and found him working on the streets of cheyenne, with a ball and chain to his leg. we think he was probably an average specimen of these writers. and, finally, we challenge residents in wyoming who disagree with the foregoing sentiments, and who endorse the vile slanders to which we refer, to come out over their own signature and in their own local papers and take issue with us, and our columns shall be freely opened to them. there are some obvious inferences to be drawn and some rather remarkable lessons to be learned, from the foregoing narrative. in the first place, the responsibilities of self government, with the necessity of making their own laws, was delegated to a people, strangers to each other, with very little experience or knowledge in such matters, and composed of various nationalities, with a very large percentage of the criminal classes. it is a matter of surprise that they should have so soon settled themselves into an orderly community, where all the rights of person and property are well protected, and as carefully guarded and fully respected as in any of our old eastern commonwealths. it is a still greater surprise that a legislature selected by such a constituency, under such circumstances as characterized our first election, and composed of such men as were in fact elected, should have been able to enact a body of laws containing so much that was good and practicable, and so little that was injudicious, unwise or vicious. in the next place, it is evident that there was no public sentiment demanding the passage of the woman suffrage law, and but few advocates of it at that time in the territory; that its adoption, under such circumstances, was not calculated to give it a fair chance to exert a favorable influence in the community, or even maintain itself among the permanent customs and laws of the territory. the prospect was, that it would either remain a dead letter, or be swept away under the ridicule and abuse of the press, and the open attacks of its enemies. but it has withstood all these adverse forces, and from small beginnings has grown to be a permanent power in our politics, a vital institution, satisfactory to all our people. the far-reaching benefits it will yet accomplish can be easily foreseen. to make either individuals or classes respected and induce them to respect themselves, you must give them power and influence, a fair field and full enjoyment of the results of their labors. we have made a very creditable beginning in this direction, so far as woman is concerned, and we have no doubts about the outcome of it. wyoming treats all her citizens alike, and offers full protection, equal rewards, and equal power, to both men and women. again it is very evident that while our women take no active part in the primary nomination of candidates for office, they exercise a most potent influence by the independent manner in which they vote, and the signal defeat they inflict on many unworthy candidates. their successful opposition to the power of the bar-rooms is a notable and praiseworthy instance of the wise use of newly-acquired rights. the saloon-keepers used to sell themselves to that party, or that man, who would pay the most, and while robbing the candidates, degraded the elections and debauched the electors. so long as it was understood that in order to secure an election it was necessary to secure the rum-shops, good men were left out of the field, and unscrupulous ones were sought after as candidates. the women have already greatly modified this state of affairs and are likely to change it entirely in the end. another wonderful consequence which has attended the presence of women at the polls, is the uniform quiet and good order on election day. all the police that could be mustered, could not insure half the decorum that their simple presence has everywhere secured. no man, not even a drunken one, is willing to act like a rowdy when he knows the women will see him. nor is he at all anxious to expose himself in their presence when he knows he has drank too much. such men quit the polls, and slink out of the streets, to hide themselves from the eyes of the women in the obscurity of the drinking shops. another fact of great importance is the uniform testimony as to woman's success as a juror. it is true that there has been but a limited opportunity, thus far, to establish this as a fact beyond all doubt. but a good beginning has been made, a favorable impression produced, and no bad results have accompanied or followed the experiment. if our jury system of trying cases is to be preserved, as a tolerable method of settling disputes and administering justice in our courts, every one will admit that a great improvement in the character of the jurors must be speedily found. at present, a jury trial is generally regarded as a farce, or something worse. the proof of this is seen in the fact that in most of our courts the judges are required to try all cases without a jury, where the parties to the action consent, and that in a great portion of the cases the parties do consent. another notable observation is the rapid growth of opinion in favor of woman suffrage among our people, after its first adoption; but more particularly the change effected in the minds of the new settlers, who come to the territory with old prejudices and fixed notions against it. neither early education, nor personal bias, nor party rancor, has been able to withstand the overwhelming evidence of its good effects, and of its elevating and purifying influence in our political and social organization. i must add, in conclusion, that the seventh legislature of our territory has just closed its session of sixty days. it was composed of more members than the earlier legislatures were, there being thirteen in the council and twenty-six in the house. many important questions came up for consideration, and a wide field of discussion was traveled over, but not one word was at any time spoken by any member against woman suffrage. hon. m. c. brown, district-attorney for the territory, confirms the testimony given by the judges and governor campbell, in a letter to the national suffrage convention held in washington in , which will be found in the pamphlet report of that year. footnotes: [ ] messrs. wade, anthony, gratz brown, buckalew, cowan, foster, nesmith, patterson, riddle. see vol. ii., chapter xvii. [ ] ex-governor hoyt in his public speeches frequently gives this bird's-eye view of bright's domestic and political discussions: "betty, it's a shame that i should be a member of the legislature and make laws for such a woman as you. you are a great deal better than i am; you know a great deal more, and you would make a better member of the assembly than i, and you know it. i have been thinking about it and have made up my mind that i will go to work and do everything in my power to give you the ballot. then you may work out the rest in your own way." so he went over and talked with other members of the legislature. they smiled. but he got one of the lawyers to help him draw up a short bill, which he introduced. it was considered and discussed. people smiled generally. there was not much expectation that anything of that sort would be done; but this was a shrewd fellow, who managed the party card in such a way as to get, as he believed, enough votes to carry the measure before it was brought to the test. i will show you a little behind the curtain, so far as i can draw it. thus he said to the democrats: "we have a republican governor and a democratic assembly. now, then, if we can carry this bill through the assembly and the governor vetoes it, we shall have made a point, you know; we shall have shown our liberality and lost nothing. but keep still; don't say anything about it." they promised. he then went to the republicans and told them that the democrats were going to support his measure, and that if _they_ did not want to lose capital they had better vote for it too. he didn't think there would be enough of them to carry it, but the vote would be on record and thus defeat the game of the other party. and they likewise agreed to vote for it. so when the bill came to a vote it went right through! the members looked at, each other in astonishment, for they hadn't intended to do it, _quite_. then they laughed and said it was a good joke, but they had "got the governor in a fix." so the bill went, in the course of time, to john a. campbell, who was then governor--the first governor of the territory of wyoming--and he promptly signed it! his heart was right. he saw that it was long-deferred justice, and so signed it as gladly as abraham lincoln wrote _his_ name to the proclamation of emancipation of the slaves. of course the women were astounded! if a whole troop of angels had come down with flaming swords for their vindication, they would not have been much more astonished than they were when that bill became a law and the women of wyoming were thus clothed with the habiliments of citizenship. [ ] no sooner had these gentlemen left than mrs. post and mrs. arnold had a long interview with the governor, urging him to sign the bill on the highest moral grounds; not only to protect the personal rights of the women of the territory but to compel the men to observe the decencies of life and to elevate the social and political status of the people.--[e. c. s. [ ] in the summer of mrs. stanton and myself, _en route_ for california, visited wyoming and met the women who were most active in the exercise of their rights of citizenship. at cheyenne we were the guests of mrs. m. b. arnold and mrs. amalia b. post. mrs. arnold had a large cattle-ranch and mrs. post an equally large sheep-ranch a few miles out of the city, which they superintended, and from which each received an independent income. they had not only served as jurors, but acted as foremen. at laramie we were the guests of mr. j. h. hayford, editor of the _laramie sentinel_, and met grandma swain, who was the first woman to cast her ballot in that city. we also met judges howe and kingman and governor campbell, and heard from them of the wonderful changes wrought in the court-room and at the polls by the presence of enfranchised women. we spoke in the very court-room in which women had sat as jurors and felt an added inspiration from that fact.--[s. b. a. [ ] the following is the list of the first grand jury at laramie city, composed of nine men and six women, as impanneled and sworn: c. h. bussard, foreman; mrs. jane e. hilton, t. w. dekay, jeremiah boies, mrs. h. c. swain. joseph demars, m. n. merrill, mrs. m. a. pierce, mrs. c. blake, richard turpin, g. w. cardwell, mrs. s. l. larimer, n. c. worth, mrs. jane mackle, w. h. mitchell. chapter liii. california. liberal provisions in the constitution--elizabeth t. schenck--eliza w. farnham--mrs. mills' seminary, now a state institution--jeannie carr, state superintendent of schools--first awakening--_the revolution_--anna dickinson--mrs. gordon addresses the legislature, --mrs. pitts stevens edits _the pioneer_--first suffrage society on the pacific coast, --state convention, january , , mrs. wallis, president--state association formed, mrs. haskell of petaluma, president--mrs. gordon nominated for senator--in , mrs. stanton and miss anthony visit california--hon. a. a. sargent speaks in favor of suffrage for woman--ellen clarke sargent active in the movement--legislation making women eligible to hold school offices, --july , , state society incorporated, sarah wallis, president--mrs. clara foltz--a bill giving women the right to practice law--the bill passed and signed by the governor--contest over admitting women into the law department of the university--supreme court decision favorable--hon. a. a. sargent on the constitution and laws--journalists and printers--silk culture--legislative appropriation--mrs. knox goodrich celebrates july , --imposing demonstration--ladies in the procession. the central figure in the seal of california is the presiding goddess of that state, her spear in one hand, the other resting on her shield, the cabalistic word "eureka" over her head and a bear crouching quietly at her feet. she seems to be calmly contemplating the magnificent harbor within the golden gate. the shadows on the distant mountains, the richly-laden vessels and the floating clouds indicate the peaceful sunset hour, and the goddess, in harmony with the scene is seated at her ease, as if after many weary wanderings in search of an earthly paradise she had found at last the land of perennial summers, fruits and flowers--a land of wonders, with its mammoth trees, majestic mountain-ranges and that miracle of grandeur and beauty, the yosemite valley. verily it seems as if bounteous nature in finishing the pacific slope did her best to inspire the citizens of that young civilization with love and reverence for the beautiful and grand. california, admitted to the union in , owing to the erratic character of her early population, has passed through more vicissitudes than any other state, but she secured at last social order, justice in her courts and a somewhat liberal constitution, as far as the personal and property rights of the "white male citizen" were concerned. by its provisions-- all legal distinctions between individuals on religious grounds are prohibited; the utmost freedom of assembling, of speech and of the press is allowed, subject only to restraint for abuse; there is no imprisonment for debt, except where fraud can be proved; slavery and involuntary servitude, except for crime, are prohibited; wives are secured in their separate rights of property; the exemption of a part of the homestead and other property of heads of families from forced sale is recognized. so far so good; but while the constitution limits the franchise to every "white male citizen" over twenty-one, who has been a resident of the state six months, and thus makes outlaws and pariahs of all the noble women who endured the hardships of the journey by land or by sea to that country in the early days, who helped to make it all that it is, that instrument cannot be said to secure justice, equality and liberty to all its citizens. the position in the constitution and laws of that vast territory, of the real woman who shares the every-day trials and hardships of her sires and sons inspires no corresponding admiration and respect, with the ideal one who gilds and glorifies the great seal of the state. for the main facts of this chapter we are indebted to elizabeth t. schenck.[ ] she says: out of the stirring scenes and tragical events characterizing the early days of california one can well understand that there came of necessity many brave and adventurous argonauts and many women of superior mental force, from among whom in after years the woman suffrage cause might receive most devoted adherents. for nearly a score of years after the great incursion of gold-seekers into this newly-acquired state no word was uttered by tongue or pen demanding political equality for women--none at least which reached the public ear. there were no preceding causes, as in the older states, to stimulate the discussion of the question, and even that mental amazon, eliza w. farnham who was one of the distinguished pioneers of california, gathered her inspiration from afar, and thought and wrote for the whole world of women without once sounding the tocsin for woman's political emancipation. many of the women who braved the perils of the treacherous deep, or still more terrible dangers of the weary march over broad deserts, inhospitable mountains, and through the fastnesses of hostile and merciless indians, to reach california in the early times, entertained broad views upon the intellectual capacity and political rights of women, but their efforts were confined to fields of literature. while this advanced guard of progressive women was moulding into form a social system out of the turbulent and disorganized masses thrown together by the rapidly-increasing population from all parts of the globe, the elements were aggregating which in after years produced powerful, outspoken thought and earnest action in behalf of disfranchised women. here as elsewhere women took the lead in school matters and were the most capable and efficient educators from the days of "' ." one of our permanent state institutions, mills' seminary, was founded by a woman whose name it bears, and who, assisted by her husband, rev. mr. mills, conducted the school for nearly a quarter of a century, until by an act of the legislature, she conveyed it to the state. several principals of the public schools in san francisco have held their positions for over twenty consecutive years. mrs. jeanne carr, deputy state superintendent of public instruction from to , was succeeded by mrs. kate m. campbell, who served most efficiently for the full term. during mrs. carr's public service she visited nearly every county in the state, attending teachers' institutes, and lecturing upon educational topics with great ability. for many years women have been eligible to school offices in california and there is not a county in the state where women have not filled positions as trustees or been elected to the office of county superintendent.[ ] mrs. coleman has been reëlected to that office in shasta county, and mrs. e. w. sullivan in mono county has served for several terms. the first attempt to awaken the public mind to the question of suffrage for woman was a lecture given by laura de force gordon in platt's hall, san francisco, february , . although the attendance was small, a few earnest women were there[ ] who formed the nucleus of what followed. soon after mrs. gordon addressed the legislature in the senate-chamber at sacramento, and made an eloquent appeal for the political rights of women. among the audience were many members of the legislature who became very deeply impressed with the justice of her demand, including the subsequent governor of the state, george c. perkins, then senator from butte county. soon afterwards mrs. gordon removed to nevada, and no more lectures on woman suffrage were given until the visit of anna dickinson in the summer of . the way was being prepared however, for further agitation by the appearance of _the revolution_ in in new york, which was hailed by the women of california (as elsewhere) as the harbinger of a brighter and better era. its well filled pages were eagerly read and passed from hand to hand, and the effect of its startling assertions was soon apparent. mrs. pitts stevens had about that time secured a proprietary interest in the _san francisco mercury_, and was gradually educating her readers up to a degree of liberality to endorse suffrage. early in she became sole proprietor, changing the name to _pioneer_, and threw the woman suffrage banner to the breeze in an editorial of marked ability. the organization of the national woman suffrage association in new york, may, , gave fresh impetus to the movement, and the appointment of mrs. elizabeth t. schenck as vice-president for california by that association, met with the approval of all those interested in the movement. soon after this mrs. schenck with her gifted ally, mrs. stevens, decided to organize a suffrage society, and at an impromptu meeting of some of the friends at the residence of mrs. nellie hutchinson, july , , the first association for this purpose on the pacific coast was formed. there were just a sufficient number of members[ ] to fill the offices. this society grew rapidly and within a month the parlors were found inadequate to the constantly increasing numbers. through the courtesy of the mercantile library association their commodious apartments were secured. the advent of anna dickinson afforded the ladies an opportunity to attest their admiration for her as a representative woman, which they did, giving her a public breakfast, september . their honored guest appreciated the compliment; and in an earnest and eloquent speech referred to it, saying that although she had received many demonstrations of the kind, this was the first ever given her exclusively by her own sex.[ ] soon after miss dickinson's departure, mrs. schenck, much to the regret of the society, resigned the chair, and mrs. j. w. stow was appointed to fill the vacancy. the ladies having for some time considered the organizing of a state society of great importance, it was decided to hold a grand mass convention for that purpose. there was need of funds to carry forward the work, and a course of three lectures was suggested as a means to raise money. this carried, on motion of mrs. stow, and her offer to deliver the first lecture of the course was accepted. all the members of the society devoted their energies to secure the success of the undertaking. many of them engaged in selling tickets for the two weeks intervening, and on november , mrs. stow gave her lecture to a large and interested audience, taking for her theme, "woman's work." the rev. mr. hamilton followed, november , with "the parlor and the harem," and the rev. c. g. ames concluded the course, november , with "what does it mean?" the lectures were well received, and though not particularly directed to the right of suffrage for women, succeeded in attracting attention to the society under whose auspices they were given, and helped it financially. about this time mrs. gordon returned from the east and took an active part in canvassing the state, lecturing and forming county societies preparatory to securing as large a representation as possible at the coming convention. the following report of the proceedings is taken from the san francisco dailies: [illustration: laura deforce gordon] the convention to form a state woman suffrage society, held its first meeting in dashaway hall, wednesday afternoon, january , . the hall was well filled. mrs. e. t. schenck, vice-president of the national association, was chosen president, _pro. tem._, and miss kate atkinson, secretary. a committee on credentials was appointed by the chair, consisting of one member from each organization.[ ] during the absence of the committee quite an animated discussion arose as to the admission of delegates. mrs. gordon said the greatest possible liberality should be exercised in admitting persons to the right to speak and vote; that all who signed the roll, paid the fee, and expressed themselves in sympathy with the movement, should be admitted. after some discussion, mrs. gordon's views prevailed, and the names of those who chose to qualify themselves were enrolled. about delegates were thus chosen from nine suffrage societies in different parts of the state. many counties were represented in which no organizations had yet been formed. some rather humorous discussion was had as to whether the president should be called mrs. chairman or mrs. chairwoman. the venerable mr. spear arose and suggested the title be mrs. president, which was adopted. mrs. gordon said she had noticed that when questions were put to the meeting not more than a dozen timid voices could be heard saying "aye," or "no." the ladies must not sit like mummies, but open their mouths and vote audibly. this disinclination to do business in a business-like way, is discreditable. (cheers). mrs. gordon's hint was taken, and unequivocal demonstration of voices was made thereafter upon the taking of each vote. long before the time arrived for the evening session, the hall in every part, platform, floor and gallery, was crowded, and large numbers were unable to gain entrance. the committee on permanent organization presented the following names for officers of the convention: president, mrs. wallis of mayfield; vice-presidents, j. a. collins, c. g. ames, mrs. mary w. coggins; secretaries, mrs. mckee, mrs. rider, mrs. perry; treasurer, mrs. collins. on motion, mrs. haskell and mrs. ames escorted the president to the rostrum, and introduced her to the convention. mrs. wallis is a lady of imposing presence, and very earnest in the movement. upon being introduced she said: ladies and gentlemen--i thank you for this expression of your high esteem and confidence in electing me to preside over your deliberations. i regard this as a severe ordeal, but, having already been tested in this respect, i do not fear the trials to come. i shall persevere until the emancipation of women is effected, and in order to fulfill my duties successfully upon this occasion, i ask the hearty coöperation of all. [applause]. mrs. stow gave the opening address, after which delegates[ ] from various localities made interesting reports. an able series of resolutions was presented and discussed at length by various members of the convention, and letters of sympathy were read from friends throughout the country.[ ] from the first session, some anxiety was felt regarding the action of the state society in affiliating with one of the two rival associations in the east. the rev. c. g. ames of san francisco, whose wife had been in attendance upon the cleveland convention of the american association, was appointed vice-president for california, while mrs. e. t. schenck had been appointed vice-president by the national association. in addition to the names of officers of county societies appended to the call for this convention, both mrs. schenck and mrs. ames signed in their official capacity, as vice-president of their respective associations. under these circumstances it was not strange that a spirit of rivalry should manifest itself, but it was unfortunate that it was carried so far as to breed disturbance in this infant organization. the leading women looked upon mrs. e. cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony as among the first who organized the suffrage movement in the united states, and therefore felt that it was due to them that our california society which owed its existence mainly to the efforts of mrs. schenck whom they had appointed vice-president for california, should show its loyalty, devotion and gratitude to them, by becoming auxiliary to the national association. on the other hand, rev. c. g. ames, being an enthusiastic admirer of some of the leading spirits in the american association, desired it to be auxiliary to that. this conflict having been foreshadowed, a letter was written to miss anthony in relation to it. her reply was received by mrs. schenck on the first day of the convention, breathing a noble spirit of unselfishness, advising us not to allow any personal feelings towards mrs. stanton or herself to influence us in the matter, but rather to keep our association entirely independent, free to coöperate with all societies having for their object the enfranchisement of woman. accordingly, the following resolution was almost unanimously adopted: _resolved_, that the california woman suffrage society remain independent of all other associations for one year. the result was satisfactory to mrs. schenck and her sympathizers, but mr. ames seemed loth to relinquish his preference for the american, and the course taken had the effect of lessening his zeal and that of his followers, until they gradually dropped from the ranks. but the convention, despite the unfortunate schism, was a grand success. the sessions were crowded, and so great was the interest awakened in the public mind that a final adjournment was not had until saturday night, after four days of earnest, profitable work. the press of the city gave full and fair reports of the proceedings, though very far from endorsing woman's claim to suffrage, and men and women of all classes and professions took an active part in the deliberations. but of the multitude who met in that first woman suffrage convention on the pacific coast but few were prominent in after years. the newly organized society immediately arranged to send a delegation to sacramento, to present to the legislature then in session a petition for woman suffrage. the delegation consisted of laura deforce gordon, caroline h. spear and laura cuppy smith, who were accorded a hearing before a special committee of the senate, of which the venerable judge tweed, an able advocate of woman suffrage, was chairman. the proceeding was without a parallel in the history of the state. the novelty of women addressing the legislature attracted universal attention, and the newspapers were filled with reports of that important meeting. during the year a general agitation was kept up. a number of speakers[ ] held meetings in various parts of the state. the newspapers were constrained to notice this all-absorbing topic, though most of them were opposed to the innovation, and maintained a bitter war against its advocates. prominent among them was the sensational san francisco _chronicle_ followed by the _bulletin_, the _call_, and in its usual negative style, the _alta_, while the _examiner_ mildly ridiculed the subject, and a score of lesser journalistic lights throughout the state exhibited open hostility to woman suffrage, or simply mentioned the fact of its agitation as a matter of news. but the brave pioneers in this unpopular movement received kindly sympathy and encouragement from some journals of influence, first among which was the san francisco _post_, then under the management of that popular journalist, harry george, afterwards distinguished as the author of "progress and poverty." the san josé _mercury_ was our friend from the first, and its fearless and able editor, j. j. owen, accepted the office of president of the state woman suffrage society to which he was elected in . the sacramento _bee_ also did valiant service in defending and advocating woman's political equality, its veteran editor, james mcclatchy, being a man of liberal views and great breadth of thought, whose powerful pen was wielded in advocacy of justice to all until his death, which occurred in october, . there were several county journals that spoke kind words in our behalf, and occasionally one under the editorial management of a woman would fearlessly advocate political equality. during the year of , mrs. gordon traveled extensively over the state, delivering more than one hundred lectures, beside making an extended tour, in company with mrs. pitts stevens, through nevada, where on the fourth of july, at a convention held at battle mountain, the first suffrage organization for that state was effected. in february, , mrs. gordon again lectured in nevada, remaining several weeks in carson while the legislature was in session. she was invited by that body to address them upon the proposed amendment to the state constitution to allow women to vote, which amendment was lost by a majority of only two votes, obtained by a political trick, the question being voted upon without a call of the house, when several members friendly to the measure were absent. the author of the proposed amendment was the hon. c. j. hillier, a prominent lawyer of virginia city, who, in bringing the bill before the legislature in , delivered one of the ablest arguments ever given in favor of woman suffrage. in mrs. gordon again made an extended tour through california, oregon, and washington territory, traveling mostly by stage, enduring hardships, braving dangers and everywhere overcoming prejudice and antagonism to strong-minded women, by the persuasiveness of her arguments. in september, while lecturing in seättle, a telegram informed her of her nomination by the independent party of san joaquin county for the office of state senator, requesting her immediate return to california. this necessitated a journey of nearly a thousand miles, one-half by stage-coach. six days of continuous travel brought her to stockton, where she entered at once upon the senatorial campaign. mrs. gordon spoke every night until election, and succeeded in awakening a lively interest in her own candidacy and in the subject of woman suffrage. her eligibility to the office was vehemently denied, particularly by republicans, who were badly frightened at the appearance of this unlooked-for rival. the pulpit, press, and stump speakers alternated in ridiculing the idea of a woman being allowed to take a seat in the senate, even if elected. the democratic party, being in the minority, offered but little opposition, and watched with great amusement this unequal contest between the great dominant party on the one side, and the little spartan band on the other. the contest was as exciting as it was brief, and despite the great odds of money, official power, political superiority, and the perfect machinery of party organization in favor of her opponents, mrs. gordon received about votes, besides as many more which were rejected owing to some technical irregularity. among those who took part in that novel campaign and deserving special mention, was the venerable pioneer familiarly called uncle jarvis, who had voted a straight whig or republican ticket for fifty years, and who for the first time in his life scratched his ticket and voted for mrs. gordon. in july, , california was favored by a visit from mrs. stanton and miss anthony, who awakened new interest wherever their logical and eloquent appeals were heard. their advent was hailed with joy, and they received marked attention from all classes, the clergy not excepted. every lecture given by them drew out large assemblies of the most influential of the citizens. indeed, they received a continual ovation during their stay in san francisco. after mrs. stanton returned to new york, miss anthony remained and traveled in california, nevada, oregon and washington territory several months, speaking at conventions held in san francisco and sacramento, besides lecturing in all the principal towns, winning for herself great praise, and a deeper respect for the cause she so ably represented. a complimentary banquet was tendered her in san francisco on the eve of her departure eastward, at which eighty guests, distinguished in art, literature and social life, sat down to a sumptuous collation spread in the grand hotel. in the early part of that year, , hon. a. a. sargent and wife returned to california from washington, his term as representative having expired, and both took an active part in the work of woman's political enfranchisement. mr. sargent, with commendable bravery, which under the circumstances was indeed a test of courage, delivered an address in favor of woman suffrage at a convention held in san francisco, just on the eve of an important political campaign, in which he was a candidate for reëlection to congress, and also to the united states senate. of course, those opposed to woman suffrage tried to make capital out of it against him, but without avail, for that able and distinguished statesman was elected to both offices, his term as representative expiring before he would be called upon to take his seat in the united states senate. his noble wife, ellen clark sargent, took an active interest in all the woman suffrage meetings, and in november, , was appointed, as was also mrs. gordon, to represent california in the national convention to be held in washington in january, . during the session of the california legislature in - a delegation from the state society visited sacramento and was accorded a hearing in the assembly-chamber before the judiciary committee of that body. addresses were made by mrs. pitts stevens, mrs. a. a. haskell, mrs. e. a. h. dewolf and hon. john a. collins. during the session of - a bill was passed by the legislature making women eligible to school offices, and also one which provided that all women employed in the public schools should receive the same compensation as men holding the same grade certificates. mrs. laura morton has filled and ably discharged the office of assistant state librarian for the past ten years. mrs. mandeville was deputy-controller during the democratic administration of governor irwin, and proved herself fully capable of discharging the duties of that responsible office; while for several years women have been elected to various positions in the legislature and employed as clerks. july , , the woman suffrage society was incorporated under the laws of the state, with mrs. sarah wallis, president. mrs. clara s. foltz, a brilliant young woman who had begun the study of law in san josé, knew the statutes permitted no woman to be admitted to the bar, and early in the session of drafted a bill amending the code in favor of women, and sent it to senator murphy of santa clara to be presented. five years before this, however, mrs. nettie tator had applied for admission to the bar at santa cruz. a committee of prominent attorneys appointed by the court examined her qualifications as a lawyer. she passed creditably and was unanimously recommended by the committee, when it was discovered that the law would not admit women to that learned profession. following the presentation of mrs. foltz' bill, mrs. knox goodrich, laura watkins, mrs. wallis and laura de force gordon were appointed by the state society a committee to visit sacramento during the session and use their influence to secure the passage of the "woman's lawyer bill," as it was termed, and to petition for suffrage. mrs. gordon, who was also reading law, was in sacramento as editorial correspondent for her paper, the _daily democrat_ of oakland, and had ample opportunity to render valuable service to the cause she had so much at heart. the bill passed the senate by a vote of to , being ably advocated by senators n. green curtis, judge niles searles of nevada county, creed haymond of sacramento, and joseph craig of yolo. in the assembly, after weeks of tedious delay and almost endless debate, the bill was indefinitely postponed by a majority of one. by the persistent efforts of assemblymen grove l. johnson of sacramento, r. w. murphy, charles gildea and dr. may of san francisco, the bill was brought up on reconsideration and passed by two majority. the session was within three days of its close, and so bitter was the opposition to the bill that an effort was made to prevent its engrossment in time to be presented for the governor's signature. the women and their allies, who were on the watch for tricks, defeated the scheme of their enemies and had the bill duly presented to governor irwin, but not till the last day of the session. then the suspense became painful to those most interested lest it might not receive his approval. mrs. gordon, as editor of a democratic journal, asserted her claims to some recognition from that party and strongly urged that a democratic governor should sign the bill. aided by a personal appeal from senator niles searles to his excellency, her efforts were crowned with success; the governor's message sent to the senate, when the hands of the clock pointed to fifteen minutes of twelve, midnight (at which hour the president's gavel would descend with the words adjourning the senate _sine die_), announced that senate bill number , which permitted the admission of women to all the courts of the state, had received his approval. there was great rejoicing over this victory among the friends everywhere, though the battle was not yet ended. the same legislature had passed a bill accepting the munificent donation to the state of $ , from judge hastings to found the hastings college of law, on condition that it be the law department of the state university, and the college was duly opened for the admission of students. at the beginning of the december term mrs. foltz, who had been admitted to the district court in san josé (being the first woman ever admitted to any court in the state), came to san francisco, and with mrs. gordon applied for admission to the law college. the dean, judge hastings, himself opposed to women being received as students, told them it was a matter that must be laid before the board of directors, but that they could attend the lectures _ad interim_. three days later they were informed that their application had been denied. satisfied that the law was in their favor, they immediately appealed to the courts. to save time mrs. gordon applied to the supreme court and mrs. foltz to the district court, simultaneously, for a writ of mandamus to compel the directors to act in obedience to the law which, the petitioners claimed, did not discriminate against women in founding the state university or its departments. the supreme court, wishing perhaps to shirk the responsibility of acting in the first instance, sent their petitioner, mrs. gordon, to the lower court, which had in the meantime ordered the writ to issue for mrs. foltz; so it was decided to make hers the test-case, and by the courtesy of judge morrison, now chief-justice of the supreme court, mrs. gordon was joined with mrs. foltz in the prosecution of the cause. the board of directors of the college consisted of the chief-justice of the supreme bench and seven other lawyers, among the most distinguished and able in the state. the case attracted great attention and deep interest was taken in the proceedings. judges lake and cope, who were ex-justices of the supreme court, assisted by t. b. bishop, another learned practitioner at the bar, were arrayed as counsel for the defense against these comparatively young students in the law, who appeared unaided in their own behalf. after one of the most interesting legal contests in the history of the state these women came off victors, and the good-natured public, through the press, offered them congratulations. but the defendants would not yield without a stubborn resistance and carried their cause on appeal to the supreme court; hence many months elapsed before the final struggle came, but victory again rewarded the petitioners, the supreme court deciding that women _should_ be admitted to the law department of the state university. although excluded from the benefit of the lectures in the college, mesdames gordon and foltz had improved their time in study, and in december, , both were admitted to the supreme court of the state, after a thorough examination. prior to this legal contest, in the summer of , when delegates to the constitutional convention were to be elected, mrs. gordon, urged by her friends in san joaquin county, became an independent candidate only a week or two before the election. with mrs. foltz she made a very brief though brilliant canvass, attracting larger and more enthusiastic audiences than any other speaker. mrs. gordon received several hundred votes for the office, and felt compensated for the time and money spent by the great interest awakened in the subject of woman suffrage. as soon as the constitutional convention assembled in september, mrs. gordon, although still pursuing her legal studies, was able as a newspaper correspondent to closely watch the deliberations of that body and urge the insertion of a woman suffrage clause in the new organic law. the state society delegated mrs. knox goodrich, mrs. sarah wallis and mrs. watkins to join mrs. gordon in pressing the claims of woman, but the opposition was too strong and the suffrage clause remained declaring male citizens entitled to vote, though a section in the bill of rights, together with other provisions in the new constitution, renders it quite probable that the legislature has the right to enfranchise women without having to amend the organic law. at all events the new instrument is far more favorable to women than the old, as will now be shown. the agitation of the question of the admission of women to the law college, which began during the session of the convention, led that body to incorporate the following provision in the constitution: article ii., sec. . no person shall be debarred admission to any of the collegiate departments of the state university on account of sex. remembering the hard struggle by which the right to practice law had been secured to women, and the danger of leaving it to the caprice of future legislatures, mrs. gordon drafted a clause which protects women in all lawful vocations, and by persistent effort succeeded in getting it inserted in the new constitution, as follows: article xx., sec. . no person shall, on account of sex, be disqualified from entering upon or pursuing any lawful business, vocation or profession. the adoption of this clause, so valuable to women, was mainly accomplished by the skillful diplomacy of hon. charles s. ringgold, delegate from san francisco, who introduced it in the convention and worked faithfully for its adoption. thus california stands to-day one of the first states in the union, as regards the educational, industrial and property rights of women, and the probability of equal political rights being secured to them at an early day, is conceded by the most conservative. about the time mrs. foltz and mrs. gordon were admitted to the bar, they, as chief officers of the state w. s. s. (incorporated), called a convention in san francisco. it convened in february, , and was well attended. mrs. sargent took an active part in the meetings, occupied the chair as president _pro tem._, and subsequently spoke of the work done by the national association in washington. several prominent officials, unable to be present, sent letters heartily endorsing our claims; among these were governor perkins, state senator chace, and a. m. crane, judge of the superior court. addresses were delivered by judge swift, marian todd and mrs. thorndyke of los angeles, judge palmer of nevada city, and others. the newspapers of the city, though still hostile to the object of the convention, gave very fair reports. in september following, the annual meeting of the society was held, and made particularly interesting by the fact that the proposed new city charter, which contained a clause proscriptive of women, was denounced, and a plan of action agreed upon whereby its defeat should be secured, if possible, at the coming election. the women worked assiduously against the adoption of the city charter, and rejoiced to see it rejected by a large majority. the following facts in regard to the constitution and statute laws of california were sent us by the hon. a. a. sargent: in , california adopted a new constitution, by means of a constitutional convention. it was an unfortunate time for such organic legislation, for the reason that the state was rife at the time with the agitation of "sand-lotters," as they were called, a violent faction which assailed property rights and demanded extreme concessions to labor. the balance of power in the constitutional convention was held by persons elected by this element, and resulted in a constitution extraordinary in some of its features, but which was adopted by the people after a fierce contest. women fared badly at the hands of these constitution-makers, so far as suffrage is concerned. section , article , confirms the right of voting to "every native male citizen," and "every male naturalized citizen," although a heroic effort was made by the friends of woman suffrage to keep out the word "male." but section , article xx., provides that "no person shall, on account of sex, be disqualified from entering upon or pursuing any lawful business, vocation or profession." some years before, the state had adopted a "civil code," which was abreast of the world in liberality to women. this code discarded the idea of any servility in the relation of the wife to the husband. this code is still the law, and provides, in effect, that husband and wife contract toward each other obligations of mutual respect, fidelity and support. the husband is the head of the family, and may choose any reasonable place and mode of life, and the wife must conform thereto. neither has any interest in the property of the other, and neither can be excluded from the other's dwelling. either may enter into any engagement or transaction with the other, or with any other person, respecting property, which either might if unmarried. they may hold property as tenants in common or otherwise, with each other, and with others. all property of the wife owned by her before marriage, and acquired afterwards by gift, devise, bequest or descent, with the rents, issues and profit thereof, is her separate property, and she may convey the same without his consent. all property acquired after marriage is community property. the earnings of the wife are not liable for the debts of the husband. her earnings, and those of minor children in her custody, are her separate property. a married woman may dispose of her separate property by will, without the consent of her husband, as if she were single. one-half of the community property goes absolutely to the wife, on the death of the husband, and cannot be diverted by his testamentary disposition. a married woman can carry on business in her own name, on complying with certain formalities, and her stock, capital and earnings are not liable to her husband's creditors, or his intermeddling. the husband and father, as such, has no rights superior to those of the wife and mother, in regard to the care, custody, education and control of the children of their marriage, while such husband and wife live separate and apart from each other. the foregoing exhibits the spirit of the california law. it is believed by friends of woman suffrage that had the convention been held under normal conditions, the word "male" might have been eliminated from that instrument. several creditable attempts were early made in journalism. in mrs. s. m. clark published the weekly _contra costa_ in oakland. in , _the hesperian_, a semi-monthly magazine, was issued in san francisco, mrs. hermione day and mrs. a. m. shultz, editors. it was quite an able periodical,[ ] and finally passed into the hands of elizabeth t. schenck. as journalists and printers, women have met with encouraging success. the most prominent among them is laura deforce gordon, who began the publication of the _daily leader_ at stockton in , continued afterward at oakland as the _daily democrat_, until . in geo. p. rowell's _newspaper reporter_ for , the _stockton leader_ is announced as "the only daily newspaper in the world edited and published by a woman." mrs. boyer, known as "dora darmoor," published different magazines and journals in san francisco during a period of several years, the most successful being the _golden dawn_. mrs. theresa corlett has been connected with various leading journals of san francisco, and is well known as a brilliant and interesting writer. miss madge morris has not only made a place for herself in light literature, but has been acting-clerk in the legislature for several sessions. mrs. sarah m. clark published a volume entitled "teachings of the ages"; mrs. josephine wolcott, a volume of poems, called "the world of song." mrs. amanda slocum reed, one of our most efficient advocates of suffrage, has proved her executive ability, and capacity for business, by the management of a large printing and publishing establishment for several years. the liberal magazine called _common sense_, was published by her and her husband--most of its original contents the product of her pen; and when the radicalism of her husband caused the suspension of that journal in , mrs. slocum began the publication of _roll call_, a temperance magazine which was mainly edited by her gifted little daughter clara, only fifteen years old, who also set all the type. among the earliest printers of california was lyle lester. she established a printing office in san francisco in , in which she employed a large number of girls and women as compositors. miss delia murphy--now mrs. dearing--ranks with the best printers in san francisco, and several women in various portions of the state have taken like standing. "mrs. richmond & son," is the novel sign which decorates the front of a large printing establishment on montgomery street, san francisco, known for many years as the "woman's coöperative printing company," but which, in fact, was always an individual enterprise. mrs. augusta deforce cluff has entered upon her seventh year in practical journalism as publisher of a sprightly weekly, the _valley review_, at lodi, in which enterprise she has met with remarkable success, being a superior business manager as well as a facile and talented writer. some of her little poems have great merit. mrs. cluff and mrs. gordon have both filled official positions in the pacific coast press association. miss mary bogardus, the gifted young daughter of that pioneer journalist, h. b. bogardus, editor of _figaro_, is her father's main assistant in all the business of his office. mrs. wittingham has been elected postmaster of the state senate several terms, and is at present employed in the u. s. branch mint in san francisco. one of the most meritorious and successful enterprises occupying the attention of the women of california, is the silk culture, which promises to develop into one of the dominant industries of the nation. mrs. g. h. hittel first brought the subject into public notice by able articles on the cultivation of the mulberry tree, published in various journals. in she formed the ladies' silk culture society of california. this association like its predecessor, the first woman suffrage society, was organized and held its meetings in private parlors for a time, but it soon required more room. men have been taken into membership since the object for which the society was formed seemed to be feasible, and, as a natural result, whatever of financial and honorary reward may be accorded the self-sacrificing women who performed the arduous and thankless labor of founding the institution, will be shared with the men who now come into the work. during the session of the legislature of , a committee was appointed to ask an appropriation from the state for the purpose of establishing a filature or free silk-reeling school. after considerable delay the committee called to their aid mrs. gordon, and asked her to visit the state capital and see what could be done. the session was rapidly drawing to a close, and even the warmest friends of the measure feared that it was too late to accomplish anything. but happily the bill was got through both branches of the legislature and sent to the governor the last hour of the session. by its provisions a state board of silk culture was created consisting of nine members, five of whom were to be women, and the sum of $ , was appropriated. thus women have begun and are now fostering a great industrial enterprise which in the near future will give to millions of hitherto unemployed or ill-paid women and children an occupation peculiarly suited to them, and which will add millions of dollars annually to the revenue of the country. mrs. florence kimball of san diego county was appointed a member of the state board of silk commissioners by governor stoneman in . since the expiration of their term as superintendents of the public schools of the state, dr. and mrs. james carr have made their home in that loveliest spot of southern california--passadena, where, overlooking rich orange groves and luxurious vineyards, they enjoy the blessings of prosperity, and where mrs. carr, with her ambitious, active nature, finds congenial employment in demonstrating what woman can accomplish in silk-culture, raisin-making, and the crystalizing of fruit. miss austen, formerly a teacher in the public schools of san francisco, has a vineyard at fresno, where she employs women and girls to prepare all her considerable crop of raisins for market, conceded to be of the best quality produced in the state. mrs. ellen mcconnell wilson of sacramento county, from the small beginning, twenty years ago, of acres of land, and less than , sheep, has now over , acres of rich farming land and , sheep. mrs. h. p. gregory of sacramento, left a widow with a large family of little children, succeeded her husband in the shipping and commission business in which he was engaged on a small scale. from such a beginning, mrs. gregory has built up one of the largest trades in that city, and has by judicious investments in real estate acquired property of a value exceeding $ , , besides having reared and educated her numerous family. mrs. elizabeth hill was one of the early settlers in calaveras county, where her husband located land on the mokelumne river near camanche in . six years after she was left a widow with four little children. the support of the family devolved upon the mother, and she engaged in cultivating the land, adding thereto several hundred acres. in mrs. hill began the cultivation of the persian-insect-powder plant, known to commerce as buhach. so successful has this venture proved that she has now over acres planted to that shrub, and manufactures each year about fifteen tons of the buhach powder, for which she finds a ready sale. the number of women who have supported their families (often including the husband), and acquired a competency in boarding and lodging-house keeping, dressmaking, millinery, type-setting, painting, fancy work, stock-dealing, and even in manufacturing and mercantile pursuits, is legion. in regard to the position of women in medicine, miss elizabeth sargent, m. d., writes: women are admitted on equal terms with men to the medical and dental departments of the state university, and to the cooper medical college of san francisco. women are also eligible to membership in the state and various county medical associations, as well as in the dental association. there are in the state women who have been recognized by the authorities as qualified to practice. they may be classified as follows: practitioners of regular medicine, , of whom are established in san francisco; eclectics, , in san francisco; homoeopathists, , in san francisco. among these physicians two make a specialty of the eye and ear, one in san francisco and one in san josé. two women have been graduated from the state dental college, located in san francisco. in april, , the pacific dispensary hospital for women and children was founded by women. in a training-school for nurses was added. the hospital department, although admitting women, is intended especially for children, and is the only children's hospital on the coast. the dispensary is for out-patients, both women and children. the board of ten directors, the resident and attending physicians of the hospital, and five out of the seven connected with the dispensary are women. from a small beginning the institution has increased to importance, and bids fair to continue in its present prosperity and capacity for good work. i have written thus lengthily that you may see how energetic our women have been in originating and carrying on such an institution. the most prominent literary woman of the coast is undoubtedly miss m. w. shinn. she is a graduate of our state university and was the medal scholar of her class. at present she is the editor of the _overland monthly_, and the excellent prospects of the magazine are largely the result of her own courage and the hard work she has done. the higher education in the state is being put upon a secure basis. hon. leland stanford and his wife, jane lathrop stanford, have recently given a great part of their vast fortune for the establishment of a university which bids fair to be the foremost educational institution on the continent. in a letter specifying his views in regard to the management of the university, governor stanford says: we deem it of the first importance that the education of both sexes shall be equally full and complete, varied only as nature dictates. the rights of one sex, political and other, are the same as those of the other sex, and this equality of rights ought to be fully recognized. there are many men and women throughout the state who have faithfully advocated political equality for all citizens.[ ] mendocino county has the honor of claiming as a citizen, one of the earliest and ablest women in this reform, clarina howard nichols, who may be said to have sown the seeds of liberty in three states in which she has resided, vermont, kansas and california. since , her home has been with a son in pomo, where she finished her heroic life january , . though always in rather straitened circumstances, mrs. nichols was uniformly calm and cheerful, living in an atmosphere above the petty annoyances of every-day life with the great souls of our day and generation, keeping time in the march of progress. she was too much absorbed in the vital questions of the hour even to take note of her personal discomforts. many of her able articles published in magazines and the journals of the day, and letters from year to year to our conventions, were written in such conditions of weakness and suffering, as only a hero could have overcome. she was a good writer, an effective speaker, and a preëminently brave woman, gifted with that rarest of all virtues, common sense. the advocacy of woman's rights began in santa cruz county, with the advent of that grand champion of her sex, the immortal eliza farnham, who braved public scorn and contumely because of her advanced views, for many years before the suffrage movement assumed organized form. mrs. farnham's work rendered it possible for those advocating woman suffrage years later, to do so with comparative immunity from public ridicule. a society was organized there in , and rev. d. g. ingraham, e. b. heacock, h. m. blackburn, mrs. georgiana bruce kirby, mrs. van valkenburgh, w. w. broughton and wife, and mrs. jewell were active members. prominent in santa clara county is mrs. sarah wallis of mayfield. from the first agitation of the subject in , when she entered heartily into the work of getting subscribers to _the revolution_, she has been untiring in her efforts to advance the interests of women. a lady of fine presence, great energy and perseverance, mrs. wallis has been able to accomplish great good for her sex. with a large separate estate, when the statutes prevented her as a married woman from managing it, she determined that the laws should be changed, and never ceased her efforts until she succeeded in getting an amendment to the civil code which enables married women to make contracts. the most successful suffrage meetings ever held in santa clara county have been at mayfield. there mrs. wallis and her husband, judge joseph s. wallace, make their spacious and luxurious home the rendezvous of lecturers and writers in the great work of woman's emancipation. mrs. sarah knox goodrich of san josé, was among the first to see the significance of the movement for woman's rights in . her husband, william j. knox, who shortly before his death had been state senator, secured the passage of a bill, drafted by himself, giving to married women the right to dispose of their own separate property by will. having been from her youth the cherished companion of a man who believed in the equality of the sexes, and being herself a thoughtful, clear-headed person, she naturally took her place with those whose aim was the social and political emancipation of woman, and has stood from the first a tower of strength in this cause, giving largely of her wealth for the propagation of its doctrines. mrs. knox goodrich has for many years paid her taxes, sometimes exorbitant, under protest, and at important elections has also offered her vote, to have it refused. the county suffrage society has had an untiring leader in mrs. goodrich, and on all occasions she has nerved the weak and encouraged the timid by her example of unflinching devotion. the following extracts from a letter written by the lady will show how effective her work has been: in , our society was invited to take part in the fourth of july celebration, which we did, and had the handsomest carriages and more of them than any other society in the procession. we paid our own expenses, although the city had made an appropriation for the celebration. in we were not invited to take part in the festivities, but some of us felt that on such a day, our centennial anniversary, we should not be ignored. accordingly i started out to see what could be done, but finding some of our most active friends ill and others absent from home, i decided to do what i could alone. i had mottoes from the grand declarations of the fathers painted and put on my house, which the procession would pass on two sides. some of our most prominent ladies seeing that i was determined to make a manifestation, drove with me in the procession, our carriage and horses decorated with flags, the ladies wearing sashes of red, white and blue, and bearing banners with mottoes and evergreens. a little daughter of mrs. clara foltz, the lawyer, dressed in red, white and blue, was seated in the center of the carriage, carrying a white banner with silver fringe, a small flag at the top with a silver star above that, with streamers of red, white and blue floating from it, and in the center, in letters large enough to be seen some distance, the one word "hope." on my flag the motto was: "we are taxed without being represented"; mrs. maria h. weldon's, "we are the disfranchised class"; mrs. marion hooker's, "the class entitled to respectful consideration"; and miss hannah millard's, "we are governed without our consent." on the front of my house in large letters was the motto: "taxation without representation is tyranny as much in , as it was in "; on the other side was, "we are denied the ballot, but compelled to pay taxes"; fronting the other side was, "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." mrs. mckee also had the last motto on her house. on the evening of july , after we had all our preparations completed, we sent to one of the marshals and asked him to give us a place in the procession _next to the negroes_, as we wished to let our legal protectors have a practical illustration of the position occupied by their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters in this boasted republic. we _did_ want to go in, however, _ahead of the chinamen_, as we considered our position at present to be between the two. the marshal willingly assigned us a place, but not the one we desired. "we cannot allow you," said he, "to occupy such a position. you must go in front, next to the pioneer association"; and being in part members of that society we accepted the decision. our carriage was the center of attraction. many, after reading our mottoes, said: "well, ladies, we will help you to get your rights"; "it is a shame for you to be taxed and not have the right to vote." hundreds of people stood and read the mottoes on the house, making their comments, both grave and gay: "good for mrs. knox"; "she is right"; "if i were in her place i would never pay a tax"; "i guess one of the strong-minded lives here." mrs. knox was married to mr. goodrich, the well-known architect, in , in whom she has found a grand, noble-souled companion, fully in sympathy with all her progressive views, and with whom she is passing the advancing years of her well-spent life in luxury and unalloyed happiness. mrs. van valkenburg tried to vote under the claim that the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states entitled her to registration, and being refused, brought suit against the registrars. the case was decided against her after being carried to the supreme court of california. these cases argued in the supreme court have been of inestimable value in the progress of the movement, lifting the question of woman's rights as a citizen above the mists of ridicule and prejudice, into the region of reason and constitutional law. we cannot too highly appreciate the bravery and persistence of the few women who have furnished these test cases and compelled the highest courts to record their decisions. footnotes: [ ] having spent several days with mrs. schenck, in her cozy, artistic home surrounded with a hedge of brilliant geraniums, i can readily testify to the many virtues and attractions her large circle of friends has always accorded her. from all i had heard i was prepared to find mrs. schenck a woman of remarkable cultivation and research, and i was not disappointed. refined, honorable in her feeling, clear in her judgments of men and measures, just and upright in all her words and actions, she was indeed the fitting leader for the uprising of women on the pacific slope. the preparation of this chapter occupied the last year of her life, her one wish to live was to complete the task, but when her failing powers made that impossible she charged her friend mrs. manning, with whom she resided, to take up the work that had fallen from her hands and make a fair record of all that had been done and said, by her noble coädjutors, who had labored so faithfully to inaugurate the greatest reform of the century.--[e. c. s. [ ] among them are laura fowler, kate kennedy, mary n. wadleigh, trinity county; anna l. spencer, alpine; mrs. d. m. coleman, shasta; miss a. l. irish, mono; los angeles city board of education has three women out of its five members, to-wit., mrs. c. b. jones (chairman), mrs. m. a. hodgkins (secretary), mrs. m. graham. oakland board, miss a. aldrich; sacramento, charlotte slater; san jose, mrs. b. l. hollenbeck. sister mary frances of the order of "sisters of charity" came to california in , and devoted her great energies, and rare accomplishments, to the cause of education up to the time of her demise in april, . annie haven, miss prince, miss austin, and a host of others have been successful in the same field of labor, including miss merweidel, founder of the kindergarten system in san francisco. [ ] among them were mrs. sarah wallis of mayfield, mrs. e. t. schenck, mrs. l. m. clarke, emily pitts (afterwards mrs. stevens of san francisco). [ ] _president_, elizabeth t. schenck; _vice-president_, emily pitts stevens; _recording secretary_, mrs. hutchinson; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. celia curtis; _treasurer_, mrs. s. j. corbett. [ ] the following persons were present: mrs. e. t. schenck, president of woman suffrage associasion of san francisco; mrs. e. pitts stevens, mrs. celia curtis, mrs. walton, mrs. watson, mrs. s. j. corbett, m. d.; mary collins, mrs. e. p. meade, m. d.; mrs. alpheus bull, mrs. james s. bush, mrs. s. m. clarke, mrs. judge shafter, mrs. judge burke, mrs. thomas varney, mrs. r. b. swain, mrs. carlton curtis, mrs. t. richardson, mrs. i. w. hobson, mrs. smythe, mrs. j. w. stow, mrs. c. g. ames, mrs. barry and others. [ ] rev. c. g. ames, san francisco; mrs. s. s. allyn, oakland; mrs. sarah wallis, mayfield; mrs. bowman, sacramento; mrs. georgiana bruce kirby, santa cruz; mrs. fannie kingsbury, san diego; mrs. elmira eddy, nevada; mrs. a. a. haskell, petaluma; minnie h. mckee, santa clara. [ ] see appendix to california chapter. [ ] at the close of the convention a state society was organized, with the following officers: _president_, mrs. a. a. haskell of petaluma; _vice-presidents_, mrs. j. w. mccomb of san francisco, mrs. denio of solano, mrs. kingsbury of san diego, mrs. e. j. hall of los angeles, mrs. eddy of nevada, mrs. lewis of sacramento, mrs. kirby of santa cruz, mrs. agnes eager of alameda, mrs. watkins of santa clara, mrs. l. d. latimer of sonoma; _secretary_, mrs. minnie mckee of santa clara. _board of control_, mrs. c. h. spear, mrs. c. g. ames, mrs. minnie edwards, mrs. celia curtis, miss laura fowler, mr. john a. collins, miss kate atkinson, mrs. pitts stevens. [ ] mrs. kingsbury of san diego, mrs. h. f. m. brown, addie l. ballou, paulina roberts, mrs. c. h. spear, laura cuppy smith, mrs. f. a. logan, m. d., mrs. c. m. churchill, john a. collins, and a large number of local speakers, who aided in organizing societies, or in keeping up the interest in those already formed. [ ] chief among its contributors were eliza w. farnham, sarah m. clark, amanda simonton page, mrs. m. d. strong, fanny green, annie k. fader, eliza a. pittsinger, mrs. james neal, mrs. elizabeth williams. [ ] among the many who have been active and faithful in the movement for the political rights of women, whose names should be mentioned, are: mrs. eliza taylor, mrs. o. fuller, elizabeth mccomb, dr. laura p. williams, mrs. dr. white, sallie hart, dr. r. h. mcdonald, hon. frank pixley, and many others in _san francisco_; fanny green mcdougal, _oakland_; mrs. phebe benedict, _antioch_; mrs. isabella irwin, _san rafael_; mrs. cynthia palmer, mrs. emily rolfe, _nevada city_; mrs. elizabeth condy, _stockton_; miss e. s. sleeper, _mountain view_; mrs. laura j. watkins, mrs. damon, _santa clara_; mrs. dr. kilpatrick, _san mateo_; mrs. s. g. waterhouse, drs. kellogg and bearby, mrs. m. j. young, mrs. e. b. crocker, and others, _sacramento_; mrs. mary jewett, mr. and mrs. howell, _healdsburgh_; mrs. lattimer, _windsor_; mr. and mrs. denio, mrs. e. l. hale, _vallejo_; mrs. j. lewellyn, mrs. potter, _st. helena_; mr. and mrs. j. egglesson, _napa_; henry and abigail bush, _martinez_; rowena granice steele, _merced_; mrs. jennie phelps purvis, mrs. lapham and daughter, _modesto_. chapter liv. the pacific northwest. the long marches westward--abigail scott duniway--mary olney brown--the first steps in oregon--col. c. a. reed--judge g. w. lawson-- --the new northwest, --campaign, mrs. duniway and miss anthony--they address the legislature in washington territory--hon. elwood evans--suffrage society organized at olympia and at portland--before the oregon legislature--donation land act--hon. samuel corwin's suffrage bill--married woman's _sole_ traders' bill--temperance alliance--women rejected--major williams fights their battles and triumphs--mrs. h. a. loughary--progressive legislation, --mob-law in jacksonville, --dr. mary a. thompson--constitutional convention, --woman suffrage bill, --hon. w. c. fulton--women enfranchised in washington territory, nov. , --great rejoicing, bonfires, ratification meetings--constitutional amendment submitted in oregon and lost, june, --suffrage by legislative enactment lost--fourth of july celebrated at vancouvers--benjamin and mary olney brown--washington territory--legislation in - favorable to women--mrs. brown attempts to vote and is refused--charlotte olney french--women vote at grand mound and black river precincts, --retrogressive legislation, --abby h. stuart in land-office--hon. william h. white--idaho and montana. in the spring of , when the great _furor_ for going west was at its height, in the long trails of miners, merchants and farmers wending their way in ox-carts and canvas-covered wagons over the vast plains, mountains and rivers, two remarkable women, then in the flush of youth, might have been seen; one, abigail scott duniway, destined to leave an indelible mark on the civilization of oregon, and the other, mary olney brown, on that of washington territory. what ideas were revolving in these young minds in that long journey of , miles, six months in duration, it would be difficult to imagine, but the love of liberty had been infused in their dreams somewhere, either in their eastern homes from the tragic scenes of the anti-slavery conflict, or on that perilous march amidst those eternal solitudes by day and the solemn stillness of the far-off stars in the gathering darkness. that this long communion with great nature left its impress on their young hearts and sanctified their lives to the best interests of humanity at large, is clearly seen in the deeply interesting accounts they give of their endeavors to mould the governments of their respective territories on republican principles. writing of herself and her labors, mrs. duniway says: i was born in pleasant grove, tazewell county, illinois, october , , of the traditional "poor but respectable parentage" which has honored the advent of many a more illustrious worker than myself. brought up on a farm and familiar from my earliest years with the avocations of rural life, spending the early spring-times in the maple-sugar camp, the later weeks in gardening and gathering stove-wood, the summers in picking and spinning wool, and the autumns in drying apples, i found little opportunity, and that only in winter, for books or play. my father was a generous-hearted, impulsive, talented, but uneducated man; my mother was a conscientious, self-sacrificing, intelligent, but uneducated woman. both were devotedly religious, and both believed implicitly that self-abnegation was the crowing glory of womanhood. before i was seventeen i was employed as a district school teacher, received a first-class certificate and taught with success, though how i became possessed of the necessary qualifications i to this day know not. i never did, could, or would study when at school. in the spring of my father decided to emigrate to oregon. my invalid mother expostulated in vain; she and nine of us children were stowed away in ox-wagons, where for six months we made our home, cooking food and washing dishes around camp-fires, sleeping at night in the wagons, and crossing many streams upon wagon-beds, rigged as ferryboats. when our weary line of march had reached the black hills of wyoming my mother became a victim to the dreadful epidemic, cholera, that devastated the emigrant trains in that never-to-be-forgotten year, and after a few hours' illness her weary spirit was called to the skies. we made her a grave in the solitudes of the eternal hills, and again took up our line of march, "too sad to talk, too dumb to pray." but ten weeks after, our willie, the baby, was buried in the sands of the burnt river mountains. reaching oregon in the fall with our broken household, consisting of my father and eight motherless children, i engaged in school-teaching till the following august, when i allowed the name of "scott" to become "duniway." then for twenty years i devoted myself, soul and body, to the cares, toils, loves and hopes of a conscientious wife and mother. five sons and one daughter have been born to us, all of whom are living and at home, engaged with their parents in harmonious efforts for the enfranchisement of women. the first woman suffrage society ever formed in oregon, was organized in salem, the capital of the state, in the autumn of , and consisted of about a dozen members. col. c. a. reed was chosen president and g. w. lawson, secretary. this little society which maintained a quiescent existence for a year or more and then disbanded without ceremony, was, in part, the basis of all subsequent work of its character in oregon. in the winter of this society honored me with credentials to a seat in the woman suffrage convention which was to meet in san francisco the following may. my business called me to the golden city before the time for the convention, and a telegraphic summons compelled me to return to oregon without meeting with the california association in an official way, as i had hoped. but my credentials introduced me to the san francisco leaders, among whom emily pitts stevens occupied a prominent position as editor and publisher of the _the pioneer_, the first woman suffrage paper that appeared on the pacific coast. before returning to oregon i resolved to purchase an outfit and begin the publication of a newspaper myself, as i felt that the time had come for vigorous work in my own state, and we had no journal in which the demands of women for added rights were treated with respectful consideration. [illustration: "yours for liberty, abigail scott duniway"] soon after reaching my home in albany i sold my millinery store and removed to portland, where, on may , , the _new northwest_ made its appearance, and a siege of the citadels of a one-sexed government began, which at this writing is going on with unabated persistency. the first issue of this journal was greeted by storms of ridicule. everybody prophesied its early death, and my personal friends regarded the enterprise with sincere pity, believing it would speedily end in financial disaster. but the paper, in spite of opposition and burlesque, has grown and prospered. in august, , susan b. anthony favored oregon and washington territory with a visit. the fame of this veteran leader had preceded her, and she commanded a wide hearing. we traveled together over the country, visiting inland villages as well as larger towns, holding woman suffrage meetings and getting many subscribers for the _new northwest_. during these journeyings i became quite thoroughly initiated into the movement and made my first efforts at public speaking. after a six weeks' campaign in oregon, we went to olympia, the capital of washington territory, where the legislature was in session, and where, through a motion of hon. elwood evans, we were invited to address the assembly in advocacy of equal rights for all the people. from olympia we proceeded to victoria, a border city belonging to a woman's government, where we found that the idea of the ballot for woman was even more unpopular than in the united states, though all, by strange inconsistency, were intensely loyal to their queen. after an interesting and profitable experience in the british possessions we returned to puget sound, stopping over on our route at the different milling towns that teem with busy life upon the evergreen shores of this mediterranean of the pacific. at seättle we organized an association[ ] in which many of the leading ladies and gentlemen took a prominent part; after which we returned to olympia, where a territorial organization was effected.[ ] returning to portland, we called a convention, and organized the oregon state woman suffrage association, with harriet w. williams, a venerated octogenarian, president. this estimable woman had been one of the earliest leaders of the woman suffrage movement in the state of new york, and her presence at the head of our meetings in oregon was a source of genuine satisfaction to the friends of the cause in the new state of her adoption. subsequently, mrs. williams was compelled to resign on account of increasing infirmities, but her wise counsels are still cherished by her successors, whom she regards with motherly solicitude as she serenely awaits the final summons of the unseen messenger. many of those who early distinguished themselves in this connection deserve special mention because of their long-continued zeal in the work.[ ] if others failed us, these were always ready to work the hardest when the fight was hottest. and whatever might be our differences of opinion personally, we have always presented an unbroken phalanx to the foe. the original society at salem having disbanded, its members joined the new state association organized at portland, which has ever since been regarded as the nucleus of all our activities. in september of , i visited the oregon legislature, where i went clothed by our association with discretionary power to do what i could to secure special legislation for the women of the state, who, with few exceptions, were at that time entirely under the dominion of the old common law. the exceptions were those fortunate women who, having come to oregon as early as and ' , had, by virtue of a united states law, known as the oregon donation land act, become possessed of "claims," as they were called, on equal shares with their husbands, their half, or halves, of the original ground being set apart as their separate property in realty and _fee simple_. this donation land act deserves especial mention, it being the first law enacted in the united states which recognized the individual personality of a married woman. it became a temporary law of congress in , mainly through the efforts of hon. samuel r. thurston, delegate from oregon territory (which at that time included the whole of washington territory), aided by the eminent dr. linn of missouri, from whom one of the principal counties of the state of oregon derives its name. my first experience in the capitol was particularly trying. i spent two days among my acquaintances in salem in a vain attempt to find a woman who was ready or willing to accompany me to the state-house. all were anxious that i should go, but each was afraid to offend her husband, or make herself conspicuous, by going herself. finally, when i had despaired of securing company, and had nerved myself to go alone, mary p. sawtelle, who afterwards became a physician, and now resides in san francisco where she has a lucrative practice, volunteered to stand by me, and together we entered the dominion hitherto considered sacred to the aristocracy of sex, and took seats in the lobby, our hearts beating audibly. hon. joseph engle, perceiving the innovation and knowing me personally, at once arose, and, after a complimentary speech in which he was pleased to recognize my position as a journalist, moved that i be invited to a seat within the bar and provided with table and stationery as were other members of the profession. the motion carried, with only two or three dissenting votes; and the way was open from that time forward for women to compete with men on equal terms for all minor positions in both branches of the legislature--a privilege they have not been slow to avail themselves of, scores of them thronging the capitol in these later years, and holding valuable clerkships, many of them sneering the while at the efforts of those who opened the way for them to be there at all. hon. samuel corwin introduced a woman suffrage bill in the house of representatives early in the session; and while it was pending, i was invited to make an appeal in its behalf, of which i remember very little, so frightened and astonished was i, except that once i inadvertently alluded to a gentleman by his name instead of his county, whereupon, being called to order, i blushed and begged pardon, but put myself at ease by informing the gentlemen that in all the bygone years while they had been studying parliamentary rules, i had been rocking the cradle. one member who had made a vehement speech against the bill, in which he had declared that no respectable woman in his county desired the elective franchise, became particularly incensed, as was natural, upon my exhibiting a woman suffrage petition signed by the women he had misrepresented, and headed, _mirabile dictu_, by the name of his own wife! the so-called representative of women lost his temper, and gave vent to some inelegant expletives, for which he was promptly reprimanded by the chair. this offender has since been many times a candidate for office, but the ladies of his district have always secured his defeat. the woman suffrage bill received an unexpectedly large vote at this session, and was favored in by a still larger one, when it was ably championed by hon. c. a. reed, the before named ex-president of the first woman suffrage society in the state. in the senate, the house concurring, passed a married woman's sole trader bill, under the able leadership of hon. j. n. dolph, who has since distinguished himself as our champion in the senate of the united states. this bill has ever since enabled any woman engaged in business on her own account to register the fact in the office of the county clerk, and thereby secure her tools, furniture, or stock in trade against the liability of seizure by her husband's creditors. perhaps i cannot better illustrate the general feeling of opposition to women having a place in public affairs at that time, than by describing the scenes in the state temperance alliance in february of that year, when somebody placed my name in nomination as chairman of an important committee. the presiding officer was seized with a sudden deafness when the nomination was made, and the alliance was convulsed with merriment. ladies on all sides buzzed about me, and urged me to resent the insult in the name of womanhood. and, as none of them were at that time public speakers, i felt obliged to rise and speak for myself. "mr. president," i exclaimed, "by what right do you refuse to recognize women when their names are called? are men the only lawful members of this alliance? and if so, is it not better for the women delegates to go home?" "mr. president: the committees are now full!" shouted an excited voter. somebody, doubtless in ridicule, then nominated me as vice-president-at-large, which was carried amid uproarious merriment. i took my seat, half frightened and wholly indignant; and the deliberations of the sovereign voters were undisturbed for several hours thereafter by word or sign from women. at last they got to discussing a bill for a prohibitory liquor law, and the heat of debate ran high. during the excitement somebody carried a note to the presiding officer, who read it, smiled, colored, and rising, said: "we are hearing nothing from the ladies, and yet they constitute a large majority of this alliance. mrs. duniway, will you not favor us with a speech?" i was taken wholly by surprise, but sprang to my feet and said: "mr. president: i have always wondered what it was that consumed so much time in men's conventions. i hope gentlemen will pardon the criticism, but you talk too much, and too many of you try to talk at once. my head is aching from the roar and din of your noisy orators. gentlemen, what does it all amount to? you are talking about prohibition, but you overestimate your political strength. disastrous failures attend upon all your endeavors to conquer existing evils by the votes of men alone. give women the legal power to combat intemperance, and they will soon be able to prove that they do not like drunken husbands any better than men like drunken wives. make women _free_. give them the power the ballot gives to you, and the control of their own earnings which rightfully belong to them, and every woman will be able to settle this prohibition business in her own home and on her own account. men will not tolerate drunkenness in their wives; and women will not tolerate it in husbands unless compelled to." a prominent clergyman arose, and said: "mr. president: i charge the sins of the world upon the mothers of men. there are twenty thousand fallen women in new york--two millions of them in america. we cannot afford to let this element vote." before i was aware of what i was doing i was on my feet again. shaking my finger at the clergymen, i exclaimed: "how _dare_ you make such charges against the mothers of men? you tell us of two millions of fallen women who, you say, would vote for drunkenness; but what say you, sir, to the twenty millions of fallen men--all voters--whose patronage alone enables fallen women to live? would you disfranchise them, sir? i pronounce your charge a libel upon womanhood, and i know that if we were voters you would not _dare_ to utter it." a gentleman from michigan--mr. curtis--called me to order, saying my remarks were personal. "you, sir, sat still and didn't call this man to order while he stood up and insulted all womanhood!" i exclaimed, vehemently. "prohibition is the question before the house," said the gentleman, "and the lady should confine herself to the resolution." "that is what i am doing, sir. i am talking about prohibition, and the only way possible to make it succeed." the chair sustained me amid cries of "good!" "good!" but i had become too thoroughly self-conscious by this time to be able to say anything further, and, with a bow to the chairman whom i had before forgotten to address, i tremblingly took my seat. a resolution was passed, after a long and stormy debate, declaring it the duty of the legislature to empower women to vote on all questions connected with the liquor traffic; and i, as its author, was chosen a committee to present the same for consideration at the coming legislative session. woman suffrage gained a new impetus all over the northwest through this victory. everybody congratulated its advocates, and the good minister who had unwittingly caused the commotion seized the first opportunity to explain that he had always been an advocate of the cause. i was by this time so thoroughly advertised by the abuse of the press that i had no difficulty in securing large audiences in all parts of the pacific northwest. i was chosen in april, , as delegate to the annual meeting of the national association, held in new york the following month. horace greeley received the nomination for the presidency at the cincinnati liberal republican convention while i was on the way; and when i reached new york i at first threw what influence i had in the association in favor of the great editor. but miss anthony, who knew mr. greeley better than i did, caused me to be appointed chairman of a committee to interview the reputed statesman and officially report the result at the evening session. miss anthony and mrs. jane graham jones of chicago were the other members of this committee. we obtained the desired interview, of which it only needs to be said that it became my humiliating duty to ask pardon in the evening for the speech in advocacy of the illustrious candidate which in my ignorance i had made in the morning. that mr. greeley owed his defeat in part to the opposition of women in that memorable campaign, i have never doubted. but he builded better than he knew in earlier years, for he planted many a tree of liberty that shall live through the ages to come, overshadowing in a measure his failure to recognize the divine right of political equality for woman in his later days. the first annual convention of the oregon state association met in portland, february , . many ladies and several gentlemen[ ] of more or less local prominence assisted at this convention, but we were able to prevail upon but one gentleman, col. c. a. reed of salem, to occupy the platform with us. this convention received favorable notice from the respectable press of the state, and was largely attended by the best elements of the city and country. delegates were chosen to attend the forthcoming state temperance alliance which held its second annual meeting february , and to which a dozen of us went bearing credentials. it was evident from the first that trouble was brewing. the enemy had had a whole year to prepare an ambuscade of which our party had no suspicion. a committee on credentials was appointed with instructions to rule the woman suffrage delegation out of the alliance as a "disturbing element." hon j. quinn thornton was chairman of that committee. in his report he declared all delegations to be satisfactory (including those from the penitentiary) except the women whom he styled "setting hens," "belligerent females," etc., after which he subsided with pompous gravity. all eyes were turned upon me, and i felt as i fancy a general must when the success or failure of an army in battle depends upon his word. "mr. president," i exclaimed, as soon as i could get the floor, "i move to so amend the report of the committee as to admit the suffrage delegation." the motion was seconded by a half-dozen voices. then followed a scene which beggars description. it was pandemonium broken loose. when i arose again to address the chair that worthy ordered my arrest by the sergeant-at-arms, saying: "take that crazy woman out of the house and take care of her." the officer came forward in discharge of his duty, but he quailed before my uplifted pencil, and several gentlemen stepped into the aisle and began drawing off their coats to defend me, among them a veteran minister of the gospel. i smiled and bowed my thanks, and as nobody could hear a word amid the uproar i complacently took my seat while the officer skulked away, crestfallen. all that day and evening, and until one o'clock the next afternoon, a noisy rabble of self-styled temperance men sought to prevent bringing the question to a square and honorable vote. major george williams, a brave man who had lost a limb in fighting for his country, at last succeeded in wearying the chairman into a semblance of duty. the result was a triumph for the advocates of suffrage. a recess was then taken, during which my hand was so often and enthusiastically shaken that my shoulder was severely lamed. the first thing in order after resuming business was my report as legislative committee. i advanced to the platform amid deafening cheers and, as soon as i could make myself heard, said, in substance, that the legislature had decided that it was an insult to womanhood to grant women the right to vote on intemperance and debar them from voting on all honorable questions. i then offered a fair and unequivocal woman suffrage resolution, which was triumphantly carried. the disappointed minority seceded from the alliance and set up a "union" for themselves; but their confederacy did not live long, and its few followers finally returned to their _alma mater_ and gave us no further trouble. woman suffrage associations were formed in several counties during the year . our strength was now much increased by the able assistance of mrs. h. a. loughary, who suddenly took her place in the front rank as a platform speaker. the editorial work of the _new northwest_ received a valuable auxiliary in june of this year in the person of catharine a. coburn, a lady of rare journalistic ability, who held her position five years, when my sons, w. s., h. r. and w. c. duniway, having completed their school duties and attained their majority, were admitted to partnership in the business. mrs. coburn now holds a situation on the editorial staff of the _daily oregonian_. in the autumn of i was absent at the centennial exposition, whither i had gone in the summer in response to an invitation from the national woman suffrage association to "come over into macedonia and help." the work for equal rights made favorable headway in the legislature of oregon that year through the influence of a convention held at salem under the able leadership of mrs. h. a. loughary and dr. mary a. thompson. in june, , a convention met in walla walla, washington territory, for the purpose of forming a constitution for the proposed new state of washington, and in compliance with the invitation of many prominent women of the territory i visited the convention and was permitted to present a memorial in person, praying that the word "male" be omitted from the fundamental law of the incubating state. but my plea (like that of abigail adams a century before) failed of success, through a close vote however--it stood to --and men went on as before, saying, as they did in the beginning: "women do not wish to vote. if they desire the ballot let them ask for it." in september of that year i was again at my post in the oregon legislature circulating the _new northwest_ among the law-makers, and doing what else i could to keep the cause before them in a manner to enlist their confidence and command their respect. an opportunity was given me at this session to make an extended argument upon constitutional liberty before a joint convention of the two houses, which occupied an hour in delivery and was accorded profound attention. i was much opposed to the growing desire of the legislature to shirk its responsibility upon the voters at large by submitting a proposed constitutional amendment to them when the constitution nowhere prohibits women from voting, and i labored to show that all we need is a declaratory act extending to us the franchise under the existing fundamental law. dr. mary a. thompson followed in a brief speech and was courteously received. the married woman's property bill, passed in , received some necessary amendments at this session, and an act entitling women to vote upon school questions and making them eligible to school offices, was passed by a triumphant majority. i went to southern oregon in , and while sojourning in jacksonville was assailed with a shower of eggs (since known in that section as "jacksonville arguments") and was also burned in effigy on a principal street after the sun went down. jacksonville is an old mining town, beautifully situated in the heart of the southern oregon mountains, and has no connection with the outside world except through the daily stagecoaches. its would-be leading men are old miners or refugees from the bushwhacking district whence they were driven by the civil war. the taint of slavery is yet upon them and the methods of border-ruffians are their hearts' delight. it is true that there are many good people among them, but they are often over-awed by the lawless crowd whose very instincts lead them to oppose a republican form of government. but that raid of the outlaws proved a good thing for the woman suffrage movement. it aroused the better classes, and finally shamed the border ruffians by its own reäction. when i returned to portland a perfect ovation awaited me. hundreds of men and women who had not before allied themselves with the movement made haste to do so. the newspapers were filled with severe denunciations of the mob, and "jackson-villains," as the perpetrators of the outrage were styled, grew heartily disgusted over their questionable glory. when the legislature met in the autumn of it was decided by the woman suffrage association that we could "raise the blockade" and encourage agitation in the work by consenting to an attempt to amend the state constitution. pursuant to this decision a resolution was offered in the senate by hon. w. c. fulton of clatsop, and in the house by hon. lee laughlin, which, after considerable discussion _pro_ and _con_ in which i was graciously invited to participate on the floor of both houses, was passed by the requisite two-thirds majority. the result was considered a triumph for the cause. a grand ratification jubilee was held in the opera-house in honor of the event, and resolutions of thanks to the lawmakers were passed, accompanied by many expressions of faith in the legislation of the future. in the meantime the work was going steadily on in washington territory, my own labors being distributed about equally between the two sections of the pacific northwest that had formerly been united under one territorial government. in the autumn of the legislature of washington met one afternoon in joint convention to listen to arguments from hon. william h. white and myself, on which occasion i held the floor for nearly three hours, in the midst of an auditory that was itself an inspiration. mr. white, a democrat of the old school, and now ( ) holding the office of united states marshal in the territory, under commission from president cleveland, based his plea for woman suffrage upon the enfranchisement of the colored men, urging it strongly as a means of democratic retaliation. the suffrage bill passed in the house on the following day by a majority of two, but was defeated in the council by a majority of two, showing that the vote would have been a tie if taken under the joint-ballot rule. returning to oregon i renewed the contest, and in the autumn of we were all gratified by the passage of the pending constitutional amendment by a very nearly unanimous vote of each house. then the oregon campaign began in earnest. the question had assumed formidable proportions and was no longer an ignored issue. the work went on with accelerated speed, and as far as could be ascertained there was little or no opposition to it. the meetings were largely attended and affirmative speakers were ready to assist at all times, the help of this kind representing all grades of the professions, led by the best and most influential men of the state everywhere. another year went by, and the time for assembling the washington territory legislature was again at hand. immediately upon arriving at olympia i learned that a coterie of politicians, finding open hostility no longer effectual, had combined to crush the woman suffrage bill, which had passed the house triumphantly, by lobbying a "substitute" through the council. in pursuance of this seemingly plausible idea they talked with the ladies of olympia and succeeded in convincing a few of them that all women, and especially all leaders of the movement, must be kept away from the capitol or the bill would certainly be defeated. several women who ought to have have known better were deceived by these specious pleaders, and but for some years of experience in legislative assemblies that had brought me to comprehend the "ways that are dark and tricks that are vain," for which the average politician is "peculiar," the ruse would have succeeded. i remained at headquarters, enduring alike the open attacks of the venal press and the more covert opposition of the saloons and brothels, and, as vigilantly as i could, watched all legislative movements, taking much pains to keep the public mind excited through the columns of the _daily oregonian_ and the weekly issues of the _new northwest_. the bill, which had been prepared by professor william h. roberts, passed the house early in the session; but it tarried long in the council, and those most interested were well-nigh worn out with work and watching before the measure reached a vote. it came up for final passage november , , when only three or four women were present. the council had been thoroughly canvassed before-hand and no member offered to make a speech for or against it. the deathly stillness of the chamber was broken only by the clerk's call of the names and the firm responses of the "ayes" and "noes." i kept the tally with a nervous hand, and my heart fairly stood still as the fateful moment came that gave us the majority. then i arose and without exchanging words with any one left the state-house and rushed toward the telegraph-office, half a mile distant, my feet seeming to tread the air. judge j. w. range of cheney, president of a local woman suffrage society, overtook me on the way, bound on the same errand. he spoke, and i felt as if called back to earth with a painful reminder that i was yet mortal. a few minutes more and my message was on the way to the _new northwest_. it was publication-day and the paper had gone to press, but my jubilant and faithful sons opened the forms and inserted the news, and in less than half an hour the newsboys were crying the fact through the streets of portland, making the _new northwest_, which had fought the fight and led the work to the point where legislation could give a victory, the very first paper in the nation to herald the news to the world. the rejoicing in oregon, as well as in washington territory, was most inspiriting. a bloodless battle had been fought and won, and the enemy, asleep in carnal security, had been surrendered unawares. the women of oregon thanked god and took courage. after passing the council the bill passed leisurely, and some of us feared perilously, through the various stages of clerical progress till november , when it received the signature of governor william a. newell, who used a gold pen presented him for the purpose by women whom his act made free. and when at a given signal the church bells rang in glad acclaim, and the loud boom of minute-guns reverberated from the forest-clothed hills that border puget sound and lost itself at last in the faint echoes of the far-off hights, the scroll of the dead century unrolled before my inner vision and i beheld in spirit another scene on the further verge of the continent, when men in designing to ring the bell at independence hall in professed honor of the triumph of liberty, although not a woman in the land was free, had sought in vain to force the loyal metal into glad responses; for the old bell quivered in every nerve and broke its heart rather than tell a lie! an immense ratification jubilee was held in the evening of the same day at the city hall in olympia, with many distinguished speakers.[ ] similar meetings were subsequently held in all the principal towns of the pacific northwest. the freed women of washington thankfully accepted their new prerogatives. they were appointed as jurors in many localities, and have ever since performed their duties with eminent satisfaction to judges, lawyers and all clients who are seeking to obey the laws. but their jurisdiction soon became decidedly uncomfortable for the law-breaking elements, which speedily escaped to oregon, where, as the sequel proved, they began a secret and effective war upon the pending constitutional amendment. we all knew we had a formidable foe to fight at the ballot-box. our own hands were tied and our own guns spiked, while our foe was armed to the teeth with ballots, backed by money and controlled by vice, bigotry and tyranny. but the leading men of the state had long been known to favor the amendment; the respectable press had become mildly, and in a few cases earnestly acquiescent; no opposition could be raised at any of our public meetings, and we felt measurably sure of a victory until near election time, when we discovered to our dismay that most of the leading politicians upon whom we had relied for aid had suddenly been seized with an alarming reticence. they ceased to attend the public meetings and in every possible way ignored the amendment, lest by openly allying themselves with it they might lose votes; and as all of them were posing in some way for office, for themselves or friends, and women had no votes with which to repay their allegiance, it was not strange that they should thus desert us. our republican senator in congress, hon. j. n. dolph, favored the woman suffrage association with an able and comprehensive letter, which was widely circulated, urging the adoption of the amendment as a measure of justice and right, and appealing to the voters to make oregon the banner state of the great reform. leading clergymen, especially of portland, preached in favor of woman suffrage, prominent among them being rev. t. l. eliot, pastor of the unitarian church; chaplain r. s. stubbs of the church of sea and land, and rev. frederic r. marvin of the first congregational society. appeals to voters were widely circulated from the pens and speeches of many able gentlemen.[ ] not one influential man made audible objection anywhere. we had carefully districted and organized the state, sparing neither labor nor money in providing "yes" tickets for all parties and all candidates and putting them everywhere in the hands of friends for use at the polls. but the polls were no sooner open than it began to appear that the battle was one of great odds. masked batteries were opened in almost every precinct, and multitudes of legal voters who are rarely seen in daylight except at a general election, many of whom were refugees from washington territory, crowded forth from their hiding-places to strike the manacled women down. they accused the earnest ladies who had dared to ask for simple justice of every crime in the social catalogue. railroad gangs were driven to the polls like sheep and voted against us in battalions. but, in spite of all this, nearly one-third of the vote was thrown in our favor, requiring a change of only about one-fourth of the opposing vote to have given us a victory, and proving to the amazement of our enemies that the strength of our cause was already formidable.[ ] we were repulsed but not conquered. before the smoke of the battle had cleared away we had called immense meetings and passed vigorous resolutions, thanking the lovers of liberty who had favored us with their suffrages, and pledging ourselves anew to the conflict. we at once decided that we would never again permit the legislature to remand us to the rabble in a vain appeal for justice. we had demonstrated the impossibility of receiving a fair, impartial vote at the hands of the ignorant, lawless and unthinking multitude whose ballots outweigh all reason and overpower all sense. in pursuance of this purpose i went to the legislature of and found no difficulty in securing the aid of friendly members of both houses who kindly championed the following bill: _be it enacted by the legislative assembly of oregon:_ that the elective franchise shall not hereafter be denied to any person in this state on account of sex. this act to be in force from and after its approval by the governor. after much parliamentary fillibustering the vote of both houses was recorded upon this bill and stood conjointly to . this vote, coming so soon after our defeat at the polls, is regarded as the greatest victory we have yet won. the ablest lawyers of the state and of washington territory are preparing elaborate opinions showing the constitutionality of our present plan, and these are to be published in the form of a standard work, with appropriate references for convenient use. the movement exhibits a healthy, steady and encouraging growth, and is much accelerated by its success in washington territory. on the fourth of july of this year a grand celebration was held at vancouver, on washington soil, the women of oregon having resolved in large numbers that they would never again unite in celebrating men's independence-day in a state where they are denied their liberty. the celebration was a success from first to last. boys and girls in equal numbers rode in the liberty-car and represented the age of the government. the military post at vancouver joined heartily in the festivities, headed by the gallant soldier, general nelson a. miles, commander-in-chief of the department of the columbia. the fine fourteenth infantry band furnished the instrumental music, and a local choir rendered spirited choruses. the new declaration of independence was read by josie de vore johnson, the oration was delivered by mattie a. bridge, and louise lester, the famous _prima donna_, electrified the delighted crowd by her triumphant rendition of the "star-spangled banner." the exercises closed with the announcement by the writer, who had officiated as president of the day, that the executive committee of the oregon woman suffrage association had, during the noon recess, adopted the following resolutions: _resolved_, that our thanks are due to general nelson a. miles of the department of the columbia for his valuable coöperation in the exercises and entertainments of this historic day. _resolved_, that we thank the citizens of clarke county, and especially of vancouver, for their hospitality and kindness, so graciously bestowed upon their less fortunate oregon neighbors, who have not yet achieved their full independence, and we shall ever cherish their fraternal recognition in grateful remembrance. _resolved_, that while we deplore the injustice that still deprives the women of oregon of the liberty to exercise their right to the elective franchise, we rejoice in the record the women of washington are making as citizens, as voters and as jurors. we congratulate them upon their newly-acquired liberties, and especially upon the intelligent and conscientious manner in which they are discharging the important public duties that in no wise interfere with their home affairs. and we are further _resolved_, that if our own fathers, husbands, sons and brothers do not at the next session of the oregon legislature bestow upon us the same electoral privileges which the women of washington already enjoy, we will prepare to cross the columbia river and take up our permanent abode in this "land of the free and home of the brave." the resolutions evoked cheers that waked the echoes, and the celebration, reported by the oregon press, contributed largely to the growth of the equal-rights sentiment among the people of the state. two stanzas of a spirited poem are subjoined, written for the woman suffrage association just after our defeat at the polls, by a young man from southern oregon who has withheld his own name but included the names of all the counties in his glorious prophecy: from clatsop and from clackamas, from linn and tillamook; from grant, multnomah, lane and coos, and benton, lake and crook; from josephine, columbia, and loyal washington, and union, baker and yamhill, and proud old marion; from where the cascade mountain-streams their foaming waters pour, we're coming, mothers, sisters, dear, "ten times ten thousand more." from klamath's lakes and wasco's plains, and jackson's rolling hills; from douglas with her mines of gold, and curry with her mills; from umatilla's burdened fields, and hills and dales of polk, we're coming with our votes and songs to break the tyrant's yoke, and in the ears of liberty this song of joy we'll pour, we're coming, mothers, sisters, dear, "ten times ten thousand more." mrs. mary olney brown gives an amusing account of her attempts to vote in washington territory. the incidents related occurred several years before the passage of the act specifically enfranchising women. she says: i do not think there has ever been a session of our legislature that has not had before it the subject of woman suffrage. it has been my habit to write out, and send to all parts of the territory, before the assembling of each legislature, petitions to be signed, asking for a law guaranteeing to women the exercise of their right to vote. these petitions were not without their effect, though no one knew who sent them out, or, when returned, who selected the member to receive and present them to the legislature. at the session of , mainly through the efforts of edward eldridge of whatcom county, an act was passed giving "all white american citizens above the age of twenty-one years" the right to vote. this law is still on our statute books; but, like the fourteenth amendment, is interpreted to mean only male citizens. during the time between the passage of this law and the next election, i wrote to some of the prominent women of the principal towns, telling them of the law, and urging them to go out and vote at the coming election, and also to induce as many more to go as they could. but no notice was taken of my letters. i was looked upon as a fanatic, and the idea of a woman voting was regarded as an absurdity. the law seemed to be in advance of the people. it needed lectures and organized societies among us to educate the women into a just appreciation of their rights and duties. in the autumn of , dr. smith wrote several articles on the right of women to the ballot, as did also mr. eldridge. the latter asserted that it was the intention of the law to give the women of the territory the right to vote; that being a member of the legislature he had purposely stated in his remarks, that if the bill passed in that form, it would give the women the right to vote; and a member from his seat cried out, "that is what we want!" mr. eldridge urged the women to go out to the polls and vote. these articles were published in the olympia _transcript_, the republican paper, j. n. gale, one of the editors, being an advocate of suffrage. still not a woman made a move. many wished to vote; they knew it was the only way to secure their rights, and yet they had not the courage to go to the polls in defiance of custom. seeing this to be the case, and knowing that if anything was done some one must take the initiative, i determined to cast aside my timidity and set the ball rolling. accordingly, several weeks before the election of i gave out word that i was going to the polls to vote. i had the previous year removed with my family from olympia, and was living on white river in king county. the announcement that i would attend the election caused a great commotion in white river precinct. a fearful hue and cry was raised. the news reached olympia and seättle, and some of the papers deprecated the idea that "a woman should unsex herself by dabbling in the filthy pool of politics." but i was fully committed. the law had been on our statute books for nearly three years. if it was intended for our benefit, it was time we were availing ourselves of it. so, nothing daunted, i determined to repair to the polling place, the district school-house, accompanied by my husband, my daughter (mrs. axtell) and her husband--a little band of four--looked upon with pity and contempt for what was called our "fanaticism." for several days before the election the excitement in the neighborhood and other settlements along the river was intense. many gentlemen called on me and tried to persuade me to stay at home and save myself from insult. i thanked them for their kindness, and told them i fully appreciated their good intentions, but that i had associated with men all my life, and had always been treated as a lady; that the men i should meet at the polls were the same that i met in church and social gatherings, and i knew they would treat me with respect. then they begged my husband not to allow me to go; but he told them his wife had as good a right to vote as he had; and that no citizen can legally deprive another of the right to vote. on the morning of the election, just before we reached the school-house, a man met us and said, "mr. brown, look here now! if mrs. brown goes up to vote she will be insulted! if i was in your place i wouldn't let her go any farther. she had better go back." my husband answered, "mr. brannan, my wife has as good a right to vote as i have, and i would not prevent her if i could. she has a mind of her own and will do as she thinks best, and i shall stand by her and see that she is well treated! besides [speaking with emphasis], she will not be insulted either!" "well," said the man, "if she was my wife she shouldn't go! she'll be sure to be insulted!" i looked him full in the face, and said with decision, "mr. brannan, a gentleman will be a gentleman under all circumstances, and will always treat a lady with respect." i said this because i knew the man, and knew that if anyone offered any annoyance, it would be he, and so it proved. as we drove up to the school-house and alighted, a man in an angry voice snapped out, "well! if the women are coming to vote, i'm going home!" but he did not go; he had too much curiosity; he wanted to see the fun. he stayed and was converted. after watching the sovereign "white male citizen" perform the laborious task of depositing his vote in the ballot-box, i thought if i braced myself up i might be equal to the task. so, summoning all my strength, i walked up to the desk behind which sat the august officers of election, and presented my vote. when behold! i was pompously met with the assertion, "you are not an american citizen; hence not entitled to vote." the great unabridged dictionary of noah webster was opened, and the definition of the word citizen read to me. they all looked to see me vanquished; they thought i would have to retreat before such an overwhelming array of sagacity. the countenances of the judges wore a pleased expression that they had hit on so easy an expedient to put me _hors du combat_, while the crowd looked astonished that i did not sink out of sight. waiting a moment, i said, "the definition is correct. a citizen of the united states, is a _person_ owing allegiance to the government; but then all persons are not _men_; and the definition of "citizeness" is a female citizen. i claim to be an american citizen, and a native-born citizen at that; and i wish to show you from the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states, that women are not only citizens having the constitutional right to vote, but also that our territorial election law gives women the privilege of exercising that right." when i commenced speaking, all the men, with the exception of two--the one who had urged my husband not to let me go to the school-house, and a low, degraded fellow, who had a squaw for a wife--came and ranged themselves around me and the judges before whom i stood, and listened attentively. it was a new subject to them. they had heard of woman suffrage, but only in ridicule. now it was being presented to them in a very different light. as i proceeded there was a death-like stillness, so intent were they to catch every word. even the man who had declared he would go home if the women were going to vote, was among the most interested of the listeners. there was but one interruption; the two men, of whom i have spoken, to make good their assertion that i would be insulted, got behind a desk in the far corner of the room, and began talking and laughing very loudly; but they were promptly called to order. silence being restored, i went on to show them that the original constitution recognized women as citizens, and that the word citizen includes both sexes, as is proved by the phrases, "male citizen," and "female citizen"; that women from the beginning had been unjustly deprived of the exercise of their constitutional rights; that they had for years been petitioning those in power to restore them to their political freedom, when the emancipation of the southern slaves threw upon the country a class of people, who, like the women of the nation, owed allegiance to the government, but whose citizenship was not recognized. to settle this question, the fourteenth amendment was adopted. its first section declares emphatically who are citizens, and guarantees to them the exercise of all their natural rights under the equal protection of the law. (here i read to them the section.) no distinction is made in regard to sex; the word "person" being used, which includes both men and women. "and now, honorable gentlemen," i said, in conclusion, "i am a 'person,' declared by the fourteenth amendment to be a citizen, and still further, i am a native-born citizen of the same race and color of these gentlemen by whom i am surrounded, and whose votes you do not hesitate to receive; and, had our territorial law failed to give me the right to vote, this amendment would protect me in the exercise of it. i again offer my vote, and hope you will not refuse it." no hand was extended to receive it; but one of the judges threw himself back in his seat, and with great dignity of manner and an immense display of ignorance, exclaimed, "women have no right to vote; and the laws of congress don't extend over washington territory." this was too much for even the strongest opponents. on every side was heard, "oh, mr. alvord! why, yes, they do!" "mr. alvord, you are mistaken, the laws of congress do extend over our territory"; and some tried to explain to him that the territory belonged to the united states and was under the jurisdiction of the national government, and that of course the laws of congress extended over it. but still more pompously, he again declared, "it is no such thing, the laws of congress don't extend over washington territory." a look of disgust and shame was depicted on nearly every countenance, and the cause of woman suffrage had advanced perceptibly in the minds of the audience. another of the judges arose, and said, he had never thought much on the subject. he had no doubt but mrs. brown was right, woman were citizens and had the right to vote; but as the courts had not instructed the election officers to take the votes of women, and as the precinct was a small one, he was afraid their whole vote would be thrown out if they received the women's ballots. so, although he should like to see the women have their rights, he should have to refuse mrs. brown's vote. here an irishman called out, "it would be more sensible to let an intelligent white woman vote than an ignorant nigger." cries of "good for you, pat! good for you, pat!" indicated the impression that had been made. my daughter now went up and offered her vote, which was, of course, rejected. my going to the polls was noised abroad, and set men as well as women thinking. they examined the law for themselves, and found that women had a right to vote, so that before the next election many were prepared to act. in may, , i published an appeal to the women of the territory, quoting to them the law, and urging them to avail themselves of its provisions by going to the polls and voting. my sister, charlotte olney french, living in grand mound precinct, some twenty-five miles from olympia, began talking the matter up; and, being a woman of energy and influence, she soon had the whole neighborhood interested. with the assistance of an old lady, mrs. peck, she planned a regular campaign. by the programme the women were to get up a picnic dinner at the school-house where the election was to be held, and directly after, while the officers of election were in good humor (wives will understand the philosophy of this), they were to present their votes. my sister, being a good talker and well informed on all the constitutional, judicial and social phases of the question as well as a good judge of human nature, was able to meet and parry every objection, and give information where needed, so that by the time dinner was over, the judges, as well as everybody else, were in the best of spirits. when the voting was resumed, the women (my sister being the first) handed in their ballots as if they had always been accustomed to voting, and everything passed off pleasantly. one lady, mrs. sargent, seventy-two years old, said she thanked the lord that he had let her live until she could vote. she had often prayed to see the day, and now she was proud to cast her first ballot. it had been talked of for some days before the election in the adjoining precinct--black river--that mrs. french was organizing a party of women to attend the election in grand mound precinct; but they were not sure the judges would let them vote. "if they do," said they, "if the grand mound women vote, the black river women shall!" so they stationed a man on a fleet horse, at the grand mound polls, with instructions to start as soon as the women began to vote, and ride with all haste back to their precinct and let them know. the moment the man rode in sight of the school-house he swung his hat, and screeched at the top of his voice, "they're voting! they're voting!" the teams were all ready in anticipation of the news, and were instantly flying in every direction, and soon the women were ushered into the school-house, their choice of tickets furnished them, and all allowed to vote as "american citizens." while the women of these two precincts were enjoying the exercise of their political rights, the women of olympia were suffering the vexation of disappointment. i had been stopping there for some weeks previous to the election, trying to induce the women to go to the polls, and also to convince the men that women had a legal right to vote, and that their right must be respected. the day before election the judges were interviewed as to whether they would take the votes of the women. they replied, "yes; we shall be obliged to take them. the law gives them the right to vote, and we can not refuse." this decision was heralded all over the city, and women felt as if their millennium had come. to-morrow, for the first time, their voice would be heard in the government through the ballot. all day long women met each other, and asked: "are you going to the election to-morrow?" groups gathered in parlors and discussed the matter, and everything seemed auspicious. but how true the saying: "there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip!" before nine o'clock the next morning, the word had been communicated all over town that "the women need not come out to the polls as the judges would not take their votes." they would give no reason why, but said "they had decided not to take the votes of the women." about a dozen of us gathered together to consult what was best to be done; finding most of them inclined to back out, i urged the necessity of our making an effort; that whether the judges took our votes or not, it was not best to give it up as the rest had done; if we did, it would be harder to make an effort next time; that i had been to the polls once and had my vote refused, and could be refused again; at any rate, i had the right to vote, and i should go and offer it if i had to go alone. three of the number said they would go with me--mrs. patterson, mrs. wiley and mrs. dofflemyer; these, with mr. patterson, my husband and myself made our party. as we reached the court-house where the election was held, mr. dofflemyer met us and took his wife home, she meekly submitting. just before us a cart rattled up bearing a male citizen, who was too drunk to know what he was doing, or even to do anything. he was lying on his back in the cart, with feet and hands up, hurrahing at the top of his voice. this disgusting, drunken idiot was picked up out of the cart by two men, who put a ticket into his hand, carried him to the window (he was too drunk to stand), shoved him up and raised his arm into the aperture; his vote received, he was tumbled back into the cart. i then stepped up and offered my vote, and was answered with, "we have decided not to take the votes of the women!" "on what grounds do you refuse?" i asked. no answer. "do you refuse it on legal grounds?" still no answer. i then said, "under the election law of this territory, setting aside my constitutional right as a citizen of the united states, i have the right to vote at this election. have you the election law by you?" "no, we have not got it here," they said. i knew they had, but did not dispute their word. "very well," i said, "i can quote it for you." i did so, and then said, "under this territorial law i claim my right, and again i offer you my vote as an american citizen. if you doubt my citizenship, i will insist on taking the oath. will you receive it?" the answer was, "no; we have decided not to take women's votes, and we cannot take yours." "then," said i, "it amounts to this: the law gives women the right to vote in this territory, and you three men who have been appointed to receive our votes, sit here and arbitrarily refuse to take them, giving no reason why, only that you have decided not to take the women's votes. there is no law to sustain you in this usurpation of power. we can claim legal redress. are you willing to stand a legal prosecution?" "yes," was the response of each one separately. it was now plain to see why the votes of the women were refused; the judges had been hired to do the dirty work, and money pledged in case of prosecution. they were men in moderate circumstances and could not have stood the cost of a suit individually. the ready assent they gave showed such a contingency had been thought of and provided against by the opponents of woman suffrage. the other two women then offered their votes, which were also refused. in the autumn of susan b. anthony came to olympia and attended the first woman suffrage convention ever held here. our legislature was in session, and a joint hearing before the two houses was extended to her. her statesman-like argument clearly proved the right of our women to vote under both the national constitution and the territorial law. after miss anthony left, there arose a rumor that the election law was to be repealed, and a committee of women attended every session, determined if possible to prevent it. they were at the capitol the last day, prepared to stay until the adjournment; they were urged to go home, but would not unless a solemn promise was made them that the law should in no way be tampered with. this the members refused to do, until a bright idea struck one of them, which was that they need not disturb the law, but could make it inoperative by enacting another statute. this being whispered among the members, the promise was given, and the women retired. immediately after, the following act was passed by both houses, approved and signed by the governor: _be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the territory of washington:_ section . that hereafter no female shall have the right of ballot, or vote at any poll or election precinct in this territory until the congress of the united states of america shall, by direct legislation, declare the same to be the supreme law of the land. sec. . this act to take effect from and after its passage. approved november , . edward s. solomon, _governor_. when the proclamation to hold a convention to form a constitution preparatory to our admission into the union as a state, was issued, i recommended to the territorial woman suffrage association that we make every effort to secure to the convention as many delegates as possible in favor of woman suffrage, and then that we circulate petitions asking them to leave out the word "male" from the constitution. failing to get the society to take any associated action, i went to work individually, wrote and sent out petitions into every town and country place where there was a post-office, asking that the word "male" be left out of the constitution. with each petition i sent a letter to the person whose name i had procured from the postmaster of the place, stating the object, urging a thorough circulation, and directing its return at a given date to mary olney brown, president of the washington territorial woman suffrage association; thus giving the credit of the work to the society. i could not get a member of our association to circulate the petition in olympia, so every day that i could get away from home i took my petition in hand and canvassed for signatures. if i went shopping or on an errand i took it with me, and in that way i procured over names. my experience had taught me that the principal opposition to woman's voting came from ignorance as to her true position under the government. she had come to be looked upon almost as a foreign element in our nation, having no lot nor part with the male citizen, and i felt that it was necessary to disabuse the minds of the people generally, and the delegates to the convention particularly, of this notion. i therefore wrote five articles on the "equality of citizenship," which mrs. duniway kindly published in the _new northwest_. the olympia _courier_ also printed them, and placed the paper on file in the city reading-room; and when i met a man who had not made up his mind on the subject i recommended him to the reading-room, and several after perusing the articles were converted and signed the petition. on the assembling of the legislature mrs. a. h. h. stuart and myself watched a favorable opportunity to present an equal rights bill. we let them talk up the matter pretty well over a petition signed by fifty women of one of the upper counties, when one day mrs. stuart came to me and said: "now, mrs. brown, write out your bill; the speaker of the house sent me word they were ready for it." i sat down and framed a bill[ ] to the best of my ability, which was duly presented and respectfully debated. mrs. duniway came from portland to urge its passage, and the day before it came to a vote both houses adjourned and invited her to speak in the hall of representatives. she made one of her best speeches. the members of both houses were present, besides a large audience from the city. the next day the house passed the bill by two majority, and on the day following it was lost in the council by two majority. in the house the vote stood, ayes, ; nays, . in the council, ayes, ; nays, . saturday evening mrs. duniway made another telling speech in the city hall, at the close of which mr. white, a lobby member, made a few remarks, in which he disclosed the cause of the defeat of the bill in the council. he said, after the bill passed the house the saloon-keepers, alarmed lest their occupation would be gone if women should vote, button-holed the members of the council, and as many of them as could be bought by drinks pledged themselves to vote against the bill. the members of the council were present, and though an urgent invitation was given to all to speak, not one of them denied the charge made by mr. white. on the following monday an effort was made in the council to reconsider the bill, but failed. thus stands our cause at present. there will be a greater effort than ever before put forth during the next two years to secure an affirmative vote in our legislature. as mrs. brown wrote the above in , the promise in the closing sentence was really quite prophetic, since the legislature of passed a law enfranchising the women of the territory.[ ] mrs. duniway concludes her account with a brief reference to the work in neighboring territories: in addition to all that is being done in oregon and washington, we are actively engaged in pushing the work in idaho and montana territories, where the _new northwest_ has been thoroughly circulated in many localities and many spirited public meetings have been held. the idaho legislature seriously considered and came near adopting a woman suffrage bill last winter, and the women of the territory are confidently awaiting a triumph at the next biënnial session. remembering dakota's set-back through the governor's veto in , they are carefully planning to avoid a like calamity in their own territory. in montana the cause has made less apparent progress, but there is much quiet and constantly increasing agitation in its favor. popular feeling is steadily ripening for the change, and let the rest of the world wag as it will, there cannot be much longer hindrance to the complete triumph of liberty in the pacific northwest. footnotes: [ ] hon. h. l. yesler, the city's founder and mayor; mrs. yesler, rev. john f. damon, mrs. mary olney brown, rev. daniel bagley and others. [ ] its leaders being mrs. abble h. h. stuart, mrs. p. c. hale, hon. marshall blinn, hon. elwood evans, and mr. j. m. murphy, editor of the _washington standard_. [ ] mr. d. w. williams, mr. and mrs. w. t. shanahan, mr. and mrs. a. b. gibson, rev. t. l. eliot, mr. b. c. duniway, dr. mary a. thompson, rev. isaac dillon and hon. and mrs. g. w. brown. [ ] addresses were made in advocacy of the cause by col. reed, mrs. j. devore johnson, miss v. m. olds, rev. t. l. eliot, mrs. c. a. coburn, mrs. beatty (colored), and the writer. the celebrated mcgibeney family furnished the music, and the portland press gave favorable reports of the proceedings. valuable aid was also contributed by mr. and mrs. d. h. hendee, mr. and mrs. j. w. peters, and mrs. m. j. foster. [ ] governor newell, judge orange jacobs, judge b. f. dennison, mrs. pamela hale, hon. philip d. moore, mr. w. s. duniway, captain william h. smallwood, the writer, and a large number of the members of the legislature. [ ] s. f. chadwick, united states representative m. c. george, ex-united states senator j. h. mitchell, united states district judge m. p. deady, hon. h. w. scott, editor of the _oregonian_, ex-governor a. c. gibbs, district-attorneys j. f. caples and t. a. mcbride, and various ex-members of the legislature. [ ] the official vote of the state was , for the amendment, and , against. [ ] _be it enacted by the legislature of the territory of washington:_ section . all female citizens of the age of twenty-one years shall be entitled to vote at all elections in the territory, subject only to such regulations as male citizens. sec. . any officer of election who shall refuse to take the vote of a woman citizen (otherwise qualified to vote), shall be liable to a fine of not less than $ nor more than $ . sec. . all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed. sec. . this act to be in force on and after its passage. [ ] the bill was introduced in the washington house by representative coply, and was supported in speeches by messrs. coply, besserer, miles, clark and stitzel, while messrs. landrum and kincaid spoke against it. the vote was: _ayes_--besserer, brooks, clark, coply, foster, goodell, hungate, kuhn, lloyd, martin, miles, shaw, stitzel and speaker ferguson-- . _noes_--barlow, brining, landrum, ping, kincaid, shoudy and young-- . _absent_--blackwell, turpin and warner-- . the bill was favorably reported in the council, november , by chairman burk of the judiciary committee. no one offered to speak on it. the vote stood: _ayes_--burk, edmiston, hale, harper, kerr, power and smith-- . _noes_--caton, collins, houghton, whitehouse and president truax-- . governor w. a. newell approved the bill november , . chapter lv. louisiana--texas--arkansas--mississippi. st. anna's asylum, managed by women--constitutional convention, --women petition--clara merrick guthrie--petition referred to committee on suffrage--a hearing granted--mrs. keating--mrs. saxon--mrs. merrick--col. john m. sandige--efforts of the women all in vain--action in --gov. mcenery--the _daily picayune_--women as members of the school-board--physiology in the schools--miss eliza rudolph--mrs. e. j. nicholson--judge merrick's digest of laws--texas--arkansas--mississippi--sarah a. dorsey. i.--louisiana. mrs. caroline e. merrick has furnished the following interesting facts from her native state, for which we feel ourselves deeply indebted: like the children of one family the states have a common resemblance, but they are various in character as in geographical outline. in louisiana the anglo-american finds himself side-by-side with inhabitants of french or spanish descent, and in many of the country parishes the african freedmen outnumber all the rest. st. anna's asylum in new orleans is controlled and managed by a board of directors composed entirely of women. among the inmates in was a german woman who had resided in the institution for many years. finding herself in ill-health and fearing the approach of the end, she confided to the ladies of the board that she had a thousand dollars in bank which she wished to bequeath to the home where she had been provided for and sheltered so long. at her earnest request a will was drawn up in accordance with her wishes, and signed by members of the board who were present as witnesses. shortly after, the woman died and her will was submitted to the proper authority for admission to probate. when the ladies were duly informed that the will was null and void, they naturally asked why, and were told that under louisiana law women were not lawful witnesses to a will. had they only called in the old darkey wood-sawyer, doing a day's work in the asylum yard, and had him affix his mark to the paper, the money would have accrued to the asylum; as it was, it went to the state. early in , when a convention to make a new state constitution[ ] had been called and was about to assemble in new orleans, mrs. merrick tried to arouse the ladies of the board, representing to them that in the controlling power they exercised over st. anna's asylum they were only children _playing_ they were a part of the people and citizens of the state, when in reality they were legally powerless to perform any free and independent act. the ladies were mortified by the position in which they found themselves but were not willing to take any step to remedy their pitiful case, not even to sign the petition which was afterwards drawn up by mrs. saxon and mrs. merrick to present to the constitution-makers to have these disabilities removed. the petition was as follows: _to the honorable president and members of the convention of louisiana, convened for the purpose of framing a new constitution:_ the undersigned, citizens of the state of louisiana, respectfully represent: that up to the present time all women, of whatever age or capacity, have been debarred from the right of representation, notwithstanding the burdensome taxes which they have paid. they have been excluded from holding any office save in cases of special tutorships in limited degree, or of administration only in specified cases. they have been debarred from being witnesses to wills or notarial acts, even when executed by their own sex. they look upon this condition of things as a grievance proper to be brought before your honorable body for consideration and relief. as a question of civilization, we look upon the enfranchisement of women as an all-important one. in wyoming, where it has been tried for ten years, the law-makers and clergy unite in declaring that this influx of women voters has done more to promote morality and order than thousands of armed men could have accomplished. should the entire franchise seem too extended a privilege, we most earnestly urge the adoption of a property qualification, and that women may be allowed a vote on school and educational matters, involving as they do the interests of women and children in a great degree. so large a proportion of the taxes of louisiana is paid by women, many of them without male representatives, that in granting consideration and relief for grievances herein complained of, the people will recognize justice and equity. to woman as well as man "taxation without representation is tyranny," she being "a person, a citizen, a freeholder, a tax-payer," the same as man, only government has never held out the same fostering, protecting hand to all alike, nor ever will, until women are directly represented. wherefore, we, your petitioners, pray that some suitable provision remedying these evils be incorporated in the constitution you are about to frame. while this petition was being circulated, favorable articles appeared from time to time in the public prints. the following, signed "fatima," the _nom de plume_ of clara merrick guthrie, appeared in the _democrat_: a well-known notary signed this petition with a flourish, remarking that "few women and not over half the men were aware of the disabilities of wives and daughters." if the convention should invest women of property with the elective franchise it would give to the respectable side of politics a large body of sensible voters which would go far toward neutralizing the evil of unlimited male suffrage. the policy in the northern states has been to demand unrestricted suffrage, but the women of louisiana may with propriety exhibit certain variations in the nature of their appeal. this subject in all its phases inspires my enthusiasm, but i dare not be as eloquent as i might, lest a messenger should be sent to me with an urgent request to address the convention next monday evening. * * * * _on dit._--other ladies beside our brave mrs. saxon are desired to give their views. now surely the convention would not ask these quiet house-mothers, who are not even remotely akin to professional agitators, to do such violence to their old-time precedents if the prospect of some reward were not encouraging and immediate. nothing could induce me to make personal application save the solemn obligation of the whole august body to accede to my timid proposal simultaneously and by acclamation. fortunately for us there are women in louisiana more sacrificing of their naturally shrinking disposition, who perhaps take the cause more seriously than your correspondent, who would make a most persuasive enrolling-officer but not so gallant a general for active service. after securing over influential names[ ] the petition was sent in to the convention and was referred to the committee on suffrage, mr. felix p. poché, chairman, now judge of the supreme court. on may , the committee invited the ladies to a conference at parlor p, st. charles hotel. mr. and mrs. saxon, colonel and mrs. john m. sandige and mrs. mollie moore davis were present. mrs. saxon spoke for an hour and replied to questions from the committee. she made a very favorable impression and was highly commended for her argument. on june the friends of the petition were notified that a hearing would be granted them at the evening session of the convention. mrs. harriette c. keating and mrs. elizabeth l. saxon had consented to speak if such a hearing were granted. col. john m. sandige, who had occupied prominent positions in the political affairs of the state, gave much encouragement and assistance. he did not hesitate to urge the importance of this movement, and the necessity that the women who were most interested should cheerfully assume their responsibility in relation to it. while mrs. saxon was known already as a fearless and able reformer, and dr. harriette c. keating as a noble representative of woman in professional life, he thought it was desirable to have a voice from the home and from society, and mrs. caroline e. merrick was solicited to come forward and endorse what her colleagues would say, in a few words at the close of the proceedings. mrs. merrick finally agreed that she should see her duty in the light in which it was presented if judge merrick, who constituted her court of last resort, should leave her entirely free to act in the case. after a consultation, to her great surprise and consternation the judge said, "you have always desired to help women--here is an opportunity; go forward and do your share in this work." the surprise could hardly have been greater if a procession of slaves twenty-five years ago had come up in force to the lordly mansion of their master with several spokesmen chosen from their ranks, for the avowed purpose of asking for their freedom. the ladies were treated with a delicate courtesy and kindness on this unusual occasion, which they can never forget. judge poché, with the tact of a true gentleman, endeavored to smooth a difficult way, reassuring the failing courage of the ladies while assisting them to mount the platform. the _daily picayune_ of june , , said: the usually prosaic and unimpressive appearance of the convention hall assumed for the occasion an entire change last evening. when the convention closed its forenoon's labors, it took a recess until half-past o'clock for the purpose of affording the female suffragists an opportunity to plead their cause before a full meeting. the scene before the convention was called to order was interesting and amusing. as the minutes rolled on the crowd of ladies commenced to pour in, and by o'clock the hall contained some fifty representatives of the gentler sex of the crescent city. every age of womanhood and every class of beauty found a representative upon the floor. about half a dozen "society girls" occupied a retired corner of the room, while a number of the notables, including mrs. myra clark gaines, took possession of the middle of the hall. promptly at o'clock president wiltz climbed to his seat and called the convention to order in a tone slightly husky from nervous excitement. secretary harris, having summoned up his spare courage, called the roll in a determined voice. of the members responded to their names. after the usual preliminaries mr. poché announced that a committee of ladies were in attendance, prepared to address the convention upon the question of woman suffrage. he then introduced mrs. dr. keating. the fair speaker had scarcely begun before it was seen that she possessed a clear, slow enunciation and perfect confidence in her ability to enforce the doctrines of the cause she was to advocate. she read from manuscript and showed no little knowledge of the rules of oratory. mrs. saxon was greeted with a burst of applause, which was gracefully acknowledged by the recipient; her address was earnest and made a deep impression. mr. robertson of st. landry then offered the following resolution, which lies over under the rules: _resolved_, that the committee on elective franchises be directed to embody in the article upon suffrage reported in this convention, a provision giving the right of suffrage to women upon the same terms as to men. after some talk the resolution was laid aside to allow another speech to be made. mrs. e. t. merrick was introduced by mr. poché, as the wife of ex-chief-justice merrick, and a shower of applause followed the appearance of the lady. she said: _mr. president and delegates of the convention:_--we have met with such unexpected kindness in the reception which you have accorded us to-night, that we find it hard to give expression to anything but thanks. when we remember the persistent and aggressive efforts which our energetic sisters of the north put forth before they could obtain a hearing before any legislative assembly, we find ourselves lost in a pleasing astonishment at the graciousness which beams upon us here from all quarters. should we even now be remanded to our places and have our petitions met with an utter refusal, we should be grieved to the heart, we should be sorely disappointed, but we never could cherish the least feeling of rebellious spite toward this convention of men, who have shown themselves so respectful and considerate toward the women of louisiana. perhaps some of the gentlemen thought we did not possess the moral courage to venture even thus far from the retirement in which we prefer to dwell; perhaps they thought we would not dare to appear in person before this formidable body and speak for our own cause. be assured that a resolute and conscientious woman can put aside her individual preferences at the call of duty, and act unselfishly for the good of others. you are our witnesses that we have not wearied you by our importunities, nor have we sought in any disingenuous manner to influence you in our favor. we are simply here in response to your own courteous invitation to explain our ideas and opinions on the great question of woman's enfranchisement. the ladies who have already addressed you have given you our arguments, and in eloquent language have made their appeal, to which you could not have been insensible. it only remains for me to give you some of my own individual views in the few words which are to conclude this interview. we assure you we are not cherishing any ambitious ideas of political honors and emoluments for women. we do not wish to become governors or legislators, nor have we any inordinate desire to obtain seats in congress. i have seen but one woman who ever expressed even a wish to be president of these united states. but we do ask with most serious earnestness that you should give us the ballot, which has been truly called the expression of allegiance and responsibility to the government. all over the world this same movement is advancing. in many countries earnest, thoughtful, large-hearted women are working day and night to elevate their sex; to secure higher education; to open new avenues for their industrious hands; trying to make women helpers to man, instead of being millstones round his neck to sink him in his life struggle. ah, if we could only infuse into your souls the courage which we, constitutionally timid as we are, now feel on this subject, you would hasten to perform this act of justice, and inaugurate the beginning of the end which all but the blind can see is surely and steadily approaching. we are willing to accept anything. we have always been in the position of beggars, as now, and cannot be choosers if we wished. we will gladly accept the franchise on any terms, provided they be wholly and entirely honorable. if you should see proper to subject us to an educational test, even of a high order, we should try to attain it; if you require a considerable property qualification, we would not complain. we would be only too grateful for any amelioration of our legal disabilities. allow me to ask, are we less prepared for the intelligent exercise of the right of suffrage than were the freedmen when it was suddenly conferred upon them? has not this right been to them a beneficial stimulant, inducing them to use exertions to promote their improvement, and has it not raised them to a superior place, above the disfranchised classes, such as the chinese, indians and women? perhaps you think only a few of us desire the ballot. if that were so, we think it would not be any sufficient reason for withholding it. in old times most of our slaves were happy and contented. under the rule of good and humane masters, they gave themselves no trouble to grasp after a freedom which was beyond their reach. so it is with us to-day. we are happy and kindly treated (as witness our reception here to-night), and in the enjoyment of the numerous privileges which our chivalrous gentlemen are so ready to accord; many of us who feel a wish for freedom, do not venture even to whisper a single word about our rights. for the last twenty-five years i have occasionally expressed a desire to vote, and it was always received as a matter of surprise, but the sort of effect produced was as different as the characters of the individuals with whom i conversed. * * * * gentlemen of the convention, we now leave our cause in your hands, and commend it to your favorable consideration. we have pointed out to you the signs of the dawning of a better day for woman, which are so plain before our eyes, and implore you to reach out your hand and help us up, that we may catch the first glimpse of its glory before it floods the world with noon-day light.[ ] col. john m. sandidge read a letter from mrs. sarah a. dorsey: june , . _mr. president and gentlemen of the convention:_--too weak from recent illness and suffering to appear personally before you by the side of the women of louisiana who are asking for the privilege and responsibility of political suffrage, i am forced to use this mode of indorsing their movement. being left by the fiat of god entirely alone in the world, with no man to represent me, having large interests in the state and no voice either in representation or taxation while hundreds of my negro lessees vote and control my life and property, i feel that i ought to say one word that may perhaps aid many other women whom fate has left equally destitute. it is doubtful whether i shall rise from my couch of pain to profit by the gift should the men of louisiana decide to give the women of the state the right which is the heritage of the anglo-saxon race--representation for taxation. but still i ask it for my sisters and for the future of the race. we women of louisiana have always been treated before the law as civil partners of our husbands. in every respect our rights have been protected. it needs but one more step to make us civilly free, and this we ask you to embody in your new constitution. many men are not opposed to the fact of female suffrage, but to its mode at present; that could be corrected, and women need not be exposed to the coarseness and strife of the polls as they are now conducted. there is no man among you who does not believe his wife or his daughter intelligently capable of taking a voice in the government. if my lessees are capable of being citizens of louisiana, it is because for thirty years of my life and for five generations of my ancestors we have interested ourselves in their civilization and in their instruction. gentlemen, we ask nothing that would unsex ourselves. we do not expect to do man's work; we can never pass the limits which nature herself has set. but we ask for justice; we ask for removal of unnatural restrictions that are contrary to the elemental spirit of the civil law; we do not ask for rights, but for permission to assume our natural responsibilities. praying that the hearts and minds of the men of louisiana may be moved toward this act of justice, i am, with profound respect, your obedient servant, sarah a. dorsey. the webster _tribune_, mr. scanland, editor, of june , , shows the sensation created in the remotest parishes of louisiana by this hearing before the convention: the ladies, it seems, are about walking up and demanding enlarged liberties. we were under the impression that women generally had about as much latitude as they wanted, but if they desire more, the _tribune_ says, in the name of gallantry if not justice, let them have all they wish. there is an element throughout the union agitating the proposition that they are entitled to vote because they are taxed. the constitution of the united states provides that no one shall be taxed without representation. representation is based on population, and, of course, the ladies are enumerated; and the "horrid men" claim that the ladies are represented through them. this a great many repudiate, and their heads are about level. when a man assumes to represent a woman, he undertakes a larger contract than he imagines--something we would not dream of attempting in a political or any other sense. the ladies who advocate female suffrage claim that as they are governed by the laws they have a right to a voice in making them. many of the ablest women of this country hold that belief, and of all our noble statesmen, not one has advanced an answer to this demand--reasonable, if it does come from women. a french essayist held that as women are a part of society, they have a right to be judges of its members, assist in making its laws, and condemn and punish transgressors. they have their influence, but that is not so effective as power. * * * * some of the brightest intellects that adorn the social circles throughout this country and state hold these views and ably advance them. among them in this state are mrs. e. l. saxon, mrs. merrick, wife of ex-chief-justice merrick, and mrs. dr. harriette keating. when our convention was discussing the suffrage question, these ladies petitioned to be heard. of course the request was allowed. last tuesday evening the above-mentioned ladies addressed the congress at length. their speeches were able, and the ideas they advanced were sound logic; but if carried into effect may prove beneficial, and may not. woman suffrage is an experiment. like everything else, we will never know its effects until after it is tried. we only wish that there were a few more men in that convention who could make as able speeches as did these ladies--notwithstanding the utopian ideas advanced. when the new constitution finally went forth, it contained, as the result of all our arguments and appeals, but one little concession: article . women twenty-one years of age and upwards, shall be eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of the state. judge i. f. marshall of catahoula parish, an accomplished gentleman and able lawyer, suggested this article, and it was presented and championed by hon. f. l. claiborne[ ] of pointe coupée. the women of louisiana have never realized any advantage from this law. all school offices are filled by appointment of the governor, and there was no serious agitation for the enforcement of this clause in the new constitution until the autumn of , when, in response to the demand that women should be appointed on the school-board of new orleans, gov. mcenery, through a correspondent of the _times-democrat_, gave his opinion as follows: if a married woman occupied an office under the school laws, in which it was necessary to bring a suit to enforce some right connected with it, she would have to get the consent of her husband to bring the suit and join him with her. there are only a few exceptional cases where the married woman can legally act independently of her husband. our code so recognizes the paramount control of the husband that when a widow, who is the tutor of her minor children, wishes to marry, and gets the consent of a family meeting to be retained in the tutorship, the code, article , says: her second husband becomes of necessity the co-tutor, and, for the administration of the property subsequently to his marriage, becomes bound _in solido_ with his wife. and so it would be in the appointment of a married woman to a public office. her husband, of necessity, would share it with her; would, in fact, be the officer. and as to unmarried women, article does not repeal any of their disabilities. it does not repeal the laws creating the essential differences between men and women. it, as i stated, simply asserts a right, and is inoperative until there is legislation to enforce it. the _daily picayune_ of november , under the head lines of "women as members of school boards," "the law and the facts in the case presented by mrs. merrick," gives the following: last thursday evening, november , a special meeting or reception was held by the women's club at their rooms on baronne street. on this occasion the club was addressed by mrs. caroline e. merrick, a good and practical-minded friend of the cause of woman. the th was the seventieth birthday of mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, and a decorated picture of the famous woman hung in the rooms. mrs. merrick read a sketch of the life of mrs. stanton, but devoted the first part of the evening to reading the following paper, the matter of which is, of the keenest interest to all thinking men and women in the state: more than eighty thousand children attend the public schools in louisiana, and of this number one-half are girls, and of the teachers employed in the public schools of new orleans, are women. it cannot be denied that these are of equal concern and importance to the state with any like number of boys and men, nor does it require any argument to prove that mothers are best qualified to superintend and look after the welfare of their own children. in view of this fact the convention of embodied the following article in the constitution of the state: article . women years of age and upward shall be eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of this state. notwithstanding the absolute right conferred by this article on women over twenty-one years of age, the chief executive of the state, with his present views, is apparently unwilling to make any appointment of women to such management without further legislation. the views of the governor on all questions are always entitled to great respect. the question is one of interpretation, and many of the best lawyers in louisiana do not hesitate to hold and declare a different view. i am told that there are in the various constitutions of the states and general government two classes of provisions, the one self-executing and absolute, and the other requiring legislative action before they can be exercised. for example of the first class, article of the constitution declares that "the supreme executive power of the state shall be vested in a chief magistrate, who shall be styled the governor of louisiana." nobody would ever undertake to say that the governor was dependent on any more legislation to carry this into effect so as to enable him to fill his office. if he were, it would then become necessary to legislate about every other article, and so the constitution would be worthless, everything being required to be done over by the legislature before the constitution could have any effect. article of the constitution is imperative. it declares that women over twenty-one years of age shall be eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of the state. can the legislature repeal or modify this mandate? of course not. could the absoluteness of this right be expressed in plainer or more energetic terms? no, indeed. we are told and have been made to understand that it is a right conferred by the constitution of the state, which cannot be defeated or enlarged, or even abridged in any way by the legislature; neither by modification, repeal, or inaction. that this article being paramount law, itself repeals all legislation inconsistent with it. the constitution, i am told, prescribes the legal and other qualifications for our judges of the courts. nobody ever thought legislative action was needed when their qualifications are according to that instrument, to enable them to take their places on the bench. article of the constitution prescribes the qualifications of voters or electors, and we are instructed that all conflicting laws on that point are annulled by the sovereign will of the people in convention assembled. in fact, good lawyers have given us innumerable examples, illustrations and decisions to this effect; and even women, who are for the most part ignorant of the laws of their state, begin to understand that they have a right to a place on the school-board for some one of their own sex here in louisiana. true, it has been said that there are other articles which are in conflict with article , but we are told the other provisions of the constitution relate to other and more general subjects, and on this very subject the framers of the constitution have in very positive and unmistakable terms declared its precise will, and it is wasting time to try to explain it away. these wise jurists do not fear to tell us further, that special laws or provisions in a constitution or statute abrogate or limit the general provisions in the same instrument. we are sorry that our governor apprehends any difficulty would arise in regard to married women being school directors. he says the husband might change his domicile and the wife would be obliged to follow him, and if bond were required she could not sign it without his consent, and finally the fact was she could not do _anything_ without the husband's consent. then "the husband would share the office with her." i have heard that it was difficult to prevent outside influences from operating upon the minds of men in office. we have certainly heard some complaints of this sort, but it seems that there would be no great danger encountered from this source. the duties which this article of the constitution permits women to perform are not generally remunerative, and would be probably more a labor of love than of reward. as to the other objections, perhaps the husband _would_ sign his wife's bond, and perhaps he would _not_ move away while she held the office. i have heard that sheriffs sometimes run away after giving bond, and people are sometimes elected to office and unable to qualify, and others disappoint the public by resigning. moreover we have ascertained the fact that a tutrix may subsequently marry, and that act does not prevent her from filling the office of tutrix, neither does the fact of being already married prevent her from discharging the duties of tutrix. but i see no harm done if the husband should become the assistant of his wife in this office. is it not manifest that the two together would have a superior official knowledge of the needs and exigencies of the girls sent to the public schools and the women who teach them daily, than the husband could possibly attain by himself? but the whole difficulty, it seems to us, might be obviated. let the governor appoint unmarried women. a woman who has been so unfortunate as to be a widow would not be objectionable. the article says: "women over twenty-one years shall be eligible" to these offices. it does not say the legislature may make them "eligible." by its own inherent force it declares them eligible. if they are really eligible, then why not have them selected and appointed? they have every requisite for the office, and as the dictionary says, are "proper to be chosen." they are "qualified to be elected." they are "legally qualified." they are eligible. it is not at all likely that the legislature will ever do the vain thing of affirming a constitutional right so explicitly given. the opposition of the executive, therefore, seems to be a bar not only to this provision being carried out, but also to the raising of any question under it for the consideration of the judiciary. it is confidently hoped and expected that he will consent to reconsider the whole question. we feel sure the governor will not intentionally be guilty of any injustice to the women of louisiana, and will not desire to withhold any benefit from them which has already been conferred by the state constitution. women all over the union rejoiced when this generous concession was granted here in louisiana. in many other states they enjoy the same, and greater privileges, and letters and inquiries have come from distant states, asking why this law has not gone into effect. we are aware that any reform changing existing conditions must move slowly, and is apt to be unpopular with men in authority; then it also antagonizes the inertia of women, who are too modest to thrust themselves forward, saying, "i am ready to serve the state"; yet they know all the time they can do good service in relation to the schools. only give them a kindly helping hand, and we feel sure that a valuable coöperating influence will be felt, of which no one has ever dreamed in the past. we leave this matter to the governor, to the citizens of louisiana, and to the fathers who take a deep interest in the welfare of their daughters as well as of their sons. our legislature passed a law requiring physiology to be taught in the public schools, while the vast majority of the teachers of the state are women, and no college in which that science is taught is open to them. in , dr. chaillé gave a course of free lectures on physiology and anatomy for the benefit of the new orleans teachers, who, while they are doing the most important-public work in training the rising generation in the rudiments of learning, are denied the advantages of the higher education that would fit them for the duties of their profession. a fitting precedent for the action of our rulers may be found in shakespeare's, "titus andronicus," in which rude men seize the king's daughter, cut out her tongue and cut off her hands, and then bid her go call for water and wash her hands. the state pharmaceutical association, formed in with members, unanimously elected miss eliza rudolph a member. miss rudolph was then the only woman in the drug business. having been refused admission to the medical college of the state university, she perfected herself in pharmacy by a course of private lectures. in she was elected corresponding secretary of the association. the _daily picayune_, in closing its half-century, gives the following of mrs. e. j. nicholson, its chief owner and manager since january, : "pearl rivers," the lady's _nom de plume_, was already well known in the republic of letters before she became, as she now is, the most eminent female journalist in the world, largely owning and successfully directing for years a great daily political journal. the fact is unique. the fame of mrs. nicholson belongs to the world of letters and her biography may be found in any dictionary of southern authors, nevertheless a history of the _picayune_ would not be complete without some notice of one who has had so much to do with its destiny. miss eliza j. poltevent is a native of hancock county, mississippi. she was born on the banks of one of the most beautiful streams in the south, pearl river. she wrote over the name of "pearl rivers," and her poems made her a conspicuous niche in the temple of southern letters. she wrote much for the _picayune_ and wrote herself into love as well as fame. she was married to col. holbrook, the proprietor of the paper, and after his death in , she succeeded to the ownership. this was a trying position for a woman. the south had not recovered from the devastation of the war, and the _picayune_ was involved in embarrassments. friends even advised her to dispose of the property and not to undertake so formidable a task as the conduct of a daily paper under existing complications. brave and true-hearted, with a profound and abiding conviction of her duty in the matter, she assumed the control of the paper. she wisely surrounded herself with able and devoted assistants, and with their help has gallantly and successfully surmounted many formidable obstacles, until she has seen the _picayune_ reëstablished on a sound and prosperous basis. mr. george nicholson had acquired a proprietorship in it, and when mrs. holbrook assumed control the firm name was e. j. holbrook & co. on june , , the interests of the two copartners were further consolidated by marriage. since then the _picayune_ has been published under the firm name of nicholson & co., and the columns daily attest the energy, enterprise and ability with which it is conducted, while its advertising patronage speaks for itself. mrs. martha r. field is a member of the editorial staff of the _picayune_. she has charge of the sunday woman's column, besides her regular column over the _nom de plume_ of catherine cole. the _times-democrat_ is owned by mrs. burke, who however leaves its management to her husband, col. burke. miss bessie bisland, under the name of b. l. r. dane, contributes to the sunday paper, and edits the "_bric-a-brac_ column" which consists of criticisms and reviews of the leading magazines. this paper boasts the most clever "society column" in the country; it is edited by mrs. jennie coldwell nixon who is now, , superintendent of the woman's department of the exposition. mrs. j. pinkney smith edits the "social melange" of the _states_. among the regular sunday contributors are miss corrinne castillanos, who buzzes as the society bee, and mrs. mollie moore davis, known as the "texas song bird." mrs. ada hilderbrand, editor of the _courier_ at gretna, did the printing for the woman's exposition. new orleans has a woman's national press association of which mrs. e. j. nicholson is president; a christian woman's exchange, mrs. r. m. wamsley, president, doing a business of $ , a year,[ ] a southern art union and woman's industrial association, with mrs. j. h. stauffer and others on the auxiliary executive committee, and a woman's club,[ ] originated by miss bessie bisland who was the president of the club for the first year, . the laws of louisiana relating to women have been given by judge e. t. merrick, a well-known legal authority and for ten years the chief-justice of the supreme court of the state: the rights of married women to their estates are probably better secured in louisiana than in any other of these united states. the laws on this subject are derived from spain. certain provinces of that kingdom were conquered and for centuries held by the visigoths, among whom, as among the franks at paris, the institution called the community of aquets and gains between husband and wife, prevailed. in spain, as in france, there were certain provinces in which the ancient roman law continued in force, and they were called the provinces of the written law. in these (called also the countries of the _dotal regime_) there was no community between the spouses of their acquisitions. both of these systems are recognized by the louisiana civil code, but if the parties marry without any marriage settlement the law implies that they have married under the _regime_ of the community. to prevent error it is proper to observe that there have been three civil codes adopted in louisiana, viz., in , and . the marriage laws are substantially the same in all, but bear different numbers in each code. the following references are to the code of . except in a very limited number of cases the husband and wife are incapable of making binding contracts with each other during the marriage. hence all settlements of property, to be binding, must be executed before marriage and in solemn form, that is, before a notary and two male witnesses having the proper qualifications. the betrothed are granted considerable liberty over the provisions of their marriage contract, as the following quotations show: art. , . in relation to property, the law only regulates the conjugal association in default of particular agreements, which the parties are at liberty to stipulate as they please, provided they be not contrary to good morals and under the modifications hereafter prescribed. art. , . husband and wife can in no case enter into any agreement or make any renunciation the object of which would be to alter the legal order of descents, either with respect to themselves, in what concerns the inheritance of their children, posterity, or with respect to their children between themselves, without prejudice to the donations _inter vivas_ or _mortis causa_, which may take place according to the formalities and in the cases determined by this code. the parties are also "prohibited from derogating from the power of the husband over the person of his wife and children which belongs to the husband as the head of the family, or from the rights guaranteed to the surviving husband or wife" (c. c., art. , ). if the parties adopt the _dotal regime_ in their marriage contract the dotal effects are (except under some circumstances) inalienable during marriage; and at the dissolution of the marriage, they are to be replaced or returned to the wife, or her heirs, and to secure this, the wife has a mortgage on her husband's lands, and a privilege on his movables, including those of the community (c. c., art. ; art. ). "the dower is given to the husband, for him to enjoy the same as long as the marriage shall last." strong as is this language, the dowry is given by the wife or her father or mother or other relations or friends, simply to support the marriage. under the _regime_ of the community, the individual property of the husband or wife, and all property either may acquire afterwards by inheritance or donations re-remain separate property. the conjugal partnership is defined by c. c., art. . "this partnership, or community, consists of the profits of all the effects of which the husband has the administration and enjoyment, either of right or in fact, of the produce of the reciprocal industry and labor of both husband and wife, and the estates which they may acquire during marriage, either by donations made jointly to them both, or by purchase, or in any other similar way, even should the purchase be in the name of one of the two, and not of both, because in that case the period of time when the purchase is made is alone attended to, and not the person who made the purchase." during the marriage the husband has the management of the community, and he can sell or exchange the same, but he cannot give away the real estate without binding his estate to recompense the wife or her heirs, for the one-half so given away. all the income of his estate must enter into the community. on the other hand the wife may at her pleasure take her own estate from the management of the husband into her own control and discretion (c. c. ). but in this contingency she must contribute to the family expenses (c. c. and ). if the affairs of the husband become embarrassed, the wife can sue the husband for a separation of property, and get a judgment against him for all indebtedness, on account of money or property used or disposed of by him, and sell him out under execution, and buy in the property herself if she sees fit. thus she stands in a more favorable position toward the community than the husband, who is bound for all its debts, for she can stand by and choose. if the community becomes prosperous, she has the absolute right, as owner, to one-half of it after payment of debts, and a right to the income of the other half until she dies, or marries a second time. by causing her claims on account of her separate or paraphernal estate to be recorded, she secures a mortgage against her husband's lands and the lands of the community. if a husband or wife dies affluent, leaving the survivor in necessitous circumstances, the latter can claim one-fourth of the estate of the deceased. this is called "the marital fourth." the wife, also, if she or the children do not possess one thousand dollars in their own right, can claim as a privilege and against the creditors, one thousand dollars, or a sum which, with her own estate, shall equal that amount. the wife cannot appear in court, or dispose of, or mortgage, or acquire real estate, without the consent of the husband, but the judge of the court of the domicil may authorize the wife to sue, or be sued. if the husband refuses to empower the wife to contract, she may cite him into court and have the property of the proposed contract settled by an order of the judge. the wife has full power to make a will without any authorization from her husband or the court. art. , . the wife, whether separated in property, by contract, or by judgment, or not separated, cannot bind herself for her husband, nor conjointly with him, for debts contracted by him before or during the marriage. art. . the husband and wife owe to each other mutual fidelity, support and assistance. art. . the wife is bound to live with her husband, and follow him wherever he chooses to reside; the husband is obliged to receive her, and furnish her with whatever is required for the convenience of life in proportion to his means and condition. it is provided that the domicil for granting divorces of such marriages as have been solemnized in louisiana, shall be in that state so that the courts of louisiana may grant divorces for causes and faults committed in foreign countries. for abandonment and other causes, a final divorce cannot be granted until one year after a decree of separation from bed and board has elapsed without a reconciliation. in other particulars the law is similar to that of the other states. [illustration: caroline e. merrick] one day in , the new orleans _delta_ had this item: "myra clark gaines argued her own case in court in this city; the only instance of a lady appearing as counsel in the courts." mrs. gaines was a remarkable woman. she carried on a suit for many years against the city of new orleans to recover property that belonged to her, and, through untold difficulties and delays, triumphed at last. she preserved her youth, beauty and vivacity until late in life. all who knew her can readily recall her bright, sparkling face, and wonderful powers of conversation. in her long experience in litigation, she became well versed in the laws regarding real estate and the right of descent. mrs. gaines was a generous woman and did not desire to rob the poor; to many such she gave a quit-claim title to the property which she had secured under her suits. in , the new orleans _republican_ had an excellent editorial fully endorsing the demand for woman's enfranchisement. in the _livingston herald_, published in ponchatoula parish, by j. o. and j. e. spencer, advocated suffrage for women. in , the secretary of the treasury rendered a decision that when a woman owns a steamboat she may be named in the papers as the master of the same. this decision, despite the opposition of solicitor raynor, received confirmation in case of mrs. miller, in , from secretary charles j. folger. ii.--texas. in the adoption of the first constitution of texas, woman had some representatives in the convention to remind the legislators of that state of her existence, and to demand that the constitution be so framed as to secure the right of suffrage alike to both sexes. on the resolution of mr. mundine, to extend suffrage to women, in the constitutional convention of texas, january, , hon. l. d. evans said: i do not favor the adoption of this measure at the present time, because the country is not yet prepared, yet it is entitled to our respectful consideration--therefore i thank the convention for allowing me the opportunity to state the ground on which the friends of woman suffrage place their advocacy, so far as i may be able under the five-minute rule. it does not comport with the dignity of a representative body engaged in forming a constitution of government to thrust aside the claim of woman to the right of suffrage,--a claim that is advocated by some of the ablest statesmen and political philosophers of europe and america, and is destined to a sure and speedy triumph. aristotle, the profoundest thinker of antiquity, in his treatise on politics, defines a citizen to be "one who enjoys a due share in the government of that country of which he is a member." if he does not enjoy this right, then he is no citizen, but a subject. every citizen, therefore, is entitled to a voice--a vote--a due share in the government of his country. i am aware that the courts and politicians in democratic america have not so defined citizenship. the reason is that politics is not yet a positive science, and they have failed to analyze this question. had they a clear conception of the constituent elements--the anatomy, so to speak, of the body politic, they would perceive that suffrage--a voice in the government--is an essential condition of citizenship. aristotle, in his treatise, which is perhaps the ablest yet given to the world, pointed out that families, not individuals, are the constituent units of a state. a family--a household--exists and is held together by natural laws, independent of the state, and an aggregation of these constitute the state. the head of the family, whoever that may be, according to its structure, is the representative in the state. all the constituent members of the family, consisting, in its most perfect form, of husband, wife, children and domestics, are subject to the authority of the head, and have no voice, no vote, no share in the government, except through their head or representative. in societies where the common law obtains, which in this respect is a transcript of the bible, the wife, like the child, is subordinated to the authority of the husband, and on principle, has no voice, no vote. on the decease of the husband, the widow becomes the head of the family, and on principle is entitled to a voice, a vote. but in countries where the civil law governs, the wife is the partner, and not the subject of her husband, and on principle ought to have her due share in the government. when the children in a family, whether male or female, attain the age fixed by law for the control of their own affairs, and do control them, they are free, independent, and on every principle are entitled to a due share in the government--to a vote. every member of society who is free and independent--capable of managing his own affairs, or making his own living, and does make it, should have the same right of choice in the selection of his political agents that he has to select his legal or business agents. but all persons, no matter from what cause, who are unable to maintain themselves, and are dependent for their support upon others, are incapable of any share in the government, and should have no voice--no vote. as soon as the principle of citizenship comes to be thoroughly understood, woman suffrage must be adopted throughout the united states, in england, and in every country where representative government exists. _the revolution_ of august , , said: we have received from loring p. haskins, esq., a delegate to the convention, the following excellent report and declaration made and signed by a majority of the committee to whom the subject of woman suffrage was referred. we need scarcely bespeak attentive reading: _report of the committee on state affairs upon female suffrage, with accompanying declaration:_ july , --introduced and ordered to be printed. committee room, austin, texas, july , . _to the hon. e. j. davis, president of the convention:_ a majority of your committee on state affairs, to whom was referred the declaration introduced by the hon. t. h. mundine of the county of burleson, to extend the right of suffrage to all citizens of the state over the age of twenty-one years, possessing the requisite qualifications for electors, have examined with much care said declaration and considered the object sought to be accomplished, and have arrived at the conclusion that said declaration ought to be a part of the organic law. it was said by george washington that the safety of republican government depends upon the virtue and intelligence of the people. this declaration is not a new theory of government for the first time proposed to be made a part of our republican institutions. the idea of extending the elective franchise to females has been discussed both in great britain and in the united states. your committee are of the opinion that the true base of republican government must ever be the wisdom and virtue of the people. in this state our system of jurisprudence is a combination of civil and spanish law, intermixed with the common law of england; and this peculiar system, just in all its parts for the preservation of the rights of married and unmarried women, is likely to be continued. the time was when woman was regarded as the mere slave of man. it was believed, in order to perpetuate the pretended divine right of kings to rule, that the mass of the people should be kept in profound ignorance and that woman was not entitled to the benefits of learning at all. it is not remarkable that as the benign principles of christianity have been promulgated, free government has steadily progressed and the divine rights of woman have been recognized. the old constitution of the republic of texas, the constitution of the state of texas of , the laws enacted for the protection of married women, the many learned decisions of the supreme courts of texas and louisiana, and other courts, clearly indicate that the march of intelligence is onward and that our advanced civilization has approximated to the period when other and more sacred rights are to be conceded. is it just that woman, who bears her reasonable portion of the burdens of government, should be denied the right of aiding in the enactment of its laws? the question of extending the freedom of the ballot to woman may well claim the attention of the law-maker, and in view of the importance of the subject a majority of your committee earnestly recommend the passage of the declaration. h. c. hunt, _chairman_, t. h. mundine, benj. watrous, wm. h. fleming, l. p. harris. a declaration. be it declared by the people of texas in convention assembled, that the following shall be a section of the constitution of the state of texas, known as section ---- of article ----: every person, without distinction of sex, who shall have arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and who shall be a citizen of the united states, or is at the time of the adoption of this constitution by the congress of the united states a citizen of the state of texas, and shall have resided in this state one year next preceding an election, and the last six months within the district, county, city or town in which he or she offers to vote, shall be an elector. the _woman's journal_ of december , , contains a letter from mrs. sarah w. hiatt, who presented a memorial to the constitutional convention. the memorial was referred to the committee on suffrage. in regard to the effect, she says: since the presentation of the memorial i have had some very interesting letters on the subject from a few of our leading men; some for, others against woman suffrage, but all treating the subject respectfully. i copy below a portion of one just received. i should like to give it entire with the writer's name, but have not his permission to do so: as you apprehended, the question of suffrage had been definitely settled in the convention before the reception of your letter. it remains as heretofore, unrestricted manhood suffrage. that all the rabble, the very _débris_ of society, should be allowed a voice in government, and yet intelligent, highly-cultivated women who are amenable to the laws of the state and who own and pay taxes on property, should be debarred from a voice in making the laws which are to affect their persons and property equally with that of the men, is to my mind simply an outrage on reason and justice. * * * the fear of ignoring the right of petition, and gallantry towards your sex on the part of a few, prevented the memorial from being summarily rejected. outside of ---- and ---- i know of no member of the convention who openly favors woman suffrage in any form. it is true there are a number of gentlemen who, in private conversation, will admit the justice of your plea, but avoid it by saying that ladies generally neither demand nor desire the right to vote. the truth is, these men (and society is full of them) have not the moral courage to do simple justice. thus you see that, so far as the action of this convention is concerned, our cause is defeated. yet i do not feel discouraged. i think there is hardly a state in the union that has such just and excellent laws concerning the property rights of women as texas. there is also great liberality of sentiment here concerning the avocations of women. but the right of women to the ballot seems to be almost a new idea to our people. i have never lived in a community where the women are more nearly abreast of the men in all the activities of life than here in this frontier settlement. in our state a woman's property, real or personal, is her own, to keep, to convey, or to bequeath. the unusual number of widows here, due to the incursions of the indians during and since the war, has made the management as well as the ownership of property by women so common a thing as to attract no notice. i might give interesting instances, but that would take time, and my point is this, that the laws which have enabled, and the circumstances which have driven women to rely upon and to exert themselves, have been educational, not only to them, but also to the community. the importance of this education to the future--who can measure it? it is true that many of them can neither read nor write, but in this the men are not in advance of them. it as often happens that the woman can read while the man cannot, as the reverse. and they are almost universally resolved that their children shall not grow up in the ignorance that has been their portion. if the women could vote, our convention would not think of submitting a constitution that did not secure to the state a liberal free school system. the legislature of , after a hard struggle, enacted a law making it compulsory on the heads of all departments to give at least one-half of the clerical positions in their respective offices to women. the action has extraordinary interest, and is regarded as a victory for the woman's rights party. mrs. jenny bland beauchamp of dennison writes: texas claims to be a woman's state, in that her laws are unusually just and lenient to women. a woman who has property at marriage can keep it. she can even claim any property that she can prove was bought with that money. the wife is entitled to half the community whether she owned any of the original stock or not. she has a life interest in the homestead; no deed of trust can be put upon it, nor can it be mortgaged. it can only be conveyed from her by actual sale with her written consent. under our latest revised statutes women have the right of suffrage, but have never exercised it; nor is the subject agitated to any great extent. three years ago, when the state university was built, it was decided that it should be coëducational, and young women are now being educated there side by side with young men. texas has many liberal men and women. it is generally remarked that the women of the state are better educated than the men. miss julia pease, a vassar graduate and daughter of the late ex-governor pease, has charge of , acres of land. she lives in the family mansion at austin with her mother, and in addition to her other duties superintends the education of the three children of her deceased sisters. mrs. rogers, the "cattle queen" of texas, inherited from her first husband a herd of , cattle. the widow managed the business, and in due time married a preacher twenty years younger than herself, who had seven children. she attends to her estate herself, rides among her cowboys on horseback, and can tell just what a steer or cow is worth at any size or age. the largest individual sheep-owner is a woman, known all over the state as the "widow cullahan." her sheep, more than , in number, wander over the ranges of uvalda and bandern counties, in the southwestern part of the state. their grade is a cross between the hardy mexican sheep and the vermont merino. they are divided into flocks of , head each, with a "bossero" and two "pastoras" in charge of each flock. at the spring and fall shearings long trains of wagons transport the "widow's" wool to the market at san antonio. texas has two female dentists. mrs. stocking is one of the most successful dental surgeons in the state. the other, miss emma tibler, went from kentucky to texas for the purpose of teaching. finding this profession full, she studied dentistry and is now a successful practitioner of cleburne. the youngest telegrapher in the world is probably hattie hutchinson, in charge of an office in texas. she is only ten years old. iii.--arkansas. under date of march, , miles l. langley writes from arkadelphia, arkansas, in regard to the efforts for equality in the constitutional convention: arkadelphia, ark., march , . susan b. anthony--_dear friend_: with a sad heart but an approving conscience, i will give you some information relative to the action of our constitutional convention on the franchise question. the new constitution--a copy of which i send you--makes no difference between men, on account of race or color and contains other excellences; but alas! it fails to guarantee to woman her god-given and well-earned rights of civil and political equality. i made a motion to insert in the constitution a section to read thus: "all citizens twenty-one years of age, who can read and write the english language, shall be eligible to the elective franchise, and be entitled to equal political and legal rights and privileges." the motion was seconded and i had the floor, but the house became so clamorous that the president could not restore order, and the meeting adjourned with the understanding that i was to occupy the floor next morning. but next morning, just as i was about to commence my speech, some of the members tried to "bully" me out of the right to speak on that question. i replied that i had been robbed, shot, and imprisoned for advocating the rights of the slaves, and that i would then and there speak in favor of the rights of women if i had to fight for the right! i then proceeded to present arguments of which i am not ashamed. i was met with ridicule, sarcasm and insult. my ablest opponent, a lawyer, acknowledged in his reply that he could not meet my argument. the motion was laid on the table. the democrats are my enemies because i assisted in emancipating the slaves. the republicans have now become my opponents, because i have made an effort to confer on the women their rights. and even the women themselves fail to sympathize with me. very respectfully, miles l. langley. the arkansas _ladies' journal_ says: they tell us that women are not fit for politics. this may be true; and as it is next to impossible to change the nature of a woman, why wouldn't it be a good idea to so change politics that it shall be fit for women? in , arkansas formed its first woman suffrage society at eureka springs through the efforts of miss phoebe couzins, mrs. lizzie d. fyler, president. the association numbers some fine speakers. the press is not in opposition, one or two papers favor the cause. misses pettigrew and sims have been elected clerks of the legislature. several other ladies were candidates for the positions, and the contest was quite exciting. mrs. simonson and miss emily thomas are members of the board of directors of a lumber company at batesville, and miss thomas is also bookkeeper of the firm. a very able report[ ] of what has been done in arkansas for the elevation of woman was presented by mrs. lizzie d. fyler at the annual washington convention in march, . iv.--mississippi. mississippi secures to a married woman her own separate estate, and enables her to contract with her husband, or others, and carry on business in her own name. she may sue her husband, or others, and be sued, and has practically most of her civil rights; but her political rights are denied as in all other states. in a law was passed by which henceforth no one can legally sell liquor in mississippi unless he can obtain the written consent of a majority of the adult citizens of both sexes resident in the township. the mississippi industrial college for women held its formal opening october , , at columbus. students had come from all parts of the state. more than had already entered. the occasion was a brilliant one. speeches were made by senator e. t. sykes, senator j. mcmcartin of claiborne county, col. j. l. power of jackson, hon. james t. harrison, governor lowry, and dr. jones. mrs. e. g. peyton of hazelhurst, to whose efforts the founding of the industrial college is largely due, was called upon, and in a few well-chosen remarks expressed the pride she felt in the state and in the college, feeling sure, she said, that mississippi's daughters were now in safe hands. miss lilian light, the eight-year-old daughter of mr. jere light of hayneville, when only five or six years old began to make figures in clay, and now ( ) has a large collection of mud cats, hogs, dogs, cows, horses, and men. the figures are declared to be not childish imitations, but remarkably acute likenesses. her best piece represents a negro praying, and is said to be very clever. miss c. f. boardman of elmore's point, two miles from biloxi, on the bock bay, has received the chief premiums awarded for oranges grown on the gulf coast outside of florida. this lady has , bearing orange trees of the choicest varieties, and has devoted her attention to the production of these and other tropical fruits, with great success. she came to the south for health a few years ago, and has not only found that, but has established for herself a pleasing and profitable industry in fruit culture. her oranges were exhibited among numerous fine competing specimens, and were chosen for high excellence. miss eliza a. dupuy for many years contributed copiously to mr. bonner's _ledger_. miss dupuy, who was descended from prominent virginia families, was in her youth a teacher. the first story written by her was produced when she was only fourteen years old. more fortunate than the majority of authors, she leaves behind her a considerable sum earned by her ever-busy pen. mrs. sarah a. dorsey was perhaps the most remarkable woman that mississippi can boast. she was the niece of mrs. warfield, the author of the "household of bouverie," who had great influence in forming her literary tastes. the new orleans monthly _review_ contains many able articles on abstruse questions from her pen. one, in the february number for , on the "origin of the species," is exceptionally able and interesting. it was read in october, , before the new orleans academy of sciences by mrs. dorsey herself. this article shows extensive reading in scientific questions. she was made corresponding member of the academy, an honor she appreciated more highly for her sex than for herself. she was a large-souled, noble woman, devoted to what she considered southern interests. she bequeathed to jefferson davis the estate, called beauvoir, on which he now resides. footnotes: [ ] emily p. collins of ponchatoula, louisiana, wrote miss anthony: "our state is to form a new constitution this spring. i feel that now if ever is the time to strike for woman's emancipation. 'we, the people' includes women as well as men, and regardless of former legislative enactments we should be allowed to vote and be voted for as delegates to the constitutional convention. if i only had some one to aid me, or had your moral courage, i would proclaim myself a candidate for the constitutional convention. the colored people ought to sustain me for i have ever been their steadfast friend, and they themselves owe their emancipation chiefly to women. they cannot elect a colored man here, but could i have their support i have personal friends enough to secure my election. the parish ought to be stumped in support of some candidate whose efforts should be pledged to the insertion of a clause in the new constitution to prohibit future legislatures making sex a qualification for voting." [ ] the following letter from mrs. saxon to mrs. minor gives the reason why she could not be present at the national convention held in st. louis: "almost entirely unaided i have gained names in five weeks. among them two presbyterian ministers, wives of three others, seven of the most prominent physicians, all of the city administrators, two distinguished judges, several lawyers and many leading business men. i have begged mrs. emily p. collins to urge upon the association to meet here next year. i feel that now and before this convention is our most important work, so i must stay and try and influence the members all in my power. i was unaware of the action i was to take here, and if i get before the convention it will not be before the morning of the th, or i would come anyway as i have been offered a free passage by both rail and river. mrs. collins was with me for a few days and will assure you of my untiring efforts in the cause here. god knows i would be willing to buy fifteen minutes before the whole convention, the day they vote on that bill, by the sacrifice of my life; for remembering the grand women i have seen sacrificed along life's path, i think from their memory a power and eloquence would spring that might win hearts of steel and force justice to women from them. i will write again in a few days and report progress. "very sincerely your friend, e. l. saxon." "_may , ._" [ ] of her speech mrs. merrick writes: "fearing that i could not be heard, i proposed to my son-in law, mr. guthrie, that he should read it for me, but mrs. saxon objected, saying, 'no matter if they do not hear a word you say! you do not wish a man to represent you at the polls; represent yourself now, if you only stand up and move your lips.' 'i will,' said i, 'you are right.'--[editors. [ ] the claibornes are a distinguished virginia family, but belong to the history of mississippi and louisiana since territorial times. mr. claiborne now regrets that he did not go farther, for he is satisfied that women may be trusted with powers that have long been withheld. he says he was led to reflect seriously on the subject by the able addresses of mrs. keating, mrs. saxon and mrs. merrick, who made a profound impression on the convention. [ ] the officers of the christian woman's exchange for , were: _president_, mrs. r. m. walmsley; _vice-presidents_, mesdames t. g. richardson, m. w. bartlett, albert baldwin, john r. juden, j. h. allen; _recording secretary_, mrs. theo. auze; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. e. j. wharton; _treasurer_, mrs. s. h. davis; _acting treasurer_, mrs. f. n. griswold; _board of managers_, mesdames s. landrum, m. c. jennings, b. d. wood, a. brittin, percy roberts, s. delgado, f. n. griswold, e. l. wood, wm. muller, e. ranlett, g. w. pritchard, l. p. wayne, t. h. holmes, j. b. wallace, albert baldwin, p. n. strong, k. fuhri, s. h. kennedy, h. j. leovy, john parker, r. m. walmsley, t. g. richardson, theo. auze, e. j. wharton, s. h. davis. m. w. bartlett, d. a. given, john r. juden, j. h. allen, fred. wing. [ ] the original members of the woman's club were: miss bessie bisland, mrs. elizabeth w. baker, miss c. farrar, mrs. j. m. ferguson, miss m. e. hagan, miss j. e. linsler, miss h. d. pickens, miss m. siebold, mrs. m. j. c. swayze, miss e. schrieves, miss m. manning, miss p. teiltebaum. [ ] see report washington convention, . chapter lv. (continued). district of columbia--maryland--delaware--kentucky--tennessee-- virginia--west virginia--north carolina--south carolina--florida-- alabama--georgia. secretary chase--women in the government departments--myrtilla miner--mrs. o'connor's tribute--district of columbia suffrage bill--the universal franchise association, --bill for a prohibitory law presented by hon. s. c. pomeroy, --a bill for equal wages for the women in the departments, introduced by hon. s. m. arnell, --in congress passed the organic act for the district confining the right of suffrage to males--in it withdrew all legislative power from the people--women in law, medicine, journalism and the charities--dental college opened to women--mary a. stuart--the clay sisters--the school of pharmacy--elizabeth avery meriwether--judge underwood--mary bayard clarke--dr. susan dimock--governor chamberlain--coffee-growing--priscilla holmes drake--alexander h. stephens. i.--district of columbia. the district covers an area of square miles, and contains a population of , . it was originally a portion of maryland, and was ceded to congress by that state for the exclusive use of the federal government. hon. salmon p. chase, secretary of the treasury under abraham lincoln, seeing that most of the gifted young men had been drafted or had enlisted in the army, introduced young women as clerks in the government departments. the experiment proved successful, and now there are about six thousand women in the various departments. mr. chase often alluded to this afterwards as one of the most important acts of his life. the war brought many bright, earnest women to washington, led thither by patriotism, ambition, or the necessity of finding some new employment. this new vital force, this purer element, infused into the society at the capitol, has been slowly introducing more liberal ideas into that community. the first specific work for woman in the district of columbia of which we find any record was that of myrtilla miner of new york, who opened a normal school for colored girls, december , . she began with six pupils in a small room in a private house, but soon had more offered than could be accommodated. through much ridicule and untold difficulties she struggled alone, but successfully, for ten years, when miss emily howland came to her aid. the heroism of this noble woman has been told by mrs. ellen o. connor in a little volume[ ] which is a beautiful tribute to the memory of miss miner. the miner normal school of washington is now a thorough and popular school for colored girls. for a brief report of what has been accomplished in the district of columbia, we are indebted to belva a. lockwood: in , the women of washington were first aroused to the consideration of the suffrage question, by the discussion of "the district of columbia suffrage bill" proposing to strike out the word "white" in order to extend the franchise to colored men. mr. cowan, a democrat from pennsylvania, offered an amendment to strike out the word "male" also, and thus enfranchise the women of the district. it was said his proposition was not made in good faith, but simply to embarrass republican legislation. however it served a good purpose for all disfranchised classes, as the amendment called out a notable debate,[ ] lasting three days, and received the votes of nine influential senators in its favor. the voting of the newly enfranchised negroes at the may election, , brought out in strong color the beauties of masculine legislation, and immediately after there was a movement among the friends of woman's enfranchisement. a meeting was called by james and julia holmes at their residence, where the "universal franchise association" was organized.[ ] as soon as their meetings, regularly held, took on a serious air, the combined power of the press was brought to bear upon them with the determination to break them up. but the meetings were continued, notwithstanding the opposition; and although most of the speeches were good, they were often interrupted with hisses and yells, and the police, when appealed to, failed to keep order, seeming rather to join hands with the mob. in order to put a check on the rabble, contrary to the spirit of the society, a fee was charged at the door. strangely enough, so great had the interest become, the crowd increased instead of lessening, and night after night union league hall was crowded, until the coffers of the association contained nearly $ , . the press of the city in the meantime had kept up a fusilade of ludicrous reports, in which the women were caricatured and misrepresented, all of which they bore with fortitude, and without any attempt at reply. the meetings continued through the year notwithstanding the cry of the timid that the cause was being injured and fair reputations blighted. june , , a deputation from the district franchise association appeared, by appointment, before the house committee of the district, to urge the passage of the bill presented in the house of representatives by hon. henry d. washburn, accompanied by a petition signed by eighty women of the district: "be it enacted, etc., that from and after the passage of this act, no person shall be debarred from voting or holding office in the district of columbia by reason of sex." mrs. josephine s. griffing began by saying that the friends of equal freedom for women in the district had thought the revision of the local government a fit time to present their claims and submit a memorial, setting forth the justice of passing the bill before the committee to remove the restrictions that forbid women to vote in the district. the movement was not wholly new, and was known by those active in the work to be approved by a large mass of women who were not prepared to express themselves openly. the enfranchisement of woman is needful to a real reconstruction. mr. wilcox read a memorial, signed by a committee of residents of the district, consisting of eleven ladies and eleven gentlemen, including mrs. griffing, mrs. e. d. e. n. southworth, miss lydia s. hall (formerly of kansas), mrs. annie denton cridge, judge a. b. olin and mrs. olin, recalling the fact that congress had freed , slaves, and enfranchised the , colored men of the district, both of which experiments had worked well, notwithstanding conservative predictions to the contrary; and showing that, while the former experiments, on a small scale comparatively, had yielded rich results, so the enfranchisement of half the adult population would produce vast good. he incidentally answered the usual arguments against suffrage, and affirmed that those who possess neither the power of wealth nor of knowledge wherewith to protect themselves, most need political power for that purpose. he remarked that the competition for votes among politicians was a tremendous educating force, and that laws would not be certain of enforcement unless those for whose benefit they were made were clothed with power to compel such enforcement. mrs. mary t. corner presented a number of points as to the laws of the district relating to women, of some of which judge welker took notes with a view to their speedy investigation by the committee. as to suffrage, she pointed out that women do not come under the head of paupers, minors, felons, rebels, idiots or aliens, and that the reasons existing for the disfranchisement of such persons do not apply to native-born, loyal women. she showed that women are not represented in the government of the district, though taxed by it, and by law cannot properly protect themselves, their children, or their property, nor hold municipal office, however fit. a wife cannot hold property in the district except by proxy. women understand their needs and condition better than men, and should be free to regulate them. the swarms of foreigners who are freely admitted to the polls know less of our institutions than the masses of our women. women have voted and held the highest offices in other countries with great success. are our women less capable than these? at the conclusion mrs. corner returned thanks to the committee for their attention; and the latter, without expressing an opinion on the matter, complimented the speakers on the ability and eloquence with which their views had been presented. it was also stated that a large number of petitions would be presented in support of the bill. the committee expressed themselves as unable, by reason of the lateness of the session and the pressure of other business, to promise an early report. the interview lasted about an hour, and was very cordial and pleasant on both sides. september , , the universal franchise association held its first annual meeting[ ] at union league hall, mrs. josephine s. griffing presiding. a letter was read from senator pomeroy, stating that he was willing to act as president of the society. in closing he said: i trust the friends will unite in one association. we have but one object in view, and should all labor together to accomplish this end, viz.: the enfranchisement of every citizen, with no partiality for race or sex. the american citizen is the only safe depository for the ballot, and the only safeguard for individual and national liberty. let us labor to realize, even in our day and time, this true type of republican government. the rights and safety of individuals and of the nation demand it. in , the executive committee passed a resolution to expend the money that had been accumulated at the meetings of the association in a series of lectures for the purpose of enlightening the public mind upon the question of equal political rights for women. among the speakers engaged were anna dickinson, mrs. stanton, miss anthony, d. r. locke (nasby), theodore tilton. from that time the women of the district were permitted to speak their minds freely. in the house of representatives, march , , mr. arnell, on leave, introduced the following bill: _a bill to do justice to the female employees of the government, and for other purposes._ be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled, that hereafter all clerks and other employes in the civil service of the united states shall be paid, irrespective of sex, with reference to the character and amount of services performed by them. sec. . and be it further enacted, that, in the employment of labor, clerical or other, in any branch of the civil service of the united states, no discrimination shall be made in favor of either sex. sec. . and be it further enacted, that where examinations of candidates for positions in the civil service of the united states are prescribed by law, or by the heads of departments, bureaus, or offices, said examinations shall be of the same character for persons of both sexes. sec. . and be it further enacted, that the designations, chief clerk, chief or head of division, chief or head of section, clerk of the fourth class, clerk of the third class, clerk of the second class, clerk of the first class, copyist, messenger, laborer, and all other designations of employes, in existing acts of congress, or in use in any branch of the civil service of the united states, shall be held, hereafter to apply to women as well as to men; and that women shall be regarded equally eligible with men to perform the duties of the afore-designated clerks and employes, and shall receive the compensation therefor prescribed by law. sec. . and be it further enacted, that this act shall not be so construed as to require the displacement of any person now employed, but shall apply to all vacancies hereafter occurring, for any cause. sec. . and be it further enacted, that all acts and parts of acts, in conflict with any of the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, expressly repealed. thousands of petitions for this bill were circulated. mrs. lockwood went to new york, and secured seven hundred signatures, visiting both of the suffrage conventions then in session in that city, the national and the american. the bill was shortly afterward passed in a modified form, and has ever since been in force in all of the government departments. in february, , congress passed the organic act for the district, making of it a territory and granting suffrage to the male members of the commonwealth. there was also granted under this bill a right to a delegate in congress. in the meetings which followed for the nomination of delegates a number of women took part. mrs. lockwood often broke the monotony with a short speech, and on one occasion only lacked one vote of an election to the general convention for the nomination of a delegate to congress. the women of the district were not permitted to vote under the organic act, but soon after the organization of its legislature, bills to provide for this were introduced into both houses. mrs. lockwood prepared an exhaustive address upon these pending bills, and was granted a hearing before both houses of the legislature, but they were finally lost. in congress withdrew the legislative power from the people of the district of columbia. it was also in that the national university law school, then principally under the control of prof. wm. b. wedgewood, organized a law class for women, in which fifteen matriculated. mrs. lockwood had been denied admission the previous year to the law class of columbia college for the reason, as given by the trustees, "that it would distract the attention of the young men." about this time a young colored woman, charlotte ray of new york, was graduated from the law class of howard university and admitted to the bar with the class. of the fifteen women who entered the national university only two completed the course, viz., lydia s. hall, and belva a. lockwood. the former never received her diploma. the latter, after an appeal to president grant, received her diploma, and was admitted to the district bar, september , . since that period emma m. gillett, marilla m. ricker, and laura deforce gordon have been admitted to the district bar, and there seems to be no longer any hindrance to such admissions. the above-named have all appeared in court, and a number of other ladies have been graduated in the district. women have also been appointed notaries public, and examiners in chancery. in the profession of medicine there has been more liberality. dr. susan a. edson and dr. caroline b. winslow have been in full practice here since the close of the war. dr. mary parsons and dr. cora m. bland and others, are practicing with marked success. last year there were fourteen women duly registered with the health department, and they all seem to be in good standing. howard university has admitted women to its medical classes for some years, and both white and colored women have availed themselves of the privilege. last year columbia college opened its doors in the medical department, with a suggestion that the classes in law and theology may soon be opened also. many women in the district within the last few years have entered into business for themselves, as they are now permitted to do under the law of , and are milliners, merchants, market-women, hucksters. in the art of nursing, which has been reduced to a science, they have free course. in , a large number of ladies tried to register in the city of washington. they marched in solid phalanx some seventy[ ] strong to the registrar's office, but were repulsed. they tried afterwards to vote, but were refused, whereupon mrs. spencer sued the inspectors, and mrs. webster sued the registrars, so testing their rights in two suits in the supreme court of the district.[ ] in jane g. swisshelm commenced the publication of a liberal sheet in the district of columbia, known as _the wasp_. this was the continuation of a paper formerly published by her in pittsburg, pa., and in st. cloud, minn., called _the visitor_. many other papers by women have been since published in the district. perhaps the most voluminous author in this country is mrs. e. d. e. n. southworth, who has written a volume for each year of her life, and is now sixty-five years of age. her authorship has been confined to romances, which have been very popular. a large proportion of the teachers of the public schools in the district are women, some of them of very marked culture. many of the most noted and successful private schools, some with collegiate courses, are conducted by women. among these, mrs. margaret harover who taught in the district during the war, is worthy of mention, also mrs. ellen m. o'connor, president of the miner school. mrs. sarah j. spencer, as associate principal of the spencerian business college whence large classes of young women have been graduated for many years past, is deservedly popular. she was at one time prominent in the woman suffrage movement, acting as corresponding secretary of the national association. she is now engaged in one of the large charity organizations of the city. many colored women who have been graduated from howard university, have become quite successful as teachers, and some have studied medicine. all of the copyists in the office of registrar of deeds are women. a goodly number are short-hand reporters for the courts, among whom miss camp, daughter of the assistant clerk, is notably skillful. the number of women who hold property in the district is large and rapidly increasing. a woman may now enter into almost any honorable profession that she chooses, and maintain her respectability. all of the professions are open to her, and the sphere of trades is rapidly widening. the progress made in this regard in the last quarter of a century amounts almost to a revolution. the first women ever admitted to the reporter's gallery of the senate and house were abigail dodge (gail hamilton), and helen m. barnard, both political writers of great power; the former as a reporter for the new york _times_, and the latter for the new york _herald_. mrs. barnard, during grant's administration, was sent as commissioner of immigration to liverpool, visiting england, ireland and scotland. returning in the steerage of an ocean steamer, she gave one of the finest reports ever made upon this question. this resulted in the passage by the legislature of new york of a bill for the better protection of emigrants on shipboard, and the appointment by the united states government of an inspector of immigration for every out-going steamer. women were first appointed as clerks in the government departments in by secretary chase, at the earnest solicitation of treasurer spinner. they were employed at temporary work at $ a month--one-half the lowest price paid to any male clerk--until they were recognized by an act of congress in which their salary was fixed at $ a year, in the general appropriation bill of july , . the men doing the same work were of four classes, receiving, respectively, $ , , $ , , $ , , $ , . treasurer spinner, in his report of october, , said: the experiment of employing females as clerks has been, so far as this office is concerned, a success. for many kinds of office-work, like the manipulation and counting of fractional currency, they excel, and in my opinion are to be preferred to males. there is, however, quite as much difference in point of ability between female clerks as there is between the several classes of male clerks, whose equals some of them are. some are able to accomplish twice as much as others, and with greater accuracy. so, too, some of them incur great risks, being responsible for making mistakes in count, and for counterfeits overlooked. such should, by every consideration of justice and fair dealing, be paid according to their merits, and the risks and liabilities they incur. and in , mr. spinner urged the committee of which mr. fessenden of maine was the chairman, to so amend the bill providing for the reorganization of the treasury department as to increase the salary of the female clerks who have the handling of money, stating that cases had occurred in which women had lost more than half their monthly pay by reason of being short in count, or of allowing counterfeit notes to pass their hands. secretary m'cullough asserted that women performed their clerical duties as creditably as men, and stated that he had three ladies who performed as much labor, and did it as well as any three male clerks receiving $ , a year. it is now a quarter of a century that women have served the government in these responsible positions, and still, with but few exceptions, they receive only the allotted $ . mrs. fitzgerald, the expert in the redemption bureau of the treasury, who has for fifteen years deciphered defaced currency, in which no man has ever yet proved her equal, receives $ , . in she subjected herself to an examination for an increase to $ , , but, failing to answer some questions foreign to her art, she was compelled to content herself with the former salary. ii.--maryland. _the revolution_ of february , , shows an effort in the direction of progress on this question in maryland. a correspondent says: notwithstanding the present ascendancy of conservatism in maryland, the progressive element is not wholly annihilated; in proof of which, we send information of the working of this leaven, as developed in an association lately organized in the city of baltimore, under the name of the "maryland equal rights society." for nearly a year past it has been in contemplation to form a society based upon the principle of equal chance to all human kind, irrespective of sex or color, through the mediumship of the elective franchise. the first public meeting of the friends of the movement was held on the afternoon of november , , at the douglass institute, at which twelve persons, white and colored, were present. some steps were taken towards organization in the framing and adopting of a constitution based upon the principle afore-mentioned; but further business was deferred in hope of securing a larger attendance at a subsequent meeting. two weeks later a second meeting was called, when the constitution was signed by fourteen persons, ten of whom were white and four colored. officers were chosen, consisting of a president, a vice-president, a secretary and a treasurer, together with eight other members to act as an executive committee. the last meeting, held january , was attended by alfred h. love and rachel love of philadelphia. to mr. love the society is indebted for many valuable suggestions as to the best means of becoming an effective co-worker in the cause of human progress. our colored friends, who have control of the douglass institute, have testified their good will toward the movement in giving the society the use of an apartment in the building, free of charge. this is the one instance in which we have met with encouragement in our own community. we have sought it in high places, among those we supposed to be friends, and found it not. it appears to be the nature of fine linen to dread the mud splashes of the pioneer's spade and pick-ax, and for silk and broadcloth to shrink from contact with the briers of an uncleared thicket; hence our sole recourse is to appeal to those only who are dressed for the service. we are conscious that we have entered upon no easy task; but, ashamed of having so long left our northern sisters to toil and endure alone in a cause which is not one of section but of humanity, we come forward at last to assume our share of the hardship, trusting that what we have lost in our tardiness may be made up in earnestness and activity. from various papers we clip the following items: at the election in baltimore, january , , there were three women who applied to be registered as voters at the third-ward registry office. their names were mrs. l. c. dundore, mrs. a. m. gardner and miss e. m. harris. their cases were held under advisement by the register.----in , a maryland young lady, miss middlebrook, raised over , heads of cabbage. on christmas, she sold in the baltimore market pounds of turkey at cents per pound.----mrs. h. b. conway of frederick county, has established a reputation as a contractor for "fills" and "cuts." she has filled several contracts in pennsylvania, been awarded a $ , job on the western maryland railroad, and now, , is engaged in the work of excavating a tract in baltimore for building-sites. miss r. muller has for several years been engaged as subscription and general correspondence clerk for the baltimore _daily american_. she was the first woman to be employed in that city on newspaper work during the present century. in the chapter on newspapers it will be seen that anna r. green established the first newspaper in the maryland colony one hundred and nineteen years ago, doing the colony printing; and that mary r. goddard not only published a paper, writing able editorials, but was also the first postmaster after the revolution. and from the following item it would seem that the first woman to claim her right to vote must be credited to maryland: at the regular meeting of the maryland historical society in baltimore, december, , hon. j. l. thomas read a paper on "margaret brent, the first woman in america to claim the right to vote." she lived at st. mary's city on the river of the same name two hundred and forty years ago, and was related to lord baltimore. she was the heir of leonard calvert, lord baltimore's brother and agent, and as such she claimed not only control of all rents, etc., of lord baltimore, but also the right to two votes in the assembly as the representative of both calvert and baltimore. the first claim the courts upheld, but the second was rejected. on march , , hon. stevenson archer made an exhaustive speech on the floor of the house of representatives, entitled, "woman suffrage not to be tolerated, although advocated by the republican candidate for vice-presidency." the speech was against senator wilson's bill to enfranchise the women of the territories. the honorable representative from maryland may have been moved to enter his protest against woman's enfranchisement by the fact that the women of his state had in convention assembled early in the same month made a public demand for their political rights: the havre de grace _republican_ says that the convention of the maryland equal rights association, held in raine's hall, baltimore, last week, was a grand success. mrs. lavina c. dundore, president of the association, presided over the convention with dignity and grace. many prominent and able champions of the cause were present and delivered eloquent and telling addresses in favor of woman's enfranchisement, which were listened to with marked attention by the large audiences in attendance. the friends of the cause in maryland feel much gratified at this exhibition of the rapidly increasing interest in the movement. meetings had been held in baltimore during the years of - , and lectures given by lucy stone, julia ward howe, susan b. anthony, and others. charlotte richmond of baltimore writes the _woman's journal_, april , : the american _journal of dental science_ makes the following statement: "the baltimore college of dental surgery, having had the honor of conferring the first degree of doctor of dental surgery in the world, has also graduated the first woman who ever received a diploma in medicine or dentistry in baltimore, in the person of miss emilie foeking of prussia, who, after attending two full courses of lectures and demonstrations, passed a very creditable final examination. miss foeking conformed to all the rules and regulations of the college during the two sessions that she was a student; no favor whatever as to requirement being asked for on her part, or extended to her by the faculty, on account of sex. she has fairly earned her degree by proficiency and earnest application. after a short time miss foeking will return to berlin, where she intends to locate. that she will succeed in establishing a large and lucrative practice, there is no doubt, as she is well qualified professionally, and is in manner so perfect a lady as to command the respect of all who know her." you will see by this extract from one of our medical journals, that a lady has been graduated from our dental college. i hope she has left the doors open, so that some of our own countrywomen may enter and acquit themselves as honorably, but without the difficulties which she has been compelled to encounter. you are aware of the proceedings of the philadelphia college in regard to female students. our baltimore dentist, for we feel proud to claim her as ours, although admitted in the college, still had all the prejudices to meet in the minds of the people, but they were too courteous and hospitable to act upon those feelings so far as to turn her from their doors. she was brave and did not surrender; not even when her sensitive woman's heart was wounded and humiliated by the little acts done heedlessly under the impression that a woman had stepped out of her sphere and was taking upon herself a vocation belonging exclusively to men. she is naturally sincere, modest and dignified. with these lady-like qualifications, together with ability and perseverance, she has won the honor and esteem of the faculty and the students. i wish that prussia could have witnessed the success of her daughter on the night of commencement--the wreaths of laurel, and the incessant applause while she was on the stage. i, for one, felt quite proud to see my city acknowledge the foreign lady-student so gracefully. she is already practicing to some extent, and in every case gives the most entire satisfaction. i trust there will be no more college doors closed against our sex, for the reason that the male students do not want us. let the professors and trustees be just. we have proved that a true lady is no disadvantage in a college with male students. i think the way is now clear for women to enter upon the dental profession. miss foeking has proved that a woman can be successful when she undertakes an honorable profession. [illustration: mary b. clay] for the facts in regard to the baltimore dental college we are indebted to the dean of the faculty: baltimore college of dental surgery, jan. , . miss susan b. anthony--_dear miss_: your letter of th of last month came safely to hand. in reply i will say that only two members of the fair sex have been graduated with us. miss emilie foeking of prussia, whose present address i do not know, and miss pauline boeck of germany, who has since died. miss foeking was graduated in , and miss boeck in . i have learned that both of these young ladies were attentive and energetic in the pursuit of their studies, and were graduated with credit to themselves. we have the "woman's medical college," from which quite a number of young women have been graduated. for information in regard to this institution i would refer you to its dean, prof. wm. d. booker, park avenue. very truly yours, r. b. winder. iii.--delaware. mary a. stuart is the active representative of the movement for woman suffrage in delaware. from year to year she has written and contributed to our national conventions in washington, and has been among the delegates on several occasions to address congressional committees. in her report she says: my father was the first man in the state senate to propose the repeal of some of our oppressive laws, and succeeded in having the law giving all real estate to the eldest male heir repealed. the law of gave a married woman the right to make a will, provided her husband gave his written consent, with the names of two respectable witnesses thereunto attached. in the law was repealed, and another act passed giving married women the right to make a will, buy property and hold it exempt from the husband's debts, but this law does not affect his tenancy by courtesy. prior to , bonds, mortgages, stocks, etc., were counted personal property, all of which went into the possession of the husband the moment the woman answered "i will," in the marriage ceremony. i worked hard to get the law passed giving the wife the right to her own separate earnings, and at last was greatly helped by the fact that a woman petitioned for a divorce, stating in her application that she was driven from her home, that she and her two children had worked hard and saved $ for a rainy day, and now her husband claimed the money. it was a case in point, and helped the members of our legislature to pass the wages bill. delaware college, the only institution of the kind in the state, was open to girls for thirteen years, but owing to a tragedy committed by the boys in hazing one another, resulting in death, the doors were thereafter closed to girls, although they were in no way directly or indirectly implicated in the outrages. when governor stockley was appealed to, he simply gave some of the old arguments against coëducation, and did not recommend, as he should have done, an appropriation at once by the state to build a similar college, with all the necessary appointments for the education of girls. we have women who are practicing physicians, and are also in the state medical boards. we have none who practice law or preach in our pulpits, and all the political offices of the state are closed to women. no notaries, bank cashiers, telegraph operators. women are still in the belief that work outside the home is a disgrace to the men of their families. in february, , mrs. stanton, miss anthony, miss couzins and mrs. lockwood, held various hearings before the legislature. mrs. lockwood read to the gentlemen article of the constitution as amended in : "any white male citizen over years of age who shall be a tax-payer, shall be eligible to vote for electors." she then showed them how readily, without any marked revolution, the word "white" had been stricken out, while the word tax-payer had virtually become a dead letter. then turning to the first paragraph of the united states revised code she cited the passage which states that in determining the meaning of statutes after february , , "words importing the masculine gender may be applied to females." * * * * at this point the chairman of the committee placed before mrs. lockwood the delaware code from which she read a similar application of the law made many years before. having laid this foundation she asserted that the women of delaware were legally entitled to vote under the laws as they are, but that to prevent all question on the subject, she would recommend a special enactment like that prepared in the bill before them. an amendment to the state constitution giving suffrage to women was presented in the house of representatives in february, , and referred to the committee on privileges and elections. it was reported adversely. the vote showed that all the members, with two[ ] exceptions, were opposed to the measure. among the friends in delaware were several liberal families, active in all the progressive movements of the day. preëminent among these was that of the noble thomas garrett, whose good words of encouragement for woman's enfranchisement may be found in the bound copies of _the revolution_ as far back as . his private letters to those of us interested in his labors of love are among our most cherished mementoes. he was a man of good judgment, broad sympathies, and unswerving integrity. iv.--kentucky. mary b. clay, daughter of cassius m. clay, sends us the following report of what has been done to change the status of women in kentucky: the earliest agitation of the suffrage question in our state arose from the advent of miss lucy stone in louisville, in , at which time she delivered three lectures in masonic hall to crowded audiences. george d. prentice gave full and friendly reports in the _courier-journal_. in later years, anna dickinson and others have lectured in our chief cities. but the first note of associated effort is that given in _the revolution_ from glendale, which says: we organized here an association with twenty members the first of october, , and now have fifty. we hope soon to have the whole of hardin county, and by the close of another year the whole of the state of kentucky, enlisted on the side of woman's rights. in the winter of hannah tracy cutler and margaret v. longley were granted a respectful hearing before our legislature at frankfort. in may, , self-appointed, i represented kentucky at the may anniversary of the national association at st. louis. in the autumn following, miss anthony, during an extended lecture tour through the state, stopped in richmond several days, and aided us in organizing a local suffrage society.[ ] letters were at once written to the leading editors asking them to publish articles on the subject. many favorable answers were received, and we have largely availed ourselves of the columns of the papers to keep up the agitation. my sister, sally clay bennett, edits a column in the richmond _register_, sister anne a column in the lexington _gazette_, and kate dunning clarke, a column in the _turf, field and farm_. mrs. clarke is also associate editor of the kentucky _state journal_. the misses moore are making a success of a daily paper at milledgeville. in may, , mrs. bennett and myself were delegates at the great national mass convention in farwell hall, chicago. in october, , the american association held its annual meeting in louisville. it was largely attended and fully and fairly reported by the press of the city. at its close, a kentucky state association was organized, with laura clay as president. in january, , the richmond and louisville clubs secured a hearing before the judiciary committee of the senate, mrs. bennett and myself representing the former, and john a. ward the latter. with the valuable aid of mrs. mary haggart of indianapolis we made a most favorable impression upon our legislators. the points in which our laws are defective and upon which our appeals and arguments were based are well indicated by the pleas of our several petitions: that women might have municipal and presidential suffrage by statute; that in marriage women might own their property as men own theirs; that women who were married might be the legal guardians of their children's property and persons as well as the father; that women should be appointed with equal responsibility and authority as assistant physicians in insane asylums, and that the appointment of all the officers in such asylums should be made by the legislature, and not by the governor, as now; that women be appointed on boards of visitors and commissioners to all asylums where women are inmates or prisoners. in , all of the clay sisters--mrs. bennet, mary, laura and anne--with mrs. haggart, again went to frankfort, and held meetings in the legislative hall, which were largely attended by the best classes of the citizens of that city, as well as by members of the legislature. for several years we have had a woman for state librarian. in fayette, one of our most aristocratic counties, lexington being its county seat, a woman was elected to the office of county clerk by a majority of over her male competitor. in two other counties women are also county clerks. each of them had served so efficiently in her husband's office, that at his death she had been elected in his place. that woman has to fight every step of her way to the recognition of her rights as a citizen equal before the law, is shown by the following despatch from frankfort, dated december , : mrs. m. c. lucas was elected by the vote of daviess county to the office of jailer, to succeed her husband, who was killed by a mob while in discharge of his duty. when she appeared before the county court to give bond for the office, the judge refused to allow her to qualify. a writ of mandamus from the circuit court was applied for to compel the court to allow her to qualify, but the motion was denied. an appeal was then taken to the court of appeals. yesterday that court affirmed the decision of the circuit court, that a woman cannot legally hold the office of county jailer. a woman in madison county acted as census-taker, and performed her duty well. she was the niece of mr. justice miller of the supreme court of the united states. gen. w. j. sanderson, internal revenue collector for the eighth district, employed two young ladies as clerks, miss brown and miss price, the former of whom is said to be his best clerk. she is the sister of mrs. smith, the circuit clerk of laurel county. the successor of general sanderson, employs his two daughters as clerks, and they receive the same pay as men who do the same work. many women in our state manage their own farms. my mother, during my father's absence as minister to russia, took his farm of , acres (he making her his attorney), paid off a large debt on the property, built an elegant house costing $ , , stocked the farm, and largely supported the family of six children, with money which she made during the war. she fed government mules, and did it so well that she would return them to camp before the time expired, in better condition than most feeders got theirs. she is now, , conducting her own farm of acres, selling several thousand dollars' worth of wheat, cattle, and sheep annually, giving her personal attention to everything, at the age of seventy. during the adventurous and perilous period of my father's life she shared his dangers, and was ever his mainstay in upholding his hands against slavery; and in that crowning point of his life, when he was mobbed in lexington, my mother sat at his bed-side, and wrote at his dictation, "go tell your secret conclave of dastardly assassins, cassius m. clay knows his rights and how to defend them." two of my sisters, laura and anne, and myself are practical farmers, each having under her immediate superintendence the workmen, both white and black, on acres. we raise corn, wheat, oats, cattle and sheep, buying and selling our own stock and produce. we took possession of the land without stock or utensils, and by our observation and experience, prudence and industry, have greatly improved the lands and stock, and annually realize a handsome income therefrom. miss laura r. white of manchester, sister of hon. john d. white, who ably advocated our cause in congress as well as in his own state, was graduated with marked honor from the michigan state university in . since that time she has studied architecture in the boston institute of technology one year, worked as draughtsman in the office of the supervisory architect of the treasury department at washington, two years, studied in the special school of architecture in paris one year, and is now, , prosecuting her studies with a liberal selection of french and english architectural works at her mountain home in kentucky. mrs. bessie white heagen, the youngest daughter of mrs. sarah a. white, was graduated with honor from the roxbury high school of boston, and from the school of pharmacy of michigan university. being denied examination and the privileges of college graduates of the college of pharmacy at louisville, where she was employed by a prominent pharmacist, she brought suit and obtained a verdict in her favor. early in , dr. j. p. barnum employed young women in his store with the expectation of being able to educate them in the college of pharmacy. but the hostility of the students to the proposed innovation, and the lack of a systematic laboratory course, caused the relinquishment of that plan and the formation of the new school. prominent gentlemen in the community assisted dr. barnum, and the louisville school of pharmacy was duly incorporated under the general laws of kentucky.[ ] though sustained by men of wealth and influence, the school met with great opposition, the state board of pharmacy refusing to register the women who were graduated from it until compelled to do so by a mandamus from the law and equity court, judge simral presiding. march , , the legislature incorporated the louisville school of pharmacy for women, and by special enactment empowered its graduates to practice their profession without registration or interference from the state board. the school confers two degrees; its full course taking three years and requiring more work than is done in other schools. so far its graduates have been representative women, and all have found responsible situations awaiting them. its faculty remains, with a few exceptions, as in the first session. dr. j. p. barnum, to whose indefatigable efforts the foundation of the school is due, is dean and professor of pharmacy and analytical chemistry; dr. t. hunt stuckey, a graduate of heidelberg university, who joined his efforts with dr. barnum at an early day, is professor of _materia medica_, toxicology and microscopy. mrs. d. n. marble, professor of general and pharmaceutical chemistry, and mrs. fountaine miller, professor of botany, were graduates of the first class. mrs. kate trimble de roode, in a recent letter says: kentucky has had school suffrage for thirty years, but as the right is not generally known or understood, few women have ever availed themselves of the privilege. the state librarian has for many years been a woman, and there are several post-mistresses also in this state. the state university has recently admitted women on equal terms to all its departments. as a general thing the young women of kentucky are better educated than the men, the latter being early put to business, while most parents desire above all things to secure to their daughters a liberal education. we have a number of women practicing medicine in the larger cities, one architect, but as yet no lawyers, although several women have taken a full course of study for that profession. the question of woman suffrage has been but little agitated in this state, although the last legislature gave a respectful hearing to several ladies on the question. the property rights of married women are in a crude state; the wife's personal property vests in the husband; the profits and rents that accrue from her real estate belong to him also. she can make no will without the assent of her husband, and if given, he can revoke it at any time before the will is probated. the wife's wages belong to her husband. she cannot sue or be sued without he joins her in the suit. the wife's dower is a life interest in a third of the husband's real estate, whereas the husband's curtesy, where there is issue of the marriage, born alive, is a life interest in all the real estate belonging to the wife at the time of her death. this is the statutory law, but the wife by obtaining a decree in chancery may possess all the rights of a _femme sole_. a bill securing more equal rights to women passed the house of the last legislature, but failed in the senate. the courtesy of kentucky men to women in general, has kept them from realizing their civil and political degradation, until, by some sudden turn in the wheel of fortune, the individual woman has felt the iron teeth of the law in her own flesh, and warned her slumbering sisterhood. we are now awaking to the fact that an aristocracy of sex in a republic is as inconsistent and odious as an aristocracy of color, and indeed far more so. v.--tennessee. we are indebted to mrs. elizabeth lisle saxon for the following: elizabeth avery meriwether is the chief representative of liberal thought in tennessee. her pen is ever ready to champion the wronged. i first came to know her when engaged in a newspaper discussion to reestablish in the public schools of memphis three young women who had been dismissed because of "holding too many of mrs. meriwether's views"--the reason actually given by the superintendent and endorsed by the board of directors. a seven month's war was carried on, ending in a triumphant reinstallment of the teachers, a new superintendent, and a new board of directors. public opinion was educated into more liberal ideas, and the _memphis appeal_, through its chivalrous editor, mr. keating, declared squarely for woman suffrage. when col. kerr introduced into the tennessee legislature a bill making divorce impossible for any cause save adultery, mrs. meriwether wrote the ablest article i ever read, in opposition, which mr. keating published in his paper, and distributed among the members of the legislature. the result was a clear vote against the bill. with mrs. lide meriwether and mrs. m. j. holmes, she publicly assailed the cross examination of women in criminal trials, either as culprits or witnesses, until the practice was broken up, and private hearings accorded. in she sent a memorial to the national democratic convention at st. louis, asking that party to declare for woman suffrage in its platform. though her appeal was not read, hundreds of copies were circulated among the members in the hope of stirring thought on the subject in the south. it provoked much sarcasm because it was signed only by mrs. meriwether and mrs. saxon. in - mrs. meriwether was one of the speakers in the series of conventions held by the national association in the western and new england states. vi.--virginia. in the winter of , immediately after the national washington convention, mrs. paulina wright davis, while spending a few days in richmond, formed the acquaintance of mrs. anna whitehead bodeker, a most earnest advocate of the ballot for women. mrs. davis held a parlor meeting in the home of mrs. bodeker, enlisting the interest of several prominent citizens of richmond, who very soon invited mrs. joslyn gage to their city to give a series of lectures. of the result of this visit we give mrs. bodeker's report as published in _the revolution_ of may, : dear revolution:--i glory in announcing a grand achievement in the great reform of the day in virginia. our energetic and heroic leader, mrs. m. joslyn gage, after giant efforts on her part, and with the aid of some strong advocates of the reform, on friday evening, may , , organized in the city of richmond a virginia state woman suffrage association. the whole proceedings i here append, for immediate publication in your columns. mrs. gage, advisory counsel for new york, in the national woman suffrage association of america, delivered a lecture upon "opportunity for woman," at bosher's hall, corner of ninth and main streets, on thursday evening. the lecture was able, earnest and eloquent, and was listened to with rapt attention by the friends of the cause present. at its conclusion, judge john c. underwood gave notice that on the following evening a meeting would be held at the united states court room (which he freely proffered for the purpose) to organize a state association, adopt a constitution, elect officers, and appoint delegates to the anniversary of the national association soon to be held in new york city. the judge remarked that, upon conversing with governor wise upon the subject, he expressed his warm sympathy with the objects of the movement save upon the question of giving women the ballot. with all the other rights claimed, he was heartily in accord; especially, he thought, should the professions be opened to women, more particularly the medical, they being the natural physicians of their sex and of children. pursuant to the above notice, a meeting was held in the united states court-room. judge john c. underwood was called to preside. previous to action on the regular business of the meeting, several articles favorable to the movement were read. miss sue l. f. smith, daughter of the late rev. dr. wm. a. smith, read very charmingly a well-written essay prepared by herself in advocacy of granting to women the full meed of powers and responsibilities now enjoyed by men. mr. william e. colman read an article entitled "clerical denunciation of woman suffrage--a defense," being a reply to a violent attack made by the rev. dr. edwards of this city, upon the adherents of the movement, in a sermon delivered by him recently. a proposed constitution for the government of the virginia state woman suffrage association was adopted; after which came the election of officers[ ] of the society. on motion of judge underwood, miss sue l. f. smith was appointed delegate to represent virginia in the national association to be held in new york city may , , the society having by resolution connected itself as an auxiliary to said national association. mrs. gage offered resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, after which she delivered a forcible address, enumerating many of the wrongs to which women are subjected in this state, dwelling particularly upon the laws depriving mothers of the right to their own children, placing the property of married women at the mercy of their husbands, and depriving the wives of all voice in the disposition of the property possessed by them before marriage. in the winter of , miss anthony was honored by an invitation from the society, and held several meetings in judge underwood's court-room. about this time appeared the following: judge underwood, having stated in a letter that after mature consideration he had come to the conclusion that the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution of the united states, together with the enforcement act of may , , have secured the right to vote to female citizens as fully as it is now exercised and enjoyed by male citizens, a test case is to be made at once in the virginia courts. as there are very few advocates of woman suffrage in virginia, some of the leaders of the movement in washington are about to move to alexandria to perfect an organization and be ready with a case when judge underwood opens court there. but mrs. bodeker, who also memorialized the general assembly, was first to make the attempt to vote. the richmond _dispatch_ describes the occasion: yesterday morning the judges of the second precinct of marshall ward, j. f. shinberger, esq., presiding, were surprised at the appearance of a lady at the polls. she wished to deposit a ballot, but as the judges declined to allow this, in view of her not having registered, she then asked to be permitted to have a paper with the following inscription placed in the ballot-box: "by the constitution of the united states, i, anne whitehead bodeker, have a right to give my vote at this election, and in vindication of it drop this note in the ballot-box, november , ." this paper was taken by the judges, and will be deposited with the ballots in the archives of the hustings court. one remarkable incident in gen. grant's administration was miss elizabeth vanlew's appointment as postmaster at richmond. she held the office eight years, notwithstanding the persistent opposition of politicians. the _ballot-box_ said: miss vanlew was postmaster in richmond under grant, introducing many reforms in the office, but through the envy of men, who were voters, she, a non-voter, lost her office, as she had lost wealth and friends from her devotion to the union during the war. now, since its close, she finds not only her former slave men permitted to make laws for her, but also those whom she opposed when they were seeking their country's life. but women of all ranks, white and colored, are awaking to their need of the ballot for self-protection. the philadelphia _press_, edited by j. w. forney, said: some covert enemies of the president and the new civil-service reform have been spreading a report, through sensational specials, that the richmond post-office is to be given to some prominent virginian of local standing as soon as miss vanlew's commission expires. if there is any post-office in the united states in which the whole nation at this time has a special interest, it is this one of richmond which the present incumbent holds, as it were, by a national right, and certainly by popular acclaim. we have not time in a brief paragraph to tell the striking story of what miss vanlew has done and what she has suffered for the country. her story will pass into standard history, however, as sadly illustrative of our times. she herself is known and loved wherever the horrors of libby and belle isle are mourned and denounced. vii.--west virginia. hon. samuel young, in a letter to _the revolution_, dated senate chamber, wheeling, west virginia, february , , writes: in , i introduced a bill in the state senate, looking to the enfranchisement of all women in west virginia, who can read the declaration of independence intelligently, and write a legible hand, and have actually paid tax the year previous to their proposing to vote. but even this guarded bill had no friends but myself. * * * i introduced a resolution during the present session of our legislature, asking congress to extend the right of suffrage to women. eight out of the twenty-two members of the senate voted for it. this is quite encouraging--advancing from one to eight in two years. at this rate of progress, we may succeed by next winter. i give the names of those who are in favor of and voted for female suffrage in the senate: drummond, doolittle, humphreys, hoke, wilson, workman, young, and farnsworth, president. the same senators voted to invite miss anna e. dickinson to lecture in the state-house during her late visit to wheeling. viii.--north carolina. we are indebted to mrs. mary bayard clarke of new berne for the following: since , when the constitution was changed, a married woman has absolute control of all the real estate she possessed before marriage or acquired by gift or devise after it, except the power to sell without the consent of her husband, who in his turn is not at liberty to sell any real estate possessed by him before marriage, or acquired after it, without the consent of his wife. should he sell any real estate without the wife's consent, in writing, she can, after his death, claim her dower of one-third in such real estate. if she owns a farm and her husband manages it, she can claim full settlements from him, he having no more rights than any other agent whom she may employ. so her property, real and personal, is her individual right, with the income therefrom. but she cannot contract a debt that is binding on her property without the consent of her husband. with his written consent, which must be registered in the office of the clerk of the county in which she resides, she may become a free-trader with all the rights of a man, her husband having no claim to her gains and not being responsible for any debt which she may contract. by giving this written consent her husband virtually places her in the position of an unmarried woman, as far as her property is concerned. in , finding that a widow had no right to appoint a guardian for her children by "letters testamentary," i, through my son, william e. clarke, who was then senator for this county in our state legislature, succeeded in getting this law so changed that she now has the same rights as a man. in cases of divorce or separation while the children are under age, it is discretionary with the judge to give the children to either parent; but public sentiment always gives them to the mother while young. as a rule the women of the south are better educated than the men, the boys being put to work while the girls are at school. the girls are not trained to work in any way, and very few, as yet, see the necessity of being regularly trained to do anything by which they may make a living except as teachers. our public-school system requires a course through the normal school for all teachers. mixed schools are not popular with us, but we have been forced into them by the public-graded-school tax, which has crushed out our private schools. i am now, and have been for the past two years, making an effort to have women on our school-boards, and a female as well as a male principal for every mixed public school, on the ground that mothers have as much right to a voice in the education of their daughters as fathers have in that of their sons. we have female teachers in our public schools but not as principals, and the pay of the women is, regardless of the quality of their work, always considerably less than that of men. our supreme court granted a license to miss tabitha a. holton to practice law, and there is no legal impediment in the way of one doing so. the same is true of the medical profession. dr. susan dimock was a north carolinian by birth and on her application for admission to the state medical society was unanimously elected a member of that body. the african methodist-episcopal conference, bishop turner presiding, ordained miss sarah a. hughes of raleigh, a bright mulatto girl, as deacon in the church. shortly after the close of the late war, my husband being then incapacitated for work by wounds received in the mexican and the civil war, and my sons under age, i applied to governor jonathan worth for the position of state librarian. though cordially acknowledging my fitness, intellectually, for the office, and admitting that my sex did not legally disqualify me to hold it, he positively refused to appoint me or any other woman to any office in his gift. public sentiment then sustained him, but it would not now do so; so many ladies of culture, refinement and social position have been, since the war, forced to work or starve, that it is now nothing remarkable to see them and their daughters doing work which twenty years ago they would have been ostracised for undertaking. in a letter to the boston _index_, published august, , the venerable mrs. elizabeth oakes smith, who is now a resident of this state, truthfully says, the women of the north can have little conception of the hindrances which their sisters of the south encounter in their efforts to accept new and progressive ideas. the other sex, in a blind sort of way, hold fast to an absolute kind of chivalry akin to that of the renowned don quixote, by which they try to hold women in the background as a kind of porcelain liable to crack and breakage unless daintily handled. women here see the spirit of the age and the need of change far more clearly than the men, and act up to this light, but with a flexible grace that disarms opposition. they see the necessity of work and are turning their attention to methods for remunerative labor, far more difficult to obtain at the south than at the north. i cordially endorse this extract. the southern man does not wish his "women folks" to be self-supporting, not because he is jealous of their rivaling him, but because he feels it is his duty to be the bread-winner. but the much sneered at "chivalry" of the south, while rendering it harder for a woman to break through old customs, most cordially and heartily sustains her when she has successfully done so. there are fewer large centers in the south than in the north, and much less attrition of mind against mind; the people are homogeneous and slower to change, and public opinion is much less fluctuating. but once let the tide of woman suffrage fairly turn, and i believe it will be irresistable and advance far more steadily and rapidly in the south than it has done in the north. let the southern women be won over and the cause will have nothing to fear from the opposition of the men. but, after twenty years' experience as a journalist, my honest opinion is that until the southern women can be made to feel the pecuniary advantages to them of suffrage, they will not lift a finger or speak a word to obtain it. in , at the march meeting of the raleigh typographical union, no. , my son, being then a member of that union, introduced and, after some hard fighting, succeeded in carrying a resolution placing women compositors on a par in every respect with men. there was not at that time a single woman compositor in the state, to my son's knowledge; there is one now in raleigh and two apprentices, who claimed and receive all the advantages that men applying for admission to the union receive. mrs. c. harris started the _south atlantic_ at wilmington. the misses bernheim and their father started a magazine in the same city called _at home and abroad_, which was afterwards moved to charlotte; both were short-lived. we have now the _southern woman_. this is the only journal ever edited and managed by a woman alone, with no man associated with or responsible for it. i have been for twenty years connected with the press of this state in one way and another, and am called the "grandmother of the north carolina press association." in i delivered an original poem before the association, and another masonic one before the board of the orphan asylum; making me, i believe, the first native north carolina woman that ever came before the public as a speaker. i was both denounced and applauded for my "brass" and "bravery." public sentiment has changed since then. mrs. marion a. williams, president of the state national bank at raleigh for several years, is probably the first woman ever elected to that responsible position in any state of this union. in louisa b. stephens was made president of the first national bank of marion, iowa; and a national bank in newbery, south carolina, honored itself by placing a woman at the head of its official board. the _north carolinian_ of january, , contained an able editorial endorsing woman suffrage, closing with: for one we say, tear down the barriers, give woman an opportunity to show her wisdom and virtue; place the ballot in her hands that she may protect herself and reform men, and ere a quarter of a century has elapsed many of the foulest blots upon the civilization of this age will have passed away. from an interesting article in the _boston advertiser_, may , , by rev. james freeman clark, concerning dr. susan dimock, one of north carolina's promising daughters, whose career was ended in the wreck of the schiller near the scilly islands, we make a few extracts: one of our eminent surgeons, dr. samuel cabot, said to me yesterday: "this community will never know what a loss it has had in dr. dimock. it was not merely her skill, though that was remarkable, considering her youth and limited experience, but also her nerve, that qualified her to become a great surgeon. i have seldom known one at once so determined and so self-possessed. skill is a quality much more easily found than this self-control that nothing can flurry. she had that in an eminent degree; and, had she lived, she would have been sure to stand, in time, among those at the head of her profession. the usual weapons of ridicule would have been impotent against a woman who had reached that supreme position which susan dimock would certainly have attained." during the war of the rebellion, miss dimock sought admission into the medical school of harvard university, preferring, if possible, to take a degree in an american college. twice she applied, and was twice refused. hearing that the university of zurich was open to women, she went there, and was received with a hospitality which the institutions of her own country did not offer. she pursued her medical studies there, and graduated with honor. a number of the "revue des deux mondes" for august, , contains an article called "les femmes à l'universitie de zurich," which speaks very favorably of the success of the women in that place. the first to take a degree as doctor of medicine was a young russian lady, in . between and five others had taken this degree, and among them miss dimock is mentioned. from the medical school at zurich, she went to that at vienna; and of her appearance there we have this record: a distinguished german physician remarked to a friend of mine residing in germany that he had always been opposed to women as physicians--but that he had met a young american lady studying at vienna, whose intelligence, modesty and devotion to her work was such as almost to convince him that he was wrong. a comparison of dates shows that this american student must have been dr. dimock. on her return to the united states dr. dimock became resident physician at "the hospital for women and children," on codman avenue, in boston. both the students of medicine and the patients became devotedly attached to her; they were fascinated by this remarkable union of tenderness, firmness and skill. the secret was in part told by what she said in one of her lectures in the training-school for nurses connected with the woman's hospital: "i wish you, of all my instructions, especially to remember this. where you go to nurse a patient, imagine that it is your own sister before you in that bed; and treat her as you would wish your own sister to be treated." while at this hospital, she was also able to carry out a principle in which she firmly believed, namely--that in a hospital the rights of every patient, poor and rich, should be sacredly regarded, and never be postponed even to the supposed interests of medical students. no student was allowed to be present at any operation, except so far as the comfort and safety of her patients rendered the student's presence desirable. her interest in the woman's hospital was very great. she was in the habit, at the beginning of each year, of writing and sealing up her wishes for the coming year. since her death, her mother has opened the envelope of january , , and found it to contain a prayer for a blessing on "my dear hospital." and now this young, strong soul so ardent in the pursuit of knowledge, so filled with a desire to help her suffering sisters, has been taken by that remorseless deep. ix.--south carolina. the first action we hear of in south carolina was a woman's right's convention in columbia, dec. , , of which the charleston _republican_ said: the chairman, miss rollin, said: "it had been so universally the custom to treat the idea of woman suffrage with ridicule and merriment that it becomes necessary in submitting the subject for earnest deliberation that we assure the gentlemen present that our claim is made honestly and seriously. we ask suffrage not as a favor, not as a privilege, but as a right based on the ground that we are human beings, and as such, entitled to all human rights. while we concede that woman's ennobling influence should be confined chiefly to home and society, we claim that public opinion has had a tendency to limit woman's sphere to too small a circle, and until woman has the right of representation this will last, and other rights will be held by an insecure tenure." mr. t. j. mackey made a forcible argument in favor of the movement. he was followed by miss hosley, who made a few brief remarks upon the subject. general moses thought woman's introduction upon the political platform would benefit us much in a moral point of view, and that they had a right to assist in making the laws that govern them as well as the sterner sex. messrs. cardozo, pioneer and rev. mr. harris followed in short speeches, endorsing the movement and wishing it success. resolutions were adopted, and officers chosen.[ ] the following letters were read: executive department, columbia, jan. , . _miss l. m. rollin_:--i have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation to be present at the preliminary organization of the association for the assertion of woman's rights in this state, and regret that the pressure of public duties precludes my indulging myself in that pleasure. be assured, however, that the cause has my warmest sympathy, and i indulge the hope that the time is not far distant when woman shall be the peer of man in political rights, as she is peerless in all others, and when she will be able to reclaim some of those privileges that are now monopolized by the sterner sex. i have the honor to be, very respectfully, etc., r. k. scott, _governor_. office of the attorney-general, columbia, feb. , . i hoped when i received your invitation to the meeting to-night of the friends of woman suffrage, that i should be able to attend in person, but at a late hour i find other duties standing in the way, and i can only say a word of approval and encouragement with my pen. the woman suffrage cause is to my mind so just and so expedient as to need little argument. to say that my mother, my sisters or my wife have less interest in good government than i have, or are less fitted by nature to understand and use the ballot than i am, is to contradict reason and fact. upon the same grounds that i defend my own right to share in the government which controls and protects me, do i now assert the right of woman to a voice in public affairs. for the same reasons that i would regard an attempt to rob me of my civil rights as tyranny, do i now protest against the continued civil inequality and thralldom of woman. i take no merit or pride to myself for such a position. i have felt and said these things during my whole life. they are to me self-evident truths; needing no more demonstration by argument than the first lines of the declaration of american independence. my claim for woman is simply this: give her a full and fair chance to act in any sphere for which she can fit herself. her sphere is as wide as man's. it has no limits except her capacity. if woman cannot perform a soldier's duty, then the army is not her sphere; if she can, it is her sphere, as much as it is man's. i value the ballot for woman chiefly because it opens to her a wide, free avenue to a complete development of all her powers. the chinese lady's shoe is nothing compared to the clamps and fetters which we americans have put upon woman's mind and soul. an impartial observer would scarcely condemn the one and approve the other. what we need now is to accustom the public to these radical truths. demand the ballot; demand woman's freedom. it is not a conflict of argument or reason, so much as a crusade against habit and prejudice. to tell the truth, i don't think there is a respectable argument in the world against woman suffrage. people think they are arguing or reasoning against it when they are in fact only repeating the prejudices in which they have been trained. with the sincerest wishes for the success of your meeting and of all your efforts for woman suffrage, i remain, yours very truly, d. h. chamberlain. the american association memorialized the legislature march , . the joint committee recommended an amendment to the constitution of the state, providing that every person, male or female, possessed of the necessary qualifications, should be entitled to vote. b. f. whittemore, h. j. maxwell, w. b. nash, g. f. mcintyre, were the committee on the part of the senate; c. d. hayne, w. j. whipper, benj. byas, b. g. yocom, f. h. frost, committee on the part of the house. in the debate in congress in , hon. alonzo j. ransier of south carolina, the civil-rights bill being under discussion, claimed that equal human rights should be extended to women as follows: and may the day be not far distant when american citizenship in civil and political rights and public privileges shall cover not only those of our sex, but those of the opposite one also; until which time the government of the united states cannot be said to rest upon the "consent of the governed," or to adequately protect them in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. miss sallie r. banks, for some years a teacher of colored schools in south carolina, has been appointed collector of internal revenue for the sumter district. x.--florida. in , the agricultural department at washington, paid a premium of $ to madame atzeroth of manatee, for the first pound of coffee ever grown out of doors in the united states. the following is from a letter to the savannah _news_, reporting a judgment rendered by a florida county judge, in a case between an old black man and his wife: ocala, fla., may , . be it known throughout all christendom that the husband is the head of the wife, and whatever is his is his'n, and whatever is hers is his'n, and come weal or woe, peace or war, the right of all property is vested in the husband, and the wife must not take anything away. the ox belongs to uncle ben, and he must keep it, and the other things, and if the old woman quits she must go empty-handed. know all that this is so by order of the judge of probate. [signed] wm. r. hillyer. though quaintly expressed, yet this decision is in line with the old common law and the statutes of many of the states in this union to-day. xi.--alabama. the women of alabama are evidently awake on the temperance question, though still apparently unprepared for suffrage. in a report of a meeting in birmingham in , the following, from a prominent editor, was read by the president: tell the admirable lady, mrs. bryce, that i would devote everything to the cause she espouses, but there's no use. let women demand the ballot, and with it they can destroy whisky, and by no other agency. there is no perfect family or state in which woman is not an active governing force. they should have the courage to assert themselves and then they can serve the country and the race. if a thunderbolt had fallen it would not have created a greater sensation. the ladies at first grew indignant and uttered protestations. when they grew calmer, the corresponding secretary was ordered to furnish the editor with the following: the ladies of the w. c. t. u. return thanks to the editor for his kindly and progressive suggestions, but, in their opinion, they are not ready to ask any political favors. whenever suffrage is granted to the women of the united states, those of alabama will be found on the right side. at huntsville lives mrs. priscilla holmes drake, whose name has stood as representative of our national association in alabama since . xii.--georgia. we give a letter from georgia's great statesman, defining his views of woman's sphere: house of representatives, washington, d. c., may , . _mrs. e. l. saxon, new orleans, la._ my dear madam:--your letter to hon. alexander h. stephens, of the d inst., came duly to hand. he requests me to thank you for it, and to say in reply that he has ever sympathized with woman in her efforts for a higher and broader sphere of intellectual and moral culture, as well as physical usefulness in life. he does not go so far as to endow woman with the ballot, or to fit her for the more masculine duties of the state. her sphere, by nature, is circumscribed within certain physical boundaries, but in all those things to which she is fitted by nature, and can enter without interference with the laws of god, he would open the doors wide to her. very respectfully yours, c. p. culver, _secretary_. footnotes: [ ] myrtilla miner; published by houghton, mifflin & co., boston and new york. [ ] see vol. ii., page . [ ] _president_, hon. samuel c. pomeroy; _vice-presidents_, josophine s. griffing, belva a. lockwood, jas. h. holmes, john h. craney; _advisory council_, mary e. o'connor, josephine s. griffing, caroline b. winslow, dr. susan a. edson, lydia s. hall, mr. and mrs. boyle, caroline b. colby, and others. [ ] the officers elected were: _president_, united states senator s. c. pomeroy; _vice-presidents_, mrs. josephine s. griffing, mrs. belva mcnall lockwood, miss stickney, thaddeus hyatt, caroline b. winslow, m. d., s. yorke at lee, mrs. josephine l. slade, prof. william j. wilson, mrs. mary olin, judge a. b. olin, mrs. c. m. e. y. christian, prof. george b. vashon, j. h. crossman, mrs. angeline s. hall, dr. c. b. purvis, mrs. dr. hathaway, bishop moore, mrs. c. a. f. stebbins, giles b. stebbins, miss emily stanton, dr. john mayhew, john r. elvana, j. c. o. whaley, charles roeser, george t. downing; _recording secretary_, george f. needham; _treasurer_, daniel breed; _board of managers_, josephine s. griffing, hamilton wilcox, dr. daniel breed, mrs. corner, geo. f. needham, mrs. lydia s. hall, j. h. crane; _corresponding secretary_, mrs. mary t. corner. letters were reported from frederick douglass, george william curtis, mrs. e. oakes smith. addresses were delivered by j. h. crossman, g. f. needham, mrs. lockwood, r. j. hinton, and mr. tibbits of virginia. dr. breed recited an original poem, entitled, "woman's pledge to freedom." [ ] the names of the women who attempted to register and vote were: jane a. archibald, clara m. archibald, mary anderson, s. w. aiken, sallie s. barrett, mary b. baumgras, florence riddle bartlett, ann m. boyle, m. w. browne, deborah b. clarke (grace greenwood's mother, eighty years of age), c. w. campbell, elizabeth t. cowperthwaite, mary t. corner, mary m. courtenay, mary a. donaldson, mary a. dennison, ruth carr dennison, l. s. doolittle, dr. susan a. edson, sarah p. edson, b. f. evans, e. w. foster, olive freeman, maggie finney, julia h. grey, josephine s. griffing, a. a. henning, susie j. hickey, calista hickey, e. m. hickey, mary hooper, ruth g. d. havens, e. e. hill, lydia s. hall, julia archibald holmes, n. m. johnson, jennie v. jewell, carrie ketchum, joanna kelly, sara j. lippincott (grace greenwood), belva a. lockwood, susie s. mcclure, a. jennie miles, augusta e. morris, m. t. middleton, savangie e. mark, a. e. newton, m. c. page, eliza ann peck, mary a. riddle, a. r. riddle, caroline risley, sarah andrews spencer, e. d. e. n. southworth, caroline a. sherman, mary s. scribner, belle smith, maria t. stoddard, ada e. spurgeon, rubina taylor, harriet p. trickham, eliza m. tibbetts, dr. caroline b. winslow, sarah e. webster (mother of dr. susan a. edson), julia a. wilbur, mrs. westfall, mary willard, amanda wall, lucy a. wheeler. [ ] for full account see vol. ii., page . [ ] david eastburn and henry swaine of new castle county. [ ] the officers were: sally clay bennett, maggie s. burnham, mrs. somers, mary b. clay. [ ] the incorporators who formed the board of regents were, the right rev. thomas u. dudley, d. d., bishop of kentucky; rev. james p. boyce, d. d., president of the baptist theological seminary; rev. e. f. perkins, rector of st. paul's church; hon. i. h. edwards, chancellor of louisville chancery court; theodore harris, president louisville banking and insurance co.; w. n. haldeman, president _courier journal_ co.; nicholas finzer, president of finzer tobacco works; samuel l. avery, president b. f. avery co.; g. h. cochran, president louisville school board; robert cochran, commissioner of chancery court; hon. charles godshaw, trustee of jury fund; dr. e. a. grant and mr. james k. lemon. the board was organized by the election of mr. theodore harris, _president_, dr. e. a. grant, _secretary_, and james k. lemon, _treasurer_. the school opened with fifteen students, and continued until june, . a lecture and practical course combined, occupy ten months of the year--lectures being given five afternoons of each week during the term. [ ] _president_, mrs. anne w. bodeker, richmond; _vice-presidents_, mrs. maria g. and judge john c. underwood, mr. and mrs. judge westal willoughby, mr. and mrs. judge lysander hill, all of alexandria; mr. r. m. manly, richmond; mrs. martha haines bennett, norfolk; mr. andrew washburne and mr. william e. coleman, richmond; _secretary_, miss sue l. f. smith, richmond; _executive committee_, rev. w. f. hemenway, mrs. andrew washburne, mrs. dr. e. h. smith, dr. and mrs. langstedt, richmond, and mrs. allen (florence percy) of manchester. [ ] _president_, gov. r. k. scott; _vice-presidents_, hon. b. f. whittemore, hon. g. f. mcintyre, gen. w. j. whipper, mrs. r. c. delarge, hon. d. h. chamberlain, mrs. a. j. ransier, and mrs. r. k. scott; _secretary_, miss k. rollin; _treasurer_, mrs. k. harris. chapter lv. (concluded). canada. we are indebted to miss phelps of st. catharines and mrs. curzon of toronto for the facts we give in regard to women's position in the dominion. miss phelps says: history tells us that when the thirteen american colonies revolted and their independence was declared there were , who adhered to the policy of king george, under the name of the united empire loyalists, some of whom came to canada, others to acadia and others wandered elsewhere. the , who sought a home in canada at once formed a government in harmony with english laws and usages. parliament was established in at york, now toronto, and during that session the first law for the protection of married women was passed. at first, if a married woman desired to dispose of her property, she was obliged to go before the courts to testify as to her willingness to do so. in a bill was passed enabling her to go before justices of the peace. this was a great convenience, for the courts were not always in session when it was imperative for her to sell. in a bill was passed to naturalize women who married native-born or naturalized subjects. in , under the old parliament of canada, the married woman's property act was passed, which in brief provides that every woman who may marry without any marriage-contract or settlement shall, after may , , notwithstanding her coverture, have, hold and enjoy all her real estate, whether belonging to her before marriage or in any way acquired afterward, free from her husband's debts and obligations contracted after may , . a married woman may also hold her personal property free from the debts and contracts of her husband, and obtain an order of protection for her own earnings and those of her minor children. she may become a stockholder of any bank, insurance company or any incorporated association, as if she were a _feme sole_, and may vote by proxy or otherwise. a married woman is liable on contracts respecting her own real estate. no married woman is liable to arrest either on mesne or final process. any superior court of law or equity or any judge of said court, or a judge of a surrogate court, or deputy, may, on hearing the petition of a mother, or minor whose father is dead, appoint her as guardian--notwithstanding the appointment of another person by the father--of the estate to which the minor is entitled, and of such sums of money as are necessary from time to time for the maintenance of the minor. in a law was passed enabling a woman to discharge a mortgage on her lands without her husband being a party to it, while a husband cannot dispose of his property without her consent. more than thirty years ago school suffrage was granted to women on the same grounds as to male electors, and they are eligible to all school offices. women have, however, been slow to avail themselves of this privilege, owing to their ignorance of the laws and their lack of interest in regard to all public measures. when they awake to their political rights they will feel a deeper responsibility in the discharge of their public duties. but the steady increase in the number of those who avail themselves of this privilege is the one encouraging indication of the growth of the suffrage movement in canada. in the municipal act was so amended as to give married women, widows and spinsters, if possessed of the necessary qualifications, the right to vote on by-laws and some other minor municipal matters. again, in , the act was still further amended, extending the right to vote at municipal elections to widows and unmarried women on all matters. in toronto, january , , the women polled a large vote, resulting in the election of the candidate pledged to reform. but it must be remembered that this progressive legislation belongs only to the province of ontario. mrs. curzon writes: in the year dr. emily h. stowe--graduated in new york--settled in toronto for the practice of her profession. thoroughly imbued with the principles roughly summed up in the term "woman's rights," and finding that her native canada was not awake to the importance of the subject, she lectured in the principal towns of ontario on "woman's sphere and woman in medicine." by reason of the agitation caused by these lectures a woman's literary club[ ] was organized in toronto with dr. stowe, president, and miss helen archibald, secretary. the triumphs scored through the efforts of this club were the admission of women to the university college and school of medicine of toronto, queen's university and the royal medical school of kingston, and the founding of a medical school for women in each city. when the municipal franchise was granted to women the club decided to come out boldly as a suffrage organization. accordingly by resolution the toronto woman's literary club was dissolved and the canadian woman suffrage association[ ] formed, march , . mcgill university at montreal has an annex for women founded through the munificence of one of the merchants of that city.----dalhousie college, halifax, admits women on the same footing as men. the toronto _mail_ says it is only a question of time when all canadian colleges will do the same thing.----in the provincial legislature of nova scotia gave duly qualified women the right to vote, and they exercised it very generally the following year.----in new brunswick the old laws and prejudices remain, but woman suffrage has its friends and advocates in mrs. e. w. fisher and mr. and mrs. w. frank hathaway of st. johns.----in the mount allison methodist college at sackville, n. b., conferred the degree of m. a. on miss harriet stewart. this is the first instance of an educational institution in the dominion conferring such an honor upon a lady. footnotes: [ ] _the ballot-box_ in said: "_the citizen_ of toronto, ont., has established a 'ladies' column' under the auspices of the toronto woman's literary club, the first ladies' club ever formed in canada. this club has been in existence four years. _the citizen_ is said to be the first canadian paper devoted, even in part, to woman's interest. heading this change 'important notice,' it says: 'we have great pleasure in announcing that we have made an arrangement with the toronto woman's literary club to occupy an important space in our columns, for the advance of moral, social, educational and family matters affecting woman generally. mrs. s. a. curzon has charge of this column as associate editor.' the club in a stirring salutatory defines its work and objects. it is the intention to give, each week, a _résumé_ of the current topics concerning women, education, the franchises, the legal abilities and disabilities of women, etc., hoping to arouse a national sentiment among canadian women and intelligence upon these important subjects. this appeal is signed by mrs. mcewen, the president, and emily h. stowe, mrs. w. j. mackenzie, mrs. w. b. hamilton and mrs. s. a. curzon, the executive committee." [ ] the officers were: _president_, mrs. donald mcewen; _vice-presidents_, mrs. curzon, mrs. e. h. stowe, m. d., captain w. f. mcmaster, john hallam, esq.; _treasurer_, mrs. w. b. hamilton; _secretary_, miss j. foulds; _executive committee_, mrs. mckenzie, mrs. s. mcmaster, mrs. riches, mrs. miller, miss hamilton, miss mcmaster, miss alexander, william houston, j. l. foulds, p. mcintyre, phillips thompson, thomas bengough. [illustration: mentia taylor] chapter lvi. great britain. by caroline ashurst biggs. women send members to parliament--sidney smith, sir robert peel, richard cobden--the ladies of oldham--jeremy bentham--anne knight--northern reform society, --mrs. matilda biggs--unmarried women and widows petition parliament--associations formed in london, manchester, edinburgh, --john stuart mill in parliament--seventy-three votes for his bill--john bright's vote--women register and vote--lord-chief-justice of england declares their constitutional right--the courts give adverse decisions--jacob bright secures the municipal franchise--first public meeting--division on jacob bright's bill to remove political disabilities--mr. gladstone's speech--work of - --fourth vote on the suffrage bill--jacob bright fails of reëlection--efforts of mr. forsyth--memorial of the national society--some account of the workers--vote of the new parliament, --organized opposition--diminished adverse vote of --mr. courtney's resolution--letters--great demonstrations at manchester--london--bristol--nottingham-- birmingham--sheffield--glasgow--victory in the isle of man--passage of municipal franchise bill for scotland--mr. mason's resolution-- reduction of adverse majority to --conference at leeds--mr. woodall's amendment to reform bill of --meeting at edinburgh-- other meetings--estimated number of women householders--circulars to members of parliament--debate on the amendment--resolutions of the society--further debate--defeat of the amendment--meeting at st. james hall--conclusion. in writing a history of the woman suffrage movement, it is difficult to say where one should begin, for although the organized agitation which arose when john stuart mill first brought forward his proposal in parliament dates back only eighteen years, the foundations for this demand were laid with the very earliest parliamentary institutions in england. as a nation we are fond of working by precedents, and it is a favorite saying among lawyers that modern english law began with henry iii. in earlier saxon times women who were freeholders of lands or burgesses in towns had the same electoral rights as men. we have records of the reigns of mary and elizabeth, showing that ladies of the manse, in their own right, sent members to parliament. down to the time of the civil wars women were accustomed to share in the election of "parliament men." in , some women voted in an election for the county of suffolk, sir simonds d'ewes being high-sheriff: who, as soon as he had notice thereof, sent to forbid the same, conceiving it a matter verie unworthy of anie gentleman, and most dishonourable in such an election to make use of their voices, although in law they might have been allowed. the spirit of the puritans was not favorable to woman's equality; but, though disused, the right was never absolutely taken away by law. in a celebrated trial, olive _vs._ ingram (reign of george ii.) the chief-justice gave it as his opinion that "a person paying scot and lot," and therefore qualified to vote, was a description which included women; and all the writs of election down to the time of william iv. were made to "persons" who were freeholders. however, for all purposes of political life this right was as good as dead, being absolutely forgotten. but still the local franchises remained. we have no data to determine whether these were as completely neglected as the parliamentary franchise. parishioners voted for overseers of the poor and for other local boards; and women were never legally disqualified from voting in these elections. the lowest period in the condition of women appears to have been reached at the end of the last century, though they were not then indifferent to politics. "you cannot," says miss edgeworth's lady davenant, "satisfy yourself with the common namby-pamby phrase, 'ladies have nothing to do with politics.' * * * female influence must exist on political subjects as well as on all others; but this influence should always be domestic not public; the customs of society have so ruled it." this sentence exactly represented ordinary english feeling. it was never considered derogatory to an english lady to take an active part in elections, provided she did so for some member of her family; but of direct responsibility she had none. in the ferment of opinion which preceded the great reform bill, woman's claim to participate in it was never heard. the new franchises which were then for the first time created applied exclusively to _male_ persons, but in the old franchises continuing in force, the word "person" alone is strictly used. mr. sidney smith said: in reserving and keeping alive the qualifications in existence before those itself created, this statute falls back exactly to the accustomed phraseology of the earlier acts. whenever it confers a new right it restricts it to every male person. whenever it perpetuates existing franchises, it continues them to every person, leaving the word "male" out on system. this may have been little more than an oversight, or it may have been that respect for precedent which used to be an inherent quality in english statesmen. but it is curious that the first petition ever, to our knowledge, presented for women's suffrage to the house of commons should date from this same year. it was presented on august , , and is the worthy predecessor of many thousands in later times. hansard thus describes it: mr. hunt said he had a petition to present which might be a subject of mirth to some honorable gentlemen, but which was one deserving of consideration. it came from a lady of rank and fortune, mary smith of stanmore, in the county of york. the petition stated that she paid taxes, and therefore did not see why she should not have a share in the election of a representative; she also stated that women were liable to all the penalties of the law, even death, and ought to have a voice in the fixing of them; but so far from this, on their trials both judges and jurors were of the opposite sex. she could see no good reason for the exclusion of women from political rights while the highest office of the state, that of the crown, was open to the inheritance of females; and, so we understood, the petitioner expressed her indignation against those vile wretches who would not marry, and yet would exclude females from a share in the legislation. the prayer of the petition was that every unmarried female, possessing the necessary pecuniary qualifications, should be entitled to vote for members of parliament. the following year sir robert peel in opposing vote by ballot said: the theoretical arguments in favor of woman suffrage were at least as strong as those in favor of vote by ballot. there were arguments in favor of extending the franchise to women to which it was no easy matter to find a logical answer. other and more important duties were entrusted to women. women were allowed to hold property, to vote on many occasions in right of that property; nay, a woman might inherit the throne and perform all the functions of the first office of the state. why should they not vote for a member of parliament? but sir robert peel evidently had no idea that a time would come when women would ask this question in downright seriousness. meanwhile the preference for the words "male person" in the new enactments still continued. it was employed in the municipal corporation reform act, ; and in the irish poor-law act of , women, as well as clergymen, were expressly excluded from election as poor-law guardians. the repeal of the corn-laws brought the political work of women to the front; they formed local committees, collected funds and attended meetings. in a speech on free-trade, delivered in covent garden theater january , , richard cobden said: there are many ladies present, i am happy to say; now, it is a very anomalous fact that they cannot vote themselves, and yet that they have a power of conferring votes upon other people. i wish they had the franchise, for they would often make much better use of it than their husbands. again in , in supporting a motion of mr. joseph hume in the house of commons to the effect that the elective franchise should be extended to all householders, mr. cobden said: a gentleman asked me to support universal suffrage on the ground of principle, and i said to him, if it is a principle that a man should have a vote because he pays taxes, why should not a widow who pays taxes and is liable to serve as church-warden and overseer, have a vote for members of parliament? the gentleman replied that he agreed with me. in , mr. w. j. fox, member for oldham, in acknowledging the presentation to him by the ladies of oldham of a signet-ring bearing the inscription, "education, the birthright of all," spoke strongly in favor of women having a definite share in political life: if women have nothing to do with politics, honest men ought to have nothing to do with politics. they keep us pure, simple, just, earnest, in our exertions in politics and public life. they have to do with it, because while the portion of man may be by the rougher labors of the head and hands to work out many of the great results of life, the peculiar function of woman is to spread grace and softness, truth, beauty, benignity over all. nor is woman confined to this. in fact i wish that her direct as well as indirect influence were still larger than it is in the sphere of politics. why, we trust a woman with the sceptre of the realm, consider her adequate to make peers in the state and bishops in the church; surely she must be adequate to send her representatives to the lower house. i know the time may not have come for mooting a question of this sort; but i know the time will come, and that woman will be something more than a mere adjective to man in political matters. she will become a substantive also. and why not? other speakers and writers brought forward the same point. jeremy bentham declared he could find no reasons for the exclusion of women, though he laid no stress on the matter; herbert spencer in "social statics" ( ), mr. thomas hare in his book on "representation," and mr. mill in "representative government," all discussed it. in mrs. hugo reid published an excellent volume, "a plea for woman," in which she maintained that "there is no good ground for the assumption that the possession and exercise of political privileges are incompatible with home duties." in a strong article appeared in the _westminster review_, written by mrs. margaret mylne, a scotch lady still living. mrs. stuart mill's admirably comprehensive article appeared in the same review in .[ ] in , also, col. t. perronet thompson, the well-known anti-corn-law advocate, wrote: whenever the popular party can agree upon and bring forward any plan which shall include the equal voting of women, they will not only obtain an alliance of which most men know the importance, but they will relieve the theory of universal suffrage from the stigma its enemies never fail to draw upon it, of making its first step a wholesale disqualification of half the universe concerned. among other writers and speakers on the subject, we must also enumerate anne knight, an earnest warm-hearted quaker lady. she sometimes lectured upon it, and many of her letters written to mrs. elizabeth pease nichol of edinburgh, lord brougham, and others, are still preserved, in which she eagerly advocates the admission of women to the suffrage. she assisted in founding the sheffield female political association. on february , , this association held a meeting at the democratic temperance hotel, sheffield, and unanimously adopted an address, which was the first manifesto dealing with the suffrage ever formulated by a meeting of women in england: address of the sheffield political association to the women of england--_beloved sisters_: we, the women of the democracy of sheffield, beg the indulgence of addressing you at this important juncture. we have been observers for a number of years of the various plans and systems of organization which have been laid down for the better government and guidance of democracy, and we are brought to the conclusion that women might with the strictest propriety be included in the proclamation of the people's charter; for we are the majority of the nation, and it is our birth-right, equally with our brother, to vote for the man who is to sway our political destiny, to impose the taxes which we are compelled to pay, to make the laws which we with others must observe; and heartily should we rejoice to see the women of england uniting for the purpose of demanding this great right of humanity, feeling assured that were women thus comprehended, they would be the greatest auxiliaries of right against might. for what would not the patient, energetic mind of woman accomplish, when once resolved? the brave and heroic deeds which history records are our testimony that no danger is too great, no struggle too arduous for her to encounter; thus confirming our convictions that woman's coöperation is greatly needed for the accomplishment of our political well-being. but there are some who would say: "would you have woman enjoy all the political rights of men?" to this we emphatically answer: yes! for does she not toil early and late in the factory, and in every department of life subject to the despotism of men? and we ask in the name of justice, must we continue ever the silent and servile victims of this injustice? perform all the drudgery of his political societies and never possess a single political right? is the oppression to last forever? we, the women of the democracy of sheffield, answer, no! we put forth this earnest appeal to our sisters of england to join hand and heart with us in this noble and just cause, to the exposing and eradicating of such a state of things. let us shake off our apathy and raise our voices for right and liberty, till justice in all its fulness is conceded to us. this we say to all who are contending for liberty, for what is liberty if the claims of women be disregarded? our special object will be the entire political enfranchisement of our own sex; and we conjure you, our sisters of england, to aid us in accomplishing this holy work. we remain with heartfelt respect, your friends.[ ] at the end of there was established in newcastle-on-tyne an association called the northern reform society, which had universal suffrage for its object, and it expressly invited the contributions of women. letters were written by matilda ashurst biggs, and afterwards by two or three women in different parts of the country, offering to become members. in acknowledging these letters, the secretary stated that the northern reform union only contemplated the extension of the franchise to men, although he admitted that many of its leading members were individually in favor of "woman suffrage" but they believed that by asking for manhood suffrage, they were advancing a step towards universal franchise. he added. "the society will be very glad of women's subscriptions, and trusts that they will use their best efforts to promote its extension." undoubtedly, there has never been any reluctance to accept the subscriptions of women towards promoting the objects of men. in commenting upon this letter, mrs. biggs[ ] said in the _newcastle guardian_, february , : i have never given my rights to be merged in those of any other person, and i feel it an injustice that i, who am equally taxed with men, should be denied a voice in making the laws which affect and dispose of my property, and made to support a state wherein i am not recognized as a citizen. i consider that a tyranny which renders me responsible to laws in the making of which i am not consulted. the northern reform society, which "takes its stand upon justice," should claim for us at least that we be exempted from the duties, it we are to be denied the rights belonging to citizens. these books, speeches and letters though scattered and unconnected, slowly prepared the ground for the organized agitation. another reform bill grew into preparation. men's thoughts were turned again towards the question of representation, and every word spoken on behalf of the enfranchisement of women assumed double force as it drew near to a political issue. the enfranchisement of women advanced from a question of philosophical speculation to actual politics in the election of john stuart mill member of parliament for westminster in . in his election address, mr. mill, as previously in his work on representative government, openly avowed this article of political faith. nevertheless, the first speech of which we have record in the house of commons plainly vindicating the right of women to the vote, was that of a man who differed from mr. mill in every other feature of his political life and creed--mr. disraeli. he used almost the same form of argument as sir robert peel had done thirty years before, but unlike the former statesman he backed it up with his vote and personal influence for many succeeding years. it was in that he spoke these words, long and gratefully remembered by the women of the country: in a country governed by a woman--where you allow woman to form part of the estate of the realm--peeresses in their own right for example--where you allow a woman not only to hold land, but to be a lady of the manor and hold legal courts--where a woman by law may be a church-warden and overseer of the poor,--i do not see, where she has so much to do with the state and church, on what reasons, if you come to right, she has not a right to vote. these words from disraeli were the spark that fired the train. in answer to a request from miss jessie boucherett, mrs. bodichon and miss bessie r. parkes, mr. mill replied that if they could find a hundred women who would sign a petition for the franchise, he would present it to the house of commons. a committee was immediately formed in london, and the petition was circulated. in two or three weeks it had received , signatures. among these were many who in after years took a prominent part, not only in suffrage, but in other movements for the elevation of women. the petition was presented by mr. mill in may, , and was received with laughter. he then gave notice of a motion to introduce into the reform bill a provision to the same effect. the committee[ ] immediately began to circulate petitions and pamphlets. two of these were by mrs. bodichon, "reasons for, and objections against the enfranchisement of women," being the substance of a paper she had read at the social science congress, in october, . we give the text of the petition, as it differed somewhat from those circulated in after years: _to the honorable, the commons of the united kingdom of great britain and ireland, in parliament assembled:_ the humble petition of the undersigned,--showeth, that your petitioners fulfill the conditions of property or rental prescribed by law as the qualification of the electoral franchise, and exercise in their own names the rights pertaining to such conditions; that the principles in which the government of the united kingdom is based, imply the representation of all classes and interests in the state; that the reasons alleged for withholding the franchise from certain classes of her majesty's subjects do not apply to your petitioners. your petitioners therefore humbly pray your honorable house to grant to such persons as fulfill all the conditions which entitle to a vote in the election of members of parliament, excepting only that of sex, the privilege of taking part in the choice of fit persons to represent the people in your honorable house. this form of petition was only signed by unmarried women and widows of full age, holding the legal qualification for voting in either county or borough, but there were other forms for other classes of persons. on march , the right hon. h. a. bruce presented a petition from , persons, mostly women. mr. mill, in april, presented one with , names collected by the manchester committee, and the right hon. russell gurney one signed by , qualified women, _i. e._, free-holders and householders who would have had the vote had they been men. in all , were counted in the parliamentary report this session; among these were many clergymen, barristers, physicians and fellows of colleges. while we are on the subject of petitions we may as well briefly glance at what was done in this branch of work during succeeding years.[ ] no better method could be found of testing public opinion, or of affording scope for quiet, intelligent agitation. many friends could help by circulating petitions, distributing literature at the same time and arguing away objections. in there were presented petitions with nearly , signatures. one of them, headed by mrs. somerville and florence nightingale, contained , names, and was a heavy but delightful burden which mr. mill could hardly carry to the table. this petition excited great attention. during all these years no petitions were presented against granting the suffrage to women. these numbers were undoubtedly a surprise to many members of parliament who were inclined to look upon woman suffrage as an "impracticable fad," "the fantastic crochet of a few shrieking sisters." but the collection and arrangement of the signatures took up incalculable time, and after a few years this method of agitation was discarded to a great extent in the large political centres. friends became wearied out with the toilsome process of year by year collecting signatures, which when presented were silently and indifferently dropped into the bag under the table of the house of commons. but during the early days of the movement these petitions, signed by all classes of men and women, were invaluable in arousing interest in our movement. in , for the better prosecution of the work, instead of one committee embracing the whole of england, separate associations were formed in london, manchester and edinburgh. the london committee consisted of ladies only, miss frances power cobbe, mrs. fawcett, miss hampson, miss hare, mrs. lucas, mrs. stansfeld, with mrs. taylor as secretary. in the manchester committee mr. jacob bright, m. p., at once took up the position of leader and advocate which he afterwards so long and nobly maintained in the house of commons. miss becker was appointed secretary. the edinburgh committee elected mrs. mclaren[ ] for their president. at a special general meeting, november , , it was resolved that these three societies should form one national society, thus securing the advantages of coöperation while maintaining freedom of action. the same rule applied to societies in birmingham, bristol and other towns. to return to the debate in the house of commons on may , on clause of the representation of the people bill. mr. mill moved to leave out the word "man" and insert the word "person." his speech has been too long before the public to need quotation; it is a model of inductive reasoning and masterly eloquence. the debate which followed was very unequal in character, but the division was gratifying, for he received votes (including pairs, ); voted against him. mr. mill wrote afterwards to a friend: we are all delighted at the number of our minority, which is far greater than anybody expected the first time, and would have been greater still had not many members quitted the house, with or without pairing, in the expectation that the subject would not come on. but the greatest triumph of all was john bright's vote. at the election for manchester, held near the end of (when mr. jacob bright was elected), lily maxwell, whose name had been accidentally left on the parliamentary register, recorded her vote. no objection was taken to it by the returning officer, or by the agents of either candidate. the _times_ devoted a leading article to it. the circumstance was of no legal value, but it was useful to show that a woman could go through the process of recording a vote in a parliamentary election even before the ballot act was passed. the idea gained ground that by the new reform act the right to vote had been secured to women. the reform act of , sec. , declares that: every man shall in and after the year be entitled to be registered as a voter, and when registered, to vote for a member to serve in parliament. in the substitution of the word "man" for that of "male person" in the reform act of , a great difference was already discernable, but this difference was more important when taken into conjunction with what was popularly known as "lord romilly's act," an act for shortening the language used in acts of parliament ( and vict.). this act provides, "that all words importing the masculine gender shall be deemed and taken to include females, unless the contrary is expressly provided"; and in the representation of the people act there was no express provision to the contrary. this had been pointed out by one or two members at the time. accordingly the several societies united in a systematic endeavor to procure the insertion of women's names on the registers of electors under the new reform act. a circular respectfully requesting the boards of overseers to insert on the list of voters the names of all persons who had paid their rates, was sent to several hundred boards in different parts of the country. very few replies were received, but women were placed on the lists in many counties, in aberdeen, salford and many small districts in lancaster, middlesex, kent, etc. the overseers of manchester declined compliance. in that city there were , women householders who claimed their votes, and when the revision courts were opened in september, this claim came on for consideration. the case was ably argued, but the revising barrister decided against admitting it, granting, however, a case for trial at the court of common pleas. another case was also granted, being that of mrs. kyllman, a free-holder, her claim being under the old free-holding franchise henry vi., to wit.: elections of knights of the shire shall be made in each county by people dwelling and resident therein of whom each has free-hold to the value of £ by the year. in the majority of districts the revising barristers disallowed the claims; but in four district-revision courts the women's names were admitted. in finsbury, one of the metropolitan boroughs, mr. chisholm anstey was revising barrister, and he admitted them on account of ancient english law; in cockermouth, winterton and two townships of lancashire, the revising barrister admitted them upon his interpretation of the reform act taken in conjunction with lord romilly's act. in the suffrage report for this year the number of women placed on the electoral roll by these decisions is estimated at about , but undoubtedly there were others concerning whom no information was received. in many cases the women voted: did so in finsbury (not only was there no disturbance, but hardly any remark was made, and they expressed their surprise that it was so easy a thing to do); in gordon and in levenshulme, both little districts in lancashire, and smaller numbers in other places. in chester the parliament candidate issued his election placards to "ladies and gentlemen." on november , the case of the , manchester women householders was argued before the court of common pleas. mr. j. d. coleridge (now lord coleridge, lord-chief-justice of england) and dr. pankhurst were the counsel for the appellants. mr. john coleridge in an able argument spoke of the ancient constitutional right of women to take part in elections. he produced copies from the record office of several indentures returning members to parliament, the signatures of which were in the hand-writing of women, or to which women were parties. he argued that the term "man" in the reform act included woman, not only generally but specifically, under the provisions of lord romilly's act. the case was argued before lord-chief-justice boville; the decision was given on november , and decisively pronounced that the new reform act had never intended to include women, and that they were incapacitated from voting. this decision did not affect the women who were already on the register, and many voted in the general election which took place afterwards. thus women have been shut out from electoral rights, not by any decree of parliament, but by this decision of the court of common pleas. however there was no appeal from this court, except to parliament, and from this time forward the character of the agitation changed. the year ended with a legal decision which seemed crushing in its finality, while the same year had given the most conclusive proof that women wished to vote, and would do so whenever the opportunity offered. the next year, , gave another convincing proof that women were eager to vote, and brought us the most substantial triumph yet obtained, due to the wisdom and skilful tactics of mr. jacob bright, member of parliament for manchester. this victory was the municipal franchise for women. early in mr. hibbert introduced a bill to regulate the conditions of the municipal franchise. by the municipal corporation amendment act, passed in , male persons only were authorized to vote. the present bill was to amend that. mr. jacob bright, seconded by sir charles dilke and mr. peter rylands, proposed the omission of the word "male" from the bill, and the insertion of a clause securing to women the right of voting in municipal elections. mr. hibbert concurred in the introduction of these amendments, though he did not anticipate they would lead to any result beyond a discussion. a circular containing full information upon the ancient and existing rights of women to vote in local affairs was sent to each member of parliament by the manchester committee. it showed that before the passing of the municipal corporation act of , women rate-payers had rights similar to those of men in all matters pertaining to local government and expenditure; and that in non-corporate districts they still exercised such rights, under the provisions of the public health act, and other statutes guarding the electoral privileges of the whole body of rate-payers. but when any district was incorporated into a municipal borough, the women rate-payers were disfranchised, although those not included within its boundaries remained possessed of votes. it showed also that women can vote in parochial matters, and take part in vestry meetings, called for various purposes, such as the election of church-wardens and way-wardens, the appointment of overseers, the sale of parish property, and, formerly, the levying of church-rates; also that they can vote in the election of poor-law guardians--that in fact, in none of those ancient voting customs, was the sex of the ratepayers taken into consideration as either a qualification or disqualification. we quote from the manchester society: in the house of commons on june , , on consideration of the municipal franchise bill as amended, mr. jacob bright rose to move that in this act and the said recited act (municipal corporation reform act, ) wherever words occur which import the masculine gender, the same shall be held to include females for all purposes connected with and having reference to the election of or power to elect representatives of any municipal corporation. he stated that his object was to give the municipal vote to every rate-payer within the municipal limits; to give to municipal property the representation which all property enjoyed elsewhere; that had the proposition been an innovation, a departure from the customary legislation of the country, he would not have brought it in as an amendment to a bill; but that his object was to remove an innovation--to resist one of the most remarkable invasions of long-established rights which the legislation of this or any other country could show. the bill before the house was an amendment of the municipal corporation act of . that act was the only act in regard to local expenditure and local government which established this disability. before and since, all acts of parliament gave every local vote to every rate-payer. the health of towns act of had a clause almost identical with the one he was moving. he was therefore asking the house not only to make the bill in harmony with the general legislation of the country, but to allow it to be in harmony with its latest expressed convictions as shown in the act of . there were in england non-corporate towns which were not parliamentary boroughs, with populations varying from , to , . in these every rate-payer voted. there was little if any difference between their government and that of municipal towns. who could assign a reason why women should vote in one and not in the other? every parochial vote was in the hands of the whole body of rate-payers. women held the most important parochial offices. the sister of the member for stockport had acted as overseer. miss burdett coutts had been urged to take the office of guardian. had she been a large rate-payer in a municipal town, what an absurdity to shut her out from the vote! he then showed how the process of disfranchisement was going on, and quoted darlington and southport. the latter town was incorporated in . in , , persons were qualified to vote for commissioners; of these were women. from the moment of incorporation these votes were extinguished without a reason being assigned, though they had exercised them from time immemorial. such would be the case with any town incorporated in the future. he appealed to the metropolitan members, and showed them that unless his clauses were carried, when they came to establish corporations throughout the metropolis, as some of them desired, all the female rate-payers would be struck off the roll; that over a population of , , this exclusion would prevail. he stated that where women had the vote they exercised it to an equal degree with the men. mr. lings, the comptroller for the city of manchester, affirms that according to his experience the number of men and women who vote in local affairs bears a just proportion to the number of each on the register. he showed that as the bill was a largely enfranchising measure, his clause was in strict harmony with it, but that while the bill sought to increase the representation of those who were already considerably represented, the clause which he wished to add would give representation to those who within municipal towns were totally deprived of it. he concluded by saying that questions had come to him, since these amendments had been on the paper, from women in different parts of the country, and from those who by their social and intellectual positions might be regarded as representatives of their sex, asking why there should always be this tender regard for the representation and therefore the protection of men, and this apparent disregard for the interest of women; and he appealed to the house, by its decision, to show that as regards these local franchises it had a common regard for the whole body of rate-payers. mr. jacob bright's motion, which he supported with all the tact, earnestness and judgment of which he afterwards gave such repeated proofs in bringing forward his women's disabilities bill, was seconded by mr. rylands. mr. bruce (the home secretary) said he had shown conclusively that this proposition was no novelty, and that women were allowed to vote in every form of local government, except under the municipal corporations act. the clause introduced no anomaly, and he should give it his cordial support. mr. hibbert also supported the clause, which was agreed to amid cheers, and it was passed without a dissentient word or the faintest shadow of opposition, as was also the proposal of sir charles dilke, to leave out the word "male" in the first clause. in the house of lords an attempt was made by lord redesdale to reverse the decision of the house of commons, but the proposal found no seconder, and therefore fell to the ground. the earl of kimberley, on behalf of the government, supported the proposition, as did also lord cairns, from the opposition benches. the municipal franchise bill became law in august, . one well-known statesman said at the time, "this is a revolution; this vote means still another, and there never was so great a revolution so speedily accomplished." in the ballot act had not been passed; this was in the days of open voting. it was therefore possible to ascertain with accuracy in how large a proportion the women householders availed themselves of their restored right to vote whenever a contested election took place. on the following november a letter of inquiry was sent to the town clerk of every municipal borough in england and wales, and by their courtesy in replying it was ascertained that the women voted in very large numbers. in our municipal towns the average ratio of women householders to men householders is about one to seven. this varies greatly in different localities. in tewkesbury, for instance, there was only one woman householder to twenty-three men householders, while in bath the proportion had risen as high as one to three. the women voters were in about the same proportion. in the larger boroughs the proportion was especially good, while there were cases in which the polling of the women exceeded that of the men. in bodmin, cornwall, two women voted, one of whom was and the other years of age. the first public meeting in connection with women's suffrage was held in manchester, april , , in the assembly room of the free trade hall. the occasion was one of great interest. mr. henry d. pochin, the mayor of salford (which adjoins manchester), took the chair, and the first resolution was moved by miss becker, seconded by the venerable arch-deacon sandford, and supported by mr. t. b. potter, m. p.: _resolved_, that the exclusion of women from the exercise of the franchise in the election of members, being unjust in principle and inexpedient in practice, this meeting is of opinion that the right of voting should be granted to them on the same conditions as it is or may be granted to men. the other resolutions were spoken to by dr. pankhurst, mrs. pochin (who had also written a very exhaustive pamphlet on "the claim of woman to the elective franchise," signed, _justitia_), mr. chisholm anstey, mr. jacob bright, m. p., miss annie robertson of dublin, mr. f. w. myers, fellow of trinity college, cambridge, and mr. j. w. edwards. this meeting, and the one which followed in birmingham, may , are fair types of those which have followed by thousands. with few exceptions they have been addressed by men and women jointly; the resolutions passed have generally been of a directly practical and political character. they have been presided over, whenever possible, by the chief magistrate, or some other well-known man in the locality; in comparatively few cases have women presided, and very seldom, indeed, strangers. thus they have been modeled closely on the ordinary english political meeting; and this form, quite apart from the principles discussed at the meetings, has done much to identify women's suffrage with the practical politics of the day. the first meeting ever held in london (july, ,) excited much attention. admittance here was by ticket. mrs. peter a. taylor took the chair; miss biggs read the report, and a noble array of speakers followed.[ ] the principle of women's suffrage was unhesitatingly conceded by the passing of the municipal amendment act of . the time was come to demand its application in parliamentary elections. moreover, the decision of the court of common pleas had left no mode of action possible except for parliament to reverse that decision. mr. jacob bright, therefore, on the first day of the session gave notice of his intention to introduce a bill to remove the electoral disabilities of women. sir charles dilke, a liberal, and mr. e. b. eastwick, a conservative, also gave their names on the back of the bill. a bill _to remove the electoral disabilities of women_: be it enacted by the queen's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords, spiritual and temporal, and commons in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: _first_--that in all acts relating to the qualification and registration of voters or persons entitled or claiming to be registered and to vote in the election of members of parliament, wherever words occur which import the masculine gender, the same shall be held to include females for all purposes connected with, and having reference to the right to be registered as voters, and to vote in such elections, any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. on february , the bill was read for the first time, and on may , it came on for its second reading. mr. jacob bright earnestly appealed to the house to grant this measure of justice: the women who are interested in this subject, he concluded, are only acting in the spirit of one of the noblest proverbs of our language, "god helps those who help themselves." is it a matter of regret to us that they should have these aspirations? ought it not rather to be a subject of satisfaction and of pride? that this bill will become law, no one who has observed the character of this agitation and who knows the love of justice in the british people can doubt. i hope it will become law soon, for i have a desire which will receive the sympathy of many in this house. i have a strong desire that when our children come to read the story of their country's fame, it may be written there that the british parliament was the first great legislative assembly in the world, which, in conferring its franchises, knew nothing of the distinctions of strong and weak, of male and female, of rich and poor. the result of the division surprised and cheered all the supporters of the measure. the government was neutral, and members of the cabinet voted on either side according to their own opinions. the second reading was carried by a vote of to , being a majority in its favor of . those who witnessed that division will never forget the grateful enthusiasm with which mr. jacob bright was received when he came up to the ladies' gallery, with his wife leaning upon his arm. but our triumph was short-lived. before the bill went into committee, a week later, it became known that the government intended to depart from its attitude of neutrality. a strong pressure was exercised to crush the bill, and the contest of course became hopeless. on the division for going into committee votes were counted against in its favor. it became evident that we were in for a long contest, which would require not only patience, courage and determination, but a high degree of political sagacity. organizations had to be perfected, and additional societies established; meetings had to be called, and lectures given to explain the question. in march of this year the _women's suffrage journal_ was established in manchester. miss becker has conducted this monthly from the beginning with great talent and spirit; it is frequently quoted by the ordinary press, and its pages contain the best record extant of the movement. this same year of , which witnessed our first parliamentary defeat, brought compensation also of such magnitude as to outweigh the temporary overthrow of the franchise bill. this was the elementary education act, by which women were not only admitted to vote for school-board candidates, but expressly enabled to sit on these boards, and thus exercise not only elective, but legislative functions of the most important character. the election clause reads thus: the school-board shall be elected in the manner provided by this act, in a borough by the persons whose names are on the burgess roll of such borough for the time being in force, and in a parish not situated in the metropolis, by the rate-payers. in london, with the sole exception of the city, the persons who elect the vestries, _i. e._ the rate-payers, are the electors--this includes women as a matter of course. in the city only, the electors were to be the same persons who elected common-council-men, and as these included men only, women are thus excluded from voting in the school-board election, though even here it may be observed they are eligible to sit on the board. thus, within the space of two years, two important measures were extended unexpectedly. in mr. jacob bright again introduced the women's disabilities removal bill, and it was also supported by mr. eastwick and dr. lyon playfair. it was thrown out in the division upon the second reading on may , by a majority of ; (including tellers and pairs ) voting for it, and (including tellers and pairs ) voting against it. the most remarkable feature of the debate was a speech made by mr. gladstone, which certainly justified the confidence that women have subsequently entertained that the great minister was willing to see justice done to them: the ancient law recognized the rights of women in the parish; i apprehend they could both vote and act in the parish. the modern rule has extended the right to the municipality, so far as the right of voting is concerned.... with respect to school-boards, i own i believe that we have done wisely, on the whole, in giving both the franchise and the right of sitting on the school-board to women. then comes a question with regard to parliament, and we have to ask ourselves whether we shall or shall not go further.... i admit, at any rate, that as far as i am able to judge, there is more presumptive ground for change in the law than some of the opponents of the measure are disposed to own.... i cannot help thinking that, for some reason or other, there are various important particulars in which women obtain much less than justice under social arrangements.... i may be told that there is no direct connection between this and the parliamentary franchise, and i admit it, but at the same time i am by no means sure that these inequalities may not have an indirect connection with a state of law in which the balance is generally cast too much against women, and too much in favor of men. there is one instance which has been quoted, and i am not sure there is not something in it--i mean the case of farms.... i believe to some extent in the competition for that particular employment women suffer in a very definite manner in consequence of their want of qualification to vote. i go somewhat further than this, and say that so far as i am able to form an opinion of the general tone and color of our law in these matters, where the peculiar relation of men and women is concerned, that law does less than justice to women [hear, hear], and great mischief, misery and scandal result from that state of things in many of the occurrences and events of life. [cheers.] ... if it should be found possible to arrange a safe and well-adjusted alteration of the law as to political power, the man who shall attain that object, and who shall see his purpose carried onward to its consequences in a more just arrangement of the provisions of other laws bearing upon the condition and welfare of women, will, in my opinion, be a real benefactor to his country. [cheers.] in another portion of his speech mr. gladstone said that the personal attendance of women in election proceedings, until the principle of secret voting should be adopted, was in his eyes an objection of the greatest force--thus giving reason to believe that as soon as vote by ballot was secured, this objection would be removed. mr. gladstone did not on this occasion vote against the bill, but left the house without voting. in , our indefatigable leader again moved the second reading of the bill on the th of may. his speech was calm and masterly, and he was ably supported, but the division remained much the same; for the bill and against it. this year the scotch education bill was passed, which extended the voting of women and their election on school-boards to scotland; thus the principle of direct representation on a matter so important as national education was recognized. the ballot act also, which at once rendered elections orderly and safe, henceforth gave increased security and comfort to women who were voting in municipal elections. in this year a new committee was established in london called the central committee, to which all other branches of the society had the right of appointing delegates, and the movement received thereby a considerable increase of strength and solidity.[ ] meantime each branch of the society was working away indefatigably. during , the _suffrage journal_ recorded public meetings, and during , in england and in scotland. the work in scotland was chiefly carried on in the way of lectures by miss jane taylour, who during these early years of the movement was an untiring and spirited pioneer, miss agnes mclaren often accompanying her and helping her to organize the meetings. we must not omit to mention mary burton (sister of john hill burton the historiographer of scotland), who was also one of the most energetic workers of the edinburgh committee, especially in the north of scotland; and mrs. dick lauder who had the courage to free herself from the opinions in which she had been educated, and with much sacrifice devoted herself to the work. space fails us fitly to record the indomitable efforts of eliza wigham, one of the honorable secretaries of the edinburgh committee. in england, mrs. ronniger organized and spoke at many meetings, as did mrs. fawcett, miss rhoda garrett, miss becker, miss craigen and, less frequently, mrs. josephine butler, lady amberley, miss annie young and others. mrs. grote, wife of the historian and herself a well-known author, took part in one meeting held in hanover square rooms, london, on march , . mrs. grote was then upwards of seventy years of age. rising with great majesty, she spoke with all the weight that age, ability and experience could give, greatly impressing her audience. miss helen taylor, step-daughter of john stuart mill, also made her maiden speech at this meeting; it was delivered with much grace, excellent in thought as in manner. many additional local committees were established, and good work was done by familiarizing the public mind with the principles of the association. ward meetings were held in which the women burgesses and municipal voters were assembled, and while the responsibilities of the vote they already possessed were pointed out to them, attention was called to the prior importance of the vote which was withheld from them. in , for the fourth time, our unwearied champion, mr. jacob bright, brought forward his bill. this time the second reading was fixed for april . he was supported in the debate by mr. eastwick, sergeant sherlock, lord john manners, mr. fawcett, mr. heron, mr. henley, and sir j. trelawny. while all these gentlemen deserved our thanks for the able assistance they rendered the cause, the speech of mr. henley, conservative member for oxfordshire, so old a member that he was styled the "father of the house," excited special attention. he said he had once felt considerable doubt and dislike of the measure, but after careful watching of the way in which women gave the local votes, he had come to the conclusion that an extension of the principle would be useful. the votes in favor of the bill increased at this debate to (with tellers and pairs ), a larger number than had ever before been obtained, while the opposition remained stationary. along with the petitions of this year were two memorials signed by upwards of , women, and presented to mr. gladstone and mr. disraeli. every english county, with the exception of the smallest, rutland, and most large towns sent representative signatures. an effort was made this session by mr. william johnston, the member for belfast, to introduce amendments into the irish municipal bill, which would have had the effect of extending the municipal franchise to irish women householders. but the bill was withdrawn, and similar efforts made in subsequent years have met with the like fate. this year the death of mr. john stuart mill saddened the hearts of all. he will never be forgotten as the first man who carried this question into the arena of practical politics and gave it the weight of an honored name. the strength and vitality of the movement were further tested by a disaster which threatened to do it a lasting injury. the general election took place early in the spring of , and to the regret and consternation of the friends of equal suffrage, their able and devoted leader, mr. jacob bright, lost his seat for manchester--a loss in a great degree attributable to his unshrinking advocacy of an unpopular question. never did his clients, for whom he had sacrificed so much, feel so deeply the need of the power which the franchise would have given them to keep so good a friend in the house of commons. not only was mr. bright defeated, but mr. eastwick, the friend who had always seconded the bill, also lost his seat with about seventy others of our supporters. we were thus compelled to look around for fresh leaders. the task of bringing in a bill was accepted by mr. forsyth, the conservative member for marylebone, one of the london boroughs; with him were associated mr. stansfeld, mr. russell gurney and sir r. anstruther, men differing widely on matters of party politics. the bill was introduced early in the session, but no day was found for it, and in the middle of july it was withdrawn. considerable discussion was excited by the unexpected action of mr. forsyth, who on his own responsibility inserted in the bill an additional clause by which married women were especially excluded from its operation. although the insertion of this clause would probably have made no difference, the bulk of legal opinion being that under the law of coverture, married women even when possessed of property are not "qualified persons," yet the society joined in requesting that this additional clause should be dropped and the original form of the bill adhered to. memorials, signed by upwards of , women headed by florence nightingale, harriet martineau, lady anna gore langton (sister of the duke of buckingham), frances power cobbe, anna swanwick, were again this year forwarded to mr. disraeli and mr. gladstone. an important memorial was also forwarded from a large conference held in birmingham in january, which represents very accurately the special aspects of the question in england. the president of the conference was mrs. william taylor, sister-in-law of mr. peter a. taylor, m. p.: _to the right honorable william ewart gladstone, m. p., first lord of her majesty's treasury:_ the memorial of members and friends of the national society for women's suffrage, in conference assembled at birmingham, january , , showeth, that your memorialists earnestly desire to urge on the attention of her majesty's government the justice and expediency of abolishing the disability which precludes women, otherwise legally qualified, from voting in the election of members of parliament. they submit that the disability is anomalous, inasmuch as it exists only in respect to the parliamentary franchise. the electoral rights of women have been from time immemorial equal and similar to those of men in parochial and other ancient franchises, and in the year a measure was passed, with the sanction of the administration of which you are the head, restoring and confirming the rights of women ratepayers to the exercise of the municipal franchise. the electoral disability is further anomalous, because by the law and constitution of this realm, women are not disabled from the exercise of political power. writs, returning members to serve in the house of commons, signed by women as electors or returning officers, are now in existence, and the validity of such returns has never been disputed. women who were heirs to peerages and other dignities exercised judicial jurisdiction and enjoyed other privileges appertaining to such offices and lordships without disability of sex. the highest political function known to the constitution may be exercised by a woman. the principle that women may have political power is coëval with the british constitution. on the other hand the practice of women taking part in voting at popular elections is equally ancient in date, and has been restored and extended by the action of the present parliament. your memorialists therefore submit that to bring the existing principle and practice into harmony by removing the disability which prevents women who vote in local elections from voting in the election of members of parliament, would be a step in the natural process of development by which institutions, while retaining the strength and authority derived from the traditions of the past, and preserving the continuity of the national life, continually undergo such modifications as are needed in order to adapt them to the exigencies of the age and the changed conditions of modern life. they also submit that the old laws regulating the qualifications of electors do not limit the franchise to male persons; that the laws under which women exercised the parochial franchise were couched in the same general terms as those regulating the parliamentary suffrage, and that while the latter were not expressly limited to men, the former were not expressly extended to women. there is, therefore, a strong presumption that the exclusion of women from the parliamentary suffrage was an infringement on their ancient constitutional rights, rendered possible in a barbarous age by the comparative weakness and smallness of the number of persons affected by it, and continued until the exclusion had become customary. the franchise of women in local elections has been from time to time under judicial consideration, and their right to take part in such elections has been repeatedly confirmed by the judges. during the arguments in these cases, the question of their right to vote in the election of members of parliament was frequently mooted and conflicting opinions thereon incidently expressed by various judges, but the matter was never judicially decided, and no authoritative judgment was ever given against the right until the year , after the passing of two modern acts of parliament in and , the former of which for the first time in english history, in terms, limited the franchise created by it to every "male person," and the latter to every "man" qualified under its provisions. your memorialists submit that had the question of the right of women to vote in the election of members of parliament been raised in the law courts under the old statutes which contain no reference to sex, and before the passing of the limiting acts of and , that the precedents which had determined the right in their favor in the construction of the law as to local government must have been held to apply to the case of qualified freeholders or others who claimed the right as regards parliamentary government. they submit also, that even after these limiting acts, women had reasonable grounds for claiming the suffrage under the existing law. there is an act of parliament which declares that "in all acts, words importing the masculine gender shall be deemed and taken to include females, ... unless the contrary is _expressly provided_." the act of contained clauses imposing personal liabilities and pecuniary burdens on certain classes of ratepayers. in these clauses, as in the enfranchising clauses, and throughout the act, words importing the masculine gender were alone used. no provision was made that these words should not include females. accordingly in enforcing the act the extra liabilities and burdens were imposed on women ratepayers, to many of whom they caused grievous hardship. there was, therefore, reason to expect that the enfranchising clauses would bear the same interpretation, inasmuch as they were confessedly offered as an equivalent for the increased liabilities. but when the women who had been subjected to the liabilities claimed their votes, they found that words importing the masculine gender were held to include women in the clauses imposing burdens, and to exclude them in the clauses conferring privileges, in one and the same act of parliament. this kind of injustice was shown in a marked manner in the case of certain women ratepayers of bridgewater, who, in a memorial addressed to you in , set forth the grievance of most heavy and unjust taxation which was levied on them, in common with the other householders of that disfranchised borough, for the payment of a prolonged commission respecting political bribery. the memorialists felt it to be unjust and oppressive, inasmuch as, not exercising the franchise nor being in any way directly or indirectly concerned in the malpractices which led to the commission, they were nevertheless required to pay not less than three shillings in the pound according to their rental. to that memorial you caused a reply to be sent through mr. secretary bruce, stating that "it was not in the power of the secretary of state to exempt women owning or occupying property from the local and imperial taxation to which that property is liable." while fully admitting this, your memorialists beg to represent that it is in the power of the legislature to secure to women the vote which their property would confer, along with its liability to local and imperial taxation, were it owned or occupied by men. they submit that this concession has recently been granted in respect to local taxation, and that if justice demands that women should have a voice in controlling the municipal expenditure to which their property contributes, justice yet more urgently demands that they should have a voice in controlling the imperial expenditure to which the same property is liable. the local expenditure of the country amounts to about £ , , , the imperial expenditure to about £ , , annually; if, therefore, the matter be regarded as one of taxation only, the latter vote is of more importance than the former. local government deals with men and women alike, and knows no distinction between male and female ratepayers. but imperial government deals with men and women on different principles, and in such a manner that whenever there is any distinction made in the rights, privileges and protection accorded to them respectively, the difference is always against women and in favor of men. they believe this state of things is a natural result of the exclusion of women from representation, and it will be found impracticable to amend it until women are admitted to a share in controlling the legislature. by the deprivation of the parliamentary vote, women, in the purchase or renting of property, obtain less for their money than men. in a bill which passed the house of commons last session, provision was made for the amalgamation in one list of the municipal and parliamentary registers of electors. in that list it appeared that the same house, the same rent and the same taxes conferred on a man the double vote in municipal and parliamentary government, and on a woman the single vote only, and that the less honorable and important one. when the occupation of a house is transferred from a man to a woman, say to the widow of the former owner, that home loses the privilege of representation in the imperial government, though its relations with the taxgatherer continue unaltered. there have been various societies formed with a view to enable persons to acquire portions of landed or real property, partly for the sake of the vote attached to such property. should a woman purchase or inherit such an estate, the vote, which has been one important consideration in determining the value, would be lost through her legal disability to exercise it. the deprivation of the vote is a serious disadvantage to women in the competition for farms. a case is recorded of one estate in suffolk from which seven widows have been ejected, who, if they had possessed votes, would have been continued as tenants. a sudden ejection often means ruin to a family that has sunk capital in the land, and it is only too probable that no day passes without the occurrence of some such calamity to some unhappy widow, who, but for the electoral disability, might have retained the home and the occupation by which she could have brought up her family in comfort and independence. besides this definite manner in which the electoral disability injures women farmers, it has a more or less directly injurious influence on all self-dependent women who maintain themselves and their families by other than domestic labor. a disability, the basis of which is the presumed mental or moral incapacity of the subject of it to form a rational judgment on matters within the ordinary ken of human intelligence, carries with it a stigma of inferiority calculated to cause impediment to the entrance on or successful prosecution of any pursuit demanding recognized ability and energy. this presumed incapacity is probably the origin of the general neglect of the education of women, which is only now beginning to be acknowledged, and the absence of political power in the neglected class renders it difficult if not impossible to obtain an adequate share for girls in the application of educational funds and endowments. so long as women are specifically excluded from control over their parliamentary representatives, so long will their interests be postponed to claims of those who have votes to give; and while parliament shall continue to declare that the voices of women are unfit to be taken into account in choosing members of the legislature, the masses of men will continue to act as if their wishes, opinions and interests were undeserving of serious consideration. it is now nearly two years since you, in your place in the house of commons, said that the number of absolutely self-dependent women is increasing from year to year, and that the progressive increase in the number of such women is a very serious fact, because those women are assuming the burdens that belong to men; and you stated your belief that when they are called upon to assume those burdens, and to undertake the responsibility of providing for their own subsistence, they approach the task under greater difficulties than attach to their more powerful competitors. your memorialists therefore ask you to aid women in overcoming these difficulties, by assisting to place them, politically at least, on a level with those whom you designate as "their more powerful competitors." one of the greatest hindrances in the path of self-dependent women is the opposition shown by members of many trades and professions to women who attempt to engage in them. the medical and academical authorities of the university of edinburgh have successfully crushed the attempt of a small band of female students to qualify themselves for the medical profession, and the same spirit of "trades unionism" is rife in the industrial community. a few months ago the printers of manchester, learning that a few girls were practicing type-setting, and endeavoring to earn a little money thereby, instantly passed a rule ordaining a strike in the shop of any master printer who should allow type set up by women to be sent to his machines to be worked. at the present time, in a manufacturing district in yorkshire where there are "broad" and "narrow" looms, at the former of which much more money can be earned, the men refuse to allow women to work at the broad looms, though they are quite able to manage them, because the work is considered too remunerative for women. at nottingham there is a particular machine at which very high wages can be earned, at which women now work, and the men, in order to drive them out of such profitable employment, have insisted on the masters taking no more women on, but as those at present employed leave, supplying their places by men. a master manufacturer reports: "we have machines which women can manage quite as well or better than men, yet are they not permitted by a selfish combination of the strong against the weak." these are only samples of the cases that are constantly occurring of successful attempts to drive women out of remunerative occupations. your memorialists submit that women would be more able to resist such attempts if they had the protection of the suffrage; and that men would be less likely to be thus aggressive and oppressive if they had learned to regard women as their political equals. besides the restrictions on the industrial liberties of women effected by combinations of men, there are existing and proposed legislative restrictions from which men are exempt, and which exercise a powerful influence on the market for their labor. for the coming session we have the proposal further to limit their hours of paid labor in factories, and to place other restrictions on their labor in shops; also a proposition to place married women on the footing of half-timers. without here expressing any opinion as to the wisdom of these proposals, we urge that members of the house of commons would be more capable of dealing with them in a just and appreciative spirit if they were responsible for their votes to the persons whose interests are directly concerned and whose liberties they are asked to curtail; and, further, that it is a grave question how far it is safe to trust the industrial interests of women, as a class, to the irresponsible control of the men who have manifested to individuals and to sections of working women the spirit indicated by the examples we have cited. in the same speech you spoke of a state of the law in which the balance is generally cast too much against women and too much in favor of men. since you directed your attention to this matter, you have not been able either to introduce or to assist others who have introduced measures to ameliorate the state of the law respecting women, and such proposals have been unable to win consideration from parliament. your memorialists cannot believe that this neglect has arisen from want of a desire on your part to deal with the grievances under which you have admitted that your countrywomen suffer; they are therefore led to the conclusion that you have been unable to take into consideration the affairs of an unrepresented class, owing to the preoccupation of parliament with the concerns of those to whom it is directly responsible. you stated that "the question was, to devise a method of enabling women to exercise a sensible influence, without undertaking personal functions and exposing themselves to personal obligations inconsistent with the fundamental particulars of their condition as women," and that the objection to the personal attendance of women at elections was in your mind an objection of the greatest force. they respectfully submit that the exercise of the municipal franchise involves the personal attendance of women at the polls, and that since your words were uttered changes have been effected which render the process of voting absolutely identical for municipal and parliamentary elections, and the whole proceeding perfectly decorous and orderly. experience has proved that women can vote at municipal elections without prejudice to the fundamental particulars of their condition as women, whatever these may be; and this experience shows that they may vote in parliamentary elections without the smallest personal prejudice or inconvenience. the school-board elections have also shown that women can appeal to large constituencies and go through the ordeal of public meetings, addresses and questions from electors, to which men must submit who seek the suffrages of a great community, without any sacrifice of womanly dignity, or of the respect and consideration accorded to their position and their sex. they therefore submit that events have obviated the objections you entertained in to the proposal to give representation to women, and that the course taken by the administration over which you preside in assenting to the extension of the municipal and school-board franchise to them; in calling them to the public functions of candidates and members of school-boards; and lastly, of securing the passing of a law which renders the process of voting silent and secret, have taken away all reasonable grounds for objecting on the score of practical inconvenience to the admission of women to the exercise of a vote, which they would have to give in precisely the same manner, but not nearly so often, as those votes which they already deliver. it has been said that there is neither desire nor demand for the measure, and further, that women do not care for and would not use the suffrage if they possessed it. but the demand for the parliamentary franchise is enormously greater than was the demand for the municipal franchise, and for the school-board franchise there was no apparent call. yet these two measures were passed purely on their own merits, and it was not held to be necessary to impose on their promoters, over and above the obligation to make out their case, the condition that a majority of the women of england or of a particular district should petition for the proposed boon. experience proved the wisdom and justice of this course, for although women throughout the country had taken no active part in agitating for the municipal franchise, no sooner was the privilege accorded than they freely availed themselves of it, and statistics obtained from some of the largest boroughs in the kingdom show that from the first year that women possessed the suffrage, they have voted in about equal proportion with men to the number of each on the register. the parliamentary vote is more honorable and important than the municipal vote; it is, therefore, safe to conclude that women who value and use the latter will appreciate and exercise the former as soon as it shall be bestowed upon them. your memorialists submit that great injustice and injury are done by debarring these women from a voting power which there is such strong presumptive ground for believing that they would freely exercise but for the legal restraint. your memorialists are especially moved to call your attention to the urgency of the claim at the present time, when a bill extending the application of the principle of household suffrage is about to be proposed to parliament, which bill received last year such expressions of approval from members of her majesty's government as to lead to the belief that they are willing to take the proposal into serious consideration. they submit that the claim and the need for representation of women householders are even more pressing than that of agricultural laborers. the grievances under which women suffer are equally great, and the demand for the franchise has been pressed by a much greater number of women and for a much longer period of time than in the case of county householders now excluded. the number of persons who petitioned last session for the county franchise bill and for the women's disabilities bill respectively were, for the former, , , and for the latter, , . the latter bill has received most influential support from both sides of the house, and more votes have been recorded in its favor than have been given for any bill not directly supported as a party measure by one or other of the great parties in the state. under these circumstances your memorialists earnestly request that you will use your influence as leader of the house of commons and of the government to secure the passing of the bill introduced by mr. jacob bright, either as a substantive enactment, or as an integral portion of the next measure that shall be passed dealing with the question of the representation of the people. signed on behalf of the conference, caroline m. taylor, _president_. the first vote that was given by the new parliament was on april , , mr. forsyth having moved the second reading in an able speech. it at once became manifest that the question had made great progress in the country. in spite of the loss of the seventy friends at the preceding general election, our strength in the new parliament had greatly increased. including tellers and pairs, voted for the bill, and only against. this result appears to have alarmed our opponents, who proceeded to form an association of peers, members of parliament and other influential persons, to resist the claims of women to the suffrage. they issued a circular which will be read by future generations with a smile of amazement.[ ] it may have been partly owing to the influence of this association that the next year, when mr. forsyth again brought forward his bill, april , , although the numbers of our friends and supporters remained undiminished, the opponents had considerably increased. this was due, also, no doubt, in great degree to the unexpected attitude taken on this question by the right hon. john bright, the most powerful living advocate for freedom and representative government. in mr. mill's division of , mr. bright had voted in favor of the measure, and while his brother had charge of the bill, he had never opposed it. his opposition speech in this debate, therefore, caused extreme disappointment and discouragement. it had little of the force which had always characterized his pleas for political justice. the most eloquent voice in the house of commons lost its magic power when no longer inspired by truth. the women in the gallery listened with sorrowful hearts. though they knew mr. bright's opinion could not block the wheels of progress, yet they felt intense regret that so honored a friend to freedom should abandon his most cherished principles when applied to women. the parliamentary history of the next few years may be very briefly recorded. in the bill had again passed into the hands of our beloved leader, mr. jacob bright, who had resumed his place in the house of commons, as member of parliament for manchester. after a debate of great interest, and while our advocate, mr. leonard courtney, was speaking, the opponents of the measure burst into a tumultuous uproar, which effectually drowned his voice. this new method of setting up shouts and howls in place of arguments, has since been brought to bear on more than one public question, but it was then comparatively novel. mr. courtney, nothing daunted, would not give way, and when six o'clock, which is the hour for closing the debates on wednesday, struck, it was no longer possible to take a division. the following year, , mr. jacob bright was unable from failing health to continue in charge of the bill in the house of commons, and a deputation of members from each society waited on mr. courtney and placed it in his hands. june , was set for the second reading. in his speech mr. courtney dwelt on the benefits that may accrue to women from representation. he added: the political reasons for granting the prayer of the bill appear to me to be undeniable, but i confess they are not the reasons why i most strongly support it. i believe it will develop a fuller, freer and nobler character in women by admitting them into the sphere of political thought and duty. some may say, "but what is to be the end?" i do not know that we are always bound to see the goal towards which we are moving. if we are moving on right principles; if we are actuated by a feeling of justice; if the hand that moves above us and leads us on is a hand in which we can place implicit confidence,--then i say, trust to that light, follow that hand, without fear of the future. the bill was again lost by votes against , thus showing a smaller adverse majority than on the last division. this year mr. russell gurney died. his name will always be associated with the women's suffrage movement, which he had supported ever since mr. mill's division in . the death of lady anna gore langton about this time was also a severe loss. the last time that the question was brought before that parliament was the following summer, . mr. courtney, after taking counsel with his parliamentary friends, made an important change in the conduct of his measure. it had hitherto been brought forward as a bill, which, if passed, would have made the actual change desired in the law; as the parliament was now verging towards its close, it was thought wiser to test the opinion of the house by bringing the question forward in the form of a resolution. two purposes were served by this change: one was that many men who were in favor of the principle of women's suffrage had objected to it when brought forward as an isolated measure of reform involving a large addition to the constituency, and possibly therefore a new election; the other was, that the time for discussion of a private member's bill is very limited. on wednesdays, when such bills come on, the house only sits in the morning, and the debate must be concluded at a quarter before six, while the forms of the house afford greater facilities for discussing and voting upon motions. mr. courtney in a clear and exhaustive speech moved his resolution as follows: that in the opinion of this house it is injurious to the best interests of the country that women who are entitled to vote in municipal, parochial and school-board elections when possessed of the statutory qualifications, should be disabled from voting in parliamentary elections, although possessed of the statutory qualifications, and that it is expedient that this disability should be forthwith repealed. the debate was animated, but the result on division was much the same as before: (including tellers and pairs, ) voting for it, and (with tellers and pairs, ) against it. thus closed the ninth parliament of victoria, as far as women's suffrage was concerned. the steady perseverance and unflagging courage of the devoted band of men and women had achieved victories at many points along the line of attack.[ ] every suffrage meeting was the means of gaining converts. the agitation for the suffrage kept the memory of women's wrongs and grievances fresh before the public mind. these years saw the medical profession legally thrown open to women, and facilities given them in school and hospital for obtaining that education which had been hitherto sought abroad. pharmacy no longer excluded them. london university opened its gates. the irish intermediate education bill, in , which was originally introduced for boys only, was, after several energetic discussions, widened, so as to include girls. women began to be elected as poor-law guardians. a scotch married women's property bill was passed, which was a great improvement on the former law. a matrimonial causes amendment act was also carried, which enables magistrates to grant a judicial separation to wives who are brutally treated, along with a maintenance for their children. some of our friends regretted that these side issues should absorb the time of those who might otherwise have been working exclusively for suffrage; but this was a short-sighted fear. by broadening the basis of work, by asking simultaneously for better laws, better education, better employments and wider fields of usefulness, the sympathies of more women were engaged; while underlying and supporting all was the steady agitation for the suffrage with its compact organization of committees, meetings, publications and petitions which kept parliament awake to the fact that though still disfranchised, women had claims which it could not afford to ignore. [illustration: priscilla bright mclaren] this was a time when the agitation for the suffrage had apparently reached a stationary condition, neither advancing nor receding, in which it was destined to remain for some years longer. other causes, as the abolition of west indian slavery and the corn laws, have had a similar period of apparent torpor succeeding the first activity. justin mccarthy in his "history of our own times," says: this is, from whatever cause, a very common phenomenon in our political history. a movement which began with the promise of sweeping all before it, seems to lose all its force, and is supposed by many observers to be now only the care of a few earnest and fanatical men. suddenly it is taken up by a minister of commanding influence, and the bore or the crotchet of one parliament is the great party controversy of a second, and the accomplished triumph of a third. during the year of , it was thought desirable to ascertain by some practical test what were the various reasons which caused thinking women to wish for the suffrage; and letters were addressed to ladies who were eminent either in literature or art, or who were following scientific or professional careers, or were engaged in any form of philanthropic work. the answers that were returned were collected into a pamphlet of exceeding interest, which was sent to each member before the debate, and it was amazing to watch from the gallery how the little green pamphlet was consulted and quoted from, in the most opposite quarters of the house, by friends who sought fresh arguments from it or by enemies who were looking for some sentence on which to base a sarcasm.[ ] as a specimen of these letters miss frances power cobbe said: so far from the truth is the reiterated statement of certain honorable members of parliament that women do not desire the franchise, that in my large experience i have scarcely ever known a woman possessed of ordinary common sense, and who had lived some years alone in the world, who did not earnestly wish for it. the women who gratify these gentlemen by smilingly deprecating any such responsibilities, are those who have dwelt since they were born in well-feathered nests, and have never needed to do anything but open their soft beaks for the choicest little grubs to be dropped into them. it is utterly absurd (and i am afraid the members of parliament in question are quite aware they are talking nonsense) to argue from the contented squawks of a brood of these callow creatures, that full grown swallows and larks have no need of wings, and are always happiest when their pinions are broken. the production of this pamphlet marked an era in women's suffrage literature. it was impossible after this to doubt that a large body of thinking women, not the queens of society, but the women who wrote, read, thought, or worked, were in favor of having full admission to political rights and responsibilities. the chief work of the society had now crystallized into five or six great centres. edinburgh, under the presidency of mrs. mclaren, assisted by miss wigham and miss kirkland, treasurer and secretary, was the recognized centre of activity for scotland. in ireland there was a committee in dublin, of which mrs. haslam is the most active member; and the north of ireland committee, led by miss isabella tod.[ ] the three principal associations in england were those of london,[ ] including the east and north-east counties; manchester,[ ] taking charge of the north of england and wales, and bristol[ ] looking after the west. the officers of the several committees of the three kingdoms form a national central committee which has its headquarters in london and superintends all of the work bearing specially upon the action of parliament. petitions were still sent in, but no longer in such enormous numbers. it had become evident that parliament cared little for a long roll of names from the unrepresented classes; they were now chiefly collected as a means of discovering how public opinion stood in any particular district. for instance, in , a petition was sent from , women householders of leicester. the total number of women householders in this town was , , of whom only , could be applied to, and there is no reason to suppose that public opinion was more advanced in leicester than in the majority of large manufacturing towns. the municipal elections occur in england every november, and our custom in some towns was to call meetings of the women householders in every ward in which there was a contest, to explain to them the responsibilities resting upon the voters, and after an earnest address from some one of the ladies, to invite the respective candidates to speak. by these means not only was the interest of the women awakened in local politics, but the candidates themselves were reminded of the interests of an important section of their constituencies. with the beginning of , came again the promise of a reform bill. the majority of the liberal members of the house of commons had pledged themselves to their constituents in its favor. but as our enemies were still reiterating that women themselves did not care for the franchise, some further proof of their sympathy was in order. the first great demonstration in favor of women was held in free trade hall, manchester, which seats about , people, february , where women were admitted free, and seats reserved for men in the gallery at s. d. each. this arrangement was adopted to make it a meeting of women. one hundred gentlemen were present besides the reporters. the purpose of the demonstration had been explained at preliminary ward meetings to which men and women came in crowds. on the night in question the scene exceeded the most sanguine expectations. those who had witnessed the great free trade gatherings which assembled to hear charles villiers, richard cobden and john bright, never saw a more enthusiastic audience. mrs. duncan mclaren of edinburgh, who had been invited to preside, took her seat followed by an array of distinguished women, such as had never before graced any platform in the history of the three kingdoms, while the vast area and galleries were crowded with women of wealth and culture; factory women, shop-keepers and hard toilers of every station were also there. some had walked twenty miles to attend that great meeting. they sat on the steps of the platform, climbed on every coigne of vantage, stood in dense masses in every aisle and corner. a large over-flow meeting was also held in the neighboring memorial hall over which mrs. lucas presided, but even this could not accommodate all who came, and thousands went away disappointed. it was truly a marvelous meeting, grand in its numbers, grand in the enthusiasm which had brought so many thousands together unattracted by the names of any distinguished speakers, to sympathize with each other in a great national movement, and to proclaim unity of action until it was gained; and it was grand also in the impressiveness of the words that were uttered. the president in her clear grave tones which were heard in the breathless stillness over that large assembly, said: it seems like a dream. but only a grave reality could have brought so many women together. need we wonder that the beneficent designs of providence have been so imperfectly carried out when only one-half the intellect and heart of the nation have hitherto been called into action, and the powers of the other half have been almost wholly suppressed? women are learning along with good men that politics in the true sense has to do with human interests at large. when mrs. mclaren had concluded, one speaker after another, gave her special testimony in favor of the necessity of obtaining representation. the number was so great that no one was allowed more than ten minutes.[ ] this demonstration was quickly followed by others that were every way as successful. in connection with one at st. james' hall, london, over which viscountess harberton presided, a procession of working women marched through the streets with a banner on which was inscribed "we're far too low to vote the tax; we're not too low to pay." here also an overflow meeting was held to accommodate the numbers that could not be admitted into the hall. on november , the same scene was repeated at the colston hall, bristol, and mrs. beddoe, the wife of a popular physician in that city presided, and on november , the last demonstration of that year was convened in the albert hall, nottingham, where mrs. lucas took the chair. the following year saw no relaxation in these efforts. the birmingham demonstration took place on february , . it was a most inclement night and great fears had been entertained that it would prove a failure, but nothing had power to keep the crowds of women away or to lessen their enthusiasm. mrs. crosskey, the wife of dr. crosskey, one of the most respected of the birmingham liberal leaders, presided. the next was in st. george's hall, bradford, on november , and here again mrs. mclaren took the chair, and said: we are here to-night in the spirit of self-sacrifice. we have had our sorrows in working on this question. we are here because we know there are on our statute books unjust laws which subject many women to sorrow and suffering, and the fact that we have worked our way to such a platform proves that women are capable of holding a political position, and ought to have a voice in our national affairs. we cannot rest contented under the consciousness of injustice because there are women who accept it as their natural condition. we feel it our duty to arouse our sex everywhere to a sense of their high destiny. the inspiration for this work has come from a higher source than ourselves, and we have had often to feel that god does not leave his children to fight their battles alone. in there were two more demonstrations. the first was in albert hall, sheffield, on february , lady harberton presiding, and it was crowded to overflowing with women of all ranks and conditions of society. the demonstration at glasgow was on november , and no way inferior to the other in brilliancy and interest.[ ] these demonstrations conclusively proved that the suffrage is desired, not only by a few educated women, the leaders of the movement, but by the great masses of the hard-working women. they proved also woman's political capacity and organizing power. no body of persons could possibly do more to manifest their desire for political liberty than the women who have organized and attended these demonstrations. so far as i am aware no such meetings have been attempted by the agricultural laborers over whose enfranchisement the house of commons has been so deeply exercised, and though the absence of interest which these classes of men have as a whole shown in the question of the franchise is no argument for depriving them of it, the political knowledge and aspirations that women have shown for more than fifteen years ought to count for something in establishing their claim. the session of was broken, and the dissolution of parliament in march, the general election which followed, the change in the government and the consequent press of public affairs, made it impossible to bring forward any measure for the suffrage, but the principle was most splendidly and triumphantly vindicated in the ancient kingdom of the isle of man which has an independent government dating from the time of its first colonization under the vikings. it has in modern times its elective house which is called the house of keys and is equivalent to the commons. its upper house consists of the attorney-general, the clerk of the rolls, the bishop, two judges (or deemsters) and other officials. it enacts its own laws and imposes its own taxes, but is subject to imperial control by requiring the sanction of the queen before any law can come into effect. some few years ago the franchise was felt to be too restricted, and a movement was set on foot which culminated in in a bill to extend the franchise to every male person who was a householder. mr. richard sherwood, who five years previously had brought forward a similar motion, moved an amendment to omit the word "male" for the purpose of extending the franchise to women who possessed the requisite qualification, which was carried by to , a vote of two-thirds of the whole body of the house of keys. it then went before the council which refused the franchise to female occupiers and lodgers, though agreeing to give it to all female owners of real estate of £ annual value. thus modified the bill was sent back to the house of keys which gave up the lodger franchise but adhered to that for occupiers. the bill thus altered was again sent back to the council and again returned with a message that the council refused to come to an agreement. the keys then proposed a compromise, limiting the qualification to woman occupiers of £ a year. this again was refused, and the council were prepared to reject the bill altogether. sooner than lose the whole, the keys assented, signing, however, a protest in which they stated that they had complied simply to secure a part of a just principle rather than lose the whole. the act was signed by the governor, the keys and the council on december , received the royal assent on january , , and was immediately afterwards, according to ancient custom, proclaimed as law on the tynwald hill. fully to estimate this victory, it must be remembered that the vote thus gained is the complete parliamentary franchise. though the total area of the island is so small and though only those women who were absolutely owners of property were enfranchised, they numbered about . the law came into operation immediately, and the election began march . the women voted in considerable numbers, and were, as an eye-witness states, without exception quite intelligent and business like in this procedure. at the polling stations, the first persons who recorded their votes were women. we may mention in proof of their political gratitude that in the district where mr. sherwood was one of the candidates, every woman, whatever her party, voted for his reëlection. just before the opening of parliament in , mr. courtney accepted a position in the administration, which rendered it impossible for him to continue in charge of any independent measure. by his advice, application was made to mr. hugh mason, member for ashton under lyme. but the state of public business during the session never permitted the resolution to be discussed. the same disappointment occurred in the session of --the difficulties in ireland and egypt occupying the attention of the government and the country to an extent which almost precluded any measure of domestic reform. nevertheless, by constant and arduous efforts, these two years witnessed the passing of the municipal franchise bill for scotland. the municipal franchise act of applied to english women only. early in the session of , dr. cameron, member for glasgow, introduced a bill to assimilate the position of scottish women to that which their english sisters had enjoyed for twelve years. the bill passed the house of commons before easter, and was then brought forward in the house of lords by the earl of camperdown, passed may , and received the royal assent june . this law applied only to women rate-payers of the royal and parliamentary burghs, and did not extend to the police burghs, the populous places endowed with powers of local self-government under the general police and improvement act of . a request was sent to mr. cameron to exert himself for a similar extension of the franchise to the women of the police burghs, and he answered by introducing in the following year, , another act which gave to all women rate-payers the right, not merely of voting at elections of burgh commissioners, but also of voting with the other inhabitants as to whether a populous place should be constituted a police burgh. the election under these new measures was in november, , and then scottish women voted for the first time, excepting of course in school-board elections. the result was entirely satisfactory, though the number of women who voted varied greatly--in some places where no special interest attached to the election none came to vote, while in others they voted in equal proportion with the men, and in a few towns nearly every woman whose name was on the register voted. the passing of these two franchise bills was an undoubted triumph of the women's suffrage party. as one of the opponents in the debate of july, , scornfully observed, "had it not been for the question of women's suffrage being agitated throughout the country at the time, we should not have heard a syllable of the scottish women's franchise bill," a sneering admission which we willingly construe into compliment. the year also witnessed the passing of the married women's property act, whose immense benefits can hardly be estimated, and we may confidently assert that but for the unceasing agitation of the friends of women's suffrage, another quarter of a century would have been suffered to pass without bringing in this tardy measure of justice.[ ] we now come to the session of , inoperative as far as actual legislation was concerned, but rich in its augury for the future. already in april the improved temper of the house on questions in which women were concerned, had been shown by the brilliant majority that voted with the rt. hon. mr. stansfeld for the suppression of the contagious diseases acts which have so long stained the english statute book. early in may a memorial to mr. gladstone was signed by liberal members of parliament, unconnected with the government, in which they stated: that in the opinion of your memorialists no measure for the assimilation of the county and borough franchise will be satisfactory unless it contain provisions for extending the suffrage without distinction of sex to all persons who possess the statutory qualifications for the parliamentary franchise. this memorial was a most remarkable manifestation of the support which members on the liberal side of the house are pledged to give to the principle of justice to women. nor are we wanting in conservative support. sir stafford northcote, has always given his friendly approval to the movement, and has very recently repeated his assurances of coöperation in answer to a deputation of ladies who waited on him. after repeated balloting, mr. mason obtained a day, july , on which to bring forward his resolution. it was thus worded: that in the opinion of this house the parliamentary franchise should be extended to women who possess the qualifications which entitle men to vote, and who, in all matters of local government have the right of voting. mr. edward leatham, also a liberal, gave notice to oppose the resolution affirming with a curious liberalism, that "it is undesirable to change the immemorial basis of the franchise, which is that men only shall be qualified to elect members to serve in this house." thus after a silence of four years, years of apparent inertia, but really fraught with progress, the debate once again revived in parliament. mr. jacob bright said: they have told us women can get what they want without the franchise. that used to be said of working men--but since they have had a vote, members in every part of the house have had a generosity and sympathy and courage in all matters affecting working men which they never had before. precisely the same effect would follow if you gave women the franchise. i admit that women have gained much without the franchise, and i will tell the house when that gain began: it began with the introduction of the question of women's suffrage to the house, and the gain has been mainly due to the awakening intelligence of women on political questions owing to the wide-spread agitation and the demand for women's suffrage. they have gained without the franchise, municipal votes, school-board votes, the right to sit on school-boards, the magnificent act of last year--an act which ought to confer lasting fame on the present lord chancellor--the married women's property act. and owing to the untiring energy of the right honorable member for halifax (mr. stansfeld), they have succeeded in inflicting a blow on an act of parliament[ ] more unjust to women than anything which has ever been passed, a blow from which that act will never recover. these things have been gained without the franchise. but who will tell me they would not have gained them sooner, with less heart-breaking labor, if they had had the political franchise? mr. courtney also addressed the house in stirring words. the result was most encouraging. four years had passed since a division had been taken, and the enormous majority against us which in so many divisions had maintained its strength had dwindled to only . a total of , including tellers and pairs supported the resolution against an opposition of only . if the liberal side of the house had only been canvassed on this occasion it would have been a victory, as liberals voted for it and paired, and only against it. with the close of the session the question was transferred to the country, and the events of the autumn made it amply evident that the majority of liberals were in favor of extending the parliamentary suffrage to women. a great conference was held in october at leeds, where delegates from between and liberal organizations were present. fully , delegates were present at the first meeting. after a long discussion upon the coming reform bill, the rev. t. crosskey, of birmingham, proposed a rider to the resolution which would include women's suffrage, as follows: _resolved_, that, in order to meet the just expectations of the country, and to fulfill the pledges given at the last general election, this conference is of opinion that a measure for the extension of the franchise should confer on householders in the counties the same electoral rights as those enjoyed by householders in parliamentary boroughs; _and that, in the opinion of this meeting, any measure for the extension of the suffrage should confer the franchise upon women, who, possessing the qualifications which entitle men to vote, have now the right of voting in all matters of local government_. mr. walter mclaren seconded dr. crosskey in an able speech, and miss jane cobden (daughter of the late richard cobden) who was sitting on the platform, and who had been appointed delegate from the liberal association of midhurst, supported the resolution. she begged them, representing as they did the liberal principles of all england, to give it their hearty support. this was a continuation of the struggle in which liberals had taken part during the last fifty years, and she trusted they would be true to their principles. mrs. helen bright clark, the daughter of mr. john bright, m. p., who had been appointed delegate from one of the few liberal associations which comprise women among their members, said: there was in this country a considerable and increasing number of earnest women of strong liberal convictions, who felt keenly the total exclusion of their sex from the parliamentary suffrage. their hope was, of course, in the liberal party, though all of its members were not yet converted to true liberalism. the liberal women would not rest satisfied until there was throughout the united kingdom a real and honest household suffrage. they knew that they were weak in the cabinet, and they regretted to know that some of the most eminent leaders of the liberal party were not in this matter wholly their friends. these leaders had fears which she thought the future would show to have been unfounded. but she could venture to say on behalf of the liberal women of england that they were not unmindful of the past, and were not ungrateful for the services which these men rendered and were prepared to render to their country. women were grateful. they sympathized with the efforts of liberal statesmen in the past, and they knew how faithfully and loyally to follow. but they felt that they must sometimes originate for themselves, and they dared not blindly and with absolute faith follow any man, however great or however justly and deeply beloved. further, she could say that, with the result of the high political teaching they had had in the past, they would endeavor faithfully, intelligently and with what ability was given to them, to uphold those great principles of justice, and trust in the people which she believed had made the liberal party what it was, and which alone were capable of lifting it to the highest triumphs in the future. there were enthusiastic cheers when mrs. clark had finished speaking. the historical interest, the self-evident justice of the plea brought forward by the daughters of the great reform leaders on behalf of the continuance of the grand cause of freedom for which their fathers had so bravely battled, went to the hearts of the crowded assembly. delegates who had come determined to vote against the resolution--the "monstrous political fad," as one of our opponents in parliament had called it--said, almost with tears in their eyes, "we can't vote against the daughters of bright and cobden," and when the resolution with the rider was put, a forest of hands went up in its support, and in that vast crowd there were only about thirty dissentients. the following evening miss jane cobden and mrs. scatcherd addressed an open-air meeting of , men who could not gain access to victoria hall, where john bright was speaking on the franchise for men, and a unanimous cheer was given in favor of women's suffrage. this was only the beginning of the autumn campaign among the liberal associations. the general committee of the edinburgh united liberal association met on november , , in the oddfellows' hall (no. ), forrest road, edinburgh, to consider the questions of the local government board (scotland) bill, the equalization of the burgh and county franchise, and the extension of the parliamentary vote to women householders. after the two first subjects had been considered, the following resolution, moved by ex-bailie lewis, was adopted: _resolved_, that this meeting regards the extension of the parliamentary franchise to female householders as just and reasonable, and would hail with satisfaction the introduction of a government measure which would confer the parliamentary franchise upon all female householders, whether resident in counties or burghs. november , a meeting of the general council of the manchester liberal association was held in the memorial hall to consider the resolutions passed at the leeds conference. mr. j. a. beith presided. mr. j. w. southern moved the following resolution: _resolved_, that in order to meet the just expectation of the country and to fulfill the pledges given at the last general election, this council is of opinion that a measure for the extension of the franchise should confer on householders and lodgers in the counties the same electoral rights as those enjoyed by householders and lodgers in parliamentary boroughs, and should extend to ireland the franchise enjoyed by great britain; and that, in the opinion of this meeting, any measure for the extension of the suffrage should confer the franchise upon women who, possessing the qualifications which should entitle men to vote, have now the right of voting in all matters of local government. an amendment to strike out the portion relating to women having been rejected, the resolution was carried unanimously. november , the sixth annual meeting of the national liberal association was held at bristol. here also one or two ladies were present as delegates. after a resolution affirming the urgency of the question of parliamentary reform had been passed, mr. lewis fry, m. p., moved: _resolved_, that in the opinion of this meeting any measure for the extension of the suffrage should confer the franchise upon women who, possessing the qualifications which entitle men to vote, have now the right of voting in all matters of local government. the resolution was seconded by dr. caldicott, supported in excellent speeches by mrs. walter mclaren and mrs. ashworth hallett, and carried by a majority of five. many other liberal associations of less importance, during the autumn, affirmed the principle of women's suffrage. all the political associations in ulster, both conservative and liberal, either formally or informally signified their acceptance of the principle. in the progress of the movement it was very encouraging to see so many brave women[ ] of ability crowding our platform, conscientiously devoting their time, talents and money to this sacred cause, ready and able to fill the vacant places that time must make in our ranks. the year opened with good hopes. there was the immediate prospect of a reform bill, intended so to widen the representation of the people as to fix it on a satisfactory basis for another generation at least. the time seemed opportune for the attainment of women's suffrage. there had been repeated proof that the majority of the liberal party in the country admit the justice of their claims; there were renewed promises of support on the part of members of parliament of all shades of political opinion. many times the claims of women for the franchise have been set aside by the assertion that so important a privilege could not be granted till the time came for the general re-settlement of the question. that time appeared to have come. a considerable extension of the suffrage was to be granted, so as to include another , , of unenfranchised men; what better time to recognize the claims of women who already possessed the qualifications of property or residence which alone in england give the vote? a few persons expected that the government reform bill would contain a clause relating to women, but this expectation was not generally shared. it was well known that strong differences of opinion existed in the cabinet which would render it well-nigh impossible for the government to introduce the question as one of their own; and though there may have been disappointment, there was no great surprise when the franchise bill, on its introduction, was found to contain no reference to women. meanwhile there had been a change in the leadership of the movement. mr. hugh mason having intimated his intention to resign the conduct of the measure, mr. william woodall, member of parliament for stoke-on-trent, consented to take charge of it. a conference of friendly members of parliament was held in the house of commons on february , and it was then agreed that should the government franchise bill not extend to women, an amendment with the object of including them should be moved at some stage of the discussion in the house of commons. mr. woodall agreed to take charge of this amendment. on february , mr. gladstone moved in the house of commons for leave to bring in a bill to amend the representation of the people. the forms of the house did not admit of mr. woodall's amendment being placed on the notice-paper until after the second reading of the bill, but during the adjourned debate on the second reading he found an opportunity to announce that he would move his proposed clause while the house was in committee on the bill. he remarked that the fundamental principle of the bill as it was described by the prime minister was to give a vote to every household, but as there was no provision for giving the franchise to such householders if they happened to be women, he intended to propose the insertion of a clause to remedy this omission. the clause was: for all purposes connected with and having reference to the right of voting in the election of members of parliament, words in the representation of the people acts importing the masculine gender include women. a careful analysis of the opinions of members of the house of commons gave every promise that such an amendment might be successful. the views of out of the entire number were known, while had never expressed an opinion, about one-third of these being new members. of those whose opinions were known, , or a majority, had expressed themselves in favor of women's suffrage, had expressed themselves against it. the preponderance of support had hitherto always been among the liberal ranks, for though the leaders of the conservative party had given the principle their hearty approval, their example had not been followed by their partisans. it appeared probable therefore that, if the government held itself neutral on the occasion and permitted fair play, the amendment would be carried mainly by means of their own friends. during the spring, meetings of considerable importance were held in the country. the first was at edinburgh on march . it was a demonstration of women inferior in no respect to those we have had occasion to chronicle of former years. no more imposing assemblage for a political object had ever been seen in edinburgh. the largest hall in the city--that of the united presbyterian synod--was crowded to the doors, and an overflow meeting was held in the presbytery hall. banners were hung above the platform and a roll inscribed with the names of the principal supporters of the movement was conspicuously displayed.[ ] lady harberton occupied the chair and was accompanied by the delegates.[ ] letters[ ] of sympathy were read by miss wigham, the secretary. lady harberton said: if our legislators say taxation and representation should go together, it is right that they should give expression to this opinion fairly and openly, and at all times and seasons insist upon it that those women who are ratepayers and who are in fact heads of households, ought not to be excluded from the privilege of voting for a member to represent them in the house of commons. this is no question of women usurping the place of men or any trivialities of that kind; it is a much more serious matter. the exclusion of women from the right to representation has already led to laws being passed about them and their interests, that i do not hesitate to call a disgrace to humanity. [cheers.] that they are not more commonly recognized as such is due, i think, to two causes. one thing is that women of the upper classes, who are usually wealthy, are able by the aid of money so to hedge themselves around with barriers to oppose the inconveniences placed upon women by the laws, that they very often do not feel them so much; while women of the classes who are not wealthy are so crushed and oppressed by the working of these laws that they are unable to take the first step, which is agitation, towards getting them altered or repealed. [cheers.] it often seems to me that another reason why women themselves are not more enthusiastic upon this question of the franchise is, that from their earliest childhood they are taught that the first duty of women is unselfishness, the putting of their own interests and wishes behind those of others. any discussion of this great question only brings forth hysterical clamor that "women should stay at home"--with a very big "h." [laughter and cheers.] well, i have been examining a little into the conduct of those ladies who do stay at home so much, and what do i find? why, that they rush about and seem like the changing colors of the kaleidoscope, now collecting at a bazaar, anon singing at a concert, with no end of publicity [cheers], but as long as no rational object is promoted by their action, it is all counted as staying quietly home in the nursery, whether they have children or not. that is their notion of being "thoroughly domesticated." [laughter.] now, much as i could wish myself that men had done their duty and agitated for us, in this case it is an undeniable fact that they have not shown that readiness, i may say eagerness, to begin that one could have wished; it therefore changes at once into one of those duties men have not seen their way to do, and so becomes of necessity women's work. a series of meetings[ ] after this was held in bath, newcastle and london. the audiences heartily concurred with the speakers that the time when a reform bill was before parliament was the fittest and most opportune moment in which to press forward the claim of women to representation. we may observe once again with pride, how hearty and cheering have always been the sympathy and assistance that men have rendered to women in this movement in england. at no time has there been a possibility of a feeling of bitterness between the sexes or a conviction that their interests were antagonistic, for the plain reason that there have always been men working side by side with women. our suffrage meetings have been attended and supported by political leaders, members of parliament, town councils or prominent movers among the working-class associations. except in the great demonstrations, which for special reasons were confined exclusively to women, our movement has formed part of the ordinary political life of the country. the _suffrage journal_ for may contains a very carefully drawn calculation of the number of women in the united kingdom who will probably receive the franchise if the wider qualifications contained in the present franchise bill become law. it must be remembered that there are now , , more houses than electors in the british isles. in boroughs where household suffrage already prevails for men, the unrepresented houses should guide us to a tolerably correct estimate of the number of women householders. we may say that practically there are , houses in the boroughs of england and wales, whose inhabitant in each case being a woman, is unrepresented. the proportion varies much in different localities; in the city of bath one-fourth the householders are women. if we calculate that one house in every six in the boroughs is occupied by a woman, we find that , is the probable number to be enfranchised there. for the counties there are no means of arriving at so close a result, but by estimating the proportion of women householders to be the same as that of women land-owners, or one in seven, we reach the fairly approximate calculation of , , in the counties. the same method of calculation applies to scotland and to ireland, where, however, the proportion of woman land-owners is one in eight.[ ] in order to show that the desire for the suffrage was not confined to any one rank, class or profession of women, a circular was signed by a large number of ladies and sent to every member of both houses of parliament. it was as follows: sir: we desire to call your attention to the claim of women who are heads of households to be included in the operation of the government franchise bill. women have continuously presented this claim before parliament and the country since the reform bill of . the introduction of a measure declared by the government to be intended to deal with the franchise in an exhaustive manner, renders it especially necessary now to urge it upon the attention of parliament. we respectfully represent that the claim of duly qualified women for admission within the pale of the constitution is fully as pressing as that of the agricultural laborer, and that the body of electors who would thereby be added to the constituencies, would be at least equal in general and political intelligence to the great body of agricultural and other laborers who are to be enfranchised by the government bill. among this body would be found women land-owners, who form one-seventh of the land proprietors of the country; women of means and position living on their own property; schoolmistresses and other teachers; women engaged in professional, literary and artistic pursuits; women farmers, merchants, manufacturers and shopkeepers; besides large numbers of self-supporting women engaged in industrial occupations. the continued exclusion of so large a proportion of the property, industry and intelligence of the country from all representation in the legislature is injurious to those excluded, and to the community at large. several bills having special reference to the interests and _status_ of women have been introduced in parliament during the present session. this affords a powerful reason for the immediate enfranchisement of women, in order that members of parliament may have the same sense of responsibility towards the class affected by them whether dealing with questions relating to women or to men. for these and other reasons we earnestly beg that you will give your support to the amendment to be introduced by mr. woodall in committee on the representation of the people bill for including women householders in its operation. we are, sir, yours faithfully,[ ] in this circular women of all opinions were represented, but a special circular, signed only by ladies of conservative views, was sent to the conservative associations. these ladies pointed out that justice to women themselves, and the welfare of the whole community are involved in the admission of the women householders who at this moment are possessed of the existing statutory qualifications: to bring in a new class, under new conditions, whilst continuing to exclude those who fulfill the present conditions, would be very injurious to those excluded and set a wrong example before the community. every enlargement of the electoral franchise for men which can now take place necessarily includes many whose interests in the country cannot equal those of the women who now claim it. their position is already recognized by their possession of every local franchise whatsoever. justice requires that the principle should be fully carried out by extending to women the right to vote for members of parliament, whose legislation so strongly affects their welfare. prudence also requires that an important class of educated and philanthropic persons should not be left out, or their claims postponed, when a large addition is likely to be made to the less educated portion of the electorate. we most seriously believe that few things could happen more dangerous for the real happiness of the nation than to permit the opportunity to pass without the admission of legally qualified women within the circle of the constitution. a correspondence also was conducted with mr. gladstone by the bristol ladies' liberal association and others whom they invited to join them, of known liberal views, urging him to receive a delegation and praying that it may not in the future be said that women alone were unworthy of any measure of confidence which you so rightly extended even to the humblest and most ignorant men. mr. gladstone declined to receive the deputation, partly on the ground of illness, partly lest the admission of their views might interfere with his plans for the bill. so the day of battle drew on, when a rumor began to be circulated that the government intended to oppose mr. woodall's clause, on the ground that its admission might endanger the bill. strenuous efforts were at the same time made to induce him to withdraw the amendment, and the government whips plainly intimated that the question would not be considered an open one, on which members were to be free to vote according to their convictions, but as one which the government had made up their minds to oppose. with the hope of changing this determination a memorial was signed by seventy-seven members of parliament, and presented to mr. gladstone, asking him to leave the introduction of the clause an open question. it represented-- that the franchise bill being now in committee a favorable opportunity is afforded for the discussion of the amendment for extending its provisions to women, of which notice has been given by mr. woodall. that your memorialists have heard a rumor that her majesty's government have declared against allowing the question to be discussed and decided on its merits, on the ground that the adoption of the proposal might endanger the bill. that your memorialists are of the opinion that the claim of women who are householders and ratepayers is just and reasonable, and that the time when the house is engaged in amending the law relating to the representation of the people is the proper time for the consideration of this claim. that during the discussion in committee on the reform bill of , an amendment for extending its provisions to women was introduced by mr. john stuart mill, and that on that occasion the government of the day offered no opposition to the full and free discussion of the question, and placed no restriction on the free exercise of the judgment of members of their party as to the manner in which they should vote. the tellers appointed against mr. mill's motion were not even the government tellers. that your memorialists earnestly pray that the precedent so instituted may be followed on the present occasion, and that the clause proposed by mr. woodall may be submitted to the free and unbiased decision of the house on its own merits. they desire earnestly to express their conviction that the course of allowing the question to be an open one, on which the government is prepared to accept the decision of the house, cannot possibly endanger or prejudice the franchise bill. in connection with this your memorialists would press on your attention the fact that mr. woodall's amendment is in the form of a new clause, and would not therefore come under discussion until the bill as it stands has passed through committee. this request was refused. on june , such unexpected progress was made by the committee of the house of commons with the franchise bill that all the government clauses were carried. there were many amendments on the paper which took precedence of mr. woodall's, but these were hastily gone through or withdrawn, and in the middle of the morning sitting of june , he rose and moved the introduction of his clause. mr. woodall's speech was a masterpiece of earnest but temperate reasoning. he was fortunate enough to present an old and well-worn subject in new lights. he said that mr. gladstone had affirmed the principle of the measure to be to give every householder a vote, and it would now be his endeavor to pursuade parliament that women were capable citizens, who would meet all the conditions so clearly laid down by the prime minister. against the charge of inopportunity in bringing the subject forward at this crisis, he reminded the house of mr. chamberlain's words on a recent occasion, that it was always opportune to do right. mr. gladstone said there were two questions to be considered. one of these was the question whether women were to be enfranchised, the other whether the enfranchisement should be effected by a clause introduced in committee on the present bill. the second question was that on which he was about to dwell. he deprecated the introduction of new matter into the bill. the cargo which the vessel carried was, in the opinion of the government, as large as she could carry safely. the proposal was a very large one. it did not seem unreasonable to believe that the number of persons in the three kingdoms to be enfranchised by the amendment would be little short of half a million. what was the position in which mr. woodall placed the government when he requested them to introduce a completely new subject on which men profoundly differed, and which, it was clear, should receive a full and dispassioned investigation? it was not now practicable to give that investigation. this was one of those questions which it would be intolerable to mix up with purely political and party debates. if there was a subject in the whole compass of human life and experience that was sacred beyond all other subjects it was the character and position of woman. did his honorable friend ask him to admit that the question deserved the fullest consideration? he gave him that admission freely. did he ask whether he (mr. gladstone) wished to bind the members of the government or his colleagues in the cabinet with respect to the votes they would give on this question? certainly not, provided only that they took the subject from the vortex of political contention. he was bound to say, whilst thus free and open on the subject itself, that with regard to the proposal to introduce it into this bill he offered it the strongest opposition in his power, and must disclaim and renounce all responsibility for the measure should mr. woodall succeed in inducing the committee to adopt his amendment. on motion of lord john manners the debate was adjourned till june . on the intervening day a meeting was summoned of the general committee of the society. miss cobbe first, and mr. woodall subsequently, presided, and the following resolutions were passed: _resolved_, that the claim of duly qualified women to the exercise of the suffrage having been continuously presented before parliament and the country since the reform bill of , this meeting is of opinion that the time when the legislature is again engaged in amending the law relating to the representation of the people is the proper time for the consideration of this claim. _resolved_, that this meeting heartily approves of the amendment which mr. woodall has moved in committee on the franchise bill for extending its provisions to duly qualified women, and pledge themselves to support his action by every means in their power. _resolved_, that they have heard with astonishment that her majesty's government refuse to allow this amendment to be discussed on its merits and to be decided by the free exercise of the judgment of members of the house of commons, but that the government require their supporters to refrain from such free exercise of their judgment on the alleged ground that the adoption of the proposal would endanger the franchise bill. _resolved_, that in the opinion of this meeting the exercise of such pressure appears to be an infringement of the privileges of a free parliament and an aggression on the rights of the people. they hold that all sections of the community, whether electors or non-electors, have an indefeasible right to have matters affecting their interests submitted to the unbiased judgment, and decided by the unfettered discretion of the members sent to represent them in parliament. _resolved_, that a declaration signed by liberal members of the house of commons was presented last session to mr. gladstone which set forth that, in the opinion of the memorialists, no measure for the assimilation of the borough and county franchise could be satisfactory unless it contained provisions for extending the suffrage, without distinction of sex, to all persons who possess the statutory qualifications for the parliamentary franchise. _resolved_, that this meeting calls upon those who signed this declaration, and all other members who believe that the claim of duly qualified women to the parliamentary franchise is reasonable and just, to support the clause moved by mr. woodall, in committee on the franchise bill, for extending its provisions to such women. _resolved_, that a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to mr. gladstone and to every member of parliament. _resolved_, that petitions to both houses of parliament in support of mr. woodall's clause be adopted and signed by the chairman on behalf of this meeting. some members of parliament who attended this meeting explained that though they were as firmly convinced as ever of the justice of the claim, they could not vote for it after mr. gladstone's distinct declaration that he would abandon the bill if the amendment were passed. on june lord john manners resumed the debate. he said: that although this proposal had never been of a party character, it had always been a political question. there was no question connected with the franchise which had been more thoroughly discussed, threshed and sifted. guided by every consideration of justice and fairness, of equity, of analogy and experience, he should give it his cordial and unhesitating support. the next speech of importance was mr. stansfeld's. he maintained that the acceptance of the clause by the government would have strengthened rather than weakened the bill, and that its insertion certainly would not have rendered the bill less palatable to the house of lords: the principle of this bill is household suffrage. household suffrage is one of two things--it is either put as a rough test of capable citizenship, or else it means what i will call the family vote. the women to be enfranchised under this clause would be first of all women of property, intelligence and education, having a status in the country; secondly a large class of women of exceptional competency, because having lost the services and support of men who should be the bread-winners and the heads of families, they are obliged to step into their shoes and to take upon themselves the burdens and responsibilities which had previously devolved upon men, and because they have done this with success. i decline either by word or deed to make the admission that these women are less capable citizens than the , , whom the right honorable gentleman proposes to enfranchise by this bill. well, then, let it be the family vote--that is to say, exceptions apart, let the basis of our constitution be that the family, represented by its head, should be the unit of the state. now that is the idea which recommends and has always recommended itself to my mind. but on what principle, or with what regard to the permanence and stability of that principle, can you exclude the head of the family and give that family no voice, because the head happens to be a woman? if this clause be excluded from the measure, as it will be, this will not be a bill of one principle, but of two principles. it will not be a bill containing only the principle of household suffrage interpreted as the family vote, but one founded on these two principles--first, a male householding vote; and, secondly, the exclusion of the head of the household when the head is a woman. that is a permanent principle of exclusion, and therefore the bill with this clause left out is a declaration for ever against the political emancipation of women. after some speeches against the motion colonel king-harman said: in the old state of the franchise it was not so much a matter of importance to women whether they possessed votes or not, but now that this bill proposed to create two million new voters of a much lower order than those now exercising the franchise, it became of importance to secure some countervailing advantage. they were told this was a matter which could wait. what were the women to gain by waiting? they had waited for seventeen years during which the subject had been discussed, and now they were told to wait till two million of the common orders had been admitted to a share in the parliamentary management of the country. the honorable member for huddersfield (mr. leatham) had used an argument which he (colonel king-harman) thought a most unworthy one, namely, that the franchise was not to be extended to women, because, unhappily, there are women of a degraded and debased class. because there were , of them in this metropolis alone, the remaining women who were pure and virtuous were to be deprived of the power of voting. but would mr. leatham guarantee that the , , men he proposes to enfranchise shall be perfectly pure and moral men? would he propose a clause to exclude from the franchise those men who lead and retain in vice and degradation these unfortunate women? no--men may sin and be a power in the state, but when a woman sins not only is she to have no power, but her whole sisterhood are to be excluded from it. he believed that every idea of common sense pointed to the desirability of supporting the amendment, and he therefore had great pleasure in doing so. there were also excellent speeches from mr. cowen (newcastle), general alexander, sir wilfred lawson and mr. story, and finally from sir stafford northcote the leader of the conservative opposition. he observed: that the prime minister had told them that they did not consider this clause to be properly introduced now, because this was not the time for the question. it seemed to him, on the contrary, that it was the very best opportunity for dealing with it, because they were going enormously to increase the electorate, and would, therefore, make the inequality between men and women much greater than it was before. it would be said they were going to extend the property franchise if this amendment were carried. on that issue they were prepared to join and to maintain that it was a right thing, and it was the duty of that house to make proper provision for those classes of property holders now without a vote. members who had canvassed boroughs would remember that after going into two or three shops and asking for the votes of those who were owners, they have come to one perhaps of the most important shops and have been told, "oh, it is of no use going in, there is no vote there." such women are probably of education and gentle character, and perhaps live as widows and take care of their families; they have every right to be consulted as to who should be the man to represent the constituency in which they lived and to take care of their interests and the interests of those dependent on them. that was the ground on which lord beaconsfield stood. they had adhered to that ground for several years, and there they stood now. the division took place at a late hour with the result that the clause was defeated by votes to , being a majority against it of , or two to one. but though such a vote would have been a sore discouragement if it had represented the real opinion of the house, on the present occasion it meant little if anything. the government had sent out a "five-line" whip for its supporters, and so effective had this whip been, combined with mr. gladstone's assertion that he would give up the responsibility of the bill if the clause were carried, that liberals and home rulers, known to be supporters of our cause, voted with the government, even mr. hugh mason being among this number, while liberals and home rulers, also friends of ours, were absent from the division. we may safely assume that had the government more wisely left it an open question, upon which members were free to vote according to their consciences, our defeat would have been turned into a victory. on the other hand while our liberal friends thus voted against the amendment or abstained from voting, the bulk of our supporters in this division were conservatives, a circumstance unknown in the previous history of the movement. an important conference of friends and supporters was held the next morning in the westminster palace hotel at which mr. stansfeld presided. to use miss tod's words: never had a defeated army met in a more victorious mood. there was much indeed to encourage in the degree of importance to which the question had attained. it had risen from a purely speculative into a pressing political question; it had been debated during two days, and it was heartily supported by the conservative leader. the speeches at the conference were animated and full of hope for the future. mr. stansfeld congratulated the meeting on having made a new departure; their question had become one of practical politics, and they had now to address themselves in all the constituencies to the political organizations. a magnificent meeting was held in st. james hall the following week. the hall was densely crowded in every part, and an overflow meeting was arranged for those unable to gain admission. some of the speakers[ ] proposed as the best measure for agitation, a determined resistance against taxation.[ ] repeated attempts to obtain a day for the debate and division were followed by repeated disappointments. the session commenced in november, . mr. woodall at once gave notice of a bill. in presenting it to the house, he concluded after consultation with parliamentary friends, to add a clause defining the action of his bill to be limited to unmarried women and widows.[ ] the enacting clause of the bill was as follows: for all purposes of and incidental to the voting for members to serve in parliament, women shall have the same rights as men, and all enactments relating to or concerned in such elections shall be construed accordingly, provided that nothing in this act shall enable women under coverture to be registered or to vote at such elections. the addition of this clause excited much discussion. those in favor of it argued that this limitation would certainly be imposed in committee of the house, which though it was in all probability prepared to give the vote to women possessed of independence, dreaded the extension of faggot votes which would have been the almost inevitable consequence of admitting married women; while the result would be the same whether the limitation clause was introduced by the promoters of the bill or by a parliamentary committee, and it would be more likely to obtain support at the second reading if its intentions were made clear in the beginning. on the other hand it was argued that the principle of giving the vote to women in the same degree that it was given to men, was the basis upon which the whole agitation rested; that marriage was no disqualification to men, and therefore should not prove so to women; and that, though it might be necessary to accept a limitation by parliament, it was not right for the society to lower its standard by proposing a compromise. this divergence in the views of the supporters of the movement was the cause of much discussion in the public press and elsewhere, and unfortunately resulted in the abstention of some of the oldest friends of the cause from working in support of this particular bill, although it was admitted on all sides that if a day could be obtained its chances in a division were very good. the bill was introduced on november , , and its opponents took the unprecedented course of challenging a division at this stage. leave was however given to bring it in, and the second reading was set down for november , and then for december ; on each occasion it was postponed owing to the adjournment of the house. it was next set down for wednesday, march , but its chance was again destroyed by the appropriation by the government of all wednesdays for the seats bill. mr. woodall then fixed on june , but before that time the ministerial crisis occurred, and when that day arrived the house had been adjourned for the reëlections consequent upon a change of government. he then obtained the first place on wednesday, july , but again ministers appropriated wednesdays, and all chances for the session being over, mr. woodall gave order to discharge the bill. this delay stands in sharp and painful contrast with the promptness with which parliament passed the medical relief bill. a clause had been inserted in the franchise bill disfranchising any man who had been in receipt of parish medical aid for himself or family. this clause caused great dissatisfaction as it was stated it would disqualify from voting a large number of laborers in the agricultural counties; parliament therefore found time amidst all the press of business and party divisions to pass the medical relief bill removing this disfranchisement from _men_, though we are repeatedly assured that nothing but the want of time prevents their fair consideration of the enfranchisement of _women_. it is another proof that there is always time for a representative government to attend to the wants of its constituents. another effort was made in the house of lords by lord denman who introduced a bill for extending the parliamentary vote to women. the committees[ ] were unaware of his intention until they read a notice of the bill in the newspapers. the enacting clause was as follows: all women, not legally disqualified, who have the same qualifications as the present and future electors for counties and divisions of counties and boroughs, shall be entitled to vote for knights of the shire for counties and divisions of counties and for boroughs, at every election. a division was taken upon it on june , just after the seats bill had been passed and the peers were about to adjourn in consequence of the change of government. many protests were made that the time was ill chosen, and some peers left the house to avoid recording their votes while others voted against it without reference to its merits as a question. the division showed in favor and against. there appears to be a strong impression that if a bill to enfranchise women were passed by the commons it would be accepted by the lords, while there is at the same time a feeling that any measure dealing with the representation of the people should originate with the commons, and not in the upper house. during the year we sustained the loss of many of the earliest friends of the movement; chief among these professor fawcett, who from the commencement of its history had given it his firm and unflinching support. his conviction that justice and freedom must gain the upper hand often caused him to take a more sanguine view of the prospect than the event has justified. he was the firm friend of women in all their recent efforts, and helped them to obtain employment in the civil service, to enter the medical profession, to open the universities, and in many other ways. next to be mentioned is the death of mrs. stansfeld. she was the daughter of mr. william h. ashurst, who was a staunch advocate of freedom and may be remembered as the first english friend of william l. garrison. she had been a member of the suffrage committee in london for more than sixteen years, and gave unfailing sympathy to all the efforts made by her noble husband, james stansfeld, in behalf of the rights of humanity. this year has also been saddened by the death of mrs. ronald shearer, formerly helena downing, an able and true-hearted woman, who had devoted her strength and talents to the furtherance of our cause at a time when its advocates were still the objects of ridicule and attack. the electorate of three millions of men is now increased to five millions, and by this extension of the suffrage the difficulty of waging an up-hill fight in the interests of the still excluded class has also been increased. the interests of the newly represented classes will imperatively claim precedence in the new parliament. like the emancipated blacks who received the vote after the american civil war, while the women who had supported the cause of the union by their enthusiasm and their sacrifices were passed over, the miners and laborers of english counties have received the franchise for which they have never asked, in preference to the women who have worked, petitioned and organized themselves for years to secure it. women have now to appeal to this new electorate to grant that justice which the old electorate has denied them; they have to begin again the weary round of educating their new masters by appeals and arguments; they will once more see their interests "unavoidably" deferred to the interests of the represented classes; they will once again be bidden to stand aside till it is time for another reform bill to be considered! in recounting the history of woman suffrage frequent allusion has been made to the parallel movements which have been carried on through the same course of years; the most important of these have been: ( ) the admission of women to fields of public usefulness; ( ) removal of legal disabilities and hardships; ( ) admission to a better education and greater freedom of employment. much of the progress that has been made has been the work of the active friends of woman suffrage, and under the fostering care of the suffrage societies. under the first division comes the work of women on the school-boards. the education act of expressly guaranteed their right of being elected, and even in the first year several were elected. one, miss becker, in manchester, has retained her seat ever since. in london the number of lady members has greatly varied. beginning with two, miss jarrett and miss davis, in it rose to nine, but now, , has sunk again to three, miss davenport hill, mrs. westlake, and mrs. webster. taken as a whole, their influence has been very usefully exerted for the benefit of the children and the young teachers. under this head also comes women's work as poor-law guardians. the first was elected in kensington in . six years afterwards a small society to promote the election of women was founded by miss müller, and the number elected is steadily increasing. there are now in england and scotland in all forty-six. in ireland women are still debarred from this useful work. the election occurs every year, and it is one of the local franchises that women as well as men exercise. last year three ladies were appointed members of the metropolitan board which looks after london hospitals and asylums. in mr. stansford, then president of the local government board, appointed mrs. hassan session assistant inspector of work-houses, and after an interval of twelve years miss mason was appointed to the same position. women are also sometimes appointed as church wardens, overseers of the roads, and registrars of births and deaths. these are the only public offices they fill. under the second heading, the removal of legal disabilities, is included the married woman's property act, which was finally passed in , twenty-five years after it had been first brought forward in parliament by sir erskine perry. the ancient law of england transferred all property held by a woman, except land, absolutely to her husband. a step was gained in by which the money she had actually earned became her own. this was followed by frequent amendments, sometimes in scotland, sometimes in england, and a comprehensive bill met with frequent vicissitudes, now in the house of lords, now in the commons. the honor of this long contest is chiefly due to mrs. jacob bright and mrs. wolstenholme elmy, whose unwearied efforts were finally crowned with success by the act of , under which the property of a married woman is absolutely secured to her as if she were single, and the power to contract and of sueing and being sued, also secured to her. the right to the custody of their own children is another point for which women are struggling. in , mr. bryce, m. p., brought in a bill to render a mother the legal guardian of her children after the father's death. this was read a second time by a vote of for, and only against. in , however, though passing the house of lords, it was postponed till too late in the commons. another important alteration in the legal condition of married women was made in . in that year mr. herschell introduced the matrimonial causes act to remedy a gross injustice in the divorce law, and lord pensance inserted a clause which provided that if a woman were brutally ill-treated by her husband, a magistrate might order a separate maintenance for her and assign her the care of her children. it is no secret that the original drafting of this clause was due to miss frances power cobbe. the long struggle which is not yet terminated against the infamous contagious diseases acts belongs to this division of work. the acts were passed in , ' , and for many years were supported by an overpowering majority of the house of commons. mr. stansfeld, who has always been the supporter of every movement advancing the influence of women, has been the leader of this agitation. mrs. josephine butler, mrs. stewart of ougar, and latterly mrs. ormiston chant, have been the most untiring speakers on this question. on april , , mr. stansfeld carried a resolution by a vote of against for the abolition of the acts, since which time the acts have been suspended, but we must look to the new parliament for their total repeal. the criminal-law amendment act was the great triumph of . it had been postponed session after session, but the bold denunciation of mr. stead, editor of the _pall mall gazette_, finally roused the national conscience, and now a larger measure of protection is afforded to young girls than has ever been known before. of the successive steps by which colleges have been founded for women, and the universities opened to them, it is impossible to give any record. the london university and the royal university of ireland, recognize fully the equality of women; nine ladies secured the b. a. diploma from the latter university in , and nine more in . oxford and cambridge extend their examinations to women. the victoria university acknowledges their claim to examination. the london school of medicine gives a first rate education to women (there are this session), and the royal college of surgeons, dublin, admits them to its classes. there are now about ladies who are registered as medical practitioners. one of them, miss edith stone, was appointed by mr. fawcett medical superintendent of the female staff at the general post-office, london. the success of the movement for supplying women as physicians for the vast indian empire has attained remarkable success during the last two years. footnotes: [ ] this was called out by the movement in america. a report of a convention held in worcester, mass., published in the new york _tribune_, fell into the hands of mrs. taylor and aroused her to active thought on the question. she comments on a very able series of resolutions passed at this convention, in which such men as emerson, parker, channing, garrison and phillips took part.--[editors. [ ] _council of the association_--mrs. s. turner, mrs. s. bartholomew, mrs. e. stephenson, mrs. m. whalley, mrs. e. rooke, mrs. e. wade, mrs. c. ash, president _pro tem._, mrs. e. cavill, treasurer, mrs. m. brook, financial-secretary, mrs. a. higginbottom, corresponding secretary. [ ] mrs. biggs, anna knight, mrs. hugo reid and many other english women were roused to white heat on this question, by the exclusion of women as delegates from the world's anti-slavery convention held in london in . that was the first pronounced public discussion, lasting one entire day, on the whole question of woman's rights that ever took place in england, and as the arguments were reproduced in the leading journals and discussed at every fireside, a grand educational work was inaugurated at that time. the american delegates spent several months in england--lucretia mott speaking at many points. she occupied the unitarian pulpit in london and elsewhere. as mrs. hugo reid sat in this convention throughout the proceedings and met lucretia mott socially on several occasions, we may credit her outspoken opinions, in , in a measure to these influences.--[editors. [ ] the committee as at first formed, consisted of the following persons: the very rev. the dean of canterbury, dr. alford, miss jessie boucherett, professor cairnes, rev. w. l. clay, miss davies, the originator of girton college, lady goldsmid, mr. g. w. hastings, mr. james heywood, mrs. knox, miss manning, and mrs. hensleigh wedgwood. mrs. peter a. taylor was treasurer, and mrs. j. w. smith, _nee_ miss garrett, honorary secretary. a few months later mrs. smith's death left this post vacant, and mrs. p. a. taylor then assumed the office of secretary which she retained with the aid of miss caroline ashurst biggs till . no one else could have rendered such services to our movement while it was in its infancy as mrs. taylor gave. her gentle and dignified presence, her untiring energy, the experience of organization and public life which she already possessed, her influence with an extended circle of friends chosen from among the most liberal thinkers of the nation, secured at once attention and respect for any cause she took up. many years before she had worked hard for the association of the friends of italy, and on the breaking out of the american civil war her sympathies and practical knowledge led her to found a society for assisting the freedmen. in acknowledgment of the invaluable assistance she rendered, her friends in america sent a book containing a complete set of photographs of all the chief anti-slavery workers. when she began her efforts for women's suffrage, the english abolitionists were among the first correspondents to whom she applied, and they nearly all responded cordially. for years her house, aubrey house, kensington, was the centre of the london organization to which she gave her time, strength, and money, well earning the title of "mother of the movement," which loving friends have since bestowed. [ ] in , petitions, signed by , persons; in , petitions, signed by , persons; in , petitions, signed by , persons ( of these petitions were from public meetings and signed only by the chairman, or from town councils and sealed with the official seal); in , petitions with , signatures; in , petitions, with , signatures; in , , petitions with , signatures; and in , , petitions were sent in containing , signatures. [ ] this lady, sister of john and jacob bright, and wife of the senior member for edinburgh, mr. duncan mclaren, so much esteemed that he was sometimes spoken of as the "member for scotland," unites in her own person all the requisites for a leader of the movement. she has the charm and dignified grace so generally found among quaker ladies, and the pathetic eloquence which belong to her family. she is clear-sighted in planning action, and enthusiastic and warm-hearted in carrying it out, and for the past sixteen years the movement in scotland has centered around her. [ ] mr. thomas hare, mr. boyd kinnear, mr. mill, who was no longer in parliament, the rev. charles kingsley (this was the first and only meeting at which he was present), prof. fawcett, m. p. and mrs. fawcett, lord houghton, mr. john morley, sir charles w. dilke, bt. m. p., mr. p. a. taylor, m. p., professor masson of edinburgh, and mr. stamfeld, m. p. [ ] mrs. penington, mr. hopwood, q. c. and professor amos were honorary secretaries the first year, and succeeding them miss c. a. biggs and miss agnes garrett. the principal committees united with the central, including bristol, birmingham, manchester, edinburgh, dublin and the north of ireland. [ ] minutes of a meeting at the house of commons, june , . present: the right honorable e. p. bouverie, in the chair; and the following members of parliament: right hon. h. c. childers, marquis of hamilton, lord randolph churchill, hon. e. stanhope, mr. bentinck, mr. beresford hope, mr. chaplin, mr. hayter, sir henry holland, sir henry james, mr. kay shuttleworth, mr. edward leatham, mr. merewether, mr. newdegate, mr. raikes, mr. de rothschild, mr. scousfield, mr. whitbread. _resolved_, that a committee of peers, members of parliament and other influential men be organized for the purpose of maintaining the integrity of the franchise, in opposition to the claims for the extension of the parliamentary suffrage to women. _resolved_, that mr. e. p. bouverie be requested to act as chairman, and lord claud john hamilton and mr. kay shuttleworth as honorary secretaries. the following members have since joined those named above: lord elcho, right hon. e. knatchbull-hugessen, right hon. j. r. mowbray, sir thomas bazley, mr. butt, mr. gibson and colonel kingscote. [ ] we must mention the names of the ladies who during the previous two or three years had been most active in speaking and organizing societies. so many meetings had been held that there was hardly a town of any importance in england, ireland or scotland where the principles of woman suffrage had not been explained and canvassed. one of the foremost for her activity in this department of work was miss mary beedy, an american lady, resident for some years in england. she had thoroughly mastered the legal and political condition of the question in this country, and her untiring energy, her clear common sense, and her ready logic made her advocacy invaluable. the regret was general when she was compelled to return to america. miss helena downing, niece of mr. mccarthy downing, member of parliament for cork, arranged and gave many lectures during and . miss. lillias ashworth, honorary secretary of the bristol committee, frequently spoke at meetings about this time. in scotland miss jane taylour and others still continued their indefatigable labors, in which they were frequently assisted by miss isabella stuart of balgonie in fifeshire. in ireland, in addition to the usual meetings in the north, a series of meetings in the south was undertaken by miss tod, miss beedy and miss downing. other meetings were addressed by miss fawcett, miss becker, miss caroline biggs, miss eliza sturge, miss rhoda garrett, mrs. fenwick-miller and many others. during mrs. henry kingsley, sister-in-law of one novelist and wife of another, also spoke frequently. space fails me to do justice to the varied powers of the speakers who have carried our movement on during these years of patient perseverance; to the clear logic and convincing power of mrs. fawcett's speeches; to the thrilling eloquence of her cousin, rhoda garrett, now, alas! no longer with us; to miss becker's accurate legal knowledge and masterly presentation of facts and arguments; to miss helena downing's eloquence marked by the humor, pathos and power which were hers by national inheritance. during these years of trial, too, the cause owed much to the strenuous advocacy of the misses ashworth, anne frances and lillias sophia, nieces of jacob bright. miss ashworth did not herself speak at meetings, but she comforted and helped those who did, while lillias possessed the family gift of eloquence and charmed her audience by her witty, forcible and telling speeches. so numerous and so well attended have been these meetings during these and subsequent years, that it is impossible to exonerate men and women from the charge of willful blindness if they still misconstrue the plain facts of the question. [ ] first in the list came six ladies, members of school-boards: mrs. buckton of leeds, miss helena richardson of bristol, mrs. surr, mrs. westlake, mrs. fenwick miller and miss helen taylor, london; then followed the opinions of ladies who were guardians of the poor. forty ladies known as authoresses or painters came next on the list; among these were mrs. allingham, mrs. cowden clarke, mrs. eiloart, mary howitt, emily pfeiffer, augusta webster. women doctors came next: dr. garrett anderson, dr. annie barker, dr. elizabeth blackwell, dr. sophia jex-blake, dr. eliza dunbar, dr. frances hoggan, dr. edith pechey; and next to the doctors came miss eliza orme, the only woman who was successfully practicing law. the section of education included the names of mrs. wm. gray, and her sister. miss shirreff, mrs. nichol (edinburgh), miss emily davies, founder of girton college, miss byers, founder of the ladies' collegiate school, belfast, mrs. crawshay and miss mary gurney. nineteen ladies, the heads of women's colleges and high-schools, next gave their reasons why they desired the suffrage. after these came ladies engaged in philanthropic work, which included the sisters rosamund and florence davenport hill, florence nightingale, miss ellice hopkins, eminent for rescue work; miss irby, well-known for her efforts among the starving bosnian fugitives; miss manning, secretary of the national indian association; mrs. southey, secretary of the women's peace association; mrs. lucas, and mrs. edward parker, president and secretary of the british women's temperance society. the opinions were various, both in kind and in length, some being only a confession of faith in a couple of lines, others a page of able reasoning. [ ] miss tod gives the spirit to each movement in ulster, which is the intellectual headquarters of ireland. she is the pioneer in all matters of reform; she is asked to speak in churches; she instigated the efforts which led to girls participating in the benefits of the irish intermediate education act, which was being restricted to boys; she has organized and has won friends and votes not only over her own district of ulster, but in many other quarters of ireland; and often when in england some indefinable torpor has crept over a meeting--as will happen at times--a few eloquent and heart-stirring words from her have been sufficient to raise the courage and revive the interest. [ ] mrs. peter a. taylor, mrs. fawcett, mrs. lucas, miss biggs, miss rhoda garrett, miss jessie boucherett, mrs. arthur arnold, miss frances power cobbe, lady harberton, mrs. pennington, miss helen taylor, step-daughter of john stuart mill, miss henrietta müller, member of the london school-board, and others. [ ] mrs. jacob bright, miss becker, mrs. scatcherd, miss corbutt, mr. steinthal, mrs. thomasson, and others. [ ] led by mrs. lillias ashworth hallett, mrs. helen bright clark, niece and daughter of john bright, mrs. beddoe, miss snyder, miss estlin, the priestman sisters, miss blackburn and miss colby, eliza sturge, mrs. ashford, mrs. matthews. mrs. ann comen and mrs. alfred osler, niece of mrs. peter taylor, are the chief birmingham and nottingham workers. [ ] lady harberton, mrs. scatcherd, mrs. ashworth hallet, mrs. josephine butler, mrs. ellis, miss eliza sturge, mrs. wellstood (edinburgh), mrs. haslam (dublin), miss becker, mrs. pearson, miss jessie craigen, miss helena downing, miss lucy wilson, mrs. nichols (edinburgh), mrs. o'brien, and in the overflow meeting mrs. lucas and miss biggs. at the close of the meeting the enthusiastic and prolonged cheering which rose from the crowd, the cordial hand-shakes of utter strangers with words of encouragement and sympathy brought tears to the eyes of many who had the privilege of being present on that occasion. [ ] mrs. mclaren occupied the chair and was accompanied by mrs. nichol, miss wigham, miss tod, mrs. charles mclaren, miss craigen, miss becker, miss beddoe, mrs. shearer (formerly miss helena downing), miss flora stevenson, mrs. wellstood, miss annie stoddart, mrs. burton and a distinguished visitor from new york, mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, who was able on this visit to england to estimate the wide difference in the position of women since the time--more than forty years before--she had been refused a seat as a delegate in the world's anti-slavery convention in london. [ ] married women's property committee.--the committee, at the time of the final meeting, november , , consisted of the following ladies and gentlemen: mrs. addey; mr. arthur arnold, m. p.; mrs. arthur arnold; mr. jacob bright, m. p.; mrs. josephine e. butler; mr. thomas chorlton; mr. l. h. courtney, m. p.; sir c. w. dilke, bart., m. p.; rev. alfred dewes, d.d., ll.d.; mrs. gell; lady goldsmid; rev. septimus hansard; mr. thomas hare; miss ida hardcastle; mrs. hodgson; mr. william malleson; mrs. moore; mr. h. n. mozley; dr. pankhurst; mrs. pankhurst; mrs. shearer; mrs. sutcliffe; mr. p. a. taylor, m. p.; mrs. p. a. taylor; mrs. venturi; miss alice wilson; miss lucy wilson; _treasurer_, mrs. jacob bright. _secretary_, mrs. wolstenholme elmy. the immediate passage of this bill was in a large measure due to mrs. jacob bright, who was unwearied in her efforts, in rolling up petitions, scattering tracts, holding meetings, and in company with her husband having private interviews with members of parliament. for ten consecutive years she gave her special attention to this bill. i had the pleasure of attending the meeting of congratulation november , and heard a very charming address from mrs. bright on the success of the measure. mr. jacob bright and other members of the committee spoke with equal effect.--[e. c. s. [ ] the contagious diseases acts. [ ] miss henrietta müller and her sister mrs. eva mclaren, mrs. ormiston chant, mrs. ashton dilke, mrs. oliver scatcherd, mrs. charles mclaren, miss florence balgarnie, miss laura whittle, florence and lillie stacpoole, miss frances lord, mrs. stanton blatch and mrs. helena downing shearer. [ ] the inscription was: "women claim equal justice with men. _the friends of women_: henry fawcett, john stuart mill, chas. cameron, jacob bright, leonard courtney, duncan mclaren, george anderson, james stansfeld, sir wilfred lawson, j.p. thomasson." [ ] mrs. buchanan, curriehill; mrs. o. scatcherd, leeds; mrs. nichol, mrs. m'laren, miss wigham, dr. a. m'laren, miss hunter, mrs. paterson, miss l. stevenson, miss f. stevenson, mrs. m'queen, mrs. hope, mrs. m. miller, miss s.s. mair, miss r. smith, miss e. kirkland, mrs. raeburn and miss a.g. wyld, edinburgh; mrs. o. chant, mrs. hodgson, bonaly; miss tod, belfast; mrs. somerville, dalkeith; mrs. forbes, loanhead; mrs. d. greig, mrs. erskine murray, miss greig, mrs. lindsay, miss barton and mrs. a. campbell, glasgow; miss simpson, miss caldwell, portobello; mrs. m'kinnel, dumfries; mrs. m'cormick, manchester; miss burton, liberton; miss balgarnie, scarborough; miss a.s. smith, gorebridge; miss drew, helensburgh; miss blair, girvan; mrs. smith, mrs. f. smith, bothwell. [ ] miss helen taylor, mrs. lucas, mrs. fawcett, london; mrs. thomasson, bolton; miss orme, miss jane cobden, miss c. a. biggs, mrs. fenwick-miller, mrs. ashton dilke, london; mrs. hallet, bath; miss becker, manchester; miss priestman, bristol; mrs. helen bright clark, street, somersetshire; miss müller, london; mrs. eva m'laren, bradford; mrs. charles m'laren, london; mrs. pochin, bodnant, conway; mrs. campbell, tilliechewan castle; mrs. charteris, edinburgh; mrs. edward caird, mrs. young, mrs. kinnear, mrs. a. b. m'grigor, glasgow; mrs. arthur, barshaw, paisley; mrs. readdie, perth; miss birrel, cupar; mrs. dunn, aberdeen; miss duncan, foxhall; miss chalmers, slateford; miss smith, linlithgow; miss macrobie, bridge of allan; mrs. ritchie, mrs. greenlees, glasgow; mrs. ord, nesbit, kelso; mrs. gordon, nairn; mrs. gerrard, aberdeen; miss stoddart, kelso; mrs. robertson, paisley; miss maitland, corstorphine. [ ] edinburgh.--the first resolution was moved by miss tod and seconded by mrs. scatcherd: _resolved_, that this meeting, whilst thanking the liberal members who signed the memorial to mr. gladstone to the effect that no measure of reform would be satisfactory which did not recognize the claims of women householders, trusts that since the bill unjustly excludes them, these members will be faithful to the convictions expressed in that memorial, and will support any amendment to the bill which has for its object the enfranchisement of duly qualified women. the second resolution, a memorial to mr. gladstone, was moved by miss flora stevenson, member of the edinburgh school-board, seconded by mrs. mclaren and supported by miss florence balgarnie and mrs. ormiston chant. the third resolution, the adoption of petitions, was moved by miss s. s. mair, a grand-niece of mrs. siddons, and mrs. lindsay of glasgow. bath, guild hall.--presided over by the mayor. among other speakers were mrs. beddoe, miss becker, mrs. jeffrey and mrs. ashworth hallet. newcastle, town hall.--followed on april , under the presidency of the mayor. the crowd was so great that an overflow meeting had to be arranged. the speakers were mrs. ashton dilke, miss tod, mrs. eva mclaren and mrs. scatcherd. the audience was largely composed of miners and working people, and the enthusiasm manifested was striking. a newcastle paper reports that this was the first occasion on which mrs. ashton dilke had appeared in public since her husband's death, and tears glistened in many eyes as the men who were his constituents welcomed her among them once more. some miners walked twelve miles to hear her and twelve miles back after the meeting, who had to go down the pit at o'clock next morning. some could not get in, and pleaded piteously for an overflow meeting. "we have come a long way to hear mistress dilke; do bring her." some women after hearing miss tod said: "she's worth hearing twice, is that," and insisted on following her to the overflow meeting. london, st. james hall.--three days later there was a great meeting presided over by sir richard temple g. c. s. i., and addressed by mr. w. summers, m. p., mrs. fawcett, the rt. hon. jas. stansfeld, m. p., mrs. charles mclaren, mr. woodall, m. p., mr. j. rankin, m. p., miss tod, mr. j. r. hollond, m. p., viscountess harberton and miss jane cobden. [ ] the result is as follows: no. of inhabited estimated no. of houses. women householders. england and wales. boroughs, , , , counties, , , , ---------- , , -------- , scotland. boroughs, , , counties, , , -------- , ------- , ireland. boroughs, , , counties, , , -------- , ------- , ------- , [ ] signed by eveline portsmouth (countess of portsmouth), e. p. verney (lady verney), florence nightingale, anne j. clough (newham college), clara e. l. rayleigh (lady rayleigh), selina hogg (lady hogg), anna swanwick, julia camperdown (countess of camperdown), mina e. holland, (mrs. john holland), (lady) dorothy nevill, millicent garrett fawcett, helen p. bright clark, jane e. cobden, elizabeth adelaide manning, m. power (lady power), louisa colthurst (dowager lady colthurst), frances e. hoggan, m. d., florence davenport hill (poor-law guardian), louisa twining (poor-law guardian), maryanne donkin (poor-law guardian), rosamond davenport hill (m. l. s. b.), mary howitt, maria g. grey, emily a. e. shireff, deborah bowring (lady bowring), emily pfeiffer, barbara l. s. bodichon, augusta webster, catherine m. buckton, frances m. buss (north london collegiate school), sophia bryant, b. sc., malvira borchardt (head mistress of devonport high school), louisa boucherett, jessie boucherett, margaret byers (ladies' collegiate school, belfast), ellice hopkins. [ ] mrs. lucas presiding, dr. garrett anderson, miss becker, miss orme, mrs. beddoe, mrs. scatcherd, mrs. eva m'laren, mrs. simcok, mrs. stanton blatch, mrs. louisa stevenson, miss balgarnie, miss müller, miss wilkinson, mrs. ashworth hallett, miss tod. [ ] miss müller's spirited protest against taxation without representation, owing to her official reputation as a member of the london school-board, attracted unusual attention. for some time she kept her doors barred against the coarse minions of the law, but ultimately they entered the house, seized her goods and carried them off to be sold at public auction, but they were bought in by friends next day. miss charlotte e. hall and miss babb have protested and resisted taxation for many years. it is probable that miss müller's example will be followed by many others next year. this quiet form of protest used to be very generally followed by members of the society of friends, and must command the sympathy of our co-workers in the united states, who date their national existence from their refusal to submit to taxation without representation.--[e. c. s. [ ] the bill was prepared and brought in by mr. woodall, mr. illingworth, mr. coleridge kennard, mr. stansfeld, mr. yorke and baron henry de worms. [ ] _central committee of the national society for women's suffrage_--mrs. ashford (birmingham), miss lydia e. becker (manchester), alfred w. bennett, esq., m. a., miss caroline ashurst biggs, miss helen blackburn, miss jessie boucherett, hon. emmeline canning, miss frances power cobbe, miss jane cobden, miss courtenay, leonard courteny, esq., m. p., mrs. cowen (nottingham), miss mabel sharman crawford, mrs. ashton dilke, hon. mrs. maurice drummond (hampstead), mrs. millicent g. fawcett, miss agnes garrett, rev. c. green (bromley), mrs. ashworth hallett (bristol), viscountess harberton, thomas hare, esq., mrs. ann maria haslam (dublin), frederick hill, esq., mrs. john hollond, mrs. frank morrison, c. h. hopwood, esq., q. c., m. p., mrs. john hullah, coleridge kennard, esq., m. p., mrs. margaret bright lucas, mrs. e. m. lynch, robert main, esq., mrs. laura pochin mclaren, mrs. eva müller mclaren (bradford), mrs. priscilla bright mclaren (edinburgh), miss henrietta müller, frederick pennington, esq., m. p., mrs. f. pennington, miss reeves, mrs. saville, miss lillie stacpole, rev. s. a. steinthal (manchester), j. s. symon, esq., miss helen taylor, sir richard temple, g. c. s. i.; j. p. thomasson, esq., m. p., mrs. katherine lucas thomasson (bolton), miss isabella m. tod (belfast), miss williams, william woodall, esq. m. p. _secretary_, miss florence balgarnie. _assistant secretary_, miss torrance. _organizing agent_, miss moore. _treasurer_, mrs. laura pochin mclaren. _office_, parliament street, london s. w. chapter lvii. continental europe.[ ] by theodore stanton. if you would know the political and moral status of a people, demand what place its women occupy.--[l. aim� martin. there is nothing, i think, which marks more decidedly the character of men or of nations, than the manner in which they treat women.--[herder. the woman question in the back-ground--in france the agitation dates from the upheaval of --international women's rights convention in paris, --mlle. hubertine auclert leads the demand for suffrage--agitation began in italy with the kingdom--concepcion arenal in spain--coëducation in portugal--germany: leipsic and berlin--austria in advance of germany--caroline svetlá of bohemia--austria unsurpassed in contradictions--marriage emancipates from tutelage in hungary--dr. henrietta jacobs of holland--dr. isala van diest of belgium--in switzerland the catholic cantons lag behind--marie goegg, the leader--sweden stands first--universities open to women in norway--associations in denmark--liberality of russia toward women--poland--the orient--turkey--jewish wives--the greek woman in turkey--the greek woman in greece--an unique episode--woman's rights in the american sense not known. the reader of the preceding pages will be sorely disappointed if he expects to find in this brief chapter a similar record of progress and reform. if, however, he looks simply for an earnest of the future, for a humble beginning of that wonderful revolution in favor of women which has occurred in the united states, and to a less degree in england, during the past quarter of a century, his expectations will be fully realized. more than this; he will close this long account of woman's emancipation in the new world convinced that in due season a similar blessing is to be enjoyed by the women of the old world. for the moment, the woman question in europe is pushed into the background by the all-absorbing struggle still going on in various forms between the republican and monarchical principle, between the vital present and the moribund past; but the most superficial observer must perceive, that the amelioration of the lamentable situation of european womanhood is sure to be one of the first problems to come to the front for resolution, as soon as liberty gains undisputed control on this continent,--a victory assured in the not-distant future. when men shall have secured their rights, the battle will be half won; women's rights will follow as a natural sequence. the most logical beginning for a sketch of the woman movement on the continent, and indeed of any step in advance, is of course france, where ideas, not facts, stand out the more prominently; for, in questions of reform, the abstract must always precede the concrete,--public opinion must be convinced before it will accept an innovation. this has been the _rôle_ of france in europe ever since the great revolution; it is her _rôle_ to-day. she is the agitator of the old world, and agitation is the lever of reform. [illustration: george sand] the woman movement in france dates from the upheaval of . though the demands for the rights of man threw all other claims into the shade, a few women did not fail to perceive that they also had interests at stake. marie olympe de gouges, for example, in her "declaration of the rights of woman," vindicated for her sex all the liberties proclaimed in the famous "declaration of the rights of man." during the empire and the restoration the reform slept; under the july monarchy there was an occasional murmur, which burst forth into a vigorous protest when the revolution of awakened the aspirations of , and george sand consecrated her talent to the cause of progress. during the second empire, in spite of the oppressive nature of the government, the movement took on a more definite form; its advocates became more numerous; and men and women who held high places in literature, politics and journalism, spoke out plainly in favor of ameliorating the condition of french women. then came the third republic, with more freedom than france had enjoyed since the beginning of the century. the woman movement felt the change, and, during the past ten years, its friends have been more active than ever before. the most tangible event in the history of the question in france is the international woman's rights congress, the first international gathering of the kind, which assembled in paris in the months of july and august during the exposition season of . the committee which called the congress contained representatives from six different countries, viz.: france, switzerland, italy, holland, russia and america. among the eighteen members from france were two senators, five deputies and three paris municipal councilors. italy was represented by a deputy and the countess of travers, an indefatigable friend of the undertaking, who died just before the opening of the congress. the american members of the committee were julia ward howe, mary a. livermore and theodore stanton. among the members[ ] of the congress, besides those just mentioned, were deputies, senators, publicists, journalists, and men and women of letters from all parts of europe. sixteen different organizations in europe and america sent delegates. the national woman suffrage association was represented by jane graham jones and theodore stanton, and the american woman suffrage association by julia ward howe. the work of the congress was divided into five sections, as follows: the historical, the educational, the economic, the moral, and the legislative. the congress was opened on july , by léon richer, its promoter and originator, and one of the most indefatigable friends of women's rights in france. he invited maria deraismes, an able speaker well known among paris reformers, to act as temporary chairman. the next thing in order was the election of two permanent presidents, a man and a woman. the late m. antide martin, then an influential member of the paris municipal council, and julia ward howe were chosen. mrs. howe, on taking the chair, made a short speech which was very well received; anna maria mozzoni, of milan, a most eloquent orator, followed; and then genevieve graham jones advanced to the platform, and in the name of her mother, jane graham jones, delegate of the national woman suffrage association, she conveyed to the congress messages of good-will from the united states. this address, delivered with much feeling, and appealing to french patriotism, was enthusiastically received. when miss jones had taken her seat, m. martin arose, thanked the foreign ladies for their admirable words, and concluded in these terms: "in the name of my compatriots, i particularly return gratitude to miss graham jones for the eloquent and cordial manner in which she has just referred to france, and in turn, i salute republican america, which so often offers europe examples of good sense, wisdom and liberty." at the second session was read a long and eloquent letter from salvatore morelli,[ ] the italian deputy. theodore stanton read a paper entitled, "the woman movement in the united states." the third session was devoted to the educational phase of the woman question. tony révillon, who has since become one of the radical deputies of paris, spoke, and miss hotchkiss presented an able report on "the education of women in america." after miss hotchkiss had finished, auguste desmoulins, now a member of the paris municipal council, offered, as president of the section, a resolution advocating the principal reforms--the same studies for boys and girls, and coëducation--demanded by miss hotchkiss. the resolution was carried without debate. aurelia cimino folliero de luna, of florence, followed in a few remarks on the "mission of woman." eugénie pierre, of paris, spoke on the "vices of education in different classes of society," and in closing complimented america in the highest terms for its progressive position on the woman question. in fact, the example of the united states was frequently cited throughout the proceedings of this congress, and the reformers of america may find some joy in feeling that their labors are producing fruit even in the old world. at the last session of the congress, august , , a permanent international committee was announced. france, england, italy, alsace-lorraine, switzerland, germany, holland, sweden, poland, russia, roumania and the united states are all represented on this committee.[ ] the chief duties of this committee were to be the advancement of the reforms demanded by the congress and to issue the call for the next international gathering. the congress ended with a grand banquet on the evening of the last day's session, in which about two hundred guests participated. the present situation in france is full of interest and encouragement. there are societies, journals, and different groups of reformers all striving independently but earnestly to better the situation of french women politically, civilly, morally and intellectually. at the head of the agitation in favor of women's political rights stand hubertine auclert and her vigorous monthly, _la citoyenne_[ ]; the reformers of the code are lead by léon richer and his outspoken monthly, _le droit des femmes_[ ]; the movement in favor of divorce, which was crowned with success in the summer of , is headed by alfred naquet in the senate, and finds one of its earliest and ablest supporters in olympe audouard; the emancipation of women from priestly domination--and herein lies the greatest and most dangerous obstacle that the reformers encounter--counts among its many advocates maria deraismes; woman's moral improvement, to be mainly accomplished by the abolition of legalized prostitution, is demanded by dr. and mrs. chapman and emilie de morsier; while the great uprising in favor of woman's education has such a host of friends and has already produced such grand results, that the brief limits of this sketch will permit neither an enumeration of the one nor the other. * * * * * the transition from france to italy is easy and natural, for it is on the cisalpine peninsula that gallic ideas have always taken deeper root than elsewhere on the continent, and, as might be expected, the italian woman movement resembles in many respects that of which we have just spoken. with the formation of the kingdom of italy in began a well-defined agitation in favor of italian women. the educational question was first taken up. prominent among the women who participated in this movement were laura mantegazza, the marchioness brigida tanari, and alessandrina ravizza. aurelia cimino folliero de luna, who has devoted her whole life to improving the condition of her countrywomen, writes me from florence on this subject. "here it was," she says, "that the example of american and english women, who in this respect were our superiors, was useful to us. while we were still under foreign domination and ignorant of solidarity of sex, they were free and united." the new political life produced a number of able women orators and writers, such as anna mozzoni, malvina frank, gualberta beccari, and many others. the last named founded at venice _la donna_, and in aurelia cimino folliero de luna established in florence _la cornelia_, which has since ceased to exist, while in ernesta napollon began at naples the publication of the short-lived _l'umanitario_, the youngest of a goodly list of journals which have done much to excite an interest in the woman question. the italian government has generously seconded the efforts of the reformers. the code has been modified, schools have been established, the universities thrown open and courses in agriculture proposed. but the most significant sign of progress in italy was afforded by the great universal suffrage convention, held at rome on february , , . anna mozzoni, delegate to the convention from the milan society for the promotion of woman's interests, of which she is the able president, made an eloquent appeal for woman suffrage and introduced a resolution to this effect which was carried by a good majority.[ ] in a committee of the chamber, of which the deputy peruzzi was chairman, reported a bill in favor of conferring on women the right to vote on municipal and provincial questions (_voto amministrativo_), a privilege which they had formerly enjoyed in lombardy and venice under austrian rule. this bill was reïntroduced in by the depretis ministry and was reported upon favorably by the proper committee in june, . it is believed that the proposition will soon become a law. if such is the case, italian women will enjoy the same rights as italian men in municipal and provincial affairs, with this exception, that they will not be eligible to office in the bodies of which they are electors.[ ] aurelia cimino folliero de luna, says: i make no doubt that in a few years the question of the emancipation of women in italy will be better understood; will be regarded from a more elevated standpoint and will receive a more general and greater support; for if we turn to the past, we shall be astonished at what has already been accomplished in this direction. * * * * * concepcion arenal, the distinguished spanish authoress, signals several signs of progress in her country. this lady writes: in the schools founded by the madrid association for the education of women, nearly five hundred girls pursue courses in pedagogics, commercial studies, modern languages, painting, etc. this instruction, for the most part gratis, is given by professors who devote their time and strength to this noble object without receiving any remuneration,--worthy continuators of the grand work of the founder of the madrid high-school for women, fernando de castro, of blessed memory, one of the most philanthropic men i ever met, who so loved mankind that his name should be known in every land. nine hundred and eighteen girls attended the session of - of the school of music and declamation at madrid, and the number has since increased. a few years ago a school of arts and trades was founded at the capital, and women were admitted to the classes in drawing. in , one hundred and thirty availed themselves of this privilege. in , one hundred and fifty-four female students were present at the institutions (_institutos_) for intermediate education in spain. the coëducation of the sexes, therefore, is not unknown to us. in that year valencia, barcelona, gerona and seville each counted sixteen, while the single girl at mahon discontinued her studies on the ground that she preferred not to mingle with boys. at malaga, the only female aspirant for the bachelor's degree took seven prizes, and was "excellent" in all her studies. during the academic year, - , twelve women attended lectures in the spanish universities. the three at madrid were all working for the doctorate, and one had passed the necessary examinations; the two at valladolid were occupied with medicine, while at barcelona five were studying medicine, one law, and one pharmacy. three of the medical students have passed their examinations, but instead of the degrees, which are refused them, they are granted certificates which do not allow them to practice. our public opinion is progressing, as is evidenced by the laws, and especially by the educational reforms, which are the exclusive work of men. the council of public instruction, a consulting body holding by no means advanced ideas, was called upon a short time ago, to decide whether the university certificates conferred upon women could be converted into regular degrees, which would entitle the recipients to the enjoyment of the privileges attached to these titles. the learned council discussed, hesitated, tried to decide the question, but finally left it in a situation which was neither clear nor conclusive. this hesitancy and vagueness are very significant; a few years ago a negative decision would have been given promptly and in the plainest terms. * * * * * portugal is following closely upon the steps of spain, and, in the former as in the latter country, it is in the department of education that the most marked signs of an awakening are to be found. rodrigues de freitas, the well-known publicist and republican statesman of porto, says: there is not a single intermediate school for girls in all portugal. in , the portugese parliament took up the subject of intermediate instruction, and discussed the question in its relation to women, and the progress in this direction realized in france during the last few years. a deputy who opposed the reform, recalled the words of jules simon, pronounced in a recent sitting of the council of public instruction at paris. the philosopher remarked: we are here a few old men, very fortunate gentlemen, in being excused from having to marry the girls you propose to bring up. our minister of the interior, who has charge of public instruction, followed, and declared that he was in favor of the establishment of girls' colleges. he said: it is true that m. jules simon considers himself fortunate in not having to marry a girl educated in a french college; but i think i have discovered the reason for this aversion. he is getting in his dotage, otherwise he would experience no repugnance in proposing to such a girl, provided, of course, that, along with an education, she was at the same time pretty and virtuous. the chamber laughed. and such is the situation to-day: the minister favorable to the better instruction of women, while neither minister nor deputies make an earnest effort to bring it about. this dark picture is relieved, however, by one or two bright touches. there are many private boarding schools where families in easy circumstances send their daughters, who learn to speak several languages, are taught a little elementary mathematics and geography, and acquire a few accomplishments. some of the pupils of these institutions pass with credit the examinations of the boys' lyceums or colleges. article , of the law of june , , on intermediate instruction, reads as follows: "students of the female sex, who wish to enter the state schools, or pass the examinations of said schools, come within the provisions of this law, except as regards the regulations concerning boarding scholars." that is to say, girls enjoy in the state intermediate schools the same privileges as male day scholars. many girls have availed themselves of this opportunity and have passed the lyceum examinations. * * * * * crossing the rhine into the teutonic countries, we find less progress on the whole, than among the latin races. germany, however, if behind france and italy, is far ahead of spain and portugal. the agitation is divided into two currents: the leipsic and the berlin movements. the former is the older, the general association of german women having been founded in leipsic in october, . louise otto-peters, the prime mover in the organization of this association, may be considered the originator of the german movement. a novelist of much power, whose stories all teach a lesson in socialism, she established in , the year of the great revolutionary fermentation throughout europe, the first paper which advocated the interests of women in germany. the aims of the leipsic and berlin reformers were of an economic and educational nature. it was felt that the time had come when woman must have wider and better paid fields of work, and when she must be more thoroughly educated in order to be able the easier to gain her livelihood. a paper, _new paths_ (_neue bahnen_), was established as the organ of the association. it still exists. the plan of holding annual conventions--much like those which have been in progress in america for so many years--in the chief cities of germany was settled upon, and numerous meetings of this kind have already occurred. at these gatherings all questions pertaining to woman's advancement are discussed, and auxiliary associations organized. the general association of german women has sent several petitions to the reichstag, or imperial parliament, demanding various reforms and innovations. the principal members of the association are louise otto-peters, the president and editor of the _neue bahnen_; henriette goldschmidt, the most effective speaker of the group; and mrs. winter, the treasurer, all of whom live in leipsic; miss menzzer of dresden; lina morgenstern, the well-known berlin philanthropist; and marie calm of cassel, perhaps the most radical of the body, whose ideas on woman suffrage are much the same as those entertained in england and the united states. in fact, an american is frequently struck by the similarity between many of the features of the general association of german women, and the woman's rights association in the united states. * * * * * the berlin movement, which resembles that of leipsic in everything except that it is rather more conservative, owes its origin to that distinguished philanthropist, dr. adolf lette. the lette verein, or lette society, so called in honor of its founder, was organized in december, , but a few months after the establishment of the leipsic association. the object of the society is, as has already been said, to improve the material condition of women, especially poor women, by giving them a better education, by teaching them manual employments, by helping to establish them in business--in a word, by affording them the means to support themselves. the lette society has become the nucleus of similar organizations scattered all over the german empire. its organ, the _german woman's advocate_ (_deutcher frauenanwalt_), is a well-conducted little monthly, edited by the secretary of the society, jenny hirsch. anna schepeler-lette, daughter of the founder, has been for many years and is still at the head of this admirable society. she writes me: if we are asked whether we would have women enter public life, whether we would wish them to become professors in the university, clergymen in the church, and lawyers at the bar, as is the case in america, we should make no response, for they are but idle questions. these demands have not yet been made in germany, nor will they be made for a long time to come, if ever. but why peer into the future? we have to-day many institutions, many customs, which past centuries would have looked upon as contrary to divine and human law. in this connection we would say with sancho panza: "what is, is able to be." the german philosopher, herr von kirchmann, is more decided in his views concerning the future of his countrywomen. in one of his last works, entitled "questions and dangers of the hour" (_zeitfragen und abenteuer_) is a chapter on "women in the past and future," where it is shown that the female sex has been gradually gaining its freedom, and the prediction is made that the day is near at hand when women will obtain their complete independence and will compete with men in every department of life, not excepting politics. * * * * * turning to the other great germanic nation, austria, we find still less progress than in the north. in fact, the movement in the south is little more than a question of woman's self-support. the important problem of woman's education is not yet resolved in germany, and in austria still less has been done. "in two particulars," writes a berlin correspondent, "austria may be said to be in advance of germany. the admission of women to the university does not present such insurmountable difficulties, and her employment in railroad, post, and telegraph offices does not encounter such strong opposition." but it must not be supposed from this statement that the austrian universities are open to women. "our universities are shut against women," professor wendt, of troppau, informs me; "but they may pass the same examinations as boys who have finished their preparatory studies, though it is distinctly stated in the women's diplomas that they may not continue their studies in the university." the professors, however, sometimes allow foreign girls to attend lectures. professor bruhl, of vienna, for example, has lectured to men and women on anatomy. the academy of fine arts at vienna is not open to women, though the conservatory of music is much frequented by them. in , in fact, three women received prizes for musical compositions. johanna leitenberger, of salzburg, writes: several newspapers are devoted to the different phases of the woman's movement in austria. some years ago an ex-officer, captain a. d. korn, who, if i am not mistaken, had passed some time in england and america, founded the _women's universal journal_ (_allgemeine frauen zeitung_). this newspaper was wholly devoted to women's interest, but it soon died. the same thing is true of the _women's journal_ (_frauenblätter_) of gratz, which appeared for a short time under my editorship. * * * * on october , , , , the third german women's convention (_deutsche frauenkonferenz_) was held at vienna, under the auspices of the general society for popular education and the amelioration of women's condition. the other two sittings of this society had been held at leipsic and stuttgart. the soul of this new movement was captain korn, whom i have already mentioned. his study of the woman question in the united states may have prompted him to awaken a similar agitation among the women of the austrian empire. addresses were delivered at this convention by ladies from vienna, hungary, bohemia and styria and all the various interests of women were discussed. * * * * the proceedings of the convention attracted considerable attention, and produced favorable impressions on the audience, which was recruited from the better classes of the population. but the newspapers of vienna ridiculed the young movement, its friends grew lukewarm, and every trace was soon lost of this first and last austrian women's rights convention. in one important particular the austro-hungarian empire treats women more fairly than is the case in other european countries. elise krásnohorská, the bohemian author, writes me: women have a voice in the municipal, provincial and national elections, though male citizens duly authorized by them cast their vote. with this single reserve--a very important one, it must be confessed--our women are politically the equals of men. at prague, however, this is not the case. the bohemian capital preserves an ancient privilege which is in contradiction to the austrian electoral law, and which excludes us from the elective franchise. universal suffrage does not exist in the empire, but the payment of a certain amount of taxes confers the right to vote. i do not enter into the details of the electoral law, which is somewhat complicated, which has its exceptions and contradictions, and is in fact an apple of discord in austria in more than one respect; but, speaking generally, it may be said that a woman who owns property, who is in business, or who pays taxes, may designate a citizen possessing her confidence to represent her at the polls. our women are satisfied with this system, and prefer it to casting their ballot in person. it may be said, also, that women are eligible to office, or at least that there is no law against their accepting it, while there are instances of their having done so. in southern bohemia, a short time ago, a countess was chosen member of a provincial assembly (_okresni zastupitestvo_) with the approval of the body, on the condition that she should not participate personally in its deliberations, but should be represented by a man having full power to act for her. at agram in croatia, a woman was elected, a few years ago, member of the municipal council, and no objection was made. of course such cases are very rare, but they have their significance. carolina svetlá, the distinguished poet and author, has done, perhaps, the most to awaken thought on the woman question in bohemia. she stands at the head of a talented group of literary women, which plays a brilliant part in the fatherland of huss. the means for woman's instruction, however, are most lamentable in bohemia. the universities are shut against women, and though two women have been graduated in switzerland, their degrees are not recognized in their native land. beyond primary instruction the state does almost nothing for its women, though they outnumber the other sex by two hundred thousand. in several of the large cities of bohemia something has been accomplished for girls' high-school and normal-school instruction; but, in general, we may say that the intellectual development of bohemian girls is left to private instruction. associations of women have done much to fill this void, one of which, founded by carolina svetlá, is devoted to the industrial and commercial instruction of girls. two thousand women belong to this association, and five hundred girls attend its school annually, while many young women frequent its school for the training of nurses. this vigorous organization has disarmed prejudices by the success of its schools and by the arguments of its monthly organ, the _zenské listy_, ably edited by elise krásnohorská, one of the best known bohemian poets, and a leader in the work of improving the condition of her countrywomen. vojtá náprstek, a man who has justly been named "the woman's advocate," has founded at prague the women's american club, whose object is charity and the intellectual elevation of women, and has presented the club a valuable collection of books and objects of art. a lady, writing me from prague, says: the club has always been in a most flourishing condition, although it has never had a constitution or by-laws to hold it together,--nothing but the single bond of philanthropy. at first it had not even a name. but outsiders began to call its members 'the americans,' because they adopted american improvements in their homes. the appellation was accepted by the club as an honorable title, and from that time it formally called itself the "american club." the austrian code, in its treatment of women, is unsurpassed in contradictions. women, for example, may testify in criminal actions, but they may not be witnesses to the simplest legal document. there are many absurdities of this sort in the existing law which were unknown in the ancient code of independent bohemia, which was more liberal in its treatment of women. divorce exists, but divorced persons cannot marry again. bohemia being a part of austria, women vote in the same way as has already been mentioned in what was said of the latter country. but at prague, however, women do not vote, the capital still retaining its old laws on this subject. concerning the other grand division of the empire of the hapsburgs, hungary, much the same may be said as of bohemia. it is only within the last forty years that hungary has striven to attain to the level of occidental civilization and culture, so that the question of the amelioration of women's condition is of very recent origin in that country. rose revai, of budapest, writes: hungarian legislators have always treated us favorably in all matters pertaining to the family, marriage and inheritance. by the mere act of marriage we attain our majority and are emancipated from tutelage. as heirs, our interests are not forgotten, and as widows, we have the control over our own children. in business and trade we enjoy equal rights with men. and hungarian women have not been slow to take advantage of these privileges, as is shown by those of our sex who occupy worthy positions in literature, art, commerce, industry, the theater and the school-room. although the hungarian universities are still closed against women, there are many girls' industrial and normal schools and colleges. the impetus given to female education in hungary is chiefly due to the late baron joseph eoetvoes, the savant, poet and philanthropist, who was minister of public instruction in . women are employed in the postal and telegraphic service. * * * * * returning north, to holland, we find much the same situation as in the other teutonic nations. "the women of holland are unquestionably better educated, and entertain as a body more liberal ideas than french women," said a dutch lady to me, who had lived many years at paris; "but, on the other hand, there is not the little group of women in the netherlands who grasp the real meaning of the woman question as is the case here in france." woman's social position is a little better in holland than in the catholic countries. in an essay on the woman question "by a lady" demanded political rights for women, and there are a few instances of women having lectured on that subject. the dutch universities are open to female students, and aletta henriette jacobs, the first and only female physician in holland, has a successful practice at amsterdam. dr. jacobs recently attempted to vote, and carried the question before the courts. elise a. haighton, of amsterdam, writes: a few of our women do not hesitate to participate in political and social discussions. the union (_unic_), a society which aims to promote popular interest in politics by meetings, debates, tracts, etc.; the daybreak (_dageraad_), a radical association which holds very ultra opinions on politics, religion and science, and supports a magazine to which many scientific men contribute; and the new malthusian band, an organization sufficiently explained by its name, all count several women among their members. elise van calcar, the veteran dutch authoress, sums up the situation in holland, as follows: i am sorry to have to confess that, as regards the general emancipation of women, we have accomplished but very little. our work is indirect; we can only proclaim the injustice of our position. * * * * * two countries, the product of latin and teutonic civilization, belgium and switzerland, must be touched upon before we turn to the scandinavian people. of the first, belgium, about the same may be said as of holland with which she was so long united politically. a correspondent in belgium writes me as follows: there cannot be said to be any movement in this country in favor of the emancipation of women. no journal, no association, no organization of any kind exists. but public opinion is said to be quite favorable. women are making their way slowly into certain callings. the professors of the universities of liege and ghent, when asked their opinion not long ago by the minister of public instruction, expressed a desire to see women admitted to the privileges of these institutions on the same terms as men, and to-day female students are found at all the institutions for higher education. another correspondent writes: within the past few years an effort has been made among the women of the middle classes in the large cities, and secondary and professional schools have been established for girls, which are already producing good fruit. this movement is beginning to make itself felt among the upper classes, and it is to be hoped that the next generation will make longer strides in the direction of instruction than is the case with the present generation. in one respect at least belgium is far behind her neighbor, holland. dr. isala van diest, the first and so far the only female physician in belgium, although she has passed successfully all the necessary examinations and taken all the necessary degrees, may not practice medicine in her own country. she wrote me recently: i fear i shall soon be obliged to give up the fight and go to france, england or holland, unless i wish to lose the fruit of all my studies. concerning the higher education of women dr. van diest writes: there existed in belgium some years ago a law which required students who would enter the university, to pass the examination of graduate in letters (_gradué-en-lettres_). candidates for this degree were expected to know how to translate greek and write latin. but as there were no schools where girls could study the dead languages with the thoroughness of boys who were trained six years in the classics, the former were almost entirely shut out from enjoying the advantages of an university course. this _graduat_, however, no longer exists, and the entrance of women into our universities is now possible. female students are found to-day at brussels, liege and ghent, but their number is still very small. it was in that the first woman entered the university of brussels, but it was not until that their admission became general. they pursue, for the most part, scientific studies, thereby securing more lucrative positions as teachers, and pass their examinations for graduation with success. switzerland being made up of more than a score of separate cantons closely resembling our states in their political organization, it is difficult to arrive at the exact situation throughout the whole country--small though it be. however, generally speaking, it may be said that the helvetic republic has remained almost a passive spectator of the woman movement, though a few signs of progress are worthy of note. the catholic cantons lag behind those that have adopted protestantism, and the latter are led by geneva. though subject to the napoleonic code, geneva has never known that debasing law of the tutelage of women which existed for so long a time in the other cantons, even in the intelligent canton of vaud, where it was abolished only in . it was not until that a federal statute put an end to the law throughout all switzerland. geneva has always been very liberal in its treatment of married women--divorce exists, excellent intermediate girls' schools were created more than thirty years ago, and women are admitted to all the university lectures. marie goegg, the untiring leader of the movement in that country, writes me: however, notwithstanding these examples of liberality, which denote that the law-makers had a breadth of view in accord with their time, switzerland, as a whole, has been one of the least disposed of european states to accept the idea of the civil emancipation of woman, much less her political emancipation, so that from to the demands of american women were considered here to be the height of extravagance.... the seed planted in america in , though its growth was difficult, finally began to take root in europe. the hour had come. in march, , marie goegg published a letter, in which she invited the women of all nations to join with her in the formation of a society. in july of that same year the woman's international association was founded at geneva with marie goegg as president. the organization began immediately an active work, and through its efforts, several of the reforms already mentioned were brought about, and public opinion in switzerland considerably enlightened on the question. mrs. goegg says: with the object of advancing the young movement, i established at my own risk a bi-monthly, the _woman's journal_ (_journal des femmes_). but this was a violation of that good latin motto, _festina lenté_, and, at the end of a few months the paper suspended publication. swiss public opinion was not yet ready to support such a venture. it may be pointed out here that, except in england, all the women's societies created in europe had, up to the time of the organization of the international association refrained from touching the question of the political rights of women. the swiss association, on the contrary, always included this subject in its programme. but, unfortunately, at the moment when our efforts were meeting with success, and the future was full of promise for the cause which we advocated, the terrible franco-german war broke out, and, for various reasons unnecessary to go into here, i felt constrained to resign the presidency, and the association came to an end. two years later the international association was revived in the form of the solidarity (_solidarité_), whose name signified the spirit which ought to unite all women. in mrs. goegg became president of the new organization as well as founder and editor of its organ, the _solidarity bulletin_ (_bulletin de la solidarité_). but on september , , both society and journal ceased to exist. the president in her farewell address said: the dissolution of the solidarity ought not to discourage us, but ought rather to cause us to rejoice, for the recent creation of so many women's national societies in different countries proves that the solidarity has accomplished its aim, so that we have only to retire. the striking success of university coëducation in switzerland calls for a few words of notice. mrs. goegg writes: in october, , i sent a petition to the grand-council of geneva, asking that women be admitted to the university of geneva on the same footing as men. the state of public opinion on this subject in switzerland, and especially in geneva, may be judged from the fact that, fearing to compromise the demand if i acted in my own name or that of the solidarity, the petition was presented as coming from "the mothers of geneva." our prayer was granted. the number of women who have pursued studies at geneva has steadily increased every year. in the university of neufchatel was thrown open to women, while the university of zurich has long had a large number of female students. professor pflüger, of the university of bern, writing to me in april, , said: from february , , to the present time, thirty-five women have taken degrees at our medical school. the lectures are attended each semester on an average by from twenty-five to thirty women, while from three to six follow the lectures on philosophy and letters. the presence of women at our university has occasioned no serious inconvenience and many colleagues favor it. the rector of the university of geneva wrote, february, : up to the present time the attendance of women at our university has occasioned us no inconvenience except in some lectures of the medical school, where the subjects are not always of a nature to admit of their treatment before mixed classes. * * * * * we shall now glance at the situation of woman in the three scandinavian countries, sweden, norway and denmark. sweden stands first, just as germany does among the teutonic nations, and france among the latin nations; in fact we may perhaps go farther and say that of all continental states, sweden leads in many respects at least, in the revolution in favor of women. the state, the royal family, private individuals, and, above all, women themselves have all striven to outstrip each other in the emancipation of swedish women. normal schools, high schools, primary schools, the royal academy of music and the royal academy of fine arts, both at stockholm, dairy schools and a host of other educational institutions, both private and public, are thrown wide open to women. the state has founded scholarships for women at upsala university and at the medical school of the university of lund. numerous benevolent, charitable and industrial societies have been established and in many instances are managed by women. but the best idea may be gained of the liberal spirit which prevails in sweden by showing what the state has done for the emancipation of women. for instance, in , equality of inheritance for son and daughter was established, and the wife was given equal rights with the husband as regards the common property; in , woman was permitted to practice industrial professions and to carry on business in her own name; in , the professions of surgery and dentistry were opened to her; in , her rights in trade and industrial pursuits were enlarged; in , she was admitted to the universities and medical profession; in , a woman of twenty-five was given the full right of disposing of herself in marriage, the consent of parents and relations having been necessary before that time; and in , a married woman became entitled to control that part of her private property set aside for her personal use in the marriage contract, as well as to possess her own earnings. the reforms in favor of married women are in no small measure due to the society founded in by mrs. e. anckarsvärd and anna hierta retzius, whose aim was the accomplishment of these very reforms. a good beginning has been made toward securing full political rights for swedish women. in many matters relative to the municipality, women vote on the same terms with men, as for example, in the choice of the parish clergy, in the election of municipal councilors, and members of the county council. this latter body elects the house of lords, so that woman's influence, through an intermediate electoral body, is felt in the upper chamber. may this not be one reason why the swedish legislature has been so liberal toward women? demands have been made, but in vain, for the complete franchise which would confer upon women the privilege of voting for members of the diet. woman's interests have found a warm and energetic advocate in the _home review_ (_tidskrift för hemmet_), which was founded in by the hon. rosalie d'olivecrona and the baroness leyonhufoud, to-day the hon. mrs. adlersparre. the paper is still edited by the latter; rosalie d'olivecrona, who has always been a most active friend of the woman movement, having retired in . * * * * * if we cross the boundaries of sweden into the sister kingdom of norway, we find the condition of woman absolutely changed. "concerning norway, i have said almost nothing," writes camilla collett, the distinguished norwegian author, in some notes which she sent me recently on the situation of women in scandinavia, "for the very simple reason that there is little to say." the long and oppressive domination of denmark prostrated norway, but her close union with sweden since the fall of napoleon, has begun to have a good effect, and the liberal influence of the latter country in favor of woman is already beginning to be felt in the other half of the scandinavian peninsula. one step in advance has been the opening of the university to women--"the best thing that can be said of norway," says camilla collett. miss cecilie thoresen, the first female student to matriculate at christiania university, writing to me from eidsvold, norway, in december, , says it was in that she decided to try and take an academic degree. her father, therefore, applied to the minister of public instruction for the necessary authorization; the latter referred the application to the university authorities, who, in their turn, submitted the portentous question to the faculty of the law-school. in due season miss thoresen received this rather unsatisfactory response: the admission of women to the university is denied, but we recognize the necessity for changing the law on the subject. thereupon mr. h. e. berner, the prominent liberal member of the storthing, or norwegian parliament, introduced a bill permitting women to pursue university studies leading to the degrees in arts and philosophy (_examen artium_ and _examen philosophicum_). the committee reported unanimously in favor of the bill; on march , , it passed without debate the odelsthing, one of the two chambers of the storthing, with but one dissenting voice--that of a clergyman; on april , , it received the unanimous vote of the other house, the lagthing; and it finally became a law on june , . but mr. berner did not stop here. he once wrote me: in my opinion there hardly exists nowadays another social problem which has a better claim on public attention than that of the emancipation of women. until they are placed on an equal footing with men, we shall not have departed from the days of barbarism. in , mr. berner succeeded in making it possible for women to take all university degrees, the law of having opened to them only the degrees in arts and philosophy. he is now pressing on the attention of parliament other reforms in favor of women; and he has recently written me that he believes that his efforts will be crowned with success. * * * * * in denmark nothing has been done in the direction of political rights, nothing for school suffrage, though the liberal movement of improved woman's legal position slightly. but the situation of married women is still very unsatisfactory, for it may be summed up by saying that her property and her children are controlled by the husband. in many thousand women petitioned the legislature for the right to their own earnings, and a law was passed to this effect. during the last twenty years, thanks to the example set by sweden, much has been done to open to women the field of work. in the university consented to receive women, but as the state furnishes them only primary instruction, and does nothing for their intermediate instruction, leaving this broad gap to be filled by private efforts, the educational situation of danish women leaves much to be desired. but the women themselves have turned their attention to this matter, and high schools and professional schools for women, and generally managed by women, are springing up. denmark has produced several journals devoted to the interests of women and edited by women. the _friday_ (_fredagen_), issued from july, , to , was edited by vilhelmine zahle. it was a bold, radical little sheet. the name was probably taken from the _woman's journal and friday society_, which appeared at copenhagen in , under the anonymous editorship of a woman. the _woman's review_ (_tidsskrift for kvinder_) began to appear in january, . its editor, elfride fibiger, has associated with her mr. friïs, a very earnest friend of the women's movement, who has given a more progressive turn to the paper, which has come out for women's suffrage--the first journal in denmark to take this radical step. perhaps the most encouraging sign of progress is the foundation, during the past few years, of numerous associations of women with different objects in view. john stuart mill's "subjection of women," which was translated into danish and widely read; the "letters from clara raphael," of mathilde fibiger, which appeared still earlier, in ; the writings of camilla collett, of norway; the liberal utterances of the great poets of the north, björnsen, hostrup and ibsen, whose "nora" has rightfully procured for him the title of "woman's poet"; the great progress in america, england and sweden; all these influences stimulated thought, weakened prejudices and prepared the way for reforms in the danish peninsula. kirstine frederiksen, of copenhagen, says: it is plainly evident that danish women are weary of the part allotted to them in the old society, a part characterized by the sentiment that the best that can be said of a woman is that there is nothing to say about her.... when, in due time, the claim for political rights is made here in denmark, then will women from all classes unite in their efforts to secure the palladium which alone can protect them from arbitrariness and subjection. * * * * * we shall now take up the slavonic countries, beginning with russia, which stands first, not only because of its vastness, but also because of its liberality toward women. the position of the russian women before the law is very peculiar. children, whatever their age and whether male or female, are never emancipated from the control of their parents. the daughter can only escape from this authority, and then only in a limited degree, by marriage, and the son by entering the service of the state. in the provinces alone girls of twenty-one may marry without the parents' consent. the married woman is in the full power of her husband, though she is the mistress of her own fortune. divorce exists. russian women vote on an equality with men for members of the municipal councils and county assemblies, and these two bodies choose the boards which transact the public business, such as superintending the collection of taxes, keeping the roads in order, directing the schools, etc. the russian woman does, not however, appear at the polls, but is represented by some male relative or friend (as we have already seen in austria) who casts the vote for her. thus the russian woman, except that she is ineligible to office, possesses all the political rights of the russian man--a privilege, however, that is of little value in a country where liberty is crushed under the iron heel of autocracy. the position of the russian peasant women is not as good as that of the women of the upper classes. they find some comfort, however, in the doctrines of the rapidly spreading religious sects, which resemble somewhat the american revivalists or anabaptists. in fact, the subject condition of russian women is one of the chief causes of the growth of these sects; down-trodden by society and the state, they seek liberty in religion. in some of these sects women preach. miss maria zebrikoff, an able russian writer, sends me this curious information: we have lately heard of a new sect which preaches a doctrine exalting woman. she is placed above man, because she can give birth to another being. her pain and travail are so great, that alleviating the other sufferings and annoyances of woman would be but a poor reward; she is entitled to the deepest gratitude of mankind. thought concerning the emancipation of woman was first awakened among the upper classes about , inspired by george sand, but was confined to a narrow circle of men of science and authors. the new ideas continued to exist in a latent form until the freedom of the serfs in , when they burst forth into life. the reforms of the last reign, the abolishment of bureaucratic government and the emancipation of the slaves, advanced the cause of woman, for the daughters of the office-holders and land-owners, reduced to poverty by these changes, were forced to go forth into the world and earn their own living. woman's success in the walks of higher education--especially in medicine--has been a great victory for the friends of the rights of woman. the government, the professors of the university and women themselves have all united, more or less heartily, in a common effort to give russian women facilities for a complete education. the first woman's medical school in russia owes its origin to a donation of , rubles from a woman. the war department--for russia thinks of medicine only in its relation to the army--came to the aid of the new movement, and the medical profession, though in a restricted manner, was thrown open to women.[ ] as yet women physicians may treat only diseases of women and children, but, notwithstanding this drawback, there are fifty-two women physicians in st. petersburg and two hundred and fifty in russia. during the last war with turkey twenty women physicians did noble work in the army. women flock to the universities in great numbers. an attempt has been made to render the profession of law accessible to them, but the government has prohibited it. it is expected that ere long women will be professors in the university. the chemical, medical and legal associations have already received women into membership. in literature russian women take an active part; reviews, magazines, and political journals counting many women among their contributors and in some cases their directors. writes maria zebrikoff: it is especially in the domain of fiction that russian women excel. after the two renowned names of tourguéneff and tolstoi, the greatest genius of which our contemporary literature can boast is krestowsky, the pseudonym of woman. "the reäctionary party," exclaims the same lady with enthusiasm, "counts in its ranks no woman distinguished for thought or talent." even this brief glance at woman's position in russia conclusively proves that when the day of liberty comes to the great cossack empire, the women will be as thoroughly fitted to enter upon all the duties of citizenship as the men. the women of no other continental nation are perhaps better prepared for complete emancipation than those of russia. here, as in several other respects, autocratic russia resembles free america. the good-will of every transatlantic friend of woman's elevation should ever go forth to this brave, struggling people of the north. the civil law of the kingdom of poland, a part of russia, has been, since , the napoleonic code; the other polish provinces of russia are subject to russian law. under the former, the woman has an equal share in the patrimony; but the married woman is a perpetual minor. according to the russian code, on the contrary, a girl receives only a fourteenth part of the patrimony; and when a distant relative dies, brothers alone inherit. but a woman has absolute control of her own property: and when she becomes of age, at twenty-one, she may buy, own, sell, without being subjected to any tutelage, without requiring the consent of the husband--the very contrary of the napoleonic code. this same thing is true in several other particulars, a striking illustration of the fact that much-abused russian civilization is in some respects superior to the much-vaunted latin civilization. in regard to education, the polish woman is not so well off. in the primary schools alone does she enjoy equal rights; in secondary education she has far fewer advantages than the boy; while as for university instruction, she is forced to seek it in russia or in foreign lands, the polish universities being absolutely closed against her. in the polish provinces under direct russian authority, the state does nothing whatever for woman's instruction; and in the kingdom of poland, the same thing is true except in the matter of primary instruction. polish women may practice medicine, if, besides this foreign diploma, they also pass an examination before the medical school of st. petersburg. tomaszewicz dobrska is one of the few polish women who has succeeded in this difficult field. the academy of fine arts at cracow is open to men alone, but madeline andrzejkowicz has endeavored to fill the gap by establishing at warsaw a school of painting for women. the first woman's industrial school was founded in at warsaw, and during the first six years, to , it had scholars. establishments of this kind are now quite numerous in the kingdom, but, for political reasons, they have not been founded in the polish provinces of russia. the unfortunate political situation of poland, which robs even men of their rights, is an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the emancipation of women. there are, however, many encouraging signs of progress. at warsaw there is more than one newspaper edited by a woman. marie ilnicka has owned and edited for more than sixteen years, at the capital, a paper which is widely read and which has great influence. it is no uncommon thing for women to deliver public lectures, which are very popular and draw large houses. elise orzeszko, the distinguished polish novelist, tells me: we have confidence in the efforts of the men who are leading society and who are sacrificing their talents and earnestly toiling to advance liberal ideas. in the meanwhile our duty is to awaken thought on the question of woman's rights, so that when a better day does come to poland, women may be ready to participate in the common welfare. * * * * * but we cannot close this brief sketch without mentioning the orient, that region of transition between the darkness of asia and the light of occidental europe; for, though the position of woman is in general so lamentable that at first glance it seems best to pass over this portion of the continent in silence, one catches here and there a glimmer of progress that portends a better day in the still distant future. and, too, regenerate greece commands our attention, for she indeed is a rich oasis in this desert of mohammedan conquest. there are many ottoman women, especially among the rich families, who desire to change their dress and enter into relations with the women of other religions, but the ecclesiastical and civil authorities are always ready to check this tendency and to rigorously enforce the ancient customs. in certain harems earnest efforts have been made to establish true family life and to bring up the children under the eye and care of the parents, with the aid of foreign governesses, who, along with the languages, inculcate the habits and manners of occidental nations. vain attempts have been made to found girls' schools. there are noble natures who long for amelioration of their state, and for progress, but fanaticism condemns everything to mortal stagnation. the jewish woman leads a contracted, monotonous existence under the authority of the priest. the wives of many rich bankers have tried to do something to improve the condition of hebrew women by founding aid societies, primary schools, and normal schools. the bulgarian women of the country enjoy an agricultural and pastoral life, and those of the city are simple and primitive in their habits and customs. but little has been done for woman's instruction, though some worthy attempts have been made to establish schools. the hope of the regeneration of the oriental woman lies in the influence of greek civilization. the emancipation of the greek woman means the emancipation of the turkish woman. the greek woman in the orient must be studied under two heads: the greek woman in turkey and the greek woman in greece. in both cases we find them filled with the spirit of western civilization--perhaps it would be better to say, with the spirit of their classic ancestors. primary, secondary and normal schools, asylums, hospitals, societies--all for women and generally managed by women--are found in all the greek centers of turkey. calliope a. kechayia, the cultured principal of the zappion, the famous girls' college at constantinople, says: the intellectual condition of the greek woman in the orient is, generally speaking, not inferior to that of women in many parts of europe; and as regards the instruction of the girls of the lower classes, it is much superior to that of several latin countries. the greek woman in greece differs essentially from the oriental woman. with the independence of greece came a great patriotic movement for the building up of the new nationality, a movement in which women took a most active and prominent part. several american women, especially mrs. hill, lent their aid and founded the first girls' school at athens. "a whole generation of women," says a greek lady, "distinguished for their social and family virtues, received their education in this college." an association of greeks soon afterward established a normal school for women. the greek government also early took up the question of popular education without excluding women from its plans. the way in which young greek schoolmistresses hastened all over the peninsula, spreading knowledge, the greek language and their own enthusiasm throughout the newly liberated nation, is one of the most unique episodes in modern history. "it is true and beyond dispute," i am told by miss kechayia, "that the greece of to-day owes its rapid progress and its greek instruction to its women." but the greek woman is more than a school-mistress. the wife of a public man has other than social duties to occupy her. she often represents her husband before his constituents. she participates actively and usefully in many of his political affairs. it frequently happens that the wife goes into the provinces to solicit votes for her husband, and sometimes in drawing-room lectures she defends his political conduct. "in truth these facts would not be believed by a foreigner if he had not seen them with his own eyes," i was once told by a greek. associations of various kinds have been formed by women during the past few years, and there is at least one instance of a woman lecturing in public on literary topics. however, woman's rights in the american sense has not yet penetrated into greece, but from what has just been said it will be seen that when that day comes, the reform will find a soil well prepared for its reception. * * * * * such is a brief and general view of the present status of the woman question on the european continent. it will have been constantly noticed in the preceding pages that in every country there are evidences of progress. public opinion in the old world is slowly but surely accepting voltaire's statement when the broad-minded philosopher says, with a dash of french gallantry: "women are capable of doing everything we do, with this single difference between them and us, that they are more amiable than we are." in matters of instruction, the ideas of montesquieu and aimé martin are gaining ground. "the powers of the sexes," wrote the penetrating author of the "spirit of the laws," "would be equal if their education were, too. test women in the talents that have not been enfeebled by the way they have been educated, and we will then see if we are so strong." "it is in spite of our stupid system of education," declared aimé martin, more than fifty years ago, "that women have an idea, a mind and a soul." and even the more radical utterances of the late eugène pelletan find an echo. "by keeping women outside of politics," once said the distinguished senator, "the soul of our country is diminished by one-half." no wonder then that frances power cobbe likens this revolution to the irresistible waves of the ocean. "of all the movements, political, social and religious, of past ages, there is, i think," writes miss cobbe, "not one so unmistakably tide-like in its extension and the uniformity of its impulse, as that which has taken place within living memory among the women of almost every race on the globe. other agitations, reforms and revolutions have pervaded and lifted up classes, tribes, nations, churches. but this movement has stirred an entire sex, even half the human race. * * * when the time comes to look back on the slow, universal awakening of women all over the globe, on their gradual entrance into one privileged profession after another, on the attainment by them of rights of person and property, and, at last, on their admission to the full privileges of citizenship, it will be acknowledged that of all the 'decisive battles of history,' this has been, to the moralist and philosopher, the most interesting; even as it will be (i cannot doubt) the one followed by the happiest peace which the world has ever seen." footnotes: [ ] this chapter is, in large part, a résumé of mr. stanton's valuable work "the woman question in europe," published in by the putnams of new york, to which we refer the reader who desires to study more in detail the european movement for women.--[the editors. [ ] the united states was represented by albert brisbane and mrs. brisbane, of new york; elizabeth chalmers and mrs. gibbons, of philadelphia; colonel t. w. higginson, of massachusetts; miss hotchkiss, fernando jones and his wife and daughter, jane graham jones and genevieve graham jones (now mrs. geo. r. grant), mrs. klumpke and her two daughters, of chicago; mrs. party and louisa southworth, of ohio. [ ] before closing this brief sketch, i desire to mention with deep gratitude the name of the man who first lifted up his voice in the italian parliament to defend and protect women. salvatore morelli deserves the veneration of every italian woman. his first book, "woman and science" (_la donna e la scienza_), dedicated to antona traversi, was animated by a just and noble spirit, too radical, however, to meet with universal approbation. when he entered parliament, morelli, with the same courage, constancy, and radicalism, demanded the complete emancipation of women. conservatives laughed, and many friends of our movement trembled for the cause. ably seconded by mancini, he succeeded in securing for women the right to testify in civil actions, a dignity which they had not previously enjoyed, although, by an absurd contradiction they could be witnesses in criminal cases, convict of murder by a single word and send the criminal to the scaffold. one of morelli's last acts was a divorce bill which was examined by the chamber. guardasigilli tomman villa, the then minister of justice, was inclined to accept it, but death, which occurred in , saved poor morelli the pain of seeing his proposition rejected. an appeal to women has been made to raise a modest monument to salvatore morelli in memory of his good deeds, by aurelia cimino folliero de luna. the author of this essay has been requested to receive subscriptions to this fund. such subscriptions will be acknowledged and forwarded to the italian committee. they should be addressed to theodore stanton, rue de bassano, paris, france. [ ] the american members are as follows: massachusetts, julia ward howe, lucy stone; illinois, jane graham jones, miss hotchkiss; new york, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, theodore stanton; pennsylvania, mrs. gibbons, of philadelphia. [ ] the office of this journal is , rue de cail, paris. [ ] the office of this journal is , rue des deux-gares, paris. [ ] see the _index_, of boston, may , , where i give in full this remarkable speech. [ ] what is said of austria in this respect further on in this chapter will apply to italy if the proposed reform is finally accepted by parliament. [ ] recent reforms in the war department call for economy, and the minister has been forced to refuse the usual subsidy for the support of the woman's medical courses and they are unfortunately in a very critical situation. the result will probably be the foundation of medical colleges for women independent of government aid. chapter lviii. reminiscences. by e. c. s. reaching london amidst the fogs and mists of november, , the first person i met, after a separation of many years, was our revered and beloved friend, william henry channing. the tall, graceful form was somewhat bent; the sweet, thoughtful face somewhat sadder; the crimes and miseries of the world seemed more heavy on his heart than ever. with his refined, nervous organization, the gloomy moral and physical atmosphere of london was the last place on earth where that beautiful life should have ended. i found him in earnest conversation with my daughter and a young englishman soon to be married, advising them not only as to the importance of the step they were about to take, but as to the minor points to be observed in the ceremony. at the appointed time a few friends gathered in portland-street chapel, and as we approached the altar, our friend appeared in surplice and gown, his pale, spiritual face more tender and beautiful than ever. this was the last marriage service he ever performed, and it was as pathetic as original, his whole appearance so in harmony with the exquisite sentiments he uttered that we who listened felt as if for the time being we had entered with him into the holy of holies. some time after, miss anthony and i called on him, to return our thanks for the very complimentary review he had written of the history of woman suffrage. he thanked us in turn for the many pleasant memories we had revived in those pages, which he said had been as entertaining as a novel; "but," said he, "they have filled me with indignation, too, over the repeated insults offered to women so earnestly engaged in honest endeavors for the uplifting of mankind. i blushed for my sex more than once in reading these volumes." we lingered long in talking over the events connected with this great struggle for freedom. he dwelt with tenderness on our divisions and disappointments, and entered more fully into the humiliations suffered by women than any man we ever met. his conversation that day was fully as appreciative of the nice points in the degradation of sex as is john stuart mill in his wonderful work on "the subjection of woman." he was intensely interested in frances power cobbe's efforts to suppress the vivisectionists, and the last time i saw him he was presiding at a parlor meeting at mrs. wolcott brown's, when dr. elizabeth blackwell gave an admirable address on the causes and cure of the social evil. mr. channing spoke beautifully in closing, paying a warm and merited compliment to miss blackwell's clear and concise review of all the difficulties involved in the question. reading so much of english reformers in our journals, of the brights, the mclarens, the taylors, of lydia becker, caroline biggs, josephine butler and octavia hill, and of their great demonstrations with lords and members of parliament in the chair, we had longed to compare the actors in those scenes with our speakers and conventions on this side the water. at last we met them, one and all, in london, york, manchester, liverpool, glasgow, edinburgh, in great public meetings and parlor reunions, at dinners and receptions, listened to their public men in parliament, the courts and the pulpit, to the women in their various assemblies, and came to the conclusion that americans surpass them in oratory and the spirited manner in which they conduct meetings. they have no system of elocution in england such as we have--a thorough training of the voice, in what is called vocal gymnastics. a hesitating, apologetic way seems to be the national idea for an exordium on all questions. even their ablest men who have visited this country, such as kingsley, stanley, arnold, spencer, tyndal, huxley, and canon farrar, have all been criticised by the american public for their stammering enunciation. they have no speakers to compare with wendell phillips and george william curtis, or anna dickinson and phoebe w. couzins. john bright is without a peer among his countrymen, as are mrs. bessant and miss helen taylor among the women. miss tod, from belfast, is a good speaker. the women, as a general thing, are more fluent than the men; those of the bright family in all its branches have deep, rich voices. among the young women, mrs. fawcett, mrs. charles mclaren, mrs. scatcherd, miss henrietta müller, mrs. fenwick miller, and lady harberton, all speak with comparative ease and self-possession. the latter is striving to introduce for her countrywomen a new style of dress, in which all the garments are bifurcated, but so skillfully adjusted in generous plaits and folds, that while the wearer enjoys the utmost freedom, the casual observer is quite ignorant of the innovation. we attended one of their public meetings for the discussion of that question, at which miss king, mrs. charles mclaren, and lady harberton appeared in the new costume. all spoke in its defense, and were very witty and amusing in criticising the present feminine forms and fashions. lady harberton gave us a delightful entertainment one evening at her fine residence on cromwell road, where we laughed enough to dissipate the depressing effect of the fogs for a week to come over the recitations of corney green on the piano. there, among many other celebrities, we met moncure d. conway[ ] and his charming wife. i reached england in time to attend the great demonstration in glasgow to celebrate the extension of the municipal franchise to the women of scotland. it was a remarkable occasion. st. andrew's immense hall was packed with women; a few men were admitted to the gallery at half a crown apiece. it was said there were , people present. when a scotch audience is thoroughly roused, nothing can equal the enthusiasm. the arriving of the speakers on the platform was announced with the wildest applause, the entire audience rising, waving their handkerchiefs, and clapping their hands, and every compliment paid the people was received with similar outbursts of pleasure. mrs. mclaren, a sister of john bright,[ ] presided, and made the opening speech. i had the honor, on this occasion, of addressing an audience for the first time in the old world. many others spoke briefly. there were too many speakers; no one had time to warm up to the point of eloquence. our system of conventions of two or three days, with long speeches discussing pointed and radical resolutions, is quite unknown in england. their meetings consist of one session of a few hours into which they crowd all the speakers they can summon together. they have a few tame resolutions on which there can be no possible difference of opinion printed, with the names of those who are to speak appended. each of these is read, a few short speeches made, that may or may not have the slightest reference to the resolution, which is then passed. the last is usually one of thanks to some lord or member of parliament who may have condescended to preside at the meeting, or to do something for the measure in parliament; it is spoken to like all that have gone before. the queen is referred to tenderly in most of the speeches, although she has never done anything to merit the approbation of the advocates of suffrage for woman. as on this occasion a woman conducted the meeting, much of the usual red tape was omitted. from glasgow quite a large party of the brights and mclarens went to edinburgh, where the hon. duncan mclaren gave us a warm welcome to newington house, under the very shadow of the salisbury crags. these and the pentland hills are the remarkable feature in the landscape as you approach this beautiful city, with its monuments and castles on which are written the history of the centuries. we passed a few charming days driving about, visiting old friends, and discussing the status of woman on both sides of the atlantic. here we met elizabeth pease nichol, jane and eliza wigham, whom i had not seen since we sat together in the world's anti-slavery convention in london in , yet i knew mrs. nichol at once; her strongly-marked face is one not readily forgotten. i went with the family on sunday to friends' meeting, where a most unusual manifestation for that decorous sect occurred. i had been told that if i felt inclined, it would be considered quite proper for me to make some remarks, and just as i was revolving an opening sentence to a few thoughts i desired to present, a man arose in a remote part of the house, and began in a low voice to give his testimony as to the truth that was in him. all eyes were turned toward him, when suddenly a friend leaned over the back of the seat, seized his coat-tails and jerked him down in a most emphatic manner. the poor man buried his face in his hands, and maintained a profound silence. i learned afterwards that he was a bore, and the friend in the rear thought it wise to nip him in the bud. this scene put to flight all intentions of speaking on my part, lest i, too, might get outside the prescribed limits, and be suppressed by force. i dined with mrs. nichol at huntly lodge, where she has entertained in turn many of our american reformers. her walls have echoed to the voices of garrison, rogers, samuel j. may, parker pillsbury, henry c. wright, douglass and remond, and hosts of english philanthropists. though over eighty, she is still awake on all questions of the hour, and generous in her hospitalities as of yore. later, miss anthony, in company with mrs. rebecca moore, spent several weeks in edinburgh looking over mrs. nichol's voluminous correspondence with the anti-slavery apostles, to see if anything of interest could be gleaned for these volumes. she found mrs. moore as a traveling companion better than the most approved encyclopedia, as she possessed all possible information on every subject and locality, so that all miss anthony had to do was to keep her ears open whenever she was sufficiently rested to listen. there, too, miss anthony visited dr. agnes mclaren, in her _recherché_ home, and found her as charming in the social circle as she was said to be skillful in her profession. she spent several days also with dr. jex blake, and from her lips heard the full account of her prolonged struggle to open the medical college to women, and to secure for them as students equal recognition. after listening to all the humiliations to which they had been subjected, and their final expulsion from the university, and of the riots in edinburgh, miss anthony felt that dr. jex blake had fought the battle with great wisdom and heroism. the failure of the experiment in that university was not due to a want of tact in the women who led the movement, but to the natural bigotry and obstinacy of the scotch people, the universal hostility of the medical professors to all innovations, and the antagonism men feel towards women as competitors in the sciences and professions. before leaving edinburgh a public reception was tendered to miss anthony, mrs. nichol presiding. professor blackie, mrs. jessie wellstood, and the honored guest herself, did the speaking. with refreshments and conversation it was altogether a pleasant occasion. in the meantime i was making new friends in the other parts of the kingdom. mrs. margaret lucas, whose whole soul is in the temperance movement, escorted me from edinburgh to manchester, to be present at another great demonstration in the town hall, the finest building in that district. it had just been completed, and, with its ante-rooms, dining hall, and various apartments for social entertainments, was altogether the most perfect hall i had seen in england. there i was entertained by mrs. matilda roby, who, with her husband, gave me a most hospitable reception. she invited several friends to luncheon one day, among others, miss lydia becker, editor of the _suffrage journal_ in that city, and the rev. mr. steinthal, who had visited this country and spoken on our platform. the chief topic at the table was john stuart mill, his life, character, writings, and his position with reference to the political rights of woman. in the evening we went to see ristori in queen elizabeth. having seen her many years before in america, i was surprised to find her still so vigorous. and thus, from week to week, were suffrage meetings, receptions, dinners, luncheons and theatres pleasantly alternated. the following sunday we heard a grand sermon from moncure d. conway, and had a pleasant interview with him and mrs. conway at the close of the sessions. later we spent a few pleasant days at their artistic home, filled with books, pictures, and mementoes from loving friends. a billiard-room with well-worn cues and balls may in a measure account for his vigorous sermons--quite a novel adjunct to a parsonage. a garden reception there to mr. and mrs. howells, gave us an opportunity to see the american novelist surrounded by his admiring friends. howells and hawthorne seemed to be great favorites in the literary circles of england at that time, but i never read one of their novels without regretting for the honor of american women that they had not painted more vigorous and piquant characters for their heroines. one was always sure of meeting some americans worth knowing at the conway's in bedford park. we dined there with mary clemmer and mr. hudson, just after their marriage, and a bright, pretty daughter of murat halstead, who chatted as gaily among the staid english as on her native heath. there, too, we first saw mrs. william mellen with her daughters, from colorado springs, now residing in london for the purpose of educating a family of seven children,[ ] although there is no so fitting place to educate children to the duties of citizens of a republic, as under our own free institutions. if possessed of wealth, they readily adopt aristocratic ideas, and enjoy the distinctions of class they find in all monarchical countries, which totally unfit them for properly appreciating the democratic principles it is our interest to cherish at home. the sunday after mr. conway left for australia, i was invited to fill his pulpit. spending a few days with mrs. conway, we attended the ladies' club one afternoon. the leading spirits seemed to be miss orme and miss richardson, both attorneys in practice, with an office in london, though not yet regularly admitted to the queen's bench. the topic of discussion was the well-worn theme--the education of girls; but no one seemed quite prepared to take off all the ligatures from their bodies and the fears of everything known or unknown from their minds, and leave them for a season to grow as nature intended, that we might find out by seeing them in their normal condition what their real wants and needs might be. i suggested for their next topic, the proper education of boys, which was accepted. i retired that night very nervous over my sermon for the next day, and the feeling steadily increased until i reached the platform; but once there, my fears were all dissipated, and i never enjoyed speaking more than on that occasion, for i had been so long oppressed with the degradation of woman under canon law and church discipline that i had a sense of relief in pouring out my indignation. my theme was, "what has christianity done for woman?" and by the facts of history, i showed clearly that to no form of religion was woman indebted for one impulse of freedom, as all alike have taught her inferiority and subjection to man. no lofty virtues can emanate from such a condition. whatever heights of dignity and purity women have individually attained, can in no way be attributed to the dogmas of their religion. with my son theodore, always deeply interested in my friends and public work, we called on mrs. gray, miss jessie boucherett and dr. hoggan, who had written essays for "the woman question in europe"; on our american minister, mr. lowell, mr. and mrs. george w. smalley, and many other notable men and women. by appointment we had an hour with the hon. john bright at his residence on piccadilly. as his photograph, with his fame, had reached america, his fine face and head, as well as his political opinions, were quite familiar to us. he received us with great cordiality, and manifested a clear knowledge, and deep interest in regard to all american affairs. free trade and woman suffrage formed the basis of our conversation; the literature of our respective countries, our great men and women, the lighter topics of the occasion. he is not sound in regard to the political rights of women, but it is not given to any one man to be equally clear on all questions. he voted for john stuart mill's amendment to the "household suffrage bill," in , but, as he said, as a personal favor to a friend, without any strong convictions as to the merits of what he considered "a purely sentimental measure." we attended the meeting called to rejoice over the passage of the married woman's property bill, which gave to the women of england in what we had enjoyed in many states in this country since . mrs. jacob bright, mrs. scatcherd, mrs. almy, and several members of parliament made short speeches of congratulation to those who had been instrumental in carrying the measure. it was generally conceded that to the tact and persistence of mrs. bright, more than to any other one person, belonged the credit of that achievement. hon. jacob bright was at that time a member of parliament, and fully in sympathy with the bill; and while mrs. bright exerted all her social influence to make it popular with the members, her husband, thoroughly versed in parliamentary tactics, availed himself of every technicality to push the bill through the house of commons. mrs. bright's chief object in securing this bill, aside from establishing the right every human being has to his own property, was, to lift married women on an even plane with widows and spinsters, thereby making them qualified voters. the next day we went out to barn elms to visit mr. and mrs. chas. mclaren. mr. mclaren, a quaker by birth and education, has sustained to his uttermost the suffrage movement, and his charming little wife, the daughter of mrs. pochin, is worthy the noble mother who was among the earliest leaders on this question, speaking and writing with equal ability on all phases of the subject. barn elms is a grand old estate, a few miles out of london. it was the dairy farm of queen elizabeth, and presented by her to sir francis walsingham. since then it has been inhabited by many persons of note. it has existed as an estate since the time of the early saxon kings, and the record of the sale of barn elms in the time of king athelston is still extant. what with its well-kept lawns, fine old trees, and glimpses here and there of the thames winding round its borders, and its wealth of old associations, it is indeed a charming spot. our memory of those days will not go back to saxon kings, but remain with the liberal host and hostess, the beautiful children and the many charming acquaintances we met at that fireside. i doubt whether any of the ancient lords and ladies who dispensed their hospitalities under that roof, did in any way surpass the present occupants. mrs. mclaren, interested in all the reforms of the day, is radical in her ideas, a brilliant talker, and, for one so young, remarkably well informed on all political questions. one thing is certain, those old walls never echoed to more rebellious talk among women against existing conditions,[ ] than on that evening. it was at barn elms i met for the first time mrs. fannie hertz, to whom i was indebted for many pleasant acquaintances afterwards. she is said to know more distinguished literary people than any other woman in london. i saw her, too, several times in her own cozy home, meeting at her sunday-afternoon receptions many persons i was desirous to know. on one occasion i found george jacob holyoake there, surrounded by a bevy of young ladies, all stoutly defending the nihilists in russia, and their right to plot their way to freedom; they counted a dynasty of czars as nothing in the balance with the liberties of a whole people. as i joined the circle mr. holyoake called my attention to the fact that he was the only one in favor of peaceful measures among all those ladies. "now," said he, "i have often heard it said on your platform, that the feminine element in politics would bring about perpetual peace in government, and here all these ladies are advocating the worst forms of violence in the name of liberty." "ah," said i, "lay on their shoulders the responsibility of governing, and they would soon become as mild and conservative as you seem to be." he then gave us his views on coöperation, the only remedy for many existing evils, which he thought would be the next step toward a higher civilization. there, too, i met some positivists, who, though quite reasonable on religious questions, were very narrow on the sphere of woman. the difference in sex, which is the very reason why men and women should be associated in all spheres of activity, they make the strongest reason why they should be separated. mrs. hertz belongs to the harrison school of positivists. i went with her to one of mrs. orr's receptions, where we met robert browning, a fine looking gentleman of seventy years, with white hair and mustache. he is frank, easy, playful, and a good talker. mrs. orr seemed to be taking a very pessimistic view of our present sphere of action, which mr. browning, with poetic coloring, was trying to paint more hopeful. the next day i dined with mrs. margaret bright lucas, in company with mr. john p. thomasson, member of parliament, and his wife, and afterwards we went to the house of commons and had the good fortune to hear gladstone, parnell, and sir charles dilke. seeing bradlaugh seated outside the charmed circle, i sent my card to him, and in the corridor we had a few moments' conversation. i asked him if he thought he would eventually get his seat; he replied, "most assuredly i will. i shall open the next campaign with such an agitation as will rouse our politicians to some consideration of the changes gradually coming over the face of things in this country." the place assigned ladies in the house of commons is really a disgrace to a country ruled by an empress. this dark perch is the highest gallery immediately over the speaker's desk and government seats, behind a fine wire-work, so that it is quite impossible to see or hear anything. the sixteen persons who can crowd in the front seat, by standing with their noses partly through some open work, can have the satisfaction of seeing the cranial arch of their rulers, and hearing an occasional pean to liberty, or an irish growl at the lack of it. i was told this net work was to prevent the members on the floor from being disturbed by the beauty of the women. on hearing this i remarked that i was devoutly thankful that our american men were not so easily disturbed, and that the beauty of our women was not of so dangerous a character. i could but contrast our spacious galleries in that magnificent capitol at washington, as well as in our grand state capitols, where hundreds of women can sit to see and hear their rulers at their ease, with these dark, dingy buildings, and such inadequate accommodations for the people. my son, who had a seat on the floor just opposite the ladies' gallery, said he could compare our appearance to nothing better than birds in a cage. he could not distinguish an outline of anybody. all he could see was the moving of feathers and furs, or some bright ribbon or flower. in the libraries, the courts, and the house of lords, i found many suggestive subjects of thought. our american inventions seem to furnish them cases for litigation. a suit in regard to singer's sewing machine was just then occupying the attention of the lord chancellor. not feeling much interest in the matter, i withdrew and joined my friends, to examine some frescoes in the ante-room. it was interesting to find so many historical scenes in which women had taken a prominent part. among others, there is jane lane assisting charles ii. to escape, and alice lisle concealing the fugitives after the battle of sedgemoor. six wives of henry viii. stand forth a solemn pageant when one recalls their sad fate. alas! whether for good or ill, woman must ever fill a large space in the tragedies of the world. i passed a few pleasant hours in the house where macaulay spent his last years. the once spacious library and the large bay window looking out on a beautiful lawn, where he sat from day to day writing his flowing periods, possessed a peculiar charm for me, as the surroundings of genius always do. i thought as i stood there how often he had unconsciously gazed on each object in sight in searching for words rich enough to gild his ideas. the house is now owned and occupied by mr. and mrs. stephen winckworth. it was at one of their sociable sunday teas that many pleasant memories of the great historian were revived. we went with mrs. lucas to a meeting of the salvation army, in exeter hall, which holds , people. it was literally packed--not an inch of standing-room even, seemed to be unoccupied. this remarkable movement was then at its height of enthusiasm in england, and its leaders proposed to carry it round the world, but it has never been so successful in any other latitude. they not only hold meetings, but they march through the streets, men and women, singing and playing on tambourines. the exercises on this occasion consisted of prayers, hymns, and exhortations by mr. and mrs. booth. when this immense audience all joined in the chorus of their stirring songs, it was indeed very impressive. the whole effect was like that of an old-fashioned methodist revival meeting. i purchased their paper, _the war cry_, and pasted it in my journal to show the wild vagaries to which the human mind is subject. there is nothing too ridiculous or monstrous to be done under the influence of religious enthusiasm. in spite, however, of the ridicule attached to this movement, it is at least an aspiration for that ignorant, impoverished multitude. the first thing they were urged to do was to give up intoxicating drinks, and their vicious affiliations. if some other organization could take hold of them at that point, to educate them in the rudiments of learning and right living, and supplement their emotions with a modicum of reason and common sense in the practical affairs of life, much greater good might result from this initiative step in the right direction. one of the most remarkable and genial women we met was miss frances power cobbe. she called one evening at duchess street, and sipped with us the five o'clock cup of tea, a uniform practice in england. she is of medium height, stout, rosy, and vigorous looking, with a large, well-shaped head, a strong, happy face, and gifted with rare powers of conversation. i felt very strongly attracted to her. she is frank and cordial and pronounced in all her opinions. she gave us an account of her efforts to rescue unhappy cats and dogs from the hands of the vivisectionists. we saw her, too, in her own cozy home and in her office in victoria row. the perfect order in which her books and papers were all arranged, and the exquisite neatness of the apartments were refreshing to behold. my daughter, having decided opinions of her own, was soon at loggerheads with miss cobbe on the question of vivisection. after showing us several german and french books with illustrations of the horrible cruelty inflicted on cats and dogs, enlarging on the hypocrisy and wickedness of these scientists, she turned to my daughter and said, "would you shake hands with one of these vivisectionists?" "yes," said harriot, "i should be proud to shake hands with virchow, the great german scientist, for his kindness to a young american girl. she applied to several professors to be admitted to their classes, but all refused except virchow; he readily assented, and requested his students to treat her with becoming courtesy. 'if any of you behave otherwise,' said he, 'i shall feel myself personally insulted.' she entered his classes and pursued her studies unmolested and with great success. "now," said she, "would you refuse to shake hands with any of your statesmen, scientists, clergymen, lawyers or physicians, who treat women with constant indignities and insults?" "oh, no"; said miss cobbe. "then," said mrs. blatch, "you estimate the physical suffering of cats and dogs as of more consequence than the humiliation of human beings. the man who tortures a cat for a scientific purpose is not as low in the scale of being, in my judgment, as one who sacrifices his own daughter to some cruel custom." though miss cobbe weighs over two hundred pounds, she is as light on foot as a deer and is said to be a great walker. after seeing her i read again some of her books. her theology now and then evidently cramps her, yet her style is vigorous, earnest, sarcastic, though at times playful and pathetic. in regard to her theology, she says she is too liberal to please her orthodox friends and too orthodox to please the liberals, hence in religion she stands quite solitary. suffering from the effects of the prolonged fogs, we took our letters of introduction from dr. bayard of new york to the two leading high-dilution homeopathic physicians in london, drs. wilson and berridge. we found the former a good talker and very original. we were greatly amused with his invectives against the quacks in the profession; the "mongrels," as he called the low dilutionists. the first question he asked my daughter was if she wore high heels; he said he would not attempt to cure any woman of any disease so long as she was perched on her toes with her spine out of plumb. his advice to me was to get out of the london fogs as quickly as possible. no one who has not suffered a london fog can imagine the terrible gloom that pervades everywhere. one can see nothing out of the windows but a dense black smoke. drivers carry flambeaux in the streets to avoid running into each other. the houses are full; the gas burns all day, but you can scarcely see across the room; theaters and places of amusement are sometimes closed, as nothing can be seen distinctly. we called on dr. berridge, also, thinking it best to make the acquaintance of both that we might decide from their general appearance, surroundings, conversation and comparative intelligence, which one we would prefer to trust in an emergency. we found both alike so promising that we felt we could trust either to give us our quietus, if die we must, on the high dilutions. it is a consolation to know that one's closing hours at least are passed in harmony with the principles of pure science. on further acquaintance we found these gentlemen true disciples of the great hahneman. as we were just then reading froude's "life of carlyle," we drove by the house where he lived and paused a moment at the door, where poor jennie went in and out so often with a heavy heart. it is a painful record of a great soul struggling with poverty and disappointment; the hope of success as an author so long deferred and never wholly realized. his foolish pride of independence and headship, and his utter obliviousness as to his domestic duties and the comfort of his wife, made the picture still darker. poor jennie, fitted to shine in any circle, yet doomed all her married life to domestic drudgery, with no associations with the great man for whose literary companionship she had sacrificed herself. it adds greatly to one's interest in scott, dickens, thackeray, charlotte bronté, bulwer, james and george eliot, to read them amidst the scenes where they lived and died. thus in my leisure hours, after the fatigues of sight-seeing and visiting, i re-read many of these authors near the places where they spent their last days on earth. as i had visited ambleside forty years before and seen harriet martineau in her prime, i did not go with miss anthony to lake windermere. she found the well-known house occupied by mr. william henry hills, a liberal quaker named after william henry channing. mrs. hills received the party with great hospitality, showed them through all the apartments and pointed out the charming views from the windows. they paused a few moments reverently in the chamber where that grand woman had passed her last triumphant days on earth. on the kitchen hearth was still sitting her favorite cat, sixteen years old, the spots in her yellow and black fur as marked as ever. puss is the observed of all observers who visit that sacred shrine, and it is said she seems specially to enjoy the attention of strangers. from here miss anthony drove round grasmere, the romantic home of wordsworth, wandered through the old church, sat in the pew he so often occupied and lingered near the last resting-place of the great poet. as the former residence of the anti-slavery agitator, thomas clarkson, was on ulswater, another of the beautiful lakes in that region, miss anthony extended her excursion still further and learned from the people many pleasing characteristics of these celebrated personages. on her way to ireland she stopped at ulverston and visited miss hannah goad, who was a descendant of the founder of quakerism, george fox. she was in the old house in which he was married to margaret fell and where they lived many years; attended the quaint little church where he often spoke from the high seats, looked through his well-worn bible, and the minutes of their monthly meetings, kept by margaret fell two centuries ago. returning to london we attended one of miss biggs' receptions and among others met mr. stansfeld, m. p., who had labored faithfully for the repeal of the contagious diseases acts, and in a measure been successful. we had the honor of an interview with lord shaftsbury at one of his crowded receptions, and found him a little uncertain as to the wisdom of allowing married women to vote, for fear of disturbing the peace of the family. i have often wondered if men see in this objection what fatal admissions they make as to their own selfishness and love of domination. miss anthony was present at the great liberal conference at leeds on october , to which mrs. helen bright clark, miss jane cobden, mrs. tanner, mrs. scatcherd and several other ladies were duly elected delegates from their respective liberal leagues, and occupied seats on the floor. mrs. clark and miss cobden, daughters of the great corn-law reformers, spoke eloquently in favor of the resolution to extend parliamentary suffrage to women, which was presented by walter mclaren of bradford. as these young women made their impassioned appeals for the recognition of woman's political equality in the next bill for the extension of suffrage, that immense gathering of , delegates was hushed into profound silence. for a daughter to speak thus in that great representative convention in direct opposition to her loved and honored father, the acknowledged leader of that party, was an act of heroism and fidelity to her own highest convictions almost without a parallel in english history, and the effect on the audience was as thrilling as it was surprising. the resolution was passed by a large majority. at the reception given to mr. john bright that evening, as mrs. clark approached the daïs on which her noble father stood shaking the hands of passing friends, she remarked to her husband, "i wonder if father has heard of my speech this morning, and if he will forgive me for thus publicly differing with him?" the query was soon answered. as he caught the first glimpse of his daughter he stepped down and, pressing her hand affectionately, kissed her with a fond father's warmth on either cheek in turn. the next evening the great quaker statesman was heard by the admiring thousands who could crowd into victoria hall, while thousands, equally desirous to hear, failed to get tickets of admission. it was a magnificent sight, and altogether a most impressive gathering of the people. miss anthony with her friends sat in the gallery opposite the great platform, where they had a fine view of the whole audience. when john bright, escorted by sir wilfred lawson, took his seat, the immense audience rose, waving hats and handkerchiefs and with the wildest enthusiasm giving cheer after cheer in honor of the great leader. sir wilfred lawson in his introductory remarks facetiously alluded to the resolution adopted by the conference as somewhat in advance of the ideas of the speaker of the evening. the house broke into roars of laughter, while the father of liberalism, perfectly convulsed, joined in the general merriment. but when at length his time to speak had come, and mr. bright went over the many steps of progress that had been taken by the liberal party, he cunningly dodged all in the direction of the emancipation of the women of england. he skipped round the agitation in and john stuart mill's amendment presented at that time in the house of commons; the extension of the municipal suffrage in ; the participation of women in the establishment of national schools under the law of , both as voters and members of school-boards; the married woman's property bill of ; the large and increasing vote for the extension of parliamentary suffrage in the house of commons, and the adoption of the resolution by that great conference the day before. all these successive steps towards woman's emancipation he carefully remembered to forget. during miss anthony's stay in leeds she and her cousin, dr. fannie dickinson, were guests of mrs. hannah ford at adel grange, an old and lovely suburban home, where she met many interesting women, members of the school-board, poor-law guardians and others. the three daughters of mrs. ford, though possessed of ample incomes, have each a purpose in life; one had gathered hundreds of factory girls into evening schools, where she taught them to cut and make their garments, as well as to read and write; one was an artist and the third a musician, having studied in london and florence. it was during this ever-to-be-remembered week that miss anthony, escorted by mrs. ford, visited haworth, the bleak and lonely home of the brontés. it was a dark, drizzly october day, intensifying all the gloomy memories of the place. she sat in the old church pew where those shivering girls endured such discomforts through the fearful services, with their benumbed feet on the very stone slab that from time to time was taken up to deposit in the earth beneath their loved dead! she was shown through the house, paused at the place under the stairs where the imperial shirley had her fierce encounter with that almost human dog, keeper; she stood in the drawing-room where the sainted three sisters, arm-in-arm, paced up and down plotting their weird stories. she walked through the same old gate, on the same single stone pavement and over the same stile out into the same heather fields, gazing on the same dreary sky above and the same desolate earth on every side. she dined in the same old "black bull"; sat in poor branwell's chair and was served by the same person who dealt out the drinks to that poor unfortunate--then a young bar-maid, now the aged proprietor. miss anthony crossed from barrow to belfast, where she was given a most cordial reception at the house of one of ireland's distinguished orators, miss isabella m. tod, who took her to one of her ulster temperance meetings at garvah, where they were the guests of rev. thomas medill, a cousin of the distinguished chicago editor. there, as miss anthony listened to the prayers and exhortations of the presbyterian ministers and to the arguments of miss tod, and heard no appeals to the audience to join in the work of suppressing the traffic, a realizing sense of the utter powerlessness of the queen's subjects in ireland dawned upon her for the first time. in all that crowd there was not one who had any voice in the decision of that question. the entire control of the matter rested with three magistrates appointed by the queen, who are in nowise responsible to the tax-paying people to whom they administer the laws. had miss tod been addressing an american audience, she would have appealed to every man to vote only for candidates pledged to no-license. from garvah they made a pilgrimage to the giant's causeway. miss anthony had, when at oban, visited fingal's cave, and the two wonders that always fix themselves upon the imagination of the youthful student of the world's geography fully matched her expectations. at dublin she visited the castle, the old parliament building, now a bank; kings and queens college, that gives diplomas to women; the parks, the cemeteries, the tomb of daniel o'connell. she attended a meeting of the common council, of which alfred webb, the only surviving son of the old abolitionist, richard d. webb, was a member, and there she listened to a discussion on a petition to the queen that the people of dublin might be allowed to elect their own tax-collector instead of having one placed over them by "the powers that be" at london, as the official thus appointed had just proved a defaulter. in listening to the outrages perpetrated upon a helpless people by foreign officials, the one wonder to her was, not that so many of ireland's sons are discontented, but that they are not in open rebellion. there miss anthony made the acquaintance of numbers of excellent friends,[ ] and with mrs. haslam visited their large free library and attended their first-day meeting. in dublin, too, she met michael davitt, who seemed to her a most sincere champion of liberty for himself and his people. miss anthony spent a week with mr. and mrs. haslam in cork, visiting blarney castle, the old walled city of youghal with its crumbling quaker meeting-house and fine old mansion in which sir walter raleigh lived, and thence to the beautiful lakes of killarney, and in a jaunting-car through the evicted tenants' district, entering the hovels and talking with the inmates. the sad stories poured into her ears, and the poverty and wretchedness she saw, proved to her that none of mr. redpath's revelations, so shocking to the humanity of our people, were in the least over-drawn. the circuit through limerick, galway, clifton and belfast was made in third-class cars, that she might talk with the people of the working class. this was the season for their county fairs, which gave her an opportunity to see the farmers driving their cattle and taking their meagre products to the fair. the women and girls were uniformly barefooted, while some of the men and boys wore shoes. in reply to her query why this was so, one man said, "it is all we can do to get shoes for them as airnes the money." the same old story; woman's work, however arduous, brings no price in the market. while in london we attended several large and enthusiastic reform meetings. we heard bradlaugh address his constituency on that memorable day at trafalgar square, at the opening of parliament, when violence was anticipated and the parliament houses were surrounded by immense crowds, with the military and police in large numbers to maintain order. we heard michael davitt and miss helen taylor at a great meeting in exeter hall, the former on home-rule for ireland, and the latter on the nationalization of land, showing that in ancient times the people had many privileges long since denied. they even had forests and commons and the road-side, where their cows, sheep and geese could glean something. the facts and figures given in these two lectures as to the abject poverty of the people and the cruel system by which every inch of land had been grabbed by their oppressors, were indeed appalling. a few days before sailing we made our last visit to ernestine l. rose and found our noble coadjutor, though in delicate health, pleasantly situated in the heart of london, as deeply interested as ever in the struggles of the hour. dining one day with mrs. lucas, we were forcibly impressed with the growing liberality of people of all shades of belief and of all professions. the guests on that occasion were mrs. hallock, sister-in-law of robert dale owen, thoroughly imbued with his religious and social ideas; dr. mary j. hall, the only woman practicing homeopathy in england; miss henrietta müller, member of the london school-board; miss clara spence, a young actress from america, who gave us some fine recitations; and such liberals in politics and religion as mrs. stanton blatch and myself, while our hostess was an orthodox friend. however we were all agreed on one point, the right of women to full equality everywhere. in the evening we went to see mrs. hallock's daughter, ella deitz, in the play of "impulse." we urged mrs. lucas to accompany us, but she said she had never been to a theater in her life. a great discomfort in all english homes is the cold draughts through their halls and unoccupied rooms. a moderate fire in the grates in the family apartments is their only mode of heating, and they seem quite oblivious as to the danger of throwing a door open into a cold hall on one's back while the servants pass in and out with the various courses' at dinner. as we americans were sorely tried under such circumstances, it was decided in the basingstoke mansion to have a hall stove, which, after a prolonged search, was found in london and duly installed as a presiding deity to defy the dampness that pervades all those ivy-covered habitations, as well as the neuralgia that wrings their possessors. what a blessing it proved, more than any one thing making the old english house seem like an american home! the delightful summer heat we in america enjoy in the coldest weather is quite unknown to our saxon cousins. although many came to see our stove in full working order, yet we could not persuade them to adopt the american system of heating the whole house at an even temperature. they cling to the customs of their fathers with an obstinacy that is incomprehensible to us, who are always ready to try experiments. americans complain bitterly of the same freezing experiences in france and germany, and in turn foreigners all criticise our over-heated houses and places of amusement. an evening reception at mrs. richardson's, in the city of york, gave us an opportunity of a personal greeting with a large circle of ladies identified with the suffrage movement, and a large public meeting the next day in the town hall enabled us to judge still further of the merits of english women as speakers. here i was entertained by mrs. lucretia kendall clarke, an american, who had spent five years as a student in dresden, where she made the acquaintance of mr. clarke. it is said in england that the american girls capture all the choice young men; that our rich cattle-dealers get all their best horses, cows, sheep, dogs, and that in time we shall rob them of all that is best in the country. one thing is certain, we shall always regret our hospitable invitation to the sparrows, as they are making war on our native birds instead of fulfilling their mission to the "diet of worms." in company with mrs. scatcherd we spent an hour in that magnificent york cathedral, said to be one of the finest in england. being there at the time for service we had the benefit of the music. to us, lost in admiration of the wonderful architecture and the beautiful carving in wood and stone, the solemn strains of the organ reverberating through those vast arches made the whole scene very impressive. as women in many of the churches are not permitted to take part in the sacred ceremonies, the choir is composed of men, and boys from ten to fifteen who sing the soprano and alto. but these old ideas, like the old roman wall that still surrounds that city, time only can remove. we had a merry trip from york to london. miss müller, mrs. chant, mrs. shearer, miss stackpole, in our compartment, discussed freely the silly objections to woman's enfranchisement usually made by our legislators. we found on comparing notes that the arguments usually made were the same in the house of commons as in the halls of congress. if the honorable gentlemen could only have heard their stale platitudes with good imitations in voice and manner, i doubt whether they would ever again air their absurdities. i regretted that our caroline gilkey rogers had not been there to have given her admirable impersonation of a massachusetts legislator. a few days later i attended another meeting in birmingham and stayed with a relative of joseph sturge, at whose home i had visited forty years before. this was called to discuss the degradation of women under the contagious diseases acts. led by josephine butler, the women of england have been deeply stirred on the question of repeal, and are very active in their opposition to the law. we heard mrs. butler speak in many of her society meetings, as well as on several public occasions. her style is not unlike that we hear in methodist class-meetings from the best cultivated of that sect; her power grows out of her deeply religious enthusiasm. in london we met emily faithful, who had just returned from a lecturing-tour in the united states, and were much amused with her experiences. having taken prolonged trips over the whole country from maine to texas for many successive years, miss anthony and i could easily add the superlative to all her narrations. she dined with us one day at mrs. mellen's, where we also had the pleasure of meeting miss jane cobden, a daughter of the great corn-law reformer, who was much interested in forming liberal leagues, to encourage the liberal party and interest women in the political questions under consideration. she passed a day with us at basingstoke, and together we visited mrs. caird, the author of "whom nature leadeth," an interesting story of english life. i found the author a charming woman, but in spite of the title i really could not find one character in the three volumes that seemed to follow the teachings of nature. two weeks again in london, visiting picture-galleries, museums, libraries, going to teas, dinners, receptions, concerts, theaters and reform-meetings; it is enough to turn one's head to think of all the different clubs and associations managed by women. it was a source of constant pleasure to me to drive about in hansoms and try to take in the vastness of that wonderful city; to see the beautiful equipages, fine saddle-horses and riders and the skill with which the bicycles were so rapidly engineered through the crowded streets. the general use of bicycles and tricycles all over england, even for long journeys, is fast becoming the favorite mode of locomotion both for ladies and gentlemen. it was a pleasant surprise to meet the large number of americans usually at the receptions of mrs. peter taylor.[ ] graceful and beautiful in full dress, standing beside her husband, who evidently idolizes her, mrs. taylor appeared quite as refined in her drawing-room as if she had never been "exposed to the public gaze," while presiding over a suffrage convention. mr. peter taylor, m. p., has been untiring in his endeavors to get a bill through parliament against "compulsory vaccination." mrs. taylor is called the mother of the suffrage movement. the engraving of her sweet face which adorns the english chapter will give the reader a good idea of her character. the reform has not been carried on in all respects to her taste, nor on what she considers the basis of high principle. neither she nor mrs. jacob bright has ever been satisfied with the bill asking the right of suffrage for "widows and spinsters" only. to have asked this right "for all women duly qualified," as but few married women are qualified by possessing property in their own right, the result would have been substantially the same without making any invidious distinctions. mrs. taylor and mrs. bright felt that as married women were the greatest sufferers under the law, they should be the first rather than the last to be enfranchised. the others, led by miss becker, claimed that it was good policy to make the demand for "spinsters and widows," and thus exclude the "family unit" and "man's headship" from the discussion; and yet these were the very points on which the objections were invariably based. they claimed that if "spinsters and widows" were enfranchised they would be an added power to secure to married women their rights. but the history of the past gives no such assurance. it is not certain that women would be more just than men, and a small privileged class of aristocrats have long governed their fellow-countrymen. the fact that the spinsters in the movement advocated such a bill shows that they are not to be trusted in extending it. john stuart mill, too, was always opposed to the exclusion of married women in the demand for suffrage. if our english friends had our system of conventions and discussions in which every resolution is subject to criticism, changes could be more readily effected. but as their meetings are now conducted, a motion to amend a resolution would throw the platform into the wildest confusion and hopelessly bewilder the chairman. we saw this experiment made at the great demonstration in st. james' hall the night before mr. mason's bill was to be acted on in the house of commons. for its effect on their champions some were desirous that a resolution should be endorsed by that great audience proposing higher ground; that instead of "spinsters and widows," the demand should be for "all duly qualified women." after the reading of one of the resolutions miss jessie craigen arose and proposed such an amendment. mr. woodhall, m. p., in the chair, seemed quite at a loss what to do. she was finally, after much debate and prolonged confusion, suppressed, whether in a parliamentary manner or not i am unable to say. here we should have discussed the matter at length if it had taken us until midnight, or adjourned over until next day, "the spinsters and widows" having been the target for all our barbed arrows until completely annihilated. spending two months in traveling on the continent, miss anthony had many amusing experiences. while visiting our minister and his wife, mr. and mrs. sargent, at berlin, she occupied some rainy days, when sight-seeing was out of the question, in doing up papers and writing a large number of letters on our official paper, bearing the revolutionary mottoes, "no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed," "taxation without representation is tyranny." for a brief period she was in the full enjoyment of that freedom one has when a pressing duty to family and friends has been thoroughly discharged. but alas! her satisfaction was soon turned to disappointment. after a few days a dignified official appeared at the american legation with a large package bearing the proscribed mottoes, saying, "such sentiments cannot pass through the post-office in germany." so all that form of propagandism was nipped in the bud, and in modest, uncomplaining wraps the letters and papers started again for the land of the free and reached their destination. but this experience did not satisfy the "napoleon of our movement" that the rulers in the old world could securely guard their subjects from those inflammable mottoes to which from long use we are so indifferent. she continued to sow the seeds of rebellion as she had opportunity, in germany, france, switzerland and italy. it is well for us that she did not experiment in russia, or we should now be mourning her loss as an exile in siberia. at all points of interest books are kept for visitors to register their names; miss anthony uniformly added some of our pilgrim fathers' heroic ejaculations in their struggle for liberty, which friends visiting the same places afterwards informed us were carefully crossed out so as to be quite illegible. but we may hope for their restoration in the near future and that they may yet do an effective work. thus circumscribed with her pen and not being able to speak a foreign language, happily no rebellions were fomented by her rapid transit through their borders. my sense of justice was severely tried with all i heard of the persecutions of mrs. besant and mr. bradlaugh for their publications on the right and duty of parents to limit population. who can contemplate the sad condition of multitudes of young children in the old world whose fate is to be brought up in ignorance and vice--a swarming, seething mass whom nobody owns--without seeing the need of free discussion of the philosophical principles that underlie these tangled social problems. the trials of foote and ramsey, too, for blasphemy, seemed unworthy a great nation in the nineteenth century. think of well-educated men of good moral standing, thrown into prison in solitary confinement for speaking lightly of the hebrew idea of jehovah and the new testament account of the birth of jesus! our protestant clergy never hesitate to make the dogmas and superstitions of the catholic church seem as absurd as possible, and why should not those who imagine they have outgrown protestant superstitions make them equally ridiculous? whatever is true can stand investigation and ridicule. the last of april, when the wild-flowers were in their glory, mrs. mellen and her lovely daughter, daisy, came down to basingstoke to enjoy its beauty. as mrs. mellen had known charles kingsley and entertained him at her residence in colorado, she felt a desire to see his former home. accordingly, one bright morning mr. blatch drove us through stralfieldsage over the grounds of the duke of wellington, well stocked with fine cattle, sheep and deer. this magnificent place was given him by the english government after the battle of waterloo. a lofty statue of the duke that can be seen for miles around stands at the entrance. a drive of a few miles further brought us to eversley, the home of canon kingsley, where he preached many years and where all that is mortal of him now lies buried. we wandered through the old church, among the moss-covered tombstones and into the once happy home, now silent and deserted, his loved ones scattered in different quarters of the globe. standing near the last resting-place of the author of "hypatia," his warning words for woman, in a letter to john stuart mill, seemed like a voice from the clouds, saying with new inspiration and power, "this will never be a good world for woman until the last remnant of the canon law is civilized off the face of the earth." mrs. mellen's spacious home in pembroke gardens, kensington, was thrown open for her american friends in london to celebrate the fourth of july. a large number of our english acquaintances were also present, who very kindly congratulated us on the stirring events of that day in . of the americans assembled, many contributed to the general entertainment. grace greenwood, miss rachel foster, miss kate hillard and miss mildred conway gave recitations. miss lippincott, daughter of grace greenwood, sang some fine operatic music; mrs. carpenter of chicago sang sweetly, playing her own accompaniment; mr. frank lincoln gave some of his amusing impersonations; miss maud powell of chicago, only fourteen years of age, who had been taking lessons in france and germany for some years, played exquisite airs on the violin; mrs. flora stark, miss alice blatch and miss conway gave us some fine classical music on the piano, and nathaniel mellen sang some pathetic negro melodies.[ ] altogether it was a pleasant occasion and i felt quite proud of the varied talents manifested by our young people. some english friends remarked on their cleverness and readiness, all spontaneously called out without any time for preparation. we heard mr. fawcett speak to his hackney constituents at one of his campaign meetings. in the course of his remarks he mentioned with evident favor as one of the coming measures the disestablishment of the church, and was greeted with loud applause. soon after he spoke of woman suffrage as another question demanding consideration, but this was received with laughter and jeers, although the platform was crowded with advocates of the measure, among whom were the wife of the speaker and her sister, dr. garrett anderson, who sat just behind him. the audience were evidently in favor of releasing themselves from being taxed to support the church, forgetting that women were taxed also not only to support the church, in which they had no voice, but the state, too, with its army and navy. mr. fawcett was not an orator, but a simple, straightforward speaker. he made but one gesture, striking his right clenched fist into the palm of the left hand at the close of all his strongest assertions; but being sound and liberal, he was a great favorite with his constituents. a pleasant trip southward through bath to bristol brought us to the home of the misses priestman and mrs. tanner, sisters-in-law of john bright. i had stayed at their father's house forty years before, so we felt like old friends. i found them all charming, liberal women, and we enjoyed a few days together, talking over our mutual struggles, and admiring the beautiful scenery for which that part of the country is quite celebrated. the women of england were just then organizing political clubs, and i was invited to speak before the one in bristol. they are composed of men and women alike, for the discussion of all political questions. the next day i spoke to women alone in the church on the bible view of woman's creation and destiny. it is strange that those who pretend to be well-versed in scripture do not see that the simultaneous creation of man and woman and the complete equality of the sexes are as clearly taught in the first chapter of genesis as the reverse is in the allegorical garden-scene in the second. the drive over the suspension-bridge by moonlight to dine with mrs. garnet, a sister of john thomasson, m. p., was a pleasant episode to public speaking and more serious conversation. there, too, we had an evening reception. there is an earnestness of purpose among english women that is very encouraging under the prolonged disappointments reformers inevitably suffer. there is something so determined and heroic in what mary priestman does and says that one would readily follow her through all dangers. it added much to my comfort in this visit to have an escort in mrs. lucas. later miss anthony visited bristol and had a complimentary reception at the misses priestman's. she was the guest of miss mary estlin, who had spent some time in america, a dear friend of sarah pugh and parker pillsbury. miss estlin was from home during my visit, so that i did not see her while in england. the order of english homes among the wealthy classes is very enjoyable. all goes on from year to year with the same servants, the same surroundings, no changes, no moving, no building even; in delightful contrast with our periodical upheavings, always uncertain where we shall go next, or how long our main dependents will stand by us. from bristol we went to greenbank to visit mrs. helen bright clark, a daughter of the great orator. in the evening the parlors were crowded, and i was asked to give an account of the suffrage movement in america. some clergymen questioned me in regard to the bible position of woman, whereupon i gave quite an exposition of its general principles in favor of liberty and equality. as two quite distinct lines of argument can be woven out of those pages on any subject, on this occasion i selected all the most favorable texts for justice to woman, and closed by stating the limits of its authority. mrs. clarke, though thoroughly in sympathy with the views i had expressed, feared lest my very liberal utterances might have shocked some of the strictest of the laymen and clergy. "well," i said, "if we who do see the absurdities of the old superstitions never unveil them to others, how is the world to make any progress in the theologies? i am now in the sunset of life, and i feel it to be my special mission to tell people what they are not prepared to hear, instead of echoing worn-out opinions." the result showed the wisdom of my speaking out of my own soul. to the surprise of mrs. clark, the primitive methodist clergyman called on sunday morning to invite me to occupy his pulpit in the afternoon and present the same line of thought i had the previous evening. i accepted his invitation. he led the services and i took my text from genesis i., , , showing that man and woman were a simultaneous creation, endowed with equal power in starting. mr. and mrs. clark i found very agreeable, progressive people, with a nice family of boys and girls. like all english children, they suffered too much repression, while our american children have too much latitude. if we could strike the happy medium between the two systems, it would be a great benefit to the children of both countries. the next day we drove down to see glastonbury cathedral. england is full of these beautiful ruins, covered with flowers and ivy, but the saddest spectacles, with all this fading glory, are the men, women and children whose nakedness neither man nor nature seeks to drape. returning to london we accepted an invitation to take tea with mrs. jacob bright. a choice circle of three it was, and a large server of tempting viands was placed on a small table before us. mrs. bright, in earnest conversation, had helped us each to a cup of tea, and was turning to help us to something more, when over went table and all, tea, bread and butter, cake, strawberries and cream, silver, china, in one conglomerate mass. silence reigned. no one started; no one said "oh!" mrs. bright went on with what she was saying as if nothing unusual had occurred, rang the bell, and when the servant appeared, pointing to the _débris_, she said, "charles, remove this." i was filled with admiration at her coolness, and devoutly thankful that we americans maintained an equally dignified silence. at a grand reception given in our honor by the national central committee, in princess' hall, mr. jacob bright, m. p., presided and made an admirable opening speech, followed by his sister, mrs. mclaren, with a highly complimentary address of welcome. by particular request miss anthony gave a presentation of the industrial, legal and political status of american women; while i set forth their educational, social and religious limitations. mr. john p. thomasson, m. p., made the closing address, expressing his satisfaction with the addresses of the ladies and the progress made in both countries.[ ] mrs. thomasson, daughter of mrs. lucas, gave several delightful evening parties,[ ] receptions and dinners, some for ladies alone, where an abundant opportunity was offered for a critical analysis of the idiosyncracies of the superior sex, especially in their political dealings with women. the patience of even such heroic souls as lydia becker and caroline biggs was almost exhausted with the tergiversations of members of the house of commons. alas for the many fair promises broken, the hopes deferred, the votes fully relied on and counted, all missing in the hour of action. one crack of mr. gladstone's whip put a hundred liberals to flight in a twinkling, members whom these noble women had spent years in educating. i never visited the house of commons that i did not see miss becker and miss biggs trying to elucidate the fundamental principles of just government to some of them. verily their divine faith and patience merited more worthy action on the part of their representatives. we formed very pleasant friendships with miss frances lord and miss henrietta müller, spending several days with the latter at cadogan square, and both alike visited us at different times in basingstoke. miss lord has translated some of ibsen's plays very creditably to herself, and, we understand, to the satisfaction of the swedish poet. miss lord is a cultured, charming woman, attractive in society, and has a rare gift in conversation; she is rather shrinking in her feelings. miss müller, her devoted friend, is just the opposite; fearless, aggressive and self-centered. miss lord discharged her duties as poor-law guardian faithfully, and miss müller, as member of the london school-board, claimed her rights when infringed upon, and maintained the dignity of her position with a good degree of tact and heroism. we met miss whitehead, another poor-law guardian, at miss müller's, and had a long talk on the sad condition of the london poor and the grand work octavia hill had done among them. miss müller read us a paper on the dignity and office of single women. her idea seems to be very much like that expressed by st. paul in his epistles, that it is better for those who have a genius for public work in the church or state not to marry; and miss müller carries her theory into practice thus far. she has a luxurious establishment of her own, is fully occupied in politics and reform, and though she lives by herself she entertains her friends generously, and does whatever it seems good to her to do. as she is bright and entertaining and has many worshipers, she may fall a victim to the usual fate in spite of her admirable essay, which has been printed in tract form and circulated extensively in england and america. miss müller gave miss anthony and myself a farewell reception on the eve of our departure for america, when we had the opportunity of meeting once more most of the pleasant acquaintances we had made in london. although it was announced for the afternoon, we did in fact receive all day as many as could not come at the hour appointed. dr. elizabeth blackwell took breakfast with us; mrs. fawcett, mrs. seville[ ] and miss lord were with us at luncheon; harriet hosmer and olive logan soon after; mrs. peter taylor later, and from three to six o'clock the parlors were crowded. returning from london i passed my birthday, november , in basingstoke. it was a sad day to us all, knowing that it was the last before my departure for america. when i imprinted the farewell kiss on the soft cheek of little nora in the cradle, she in the dawn and i in the sunset of life, i realized how widely the long years and the broad ocean would separate us forever. miss anthony, who had been visiting mrs. parker, near warrington, met me at alderly edge, where we spent a few days in the charming home of mr. and mrs. jacob bright. there we found their noble sisters, mrs. mclaren and mrs. lucas, young walter mclaren and his lovely bride, eva müller, whom we had heard several times on the suffrage platform. we rallied her on the step she had lately taken, notwithstanding her sister's able paper on the blessedness of a single life. while here we visited dean stanley's birthplace; but on his death the light and joy went out, and the atmosphere of the old church whose walls had once echoed to his voice, and the house where he had spent so many useful years, seemed sad and deserted. but the day was bright and warm, the scenery all around was beautiful, cows and sheep were still grazing in the meadows, the grass as green as in june. this is england's chief charm, forever green, some compensation for the many cloudy days. an evening reception in mrs. bright's spacious parlors, with friends from manchester and other adjoining towns, with speeches of welcome and farewell, finished our visit at alderly edge. as our good friends mrs. mclaren and mrs. lucas had determined to see us safely on board the servia, they escorted us to liverpool, where we met mrs. margaret parker, mrs. scatcherd and dr. fanny dickinson of chicago. another reception was given us at the residence of dr. ewing whittle. several short speeches were made, all cheering the parting guests with words of hope and encouragement for the good cause. here the wisdom of forming an international association was considered. the proposition met with such favor from those present that a committee was appointed to correspond with the friends in different nations. as miss anthony and myself are members of that committee,[ ] now that these volumes are finished and we are at liberty once more, we shall ascertain as soon as possible the feasibility of a grand international conference in new york in , to celebrate the fourth decade of our movement for woman's enfranchisement. such conventions have been held by the friends of anti-slavery, peace, temperance, social purity and evangelical christianity, and why may not the suffrage cause, too, receive a new impetus from the united efforts of its friends in all countries. on the broad atlantic for ten days we had many opportunities to review all we had seen and heard. there we met our noble friends, mr. and mrs. hussey of new jersey; also mrs. margaret buchanan sullivan of chicago, just returning from an extended tour in ireland, who gave us many of her rich experiences. sitting on deck hour after hour, how often i queried with myself as to the significance of the boon for which women were so earnestly struggling. in asking for a voice in the government under which we live, have we been pursuing a shadow for forty years? in seeking political power, are we abdicating that social throne where they tell us our influence is unbounded? no! no! the right of suffrage is no shadow, but a substantial entity that the citizen can seize and hold for his own protection and his country's welfare. a direct power over one's own person and property, an individual opinion to be counted on all questions of public interest, is better than indirect influence, be it ever so far-reaching. though influence, like the pure white light, is all-pervading, yet it is oft-times obscured with passing clouds and nights of darkness; like the sun's rays, it may be healthy, genial, inspiring, though sometimes too direct for comfort, too oblique for warmth, too scattered for any given purpose. but as the prism by dividing the rays of light reveals to us the brilliant coloring of the atmosphere, and as the burning-glass by concentrating them in a focus intensifies their heat, so does the right of suffrage reveal the beauty and power of individual sovereignty in the great drama of national life, while on a vital measure of public interest it combines the many voices of the people in a grand chorus of protest or applause. after an unusually calm, pleasant voyage, for november, we sailed up our beautiful new york harbor just as the sun was rising in all his glory, gilding every hill-top and distant spire in the landscape, and with grateful hearts we celebrated the national thanksgiving-day once more with loving friends in the great republic. footnotes: [ ] he asked me confidentially if i knew what the "d" in his name stood for. "why," said i, "in line with your profession, it must be for 'divinity,' or 'doxology.'" "no," said he, "for 'dynamite.'" as we were being blown up just then in all parts of london, i begged him not to explode until sunday morning in old south church, as i would rather see a wreck of the old theologies than of our charming hostess and corney green, who were giving us this pleasant entertainment. [ ] she says she prefers to be known as the wife of duncan mclaren, a member of parliament from edinburgh for sixteen years, who always voted right on the woman question, while john bright is opposed to the movement. [ ] she occupies the home of an english woman who has taken her seven children to germany for their education. how strange it is that so many parents imagine that they can educate their children better in a foreign land. [ ] after dinner, while the gentlemen still lingered at the table, the ladies being alone, an unusual amount of heresy as to the rights of "the divinely appointed head of the house" found expression. a young english-woman, who had been brought up in great retirement, turned to me and said, "i never heard such declarations before; do you ladies all really believe that god intended men and women to be equal, and do you really feel that girls have a right to enjoy as many privileges as boys?" in chorus we all promptly said, "we do," and i added, "if you will recall all the events of your life thus far, and your own feelings at times, you will find that again and again your own heart has protested against the injustice to which you have been subjected. now," said i, "think a little, and see if you can recall no sense of dissatisfaction at the broad difference made between your sisters and brothers." "well," said she, "i did often wonder why father gave the boys half a crown a week for spending money, and us girls a few pence; why so much thought and money were expended on their education, and so little on ours; but as i saw that that was the custom everywhere, i came to the conclusion that they were a superior order of beings, and so thought no more about it, and i never heard that theory contradicted until this evening." [ ] among these were mr. and mrs. haslam, mr. wigham, brother of eliza wigham, and his cultured wife; hannah webb, the daughter of richard, and thomas webb and daughters, in whose old family-record book of visitors she was shown the autographs of william lloyd garrison and nathaniel p. rogers over the date of . [ ] on one occasion i counted fourteen: miss risley seward, mrs. louise chandler moulton, mrs. laura curtis bullard, miss rachel foster, mrs. william mellen and two sons and daughters, mr. theodore tilton. miss anthony, mrs. stanton blatch and myself. [ ] aside from those already mentioned were william henry channing, l. n. fowler, the phrenologist, and his daughter; mrs. louise chandler moulton, mrs. stanton, mrs. stanton blatch, miss anthony, mrs. powell, mrs. wilson, mrs. phillips, several members from the bright, the mclaren and the cobden families, mrs. conway, miss emily faithful, mr. william henry blatch, mr. stark, the artist; philip marston, the blind poet; miss orme and miss richardson, attorneys-at-law; judge kelley, wife and daughter florence, miss lydia becker, miss caroline biggs and sisters, miss julia osgood. [ ] among the distinguished persons on the platform were frances power cobbe, dr. garrett anderson, mrs. fawcett, mrs. jacob bright, mrs. lucas, mrs. thomasson, mrs. margaret parker, mrs. alice scatcherd, miss becker, miss biggs, mrs. moore, mr. and mrs. conway, oscar wilde and his queenly mother, charles mclaren, m. p., mrs. peter a. taylor, miss helen taylor, miss orme, miss müller, miss lord, miss foster, mrs. and miss blatch, mrs. mellen, miss tod of belfast, mrs. chesson, daughter of george thompson, the great anti-slavery orator, and very many others whose names we cannot recall. [ ] where we met mrs. fawcett, dr. garrett anderson, sir hugh staples, mr. mitchell, the misses stackpole and brothers, madame venturi, miss biggs and sisters, miss frances lord and her sister, who is doing a noble work in her kindergarten. [ ] mrs. seville, whose husband was a professor at sandhurst college, having recently awoke to the indignities the church heaps upon women, made her protest in discarding her bonnet and appearing on sundays with her head uncovered, contrary to paul's injunctions. having thus attended church for two years, involving much criticism and disturbance, both the vicar and the bishop labored with her to resume the bonnet, but she remained incorrigible. she read us a letter of remonstrance from the bishop, over which we all had a hearty laugh. [ ] the following is the report of the action prepared that evening by mrs. parker: "at a large and influential gathering of the friends of woman suffrage, at parliament terrace, liverpool, november , , convened by e. whittle, m. d., to meet mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony prior to their return to america, it was proposed by mrs. margaret e. parker of penketh (near warrington), seconded by mrs. mclaren of edinburgh, and unanimously passed: "that this meeting, recognizing that union is strength and that the time has come when women all over the world should unite in the just demand for their political enfranchisement; therefore "_resolved_, that we do here appoint a committee of correspondence, preparatory to forming an international woman suffrage association. "_resolved_, that the committee consist of the following friends, with power to add to their number: "_for the american center_--mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, miss susan b. anthony, miss rachel foster. _london center_--mrs. peter a. taylor, mrs. margaret b. lucas, miss helen taylor, miss henrietta müller, miss caroline a. biggs, mr. and mrs. charles mclaren, miss eliza orme, miss rebecca moore, london; mrs. harriot stanton blatch, basingstoke. _manchester center_--mr. and mrs. jacob bright, manchester; mr. and mrs. j. p. thomasson, bolton; mrs. margaret e. parker, penketh; dr. and mrs. whittle, liverpool; mrs. oliver scatcherd, leeds; mr. and mrs. walter mclaren, bradford; mrs. philips, liverpool; mr. and mrs. crook, bolton; mr. berners, mr. russell, liverpool; miss becker, manchester. _bristol center_--miss helen bright clarke, street; mrs. alfred ostler, birmingham; miss priestman, bristol. _center for scotland_--mrs. duncan mclaren, mrs. elizabeth pease nichol, miss eliza wigham, edinburgh. _center for ireland_--miss tod, belfast; mrs. haslam, dublin. _center for france_--m'lle hubertine auclert, mr. and mrs. theodore stanton, charlotte b. wilbour, paris. appendix. * * * * * chapter xxvii. the centennial year. among those who sent most cordial letters of greeting, with requests that their names should be enrolled in the centennial autograph-book as signers of the woman's declaration of sentiments, were: _maine_, lavinia m. snow, lucy a. snow; _new hampshire_, marilla m. ricker, abby p. ela; _massachusetts_, e. t. strickland, sarah e. wall; _rhode island_, paulina wright davis; _connecticut_, isabella beecher hooker, frances ellen burr, julia and abby smith; _new york_, clemence s. lozier, henrietta paine westbrook, nettie a. ford, elizabeth b. phelps, charlotte a. cleveland, elizabeth m. atwell; _pennsylvania_, e. a. stetson lozier, anna thomson; _new jersey_, ellen dickinson, s. mary clute, mary m. van clief, s. h. cornell, emma l. wilde, jennie dixon, casa tonti, marie howland, lucinda b. chandler; _district of columbia_, addie t. holton, margaret e. johnson, sabra p. abell, ruth carr dennison, ellen h. sheldon, mary shadd cary and ninety-four others, mary f. foster, susan a. edson; _virginia_, sally holly, carrie putnam; _kentucky_, annie laurie quinby; _tennessee_, elizabeth avery meriwether; _louisiana_, elizabeth lisle saxon; _michigan_, sarah c. owen, margaret j. e. millar; _illinois_, a. j. grover, edward p. powell, cynthia a. leonard, susan h. richardson; _missouri_, francis minor, annie r. irvine; _california_, sarah l. knox, sarah j. wallis, carrie m. robinson, mary e. kellogg, georgiana bruce kirby; _oregon_, mrs. a. j. johns, eveline merrick roork, charles a. reed; _washington territory_, mary olney brown, abby h. h. stuart; _utah territory_, annie godbe; _iowa_, amelia bloomer, submit c. loomis, philo a. lyon and seventy-five others of humboldt, jane a. telker, nancy r. allen, margaret euart colby, mrs. ellen m. robinson, mrs. g. r. woodworth, mrs. w. w. johnson, mrs. caroline a. ingham, mrs. mabel a. stough, mrs. r. h. spencer, mrs. j. w. kenyon, mrs. a. m. horton, miss l. t. dood, mary l. watson, mrs. sarah a. mccoy, mrs. j. j. wilson, mrs. f. l. calkins, mrs. l. h. smith, mrs. emma c. spear, mrs. m. l. burlingame, mrs. g. w. blanchard, mrs. d. l. ford, mrs. e. c. buffam, mrs. cora a. jones, mrs. clara m. wilson; _wisconsin_, laura ross wolcott, m. josephine pearce, eliza t. wilson, h. s. brown; _minnesota_, sarah burger stearns; _kansas_, susan e. wattles, elsie stewart, henrietta l. miller, lottie griffin, jane m. burke, malura hickson, elsie j. miller; _colorado_, alida c. avery; _ohio_, sarah r. l. williams, margaret v. longley; _england_, lydia e. becker, caroline a. biggs, jessie m. wellstood. * * * * * chapter xxx. constitution of the national woman suffrage association. article . this organization shall be called the national woman suffrage association. article . the object of this association shall be to secure national protection for women in the exercise of their right to vote. article . all citizens of the united states subscribing to this constitution, and contributing not less than one dollar annually, shall be considered members of the association, with the right to participate in its deliberations. article . the officers of this association shall be a president, a vice-president from each of the states and territories, corresponding and recording secretaries, a treasurer and an executive committee of not less than five. article . a quorum of the executive committee shall consist of nine, and all officers of this association shall be _ex-officio_ members of the committee, with power to vote. article . all woman suffrage societies throughout the country shall be welcomed as auxiliaries, and their accredited officers or duly appointed representatives shall be recognized as members of the national association. officers of the national woman suffrage association, . _president_--elizabeth cady stanton, tenafly, n. j. _vice-presidents-at-large_--susan b. anthony, rochester, n. y.; matilda joslyn gage, fayetteville, n. y.; rev. olympia brown, racine, wis.; phoebe w. couzins, st. louis, mo.; abigail scott duniway, portland, ore. _honorary vice-presidents_--ernestine l. rose, london, england; priscilla holmes drake, huntsville, ala.; mrs. perry spear, eureka springs, ark.; sarah. j. wallis, mayfield; sarah knox goodrich, san josé, cal.; mary f. shields, colorado springs, col.; rev. phebe a. hanaford, new haven, conn.; rev. eliza tupper wilkes, sioux falls, dak. ter.; rosina m. parnell, susan a. edson, m. d., ellen m. o'connor, washington, d. c.; catherine v. waite, myra bradwell, chicago, ill.; zerelda g. wallace, indianapolis; eliza hamilton, fort wayne, ind.; amelia bloomer, council bluffs; mary v. cowgill, west liberty, ia.; prudence crandall philleo, elk falls; mary t. gray, wyandotte; mary a. humphrey, junction city, kan.; elizabeth h. duval, rinaldo, ky.; ann t. greeley, ellsworth; lucy a. snow, rockland, me.; anna ella carroll, baltimore, md.; sarah e. wall, worcester; paulina gerry, stoneham, mass.; catherine a. f. stebbins, detroit, mich.; charlotte o. van cleve, minneapolis, minn.; caroline johnson todd, st. louis, mo.; harriet s. brooks, omaha, neb.; eliza e. morrill, sarah h. pillsbury, concord; mary powers filley, north haverhill, n. h.; sarah g. hurn, vineland; delia stewart parnell, bordentown, n. j.; clemence s. lozier, m. d., new york; amy post, rochester; sarah h. hallock, milton; mary r. pell, flushing, n. y.; elizabeth oakes smith, hollywood, n. c.; sophia o. allen, south newbury; sarah r. l. williams, toledo; louise southworth, cleveland, o.; harriet w. williams, portland, ore.; m. adeline thomson, philadelphia, penn.; catherine c. knowles, east greenwich; elizabeth b. chace, valley falls, r. i.; elizabeth van lew, richmond, va.; mary olney brown, abbie h. h. stuart, olympia, wash. ter.; laura ross wolcott, milwaukee; emma c. bascom, madison, wis. _vice-presidents_--caroline m. patterson, harrison, ark.; ellen clarke sargent, san francisco, cal.; mrs. l. j. terry, pueblo, col.; isabella beecher hooker, hartford, conn.; marietta m. bones, webster city, dak.; mary a. stewart, greenwood, del.; ruth c. dennison, washington, d. c.; mrs. c. b. s. wilcox, interlachen, fla.; althea l. lord, savannah, ga.; dr. jennie bearby, mountain home, idaho; elizabeth boynton harbert, evanston, ill.; helen m. gougar, lafayette, ind.; jane amy mckinney, decorah, ia.; laura m. johns, salina kan.; mary b. clay, richmond, ky.; caroline e. merrick, new orleans, la.; sophronia c. snow, hampden corners, me.; caroline hallowell miller, sandy spring, md.; harriette r. shattuck, malden, mass.; fannie holden fowler, manistee, mich.; sarah burger stearns, duluth, minn.; olivia fitzhugh, vicksburg, miss.; virginia l. minor, st. louis, mo.; clara bewick colby, beatrice, neb.; maria h. boardman, reno, nev.; ada m. jarrett, magdalena, n. mex.; marilla m. ricker, dover, n. h.; cornelia c. hussey, east orange, n. j.; lillie devereux blake, new york, n. y.; mary bayard clarke, new berne, n. c.; frances d. casement, painesville, o.; harriette a. loughary, mcminneville, ore.; matilda hindman, pittsburgh, penn.; anna s. aldrich, providence, r. i.; elizabeth lisle saxon, memphis, tenn.; jennie bland beauchamp, denton, tex.; jennie a. froiseth, salt lake city, utah; lydia putnam, brattleboro', vt.; mrs. roger s. greene, seättle, wash. ter.: alura c. collins, milwaukee, wis.; amalia b. post, cheyenne, wyoming. _executive committee_--may wright sewall, _chairman_, north new jersey street, indianapolis, ind.; laura deforce gordon, san francisco; mary j. channing, pasadena, cal.; dr. alida c. avery, denver, col.; frances ellen burr, emily p. collins, hartford, conn.; mrs. j. s. pickler, falktown; linda w. slaughter, bismark, dak. ter.; belva a. lockwood, dr. caroline b. winslow, washington, d. c.; flora m. wright, drayton island, fla.; julia mills dunn, moline; rev. florence kollock, englewood; dr. alice b. stockham, ada c. sweet, chicago, ill.; mary e. haggart, mary e. n. cary, indianapolis, ind.; narcisa t. bemis, independence; mary j. coggeshall, des moines, ia; annie c. wait, lincoln center; henrietta b. wall, mrs. s. a. hauk, hutchinson, kan.; sally clay bennett, mary a. somers, richmond; laura white, manchester, ky.; maria i. johnson, mound, la.; charlotte a. thomas, portland, me.; amanda m. best, bright seat, md.; harriet h. robinson, malden; sara a. underwood, dorchester mass.; julia upton, big rapids; cordelia fitch briggs, grand rapids, mich.; julia bullard nelson, red wing: mrs. l. h. hawkins, shakopee; mary p. wheeler, kasson, minn.; anne r. irvine, oregon; elizabeth a. meriwether, st. louis, mo.; jennie f. holmes, tecumseh; orpha c. dinsmoore, omaha, neb.; hannah r. clapp, carson city, nev.; mrs. a. b. i. roberts, candia, n. h.; augusta cooper bristol, vineland; theresa a. seabrook, keyport, n. j.; mathilde f. wendt, new york; caroline g. rogers, lansingburgh; ellen s. fray, lewia c. smith, rochester, n. y.; sarah m. perkins, elvira j. bushnell, cleveland; sarah s. bissell, toledo, o.; mrs. j. m. kelty, lafayette, ore.; deborah l. pennock, kennett square; harriet purvis, philadelphia, penn.; lillie chace wyman, valley falls, r. i.; lide meriwether, memphis, tenn.; mrs. d. clinton smith, middleboro', vt.; mrs. f. d. gordon, richmond, va.; eliza t. wilson, menomonie; laura james, richland center, wis.; barbara j, thompson, tacoma, wash. ter.; mrs. j. h. hayford, laramie city, wyoming ter. _recording secretaries_--julia a. wilbur, caroline a. sherman, washington, d. c. _corresponding secretaries_--rachel g. foster, philadelphia, penn.; ellen h. sheldon, washington, d. c. _foreign corresponding secretaries_--caroline a. biggs, london; lydia e. becker, manchester, england; marguerite berry stanton, hubertine auclert, charlotte b. wilbour, paris, france; clara neymann, berlin, germany. _treasurer_--jane h. spofford, riggs house, washington, d. c. _auditors_--eliza t. ward, ellen m. o'connor, washington, d. c. * * * * * chapter xxxii. connecticut. _is the family the basis of the state?_ by john hooker. the proposition that the family is the basis of the state has come down through many generations, so far as i know, unchallenged; but in the sense in which it is ordinarily understood, and for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used, it is entirely a fallacy. the state depends upon the family for the continuance of its population, just as it depends upon the school for the intelligence of its people and on religious institutions for their morality. but the state stands in no political relation to the family any more than to the school and the church. what is meant by the proposition as generally used is, that the state is politically an aggregate of families and not of individuals. this is entirely untrue, and if true the fact would be calamitous. civil government is supposed to have had its origin in family government, the patriarch becoming chief of a tribe which was substantially the outgrowth and expansion of a single family; but if a nation was to be formed of such tribes it would be essential to its peace and prosperity that they should as soon as possible mingle into one homogeneous mass, and that no citizen should consider himself of one tribe rather than another. it is the family idea in a government like ours that makes the feuds which are handed down from generation to generation in some parts of the country. it made the frequent bloody contests of the clans in scotland, and the dissensions of the hebrew tribes. in a republic nothing can be more disastrous than that great political leaders should have large family followings. the first duty of the citizen is to forget that he belongs to any family in particular. he is an individual citizen of the state, and when he becomes a magistrate he must practically ignore the fact that he has family relatives who feel entitled to his special favor. he must, like justice, be blind to every fact except that the applicant for office or for justice is an individual citizen and must stand wholly on his personal merits or the justice of his cause. the proposition that the family is the basis of the state thus taken by itself is entirely false; but even if true, the use made of it as an argument against giving suffrage to women is equally fallacious. this can be shown by a single illustration. we will suppose there are two families, in both of which the father dies, leaving in one case a widow and one son, and in the other a widow and six daughters. where is now the family representation? the son whom we will suppose to be of age, goes to the polls and we will suppose sufficiently represents the family to which he belongs; but where is the family representation for the other widow and her six daughters? she may be the largest tax-payer in the state, and yet she can have no voice in determining what taxes shall be laid, nor to what purposes the money shall be appropriated. the question whether the family is the basis of the state cannot be made an abstract question of political philosophy. indeed the question is unmeaning when put as an abstract one. we might just as well ask, "is the climate cold in a state?" or, "is the english language spoken in a state?" it is only as we ask these questions about a _particular_ state that they have any meaning. "is it cold in russia?" "is english spoken in connecticut?" take the case of a state ruled by a despot. here the people are not the political basis of the state, either as families or as individuals. they have no political power whatever. the political basis of the state is the will of the despot. he is himself and alone the state politically. he makes the laws himself, and shoots and hangs those who disobey them. the people are indispensable to the state, and so in one sense its basis, just as the square miles that compose its territory are its physical basis, but the people stand in no political relation whatever to the state, any more than the rocks and gravel of its territory. it is only where the people of the state have the whole or a part of its political power, that the question can possibly arise as to whether individuals or families are its political basis. and when it thus arises, it comes up wholly with reference to a particular state, and not as an abstract question. and then it is wholly a question of fact, not one of political philosophy; a matter for simple ascertainment, not for speculation and reasoning. thus, suppose the question to be, "is the family or the individual the political basis of the state of connecticut?" we are to answer the question solely by looking at the constitution and laws of the state. we look there and find that it is as clear as language can make it that the political basis of the state is the individual and not the family. the individual is made the voter--not the family--and that is the whole question. it was perfectly easy for the people, if they had so desired, when they were adopting a constitution, to make families and not individuals the depositaries of political power, but they chose to give the power to individuals, and thus the question is absolutely settled for the state. it is true, the state does not carry out completely its own theory, but this was its theory, and what it did was wholly in this direction and away from the family theory. we go to the constitution of the state to settle this question, just as we would to settle the question whether the governor's term is one year or two, or whether the judges hold office for a term of years or for life. while considering whether either of these provisions ought to be adopted, we are dealing with a matter proper for opinions and argument, but when the provisions have been adopted, the whole question becomes one of fact, and we look only to the constitution to determine it, and treat it as a matter not for discussion but for absolute ascertainment. when one is advocating the theory that the family should be the political basis of the state, he is simply saying that the constitution ought to be amended and the right of voting taken away from individuals and given to families. but it is idle to urge this. such a measure would not get even a respectable minority of votes. it is decisive on this point that not a single representative government, so far as the writer knows, has adopted the theory that the family and not the individual should vote. a law peculiar to russia gives its villages, in the management of their local matters, the right of voting by families--a perfect illustration, on a very small scale, of the family as the political basis of a state. but here woman suffrage is admitted as a necessary result; and where there is no man to represent the family, or he is unable to attend, the woman of the house casts the vote. the advocates of woman suffrage have no interest whatever in this question, as it is idle to suppose that it can become a practical one. the writer has taken what trouble he has in the matter solely in the interest of correct thinking. _hartford, may, ._ * * * * * chapter xxxvii. new york. _brief on the legislature's power to extend the suffrage, submitted february , , to the judiciary committee of the assembly of the state of new york._ by hamilton wilcox. i. legislature omnipotent.--unlike the federal constitution, the state constitution does not reserve all powers not expressly delegated. it is held by the authorities that in the absence of positive restriction the legislature is omnipotent. "in a judicial sense, their authority is absolute and unlimited, except by the express restrictions of the fundamental law" (court of appeals, , bank of chenango vs. brown, n. y., ; s. p., cathcart vs. fire department of new york, id., ; supreme court, , clark vs. miller, barb., ; luke vs. city of brooklyn, id., ). "only on the ground of express constitutional provisions limiting legislative power, can courts declare void any legislative enactment" (court of error. , cochran vs. van surlay, wend., ; newell vs. people, n. y. [ seld.], , ). "before proceeding to amend, by judicial sentence, what has been enacted by the law-making power, it should clearly appear that the act cannot be supported by any reasonable intendment or allowable presumption" (court of appeals, , people vs. supervisors of orange, n. y., ; affi'g, barb., ). ii. powers undefined.--the constitution forbids the legislature to do certain things. otherwise it does not define or limit the legislature's powers (art. , §§ , , , ). iii. no prohibition.--no constitution of new york has ever forbidden the legislature to extend the suffrage beyond the classes specified by such constitution; nor has any ever forbidden unspecified persons to vote. the constitution simply secures the suffrage to certain classes, and there leaves the matter. iv. rule of construction.--the constitution declares that the object of its establishment is to secure the blessings of freedom to the people (preamble, revised statutes, vol. ., p. ). hence it, and all enactments under it, must be understood and construed, where a contrary intent is not clearly expressed, to be aimed at securing freedom to all. v. disfranchisement.--the constitution follows this declaration by laying down at its outset, as its fundamental principle, that "no member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizens thereof, except by the law of the land" (art. , § , do., do.). disfranchisement, then, must be express by the law. it cannot constitutionally be inflicted through mere implication or silence. rules for the securing of freedom have often been found to cover unforeseen cases. such was the fact in the famous decision of lord mansfield in , that slavery was against the common law, under which slavery was afterward abolished throughout the british empire; and the decision of the highest court of massachusetts, that the terms of the constitution of conferred freedom on the slaves of that state. women, it is now fully recognized, are citizens, and hence "members of the state," entitled to the security guaranteed. the _practice_ under the constitution has been to treat as _disfranchised_ all persons _not specified_ as entitled to vote. though this practice is plainly against the declared object and principle of the constitution, it has been general and mostly continuous, and has thus acquired the force of law. this, however, does not impair the legislature's power to correct the practice by express enactment. vi. precedents.--the legislature _has_ repeatedly corrected this practice by express enactments securing freedom to various portions of the people. (_a_). constitutional convention, .--the act calling this convention extended the suffrage for members of that body--_the highest officers of the state_--to "all free male citizens over twenty-one years of age," while the constitution secured suffrage only to male holders of and actual taxpayers on a fixed amount of real estate (session law , ch. , p. ; constitution of , do., , ). (_b_). constitutional convention, .--the act providing for the convention that framed the constitution of , while the existing constitution (as above) only specified as entitled to vote, holders of and taxpayers on a fixed amount of real estate--this act allowed _all_ freeholders, however small the value of their holdings, all actual taxpayers, all officers and privates, ex-officers and ex-privates, in militia or in volunteer or uniform corps, all persons exempt by law from taxation or militia duty, all workers on public roads and highways, or payers of commutation for such work; to vote on the question whether the convention should be held, to vote in the choice of delegates thereto--_again for the highest officers of the state_--and to vote on the question of adoption of the new constitution--_to exercise a voice in framing the state's fundamental law_. the council of revision, including the governor, which opposed and defeated part of this act, made no objection to this feature (session laws , ch. , p. ). the vote for governor, , was , --the largest ever cast in the state. that on the question of calling the convention in was , . one act of the legislature thus enfranchised _fifty thousand persons_. the vote on the new constitution stood: for, , ; against, , ; majority for, , . thus the votes of fifty thousand persons--enfranchised, not by the constitution but by the legislature--carried the adoption of a new constitution, which further secured to them the freedom which the legislature had opened to them. the vote for governor in --the next hotly-contested election--was , ; so that the immediate effect of the legislature's act was to add , persons to the constituency--to make a mass of new voters who outnumbered those specified by the constitution. (_c_). aliens voting.--the constitution specifies none but "citizens" as entitled to vote; yet the legislature, by a school law of many years' standing, allowed _aliens_ to vote for school functionaries, on filing with the secretary of state notice of intention to become naturalized ( r. s., art. , § , p. ; r. s., , § ; r. s., , , § ). (_d_). northfield.--the proprietors of swamp-lands in the town of northfield, richmond county, were authorized to elect directors of drainage, without any restriction or qualification but ownership (session laws , ch. , § , p. ). (_e_). the taxpayers of newport, herkimer county, were authorized to vote on the question of issuing bonds to raise money for a town-house. under this law women who were taxpayers voted (act april , , session laws, ch. , § , p. ). (_f_). the taxpayers of dansville, livingston county, were authorized to vote on the issue of water-bonds. under this act women voted (act april , , session laws, ch. , § , p. ). (_g_). the taxpayers of saratoga springs were authorized to vote on the question of issuing bonds for the construction of an additional water-main. under this ninety-nine women voted (act may , , session laws, ch. , § , p. ). vii. school suffrage.--if the legislature can admit aliens to vote at school-meetings, it can admit female citizens to do so. viii. presidential suffrage.-- . the federal constitution provides that electors of president and vice-president shall be appointed "in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct" (art. , § ). . it also provides that "this constitution shall be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding" (art. , § ). . the legislature has the power under the federal constitution to provide whatever method it may choose for the appointment of the electors. the courts have no power to interfere, and even an executive veto would have no force. the legislature has sole and full power to say who may vote for electors and how the election shall be held. * * * * * chapter xxxviii. pennsylvania. by carrie s. burnham. the common law of england as modified by english statutes prior to the revolution has been formally adopted either by constitutions and statutes or assumed by courts of justice as the law of the land in every state save louisiana, and in the absence of positive statutes is the common law of the united states. to understand the legal status of woman in pennsylvania it is therefore necessary, _first_--to ascertain her condition under the common law; _second_--how this law has been modified in this state by statutes. common law. by the common law, which lord coke calls "the perfection of reason," women arrive at the age of discretion at twelve, men at fourteen; both sexes are of full age at twenty-one, entitled to civil rights, and if unmarried and possessed of freehold, they are equally entitled to the exercise of political rights (blackstone, i., ; iv., ; bouvier's institutes, , ; decisions of english courts in , quoted in mod. rep., ). "by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law"; that is, the legal existence of the woman is "merged in that of her husband." he is her "baron," or "lord," bound to supply her with shelter, food, clothing and medicine, and is entitled to her earnings--the use and custody of her person, which he may seize wherever he may find it (blackstone, i., , ; coke litt., a, b; dowl., p. c., .) the husband being bound to provide for his wife the necessaries of life, and being responsible for "her morals" and the good order of the household, may choose and govern the domicil, choose her associates, separate her from her relatives, restrain her religious and personal freedom, compel her to cohabit with him, correct her faults by mild means and, if necessary, chastise her with moderation, as though she was his apprentice or child. this is in "respect to the terms of the marriage contract and the infirmity of the sex" (bl., i., ; bishop on mar. and div., ; dowl. p. c., ; bouv. insts., , , , ; wend. bl., , note; petersdorf's a. b., , note). woman's character, exposed to the vilest slanders of "malignity and falsehood," and her chastity are protected on account of the injury sustained by the father, husband or master from loss of her services, or wrongful entry of his house, rather than the injury done to her as an individual (bl. i., , note; iii., , , note; serg. and rawle, penn., ; penn., ; watts' penn., ). the husband is entitled to recover damages for "criminal conversation with his wife," or for injury to her person whereby he is deprived of his "marital rights," or of her "company and assistance"; also an action of _trespass vi et armis_ against the individual enticing her away or encouraging her to live separately from him; the offense implies force and constraint, "the wife having no power to consent," and is punishable with fine and imprisonment (bl., iii., ; inst., ; bouvier's institutes, , ). the wife has no action for injuries to her husband as she is not entitled to his services, neither has she any separate interest in anything during her coverture. the law takes notice only of the injuries done to the "superior of the parties related"; because "the inferior has no kind of property in the company, care or assistance of the superior, as the superior is held to have in those of the inferior" (blackstone, iii., ; bouv. insts., , ). the husband, by marriage, becomes entitled absolutely to the personal property of his wife, which at his death goes to his representatives; also to the rents and profits of her lands, to the interest in her chattels real and _choses_ in action, of which he can dispose at pleasure, except by will. he acquires the same right in any property whether real or personal of which she may become possessed after marriage, and is liable during coverture for her debts contracted before marriage (bl., ii., , ; bouv. insts., , ; coke litt., , ). at his death she becomes possessed of her wardrobe and jewels, such of her chattels as remain undisposed of, and her own real estate; also quarantine (_i. e._, forty days' residence in "his mansion"), one-third of his personality absolutely and the use of one-third of any real estate of which he is possessed during coverture for the term of her natural life. _his_ mansion, realty and personalty includes what they have jointly earned as well as that of which he was possessed at marriage. the widow's right to one-third of the personal estate was abolished by english statutes prior to the revolution, but has since been revived by pennsylvania statutes (blackstone, ii., , , , , , ; coke litt., , ; bouvier's institutes, , ; brightley's purdon, , and ). at the death of the wife their joint earnings, also her chattels real, vest absolutely in the husband, and if they have had a living child the husband, as "tenant by the curtesy," becomes possessed of her entire real estate for life. the wife loses her dower by adultery, but the husband does not lose his curtesy on that account. her dower is also barred by his treason and by a divorce grounded on his adultery (blackstone, ii., , ; roper, husband and wife, , ; kent, ; watts, ; bouvier's institutes, , ). a husband cannot convey real estate directly to his wife, but may through a trustee; neither can he give "anything to her nor covenant with her, for the grant would be to suppose her separate existence, and to covenant with her would be to covenant with himself." their covenants or indebtedness to each other before marriage are by the marriage extinguished (blackstone, i., ; coke litt., , ; a; b; connyn. dig. baron and feme, d). the husband may devise any property to his wife, but the wife cannot make a will, the law supposing her to be under his coercion; neither can she bind her person or property, nor make nor enforce a contract, nor can she be a witness in any matter in which her husband is interested (blackstone, ii., , , ; kent, ; bouv. insts., , ; connyn. dig. pleader, a, ; baron and feme, w; roper, husband and wife, ). a wife, with the consent of her husband, may act as his or other's attorney, may be a guardian, trustee, administratrix or executrix, but cannot sue in _auter droit_ unless her husband join in the suit. this incapacitates her to act independently in either capacity (blackstone, ii., ; anders., ; story, eq. juris., , , note; penn. st. rep., ). a wife cannot enforce her rights nor defend any action brought against her, but must plead coverture in person, being incapable of appointing an attorney (bouv. insts., , , , ; n. h., ; saund., ; c. n. ). when a woman marries after having commenced a suit, the suit abates; but the husband may _in equity_ sue her for his marital rights in her property; marriage of a female partner dissolves the partnership (bouv. insts., , , , ; russ. ch., ; atk. ch., ; p. will ch., ). the father of legitimate children is bound for their maintenance and education, is entitled to their labor and custody and has power to dispose of them until twenty-one years of age, by deed or legacy, even though they are unborn at his death. the testamentary guardian's right to their custody supersedes that of their mother (bl., i., , , ; kent, and ; bouv. insts., ; rawle, ; watts, ; east, ; purd. dig., new ed., , ; pitts, l. j., ; pitts, ). "a mother is entitled to no power, but to reverence and respect, from her children"; she has no legal authority over them nor right to their services, but her property is liable for their maintenance if the father has not an estate. the mother's appointment of a testamentary guardian is absolutely void (bl., i., and , note by chitty; vaughan, ; leg. gaz. r., ). the mother of a "natural or illegitimate" child is its natural guardian, entitled to its control and custody and her settlement is its domicil (bl., i., ; kent, ; term rep., ; newton vs. braintree, mass., ). "intestate personal property is divided equally between males and females, but a son, though younger than all his sisters, is the heir to the whole of real property" (bl., i., , note by christian). pennsylvania statutes and court decisions. this "perfection of reason" (the common law) has been changed in pennsylvania in the following particulars: all women, married and single, are deprived of political rights by the use of the generic word "freeman" in the constitution ( legal intelligencer, ). heir at common law is abolished by statute; however, the right to administer vests in the male in preference to the female of the same degree of consanguinity. half-brothers are entitled to the preference over own sisters (purdon, , ; single's appeal, penn. st. r., ). any property belonging to a woman before marriage, or which accrues to her during coverture by gift, bequest or purchase, continues, by the act of april , , to be her separate property after marriage, and is not liable for the debts of her husband nor subject to his disposal without her written consent, duly acknowledged before one of the judges of the court of common pleas as voluntarily given; _provided_, that he is not liable for the debts contracted before or after marriage, or for her torts (purdon's dig., , , ). "this act protects the wife's interest in her separate property both as to title and possession," but "does not empower her to convey her real estate by a deed in which her husband has not joined," nor "create a lease without his concurrence," nor "execute an obligation for the payment of money or the performance of any other act," nor in any way dispose of her property save by gift or loan to him; she may bind her separate estate for his debts, and in security for the loan she may take a judgment or mortgage against the estate of the husband in the name of a third person, who shall act as her trustee ( penn. st. r., , ; , ; gr., ; phila., ; pur. dig., , , ). the husband is the natural guardian or trustee of the property of the wife; but by application "to the court of common pleas of the county where she was domiciled at the time of her marriage," the court will appoint a trustee (not her husband) to take charge of the property secured to her by the act of . this act, however, does not authorize the appointment of a trustee, to the exclusion of her husband, of property owned by her prior to the passage of the act, nor was it intended to affect vested rights of husbands and does not protect them for the wife's benefit against the claims of creditors ( penn. st. rep., and ; , and ; , ; jones, ). in a clear case the wife's real estate cannot be levied upon and sold by a creditor of the husband, _but the burden of proof_ is upon her to show by evidence "which does not admit of a reasonable doubt," that she owned the property before marriage or acquired it subsequently by gift, bequest, or paid for it with funds not furnished by her husband nor the result of their joint earnings. the wife's possession of money is no evidence of her title to it ( penn. st. rep., ; phila., ). if no property, or not sufficient property, of the husband can be found, the separate property and goods of the wife may be levied upon and sold for rent or for debts incurred for the support of the family (purd. dig., , , ; penn. st. rep., ). a married woman's bond and warrant of attorney are absolutely void, nor can she make a valid contract except for a sewing-machine or for the improvement of her separate property, and her bond given or a judgment confessed by her for such debt is void ( penn. st. rep., ; act of , pur. dig., , ). she may sell and transfer shares of the capital stock of any railroad company, but cannot herself or by attorney transfer certificates of city loan ( leg. int., ; act june , ). a married woman cannot enforce her rights against third persons, either for the performance of a contract or the recovery of her property, without her husband join in the suit, although the party contracting with her is liable to an action ( gr., ; act of and ; phila., ). if divorced or separated from her husband by his neglect or desertion, she may protect her reputation by an action for slander and libel; but if her husband is the defendant, this suit, as also for alimony and divorce, must be in the name of a "next friend." she is entitled to a writ of _habeas corpus_ if unlawfully restrained of her liberty (purd. dig., , ; , ; , ). the wife of a drunkard or profligate man by petitioning the court of common pleas, setting forth these facts and his desertion of her and neglect to provide for her and their children, may be entitled to the custody of her children, and, as a "_feme sole trader_," empowered to transact business and acquire a separate property, which shall be subject to her own disposal during life, and liable for the maintenance and education of her children. her testimony must be sustained "by two respectable witnesses" (pur. dig., , ; act of , ; roper, husband and wife, , ). by act of april, , any married woman having first petitioned the court, stating under oath or affirmation her intention of claiming her separate earnings, is entitled to acquire by her labor a separate property which shall not be subject to any legal claim of her husband or of his creditors, she, however, being compelled "to show title and ownership in the same." the husband's possession of property is evidence of his title to it; not so with the wife (purd. dig., , , , ; lansing, ; barb., ). a married woman may devise her separate property by will, subject, however, to the husband's curtesy, which in pennsylvania attaches, though there be no issue born alive, and which she cannot bar (purd. dig., , ; i pars., ; penn. st. r., , ; brewster, ). the husband may bar the wife's dower by a _bona fide_ mortgage given by himself alone or by a judicial sale for the payment of his debts. it is also barred by a divorce obtained by her on the ground of his adultery, and in case of such divorce she is entitled to the value of one-half of the money and property which the husband received through her at marriage (purd. dig., ; dall. ; serg. and r., ; i yeates pa., ). a single woman's will is revoked by her subsequent marriage, and is not again revived by the death of her husband; a single man's will is revoked by marriage absolutely only when he leaves a widow but no known heirs or kindred (purd. dig., , , and ; penn. s. rep., , , ). if the husband die intestate leaving a widow and issue, the widow shall have one-third of his and their joint personalty absolutely, and one-third of the real estate for life; if there are no children, but collateral heirs, she is entitled to the use of one-half the realty, including the mansion-house, for her life, and one-half the personalty absolutely (purd. dig., , and ; act of , ). if the wife die intestate leaving a husband and no issue, he is entitled to her entire personalty and realty during his life; if there are children her personal estate is divided between the husband and children share and share alike; in either case he is entitled to their entire joint estate (purd. dig., , ; act of , ). married women may be corporate members of any institution composed of and managed by women, having as its object the care and education of children or the support of sick and indigent women (purd. dig., ; act of , ). it is a crime, punishable by fine and imprisonment, to employ any woman to attend or wait upon an audience in a theater, opera or licensed entertainment, to procure or furnish commodities or refreshments (purd. dig., , ). a man, by marriage, is subjected to no political, civil, legal or commercial disabilities, but acquires all the rights and powers previously vested in his wife. he is capable of all the offices of the government from that of postmaster to the presidency, and of transacting all kinds of business from the measuring of tape to the practice of the most learned professions. woman, deprived of political power, is limited in opportunities for education, and, if married, is incapable of making a contract; hence crippled in the transaction of any kind of business. * * * * * chapter xlii. indiana. [a.] governor porter made the following novel appointment: on august , , mrs. georgia a. ruggles, from bartholomew county, presented to governor porter an application for a requisition from the governor of indiana upon the governor of kansas, for william j. beck, charged with the crime of bigamy. beck had been living a few months in bartholomew county and had passed as an unmarried man; had gained the affections of a young lady much younger than himself and much superior to him by birth and education. after their marriage the fact that beck had already one wife became known and he fled to kansas. mrs. ruggles was a friend to the young lady who had been thus duped, and upon learning the facts she called the attention of the proper authorities to the matter, and begged them to effect beck's arrest. they were not disposed to do so, and upon various excuses postponed action. she therefore determined to take the matter into her own hands. governor porter granted her the desired requisition; she went to kansas, and on september , , she received beck from samuel hamilton, sheriff of ellsworth county; she herself brought the prisoner, in cuffs, to indiana, and, september , she delivered him into the hands of thomas e. burgess, sheriff of bartholomew county. beck was tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary. this bit of justice was the fruit of a woman's pluck and a governor's good sense. extract from gen. coburn's address. the people expect that they will in their own way and time inaugurate such measures as will bring these questions in their entire magnitude into the arena. i hope to see , women in convention here. they can, if they will, create a public sentiment in favor of their enfranchisement that will be irresistible. they have the ears of the voters; they have access to the columns of the newspapers; they control all the avenues of social life. what can they not accomplish, if, with their whole hearts they set about it? the sphere of public life has many vacant places to be filled by women. why shall they not serve upon the boards of trustees of our great reformatory and benevolent institutions, as superintendents in our hospitals, and as directors and inspectors in our prisons? the last legislature conferred upon them the right to hold any office in our great school system except one, that of state superintendent of public instruction. from them may now be selected, president of the state university, or of the normal school, or of purdue university, school commissioners and county superintendents. but the legislature should give them the power to rescue our prisons, hospitals and asylums from the indescribable horror of filth, neglect and cruelty which hangs like a murky cloud over many of them. men have tried it and failed. stupidity or partisanship or brutality or avarice, has transformed many a noble foundation of benevolence into a hell of abomination. some one must step in to inspect; to enforce order, cleanliness and virtue; to bring comfort and hope to the downcast and to the outcast of society. this purpose must be backed up by the strong arm of power, by the sanction of the law, and that law must have upon it the stamp of woman's intellect. this year the women of indiana can place themselves in the van of human progress and dictate the policy which mankind must recognize as just and true for ages to come. the public mind is not unprepared for this measure. the spread and the acceptance of great ideas is almost miraculous in intelligent communities. [b.] legal opinion by w. d. wallace, esq., upon the power of the legislature to authorize women to vote for presidential electors. _capt. w. dewitt wallace, attorney-at-law, lafayette, ind.:_ dear sir: you will confer a favor upon the friends of woman suffrage in indiana, if you will send me, in writing, your opinion, as a lawyer, in answer to the following question, giving your reasons therefor: can the legislature of this state empower women to vote for presidential electors? mary f. thomas, _president i. w. s. a._ _richmond, ind._, december , . lafayette, ind., january , . _dr. mary f. thomas, president of indiana woman suffrage association, richmond, indiana:_ dear madam: in your favor of the th ult., you ask my opinion upon, to me, a novel and most interesting question, viz.: "can the legislature empower women to vote for presidential electors?" after the most careful consideration which i have been able to give to the subject, consistent with other duties, and with the aid of such books as i have at command, i answer your question in the affirmative. the grounds of my opinion i will proceed to state: section , article , of the constitution of the united states, which provides that the president and vice-president shall be chosen by electors appointed by the several states, declares in the following words how said electors shall be appointed: each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which said state may be entitled in the congress, etc., etc. now, in the absence of any provision in the state constitution, limiting or attempting to limit the discretion of the legislature as to the manner in which the presidential electors shall be chosen, there can be no doubt but that the legislature could empower female, as well as male, citizens to participate in the choice of presidential electors. section , article of our state constitution is as follows: in all elections, not otherwise provided for by this constitution, every white male citizen of the united states, of the age of twenty-one years, and upwards, who shall have resided in the state during the six months immediately preceding such election * * * * shall be entitled to vote in the township or precinct where he may reside. two questions at once suggest themselves upon the reading of this section: _first_--does the section apply to elections of presidential electors, and thus become a limitation upon the discretion of the legislature in case it shall direct the appointment of the electors by a popular vote? _second_--if so, can a state constitution thus limit the discretion which the constitution of the united states directs shall be exercised by the legislature? i shall consider the last question first. while the legislature is created by the state, all its powers are not derived from, nor are all its duties enjoined by the state. the moment the state brings the legislature into being, that moment certain duties enjoined, and certain powers conferred, by the nation, attach to it. among the powers and duties of the legislature, which spring from the national constitution, is the power and duty of determining how the state shall appoint presidential electors. the constitution of the united states declares in the most explicit terms that the state shall do this "in such manner as the legislature may direct." in the case of _ex-parte_ henry e. hayne, _et al._, reported in volume , at page , of the chicago legal news, the circuit court of the united states for the district of south carolina, in speaking of the authority upon which a state legislature acts in providing for the appointment of presidential electors, says: section , article of the constitution provides that electors shall be appointed in such manner as the legislature of each state may direct. when the legislature of a state, in obedience to that provision, has, by law, directed the manner of appointment of the electors, that law has its authorities solely from the constitution of the united states. it is a law passed in pursuance of the constitution. hon. james a. garfield, who was a member of the electoral commission, in discussing before that body the source of the power to appoint electors, said: the constitution prescribes that states only shall choose electors. * * * to speak more accurately, i should say that the power is placed in the legislatures of the states; for if the constitution of any state were silent upon the subject, its legislature is none the less armed with plenary authority conferred upon it directly by the national constitution.--[electoral commission, p. . that this section of the national constitution has always been understood to lodge an absolute discretion in the legislature, is proved by the practice in the different states. chief justice story, in his "commentaries on the constitution of the united states," in speaking of this section of the constitution and the practice under it, says: under this authority, the appointment of electors has been variously provided for by the state legislatures. in some states the legislatures have directly chosen the electors by themselves; in others they have been chosen by the people by a general ticket throughout the whole state, and in others by the people in electoral districts fixed by the legislature, a certain number of electors being apportioned to each district. no question has ever arisen as to the constitutionality of either mode, except that of a direct choice by the legislature. but this, though often doubted by able and ingenious minds, has been firmly established in practice ever since the adoption of the constitution, and does not now seem to admit of controversy, even if a suitable tribunal existed to adjudicate upon it.--[ story on constitution, section , . judge strong, one of the justices of the supreme court of the united states, and a member of the electoral commission, in discussing the subject of this section, says: i doubt whether they [the framers of the national constitution] had in mind at all [in adopting this section] the idea of a popular election as a mode of appointing state electors. they used the word _appoint_, doubtless thinking that the legislatures of the states would themselves select the electors, or empower the governor or some other state officer to select them. the word appoint is not the most appropriate word for describing the result of a popular election. such a mode of appointment, i submit is allowable, but there is little reason to think it was contemplated. * * * it was not until years afterward that the electors were chosen by vote.--[electoral commission, p. . senator frelinghuysen, also a member of the electoral commission, thus speaks of the practice in the several states: under this power [the power given by the section of the national constitution, which we are now considering] the legislature might direct that the electors should be appointed by the legislature, by the executive, by the judiciary, or by the people. in the earliest days of the republic, electors were appointed by the legislatures. in pennsylvania they were appointed by the judiciary. now, in all the states except colorado, they are appointed by the people.--[electoral commission, p. . if then it be true that the power to determine how the presidential electors shall be appointed is derived from the national constitution, and that power is a discretionary one, to be exercised in such manner as the legislature may direct, how can it be said that a state constitution can limit or control the legislative discretion? if the state can limit that discretion in one respect it can limit it in another, and in another, and in another, until it may shut up the legislature to but a single mode of appointment, which is to take away, and absolutely destroy all its discretion, and this is nullification, pure and simple. one of the questions before the electoral commission in the case of south carolina, was whether the electoral vote of that state should not be rejected because the legislature, in providing for the appointment of the electors, had failed to obey a requirement of the state constitution in regard to a registry law. this raised, in principle, the very question we are now considering, and on that question senator o. p. morton, who was a member of the commission, and who was an able lawyer as well as a great statesman, thus expressed himself: they [the presidential electors] are to be appointed in the manner prescribed by the legislature of the state, and not by the constitution of the state. the manner of the appointment of electors has been placed by the constitution of the united states in the legislature of each state, and cannot be taken from that body by the provisions of a state constitution. * * * the power to appoint electors by a state, is conferred by the constitution of the united states, and does not spring from a state constitution, and cannot be impaired or controlled by a state constitution.--[electoral commission, p. . the distinguished lawyer and statesman [hon. william lawrence] who made the principle argument before the commission in favor of admitting the vote of the state, took the same ground (electoral commission, p. ). the opinion of justice story, expressed in the massachusetts constitutional convention of , on a very similar question, and one involving the same principle, quoted by mr. lawrence in his argument, is very high authority, and i reproduce it here. he (justice story) said: the question then was whether we have a right to insert in our constitution a provision which controls or destroys a discretion which may be, nay _must_ be, exercised by the legislature in _virtue_ of _powers confided_ to it by the constitution of the united states. the fourth section of the first article of the constitution of the united states declares that the times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed by the legislature thereof. here an express provision was made for the manner of choosing representatives by the state legislatures. they have an _unlimited_ discretion on the subject. they may provide for an election in districts sending more than one, or by general ticket for the whole state. here is a general discretion, a power of choice. what is the proposition on the table? it is to limit the discretion, to leave no choice to the legislature, to compel representatives to be chosen in districts; in other words to compel them to be chosen in a specific manner, excluding all others. were not this plainly a violation of the constitution? does it not affect to control the legislature in the exercise of its powers? * * * it assumes a control over the legislature, which the constitution of the united states does not justify. it is bound to exercise its authority according to its _own view_ of _public policy_ and _principle_; and yet this proposition compels it to surrender all discretion. in my humble judgment * * * it is a direct and palpable infringement of the constitutional provisions to which i have referred.--[electoral commission, p. . the conclusion seems irresistible that a state constitution cannot determine for the legislature who shall, or shall not, participate in the choice of presidential electors, and that in so far as our state constitution may attempt to do so, it is an infringement of the national constitution. the discretion of the legislature, by virtue of the supreme law of the land, being (except in so far as it is controlled by the national constitution itself) thus absolutely unlimited, it may, without doubt, as i think, authorize all citizens without regard to sex, to participate in the choice of presidential electors. but it has been suggested to me that possibly by the state legislature, as used in the section of the national constitution which we have been considering, was meant the whole people of the state in whom the legislative power originally resides and not the organized legislative body which they may create. we answer first that the language of the section will not admit of this construction. it clearly recognizes a distinction between the state or the people of the state, and its legislature. the language is not "each state shall appoint in such manner as _it_ may direct," etc., but it is, "each state shall appoint in such manner as the _legislature_ thereof may direct," etc. again, it is a familiar canon of construction that in determining the meaning of a statute, recourse may be had to the history of the times in which it was enacted. when the constitution of the united states was framed, all of the states had organized legislatures, or representative bodies who wielded the legislative power, and without doing violence to language, we must suppose that it was to _them_ the constitution referred. again, the state legislatures are referred to not less than ten times in the national constitution, and in each instance the reference is such as to make it clear that the organized representative bodies are intended, and in article they are, in express terms, distinguished from conventions of the states. indeed, the fundamental idea of the american government is that of a representative republic as opposed to a pure democracy, and it may well be doubted whether a state government, without a representative legislative body of some kind, would, in the american sense, be republican in form. finally, it is apparent from the debates in the constitutional convention which framed the constitution, and from the whole plan devised for the election of president and vice-president, that it was not intended by the framers of the constitution to commit directly to the whole people of a state the authority to determine how the presidential electors should be chosen. nothing seems to have given the convention more trouble than the mode of selecting a president. many plans were proposed. chief among these were: election by congress; election by the executives of the states; election by the people; election by the state legislatures; and election by electors. these were presented in many forms. the convention decided not less than three times, and once by a unanimous vote, in favor of election by the national congress, and as often reconsidered it ( madison papers, pp. , , , , ). the proposition that the president should be elected directly by the people, instead of by the national congress, received but one vote, while the proposition that he should be appointed by the state legislatures received two votes ( madison papers, p. , ). the most cursory examination of the debates will, i think, convince any mind that it was to the _organized_ legislature of the state, and not to the people of a state, that the framers of the constitution intended to commit the power of determining how the presidential electors should be chosen. it seems, both from the debates and the plan adopted, to have been their studied effort to prevent the people from acting in the choice of their chief magistrate otherwise than through their representatives, and in no single step of the process are the people directly required or authorized by the national constitution to act, but in every instance the duty and the authority are devolved upon their representatives. for these reasons i think it clear that it was intended to invest the organized state legislatures with the power of determining how the presidential electors should be chosen, and that the discretion thus lodged in the legislature cannot be limited or controlled by a state constitution. w. de witt wallace. [c.] in , the indiana (friends) yearly meeting appointed mrs. sarah j. smith of indianapolis, and mrs. rhoda m. coffin of richmond, to visit the prisons of the state, with a view to ascertain the spirit of the management of these institutions, and the moral condition of their inmates. in obedience to this appointment the two ladies visited both of the state prisons of indiana, and made a particularly thorough examination of the condition of the southern prison (at jeffersonville) where all our women convicts were kept. here they found the vilest immoralities being practiced; they discovered that the rumors which had induced their appointment were far surpassed by the revolting facts. they visited gov. conrad baker and urged him to recommend the general assembly to make an appropriation for a separate prison for women. with the full sympathy of governor baker, who was not only a most honorable gentleman, but a sincere believer in the equal political rights of women, mrs. smith and mrs. coffin appeared before the legislature of , and by an unvarnished account of what they had witnessed and learned in the southern prison, they aroused the legislators to immediate action, and an act to establish a "reformatory institution for women and girls" was passed at that session (viz., that of ). by statute the new institution was located at indianapolis. it was opened in , the first separate prison for women in this country. mrs. sarah j. smith was made its first superintendent, and she retained that office, discharging all its duties with great ability, until , when upon her resignation she was succeeded by mrs. elmina s. johnson, who had up to that time been associated with mrs. smith as assistant superintendent. the first managing board of women consisted of mrs. eliza c. hendricks (wife of hon. thomas a. hendricks who was governor of indiana on the opening of the prison), mrs. rhoda m. coffin and mrs. emily a. roach. the changes upon the board have been so infrequent that in addition to those on the first board and to those on the board at present, only three ladies can be mentioned in this connection, viz.: mrs. eliza s. dodd of indianapolis, mrs. mary e. burson (a banker of muncie) and mrs. sarah j. smith, who, after resigning the superintendency, served on the board for a brief time. the board at present consists of mrs. eliza c. hendricks, president, mrs. claire a. walker and mrs. m. m. james. from the opening of this institution mrs. hendricks has been connected with it; first as a member of the advisory board, for eight years a member of the managing board and during a large part of the time its president, she has served its interest with singular fidelity. the position is no sinecure. the purchasing of all the supplies is only a part of the board's work; the business meetings are held monthly and often occupy half a day, sometimes an entire day. these mrs. hendricks always attends whether she is in indianapolis or in washington; from the latter point she has many times journeyed in weather most inclement by heat and by cold, simply to look after the prison and to transact the business for it imposed by her position on its board. during the last eight years, since women have had control of its affairs, miss anna dunlop of indianapolis has served the institution as its secretary and treasurer. perhaps the highest tribute that can be paid to the ability with which miss dunlop has discharged the responsible and complicated duties of her double office, lies in the fact that with the general assembly of the state it has passed into a proverb that "the woman's reformatory is the best and most economically managed of the state institutions." the committees appointed to visit the penal institutions always report that "the accounts of the reformatory are kept so accurately that its financial status can always be understood at a glance." this institution has two distinct departments, the penal and the reformatory, occupying two sides of one main building and joined under one management. convicts above sixteen years of age are ranked as women and confined in the penal department; those under sixteen years are accounted girls (children) and lodged in the reformatory department. the average number of girls in the institution from its opening has been ; the number of women . there are now (july, ,) over inmates. all of the work of the institution is done by its inmates. a school is maintained in the building for the children; a few trades are taught the girls; all are taught housework, laundry work, plain sewing and mending; the greatest pains is taken to form in the inmates habits of industry and personal tidiness, and to prepare them to be good servants; and when their period of incarceration has expired, the ladies interest themselves in finding homes and employment for the discharged convicts whom they seek to restore to normal relations to society. the secretary estimates that of those who have been discharged from the institution during the last twelve years, fully seventy-five per cent. have been really restored and are leading honest and industrious lives. [d.] gov. porter's biennial message, : "i recommend that in the department for women in this hospital it shall be required by law that at least one of the physicians shall be a woman. there are now in this state not a few women who bear diplomas from respectable medical colleges, and who are qualified by professional attainments and experience to fill places as physicians in public institutions with credit and usefulness. it would be peculiarly fit that their services should be sought in cases of insanity among members of their own sex." [e.] about the year , miss lucinda b. jenkins, formerly of wayne county, indiana, left her work among the "freedmen" in the south, to accept the position of matron in "the soldiers' orphans' home" at knightstown, indiana. she afterwards became the wife of dr. wishard, the superintendent; and when the office was vacated by his death, she was authorized to assume his responsibilities, and perform his duties, with the exception of receipting bills and drawing appropriations, which latter duties, not being then considered as within the province of a woman, were delegated to the steward until the doctor's successor could be legally appointed. she was a lady of intelligence and true moral worth, possessing a dignified, pleasing manner, and other good qualities, which, with her long experience as co-manager of the institution, admirably fitted her for the position of superintendent; but she was a woman, without a vote or political influence, and it was necessary that "party debts" should be paid. she therefore continued her influence for the good of the institution without public recognition until , when she left to take charge of a private orphan asylum under the management of ladies of indianapolis. [f.] miss susan fussell is the daughter of the late dr. b. fussell of philadelphia, to whom, with his estimable wife, women are indebted as the founder of the first medical college for women in the united states. at that period of our civil war, when women were admitted to the hospitals as nurses, miss fussell was at her brother's home at pendleton, indiana. she immediately volunteered her services, and was assigned to duty by the indiana sanitary commission in the military hospitals in louisville, kentucky, where she served faithfully until the close of the war, giving the bloom of her youth to her country without hope of reward other than that which comes to all as the result of self-sacrificing devotion to the cause of humanity. at the close of the war she returned to philadelphia, but learning soon that an effort was being made to induce the state of indiana to provide a home for the soldiers' orphans, she again offered her services in any useful capacity in that work. a benevolent gentleman of indianapolis who had been most urgent in calling the attention of the officers of the state to their duty in that matter, finding that there was no hope, offered to furnish miss fussell with the money necessary to clothe, rear, educate and care for a family of ten orphans of soldiers, and bring them up to maturity, if she would furnish the motherly love, the years of hard labor and self-sacrifice, the sleepless nights and endless patience needed for the work. after a few days of prayerful consideration she accepted, and in the fall of ten orphans were gathered together in indianapolis from various parts of the state from among those who had no friends able or willing to care for them. in the spring of they were removed to the soldiers' home near knightstown, where a small cottage and garden were assigned to their use. in , she placed the older boys in houses where their growing strength could be better utilized, and moved with the girls and younger boys to spiceland to secure the benefit of better schools. in , all of the ten but one were self-supporting, and have since taken useful and respectable positions in society. the one exception was a little feeble-minded boy, who, with his brother, had been found in the county poor-house; his condition and wants very soon impressed her with the necessity for a state home for feeble-minded children in indiana, it having been found necessary to send this boy to another state to be educated. he is now in a neighboring state institution, and is almost self-supporting. with her usual energy and directness, she went to work to gather statistics on the subject of "feeble-minded children" in this and other states, and to interest others in their welfare. she at last found an active co-worker in charles hubbard, the representative from henry county in the legislature, and their united efforts, aided by other friends of the cause, secured in the enactment of the law establishing the home for feeble-minded children, now in operation near knightstown, indiana. having seen all her children well provided for, she began to look for further work, and soon conceived the idea of taking the children from the county poor-houses of the state and forming them into families. she offered to take the children in the henry county poor-house and provide for them home, food, clothing and education, for the small sum of twenty-five cents per day for each child, which her experience had proven to be the smallest sum that would accomplish the good she desired; but the county commissioners would only allow her twenty cents per day. she accepted their terms, furnishing the deficit from her own means, and so earnest was she and so completely did she demonstrate the superiority of her plan for the care of these children, that she interested many others in the work, and the result was the passage of a law by the legislature of - , giving to county commissioners the right to place their destitute children under the care of a matron, giving her sole charge of them and full credit for her work, and providing for her salary and their support. under that law miss fussell now has all the destitute children of henry county under her care, and has created a model orphans' home. thus has this one woman been a power for good, and by following in the direct line of her duty, has been obliged to "meddle in the affairs of state" and to influence legislation. if in giving this sketch we have exceeded the limits allotted us, let us remember that our subject represents thousands of noble women who care rather that their light shall carry with it comfort and warmth, than be noted for its brilliancy, and who, having no voice in the government, are obliged to work out their beneficent ideas with much unnecessary labor. [g.] the friends of woman's equality addressed the following petition to each member of the state legislature: being personally acquainted with mrs. sarah a. oren, and knowing her to be a woman of refinement and culture, we can consistently urge upon you a favorable consideration of her claims as a candidate for election to the office of state librarian. she has had the benefit of a collegiate education, and has been for several years a successful teacher in antioch college and in the public high-school of indianapolis. she is mainly dependent on her own labor for the means to support and educate her children, who were _made fatherless by a rebel bullet_ at the siege of petersburg. her education and experience have admirably fitted her for the discharge of all the duties of the office of state librarian; and by electing her to that office, the republican party will secure a faithful and efficient officer, and have the pleasure of making another payment on the debt we owe to the widows and orphans of those who died that our country might live.[ ] mrs. oren was elected to the office of state librarian and performed the duties belonging to it with great efficiency and fidelity. she has been succeeded by mrs. margaret peele, mrs. emma a. winsor and miss lizzie h. callis. * * * * * chapter xlvii. minnesota. [a.] in the early days, long before the organization of either state or local societies, there were, besides those mentioned in the main chapter, a few earnest women who were ever ready to subscribe for suffrage papers and circulate tracts and petitions to congress and the state legislature, whose names should be honored with at least a mention on the page of history. among them were: mrs. addie ballou, mrs. ellis white, mrs. eliza dutcher, mrs. sarah clark, miss amelia heebner, miss emily a. emerson, mrs. mary f. mead, mrs. e. m. o'brien, miss ellen c. thompson, miss r. j. haner, mrs. mary hulett, mrs. gorham powers, mrs. c. a. hotchkiss, mrs. emma wilson, mrs. mary wilkins, mrs. anna d. weeks, mrs. mary leland, mrs. susan c. burger, mrs. a. r. lovejoy, and others. [b.] of the seventy-six organized counties in minnesota we give the following partial list of those that have elected women to the office of superintendent of public schools: _mille lacs county_, olive r. barker; _pine_, ella gorton; _lac qui parle_, malena p. kirley; _anoka_, mrs. catharine j. pierce, mrs. ellen conforth, miss dailey; _benton_, mrs. belle graham, mrs. e. k. whitney; _cottonwood_, mrs. e. c. huntington, mrs. b. j. banks, mrs. l. huntington; _dodge_, mrs. mary powell wheeler, mrs. p. l. dart, mrs. j. w. willard, barbara van allen; _dakota_, mrs. martha wallace, harriet e. jones, mrs. c. h. day, mrs. c. teachout, nellie duff, mary mather, anna manners, jennie horton; _freeborn_, mrs. j. b. foote, mrs. d. r. hibbs, mrs. a. w. johnson, mrs. j. h. pickard; _fillmore_, charlotte taeor, margaret hood, mrs. m. e. molstad, mrs. a. e. harsh; _fairbault_, jane harris, georgia adams, mrs. a. b. thorp, mrs. levi crump, mrs. r. c. smith, mary rumage, mrs. l. a. scott; _goodhue_, mrs. h. a. hobart; _brown_, mrs. o. b. ingraham; _douglass_, mrs. m. c. lewis, mrs. j. b. van hoesen, mrs. trask; _houston_, mrs. annie m. carpenter; _hennepin_, angelina dupont, mrs. m. f. taylor; _lyon_, louise m. ferro, m. d., mrs. w. c. robinson, mertie caley; _mower_, mrs. w. h. parker, mrs. v. j. duffy, mrs. j. f. rockwell, mrs. e. hoppin, sarah m. dean; _marshall_, mrs. l. h. stone; _meeker_, mrs. a. r. jackman, mrs. orin whitney, mary e. ferguson; _martin_, mrs. j. w. fuller, mrs. m. e. st. john, mary e. harvey, mary a. mclean; _olmstead_, adelle moore, jane haggerty, mrs. r. s. carver; _polk_, mrs. m. c. perrin, mrs. j. a. barnum; _ramsey_, mrs. b. mcguire, annie e. dunn; _st. louis_, sarah burger stearns; _winona_, dr. adaline williams; _stevens_ county reports one lady serving as school-district treasurer; _otter tail_ county reports six ladies serving in different places; _wright_ county, four serving as clerks of school-districts; and in _beeker_ county it is said ladies sometimes serve as deputies during their husbands' absence. [c.] in a volume edited by harriet n. r. arnold, entitled, "the poets and poetry of minnesota," published in , are the following names: mrs. laura e. bacon hunt, mrs. emily f. bugbee moore, miss eleanor c. donnelly, miss jane gray fuller, mrs. e. m. harris, miss ninetta maine, mrs. j. r. mcmasters, harriet e. bishop, irene galloway, mary r. lyon, miss m. e. pierson smith, mrs. helen l. pandergast, julia a. a. wood. among the later writers possessing true poetic genius are mrs. julia cooley carruth, miss eva j. stickney, miss jennie e. m. caine, mrs. emily huntington miller. among the authors who sent their books to the new orleans exposition in , are frances a. shaw, marion shaw, minnie may lee, eleanor g. donnelly, mrs. m. m. sanford, mrs. julia wood, edna a. barnard, mrs. arnold, miss franc e. babbett, mrs. henderson, miss campbell, mrs. c. h. plummer, mrs. will e. haskell, mrs. delia whitney norton, maria a. drew, mrs. jennie lynch, miss mary a. cruikshank. [d.] mrs. winchell, wife of the president of the minnesota state university, kindly sent us the names of the fifty-six young women who were graduated from that institution between and : class of ' , helen mar ely; ' , martha butler; ' , matilda j. campbell, viola fuller, charlotte a. rollet, mary a. maes; ' , mary robinson, nettie getchel; ' , marian h. roe, caroline rollet, martha j. west, evelyn may champlin, etta medora eliot; ' , lizzie a. house, bessie s. lawrence, minnie reynolds, lillian todd, cora inez brown; ' , emily hough, diana burns, sarah e. palmer, lilla ruth williams; ' , carrie holt, lydia holt, mary eliza holt, alice e. demmon, louise lillian hilbourn, emily d. mcmillan, ada eva pillsbury, agnes v. bonniwell, grace w. curtis, marie louise henry, mary nancy hughes, carrie d. fletcher; ' , annie harriet jefferson, kate louise kennedy, sarah pierrepont mcnair, anna calista marston, janet nunn, emma frances trussell, helen louise pierce, martha sheldon, louise e. hollister, emma j. ware; ' , hannah sewall, susie sewall, anna bonfoy, bessie latho, addie kingsbury, belle bradford, emma twinggi; ' , mary benton, bertha brown, ida mann, mary irving, mabel smith. among the women who have been successful as preceptresses in the state university are: helen sutherland, m. a., mrs. augusta norwood smith, matilda j. campbell, b. l., maria l. sanford. among the teachers in the normal schools of the state are the following: _winona_--martha brechbill, sophia l. haight, jennie ellis, sarah e. whittaker, kate l. sprague, vienna dodge, ada l. mitchell, anna c. foekens, rena m. mead, mary e. couse, b. s. _mankato normal school_--helen m. philips, defransa a. swan, anna mccutcheon, genevieve s. hawley, mary e. hutcheson, eliza a. cheney, charity a. green, m. adda holton. _st. cloud normal school_--isabel lawrence, ada a. warner, minnie f. wheelock, rose a. joclin, mary l. wright, kittie w. allen. nearly all of the above-named teachers were graduated from eastern colleges and universities. women occupy the same positions as men and receive corresponding salaries. a recent report of minneapolis schools names fifteen women in the high school receiving from $ to $ per year; twelve principals of ward schools, receiving from $ to $ , ; and eleven primary principals receiving from $ to $ . at st. paul there were reported two principals getting $ , each, two getting $ , and twelve others getting $ each; of the five lady assistants in the high school, one received $ , one $ , and three received $ each. the principal of the high school at duluth receives $ per annum, and some of the assistants and principals of ward schools, $ . miss sarah e. sprague, a graduate of st. lawrence university, and of the normal and training school at oswego, n. y., has been employed since august, , by the state department of public instruction, for institute work, at a salary of $ , per year and expenses. miss sprague is a lady of rare ability and an honor to her profession. prominent among private schools for young ladies is the bennett seminary at minneapolis, mrs. b. b. bennett, principal; also the wasioja seminary, mrs. c. b. p. lang, preceptress, and miss m. v. paine, instructor in music. the services of miss mary e. hutcheson have been highly valued as instructor in vocal music and elocution in the mankato normal school. miss florence barton at minneapolis, mrs. emily moore of duluth, are excellent teachers of music, and miss zella d'unger, of elocution. prominent among the kindergarten schools is that of mrs. d. v. s. brown at st. paul; mrs. mary dowse, duluth; miss endora hailman, winona. the latter is director of the kindergarten connected with the winona state normal school. miss fannie wood, miss kate e. barry, miss ella p. mcwhorter and miss abby e. axtell, are reported as having rendered very efficient service as teachers in the state deaf and dumb asylum; miss mary kirk, miss alice mott and miss emma l. rohow are spoken of as having been earnest and devoted teachers in the state institution for the blind. mrs. viola fuller miner of minneapolis, graduated from the state university, has long been known as a teacher and writer of much ability. her pen never touches the suffrage question except to its advantage. miss eloise butler, teaching in the high school of the same city, would gladly have lent her personal aid to suffrage work had time and strength permitted. we have at least the blessing of her membership and influence. mrs. sadie martin, likewise a teacher of advanced classes and an easy writer, will be remembered as the first president of the local suffrage society of minneapolis, and one much devoted to its interests. mrs. maggie mcdonald, formerly a teacher at rochester and long a resident of st. paul, has ever been a devoted friend of the suffrage cause--commenced work as long ago as ' , and is to-day unflagging in hope and zeal. mrs. caroline nolte of the same city, though much occupied as a teacher in the high school, still found time to aid in forming the st. paul suffrage society. miss helen m. mcgowan, a teacher at owatonna, is spoken of as "a grand woman who believes in the ballot as a means to higher ends." miss s. a. mayo, a lady of fine culture and a successful teacher of elocution, was also an active member of this society while in the city. miss clara m. coleman, a classical scholar from michigan university, for one year principal of the duluth high school, was a believer in equal rights for all and did not hesitate to say so. miss louise hollister, a graduate of the minnesota university, is miss coleman's successor and a friend of suffrage for women, with an educational qualification; she is vice-president of the equal rights league of duluth. miss jenny lind gowdy, graduated from the winona normal school, is an excellent primary principal who teaches her pupils that girls should have the same rights and privileges as boys--no more, no less. [e.] the names of the women who have been admitted to the minnesota state medical society are: clara e. atkinson, ida clark, mary g. hood, a. m. hunt, harriet e. preston, belle m. walrath, annes f. wass, lizzie r. wass, mary twoddy whetsone. among the women who have practiced medicine in minnesota are: catharine underwood jewell, lake city; e. m. roys, rochester; harriet e. preston, m. mason, mary e. emery, jennie fuller, clara e. atkinson, st. paul; mary g. hood, mary j. twoddy whetsone, r. c. henderson, a. m. hunt, adele s. hutchinson, mary l. swain, d. a. coombe, minneapolis; e. m. roys, mary whitney, ida s. clark, rochester; augusta l. rosenthal, winona; fannie e. holden, anna brockway gray, duluth. the board of officers of the sisters of bethany has for many years consisted of: _president_, mrs. charlotte o. van cleve; _vice-president_, mrs. euphemia n. overlock; _secretary_, mrs. harriet g. walker; _treasurer_, mrs. abbie g. mendenhall. the city of minneapolis takes the lead of all others in the state in the number of its benevolent institutions. it has its woman's industrial exchange, as an aid to business women; its woman's home, or pleasant boarding-house; for the care of sick women, its northwestern woman's hospital and training-school for nurses; also a homeopathic hospital for women; for the care of homeless infants, its foundlings' home; for unfortunate girls, its bethany home. all of these institutions are in the hands of the best of women. among the most active are: mrs. m. b. lewis, miss abby adair, mrs. o. a. pray, mrs. j. m. robinson, mrs. john edwards, mrs. l. christian, mrs. s. w. farnham, mrs. wm. harrison, mrs. h. m. carpenter, mrs. d. morrison, mrs. john crosby, mrs. george b. wright, mrs. moses marston, mrs. charlotte o. van cleve, mrs. t. b. walker, dr. mary s. whetsone, mrs. c. s. winchell, dr. mary g. hood, mrs. r. w. jordan, miss a. m. henderson. in the city of duluth there is a woman's home unlike any other in the state. it is managed by a corporate body of ladies known as home missionaries. the charter members are: sarah b. stearns, laura coppernell, jennie c. swanstrom, fanny h. anthony, olive murphy, flora davey, jennie s. lloyd, fannie e. holden, m. d. the work of this corporation is to seek out all poor women needing temporary shelter and employment. the classes chiefly cared for are poor widows and deserted wives, and such small children as may belong to them; also over-worked young women who may need a temporary resting-place; also young girls thrown suddenly upon their own resources without knowledge of how to care for themselves. these ladies care also for the unfortunate of another class, but in a retired place, unmarked by any sign. they prefer that to the usual plan of caring for the victims of men. [f.] portrait and landscape-painters in oil and water-colors, who give promise of success: _minneapolis_, miss clara v. shaw, miss mary e. neagle, mrs. frank painter, miss mary dunn, mrs. irene w. clark, miss c. m. lenora, mrs. arthur clark, mrs. a. m. west, miss myra h. twitchell, mrs. a. l. loring, miss luella gurney, mrs. charles fairfield, mrs. a. t. rand, miss e. robeson, miss helen goodwin, mrs. sarah e. corbett, mrs. lucille hunkle, miss mary kennedy, mrs. frances a. pray. mrs. w. b. mead, miss flora edwards, mrs. knight, mrs. i. w. mauley, mrs. m. p. hawkins; _st. paul_, miss florence m. cole, miss mary hollingshead, miss a. m. shavre, miss alice chandler, mrs. martha griggs, miss l. b. west, mrs. knox, mrs. theodosia rose cleveland, mrs. genevieve jefferson, mrs. c. b. grant, jennie lynch, miss wilson, miss lilla inness, mrs. george eastman, mrs. paine, mrs. fannie smith, miss alice page, mrs. hunter; _winona_, mrs. w. ely, mrs. ella newell, miss d. e. barr; _lake city_, mrs. h. b. sargent, mrs. j. g. richardson, bessie milliken; _stillwater_, sadie s. clark, miss field, sarah murdock; _albert lea_, birdie slocum; _fairbault_, grace mckinster, miss s. e. cook; _litchfield_, mrs. carter; _alexandria_, mamie lewis; _st. cloud_, mary clarke; _fergus falls_, mrs. wurtle; _owatonna_, mrs. d. o. searles; _duluth_, emma f. shaw newcome, anna e. gilbert, mrs. a. d. frost, de etta evans, mrs. persis norton, addie w. l. barrow, gertrude olmstead, addie hunter, fanny woodbridge. doubtless there are many others of worth in other localities improving their talents and finding real enjoyment and pecuniary recompense in the pursuit of their loved art. it is one of the imperfections of this chapter that the names cannot be given of the many gifted young ladies who have gone from minnesota for a musical education to the new york and boston conservatories of music. of those who have gone from duluth, and returned as proficients, may be named mary willis, mary ensign hunter, mary munger, florence moore and jessie hopkins. with this beautiful thought in mind, "_noblesse oblige_," the christian workers of duluth call upon these talented young ladies for aid in furnishing many entertainments for charity's sake, and are seldom disappointed. [g.] among the occasional speakers and writers not mentioned in the main chapter are: abbie j. spaulding, mrs. m. m. elliot, miss a. m. henderson, mrs. m. j. warner, lizzie manson, rebecca s. smith, viola fuller miner, harriet g. walker, eliza burt gamble, emma harriman, eva mcintyre, mary hall dubois, minnie reed, mrs. g. h. miller, dr. mary whetsone, mrs. m. c. ladd, mrs. m. a. seely, mrs. e. s. wright, mrs. m. h. drew, mrs. e. j. holly, mrs. david sanford, mrs. f. e. russell, lily long. zoe mcclary, daughter of rev. and mrs. thomas mcclary, gives promise of distinction. since the formation of the state and local societies there are many women in their quiet homes who are ever ready to encourage any effort toward making all women more free, helpful and happy. let this paragraph record the names of a few of these: mary e. chute, isabelle l. blaisdell, mary partridge, mrs. c. c. curtis, frances a. shaw, lucy e. prescott, mrs. s. j. squires, minnie reed, mrs. e. s. wright, nellie h. hazeltine, adelle j. grow, mrs. a. b. cole, mrs. a. f. bliss, mrs. e. j. holley, frances p. sawyer, frances l. james, mrs. m. c. clark, lucy gibbs, prudence lusk, lizzie p. hawkins, m. hammond, mrs. e. southworth, josephine strait, kittie manson, mrs. r. c. watson, alice b. cash, emma drew, helen m. olds, mrs. w. w. bilson, adaline smith, mrs. l. a. watts, emily moore, olive murphy, mrs. l. a. wentworth, gertrude l. gow, della w. norton, mrs. v. a. wright, mrs. m. h. wells, aurelia bassett, kate c. stevens, mary vrouman, belle hazen, mrs. d. c. hunt, mrs. l. h. young, louisa stevens, esther hayes, sarah j. crawford, lucinda roberts, carrie rawson, sarah herrick, kate tabor, charlotte herbert, belle mcclelland, jane e. knott, margaret bryson, mary mcknight, emma coleman, sarah ricker, mary m. pomeroy, sarah pribble, mary a. grinnell, eliza van ambden. * * * * * chapter liii. california. we give not only the names of the delegates present at the convention of , but also of a few of the most earnest friends of the cause in the several counties of the state, not heretofore mentioned in connection with the early conventions. in san francisco we must not omit the venerable eliza taylor, a sweet-faced quaker, eighty years of age, nor fanny green mcdougall--"aunt" fanny, as we loved to call her--nor mrs. c. c. calhoun, mary f. snow, minnie edwards, mrs. o. fuller, mrs. c. m. parker, wm. r. ryder, mrs. m. j. hendee, kate collins, mary kellogg, louise fowler, m. j. hemsley and mrs. h. t. perry. in october, , elizabeth mccomb, mary coggins, mrs. j. v. drinkhouse, dr. and mrs. e. d. smith, mrs. e. sloan, mrs. c. j. furman, elizabeth d. layres, miss prince, kate kennedy, carrie parker, marion hill,[ ] mrs. olmstead, mrs. dr. white, dr. laura p. williams and mrs. olive washburn were all members of the city and state associations. there was the brilliant sallie hart, who took such an active part in the "local option" contest in , and who as a newspaper reporter and correspondent in the state legislature for two or three sessions was very active in urging the claims of woman upon the consideration of our law-makers. hon. philip a. roach, often a prominent official of the state, and for many years editor of the _daily examiner_, is an advocate of woman's rights and was instrumental in getting an act, known as "senator roach's bill to punish wife-whippers," passed. it provided that such offenders should be punished by flogging upon the bare back at the whipping-post. a wise and just law, but it was afterward declared unconstitutional by the supreme court. hon. james g. maguire, a brilliant and rising young lawyer, a member of the legislature in , now a judge of the superior court of san francisco, is a most reliable and talented advocate of equality for women. among the members of the bar and other prominent men of the state are to be found a number who are either pronounced in their views of woman's right to vote, or are inclined to favor all measures tending to ameliorate woman's condition in life; of whom are judge g. m. clough, judge darwin, d. j. murphy, judge l. quint, col. j. p. jackson of the _daily post_, hon. charles gildea of the board of equalization, judge toohey, the late judge charles wolff, rev. dr. f. f. jewell, dr. r. h. mcdonald, the prominent temperance advocate; hon. j. t. wharton, p. s. dorney, esq., judge j. b. lamar, rev. dr. robert mckenzie, capt. walker of the _city argus_, hon. frank pixley of the _argonaut_, ex-gov. james a. johnson of the _daily alta_, alfred cridge, esq., dr. r. b. murphy, n. hawks, w. h. barnes of _the call_, o. dearing, hon. w. w. marrow, hon. charles a. sumner, representative in congress; hon. j. b. webster of the _california patron_, in san francisco. in other parts of the state are; senator cross of nevada county, assemblyman cominette of amador, judge g. g. clough, and senator kellogg of plumas county, hon. h. m. larue, speaker of the house, and assemblyman doty of sacramento county, senator del valle of los angeles, hon. o. b. hitchcock of tulare county, judge mccannaughy and judge e. steele of siskyon county, hon. t. b. wigginton, judge charles marks, r. j. steele, esq., of merced county; john mitchell, john t. davis and capt. gray of stanislaus; hon. j. mcm. shafter of marin county; senator brooks and judge j. d. hinds of ventura county. sacramento county contains a large number of progressive men and women, though the good work has consisted mainly in the efforts made by committees appointed by the state society to attend the biënnial sessions of the legislature, most of whom were not residents of the county. but among those who have done good service in sacramento, the first and most active for many years has been mrs. l. g. waterhouse, now of monterey. she espoused the cause in early life, and when many added years compelled her to retire from active service, her efforts in behalf of women were still continued. miss dr. kellogg is not only a successful practitioner of medicine, but is gifted with eloquent speech, and has on several occasions addressed the legislature of the state; dr. jennie bearby, for some years a resident of sacramento, now of idaho, is worthy of mention; mrs. m. j. young, attorney-at-law since june, ; annie g. cummings and daughter, have been among the earliest and most faithful adherents to our cause. mrs. e. b. crocker has, through her social position, exerted great influence in a quiet way, and has contributed liberally from her vast wealth to aid the cause; she founded the marguerite home for aged women. dr. and mrs. bowman, now of oakland, were pioneers in this work; while mesdames jackson, hontoon, perley watson, and miss hattie moore are among the recent converts. hon. grove l. johnson has been one of the most eloquent of all the fearless champions of women who have occupied a seat in the legislature; hon. creed haymond deserves to rank with the foremost, as an able advocate of woman's political rights; hon. s. j. finney of santa cruz, talbot wallis, state librarian, judge taylor, a prominent lawyer, and his brilliant wife, are also among our friends. sarah a. montgomery, mattie a. shaw, mrs. a. wilcox, mary b. lewis, judge and mrs. mcfarland, judge j. w. armstrong, encouraged by his devoted and talented wife, and a large number of others, favor in a quiet way the ballot for women. san joaquin county has been the home of laura de force gordon since , and much of her practice as a lawyer has been in the courts at stockton. among the earliest advocates of suffrage were mr. and mrs. william condy, mr. and mrs. harry, judge brush, hattie brush, judge roysdon, william hickman and wife, mrs. e. emery, william israel, hannah israel, miss e. clifford, dr. holden, richard condy and his noble wife elizabeth, who was the first president of the san joaquin county society. among a host of others are mr. and mrs. w. f. freeman and their bright young daughter sophronia, who gives promise of future usefulness in the lecture-field; mr. and mrs. j. c. gage, whose daughter hattie possesses marked artistic ability, and though still in her teens has produced oil paintings of rare beauty; dr. brown, physician in charge of the state insane asylum; dr. phoebe tabor, for many years a successful medical practitioner; mrs. n. g. cary, mrs. m. s. webb, mrs. zignago, a successful business woman; mr. and mrs. h. b. loomis, r. b. lane, mr. and mrs. h. m. bond, and mr. and mrs. w. l. overhiser, both of whom are active members of that liberal woman's rights order, the patrons of husbandry. hon. r. c. sargent, a member of the legislature for several terms, has always aided the woman's cause by his vote and influence. dr. j. l. sargent and his intelligent wife are also friends to every measure tending to benefit woman. hon. s. l. terry, senator f. t. baldwin, james a. lontitt, esq., judge j. h. budd, judge a. van r. patterson, george b. mcstay, judge buckley and a number of other prominent officials and members of the legal profession, are all in favor of equal rights. sonoma county has a few fearless friends of woman suffrage. mary jewett, mrs. prince, fannie m. wertz and miss e. merrill were officers in the first organization formed at healdsburg in that county in , and together with j. g. howell and wife, who were proprietors of the _russian river flag_, kept up the society for years. at petaluma, mrs. a. a. haskell, mr. and mrs. a. l. hatch, kate lovejoy and mrs. judge latimer organized a society in . in solano county are mr. and mrs. denio and mrs. e. l. hale of vallejo; mrs. elizabeth ober and mrs. celia geddes of fairfield. napa county soon became an objective point for lecturers; a society was organized at st. helena in , with mr. and mrs. john lewellyn, charles king, mrs. potter and dr. and mrs. allyn as officers; at napa were joseph eggleton and wife and mrs. ellis. in san mateo county was mrs. dr. kilpatrick. contra costa county was organized in , and mrs. phebe benedict, mrs. abbott, mary o'brien, sarah sellers, dr. and mrs. howard, hannah israel, an able writer and lecturer, and capt. kimball of antioch, took an active part therein. mrs. j. h. chase of martinez, e. h. cox and wife of danville, were pioneers in the cause, and henry and abigail bush of martinez, were most prominent in the first meetings held there. mrs. bush had the honor to preside over the second woman suffrage convention ever held in the united states, that at rochester, n. y., in . o. alley and wife, also of martinez, extended their hospitality to lecturers who visited that place, and fully sympathized in the cause. in marin county a society was formed in , with isabella irwin, mrs. barney, flora whitney, mrs. m. dubois and mary battey smith, as officers; mrs. mcm. shafter, a gifted and influential lady, was also an active worker in the good cause. alameda county--rev. john benton and wife, professor e. carr and wife, mrs. c. c. calhoun, mrs. m. l. s. duncan, mrs. s. s. allen, dr. and mrs. powers, mr. and mrs. ingersoll, angie eager, mary kenny, george and martha parry and mr. and mrs. william stevens, were interested in the earlier agitation of the question; mrs. sanford, mrs. a. m. stoddard and mrs. m. johnson are among the later converts. merced county the home of rowena granice steele, the author, and publisher of the _san joaquin valley argus_, has furnished the state with a worthy and capable advocate of woman suffrage, both as a speaker and writer. in her cozy, rose-embowered cottage at merced, she generously entertains her numerous guests, who always seek out this distinguished and warm-hearted friend of woman. stanislaus county is the present home of jennie phelps purvis, a talented and brilliant woman, well known in literary circles in an early day and for some years a prominent officer and member of the state society. at modesto are mrs. lapham and daughter amel, and mr. and mrs. brown, good friends to suffrage. in san diego are mrs. f. p. kingsbury, mrs. tallant. in santa cruz county, georgiana bruce kirby, mrs. h. m. blackburn, mrs. m. e. heacock, rev. d. g. ingraham, ellen van valkenburg. in los angeles county, mrs. eliza j. hall, m. d. ingo county, j. a. jennings. santa clara county, j. j. owen, the able editor of the _san josé mercury_; laura j. watkins, hon. o. h. smith and wife, mrs. g. b. mckee, mrs. mcfarland, mrs. herman, mrs. montgomery, mrs. miller, mrs. j. j. crawford, mrs. r. b. hall, mrs. knox, mrs. wallis, mrs. c. m. putney, mrs. damon, miss walsh, and many others, have all helped the good cause in san josé; while louisa smith of santa clara, a lady of advancing years, was ever a faithful friend of the cause, as was also miss emma s. sleeper of mountain view, formerly of mt. morris, n. y. in nevada county, originally the home of senator a. a. sargent, the question of woman suffrage was agitated at an early day. the most active friends were: ellen clark sargent, emily rolfe, mrs. leavett, mrs. e. p. keeney, mrs. e. loyed, elmira eddy, mr. and mrs. william stevens, mrs. hanson, judge palmer and mrs. cynthia palmer. * * * * * chapter lvi. great britain. a chronological table of the successive steps of progress towards freedom for women. . queen's college, harley street, london, founded for girls. . bedford college, london, founded; incorporated, . . north london collegiate school for girls opened by miss buss, april . . cheltenham ladies' college commenced.... miss nightingale goes to sentari; from hence may be dated the beginning of training schools for nurses, metropolitan associations for nursing the poor, etc., etc. . female artists' society founded. . divorce and matrimonial causes act passed, by which divorce and judicial separation became attainable in course of law.... ladies' sanitary association, founded october . . _englishwoman's journal_ started (now _englishwoman's review_) by bessie r. parkes and mdme. bodichon, march .... first swimming bath for ladies, opened in marylebone, july . . society for the employment of women established in london, june . . law-copying office for women opened february .... victoria printing press, established march .... institution for the employment of needle-women commenced.... first admission of women students to the royal academy (miss herford). . lectures on physiology to ladies at university college, april. . social science congress in london; though not the first time ladies had read papers at the congress--this was remarkable for the increased share they took in its proceedings.... ladies' negro emancipation society commenced.... new church order of deaconesses founded on the model of kaiserwerth.... first voyage of miss rye to australia, and commencement of her system of emigration. . establishment of queen's institute, dublin, for industrial training of women. . female medical and obstetrical society begun.... working women's college, queen's square, opened october . . miss garrett receives her medical diploma from apothecaries' hall. . a petition of , women for the franchise presented, and the first women's suffrage society formed. . mr. mill's motion in the house of commons to give the suffrage to women.... lily maxwell voted in manchester for mr. jacob bright. . in the general election many women who were left on the register voted. women's suffrage was declared illegal by the court of common pleas, november .... london university establishes a women's examination. . ladies' educational association begun in london, which was dissolved july , , upon london university college admitting women as regular students.... women's college established at hitchin, october ... the telegraph service was transferred to government, and women clerks were retained, thus entering the civil service.... municipal franchise act passed; women first voted under it november . . publication of _women's suffrage journal_ commenced march .... women's disabilities removal bill introduced by mr. jacob bright, m.p., read a second time, but rejected in committee, may.... lectures for women begun in cambridge.... first examinations of women in queen's university, ireland.... married women's property act (england) passed, august .... national indian association established by mary carpenter (principal object: the improvement of women's education in india), september.... vigilance association established, october; mainly occupied in women's questions.... elementary education act passed.... first school-board election in london, november (miss garrett and miss emily davies elected in london; miss becker, manchester, etc.). . ladies' national health association commenced by dr. elizabeth blackwell.... law of ireland amended slightly with regard to married women's property.... national union for improving the education of women established by mrs. grey, november. . new hospital for women, opened february, in marylebone (women doctors).... girls' public day school company formed. first school opened january , at chelsea; there are now fifteen.... girton college, cambridge, incorporated. hitchin college subsequently removed to it.... new bastardy act, passed august , affording a greater measure of relief to unmarried mothers. . mrs. nassau senior, appointed assistant inspector of workhouses, january; the first government appointment of a lady; made permanent, february, .... first school-board election in scotland, february (twenty ladies elected).... second english school-board.... custody of infants act passed, which enables a man, having a deed of separation from his wife, to give up the custody of the children to her if he chooses. . women's peace and arbitration auxiliary of the london peace society formed, april.... women's protection and provident league formed, july (benefit societies and trades unions for working women).... protection orders given to wives in scotland, july .... college for working women, fitzroy street, london, opened october.... london school of medicine for women, opened october . . a lady first elected as poor-law guardian (miss merington, in kensington), april.... albemarle club opened for ladies and gentlemen, may .... newnham college, cambridge, opened.... employment of women office, opened in brighton.... female clerkships in post-office savings bank.... pharmaceutical society of ireland admitted women to examinations.... madras medical school opened to women.... first woman lawyer's office opened in london (miss orme).... metropolitan and national nursing association formed.... women delegates from women's unions first admitted to trades' congress in glasgow, october. . admission of women to manchester new college, february .... first qualified woman pharmacist established in london (miss isabella clarke).... plan-tracing office for women opened (miss crosbie).... employment of women office, opened in glasgow.... scholarship for women established in bristol university college.... british women's temperance association commenced.... passing of the act, known as russell-gurney's act, enabling universities to admit women to degrees, august.... resolutions of king and queen's college of physicians in ireland to confer medical degrees on women; five ladies passed their examinations and received degrees in the following spring.... a memorial, signed by , women, presented to the queen on behalf of the bulgarians. . teachers, training and registration society inaugurated, february .... trinity college, london, decided to throw open its musical examinations to women.... st. andrew's university offered "literate in arts" degrees to women.... a bill to amend the married women's property law (scotland) passed; came into force january , .... international congress on public morality met at geneva, september.... admission of women medical students to the royal free hospital, october .... manchester and salford college for women (now affiliated to the victoria university) opened, october. . society to extend the knowledge of law among women started.... matrimonial causes amendment act passed; a clause being inserted by lord penzance enabling magistrates to grant a judicial separation to women if brutally treated by their husbands, a maintenance to be given them, and the children to remain under their mother's care.... admission of women to london university degrees and examinations, july .... intermediate education act, ireland; participation of girls in its benefits. . victoria university charter grants degrees to women.... oxford, somerville and lady margaret halls opened, october.... nine ladies elected on london school-board, november.... pharmaceutical society admits women as members, october.... order of st. katherine for nurses established.... school for wood-engraving and one for wood-carving established. . charter of irish university gives degrees to women.... demonstration of women in manchester in favor of the suffrage, february ; followed by london, bristol and nottingham in the same year.... bill to give further protection to little girls under passed.... mason college in birmingham founded; equal facilities to girls and boys.... first lady b. a. in london university, october.... melbourne university matriculates women, march .... the burial bill gives women the right to conduct funeral services.... the house of keys in the isle of man passed women's suffrage for women who are owners of property, november . . suffrage bill in the isle of man received royal assent january ; seven hundred women are electors; general election began march .... cambridge university admits women students to formal examinations by a vote of against , february .... durham university votes that women may become members. . sydney university (new south wales) admits women to matriculation and degrees.... new zealand university confers title of m. a. on a woman, august.... poor-law guardian association for promoting the election of ladies established, march; seven ladies elected in london.... somerville club for women opened.... women clerks admitted to the civil service by open competition.... municipal franchise act for scotland, passed june ; came into operation january , .... married women's property act for scotland, passed july . . london university convocation resolves to admit women as graduates, january .... twelve women elected in london as poor-law guardians, april; fifteen in the country.... married women's property act passed by the lords and brought down to the commons may ; passed and returned to the lords august ; received royal assent august .... addition to municipal franchise act (scotland) by inclusion of police burghs.... women first voted in scotland under the new act, november .... appointment of women as registrars of births and deaths in four parishes. . married women's property act comes into operation january .... appointment of miss e. shove as physician to female staff in post-office; first appointment by government of a woman.... poor-law guardian elections, april; thirteen ladies in london, two in scotland for the first time; thirteen in other towns in england.... mr. stansfeld's resolution against the contagious diseases acts carried in the house of commons by a majority of , april ; the acts consequently are suspended.... may.--memorial to the prime minister signed by independent liberal members, asking that women's suffrage shall be included in the coming reform bill.... mr. mason's resolution for women's suffrage thrown out by a majority of only .... great conference of liberal associations at leeds on parliamentary reform votes for woman suffrage, october , followed by similar votes at edinburgh, november ; manchester, november ; bristol, november , and in many smaller places.... guarantee-fund raised in bombay for lady physicians and hospitals for women commenced; calcutta university opened to women. . second reading of the bill for the custody and guardianship of children carried, march , by a majority of .... first lady, mrs. bryant, obtained degree of doctor of science in london university.... nine ladies obtain b. a. degree in royal irish university. . college of surgeons, ireland, opens its degrees to women.... criminal-law amendment bill passed in august, raising the age of protection for girls, and giving increased facilities for rescuing them from ruin.... municipal suffrage granted to women in madras.... miss mason appointed inspector of workhouses by local government board, november. footnotes: [ ] signed by superintendents public schools, a. c. shortridge, indianapolis, alexander m. gow, evansville, wm. h. wiley, terre haute, jas. mcneil, richmond, j. h. smart, fort wayne, wm. phelan, laporte, barnabas c. hobbs, bloomingdale; thomas holmes, president union christian college, mrs. thos. holmes, merom; geo. p. brown, principal high-school, mrs. geo. p. brown, jessie h. brown, assistant-superintendent public schools, prof. w. a. bell, prof. t. charles, hon. byron k. elliott, geo. merritt, mrs. george merritt, wm. coughlen, jno. s. newman, president merchants national bank, col. james b. black, jos. e. perry, dr. e. s. newcomer, mrs. s. e. newcomer, col. samuel merrill, franklin taylor, phebe m. taylor, h. h. lee, mrs. elizabeth lee, dr. o. s. runnels, mrs. dora c. runnels, horace mckay, thomas e. chandler, david gibson, miss mary bradshaw, dr. j. c. walker, indianapolis; elias hicks swayne, mahala m. swayne, richmond; dr. geo. m. dakin, mrs. geo. m. dakin, laporte. [ ] mrs. hill was president of the san francisco woman suffrage society for three years prior to her death in . index to the history of woman suffrage. compiled by john weinheimer of _the new york tribune_. a. abelard, i, . abbott, francis, iii, . adam and eve, i, . adams, abigail smith, i, , . adams, hannah, author, i, . adams, john, i, , iii, . adams, john q., iii, . adams, mary n., lecturer, iii, . addresses and appeals, i, , , , , ; ii, , , , , , , ; iii, , , . adelbert college, iii, . _agitator_, ii, , iii, . agrippa, cornelius, i, . alabama, iii, . _albany evening journal_, ii, . _albany knickerbocker_ on woman's rights, i, . _albany register_ on woman's rights, i, , , , . _albany law journal_, ii, , . --on "our laws," iii, . alcibiades and the dog, ii, . alcott, a. bronson, iii, --on woman suffrage, iii, . alcott, abby may, appeal, i, . alcott, louisa may, letter to mrs. stone, ii, . alexander, janet, iii, . allen, jane, case of, ii, . allen, nancy r., argument before senate committee, iii, --legacy, iii, --notary public, made, iii, . allen, sophia ober, iii, . almanac, woman's rights, i, . amberly, lady, letter to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, . american equal rights association: --"colored," the word, discussion, ii, --constitution, ii, --meetings: academy of music (brooklyn), ii, , church of the puritans, ii, , cooper institute, ii, , steinway hall, ii, --memorial to congress, ii, --name changed to "nat. woman suffrage association," ii, --officers, ii, --organized, ii, --letter of b. f. wade, ii, --report, susan b. anthony's, ii, . american flag, design, i, . american woman suffrage association, ii, --celebration of woman suffrage in new jersey, ii, --constitution of, ii, --conventions: call for first, ii, , baltimore, , brooklyn in plymouth church, , cincinnati, o., , cleveland, o., , detroit, mich., , indianapolis, ind., , louisville, ky., , new york city in apollo hall, , in cooper institute, , in steinway hall, , , philadelphia, , , st. louis, mo., , washington, d. c., , --letter, circular, ii, --members received at the white house by mrs. hayes, ii., --memorial to congress, ii., , referred to committee on territories, --report of chairman of executive committee, ii, --resolutions, ii, , , , , , , , , , . ames, chas. g., i, , ii, , iii, . amnesty, universal, ii, . amos, sheldon, on vice, i, . anderson, geo. w., iii, . andrews, margaret h., letter to s. j. may, i, . angell, john w., iii, . ann arbor university, ii, . annekè, franceska, i, , ii, , --sketch of, iii, . anniversaries, _see conventions_. anthony, daniel, lucy and mary, i. . anthony, hon, henry b., on woman suffrage, i, , ii, , --pembina territory bill, on the, ii, --sargent's amendment to the pembina territory bill, on, _ib._ --suffrage on, iii, --woman suffrage, his last utterance on, iii, . anthony, susan b., i, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; iii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , --abolitionists, and the, ii, --american equal rights association, ii, , --appeal for woman rights, , i, --appeal to congress, ii, --argument before illinois legislature, iii, --argument before senate committee, iii, , --arrest of, ii, --arrest, incidents of, ii, --arrest, resolution concerning, ii, --birthday celebrated in indianapolis, iii, --"bloomer," in a, i, --bonnet and noah's ark, iii, --"bread and ballot," iii, --california visit, iii, --call, loyal women, ii, --centennial exhibition, at the, iii, --complimented by judge edmunds, iii, --constitutional convention at albany, before, ii, --corruptionist, as a, ii, --declaration of rights, reads, at centennial, iii, --delegate to democratic national convention, ii, , --comments of the press, ii, --democratic national convention, at the, iii, --_feme sole_ capable of making a contract, iii, --fifteenth amendment, on the, ii, --financial report, ii, --fugitive wife's escape from an insane asylum, aids, i, --general agent, appointed, i, --grant and wilson campaign, appeal, ii, --grant, u. s., conversation with, ii, --iowa, in, iii, --kansas campaign, i, , ii, , , , , --lecture, "false theory," iii, --lecturing tour, ohio, iii, --letters: boston convention, i, --brooks, james, to, ii, --carson league, i, --democratic national convention, to, ii, --foote, e. b., to, ii, --garfield. jas. a., to, iii, --loyal women, from, ii, --mott, lydia, to, i, --stanton, mrs., to, announcing her having voted, ii, --wright, martha c, to, i, . --logan, olive, and, ii, --"male" in the constitution, on the word, ii, --manhood suffrage, on, iii, --marriage and divorce, on, i, --meeting in rahway, n. j., iii, --meetings in virginia, iii, --michigan campaign, iii, --napoleon of woman suffrage, the, i, --newport convention, ii, --on mrs. robert dale owen, i, --oregon visit, iii, --police officer, and the, ii, --portrait, i, --president mozart hall convention, i, --president national woman suffrage association, ii, --presentations, iii, --reception, sorosis, iii, --registered, ii, --reminiscences, mrs. e. c. stanton's, i, --report, national convention, at cooper institute, i, --report as secretary of american equal rights association, ii, --_revolution_, i, --secretary loyal league, made, ii, --sex, and her, ii, --speeches: anti-slavery question, ii, --congressional committee, before, ii, , --first public speech, i, --furness' church, in, iii, --is it a crime for a united states' citizen to vote? ii, --philadelphia convention, i, --saratoga convention, i, --teachers' convention, n. y. state, i, --temperance convention, rochester, i, --washington convention, ii, , --washington convention, iii, --woman's national loyal league, ii, , . --suffrage, on, ii, --tableau "mother and susan," i, --taxation without representation, on, ii, --temperance convention at rochester, read call, i, --testimonial, i, --tour, western, ii, --tour with ernestine l. rose, i, --tracts, kansas campaign, ii, --tracts and petitions, on, i, --train, g. f., and _the revolution_, criticism, ii, --trial: --arrest, ii, --argument, crowley's, ii, , --argument, judge selden's, ii, --bail, refused to give, ii, --case opened by judge selden, ii, --gage, matilda j., letter to _albany law journal_, ii, --guilty, court directs a verdict of, ii, --hunt's, judge, decision, ii, --hunt's decision criticised, ii, --hunt's decision reviewed, ii, --incidents, ii, --indictment, ii, --inspectors of elections, _see trials and decisions_ --jones, b. w., testimony, ii, --letter from gerrit smith, ii, --trial, new, denied, ii, --trial, new, motion for, ii, --opening of, ii, --petition to congress praying for remission of fine, ii, --reports, majority and minority, ii, , --pound, j. e., testimony ii, --press comments, ii, --resolutions concerning, ii, --selden's letter, ii, --sentenced to pay a fine of $ , ii, --testimony in trial of election inspectors, ii, --washington gossip, ii, . --tribute, "aunt lottie's," iii, --tribute, to laura c. haviland, iii, --tribute, from _the leavenworth commercial_ (kansas), ii, --tribute to lucretia mott, iii, --tribute, st. louis convention, iii, --tribute, scovill's, ii, --visit to lucretia mott, i, --voted for grant for president, ii, --letter announcing her having voted, ii, --washington territory legislature, hearing before, iii, --wyoming visit, iii, . anti-slavery struggle, i, , , , , , , --josephine griffing and freedman's bureau, ii, --society reorganized, ii, . anti-woman suffrage society, iii, . antonelli's, cardinal, sacrilegious child, i, . appendix, i, , ii, , iii, . archer, stevenson, iii, . arkansas, iii, --constitutional convention, iii, . arnell's services in congress, ii, , . arnett, hannah, i, . art and artists, iii, . ashley, henry, iii, . ashley, j. m., speech in congress, iii, . astell, mary, i, . attorneys, ii, . augustine, i, . austin, helen v., sketch of, i, . austria, iii, . autograph book, centennial, iii, . avery, alida c., iii, . b. ballard, anna, iii, . ballot, the, ii, --sumner on the, ii, --what is the, ii, . _ballot-box_, iii, , . banks, n. p., speech, iii, . banquet, st. james hotel, ii, . bar, admission to the, iii, . barber, miss, i, . barkaloo, helena, lawyer, iii, . barker, jos., i, --pulpit, on the, i, . barnum, p. t., i, . barstow, hon. a. c., i, --battle-field, services on the, ii, --letters to susan b. anthony, ii, . barton, clara, appeal to soldier friends, ii, . bascom, emma c, letter to s. b. anthony, iii, . batchelder, mrs. dr. l. s., on working women, ii, . "battle hymn of the republic," ii, . battle of lexington, commemoration of, iii, . baxter, richard, on witchcraft, i, . bayard, thos. f., ii, , ; iii, - . beck, senator, on woman suffrage, iii, . becker, lydia e., letters, iii, , , . beecher, catharine e., ii, , iii, . beecher, edward, ii, , iii, . beecher, henry ward, kansas campaign, ii, --letter to american woman suffrage association meeting in st. louis, ii, --letter to lucy stone, presidency american woman suffrage association, ii, --letter to washington convention, ii, --president of american woman suffrage association, made, ii, --speeches, ii, , , , , ; iii, --suffrage, universal, and, ii, --tilton colloquy, ii, --tilton trial, i, --woman's right to vote, on, i, . beecher, lyman, i, . belgium, iii, . bell, lydia, iii, . bell, dr. t. s., ii, . bellows, dr., on woman's rights, i, . bennett, dr. alice, iii, . bennett, james gordon, i, . bentham, jeremy, iii, . bequests, i, , , , . berlin, iii, . berlin congress, ii, . bible, antoinette l. brown's points, i, --divorce, and, i, --interpolations, i, --revision, i, --woman and the, discussion, i, . biggs, caroline a., letter to s. b. anthony, iii, --letter to rochester convention, iii, --letter to washington convention, iii, . biggs, emily j., iii, . bingham, anson, i, , ii, . biography: austin, helen v., i, --blake, lillie d., iii, --barton, clara, ii, --boyd, louise v., i, --brown, olympia, iii, --clark, mary t., i, --colby, clara b., iii, --collins, emily, i, --davis, paulina wright, by "e. c. s.", i, --duniway, abigail s., iii, --griffing, josephine sophie, ii, --lozier, clemence, iii, --morrow, jane, i, --owen, mary robinson, i, --owen, robert dale, i, --rose, ernestine, i, --swank, emma b., i, --thomas, mary f., i, --underhill, sarah e., i, --warren, mercy otis, in the revolution, i, --way, amanda m., i, --wright, frances, i, . bird, frank w., iii, . birdsall, mary b., sketch of, i, . bittenbender, ada m., sketch of, iii, . blackstone on the canon law, i, . blackwell, antoinette l. b., ii, --letter to cooper institute convention, i, --marriage and divorce, on, i, --speech at american woman suffrage association meeting in new york, ii, --woman's national loyal league, ii, . (see brown, a. l.) blackwell, elizabeth, i, , --letter to emily collins, i, --letter to westchester, pa., convention, i, --physician, as a, i, --sanitary commission, ii, . blackwell, henry b., ii, --kansas campaign, ii, , --south, on the, ii, --speech at american woman suffrage association meeting in steinway hall, ii, --at american woman suffrage association meeting in cooper institute, ii, --cleveland convention, i, , ii, --president of am. woman suffrage association, made, ii, --_vermont watchman_, on, iii, --woman suffrage in new jersey, on, ii, . blake, lillie devereux, iii, , , --argument before house committee, iii, --sketch of, iii, --dix's lenten lectures, her reply to, iii, --lectures "woman's place to-day," iii, --washington convention ' , iii, --washington convention, at, ii, --fable, "the selfish rats," iii, --speech, battle of lexington commemoration, iii, . blake, s. l., against woman suffrage, iii, . blaine, jas. g., iii, , , . blair, henry w., letter to susan b. anthony, iii, . bloomer, amelia, i, --address before nebraska legislature, iii, --cleveland national convention, at, i, --comments on jane g. swisshelm, i, --portrait, i, --replies to senator gaylord's speech against woman suffrage, iii, --speech at rochester temperance convention, i, --work done, iii, . bloomer costume, i, , , . blunt, gen., kansas campaign, ii, . boarding house law, i, . bodeker, anna w., iii, --vote, attempted to, iii, . bohemia, iii, . bolton, sarah knowles, iii, . bolton, sarah t., i, . bones, marietta, address to dakota constitutional convention, iii, . booth, mary l., i, , , ii, . _boston commonwealth_, report of fifth washington convention, ii, . boston convention, i, . _boston transcript_, iii, . bottsford, harriette, iii, . bower, e. s., iii, . bowles, ada c., iii, . bowles, samuel, letter to mrs. hooker, iii, . boyd, louise v., sketch of, i, . bradburn, geo., address, i, . bradlaugh, charles, speaks in new york for woman suffrage, ii, . bradley, judge, on the xiv. amendment, ii, --opinion, bradwell case, ii, . bradstreet, anne, i, , iii, . bradwell, myra, application to illinois bar, ii, --opinion denying, ii, --carpenter's, matt. h., argument, ii, --opinion of justice bradley, ii, --report of proceedings in illinois and u. s. supreme courts, ii, --u. s. supreme court decision, ii, --writ of error, ii, . brent, margaret, first woman in america to claim the right to vote, iii, . bright, jacob, iii, , --letter to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --municipal franchise bill, secures, iii, --became law, iii, --parliament, fails of reelection, iii, --speech on woman suffrage, iii, , --votes for woman suffrage, iii, . bright, john, ii, , , --speech against woman suffrage, iii, . bright, wm. h., career of, iii, . brinkerhoff, martha h., iii, . british taxation, ii, . bromwell, h. p. h., iii, . brooklyn bridge, iii, . brooks, james, on woman suffrage, ii, . brooks, harriet s., sketch of, iii, . broomall, john h., iii, . brougham, lord, i, . brown, antoinette l., i, , , , --bible argument, points on the, i, --colleges, on, i, --on the half-world's temperance convention, i, --pastor, ordained as, i, --portrait, i, --resolutions, albany convention, i, --speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, --syracuse national convention, argument, i, --world's temperance convention, at the, i, . (see blackwell, a. l. b.) brown, b. gratz, speech, ii, --universal suffrage, on, iii, . brown, david paul, i, . brown, martha mcclellan, iii, . brown, mary olney, iii, --argument, her right to vote, iii, --vote, attempts to, iii, , . brown, olympia, iii, , , --discussion with fred. douglass, ii, --kansas, in, i, , ii, , , --letter to susan b. anthony, ii, --sketch of, iii, --speech at equal rights association anniversary, cooper institute, ii, --speech before congressional committee, iii, --speech, washington convention, ' , iii, --speech at washington convention, ii, . brown, r. t., speech on suffrage, ii, . brown, sarah a., nominated for office, iii, . brown, wm. wells, ii, . bruhn, rosa, letter to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, . buchanan, james, ii, . buck, j. d., iii, . buckalew, senator, speech, ii, . buckingham, mrs., iii, . buckley, brother, on women as preachers, i, . burger, sarah, iii, (see stearns, s. b.). burleigh, celia, ii, , , , . burleigh, charles c., i, , , , ii, , , . burnet, rev. j., i, . burnham, carrie s., ii, , iii, . burns, anthony, i, . burns, robert, ii, . burr, frances ellen, iii, --letters to s. b. anthony, ii, , iii, --senate judiciary committee, argument before, ii, . burtis, sarah anthony, i, . burton, mary, iii, . bush, abigail, i, , iii, . butler, benj. f., letters to susan b. anthony, ii, , iii, --report on victoria c. woodhull's memorial to congress, ii, --speech, ii, . butler, david, iii, . butler, deborah, ii, . butler, josephine e., on prostitution, iii, --vice, on, i, . c. cadwallader, john, i, . california, iii, --appendix, iii, --constitution, liberal provisions, --constitution and statute-laws, --conventions (_see conventions_) --journalism, --mill's seminary, --petition to legislature, --press, _ib._ --senator, mrs. gordon nominated for, --silk culture, --state society organized, --woman's lawyer bill, --woman suffrage society, first, --women made eligible to school offices, --women in the industries, --women in the state university, contest, . cameron, don, iii, . campbell, margaret w., iii, , --speech in detroit, ii, . campbell, mary g., iii, . canada, women's position in, iii, . canon law, i, , , , , . carey, mary a. s., iii, . carey, samuel f., i, , . carpenter hall, application for, iii, . carpenter, c. c., letter to iowa woman suffrage association, iii, . carpenter, matt. h., on sargent's amendment to pembina territory bill, ii, --anthony, susan b., trial, on, ii, --argument in myra bradwell's application to illinois bar, ii, --letter to elizabeth c. stanton, ii, . carr, jeanne, iii, . carroll, anna ella, iii, --claim before congress, ii, , --statement of benj. f. wade, ii, --letters, ii, , , , --tennessee campaign, ii, --vicksburg, on, ii, . cartter, mrs. m. m., ii, . cartter, chief-justice, opinion, spencer-webster suit, ii, . cary, alice and phoebe, ii, . catherine ii., i, . catholic church, ii, , . cattle expert, middie morgan, iii, . cavender, john h., i, . centennial celebration, iii, . centennial headquarters, iii, . centennial tea-party, iii, . centennial year, iii, . centralization, iii, --matilda j. gage, on, ii, . century club, philadelphia, iii, . chace, elizabeth b., iii, , , . chalkstone, mrs., ii, . chamberlain, d. h., favors woman suffrage, iii, . chambers, rev. john, i, , , , . chandler, dolly, iii, . chandler, z., on mrs. j. s. griffing and the freedmen, ii, . channing, william henry, i, , , , , --appeal, woman's rights, i, --resolutions, rochester convention, i, --social relations, report on, i, --speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, --woman's rights, declaration, i, --world's temperance convention and john chambers, on the, i, , iii, . chapin, augusta, iii, . chapin, clara c., iii, , . chapin, e. h., i, . chaplain, mrs. e. f. hobart, ii, . chapman, maria weston, i, --poem, i, . chase, salmon p., i, , ii, , iii, . cheever, george b., ii, . chicago historical society, iii, . _chicago inter-ocean_, iii, . _chicago legal news_, iii, . chicago legal news company, ii, . child, lydia maria, i, , , --letter to e. c. stanton, ii, --letter to st. louis convention, ii, --petitions congress, iii, --universal suffrage, on, iii, . children, guardianship of, i, --illegitimate, i, --rearing of, i, . christine of pisa, i, . christlieb, prof., i, . church and state, i, . church, elmwood, illinois, iii, . churchill, elizabeth k., iii, --woman suffrage, on, ii, . citizenship, ii, , , , , , , , , --bates, attorney-general, on, ii, --blake, devereux, on, iii, --curtis, justice, on, ii, --daniel, justice, on, ii, --stanton, elizabeth c., speech on, iii, --taney, justice, on, ii, --term defined, ii, --thorbeck, on, ii, --white, richard grant, on, ii, . citizenship, women crowned with rights of, in wyoming, iii, . claiborne, f. l., iii, . clark, emily, i, . clark, helen bright, iii, . clark, mary t., sketch of, i, . clark, sidney, ii, . clarke, hannah b., on woman suffrage, ii, . clarke, jas. freeman, on suffrage, i, , ii, , iii, --speech, new england, convention, i, . clarke, mary bayard, iii, . clarkson, thomas, i, . clay, mary b., iii, . clemmer, mary, letter to s. b. anthony, iii, --letter to senator wadleigh, iii, . clergy, charges against, i, --celibacy of, i, . clergymen and corkscrews, ii, . cleveland, grover, iii, . clute, oscar, on woman suffrage, ii, . cobbe, francis power, iii, --letter to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, . cobden, jane, iii, . cobden, richard, favors woman suffrage, iii, . coe, emma r., i, , . cogswell, brainard, iii, . colburn, catharine a., iii, . colburn, mary j., iii, . colby, clara bewick, iii, --sketch of, iii, . colby university opened to girls, iii, . cole, mrs. miriam m., ii, , , , iii, . coleman, lucy n., speech at woman's national loyal league, ii, . coleridge, lord, iii, . colfax, schuyler, ii, . colleges, iii, --women in, i, . colleges for women, iii, . college, woman's, evanston, ill., iii, . collier, robert laird, iii, . collins, emily, reminiscences of, i, --miss sarah owen's correspondence, i, . collins, jennie, speech at washington convention, ii, . collins, stacy b., iii, . collyer, robert, ii, , , --recollections of lucretia mott, i, , --speech at chicago, iii, . colorado: clergy, iii, --conventions, _see conventions_ --desert, great american, iii, --equal-rights mass-meeting in denver, --leaders in the cause, --legislation, , --press, --suffrage amendment, defeat of, --suffrage first effort for, --suffrage, gov. mccook's message, --woman suffrage, gov. evan's on, . _colorado tribune_, iii, . columbia college, effort to open to women, iii, . colvin, n. j., letters to s. b. anthony, i, , ; ii, . conciliatory amendments, ii, . _concord monitor_, iii, . congress, first continental, iii, --elizabeth c. stanton runs for, ii, --victoria c. woodhull's memorial, --riddle's speech in support of, --house majority report, --minority report, . congressional action, ii, --anthony, senator, speech, ii, --arguments before house committee, iii, --arguments before senate committee, iii, --banks' n. p., speech, iii, --brooks' james, speech, ii, --brown's, senator, speech, ii, --buckalew's, senator, speech, ii, --butler's, benj., speech, ii, --committee, special, house appoints, iii, --committee, special, on woman suffrage, senate discussion, iii, --committee, special, on woman suffrage, house discussion, iii, --committee, standing, senate discussion, iii, --cowan, senator, speech, ii, , --cowan repels the charge of insincerity, ii, --davis's senator, speech, ii, --debate, senate and house, iii, --democrats and the petitions, ii, --district of columbia suffrage bill, ii, --vote, ii, --district of columbia bill, julian's amendment, ii, --doolittle, senator, speech against, ii, --electors, who constitute, house debates, ii, --female employées, iii, --frelinghuysen's, senator, speech, ii, --hearing before senate committee, iii, --henderson, senator, presents mrs. gerrit smith's petition with a speech, ii, --house discussion, ii, --johnson's, senator, speech, ii, --joint resolutions before house affecting women, ii, --julian's bills, ii, --morrill's, senator, speech, ii, --national association granted hearing, iii, --negro's hour, ii, --parker's bill, ii, --pembina territory bill, debate on, sargent's amendment, ii, ; am't rejected, ; anthony's remarks, ; bayard's remarks, , ; boreman's remarks, , ; carpenter's remarks, ; conkling's remarks, , ; edmund's remarks, , , , , , ; ferry's remarks, ; flanagan's remarks, ; merrimon's remarks, , , , , , , ; morrill's remarks, ; morton's remarks, , ; sargent's remarks, , , , ; stewart's remarks, , , , , , . petition, iii, --petition read and referred, iii, --petition, rhode island, ii, --petition for universal suffrage, ii, --petitions against the word "male" in constitution, ii, --pomeroy's, senator, resolution, ii, --pomeroy's, senator, speech, ii, --report, first favorable majority, iii, --report, first favorable, senate, iii, --report, minority, iii, --reports on victoria c. woodhull's memorial, ii, , --reports, iii, --republicans' protest in presenting petitions, ii, , --republicans, squirming of, ii, --resolution to appoint special committee, iii, --sargent, senator, speech, iii, --sixteenth amendment, ii, --sixteenth amendment, resolutions, iii, --stevens', thaddeus, resolution, ii, --sumner, charles, presents a petition under protest, ii, ; why he protested, ii, . wade, benj. f., speech, ii, --williams, senator, speech against, ii, --wilson's, senator, bill, ii, --wilson's, senator, speech, ii, . conkling, roscoe, ii, --on senator mcdonald's woman suffrage resolution, iii, --talk with, ii, --senator stewart and woman suffrage, on, ii, . connecticut, iii, --appendix, iii, --bar, admission to the, iii, --legislature, minority report, iii, . constitution, story on the, ii, , , . constitution and suffrage, ii, . continental europe, iii, . conventions: american woman suffrage association (_see am. woman suffrage association_) --barn, in a, i, --_california_, san francisco, iii, , --_connecticut_, hartford, iii, , --_colorado_, denver, iii, , --_illinois_, bloomington, iii, , chicago, ii, , iii, , , ; galena, ii, ; springfield, ii, , iii, . --_indiana_, dublin, wayne co., i, ; indianapolis, i, , iii, , , ; richmond, i, ; winchester, i, ; --_iowa_, des moines, iii, , , ; mount pleasant, iii, ; ottumwa, iii, . --_kansas_, topeka, iii, , ; salina, iii, . --london, first ever held, ii, --loyalists' ii, --_maine_, augusta, iii, , ; portland, iii, , --_massachusetts_, boston, ii, , iii, --worcester (nat.), i, , --_michigan_, detroit, iii, ; grand rapids, iii, ; lansing, iii, --_minnesota_, minneapolis, iii, --_missouri_, st. louis, ii, , , iii, , , --national, in - , report by caroline h. dall, ii, --_nebraska_, kearney, iii, ; norfolk, iii, ; omaha, iii, , , --new england, i, , , , iii, --_new hampshire_, concord, iii, , ; dover, iii, ; keene, _ib._; new haven, _ib._ --_new jersey_, vineland, iii, --_new york_, albany, i, , , , ; rochester, i, , , press comments, i, ; rochester, iii, ; saratoga, ii, ; burleigh's, celia, description, ii, ; saratoga, i, , ; saratoga, iii, ; seneca falls, i, , press comments, i, ; syracuse (nat.), i, , press comments i, --new york constitutional, ii, , --new york city, apollo hall, ii, , , ; broadway tabernacle i, , ; church of the puritans (nat.), ; cooper institute (nat.), i, ; irving hall, ii, , ; masonic temple, ii, , iii, , ; mozart hall (nat.), i, , ; steinway hall, ii, --_ohio_, akron, i, ; cincinnati (nat.), i, ; cincinnati, iii, ; cleveland (nat.), i, ; cleveland, ii, ; dayton, iii, ; massilon, i, ; salem, i, ; toledo, ii, , iii, . _oregon_, portland, iii, --paris, international, iii, , , --_pennsylvania_, philadelphia, i, , iii, , ; westchester, i, --_rhode island_, newport, ii, ; providence, iii, , --_south carolina_, columbia, iii, --_vermont_, montpelier, iii, --_washington ter._, walla walla, iii, --washington, d. c., ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , iii, , , , , , , , --_wisconsin_, janesville, iii, ; madison, ii, ; milwaukee, ii, , iii, ; racine, iii, . conventions, constitutional, kansas, i, --massachusetts, i, --new york, ii, --ohio, i, --pennsylvania, iii, . conventions held in washington, why, iii, . cooper, edward, against woman suffrage, iii, . cooper, joseph, i, . cooper, peter, iii, . "copperheads," going over to the, ii, . corbin, hannah lee, i, . cornell, a. b., iii, , . cornell, university, iii, . corner, mary t., i, , iii, . correll, e. m., ii, , iii, . correspondence, _see letters_. corson, hiram, letter to susan b. anthony, iii, . courtney, leonard, iii, . couzins, phoebe w., iii, , , --address, "woman as a lawyer," ii, --argument before house committee, iii, --delegate to national democratic convention, iii, --labors of, iii, --reception, iii, --senate judiciary committee, argument before, ii, --speeches: centennial, iii, , st. louis convention, iii, ; washington convention, , ; woman suffrage, ii, . couzins, mrs. j. e. d., as a nurse, iii, . covenant, ladies' national, ii, . cowan, senator, speech on district of columbia suffrage bill, ii, , . cowles, betsey m., i, . cox, rt. rev. dr., i, . crandall, prudence, iii, , , . craven, rev. e. a., on woman in the pulpit, iii, . crawford, s. j., ii, . cromwellian era, i, . crosby, howard, letter to mrs. m. j. gage, i, . crow, wayman, iii, . crowley, richard, argument miss anthony's trial, ii, . "crown and anchor," i, . culver, hon. erastus d., speech at cooper institute convention, i, . curtis, geo. wm., i, ; ii, ; iii, --speech on woman suffrage, ii, --speech, constitutional convention at albany, ii, --suffrage for women, favors, i, . cushman, major pauline, ii, . cutler, hannah m. t., i, , , , ; ii, , , , , , ; iii, , , . d. dahlgren, madeleine, ii, , , iii, . dakota, iii, --address to women of, m. j. gage's, iii, --constitutional convention, iii, --legislative action, iii, --school suffrage, iii, , --suffrage bill passed legislature, iii, --vetoed, iii, . dall, caroline h., "drawing-room convention," i, --lectures, i, --letter to _the nation_, ii, --petition, i, --reports national conventions held in ' and ' , ii, --speech, new england convention, i, . dana, richard h., on womanhood, i, --woman suffrage, on, i, . darlington, hannah m., i, --letter to mrs. e. c. stanton, i, . darrah, lydia, i, . dartmouth college case, ii, . daughters of liberty, i, . davis, senator, speech against woman suffrage, ii, . davis, edward m., ii, , iii, , . davis, jefferson, ii, . davis, j. j., iii, . davis, mary f., ii, , , iii, . davis, paulina wright, i, , , iii, --colored women on, ii, --death of, i, --fifteenth amendment, on the, ii, --portrait, i, --president, made, boston convention, i, --president, made, worcester convention, i, --president, made, worcester national convention, i, --reminiscences of, elizabeth cady stanton's, i, --speech, boston convention, i, --speech, syracuse national convention, i, --_the una_, i, --woman's rights movement, review of, ii, . deaths, mrs. dall's report, ii, . decisions and trials, ii, . declaration, channing's, i, . declaration of sentiments, i, . declaration and pledge, ii, . defoe, daniel, i, . delaware, iii, . democrats advocated woman suffrage, ii, . denmark, iii, . dentistry, lucy b. hobbs, iii, , . dentistry, women in, iii, . deroine, jeanne, address to women of america, i, . dickinson, anna e., ii, , iii, , --california, in, iii, --chicago convention, at, ii, --fifteenth amendment, her suggestion, ii, --letter to susan b. anthony, ii, --speech, chicago, iii, --speeches, ii, --tribute, ii, --"young elephant," ii, . dilke, sir charles, iii, . dimock, susan, tribute, iii, . dinsmoor, orpha c., sketch of, iii, . district of columbia, iii, --conventions (see conventions); --miner normal school, iii, --organic act, iii, --suffrage bill, iii, , ii, , --universal franchise association, iii, --women admitted to district bar, iii, --women in government departments, iii, --women in the profession of medicine, iii, --women writers and teachers, iii, . disraeli on woman suffrage, iii, . dix, dorothea, i, , ii, . dix, john a., i, . dix, morgan, lenten lectures, iii, --mrs. blake's reply, iii, --coëducation, on, iii, . divorce (see marriage and divorce). dodge, mary mapes, i, . dolph, j. n., iii, . doolittle's, senator, speech against woman suffrage, ii, . dorsett, martha angle, lawyer, iii, . dorsey, sarah a., iii, , . doud, katharine r., iii, . douglas, frederick, i, , , , , ii, , iii, , --discussion with olympia brown, ii, --fifteenth amendment, on the origin of, ii, --kansas campaign, ii, --letter to elizabeth cady stanton, ii, --loyalists' convention, delegate, ii, --refuge in mrs. e. c. stanton's house, ii, --_revolution_, on the, ii, --wolf-skins, in, ii, --speech, washington convention ' , iii, . douglass, sarah m., i, . douglass, stephen a., ii, , . dow, neal, i, , . downing, geo. t., ii, , , . downing, lucy, iii, . downs, cora m., made a regent, iii, . doyle, sarah e. h., iii, . draper, e. d., ii, . dresser, horace, ii, . duchess of sutherland, i, . dugdale, jos. a., on wills, i, . duniway, abigail scott, arrest of, ordered, iii, --career, iii, --egged at jacksonville, oregon, iii, --constitutional liberty, on, _ib._ --lecturing tour, iii, --temperance meeting, at a, iii, . e. eaglesfield, elizabeth, iii, . earl, sarah h., tribute, i, --president new england convention, made, i, . eastman, mary f., speeches, ii, , , , . ecclesine, thos. c, iii, . eddy, eliza f., will case, iii, . edgerton, a. j., on woman suffrage, iii, . editor, first colored, i, . editors, opinions of three liberal, ii, . editors interviewed, iii, . edmunds, senator, on state rights and suffrage, ii, , , , , , . --woman suffrage, on, iii . education, mrs. dall's report, ii, . education, compulsory, iii, . education, equal, ii, . educational movement, iii, . eggleston, edward, on woman suffrage, ii, . eldridge, edward, iii, . electors, qualification of, ii, , - . eliot, rev. wm. g., i, . elizabeth, queen, i, . ellsworth, bertha h., iii, . elstob, elizabeth, i, . emancipation petition, ii, . emerson, on power of human mind, ii, . episcopal restrictions, i, . essex county society, iii, . estabrook, prof., speech for woman suffrage, ii, . "eumenes", i, . evans, l. d., ii, , iii, . evarts, wm. m., upon woman's subordination, i, , iii, . f. fable, "the selfish rats," iii, . fales, mrs. i. c, speech on suffrage, ii, . fairchild, governor, ii, . faithful, emily, letter to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, . farnham, eliza w., iii, --speech at mozart hall, i, , iii, . ferrin, mary upton, i, , iii, --speech before judiciary committee, massachusetts legislature, i, . ferry, thos. w., ii, , iii, , , on the pembrina territory bill, ii, . feudalism, i, - . flanagan, senator, on sargent's amendment to pembrina territory bill, ii, . florida, iii, . field, anna c, ii, . field, david dudley, iii, . field, kate, i, . fields, jas. t., letter to h. b. blackwell, ii, . fifteenth amendment, ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . filley, mary powers, iii, , . foeking, emilie, iii, . foley, margaret, iii, . folger, chas. j., i, , ii, , iii, . folsom, marianna, iii, . foltz, clara s., iii, . foote, samuel a., i, . forbes, arathusa l., iii, . ford, jennie g., iii, . forney, john w., on women and hospital clinics, , . foster, abby kelly, i, , , , , ii, . foster, j. ellen, iii, . foster, julia, i, . foster, rachel, i, , iii, . foster, stephen s., i, , ii, , iii, . fourteenth amendment, ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . fox, charles james, i, . fox, w. j., on women in politics, iii, . fowler, lydia f., i, , , . france, ii, --agitation in, address of pauline roland and jeanne deroine, i, --international woman's rights congress, iii, . "frank miller," ii, . franklin, benjamin, i, , ii, , . franklin, william, i, . freedmen's relief association, mrs. j. s. griffing, ii, --josephine griffing's letter to lucretia mott, ii, --letters on the, ii, --originator of, ii, . freeland, margaret, arrest of, i, . frelinghuysen, f. g., speech, ii, . fremont, jessie b., letter to susan b. anthony, ii, . fremont, jno. c., presidential campaign, i, . french, charlotte olney, iii, . frothingham, o. b., ii, , , , . fry, elizabeth, i, . fry, elizabeth, and lucretia mott, i. . frye, wm. p., iii, , . fuller, margaret, i, , , , ; iii, . fulton, w. c., iii, . furness' church, iii, . g. gage, frances dana, ii, , , , , iii, --cleveland convention, at, i, --lectures in iowa, iii, --letter to american woman suffrage association, ii, --at cincinnati, ii, --letter to matilda joslyn gage, i, --letter to _national anti-slavery standard_, ii, --letter to lucy stone, i, --letter to rochester temperance convention, i, --letter to washington convention, ii, --mothers and their children, on, i, --national convention, philadelphia, at, i, --negro testimony quoted by senator cowan in u. s. senate, ii, --nichols, mrs., and, i, --orator, as an, i, --portrait, i, --reminiscences of sojourner truth, i, --reply to gerrit smith's letter to mrs. stanton, i, --speech, akron convention, i, ; broadway tabernacle convention, i, ; winchester, ind., convention, i, ; equal rights association convention, ii, , --her last speech, ii, ; temperance and the ballot, ii, . gage, matilda joslyn, i, , , iii, , , , --address to women of dakota, iii, --anthony case, her letter to _albany law journal_, ii, --appeal, iii, --argument before house committee, iii, --carpenter hall, application for, iii, --church influence on woman's liberties, iii, --divorce on, i, --grant and wilson campaign, appeal, ii, --letter to wife of admiral dahlgren, ii, --letter to dakota constitutional convention, iii, --letter to omaha convention, iii, --minor suit, her review of judge waite's opinion, ii, --_national citizen_ prospectus, iii, --_national citizen and ballot-box_, i, --petition, political disabilities, iii, --portrait, i, --report, iii, --sketch of, i, --speeches: centralization, at washington convention, ii, ; congressional committees, before, ii, , iii, , ; furness' church, in, iii, ; rochester convention, i, ; saratoga convention, i, ; syracuse national convention, i, ; united states on trial, not susan b. anthony, ii, ; washington national convention, iii, --sunderland controversy, i, --van schaick, and mr., i, --woman, church and state, i, . "gail hamilton," iii, . gaines, myra clark, iii, . gale's, senator, insulting epithets, i, . gallup, j. d., iii, . galusha, eben, address, i, . gardner, nannette b., ii, --votes in michigan, iii, . garfield, james a., letter to susan b. anthony, iii, . garret, eliza, iii, . garrett, thomas, iii, . garrison, wm. lloyd, argument at cleveland national convention, i, --attacked by dr. nevin, i, --on gen. carey, i, --letter to american woman suffrage association meeting in philadelphia, ii, --letter to concord convention, iii, --letter to rochester convention, iii, --letter to worcester national convention, i, --london anti-slavery convention, and the, i, --marriage and divorce, on, i, --national convention, philadelphia, at, i, --speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, , --tracts and petitions, on, i, --tribute to mrs. j. s. griffing, ii, --woman suffrage, apathy, ii, --women in national councils, on the right of, i, --world's temperance convention, on the, i, . gay, sidney howard, ii, . gaylord, senator, iii, . geddes, geo., on the property bill, i, . generals, why kept in the army, ii, . geneva, iii, . george eliot, i, . georgia, iii, . germans against woman suffrage, ii, . germany, iii, . gibbons, abby hopper, i, . gibbs, sarah a., dissection of a sermonizer, iii, . gibson, anthony, i, . giddings, joshua r., on woman suffrage, i, --world's temperance convention, on the, i, . giddings, maria l., i, . gillette, rev. mrs., ii, . gillingham, lydia, i, . girls and boys, ii, . gladden, washington, on woman suffrage, ii, . gladstone, ii, , --catholicism, i, --speech on woman suffrage, iii, , , , , . goddard, sarah, i, . godwin, parke, on the higher education of women, iii, . goodell, lavinia, iii, . goodrich, sarah knox, iii, . gordon, j. w., i, . gordon, laura deforce, iii, , --lectures, iii, --letter to washington convention, iii, --senator, nominated for, iii, . gougar, helen m., iii, , , , , , . government, hooker on, ii, --paine on, ii, --pillsbury on, ii, --priestly on, ii, --radical basis of, ii, --sharpe, granville, on, ii, --summers, lord, on, ii, --theory, true, ii, . "grace greenwood" (_see_ mrs. sara j. lippincott). grant. u. s., ii, --campaign ( ), tremont temple meeting, iii, --xv. amendment, on the, ii, --talk with susan b. anthony, ii, . grant and wilson campaign, national woman's rights association's appeal, ii, . graves, ezra, ii, , . great britain, ii, ; iii, --associations formed, iii, --circular to members of parliament, iii, --conference, edinburgh, iii, --conference, leeds, iii, --conference, st. james' hall, iii, --demonstration, birmingham, iii, --demonstration, manchester, iii, --demonstrations, iii, --education act, iii, --education bill, scotch, iii, --household suffrage, iii, --isle of man, iii, --letters, woman suffrage, iii, --manchester liberal association, iii, --married women's property act, iii, --medical relief bill, iii, --meetings during , iii, --memorial of the birmingham conference, iii, --memorial to gladstone, iii, --memorials, iii, , , --municipal franchise bill, iii, --municipal franchise bill for scotland, iii, --northern reform society, iii, --parliament debates woman suffrage, iii, , , , , , , , --petitions, iii, --petitions and pamphlets, iii, --petition to parliament, mary smith's, iii, --reform act, ii, --sheffield association, iii, --suffrage bill before parliament, iii, --chronological table of successive steps towards freedom, iii, --women householders, iii, --women in politics, iii, --woman suffrage, able advocates of, iii, --women suffrage meeting, first ever held in london, iii, --_woman suffrage journal_, iii, --women vote, iii, --women vote in scotland, iii, . greece, iii, . greeley, ann f., iii, . greeley, horace, ii, ; iii, , --abolitionists, denounced, ii, --bullet and ballot, ii, --defranchisement, panacea for, ii, --enfranchisement of women, on, ii, --kansas campaign, ii, --letter to susan b. anthony, i, --letter to cleveland national convention, i, --letter to paulina w. davis, i, --letter to mrs. j. s. griffing, ii, --letter to sam'l j. may on woman's rights, i, --marriage, on, i, --marriage and divorce, on, i, --owen, r. d., discussion, divorce, i, , --stanton, elizabeth cady, and, ii, --support of, lost, ii, --temperance speech, metropolitan hall, i, --universal suffrage and universal amnesty, ii, --woman and work, on, i, --woman suffrage, opposed to, iii, --woman suffrage, report against, ii, --criticism, _new york independent_, ii, . greeley's, mrs., petition, ii, . green, anna r., md., iii, . green, beriah, i, --speech at cooper institute convention, i, , , . gregory, samuel, i, . grew, rev. henry, on woman's rights, i, . grew, mary, i, --speech at cooper institute convention, i, --woman suffrage, on, ii, --president, iii, . griffing, josephine s., i, ; ii, , ; iii, --freedman's aid association, letter to lucretia mott, ii, --freedman's bureau, originator of, ii, --freedman's relief association, ii, --letter to horace greeley, ii, --letter to lucretia mott, ii, --letter to catharine f. stebbins, ii, --report , ii, --"shirley dare," on, ii, --speech, equal rights association, ii, --testimonials of congressmen, ii, --tribute from wm. lloyd garrison, ii, . grimk�, angelina, i, , --anecdotes, by her husband, i, --letter to wm. lloyd garrison, i, --sketch of "e. c. s.," i, --speech against slavery, i, . grimk�, sarah moore, i, , , --letter, west chester, pa., convention, i, . grover, a. j., iii, , . guardianship law, i, . gurney, samuel, i, . guthrie, clara merrick, iii, . guthrie, mrs., daughter of frances wright, ii, . h. haggerty, james, ii, , iii, . hale, sarah josepha, i, , . hall, israel, ii, . hall, mary, admission to the bar, iii, . halleck, sarah h., ii, . hallock, frances v., ii, . halstead, murat, iii, . hamilton, alexander, ii, . hamlin, senator, ii, . hampden society, iii, . hanaford, phebe, ii, , ; iii, , , . hancock, gen. w. s., iii, , . hanna, laura, iii, . harbert, elizabeth boynton, iii, , , --delegate to republican national convention, iii, --oration, iii, --speech before congressional committee, iii, . harberton, lady, speech at edinburgh, iii, . hare, thomas, ii, . harper, frances e. w., ii, . harrington, mary l., iii, . harris, sarah, ii, . _hartford courant_, iii, . _hartford times_, ii, . harvard annex, iii, . haskell, mehitable, worcester convention, i, ; iii, . hatch, junius, "pin-cushion ministry," i, . hatton, frank, iii, . haven, gilbert, ii, ; iii, , , ; ii, , , . havens, e. o., iii, . haviland, laura c, iii, . hawley, jos. r., letter to mrs. stanton, iii, , , . hay, william, letter to broadway tabernacle convention, i, --letter to susan b. anthony, i, --letter to _the north star_, on the saratoga convention, i, ; paper, property rights, . hayes, r. b., iii, . hayhurst, martha, i, . hazard, rebecca n., ii, , iii, . hazlett, adelle, ii, ; iii, . heath, jeannette brown, i, . heloise, i, . henderson, miss a. m., iii, . henderson, senator, ii, . heroism, kate shelly, iii, . herricourt, madame, ii, , . hertell's, barbara, will, i, . hewitt, rev. dr., i, . heyrick, elizabeth, i, . heywood, e. h., ii, . hiatt, hannah, i, . hiatt, sarah w., iii, . hicks, elias, i, , . higginson, thos. wentworth, iii, , , --brick church meeting, i, --coëducation, on, iii, --kansas campaign, ii, --kansas campaign, ii, --letter to susan b. anthony, ii, --letter to cleveland national convention, i, --letter to lucy stone, i, --marriage ceremony, on, i, --massachusetts constitutional convention, i, --_new york times_, on the, i, --speech, in cleveland, o., ii, --speech, in cooper institute, ii, --speech, broadway tabernacle convention, at, i, --speech, cleveland convention, ii, , --speech, national convention, new york, i, --voters, qualification of, i, --temperance and woman suffrage, on, ii, --theological discussion, i, --woman's rights almanac, i, --women in christian civilization, on, i, . hilda, abbess, i, . hill, benj. h., speech, iii, . hill, charlotte, iii, . hill, peter, iii, . hillier, c. j., iii, . hinckley, frederick a., on woman suffrage in rhode island, iii, --speech at washington convention, iii, . hindman, matilda, iii, , , , , . hoar, geo. f., minority report, iii, , --presents petitions, iii, --letter to washington convention, ii, --speech, women in the supreme court, iii, --select committee, u. s. senate, iii, - --speech in , ii, . hobart's, ella f., services as chaplain in union army, ii, . hobbs, lucy b., dentist, iii, , . holland, j. g., iii, . holloway, wm. r., iii, . homeopathic college, ii, . holland, iii, . holmes, jennie f., iii, . holmes, rev., iii, . hook, frances, as a soldier, ii, . hooker, isabella b. iii, , --argument before house judiciary committee, iii, --before senate committee, iii, --declaration and pledge, ii, --letter to new york convention, twenty-fifth anniversary, ii, --police, how she would rule,, iii, --receptions in washington; iii, --reminiscences of, iii, --report, national association, , ii, --speech before house judiciary committee, ii, --speech before senate judiciary committee, ii, --thanks the champions of woman's rights in congress, ii, --washington convention, notes ii, . hooker, john, iii, , , . hopkins, e. a., on legal grievance of women, i, . hosmer, harriet, iii, , , , . hospital clinics, iii, . houghton, agnes a., iii, . hovey, charles f., i, --bequests, i, , , . howe, frederick b., iii, . howe, j. h., on women as jurors, iii, . howe, julia ward, ii, , , , , portrait, ; iii, , , , --fifteenth amendment, on the, ii, --president of am. woman suffrage association, made, ii --speech in philadelphia, ii, ; in detroit, --woman suffrage in new jersey, on, ii, . hoyt, john w., gov. of wyoming, iii, , , . hoyt, mrs., on anti-slavery and woman's rights, ii, , , . howitt, wm., letter to lucretia mott, i, . howland, emily, i, . howland, fannie, description of washington convention, ii, . howland, william, iii, . hubbard, r. d., iii, . hugo, victor, ii, , iii, , . hulett, alta c., iii, . "human rights," hurlbut's, i, . hunt, harriot k., i, , , , , , , ii, --medical education, on, i, --physician, as a, i, --speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, --taxation, protest against, i, , iii, . hunt's, ward, judge, decision anthony trial, ii, --resolution against, ii, . hunt's, richard, tea table, i, . hunt, seth, iii, . hurlbut's "human rights," i, . husband and wife, act concerning rights and liabilities of, i, . hussey, cornelia collins, iii, . husted, james w., favors suffrage for women, iii, , , , . hutchinson family, ii, , , , , , ; iii, --letter, john w., i, . hutchinson, anne, i, . hutchinson, nellie, iii, . i. illinois, iii, --art union, iii, --bar, myra bradwell's application, ii, --opinion denying, ii, --carpenter's, matt. h., argument, ii, --opinion of justice bradley, ii, --report of proceedings in illinois and u. s. supreme courts, ii, --u. s. supreme court decision, ii, --writ of error, ii, --centennial celebration at evanston, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --elmwood church trouble, iii, --garrett biblical institute, iii, --houses of ill-fame, licensing chicago, iii, --married women's earnings act, iii, --master in chancery, mrs. schuchardt, iii, --moline association, iii, --monticello ladies seminary, iii, --petitions, toils of circulating, iii, --pulpit utterances, iii, --social science association, iii, --suffrage association formed, iii, --suffrage society, first, iii, --temperance petition, iii, --woman's college at evanston, iii, --woman, as preacher, first in, iii, --women elected as school officers, iii, --women eligible as school officers, bill making, iii, --women, trials and triumphs of, iii, . impeachment, articles of, iii, . indiana, i. , iii, --appendix, iii, --campaign of , iii, --colleges open to women, iii, --constitutional debates, i, --conventions (see conventions) --electoral bill, iii, --equal suffrage society indianapolis, iii, --laws for women, changes in, iii, --legislative enactments, iii, --legislative hearings, iii, --liquor law, i, --mass meeting in indianapolis, iii, --newspapers, iii, --republican state convention, iii, --secret conclave, iii, --temperance petition, mrs. wallace, iii, --women in schools, iii, . infidelity, i, . international convention, iii, , , , . iowa, iii, --churches indorse woman suffrage, iii, --clergymen's tract, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --fort dodge, iii, --friendly associations, iii, --governor kirkwood appoints women to office, iii, --governor, first, to recognize woman suffrage, iii, --governor sherman interviewed, iii, --inventions by women, iii, --journalism, iii, --laws, improvement in, iii, --lectures, iii, --legislative action, iii, --legislative action, summary, iii, --mass meeting at the capitol, iii, --medical profession, iii, --polk county society, iii, --republican convention, women's plank, iii, --county school superintendents, attorney general's opinion, iii, --school offices, eligibility of women to hold, iii, --societies organized, iii, , --_state register_, iii, --women in office, iii, --women employed as teachers, iii, --woman suffrage, first agitation of, iii, --woman suffrage society, first, iii, --women in positions of trust, iii, . island no. , ii, . italy, iii, . j. janney's, mrs. r. a. s., recollections, i, . jay, john, ii, . jackson, rev. e. m., i, . jackson, francis, i, , , , , , will case, iii, . jackson, james c., ii, . jackson, mercy b., letter, ii, . jenkins, lydia ann, i, . jerry, rescue trials, i, . johnson, andrew, ii, . johnson, mariana, i, , . johnson, oliver, i, , , ; ii, , . johnson, rev. samuel, letter to national convention in new york, i, . johnson, wm. h. and mary, letter to westchester, pa., convention, i, . jones, mrs. e. c., jailoress, iii, . jones, jane graham, delegate to national convention at washington, ii, , ; iii, , --address international congress at paris, iii, --genevieve graham, daughter, iii, , . jones, j. elizabeth, report, i, --speech at cooper institute convention, i, --speech at syracuse national convention, i, . journalism, women in, i, , iii, , , , . judge direct a verdict of guilty, can a, ii, . julian, geo. w., ii, , , , , --amendment to district of columbia suffrage bill, ii, --speech on woman suffrage, ii, . juries, venerable decisions on, ii, . jury, women on, iii, . justice of peace, mrs. esther morris made, iii, . k. kalamazoo college, iii, . kansas, mrs. nichols' account, i, , iii, --appeal, ii, --campaign, , ii, --campaign, s. n. wood's summing up of, ii, --_champion_ (atchison) on woman suffrage, ii, --_commercial_, (leavenworth) on the campaign, ii, --constitutional amendment to strike word "white" from suffrage clause, ii, --conventions (see conventions) --elections, iii, , --harvey, governor, message, iii, --legislative action, iii, --lincoln suffrage association, iii, --lincoln auxiliary of the national association, iii, --parties in convention, action of, iii, --press, iii, --property rights, iii, --radical reform christian association, iii, --reminiscences, helen ekin starrett's, ii, --schools, iii, --stanton suffrage society organized, iii, --suffrage organizations, history of, iii, --suffrage song, the hutchinsons, ii, --superintendent of public instruction, sarah a. brown nominated, iii, --suppressed proceedings, ii, --temperance convention, ii, --woman suffrage facts, iii, --woman suffrage indorsed by republican state convention, iii, --woman suffrage petitions, report of judiciary franchise committee, i, --women's christian temperance union, iii, --women's impartial suffrage association, address, ii, --women run for office, iii, --women in office, iii, --women in the professions, iii, . kasson, john a., iii, . keating, harriette c., iii, . kelley, w. d., suffrage resolution, iii, . kelly, abby (_see foster_). kemble, fanny, i, . kentucky, iii, --architecture, miss white, iii, --education, facilities for, iii, --louisville school of pharmacy, iii, --woman suffrage society, ii, --school suffrage, i, , iii, . king, susan a., sketch of, iii, . king, thos. star, i, . kingman, judge, kansas, i, . kingman, j. w., ii, , iii, , . kingsbury, benjamin, iii, . kingsbury, elizabeth a., ii, , iii, . kingsley, henry, letter to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, . kirk, mrs. eleanor (nellie ames), ii, . knight, ann, i, , iii, . knowlton, helen m., iii, . l. ladies' art association, iii, . lander, mrs. dick, iii, . lane, james h., i, . langdon, lady anna g., iii, . lapham, elbridge g., presents petition, ii, --votes for, ii, --anthony trial, ii, --printing speeches in the house, iii, --vote in senate, iii, --senate committee, , --senate report, --thanks to, iii, . lawrence, amos a., iii, . lawrence, sybil, iii, . lawyers, women, iii, . lee, mary b., legacy, iii, . leftwich, i, . legacy, iii, . leipsic, iii, . leslie, mrs. frank, iii, . lester, louise, iii, . letters: alcott, louisa may, to lucy stone, ii, --amberly, lady, to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --andrews, margaret h., to s. j. may, i, --anthony, h. b., to s. b. anthony, iii, . letters, anthony, susan b., to her family; boston convention, i, ; to brooks, james, ii, ; to foote, e. b., ii, ; to garfield, iii, ; to mott, lydia, i, ; to national democratic convention, ii, ; to wright, martha c., i, . letters, barton, clara, to susan b. anthony, ii, --bascom, e. c., to s. b. anthony, iii, --becker, lydia e., to susan b. anthony, iii, --beecher, h. w., to st. louis convention, ii, --bennett, alice, to susan b. anthony, iii, --national association to berlin congress, ii, --briggs, caroline a., to s. b. anthony, iii, --blackwell, elizabeth, to emily collins, i, --blackwell, antoinette brown, to cooper institute convention, i, --blackwell, elizabeth, to westchester, pa., convention, i, --blackwell, h. b., to e. c. stanton, ii, , --blair, henry w., to susan b. anthony, iii, --bowles, samuel, to mrs. hooker, iii, --bright, jacob, to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --brown, olympia, to s. b. anthony, ii, --bruhn, rosa, to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --burleigh, celia, giving account of saratoga convention, ii, --burns, alexander, to des moines convention, iii, --burr, frances e., to susan b. anthony, ii, , iii, --butler, benjamin f., to susan b. anthony, ii, , iii, . letters: carpenter, c. c., to iowa w. s. association, iii, --carpenter, m. h., to elizabeth c. stanton, ii, --channing, wm. henry, cleveland national convention, i, --child, l. maria, to st. louis convention, ii, ; e. c. stanton, ii, --clemmer, mary, to senator wadleigh, iii, ; to s. b. anthony, iii, --cobbe, frances p., to paulina w. davis, ii, --cole m. m., to h. b. blackwell, ii, --colvin a. j., to susan b. anthony, i, , ; ii, --corner, mary t., to mrs. bloomer, i, --corson, hiram, to susan b. anthony, ii, --cutler, mrs. h. m. t., to susan b. anthony, ii, --dall, caroline h., to _the nation_, ii, --darlington, hannah m., to mrs. stanton, i, --deroine, jeanne, to women of america, i, --dickinson, anna e., to susan b. anthony, ii, --douglass, fred., to e. cady stanton, ii, --faithful, emily, to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --fields, james t., to h. b. blackwell, ii, --folger, charles j., to susan b. anthony, i, --foster, rachel g., to _our herald_, iii, --freedman's relief association, on, ii, --fremont, jessie b. to susan b. anthony, ii, . letters: gage, frances d., to cincinnati convention, ii, ; steinway hall convention, ii, ; gage, m. e. j., to, i, ; rochester temperance convention, i, ; stone, lucy, i, ; washington convention, ii, --gage, m. j., to mrs. dahlgren, ii, ; to omaha con., ii, ; to women of dakota, iii, --garfield, james a., to s. b. anthony, iii, --garrison, wm. lloyd, to american woman suffrage association meeting in philadelphia, ii, ; to third decade convention, rochester, iii, ; to concord convention, iii, --geddes, george, to m. j. gage, i, --_greeley_, horace, to susan b. anthony, i, ; cleveland national convention, i, ; davis, paulina w., i, ; marsh, rev. john, i, ; may, s. j., on woman's rights, i, . severance, mrs. c. m., i, --_griffing_, josephine s., to catharine a. f. stebbins, ii, ; to greeley, ii, --grimké, angelina, to wm. lloyd garrison, i, --grimké, sarah m., to westchester, pa., convention, i, --grover, a. j., to mrs. stanton, i, . letters: hay, wm., to susan b. anthony, i, ; broadway tabernacle convention, i, --higginson, t. w., to s. b. anthony, ii, ; cleveland (nat.) convention, i, --hooker, isabella b., to susan b. anthony, i, ; to mrs. dahlgren, iii, ; stone, lucy, i, --howitt, wm., to lucretia mott, i, --hugo, victor, to clemence s. lozier, iii, --johnson, samuel, national convention in new york, i, --johnson, wm. h. and mary, to westchester, pa., convention, i, --kingman, j. w., to lucy stone, ii, --kingsley, henry, to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --lawrence, amos a., to abby smith, iii, --leo, andre, to second decade meeting, ii, --livermore, mary a., to susan b. anthony, ii, . letters: manderson, c. f., to o. c. dinsmoor, iii, --marsh, j., to horace greeley, i, --marsh, l. r., to mrs. e. c. stanton, ii, --martineau, harriet, to p. w. davis, i, --mott, lucretia, i, --mayo, a. d., to syracuse con., i, --mendenhall, h. s., to dr. avery, iii, --meriman, emelia j., to the second decade meeting, ii, --mill, john stuart, to paulina w. davis, i, , ii, ; to s. n. wood, ii, --miller, francis, to s. b. anthony, ii, --mills, chas. d. b., to mrs. matilda j. gage, ii, --mott, lucretia, to daniel o'connell, i, ; to josephine s. griffing, ii, ; to salem, ohio, convention, i, --mott, lydia, to susan b. anthony, i, --mott, mary, to westchester, pa., convention, i, . letters: _new york tribune_, on, canvass of -' , i, --nichols, mrs. c. i. h., to rochester tem. convention, i, --owen, robert dale, to susan b. anthony, i, --pastoral, i, --phelps, almira l., to mrs. hooker, iii, --phelps, elizabeth stuart, to am. w. s. association meeting in cooper in., ii, --phillips, wendell, to s. b. anthony, iii, ; to third decade convention at rochester, n. y., iii, --pickler, j. a., to matilda j. gage, iii, --pomeroy, c. r., to des moines convention, iii, --post, amy, to s. b. anthony, iii, --pugh, sarah, to salem, ohio, convention, i, --rose, ernestine l., to susan b. anthony, i, ; ii, ; iii, , ; to mrs. j. s. griffing, ii, --russell, lucinda, to harriet s. brooks, iii, . letters: sanford, r. m., to cleveland con., i, --sargent, a. a., to third decade con., iii, ; to omaha con., iii, --sargent, j. t., to e. c. stanton, ii, --saxon, elizabeth l., to mrs. minor, iii, --severance, caroline m., to mrs. e. c. stanton, ii, --shaw, sarah b., to susan b. anthony, ii, --smith, gerrit, to susan b. anthony, i, ; ii, , , ; garrison, wm. l., i, , ; stanton, e. cady, i, , ; st. louis convention, ii, --somerville, mary, to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --stanton, elizabeth cady, to akron, o., convention, i, ; cooper institute con., i, ; greeley, horace, i, ; mott, lucretia, iii, ; omaha convention, iii, ; salem, o., convention, i, ; smith, gerrit, i, ; syracuse convention, i, --stanton, harriot, to nebraska voters, iii, --stebbins, catharine a. f., to lucretia mott, iii, --stone, lucy, to susan b. anthony, ii, , ; to elizabeth c. stanton, ii, ; to salem, o., convention, i, . letters: taylor, mrs. m., to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --tenney, mrs. r. s., to susan b. anthony, ii, --tilton, theo., to american woman suffrage association, ii, --wade, benjamin f., to susan b. anthony, ii, , to josephine sophie griffing, ii, --wallace, zerelda g., to susan b. anthony, iii, --wattles, susan e. to susan b. anthony, ii, --weber, helene m., to m. a. spofford, i, --weld, angelina g., on organizations, i, --whiting, n. h., letter to cooper institute convention, i, --winder, r. b., to susan b. anthony, iii, --wright, elizur, to paulina w. davis, i, --wright, henry c., to garrison, i, --wright, martha c., to pillsbury, ii, . lewis, ida, iii, . _lily, the_, i, . _lincoln_ (kansas) _beacon_, _lincoln_ (kansas) _register_, iii, . lippincott, sarah j., i, --saxe's poems, on, i, --washington convention (nat.), description of, ii, list, charles, address at worcester national convention, i, . little, knox, iii, --sermon to women, i, . livermore, mary a., ii, ; iii, , , , , , , . livingston, william, i, . lockwood, belva a., ii, , , , , , ; iii, , , , , --attempted to vote, iii, --admitted to u. s. supreme court, iii, --brief to u. s. senate, on women as lawyers, iii, --motion to admit lowry to supreme court, iii, --speech in dr. furness' church, iii, --women's rights, the way to get, iii, . logan, john a., on woman suffrage, iii, . longfellow, samuel, speech at cooper institute convention, i, lord, mrs. a., iii, . loring, geo. b., iii, . lords, feudal, i, , . loud, huldah b., iii, . loughary. mrs. h. a., iii, . louisiana, constitutional convention, iii, --married women, laws relating to, iii, --press, iii, --st. anna's asylum, iii, --schools, physiology in, iii, --women eligible to school offices, iii, --women's club, iii, . love, mary f., i, , , (see davis, mary f.). lovering, j. f., iii, . lowell, jas. r., poem "endurance," iii, . lowell, josephine shaw, appointed to office, i, ; police matrons, iii, --com'r of charities, made a, iii, . lozier, clemence s., m. d., iii, --sketch of, iii, , , --presided, --seats for shop girls, --protest against district attorney russell, --appeal to voters, . lukens, esther ann, i, . lunt's, bishop, defence of polygamy, i, . luther, martin, will of, i, . luther and polygamy, i, , . lyford, rev. c. p., on polygamy, i, . lynn, eliza, i, . m. macaulay, catharine sawbridge, i, , . mccarthy, justin, iii, . mcclellan, geo. b., ii, , . mcclintock, thomas, i, . mcclintock, mary ann, i, , iii, . mccook, edward, on suffrage, iii, . mccook, mrs. mary, --tribute, . mcdonald, joseph e., women to the supreme court, iii, , , --moves standing committee, iii, --tribute, iii, . mcdowell, anna e., _woman's advocate_, i, --_sunday dispatch_, iii, --j. edgar thomson's will, iii, --rev. knox little, iii, . mcdowell, gertrude, iii, . mackey, t. j., iii, . mclaren, mrs. duncan, iii, --portrait, iii, ; . mclaren, charles, mr. and mrs., iii, . mclaren, walter, iii, , . mcrae, emma m., argument before house committee, iii, . madison, james, ii, . mahan, asa, i, --argument at cleveland national convention, i, . maine, iii, --bar, admissions to, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --faithful friends, iii, --goddard, judge, iii, --industrial school for girls, iii, --legislation, iii, , --married women, law, iii, --"moral eminence of maine," iii, --suffrage society, first, iii, --women holding office, supreme judicial court opinion, iii, --women in office, gov. dingley's message, iii, --women on school committees, iii, --woman suffrage, progress made, , iii, --women tax-payers protest, iii, . "male" in the constitution, ii, . manderson, charles f., iii, --letter to o. c. dinsmoor, iii, . mandeville, dr., i, . manikin, i, . mann, horace, i, . mansfield, arabella a., case of, ii, . manufactures in hands of women, i, . marcet, jane, i, . "maria" and "old betty," ii, . marriage amendment act, english, ii, . marriage a cause of disfranchisement, ii, . marriage and minority disabilities, ii, . marriage, "mrs. schlachtfeld," on, iii, . marriage, what is legal status of, ii, . marriage question: church views, i, --devils, with, i, --greek church, under, i, --heterogeneous, i, --law, i, --law of , i, --protest, robert dale owen's, i, --protest, lucy stone's, i, --relations, i, --rose, ernestine l., on, i, . marriage and divorce: anthony, susan b., on, i, --bill before new york legislature, i, --blackwell, antoinette b., on, i, --drunkenness, for, i, --garrison, wm. lloyd, on, i, --greeley, horace, on, i, --greeley-owen discussion, i, , --law amended in massachusetts, i, --mott, lucretia, on, i, --phillips, wendell, on, i, --rose, ernestine l., on, i, --stanton, elizabeth cady, on, i, --stanton, mrs., letter to horace greeley on, i, . marriages solemnized by women, iii, . marquette, i, . marsh, john, letter to horace greeley, i, . marsh, luther r., iii, --letter to mrs. e. c. stanton, ii, . "martian statutes," i, . martin, john a., ii, . martineau, harriet, i, ; iii, --letter to pauline w. davis, i, --letters to lucretia mott, i, . maryland, iii, --baltimore dental surgery, iii, --equal rights society, iii, . mason, o. p., iii, , . massachusetts, i, , iii, --association, anniversary, iii, --association, work done, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --democratic convention, action, iii, --divorce law amended, i, --governors, action of, iii, --grant campaign, tremont temple meeting, iii, --harvard annex, iii, --legislative, action, iii, --legislature, petition before, i, --new england women's club, iii, --petitions, iii, , --philosophy at concord, school of, iii, --prohibitionists, alliance with, iii, --republican convention, action, iii, , --school committees, women, iii, --school suffrage, iii, , --suffrage associations, iii, --supreme court decisions, iii, --women in the civil service, iii, --women delegates to republican convention, iii, --women opposed to suffrage, iii, --women at the polls, iii, --women, social condition, iii, --woman suffrage political party, iii, --woman suffrage ticket, iii, . mather, cotton, iii, . maule, mollie k., iii, . maxwell, lily, iii, . may, joseph, iii, . may, samuel j., i, , , ; ii, , --"colored," on the word, ii, --kansas campaign, ii, --president rochester convention, made, i, --speech at american equal rights association meeting, ii, --speech on temperance, i, . mayo, a. d., letter to syracuse convention, i, . medical, iii, , . medical college, first opened to women, i, , . medical education, harriot k. hunt on, i, . medical profession, i, --iowa women, iii, . meetings (see conventions). memorials, ii, , ; iii, , , , , --democratic party, iii, --gladstone, iii, --greenback convention, iii, --ohio constitutional convention, i, --republican party, iii, --woodhull, victoria c., ii, --legislatures, i, . mendenhall, mrs. h. s., letter to dr. avery, iii, . meriman, emelia j., letter to second decade meeting, ii, . meriwether, elizabeth a., iii, , , . merrick, caroline e., iii, --women as school officers, iii, . merrick, mrs. e. t., speech, louisiana constitutional convention, iii, . merrill, catharine, iii, . merrimon, senator, on the pembina territory bill, ii, - . merritt, paulina, t., iii, . methodists and women preachers, i, . michigan, iii, --churches, attitude of, iii, --constitutional amendment, iii, ; lost, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --episcopal church bill, iii, --legislative action, iii, --local societies, iii, --memorial, iii, --northwestern association, iii, --state suffrage society, iii, --university, iii, --state university, ann arbor, opened to girls, iii, --vote for woman suffrage, iii, --women's literary clubs and libraries, iii, --women voting in sturgis, iii, . middlesex society, iii, . miles, nelson a., iii, . mill, john stuart, ii, , , , --death of, iii, --fifteenth amendment, on the, ii, --"household suffrage bill" amendment, ii, --letter to paulina w. davis, i, ; ii, --letter to s. n. wood, ii, --women government, on, iii, . mill, mrs. john stuart, essay, i, . miller, francis, argument, ii, --argument spencer-webster suit, ii, --letter to susan b. anthony, ii, . mills, chas. d. b., letter to m. j. gage, ii, ; ii, . milton, john, i, , . ministers, charges against, i, . minnesota, iii, --appendix: early friends, iii, ; school officers, ; authors and poets, iii, ; graduates from state university, iii, ; teachers and professors, iii, ; medical profession, benevolent institutions, painters in oil and water colors, iii, ; musical clubs, speakers and writers, iii, --coëducation, iii, --constitution, bill to amend, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --evangelists, iii, --homestead law, iii, --kasson society, iii, --legislative hearing, iii, --petitions to congress, iii, --property rights of married women, iii, --rochester society, iii, --school officers, voting for, iii, --school suffrage, iii, --state association organized, iii, --teachers, iii, --temperance question, iii, . miner, myrtilla, iii, . minor, francis, resolutions st. louis convention, ii, , . minor, virginia l., dahlgren's, mrs., memorial, on, iii, --delegate to nat. democratic convention, iii, --labors of, iii, --sanitary work, iii, --speeches: st. louis convention, ii, ; washington convention, iii, --suit, ii, --chief-justice waite's opinion, ii, --decision reviewed by mrs. gage, ii, --reviewed by _central law journal_, ii, --taxes, refused to pay, iii, --vote, attempted to, iii, . mississippi, iii, . missouri, i, , --address to voters, iii, --church and state, iii, --colleges and law schools, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --petition to legislature, iii, --suffrage movement, facts and incidents, iii, --taxation, iii, --woman suffrage association organized, iii, ; division, iii, --woman's union, iii, --women in the war, iii, . mob convention, broadway tabernacle, i, . mobs, i, . moody, w. w., iii, . morelli, salvatore, iii, . morgan, e. d., i, . morgan, john t., on woman suffrage, iii, . morgan, middie, live-stock reporter, iii, . morinella, lucrezia, i, . mormonism, see _polygamy_. morrill, senator, on sargent's amendment to pembina territory bill, ii, --speech on woman suffrage, ii, , . morris, esther, made justice of peace, iii, . morris, w. h., iii, . morrow, jane, sketch of i, . morton, o. p., iii, , --pembina territory bill, on the, ii, , , . moss, charles e., speech, ii, . "mother bickerdyke" iii, . mott, james, i, , , . mott, lucretia, ii, , ; iii, --address at westchester, pa., convention, i, --bible, on the, i, --bible, position of woman, on the, i, --cleveland national convention, at, i, --dangerous woman, spoken of as a, i, --divorce, on, i, --eulogy by elizabeth cady stanton, i, --farewell, last convention, iii, --funeral, i, --furness' church meeting, at, iii, --home of, i, --howitt, william, correspondence, i, --letter to lydia mott, i, --letter to josephine griffing, ii, --letter to st. louis convention, iii, --letter to salem, o., convention, i, --letter to saratoga convention, i, --luther's will, on, i, --marriage of, i, --marriage, on, i, --martineau, harriet, correspondence, i, --memorial service, iii, --ministry, engaged in, i, --o'connell, daniel, correspondence, i, --portrait, i, --president of the american equal rights association, made, ii, --president, meeting in dr. furness' church, iii, --president national woman's rights at syracuse, made, i, --president washington national convention, made, ii, --pulpit, on the, i, --recollections of, by robert collyer, i, , --religion and theology, on, i, --rochester convention, at, iii, --sketch of, i, --slavery, on, i, --speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, --syracuse national convention, argument, i, --tribute, susan b. anthony's, iii, --womanhood, her reply to r. h. dana's lecture, i, . mott, lydia, i, , , , , , , --letter susan b. anthony, i, ; iii, . mott, mary, letter to westchester, pa., convention, i, . mottoes, washington convention, , iii, --newbury society, ohio, . moulton, louise chandler, i, . n. nash, clara h., iii, --admitted to the bar, iii, . nash, mary e., iii, . national association, officers , iii, . _national citizen_, iii, , , . nations, mortality of, ii, . neal, alice bradley, i, . neal, john, ii, ; iii, . nebraska, iii, --campaign, iii, --canvass of the state, iii, --constitutional amendment, iii, ; again defeated, ; convention, ; debate, ; new constitution, --conventions (see conventions) --description of, iii, --electors, qualifications of, iii, --fourteenth amendment ratified, iii, --frontier life, iii, --legislative action, iii, , , , , , --state, made a, iii, --suffrage societies, first, iii, --thayer county association, iii, --woman suffrage amendment beaten at the polls, iii, --woman suffrage bill passed house, beaten in senate, iii, --woman suffrage, first work in lincoln, iii, --women, leading, iii, . negro, civil and political right of, argument, ii, . negroes opposed to woman suffrage in kansas, ii, , . negro suffrage, ii, , . nevin, dr., defence of the clergy, i, . new england convention, i, . new hampshire, iii, --married men, bill to protect, iii, --married women, judicial decision, iii, --petitions, iii, --republican convention, iii, --state association formed, iii, --woman suffrage, first organized action, iii, --women on school committees, iii, --women voting, iii, . new jersey, i, ; iii, --conventions (see conventions) --constitution, defects in, i, --historical society, i, --legislative hearings, iii, --memorial to legislature, iii, --mothers' legal claim to their children, iii, --property of married women, iii, --state society, iii, --suffrage, progress made, iii, --women's club of orange, iii, --woman's political science club, iii, --women in the pulpit, iii, --women as school trustees, iii, --woman suffrage, celebration of, ii, --woman suffrage, origin of, i, --women voted, iii, . _new orleans picayune_, iii, . newspapers, women in, i, . new york, i, , , iii, --appendix, iii, --constitutional convention, ii, , --constitutional revision commission, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --disfranchisement bill, attorney-general russell's opinion, iii, --lansingburgh taxpayers, iii, --legislative hearings, i, , , , , ; iii, , , , ; disfranchisement bill, iii, , , ; reports on petitions, i, ; report on woman suffrage, i, ; school suffrage bill passed, iii, ; suffrage, power to extend, iii, --license law of , repeal, i, --property rights granted, iii, --reception at the capitol, iii, --results, iii, . _new york christian enquirer_ on the worcester national convention, i, . _new york evening express_, ii, . _new york evening post_, ii, . _new york herald_ on senator wilson and woman suffrage, ii, . _new york independent_ on the new york constitutional convention, ii, . _new york times_, i, , . _new york tribune_, ii, , , , , ; iii, --support lost, ii, --world's temperance convention, on the, i, --woman as a voter, on the, ii, --kansas campaign, on the, ii, . neyman, clara, speech at washington convention, iii, . nichols, elizabeth pease, iii, , - . nichols, clarina i. howard, iii, --centennial protest, iii, --education of women, on, i, --kansas campaign, ii, --letter to rochester temperance convention, i, --portrait, i, --reminiscences, i, --speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, --syracuse national convention arguments, i, --tribute, iii, --work in vermont, iii, . nicholson, mrs. e. j., iii, . nightingale, florence, ii, ; iii, . nixon, jennie c., iii, . north carolina, iii, . northcote, sir stafford, iii, --speech on woman suffrage, iii, . norton, caroline, i, . norway, iii, . nye, joshua, iii, . o. obituaries, ii, ; iii, . o'connell, daniel, letter to lucretia mott, i, . o'connor, henry, iii, . ohio, i, ; iii, --centennial celebration, women decline to take part, iii, --constitutional convention, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --equal rights association, iii, --painesville equal rights society, iii, --senate committee report on the suffrage question, i, --soldiers' aid society, first, iii, --toledo society, iii, , --women of oberlin protest against enfranchisement, iii, . oliver, anna, debate upon ordaining, i, --suit, iii, . oliver, lewise, letters, iii, . _omaha republican_, iii, --on omaha convention, iii, . oregon, iii, --clergy favor woman suffrage, iii, --constitutional amendment lost, iii, --convention at portland, iii, --donation land act, iii, --legislative action, iii, --married woman's property bill, iii, --married woman's sole trader bill, iii, --school offices, women made eligible, iii, --suffrage organizations formed, iii, --suffrage society, first, iii, --temperance alliance, iii, --woman suffrage bill, iii, --woman suffrage bill passed legislature, iii, . oren, mrs. sarah a., iii, , . organizations, angelina g. weld, on, i, . orth, judge, votes woman suffrage in congress, ii, --on national platform, iii, . orient, iii, . orme, miss, iii, , . ostrander, mrs. r., i, . otis, james, ii, , . owen, robert dale, women's loyal league, ii, --"male" in federal constitution, ii, --birthday anniversary, rd, i, --greeley discussion on divorce, i, --letter to susan b. anthony, i, --sketch of, by rosamond dale owen, i, --speech at meeting in philadelphia, ii, --speech, property rights of married women, i, --spiritualism, i, --testimonial, silver pitcher, i, . owen, mrs. robert dale, i, , , (see robinson, mary). owen, sarah c., letter to emily collins, i, --speech, i, . p. pacific northwest, iii, . paddock, a. s., iii, . painter, hetty r., iii, . paist, harriet w., iii, . pan-presbyterians, i, . panim, ivan, i, . parasol-makers, ii, . parker, alex., speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, . parker, julia smith, argument before senate committee, iii, (see smith, julia, and abby). parker, mary s., i, . parker theodore, i, ; ii, --sermon "function of woman," i, . parnell, stewart, m. p., iii, . parnell, rosina m., iii, . parody, woman suffrage in the courts, ii, . "pastoral letter," i, , . pat and the locomotive, ii, . patridge, lelia e., ii, ; iii, . patterson, catherine g., iii, . patterson, jessie, iii, . peckham, lilia, career, iii, . peel, sir robert, iii, . pellet, sarah, speech at saratoga convention, i, . pembina territory bill, u. s. senate debate on sargent's amendment, ii, --bill rejected, ii, (see also congressional). penn, william, i, . pennell, mrs. horace, i, . pennsylvania, i, ; iii, --anti-slavery struggle, i, --appendix, iii, --century club, iii, --citizens' suffrage association, iii, --common law, iii, --constitutional convention, iii, --conventions (_see conventions_) --fugitive slave law i, --hall, destruction of, i, --legislature recommends a sixteenth amendment, iii, --literary women, iii, --medical school controversy, iii, --petitions to legislature, iii, --property law, married women's, iii, --school officers, women elected, iii, --school offices, women made eligible, iii, --statutes and court decisions, iii, --suffrage association formed in philadelphia, iii, --report, annual, iii, --swarthmore college, iii, --temperance work in, i, --university, attempt to open to women, iii, --university, clinical instruction, iii, --woman's medical college, i, --woman's medical college, report on hospital clinics, iii, --woman's rights, first legal argument, iii, --women sold with cattle, iii, . perry, m. frederica, lawyer, iii, . peru, iii, . peterson, myra, iii, . petition to congress for a xvi. amendment, ii, --first, sent to new york legislature, iii, --sherman-dahlgren against woman suffrage, ii, --woman's national loyal league, ii, . petitions, i, , , , , , , ; ii, , , , , , , , , ; iii, , , --form of, i, --new york legislature report, i, ; against, iii, , . petitioners, four classes of, ii, . phelps, almira l., letter to mrs. hooker, iii, . phelps, elizabeth b., woman's bureau, ii, . phelps, elizabeth stuart, ii, . _philadelphia press_, ii, ; iii, --_ledger_, iii, . philadelphia anti-slavery society, i, . phillips, wendell, ii, , ; i, --anti-slavery convention, london, i, --grimké, angelina, his opinion of, i, --kansas campaign, ii, --last letter on woman suffrage, iii, --letter of regret, saratoga con., i, --letter to susan b. anthony, iii, --letter to mrs. stebbins, iii, --marriage and divorce, on, i, --mrs. eddy's will, iii, --self-government, on, i, --speeches: broadway tabernacle convention, i, , ; cooper institute convention, i, ; mozart hall convention, i, ; national convention, boston, ii, ; new england convention, i, ; woman's national loyal league, ii, ; worcester, mass., convention, i, --treasurer of jackson fund, i, --woman suffrage, apathy, ii, --world's temperance convention, at the, i, . philosophy, school of, at concord, iii, . physical culture, ii, . physicians and nurses, iii, . pickler, j. a., letter to m. j. gage, iii, . pierce, j. d., on woman suffrage, iii, . pierce, wm. s., on woman suffrage, iii, . pierpont, rev. john, iii, --speech at broadway tabernacle, i, , . pillsbury, parker, speeches, i, , ; ii, , , , ; iii, , , , , , --appeal for, universal suffrage, ii, --editor, _the revolution_, ii, --fifteenth amendment, on the, ii, , , --kansas campaign, ii, ; iii, , . pitkin, benjamin c, on woman's rights, i, . playfair, lyon, iii, . plumb, p. b., the kansas campaign, ii, , . plumly, rush, i, . pochin, henry d., iii, . pochin, mrs., iii, , . poem, "endurance," lowell, iii, --frances d. gage and the hutchinsons, iii, --"from clatsop," iii, --"pastoral letter," i, --"ancient usage," i, --"the times that try men's souls," i, --"woman's cause," lowell, i, --tennyson's princess, iii, . poland, iii, . police, women as, iii, , , . political campaigns, anna e. dickinson, ii, . political disabilities, ii, . polygamy, i, , , --miss couzins on, iii, , , --bishop lunt's defense of, i, . pomeroy, c. r., letter to des moines convention, iii, . pomeroy, senator, s. c., i, --speeches, ii, , , , ; iii, , . poppleton, a. j., speech at omaha convention, iii, . porter, albert g., iii, , . portugal, iii, . post, amy, i, --letter to susan b. anthony, iii, --third decade meeting in rochester, n. y., iii, --tried to vote, ii, . potter, t. b., iii, . powell, aaron m., i, , ; ii, . pray, isaac c., speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, . presidential campaigns: -- , john c. fremont, i, , , -- , grant and wilson, ii, , -- , hayes and tilden, iii, , , -- , garfield and hancock, iii, , , . preston, ann, i, , --address at westchester, pa., convention, i, --dean medical college, iii, . pretorius, emile, letter to woman's nat. loyal league, ii, . price, abby, speech at syracuse national convention, i, --worcester convention, i, , . priestley, celibacy, i, , . prince, bradford l., iii, . privileges and immunities, ii, . progressive friends, i, . prohibition convention, iii, . prohibitionists, alliance with, iii, . property bill, i, --bill, new york, i, --laws, i, --rights, wm. hay's paper, i, --rights of married women, iii, --opinions of indiana legislators, i, . prostitution, i, ; iii, , , (see, also, vice). pryor, margaret, iii, . pugh, sarah, i, , , --letter to salem, o., convention, i, ; iii, , --at third decade convention, iii, . pulpit, ii, --charges against, . pulte medical college, iii, . purvis, robert, ii, , , , , ; iii, , . q. quakers, i, , . "queen's women," i, . r. ransier, a. j., ii, ; iii, . raymond, henry j., i, , . reconstruction, ii, . reed, c. a., iii, , . reed, thomas b., in congress, iii, , . reformation, i, . reid, mrs. hugo, iii, , . reminiscences: --collins, emily, i, --davis, paulina w., by "e. c. s.," i, --grimké, angelina, by "e. c. s." i, --nichols, clarina i. h., i, --stanton's, elizabeth c., i, ; iii, --starrett, helen e., ii, --thomas, mary f., i, --way, amanda, i, . remond, charles l., i,, , , . republican party, iii, . republicans, treachery of, ii, . reports (see woman suffrage). resolutions: i, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; iii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . retrospect, iii, . revelation, i, . revolution, , i, --arnett, hannah, i, --battle, first, i, --girls, two, with a drum and fife, i, --spy, female, i, --women in the, i, , , . _revolution, the_, i, ; ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; iii, , , , , --editorial correspondence, elizabeth cady stanton, ii, , --establishment of, iii, --founded, when, ii, . rhode island, iii, --conventions (see conventions) --legislation, iii, --state association, organized, iii, , address, iii, ; work done, iii, --women represented, iii, --women's board of visitors, iii, --women on school boards, iii, . richards, david m., iii, , , , . richardson, susan hoxie, iii, . ricker, marilla m., iii, --first woman to cast a vote, ii, --prison reform, on, iii, . riddle, albert g., iii, --speech at washington convention, ii, --speech before congressional committee, ii, --spencer-webster suit, argument, ii, . roberts, mrs. marshall o., iii, . roberts, william h., iii, . robinson, charles, i, . robinson, emily, i, . robinson, harriett hanson, iii, , , , , , . robinson, lelia j., application to the bar, iii, --supreme court decision, iii, . robinson, lucius (gov.), defeat of, iii, --vetoes school suffrage bill, iii, . robinson, mary, sketch of, i, . _rochester democrat and chronicle_ on miss anthony's trial, ii, . _rochester evening express_ on miss anthony's trial, ii, . _rocky mountain news_, iii, . roebling, mrs., iii, . roebuck's flattery of woman, i, . rogers, nathaniel p., i, , iii, . roland, pauline, i, . rome, "the city of god," i, . root, h. k., speech at broadway tabernacle convention, i, . root j. p., on the kansas campaign, ii, . rose, ernestine l., i, , , , , , ; ii, ; iii, --biography, i, --debate, cleveland national convention, i, --english women, on, i, --equal rights association, on the, ii, --_letters_: to susan b. anthony, i, , iii, ; to mrs. j. f. griffing, ii, ; to rochester convention, iii, --marriage, on, i, --marriage and divorce, on, i, --portrait of, i, --propagandist, _albany register_ charges, i, --resolutions, i, --_speeches_: broadway tabernacle, i, , ; cooper institute convention, i, ; new york legislature, i, ; philadelphia convention, i, ; rochester convention, i, ; syracuse convention, i, ; woman's national loyal league, ii, , , ; worcester convention, i, --tribute to frances wright, i, --westchester, pa., convention, at, i, --women in colleges, on, i, ; ii, --in london, , iii, . ross, e. g., letter to susan b. anthony, ii, . ross, james, i, . ross, laura j., ii, ; (see wolcott, laura ross). russell, leslie w., iii, --defeat of, iii. . russell, lucinda, correspondence, iii, --sketch of, iii, . russia, iii, . s. sacrilegious child, cardinal antonelli's, i, . safe deposit companies, iii, . st. chrysostom's description of woman, i, . st. john, gov., j. p., ii, . iii, . st. paul, quotations, iii, . salic law, i, . sanborn, frank b., ii, . sandford, arch-deacon, iii, . sanford, rebecca m., i, --letter to cleveland convention, i, . sandige, john m., iii, . sanitary commission, ii, . sargent, a. a., iii, --california constitution, on the, iii, --district of columbia suffrage bill, on the, ii, --letter to omaha convention, iii, --letter to rochester convention, iii, --pembina territory bill, amendment, ii, ; bill rejected, ii, --pembina territory bill, on the, ii, , , , --resolution, woman suffrage, iii, --speech in san francisco, on woman's rights, ii, --speech in senate, iii, --woman suffrage, joint resolution, iii, --minister at berlin, iii, . sargent, elizabeth, m. d., iii, . sargent, j. t., letter to mrs. e. c. stanton, ii, --speech at new england convention, i, . saunders, alvin, on woman suffrage, iii, , . savage, john, i, . saxe, dana, and grace greenwood, i, . saxon elizabeth l., iii, , , , , --argument before senate committee, iii, . scatcherd, mrs. oliver, iii, , , , , . schell, augustus, favors woman suffrage, iii, . schenck, elizabeth t., iii, , . school of design for women, i, ; iii, . school officers, bill passed new york legislature, iii, ; vetoed by gov. robinson, iii, . school suffrage (see suffrage gained). schurz, carl, i, ; ii, ; iii, . scotland (see great britain, iii, ). scott, thomas a., ii, . scovill, james m., ii, ; iii, . sears, judge, in kansas campaign, ii, , . see, rev. isaac m., trial of, i, ; iii, . segur, rose l., iii, . selden, h. r., miss anthony's counsel, ii, , , , , , , ; appeal to congress, . seneca falls convention, i, . severance, caroline m., address at broadway tabernacle, i, --new england convention, i, --letter to mrs. e. c. stanton, ii, . sewall, samuel e., iii, . seward, wm. h., on self-government, ii, , ; iii, --on woman's rights, i, . sewall, may wright, iii, , , , . seymour, horatio, thirty pieces of silver, i, . shattuck, harriette r., iii, , . shaw, sarah b., letter to susan b. anthony, ii, . shelly, kate, heroism of, iii, . sherman-dahlgren petition against woman suffrage, ii, . shields, m. f., iii, . sholes, c. l., report on rights of women in wisconsin, i, ; iii, . shuman, andrew, iii, . silk culture, iii, . simpson, bishop, favors woman suffrage, iii, , . sixteenth amendment, ii, , , , , , , , , , ; iii, . sixteenth amendment, reasons for a, iii, . sixteenth amendment, renewed appeal, iii, --press comments, iii, . sketches, _see biography_. slave law, fugitive, pennsylvania, i, . slavery, angelina grimké's speech, i, (see, also, anti-slavery). slavery sustained by the north, ii, . slavery and the war, ii, . slavonic countries, iii, . smith, elizabeth oakes, iii, , , , --massachusetts constitutional convention, at the, i, --speech at syracuse convention, i, --worcester convention, at, i, . smith gerrit, home of, i, --letter to susan b. anthony, i, ; ii, , , ; wm. lloyd garrison, i, , ; st. louis convention, ii, ; elizabeth cady stanton, i, , --speech at syracuse national convention, i, --petition for woman suffrage, refused to sign, ii, . smith, mrs. gerrit, petition, ii, . smith, hannah whitehall, speech at philadelphia convention, iii, . smith, julia and abby, iii, , , , . smith, sidney, iii, . snow, lucy and lavinia, iii, . social relations, channing's report, i, . sojourner truth, i, , ; ii, , , , ; iii, , . soldiers, women as, ii, , . somerville, mary, i, --letter to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, . song, "a hundred years hence," iii, . song, "kansas suffrage," ii, . sorosis, iii, , . south, what the, can do, ii, . south carolina, iii, . southwick, thankful, i, . southworth, mrs. e. d. e. n., iii, . spain, iii, . spencer, herbert, i, . spencer, sarah andrews, iii, , , , --argument before house committee, iii, --before senate judiciary committee, ii, --before d. c. committee, iii, --delegate rep. nat. convention, iii, --resolutions, iii, --speeches, ii, --suit, ii, --chief-justice cartter's opinion, ii, . spider-crab, theodore tilton, ii, . sprague, homer b., ii, . stanford, leland, iii, . stansfeld, m. p., james, iii, --speech, iii, . stanton, edwin m., and mrs. j. s. griffing, ii, . stanton, elizabeth cady, i, , , ; ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , ; iii, , , , , , , , , , --abolitionists, and the, ii, --address to new york legislature, i, --appeal to women of new york state, i, --appeal to women of the republic, ii, --appeal for woman's rights, i, --argument before senate committee, iii, --"bloomer," in a, i, --california visit, iii, --call, loyal women, ii, --candidate for congress, ii, --children i, --civil rights bill for women, ii, --"copperheads," ii, --divorce for drunkenness, argument, i, --editorial correspondence in _the revolution_, ii, , --eulogy: lucretia mott, i, --equal rights association, ii, , --eternal punishment, on, iii, --fifteenth amendment, on the, ii, --girls and boys at school, on, ii, --grant and wilson campaign, in, ii, --greeley, horace, and, ii, --hurlbut, judge, i, --kansas campaign, i, ; ii, , , , , --lecture, "education of girls," iii, --lectures in omaha, iii, --lecturing tour, ohio, iii, --letters: to akron, o., convention, i, ; to _the ballot box_, iii, ; to cooper institute convention, i, ; to gerrit smith, i, ; to gen. hawley, iii, ; to horace greeley, i, ; to the _national citizen_, iii, ; to omaha convention, iii, ; to salem, o., convention, i, ; to syracuse convention i, ; to washington convention, iii, --london visit, - , iii, --"male" in the constitution, on the word, ii, --manhood suffrage, on, iii, --marriage and divorce, on, i, , --michigan campaign iii, --"negro's hour," ii, --newport con., ii, --oregon, mo., visit, iii, --portrait, i, --president albany convention, i, --president loyal league, made, ii, --press comments on rochester and seneca falls conventions, her reply to, i, --reception, sorosis, chicago, iii, --reconstruction, on, ii, --reminiscences: i, , ; iii, ; of angelina grimké, i, ; of paulina wright davis, i, --resolutions before congress affecting women, on, ii, --resolutions, washington convention, ii, --sermon, st. louis, iii, --sixteenth amendment, urges a, ii, --smith, gerrit, refusing to sign petition for woman suffrage, on, ii, --speeches: cooper institute, i, ; congressional committee, before, ii, ; furness' church, in, iii, ; legislature, claiming woman's rights, ii, ; milwaukee, iii, ; national protection for national citizens, iii, ; new york legislature, i, ; new york national convention, ii, ; rochester convention, iii, ; rochester temperance convention, i, , ; senate judiciary committee, before, ii, ; suffrage, question of, ii, ; washington convention, ii, ; washington nat. convention, ii, ; woman's national loyal league, ii, --testimonial ii, --train, g. f., and _the revolution_, criticism, ii, --tribute from _leavenworth commercial_ (kansas), ii, --view of, an objective, i, --wadleigh, senator, on, iii, --western trip, ii, --wyoming visit, iii, . stanton harriot, letter to nebraska voters, iii, , . stanton, theodore, iii, , , . starrett, helen ekin, reminiscences kansas campaign, ii, , . stearns, o. p., iii, . stearns, sarah burger, iii, , . stebbins, catharine a. f., ii, , --before house committee, iii, --letter to lucretia mott, iii, --vote, attempts to, iii, . steck, amos, iii, . steele, william, iii, . stephens, alexander h., reception, iii, , . stevens, louisa b., iii, . stevens, thaddeus, ii, , . stevenson, emily pitts, iii, . stevenson, sarah hackett, iii, . stewart's home for working women, iii, . stewart, senator, on the pembina territory bill, ii, , , , , , . stone, dr. james a. b., address at st. louis, ii, ; iii, . stone, lucy, i, , , ; ii, ; iii, , , , , , --constitutional convention at albany, ii, --husband, and her, i, --husband's name, refusing to take her, i, --kansas, in, i, --kansas campaign, in, ii, --letter to susan b. anthony, ii, , --letter to salem, o., convention, i, --letters to e. cady stanton, ii, --letter to _the una_, i, --marriage of, under protest, i, --meetings held in new jersey, iii, --petitions, iii, --national convention, broadway tabernacle, i, --philadelphia national convention, at, i, --portrait, ii, --report, american woman suffrage association, ii, --scripture, on, i, --speeches: broadway tabernacle convention, i, , , ; american woman suffrage association meeting in cooper institute, ii, ; in steinway hall, ii, ; in detroit, ii, ; in st. louis, ii, , ; in washington, ii, ; cincinnati, i, ; cleveland, i, ; concord, iii, ; woman's national loyal league, ii, ; worcester, i, --suffrage, negro, first, on, ii, --syracuse national convention, i, --taxes, refused to pay, i, . story, judge, on the constitution, ii, , , . strahan, robert h., iii, . strong, rev. a. h., iii, --on subordination of women, i, . stuart, abby h. h., iii, . stuart, mary a., iii, , . studwell, edwin a., ii, . suffrage gained: _full_ suffrage, isle of man, iii, , ; utah territory, ii, , ; washington territory, iii, ; wyoming territory, ii, , ; iii, . suffrage gained: _municipal_ suffrage: canada, iii, , england, iii, ; madras, iii, ; scotland, iii, , . suffrage gained: _school_ suffrage: canada, iii, ; colorado, iii, ; dakota, iii, ; england, iii, ; kansas, i, , iii, , ; kentucky, i, , iii, ; massachusetts, iii, ; michigan, iii, , ; minnesota, iii, , , ; nebraska, iii, ; new hampshire, iii, , ; new york, iii, ; oregon, iii, ; scotland, iii, ; vermont, i, , iii, . suits (see trials). sumner, charles, ii, , , , --ballot, on the, ii, --equal rights to all, ii, --fourteenth amendment, opposed, ii, --voted for, ii, --letter, woman's national loyal league anniversary, ii, --"male," and the word, ii, --petition, presents, under protest, ii, --petitions, asks for, ii, --rebuked by senator cowan, ii, --speech in u. s. senate on presentation of petition of the woman's nat. league, ii, --taxation without representation, on, ii, . sunday-school teachings, i, . sunderland-gage controversy, i, . sunderland, mrs. h. e., iii, . sutherland, julia k., iii, . swank, emma b., i, --sketch of, i, sweet, ada, pension agent, iii, . swisshelm, jane grey, i, ; iii, , --_saturday visitor_, i, --letter, "borders of monkeydom," i, --speech, washington convention, iii, . switzerland, iii, , . t. taney, justice, ii, . tax, society, anti, iii, --susan a. king, iii, --protest, harriet k. hunt's, i, --report of n. y. state assessors, iii, --representation, without, ii, , , , ; iii, , --lucy stone refused to pay, i, . taylor, helen, ii, ; iii, , , . taylor, mrs. mentia, letter to mrs. p. w. davis, ii, --mrs. p. a., iii, . taylor, r. b., in kansas campaign, ii, . tea, anti, leagues, i, . telegrapher, hattie hutchinson, age ten years, iii, . teller, willard, iii, . temperance conventions: --albany, i, --dayton, ohio, i, --half world's, i, --lawrence, kansas, ii, --pennsylvania, i, --world's, i, --press comments, i, --daughters of, i, --new york, brick church meeting, i, --new york, metropolitan hall meeting, i, --new york woman's state society, i, --woman suffrage, and, ii, . tennessee, iii, . tennessee campaign, miss carroll, ii, - . tenney, mrs. r. s., letter to susan b. anthony, ii, . texas, iii, --constitutional convention, iii, --legislative action, iii, --women in government offices, iii, . theological discussion, i, . thirteenth amendment, ii, , , . thomas', mrs. abel c., farm, iii, . thomas, julia j., and greek prize, iii, . thomas, mary f., ii, --reminiscences of, i, --sketch of, i, --speech, winchester, ind., convention, i, . thompson, geo., speech, i, . thompson, mary a., iii, , . thomson, j. edgar, will of, iii, . thornton, j. quinn, iii, . tilden, samuel j., i, ; iii, . tillotson, mary a., iii, . tilton, theodore, ii, , --beecher colloquy, ii, --fifteenth amendment, and the, ii, --kansas campaign, ii, --letter to american woman suffrage association, ii, --speech at nat. convention in new york, ii, . tod, isabella m., iii, , , . toucey, sinclair, ii, . train, geo. francis, ii, , --constitutional convention at albany, before, ii, --kansas campaign, in, ii, , , . tracts, prize, i, . trials and decisions, ii, , --allen, jane, case of, ii, --anthony, susan b. (see anthony) --bly, mrs., ii, --bradwell, myra (see bradwell) --burnham, carrie, suit, ii, --gardner, nannette b., ii, --huntington, sarah m. t., ii, --inspectors of election, ii, --jury convicts, ii, --pardoned by president grant, ii, --sentenced, ii, --trial, motion for new, ii, --mansfield, arabella a., case of, ii, --minor, virginia l., ii, --chief-justice waite's opinion, ii, --opinion reviewed by mrs. gage, ii, --reviewed by _central law journal_, ii, --parody, ii, --ricker, mrs. m. m., ii, --spencer, sarah andrews, suit, ii, --chief-justice cartter's opinion, ii, --van valkenburg, ellen rand, suit, ii, --waite, catharine v., suit, ii, ; iii, --webster, sarah e., ii, ; iii, -- , women householders and lord coleridge, iii, . truman, james, on women in dentistry, iii, . trumbull, lyman, ii, . tudor, mrs. fenno, reception, iii, . turkey, iii, . turner, eliza sproat, iii, . turner, jennie, iii, . tyler, moses coit, ii, . tyler, w. s., iii, . tyndale, sarah, tribute, i, . tyndale, sharon, ii, . u. una, mrs. paulina wright davis, i, , . uncle tom's cabin, i, . underhill, sarah e., i, --sketch of, i, united states a nation? is the, ii, . updegraff, w. w., kansas campaign, ii, . upham, hon. charles w., i, . underwood, john c., iii, --tribute, ii, , . utah, ii, . v. van cleve, charlotte o., iii, . van lew, elizabeth, postmaster at richmond, iii, . van pelt, maggie, journalist, iii, . van valkenburg, ellen rand, ii, . van voorhis, john, ii, - . vassar college, iii, . vaughan, mary c., speech on temperance, i, . vermont, i, ; iii, --homestead law, i, --st. andrew's letter, iii, , --school suffrage, iii, --university opens to women, iii, --woman suffrage amendment, reed's report, iii, --_vermont watchman_, iii, . vest, senator, on woman suffrage, iii, , . vice, legalization of, i, , ; iii, , . vicksburg, naval attack on, ii, . virginia, iii, --woman suffrage association, iii, . voltaire, i, . voris, a. c., ii, . vote, first woman to cast a, ii, --first woman to claim the right, iii, --mrs. gage attempted to, iii, --woman earned her right to, ii, --in scotland, iii, --reports of voting in new york, iii, --voted with miss anthony, list of, ii, --voted in new jersey, i, ; iii, --voting in , i, --persons entitled to, ii, . voted, , lily maxwell, iii, . voters, qualification of, t. w. higginson's speech, i, . w. wade, benjamin, f., ii, --letter to susan b. anthony, ii, ; j. s. griffing, ii, --speech, ii, --remarks to anna ella carroll, ii, --letters to miss carroll, ii, , . wadsworth, l. a., iii, . wait, anna c., iii, , . waite, catharine v., ii, ; iii, . waite, chas. b., iii, . waite, jessie t., argument before house committee, iii, --report of national convention, iii, - . waite, m. r., iii, --supreme court opinion, ii, - . waldo, peter, ii, . walker, dr. mary, ii, , ; iii, . wall, sarah e., ii, ; iii, . wallace, w. d., iii, , . wallace, zerelda g., iii, - , - , --argument before senate com., iii, --letter to s. b. anthony, iii, . walling, mrs. m. c., speech in u. s. senate, ii, . walter, cornelia, iii, . war, woman's patriotism in, ii, , ; iii, , . warn kate, iii, . warner, esther l., iii, . warren, mercy, otis, i, ; ii, . washington conventions (see conventions) --(see also district of columbia). _washington evening star_, iii, . _washington sunday chronicle_, ii, . washington, george, letter to ladies of trenton, n. j., i, . washington territory, iii, --women enfranchised, iii, . watterson, henry, ii, , ; iii, . wattles, john o., i, . wattles, susan e., ii, ; iii, . way, amanda m., iii, --legislative hearing, iii, --reminiscences, i, --sketch of, i, . weber, helene marie, i, --letter to m. a. spofford, i, . webster, rev. d. l., i, . webster, sarah e., suit, ii, --chief-justice cartter's opinion, ii, . weed, thurlow, i, . weld, angelina grimké, on organizations, i, --speech, loyal women's convention, ii, --speech, woman's national loyal league, ii, ; iii, . weld, theodore, i, . wells, charlotte fowler, i, ; ii, . wendt, mathilda f., iii, . wendte, w. c., ii, . wenthworth, elizabeth r., iii, . wesley, john, on witchcraft, i, . wesley, susannah, i, . weston, hannah and rebecca, i, . west virginia, iii, . wheatly, phillis, colored, i, . wheeler, l. may, iii, . whipple, e. p., views of george eliot, i, . white, andrew d., iii, , . white, bessie heagen, pharmacy, iii, . white, laura r., architect, iii, . white, richard grant, on the word "citizen," ii, . whitehead, wm. a., paper on woman suffrage, i, . whiting, lilian, iii, . whiting, n. h., i, . whitman, sarah helen, ii, . whittier, john g., i, ; iii, . wife ownership, i, . wigham, eliza, iii, . wilbour, charlotte b., iii, --organized sorosis, iii, --president new york city society, iii, --remarks at washington convention, ii, , --corresponding secretary loyal league, ii, . wilbur, hervey backus, iii, . wilcox, hamilton, ii, ; iii, , . wildman, john r., iii, . willard, emma, i, . willard, frances e., iii, , , , . willard, judge john, i, . will of bridget smith, i, . williams, george, iii, . williams, nellie, i, . williams, sarah langdon, iii, --_the ballot-box_, iii, . williams, senator, ii, . willing, mrs. j. f., ii, . willis (see olympia brown). wilson, elizabeth, i, . wilson, hannah, iii, . wilson, henry, ii, , , , ; iii, . winchell, charlotte, s., career of, iii, . wisconsin, i, , ; iii, --conventions (see conventions) --legislation, iii, --shole's report, i, --report of david noggle, i, --married women, rights of, iii, --milwaukee female college, iii, --state association, iii, --state university, iii, --statutes, modification of, iii, --suffrage amendment, iii, --temperance question, iii, --women as lawyers, iii, --voters, iii, . wise, mary e., ii, . witchcraft, i, , , , , , , . wives in russia, i, . wives, sale of, i, . wizards, i, . wolcott, laura ross, graduated medical college i, --organized wisconsin state society, ii, --sketch of, iii, --national convention, milwaukee, iii, . wollstonecraft, mary, eulogy of, i, - --"rights of women," i, . wollstenholme, mrs. almy, with mrs. jacob bright, iii, . woman, advice of men, warned against, ii, --anglo-saxon laws, i, --army, in the, i, --bar, admissions to, iii, , --british parliament, in, i, --census enumerators, first appointments, iii, --church poll, at the, i, --civil service, in, iii, --clinical instruction, pennsylvania university, iii, --coeducation, statistics, iii, --colleges, and the, ii, --colleges, in, i, , iii, --college in evanston, illinois, iii, --congress organized in new york, iii, --degradation of, i, , --emancipation, i, --employment of, in insane asylums, iii, --employments, varied capacity for, iii, , --excluded as delegates, anti-slavery convention, london, i, --chronological table of successive steps in england, iii, --history of, in three pictures; under hindoo laws, i, ; under anglo-saxon laws, i, , ; under signs of the times, i, , --illiteracy of, iii, --inventions by, iii, --jury, on, iii, ; list of the first grand, iii, --kansas, of, i, --labor performed in christian countries, i, --laborer, unpaid, i, --legal disabilities, removed of, iii, --legal rights, i, --list of names of friends in california, iii, - ; list of names of friends in minnesota, iii, - --loyal league, ii, ; address to abraham lincoln, ii, ; anniversary of, ii, ; letters in response to a call for a meeting, ii, ; petition, ii, ; platform, ii, ; press comments, ii, ; resolutions, ii, ; secretary's report, ii, --married, act relative to rights of, i, --married, laws regarding, iii, --married, and their legal status, ii, --married, property rights of, iii, --marry, will the coming, iii, --national protection, claim, ii, --naval heroines, ii, --official position, first appointed to, in new york, iii, --ohio, protest against enfranchisement, iii, --outrages, , in ireland, i, --pharmacy, , , --physician, first, i, --physicians in insane asylums, as, iii, --politics, in, ii, , --preachers, as, i, --professions, in the, iii, --property rights, i, , , , , , --property rights granted, iii, --public affairs, why meddle in, i, --revolution, in the, i, , , , --roman law, under i, --school of design, philadelphia, i, --school boards, on, iii, , --school officers, bill passed new york legislature, iii, ; vetoed by gov. robinson, iii, --school officers, made so in illinois, iii, --science and literature, degraded in, i, --sermon to, rev. knox little's, i, --sin, original, i, --slaves, legislated for as, i, --social evolution of, iii, --social relations, i, --sold with cattle in pennsylvania, iii, --soldiers, as, ii, , --sphere, i, , , , , , , , , , , ; ii, , , --spy, anecdote, i, --subordination, i, ; evarts in the beecher-tilton trial upon, i, ; sermon by rev. a. h. strong, i, --supreme court opened to, iii, ; senator hoar's speech, iii, --torture of, i, , , --type-setters, i, --wardens, iii, --work, statistics, i, --work done by, iii, --work and wages, i, , --working, of boston, ii, --working, seats in shops, iii, . woman suffrage, (see suffrage gained); --appeals, i, , , ; ii, , , --arguments in favor of, ii, --bible argument, ii, ; bible, and the, i, , --complaints, , the, ii, --debate between anna dickinson and r. l. collier, iii, --democratic national convention, letters and delegates, iii, --discussion at woman's national loyal league, ii, --england, gen. butler's report in, ii, , , --essay, in _westminster review_, i, --equal rights association organized, ii, --fifth avenue conference, ii, --kansas, report of judiciary franchise committee, i, --_national association_ organized, ii, ; address to president hayes, iii, ; appeal, mrs. hooker's, to women of the united states, ii, ; appeal to women, grant and wilson presidential campaign, ii, ; congressional committee grant hearings, iii, ; constitution and officers, ii, , iii, - ; letter to berlin congress, ii, ; delegates to berlin, ii, --new york and boston wings, ii, --new york city society, iii, --opponents, iii, --organ, need of an, i, --periods, most trying, ii, --petitions in many states, one year's work, i, --power of legislature to extend suffrage, iii, - --presidential suffrage iii, --principles, mode of disseminating, i, --progress made, ii, --"fair play," from rev. wm. h. channing, i, --second decade celebration, ii, --third decade celebration, iii, --subscriptions, ii, --sympathizers, celebrated, iii, . _woman's journal_, lucy stone editor, ii, , ; iii, , , , . "woman's kingdom," _chicago inter-ocean_, mrs. harbert, editor, iii, . _woman's review, english_, caroline ashurst biggs, editor, iii, , . _women's suffrage journal_, lydia e. becker, editor, iii, , , , . _woman's tribune_, mrs. colby, editor, iii, . wood, bradford r., i, . wood, rev. jeremiah, i, . wood, s. n., i, --kansas campaign, ii, , , , , , , , , . woodall, william, iii, . woodhull, victoria c., memorial to congress, ii, --memorial supported in a speech by a. g. riddle, ii, --memorial, house majority report, iii, --memorial, house minority report, ii, --speech before judiciary committee, house of representatives, ii, . woolson, abba g., ii, . wooster, wilder m., iii, . worden, mrs., i, . wright, elizur, letter to paulina w. davis, i, . wright, frances, i, , --editor, _free enquirer_, i, --owen, robert dale, and, i, --portrait, i, --sketch of, i, --tribute, ii, ; tribute, mrs. rose's, i, . wright, henry c., letter to garrison, i, . wright, martha c., i, , , , , , , , , --may anniversary, ii, --president cincinnati convention, made, i, --president n. y. state society, i, ; presided, - --thanks rev. sam'l longfellow, i, --portrait, i, --equal rights association, on the, ii, --letter to pillsbury, ii, --speech at cooper institute convention, i, --tribute, ii, - . wyoming, iii, --act to protect property rights of married women, iii, --election, first, iii, --election under woman suffrage, first, iii, --jury, women on, iii, ; list of the first grand, iii, --press, iii, --school law, iii, --sunday laws enforced, iii, --suffrage bill signed by gov. campbell, iii, --territory organized, iii, --women granted citizenship, iii, --woman suffrage act, legislature votes to repeal, iii, ; bill vetoed, iii, --woman suffrage respected, iii, . y. yocum, a. p., iii, . yount, a. k., iii, . [transcriber's notes: the transcriber made changes as below indicated to the text to correct obvious errors: . p. forgotton --> forgotten . p. petioned --> petitioned . p. neccessarily --> necessarily . p. universiy --> university . p. engergertic --> energetic . p. presidental --> presidential . p. in ever --> in every . p. committe --> committee . p. therefere --> therefore . p. nnd --> and (footnote # ) . p. certan --> certain (footnote # ) . p. their is no need (left as published) . p. footnote marker for # missing in original text . p. iniative --> initiative . p. suffers form --> suffers from . p. iniative --> initiative . p. mora --> more (footnote # ) . p. enconnter --> encounter . p. thorougly --> thoroughly . p. enfrancisement --> enfranchisement . p. text for footnote # missing . p. hopsital --> hospital . p. neccessarily --> necessarily . p. elegible --> eligible . p. historcal --> historical (footnote # ) . p. table header text in footnote # replaced with legends to shorten table width . p. auxilary --> auxiliary . p. disappoinments --> disappointments . p. footnote marker missing; placement assumed . p. februay --> february . p. iniative --> initiative . p. handsomly --> handsomely . p. sufirage --> suffrage (footnote # ) . p. yonrs --> yours . p. ef --> of (footnote # ) . p. hnndred --> hundred . p. minature --> miniature . p. introducd --> introduced . p. st. panl --> st. paul . p. footnote # points to two places . p. dilligent --> diligent . p. benificent --> beneficent . p. universites --> universities . p. transcient --> transient . p. connot --> cannot . p. feburary --> february . p. seige --> siege . p. jonrnalist --> journalist . p. npon --> upon . p. objectionabie --> objectionable . p. origininally --> originally . p. josophine --> josephine (footnote # ) . p. distinguised --> distinguished . p. uuhappily --> unhappily . p. bycicles --> bicycles . p. at al. --> et al. . p. bïennial --> biënnial . p. legislatuere --> legislature . p. and following, index punctuation standardized . p. snpreme --> supreme . p. pseeches --> speeches . p. stan- --> stanton . p. (convention)s --> (conventions) . p. covention --> convention . p. scatcherd.. ... --> scatcherd.. .. . p. suffbage --> suffrage end of transcriber's notes] the unexpurgated case against woman suffrage by sir almroth e. wright m.d., f.r.s. contents preface introduction programme of this treatise--motives from which women claim the suffrage--types of men who support the suffrage--john stuart mill. part i arguments which are adduced in support of woman's suffrage i arguments from elementary natural rights signification of the term "woman's rights"--argument from "justice"--juridical justice--"egalitarian equity"--argument from justice applied to taxation--argument from liberty--summary of arguments from elementary natural rights. ii arguments from intellectual grievances of woman complaint of want of chivalry--complaint of "insults"--complaint of "illogicalties"--complaint of "prejudices"--the familiar suffragist grievance of the drunkard voter and the woman of property who is a non-voter--the grievance of woman being required to obey man-made laws. iii arguments which take the form of "counsels of perfection" addressed to man argument that woman requires a vote for her protection--argument that woman ought to be invested with the responsibilities of voting in order that she may attain her full intellectual stature. part ii arguments against the concession of the parliamentary suffrage to woman i woman's disability in the matter of physical force international position of state would be imperilled by woman's suffrage--internal equilibrium of state would be imperilled. ii woman's disability in the matter of intellect characteristics of the feminine mind--suffragist illusions with regard to the equality of man and woman as workers--prospect for the intellectual future of woman--has woman advanced? iii woman's disability in the matter of public morality standards by which morality can be appraised--conflict between different moralities--the correct standard of morality--moral psychology of man and woman--difference between man and woman in matters of public morality. iv mental outlook and programme of the female legislative reformer v ulterior ends which the woman's suffrage movement has in view part iii is there, if the suffrage is barred, any palliative or corrective for the discontents of woman? i palliatives or correctives for the discontent of woman what are the suffragist's grievances?--economic and physiological difficulties of woman--intellectual grievances of suffragist and corrective. appendix letter on militant hysteria preface it has come to be believed that everything that has a bearing upon the concession of the suffrage to woman has already been brought forward. in reality, however, the influence of women has caused man to leave unsaid many things which he ought to have said. especially in two respects has woman restricted the discussion. she has placed her taboo upon all generalisations about women, taking exception to these on the threefold ground that there would be no generalisations which would hold true of all women; that generalisations when reached possess no practical utility; and that the element of sex does not leave upon women any general imprint such as could properly be brought up in connexion with the question of admitting them to the electorate. woman has further stifled discussion by placing her taboo upon anything seriously unflattering being said about her in public. i would suggest, and would propose here myself to act upon the suggestion, that, in connexion with the discussion of woman's suffrage, these restrictions should be laid aside. in connexion with the setting aside of the restriction upon generalising, i may perhaps profitably point out that all generalisations, and not only generalisations which relate to women, are _ex hypothesi [by hypothesis]_ subject to individual exceptions. (it is to generalisations that the proverb that "the exception proves the rule" really applies.) i may further point out that practically every decision which we take in ordinary life, and all legislative action without exception, is based upon generalisations; and again, that the question of the suffrage, and with it the larger question as to the proper sphere of woman, finally turns upon the question as to what imprint woman's sexual system leaves upon her physical frame, character, and intellect: in more technical terms, it turns upon the question as to what are the _secondary sexual character[istic]s_ of woman. now only by a felicitous exercise of the faculty of successful generalisation can we arrive at a knowledge of these. with respect to the restriction that nothing which might offend woman's _amour propre [self love]_ shall be said in public, it may be pointed out that, while it was perfectly proper and equitable that no evil (and, as pericles proposed, also no good) should be said of woman in public so long as she confined herself to the domestic sphere, the action of that section of women who have sought to effect an entrance into public life, has now brought down upon woman, as one of the penalties, the abrogation of that convention. a consideration which perhaps ranks only next in importance to that with which we have been dealing, is that of the logical sanction of the propositions which are enunciated in the course of such controversial discussions as that in which we are here involved. it is clearly a precondition of all useful discussion that the author and reader should be in accord with respect to the authority of the generalisations and definitions which supply the premisses for his reasonings. though this might perhaps to the reader appear an impractical ideal, i would propose here to attempt to reach it by explaining the logical method which i have set myself to follow. although i have from literary necessity employed in my text some of the verbal forms of dogmatism, i am very far from laying claim to any dogmatic authority. more than that, i would desire categorically to repudiate such a claim. for i do not conceal from myself that, if i took up such a position, i should wantonly be placing myself at the mercy of my reader. for he could then, by merely refusing to see in me an authority, bring down the whole edifice of my argument like a house of cards. moreover i am not blind to what would happen if, after i claimed to be taken as an authority, the reader was indulgent enough still to go on to read what i have written. he would in such a case, the moment he encountered a statement with which he disagreed, simply waive me on one side with the words, "so you say." and if he should encounter a statement with which he agreed, he would in his wisdom, censure me for neglecting to provide for that proposition a satisfactory logical foundation. if it is far from my thoughts to claim a right of dictation, it is equally remote from them to take up the position that i have in my arguments furnished _proof_ of the thesis which i set out to establish. it would be culpable misuse of language to speak in such connexion of _proof_ or _disproof_. proof by testimony, which is available in con-nexion with questions of fact, is unavailable in connexion with general truths; and logical proof is obtainable only in that comparatively narrow sphere where reasoning is based--as in mathematics--upon axioms, or--as in certain really crucial experiments in the mathematic sciences--upon quasi-axiomatic premisses. everywhere else we base our reasonings on premisses which are simply more or less probable; and accordingly the conclusions which we arrive at have in them always an element of insecurity. it will be clear that in philosophy, in jurisprudence, in political economy and sociology, and in literary criticism and such like, we are dealing not with certainties but with propositions which are, for literary convenience, invested with the garb of certainties. what kind of logical sanction is it, then, which can attach to reasonings such as are to be set out here? they have in point of fact the sanction which attaches to reasonings based upon premisses arrived at by the method of _diacritical judgment._ it is, i hasten to notify the reader, not the method, but only the name here assigned to it, which is unfamiliar. as soon as i exhibit it in the working, the reader will identify it as that by which every generalisation and definition ought to be put to the proof. i may for this purpose take the general statements or definitions which serve as premisses for my reasonings in the text. i bring forward those generalisations and definitions because they commend themselves to my diacritical judgment. in other words, i set them forth as results which have been reached after reiterated efforts to call up to mind the totality of my experience, and to de-tect the factor which is common to all the individual experiences. when for instance i propose a definition, i have endeavoured to call to mind all the different uses of the word with which i am familiar--eliminating, of course, all the obviously incorrect uses. and when i venture to attempt a generalisation about woman, i endeavour to recall to mind without distinction all the different women i have encountered, and to extricate from my impressions what was common to all,--omitting from consideration (except only when i am dealing specifically with these) all plainly abnormal women. having by this procedure arrived at a generalisation--which may of course be correct or incorrect--i submit it to my reader, and ask from him that he should, after going through the same mental operations as myself, review my judgment, and pronounce his verdict. if it should then so happen that the reader comes, in the case of any generalisation, to the same verdict as that which i have reached, that particular generalisation will, i submit, now go forward not as a datum of my individual experience, but as the intellectual resultant of two separate and distinct experiences. it will thereby be immensely fortified. if, on the other hand, the reader comes to the conclusion that a particular generalisation is out of conformity with his experience, that generalisation will go forward shorn of some, or perchance all, its authority. but in any case each individual generalisation must be referred further. and at the end it will, according as it finds, or fails to find, acceptance among the thoughtful, be endorsed as a truth, and be gathered into the garner of human knowledge; or be recognised as an error, and find its place with the tares, which the householder, in time of the harvest, will tell the reapers to bind in bundles to burn them. a. e. w. . introduction programme of this treatise--motives from which women claim the suffrage--types of men who support the suffrage--john stuart mill. the task which i undertake here is to show that the woman's suffrage movement has no real intellectual or moral sanction, and that there are very weighty reasons why the suffrage should not be conceded to woman. i would propose to begin by analysing the mental attitude of those who range themselves on the side of woman suffrage, and then to pass on to deal with the principal arguments upon which the woman suffragist relies. the preponderating majority of the women who claim the suffrage do not do so from motives of public interest or philanthropy. they are influenced almost exclusively by two motives: resentment at the suggestion that woman should be accounted by man as inherently his inferior in certain important respects; and reprehension of a state of society in which more money, more personal liberty (in reality only more of the personal liberty which the possession of money confers), more power, more public recognition and happier physiological conditions fall to the share of man. a cause which derives its driving force so little from philanthropy and public interest and so much from offended _amour propre_ and pretensions which are, as we shall see, unjustified, has in reality no moral prestige. for its intellectual prestige the movement depends entirely on the fact that it has the advocacy of a certain number of distinguished men. it will not be amiss to examine that advocacy. the "intellectual" whose name appears at the foot of woman's suffrage petitions will, when you have him by himself, very often make confession:--"woman suffrage," he will tell you, "is not the grave and important cause which the ardent female suffragist deems it to be. not only will it not do any of the things which she imagines it is going to do, but it will leave the world exactly where it is. still--the concession of votes to women is desirable from the point of view of symmetry of classification; and it will soothe the ruffled feelings of quite a number of very worthy women." it may be laid down as a broad general rule that only two classes of men have the cause of woman's suffrage really at heart. the first is the crank who, as soon as he thinks he has discerned a moral principle, immediately gets into the saddle, and then rides hell-for-leather, reckless of all considerations of public expediency. the second is that very curious type of man, who when it is suggested in his hearing that the species woman is, measured by certain intellectual and moral standards, the inferior of the species man, solemnly draws himself up and asks, "are you, sir, aware that you are insulting my wife?" to this, the type of man who feels every unfavourable criticism of woman as a personal affront to himself, john stuart mill, had affinities. we find him writing a letter to the home secretary, informing him, in relation to a parliamentary bill restricting the sale of arsenic to male persons over twenty-one years, that it was a "gross insult to every woman, all women from highest to lowest being deemed unfit to have poison in their possession, lest they shall commit murder." we find him again, in a state of indignation with the english marriage laws, preluding his nuptials with mrs. taylor by presenting that lady with a formal charter; renouncing all authority over her, and promising her security against all infringements of her liberty which might proceed from _himself_. to this lady he is always ascribing credit for his eminent intellectual achievements. and lest his reader should opine that woman stands somewhat in the shade with respect to her own intellectual triumphs, mill undertakes the explanation. "felicitous thoughts," he tells us, "occur by hundreds to every woman of intellect. but they are mostly lost for want of a husband or friend . . . to estimate them properly, and to bring them before the world; and even when they are brought before it they generally appear as his ideas." not only did mill see woman and all her works through an optical medium which gave images like this; but there was upon his retina a large blind area. by reason of this last it was inapprehensible to him that there could be an objection to the sexes co-operating indiscriminately in work. it was beyond his ken that the sex element would under these conditions invade whole departments of life which are now free from it. as he saw things, there was in point of fact a risk of the human race dying out by reason of the inadequate imperativeness of its sexual instincts. mill's unfaithfulness to the facts cannot, however, all be put down to constitutional defects of vision. when he deals with woman he is no longer scrupulously conscientious. we begin to have our suspicions of his uprightness when we find him in his _subjection of women_ laying it down as a fundamental postulate that the subjection of woman to man is always morally indefensible. for no upright mind can fail to see that the woman who lives in a condition of financial dependence upon man has no moral claim to unrestricted liberty. the suspicion of mill's honesty which is thus awakened is confirmed by further critical reading of his treatise. in that skilful tractate one comes across, every here and there, a _suggestio falsi [suggestion of a falsehood],_ or a _suppressio veri [suppression of the truth],_ or a fallacious analogy nebulously expressed, or a mendacious metaphor, or a passage which is contrived to lead off attention from some weak point in the feminist case.[ ] moreover, mill was unmindful of the obligations of intellectual morality when he allowed his stepdaughter, in connexion with feminist questions, to draft letters [ ] which went forward as his own. [ ] _vide [see]_ in this connexion the incidental references to mill on pp. , footnote, and . [ ] vide _letters of john stuart mill,_ vol. ii, pp. , , , , , , , , , , and . there is yet another factor which must be kept in mind in connexion with the writings of mill. it was the special characteristic of the man to set out to tackle concrete problems and then to spend his strength upon abstractions. in his _political economy_, where his proper subject matter was man with his full equipment of impulses, mill took as his theme an abstraction: an _economic man_ who is actuated solely by the desire of gain. he then worked out in great elaboration the course of conduct which an aggregate of these puppets of his imagination would pursue. having persuaded himself, after this, that he had in his possession a _vade mecum_ _[handbook]_ to the comprehension of human societies, he now took it upon himself to expound the principles which govern and direct these. until such time as this procedure was unmasked, mill's political economy enjoyed an unquestioned authority. exactly the same plan was followed by mill in handling the question of woman's suffrage. instead of dealing with woman as she is, and with woman placed in a setting of actually subsisting conditions, mill takes as his theme a woman who is a creature of his imagination. this woman is, _by assumption_, in mental endowments a replica of man. she lives in a world which is, _by tacit assumption_, free from complications of sex. and, if practical considerations had ever come into the purview of mill's mind, she would, _by tacit assumption_, be paying her own way, and be making full personal and financial contributions to the state. it is in connexion with this fictitious woman that mill sets himself to work out the benefits which women would derive from co-partnership with men in the government of the state, and those which such co-partnership would confer on the community. finally, practising again upon himself the same imposition as in his _political economy_, this unpractical trafficker in abstractions sets out to persuade his reader that he has, by dealing with fictions of the mind, effectively grappled with the concrete problem of woman's suffrage. this, then, is the philosopher who gives intellectual prestige to the woman's suffrage cause. but is there not, let us in the end ask ourselves, here and there at least, a man who is of real account in the world of affairs, and who is--not simply a luke-warm platonic friend or an opportunist advocate--but an impassioned promoter of the woman's suffrage movement? one knows quite well that there is. but then one suspects--one perhaps discerns by "the spirit sense"--that this impassioned promoter of woman's suffrage is, on the sequestered side of his life, an idealistic dreamer: one for whom some woman's memory has become, like beatrice for dante, a mystic religion. we may now pass on to deal with the arguments by which the woman suffragist has sought to establish her case. part i arguments which are adduced in support of woman's suffrage i arguments from elementary natural rights signification of the term "woman's rights"--argument from "justice"--juridical justice-"egalitarian equity"--argument from justice applied to taxation--argument from liberty--summary of arguments from elementary natural rights. let us note that the suffragist does not--except, perhaps, when she is addressing herself to unfledged girls and to the sexually embittered--really produce much effect by inveighing against the legal grievances of woman under the bastardy laws, the divorce laws, and the law which fixes the legal age of consent. this kind of appeal does not go down with the ordinary man and woman--first, because there are many who think that in spite of occasional hardships the public advantage is, on the whole, very well served by the existing laws; secondly, because any alterations which might be desirable could very easily be made without recourse to woman's suffrage; and thirdly, because the suffragist consistently acts on the principle of bringing up against man everything that can possibly be brought up against him, and of never allowing anything to appear on the credit side of the ledger. the arguments which the woman suffragist really places confidence in are those which are provided by undefined general principles, apothegms set out in the form of axioms, formulae which are vehicles for fallacies, ambiguous abstract terms, and "question-begging" epithets. your ordinary unsophisticated man and woman stand almost helpless against arguments of this kind. for these bring to bear moral pressure upon human nature. and when the intellect is confused by a word or formula which conveys an ethical appeal, one may very easily find oneself committed to action which one's unbiased reason would never have approved. the very first requirement in connexion with any word or phrase which conveys a moral exhortation is, therefore, to analyse it and find out its true signification. for all such concepts as justice, rights, freedom, chivalry--and it is with these that we shall be specially concerned--are, when properly defined and understood beacon-lights, but when ill understood and undefined, stumbling-blocks in the path of humanity. we may appropriately begin by analysing the term "woman's rights" and the correlative formula "woman has a right to the suffrage." our attention here immediately focuses upon the term _right_. it is one of the most important of the verbal agents by which the suffragist hopes to bring moral pressure to bear upon man. now, the term _right_ denotes in its juridical sense a debt which is owed to us by the state. a right is created when the community binds itself to us, its individual members, to intervene by force to restrain any one from interfering with us, and to protect us in the enjoyment of our faculties, privileges, and property. the term is capable of being given a wider meaning. while no one could appropriately speak of our having a _right_ to health or anything that man has not the power to bestow, it is arguable that there are, independent of and antecedent to law, elementary rights: a right to freedom; a right to protection against personal violence; a right to the protection of our property; and a right to the impartial administration of regulations which are binding upon all. such a use of the term _right_ could be justified on the ground that everybody would be willing to make personal sacrifices, and to combine with his fellows for the purpose of securing these essentials--an understanding which would almost amount to legal sanction. the suffragist who employs the term "woman's _rights_" does not employ the word rights in either of these senses. her case is analogous to that of a man who should in a republic argue about the divine _right_ of kings; or that of the liberal who should argue that it was his _right_ to live permanently under a liberal government; or of any member of a minority who should, with a view of getting what he wants, argue that he was contending only for his rights. the woman suffragist is merely bluffing. her formula "_woman's rights_" means simply "_woman's claims_." for the moment--for we shall presently be coming back to the question of the enforcement of rights--our task is to examine the arguments which the suffragist brings forward in support of her claims. first and chief among these is the argument that the _principle of justice_ prescribes that women should be enfranchised. when we inquire what the suffragist understands under the principle of justice, one receives by way of answer only the _petitio principii [question begging]_ that justice is a moral principle which includes woman suffrage among its implications. in reality it is only very few who clearly apprehend the nature of justice. for under this appellation two quite different principles are confounded. the primary and correct signification of the term justice will perhaps be best arrived at by pursuing the following train of considerations:-- when man, long impatient at arbitrary and quite incalculable autocratic judgments, proceeded to build up a legal system to take the place of these, he built it upon the following series of axioms:--(_a_) all actions of which the courts are to take cognisance shall be classified. (_b_) the legal consequences of each class of action shall be definitely fixed. (_c_) the courts shall adjudicate only on questions of fact, and on the issue as to how the particular deed which is the cause of action should be classified. and (_d_) such decisions shall carry with them in an automatic manner the appointed legal consequences. for example, if a man be arraigned for the appropriation of another man's goods, it is an axiom that the court (when once the questions of fact have been disposed of) shall adjudicate only on the issue as to whether the particular appropriation of goods in dispute comes under the denomination of larceny, burglary, or other co-ordinate category; and that upon this the sentence shall go forth: directing that the legal consequences which are appointed to that particular class of action be enforced. this is the system every one can see administered in every court of justice. there is, however, over and above what has just been set out another essential element in justice. it is an element which readily escapes the eye. i have in view the fact that the classifications which are adopted and embodied in the law must not be arbitrary classifications. they must all be conformable to the principle of utility, and be directed to the advantage of society. if, for instance, burglary is placed in a class apart from larceny, it is discriminated from it because this distinction is demanded by considerations of public advantage. but considerations of utility would not countenance, and by consequence justice would not accept, a classification of theft into theft committed by a poor man and theft committed by a rich man. the conception of justice is thus everywhere interfused with considerations of utility and expediency. it will have become plain that if we have in view the justice which is administered in the courts--we may here term it _juridical justice_--then the question as to whether it is _just_ to refuse the suffrage to woman will be determined by considering whether the classification of men as voters and of women as non-voters is in the public interest. put otherwise, the question whether it would be just that woman should have a vote would require the answer "yes" or "no," according as the question whether it would be expedient or inexpedient that woman should vote required the answer "yes" or "no." but it would be for the electorate, not for the woman suffragist, to decide that question. there is, as already indicated, another principle which passes under the name of justice. i have in view the principle that in the distribution of wealth or political power, or any other privileges which it is in the power of the state to bestow, every man should share equally with every other man, and every woman equally with every man, and that in countries where europeans and natives live side by side, these latter should share all privileges equally with the white--the goal of endeavour being that all distinctions depending upon natural endowment, sex, and race should be effaced. we may call this principle the _principle of egalitarian equity_--first, because it aims at establishing a quite artificial equality; secondly, because it makes appeal to our ethical instincts, and claims on that ground to override the distinctions of which formal law takes account. but let us reflect that we have here a principle which properly understood, embraces in its purview all mankind, and not mankind only but also the lower animals. that is to say, we have here a principle, which consistently followed out, would make of every man and woman _in primis [at first]_ a socialist; then a woman suffragist; then a philo-native, negrophil, and an advocate of the political rights of natives and negroes; and then, by logical compulsion ant anti-vivisectionist, who accounts it _unjust_ to experiment on an animal; a vegetarian, who accounts it _unjust_ to kill animals for food; and findly one who, like the jains, accounts it unjust to take the life of even verminous insects. if we accept this principle of egalitarian equity as of absolute obligation, we shall have to accept along with woman's suffrage all the other "isms" believed in, and agitated for, by the cranks who are so numerously represented in the ranks of woman suffragists. if, on the other hand, we accept the doctrine of egalitarian equity with the qualification that it shall apply only so far as what it enjoins is conformable to public advantage, we shall again make expediency the criterion of the justice of woman's suffrage. before passing on it will be well to point out that the argument from justice meets us not only in the form that justice requires that woman should have a vote, but also in all sorts of other forms. we encounter it in the writings of publicists, in the formula _taxation_ _carries with it a right to representation_; and we encounter it in the streets, on the banners of woman suffrage processions, in the form _taxation without representation is tyranny_. this latter theorem of taxation which is displayed on the banners of woman suffrage is, i suppose, deliberately and intentionally a _suggestio falsi_. for only that taxation is tyrannous which is diverted to objects which are not useful to the contributors. and even the suffragist does not suggest that the taxes which are levied on women are differentially applied to the uses of men. putting, then, this form of argument out of sight, let us come to close quarters with the question whether the payment of taxes gives a title to control the finances of the state. now, if it really did so without any regard to the status of the claimant, not only women, but also foreigners residing in, or holding property in, england, and with these lunatics and miners with property, and let me, for the sake of a pleasanter collocation of ideas, hastily add peers of the realm, who have now no control over public finance, ought to receive the parliamentary franchise. and in like manner if the payment of a tax, without consideration of its amount, were to give a title to a vote, every one who bought an article which had paid a duty would be entitled to a vote in his own, or in a foreign, country according as that duty has been paid at home or abroad. in reality the moral and logical nexus between the payment of taxes and the control of the public revenue is that the solvent and selfsupporting citizens, and only these, are entitled to direct its financial policy. if i have not received, or if i have refunded, any direct contributions i may have received from the coffers of the state; if i have paid my _pro rata_ share of its establishment charges--_i.e._ of the costs of both internal administration and external defence; and i have further paid my proportional share of whatever may be required to make up for the deficit incurred on account of my fellow-men and women who either require direct assistance from the state, or cannot meet their share of the expenses of the state, i am a _solvent citizen_; and if i fail to meet these liabilities, i am an _insolvent citizen_ even though i pay such taxes as the state insists upon my paying. now if a woman insists, in the face of warnings that she had better not do so, on taxing man with dishonesty for withholding from her financial control over the revenues of the state, she has only herself to blame if she is told very bluntly that her claim to such control is barred by the fact that she is, as a citizen insolvent. the taxes paid by women would cover only a very small proportion of the establishment charges of the state which would properly be assigned to them. it falls to man to make up that deficit. and it is to be noted with respect to those women who pay their full pro rata contribution and who ask to be treated as a class apart from, and superior to, other women, that only a very small proportion of these have made their position for themselves. immeasurably the larger number are in a solvent position only because men have placed them there. all large fortunes and practically all the incomes which are furnished by investments are derived from man. nay; but the very revenues which the woman suffrage societies devote to man's vilification are to a preponderating extent derived from funds which he earned and gave over to woman. in connexion with the financial position of woman as here stated, it will be well to consider first the rich woman's claim to the vote. we may seek light on the logical and moral aspects of this claim by considering here two parallel cases. the position which is occupied by the peer under the english constitution furnishes a very interesting parallel to the position of the woman who is here in question. time out of mind the commons have viewed with the utmost jealousy any effort of the house of lords to obtain co-partnership with them in the control of the finances of the state; and, in pursuance of that traditional policy, the peers have recently, after appeal to the country, been shorn of the last vestige of financial control. now we may perhaps see, in this jealousy of a house of lords, which represents inherited wealth, displayed by a house of commons representing voters electing on a financial qualification, an unconscious groping after the moral principle that those citizens who are solvent by their own efforts, and only these, should control the finances of the state. and if this analogy finds acceptance, it would not--even if there were nothing else than this against such proposals--be logically possible, after ousting the peers who are large tax-payers from all control over the finances of the state, to create a new class of voters out of the female representatives of unearned wealth. the second parallel case which we have to consider presents a much simpler analogy. consideration will show that the position occupied in the state by the woman who has inherited money is analogous to that occupied in a firm by a sleeping partner who stands in the shoes of a deceased working partner, and who has only a small amount of capital in the business. now, if such a partner were to claim any financial control, and were to make trouble about paying his _pro rata_ establishment charges, he would be very sharply called to order. and he would never dream of appealing to justice by breaking windows, going to gaol, and undertaking a hunger strike. coming back from the particular to the general, and from the logical to the moral aspect of woman's claim to control the finances of the state on the ground that she is a tax-payer, it will suffice to point out that this claim is on a par with the claim to increased political power and completer control over the finances of the state which is put forward by a class of male voters who are already paying much less than their _pro rata_ share of the upkeep of the state. in each case it is a question of trying to get control of other people's money. and in the case of woman it is of "trying on" in connexion with her public partnership with man that principle of domestic partnership, "all yours is mine, and all mine's my own." next to the plea of justice, the plea which is advanced most insistently by the woman who is contending for a vote is the plea of liberty. we have here, again, a word which is a valuable asset to woman suffrage both in the respect that it brings moral pressure to bear, and in the respect that it is a word of ambiguous meaning. in accordance with this we have john stuart mill making propaganda for woman suffrage in a tractate entitled the_ subjection of_ _women_; we have a woman's _freedom_ league--"freedom" being a question-begging synonym for "parliamentary franchise"--and everywhere in the literature of woman's suffrage we have talk of woman's "emancipation"; and we have women characterised as serfs, or slaves--the terms _serfs_ and _slaves_ supplying, of course, effective rhetorical synonyms for non-voters. when we have succeeded in getting through these thick husks of untruth we find that the idea of liberty which floats before the eyes of woman is, not at all a question of freedom from unequitable legal restraints, but essentially a question of getting more of the personal liberty (or command of other people's services), which the possession of money confers and more freedom from sexual restraints. the suffragist agitator makes profit out of this ambiguity. in addressing the woman worker who does not, at the rate which her labour commands on the market, earn enough to give her any reasonable measure of financial freedom, the agitator will assure her that the suffrage would bring her more money, describing the woman suffrage cause to her as the cause of liberty. by juggling in this way with the two meanings of "liberty" she will draw her into her toils. the vote, however, would not raise wages of the woman worker and bring to her the financial, nor yet the physiological freedom she is seeking. the tactics of the suffragist agitator are the same when she is dealing with a woman who is living at the charges of a husband or relative, and who recoils against the idea that she lies under a moral obligation to make to the man who works for her support some return of gratitude. the suffragist agitator will point out to her that such an obligation is slavery, and that the woman's suffrage cause is the cause of freedom. and so we find the women who want to have everything for nothing, and the wives who do not see that they are beholden to man for anything, and those who consider that they have not made a sufficiently good bargain for themselves--in short, all the ungrateful women--flock to the banner of women's freedom--the banner of financial freedom for woman at the expense of financial servitude for man. the grateful woman will practically always be an anti-suffragist. it will be well, before passing on to another class of arguments, to summarise what has been said in the three foregoing sections. we have recognised that woman has not been defrauded of elementary natural rights; that justice, as distinguished from egalitarian equity, does not prescribe that she should be admitted to the suffrage; and that her status is not, as is dishonestly alleged, a status of serfdom or slavery. with this the whole case for recrimination against man, and _a fortiori [for greater reason]_ the case for [a] resort to violence, collapses. and if it does collapse, this is one of those things that carries consequences. it would beseem man to bethink himself that to give in to an unjustified and doubtfully honest claim is to minister to the demoralisation of the claimant. ii arguments from intellectual grievances of woman complaint of want of chivalry--complaint of "insults"--complaint of "illogicalities"--complaint of "prejudices"--the familiar suffragist grievance of the drunkard voter and the woman of property who is a non-voter--the grievance of woman being required to obey man-made laws. we pass from the argument from elementary natural rights to a different class of arguments--intellectual grievances. the suffragist tells us that it is unchivalrous to oppose woman's suffrage; that it is insulting to tell woman that she is unfit to exercise the franchise; that it is "illogical" to make in her case an exception to a general rule; that it is mere "prejudice" to withhold the vote from her; that it is indignity that the virtuous and highly intelligent woman has no vote, while the drunkard has; and that the woman of property has no vote, while her male underlings have; and, lastly, that it is an affront that a woman should be required to obey "man-made" laws. we may take these in their order. let us consider chivalry, first, from the standpoint of the woman suffragist. her notion of _chivalry_ is that man should accept every disadvantageous offer which may be made to him by woman. that, of course, is to make chivalry the principle of egalitarian equity limited in its application to the case between man and woman. it follows that she who holds that the suffrage ought, in obedience to that principle of justice, to be granted to her by man, might quite logically hold that everything else in man's gift ought also to be conceded. but to do the woman suffragist justice, she does not press the argument from chivalry. inasmuch as life has brought home to her that the ordinary man has quite other conceptions of that virtue, she declares that "she has no use for it." let us now turn to the anti-suffragist view. the anti-suffragist (man or woman) holds that chivalry is a principle which enters into every reputable relation between the sexes, and that of all the civilising agencies at work in the world it is the most important. but i think i hear the reader interpose, "what, then, is chivalry if it is not a question of serving woman without reward?" a moment's thought will make the matter clear. when a man makes this compact with a woman, "i will do you reverence, and protect you, and yield you service; and you, for your part, will hold fast to an ideal of gentleness, of personal refinement, of modesty, of joyous maternity, and to who shall say what other graces and virtues that endear woman to man," that is _chivalry_. it is not a question of a purely one-sided bargain, as in the suffragist conception. nor yet is it a bargain about purely material things. it is a bargain in which man gives both material things, and also things which pertain perhaps somewhat to the spirit; and in which woman gives back of these last. but none the less it is of the nature of a contract. there is in it the inexorable _do ut des; facio ut facias [give me this, and i will give you that; do this for me, and i will do that for you]._ and the contract is infringed when woman breaks out into violence, when she jettisons her personal refinement, when she is ungrateful, and, possibly, when she places a quite extravagantly high estimate upon her intellectual powers. we now turn from these almost too intimate questions of personal morality to discuss the other grievances which were enumerated above. with regard to the suffragist's complaint that it is _"insulting"_ for woman to be told that she is as a class unfit to exercise the suffrage, it is relevant to point out that one is not insulted by being told about oneself, or one's class, untruths, but only at being told about oneself, or one's class, truths which one dislikes. and it is, of course, an offence against ethics to try to dispose of an unpalatable generalisation by characterising it as "insulting." but nothing that man could do would be likely to prevent the suffragist resorting to this aggravated form of intellectual immorality. we may now turn to the complaint that it is "illogical" to withhold the vote from women. this is the kind of complaint which brings out in relief the logical endowment and legislative sagacity of the suffragist. with regard to her logical endowment it will suffice to indicate that the suffragist would appear to regard the promulgation of a rule which is to hold without exception as an essentially logical act; and the admission of any class exception to a rule of general application as an illogicality. it would on this principle be "illogical" to except, under conscription, the female population from military service. with regard to the suffragist's legislative sagacity we may note that she asks that we should put back the clock, and return to the days when any arbitrary principle might be adduced as a ground for legislation. it is as if bentham had never taught:-- "what is it to offer a _good reason_ with respect to a law? it is to allege the good or evil which the law tends to produce; so much good, so many arguments in its favour; so much evil, so many arguments against it. "what is it to offer a _false reason?_ it is the alleging for, or against a law, something else than its good or evil effects." next, we may take up the question as to whether an unwelcome generalisation may legitimately be got out of the way by characterising it as a prejudice. this is a fundamentally important question not only in connexion with such an issue as woman suffrage, but in connexion with all search for truth in those regions where crucial scientific experiments cannot be instituted. in the whole of this region of thought we have to guide ourselves by generalisations. now every generalisation is in a sense a _prejudgment_. we make inferences from cases or individuals that have already presented themselves to such cases or individuals of the same class as may afterwards present themselves. and if our generalisation happens to be an unfavourable one, we shall of necessity have prejudged the case against those who are exceptions to their class. thus, for example, the proposition that woman is incapable of usefully exercising the parliamentary franchise prejudges the case against a certain number of capable women. it would none the less be absolutely anarchical to propose to abandon the system of guiding ourselves by prejudgments; and unfavourable prejudgments or prejudices are logically as well justified, and are obviously as indispensable to us as favourable prejudgments. the suffragist who proposes to dispose of generalisations which are unfavourable to woman as prejudices ought therefore to be told to stand down. it has probably never suggested itself to her that, if there were a mind which was not stored with both favourable prejudgments and prejudices, it would be a mind which had learned absolutely nothing from experience. but i hear the reader interpose, "is there not a grave danger that generalisations may be erroneous?" and i can hear the woman suffragist interject, "is there not a grave danger that unflattering generalisations about woman may be erroneous?" the answer to the general question is that there is of course always the risk that our generalisations may be erroneous. but when a generalisation finds wide acceptance among the thoughtful, we have come as close to truth as it is possible for humanity to come. to the question put by the suffragist the reply is that experience with regard to the capacity of woman has been accumulating in all climes, and through all times; and that the belief of men in the inherent inferiority of women in the matter of intellectual morality, and in the power of adjudication, has never varied. i pass now to the two most familiar grievances of the suffragist; the grievance that the virtuous and intelligent woman has no vote, while the male drunkard has; and the grievance that the woman of property has no vote, while her male underlings have. all that is worth while saying on these points is that the suffragist is here manufacturing grievances for herself, _first_, by reasoning from the false premiss that every legal distinction which happens to press hardly upon a few individuals ought for that to be abrogated; and, _secondly_, by steady leaving out of sight that logical inconsistencies can, for the more part, be got rid of only at the price of bringing others into being. the man who looks forward to the intellectual development of woman must be brought near to despair when he perceives that practically every woman suffragist sees in every hard case arising in connexion with a legal distinction affecting woman, an insult and example of the iniquity of man-made laws, or a logical inconsistency which could with a very little good-will be removed. we have come now to the last item on our list, to the grievance that woman has to submit herself to "_man-made laws_." this is a grievance which well rewards study. it is worth study from the suffragist point of view, because it is the one great injury under which all others are subsumed. and it is worth studying from the anti-suffragist point of view, because it shows how little the suffragist understands of the terms she employs; and how unreal are the wrongs which she resents. quite marvelously has the woman suffragist in this connexion misapprehended; or would she have us say misrepresented? the woman suffragist misapprehends--it will be better to assume that she "misapprehends"--when she suggests that we, the male electors, have framed the laws. in reality the law which we live under--and the law in those states which have adopted either the english, or the roman law--descends from the past. it has been evolved precedent, by precedent, by the decisions of generation upon generation of judges, and it has for centuries been purged by amending statutes. moreover we, the present male electors--the electors who are savagely attacked by the suffragist for our asserted iniquities in connexion with the laws which regulate sexual relations--have never in our capacity as electors had any power to alter an old, or to suggest a new law; except only in so far as by voting conservative or liberal we may indirectly have remotely influenced the general trend of legislation. "well but"--the suffragist will here rejoin--"is it not at any rate true that in the drafting of statutes and the framing of judicial decisions man has always nefariously discriminated against woman?" the question really supplies its own answer. it will be obvious to every one who considers that the drafting of statutes and the formulating of legal decisions is almost as impersonal a procedure as that of drawing up the rules to govern a game; and it offers hardly more opportunity for discriminating between man and woman. there are, however, three questions in connexion with which the law can and does make a distinction between man and woman. the _first_ is that of sexual relations: rape, divorce, bastardy, and the age of consent. in connexion with _rape_, it has never been alleged that the law is not sufficiently severe. it is, or has been, under colonial conditions, severe up to the point of ferocity. in the matter of _divorce_ the law of a minority of man-governed states differentiates in favour of man. it does so influenced by tradition, by what are held to be the natural equities, and by the fact that a man is required to support his wife's progeny. the law of _bastardy [illegitimate childbirth]_ is what it is because of the dangers of blackmail. the law which fixes the age of consent discriminates against man, laying him open to a criminal charge in situations where woman--and it is not certain that she is not a more frequent offender--escapes scot-free. the _second_ point in which the law differentiates is in the matter of exacting personal service for the state. if it had not been that man is more prone to discriminate in favour of woman than against her, every military state, when exacting personal military service from men, would have demanded from women some such equivalent personal service as would be represented by a similar period of work in an army clothing establishment, or ordnance factory, or army laundry; or would at any rate have levied upon woman a ransom in lieu of such service. the _third_ point in which the law distinguishes between man and woman is with reference to the suffrage. the object of this book is to show that this is equitable and in the interests of both. the suffragist further misapprehends when she regards it as an indignity to obey laws which she has not herself framed, or specifically sanctioned. (the whole male electorate, be it remarked, would here lie under the same dignity as woman.) but in reality, whether it is a question of the rules of a game, or of the reciprocal rights and duties of members of a community, it is, and ought to be, to every reasonable human being not a grievance, but a matter of felicitation, that an expert or a body of experts should have evolved a set of rules under which order and harmony are achieved. only vanity and folly would counsel amateurs to try to draw up rules or laws for themselves. again, the woman suffragist takes it as a matter of course that she would herself be able to construct a system of workable laws. in point of fact, the framing of a really useful law is a question of divining something which will apply to an infinite number of different cases and individuals. it is an intellectual feat on a par with the framing of a great generalisation. and would woman--that being of such short sight, whose mind is always so taken up with whatever instances lie nearest to her--be capable of framing anything that could pass muster as a great generalisation? lastly, the suffragist fails to see that the function of framing the laws is not an essential function of citizenship. the essential functions of citizenship are the shaping of public policy, and the control of the administrative acts of government. such directive control is in a state of political freedom exercised through two quite different agencies. it is exercised--and it is of the very essence of political freedom that this should be the normal method of control--in the first place, through expressed public opinion. by this are continuously regulated not only momentous matters of state, such as declarations of war and the introduction of constitutional changes, but also smaller and more individual matters, such as the commutation of a capital sentence, or the forcible feeding of militant suffragists. in the background, behind the moral compulsion of expressed public opinion, there is, in the case of a parliamentary state, also another instrument of control. i have in view that periodical settlement of the contested rulership of the state by the force of a majority of electors which is denoted a general election. the control exercised by the suffrages of the electors in a general election is in certain important respects less effective than that exercised by the everyday public expression of opinion. it falls short in the respect that its verdicts are, except only in connexion with the issue as to whether the government is to be retained in office or dismissed, ambiguous verdicts; further, in the respect that it comes into application either before governmental proposals have taken definite shape, or only after the expiration of a term of years, when the events are already passing out of memory. if we now consider the question of woman's franchise from the wider point of view here opened up, it will be clear that, so far as concerns the control which is exercised through public opinion on the government, the intelligent woman, and especially the intelligent woman who has made herself an expert on any matter, is already in possession of that which is a greater power than the franchise. she has the power which attaches to all intelligent opinion promulgated in a free state. moreover, wherever the special interest of women are involved, any woman may count on being listened to if she is voicing the opinions of any considerable section of her sex. in reality, therefore, woman is disfranchised only so far as relates to the confirmation of a government in office, or its dismissal by the _ultima ratio [ultimate reason]_ of an electoral contest. and when we reflect that woman does not come into consideration as a compelling force, and that an electoral contest partakes of the nature of a civil war, it becomes clear that to give her the parliamentary vote would be to reduce all those trials of strength which take the form of electoral contests to the level of a farce. with this i have, i will not say completed the tale of the suffragist's grievances--that would be impossible--but i have at any rate dealt with those which she has most acrimoniously insisted upon. iii arguments which take the form of "counsels of perfection" addressed to man argument that woman requires a vote for her protection--argument that woman ought to be invested with the responsibilities of voting in order that she may attain her full intellectual stature. there, however, remains still a further class of arguments. i have in view here arguments which have nothing to do with elementary natural rights, nor yet with wounded _amour propre._ they concern ethics, and sympathy, and charitable feelings. the suffragist here gives to man "counsels of perfection." it will be enough to consider here two of these:--the _first_, the argument that woman, being the weaker vessel, needs, more than man, the suffrage for her _protection_; the _second_, that woman, being less than man in relation to public life, ought to be given the vote for _instructional purposes_. the first of these appeals will, for instance, take the following form:--"consider the poor sweated east end woman worker. she knows best where the shoe pinches. you men can't know. give her a vote; and you shall see that she will very soon better her condition." when i hear that argument i consider:--we will suppose that woman was ill. should we go to her and say: "you know best, know better than any man, what is wrong with you. here are all the medicines and remedies. make your own selection, for that will assuredly provide what will be the most likely to help." if this would be both futile and inhuman, much more would it be so to seek out this woman who is sick in fortune and say to her, "go and vote for the parliamentary candidate who will be likely to influence the trend of legislation in a direction which will help." what would really help the sweated woman labourer would, of course, be to have the best intellect brought to bear, not specially upon the problem of indigent woman, but upon the whole social problem. but the aspect of the question which is, from our present point of view, the fundamentally important one is the following: granting that the extension of the suffrage to woman would enable her, as the suffragist contends, to bring pressure upon her parliamentary representative, man, while anxious to do his very best for woman, might very reasonably refuse to go about it in this particular way. if a man has a wife whom he desires to treat indulgently, he does not necessarily open a joint account with her at his bankers. if he wants to contribute to a charity he does not give to the managers of that charity a power of attorney over his property. and if he is a philanthropical director of a great business he does not, when a pathetic case of poverty among his staff is brought to his notice, imperil the fortunes of his undertaking by giving to his workmen shares and a vote in the management. moreover, he would perhaps regard it as a little suspect if a group of those who were claiming this as a right came and told him that "it was very _selfish_ of him" not to grant their request. precious above rubies to the suffragist and every other woman who wants to apply the screw to man is that word _selfish_. it furnishes her with the _petitio principii_ that man is under an ethical obligation to give anything she chooses to ask. we come next--and this is the last of all the arguments we have to consider--to the argument that the suffrage ought to be given to woman for instructional purposes. now it would be futile to attempt to deny that we have ready to hand in the politics of the british empire--that empire which is swept along in "the too vast orb of her fate"--an ideal political training-ground in which we might put woman to school. the woman voter would there be able to make any experiment she liked. but one wonders why it has not been proposed to carry woman's instruction further, and for instructional purposes to make of a woman let us say a judge, or an ambassador, or a prime minister. there would--if only it were legitimate to sacrifice vital national interests--be not a little to say in favour of such a course. one might at any rate hope by these means once for all to bring home to man the limitations of woman. part ii arguments against the concession of the parliamentary suffrage to woman i woman's disability in the matter of physical force international position of state would be imperilled by woman's suffrage--internal equilibrium of state would be imperilled. the woman suffrage movement has now gone too far to be disposed of by the overthrow of its arguments, and by a mere indication of those which could be advanced on the other side. the situation demands the bringing forward of the case against woman's suffrage; and it must be the full and quite unexpurgated case. i shall endeavour to do this in the fewest possible words, and to be more especially brief where i have to pass again over ground which i have previously traversed in dealing with the arguments of the suffragists. i may begin with what is fundamental. it is an axiom that we should in legislating guide ourselves directly by considerations of utility and expediency. for abstract principles--i have in view here _rights, justice, egalitarian equity, equality, liberty, chivalry, logicality,_ and such like--are not all of them guides to utility; and each of these is, as we have seen, open to all manner of private misinterpretation. applying the above axiom to the issue before us, it is clear that we ought to confine ourselves here to the discussion of the question as to whether the state would, or would not, suffer from the admission of women to the electorate. we can arrive at a judgment upon this by considering, on the one hand, the class-characters of women so far as these may be relevant to the question of the suffrage; and, on the other hand, the legislative programmes put forward by the female legislative reformer and the feminist. in connexion with the class-characters of woman, it will be well, before attempting to indicate them, to interpolate here the general consideration that the practical statesman, who has to deal with things as they are, is not required to decide whether the characters of women which will here be considered are, as the physiologist (who knows that the sexual products influence every tissue of the body) cannot doubt, "secondary sexual characters"; or, as the suffragist contends, "acquired characters." it will be plain that whether defects are "secondary sexual characters" (and therefore as irremediable as "racial characters"); or whether they are "acquired characters" (and as such theoretically remediable) they are relevant to the question of the concession of the suffrage just so long as they continue to be exhibited.[ ] [ ] this is a question on which mill (vide _subjection of women_, last third of chapter i) has endeavoured to confuse the issues for his reader, first, by representing that by no possibility can man know anything of the "nature," _i.e._, of the "secondary sexual characters" of woman; and, secondly, by distracting attention from the fact that "acquired characters" may produce unfitness for the suffrage. the primordial argument against giving woman the vote is that that vote would not represent physical force. now it is by physical force alone and by prestige--which represents physical force in the background--that a nation protects itself against foreign interference, upholds its rule over subject populations, and enforces its own laws. and nothing could in the end more certainly lead to war and revolt than the decline of the military spirit and loss of prestige which would inevitably follow if man admitted woman into political co-partnership. while it is arguable that such a partnership with woman in government as obtains in australia and new zealand is sufficiently unreal to be endurable, there cannot be two opinions on the question that a virile and imperial race will not brook any attempt at forcible control by women. again, no military foreign nation or native race would ever believe in the stamina and firmness of purpose of any nation that submitted even to the semblance of such control. the internal equilibrium of the state also would be endangered by the admission to the register of millions of electors whose vote would not be endorsed by the authority of physical force. regarded from this point of view a woman's suffrage measure stands on an absolutely different basis to any other extension of the suffrage. an extension which takes in more men--whatever else it may do--makes for stability in the respect that it makes the decrees of the legislature more irresistible. an extension which takes in any women undermines the physical sanction of the laws. we can see indications of the evil that would follow such an event in the profound dissatisfaction which is felt when--in violation of the democratic principle that every man shall count for one, and no man for more than one--the political wishes of the large constituencies which return relatively few members to parliament, are overborne by those of constituencies which, with a smaller aggregate population, return more members. and we see what such evil finally culminates in when the over-representation of one part of a country and the corresponding under-representation of other portions has led a large section of the people to pledge themselves to disregard the eventual ordinances of parliament. if ever the question as to whether the will of ulster or that of the nationalists is to prevail is brought to the arbitrament of physical force, it will be due to the inequalities of parliamentary representation as between england and ireland, and as between the unionist and nationalist population of ulster. the general lesson that all governmental action ought to be backed by force, is further brought home to the conscience when we take note of the fact that every one feels that public morality is affronted when senile, infirm, and bedridden men are brought to the poll to turn the scale in hotly contested elections. for electoral decisions are felt to have moral prestige only when the electoral figures quantitatively represent the physical forces which are engaged on either side. and where vital interests are involved, no class of men can be expected to accept any decision other than one which rests upon the _ultima ratio_. now all the evils which are the outcome of disparities between the parliamentary power and the organised physical force of contending parties would "grow" a hundredfold if women were admitted to the suffrage. there would after that be no electoral or parliamentary decision which would not be open to challenge on the ground that it was impossible to tell whether the party which came out the winner had a majority which could enforce its will, or only a majority obtained by the inclusion of women. and no measure of redistribution could ever set that right. there may find place here also the consideration that the voting of women would be an unsettling element in the government of the state, forasmuch as they would, by reason of a general lack of interest in public affairs, only very; seldom come to the poll: would, in fact, come to the poll in full strength only when some special appeal had come home to their emotions. now an electorate which includes a very large proportion of quite uninterested voters would be in the same case as a legislature which included a very large proportion of members who made a practice of staying away. it would be in the same case, because the absentees, who would not have acquired the training which comes from consecutive attention to public affairs, might at any moment step in and upset the stability of state by voting for some quite unconsidered measure. coming back in conclusion to our main issue, i would re-emphasise an aspect of the question upon which i have already elsewhere insisted.[ ] i have in view the fact that woman does, and should, stand to physical violence in a fundamentally different relation to man. nothing can alter the fact that, the very moment woman resorts to violence, she places herself within the jurisdiction of an ethical law, which is as old as civilisation, and which was framed in its interests. [ ] _vide_ appendix, pp. - . ii woman's disability in the matter of intellect characteristics of the feminine mind--suffragist illusions with regard to the equality of man and woman as workers--prospect for the intellectual future of woman--has woman advanced? the woman voter would be pernicious to the state not only because she could not back her vote by physical force, but also by reason of her intellectual defects. woman's mind attends in appraising a statement primarily to the mental images which it evokes, and only secondarily--and sometimes not at all--to what is predicated in the statement. it is over-influenced by individual instances; arrives at conclusions on incomplete evidence; has a very imperfect sense of proportion; accepts the congenial as true, and rejects the uncongenial as false; takes the imaginary which is desired for reality, and treats the undesired reality which is out of sight as non-existent--building up for itself in this way, when biased by predilections and aversions, a very unreal picture of the external world. the explanation of this is to be found in all the physiological attachments of woman's mind:[ ] in the fact that mental images are in her over-intimately linked up with emotional reflex responses; that yielding to such reflex responses gives gratification; that intellectual analysis and suspense of judgment involve an inhibition of reflex responses which is felt as neural distress; that precipitate judgment brings relief from this physiological strain; and that woman looks upon her mind not as an implement for the pursuit of truth, but as an instrument for providing her with creature comforts in the form of agreeable mental images. [ ] certain of these have already been referred to in the letter printed in the appendix (_ vide_ p. _infra_). in order to satisfy the physical yearning for such comforts, a considerable section of intelligent and virtuous women insist on picturing to themselves that the reign of physical force is over, or as good as over; that distinctions based upon physical and intellectual force may be reckoned as non-existent; that male supremacy as resting upon these is a thing of the past; and that justice means egalitarian equity--means equating the weaklings with the strong and the incapable with the capable. all this because these particular ideas are congenial to the woman of refinement, and because it is to her, when she is a suffragist, uncongenial that there should exist another principle of justice which demands from the physically and intellectually capable that they shall retain the reins of government in their own hands; and specially uncongenial that in all man-governed states the ideas of justice of the more forceful should have worked out so much to the advantage of women, that a large majority of these are indifferent or actively hostile to the woman's suffrage movement. in further illustration of what has been said above, it may be pointed out that woman, even intelligent woman, nurses all sorts of misconceptions about herself. she, for instance, is constantly picturing to herself that she can as a worker lay claim to the same all-round efficiency as a man--forgetting that woman is notoriously unadapted to tasks in which severe physical hardships have to be confronted; and that hardly any one would, if other alternative offered, employ a woman in any work which imposed upon her a combined physical and mental strain, or in any work where emergencies might have to be faced. in like manner the suffragist is fond of picturing to herself that woman is for all ordinary purposes the intellectual equal, and that the intelligent woman is the superior of the ordinary man. these results are arrived at by fixing the attention upon the fact that an ordinary man and an ordinary woman are, from the point of view of memory and apprehension, very much on a level; and that a highly intelligent woman has a quicker memory and a more rapid power of apprehension than the ordinary man; and further, by leaving out of regard that it is not so much a quick memory or a rapid power of apprehension which is required for effective intellectual work, as originality, or at any rate independence of thought, a faculty of felicitious generalisations and diacritical judgment, long-sustained intellectual effort, an unselective mirroring of the world in the mind, and that relative immunity to fallacy which goes together with a stable and comparatively unresponsive nervous system. when we consider that the intellect of the quite ungifted man works with this last-mentioned physiological advantage, we can see that the male intellect must be, and--_pace [with the permission of]_ the woman suffragist--it in point of fact is, within its range, a better instrument for dealing with the practical affairs of life than that of the intelligent woman. how far off we are in the case of woman from an unselective mirroring of the world in the mind is shown by the fact that large and important factors of life may be represented in woman's mind by lacunae [gaps] of which she is totally unconscious. thus, for instance, that not very unusual type of spinster who is in a condition of retarded development (and you will find this kind of woman even on county council's), is completely unconscious of the sexual element in herself and in human nature generally. nay, though one went from the dead, he could not bring it home to her that unsatisfied sexuality is an intellectual disability. sufficient illustration will now have been given of woman's incapacity to take a complete or objective view of any matter in which she has a personal, or any kind of emotional interest; and this would now be the place to discuss those other aspects of her mind which are relevant to her claim to the suffrage. i refer to her logical endowment and her political sagacity. all that i might have been required to say here on these issues has, however, already been said by me in dealing with the arguments of the suffragist. i have there carefully written it in between the lines. one thing only remains over.--we must, before we pass on, consider whether woman has really, as she tells us, given earnest for the future weeding out of these her secondary sexual characters, by making quite phenomenal advances within the lifetime of the present generation; and, above all, whether there is any basis for woman's confident assurance that, when for a few generations she shall have enjoyed educational advantages, she will at any rate pull up level with man. the vision of the future may first engage our attention; for only this roseate prospect makes of any man a feminist. now the basis that all this hope rests upon is the belief that it is a law of heredity that acquired characteristics are handed down; and, let it be observed, that whereas this theory found, not many decades ago, under the influence of darwin, thousands of adherents among scientific men, it finds to-day only here and there an adherent. but let that pass, for we have to consider here, not only whether acquired characteristics are handed down, but further whether, "if we held that doctrine true," it would furnish scientific basis for the belief that educational advantages carried on from generation to generation would level up woman's intellect to man's; and whether, as the suffragist also believes, the narrow education of past generations of women can be held responsible for their present intellectual shortcomings. a moment's consideration will show--for we may here fix our eyes only on the future--that woman could not hope to advance relatively to man except upon the condition that the acquired characteristics of woman, instead of being handed down equally to her male and female descendants, were accumulated upon her daughters. now if that be a law of heredity, it is a law which is as yet unheard of outside the sphere of the woman suffrage societies. moreover, one is accustomed to hear women, when they are not arguing on the suffrage, allege that clever mothers make clever sons. it must, as it will have come home to us, be clear to every thoughtful mind that woman's belief that she will, through education and the cumulation of its effects upon her through generations, become a more glorious being, rests, not upon any rational basis, but only on the physiological fact that what is congenial to woman impresses itself upon her as true. all that sober science in the form of history and physiology would seem to entitle us to hope from the future of woman is that she will develop _pari passu [step by step]_ with man; and that education will teach her not to retard him overmuch by her lagging in the rear. in view of this larger issue, the question as to whether woman has, in any real sense of the word, been making progress in the course of the present generation, loses much of interest. if to move about more freely, to read more freely, to speak out her mind more freely, and to have emancipated herself from traditionary beliefs--and, i would add, traditionary ethics--is to have advanced, woman has indubitably advanced. but the educated native too has advanced in all these respects; and he also tells us that he is pulling up level with the white man. let us at any rate, when the suffragist is congratulating herself on her own progress, meditate also upon that dictum of nietzsche, "progress is writ large on all woman's banners and bannerets; but one can actually see her going back." iii woman's disability in the matter of public morality standards by which morality can be appraised--conflict between different moralities--the correct standard of morality--moral psychology of men and woman--difference between man and woman in matters of public morality. yet a third point has to come into consideration in connexion with the woman voter. this is, that she would be pernicious to the state also by virtue of her defective moral equipment. let me make clear what is the nature of the defect of morality which is here imputed to woman. conduct may be appraised by very different standards. we may appraise it by reference to a transcendental religious ideal which demands that the physical shall be subordinated to the spiritual, and that the fetters of self should be flung aside. or again, we may bring into application purely mundane utilitarian standards, and may account conduct as immoral or moral according as it seeks only the happiness of the agent, or the happiness of the narrow circle of humanity which includes along with him also his relatives and intimate friends, or again, the welfare of the wider circle which includes all those with whom he may have come into contact, or whom he may affect through his work; or again, the welfare of the whole body-politic of which we are members; or lastly, that of the general body of mankind. now it might be contended that all these different moralities are in their essence one and the same; and that one cannot comply with the requirements of any one of these systems of morality without fulfilling in a measure the requirements of all the other moralities. it might, for example, be urged that if a man strive after the achievement of a transcendental ideal in which self shall be annulled, he will _pro tanto [to such extent]_ be bringing welfare to his domestic circle; or again, that it would be impossible to promote domestic welfare without, through this, promoting the welfare of the nation, and through that the general welfare of the world. in like manner it might be argued that all work done for abstract principles of morality like liberty and justice, for the advancement of knowledge, and for whatever else goes to the building up of a higher civilisation, will, by promoting the welfare of the general body of mankind, redound to the advantage of each several nation, and ultimately to the advantage of each domestic circle. but all this would be true only in a very superficial and strictly qualified sense. in reality, just as there is eternal conflict between egoism and altruism, so there is conflict between the different moralities. to take examples, the attempt to actualise the transcendental religious ideal may, when pursued with ardour, very easily conflict with the morality which makes domestic felicity its end. and again--as we see in the anti-militarist movement in france, in the history of the early christian church, in the case of the quakers and in the teachings of tolstoy--it may quite well set itself in conflict with national ideals, and dictate a line of conduct which is, from the point of view of the state, immoral. we need no further witness of the divorce between idealistic and national morality than that which is supplied in the memorable utterance of bishop magee, "no state which was conducted on truly christian principles could hold together for a week." and domestic morality will constantly come into conflict with public morality. to do everything in one's power to advance one's relatives and friends irrespectively of all considerations of merit would, no doubt, be quite sound domestic morality; it could, however, not always be reconciled with public morality. in the same way, to take one's country's part in all eventualities would be patriotic, but it might quite well conflict with the higher interests of humanity. now, the point towards which we have been winning our way is that each man's moral station and degree will be determined by the election which he makes where egoism and altruism, and where a narrower and a wider code of morality, conflict. that the moral law forbids yielding to the promptings of egoism or to those of the narrower moralities when this involves a violation of the precepts of the wider morality is axiomatic. criminal and anti-social actions are not excused by the fact that motives which impelled their commission were not purely egoistic. but the ethical law demands more than abstention from definitely anti-social actions. it demands from every individual that he shall recognise the precepts of public morality as of superior obligation to those of egoism and domestic morality. by the fact that her public men recognised this ethical law rome won for herself in the ancient world spectacular grandeur. by an unexampled national obedience to it glory has in our time accrued to japan. and, in truth, there is not anywhere any honour or renown but such as comes from casting away the bonds of self and of the narrower moralities to carry out the behests of the wider morality. even in the strongholds of transcendental religion where it was axiomatic that morality began and was summed up in personal morality, it is gradually coming to be recognised that, where we have two competing moralities, it is always the wider morality which has the prior claim upon our allegiance. kingsley's protest against the morality of "saving one's dirty soul" marked a step in advance. and we find full recognition of the superior claim of the larger morality in that other virile dictum of bishop magee, "i would rather have england free, than england sober." that is, "i would maintain the conditions which make for the highest civilisation even at the price of a certain number of lapses in personal and domestic morality." what is here new, let it be noted, is only the acknowledgment by those whose official allegiance is to a transcendental ideal of personal morality that they are called upon to obey a higher allegiance. for there has always existed, in the doctrine that guilty man could not be pardoned and taken back into favour until the claims of eternal justice had been satisfied, theoretical recognition of the principle that one must conform to the precepts of abstract morality before one may ethically indulge oneself in the lower moralities of philanthropy and personal benevolence. the view point from which i would propose to survey the morality of woman has now been reached. it has, however, still to be pointed out that we may appropriately, in comparing the morals of man and woman, confine our survey to a comparatively narrow field. that is to say, we may here rule out all that relates to purely personal and domestic morality--for this is not relevant to the suffrage. and we may also rule out all that relates to offences against the police laws--such as public drunkenness and offences against the criminal law--for these would come into consideration only in connexion with an absolutely inappreciable fraction of voters. it will be well to begin by signalising certain points in the moral psychology of man. when morality takes up its abode in a man who belongs to the intellectual caste it will show itself in his becoming mindful of his public obligations. he will consider the quality of his work as affecting the interest of those who have to place dependence upon it; behaviour to those who are casually brought into relations with him; the discharge of his indebtedness to the community; and the proper conduct of public affairs. in particular, it will be to him a matter of concern that the law shall be established upon classifications which are just (in the sense of being conformable to public advantage); and that the laws shall everywhere be justly, that is to say rigorously and impartially, administered. if we now turn to the man in the street we shall not find him especially sensible to the appeals of morality. but when the special call comes it will generally be possible to trust him: as an elector, to vote uninfluenced by considerations of private advantage; and, when called to serve on a jury, to apply legal classifications without distinction of person. furthermore, in all times of crisis he may be counted upon to apply the principles of communal morality which have been handed down in the race. the _titanic_ disaster, for example, showed in a conspicuous manner that the ordinary man will, "letting his own life go," obey the communal law which lays it upon him, when involved in a catastrophe, to save first the women and children. lastly, we come to the man who is intolerant of all the ordinary restraints of personal and domestic morality. even in him the seeds of communal morality will often be found deeply implanted. time and again a regiment of scallawags, who have let all other morality go hang, have, when the proper chord has been made to vibrate in them, heard the call of communal morality, and done deeds which make the ears of whosoever heareth of them to tingle. we come into an entirely different land when we come to the morality of woman. it is personal and domestic, not public, morality which is instinctive in her. in other words, when egoism gives ground to altruism, that altruism is exercised towards those who are linked up to her by a bond of sexual affection, or a community in blood, or failing this, by a relation of personal friendship, or by some other personal relation. and even when altruism has had her perfect work, woman feels no interest in, and no responsibility towards, any abstract moral ideal. and though the suffragist may protest, instancing in disproof of this her own burning enthusiasm for justice, we, for our part, may legitimately ask whether evidence of a moral enthusiasm for justice would be furnished by a desire to render to others their due, or by vehement insistence upon one's own rights, and systematic attempts to extort, under the cover of the word "justice," advantages for oneself. but it will be well to dwell a little longer on, and to bring out more clearly, the point that woman's moral ideals are personal and domestic, as distinguished from impersonal and public. let us note in this connexion that it would be difficult to conceive of a woman who had become deaf to the appeal of personal and domestic morality making it a matter of _amour propre_ to respond to a call of public morality; and difficult to conceive of a woman recovering lost self-respect by fulfilling such an obligation. but one knows that woman will rise and respond to the call of any strong human or transcendental personal affection. again, it is only a very exceptional woman who would, when put to her election between the claims of a narrow and domestic and a wider or public morality, subordinate the former to the latter. in ordinary life, at any rate, one finds her following in such a case the suggestions of domestic--i had almost called it animal--morality. it would be difficult to find any one who would trust a woman to be just to the rights of others in the case where the material interests of her children, or of a devoted husband, were involved. and even to consider the question of being in such a case intellectually just to any one who came into competition with personal belongings like husband and child would, of course, lie quite beyond the moral horizon of ordinary woman. it is not only the fact that the ideals of abstract justice and truth would inevitably be brushed aside by woman in the interests of those she loves which comes into consideration here; it is also the fact that woman is almost without a moral sense in the matter of executing a public trust such as voting or attaching herself to a political association with a view to influencing votes. there is between man and woman here a characteristic difference. while it is, of course, not a secret to anybody that the baser sort of man can at any time be diverted from the path of public morality by a monetary bribe or other personal advantage, he will not, at any rate, set at naught all public morality by doing so for a peppercorn. he will, for instance, not join, for the sake of a daughter, a political movement in which he has no belief; nor vote for this or that candidate just to please a son; or censure a member of parliament who has in voting on female suffrage failed to consider the predilections of his wife. but woman, whether she be politically enfranchised as in australasia, or unenfranchised as at home; whether she be immoral in the sense of being purely egoistic, or moral in the sense of being altruistic, very rarely makes any secret or any shame of doing these things. in this matter one would not be very far from the truth if one alleged that there are no good women, but only women who have lived under the influence of good men. even more serious than this postponement of public to private morality is the fact that even reputedly ethical women will, in the interests of what they take to be idealistic causes, violate laws which are universally accepted as being of moral obligation. i here pass over the recent epidemic of political crime among women to advert to the want of conscience which permits, in connexion with professedly idealistic causes, not only misrepresentations, but the making of deliberately false statements on matters of public concern. it is, for example, an illustration of the profoundly different moral atmospheres in which men and women live that when a public woman recently made, for what was to her an idealistic purpose, a deliberately false statement of fact in _the times_, she quite naively confessed to it, seeing nothing whatever amiss in her action. and it did not appear that any other woman suffragist could discern any kind of immorality in it. the worst thing they could find to say was that it perhaps was a little _gauche_ to confess to making a deliberately false statement on a public question when it was for the moment particularly desirable that woman should show up to best advantage before the eyes of man. we may now for a moment put aside the question of woman's public morality and consider a question which is inextricably mixed up with the question of the admission of woman to the suffrage. this is the mental attitude and the programme of the female legislative reformer. iv mental outlook and programme of the female legislative reformer the suffragist woman, when she is the kind of woman who piques herself upon her ethical impulses, will, even when she is intellectually very poorly equipped, and there is no imprint of altruism upon her life, assure you that nothing except the moral influence of woman, exerted through the legislation, which her practical mind would be capable of initiating, will ever avail to abate existing social evils, and to effect the moral redemption of the world. it will not be amiss first to try to introduce a little clearness and order into our ideas upon those formidably difficult problems which the female legislative reformer desires to attack, and then to consider how a rational reforming mind would go to work in the matter of proposing legislation for these. _first_ would come those evils which result from individuals seeking advantage to themselves by the direct infliction of injury upon others. violations of the criminal law and the various forms of sweating and fleecing one's fellow-men come under this category. _then_ would come the evils which arise out of purveying physiological and psychological refreshments and excitements, which are, according as they are indulged in temperately or intemperately, grateful and innocuous, or sources of disaster and ruin. the evils which are associated with the drink traffic and the betting industry are typical examples. _finally,_ there would come into consideration the evils of death or physical suffering deliberately inflicted by man upon man with a view to preventing worse evils. the evil of war would come under this category. in this same category might also come the much lesser evil of punitive measures inflicted upon criminals. and with this might be coupled the evil of killing and inflicting physical suffering upon animals for the advantage of man. we may now consider how the rational legislative reformer would in each case go to work. he would not start with the assumption that it _must_ be possible by some alteration of the law to abolish or conspicuously reduce any of the afore-mentioned evils; nor yet with the assumption that, if a particular alteration of the law would avail to bring about this result, that alteration ought necessarily to be made. he would recognise that many things which are theoretically desirable are unattainable; and that many legislative measures which could perfectly well be enforced would be barred by the fact that they would entail deplorable unintended consequences. the rational legislator whom we have here in view would accordingly always take expert advice as to whether the desired object could be achieved by legal compulsion; and as to whether a projected law which satisfied the condition of being workable would give a balance of advantages over disadvantages. in connexion with a proposal for the prevention of sweating he would, for instance, take expert advice as to whether its provisions could be enforced; and whether, if enforceable, they would impose added hardships on any class of employees or penalties on any innocent class of employers. in like manner in connexion with a proposed modification in criminal procedure, the rational reformer would defer to the expert on the question as to whether such modification would secure greater certainty of punishment for the guilty without increasing the risk of convicting the innocent. in connexion with the second category of evils--the category under which would come those of drinking and betting--the rational legislative reformer would recognise the complete impracticability of abolishing by legislative prohibition physiological indulgences and the evils which sometimes attend upon them. he would consider instead whether these attendant evils could be reduced by making the regulating laws more stringent; and whether more stringent restrictions--in addition to the fact that they would filch from the all too small stock of human happiness--would not, by paving the way for further invasions of personal liberty, cripple the free development of the community. on the former question, which only experts could properly answer, the reasonable reformer would defer to their advice. the answer to the last question he would think out for himself. in connexion with the evils which are deliberately inflicted by man with a view to reaping either personal profit, or profit for the nation, or profit for humanity, the reasonable reformer would begin by making clear to himself that the world we live in is not such a world as idealism might conjure up, but a world of violence, in which life must be taken and physical suffering be inflicted. and he would recognise that the vital material interests of the nation can be protected only by armed force; that civilisation can be safeguarded only by punishing violations of the criminal law; and that the taking of animal life and the infliction of a certain amount of physical suffering upon animals is essential to human well-being, comfort, and recreation; and essential also to the achievement of the knowledge which is required to combat disease. and the reasonable reformer will, in conformity with this, direct his efforts, not to the total abolition of war, but to the prevention of such wars as are not waged for really vital material interests, and to the abatement of the ferocities of warfare. in the case of punishment for criminals he would similarly devote his efforts not to the abrogation of punishments, but to the relinquishment of any that are not reformatory, or really deterrent. in like manner the reasonable reformer would not seek to prohibit the slaughtering of animals for food, or the killing off of animal pests, or the trapping, shooting, or hunting of animals for sport or profit, nor yet would he seek to prevent their utilisation of animals for the acquirement of knowledge. he would direct his efforts to reducing the pain which is inflicted, and to preserving everywhere measure and scale--not sentimentally forbidding in connexion with one form of utilisation of animals what is freely allowed in connexion with another--but differentiating, if differentiating at all in favour of permitting the infliction of proportionately greater suffering in the case where national and humanitarian interests, than in the case where mere recreation and luxury and personal profit, are at stake. having recognised what reason would prescribe to the legislative reformer, we have next to inquire how far the man voter conforms to these prescriptions of reason, and how far the woman reformer would do so if she became a voter. let it be noted that the man in the street makes no question about falling in with the fact that he is born into a world of violence, and he acquiesces in the principle that the state, and, failing the state, the individual, may employ force and take life in defence of vital material interests. and he frankly falls in with it being a matter of daily routine to kill and inflict suffering upon animals for human profit or advantage. even if these principles are not formulated by the man in the street in quite such plain terms, he not only carries them out in practice, but he conducts all his thinking upon these presuppositions. he, for instance, would fall in with the proposition that morality does not require from man that he should give up taking life or inflicting physical suffering. and he would not cavil with the statement that man should put reasonable limits to the amount of suffering he inflicts, and confine this within as narrow a range as possible--always requiring for the death or suffering inflicted some tangible advantage. moreover, if the question should be raised as to whether such advantage will result, the ordinary man will as a rule, where the matter lies beyond his personal ken, take expert opinion before intervening. he will, for instance, be prepared to be so guided in connexion with such questions as whether disease could, if more knowledge were available, be to a large extent prevented and cured; as to how far animal experiments would contribute to the acquirement of that knowledge; and as to how far the physical suffering which might be involved in these experiments can be minimised or abolished. but not every man is prepared to fall in with this programme of inflicting physical suffering for the relief of physical suffering. there is also a type of spiritually-minded man who in this world of violence sets his face uncompromisingly against the taking of any life and the infliction of any physical suffering--refusing to make himself a partaker of evil. an idealist of this type will, like tolstoy, be an anti-militarist. he will advocate a general gaol delivery for criminals. he will be a vegetarian. he will not allow an animal's life to be taken in his house, though the mice scamper over his floors. and he will, consistently with his conviction that it is immoral to resort to force, refuse to take any part in legislation or government. this attitude, which is that commended by the hindoo and the buddhist religions, is, of course, a quite unpractical attitude towards life. it is, in fact, a self-destructive attitude, unless a man's fellow-citizens are prepared by forcible means to secure to him the enjoyment of the work of his hands or of his inherited property, or unless those who refuse to desist from the exercise of force are prepared to untake the support of idealists. we have not only these two classes of men--the ordinary man who has no compunction in resorting to force when the requirements of life demand it, and the idealist who refuses to have any lot or part in violence; there is also a hybrid. this male hybrid will descant on the general iniquity of violence, and then not only connive at those forms of violence which minister to his personal comforts, but also make a virtue of trying to abate by legal violence some particular form of physical suffering which happens to offend in a quite special manner his individual sensibility. there is absolutely nothing to be said about this kind of reforming crank, except only that anything which may be said in relation to the female legislative reformer may be appositely said of him; and perhaps also this, that the ordinary man holds him both in intellectual and in moral contempt, and is resolved not to allow him to do any really serious injury to the community. to become formidable this quasi-male person must, as he recognises, ally himself with the female legislative reformer. passing on to deal with her, it imports us first to realise that while the male voter has--except where important constitutional issues were in question--been accustomed to leave actual legislation to the expert, the female reformer gives notice beforehand that she will, as soon as ever she gets the suffrage, insist on pressing forward by her vote her reforming schemes. what would result from the ordinary voter legislating on matters which require expert knowledge will be plain to every one who will consider the evolution of law. there stand over against each other here, as an example and a warning, the roman law, which was the creation of legal experts: the praetor and the jurisconsult; and the legal system of the greeks, which was the creation of a popular assembly--and it was a popular assembly which was quite ideally intelligent. upon the roman law has been built the law of the greater part of the civilised world. the greek is a by-word for inconsequence. how can one, then, without cold shudders think of that legal system which the female amateur legal reformer would bring to the birth? let us consider her qualifications. let us first take cognisance of the fact that the reforming woman will neither stand to the principle that man may, where this gives a balance of advantage, inflict on his fellow-man, and _a fortiori_ upon animals, death and physical suffering; nor yet will she stand to the principle that it is ethically unlawful to do deeds of violence. she spends her life halting between these two opinions, eternally shilly-shallying. she will, for instance, begin by announcing that it can never be lawful to do evil that good may come; and that killing and inflicting suffering is an evil. (in reality the precept of not doing evil that good may come has relation only to breaking for idealistic purposes moral laws of higher obligation.) she will then go back upon that and concede that war may sometimes be lawful, and that the punishment of criminals is not an evil. but if her emotions are touched by the forcible feeding of a criminal militant suffragist, she will again go back upon that and declare that the application of force is an intolerable evil. or, again, she will concede that the slaughtering of animals for food is not an evil, but that what is really unforgivable is the infliction of physical suffering on animals. and all the time for her, as well as for man, calves and lambs are being emasculated to make her meat succulent; wild animals are painfully done to death to provide her table with delicacies; birds with young in the nest are shot so that she may parade in their plumage; or fur-bearing animals are for her comfort and adornment massacred and tortured in traps. when a man crank who is co-responsible for these things begins to talk idealistic reforms, the ordinary decent man refuses to have anything more to say to him. but when a woman crank holds this language, the man merely shrugs his shoulders. "it is," he tells himself, "after all, the woman whom god gave him." it must be confessed that the problem as to how man with a dual nature may best accommodate himself to a world of violence presents a very difficult problem. it would obviously be no solution to follow out everywhere a programme of violence. not even the predatory animals do that. tigers do not savage their cubs; hawks do not pluck hawks' eyes; and dogs do not fight bitches. nor would, as has been shown, the solution of the problem be arrived at by everywhere surrendering--if we had been given the grace to do this--to the compunctious visitings of nature. what is required is to find the proper compromise. as to what that would be there is, as between the ordinary man and woman on the one side, and the male crank and the battalions of sentimental women on the other, a conflict which is, to all intents and purposes, a sex war. the compromise which ordinary human nature had fixed upon--and it is one which, ministering as it does to the survival of the race, has been adopted through the whole range of nature--is that of making within the world in which violence rules a series of enclaves in which the application of violence is progressively restricted and limited. outside the outermost of the series of ring fences thus constituted would be the realm of uncompromising violence such as exists when human life is endangered by wild animals, or murderous criminals, or savages. just within this outermost fence would be civilised war--for in civilised war non-combatants and prisoners and wounded are excluded from the application of violence. in like manner we bring humanity in general within a more sheltered enclosure than animals--pet animals within a more sheltered enclosure than other animals. again, we bring those who belong to the white race within a narrower protecting circle than mankind in general, and those of our own nation within a still narrower one. following out the same principle, we include women and children within a narrower shelter fence than our adult fellow-male; and we use the weapon of force more reluctantly when we are dealing with our relatives and friends than when we are dealing with those who are not personally known to us; and finally, we lay it aside more completely when we are dealing with the women of our households than when we are dealing with the males. the cause of civilisation and of the amenities, and the welfare of the nation, of the family, and of woman, are all intimately bound up with a faithful adherence to this compromise. but this policy imposes upon those whom it shelters from violence corresponding obligations. in war non-combatants--not to speak of the wounded on the battlefield--must desist from hostile action on the pain of being shot down like wild beasts. and though an individual non-combatant might think it a patriotic action for him to take part in war, the thoughtful man would recognise that such action was a violation of a well-understood covenant made in the interest of civilisation, and that to break through this covenant was to abrogate a humanitarian arrangement by which the general body of non-combatants immensely benefits. exactly the same principle finds, as already pointed out, application when a woman employs direct violence, or aspires to exercise by voting indirect violence. one always wonders if the suffragist appreciates all that woman stands to lose and all that she imperils by resort to physical force. one ought not to have to tell her that, if she had to fight for her position, her status would be that which is assigned to her among the kaffirs--not that which civilised man concedes to her. from considering the compromise by which man adapts his dual nature to violence in the world, we turn to that which the female legislative reformer would seek to impose by the aid of her vote. her proposal, as the reader will have discerned, would be that all those evils which make appeal to the feminine emotions should be legally prohibited, and that all those which fail to make this appeal shall be tolerated. in the former class would be included those which come directly under woman's ken, or have been brought vividly before the eyes of her imagination by emotional description. and the specially intolerable evils will be those which, owing to the fact that they fall upon woman or her immediate belongings, induce in the female legislative reformer pangs of sympathetic discomfort. in the class of evils which the suffragist is content to tolerate, or say nothing about, would be those which are incapable of evoking in her such sympathetic pangs, and she concerns herself very little with those evils which do not furnish her with a text for recriminations against man. conspicuous in this programme is the absence of any sense of proportion. one would have imagined that it would have been plain to everybody that the evils which individual women suffer at the hands of man are very far from being the most serious ills of humanity. one would have imagined that the suffering inflicted by disease and by bad social conditions--suffering which falls upon man and woman alike--deserved a first place in the thoughts of every reformer. and one might have expected it to be common knowledge that the wrongs individual men inflict upon women have a full counterpart in the wrongs which individual women inflict upon men. it may quite well be that there are mists which here "blot and fill the perspective" of the female legislative reformer. but to look only upon one's own things, and not also upon the things of others, is not for that morally innocent. there is further to be noted in connexion with the female legislative reformer that she has never been able to see why she should be required to put her aspirations into practical shape, or to consider ways and means, or to submit the practicability of her schemes to expert opinion. one also recognises that from a purely human point of view such tactics are judicious. for if the schemes of the female legislative reformer were once to be reviewed from the point of view of their practicability, her utility as a legislator would come into question, and the suffragist could no longer give out that there has been committed to her from on high a mission to draw water for man-kind out of the wells of salvation. lastly, we have to reflect in connection with the female legislative reformer that to go about proposing to reform the laws means to abandon that special field of usefulness which lies open to woman in alleviating misery and redressing those hard cases which will, under all laws and regulations of human manufacture and under all social dispositions, inevitably occur. now when a woman leaves a social task which is commensurate with her abilities, and which asks from her personal effort and self-sacrifice, for a task which is quite beyond her abilities, but which, she thinks, will bring her personal kudos, shall we impute it to her for righteousness? v ulterior ends which the woman's suffrage movement has in view we have now sufficiently considered the suffragist's humanitarian schemes, and we may lead up to the consideration of her further projects by contrasting woman's suffrage as it presents itself under colonial conditions--_i.e._ woman's suffrage without the female legislative reformer and the feminist--with the woman suffrage which is being agitated for in england--_i.e._ woman suffrage with the female legislative reformer and the feminist. in the colonies and undeveloped countries generally where women are in a minority, and where owing to the fact that practically all have an opportunity of marrying, there are not for woman any difficult economic and physiological conditions, there is no woman's question; and by consequence no female legislative reformer or feminist. the woman voter follows, as the opportunist politicians who enfranchised her intended, the lead of her men-folk--serving only a pawn in the game of politics. under such conditions woman's suffrage kleaves things as they are, except only that it undermines the logical foundations of the law, and still further debases the standard of public efficiency and public morality. in countries, such as england, where an excess female population [ ] has made economic difficulties for woman, and where the severe sexual restrictions, which here obtains, have bred in her sex-hostility, the suffrage movement has as its avowed ulterior object the abrogation of all distinctions which depend upon sex; and the achievement of the economic independence of woman. [ ] in england and wales there are, in a population of , , women between the ages of twenty and fifty, , , unmarried women. to secure this economic independence every post, occupation, and government service is to be thrown open to woman; she is to receive everywhere the same wages as man; male and female are to work side by side; and they are indiscriminately to be put in command the one over the other. furthermore, legal rights are to be secured to the wife over her husband's property and earnings. the programme is, in fact, to give to woman an economic independence out of the earnings and taxes of man. nor does feminist ambition stop short here. it demands that women shall be included in every advisory committee, every governing board, every jury, every judicial bench, every electorate, every parliament, and every ministerial cabinet; further, that every masculine foundation, university, school of learning, academy, trade union, professional corporation and scientific society shall be converted into an epicene institution--until we shall have everywhere one vast cock-and-hen show. the proposal to bring man and woman together everywhere into extremely intimate relationships raises very grave questions. it brings up, first, the question of sexual complications; secondly, the question as to whether the tradition of modesty and reticence between the sexes is to be definitely sacrificed; and, most important of all, the question as to whether epicene conditions would place obstacles in the way of intellectual work. of these issues the feminist puts the first two quite out of account. i have already elsewhere said my say upon these matters.[ ] with regard to the third, the feminist either fails to realise that purely intellectual intercourse--as distinguished from an intercommunion of mental images--with woman is to a large section of men repugnant; or else, perceiving this, she makes up her mind that, this notwithstanding, she will get her way by denouncing the man who does not welcome her as _selfish_; and by insisting that under feminism (the quotation is from mill, the italics which question his sincerity are mine) "the mass of mental faculties available for the higher service of mankind would be _doubled_." [ ] _vide_ appendix, pp. - . the matter cannot so lightly be disposed of. it will be necessary for us to find out whether really intimate association with woman on the purely intellectual plane is realisable. and if it is, in fact, unrealisable, it will be necessary to consider whether it is the exclusion of women from masculine corporations; or the perpetual attempt of women to force their way into these, which would deserve to be characterised as _selfish_. in connexion with the former of these issues, we have to consider here not whether that form of intellectual co-operation in which the man plays the game, and the woman moves the pawns under his orders, is possible. that form of co-operation is of course possible, and it has, doubtless, certain utilities. nor yet have we to consider whether quite intimate and purely intellectual association on an equal footing between a particular man and a selected woman may or may not be possible. it will suffice to note that the feminist alleges that this also is possible; but everybody knows that the woman very often marries the man. what we have to ask is whether--even if we leave out of regard the whole system of attractions or, as the case may be, repulsions which come into operation when the sexes are thrown together--purely intellectual intercourse between man and the typical unselected woman is not barred by the intellectual immoralities and limitations which appear to be secondary sexual characters of woman. with regard to this issue, there would seem to be very little real difference of opinion among men. but there are great differences in the matter of candour. there are men who speak out, and who enunciate like nietzsche that "man and woman are alien--never yet has any one conceived how alien." there are men who, from motives of delicacy or policy, do not speak out--averse to saying anything that might be unflattering to woman. and there are men who are by their profession of the feminist faith debarred from speaking out, but who upon occasion give themselves away. of such is the man who in the house of commons champions the cause of woman's suffrage, impassionately appealing to justice; and then betrays himself by announcing that he would shake off from his feet the dust of its purlieus if ever women were admitted as members--_i.e._ if ever women were forced upon _him_ as close intellectual associates. wherever we look we find aversion to compulsory intellectual co-operation with woman. we see it in the sullen attitude which the ordinary male student takes up towards the presence of women students in his classes. we see it in the fact that the older english universities, which have conceded everything else to women, have made a strong stand against making them actual members of the university; for this would impose them on men as intellectual associates. again we see the aversion in the opposition to the admission of women to the bar. but we need not look so far afield. practically every man feels that there is in woman--patent, or hidden away--an element of unreason which, when you come upon it, summarily puts an end to purely intellectual intercourse. one may reflect, for example, upon the way the woman's suffrage controversy has been conducted. proceeding now on the assumption that these things are so, and that man feels that he and woman belong to different intellectual castes, we come now to the question as to whether it is man who is selfish when he excludes women from his institutions, or woman when she unceasingly importunes for admittance. and we may define as _selfish_ all such conduct as pursues the advantage of the agent at the cost of the happiness and welfare of the general body of mankind. we shall be in a better position to pronounce judgment on this question of ethics when we have considered the following series of analogies: when a group of earnest and devout believers meet together for special intercession and worship, we do not tax them with selfishness if they exclude unbelievers. nor do we call people who are really devoted to music selfish if, coming together for this, they make a special point of excluding the unmusical. nor again would the imputation of selfishness lie against members of a club for black-balling a candidate who would, they feel, be uncongenial. nor should we regard it as an act of selfishness if the members of a family circle, or of the same nation, or of any social circle, desired to come together quite by themselves. nor yet would the term selfish apply to an east end music hall audience when they eject any one who belongs to a different social class to themselves and wears good clothes. and the like would hold true of servants resenting their employers intruding upon them in their hours of leisure or entertainments. if we do not characterise such exclusions as selfish, but rather respect and sympathise with them, it is because we recognise that the whole object and _raison d' etre_ of association would in each case be nullified by the weak-minded admission of the incompatible intruder. we recognise that if any charge of selfishness would lie, it would lie against that intruder. now if this holds in the case where the interests of religious worship or music, or family, national, or social life, or recreation and relaxation after labour are in question, it will hold true even more emphatically where the interests of intellectual work are involved. but the feminist will want to argue. she will--taking it as always for granted that woman has a right to all that men's hands or brains have fashioned--argue that it is very important for the intellectual development of woman that she should have exactly the same opportunities as man. and she will, scouting [rejecting with contempt] the idea of any differences between the intelligences of man and woman, discourse to you of their intimate affinity. it will, perhaps, be well to clear up these points. the importance of the higher development of woman is unquestionable. but after all it is the intellect of man which really comes into account in connexion with "the mass of mental faculties available for the higher service of mankind." the maintenance of the conditions which allow of man's doing his best intellectual work is therefore an interest which is superior to that of the intellectual development of woman. and woman might quite properly be referred for her intellectual development to instructional institutions which should be special to herself. coming to the question of the intimate resemblances between the masculine and the feminine intelligence, no man would be venturesome enough to dispute these, but he may be pardoned if he thinks--one would hope in no spirit of exaltation--also of the differences. we have an instructive analogy in connexion with the learned societies. it is uncontrovertible that every candidate for election into such a society will have, and will feel that he has, affinities with the members of that association. and he is invited to set these forth in his application. but there may also be differences of which he is not sensible. on that question the electors are the judges; and they are the final court of appeal. there would seem to be here a moral which the feminist would do well to lay to heart. there is also another lesson which she might very profitably consider. a quite small difference will often constitute as effective a bar to a useful and congenial co-operation as a more fundamental difference. in the case of a body of intellectual workers one might at first sight suppose that so small a distinction as that of belonging to a different nationality--sex, of course, is an infinitely profounder difference--would not be a bar to unrestricted intellectual co-operation. but in point of fact it is in every country, in every learned society, a uniform rule that when foreign scientists or scholars are admitted they are placed not on the ordinary list of working members, but on a special list. one discerns that there is justification for this in the fact that a foreigner would in certain eventualities be an incompatible person. one may think of the eventuality of the learned society deciding to recognise a national service, or to take part in a national movement. and one is not sure that a foreigner might not be an incompatible person in the eventuality of a scientist or scholar belonging to a nationality with which the foreigner's country was at feud being brought forward for election. and he would, of course, be an impossible person in a society if he were, in a spirit of chauvinism, to press for a larger representation of his own fellow-countrymen. now this is precisely the kind of way man feels about woman. he recognises that she is by virtue of her sex for certain purposes an incompatible person; and that, quite apart from this, her secondary sexual characters might in certain eventualities make her an impossible person. we may note, before passing on, that these considerations would seem to prescribe that woman should be admitted to masculine institutions only when real humanitarian grounds demand it; that she should--following here the analogy of what is done in the learned societies with respect to foreigners--be invited to co-operate with men only when she is quite specially eminent, or beyond all question useful for the particular purpose in hand; and lastly, that when co-opted into any masculine institution woman should always be placed upon a special list, to show that it was proposed to confine her co-operation within certain specified limits. from these general questions, which affect only the woman with intellectual aspirations, we pass to consider what would be the effect of feminism upon the rank and file of women if it made of these co-partners with man in work. they would suffer not only because woman's physiological disabilities and the restrictions which arise out of her sex place her at a great disadvantage when she has to enter into competition with man, but also because under feminism man would be less and less disposed to take off woman's shoulders a part of her burden. and there can be no dispute that the most valuable financial asset of the ordinary woman is the possibility that a man may be willing--and may, if only woman is disposed to fulfil her part of the bargain, be not only willing but anxious--to support her and to secure for her, if he can, a measure of that freedom which comes from the possession of money. in view of this every one who has a real fellow-feeling for woman, and who is concerned for her material welfare, as a father is concerned for his daughter's, will above everything else desire to nurture and encourage in man the sentiment of chivalry, and in woman that disposition of mind that makes chivalry possible. and the woman workers who have to fight the battle of life for themselves would indirectly profit from this fostering of chivalry; for those women who are supported by men do not compete in the limited labour market which is open to the woman worker. from every point of view, therefore, except perhaps that of the exceptional woman who would be able to hold her own against masculine competition--and men always issue informal letters of naturalisation to such an exceptional woman--the woman suffrage which leads up to feminism would be a social disaster. part iii is there, if the suffrage is barred, any palliative of corrective for the discontents of woman? i palliatives or correctives for the discontents of woman what are the suffragist's grievances?--economic and physiological difficulties of woman--intellectual grievances of suffragist and corrective. is there then, let us ask ourselves, if the suffrage with its programme of feminism is barred as leading to social disaster, any palliative or corrective that can be applied to the present discontents of woman? if such is to be found, it is to be found only by placing clearly before us the suffragist's grievances. these grievances are, _first,_ the economic difficulties of the woman who seeks to earn her living by work other than unskilled manual labour; _secondly_, the difficult physiological conditions in which woman is placed by the excess of the female over the male population and by her diminished chances of marriage [ ]; and _thirdly,_ the tedium which obsesses the life of the woman who is not forced, and cannot force herself, to work. on the top of these grievances comes the fact that the suffragist conceives herself to be harshly and unfairly treated by man. this last is the fire which sets a light to all the inflammable material. [ ] _vide_ footnote, p. . it would be quite out of question to discuss here the economic and physiological difficulties of woman. only this may be said: it is impossible, in view of the procession of starved and frustrated lives which is continuously filing past, to close one's eyes to the urgency of this woman's problem. after all, the primary object of all civilisation is to provide for every member of the community food and shelter and fulfilment of natural cravings. and when, in what passes as a civilised community, a whole class is called upon to go without any one of these our human requirements, it is little wonder that it should break out. but when a way of escape stands open revolt is not morally justified. thus, for example, a man who is born into, but cannot support himself in, a superior class of society is not, as long as he can find a livelihood abroad in a humbler walk in life, entitled to revolt. no more is the woman who is in economic or physiological difficulties. for, if only she has the pluck to take it, a way of escape stands open to her. she can emigrate; she can go out from the social class in which she is not self-supporting into a humbler social class in which she could earn a living; and she can forsake conditions in which she must remain a spinster for conditions in which she may perhaps become a mother. only in this way can the problem of finding work, and relief of tedium, for the woman who now goes idle be resolved. if women were to avail themselves of these ways of escape out of unphysiological conditions, the woman agitator would probably find it as difficult to keep alive a passionate agitation for woman suffrage as the irish nationalist agitator to keep alive, after the settlement of the land question and the grant of old age pensions, a passionate agitation for a separate parliament for ireland. for the happy wife and mother is never passionately concerned about the suffrage. it is always the woman who is galled either by physiological hardships, or by the fact that she has not the same amount of money as man, or by the fact that man does not desire her as a co-partner in work, and withholds the homage which she thinks he ought to pay to her intellect. for this class of grievances the present education of woman is responsible. the girl who is growing up to woman's estate is never taught where she stands relatively to man. she is not taught anything about woman's physical disabilities. she is not told--she is left to discover it for herself when too late--that child and husband are to woman physiological requirements. she is not taught the defects and limitations of the feminine mind. one might almost think there were no such defects and limitations; and that woman was not always overestimating her intellectual power. and the ordinary girl is not made to realise woman's intrinsically inferior money-earning capacity. she is not made to realise that the woman who cannot work with her hands is generally hard put to earn enough to keep herself alive in the incomplete condition of a spinster. as a result of such education, when, influenced by the feminist movement, woman comes to institute a comparison between herself and man, she brings into that comparison all those qualities in which she is substantially his equal, and leaves out of account all those in which she is his inferior. the failure to recognise that man is the master, and why he is the master, lies at the root of the suffrage movement. by disregarding man's superior physical force, the power of compulsion upon which all government is based is disregarded. by leaving out of account those powers of the mind in which man is the superior, woman falls into the error of thinking that she can really compete with him, and that she belongs to the self-same intellectual caste. finally, by putting out of sight man's superior money-earning capacity, the power of the purse is ignored. uninstructed woman commits also another fundamental error in her comparison. instead of comparing together the average man and the average woman, she sets herself to establish that there is no defect in woman which cannot be discovered also in man; and that there is no virtue or power in the ordinary man which cannot be discovered also in woman. which having been established to her satisfaction, she is led inevitably to the conclusion that there is nothing whatever to choose between the sexes. and from this there is only a step to the position that human beings ought to be assigned, without distinction of sex, to each and every function which would come within the range of their individual capacities, instead of being assigned as they are at present: men to one function, and women to another. here again women ought to have been safeguarded by education. she ought to have been taught that even when an individual woman comes up to the average of man this does not abrogate the disqualification which attaches to a difference of sex. nor yet--as every one who recognises that we live in a world which conducts itself by generalisations will see--does it abrogate the disqualification of belonging to an inferior intellectual caste. the present system of feminine education is blameworthy not only in the respect that it fails to draw attention to these disqualifications and to teach woman where she stands; it is even more blameworthy in that it fails to convey to the girl who is growing up any conception of that absolutely elementary form of morality which consists in distinguishing _meum_ and _tuum_ [_that which is mine_ and _that which is yours_]. instead of her educators encouraging every girl to assert "rights" as against man, and put forward claims, they ought to teach her with respect to him those lessons of behaviour which are driven home once for all into every boy at a public school. just as there you learn that you may not make unwarranted demands upon your fellow, and just as in the larger world every nation has got to learn that it cannot with impunity lay claim to the possessions of its neighbours, so woman will have to learn that when things are not offered to her, and she has not the power to take them by force, she has got to make the best of things as they are. one would wish for every girl who is growing up to womanhood that it might be brought home to her by some refined and ethically-minded member of her own sex how insufferable a person woman becomes when, like a spoilt child, she exploits the indulgence of man; when she proclaims that it is his duty to serve her and to share with her his power and possessions; when she makes an outcry when he refuses to part with what is his own; and when she insists upon thrusting her society upon men everywhere. and every girl ought to be warned that to embark upon a policy of recrimination when you do not get what you want, and to proclaim yourself a martyr when, having hit, you are hit back, is the way to get yourself thoroughly disliked. finally, every girl ought to be shown, in the example of the militant suffragist, how revolt and martyrdom, undertaken in order to possess oneself of what belongs to others, effects the complete disorganisation of moral character. no one would wish that in the education of girls these quite unlovely things should be insisted upon more than was absolutely necessary. but one would wish that the educators of the rising generation of women should, basing themselves upon these foundations, point out to every girl how great is woman's debt to civilisation; in other words, how much is under civilisation done for woman by man. and one would wish that, in a world which is rendered unwholesome by feminism, every girl's eyes were opened to comprehend the great outstanding fact of the world: the fact that, turn where you will, you find individual man showering upon individual woman--one man in tribute to her enchantment, another out of a sense of gratitude, and another just because she is something that is his--every good thing which, suffrage or no suffrage, she never could have procured for herself. appendix letter on militant hysteria reprinted by permission from _the times_ (london), march , . to the editor of the times sir,--for man the physiological psychology of woman is full of difficulties. he is not a little mystified when he encounters in her periodically recurring phases of hypersensitiveness, unreasonableness, and loss of the sense of proportion. he is frankly perplexed when confronted with a complete alteration of character in a woman who is child-bearing. when he is a witness of the "tendency of woman to morally warp when nervously ill," and of the terrible physical havoc which the pangs of a disappointed love may work, he is appalled. and it leaves on his mind an eerie feeling when he sees serious and long-continued mental disorders developing in connexion with the approaching extinction of a woman's reproductive faculty. no man can close his eyes to these things; but he does not feel at liberty to speak of them. "for the woman that god gave him is not his to give away."[ ] [ from "the female of the species" by rudyard kipling] as for woman herself, she makes very light of any of these mental upsettings. she perhaps smiles a little at them. . . .[ ] [ ] in the interests of those who feel that female dignity is compromised by it, i have here omitted a woman's flippant overestimate of the number of women in london society who suffer from nervous disorders at the climacteric [i.e. menopause]. none the less, these upsettings of her mental equilibrium are the things that a woman has most cause to fear; and no doctor can ever lose sight of the fact that the mind of woman is always threatened with danger from the reverberations of her physiological emergencies. it is with such thoughts that the doctor lets his eyes rest upon the militant suffragist. he cannot shut them to the fact that there is mixed up with the woman's movement much mental disorder; and he cannot conceal from himself the physiological emergencies which lie behind. the recruiting field for the militant suffragists is the million of our excess female population--that million which had better long ago have gone out to mate with its complement of men beyond the sea. among them there are the following different types of women:-- (_a_) first--let us put them first--come a class of women who hold, with minds otherwise unwarped, that they may, whenever it is to their advantage, lawfully resort to physical violence. the programme, as distinguished from the methods, of these women is not very different from that of the ordinary suffragist woman. (_b_) there file past next a class of women who have all their life-long been strangers to joy, women in whom instincts long suppressed have in the end broken into flame. these are the sexually embittered women in whom everything has turned into gall and bitterness of heart, and hatred of men. their legislative programme is license for themselves, or else restrictions for man. (_c_) next there file past the incomplete. one side of their nature has undergone atrophy, with the result that they have lost touch with their living fellow men and women. their programme is to convert the whole world into an epicene institution---an epicene institution in which man and woman shall everywhere work side by side at the selfsame tasks and for the selfsame pay. these wishes can never by any possibility be realised. even in animals--i say _even,_ because in these at least one of the sexes has periods of complete quiscence--male and female cannot be safely worked side by side, except when they are incomplete. while in the human species safety can be obtained, it can be obtained only at the price of continual constraint. and even then woman, though she protests that she does not require it, and that she does not receive it, practically always does receive differential treatment at the hands of man. it would be well, i often think, that every woman should be clearly told--and the woman of the world will immediately understand--that when man sets his face against the proposal to bring in an epicene world, he does so because he can do his best work only in surroundings where he is perfectly free from suggestion and from restraint, and from the onus which all differential treatment imposes. and i may add in connexion with my own profession that when a medical man asks that he should not be the yoke-fellow of a medical woman he does so also because he would wish to keep up as between men and women--even when they are doctors--some of the modesties and reticences upon which our civilisation has been built up. now the medical woman is of course never on the side of modesty,[ ] or in favour of any reticences. her desire for knowledge does not allow of these. [ ] to those who have out of inadvertence and as laymen and women misunderstood, it may be explained that the issue here discussed is the second in order of the three which are set out on p. (_supra_). (_d_) inextricably mixed up with the types which we have been discussing is the type of woman whom dr. leonard williams's recent letter brought so distinctly before our eyes--the woman who is poisoned by her misplaced self-esteem; and who flies out at every man who does not pay homage to her intellect. she is the woman who is affronted when a man avers that _for him_ the glory of woman lies in her power of attraction, in her capacity for motherhood, and in unswerving allegiance to the ethics which are special to her sex. i have heard such an intellectually embittered woman say, though she had been self-denyingly taken to wife, that "never in the whole course of her life had a man ever as much as done her a kindness." the programme of this type of woman is, as a preliminary, to compel man to admit her claim to be his intellectual equal; and, that done, to compel him to divide up everything with her to the last farthing, and so make her also his financial equal. and her journals exhibit to us the kind of parliamentary representative she desiderates. he humbly, hat in hand, asks for his orders from a knot of washerwomen standing arms a-kimbo.[ ] [ ] i give, in response to a request, the reference: _votes for women,_ march , , p. . (_e_) following in the wake of these embittered human beings come troops of girls just grown up. all these will assure you, these young girls--and what is seething in their minds is stirring also in the minds in the girls in the colleges and schools which are staffed by unmarried suffragists--that woman has suffered all manner of indignity and injustice at the hands of man. and these young girls have been told about the intellectual, and moral, and financial value of woman--such tales as it never entered into the heart of man to conceive. the programme of these young women is to be married upon their own terms. man shall--so runs their scheme--work for their support--to that end giving up his freedom, and putting himself under orders, for many hours of the day; but they themselves must not be asked to give up any of their liberty to him, or to subordinate themselves to his interests, or to obey him in anything. to obey a man would be to commit the unpardonable sin. it is not necessary, in connexion with a movement which proceeds on the lines set out above, any further to labour the point that there is in it an element of mental disorder. it is plain that it is there. there is also a quite fatuous element in the programmes of the militant suffragist. we have this element, for instance, in the doctrine that, notwithstanding the fact that the conditions of the labour market deny it to her, woman ought to receive the same wage as a man for the same work. this doctrine is fatuous, because it leaves out of sight that, even if woman succeeds in doing the same work as man, he has behind him a much larger reserve of physical strength. as soon as a time of strain comes, areserve of strength and freedom from periodic indisposition is worth paying extra for. fatuous also is the dogma that woman ought to have the same pay for the same work--fatuous because it leaves out of sight that woman's commercial value in many of the best fields of work is subject to a very heavy discount by reason of the fact that she cannot, like a male employee, work cheek by jowl with a male employer; nor work among men as a man with his fellow employees. so much for the woman suffragist's protest that she can conceive of no reason for a differential rate of pay for man. quite as fatuous are the marriage projects of the militant suffragist. every woman of the world could tell her--whispering it into her private ear--that if a sufficient number of men should come to the conclusion that it was not worth their while to marry except on the terms of fair give-and-take, the suffragist woman's demands would have to come down. it is not at all certain that the institution of matrimony--which, after all, is the great instrument in the levelling up of the financial situation of woman--can endure apart from some willing subordination on the part of the wife. it will have been observed that there is in these programmes, in addition to the element of mental disorder and to the element of the fatuous, which have been animadverted upon, also a very ugly element of dishonesty. in reality the very kernel of the militant suffrage movement is the element of immorality. there is here not only immorality in the ends which are in view, but also in the methods adopted for the attainment of those ends. we may restrict ourselves to indicating wherein lies the immorality of the methods. there is no one who does not discern that woman in her relations to physical force stands in quite a different position to man. out of that different relation there must of necessity shape itself a special code of ethics for woman. and to violate that code must be for woman immorality. so far as i have seen, no one in this controversy has laid his finger upon the essential point in the relations of woman to physical violence. it has been stated--and in the main quite truly stated--that woman in the mass cannot, like man, back up her vote by bringing physical force into play. but the woman suffragist here counters by insisting that she as an individual may have more physical force than an individual man. and it is quite certain--and it did not need suffragist raids and window-breaking riots to demonstrate it--that woman in the mass can bring a certain amount of physical force to bear. the true inwardness of the relation in which woman stands to physical force lies not in the question of her having it at command, but in the fact that she cannot put it forth without placing herself within the jurisdiction of an ethical law. the law against which she offends when she resorts to physical violence is not an ordinance of man; it is not written in the statutes of any state; it has not been enunciated by any human law-giver. it belongs to those unwritten, and unassailable, and irreversible commandments of religion, [_greek_ ], which we suddenly and mysteriously become aware of when we see them violated. [ from _antigone_ by sophocles; "_the unwritten and unassailable statutes given to us by the gods._" sir almroth had it in the original greek with greek fonts.] the law which the militant suffragist has violated is among the ordinances of that code which forbade us even to think of employing our native indian troops against the boers; which brands it as an ignominy when a man leaves his fellow in the lurch and saves his own life; and which makes it an outrage for a man to do violence to a woman. to violate any ordinance of that code is more dishonourable than to transgress every statutory law. we see acknowledgment of it in the fact that even the uneducated man in the street resents it as an outrage to civilisation when he sees a man strike a blow at a woman. but to the man who is committing the outrage it is a thing simply unaccountable that any one should fly out at him. in just such a case is the militant suffragist. she cannot understand why any one should think civilisation is outraged when she scuffles in the street mud with a policeman. if she asks for an explanation, it perhaps behoves a man to supply it. up to the present in the whole civilised world there has ruled a truce of god as between man and woman. that truce is based upon the solemn covenant that within the frontiers of civilisation (outside them of course the rule lapses) the weapon of physical force may not be applied by man against woman; nor by woman against man. under this covenant, the reign of force which prevails in the world without comes to an end when a man enters his household. under this covenant that half of the human race which most needs protection is raised up above the waves of violence. within the terms of this compact everything that woman has received from man, and everything man receives from woman, is given as a free gift. again, under this covenant a full half of the programme of christianity has been realised; and a foundation has been laid upon which it may be possible to build higher; and perhaps finally in the ideal future to achieve the abolition of physical violence and war. and it is this solemn covenant, the covenant so faithfully kept by man, which has been violated by the militant suffragist in the interest of her morbid, stupid, ugly, and dishonest programmes. is it wonder if men feel that they have had enough of the militant suffragist, and that the state would be well rid of her if she were crushed under the soldiers' shields like the traitor woman at the tarpeian rock [in ancient rome where traitors were killed]? we may turn now to that section of woman suffragists--one is almost inclined to doubt whether it any longer exists--which is opposed to all violent measures, though it numbers in its ranks women who are stung to the quick by the thought that man, who will concede the vote to the lowest and most degraded of his own sex, withholds it from "even the noblest woman in england." when that excited and somewhat pathetic appeal is addressed to us, we have only to consider what a vote really gives. the parliamentary vote is an instrument--and a quite astonishly disappointing instrument it is--for obtaining legislation; that is, for directing that the agents of the state shall in certain defined circumstances bring into application the weapon of physical compulsion. further, the vote is an instrument by which we give to this or that group of statesmen anthority to supervise and keep in motion the whole machinery of compulsion. to take examples. a vote cast in favour of a bill for the prohibition of alcohol--if we could find opportunity for giving a vote on such a question--would be a formal expression of our desire to apply, through the agency of the paid servants of the state, that same physical compulsion which mrs. carrie nation put into application in her "bar-smashing" crusades. and a vote which puts a government into office in a country where murder is punishable by death is a vote which, by agency of the hangman, puts the noose round the neck of every convicted murderer. so that the difference between voting and direct resort to force is simply the difference between exerting physical violence in person, and exerting it through the intermediary of an agent of the state. the thing, therefore, that is withheld from "the noblest woman in england," while it is conceded to the man who is lacking in nobility of character, is in the end only an instrument by which she might bring into application physical force. when one realises that that same noblest woman of england would shrink from any personal exercise of violence, one would have thought that it would have come home to her that it is not precisely her job to commission a man forcibly to shut up a public-house, or to hang a murderer. one cannot help asking oneself whether, if she understood what a vote really means, the noblest woman in england would still go on complaining of the bitter insult which is done to her in withholding the vote. but the opportunist--the practical politician, as he calls himself--will perhaps here intervene, holding some such language as this:--"granting all you say, granting, for the sake of argument, that the principle of giving votes to woman is unsound, and that evil must ultimately come of it, how can you get over the fact that no very conspicuous harm has resulted from woman suffrage in the countries which have adopted it? and can any firm reasons be rendered for the belief that the giving of votes to women in england would be any whit more harmful than in the colonies?" a very few words will supply the answer. the evils of woman suffrage lie, _first,_ in the fact that to give the vote to women is to give it to voters who as a class are quite incompetent to adjudicate upon political issues; _secondly,_ in the fact that women are a class of voters who cannot effectively back up their votes by force; and, _thirdly,_ in the fact that it may seriously embroil man and woman. the first two aspects of the question have already in this controversy been adequately dealt with. there remains the last issue. from the point of view of this issue the conditions which we have to deal with in this country are the absolute antithesis of those ruling in any of the countries and states which have adopted woman suffrage. when woman suffrage was adopted in these countries it was adopted in some for one reason, in others for another. in some it was adopted because it appealed to the _doctrinaire [theoretical]_ politician as the proper logical outcome of a democratic and socialistic policy. in others it was adopted because opportunist politicians saw in it an instrument by which they might gain electioneering advantages. so much was this the case that it sometimes happened that the woman's vote was sprung upon a community which was quite unprepared and indifferent to it. the cause of woman suffrage was thus in the countries of which we speak neither in its inception nor in its realisation a question of revolt of woman against the oppression of man. it had, and has, no relation to the programmes of the militant suffragists as set out at the outset of this letter. by virtue of this, all the evils which spring from the embroiling of man and woman have in the countries in question been conspicuously absent. instead of seeing himself confronted by a section of embittered and hostile women voters which might at any time outvote him and help to turn an election, man there sees his women folk voting practically everywhere in accordance with his directions, and lending him a hand to outvote his political opponent. whether or no such voting is for the good of the common weal is beside our present question. but it is clearly an arrangement which leads to amity and peace between a man and his womenkind, and through these to good-will towards all women. in england everything is different. if woman suffrage comes in here, it will have come as a surrender to a very violent feminist agitation--an agitation which we have traced back to our excess female population and the associated abnormal physiological conditions. if ever parliament concedes the vote to woman in england, it will be accepted by the militant suffragist, not as an eirenicon, but as a victory which she will value only for the better carrying on of her fight _a outrance [to the bitter end]_ against the oppression and injustice of man. a conciliation with hysterical revolt is neither an act of peace; nor will it bring peace. nor would the conferring of the vote upon women carry with it any advantages from the point of view of finding a way out of the material entanglements in which woman is enmeshed, and thus ending the war between man and woman. one has only to ask oneself whether or not it would help the legislator in remodelling the divorce or the bastardy laws if he had conjoined with him an unmarried militant suffragist as assessor. peace will come again. it will come when woman ceases to believe and to teach all manner of evil of man despitefully. it will come when she ceases to impute to him as a crime her own natural disabilities, when she ceases to resent the fact that man cannot and does not wish to work side by side with her. and peace will return when every woman for whom there is no room in england seeks "rest" beyond the sea, "each one in the house of her husband," and when the woman who remains in england comes to recognise that she can, without sacrifice of dignity, give a willing subordination to the husband or father, who, when all is said and done, earns and lays up money for her. a. e. wright. _march_ , . none proofreaders samantha among the brethren. by "josiah allen's wife" (marietta holley) part chapter xviii. josiah's face wuz smooth and placid, he hadn't took a mite of sense of what i had been a-sayin', and i knew it. men don't. they know at the most it is only _talk_, wimmen hain't got it in their power to _do_ anything. and i s'pose they reason on it in this way--a little wind storm is soon over, it relieves old natur and don't hurt anything. yes, my pardner's face wuz as calm as the figger on the outside of the almanac a-holdin' the bottle, and his axent wuz mildly wonderin' and gently sarcestickle. "how a steeple would look a-pintin' down! that is a true woman's idee." [illustration: sister filkins.] sez i, "i would have it a-pintin' down towards the depths of darkness that wuz in that man's heart that roze it up, and the infamy of the deed that kep him in the meetin' house and turned his victim out of it." "i d'no as she wuz his victim," sez josiah. sez i, "every one knows that in the first place simeon lathers wuz the man that led her astray." "it wuzn't proved," sez josiah, a-turnin' the almanac over and lookin' at the advertisement on the back side on't. "and why wuzn't it proved?" sez i, "because he held a big piece of gold against the mouths of the witnesses." "i didn't see any in front of my mouth," sez josiah, lookin' 'shamed but some composed. "and you know what the story wuz," sez he, "accordin' to that, he did it all to try her faith." i wouldn't encourage josiah by even smilin' at his words, though i knew well what the story wuz he referred to. it wuz at a conference meetin', when simeon lathers wuz jest a-beginnin' to take notice of how pretty irene filkins wuz. she had gone forward to the anxious seat, with some other young females, their minds bein' wrought on, so it wuz spozed, by deacon lathers's eloquent exhortations, and urgin's to 'em to come forward and be saved. and they had gone up onto the anxious seat a-sheddin' tears, and they all knelt down there, and deacon lathers he went right up and knelt down right by sister irene filkins, and them that wuz there say, that right while he wuz a-prayin' loud and strong for 'em all, and her specially, he put his arm round her and acted in such a way that she resented it bitterly. she wuz a good, virtuous girl then, any way. and she resented his overtoors in such a indignant and decided way that it drawed the attention of a hull lot of brothers and sisters towards 'em. and deacon lathers got right up from his knees and sez, "bretheren and sisters, let us sing these lines: "he did it all to try her faith." i remembered this story, but i wuzn't goin' to encourage josiah allen by lettin' my attention be drawed off by any anectotes--nor i didn't smile--oh, no i but i went right on with a hull lot of burnin' indignatin in my axents, and sez i, "josiah allen, can you look me in the face and say that it wuzn't money and bad men's influence that keep such men as deacon widrig and simeon lathers in the meetin' house?" sez i, "if they wuz poor men would they have been kep', or if it wuzn't for the influence of men that like hard drink?" "wall, as it were," sez josiah, "i--that is--wall, it is a-gettin' bed-time, samantha." and he wound up the clock and went to bed. and i set there, all rousted up in my mind, for more'n a hour--and i dropped more'n seven stitches in josiah's heel, and didn't care if i did. but i have episoded fearfully, and to resoom and go on. miss henn wuz mad, and she wuz one of our most enterprizen' sisters, and we felt that she wuz a great loss. things looked dretful dark. and sister bobbet, who is very tender hearted, shed tears several times a-talkin' about the hard times that had come onto our meetin' house, and how zion wuz a-languishin', etc., etc. and i told sister bobbet in confidence, and also in public, that it wuz time to talk about zion's languishin' when we had done all we could to help her up. and i didn't believe zion would languish so much if she had a little help gin her when she needed it. and miss bobbet said "she felt jest so about it, but she couldn't help bein' cast down." and so most all of the sisters said. submit tewksbury wept, and shed tears time and agin, a-talkin' about it, and so several of 'em did. but i sez to 'em-- "good land!" sez i. "we have seen jest as hard times in the methodist meetin' house before, time and agin, and we wimmen have always laid holt and worked, and laid plans, and worked, and worked, and with the lord's help have sailed the old ship zion through the dark waters into safety, and we can do it agin." though what we wuz to do we knew not, and the few male men who didn't jine in the hardness, said they couldn't see no way out of it, but what the minister would have to go, and the meetin' house be shet up for a spell. but we female wimmen felt that we could not have it so any way. and we jined together, and met in each other's housen (not publickly, oh no! we knew our places too well as methodist sisters). we didn't make no move in public, but we kinder met round to each other's housen, sort o' private like, and talked, and talked, and prayed--we all knew that wuzn't aginst the church rules, so we jest rastled in prayer, for help to pay our honest debts, and keep the methodist meetin' house from disgrace, for the men wuz that worked up and madded, that they didn't seem to care whether the meetin' house come to nothin' or not. wall, after settin' day after day (not public settin', oh, no! we knew our places too well, and wouldn't be ketched a-settin' public till we had a right to). after settin' and talkin' it over back and forth, we concluded the very best thing we could do wuz to give a big fair and try to sell things enough to raise some money. it wuz a fearful tuff job we had took onto ourselves, for we had got to make all the things to sell out of what we could get holt of, for, of course, our husbands all kep the money purses in their own hands, as the way of male pardners is. but we laid out to beset 'em when they wuz cleverer than common (owin' to extra good vittles) and get enough money out of 'em to buy the materials to work with, bedquilts (crazy, and otherwise), embroidered towels, shawl straps, knit socks and suspenders, rugs, chair covers, lap robes, etc., etc., etc. it wuz a tremendus hard undertakin' we had took onto ourselves, with all our spring's work on hand, and not one of us sisters kep a hired girl at the time, and we had to do our own house cleanin', paintin' floors, makin' soap, spring sewin', etc., besides our common housework. but the very worst on't wuz the meetin' house wuz in such a shape that we couldn't do a thing till that wuz fixed. the men had undertook to fix over the meetin' house jest before the hardness commenced. the men and wimmen both had labored side by side to fix up the old house a little. the men had said that in such church work as that wimmen had a perfect right to help, to stand side by side with the male brothers, and do half, or more than half, or even _all_ the work. they said it wuzn't aginst the discipline, and all the bishops wuz in favor of it, and always had been. they said it wuz right accordin' to the articles. but when it come to the hard and arjuous duties of drawin' salleries with 'em, or settin' up on conferences with 'em, why there a line had to be drawed, wimmen must not be permitted to strain herself in no such ways--nor resk the tender delicacy of her nature, by settin' in a meetin' house as a delegate by the side of a man once a year. it wuz too resky. but we could lay holt and work with 'em in public, or in private, which we felt wuz indeed a privelege, for the interests of the methodist meetin' house wuz dear to our hearts, and so wuz our pardners' approvals--and they wuz all on 'em unanimus on this pint--we could _work_ all we wanted to. so we had laid holt and worked right along with the men from day to day, with their full and free consents, and a little help from 'em, till we had got the work partly done. we had got the little sabbath-school room painted and papered, and the cushions of the main room new covered, and we had engaged to have it frescoed, but the frescoer had turned out to be a perfect fraud, and, of all the lookin' things, that meetin' house wuz about the worst. the plaster, or whatever it wuz he had put on, had to be all scraped off before it could be papered, the paper wuz bought, and the scrapin' had begun. [illustration: "appearin' in public."] the young male and female church members had give a public concert together, and raised enough money to get the paper--it wuz very nice, and fifty cents a roll (double roll). these young females appearin' in public for this purpose wuz very agreeable to the hull meetin' house, and wuz right accordin' to the rules of the methodist meetin' house, for i remember i asked about it when the question first come up about sendin' female delegates to the conference, and all the male members of our meetin' house wuz so horrified at the idee. i sez, "i'll bet there wouldn't one of the delegates yell half so loud es she that wuz mahala gowdey at the concert. her voice is a sulferino of the very keenest edge and highest tone, and she puts in sights and sights of quavers." but they all said that wuz a _very_ different thing. and sez i, "how different? she wuz a yellin' in public for the good of the methodist meetin' house (it wuz her voice that drawed the big congregatin, we all know). and them wimmen delegates would only have to 'yea' and 'nay' in a still small voice for the good of the same. i can't see why it would be so much more indelicate and unbecomin' in them"--and sez i, "they would have bonnets and shawls on, and she that wuz mahala had on a low neck and short sleeves." but they wouldn't yield, and i wouldn't nuther. but i am a eppisodin fearful, and to resoom. wall, as i said, the scrapin' had begun. one side of the room wuz partly cleaned so the paper could go on, and then the fuss come up, and there it wuz, as you may say, neither hay nor grass, neither frescoed nor papered nor nuthin'. and of all the lookin' sights it wuz. wall, of course, if we had a fair in that meetin' house, we couldn't have it in such a lookin' place to disgrace us in the eyes of baptists and 'piscopals. no, that meetin' house had got to be scraped, and we wimmen had got to do the scrapin' with case knives. it wuz a hard job. i couldn't help thinkin' quite a number of thoughts as i stood on a barell with a board acrost it, afraid as death of fallin' and a workin' for dear life, and the other female sisters a standin' round on similar barells, all a-workin' fur beyond their strengths, and all afraid of fallin', and we all a-knowin' what we had got ahead on us a paperin' and a gettin' up the fair. chapter xix. couldn't help a-methinkin' to myself several times. it duz seem to me that there hain't a question a-comin' up before that conference that is harder to tackle than this plasterin' and the conundrum that is up before us jonesville wimmen how to raise dollars out of nuthin', and to make peace in a meetin' house where anarky is now rainin' down. but i only thought these thoughts to myself, fur i knew every women there wuz peacible and law abidin' and there wuzn't one of 'em but what would ruther fall offen her barell then go agin the rules of the methodist meetin' house. yes, i tried to curb down my rebellous thoughts, and did, pretty much all the time. and good land! we worked so hard that we hadn't time to tackle very curius and peculier thoughts, them that wuz dretful strainin' and wearin' on the mind. not of our own accord we didn't, fur we had to jest nip in and work the hull durin' time. [illustration: "every night josiah would tackle me on it."] and then we all knew how deathly opposed our pardners wuz to our takin' any public part in meetin' house matters or mountin' rostrums, and that thought quelled us down a sight. of course when these subjects wuz brung up before us, and turned round and round in front of our eyes, why we had to look at 'em and be rousted up by 'em more or less. it was nater. and josiah not havin' anything to do evenin's only to set and look at the ceilin'. every single night when i would go home from the meetin' house, josiah would tackle me on it, on the danger of allowin' wimmen to ventur out of her spear in meetin' house matters, and specially the conference. it begin to set in new york the very day we tackled the meetin' in jonesville with a extra grip. so's i can truly say, the meetin' house wuz on me day and night. for workin' on it es i did, all day long, and josiah a-talkin' abut it till bed time, and i a-dreamin' abut it a sight, that, and the conference. truly, if i couldn't set on the conference, the conference sot on me, from mornin' till night, and from night till mornin'. i spoze it wuz josiah's skairful talk that brung it onto me, it wuz brung on nite mairs mostly, in the nite time. he would talk _very_ skairful, and what he called deep, and repeat pages of casper keeler's arguments, and they would appear to me (drawed also by nite mairs) every page on 'em lookin' fairly lurid. i suffered. josiah would set with the _world_ and other papers in his hand, a-perusin' of 'em, while i would be a-washin' up my dishes, and the very minute i would get 'em done and my sleeves rolled down, he would tackle me, and often he wouldn't wait for me to get my work done up, or even supper got, but would begin on me as i filled up my tea kettle, and keep up a stiddy drizzle of argument till bed time, and as i say, when he left off, the nite mairs would begin. i suffered beyond tellin' almost. the secont night of my arjuous labors on the meetin' house, he began wild and eloquent about wimmen bein' on conferences, and mountin' rostrums. and sez he, "that is suthin' that we methodist men can't stand." [illustration: "is rostrums much higher than them barells to stand on?"] and i, havin' stood up on a barell all day a-scrapin' the ceilin', and not bein' recuperated yet from the skairtness and dizziness of my day's work, i sez to him: "is rostrums much higher than them barells we have to stand on to the meetin' house?" and josiah said, "it wuz suthin' altogether different." and he assured me agin, "that in any modest, unpretendin' way the methodist church wuz willin' to accept wimmen's work. it wuzn't aginst the discipline. and that is why," sez he, "that wimmen have all through the ages been allowed to do most all the hard work in the church--such as raisin' money for church work--earnin' money in all sorts of ways to carry on the different kinds of charity work connected with it--teachin' the children, nursin' the sick, carryin' on hospital work, etc., etc. but," sez he, "this is fur, fur different from gettin' up on a rostrum, or tryin' to set on a conference. why," sez he, in a haughty tone, "i should think they'd know without havin' to be told that laymen don't mean women." sez i, "them very laymen that are tryin' to keep wimmen out of the conference wouldn't have got in themselves if it hadn't been for wimmen's votes. if they can legally vote for men to get in why can't men vote for them?" "that is the pint," sez josiah, "that is the very pint i have been tryin' to explain to you. wimmen can help men to office, but men can't help wimmen; that is law, that is statesmanship. i have been a-tryin' to explain it to you that the word laymen _always_ means woman when she can help men in any way, but _not_ when he can help her, or in any other sense." sez i, "it seemed to mean wimmen when metilda henn wuz turned out of the meetin' house." "oh, yes," sez josiah in a reasonin' tone, "the word laymen always means wimmen when it is used in a punishin' and condemnatory sense, or in the case of work and so fourth, but when it comes to settin' up in high places, or drawin' sallerys, or anything else difficult, it alweys means men." sez i, in a very dry axent, "then the word man, when it is used in church matters, always means wimmen, so fur as scrubbin' is concerned, and drowdgin' round?" "yes," sez josiah haughtily, "and it always means men in the higher and more difficult matters of decidin' questions, drawin' sallerys, settin' on conferences, etc. it has long been settled to be so," sez he. "who settled it?" sez i. "why the men, of course," sez he. "the men have always made the rules of the churches, and translated the bibles, and everything else that is difficult," sez he. sez i, in fearful dry axents, almost husky ones, "it seems to take quite a knack to know jest when the word laymen means men and when it means wimmen." "that is so," sez josiah. "it takes a man's mind to grapple with it; wimmen's minds are too weak to tackle it it is jest as it is with that word 'men' in the declaration of independence. now that word 'men', in that declaration, means men some of the time, and some of the time men and wimmen both. it means both sexes when it relates to punishment, taxin' property, obeyin' the laws strictly, etc., etc., and then it goes right on the very next minute and means men only, as to wit, namely, votin', takin' charge of public matters, makin' laws, etc. "i tell you it takes deep minds to foller on and see jest to a hair where the division is made. it takes statesmanship. "now take that claws, 'all men are born free and equal.' "now half of that means men, and the other half men and wimmen. now to understand them words perfect you have got to divide the tex. 'men are born.' that means men and wimmen both--men and wimmen are both born, nobody can dispute that. then comes the next claws, 'free and equal.' now that means men only--anybody with one eye can see that. "then the claws, 'true government consists.' that means men and wimmen both--consists--of course the government consists of men and wimmen, 'twould be a fool who would dispute that. 'in the consent of the governed.' that means men alone. do you see, samantha?" sez he. i kep' my eye fixed on the tea kettle, fer i stood with my tea-pot in hand waitin' for it to bile--"i see a great deal, josiah allen." [illustration: church work.] "wall," sez he, "i am glad on't. now to sum it up," sez he, with some the mean of a preacher--or, ruther, a exhauster--"to sum the matter all up, the words 'bretheren,' 'laymen,' etc., always means wimmen so fur as this: punishment for all offenses, strict obedience to the rules of the church, work of any kind and all kinds, raisin' money, givin' money all that is possible, teachin' in the sabbath school, gettin' up missionary and charitable societies, carryin' on the same with no help from the male sect leavin' that sect free to look after their half of the meanin' of the word--sallerys, office, makin' the laws that bind both of the sexes, rulin' things generally, translatin' bibles to suit their own idees, preachin' at 'em, etc., etc. do you see, samantha?" sez he, proudly and loftily. "yes," sez i, as i filled up my tea-pot, for the water had at last biled. "yes, i see." and i spoze he thought he had convinced me, for he acted high headeder and haughtier for as much as an hour and a half. and i didn't say anything to break it up, for i see he had stated it jest as he and all his sect looked at it, and good land! i couldn't convince the hull male sect if i tried--clergymen, statesmen and all--so i didn't try, and i wuz truly beat out with my day's work, and i didn't drop more than one idee more. i simply dropped this remark es i poured out his tea and put some good cream into it--i merely sez: "there is three times es many wimmen in the meetin' house es there is men." "yes," sez he, "that is one of the pints i have been explainin' to you," and then he went on agin real high headed, and skairt, about the old ground, of the willingness of the meetin' house to shelter wimmen in its folds, and how much they needed gaurdin' and guidin', and about their delicacy of frame, and how unfitted they wuz to tackle anything hard, and what a grief it wuz to the male sect to see 'em a-tryin' to set on conferences or mount rostrums, etc., etc. and i didn't try to break up his argument, but simply repeated the question i had put to him--for es i said before, i wuz tired, and skairt, and giddy yet from my hard labor and my great and hazardus elevatin'; i had not, es you may say, recovered yet from my recuperation, and so i sez agin them words-- "is rostrums much higher than them barells to stand on?" and josiah said agin, "it wuz suthin' entirely different;" he said barells and rostrums wuz so fur apart that you couldn't look at both on 'em in one day hardly, let alone a minute. and he went on once more with a long argument full of bible quotations and everything. and i wuz too tuckered out to say much more. but i did contend for it to the last, that i didn't believe a rostrum would be any more tottlin' and skairful a place than the barell i had been a-standin' on all day, nor the work i'd do on it any harder than the scrapin' of the ceilin' of that meetin house. and i don't believe it would, i stand jest as firm on it to-day as i did then. chapter xx. wall, we got the scrapin' done after three hard and arjous days' works, and then we preceeded to clean the house. the day we set to clean the meetin' house prior and before paperin', we all met in good season, for we knew the hardships of the job in front of us, and we all felt that we wanted to tackle it with our full strengths. sister henzy, wife of deacon henzy, got there jest as i did. she wuz in middlin' good spirits and a old yeller belzerine dress. sister gowdy had the ganders and newraligy and wore a flannel for 'em round her head, but she wuz in workin' spirits, her will wuz up in arms, and nerved up her body. sister meechim wuz a-makin' soap, and so wuz sister sypher, and sister mead, and me. but we all felt that soap come after religion, not before. "cleanliness _next_ to godliness." so we wuz all willin' to act accordin' and tackle the old meetin' house with a willin' mind. wall, we wuz all engaged in the very heat of the warfare, as you may say, a-scrubbin' the floors, and a-scourin' the benches by the door, and a-blackin' the stoves that stood jest inside of the door. we wuz workin' jest as hard as wimmen ever worked--and all of the wimmen who wuzn't engaged in scourin' and moppin' wuz a-settin' round in the pews a-workin' hard on articles for the fair--when all of a suddin the outside door opened and in come josiah allen with of the other men bretheren. they had jest got the great news of wimmen bein' apinted for deaconesses, and had come down on the first minute to tell us. she that wuz celestine bobbet wuz the only female present that had heard of it. josiah had heard it to the post-office, and he couldn't wait till noon to tell me about it, and deacon gowdy wuz anxius miss gowdy should hear it as soon es possible. deacon sypher wanted his wife to know at once that if she wuzn't married she could have become a deaconess under his derectin'. and josiah wanted me to know immegietly that i, too, could have had the privilege if i had been a more single woman, of becomin' a deaconess, and have had the chance of workin' all my hull life for the meetin' house, with a man to direct my movements and take charge on me, and tell me what to do, from day to day and from hour to hour. and deacon henzy was anxious miss henzy should get the news as quick as she could. so they all hastened down to the meetin' house to tell us. and we left off our work for a minute to hear 'em. it wuzn't nowhere near time for us to go home. josiah had lots of further business to do in jonesville and so had the other men. but the news had excited 'em, and exhilerated 'em so, that they had dropped everything, and hastened right down to tell us, and then they wuz a-goin' back agin immegietly. i, myself, took the news coolly, or as cool as i could, with my temperature up to five or five and a half, owin' to the hard work and the heat. [illustration: the last news from the conference.] miss gowdy also took it pretty calm. she leaned on her mop handle, partly for rest (for she was tuckered out) and partly out of good manners, and didn't say much. but miss sypheris such a admirin'woman, she looked fairly radiant at the news, and she spoke up to her husband in her enthusiastik warm-hearted way-- "why, deacon sypher, is it possible that i, too, could become a deacon, jest like you?" "no," sez deacon sypher solemnly, "no, drusilly, not like me. but you wimmen have got the privelege now, if you are single, of workin' all your days at church work under the direction of us men." "then i could work at the deacon trade under you," sez she admirin'ly, "i could work jest like you--pass round the bread and wine and the contribution box sundays?" "oh, no, drusilly," sez he condesendinly, "these hard and arjuous dutys belong to the male deaconship. that is their own one pertickiler work, that wimmen can't infringe upon. their hull strength is spent in these duties, wimmen deacons have other fields of labor, such as relievin' the wants of the sick and sufferin', sittin' up nights with small-pox patients, takin' care of the sufferin' poor, etc., etc." "but," sez miss sypher (she is so good-hearted, and so awful fond of the deacon), "wouldn't it be real sweet, deacon, if you and i could work together as deacons, and tend the sick, relieve the sufferers--work for the good of the church together--go about doin' good?" "no, drusilly," sez he, "that is wimmen's work. i would not wish for a moment to curtail the holy rights of wimmen. i wouldn't want to stand in her way, and keep her from doin' all this modest, un-pretendin' work, for which her weaker frame and less hefty brain has fitted her. "we will let it go on in the same old way. let wimmen have the privelege of workin' hard, jest as she always has. let her work all the time, day and night, and let men go on in the same sure old way of superentendin' her movements, guardin' her weaker footsteps, and bossin' her round generally." deacon sypher is never happy in his choice of language, and his method of argiment is such that when he is up on the affirmative of a question, the negative is delighted, for they know he will bring victery to their side of the question. now, he didn't mean to speak right out about men's usual way of bossin' wimmen round. it was only his unfortunate and transparent manner of speakin'. and deacon bobbet hastened to cover up the remark by the statement that "he wuz so highly tickled that wimmen wuzn't goin' to be admitted to the conference, because it would _weaken_ the conference." "yes," sez my josiah, a-leanin' up aginst the meetin' house door, and talkin' pretty loud, for sister peedick and me had gone to liftin' round the big bench by the door, and it wuz fearful heavy, and our minds wuz excersised as to the best place to put it while we wuz a-cleanin' the floor. "you see," sez he, "we feel, we men do, we feel that it would be weakenin' to the conference to have wimmen admitted, both on account of her own lack of strength and also from the fact that every woman you would admit would keep out a man. and that," sez he (a-leanin' back in a still easier attitude, almust a luxurious one), "that, you see, would tend naterally to weakenin' the strength of a church." [illustration: "wall," sez i, "move round a little, won't you, for we want to set the bench."] "wall," sez i, a-pantin' hard for breath under my burden, "move round a little, won't you, for we want to set the bench here while we scrub under it. and," sez i, a-stoppin' a minute and rubbin' the perspiratin and sweat offen my face, "seein' you men are all here, can't you lay holt and help us move out the benches, so we can clean the floor under 'em? some of 'em are very hefty," sez i, "and all of us sisters almost are a-makin' soap, and we all want to get done here, so we can go home and bile down; we would dearly love a little help," sez i. "i would help," sez josiah in a willin' tone, "i would help in a minute, if i hadn't got so much work to do at home." and all the other male bretheren said the same thing--they had got to git to get home to get to work. (some on 'em wanted to play checkers, and i knew it.) but some on 'em did have lots of work on their hands, i couldn't dispute it. chapter xxi. why, deacon henzy, besides all his cares about the buzz saw mill, and his farm work, had bought a steam threshin' machine that made him sights of work. it was a good machine. but it wuz fairly skairful to see it a-steamin' and a-blowin' right along the streets of jonesville without the sign of a horse or ox or anything nigh it to draw it. a-puffin' out the steam, and a-tearin' right along, that awful lookin' that it skairt she that wuz celestine bobbet most into fits. she lived in a back place where such machines wuz unknown, and she had come home to her father's on a visit, and wuz goin' over to visit some of his folks that day, over to loontown. and she wuz a-travellin' along peacible, with her father's old mair, and a-leanin' back in the buggy a readin' a article her father had sent over by her to deacon widrig, a witherin' article about female deaconesses, and the stern necessity of settin' 'em apart and sanctifyen' 'em to this one work--deacon work--and how they mustn't marry, or tackle any other hard jobs whatsumever, or break off into any other enterprize, only jest plain deacon work. it wuz a very flowery article. and she wuz enjoyin' of it first rate, and a-thinkin', for she is a little timid and easily skairt, and the piece had convinced her-- she wuz jest a-thinkin' how dretful it would be if sum female deaconess should ever venter into some other branch of business, and what would be apt to become of her if she did. she hated to think of what her doom would most likely be, bein' tender hearted. [illustration: "she see this wild and skairful machine approachin'."] when lo, and behold! jest as she wuz a-thinkin' these thoughts, she see this wild and skairful machine approachin', and deacon henzy a-standin' up on top of it a-drivin'. he looked wild and excited, bein' very tickled to think that he had threshed more with his machine, by twenty bushels, than deacon petengill had with his. there was a bet upon these two deacons, so it wuz spozed, and he wuz a-hastenin' to the next place where he wuz to be setup, so's to lose no time, and he was kinder hollerin'. and the wind took his gray hair back, and his long side whiskers, and kinder stood 'em out, and the skirts of his frock the same. his mean wuz wild. and it wuz more than celestine's old mair and she herself could bear; she cramped right round in the road (the mair did) and set sail back to old bobbet'ses, and that great concern a-puffin' and a-steamin' along after 'em. and by the time that she that wuz celestine got there she wuz almost in a fit, and the mair in a perfect lather. wall, celestine didn't get over it for weeks and weeks, nor the mair nuther. and besides this enterprize of deacon henzy's, he had got up a great invention, a new rat trap, that wuz peculier and uneek in the extreme. it wuz the result of arjous study on his part, by night and day, for a long, long time, and it wuz what he called "a travellin' rat trap." it wuz designed to sort o' chase the rats round and skair 'em. [illustration: deacon henzy's rat trap (like a circus for the rats).] it was spozed he got the idee in the first place from his threshin' machine. it had to be wound up, and then it would take after 'em--rats or mice, or anything--and they do say that it wuz quite a success. only it had to move on a smooth floor. it would travel round pretty much all night; and they say that when it wuz set up in a suller, it would chase the rats back into their holes, and they would set there and look out on it, for the biggest heft of the night. it would take up their minds, and kep 'em out of vittles and other mischief. it wuz somethin' like providin' a circus for 'em. but howsumever, the deacon wuz a-workin' at this; he wuzn't quite satisfied with its runnin' gear, and he wuz a-perfectin' this rat trap every leisure minute he had outside of his buzz saw and threshin' machine business, and so he wuz fearful busy. deacon sypher had took the agency for "the wild west, or the leaping cow boy of the plain," and wuz doin' well by it. and deacon bobbet had took in a lot of mustangs to keep through the winter. and he wuz a ridin' 'em a good deal, accordin' to contract, and tryin' to tame 'em some before spring. and this work, with the buzz saw, took up every minute of his time. for the mustangs throwed him a good deal, and he had to lay bound up in linements a good deal of the time, and arneky. [illustration: "he had to lay bound up in linements a good deal of the time."] so, as i say, it didn't surprise me a mite to have 'em say they couldn't help us, for i knew jest how these jobs of theirn devoured their time. and when my josiah had made his excuse, it wuzn't any more than i had looked out for, to hear deacon henzy say he had got to git home to ile his threshin' machine. one of the cogs wuz out of gear in some way. he wanted to help us, so it didn't seem as if he could tear himself away, but that steam threshin' machine stood in the way. and then on his way down to jonesville that very mornin' a new idee had come to him about that travellin' rat trap, and he wanted to get home jest as quick as he could, to try it. and deacon bobbet said that three of them mustangs he had took in to break had got to be rid that day, they wuz a gettin' so wild he didn't hardly dast to go nigh 'em. and deacon sypher said that he must hasten back, for a man wuz a-comin' to see him from way up on the state road, to try to get a agency under him for "the leaping cow boy of the plain." and he wanted to show the "leaping cow boy" to some agents to the tavern in jonesville on his way home, and to some wimmen on the old plank road. two or three of the wimmen had gin hopes that they would take the "leaping cow boy." and then they said--the hull three of the deacons did--that any minute them other deacons who wuz goin' into partnership with 'em in the buzz saw business wuz liable to drive down to see 'em about it. and some of the other men brethren said their farms and their live stock demanded the hull of their time--every minute of it. so we see jest how it wuz, we see these male deacons couldn't devote any of their time to the meetin' house, nor those other brethren nuther. we see that their time wuz too valuable, and their own business devoured the hull on it. and we married sisters, who wuz acestemed to the strange and mysterius ways of male men, we accepted the situation jest es we would any other mysterius dispensation, and didn't say nothin'. good land! we wuz used to curius sayin's and doin's, every one on us. curius as a dog, and curiuser. but sister meechim (onmarried), she is dretful questinin' and inquirin' (men don't like her, they say she prys into subjects she's no business to meddle with). she sez to josiah: "why is it, deacon allen, that men deacons can carry on all sorts of business and still be deacons, while wimmen deacons are obleeged to give up all other business and devote themselves wholly to their work?" "it is on account of their minds," sez josiah. "men have got stronger minds than wimmen, that is the reason." and sister meechim sez agin-- "why is it that wimmen deacons have to remain onmarried, while men deacons can marry one wife after another through a long life, that is, if they are took from 'em by death or a divorce lawyer?" "wall," sez josiah, "that, too, is on account of their brains. their brains hain't so hefty es men's." but i jest waded into the argument then. i jest interfered, and sez in a loud, clear tone, "oh, shaw!" and then i sez further, in the same calm, clear tones, but dry as ever a dry oven wuz in its dryest times. sez i, "if you men can't help us any about the meetin' house, you'd better get out of our way, for we wimmen have got to go to scrubbin' right where you are a-standin'." "certainly," sez josiah, in a polite axent, "certainly." and so the rest of the men said. and josiah added to his remarks, as he went down the steps, "you'd better get home, samantha, in time to cook a hen, and make some puddin', and so forth." and i sez, with quite a lot of dignity, "have i ever failed, josiah allen, to have good dinners for you, and on time too?" "no," sez he, "but i thought i would jest stop to remind you of it, and also to tell you the last news from the conference, about the deaconesses." and so they trailed down one after another, and left us to our work in the meetin' house; but as they disapered round the corner, sister arvilly lanfear, who hain't married, and who has got a sharp tongue (some think that is why, but i don't; i believe arvilly has had chances). but any way, she sez, as they went down the steps, "i'll bet them men wuz a-practisen' their new parts of men superentendents, and look on us as a lot of deaconesses." [illustration: "josiah added to his remarks."] "wall," sez sister gowdy--she loves to put on arvilly--"wall, you have got one qualificatin', arvilly!" "yes, thank the lord," sez she. and i never asked what she meant, but knew well enough that she spoke of her single state. but arvilly has had chances, _i_ think. chapter xxii. i got home in time to get a good supper, though mebbe i ortn't to say it. sure enough, josiah allen had killed a hen, and dressed it ready for me to brile, but it wuz young and tender, and i knew it wouldn't take long, so i didn't care. good land! i love to humor him, and he knows it. casper keeler come in jest as i wuz a-gettin' supper and i thought like as not he would stay to supper; i laid out to ask him. but i didn't take no more pains on his account. no, i do jest as well by josiah allen from day to day, as if he wuz company, or lay out to. casper came over on a errent about that buzz saw mill. he wuz in dretful good spirits, though he looked kinder peaked. he had jest got home from the city. it happened dretful curius, but jest at this time casper keeler had had to go to new york on business. he had to sign some papers that nobody else couldn't sign. [illustration: casper keeler.] his mother had hearn of a investment there that promised to pay dretful well, so she had took a lot of stock in it, and it had riz right up powerful. why the money had increased fourfold, and more too, and casper bein' jest come of age, had to go and sign suthin' or other. wall, he went round and see lots of sights in new york. his ma's money that she had left him made him fairly luxurius as to comfort, and he had plenty of money to go sight seein' as much as he wanted to. he went to all the theatres, and operas, and shows of all kinds, and museums, and the brooklyn bridge, and circuses, and receptions, and et cetery, et cetery. he wuz a-tellin' me how much money he spent while he wuz there, kinder boastin' on it; he had went to one of the biggest, highest taverns in the hull village of new york, where the price wuz higher than the very highest pinakle on the top of it, fur higher. and i sez, "did you go to the wimmen's exchange and the workin' wimmen's association, that wuz held there while you wuz there?" and he acted real scorfin'. "wimmen's work!" sez he. "no, indeed! i had too much on my hands, and too much comfort to take in higher circles, than to take in any such little trifles as wimmen's work." sez i, "young man, it is a precious little you would take in in life if it hadn't been for wimmen's work. who earned and left you the money you are a-usin'?" sez i, "who educated you and made your life easy before you?" and then bein' fairly drove into a corner, he owned up that his mother wuz a good woman. but his nose wuz kinder lifted up the hull of the time he wuz a-sayin' it, as if he hated to own it up, hated to like a dog. but he got real happified up and excited afterwards, in talkin' over with josiah what he see to the conference.' he stayed to supper; i wuz a seasonin' my chicken and mashed potatoes, and garnishin' 'em for the table. i wuz out to one side a little, but i listened with one side of my brain while the other wuz fixed on pepper, ketchup, parsley, etc., etc. [illustration: "he seemed to have a horrow of woman a-raisin' out of her spear."] sez casper, "it wuz the proudest, greatest hour of my life," sez he, "when i see a nigger delegate git up and give his views on wimmen keepin' down in their place. when i see a black nigger stand up there in that conference and state so clearly, so logically and so powerfully the reasons why poor weak wimmen should _not_ be admitted into that sacred enclosure-- "when i see even a nigger a-standin' there and a-knowin' so well what wimmen's place wuz, my heart beat with about the proudest emotions i have ever experienced. why, he said," sez casper, "that if wimmen wuz allowed to stand up in the conference, they wouldn't be satisfied. the next thing they would want to do would be to preach. it wuz a masterly argument," sez casper. "it must have been," sez my josiah. "he seemed to have such a borrow of a weak-minded, helpless woman a-raisin' herself up out of her lower spear." "well he might," sez josiah, "well he might." truly, there are times when women can't, seeminly, stand no more. this wuz one on 'em, and i jest waded right into the argiment. i sez, real solemn like, a-holdin' the sprig of parsley some like a septer, only more sort o' riz up like and mysteriouser. yes, i held that green sprig some as the dove did when it couldn't find no rest for the soles of its feet--no foundation under it and it sailed about seekin' some mount of truth it could settle down on. oh how wobblin' and onsubstantial and curius i felt hearin' their talk. "and," sez i, "nobody is tickleder than i be to think a colored man has had the right gin him to stand up in a conference or anywhere else. i have probable experienced more emotions in his behalf," sez i, "deep and earnest, than any other female, ancient or modern. i have bore his burdens for him, trembled under his lashes, agonized with him in his unexampled griefs and wrongs and indignities, and i have rejoiced at the very depths of my soul at his freedom. "but," sez i, "when he uses that freedom to enchain another and as deservin' a race, my feelin's are hurt and my indignations are riz up. "yes," sez i, a-wavin' that sprig some like a warlike banner, as my emotions swelled up under my bask waste, "when that negro stands there a-advocatin' the slavery of another race, and a-sayin' that women ortn't to say her soul is her own, and wimmen are too weak and foolish to lift up their right hands, much less preach, i'd love to ask him where he and his race wuz twenty-five years ago, and where they would be to-day if it wuzn't for a woman usin' her right hand and her big heart and brain in his behalf, and preachin' for him all over the world and in almost every language under the sun. everybody says that 'uncle tom's cabin' wuz the searchin' harrow that loosened the old, hard ground of slavery so the rich seed of justice could be planted and bring forth freedom. "if it hadn't been for that woman's preachin', that negro exhauster would to-day most likely be a hoin' cotton with a overseer a-lashin' him up to his duties, and his wife and children and himself a-bein' bought and sold, and borrowed and lent and mortgaged and drove like so many animals. and i'd like to have riz right up in that conference and told him so." "oh, no," sez josiah, lookin' some meachin', "no, you wouldn't." "yes, i would," sez i. "and i'd 've enjoyed it _richly_" sez i, es i turned and put my sprig round the edge of the platter. [illustration: samantha expresses her views.] casper wuz demute for as much as half a minute, and josiah allen looked machin' for about the same length of time. but, good land! how soon they got over it. they wuz as chipper as ever, a-runnin' down the idee of women settin', before they got half through dinner. after hard and arjuous work we got the scrapin' done, and the scrubbin' done, and then we proceeded to make a move towards puttin' on the paper. but the very day before we wuz to put on our first breadth, sister bobbet, our dependence and best paperer, fell down on a apple parin' and hurt her ankle jint, so's she couldn't stand on a barell for more'n several days. and we felt dretful cast down about it, for we all felt as if the work must stop till sister bobbet could be present and attend to it. but, as it turned out, it wuz perfectly providential, so fur as i wuz concerned, for on goin' home that night fearfully deprested on account of sister sylvester bobbet, lo and behold! i found a letter there on my own mantletry piece that completely turned round my own plans. it come entirely onexpected to me, and contained the startlin' intelligence that my own cousin, on my mother's own side, had come home to loontown to his sister's, and wuz very sick with nervous prostration, neuralgia, rheumatism, etc., and expected paralasys every minute, and heart failure, and such. [illustration: "sister bobbet, our dependence, fell down on a apple parin'".] and his sister, miss timson, who wrote the letter, beset me to come over and see him. she said, jane ann did (miss timson'ses name is jane ann), and sez she in post scriptum remark to me, sez she-- "samantha, i know well your knowledge of sickness and your powers of takin' care of the sick. do come and help me take care of ralph, for it seems as if i can't let him go. poor boy, he has worked so hard, and now i wuz in hopes that he wuz goin' to take some comfort in life, unbeknown to him. do come and help him for my sake, and for rosy's sake." rosy wuz ralph's only child, a pretty girl, but one ruther wild, and needin' jest now a father's strong hand. rosy's mother died when she wuz a babe, and ralph, who had always been dretful religius, felt it to be his duty to go and preach to the savages. so miss timson took the baby and ralph left all his property with miss timson to use for her, and then he girded up his lions, took his bible and him book and went out west and tackled the savages. tackled 'em in a perfectly religius way, and done sights of good, sights and sights. for all he wuz so mild and gentle and religius, he got the upper hand of them savages in some way, and he brung 'em into the church by droves, and they jest worshipped him. wall, he worked so hard a-tryin' to do good and save souls that wuz lost--a-tryin' single-handed to overthrow barberus beliefs and habits, and set up the pure and peaceful doctrines of the master. [illustration: ralph smith robinson.] he loved and followed, that his health gin out after a time--he felt weak and mauger. and jest about this time his sister wrote to him that rosy havin' got in with gay companions, wuz a gettin' beyond her influence, and she _needed_ a father's control and firm hand to guide her right, or else she would be liable to go to the wrong, and draw lots of others with her, for she wuz a born leader amongst her mates, jest as her father wuz--so wouldn't ralph come home. wall, ralph come. his sister and girl jest worshipped him, and looked and longed for his comin', as only tender-hearted wimmen can love and worship a hero. for if there wuz ever a hero it wuz ralph smith robinson. wall, ralph had been in the unbroken silences of nature so long, that the clack, and crash, and clamor of what we call civilized life almost crazed him. he had been where his maker almost seemed to come down and walk with him through the sweet, unbroken stillnesses of mornin' and evenin'. the world seemed so fur off to him, and the eternal verities of life so near, that truly, it sometimes seemed to him as if, like one of old, "he walked with god." of course the savages war-whooped some, but they wuz still a good deal of the time, which is more than you can say for yankees. and loontown when he got home was rent to its very twain with a presidential election. ralph suffered. but above all his other sufferin's, he suffered from church bells. miss timson lived, as it wuz her wish, and often her boast, right under the droppin's of the sanctuary. she lotted on it when she bought the place. the baptist steeple towered up right by the side of her house. her spare bed wuz immegietly under the steeple. wall, comin' as he did from a place where he wuz called to worship by the voice of his soul and his good silver watch--this volume of clamor, this rushin' niagara of sound a-pourin' down into his ears, wuz perfectly intolerable and onbeerable. he would lay awake till mornin' dreadin' the sound, and then colapse under it, till it run along and he come down with nervous fever. he wuz worn out no doubt by his labors before he come, and any way he wuz took bed-sick, and couldn't be moved so's the doctor said, and he bein' outside of his own head, delerius, couldn't of course advance no idees of his own, so he lay and suffered. note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. also, the html version contains links to references in other volumes of _history of woman suffrage_ in the project gutenberg library. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h.zip) transcriber's note: every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain as they were in the original. text that has been changed to correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. [illustration: dr. anna howard shaw. vice-president-at-large of the national american woman suffrage association - and president - .] the history of woman suffrage edited by ida husted harper illustrated with copperplate and photogravure engravings in six volumes volume v - after seventy years came the victory national american woman suffrage association copyright, , by national american woman suffrage association preface the history of woman suffrage is comprised in six volumes averaging about one thousand pages each, of which the two just finished are the last. while it is primarily a history of this great movement in the united states it covers to some degree that of the whole world. the chapter on great britain was prepared for volume vi by mrs. millicent garrett fawcett, leader of the movement there for half a century. the accounts of the gaining of woman suffrage in other countries come from the highest authorities. their contest was short compared to that in the two oldest countries on the globe with a constitutional form of government--the united states and great britain--and in the former it began nearly twenty years earlier than in the latter. the effort of women in the "greatest republic on earth" to obtain a voice in its government began in and ended in complete victory in . in great britain it is not yet entirely accomplished, although in all her colonies except south africa women vote on the same terms as men. doubtless other histories of this world wide movement will be written but at present the student will find himself largely confined to these six volumes. this is especially true of the united states and many of the documents of the earliest period would have been lost for all time if they had not been preserved in the first three volumes. these also contain much information which does not exist elsewhere regarding the struggle of women for other rights besides that of the franchise. that the materials were collected and cared for until they could be utilized was due to miss susan b. anthony's appreciation of their value. the story of the trials and tribulations of preparing those volumes during ten years is told in volume ii, page , and in the preface of volume iv. they were written and edited principally by miss anthony and mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and covered the history from the beginning of the century to . the writers expected when they began in to bring out one small volume, perhaps only a large pamphlet. when these three huge volumes were finished they still had enough material for a fourth, which never was used. miss anthony continued her habit of preserving the records and in , when at the age of she resigned the presidency of the national american woman suffrage association, she immediately commenced preparations for another volume of the history. she called to her assistance mrs. ida husted harper, who had recently finished her biography, and in her home in rochester, n. y., they spent the next two years on the book, mrs. stanton, who was years old, taking the keenest interest in the work.[ ] when the manuscript was completed hundreds of pages had to be eliminated in order to bring it within the compass of one volume of , pages. miss anthony then said: "twenty years from now another volume will be written and it will record universal suffrage for women by a federal amendment." her prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. she put upon younger women the duty of collecting and preserving the records and this was done in some degree by officers of the association. in , after the legacy of mrs. frank leslie had been received by mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the association, she formed the leslie suffrage commission and established a bureau of suffrage education, one feature of which was a research department. here under the direction of an expert an immense amount of material was collected from many sources and arranged for use. after the strenuous work for a federal suffrage amendment had brought it very near, mrs. catt turned her attention to the publishing of the last volume of the history of woman suffrage while the resources of the large national headquarters in new york and the archives of the research bureau were available, and she requested mrs. harper to prepare it. the work was begun jan , , and it was to be entirely completed in eighteen months. no account had been taken of the enormous growth of the suffrage movement. it had entered every state in the union and it extended around the world. it was occupying the attention of parliaments and legislatures. in the united states conventions had multiplied and campaigns had increased in number; it had become a national issue with a center in every state and defeats and victories were of constant record. to select from the mass of material, to preserve the most important, to condense, to verify, was an almost impossible task. a comparison will illustrate the difference between the work required on volume iv and that on the present volumes. the minutes of the national convention in filled pages of large type; those of the convention of filled pages, many of small type; reports of congressional hearings increased in proportion. of the state chapters, describing all the work that had been done before , contained less than pages, of these less than and less than ; only had over pages. for volume vi not more than half a dozen state writers sent manuscript for less than and the rest ranged from to pages. the report on canada in volume iv occupied - / pages; in this volume it fills . the chapter on woman suffrage in europe outside of great britain found plenty of room in pages; in this one it requires . the very full reports of the national suffrage conventions, the congressional documents, the files of the _woman's journal_ and the _woman citizen_ and the newspapers furnished a wealth of material on the general status of the question in the united states. it was, however, the evolution of the movement in the states that gave it national strength and compelled the action by congress which always was the ultimate goal. the attempt to give the story of every state, in many of which no records had been kept or those which had were lost or destroyed; the difficulty in getting correct dates and proper names upset all calculations on the amount of material and length of time. as a result the time lengthened to three and a half years and the one volume expanded into two, with enough excellent matter eliminated to have made a third. in each of these chapters will be found a complete history of the effort to secure the franchise by means of the state constitution, also the part taken to obtain the federal amendment and the action of the legislature in ratifying this amendment. the accounts of the annual conventions of the national american suffrage association demonstrate as nothing else could do the commanding force of that organization, for fifty years the foundation and bulwark of the movement. the hearings before committees of every congress indicate the never ceasing effort to obtain an amendment to the federal constitution and the extracts from the speeches show the logic, the justice and the patriotism of the arguments made in its behalf. the delay of that body in responding will be something for future generations to marvel at. in chapter xx will be found the full history of this amendment by which all women were enfranchised. in one chapter is a graphic account of the effort for half a century to get a woman suffrage "plank" into the national platforms of the political parties and its success in , with one for the federal amendment in . a chapter is devoted to the forming of the national league of woman voters after the women of the united states had become a part of the electorate. all questions as to the part taken in the war of - by the women who were working for their enfranchisement are conclusively answered in the chapter on war service of organized suffragists. in one chapter will be found an account of other organizations besides the national american association that worked to obtain the vote for women and of those that worked against it. a full description is given of the organizing of the international woman suffrage alliance and its congresses in the various cities of europe. volumes v and vi take up the history of the contest in the united states from the beginning of the present century to aug. , , when secretary of state bainbridge colby proclaimed that the th amendment, submitted by congress on june , , had been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states and was now a part of the national constitution. this ended a movement for political liberty which had continued without cessation for over seventy years. the story closes with uncounted millions of women in all parts of the world possessing the same voice as men in their government and enjoying the same rights as citizens. footnotes: [ ] see life and work of susan b. anthony, pages , , . placing in libraries, to . bequeathed to national suffrage association, history of woman suffrage, volume v, page . table of contents chapter i. page founding of national association work of the national american woman suffrage association for an amendment to the federal constitution, to state constitutions and for other reforms--annual convention in minneapolis in --mrs. stanton's address on the church, the bible and woman suffrage--miss anthony's and others' opinions--president's address of mrs. catt on obstacles--dr. shaw's vice-president's address on anti-suffragists--plan for national work--miss anthony's report on work with congress--protest against "regulated vice" in manila--new york _sun_ and woman suffrage--discriminating against women in government departments--a tribute to the national suffrage conventions. chapter ii. the national suffrage convention of meeting in washington, d.c., of committee to form an international woman suffrage alliance--greeting of clara barton to foreign delegates--letters from norway and germany--response of mrs. friedland of russia--mrs. catt's president's address on world progress leading to the international alliance--mrs. stanton's address on educated suffrage--miss anthony's introduction of pioneers--addresses on the new woman and the new man--women in new york municipal election--miss anthony's d birthday--mr. blackwell on presidential suffrage for women--hearings before committees of congress--addresses of norwegian and australian delegates before senate committee--dr. shaw's plea for a committee to investigate conditions in equal suffrage states--speeches of russian, swedish and english delegates--mrs. catt's insistence on a congressional committee to investigate the working of woman suffrage where it exists. chapter iii. national suffrage convention of very successful meeting in new orleans--description of _picayune_--ovation to miss anthony and mrs. caroline e. merrick--dr. shaw's response--mrs. catt's president's address--_times democrat_ brings up negro question, official board of the association states its position--visit to colored women's club--reports of officers--presidential suffrage for women--mrs. colby's report on industrial problems relating to women and children--addresses of dr. henry dixon bruns, m. j. sanders, president of progressive union--memorial service for mrs. stanton--speeches on educational qualification for voting--"dorothy dix" on the woman with the broom--address of edwin merrick--belle kearney on woman suffrage to insure white supremacy--tribute to misses kate and jean gordon. chapter iv. national suffrage convention of letter of greeting to the convention in washington from mrs. florence fenwick miller, suffrage leader in great britain--delegates appointed to international alliance meeting in berlin--mrs. catt's president's address on an educational requirement for the suffrage--address of mrs. watson lister of australia--charlotte perkins gilman's biological plea for woman suffrage--report from new headquarters--addresses on women and philanthropy by the rev. anna garlin spencer and dr. samuel j. barrows--mrs. mead on peace and mrs. nathan on the wage earner and the ballot--miss anthony's th birthday--a colorado jubilee, speeches by governor alva adams, mrs. grenfell and mrs. meredith--mrs. terrell asks for moral support of colored women--declaration of principles adopted--mrs. catt resigns the presidency, tributes--hearings before congressional committees--distinguished testimony from colorado--mrs. catt's strong appeal for a report even if adverse. chapter v. national suffrage convention of the convention in portland, ore., first held in the west--enthusiastic welcome and great hospitality--miss anthony speaks of her visit in --speech of jefferson myers, president of the exposition--mrs. duniway on the pioneers--dr. shaw's president's address, answers ex-president cleveland and cardinal gibbons--committee appointed to interview president roosevelt--protest to committee of congress against statehood constitution for oklahoma and other territories--fine work of press committee--woman's day at exposition--unveiling of sacajawea statue--convention adopts initiative and referendum--decision to have an amendment campaign in oregon--tribute to mr. blackwell--mrs. catt's noble address--memorial resolutions for eminent members--speeches by prominent politicians. chapter vi. national suffrage convention of the convention held in baltimore one of the most notable--miss anthony, julia ward howe and clara barton on the platform--welcome by governor warfield and collector of the port stone--dr. shaw scores president roosevelt's reference to women in industry in his message to congress--ridicules cardinal gibbons' and dr. lyman abbott's recent pronouncements on woman suffrage--organization of college women's league--florence kelley speaks on child labor--college women's evening--women professors from five large colleges speak--week of hospitality by miss mary e. garrett--speeches on women in municipal government by wm. dudley foulke, frederick c. howe, rudolph blankenburg, jane addams--miss anthony speaks her last words to a national suffrage convention--mrs. howe's farewell address--president thomas and miss garrett decide to raise large fund for woman suffrage--delegates go to washington for hearings before congressional committees--miss anthony's th birthday celebrated--her last words on the public platform. chapter vii. national suffrage convention of bishop fallows welcomes convention to chicago--professor breckinridge on municipal housekeeping--florence kelley on same--mary mcdowell, anna nicholes and others on workingwomen's need of a vote--addresses by professor c. r. henderson, hon. oliver w. stewart--memorials and service for miss anthony--organizations for woman suffrage--farewell letter of mary anthony--rabbi hirsch on woman suffrage--near victories in many states. chapter viii. national suffrage convention of celebrates th anniversary in buffalo--emily howland on spirit of ' --kate gordon describes interview with president roosevelt--widespread work of national headquarters--program of convention--responses to its resolutions by mrs. gilman, miss blackwell, mrs. blatch, the rev. caroline bartlett crane and others--the scriptures and st. paul analyzed by judith hyams douglas--discussion on the social evil led by the rev. anna garlin spencer--college women's evening; addresses by dr. m. carey thomas, professor frances squire potter, professor breckinridge and others--mrs. kelley on laws for women and wage earners--stirring speech by jean gordon, factory inspector--maude miner on night courts for women--mrs. william c. gannett on woman's duty--katharine reed balentine on disfranchised influence--mrs. philip snowden describes english situation--legal phases of disfranchisement by harriette johnson wood--progress since --mrs. catt's inspiring address. chapter ix. national suffrage convention of annual meeting held in seattle--delightful journey across continent--reception in spokane--mrs. villard tells of opening of northern pacific r. r.--welcomed to seattle by mayor--elizabeth j. hauser's report of headquarters work--mrs. belmont's offer of headquarters in new york city--mrs. mead urges association to work for peace--professor potter's address on college women and democracy--mr. blackwell's last suffrage convention--mrs. avery reports on national association's petition to congress--mary e. craigie tells of suffrage work with the churches--professor potter elected corresponding secretary--political work for suffrage before elections urged, illinois cited--suffrage day at the exposition. chapter x. national suffrage convention of convention returns to washington after six years--president taft makes speech of welcome--delegates show displeasure--exchange of letters between national officers and the president--official resolution of regret--comment of _woman's journal_--report of association's vast work from new york headquarters--great petition officially received by congress--mrs. upton resigns as treasurer--memorial addresses for mr. blackwell and wm. lloyd garrison--alice paul on "militant" suffrage in great britain--"dorothy dix" on the real reason why women can not vote--max eastman on democracy and woman--mrs. harper's report as chairman of national press committee--hearings before committees of congress; speeches by dr. shaw, mrs. mcculloch, eveline gano of new york on teachers' need of the vote; dr. anna e. blount of chicago on professional women's need; minnie j. reynolds on writers signing petitions--u. s. senator shafroth's notable speech to senate committee--house committee: mrs. raymond robins, elizabeth schauss, factory inspector; laura j. graddick of a district labor union and florence kelley argue for the working women's need of vote--speeches of mrs. upton and laura clay. chapter xi. national suffrage convention of convention in louisville, ky., celebrates victories in washington and california--welcomed by laura clay--mr. braly tells of california campaign--mary ware dennett, new corresponding secretary, reports world wide work--caroline reilly, new chairman, describes press work in states--jane addams, on college league's evening shows what women might accomplish with the franchise--dr. thomas what the suffrage means to college women--dr. harvey w. wiley speaks on women's influence in public affairs--katharine dexter mccormick on effect of suffrage work on women themselves--mrs. mcculloch on equal guardianship laws--church needs woman suffrage--mrs. desha breckinridge discusses prospect for woman suffrage in the south--mrs. pankhurst receives ovation. chapter xii. national suffrage convention of three victories celebrated at convention in philadelphia, suffrage gained in oregon, arizona and kansas--welcomed by mayor blankenburg--rally in independence square--reports show wonderful progress--an evening by men's suffrage league--discussion on officers of the association taking part in political campaigns--great meeting in metropolitan opera house, speeches by julia lathrop, miss addams and dr. burghardt dubois--on last evening addresses by bishop darlington, baroness von suttner and mrs. catt--hearings before congressional committees, dr. shaw and miss addams presiding--speeches on senate side by james lees laidlaw, president of men's league; jean nelson penfield, speaking for women in civic work; elsie cole phillips and caroline a. lowe for the wage-earning women--on the house side, representatives raker, taylor, lafferty and berger; mary e. mcdowell, ida husted harper--colloquy with committee--ella c. brehaut speaks for anti-suffrage women. chapter xiii. national suffrage convention of convention opened in washington sunday afternoon with mass meeting--women's trade unions represented by speakers--victories in illinois and alaska--dr. shaw's account of democratic national convention in baltimore--president wilson urged to put woman suffrage in his message--he receives a delegation--report of year's work for the federal amendment by alice paul, chairman of association's congressional committee--objection to congressional union--new congressional committee appointed--vote on federal amendment in senate--three days' hearings by house committee on rules on appeal for a committee on woman suffrage, dr. shaw presiding--speeches by mrs. catt, mrs. gardener, mrs. harper, jane addams, mrs. breckinridge, mary r. beard and representative raker--women's anti-suffrage associations out in force--in rebuttal miss blackwell, mrs. mcculloch and mrs. mondell--representative mondell closes--rules committee refuses the appeal. chapter xiv. national suffrage convention of convention met in house of representatives at nashville, welcomed by mayor howse--dr. shaw eulogizes southern women--governor hooper welcomes to state--anne martin tells of victory in nevada, jeannette rankin in montana--national association's work in campaigns--dr. shaw on the war--tribute of convention to her--address by u. s. senator luke lea--heated controversy over shafroth federal amendment--defense by ruth hanna mccormick--antoinette funk before judiciary committee--her "brief" for amendment--her report of the campaigns--miss clay's and mrs. bennett's bill--committee hearings: speakers, mrs. funk, mrs. colby, mrs. beard, crystal eastman benedict, dr. cora smith king, mrs. gardener--national anti-suffrage association headed by mrs. arthur m. dodge, with array of men and women speakers. chapter xv. national suffrage convention of at the convention in washington defeats and victories to consider--first vote in house on federal amendment--president wilson receives delegates--all reports show progress--dr. shaw refuses to stand for reelection--her farewell address--beautiful ceremonies--mrs. catt elected--ethel m. smith's report on political work--congressmen card-indexed--ruth hanna mccormick on first house vote--shafroth amendment dropped--conference with congressional union, its policy of fighting party in power condemned--hearing before friendly senate suffrage committee--house committee controversies with "antis" and congressional union--men "antis" grilled. chapter xvi. national suffrage convention of great meeting in atlantic city--president wilson attends and announces his allegiance--his address--dr. shaw responds--mrs. catt on state campaigns--shall association work for federal and state amendments?--mrs. catt sounds key-note in speech on the crisis--mrs. dudley, mrs. cotnam and mrs. valentine represent south--the "golden flier"--sharp debate on endorsing candidates--speeches of owen lovejoy, julia lathrop and katherine bement davis--important report of mrs. roessing on work in congress; woman suffrage planks in national conventions at chicago and st. louis; interviewing presidential candidates; revised plan for work of association--dr. shaw on americanism and the flag. chapter xvii. _national suffrage convention of _ convention in washington under war conditions--distinguished reception committee--delegates interview their congressmen; association pledges loyalty to government; its officers in service--new york victory celebrated--secretary lane brings president wilson's greetings--mrs. catt's great address to congress--maud wood park's full report of work with congress--new washington headquarters--report of leslie bureau of suffrage education--speech of secretary of war baker--dr. shaw on woman's committee of council of national defense--miss hay on new york's socialist vote--"suffrage schools" begun--last hearing before senate committee. chapter xviii. national suffrage convention of - convention of first ever omitted--war conditions--many suffrage gains--jubilee convention in st. louis in --mrs. catt calls for league of women voters--mrs. shuler's secretary's report of greatest year's work, state campaigns, war service, work with congress--missouri legislature gives presidential suffrage--mrs. park's report on congressional work--votes in house and senate--president wilson asks congress for woman suffrage--tributes to pioneers--league of women voters formed--work with editors--non-partisanship reaffirmed--in washington: hearing before new committee on woman suffrage--dr. shaw on association's war record--mrs. catt's survey of situation; urges committee to talk with president--ex-senator bailey's anti-suffrage speech--mrs. catt and mrs. park answer--last suffrage hearing. chapter xix. national suffrage convention of call to convention in chicago the last--mrs. catt's jubilee speech--executive council's recommendations--mrs. shuler's, secretary's report of year's gains and losses, work in southern states, great effort for ratification--mrs. rogers' last treasurer's report--smithsonian institution gives space for suffrage mementoes--memorial meeting for dr. shaw, college foundations--miss anthony's centennial celebrated--league of women voters perfected. chapter xx. story of federal suffrage amendment the "war amendments" discriminate against women--national association formed for federal woman suffrage amendment--women vote under the th--supreme court decides against them--fifty years' struggle with congress for woman suffrage amendment--hearings before committees--stubborn opposition--votes and defeats--support of parties finally gained--planks in their platforms--amendment submitted to legislatures--strenuous efforts for ratification--victory at last. chapter xxi. various woman suffrage associations federal suffrage association--u. s. elections bill--college women's league--friends' equal rights association--mississippi valley conferences--southern women's conference--international and national men's leagues--national woman's party--women's anti-suffrage association--man suffrage association. chapter xxii. league of women voters formed in st. louis--mrs. catt outlines its work--its eight departments presented--perfected and officers elected at chicago--reports from department chairmen--laws for women demanded--citizenship schools--league asks planks in national political conventions--visits presidential candidates. chapter xxiii. woman suffrage in presidential conventions long struggle for planks in national platforms--refused for nearly fifty years--woman suffrage by state action approved in --federal amendment endorsed in --graphic story of opposition. chapter xxiv. war service of organized suffragists mrs. catt calls executive council of one hundred to washington--it sends letter to president wilson offering services of national american association--organizes four departments of work--mass meeting held, secretary of war baker speaks--president expresses approval of the association's work--woman's committee of government council of national defense formed, dr. shaw appointed chairman, mrs. catt and other leading suffragists made members--reports of department heads at national suffrage convention--report of association's oversea hospitals, their important work--anti-suffrage women attack suffrage leaders--after armistice mrs. catt calls meeting in new york, which requests president wilson to appoint women delegates to peace conference in paris--woman's committee of national defense ends work--secretary baker's tribute to dr. shaw. appendix appendix moncure d. conway's address at mrs. stanton's funeral--miss anthony's last letter to her--national american association's declaration of principles--memorial building in rochester for miss anthony--speech of mrs. catt at senate hearing in --same in --review of shafroth federal suffrage amendment--different national headquarters--bequest of mrs. frank leslie--memorial tributes to dr. shaw--present status of national american association. contents of illustrations added by bank of wisdom. pioneers of woman suffrage + court house of warren, ohio & home of susan b. anthony + a lecture in banquet hall of suffrage headquarters + national suffrage headquarters in washington + introduction a voice in the government under which one lives is absolutely necessary to personal liberty and the right of a whole people to a voice in their government is the first requisite for a free country. there must be government by a constitution made with the consent and help of the people which guarantees this right. it is only within the last century and a half that a constitutional form of government has been secured by any countries and in the most of those where it now exists, not excepting the united states, it was won through war and bloodshed. largely for this reason its principal advantage was monopolized by men, who made and carried on war, and who held that such government must be maintained by physical force and only those should have a voice in it who could fight for it if necessary. there were many other reasons why those who had thus secured their right to a vote should use their new power to withhold it from women, which was done in every country. women then had to begin their own contest for what by the law of justice was theirs as much as men's when government by constitution was established. their struggle lasted for nearly three-quarters of a century in the united states and half a century in great britain, the two largest constitutional governments, and a shorter time in other countries, but it was a peaceful revolution. not a drop of blood was spilled and toward the end of it, when in great britain the only "militancy" occurred, its leaders gave the strictest orders that human life must be held sacred. although at the last the women of central europe were enfranchised as the result of war it was not of their making and their part in it was not on the battlefield. this was the most unequal contest that ever was waged, for one side had to fight without weapons. it was held against women that they were not educated, but the doors of all institutions of learning were closed against them; that they were not taxpayers, although money-earning occupations were barred to them and if married they were not allowed to own property. they were kept in subjection by authority of the scriptures and were not permitted to expound them from the woman's point of view, and they were prevented from pleading their cause on the public platform. when they had largely overcome these handicaps they found themselves facing a political fight without political power. the long story of the early period of this contest will be found in the preceding volumes of this history and it is one without parallel. no class of men ever strove seventy or even fifty years for the suffrage. in every other reform which had to be won through legislative bodies those who were working for it had the power of the vote over these bodies. in the introduction to volume iv is an extended review of the helpless position of woman when in the first demand for equality of rights was made and her gradual emergence from its bondage. no sudden revolution could have gained it but only the slow processes of evolution. the founding of the public school system with its high schools, from which girls could not be excluded, solved the question of their education and inevitably led to the opening of the colleges. in the causes of temperance and anti-slavery women made their way to the platform and remained to speak for their own. during the civil war they entered by thousands the places vacated by men and retained them partly from necessity and partly from choice. one step led to another; business opportunities increased; women accumulated property; legislatures were compelled to revise the laws and the church was obliged to liberalize its interpretation of the scriptures. women began to organize; their missionary and charity societies prepared the way to clubs for self-improvement; these in turn broadened into civic organizations whose public work carried them to city councils and state legislatures, where they found themselves in the midst of politics and wholly without influence. thus they were led into the movement for the suffrage. it was only a few of the clear thinkers, the far seeing, who realized at the beginning that the principal cause of women's inferior position and helplessness lay in their disfranchisement and until they could be made to see it they were a dead weight on the movement. men fully understood the power that the vote would place in the hands of women, with a lessening of their own, and in the mass they did not intend to concede it. the pioneers in the movement for the rights of women, of which the suffrage was only one, contested every inch of ground and little by little the old prejudice weakened, public sentiment was educated, barriers were broken down and women pressed forward. at the opening of the present century, while they had not obtained entire equality of rights, their status had been completely transformed in most respects and they were prepared to get what was lacking. none of these gains, however, had required the permission of the masses of men but only of selected groups, boards of trustees, committees, legislators. it was when women found that with all their rights they were at tremendous disadvantage without political influence and asked for the suffrage that they learned the difficulty of changing constitutions. they found that either national or state constitutions had to be amended and in the latter case the consent of a majority of all men was necessary. in volume vi the attempt to obtain the vote through state action is described in chapters and their reading is recommended to those who insisted that this was the way women should be enfranchised. fifty-six strenuous campaigns were conducted, with their heavy demands on time, strength and money, and as a result states gave suffrage to women! wyoming and utah entered the union with it in their constitutions. compare this result with the proclamation of the adoption of a federal amendment, which in a moment and a sentence conferred the complete franchise on the women of all the other states. the leaders recognized this advantage and the national suffrage association was formed for the express purpose of securing a federal amendment in , as soon as it was learned through the enfranchisement of negro men that this method was possible. a short experience with congress convinced them that there would have to be some demonstration of woman suffrage in the states before they could hope for federal action and therefore they carried on the work along both lines. the question had to be presented purely as one of abstract justice without appeal to the special interests of any party, but from to woman suffrage had been placed in the constitutions of four states and there was hope that it was now on the way to general success. from this time, however, such idealism in politics as may have existed in the united states gradually disappeared. the republican party was in complete control of the government at washington and was largely dominated by the great financial interests of the country, and this was also practically the situation in the majority of the states. the campaign fund controlled the elections and the largest contributors to this fund were the corporations, which had secured immense power, and the liquor interests, which had become a dominant force in state and national politics, without regard to party. both of these supreme influences were implacably opposed to suffrage for women; the corporations because it would vastly increase the votes of the working classes, the liquor interests because they were fully aware of the hostility of women to their business and everything connected with it. this was the situation faced by those who were striving for the enfranchisement of women. congress was stone deaf to their pleadings and arguments and from to its committees utterly ignored the question. when a legislature was persuaded to submit an amendment to the state constitution to the decision of the voters it met the big campaign fund of the employers of labor and the thoroughly organized forces of the liquor interests, which appealed not only to the many lines of business connected with the traffic but to the people who for personal reasons favored the saloons and their collateral branches of gambling, wine rooms, etc. they were a valuable adjunct to both political parties. the suffragists met these powerful opponents without money and without votes. a reading of the state chapters will demonstrate these facts. from for fourteen years not one state enfranchised its women. these were years, however, of marvelous development in the status of women, which every year brought nearer their political recognition. girls outnumbered boys in the high schools; women crowded the colleges and almost monopolized the teaching in the public schools. their organizations increased in size until they numbered millions and stretched across the seas. in the international woman suffrage alliance was formed which soon encircled the globe. this year the international council of women, the largest organized body of women in existence, formed a standing committee on woman suffrage with branches in every country. in the general federation of women's clubs, the largest organization in the united states, declared for woman suffrage and this was preceded or followed by a similar declaration by every state federation. national associations of women for whatever purpose, with almost no exceptions, demanded the franchise as an aid to their objects, until the stock objection that women do not want to vote was silenced. women who opposed the movement became alarmed and undertook to organize in opposition, thereby exposing their weakness. their organization was largely confined to a small group of eastern states and developed no strength west of the allegheny mountains. its leaders were for the most part connected with corporate interests and did not believe in universal suffrage for men. there was no evidence that they exercised any considerable influence in congress or in any state where a vote was taken on granting the franchise to women. an outstanding feature of the present century has been the entrance of women into the industrial field, following the work which under modern conditions was taken from the homes to the factories. thus without their volition they became the competitors of men in practically every field of labor. unorganized and without the protection of a vote they were underpaid and a menace to working men. in self-defense, therefore, the labor unions were compelled to demand the ballot for women. they were followed by other organizations of men until hundreds were on record as favoring woman suffrage. men trying to bring about civic or political reforms in the old parties or through new ones and feeling their weakness turned to women with their great organizations but soon realized their inefficiency without political power. the old objections were losing their force. the lessening size of families and the removal of the old time household tasks from the home left women with a great deal of leisure which they were utilizing in countless ways that took them out into the world, so that there was no longer any weight in the charge that the suffrage would cause women to forsake their domestic duties for public life. women of means began coming into the movement for the suffrage and relieving the financial stringency which had constantly limited the activities of the organized work. the opening of large national headquarters in new york, the great news center of the country, in , marked a distinct advance in the movement which was immediately apparent throughout the country. the friendly attitude of the metropolitan papers extended to the press at large. following the example of england, parades and processions and various picturesque features were introduced in new york and other large cities which gave the syndicates and motion pictures material and interested the public. woman suffrage became a topic of general discussion and women flocked into the suffrage organizations. politicians took notice but they remained cold. this political question had not yet entered politics. the leaders of the national suffrage association strengthened its lines and established its outposts in every state, but they still made their appeals to unyielding committees of congress. the republican "machine" was in absolute control and woman suffrage had long been under its wheels with other reform measures. then came in - the "insurgency" in its own ranks led by members from the western states, and in those states the voters repudiated the railroad and lumber and other corporate interests and instituted a new régime. one of its first acts was the submission of a woman suffrage amendment in the state of washington and with a free election and a fair count it was carried in every county and received a majority of more than two to one. the revolt extended to california, whose legislature sent an amendment to the voters in after having persistently refused to do so for the past years, and here again there was victory at the polls. with the gaining of this old and influential state the extension of the movement to the mississippi was assured. the insurgency in the republican party resulted in a division at the national convention in and the forming of the progressive party headed by theodore roosevelt. the resolutions committee of the regular party gave the suffragists seven minutes to present their claims and ignored them. the new party needed a fresh, live issue and found it in woman suffrage, which was made a plank in its platform. the leaders of the national suffrage association were required by its constitution to remain non-partisan and with one exception did so, but thousands of women rallied to the standard of the new party. as most of them were disfranchised they brought little voting strength but the other parties were forced to admit them and for the first time they gained a foothold in politics. the division in republican ranks resulted in putting into power the democratic party, with an unfavorable record on woman suffrage and a president who was opposed to it, but "votes for women" was now a national political issue. when the suffrage leaders went to the new congress for a federal amendment they met a senate committee every member but one of which was in favor of it. the vote in the senate on march , , resulted in a majority but not the required two-thirds, and it was a majority of republicans. the history of the struggle for this amendment for the next six years, through democratic and republican administrations, will be found in chapter xx. speaker champ clark was a steadfast friend. in william jennings bryan declared for it and thenceforth spoke for it many times. in president woodrow wilson announced his conversion to woman suffrage and in to the federal amendment and never wavered in his loyalty, rendering every assistance in his power. his record will be found in these volumes. in , after justice charles evans hughes was nominated by the republicans for the presidency, he announced his adherence to the federal amendment, being in advance of his party. this year the republican and democratic national platforms for the first time contained a plank in favor of woman suffrage but by state and not federal action. a remarkable feature of the progress of this amendment in congress was the increase of its advocates among members from the south, who for the most part believed it to be an interference with the state's rights. in , when the first vote was taken in the senate not one southern member voted for it. on the second occasion in senators lea of tennessee, ransdell of louisiana, sheppard of texas, ashurst of arizona and owen of oklahoma voted in favor. in on the final vote, if arizona, new mexico and delaware are included, senators from southern states cast their ballots for the federal amendment, and four from northern states who did so were born in the south. it received the votes of representatives from southern states. the women of every southern state suffrage association worked for this amendment, believing that it was hopeless to expect their enfranchisement from state action, and the above members took the same view. it received a large republican majority in senate and house. while this contest was in progress many events were taking place which had an influence on it. the movement for woman suffrage was progressing in europe but when the war broke out in , involving all countries, it was thought that all advance was lost. on the contrary the splendid service of the women obtained the franchise for them in great britain, the netherlands and other countries, and at the close of the war the revolution in the central countries resulted in the suffrage for men and women alike. the war work of canadian women brought full enfranchisement to them. when the united states entered the war the patriotic response of the women to every demand of the government and the magnificent service they rendered swept away forever the objection to their voting because they could not do military duty. stimulated by the action of washington and california other western states gave suffrage to their women and its practical working effectually disproved every charge that had been made against it. at the close of mrs. carrie chapman catt became president of the national association and bringing to bear her great executive and organizing ability she re-formed it along the lines followed by the political parties, created a large, active working force and prepared for intensive state and national campaigns. soon afterwards she received a legacy of almost a million dollars from mrs. frank leslie to be used for promoting the cause of woman suffrage and thus she was equipped for carrying the movement to certain victory. in the voters of new york state by an immense majority gave the full suffrage to women, guaranteeing probably votes in congress for the federal amendment. in and the great "drive" was made on the legislatures to give women the right to vote for presidential electors and this was done in states, granting this important privilege to millions of women. in several states the legislature added the franchise for municipal and county officers. in the legislature of arkansas gave them the right to vote at all primary elections and in that of texas conferred the same, which is equivalent to the full suffrage, as the primaries decide the elections. by in states women had equal suffrage with men through amendment of their constitutions.[ ] in january, , the federal prohibition amendment went into effect, putting an end to the powerful opposition of the liquor interests to woman suffrage. all political parties were committed to the federal amendment. in january, , it passed the lower house of congress but the opposition of two senators and finally of one prevented its submission. meanwhile the democratic administration of eight years had been succeeded by a republican. this party during years in power had refused to enfranchise women but now it atoned for the wrong and with the help of democratic members the amendment was submitted to the legislatures on june , . nearly all had adjourned for two years and if women were to vote at the next presidential election special sessions would be necessary. one of the most noteworthy political feats on record was that of the president of the national suffrage association, with the assistance of others, in managing to have the governors of the various states call these sessions. it is told in the state chapters with the dramatic ending in tennessee. the certificate was delivered to secretary of state bainbridge colby at o'clock in the morning on august , , and at he issued the official proclamation that the th amendment having been duly ratified by state legislatures "has become valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the constitution of the united states." it reads as follows: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. "congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." [illustration: signature (eda husted harper.)] footnotes: [ ] it is worthy of note that these fifteen states offer the only instance in the world where the voters themselves granted the complete suffrage to women. those of british columbia, can., gave the provincial franchise but had not the power to give it for dominion elections. in all countries both the state and national suffrage was conferred by a simple majority vote of their parliaments. the u. s. congress had not this authority but a two-thirds majority of each house was necessary to send it to the legislatures for final decision. the federal suffrage amendment had to be passed upon by about , legislators. the national american woman suffrage association foreword the national woman suffrage association was organized in new york city, may , , with elizabeth cady stanton president and susan b. anthony chairman of executive committee. [history of woman suffrage, volume ii, page .] it held annual conventions for the next half century, always in washington, d.c., until , after which date they were taken in alternate years to other cities, meeting in the national capital during the first session of each congress. the object of the association from its beginning was to obtain an amendment to the federal constitution which would confer full, universal suffrage on the women of the united states, and its work for amending the constitutions of the states to enfranchise their women was undertaken as one means to achieve this main purpose. the american woman suffrage association was organized in cleveland, ohio, nov. , , with henry ward beecher president and lucy stone chairman of executive committee, principally for action through the states, and it also held annual conventions. [volume ii, page .] in the two united in washington under the name national american woman suffrage association [volume iv, page ], and the work was continued by both methods. full reports of conventions may be found in preceding volumes of the history of woman suffrage, the list ending in volume iv with that of . this convention was especially distinguished by the public celebration of the th birthday of susan b. anthony and her retirement from the presidency of the association which she had helped to found and in which she had continuously held official position, and by the election of mrs. carrie chapman catt as her successor.[ ] the assertion is frequently made that the enfranchisement of women was due to a natural evolution of public sentiment. a reading of the following chapters, which give the history of the work of the national american woman suffrage association, will show how largely the creation of this sentiment was due to this organization to which all the state associations were auxiliary. it represented the organized movement during half a century to secure the vote for women--a struggle such as was never made by men for this right in any country in the world. it was the only large organization for this purpose that ever existed in the united states and its efforts never ceased in the more than fifty years. at each annual convention some advance was recorded. these chapters show that, while the principal object of the association was a federal amendment, it gave valuable assistance to every campaign for the amendment of state constitutions and that it was responsible for the granting of the presidential franchise, which was so important a factor in gaining the final victory. the reports of its officers each year show the large amount of money raised and expended, the hundreds of thousands of letters written, the millions of pieces of literature circulated, the thousands of meetings held, the many workers in the field. the committee reports and the resolutions adopted show that all reforms vital to the welfare of women and children and many of a wider scope were included in the work of the association. the names of the speakers at the national conventions and at the hearings before the committees of congress during all these years prove that this cause was championed by the leaders among the men and women of their generation. such quotations from their speeches as space has permitted show that in eloquence, logic and strength they were unsurpassed and that their arguments were unanswerable. if this volume contained only the first nineteen chapters the reader could not fail to be convinced that principally to the efforts of the national american woman suffrage association the women of the united states owe their enfranchisement, but it shows too that in the forty-eight auxiliary states they also fought their own hard battles. footnotes: [ ] history of woman suffrage, volume iv, chapters xx and xxi. chapter i. the national american convention of . the thirty-third annual convention opened on the afternoon of may , , in the first baptist church of minneapolis, with the new president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, in the chair, and continued through june , with delegates from twenty-six states present.[ ] miss anthony was present at this minneapolis convention, alert and vigorous but happy to relinquish her official duties to one in whose ability and judgment she had implicit confidence; and the rest of the official board were there ready to give the same allegiance and loyalty to the new chief which they had rendered for many years to the supreme leader. the _minneapolis journal_ said: "the formal opening of the suffrage convention yesterday afternoon was an impressive affair. among the national officers seated on the platform were women who saw the first dawn of the suffrage movement, those who came into its fold midway of its life and those whose earnest endeavors are of more recent record. among the first was the most honored member of the body, miss susan b. anthony, and among the latter is the president, mrs. carrie chapman catt. when the delegates rose and the rev. olympia brown of wisconsin stepped to the front of the platform and turned her face heavenward, saying, "in the name of liberty, our father, we thank thee," the impression even upon an unbeliever must have been that of entire consecration and one was reminded of when the early christians met and consulted, fought and endured for the faith that was in them." although this was the first convention in many years over which miss anthony had not presided she was the first to speak, as mrs. catt at once presented her to the audience. with the loyalty which had characterized her life miss anthony first read a letter from the honorary president, mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, then in her th year, which she prefaced by saying: "it is fitting that i should read this greeting from her, as i have stood by mrs. stanton's side for fifty years." the letter urged the same vigorous work in the church for woman's emancipation as had been kept up in the states and said: "the canon law, with all the subtle influences that grow out of it, is more responsible for woman's slavery today than the civil code. with the progressive legislation of the last half century we have an interest in tracing the lessons taught to women in the churches to their true origin and a right to demand from our theologians the same full and free discussion in the church that we have had in the state, as the time has fully come for women to be heard in the ecclesiastical councils of the nation. to this end i suggest that committees and delegates from all our state and national associations visit the clergy in their several localities and assemblies to press on their consideration the true position of woman as a factor in christian civilization." press reports of mrs. stanton's paper were as follows: "woman today, as ever, supplies the enthusiasm that sustains the church and she has a right in turn to ask that the church sustain her in this struggle for liberty and take some decided action with reference to this momentous and far-reaching movement. it matters little that here and there some clergyman advocates our cause on our platform, so long as no religious organization has yet recognized our demand as a principle of justice. discussion is rarely held in their councils but it is generally treated as a speculative, sentimental question unworthy of serious consideration. neither would it be sufficient if they gave their adhesion to the demand for political equality, so long as by scriptural teachings they perpetuate our racial and religious subordination." mrs. stanton would demand that an expurgated bible be read in churches. "such parables as refer to woman as 'the author of sin,' 'an inferior,' 'a subject,' 'a weaker vessel,'" she says, "should be relegated to the ancient mythologies as mere allegories, having no application whatever to the womanhood of this generation. it is not civil nor political power that holds the mormon woman in polygamy, the turkish woman in the harem, the american woman as a subordinate everywhere. the central falsehood from which all these different forms of slavery spring is the doctrine of original sin and woman as a medium for the machinations of satan, its author. the greatest block today in the way of woman's emancipation is the church, the canon law, the bible and the priesthood. canon charles kingsley said not long ago: 'this will never be a good world for woman till the last remnant of canon law is stricken from the face of the earth.'"[ ] after finishing mrs. stanton's letter miss anthony presented her own greeting, in the course of which she said: "if the divine law visits the sins of the parents upon the children, equally so does it transmit to them the virtues of the parents. therefore if it is through woman's ignorant subjection to man's appetites and passions that the life current of the race is corrupted, then must it be through her intelligent emancipation that it shall be purified and her children rise up and call her blessed.... i am a full and firm believer in the revelation that it is through woman the race is to be redeemed. for this reason i ask for her immediate and unconditional emancipation from all political, industrial, social and religious subjection. it is said, 'men are what their mothers made them,' but i say that to hold mothers responsible for the characters of their sons while denying to them any control over the surroundings of the sons' lives is worse than mockery, it is cruelty. responsibilities grow out of rights and powers. therefore before mothers can rightfully be held responsible for the vices and crimes, for the general demoralization of society, they must possess all possible rights and powers to control the conditions and circumstances of their own and their children's lives." the audience then listened with keen appreciation to the president's address, during which she said: "if i were asked what are the great obstacles to the speedy enfranchisement of women i should answer: there are three; the first is militarism, which once dominated the entire thought of the world and made its history. although its old power is gone and its influence upon public thought grows constantly less, it still molds the opinions of millions of people and holds them to the old ideals of force in government and headship in the family. the second obstacle is the unconscious, unmeasured influence upon the estimate in which women as a whole are held that emanates from that most debasing of our evil institutions, prostitution.... the third great cause is the inertia in the growth of democracy which has come as a reaction following the aggressive movements that with possibly ill-advised haste enfranchised the foreigner, the negro and the indian. perilous conditions, seeming to follow from the introduction into the body politic of vast numbers of irresponsible citizens, have made the nation timid. these three influences, born of centuries of tradition, shape every opinion of the opponents of woman suffrage. not an objection, argument or excuse can be urged against the movement which may not be traced to one of these causes." at the close of mrs. catt's address mrs. mary c. c. bradford of denver presented her with a handsome gavel in behalf of the suffrage association of colorado. the gavel was made of colorado silver and the settings and engravings of colorado gold. in one side was a colorado amethyst, and the colorado flower, the columbine, was burned into the gavel by a colorado girl. mrs. bradford said she wished mrs. catt the good luck said to follow the possessor of an amethyst, who "shall speak the right word at the right time." she presented it as an expression of gratitude for her aid in their successful suffrage campaign of . "we are apt to attribute everything good in colorado to woman suffrage," said mrs. catt in response, "but in my secret mind i think much of it is due to the progressiveness of the colorado men. they must be better than other men or they would not have enfranchised their women. i cannot love colorado any better than i do but i shall always value this gavel as a precious souvenir of that wonderful campaign." in her report as vice-president at large the rev. anna howard shaw said regarding her many suffrage speeches during the year: "the manager of a bureau lately said to me: 'if you would only give up for a time the two reforms in which you are most interested, woman suffrage and prohibition, you could earn enough money on the regular lecture platform in a few years to live on for the rest of your life.' any woman who does not live for unselfish service is a useless cumberer of the earth. i would rather be known as an advocate of equal suffrage and starve than to speak every night on the best-paying platforms in the united states and ignore it." the first evening of the convention was opened with prayer by the rev. marion h. shutter.[ ] the audience was far beyond the seating capacity of the large church and in presenting the official speakers mrs. catt said: "this is a great contrast to the early days when we did not use to be welcomed because we were not welcome. now we are welcomed wherever we go but not often, as here, by the representative of a whole state." governor samuel r. van sant gave a hearty western greeting, which, he said, he wanted to make as cordial as he could express it and as broad as the state he lived in. he made this point among others: "you are doing a splendid work and the reason you do not get the ballot sooner is because you do not convert your own sex. i know for i have been a member of the legislature. if you wanted to vote as much as you want other things you would go there and block the legislators so they couldn't get to their seats." mayor albert a. ames extended the welcome of the city and declared his belief in woman suffrage. former mayor william henry eustis ended his address in behalf of the commercial club and board of trade by saying: "commercial bodies are temporary but a great movement like this is eternal." former mayor james gray, representing the press, assured them of its coöperation and said that from a dozen to twenty women were doing important work on the papers of the city. mrs. maud c. stockwell, president of the state suffrage association, welcomed them to "the hearts of the women of minneapolis." dr. shaw closed the evening with a stirring address on an invisible foe, in which she referred to the many refusals they had had from the anti-suffrage leaders to come to the convention and debate the question. she accused them of wearing a khaki-colored uniform to conceal themselves from the foe and declared they were always careful to make their attacks when the enemy was not present, saying: "the anti-suffragists are not fighting woman suffrage, they are fighting the ideals of democracy and leaning toward an aristocracy. take note of the words they use to designate the people, 'mob,' 'hordes,' etc. they look at the people as not only incapable and ignorant now but so for all time and they never learn that in the heart of every individual in the mob lie the forces which make for martyrs or for brutes." "from point to point through long and close argument the brilliant speaker moved with lightning velocity," said a press report. "she called up the anti-suffrage arguments made by the rev. samuel g. smith of st. paul, in his recent series of sermons on women, and laughed to scorn their plea for 'the days of chivalry,' which, she said, were a man's protection of his own women against other men. woman must work out god's ideal of what a woman should be and she cannot do it until she is absolutely free as man is free." mrs. catt brought to the presidency a definite belief that congress would not submit a federal suffrage amendment nor would important states be gained on referendum until national and state officers and workers were better trained for the work required. the increasing evidence of a united and politically experienced opposition as manifested in legislative action and referendum results had convinced her that the cause would never be won unless its campaigns were equipped, guided and conducted by women fully aware of the nature of opposition tactics and prepared to meet every maneuver of the enemy by an equally telling counteraction. she had been appointed by miss anthony chairman of a plan of work committee at the convention of and assembling the practical workers they agreed upon recommendations which proved a turning point in the association's policy. these were presented to that convention and adopted. a committee on organization was established with mrs. catt as chairman and contrary to the usual custom the convention voted that she be made a member of the national board. for the last five years her committee had held conferences in connection with each convention which discussed and adopted plans for more efficient work. as president, she now determined to link more closely the work of national and state auxiliary organizations and in the pursuance of this aim and as ex-officio chairman of the convention program committee, she appointed the executive committee (consisting of the board of officers, the president and one member from each auxiliary state) to be the committee on plan of work. for two entire days preceding this convention the executive committee had discussed methods of procedure, as presented by the board of officers, who had prepared these recommendations at a mid-year meeting held in miss anthony's home at rochester in august. the convention accepted the report which included the following: ( ) organization. that organization be continually the first aim of each state auxiliary as the certain key to success; that each state keep at least one organizer employed and endeavor to establish a county organization in each county or at least to form an organization in each county seat and at four other points; that organization work be done among women wage earners and that definite work be undertaken to win the endorsement and cooperation of other associations, chiefly the general federation of women's clubs and the national education association. ( ) legislation. that each auxiliary state association appeal to congress to submit to the legislatures a th amendment to the federal constitution prohibiting the disfranchisement of u. s. citizens on account of sex; that the plan initiated by miss anthony be continued, namely, that all kinds of national and state conventions be asked to pass resolutions in favor of this amendment, to be sent to congress; that state societies also ask their legislatures to pass resolutions in favor of a th amendment, these also to be sent to congress; that auxiliaries whose states offer a reasonable possibility of a successful referendum try to secure the submission of state suffrage amendments to the voters, with assurance of national cooperation; that auxiliaries whose state constitutions present obstacles to such procedure work to secure statutory suffrage, such as school, municipal or presidential; that auxiliaries not strong enough to attempt a campaign work for the removal of legal discriminations against women and attempt to secure co-guardianship of children, equal property rights, the raising of the age of consent, the appointment of police matrons, etc.; that a leaflet be prepared by mrs. laura m. johns advising best methods for successful legislative work. to carry out this plan the committees on congressional work, presidential suffrage and civil rights found their work for the year. ( ) press. recommendations were made for rendering this department of work more efficient in the states; enrollment of persons believing in woman suffrage to be continued in order to secure evidence of the strength of general favorable sentiment; the literature of the association to include a plan of work for local clubs. work conferences were interspersed during the convention; one on organization presided over by miss mary garrett hay; one by mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff, chairman enrollment committee; one by mrs. babcock, chairman press committee. a chart showing the date of the opening of the legislature in each state; the provision for amending its constitution; the suffrage and initiative and referendum laws and all other information bearing upon the technical procedure of securing the vote state by state was carefully drawn by the organization committee. with this in hand each state was given its legislative task. it was voted to urge the auxiliaries of kansas, indiana, new york, washington and south dakota to ask for submission of state constitutional amendments. it was voted that the corresponding secretary be elected with the understanding that she would serve at the national headquarters and be paid a salary. the executive committee at a preliminary meeting repeated the resolution of the preceding year against the official regulation of vice in manila, which was under united states control. it closed: "we protest in the name of american womanhood and we believe that this represents also the opinion of the best american manhood.[ ] this resolution was unanimously adopted by the delegates after strong addresses, and miss anthony, dr. shaw, mrs. catt, mrs. avery and miss blackwell were deputized to ask a hearing and present it to the american medical association meeting in st. paul at this time. that body allowed them ten minutes to state their earnest wish that it would endorse the resolution but it took no action. miss anthony had consented to act as chairman of the congressional committee and her report was heard with deep interest. her work during the year was upon two distinct lines, the old familiar petition to congress to pass the th amendment granting full suffrage to women, and another brought about by new conditions--a petition that the word "male" should not be inserted in the electoral clause of the constitutions proposed by congress for hawaii and porto rico. these petitions were secured from every state and territory, a tremendous work, and were laid before the members of congress from each state. the most interesting petition for the amendment was from wyoming, where one sheet was signed by every state officer, several u. s. officials and other prominent citizens. they had signed in duplicate several petitions and thus miss anthony had an autograph copy with her. the work of securing this petition was done chiefly by mrs. joseph m. cary, wife of the senator. miss anthony was chairman also of the committee on convention resolutions and believed strongly that to present the question of woman suffrage to conventions of various kinds and secure resolutions from them was an efficacious means of propaganda. her interesting report for made at this time will be found in full in the history of woman suffrage, volume iv, page . in introducing mr. blackwell (mass.), mrs. catt said: "the woman suffrage movement has known many women who have devoted their lives and energies to it. i know of only one man. years ago when lucy stone was a sweet and beautiful girl he heard her speak and afterwards proposed to her to form a marriage partnership. when she said that this might prevent her from doing the large work she wanted to do for equal rights he promised to help her in it and loyally and faithfully all through their married life he did so, as constantly and earnestly as lucy stone herself; and even after her death he continues to give his time, his money and his effort to the same end. i am glad to introduce henry b. blackwell." mr. blackwell was the pioneer in urging the suffragists of every state to try to obtain from their legislature a law giving them a vote for presidential electors. their authority for this action was conferred by the national constitution in article , section : "each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the congress." his comprehensive report made to this and other conventions was an unanswerable argument in favor of the right of a legislature to confer this vote on women and eventually it was widely recognized. the treasurer, mrs. harriet taylor upton (o.), reported the total receipts of the year $ , . mrs. catt stated the needs of the association for the coming year and under the skilful management of miss hay subscriptions of $ , were soon obtained. on motion of dr. shaw a vote of thanks was given to miss hay for her "able and efficient work in securing these pledges." the report for the federal suffrage committee was given by mrs. sallie clay bennett (ky.)[ ] the corresponding secretary, mrs. avery of philadelphia, made the report of the great bazaar which had been held before the christmas holidays in madison square garden, new york city, and netted about $ , . it was accompanied by the carefully prepared report of its treasurer, mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff of brooklyn. an exact duplicate of a beautiful vase three feet high which had been presented to admiral dewey by the citizens of wheeling, west virginia, at a cost of $ , with the exception that his face on it was replaced by miss anthony's, was presented to the bazaar by mrs. fannie j. wheat of that city. as no "chances" were allowed at suffrage fairs it was purchased by subscriptions and presented to miss anthony.[ ] a letter to miss blackwell from mrs. mary a. livermore, then past years of age, expressing her regret at not being able to attend the convention, closed: "it is not for lack of interest in our great cause or indifference to the dear western women with whom i was associated so many years ago and who, like myself, have grown gray in the work for women.... god bless you all and give you an ennobling season together, harmonious and uplifting in its results. remember me in love to the old friends and pledge my affectionate regard to the new friends with whom i will try to keep step here on the massachusetts coast. yours with a thousand good wishes." a telegram of greeting was sent to mrs. stanton and others to mrs. cornelia c. hussey of new jersey, mrs. jane h. spofford of maine and mrs. abigail scott duniway of oregon, all pioneer workers for the cause. miss laura clay (ky.) gave a strong, logical address on counterparts, "the dualism of the race," in which she said: any social system founded on a theory designed for the elevation of one sex alone, regardless of the other, is altogether false and delusive to the expectations built upon it, for the human race is dual and heredity keeps the stock common from which both men and women spring. since the common stock is improved and invigorated by the acquired qualities of individuals, without regard to sex, it is to the advantage of both that all possibilities of development shall be extended to both sexes. in animals acquired qualities can be imparted to the stock only by parenthood; in the human family they are imparted even more widely and permanently through the influence of ideas. all that woman has lost by social systems which denied to her education and the free expression of her genius in literature, art or statesmanship, has been lost to man also, because it has diminished the inheritable riches of the nature from which he draws his existence. he has been less, though unhampered by the shackles which bound her, because she was less. the world is not more called upon to rejoice in the triumphs of his genius in freedom than to mourn over the wasted possibilities of hers in bonds.... the forward movement of either sex is possible only when the other moves also and the obstacles to progress exist in the attitude of both sexes to it, not in that of one alone. so in this woman suffrage movement we have learned that the apathy of women to their own political freedom is as great an obstacle to our success as the unwillingness of men to grant our claims. it is of the same importance to us to educate women out of their indifference as it is to educate men out of their unwillingness. if it should happen that this education shall come to women first, they will never need the argument of force to induce men to remove the legal obstacles, for men and women cannot long think unlike on any subject. one of the most interesting reports was that of the press committee, made by its efficient chairman, mrs. elnora monroe babcock (n. y.). illustrating its work she said: "about , suffrage articles have been sent out from the press headquarters since our last annual convention; , of these were specials; , articles and items advertising the bazaar; many articles on prominent women were furnished to illustrated papers and newspaper syndicates; a page of plate matter was issued every six weeks and seven large press associations were supplied with occasional articles." the names of state chairmen were given and the number of papers they supplied--new york, ; pennsylvania, ; iowa, ; massachusetts, ; indiana, ; illinois, ; ohio, , etc. mrs. babcock asked for a vote of thanks, which was unanimous, to paul dana, proprietor and editor of the new york _sun_, for having given during the past two and a half years and for still giving two columns of its sunday issue to an article by mrs. ida husted harper, an unprecedented concession by a great metropolitan paper. miss anthony added her words of praise to mr. dana and to the department which she herself had been largely instrumental in securing.[ ] one of the most popular addresses of the convention was made by mrs. ellis meredith of denver--the menace of podunk--a clever satire showing that narrow partisanship and dishonest politics were to be found alike in new york and podunk, indiana. podunk is the place where the country is nothing, the caucus everything; where patriotism languishes and party spirit runs riot. it is the centre of intelligence where they hold back the returns until advices are received from headquarters as to how many votes are needed. the podunkians believe it is a good thing to have a strong man at the head of the ticket, not because they care about electing strong men but because by putting a good nominee at the head of the ballot it is possible they may be able to pull through the seven saloon keepers and three professional politicians who go to make up the rest of the ticket.... but there lives in podunk another class that is a greater menace to the life of the nation, the noble army of pharisees. they have read bryce's american commonwealth and have an intellectual understanding of the theory and form of our government but they do not know what ward they live in, they are vague as to the district, have never met their congressman and do not know a primary from a kettle drum.... the politician and the shirk of podunk are the creatures who are doing their noble best to blot out the words of lincoln and make it possible for the government he died to save to perish from the earth. and between these two evils the least apparent is the most real. the man who votes more than once is nearer right than the man who refuses to vote at all. the activity of the repeater in the pool of politics may be wholly pernicious but is no worse than the stagnation caused by the inertia of his self-righteous brother. the republic has less to fear from her illiterate and venal voters than from those who, knowing her peril, refuse to come to the rescue. the resolutions were presented by mr. blackwell, who, at conventions almost without number, served as chairman of this important committee, and the first ones set forth the political status of the women in the year as follows: "we congratulate the women of america upon the measure of success already attained--school suffrage in twenty-two states and territories; municipal suffrage in kansas; suffrage on questions of taxation in iowa, montana, louisiana and new york; full suffrage in wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho--states containing more than a million inhabitants, with eight senators and nine representatives in congress elected in part by the votes of women. "we rejoice in important gains during the past year; the extension of suffrage upon questions of taxation to , women in the towns and villages of new york and to the tax-paying women of norway; the voting of women for the first time for members of parliament in west australia; the almost unanimous refusal of the kansas legislature to repeal municipal woman suffrage and the acquittal in denver of the only woman ever charged with fraudulent voting." a tribute was paid to the tried and true friends of woman suffrage who had died during the year, many of them veterans in the cause: sarah anthony burtis, aged , secretary of the first woman's rights convention in when adjourned to rochester, n.y.; charles k. whipple, aged , for many years secretary of the massachusetts and new england woman suffrage associations; zerelda g. wallace of indiana, the "mother" of "ben hur"; paulina gerry, the rev. cyrus bartol, carrie anders, dr. salome merritt, matilda goddard and mary shannon of massachusetts; mary j. clay of kentucky; eliza j. patrick of missouri; fanny c. wooley and nettie laub romans of iowa; eliza scudder fenton, the widow of new york's war governor; charlotte a. cleveland and henry villard of new york; john hooker of connecticut; giles f. stebbins and george willard of michigan; ruth c. dennison, d. c., theron nye of nebraska; elizabeth coit of ohio; major niles meriwether of tennessee; m. b. castle of illinois; john bidwell of california; wendell phillips garrison of new jersey. on the evening when miss anthony presided she introduced to the audience with tender words mrs. charlotte pierce of philadelphia, as one of the few left who attended the first woman's rights convention at seneca falls, n. y., in ; mrs. eliza wright osborne of auburn, n. y., niece of lucretia mott and daughter of martha wright, two of the four women who called that convention; miss emily howland, a devoted pioneer of sherwood, n. y.; the rev. olympia brown of racine, second woman to be ordained as minister; mrs. ellen sulley fray, a pioneer of toledo, o., and mrs. caroline e. merrick, wife of a chief justice of louisiana, who organized the first suffrage club in new orleans. mrs. rachel foster avery, who had been the corresponding secretary of the association for twenty-one years, had insisted that she should be allowed to resign from the office. a pleasant incident not on the program took place one morning during the convention when miss anthony came to the front of the platform and said: "i have in my hand a thousand dollars for rachel foster avery. it has been contributed without her knowledge by about four hundred different persons; most of you are on the list. i asked for this testimonial because i felt that you would all rejoice to show your appreciation of her long and faithful services and her great liberality to the cause. i should never have been able to carry on the work of the society as its president for so many years but for her able coöperation. she thinks she cannot talk but we know that she can work. she has done the drudgery of this association for more than twenty years and i hope the woman who will be chosen in her place, whoever she may be, will be as consecrated and free from all self-seeking." miss kate m. gordon, president of the era club of new orleans, was almost unanimously elected as corresponding secretary. the only other change in the official board was the retirement of mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch as second auditor and the election of dr. cora smith eaton in her place. in referring later to dr. eaton, mr. blackwell said: "in my attendance upon thirty-three successive annual national conventions i have never seen one with such complete and faithful preparation by the local committee and such abundant and cordial welcome.... it seemed natural to recognize the generous hospitality thus extended to the convention by the people of minnesota by choosing dr. eaton of minneapolis, chairman of this local committee, as one of the auditors for the coming year."[ ] a closely reasoned address on the ethics of suffrage was made by louis f. post of chicago, in the course of which he said: suffrage is a right, not a privilege. that it is a right of every individual is the only basis for women's demanding it. if it is not a right but a privilege that may be granted to men and withheld from women, be granted to the white and withheld from the black, be given to those who have red hair and kept from those with black hair; if it may be rightfully given to the millionaire and kept from the day laborer; rightfully extended to those who can read and withheld from those who cannot, or to those with a college education and from those who have only a common-school education--if these are the only bases on which women claim a share in government, then the fundamental argument for woman suffrage disappears. reason back far enough on the privilege line of argument and you soon come to that fetish of tradition, the divine right of kings. so if you cannot put your claim on any better ground than privilege you would better not go on.... being a right, it is also a duty. he who has a right to maintain has a duty to perform. this is the firm rock upon which woman suffrage must rest. it must be demanded because women are members of the community, because they have common interests in the common property and affairs of the community; in a word, they have rights in the community and duties toward it which are the same as the rights and duties of every other sane person of mature age who keeps out of the penitentiary. an unexpected pleasure was a brief address by dr. mary putnam jacobi, a veteran suffragist and prominent physician of new york, who was attending the convention of the american medical association. she based her argument for equal suffrage on the injustice practiced toward women physicians when they seek the opportunity for hospital practice. mrs. f. w. hunt, wife of the governor of idaho, testified to the good results of woman suffrage in that state for the past five years. others who gave addresses were the rev. alice ball loomis (wis.), the feminine doctor in society; mrs. lydia phillips williams, president of the minnesota federation of clubs, growth and greetings; mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert (ill.), for the sake of the child; miss frances griffin (ala.), a southern tour; the rev. olympia brown (wis.), the tabooed trio; mrs. annie l. digges (kas.), the duty of the hour; miss laura a. gregg (neb.), who will defend the flag?; the rev. celia parker woolley (ill.), woman's worth in the community; the rev. william b. riley (minn.), woman's rights and political righteousness.[ ] an inadequate newspaper account of the very able address of miss gail laughlin (n. y.), on the industrial laggard, said: miss laughlin described the nineteenth as the industrial century of which the factory was a notable product and co-operation the spirit. men were trained to do one thing well and by division of labor the maximum result was attained with the minimum expenditure of labor and capital. this principal of division of labor has been applied everywhere except in the household, the field which especially concerns women. household labor is outside the current of industrial progress. it is not even recognized as an industrial problem because it is not a wealth-producing industry. students of economics will sometime understand that the industries which consume wealth should receive attention as well as those which produce it. business principles are not applied to the domestic service problem. there are no business hours. the person is hired, not the labor. one woman described the situation: "if you have a girl, you want her, no matter at what time." there is no standard of work and the result is confusion worse confounded. the servant's goings-out and comings-in are watched and she has no hours to herself. is it any wonder that so many women prefer to go into factory life at less pay but where they can have some hours of their own? the report of the committee on legislation for civil rights, mrs. laura m. johns (kans.), chairman, showed that it had been in correspondence with many state associations which were working for the repeal of bad laws and the enactment of good ones; for raising the age of consent; for child-labor bills; for women physicians in state institutions; for women on school boards and in high educational positions and for many other civil and legal measures. mrs. clara bewick colby's report on industrial problems affecting women and children showed much diligent research into the discriminations against women in the business and educational world and gave many flagrant instances. "in government positions," she said, "this was clearly due to their lack of a vote." the government departments at washington are almost entirely governed by politics and women are greatly discriminated against, notwithstanding civil service rules. the report of a. r. severn, chief examiner for the civil service commission, shows that during the last ten years less than ten per cent. of the women who have passed the examinations have been appointed, while more than per cent. of the men who passed obtained positions. to prevent the possibility of women obtaining high-class positions the examinations for these are not open to women. of the employments for which examinations were held, women were admitted to only . the per cent. of women employed of those who had passed was in ; per cent. in , and lower in , not a woman being appointed to a clerk's position from the waiting list. the post office department in the last year sent out an order that women should not be made distributing clerks wherever it was possible to appoint men.... legislation for the protection of children has been defeated in georgia, alabama and south carolina. in the factories of birmingham, it is stated, children of six and seven are obliged to be at work by : a.m. and to work twelve hours daily, attending spindles for ten cents a day. jane addams says she knows from personal observations that in certain states the conditions of child labor are as bad as they were in england half a century ago. in the great cotton mills at columbia, s. c., she found a little girl scarcely five years old doing night work thirteen hours at a stretch, for three days in the week. sunday afternoon the rev. olympia brown gave the convention sermon--the forward march--in the first baptist church, with scripture reading by mrs. catt, prayer by the rev. margaret t. olmstead, hymns by the rev. kate hughes and the rev. mrs. woolley; responsive reading by the rev. alice ball loomis. the rev. anna howard shaw preached in the church of the redeemer in the morning and louis f. post in the evening. dr. shaw preached in the evening at the hennepin avenue methodist church; miss laura clay spoke at the central baptist; dr. frances woods at the first unitarian; miss laura gregg at plymouth; mrs. mary c. c. bradford at the wesley methodist in the morning and the rev. olympia brown in the evening; mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert in the chicago avenue baptist; the rev. margaret f. olmstead at all souls; the rev. alice ball loomis at tuttle universalist; mrs. mariana w. chapman at the friends' church; miss ella moffatt at the bloomington avenue methodist, and mr. and miss blackwell at the trinity methodist. an official letter was sent by request to the constitutional convention of alabama asking for a woman suffrage clause. an invitation to hold a conference in baltimore was accepted. arrangements were made to have a national suffrage conference september , , in buffalo, n. y., during the pan-american exposition. it was decided also to accept an invitation from the inter-state and west indian exposition board to hold a conference during the exposition in charleston, s. c. official invitations were received from various public bodies to hold the next convention in washington, atlantic city, milwaukee and new orleans. the president made the closing address to a large audience on the last evening, a keen, analytical review of the demand for woman suffrage. "its fundamental principle," she said, "is that 'all governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed.' it is the argument that has enfranchised men everywhere at all times and it is the one which will enfranchise women." as it was extemporaneous no adequate report can be given. nothing was left undone by this hospitable city for the success and pleasure of the convention. very favorable reports and commendatory editorials were given by the newspapers. an excellent program by the best musical talent was furnished at each session under the direction of mrs. cleone daniels bergren. an evening reception in honor of the national officers, to which eight hundred invitations were sent, took place in the beautiful home of mr. and mrs. w. d. gregory. the business woman's club, martha scott anderson, president, gave an afternoon reception in its rooms, the invitations reading: "the club desires to show in a measure its appreciation of the labor by the members of the national suffrage association in behalf of women." trolley rides through the handsome suburbs and a visit to the big flouring mills were among the diversions.[ ] this chapter has tried to picture the first convention of the national american suffrage association in the new century, typical of many which preceded and followed. if it and other chapters seem overburdened with personal mention it must be remembered that it is a precious privilege to those who assisted in this great movement, and to their descendants, to have their names thus preserved in history. in the biography of susan b. anthony (page ) may be found the following tribute to these conventions, which were held annually for over fifty years. it can be said without fear of contradiction that the national suffrage conventions will go down in history as the most notable held by women during the present age, excepting, of course, those of an international nature. the lofty character of their demands, the courage, ability and earnestness of their speakers, the unswerving fidelity to one central idea, give them a dominating position which they will hold for all time. they are pervaded by a remarkable spirit of democracy and fraternity. those who come to scoff remain--not to pray but to have a good time. the reporters are all converted during the first two or three meetings and become members of the family. the delegates never wait for an introduction to each other; all have come together on the same mission and that is a sufficient guarantee. nobody can remember afterwards what her neighbor wore and this proves that all were well dressed. the meetings are so systematic and business-like that one never feels she has wasted a minute. if points of serious difference arise they are taken up and settled by the business committee, out of sight of the public, but in all matters directly connected with the association every delegate has a voice and vote. these are trained and disciplined women. there is nothing hysterical, nothing fanatical about them. they are animated by the most serious and determined purpose, and, in order to effect this, all sectarian bias, all political preference, all fads and hobbies in any direction are rigidly barred. woman suffrage--that is the sole object. the offices all represent hard work and no salary, therefore no unseemly scramble takes place to secure them, and the association has the most profound confidence in its national board. every dollar subscribed has a definite channel designated for its expenditure and so there is no big treasury fund to quarrel over. there is always a sufficient number of experienced members to hold the younger and more impulsive recruits in check. being one of the oldest women's organizations in existence it has accumulated a large store of wisdom and judgment. even where people disapprove its purposes they cannot fail to respect its dignified, orderly methods. footnotes: [ ] part of call: the first years of the new century are destined to witness the most strenuous and intense struggle of the movement. iniquity has become afraid of the votes of women. vice and immorality are consequently organized in opposition, while conservative morality stands shoulder to shoulder with them, blind to the nature of the illicit partnership. believers in this cause are legion, but many, satisfied that victory will come without their help, do nothing. we are approaching the climax of the great contest and every friend is needed. if the final victory is long in coming, the responsibility rests with those who believe but who do not act. elizabeth cady stanton, } honorary presidents. susan b. anthony, } carrie chapman catt, president. anna howard shaw, vice-president. rachel foster avery, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } auditors. catharine waugh mcculloch, } [ ] miss anthony had entreated mrs. stanton to send instead of this letter to the convention one of her grand, old-time arguments for woman suffrage but she refused, saying the time was past for these and the church must be recognized as the greatest of obstacles to its success. miss anthony felt that it would arouse criticism and prejudice at the very beginning but declared that no matter what the effect she would give what would probably be mrs. stanton's last message. a number of the officers and delegates were interviewed for the press and none was found who fully agreed with mrs. stanton's views. the rev. olympia brown and the rev. anna howard shaw believed the obstacles to be in the false interpretation of the scriptures and its application to women. the methodist general conference had this year admitted women delegates. [ ] invocations were pronounced at different sessions by the resident ministers, c. b. mitchell, george f. holt and martin d. hardin, and by the visiting ministers, alice ball loomis, celia parker woolley, kate hughes and margaret t. olmstead. [ ] whereas, judge william howard taft and the philippine commissioners in a telegram to secretary root dated january , , affirm that ever since november, , the military authorities in manila have subjected women of bad character to "certified examination," and general macarthur in his recent report does not deny this but defends it; and whereas the hawaiian government has taken similar action; therefore resolved, that we earnestly protest against the introduction of the european system of state-regulated vice in the new possessions of the united states for the following reasons: . to subject women of bad character to regular examinations and furnish them with official health certificates is contrary to good morals and must impress both our soldiers and the natives as giving official sanction to vice. . it is a violation of justice to apply to vicious women compulsory medical measures that are not applied to vicious men. . official regulation of vice, while it lowers the moral tone of the community, everywhere fails to protect the public health. examples were given from paris, garrison towns of england and switzerland, and st. louis, the only city in the united states that had ever tried the system. [ ] the question of giving to women a vote for representatives by an act of congress is considered in chapter i, volume iv, history of woman suffrage. [ ] among the donations which brought in the largest sums were the locomobile from mr. and mrs. a.l. barber of new york; the kansas consignment of fine flour and butter secured by miss helen kimber of that state; the carload of hogs from iowa farmers obtained by mrs. eleanor stockman of mason city; the handsomely dressed doll from mrs. william mckinley and a fine oil painting by the noted landscape painter, william keith of california. [ ] at miss anthony's request mrs. harper had sent her a letter to read to the convention giving some details as to the scope of the _sun_ articles, in which she said: "i consider the success of this department due above all else to the fact that it deals with current events. its text each sunday is taken from the occurrences of the preceding week as they relate to women.... letters of commendation and of criticism have been received from all parts of the united states and from london, paris, copenhagen, berlin, dresden, zurich and rome and from melbourne. among the writers are bishops and ministers, publishers, educators, authors, college presidents, physicians, women's societies, workingmen's organizations and scores of men and women in the private walks of life. one article brought twenty-five pages of legal cap from lawyers in new york and brooklyn. it is a noteworthy fact that it is the first metropolitan daily paper to make a woman suffrage department a regular feature." the articles were published until the autumn of , almost five years. mr. dana then sold the paper and it went under the control of william a. laffan, an anti-suffragist, who discontinued them. [ ] other local chairmen were irma winchell stacy, mrs. a. t. anderson, j. bryan bushnell, dr. margaret koch, mrs. james harnden, mrs. h. a. tuttle, mrs. marion d. shutter, lora c. little, nellie keyes, mrs. sanford niles, martha scott anderson, josie a. wanous, gracia l. jenks, dr. corene j. bissonette, mrs. stockwell and mrs. gregory. [ ] among those who took part in conferences and on committees were helen rand tindall (d. c.); annie r. wood (cal.); ellen powell thompson (d. c.); mariana w. chapman, lila k. willets and florence gregory (n. y.); clara bright and jean gordon (la.); etta dann (mont.); emily b. ketcham and maud starker (mich.); maude i. matthews (n. d.); eleanor m. hall (o.); helen kimber (kas.); eleanor c. stockman, dr. frances woods and dollie r. bradley (ia.); emily s. richards (utah); bertha g. wade (ind.); clara a. young (neb.); evelyn h. belden (ia.); addie n. johnson (mo.); mrs. e. a. brown (minn.); cornelia cary (brooklyn); ida porter boyer (penn.). valuable reports were made by all of the state presidents. [ ] at the close of the convention twenty-seven of the visitors made a trip in a special car to yellowstone park, which was arranged by mrs. catt and miss hay. they had a most interesting time which was graphically described by miss blackwell in the _woman's journal_ of june . it also published some of the humorous poems written en route by the gay excursionists. chapter ii. the national american convention of . the association held its thirty-fourth annual convention, which was especially distinguished by the presence of visitors from other lands, in the first presbyterian church, washington, d. c., feb. - , .[ ] there was special significance in this meeting place, as the pastor of the church for many years was the rev. byron sutherland,[ ] who from its pulpit had more than once denounced woman suffrage and its advocates; but it was now under the liberal ministry of the rev. t. dewitt talmage, their strong and valued advocate. the washington _post_ said: "more than a thousand visitors were present yesterday afternoon at the first session of the national american suffrage convention and the first international woman suffrage conference. perhaps no other meeting of its kind ever has occasioned as much interest on the part of washington women generally.[ ] the large audience room was packed to the doors ... and it has been arranged to hold overflow meetings in the church parlors." the platform was banked with flowers over which waved the flags of thirty nations, lent by miss clara barton, founder of the red cross, to whom they had been presented by representatives of each individual nation. above them all hung the "suffrage flag" with four golden stars on its blue ground for the four states where women were fully enfranchised--wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho. the president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, was in the chair. this convention will be ever memorable because under its auspices the first international woman suffrage conference was held which resulted later in the founding of the international alliance. the proceedings of this conference are described in the chapter devoted to the alliance. ten countries were represented and their delegates took part in the convention, which was welcomed on the opening afternoon by the hon. henry b. f. mcfarland, president of the board of commissioners of the district of columbia. he addressed the delegates as "stockholders in the national capital" and said: "personally i welcome not only you but your cause. in common, i believe, with the majority of intelligent men i think you have won your case on the argument. equal suffrage is equal justice and there is no reason why such women as you should be classed in the states with idiots and criminals." mrs. may wright sewall, who was to greet the foreign guests in the name of the international council of women, of which she was president, was detained until later. mrs. catt with words of highest eulogy introduced miss barton, who said: madam president, ladies and delegates: among many honors which from time to time have been tendered me by my generous country people, not one has been more appreciated than the privilege of giving this word of public welcome to the honored delegation of women present with us. ladies of europe, if a hundred tongues were mine they could not speak the glad welcome in our hearts. it is an epoch in the history of the world that your coming marks. for the first time within the written history of mankind have the women of the nations left their homes and assembled in council to declare the position of women before the world, bringing to national and international view the injustice and the folly of the barriers which ignorance has created and tradition fostered and preserved through the unthinking ages until they came to be held not only as a part of the natural laws and rights of man but as the immutable decrees of divinity itself.... if woman alone had suffered under these mistaken traditions, if she could have borne the evil by herself, it would have been less pitiful, but her brother man, in the laws he created and ignorantly worshipped, has suffered with her. he has lost her highest help; he has crippled the intelligence he needed; he has belittled the very source of his own being and dwarfed the image of his maker. ladies, there is a propriety in your crossing the seas to hold the first council in america, for it was in this new untrammeled land of freedom, free birth, free thought and free speech that the first outspoken notes were given, the first concerted action taken toward the release of woman, the enlightenment of man as a lawmaker, and the attention of the world directed to the injustice, unwisdom and folly of the code under which it lived. it was here that the first hard blows were struck. it was here the paths were marked out that have been trodden with bleeding feet for half a century, until at length the blows no longer rebound and the hands of the grateful, loving womanhood of the world struggle for a place to scatter roses in the paths which erstwhile were flint and thorns; and an admiring world of women and men alike breathe in tones of respect, gratitude and love the names of elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony. miss anthony, i am glad to stand beside you while i tell these women from the other side of the world who has brought them here. this, ladies of europe, is your great prototype--this the woman who has trodden the trackless fields of the pioneer till the thorns are buried in roses; this, the woman who has lived to hear the hisses turn to dulcet strains of music; the woman who has dared to plead for every good cause under heaven, who opened her door to the fleeing slave and claimed the outcast for a brother; the woman beloved of her own country and honored in all countries. although a slow lesson to learn it has always proved that the grandeur of a nation was shown by the respect paid to woman. the brightest garlands of spain, linked with immortelles, twine about the name of isabella. the highest glory of england today is not that she placed her crown on the brow of her trusted and beloved new monarch, a man whom the nations of the earth welcome to their galaxy of rulers, but that she lays her mantle of fifty years' rule through war and peace and progress such as never was known before, upon the grave of a woman--that mantle on which no stain has ever rested and on which the sunlight of happiness is shadowed and dimmed only by the tears of a sorrowing nation, as it is reverently borne to its honored rest. england, thank god you had no salic law! america has none, and, miss anthony, the path which you have trodden through these oft painful years leads to that goal; and, though your eyes will have opened upon the blessed light of the heaven beyond, verily there may be some standing here who shall not taste death until these things come. ladies and delegates: in the name of the noble leader who has called you, we welcome you. in the name of our country, its great institutions of learning and equal privileges to all, we welcome you. in the name of the brotherhood of man, we welcome you. in the name of our never-forgotten pioneers, a mott, a stone, a gage, a griffing, a garrison, a may, a foster, a douglass, a phillips, we reverently welcome you. in the name of god and humanity, in the name of the angels of earth and the angels of heaven, we welcome you to our shores, to our halls, to our homes and to our hearts. miss susan b. anthony, honorary president of the association, who was next presented and enthusiastically received, closed her brief welcome by saying that mrs. stanton and herself conceived the idea of holding an international suffrage conference in when they were in europe but the time was too early for it, and now, twenty years later, european women had come as delegates to one in the united states and henceforth the women of the two countries would go forward together in this cause. dr. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large, referred to the fact that she was born in england and transplanted to america, and said: "while you are divided from us by geographical lines, which are imaginary, and by a language which is not the same, you have not come to an alien people or land. in the realm of the heart, in the domain of mind, there are no geographical lines dividing the nations. you come to us as members of one family. you come that we may all stand on one plane of freedom. i wish we could take you to our four 'star states' where women vote. we mean to give you of our best but we expect to get from you much more than we give. you will show us that those who speak english are not the only ones whose hearts are alive to the great flame of liberty." the national corresponding secretary, miss kate gordon, read a telegram from dr. augusta stowe gullen, leader of the suffrage movement in canada: "greetings and best wishes from your sisters across the line"; a cablegram from christiana: "success to your work, from the national woman suffrage association of norway." a letter was read by the delegate from norway, mrs. gudrun drewsen, from the president of the association, miss gina krog, which said in part: "the woman suffrage movement! i know of no movement, no cause that is at the same time so national and so international. the victory now gained in norway, municipal suffrage and eligibility to municipal office for a great many women, will no doubt in time influence every home in our country; but we could not have won this victory without receiving impulses from other civilized nations. we are indeed indebted to men and women in several european countries for the privileges which we now possess, but from no other country in the world have we received the inspiration in our work which we have had from the united states; to no women in the world are we so indebted as to the women of this country. those great and noble pioneers and their fervent struggle--how they have inspired us and awakened our enthusiasm! that assiduous work, year after year--how it has strengthened our hands! that glorious example, those results attained in your country--how we have brought them before our legislators to awaken their sense of justice! i sincerely wish that the news of the victory achieved in our country may prove an impetus to you in your work. to be assured of this would give us the great satisfaction of feeling that at all events a small fraction of our great debt to you was paid." miss gordon read a letter from the federation of progressive women's societies in germany which declared that its first and foremost object was to secure for german women full political rights and continued: "we watch with especial interest and sympathy the effort of those who persistently and courageously work for the full citizenship of women. the women of the united states have, in this struggle, set a noble example to the women of europe. in germany we recall with tender veneration such names as lucy stone, frances willard, elizabeth cady stanton, the rev. anna howard shaw and susan b. anthony. the women of germany are without political rights. it is far easier to fight for equality and freedom in a young country, like the united states, than in an old civilization, cumbered with traditions--a country that looks back on a history of many centuries, that only a few decades ago fought its way through severe conflicts and painful changes to political unity and is now slowly growing into responsibilities which social and political problems impose on a modern state." "the woman's christian temperance union of tasmania sends hearty greetings and trusts that the international suffrage conference may be successful and that it will bring nearer that day when man and woman shall sit 'side by side, full summed in all their powers,'" was the message signed by jessie s. rooke, its president, which was given by miss anna gordon, president of the w. c. t. u. of the united states. the response to the addresses of welcome was made by madame sofja levovna friedland of russia, who said in beautiful english: i am a loyal daughter of a friendly country, who thanks you for your welcome and brings greetings from her distant home. russia and the united states have been friends for many a year and are friends today, proven friends, who have stood by each other in the hour of need. in the french ambassador at the court of st. petersburg laid before the czar the proposition of napoleon iii, to interfere in your civil war for the purpose of perpetuating the division between the north and the south. after listening to this bold proposal of the french emperor, czar alexander, the man who had freed twenty-five million slaves in one stroke of his pen, replied: "tell your emperor that the united states is our friend and tell him also that it has the same right to maintain a republican form of government as we have to choose a monarchy. tell him also that he must keep his hands off and not meddle in its affairs for i will not allow anyone to interfere on the other side of the atlantic. he who strikes my friend, strikes me." this answer in diplomatic language went the same day to paris and soon after russian battleships arrived in the harbors of new york and san francisco. there are still men and women who remember them. they used to wonder why the russian men-of-war were lying peacefully in american waters. president lincoln could have given the answer, for in a private message from the czar he had been assured of the friendship of the great eastern empire. he knew that the commanders of the russian ships had secret orders to act in case of necessity. but the american people have done more, for there came a morning when the glorious winter sun of russia greeted the star-spangled banner, when american ships landed on russian shores ready to protect us from a more cruel enemy--hunger. the cry of distress from our famine-stricken villages had found an echo in american hearts and the ships which came did not bear government orders, they bore the tokens of love from one brother to another; they brought us wheat and corn to feed our people. madame friedland told of the visit of the grand duke alexis to this country and of the poem read by oliver wendell holmes at a banquet given in his honor, and closed: "thus an american poet has expressed the feelings of his countrymen and women. god bless the united states! long life to president roosevelt and prosperity to you all! in the days to come and the years to follow may our two great nations stand side by side in harmony and peace. may the star-spangled banner and the russian double eagle soar aloft, not on battlefields, not against any nation, but for a brotherhood of men in the federation of the world." the opening session ended with the president's address by mrs. catt, in the course of which she said: in ready response to growing intelligence and individualism the principle of self-government has been planted in every civilized nation of the world. before the force of this onward movement the most cherished ideals of conservatism have fallen. out of the ashes of the old, phoenix-like has arisen a new institution, vigorous and strong, yea, one which will endure as long as men occupy the earth. the little band of americans who initiated the modern movement would never have predicted that within a century "taxation of men without representation is tyranny" would have been written into the fundamental law of all the monarchies of europe except russia and turkey and that even there self-government would obtain in the municipalities. the most optimistic seer among them would not have prophesied that mongolian japan, then tightly shutting her gates against the commerce of the world and jealously guarding her ancient customs, would before the century closed have welcomed western civilization and established universal suffrage for its men. he would not have dreamed that every inch of the great continent of south america, then chiefly an unexplored region over which bands of savages roved at will, would be covered by written constitutions guaranteeing self-government to men inspired by declarations of independence similar to that of this country; that the settlements in mexico and central america and many islands of the ocean would grow into republics, and least of all that the island continent of australia, with its associates of new zealand and tasmania, then unexplored wildernesses, would become great democracies where self-government would be carried on with such enthusiasm, fervor and wisdom that they would give lessons in methods and principles to all the rest of the world.... hard upon the track of the man suffrage movement presses the movement for woman suffrage, a logical step onward. it has come as inevitably and naturally as the flower unfolds from the bud or the fruit develops from the flower. why should woman suffrage not come? men throughout the world hold their suffrage by the guarantee of the two principles of liberty and for these reasons only: one, "taxation without representation is tyranny"; who dares deny it? and are not women taxed? the other, "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." how simple and unanswerable that petition of justice!... woman suffrage must meet precisely the same objections which have been urged against man suffrage and in addition it must combat sex-prejudice, a prejudice against the rights, liberties and opportunities of women. mrs. catt closed her address with these words: "yet before the attainment of equal rights for men and women there will be years of struggle and disappointment. we of a younger generation have taken up the work where our noble and consecrated pioneers left it. we in turn are enlisted for life and generations yet unborn will take up the work where we lay it down. so through centuries if need be the education will continue, until a regenerated race of men and women who are equal before god and man shall control the destinies of the earth. it will be the proud duty of the new international alliance, if one shall be formed, to extend its helping hand to the women of every nation and every people and its completed duty will not have been performed until the last vestige of the old obedience of one human being to another shall have been destroyed." the presence of the foreign visitors and the greetings from abroad made an original and pleasing variation of the usual program at national conventions. the evening with the pioneers opened with the singing by the audience of the battle hymn of the republic, written by one of them, mrs. julia ward howe, led by another, john hutchinson, a member of the famous family of singers, who the day before had celebrated his th birthday. miss anthony presided and the washington _times_ said that she "was greeted with a storm of applause, the convention rising as one woman and with waving handkerchiefs cheering her to the echo for several minutes." the loyal legion of women through its president gave her an armful of red roses and in accepting them she observed smilingly: "i can only say what i have often said in late years--it is much pleasanter to be pelted with roses than stones! the national suffrage association stands like a mother church with her arms wide open to those who want to come in and we are especially glad to receive loyal women."[ ] mrs. florence fenwick miller, a member of the london school board for nine years, brought greetings from mrs. priscilla bright mclaren, years old, of whom miss anthony said: "she is an elder sister of john and jacob bright. john was the great champion of manhood suffrage but jacob was still greater, for he was a champion of suffrage for women also. mrs. mclaren sent a loving and appreciative message to "the dear american women who have so steadfastly held up the banner of woman suffrage and especially to the octogenarians, elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony," and closed it with a christmas poem. miss anthony recalled her last visit to mrs. mclaren in edinburgh three years before and said: "i wish you could see how beautiful she looked as she lay on the bed in her pretty white cap and blue dressing sack. she is an inspiration to the women of great britain and she has been to me." mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.), gave a greeting from mrs. stanton, in her th year, and read her paper on educated suffrage.[ ] in this able and scholarly document mrs. stanton said: the proposition to demand of immigrants a reading and writing qualification on landing strikes me as arbitrary and equally detrimental to our mutual interests. the danger is not in their landing and living in this country but in their speedy appearance at the ballot-box, there becoming an impoverished and ignorant balance of power in the hands of wily politicians. while we should not allow our country to be a dumping-ground for the refuse population of the old world, still we should welcome all hardy, common-sense laborers here, as we have plenty of room and work for them.... the one demand i would make for this class is that they should not become a part of our ruling power until they can read and write the english language intelligently and understand the principles of republican government.... to prevent the thousands of immigrants daily landing on our shores from marching from the steerage to the polls the national government should prohibit the states from allowing them to vote in less than five years and not then unless the applicant can read and write the english language.... to this end, congress should enact a law for "educated suffrage" for our native-born as well as foreign rulers, alike ignorant of our institutions. with free schools and compulsory education, no one has an excuse for not understanding the language of the country. as women are governed by a "male aristocracy" we are doubly interested in having our rulers able at least to read and write. the popular objection to woman suffrage is that it would "double the ignorant vote." the patent answer to this is, abolish the ignorant vote. our legislators have this power in their own hands. there have been various restrictions in the past for men. we are willing to abide by the same for women, provided the insurmountable qualification of sex be forever removed.... surely, when we compel all classes to learn to read and write and thus open to themselves the door of knowledge not by force but by the promise of a privilege all intelligent citizens enjoy, we are benefactors, not tyrants. to stimulate them to climb the first rounds of the ladder that they may reach the divine heights where they shall be as gods, knowing good and evil, by withholding the citizen's right to vote for a few years will be a blessing to them as well as to the state.... mrs. stanton had made her last address in person to a national convention in , when she resigned the presidency of the association--that incomparable essay on the solitude of self--but she never had failed to send her annual battle cry. the one to this convention, which began the fulfilment of her dream of a world-wide movement for woman suffrage, was written with all her old-time logic and forceful argument and it proved to be her last, as her long and valuable life was ended the next november. mrs. harriet taylor upton (o.) read the paper of mrs. caroline hallowell miller (md.), detained at the last moment, on why we come again, in which she explained why the suffragists would continue to come to washington and haunt congress until their object, a federal amendment, had been attained. the humor for which mrs. miller, a staid "quaker," was noted sparkled in its sentences although she protested that she was entirely serious. miss anthony introduced henry b. blackwell (mass.) with the quaint remark: "he was the husband of lucy stone; i don't think he can quite represent her but he will do the best he can!" mr. blackwell briefly reviewed the agitation for women suffrage during the first half of the th century. he told of meeting lucy stone in and being so charmed he advised his elder brother to make her acquaintance; of hearing her address a massachusetts constitutional convention in with william lloyd garrison and wendell phillips; of making his own first suffrage speech in cleveland, o., in and of his marriage in . in presenting the next speaker miss anthony said: "mr. blackwell alluded to his brother, who did not marry lucy but antoinette--the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, the first ordained woman minister--who will now address you." her paper on chivalry was a clear analysis of the changed ideas of this word, touching with sarcasm on that of the days when the effort for the rights of women began, a chivalry which gave the person and property of the wife, the guardianship of the children, all her legal privileges, to the husband. she traced the evolution from the early privations of the pioneer suffragists to the honors that are now showered upon them and drew a striking contrast between "the dying old chivalry, which made itself the sole umpire of the benefits to be granted, and the increasing new chivalry, which consults the beneficiaries themselves as to their needs and desires." miss anthony then introduced the first woman ordained by the universalist church, the rev. olympia brown, who struck the keynote of her address in saying: "when we are vexed by the seeming irrationality of some of our congressmen, may we not explain it as due to the fact that they are thinking of the kind of men who elected them? the united states debars intelligent american women from voting and says to the riffraff of europe, 'come over and help govern us.' it is an experiment which no other country in the world ever did make and no other ever will make and i predict that it will be a failure. it will be necessary to call in the aid of the intelligent american women and soon or late this will be done." mrs. elizabeth smith miller, daughter of the noted abolitionist, gerrit smith, was asked to rise and miss anthony paid glowing tribute to him and to many men and women who had stood by the cause of woman suffrage in its early days. the audience were pleased to enjoy once more her informal and unique method of presiding, as glancing over the audience she singled out veteran suffragists who had come to hear and not to speak, calling them by name with some reminiscent comment. her eye fell upon william h. bright, who sponsored the bill in the legislature of wyoming which gave the first equal suffrage ever granted anywhere to women. in answering the demand of the audience for a speech he told how mrs. esther morris had come from new york state to wyoming in and how she and his wife had persuaded him to prepare the bill, which was passed by a democratic legislature and signed by a republican governor. in response to a general request miss anthony told the story, of which audiences never seemed to tire, of that historic occasion when she broke all precedents by addressing a teachers' convention in . this interesting session closed with the singing of auld lang syne led by the venerable john hutchinson. during a morning session miss gordon made her report as corresponding secretary, saying that although it covered only the seven months since the last convention it showed that , letters had been sent out from the headquarters during this period. in , when mrs. catt became chairman of the organization committee, she had established headquarters for her work in one little room in the new york _world_ building, that was really an annex of her husband's offices, and begun the publication of a bulletin, which was the organ of the committee. in it became the organ of the national association and had now expanded into a quarterly paper called _progress_, which was edited by alice stone blackwell, ellis meredith and laura gregg. a preliminary edition of , had been sent out from the headquarters, the expense borne by boston women, and later , copies of the october and , of the january editions had gone to the , newspapers of the country, to members of congress and others. a monthly series of political equality leaflets was also commenced and a course of study for clubs and individuals was established for which a dozen or more books were published. these two valuable features were carried on without any expense to the association, as they paid for themselves. miss gordon described the national conference held in charleston, s. c., february - , at the invitation of the board of the inter-state and west indian exposition; told of the conference in baltimore[ ] and said of the one in buffalo: "the far-reaching effect and impetus given to the woman's movement by the congress of women held in connection with the chicago exposition, determined the business committee's acceptance of an invitation to hold a national conference during the pan-american exposition. too late did we learn that the invitation extended included no responsibility whatever upon the exposition to further the success of the conference. buffalo did not represent an organized center and after several fruitless attempts to form a local committee, the headquarters realized that every little detail essential to success must be attended to by the board. from all sides reports of the most discouraging nature were received as to the absolute failure attending all conferences there but nevertheless we started a vigorous correspondence and for five preceding weeks every sunday paper in buffalo was supplied with matter from headquarters. to make a long story short, september - witnessed our conference well attended, with the night sessions crowded and success acknowledged on all sides, even though we labored under the disadvantage of its being held during the season of sorrow and distress in that city while president mckinley's life hovered in the valley of the shadow of death." miss gordon said that during the year mrs. catt had made a tour of nine states and taken part in forty meetings. referring to the efforts made to have a woman suffrage clause put into new constitutions that were being framed in several states she said: "the clause which lived twenty-four hours in the alabama constitution, granting to taxpaying women owning $ worth of property the suffrage on questions of bonded indebtedness, was killed by a disease peculiar to the genus homo known as chivalry. in the case in point, the diagnosis revealed that the fairest, purest and brightest jewels that ever shone under the brilliant rays of god's shining sun would be immeasurably lowered by voting upon questions relating to the taxation of their own property. yet, under the vagaries of this disease, this same convention conferred on husbands the right to vote on their wives' property. this is the same character of chivalry which gives the wages of the brightest, fairest jewels to the husband, which makes impossible equal pay for equal work and which classes the jewels with the idiots, insane and criminals in that and other states." the program was so crowded with attractions that it left no time for the usual conferences on work and campaigns, so they were placed at : a.m. as they had been so largely attended by visitors the preceding year as to call forth a rule from the board of officers that thereafter delegates only should be permitted to attend them, this was not disastrous. early morning conferences therefore were held on organization and press and two others took the form of state presidents' councils. the plan of work recommended again by the executive committee and adopted by the convention urged work in congressional districts for the th amendment; an attempt to secure tax-paying suffrage; more resolutions by national and state conventions; a campaign to secure suffrage speakers at chautauqua assemblies and state and county fairs; prizes for essays on woman suffrage in schools and colleges; circulating suffrage libraries and the general use of a suffrage stamp on letters. two novel evening programs were devoted to the new woman and the new man, the first with the following speakers: mrs. helen adelaide shaw of boston; mrs. elizabeth m. gilmer of new orleans, known far and wide as "dorothy dix," said to receive the highest salary of any woman journalist; dr. cora smith eaton, a prominent physician and surgeon of minneapolis; miss gail laughlin (n. y.) who had taken the highest honors in the law class of cornell university; the rev. ida c. hultin, a successful unitarian minister of boston. miss margaret haley of chicago, who led the great fight of the teachers' federation of that city to compel the big corporations to pay their taxes in order that the public schools should not be crippled for lack of funds, could not be present because of a crisis in the legal proceedings. each of the women representing the four professions of law, medicine, theology and journalism, in addresses scintillating with humor, reviewed the early prejudices which had been overcome, told of the large number of women who had entered the field when the opportunity came but showed that they could never have an even chance until there was complete obliteration of sex prejudice. little idea of their interest could be obtained from fragmentary paragraphs. the house was crowded to hear about the new man,[ ] represented first on the program by oswald garrison villard, grandson of william lloyd garrison and owner and editor of the new york _evening post_, who gave a spirited and effective account of women in the new york municipal campaign. this was the first in which women ever had taken a prominent part and it had attracted wide attention, a revolt against tammany corruption under richard croker. mr. villard told of the remarkable work done by the women's municipal league under direction of the citizen's union for the election of seth low as mayor and a reform ticket. he paid a sarcastic tribute to the assistance of the women anti-suffragists. "to have been really consistent," he said, "they should have urged upon their more emancipated sisters that woman's sphere is the home and any steps that lead beyond it tend in the long run to the destruction both of the home and of the eternal feminine." he closed by declaring that "the titanic struggle between right and wrong in the great cities can not be won without the cooperation of that half of the nation's citizens in whose hearts are ever found the truest ideals of family and society, of city life and state life and of national existence." at its conclusion mrs. catt said: "and yet after mr. low was elected mayor of greater new york a large number of the women who had helped him win the victory urged him to appoint some women on the school board and he refused. so we must suppose that he is willing to have women pull the chestnuts out of the fire for men but is not willing to give them a share of the chestnuts." a feature of the evening was the scholarly address of the hon. william dudley foulke (ind.), president of the u. s. civil service commission. he objected to being classed as a "new man," since long ago he was for several years president of the american suffrage association. "men would not be satisfied with indirect influence," he declared and continued: "it is often said that woman suffrage is just but that there is no need of it, because women have no interests separate from those of men. that argument was used to me only lately by an eminent political economist. i said: 'suppose a railroad runs through a town and a woman owns a large property in that town and yet cannot vote on the question of raising a subsidy; are her interests necessarily the same as those of every man in the town?' my friends, that case is universal. suppose a widow is trying to bring up her son in the principles of morality and a saloon is opened on the corner opposite her home. i do not speak as an advocate of prohibition but i do say that the interest of the mother is different from that of the man who sells liquor. or suppose she is bringing up a daughter; she has a sacred right to protect that daughter from a libertine. her interest is certainly different from that of the tempter.... we do not realize what an immense waste there is in denying woman entrance to political life. she ought to have free access to anything she is qualified to do and where she is not qualified she will drop out." john s. crosby, a prominent democratic leader of new york, made a thorough analysis of the functions of the state and the government, showed the utter fallacy of constituting men the governing and women the governed class and closed as follows: "attempt to prove that woman's claim to the right of suffrage is as valid as any that man can make would be like trying to demonstrate the truth of a self-evident proposition.... we ask the ballot for woman not merely because she has a right to it but quite as much because it is her duty to exercise that right. the irresistible power of that all-embracing organization, the state, holds you and me and all that are dear to us as its helpless and often hopeless subjects. the combined wisdom of all of us would be none too great for its intelligent administration and we demand for our own sake and for the sake of those that shall come after us that the wisdom of woman shall be included; not only that her delicate, intuitional sense of justice shall leaven the lump of public opinion but that her deft hand shall help to knead it into the bread of righteous law. we ask as one of the rights that government is bound to secure that in the administration of its power it shall make use of the fullest wisdom of the whole people; that the entire popular brain and social conscience shall take cognizance of and be responsible for all acts of government. not until then shall we see true democracy; not until then shall we indeed have a government of the people, by the people and for the people." the next day was one always commemorated by suffragists--the birthday of susan b. anthony--this time the nd. the _woman's journal_ began its account: "as miss anthony sat at breakfast on february , with one of the jars of delicious cream before her that were sent her daily by the president of the maryland woman suffrage association, she was unexpectedly surrounded by the foreign delegates in a body. a birthday greeting drawn up and signed by them was read aloud by mrs. florence fenwick miller of england, while the rest, grouped behind her, bent forward listening with attentive faces--a pretty picture. among the gifts which she received during the afternoon session were a canoe full of flowers from 'one of the girls' with a poem; a handsome feather boa from mrs. swift and mrs. sperry of california; a cup made from the wood of the floor under the table on which the declaration of independence was signed, presented in the name of mrs. general geddes; a bouquet of red roses from prof. theodosia ammons of colorado agricultural college; potted plants from the swedish and norwegian delegates; over $ from mrs. fanny garrison villard, miss emily howland, mrs. kenyon, mrs. w. w. trimble, miss nettie lovisa white, mrs. william m. ivins and other friends; also quantities of fruit and flowers. the address was as follows: we, the undersigned, foreign delegates to the first international woman suffrage congress, gladly take the opportunity of your nd birthday to express to you our love and reverence, our gratitude for your lifelong work for women, and are rejoicing that you have lived to see such great steps onward made by the world at large in the direction in which you led at first under such prejudice. praying that you may enjoy years of health, cheered by every fresh advance, we remain, your loving friends, florence fenwick miller, england; sofja levovna friedland, russia; carolina holman huidobro, chili; gudrun drewsen, norway; vida goldstein, australia; emmy evald, sweden; antonie stolle, germany. [later the foreign delegates gave mrs. catt a handsomely engraved silver card case.] the washington _times_ said of the occasion: the rev. anna howard shaw presented a large basket of fruit from some of the principal suffrage workers with these touching words: "miss anthony, you have been more than a leader to us of your own country, more than a teacher, more than a counselor, you have been our beloved friend. take this with our love for you, dear, dear friend." this completed miss anthony's conquest and she almost broke down. there has been very little emotionalism in this convention but for some minutes there was ample proof all over the hall that being delegates to a suffrage convention had not made any woman forget how to cry. mrs. catt finally came to miss anthony's rescue in a little speech full of tender appreciation: "the greatest thing about miss anthony to my mind is her utter unselfishness and lack of self-consciousness. as we came up the aisle the other night and the audience broke into a thunder of applause for her whom all love, miss anthony looked about to see what caused it and then asked: 'what are they applauding for?' she credits all attentions to herself as for the cause and it is dearer to her than life. last night at an hour when all respectable women suffragists should have been in bed, the treasurer and i put our heads together and decided that we would ask all of you to give a present to the association on miss anthony's birthday instead of giving it to her. we know her well enough to be sure this is what she would like best." miss mary garrett hay, the champion money raiser, then made the appeal to the audience, who quickly responded with over $ , and she received an appreciative vote of thanks from the convention. mrs. harriet taylor upton, the treasurer, reported the receipts of the preceding year as $ , , with a carefully itemized and audited statement. among the most interesting and valuable features of all national conventions are the reports of the work in the various states and yet because of the large number it is impossible to give specific mention or quotations. they were varied on this occasion by the reports from foreign countries--venezuela, chili, japan, china, australia, new zealand, the philippines, porto rico, canada, great britain, norway, sweden, russia, turkey, germany, italy, switzerland, belgium and france. these had been obtained at the request of mrs. catt from ambassadors, consuls or persons appointed by them and represented months of labor. several evenings were largely devoted to addresses by delegates from other countries; one by public school inspector james l. hughes, toronto; the english woman in politics, florence fenwick miller; the australian woman in politics, vida goldstein; women in south american republics, carolina huidobro; women in porto rico, resident commissioner federico degetau; women in the philippines, harriet potter nourse; deborah, emmy evald, sweden; women in egypt and jerusalem, lydia von finkelstein mountford; women in turkey, florence fensham, dean of american college for girls in constantinople; women in germany, antoine stolle. when the report for porto rico was made miss shaw supplemented it with a graphic account of a trip to the west indies with mrs. lydia avery coonley ward of chicago, which she had just finished, telling of the position of women, the marriage laws, etc. the work of the national council of women was presented by the rev. anna garlin spencer (r. i.); the report of the affiliated friends' equal rights association by mrs. mariana w. chapman (n. y.), its president. the sunday afternoon services in the church were conducted by the rev. anna garlin spencer, assisted by the rev. olympia brown and the rev. anna howard shaw.[ ] mrs. spencer first defined the ideal of womanly character held by the older poets and philosophers, quoting milton's line describing adam and eve: "he for god only; she for god in him," and the expression used by the hard, old father of tennyson's "princess": "man to command and woman to obey." she then expressed the modern ideal as that of devotion to the same essentials but different in expression. "woman is not called to a new kingdom but to a larger occupancy of that which has been hers from the beginning. the woman with the child in her arms was the beginning of the family; the hearth fire and the altar fire grew from this; the elder child teaching the younger was the beginning of the school. we are making over all these inherited traditions and inherited tendencies and socializing them.... the ideal woman is no longer a far-away madonna with her feet on the clouds; she is as divine but she is human. what means the humanizing of religion and the passing of harsh, old creeds but that a greater, more human, more womanly influence is felt in all the relations of life." mr. blackwell, chairman of the committee on presidential suffrage, said in his report: "this is the open door for woman suffrage in every state in the union. any legislature at any session by a majority vote of both houses, either separately or in joint session, without any change of state constitution, can empower women to help select the presidential electors on the same terms as male citizens. the power is absolute and unqualified. let women in every state petition their legislature to enable women to take part in this most important form of suffrage known to the american people. it is objected to our demand for woman suffrage that women do not want it and will not exercise it if granted. this is now the only method of testing women's wish to take part in their government. if by a general exercise of the right they show their public spirit, the legislature by submitting an amendment to the state constitution can afterwards extend suffrage to its citizens in state and local elections. this step will be the most conservative way of procedure. the control will remain, as now, in the hands of a legislature elected by men alone. if it prove unsatisfactory to the men of the state any subsequent legislature can repeal the law." a report of the international suffrage conference, which had been in progress during the convention, and the forming of a committee to further permanent organization, was made by its secretary, miss goldstein, and the convention voted that the national american woman suffrage association should cooperate with this committee. the nominations for office were made as usual by secret ballot and as usual were so nearly unanimous that the secretary was instructed to cast the vote. the only change in the present board was the election of mrs. mary j. coggeshall, for many years prominent in the work in iowa, as second auditor in place of dr. eaton, whose professional duties required all her time. invitations for the next convention were received from niagara falls, detroit, st. louis, denver, baltimore and new orleans. the board of trade, the era club and the progressive union united in the one from new orleans, which was accepted and cordial thanks returned for the others. the resolutions presented by mr. blackwell, chairman of the committee, rejoiced in the suffrage already gained and the securing in the past year of laws in various states giving equal guardianship of their children to mothers and increased property rights to wives. they called the attention of the civil service commission to discriminations made against women and emphasized the protest of the preceding year against government regulation of vice in the philippines. later at an executive meeting of the board a vigorous set of resolutions was prepared, stating that the reports of governor william h. taft and general mcarthur admitted and defended "certified examinations of women" in the new possessions of the united states. it showed at length the results of government regulation in other countries which had caused it to be abandoned and declared that "such things ought not to be permitted under the american flag."[ ] mrs. colby's report on industrial problems relating to women cited as one example of discrimination: "an effort is now being made in congress to do away with the annual sick leave of employees, because, it is claimed, women take so much advantage of it. investigation shows, however, that the per cent. of sick leave is highest in the inter-state commerce commission, where not a woman is employed--twelve per cent.--and only seven per cent. in the agricultural department, where a very large number are employed." she gave numerous instances of unfairness against women on the civil service lists, said that women wage earners must find a forum on the suffrage platform where they can plead their cause and carefully analyze the industrial problems especially affecting women. mrs. elnora m. babcock, chairman of the press committee, gave a comprehensive report stating that while , news stories and articles had been sent to the papers in the number had increased to , during the last year and there was reason to believe that three-fourths of them had been used. the largest city papers freely accepted the articles. former u. s. senator henry w. blair of new hampshire came in for one session and was called to the platform for a speech. he was much loved by the suffragists, as he had been one of the strongest champions of woman suffrage during his many years in the senate and had brought the federal amendment to a vote on jan. , . (history of woman suffrage, volume iv, chapter vi.) letters of affectionate greeting were sent to the pioneers and veteran workers, mrs. stanton, isabella beecher hooker, mary s. anthony, jane h. spofford, sallie clay bennett, caroline hallowell miller and abigail s. duniway. the deaths among the older and more prominent members during the year had been many and fifty were mentioned in the memorial resolutions. the notable social features of the week were the afternoon receptions given by mrs. julia langdon barber at her beautiful home, belmont, and by mrs. john b. henderson at boundary castle, the latter followed the next day by a dinner for the officers of the association and the delegates from abroad. both of these well-known washington hostesses were early suffragists and had often extended the hospitality of their spacious homes to the individual leaders and to the conventions. a very interesting address was given on the last evening by madame friedland on russian women of past centuries. u. s. senator thomas m. patterson of colorado presented a vigorous and convincing endorsement of the practical working of woman suffrage in that state for the past nineteen years and its benefits to women and to civic life. u. s. senator john f. shafroth of colorado, always a strong and loyal supporter of suffrage for women, was on the platform. dr. shaw, introduced by mrs. catt as "the demosthenes of the movement," delivered for the first time her impressive speech, the power of an incentive, in which she showed how laws, customs and lack of opportunity took away the incentive for great work from the life of women. until they can have the same that inspires men, she said, they never can rise to their highest capabilities. no adequate reports of any of these addresses exist. the audience waited to hear from miss anthony, who was thus described by a writer present: "the picture that miss anthony made during the evening was one which the delegates will carry away with them to keep. she wore a black satin gown with a handsome point lace fichu and draped over her shoulders a soft, white shawl, while close by was a large jar of lavender hyacinths. her expressive face reflected every mood of the evening and it now spoke pride, satisfaction and sorrow. she told of the joy and gratification she felt in the wonderful galaxy of women at the convention and the progress of her loved cause, and when she voiced the wish that she might be with them at the next convention her words were almost lost in a whirlwind of applause." mrs. catt in closing with a brief address one of the most noteworthy conventions on record, called attention to what had been the key-note of her speech before the house judiciary committee and said: "we have asked of congress the most reasonable thing a great cause ever demanded--an investigation of conditions in the equal suffrage states--and on its results we rest our case." under the heading impressions of a non-combatant a writer in the washington _times_ gave the following opinion: if there is one convention among the many washington has seen which may be called unique, it is that of the national suffrage association. there is nothing like it in the world. there is only one susan b. anthony and there is practically only one suffrage fight.... in the old days the power of an idea was the only thing that could have waked up an interest and held the suffragists together. it took faith and zeal and lots of other things to be a believer in woman suffrage then. now it only takes executive ability and vim and a general interest in public affairs.... the problems discussed were almost purely legal and economic, dealing with the suffrage question proper, the wages of women and their occupations. there was very little empty rhetoric but a good deal of fun. in short, there are two extra senses with which most of the delegates seem to be provided--common sense and a sense of humor--excellent substitutes for emotion when it comes to practical affairs. if the association ever loses the idealism which is still its backbone it will be a political machine of much power; it seems likely to be for the present a decided force in the direction of civic reform. * * * * * for a quarter of a century during the first session of each congress committees of senate and house had given a hearing to representatives of the national suffrage association to present arguments for the submission of an amendment to the federal constitution which would enfranchise women, and at an earlier date to advocate other suffrage measures. because of the distinguished speakers from abroad the hearings at this time were of unusual interest. the convention adjourned for them on the morning of february and the senate and house committee rooms were crowded. all the members of the senate committee were present--augustus o. bacon (ga.) chairman; james h. berry (ark.); george p. wetmore (r. i.); thomas r. bard (calif.); john h. mitchell (ore.). miss susan b. anthony, honorary president of the association, presided and said: mr. chairman and gentlemen of the committee, this is the seventeenth congress that has been addressed by the women of this nation, which means that we have been coming to congress thirty-four years. once, in , the senate brought the measure to a discussion and vote and defeated it by to , with not wishing to go on record. we ask for a th amendment because it is much easier to persuade the members of a legislature to ratify this amendment than it is to get the whole three million or six million, as the case may be, of the rank and file of the men of the state to vote for woman suffrage. we think we are of as much importance as the filipinos, porto ricans, hawaiians, cubans and all of the different sorts of men that you are carefully considering. the six hundred teachers sent over to the philippines are a thousand times better entitled to vote than are the men who go there to make money. the women of the islands are quite as well qualified to govern and have charge of affairs as are the men. i do not propose to talk. i am simply here to introduce those who are to address you. miss anthony then presented miss harriet may mills (n. y.), who spoke from the standpoint of tax paying women, who in the towns and villages alone of her state paid taxes on over $ , , worth of property; mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg, president of the pennsylvania suffrage association, who showed the connection between politics and conditions in philadelphia; the rev. olympia brown, president of the wisconsin association, who pointed out the need of both the reason and the intuition in the country to govern it wisely. mrs. mariana w. chapman, president of the new york association, called for a federal amendment to enfranchise women because of the principles on which this government was founded. miss gail laughlin, a graduate of wellesley college and cornell university law school, made a strong argument on the effect enfranchisement would have on woman's economic independence and greater efficiency. mrs. jennie a. brown, of minneapolis, told of the unlimited opportunities allowed to the women of the great northwest which were largely counteracted by their political restrictions. mrs. mary wood swift of california, president of the national council of women, declared that the countless thousands of the educated, developed women of today were fully equal to the responsibilities of citizenship. mrs. lucy hobart day, president of the maine association, demonstrated the inferior and unfortunate position of disfranchised women. miss alice stone blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_ (boston), indicated how every step of the progress of women had been opposed by the same objections now made to woman suffrage and submitted these objections and the answers to them in a convincing statement which filled ten pages of the printed report of the hearing. miss anthony introduced mrs. gudrun drewsen, one of the foreign delegates to the convention, who said in part: "norwegian women look back to the th of may, , as a day of great victory, for on that day a bill was passed in our parliament which granted municipal suffrage to all women paying taxes on a certain limited income, about $ a year, or whose husbands paid on such income. this law has thoroughly changed the position of the married woman and from having always been a minor she has suddenly become of age. it may be of interest to you of the united states, who can show so many tax paying women without any right to vote, to know that we were not able to get our parliament interested in tax paying woman suffrage until the bill included wives also. the immediate result of this law has been the election of several women to important municipal positions; for instance, members of the common council in the capital; members of the board of aldermen; at one place chief assessor. women may serve on juries and grand juries and have been appointed members of special congressional commissions. several women doctors have been appointed in public institutions, on boards of health as experts for the government, etc. matrons have been employed at prisons where women are and special prisons for women in charge of a matron have been established. on the whole we begin to see the glory of the rising sun which will give us in a little while the bright, clear day." miss vida goldstein, a delegate from australia, began her address: "i am very proud that i have come here from a country where the woman suffrage movement has made such rapid strides. the note was first struck in america and yet women today are struggling here for what we have had in australia for years, and we have proved all the statements and arguments against woman suffrage to be utterly without foundation. it seems incredible to us that the women here have not even the school and municipal suffrage except in a very few states. we have had this for over forty years and we have never heard a word against it. it is simply taken as a matter of course that the women should vote. they say that as soon as women get this privilege they are going to lose the chivalrous attentions of men. let me assure you that a woman has not the slightest conception of what chivalry means until she gets a vote...." miss goldstein told of woman suffrage in new zealand and produced the highest testimony as to its good results in both countries. in closing the hearing dr. anna howard shaw, national vice president, said in part: our association desires you not only to report the resolution for this amendment favorably but to recommend the appointment of a committee to investigate this subject. years ago when our women came before you we had nothing but theory to give you, what we believed would be the good results of woman suffrage if it were granted. the opponents had their theories and they stated the evils they believed would follow. the theory of one person is as good as that of another until it has been put to the test, but after that both sides must lay aside all theory and stand or fall upon facts. in four states women have the full suffrage. for more than thirty years they have been exercising it in wyoming equally with men; in colorado for nine years and in utah and idaho for six years. we do believe that from six to thirty years is long enough time to measure its effect. what we would like better than anything else is that congress should appoint a committee of investigation, and that such a committee should investigate the result of woman suffrage in the states where it has already been granted.... so sure are we its report would be favorable that we are perfectly willing to stake our future on it. while we do not claim that only good would come from woman suffrage, we do believe that among all the people of a community or of a nation there are more good men and women than there are bad men and women, and that when we unite the good men and good women they will be able to carry measures for the general welfare and we will have better laws and conditions. * * * * * at the hearing before the house judiciary committee, representative john j. jenkins, in the chair, expressed regret that george w. ray of new york, the chairman, was unavoidably absent and said: "he is very much in sympathy with what the ladies desire to say this morning--much more so than the present occupant of the chair." mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american suffrage association, who had charge of the hearing, said: "mr. chairman, we have just been holding an international woman suffrage conference in the city of washington, eight nations having sent official delegates from woman suffrage organizations, and several others have cooperated through correspondence, and we have invited representatives of these nations to come to you this morning and present some facts concerning the practical operation of suffrage in countries other than our own. our first speaker will be miss vida goldstein of australia." miss goldstein gave in substance the address which will be found in the report of the senate hearing, after which mrs. catt said: "although i have been a resident and taxpayer in four different states and able to qualify as a voter i have never been permitted any suffrage whatever. i now have the privilege of introducing a russian woman who has been a voter in her country ever since she was ." madame friedland said in part: mr. chairman and gentlemen of the committee: in a country like russia, with an absolute government, there is but little suffrage for either men or women but the little there is is equally shared by both. we do not, of course, vote for czars; neither do we vote for governors but the municipal officers are elected by the votes of the real estate owners regardless of sex. the woman, however, does not vote in person but transfers her vote to her husband, her son or her son-in-law and in case these are unable to vote for her she has the right to delegate her vote to an outsider. he simply has the proxy and votes as the woman dictates. russia, whose political institutions are the least liberal in europe, has the most liberal laws in regard to the civil capacity of her women. every woman, married or single, if she is of age, enjoys complete civil capacity. marriage does not in any way change the rights of husband and wife over the property they possess or may acquire. the husband has no legal right whatever over the property of his wife and she is by no means under his guardianship. this may account for the fact that we have less divorce than in many other countries. we have different laws for the different social classes. a nobleman will pay his taxes according to the law for the nobility, while his wife may be a commoner and have to pay hers according to the laws for the commoners, but both are taxpayers and consequently both are voters. it is quite a common thing to see a woman of the people, a peasant woman, take her place and often her husband's place, as he has a right to delegate his vote to her at elections, and she may also take it at county meetings and assemblies of every kind. lately the government of the peasantry have made an effort to deprive the women of the right to hold office but the senate has prevented them on the ground that if women share the hard struggle for existence with the men, as they do in our remote rural districts, they must also share the privileges. gentlemen, i hope i have your sympathy with the ideas practiced in my country for our women. mrs. catt said of her next speaker: "it is eminently proper that a woman of sweden should address you, where women have voted longer than anywhere else in the world." mrs. emmy evald. i stand before this legislative power of america representing a country where women have voted since the th century, sanctioned in by the king. the men gave suffrage to the women without their requesting it, because they believed that taxation without representation is tyranny. the taxpayer's vote is irrespective of sex. women vote for every office for which their brothers do and on the same terms, except for the first chamber of the riksdag. they have the municipal and school suffrage, votes for the provincial representatives and thus indirectly for members of the house of lords. women are admitted to the postal service on equal salaries with men. in the railway service, which is controlled by the government, women have ever since been employed in the controlling office and ticket department and in the telegraph and telephone service, which are owned by the government. in women were given the rights of inheritance and in the same year equal matrimonial rights. the colleges and universities are open to them and they receive degrees the same as men. all professions are open except the clerical. women teachers are pensioned equally with men. tax paying women have voted in church matters since . every woman is taxed in the lutheran church in america but has no vote and the women blame the americans because the clergy educated here imbibed the false spirit of liberty and justice. you can not trust the ballot into the hands of women teachers in the public schools but you give it to men who can not read or write. you can not trust the ballot to women who are controlling millions of money and helping support the country but you give it to loafers and vagabonds who know nothing, have nothing and represent nothing. you can not trust the ballot in the hands of women who are the wives and daughters of your heroes but you give it to those who are willing to sell it for a glass of beer and you trust it in the hands of anarchists. oh, men, let justice speak and may the public weal demand that this disfranchisement of the noble american women shall be stopped. mrs. catt then introduced to the committee miss isabel campbell, daughter of former governor campbell of wyoming, who in signed the bill which enfranchised the women of the territory; prof. theodosia ammons of the colorado university of agriculture and mrs. ida m. weaver, a resident of idaho. each gave a comprehensive report of the practical working of woman suffrage in her state; the large proportion of women who voted; their appointment on boards and election to offices; the result in improved polling places, better candidates and cleaner politics; higher pay for working women; the advantages to the community; the comradeship between men and women and the general satisfaction of the people with the experiment. their reports as a whole offered unimpeachable testimony in favor of the enfranchisement of women. mrs. florence fenwick miller in her address said: i have been asked to direct especially my attention to the position of women in england. i hope you, as members of a republic, will be ashamed to hear that the monarchy of england gives its women citizens a great many rights which you deny to yours, that we have had those rights for so many years that nobody talks about them. when i am asked to give you testimony as to the smooth working of the women's vote in all local affairs, i am at a loss to know what to say, because it runs along so easily and naturally, so like breathing the air in a thoroughly healthy state of the lungs, that there is absolutely nothing to be said. men and women vote on equal terms and the woman's vote is as much a matter of course as the man's. the local government of england is divided among a number of different bodies. we have the school boards, established in , which have managed the elementary education of the country, now compulsory and free. they spend very large sums of the taxpayers' money and for them every woman who pays taxes has a vote. any woman whom the electors choose is entitled to take a seat on them. there are at present not only hundreds of thousands of women voting for the school boards but there are women sitting as representatives upon those of england alone. i myself have for nine years been a member of the school board of london, sitting for one of the great divisions called hackney, which has , voters. my election committee was composed of men and women. men worked for me very hard indeed!... the next great local governing bodies are the boards of guardians of the poor. these bodies spend annually about $ , , , which they raise from the taxpayers, men and women. these are huge organizations. many of the workhouses contain over , persons; besides which, outside relief in money or food or medical aid is given. every woman who is a taxpayer can vote for a member of these boards. women are eligible to sit on them the same as men. there are nearly , women on the boards. women may vote for the municipalities, for the town councils. i can not offer you any illustration of how the women's vote has improved them for the simple reason that when those councils were instituted in the parliament of a monarchy was sufficiently large-minded to perceive that women ought to vote for them; that they have to pay their taxes and where a woman stands at the head of a household she is not only equally entitled to representation in regard to the spending of her money but also she is as much concerned with the work that the councils have to do as any man. this was so obviously just that women were given the right to vote on them and have exercised that right ever since.... the women vote as fully as the men do. we have district, parish and county councils, which have to a considerable extent the moral and the intellectual government of the cities under them, licensing of places of amusement, public parks, technical education for young people over school age and so on. the building of homes for the poor, the oversight of lunatic asylums and matters of that kind, they have under their authority. these were established in and the women who had voted so well for many years for school boards and town councils of course were given the right to vote for the new county councils. mrs. miller went fully into the work of women on borough and county councils and closed her valuable address by saying: "gentlemen, the work of women in english public life has not only been unattended with any mischief but has been a great force for service and benefit. surely american men can trust their sisters as our men have for the past generation trusted us, to their own as well as our advantage." in closing the hearing to which the committee gave the strictest attention, mrs. catt said in part: i have a favor to ask of this committee in an official capacity; it is something we have never asked before.... we have brought to you testimonials of the success of woman suffrage in operation throughout the world and i think that if any man among you were called to stand before a committee and give in five or ten minutes some proof of the favorable results of man suffrage, he would find it a very difficult thing to do. what i now ask in behalf of our association is that this committee will request the house of representatives to appoint a commission to investigate the results of woman suffrage in operation. this has never been done.... we ask you in the interest of fairness to see that this commission is appointed to investigate woman suffrage in exactly the same spirit it would use if it were investigating man suffrage in cuba. we ask you to chase down to its lair every single charge and objection that has been made and if when an honest commission has made an honest investigation you discover that woman suffrage has proved a good thing, if you find that it has proved as beneficial to women as man suffrage has proved to men, then we shall expect that another judiciary committee will give a favorable report and ask congress to submit a th amendment. and if you discover that it is not a good thing, then i promise you in behalf of our association that we will turn our guns into those states and see that it is made a good thing; for never so long as there are women who are educated, women who think for themselves, will they rest content until they have the only weapon that governments can give them for defending liberty and pursuit of happiness. we stand before you as citizens of the united states, qualified, intelligent, taxpaying women, who demand for ourselves the same right to make the government under which we live that has been given to men. no commission was appointed, no report was made by senate or house committee and there were no definite results of such appeals as never had been made by men for the franchise in this or any other country. footnotes: [ ] part of call: an international woman suffrage conference will be held in connection with this annual convention, to which suffrage associations of fourteen countries have been invited to send delegates. the principles which for a century have stood as the guarantee of political liberty to american men, "taxation without representation is tyranny," and "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," can no longer be claimed as belonging to the united states alone for they have been adopted by all civilized nations. the steadily increasing acceptance of the belief that self-government is the highest form of government has revolutionized the popular thought of the world within the last fifty years. during that period all newly established governments have been fashioned after the model of a republic; while in most european nations and their colonies the suffrage has been so largely extended that the mere skeleton of a monarchy remains. logical thinkers the world over have been led in consequence to ask: are not women equally capable with men of self-government? what necessary qualification fits men for the exercise of this sacred right which is not likewise possessed by women? are they less intelligent? the statistics of schools, colleges and educational bureaus answer "no." are they less moral, peaceful and law-abiding than men? the statistics of churches, police courts and penitentiaries answer "no." are they less public spirited and patriotic than men? the labors of millions of organized women in noble reforms, in helpful charities and wise philanthropies answer "no." ... an international woman suffrage conference for the exchange of greetings, reports and methods forms a natural milestone on the march of progress. all persons believing that the fundamental principles of self-government contained in the declaration of independence and the constitution of the united states apply to women as well as to men, are invited to visit the convention and to unite in welcome to our foreign guests. elizabeth cady stanton, } susan b. anthony, } honorary presidents. carrie chapman catt, president. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large. kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } cora smith eaton, } auditors. [ ] history of woman suffrage, volume i, page . [ ] "february could be appropriately marked on the calendar as woman's month at the national capital. for many years one or more national bodies of women have met in washington some time in february. this year an unusually large number are assembling. on february , the day before the national suffrage convention ends, the continental congress of the daughters of the american revolution will open to continue five days. the fourth triennial of the national council of women of the united states will begin on february and extend over the th. the national congress of mothers will convene february and be in session until the th." [ ] the following pioneer workers for woman suffrage were seated on the platform, their ages averaging more than years: mrs. virginia clay clopton, ala.; a. e. gridley, the hon. simon wolf, mrs. s. e. wall, mrs. olive logan, mrs. belva a. lockwood, dr. a. d. mayo, miss eliza titus ward, d. c.; mrs. mary b. trimble, ky.; mrs. caroline e. merrick, la.; mrs. helen coffin beedy, dr. abbie m. fulton, mrs. charlotte thomas, me.; mrs. harriet jackson, md.; mrs. william lloyd garrison, mass.; mrs. helen p. jenkins, mrs. emily b. ketcham, mich.; mrs. phoebe wright, n. j.; mrs. h. e. burger, miss mary anthony, mrs. elizabeth smith miller, n. y.; mrs. harriet b. stanton, o.; dr. jane v. meyers, mrs. g. m. s. p. jones, dr. agnes kemp, john k. wildman, dr. and mrs. c. newlin pierce, penn.; mrs. virginia d. young, s. c.; mrs. emmeline b. wells, utah; miss laura moore, vt.; mrs. m. h. grove, w. va. [ ] miss anthony had objected strongly to mrs. stanton's letter to the convention of criticising the church, and she did not approve of demanding an educational requirement for the suffrage when women would have to obtain it by consent of men of all classes. mrs. stanton's letter, therefore, was sent for mrs. colby to read, who was in sympathy with its sentiment. [ ] the charleston conference was held in the assembly room of the woman's building, welcomed by mayor smyth, mrs. s. c. simons, president of the women's department, and mrs. virginia d. young in behalf of the state press association. mrs. catt responded and later mr. blackwell made an address. among the speakers here and in german artillery hall was the hon. r. r. hemphill (s. c.), always a staunch advocate of woman suffrage. an afternoon reception was given by the woman's board. the _news and courier_ and other papers had long and excellent reports. the baltimore conference was held a few days later in the main auditorium of the central y. m. c. a. hall, with the rev. anna howard shaw presiding. it was welcomed by dr. e. o. janney of johns hopkins medical school, and the national speakers were miss laura clay, president of the kentucky equal rights association; dr. cora smith eaton, judge j. g. flenner of idaho; the rev. olympia brown, mrs. colby, miss gordon and mr. and miss blackwell. [ ] a washington paper said: "there were a good many men in the audience and they did not look much as they do in the comic papers. the suffragists' husbands in caricature are consumptive, cadaverous, insignificant mortals, trailing around in the wake of rambunctious and overwhelming wives; but most of the men who mixed themselves up with this convention looked as if they could not very easily have been dragged there if they had not wanted to come. some of them were six feet tall and broad in proportion and none of them looked as if they had been in the habit of asking their wives for permission to think. they did not act like cats in a strange garret either but as if they were having the time of their lives. no wonder; when a man does make up his mind to come out for woman suffrage he can depend upon it he is going to be appreciated." [ ] besides the women ministers mentioned in this chapter sessions were opened by the rev. ulysses g. b. pierce, the rev. john van schaick, jr., the rev. alexander kent and the rev. donald c. mcleod, all of washington. the excellent musical program was in charge of miss etta maddox of baltimore. she was a graduated lawyer but the courts of maryland had refused her permission to practice, as contrary to law. after the convention she was accompanied to baltimore by miss laura clay, mrs. j. ellen foster, an attorney of iowa; miss gail laughlin, a new york lawyer; dr. cora smith eaton and mr. blackwell. the judiciary committee of the state senate granted a hearing conducted by miss maddox. by the end of march both senate and house had passed a bill giving women the right to practice law. [ ] miss anthony, mrs. catt, mrs. upton and miss blackwell were made a committee to present the matter to president roosevelt. protests arose from all parts of the country and before they had time to call on him he declared himself opposed to "regulated vice." the dispatches of march announced that a general order signed by secretary root had gone from the war department to manila that no more "certificates" would be issued but that soldiers as well as women would be inspected and cases of disease would be sent to the hospital. chapter iii. the national american convention of . in the national american suffrage association for the second time took its annual convention to a southern state and held it in new orleans, march - , in athenaeum hall.[ ] the _woman's journal_ said: "to the northern delegates there was something almost magical in the sudden change from snowdrifts and nipping winds to balmy air and a temperature like june. the delicious climate of louisiana in spring has not been exaggerated and it seems wonderful to find roses in bloom in march, the wistaria vines in a cloud of purple blossom and the grass an emerald green.... the delegates were enthusiastic over the quaint houses surrounded by palms, bananas and great live oaks, a pleasing novelty to most of them." the hostess of the convention was the era club, the largest organization of women in the city, its title--era--cleverly concealing equal rights association. it was founded in ; miss kate gordon, the present secretary of the national association, was formerly its president and her sister, miss jean m. gordon, now filled that office. on the first afternoon the spacious and beautiful home of mrs. reuben bush, prominent in club and civic work, was opened for the club to entertain the officers, delegates and a large number of invited guests. sunday evening all were received informally in the charming home of misses kate, fanny and jean gordon. the excellent convention program was prepared by miss kate gordon. the first evening session was opened with prayer by the right reverend davis sessums, episcopal bishop of louisiana, who said in the course of it: "prosper, we beseech thee, the deliberations of this association whose representatives are here assembled and direct and rule their judgment and actions in all things to the furtherance of truth and justice, so that their work may be an abiding work and contribute to the growth of true religion and civilization, to the happiness of homes and to the advancement of thy kingdom." the _picayune_ thus described the occasion: "in the presence of a magnificent audience that packed the athenæum to its utmost capacity, the thirty-fifth annual convention of the national american woman suffrage association was formally opened last night, with the president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, in the chair. seldom perhaps in its history has the association received such a greeting, for the audience was not only deeply interested and sympathetic but it was representative of the finest culture in the city and state. distinguished jurists, physicians and teachers, staid men of business and leaders in many lines united with women of the highest social standing in giving the convention a hearty and earnest welcome. many were no doubt attracted by the memory of the former visits of miss susan b. anthony and mrs. carrie chapman catt and the remarkable personality of the pioneer suffrage workers, but whether they came from pure interest in these famous leaders or deep sympathy with the cause, all were generous in giving to both the credit and applause they justly deserved.... mayor paul capdeville, who was to welcome the convention, was ill and this was very acceptably done by "tom" richardson, secretary of the progressive union, an important commercial body of , members that had joined in the invitation for it to come to new orleans and contributed the rent of the athenæum. he expressed his pleasure at being associated with the suffragists of the city, "who had never neglected any opportunity to promote its best interests," and said: "no other class of our citizens have done it so much good." he was followed by the hon. edgar h. farrar, an eminent lawyer, author of the drainage and sewerage plan, who told of the valuable assistance of women in the strenuous fight against the state lottery ten years before and described the splendid work of the women since the constitutional convention of had given them taxpayers' suffrage. miss gordon read a poem of welcome by mrs. grace g. watts and gave the era club's welcome and then dr. anna howard shaw, who was presiding, introduced miss anthony to respond. the _picayune_ said in its report: seated upon the platform was miss susan b. anthony, the woman who for two-score years stood the brunt of ridicule, sarcasm and cartooning and never once was deterred from the course that she fully believed to be the just and true one. of the great leaders in this movement she alone remains.... spanning a distance of forty years stood at her side mrs. catt, the younger woman who has taken up the battle, and grouped around were earnest young girls and middle-aged women fired with her enthusiasm and looking up to her with a reverence that was very beautiful and a most gracious tribute from youth to old age. when miss jean gordon advanced to present her with a great cluster of maréchal neil roses and took her so sweetly by the hand and in the name of the young women of today and of the era club thanked her for the battles she had fought, the scene was most touching, representing as it did the two extremes of the suffrage workers, those of half-a-century ago and those of today. there was another there, a woman who has been very near to the hearts of new orleans people, who has never been aggressive in her advocacy of the cause but whose quiet approval, whose earnest sympathy, whose expenditure of time and money and whose high social standing gave to it a strength even in those early days that one of less ability and social position and more pronounced opposition could not have secured. mrs. caroline e. merrick, the pioneer suffragist of louisiana and the lifelong friend of miss anthony, came in for her share of the honors of the evening. with equal grace and tenderness miss gordon advanced to her and offered her too the fragrant expressions of more youthful workers. for a moment miss anthony and mrs. merrick stood together, and the audience, rising to its feet in a great wave of enthusiasm, waved handkerchiefs and fans in greeting. perhaps that precious hour of triumph, away down here in this old southern state, as she stands nearing the border land of another world, recompensed the great pioneer for much that she had borne when life was young and audiences, as she said, less sympathetic. mrs. merrick's remarks, also, touched a deep chord and roused the audience to a state of earnest sympathy. miss anthony told of her visit to new orleans in during the centennial exposition, when she was the guest of mrs. merrick, and spoke of mrs. eliza j. nicholson, owner and editor of the _picayune_, paying a tribute to her and to the gifted writer, "catharine cole," of its editorial staff, both now passed from earth. in dr. shaw's eloquent response to the greetings she said: "nothing has given me greater hope for women and has made me prouder of women than the splendid reserve power shown by southern womanhood for the last twenty-five years. when your hearthstones were left desolate and your bravest and strongest had gone forth never to come back, your women, who had been cared for as no other women ever were cared for, who were uneducated to toil, unacquainted with business requirements, averse to them by instinct and tradition--when they had to face the world they went out uncomplaining and worked with sublime heroism.... i am glad to come among you southern women and to say that you have been an inspiration to the women of the north and to whole world. the daughters of those women of twenty-five years ago are the ones who have made this splendid convention possible. over our country now there floats only one flag but that is a flag for women as well as men. if there are any men who ought to have faith in women and in their power to dare and do it is southern men, who owe so much to southern women." mrs. catt then gave her president's address of which an extended press notice said: "never was there a more masterly exposition of a theme, never a more earnest or cogent argument. a distinguished justice of the supreme court who was present remarked to the writer: 'i have heard many men but not one who can compare with mrs. catt in eloquence and logical power.' so the entire audience felt and at the close of her magnificent discourse she was the recipient of an ovation that came spontaneously from their hearts. the scene presented in the athenæum was indeed a remarkable one." the address was not written and no essential part of it can be reproduced from fragmentary newspaper reports. a discordant note in the harmony was struck by the _times-democrat_, which, in a long editorial, woman suffrage and the south, assailed the association because of its attitude on the race question. the board of officers immediately prepared a signed statement which said in part: the association as such has no view on this subject. like every other national association it is made up of persons of all shades of opinion on the race question and on all other questions except those relating to its particular object. the northern and western members hold the views on the race question that are customary in their sections; the southern members hold the views that are customary in the south. the doctrine of state's rights is recognized in the national body and each auxiliary state association arranges its own affairs in accordance with its own ideas and in harmony with the customs of its own section. individual members in addresses made outside of the national association are of course free to express their views on all sorts of extraneous questions but they speak for themselves as individuals and not for the association.... the national american woman suffrage association is seeking to do away with the requirement of a sex qualification for suffrage. what other qualifications shall be asked for it leaves to each state. the southern women most active in it have always in their own state emphasized the fact that granting suffrage to women who can read and write and who pay taxes would insure white supremacy without resorting to any methods of doubtful constitutionality. the louisiana association asks for the ballot for educated and taxpaying women only and its officers believe that in this lies "the only permanent and honorable solution of the race question." ... the suffrage associations of the northern and western states ask for the ballot for all women, though maine and several other states have lately asked for it with an educational or tax qualification. to advise southern women to beware of lending "sympathy or support" to the national association because its auxiliary societies in the northern states hold the usual views of northerners on the color question is as irrelevant as to advise them to beware of the national woman's christian temperance union because in the northern and western states it draws no color line; or to beware of the general federation of women's clubs because the state federations of the north and west do not draw it; or to beware of christianity because the churches in the north and west do not draw it.... the _times-democrat_ published this letter in full and endeavored by its press reports afterwards to atone for its blunder. it had been feared that trouble over this question would arise but no other paper referred to it. the _picayune_, _item_ and _states_ were most generous with space and complimentary in expression throughout the convention.[ ] the reports at the executive sessions were possibly of more interest to the delegates than the public addresses. miss gordon in her secretary's report spoke of the , or , letters which had been sent out since the last convention, many of them made necessary by the international conference of the preceding year, and of the ending of its proceedings. to the , newspapers on the list to receive the quarterly _progress_ the names of legislators in various states had been added, and to the latter leaflets attractively prepared by miss blackwell also were sent. she described the new suffrage postage stamp, a college girl in cap and gown holding a tablet inscribed: "in wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho women vote on the same terms as men," to offset the prevailing ignorance of this fact. resolutions endorsing woman suffrage had been secured from the national grange, the american federation of labor and a number of large labor unions. for the first time in the history of the national education association, three-fourths of whose members are women, a woman had been invited to address their annual convention and the one selected was the president of the national american suffrage association. mrs. catt was cordially received by them in july at minneapolis. four of the five morning sessions were given over completely to work conferences. the usual ones on organization and press were held with miss mary garrett hay and mrs. elnora babcock respectively presiding. the conference on enrollment gave way to one on literature, dr. mary d. hussey presiding, and a new one on legislation was added. a president's and a delegates' conference completed the list. the plan of work again presented by the executive committee emphasized the line of action adopted in the first year of mrs. catt's presidency and urged that the states endeavor to secure recommendations of their legislatures asking the submission of a th amendment; that special efforts be made to secure the appointment of a commission to investigate the working of full suffrage in states where it now exists; that correspondence be taken up vigorously with all members of congress giving them the arguments in favor of a federal amendment and of a commission on investigation; that the association aim to double its membership the coming year and that a catalogue of woman suffrage literature be prepared for libraries. only $ , in pledges were called for and $ , were quickly subscribed.[ ] the treasurer, mrs. harriet taylor upton, announced receipts during the year of $ , with a balance of $ , now in the treasury. "new york has always been the largest contributor and paid the largest auxiliary fee," she said, "and it never has any aid from the national treasury. its temper is always sweet and its methods always business-like but to be sure it has always been blessed by having one of its citizens as national president. this year, however, massachusetts has won the place at the head of the list." mrs. catt reported for the congressional committee that congress had entirely ignored the urgent appeals of last year for a committee to investigate the effects of woman suffrage in the equal franchise states. mrs. sallie clay bennett (ky.) made her usual strong plea for an effort to secure from congress federal suffrage or the right to vote for members of senate and house representatives. for many years mrs. bennett, as chairman of the committee, had appealed to the association for action but while it considered that the measure would be perfectly valid it believed it to be hopeless of attainment. [history of woman suffrage, volume iv, page .] mrs. elnora m. babcock (n. y.), chairman of the press committee, made a comprehensive report of the constantly increasing favorable comment of the newspapers. mrs. boyer, chairman for pennsylvania, had placed , suffrage articles and the chairmen of various other states had a proportionate record. miss blackwell gave as a recipe for finding favor with editors: "make your articles short; make them newsy; don't denounce the men." mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff (n. y.), chairman of the enrollment committee, reported a good start on the nation-wide enrollment of men and women who believe in woman suffrage. henry b. blackwell, chairman of the presidential suffrage committee, urged the southern women to petition their legislatures, seven of which would meet during the year, to give women the right to vote for presidential electors. "the choice of president and vice-president of the united states," he said, "is the most important form of suffrage exercised by an american citizen.... the king of england and the emperor of germany are practically possessed of no greater political power than our president during his official term," and he continued: here then is an open door to equal suffrage. once let the women of any state take their equal part in this great national election and their complete equality is assured. without change of state or federal constitution, without ratification by the individual voters, a simple majority of both houses of any legislature at any time in any state can confer upon women citizens this magnificent privilege, which will carry with it a certainty of speedy future concessions of all minor rights and privileges. it is amazing that no concerted effort has been made until recently to secure this right, so easily obtained and of so much transcendent importance. especially is it strange that in states where iron-bound constitutional restrictions forbid any exercise whatever of local or municipal woman suffrage and where the social conditions make an amendment of state constitution almost impossible, suffragists allow year after year to elapse without any effort to get the only practical thing possible, action by the state legislature conferring presidential suffrage on women. suffrage in school or municipal elections cannot give us a full and fair test of the value of equal suffrage or of woman's willingness to participate. suffrage in state elections cannot be had without amendment of state constitutions, always difficult and usually impossible of attainment in the face of organized opposition. why not then avail ourselves of this unique, this providential opportunity? among other committees reporting was that on church work, miss laura de merritte (me.) chairman, and her recommendations were adopted that the committee on national sunday school lessons be asked to prepare one each year on the rights and duties of women citizens; that ministers of all denominations be urged to preach one sermon each year on this topic; that all women's missionary societies be requested to make it a part of their regular program at their annual conventions and that a place be sought on the program of national conventions of the epworth league and christian endeavor societies to present the question of woman's enfranchisement. the valuable report of the committee on industrial problems relating to women and children by the chairman, mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.) said: "everyone can recall instances of discrimination against women by factories, business firms, school boards and municipalities, making it plain that women are at a disadvantage as non-voting members of the community. as a recent fact in regard to the government i would cite the order by postmaster-general payne that a woman employee must give up her position if she marries." the report continued: nearly all the appointments in the departments obtained last year by women were as printers' assistants at a small salary. not a woman has been selected by the pension office in six years. in twenty-seven women were chosen as typewriters and stenographers and men. the civil service commissioners are compelled by law to keep separate lists of men and women who have passed examinations and must certify to the appointing officers from either list as specified by the heads of the bureaus, so that it is quite possible for these to keep women out and fill the places with voters. commissioner w. d. foulke not long ago called the attention of the chiefs of bureaus to the fact that by taking from the men's list down to the lowest point of eligibility, while women who passed with a rank of and over were not chosen, the government was not getting the skilled labor to which it was entitled. the continued defeat of child labor protection laws in some of the southern states and the conditions of children working in the mines of pennsylvania, as shown in testimony before the coal strike commission, show the need of woman's help in shaping social economics and her powerlessness without the ballot.... how can we get hold of the wage-earning women in mass and convince them that from their own selfish and personal standpoint, if from no other, they should join the ranks of those that are working for the ballot? talented speakers from the ranks of wage-earners have thrilled audiences with their impetuous oratory but there has been no general rally of working women to secure the ballot for themselves.... how can we stimulate in women of wealth and opportunity, whose influence would be invaluable and whose support might give the movement the financial backing it needs, a consciousness of the solidarity of human interests, so they will see that from an impersonal, unselfish standpoint, if they have no personal need, they are under the most commanding obligation to add their strength to ours to make better conditions for working women? we might despair of reaching either the overworked, underpaid and unresponsive wage-earner, or the indifferent, irresponsible and almost inaccessible woman of fortune, were it not that all along the social line we are linked by one common possession, our womanhood, which, when awakened, is the divine motherhood and it is to this we must appeal. miss anthony presided at the friday evening public meeting, which was opened with prayer by the rev. gilbert dobbs, who said: "we invoke thy divine blessing, o god, upon this assembly and we rejoice that thou hast always opened the way for thy consecrated servants--women--to do well from the time of miriam and of deborah to the present. while not often has the call been to women to don armor and press on to battle, yet it may be that thou hast reserved them for the battle of ballots, in which they can secure victory for all moral good and aid in the overthrow of every organized vice and infamy, so that there shall be a higher type of public morals and nobler methods of government." mrs. bennett spoke in her humorous and inimitable way on the authority of women to preach the gospel of christ in public places. mrs. rachel foster avery (penn.) under the title what's in a name? told of the efforts that were being made by the conservative women of philadelphia to reform municipal conditions through civic betterment clubs, not by the ballot in the hands of women but through the men voters. "yet, after all," she said, "are not these clubs doing good work for woman suffrage under another name? for as these earnest but conservative women find themselves in contact with life at so many new points they are getting so used to all the things which go to make up that awful bugaboo, 'politics,' that they will soon begin to realize that politics affects for good or evil all the things which touch the daily lives of every one of them. after awhile, perhaps sooner than most of us think, they will join the ranks of the wiser women who are now suffragists and who know that they want the vote and why they want it." miss frances griffin (ala.) kept the audience in a gale of laughter from the first to the last of her speech, which began: "my address is put down on the program as 'a song or a sermon.' it is going to be neither, i have changed my mind. mrs. catt's address last night furnished argument enough to lie three feet deep all over louisiana for three years." the talented young lawyer, miss gail laughlin (me.), gave an address entitled the open door, during which she said: suffrage is not the ultimate end but it is the golden door of opportunity. through the open door of suffrage the mother may follow her child and still guard him after he passes the threshold of home, and through it she can extend a helping hand to mothers whose children toil in the mills of alabama, the factories of the eastern states and the sweat-shops of new york. through this door the protected women of the world may go out to bind up the wounds of those who have fallen in the battle of life.... the old-fashioned chinese man thought his wife was not beautiful unless she had little feet on which she could not walk. some of the young chinese are learning that it is pleasanter for a man to have a wife who can walk by his side. formerly men thought it desirable that a woman's mind should be cramped. the modern man is beginning to find that it is more satisfactory to have for a wife a woman whose mind can keep pace with his.... it is more womanly and dignified for women to sit in legislative halls than to stand around the lobbies.... this exclusion of woman from the government today is a relic of the dark ages when they were regarded as appendages to men and it was even doubted if they had a soul. men and women must rise or fall together and travel the pathway of life side by side. we shall not attain to the heights of freedom unless we have free mothers as well as free fathers, free daughters as well as free sons. one of the notable addresses of the convention was that of the eminent physician, dr. henry dixon bruns--a lifelong advocate of woman suffrage--on liberty, male and female, a part of which was as follows: i can conceive of but one watchword for a free people. it is written between the lines of our own constitution and underlies the institutions of every liberal government: "equal rights and opportunities for all; special privileges to none," understanding by this that the government shall protect all in the enjoyment of their natural rights--life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness--and that all who measure up to a certain standard shall have a voice in shaping the policy and choosing the agents of the government under which they live. i can imagine none better than that now accepted by a majority, i believe, of the american people, namely, evidence of intelligence and the possession of a certain degree of education and of character evidenced by the acquirement of a modicum of property and the payment of a minimum tax. it was for regulation of the full suffrage in this manner that i contended in our constitutional convention of , to wit: the admission to the franchise of all women possessing these qualifications. i still believe that this would have afforded the best solution of our peculiar difficulties and have spared us the un-american subterfuge of "mother tongue" and "grandfather" clause. if a vote could have been taken immediately after the notable address made by your distinguished president before the convention, i feel confident that women would have been admitted to the suffrage in this state.... keep ever in your mind that the professional politician is your implacable enemy. to him an election is not a process for ascertaining the will of the majority but a battle to be won by any strategy whose maneuvers do not end within the walls of a penitentiary. he knows that yours would be an uninfluenceable vote, that you do not loaf on street corners or spend your time in barrooms and he could not "get at" you; therefore he will never consent to your enfranchisement until compelled by the gathering force of public opinion; then, as usual, he will probably undergo a sudden change of heart and be found in the forefront of your line of battle.... do not rely upon wise and eloquent appeals to legislatures and conventions. it is in the campaigns for the election of the legislative bodies that you should marshal your forces and use to the full the all-sufficient influence with which your antagonists credit you. secure the election of men who do not give up to party all that was meant for mankind and your pleas are not so likely to be heard in vain. the nomination and election of officers, both by secret ballot, were almost unanimous and no change was made. a cordial letter was received from miss clara barton. fraternal greetings from the baltimore yearly meeting of friends (quakers) were given by mrs. mary bentley thomas (md.); from the supreme hive of the ladies of the maccabees, the largest business organization of women in the world, by mrs. emma s. olds, (o.); and from the central socialist club of indiana. the report from the friends' equal rights association, an affiliated society, was made by its president, mrs. mariana w. chapman (n. y.). in the report for new york by its president, mrs. ella hawley crosset, she called attention to the completion of the fourth volume of the history of woman suffrage by miss anthony and mrs. ida husted harper. during the convention word was received that the territorial legislature of arizona had given full suffrage to women but before they had time to rejoice a second telegram announced that the governor had vetoed it! the resolutions presented by mr. blackwell, chairman of the committee, and adopted, rejoiced over the extension of national suffrage to all the women of the newly federated australian states; noted the granting to kansas women of the right to vote on issuing bonds for public improvement and of an equal guardianship law in massachusetts; protested against "the recent action of the cincinnati board of health in introducing without legal warrant the european system of sanctioning the social evil ... the object of a strong and growing opposition wherever it prevails and favored the settlement of all national and international controversies by arbitration and disapproved of war as a relic of barbarism." mrs. may wright sewall (ind.), president of the international council of women, who had come to new orleans to attend the executive meeting of the national council of the united states, as chairman of the international committee on peace and arbitration, spoke earnestly in favor of this resolution. miss nettie lovisa white (d. c.) was appointed a delegate to represent the association at the council meeting. the saturday evening public session, with mrs. catt presiding, was opened with prayer by the rev. r. wilkinson, in which he said: "almighty god, thou hast always been pleased with consecration. we pray thee to look down upon these people gathered here--the women whose lives have been devoted to a great cause. send forth thy light so that they may achieve still more for thee. in this work, men and women, animated with a noble purpose, are combining their forces to bring about the reign of righteousness and when that comes it will take all that both can do to eradicate the great evils which men have already wrought.... god bless this organization and may the realization of its hopes be not far off! god bless the women engaged in this work! god knows that if this city has in any way been lifted up, it has been through the efforts of noble women. god bless them! we want to feel that men and women are actuated by righteousness and are working together to bring about its social and political regeneration." dr. cora smith eaton (minn.) thus began her address, westward ho: "the geologists tell us that louisiana and her sister state mississippi are built up of the particles of earth brought down by the great river through the mississippi valley," and after a picturesque description she said: "coming from the source of this river, travelling , miles to its mouth, i find myself still on my native soil and i feel at home; so all who have joined me on the way down the valley claim kinship with you of new orleans." she then paid tribute to the state and its people and closed: "o, men of the south, your saviour is the southern woman! put into her hand the ballot of full enfranchisement, like that you carry in your own hand on election day. her interests are identical with your own and she will hold your ideals sacred even more loyally than you do yourselves." mr. blackwell gave one of his customary logical and carefully reasoned addresses on domestic imperialism. the rev. marie jenney (iowa) discussed the question why women do not vote. she compared them to some wild ducks that were born in a farmyard and as they were stepping timidly about the farmer said: "them ducks can fly, they can fly miles, but they don't know it." "one reason why women do not vote," she said, "is the entire self-effacement of many, and another is the kindness of many men. these are lovely traits but they may be misapplied. women sometimes efface themselves to an extent that is bad for their men as well as themselves, and men out of mistaken kindness shield their women from responsibilities that it would be better for them to have." mrs. virginia d. young (s. c.), owner, manager and editor of a weekly paper in fairfax, announced her speech from the most conservative state, but she did not say, as she might have done, that she had leavened the state with woman suffrage sentiment. her address was bubbling over with the humor which seems inherent with southern women. the sunday services were held at o'clock in the athenæum, which was crowded. the rev. anna howard shaw gave the sermon from the text: "hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." the rev. kate hughes and the rev. marie jenney assisted in the services. that morning the latter had preached in the unitarian church and mr. and miss blackwell had spoken in the handsome temple sinai to a cultured jewish audience by invitation of rabbi max heller. a fine musical service was arranged by cantor julius braunfels. the next day they received from the council of jewish women a large bouquet of bride roses and red carnations. miss blackwell spoke on a righteous reform and mr. blackwell on a modern deborah. he paid a splendid tribute to the jewish race and declared that "the hebrew history as recorded in the old testament has been the principal source of our nobler conception of woman's nature and destiny." he spoke of the prophetess miriam, of the daughters of zelophehad, described the great work of deborah and said: "if, therefore, divine providence, for the guidance of mankind, selected a married woman to be the supreme judge, the supreme executive, the commander-in-chief of the army; to lead the chosen people in war and peace, to rescue the nation from enslavement and to rule over it in peace and prosperity for forty years, may we not hope that he will raise up in your race modern deborahs to cooperate with the men of their race in the redemption of american democracy from political corruption and misrule?" the interest did not diminish during the eight evening sessions. in his invocation monday night the rev. wallace t. palmer said: "o lord, we account it a high honor and privilege to take part in this grand work.... may those who are to speak tonight speak for thy glory and honor."[ ] dr. shaw presided monday and thus introduced the first speaker: "mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of chicago is an attorney and the wife of an attorney. the sign on the door is 'mcculloch and mcculloch.' my interest in the firm dates from the time when i performed the ceremony that united them for life." mrs. mcculloch began her address on woman's privileges by saying: "one of the principal reasons why women do not obtain the ballot is because there is rooted in the popular mind the notion that now the laws in all respects are so favorable to women and grant them such great privileges that they would gain nothing more by a vote but instead might lose these privileges. a careful investigation of laws relating to women's property, earnings, rights of action, eligibility to paying positions, selection of family home, guardianship of children and many others where women's interests are involved shows that these so-called privileges usually give women less than men enjoy in the same states and that the vote in their own hands is the only assurance of equal privilege." after referring to the laws in other states mrs. mcculloch made a thorough analysis of those relating to women in louisiana, showing them to be archaic and unjust and wholly without special privileges. the address of m. j. sanders, president of the progressive union, was enthusiastically received as representing the best thought of advanced southern men. he said in beginning: "i believe my own state of mind on the woman suffrage question when i attended your first public meeting last thursday evening represented fairly the average male opinion in this city--one of moderate ignorance and considerable indifference. since listening to the addresses here i have had my ignorance largely dispelled and my indifference dissipated, i hope forever. it has been my lot to attend meetings all over the country but never in my life have i heard such eloquence, such logic and such glorious oratory as in this hall during this convention. a cause that can bring forth such talent and devotion must have in it a great truth.... i have come now to see that the franchise is not an end but a means to an end; that the object of these women is not merely to escape injustice done to themselves but to be able to take part in the great work of reform which is calling for the best energies of the nation. i have seen sufficient of the women who are working in this fight for suffrage to believe that hand-in-hand with earnest men, as co-workers and equals, in no way subordinate, they can furnish brains and power to remove a vast load of the iniquities and inequalities of life and even in our generation lift this country to a plane of civilization wherein the masses shall have a chance for happiness and freedom." in explaining the absence of dr. julia holmes smith of chicago dr. shaw said: "she is detained because of illness of her husband and like a good wife she puts him first and the convention second." mrs. charlotte perkins gilman (n. y.) spoke on the duties of today, outlining her address by saying: "the strongest feeling of most women is the sense of duty. the reason they do not see the practicability and immediate need of suffrage is because they do not see the duty of it. there is a gradual development of the sense of duty. the first duty that we recognize is that of self-preservation--our duty to ourselves. then comes duty to our own, to our family, to those dear to us, before which duty to self must and does go down unfailingly. these two duties to one's self and to one's family are the foundation but they are the beginning of life, not the end of it. next comes social duty.... in america we rank high in personal and family virtues but not in public virtues. our great need is for the deep and broad civic virtues...." an interesting symposium took place one afternoon on the need of women in municipal politics, with the following speakers: mrs. marie louise graham (la.), city politics is but a broader housekeeping; mrs. carrie e. kent (d. c.), the home--the ballot the only weapon for its defence; the rev. kate hughes (ill.), justice dictates, expediency confirms; dr. sarah m. siewers (o.), men's and women's votes the only true basis of reform; miss laura e. gregg (kans.), the stepping stone to a yet untried system of government; mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg (penn.), municipal corruption under the present system a national disgrace. each topic was treated in a keen, incisive manner. miss gregg described the practical benefit that the women's municipal vote had been to kansas. dr. siewers gave a dramatic illustration of the need of women's votes in her own city of cincinnati, which applied with equal force to all cities. mrs. blankenburg emphasized all that had been said by an account of conditions in philadelphia, saying: franchises worth millions of dollars are given away to the faithful. contracts are let to those who will divide with high officials; they are granted to the highest "responsive" and not to the lowest "responsible" bidder. merchants of vice are licensed and protected. the police are ordered to be blind when they should see keenest. nearly every office has its price. even school teachers are blackmailed and forced to pay for their appointment and civil service fades before political influence. the assessors' lists are padded by tens of thousands of dollars and majorities are returned to keep the "machine" and the party it represents in power, regardless of the actual vote cast.... the cry of the reformer is, "we must waken the better element to save our cities. we must make honesty and morality the supreme question in our politics." who represents these if not women?... let us for the moment think of a great city where the mothers have a voice in the laws which are designed to protect the children and the interests of the home. imagine the burdens of city housekeeping being shared with the women who by training are expert housekeepers. picture a council meeting composed of fathers and mothers discussing ordinances to promote honesty and virtue, prevent vice and extinguish corruption. when this time comes, we shall have less municipal depravity and shall prove to the world that our experiment in democracy is not a failure. dr. augusta stowe-gullen, a prominent physician of toronto and an early suffragist, who had come as a fraternal delegate from the canadian association, spoke of the excellent results of the school and municipal vote in the hands of women. "we have better officials," she said, "and therefore less dishonesty but the greatest gain has been in the educative and broadening effect on women and men. the polls, which used to be even in old stables, are now in the school houses and the general tone of elections has been improved." later dr. stowe-gullen gave a long and thoughtful address at an evening session on the evolution of government. the memorial service on march was opened with prayer by the rev. marie jenney and the singing of "the lord is my shepherd," by miss gordon. mrs. catt, who presided, paid eloquent tribute to those who had died during the year, among them mrs. esther morris, to whom the women of wyoming were principally indebted for the suffrage in ; to the hon. thomas b. reed of maine, one of the most distinguished speakers of the lower house of congress and always a staunch supporter of woman suffrage; to madame sophie levovna friedland, delegate from russia to the international woman suffrage conference the preceding year, who died soon after returning home; to dr. hannah longshore, the first woman physician in philadelphia, and told of the bitter opposition she had to overcome, adding: "she gave to the pennsylvania association its splendid president, her daughter, mrs. blankenburg." mrs. catt spoke also of mrs. cornelia collins hussey of new jersey and her boundless generosity, saying: "often and often she sent a hundred dollars to our treasury with a note: 'i have just sold a piece of real estate and i want to give a part of the proceeds to the suffrage cause.'" miss blackwell added to the tribute: "a quiet woman of quaker blood, never seeking office or prominence, she came to the relief of our distressed officers on innumerable occasions. she once told me that there were many who could write and speak for equal suffrage but that the lord seemed to have given her only one talent, that of making money, and she meant to use it for the cause.... she was a great believer in preaching the gospel of reform through the printed page and she and her daughter, dr. mary d. hussey, who was like-minded with her, have sent out probably more equal suffrage literature than any other two women in the united states. she placed the _woman's journal_ in a great number of college reading-rooms and sent it far and wide. during the thirty-three years that the paper has been published--and published always at a financial loss--she has been one of its most steadfast and generous friends."[ ] "the palm of victory has come this year to elizabeth cady stanton," said mrs. catt, "but though she has gone it is still our privilege to have her friend and co-worker, susan b. anthony, and i echo the prayer of every heart that she may be here till all women are enfranchised." miss anthony was most affectionately greeted and said: "i feel indeed as if a part of my life had gone. mrs. stanton always said that when the parting came she wanted me to go first, so that she might write my eulogy. i am not a 'word-artist,' as she was, and i can not give hers in fitting terms." she read from the last volume of the history of woman suffrage extracts from her great speeches and related a number of instances showing her characteristics. dr. shaw then began a eulogy, which can only be marred in quoting from memory, by saying: "mrs. stanton, miss anthony and lucy stone held up the standard of truth and when they were urged to lower it in order to suit the ideas of the world they answered: 'we will not lower our standard to the level of your world; bring the world up to the standard.' ... i shall always be thankful that i lived in the present age and knew these women who never quailed in the face of danger. the side of mrs. stanton that i like best to think of is her home life, her family affections and her friendships. i was once a guest for several days in the same house with her and other leaders and she was so vivacious, so fresh, so full of joy of life that it was delightful to be with her. she was so witty that no one wanted to leave the room a minute for fear of losing something she might say. i used to love to see her after she took a nap; though so advanced in years she would always awaken with a look of wonder and pleasure like a child just gazing out upon life."[ ] tributes also were paid to mrs. alice freeman palmer of massachusetts; mrs. thomas m. patterson of colorado; the hon. albert h. horton of kansas; mrs. addie m. johnson of missouri; miss anna c. mott of ohio; the hon. lester h. humphrey and mrs. hannah l. howland of new york; dr. marie zakrzewska of massachusetts and other workers in the cause. mrs. gilman closed the services by reading her beautiful memorial poem, in honor, written for the occasion. a unique feature of the convention which lightened its serious tone was dr. shaw's "question box," into which any one might drop a question and at intervals she would take them out and answer them on the spur of the moment to the delight of her audience. "if women voted," was one of them, "would they not have to sit on juries?" "many women would be glad of a chance to sit on anything," she answered with a smile. "there are women who stand up and wash six days in the week at cents a day who would like to take a vacation and sit on a jury at $ . . some women would like to sit on a jury at the trial of the sharks that live by corrupting boys and girls. it would be easier for a woman to sit on a jury and send to the penitentiary the men who are trying to ruin her boy than to be always watching the boy." another question was: "have not men a better right to the suffrage because they have to support the family?" she answered: "it is fallacy to say that the men support the women. the men by their industry provide the raw material and the women by their industry turn it into clothing and nourishment. when my father sent home a barrel of flour my mother did not lead us eight youngsters up to that barrel of raw flour at mealtime and say, 'children, here is your dinner.' when he bought a bolt of cloth she did not take that bolt of cloth and wind it around us and say, 'children, here are the clothes your father has sent you.' the woman has always done her full share of supporting the family. in the south under the old régime she bore more than an equal part of the care, for the planter could hire an overseer for the plantation work but the wife could not hire one for the work of the house." notwithstanding the utmost care and tact on the part of those who had the convention in charge the "color question" kept cropping out. finally dr. shaw said: "here is a query that has been dropped in the box again and again and now i am asked if i am afraid to answer it: 'will not woman suffrage make the black woman the political equal of the white woman and does not political equality mean social equality?' if it does then the men by keeping both white and black women disfranchised have already established social equality!" the question was not asked again. one of the able addresses during the convention was that of mrs. hala hammond butt, president of the mississippi suffrage association, entitled, restricted suffrage from a southern point of view. after referring to the man's all-mastering desire for liberty from the early history of the race the speaker said: "did women not share with men this craving for freedom, then would they justly be reckoned as unnatural and unworthy members of the human family, but the same red blood pulses in our veins as in yours, fathers, sons, brothers; we are alive to the same impulses, our souls are kindled by the same aspirations as are yours. why should this, our ambition, be held in leash by the same bond that holds the ignorant, the illiterate, the vicious, the irresponsible in the human economy? what does the idea of government imply? the crystallized sentiments of an intelligent people? then do we meet it with but half a truth." the speaker denounced with much severity the th and th amendments and said that by the restrictive educational qualifications now so generally adopted in the southern states the spirit of the amendments had been practically set at naught. "it was born of the instinct of self-preservation," she said, but she deplored the political crimes it made possible and continued: "there is an undercurrent of thought that recognizes in its true proportions the value of an educated suffrage to the south, a restriction based not upon color, race or previous condition of servitude, not upon sex, not upon the question of taxable property, but its sole requirement is the ability to perform worthily the functions of citizenship. this is the only honorable solution of those questions that are vexing not only the body political but the body social of this southern country." mrs. butt's speech was one of a symposium on the question: would an educational qualification for all voters tend to the growth of civilization and facilitate good government? mrs. hackstaff discussed the relation which government bears to civilization, saying: "the government which will increase social and individual development most is the best. progress depends on whether the government will give the opportunity for such development. the one that serves the people best is the one that strengthens them by letting them take part in it." mrs. eleanor c. stockman (iowa) spoke strongly on suffrage a human right, not a privilege; mrs. clara b. arthur (mich.) on a disfranchised class a menace to self government; mrs. mary wood swift (calif.) on abolishment of illiteracy, its ultimate influence. after calling attention to "the mass of ignorant immigrants who almost go from the steerage to the polls"; to the enfranchisement of the half-civilized indian; to that of paupers, delinquents and defectives, she said: all this great mass of ignorance goes into the electoral hopper and the marvel is that no worse quality of grist is turned out. it is true that the chief political schemers are by no means illiterate but it is upon illiteracy in the mass that they must depend to carry out their plans. an ignorant voter may be an honest one but unless he is intelligent enough to study public questions for himself he is an easy prey for the political sharper. it is beyond the power of the pen to portray what a magnificent government would be possible with an educated electorate. the idea can be approximated only when we consider how much we have been able to accomplish even with all the inefficiency, vice and ignorance which are permitted to express their will at the polls. it is because we have a noble ideal for the future of our government that we make our demand for woman suffrage. we point to the official statistics for proof that there are more white women in the united states than colored men and women together; that there are more american-born women than foreign-born men and women combined; that women form only one-eleventh of the criminals in the jails and penitentiaries; that they compose more than two-thirds of the church membership, and that the percentage of illiteracy is very much less among women than among men. therefore we urge that this large proportion of patriotism, temperance, morality, religion and intelligence may be allowed to impress itself upon the government through the medium of the ballot-box. mrs. ida porter boyer substituted for her own address on universal suffrage a pretence a paper sent by rudolph blankenburg, one of philadelphia's most distinguished citizens, entitled: not sex but intelligence, in which he said: that universal suffrage--an arrant misnomer--has fallen short of its well-meant original purpose is beyond dispute. we see its baneful effect in municipal, state and national government. the unparalleled political corruption in most of our large cities, the narrowness of public men in state and nation, whose horizon is bounded by the limits of their home districts or their own sordid purposes, regardless of public interests, find their culmination in the highest legislative body of our land. they crowd seats of mental giants and honored statesmen of former days with golden pigmies or political highwaymen of recent growth and can be directly traced to our defective franchise system. it permits the vote of the intelligent, law-abiding, industrious and public-spirited to be overcome by that of the ignorant, vicious, purchasable, lazy and indifferent. the ranks of the latter are largely reinforced by the "stay-at-homes," who are a permanent menace to good government.... thinking people agree that some qualification should be exacted from all voters. the absurdity of the intelligent, tax paying but disfranchised woman being governed by the vote of the illiterate, shiftless loafer or pauper would be laughable were it not so serious. an educational qualification should be a paramount requisite.... mr. blankenburg gave statistics of the illiterates in the united states and said: "an educational qualification, wisely considered, would within a few years entirely obliterate the whole mass of this species of undesirable voters. the right of suffrage can not and should not be taken from those who at present legally enjoy it. all women of legal age with the proposed educational requirements should be enfranchised without delay but laws should be enacted demanding that all citizens, men and women alike, presenting themselves to cast their ballot after must be able to read and write. if the women suffragists will base their claim to vote upon the broad ground of good government and not demand suffrage for the ignorant woman because it is exercised by the ignorant man, they will make ten friends where they now have one." the audience had the northern and the southern point of view on educated suffrage. mrs. gilman, who spoke on whether it would serve the best interests of the laboring classes, was alone in objecting to it. "will exclusion from the suffrage educate and improve the illiterate masses more quickly than the use of it?" she asked. "we shall educate them sooner if we dread their votes and this is our work in common." a great deal of sentiment was developed in favor of an educational requirement for the suffrage and an informal rising vote showed only five opposed, but most of the officers were absent. this vote was due largely to the southern delegates and to the arguments which had been made for its necessity in this section of the country. the policy of the association had always been and continued to be to ask and work only for the removal of the sex qualification. one of the most popular speakers was mrs. elizabeth m. gilmer, known far and wide as "dorothy dix," whose home was in new orleans. her address, quaintly entitled the woman with the broom, filled more than four columns of the _woman's journal_ and an adequate idea of its wise philosophy illuminated with the sparkling wit for which she was renowned cannot be conveyed by quotations. "a few years ago," she said, "a famous poet roused the compassion of the world by portraying the tragedy of hopeless toil by the man with the hoe. he might have found nearer home a better illustration of the work that is never done, that has no inspiration to lighten it and looks for no appreciation to glorify it, in the woman with a broom." "she is understudy to a perpetual motion machine," was one of her epigrams. she referred to the many successful business and professional women at the convention and said: but i am not here to speak for the wage-earning woman, she can speak for herself. my plea is not for justice for her but for the domestic woman--the woman who is the mainstay of the world, who is back of every great enterprise and who makes possible the achievements of men--the woman behind the broom, who is the hardest-worked and worst-paid laborer on the face of the earth.... of the housekeeper we demand a universal genius. we don't expect that our doctor shall be a good lawyer or our lawyer understand medicine; we don't expect a preacher to know about stocks or a stockbroker to have a soul; but we think the woman who is at the head of a family is a rank failure unless she is a pretty good doctor and trained nurse and dressmaker and financier. she must be able to settle disputes among the children with the inflexible impartiality of a supreme justice; she must be a spurgeon in expounding the bible to simple souls and leading them to heaven; she must be a greater surgeon than dr. lorenz, for she must know how to kiss a hurt and make it well; she must be a russell sage in petticoats, who can make $ do the work of $ , and when she gets through combining all of these nerve-wrecking professions we don't think that she has done a thing but enjoy herself. it is only when something happens to the housekeeper we realize that she is the kingpin who holds the universe together. "every injustice is the prolific mother of wrongs," said mrs. gilmer, "and the fact that the woman with the broom is neither sufficiently appreciated nor decently paid brings its own train of evils. it is at the bottom of the distaste girls have for domestic pursuits and the frantic mania of women for seeking some kind of a 'career.'" she thus concluded: always, always it is the frantic cry for financial independence, the demand of the worker for her wage; the futile, bitter protest of the woman with the broom against the injustice of taking her work without pay. men will say that in supporting their wives, in furnishing them with houses and food and clothes, they are giving the women as much money as they could ever hope to earn by any other profession. i grant it; but between the independent wage-earner and the one who is given his keep for his services is the difference between the free-born and the chattel.... the present state of affairs brings about a disastrous condition in the woman's world of labor, so that the woman wage-earner must not only compete with the man worker but with the domestic woman who has her home and clothes supplied her and who does things on the side in order to get a little money that she may spend as she pleases.... when men grow just enough to abandon the idea that keeping house and doing the family sewing and rearing children is a "snap" and not a profession; when they grow broad enough to realize that the woman with the broom is a laborer just as much worthy of her hire as a typewriter, we shall have fewer women yearning to go out into the world and earn a few dollars of spending money. edwin merrick, the son of a chief justice of louisiana and mrs. caroline e. merrick, its pioneer suffragist, began his address on a political anomaly by referring to the distinguished women he had been privileged to meet in his home. he spoke of the constitution drawn up on the mayflower to give equal liberty to all without the slightest conception of what true liberty really meant, and of the larger conception of it which was imbedded in the declaration of independence and the constitution of the united states. "but," he said, "while the words were there, slavery still existed and the people of the union were slowly led to see the handwriting on the wall and slavery had to go. had the great leader of his day, abraham lincoln, been preserved to help shape the destinies of this country, what followed would not have happened." he then spoke of the crime of enfranchising "a horde of ignorant negro men when at that time there were nearly , , intelligent white women keenly alive to the interests of their country to whom the ballot was denied." he sketched the steady degeneration of national and state politics and exposed the conditions in louisiana. he showed how the reforms that had been accomplished had been largely aided by women and concluded: if we concede that women have any moral strength, and it has been conceded from the time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, i now ask the question: is there any one place in the universe where moral strength and moral character are more needed than in modern politics under a republican form of government? in some of our western states we have already seen what the women can do and the day will come when they will vote with us just as they read with us, talk with us, ride with us and consult with us. the most important object of our government is education. the most important part of education is the education of the young. the most important factor in education of the young is woman's influence, and when it comes to saying who shall decide upon the proper laws for the education of children, the women of louisiana or the intelligent wiseacres who have in this state emasculated civil service, massacred the australian ballot and assaulted with intent to kill each and every measure which looks to the improvement of the state, we give our answer in no uncertain terms. miss mary n. chase, president of the new hampshire suffrage association, made an earnest plea for the enfranchisement of women, "the natural guardians and protectors of the home. it will strengthen their minds and broaden their intellects and render them more fit for its government," she said, "and until women join with men in exercising the sacred right of the franchise we cannot hope for the dawn of the kingdom of god on the earth." a letter was read from mrs. harriot stanton blatch urging that for a year the organization should be used nationally and locally to pursue and punish political corruption. "the women in our association," she said, "are trained to political action; we have had long experience in self-control; defeat has taught us its lessons of poise; devotion to a great principle has given us a faith almost religious in its optimism." the men were taking no concerted action to protect the republic against this menace, she thought, and the task seemed to be left to the women. the formal address of dr. shaw on the modern democratic ideal made a profound impression but no record of it exists except in newspaper clippings. she began by saying: "it is impossible to discuss the woman question without discussing also the man question. what is fundamental to one is fundamental to the other. it is argued by some that on account of the difference in characteristics between men and women it is the man who ought to govern. they are mistaken. it is now recognized that the best and noblest men and women are those in whom the different characteristics of each sex are most harmoniously blended. the modern democratic ideal illustrates this fact. it is greatly different from the ancient democratic ideal, as neither plato nor aristotle nor dante had a place in their ideals for the common people, but when the french revolution startled the world with the idea of human rights, of natural rights common to all, there sprang into life the conception of the same ideal among the men of our own country." dr. shaw traced the progress of democratic ideals in this country from the early days of the republic when property and not manhood constituted the prerequisite for representation. she spoke in glowing terms of the pure democracy of thomas jefferson, who extended its privileges to the great masses of the people. "this ideal has been growing," she said, "it will never stop growing, developing, widening and changing and it must ultimately extend to women citizens the same rights in the government that men have. this is the th century idea of democracy." the address of miss belle kearney, mississippi's famous orator, was a leading feature of the last evening's program--the south and woman suffrage. it began with a comprehensive review of the part the south had had in the development of the nation from its earliest days. "during the seventy-one years reaching from washington's administration to that of lincoln," she said, "the united states was practically under the domination of southern thought and leadership." she showed the record southern leaders had made in the wars; she traced the progress of slavery, which began alike in the north and south but proved unnecessary in the former, and told of the enormous struggle for white supremacy which had been placed on the south by the enfranchisement of the negro. "the present suffrage laws in the southern states are only temporary measures for protection," she said. "the enfranchisement of women will have to be effected and an educational and property qualification for the ballot be made to apply without discrimination to both sexes and both races." the address closed as follows: the enfranchisement of women would insure immediate and durable white supremacy, honestly attained, for upon unquestioned authority it is stated that in every southern state but one there are more educated women than all the illiterate voters, white and black, native and foreign, combined. as you probably know, of all the women in the south who can read and write, ten out of every eleven are white. when it comes to the proportion of property between the races, that of the white outweighs that of the black immeasurably. the south is slow to grasp the great fact that the enfranchisement of women would settle the race question in politics. the civilization of the north is threatened by the influx of foreigners with their imported customs; by the greed of monopolistic wealth and the unrest among the working classes; by the strength of the liquor traffic and encroachments upon religious belief. some day the north will be compelled to look to the south for redemption from those evils on account of the purity of its anglo-saxon blood, the simplicity of its social and economic structure, the great advance in prohibitory law and the maintenance of the sanctity of its faith, which has been kept inviolate. just as surely as the north will be forced to turn to the south for the nation's salvation, just so surely will the south be compelled to look to its anglo-saxon women as the medium through which to retain the supremacy of the white race over the african. miss kearney's speech was enthusiastically received and at its end mrs. catt said she had been getting many letters from persons hesitating to join the association lest it should admit clubs of colored people. "we recognize states' rights," she said, "and louisiana has the right to regulate the membership of its own association, but it has not the right to regulate that of massachusetts or vice versa," and she continued: "we are all of us apt to be arrogant on the score of our anglo-saxon blood but we must remember that ages ago the ancestors of the anglo-saxons were regarded as so low and embruted that the romans refused to have them for slaves. the anglo-saxon is the dominant race today but things may change. the race that will be dominant through the ages will be the one that proves itself the most worthy.... miss kearney is right in saying that the race problem is the problem of the whole country and not that of the south alone. the responsibility for it is partly ours but if the north shipped slaves to the south and sold them, remember that the north has sent some money since then into the south to help undo part of the wrong that it did to you and to them. let us try to get nearer together and to understand each other's ideas on the race question and solve it together." mrs. maud wood park (mass.), who was introduced to the audience as "a very unpopular woman with the anti-suffragists," did not prove to be so with her audience, as in her brief address she charmed every one with her beauty and womanliness and convinced by her delicate wit and keen logic. the last address was made by the rev. ida c. hultin (mass.), an eloquent summing up of the arguments for woman suffrage, given with a dignity of manner and sweetness of words which thoroughly eliminated any unpleasant feelings that might have been created and diffused a spirit of forgiveness and consecration. at the conclusion of the program, mrs. upton came forward and in the name of the officers of the association presented to miss kate gordon a handsome loving cup with the injunction to "handle it carefully as it is filled to the brim with love"; and to miss jean gordon a large bouquet of roses, "in appreciation of the perfect arrangements that had been made for the convention." the _picayune_ said: "the two sisters stood side by side on the stage, a picture of feminine loveliness and grace. they tried to speak but their hearts were too full and miss kate could only express in a few words their thanks for these tokens of affection and esteem." all the expenses of the convention had been met by the citizens and the collections had more than paid the travelling expenses of the officers. nothing had been left undone for the entertainment of the visitors. the new orleans street railway company gave a trip of several hours in special cars, taking them to audubon park and horticultural hall, through the handsome residence sections, to the esplanade, city park and famous cemeteries. they visited the howard and fisk libraries, the southern yacht club, the exposition and the antiquarian shops. an unusual experience was the boat trip on the mississippi, tendered by the progressive union. on a fine sunshiny morning the several hundred visitors assembled in the palm garden of the st. charles hotel, walked to the rooms of the union and from there to the steamer alice. they crossed to algiers, passed the french quarter with the ursuline convent, the stuyvesant docks, the historic houses and monuments, and saw the great naval docks, the large sugar plantations with their big live oaks and magnolias, the immense sugar and oil refineries and met a fleet of huge ocean steamers. lunch was served on board and the occasion was most interesting, especially to the delegates from the north. although this was the longest suffrage convention ever held and the sessions were crowded, the people wanted more. the progressive union arranged for meetings thursday night, to be addressed by mrs. catt on the home and the municipality, and friday night by dr. shaw on the fate of republics. the athenæum hall, seating , , was overflowing and as many were gathered on the outside. it was a ten days never to be forgotten by the visitors or the residents, and the convention undoubtedly gave a decided impetus to favorable sentiment for woman suffrage in that section of the south. footnotes: [ ] part of call: the association goes to new orleans in response to an invitation from the progressive union, the era club of women and many prominent individuals. it is especially appropriate that the advocates of this important reform should assemble in louisiana in honor of the action taken by this state in , when its constitutional convention incorporated a clause giving to tax-paying women a vote on all questions of taxation submitted to the electors; and in commemoration of the splendid use they made of this privilege at the election held to secure to new orleans the completion of its drainage and the establishment of a sewerage system and free water supply.... never in the fifty years of this movement have its advocates had such a victory to record as was achieved in australia in june, , when almost the first act of parliament of the new federation of states was to confer the full national suffrage with the right to a seat in the parliament on all qualified women of the entire commonwealth. this one act enfranchised about , . these added to those of new zealand and of wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho, it will be found that , , english-speaking women are at the present time in possession of the complete suffrage and all except those of wyoming have been enfranchised within the past ten years. by adding to these the women of great britain and ireland, who have all except the parliamentary vote, those of kansas with municipal, of louisiana, montana, and new york with the tax-payers' and of over one-half of the states with the school ballot, the , , will be multiplied several times.... it is, therefore, with courage and hope inspired by the glorious promise of the new century for greater material and moral progress in all directions than the world has ever known, that the advocates of this measure, which ultimately will affect the destinies of the whole american people, are called in convention to review the labor of the past year, to plan that of the future, to strengthen the old comradeship and greet new workers and friends. susan b. anthony, honorary president. carrie chapman catt, president. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large. kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } mary j. coggeshall, } auditors. [ ] the colored women had some excellent organizations in new orleans, the most notable being the phyllis wheatley club, which in addition to its literary and social features maintained a training school for nurses, a kindergarten and a night school. it invited miss anthony, miss blackwell and mrs. elizabeth smith miller to address it and they were accompanied by "dorothy dix," the well-known writer, a new orleans woman. in the large assemblage were some of the teachers from the four colleges for colored students--methodist, congregational, baptist and the state. "dorothy dix" said in her brief address that no woman in the city was more respected or had more influence than mrs. sylvanie williams, the club's president, and gave several instances to illustrate it. after the addresses mrs. williams presented miss anthony with a large bouquet tied with yellow satin ribbon and said: "flowers in their beauty and sweetness may represent the womanhood of the world. some flowers are fragile and delicate, some strong and hardy, some are carefully guarded and cherished, others are roughly treated and trodden under foot. these last are the colored women. they have a crown of thorns continually pressed upon their brow, yet they are advancing and sometimes you find them further on than you would have expected. when women like you, miss anthony, come to see us and speak to us it helps us to believe in the fatherhood of god and the brotherhood of man, and at least for the time being in the sympathy of woman." [ ] the important decision was made at this convention to remove the headquarters on may from new york to warren, o., the home of the national treasurer, mrs. upton. the burden of having charge of them had borne heavily upon mrs. catt for the past three years and it grew more difficult as each year she had to spend more time in field work. miss gordon, the corresponding secretary, wished to remain in new orleans because of her mother's failing health and it was necessary to have a national officer in charge. mrs. upton consented reluctantly to assume the responsibility and only on the assurance of miss elizabeth hauser, a capable executive, that she would manage the details of the office. the arrangement was to be temporary but it continued for six years. [ ] quotations are given from each of the opening prayers because each of them endorsed woman suffrage. [ ] mrs. hussey left a bequest of $ , to the national american woman suffrage association. [ ] for appreciations of mrs. stanton see appendix. chapter iv. the national american convention of . the thirty-sixth annual convention opened the afternoon of feb. , , in national rifles' armory hall, washington, d. c., and closed the evening of the th.[ ] there was a good attendance of delegates from thirty states and the audiences were large and appreciative. mrs. carrie chapman catt, the president, was in the chair at the opening session. the delegates were welcomed by mrs. carrie e. kent in behalf of the district equal suffrage association and the response was made by dr. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large, who began by saying: "if the women here welcome us after we have been coming for thirty years it must be because we deserve it; the men welcome us because in the district they are in the same disfranchised condition as we are." a cordial letter of greeting was read from samuel gompers, president of the american federation of labor, whose headquarters were in washington. greetings were received from mrs. florence fenwick miller of london, whose letter commenced: "beloved friends: as president of the british national committee of the international woman suffrage committee, i write to send you greetings from english, scotch, irish and welsh fellow-workers in the woman's cause. it seems but a short time since the convention of , which i attended as the delegate appointed by the british united women's suffrage societies and also of the scottish national society. the admiration and affection that the ability, the earnestness and sincerity, the sisterliness and the sweetness of temper and manners of the american suffragists then aroused in me, are unabated at this moment." she told of the progress that had been made by the various societies toward uniting in an international woman suffrage alliance, gave a glowing forecast of the ultimate triumph of their common cause and ended: "with admiring and abiding love for america's grand women, the suffrage leaders." the convention sent an official answer. mrs. mary bentley thomas (md.) read an interesting paper, our four friends, compiled from the answers by the governors of wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho to a letter from miss anthony asking for a summary of the results of woman suffrage after a trial of from eight to thirty-five years. a declaration of principles, which had been prepared by mrs. catt, dr. shaw, miss alice stone blackwell and mrs. ida husted harper, was read by mrs. harper and adopted by the convention as expressing the sentiment of the association. [see appendix, chapter iv.] mrs. rachel foster avery (penn.) and dr. shaw were appointed delegates to the international suffrage conference at berlin in june in addition to the international suffrage committee from the united states, miss anthony, mrs. catt, mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg (penn.), with three others yet to be selected. in her report as corresponding secretary miss kate m. gordon (la.) told of the interest which the convention of the preceding year in new orleans had awakened in the south and of the generous donation of a month of dr. shaw's valuable time which she had given to a southern tour. this included the state agricultural, state normal and state industrial colleges of louisiana and various places in texas, mississippi, alabama, georgia and tennessee. "while it might be said of her addresses, 'she came, she spoke, she conquered,'" declared miss gordon, "it was clearly shown that the south was not ready for organization." miss gordon said of attending the national conference of charities and corrections as a state delegate appointed by the governor of louisiana: "i found that resolutions of endorsement were contrary to the policy of the conference, yet, except in our own organization, i have never met such a unanimity of opinion upon the justice of woman suffrage as well as upon the expediency of the woman's vote to secure intelligent and preventive legislation as a remedy for the many evils they were seeking to combat." the program for the first evening included short addresses by the general officers and in opening the meeting mrs. catt said: "you will all be disappointed not to have the promised addresses from miss anthony and mrs. upton. it has been suggested that i might say that miss anthony has been unavoidably detained but i can't see why i should not tell the truth. miss anthony is out in society tonight. she was invited by president and mrs. roosevelt to the army and navy reception at the white house and mrs. upton is with her.[ ] our vice-president-at-large will speak to you on what cheer?" dr. shaw said that once when she was travelling about the prairies of iowa she met a woman who was always referring to her home town "what cheer," and when she was asked to give a title to her address she could think of nothing better. she continued: "there are no problems so difficult to understand as those of our own time, because of the lack of perspective. the arrogant and insistent and noisy things press to the front and the silent and eternal fall into the rear. but as time passes it is as when we climb a mountain--we gradually rise to where we can see over the foothills and everything appears in its proper place and proportion. out of the present, its arrogant militarism, its sordid commercialism and worship of gold, is there anything to give us cheer and hope for tomorrow? there never was greater reason for hope for humanity. underlying all the tumult and disorder of our time is one grand, golden thought, that of the human brotherhood of the world. there never was a democracy comparable to ours, faulty as it is and hopeless as it appears to some. though the ideal does not seem to impress itself upon the world, yet in the silence it is there.... today is the best this world has ever seen. tomorrow will be still better." miss gordon spoke on a sustaining faith, showing that from labor, from all forms of social service and from countless sources was converging the demand for the reform which the suffrage association was seeking. miss blackwell (mass.) talked briefly as always but clearly and convincingly on the new woman. miss laura clay (ky.) began her address on dimes: "as an auditor i have been going over our treasurer's books. usually such books are mere debits and credits but in ours those stiff rows of figures tell many beautiful things--the sacrifices of the poor and the generosity of the rich--but best of all are the 'dimes' because they are the dues paid to the association. they bear the figure of liberty and they stand for it.... these dimes are inspiring, for they represent our membership when we gather here from the four corners of the nation. therefore i rejoice over these thousands and thousands, each with a human heart behind it." "no woman has a record of greater faithfulness in this cause," mrs. catt said in introducing mrs. mary j. coggeshall, who began her remarks on precedents by saying: "i come from iowa where things are very different from those in this beautiful capital. we do not see senators and representatives on every hand but we have lent to washington, secretary of agriculture wilson, secretary of the treasury shaw, speaker of the house henderson and also mrs. catt to lead the suffrage clans." the evening closed with mrs. catt's presidential address, the full report of which filled eleven columns of the _woman's journal_. the subject was the vital necessity of an educational qualification for the use of the ballot in a country which opens its gates to immigration from the whole world. little idea of its logic and virility can be conveyed by detached quotations. referring to the necessity for enfranchising women she said: "despite the fact that education even yet is not so generally advocated for girls as for boys among our foreign and ignorant classes of society, the census of reveals that between the ages of ten and twenty-one, representing school years, there are , more illiterate males than females. if men and women had been entitled to the franchise upon equal terms in , the political parties, which always make their appeals to the young man just turned twenty-one to cast his first vote for 'the party of right and progress,' would of necessity have made the same appeal to young women, but they would have appealed to , fewer illiterates among the women than the men of from twenty-one to twenty-four. if the same conditions continue for the next twenty years--that is, if there is no restriction in the suffrage for men and women still remain disfranchised, and if the proportionate increase of women over men in the output of our public schools continues, we shall witness the curious spectacle of the illiterate sex governing the literate sex." mrs. catt did not, however, attribute all the evils of universal suffrage to the ignorant vote but said: "it may be that an investigation would reveal the fact that a very important source of difficulty is to be found in the failure of intelligent men to exercise their citizenship. if this proves true it may be found necessary to turn a leaf backward in our history and adopt the plan in vogue in some of the new england colonies which made voting compulsory, and it may be found feasible to demand of every voter who absents himself on election day an excuse for his absence, and when he has absented himself without good excuse for a definite number of elections, he may be made to suffer the punishment of disfranchisement...." she called attention to the record that at the last presidential election more than , , men over twenty-one years of age did not vote and asked: "what is to be done about it? are qualified women citizens to wait in patience until influences now unseen shall sweep away the difficulties and restore the lost enthusiasm for democracy? or shall they attempt to determine causes, apply remedies and clear the way for their own enfranchisement? that is our problem. for myself, i will say i prefer not to wait. i prefer to do my part, small as it must be, in the great task of the removal of the obstructions which clog the wheels of the onward movement of popular government." the convention was especially fortunate in having among its speakers a charming and gifted young woman, mrs. a. watson lister of melbourne, australia, a country whose first national parliament had two years before conferred on women full suffrage and eligibility to all offices. she showed a remarkable knowledge of laws and conditions affecting women and was thoroughly informed on every phase of the suffrage movement. the second evening she spoke on woman's vote in australia to an audience that was not willing to have her stop, saying in part: australia does lead the world in democratic government, a government by the whole people, women as well as men, but we realize the great debt that we owe to your brave pioneer women. we are reaping the harvest which they planted. to us the names of susan b. anthony, lucy stone and elizabeth cady stanton are household words. it seems strange to me to be asked to come here to tell you anything about suffrage, for with us the american woman has been supposed to know and have everything. australia is as large as the united states and women have national and municipal suffrage and in four of our six states they have state suffrage--south and west australia, new south wales and tasmania. in victoria and queensland they do not yet possess it. when the six states became federated it was provided that federal suffrage throughout australia should be on the same basis as state suffrage where it was the most liberal. south and west australia had it in full, so the women obtained it throughout australia in national elections. there was so little opposition or discussion, it was regarded so completely as an accepted fact and foregone conclusion, that most women did not even know the measure had passed. it was not an experiment, as our men had seen its working in south and west australia for years and also in new zealand, which is the most democratic and best governed country in the world. in australia women are eligible to all offices, even that of prime minister. at the last elections five stood for parliament. miss vida goldstein was a candidate in victoria. although both our large newspapers ignored her meetings she got , votes, while the man highest got about , . not one of the five women came out at the bottom of the poll.... after we had worked for years with members of parliament for various reforms without avail because we had no votes, you can not imagine the difference the vote makes. when we held meetings to advocate public measures that women wanted, we used to have to go out into the highways and hedges and compel the members of parliament to come in; now the difficulty is to keep them out. i have seen seven senators at one small meeting. a prominent man who, by an oversight, was not invited to the one held to welcome miss goldstein on her return from the united states was decidedly offended. chivalry has not been destroyed but increased. on the platform at one of our meetings the secretary happened to drop her pencil and i saw the premier and several members of parliament scrambling to pick it up. a woman is never allowed to stand in a street car in australia.... a good deal of light was shed on the inside history of the organized anti-suffrage movement, which if turned on in other countries would disclose a similar situation. "our anti-suffrage association," she said, "died three months after it was born. it was formed by two of our leading manufacturers, who hid behind their daughters. they had plenty of money, took a large office on a main street, employed several paid secretaries and spent more in three months than we had done in all our years of work. they paid little boys and girls to circulate their petition and got many signatures under false pretences.... much was made of their petition though it was not half as large as ours. the daughters of these manufacturers drove up in their carriages to their fathers' factories at the lunch hour and made the working girls sign their petition." a scholarly review of morley's life of gladstone was given by mrs. harriot stanton blatch (eng.). mrs. charlotte perkins gilman turned a new light on the woman question, saying: my subject is a scientific theory as to the origin and relation of the eternal duo. it was started by our greatest living sociologist, lester ward--the explanation of the order in which the sexes were developed. what is it that this suffrage movement has had to meet, as it has plowed along up hill for fifty years, with its tremendous battery of arguments which it discharges into thin air? what it has to overcome is not an argument but a feeling, which rests at bottom on the idea expressed in the "rib story." as a parable this fairly represents the old belief that man was created first, that he was the race, was "it," and that woman was created, as modern jokers put it, for "adams express company." the poet expressed the same idea when he called woman "god's last, best gift to man." ... ward gives the biological facts. in the evolution of species the earliest periods were the longest. during ages of the world's history, while animal life was slowly evolving, the female was the larger, stronger and more representative creature; the male was small, often a parasite, told off for the sole purpose of reproduction. by natural selection, the female choosing always the best male, the male was gradually developed until he became bigger and stronger than the female. for a time natural selection continued to work, the males competing for the favor of the female. then the male reduced the female to subjection. it occurred to him that it was easier to fight one little female once and subjugate her than to fight a lot of big males over and over. the feminine ideal with many is the bee-hive--lots of honey, lots of young ones and nothing else. it was necessary that the male should become dominant for a time if the race was to progress. now women are ceasing to be subjugated and we are approaching a state of equal rights. it was through a free motherhood and the female's constant selection of the best mate that she brought into the world power and brain enough to enable man to do what he has done. that free motherhood, reinstated, choosing always the best and refusing anything less, will bring us a higher humanity than we have yet known. the usual work conferences were held and the executive committee presented the plan of work which was adopted. in addition to the usual recommendations it urged that a memorial organization fund be established to perpetuate the memory of pioneers and that a legal adviser for the association be appointed from its women lawyer members. the morning meetings as always were given up to business and reports of officers, chairmen of committees and field workers and the afternoons to state reports. the latter, made for the most part by the presidents, showed faithful work going on in every state and progress in many. miss helen kimber reported that the legislature of kansas had added to the school franchise, which the women had possessed ever since the state came into the union, the right to vote on all public expenditure of money for issuing of bonds, waterworks, sewerage, libraries, etc. miss elizabeth j. hauser, office secretary, told of the removal of the national headquarters from new york, where they had first been established, to warren, o., where they occupied two large rooms on the lower floor of an old vine-covered family residence in the heart of town. from here , pieces of literature had been sent out and here had been printed , each of lucy stone and mrs. stanton birthday souvenirs, a booklet to be used on miss anthony's birthday; , suffrage stamps, christmas blotters, etc., and , letters written. the subscription list of _progress_ had been increased from to , and a weekly headquarters' letter had been sent to the _woman's journal_. resolutions for woman suffrage had been obtained in international, national and a large number of state conventions. mrs. harriet taylor upton, the treasurer, reported the receipts, $ , , the largest in the history of the association. it contributed $ , to the new hampshire campaign. neither mrs. upton nor any of the national officers received a salary (except the secretary, who had a nominal one), and in referring to the immense amount of unpaid work done by them and by women in the different states, she said: "people outside of the association often ask why it is that women can be found who are willing to give their time to a work without recompense. we can not answer such inquiries and yet we ourselves know that, through this devotion to a just and holy cause, we rise to a higher plane, we see with larger eyes, we feel the presence of the real self of our fellow-worker. we can no more explain why this is so than we can analyze 'mother love,' or the love of a daughter for a father but we know it. it is for this reason your treasurer rejoices over the day she was so placed, either by design or chance, and so blessed with perfect health that she was able to serve in the cause of woman's political freedom." mrs. upton referred to mrs. cornelia c. hussey's bequest of $ , and that of mrs. henrietta m. banker, from which the association realized $ , . detailed and valuable reports were made by the chairman of committees on presidential suffrage, federal suffrage, congressional work, civil rights, church work, enrollment and others. mrs. catt reported for the committee on literature. mrs. catt with mrs. blankenburg (penn.), mrs. lucy hobart day (me.) and mrs. minola graham sexton (n. j.), presidents of their state associations, presided over work conferences. mrs. ida porter boyer, in her report on libraries and bibliography, brought to light the lax manner in which many state libraries are conducted. in that of new jersey no catalogue had been printed for fifty years. in montana the collection of books was thirty-five years old and had never been catalogued or classified. various librarians reported no works on woman suffrage and women from those states rose in the audience and said that they had themselves presented the history of woman suffrage--four large volumes. mrs. elnora m. babcock (n. y.), chairman of the press committee, reported , general articles sent out; , special articles, much plate matter, many personal sketches, photographs, etc., and a number of new papers added to her list. mrs. maud nathan read the report of mrs. florence kelley, chairman of the committee on industrial problems affecting women and children. as executive secretary of the national consumers' league mrs. kelley was well qualified to speak and she gave an account of the labor laws in the southern states affecting girls between and , who are neither children nor women, which was heartbreaking. pennsylvania was equally guilty but most of the northern states had improved their laws, illinois leading; in none, however, were they wholly adequate. she urged the appointment of more women factory inspectors, who were now employed in only eight states, and scored "the default of the prosperous women of the country," saying: "it may be said that women are not morally responsible for this unfortunate state of affairs, since they do not make the laws, but the facts do not altogether justify this excuse. the child-labor legislation which has been achieved through the efforts of women during the past ten years shows that women can do very much even without the ballot in the way of securing legislation on behalf of women and children, and it remains true that women buy the product of the work of women and children far more than do men.... it is my hope that this great and influential national suffrage organization may so influence public opinion that a series of beneficent results will soon become visible." an evening with the philanthropists was one of the most enjoyable during the week. the rev. anna garlin spencer, of whom felix adler, head of the ethical culture society of new york, was quoted as saying: "she is the only woman with whom i would share my platform," was the first speaker. in considering new professions in philanthropic work for women, she said: "charity is old but social science is new and it is the uniting of the two that makes modern philanthropy and that is what opens these new professions. charity is supposed to come by nature but the knowledge of how to deal with its problems does not. society is divided into three groups. first, the reformers--a group never too large, often seemingly too small--who make the way for those that come after. they are often like the artist whose daughter, being asked if her father had been successful, answered that he was 'successful after he was dead.' then comes the great group, the 'middle-of-the-road' people, who walk along, slowly developing, supporting the churches and schools, holding today's standards and ideals--the people who live in today and who make up the fabric of the world. they are sometimes irritating but they hold what has been gained and they gradually grow. then there is a group behind, what the french call the 'unfinished' infants--the defectives, the moral and physical imbeciles, the backward and incompetent. we must study how to reduce this social burden in an intelligent way. this has started a new class of vocations as sacred as the ministry was of old." a very convincing address was given by dr. samuel j. barrows (mass.), secretary of the national prison reform association, on women and prison reform. in referring to the progress of prison reform he said: "in this array of apostles and prophets and expositors of the new penology we find men and women standing side by side." he described the work in this reform by eminent women in europe and the united states and concluded: "in the field of penology woman needs the ballot as she needs it in other fields, not as an end but as a means, as an instrument through which she can express her conviction, her conscience, intelligence, sympathy and love. questions in philanthropy are more and more forcing themselves to the front in legislation. women are obliged to journey to the legislature at every session to instruct members and committees at legislative hearings. some of these days the public will think it absurd that women who are capable of instructing men how to vote should not be allowed to vote themselves. if police and prison records mean anything they mean that, considered as law-abiding citizens, women are ten times as good as men. why debar the better and enfranchise the worse? in the field of commercial and political competition, woman may demand the ballot as a right but in the field of philanthropy and reform she needs it for the fulfillment of her duties." mrs. nathan, president of the new york consumers' league, considered the wage earner and the ballot, her handsome presence, fine humor and long experience rendering her an unusually attractive speaker. "the opponents of our cause," she said, "whether they be of the fair sex or the unfair sex, seem to think that we regard the extension of the suffrage to women as a panacea for all evils in this world and the next. no honest suffragist has ever taken that ground. i can not endorse any such general or sweeping statement but i feel that my experience in investigating the condition of women wage-earners warrants the assertion that some of the evils from which they suffer would not exist if the women had the right to place their votes in the ballot-box." she compared the industrial and educational situation where women voted with that of states where they did not and showed how women were excluded from official positions because disfranchised, giving conclusive instances of the discrimination in her own state. "i feel that not only on account of the women wage-earners should women be accorded the ballot," she said, "but also because they are very largely the spenders of all family incomes and as such they have the right to the assurance that what they buy is free from adulteration and has been produced under clean, wholesome and humane conditions. for this right the consumers' league persistently contends but it can be only partially successful, in my opinion, so long as it depends entirely upon moral suasion, while manufacturers and merchants have the voting power to hold in terror over its administration." mrs. lucia ames mead, president of the massachusetts state suffrage association and a leader in the movement for peace and arbitration, was on the program to talk of woman's work for peace. "i am not going to speak of any philanthropy," she began, "but of something much more far-reaching and radical, which will make three-fourths of our philanthropy needless." she then made an impassioned plea for a world organization of the forces that would conduce to peace. representative government was the first step, she said, and the establishment of a world court was the next. the achievement of an international advisory congress might be the third. "a simultaneous effort must be made," she declared, "to arrange arbitration treaties with every nation on earth, referring all questions that cannot be settled by diplomacy to the hague court. questions of 'honor' must not be excluded. carnegie well said in his plea for this plan, 'no word has been so dishonored as the word honor.' such treaties and the use of the economic boycott upon european enemies would be vastly more efficient than battleships to keep the peace.... we need to convert the church. there are many of our christian ministers who believe they are living under the dispensation of joshua and not of jesus." at the conclusion of mrs. mead's address mrs. catt said: "sometimes the cause of peace and arbitration seems to me the greatest of all. to help working women was the motive that determined me to devote my life to obtaining woman suffrage. how hard it is that women must spend so many years just to get the means with which to effect reforms! but we who believe that behind them all is the ballot are chained to the work for that until it is gained." religious services were conducted sunday afternoon by the rev. mary a. safford of des moines, assisted by dr. shaw and the rev. marie jenney howe. the subject of the sermon was the goal of life and the text: "the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of god, and, if children, than heirs--heirs of god and joint heirs with christ." "in the preaching of the gospel of all nations," she said, "it has been recognized that in christ there is neither jew nor gentile; while in breaking the fetters of millions of slaves it also has been recognized that in him there is neither bond nor free. the world still awaits the time when it will be proclaimed that in him there is neither male nor female."[ ] monday, february , was miss anthony's th birthday and it was a coincidence that on the morning of that day the convention should be opened with prayer by the rev. edward everett hale, chaplain of the senate, a life-long opponent of woman suffrage. when he was invited to come he asked definite assurance that it would not be interpreted that he had changed his opinion.[ ] the air of the hall was fragrant with the flowers that had been sent in honor of the birthday, and, as the usual tribute of the convention, it made its pledges of money for the expenses of the coming year. mrs. upton asked for $ , and nearly $ , were quickly subscribed.[ ] the preceding day mrs. john b. henderson had given a o'clock birthday breakfast for miss anthony at her handsome home, boundary castle, attended by the national officers and a number of invited guests. in the evening a social reunion for the officers, delegates and speakers was held in the banquet room of the shoreham hotel, which was the convention headquarters. on the afternoon of the birthday president and mrs. roosevelt received the members of the convention with much cordiality. from the white house they went to a reception given by miss clara barton in her interesting home at glen echo, near washington. the nearly five hundred visitors received a warm welcome and enjoyed wandering through the unique house built of lumber left after the johnstown flood, unplastered and the walls draped with the flags of many nations that had been presented to her by their rulers. at urgent request miss barton brought forth the laces, jewels, medals and decorations given to her by the dignitaries and crowned heads of europe for her distinguished services in behalf of the red cross, such a collection, it was said, as no other woman possessed. the convention was largely in the nature of a colorado jubilee, as its women ten years before had cast their first vote, having been enfranchised in the autumn of . the program for two evenings was given up to men and women from that state under the heading, colorado speaks for itself, and it was most appropriate that miss anthony should preside. in presenting her mrs. catt said: "this is miss anthony's th birthday. we might have had a program filled with tributes to her and no doubt you would all have enjoyed them but instead we have what she will like better, a program to show, not that woman suffrage would be a good thing but that it has been a good thing. when miss anthony was born no woman in america could vote; no woman in modern times had been a lawyer. tonight our ushers are seven women graduates of the washington law school, in the cap and gown which used to be forbidden to women. but there is something else going on tonight that is a more noteworthy celebration of her birthday. a measure to grant suffrage to women is pending in denmark with the backing of the government and the women of that country have arranged a great demonstration in favor of the bill and have fixed the date for today because it is the birthday of susan b. anthony. opponents of woman suffrage pay almost their whole attention to colorado, so we have asked colorado to come and talk for itself and it has responded magnificently. all the speakers pay their own expenses and have come this long way for the pleasure of saying a word for woman suffrage." the washington _post_ commented, "miss anthony received an ovation and it was delightful to see the pride with which she introduced the speakers--a former governor, a woman state superintendent of public instruction, chairmen of women's political committees and clubs, a woman county superintendent." mrs. katharine cook, president of the jane jefferson club, a democratic organization of over a thousand women, spoke on the ideals we cherish and strongly emphasized that politics did not impair true womanliness or lower high ideals. "a nation can be no more free or pure or beautiful than the homes of which it is composed," she said. "our country is but a greater home and no mother whose love for her fireside is more than an instinct or a sentiment can fail to see that the welfare of her home and family is vitally connected with an unstained ballot and an honest government. we women who believe in the right of suffrage and exercise it with the utmost wisdom with which we are gifted, use it for the preservation and defense and love of our homes ... and it is this spirit which is needed at the polls." an entirely different but equally effective note was struck by mrs. ellis meredith, a prominent journalist of denver, who said during her address on colorado women and legislation: if i regarded the ballot merely as a right or a privilege or an end; a divine, far-off event toward which the whole creation moves and which, once attained, obviates its ever having to move afterward, i should say it does not make a bit of difference what we have done with it. if it is a right, who can question it? if it is a privilege, it is beyond question. if it is an end, it is achieved. but i do not regard it as any of these. to my mind the ballot is simply one of our many modern labor-saving inventions. it is the easiest way.... in the ten years that women have been voting in colorado, i believe they have done at least five times as much as all the rest of the non-voting women in the united states together, and i base this modest claim upon the record of our statute books as compared with those of other states. women stand relatively for the same thing everywhere and their first care is naturally and inevitably for the child. whatever we have done, other women wish to do. in many states they have tried and failed. the difference is they are using stone-age methods while we have those of the th century." no one who knows anything about our laws will attempt to deny that women have revolutionized the attitude of our state toward the child. two-thirds of their work has been for the children.... these laws mean that in colorado there are no children under out of school; we have no child beggars nor street musicians and no girls vending anything. we have the best child labor law in the world. we have the strictest laws for the prevention of the abuse, moral, mental or physical of children, of any country, and the best enforced, not merely in our cities but throughout the entire state. we have the strongest compulsory school law and the most enlightened law concerning delinquent children of any, save where our laws have been copied.... what we have done has not been for ourselves but for the very least of these. it has been not for our fading today but for the dawning tomorrow. we have gone to our legislators with new ideas and have set a little child in the midst of them, and they have not been unmindful of the heavenly vision. mrs. mary c. c. bradford of denver, president of the state federation of women's clubs and county superintendent of schools, began her address, a message to garcia, by referring to the noted pamphlet of that title by elbert hubbard, "which," she said, "was translated into fourteen languages and called out a response from the hearts of the civilized world, because it set forth the duty and necessity of doing a thing yourself if you want it well done," and she made the application: "the women of colorado have learned by experience the advantage of a direct vote over direct influence." she then told in a graphic manner the vast amount of good work the federation of clubs had been able to do through the power of the ballot and said: "during the last legislature a department of the federation had to sit one day each week to confer with the many members who wanted its endorsement for their bills. clubwomen in non-suffrage states do not have this experience. it is because we can carry the message to garcia ourselves." "mrs. catt helped to win our mountain republic for suffrage," mrs. bradford said in conclusion, "and we women of colorado pledge ourselves to susan b. anthony to work until death to help get it in other states." mrs. isabella churchill of greeley spoke from the standpoint of the women outside the cities. "to the women in the small towns and country districts," she said, "it is a privilege and a pleasure to go to the polls on election day with the men of their family and vote for the candidates and measures they have had time to consider with care. in such places the question next day is not, 'did the election go democratic or republican?' but 'was it license or no license?' or else concerning some candidate or issue that they believe of importance to their community." mrs. helen belford, chairman of the women's state democratic committee, devoted her address largely to the development of the young women through the use of the ballot and the study of political questions. mrs. ina thompson, chairman of the republican women's state committee, gave a very interesting account of the way campaigns are conducted by women. mrs. helen loring grenfell, as state superintendent of education, spoke with high authority and by her dignified and beautiful presence no less than by her ability made a deep impression on all who heard her. she pointed out that colorado came into the union in with school suffrage for women and through this they had always been able to keep the schools on a non-partisan basis. she showed that it paid more per capita for public schools than any other state, leaving even new york and massachusetts behind; described its advanced position from kindergartens to training schools and colleges, with especial care in guarding the welfare of children, and continued: in the east we hear of "the question of coeducation." it is not a question west of the mississippi river, it never has been, it never will be. the eastern arrangement seems to us merely a curious survival of antiquated ideas, a kind of sex-consciousness which we have lost sight of in our care for the human being.... the place of state superintendent has always been held by a woman since women became eligible. the first superintendent elected was a republican, the second a democrat, each holding the place for one term; the third, who is now serving her third term, was nominated as a silver republican but has really been elected and twice re-elected without regard to politics--an example of the independence of the vote where school affairs are concerned. there are counties in colorado and of them, including most of those with the largest population, have women county superintendents.... i have found colorado women much like their sisters elsewhere save that they have a broader view of public affairs and they take naturally a more active interest in the world's work. they have learned to think and to say what they think simply and freely in gatherings where men and women meet to discuss the vital concerns of life. they have not forgotten that they are women but they have come to know that they are also human beings, and, like terence, they find nothing that concerns humanity foreign to them. surely had we not been faithful in the smaller things, we should not have had these large opportunities given to us.... i can not help thinking that my sisters elsewhere have lost something rare and precious from their lives through the lack of that complete citizenship which has been bestowed upon the women of colorado, and i hope the day may be near when those sisters may be made man's equal under the law of the land as they have always been under the law of god. the hon. isaac n. stevens, a pronounced suffragist, who had the topic after ten years, was detained elsewhere. the hon. alva adams, who had twice been governor of the state, in his strong and comprehensive speeches before the convention and the judiciary committee of the house of representatives, answered for all time the misrepresentations in regard to woman suffrage in colorado which for years had been persistently made by the anti-suffragists, and he also answered conclusively the many objections that had been conjured up. in the convention he discussed it from the colorado point of view, beginning as follows: colorado does not go into mourning when a girl is born. equal suffrage has not taken colorado out of the union. she stands an example of what a sovereign state should be--a model to those self-righteous states that preach equal rights in press, pulpit and forum and deny it in the law. the statue of justice that crowns her city hall, court house and capitol is not a lie. for the capitol in washington and in states of the union the figure of st. paul would be more fitting than that of the goddess of liberty. unfettered by tradition and prejudice colorado has dared to do right. she has given to woman what solomon gave to sheba--"whatsoever she asked"--and has no regrets and no desire to recall the gift. after ten years of experience, equal suffrage needs neither apology nor defense. no harm has come to either woman, man or the state. justice never harmed any one. if colorado women were not angels before, the ballot has brought no wings. suffrage has not elevated them, it has simply placed them where they belonged but it has raised the men who have dared to be just. woman has not yet conquered iniquity nor has it conquered her. suffrage is not a revolution, it is but a step and not the end of the journey.... if women have not overthrown the entrenched political machines the failure is due to the so-called respectable christian men. the women are ready but the men are chained to partisanship.... no single disaster, no backward step in politics or family morals can be charged to woman suffrage. it has added nothing to the business of the divorce court, no family has been disrupted, no children neglected; but the prayers of hundreds of homeless children and orphans have invoked a benediction upon the voting women for the home and education that their influence has induced the state to provide. suffrage has sent no girl astray but it has gathered many wanderers and turned their feet into paths of safety and built for them a model state home. through the age of consent law many a seducer has ended his career in jail. the most efficient members of the state board of charities and correction are women and this is true of other boards. their influence has sent rays of light and hope into darkened cells and established reforms in asylums and prisons. in answer to the continued charges that the people of the state would like to repeal the law he said: "i have too high a regard, too sincere a faith in colorado manhood to believe that any of the men who voluntarily conferred the ballot upon their wives, sisters and mothers would now repeal that just act. common sense refutes the statement regarding women themselves. not per cent., not per cent., not per cent. would today vote to relinquish that which belongs to them. it is not an american trait to give up rights.... i challenge any one to find intelligent women in colorado who will voluntarily request that the word 'male' be restored in the constitution and statutes of the state. many women may not go to the polls but the man who would try to take away their right to do so would need a bombproof conning tower. there will be no repeal, it stands for all time. there never will be less than four woman suffrage states--there should be forty-five.... since school affairs have practically been in the hands of women. they have voted at school elections, held the office of superintendent in a majority of the counties and taught most of the schools. in these twenty-eight years neither politics nor scandals have impaired our public school system and in efficiency we challenge comparison with any state in the union. what the women have done for our schools they can do for our civic government. they have introduced conscience into educational affairs and they will do the same in city and state. that is the fear of those who make politics a profession...." henry b. blackwell was introduced and spoke briefly of having gone to colorado in to assist in getting full suffrage for women into the constitution for statehood, but it was left for the voters to decide. mrs. catt closed the meeting with references to the successful campaign of , seventeen years later. a resolution presented by mrs. mead was adopted urging congress to take the initial steps toward inviting the governments of the world to establish an international advisory congress, and impressing upon equal suffragists that they should create local public sentiment in favor of arbitration treaties between the united states and all countries with which it has diplomatic relations. on motion of mrs. grenfell the convention endorsed the bill before congress for a national board of child and animal protection. it rejoiced in the voting of , women in australia and in the fact that woman suffrage existed throughout , square miles of united states territory and eight senators and nine representatives were sent to congress by votes of both men and women. mrs. mary church terrell (d. c.), a highly educated woman, showing little trace of negro blood, said: "a resolution asks you to stand up for children and animals; i want you to stand up not only for children and animals but also for negroes. you will never get suffrage until the sense of justice has been so developed in men that they will give fair play to the colored race. much has been said about the purchasability of the negro vote. they never sold their votes till they found that it made no difference how they cast them. then, being poor and ignorant and human, they began to sell them, but soon after the civil war i knew many efforts to tempt them to do so which were not successful. my sisters of the dominant race, stand up not only for the oppressed sex but also for the oppressed race!" resolutions of regret were adopted for the death of many pioneer suffragists during the year, among them sarah knox goodrich of california; sarah burger stearns of minnesota; judge j. w. kingman of iowa; ellen sully fray of ohio; eliza sproat turner and samuel pennock of pennsylvania; henrietta l. t. wolcott, lavina a. hatch, alice gordon gulick, richard p. hallowell and the hon. henry s. washburn of massachusetts. telegrams of remembrance were sent to the veteran workers, mrs. martha s. root of michigan and mrs. caroline e. merrick of louisiana, and a letter to mrs. ellen powell thompson of the district. mrs. kate trimble woolsey of kentucky, author of republics vs. women, was introduced to the convention and showed how republics disfranchised half of their citizens. the declaration of principles, prepared by mrs. catt, dr. shaw, miss blackwell and mrs. harper remained a permanent platform of the association. dr. shaw made the delegates smile at one morning session after they had sung "america" by moving that hereafter the line, "our father's god to thee," should be printed on their program, "our father, god, to thee." she said the preachers and poets had a habit of talking so exclusively about "the god of our fathers" that there was danger of forgetting that our mothers had any god! mrs. mary wood swift (calif.), its president, brought the greetings of the national council of women. the report from the friends equal rights association, an affiliated society, was made by mrs. anne w. janney (md). fraternal greetings were given by mrs. olive pond amies for the pennsylvania w. c. t. u.; by mrs. arabella carter (penn.) for the universal peace union, and by mrs. emma s. olds (o.) for the ladies of the maccabees of the world. mrs. catt warmly complimented this last organization for its fine business principles and the high character of its leaders. the association appointed as its legal adviser mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, a prominent lawyer of chicago, for years the superintendent of legislative work for the illinois suffrage association and part of the time its president. it is needless to say that it was not a salaried position. one morning mrs. catt called the "pioneers" to the platform and presented them to the convention, among them miss mary s. anthony, who had attended the first woman's rights convention in , of whom her sister always said: "she has looked after the home and made it possible for me to do my work." miss emily howland of sherwood, n. y., one of the early abolitionists, said in her few words of reminiscence: "i remember lucy stone holding a series of meetings through new york state in my youth. my uncle came home and reported that a young woman was lecturing and putting up her own posters; that she was very bright and he was not sure but that she was right and what she advocated would have to come. as i think of those three great leaders, lucy stone, elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony, i know what heroism is.... we women did not fully realize at first that militarism was our greatest foe. we are always told that women must not vote because they can not fight. i believe they could--i see many women who have more fight in them than many men.... our cause came straight from the anti-slavery cause. all its early advocates were also advocates of freeing the despised race in bondage. let us not forget them now. neither a nation nor an individual can be really free till all are free." it had been known for some months that mrs. catt would not accept a re-election to the presidency. for the past nine years she had given her entire time to work for woman suffrage, speaking in many states, attending conventions, serving as chairman of the committee on organization for five years and as president for four years. during this time she had had charge of the national headquarters and under the combined strain found her health breaking. the first measure of relief was the removal of the national headquarters to warren, ohio, in may, , where mrs. upton took it in charge, but this was not sufficient and she announced her determination to retire from the presidency, much to the regret of the association. the delegates naturally turned to dr. shaw and urged the presidency upon her but she was most reluctant to accept. it was an unsalaried position; she was entirely dependent on her lectures and she felt that in the field she could best serve the cause but she finally yielded to miss anthony's earnest entreaties. she was almost unanimously elected and mrs. catt consented to remain in official position as vice-president-at-large. the convention adopted the following resolution: "we tender to our retiring president our hearty thanks for her years of faithful and efficient labor in behalf of our cause and for her self-sacrificing devotion to its interests. we congratulate ourselves that we shall continue to have her wise counsel and cooperation and we express our earnest hope for her health and prosperity." no other change was made except that mrs. coggeshall retired as second auditor and dr. cora smith eaton again became a member of the board. the _evening star_ had this description: "as the afternoon session was about closing mrs. carrie chapman catt, retiring national president, who has endeared herself to all by her gracious courtesy, her firm yet gentle sway, presented to the convention its choice for her successor. miss shaw was not as clear-eyed as usual when she faced the cheering audience and her voice trembled and choked a little as she declared she had accepted the office only to give mrs. catt a rest. as the convention continued to applaud she said, trying to smile: 'don't do that or i shall surely cry!' the rev. anna howard shaw is probably the first woman distinguished by having taken both theological and medical degrees. she won her way into and through college by teaching and paid for her theological training by preaching on sundays.... after filling one parish for seven years she found her widest opportunities in the broad parish of the lecture field and is one of the ablest speakers on the public platform." detroit sent an invitation for the next convention and mrs. richard williams of buffalo, n. y., presented one from that city with a guarantee from the state suffrage association of $ , toward the expenses. while these were appreciated the invitation from portland, ore., was the choice. it was presented by dr. annice jeffreys for the association and by the hon. jefferson myers in behalf of the lewis and clark exposition to be held in , which the convention gave a hearty endorsement. the last evening found the large armory filled to the doors. mrs. evelyn h. belden (ia.) made a delightful address on the main line, which thoroughly disproved the assertion that women have no sense of humor, as the audience testified by frequent laughter and applause. mrs. l. annis pound (mich.) discussed the problem of the individual. "a woman's value to society," she said, "will increase in direct ratio as her value as an individual increases. woman as the potential mother of the race owes it to posterity to develop the noblest, strongest type of individualism. she must be first a human being, a personality, a member of society." mrs. j. ellen foster, president of the national women's republican association, who had made political speeches from ocean to ocean, told in a most entertaining manner of campaigning in free states and paid a glowing tribute to the beneficial effects of woman suffrage in the states where it existed. towards the end of the evening mrs. catt presented miss anthony and as she came forward she brought miss barton with her and the audience rose in heartfelt recognition of the two great leaders. "it seemed unable quite fully to express its pleasure," said the _evening star_, "and applauded again and again, as miss barton bowed and miss anthony looked smilingly and benignly out over the enthusiastic crowds." she expressed in words of affection and esteem her pleasure in appearing on that platform with one who had stood by her from the beginning of her work and miss barton responded in the same strain, giving then as always her adherence to miss anthony and the cause of woman suffrage. a national suffrage convention never seemed to be properly ended unless dr. shaw made a speech at the close and for this one she chose the subject, woman without a country, and with her matchless eloquence described the position of women under the flag of a government in which they had no voice. mrs. catt spoke the president's inspiring farewell words and the convention adjourned to meet next time in the far northwest. * * * * * the usual hearings were granted by the senate and house committees on february at : a.m. miss anthony presided at the senate hearing and the speakers in the marble room were mrs. watson lister, australia; mrs. harriot stanton blatch, england; dr. anna howard shaw and mrs. ida porter boyer, pennsylvania; miss laura a. gregg, nebraska; miss harriet may mills, miss emily howland, mrs. maud nathan, mrs. charlotte perkins gilman and mrs. ida husted harper, new york. in introducing mrs. gilman miss anthony said quaintly: "this is one of the beecher tribe," referring to her relationship, and she said of dr. shaw, the last speaker, "she will wind us up!" in telling of the first congressional hearing on woman suffrage ever granted--in --she said: "of all those who spoke here then i am the only one living today and i shall not be able to come much longer." her words were prophetic, as this was the last hearing she ever attended. each speaker considered the question from a different standpoint: miss mills showed that the high schools everywhere were graduating more girls than boys and women were increasing in the colleges at a higher ratio than men and said: "if only you would fix an educational qualification for the franchise we might hope to attain it." mrs. swift described the great campaign that had been made by california women for the suffrage in and yet they could not now even vote for school officers and she told of the unjust laws for women. mrs. boyer spoke for the millions of women wage-earners and declared that the present form of government was a sex-aristocracy. mrs. gilman said that to have intelligent men there must be educated mothers and that america could be made greater but not out of little people. mrs. harper reviewed the senate hearings of the past, the favorable and unfavorable reports and the many times when no reports were made and said: "we represent no vested interests, no constituency: we cannot help or harm you politically; we can only appeal to you in the name of abstract justice." mrs. blatch, american by birth, told of the feelings of women arriving in this country by steamer and seeing the men land from the steerage who would soon have the right of suffrage which was denied to women born in the united states. mrs. watson lister was introduced as representing over , women voters in australia and said in part: "it seems very odd to me to come to america to speak on self-government. in australia woman suffrage is not an experiment but a long experience and one effect has been to disprove all the things that were said against it." dr. shaw spoke of the hardships women had endured to make this country what it is and of the injustice of denying them any voice in its government. miss anthony closed by saying that she had appealed to committees of seventeen congresses and she urged that this one would make a favorable report. senator mitchell of oregon responded: "i introduced this resolution for woman suffrage. i am earnestly in favor of it--have been for many years--and if i live you will get a report. i have been more instructed and interested by the magnificent speeches i have heard today than by any in the senate of the united states during the twenty-one years i have attended it." others expressed themselves in the same strain. senator mitchell's own personal affairs, however, soon became much involved and no report was made. * * * * * mrs. catt conducted the hearing before the judiciary committee of the house. its chairman, representative john j. jenkins of wisconsin, who was presiding, made no secret of his hostility to woman suffrage but some members of the committee were favorable. colorado had been the storm center of attack and defense for many years while denver was the only city of considerable size where women could vote. in opening the hearing mrs. catt said: "mr. chairman and gentlemen of the committee: last year when we appeared before the committee to speak in behalf of the bill asking the submission of the th amendment we called attention to the fact that congress had appointed a great many commissions for investigation of the conditions, political and otherwise, of various classes of people, and inasmuch as we have come here year after year claiming that woman suffrage had wrought none of the ills which its enemies said it would and that it had brought many benefits, we asked that congress, through a commission, should investigate it in the western states. you are aware that no such commission resulted from our petition. when mahomet commanded the mountain to come to him and the mountain did not come he said: 'then mahomet will go to the mountain.' we have therefore this year brought colorado to you and the speakers who will address you this morning are all from that state." the speeches largely followed the lines of those given before the convention. mrs. katherine cook showed the relation between the women's vote and the home and family welfare. mrs. ellis meredith, introduced as on the editorial staff of the _rocky mountain news_ of denver, gave a summary of the excellent legislation that had been effected since women began voting in and said: "i have read a compilation of the laws in regard to the protection of children in every state and i know that in no other have they such ample protection and in no other are the laws so well enforced. this is partly due to the fact that our humane society is a state institution and has the free voluntary services of six hundred men and women acting as agents over this big state of , square miles." answering questions she said: "in my district, one of the best, women registered and voted. there are as many men as women in the district but only voted. men form per cent. of our population and women . women cast over per cent. of the total vote." mrs. mary c. c. bradford, president of the state federation of women's clubs, extended the account of the remarkable work it had accomplished as described to the convention, a success, she said, due to the fact that it represented a large body of well-informed voters. she ridiculed the danger at the polling places. "who are the evil creatures we are supposed to meet there on election day? we vote in the precinct in which we live and we meet our husbands, our brothers, our sons.... in colorado the environment in which the supreme right of citizenship is performed has been improved to harmonize with the improved character of the constituency." mrs. helen loring grenfell was introduced by mrs. catt as "the state superintendent of public instruction now serving her third term, the only successful candidate on her ticket at the last election." she began by saying: "gentlemen, this is a very peculiar position for a colorado woman. it seems just as strange to me as it would be to my husband to be coming here before a body of women and saying: 'we men ask from you equal rights under the constitution of the united states.'" after showing the interest felt in elections by women she said: "i have been an office-holder, which has involved running for office, and i think it is right for me to tell you a little of my experiences. my campaigns have taken me through almost every county in colorado, the farming counties, the roughest mining communities, and let me say to you that if there could be any more chivalry in the states where you think it would be unchivalrous to let your women vote, i would like to see it. i have met with the greatest courtesy from men all over the state. i have been treated just as kindly, just as politely by the men when i appeared as a political candidate as by the men with whom i am associated in my school work, in my home and society life. we have come to the time when we must feel that the word chivalry belongs to the past. it is connected with a period when woman's position before the law and in her home was far from a desirable one; and so i believe you will not misunderstand me when i say that if you will give us justice we feel that it will mean a great deal more than chivalry ever did." there had just been an exposition of fraud at the recent congressional election where representative john f. shafroth had been re-elected and he at once resigned the office in order to disclaim all connection with it. nearly every speaker was interrogated about it by members of the committee. mrs. grenfell answered, as did all of them: "the frauds upon which this election was decided were committed in the city of denver alone and in the worst precincts in the city. we will admit that they were committed. is that a reason for considering that woman suffrage is a mistake? i have heard reports from the cities of philadelphia and new york by which, if i should judge male suffrage, i should say it was an utter failure in the states of pennsylvania and new york. we have tens of thousands of women voters in colorado. we have indictments out against many dishonest voters and with the utmost searching they have found one woman who is charged with 'repeating' in the election. our state penitentiary has five women prisoners today and men. that surely cannot be used as an argument for woman suffrage having injured the women, whatever it may have done to the men."[ ] the committee were particularly interested in the speech of former governor alva adams, which gave much information on the voting of women and called out many questions from the committee. representative littlefield of maine inquired: "what do you say, governor, about miss mccracken's article in the _outlook_?" and he answered: "i call it infamous, to use the proper term. it was an absolute falsehood. it was based upon no facts, because no decent women in colorado would make the statements that she quotes. she may have found one woman who would say that they were using philanthropy and charity for political purposes but to admit that the women of the state would do a thing of that kind--would so debase themselves--would be an impeachment of the decency and honesty of womankind everywhere. i am not prepared to make that admission and the citizens of colorado cannot make it. there are , honest women in the state who are voters and there are not who will subscribe to the sentiments she gave voice to."[ ] mrs. catt closed the hearing with an earnest appeal for action, saying in part: when the constitution of colorado was first made in a provision was placed in it that at any time the legislature might enfranchise the women by a referendum of a law to the voters. that was done in and it was passed by , majority. last year an amendment to the constitution was submitted to the electors, now both men and women, concerning the qualifications for the vote and in it there was included, of course, the recognition of the enfranchisement of women quite as much as that of men, so that it was virtually a woman suffrage amendment. it received a majority of , , showing certainly that after ten years of experience the people were willing to put woman suffrage in the constitution, where it became an integral part of it and permanent. when the american constitution was formulated it was the first of its kind and this was the first republic of its kind. man suffrage was an experiment and it was considered universally a very doubtful one. we find overwhelming evidence that the thinkers of the world feared that if this republic should fail to live it would come to its end through the instability of the minds of men and that revolutionary thought would arise to overturn the government. we find it in george washington and benjamin franklin and all of our statesmen as well as those who were watching the experiment here so anxiously from across the sea. what was the result? the result was they made a constitution just as ironclad as they could, so as to prevent its amendment. they made it as difficult for the fundamental law of the nation to be changed as they knew how to do.... those of us who wish to enter the political life, who believe that we have quite as good a right to express ourselves there as any man--what is our position? within the last century there has been extension after extension of the suffrage, and every one has put suffrage for women further off.... do you not see that while in this country there are millions of people who believe in the enfranchisement of women, while there is more sentiment for it than in any other, yet we are restricted by this stone wall of constitutional limitations which was set at a time when a republican form of government was totally untried? because of this we find ourselves distanced by monarchies and the women enfranchised in other lands are coming to us to express their pity and sympathy.... so i ask that you will this time make a report to the house of representatives and if you do not believe that we are right, for heaven's sake make an adverse report. anything will be more satisfactory than the indifference with which we have been treated for many years. do at least recognize that we have a cause, that there are women here whose hearts are aching because they see great movements to which they desire to give their help and yet they are chained down to work for the power that is not yet within their hands.... if you, mr. chairman, feel that you can not offer a favorable report because the majority of the committee is not favorable, then i beg of you, in behalf of the women of the united states, to show where you stand and to give an adverse report. the senate committee presented the national association with , and the house committee with , copies of these hearings, which they could use as a part of their propaganda literature. there was not, however, enough political influence back of the appeals for the submission of the federal amendment for woman suffrage to compel the committees to make reports which would bring the subject before congress. footnotes: [ ] part of call: in our own country the advocates of our cause know no discouragement or disappointment. the seed planted by the pioneers of the woman's rights movement is continuously bearing fruit in the educational, industrial and social opportunities for the women of today; these in turn presage the full harvest--political enfranchisement. under the stimulus of an educated intelligence and awakened self-respect women daily grow more unwilling that their opinions in government, the fundamental source of civilization, should continue to be uncounted with those of the defective and criminal classes of men. in the industrial world organized labor is recognizing in the underpaid services of women an enemy to economic prosperity and is making common cause with woman's demand for the ballot with which to protect her right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, avowed to be inalienably hers by the declaration of independence. time, agitation, education and organization cannot fail to ripen these many influences into a general belief in true democratic government of the people, without distinctions in regard to sex. susan b. anthony, honorary president. carrie chapman catt, president. anna howard shaw, vice-president. kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } auditors. mary j. coggeshall,} [ ] a ticket was sent with the invitation which took her carriage to the private entrance and enabled her to avoid the crowd. she was constantly surrounded by distinguished people and miss alice roosevelt left a party of friends, saying, "i must speak to miss anthony, she is my father's special guest." the next day she told the convention in her inimitable way that when she was presented to mr. roosevelt she said: "now, mr. president, we don't intend to trouble you during the campaign but after you are elected, then look out for us!" [ ] clergymen who opened the various meetings with prayer were dr. edward everett hale, chaplain of the u. s. senate; the rev. j. l. coudon, chaplain of the house of representatives; the reverends a. d. mayo, d.d.; s. m. newman, d.d., of the first congregational church; u. g. b. pierce, all souls unitarian church; john van schiack, jr., universalist church; alexander kent, people's church; the women ministers at the convention, anna howard shaw, anna garlin spencer, mary a. safford, marie jenney howe, and laywomen laura clay, lucy hobart day, mrs. clinton smith, president district w. c. t. u. the congregational singing was arranged and led by miss etta v. maddox of baltimore and the evening musical programs were in charge of herndon morsell and his pupils. [ ] the washington _post_ of that date contained an amusing little incident. miss anthony came into the morning session while mrs. upton was raising the money and the audience rose to their feet waving their handkerchiefs. she was about to sit down on the front seat when mrs. upton insisted she should come to the platform. "must i do that?" she said sotto voce. "i have on my travelling dress." "how we do put on airs as we grow older," said mrs. upton jokingly, assisting her to the platform. the applause continuing miss anthony smiled, reached out her hand with a deprecating gesture and said: "there now, girls, that's enough." [ ] the washington _times_ said: "mrs. upton is one of the most popular women in the suffrage movement and her energy is a matter of many years' history. if financial support is to be obtained from states, societies or individuals there is no one more capable of extracting generous subscriptions...." the _star_ said: "mrs. upton has served as treasurer many years. she is energetic, zealous, tactful, possesses a remarkable insight of human nature and is greatly admired. she is president of the ohio suffrage association and member of the warren board of education. before she became so engrossed in suffrage she did a great deal of literary work. her father, ezra b. taylor, succeeded garfield in congress and she was with him during his thirteen years in office. miss anthony always relied on him for advice and assistance." [ ] there was a large amount of unimpeachable testimony that the women had no part in these election frauds. mr. shafroth himself said: "the frauds were committed in a bad part of denver where few women live. to represent them as characteristic of women's election methods in colorado is an outrage." a prominent denver lawyer, who was then in washington, was interviewed on the subject and said: "that 'exhibit ' (relating to the alleged frauds by women) was not competent evidence and would have been thrown out by any court. the woman who accused herself and other women of cheating did not stay to be cross-examined; she simply made her affidavit and 'skipped out.' everything tends to the belief that she was in the employ of the opposite party." the president of the league for honest elections in denver, when stating that about thirty arrests had been made in connection with the frauds, said: "of those arrested and bound over, only one is a woman. we believe that she is the least guilty of all and whatever connection she had with the election in her precinct was as the passive instrument of the men in charge of the fraudulent work at that place. of the persons for whom warrants have been issued but not yet served, only one is a woman. she was a clerk in one of the lower precincts and we understand has left the city. i may say, as a result of my own experience in connection with this league, i find that women have practically nothing to do with fraudulent work." [ ] a miss elizabeth mccracken had been sent to colorado by the _outlook_ to prepare an article on woman suffrage, which it published. the statements in it were universally repudiated by the press and the people of that state. mrs. grenfell said of it at this convention: "it is as absurd to refute her assertions as to reply to baron munchausen or to insist that alice's adventures in wonderland never happened. such conditions as she describes do not exist in colorado." chapter v. national american convention of . until the national suffrage conventions had never been held further west than des moines, ia. ( ), but this year the innovation was made of going to the pacific coast for the thirty-seventh annual meeting, june -july ,[ ] at the invitation of the managers of the lewis and clark exposition held in portland, ore. it was a delightful experience from the beginning, as the delegates from the east and middle west met in chicago and had three special cars from there. the chicago woman's club gave a large reception in the afternoon of june for miss anthony, the officers and delegates. they took the train that night; mrs. carrie chapman catt joined them in iowa and others along the way, as it sped westward. the newspapers had given it wide publicity and they were greeted by suffragists at many places. the political equality club of boone, ia., brought large bouquets for miss anthony, dr. shaw and mrs. catt, who made brief speeches from the rear platform. the colored porter listened attentively and said: "well, that settles me; i am for woman suffrage," and afterwards diligently circulated copies of the _woman's journal_ on the train. another ovation awaited them at council bluffs. the train waited half an hour at omaha and the women of the political equality club, the w. c. t. u. and the woman's club united in a demonstration. a platform had been improvised and their presidents expressed a welcome to which responses were made by miss anthony, mrs. catt, dr. shaw, the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, miss laura clay and mr. and miss blackwell, editors of the _woman's journal_, while reporters were busy getting interviews. they returned to the train laden with flowers, which they distributed, sending buttonhole bouquets to the engineer, fireman and all the crew. the train was delayed two hours at cheyenne and former u. s. senator joseph m. carey and his wife, staunch suffragists and old friends of miss anthony, took her for a drive while the officers and delegates walked about the pleasant little city and went to see the handsome state house. miss blackwell wrote of the occasion: "everything in wyoming was surrounded by a sort of halo. the sky seemed of a more vivid blue, the grass of a brighter emerald than in the states where women do not enjoy equal rights. the leaves of the many cottonwood trees twinkled pleasantly in the clear sunlight, the air was fresh and bracing and the snow mountains looked down upon the city like a visible realization of ideals." the presence of the visitors soon became known and an impromptu reception was held in the large waiting room of the station, which was beautified by potted ferns and palms. sunday services were held on the train and during the week days business meetings in the stateroom of miss anthony and dr. shaw. as the journey neared the end the porter confided to lucy e. anthony, the railroad secretary, who arranged the trip: "i ain't never travelled with such a bunch of women before--they don't fuss with me and they don't scrap with each other!" monday morning they entered the magnificent scenery along the columbia river and at the dalles were met by mrs. duniway and a party of friends. by noon they had reached the city of roses and were comfortably settled in the portland hotel and the hospitable homes of the city. the convention, held in the first congregational church, was planned for a very full program of ten days instead of the usual week. notwithstanding the exposition was in progress and conventions were a matter of daily occurrence, none of the national suffrage conventions ever had fuller or more satisfactory reports. _journal_, _telegram_ and _oregonian_ vied with each other and the associated press sent out whatever was requested of it. _the oregonian_ said of the first executive session: "room in the portland hotel was the scene of a notable gathering yesterday afternoon. lawyers, doctors, ministers of the gospel, lecturers of renown and expert auditors were in close conference, mapping out a plan of campaign by which they will fight for their rights in this land of the free and home of the brave. that they have not had the rights accorded by the declaration of independence to all american citizens they attribute to the fact that they are women and it is to convince unseeing mankind that women who are intelligent enough to obey laws are capable of helping frame them, that the most profound and representative women of the country are gathered here in the interests of equal suffrage." miss blackwell presented this interesting picture in her letter to the _woman's journal_. the convention has opened magnificently, with glorious sunshine, great audiences, full and friendly press reports and the suffragists of the pacific coast outdoing themselves in cordial hospitality. the beautiful city of portland is so full of flowers at this season that the whole city might be thought to have decorated in honor of the coming of the national convention. as the yellow-ribboned delegates go through the streets they constantly utter exclamations of delight over the enormous roses, the curtains of dark blue clematis draping the verandas, the luxuriant masses of ivy and the majestic trees rising above the velvet lawns and casting their shade upon the many handsome residences.... hospitable oregonians send in presents to the officers of huge red and yellow apples and baskets of mammoth cherries nestling in their green leaves.... the large gray stone church has its auditorium hung with american flags and bunting of the suffrage color; portraits of lucy stone and susan b. anthony stand back of the pulpit and along its front runs the word "progress" in large letters made of flowers.... a splendid bouquet of white lilies has just been sent to the convention as a greeting from the oregon state federation of women's clubs and another of rich red roses from the portland woman's club, and the platform is imbedded in carnations from local florists. all sorts of organizations seem to vie with each other in welcoming their happy guests. the convention was opened with prayer by the rev. elwin l. house, pastor of the church. the president, dr. anna howard shaw, was in the chair and greetings were given from the oregon suffrage association by its president, mrs. henry waldo coe; the national council of women by the president, mrs. mary wood swift (calif.), who called attention to the fact that it was organized by suffragists; the national woman's christian temperance union by mrs. lucia faxon additon; the national grange by mrs. clara h. waldo, who said: "the basic principle of the grange is equal rights for men and women and it practices what it preaches, all the offices being open to women." greetings from the national federation of labor were offered by mrs. f. ross; the ladies of the maccabees by mrs. nellie h. lambson; the federation of women's clubs by mrs. sarah a. evans; the forestry association by mrs. arthur h. breyman; the women's henry george league by dr. mary h. thompson, the pioneer woman physician of oregon. the national conference of charities and corrections, then in session in portland, sent greetings by mrs. lillie r. trumbull, who said: "if woman suffrage means anything it means the protection of children, therefore we march under the same banner." mrs. abigail scott duniway, the pioneer suffragist of the northwest, presented to dr. shaw a gavel from the oregon historical society with a letter from its secretary, dr. george h. himes, describing the six kinds of wood out of which it was made, each of important historical value. it was accepted with thanks and used by her to preside over the convention. a centennial ode, composed by mrs. duniway, was finely read by mrs. sylvia w. mcguire. the response to all these greetings was made by miss anthony, of whom the _oregonian_ said: "the appearance of susan b. anthony was the signal for a wild ovation. the large audience rose to its feet and cheered the pioneer who has done so much for the cause of equal suffrage and who is still the life of a great work. at the close of the session men and women rushed forward, eager to clasp her hand and pay homage to her. there are many famous delegates present at this convention, women whose names are known in every civilized nation on the globe, but none shines with the luster which surrounds miss anthony." she began by recalling her visit in , when mrs. duniway and she made a speaking tour of six weeks in the state; the long stage rides over the corduroy roads, the prejudice encountered but personal friendliness and large audiences everywhere, and continued: i am delighted to see and hear in this church today the women representatives of so many organizations and it is in a measure compensation for the half-century of toil which it has been my duty and privilege to give to this our common cause. the sessions of this convention will be treated by the press of america exactly as it would treat any national gathering which was representative in character and had an object worthy of serious attention. the time of universal scorn for woman suffrage has passed and today we have strong and courageous champions among that sex the members of which fifty years ago regarded our proposals as part of an iconoclasm which threatened the very foundation of the social fabric.... elizabeth cady stanton and i made our first fight for recognition of the right of women to speak in public and have organizations among themselves. you who are younger cannot realize the intensity of the opposition we encountered. to maintain our position we were compelled to attack and defy the deep-seated and ingrained prejudices bred into the very natures of men, and to some of them we were actually committing a sin against god and violating his laws. gradually, however, the opposition has weakened until today we meet far less hostility to equal suffrage itself than then was manifested toward giving women the right of speaking in public and organizing for mutual advantage. the opening exercises closed with an address by the rev. thomas l. eliot, a unitarian minister, who with his wife had encouraged miss anthony during that visit of . he said his mother's great-aunt, abigail adams, had probably uttered the first declaration for woman suffrage on american soil, and paid a warm tribute to mrs. duniway's long and earnest labors for this cause as he had seen them during his thirty-seven years in oregon. at the insistence of dr. shaw miss anthony presided at the first evening session. it was said that she had wielded the gavel at more conventions than any other woman and she had presided over national suffrage conventions for nearly forty years, but this proved to be the last at which she filled that honored position. a press report said: "her voice is more vigorous than that of many a woman half her age and she speaks with fluency and ease." the _oregonian_ thus described her appearance on this occasion: "a rare picture she made in the high-backed oaken chair, her snowy hair puffed over her ears in old-time fashion and the collar of rose point lace, which seems to belong to dignified old age, forming a frame for her gentle but determined face. when she rose to call the meeting to order she was deluged with many beautiful floral tributes and drolly peering over the heap of flowers she said: "well, this is rather different from the receptions i used to get fifty years ago. they threw things at me then--but they were not roses--and there were not epithets enough in webster's unabridged to fit my case. i am thankful for this change of spirit which has come over the american people." governor george e. chamberlain gave the welcome of the state, declaring himself unequivocally and emphatically in favor of woman suffrage and expressing the hope that oregon was now ready to grant it. t. c. devlin extended the welcome of the city as proxy for the mayor, who addressed the convention later. the hon. jefferson myers, president of the state commission for the exposition, paid eloquent tribute to miss anthony and her co-workers and said: i hope that you may yet live to see many victories for the principles which you have so nobly advocated in behalf of the women of our land. these principles are not new to the american people. there are many differences of opinion, but, after all the argument for and against, it hardly seems possible that any one who is entitled to the privilege which you request can afford to deny that privilege to his mother. there is no question but that the women of our land bear today as great, if not greater, burdens in the affairs of a good and honorable government than our men. the raising of the children, their education and protection from the vices of the world, are cares that mothers have which no man's responsibility equals.... you are today among a citizenship on this coast that is very fair, broad-minded and ready to assist your cause whenever convinced that it will be an advantage and a betterment to our present government. if it is fairly placed before the voters of this commonwealth with a reasonable argument in its favor, there is no doubt in my mind of its success. we are the only state that has adopted the broad principle of government which permits the citizens of the commonwealth to prepare and vote its own legislation, by its own people, without aid or consent of any other power. i refer to the initiative and referendum.... i sometimes doubt whether this great western country would ever have had the stars and stripes without the influence of the american mother. therefore my sympathies are with you in your cause and all others supported by the mothers of our government for the liberties of themselves and families. mrs. duniway spoke on the pioneers of the northwest as one of them, introduced by miss anthony as "the woman with whom i went gipsying thirty-four years ago," and the audience grew enthusiastic at the sight of these two brave veterans, the one and the other . the press commented: "mrs. duniway's talk will be remembered as one of the best of the session. she said she had been electrified by the governor's speech and her own fairly scintillated with the result of the shock. her anecdotes were capital and her reminiscences of the cabbage and rotten-egg days convulsed the audience." mrs. catt, vice-president-at-large, responded to the greetings and expressed the pleasure of the delegates at being in "this most beautiful city of the united states and of the world." she spoke in highest praise of the free, independent spirit of the west, quoting the man who said: "out here we don't ask who your grandfather was but everybody stands on his own hypothenuse!" dr. shaw was so impressed with the responsibility of her new office that for the first time she wrote her president's address and it was published in twelve columns of the _woman's journal_. a portland paper thus prepared the audience: "the event of the evening will be the address of the president, the rev. anna howard shaw. she is easily the best and foremost woman speaker in the world and in her appearance portland will enjoy a rare treat. her eloquence is seldom equalled and she is a woman of deep learning, a cogent reasoner and a brilliant thinker.... she has wonderful magnetism and a rare voice of round, rich tones and great carrying capacity. an unusual combination of dignity and wit is hers and many brilliant remarks intersperse the numbers on the program, keeping the audience in fine humor and constant interest." after a glowing word-picture of the natural beauty of portland and oregon dr. shaw turned her attention to sacajawea, the young indian woman who guided lewis and clark through thousands of miles of trackless wilderness on their expedition to the great northwest. others will speak of that brave band of immortals whose achievements your great exposition commemorates, while we pay our tribute of honor and gratitude to the modest, unselfish, enduring little shoshone squaw, who uncomplainingly trailed, canoed, climbed, slaved and starved with the men of the party, enduring all that they endured, with the addition of a helpless baby on her back. at a time in the weary march when the hearts of the leaders had well nigh fainted within them, when success or failure hung a mere chance in the balance, this woman came to their deliverance and pointed out to the captain the great pass which led from the forks of the three rivers over the mountains. then silently strapping her papoose upon her back she led the way, interpreting and making friendly overtures to powerful tribes of indians, who but for her might at any moment have annihilated that brave band of intrepid souls.... the pass through which she led the expedition has long borne the name of a french explorer who had not seen it until many years after sacajawea had been gathered to her rest, but tardy acknowledgements of this heroine's services have at last been partially made. the u. s. geological survey has recently named one of the finest peaks in the bridge range in montana "sacajawea peak." ... forerunner of civilization, great leader of men, patient and motherly woman, we bow our hearts to do you honor! your tribe is fast disappearing from the land of your fathers. may we, the daughters of an alien race who slew your people and usurped your country, learn the lessons of calm endurance, of patient persistence and unfaltering courage exemplified in your life, in our efforts to lead men through the pass of justice, which goes over the mountains of prejudice and conservatism to the broad land of the perfect freedom of a true republic; one in which men and women together shall in perfect equality solve the problems of a nation that knows no caste, no race, no sex in opportunity, in responsibility or in justice! may "the eternal womanly" ever lead us on!... referring to the convention and the delegates dr. shaw said: what does our coming mean to us, who gather in this th annual convention where sits the woman whose chair has never been vacant in all these years of hope deferred; whose heart has continually glowed with perennial youth; whose soul has burned with a vivid flame of love and freedom; whose brain has been the inspirer of herculean service; whose industry has never flagged; whose quenchless hope for humanity has carried us from victory to victory? may her spirit of devotion to freedom ever lead us on! it means fifty-seven years nearer to victory than when the first invincible band of pioneers of universal freedom met in that little church in seneca falls, n. y., in . it means that in this body are women from four states of our union already crowned with full citizenship; that delegates from more than two-score states have crossed the borderland of freedom, and that representatives from nearly every state and territory are banded together in an unfaltering purpose to become politically free. it also means that more has been accomplished for the betterment of the condition of women, for their physical, economic, intellectual and religious emancipation, by these fifty-seven years of evolutionary progress, than by all the revolutions the world has known; and it means that in every civilized nation of the earth, more and more the most patriotic, the most law-abiding, the most intelligent and the most industrious people are coming to see the justice of our claim, that in a representative government "the people who bear the burdens and responsibilities should share its privileges also--not excepting women." ... the recent attacks of cardinal gibbons and former president cleveland, who had protested against women taking part in the government lest it interfere with the home, she answered with keen analysis, saying in part: the great fear that the participation of women in public affairs will impair the quality and character of home service is irrational and contrary to the tests of experience. does an intelligent interest in the education of a child render a woman less a mother? does the housekeeping instinct of woman, manifested in a desire for clean streets, pure water and unadulterated food, destroy her efficiency as a home-maker? does a desire for an environment of moral and civic purity show neglect of the highest good of the family? it is the "men must fight and women must weep" theory of life which makes men fear that the larger service of women will impair the high ideal of home. the newer ideal that men must cease fighting and thus remove one prolific cause for women's weeping, and that they shall together build up a more perfect home and a more ideal government, is infinitely more sane and desirable. participation in the larger and broader concerns of the state will increase instead of decrease the efficiency of government and tend to develop that self-control, that more perfect judgment which are wanting in much of the home training of today. a comprehensive review was made of the great events in the world's history during the past year and the work of the national american suffrage association was described. "whatever others may say or do," she declared, "our association must not accept any compromises. we must guard against the reactionary spirit which marks the present time and stand unfalteringly for the principle of perfect equality of rights and opportunities for all.... never was there a time when heroic service was more needed--not the spectacular heroism marching with flying banners and weapons of destruction but the quiet, earnest heroism of men and women standing steadfastly by that which seems right and rigidly adhering in daily intercourse to that sterling honesty of purpose which ennobles character and develops the best in a nation's life." this inspiring address, all of which was on the same high level as the portions quoted, thus concluded: we are told that to assume that women will help purify political life and develop a more ideal government but proves us to be dreamers of dreams. yes, we are in a goodly company of dreamers, of confucius, of buddha, of jesus, of the english commons fighting for the magna charta, of the pilgrims, of the american revolutionists, of the anti-slavery men and women. the seers and leaders of all times have been dreamers. every step of progress the world has made is the crystallization of a dream into reality. to look forward to a time when men shall be just, when "fair play and a square deal for all" will include women, when our republic shall in truth become what its dreamers have hoped it would be, a government "of the people, by the people and for the people,"--this _is_ a dream but it is a dream which we are helping to make real, and the result will come not alone because a vision has been revealed but by following it steadfastly to its fruition. the idealists dream and the dream is told, and the practical men listen and ponder and bring back the truth and apply it to human life, and progress and growth and higher human ideals come into being and so the world moves ever on. during the several business sessions the following action was taken: it was directed that a letter be sent to the president-elect, theodore roosevelt, asking him to recommend the submission of a th amendment in his message to congress; that as many organizations of women as possible be secured to unite in urging him to do so, following the methods employed by the protest committee (a committee appointed to wait upon him to present this request); that the banker, starr, underwood and green bequests amounting to $ , be appropriated for campaign work in oregon and the territories. miss clay announced that miss laura bruce had bequeathed $ , to her in trust for the national american woman suffrage association. the work conferences established by mrs. catt during her administration were held with the following among the questions discussed: must we supplement our present form of organization to achieve our "argument of numbers"? how can we best spread our ideas in other organizations? the field in and . our request in for a plank in the national platforms. these conferences, which had been a feature of the conventions for eight years, were dropped after this one but many of the practical subjects formerly discussed in such conferences were placed on the regular program. mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch presided at the conference on how can we nationalize our request for a th amendment? at its conclusion it was voted to refer to the business committee the idea of asking the suffragists of the four free states to instruct their senators and representatives in congress to move for the submission of a th amendment. it was her thought that all the state suffrage associations should send petitions to their respective congressmen asking for a th amendment to the national constitution enfranchising women; that earnest efforts should be made to have other organizations take similar action and every means employed to bring the question before them. the reports of the standing and special committees and those from the various state presidents, which occupied the morning and afternoon sessions, were excellent and valuable as usual. miss kate m. gordon (la.) in her corresponding secretary's report called attention to the conspicuous triumph for woman suffrage when the great international council of women, whose delegates represented practically the whole civilized world, at its meeting in berlin the preceding year unanimously endorsed woman suffrage and appointed a standing committee on citizenship and equal rights, with dr. shaw as its chairman. she read letters from the governors of the four equal suffrage states regretting their inability to be present for woman's day at the exposition and giving the strongest possible endorsement of the practical working of woman suffrage. the report of miss elizabeth j. hauser, headquarters secretary, of the first year's work in its new home at warren, o., was most interesting. the letters sent out numbered , and included three during the year to the president of every local club, giving information, plans of work and encouragement. the bureau had over , individual correspondents. nearly , copies of _progress_ went to newspapers, public men, delegates to the political conventions and subscribers. about , pieces of literature exclusive of _progress_ were distributed, going to every state and territory, to canada, england, holland and australia. in addition thousands of booklets, political equality leaflets and souvenirs of various kinds were sent forth as propaganda. the report of mrs. catt, chairman of the committee on literature, showed that it had provided , of these pieces and had printed about , during the year. miss anthony had presented to the association ten sets of the history of woman suffrage and eighty copies of the new volume iv to be sold, miss hauser said. headquarters were maintained at the louisiana purchase exposition in st. louis. the work inaugurated by miss anthony of securing resolutions for woman suffrage from conventions of various kinds was successfully continued. fraternal delegates were sent to national conventions and the u. s. national council of women had created a committee on political equality. nineteen state organizations adopted resolutions endorsing woman suffrage; fraternal delegates from suffrage associations were sent to eighteen other state gatherings and the question was given a hearing at six territorial conventions; greetings were sent to three, literature distributed in four and woman suffrage day observed in three state gatherings. add to these the societies (not suffrage) which reported adopting resolutions on the statehood protest and there is positive knowledge that the question was before and received favorable action from societies in . a full report was given of the effort to obtain woman suffrage planks in the platforms of the political parties, delegates from the association being sent to all. [see chapter xxiii.] an outstanding feature of the year's achievements was what was known as the statehood protest. at the beginning of the th congress a bill passed the lower house providing for the admission to statehood of oklahoma, indian, arizona and new mexico territories under the names of oklahoma and arizona. it contained a clause saying that "the right of suffrage should never be abridged except on account of illiteracy, minority, _sex_, conviction of felony or mental condition." the association's legal adviser, mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of chicago, was consulted by mrs. upton and miss hauser the preceding june as to how the word "sex" could be eliminated. she took the matter under consideration and laid her plan before the business committee in september. it called for a nation-wide protest from women's organizations and individuals. the committee approved but did not feel able to make a sufficient appropriation. the report continued: when the result was communicated to mrs. mcculloch by letter she answered post-haste: "we dare not let this work go undone. i will raise the money for it myself." the headquarters undertook to do the work. we appealed to the president or the corresponding secretary for directories of associations and as fast as names were secured copies of the circular letter of the woman's protest committee, written by miss blackwell, were sent out. this letter was signed by twenty-six women, among them presidents of the following national organizations: council of women, council of jewish women, woman suffrage association, teachers' federation, catholic women's league, woman's christian temperance union, ladies of the grand army of the republic, lutheran women's league, congress of mothers, etc., and , were sent out with , leaflets, "why women should protest." perhaps no more spontaneous response was ever given to anything than to this letter. all sorts of societies, not of women only but of men and of men and women, protested. more than reported their action to headquarters. the number of individuals who reported that they had written to senator albert j. beveridge (ind.), chairman of the committee on territories, and to their own senators was so great that we could not keep a record. newspapers the country over commented on the matter, hundreds of clippings on the subject sometimes being received in one mail. what was the result? under date of dec. , , senator beveridge notified headquarters that the senate committee had unanimously voted to strike out the objectionable word "in accordance with your very reasonable request." it was a great victory and more than paid for the labor. mrs. mcculloch was as good as her word and raised the money to defray all the expenses, giving $ herself and securing from her friend and ours, mrs. elmina springer of chicago, $ ; mrs. mary wood swift of california, president of the national council of women, contributed $ ; our own president, miss shaw, gave $ and there were some small contributions. the work was most economically done, the printing and envelopes costing $ , the postage over $ and a balance was left.[ ] the report of mrs. harriet taylor upton, national treasurer, showed receipts for the year to be $ , , including bequests of $ , from mrs. henrietta l. banker of new york and $ from mrs. armilla j. starr of michigan; $ , from mrs. charlotte a. cleveland of new york and $ each from mrs. jonas green of virginia and mrs. helen j. underwood of california. the disbursements were $ , . miss hauser asked for the money for the next year's work and $ , were quickly subscribed. a large number of $ life memberships were taken. one hundred one-dollar pledges were made in memory of sacajawea. mrs. catt guaranteed that mrs. upton and herself would raise $ , for the oregon campaign. henry b. blackwell, chairman of the presidential suffrage committee, gave the welcome information that the u. s. supreme court through chief justice fuller had rendered a decision that "the power of every state legislature in the appointment of presidential electors is plenary, exclusive and final." the report of mrs. ida porter boyer, chairman of the libraries committee, was read by mrs. blankenburg and showed that thus far a bibliography of books, pamphlets, etc., on woman suffrage had been compiled. one book bore the date of . another had the title "no female suffrage; theology, logic, anatomy, physiology and philology united to establish the truism that woman is no human being." mrs. blankenburg went as fraternal delegate to the convention of the national libraries association meeting in portland at this time and gave part of this report, which was received with much interest and cooperation was promised. the report of mrs. elnora m. babcock, chairman of the press committee, was as complete and valuable as usual. it said that , general suffrage articles had been sent out and , papers supplied by the chairman and committee since the last convention. each paper in portland had been furnished with personal sketches of every officer and speaker connected with the convention and copies of all the reports and speeches that could be obtained, as was customary wherever a convention was held. in referring to special articles she said that , copies from members of the association and residents of colorado had been sent out in answer to the charges that woman suffrage was responsible for the recent election frauds in that state, which seemed to be made by every opponent who could wield a pen. answers were widely distributed to the report of the mosely educational commission sent here from great britain, and the male teachers' association of new york, to the effect that women should not be employed to teach boys over ten years of age and that teaching was interfering with the marriage of many women and keeping them from their proper place in the world. the article of former president grover cleveland in the _ladies' home journal_ denouncing women's clubs and particularly suffrage clubs had been almost universally commented on by the press and required extensive attention. a reply to cardinal gibbons's address to the women graduates of trinity college, washington, by mrs. ida husted harper was sent to eighty metropolitan papers and hundreds of shorter ones were scattered broadcast. the excellent work of the various state press chairman was described. one afternoon was devoted to a conference on how can we best utilize the press? mrs. harper presided and nearly twenty speakers took part. one of the portland papers commented: "if the great political organs of the united states knew how well these women have the tricks of the trade at their fingers' ends they would employ special detectives to watch for suffrage literature in disguise." mr. lathrop, editor of the portland _journal_, said: "a newspaper man in his official capacity is not an educator but a seller of news. one who would treat a suffrage convention as a negligible quantity would lose his job. the question is not how you can get matter about women into the papers but how you can keep it out." mrs. florence kelley added: "we all know to our sorrow that women cannot keep out of the papers but the question is how to get our subject in them in a way to promote it. i can recommend the following method: write something in editorial style just about as you want it to appear and send it to the editor with a deprecatory note to the effect that it is only raw material but perhaps it could be whipped into an editorial by his able pen. the chances are that the first time he is hard up for one he will use it--probably beheaded or with the end off or the middle amputated to show that the editor is editing, but it will be published." miss anthony was asked for reminiscences of her famous paper, the _revolution_, published in new york in - . mrs. duniway gave an interesting account of her paper, the _new northwest_, begun in in portland and continued for a number of years with the help of her five young sons. she expressed her love for the _woman's journal_, "the dear, reliable, old paper started by lucy stone and kept going by the heroic efforts of her husband and daughter," and many joined in this expression. mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.), editor of the _woman's tribune_, told of the press conference at the international council of women. mrs. julia b. nelson (minn.) and miss amanda way (ind.) were among the veteran writers who spoke. miss blackwell gave experienced advice and a number of younger women made brief but clever suggestions. an interesting part of the convention was woman's day at the exposition on june and this day had been chosen for the dedication of the statue of sacajawea, the indian woman who led the lewis and clark expedition thousands of miles through the wilderness unknown to white men. it was thus described: "the statue, a beautiful creation in bronze, was the work of miss alice cooper of denver, a pupil of lorado taft, the figure full of buoyancy and animation, a shapely arm suggestive of strength pointing to the distant sea, the face radiant, the head thrown back, the eyes full of daring." the exercises were in charge of the order of red men and the women's sacajawea association, mrs. eva emery dye, president, and on the platform facing the statue prominent members of the convention sat with president goode, of the exposition, mayor lane and other dignitaries. miss anthony and mrs. duniway spoke during the unveiling and presentation ceremonies and dr. shaw pronounced the benediction. [see oregon chapter.] the afternoon session of the convention was held in festival hall on the grounds and greetings were offered for organizations, including the young woman's christian association by mrs. l. e. rockwell and women's medical association by dr. esther c. pohl. dr. sarah a. kendall of washington responded. the los angeles suffrage club sent a greeting and mrs. helen secor tonjes brought one from the new york city equal suffrage league. mrs. charlotte perkins gilman gave an original poem. mrs. mabel craft deering, a graduate of california state university and the hastings law school of san francisco, read an able paper on coeducation. its sentiments were strongly endorsed by professor william s. giltner, president of eminence college, kentucky, one of the earliest women's colleges, from its beginning in to its close in . miss alice stone blackwell, under the title, sowing the seed, gave an interesting account of the early trials of her mother and two aunts, the pioneer doctors, elizabeth and emily blackwell. the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, an aunt by marriage, the pioneer woman minister, who was on the platform, said: "ever since i made my first suffrage speech in i have believed that the cause of woman suffrage was the cause of religion and vice versa." mrs. maud wood park read the eloquent address of mrs. lucia ames mead on the organization of the world. mrs. may arkwright hutton (idaho), who spoke for the equal suffrage states, gave this unique reminiscence of her early life in ohio when william mckinley, a young lawyer, after speaking in the town hall, was a guest of her grandfather. she said in part: "mr. mckinley carried the lantern, leading me by the hand, while i led grandfather, we little dreaming that the kindly young man guiding a child and an old, blind man through the wintry night would some day guide the destiny of the nation. on reaching home, i brought cider, apples and doughnuts from the cellar that we might have what grandfather called a 'schold check' before going to bed. the fire roared in the wide chimney place; grandfather sat in his armchair, mr. mckinley opposite and i on a low stool between them. they talked of the late war, reconstruction and woman's rights. then it was that i learned that women were denied rights enjoyed by men. mr. mckinley deplored the fact and contended that woman was the intellectual equal of man and should be his political equal. patting my head he said: 'i believe when this lassie grows up she will be a voter.'" at the close of the session a reception for miss anthony and the officers, speakers and delegates was given in the oregon building by its hostess, dr. annice jeffreys (mrs. jefferson) myers, assisted by mrs. coe, the state president. the big reception hall and the parlors were filled with visitors from all parts of the country. the _oregonian_ said: "when miss anthony, the honored guest, reached the oregon building the band played auld lang syne and the crowds became so dense that it was with difficulty dr. myers could escort her to the parlors. here she stood in line for more than an hour, women and men pressing around her wanting just a word and they got it! she declared that it did not make her nearly so tired as she used to feel when nobody wanted to take her hand." in a letter to the _woman's journal_ miss blackwell said: "both in the convention and at all the social functions miss anthony has been the central figure, the object of general admiration and affection. it is the strongest possible contrast to the unpopularity and persecution of her early days. all these attentions were most gratifying to the members of the convention, who appreciated her courage and devotion in making this long journey at the age of , and afterwards they were remembered with especial pleasure because it was the last in which she was able to take an active part." the social courtesies during the convention were unbounded. the woman's club gave a large evening reception in the rooms of the commercial club and mrs. arthur h. breyman, its president, opened her handsome residence for an afternoon tea. mrs. coe gave a dinner party of about thirty, her lovely home decorated in yellow flowers, the suffrage color. mrs. hutton had a handsome dinner of thirty covers at the portland hotel and the ode which she had written and dedicated to the convention was sung by mrs. alice mason barnett of san francisco here and at the convention. private dinners and teas were of daily occurrence and the drives around this beautiful city and its environs were a never failing delight. at one evening session c. e. s. wood (ore.) spoke on the injustice of majority rule in a cynical strain, believing that woman suffrage was right but fearing it would not do as much good as its advocates hoped for. now suffrage meant "little stuffed men going to a little stuffed ballot box" and he was afraid "women would take their place on the chess board to be moved in the game by some power they did not see." after he had finished dr. shaw observed: "i would rather be a little stuffed woman having my own say than to be ruled by a little stuffed man without my consent, and the only way we will cease to have little stuffed men is for them to be born of free mothers." dr. harriet b. jones of wheeling, w. va., told of the unsuccessful campaign to have municipal suffrage for women included in its new charter. "the anti-suffrage women of new york and massachusetts," she said," flooded the newspapers with literature and the heaviest opposing vote came from the lowest and most ignorant sections of the city." in answer to the request of the wheeling women the national association had sent miss hauser to take charge of the campaign and appropriated funds for it. a telegram to dr. shaw from samuel gompers, president of the american federation of labor, was read, saying: "kindly convey fraternal greetings to the officers and delegates of your convention and the earnest expression of our hope for the enfranchisement and disenthrallment of women." a telegram of greeting was received from mrs. frederick schoff, president of the national congress of mothers. one came from the national suffrage association of denmark. mrs. harper gave an address under the subject facing the situation, showing the satire of the disfranchisement of one-half the citizens in a government boasting of being founded on individual representation. in closing she said: "eastward the star of woman's empire takes its way. she does not look for the star in the east but for the star in the west. her sun of political freedom rose not in the east but in the west. it is to the strong, courageous and progressive men of the western states that the women of this whole country are looking for deliverance from the bondage of disfranchisement. it is these men who must start this movement and give it such momentum that it will roll irresistibly on to the very shores of the atlantic ocean. today the eyes of the whole country are on this beautiful and progressive state. this magnificent exposition has been a revelation of its splendid powers. it is an anomaly, a contradiction, a reproach indeed that in the midst of these wonderful achievements one-half of its citizens should be in absolute political subjection, without voice or share in affairs of state. are you not ready now to wipe out that paltry , majority which five years ago voted to continue this unjust condition? would it not add the crowning glory to this greatest period in your history if the free men of oregon should decree that this shall be, henceforth and forever, the land also of free women?" the rev. j. burgette short expressed regret that his church, the methodist episcopal, had refused to ordain dr. shaw and said it was much poorer in consequence. "you represent the brains of the world," he said to the delegates, "and you have my hearty interest and support in your work." a noteworthy address was made by the hon. w. s. u'ren, known as "the father of the initiative and referendum," which was then in its early stages but had been adopted by oregon and some other states. the convention was much impressed by this innovation, as the suffragists had long struggled against the refusal of legislatures to submit their question to the voters, and mrs. catt offered a resolution that "the convention affirms its belief in the initiative and referendum as a needed reform and a potent factor in the progress of true democracy." it was enthusiastically received and later adopted by the convention, contrary to the habit of the association to consider only subjects relating directly to women and children.[ ] under the pen name of lucas malet, mrs. mary st. leger harrison, a daughter of charles kingsley who was a strong believer in woman suffrage, had published an article in the london _fortnightly review_ attacking it and quoting president roosevelt as an opponent. a long resolution giving his favorable record for the past twenty-five years on questions relating to women was presented and adopted, against the judgment of many delegates. a committee was appointed to ask him for a more definite expression on woman suffrage.[ ] telegrams of greeting were sent to veterans in the cause--mrs. laura de force gordon, mrs. caroline m. severance, mrs. ellen clark sargent of california; mrs. caroline e. merrick of louisiana; mrs. julia ward howe, col. t. w. higginson, mrs. judith w. smith of massachusetts; mrs. armenia s. white of new hampshire; miss laura moore of vermont; mrs. margaret w. campbell of iowa. the committee on legislation for civil rights, mrs. blankenburg, chairman, reported that among measures the suffragists had worked for, the child labor laws had been strengthened in new york, pennsylvania and california; the "age of consent" had been raised in illinois and oregon; laws had been passed in several states requiring that women should be appointed to public boards and women physicians to public institutions, california leading. in massachusetts a petition that women might take part in nominating candidates for the school board, for which they were allowed to vote, signed by , women, was refused by the legislature. school suffrage was granted to women in the first class cities of oklahoma. mrs. mead, chairman of the committee on peace and arbitration seems to outshine the preceding one but last night's was the one in portland; of the series of articles published in preparation for the international peace congress in boston in and the work she had done in connection with it; of the many lectures given to universities and clubs and of the arrangements to have the public schools observe the anniversary of the first hague conference. the _oregonian_ said: "each program given by the convention seems to outshine the preceding one but last night's was the best thus far." the speakers were mrs. ella s. stewart, former president of the illinois suffrage association; the rev. antoinette brown blackwell (n. j.); mrs. mary j. coggeshall (ia.); miss gail laughlin (n. y.); judge stephen a. lowell, one of oregon's leading jurists. judge lowell reviewed the political situation, the evils that had crept into the government and the remedies that had been tried and failed and he summed up his conclusion by saying: "the reforms of the last century have come from women. man has few to his credit because he could not measure them by the only standard he had mastered, that of the dollar. witness the movement for female education led by mary lyon, the birth of the red cross in the work of florence nightingale, the institution of modern prison methods under the inspiration of elizabeth fry and the campaigns for temperance and social purity under the leadership of frances willard. the electorate needs the inspiring influence of women at the ballot box and the full mission of this republic to the world will never be met until she is admitted there. not color or creed or sex but patriotic honesty must be the test of citizenship if the republic lives." mrs. stewart took up the objections made by many of the clergy to woman suffrage and applied these to the ministers themselves. "they should not vote," she said with fine sarcasm, "because like women they are exempt from jury duty. they seldom go to war--some of them are too old, others too delicate, some too near-sighted, some too far-sighted. ministers as a rule are not heavy tax-payers. many of them do not want to vote and do not use the vote they have. a preacher has not time to vote. it might lead him to neglect his pastoral duties. political feeling often runs high and if he voted it might make quarrels in the church. the minister has a potent indirect influence. he would be contaminated by the corruption of politics. he is represented by his male relations; they are not as good and pure as he is and are probably immune from contamination by politics." mrs. catt, who presided, in presenting the rev. mrs. blackwell, one of the first to make the fight for the right of women to speak in public, said: "the combination of her sweet personality and her invincible soul has won friends for woman suffrage wherever she has gone." her address on suffrage and education showed the evolution in woman's work. "my grandmother taught me to spin," she said, "but the men have relieved womankind from that task and as they have taken so many industrial burdens off of our hands it is our duty to relieve them of some of their burdens of state." introducing mrs. coggeshall of iowa mrs. catt said: "when i get discouraged i think of her and for many a year she has been one of my strongest inspirations." a portland paper commented: "her snow-white hair and demure face give no indication of the brilliant repartee and sharp argument of which she is capable." in her word from the middle west she said: "its women are determined to have the ballot if they have to bear and raise the sons to give it to them. this scheme is in active operation. i myself have raised three--eighteen feet for woman suffrage--and others have done better. no bugle can ever sound retreat for the women of the middle west." the _oregonian_ said of miss laughlin's address: her arguments are the straight, convincing kind that leave nothing for the other fellow to say. she comes to oregon a lawyer of new york who is proudly boasted of, and justly, by her fellow workers as the woman who carried off the oratorical honors of cornell and won for that institution the championship in intercollegiate debating contests.... in asking for a "square deal" miss laughlin said: "'a square deal for every man.' these words of president roosevelt were more discussed during our last presidential campaign than was any party platform plank. the growing prominence of the doctrine of a square deal is of vital significance to us who stand for equal suffrage, as we ask only for this. it has been invoked chiefly against 'trusts.' we invoke the doctrine of a square deal against the greatest 'trust' in the world--the political trust--which is the most absolute monopoly because entrenched in law itself and because it is a monopoly of the greatest thing in the world, of liberty itself. the exclusion of women from participation in governmental affairs means the going to waste of a vast force, which, if utilized, would be a great power in the advance of civilization.... but there depends on the success of the equal suffrage movement something more valuable even than national prosperity and that is the preservation of human liberty. now, as in , 'the nation cannot remain half slave and half free,' and either women must be made free or men will lose the liberty which they enjoy." sunday services were conducted at : in the first congregational church by the rev. eleanor gordon, pastor of the first unitarian church of des moines, ia., assisted by dr. shaw and the rev. eliza tupper wilkes of los angeles, with a special musical program. miss gordon had filled the unitarian pulpit in the morning, giving an eloquent sermon on revelations of god. mrs. charlotte perkins gilman had preached in the congregational church in the morning and the rev. mrs. blackwell in the evening. miss laura clay gave a bible reading and exposition in the taylor street methodist episcopal church in the evening. the rev. j. whitcomb brougher, pastor of the white temple, the large baptist church, invited miss anthony to occupy its pulpit and expound "any doctrine she had at heart." the _oregonian_ said: "she took him at his word and got in some of the best words for suffrage that have been put before the portland public. there was such enthusiasm over the venerable founder and leader of the suffrage movement that when she appeared on the rostrum the applause was as vigorous as though it had not been sunday and the place a church. there was not room in the big temple for another person to squeeze past the doors." the papers quoted liberally from the sermons of all and the portland _journal_ said: "each preached to a congregation that taxed the capacity of the church.... the welcome accorded the women by the portland pastors was sharply in contrast with the hostility shown by the clergy when equal suffrage conventions began in the middle of the last century.[ ] the monday evening session was opened by willis duniway, who gave a glowing appreciation of the work of the national american suffrage association and said in the course of a strong speech that he wanted to see woman suffrage because it was right and because he wanted the brave pioneer women who had worked for it so long to get it before they passed away. "i want my mother to vote," he declared amid applause.[ ] "the basis of safe and sane government is justice, which has its roots in constitutional liberty and means equal rights and opportunities.... i claim no right or privilege for myself that i would not give to my mother, wife and sister and to every law-abiding citizen." when he had finished his mother rose and said dryly: "that, dear women from the north, east, south and west, is one of mrs. duniway's poor, neglected children!" miss mary n. chase, president of the new hampshire association, spoke convincingly on the vital question, taking as the keynote: "a republic based on equal rights for all is not the dream of a fanatic but the only sane form of government." i. n. fleischner, who had just been elected to the school board largely by the votes of women, assured the convention of his approval and support of the measures it advocated and said he hoped to see the women enjoying the full right of suffrage in oregon in the very near future. mrs. florence kelley, executive secretary of the national consumers' league, spoke with deeper understanding than would be possible for any other woman of the young bread-winner's need. "we have in this country," she said, " , , children under the age of sixteen who are earning their bread. they vary in age from six and seven in the cotton mills of georgia, eight, nine and ten in the coal-breakers of pennsylvania and fourteen, fifteen and sixteen in more enlightened states.... in some of the states children from six to thirteen may legally be compelled to work the whole night of twelve hours," and she described the heart-breaking conditions under which they toil. she urged the need of woman's votes to destroy the great evil of child labor and said: "we can enlist the workingmen on behalf of our enfranchisement just in proportion as we strive with them to free the children." in introducing mr. blackwell, dr. cora smith eaton, who was presiding, said: "as we came across the continent what impressed me most was the mountains. first came the foothills, then the high mountains and then the grand, snow clad peaks. some of us are like the foothills, just raised a little above the women who have all the rights they want; then come those on a higher level of public spirit and service, who are like the mountains; and then the pioneers rising above all like the snow covered peaks." taking the ground that "the perpetuity of republican institutions depends on the speedy extension of the suffrage to women," mr. blackwell said in his sound, logical address: "how can we reach the common sense of the plain people, without whose approval success is impossible?... a purely masculine government does not fully represent the people, the feminine qualities are lacking. it is a maxim among political thinkers that 'every class that votes makes itself felt in the government.' women as a class differ more widely from men than any one class of men differs from another. to give the ballot to merchants and lawyers and deny it to farmers would be class legislation, which is always unwise and unjust, but there is no class legislation so complete as an aristocracy of sex. men have qualities in which they are superior to women; women have qualities in which they are superior to men, both are needed. women are less belligerent than men, more peaceable, temperate, chaste, economical and law-abiding, with a higher standard of morals and a deeper sense of religious obligation, and these are the very qualities we need to add to the aggressive and impulsive qualities of men." the _journal_ in commenting on this address said: "a venerable and historical figure is that of henry b. blackwell, who in company with his daughter, alice stone blackwell, is in attendance upon the national suffrage convention. this snowy-haired, white-bearded patriarch embodies in his voice, his presence, his interest in every passing event, in his appreciation of every beauty of earth and sky, in the shifting panorama of nature, the loyal spirit of freedom, the true spirit of manhood that has dominated his passing years."[ ] a valuable report on industrial problems relating to women and children was made by mrs. kelley, chairman of the committee, which she began by saying that during eleven states had improved their child labor laws or adopted new ones and in every state suffragists had helped secure these laws. she said that wherever woman suffrage was voted on its weakness proved to be among the wage-earners of the cities and she urged that the association submit to the labor organizations its bill in behalf of wage-earning women and children with a view to close cooperation. to the workingmen woman suffrage meant chiefly "prohibition" and an effort should be made to convince them that it includes assistance in their own legislative measures. mrs. kate s. hilliard (utah) answered the question, will the ballot solve the industrial problem? wallace nash spoke on the work of the christian cooperative federation. the leading address of the afternoon was made by rabbi emil g. hirsch of chicago on the educational problem. "it is a strange anomaly in american public life," he said, "that we have given our schools largely into the hands of women who must teach history and patriotism but are not considered competent to vote. i plead for the same education for boys and girls and i urge you to take a deep interest in the public schools." he gave testimony to the excellent legislative work women had done along many lines and declared that "women pay taxes and do public service and hold up before men the standard of righteousness and they ought to have a vote," and closed by saying: "we need appeals to the heart and conscience in our schools and a revival of conscience. we need a standard of character and conscience and women can bring it into the schools much better than men can. the woman, because she is a woman, is less easily corrupted than the man who has forgotten that he had a mother. if we must disfranchise somebody, it would better be many of the men than the women." at one meeting judge roger s. greene, who was chief justice of the territory of washington when the majority of the supreme court gave a decision which took away the suffrage from women and who loyally tried to preserve it for them, was invited to the platform and received an ovation. at another time judge william galloway, a veteran suffragist, was called before the convention, and after referring to his journey to oregon by ox-team in told of his conversion by mrs. duniway when he was a member of the legislature at the age of . national conventions were of daily occurrence during the exposition and a number of them called for addresses by mrs. catt, dr. shaw and other suffrage speakers. at the evening session preceding the last miss mary s. anthony, years old, read in a clear, strong voice the declaration of sentiments adopted at the famous first woman's rights convention in , which she had signed. the rest of the evening of july was given to what the _woman's journal_ spoke of as "mrs. catt's noble address," the new time, beginning: this is a glorious fourth of july. in a hundred years the united states has grown into a mighty nation. this last has been a century of wonderful material development, but we celebrate not for this. july commemorates the birth of a great idea. all over the world, wherever there is a band of revolutionists or of evolutionists, today they celebrate our fourth. the idea existed in the world before but it was never expressed in clear, succinct, intelligible language until the american republic came into being.... taxation without representation is tyranny, it always was tyranny, it always will be tyranny, and it makes no difference whether it be the taxation of black or white, rich or poor, high or low, man or woman.... the united states has lost its place as the leading exponent of democracy. australia and new zealand have out-americanized america. let us not forget that progress does not cease with the th century. we say our institutions are liberal and just. they may be liberal but they are not just for they are not derived from the consent of the governed. what is your own mental attitude toward progress? if you should meet a new idea in the dark, would you shy? robespierre said that the only way to regenerate a nation was over a heap of dead bodies but in a republic the way to do it is over a heap of pure, white ballots. "mrs. catt was awarded the chautauqua salute when she appeared on the platform," said the _oregonian_, "and it was some minutes before the former president of the association could proceed. she spoke eloquently and at considerable length and in this assemblage of remarkably bright women it was plain to be seen that she was a star of the first magnitude." it was hard for the convention to accede to mrs. catt's determination to retire from even the vice-presidency of the association because of her continued ill health but they yielded because this was so evident. mrs. florence kelley was the choice for this office and in accepting she said: "i was born into this cause. my great-aunt, sarah pugh of philadelphia, attended the meeting in london which led to the first suffrage convention in . my father, william d. kelley, spoke at the early washington conventions for years." dr. eaton was again obliged to give up the office of second auditor on account of her professional duties and dr. annice jeffreys myers, who had so successfully planned and managed the convention, was almost unanimously elected. no other change was made in the board. among the excellent resolutions presented by the chairman of the committee, mr. blackwell, were the following: whereas, the children of today are the republic of the future; and whereas two million children today are bread-winners; and whereas the suffrage movement is deeply interested in the welfare of these children and suffragists are actively engaged in securing protection for them; and whereas working-men voters are also vitally interested in protection for the young bread-winners; therefore, resolved, that it is desirable that our bills for civil rights and political rights, together with the bills for effective compulsory education and the proposal for prohibiting night work and establishing the eight-hour day for minors under eighteen years of age, be submitted to the organizations of labor and their cooperation secured. the frightful slaughter in the far east shows the imperative need of enlisting in government the mother element now lacking; therefore we ask women to use their utmost efforts to secure the creation of courts of international arbitration which will make future warfare forever afterwards unnecessary. we protest against all attempts to deal with the social evil by applying to women of bad life any such penalties, restrictions or compulsory medical measures as are not applied equally to men of bad life; and we protest especially against any municipal action giving vice legal sanction and a practical license.... we recommend one moral standard for men and women. the list of memorial resolutions was long and included many prominent advocates of woman suffrage. among those of california were mrs. leland stanford, judge e. v. spencer and the veteran workers, mrs. e. o. smith and sarah burger stearns, the latter formerly of minnesota; jas. p. mckinney and jas. b. callanan of iowa; helen coffin beedy of maine. twenty-two names were recorded from massachusetts, among them the hon. george s. boutwell, president elmer h. capen, of tufts college; the hon. william claflin, the rev. george c. lorimer, mrs. ednah d. cheney; mrs. martha e. root, a michigan pioneer; grace espey patton cowles, commissioner of indian affairs, montana. the rev. augusta chapin, d. d., dr. phoebe j. b. waite, bishop huntington, james w. clarke, dr. cordelia a. greene, were among the ten from new york; mayor samuel m. jones, among seven from ohio. five pioneers of pennsylvania had passed away, john k. wildman, richard p. white, mrs. mary e. haggart, miss matilda hindman, miss anna hallowell. cyrus w. wyman of vermont and orra langhorne of virginia were other deceased pioneers; also mrs. rebecca moore and mrs. margaret preston tanner, who were among the earliest workers in great britain. special resolutions were adopted for mrs. mary a. livermore and u. s. senator george f. hoar of massachusetts; col. daniel r. anthony of kansas; mrs. louisa southworth of ohio. the eloquent resolutions prepared by mr. blackwell ended: "never before in a single year have we had to record the loss of so many faithful suffragists. let the pioneers who still survive close up their ranks and rejoice in the accession of so many young and vigorous advocates, who will carry on the work to a glorious consummation." the california delegation presented the following resolution, which was enthusiastically adopted: "resolved, that we remember with the deepest gratitude the one man who has stood steadfast at the helm, notwithstanding constant ridicule and belittlement on the part of the press during the early years of the work, unselfishly and unceasingly devoting his life to the self-imposed task year after year, never faltering, never seeking office or honors but always a worker; one who has grown gray in the service--henry b. blackwell." invitations were received to hold the next convention in washington, chicago and baltimore. the by-law requiring that every alternate convention must be held in washington during the first session of congress was amended to read "may be held." the _woman's journal_ said: "miss anthony favored the change and mr. blackwell opposed it--an amusing fact to those who remember how strongly he used to advocate a movable annual convention and miss anthony a stationary one in washington. evidently neither of them is so fossilized as to be unable to see new light." the invitation of the maryland woman suffrage association was accepted. the dominant interest of the convention had been in a prospective campaign for a woman suffrage amendment to the constitution of oregon. the legislature had refused to submit it but under the initiative and referendum law this could be done by petition. public sentiment throughout the state seemed to indicate that it was now ready to enfranchise women and officials from the governor down believed an amendment could be carried. all the officers of the state suffrage association had joined in the invitation to the national association to hold its convention of in portland and inaugurate the campaign and to assist it in every possible way. after the report of the state vice-president, dr. annice jeffreys myers, had been read to the convention of a resolution had been moved by mrs. catt, seconded by miss anthony and unanimously adopted, that the association accept this invitation and a pledge of $ , had been made. throughout the present convention the speeches of public officials and the pledges made on every hand encouraged the members to feel that the association should give all possible help in money and workers.[ ] the public was much impressed at the last session by the appearance on the platform of four prominent politicians of the state representing the different parties and this was generally regarded as the opening of the campaign for woman suffrage. they were introduced by state senator henry waldo coe, m. d., who spoke in highest praise of homes and housekeepers as he had seen them in his practice and said: "the woman who takes an interest in the affairs of her country has the highest interest in her home, and the suffrage will not lessen her fitness as wife and mother." he introduced mayor harry lane as the democrat who carried a republican city and who was the best mayor portland ever had. mr. lane declared that women were as much entitled to the suffrage as men and that the enfranchisement of women would tend to purify politics. dr. andrew c. smith, a republican, was introduced as "the man who presented the names of thirteen women physicians to the state medical association and got them admitted." the press report said: "the prospective women voters were informed that they saw before them the next governor of oregon." dr. smith declared that he had been for woman suffrage twenty-five years and that "the united states was guilty of a national sin in not giving women equal rights." thomas burns, state secretary of the socialist party, asserted that it was the only one which had a plank for woman suffrage in its platform and the socialists had fought for it all over the world. "men have made a failure of government," he said, "now let the women try it." o. m. jamison, of the citizens' movement, said: "we have found women the strongest factor in our work for reform and i think per cent. of us are for woman suffrage." b. lee paget, who spoke for the prohibitionists, declared himself an old convert to woman suffrage and said: "i think intelligent women far better fitted to vote on public measures than the majority of men who take part in campaigns and are wholly ignorant of the issues." l. f. wilbur of vermont told of its improved laws for women and advancing public sentiment for woman suffrage and paid a glowing tribute to the early work in that state of lucy stone, mr. blackwell and julia ward howe. mrs. maud wood park, president of the massachusetts college women's suffrage league, gave a scholarly address on the civic responsibility of women, which she began by saying that the first "new woman" was from boston--anne hutchinson. dr. marie d. equi, candidate for inspector of markets, spoke briefly on the need of market inspection for which women were especially fitted. mrs. charlotte perkins gilman (n. y.) in discussing woman's world said in part: "ex-president cleveland, after warning women against the clubs which are leading them straight to the abyss of suffrage, told us that 'the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.' ... is it true? the indian woman rocks the cradle; does she rule the world? the chinese woman--the woman of the harem--do they rule it? an amiable old gentleman in opening a suffrage debate said: 'my wife rules me and if a woman can rule a man, why should she care to rule the country?' he seemed to think he was equal to the whole united states! women have been taught that the home was their sphere and men have claimed everything else for themselves. the fact that women in the home have shut themselves away from the thought and life of the world has done much to retard progress. we fill the world with the children of th century a. d. fathers and th century b. c. mothers." miss blackwell lightened the proceedings with some of her clever anecdotes with a suffrage moral, and mrs. gilman with several of her brilliant poems. mrs. catt gave a concise review of the international woman suffrage alliance, formed at berlin in , and told of the progress of woman suffrage in other countries. greetings to all of them were sent by the convention. dr. shaw gave an impressive peroration to this interesting session by pointing out the responsibility resting on the men and women of oregon to carry to success the campaign which they had now begun, and miss anthony closed the convention with a fervent appeal to all to work for victory. the delegates and visitors greatly enjoyed the exposition, which had such a setting as none ever had before, looking out on the dazzling beauty of the snowclad peaks of mt. hood and the olympic range, and now they had to select from the many opportunities for travel and sight-seeing. the rev. mrs. blackwell, emily howland, mrs. cartwright of portland and others from seventy to eighty years of age, took a steamer for alaska. mr. and miss blackwell and others went to seattle, vancouver and home through the magnificent scenery of the canadian pacific railroad. mrs. catt and another party returned east by way of the yellowstone park. dr. cora smith eaton with a few daring spirits went for a climb of mt. hood. miss anthony with a group of friends started southward, stopping at chico, california, for her to dedicate a park of , acres, which mrs. annie k. bidwell had presented to the village. they went on to san francisco where they were joined by dr. shaw, who had remained in portland for the medical convention and spoken at several places en route. here they were beautifully entertained in the homes of the suffrage leaders, mrs. mary wood swift, mrs. ellen clark sargent, mrs. mary s. sperry, mrs. emma shafter howard and others, and mass meetings crowded to the doors were held in san francisco and oakland. from here they went to los angeles for other meetings, except dr. shaw, who started eastward for her round of chautauqua engagements. footnotes: [ ] part of call: a government of men and women--not by women alone, not by men alone, but a government of men and women by men and women for men and women--this is the aim and ideal of our association. one hundred years ago oregon was an untrodden wilderness. the transformation of that primeval territory into prosperous communities enjoying the highest degree of civilization could not have been accomplished without the work of women. no restriction should be placed upon energies and abilities so potent for good. the extension of the right of suffrage would remove a handicap from the efforts of women and give them an opportunity to work for the welfare of the state. we do not claim that woman's voice in the government would at once sound the death knell to all social and political evils but we do believe that a government representing the interests and beliefs of women and men would prove itself, and is proving itself where it now exists, to be a better government than one which represents the interests and beliefs of men alone. the movement for the enfranchisement of women is based upon the unchanging and unchangeable principles of human liberty, in accordance with which successive classes of men have won the right of self-government. on such a foundation ultimate victory is assured and in truth is conceded even by those who oppose. the day is ever drawing nearer when the nation will apply to women the principles which are the very foundation of its existence; when on every election day there will be re-affirmed the immortal truths of our declaration of american independence. then will this indeed be a just government, "deriving its powers from the consent of the governed." susan b. anthony, honorary president. anna howard shaw, president. carrie chapman catt, vice-president. kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } cora smith eaton, } auditors. [ ] if this request was so "reasonable" why was the word "sex" included in the first place? although it was omitted from the act of congress which admitted these territories to statehood under the names of arizona, new mexico and oklahoma, each one adopted a constitution whose suffrage clause absolutely barred women and those constitutions were approved by congress. (see their special chapters.) [ ] in later years woman suffrage amendments were submitted to the voters through the initiative and referendum after the legislature had refused to do it and were carried in oregon and arizona and defeated in nebraska and missouri. still later by this method the ratification of the federal suffrage amendment in ohio by the legislature was sent to the voters after they had defeated the ratification of the prohibition amendment. this was attempted in several other states and both prohibitionists and suffragists were in great distress, which was relieved by a decision of the u. s. supreme court that this action was unconstitutional. they learned, however, that the initiative and referendum has its harmful as well as its beneficial side. [ ] miss anthony and mrs. upton went to washington in november, where mrs. harper joined them, and on the th president roosevelt received them cordially and granted them a long interview. miss anthony was the principal spokesman and made these requests: . to mention woman suffrage in his speeches when practicable. . to put experienced women on boards and commissions relating to such matters as they would be competent to pass upon. . to recommend to congress a special committee to investigate the practical working of woman suffrage where it exists. . to see that congress should not discriminate against the women of the philippines as it had done against those of hawaii. . to say something that would help the approaching suffrage campaign in oregon. . to speak to the national suffrage convention in baltimore in february, as he did to the mothers' congress. . to recommend to congress a federal suffrage amendment before he left the presidency. these requests were given to him in typewritten form but president roosevelt did not comply with one of them and did not communicate further with the committee who called upon him. for full account of this occurrence see life and work of susan b. anthony, page . [ ] different sessions were opened with prayer by rabbi stephen s. wise, father black and the reverends elwin l. house, h. m. barden, e. s. muckley, j. burgette short, j. whitcomb brougher, e. nelson allen, edgar p. hill, w. s. gilbert, a. a. morrison, t. l. eliot, asa sleeth, j. f. ghormley, george creswell cressey, representing various denominations. nearly all of them pledged their support to the suffrage movement. the fine musical programs throughout the convention were in charge of mrs. m. a. dalton. [ ] oregon gave suffrage to women in and mrs. duniway received full recognition. see oregon chapter. [ ] mr. blackwell, then years old, used to rise early in the morning and take a trolley ride of thirty or forty miles in various directions to enjoy the beauties of nature. "feeling unwilling to return east without bathing in the pacific," he said in one of his letters, "and wishing to visit astoria, the ancient american fur-post so charmingly immortalized by washington irving, i left portland after the convention closed and had a beautiful voyage of nine hours down the river to where it meets the ocean.... after an early morning plunge into the big waves we chartered an auto and sped over the hard sands to the fir-crowned cliffs." [ ] for results the following year see oregon chapter. chapter vi. national american convention of . the thirty-eighth annual convention held in baltimore feb. - , , was notable in several respects. it had gone into the very heart of conservatism and a larger number of eminent men and women took part in its proceedings than had ever before been represented on a single program.[ ] there were university presidents and professors, men and women; office holders, men and women; representatives of other large movements, men and women, and more distinguished women than had ever before assembled in one convention. it was especially memorable because of the presence on the platform together for the first and only time of the three great pioneers, susan b. anthony, clara barton and julia ward howe, and never to be forgotten by suffragists as the last ever attended by miss anthony. here was sung the battle hymn of the republic in the presence of the woman who wrote it, mrs. howe; and the star spangled banner in the home of its author, francis scott key. the meetings were held in the beautifully decorated lyric theater with appreciative and enthusiastic audiences. the arrangements had been made by the maryland suffrage association and its president, mrs. emma maddox funck. ministers of nearly all denominations asked blessings on the various sessions and the best musical talent in the city gave its services. the papers were most generous with space and fair and friendly in their reports. through the influence and efforts of dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college, the remarkable representation of women's colleges was secured. baltimore's most prominent woman, miss mary e. garrett, was largely responsible for the social prestige which is especially necessary to success in a southern city. it was a convention long to be remembered by those who were so fortunate as to be a part of it. the convention opened on the afternoon of february with dr. anna howard shaw, president of the association, in the chair and was welcomed by mrs. funck, who said in a graceful speech: "you have come to the conservative south. conservative--what a sweet-sounding word, what an ark for the timid soul! so you must expect to find a good many folks who mean well but who have not discarded their silver buckles and ruffles, but nothing will more clearly indicate the development of our people from provincialism and bigotry than their generosity of spirit and kindly intent towards the gathering of our clans in this convention. most people have come to realize that to be a great nation we must have that catholicity of spirit which embraces all ologies and all isms.... from the suffrage pioneers we have learned the lessons of fair play and equal rights." fraternal greetings were offered by mrs. albert l. sioussat, president of the state federation of women's clubs; mrs. hattie hull troupe, president of the women's twentieth century club of baltimore; mrs. rosa h. goldenberg, president of the maryland section jewish council of women, and mrs. mary r. haslup, president of the baltimore woman's christian temperance union. as the vice-president of the association, dr. annice jeffreys myers of oregon, who was to respond, had been delayed en route. dr. shaw took her place, saying in answer to certain of the greetings: "in all my experience i have observed that those people are most likely to have their prayers answered who do everything they can to help god answer them; so while we may try by prayer to bring about the highest good not only in the state but in education and philanthropy, we hope to add to our prayers the citizen's power of the ballot.... we have never had a more generous welcome or a warmer hospitality offered to us and we thank you with all our heart. whatever may happen while we are here, nothing can take away from us the beauty of the sunshine and the kindliness of your welcome." the first evening session was opened with prayer by the rev. john b. van meter, dean of the woman's college, baltimore, and music by a chorus of two hundred voices under the direction of william r. hall. governor edwin warfield made an eloquent address in which he said: "a man who would not extend a welcome to such a body of women would not be worthy the name of maryland, which we consider a synonym of hospitality. our doors are always wide open to friends and strangers, especially strangers. we are delighted to have you here. while i may not agree with all your teachings, i recognize one fact, that there never has been assembled in baltimore a convention composed of women who have been more useful in this country and who have done more for the uplift of humanity. it was proper for you to come to maryland, a state that was named for a woman, whose capital was named for a woman and whose motto is 'manly deeds and womanly words.'" he paid glowing compliments to the splendid public service of maryland women and said he would not have been elected governor but for their kindly influence. he declared that he had been almost persuaded by the charming words of mrs. howe and said his wife was a "convert" and he "had been voting as a proxy for some time." he believed "the final solution of the question would be a referendum to the women themselves." dr. shaw could not resist saying when she rose to introduce the next speaker: "so many have told us, as the governor has, about being proxy-voters, that we think it is time they should be relieved of that rôle and have an opportunity to do their own voting while we women attend to ours." mayor timanus was indisposed and the welcome for the city was given by the hon. william f. stone, collector of the port. he vied with the governor in the warmth of his greeting and his splendid tributes to women and acknowledged his indebtedness for "all that he was or expected to be to his sainted mother and beloved wife," but, like the governor, he could not give his full sanction to woman suffrage. when he had finished dr. shaw said with her winning smile and melodious voice: "we have the testimony of governor warfield and of collector stone that the best each has been able to accomplish has been due to the influence of good women. now if a good woman can develop the best in an individual man, may not all the good women together develop the best in a whole state? i am glad of this strong point in favor of enfranchising women." miss anthony was to have presided at this meeting and in referring to her absence on account of illness dr. shaw said: "i am not taking miss anthony's place this evening--there is only one susan b. anthony, but it is also true that there is only one clara barton and but one julia ward howe and these grand women we have with us." miss barton, who, in her soft plum-colored satin with fichu of white lace, her dark hair parted smoothly over her forehead, did not seem over sixty although she was eighty-four, was enthusiastically received and said in part: "what greater honor and what greater embarrassment than to be asked to take ever so small a step on a platform that susan b. anthony had expected to tread. as i stand here tonight my thoughts go back to the time when elizabeth cady stanton and miss anthony were pioneers struggling for this righteous cause. i think the greatest reforms, the greatest progress ever made for any reforms in our country have been along the lines on which they worked. miss anthony's has been a long life. she has trod the thorny way, has walked through briars with bleeding feet, but it is through a sweet and lovely way now and the hearts of the whole country are with her. a few days ago some one said to me that every woman should stand with bared head before susan b. anthony. 'yes,' i answered, 'and every man as well.' i would not retract these words. i believe that man has benefited by her work as much as woman. for ages he has been trying to carry the burden of life's responsibilities alone and when he has the efficient help of woman he will be grateful. just now it is new and strange and men cannot comprehend what it would mean but the change is not far away. the nation is soon to have woman suffrage and it will be a glad and proud day when it comes." mrs. howe in the dignity of her eighty-seven years made a lovely picture in a gown of mauve satin with a creamy lace scarf draped about her head and shoulders. she was escorted to the front of the platform by the governor and said in her brief response: "madam president and you dear suffrage friends, and the rest of you who are going to become suffrage friends before we leave this city, i give you thanks for this friendly greeting. i am very, very glad to meet you all. i am not going to preach a sermon but i have a text from the new testament, a question that the lord asked when the crowd came to see him, 'what came ye out to see? a reed shaken with the wind?' no, it was a prophet that they came to see and hear. when you come to these suffrage meetings you do not come to see reeds shaken by the wind. we do not any of us claim to be prophets but you do come to hear a prophecy, a very glad prophecy which some of us have believed in and followed for years, and all the way of that following has been joyous and bright though it has not been popular. i remember many years ago going with mrs. livermore and lucy stone to a meeting in new england and the report was sent out that 'three old crows were coming to disturb the town with their croakings.' i can never forget that evening. when mary livermore looked the audience over in her calm and dignified manner they quieted down as if by magic. when reasonable measures are proposed in a reasonable way there are always some people who will respond and be convinced. we have no desire to put out of sight the difficulties of government. when we talk about woman suffrage people begin to remember how unsatisfactory manhood suffrage is, but i should like to see what men would do if there was an attempt to take it away. we might much improve it by bringing to it the feminine mind, which in a way complements the masculine. i frankly believe that we have half the intelligence and good sense of humanity and that it is quite time we should express not only our sentiments but our determined will to set our faces toward justice and right and to follow these through the thorny wilderness if necessary--follow them straight, not to the 'bitter end,' for it will not be bitter but very sweet and i hope it will come before my end comes." for the second time dr. shaw had written her president's address but although it was a statesmanlike document the audience missed the spontaneity, the sparkle of wit, the flashes of eloquence that distinguished her oratory above that of all others, and there was a general demand that hereafter she should give them the spoken instead of the written word. she complied and while it was a gain to the audiences of her day and generation it was a great loss to posterity. even extended quotations can give little idea of this address which filled over ten columns of the _woman's journal_. for the first time in the history of our association we meet to protest against the disenfranchisement of women in a state in which the first public demand for a part in the conduct of our government was made by a woman. it was in an impassioned appeal to your assembly, that in mistress margaret brent demanded "a part and voyce" as representative of the estate of her kinsman, lord baltimore, whose name your city bears. here mary catherine goddard published baltimore's only newspaper through all the severe struggle of the revolutionary war, and it is stated upon good authority that when congress, then in session in baltimore, sent out the official declaration of independence, with the names of the signers attached, it was published by official order in miss goddard's paper; that her name was on the sheet which was officially circulated throughout the country; but, although a memorial sheet was afterwards placed in the court house, miss goddard's name was not left on it. this omission is but one of many evidences that in the compilation of the world's historic events it has been customary to overlook the part performed by women. dr. shaw took up the section on labor in president roosevelt's recent message to congress in which he recommended a thorough investigation of the condition of women in industry, saying: "there is an almost complete dearth of data on which to base any trustworthy conclusions," and then drawing this one: "the introduction of women into industry is working change and disturbance in the domestic and social life of the nation; the decrease in marriage and especially in the birth-rate have been coincident with it." dr. shaw's comment was in part: this is unquestionably true but it is also true that this has been coincident with the wider discovery of gold and the application of steam and electricity to mechanics ... and to draw sweeping and universal conclusions in regard to a matter upon which there is an "almost complete dearth of data" is never wise. is it true that there is a lower birth-rate among working women than among those of the wealthy class? are not the effects of over-work and long hours in the household as great as are those of the factory or the office? is the birth-rate less among women who are engaged in the occupations unknown to women of the past? or is the decline alike marked among those who are pursuing the ancient occupations but under different conditions?... if conditions surrounding their employment are such as to make it a "social question of the first importance" it is unfortunate the president had not seen that women should constitute at least a part of any commission authorized to investigate it. one can not but wish that with his expressed desire for "fair play" and his policy of "a square deal" it had occurred to the president that, if five million american women are employed in gainful occupations, every principle of justice would demand that they should be enfranchised to enable them to secure legislation for their own protection. in all governments a subject class is always at a disadvantage and at the mercy of the ruling class. it matters not whether its name be empire, kingdom or republic, whether the rulers are one or many; and in a democracy there is no way known for any class to protect its interests or to be secure in its most sacred rights except through the power of the ballot.... there had been about this time in high places an outburst of attacks on woman suffrage and predictions as to its dangerous possibilities. dr. shaw referred to their authors as oracles and said: "the great difficulty is that when one oracle claiming to be divinely inspired has laid down a specific line of conduct which if implicitly followed would lead to the proper development of woman, the happiness of man, the good of the family and the well-being of the state, another oracle also divinely enlightened lays out a different path by which these ends may be secured, and then another and another until poor women if they should try to follow these self-appointed divine revealers would not only have to be hydra-headed to see these devious paths but hydra-footed to walk in them." referring to cardinal gibbons, she said: the oracle of baltimore tells us that the education and culture of women are good up to a certain point, no further, but he sagely fails to define the point, simply declaring that "too much education of the head is apt to cool the heart; the cultivation of the soul is too much neglected in the higher education; the head and the heart and the body should all be educated together; then they develop equally." there certainly can be no disagreement among us as to the latter statement but why is it more applicable to women than to men? the oracle does not leave us in doubt as to his view, for in response to the question, "what do you think of the societies and club organizations which attract women so largely just now?" he replies: "a society like the daughters of the american revolution i heartily approve of, for it tends to foster patriotism and keep it alive, but other clubs of all kinds for women i strictly disapprove of." the oracle of princeton, ex-president cleveland, who has gained the most notoriety for his heavy diatribes against women's clubs, also admits that there are a few societies which it might be well for women to encourage and keep alive--religious organizations and those which administer to the needs of the heathen in a foreign land. the oracle of brooklyn, dr. lyman abbott, adds a few more to the list and includes philanthropic, reform and social clubs. would it be unwomanly to ask why there should have been such wide divergence in the divine illumination which each oracle received? dr. shaw quoted from mr. roosevelt: "the president of the united states does not absent himself from the country during the term of his presidency, it is his domain. so should it be with woman; she is queen of her empire and that empire is the home," and after reminding him that the president's term lasts but four or eight years she asked: "what do men mean by saying that women should remain contentedly in their homes? they do not intend us to understand that we are never to leave them, for they are frequently calling us forth when conditions become so intolerable that even men can no longer endure them. then they call upon women to come out from the seclusion and protection of their homes and aid them to 'save the city and the state.'" she pointed out the difference between the time when the home was "a protective and industrial center" and now when "the results of electricity and steam have scattered the households," but in picturing the advance that women had made in their own domain she said: "there never was a time when there was as large a number of good housekeepers and homemakers; when there was as much intelligence shown in the scientific preparation of food; such knowledge of household sanitation; such reverence for individual life; such painstaking study of the needs and rights of childhood; when there was so much thought given to the development of the finer and more permanent qualities of character; when such good comradeship existed between children and their parents; when marriage had so deep a spiritual and human meaning as at the present time. the home ideal of today is the best the world has yet known and it will continue to develop as larger freedom and broader culture come to all who share in its life...." the manner in which politics enters the modern home was pointed out and the contempt which was shown for the political opinions of women and then in a rousing appeal to women the speaker said: "a few days since i was asked by a compiler of other people's thoughts to express for him my opinion of the greatest need of american women and i replied, 'self-respect.' ... the assumption that woman have neither discernment nor judgment and that any man is superior in all the qualities that make for strength, stability and sanity to any woman, simply because he is a man and she is a woman, is still altogether too common. the time has come when women must question themselves to learn how far they are personally responsible for this almost universal disrespect and then set about changing it." dr. shaw told of the organization of the college women's equal suffrage league and asked: "who can compute the loss sustained by our country every year by the addition of unrestricted, ignorant and often criminal male voters and the exclusion of the vast number of college and high-school graduates through the disfranchisement of women? if the stability of a government depends upon the morality and intelligence of its voting citizens, how long can the foundations of ours remain secure if we continue to enfranchise ignorance and vice and disfranchise intelligence and virtue?" the action of legislatures in past years was depicted as "playing shuttlecock and battledore with the amendment, passing it in one house to defeat it in another, in a hypocritical desire to appear favorable and inspire us with hope in order to retain the small amount of influence they think we possess, and yet compelling us to begin the work all over again." after reviewing the long struggle of american women for political freedom she ended with an impassioned peroration of which only a portion can be quoted: no class of men in any nation have ever been compelled to wage such an arduous and difficult struggle for their political freedom. through the influence of the democratic party, without an effort on their own behalf, white working men were enfranchised; and by an act of congress under republican leadership the newly emancipated men slaves were protected in their right of suffrage. the same act placed in the constitution of the united states for the first time the word "male," which robbed women of the protection guaranteed to every other class of citizens in the most sacred right of citizenship--the right to a voice in the government. such is the boasted chivalry of the land of freedom, which has left its women to strive against tradition, prejudice, conservatism, self-interest, political power and in addition all the forces of corruption combined, to secure the privilege which was conferred upon vast numbers of men who never even demanded it and many of whom knew nothing of its significance after it was granted. i claim, and fear no contradiction, that the women of this land are better qualified to exercise the suffrage with intelligence, honesty and patriotism than were any other class of citizens in the world at the time when it was conferred upon them. must women, unaided, continue the struggle for forty years longer until they have rounded out a century, assailing the bulwarks of prohibitive constitutions in the forty-one states yet to be won? or will not some brave, consistent and freedom-loving president, recognizing the duty the government owes to the disfranchised millions of patriotic women, recommend to congress to submit an amendment to the federal constitution forbidding disfranchisement on account of sex? and will not the time speedily come when congress, recognizing the great injustice which was inflicted upon the women of the land when by enfranchising a race of slave men they riveted the fetters of disfranchisement upon educated and patriotic women, redeem the nation from this stigma? it was the most ungrateful and unjust act ever perpetrated by a republic upon a class of citizens who had worked and sacrificed and suffered as did the women of this nation in the struggle of the civil war only to be rewarded at its close by such unspeakable degradation as to be reduced to the plane of subjects to enfranchised slaves.... i stand here tonight to say that we have never known defeat; we have never been vanquished. we have not always reached the goal toward which we have striven, but in the hour of our greatest disappointment we could always point to our battlefield and say: "there we fought our good fight, there we defended the principles for which our ancestors and yours laid down their lives; there is our battlefield for justice, equality and freedom. where is yours?" while the eminent speakers attracted the largest audiences that ever had attended the conventions of the association, according to the opinions of the older suffragists, the delegates themselves were equally interested in the morning meetings devoted to the reports and other business. the corresponding secretary, miss kate m. gordon, a keen student of politics and organization, in speaking of factors in success, said: "there is great necessity for a personal acquaintance between the leaders in our suffrage work in the states and the prominent politicians in the states; the personal acquaintance also of the editors and managers of our great public-opinion-forming newspapers; a pleasant working relation in women's clubs and all movements for better social conditions in our respective communities; a more intimate acquaintance with the educational influences, the teachers in our public schools and the college life of our communities." miss gordon made a special plea for cooperation in the efforts for child labor legislation and she ended by saying: "but means and methods for the future of our work pale into insignificance in the need of the hour, which is oregon. funds for this campaign must be a matter of conscience with every believer. in proportion to the gratitude you feel for the comfortable position which women occupy today, measure your contribution; no sacrifice can be too great at this crucial moment in our onward history." throughout the convention the work in oregon, where an amendment to the state constitution would be voted on in november, was the uppermost thought. the treasurer made a special appeal for funds; the chairman of the press committee told of it; it was discussed and planned for in the business meetings and different speakers referred in hopeful words to its probable success. an amendment to the constitution abolishing proxies empowered to cast the full vote to which the state was entitled and providing that delegates present should cast only their own vote caused a spirited discussion, with mrs. catt and eastern delegates in favor and dr. shaw and western delegates opposed and was lost by a vote of to . no change of officers was made at this convention. reports of committees on libraries, literature, enrollment, presidential suffrage, etc., were presented by their chairmen. a lively discussion on the use of the union label on literature, stationery, etc., resulted in an almost unanimous decision to retain it. very interesting reports of work in the states were made by their respective presidents. invitations for the next convention were received from the chamber of commerce of wheeling, w. va., the chamber of commerce, bar association and suffrage club of oklahoma city and the commission for celebrating the founding of jamestown, va. miss antoinette knowles (cal.), chairman of the committee on church work, said that by standing for temperance many churches could be obtained for meetings that would not be opened for those purely on suffrage. she gave a list of orthodox churches which had been thus secured; told of successful addresses she had made on the relation between woman suffrage and temperance and urged the appointment of a church committee in every state. the report of miss elizabeth j. hauser, headquarter's secretary, told of the usual large amount of work, which included the distribution of , copies of the quarterly publication, _progress_; , pieces of literature and many thousands of suffrage stamps, picture postals and souvenirs. speakers and fraternal delegates had been sent to a large number of national conventions throughout the country and cordially received. many of these had adopted resolutions for woman suffrage including the american federation of labor, national association of letter carriers, national grange, national council of jewish women, supreme commandery knights of temperance, national associations of universalists and of spiritualists. the state conventions of various kinds that had endorsed it were almost without number and excellent work had been done at county fairs, granges, farmers' institutes, summer assemblies and educational and religious societies. it was voted to make _progress_ the official organ of the association and issue it monthly. the national headquarters in warren, o., had been removed to a spacious room on the ground floor of the county court house, formerly used for a public library. the chairman of the press committee, mrs. elnora m. babcock, made her last report, as the press work was henceforth to be done at the national headquarters with its excellent staff and facilities. for twelve years mrs. babcock had carried on this work, which in her capable hands had reached an immense volume and become a leading feature of the national association. she reported that over , papers were now using the material sent out from the press bureau and that it was very difficult to respond to all the calls for it. in answer to the second broadside of former president cleveland in the _ladies' home journal_, which refused to publish anything from anybody on the other side, , copies of articles by different persons and , of the excellent refutation by representative john f. shafroth of colorado had been distributed. the report stated that mrs. ida porter boyer, the efficient chairman of pennsylvania, had been sent by the national association to supervise the press work of the oregon campaign. it urged that grateful recognition should be shown to papers that favor woman suffrage saying: "editors are called upon for help and are not thanked for the kindness and good they do nearly as much as they should be." the convention gave mrs. babcock a rising vote of thanks for her long and faithful work. the executive committee recommended in its plan of work that the states work for a uniform resolution in favor of a sixteenth amendment; that they endeavor to secure initiative and referendum laws; that in each legislature measures be introduced for full suffrage or for some form of suffrage; that efforts be continued to obtain equalization of property and intestate laws, also co-guardianship of children; that the working forces of the association be concentrated where there are state campaigns for suffrage; that each club organize one new one and each individual member secure one more; that all present lines of work be continued and extended; that there be a more systematic and liberal distribution of literature; that hearings be obtained before all kinds of organizations. it was voted that "the board of officers consider the propriety of recommending all the states to make a concerted effort to secure presidential suffrage for women in the election of ." but one work conference was held, that on press, miss hauser presiding. one of the most important conferences of the week was that of state presidents, at which each told of the most effective work within the year, and the discussion which followed gave much practical and helpful information. at the second afternoon session dr. shaw read a number of letters from governors of the equal suffrage and other states answering favorably an appeal from the california suffrage association that they would appoint one or more women to the national commission soon to meet to consider uniform marriage and divorce laws. she had emphasized this necessity in her president's address. the report of mrs. florence kelley, chairman of the committee on industrial problems affecting women and children, was heard with deep interest and feeling. as executive secretary of the national consumers' league for many years and a close student of labor conditions, she spoke with accurate knowledge when she told of the employment of children. a baltimore woman in her welcome to the convention had said that maryland women were satisfied with what they could secure by petition without the ballot, and mrs. kelley, referring with fine sarcasm to the "sadly modest results of their petitions," said: last night while we slept after our evening meeting there were in maryland many hundred boys, only nominally fourteen years old, working all night in the glass-works; and here in baltimore the smallest messenger boys i have ever seen in any city were perfectly free to work all night. no law was broken in either case, for the women of maryland have not yet by their right of petition brought to the children of the state protection from working all night. here in this city children must go to school until they are nominally twelve years old but outside of baltimore and three other counties there is no limit whatever to the work of any child. moreover, here in baltimore where the law nominally applies children are free to work at any age if they have a dependent relative or if they are liable to become dependent themselves! it is five years since the first delegation of women went to atlanta to ask for legislation on behalf of the working children of georgia, carrying petitions with them, and they have gone in vain every year since. each year the number of women joining in the protest has been greater and, alas, the number of little girls under ten years old, who work in georgia cotton mills all night, has also been greater. the number of working children grows faster than the number of petitioning women.... in new york, where women can vote on school questions in the country only, not in the city, children five, six, seven and eight years old, who ought to be in the kindergarten and public schools, are working in cellars and garrets, under the sweating system, sewing on buttons and making artificial flowers. so many such children are not in the schools that no city administration in the last ten years has dared to make a school census; and we are striving in vain, (all the philanthropic bodies), to induce the present tammany administration just to count the children of school age but they dare not reveal the extent to which they are failing to provide for them.... we americans do not rank among the enlightened nations when we are graded according to our care of our children. we have, according to the last census, , who cannot read or write, between the ages of ten and fourteen years, not immigrant but native-born children, and , of them are in states where the women do not even use their right of petition. we do not rank with england, germany, france, switzerland, holland or the scandinavian countries when we are measured by our care of our children, we rank with russia. the same thing is true of our children at work. we have two millions of them earning their living under the age of sixteen years. legislation of the states south of maryland for the children is like the legislation of england in .... surely it behooves us to do something at once or what sort of citizens shall we have? miss gertrude barnum, secretary of the women's national trade union league, followed with an earnest address on women as wage earners. she began by saying that although this would be called a representative audience, wage-earning women were not present. "a speaker should have been chosen from their ranks," she said. "we have been preaching to them, teaching them,'rescuing' them, doing almost everything for them except knowing them and working with them for the good of our common country. these women of the trade unions, who have already learned to think and vote in them, would be a great addition, a great strength to this movement. the working women have much more need of the ballot than we of the so-called leisure class. we suffer from the insult of its refusal; we are denied the privilege of performing our obligations and we have as results things which we smart under. the working women have not only these insults and privations but they have also the knowledge that they are being destroyed, literally destroyed, body and soul, by conditions which they cannot touch by law...." miss barnum discussed "strikes," the "closed shop," conditions under which factory women work, the domestic problem, the trade unions, and said: "i hope that this body, which represents women from all over the country, will take this matter back to their respective states and cities and try to make the acquaintance of this great half of our population, the working people. you must bring them to your conferences and conventions and let them speak on your platform. they will speak much better for themselves than you can get any one to speak for them...." an animated discussion took place, many of the delegates asking sympathetic questions. mrs. ella s. stewart (ill.) followed with a delightfully caustic address on some fallacies; our privileges. the reporters were so carried away by her "sweetness and beauty" that they almost forgot to make notes of her speech, of which one of them said: "she picked up grover cleveland, lyman abbott and other anti-suffragists from the time of samuel johnson and figuratively spun them around her finger, to the joy of the audience." in paying her tribute to chivalry she said: "of what benefit was the chivalry of the knights toward their ladies of high degree to the thousands of peasant women and wives of serfs hitched up with animals and working in the fields? of no more value now is the protection given to the wives and daughters of the rich by men who are grinding down and taking advantage of those of the poor. in chicago women have no vote except once in four years for a trustee of the state university, yet every day if we try to take a street car we are overrun and trampled down by men who get on the cars before they stop, and when we finally limp in we see them comfortably seated reading the papers while we dangle from the straps. we are crowded in stores and smoked in restaurants; in fact the only place of late where i was not crowded was at the polls when i went to cast my vote!" mrs. mary e. craigie (n. y.) closed the session with a serious, impressive address on our real opposition; ignorance and vice, the silent foe. she pointed out the "indirect alliance between the anti-suffragists and the vicious elements, opponents of all reform, fearful that if women vote good will prevail over evil." "the chief foes of woman suffrage," she said, "are the saloon keepers, scum of society, barred from fraternal organizations, social clubs and even from some of the insurance societies." the biography of miss anthony contains this paragraph.[ ] when miss anthony had visited president m. carey thomas, of bryn mawr college, and miss mary e. garrett the last november she had talked of the approaching convention, expressed some anxiety as to its reception in so conservative a city and urged them to do what they could to make it creditable to the national association and to baltimore. they showed much interest, asked in what way they could be of most assistance and talked over various plans. both belonged to old and prominent families in that city, miss garrett had the prestige of great wealth also, and dr. thomas of her position as president of one of the most eminent of women's colleges. miss anthony was desirous of having the program in some way illustrate distinctly the new type of womanhood--the college woman--and eventually dr. thomas took entire charge of one evening devoted to this purpose, which will ever be memorable in the history of these conventions. a day or two after miss anthony's visit she received a letter from miss garrett saying: "i have decided--really i did so while we were talking about the convention at luncheon yesterday--that i must open my house in baltimore for that week in order to have the great pleasure of entertaining you and miss shaw under my own roof and to do whatever i can to help you make the meeting a success." at a good-bye reception given for miss anthony in rochester the evening before she left home for baltimore she took cold and immediately after reaching miss garrett's she became very ill and was under the care of physicians and trained nurses. on the second night, however, the college evening for which elaborate preparations had been made, she summoned the will power for which she had always been noted, rose from her bed, put on a beautiful gown and went to the convention hall. quoting again from the biography: "when she appeared on the stage and the great audience realized that she actually was with them their enthusiasm was unbounded. she was so white and frail as to seem almost spiritual but on her sweet face was an expression of ineffable happiness; and it was indeed one of the happiest moments of her life for it typified the intellectual triumph of her cause." the baltimore _american_ thus began its account: "with the great pioneer suffrage worker, susan b. anthony, on the platform, surrounded by women noted in the college world for their brilliant attainments, as well as those famed for social work and in other professions, and with a large audience, the session of the woman suffrage convention opened last evening in the lyric theater. if the veteran suffragist thought of more than the pleasure of the event it must have been the contrast of this occasion with the times past, when, unhonored and unsung, she fought what must have often seemed a losing fight for principles for which the presence of these women proclaimed victory.... it had been announced as 'colloge evening' but it might just as well have been called 'susan b. anthony evening,' for, while the addresses dealt with various phases of the woman question, all evolved into one strong tribute to miss anthony." the following remarkable program was carried out: college evening february , _presiding officer_ ira remsen, ph.d., ll.d., _president of johns hopkins university_. _ushers_ students of the woman's college of baltimore in academic dress. _addresses_ mary e. woolley, a.m., litt.d., l.h.d., _president of mount holyoke college_. lucy m. salmon, a.m., _professor of history_, _vassar college_. mary a. jordan, a.m., _professor of english_, _smith college_. mary w. calkins, a.m., _professor of philosophy and psychology_, _wellesley college_. eva perry moore, a.b., _trustee vassar college_; _president of the association of collegiate alumnæ_ (_over three thousand college women_). maud wood park, a.b. (_radcliffe college_), _president of the boston branch of the equal suffrage league in women's colleges and founder of the league_. m. carey thomas, ph.d., ll.d., _president of bryn mawr college_. a tribute of gratitude from representatives of women's colleges. what has been accomplished for the higher education of women by susan b. anthony and other woman suffragists. the statement is sometimes questioned that all of the advantages which women enjoy today had their inception in the efforts of the pioneers suffragists. the addresses made on this occasion by some of the most distinguished women educators of the country certainly should sustain this claim so far as the higher education is concerned. it seems a sacrilege to use only brief quotations from these important contributions to the literature of the movement for woman suffrage. president woolley: it will not be possible in the limited time given to the representatives of colleges for women to do more than suggest what has been accomplished for the higher education of women by miss anthony and other suffragists, but it is a pleasure to have this opportunity to add our tribute of appreciation.... at a meeting called in at seneca falls, n. y., to consider founding a people's college, miss anthony, lucy stone and mrs. elizabeth cady stanton were determined that the constitution and by-laws should be framed so as to admit women on the same terms as men and finally carried their point. the college, however, before it was fairly started was merged in cornell university. five years later miss anthony's lecture on "co-education" brought that subject most forcibly to the attention of the public.... it was no part of miss anthony's plan to have work given to women for which they were not fitted but rather that they should be prepared to do well whatever they attempted. there were not to be two standards of efficiency, one for the man and another for the woman. "think your best thoughts, speak your best words, do your best work, looking to your own conscience for approval," was her charge to women forty years ago.... the higher education of women should be added to the list of causes for which she and other women struggled. she has lived to see the work of her hands established in the gaining of educational and social rights for women which might well be called revolutionary, so momentous have been the changes.... it seems almost inexplicable that changes surely as radical as giving to women the opportunity to vote should be accepted today as perfectly natural while the political right is still viewed somewhat askance.... the time will come when some of us will look back upon the arguments against the granting of the suffrage to women with as much incredulity as that with which we now read those against their education. then shall it be said of the woman, who with gentleness and strength, courage and patience, has been unswerving in her allegiance to the aim which she had set before her, "give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates." professor salmon: the personal experience will perhaps be pardoned if it is considered representative of the possibly changing attitude of other college women toward the subject. the natural stages in the development seem to have been, opposition, due to ignorance; rejection, due to conscientious disapproval; indifference, due to preoccupation in other lines of work; acceptance, due to appreciation of what the work for equal suffrage has accomplished. it has been a work positive rather than negative, active rather than destructive, and thus it is coming to appeal to the judgment and reason of college women. they are coming to realize that they have been taught by these pioneers, both by precept and example, to look at the essential things of life and to ignore the unessential and for this they are grateful.... the college woman is beginning to wonder whether it is worth while to reckon the mint, anise and cummin while the weightier matters of the law are forgotten. for a larger outlook on life we are all indebted to miss anthony, to mrs. howe and to their colleagues. we are indebted to them in large measure for the educational opportunities of today. we are indebted to them for the theory, and in some places for the reality, of equal pay for men and women when the work performed is the same. we are indebted to them for making it possible for us to spend our lives in fruitful work rather than in idle tears. we are indebted to these pioneer women for the substitution of a positive creed for inertia and indifference. from them we also inherit the weighty responsibility of passing on to others, in degree if not in kind, all that we have received from them. professor jordan, after considering the woman's college, said: "the suffragists lent us maria mitchell and they felt severely the loss they sustained in her increasing absorption in the class room and in the requirements of modern scientific work. when we had taken maria mitchell they turned to us in friendship, mrs. livermore, mrs. julia ward howe, miss anthony, miss elizabeth peabody, mrs. cady stanton, lucy stone, mrs. antoinette brown blackwell, lois anna green, mary dame--and never failed to stir our minds with their urgent appeals for our thoughtful consideration of the causes they presented and the interest they took for granted. the last was their strong point. they simply implicated us in whatever was good and true. their enthusiasm was infectious and we 'caught' it--to our own lasting spiritual benefit.... i do not believe that i was over-fanciful when i used to feel that lucy stone and you, miss anthony, looked at us as if you would say, 'make the best of your freedom for we have bought it with a great price.'" professor calkins: i wish to indicate this evening the definite form in which i think the gratitude of all college women might be expressed to miss anthony and to the other leaders of the equal suffrage movement for their service to the cause of women's education. in other words, i wish to ask what have these veteran equal suffrage leaders a right to expect from university and college students, and in particular from the students and graduates of our women's colleges?... equal suffragists, if i may serve as interpreter, demand just this, that women trained to scientific method shall make equal suffrage an object of scientific analysis and logic and ask of college women that they cease being ignorant or indifferent on the question; that they adopt, if not an attitude of active leadership or of loyal support, at least a position of reasoned opposition or of intelligent hesitation between opposing arguments. to ask less than this really is an insult to a thinking person, man or woman.... the student trained to reach decisions in the light of logic and of history will be disposed to recognize that, in a democratic country governed as this is by the suffrage of its citizens and given over as this is to the principle and practice of educating women, a distinction based on difference of sex is artificial and illogical, and thus suspicious.... for myself, i believe that the probabilities favor woman suffrage. mrs. moore: the women of today may well feel that it is miss anthony who has made life possible to them; she has trodden the rough paths and by unwearied devotion has opened to them the professions and higher applied industries. through her life's work they enjoy a hundred privileges denied them fifty years ago; from her devotion has grown a new order; her hand has helped to open every line of business to women. she has spoken at times to thousands of girls on the public duties of women.... her life story must epitomize the victorious struggle of women for larger intellectual freedom in the last century.... the world does move. those who are aware of the great and beneficent changes made in the laws relating to the rights of property, in the civil and industrial laws pertaining to women and children, may estimate the good accomplished by these pioneers. mrs. park: i suppose it is true that all through history individual women have been able, sometimes by cajolery, sometimes by personal charm, sometimes by force of character, to get for themselves privileges far greater than any that the most radical advocates of woman's rights have yet demanded. but in the case of miss anthony and the other early suffragists all that force of character was turned not to individual ends, not to getting large things for themselves, but to getting little gains, step by step, for the great mass of other women; not for the service of themselves but for the service of the sex and so of the whole human race.... the object of the college women's league is to bring the question of equal suffrage to college women, to help them realize their debt to the women who have worked so hard for them and to make them understand that one of the ways to pay that debt is to fight the battle in the quarter of the field in which it is still unwon; in short, to make them feel the obligation of opportunity. president thomas: in the year there were in the united states , women studying in women's colleges and , women studying in co-educational colleges. if the annual rate of increase has continued the same, as it undoubtedly has, during the past three years, there are in college at the present time , women students. although there are in the united states nearly , , less women than men, women already constitute considerably over one-third of the entire student body and are steadily gaining on men. this means that in another generation or two one-half of all the people who have been to college in the united states will be women; and, just as surely as the seasons of the year succeed one another or the law of gravitation works, just so surely will this great body of educated women wish to use their trained intelligence in making the towns, cities and states of their country better places for themselves and their children to live in; just so surely will the men with whom they have worked side by side in college classes claim and receive their aid in political as well as home life. the logic of events does not lie. it is unthinkable that women who have learned to act for themselves in college and have become awakened there to civic duties should not care for the ballot to enforce their wishes. [illustration: pioneers of woman suffrage. elizabeth cady stanton. born, . lucy stone. born, . susan b. anthony. born, . lucretia mott. born, . millicent garrett fawcett born, .] the same is true of every woman's club and every individual woman who tries to obtain laws to save little children from working cruel hours in cotton mills or to open summer gardens for homeless little waifs on the streets of a great city. these women, too, are being irresistibly driven to desire equal suffrage for the sake of the wrongs they try to right.... it seems to me in the highest degree ungenerous for women like these in this audience, who are cared for and protected in every way, not to desire equal suffrage for the sake of other less fortunate women, and it is not only ungenerous but short-sighted of such women not to desire it for their own sakes. there is nothing dearer to women than the respect and reverence of their children and of the men they love. yet every son who has grown up reverencing his mother's opinion must realize, when he reaches the age of twenty-one, with a shock from which he can never wholly recover, that in the most important civic and national affairs her opinion is not considered equal to his own.... i confidently believe that equal suffrage is coming far more swiftly than most of us suspect. educated, public-spirited women will soon refuse to be subjected to such humiliating conditions. educated men will recoil in their turn from the sheer unreason of the position that the opinions and wishes of their wives and mothers are to be consulted upon every other question except the laws and government under which they and their husbands and children must live and die. equal suffrage thus seems to me to be an inevitable and logical consequence of the higher education of women. and the higher education of women is, if possible, a still more inevitable result of the agitation of the early woman suffragists.... we who are guiding this educational movement today owe the profoundest debt of gratitude to those early pioneers--elizabeth cady stanton, lucy stone, julia ward howe and, above and beyond all, to susan b. anthony. other women reformers, like other men reformers, have given part of their time and energy. she has given to the cause of women every year, every month, every day, every hour and every moment of her whole life and every dollar she could beg or earn, and she has earned thousands and begged thousands more. turning to the honored guest of the evening dr. thomas said: to most women it is given to have returned to them in double measure the love of the children they have nurtured. to you, miss anthony, belongs by right, as to no other woman in the world's history, the love and gratitude of all women in every country of the globe. we, your daughters in the spirit, rise up today and call you blessed. in those far-off days when our mothers' mothers sat contented in the darkness, you, our champion, sprang forth to battle for us, equipped and shining, inspired by a prophetic vision of the future like that of the apostles and martyrs, and the heat of your battle has lasted more than fifty years. two generations of men lie between the time when, in the early fifties, you and mrs. stanton sat together in new york state, writing over the cradles of her babies those trumpet calls to freedom that began and carried forward the emancipation of women--and the day eighteen months ago when that great audience in berlin rose to do you honor, thousands of women from every country in the civilized world, silent, with full eyes and lumps in their throats, because of what they owed to you. of such as you were the lines of the poet yeats written: "they shall be remembered forever, they shall be alive forever, they shall be speaking forever, the people shall hear them forever." miss anthony was profoundly moved. this wonderful scene--the magnificent audience in one of the oldest and most conservative of cities; this group of the most distinguished women educators; the president of one of the leading universities of the world in the chair; the large number of college women in the audience, free, independent, equipped for life's highest work--represented the culmination of what she had striven for during half a century. her biography gives this account: "after the applause had ended there was a moment of intense silence and then, as miss anthony came forward, the entire audience rose and greeted her with waving handkerchiefs, while tears rolled down the cheeks of many who felt that she would never be present at another convention. 'if any proof were needed of the progress of the cause for which i have worked,' she said, in clear, even tones, distinctly heard by all, 'it is here tonight. the presence on the stage of these college women, and in the audience of all those college girls who will some day be the nation's greatest strength, will tell their own story to the world. they give the highest joy and encouragement to me. i am not going to make a long speech but only to say thank you and good night.' it was all she had the strength to say but she never would publicly confess it." interesting state reports, conferences and addresses filled the mornings, afternoons and evenings of this unparalleled week. the initiative and referendum was presented by an acknowledged authority, george h. shibley of washington, director of the department of representative government in the bureau of economic research. he congratulated the association on having endorsed the new experiment that would rapidly further the woman suffrage cause, in which he had long believed. the system of questioning candidates and publishing their replies, developed by the anti-saloon league, was now being used with great success, he said, by many organizations. he described the carefully worked-out system in detail and declared that this, with the initiative and referendum, would terminate "machine" rule in politics, and whatever did this would promote the advance of woman suffrage. the address called forth an animated discussion in which it was shown that when women questioned a candidate they had no constituency back of them to influence his answers. a valuable conference was opened with a comprehensive paper by mrs. mary kenney o'sullivan (mass.), prominently identified with the women's trade unions, on the best methods of securing from congress the submission of the federal suffrage amendment. the question, if each state should secure an endorsement from its legislature of a uniform resolution calling for this submission would it not influence congress and also compel favorable recommendation in the national platforms of the dominant political parties, was unanimously answered in the affirmative. miss hauser, the new chairman, presided over the press conference, which was opened with a paper by miss jane campbell, a veteran suffragist, president of the philadelphia county suffrage club of members, on the unbiased editor, which bristled with the humorous sarcasm in which she was unsurpassed. she said in the course of it: "as the result of close observation i may state that the calm, judicial mind of the unbiased editor is never more in evidence than when he bends his energies to a consideration of the woman question--that is, the woman question in reference to politics. then he is on sure ground and he always is actuated by a desire to serve the best interests of women. does it come under his ken that a woman has the temerity to suggest even in faint tones the advisability and feasibility, the common sense and justice of being allowed to cast a ballot, then the opportunity of the unbiased editor has come and the rash claimant is admonished in fatherly, protecting tones to 'remember that only in the home'--he always spells home with a capital in this connection--'should a woman be in evidence.' he almost weeps when he pictures the dire consequences that would inevitably result should women enter the uncleanly pool of politics. chivalry would become extinct--chivalry being the guiding principle, according to the unbiased editor, on which men act--and then would tired men no longer give up their seats in trolley cars to masculine women and no longer would they accord equal pay for equal work, as they chivalrously do now!" turning her shafts on mr. bok, editor of the _ladies' home journal_, and ex-president cleveland's articles in it, miss campbell evoked so much laughter and applause that miss hauser became anxious as to the effect on the representatives of the press who were there and called on mrs. upton to calm the tempestuous waters, who offered some "golden precepts" for dealing with editors, among them the following: "keep the paper fully informed of all suffrage news. if there is something unpleasant in it and the reporter tells you that the editor and not himself is responsible for it, smile and believe him. take the reporter into your confidence and let him absorb the impression that you trust him implicitly. the result will be that you and your cause will get the best of it. in a word, treat the newspaper reporter as you would any other gentleman and in the long run you will profit by it. if you are the press representative of your local organization try to have from time to time items of news pertaining to matters other than that of woman suffrage. use the telephone lavishly and let your home be a sort of stopping place for the reporter in his routine work. when you present such an attitude toward the press the editors cannot find it in their hearts to refuse if you want a little space for yourself and your cause." the baltimore _evening herald_ commented: "from the foregoing it will be observed that in the dark and devious avocation of working the unsophisticated editor, mrs. upton is truly a past mistress, entitled to wear the regalia and jewels of the superlative degree." mrs. may arkwright hutton of idaho told of the excellent results of woman suffrage on the politics of that state. mrs. lucia ames mead, chairman of the committee on peace and arbitration, gave her usual able report describing her extensive work during the past year, which neither in this or any other year was exceeded by that of any one individual. after her return from the international peace congress in london she succeeded in having the presidents of the suffrage associations in fifteen states appoint supervisors of peace work and others were about to do so. the educational authorities in every state had been requested to arrange celebrations for may , the anniversary of the first hague conference, and she should notify the suffrage clubs to do this. equal suffragists will aid the cause of justice for themselves in the nation by working also for justice between the nations. the abolition of war will do more than anything else to make women respected and influential. it will substitute moral force for brute force, reason for passion and will forever remove one of the most popular arguments against giving political power to those who are incapable of military service." mrs. isabel c. barrows (mass.), the well known writer on social and economic subjects, took part in the symposium that followed. miss alice stone blackwell presided over the conference on what the home needs for its protection--women on health boards, school boards and in the police department, and these subjects were considered by mrs. susan s. fessenden (mass.), mrs. upton and mrs. barrows. it closed with a paper by the rev. marie jenney howe on woman's municipal vote. one of the most important evening sessions was devoted to the question of municipal government, with dr. william h. welch, professor of pathology in johns hopkins university, presiding. a leading feature was the address of the hon. frederick c. howe of cleveland, o., the city for the people. he reviewed the mismanagement and political corruption of the large cities, "controlled by great financial interests and yet filled with eager, energetic people, struggling to organize a good democratic movement of humanity focused on a democratic ideal." in voicing the hope for the future he said: there is an upward movement in all our cities. we are endeavoring to work out democracy and are doing amazingly well. when it is possible to organize the ideals of this new democratic movement it will be a city not for men alone but for men and women. it is business which has made our cities take the illogical position that women should not participate in municipal affairs as the chief corrective of the evils which underlie most of our municipal problems. i believe in woman suffrage not for women alone, not for men alone, but for the advantage of both men and women. any community, any society, any state that excludes half of its members from participating in it is only half a state, only half a city, only half a community. so, you see, woman suffrage does not interest me so much because woman is a taxpayer or because of justice as because of democracy; because i believe in the fullest, freest, most responsible democracy that it is possible to create. the city of the people will be a man and woman city. it will elect its officials for other than party reasons and will keep men and women in office who give good service. the hon. rudolph blankenburg, philadelphia's noted reformer, who was to speak on municipal regeneration, was detained at home and his wife, mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg, president of the pennsylvania suffrage association, told of the big campaign of the preceding autumn for better government in that city and the important part women had in it and said: "the men claimed that the women helped them a great deal but when the day came for the jubilation after the election, not a woman was invited to sit on the platform or to take part in the jubilee, except in the audience. in one of our suburbs the successful people gave a banquet and they did condescend to invite the women who had helped them win the election to sit in the gallery after the banquet and hear the speeches.... we are to have an election very soon and when i left home to come to this convention our city party was holding meetings in churches and halls and parlors and the chairman of the committee chided me for deserting my 'home work.' i told her that it was a greater work to try to get the right to vote and increase my influence." the hon. william dudley foulke, president of the national civil service commission, spoke informally on an object lesson in municipal politics, describing the revolution of the citizens against the corrupt government of his home city, richmond, ind., and the valuable assistance rendered by the women, and, as always, demanding the suffrage for them. it was at this meeting that miss jane addams of hull house, chicago, made the address on the modern city and the municipal franchise for women, which was thenceforth a part of the standard suffrage literature. quotations are wholly inadequate. it has been well said that the modern city is a stronghold of industrialism quite as the feudal city was a stronghold of militarism, but the modern cities fear no enemies and rivals from without and their problems of government are solely internal. affairs for the most part are going badly in these great new centres, in which the quickly-congregated population has not yet learned to arrange its affairs satisfactorily. unsanitary housing, poisonous sewage, contaminated water, infant mortality, the spread of contagion, adulterated food, impure milk, smoke-laden air, ill-ventilated factories, dangerous occupations, juvenile crime, unwholesome crowding, prostitution and drunkenness are the enemies which the modern cities must face and overcome, would they survive. logically their electorate should be made up of those who can bear a valiant part in this arduous contest, those who in the past have at least attempted to care for children, to clean houses, to prepare foods, to isolate the family from moral dangers; those who have traditionally taken care of that side of life which inevitably becomes the subject of municipal consideration and control as soon as the population is congested. to test the elector's fitness to deal with this situation by his ability to bear arms is absurd. these problems must be solved, if they are solved at all, not from the military point of view, not even from the industrial point of view, but from a third, which is rapidly developing in all the great cities of the world--the human-welfare point of view.... city housekeeping has failed partly because women, the traditional housekeepers, have not been consulted as to its multiform activities. the men have been carelessly indifferent to much of this civic housekeeping, as they have always been indifferent to the details of the household.... the very multifariousness and complexity of a city government demand the help of minds accustomed to detail and variety of work, to a sense of obligation for the health and welfare of young children and to a responsibility for the cleanliness and comfort of other people. because all these things have traditionally been in the hands of women, if they take no part in them now they are not only missing the education which the natural participation in civic life would bring to them but they are losing what they have always had. the sunday afternoon service was held in the lyric theater, whose capacity was taxed with an audience "representing every class of society, every creed and no creed," according to the baltimore papers. it was preceded by a half-hour musical program by edwin m. shonert, pianist, and earl j. pfonts, violinist. the rev. antoinette brown blackwell made the opening prayer; the rev. anna howard shaw read the scripture lesson and gave the day's text: "be strong and very courageous; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the lord thy god is with thee whithersoever thou goest." the battle hymn of the republic was beautifully read by the rev. olympia brown and sung by miss etta maddox, the audience joining in the chorus. mrs. maud ballington booth gave the principal address on the work of the volunteers of america for the men and women in prisons and after they are discharged. at its beginning she said: "i have never before stood on the platform with these leaders in the struggle for woman suffrage but i sympathize with any movement whose motive is, like theirs, the uplifting of humanity." her beauty, her sweet voice and her rare eloquence made a deep impression on the audience, who responded with a generous collection for her hope halls. the meeting closed with the congregational singing of america and the benediction by the rev. marie jenney howe. all of the women ministers occupied the pulpits of various churches in the morning or evening, and, according to the reporter for the _news_, "astonished the large congregations which assembled to do them honor with their facility of expression and the soundness of their logic!"[ ] the resolutions offered by henry b. blackwell, chairman of the committee, covered a wide and rather unusual range of subjects, showing the broad scope of the work of the association and expressing its pleasure at the world-wide indications of progress. deep regret was expressed for the death of the friends of the cause during the year, among them george w. catt of new york, husband of mrs. carrie chapman catt; mrs. josephine shaw lowell of new york; mrs. jane h. spofford of maine; mrs. caroline hallowell miller of maryland; mrs. sarah m. perkins of ohio; john k. wildman of pennsylvania, and speaker frederick s. nixon of the new york legislature. fraternal greetings were brought from the ladies of the maccabees by mrs. melva j. caswell, state commander of the district of columbia, maryland and delaware; from the national w. c. t. u., by miss marie c. brehm, president for illinois, and from the american purity alliance by its president, dr. o. edward janney of baltimore. a letter was read by mrs. mary bentley thomas (md.), from governor warfield expressing his thanks for the opportunity of meeting so many distinguished women and his enjoyment of the convention. letters and telegrams were read. a letter of greeting was sent to mrs. ellen clark sargent, a veteran suffragist of san francisco, and letters to miss laura clay and mrs. harriet taylor upton, regretting their absence. a special vote of appreciation was given to dr. and mrs. william funck and a letter of thanks was sent to dr. thomas and miss garrett for their part in the unsurpassed success of the convention. a comprehensive report of the international woman suffrage alliance, organized in berlin in , was given by its president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, showing that "the agitation throughout europe for a broader democracy has naturally opened the way for the discussion of woman suffrage and the subject is being considered as never before in europe." [see chapter on the alliance.] the evening with women in history was opened by mrs. catt, who said: "one idea is the mainspring of the opposition to woman suffrage--that women are by nature of the inferior sex. even darwin, so scientific that he tried to see all things fairly, entertained this unjust view. when women have had the same inspiration and opportunity as men their work has been equal in merit." the program assuredly showed no inferiority of mental power. mrs. belle de rivera (n. y.) depicted women of genius, quoting sappho, margaret of navarre, vittoria colonna, angelica kauffman and others eminent in the annals of history. a newspaper report said of mrs. oreola williams haskell (n. y.): "the thoroughness of her address gave the lie to any intimation of frivolity made by her youth and beauty, the pink crêpe de chine dress and the giddy pink bow in her fluffy brown hair." in discussing women in politics she said that, "even though debarred from parliaments and congresses women will take part in politics because political situations and public events vitally affect their lives" and concluded: the student, remembering the laws that strove to make women nonentities, the tremendous force of adverse public opinion, the lack of training and preparation, must repudiate forever the usual query of the scoffer. "why have there not been more eminent women?" and in amazement ask himself, "how does it happen that there have been any?" to those women who would do great things, who sigh for the old days, when the political queen ruled from the salon or the throne, we may say that today woman stands on the threshold of a broader and more real political life than she has ever known. in the future there may be no sarah jennings or mme. de maintenons, but when to the million-and-a-quarter of the women of our time, who in the united states, in australia and in new zealand are exercising the mighty power of the ballot as fully and freely as their brothers, we shall be able to add other enfranchised women of the world, we will have a mighty political sisterhood, free to realize their patriotic dreams and powerful to bring about better conditions for humanity. miss campbell described in an able and interesting manner women scholars of the middle ages. miss brehm pictured heroes and heroines. mrs. maud nathan, who had as a subject women warriors, according to the reporter, "remarked as she took off her long white kids that she could not handle it with gloves." declaring that she did not approve of war, she said that nevertheless whenever there was a fight for municipal reform in new york she was in the thick of it. after showing how women had led wars and fallen in battles she concluded: in the middle ages, when the electors were called upon to defend their cities at the point of the bayonet, we can understand why men considered that women should be debarred from the privilege of citizenship; but today our cities are not walled, our foes are not without the gates trying to scale the walls. the enemies are within, often found sitting in high places. today citizens are called upon to fight, not warriors, but vice and corruption and low standards. are not our mothers quite as capable as our fathers to wage warfare against these, the enemies in our midst? when i was in the hague last summer i visited the only kind of battleground which any intelligent, progressive, self-respecting nation ought to show with pride.... there in the peaceful little house in the wood national disputes are settled, not by sacrificing the lives of thousands of innocent, helpless young men, not by creating thousands of widows and orphans, but by threshing out all matters relating to the dispute in a rational, calm, judicial and honorable way.... it seemed to me that this th century battleground, this quiet, peaceful house in the wood, augured well for a new era, one in which our swords will indeed be turned into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks, and the angels of peace and righteousness will hover over us. the social features of the convention were of an unusually interesting character. the garrett family mansion had been closed for the winter but miss garrett opened it completely, invited as home guests miss anthony, mrs. howe, miss addams, dr. thomas and other distinguished visitors and gave a series of entertainments that conferred on the convention a prestige which added much to its influence in that conservative city. in order that its representative men and women might meet the officers and delegates miss garrett had a luncheon and dinner every day, the formal invitations reading: "to meet miss susan b. anthony and governor and mrs. warfield"; "to meet miss anthony and the speakers of the college evening," etc.,--on each invitation miss anthony's name preceding those of the other guests of honor. all of the speakers on the college women's evening were her house guests and after the meeting she gave a large reception. to quote again from the biography: "no one present will ever forget the picture of miss anthony and mrs. howe sitting side by side on a divan in the large bay window, with a background of ferns and flowers. at their right stood miss garrett and dr. thomas, at their left dr. shaw and the line of eminent college women, with a beautiful perspective of conservatory and art gallery.... there was nothing in the closing years of miss anthony's life that offered such encouragement and hope as to see women possessing the power of high intellectual ability, wealth and social position taking up the cause which she had carried with patient toil through poverty and obscurity to this plane of recognition." while miss anthony was a guest in the home of miss garrett she and dr. thomas asked her what was the greatest service they could render to advance the movement for woman suffrage. she answered that the strongest desire of her later years had been to raise a large fund for the work, which was constantly impeded for the lack of money, but her impaired health had prevented it. this need was frequently discussed during the week, and before the convention closed they promised her that they would try to find a number of women who, like themselves, were unable to take an active part in working for woman suffrage but sincerely believed in it, who would be willing to join together in contributing $ , a year for the next five years to help support the work and to show in this practical way their gratitude to miss anthony and her associates and their faith in the cause.[ ] the officers, speakers and delegates accepted invitations of president remsen to visit johns hopkins university and received every possible attention; to a special exhibit at the maryland historical art gallery; to a handsome afternoon tea at the arundel club, welcomed by its president, mrs. william m. ellicott; to a large reception by the baltimore woman suffrage club and to other pleasant functions. the report of mrs. harriet taylor upton called attention to the receipts of $ , for and $ , during the past year, a period of thirteen years during which she had been treasurer. "the fact that nowadays the association always has funds," she said, "gives us a standing with the bankers and business men which works largely to our credit." she spoke of the bequests, which had been put at interest, and told of persons who refused to contribute a dollar while they remained unspent. it was the hope of the officers, she said, that they could be used for campaigns and other emergencies and that contributions should pay the running expenses, which was now nearly accomplished. the disbursements during the year, including money advanced for the oregon campaign, had been $ , , the amount above receipts being taken from the bequests. the college women's meeting took place on thursday and miss anthony was unable to attend the convention the next day. "at the saturday morning session," the biography relates, "dr. shaw expressed the great regret of all at her enforced absence and their gratitude for the excellent care she was receiving at the home of miss garrett; but when the afternoon session opened, in she walked! she had learned that the money was to be raised at this time and she knew she could help, so she conquered her pain and came. when contributions were called for she was first to respond and holding out a little purse she said: 'i want to begin by giving you my purse. just before i left rochester my friends gave me a birthday party and made me a present of eighty-six dollars. i suppose they wanted me to do as i liked with the money and i wish to send it to oregon.'" under this inspiration the pledges soon reached $ , . afterwards miss anthony's seventeen five dollar gold pieces were sold for $ each, and later some of them for $ . miss anthony was not able to leave the house for the next two days, to her great sorrow. the leading feature of the monday evening session was to be an address by mrs. howe but she also was too ill to appear, and realizing the intense disappointment this would be to the audience miss anthony made another heroic effort and took her place on the platform. the rev. herbert s. bigelow came from cincinnati to give an address on the power of an idea, in which he said: "if the world were never again to get another new idea, progress would be at an end.... the birth and growth and struggle and triumph of one great idea after another--this is the story of human progress. for more than half a century the men and women who championed the idea of woman suffrage were made the butt of ridicule, yet in the light of history how ridiculous are the enemies of this idea. fifty years ago no american college but oberlin was open to women. now a third of the college students in the united states are women." mrs. fessenden of boston spoke eloquently on the mount of aspiration, and mrs. lydia a. coonley ward of chicago represented the strong, practical side in her address on the nearest duty. miss alice henry of melbourne gave an interesting account of woman suffrage in australia, where women now possessed the complete franchise, which had been followed by very advanced laws. it was not supposed that miss anthony would be able to speak, but, stimulated by the occasion and longing no doubt to say what she felt might be her last words, she came forward near the close of the meeting. a report of the occasion in the new york _evening post_ said: the entire house arose and the applause and cheers seemed to last for ten minutes. miss anthony looked at the splendid audience of men and women, many of them distinguished in their generation, with calm and dignified sadness. "this is a magnificent sight before me," she said slowly, "and these have been wonderful addresses and speeches i have listened to during the past week. yet i have looked on many such audiences and in my lifetime i have listened to many such speakers, all testifying to the righteousness, the justice and the worthiness of the cause of woman suffrage. i never saw that great woman, mary wollstonecraft, but i have read her eloquent and unanswerable arguments in behalf of the liberty of womankind. i have met and known most of the progressive women who came after her--lucretia mott, the grimké sisters, elizabeth cady stanton, lucy stone--a long galaxy of great women. i have heard them speak, saying in only slightly different phrases exactly what i heard these newer advocates of the cause say at these meetings. those older women have gone on and most of those who worked with me in the early years have gone. i am here for a little time only and then my place will be filled as theirs was filled. the fight must not cease; you must see that it does not stop." there were indeed miss anthony's last words to a woman suffrage convention and they expressed the dominant thought which had directed her own life--the fight must not stop! the address of mrs. howe was read at a later session by her daughter, mrs. florence howe hall, who expressed her mother's extreme disappointment at not being able to be present in person and said: "she regarded this convention as probably the last she should attend and she hoped to clasp hands with many whom she has known in former years and with many whom she has not known. she has heard with joy of its success and sends you her affectionate greeting and glad congratulations." in the course of this scholarly address mrs. howe said: i can well recall the years in which i felt myself averse to the participation of women in political life. the feminine type appeared to me so precious, so indispensable to humanity, that i dreaded any enlargement of its functions lest something of its charm and real power should therein be lost. i have often felt as if some sudden and unlooked for revelation had been vouchsafed to me, for at my first real contact with the suffragists of, say, forty years ago, i was made to feel that womanhood is not only static but also much more dynamic, a power to move as well as a power to stay. true womanliness must grow and not diminish, in its larger and freer exercise. whom did i see at that first suffrage meeting, first in my experience? lucy stone, sweet faced and silver voiced, the very embodiment of goethe's "eternal feminine"; william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips, thomas wentworth higginson, noble advocates of human freedom; lucretia mott, eloquent and beautiful in her holy old age. what did i hear? doctrine which harmonized with my dearest aspirations, extending as it did the hope which i had supposed was for an elect and superior few to all the motherhood of the human race. the new teaching seemed to me to throw the door open for all women to come up higher, to live upon a higher plane of thought and to exercise in larger and more varied fields the talents, wonderful indeed, to which such limited scope had hitherto been allowed. i felt, too, that the new freedom brought with it an identity of interest which formed a bond of sisterhood and that the great force of cooperation would wonderfully aid the promotion of objects dear to all true women alike.... i have sat in the little chapel in bethlehem in which tradition places the birth of the saviour. it seems fitting that it should be adorned with offerings of beautiful things but while i mused there a voice seemed to say to me, "look abroad! this divine child is no more, he has grown to be a man and a deliverer. go out into the world. find his footsteps and follow them. work, as he did, for the redemption of mankind. suffer as he did, if need be, derision and obloquy. make your protest against tyranny, meanness and injustice!" the weapon of christian warfare is the ballot, which represents the peaceable assertion of conviction and will. society everywhere is becoming converted to its use. adopt it, oh, you women, with clean hands and a pure heart! verify the best word written by the apostle; "in christ jesus there is neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, but a new creature," the harbinger of a new creation! on the last evening señorita carolina holman huidobro told of the women of chili and argentina in the peace movement. mrs. mead spoke on the world's crisis, and, with an unsurpassed knowledge of her subject, pointed out the vast responsibility of the united states in the cause of peace and arbitration, saying in part: "protected by two oceans, with not a nation on the hemisphere that dares to attack her; with not a nation in the world that is her enemy, rich and with endless resources, this most fortunate nation is the one of all others to lead the world out of the increasing intolerable bondage of armaments. if the united states will take a strong position on gradual, proportional disarmament the first step may be made toward it at the second hague conference soon to be held.... of all women the suffragists should be alert and well informed upon these momentous questions. our battle cry today must be 'organize the world!' war will cease when concerted action has removed the causes of war and not before." mrs. pauline steinem, an elected member of the toledo (o.) school board, showed convincingly the need for women's work on boards of education. miss harriet may mills (n. y.) made a clear, logical address on the right of way, and mr. blackwell (mass.) discussed from his knowledge of politics the wooing of electors. in closing the convention dr. shaw expressed the hope that if it had brought no other truth to the people of baltimore it had shown that women want the ballot as a means for accomplishing the things that good men and women wish to accomplish. she made an earnest appeal for a deeper interest in the highest things of life and more consecrated work for all that contributes to the progress of humanity. * * * * * in order to have the usual hearings before committees of congress on the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the federal constitution a large delegation went to washington on february , the next day after the convention closed, and the hearing was held the morning of the th, miss anthony's birthday. she was not able to attend, greatly to her own disappointment and that of the older speakers, whose inspiration she had been for so long on these occasions. she had arranged the first one ever held in and had missed but two in thirty-seven years. the hearing before the senate committee on woman suffrage took place in the marble room, as usual, senator augustus o. bacon of georgia in the chair and dr. shaw presiding. the speakers were señorita huidobro of chili; mrs. elizabeth d. bacon, president of the connecticut suffrage association; mrs. mary bentley thomas (md.); the rev. antoinette brown blackwell (n. j.); miss anne fitzhugh miller (n. y.); mrs. upton, mrs. steinem and mrs. fessenden. the hearing before the house judiciary committee, the hon. john j. jenkins (wis.), chairman, was in charge of mrs. florence kelley, first vice-president of the association. mrs. blankenburg told of the herculean efforts of over , women at the last november election of philadelphia. mrs. harriet a. eager spoke of the work of a woman's committee of moral education in boston where there was no law prohibiting the circulation of any kind of literature. they went to the legislature for such a law with a petition from , of the representative women of massachusetts and stayed there six weeks working for it only to have it refused. she told how the women of the state petitioned fifty-five years for a law giving mothers equal guardianship of their children and pointed out the helpless position of women without political power. miss kate m. gordon of new orleans, corresponding secretary of the association, began: "my message this morning was particularly for the southern members of the committee but i shall have to ask others present to carry it to them, as i do not believe any of them are here although seven are members." she protested against the attitude of southern members of congress toward woman suffrage and expressed the deep resentment of southern women at their classification with the disfranchised, saying that their men more than all others should feel the responsibility of lifting them from their present humiliating position. mrs. ella s. stewart, president of the illinois suffrage association, based her argument on simple justice, and said in conclusion: "your power is absolute and your responsibility correspondingly great. humiliating as it is for me to beg for what is mine from strangers, i would a thousand times rather be a defrauded mendicant than to hold in my hand the rights, the destiny and the happiness of millions of human beings and have the heart to deny their just claims." mrs. mary kenney o'sullivan (mass.) spoke "as one representing , , women who have been forced out of the home through necessity," and said in the course of her strong speech: "i know that the working women of this country are not receiving the highest wages because they have not a vote. right here in washington, in your big bindery of the government, a trade to which i gave the larger part of my life, the women who do equal work with the men do not receive equal pay. the government more than any other employer has taken advantage of women of my class because they have not a vote.... the workmen, more than any other men, even more than those who are supposed to be statesmen, have seen the necessity for women to have a vote. ever since the convention of the american federation of labor has unanimously adopted a resolution favoring woman suffrage. i do not believe that any one will deny that the workingmen are the thinking men of the country. i am asking you, in the name of the women i represent at least, to do for us what our working brothers are trying to do--give us our rights." mrs. lucia ames mead said in the course of a long address: "the man who talks about home today as if it still gave ample opportunity for woman's productive activity as it once did, is talking about a condition which is as obsolete as the conditions before we had railroads and telegraphs. woman's educational opportunities and productive capacity are so altered as to require her political status to be altered.... there is a class of women who do not need to earn their living and have a large leisure. they are not idle, they are as active as fireflies, but they are not obliged to be productive as every human being should be.... they have more time than men to study and to apply the principles of justice and mercy and to do that preventive, educational work which is a better defense of country than a squadron of battleships. the suffrage has done much to develop man; the woman of leisure needs it to develop her; the working woman needs it to obtain salutary conditions under which to earn her living; the woman working for reforms needs it so as to accomplish in a year what otherwise she may wait for twenty-five years of pleading and 'influence' to obtain." miss alice stone blackwell began her address: "we are not here to ask you to extend suffrage to women but to give to the state legislatures an opportunity to vote on it, and probably some practical considerations should be offered to show that public sentiment has arrived at a point where it seems to be timely and worth while that this question should be submitted to them. we would like to convince you that this is only right. if three-fourths of them are not prepared to give us suffrage, we shall not get it. if three-fourths of them are prepared, then public sentiment has arrived at a point where we ought to have it." she reviewed the advance of the movement and said: "we could keep this committee here until next week reading to them testimony from representative men and women as to the good results of woman suffrage where it is in operation." the unimpeachable testimony which she then presented from the equal suffrage states filled several pages of the printed record. introducing mrs. kelley, chairman jenkins had spoken of her father, william d. kelley, known as the father of the house, and she said: it is quite true that my father, judge kelley of pennsylvania, came to congress in the year in which president lincoln was first elected and for twenty-five years he patiently introduced at every session a resolution preliminary to a hearing for the woman suffragists. through all that period of ridicule, when the hearings were not conducted so respectfully or in so friendly a manner as this one has been, he continued to introduce that resolution. in death removed him from the house of representatives and i come here as the second generation. i assure you that i and the rest of the women throughout the country will come from generation to generation, just so long as it is necessary. next year my oldest son will vote and that generation will take up the task on behalf of the enfranchisement of the women of this country.... every time we come there is some gain to record, but, between the times, at least , , new immigrants have come into this country who will have to be brought to the american way of thinking about women before they will vote to give the ballot to those who are born here and whose forefathers have asked that we be enfranchised. it is an ignominious way to treat us, to send us to the chinaman in san francisco, to the enfranchised indians of other western states, to the negroes, italians, hungarians, poles, bohemians and innumerable slavic immigrants in pennsylvania and other mining states to obtain our right of suffrage. there yet remain forty-three states in which women are not enfranchised and it looks as if it might take us a hundred years, at the present rate of progress, before we can relieve you and your successors from these annual hearings. what we are asking today is that you shall take a short cut and not oblige our great-grandchildren to come here and ask for a federal amendment. although the women received courteous treatment and a respectful hearing from both committees no report was made by either, and the only advantage gained was that as usual thousands of franked copies of the hearings were sent to the national suffrage headquarters to be distributed throughout the states. * * * * * for some time arrangements had been under way to celebrate the birthday of miss anthony in the city where this had been so often done and which she loved above all others. by carefully conserving her strength she was able to attend the evening ceremonies in the church of our father (universalist) where many suffrage conventions had been held and where six years before, at the age of , she had resigned the presidency and laid down the gavel for the last time. letters of congratulation were read from president roosevelt, vice-president fairbanks, members of congress and other prominent men; from mrs. russell sage, mrs. isabella beecher hooker, mrs. caroline e. merrick and other eminent women, and from organizations in this and other countries. well known men and women brought their greetings in person. to quote again from her biography: "on account of her extreme weakness it was not expected that miss anthony would speak but at the close of the evening she seemed to feel that she must say one last word, and rising, with a tender, spiritual expression on her dear face, she stood beside miss shaw and explained in a few touching words how the great work of the national association had been placed in her charge; turning to the other national officers on the stage she reached out her hand to them and expressed her appreciation of their loyal support, and then, realizing that her strength was almost gone, she said: 'there have been others also just as true and devoted to the cause--i wish i could name every one--but with such women consecrating their lives'--here she paused for an instant and seemed to be gazing into the future, then dropping her arms to her side she finished her sentence--'failure is impossible!' these were the last words miss anthony ever spoke in public and from that moment they became the watchword of those who accepted as their trust the work she laid down." one month later to the day she was laid to rest with her loved ones. footnotes: [ ] part of call: never have we had so much cause to issue a thanksgiving proclamation. never has it been so easy to love our enemies, for they have combined to fight for us in their courses. the inevitable logic of events is with us. all over the world intelligent women are interested in securing better protection for their homes and their children.... they are called upon to take part in civic affairs, and social and economic conditions force them into the world's broad field of battle where there is no place for non-combatants. the time has gone by for subterfuge and indirection.... the american republic settles its questions in the light of day at the ballot box. no one, man or woman, has ever lost influence by the possession of power. we do not ask the ballot simply as a right, though if it be a right it cannot be rightfully denied us; we do not ask it as a privilege, though if it be a privilege it must be ours unless we admit the existence of a privileged class. we demand it because it is a duty and one which no good citizen has a right to shirk. if you are indifferent come and be convinced. what we ask is not revolutionary but is the reasonable and just demand of every being living under a democratic form of government. if you are opposed, come and let us reason together, consider our points of agreement and waive for a moment those of difference.... let us have the truth for authority and we shall not need authority for truth.... susan b. anthony, honorary president. anna howard shaw, president. florence kelley, vice-president-at-large. kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } auditors. annice jeffreys myers, } [ ] life and work of susan b. anthony, by ida husted harper, volume iii, page . [ ] the clergymen of the city gave cordial assistance to the convention and among those who opened different sessions with prayer were the reverends dr. van meter of the woman's college; george scholl, d.d., lutheran church; lloyd coblentz, st. paul's reformed church; john y. dobbins, grace m. e. church; e. l. watson, harlem park m. e. church; alfred r. hussey, first independent church; peter ainslee, christian temple; oliver huckel, associate congregational church; rabbi adolf guttmacher, madison avenue temple; marshall v. mcduffie, north avenue baptist church; ezra k. bell, first english lutheran church; edward w. wroth, all saints' episcopal church. [ ] although miss anthony lived only one month longer every day was made happy by the thought that those who would carry on the work would have the great assistance of this fund. a committee was formed the following summer with miss garrett as chairman and dr. thomas as treasurer and the work of securing subscriptions was begun on miss anthony's birthday the next year, . by may the $ , had been subscribed and put at the disposal of the national board of officers. the sum was completed by a subscription of $ , from "a friend" and not until after the death of mrs. russell sage, who had headed the list with $ , , was it known that she was the donor. mrs. sage had made generous subscriptions at other times. the full list of donors will be found in miss anthony's biography, page . chapter vii. national american convention of . the six preceding chapters have described at length and in detail the annual conventions of the national american woman suffrage association in order to show that those who took part in them were the representative women and men of the day. their addresses, reports of committees, resolutions adopted and other proceedings demonstrate the wide scope of the activities of this organization, which from was the foundation and the bulwark of the vast movement to obtain equality of rights for women. the thirty-ninth convention met in music hall, fine arts building, chicago, feb. - , , and received a cordial welcome to the state of lincoln, who in was almost the first public man in the united states to declare in favor of suffrage for women.[ ] lorado taft's bust of susan b. anthony, its pedestal draped in the stars and stripes, adorned the platform and a portrait of lucy stone looked down on the speakers in serene benediction. the national president, dr. anna howard shaw, was in the chair and addresses of welcome were made for illinois by mrs. ella s. stewart, president of the state equal suffrage association; for the churches by the right rev. samuel e. fallows, presiding bishop of the reformed episcopal church; for the national woman's christian temperance union by mrs. susanna m. d. fry, its corresponding secretary. mrs. fannie j. fernald, president of the maine suffrage association, and mrs. mary s. sperry, president of that of california, responded and in introducing them dr. shaw said: "these responses from the atlantic and the pacific coasts represent greetings from all the women between them." the presidents of the chicago north side, the south side and the evanston political equality clubs were presented and received with applause. bishop fallows expressed the wish that what he should say could be voiced by the ministers of all the churches in the land and said: "i am proud that from the period of the civil war and a little before, when the cause of the emancipation of the slave was the foremost question of the time and was only settled by the horrors of a long struggle--from that time i espoused the cause of woman suffrage. i hope there will be no need to fight for it as we fought during those long years but at least there should be a war of words until women have the power to deposit a ballot, until they have complete enfranchisement. your case is just; yours is a righteous cause. i cannot help believing that the exercise of the suffrage by women is necessary to the welfare and growth of the nation. your cause stands for the home; it stands for political purity, for civic righteousness, for everything that is for the betterment of the state, and i should be guilty of high treason to my deepest convictions if i did not bid a hearty god-speed to your efforts until every state shall recognize the equality of woman before the great law of civic redemption, as god has recognized her right before the great law of human redemption." the appointment of the usual committees was followed by a symposium on municipal suffrage, at this time a vital issue in chicago, as a spirited campaign was in progress to secure a clause giving it to women in the new city charter which a convention was preparing.[ ] mrs. ellen m. henrotin was to preside but she yielded to mrs. florence kelley, who had to leave the city, and later took mrs. kelley's place in presiding over the symposium on industrial conditions. professor sophonisba breckinridge (ky.), of chicago university, gave an able address on municipal housekeeping, saying in the course of it: in all the things that make the city a good place in which to work, the woman is as much concerned as any one. when it comes to the questions which affect women, she has of course a peculiar ability to speak, a peculiar responsibility and an obligation to assume every right necessary to carry out that responsibility. it is incumbent upon her to secure the power to move in the most direct way upon the obstacles which lie in her path in the controlling of conditions.... it is to the housekeeper that i want to call your attention, rather than to the working woman. she has to decide how she will use her time, energy and money to promote the life, health, comfort and welfare of her family. the little group must live in a house. if she resides in a city, it is a matter of concern what shall be the structure of it, whether made of material endangering the household or not; if in an apartment house, she is concerned in the regulations under which such houses are built and controlled, in the fire escapes, the sort of gas, the dimensions of the apartments, the order of the rooms, the plumbing, etc. it is obvious that today no woman can be a competent housekeeper unless she has an intelligent knowledge of these subjects. she must exercise a control over the ordinances and have something to say about the men who make these ordinances and who enforce them. she has not the power she needs as a housekeeper unless she feels that the officials of the city are as much responsible to her, although they are not chosen by her alone, as are the domestic servants whom she does select. her collective responsibility is just as great as her individual responsibility.... women cannot stop either at the bottom or the top by asking for municipal suffrage. if woman is going to be a complete housekeeper she must be a member of a political group and that leads to the demand for municipal, state and federal suffrage. miss kate m. gordon (la.) told of the remarkable work the women of new orleans had been able to do with their taxpayers' right to vote on matters of special taxation. "if the women of one part of the country more than another need the suffrage," she declared, "it is those of the south." the chicago _tribune_ commented: "as miss gordon sat down all the women clapped, many waved handkerchiefs and the applause continued several minutes." mrs. lilla day monroe described the excellent effects of the municipal suffrage enjoyed by all women in kansas, the only state where it existed in full. she called attention to the fact that the next day, february , would be the th anniversary of its granting by the legislature. miss anna e. nicholes of chicago spoke on the ballot for working women, saying in part: the women who work in our city have a special claim to municipal enfranchisement, inasmuch as they not only help create chicago's wealth but are subject to the industrial conditions regulated by the city voters.... legislation is becoming more and more industrial in its aspect. abating sweating and its evils, inspection of toilets, hygienic conditions in shops are now matters frequently controlled by our city fathers. women are more and more coming into the industrial field. the , , now gainfully employed in the united states represent one-fifth of the total number of wage-earners and this number are non-voters. this is a serious handicap to labor in its efforts to secure humane industrial legislation.... to these working women this matter of suffrage is an economic question--a bread-and-butter necessity. it is a fact, acknowledged by many large employers of labor and stated also by carroll d. wright in government bulletins, that one of the leading reasons for the preference of women wage-earners to men is that they can be secured more cheaply. employers are frank in acknowledging that the women work for less, that they are more reliable, more temperate, less inclined to strike and more faithful. it was quite as much for the industrial opportunity as for maintaining personal liberty that lincoln insisted on the necessity of enfranchising the negroes. such prominent economists as the webbs of england, carroll d. wright and richard t. ely of our own country state that woman's lack of the ballot is one of the determining causes in placing her in the ranks of the cheap laborer with all its attending evils. so placed she becomes a menace in industry and drags down the wages of the men. at the last convention of the american federation of labor this necessity of the ballot for the working woman was recognized when the resolution was adopted stating that woman would never come into the full wage scale until she came into her full rights of citizenship.... to the large body of women in our city who have to shift for themselves as completely as men do municipal suffrage would mean a higher rating industrially, a fairer compensation for their labor and more possible living conditions. mrs. kelley, who, as executive secretary of the national consumers' league for years and before that as state factory inspector of illinois, had an unsurpassed knowledge of the conditions that affect women and children, gave a scathing review of the failure of congress to enact protective laws and of the reactionary decisions of supreme courts. "do we ask what this has to do with municipal suffrage?" she inquired and answered: if we are not to be given power to help determine our own laws by electing men to congress in the larger field of the republic; and if, one by one, the states are to repeal or annul the legislation that once gave some slender protection to women and youth, there remains at least the city. it should be our immediate demand that in all matters of the life of a city we shall have a word. the greatest numbers of working people are in the cities. if our boards of health, our school boards, our street-cleaning departments, our water boards--if all these local bodies which have most to do with the health of working people, as with the health of other people, in the great centers of population--can be given the additional stimulus which comes from the lively interest of women, (both those who support themselves and those who have more leisure), then a very large proportion of the working women can have more adequate care for life and health and the children will have education beyond that which we have as yet achieved. does any one here believe that if the women had power to make themselves felt in the administration of school affairs we should have , children on half-time in new york city? truly, if the mothers of these school children, as well as their fathers, spoke in the elections, the interest in the schools would be quite a different one. does any one believe that if the women of this community could make themselves felt more effectively than by "persuasion," if they could make their will felt, we should have such a smoky sky as characterizes chicago? does any one believe that we should have to boil all the water before we dared to drink it? it would make a vast difference if women in american cities could enforce their will and conscience by the ballot instead of by the indefinitely slow work of persuasion. the first evening was devoted to a more extended welcome and to the president's address. on behalf of the city dr. howard s. taylor represented mayor edward f. dunne and in an eloquent speech he reviewed the various epochs in the country's history. "take, for instance," he said, "the first chapter, when the old liberty bell clanged out to the world the doctrine that 'all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and to secure these rights governments are established among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' there is no casuistry, however dextrous, that can take woman out of that charter." he referred to pioneer days and the heavy part borne by women and said: "but when the foundations had been established and the pioneer fathers got down to writing the constitutions they left the pioneer mothers out." he spoke of the time in the ' 's when "the government invited the people from all over the world to come and help us settle our political, social and commercial questions but did not invite american mothers, sisters, wives and daughters." "then came the civil war," he said, "and the large part taken in it by women and when the war was over the government made the great army of emancipated slaves citizens and gave the men the ballot but forgot the patriotic white women of the country." "i know," he said in conclusion, "that if the women of chicago and illinois were enfranchised the corruption of the city council and the legislature would be much less than it is. we should have a higher state of morals among public men and better laws on the statute books." when the speaker finished dr. shaw observed: "we ought to thank mayor dunne for substituting a man like dr. taylor for himself." this brought mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch to her feet to say: "mayor dunne would have made just as good a suffrage speech as dr. taylor." "i did not intend any reflection on the mayor," answered dr. shaw with a quiet smile, "but i think he showed excellent judgment." the chicago woman's club of over a thousand members, a recognized force in the great city, sent its greetings through its president, mrs. gertrude e. blackwelder. mrs. minnie e. watkins, as president of the state federation of women's clubs, gave a welcome in the name of its membership of clubs and told of the increasing growth of suffrage sentiment among them. "through the work of our industrial, civil service and legislative committees," she said, "we have learned our need of the ballot." the rev. charles r. henderson, professor of sociology, an earnest suffragist, welcomed the convention, saying in part: as i am to represent the university of chicago, it will not do for me to make a speech on either side. no one person can represent the sentiments of four hundred men, who all the time are in an attitude of friendly hostility to anything that comes up. i think, however, there is one point of sympathy with us who are engaged in the work of investigation, trying to get beyond the frontier of present knowledge of all the sciences. it is this: as soon as anything comes to be in the possession of the majority, it loses interest for us; as long as there is something to do, we are interested in it. when the effort for woman suffrage is a thing of the past, then the people will take care of it. our duty is to make the public sentiment and let some one else put it into legal form.... they say that women cannot manage the great questions of government. that has yet to be submitted to the final scientific test of experiment. as a matter of fact, today the one highest, finest, noblest task of society, if not of government, is the task of education and the inculcation of religion and of ideals; and in this land, which in most respects leads all lands, woman has the first word in this matter, as hers is the strongest and the wisest word, and her influence, her thought and her character lead upward and on. i need not, in this presence, argue the question. i do not speak merely for the university of chicago. i am proud to belong to a university of letters, a republic that has its branches in all parts of the civilized world. and i am glad that, from the time i started to learn to read, in my own education in this middle west, from my childhood with my mother, through the church, the sunday school, the elementary and secondary schools, the college and now the university, i have seen women side by side with men, sharing the same teaching and having the same teachers. that is what we stand for in the middle west.... the foundation of our institutions throughout the west is this fundamental law, not to be changed, that if there is any advantage to be had, women shall have it now and forever. miss alice stone blackwell, national recording secretary, and miss jane campbell, secretary of the pennsylvania association, responded. the hon. oliver w. stewart spoke on the logic of popular government. he pointed out that there has been a steady movement of mankind toward government by the people for the people and said in part: in our own country we can see this growth clearly. take the election of the president. there was at first no thought that the people should elect him but do you not see how quickly they assimilated the machinery which was provided? we have not changed the machinery but we have changed the spirit, so that instead of the electoral college deliberating and choosing a president, it is scarcely more than a stenographer to take the dictation of the public. the people have absorbed the power themselves, and you can write it as true that they do not surrender any power which they have acquired as the result of their own struggles. if any change should come it would be to give the people a more direct voice rather than a more indirect voice. take the change in the convention system toward direct primaries. do you not see how, in spite of politicians, the people have been writing direct primary laws? it is a part of the general movement toward popular government.... there is a steady drift in this direction the world over and it would be an anomalous condition if that movement could exist and there could be at the same time a retrograde movement as to the rights of women.... i have grown philosophical with reference to the temporary defeats that we suffer. the thing to do is to commiserate those who bring about the defeats. i look at the black disgrace with which they will live in history who said they would die for their own rights and yet were tyrants enough to deny the rights of others.... the hour is quickly coming when the genius of our government, where it is true to itself, will have to give the ballot to womankind. may that day come speedily! this was dr. shaw's th birthday and many pleasant references had been made to it by the delegates. she began her president's address by saying: "we have never before been more enthusiastic than today. victory has not come in the united states but we are not working for ourselves alone. wherever freedom comes to any woman that is our victory and when the new constitution of finland granted absolute equality to its woman citizens, that was our victory." municipal suffrage had been given to the women of natal, south africa, she said: "and now at the foot of mt. ararat, where the ark rested, the catholicos, or high priest of that conservative people and religion, the armenians, has issued an edict that the women of the church shall not only have a voice in the election of its officers but also shall be eligible to official position." she referred to the recent defeat of the suffrage amendment in oregon and said: "all honor to those , men who voted for it; their descendants will not be ashamed of their fathers' act. there are today organizations of sons and daughters of the american revolution and there will some day be one of 'sons and daughters of the evolution of women's freedom,' but there will never be one of the tories who fought against that revolution or this evolution," and she continued: this year i took for my motto those splendid words: "truth loses many battles but always wins its war." we did not win save as those who fight for the truth are always the people who win. there never was, there never will be greater defeat in any human life than the victory which comes to the man or woman who is fighting against the truth, and there never can be a greater victory to any human soul than the fact that it is fighting for the truth, whether it wins or not.... this has been a year of victory in that more women have been enfranchised than in any preceding year. we have the largest membership that we have ever had. we come together in hope and in the firm determination that we will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer and all the summers of our life, and then the battle will not be finished unless the victory is absolutely won for all women.... while we have cause to rejoice we have also cause for sorrow. as an organization it has been the saddest year we have known or ever can know, for there has gone out from among us the visible presence of her who was our leader for over fifty years, and i have just come with others directly from the home in rochester where we attended the funeral services of the dear sister mary, who was the first of the two to enter the movement and was always the faithful co-worker and home-maker. both have folded their hands in rest since our last convention. each gave her whole life to the cause of woman and each in passing away left all she had to this cause. the sorrow is ours, the peace and the triumphal reward of loving service are theirs. i hope we shall spend no time in mourning and turning to the past but with our faces toward the future, strengthened by the inspiration we have received from our great leader, go on fighting her battle and god's battle until the complete victory is won. with two exceptions this was the only national convention during the thirty-nine years that had not been animated by the presence of miss anthony and the second day--february , her th birthday--was largely devoted to her.[ ] there were three reports on memorials. one was presented by mrs. may wright sewall (ind.) for the executive committee of the national council of women and contemplated a bust to be executed in marble by the sculptor, adelaide johnson, who had made the one in the metropolitan museum, new york. a second was presented by mrs. mary t. lewis gannett of rochester, n. y., for an anthony memorial building for the women students of the university of that city, who had been admitted largely through the effort of miss anthony. [life and work, page .] a third was for a $ , memorial fund for the work of the national american association. the report of the committee for this third fund, which was presented by mrs. avery, stated that the nearness of success for woman suffrage now depended on securing the money to do the necessary work of propaganda, organization, publicity, etc., and that the most fitting memorial to miss anthony would be a fund of not less than $ , to be used exclusively for "the furtherance of the woman suffrage cause in the united states in such amounts and for such purposes as the general officers of the association shall from time to time deem best." it also provided that the officers should be permitted to select eleven women to act as trustees of this fund, six of whom should be from the official board. this report was unanimously adopted. mrs. upton, the national treasurer, at once appealed for pledges and the delegates responded with about $ , . the business committee of the association elected as its six members dr. shaw, mrs. avery, mrs. upton, miss blackwell, miss gordon and miss clay. mrs. henry villard of new york; mrs. pauline agassiz shaw of boston and miss jane addams of chicago were the only others selected.[ ] according to the custom for a number of years miss lucy e. anthony was requested to present in the name of the association framed portraits of miss anthony to various institutions--in this instance to hull house and the chicago political equality league. telegrams were received from the mayor of des moines, ia.; from the utah council of suffrage women; from the interurban woman suffrage council of greater new york, saying they had observed the day by opening headquarters, and from a number of other sources telling that the birthday was being celebrated in ways that would have been pleasing to miss anthony. the evening memorial services were beautiful and impressive. mason slade at the organ rendered the great chorus--guilmant; cantilene--wheeldon; marche militaire--schubert. the rev. mecca marie varney of chicago offered prayer. during the evening miss marie ludwig gave an exquisite harp solo and mrs. jennie f. w. johnson sang with deep feeling tennyson's crossing the bar, a favorite poem of miss anthony's. a telegram of greeting from the international woman suffrage alliance was sent through its president, mrs. carrie chapman catt. a tribute of an intimate and loving nature was paid by miss emily howland of sherwood, a friend of half a century, in which she said: "the first time i ever met miss anthony was at an anti-slavery meeting in my own shire town of auburn, n. y., which was broken up by a mob and we took refuge with mrs. martha wright, a sister of lucretia mott." she spoke of miss anthony's "genius for friendship" and quoted the lines: "the bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring." mrs. rachel foster avery gave a number of instances during their travel in europe which showed miss anthony's strong humanitarianism. mrs. fannie barrier williams of chicago paid touching tribute in behalf of the colored people, in which she said: "my presence on this platform shows that the gracious spirit of miss anthony still survives in her followers.... when miss anthony took up the cause of women she did not know them by their color, nationality, creed or birth, she stood only for the emancipation of women from the thraldom of sex. she became an invincible champion of anti-slavery. in the half century of her unremitting struggle for liberty, more liberty, and complete liberty for negro men and women in chains and for white women in their helpless subjection to man's laws, she never wavered, never doubted, never compromised. she held it to be mockery to ask man or woman to be happy or contented if not free. she saw no substitute for liberty. when slavery was overthrown and the work of reconstruction began she was still unwearied and watchful. she had an intimate acquaintance with the leading statesmen of the times. her judgment and advice were respected and heard in much of the legislation that gave a status of citizenship to the millions of slaves set free." the principal address was made by the rev. jenkin lloyd jones of chicago, a devoted friend, with whose courageous and independent spirit miss anthony had been in deep sympathy.[ ] tributes were paid to other devoted adherents to the cause who had died during the year and henry b. blackwell in closing his own said: "the workers pass on but the work remains." dr. shaw took up the words, making them the text of a beautiful memorial address, calling the long list one by one, beginning with the anthony sisters and mrs. isabella beecher hooker and naming among the other veteran workers: rosa l. segur, ohio; emily b. ketcham, michigan; the hon. h. s. greenleaf, professor henry a. ward, eliza thayer, emogene dewey and mrs. james sargent, new york; virginia durant young, south carolina; ellen powell thompson, district of columbia; laura moore, vermont; mrs. henry w. blair and mrs. oliver branch, new hampshire; susan w. lippincott, new jersey, and many others. the all-pervading spirit of the convention was that of carrying forward miss anthony's work. the board of officers was re-elected almost unanimously except that dr. jeffreys myers, who wished to retire as second auditor, was replaced by mrs. mary s. sperry of san francisco. mrs. avery, for twenty-one years corresponding secretary, had returned from a long sojourn in europe and the desire was so strong to have her on the board again that the office of second vice-president was created. at mrs. florence kelley's insistence she was allowed to yield the first vice-presidency to mrs. avery and take the second place as having less responsibility. the report of the headquarters secretary, miss elizabeth j. hauser, told of the sending out of , letters and , pieces of literature within the year. it gave the names of many eminent men and women who were contributors to this literature, much of which first appeared in prominent magazines and newspapers, and spoke of the excellent propaganda work of _the public_, edited by louis f. post. it emphasized the important accession of the _north american review_ and the harper publications, which had come under the management of colonel george harvey. the report told of the bequest of miss anthony to the national american association of all the remaining bound volumes of the history of woman suffrage, which had been sent to the headquarters and weighed ten tons.[ ] fifty sets had been sold during the year. files of the reports of the national conventions from to inclusive had been placed in one hundred of the largest libraries in the united states. the association arranged with mrs. harper for the exclusive sale of the life and work of susan b. anthony. the convention voted that _progress_, edited by mrs. upton, should be changed to a weekly and enlarged, and every suffrage club was urged to subscribe for _jus suffragii_, the official paper of the international woman suffrage alliance. thousands of copies of new and valuable literature had been sold. after the press work was turned over to the headquarters , copies of articles of national interest were supplied each week to the fifty-eight state chairmen of the press committee from july to january and , copies of news items and special articles were sent to prominent newspapers. the important work with organizations and their conventions was not neglected and during the past year they were asked specifically for a resolution calling on congress to submit a federal woman suffrage amendment, with the following result: the american federation of labor at its annual meeting in minneapolis covered this request in a series of carefully worded resolutions. other important organizations which gave official endorsement within the year are the world's woman's christian temperance union, national purity conference, national free baptist woman's missionary society, spiritualists of the united states and canada, ladies of the modern maccabees, international brotherhood of bookbinders, international brotherhood of teamsters, patrons of husbandry, national grange, and the united mine workers of america. to these we may add the fourteen other national organizations reported in previous years which have received fraternal delegates from our association or given formal endorsement, making a total of twenty-five large associations which responded favorably to our "convention resolutions" requests. for the first time the general federation of women's clubs invited our president to take part in the program at the biennial. resolutions have been reported to headquarters from the state w. c. t. u.'s of seven states; the letter carriers' associations of illinois, ohio, new york and pennsylvania; the state granges of thirteen states; the state federations of labor of fifteen states. the prohibitionists of eight states have had woman suffrage in their party platforms; the socialists always declare for it and in california the democrats, the independence league and the union labor parties incorporated planks in their state platforms. the state teachers' associations of california and illinois, the sons of temperance of connecticut and illinois, the good templars of maine, the congress of mothers and the federations of women's clubs of illinois and new hampshire are among other organizations which have acted favorably on some phase of the woman suffrage question.[ ] saturday afternoon was devoted entirely to social affairs. they began with a luncheon given at hull house by miss jane addams to officers, delegates and alternates, after which the activities of this remarkable institution were explained. systematic sight-seeing was carried out, groups of the guests being personally conducted to the field columbian museum, the art museum, the big department stores and other points of interest. one group went to chicago university, where dr. shaw addressed the students of the women's union and the college girls' suffrage club. afterwards they were entertained by the dean of women, miss marian talbot. in the evening the chicago woman's club gave a large reception, its president, mrs. blackwelder, and the chairman of the social committee, miss clara dixon, being assisted in receiving by the officers of the association. its handsome club rooms in the fine arts building were placed at the service of the delegates throughout the convention. ministers of chicago who opened the sessions with prayers were dr. j. a. rondthaler of the normal park presbyterian church; dr. austin k. de blois of the first baptist church, and the rev. jean f. loba of the first congregational church, evanston. a number of pulpits in the city were filled by officers and delegates sunday morning. the studebaker theater was taken for the regular service of the convention in the afternoon in order to accommodate the large audience. the rev. kate hughes of chicago offered prayer. dr. shaw presided and read a message from miss mary s. anthony dictated a few days before her death, when miss shaw asked her what word she would like to send to the convention. it said in part: until we, a so-called christian nation, put into practice those principles of justice which we claim are the foundation of our national greatness, we cannot hope to inspire confidence in the people of the world in our lofty pretensions of freedom and fair play for all. the wrong which today outranks all others is the disfranchisement of the mothers of the race. so long as this injustice toward women continues, just so long will men fail to recognize justice in its application to each other. this one question puts all else into the background and until we can establish equality between men and women we shall never realize the full development of which manhood and womanhood are capable. because i believe this so thoroughly i have given the best of myself and the best work of my life to help obtain political freedom for women, knowing that upon this rests the hope not only of the freedom of men but of the onward civilization of the world. i therefore urge upon the delegates and members of the national association not to lose courage, no matter what befalls, but to work on in hope and faith, knowing well that the time of the coming of woman's political liberty depends largely upon the zeal and unwearying service of those who believe in its justice. the rev. herbert s. bigelow of cincinnati in a strong address showed the value of the ballot. miss addams told with much feeling of the recent campaign for the municipal franchise, the objections they had to meet, the character of the opposition and how hard it was for women to be patient. rabbi emil g. hirsch gave an able address under the title "why not?" a study in prejudice and superstition, reviewing the objections to woman suffrage and finding their origin in orientalism, in the military ideal, in political expediency. he ended his refutation of all of them by saying: "all our american institutions will be protected and benefited when we open the doors and give women, who never should have been denied it, the right to govern themselves, to govern the country in conjunction with men and to decide the issues that affect their own interests. men have had this right for themselves alone too long. the day will come, my sisters, when the conscience of the world will be aroused to such a degree that no one will dare question the justice of your movement." many greetings were received through letters, telegrams and fraternal delegates. prof. john a. scott, representing president a. m. harris of northwestern university, evanston, brought an invitation for speakers to address the students and miss gordon and miss caroline lexow responded. in his greeting professor scott said: "i believe in woman suffrage because i believe in the home.... i don't care a whit for the argument that women with property should have a vote. property will always be represented and it does not so much matter whether the property-holding women have a vote or not but it is of immense importance to those women who work for their living. that they have no representation is a great menace to those who are nominally free but who must compete with slaves. women are economic entities and they should be represented. labor without representation is as wrong as taxation without representation." e. m. nockels, fraternal delegate from the american federation of labor, addressed the convention and read a letter from its president, samuel gompers, expressing the hope of universal suffrage for women. mrs. emma s. olds brought greetings from the ladies of the maccabees of the world, and mrs. martin barbe, the first vice-president, from the national council of jewish women. a letter from mrs. mary wood swift (calif.), president of the national council of women, gave its fraternal greetings. a cordial letter was read from mrs. mary b. clay of kentucky and telegrams from mrs. mary c. c. bradford, dr. frances woods, mrs. ida porter boyer and the canadian woman suffrage association. telegrams of appreciation were sent to julia ward howe, clara barton, caroline e. merrick, emily p. collins, col. t. w. higginson, margaret w. campbell, judith w. smith, caroline m. severance, emma j. bartol, armenia s. white, elizabeth smith miller, ellen s. sargent, sarah l. willis and charlotte l. pierce, all old and beloved suffrage workers. the symposium on industrial conditions of women and children, with mrs. henrotin presiding, occupied one afternoon. she pointed out the revolution in the work of women by its being taken from the home into the open market where they had to follow; described their handicaps, the immense importance of their labor, the business ability that many had developed, the property they had accumulated, the taxes they pay; she said if they had a voice in deciding how these taxes should be spent it would not only be a splendid thing for the city financially but morally, and urged that they should have the power of the suffrage. graham romeyn taylor of chicago paid high tribute to the work of women's organizations in all movements for civic improvement and described that of the women's clubs in chicago; spoke of the consumer's league also and declared the women's trade union league most effective of all in bettering the condition of working women. he predicted close cooperation between this league and the national suffrage association. miss alice henry of australia spoke very effectively from her knowledge of the conditions of labor in her own country and the investigation she was making in the united states. miss casey, president of the chicago working women's suffrage association, gave facts from personal knowledge showing their need of the vote. james c. kelliher, former president of the national letter carriers' association, spoke briefly and to the point. miss mary mcdowell of chicago made the principal address entitled the working women as a national asset, in which she showed how little conception congress and the courts had of the legislation needed in their behalf and the sins of omission and commission that had resulted. in closing she said: we need a body of facts so strong that the judiciary will see the light. we need a body of facts that will teach housekeepers not to scorn these women because they can not get a cook. we need a body of facts to teach working men that this work of women is something which has come to stay. there are going to be more women earning their living in the future than in the past. these girls are pioneers in a movement that we do not yet quite understand. i do not believe that our heavenly father permits so large a movement as these five million women in one country earning their own living without there being in it something that is for the best.... as a means to our work we want the suffrage. we all get very tired of the woman question. i will discuss the human question with any one but i will not discuss the woman question, because i think that is past. if women are going into industry, if they are going to have their places of responsibility, then they must more and more meet the responsibility that their brothers have with whom they work. it is not fair to the working brother to let the girls come in and cut down the wages and have no sense of responsibility, no feeling of permanency. it is a very great danger. therefore, working women should have the ballot to make them feel that they, too, are responsible citizens.... all reverence to the work that the suffragists have done! we have always honored dear miss anthony and we all owe gratitude to you women who have been so long in this cause making a way for the rest of us. the working women are joining your ranks because they know that they must do so. the report of the congressional committee, mrs. catt chairman, was read by mrs. kelley. it said that after the excellent hearings before the committees of congress the preceding winter had no effect it was decided to ask the cooperation of the general federation of women's clubs. this was done and its industrial advisory board agreed to send out a circular letter. the association's congressional committee prepared one which the federation's board sent to , individual clubs asking them to question the members of congress from their districts as to their opinion of a federal woman suffrage amendment and the request was largely complied with. a resolution was adopted that the association urge concerted action among the state auxiliaries to secure the submission by congress of a sixteenth amendment forbidding disfranchisement on account of sex and that they be recommended to make it a feature of their work to obtain from their legislatures a resolution in favor of such an amendment. a telegram of greeting was sent to mrs. catt and she was appointed fraternal delegate to the peace conference in new york in april. hard and conscientious work was shown in the reports of the chairmen of all the committees: legislation for civil rights, mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg; peace and arbitration, mrs. lucia ames mead; presidential suffrage, henry b. blackwell; libraries, mrs. ida porter boyer; literature, miss alice stone blackwell; enrollment, mrs. oreola williams haskell; membership, miss laura clay, and others. miss clay urged that the organization of the political parties be taken as a model by the suffrage societies. as usual the state reports were among the most interesting features of the convention, for they gave in detail the nation-wide work that was being done for woman suffrage. at this time that of oklahoma, mrs. kate l. biggars, president, had a prominent place, as the association had been helping its women during the past year in an effort to have the convention which was framing a constitution for statehood put in a clause for woman suffrage. a corps of able national workers was there for months while the most strenuous work was done but the only result was the franchise on school matters. the report on oregon was read by the corresponding secretary, miss gordon. the campaign there for a woman suffrage amendment to the state constitution was possibly the most strenuous that had ever been made for this purpose and the national association had given more assistance, financial and otherwise, than to any other, a number of its officers going there in person. among them were miss clay and miss gordon, who made full reports.[ ] the report of mrs. harriet taylor upton, national treasurer, showed that the receipts of the association for had been $ , and it had expended on the oregon campaign $ , , a sum equal to its year's income. a portion of the money, however, was taken from the reserve fund and $ , had been subscribed directly for this campaign by individuals and states. the total disbursements for the year had been $ , . the power of the association to rise above defeat and its courage and determination, so many times shown, were strikingly illustrated on this occasion when the convention voted to raise a fund of $ , and pledged $ , of this amount before it adjourned. the resolutions presented by mr. blackwell, chairman of the committee, covered a wide range of subjects, among them the following: in view of the fact that in only of our states have married mothers any legal right to the custody, control and earnings of their minor children, we urge the women of the other states to work for laws giving to mothers equal rights with fathers. the traffic in women and girls which is carried on in the united states and in other countries is a heinous blot upon civilization and we demand of congress and our state legislatures that every possible step be taken to suppress the infamous traffic in this country. we urge upon congress and state legislatures the enactment of laws prohibiting the employment of children under years of age in mines, stores or factories. we favor the adoption of state amendments establishing direct legislation by the voters through the initiative and referendum. inasmuch as in the second hague peace conference there will be offered the greatest opportunity in human history to lessen the burden of militarism, therefore we request the president of the united states to approve the recommendations for the action of that conference which were presented by the inter-parliamentary union, to-wit: ( ) an advisory world congress; ( ) a general arbitration treaty; ( ) the limitation of armaments; ( ) protection of private property at sea in time of war; ( ) investigation by an impartial commission of difficulties between nations before declaration of hostilities. the convention at one evening session listened to interesting addresses by mrs. mary e. coggeshall, president of the iowa suffrage association, then and now; professor emma m. perkins of western reserve university (ohio), educational ideals; louis f. post, editor of _the public_, the denatured woman. mrs. avery gave a much enjoyed report of the congress of the international suffrage alliance in copenhagen the preceding august. on the last evening addresses were made by john z. white of chicago; mrs. upton on what next? miss lexow on the place of equal suffrage in higher education. dr. shaw closed the convention with a few eloquent words of encouragement, hope and prophecy for the success of the cause to which they gladly gave to the utmost their time, their labor and the best of everything they possessed. footnotes: [ ] part of call: the friends of equal rights will come together on this occasion with an outlook even more than usually bright. during the last year full suffrage has been granted to the women of finland, the greatest victory since full national suffrage was given to the women of federated australia in . within the past year the municipal franchise has been given to women in natal, south africa; national associations have been organized in hungary, italy and russia and the reports at the recent meeting of the international alliance at copenhagen showed a remarkable increase in the agitation for woman suffrage all over europe. in england, out of the members of the present house of commons, are pledged to its support. in the united states widely circulated newspapers and magazines representing the most opposite political views have lately declared for woman suffrage; the national grange and the american federation of labor have unanimously endorsed it. in chicago organizations with an aggregate membership of , women have petitioned for a municipal suffrage clause in the new charter and the men and women most prominent in the city's good works are supporting the plea. men and women are natural complements of one another. american political life today is marked by executive force and business ability, qualities in which men are strong, but it is often lacking in conscience and humanity. these a larger infusion of the mother element would supply. we believe that men and women in co-operation can accomplish better work than either sex alone.... anna howard shaw, president. florence kelley, vice-president-at-large. kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } annice jeffreys myers, } auditors. [ ] the proposition was defeated during the suffrage convention by a tie, with the chairman, milton j. foreman, giving the deciding vote against it. [see illinois, volume vi.] [ ] miss anthony helped arrange for the first national woman suffrage convention and it was held in washington in january, . from that time to she missed but two of these annual meetings, when she was speaking in the far west under the auspices of a lecture bureau, and each time she sent the proceeds of a week's lectures as her contribution. [ ] through lack of initiative and effort the money for the bust was never raised. for mrs. gannett's report and other matter about the memorial building see the appendix to this chapter. see also page , volume vi. reports on the memorial fund were made to the convention year after year. the intention at first was to create a fund and use only the interest but immediate demands were so urgent that the money subscribed was appropriated as needed and an audited account given by the national treasurer at each annual convention. [ ] in the life and work of susan b. anthony chapter lxxiv begins: "the death of no woman ever called forth so wide an editorial comment as that of miss anthony, except possibly that of queen victoria, whose years in public life numbered about the same. on the desk where this is written are almost one thousand editorials, representing all the papers of consequence in the united states and many in other countries, and they form what may be accepted without reserve as the consensus of thought in the early years of the twentieth century in regard to miss anthony and the work she accomplished." over eighty pages of extracts from these editorials are given and several memorial poems. a large number of magazines in this and other countries contained sketches and articles from which quotations are made. tributes of her biographer were published in the april numbers of the _review of reviews_ and the north american _review_, and on the week following her death in _collier's_ and the new york _independent_. in chapter lxxi and following in the biography are full accounts of miss anthony's death and funeral services. [ ] by vote of the convention these volumes were to be presented to the club or individual member under whose auspices a new club of not less than twenty paid up members had been formed and remained in active existence for not less than a year and was properly certified. the following year the executive committee voted to place sets in public libraries. [ ] this work was continued year after year until the list became far too large to publish. not one organization, save a few connected with the liquor business, ever adopted a resolution against woman suffrage except the anti-suffrage societies themselves. [ ] one of the striking features of the recent national suffrage convention in chicago was the large number of very close votes on woman suffrage bills that were announced from different states, all taking place at about the same time. while the convention was in session, the chicago charter convention defeated woman suffrage by a tie vote. the nebraska delegates got word that it had been lost in their lower house by a vote of to , with a tie in the senate. in the oklahoma constitutional convention, where the gambling and liquor forces as usual lined up against woman suffrage, it came so near passing that a change of seven votes would have carried it. in the west virginia legislature, where the last time it was smothered in committee, the house vote this time stood yeas to nays. in south dakota the measure passed the senate and came so near passing the house that a change of seven votes would have carried it. in the minnesota house the vote showed a small majority for suffrage but not the constitutional one required. all these close legislative votes followed hard upon the remarkable vote in vermont, where the suffrage bill passed the house to and came so near passing the senate that a change of three votes would have carried it.--_woman's journal._ chapter viii. national american convention of . the fortieth annual convention, oct. - , , celebrated a notable event, as it was the th anniversary of the first woman's rights convention, that famous gathering of july - , , in seneca falls, n. y., the home of elizabeth cady stanton. the celebration was appropriately held in buffalo, the largest city in the western part of the state, and was one of the most interesting and successful of the organization's many conventions.[ ] the evening before it opened the president and directors of the buffalo fine arts academy gave a large reception to the officers, delegates, members and friends of the association. the convention met in the young men's christian association building but this proved to be entirely too small for the evening sessions, which were held in the large central presbyterian church. the excellent program was the work of miss kate gordon, national corresponding secretary, and the admirable arrangements were due to mrs. richard williams, president for the past eight years of the political equality club, with a corps of local helpers, but an accident on the first day prevented her from welcoming the convention or taking part in its proceedings. with the national president, dr. anna howard shaw, in the chair, it was opened with prayer by the rev. antoinette brown blackwell.[ ] mrs. helen z. m. rodgers, a lawyer of buffalo, extended a welcome from women in the professions, who, she said, "had only penetrated the ante-rooms and the annexes--the teachers never able to reach the salaries paid to men; the doctors shut out from the advantage of hospital positions; the lawyers allowed to help interpret the laws but not to help make them." "to get much further," she said, "we must be invested with full citizenship." mrs. john miller horton gave a cordial welcome for the city federation of women's clubs, of which she was president, and for the buffalo chapter of the daughters of the american revolution, the niagara frontier chapter of the daughters of and the nellie custis branch of the children of the revolution, as regent of each of them. she presented to dr. shaw a large cluster of american beauty roses tied with the blue and gold of the federation and the blue and white of the d. a. r., which was accepted in the name of susan b. anthony and reverently laid over her portrait that stood on an easel. dr. ida c. bender, president of the women teachers' association, spoke earnestly in behalf of "the army of teachers who are training the future citizens of the republic," and dr. shaw commented: "political nonentities can hardly be expected to inspire a political entity with enthusiasm." the western federation of women's clubs gave its welcome through its president, mrs. nettie rogers shuler, of whom the _woman's journal_ said: "she spoke with an accent of unaffected sincerity and self-forgetfulness that recalled the spirit of the pioneers." she referred with pride to the fact that this organization, with nearly clubs and about , members, was the first federation of women's clubs to admit suffrage societies. mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg, president of the pennsylvania suffrage association and officer of the general federation, brought its greeting, the first it had ever sent to a national suffrage convention. mrs. frances w. graham, president of the new york state woman's christian temperance union, gave its greeting and spoke of the close cooperation which had always existed between the workers for temperance and suffrage. dr. shaw asked that she would convey the cordial greetings and best wishes of the association to the national w. c. t. u., to whose convention in denver she was en route. mrs. ella hawley crossett, for the sixth term president of the new york state suffrage association, united with dr. shaw in responding to the welcoming addresses and spoke with deep feeling of the courage and persistence of the pioneers and of the pride with which the state where the movement for woman suffrage had its birth welcomed the convention to celebrate the event. miss emily howland of sherwood, n. y., reformer, educator and philanthropist, a co-worker and friend of the early suffragists, gave a delightful address on the spirit of , "herself a living embodiment of that spirit," in which she said: "greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends!" these are the words that come to me as i essay to speak of the spirit of ' ! was it not something of this love which inspired that immortal declaration made at the woman's rights convention on july - , ? "this," says mrs. stanton in her autobiography, "was the initial step in the most momentous reform that has yet been launched upon the world--the first organized protest against the injustice which had brooded for ages over the character and destiny of one-half of the race. no words could express our astonishment on finding a few days afterward that what seemed to us so timely, so rational and so sacred should be a subject for sarcasm and ridicule in the entire press of the nation. the anti-slavery papers alone stood by us manfully." the declaration had been signed by many, the audiences being large, but when pulpit and press ridiculed and reproved do we marvel that one by one the women withdrew their names and "joined the persecutors?" much i fear that our own organization would shrivel to pitiful proportions if today submitted to the ordeal from which they recoiled. indeed even mrs. stanton confessed that if she had had the slightest premonition of all that would follow this convention, she feared her courage would not have been equal to it. fortunate ignorance, if she did not underrate her bravery, for she and a goodly number of the other signers were steadfast. they chose to side with truth and take the consequences. mrs. rachel foster avery (penn.), corresponding secretary of the international woman suffrage alliance, presented a long and valuable report of its recent congress in amsterdam. [see chapter on alliance.] the convention then adjourned for the reception given by mrs. horton, whose handsome home on delaware avenue was decorated with american beauty roses, the dining room with yellow chrysanthemums. she was assisted in receiving by dr. shaw, mrs. crossett and mrs. allison s. capwell, president of the erie county suffrage association. at the evening session mrs. elizabeth smith miller (n. y.), presided, daughter of gerrit smith, who was a staunch advocate of woman suffrage from the time the movement for it began. hundreds were turned away for lack of room. the convention was officially welcomed to the city by mayor j. n. adams and the welcome on the part of the state was expressed by senator henry w. hill, a consistent supporter of the legislative work for suffrage. the principal feature of the evening was the president's address of dr. shaw, of whom the report in the buffalo _express_ said: "the rev. anna howard shaw has set a new standard for womanhood. she is one of the most wonderful women of her time, alert, watchful, magnetic, earnest, with a mind as quick for a joke as for the truth. she points her arguments with epigrams and tips the arrows of her persuasion with a jest.... even the unbelievers are carried away with her brilliancy, eloquence and mental grasp." there was no adequate report of her address but she began by saying: we are scarcely able today to understand what those brave pioneers endured to secure the things which we accept as a matter of course. they started the greatest revolution the world has ever witnessed. during these last sixty years more changes have been wrought for the benefit of women, more opportunities for education have been secured and more all-round enlightenment than in the , years preceding. there are women who accept these advantages and the positions that have been obtained because of this early movement who have no conception of what it has meant to open the highways of progress for them. some of those who oppose the suffrage say: "these things would have come; men would have given woman these opportunities as civilization advanced." why did they not come sooner if men were so willing? why should they have grown more in the last sixty years than in all the years before?... but the women in all this long time of struggle have not stood entirely alone. there have always been some men to stand by their side and they owed it to do so, for ever since the world began women have stood by men in their efforts to achieve the right. never was there a great leader who had not some woman by his side. woman was first at the cradle, last at the cross and first at the tomb. women have stood shoulder to shoulder with men always in their efforts.... some tell us that we have not made great progress. it is impossible to change the attitude of all the conflicting elements of humanity in three-score years. if christianity in years, with the teaching of such a leader, has not yet made peace congresses unnecessary, what can be expected of other reforms? the secretary's report of miss gordon contributed this bit of history: at this junction of the work a question arising upon the advisability of securing a petition of a million signatures to present to president roosevelt in order to influence a recommendation of suffrage for women in his annual message, a request was made that he receive at oyster bay a committee from our association. the president reasonably declined to have his vacation interrupted with committees but offered to receive our request in writing. your secretary accordingly wrote him to the effect that we wished to know--before going to the labor and expense involved in securing such a petition--whether its influence would have any weight in leading him to recommend woman suffrage in his message. courteously but emphatically came the reply that it would not, but at the same time extending an invitation for the national association to appoint a committee to see him on his return to washington. the committee appointed was composed of your national treasurer, mrs. upton, mrs. henry dickson bruns of new orleans, mrs. katharine reed balentine of maine and your corresponding secretary, and at the appointed time it was received by the president, who again reiterated his opinion on the absolute valuelessness of such a petition. in so doing he ignored what for the women of this republic is their only right--the right of petition. the interview was fruitful of no suggestion beyond the time-honored recommendation to "get another state." women who worship as a fetish the power of this right to petition may well catalogue this fallacy with those other american fallacies that "taxation without representation is tyranny"; that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and that the government guarantees "equal rights for all and special privileges for none." miss gordon told how the last convention had changed the plan for forty years of holding the national convention in washington during the first session of a new congress and therefore the corresponding secretary had been obliged to arrange for representative women to go there and have a hearing before the committees of senate and house. mrs. balentine, who was staying in washington, and miss emma gillett, a lawyer of that city, took charge and hearings were granted march . they lacked the inspiration of the presence of delegates from all parts of the country and the convention lost the pleasure and benefit. the work conferences were continued under the name of round table conferences. the subjects considered were: increase of membership; press work; th amendment as a line of policy; finance; state legislative methods. an organizers' symposium discussed "a comparison of conditions today with those of ten years ago; the building of a state association; the personal touch; preliminary arrangements for meetings." the usual comprehensive report was made by the headquarters secretary, miss elizabeth j. hauser, who told of the vast amount of work done, which included the sending out of , letters and , pieces of literature, exclusive of matter for the press. _progress_ had been issued monthly, the political equality leaflets and twenty other kinds had been published and a card catalogue of , names completed; the convention reports edited and distributed, the sales of the life of miss anthony and the history of woman suffrage looked after and an endless amount of other work done. miss hauser told also of the extensive effort with organizations. ten great national associations during , twenty-four state associations and ninety-three labor unions had passed resolutions for woman suffrage, and thus far in nine national and thirty-six important state associations had done so. she gave an equally encouraging report of the work with the press, which was done through committee chairmen in thirty-two states, who had furnished thousands of articles to hundreds of newspapers. part of this material was local but the national headquarters had supplied , pages. suitable matter had been sent to religious, educational and other specialized papers and over a thousand letters to editors. a long list was given of the leading magazines which had published articles on woman suffrage by prominent writers during the year. the reason was that things were happening in all parts of the world directly related to this question. miss hauser's report was accepted by a rising vote. she presided at the press conference on how to secure the publication of woman suffrage in country and in city papers; character of material; what is the greatest need in press work; should "anti" articles be answered, etc. interesting addresses were made on woman's share in productive industry by mrs. anna cadogan etz (n. y.); a square deal, by mrs. grace h. ballantyne (ia.); and one by mrs. clara b. arthur, president of the michigan state association, reviewing the extensive work that had been done in its recent constitutional convention to secure a woman suffrage clause. henry b. blackwell (mass.) began his report on presidential suffrage by saying: "it was the maxim of napoleon bonaparte to concentrate his military forces upon the point in his enemy's lines of the greatest importance and least resistance and by so doing he conquered europe. this point in the woman suffrage battle is, under our form of government, the presidential suffrage, the vote for presidential electors." the great evening of the week was the one devoted to the commemorative program in honor of the convention. this convention was called by mrs. stanton, lucretia mott, mary ann mcclintock and martha c. wright--the last three friends, or quakers--to consider a declaration of sentiments and set of resolutions which they had prepared and it adopted both.[ ] those resolutions of sixty years ago were now discussed by women who represented the two succeeding generations, still in the midst of the contest which the women who began it expected to see ended during their lifetime. the session was opened with prayer by the rev. olympia brown, a veteran suffragist, and the presiding officer was mrs. eliza wright osborne (n. y.), daughter of martha c. wright and niece of lucretia mott. each resolution was presented and commented on in a brief, pungent speech, the speakers including mr. blackwell, husband of lucy stone, both pioneers, and another pioneer, the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, the first ordained woman minister; mrs. harriot stanton blatch, daughter of mrs. stanton; mrs. fanny garrison villard, daughter of william lloyd garrison, a pioneer; the rev. anna garlin spencer, an early leader in rhode island, and miss laura clay, at the head of the movement in kentucky almost from its beginning. among the later generation were the rev. caroline bartlett crane (mich.), miss julie r. jenney (n. y.), mrs. ella s. stewart (ill.), mrs. charlotte perkins gilman (n. y.) and mrs. judith hyams douglas (la.). of most of these addresses there is no printed record. mrs. gilman commented on the resolution that "the laws which place woman in a position inferior to that of man are contrary to the great precept of nature," saying in part: "woman has the same right to happiness and justice as an individual that man has and as the mother of the race she has more.... women have a right to citizenship and to all that citizenship implies, not only for their own sake but especially because the world needs them. we have the masculine and the feminine but above them both is the human, which has nothing to do with sex. the argument for equal freedom and equal opportunities for women rests not on the law of the worthy mr. blackstone but on the law of nature, which is the law of god...." mrs. blackwell said in response to the resolution that "as man accords to woman moral superiority it is his pre-eminent duty to encourage her to speak and teach in religious assemblies": "you cannot realize how serious a thing it was to be a minister in early days when st. paul was taken literally. i know from personal experience that nearly all the religious world in those days believed it to be a sin for a woman to try to preach. my own mother urged me to become a foreign missionary instead; she was willing to send her daughter away to other lands rather than have her become a minister at home. at i was considered as well-fitted for college as the half dozen young men among my schoolmates who were going to take a college course. at that time oberlin, o., was the only college that admitted women. when i arrived there lucy stone had pretty well stirred up the whole institution. i was warned against her in advance but we soon became warm friends. one beautiful evening we walked out together and as we stood in that glorious sunset i told her that i meant to be a minister. she said: 'you can't do it; they will never let a woman be a public teacher in the church.' ... one other woman and i graduated from the theological school. for three years the authorities of the school put our names into the catalogue with a star and then they dropped us out and it took forty years to get us reinstated." mrs. spencer said of the resolution that "the same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on man and woman." "of all the notable pronunciamentos at seneca falls no resolutions shows a finer spiritual audacity than this. a delicious flavor of transcendentalism from beginning to end marks the phraseology. like the brook farm experiment the seneca falls convention was the outcome of a great wave of idealism sweeping over the world. it was seen in england and in europe. germany was stirring things up and italy was seething with revolution. this new world was eager to put its idealism into immediate practical living.... women were looking after their woman's share of it. they felt that it must be founded on spiritual ideas and this was a spiritual declaration of independence. we honor these pioneers because women who had been trained to follow and not to lead, and taught that wives and mothers should buy their security at the cost of a discarded fragment of their sex, dared to summon men to an equal bar and to declare that in purity, as in justice, there is no sex." mrs. stewart treated with delicious wit and sarcasm the resolution of protest against "the objection of indelicacy and impropriety which is so often brought against women who address a public audience by those who encourage their appearance in the theatre and the circus." miss clay discussed with dignity and seriousness the resolution that "equality of human rights necessarily follows identity in capabilities and responsibilities." mrs. villard spoke of the great privilege of being the daughter of a reformer and said: "the cause of woman is so intimately connected with that of man that i think the men will be the gainers by its triumph even more than women." mrs. douglas, a brilliant young speaker from new orleans, new to the suffrage platform, took up the resolution, "woman has too long rested satisfied in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the scriptures have marked out for her, and it is time she should move in the enlarged sphere which her great creator has assigned to her," and said in part: only one thing can make me see the justness of woman being classed with the idiot, the insane and the criminal and that is, if she is willing, if she is satisfied to be so classed, if she is contented to remain in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and perverted application of the scriptures have marked out for her. it is idiotic not to want one's liberty; it is insane not to value one's inalienable rights and it is criminal to neglect one's god-given responsibilities. god placed woman originally in the same sphere with man, with the same inspirations and aspirations, the same emotions and intellect and accountability.... the chinamen for centuries have taken peculiar means for restricting women's activities by binding the feet of girl babies and yet there remains the significant fact that, after centuries of constraint, god continues to send the female child into the world with feet well formed, with a foundation as substantial to stand upon as that of the male child. as in this instance, so in all cases of restriction put upon women--they do not come from god but from man, beginning at birth.... for thousands of centuries woman has heard what sphere god wanted her to move in from men, god's self-ordained proxies. the thing for woman to do is to blaze the way of her sex so thoroughly that sixteen-year-old boys in the next generation will not dare ask a scholarly woman incredulously if she really thinks women have sense enough to vote. woman can enter into the larger sphere her great creator has assigned her only when she has an equal voice with man in forming public opinion, which crystalizes customs; only when her voice is heard in the pulpit, applying scripture to man and woman equally, and when it is heard in the legislature. only then can be realized the full import of god's words when he said, "it is not well for man to be alone." mrs. douglas analyzed without mercy the pronouncements of paul regarding women and said: "the pulpits may insist that paul was infallible but i prefer to believe that he was human and liable to err." when she had finished dr. shaw remarked dryly: "i have often thought that paul was never equalled in his advice to wife, mother and maiden aunt except by the present occupant of the presidential chair" [roosevelt]. to mrs. blatch was given the privilege of speaking to the resolution so strenuously insisted upon by her mother: "it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise." in the course of an animated speech she said: mrs. stanton was quick to see and, what is greater, quick to seize the psychological moment, and in that july of she had not only the inspiration but the determination to grasp the opportunity to set forth a resolution asking "votes for women." how clear was her vision, how perfect her sense of balance! property rights might be gained, rights of person protected, guardianship of children achieved, but without the ballot she saw all would be insecure. what was given today might be taken away tomorrow unless women themselves possessed the power to make or remake laws. women are getting the sense of solidarity by being crowded together in the workshop; they are learning the lesson of fellowship. brought side by side in the college and in the business world, they are beginning to learn that they have a common interest. they know now that they form a class. the anti-suffragist is the isolated woman, she is the belated product of the th century. she is not intentionally, viciously selfish, she has merely not developed into th century fellowship. she is unrelated to our democratic society of today.... how shallow, in the face of that idea of duty in fulfilling our obligations of citizenship, sound the words of governor hughes that "when women want the vote they will get it!" want it? that is no measure of social need. it was death to the nation to have slavery within its bounds but no one advised waiting until the enslaved negroes wanted to be free before this dire disease should be cured. the state needs the attention of women, their thought, their service, and so it becomes the duty of all who have the best interests of the state at heart to seek to bind women to it in closest bonds of citizenship. in response to resolution eleven that, being held morally responsible, woman had therefore a right to express herself in public on all questions of morals and religion, the rev. mrs. crane began with fine sarcasm: "to women has always unquestionably been allowed the being good. they are called too good to enter the slimy pool of politics. they are complimented often in the spirit of the man who said to his wife: 'angelina, you get up and make the fire; it will seem so much warmer if laid by your fair hands!' to women is also conceded the right to be religious and unfortunately it often happens that all the religion a man has is in his wife's name. ruskin said: 'if you don't want the kingdom of heaven to come, don't pray for it but if you do want it to come you must do more than pray for it.' women must vote as well as pray. whoever is able to make peace in this distracted world is the one who should be allowed to do it." a full report of the work among the churches was made at a morning meeting by mrs. lucy hobart day (me.), chairman of the committee, which showed that eighteen states had appointed branch committees. these had organized suffrage circles in different churches, encouraged debates among the young people, arranged meetings, distributed literature, obtained hearings before many kinds of religious bodies, secured resolutions and tried to have official recognition of women in the churches. ministers had been requested to preach sermons in favor and many had done so, twenty-five in san francisco alone. mrs. pauline steinem (ohio), chairman of the committee on education, reported on its efforts in organizing mothers' and parents' clubs and working through these for suffrage; putting pictures of the pioneers in schools and securing the cooperation of the teachers for brief talks about them; supplying books containing selections from suffrage speeches, poems, etc., to be used in the schools. it was also proposed to see that text books on history and civics are written with a proper appreciation of the work of women. part of an afternoon was devoted to a discussion led by dr. rosalie slaughter morton (n. y.), delegated representative of prince morrow and the american society for sanitary and moral prophylaxis. in an eloquent address she described the terrible devastation, especially among women and children, from diseases which until lately had been concealed and never mentioned. she attributed these conditions partly to the fact that boys and girls were left in ignorance and this was often because the mothers were ignorant. the chief cause of the wide prevalence of these diseases was the double standard of morals, the belief that a chaste life for a man is incompatible with health and that the consequences of immorality end with themselves and will not be transmitted. she urged women to unite in the demand for a higher standard of morals among men. mrs. gilman spoke strongly on the necessity for more vigorous measures for a quarantine of the infected and health certificates for every marriage and she laid a large share of the cause of immorality at the door of the economic dependence of women. mrs. florence kelley, executive secretary of the national consumers' league, whose life was being spent in improving the economic position of women, said: "how are we dealing with this monstrous evil? are we going to wait patiently and rear a whole generation of children and grandchildren and trust to their gradual increase in strength of character?" she told of the mothers who bring up children in the best and wisest manner but the environment outside the home, which they have no power to shape, nullifies all their teaching. "that is a very slow way of dealing with a cancer," she said. "women have tried for forty years to get the power to have the laws enforced and that is our greatest need today." a principal feature of this important discussion was the strong, analytical address of the rev. anna garlin spencer, in the course of which she said: the formation of the new york society for sanitary and moral prophylaxis marked an important era. for the first time the physicians as a whole assumed a social duty to promote purity. they had done it as individuals, but this was the first instance of their banding themselves together on a moral as well as a sanitary plane to enlighten the public as to the causes of social disease.... dr. prince morrow should be everlastingly honored by every woman.... i consider no woman guiltless, whether she lives in a suffrage state or not, if she does not hold herself responsible for guarding less fortunate women. corrupt custom has rent the sacred, seamless robe of womanhood and cast out part of the women, abandoning them to degradation. we must learn to recognize the responsibility of pure women for the fallen women, of the woman whose circumstances have enabled her to stand, for the woman whom adverse conditions have borne down. we should oppose the sacrifice of womanhood, whether of an innocent girl sacrificed with pomp and ceremony in church, or of a poor waif in the street; and the great protection is the ability of young girls to earn their living by congenial labor. all the social purity societies do not equal the trade schools as a preventive.... we must not look at this matter from only one point of view or say that we can do nothing about it until we are armed with the ballot. i am a suffragist but not "high church," i am a suffragist and something else. we ought to have the ballot, we are at a disadvantage in our work while we are deprived of it, but even without it we have great power. we must stamp out the traffic in womanhood, it is a survival of barbarism. womanhood is a unit; no one woman can be an outcast without dire evil to family life. what caused the doctors to come together in a society for sanitary and moral prophylaxis? it was because the evil done in dark places came back in injury to the family life.... we must make ourselves more terrible than an army with banners to despoilers of womanhood.... men are no longer to be excused for writing in scarlet on their foreheads their incapacity for self-control. none of us is longer to be excused for cowardice and acquiescence in the sacrifice of womanhood. not even that woman--vilest of all creatures on the face of the earth i do believe--the procuress, shall be beyond the pale of sympathy, for she is merely the product of the feeling on the part of men that they owe nothing to women or to themselves in the way of purity, and the feeling on the part of women that they have no right to demand of men what men demand of them. if women are going to amount to anything in government, they would better begin to practice here and now and band themselves together with noble men to bring about this reform. of equal interest with pioneers' evening and in striking contrast with it was the college evening. one commemorated the first efforts to obtain a college education for women, the other the full fruition of these efforts in the announcement of a national college women's equal suffrage league with branches in fifteen states. dr. shaw, possessing three college degrees, opened the session, and the founder of the league, mrs. maud wood park, a graduate of radcliffe college, presided. "with the exception of oberlin and antioch," she said, "not one college was open to women before the organized movement for woman suffrage began." she gave statistics of the large number now open to them and said: "such facts as these help us to understand the service which the leaders of the suffrage movement performed for college women and it is fitting that these should make public recognition of their debt. it was with this idea of responsibility for benefits received that the first branch of this league was formed in massachusetts in . the league realizes that the best way to pay our debt to the noble women who toiled and suffered, who bore ridicule, insult and privation, is for us in our turn to sow the seed of future opportunities for women." in introducing dr. sophonisba p. breckinridge, dean of the junior women's college of the university of chicago, mrs. park said that she had half the letters of the alphabet attached to her name representing degrees. dr. breckinridge also paid a tribute of gratitude to the national suffrage association and began her address: "my faith has three articles. i believe it is the right and the duty of the wage-earning woman to claim the ballot and to have her claim recognized to participate in the political life of her community. her status as a worker depends in part upon it and only thus can she protect the interests of her group. i believe it is the right and duty of the wife and mother to claim the ballot, for as a housekeeper and carer of her children she cannot do her work economically and satisfactorily without it. it is easy to see why the wage-earning women and the housekeepers need the ballot; but why should we, who do not belong to either of those groups, want it? every woman should want it because tasks lie before the public so difficult that they can not be fulfilled without the cooperation of all the trained minds in the community, and these problems can be met only by collective action. we want to get hold of the little device that moves the machinery." miss caroline lexow, president of the new york branch of the league, a graduate of barnard college, a part of columbia university, "charmed the audience with her girlish simplicity and with the tribute she paid to the women who more than half a century ago sowed the seeds which have yielded so rich a harvest for the women of today," to quote from an enthusiastic reporter. of another young speaker the buffalo _express_ said: "to the front of the platform stepped a sweet-faced, bright-eyed, rosy english girl, miss ray costello, a graduate of newnham college, cambridge university, who spoke on equal suffrage among english university women. she had captured her audience before she started to describe the energetic work of the college women." "in england as in the united states," miss costello said, "the pioneers in the demand for higher education were also pioneers in the demand for votes. when the action of the 'militant' suffragettes brought the question into such prominence that the opponents began to state their objections, the college women were aroused and became more and more active, but as a whole they were in favor of peaceful rather than militant tactics." she told also of the growth of favorable sentiment in the men's colleges. this was the first appearance at a national suffrage convention of mrs. frances squire potter, professor of english in the university of minnesota, and her address on women and the vote was one of the ablest ever given before this body which was accustomed to superior addresses. limited space forbids extended quotation: louis xiv said an infamous thing when he declared: "i am the state," but he announced his position frankly. he was an autocrat and he said so. it was a more honest and therefore less harmful position than that of a majority of voters in our country today. can it help but confuse and deteriorate one sex, trained to believe and call itself living in a democracy, to say silently year by year at the polls, "i am the state"? can it help but confuse and deteriorate the other sex, similarly trained to acquiescence year after year in a national misrepresentation and a personal no-representation? this fundamental insincerity of our so-called democracy is as insidious an influence upon the minds and morals of our franchised men, our unfranchised women and our young americans of both sexes, as hypocrisy is to a church member or spurious currency to a bank. it is to be remembered that the evils which are pointed out in our commonwealth today are not the evils of a democracy but of an amorphous something which is afraid to be a democracy. whether the opposition to women's voting be honestly professed or whether it is concealed under chivalrous idolatry, distrust and skepticism are behind it.... when pushed to the wall, objectors to woman suffrage now-a-days take refuge behind one of two platitudes: the first is used too often by women whose public activities ought logically to make them suffragists--the assertion that equal suffrage is bound to come in time but that at present there are more pressing needs. "let us get the poor better housed and fed," these women say. "let us get our schools improved and our cities cleaned up and then we shall have time to take up the cause of equal suffrage." is not this a survival of that old vice of womankind, indirection?... the suffrage issue should not be put off but should be placed first, as making the other issues easier and more permanent.... this brings me to the other platitude. how often we are told, "women themselves do not want it; when they do it will be given to them." that is to say, when an overwhelming majority of women want what they ought to have, then they can have it. extension of suffrage never has been granted on these terms. no great reform has gone through on these terms. in an enlightened state wanting is not considered a necessary condition to the granting of education or the extension of any privilege. such a state confers it in order to create the desire; unenlightened states, like turkey and russia, hold off until revolution compels a reluctant, niggardly abdication of tyranny.... we have the conviction that that which has come in finland and australia, which is coming in great britain, will come in america, and there is a majesty in the sight of a great world-tide which has been gathering force through generations, which is rising steadily and irresistibly, that should paralyze any american xerxes who thinks to stop it with humanly created restraints. dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college, received an ovation. "the formation of this national college league," she said, "indicates that college women will be ready to bear their part in the stupendous social change of which the demand for woman suffrage is only the outward symbol," and she continued: sixty years ago all university studies and all the charmed world of scholarship were a man's world, in which women had no share. now, although only one woman in one thousand goes to college even in the united states, where there are more college women than in any other country, the position of every individual woman in every part of the civilized world has been changed because this one thousandth per cent. have proved beyond the possibility of question that in intellect there is no sex, that the accumulated learning of our great past and of our still greater future is the inheritance of women also. men have admitted women into intellectual comradeship and the opinions of educated women can no longer be ignored by educated men.... women are one-half of the world, but until a century ago the world of music and painting and sculpture and literature and scholarship and science was a man's world. the world of trades and professions and work of all kinds was a man's world. women lived a twilight life, a half-life apart, and looked out and saw men as shadows walking. now women have won the right to higher education and to economic independence. the right to become citizens of the state is the next and inevitable consequence of education and work outside the home. we have gone so far; we must go farther. why are we afraid? it is the next step forward on the path toward the sunrise--and the sun is rising over a new heaven and a new earth. the national college women's equal suffrage league was formally organized as auxiliary to the national american association, with dr. thomas president, miss lexow secretary; dr. margaret long, of smith college, treasurer; mrs. park chairman of the organization committee; dr. breckinridge, mrs. c. s. woodward, adviser to women in the university of wisconsin, and miss frances w. mclean of the university of california were among the vice-presidents. three thousand dollars were appropriated for its work the first year from the anthony memorial fund. the following day mrs. george howard lewis gave a beautiful luncheon at the twentieth century club in honor of dr. shaw, dr. thomas and the college women and it included the officials of the national and state suffrage associations. the tables were decorated with orchids and yellow chrysanthemums and there were corsage bouquets of violets for the guests of honor. the women ministers in attendance and some of the delegates spoke in various churches sunday morning. a departure was made from the usual custom of holding religious services in the afternoon and they were replaced by an industrial meeting. one of the city papers thus introduced its account: "any theatre after a packed house had better advertise a woman's meeting with the rev. anna howard shaw presiding. at the star theatre, where an industrial mass meeting was held under the auspices of the national suffrage association yesterday afternoon, when dr. shaw stepped to the front of the stage to call it to order, men, as well as women, filled all the seats on the ground floor and packed the galleries and boxes, while many stood during the entire program and many more were turned away. it was the largest meeting in the cause of equal suffrage that buffalo has ever known. after prayer by the rev. robert freeman and a musical selection by the choir of the first unitarian church, dr. shaw announced that the audience would rise while julia ward howe's battle hymn of the republic was sung. she stood with bowed head as she listened. "some one asked me this morning if i am very happy," said dr. shaw, "and i said yes, for i have everything in the world that is necessary to happiness, good faith, good friends and all the work i can possibly do. i think god's greatest blessing to the human race was when he sent man forth into the world to earn his bread by the sweat of his face. i believe in toil, in the dignity of labor, but i also believe in adequate compensation for that toil." the report of the committee on industrial problems affecting women and children was given by its chairman, mrs. kelley, executive secretary of the national consumers' league, in which she said: "in new york woman can not be deprived of the sacred right to work all night in factories on pain of dismissal. such is the recent decision of the court of appeals. on the other hand the same court has within a week held that the law is constitutional which restricts to eight hours the work of men employed by the state, the county or the city. i wish the women who think that 'persuasion' is all-sufficient might have our experience in new york city; we worked for twelve years to get inspectors who should look after the women and children in stores and mercantile establishments. at last an act was passed by which inspectors were to be appointed and for about a year and a half they really inspected and looked after the children and young girls in the stores. then a great philanthropist, nathan straus, who was connected with an establishment employing many young people, got himself appointed, as he frankly said, in order to get the salaries of the inspectors stricken out of the budget and to get sterilized milk put into it. he got the salaries out and the sterilized milk in and then he resigned. the next year his successor got the sterilized milk out and there we were, back just where we had been at the beginning. we had to set to work again and labor for years longer, petitioning all the changing and kaleidoscopic officials who have to do with the finances of new york; and one mayor said frankly to us--to the consumers' league: "ladies, why do you keep on coming? you know you will never get anything--there isn't a voter among you!..." mrs. kelley said the consumers' league had been investigating the condition of girls working in stores, away from home, and she gave a heartbreaking account of their destitution and semi-starvation. "only nineteen states protect grown women at all," she said. "i am very tired of 'persuasion' and from this time on i mean to try other methods." intense interest was manifested in the address entitled noblesse oblige by miss jean gordon, factory inspector for new orleans, in which she said in part: one of the strongest and truest criticisms brought against our american leisure class is that they are absolutely devoid of a proper appreciation of what is conveyed in the expression, "noblesse oblige." in no country in the world are there so many young women of education, wealth and leisure, free as the winds of heaven to do as they wish. in no country are there more interesting problems to be solved and one would think such work would appeal to this very class, especially as most of them are the daughters of men who by their large constructive minds have created conditions and opportunities and developed them into the great industries for which america is justly famous; and it would seem by the law of cross inheritance that these daughters would inherit some of the great creative ability of their fathers and fairly burn to apply their leisure and education to working out the social problems which are besetting more and more this great country. but unfortunately, with a few exceptions, they rest contented with playing the lady bountiful and their only appreciation of the spirit of noblesse oblige has been the old, aristocratic idea of charity.... think what it would mean to bring their trained minds and great wealth and leisure to the study of the economic conditions which are represented in the underpaid services and long hours of their less fortunate sisters in the mills and factories throughout this broad land! think what it would mean if from the protection with which their wealth and position surround them they took their stand on the great question of the dual code of morality! think what it would mean to the little children being stunted mentally and physically in our mills and factories, if these thousands of young women, many of them enjoying the wealth made out of these little human souls, refused to wear or buy anything made under any but decent living conditions! think what it would mean if they decided that every child should have a seat in school, that every neighborhood should have a play-ground and a public bath! too long the men and women of leisure and education in america have left the administration of our public affairs to fall into the hands of a class whose conception of the duties involved in public service is of the lowest order.... instead of being regarded as only fitted for women of ordinary position and intellect, all offices such as superintendents of reformatories, matrons and women factory inspectors, should be filled by women of standing, education, refinement and independent means. such women would be above the temptation of graft or the fear of losing their positions. they are on a social footing with the manufacturers and no mill or factory owner likes to meet the factory inspector at a reception or dining in the home of a mutual friend if he is trying to evade the law. american women of leisure must awaken to an appreciation of the democratic idea of noblesse oblige. mrs. blatch was introduced as "president of the self-supporting women's suffrage league and the only one in it who was not self-supporting in the accepted sense of the term." "when i hear that there are , , working women in this country," said dr. shaw, "i always take occasion to say that there are , , but only , , receive their wages." mrs. blatch traced the changes of the years which have made it necessary for women to go out of the home to earn their bread in factory, shop and mercantile establishments. "cooperation is the only way out of the present condition of the working women," she asserted. "president thomas said last night that the gates of knowledge had swung wide open for women. they have not done so for the working girls." she pointed out the many opportunities for the boys to learn the trades which are denied to the girls. "there is only one way to redress their wrongs and that is by the ballot," she declared, and in closing she said: "of all the people who block the progress of woman suffrage the worst are the women of wealth and leisure who never knew a day's work and never felt a day's want, but who selfishly stand in the way of those women who know what it means to earn the bread they eat by the sternest toil and who, with a voice in the government, could better themselves in every way." the last address was made by dr. shaw and even the cold, prosaic official report of the convention said: "it was one of the greatest speeches of the entire week." she began by telling of the immense demonstration in london during the past summer when , women marched through the streets to prove to the government that women did want to vote, and then she proceeded to tell why american women wanted it and how they were determined to compel some action by the government. in the evening the officers held a reception for the delegates, speakers and friends in the lenox hotel, convention headquarters. in the monday afternoon symposium the stock objections to woman suffrage were considered by miss lexow, miss laura gregg (kans.), mrs. william c. gannett (n. y.), mrs. kelley and miss maude e. miner, a probation officer in new york. miss miner said in answering the objection to "the immoral vote": "is the fact that immoral women would have the vote a real objection? i do not believe that it is. in the first place such women are a very small proportion of the whole. fifty to one hundred a night are brought into the night court but we see the same faces over and over again. there are perhaps , such women in new york city in a population of four million but there is less reason against enfranchising the woman than for disfranchising some of the men, as there are at least , men who are living wholly or in part on these women's earnings.... i do not believe that all women who have fallen would use their votes for evil. i have dealt with of them and i am often surprised to see how much sense of honor some of them have and how intelligent they are. at present they are the slaves of the saloon-keepers, and the raines law hotels and the saloons are at the root of the evil. we ought to do more to protect them from such a life.... it seems to be women's work to deal with such problems and to secure legislation along these lines and we can only do this by having the ballot. with it we can do much more in the way of breaking up the power of the saloon in politics, which is at the bottom of all." dr. shaw was quickly on her feet to say that miss miner had touched upon the vital spot in the whole suffrage movement; that the liquor interests were at the bottom of the opposition to it and that in the states where it had been defeated they were responsible. mrs. kelley spoke for the woman at the bottom of the heap, who had even greater need of the ballot than her more fortunate sisters. mrs. gannett, wife of the unitarian minister, william c. gannett of rochester, n. y., both loving friends of miss anthony, considered the assertion that "women do not want to vote," saying in part: they tell us that women can bring better things to pass by indirect influence. try to persuade any man that he will have more weight, more influence, if he gives up his vote, allies himself with no party and relies on influence to achieve his ends! by all means let us use to its utmost whatever influence we have, but in all justice do not ask us to be content with this. facts show that a large body of earnest, responsible women do want the ballot, a body large enough to deserve very respectful hearing from our law-makers, but there certainly are many women who do not yet want to vote. we think they ought to want it; that women have no more right than men to accept and enjoy the protection and privileges of civilized government and shirk its duties and responsibilities. they say they do not thus shirk, that woman's sphere lies in a different place, and we answer: "this is true but only part of the truth." ... municipal government belongs far more to woman's sphere than to man's, if we must choose between the two; it is home-making and housekeeping writ large, but just as the best home is that where father and mother together rule, so shall we have the better city, the better state, when men and women together counsel, together rule. no mother fulfills her whole mother duty in the sight of god who is not willing to do her service, to take her share of direct responsibility for the good of the whole. she can not fully care for her own without some care for all the children of the community. her own, however guarded, are menaced so long as the least of these is exposed to pestilence or is robbed of his birthright of fresh air and sunshine. the hard struggle and toil of our honored pioneers was for woman's rights. we of the coming day must take up the cry of woman's duty. we live in the new age; new obligations are laid upon us. we must labor until no woman in the land shall be content to say, "i am not willing to pay the price i owe for the comfort and safety of my life"; until every woman shall be ashamed not to demand equal duties and equal responsibilities for the common weal; until none can be found of whom it can with truth be said, "they do not want to vote." miss gregg discussed the real enemy, and, while endorsing all that had been said, asserted that "this enemy is among our own sex." "it is not the anti-suffragist," she said, "she is our unwilling ally, for when there is danger that we might fall asleep she arouses us by buzzing about our ears with her misrepresentations. it is not the indifferent suffragist, she can be galvanized into life. our real enemy is the dead or dormant suffragist," and then she preached a stirring sermon on the necessity for hard, incessant, faithful work by all who were enlisted heart and soul in this cause. mrs. upton, the treasurer, called attention to the mistaken idea conveyed through the newspapers that the association had unlimited funds. the report that it intended to raise $ , had been made to read that it had raised it, and the garrett-thomas fund of $ , a year had caused many to cease their subscriptions.[ ] the new opportunities for effective work caused larger demands for money than ever before and the year had been the most anxious the board had known. the expenditures had been larger than the receipts and most of the balance that was in the treasury had been used. even this strong statement, backed by an appeal from dr. shaw, brought pledges only to the amount of $ , , a less amount than for years, the delegates, many of small means, still feeling that their former subscriptions were not necessary. dr. shaw then read to the convention a letter to herself from mrs. george howard lewis of buffalo, who expressed the pleasure of the new york state suffrage clubs that the th anniversary of the first woman's rights convention had been held in this city, at miss anthony's expressed wish, and ended: "in memory of susan b. anthony will you accept the enclosed check for $ , to be used as the national officers deem best in the work, so dear to her and to all true lovers of justice, for the enfranchisement of women?" as she showed the enclosure dr. shaw said: "this is the largest check i ever held in my hand." the convention rose in appreciation of mrs. lewis's generous gift. the report of mrs. ida porter boyer, chairman of the libraries committee, the result of a month's research in the library of congress in washington and another month in the public library of boston, was most interesting, as it dealt with old manuscripts and books on the rights of women written in the th and th centuries. the valuable report of mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg, chairman of the committee on legislation and civil rights, embodied those of presidents of twenty-three state suffrage associations, covering school, labor, factory and temperance laws, mercantile inspection, juvenile courts, educational matters, protection of wives and many others relating to the welfare of women and children, most of them showing advance. the speakers at the monday evening session were miss harriet grim, winner of the springer prize for the best essay written by an illinois college student, who described "the womanly woman in politics"; mrs. katharine reed balentine (me.), daughter of thomas b. reed, the famous speaker of the lower house of congress and a staunch suffragist, and the brilliant orator, mrs. philip snowden of england. mrs. balentine said in beginning her address that now women were voting in russia she had the courage to hope that they would sometime obtain the suffrage in new york, massachusetts and maine, and continued in part: in england the last final argument, that women do not themselves want the franchise, has in the light of recent events become ridiculous. on june , , suffragists paraded through the streets of london and it is said that the woman suffrage meeting of june was the largest public meeting ever held for any cause. fifty thousand women have just stormed parliament.... no one now doubts that the women of england want and intend to have votes. it is said that history repeats itself but this particular phenomenon--the world-wide claim of women to political equality with men--has never appeared before; it has no historic precedent.... does disfranchised influence, unsteadied by the responsibility of the ballot and the broadening experience of public service, make for the greatest good to the greatest number, which is the aim of true democracy? can women, and do the average, every-day women in their present condition as subjects take a very lively interest in the real welfare of the state? hardly, and are not men and children affected by this indifference? it could scarcely be otherwise. it may be said that average men, notwithstanding their possession of the ballot, are indifferent to the public weal, but are they not rendered doubly so by continually associating with a class that feels no allegiance to the state?... in the political subjection and consequent political ignorance and indifference of women, men are unconsciously forging their own fetters. they can not retain their rights unless they share them with women. this is the true significance of the woman suffrage movement throughout the world. it is a vast attempt at the establishing of real government by the people of republics which, being real, shall endure; and as such it is as much a movement for men's rights as for women's. the "militant" suffrage movement in great britain, at this time in its early stage, was attracting world-wide attention and mrs. snowden devoted much of her address to explaining it, saying in part: "our methods may seem strange to you, for perhaps you do not fully understand. we have the municipal vote and have used it for many years. today an englishwoman may vote for every official except a member of parliament; she may sit in every political body except the parliament and we are after that last right. we have members out of of its members pledged to this reform. when the full suffrage bill went to its second reading the votes stood three to one in favor. we want that vote put through but it is the british cabinet we must get at to approve finally the act when it has passed the two houses. it is the government we are trying to annoy. our government never moves in any radical way until it is kicked. sir henry campbell bannerman, when prime minister, advised the women to harass the government until they got what they wanted and that is just what we are doing today. the liberal government, helped into power by at least , tax-paying women, promised to grant their rights. how have they kept that promise?" speaking of the two "militant" societies mrs. snowden said: "our policy of aggressiveness has been justified by its results. when we began almost every newspaper in england was against us. now, with one exception, the _times_, the london papers are all for us. the 'militancy' thus far has consisted chiefly in 'heckling' speakers; assembling before the house of commons in large numbers; getting into the gallery and into public meetings and calling out 'votes for women' and breaking windows in government buildings, a time-honored english custom of showing disapproval. many suffragists in the united states, knowing the contemptuous manner in which those of great britain and ireland have been treated by the government, have felt a good deal of sympathy with these measures." at this convention and the one preceding sympathy was expressed by dr. shaw and others and resolutions to this effect were adopted. one of the buffalo papers said in regard to the election of officers: "if the way the women vote at the national convention may be taken as a criterion of what they will do when they gain the ballot, there will be very little electioneering. yesterday's election was characterized by entire absence of wire-pulling. the balloting was done quickly and there was no contest for any office, the women voting as they wished and only a few scattered ballots going for particular friends of voters. the election of the president, first vice-president, corresponding secretary and treasurer was unanimous and the others so nearly so that there was no question of result by the time half the ballots had been counted." mrs. sperry retired from the office of second vice-president and mrs. ella s. stewart, president of the illinois suffrage association, was chosen in her place. the paper on some legal phases of the disfranchisement of women by mrs. harriette johnston wood, a new york lawyer, was regarded as so important that it was ordered to be printed for circulation. she quoted from federal and state constitutions and court decisions to prove that "if properly construed the laws specify the rights and privileges of 'persons' and no distinction is made as to 'sex' in provisions relating to the elective franchise." she encouraged women to try to register for voting and qualify for jury service and urged that bills be presented to legislative bodies covering the following points: first, that citizens shall equally enjoy all civil and political rights and privileges; second, that in the selection of jurors no discrimination shall be made against citizens on account of sex; third, that representation be based on the electorate and that non-voters be non-taxpayers; fourth, that husband and wife have equal right in each other's property; fifth, equal rights in the property of a child; sixth, in case of separation, equal rights to the custody of the children. a visit to the albright art gallery and an automobile ride along the lake front, through delaware park and the many handsome avenues of the city, was a much-enjoyed part of this afternoon's program. at one evening session miss grace h. ballantyne, attorney in the noted city hall case at des moines, iowa, gave a spirited account of the way in which the women's right to vote on issuing bonds was sustained. mrs. kate trimble woolsey (ky.), who had resided some years in england, compared the condition of women in that country and the united states to the disadvantage of the latter, "where," she said, "the women did not profit by the declaration of independence but on the contrary lost when the colonies were supplanted by the republic. in this they discover that a republic may endure as a political institution to the end of time without conferring recognition, honors or power on women; that it can exist as an oligarchy of sex, and they say: 'why should we be loyal to this government?' thus through women republicanism itself is imperiled and i tell you that if an amendment is not added to the national constitution giving women the power to vote, this republic, within the living generation, will find that prophecy, 'woman is the rock upon which our ship of state is to founder,' will be fulfilled." as chairman of the committee on peace and arbitration mrs. lucia ames mead gave a report of its many activities. in she had attended a plenary session at the hague peace conference, which she described in glowing terms, and she went as a delegate in september to an international peace conference in munich. in july, , she went to one in london, where mrs. belva a. lockwood of washington, d. c., presented a paper on the central american peace congress, held in that city, and the recently established arbitration court, which formed the basis of three resolutions adopted by the congress. she told of the new society, the american school peace league to improve the teaching of history and in every way promote international fraternity, sympathy and justice. during business meetings the following were among the recommendations adopted: to recommend to states to continue a systematic and specialized distribution of literature; to secure and present to congress at an early date a petition asking for a th amendment enfranchising women, the chair to appoint a committee to superintend this work; to try to obtain the appointment of a u. s. senate committee on woman suffrage favorable to it; to send letters simultaneously to the president of the united states in advance of the time for writing his message, followed by telegrams one week preceding the opening of congress, expressing the wishes of women for the ballot; to ask their legislatures for some form of suffrage and follow up this request with systematic legislative work; to urge that states having any form of partial suffrage take measures to secure the largest possible use of it by women. it was decided to appropriate $ for two months' work in south dakota to ascertain conditions with a view to the submission of a state amendment. the resolutions presented by mr. blackwell, chairman of the committee, reviewed the wonderful progress made by women since the first convention whose th anniversary they were celebrating. they told of the progress of suffrage, as outlined in the call for the convention, and said: "when that first convention met, one college in the united states admitted women; now hundreds do so. then there was not a single woman physician or ordained minister or lawyer; now there are , women physicians and surgeons, , ordained ministers and , lawyers. then only a few poorly-paid employments were open to women; now they are in more than three hundred occupations and comprise per cent. of our school teachers. then there were scarcely any organizations of women; now such organizations are numbered by thousands. then the few women who dared to speak in public, even on philanthropic questions, were overwhelmingly condemned by public opinion; now the women most opposed to woman suffrage travel about the country making speeches to prove that a woman's only place is at home. then a married woman in most of our states could not control her own person, property or earnings; now in most of them these laws have been largely amended or repealed and it is only in regard to the ballot that the fiction of woman's perpetual minority is still kept up." mrs. catt's powerful address was entitled the battle to the strong but nothing is preserved except newspaper clippings. she ended by saying: "in all history there has been no event fraught with more importance for the generations to follow than the present uprising of the women of the world.... every struggle helps and no movement for right, for reform in this country or in england but has made the woman's movement easier in every other land. we have brought the countries of the world very close together in the last few years. papers and cables and telegraph spread the news almost instantly to the centres of the earth and then to the obscure corners, so that the women of other nations know what the women here are doing and what they are doing in every other part of the world.... the suffrage campaign in england has become the kind of fanaticism that caused the american revolution. these women are no longer reformers, they are rebels, and they are going to win.... woman's hour has struck at last and all along the line there is a mobilization of the woman's army ready for service. we are going forward with flags flying to win. if you are not for us you are against us. justice for the women of the world is coming. this is to be a battle to the strong--strong in faith, strong in courage, strong in conviction. women of america, stand up for the citizenship of our own country and let the world know we are not ashamed of the declaration of independence!" a newspaper account said: "and then anna howard shaw stepped forward, the light of a great purpose shining in her eyes. 'our international president has asked for recruits,' she said. 'never have we had so many as now.' she spoke of the immense gains to the suffrage cause within the last few months in america and of the suffrage pioneers and their sufferings, and ended: 'the path has been blazed for us and they have shown us the way. who shall say that our triumph is to be long delayed? it is the hour for us to rally. we have enlisted for the war. ninety days? no; for the war! we may not win every battle but we shall win the war. happy they who are the burden-bearers in a great fight! happy is any man or woman who is called by the giver of all to serve him in the cause of humanity! friends, come with us and we will do you good; but whether you come or not we are going, and when we enter the promised land of freedom we will try to be just and to show that we understand what freedom is, what the law is. 'god grant us law in liberty and liberty in law!'" footnotes: [ ] part of call: since we met last in convention women in norway have won full suffrage; tax-paying women in iceland have been granted a vote and made eligible as municipal councillors; municipal suffrage has been given to women in denmark and they now vote for all officers except members of parliament; women in sweden, who already had the municipal vote, have been made eligible to municipal offices; a proxy in the election of the douma has been conferred on women of property in russia. in great britain, where they have long possessed municipal suffrage, women have been made eligible as mayors, county, borough and town councillors and their heroic struggle for parliamentary suffrage is attracting the attention of the world. in our own country during the past year, , women of michigan appealed for full suffrage to its constitutional convention and a partial franchise was given; in oregon women obtained the submission of a constitutional amendment for suffrage to a referendum vote. though no large victories were won the advocates of equal suffrage have never felt more hopeful, as public sentiment is in closer sympathy with them than ever before. five hundred associations of men, organized for other purposes and numbering millions of voters, have officially declared for woman suffrage; only one, the organized liquor traffic, has made a record of unremitting hostility to it and the domination of the saloon in politics has wrested many victories from our grasp.... we cordially invite all men and women who have faith in the principles of the american government and love liberty and justice to meet with us in convention in buffalo. anna howard shaw, president. rachel foster avery, first vice-president. florence kelly, second vice-president. kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } mary simpson sperry,} auditors. [ ] other ministers who officiated at different times were the reverends anna howard shaw, anna garlin spencer and olympia brown of the convention, and the reverends richard w. boynton, robert freeman, l. o. williams, e. h. dickinson and f. hyatt smith of buffalo. [ ] for full account see history of woman suffrage, volume i, page . [ ] this fund had been raised primarily to pay salaries to officers who now had to devote their whole time to the increased work of the association and who had hitherto for the most part given their service gratuitously. dr. shaw received $ , ; the secretary $ , , the treasurer $ , . this left $ , for other purposes each year. chapter ix. national american convention of . the invitation to hold the forty-first annual convention of the association in seattle was accepted for two special reasons. the washington legislature had submitted a woman suffrage amendment to be voted on in ; similar action had been taken by the legislatures of oregon and south dakota, and a convention on the pacific coast would attract western people and create sentiment in favor of these amendments. the alaska-yukon-pacific exposition in progress during the summer, by causing reduced railroad rates, would enable those of the east and middle west to attend the convention and visit this beautiful section of the country.[ ] the date fixed was july - . the eastern delegates assembled in chicago on june to take the "suffrage special" train for seattle and a reception was given to them at hotel stratford by the chicago suffragists. at st. paul the next morning ex-senator s. a. stockwell and mrs. stockwell, president of the minnesota association, with a delegation of suffragists, met them at the station and escorted them to the woman's exchange, where a delicious breakfast was served on tables adorned with golden iris and ferns. many club officials were there and brief addresses were made by dr. anna howard shaw, mrs. florence kelley, miss laura clay, mrs. fanny garrison villard, mrs. charlotte perkins gilman, miss alice stone blackwell, miss kate m. gordon and mrs. harriet taylor upton. mrs. villard recalled a visit she had made there twenty-six years before with her husband, henry villard, who had just completed the northern pacific railroad and his train was making a kind of triumphal tour across the continent. "st. paul welcomed him with a procession ten miles long," she said, "and minneapolis, determined not to be outdone, got up one fifteen miles long. it gives me joy to remember that not only my father, william lloyd garrison, but also my good german-born husband believed in equal rights for women." the train sped through the great northwest and continuous business meetings were held by the board of officers in what was usually the smoking car until the next stop was made at spokane, washington. here the chamber of commerce had appropriated $ for their entertainment. they were presented with buttons and badges and taken in automobiles through the beautiful residence district, the handsome grounds of the three colleges and to the picturesque falls. then they saw the fine exhibits in the chamber of commerce and were taken to the amateur athletic club, whose facilities for rest and recreation were placed at their disposal. an elaborate banquet followed with mrs. may arkwright hutton, president of the spokane equal suffrage club, presiding. mrs. emma smith de voe, president of the state suffrage association, welcomed them to washington, and mayor n. s. pratt to the city. "i have welcomed many organizations to spokane," he said, "but none with so much pleasure as this. my belief in equal suffrage is no new conviction; i have voted for it twice and hope soon to do so again. the coming of equal rights for women is the inevitable result of progress and enlightenment." he presented dr. shaw with a gavel made of wood from the four suffrage states bound together with a band of idaho silver and expressed the hope that when she used it to open the convention in seattle the sound would be like "the shot heard round the world." the account in the _woman's journal_ said: "dr. shaw, in returning thanks, said: 'it is an apt simile, for the blow will be struck on the pacific coast and it needs to be heard to the atlantic and not only from the west to the east but from the north to the south. i hope it will be answered by men who, having known themselves what freedom is, wish to give women the benefits of it also. the only man who can be in any way excused for wanting to withhold freedom from women is the man who is himself a slave.' she recalled the times when the suffragists were offered not banquets but abuse and compared them to the pioneer days of clearing the forest. she closed with a beautiful tribute to the pioneer mothers and called upon the men to pay their debt to them next november." mrs. villard, recalling here also her visit of more than a quarter of a century before, said in part: "never could i have believed that such changes could have been wrought since that historic train. then there was nothing at spokane but indians and cowboys and the beautiful falls. i am glad you want women to share the full life of the city. 'the woman's cause is man's.' this movement is as wide as the world and will benefit men as well as women. i have come on this trip largely because i like to connect my husband's name not merely with the building of a great railroad but also with the cause of justice to women in which he believed. i wish greater and greater prosperity to spokane but with her material prosperity let her not forget the larger things which must go hand in hand with it if cities are not to perish from the earth." mrs. abigail scott duniway of portland, ore., the renowned suffrage pioneer of the northwest, was enthusiastically received and in the course of her interesting reminiscences said: "i remember when 'old oregon' comprised most of the pacific northwest. at that time i was living in a log cabin engaged in the very domestic occupation of raising a large family of small children.... on my first visit to spokane i came by stage from walla walla. it went bumping and careening over the rocks and the one hotel of the village had not accommodations for the three or four passengers. they made up improvised beds for us on slats and all the food we had for several days was bread and sugar, but i enjoyed it for after such a journey anything tasted good. there was only one little hall in the town and i was importuned by captain wilkinson of portland to speak. so i hired the hall for sunday and he advised me to offer it to a clergyman there for the afternoon service. i did so and asked him to announce after his sermon that my meeting would be held in the evening. he accepted the use of the hall but failed to give the notice. when i asked him about it he said: 'do you think i would notice a woman's meeting?' but we had a good one and almost everybody in spokane subscribed for my paper, the _new northwest_. the next time i came here was to celebrate the completion of the northern pacific railroad. i had the honor of writing a poem for the occasion and reading it in that little hall and henry villard wrote me a letter about it." a large evening meeting was held in the first methodist church with mrs. lareine baker presiding. henry b. blackwell and prof. frances squire potter were among the national speakers. a tired lot of travellers but happy over their cordial welcome took the night train. next day they stopped for a brief time at north yakima and ellensburg and spoke from the rear platform to the crowds awaiting them. women, girls and children dressed in white greeted them with banners, songs and quantities of the lovely roses for which that section is noted and with fancy baskets of the wonderful cherries and apples. during several hours spent in tacoma they had the famous ride around the city in special trolley cars, supper at sunset on the veranda of a hotel overlooking the beautiful puget sound and a walk through the magnificent park. the never to be forgotten convention in seattle was preceded by an evening reception on june in lincoln hotel, given by the state suffrage association, whose former president, mrs. homer m. hill, extended its welcome to the delegates. dr. shaw, the national president, called the convention to order the next afternoon in the large plymouth congregational church and the audience sang the march of the mothers. mrs. margaret b. platt brought the greetings of the woman's christian temperance union, pointing out that "there are wrongs which can never be righted until woman holds in her hand the ballot, symbol of the power to right them." in introducing mrs. m. b. lord to speak for the grange, dr. shaw said she herself was a member of it. mrs. lord said in part: "from the first of it women came into our organization on a perfect equality and for forty years the grange has carried on an education for woman suffrage. it was the proudest moment of my life when i got a resolution for it through the new york state grange. here in washington it has increased three-fold in five years and always passes a resolution in favor of suffrage for women." mrs. de voe gave a big-hearted welcome from the state and mrs. mary s. sperry, president of the california suffrage association, made a gracious response. by a rising vote the convention sent a message of warm regard to mrs. carrie chapman catt of new york, the former national president, and regret that she was not able to be present. dr. shaw spoke of the "masterly way" in which she had presided at the meeting of the international suffrage alliance in london in may, "her power and dignity commanding universal respect," and told of the message of greeting from queen maud of norway and other incidents of the congress. leaving more formal ceremonies for the evening the convention proceeded to business and listened to the report of the corresponding secretary, miss gordon (la.). in referring to the specialized literature which had been sent out, she spoke of the letter of the brewers' and wholesale liquor dealers' association, so widely circulated during the recent oregon suffrage campaign, calling the attention of all retailers in the state to the necessity of defeating the amendment, and to the postal instructing them how to mark their ballot, with a return card signifying their willingness. this had been put into an "exhibit" by miss blackwell and her literature committee and miss gordon urged that clergymen of all denominations should be circularized with it. she said: "i believe the association should not be dissuaded from this undertaking because of the amount of work and its costliness. the burden of responsibility rests upon us to prove with such evidence that the worst enemy of the church and the most active enemy of woman suffrage is a mutual foe, the 'organized liquor and vice power.' if in the face of such direct evidence representatives of the church still allow prejudice, ignorance or indifference to woman suffrage to influence them, then they knowingly become the common allies of this power." miss gordon gave instances to show the great change taking place in the attitude of the public toward woman suffrage and said the present difficulty was to utilize the opportunities which presented themselves. she urged more concentrated effort from the national headquarters and a substantial appropriation to enable the chairmen of the standing committees to carry on their work; also that they should be elected instead of appointed and be members of the official board, and she concluded: "it is earnestly recommended that suffragists take steps to politicalize their methods. the primaries, affording in many states an opportunity for women to secure the nominations of favorable candidates; active interest in defeating the election of those opposed to suffrage; the questioning of candidates, etc., are all instances where intelligent interest and activity on the part of suffragists will educate the public far more effectively than debates, lectures and literature--to see that women are determined to take an active part in so-called politics, so intimately associated for weal or woe in their lives." the reports of the headquarters secretary and national press chairman, miss elizabeth j. hauser (ohio) were read by mrs. upton. the first in speaking of the increased demands on the headquarters began: "in no previous presidential campaign in the united states were the views of candidates on the enfranchisement of women ever so generally commented on by the press. perhaps never before did candidates consider the question of sufficient importance to have any opinion upon it. never before did the newspaper interviewer put to every possible personage--politician or preacher, writer or speaker, inventor or explorer, captain of industry, social worker, actor, prize-fighter, maid, matron, widow--the burning query, 'what about votes for women?'" she told of about , letters having been sent out and an average of nearly , pieces of literature a day, as many in the first half of the present year as in all of . the book department, in charge of miss caroline i. reilly, reported that the sales of the life and work of susan b. anthony had amounted to $ ; sets of the history of woman suffrage had been placed in the libraries of the leading colleges and universities; copies of the reports of the last two national conventions had been put into the libraries which keep the file. the delegates to the presidential nominating conventions had been appealed to by letter for a suffrage plank in the platform but without result. the independence party convention in chicago voted it down. the usual work had been done in international and national conventions and many had adopted favorable resolutions, among them those of the international bricklayers' and stone masons' union meeting in detroit; the international cotton spinners' union in boston and the woman's national trade union league in that city: the national council of women and the johns hopkins alumni association. the united mine workers of america, meeting at indianapolis, passed the woman suffrage resolution by unanimous vote and sent to the headquarters copies of it, which were promptly mailed to members of congress. the american federation of labor, representing , , members, at its convention in denver, followed its long established custom of passing this resolution. dr. shaw attended the national conference of charities and corrections: mrs. julia ward howe was received as a fraternal delegate from the national american suffrage association by the general federation of women's clubs at its biennial in boston; mrs. stockwell by the convention of the american library association; mrs. sperry and mrs. alice l. park of california, by the nurses associated alumnæ of the united states; mrs. coryell by the american baptist home missionary society, and the association had representatives at many other conventions. "to summarize, national associations have endorsed woman suffrage; others have taken action on some phase of the question; state federations of labor, state granges and seven state letter carriers' associations have endorsed it. some of the states have carried on a very active propaganda in this direction, securing endorsements from hundreds of local organizations representing labor unions, educational and religious societies, farmers' institutes, etc." in the press report miss hauser said that , copies of _progress_ had been sent out and , pages of material representing different subjects had been distributed, including , copies of mrs. catt's address to the international suffrage alliance. she told of the special articles, of the full pages, of the personal work with editors--a report of remarkable accomplishment, filling eight printed pages of the minutes. in concluding she said: "the day of old methods has gone by and if new methods are to be successfully developed there must be for press chairman a woman who is not only acquainted with the philosophy and history of the woman suffrage movement but who is possessed of the newspaper instinct and the ability to make friends readily. nothing but press work should be expected of her and she should be enabled to get in touch with the controlling forces in the newspaper world." this report was supplemented with that of miss blackwell, chairman of the committee on literature. as the headquarters were soon to be removed from warren, ohio, and miss hauser had resigned as secretary, this was the last of her excellent reports and the convention sent her a letter of thanks and appreciation for her admirable work. dr. shaw said of her: "there never was a woman who gave more consecrated service; she dreamed of woman suffrage by night and toiled for it by day." [afterward miss hauser went to the headquarters in new york as vice-chairman of the national press committee.] in the evening mayor john f. miller welcomed the convention and congratulated the association on the personnel of its members in washington. "this has been a pioneer state in the woman's rights movement," he said. "in arthur denny introduced a woman suffrage bill in the territorial legislature. in the civil disabilities of married women were removed and this was the first state west of the rocky mountains to say that a wife's property should be her own. women here have all the rights of men except to vote and hold office. i do not know whether woman suffrage will bring in everything good and abolish everything evil but if it will by all means let us have it." he closed with a tribute to the mothers in the state. in an eloquent response mrs. villard reminded the mayor that if a cause is just the consequences following in its path need not be feared and said: "i was early taught by my father that moral principle in vigorous exercise is irresistible. it has an immortal essence. it may disappear for a time but it can no more be trod out of existence by the iron foot of time or the ponderous march of iniquity than matter can be annihilated. it lives somewhere, somehow, and rises again in renovated strength. the women of this country who are advocating the cause of woman suffrage are animated by a great moral principle. they are armed with a spiritual weapon of finest caliber and one that is sure to win." she told of the great reception given in to her husband and his guests when they reached seattle for the opening of the railroad after its completion; of his response and that of the hon. carl schurz. she described an address made by a young girl, the daughter of professor powell of the university, the entire expenses of which mr. villard had paid for several years, in which she said he would be remembered more for what he had done for education than for the building of the railroad. "in the retrospect of time," said mrs. villard, "i can see her, sweetly modest and gracious, standing as it were with outstretched arms inviting the women who are gathered here today to come and help make the state of washington free." then in an appeal for the pending suffrage amendment she said: "many tributes of respect and admiration have been paid to my noble companion in the great northwest, which are carefully cherished by me and my children, but i crave one more and it is this--that mr. villard's keen sense of justice and fair play for women shall find echo in the hearts of the men of washington, to whose extraordinary development he gave such powerful impetus, so that in november, , they will proclaim with loud accord that the women of washington are no longer bond but free, no longer disfranchised but regenerated and disenthralled, equal partners in the unending struggle of the human race for nobler laws and higher moral standards." the evening session closed with the president's address of dr. shaw, which the _woman's journal_ described as "inimitable" but not a paragraph of it can be found after the lapse of years. her speeches always were inspired by the occasion and only a stenographic report could give an adequate idea of them. miss anthony mourned because this was not made and others often spoke of it but dr. shaw herself was indifferent. there were pressing demands for money and the endless details of these meetings absorbed the time and strength of those who might otherwise have attended to it. mrs. upton in her report as treasurer made a stirring appeal in which she said: "the most important question before this convention is that of money. a grave responsibility rests upon the shoulders of each delegate. she should know how much money we have had in the last year, where it went and why. more than this, she should decide for herself how money for the coming year shall be disbursed and suggest ways of raising the same. no delegate ought to quiet her conscience with the thought that the judgment of the general officers is the best judgment. each state has entrusted into the hands of its delegates precious business and the responsibility is great and cannot honestly be disregarded. in the long ago we worked until our money gave out. now, as the beginning of the end of our work is in sight, demands for money are many and if business rules are followed they must be met. the small self-sacrifices must be continued and larger ways of obtaining money created. we are all shouting for a fifth star on our suffrage flag but we must remember that no star was ever placed upon any flag without cost, without sacrifice. our fifth star will find its place because we explain to voters what a fifth star really means. these voters will not come to us; we must go to them. to go anywhere costs money. to go to the voters of a large and thinly populated state means much money. shall we be content with four stars or shall we provide the means to get a fifth?" the total receipts of the past year were $ , ; disbursements, $ , . she told of the many ways in which the money was being used--over $ , added to several other thousands spent in field work in oklahoma for the next year's amendment campaign; $ , to the college league; headquarters' expenses, literature, posters, etc. part of the money came from the anthony memorial fund, part from the fund raised by dr. thomas and miss garrett, the rest from individual subscriptions. the convention, which was not a large one, subscribed over $ , . the following recommendations of the business committee were adopted by the convention: appropriations shall be made for educational, church and petition work; financial aid shall not be given to states having campaigns on hand unless there be perfect harmony within the ranks of the workers of those states; an organizer shall be sent to arizona to prepare the territory for constitutional or legislative work and a campaign organizer to south dakota. there was much interest in the question of returning the national headquarters to new york city. it was long the desire of miss anthony to do this on a scale befitting so large a city and so important a cause and the funds had never been available. mrs. oliver h. p. belmont, who had lately come into the suffrage movement, had taken the entire twentieth floor of a new office building for two years and invited the new york state suffrage association to occupy a part of it. she now extended an invitation to the national association to use for this period as many rooms as it needed and she would pay the difference in the rent between these and the headquarters at warren, o. in addition she would maintain the press bureau. the advantages of this great newspaper and magazine center were recognized by the general officers, executive committee and delegates, the offer was gladly accepted and a rising vote of thanks was sent to mrs. belmont. miss perle penfield (texas) read the report of mrs. lucia ames mead, chairman of the committee on peace and arbitration. she told of the tenth anniversary this year of the hague conference, which was attended by representatives of forty-six instead of twenty-six nations and had made various international agreements that would lessen the likelihood of war. she spoke of attending the second national peace congress in chicago in may, at which all the women who took part were suffragists. mrs. mead referred to having spoken eighty-six times during the year. in pointing out the work that should be done in the united states for peace she said: a great campaign of education is needed in the schools and colleges, in the press and pulpit and in every organization of men and women that stands for progress. pre-eminently among women's organizations, the national american woman suffrage association, which opposes the injustice of refusing the ballot to women, should stand against the grossest of all injustices which leaves innocent women widowed and children orphaned by war, and which in time of peace diverts nearly two-thirds of the federal revenue from constructive work to payment for past wars and preparation for future wars. thus far this association has been so absorbed in its direct methods of advancing suffrage that it has not perhaps sufficiently realized the power of many agencies that are furthering its cause by indirect means. i firmly believe that substituting statesmanship for battleship will do more to remove the electoral injustices that still prevent our being a democracy than any direct means used to obtain woman suffrage, important and necessary as these are. women, though hating war, quite as frequently as men are deluded by the plea that peace can be ensured only by huge armaments. it is a question whether woman suffrage would greatly lessen the vote for these supposed preventives of war, but there is no question that more reliance on reason and less on force would exalt respect for woman and would remove the objection that woman's physical inferiority has anything to do with suffrage. several delegates expressed the need and the right of mothers to strive to prevent war. mrs. duniway, mrs. philena everett johnson and mrs. devoe spoke on the pending amendment campaigns in their respective states of oregon, south dakota and washington. mrs. clara bewick colby's subject was the american situation vs. the english situation and she described the conditions in england which caused the "suffragette" or "militant" movement. mrs. florence kelley, chairman of the industrial committee, spoke on the wage earning woman and the ballot. "because of the decision of the united states supreme court in the oregon case," she said, "fourteen state legislatures in the past year have considered bills for shortening the workday for women and six have enacted laws for it. south carolina has taken a step backward by changing the hours from ten to twelve. child labor is constantly increasing in spite of our efforts. i have seen the evolution of modern industry and it has meant the sacrifice of thousands of young lives." at the close of the afternoon session the delegates enjoyed an automobile ride of many miles amidst scenery which many who had travelled widely declared was unsurpassed in the whole world. the most brilliant session of the convention probably was that of the college women's evening, with dr. shaw presiding. miss caroline lexow (n. y.), secretary of the college women's league, spoke of its remarkable growth since its organization the preceding year and said that it now had twenty-four branches in as many states and twenty-five chapters in as many colleges. she called attention to the fact that no college anti-suffrage association had ever been formed and said that college women remembered the words of one of the pioneers: "make the best use you can of your freedom for we have bought it at a great price." mrs. eva emery dye (ore.) gave an able address on college women in civic life. the law and the woman was the subject considered by miss adella m. parker, a popular lawyer, president of the washington college league. "i have been looking for years," she said, "to find any legislation that does not affect women, from a tariff on gloves to a declaration of war. the great problems which face the human race demand the genius of both men and women to solve them. the law needs women quite as much as women need the law." the closing address on college women and democracy by frances squire potter, professor of english at the university of minnesota, was a masterly review of the relation of college women to the life of the present, and later it was printed by the college league as a part of its literature. in the course of it she said: the admission of women began with oberlin, ohio, in , then a provincial institution, religious in its purpose and one where the boys and girls did the work. from that time on the west was committed to the co-educational state university. the influence set back eastward and women demanded admittance successively in this college and that college. it is to be remembered that they did not go in naturally and pleasantly but at the point of the sword and to the sound of the trumpet. and to-day the segregated college life of the east illustrates the "last entrenchments of the middle ages." those monasteries and nunneries of learning crown the hilltops from boston to washington and "watch the star of intellectual empire westward take its way." ... following upon the democratization of the university we now see rising a tide which is as inevitable as was that first movement, which will bear the college woman, as it bears the college man, out of the fostering shelter of the college hall into the great welter of life, of full citizenship.... since the colleges of america opened to women, nothing so vital to the nourishment of this spirit has happened as the formation of the college equal suffrage league.... there are certain definite things for which a college woman registers herself in joining this league. first, a direct return to the country of the energy which it has trained. a woman's whole education to-day is toward direct results. she has been educated away from the old indirect ideal of the boarding-school. there she was taught to be a persuasive ornament, now she is taught to be an individual mind, will and conscience and to use these in acting herself. i hold that there is no more graphic illustration of inconsistent waste than the spectacle of a college-trained woman falsifying her entire education by shying away from suffrage.... the time has gone by when a college woman can be allowed to be noncommittal on this subject. if she has not thought about equal suffrage she must do so now, exactly as persons of intelligence were compelled to think about slavery in the time of garrison, or about the reformation in the time of martin luther. to those who try to get out of it it is not unfitting to quote thomas huxley's famous sentence: "he who will not reason is a bigot; he who dare not reason is a coward; he who can not reason is a fool." ... it devolves upon the college woman more than upon any other one type to face and conquer a retarding tendency which is becoming marked in this country. i refer to the anti-feminization movement. dr. stanley hall has given voice to it in education; dr. lyman abbott quavers about it in religion; the committee on tariff revision is an example of it in politics. when women sent a petition to the committee against raising the duties on certain necessities of life of which they were the chief consumers, the chairman said: "it doesn't make any difference whether these women send in a petition signed by or , names, they will receive no consideration. let them talk things over in their clubs and other organizations; this will occupy them and do no one any harm; but it will not affect the tariff." on the same day the committee accorded a deferential hearing to a deputation of lumbermen.... this discrimination against woman, the vague feeling that she has been allowed to get on too fast, to get out of control, that she has slipped into too large activities while the good man slept, has come upon us at the very time when scandinavia and germany and england are getting rid of their simian chivalry. it is notorious that america, which once was the progressive nation, has been for a generation in a comatose state in the matter of social ideas. it is high time that our college women should stand solid against the blind superstition, whose mother is fear and whose father is egoism, that women can not be trusted in public affairs.... the report of mr. blackwell on presidential suffrage was accepted by a rising vote and his report as chairman of the committee on resolutions was adopted, as usual, without change.[ ] for many years he had served as chairman of these committees. his constitutional argument for the right of legislatures to grant women a vote for presidential electors always stood unchallenged and his faith that they would do this was eventually justified. one of the founders of the american suffrage association in , he had not during forty years missed attending a national suffrage convention, first with his wife, lucy stone, and later with his daughter, alice stone blackwell. he had never seemed in better health and spirits than at this one in seattle but two months later, on september , he died at the age of , a great loss to the cause of woman suffrage. (memorials in next chapter.) the legislative evening was in charge of the state suffrage association, mrs. de voe in the chair, and it was the intention to have those members of the legislature who were principally responsible for submitting the amendment address the convention but an extra session at that time spoiled this program. the hon. alonzo wardell spoke for charles r. case, president of the state federation of labor, which was strongly in favor of the amendment, he said, and had votes enough to carry it if the members would go to the polls. mrs. lord represented the grange, which she said could be depended on for an affirmative vote. miss parker gave a graphic description of the "illegal and dishonorable methods" by which the vote was taken away from the women while washington was a territory.[ ] mrs. john moore of tacoma read a powerful scene from the spanish gypsy by george eliot. after a lively collection speech by mrs. upton, dr. shaw closed the evening with a mirth-provoking "question box." at an afternoon session mrs. rachel foster avery read the report of the national committee on the petition to congress. it had been the plan of mrs. catt, as presented and adopted at the convention of , to have one final petition to congress for the submission of the federal amendment and she had consented to take the chairmanship temporarily. headquarters had been opened in the martha washington, the woman's hotel in new york city, where the headquarters of the interurban woman suffrage council, of which mrs. catt was chairman, were located. here she and miss mary garrett hay spent many months from a. m. to p. m., assisted by miss minnie j. reynolds, who did press work and correspondence with the states. mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff of brooklyn, a former missourian, took charge of the work in that state from these headquarters and there was an energetic volunteer sub-committee of new york suffragists. the report continued: "the governors of the four enfranchised states served on an honorary advisory committee, as did the following men and women: anna howard shaw, clara barton, julia ward howe, william lloyd garrison, william dudley foulke, jane addams, mary e. garrett, sarah platt decker, the hon. john d. long, samuel gompers, colonel george harvey, rabbi charles fleischer (mass.), dr. josiah strong, edward t. devine, john mitchell, judge ben lindsey, mrs. clarence mackay, lillian m. hollister, mary lowe dickinson, mrs. bourke cockran and cynthia westover alden. when mrs. catt left for london in march, , in the interests of the international woman suffrage alliance, the work came to me. at that time upwards of , letters had been written and , petitions distributed and twenty-three state organizations were collecting, counting, pasting and classifying the lists. since then five other states have gone to work. letters were written to all the newspapers in the four equal suffrage states asking the insertion of a coupon petition and these coupons brought in the names of many friends who could not otherwise be reached and who were enthusiastic workers for the petition. others to the _age of reason_ and _wilshire's magazine_ brought hundreds of willing workers. letters were sent in every direction, friends stirred up, reminded of their task and requested to send names of others who would work. every sheet that came in was searched for names of possible friends who might circulate the petitions. between march and july , , nearly , letters were written and , blanks distributed.... later the work was removed to washington and headquarters established there to finish the petition by . the report of mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg (penn.), chairman of the committee on civil rights, showed the usual painstaking year's work. her letters to all the state presidents for information had brought answers from twenty-two and eleven of these showed advanced legislation for women and children. in some of them it was amended labor laws or new ones; in others for a juvenile court, for improving the position of teachers, for the advantage of children in the public schools, for property rights of wives. maine reported nearly a dozen such new laws. minnesota was in the lead with thirty acts of the legislature. mrs. mary e. craigie (n. y.), chairman of the committee on church work, introduced her excellent report by saying: "president taft recently said in a public address: 'christianity and the spirit of christianity are the only basis for the hope of modern civilization and the growth of popular self-government.' ... women are to-day and always have been the mainstay and chief support of the churches and the leaders in all great moral reforms; yet as a disfranchised class they are powerless to aid in bringing about any reforms that depend upon legislative or governmental action and the church is thereby deprived of more than two-thirds of its power to help extend civic righteousness throughout the land. now that there is a world-wide movement among women to demand the political power to do their part in the world's work, they have a right to ask and to receive from ministers and from all christian people support and help in working for this greatest of all reforms." ... mrs. craigie told of addressing the ministerial association of canada at toronto, where fifteen minutes had been allotted to her but by unanimous insistence she was obliged to keep on for an hour. an interesting discussion followed, after which an endorsement of the principle of woman suffrage was unanimously voted. she spoke at a meeting of the dominion temperance alliance, where there were delegates, many of them clergymen, and a resolution by the chairman endorsing the woman suffrage bill then before the provincial legislature was carried without a dissenting vote. reports were included of the good work accomplished by the members of her committee in the various states. the usual sunday afternoon convention meeting was held in the auditorium on the exposition grounds, under the auspices of this church committee, with a large audience who listened to an able presentation of the sacred duties and obligations of citizenship. dr. shaw presided and the speakers were the rev. c. lyng hansen, mrs. craigie, professor potter and miss janet richards. mrs. kelley spoke in the first christian church, mrs. eva emery dye in the second avenue congregational church and the rev. mary g. andrews preached for the universalists on the freedom of truth. at the first methodist protestant church, miss laura clay talked on christian citizenship in the morning and dr. shaw preached in the evening. mrs. charlotte perkins gilman spoke at the boylston avenue unitarian church in the morning and mrs. gilman and mrs. pauline steinem at a patriotic service in plymouth church in the evening. mr. blackwell and mrs. steinem spoke in the jewish synagogue.[ ] in the evening the officers of the association were "at home" to the members of the convention and friends at the lincoln hotel. the election of officers took place monday morning. at miss blackwell's request she was permitted to retire from the office of recording secretary, which she had filled for twenty years, and the convention gave her a rising vote of thanks for her most efficient service. her complete and satisfactory reports of the national conventions in her paper, the _woman's journal_, had formed a standard record that nowhere else could be found. she exchanged places with mrs. ella s. stewart, second auditor, and was thus retained on the board. the remainder of the officers were re-elected but miss gordon, the corresponding secretary, stated that with the removal of the headquarters to new york and the increased work which would follow, this officer should be there all the time, which was impossible for her. professor potter was the unanimous choice of the convention, and, after communicating with the university and securing a leave of absense for two years, she accepted the office. her assistant and friend, professor mary gray peck, accepted the office of headquarters secretary. both were prominent in the college suffrage league in that state. the convention by a rising vote expressed its appreciation of the excellent work miss gordon had done, "and for the still greater work that she will yet do," added dr. shaw. it was voted to change the name of the business committee to the official board and to add mrs. catt, the only ex-president, to this board. urgent invitations were received from governor robert s. vessey of south dakota and the mayor and chamber of commerce of sioux falls to hold the convention of there, as an amendment was to be voted on in the autumn. dr. shaw commented: "governor vessey is a man who has convictions and is not afraid to stand by them. i am grateful that he dares to do this while he is in office." a delegate spoke of the appointment of a woman for the first time to an office in her state and immediately delegates from other states gave the same announcement until it was necessary to stop the flood. miss penfield, one of a number of national organizers who were kept constantly in the field, told of having worked in six states in the past six months. in pennsylvania she visited thirty-five small towns, holding parlor meetings, which she advocated as leading to the formation of suffrage clubs. in kentucky she addressed fifteen colleges and schools. mrs. ida porter boyer (penn.), miss mary n. chase (n. h.) and miss laura gregg (kans.) gave experiences in field work. mrs. villard presided monday evening and in introducing mr. blackwell, whom the audience rose to greet, she said: "it is a pleasure for me to pay also a tribute to the loveliness of his wife, lucy stone. to my childish vision she was a type of perpetual sunshine." mr. blackwell gave the opinion of a man of long observation and experience on how to get votes for women. mrs. craigie spoke on citizenship--what is it? mrs. stewart relieved mrs. upton of her usual task of taking a collection and among her witty remarks was one on bartholdi's statue of liberty. "the real goddesses of liberty in this country do not spend a large amount of time standing on pedestals in public places; they use their torches to startle the bats in political cellars." referring to the ignoring of women's work in the histories she said: "when i was a child and studied about the pilgrim fathers i supposed they were all bachelors, as i never found a word about their wives." mrs. charlotte perkins gilman's topic was masculine, feminine and human, discussed with her usual keen analysis and illuminated with her pungent epigrams. a spirited symposium took place on pre-election methods, led by mrs. stewart, who outlined the work done in illinois, where it had been reduced to a system. "we find candidates much less tractable after election than before," she said, "although we always send literature and letters to the members-elect and subscribe for the _woman's journal_ for them. we are now strong enough in some districts for pre-election work to elect our friends and defeat our enemies. mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch sent a circular letter to every member of the last legislature, with questions as to his attitude on woman suffrage and from the answers she compiled a leaflet recommending the election of the men who promised to vote for our measures. she sent this to every paper in illinois and distributed it as widely as possible among the women's clubs and women at large. she did the same with our congressmen. not one of the legislators who promised to vote for our bill voted against it. our most important measure was lost in the senate by a majority of only one vote. eight of the senators who voted against it are up for re-election and we shall do our best to keep them from going back. illinois has printed for several years a roll of honor of the legislators who have voted right on our bills." the discussion showed a general opinion that it was high time for action of this kind. mrs. kelley asked: "why not do prenomination work?" and dr. shaw said: "i do not know a political method when i see it and i haven't an ounce of political sense but i do believe heartily in this sort of work." led by mrs. ella hawley crossett, president of the new york association, "should there be concentration on one bill or work for several"? was discussed. miss gordon said: "ask for everything in sight and you will get a little." mrs. cornelia telford jewett, editor of the _union signal_, brought a fraternal greeting from the national woman's christian temperance union and when she said that most of the criticism she received was that she gave the readers too much suffrage, dr. shaw remarked in her jovial way: "they would get more if i could write, as mrs. jewett has often asked me for articles." among the symposiums and round table conferences in the morning and afternoon sessions were those on "how to make existing suffrage sentiment politically effective," miss clay presiding; "the tariff in its relation to women," and "taxation without representation is tyranny in as much as in ," mrs. villard presiding in place of mrs. devoe, who was ill; "parents' organizations, their value in creating public sentiment," and "the self-government plan in our public schools as an aid in preparing the coming generations for woman suffrage," mrs. b. w. dawley (ohio), presiding. the report of the committee on education, presented by its chairman, mrs. steinem, said that the principal work of the half-year had been to carry out the resolutions adopted at the buffalo convention to investigate the text books on history and civics used in the public schools and she had secured a valuable expression of opinion through letters sent to superintendents of schools and twenty-six school book publishing houses. some of them quoted the names of betsy ross, molly pitcher, martha washington and dolly madison to show that women were not neglected in the text books. many declared they had given the subject no thought but were open to conviction. in summing up mrs. steinem expressed the belief that this lack of recognition of woman's influence in history was not so much the result of intention as of the masculine point of view which has dominated civilization. "the impression conveyed by our text books," she said, "is that this world has been made by men and for men and the ideals they are putting forth are colored by masculine thought.... our text books on civics do not show the slightest appreciation of the significance of the 'woman's movement.' ... on the closing night miss richards, the noted lecturer of washington, d. c., made a delightfully clever and sparkling speech on sex antagonism, why and what is the cure? professor potter gave a second splendid address and dr. shaw's eloquent farewell sent the audience home in an exalted mood. the excellent arrangements for the convention and the entertainment of the officers and delegates had been made with much care and judgment by the state association and the seattle society, which appropriated $ , for the purpose.[ ] the surpassing beauty of the city and the exposition was an unceasing delight. miss blackwell said in her description in the _woman's journal_: "the splendid setting of the convention was a constant pleasure--the tall firs, the beautiful water and picturesque mountains. large bunches of sweet peas and of the enormous roses never seen but on the pacific coast were constantly being handed up to the president and speakers in the course of the convention by the pretty little pages. all the delegates agreed that the display of flowers on the grounds was more beautiful than they had seen at any previous exposition. some of the delegates from the atlantic coast said it was worth coming across the continent just to see this flower garden." the always-to-be-remembered feature of the week was suffrage day at the exposition, arranged by its officials for the day following the convention. to quote again from miss blackwell: in the morning on arriving at the exposition we found above the gate a big banner with the inscription, "woman suffrage day." every person entering the grounds was presented with a special button and a green-ribbon badge representing the equal suffrage association of washington, the evergreen state. high in the air over the grounds floated a large "votes for women" kite. all the toy balloons sold on the grounds that day were stamped with the words "votes for women" and many of the delegates bought them and went around with them hovering over their heads like japanese lanterns--yellow, red, white or green but predominantly green. at the morning meeting in the great auditorium there was fine music by the exposition band, with addresses of welcome from j. e. chilberg, president; louis w. buckley, director of ceremonies and special events, and r. w. raymond, assistant director, and brief speeches by dr. shaw, miss gordon, mrs. upton, miss blackwell, mrs. stewart, miss clay, mrs. kelley, mrs. gilman and professor potter.... after the morning exercises, the national officers were taken to the education building and treated to an excellent lunch cooked and served by the domestic science class of the high school. in the afternoon there was a reception in the magnificent room occupying the ground floor of the washington state building with more addresses of welcome by prominent men connected with the exposition and more short speeches by the visitors. later in the afternoon there was another reception at the idaho building by the idaho and utah women with more refreshments served by motherly matrons and pretty girls. the day closed with a "daylight dinner" given by the washington equal suffrage association at the firs, the headquarters of the young women's christian association. hundreds of suffragists sat down to the table within the building and on the large veranda looking off over a delightful prospect and there were many appreciative speeches. it was long after nightfall when the happy gathering broke up and the visitors then had a chance to see the fairy-like spectacle of the exposition by night, with every building outlined in electric lights, the pools shimmering, the fountain gleaming and a series of cascades coming down in foam, with electric lights of different colors glowing through each waterfall. footnotes: [ ] part of call: in entering upon the fifth decade of its work for the enfranchisement of women in the united states, the national american woman suffrage association invites all those to share in its councils who believe that the help of women is needed by the government. it is a grave mistake of statesmanship to continue to ignore the wisdom of the thousands of our women citizens, who, fitted by education and home interests, are anxious to help solve the many and vital problems upon which our country's future safety and prosperity depend.... during the year our cause won four solid victories. michigan gave taxpaying women a vote on questions of local taxation and the granting of franchises; denmark gave women who are taxpayers or wives of taxpayers a vote for all officers but members of parliament; belgium gave women engaged in trade a vote for the conseils des prudhommes; and victoria in australia gave full state suffrage to all women. the legislative hearings in new york, massachusetts and nebraska have called out unprecedented crowds showing the growth of popular interest.... the legislatures of oregon, washington and south dakota have voted to submit the question of woman suffrage to the electors in . the workers for woman's political freedom have great cause for rejoicing. anna howard shaw, president. rachel foster avery, first vice-president. florence kelley, second vice-president. kate m. gordon, corresponding secretary. alice stone blackwell, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } auditors. ella s. stewart, } the call ended with the touching poem of the young southern poet, mrs. olive tilford dargan, "the lord of little children to the sleeping mothers spoke." [ ] the resolutions declared the movement for woman suffrage to be but a part of the great struggle for human liberty; called for the enactment of initiative and referendum laws; equal pay for women and men in public and private employment; uniform state laws against child labor and for compulsory education; more industrial training for boys and girls in the public schools; more strenuous effort against the white slave traffic. they demanded that the united states should take the lead in an international movement for the limitation of armaments. a cordial vote of thanks was given for the hospitality and courtesies of the city and the people of seattle. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, volume iv, page . [ ] the ministers of seattle who opened the various sessions with prayer were: doctors a. norman ward, protestant methodist; thomas e. elliott, queen anne methodist; george robert cairns, temple baptist; edward lincoln smith, pilgrim congregational; sydney strong, queen anne congregational; the reverends j. d. o. powers, unitarian; w. h. w. rees, first methodist episcopal; w. a. major, bethany presbyterian; joseph l. garvin, first christian; c. lyng hanson, scandinavian methodist; f. o. iverson, norwegian lutheran; p. nelson, norwegian congregational missionary. [ ] committee: mrs. devoe, dr. cora smith eaton, mrs. bessie j. savage, miss adella m. parker, dr. sarah a. kendall, mrs. ellen s. lockenby and a small army of assistants. chapter x. national american convention of . as a national convention had not been held in washington since the suffragists were pleased to return to that city with the forty-second in the long list, which was held april - , .[ ] three special cars were filled by delegates from new york city alone. it had become very difficult to get a suitable place for conventions in the national capital and the experiment was made of holding this one in the large ball room of the arlington hotel, which proved entirely inadequate for the audiences. the convention was called to order on the first afternoon by the national president, dr. anna howard shaw, and welcomed by the president of the district of columbia suffrage association, miss harriette j. hifton, and the president of the district branch of the college equal suffrage league, miss mabel foster. the response for the national association was made by miss laura clay of kentucky, one of its officers. the report of the committee on church work was read by its chairman, mrs. mary e. craigie, who gave a record of the accomplishments of her committees in the various states and said: "the moral awakening of the churches to a need for more united efforts along lines of social and moral reform carries with it a great responsibility for women, who, representing two-thirds of the numerical power of the churches, are in their present disfranchised condition negative factors in those broader fields of activity which now constitute church work. women are beginning to realize that they are wasting their efforts and energies in trying to effect moral and social reforms dependent upon legislative action or law enforcement and they are asking: 'shall we go on with the farce of attacking the constantly growing evils of intemperance, immorality and crime which menace our homes, our children and society at large, knowing that our efforts are useless and futile, or shall we take a stand which will show that we are in earnest and demand the weapon of the ballot which is necessary before we can do our part as christian citizens in advancing the kingdom of god on earth?'" the excellent report of the new headquarters secretary, professor mary gray peck, filled ten pages of the printed minutes and in addition to the large collection of statistics contained many useful suggestions. like all of the reports from the headquarters it showed the great advantage of having them in a large center. referring to the literature department she said: "local chairmen should see that tables with suffrage literature are placed in all church and charitable bazaars as far as possible and that our papers may be subscribed for at all subscription agencies; also that our publications are on the shelves and on file in the public libraries throughout the state. one of the things mrs. pankhurst said when she was looking over our work-room was: 'don't give away your publications. we found we got rid of much more when we sold and now we give away nothing.' we have always given away ours with considerable freedom and been glad to have them read at our expense but at the low figure we put on them we could draw the gratis line closer without impairing our popularity.... the average daily output of literature since the opening of headquarters in new york--and this does not include the orders which continued to be filled in warren--has been , pieces, or a growth of more than per cent. over the average of last year. our cash sales from january to april have amounted to $ , or an average of $ per month as against the average of $ per month for - . that is, our cash sales for the past three months are three and a half times greater than they were at the same time last year." "the propagandist part of the correspondence," said miss peck, "soon makes a wise woman of the headquarters secretary. the time for general argument and abstract appeal has largely gone by. the call now is for statistics, laws, definite citations, instances of industrial conditions, legal status of women and children, etc.... the state organizations could do no more valuable service in aiding our efficiency as an information agency than by each getting out a condensed and reliable bulletin of state laws relating to women and children; and also by collecting data as to the property held and taxes paid by women, with illustrative instances where disfranchisement has forced these taxpayers to submit to injustice and unfair discrimination." she told of the increasing call for woman suffrage literature from public libraries to meet the demand and urged the encouragement of debates, saying: "if the state organizations would make a persistent effort to have suffrage debated in the schools and if they advertised the national headquarters as prepared to furnish a volume of debate material for thirty cents, suffrage would receive continuous advertising at no financial expense to us, nor would the good to the movement cease with the debate. get the young people interested and you catch the mothers. also by keeping a card register of the young debaters, the state organization would have the names and addresses of an ever-growing list of oncoming citizens interested in the subject. debaters are a good deal cheaper than organizers. the state university of wisconsin is sending out through its university extension department our suffrage literature in travelling libraries to meet the demand in the public schools for debate material. i believe most state universities would be glad to do the same for us. many universities and colleges have discussed suffrage the past winter, notably dartmouth, williams and brown in their annual intercollegiate debate, yale in the inter-class debate, the university of texas against tulane university of louisiana, and stanford will debate with berkeley, april ." miss peck made many other valuable suggestions from the trained viewpoint of a university woman. representative a. w. rucker was introduced as a proxy for the colorado association and gave its report with a warm personal endorsement of equal suffrage as it had existed in his state for seventeen years. the convention greeted with enthusiasm the mother of u. s. senator robert l. owen of oklahoma, who said she could not make a speech but would send her son to do so that evening. although national suffrage conventions had been held in washington since no official recognition ever had been asked for or given by the president of the united states. the leaders thought that now the movement was of sufficient size and importance to justify them in inviting president taft to give simply an address of welcome. the invitation was sent with the statement that its acceptance would not be regarded as committing him to an advocacy of woman suffrage and it was accepted with this understanding, although mrs. elihu root presented a request from the anti-suffrage association that he would not accept it. the entire country was interested and on the opening evening, when he was to speak, the auditorium was crowded and lines of people reached to the street. president taft came in with his escort while dr. shaw was in the midst of her annual address but she stopped instantly and welcomed him to the platform. the audience arose and with applause and waving of handkerchiefs remained standing until he was seated. at one point in his brief address there was apparently a slight hissing in the back part of the room. the president paused; dr. shaw sprang to her feet exclaiming, "oh, my children!" and the audience, which was excited and amazed, instantly became quiet and listened respectfully to the rest of his speech, but as he left the room, after shaking hands with dr. shaw, a few remained seated. as this incident attracted nation-wide comment and much criticism it seems advisable to publish the proceedings in full. the address was as follows: i am not entirely certain that i ought to have come tonight, but your committee who invited me assured me that i should be welcome even if i did not support all the views which were here advanced. i considered that this movement represented a sufficient part of the intelligence of the community to justify my coming here and welcoming you to washington. the difficulty i expect to encounter is this--at least it is a difficulty that occurs to me as i judge my own feelings in causes in which i have an intense interest--to wit: that i am always a good deal more impatient with those who only go half-way with me than with those who actually oppose me. now when i was sixteen years old and was graduated from the woodward high school in cincinnati, i took for my subject "woman suffrage" and i was as strong an advocate of it as any member of this convention. i had read mills's "subjection of women"; my father was a woman suffragist and so at that time i was orthodox but in the actual political experience which i have had i have modified my views somewhat. in the first place popular representative government we approve and support because on the whole every class, that is, every set of individuals who are similarly situated in the community, who are intelligent enough to know what their own interests are, are better qualified to determine how those interests shall be cared for and preserved than any other class, however altruistic that class may be; but i call your attention to two qualifications in that statement. one is that the class should be intelligent enough to know its own interests. the theory that hottentots or any other uneducated, altogether unintelligent class is fitted for self-government at once or to take part in government is a theory that i wholly dissent from--but this qualification is not applicable here. the other qualification to which i call your attention is that the class should as a whole care enough to look after its interests, to take part as a whole in the exercise of political power if it is conferred. now if it does not care enough for this, then it seems to me that the danger is, if the power is conferred, that it may be exercised by that part of the class least desirable as political constituents and be neglected by many of those who are intelligent and patriotic and would be most desirable as members of the electorate. it was at this point the supposed hissing occurred and the president continued: now, my dear ladies, you must show yourselves equal to self-government by exercising, in listening to opposing arguments, that degree of restraint without which self-government is impossible. if i could be sure that women as a class in the community, including all the intelligent women most desirable as political constituents, would exercise the franchise, i should be in favor of it. at present there is considerable doubt upon that point. in certain of the states which have tried it woman suffrage has not been a failure. it has not made, i think, any substantial difference in politics. i think it is perhaps possible to say that its adoption has shown an improvement in the body politic, but it has been tested only in those states where population is sparse and where the problem of entrusting such power to women in the concentrated population of large cities is not presented. for this reason, if you will permit me to say so, my impression is that the task before you in securing what you think ought to be granted in respect to the political rights of women is not in convincing men but it is in convincing the majority of your own class of the wisdom of extending the suffrage to them and of their duty to exercise it. now that is my confession of faith. i am glad to welcome you here. i am glad to welcome an intelligent body of women, earnest in the discussion of politics, earnest in the question of good government and earnest and high-minded in the cause they are pursuing, even if i disagree with them, not in principle but in the application of it to the present situation. more than this i ought not to say and i hope you will not deem me ungracious in saying as much as i have said, but i came here at the invitation of your committee with the understanding as to what i might say and that i should not subscribe to all the principles that you are here to advocate. i congratulate you on coming to washington, this most beautiful of cities, to hold your convention. i trust that it may result in everything that you hope for and i am sure that the coming together of honest, intelligent and earnest women like these cannot but be productive of good. some persons thought that the hissing was done by one or more delegates from the equal suffrage states because of the aspersion cast on the class of women who were likely to vote. others believed there was no hissing but that it was merely an exclamation of "hush" because of the noise caused by the moving of loose chairs, many in the back part of the room standing up on them to get a better view. it was, however, a matter of great concern and regret on the part of the national officers, who met early the next morning and framed the following resolution: whereas the president of the united states in welcoming the forty-second annual convention of the national american woman suffrage association has taken the historic position of being the first incumbent of his office to recognize officially our determination to secure a complete democracy, thereby testifying his conviction as to its power and growth, and whereas his seriousness, honesty and friendliness converted what might have been an empty form into an official courtesy, historic alike for him and for us, therefore be it resolved that we convey to president william h. taft the thanks and appreciation of this convention for his welcome, assuring him at the same time that the patriotism and public spirit of the women of america intend to make themselves directly felt in the government of which he is the honored head and that at no distant date. this was adopted at the morning's session of the convention by a unanimous rising vote. at the opening of the afternoon session dr. shaw said: "i think one of the saddest hours that i have ever spent in connection with one of our national conventions i spent last night after the occurrence of an incident here for which none of the officers of this association bears the least responsibility and we trust none of the delegates needs to bear any of it, when there was a dissent made to an utterance of president taft. it seemed to us a most unwise and ungracious act and we feel the keenest possible regret over it. because of this the official board has prepared a letter to the president expressing our regret that the occurrence should have taken place, whether by a member of this body or by a visitor. it is impossible to control a great public audience individually and an organization is not responsible for everything which takes place in its public meetings. while i do not think our organization as a body is at all responsible for what took place last night i feel that, since the president was our guest, it is our duty to express our very deep regret for the incident. i ask, therefore, that, without discussion and without further speech, there shall be concurrence on the part of the convention with the official board in sending a letter of regret to the president." the convention agreed to this instantly with but one dissenting and it was ascertained that she was not only not a delegate but not a member of the association. this justified the general opinion that if there had been any hissing the night before it was done by some of the large number of outsiders in the audience. the letter signed by professor frances squire potter, as corresponding secretary, read as follows: to president william howard taft, my dear mr. president: the enclosed resolution, introduced by the committee on convention resolutions, was passed unanimously by the national american woman suffrage association today at the opening of its morning session. i am instructed by the unanimous vote of the official board and of the delegates now assembled to send you with the resolution this official communication. the official board and delegates were but a small part of the very large gathering to hear your greeting last evening but as the representatives of the association these delegates feel great sorrow that any one present, either a member or an outsider, should have interrupted your address by an expression of personal feeling, and they herewith disclaim responsibility for such interruption and ask your acceptance of this expression of regret in the spirit in which it is given. the letter was sent in the afternoon by messenger across lafayette square, which separated the arlington from the white house, and the next morning the following answer was received: the white house, washington, april , . my dear mrs. potter: i beg to acknowledge your favor of april . i unite with you in regretting the incident occurring during my address to which your letter refers. i regret it not because of any personal feeling, for i have none on the subject at all, but only because much more significance has been given to it than it deserves and because it may be used in an unfair way to embarrass the leaders of your movement. i thank the association for the kindly and cordial tone of the resolutions transmitted and hope that the feature of thursday night's meeting, which you describe as having given your association much sorrow, may soon be entirely forgotten. sincerely yours, william h. taft. this closed the incident as far as it could be closed but there was a great deal of sympathy with the sentiment expressed by miss alice stone blackwell in the _woman's journal_: "it was known that while the president was not an anti-suffragist he was not a strong suffragist and might not even be wholly with us. it was, therefore, not expected that he would at the convention 'come out for suffrage.' indeed, he was not invited to make an address but simply to extend to the convention the welcome of the national capital, not because he was a suffragist but because the convention thought that it was representative enough and of sufficient size and standing in the country to warrant asking the president to do this one thing. he could have declined the invitation and no one would have been offended. he could have said he was an anti-suffragist. he could have tactfully omitted his opinion and confined his time to greetings and welcome as chief executive to the convention as a large organization of the women of the nation. at the point where the supposed hissing occurred, it was as if the speaker had struck those women in the face with a whip. even those who most resented the president's remarks regretted the expression of open disapproval in such a manner, but, to a person, the audience felt that he had been untactful, and, however unintentionally, had implied an odious comparison; that he had not sufficiently considered this great body of the picked women of the land to choose his language in addressing them." the president's address was preceded by one given by professor potter on the making of democracy, which had seldom been equalled in its statesmanlike qualities. this was followed by a powerful argument on why women should have the suffrage, by senator robert l. owen (okla.), one of the ablest speakers in the u. s. senate and always an uncompromising supporter of the political rights of women. at an afternoon session mrs. rachel foster avery (penn.), who had succeeded mrs. carrie chapman catt as chairman of the committee on petition to congress, took up the report where it had ended at the last convention. she said that, in addition to the , petitions and , individual letters sent from new york under mrs. catt's supervision, there had gone out from the headquarters after they had been removed to washington and placed in charge of mrs. rachel brill ezekiel, , more petitions, , more letters and , postals with appeals. "the petition," she said, "has been a means of introducing suffrage into thousands of households and hundreds of meetings of all kinds in which the subject had not before been mentioned. even women's clubs have had to listen to suffrage when brought to them by eager seekers after signatures. it has given to many people who have never before done anything for suffrage an opportunity. in some cases whole neighborhoods have been reached through the work of a single energetic woman willing to go from house to house circulating the petition and leaving literature with families where she found little or no sympathy for our movement. all letters sent out from petition headquarters enclosed suffrage leaflets and carried to thousands of men and women the first suffrage literature they had seen." all this vast work had cost only $ , , of which mrs. catt had contributed $ , . the most strenuous effort had not succeeded in getting the return of all the petitions in time for the convention but those at hand contained , names.[ ] the arrangements for the parade which was to carry the petitions to congress were in the hands of miss mary garrett hay. mrs. helen h. gardener obtained the use of fifty cars from interested residents of washington and these were handsomely adorned with the flag of the united states and suffrage banners. the official report said: "the most picturesque incident of the convention was the long line of fifty decorated automobiles which bore the petitions and delegates of each state from the hotel arlington to the capitol, where the petitions were personally delivered to the various senators and representatives who were to present them to congress. the large piles of rolled petitions, the respect of the people who lined the streets, the courtesy of the congressmen and the crowds which watched the presentation in senate and house were all impressive. senator lafollette brought instant silence when, presenting his share of the petitions, he said, "i hope the time will come when this great body of intelligent people will not find it necessary to petition for that which ought to be accorded as a right in a country of equal opportunities." at the afternoon session a vote of thanks was given to senator lafollette and all the senators and representatives who presented the petitions. deep appreciation was expressed of the labor of mrs. catt in connection with the petitions and regret that she was not able to be present at the capitol. this was the last of the hundreds of thousands of petitions to congress for the submission of a national amendment to enfranchise women which began in .[ ] mrs. harriet taylor upton in her treasurer's report said the past year had been an unusually hard one financially not because of adversity but because of prosperity. formerly the states had sent their money to the national treasury to be used as the official board thought best, but now there were so many campaigns and new lines of work in various states that they wanted to disburse their own money. this was encouraging but hard on the national work. few were the years between and when some legacy was not received, as miss anthony never missed an opportunity to urge women to make such bequests. after her death miss mary anthony followed her example but since both had passed away little had been done in this direction. the total receipts for were $ , , and the general disbursements $ , . with the headquarters in new york more money had been received but more also had to be spent. mrs. oliver h. p. belmont furnished the offices of the press committee, paid their rent, the salaries of three workers and all other expenses connected with it. mrs. william m. ivins of new york city and mrs. mary ely parsons of rye, n. y., furnished dr. shaw's office. in closing mrs. upton said that the duties of the headquarters and of the treasurer's office had been so closely connected that up to this time it had been difficult to separate them. in fact from the time she was elected to date she had always done some work properly belonging to headquarters. from the first a clerk was supplied to her and she was so situated that she could do this and was more than willing to. she had edited twelve reports of annual conventions and was editor and manager of _progress_ for seven years. she told how letters and requests continued to come to her after the headquarters went to new york and she was obliged to employ another clerk, whose salary she herself paid. in closing she said: "since your treasurer has received and disbursed more than $ , and she wishes the treasurer for the coming year could have that full amount for the next twelve months' work." the convention accepted the report with a rising vote of thanks for her many years of continuous service. the general subscriptions at the convention, including those for the south dakota campaign, were $ , . mrs. belmont continued her pledge of $ a month. the association had various funds to draw from, which were supplied by contributions. it was voted to appropriate $ a month for six and a half months' work in oklahoma if the amendment was to go to the voters in november. memorial services were held on the morning of april for two distinguished members of the association, henry b. blackwell, who had died sept. , , and william lloyd garrison, five days later. on the program was an extract from a speech made by mr. blackwell at a national woman's rights convention in cleveland, o., in : "the interests of the sexes are inseparably connected and in the elevation of the one lies the salvation of the other. therefore, i claim a part in this last and grandest movement of the ages, for whatever concerns woman concerns the race." affectionate and beautiful tributes to mr. blackwell's nearly fifty years' devotion to the cause of woman suffrage were paid by those who had known him long and intimately, which are partially quoted here. mrs. fanny garrison villard: i have ever regarded mr. blackwell as a many-sided reformer, one whose most distinguished claim to remembrance consists in the fact that no other man has devoted so much of his life to the task of securing the enfranchisement of women. only those who have read the _woman's journal_ regularly and depended on it for an accurate record of the slow but steady march of progress of this great movement can fully realize the enormous amount of editorial work contributed to it by him during the past forty years. the combination of superior intellectual powers with tenderest sympathies formed a rare equipment for success in his chosen field of usefulness. in truth his advocacy of the woman's cause was marked by such zeal and enthusiasm that one not knowing the initials "h. b. b." stood for a man might quite naturally have believed that only a woman could own them. fortunately he was possessed of the sunniest possible temperament and blessed with an unusual sense of humor which enabled him to see things in their true proportions and make light of obstacles in his path. the many and varied tributes that have been paid to his memory all dwell upon his intense love of justice which led him to wage war against oppression wherever he found it.... it was my good fortune to be present at the celebration of mr. blackwell's eightieth birthday in faneuil hall in boston. with great clarity of vision he defined the duty of the hour and said: "but we can not afford to be a mutual admiration society, there is still work to do." ... with what patience, fortitude and true courage he and lucy stone, his wife, played their part in the face of ridicule and opprobrium is now a matter of history. women who today live a freer life because of their labors and those of their coadjutors must offer to their memory the highest meed of praise. mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch: lives consecrated to great reforms, particularly to the advancement of a reform to emancipate women, teach us that the age of chivalry is not past. these great men whom we honor to-day were not, like the knights of old, inspired by the love of some one woman whom they desired to possess, but they strove for justice for those they loved best and for us too, who were their friends, and for millions of women they never knew. their far-reaching chivalry was one of the most important elements in the characters of mr. blackwell and mr. garrison. both of them were unusually fortunate in the women who were their nearest and dearest. mr. blackwell's sister elizabeth was the first woman physician in the united states; his sister-in-law, antoinette brown blackwell, the first ordained minister; his wife, lucy stone, one of the sweetest and truest of the pioneer suffrage lecturers. mr. garrison was not old enough to be related to so many pioneers, except through his illustrious father, but his wife's devotion to the suffrage work, his sister's unfaltering activity and his association from boyhood with boston's brilliant coterie of renowned women, might well have influenced him to have a higher regard and deeper respect for all their sex.... mr. blackwell and mr. garrison, in their beautiful family lives, are particularly illustrious examples that woman suffrage will not break up the home. many long years did these pairs of married friends work together for our cause.... to-day we sorrow for the loss of these men but not without hope, for there are other men coming forward to take up the work they have dropped. we women who are here to-day do not represent merely ourselves and the tens of thousands of other suffrage women but we are backed by the sympathy, the active encouragement and the money of our husbands, our brothers, our fathers, and many of us have chivalrous sons. more even than sympathy they now give, as some are giving themselves for service. one of mr. blackwell's last letters to me related to securing a large membership among men, and our men's suffrage leagues, now springing up in all large cities, might well name themselves for him.... go forward, men, with the spirit of blackwell and garrison! mrs. mcculloch paid a beautiful tribute to the human side of mr. blackwell's character, his love of nature and his companionship with children. miss jane campbell: i need not enter into the details of the life, public or private, of mr. blackwell. they are written in letters of gold in the annals of the suffrage movement from the moment when in the beautiful, unselfish ardor of youth, with his wife, the silver-tongued lucy stone, he entered upon a career of patient, unflagging devotion to the cause of woman's rights.... it evinced a high and noble spirit, a great courage, for any man to espouse an almost universally ridiculed cause, as did mr. blackwell; possibly greater courage than even a woman, conservative and timid if not by nature yet made so by education, showed when she emerged from her awed subjection and ventured to demand her equal share of privileges as well as of disabilities. the woman had the burning sense of injustice to arouse her, the indignation caused by her calm relegation to the position of an inferior to inspire her with courage to fight for freedom, but a man, a man like mr. blackwell, had no such bitter sense of personal wrong to impel him. he entered the contest not for himself, for he had no wrongs to redress, but his great soul saw that woman had and he devoted life, means, energy, talents to redress them. it is a rarely high, unselfish record of a noble life that he has left for the admiration and example of other men.... he was one of the most eloquent, forceful and logical speakers we have ever had on our platform, with his fine, resounding voice giving clear expression to his logical thinking, and he was a ready and forceful writer.... miss anne fitzhugh miller: it was always a joy to meet mr. blackwell for there was never any picking up of broken threads of our spinning or knitting or weaving of good comradeship, which at once continued as if no absence had intervened. i felt at home with him always, he was a man after my own heart, direct, decided, accurate, devoted to high ideals, and yet he possessed an elasticity of nature which made him the most comfortable of comrades. his sense of humor and his love of fun made the best of good times for those who were fortunate enough to share his merry moods.... it was always a delight to hear him speak. the sound of his voice rested and refreshed and the soundness of his thought inspired confidence and admiration. his half-century of continuous and absolute devotion to the cause of woman suffrage gives mr. blackwell a unique position in history. all women owe him a debt of gratitude which they can best pay by renewed devotion to the cause to which he dedicated his life. in the truest and broadest sense he was and should be remembered as a "brother of women." dr. shaw added her own fine appreciation of the two men and speaking from almost a lifetime of acquaintance with mr. garrison gave a glowing eulogy of his noble character, lofty convictions and fearless courage, a worthy son of a great father. among other prominent friends of woman suffrage who had passed away during the year, recorded in the memorial resolutions, were justice brewer, of the u. s. supreme court; dr. borden p. bowne, head of the department of philosophy and dean of the graduate school in boston university; judge charles b. waite and dr. sarah hackett stevenson of chicago; charles sprague smith, director of cooper institute, new york, and many devoted workers in the various states. at one interesting evening session mrs. kate trimble woolsey (ky.) spoke on republics versus women, the title of her book; mrs. meta l. stern on woman suffrage from a socialist's point of view; miss alice paul on the english situation. mrs. catt's subject was caught in a snare and the convention voted to have it printed for circulation. as miss alice stone blackwell was ill at home, missing the annual convention for the first time, the readers of the _woman's journal_ were deprived of her usual comprehensive reports and abstracts of the speeches where the manuscript was not available. that of miss paul was published in full. she had recently returned from london, where she had been a member of mrs. pankhurst's organization, had been sent to prison, had gone on a "hunger strike" and been forcibly fed, and she felt the situation keenly. a part of her speech was as follows: as we gather here as suffragists, our hearts naturally go out to those women at the storm-center of our movement--to those women in great britain who are having a struggle such as women have never had in any other land. the violent criticism, the suppression and distortion of facts from which they have suffered at the hands of the politically-inspired press of their own country have made it difficult for one on this side to gain any true conception of their movement.... the essence of the campaign of the suffragettes is opposition to the government. the country seems willing that the vote be extended to women. this last parliament showed its willingness by passing their franchise bill through its second reading by a three-to-one majority, but the government, that little group which controls legislation, would not let it become law. it is not a war of women against men, for the men are helping loyally, but a war of men and women together against the politicians at the head, who because of their own political interests seem afraid to enfranchise women. the suffragettes have gone with petitions to the head of the government, as our representatives will go in a few days to the authorities in washington. here they will be received with courtesy, but mr. asquith has never since he has been prime minister received a deputation of women on this question of their suffrage. each time he curtly refuses to see them and orders the police to drive them away or arrest them. thirteen times the deputations of one society alone have been arrested.... the earl of lytton said the other day that more violence had been done by the men during the three weeks of the recent election than by the women during their entire agitation. such action on the part of voters is wrong for they have a constitutional way, through the ballot, of redressing their grievances, but on the part of a disfranchised class, after half a century's trial has proved all their methods to be of no avail, a protest such as these women have made seems entirely right. we are so close at hand that perhaps we hardly realize the full significance of their movement. the greatest drama that is being enacted in the world today, it seems to me, is the battle of the british women. when historians can look back from the perspective of a century or two i think they will say that this talk of dreadnaughts and budgets and house of lords was after all of but little moment and that the great event of world significance in great britain early in the century was the magnificent struggle for political freedom on the part of her women. the comprehensive report of the corresponding secretary, professor potter, filled ten pages of the printed minutes and was a complete summary of the year's work and that which should be done. names were given of about forty associations which had passed resolutions for woman suffrage during the year, preceded usually by discussion. these included federations of labor, granges, temperance societies, federations of women's clubs, religious bodies and labor organizations. among the last were the international typographical union, international chair workers, amalgamated association of street and electric railway employees, american federation of labor, national women's trade union league and many others. she called attention to the fact that in many instances the endorsement was unanimous and that the labor resolutions were stronger than ever before, using the phrase "our intention to secure woman suffrage." the pennsylvania federation said: "in selecting candidates for political office we will endeavor to secure men who are committed to a belief in the right of women to vote." professor potter emphasized the need of research experts to bring the statistics up to date, as it was now impossible to answer the requests for information from the best type of those asking it, university graduates working for higher degrees, men and women writing articles, books, plays, etc. she reported the beginning of a card catalogue of subjects and the progress made toward carrying out the instructions of the seattle convention that the national headquarters undertake a handbook of federal and state laws for women and a bibliography. she described the character of the thousands of letters sent out, covering work for prize essays, poster campaigns, mass meetings, "settlement" work, appointments of women, newspaper and magazine publicity and especially organization along political lines. as she had been asked to act as field lecturer as well as corresponding secretary she reported fifty-four lectures given, not only at state suffrage conventions but before men's leagues, press clubs, labor meetings, churches, universities, etc. the convention showed by a rising vote its full appreciation of this report, which was the first and last given by professor potter as corresponding secretary. differences in regard to administration had arisen which proved to be irreconcilable and she had declined to stand for re-election. the official board was divided in opinion and this led to several changes in its personnel. dr. shaw was re-elected president; mrs. avery, first vice-president; mrs. stewart, second vice-president; mrs. upton, treasurer; miss clay and miss blackwell, first and second auditors. mrs. florence kelley declined re-nomination as second vice-president and mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch was elected. mrs. mary ware dennett (mass.) was chosen for corresponding secretary. later in the convention mrs. avery and mrs. upton gave in their resignations, which the delegates refused to accept and then both announced that their offices would be vacant in one month. mrs. upton had been treasurer of the association since and the delegates were most reluctant to let her go. by action of the executive committee mrs. mcculloch was advanced to the office of first vice-president; miss kate m. gordon (la.) was made second vice-president and miss jessie ashley (n. y.), treasurer. the national college equal suffrage league held business sessions saturday forenoon and afternoon with its president, dr. m. carey thomas of bryn mawr presiding, and a luncheon was given for its delegates. miss caroline lexow made the annual report. at the evening meeting of the convention mrs. alice duer miller (n. y.), representing the equal franchise society, of which mrs. clarence mackay was president, spoke on the sisterhood of women, saying in part: "we have plenty of work to do but it is not that, it is not the organization, the growth of membership and the spread of theories that make me confident of success. it is the extraordinary spirit that animates the women who are working for suffrage, the sense of comradeship and community among them, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, old and young, mothers and daughters. we have been taught to admire the th century because it did so much to dissolve class distinctions. it broke down some of the barriers, not between man and woman, but between groups of men, for within groups men have always had this spirit of comradeship, and oh, how they have valued it! they did not get it in domestic relations, however happy; or in friendships, however warm. they got it, or rather they found a field in which to exercise it, in the impersonal activities of their lives, in their crusades, guilds, colleges, labor unions and clubs. but between women the barriers have been of a more serious type. they have been segregated not only class by class but individual by individual and house by house. now these barriers too are dissolving. women are finding an expression for their sense of comradeship, for their impersonal loyalty to their own sex; they are waking up to the fact that a sense of equality is more thrilling to those who have the right stuff in them than any sense of superiority could ever have been." miss harriet e. grim of wisconsin university described the call of the new age to college women. miss juliet stuart poyntz, president of barnard chapter of the college league, discussed education and social progress. mrs. elizabeth m. gilmer, "dorothy dix," in an address on the real reason why women cannot vote, gave a delightful imitation of the voice and words of a wise old negro, "mirandy," from which the following is quoted: yassum, dat's de trouble wid women down to dis very day. dey ain't got no backbone. of a rib dey was made an' a rib dey has stayed an' nobody ain't got no right to expect nothin' else from 'em. hit's becaze woman was made out of man's rib--an' from de way she acts hit looks lak she was made out of a floatin' rib at dat--an' man was left wid all his backbone, dat he has got de comeuppance over woman. dat's de reason we women sets down an' cries when we ought to git up an' heave brickbats. what's de reason dat we women can't vote, an' ain't got no say-so 'bout makin' de laws dat bosses us? ain't we got de right on our side? yassir, but we'se got no backbone in us to just retch out an' grab dat ballot. dere ain't nobody 'sputing dat we'se got to scrape up de money to pay de tax collector, even if we does have to get down into a skirt pocket for hit insted of pants' pocket, an' our belongin' to de angel sect ain't gwine to keep us out of jail if we gits in a fight wid anodder lady or we swipes a ruffled petticote off de clothesline next do'. fudermo', when de meat trust puts up de price of po'k chops, hits de woman dat has to squeeze de eagle on de dollar ontel hit holler a little louder an' pare de potato peelin's a little thinner. an' dat makes us women jest a-achin' to have a finger in dat government pie an' see if we can't put a little mo' sweetnin' in hit, an' make hit a little lighter so dat hit won't get so heavy an' ondigestible on de stomachs of dem what ain't millionaires. yassir, we'se jest a-honin' for de franchise an' we might have had hit any time dese last forty years ef we'd had enough backbone to riz up an' fit one good fight for hit, but instead of dat we set around a-holdin' our hands an' all we'se done is to say in a meek voice: "please, sir, i don't lak to trouble you but ef you'd kindly pass me de ballot hit sho'ly would be agreeable to me." an' instead of givin' hit to us, men has kinder winked one eye at de odder an' said: "lawd, she don't want hit or else she's make a row about hit. dat's de way we men did. we didn't go after de right to vote wid our pink tea manners on." yassir, dat's de true word, an' you listen to me--de day dat women spunks up an' rolls up dere sleeves an' says to dere husband dat dey ain't a-gwine to do no' mo' cookin' in his house, nor darnin' of socks, nor patchin' of britches untel dere is some female votin', why dat day de ballot will be fetched home to women on a silver platter. all dat stands between women an' suffrage is de lack of a spinal colum. an able address was given by henry wilbur, as representative of the friends' equal rights association. max eastman, assistant professor in columbia university, representing the new york men's league for woman suffrage, of which he was secretary, taking the broad subject democracy and women, said in the course of his speech: the democratic hypothesis is that a state is good not when it conforms to some abstract eternal ideal of what a state ought to be, as the greeks thought, but when it conforms to the interests of particular concrete individuals, namely, its citizens, all of them that are in mental and moral health; and that the way to find out their interests is not to sit on a throne or a bench and think about it but to go and ask them.... barring this question of democracy, i think the political arguments for woman suffrage are not the main ones. the great thing to my mind is not that women will improve politics but that politics will develop women. the political act, the nature it demands and the recognition it attracts, will alter the character and status of women in society to the benefit of themselves, their husbands, their children and their homes. upon this ground we can stand and declare that it is of high and immediate importance to all humanity not only that we give those women the vote who want it but that we rouse those who do not know enough to want it to a better appreciation of the great age in which they have the good fortune to live. whatever else we may say for the industrial era we can say this, that it has made possible and actual the physical, social, moral and intellectual emancipation of women.... the other day i had a letter from a man who said he wouldn't join my society because he feared i was "striking a blow at the family, which is the cornerstone of society." well, i am not much of an authority on matrimony but that sort of language sounds to me like a hysterical outcry from a person whose family is already tottering. it is at least certain that a great many of these cornerstones of society are tottering, and why? because there dwell in them triviality and vacuity, which prepare the way of the devil. who can think that intellectual divergence, disagreement upon great public questions, would disrupt a family worth holding together? on the contrary, nothing save a community of great interests--whether in agreement or disagreement--can revive a fading romance. a high and equal comradeship is the one thing that can save those families which are the tottering cornerstones of society. a greater service of the developed woman to the state, however, will be her service in motherhood.... and yet to hear the sacredness of motherhood advanced as a reason why women should not become public-spirited and effectual, you would think this nation had no greater hope than to rear in innocence a generation of grown-up babies. keep your mothers in a state of invalid remoteness from life and who shall arm the young with intelligent virtue? to educate a child is to lead him out into the world of experience. it is not to bring him in virgin innocence to the front door and say, "now run on and be a good child!" a million lives wrecked at the very off-go can bear witness to the failure of this method. mrs. harriot stanton blatch (n. y.) presided at a symposium on open air meetings, which were then being much discussed, and they were advocated by miss ray costello of england; mrs. katherine dexter mccormick (mass.), mrs. susan w. fitzgerald (mass.) and mrs. helen lareine baker (wash.). mrs. blatch announced a practical demonstration that afternoon at the corner of seventh street and pennsylvania avenue. mrs. catt presided over a conference on political district organization as demonstrated in new york city. an afternoon meeting was devoted to an industrial program arranged by mrs. myra strawn hartshorne of chicago. conditions affecting women as workers and as wives and mothers of workers were graphically described by miss rose schneiderman (n. y.), president of the cap makers' union. the consequences to motherhood and womanhood, as demonstrated by the white slave traffic, were strikingly pictured by mrs. raymond robins (ills.), president of the national women's trade union league. a private conference, mrs. mary hutcheson page (mass.) presiding, discussed the necessity for defeating anti-suffrage candidates for congress and legislatures. mrs. florence kelley, executive secretary of the national consumers' league, brought greetings from the southern conference on woman and child labor, which she had just attended, with a special one from miss jean gordon (la.), and made a striking address. dr. anna mercy, president of the first suffrage club on the east side of new york, gave practical experiences. miss nettie a. podell and miss bertha ryshpan, representing the political equality league, of which mrs. belmont was president, told of its gratifying experiments with political settlements in new york city. the session closed with a stirring address by charles edward russell on self-defense or the demand for political action. mrs. pauline steinem (ohio) reported the usual active and efficient work of her committee on education, urging among other valuable methods the organization of mothers' and parents' clubs in connection with all public schools. mrs. mcculloch gave her report as legal adviser, which combined sound sense with sparkling humor. she showed how much money had been lost to the association because those who intended to leave bequests to it delayed making their wills. she urged the women to study the statutes of their states relating to women and said that, while she had been glad to contribute her services as legal adviser and would not accept a salary, the association should employ a competent lawyer who could stay at the national headquarters and give her entire time to compiling the laws for women and giving legal information. the convention minutes say: "a rising vote of thanks was given to mrs. mcculloch for her magnificent work as legal adviser for many years." miss gordon presented the plan for raising the susan b. anthony memorial fund; mrs. alice c. dewey (n. y.), the report on bibliography; dr. mary d. hussey (n. j.), on enrollment. miss elizabeth j. hauser read the report of mrs. ida husted harper, chairman of the national press committee, which said in part: my strong belief that new york offered the greatest and most promising field in the world for suffrage press work has been abundantly sustained. the national press bureau was opened about the middle of september, soon after the national headquarters were moved to this city, with a private reception to the representatives of every newspaper in the city, to whom its objects and hopes were stated. from that day the most of the men and women reporters have been its unfailing friends. a number of the women have not missed coming a single day and most of them are ardent suffragists and anxious to help the cause in every possible way. back of reporters have been the interest and support of city and managing editors. in the nearly seven months there have not been half-a-dozen really opposing editorials and there have been many of a favorable and helpful character. every day sixteen papers of new york city have been examined by some member of the bureau and the clippings carefully filed. these, during the past five months, have comprised over , articles on woman suffrage, ranging in length from a paragraph to a page. during these five months there have been received from one news service bureau , clippings on woman suffrage from papers outside of new york city. included in these are , editorials. all of these were read, sorted and filed. (see exhibit.) the number of magazine articles on woman suffrage as noted in _progress_ during this period has been about one hundred. it is doubtful if there was such a record in all the preceding ten years combined. in years past there has been great rejoicing when one of the large syndicates would accept an article on woman suffrage. from the time the press bureau was established in new york, practically every one of any consequence in the united states has urgently requested articles and used all that could be furnished. from one to a dozen articles each, with a great many photographs, have been sent to the associated press, united press, laffan bureau and national news syndicate of new york; western newspaper union, chicago; newspaper enterprise association, cleveland; north-american press syndicate, grand rapids; over short items to the american press association. there has been scarcely a limit to the requests for suffrage matter from influential papers in all parts of the country.... once a month i have supplied an article on the work in the united states for _jus suffragii_, the international paper published in rotterdam.... i have also edited _progress_.... before closing, i want to express my deep appreciation of the generosity of mrs. oliver h. p. belmont, through which the press bureau has this splendid opportunity for work. every comfort and facility have been provided and every request cheerfully granted. mrs. belmont never attempts, because of her financial assistance, to exercise any supervision over the bureau. it is now well established; it enjoys the confidence of the press and the public and the opportunities that lie before it cannot be measured in extent and importance. during the convention many prominent visitors were introduced to the audiences, among them miss mary johnston, who had taken a leading part in organizing the state suffrage association of virginia, and its president, mrs. lila meade valentine; mrs. elizabeth upham yates, the new president of rhode island; j. h. braly, president of the men's league of california; j. luther langston, secretary and treasurer of the oklahoma federation of labor, and daniel r. anthony, m. c., of kansas. many greetings were received including one from the finnish temperance organizations through miss maggie walz of michigan and others from mrs. caroline m. severance and mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert, pioneer suffragists now living in california. greetings were sent to miss clara barton of washington, d. c.; mrs. julia ward howe of boston; miss blackwell; the rev. antoinette brown blackwell of elizabeth, n. j.; mrs. george howard lewis of buffalo; mrs. eliza wright osborne of auburn, n. y.; mrs. elizabeth smith miller of geneva, n. y., all pioneers in suffrage work, and to mrs. belmont in new york. a vote of thanks was extended to miss belle bennett (ky.), president of the southern home mission, for her strong efforts to secure the admission of women to the general conference of the methodist episcopal church south. through the effort of the district equal suffrage association the spacious belasco theater had been secured for the sunday afternoon meeting. dr. shaw presided and rabbi abram simon offered prayer.[ ] a large audience listened to forceful addresses by miss beatrice forbes robertson, miss laura clay, miss harriet may mills, mrs. ella s. stewart and mrs. charlotte perkins gilman. in the evening the officers of the association received the delegates, speakers and members of the convention in the parlors of the arlington. one of the most valuable reports given at the convention was that of mrs. lucia ames mead, chairman of the standing committee on peace and arbitration. the events of a few years later caused the delegates to remember with renewed interest the extended work and fervent appeals of mrs. mead and her associates for settling the world's disputes by peaceful methods. on this occasion she made a special plea to those who were working for the enfranchisement of women. professor potter, mr. blackwell's successor as chairman of the committee, presented a set of strong resolutions, international as well as national in character, which were adopted without discussion. a subject which received much attention was the offer of miss blackwell to make the _woman's journal_ the official organ of the association. it needed the help of the paper and since the death of her father she needed some one to share the responsibility of its publication. miss clay, mrs. mcculloch, mrs. dennett and miss mary garrett of baltimore were appointed to plan the business details. an agreement was made for one year, miss blackwell to continue as editor without salary but the association to employ a business manager and such other help as she required. a noteworthy program marked the last evening of the convention, which opened with a powerful address by raymond robins on the worker, the law and the courts. it was to be followed by a consideration of scientific propaganda in practical politics, with the literature discussed by mrs. hartshorne but she was ill and professor potter took her place. plans for activity in behalf of changes of law and its administration that will benefit women and children in particular and society in general were presented by miss grace strachan, president of the new york federation of teachers. special plans in behalf of woman suffrage were submitted by mrs. james lees laidlaw (n. y.). dr. shaw, who presided, called attention to the hearings before the committees of senate and house the next morning and closed the convention with one of her characteristic speeches which sent the audience home happy and ready for the battle. the dominant note of the convention was the intention henceforth to enter the field of politics. the new york _evening post_ said in its account: "the audiences at all the meetings were too large for the capacity of the room and at the sunday night public gathering hundreds had to be turned away. without exception state delegations reported that the work of the next year would consist of active effort along political lines, the organization of woman suffrage 'parties' with membership comprising men and women. delegations would interview candidates and voters in regard to their suffrage opinions; conduct open-air meetings throughout the summer and be on duty at the polls during elections." the _woman's journal_ said in its summing up: "the personnel of the delegates and speakers was such as to inspire the most hostile, the most conservative and the most despondent student of human nature. when an observer reflected that these delegates represented thousands of women in each state who believe in equal suffrage, and that the speakers and leaders of the convention voiced the thoughts, hopes and aspirations of suffragists the world over, he could not help being stirred profoundly with the conviction not only that equal rights are inevitable in the near future but also with the compelling faith that the world is truly marching on in the very best sense and that it can never again be quite as dark a place to live in as it has been. a notable feature was the absolute conviction with which these representatives of the people speak and the unmistakable determination to win a speedy victory." the "hearings" before committees of senate and house took place on the historic date, april , when in "the shot was fired which was heard around the world" proclaiming the birth of a republic founded on the right of every individual to represent himself by his ballot! heretofore they had been held in the marble room of the senate building and the room of the house judiciary committee, which could accommodate only a very limited number of the delegates and none of the public. the splendid new office buildings of the two houses of congress were now finished and in the spacious rooms assigned for the hearings all of the delegates found seats and many others, although a long line of the disappointed extended down the corridor. the members of the senate committee were alexander s. clay (ga.), chairman; senators joseph f. johnston (ala.), elmer j. burkett (neb.), george peabody wetmore (r. i.), albert j. beveridge (ind.). all were present except senator beveridge. dr. shaw presided and before introducing the speakers gave a résumé of the petitions which had just been presented to the congress, called attention to the names of many eminent men and women who had signed them and said: "believing that the first republic in the world, founded upon the principle of self-government with 'equal rights for all and special privileges for none,' should be among the leaders and not the laggards in this great world movement, your petitioners pray this honorable body to submit to the legislatures of the several states for ratification an amendment to the federal constitution which will enable american women to vote." she continued: it is not revolutionary on our part to ask a share in our government. we are demanding it because it is in accord with american ideals and absolutely essential to the establishment of true democracy. a democratic form of government is right or it is not right--it is either right that the people should be self-governed or that they should not. if it is not right, then we ought to know it; the whole people ought to know it. if it is right, then the whole people ought to have equal opportunities in self-government. it is not that we women wish to dictate in regard to men or that we assume any superior ability for government, any superior wisdom, but it is that we do assume that whether we are wise or not, whether we have a grasp of all the affairs of state or not, whether we are earning and producing equally with men or not, we are human beings and as a part of the government we should have at least a chance to exercise whatever powers we possess equally with all other citizens. it is because we believe that this government should be true to its fundamental principles that we make these demands. some one asked wendell phillips if christianity were not a failure and he replied, "it has not yet been tried." so we can say in regard to democracy. we hear the cry everywhere that democracy is a failure. a speaker in new york said that our democracy was the laughing stock of all the civilized nations of the world. it is the laughing stock because of the failure of this democracy to dare to be democratic. we have never tried universal suffrage but if that which we have is a failure the cure for it is not to restrict it but to extend it, because no class of men is able to represent another class and it is much truer that no class nor all classes of men are capable of representing any class or all classes of women. believing this, we have come as citizens of the united states to this mecca of all the people for more than forty years and we are ready to come for as many years more as may be necessary until our plea is granted. dr. shaw then said: "i desire to introduce speakers from the professions and lines of work represented in our petitions: mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of chicago, who has been a practicing lawyer for twenty-four years and was recently re-elected to the office of justice of the peace." mrs. mcculloch. there may be a woman school-teacher somewhere who does not want to vote that may be satisfied to receive only per cent. as much as men teachers and to have no chance at highly paid superintendencies. there may be a mother who does not want equality at the ballot box nor in the guardianship of her children. there may be some factory girl who so earnestly believes it right to receive less wages than men do that she never wants the ballot to help her get equal pay for equal work. it may be that there is some woman paying heavy taxes--heavier than the equally wealthy man next door--who is happy to be taxed without being represented. it may be that some woman civil-service employee at washington or in the state has for a long time been at the top of the list of those who are eligible for promotion and has seen men below her on the list requisitioned for places with large salaries and approves of this and enjoys being discriminated against because she is not a voter. there may be some woman physician who does not want to vote and who observes uncomplainingly that all remunerative political offices to which physicians are eligible on city or state boards of health or in public hospitals are filled by men. there may be a nurse so busy saving life that she has not realized the foolishness of her disfranchisement on the ground that she was never a soldier to destroy life. there may be some young woman in railroad office, stenographer, bookkeeper or clerk, who meekly approves an order for the discharge of all women employees for the ostensible reason that they marry too soon but for the real reason that they do not vote. there may be a woman in any of these varied employments who is so convinced of her own inferiority that she does not want the ballot but to the credit of the women lawyers it may be said that almost every one does want to vote and can tell several reasons why. a woman may in this century go through a law college the only woman in her class without discomfort. she opens those sacred law books as easily and learns as readily as do the men and passes as good an examination. she sees her young men classmates rise to great distinction in the service of the state. she may count among them, as i can, city attorneys, state attorneys, civil-service commissioners, judges of high degree, senators and governors. it will be impossible to prove to her that she, who in law school fed on the same mental diet as did these now renowned political leaders, is too ignorant to vote for them or against them or that the quality of her brain forbids her understanding of the great problems her law classmates are now solving.... dr. shaw: the next speaker will be miss eveline gano, a teacher of history in one of the high schools of new york city, who will speak on behalf of the teachers of the country. miss gano. if the woman teacher's need of the ballot is a debatable question then another very natural question arises: do men teachers need the ballot?... i am asked to speak particularly of women who have made teaching a profession. in , per cent. of the teachers in the united states were men; per cent. to-day are men. in large cities the number of women teachers is still greater in proportion. in new york only - / per cent. of the , teachers are men. according to the last census there are , , children in the united states who should be in elementary schools. approximately per cent. are taught almost entirely by women. in new york city only seven per cent. of the , children in the public schools ever enter grades higher than the elementary; in western cities a few more. practically all of the schooling that citizens out of ever get they receive from the hands and hearts and minds of women. whatever this great number of future citizens knows of citizenship and correct standards of morals and industry they have learned from the mothers and the women teachers. the very foundations of law and equity and justice are in the hands of women who are in the eyes of the law but wards and dependents. if these women teachers and mothers had a keener sense of their responsibilities by actual participation in civic life, what might be the results in even one decade? who is to blame if they do not have the keener sense? one of the greatest problems facing this republic has been turned over to women teachers--that of coping with the foreign born and their children. who can estimate the value of this great constructive work, the creation of american citizens out of the varied materials that are landed on our shores? and who can estimate the quickening force and the gain in appreciation and respect for law and order, if the mothers and the teachers of these children were considered worthy of the principles which they are asked to inculcate? thousands of these women teachers are college graduates with fine training and all are women of more than average intelligence. they are not only bread winners but very often they are the heads of families which they have inherited. they are caring for and educating younger brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and providing for aged fathers and mothers. it has been said that the men of each class will protect the women of each class. witness the men teachers of new york city, who in secured a state law that gave to themselves salaries from per cent. to per cent. higher than to women doing the same grade of work. a woman teacher in the elementary schools must work nine years in order to receive the salary that the man teacher begins with. she may and often does supervise men, because of having passed a difficult examination, and receive $ a year less than the men whom she supervises. a woman principal receives $ , less than a man principal in the same grade of work, having the very same qualifications. governor hughes has characterized these discriminations against women as "glaring and gross inequalities," but in spite of the efforts of , women teachers for the last four years the inequalities still continue. it is rather easy to see the value of the ballot to the men teachers of the city of new york.... as citizens under the th amendment of the constitution of the united states, we claim the honored and inherited right to petition our government or either branch thereof for a redress of grievances that very plainly exist because of the present legal status of women in states of the union. we ask that our petition, which is signed by hundreds of thousands of law-abiding citizens, shall receive serious and courteous attention. we well know that when a petition of such great consequence to millions of citizens is not so considered the foundation of republican government is attacked and weakened where it should be supported and strengthened. dr. shaw: i present now dr. anna e. blount, a physician from chicago, who will speak in behalf of the medical practitioners. dr. blount. in my city there are women doctors; in my state there are ; in the united states in there were , . these women doctors know the womanhood of the country perhaps more intimately than any other class of women know it. i have talked with many of them and i have yet to find one who does not believe in woman suffrage. the woman's medical club in chicago has joined the suffrage association. why do we want the ballot? partly our reasons are personal to our own profession and partly they are the same that move the whole mass of mankind to ask for suffrage today. some of our personal reasons are these: as women we are excluded from most of the well-paid positions for physicians. we know that the dependent womanhood of the country needs our care; from time to time we hear grewsome tales from the insane asylums and the pauper institutions of wrongs done the women because there is no woman doctor there to protect them. little children in my own state have gone through a life of degradation owing to the fact that there was no woman doctor in charge of them in the public institutions. the best paid positions are political jobs and no woman can get one. another reason why, as physicians, we want the ballot is that at present we need police protection. we need a city that is well lighted and safe for women, as we are obliged to go out at all hours of the night. a few years ago the hunters of women became unusually active and several respectable women were in the early hours of the evening hunted to their death and murdered. we were told at that time by the commissioner of police that it would be well for all the respectable women of the city to remain indoors after o'clock in the evening unless they were escorted by a gentleman! imagine when the telephone rings for a woman doctor to attend some critical case that she shall be required either to get a male escort or remain at home! this is also true of nurses and many others.... i do not think that men can grow to be the best men when they are in constant association with a subject class. i ask you gentlemen of the united states senate, for the sake of womanhood, but most of all for the sake of manhood, to report this resolution out of the committee, and to ask the senate of the united states to give the women of this country, so far as in its power, the right of suffrage. dr. shaw: "i present a lawyer, mrs. ellen spencer mussey, but she will speak in the capacity of a college woman." after giving her experience in trying to secure better laws for women in the district of columbia, mrs. mussey told of her visits to norway and sweden, where as attorney for a legation she had every opportunity to attend the parliaments, meet the statesmen and leading women and hear their universal testimony in favor of the experiment in woman suffrage. in closing she stated that as chairman of the legislative committee of the general federation of women's clubs she had received reports from hundreds of them regretting their lack of power to obtain legislation and their need of representation on boards of education and of public institutions. dr. shaw then introduced miss minnie j. reynolds of new jersey, formerly of colorado, who had supervised the petition of the writers. miss reynolds. this attempt to canvass the writers of the united states is absurdly inadequate and fragmentary. it was the unpaid work of women, each of whom had her own occupation in life, in such spare time as they could get during the year. these writers represent only twenty-one states. others, including such great states as new york, michigan and wisconsin, sent in huge rolls of names without a classification. i am speaking for , writers. the first name is that of william dean howells, the "dean of american letters," perhaps more truly representative of american literature than any other living person. the second name is that of john bigelow, ex-ambassador to france, ex-secretary-of-state of new york, and author of some twenty scholarly books. on this list are the names of men and women known to every reader of american literature and to every reader of the periodical press. the petition blanks were sent to them by mail and if they did not wish to sign they had only to drop them in the waste-basket. a number of publicists have signed, among them melville e. stone, head of the associated press, and six of his editors; s. s. and t. c. mcclure, publishers of the mcclure's magazine; the editors of everybody's, the independent, the public, philistine, delineator, designer, new idea, harper's bazar, la follette's magazine, the springfield republican: editors of current literature, philadelphia record, cincinnati commercial tribune, new york herald, new york tribune, baltimore sun, baltimore american, minneapolis news, cincinnati post and numerous other newspapers over the country. these publications reach millions of readers. there are on this list the names of many persons who, although authors or magazine writers, are still more distinguished in other lines of work, as william james and george herbert palmer of harvard; graham taylor and shailer matthews of the university of chicago; simon n. patten of the university of pennsylvania; and other professors from the universities of harvard, chicago, pennsylvania, minnesota, cornell and columbia, and from oberlin, vassar and wellesley. the great families of hawthorne, chanler and beecher are represented by living descendants who are carrying on the literary traditions which must ever be associated with those names. the late richard watson gilder, editor of the century, published a tribute to dr. mary putnam jacobi after her death. in this he said in substance that the american women who had most conspicuously united rare intelligence with rare goodness were josephine shaw lowell, founder of the new york charity organization; alice freeman palmer, president of wellesley college, and dr. jacobi. mr. gilder was an anti-suffragist. the three women whom he thus placed at the pinnacle of american womanhood were all strong suffragists. the women whose names are on this list represent brains and character; they represent that element of american womanhood which is winning its own way successfully in the great world of competition and strenuous endeavor; influencing the minds and molding the public opinion of the country through their books and through the press. there may be those among you, gentlemen, who are opposed to suffrage, but i am sure there is not one who would not be glad to know that his daughter was a woman of this type if it so happened that he was obliged to leave her unprovided for. there is one girl, jean webster, who made $ , on one book the year she left college. there is one woman, mary johnston, who was paid $ , in advance royalties on one book before a word of it was printed. a number of distinguished writers had signed the general petition before the writers' blank had reached them, among them mark twain, booth tarkington, ernest thompson seton, julia ward howe, frances hodgson burnett, mary wilkins freeman and ellen glasgow. mrs. rachel foster avery, former corresponding secretary of the national suffrage association, in speaking of the petition told of one containing , names which had been gathered in indiana years ago and presented to the legislature by mrs. zerelda g. wallace, often referred to as the mother pictured in "ben hur." it was treated with the utmost contempt, one member saying, "these , women have about as much influence as that many mice." this experience sent that eloquent woman to the suffrage platform for the rest of her life. mrs. avery urged the committee to give a favorable report on this great petition as the first step toward making the influence of the thousands of women who had signed it of more value than that of so many mice. [for the address of mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage alliance, see appendix for this chapter.] u. s. senator john f. shafroth of colorado, a consistent supporter of woman suffrage from the very beginning of the movement for it in his state twenty years before, made an address to the committee which was printed in a pamphlet of seven pages and made a part of the propaganda of the national association. limited space permits only brief extracts, which give little idea of its compelling arguments. an eminent writer has said that all powers of government are either delegated or assumed; that all not delegated are assumed and all assumed powers are usurpations. the powers of government by men over women are not delegated, because the women never delegated such powers to men. they are assumed then and, as all assumed powers are usurpations, the exercise of the powers of government by men over women is usurpation. how can those who refuse to give women the right to vote reconcile their opinion with the form of government in which they believe? what right have i to make all the laws which shall govern not only myself but also my wife, sister and mother, without giving to them any voice in determining the justice or wisdom of those laws? it can only be on the assertion of an assumed or usurped right--that which we have condemned as not the source of rightful power. we all remember lincoln's declaration that "when the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is despotism." the exercise of any power of government not emanating from the consent of the governed, therefore, is despotism. after men by an assumption of power have attached the elective franchise to themselves, is it a just answer to the demand of women to say that men have concluded that "suffrage is a privilege which attaches neither to man nor to woman by nature?" have we forgotten the cry of our forefathers which stirred the blood of every patriotic american, that "taxation without representation is tyranny?" why is it tyranny to men but not to women? is it sufficient to say that "they are not the only persons taxed as property holders from whom the ballot is withheld," when the only other persons from whom it is permanently withheld are lunatics, idiots and criminals? how would men like such reasoning applied to themselves?... deprive any class or nationality of men of the elective franchise and the detrimental effect would be felt immediately. their petitions for legislation would no longer receive prompt and careful consideration and if the proposed legislation conflicted with conditions favorable to a class of voters it would be almost impossible to get a legislator or congressman even to introduce such a measure. the equal suffrage advocates have appeared before a committee of the house of representatives at washington every session for a great many years, begging for a favorable report. if persons representing one-tenth as many voters had made an appeal for some important legislation affecting their rights, don't we know that those same congressmen would almost have fought with each other for the privilege of writing a favorable report? governor shafroth quoted election statistics which showed conclusively that women in colorado voted in about the same proportion as men and he gave a long list of progressive laws which had been enacted through the support of women. he declared that in no respect had the ideals of womanhood been lowered and closed by saying: "the highest considerations of justice and good government demand equal suffrage for all women." dr. shaw in closing the hearing said in part: i have in my hand a document which was today sent, i believe, to every senator and representative, signed by the ladies representing societies opposed to the further extension of the suffrage to women. of those which purport to be state societies, three at least are merely local clubs in cities. these ladies have petitioned this honorable body and the house of representatives not to grant the appeal of the women who have come here with this very large petition on the ground that it would be an interference on your part with the rights which the states have reserved to themselves, if you were to submit an amendment to the federal constitution giving full suffrage to women.... i see by this document that the great danger with which you are threatened if you do this unjust thing is that you admit into the body politic a vast non-fighting horde of people, a most dangerous class. man suffrage is a method adopted, it says, for the peaceful attainment of the will of the majority, to which the minority must submit. if there is anything which must appeal to every sense of justice, it is the struggle of the industrial world to get out from under the domineering, military power. the age in which we live is no longer a militant age. today it is not so much the question of which nation can produce the greatest number of soldiers as of which can produce the greatest number of things the world needs to buy. it is a problem of industry and into this problem women, either by force or by desire, have come.... in olden times women could control the hours of their labor and the conditions affecting their health and the health of their families; they could regulate the price of the product which they themselves produced in the home but since men have taken from it the industries, the necessity for women to protect themselves in the workshop, in the sweatshop, in the factory has come about. wherever man has taken woman's work the woman must follow it and she must have the same method of protecting herself which man must have and there is no other means save through the ballot.... we have been over forty years, a longer period than the children of israel wandered through the wilderness, coming to this capitol pleading for this recognition of the principle that the government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. mr. chairman, we ask that you report our resolution favorably if you can but unfavorably if you must; that you report one way or the other, so that the senate may have the chance to consider it. the chairman: "in behalf of the committee i desire to thank the ladies for the splendid arguments they have made and to say that we appreciate them most heartily. it is my intention to call the committee together at a very early date and we will give a careful and intelligent consideration to this measure, and, i hope, make a report on it." notwithstanding this promise no further attention was paid to these logical and eloquent appeals or to the immense petition, and no report whatever was made by the committee. * * * * * all but four of the members of the house judiciary committee were present, including the chairman, richard wayne parker (n. j.), a remarkable attendance, and they showed much interest.[ ] mrs. florence kelley, second vice-president of the national suffrage association, was in charge of the speakers and the hearing was opened by representative a. w. rucker (col.), who had introduced the resolution for the federal amendment, as also had representative f. w. mondell (wyo.). mrs. kelley called attention to the petition of , names, saying: "among those who have signed the petition are sixteen governors, a large number of mayors and many state, county and city officials; many of the best-known instructors and writers on political economy and many presidents of colleges and universities. it includes the names of many judges of supreme courts and among them the chief justice and associate justice of hawaii. it contains a long list of the names of persons engaged in various trades and from those in the thirty-three states which are classified are , professional people, lawyers, doctors, clergymen and others; also , listed as home keepers." mrs. susan w. fitzgerald (mass.) said in part: "i come here to speak for those , home makers who signed the petition to congress asking for equal political rights in this democracy.... to ask woman under our modern industrial conditions to care adequately for her home and family without a right to share in the making of the laws and the electing of all those officers who are to enforce the laws is like asking people to make bricks without straw. it cannot be done. we must remember that in the early days of this country a family was practically self-supporting and independent of the rest of the community; a man and a woman working together could provide for their family all that was necessary for their sustenance; meats, vegetables, grains, milk, eggs, butter, cheese, all were home products. they provided their own lighting and controlled their own water supply. the women spun the thread, wove the cloth, dyed it and made the garments. in every way, if it was necessary, the family could maintain its existence independent of the cooperation of society except in the one matter of defense from violence. none of this is true today." mrs. fitzgerald took up the questions of food, drink and clothing as supplied at the present time and showed the great need that women should have a voice in the legislation that controls their production. it had been announced that all of the arguments would be made along industrial lines. arthur e. holder, of the legislative committee of the american federation of labor, presented for the record a series of the very positive resolutions for woman suffrage which had been adopted by that body at its annual conventions beginning with and read the one passed at toronto in : "the best interests of labor require the admission of women to full citizenship as a matter of justice to them and as a necessary step toward insuring and raising the scale of wages for all." he closed a strong speech by saying: "we want the right of representation for all the people, women as well as men. women have been disfranchised in our country long enough and we now ask for that measure which will constitutionally grant the right to vote to the women of our land. we believe that women ought to be free agents, free selectors, free voters. the law is no respecter of persons. women cannot shirk their responsibility because they are women; neither should they be longer denied their normal citizenship rights and privileges because they are women." in a most convincing address mrs. elizabeth schauss, factory inspector of ohio, said: it seems almost superfluous that we should come here pleading for the vote when we know it is the only thing which will give the wage-earning woman the protection that she needs and should have, as to-day she has absolutely no chance beside her brother. although she gives the same quality and the same amount of work yet she can not command the same wage, and why? simply because she is not a recognized citizen by virtue of the ballot. if you would go into the factories, the mills, the mercantile establishments and meet these women and learn from them the indignities to which they ofttimes are subjected in order that they may retain their places you would not wait for any one to come here and argue the question with you. you would see for yourselves that the only remedy is to grant to them that same protection that you give to every man over years of age. the girl so employed submits in a way to these things because she is thinking of the time when her factory days will be over, when she will make a home for husband and children, and god forbid that the time shall ever come that our girls will lose sight of this, their greatest vocation! but before they are competent to take charge of the home in every sense of the word, before they can give to their children all that these should have, they must themselves be placed upon a basis of equality with their husbands.... why should i, a tax-paying woman, be denied the right by casting my ballot to say how these taxes that i am paying shall be expended? in the light of progress and of american civilization, we know this cannot continue. we have great things at stake in our children. we are trying to take away that shadow which rests upon these united states, the shadow of child labor. it will not be done until the mothers have the right to speak for their children through the ballot. we are looking for the day when we shall be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with our men and share with them the burdens and responsibilities of this greatest nation and be able to hold up our heads and say: "we are on an equal footing because we have men in the united states who recognize equality of rights." mrs. raymond robins, thoroughly qualified to speak on this question, said in part: "i have the great honor and privilege of representing, as president of the national women's trade union league, something like , organized working women, and i believe all through our country as well as through all the world there is a growing recognition of the cost of our modern industrial conditions to women. these are such that in many thousands of instances the motherhood of our girls has to be forfeited. no one knows except those who have made a very intimate and careful study of the present cost of social and industrial conditions how great that cost is. when we demanded in illinois the limiting of the working hours for women to ten a day, many of our women physicians brought forward facts of great value showing the tremendous physical danger to girls of overwork. at present a very interesting and valuable investigation is going on, led by some of our woman physicians, showing the evil result on the second generation of these industrial conditions.... these facts are of national importance and it is because right there is the crux of the entire situation that we women are working for the ballot, for the sake of protecting the womanhood and motherhood of our , , working women, i think half of them under years of age...." mrs. robins gave a number of special instances and in answer to the question how the ballot would remedy these evils, she said: "the women, an unorganized group, get together and take collective action and they find themselves not fighting their industrial battles in the economic field but in the political field and the weapons that are constantly used against them with the greatest success are political weapons. the power of the police and of the courts is used against them in many instances and whenever they try to meet that expression of political power, they are handicapped because there is no force in their hands to help change it...." in the course of a speech punctuated with lively questions and answers mrs. upton said: "i represent the industry of wifehood and housekeeping. i spent many of my childhood days in the room of this committee, my father having been a member of the judiciary committee for thirteen years and chairman for several years. he was the only one who ever reported a bill favorably for woman suffrage.... i want to ask you to report against us if you will not report for us. just tell the world that we must not vote because we cannot fight, because it will destroy the home, anything you please, but break your long years of silence. is it fair for you _not_ to tell us why you are opposed to us? women are not fools; on the contrary, they are very intelligent people and sure to be enfranchised before long. if this committee does not help some other will; it is going to be done and it is for you to decide whether your daughters will be able to say years from now, 'my father was one of the men who helped get woman suffrage!' while men of this country have been running after dollars at a terrific rate in recent years women have been studying and preparing themselves in clubs and all sorts of organizations for this right, so that they will be the most intelligent class--if you call them a class--that was ever enfranchised in all history. are you afraid of intelligence? all we ask is to let the mother heart, the home element, be expressed in the government.... i beg of you to let all the world know _why_ the women of the united states, who by hundreds of thousands have petitioned you to submit this amendment, ought not have at least this request considered and a report on it made." miss laura j. graddick, representing a labor union in the district of columbia, said during an able and earnest address: they say that politics is too corrupt for woman to enter the field as a voter but does she not live under a government dominated by politics? shame on the manhood of our country that our government housekeeping is so administered that woman can not come in contact with it and escape contamination.... if our government is built on moral law it should be clean enough for a woman to have a voice in it. we assure you there are no better house-cleaners than women and the above statement certainly indicates the need of women in politics. there is no great cry on the part of men because of the contaminating influences which woman meets in the business and industrial world. they are not keeping her out of the various vocations of life because of the evil which she might encounter. are not sweat-shop conditions and overwork and underpaid work evils far more destructive to the physical, mental and moral welfare of women than any condition in which suffrage might place them? because of the great economic and political changes of the last century the working woman of to-day is entitled to the same rights accorded the working man in the political world. these changes have taken her from the home and brought her into business and industrial life, where she has become more and more man's equal and competitor, leaving behind those conditions which so long made her dependent upon him. this has not been of her choosing. men, in their pursuit of wealth, have taken the work formerly done in the home, from the spinning and weaving even down to the baking and laundering, and massed it in great factories and shops. instead of woman taking man's work, it is the reverse and he has appropriated to himself what was long supposed to be hers. woman finds that what was formerly with her a work of love is now done under new conditions and strange environments. this experience in the outside world is educating her, for she is studying conditions. she sees that she is forced to compete with those who have full political rights while she herself is a political nonentity. she finds that she must contend with and protect herself against conditions which are more often political than economic, thus forcing upon her the conviction that she too is entitled to be a voter. she sees that politics, business and industrial life generally are so united that one affects the other and that since she is a factor in two she should be granted the rights and privileges of the third. think of the number of women wage-earners in this country who are without political representation, there being no men in the family, and at present laws all made without a woman's point of view!... the working woman does not ask for the ballot as a panacea for all her ills. she knows that it carries with it responsibilities but all that it is to man it will be and even more to woman. let her remain man's inferior politically and unjust discriminations against her as a wage-earner will continue, but let her become his equal politically and she will then be in a position to demand equal pay for equal work. in a speech of deep feeling miss laura clay, president of the kentucky suffrage association, said in part: "gentlemen, when i hear our women making the pleas that they have made, brought up, as i have been, to believe that the manhood of the united states is the grandest in the world, i ask, 'shall we not find any members of congress except those who say, 'can you not get some one else to protect you? go to your states, go anywhere but do not come to us?' it has been said to me when i have spoken for childhood, 'you have no child?' and i have answered: 'no, i have no child, but just as surely as men in the order of nature are the protectors of womanhood, so surely in the order of nature women are the protectors of childhood. i would dishonor my womanhood to say that i will not do what i can for a child because i have none and i hope the time will never come when women must be ashamed of men because they are not willing to sacrifice something to take this action for women.' think of it! must we crawl on our knees to ask you for that which we feel we have a right to demand? you should see that every protection which every lifting hand that it is possible for manhood to offer to womanhood should be extended and your position gives you a great opportunity. i urge that, as far as your official power extends, you will show that the manhood of the united states responds to the pleas of the womanhood of the united states." the closing address of mrs. kelley and the many questions it called for from the committee with her answers filled nearly twelve pages of the printed report of the hearing. a small part only can find space here. mr. chairman and gentlemen, it is sixty years last month since my father, judge william d. kelley, became a member of the house of representatives and in those days it took a great deal of courage for a man to do what he did year after year--introduce this resolution which you are considering to-day. he did it partly, i think, out of chivalrous regard for miss anthony, mrs. stanton and the few brave women who fifty years ago patiently came before your predecessors; but very much more he introduced that resolution because he believed it was essentially just. he saw in those days the beginnings of the industrial change in the midst of which we now live and they appalled him. he saw how difficult it had been for his widowed mother to get an education for himself and his sisters, and how infinitely difficult life was for the whole great class of women, not only widows but those who by the circumstances of our changing industries had been forced out into the industrial market. he believed they ought to have the same power to protect their own interests as had been given to the american workingman and which he helped give to the negro.... women now do not count in our communities at all in proportion to the responsibilities which they carry. one of the gentlemen has asked: "what is the relation of all this labor talk to the ballot?" i will give you some examples: i was for four years the head of the factory inspectors of illinois. during that time we had an eight-hour law enacted for the protection of women and children employed in manufacturing industries. the supreme court held that it was contrary to the constitutions of the state and of the united states for women to be deprived of the right to work twenty-four hours whenever it suited the convenience of the employers. the court said--and it took , words to say it--that women could not be deprived of working unlimited hours, because they were citizens, although it said the term "citizenship" was limited; the court said they could not be allowed to work underground in mines; they could not be allowed to work out their taxes on the roads, as farmers do; they could not be called to the militia; they could not vote except for school committees and once in four years for the trustees of the state university, but, with those minor deductions, they were citizens and could not be deprived of the freedom of contract. the supreme court of the united states has proclaimed that the judges of illinois guessed wrong on that occasion, that it is not contrary to the constitution of the united states to limit the working hours of women but that it is the obvious duty of every legislature to do this in the interest of public health and morals. a year ago, largely through the efforts of mrs. robins, the legislature tried it again and passed this time a ten-hour law for women. a judge was found who held that it was a legitimate object for an injunction and he enjoined my successor, the present factory inspector, and the prosecuting attorney from enforcing this law. to-day under that injunction the women are again free to work twenty-four hours, as they do one day in the week quite regularly in the laundries in chicago, and to work sixteen hours a day as they do in the stores during the christmas rush, and as they do in the box factories and candy factories. yet the women of illinois have not had one word to say as to the personnel of these courts which decide what is a matter of life and death for every woman who is rushed into her grave by work in the laundries and other sweat shops of that state. mrs. kelley gave some tragic instances of occurrences during her eight years in hull house with miss jane addams, where the working of women overtime caused death and permanent invalidism, and continued: during the fifteen years since that illinois court so decided, the miners who work underground in sixteen states, from missouri to nevada and from montana to texas and arizona, have been able to change the constitutions of their states so that they work but eight hours a day. they are voters, they have power, they have intelligence and organization; they obtained from the supreme court of the united states the famous decision of holden vs. hardy, in which it held that it is not only the right but the duty of the state to restrict the hours of those who work underground. in illinois the women must have unlimited hours because they are not voting citizens.... for twelve years a body of influential women of new york city appeared before the board of estimate and apportionment to ask for the pitiable sum of $ , to be appropriated to pay the salaries of eighteen inspectors to look after the welfare of , women and girls in retail stores but we never got it. one candid friend, mayor van wyck, in listening to our plea, told us the whole trouble. said he: "ladies, why do you waste your time year after year in coming before us and asking for this appropriation? you have not a voter in your constituency and you know it and we know it and you know we know it," and they never did give it to us.... a spirited discussion ensued here between representative robert l. henry (tex.) and mrs. kelley as to whether congress has the power to coerce a state through a federal amendment into giving women the right to vote. representative edwin y. webb (n. c.) asked if the majority of women wanted to vote and she answered that there was not the slightest doubt of it, that as reasoning beings women could not help desiring a full share in the government under which they live. representative goebel (o.) said that at any time man might be called on to uphold the laws and the constitution and asked: "do you think that woman is physically and temperamentally fitted to give any return to the government for any privilege she might have in the exercise of her right as a citizen?" mrs. kelley answered: "yes, i think we have always done it. we pay taxes, we teach the children to obey the laws, we fill their hearts with patriotism, but the principal thing is that we furnish the army at the risk of our own lives. every time an army has been called for in the united states it has been the sons of american women on the whole who have carried the weapons and every son has been born at the risk of his mother's life. her service is a very much greater contribution than the two or three years of the son's carrying a gun or perhaps dying of typhoid fever while in the service." miss clay could not keep silent but asked if they realized how much the order of society depended on the teaching and the restraining influence of women, on their power to maintain decency of life, not alone by their presence but also by their high ideals of law and society. "when they are recognized as voting citizens," she said, "their idea of civic duty will reach a still higher point and they will have power to see that it is enforced." members of the committee began to bring forward the stock misrepresentations about the voting of women in colorado, which called mr. rucker to his feet with statistics to show that women voted in quite as large a proportion as men; that, instead of men's controlling the women's votes, women often controlled the men's; that in the hundreds of cases of election frauds only one or two women had been implicated; that less than per cent. of the so-called "ostracized" women go to the polls. in closing chairman parker said: "i wish to render the thanks of the committee for this large and representative audience, which is almost an american congress. i am all the more pleased and interested to find such strong presentations by those whom i might call, possibly without offense, 'daughters of the american congress,' two of whom claim an acquaintance with this committee that goes back at least as far as any of us. i wish to offer all of you our thanks for the earnest consideration that you seem to have given to the great problems, industrial and social, as well as those of the family, which confront us all, and in comparison with which the political powers and actions of this country are but as nothing. those who think and work for the good of the family, the home, the workshop, the farm and the school are those to whom the american congress always owes its thanks." * * * * * although the speakers who addressed these committees represented the very highest of american womanhood; although it was conceded that their arguments had never been exceeded in logic, directness and force; although there was no doubt that they represented a large proportion of the women of the country in the homes, colleges, professions and trades, yet this committee, like that of the senate, ignored the petitions and the hearing completely and made no report whatever, either favorable or unfavorable. footnotes: [ ] part of call: during the past year women have voted for the first time in norway at a parliamentary election, for the first time in denmark at the municipal elections, for the first time in victoria at an election for the state parliament. this year a woman has been nominated as a member of the municipal council in paris, a woman is filling the office of mayor in one english city and a number are serving as aldermen in others. in our own country women are voting for the first time in michigan on questions of local taxation, while in washington, oregon, south dakota and oklahoma, suffrage amendments to the state constitutions are pending. from chicago, radiating north, east, south and west, there is going out an influence which is making the social settlements centers of political influence. in spokane, new york and baltimore, political settlements are under way. from one of the great press centers of the world, new york city, suffrage propaganda is travelling through all civilized countries, and in its new york headquarters the national american woman suffrage association is receiving news of an unprecedented rising suffrage sentiment from men and women belonging to all the great nations of the earth. our cause is universal, its majesty is intrinsic, its logic is unanswerable, its success is sure. let the women of america come together in this year consecrated anew to the superb hope for humanity which lies in a full democracy. anna howard shaw, president. rachel foster avery, first vice-president. florence kelley, second vice-president. frances squire potter, corresponding secretary. ella s. stewart, recording secretary. harriet taylor upton, treasurer. laura clay, } alice stone blackwell, } auditors. [ ] mrs. catt's original plan required each state to tabulate the signers according to their lines of work but this was not fully carried out. miss minnie j. reynolds, in charge of the writer's section, published a long and interesting report in the _woman's journal_. simply the names of distinguished writers, men and women, who had signed, filled a solid column and yet she said: "the work on this section was absurdly fragmentary. in the city of washington miss nettie lovisa white had obtained the names of sixty, including the most prominent newspaper correspondents." [ ] see history of woman suffrage, volume ii, page . [ ] washington ministers who opened various sessions with prayer were the reverends u. g. b. pierce, samuel h. woodrow, john van schaick and william i. mckenney. [ ] names of committee: present--representatives sterling, moon, diekema, goebel, denby, howland, nye, clayton, henry, brantley, webb and carlin; absent--terrell, reid, malby, higgins. chapter xi. national american convention of . the national convention which met in louisville, ky., oct. - , , might well be called a "jubilee" meeting, for it celebrated two of the most important victories yet won for woman suffrage in the united states--the adoption of state amendments by a majority of the voters in washington in november, , and in california in october, , giving the same franchise rights to women as possessed by men.[ ] the sessions were held in the large de molay commandery hall but it was far too small for the evening audiences. this was a new experience for louisville but it rose finely to the occasion. a message to the _woman's journal_ said: "enthusiasm for equal suffrage runs high in louisville this week as women from all parts of the country throng its spacious streets morning, afternoon and evening for the annual convention.... altogether it is a most inspiring and encouraging convention and we are daily excited with news of the good prospects of more campaign states and more victories in the very near future.... we all have votes-for-women tags on our baggage, yellow badges and pins, california poppies and six-star buttons on our dresses and coats and dainty votes for women butterflies on our shoulders, and as we go about in dozens or scores or hundreds the onlookers receive the fitting psychological impression and we find them thinking of us as victors and conquerors." the opening of this convention, with dr. anna howard shaw, the national president, in the chair, was a proud moment for miss laura clay, who was one of the organizers of the kentucky equal rights association in and had been continually its president. in her address of greeting she said: we welcome you with hearts tender with the remembrance of the past, when two of the great historic figures which have made this convention possible gave their labors to kentucky. in the early fifties, lucy stone, in the vigor and freshness of her lovely youth and enthusiasm for high ideals, spoke in the cities and towns on both sides of the ohio river; and in she held in louisville a convention of the american woman suffrage association. she established the _woman's journal_, which is now edited, with all the noble moral principles and polished literary ability which have characterized it throughout, by her daughter, alice stone blackwell, who is with us today. in that other heroic woman, susan b. anthony, made a tour through central kentucky and left an enduring monument of her visit in the equal rights association of richmond, madison county, which has had the longest continuous existence of any woman suffrage society in the state.... we welcome you with hearts strong with hope for the future. the glorious victories that we have had inspire us and in all the harbingers of hope we see none greater than the men's leagues for woman suffrage. these prove to us that the men of our country are preparing to extend equal political rights to women, who, since the time when this vast continent was a wilderness, have stood side by side with them in the heroic labors which have made it blossom like the rose with the fairest civilization the world has ever known. in the great international alliance congress at stockholm men of many nations formed themselves into a suffrage league, and the men's league of california did grand service in the glorious victory in their state. this noble land extends from california across the continent to virginia where the latest league of men has just been formed. we see in this generous cooperation of the men of our nation a better exposition of the legend on kentucky's shield, "united we stand, divided we fall," when man and woman shall clasp hands and become a truer realization of the vision of the poet and the patriot. mrs. patty blackburn semple, president of the louisville woman's club, in offering its welcome, said: "when the woman's club was organized three subjects were tabooed--religion, politics and woman suffrage. we kept to the resolution for awhile but gradually we found that our efforts in behalf of civic improvements and the correcting of outrageous abuses were handicapped at every turn by politics. last year an appeal came to the woman's club--to the women of louisville--to take our schools out of politics. it was a gigantic fight but we won. as the climax of our struggle we spent the greater part of election day at the polls and i think at the close of that day every one of us had exhausted all the joys of 'indirect influence,' which is supposed to satisfy every craving of the female heart. our club will be twenty-one years old in november, and--we want to vote! we will make you most heartily welcome and most of us will also welcome the principles for which you stand." mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch (ills.), first vice-president of the national association, in responding said: "now we know definitely that all the things we have heard about kentucky are true; we have met her brave women and handsome colonels. while we remember all the tradition of the past we live in the present. kentucky is proud of what her men named clay have done in the past but it is a pleasure to us to know that today when kentucky wants anything done she appeals to a woman who is either clay by name or clay by blood." another chivalry is coming into the world besides that felt by a strong man for a beautiful woman. it is that felt by strong women for their weaker and less fortunate sisters. it is the chivalry foreshadowed by spenser in the færie queene, in britomart, the noble knight, herself a woman, who rescued amoretta and devoted herself to the help of all weak and helpless women." assistant district attorney omar e. garwood of denver, a founder and the secretary of the men's defense league, to refute the misrepresentations of the practical working of woman suffrage in colorado, was introduced and outlined its work. mrs. alexander pope humphrey was presented and gave a cordial invitation to a reception for the convention at her home, truecastle, at the close of the afternoon session, which was as cordially accepted. mrs. ben hardin helm, a sister of mrs. abraham lincoln, was greeted and expressed her sympathy with the work of the association. after these pleasant ceremonies at the morning session the convention immediately proceeded to business and listened to the reports from the various committees. that of the new corresponding secretary, mrs. mary ware dennett, gave a graphic illustration of the rapid increase in the size and scope of the work in her department. after describing the demands from almost every state and saying that the correspondence had doubled during the past year while the output of literature had tripled, she continued: the correspondence with canada has been very interesting and has steadily increased and we have sent a good deal of literature to british columbia, ontario and nova scotia. literature and letters have gone to switzerland, finland and even japan, in answer to requests, the japanese correspondent being in the midst of writing a book on the rights of women, because, as he quaintly put it, he believed there was "undoubtedly a truth in it." we have a steadily increasing stream of requests for suitable programs for study clubs, also a sudden spurt of requests for suffrage speakers from the federation of women's clubs. the example of the last biennial, when woman suffrage appeared for the first time on the official program of the federation, has precipitated almost an epidemic of suffrage meetings in the state federations and local clubs. the official board of the association has made a serious recommendation to the state officers to push the plan of political district organization as the best and most systematic and reliable way of preparing for the submission of a suffrage amendment. a leaflet giving the details of the plan has been published and widely distributed and it has been accepted as scheduled or in modified form in ten states, in most of which the name woman suffrage party has been adopted, following the example of new york city, which was the first to adapt the enrollment work long ago established by the national association to the needs of modern political action.... the national office prepared reports of the work of the association for the meeting of the u. s. national council of women and for the congress of the international suffrage alliance in stockholm. we have established an exchange of propaganda with the international shop in london. at the suggestion of mrs. carrie chapman catt we have cooperated with the women's enfranchisement league of cape colony, south africa, by asking a large number of american women writers to send copies of their books to an exhibition and sale there of women's work. since our last convention there have been two annual meetings of the house of governors, the first in kentucky, at which miss laura clay obtained a hearing and presented our cause in a most admirable address; the second in new jersey, at which a hearing was obtained for dr. shaw, who was accorded every courtesy and received with heartiest enthusiasm by the governors and afterwards by their wives. in kentucky governor wilson was largely instrumental in securing the hearing; in new jersey, although the governor is also a wilson, he is unfortunately an "anti," but by the efforts of governor shafroth of colorado, a place on the program was made for dr. shaw. two valuable compilations have been made, one showing how many times and when and what sort of suffrage bills have been introduced into legislatures in the last ten years, and the other showing the exact procedure necessary for amending the constitutions of the various states. under the direction of mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, our legal adviser, a series of questions on the legal status of women has been printed and sent with letters to the various states. the returns will be published in pamphlet form. at the suggestion of miss clay, letters were sent to all members of congress urging their effort to include women as electors in the bill providing for the direct election of u. s. senators. copies of _hampton's magazine_ for april were sent to special lists of people in wisconsin, kansas and california, which contained mrs. rheta childe dorr's article on colorado women voters. we have published , copies of the "what to do" leaflet, which have been sent out gratis, some states applying for , at once; california sent for , and evidently learned "what to do" effectively. we issued , of the little convention seals and the supply has hardly held out. the drawing for the seal was the contribution of miss charlotte shetter of new jersey. through the equally generous cooperation of mrs. helen hoy greeley of new york we have been able to give free of charge for use on letters , "suffrage stamps." another bit of cooperation in both labor and money was that between headquarters and mrs. raymond brown, president of the woman suffrage study club, who with members of her association addressed and sent to about a thousand presidents of suffrage clubs all over the country two copies of miss blackwell's striking editorial in answer to richard barry's slanderous statements about colorado, together with a note asking each president to send one copy to the editor of the _ladies' home journal_, in which barry's article had appeared, with her own personal protest, and the other to the editor of some paper in her vicinity. the result was a perfect avalanche of protests to the editor of the unfortunate magazine. the treasurer's report was divided between mrs. harriet taylor upton, who had resigned the office, and miss jessie ashley, her successor, and it showed the receipts from all sources, january, , to january, , to have been $ , ; the disbursements, $ , . pledges were made at this convention to the amount of $ , , including $ , from mrs. george howard lewis of buffalo; $ , from mrs. donald hooker of baltimore, and $ , by dr. shaw from a contributor not named. miss agnes e. ryan, business manager of the _woman's journal_, reported the many changes made in the paper during the year since it became the official organ of the association and the removal of its offices from beacon street to bolyston street in the building with the massachusetts and boston woman suffrage associations and the new england woman's club. the advertising had increased from $ a year to $ and the circulation from , to nearly , . the methods by which the increase had been obtained were described. the contract with the association was renewed. miss caroline i. reilly gave her first report as chairman of the press committee in the course of which she said: the annual reports of the national press bureau formerly made by miss elizabeth j. hauser, who so long and ably conducted this department, had reached so high a standard and the foundation laid by her was so substantial and solid that it was possible for us to meet the new conditions and increased volume of work with systematic and business-like methods. then came mrs. ida husted harper, with her literary ability and historical knowledge, to open a new field for suffrage propaganda through the magazines, the great syndicates and sunday papers in the large cities. thus you will see that when the present chairman took charge of the bureau it had been so splendidly developed by her predecessors that she found only hard work and plenty of it. during the eighteen months since the last convention the records show that we have written , letters. we are in constant receipt of letters from all over the world written in various languages, the majority containing inquiries regarding suffrage methods in this country and what has been accomplished by our enfranchised women.... we have furnished material for one hundred magazine articles, which have appeared in various periodicals.... our list of newspaper syndicates has increased to nine, some of which are international, and since the last convention we have furnished them , articles, many by special request. every one of these syndicates asked for detailed accounts of this convention, together with personal sketches of the officers and speakers. the associated press has sent out suffrage news as occasion warranted and has solicited our cooperation.... last december we resumed the weekly press bulletin and since then we have mailed , . these weekly items are regularly mailed to press chairmen and newspapers in forty-one states, also to canada, alaska and cuba, and every day brings requests for more. a number of monthly pamphlets issued by women's clubs use them. papers devoted to the labor movement publish them regularly and very often give helpful suggestions. the bureau is impressed with the fact that in future the farm papers should receive serious consideration.... one of these, with a circulation of nearly , has offered us space for suffrage articles to be supplied regularly and this work should be carefully looked after, especially in agricultural states like kansas and wisconsin, where campaigns are now in progress. we have responded to fifty requests from schools and colleges for information to be utilized in debates, lectures and school magazines.... the records show that we have replied to , adverse editorials and letters in papers from maine to california and secured space in new york city papers for , notices and articles without any charge to us. we have received and read , clippings gathered for us by the press clipping bureau, , of them cut from new york papers alone. representatives of newspapers and magazines from the following countries have come to us for material: australia, finland, alaska, france, germany, england, sweden, norway, japan, wales, denmark, russia, italy, mexico, spain, holland, hawaii, south america and canada, as well as from nearly every state in the union. a number of sunday papers in the large cities are devoting weekly space to suffrage departments, beginning by publishing the press items and gradually expanding.... some of the more serious magazines have recently solicited our cooperation, notably the _literary digest_ and the _american review of reviews_, whose political editor called personally a few days ago and requested that we send him regularly such suffrage news as we may have at hand, that the items may be embodied in reports of the world's political news. another important feature of the work of the bureau consists in furnishing material to press chairmen and others to be used in answering attacks on suffrage in their local papers. miss reilly complimented the work of the press chairmen in the states, speaking especially of mrs. d. d. terry of little rock, who furnished material to seventy-five papers in arkansas and to a syndicate reaching the weekly papers of the southwest. a conference was held in the afternoon on the proper function of the national association, led by dr. m. carey thomas of bryn mawr and dr. anna e. blount of chicago. the first evening of the convention was designated as jubilee night and dr. shaw said in beginning her president's address: "the eighteen months which have elapsed since our last convention have been permeated with suffrage activity. never in an equal length of time has there been such rapid progress in the enlistment of recruits and the development of active service. by an aggressive out-of-door campaign the message has been carried to a not unwilling people. never was there a more signal example of manly loyalty to womanhood than in the three-to-one vote for woman suffrage in washington in . following close upon it comes the signal victory of california, where as never before were the friends and foes of woman's freedom so equally lined up. wherever vice, corruption and cupidity held sway, there the vote for woman suffrage was weak. wherever refinement, education, industry and self-respecting manhood and womanhood dwelt, there the vote in favor of women was strong. these are the battles in this war for justice which have been victorious. others have been and are being fought at the present time with equal courage." graphic accounts were given of the successful campaign in washington, where the amendment was carried in every county, by mrs. caroline m. smith of seattle, mrs. e. a. shores of tacoma and mrs. may arkwright hutton of spokane; and of the one in california by mrs. elizabeth lowe watson, president of the state suffrage association, and j. h. braly, president of the political equality league. later miss frances wills of los angeles; miss florence dwight of pasadena; mrs. mary e. ringrose, mrs. mary s. sperry of san francisco, former state president, and mrs. rose french were introduced. mrs. watson in an eloquent address showed how their success was the culmination of the campaign of and the result of the years of hard and constant work between that time and the present. when mr. braly began speaking he presented, the association with the state flag of california, saying: "the grizzly bear is the king of all american beasts. on the flag, you see, he has a beautiful golden star above his head--the star of hope that brought our pilgrim fathers across the sea finally coming to rest over the golden state. there that star of hope and progress and freedom hung for more than sixty years, until oct. , , when it flamed forth with a wondrous brilliancy and started all the bells of heaven ringing." he predicted that oregon, arizona and nevada would soon follow the example of california and said: "then the star will cross the rocky mountains and in will come the states of the middle west!" continuing the story the speaker said: in january, , the last meeting of the last suffrage society in southern california was held in the parlor of the angeles hotel in the city of los angeles. the women were discouraged and dispirited. i rode home alone in my car, my heart weeping and praying a prayer ten miles long, that being the distance to my home in pasadena. that night i had a vision. i saw in panorama a future glory of my beloved state. i saw well-kept cities and churches filled with devout worshippers; i saw thousands of bright-faced, happy children going to clean schoolhouses and romping and laughing in their playgrounds. i saw, oh, so many sweet and happy homes! i saw no saloons, no drunken men, no places of vice. i saw men and women, husbands and wives, going up to the ballot booths, laughing and chatting as they went and placing their ballots in the boxes. everything seemed beautiful. the vision passed and i said to myself, "there it is--the women of california will have the ballot and the blessings and glory will follow." now we come to the beginning of the movement that has had much to do in the enfranchisement of the women of california. i trust you will entirely lose sight of the speaker and see only the great cause away out in the west. a man sat in his room one night with pencil and paper before him. he began to write names of big men who ought to take an interest in the pending suffrage campaign. he wrote down about one hundred names and the next day started out alone to see them. then followed two months of patient, personal work and about seventy good men and true had signed the league membership form, which read as follows: "the undersigned hereby associate themselves together under the name and style of the political equality league of california for the purpose of securing political equality and suffrage without distinction on account of sex." on april , , they met around a banquet table and organized the league. then followed earnest, enthusiastic, impromptu speaking by many of the members.... mr. braly told of going to washington to the national convention, visiting suffrage headquarters in new york and returning home in june, when "immediately the league's board of governors, consisting of nine men, met and proceeded to add to it nine splendid women. headquarters were fitted up and business began." he described the vigorous work of their legislative committee with the result that every member from the nine southern counties went to the legislature pledged to vote for submitting a suffrage amendment. saturday morning was partly occupied by a conference on how to reach the uninterested, in which fifteen members from as many states took an animated part; and by one on propaganda, led by mrs. grace gallatin seton (conn.) and miss mary winsor (penn.). throughout all the daytime sessions valuable and interesting reports on the work in the different states were read. the proposed new constitution was vigorously discussed whenever the time permitted. the delegation from illinois came with a request that the national headquarters be removed to chicago but the convention decided to have them remain in new york. the college equal suffrage league held a business meeting in the seelbach hotel at ten o'clock followed by a luncheon for college and professional women. the president of the league, dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college, was toast mistress and dr. shaw and miss jane addams were guests of honor. one especially enjoyable feature was miss anita c. whitney's account of the excellent work done by the college league of california in the recent campaign. [for all the above california reports see chapter for that state in volume vi.] the report of the national congressional committee by its chairman, miss emma m. gillett, a lawyer of washington, d. c., showed a decided advance in political work over all preceding years. she had placed on her committee mrs. upton, mrs. elizabeth king ellicott (md.), miss mary gray peck (n. y.), mrs. katharine reed balentine (me. and cal.) and miss belle kearney (miss.). state presidents were invited to cooperate and lists of the nominees for congress in their states were sent to them. the democratic national committee furnished the names of its nominees; the republican national committee practically refused to do so. letters asking their opinion on woman suffrage were sent to democratic and republican candidates; of the former and of the latter answered; democrats and republicans were in favor of full or partial suffrage for women; of the former and one of the latter were opposed; and non-committal. the letters received were almost without exception of a pleasant nature. the district suffrage association paid a stenographer and rent of headquarters for the work of sixteen months. contributions of only $ were received for it, $ from u. s. senator isaac stevenson of wisconsin. the report on official endorsements of conventions showed the usual large number, political, religious, agricultural, labor, etc. mrs. dennett estimated that such endorsements had now been given by organizations representing , , members. mrs. pauline steinem, chairman of the committee on education, reported sub-committees in sixteen states working for suitable text books, encouraging the placing of women on school boards, organizing mothers' and parents' clubs, offering prizes for essays on woman suffrage, encouraging methods of self-government in schools, etc. the chairman for new jersey announced that governor woodrow wilson approved of school suffrage and that state senator joseph s. frelinghuysen, president of the state board of education, recommended it in his last report. college women's evening, as always, attracted one of the largest audiences of the week. in the course of an address on what women might accomplish with the franchise, miss jane addams said: sydney webb points out that while the wages of british working men have increased from to per cent. during the past sixty years the wages of working women have remained stationary. the exclusion from all political rights of five million working women in england is not only a source of industrial weakness and poverty to themselves but a danger to english industry. working women can not hope to hold their own in industrial matters where their interests may clash with those of their enfranchised fellow workers or employers. they must force an entrance into the ranks of responsible citizens, in whose hands lies the solution to the problems which are at present convulsing the industrial world. much of the new demand for political enfranchisement arises from a passionate desire to reform the unsatisfactory and degrading social conditions which are responsible for so much wrong doing. the fate of all the unfortunate, the suffering, the criminal, is daily forced upon woman's attention in painful and intimate ways. it is inevitable that humanitarian women should wish to vote concerning all the regulations of public charities which have to do with the care of dependent children and the juvenile courts, pensions to mothers in distress, care of the aged poor, care of the homeless, conditions of jails and penitentiaries, gradual elimination of the social evil, extended care of young girls, suppression of gambling, regulation of billboard advertising and other things. perhaps the woman who leads the domestic life is more in need of the franchise than any other. one could easily name the regulations of the state that define her status in the community. among them are laws regulating marriage and divorce, defining the legitimacy of children, defining married women's property rights, exemption and homestead laws which protect her when her husband is bankrupt. then there are the laws regulating her functions as mother to her children. dr. thomas, who presided, spoke on what woman suffrage means to college women. only fragmentary newspaper reports are available but she said in beginning: "we are entering an age of social reconstruction and general betterment and no class today are spending more of their strength and energy to eradicate the wrongs which have resulted from a defective system that denies woman her rights, than the class of women who have received a college education. these efforts, however, amount to little as long as the franchise is denied compared to what is in the reach of possibility. our efforts have been rewarded to a great extent but until woman has come into her own and is recognized and treated as a citizen of the state on an equal footing with man, our work will continue to be a mere scratching on the surface. between and per cent. of the college women today are supporting themselves. it is the educated woman who is making the fight for equality and our hope lies in education, the education of both men and women." dr. shaw presided over the sunday afternoon meeting at which four notable addresses were made. miss mary johnston's subject was wanted, an architect, and in eloquent words she showed how woman might be developed physically, mentally and spiritually, with the conclusion: "she can do what she wills and now the thing above all others to be desired is that she wills to act. the time has passed when indifference on her part will be tolerated. women must rouse themselves to action, the crying needs of the hour demand it. with the ballot in our hands and with the will to produce better conditions our achievements will be unsurpassed." professor sophonisba breckinridge, dean of the junior college of women in chicago university, considered with keen analysis woman suffrage in its relation to the interests of the wage-earning woman. the rev. caroline bartlett crane (mich.) presented a new phase of home rule for cities, saying in conclusion: "politics at its best is a noble profession in which we earnestly desire to engage. woman's age-long experience in home-making and mothering of children has fitted her for politics just as well as have man's activities in trade fitted him." dr. shaw introduced dr. harvey w. wiley, chief of the government bureau of chemistry, as "the man who is trying to get us women a fair chance to live," and he jokingly answered that in view of the swift advance of the woman suffrage movement it was a question whether men would continue to have a chance to live. his topic was woman's influence in public affairs, "which," he said, "are the summing up of private affairs." in his address he said: i am not a newcomer myself. my first suffrage address was made in . i believe it is almost useless to work on us old folks. the reforms in our politics and ethics must begin with the children. educate them to the right and justice of woman suffrage even before they are born. instill the idea in them at school; see that they get the proper kind of an education. women have done wonders in securing our splendid system of public schools.... women have intellect enough and some to spare. what we want is more ethics. a sense of justice and right is just as important to this country as intellectual strength. women have the instinct of right. i have never known an organized body of women to be on the wrong side of a public question, although as individuals women sometimes get the wrong point of view, just as men are prone to do. i want equal suffrage because it is right. i want it also because it would have a great effect on woman's influence in public affairs and would help powerfully to get the right thing done. the very fact that woman had the vote would be a restraining and elevating influence. the women have been a tower of strength to every official in this country who has tried to do his duty. take the question of pure food: i could tell you by the hour of the support that i have had from women and women's organizations. i should despair if i thought that the women did not stand for pure food. we have in this country problems which i almost fear to face. among them is the great problem of the relation between the wage-earner and the capitalist; that of the distribution of the necessities of life; that of the congestion in the cities and depopulation of the country districts. these and many others will take all the wisdom and sympathetic insight of men and women together to solve them. i am glad that men are to have the help of women. they are just entering on their career of greater usefulness in public affairs. with the ballot in their hands they will be endowed with a power much stronger than they have ever had before and they will wield it, i am sure, on the side of right and justice. sunday evening the officers of the association were "at home" to delegates, speakers and friends in the parlors of the hotel seelbach. mrs. carrie chapman catt, who, to the great happiness of suffragists on several continents, had entirely recovered her health, was now making a trip around the world in the interest of the international woman suffrage alliance, of which she was president. at one session a letter from her was read, dated at kimberly, south africa, which was enthusiastically received. it said in part: at the very moment that you will be planning the work for the sixty-third year of the american suffrage campaign, the suffragists of this new-east of all nations will be sitting in their first national convention at durban, the metropolis of natal. the movement here is young but is wholly unlike the beginnings of the campaigns in england and america, for our revered pioneers fought their battle against the prejudice and intolerance of their time for the women of the whole world. these women are beginning at the very point where we of the older movements find ourselves today. the old-time arguments are not heard and here, as everywhere, expediency and political advantage are the causes of opposition. no two cities could be more unlike than louisville and durban. the latter lies in a tropical country with its buildings buried in masses of luxuriant and brilliant flora, all unfamiliar to american eyes. the delegates will look out upon the placid waters of the indian ocean and will ride to and fro from their meetings in rickshas drawn by zulus in the most fantastic dress imaginable, the chief feature being long horns bound upon the head. in louisville it will be autumn, in natal it will be spring. yet, dissimilar as are the scenes of these two conventions, the women composing them will be actuated by the same motives, inspired by the same hopes and working to the same end. the rebellion fomented in that little seneca falls convention has overspread the wide earth and from the frigid lands above the north polar circle to the most southerly point of the southern temperate zone, the mothers of our race are listening to the new call to duty which these new times are uttering. it is glorious to be a suffragist today, with all the hard times behind us and certain victory before. may wisdom guide us to do the right thing; may love unite us; may charity temper our differences and may we never forget the obligations we owe the blessed pathfinders of our movement who made the present position of our cause possible! the election resulted in several changes in the board of officers. dr. shaw was re-elected. mrs. mcculloch declined to stand for re-election as first vice-president and miss gordon as second and miss addams and professor breckinridge were chosen. for corresponding secretary mrs. dennett was re-elected. mrs. stewart withdrew as recording secretary and mrs. susan w. fitzgerald (mass.) was elected. miss ashley was re-elected treasurer. mrs. robert m. lafollette was elected first auditor and mrs. james lees laidlaw (n. y.) second. later mrs. lafollette declined to serve and mrs. katharine dexter mccormick was appointed by the board. in all preceding conventions there had been such unanimity in the choice of officers that the secretary had been able to cast the informal ballot for the election. this new division of sentiment was frequently illustrated during the meetings and indicated that an element had come into the movement, which, as usual with newcomers, wanted a change to accord with its ideas. this was particularly noticeable in the discussion of the proposed new constitution but the differences of opinion were peaceably adjusted by compromise. after the election mrs. mccormick, who had recently come into close touch with the national association, spoke on the effect of suffrage work on women themselves, saying in part: "so much attention has been given to the growth and development of the movement for woman suffrage that the effect on the women themselves has been lost sight of or has been little considered but today it is becoming clear that the cause of suffrage is more valuable to the individual woman than she is to the cause. the reason is that this movement has the great though silent force of evolution behind it, impelling it slowly forward; whereas the individual is largely dependent for her development on her own powers and especially on those expressions of life with which she brings herself into contact. the woman suffrage movement offers the broadest field for contact with life. it offers cooperation of the most effective kind with others; it offers responsibility in the life of the community and the nation; it offers opportunity for the most varied and far-reaching service. to come into contact with this movement means to some individuals to enter a larger world of thought than they had known before; to others it means approaching the same world in a more real and effective way. to all it gives a wider horizon in the recognition of one fact--that the broadest human aims and the highest human ideals are an integral part of the lives of women." the report of the committee on church work by its chairman, mrs. mary e. craigie, (n. y.) began: "it is estimated that there is in the united states a total church membership of , , persons. it would mean a great deal to the woman suffrage cause if this great organized force, representing the most thoughtful and influential men and women of every community, could be brought to endorse it and work for it. the experiences of this committee seem to prove that in the transition taking place in the world of religious thought this is the most propitious time to obtain such support." she gave a résumé of the splendid work that had been done by the branch committees in the various states, the religious gatherings that had been addressed, often resulting in the adoption of a resolution for woman suffrage, and the hundreds of letters sent to ministers asking for sermons favorable to the cause, which were many times complied with. she closed by saying: "it needs neither figures nor argument to establish the fact that church attendance and church worship are in a condition of decline. it is a critical period in the history of the church, which is changing from the exercise of power to the employment of influence, and the appeals that are coming to the churches are for service from the men and women who are their real strength. the church is not appreciating the resources that are lying dormant, when two-thirds of its membership--the women--are left powerless to carry on the moral and social reform work, because, as a disfranchised class having no political status, they are not counted as a potential force." miss elizabeth upham yates (r. i.), chairman, made the report on presidential suffrage. the report of the committee on peace and arbitration, mrs. lucia ames mead (mass.), chairman, spoke of the ginn endowment of a million dollars for the world's peace foundation and of mr. carnegie's great gift of ten million dollars, creating a fund to secure the peace of the world. it told of the vast work that was being done for peace by the women in the various states and said: "the world for the first time has seen the head of a great government declare that all questions between nations can be peacefully settled. president taft's noble effort to secure treaties with other nations, to ensure arbitration between them of every justiciable question, should command the gratitude of every patriotic woman. i had hoped to felicitate you on the ratification of these treaties by the necessary two-thirds of the senate, but in chagrin and disappointment i must instead appeal to you to endeavor instantly to create such public sentiment as shall result in december in the acceptance of the treaties without amendment. if they are thus ratified they will be secured not only with great britain and france but certainly germany, and i have no doubt japan and most other nations will agree to identical treaties." miss florence h. luscomb (mass.) gave an interesting report of the sixth congress of the international woman suffrage alliance held in stockholm in june, . [see chapter on the alliance.] mrs. agnes m. jenks, proxy for the president of the new hampshire association, asked assistance in getting a clause for woman suffrage in the new constitution to be made for that state. conferences were held throughout the week on legislative work, district organization, publicity, raising money and other branches of the vast activities of the association. the convention monday afternoon adjourned early in order that the members might enjoy the hospitality of the woman's club of louisville at a "tea" in their attractive rooms, and at another time take the beautiful riverside drive. one evening was devoted to light entertainment with two suffrage monologues by miss marjorie benton cooke; a suffrage slide talk by mrs. fitzgerald; a clever speech portraying the results if women voted, by miss inez milholland (n. y.) and the sparkling play, how the vote was won, read by miss fola la folette. a striking address was given one afternoon by mrs. t. p. o'connor, an american woman but long a resident of england and ireland, who took for her subject, let our watchword be unity. one of the most valuable contributions to the convention was mrs. mcculloch's report as legal adviser. this was the result of a list of forty-four questions sent to presidents of state suffrage associations, woman's christian temperance unions, federations of clubs and leading lawyers, followed up by many letters. one of these questions related to the guardianship of children, of which she said: the subject of the guardianship of children could have been treated a century ago in a few words. the father of the legitimate child was his sole guardian and the mother had no authority or right concerning their child except such as the husband gratuitously allowed her. she had, however, all the duties which the husband might put upon her. this meant that the husband decided about the children's food, clothing, medicine, school, church, home, associates, punishments, pleasures and tasks and that he alone could apprentice a child, could give him for adoption and control his wages. many mothers were kept in happy ignorance of such unjust laws because their husbands voluntarily yielded to them much of the authority over the children but this was not so in all families and many mothers took cases to supreme courts, protesting against the absolute paternal power. when mothers learned what this sole guardianship meant they urged legal changes. our present guardianship laws, very few alike, show how women, each group alone in their own states, have struggled to mitigate the severest evils of sole fatherly guardianship, especially of the child's person. this to mothers was more important than the guardianship of the child's property. perhaps the greatest suffering came from the father's power to deed or to bequeath the guardianship to a stranger and away from the mother. most of the states now allow a surviving mother the sole guardianship of the child's person with certain conditions. six states have not yet thus limited the father's power and in those where the guardianship is not specifically granted to the surviving mother, the father's sole power of guardianship covers his child even if yet unborn. the report gave a thorough digest of these guardianship laws filling eight printed pages and this and mrs. mcculloch's digest of other laws were printed in the _woman's journal_ and the handbook of the convention. miss alice henry presented greetings from the national womens' trade union league; miss caroline lowe from the women's national committee of the socialist party; mrs. a. m. harrison from the state federation of woman's clubs; mrs. charles campbell of toronto from the canadian woman suffrage association; mrs. w. s. stubbs, wife of the governor, and mrs. william a. johnston, wife of the chief justice and president of the state suffrage association, from kansas. a letter of love and good wishes with regrets for her absence was ordered sent to mrs. catt and one of affectionate sympathy to mrs. susan look avery (ky.) for the death of her son, which prevented her attendance. during the convention mrs. lida calvert obenchain, author of aunt jane of kentucky, and miss eleanor breckenridge, president of the texas suffrage association, were introduced and said a few words. a telegram of greeting was read from mrs. caroline meriwether goodlett, a founder of the daughters of the confederacy. the resolutions were presented by the chairman, miss bertha coover, corresponding secretary of the ohio suffrage association, the committee as usual consisting of one member from each state delegation. they urged the ratification of the arbitration treaties in the form desired by president taft; expressed sympathy with finland in its struggle for liberty; endorsed the proposed federal amendment for the election of u. s. senators by popular vote and demanded that women should have part in this vote; endorsed the campaign for pure food and drugs; called for the same moral standard for men and women and the same legal penalties for those who transgress the moral law; asked the government to erect a colossal statue of peace at the entrance to the panama canal, and there were others on minor points. greetings and appreciation were sent to "the justice-loving men of washington and california, whose example will be an inspiration to the men of other states." memorial resolutions were adopted for prominent suffragists who had died during the year, among them thomas wentworth higginson, dr. emily blackwell, ellen c. sargent, william a. keith, the artist; samuel walter foss, the poet; lillian m. hollister, elizabeth smith miller, eliza wright osborne and dr. annice jeffreys myers. there was a long resolution of thanks for the courtesy and hospitality received in louisville, which included the clergymen who opened the sessions with prayer, the musicians, who gave their services, the press committees, the hostesses and others.[ ] on the last evening with a large audience present mrs. desha breckinridge spoke on the prospect for woman suffrage in the south. "although kentuckians are wont to boast that within these borders is the purest anglo-saxon blood now existing, the spirit of their ancestors has departed," she said, and continued: since kentucky has retrograded. an effort to obtain school suffrage for a larger class of women has brought about a reactionary measure. kentucky women at present have no greater political rights than the women of turkey--for we have none at all--but the action of certain male politicians in defeating the school suffrage measure in the last two legislatures has really been of advantage to the movement. it has put not only women but the progressive men of the state into fighting trim.... the opposition of the non-progressive element has made of this "scrap of suffrage" a live, political issue. it is likely to be carried in the next legislature by the determination of the better men of the state even more than of the women, and the fight made against it has gone far to convince both that the full franchise should be granted to women. the action of the democratic party, when leadership in it is resumed by the best element, shows a realization that the wishes of the women of the state are to be reckoned with and that the friendship of the women, which may be gained by so simple an act of justice in their favor, is a political asset of no small importance. it is quite possible that the party in kentucky and throughout the south may eventually realize that by advocating and securing suffrage for women it may bind to itself for many years to come, through a sense of gratitude and loyalty, a large number of women voters, just as the republican party since the emancipation of the negro has had without effort the unquestioning loyalty of thousands of negro voters; although the women would never vote so solidly as do the negroes, because they would represent a much more thoughtful and independent body.... after showing what had been the results in the south from admitting a great body of illiterate voters she said: a conference of southern women suffragists at memphis a few years ago, in asking for woman suffrage with an educational qualification, pointed out that there were over , more white women in the southern states than there were negroes, men and women combined. if the literate women of the south were enfranchised it would insure an immense preponderance of the anglo-saxon over the african, of the literate over the illiterate, and would make legitimate limitation of the male suffrage to the literate easily possible.... conditions of life in the south have made and kept southerners individualists. the southern man believes that he should personally protect his women folk and he does it. he is only now slowly realizing that, with the coming of the cotton mills and other manufactories and with the growth of the cities, there has developed a great body of women, young girls and children who either have no men folk to protect them or whose men folk, because of ignorance and economic weakness, are not able to protect them against the greed and rapacity of employers or of vicious men. it is a shock to the pride of southern chivalry to find that women are less protected by the laws in their most sacred possessions in the southern states than in any other section of the union; that the states which protect their women most effectively are those in which women have been longest a part of the electorate.... in the community business of caring for the sick, the incurable, the aged, the orphaned, the deficient and the helpless, women of the south bear already so important a part that to withdraw them from public affairs would mean sudden and widespread calamity. women in the south are in politics, in the higher conception of the word. "politics," says bernard shaw, "is not something apart from the home and the babies--it is home and the babies." women have long since gotten into politics in the south in the sense that they have labored for the passage and enforcement of legislation in the interest of public health, the betterment of schools and the protection of womanhood and childhood--for the preservation, in short, "of home and the babies." mrs. emmeline pankhurst of england, received an ovation when she rose to speak and soon disarmed prejudice by her dignified and womanly manner. she began by pointing out the fallacy that the women of the united states had so many rights and privileges that they did not need the suffrage and in proof she quoted existing laws and conditions that called loudly for a change. she then took up the situation in great britain and explained how many years the women had tried to get the franchise by constitutional methods only to be deceived and spurned by the government. she told how at last a small handful of them started a revolution; how they had grown into an army; how they had suffered imprisonment and brutality; how the suffrage bill had again and again passed the second reading by immense majorities and the government had refused to let it come to a final vote. "we asked prime minister asquith to give us a time for this," she said. "for eight long hours in a heavy frost some of the finest women in england stood at the entrance to the house of commons and waited humbly with petitions in their hands for their rulers and masters to condescend to receive them but the house adjourned while they stood there. the next day, while they waited again, there was an assault by the police, acting under instructions, that i do not like to dwell upon outside of my own country." dr. shaw made the closing address, eloquent with hope and courage for the future and, as always, the final blessing at the convention as the benediction is at church. in summing up the week the _woman's journal_ said: "only those who attended our national convention at louisville can understand how really wonderful it was. for hospitality, for good management, for beautiful cooperation and self-effacement, the kentucky women set a standard that will long be remembered and will be very hard to equal in the future. it made hard work easy and all work a joy. the gratitude of the national association is theirs forever. they gave much to us, did we give anything to them? here we can only say we trust that we did and accept with confidence what one of the state's great women said many times: 'this convention has done wonders for kentucky; it has surpassed my hopes.'" footnotes: [ ] part of call: within the year the state of washington has completed its work of fully enfranchising its adult citizens. before the convention assembles, california will no doubt have accepted the idea of true democracy. we also rejoice because the legislatures of kansas, wisconsin, oregon and nevada have voted to submit the question to their electors. many states, however, still refuse to allow the voters to pass upon the question of giving political independence to women. since the purpose of the national american woman suffrage association is "to secure the right to vote to women citizens of the united states," we have called this national convention of suffragists. from every state will come delegates, who will bring with them the growing spirit of rebellion against injustice.... we call upon every public-spirited woman to come and help devise methods of carrying on the fight, to strengthen the fire of revolt, to show by overwhelming numbers and determined earnestness that women will no longer be satisfied to be treated with political contempt by the legislators who are supposed to represent them.... do your part to inspire our workers with courage, determination, fervor and consecration; to arouse them to put forth their full strength, even to the utmost sacrifice, to obtain universal recognition of the truth that every adult citizen should have a voice in the government of a free country. anna howard shaw, president. catharine waugh mcculloch, first vice-president. kate m. gordon, second vice-president. mary ware dennett, corresponding secretary. ella s. stewart, recording secretary. jessie ashley, treasurer. laura clay, } alice stone blackwell, }auditors. [ ] of the press the _woman's journal_ said: "the louisville papers gave the convention full and fair reports and the _herald_ and _times_ had editorials declaring woman suffrage to be inevitable. colonel henry watterson in the _courier-journal_ struggled between a sincere desire to be courteous and hospitable to a convention of distinguished women meeting in his city and an equally sincere belief that woman suffrage would be a bad thing. a rousing editorial in favor of it appeared in desha breckinridge's paper, the _lexington leader_. chapter xii. national american convention of . the forty-fourth annual convention, which met in witherspoon building, philadelphia, nov. - , , celebrated three important victories. at the general election in the early part of the month, oregon, arizona and kansas had amended their constitutions and conferred equal suffrage on women by large majority votes and the result in michigan was still in doubt. it was the sentiment of the country that the eastward sweep of the movement was now fully under way. there was a new and vibrant tone in the call and in the speeches and proceedings.[ ] the _woman's journal_ said in its account: "another new feature was the enormous crowds that turned out at the convention. evening after evening, in conservative philadelphia, ten or a dozen overflow meetings had to be held for the benefit of the people who could not possibly get into the hall. at the thanksgiving service on sunday afternoon, not only was the great metropolitan opera house filled to its capacity but for blocks the street outside was jammed with a seething crowd, eager to hear the illustrious speakers. it looked more like an inauguration than like an old-fashioned suffrage meeting." there was a great out-door rally in independence square at the beginning, such as had been witnessed many times on this historic spot conducted by men but never before in the hands of women. miss elizabeth freeman was manager of this meeting, assisted by miss jane campbell, the rev. caroline bartlett crane, mrs. camilla von klenze, mrs. teresa crowley and miss florence allen. from five platforms over forty well-known speakers demanded that the principles of the declaration of independence signed in the ancient hall close by should be applied to women and that the old bell should ring out liberty for all and not for half the people. mrs. otis skinner read the women's declaration of rights, which had been written by elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony and matilda joslyn gage in and presented at the great centennial celebration in that very square,[ ] and a little ceremony was held in honor of mrs. charlotte pierce of philadelphia, the only one then living who had signed it, with a remembrance presented by mrs. anna anthony bacon. the convention was noteworthy for the large number of distinguished speakers on its program. on the opening afternoon, after a moment of silent prayer in memory of lucretia mott, the welcome of the city was extended by the widely-known "reform" mayor rudolph blankenburg, who pointed out the vast field of municipal work for women and expressed his firm conviction of their need for the suffrage. he was followed with a greeting by mrs. blankenburg, a former president of the state suffrage association. its formal welcome to the delegates was given by the president, mrs. ellen h. price, who said in part: "we hope that you will feel at home in pennsylvania, for the idea that has called this organization into being--that divine passion for human rights--actuated the great founder of our commonwealth in setting up his 'holy experiment in government.'" after regretting that a state founded on so broad a conception had not applied it to women mrs. price said: we welcome you in the name of william penn, who, antedating the declaration of independence by nearly a century, enunciated in his frame of government the truth that the states of today are coming very rapidly to acknowledge: "any government is free to the people under it when the laws rule and the people are a party to those laws; anything more than this (and anything less) is oligarchy and confusion." we welcome you in the name of our only woman governor, hannah penn, who, as we are told, for six years managed the affairs of the infant colony wisely and well. we welcome you in the name of the patriots who placed on our liberty bell the injunction, "proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof"; in the name of those ancestors of ours (yours and mine) who here gave up their lives in that struggle to establish the principle that "taxation without representation is tyranny" for a nation; in the name of those uncompromising agitators who delivered their message of liberty even at the risk of life itself, till the shackles fell from a race enslaved; in the name of lucretia mott, that gentle, that queenly champion of the downtrodden and oppressed, that inspired preacher whose motto, "truth for authority, not authority for truth," should be the watchword of every soul that seeks for freedom. we welcome you in the name of the pioneers in the education of women, of those who gave us the first medical college for women, ann preston, emily cleveland, hannah longshore, whose daughter is here today--our honorary president, lucretia l. blankenburg, wife of the chief executive of this city, to whose eloquent words of welcome you have just listened; in the name of the first president of our state association, of whom the poet whittier wrote: "the way to make the world anew is just to grow as mary grew." we welcome you in the name of our national president, the rev. anna howard shaw, who, although a citizen of the world, comes back to her pennsylvania home to get fresh strength and courage. mrs. james lees laidlaw, a national officer, made a graceful response for the association. fraternal greetings were given by mrs. barsels, from the pennsylvania woman's christian temperance union; by mrs. branstetter of oklahoma from the national socialist party; by mrs. campbell mcivor of toronto from the canadian woman suffrage association and later by miss leonora o'reilly from the new york women's trade union league. miss laura clay, chairman of the membership committee, announced the admission of nine new societies to the national association. there were delegates in attendance. mrs. mary ware dennett, corresponding secretary and chairman of the literature committee, said in the course of her report: we are often asked at headquarters and by mail what the national headquarters is for and what it does. the briefest answer that can be given is that we furnish ammunition for the suffrage fight. the ammunition is of many sorts, from money, leaflets and buttons to historical data, slide lectures and advice on organization.... one decided advantage in making headquarters more useful to visitors has been the enlargement of the main office. a partition was removed which gave us a large, light room where all our publications are accessible for consultation or purchase, all the chief suffrage periodicals of the world are on file, the gallery of eminent suffragists is on exhibition and all the various kinds of supplies, like buttons, pennants, posters, etc., are shown. it serves as reference library as well, for beside the history of woman suffrage, the life of susan b. anthony and the bound volumes of the _woman's journal_, there is a collection of books on interests allied to suffrage, which have been selected and approved by the board. these are also on sale.... during the summer of a questionnaire was sent to the states and the answers tabulated and printed in a folder showing conclusively the status of each regarding headquarters, press, membership, finance, political district, legislative and congressional work. there is an increasing demand for suffrage facts rather than for suffrage argument. it was in response to this demand that it became necessary to appoint an editor for the literature department. fully half of the publications needed revising and bringing up to date and new compilations of data were urgently needed. mrs. frances maule bjorkman, a trained newspaper and magazine writer, was chosen and has filled the position admirably. mrs. dennett gave a detailed account of the pamphlets, speeches, leaflets, plays, magazine articles, etc., published by the association-- kinds of printed matter--and said: we have published over , , pieces of literature in this year and our total receipts from literature and supplies have been $ , , or $ over the cost of the printing and purchase. our record month was september, when our receipts were more than the entire receipts for the whole year of . if we count our unsold stock and our uncollected bills as assets, we have a net gain for the year of $ , . about $ worth of literature has been sold in the office, the remainder having been ordered by mail. through the courtesy of the illinois association and the generosity of miss addams and miss breckinridge, who paid for the rent and service, a sub-station for the supply of literature was established at the chicago headquarters in april. the sales at this western branch have been $ , . it would seem well worth while to continue this service for western customers. also for their benefit mrs. mccormick made a gift of a sample copy of every one of our new publications to the presidents of state associations in eighteen of the western states, as a means of bringing them in closer touch with the national office.... aside from our own literature we have been grateful for a very serviceable congressional document, thousands of which have been distributed in the last few months, the speech of congressman edward t. taylor of colorado. it proved a successful and timely campaign document and we are indebted not only to mr. taylor but to a most efficient volunteer worker in washington--mrs. helen h. gardener--who gave unstinted personal service in seeing that the documents were obtained and franked when needed.... [illustration: court house of warren, ohio headquarters of the national american woman suffrage association from to --on the ground floor.] [illustration: home of susan b. anthony in rochester, n. y. headquarters of the national american woman suffrage association until .] the convention accepted the recommendation of the board that it should issue a monthly bulletin of facts and figures to be sent to every paying member, thus establishing a real bond between the association and its thousands of members. the report of the press bureau by its chairman, miss caroline i. reilly, showed remarkable progress in public sentiment as expressed by the newspapers. it said in part: the winning of california last year wrought so complete a change in the work of the national press bureau that it was like taking up an entirely new branch. before that victory our time was employed in furnishing suffrage arguments, replying to adverse editorials and letters published in the newspapers and writing syndicate articles. now this department has resolved itself into a bureau of information, news being the one thing required. each week we send to our mailing list , copies of the press bulletin, giving brief items relative to suffrage activities the world over. these go into every non-suffrage state in the union, to canada, cuba and england, and the demand for them increases daily. almost every mail brings letters from newspapers asking to be placed on the regular mailing list.... since the winning of the four states on november , newspapers and press associations from all over the united states have written us asking for help to establish woman suffrage departments. the time has come when our question is a paying one from a publicity point of view, ... we now have twenty syndicates on our list and are no longer obliged to write the articles ourselves but simply furnish the information which their own writers work up. these syndicates are both national and international and cover all of this country as well as some foreign countries. an interesting thing happened last week, when the representative of a european press syndicate came and said that he had been sent to america for the sole purpose of reporting the woman movement in the united states, the subject being regarded a vital one by the press of europe. special suffrage editions seem to be more popular than almost anything else and appeals come to us from all over the union to help on them.... during the past year we have received and answered over , communications. the italian papers have been on our mailing list for some time, also many french and hebrew papers.... the editors and associate editors of twelve italian newspapers in new york are enrolled in the city suffrage organization. miss alice stone blackwell made an extended report of the _woman's journal_ since it became the official organ of the national american association in june, , and had been published under its auspices. the expenses had increased and funds had not been supplied to meet them. committees of conference were appointed and eventually the deficit was paid and the paper was returned to miss blackwell, who offered the free use of its columns to the association. the report of the treasurer, miss jessie ashley, was not encouraging. under the old régime the year always closed with a balance in the treasury but this indebtedness to the _woman's journal_ left the association $ , in debt.[ ] as its work broadened the expense became heavier and the income although far larger than ever before was not sufficient. during the past year it had contributed $ , to campaigns in eight states. a very large part of this amount was paid by dr. shaw from a fund given to her personally for the purpose by mrs. quincy a. shaw of boston. at this time and later she gave to dr. shaw to be used for campaigns according to her judgment $ , and the name of the donor was not revealed until after her death in . the first evening of the convention was devoted to the president's address and the stories of the successful campaigns for suffrage amendments at the november elections, related by mrs. william a. johnston and miss helen n. eaker for kansas and mrs. m. l. t. hidden for oregon. no one being present from arizona dr. shaw told of the victory there. mrs. clara b. arthur and mrs. huntley russell described the situation in michigan, where the indications were that the amendment would be lost by fraudulent returns. dr. shaw's speech, as usual, was neither written nor stenographically reported but this floating paragraph was found in a newspaper: in all times men have entertained loftier theories of living than they have been able to formulate into practical experience. we americans call our government a republic but it is not a republic and never has been one. a republic is not a government in which one-half of the people make the laws for all of the people. at first the government was a hierarchy in which only male church members could vote. in the process of evolution the qualification of church membership was removed and the word "taxpayer" substituted. later that word was stricken out and all white men could vote. then followed the erasure of the word "white" and now all male citizens have the ballot. the next measure is obvious and it is not a revolutionary one but the logical step in the evolution of our government. i believe thoroughly in democracy, the extension of the franchise to all men, for all have a right to a voice in the making of the laws that govern them, and no nation has a right to place before any of its people an insuperable barrier to self-government. we would make no outcry against an educational standard, the necessary age limit, a certain term of residence in any place--in fact there is no regulation women would object to that applied to all citizens equally. i make no criticism of the policy of the country in giving all men the ballot. the men are all right so far as they go--- but they go only half way. the united states has subjected its women to the greatest political humiliation ever imposed upon the women of any nation. german women are governed by german men; french women by french men, etc., but american women are ruled by the men of every country and race in the world.... i do not belong to any political party and i have too much self-respect to ally myself with any party until my opinion is of enough importance to be counted at the polls. the delegates heard reports from the chairmen of various committees--ways and means, dr. m. carey thomas; enrollment, mrs. jean nelson penfield; presidential suffrage, miss elizabeth upham yates; laws for women, miss mary rutter towle (d. c.). mrs. lucia ames mead made her usual comprehensive report as chairman of the peace and arbitration committee. mrs. mary e. craigie in her report of seven printed pages on the extensive and successful efforts of her committee on church work told of a circular letter that had been sent to thousands of clergymen throughout the country asking for a special sermon in support of woman suffrage on mothers' day. it pointed out that in the vast moral and social reform work of the churches their women members are denied the weapon of christian welfare, the ballot, while the forces of evil are fully enfranchised and the influence of the churches is thus essentially weakened. mrs. william kent, in her report as chairman of the congressional committee, said that it had not been necessary to request members to introduce a resolution for a federal suffrage amendment as six were offered by as many representatives of their own volition. senator works of her own state of california had been glad to present it. she told of the "hearings" before the committees of the two houses on march , when the national association sent representatives to washington. the preceding day a reception for the speakers was given in her home and many of the guests became interested who had been indifferent. in may the congressional committee sent out cards for a "suffrage tea" in her house to the wives of senators and representatives; many were present and interesting addresses were made. among the resolutions submitted by the chairman of the committee, mrs. raymond brown, and adopted were the following: we reaffirm that our one object and purpose is the enfranchisement of the women of our country. we call upon all our members to rejoice at the winning of the school vote by the women of kentucky and at the full enfranchisement of four more states, kansas, oregon, arizona and michigan[ ]; and in the fact that at the last election the electoral vote of women fully enfranchised was nearly doubled, and to rejoice that all the political parties are now obliged to reckon with the growing power of the woman vote; and be it resolved that this association believes in the settlement of all disputes and difficulties, national and international, by arbitration and judicial methods and not by war. that we commend the action of those state federations of women's clubs which have founded departments for the study of political economy and we congratulate those clubs which have endorsed our movement to gain the ballot for all women. that we deeply deplore the exploiting of the children of this country in our labor markets to the detriment and danger of coming generations; that we commend the action of congress in the creation of a national children's bureau and president taft's appointment of a woman, miss julia lathrop, as head of the bureau. that we commend the efforts of our national government to end the white slave traffic; that we urge the passage in our states of more stringent laws for the protection of women; that we demand the same standard of morals for men and women and the same penalties for transgressors; that we call upon women everywhere to awake to the dangers of the social evil and to hasten the day when women shall vote and when commercialized vice shall be exterminated. a unique feature of the convention was men's night, with james lees laidlaw of new york, president of the national men's league for woman suffrage of , members, in the chair and all the speeches made by men. miss blackwell said editorially in the _woman's journal_: "from the very beginning of the equal rights movement courageous and justice-loving men have stood by the women and have been invaluable allies in the long fight that is now nearing its triumph but never before have been actually organized to work for the cause. men old and young, men of the most diverse professions, parties and creeds, spoke with equal earnestness in behalf of equal rights for women." the speakers were the hon. frederick c. howe, judge dimner beeber, president of the pennsylvania league; a. s. g. taylor of the connecticut league; joseph fels, the single tax leader; julian kennedy of pittsburgh; george foster peabody of new york; the rev. wm. r. lord of massachusetts; jesse lynch williams, j. h. braly of california and reginald wright kauffman. the last named, whose recently published book, the house of bondage, had aroused the country on the "white slave traffic," discussed this question as perhaps it never before had been presented in public and he found a sympathetic audience. the rev. james grattan mythen, of the prince of peace church, walbrook, md., made a strong demand for the influence of women in the electorate, in which he said: "whatever wrongs the law allows must not be laid entirely at the door of paid public servants whom by the franchise we employ to do our public will. where there are criminals in public office they represent criminals. they represent the active criminals whose debased ballots put them in office, and they represent the passive criminals whose ballot was not cast to keep them out! 'that ye did it not' merits as great a condemnation as 'that ye did it.' what is needed in politics is the reassertion of the moral ideal, and as men we know that this moral ideal has been, is now and always will be the possession of womankind. for this reason men ought to demand that women come into the body politic and bring with them the same moral standard that they hold for themselves in the home, in the church, in the hospitals, in the great reform movements which are voiced by the woman's christian temperance union and all other endeavors for righteousness that are always championed by women." this was not the time and place arranged for taking a collection but the enthusiasm was so great that mr. fels started the ball rolling and $ , were quickly subscribed. later at the regular collection the amount was increased to $ , . among the largest pledges were those of miss kate gleason of rochester, n.y., for $ , ; mrs. oliver h.p. belmont, $ , ; mrs. bowen of chicago, $ ; new york state association, $ ; pennsylvania state association, $ ; miss emily howland, $ . the treasurer, miss ashley, stated that the receipts from april to november had been $ , . dr. shaw had telegraphed the congratulations of the association to the governors of the four victorious states and telegrams of greetings to the convention were read from governors oswald west of oregon; george p. hunt of arizona; w.r. stubbs of kansas; and chase s. osborn of michigan. greetings were received from miss martina g. kramers of holland, editor of the international suffrage paper; the u.s. national council of women, and from mrs. champ clark and her sister, mrs. annie pitzer of colorado, sent through miss nettie lovisa white of washington. telegrams of congratulation were sent to the state presidents, mrs. abigail scott duniway of oregon and mrs. frances w. munds of arizona, and of sympathy to the rev. olympia brown and miss ada l. james for the defeat in wisconsin. it was voted to continue the national headquarters in new york. there was a flurry of discussion over a proposed amendment to the constitution changing the present method of voting, which allowed the delegates present to cast the entire number of votes to which the state was entitled by its paid membership. the convention finally adopted the amendment that hereafter the delegates present should cast only their individual votes. the election resulted in a change of but two officers. professor breckinridge and miss ashley did not stand for re-election and miss anita whitney of california was chosen for second vice-president and mrs. louise de koven bowen of chicago for second auditor. a serious controversy arose during the convention in regard to the deviation of some of the national officers from the time-honored custom of non-partisanship. it had always been the unwritten but carefully observed law of the association that no member of the board should advocate or work for any political party. mrs. george howard lewis, a veteran suffragist of buffalo, n.y., sent a resolution to the convention declaring that officers of the association must remain non-partisan and mrs. ida husted harper presented it and led the contest for it. dr. shaw announced before it was discussed that the board recommended that it should not pass. women had taken a larger part in the political campaign which had just ended than ever before and one of the officers and many of the delegates present had spoken and worked for the progressive party because of the suffrage plank in its platform. other members had done the same for the socialist and prohibition parties for a like reason. as a result, while the resolution had some warm support it was defeated by a vote of ten to one, although it applied only to the officers and left individual members free. the consequences of this vote soon began to be realized by the board and the delegates and in the official resolutions was one which said: "the national american suffrage association reaffirms the position for which it always has stood, of being an absolutely non-partisan, non-sectarian body." when asked for an interpretation the officers answered that "the association must not declare officially for any political party."[ ] one of the most enjoyable evenings of the convention was the one in charge of the national college equal suffrage league, the program consisting of a debate between groups of clever speakers, each with one or more university degrees, half of them posing as anti-suffragists, with dr. thomas, president of bryn mawr college and of the league, in the chair. a suffrage meeting which touched high water mark was that of sunday afternoon, when the immense opera house was filled to overflowing and literally thousands stood on the outside in the intense cold and listened to speakers who were hastily sent out to address them. dr. shaw presided. the meeting was opened with prayer by the rt. rev. philip mercer rhinelander and the music was rendered by the choir, under its director, samuel j. riegel, with the audience joining. an eloquent address was given, the democracy of sex and color, by dr. w.e. burghardt du bois, and one by miss addams on the communion of the ballot, the necessity for cooperative work by men and women, in which she said: "take a still graver subject. everywhere vice regulation is coming up for government action. the white slave traffic is international and it goes on from city to city. i ask you, in the name of common sense, is it safe or wise or sane to entrust to men alone the dealing with this age-long evil? our laws are superior to those of most european countries. in england, because women have been obliged to appeal to the pity of men against these evils, (for the appeal to chivalry seems to have fallen), there is a disposition to divide into two camps, men in one and women in the other. any sex antagonism thus engendered arises because these grave moral questions have not been taken up by men and women together. by debarring women from suffrage, we are failing to bring to bear on these questions that vast moral energy which dwells in women.... whenever there is a great moral awakening it is followed by an extension of the movement for women's rights. the first wave came with the anti-slavery agitation; the second with the prohibition movement and frances willard, and now there is coming all over the world this irresistible movement of government to take up great social and industrial questions." the very fine address of miss julia lathrop, chief of the national children's bureau, on woman suffrage and child welfare filled over five columns of the _woman's journal_ and contained a sufficient argument for the enfranchisement of women if no other ever had been or should be made. "my purpose," she began, "is to show that woman suffrage is a natural and inevitable step in the march of society forward; that instead of being incompatible with child welfare it leads toward it and is indeed the next great service to be rendered for the welfare and ennoblement of the home. a little more than one-third of all the people in this country, something over , , in actual numbers, are children under the age of fifteen--that is, still in a state of tutelage; and it is of unbounded importance that nothing be done by the rest of us which will injure this budding growth. so it is right to judge in large measure any proposed change in our social fabric by its probable effect on that dependent third of the race to whom we are pledged, for whose succession it is the work of this generation to prepare. what we propose is to give universal suffrage to women." answering the question, "do we propose a mad revolution?" she traced the development in the position of woman, every step of which was condemned at the time as a dangerous innovation. "it was a revolution when women were given equal property rights over their goods and equal rights over their children," she said. "we must blush that there are states in this country where that revolution is still to be accomplished. i have heard an old illinois lawyer describe the early efforts to secure equal property rights for women in that state and the constant objection that such laws would destroy the family, that there could be no harmony unless the ownership were all in one person and that person the man. it was feared then, as now, that women would become tyrannical and unbearable if they were allowed too much independence. do children suffer because their mothers own property?" she pointed out the necessity for woman's political influence on humanitarian movements and said: "suffrage for women is not the final word in human freedom but it is the next step in the onward march, because it is the next step in equalizing the rights and balancing the duties of the two types of individuals who make up the human race." miss lathrop showed the need of legislation for all social reforms and how the experience of women beginning with domestic duties carried them forward to a sense of their obligations in community life and a fitness for it. referring to the uneducated women she said: "the ignorant vote is not the working vote. working women in great organized factories have been having, since they began that work, an education for the suffrage. they are not the ignorant voters nor are wives of workingmen; at least, they know in part what they need to safeguard themselves and their homes. the ignorant vote is the complacent, blind vote of men and of the feminine 'influence' that moves them, which disregards the real problems of setting safe and wholesome standards of life and labor and education and spends its strength in looking backward, insisting upon precedents without seeing that, good and enduring as they may be, all precedents must be daily retranslated into the setting of today. "women must vote for their own souls' good," she said, "and they must vote to protect the family. the newer conception of the family is one which depends upon giving to both parents the fullest expression on all those matters of common concern." the address closed with a fine peroration--pass on the torch! in the evening the officers of the association gave a largely attended reception to delegates and friends in the banquet hall of hotel walton. the closing night of the convention was one long to be remembered. there was the same vast, eager audience: dr. shaw presided and on the platform was the distinguished apostle of peace, winner of the nobel prize, baroness bertha von suttner, and mrs. carrie chapman catt, just returned from a two-years' trip around the world. the meeting was opened by the rt. rev. james henry darlington, bishop of central pennsylvania, whose brief address was of great value to the cause. he congratulated the american people on the fact that four more states had been added to the ever-growing list of those which had given the suffrage to women and he called upon all observers to notice that no state which had once voted in woman suffrage had ever voted it out. once in use, local opposition to it ceased by reason of the self-evident good results. he offered congratulations to those who were humble privates in the ranks and to the famous and brave leaders who organized the victories. "as the elizabethan and victorian eras are the most distinguished for philanthropic, literary and economic advancement in the whole history of great britain, though the kings were many and the queens were few in the long line," he said, "so no man need be ashamed to follow feminine leadership when it means advancement in every good word and work," and he offered congratulations to little children of the future generations of this and all lands. "when our anti-suffrage sisters throw aside their complacency and selfish ease," he said, "to strive side by side with men to formulate and pass necessary laws to protect and develop the bodies, minds and souls of our present little children and all that are to come through the passing centuries, then will dawn a new day for humanity." brief addresses were made by mrs. blankenburg, miss jane campbell and professor breckinridge of chicago university. miss crystal eastman gave a graphic account of why the amendment failed in wisconsin and mrs. harriet taylor upton, state president, told in her inimitable way of the campaign that failed in ohio. baroness von suttner made a magnificent plea for the peace of the world and asked for the enfranchisement of women as an absolutely necessary factor in it. the dominant note of mrs. catt's speech was the great need for political power in the hands of women to combat the social evil, which she had found intrenched in the governments of every country. these last two addresses, which carried thrilling conviction to every heart, were made without notes and not published. * * * * * from the early days of the national suffrage association its representatives had appeared before committees of every congress to ask for the submission of an amendment to the federal constitution and during many years this "hearing" took place when the annual convention met in washington. as it was to be held elsewhere this year and at a time when the congress was not in session a delegation of speakers had gone before the committees the preceding march by arrangement of mrs. william kent, chairman of the association's congressional committee. at the hearing before a joint committee of the senate judiciary and senate committee on woman suffrage march six of the members were present: senators overman (n. c.), chairman; brandegee (conn.); bourne (ore.); brown (neb.); johnston (ala.); wetmore (r. i.). senator john d. works of california, who had introduced the resolution in the senate, presented dr. anna howard shaw as "one of the best known and most distinguished of those connected with the movement for the enfranchisement of women." as she took charge of the hearing she said in part: mr. chairman and gentlemen of the committee, this is the forty-third year that the women suffragists have been represented by delegations appointed by the national body to speak in behalf of resolutions which have been introduced to eliminate from the constitution of the united states in effect the word "male," to eliminate all disqualifications for suffrage on account of sex. the desire of our association is not so much to put on record the opinions of this committee in regard to woman suffrage as to plead with it to give a favorable report, so that the question can come before the congress, be discussed on its merits and then submitted to the various states for ratification. the federal constitution guarantees to every state a republican form of government--that is, a government in which the laws are enacted by representatives elected by the people--and we claim that it has violated its own principle in refusing to protect women in their right to select their representatives, so we are asking for no more than that the constitution shall be carried out by the u. s. government. as the president of the national suffrage association, i stand here in the place of a woman who gave sixty years of her life in advocacy of that grand principle for which so many of our ancestors died, miss susan b. anthony. there is not a woman here today who was at the first hearing, nor a woman alive today who was among those that struggled in the beginning for this fundamental right of every citizen. i now introduce mrs. susan walker fitzgerald of massachusetts. it has been said that women cannot fight. mrs. fitzgerald's father was an admiral of the navy and if she can not fight her father could. mrs. fitzgerald spoke at length in the interest of the home and the family, showing the evolution that had taken place until now "the government touches upon every phase of our home life and largely dictates its conditions while at the same time the woman is held responsible for them and is working with her hands tied behind her back and she asks the vote in order to do her woman's work better." mrs. james lees laidlaw of new york spoke beautifully of the desire of the mothers of the rising generation that their daughters should not have to enter the hard struggle for the suffrage and pictured the need for the highest development of the womanly character. mrs. elsie cole phillips of wisconsin showed the standpoint of the so-called working classes, saying in part: the right to vote is based primarily on the democratic theory of government. "the just powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed." what does that mean? does it not mean that there is no class so wise, so benevolent that it is fitted to govern any other class? does it not mean that in order to have a democratic government every adult in the community must have an opportunity to express his opinion as to how he wishes to be governed and to have that opinion counted? a vote is in the last analysis an expression of a need--either a personal need known to one as an individual as it can be known to no one else, or an expression of a need of those in whom we are interested--sister-women or children, for instance. the moment that one admits this concept of the ballot that moment practically all of the anti-suffrage argument is done away with.... is it to strengthen the hands of the strong? oh, no; it is to put into the hands of the weak a weapon of self-protection. and who are the weak? those who are economically handicapped--first of all the working classes in their struggle for better conditions of life and labor. and who among the workers are the weak? wherever the men have suffered, the women have suffered more. but i would also like to point out to you how this affects the homekeeping woman, the wife and mother, of the working class, aside from the wage-earning woman. consider the woman at home who must make both ends meet on a small income. who better than she knows whether or not the cost of living advances more rapidly than the wage does? is not that a true statement in the most practical form of the problem of the tariff? and who better than she knows what the needs of the workers are in the factories? take the tenement-house woman, the wife and mother who is struggling to bring up a family under conditions which constantly make for evil. who, better than the mother who has tried to bring up six or seven children in one room in a dark tenement house, knows the needs of a proper building? who better than the mother who sees her boy and her girl playing in the streets knows the need of playgrounds? who better than a mother knows what it means to a child's life--which you men demand that she as a wife and a mother shall care for especially--who, better than she, knows the cruel pressure that comes to that child from too early labor in what the u. s. census report calls "gainful occupations"? there is a practical wisdom that comes out of the pressure of life and an educational force in life itself which very often is more efficient than that which comes through textbooks of college.... the ignorant vote that is going to come in when women are enfranchised is that of the leisure-class woman, who has no responsibilities and knows nothing of what life means to the rest of the world, who has absolutely no civic or social intelligence. but, fortunately for us, she is a small percentage of the women of this land, and fortunately for the land there is no such rapid means of education for her as to give her the ballot and let her for the first time feel responsibilities.... now the time has come when the home and the state are one. every act, every duty of the mother in the home is affected by something the state does or does not do, and the only way in which we are ever going to have our national housekeeping and our national child-rearing done as it should be is by bringing into the councils of the state the wisdom of women. james lees laidlaw of new york was introduced as president of the national men's league for woman suffrage and after stating that such leagues were being organized throughout the country he spoke of the great change that had taken place in the status of women and said: most important of all is the change of woman's position in industrial, commercial and educational fields. we are all familiar with the exodus of millions of women from the home into the mill and the factory. today they may enter freely into business either as principal or employee. i was astonished to hear reported at a recent meeting of the chamber of commerce in new york that in the commercial high schools of that city, where a business education is given, per cent. of the pupils are girls. we have today a great body of intelligent citizens with many interests in the government besides their primary interests as mothers and home-keepers. if men are not going to take the next logical step they have made a great mistake in going thus far. why give women property rights if we give them no rights in making the laws governing the control and disposition of their property and no vote as to who shall have the spending of tax money? why give women the right to go into business or trades, either as employees or employers, without the right to control the conditions surrounding their business or trades? why train women to be better mothers and better housekeepers and refuse them the right to say what laws shall be passed to protect their children and homes? why train women to be teachers, lawyers, doctors and scientists and say to them: "now you have assumed new responsibilities, go out into the world and compete with men," and then handicap them by depriving them of political expression? women now have the opportunity for equal mental development with men. is it right or is it politically expedient that we should not avail ourselves of their special knowledge concerning those matters which vitally affect the human race?... mrs. ella s. stewart, president of the illinois suffrage association and member of the national board, contrasted the old academic plea for the ballot with the modern demand for it to meet the present intensely utilitarian age and continued: "today we know that the ballot is just a machine. in fact it impresses us as being something like the long-distance telephone which we in this scientific age have grown accustomed to use. we go into the polling booth and call up central (the government) and when we get the connection we deliver our message with accuracy and speed and then we go about our business. women have been encouraged during the past to have opinions about governmental matters and there is no denying that we do have opinions. if we could submit to you today the list of bills which the federations of women's clubs of the various states have endorsed and for which they are working you would know that women have a large civic conscience and an intelligent appreciation of the measures which affect both women and the homes. they have been encouraged to have these opinions but to try to influence legislation only in indirect ways. today, being practical and scientific, we are asking ourselves all the time why should we be limited to expressing our opinion on governmental affairs in our women's clubs? why should we breathe them only in the prayer meeting or in the parlors of our friends? why not directly into the governmental ear--the ballot box? why do we not go into that long-distance telephone booth, get connection with central, and then know that our message has been delivered in the only place where it is recorded. the government makes no record whatever of the opinions which we express in our women's clubs and our prayer meetings." mrs. caroline a. lowe of kansas city, mo., spoke in behalf of the , , wage-earning women of the united states from the standpoint of one who had earned her living since she was eighteen and declared that to them the need of the ballot was a vital one. she gave heart-breaking proofs of this fact and said: from the standpoint of wages received we wage earners know it to be almost universal that the men in the industries receive twice the amount granted to us although we may be doing the same work. we work side by side with our brothers; we are children of the same parents, reared in the same homes, educated in the same schools, ride to and fro on the same early morning and late evening cars, work together the same number of hours in the same shops and we have equal need of food, clothing and shelter. but at years of age our brothers are given a powerful weapon for self-defense, a larger means for growth and self-expression. we working women, because we find our sex not a source of strength but a source of weakness and a greater opportunity for exploitation, have even greater need of this weapon which is denied to us. is there any justice underlying such a condition? what of the working girl and her employer? why is the ballot given to him while it is denied to us? is it for the protection of his property that he may have a voice in the governing of his wealth, of his stocks and bonds and merchandise? the wealth of the working woman is far more precious to the welfare of the state. from nature's raw products the working class can readily replace all of the material wealth owned by the employing class but the wealth of the working woman is the wealth of flesh and blood, of all her physical, mental and spiritual powers. it is not only the wealth of today but that of future generations which is being bartered away so cheaply. have we no right to a voice in the disposal of our wealth, the greatest that the world possesses, the priceless wealth of its womanhood? is it not the cruelest injustice that the man whose material wealth is a source of strength and protection to him and of power over us should be given the additional advantage of an even greater weapon which he can use to perpetuate our condition of helpless subjection?... the industrial basis of the life of the woman has changed and the political superstructure must be adjusted to conform to it. this industrial change has given to woman a larger horizon, a greater freedom of action in the industrial world. greater freedom and larger expression are at hand for her in the political life. the time is ripe for the extension of the franchise to women. we do not come before you to beg of you the granting of any favor. we present to you a glorious opportunity to place yourselves abreast of the current of this great evolutionary movement. mrs. donald hooker of baltimore gave striking instances of the conditions in that state regarding the social evil, of the hundreds of virtuous girls who every year are forced into a life of shame, of the thousands of children who die because mothers have no voice in making laws for their protection. "there was never a great act of injustice," she said, "that was not paid for in human life and happiness. a great act of injustice is being perpetrated by denying women the right to vote." miss leonora o'reilly, a leader among the working women of new york, made an impassioned plea that carried conviction. "i have been a wage-earner since i was thirteen," she said, "and i know whereof i speak. i want to make you realize the lives of hundreds of girls i have seen go down in this struggle for bread. we working women want the ballot as our right. you say it is not a right but a privilege. then we demand it as a privilege. all women ought to have it, wage-earning women must have it." after plainer speaking than the committee had ever heard from a woman she concluded: "you may tell us that our place is in the home. there are , , of us in these united states who must go out of it to earn our daily bread and we come to tell you that while we are working in the mills, the mines, the factories and the mercantile houses we have not the protection that we should have. you have been making laws for us and the laws you have made have not been good for us. year after year working women have gone to the legislature in every state and have tried to tell their story of need in the same old way. they have gone believing in the strength of the big brother, believing that the big brother could do for them what they should, as citizens, do for themselves. they have seen time after time the power of the big interests come behind the big brother and say to him, 'if you grant the request of these working women you die politically.' "it is because the working women have seen this that they now demand the ballot. in new york and in every other state, we plead for shorter hours. when the legislators learn that women today in every industry are being overspeeded and overworked, most of them would, if they dared, vote protective legislation. why do they neglect the women? we answer, because those who have the votes have the power to take the legislator's political ladder away from him, a power that we, who have no votes, do not have.... while the doors of the colleges have been opened to the fortunate women of our country, only one woman in a thousand goes into our colleges, while one woman in five must go into industry to earn her living. and it is for the protection of this one woman in every five that i speak...." mrs. jean nelson penfield, chairman of the woman suffrage party of new york numbering , members, said in part: in the few moments given me i will confine myself to the handicap women have found disfranchisement to be in social-service work. it is supposed by many that because our so-called leisure women have been able to do so much apparently good community betterment work without the ballot we do not need it. i should like to ask you to remember that the important thing is not that women succeed in this kind of work but that where they do succeed it is at tremendous and needless expenditure of energy and vital strength and at the cost of dignity and self-respect. the dominant thought in the world today is that of conservation; the tendency of the whole business world is toward economy. how to lessen the cost of production; how to improve the machinery of business so as to reduce friction--these are the questions that are being asked not only in the business world but in the affairs of state. no intelligent man in this scientific day would try to do anything by an indirect and wasteful method if he could accomplish his purpose by a direct and economic method. even the bricklayer is taught how to handle his bricks so that the best results may be secured at the least possible expenditure of time and energy. women alone seem to represent a great body of energy, vitality and talent which is unconserved, unutilized and recklessly wasted. if a man wants reforms he goes armed with a vote to the ballot box and even to the legislature with that power of the vote behind him; but if women want these things they are asked to take the long, questionable, roundabout route of personal influence, of petition, of indirection. women have accomplished a great deal in this way but it has required a long time.... take, for instance, one class of work--the establishment of manual training, domestic science, open-air schools, school gardens and playgrounds--all once just "women's notions" but now established institutions. women have had to found and finance and demonstrate them before municipalities would have anything to do with them, but when city or state adopts these institutions the management is immediately and entirely taken out of the hands of women and placed in the hands of men.... among thinking women there is a growing consciousness of being cut off, shut out from the civic life in which they have an equal stake with men. we ask you to recognize that the time is here for you to submit an amendment to the states for ratification which will give women the influence and power of the suffrage. in closing dr. shaw asked that her association might have some printed copies for distribution and was assured that it might have fifteen or twenty thousand if it desired them. she also urged that the committee would report the resolution to the senate for discussion and as a third request said: "we are told that men are afraid to grant women suffrage lest fearful results should come to the government and to the women. we have asked for years that congress would appoint a committee to investigate its practical working in the states where it exists--there are now six of them--and we are entirely willing to risk our case on that investigation. we feel that its results would be such that we would not have to come here much longer and take up your time with our arguments on the subject." franklin w. collins of nebraska spoke in opposition, presenting his case in a series of over fifty questions but not attempting to answer any of them. among the questions were these: if woman by her ballot should plunge the country into war, would she not be in honor bound to fight by the side of man? will the ballot in the hands of women pour oil on the troubled domestic waters? has not this movement a strong tendency to encourage the exodus from the land of bondage, otherwise known as matrimony and motherhood? is it not true that every free-lover, socialist, communist and anarchist the country over is openly in favor of female suffrage? the national association opposed to woman suffrage sent from its bureau in new york a letter of "earnest protest" against the amendment signed by its president, mrs. arthur m. dodge. its auxiliary in the district of columbia sent another of greater length signed by its chairman, mrs. grace duffield goodwin, which not only protested against a federal amendment but against the granting of woman suffrage by any method. * * * * * six members of the house of representatives had introduced the resolution for a federal suffrage amendment--raker of california; lafferty of oregon; mondell of wyoming; berger of wisconsin; and taylor and rucker of colorado. the hearing before the judiciary committee proved to be of unusual interest. sixteen of this large committee of twenty-one were present and a reason given for the absence of the others. they were an imposing array as they sat in a semi-circle on a raised platform. the chairman, judge henry d. clayton of alabama, treated the speakers as if they were his personal guests, assured them of all the time they desired and at the close of the hearing was photographed with miss addams and mrs. harper. instead of listening in a perfunctory way the members of the committee showed much interest and asked many questions. miss jane addams, first vice-president of the national american suffrage association, presided and in presenting her with words of highest praise representative taylor said that all who had introduced the resolution would be pleased to speak in support of it at any time and that personally he wished to put in the record a statement of the results of woman suffrage in colorado during the past eighteen years with a brief mention of of the wisest, most humane and progressive laws in the country for the protection of home and the betterment of society, which the women of colorado had caused to be put upon its statute books. miss addams called the attention of the committee to the fact that more than a million women would be eligible to vote for the president of the united states in november. she named the countries where women could vote, saying: "america, far from being in the lead in the universal application of the principle that every adult is entitled to the ballot, is fast falling behind the rest of the world," and continued: as i have been engaged for a good many years in various philanthropic undertakings, perhaps you will permit me, for only a few moments, to speak from my experience. a good many women with whom i have been associated have initiated and carried forward philanthropic enterprises which were later taken over by the city and thereupon the women have been shut out from the opportunity to do the self-same work which they had done up to that time. in chicago the women for many years supported school nurses who took care of the children, made them comfortable and kept them from truancy. when the nurses were taken over by the health department of the city the same women who had given them their support and management were excluded from doing anything more, and i think chicago will bear me out when i say that the nurses are not now doing as good work as they did before this happened. i could also use the illustration of the probation officers who are attached to the juvenile court. for a number of years women selected and supported these probation officers. later, when the same officers, paid the same salary, were taken over by the county and paid from the county funds, the women who had been responsible for the initiation and beginning of the probation system and for the early management of the officers, had no more to do with them and at the present moment the juvenile court has fallen behind its former position in the juvenile courts of the world. i think the fair-minded men of chicago will admit that it was a disaster when the women were disqualified by their lack of the franchise to care for it. the juvenile court has to do largely with delinquent and dependent children and there is no doubt that on the whole women can deal with such cases better than men because their natural interests lie in that direction. i could give you many other examples.... so it seems fair to say that if women are to keep on with the work which they have done since the beginning of the world--to continue with their humanitarian efforts which are so rapidly being taken over into the government, and which when thus taken over are often not properly administered, women themselves must have the franchise.... introducing representative raker miss addams said smilingly that while the women speakers were allowed ten minutes the men were to have but five. judge raker of california referred to the fact that he had pledged himself to this federal amendment when he was first a candidate for congress eight years before and said: "this matter, as it appears to me, has passed beyond the question of sentiment; it has passed beyond the question of advisability; it has passed beyond the question of whether or not women ought to participate in the vote for the benefit of the home or the benefit of the state. as i view it it is a clean-cut question of absolute right and upon that assumption i base my argument--that we today are depriving one-half of the intelligence, one-half of the ability of this republic from participating in public affairs and that from the economic standpoint of better laws, better homes, better government in the country, the city, the state and the nation, we need our wives', our sisters' and our mothers' votes and assistance." "may i introduce one of my own fellow townswomen, miss mary e. mcdowell," said miss addams, "who has had what i may call a distressing life in the stockyards district of chicago for many years, and she will tell you what she thinks of the franchise for women." miss mcdowell said in part: we are all together very human, it seems to me, both men and women, and it is because we are human, because this is a human proposition and not a woman proposition, that i am glad to speak for it and believe in it so firmly. giving the vote to women is not simply a woman's question, it has to do with the man, the child and the home. women have always worked but within much less than a century millions of women and girls have been thrust out of the home into a man-made world of industry and commerce. we know that in the united states over , , , according to the census of , are bread winners.... do we not see that the working women must be given every safeguard that workingmen have and now as they stand side by side with men in the factory and shop they must stand with them politically? the ballot may be but a small bit of the machinery that is to lift the mass of wage-earning women up to a higher plane of self-respect and self-protection but will it not add the balance of power so much needed by the workingmen in their struggle for protective legislation, which will in the end be shared by the women? today women are cheap, unskilled labor and will be until organization and technical training and the responsibility of the vote in their hands develop a consciousness of their social value.... the vote and all that it implies will awaken this sense of value. it will give to the wage-earning woman a new status in industry, for men will help to educate her when she is a political as well as an industrial co-worker. as man gave strength to the developing of the institution of the home so woman must be given the opportunity to help man humanize the state. this can be done only when she has the ballot and shares the responsibility. representative a. w. lafferty of oregon said in his brief five minutes: "i believe it is not only practicable but that it would be profitable to the united states to extend equal suffrage to men and women. we have had here this morning a practical demonstration of the ability of the women of this country to participate intelligently in the discussion of public questions. i think that we could not make a mistake in placing the ballot in the hand that rocks the cradle. having only the best interests of this republic at heart, i believe it would be a good thing if fifty of the mothers of this country were in the house of representatives today and i wish that at least twenty-five of them were in the senate. you should consider, as lawyers, as statesmen and as historians that in the history of the civilized world in monarchies women have participated in the government; it is a shame that in a republic like ours, the best form of government that has ever yet been established, women can not, under the present law, actively participate in it." the address which representative edward t. taylor put into the _congressional record_ on this occasion was also printed in a pamphlet of forty pages and until the end of the movement for woman suffrage was a standard document for distribution by the national association. he said in the introduction: i want to recite in a plain, conversational way some of my personal experiences and individual observations extending over a period of thirty years of public life, during nearly nineteen years of which we have had equal suffrage in colorado.... when i came to congress i did not realize and i have not yet been able fully to understand the deep-seated prejudice, bias and even vindictiveness against woman suffrage and the astounding amount of misinformation there is everywhere here in the east concerning its practical operation. i have been equally amazed and indignant at the many brazen assertions i have seen in the papers and heard that are perfectly absurd and without the slightest foundation in fact, and i have had many heated discussions on the subject during the past three years. when i hear men and women who have never spent a week and most of them not an hour in an equal suffrage state attempt to discuss the subject from the standpoint of their own preconceived prejudices and idle impressions, i feel like saying: "may the lord forgive them for they know not what they do." let me say to them and to my colleagues in the house that it will not be ten years before the women of this country from the pacific to the atlantic will have the just and equal rights of american citizenship.[ ] since coming here i have been frequently asked by friends what we think of woman suffrage in colorado, and when i tell them that it is an unqualified success and that i doubt if even five per cent. of the people of the state would vote to repeal it, they ask me what it has accomplished. i believe it is generally conceded by enlightened people that the laws of a state are a true index of its degree of civilization. i will, therefore, give a brief catalogue of some of the most important of the legislative measures that have been either introduced by the women or at the request of the various women's organizations and enacted into law. then followed under the head of different years, beginning with , that in which women were enfranchised, a roster of colorado's unequalled laws. these were followed by a complete analysis of the practical working of woman suffrage during the past eighteen years, with comprehensive answers to all the stereotyped questions and objections. several who had addressed the senate committee came over to the house office building and spoke to the judiciary committee. mrs. william kent, wife of a representative from california, was introduced by miss addams as one who was not a member of the house but was eligible. in the course of a winning speech she said: "the united states is committed to a democratic form of government, a government by the people. those who do not believe in the ideals of democracy are the only ones who can consistently oppose woman suffrage. the hope of democracy is in education. there is food for thought in the fact that the early education of all the citizens is now administered by a class who have no vote.... our recent california legislature when it submitted the amendments which were to be referred to the voters on october did a very sensible and intelligent thing. speeches for and against each one of these amendments were published in a little pamphlet which was sent to every voter. one man--and he was a good man, too--who argued against woman suffrage said that women should not descend into the dirty mire of politics, that the vote would be of no value to them. in the same speech he said that the women should teach their sons the sacred duties of citizens and to hold the ballot as the most precious inheritance of every american boy. can we really bring up our sons with a clear sense of the civic responsibility which we ourselves have not? we believe that our children need what we shall learn in becoming voters and that the state needs what we have learned in being mothers and home makers." "may i present next," said miss addams, "mrs. ida husted harper, of new york? she has been before other congressional committees with miss susan b. anthony, who for so many years came here to present this cause. mrs. harper has written a history of the equal suffrage movement and a very fine biography of miss anthony and it is with special pleasure that i present her. she will make the constitutional argument." mrs. harper said in beginning: "this argument shall be based entirely on the federal constitution and the only authorities cited will be the utterances of two presidents of the united states within the past month." she then quoted from speeches of president taft and former president roosevelt extolling the constitution as guaranteeing self-government to all the people with the right to change it when this seems necessary, and she showed the utter fallacy of this statement when applied to women. in closing she said: "forty-three years in asking congress for this amendment of the federal constitution to enfranchise women they have followed an entirely legal and constitutional method of procedure, which has been so absolutely barren of results that in the past nineteen years the committees have made no report whatever, either favorable or unfavorable. how much longer do you expect women to treat with respect national and state constitutions and legislative bodies that stand thus an impenetrable barrier between them and their rights as citizens of the united states?" a long colloquy followed which began: the chairman: the committee will be very glad to have you extend your remarks to answer a question propounded by mr. littleton awhile ago. i wish to say that this committee, during my service on it, has always been met with this proposition when this amendment was proposed, that the states already have the authority to confer suffrage upon women, and, therefore, why is it necessary for women to wait for an amendment to the federal constitution when they can now go to the states and obtain this right to vote, just as the women of california did last year? mrs. harper: mr. chairman, the women are not waiting; they are keeping right on with their efforts to get the suffrage from the states. they began in with their state campaigns and have continued them ever since, but in sending the women to the states you require them to make forty-eight campaigns and to go to the individual electors to get permission to vote. after the civil war the republican party with all its power and with only the northern states voting, was never able to get the suffrage for the negroes. the leaders went to state after state, even to kansas, with its record for freeing the negroes, and every state turned down the proposition to give them suffrage. i doubt if the individual voters of many states would give the suffrage to any new class, even of men. the capitalists would not let the working people vote if they could help it, and the working people would not let the capitalists vote; catholics would not enfranchise the protestants and the protestants would not give the vote to catholics. you impose upon us an intolerable condition when you send us to the individual voters. what man on this committee would like to submit his electoral rights to the voters of new york city, for instance, representing as they do every nationality in the world? if we could secure this amendment to the federal constitution, then we could deal with the legislatures, with the selected men in each state, instead of the great conglomerate of voters that we have in this country, such as does not exist in any other. the chairman: but if one of these suffrage resolutions should be favorably reported and both houses of congress should pass it of course it would be referred to the states and then before it became a law it would have to have their approval. mrs. harper: only of the legislatures, not the individual voters. the chairman: you use an expression which a member of the committee has asked me to have you explain--"conglomerate of voters," which you said does not exist elsewhere. the desire is to know to whom you refer. mrs. harper: i mean no disrespect to the great body of electors in the united states but in every other country the voters are the people of its own nationality. in no other would the question have to go to the nationalities of the whole world as it would in our country. for instance, we have to submit our question to the negro and to the indian men, when we go to the individual voters, and to the native-born chinese and to all those men from southern europe who are trained in the idea of woman's inferiority. you put upon us conditions which are not put upon women anywhere in the world outside the united states. mr. littleton (n. y.): you would have to convince every legislator of the fact that this amendment to the national constitution ought to be adopted. if you could convince the legislatures of three-fourths of the states you could get three-fourths of them to grant the suffrage itself. mrs. harper: they could only grant it to the extent of sending us to the individual voters, while if this amendment were submitted by congress and the legislatures endorsed it we would never have to deal with the individual voters. we would not have to convince every legislator but only a majority. mr. higgins (conn.): in other words, as i understand you, you have more confidence in the legislatures than in the composite citizenship. mrs. harper: the composite male citizenship, you mean. we suppose, of course, that the legislatures represent the picked men of the community, its intelligence, its judgment, the best that the country has. that is the supposition. the chairman: that supposition applies to congress also, does it? mrs. harper: in a larger degree. representative victor l. berger of wisconsin, who was out of the city, sent a statement which miss addams requested mrs. elsie cole phillips of wisconsin to read to the committee. it said in part: woman suffrage is a necessity from both a political and an economic standpoint. we can never have democratic rule until we let the women vote. we can never have real freedom until the women are free. women are now citizens in all but the main expression of citizenship--the exercise of the vote. they need this power to round out and complete their citizenship.... in political matters they have much the same interests that we men have. in state and national issues their interests differ little, if at all, from ours. in municipal questions they have an even greater interest than we have. all the complex questions of housing, schooling, policing, sanitation and kindred matters are peculiarly the interests of women as the home makers and the rearers of children. women need and must have the ballot by which to protect their interests in these political and administrative questions. the economic argument for woman suffrage is yet stronger. economics plays an increasingly important part in the lives of us all and political power is absolutely necessary to obtain for women the possibility of decent conditions of living. the low pay and the hard conditions of working women are largely due to their disenfranchisement. skilled women who do the same work as men for lower pay could enforce, with the ballot, an equal wage rate. the ideal woman of the man of past generations (and especially of the germans) was the housewife, the woman who could wash, cook, scrub, knit stockings, make dresses for herself and her children and take good care of the house. that ideal has become impossible. those good old days, if ever they were good, are gone forever.... moreover, then the woman was supported by her father first and later by her husband. the situation is entirely different now. the woman has to go to work often when she is no more than fourteen years old. she surely has to go to work sometime if she belongs to the working class. she must make her own living in the factory, the store, the office, the schoolroom. she must work to support herself and often her family. the economic basis of the life of woman has changed and therefore the basis of the argument that she should not vote because she ought to stay at home and take care of her family has been destroyed. she cannot stay at home whether she wants to or not. she has acquired the economic functions of the man and she ought also to acquire the franchise. mr. berger called attention to the fact that "the socialist party ever since its origin had been steadfastly for woman suffrage and put this demand of prime importance in all its platforms everywhere." representative littleton made a persistent effort to ally woman suffrage with socialism, saying that he "had noticed the identity during the past two years" and mrs. harper answered: "i wish to remind mr. littleton that the socialist party is the only one which declares for woman suffrage and thereby gives women an opportunity to come out and stand by it. the democratic and republican parties do not stand for woman suffrage and that is why there seem to be more socialist women than republican or democratic women. if the two old parties will declare for woman suffrage, then the women in general will show their colors." miss ella c. brehaut, member of the executive committee of the district anti-suffrage association, stated that she also represented the national organization and when questioned by representative sterling as to the size of its membership answered: "it is too new for us to know the figures." miss brehaut's address filled six printed pages of the stenographic report and was an attempt to refute all the favorable arguments that had been made and to show that not only were the suffrage leaders socialists but "free lovers" as well. "conservative women can see nothing but danger in woman suffrage," she concluded. mrs. julia t. waterman, of the district association, sent to be put in the report a statement which filled ten pages of fine print, a full summary of the objections to woman suffrage as expressed in speeches, articles and documents of various kinds, with quotations from prominent opponents in the united states and great britain. it was a very complete presentation of the question. miss addams in closing urged the appointment of a commission by congress to make a thorough investigation in the states where woman suffrage was established and the chairman answered that "the committee would probably wish to take this matter under advisement in executive session." she thanked him for their courtesy and asked if the national suffrage association might have , copies of the hearing for distribution. this request was cheerfully granted by the committee and the chairman offered to "frank" them as a public document. [later the committee increased the number to , .] apparently the matter never was considered, as no report, favorable or unfavorable, ever was made by either committee. in so far as bringing the federal amendment before senate or house for action was concerned the hearings might as well never have taken place, but , franked copies of the splendid arguments before the two committees went forth to accomplish the mission of educating public sentiment. footnotes: [ ] part of call: this convention has big problems confronting it, interesting, stimulating problems coincident with the tremendous expansion of our government, problems worthy the indomitable mettle of suffrage workers; but in spite of hard work, this week will be a gala week, a compensation for all the hard, dull, gray work during the past year and a stimulus for still harder work during the year to come.... let us listen to our fellow workers, and, listening and sympathizing with the unselfish labor being carried on everywhere, pledge ourselves to a flaming loyalty to suffrage and suffragists that will burn away all dross of dissension, all barriers to united effort. let us come with high resolve that we will never waver in our effort to obtain the right to stand side by side with the men of this country in the mortal struggle that shall bid perish from this land political corruption, privilege, prostitution, the industrial slavery of men, women and children and all exploitation of humanity. let us come together, in this autumn of , this unprecedented year of suffrage, consecrating ourselves anew on this, the greatest of all battlegrounds for democracy, the united states of america. anna howard shaw, president. jane addams, first vice-president. sophonisba breckinridge, second vice-president. mary ware dennett, corresponding secretary. susan w. fitzgerald, recording secretary. jessie ashley, treasurer. katharine dexter mccormick, }auditors. harriet burton laidlaw, } alice stone blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_. [ ] history of woman suffrage, volume iii, page . [ ] later the total deficit of $ , was paid by mrs. katharine dexter mccormick of boston, an officer of the national association. [ ] it was supposed at this time that the suffrage amendment had been carried in michigan but the final returns indicated its defeat, apparently due to fraudulent voting and counting. [ ] it is a noteworthy fact that although woman suffrage was a leading issue in the presidential campaign of no officer of the national american suffrage association took any public part in it, although the platform of each of the parties contained a plank endorsing woman suffrage. [ ] it was eight and a half years. chapter xiii. national american convention of . the forty-fifth annual convention of the national american suffrage association met in washington, november -december , , in response to the call of the official board.[ ] the first day and evening were given to meetings of the board and committees, so that the convention really opened with a mass meeting in columbia theater sunday afternoon at o'clock and it was cordially welcomed by district commissioner newman. dr. shaw presided and a large and interested audience heard addresses by miss jane addams, state senator helen ring robinson of colorado, miss margaret hinchey, a laundry worker, and miss rose winslow, a stocking weaver of new york; miss mary anderson, member of the executive board of the national boot and shoemakers' union, and others. it was a comparatively new thing to have women wage-earners on the woman suffrage platform and their speeches made a deep impression, as that of miss hinchey, for instance, who said in part: when we went to albany to ask for votes one member of the legislature told us that a woman's place was at home. another said he had too much respect and admiration for women to see them at the polls. another went back to ancient rome and told a story about cornelia and her jewels--her children. yet in the laundries women were working seventeen and eighteen hours a day, standing over heavy machines for $ and $ . a week. six dollars a week is the average wage of working women in the united states. how can a woman live an honorable life on such a sum? is it any wonder that so many of our little sisters are in the gutter? when we strike for more pay we are clubbed by the police and by thugs hired by our employers, and in the courts our word is not taken and we are sent to prison. this is the respect and admiration shown to working girls in practice. i want to tell you about cornelia as we find her case today. the agent of the child labor society made an investigation in the tenements and found mothers with their small children sitting and standing around them--standing when they were too small to see the top of the table otherwise. they were working by a kerosene lamp and breathing its odor and they were all making artificial forget-me-nots. it takes , pieces of material to make a gross of forget-me-nots and the profit is only a few cents. four years ago , shirtwaist girls went on strike and when we went to mayor mcclellan to ask permission for them to have a parade he said: "thirty thousand women are of no account to me." if they had been , women with votes would he have said that? we have in new york , women over sixty-five years old who must work or starve. what is done with them when their bones give out and they cannot work any more? the police gather them up and you may then see in jail, scrubbing hard, rough concrete floors that make their knees bleed--women who have committed no crime but being old and poor. don't take my word for it but send a committee to blackwell's island or the tombs and see for yourselves. we have a few old ladies' homes but with most of them it would take a piece of red tape as long as from here to new york to get in. give us a square deal so that we may take care of ourselves. miss addams devoted her address to the great change that was taking place in the conception of politics. she called attention to the practical investigations which were being made in the education of children, in immigration, in criminology, in industrial conditions, and said: "this whole new social work can be translated into political action, and, with this, politics will be transformed and women will naturally have a share in it." she called attention to the pioneer days in various countries where women bore a full part in their hardships and to the revolutions in older countries where women fought by the side of the men, "and yet," she said, "when popular governments are established, women for considerations of expediency are left out.... but in the final program for social problems men and women will solve them together with ballots in the hands of both." senator robinson gave a keen and comprehensive account of women as legislators. the officers of the association held the usual sunday evening reception to delegates and friends at hotel bellevue. the delegates, the largest number ever present at a convention, representing states, were officially greeted monday afternoon by mrs. nina allender, president of the district of columbia association, and miss alice paul, chairman of the national congressional committee. mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs, president of the alabama suffrage association, responded in behalf of the national body. the excellent arrangements for the convention had been made by the new congressional committee: miss paul, chairman; miss lucy burns, mrs. mary beard, mrs. lawrence lewis and mrs. crystal eastman benedict, who raised the funds for all its expenses, including those of the national officers, and secured hospitality for the delegates. the report of the corresponding secretary, mrs. mary ware dennett, described the granting of woman suffrage by the territorial legislature of alaska the preceding january and said: "the bulk of suffrage legislation this year is quite unprecedented. bills were introduced in twenty-five legislatures and in the u. s. congress; bills were passed by ten legislatures and received record-breaking votes in seven others, and for the second time in history there has been a favorable report from the woman suffrage committee of the u. s. senate. it continued: there are three suffrage decisions on record for the year just passed--victory in alaska and illinois by act of the legislature and temporary defeat in michigan by vote of the electorate. there are four actual campaign states where the amendment will be submitted to the voters next autumn, nevada (where the bill has passed two legislatures), montana, north and south dakota; and there are three other states where initiative petitions are now in circulation and if the requisite number of signers is secured the amendment will be submitted next autumn, ohio, nebraska and missouri. then there are three half-way campaign states where the amendment has passed one legislature and must pass again, in which case the decision will be made by the voters in --new york, pennsylvania and iowa, in the first two of which the amendment has the very promising advantage of having been endorsed by all parties. the full number of twelve delegates and twelve alternates went from the national association to the congress of the international alliance in budapest last june, and there were many more applicants.... during the year the national president, dr. shaw, has spoken at many large meetings in new hampshire, nebraska, new york, pennsylvania, virginia, florida, missouri, kansas, new jersey, maryland, massachusetts, connecticut and michigan. she also spoke in england, holland, germany, austria and hungary. a mass meeting was held under the auspices of the association in carnegie hall, new york, where the international president, mrs. catt, and all but one of the national officers made addresses. every ticket was sold and a good sum of money was raised. the headquarters cooperated with the new york local societies in the big suffrage benefit at the metropolitan opera house the night before the may parade, where a beautiful pageant was given and theodore roosevelt spoke. there was a capacity audience and many people were turned away. the headquarters have taken part so far as possible in all the suffrage parades; that of march , in washington; those of may and november in new york and brooklyn; that of october in newark, new jersey. the association was represented at the annual meeting of the house of governors in richmond, va., last december by mrs. lila mead valentine, the state president, and miss mary johnston, whose admirable speech was published in pamphlet form by our literature department. the association has cooperated as fully as was possible with the congressional committee in all its most creditable year's work. this committee is unique in that its original members volunteered to give their services and to raise all the funds for the work themselves. their singlemindedness and devotion have been remarkable and the whole movement in the country has been wonderfully furthered by the series of important events which have taken place in washington, beginning with the great parade the day before the inauguration of the president. several of the national officers have made special trips to washington to assist at these various events--the march parade, the senate hearing, the april th deputation to congress, the july st senate demonstration and the conference of women voters in august. an automobile trip was made from headquarters the last week in july, with outdoor meetings held all the way to washington, to join the other "pilgrims" who came from all over the country. mrs. rheta childe dorr, miss helen todd, mrs. frances maule bjorkman and the corresponding secretary were the speakers for the trip. petitions to congress were circulated, special letters on behalf of the association were sent to the members of the senate committee before the report was made, and to the rules committee urging the appointment of a woman suffrage committee for the house. miss elinor byrns, assisted by another lawyer, miss helen ranlett, has made a chart of the legislation in the suffrage states since the women have been enfranchised. a collection of all the state constitutions has been made with the sections bearing on amendments and the qualifications for voting marked and indexed. the following telegram was sent by the national board april to premier asquith: "we urge that the british government frankly acknowledge its responsibility for the present intolerable situation and remove it by introducing immediately an emergency franchise measure." the report of miss byrns, chairman of the press committee, which filled eight printed pages, showed the usual vast amount of press work, as described in other chapters. "there now exists," she said, "a most remarkable and unprecedented demand for information about suffragists and suffrage events. we are 'news' as we have never been before. moreover, we are not only amusing and sometimes picturesque but we are of real intellectual and political interest." mrs. bjorkman, editor and secretary of the literature committee, devoted a full report of ten pages to the recent and widely varied publications of the association, to the vastly increasing demands for these, which could not be entirely met, and to the pressing need for a properly equipped research bureau. the report of miss jeannette rankin (mont.), field secretary, told of a year of unremitting work under four heads: legislative, visiting of states, work with the congressional committee and special work in campaign states. delaware, florida, tennessee, alabama, missouri, nebraska and south dakota were visited. she travelled by automobile from montana to washington city with petitions for the federal amendment, stopping at thirty-three places for meetings, and two weeks were given to interviewing senators. among the campaign states three weeks were spent in saginaw, michigan; organizing the city into wards and precincts; five in north dakota and the rest of the time in montana, organizing, arranging work at state and county fairs, visiting state central committees and state federations of women's clubs. among the recommendations presented from the board and adopted were two of prime importance: . that in order that the convention may give its support to the federal amendment before congress, it shall instruct the affiliated organizations to carry on as active a campaign as possible in their respective states and to see that all candidates for congress be pledged to woman suffrage before the next election. . that the convention endorse the suffrage school as a method of work and the national association offer to organize and send out a traveling school when requested by six or more states, provided they agree to share the expense. to the official board was referred the question of appointing a committee to devise and put into operation a scheme for establishing more definite connection between the enfranchised women of the states and the national association. after all the years of patient effort to persuade legislatures to grant presidential suffrage to women under the inspiration of henry b. blackwell, chairman of the committee, his successor, miss elizabeth upham yates, could announce the first success and she emphasized the important bearing which this and others would have on securing a federal amendment. her report said: the extraordinary victory in illinois has emphasized the fact, not duly apprehended hitherto, that state legislatures have power to grant presidential suffrage to women. no man derives his right to vote for presidential electors from the constitution of his state but the u. s. constitution delegates the power and duty to qualify citizens to vote for them to the legislatures, in the first section of article ii, in these words: "each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in congress." probably u.s. senator george f. hoar was the first to discover that this power given to legislatures involved the possibility of the enfranchisement of women for presidential electors. the conspicuous position that women suddenly attained in american politics in was due to the fact that in six states women were able to determine the choice of thirty-seven presidential electors. the large interests involved in a presidential administration, among which are , offices of honor and emolument, cause keen political concern from the fact that women voters may hold the balance of power in a close election. the whole number of electoral votes in the nine states where women now have full suffrage is fifty-four. these were attained by campaigns for constitutional amendments that involved vast outlay of time and treasure. simply by act of legislature, illinois has added twenty-nine to the list, an increase of over thirty-three per cent., thus bringing an incalculable influence and power into the arena of national politics.... mrs. mary e. craigie made her usual report of the excellent work done by her church committee. she gave a list of the catholic clergy who had declared in favor of woman suffrage and told of the cordial assent by those of other denominations to include it in their sermons on mother's day. she named some of the many questions of social reform to which pulpits were freely opened--temperance, child labor, pure food, the white slave traffic and others--and asked: "why does not woman suffrage, the reform that would bring two-thirds more power to all such movements, receive the same cooperation and support from the churches? the answer plainly is: because of the apathy of women in demanding it." the changing character of the national suffrage conventions is illustrated by the reports in the _woman's journal_, whose editors had for a generation collected and preserved in its pages the unsurpassed addresses which had delighted audiences and inspired workers. as the practical work of the association increased and spread throughout the different states, more and more of the time of the conventions had to be given to reports and details of business and the number of speeches constantly lessened. the first evening of the convention was devoted to the victory in illinois, with delightful addresses by mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, long the state president, who twenty years before had discovered the loophole in the illinois constitution by which the legislature itself could grant a large measure of suffrage to women and had tried to obtain the law that had just been gained; by mrs. ella s. stewart, another president, who had carried on this work; and by mesdames ruth hanna mccormick, grace wilbur trout, antoinette funk and elizabeth k. booth, the famous quartette of younger workers, who had finally succeeded with a progressive legislature. as there was no representative from far-off alaska, dr. shaw told how its legislature had given full suffrage to women. [see illinois and alaska chapters.] miss lucy burns gave a clear analysis of the situation in regard to the federal suffrage amendment and the evening closed with one of dr. shaw's piquant addresses, which began: "i know the objections to woman suffrage but i have never met any one who pretended to know any reasons against it," and she closed with a flash of the humor for which she was noted: by some objectors women are supposed to be unfit to vote because they are hysterical and emotional and of course men would not like to have emotion enter into a political campaign. they want to cut out all emotion and so they would like to cut us out. i had heard so much about our emotionalism that i went to the last democratic national convention, held at baltimore, to observe the calm repose of the male politicians. i saw some men take a picture of one gentleman whom they wanted elected and it was so big they had to walk sidewise as they carried it forward; they were followed by hundreds of other men screaming and yelling, shouting and singing the "houn' dawg"; then, when there was a lull, another set of men would start forward under another man's picture, not to be outdone by the "houn' dawg" melody, whooping and howling still louder. i saw men jump up on the seats and throw their hats in the air and shout: "what's the matter with champ clark?" then, when those hats came down, other men would kick them back into the air, shouting at the top of their voices: "he's all right!!" then i heard others howling for "underwood, underwood, first, last and all the time!!" no hysteria about it--just patriotic loyalty, splendid manly devotion to principle. and so they went on and on until o'clock in the morning--the whole night long. i saw men jump up on their seats and jump down again and run around in a ring. i saw two men run towards another man to hug him both at once and they split his coat up the middle of his back and sent him spinning around like a wheel. all this with the perfect poise of the legal male mind in politics! i have been to many women's conventions in my day but i never saw a woman leap up on a chair and take off her bonnet and toss it up in the air and shout: "what's the matter with" somebody. i never saw a woman knock another woman's bonnet off her head as she screamed: "she's all right!" i never heard a body of women whooping and yelling for five minutes when somebody's name was mentioned in the convention. but we are willing to admit that we are emotional. i have actually seen women stand up and wave their handkerchiefs. i have even seen them take hold of hands and sing, "blest be the tie that binds." nobody denies that women are excitable. still, when i hear how emotional and how excitable we are, i cannot help seeing in my mind's eye the fine repose and dignity of this baltimore and other political conventions i have attended! one evening session was devoted to women and children and the courts. mrs. joseph t. bowen of chicago presided and made a stirring plea for better conditions in the courts of the large cities. she told of the outrageous treatment of women and urged the need of women police, women judges and women jurors. "from the time of the arrest of a woman to the final disposition of her case," mrs. bowen said, "she is handicapped by being in charge of and surrounded by men, who cannot be expected to be as understanding and considerate as those of her own sex. the police stations in most of our cities are not fit for human beings." judge of the juvenile court julian mack of chicago described its methods and their results; and justice harry olsen of the court of domestic relations and the court of morals, gave an illuminating address on its functions and their results; miss maude miner of new york spoke from experience of the women's night court and the work of a probation officer. the delegates were deeply moved and determined to investigate and improve the conditions in their own localities. there had for some time been need of revising the constitution to meet new requirements and a revision committee had been appointed the preceding year with mrs. catt chairman, but as she had been in europe her place had been taken by miss caroline ruutz-rees (conn.), who was assisted by attorneys helen hoy greeley and jessie ashley. the discussion was as long and earnest as if the fate of nations were involved but the principal changes adopted concerned representation, dues, assessments, methods of election and similar details. the report of mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, treasurer, showed the total receipts of the year to be $ , ; disbursements, $ , ; balance on hand from preceding year, $ , . a carefully prepared "budget" of $ , was presented to the convention and quickly oversubscribed. the legal adviser, miss mary rutter towle (d. c.), reported two lawsuits in progress to secure legacies that had been left the association, the usual fate that attended similar bequests. the literature had become so large a feature that it was decided to form a company to publish it. mrs. raymond brown, president of the new york state suffrage association, proposed a corporation with a capital stock of $ , , of which $ , should be held by the national american association, the rest sold at $ a share. the first $ , were at once subscribed and later the woman suffrage publishing company was organized with mrs. cyrus w. field president. the election took place under the new primary system and required two days for completion. the only change was the electing of mrs. desha breckinridge second and miss ruutz-rees third vice-presidents. the majorities for most of the officers were very large. the report of the delegates to the international woman suffrage alliance in budapest was made by mrs. anna o. weeks (n. y.). the demand for congressional documents, hearings, speeches, etc., had become so extensive that mrs. helen h. gardener (d. c.) had been appointed to report in regard to it and she shed a good deal of light on the subject. she showed that some documents are free for distribution and some have to be paid for. hearings are usually limited to a small number but the committee strains a point for those on woman suffrage and prints about , , which may be had without charge. if a member is kind enough to "frank" them nothing else must be put in the envelope under penalty of a $ fine. if more are wanted they must be ordered in , lots and a member can get a reduced rate, but, while he is always willing to pay the government for printing his speech, those who want it for their own purposes should send the money for it. the speech of representative edward t. taylor of colorado in was cited as an example, of which the suffragists circulated , copies. the resolutions presented by mrs. helen brewster owens (n. y.), chairman, were brief and to the point. they called on the senate to pass immediately the joint resolution proposing an amendment to the national constitution, which had been favorably reported; they urged president wilson to adopt the submission of this amendment as an administration measure and to recommend it in his message; they urged the rules committee of the house of representatives to report favorably the proposition to create a committee on woman suffrage; and they demanded legislation by congress to protect the nationality of american women who married aliens. strong pressure had been made on the president to mention woman suffrage in his message, his first to a regular session of congress, but it was delivered on tuesday, december , with no reference whatever to the subject. at the meeting of the convention that evening dr. shaw said with the manifest approval of the audience: "president wilson had the opportunity of speaking a word which might ultimately lead to the enfranchisement of a large part of the citizens of the united states. even lincoln, who by a word freed a race, had not such an opportunity to release from bonds one-half of the human family. i feel that i must make this statement as broad as it is for the reason that we at budapest this year realized as never before that womankind throughout the world looked to this country to blaze the way for the extension of universal suffrage in every quarter of the globe. president wilson has missed the one thing that might have made it possible for him never to be forgotten. i am saying this on behalf of myself and my fellow officers." the next morning mrs. ruth hanna mccormick, a clever politician like her father, mark hanna, offered the following motion: "since president wilson omitted all mention of woman suffrage in his message yesterday, and since he has announced that he will send several other messages to congress outlining the measures which the administration will support, i move that this convention wait upon the president in order to lay before him the importance of the woman suffrage question and urge him to make it an administration measure and to send immediately to congress the recommendation that it proceed with this measure before any other. i also move that a committee of two be appointed to make the arrangements with the president." the motion was unanimously carried and the chair appointed mrs. mccormick (ills.) and mrs. breckinridge (ky.) to arrange for the interview and for a committee of fifty-five, representing all the associations auxiliary to the national, to wait upon the president at his pleasure. to finish the story here--he expressed entire willingness to receive them but was not well enough to do so during the convention. nearly a hundred of the delegates waited until the next monday, december , when they met in the rooms of their congressional committee, a few blocks from the white house and marched two by two to the executive offices, attracting much attention, as this was the first time a president had ever received a woman suffrage delegation officially.[ ] he met them cordially and gave them as much time as they desired. dr. shaw spoke as follows: as president of the national suffrage association i have come with this delegation, authorized by the association, to present to you the object for which we are organized--to secure equal suffrage for the women citizens of the united states. we have made these pilgrimages to washington for many, many years and committees have received us with graciousness and have listened to our arguments, but the difficulty is that they have not permitted our claims to come before congress, so that body itself might act upon them. our wish is that we may have a national constitutional amendment, enfranchising the women citizens and preventing the states from depriving them of representation in the government. since the judiciary committee has not reported our measure for many years and has not given the house an opportunity to discuss it we have asked that a special committee shall be appointed to consider it. the senate some years ago did appoint a special committee and our question has been referred to it. we have appeared before it this year and it has again reported favorably. we hope that the administration of which you are the head may use its influence to bring the matter before the senate and house. we ask your assistance in one of two ways or in any other way which may appeal to your judgment: first of all that you shall send a special message to congress to submit to the legislatures of the states an amendment to the national constitution enfranchising women citizens of the united states; if, however, this does not appeal to you, we ask that you will use the administration's influence on the rules committee to recommend the appointment in the lower house of a committee corresponding with the suffrage committee in the upper house, one which will have leisure to consider our subject and report on it. we appeal to you in behalf of the women citizens of the country. many of them have cast their ballots for the president already and have an influence in the government; many are very eager to take an equal part and they appreciate the just manner in which since your administration began you have weighed public questions. recognizing your splendid stand on the liberties and rights of the people, we appeal to you because we believe you will bring to ours that same spirit of justice which you have manifested toward other great issues. the president gave close attention and in his answer seemed to weigh every word carefully: i want you ladies, if i can make it clear to you, to realize just what my present situation is. whenever i walk abroad i realize that i am not a free man; i am under arrest. i am so carefully and admirably guarded that i have not even the privilege of walking the streets alone. that is, as it were, typical of my present transference--from being an individual, free to express his mind on any and every subject, to being an official of a great government and incidentally, or so it falls out under the system of government, the spokesman of a party. i set myself this very strict rule when i was governor of new jersey and have followed and shall follow it as president--that i am not at liberty to urge upon congress in messages policies which have not had the organic consideration of those for whom i am spokesman. in other words i have not yet presented to any legislature my private views on any subject and i never shall, because i conceive it to be part of the whole process of government that i shall be spokesman for somebody, not for myself. to speak for myself would be an impertinence. when i speak for myself i am an individual; when i am spokesman of an organic body, i am a representative. for that reason, you see, i am by my own principles shut out, in the language of the street, from "starting anything." i have to confine myself to those things which have been embodied as promises to the people at an election. that is the strict rule i set for myself. i want to say that with regard to all other matters i am not only glad to be consulted by my colleagues in the two houses but i hope they will often pay me the compliment of consulting me when they want to know my opinion on any subject. one member of the rules committee did come to me and ask me what i thought about this suggestion of yours of appointing a special committee for the consideration of woman suffrage and i told him that i thought it was a proper thing to do. so that, so far as my personal advice has been asked by a single member of the committee it has been given to that effect. i wanted to tell you this to show that i am strictly living up to my principles. when my private opinion is asked by those who are cooperating with me, i am most glad to give it, but i am not at liberty until i speak for somebody besides myself to urge legislation upon the congress. the following conversation then took place: "may i ask you a question?" said dr. shaw. "since we are not members of any political party, who is going to speak for us--there is no one to speak for us----" "i realize that," interjected the president, "----unless we speak for ourselves?" "and you do that very admirably," rejoined mr. wilson. a general laugh broke up the somewhat solemn occasion and as the delegates went away dr. shaw said exultingly: "he is in favor of a house woman suffrage committee and that was our chief object in coming to see him." an interesting evening's program had been prepared under the auspices of the national men's league for woman suffrage with addresses by seven or eight senators and representatives, all staunch supporters of the "cause," but all were prevented from coming by one reason or another except representatives j. w. bryan of washington and victor murdock of kansas. they made up for all failures, however, by their strong arguments. james lees laidlaw of new york, president of the league, gave a dignified, earnest address and the hon. gifford pinchot made a logical and unanswerable demand for the enfranchisement of women because of the nation's great need for their votes. an excellent report was presented at this time by miss alice paul, chairman of the congressional committee. from the founding of the national association in prominent representatives had appeared before committees of every congress and during many winters miss susan b. anthony had remained in washington until she obtained a report from these committees, but after she ceased to do this, although the hearings were still granted, nobody made it an especial business to see that the committees made reports and so none was made and action by congress seemed very remote. in , when the movement entered a new era, the association appointed a special congressional committee to look after this matter. by the time of the convention of the two great victories in washington and california had been gained and the prospect of a federal amendment began to grow brighter. a large committee was appointed consisting chiefly of the wives of senators and representatives with mrs. william kent (calif.) chairman. no busier women could have been selected and beyond making excellent arrangements for the hearings, the committee was not active. in , when kansas, oregon and arizona enfranchised women, the whole country awoke to the fact that the turning point had been reached and universal woman suffrage through an amendment to the federal constitution was inevitable. at this time miss paul and miss burns returned from england, where they had been studying and doing social welfare work and had been caught in the maelstrom of the "militant" suffrage movement, then at its height. both had taken part in demonstrations before the house of commons and been sent to prison and they came back to the united states filled with zeal to inaugurate a campaign of "militancy" here. the idea was coldly received by the suffrage leaders and they modified it to the extent of asking the national association to cooperate in organizing a great suffrage parade to take place in washington the day before the inauguration of woodrow wilson. dr. shaw had seen and taken part in such parades in london and was favorably inclined to the project. she put miss paul at the head of the congressional committee with power to choose the other members to organize the parade, with the proviso that they must themselves raise all the money for it but they could have the authority of the national association letterheads. headquarters were opened in a basement on f street near the new willard hotel in washington. they displayed astonishing executive ability, gathered about them a small army of women and during the next twelve months raised $ , , the larger part of it in washington and most of the remainder in philadelphia. the parade was long, beautiful and impressive, women from many states participating. the report of the congressional committee presented to the convention by miss paul slightly condensed, read as follows: work for federal amendment: headquarters were opened in washington, jan. , . hearings were arranged before the woman suffrage committee of the senate; before the rules committee of the house, when members of the national council of women voters were the speakers; before the rules committee during the present convention. processions: march , when from , to , women participated; april , when women from congressional districts went to congress with petitions and resolutions; july , when an automobile procession met the "pilgrims" at the end of their "hike" and escorted them through the streets of washington to the senate. this procession was headed by an automobile in which rode several of the suffrage committee of the senate. pilgrimages coming from all parts of the country and extending over the month of july were organized, about twelve. these all ended in washington on july , when approximately , signatures to petitions were presented to the senate. deputations: three deputations to the president were organized immediately preceding the calling of the special session of congress in order to ask him to give the administration support to the suffrage amendment during the special session. one of these was from the national association, one from the college suffrage league and one from the national council of women voters. on november a fourth deputation, composed of seventy-three women from new jersey, was sent to the president to urge him to take up the amendment during the regular session of congress. local arrangements were made for the conventions of the national council of women voters and the convention of the national american woman suffrage association. a campaign under a salaried organizer was conducted through the resort regions of new jersey, long island and rhode island during july, august and september; and one through new jersey, delaware and maryland during july. a month's campaign was carried on in north carolina. on september permanent headquarters were opened in wilmington in charge of a salaried organizer and since that time a vigorous campaign has been carried on in delaware in the attempt to influence the attitude of the senators and representatives from that state. a salaried press chairman has been employed throughout the year, who has furnished daily press copy to the local papers, to the washington correspondents of the various papers throughout the country and to all of the telegraphic bureaus in washington. approximately , pieces of literature have been printed and distributed. a weekly paper under the editorship of mrs. rheta childe dorr was established on november . this now has a paid circulation of about , and is self-supporting from its advertisements. a men's league was organized, general anson mills, u. s. a., being the temporary and dr. harvey w. wiley the permanent chairman. a large number of congressmen are members. eight theater meetings, exclusive of those during this convention, have been held in washington. smaller meetings both indoor and out have been held almost daily and frequently as many as five or ten a day. a tableau was presented on the treasury steps at the time of the suffrage procession of march under the direction of miss hazel mackaye. a suffrage play was given, also two banquets, a reception and a luncheon, and a benefit and a luncheon were given for the purpose of raising funds. a delegation in two special cars went to new york for the procession of may . an even larger delegation went to baltimore for the procession of may . the play given in washington was reproduced in baltimore for the benefit of one of the suffrage societies there. a week's campaign was conducted in the four southern counties of maryland prior to the primary election, at the request of one of the state's societies. the congressional union was formed during the latter part of april and now numbers over a thousand members. congressional work. senate and house joint resolution number one for federal amendment introduced in congress april , . woman suffrage committee of senate voted on may to report the resolution favorably and did so unanimously, one not voting. on july twenty-two senators spoke in favor of the resolution and three against it. on september senator andrieus jones (n. m.) spoke in favor and asked for immediate action. on the same day senator henry f. ashurst (ariz.) announced on the floor of the senate that he would press the measure to a vote at the earliest possible moment. three resolutions were introduced in the house for the creation of a woman suffrage committee and referred to the rules committee and are still before it. the amendment resolution is awaiting third reading in the senate and is before the judiciary committee of the house. the action of the senate was due to the fact that under the new administration a committee had been appointed which was favorable to woman suffrage instead of one opposed as heretofore, with a chairman, senator charles s. thomas of colorado, who had helped the women of his own state to secure the suffrage twenty years before. the resolutions in the lower house were introduced by old and tried friends and the association's new congressional committee had arranged hearings, brought pressure to bear on members and not permitted them to forget or ignore the question. miss agnes e. ryan, business manager of the _woman's journal_, said in her account: "the convention received the report with enthusiastic applause, giving three cheers and rising to its feet to show its appreciation." this report was signed by miss paul as "chairman of the congressional committee and president of the congressional union" and she said at the beginning that it was impossible to separate the work of the two. at its conclusion mrs. catt moved that the part of the report as from the congressional committee be accepted, which was done by the convention. she then asked what was the relation between the two and why, if this was a regular committee of the national american association, no appropriation had been made for its work during the coming year and why there was no statement in the treasurer's report of its expenditures during the past year. it developed that the committee had raised and expended its own funds, which had not passed through the national treasury, and that the congressional union was a society formed the preceding april to assist the work of the committee. it was moved by mrs. catt and carried that the convention request the official board to continue the congressional committee and to cooperate with it in such a way as to remove further causes of embarrassment to the association. the motion was amended that the board should appropriate what money could be spared for the work of this committee.[ ] the movement for woman suffrage was now so plainly centering in congress, which had been the goal for over forty years, that there was a widespread feeling that the national headquarters should be established in washington. mrs. oliver h. p. belmont, a delegate from new york, through whose generosity it had been possible to take them to that city in , offered a motion that they now be removed to washington. she had given notice of this action the preceding day and the opponents were prepared. a motion to lay it on the table was quickly made and all discussion cut off. the opposition of the national officers was so apparent that many delegates hesitated to express their convictions for the affirmative but nevertheless the vote stood ayes, and noes. the national association had now so many auxiliaries and so much work was being done in all the states that the day sessions were largely consumed in hearing reports from them and the usual conferences and symposiums were almost crowded off the program. for the first time hawaii took her place among the auxiliaries, a suffrage society having been formed there during the year. at one of the morning sessions u. s. senator moses e. clapp of minnesota was presented to the convention and extended a pressing invitation to hold its next meeting in st. paul. later this invitation was repeated in a cordial invitation from governor adolph o. eberhard. at another morning session representative kenneth mckellar of tennessee addressed the convention and invited it to meet in chattanooga the next year. the last evening there was not standing room in the large theater. miss harriet may mills, president of the new york state suffrage association, took for her subject a prophecy fulfilled and gave convincing reasons for believing that the successful end of the long contest was near. mrs. katharine houghton hepburn made a strong arraignment of commercialized vice, using her own city of hartford, conn., for an example. mrs. catt gave the last address, a comprehensive review of the advanced position that had been attained by women and the great responsibilities it had brought. dr. shaw, who presided, spoke the final inspiring words. a delightful ending of the week was the reception the last afternoon in the hospitable home of senator and mrs. robert m. lafollette. three members of the cabinet were among the guests, secretaries lane, houston and daniels. those in the receiving line were: senator and mrs. lafollette, dr. shaw and mrs. catt; also mrs. franklin k. lane, mrs. josephus daniels, mrs. albert sidney burleson, mrs. david franklin houston, mrs. miles poindexter, mrs. reed smoot, mrs. victor murdock, mrs. wm. l. lafollette, mrs. j. w. bryan, mrs. john e. raker, mrs. james a. frear, mrs. henry t. rainey, mrs. albert b. cummins, mrs. john d. works and mrs. william kent, all members of the cabinet and congressional circles, and the husbands of most of them were present. to the older members of the association it recalled the conventions of olden times when even the wives of members of congress, with a few rare exceptions, feared to attend the social functions lest it might injure the political status of their husbands. * * * * * the senate committee of the sixty-third congress had already granted three hearings on woman suffrage during its extra session: on april , , to representatives of the anti-suffrage association; on april to those of the federal women's equality association and on april to those of the national american suffrage association. this new committee, which the advocates of the federal suffrage amendment will always remember with deep appreciation for its firm and favorable action, consisted of the following senators: charles s. thomas (colo.), chairman; robert l. owen (okla.); henry f. ashurst (ariz.); joseph e. ransdell (la.); henry p. hollis (n. h.); george sutherland (utah); wesley l. jones (wash.); moses e. clapp (minn.); thomas b. catron (n. m.). the last named was an opponent of woman suffrage by any method and was the only member who did not sign the favorable report. senator ransdell at first said that he had an open mind but he soon placed himself on the suffrage side, signed the report and later voted several times in favor of the amendment. the immediate object of the national american association at the present moment was to secure a committee on woman suffrage in the lower house such as had long existed in the senate. a resolution to create such a committee had been introduced april by edward t. taylor (colo.) and referred to the committee on rules. the hearing at the regular session during this convention, therefore, was before this committee, which would have to recommend the woman suffrage committee to the house, and it was set for : a.m., december . as soon as the application was made the national anti-suffrage association also asked to be heard, and chairman henry, who was opposed to the proposed new committee and to woman suffrage, announced that he proposed to allow both sides all the time they wanted. the leaders of the national suffrage association stated that they would ask for only the usual two hours and would not discuss the general question of woman suffrage but only the need of a special committee. their arguments were concluded at the morning session. the "antis" began after luncheon with massed forces and talked the entire afternoon and all of the next day and part of the third, covering the whole subject of woman suffrage, with the appointment of the committee only one feature of it. several of their men speakers consumed nearly an hour each and were repeatedly requested by the chairman to face the committee instead of the audience, which filled the largest room in the house office building. the first morning all of the committee were present but they gradually dwindled until during the latter part of the "antis'" arguments only two or three were in their seats, not including the chairman[ ]. only limited extracts of the speeches are possible. dr. shaw presided and said: our purpose in coming before you this morning is not to make any attempt whatever to convert the members of the rules committee, if they should need converting, to the democratic principle of the right of the people to have a voice in their own government. it is to ask you to appoint a committee in the house on woman suffrage, which corresponds with the one in the senate, in order that we may have hearings before a committee which is not so burdened with other business as is the committee on the judiciary.... it seems to the women of the united states that a question of so much importance that the parliaments of europe feel under obligations to discuss and act upon it, is at least of sufficient importance in this great republic of ours for the committee which has it under consideration to take time for a report. year after year we have asked the judiciary committee not that they should believe in woman suffrage or express any opinion on it but only to report the measure either favorably or unfavorably so as to bring it before the house, in order that the representatives of the men of this country might be able to consider it, but thus far it has been impossible to secure any sort of a report.... mrs. helen h. gardener (d. c.), after showing that woman suffrage was a mere side issue with the judiciary committee and that it would be busier than ever the coming session, said: "those of us who live here and have known congress from our childhood know that an outside matter has less chance to get any real consideration by such a committee under such conditions than the proverbial rich man has of entering the kingdom of heaven." she pointed out that over one-fifth of the senate and one-seventh of the house were elected by the votes of women and continued: you will remember that there is a committee on indian affairs. are the indians more important than the women of america? they did not always have a special committee, they used to be a mere incident, as we now are. they used to be under the war department and so long as this was the case nobody ever doubted for an instant that the "only good indian was a dead indian"--just as under the incidental administration of the judiciary committee it is not doubted by some that the only good woman is a voteless woman. when the indians secured a committee of their own they began to get schools, lands in severalty and the general status of human beings.... it became the duty of that committee to investigate the real conditions, the needs, the grievances and the best methods of promoting the interests of the indians. that was the beginning of the end of indian wars; the first hope of a possibility--previously sneered at--of making real and useful citizens of this race of men who now have representatives in congress. it was precisely the same with our island possessions, only in this case we had profited by our experience with indian and labor problems, and it did not take so long to realize that a committee whose duty it should be to utilize, develop and conserve the best interests of these new charges of our government and to develop them toward citizenship as rapidly as possible was the safe and sane method of procedure.... we want such a committee on woman suffrage in the house. we do not ask you to appoint a partisan committee but only one open-minded and honest, which will really investigate and understand the question, its workings where it is in effect--a committee which will not accept wild statements as facts, which will hear and weigh that which comes from the side of progress and change as well as that which is static or reactionary.... the recommendation that we have such a committee does not in any way commit you to the adoption of a belief in the principle of self-government for women. this is not much to ask and it is not much to give, nor will it be needed for very many more years. mrs. ida husted harper was introduced as one of the authors of the four-volume history of woman suffrage and the biographer of susan b. anthony and began: "this is not the time or place to enter into an argument on the merits or demerits of woman suffrage and we shall use the valuable hours you have so graciously accorded us simply to ask that you will give us a committee of our very own, before which we may feel that we have a right to discuss this question. in making this request we ask you to decide, first, whether the issue of woman suffrage is sufficiently national in its character to justify a special committee for its consideration; second, whether it has been so fairly treated by the committee which has had it in charge for forty-four years that another is not necessary; and, third, whether justice requires that it should come under the jurisdiction of congress." the national status of the woman suffrage movement was sketched and then the question asked: "has the treatment of this subject by the committee to which it has always been referred been such as to warrant a continuance of this custom?" which she answered by saying: the national woman suffrage association was formed in for the express purpose of obtaining an amendment to the federal constitution. its representatives went before the congressional committees that year and have continued to do so at each new congress since that time, never having been refused a hearing. at the beginning of both senate and house created special woman suffrage committees. the senate has continuously maintained this committee, but in the house declined to renew it by a vote of nays, yeas; not voting. the debate was long and heated and almost wholly on the question of woman suffrage itself. thenceforth the women appeared before the house judiciary committee, which, although busy and overworked, had always a good representation present and was respectful and often cordial. the ablest women this country has produced have appeared before this committee.... repeatedly the eminent members of this judiciary committee have said that no hearings before them were conducted with such dignity and ability as those of the advocates of woman suffrage. and what is the result? six reports in forty-four years and five of these unfavorable! does the record end here? no; for there has been no report of any kind since . for the last twenty years the women of this nation have made an annual pilgrimage to washington to plead their cause before a committee which has forgotten their existence as soon as they were out of sight.... gentlemen of the committee on rules, will you not give to women a committee of their own that will not ignore them for half a century?... the entire status of woman has changed since the federal constitution was framed, and ethical and social questions have entered into politics which could not have been foreseen. it is inevitable that this constitution must occasionally be amended to meet new conditions, while leaving its fundamental and vital provisions undisturbed. the advocates of woman suffrage believe that it should now be changed so as to give a voice in governmental affairs to a half of the people which has become an important factor in the public life of the nation. by the only means now available the half which possesses the ballot has the absolute authority over its further extension and no ruling class likes to divide its power. state rights are desirable to a very large extent when all the people of the state have a voice, but it is not in harmony with the spirit of our republic that one half of the citizens of a state should have complete power over the political liberty of the other half. instance after instance was given from different states showing how this power had been abused after the women had struggled long and heroically for even a partial franchise and the speaker concluded: "women have been defeated over twenty times in the strongest campaigns they were able to make for full-suffrage amendments to state constitutions. from to they were not once successful. sometimes they were sold out by the party 'machines' at the last moment; sometimes they were counted out after they had really secured a majority; but, whatever the reason, they lost. the victories of the last three years may be cited as evidence that henceforth they will succeed. those victories were largely due to political conditions which do not exist in many other states and against them must be set the crushing defeats these same years in ohio, wisconsin and michigan, where the woman suffrage amendment was fought by every vicious interest which menaces the body politic...." miss jane addams was presented by dr. shaw as one who did not need to be introduced to any civilized being, "not because of any political agitation by her but for the service she has rendered humanity, one which is distinctly woman's service, and she long ago came to realize that it was impossible to do this work as it should be done unless she and the women associated with her had the ballot." miss addams referred to a committee hearing once before when she was able to give but one precedent for the jurisdiction of congress over the franchise--the th amendment--but now, she said, she could give nine more. she cited the case of the indians, the confederate soldiers, foreigners who fought in the civil war, naturalized foreigners, federal prisoners, american women marrying aliens, election of u. s. senators, etc. each point brought questions or objections from the committee and the discussion was very interesting. members of the committee asked dr. shaw if the association would be willing to have the matter of a federal suffrage amendment referred to the committee on election of president, vice-president and representatives in congress but after consultation with members of her board it was decided to stand for a special committee. mrs. desha breckinridge was introduced as the great granddaughter of henry clay and in the course of a speech worthy of her ancestry she recalled the early history of kentucky, the part of her grandfather in preserving the union, the fact that the state had not maintained its prestige and that if this was to be regained the women must be permitted to help and said: i do not feel that i am doing any injustice to the men of my state in asking this federal amendment, in asking the help of the congress of the united states. some years ago, after we had worked for our school-suffrage law at three sessions of the legislature and had at last gotten it past the house and up to the senate, only three days before adjournment a letter was sent to the members by the german-american alliance, calling upon the men of kentucky to protect the homes and womanhood of the state by defeating it and saying that the alliance believed the home was the sphere for women. when we investigated we found that the german-american alliance was the brewers' alliance, with headquarters at louisville.... i would suggest to the men of this committee, who i understand are mostly southern, that if they object to having the suffrage for women forced upon them by the u. s. government, there is still time in which they may go home and get it for their women in the states. representative john e. raker (calif.), speaking with a full knowledge of the inner machinery of congress, brushed aside all objections, showed that it was the custom to appoint special committees for special subjects, stood up against the heckling of the rules committee and put the necessity for this desired committee beyond argument. dr. shaw joined him in refuting the reiterated charge that the suffragists would insist on having it composed entirely of their supporters. mrs. mary beard (n. y.) addressed the committee as democrats and from the standpoint of party expediency with such a knowledge of politics as they never had met in a woman. she said in a scathing arraignment: this committee is composed of thirteen men and seven constitute the deciding vote on our appeal for the woman suffrage committee. these seven belong to the majority, the democratic party. one of them comes from a partial suffrage state, illinois, and another from a campaign state, new york, where the legislature has declared in favor of submitting this question to the voters. i shall, therefore, limit my examination to the remaining five gentlemen whose point of view will in all probability decide the women's destiny in the house of representatives at least for the moment. these five all represent one section of the country and my analysis of them is made in the hope that they will take a national point of view and help us obliterate sectional feeling. who are you that hesitate to promote, if you do not actually obstruct this federal amendment? in looking over various public records i find that the honored chairman of this committee holds his strategic position as a result of the will expressed at the polls of , men. opposite his name should be written: "no opposition." another of the five comes here through the vote of , men. another is sent by the very small group of , men, and the remaining two represent respectively , and , men. the total vote behind all five of these gentlemen is , . these , voters, therefore, have the decision of this momentous question.... you know the fight that you democratic men put up against the combination by the committee on rules under the leadership of speaker cannon and you led that fight against the domination of the committee over the house. you are today in this same position of political power. can you consistently oppose now the things for which you fought so bitterly a short time ago? we know how rapidly you have appointed committees when changed economic conditions demanded it. i have here the report of the committee on the judiciary for the special session, showing what work it did, how many sittings it held, which proves conclusively that it has not time for the consideration of our question.... this part of the hearing closed with the address of mrs. carrie chapman catt, who was introduced as president of the international woman suffrage alliance, representing the organized womanhood of twenty-six nations. she said in the course of her address: a few weeks ago a dispatch was sent out from washington, saying that the judiciary committee for the next year was going to be more overworked than ever before. it was accompanied by a letter from the president to mr. clayton, begging him to continue as chairman of that committee and to withdraw from his candidacy for the senate from alabama because this committee was going to do more work than it had ever been required to do before. he called attention to the fact that the ways and means committee had been obliged to work day and night, sometimes spending the whole night on their particular business, and he warned mr. clayton that this might be the expectation of the judiciary committee in this coming congress. when this committee has only worked during the day, we suffragists have not been able to get the attention which we think our cause demands and with this additional work it is quite impossible to expect more attention than we have had in the past. since the suggestion was offered that possibly our business might go before the elections committee, the information has come that the president's plan for presidential primary legislation will make this committee also a very busy one this coming session.... we pride ourselves on our democracy, but while the judiciary committee has been refusing to report our measure and bring it before the house for discussion the question of woman suffrage has been considered by the imperial parliaments of twelve european countries. this has been done in fact within the past two years. mrs. catt gave particulars from each and said the only ones where it had not been discussed were those of germany, austria, turkey and the united states. this assertion stung the committee and representative hardwick (ga.) asked if there was not the wide difference that in this country state laws reached the suffrage while in others the parliament regulated the vote, and she answered: "of course there is that difference but i wish to add my opinion to that of miss addams, that while the states have the right to extend the vote it is the most outrageously unfair process through which any class of unenfranchised citizens of any land have ever been called upon to obtain their enfranchisement and that is the reason why we come to congress. the overwhelming majority of the men of this country have not secured their suffrage by any vote at the polls in the states. the only class that i have ever been able to find in our history so enfranchised are the working men in the original thirteen colonies, and they got the vote by the process long ago when the population was exceedingly small. there are more men today voting on the basis of their citizenship under naturalization than for any other reason and yet our state constitutions compel us to go to these men and ask our vote at their hands. they say whether the women who have been born and bred here and educated in our schools shall have the vote. we believe we have the right to have our question considered by congress and that is why we ask for a special committee." a spirited discussion followed in which the th amendment played a part and mr. hardwick said all the women had to do in order to vote was to add the word "sex" to it and dr. shaw answered: "this would require a constitutional amendment and what we are asking is such an amendment to our national constitution, which shall forbid the states to deprive women citizens of the right which it grants to every man born in the united states and to every man imported from any country under the light of the sun. no nation has subjected its women to the humiliating position occupied by those of this nation today. there is no race which is not represented in the citizenship of this country and these citizens are made the governing power which determines the destinies of our women. while women are disfranchised in germany, yet german women are governed by german men; french women are governed by frenchmen; in all the nations of europe where women are disfranchised it is by the men of their own nation but in the united states men of every race may go to the polls and vote that american-born women may not have a voice in their own government. therefore we claim that it is the business of the government to protect women citizens in this right of suffrage as it protects men citizens, and we ask for this committee because we believe that if our question can be brought before congress and discussed freely, it will be submitted to the legislatures and decided favorably." two anti-suffrage associations were represented, the national, headed by its president, mrs. arthur m. dodge of new york, and the guidon club, headed by its president, mrs. william force scott of new york. mrs. dodge presented as speakers miss alice hill chittenden and miss minnie bronson (n. y.), mrs. robert garrett (md.), miss emily p. bissell (del.), mrs. a. j. george (mass.), miss annie bock (calif.), mrs. o. d. oliphant (n. j.), miss ella dorsey (d. c.), mrs. r. c. talbot and miss lucy price (o.), miss eliza armstrong, miss emmeline pitt and miss julia harding (penn.), miss alice edith abell, president "wage-earners' anti-suffrage league" (n. y.); everett p. wheeler and charles l. underhill, representing the men's anti-suffrage leagues of new york and of massachusetts. letters were read from miss elizabeth mccracken (mass.) and arthur pyle (minn.). mrs. scott introduced as speakers dr. and mrs. rossiter johnson and john c. ten eyck of new york. representative j. thomas heflin (ala.) spoke over an hour on his own initiative. as the anti-suffragists had entirely disregarded the agreement to confine the hearing to the purpose of obtaining a special committee and had covered the whole field of woman suffrage itself, the committee on rules willingly granted time for a rebuttal. miss alice stone blackwell (mass.), editor of the _woman's journal_, was selected as the principal speaker because of her extensive knowledge of the subject and another large audience assembled for the fifth time, both suffragists and opponents. mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch (ills.) presided and miss blackwell said in beginning: gentlemen of the committee, it is difficult in a short time to review the arguments that have been made during nine or ten hours, therefore i shall take up only the most important points. the argument has been made over and over that you ought not appoint this committee because there is not a sufficient public demand and because the number of women who oppose suffrage is greater than the number who favor it. it is an actual fact that we represent a very much larger number. the opponents say that only per cent. of the women of this country favor suffrage. they have no authority for this, nobody knows how many there are, but it is a fact that less than one per cent. of the women of the united states have expressed any objection to equal suffrage. the anti-suffragists claim to be organized in seventeen states. the suffragists are organized in forty-seven; the only state without an organization is new mexico. the anti-suffrage movement maintains only three periodicals--two monthlies and one quarterly. the suffrage movement maintains seven weekly papers, one fortnightly and four or five monthlies. in every state where petitions for suffrage and remonstrances against it have been sent to the legislature, the petitioners have always outnumbered the remonstrants and generally by or to one. at the time of the last new york constitutional convention as far back as the suffragists obtained more than , individual signatures to their petitions. suppose only one-half of those were women, that would make , . at the same time the anti-suffragists obtained only , , men and women. in chicago, a few years ago, organizations, with an aggregate membership of more than , women, petitioned for a municipal woman-suffrage clause in the new city charter, while only one small organization of women petitioned against it ... one of the opposing speakers claimed that the majority of the grangers were opposed to suffrage. the national grange passes a strong resolution in favor of woman suffrage every year and a long list of state granges have done the same. individual working women have appeared before this committee and have said that they believed that the majority of working women were opposed to suffrage, but all the great organizations of working men and working women have repeatedly passed strong resolutions in favor of it. we have been told that all kinds of terrible things will happen if suffrage is granted. with the exception of illinois, every state that has adopted it borders directly upon some state which has it. if, as has been claimed here, homes were broken up and made desolate, if husbands found that their wives were neglecting their home duties and their children, it is not likely that suffrage would spread from the state which first adopted it to one adjoining state after another. you have had one california woman here who claimed that woman suffrage there does not work well. california adopted the initiative and referendum at the same time with woman suffrage. the "antis" immediately started an initiative petition for the repeal of woman suffrage. they said that per cent. of the women of california were opposed to it and that they would repeal it. both men and women were eligible to sign the repeal petitions; but out of the , , men and women they failed to get the , signatures necessary. it has been asserted that the women in all the equal suffrage states would like to repeal it. in any one of these states they could repeal it if they wished to. a great effort was made by the editor of the _ladies' home journal_ to find colorado women who would express themselves against it and the fact that he wanted adverse opinions was widely announced in the papers. out of the more than , women he succeeded in finding only nineteen who said they did not think much of woman suffrage and of these three said it had not done any harm. a few years ago mrs. julia ward howe took a census of all the ministers of four leading denominations in the four oldest suffrage states--wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho--and of all the editors, asking them whether the results of woman suffrage were good or bad. she received answers, of which were unfavorable, undecided and in favor. the answers from the editors were favorable more than to : those from the episcopal clergymen more than to ; from the baptist, to ; from the congregationalists about to ; from the methodists more than to ; and from the presbyterians more than to . miss blackwell disproved thoroughly the charges made by the opposition disparaging to the laws for working women in the equal suffrage states and many other charges, giving full proof of the accuracy of her statements. the committee asked her many questions and gave her leave to print as much of her argument as she wished. her carefully prepared data filled thirty-five pages of fine print in the published hearing. james lees laidlaw (n. y.), president of the national men's league for woman suffrage, showed that the attitude of the opponents expressed a distrust of democracy. he refuted many of their assertions, among them the one that u. s. senator john d. works (calif.) had declared woman suffrage a failure in that state. he read a letter received from the senator the preceding day as follows: "i did not make any statement anywhere that woman suffrage in california has proved a failure. such a news item was sent out over the country but it was entirely without foundation and was based on a false headline in a newspaper not borne out by the quotation from my speech even in that paper. you may say for me that the statement is wholly without foundation and that woman suffrage has not proved to be a failure in my state." mrs. mcculloch referred to the "poor, misguided working girl" among the "antis" who said wage-earning women didn't want the vote and asked miss rose winslow, a prominent working woman, to read the resolution demanding the suffrage which was passed by the national women's trade union league. she did so and in a few sentences scored one of the flowery anti-suffrage speakers, saying: "i have not had any choice as to whether i should walk on the bowery or on fifth avenue, because i walk nowhere in the sunshine. i am one of the millions of women who work in the shadow of these women of whom men speak as though they are the only ones in the country, in order that they may parade the avenue in all the beauty and glory of everything brought from all over the world for their decoration, but i do not come with merely my personal opinion and experience. i have the opinion of the organized working women of america in convention assembled. these women represent all the trades that women work at in the united states and they have passed this resolution demanding the ballot without a dissenting vote." mrs. emma s. south, wife of former representative oliver south of illinois, said the opponents had given alleged facts that would require weeks of investigation to prove or disprove. she answered their favorite assertion that women had more influence without the vote by convincing illustrations of what the women of chicago had been able to accomplish with even their partial suffrage, retaining mrs. ella flagg young as superintendent of schools, for instance. she showed how in the appointment of the new school board the fact that their power had been doubled and trebled by the recently granted municipal vote was manifest. mrs. william kent, after showing why the women of california had asked for the ballot, gave her time to miss helen todd, who said in the course of an impassioned speech: "my conversion to suffrage came through six years of work as factory inspector in illinois. i have always thought that the reason there could be such a thing as women 'antis' was simply that the screen of ignorance and the comfort and protection of home were so thrown around them that they never had to face the realities.... no one can go, as i have gone, through the factories of a great state and see the suffering just of the children and not want the women who create human life to have the power to protect that life." mrs. ella s. stewart (ills.), mrs. john rogers, jr. (n. y.), mrs. katharine houghton hepburn (conn.), mrs. ida porter boyer (penn.) and mrs. harriet taylor upton (o.) spoke briefly but strongly and an effective letter was read from miss constance leupp (d. c.). the women present from the south were deeply incensed at the long, opposing speech of representative heflin, who claimed to represent the women of that section, and he was severely answered by mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs, mrs. oscar hundley and mrs. felix baldwin of his own state; mrs. s. d. meehan of louisiana; mrs. l. crozier french and miss catharine j. wester of tennessee and mrs. lulu loveland shepherd of utah, formerly of tennessee. mrs. harper cited the three classes enfranchised since the founding of the government, the working men, the negroes and the indians, and said: "there was never any question as to whether they would improve things or hurt things; now, in the president's message, he asks you to bring in the porto rican men. are you going to do this because you think they are needed in the electorate and because they will make conditions better? we women are the only class who have ever asked for suffrage in this country to whom all these objections have been made and in regard to whom all these fears have been expressed. there is not a class of voters in the united states today which has lifted one finger to get the ballot, yet the women of this country have been struggling sixty-five years for the right to a voice in the government. you must admit that they are the best-equipped class that have ever asked this privilege and yet you have kept them out. all we ask of you is to make it a little less hard than it has been by giving us a committee from whom we can get some consideration." mrs. frank w. mondell, wife of the representative from wyoming, said in the course of a very comprehensive address: "we do not desire to base our request for the appointment of a committee on woman suffrage solely on the proposition that the subject is one of greater importance than those included within the jurisdiction of many committees of the house but rather on the ground that it has never, so far as my recollection and information go, failed to provide by general or special committee for the study and consideration of any vitally important question that has arisen in the growth and development of the nation." a review of the different committees was made and she concluded: "we do not ask or expect a committee constituted to represent our views but we ask for one whose special duty it shall be to consider the question. we feel that we are only asking the house of representatives to follow its usual rule and procedure." mr. mondell closed the hearing with a sarcastic review of the objections made by the opponents during which he said: "i had the privilege and pleasure of listening to the exceedingly strong and forceful argument in favor of woman suffrage made this morning by the gentleman from alabama, or was it intended for an argument against it? i think, taking it as a whole, that it was the most conclusive argument i have ever heard in favor of it.... we have a committee whose business it is to inquire how much further we should extend the franchise to the little brown brother over in the philippines, some six or seven millions of him, and the president considers that a sufficiently important matter to refer to it in his message. i hope it was through forgetfulness and not deliberate intent that he seemed to fail to realize that it is of vastly less importance than the question of granting the franchise to the mothers, wives and sisters among the , , of the folks here in the united states." mr. mondell ridiculed the sentimental effusion of mr. heflin and his solicitude lest the harmony of family life might be disturbed and said: "if the testimony of one who speaks from experience is worth while i can say with full realization that it is a sweeping statement: in twenty-seven years' wide knowledge of a people where woman suffrage prevails i have never known a solitary case where a difference of political opinion resulted in family quarrels or misunderstanding, not a single one.... are we to understand that men elsewhere--in alabama, for instance--are less considerate than with us and that they would make trouble if their women folks did not vote as they wanted them to?... the exercise of the franchise is a privilege and a right but above and beyond the question of right or privilege stands the fact that as time goes on and we are attempting to meet wisely the multitude of questions that arise in government, many of them social and economic, we need the assistance of the best half of mankind." * * * * * the rules committee met january , , with eight of the fourteen members present and mr. lenroot moved to report favorably the resolution for a woman suffrage committee. representatives foster (ills.), campbell (kans.) and kelly (penn.) joined him; representatives hardwick (ga.), pou (n. c.), cantrill (ky.) and garrett (tenn.) opposed. mr. lenroot then moved to report it without recommendation and there was a tie vote. enough signatures were secured for the calling of a democratic caucus on february but just before it convened a meeting of democrats was held in the office of representative oscar j. underwood (ala.) and it was decided by a vote of to that suffrage was a state and not a federal question and no further action on a special committee was taken. footnotes: [ ] call: for the forty-fifth time in its history the national american woman suffrage association summons its members together in council. by thus assembling, one more united step toward the final emancipation of the women of this country is made practicable.... to the wise and courageous, to those not fearful of the changes demanded by the vital needs of growing humanity, this call will have two meanings: first, it will speak of loyalty to work and to comrade workers; of large undertakings worthily begun and to be worthily finished; of the stimulus of difficulty; of joy in the exercise of talents and strength; of the self-control and ability required for cooperation. second, it will express--like other summons of women to women throughout the ages--the need not alone for counsel and comfort but also for the preservation of all they hold most high--for that to which they gladly give their lives. it will speak of the struggle for development which individual women have made; of the opportunities they have won for each other; of the unequivocal demand for the best, to which the few have led the many.... to you who grasp the underlying meaning of this struggle; to you who know yourselves akin to those who have preceded and to those who will follow; to you who are daily making this ideal a reality, this call is sent. anna howard shaw, president. jane addams, vice-president. charlotte anita whitney, second vice-president. mary ware dennett, executive secretary. susan walker fitzgerald, recording secretary. katharine dexter mccormick, treasurer. harriet burton laidlaw,} louise dekoven bowen, } auditors [ ] the first delegation received by president wilson after his inauguration was a group of eight or ten suffragists. it was arranged by miss alice paul, chairman of the congressional committee of the national suffrage association. they stated their case in a few words and quoted freely from his book, the new freedom. the president was very courteous but his attitude was one of amused curiosity. [ ] when the board met after the convention it was disclosed that the congressional union, instead of being merely a local society to assist the committee in its efforts with congress, as miss paul had said, was a national organization to work for the federal amendment. that is, it was to duplicate the work which the national association had been formed to do in and had brought to its present advanced stage. the association's letterheads had been used for this purpose and persons from all parts of the country had sent their names and money, many supposing they were assisting the national association. miss paul had been obtaining names for membership in the union during all the sessions of the convention. the board decided that there must be complete separation of the work of the committee and the union; that the same person could not be at the head of both and that the plans of the union must be regularly submitted to the board. miss paul refused to accept these conditions and she was at once relieved from the chairmanship of the congressional committee and the other members resigned. the union was continued as a separate organization. another committee was appointed by the national american association consisting of mrs. ruth hanna mccormick, chairman; mrs. antoinette funk, mrs. sherman booth, all of illinois, mrs. desha breckinridge (ky.), mrs. helen h. gardener (d. c.), mrs. h. edward dreier (n. y.), mrs. james tucker (calif.). headquarters were opened in the munsey building, washington, with the illinois women in charge. [ ] hubert l. henry (tex.), chairman; edward w. pou (n. c.); thomas w. hardwick (ga.); finis j. garrett (tenn.); martin d. foster (ills.); james c. cantrill (ky.); henry w. goldfogle (n. y.); philip p. campbell (kans.); irvine l. lenroot (wis.); edwin a. merritt, jr. (n. y.); m. clyde kelly (penn.). chapter xiv. national american convention of . the forty-sixth annual convention of the national american woman suffrage association had the honor and privilege of holding its sessions in representatives' hall at the state capitol in nashville, tenn., nov. - , .[ ] dr. anna howard shaw was in the chair and it was officially and cordially welcomed in the name of the city by mayor hilary howse; of the state suffrage association by its president, mrs. l. crozier-french, and of the nashville equal suffrage league by the president, mrs. guilford dudley. as dr. shaw rose to respond she was presented by miss louise lindsey, vice-regent of the ladies' hermitage association, with a gavel made from the wood of a hickory tree planted by general jackson at the hermitage, his home. she spoke of memories which made nashville dear to the whole country; referred to the merry barbecue which had been held for their entertainment the preceding day "at the old mansion of that great democrat, andrew jackson," and continued: when his honor the mayor spoke of the hope that if women entered into the political life of our country conditions would be made better, i forgot the north and turned back in memory to the great south, where no stronger argument in favor of our cause can be found than the women themselves. it is not the men who have made this nation what it is, it is the men and the women, and in no part of it have women contributed more than in the south. when we look back over its past history; when we see the land barren, the desolation everywhere; when we see the homes left destitute and the women prostrate by the graves of their dead; when we realize that the men were nearly all swept away--we know that the power which kept the south steadfast, which held the homes together, which cherished the traditions, which made the south what it is today was the loyalty, the patriotism, the unconquerable courage and the devotion of southern women in that hour of darkness and despair. had it not been for the new spirit of action born of the necessity of the times in the character of southern women to inspire southern men with hope and courage, desolation would still be over the south. they evolved from within themselves a power which no one knows that women possess until some hour of extreme trial calls it forth. never has there been a test of human endurance and wisdom to which women have not responded and become the inspiration and the strength of manhood. if any women of this nation have ever bought their freedom and paid a dear price for it, it is the women of the southland. i cannot see how any man who calls himself a democrat can fail to recognize that the fundamental principle of democracy is the right of the citizen to a voice in the government under which that citizen lives; much less can i understand how any southern man can look unmoved into the face of southern women knowing that they are branded as no other body of intelligent people in this country are--by disfranchisement--that they are deprived of that one symbol of power which elevates the citizens of a democracy out of the class of the defective and unfit. the only way men can redeem themselves, the only way they can be honest american citizens and democrats is to stand by the fundamental principle of democracy--that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed"--"governed" women as well as "governed" men. when nashville and tennessee and the south and the north and the east and the west shall stand on this basic principle of just government, then we shall have a republic, a government of the people, by the people and for the people. at the close of the address this resolution was enthusiastically adopted: "the national american woman suffrage association in convention assembled hereby expresses its heartfelt thanks and deep appreciation to our national president, dr. anna howard shaw, for her devoted and unremitting work for woman suffrage and for this association during the past year; for her splendid services in the campaigns which did so much to lead to victory two states; for her willingness to stand for re-election in order that she may lead us to new victories in the coming year." greetings were brought from the recently formed national suffrage association of canada by miss ida e. campbell, who said that although it was only eight months old it represented many affiliated societies in all the provinces. she spoke of the splendid war work that was being done by women and said: "our national president, mrs. l. a. hamilton of toronto, is at the head of the relief work in that city and the feeling is general that the patriotic activities of the suffragists are doing much to enhance the cause of woman suffrage in the eyes of the canadian public.[ ] may we now express the hope that when the war is over we may welcome many of our american sisters to what we have been looking forward to--our first canadian national suffrage convention. canada salutes you." greetings were read from the colorado state federation of women's clubs and were presented from the southern states woman suffrage conference by its president, miss kate m. gordon (la.). the large hall was crowded at the first evening meeting and the convention was formally welcomed by governor b. w. hooper, who said in the course of his address: it is highly appropriate that your progressive movement should unfurl its banners in this, the most progressive state in the south. our people are not swift in their pursuit of strange doctrines, but they are as a rule open to conviction and tolerant of differences of opinion. whatever may be our views of the necessity and efficacy of woman suffrage most of us have sense enough to know that it is surely coming in every state in the republic.... when it comes to tennessee i trust that there will be no faltering compromise, giving only the limited right to vote in the election of certain classes of officials. the suffrage, if granted at all, should not be grudgingly given but should be the complete and comprehensive right to participate in all elections. when suffrage comes to the women of tennessee i shall derive one substantial pleasure from it if i am still living, the joy and exultation of my little daughter, who has been a pronounced and persistent suffragist since she was nine years old. she has taken a keen and intelligent interest in all of my struggles, has rejoiced in the hour of my victory and wept in the hour of my defeat. she is the connecting link between me and the woman suffrage cause. in behalf of all the good people of tennessee, i extend greetings to your great association and express the hope that your sojourn in the historic volunteer state may be filled with pleasure and profit to each and every member of your convention. the governor's daughter was introduced to the convention and it settled itself in anticipation of the stories of the campaigns for woman suffrage amendments which had ended with the general election the preceding week, in some of them with victory, in others with defeat. miss anne martin, president of the nevada suffrage association, was heartily applauded as she told of the triumph in her state, saying: the suffrage victory in nevada means not only a solid equal suffrage west and another step toward equal suffrage for the united states but a triumph for better government in nevada. it is the most "male" state in america, perhaps in the world. the census of shows that there are two men to every woman. law, custom, social life are more nearly man-made than those of any other country; consequently nevada needs the help of her women to modify law, custom and social life, the help of those women whose pioneer mothers stood shoulder to shoulder with the men in building up a great commonwealth out of a wilderness. owing to the transitory character of many of the industries, such as the construction of irrigation works, railway construction and mining, there are nearly three times as many unattached men living outside of home influences as there are married women in the state. the male population is over per cent. transient; the population of women is only per cent. transient, as they have permanent occupations on the farms and in the schools. the argument of the anti-suffragists that "the women do not want it" was answered by a house-to-house canvass throughout the counties of the state. in many of them at least per cent. of the women enrolled themselves in favor of equal suffrage and their signatures are on file at the headquarters of the nevada equal franchise society. the fact that out of a voting population of only , a majority of , votes was cast to give women the franchise shows not only that men all over the state were just and fair-minded but that they must have instinctively felt the need of women's help.... the story of victory for montana was related by miss mary stewart, as the president, miss jeannette rankin, had been detained to prevent a tampering with the election returns, but she afterwards arrived and was enthusiastically welcomed. mrs. clara darrow, president of the north dakota association, gave an account of how the amendment had been lost in that state through political tricks. mrs. draper smith, president of the nebraska association, gave a report on the loss of that state and paid tribute to william jennings bryan, who had made sixteen strong speeches for it. mrs. walter mcnab miller, president of the missouri association, told of the effort through the hot summer to get the necessary , signatures to an initiative petition, after the legislature had refused to submit the amendment, and the tactics used to defeat it at the polls. her mention of the name of champ clark, speaker of the national house of representatives, who had recently declared for woman suffrage, was applauded. as mrs. harriet taylor upton, president of the ohio suffrage association, was not at the convention, the loss of the amendment in that state was described by mrs. myron vorce. [see state chapters.] the evening closed with the president's address. the report said: dr. shaw declared she had some sympathy for the anti-suffragists, as they were bound to lose. "when the campaign for woman suffrage was begun," she said, "the 'antis' had all of the earth and the suffragists had only hope of heaven but now many nations of the world and half of the united states have been converted to the cause of votes for women." she ridiculed the arguments of the anti-suffragists and said: "until you grant the right of a vote to all persons, you haven't a democracy--you have an aristocracy and the worst of all--an aristocracy of sex. soon the divine right of sex here will be as obsolete as the divine right of kings in europe." answering the argument that if women have the ballot they ought also to have the musket, dr. shaw said in telling of the sufferings of the women during the war: "it is said that , of the flower of europe's manhood have been killed in the last nine weeks of the war. i can't grasp the thought of that many dead men but i can look into the face of one dead soldier and know that he had a mother. if this woman had escaped death at childbirth she had watched over him day by day until she had to look up into the eyes of her boy. and then that boy was called by his country and soon he was dead--he was in the happy peace of glory and she was facing the empty years of agony. then they ask what a woman knows about war!... the very flower of a country perishes in a war, leaving the maimed and diseased to father the children of future generations. women ought to have the ballot during war and during peace, for we know that if they had had it in all countries this war would not have occurred." the report of mrs. mary ware dennett, corresponding and executive secretary, covered much of the work of the national association during , which was more extensive probably than in any preceding year in its history. it said in part: this year has completely broken all records in the number of campaign states--seven in all. in four of them--nevada, montana, north and south dakota--the amendment was submitted by legislative act; in three--nebraska, missouri and ohio--by initiative petition. it is noteworthy that in all of the last the suffragists consider the work of securing the requisite number of signatures, although it was exceedingly arduous, an invaluable asset to the campaign, each signer being practically guaranteed to vote right on the amendment itself. in ohio, nevada, montana and south dakota, only a simple majority vote on the amendment is necessary to pass it, but in nebraska per cent. of all the votes cast at the election is required and in north dakota and missouri a majority of all the votes cast. the year has been what suffragists call an "off year," since most of the state legislatures meet biennially in the odd years. nevertheless, what acts of legislatures there have been are of the greatest significance. those of massachusetts and new jersey submitted the suffrage amendment by overwhelming votes and in both states the suffragists are confident of the approval of the legislatures, which is necessary before final submission to the voters. an amendment was introduced into the legislatures of eight others. the national legislative record shows that never before has the congressional atmosphere been so thoroughly permeated with woman suffrage. the anxiety of some members of congress to show that they stood right with their constituents on the question and the agility of others in side-stepping every possible necessity for meeting the issue, have unerringly indicated that they all recognize the fact that the time has come when national politics must reckon with woman suffrage. all through the year there has been the most hearty cooperation between national headquarters and the washington and chicago offices of our congressional committee.... it is impossible to mention this committee without expressing on behalf of the officers of the association a most thorough appreciation of the service of its chairman, mrs. medill mccormick, who has not only given money generously to the work but has added what is more valuable still--steady, hard, personal labor, coupled with an indefatigable good humor, frequently under most trying circumstances.... the new state associations formed and the many suffrage organizations applying for affiliated or auxiliary membership were named and an account was given of the large sums of money, the vast amount of literature and the many workers supplied to the seven state campaigns of the year. these facts and the other activities of the association were related in part as follows: miss harriet grim of wisconsin was sent by request to north dakota to cover the series of chautauqua meetings in june and july. miss katharine devereux blake of new york offered her services for only expenses for a month of campaign work in july. hurried arrangements were made by telegram and as the promptest, most urgent pleas came from montana, it won her, although later she did some work in north dakota also. miss shaw's special fund was the backing which provided for both tours. miss blake made the wonderful record of obtaining from the collections at her meetings enough to cover all her travelling and living expenses. miss shaw's fund,[ ] which has often seemed like the miraculous pitcher, also provided part of the expense of sending mrs. jennie wells wentworth to ohio and mrs. laura gregg cannon to nevada. miss addams has contributed several weeks of campaigning and dr. shaw herself has made an itinerary, giving ten days to each of the campaign states, starting august and ending with election day.... another noteworthy feature of the year's work was the establishment of woman's independence day on the first saturday of may, initiated by mrs. mccormick and phenomenally successful. there was a wonderful response to the ringing call sent out by the national board to all the suffragists of the country to meet together in every city and town at a given time and sing a suffrage hymn, declare their faith, pass a resolution and have a speech. a woman's version of the declaration of independence was prepared for the occasion and president wilson was asked by dr. shaw to proclaim the day a legal holiday to be celebrated in recognition of the right and necessity that the women of the united states should become citizens in fact as well as in name. the president did not heed dr. shaw's request but the women of the country did. not a state was silent, not even the equal suffrage states, and many added parades and other events to the regular program. the story was told of the national junior suffrage corps to enroll the young people, the idea of miss caroline ruutz-rees (conn.); of the large amount of congressional documents distributed, among them , copies of the speech of senator henry f. ashurst (ariz.) before the senate on the federal amendment, presented by him; the travelling schools organized; lists prepared of many thousand active members and an infinite variety of details. mrs. dennett had severed her connection with the association the preceding september after four years' invaluable service. mrs. dennett made also the report of the literature committee, whose duties had now been merged in the national woman suffrage publishing co. the latter reported through its chairman, mrs. cyrus w. field. the greatly needed data department had been established under the cooperation of miss elinor byrns, chairman also of the press department; mrs. frances maule bjorkman and mrs. dennett. the volunteer services of miss helen raulett, like miss byrns a lawyer, had been obtained, and while its great need and possibilities had been demonstrated it was evident that it must be put on a paid, business basis to be effective. miss byrns gave an interesting account of the ramifications of the press and publicity department and its important accomplishments. "in my opinion," she said, "it is almost impossible to have suffrage news given out successfully by any one who is not an earnest suffragist. knowledge of publicity does not make up for the lack of conviction and enthusiasm," and she gave this instance: "a few months ago a writer for one of the new york newspapers--the worst 'anti' paper we have--telephoned me, saying, 'i have been told to write an editorial on the menace of woman suffrage. can you help me?' i said, 'yes, i can prove to you that the majority of the presidential electors in may represent equal suffrage states and that in all probability every political party will have to endorse woman suffrage before that time. what could be worse than that?' he agreed with me and his editorial based on the facts dr. shaw and i gave him has been a most successful campaign document for us." among other valuable suggestions miss byrns said: "while there are some editors who give us space because they have to--that is because we are always doing something 'different' and making news which cannot be ignored--there are perhaps even more who have a real interest in the suffrage movement and are therefore eager to give us all the space which the business department of their paper permits. and, by the way, one of the most valuable kinds of press work is that which can be done by every suffragist individually. newspaper and magazine offices are most sensitive to the praise and blame of readers. suffrage departments are sometimes stopped because no readers write their approval. individual newspaper policies, belittling or perverting the suffrage issue, are sometimes persisted in because no readers write their disapproval. it is discouraging to an editor when a reader writes a letter complaining of one opposing news item or one cartoon although she has ignored everything which has been printed in favor of suffrage." miss jane thompson, field secretary, told of the , miles she had travelled in the campaign states since early in april; of her experiences pleasant and unpleasant; of the excellent opportunities it had afforded of establishing thorough understanding and cordial relations between the national association and the states. she spoke of the long and arduous work of the national president and presented the following expression of loyalty and appreciation from those who had conducted the campaigns in ohio, missouri, nebraska, north dakota, montana and nevada: to dr. anna howard shaw: when service of the highest type has been faithfully and loyally rendered it is the pleasure of those most benefited by that service to express, though inadequately, their deep appreciation. we, the representatives of the campaign states, feel that to you we owe much for the splendid way in which you and your executive board stood by us in our efforts, but even more do we appreciate your personal labor, your untiring, beautiful spirit. always ready to meet whatever situation arose, regardless of fatigue, you encouraged the believers, braced up the uncertain and converted the unbelieving. your service, in our estimation, is invaluable and cannot be dispensed with. the legal adviser announced the settlement at last of the bequest of mrs. sarah j. mccall of ohio, including shares of cincinnati street railway stock, worth from $ , to $ , , and $ interest; also the receipt of a legacy of $ , , after the inheritance tax was paid, from former u. s. senator thomas w. palmer of michigan. miss elizabeth yates said in her report on presidential suffrage: "the favorable decision the past year by the supreme court of illinois leaves no room for any further contention regarding its constitutionality. it can be granted by any legislature by a bare majority vote and this can be obtained by many states that could not secure the large vote necessary to submit a constitutional amendment for full suffrage." she strongly urged that any state contemplating a campaign for full suffrage should first secure the presidential franchise. in her usual excellent report on church work, mrs. mary e. craigie told of her visits to the methodist ministerial associations of atlanta, tampa and new orleans with most gratifying results, as a friendly spirit towards woman suffrage was developed and the last named recommended the general conference to give laity rights to women. in cooperation with dr. nina wilson dewey, her chairman for iowa, arrangements were made during the mississippi valley conference in des moines with the clergymen of eighteen protestant churches to have their pulpits filled at some service on sunday by women delegates and the combined audiences by actual count numbered , . four thousand copies of the annual letter asking for a mention of the need of women's influence in state affairs in their mothers' day sermons were sent to as many clergymen. one of the most valuable sessions was voters' evening, under the auspices of the national men's league, with its president, james lees laidlaw (n. y.) in the chair. the opening address was made by u. s. senator luke lea (tenn.), who received a great ovation when he began and the audience rose with cheers and waving handkerchiefs when he finished. he said in the course of his speech: i am embarrassed by not knowing how to address this distinguished audience.... much as i regret it i must address you as "my disfranchised friends," who, in spite of your learning, your cultivation and your intelligence, under our enlightened and progressive civilization occupy the same political plane as insane persons, idiots, infants and others laboring under disabilities. to say i regret to be forced to address you thus is no mere lip service, contradictory of real sentiment and conviction, for i was one of the three southern senators who were sufficiently impressed with the absolute necessity of woman suffrage to step beyond the sacred portals of state rights and vote for the amendment to the constitution of the united states, removing from the electoral franchise the limitation of sex, and i am glad to have an opportunity to express the reasons for my faith. these two twofold: first, the wholesome effect upon our government of extending the privilege of voting to women; and second, the far-reaching results upon womanhood of granting this right. the first reason is justified by the statement which will be conceded by all, even the "antis," that an overwhelming majority of women are good rather than bad and have the highest ideals of government and politics. therefore, to give the right to vote to this class is to increase overwhelmingly the number of good voters and to multiply the number of citizens with these highest ideals. in answer to this, some "anti," who, by her opposition to woman suffrage, pleads guilty to the threadbare charge that women have not sufficient intelligence to vote, comes forward and says: "but the good women won't vote; only the bad women will exercise the privilege." this argument is answered by the contrary experience in states where women vote. if woman suffrage only increased the number of bad voters, then instead of spreading like a prairie fire from coast to coast it would be repealed in the states where it was originally tried as an experiment. the results in the states where the franchise has been granted are an absolute and irrefutable argument in favor of national woman suffrage. in these states it has removed the polling places from the dives to the churches and has opened more schools and closed more saloons than all other political movements combined. the ideals of government and the standard of right and wrong by which public officials are measured have been raised without lowering one iota the standard of motherhood, of wifehood and of womanhood, a standard of which every woman is proud and which every man reverences and worships.... other speakers were president h. s. barker of the university of kentucky; r. a. mcdowell (ky.), the hon. leon locke (la.), miss s. grace nicholes of chicago, and charles t. hallinan, vice-president of the league. a branch of the men's national league was formed during the convention by about thirty prominent men, with john bell keble, dean of the vanderbilt law school, as temporary chairman. delegates to these national conventions now felt less need of oratorical eloquence and more of practical knowledge of the work which was under way that they might carry back with them to their own states. one evening was profitably spent in listening to short speeches by miss alice stone blackwell on the work of the national association; mrs. antoinette funk on that of the congressional committee; mrs. raymond brown, president of the new york association, on the unusual and spectacular campaign now under way in that state; miss hannah j. patterson on the preparatory campaign in pennsylvania; mrs. maud wood park, secretary of the boston equal suffrage association, and mrs. teresa a. crowley on the coming campaign in massachusetts; mrs. lillian j. feickert, president of the state association, on that of new jersey. in all of these states amendments had been submitted for . miss rankin told the welcome story of the montana victory. the mass meeting on sunday afternoon was one of the largest ever assembled in ryman auditorium, all the standing room occupied and many turned from the doors. the audience represented every station in life and the large number of men was noticeable. dr. shaw presided and paid a splendid tribute to the people of nashville. miss jane addams took for a text her visit to the historic home of andrew jackson, which, she said, had caused her to think of the great part the men of the south had in shaping the policies of the early government of the states, and how chief justice john marshall, a southern man, had welded them together into an unconquerable whole. she referred to the way in which women had borne their part and asked why the men were so progressive in those early days and yet so reactionary now, when women asked that they should make another experiment in popular government. miss rose schneiderman, president of the new york city women's trade union, spoke on the industrial woman's need of the vote, telling of the , working women in new york state, the low wages of many, the unjust conditions. "do you talk of chivalry?" she exclaimed. "we women who work will tell you that we have no chivalry shown us in industry and we will also tell you that we go home with half the wages that men get. these same men who tell us we are angels send vice commissioners to investigate why girls go wrong. i should think a glance at the pay-roll would give them the answer." miss rosika schwimmer of budapest, who had come with a petition to president wilson from the women of fifteen countries that were at war to use his influence to bring about peace, made an eloquent and impassioned address. a storm of applause greeted her appeal to the men of this country to avoid the catastrophe of war in the future by granting the vote to women, who would always use it for peace. mrs. desha breckinridge, president of the kentucky equal rights association, one of the most brilliant and forceful of the suffrage speakers, took for a subject the south needs her women. "do not call upon the women of the south to help you solve your cotton problems while you are using up the children of women in the cotton mills," she said. "women must have the ballot to cope with all the hard conditions of life. when we think of war and patriotism we think of men. we forget the little army of women that always follow in the wake of the big armies and brave the bullets and the fearful conditions of warfare that they may become ministering angels on the battlefields; the florence nightingales who undergo the hardships to nurse the wounded. we are also likely to forget the large army that stays behind, the women on whom the hardships of war fall heavily, those who must endure the sorrow and waiting. is it fair to say woman shall have no part in the every-day affairs of life when she must bear so much in war?" the program closed with an address by mrs. kate waller barrett on the attitude toward woman suffrage of the international council of women, of which she was an officer. she described its quinquennial meeting in rome the preceding may, shortly before the breaking out of the war, and said the desire for the suffrage was the connecting link between the women of all nations. she declared that the safety of the country depended on women's having a vote in the administration of all that concerned the welfare of men as well as of women and children. in the evening the officers, delegates and visitors were entertained by mrs. benjamin f. wilson at her beautiful home, wilmor manor. this convention of will be always noted for the long controversy over what was known as the shafroth national suffrage amendment. it occupied all or a part of several sessions and the _woman's journal_ said: "the greatest emphasis of the convention was laid on the work in congress; this was true even to the extent of cutting short discussion of state methods. the story of the year's work in the different states for both full and presidential suffrage had to be abruptly dismissed." a new congressional committee had been appointed on january , consisting of mrs. medill mccormick, mrs. antoinette funk and mrs. sherman m. booth, of illinois, mrs. breckinridge (ky.), mrs. mary c. c. bradford (colo.); mrs. john tucker (cal.); mrs. edward dreier (n. y.); mrs. helen h. gardener (d. c.). mrs. dreier resigned; mrs. gardener was largely prevented from serving by illness and absence. other members were too far away for active work and the headquarters in washington were in charge of the three comparatively young, energetic women from illinois, who had shown such remarkable political acumen in getting the presidential suffrage bill through the legislature of that state and were leaders in the progressive party. the remarkable report of the committee's work presented by the chairman, mrs. mccormick, including her report as chairman of the campaign committee, filled pages of the printed handbook of the convention. it contained a full account of the action on woman suffrage in both houses of the rd congress, names and votes of members, committee hearings, senate debate, record of speeches, statistics and information such as was never before presented to a suffrage convention, and showed an amount of committee work accomplished almost equal to that which had been done in all preceding sessions of congress combined.[ ] it was clear that for the first time the attempt to secure action by congress on woman suffrage was being made in political fashion, which was the proper way, but unfortunately it showed also that the federal amendment, which had been the principal object of the national association for the past forty-four years, was in danger of being replaced with one of a totally different character. space can be given for only enough of mrs. mccormick's exceedingly clever presentation of this proposed amendment to make the matter fully understood. i assumed the responsibility as chairman early in january, , and after opening our headquarters in the munsey building at washington, d. c., divided the committee's work into three departments--lobby, publicity and organization. the lobby and publicity were continued from the washington office and an organization office was opened in chicago during the latter part of january, as it was decided that chicago was much better situated geographically to carry on the program of this department. as congress was in session it was necessary for us to concentrate our attention on our lobby at the capitol and to determine as quickly as possible both our policy to be adopted and the wisest method of legislative procedure. in order to facilitate this work mrs. booth and i joined mrs. funk in washington, and, dividing our duties, we proceeded to investigate the temper of congress. what was known in the present congress as the bristow-mondell resolution had been reported out favorably by the standing committee on suffrage in the senate and, if we desired, could be placed as unfinished business on the calendar, which would result in a discussion terminating in a vote. the situation in the house of representatives was not so favorable. it has no suffrage committee and the mondell amendment was in the judiciary. as that committee was composed of men if not actually opposed at least indifferent there did not seem to be any immediate chance of action. we discovered very soon, however, that the congressional union was circulating a petition among the democrats requesting them to caucus on the subject of establishing a suffrage standing committee. the members of your congressional committee felt this to be a great mistake. it gave the democratic party a splendid opportunity to commit themselves as opposed to woman suffrage, using their state's rights doctrine as a reason for their action. we discussed it with the members of the congressional union, who were convinced they were right in putting the democratic party on record for or against suffrage, and it developed during our discussion that their policy of holding this party responsible, as the party in power, was to be put into action at once and announced as soon as the democrats had voted in caucus. knowing that this policy was diametrically opposed to that of the national association, which has always been non-partisan--to hold the individual and not the party responsible--we tried desperately hard to block the petition and avoid the democratic caucus at that time, but as the congressional union had a lobby of forty women against our three, it was impossible for us to head it off. the party caucused and not only voted against a standing committee on suffrage but mr. heflin of alabama amended the resolution before the caucus so that the members were enabled to vote on february by to that woman suffrage was a question to be determined by the states and not by the national government. it was now necessary for us to make a complete canvass of both houses of congress, to tabulate the records of the men, in so far as we were able to secure the information, and to determine at the earliest possible moment whether or not it was advisable to bring the bristow amendment to a vote in the senate.... my first call was on senator borah of idaho, who is a personal friend, a suffragist, and has the advantage of being a progressive republican from an equal suffrage state. "i cannot vote for this amendment," he said, "and want you to understand my reasons for taking such a stand. i do not believe the suffragists realize what they are doing to the women of the south if they force upon them universal suffrage before they are ready for it. the race question is one of the most serious before the country today and the women must help solve it before they can take on greater responsibilities. i am also a strong conservationist and entertain a state's rights attitude of mind on both these questions." mrs. mccormick then called on senator burton of ohio, whom she described as "a reactionary republican"; senator johnson of maine and senator saulsbury of delaware, "strong states' rights democrats," and she gathered the impression that the new amendment which her congressional committee had in mind would have a better chance than the original, to which the congressional union had given the name susan b. anthony amendment. the following men agreed to serve on the advisory committee in the senate: borah of idaho; bristow of kansas; shafroth and thomas of colorado; owen of oklahoma; clapp of minnesota; smoot of utah; kern of indiana; lea of tennessee and ashurst of arizona. "they unanimously agreed with us," she said, "that it would be of great educational value to have the question brought up before the senate during the present session, as there had never been a debate on the question of woman suffrage in congress."[ ] mrs. mccormick told how the amendment had been put on the calendar as unfinished business and discussed daily at o'clock for ten days until the vote was taken march , , when it received ayes, noes, a majority but not the necessary two-thirds. a change of votes would have carried it and more than half of the absentees were known to be in favor but these facts did not give her any faith in the amendment. "during the canvassing of the senate," she said, "we were more and more impressed with the necessity of meeting the state's rights argument and felt more and more keenly the barrier of the state constitutions in advancing our cause. an analysis of these constitutions proved most illuminating and in arguing with the senators upon this point they constantly reiterated the general idea of submitting this question, as well as other big national questions, to the decision of the people. we also discovered at this time that there were seven or eight different amendments before congress on the woman suffrage question. for example, there is a bill giving us the right to vote for presidential electors. there is another bill giving us the right to vote for senators and congressmen, etc....[ ] a general canvass of the lower house and also the action of the democratic caucus convinced us in an even more pronounced way that we are blocked by the state's rights doctrine." the report continued: it was at this time that mrs. funk, mrs. booth and myself interpreted our duty as a committee to mean that we were appointed not only for the purpose of national propaganda and for the promotion of the bristow amendment but that our duty was a more extensive one and required us to meet whatever political emergency might arise during our term of office. we, therefore, set about to originate a new form of amendment to the u. s. constitution which would meet the state's rights argument, if such a thing were possible. as mrs. funk is a lawyer, mrs. booth and i agreed that it was most important for her to draw up such an amendment. this was done; it was submitted to several lawyers, to our advisory committees of senate and house; to an able constitutional lawyer in washington, to judge william j. calhoun, of chicago, a lawyer of international reputation, and to judge hiram gilbert, one of the best constitutional lawyers in illinois. we accepted judge gilbert's rewording and then sent it on to the progressive party's legislative bureau in new york, where it was endorsed by their corps of lawyers, who draft all their bills. the amendment was at this time discussed with our advisory committee in the senate and met not only with their approval as an amendment but they considered it a very shrewd political move on the part of our organization. at the next meeting of the national suffrage board i presented the amendment, and, after nearly two months' consideration and discussion with some of the leading suffragists of the country, they voted _unanimously_ endorsing it and instructing us to have it introduced whenever we thought it advisable. this action was taken by the national board about two weeks before the vote came up in the senate. not wishing in any way to interfere with the bristow amendment, we did not discuss even the idea of this one with any other member of congress excepting of course our advisory committees.[ ] senator john f. shafroth of colorado, at the request of mrs. mccormick's committee, introduced the new measure, which took his name, and it was favorably reported to the senate by senator owen of oklahoma in may. at this nashville convention it was for the first time brought before the association. in her report mrs. mccormick thus described the hearing which had been held before the house judiciary committee march : the hearing was just at the time of the big blizzard and our speakers were stormbound, so that when we appeared before the committee there were only mrs. funk, mrs. booth and myself to represent the national association, and, as mrs. booth was not prepared to speak and i was chairman for the time given our committee, it left mrs. funk as our only speaker. we had discussed the night before the hearing the possible phases of the suffrage question mrs. funk could use in her speech that would be new to the judiciary committee. as an organization we have been conducting hearings before this committee for over forty years, and, as many of its members have served several terms, they are as familiar as we are with the suffrage arguments. we, therefore, decided to be perfectly frank with the committee and draw to their attention the fact that they possessed the power, if they wished to exercise it, to suggest to congress some other form of legislation than had been presented to them. mrs. funk made this statement to them and said that in interviewing the members of the judiciary committee individually we found that they were convinced that woman suffrage was a question which was growing so rapidly throughout the country that it would only be a short time before the women would succeed in gaining their political freedom, but that as a committee, and because there was a majority of democrats on it, they did not feel that they were able to report the mondell amendment in any form.[ ] mrs. mccormick then called on mrs. funk to present the shafroth-palmer amendment, which had been introduced in the house by a. mitchell palmer (penn.), and the argument for it. the amendment read as follows: whenever any number of legal voters of any state to a number exceeding per cent. of the number of legal voters at the last preceding general election held in such state, shall petition for the submission to the legal voters of said state of the question whether women shall have equal rights with men in respect to voting at all elections to be held in such state, such question shall be so submitted, and if a majority of the legal voters of the state voting on the question shall vote in favor of granting to women such equal rights, the same shall thereupon be deemed established, anything in the constitution or laws of such state to the contrary notwithstanding. in beginning her carefully prepared "brief" mrs. funk said: this amendment to the u. s. constitution must pass both branches of the national congress by a two-thirds vote and be ratified by a majority vote of three-fourths of the state legislatures before it becomes a law. so far it is identical with the bristow-mondell amendment. the difference between the two is that after the latter amendment has passed three-fourths of the state legislatures it completely enfranchises the women. the shafroth-palmer amendment, after it has passed three-fourths of the state legislatures, enables per cent. of the voters of a state to bring the suffrage question up for the consideration of the voters at the next general election. such a petition may be filed at any time, not only once but indefinitely, until suffrage is won, and a majority of those voting on the question is sufficient to carry the measure. in other words, every state where the women are not at present enfranchised may be a campaign state every year. if the male voters are obliged to hear the woman suffrage question agitated and discussed at a perennial campaign, how long will it be before, in desperation and self-defense, they will vote in favor of it? now, why is the shafroth-palmer amendment easier to pass congress than the bristow-mondell amendment? first of all it shifts the responsibility of actually enfranchising the women from the senators and representatives to the people of their respective states. second, the state's rights doctrine is the one objection raised to every federal issue that comes before congress. it is primarily the greatest obstacle to federal legislation on any subject and is recognized as a valid objection by the members of congress and particularly those from the north, who feel that they owe to the members of the south the justice of refraining from interference in matters vital to the south.... third, the democratic party is committed to the initiative and referendum but not to woman suffrage.... the president has endorsed the initiative and referendum and has fully convinced himself of its merit.... we are asking the democratic party to give us, the women of the country, the initiative and referendum on the question of whether or not we shall be allowed to vote, and no state can have this question forced upon it or even settled until a majority of the voters of the state cast their ballots in favor of it. the difficulties connected with the old amendment both in congress and in many states were described and the case of new york was cited among others: if the matter of suffrage is submitted to the state of new york in and does not carry, under the new york constitution it cannot again be submitted for two years. meantime all the energy that should be expended in directly educating the people must again be wasted trying to get a majority vote in two successive legislatures. it is the opinion of one of the great suffrage leaders in new york, as expressed to me, that if the amendment does not carry in the people will not have an opportunity to vote upon it for another fifteen or twenty years.[ ] the early passage of the shafroth-palmer amendment would eliminate the state constitutional barrier and leave for the state organization only the work of ratification of this amendment, which only requires a majority vote in both branches of the legislature. again the legislator is able to shift the responsibility to the voters of his state. he is not voting directly on the question himself--only to submit the question to the people. you can readily see that here again this amendment is easier to ratify in the legislatures than the bristow-mondell would be, because in the ratification of the latter the legislators are practically casting the final vote on the enfranchisement of the women all over the country.... the simultaneous consideration of suffrage in every state at the same time would give overwhelming accumulative impetus to the movement and would increase suffrage activity inestimably. the fact that the national congress had taken any action whatsoever in regard to the suffrage question would stamp it as a national issue, and i very much doubt whether the democratic and republican parties would be able to decline to put a suffrage plank in their national platforms. this ended mrs. funk's statement and mrs. mccormick continued: "in dividing up the work of the lobby mrs. sherman undertook to card catalogue congress by the same method which she used so successfully in the illinois legislature and a list of members was prepared who should be defeated on their record in congress. arthur dunn, who had been a washington newspaper correspondent for thirty years, was put at the head of the publicity bureau and proved to be of inestimable value because of his personal acquaintance with every member of congress." charles t. hallinan, also an experienced newspaper man, had been made chairman of the press bureau and in his report to the convention told of the introduction of the latest methods of publicity work and the signal success they had achieved. a chicago office had been opened for organization and a system established of thorough congressional district work, a detailed account of which filled half a dozen pages of the printed minutes. miss lillie glenn and miss lavinia engle had been appointed field organizers and a number of states were canvassed, speeches made indoors and out in scores of counties, women's societies visited and many suffrage clubs formed. every kind of transportation was used, from muleback to automobiles, and many hardships were encountered. the report closed with several pages of valuable suggestions for what would be a thorough political campaign if carried out. mrs. mccormick also gave an interesting report of her chairmanship of another committee, saying: early in the summer of mrs. desha breckinridge advanced the valuable idea of a special campaign committee to be appointed by the national board for the purpose of giving aid to the campaign states by establishing a speakers' bureau for their benefit and devising means for raising necessary funds, which the national board approved. my indorsement would have been less enthusiastic could i have foreseen that i would be selected as chairman. a special finance committee was appointed, mrs. stanley mccormick, chairman; miss addams, treasurer, and i, secretary. miss ethel m. smith, of washington, d. c., spent her vacation establishing a speakers' bureau in the chicago headquarters and it has been conducted by mrs. josephine conger-kanecko. as many national speakers have been routed through the campaign states as our finances would permit. we were faced with the discouraging fact that to do really active campaign service we would need a fund of not less than $ , and we had less than $ , . we collected and distributed in cash a less amount than would be used on the campaign of a city alderman in an off year. the plan of self-sacrifice day had been suggested to mrs. breckinridge by a wisconsin suffragist and adopted by the national board and a general appeal went out to the women of america to sacrifice something in aid of suffrage and contribute the amount to the general fund for use in the campaign states. [$ , were realized.] mrs. funk, while walking through the capitol one day, observed a bride with much gold jewelry in evidence and expressed the wish that a little of the gold used for personal ornament might find its way into a treasure chest to be sold for the campaign states and so the idea of the "melting pot" was suggested.... the plan was endorsed and put into operation as follows: a carefully selected list of names of women was taken from among the various suffrage organizations, colleges, churches, etc. these women received a letter asking for a contribution to the melting pot and further urging them to accept a sub-committeeship, making themselves responsible for soliciting from at least six people a contribution and keeping track of this group until their possibilities had been exhausted. the names of these persons were carefully scanned by the general committee and two or three out of each group of six were asked to go at the head of a further sub-committee and so something not unlike an endless chain was created. although this was put into effect hastily and during the intense heat of a washington summer, it was an enormous success and now at the close of the campaign contributions are still coming in and we consider that the top soil of melting pot possibilities has not been scratched. [$ , were realized.] mrs. funk's report of her campaign work was an excellent showing of the situation which the suffragists faced in state campaigns and had done from the beginning: from the time i left washington august , until i returned to chicago october , i covered approximately , miles. after speaking three days in indiana, where the suffragists were straining every nerve to secure a constitutional convention, i spent two days in chicago and then started into the western states. my first three days were spent in omaha, and, although my original itinerary contemplated my coming to nebraska for the last ten days of the campaign, this was afterwards changed and i went back to montana a second time, so my observations regarding nebraska refer to omaha alone. here existed an almost unbelievable condition of opposition. the brewers had come openly into the field against us and the brewing interests are connected with many of the big financial ventures in that city. bankers, merchants, tailors and other business men whose wives were in suffrage were brazenly warned that the brewing deposits would be withdrawn from banks, that patronage would be taken away from merchants and tradespeople--even doctors were threatened with the loss of their clientele if their wives continued actively in the campaign. the result was a paralysis of action among many women who would naturally have been leaders and supporters of the work. mrs. draper smith was doing all that was humanly possible under the circumstances to stem the tide of opposition, but money for publicity and organizing and many speakers seemed to be a necessity. upon my report to mrs. mccormick all extra aid possible was given. my trip to south dakota was interesting in the extreme. it and north dakota are agricultural states, the cities are small and far apart, the villages are scattered over vast areas. by far the larger percentage of population dwells in the country on farms and ranches. the two dakotas are almost pioneer states even now, but they present the highest degree of educational advantage and of general literacy perhaps in the whole united states. their laws are generally good and for that reason there appears to be much apathy on the part of both men and women regarding suffrage. the states are prosperous and the people have not felt to any extent the pinch of wrong political conditions. the great problem was to reach the people and make them think, as when they think at all upon the subject they are apt to think right. i am convinced that whatever the vote against the suffrage amendment may have been in north dakota it was the result of indifference and lack of special information and not to any extent real opposition. i believed from what i could learn in south dakota the liquor interests were making their last fight for state control and about the time i arrived mrs. pyle had ascertained that a large amount of money was being used to subsidize the state press, and simultaneously the literary efforts of the anti-suffragists, which have appeared throughout the press during the last year, came out in the leading papers, and anti-suffrage ladies at $ a week and expenses appeared on the platform of the principal towns and cities. during my campaign there i spoke wherever possible out-of-doors, even though meetings were arranged for me in halls, courthouses and churches. i found that the small audiences which would assemble in these places were made up of women and men already interested and that the uninstructed voter would only listen when you caught him on the street. i spent the week of the state fair at huron with mrs. pyle and witnessed a wonderful demonstration of activity. as high as , people a day were in attendance and the grounds were covered with our yellow banners. every prize-winning animal, every racing sulky, automobile and motorcycle carried our pennants. twenty thousand yellow badges were given away in one day. the squaws from the reservation did their native dances waving suffrage banners, and the snake charmer on the midway carried a votes for women pennant while an enormous serpent coiled around her body. i spoke during the fair four and five times a day and held street meetings downtown in the evening. when not thus engaged i assisted mrs. pyle and her committee in distributing thousands of pieces of literature and was amazed at the eagerness of the people to receive them. we investigated the fair grounds to see how much was thrown away and found almost none. in north dakota mrs. darrow had asked me to go into the untilled suffrage field. in many places they had never heard a suffrage address nor had a suffrage meeting ever been held. i zigzagged across from the southeast to the northwest corners and in minot was arrested for making a street speech. there was no law that i could discover against my speaking in the street and i was convinced and am still that it was the result of the petty tyranny of town officials unfavorable to women. a fine of $ imposed upon me by the justice of the peace was remitted by him. i spent twelve days in montana, travelling about , miles, and found more general interest than in any other state. with , voters scattered over the third largest state in the union, with many contending elements, with an acute labor situation, with the political control of the state vested very largely in one great corporation, there was plenty to occupy the attention of a suffragist worker. miss rankin's organization work had been carried to a high degree of efficiency by the most strenuous endeavor on her part. the amalgamated copper company, striving to defeat the workmen's compensation act, had joined hands with the liquor interests, working to defeat woman suffrage, and had put on the petticoat and bonnet of the organized female anti-suffragists. i spoke to thousands of people all over the state, and while on the surface all appeared well, there was an undertow of fierce opposition that could be felt but that can not be estimated until the votes are counted. [the state was carried by , .] nevada was like a story in a book--a big, little state, with , inhabitants and , voters, and so thoroughly was it organized by miss martin that i believe she could address every voter by his first name. i felt like a fifth wheel. all the work appeared to be finished and hung aside to season by the time i arrived and i was in the unenviable position of being sandwiched between dr. shaw, who had just preceded me, and miss addams, who immediately followed me. i went over the desert, however, and into mines, and spoke in butchers' homes and at meetings that wound up with a supper and a dance and came away with the certainty that miss martin had two or three thousand votes tucked away in her inside pocket. [the state was carried by , .] on this trip i learned of hundreds of thousands of pieces of literature sent out by our entertaining friend, the hon. tom heflin of alabama. i know now why it was that all last winter he jumped up in congress every few minutes and read into the congressional record something about the horror of women voting. he had a long business head and he was thriftily saving postage on anti-suffrage literature in the interest of the "society opposed," of the liquor interests, of organized crime and of all those forces that have taken arms against us. the convention was deeply appreciative of the arduous and extensive work that has been done by the congressional committee but there was intense dissatisfaction with the so-called shafroth amendment, which had been freely discussed in the _woman's journal_ for the last eight or nine months.[ ] the debate in the convention consumed several sessions and more bitterness was shown than ever before at one of these annual meetings. the official board having endorsed the amendment felt obliged to stand by it, but to most of those delegates who had been in the movement for years it meant the abandonment of the object for which the association had been formed and for which all the founders, the pioneer workers and those down to the present day, had devoted their best efforts. dr. shaw was the only member of the board who had been many years connected with the association, and, while her judgment was opposed to the new amendment, she yielded to the earnest pleas of her younger colleagues and the optimistic members of the congressional committee that it should have a fair trial. miss blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_, strongly endorsed it and gave it the support of her paper in many long, earnest editorials. she also granted columns of space to vigorous arguments on both sides by suffragists throughout the country.[ ] the question had been before the state associations for the last seven or eight months. mrs. mary ware dennett, corresponding secretary of the national american association, wrote to the state presidents the first week in may, : "strange as it may seem, we find that quite a number of the members of our association have gotten the impression that the introduction of the shafroth amendment means the abandoning of the old amendment which has been introduced into congress for forty years or more, and which, as you know, has now been re-introduced and at this session will be called the bristow-mondell amendment. nothing could be further from the truth. the reason for the introduction of the shafroth amendment is to hasten the day when the passage of the bristow-mondell amendment will become a possibility.... both amendments are before congress but only the new one stands any chance of being acted upon before adjournment.[ ] we stand by the old one as a matter of principle; we push for the new one as a matter of immediate practical politics and to further the passage of the old one." mrs. dennett also vigorously advocated the new amendment in the _woman's journal_. at the opening of the second session of the convention devoted to the subject mrs. harriot stanton blatch moved that the shafroth amendment be not proceeded with in the next congress and it was seconded. instantly mrs. raymond brown, president of the new york state association, offered as a substitute resolution: "it is the sense of this convention that the policy of the national american woman suffrage association shall be to support by every means within its power, in the future as in the past, the amendment known as the susan b. anthony amendment; and further that we support such other legislation as the national board may authorize and initiate to the end that the susan b. anthony resolution become a law."[ ] after the discussion had lasted for hours, with the administration supporting this resolution, a motion to strike out the words "and further" and all that followed was lost and it was carried by a vote of to .[ ] the next day an informal conference was held at which miss laura clay and mrs. sallie clay bennett explained a bill for federal suffrage, which they, with others, had long advocated, to enable women to vote for u. s. senators and representatives. congress had the power to enact such a law by a simple majority vote of both houses. the association for many years had had a standing committee on the subject, which was finally dropped because it was believed that the law could not possibly be obtained. it found much favor at this convention, which instructed the congressional committee to "investigate and promote the right of women to vote for u. s. senators, representatives and presidential electors through action of congress." there was spirited discussion of the congressional committee's plan for "blacklisting" candidates for congress whose record on woman suffrage was objectionable and it finally resulted in the passing of a resolution that this could be done only when approved by the majority of the societies in the state concerned. it was decided that the congressional committee should send out information and suggestions for congressional work but that the state associations should determine how this material should be used and that when the majority of them in a state could not agree upon some plan of cooperation the congressional committee should not work in said state. the feeling aroused by the discussion of the shafroth amendment was manifested in the election, where delegates were entitled to vote and votes were cast. dr. shaw received for president and the rest were blank, as even delegates who opposed this amendment would not vote against her. miss jane addams declined to serve longer as vice-president and reluctantly consented to her election as honorary vice-president but resigned before the close of the convention, as she felt that she could not be responsible for actions in which she had practically no part. mrs. desha breckinridge of kentucky was re-elected second vice-president without opposition but resigned soon afterwards, although not because of any disagreement with the policy of the board. mrs. katharine dexter mccormick of new york received votes for first vice-president and miss jean gordon of new orleans . dr. katharine bement davis of new york was made third vice-president without opposition, nor was there any to mrs. orton h. clark of michigan for corresponding secretary. for recording secretary mrs. susan w. fitzgerald of massachusetts received votes and miss anne martin of nevada . mrs. henry wade rogers of new york was almost unanimously chosen for treasurer and mrs. walter mcnab miller of missouri for first auditor. for second auditor mrs. medill mccormick of chicago received votes and miss zona gale of new york . later mrs. nellie nugent somerville of mississippi was appointed in place of mrs. breckinridge. the new board finally included only two members of the old one besides dr. shaw--mrs. mccormick and mrs. fitzgerald. the present convention was declared by resolution to have been "one of the greatest and most delightful meetings in the history of the organization," and a long list of thanks was extended "to the city of nashville for its broad and generous hospitality and for special courtesies." the tennessee equal suffrage association gave a dinner, with mrs. l. crozier french, its president, as toast-mistress; the women's press club had a luncheon for the visiting press representatives and the college women's league one for its delegates. it was a relief from the tension of the week to have the last evening of the convention devoted to entertainment. miss zona gale read a charming unpublished story, friendship village; a musical program was given by the fiske jubilee singers and the convention closed with a remarkable moving picture play, your girl and mine, an offering to the association by mrs. medill mccormick.[ ] the treasurer's report showed receipts for the year of $ , and expenditures $ , . in addition a special fund for the "campaign" states had been subscribed of $ , , of which $ , had been spent. mrs. medill mccormick had made a personal contribution of $ , to the publicity work of the washington and chicago headquarters. pledges of $ , were made by the convention. the committee of which mrs. frances e. burns (mich.) was chairman reported resolutions that urged the u. s. senate and house of representatives to take up at once the amendments now pending in congress for the enfranchisement of women; demanded equal pay for equal work and legislation to protect the nationality of american women who married foreigners. they re-affirmed the association's past policy of non-partisanship and declared that "the national american woman suffrage association is absolutely opposed to holding any political party responsible for the opinions and acts of its individual members, or holding any individual public official or candidate responsible for the action of his party majority on the question of woman suffrage." of the european war now in its fourth month, the resolutions said: whereas: it is our conviction that had the women of the countries of europe, with their deep instinct of motherhood and desire for the conservation of life, possessed a voice in the councils of their governments, this deplorable war would never have been allowed to occur; therefore, be it resolved: that the national american woman suffrage association, in convention assembled, does hereby affirm the obligation of peace and good will toward all men and further demands the inclusion of women in the government of nations of which they are a part, whose citizens they bear and rear and whose peace their political liberty would help to secure and maintain. resolved: that we commend the efforts of president wilson to obtain peace. sympathizing deeply with the plea of the women of fifteen nations, we ask the president of the united states and the representatives of all the other neutral nations to use their best endeavors to bring about a lasting peace founded upon democracy and world-wide disarmament. * * * * * as the national convention for would meet in nashville it was necessary to have a special delegation attend the "hearing" in washington which always was held at the first session of a new congress. the officers of the congressional union arranged for one before the house judiciary committee for march , and, as it was not likely that a second would be granted, mrs. medill mccormick, mrs. antoinette funk and mrs. sherman booth represented the national american association at this one, as members of its congressional committee. mrs. funk was the speaker and the main points of her address are included in mrs. mccormick's report in this chapter. in effect it prepared the way for the new measure afterwards called the shafroth amendment and she began by saying: "ours is the oldest national suffrage association in the united states. it has been in existence over fifty years and comprises a membership of , enrolled women in the non-suffrage states. in addition to these i speak this morning in behalf of the , , women voters in the ten equal suffrage states." further on she said: "gentlemen, the dearest wish of our hearts would be fulfilled if you would enfranchise the women. i know pretty much whether you are going to or not and you know that i know." the committee asked her a number of questions and she concluded: "we feel that this question could at least safely go to the people. it might be submitted by petition of the voters. in addition let me make this point along the line of the states' rights argument: you see, a legislature _per se_ has no right; it is nothing; it has no privilege--the privilege is all in the people themselves, and you could not say it would be contrary to the rights of the people in the state to take down an obstacle that was built up in front of them. so, in view of the action of the democratic caucus in the house, we think you can at least do this much for us; you can take down this obstacle--state legislatures." the federal women's equality association also had asked for a portion of the time and its corresponding secretary, mrs. clara bewick colby of washington and portland, ore., had charge of it. although this association was organized twelve years before for the special purpose of obtaining a bill enabling women to vote for senators and representatives, it sponsored in the present congress the same measure which the old association had introduced for the past thirty-five years and on this occasion its speakers discussed only the amendment. mrs. colby introduced first representative frank w. mondell of wyoming, who always was ready to champion the cause of woman suffrage for every organization. he made the point among others that "as state after state grants the franchise to women the condition is reached where its denial in other states deprives american citizens of a sacred right if they have moved from one commonwealth to another." "our federal union," he said, "will be more firmly cemented the nearer we come to the point where qualifications for this right of citizenship are the same in all states." in mrs. colby's comprehensive address she said: it may be news to some of you that we have had reports on the woman suffrage amendment from committees of congress. in the first hearing was given on woman suffrage and from that time to the present every congress has had one.... never were there such splendid women in the records of time as those who have stood for the rights of their sex and the rights of humanity.... all those women passed on without being allowed to enter the promised land and for every one of them one hundred sprang up for whom the doors of opportunity and education had been opened by the efforts of those pioneer women. now these also are coming to gray hairs and weariness, but for every one of these hundreds there are a thousand of the th century insisting that this question shall be settled now and not be passed on to the children of tomorrow to hamper and limit them, to exhaust and consume their energy and ability. i was present at the last hearing where mrs. stanton spoke before a judiciary committee, and she said: "i have stood before this committee for thirty years, may i be allowed to sit now?" ... miss anthony before a committee in said: "this method of settling the matter by the legislatures is just as much in the line of state's rights as is that of the popular vote. the one question before you is: will you insist that a majority of the individual men of every state must be converted before its women shall have the power to vote, or will you allow the matter to be settled by the representative men in the legislatures of the several states? we are not appealing from the states to the nation. we are appealing to the states, but to the picked men of those states instead of to the masses." she used to say when john morrissey, champion of the prize ring, was in the new york legislature, that it was bad enough to go and ask him to give her her birthright but it was infinitely worse to go down into the slums and ask his constituents.... mrs. colby closed with an extract from one of mrs. stanton's eloquent speeches before the judiciary committee and submitted a valuable summary of congressional hearings and reports on woman suffrage from to . mrs. glendower evans of boston presided over the hearing for the congressional union and introduced as the first speaker mrs. crystal eastman benedict (n. y.) who said in part: when we go to the voters of a campaign state to ask them to vote "yes" on a woman suffrage amendment, we go as petitioners with smiles and arguments and unwearied patience. we tell them over and over again the same well established truths; that it is the essence of democracy that all classes of people should have the power of protection in their own hands; that women are people and that they have special interests which need representation in politics; that where women have the right to vote they vote in the same proportion as men; that on the whole their influence in government has been decidedly good and absolutely no evils can be traced to that influence. in short, we reason and plead with them, try to touch their sense of honor, their sense of justice, their reason, whatever noble human quality they possess. that is one way of getting woman suffrage in the united states, a long, laborious and very costly way. we have now achieved it in nine states and are a political power, and the time has come for us to compel this great reform by the simple, direct, american method of amending the federal constitution. our argument is not one of justice or democracy or fair play--it is one of political expediency. our plea is simply that you look at the little suffrage map. that triumphant, threatening army of white states crowding rapidly eastward toward the center of population is the sum and substance of our argument. it represents , , women voters. do you want to put yourselves in the very delicate position of going to those women next fall for endorsement and re-election after having refused even to report a woman suffrage amendment out of committee for discussion on the floor of the house? you might say, "why do you select this democratic administration for your demand? this is the first time in eighteen years that this party has been in control of the government. we are doing our best to give the people what they want; we are trying to live up to our platform pledges; we think we are doing pretty well. why persist in embarrassing us with this very troublesome question?" ... i answer that if this congress adjourns without taking action on the woman suffrage amendment it will be because the party deliberately dodged the issue. every woman voter will know this and we have faith that the woman voter will stand by us. you will go to her and say: "we have lowered the tariff; we have made new banking laws; we have avoided war with mexico," and she will say: "it is true you have done these things, but you have done a great injustice to my sister in this nearby state. she asked for a fundamental democratic right, a right which i possess and which you are asking me to exercise in your favor. it was in your power to extend this right to her and you refused, and after this you come to me and ask me for my vote, but i shall show you that we stand together on this question, my sister and i." several of the committee made caustic remarks about trying to hold the democrats responsible after the republicans had ignored them during all the past years. mrs. evans then introduced mary (mrs. charles r.) beard, wife of the well-known professor in columbia university. her address in the stenographic report of the hearing filled seven closely printed pages, an able review of the democratic party's record in regard to federal legislation. it was the most complete exposé of the fallacy of the democratic contention that this party stood for state's rights as opposed to federal rights ever made at a hearing in behalf of woman suffrage and is most inadequately represented by quotations. in the course of it she said: did thomas jefferson and james madison, founders of the democratic party, rend the air with cries of state's rights against federal usurpation when the federalists chartered the first united states bank in , and when the federalist court, under the leadership of john marshall, rendered one ringing nationalist decision after another upholding the rights of the nation against the claims of the states? jefferson, as president, acquired the louisiana territory in what he admitted was an open violation of the federal constitution; and the same james madison who opposed the federalist bank in as a violation of the constitution and state rights, cheerfully signed the bill rechartering that bank when it became useful to the fiscal interests of the democratic party. jefferson was ready to nullify the alien and sedition laws and the constitution of the united states in the kentucky resolutions of . the very federalists who fought him in that day and denounced him as a traitor and nullifier lived to proclaim and practice doctrines of nullification in behalf of state's rights during the war of . in the administration of jefferson the federal government began the construction of the great national road without any express authority from the constitution and notwithstanding the fact that the construction of highways was admittedly a state matter.... on august , , the congress of the united states, then controlled by the democratic party, voted $ , , for the construction of experimental and rural-delivery routes and to aid the states in highway construction. from high in the councils of that party we now have the advocacy of national ownership of railways, telegraph and telephone lines. in the early days of the republic the democratic party protested even in armed insurrection in pennsylvania against the inquisitorial excise tax, which, to use the language of that day, "penetrated a sphere of taxation reserved to the state." today this party has placed upon the statute books the most inquisitorial tax ever laid in the history of our country by the act of april , --a tax on white phosphorus matches, not for the purpose of raising revenues, for which the taxing power is conferred, but admittedly for the purpose of destroying an industry which it could not touch otherwise. the match industry was found to be injurious to a few hundred workingmen, women and children. the democratic party wisely and justly cast to the four winds all talk about the rights of states, made the match business a national affair and destroyed its dangerous features. men and women all over the country rose up and pronounced it a noble achievement. republicans joined with the democrats in claiming the honor of that great humane service. i have not yet finished with this tattered shibboleth. the state had the right to nullify federal law in , so jefferson taught and kentucky practiced. half a century elapsed; the state of wisconsin, rock-ribbed republican, nullified the fugitive slave law and in its pronunciamento of nullification quoted the very words which jefferson used in . a democratic supreme court at washington, presided over by chief justice taney, the arch apostle of state rights, answered wisconsin in the very language of the federalists of , whom jefferson despised and condemned: "the constitution and laws of the united states are supreme, and the supreme court is the only and final arbiter of disputes between the state and national governments." a few more years elapsed. south carolina declared the right of the state to nullify and wisconsin answered on the field of battle: "the constitution and laws of the national government are supreme, so help us god!" ... at the close of that ever to be regretted war the nation wrote into the constitution the th and th amendments, their fundamental principle that the suffrage is a national matter. those amendments were intended to establish forever adult male suffrage.... mrs. beard then presented for the record a thorough synopsis of the proceedings in relation to the franchise of the convention that framed the u. s. constitution, which showed, she declared, that it would have made a national suffrage qualification if the members could have agreed on one. "in all the great federations of the world," she said, "germany, canada, australia, suffrage is regarded as a national question," and continued: "if respect for the great and wise who have viewed suffrage as a national matter did not compel us so to regard it, the plain dictates of common sense would do so. we are all ruled by the laws made by congress, from maine to california; we must all obey them equally whether we like them or not. we are taxed under them; we travel according to rules laid down by the interstate commerce commission under the interstate commerce law; the remaining national resources are to be conserved by congress; whether we have peace or war depends upon congress. is it of no concern who compose congress, who vote for members of congress and for the president?" it was shown by mrs. beard how closely national and state policies were interwoven; that the submission of this amendment would take it to the state legislatures for a final decision; how with woman suffrage in nine states there was a much greater demand for it than there was for the one changing the method of electing u. s. senators; how the plank in the national platform adopted in baltimore exempting american ships in coastwise trade from panama canal tolls was now before the democrats in congress for repudiation; how another plank demanded state action on presidential primaries and president wilson called for a national law. now a democratic congress refused to submit a national suffrage amendment because the platform did not ask for it! she concluded: "no, gentlemen, you can not answer us by shaking in our faces that tatterdemalion of a state's rights scarecrow.... it is a travesty upon our reasoning faculties to suppose that we can not put two and two together. it is underestimating our strength and our financial resources to suppose that we can not place these plain facts in the hands of , , voters, including over , , women. to take away from the states the right to determine how presidential electors shall be chosen is upholding the constitution and the previous rights of the states; but to submit to the states an amendment permitting them to decide for themselves whether they want woman suffrage for the nation is a violent usurpation of state's rights! we can not follow your logic." dr. cora smith king of seattle, who had so large a part in obtaining equal suffrage in washington, said: i am a voter like yourselves; i am eligible to become a member of congress, like any one of you. however, i do not stand before you as one voter only but to remind you that there are nearly , , women voters in the united states today. i represent an organization called the national council of women voters, organized in every one of the states where women vote on equal terms with men. these states, as you know, are wyoming, colorado, utah, idaho, washington, california, oregon, kansas, and arizona. there are three objects of the council: one is to educate ourselves in the exercise of our citizenship; the second is to aid in our own states where we vote in putting upon the statute books laws beneficial to men and women, children and the home; and our third object is the one which brings me here this morning--to aid in the further extension of suffrage to women. the members of your committee from the latest equal suffrage states will bear me out in saying that there are thousands of women voters who have not yet made their party alignment. i desire to call attention to these many thousands who have only recently won the battle which they have fought so earnestly--as i have done from the time that i attained my majority and have not yet forgotten what it cost--and who have their ears attuned to the plea of their sisters in the other states. i remind you, gentlemen, that they may not prove unheeding when requested to vote for the men who are favorable to the further extension of suffrage. i trust that this present committee will not justify the charge of being a graveyard for many suffrage bills. i warn you that ghosts may walk. mrs. william kent, wife of representative kent of california, spoke briefly, telling how the suffrage societies there became civic leagues after the vote was won and stood solidly back of seventeen bills relating to the welfare of the state and the home and the influence they were able to exert because of having the franchise. she urged the committee to submit the amendment and spare women the further drudgery of state campaigns and assured them that the women would not stop until the last one was enfranchised. representative joseph r. knowland of california gave earnest testimony in favor of the practical working of woman suffrage in that state saying: "for years we heard the same arguments against equal rights for women as we hear today but we have tried it and many who were most bitterly opposed are now glad that california has given the franchise to women. it has proved an unqualified success. what i desire to impress upon this committee is that even though you may oppose the amendment it is your duty to report it in order that every member of the house may have an opportunity to register his vote for or against it." mrs. donald hooker of baltimore pointed out the injustice of permitting women to vote in california, for instance, and holding them disfranchised when they crossed the state boundary line, and asked the committee to put themselves in the place of citizens so discriminated against. mrs. evans closed the hearing in an interesting speech but as she could not resist eulogizing president wilson she was assailed by a storm of questions and remarks from the republican members of the committee as to his attitude on woman suffrage, while her support of the democratic party brought protests from the members of the congressional union. mrs. mccormick closed for her side by saying: "mr. chairman, i simply want to clear up what may be a little confused in your mind in regard to the difference in the policy in the two organizations represented here today. i represent the national american woman suffrage association, and, as we have stated over and over again, it has enrolled more than , women, organized in every non-suffrage state in the country. our policy, which is adopted by our annual convention, is strictly non-partisan. we do not hold any party responsible for the passage of this amendment. we are organizing all over the country, using the congressional district as our limit, in order to educate the constituents of you gentlemen in regard to the great need to enfranchise women and we do not hold the policy which is adopted by the smaller organization, the congressional union." this brought the members of the judiciary committee into action again and they persisted in knowing the size of the congressional union until mrs. benedict answered: "our immediate membership is not our strong point." mr. webb of north carolina repeated the question why the republican party, which was in power sixteen years, was not held responsible for not reporting the amendment and she replied that it was not until after the elections of that the women were in a position to hold any party responsible. mrs. frances dilopoulo spoke for a moment. miss janet richards (d. c.) called the attention of the committee to the etymology of the word democracy--_demos_, people; _kratein_, to rule--rule of the people--and asked: "if women must pay taxes and must abide by the law, how can the suffrage be denied to them in a true democracy?" she spoke of her personal study of the question in finland and the scandinavian countries where women are enfranchised. dr. clara w. mcnaughton (d. c.), vice-president of the federal women's equality association, in closing stated that they had a tent on the field of gettysburg during its th anniversary and found the old soldiers almost to a man in favor of woman suffrage. mrs. evans filed a carefully prepared paper, state versus federal action on woman suffrage. mrs. helen h. gardener (d. c.), officially connected with the national american association, submitted to the committees a comprehensive "brief" on the case which said in part: in a published statement yesterday the secretary of state, william jennings bryan, used these simple, direct, easily understood words: "all believers in a republic accept the doctrine that the government must derive its just powers from the consent of the governed and the president gives every legitimate encouragement to those who represent this idea while he discourages those who attempt to overthrow or ignore the principles of popular government." i am sure that all of us hope and want to believe that this latest pronouncement given out officially as from the leading cabinet officer was intended to be accepted at home as well as abroad as literally and absolutely true and not a mere bit of spectacular oratory. but if it is true, then not one of you gentlemen who has it in his heart to oppose woman suffrage is a believer in our form of government; not one of you is loyal to the flag; not one of you is a true american. you do not allow us women to give our consent, yet we are governed. you are not sitting in congress justly and mr. bryan and the president do not believe that you are--none of you except those who are from woman suffrage states--or else that official statement is mere oratory for foreign consumption. he says that the president discourages those who attempt to overthrow or even to "ignore" this principle of popular government. we are more than glad to believe that mr. bryan is correct in this plain statement, for then we will know that a number of you will receive a good deal of "discouragement" at the hands of the president, and that those of you who stand with us and vote for us will receive your sure reward from him, in that "every legitimate encouragement" will be yours, and also, incidentally, ours. we need it, we think it is overdue. up to the present time we have not felt that either the president or the secretary of state quite fully realized that there is a good deal of belated encouragement due us and quite a limitless supply of discouragement due those who try "to overthrow or ignore" all semblance of a belief in the right of women to give their consent to their own government. i am glad to have so high an authority that the good time is not only coming but that it has at last arrived--and through the democratic party! again, in this simple, plain, seemingly frank statement of the secretary of state, he says: ... "nothing will be encouraged away from home that is forbidden here." yet, away from home, he says, the fixed foreign policy is that "the people shall have such officers as they desire," and that these officers must have "the consent of the governed." that is precisely what we women demand. are the mexican peons more to our government than are the women of america? if the mexican officials must be disciplined, unless they are ready to admit that "the consent of the governed must be obtained" before there can be a legitimate government which we can recognize, how it is possible for you and for the president and for the state department absolutely to ignore or refuse the same ethical and political principle here at home for one-half of all the people, who form what you call and hold up to the world as a republic? no one who lives, who ever lived, who ever will live understands or really accepts and believes in a republic which denies to women the right of consent by their ballots to that government. such a position is unthinkable and the time has come when an aristocracy of sex must give place to a real republic or the absurdity of the position, as it exists, will make us the laughing stock of the world. let us either stop our pretence before the nations of the earth of being a republic and having "equality before the law" or else let us become the republic that we pretend to be. this concluded the hearing for the suffrage associations and as the "antis" also had asked for one they occupied the afternoon. mrs. arthur m. dodge, the president of the national association opposed to woman suffrage, said in opening the discussion: "we begin to hear from all over the country a very decided demand for help. the women are beginning to be frightened. they are frightened at exactly the same sort of thing by which the suffragists try to frighten you men--noise--so that in many states women are beginning to organize for the first time against suffrage. we are here today rather against our wishes. we did not want to bother you men again because the matter has been pretty well settled for this session of congress at least. but the suffragists had demanded a hearing of you gentlemen, and so we asked you to hear us, and you have very courteously extended to us that privilege. we are here to represent the majority of women still quiet but not going to be quiet very much longer...." mrs. dodge made an analysis of the number of enfranchised women to show that the parties had nothing to fear and said in closing: "i wish to say that the suffragists who make these threats are not representing the women of the country. it is the women of the country whom we try to represent and we have tried for several years against the noisy, insistent and persistent demands of a group." the other women speakers were mrs. henry white, member of the executive committee of the massachusetts association; miss alice hill chittenden, president of the new york association; miss marjorie dorman, secretary of the women wage-earners' anti-suffrage league of new york city[ ]; mrs. o. d. oliphant of new jersey, who was not able to reach washington but whose paper on feminism was put into the report; miss minnie bronson, secretary of the national association. miss bronson's address, which was largely statistical, called out many questions from the suffrage members of the committee. she said the association had approximately , members.[ ] the first of the men speakers against the amendment was j.n. matthews (n. j.) who began by saying it would be difficult for him to put aside his democratic partisanship even for a moment. he was soon involved in a wrangle with the committee which occupied over half of the space filled by his speech in the report. this was true also of the speech of representative thomas j. heflin (ala.), which ended with a long poem entitled the only regeneration, beginning: "there's no earthly use in prating of eugenics' saving grace." mrs. dodge had scored the suffragists for having more than one association but delegates from three of the "antis" were present at this hearing, the guidon society of new york city, represented by a new york lawyer, john r. don passos, who stated that he represented also the man suffrage association. he filed a "brief" of its president, everett p. wheeler, a democratic new york lawyer, entitled home rule. as was the case with the other men speakers most of his time was taken up by the "heckling" of the committee and his answers. in the latter he said that woman suffrage sooner or later would have a tendency to destroy the home, hurt the social and moral standard of women and "convert them into beasts." dr. mary walker spoke ten minutes at her own request, scoring the suffragists and saying that women already had the right to vote under the national constitution. mrs. evans closed the hearing. footnotes: [ ] part of call: our task will be to formulate judgment on those great issues of the day which nearly concern women; to choose the leaders who during the coming year are to guide the fortunes of our cause; and finally, to deliberate how the whole national body may on the one hand best give aid and succor to the states working for their own enfranchisement and on the other press for federal action in behalf of the women of the nation at large.... since the last convention met all the horror of a great war has fallen upon the civilized world. the hearts of thousands of women have been torn by the death and wounds of those they bore, of those they love, yet never has their will and power to help been greater, never man's need of such help been more clearly seen. we, who are spared the anguish of war, well understand that as weight is given in the world's affairs to the voice of women, moved as men are not by all the tragic waste of battles, the chances of such slaughter must perpetually diminish. now is the time when all things point to the violence that rules the world, now is the very time to press our claim to a share in the guidance of our country's fortunes, to urge that woman's vision must second and ratify that of man. let us then in convention assembled kindle with the thought that, as we consider methods for the political enfranchisement of our sex, our wider purpose is to free women and to enable their conception of life in all its aspects to find expression.... let us set a fresh seal upon the great new loyalty of woman to woman; let our response be felt in the deep tide of fellowship and understanding among all women which today is rising around the world. anna howard shaw, president. jane addams, first vice-president. madeline breckinridge, second vice-president. caroline ruutz-rees, third vice-president. susan walker fitzgerald, recording secretary. katharine dexter mccormick, treasurer. harriet burton laidlaw,} louise dekoven bowen, } auditors. [ ] complete, universal suffrage was conferred by the parliament in . [ ] for a number of years mrs. quincy a. shaw of boston gave dr. shaw a fund for campaign work. [ ] a portion of this report is in the chapter on the federal suffrage amendment. [ ] the federal suffrage amendment had been thoroughly debated and voted on in the senate in ; the question of woman suffrage itself discussed in , - - - - in the senate; at great length in the lower house in and and briefly in both houses at other times. [ ] instead of seven or eight amendments there was only one and never had been but one--the old, original amendment introduced by senator a. a. sargent (calif.) in . there was and long had been one "bill" advocated, the one to give women so-called "federal" suffrage, the right to vote for senators and representatives, but it had never been reported out of committee. there was no bill before congress to give women the right to vote for presidential electors and there was no other bill proposed. it was of course the "state's rights argument" that had been the continuous barrier to the federal suffrage amendment ever since it was first introduced but the favorable attitude of a majority of the senators showed how much progress had been made in meeting that argument. [ ] on the contrary at a public hearing before the judiciary committee of the lower house on march , mrs. funk referred several times to such an amendment and stated that she represented an association of , women. she intimated that she knew the old amendment could not pass and that another might be introduced, which, it was hoped, would be more acceptable. the vote was not taken in the senate till march . meanwhile the newspapers gave to the suffragists of the country their first knowledge of the new amendment and vigorous protests soon followed, especially from the older leaders of the movement. _the woman's journal_ of march said editorially: "it is felt by many that before the congressional committee introduced a wholly new measure, which had never been sanctioned or even considered by the national association, it ought to have been submitted to the national executive council." as soon as the senate had voted on the original amendment, senator bristow, at the request of the congressional union, re-introduced it, and it was reported favorably april , senator thomas b. catron of new mexico alone dissenting. senator bristow in re-introducing it said of the shafroth measure: "it is more of a national initiative and referendum amendment than a woman suffrage amendment. i prefer that the question of woman suffrage rest directly upon its own merits and be not involved with the initiative and referendum." [ ] this amendment had been reported by the judiciary committee on the th of may preceding this report "without recommendation" and a strong effort was being made by its supporters to bring it before the house for debate. the rules committee sent it to the house on december , . [ ] the proposed state amendment failed in new york in , was submitted again by the legislatures of and , voted on in november, , and adopted by an immense majority. [ ] the first week in the preceding april the mississippi valley conference, composed of the middle and some of the western and southern states, met in des moines and thirty-five prominent delegates signed a telegram to the official board of the national american association, asking it "to instruct its congressional committee not to push the shafroth amendment nor ask for its report from the senate committee"; also "to ask the senate committee not to report this amendment until so requested by the national suffrage convention." this was not official action but they signed as individuals, among them the presidents of the iowa, minnesota, wisconsin, illinois, indiana, ohio and louisiana state associations and officers from other states. [ ] some of the arguments may be found in the appendix. an examination of the file of the _journal_ will show that ninety-nine per cent. of the writers were opposed to the amendment. [ ] the old amendment had been voted on in the senate march and obtained a majority but not the required two-thirds. it had been reported without recommendation by the house judiciary, which had not acted on the new one. the latter had been introduced in the senate and the former re-introduced. [ ] the original measure had always been called the sixteenth amendment until the adoption of the income tax and direct election of senators amendments in . the congressional union, organized that year, gave it the name susan b. anthony amendment and for awhile it was thus referred to by some members of the national american association. the relatives and friends of mrs. stanton rightly objected to this name, as she had been equally associated with it from the beginning, and all the pioneer workers had been its staunch supporters. the old association soon adopted the title, federal suffrage amendment. [ ] at the first board meeting after the convention mrs. mccormick was re-appointed chairman of the congressional committee with power to select its other members and mrs. funk was re-appointed vice-chairman. [ ] mrs. mccormick spent a large amount of time and money on this play, hoping it would yield a good revenue to the association, but the arrangement with the film corporation proved impossible and it finally had to be abandoned. [ ] the most persistent efforts of the suffragists never succeeded in locating this league. [ ] at the request of the committee the exact figures were furnished later and showed a membership of , , of whom , lived in the five non-suffrage states of connecticut, massachusetts, new york, new jersey and pennsylvania. of the remaining , the non-suffrage states of new hampshire, rhode island and ohio had , ; virginia, , , and , were divided among other non-suffrage states and the district of columbia. not one member was reported from states where the franchise had been given to women, although it was a stock argument of the "antis" that it had been forced on them and they would gladly get rid of it. chapter xv. national american convention of . the forty-seventh annual convention of the association was held dec. - , , in washington, the scene of many which had preceded it, with accredited delegates, the largest number on record. the one of the preceding year had left many of the members in a pessimistic frame of mind but this had entirely disappeared and never were there so much hope and optimism.[ ] the federal amendment had for the first time been debated and voted on in the house of representatives, receiving noes, ayes, a satisfactory result for the first trial. although in november, , four of the most populous states--massachusetts, new york, new jersey and pennsylvania--had defeated suffrage amendments yet a million-and-a-quarter of men had voted in favor. these were all republican states and yet had given a larger vote for woman suffrage than for the republican presidential candidate the preceding year. over per cent. of the votes in new york and over per cent. in pennsylvania were affirmative and the press of the country, instead of sounding the "death knell" as usual after defeats, predicted victory at the next trial. in october the cause had received its most important accession when president wilson and seven of the ten members of his cabinet declared in favor of woman suffrage; and in november the president had gone to his home in princeton, n. j., on election day to cast his vote for the pending state amendment. an honorary committee of arrangements for the convention had been formed in washington which included many of the most prominent women officially and socially, headed by miss margaret wilson, the president's eldest daughter. republican and democratic national committees had cordially received suffrage speakers. the first measure to be introduced in both houses of the new congress was the resolution for the federal suffrage amendment, with dr. anna howard shaw, president of the national american suffrage association, sitting on the speaker's bench by invitation of speaker and mrs. champ clark. the convention opened tuesday morning and at five o'clock in the afternoon the delegates were received by president wilson in the white house. they walked the few short blocks from the convention headquarters in the new willard hotel to the white house and the line reached from the street through the corridors to the east room. after each had had a hearty handshake dr. shaw expressed the gratitude of all suffragists, not for his vote, which was a duty, but for his reasons, to which the widest publicity had been given. she said the women felt encouraged to ask for two things: first, his influence in obtaining the submission of the federal amendment by congress at the present session; second, if that failed, his influence in securing a plank for woman suffrage in his party's national platform. the latter he answered to their great joy by saying that he had it under consideration. he looked at his hand a little ruefully and said: "you ladies have a strong grip." "yes," she responded, "we hold on." the most striking contrast between this and other conventions was seen in the program. for more than two-score years the evening sessions and often those of the afternoon had been given up to addresses by prominent men and women and attended by large general audiences. in this way the seed was sowed and public sentiment created and people in the cities which invited the convention looked forward to an intellectual feast. this year it was felt that the general public needed no further education on this subject; the association had become a business organization and the woman suffrage question one of practical politics. therefore but one mass meeting was held, that of sunday afternoon, and the entire week was devoted to state reports, conferences, committee meetings, plans of work, campaigns and discussion of details. these were extremely interesting and valuable for the delegates but not for the newspapers or the public. the entire tenth floor of the new willard hotel was utilized for convention purposes and the full meetings were held in the large ball room, which had been beautifully decorated under the artistic direction of mrs. glenna tinnin, with flags, banners and delicate, symbolic draperies. the large number of young women was noticeable and the association seemed permeated with new life. "old men and women for council and young ones for work," said dr. shaw smilingly, as she opened the convention. "the history that has been made by this organization is due to the toil and consecration of the women of the country during past years, and, while i am happy to see so many new faces, my heart warms when my eyes greet one of the veterans. so in welcoming you i say, all hail to the new and thank god for the old!" the convention plunged at once into reports. that of mrs. henry wade rogers, the treasurer, showed receipts during the past year of $ , and disbursements of $ , , among them $ , for state campaigns. a large and active finance committee had been formed and thousands of appeals for money distributed. at this convention $ , were pledged for the work of the coming year and the convention showed fullest confidence in the new treasurer, who said in presenting her report: "this has been a most interesting and beautiful year of activity for the national association. the officers and assistants at the headquarters have worked in perfect harmony. you have all, dear presidents and members of the sixty-three affiliated associations, been most kind to your new treasurer and she has deeply appreciated your forbearance." the report of a temporary organization, the volunteer league, was given by its director, mrs. katharine dexter mccormick. its purpose was to interest suffragists who were not connected with the association and president mary e. woolley of mt. holyoke college, mrs. robert gould shaw, mrs. theodore roosevelt, jr., and mrs. winston churchill accepted places on the board. letters were sent out, avoiding the active workers, and over $ , were turned into the treasury. the legal adviser, miss mary rutter towle, reported a final accounting of the estate of mrs. lila sabin buckley of kansas and the association received the net amount of $ , on a compromise. the legacy of $ , by mrs. mary j. coggeshall of iowa would be paid in a few months. charles t. hallinan, as chairman, made a detailed report of the newly organized publicity department. miss clara savage, of the new york _evening post_, was made chairman of the press bureau and mrs. laura puffer morgan of washington, d. c., a member of the congressional committee, took charge of its publicity. mrs. ernest thompson seton accepted the chairmanship of a special finance committee which did heroic work. the _news letter_, an enlarged bulletin of information and discussion in regard to the activities of the association, had already more than a thousand subscriptions and went to weekly farm papers, weekly labor papers and press chairmen and suffrage editors. the report told of the successful publicity work for dr. shaw and other speakers, and said: "i prize especially my relationship with dr. shaw, whose courage, humor and zest, whose whole heroic personality, have made this a stimulating and memorable year." an amusing account was given of the effort "to accommodate the routine activities of the organization to the demand of the press for something new or sensational, which made great demands upon the originality, initiative and judgment of both the board and the publicity department," but it was managed about four times a week. the sunday papers "drew heavily upon the ingenuity of the publicity department; special or feature stories were sent to special localities; for instance those that would appeal to the southerners to the papers of the south, others to those of the west, and others were prepared for the syndicates and press associations." of a new and important feature of the work mr. hallinan said: "the need of a competent data department for the national association was early recognized but it seemed a difficult thing to manage on the budget provided by the convention. it was finally decided that owing to the pressure of the campaigns the money must be found somehow and it was. in september the department was established on a temporary basis with mrs. mary sumner boyd, formerly associate editor of _the survey_, in charge. she was admirably equipped for research work and soon got into usable shape the valuable records of the national headquarters. sometimes the pressure upon the department for facts, including 'answers to antis,' was tremendous but there were few requests for information which were not answered by mail or telegraph within or hours." mrs. boyd's own full report of her first year's work was heard with much interest and satisfaction. in it she said: the opponents of woman suffrage have by their criticisms made it cover the whole field of human affairs, so it is not surprising that the inquiries by correspondents of this department have ranged from the moral standard of women to a request for assistance in righting a personal wrong. others come under main headings of the progress of woman suffrage, both partial and complete; the standing of women under the laws; the effect of voting women on the character of legislation; the part they take in political life and its reaction on their lives and characters; statistics and facts in regard to the makeup of the population of the various states; details in regard to state constitutions, election laws and methods of voting on woman suffrage in the various states.... what has become of late "stock" anti-criticisms of some effects of the ballot has been thoroughly investigated and "stock" answers prepared. facts and figures from official sources have been gathered to disprove the claim of enforced jury duty, excessive cost of elections, lowered birth rates and increased divorce rates in suffrage states. the results of these studies have been surprisingly favorable to the suffrage position, showing that in such criticisms the "antis" have been ridiculously in the wrong. they have only been able to use this line of argument at all because the suffragists have had no one free to take the time to answer them once and for all with the facts. at an important afternoon conference mrs. carrie chapman catt, who had been chairman of the new york campaign committee during the effort for a state amendment, made the opening address on the revelations of recent campaigns which shed a great deal of light on the causes of defeat. she was followed by mrs. frank m. roessing, who, as president of the pennsylvania association, had charge of the campaign in that state, and mrs. gertrude halliday leonard, who was a leading factor in the one in massachusetts, both presenting constructive plans for those of the future. mrs. raymond brown, mrs. lillian feickert, mrs. harriet taylor upton and mrs. draper smith, presidents of the new york, new jersey, ohio and nebraska associations, described the need and use of campaign organization. miss mary garrett hay, chairman of the new york city campaign committee, and miss hannah j. patterson, chairman of the woman suffrage party of pennsylvania, told from practical experience how to organize for a campaign. the conference was continued through the evening, miss alice stone blackwell, president of the massachusetts association, speaking on the production and use of campaign literature; mrs. john d. davenport (penn.) telling how to raise campaign funds in the county and mrs. mina van winkle (n. j.) and mrs. maud wood park (mass.) how to do so in the city. mrs. teresa a. crowley (mass.) discussed the political work of campaigns. another afternoon was devoted to a general conference of state presidents and delegates on the subject of future campaigns. it was recognized that these were henceforth to be of frequent occurrence and the association must be better prepared for their demands. mrs. medill mccormick presided at the evening conference on federal legislation and the speeches of all the delegates clearly showed that they considered the work for the federal amendment paramount to all else and the states won for suffrage simply as stepping stones to this supreme achievement. senator john f. shafroth was on the platform and answered conclusively many of the anti-suffrage misrepresentations as to the effect of woman suffrage in colorado. every hour of days and evenings was given to conferences, committee meetings, reports from committees and states and the practical preparations for entering upon what all felt was the last stage of the long contest. the overshadowing event of the convention was dr. anna howard shaw's retirement from the presidency, which she had held eleven years. the delegates were not unprepared, as she had announced her intention in the following brief letter published in the _woman's journal_ nov. , : during the last year i have been increasingly conscious of the growing response to the spoken word on behalf of this cause of ours. because of the unparalleled large audiences drawn to our standard everywhere, i have become convinced that my highest service to the suffrage movement can best be given if i am relieved of the exacting duties of the presidency so that i may be free to engage in campaign work, since each year brings its quota of campaign states. therefore, after careful consideration, i have decided not to stand for re-election to the office of president of the national american woman suffrage association. i have deferred making this announcement until the campaigns were ended, but now that it is time to consider the work for the coming year, i feel it my duty to do so. the president's address of dr. shaw had long been the leading feature of the conventions but this year it was heard with deeper interest than ever before, if this were possible. because every word was significant she had written it and as it afterwards appeared in pamphlet form it filled fourteen closely printed pages. it was a masterly treatment of woman suffrage in its relation to many of the great problems of the day and it seems a sacrilege to attempt to convey by detached quotations an idea of its power and beauty. a large part of it will be found in the appendix to this chapter. she set forth in the strongest possible words the necessity of a federal amendment but said: there is not a single reason given upon which to base a hope for congressional action that does not rest upon the power and influence to be derived from the equal suffrage states, which power was secured by the slow but effective method of winning state by state. if all our past and present successes in congress are due to the influence of enfranchised states, is it not safe to assume that the future power must come from the same source until it is sufficiently strong to insure a reasonable prospect of national legislation? to transform this hope into fulfillment we must follow several lines of campaign, each of which is essential to success: . by continuing the appeal which for thirty-seven years without cessation the national association has made upon congress to submit to the state legislatures an amendment enfranchising women and by using every just means within our power to secure action upon it. . by congressional district organization, such as has been set in motion by our national congressional committee and which has proved so successful during the past year. . by the organization of enfranchised women, who, through direct political activity in their own states and within their own political parties may become efficient factors in national conventions and in congress. . by increasing the number of equal suffrage states through referring a state amendment to the voters. the delegates were deeply moved by dr. shaw's closing words: in laying down my responsibility as your president, there is one subject upon which i wish to speak and i ask your patient indulgence. if i were asked what has been the cause of most if not all of the difficulties which have arisen in our work, i would reply, a failure to recognize the obligations which loyalty demands of the members of an association to its officers and to its own expressed will. it is unquestionably the duty of the members of an organization, when, after in convention assembled certain measures are voted and certain duties laid upon its officers, to uphold the officers in the performance of those duties and to aid in every reasonable way to carry out the will of the association as expressed by the convention. it is the duty also of every officer or committee to carry out the will of the association unless conditions subsequently arise to make this injurious to its best interests.... without loyalty, cooperation and friendly, helpful support in her work no officer can successfully perform her duty or worthily serve the best interests of the association. i earnestly appeal to the members of this body to give the incoming board of officers the loyalty and helpful support which will greatly lighten their arduous task of serving our cause and bringing it to final victory. in saying farewell to you as your president i find it impossible to express my high appreciation and gratitude for your loyal support, your unfailing kindness, your patience with my mistakes and especially the affectionate regard you have shown me through all these years of toil and achievement together. the memory of your sacrifices for our cause, your devotion to our association and your unwearied patience in disappointment and delay will give to the remaining years of my life its crowning joy of happy memories. the _woman's journal_ said in its report: "on the table was a large bouquet of roses from speaker and mrs. champ clark. when dr. shaw had finished and received a great ovation, she said: 'my life has been one of the happiest a woman ever lived. from the depths of my heart i thank you. you have done more for me than i have ever done for you.' she unfastened a little pin on the front of her grey velvet gown and held it up for all to see, saying: 'this is miss anthony's flag, which she gave me just before she died. it was the gift of wyoming women and had four tiny diamonds on it for the four equal suffrage states; now it has thirteen. who says "suffrage is going and not coming"? we have as many stars now as there were original states when the government began.'" it was voted unanimously that the thanks of the convention be extended to the president for her noble address and that it be ordered printed. the tribute of the delegates came later in the week. the report of the committee on literature was made by its chairman, miss caroline ruutz-rees, showing the usual careful selection of valuable matter for publication. two important compilations she had made herself--ten extempore answers to questions by dr. shaw and extracts from a number of her speeches, gleaned from scattered reports; also an eloquent address made at birmingham, ala., the preceding april. so little from dr. shaw existed in printed form that these were very welcome. she urged the necessity for a library covering the field of women's affairs, well catalogued and open to the public. miss lavinia engle's report as field secretary showed active work, speaking and organizing in alabama, west virginia, new jersey and new york. mrs. funk's report as chairman of the campaign and survey committee described a vast amount of work before the new jersey campaign opened, including a series of twenty meetings addressed by senators and representatives and a number of prominent women, and others continuously through the summer with state and national speakers. dr. shaw spoke at thirty of these meetings. in closing her report miss elizabeth upham yates, chairman of the committee on presidential suffrage, said: "in addition to the beneficent consequences of women's vote in state and municipal affairs, the number of votes in the electoral college that may be determined by their ballots is of paramount political significance. by their votes in twelve states, which have presidential electors, they might decide the presidency. of these electoral votes come from the states where constitutional amendments enfranchising women have been obtained after repeated campaigns of inestimable cost and exhaustive effort, while , nearly a third of the whole, were secured simply by an act of the illinois legislature in giving the electoral vote to women. is it not good political tactics to proceed along the lines of least resistance and bring our energies to bear upon legislatures for the measure most potent and at the same time most easily procured?" mrs. mary e. craigie, who, as chairman of the church work committee, had given such valuable service for years, told of the excellent work of her state branches, especially that of new jersey during the recent campaign, whose chairman, mrs. mabel farraday, had sent out hundreds of letters with literature to the clergymen and reached thousands of people at ocean grove and asbury park. she told of the encouragement she had received in her month of preparatory work for the approaching west virginia campaign; the ministerial association of wheeling had invited her to address them and expressed a desire to help it; several pastors turned over their regular meetings to her; the largest methodist church in the state, at moundsville, holding a week of big meetings, invited her to fill one entire evening with an address on the federal suffrage amendment. "more and more i am led to believe," she said in closing, "that the most important work before the suffragists today is church work, especially the organizing of the catholic women, that they will make their demands so emphatic the church will see the wisdom of supporting the movement. the church work is non-sectarian but it should also be omni-sectarian and our efforts should be extended to include all churches and religious sects." the congressional committee had placed two departments of its work in charge of miss ethel m. smith, whose comprehensive report showed beyond question their great value: when the congressional committee was reorganized after the nashville convention two departments were given into my charge, the congressional district organization work and the office catalogue of information concerning members of congress. the congressional plan, which had been launched but a year before, had been adopted in many of the states but not in all. my first step, therefore, was to urge by correspondence with the presidents that this machinery be established or completed in every state. on december came the test as to how well this had been done. the rules committee of the house reported the mondell amendment, which was to come to a vote january . i wrote or telegraphed at once to every congressional chairman or state president asking her to bring to bear all possible pressure upon the individual members of congress from her state. those states which had established this machinery were able at once to send the call to the respective district chairmen and so on down the line; the other states responded through their existing machinery and the result was that thousands of letters and telegrams poured into the offices of the congressmen during the four weeks. meantime our lobby was busy interviewing the members and the latest expressions obtained in each case were wired back to the states, whose chairmen responded again. this interchange and cooperation were so effective that congressmen themselves complimented our "team work." but the real proof of its value came after the vote was taken, when by checking with our office records of the individual congressmen we found that many uncertain, noncommittal or almost unfriendly members' attitude had so changed that they voted yes on the amendment. such a result could not fail to show, if proof had been necessary, that the greatest need as well as the greatest opportunity in national suffrage work for the future lay in furthering to the last degree of completeness and efficiency the organization of every state by congressional districts.... at a distance from washington it is difficult to know and easy to lose sight of what a representative does or stands for, so i prepared special reports to the state congressional chairmen whenever opportunity occurred. the first, and a most interesting one, came when the vote was taken in the house on the national prohibition amendment dec. , . this was just three weeks before the vote on our own amendment and our catalogue showed a large number of congressmen who opposed us on the ground of state's rights. the national prohibition amendment is obviously as direct an assumption by the federal government of rights now reposing in the states as could possibly be devised. i, therefore, checked off the names of the state's rights congressmen who voted for it but probably would not vote for national suffrage, and sent the list to our respective state chairmen, urging that they call these representatives' attention to this inconsistency. it has been reported to me that this argument proved effective with several of them and it is a fact that after the suffrage vote was taken a number of the names on our first list had to be removed because those men had voted "aye" on suffrage. seventy-two, however, in the final count, voted _for_ the national prohibition amendment but _against_ ours.... in june i devised a special congressional district campaign which would reach the members of congress before they left their homes to go to washington. this was intended to impress them with the strength of the suffrage sentiment in their districts and thus deprive them of a favorite excuse for not voting for our amendment. the plan called for congressional district meetings all over the country on or about november in every district where the representative was not already pledged to the federal amendment. the call was sent to every congressional district chairman and it requested that every local suffrage league send as many delegates as possible to the meeting which would be held in the city where the senator or representative lived. it was urged that they be invited to attend the meetings and to speak and that resolutions be adopted asking them to vote for the amendment. it was a part of the plan to send these resolutions also to the state central committees of the republican and democratic parties, asking for suffrage planks on the state and national platforms.... we received most cordial and widespread cooperation in this work. i believe we can say that practically every senator and representative returned to washington this session with the knowledge that behind him at home is an organized demand for his favorable vote on the federal amendment. the usual pleasant social features of these conventions had been eliminated and the only relaxation for the delegates was one large evening reception in the new willard hotel. the national college equal suffrage league held its annual luncheon on the th at the new ebbitt hotel, dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college, presiding. the guests were women graduates of various colleges and the topic of all the speeches was, "how to advance women suffrage by making friends instead of enemies." the speakers included dr. shaw, mrs. charles l. tiffany, mrs. raymond brown, mrs. medill mccormick, miss florence stiles, mrs. frank m. roessing, miss hannah j. patterson, mrs. elizabeth puffer howes and mrs. laura puffer morgan. the convention sent a telegram of sympathy in her illness to miss jane addams. a special vote of thanks was tendered to senators charles s. thomas and john f. shafroth and to representative edward t. taylor, all of colorado, and to representative frank w. mondell of wyoming for the very great assistance they had given to the congressional committee. a cordial invitation came from the chicago suffrage headquarters for the delegates to accept its hospitality during the national republican convention in june, . invitations for the next convention were received from st. louis, little rock and atlantic city. mrs. medill mccormick, chairman of the congressional committee, introduced mrs. antoinette funk, its vice chairman, who told of the strong and successful effort made to have the committee on rules ignore the adverse action of the democratic caucus and send the resolution to the lower house for action after the judiciary committee had reported it without recommendation. the date finally set for the debate in the house was jan. , . her report was in part as follows: from the moment the resolution was reported by the judiciary committee the energies of the congressional committee were directed toward the end of bringing out as large a favorable vote as was humanly possible and all the members of the committee then resident in washington undertook some portion of the task. the leaders of both sides of the house, mr. mondell for the republicans and mr. taylor for the democrats, gave us their heartiest support. through them and through the courtesy of the speaker of the house, mr. champ clark, we learned what members would be recognized for speeches, and each man who had asked for time or who had been asked to speak because of his locality or for other reasons was interviewed. our cooperation in the matter of gathering up suffrage data and material was offered and freely accepted. all suffrage literature known to us was brought in large quantities into our office and assorted into sets bearing upon the situation of the different congressmen according to their locality, political faith, etc. every man known to be favorable to us was urged to be in his seat on january and those of our friends who, we learned, would be unavoidably kept away from washington were written and telegraphed to arrange for favorable pairs. some time before the vote was taken the congressional committee reported to the national board that our minimum vote would be . in fact, favorable votes were cast and favorable pairs were registered. the negative votes were .... the favorable speeches of the congressmen were put in form for the campaign states and over a million and a half were circulated. the report continued: the amendment having been voted on in both houses and direct work in its behalf being definitely closed for that session the congressional committee was increased by miss jeannette rankin, who, together with the vice-chairman, discussed with members of the house and senate the shafroth amendment, then pending. no effort was made to bring this measure forward for a vote but the work of presenting the idea of a _national initiative_ upon the proposition of suffrage for the consideration of the members of congress was considered worth while. by many who disapproved of a national suffrage amendment, this was regarded as a practical method of overcoming such obstacles as the state constitutions had erected, thus making their amending easy and practicable. the nashville convention had endorsed the federal elections bill and instructed the board to advance it in every way possible. the bill had been introduced in congress through the federal society represented by mrs. clara bewick colby and we consulted with her as to the manner in which the national might be of greatest assistance. it was extremely difficult to get favorable consideration for it by individual congressmen but the committee recommends that it should receive the endorsement and support of the national association, although in its judgment it is a measure that cannot be successfully concluded at an early date. mrs. mccormick reported in person on the use made by the committee of the record of members of congress. it was again voted that the plans of the committee should be carried out in a state only when all its societies were agreed but when they were not the congressional committee should not work there. it also seemed to be the opinion of the convention that states which were considering a campaign should first consult the survey committee and show whether or not they were prepared for it, and if the committee advised against it and they persisted they should not expect any assistance from the national association. miss laura clay was requested to explain the federal elections bill, which would enable women to vote for senators and representatives, and would require only a majority vote of each house for its adoption. miss clay was enthusiastically received and the convention again requested the board to take up this bill and press its claims on congress. later the executive council passed a resolution to do all in its power for presidential suffrage. at a morning session of the convention on december a motion was passed that "last year's action in regard to the shafroth amendment be rescinded." the following motion was then carried: "the national american woman suffrage association re-endorses the susan b. anthony amendment to the u. s. constitution, for which it has been working forty-five years, and no other amendment of the u. s. constitution dealing with national woman suffrage shall be introduced by it during the coming year." the minutes of the convention (page ) say: "miss shaw asked as a matter of personal privilege that she be permitted to make a statement to the association with regard to her attitude on the shafroth amendment to the effect that she had been opposed to its adoption and had voted against it but that when the board by majority vote adopted it she supported the board in its decision; that the longer she studied the question the more she approved of it but that she felt the mistake made was in trying to work for it before the women of the association had become informed as to its value and had learned to believe in it." this was the end of the so-called shafroth amendment, which had threatened to carry the old association on the rocks. [see chapter xiv.] another problem came before this convention--the policy of the recently formed congressional union to adopt the method of the "militant" branch of the english suffragists and hold the party in power responsible for the failure to submit the federal suffrage amendment. they had gone into the equal suffrage states during the congressional campaign of and fought the re-election of some of the staunchest friends of this amendment, senator thomas of colorado, for instance, chairman of the senate committee which had reported it favorably and a lifelong suffragist. the press and public not knowing the difference between the two organizations were holding the national american association responsible and protests were coming from all over the country. some of the younger members, who did not know the history and traditions of the old association, thought that there should be cooperation between the two bodies. both had lobbyists actively working at the capitol, members of congress were confused and there was a considerable feeling that some plan for united action should be found. miss zona gale, the writer, offered the following motion, which was carried without objection: "realizing that all suffragists have a common cause at heart and that difference of methods is inevitable, it is moved that an efficiency commission consisting of five members be appointed by the chair to confer with representatives of the congressional union in order to bring about cooperation with the maximum of efficiency for the successful passage of the susan b. anthony amendment at this session of congress." the handbook of the convention (page ) has the following: in accordance with the action of the convention, on the motion of miss zona gale, the president of the national american woman suffrage association appointed a committee of five consisting of mrs. carrie chapman catt of new york; mrs. medill mccormick of illinois; mrs. stanley mccormick of massachusetts; mrs. antoinette funk of illinois and miss hannah j. patterson of pennsylvania, to confer with a similar committee from the congressional union on the question of cooperation in congressional action. these committees met at the new willard on december , miss alice paul, miss lucy burns, mrs. lawrence lewis, miss anne martin and mrs. gilson gardner being present as representatives of the congressional union, all but mrs. lewis (penn.) of the district of columbia. its representatives made two suggestions: ( ) that the congressional union should affiliate with the national american woman suffrage association. ( ) that in any event frequent meetings for consultation should be held between the legislative committees of the two in order to secure more united action. in the discussion of these suggestions it developed that at this time the congressional union has no election policy and that its future policy must depend on political situations. the union declares itself to be non-partisan according to its constitution, which pledges its members to support suffrage regardless of the interests of any national political parties. at this point the report of the joint conference ends. the committee of five representing the national american association recommends that no affiliation shall take place because it was made quite clear that the congressional union does not denounce nor pledge itself not to resume what we term its anti-party policy and what they designate as their election policy; also because it is their intention, as announced by them, to organize in all states in the union for congressional work, thus duplicating organizations already existing. your committee further recommends that the incoming board of officers give their serious consideration to the suggestion of conferences with a view to securing more united action in the lobby work in washington. at the conference mrs. catt explained to miss paul that the association could not accept as an affiliated society one which was likely to defy its policy held since its foundation in , which was neither to support nor oppose any political party, nor to work for or against any candidate except as to his attitude toward woman suffrage. miss paul would give no guarantee that the congressional union would observe this policy. it was thought that some way of dividing the lobby work might be found but in a short time the union announced its program of fighting the candidates of the democratic party without any reference to their position on the federal amendment or their record on woman suffrage. they offered as a reason that as the democratic party was in control of the government it should have the federal amendment submitted. there never was a time when the democrats had the necessary two-thirds of the members of each house of congress, but enough of them favored it so that it could have been carried if enough of the republicans had voted for it. it was plainly evident that it would require the support of both parties. the policy of the congressional union, put into action throughout the presidential campaign of , made any cooperation impossible. when in mrs. carrie chapman catt had been obliged to resign the presidency on account of impaired health it was most reluctantly accepted by dr. shaw and only because miss anthony so earnestly impressed it on her as a duty. she felt that her own great mission was on the platform rather than in executive office and she preferred it; besides there was no salary attached to the office and she was dependent for her livelihood on her own efforts. miss anthony, mrs. catt and others overcame all her objections and for eleven years she had made almost superhuman efforts to fulfil her executive duties and keep in the field a large part of the time, speaking from ocean to ocean, from lakes to gulf, and every few years in european countries. she was in constant demand and could hardly refuse an appeal. only a fine constitution and supreme will power enabled her to endure the strain, and with it all her fund of humor was never exhausted and her courage never faltered. there was a feeling, however, among some members of the association that the movement had reached a stage when she was more than ever needed to address the immense audiences which everywhere now were hungry to hear the doctrines of woman suffrage; and they felt also that the situation at present demanded an executive at the head of the association who could give practically her entire time to the vast demands for administrative work. dr. shaw had but one regret at laying down the heavy double burden, which was that it was placed in her hands by miss anthony in her last hour with the charge not to give it up until the final victory was won. she knew, however, that miss anthony would be satisfied if mrs. catt, an unsurpassed executive and organizer, would take it, and such was the sentiment of a large majority of the delegates, but this she positively refused to do. she was president of the international suffrage alliance, which had branches in twenty-six countries, and as most of them were in the very midst of the world war the united states had to assume the entire responsibility of maintaining the london headquarters and the official paper. new york state had decided to go immediately into another amendment campaign and she had again assumed the chairmanship and was pledged to the work. for several days she resisted all pleadings until finally the ground was completely taken out from under her feet. first, a few wealthy women guaranteed a fund of $ , for the year's expenses of the international alliance to relieve her of that care. then a number of delegates went to the new york delegation of over fifty and labored with them to release her from the chairmanship of the campaign committee, which, after an exciting caucus, they reluctantly consented to do at a great sacrifice, and finally the convention went to her in a body and laid the fruits of their efforts at her feet and she surrendered. at the primaries votes were cast for mrs. mina c. van winkle (n. j.) principally by members of the congressional union who were in some of the state delegations, but she withdrew her name. for other officers the opposition that had been manifesting itself for several years recorded from to votes out of , except that mrs. susan w. fitzgerald (mass.) received for recording secretary and dr. katharine bement davis for third vice-president but withdrew her name. others of the present board did not stand for re-election. mrs. henry wade rogers was unanimously re-elected treasurer. the following officers were elected: mrs. catt unanimously; mrs. frank m. roessing (penn.), first vice-president; mrs. katherine dexter mccormick (mass.), second; miss esther g. ogden (n. j.), third; miss hannah j. patterson (penn.), corresponding secretary; mrs. james w. morrison (ills.), recording secretary; mrs. walter mcnab miller (mo.), first auditor; mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs (ala.), second. dr. shaw came in from the hearing before the judiciary committee as the balloting was about to begin, and as she took the chair she asked from the convention the privilege of casting the first vote for mrs. catt, "the woman who from the beginning has been my choice, the one who more than any other i long to see occupy the position of your president." the afternoon session was a beautiful and memorable occasion. delegates knew there was "something in the air" when they entered the ante-room and were asked to help themselves from the great quantities of flowers on the tables and when they saw a uniformed brass band in one end of the convention hall. dr. shaw was in the chair and at her right and left were mrs. george howard lewis of buffalo and mrs. henry villard of new york, lovely, white-haired veterans in the cause. gathered about her on the platform were those who had been her nearest associates during the many years of her presidency. the meeting was called to order and mrs. raymond brown on behalf of the new york delegation presented a resolution of thanks to dr. shaw for the speeches made by her during the past year in that state and asked unanimous consent of the convention for the adoption of a new by-law to the constitution making her honorary president of the association with a seat on the board. as the delegates answered with a rising vote the band broke forth with patriotic airs and from a side room entered the national officers followed by the state presidents and chairmen of standing committees. dr. thomas, president of the national college league, bore a golden laurel wreath on a blue velvet cushion and each of the officers a large cornucopia filled with yellow blossoms. mrs. james lees laidlaw carried a long garland of flowers and the presidents had huge bouquets. the procession marched entirely around the room with the band playing and the audience singing. dr. thomas presented the laurel wreath to dr. shaw "as a symbol of the triumphant work she had done for the cause which the blue and gold represent." mrs. laidlaw placed the garland about her neck saying, "with these flowers we bind thee to us forever." the presidents came forward and laid their bouquets at her feet until they were banked as high as the arms of her chair and then all grouped themselves around her. as she rose to speak the whole audience sprang to their feet and commenced to shower her with roses until she was almost lost to sight. dr. shaw was very pale and her voice faltered in spite of her effort to control it but with the old smile she said: "men say women are too emotional to vote but when we compare our emotions here today to theirs at political conventions i prefer our kind. if this resolution means that i can still work for suffrage i accept it gratefully and thank you for the opportunity but under no consideration would i accept merely an honorary office. the flowers are beautiful and i shall remember this hour as long as i live but what will make my heart glad all my life is the love i know the members of this association have for me." "the storm of roses ended in a rainbow with a pot of gold at its end," said the report in the new york _tribune_, "for president thomas came forward and announced that an annuity had been raised which would give dr. shaw an income of $ , as long as she lived. 'this is in order' she said, 'that you may work for suffrage every day without stopping to think of finances, and every mill in the $ , represents a heart you have won or a mind you have converted to woman suffrage.' to this gift mrs. lewis added $ , to pay a year's salary to a secretary." "i have always wanted to know how it feels to be a millionaire and now i know," responded dr. shaw. "i cannot think what to say except that i'm very happy."[ ] the delegates cheered and the band played and when the tumult ceased she turned to where mrs. catt sat at the very back of the platform looking pale as herself and by no means so happy, and taking her hand led her forward and presented her as the new president of the association. again there was a scene of great enthusiasm and when it ceased mrs. catt said: "when i came to this convention i had no more idea of accepting the presidency of this association than i had of taking a trip to kamtchatka. i will do my best but because i am an unwilling victim and because you all know it i think i have a right to exact a pledge from you--that if you have any fault to find with my conduct or that of the board you will bring your complaint first to us. i ask all of you to work harder the coming year than you have ever worked before. i cannot be otherwise than deeply touched by the confidence you have placed in me. i promise you to do my best not to disappoint you." the convention clearly demonstrated its joy over her election and received cordially the new officers as they were introduced. miss margaret wilson was among those who showered dr. shaw with flowers on friday afternoon and she sat on the platform at the mass meeting in poli's theater on sunday afternoon. secretary of the interior lane, senators moses e. clapp of minnesota and shafroth of colorado and many other officials and prominent men and women had seats on the platform and a large audience was present. the rev. u. g. b. pierce, of all souls unitarian church, gave the invocation. dr. shaw was in the chair and the speakers were dudley field malone, collector of the port of new york; dr. katharine bement davis, commissioner of corrections of new york city, and mrs. catt. dr. davis spoke with marked effect on the reasonableness of woman suffrage. mr. malone traced the extension of suffrage from the earliest to the present time and showed that in seeking the right to vote american women were asking nothing new. he spoke of "the million women in new york state who have to go into the shop, the factory and the market place each day to earn a living and support a home" and demanded the vote for these women as a matter of justice. he scorned the idea of woman's inferiority to man and said: "it is desirable to place in the electorate every mature individual of brains, character, intelligence and love of country to perpetuate american traditions and the american idea of democracy. america today, facing the world problems of infinite difficulty and variety, needs every element of moral force and influence in the electorate which she can summon to her service, for it may be that our country will be called upon before the world to redeem the pledges made in behalf of democracy itself. the right of suffrage involves the question of justice; the exercise of suffrage raises it to one of ethics. the question before the men of the country is, should the women have the suffrage and if they get it how will they use it?" here mr. malone could not resist the temptation to predict that the vast majority would vote for military "preparedness," a burning question at this time. this roused mrs. catt's resentment both because it was contrary to her belief and because it was contrary to the custom of the association to discuss political subjects. she largely abandoned the rousing suffrage speech she intended to make in order that mr. malone's assertion might not go out over the country with the sanction of the association and said in beginning: "behind preparedness is a bigger thing--the right to maintain peace. unless this country carries a militant peace policy into the court of nations, nobody will, and if we do not take a firm stand we ourselves will soon be at war. it has been made clear to me in the last few months that men are too belligerent to be trusted alone with governments. the world needs woman's restraining hand. man's instinct has been militant since primitive times when it was his job to do the hunting and fighting and woman's to do the work. woman's instinct has been to conserve and protect life. it is much easier to fight than to make peace. we women would not allow our country to be made the door mat for other nations but we would find a way to settle disputes without killing fathers, husbands and sons." dr. shaw sustained firmly the position of mrs. catt, obtained a big collection and sent the people home in a peaceful frame of mind by her closing speech. toward the close of the convention the following resolutions were presented by the committee, miss alice stone blackwell, chairman, and adopted: whereas, women already have the ballot in twelve states of the union and one territory and in seven foreign countries, and the trend of civilization the world over is toward enlarged rights for women; therefore, be it resolved, that the national american woman suffrage association, in convention assembled, again calls upon congress to submit to the states the constitutional amendment providing for nation-wide suffrage for women. we rejoice in the recent granting of full suffrage to women in denmark and iceland; municipal suffrage in south africa and an enlarged local suffrage in the provinces of canada and the states of our union.... we express our heartfelt sympathy with the women of all countries now suffering through the war and our earnest wish for the speedy establishment of peace with justice. since women must bear their full share of all the burdens and sufferings of war they ought in fairness to have a share in choosing those in high places who settle the question of war or peace. the heroic work done for the sick and wounded by the women of every land shows them to be worthy of the ballot, their right to which florence nightingale declared to be an axiom, and their plea for which has been endorsed almost unanimously by the international council of nurses representing nine nations. the association reaffirms that its policy is non-partisan and non-sectarian, opposing no political party as such and opposing no candidate because of his party affiliations but judging every candidate by his own attitude and record. we believe the home is the foundation of the state; we believe in the sacredness of the marriage relationship, and further, we believe that the ballot in the hands of women will strengthen the power of the home and sustain the sacredness and dignity of marriage; we denounce as gross slander statements made by the enemies of woman suffrage that its advocates as a class entertain opinions to the contrary. the thanks and appreciation of the association are tendered to its retiring president, dr. anna howard shaw, for her long and arduous service to this cause, her many labors and hardships and her innumerable and powerful addresses, which have won adherents to woman suffrage not only throughout the united states but in foreign lands. we highly appreciate president wilson's action in declaring in favor of the principle of equal suffrage and in stating his belief in the good results to be expected from its adoption. * * * * * as the resolution to submit the federal suffrage amendment to the state legislatures for ratification had been lost in the senate and house of the rd congress it was necessary to begin again with the th. usually the hearings before the committees of the two houses were held at the same time and the convention adjourned so the delegates might be present but at this time the one for the national american association before the senate was set for the morning of december and the one before the house for the following day. it adjourned for the first one but as the second promised to be long drawn out only a delegation went with dr. shaw and she returned to the convention after she had made the opening speech. at the senate hearings the chairman, senator charles s. thomas (col.), presided and members present were senators hollis (n. h.); clapp (minn.); sutherland (utah); catron (n. m.); jones (wash.). the other members, senators owen (okla.) and johnson (s. dak.), were suffragists and probably were out of town. senator catron was the only opponent. senator ransdell was added to the committee the second day. on the third day only senators hollis, clapp, sutherland and jones attended. the time was divided among the representatives of the national association, the congressional union and the national anti-suffrage association, the first taking from to o'clock wednesday; the second from to : thursday; the third from to : monday. the joint resolution for the amendment had been introduced by senators thomas and sutherland. on the first day chairman thomas said: "this meeting of the senate committee on woman suffrage is called at the instance of the national association of which dr. anna howard shaw is the honored president. the hearing will be conducted under the auspices of that association and by her direction. dr. shaw, we will be glad to hear you now." dr. shaw said in part: for thirty-seven years this amendment has been introduced and re-introduced into the congress by members who have been favorable to our movement, or who have believed in the justice and right of citizens to petition congress and have that petition heard. last year we were permitted to address your body and we rejoiced in the fact that a committee, which from the time of its creation usually had been indifferent toward our subject, had now been appointed with senator thomas, who from the very beginning had seen the justice of the demand for woman suffrage, at the head. this committee gave us great courage and hope, which were fully justified in the fact that for the first time in twenty years our resolution was reported out of committee and acted upon in the senate, receiving a majority vote but not the necessary two-thirds. we come again with the same measure and again we appeal to this committee, in the same terms as for all the past years, for the women citizens of the united states who at every call have responded as readily as the men in doing their duty and serving their country. more and more the demand is being made by ever-increasing groups of women that they shall directly share in the government of which they form a part. so we come to you today with the same old measure but we come with greater hope than ever before because we realize that back of you there are now in many of the states constituencies of women. dr. shaw introduced mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs of alabama, who quoted from distinguished southern members of congress on state's rights and asked that these sentiments be applied to the national amendment for woman suffrage, saying in part: if this amendment is adopted it in no wise regulates or interferes with any existing qualification for voting (except sex) which the various state constitutions now exact. it leaves all others to be determined by the various states through their constitutional agencies. it is a fallacy to contend that to prohibit discrimination on account of sex would involve the race problem. the actual application of the principle in the south would be to enfranchise a very large number of white women and the same sort of negro women as of negro men now permitted to exercise the privilege.... however much these chivalrous gentlemen may wish it were so, that southern women might truly be called roses and lilies which toil not, they must know that their compliments do not provide equal pay for equal service, which obtains in all the woman suffrage states and that their flowers of speech do not help us secure a co-guardianship law, which every suffrage state has and which is non-existent in all southern states. the pedestal platitude appeals less and less to the intelligence of southern women, who are learning in increasing numbers that the assertion that they are too good, too noble, too pure to vote, in reality brands them as incompetents. it cannot be sugarcoated into any other significance as long as we remain classed with idiots, criminals and some of the negro men who also are disfranchised. as things stand in the south an incentive is held out to the negro man to become educated that he may meet the tests; to practice industry and frugality and acquire property to meet the taxpaying qualification; but no such incentive is held out to the white women, who meet the insuperable barrier of sex at every turn which might lead to progress.... we women of the south today, while proud of our past do not live in it. we wish to be proud of our present that we may look forward with confidence to our future. we know that sectionalism should have no place in our hearts or lives. this demand for suffrage is not sectional, it has its adherents in every state and in almost every town in every state. there is little or no organized opposition in my part of the country but there are many thousands of fine, thoughtful, forward-looking southern women banded together seeking the removal of this last badge of incompetency. for them there is no north or south but one great nation, the interest of whose women is the same. we realize that we are not different or better, we southern women, than the women in montana, illinois, maine or massachusetts but are just human beings as they are. we are not queens but political and industrial serfs. we are not angels but our better natures, our higher selves are becoming aroused by the needs of our common humanity with a solidarity of purpose, a keenness of vision unmarred by selfish motives. miss caroline ruutz-rees, head of the rosemary school for girls in greenwich, conn., described the work of the national suffrage association and its sixty-three auxiliaries in the many state campaigns and the long effort for a federal amendment and said in closing: "in its propaganda and campaigns the association has steadily maintained a non-partisan attitude, endeavoring so far as it had power to help the friends of suffrage and considering as antagonistic only its opponents. it does not hold its friends responsible for the failure of their party to pass its measures. it never forgets that it may have to look for help in amending the state constitutions to the adherents of a party unfriendly to a federal amendment. it believes in educating the public until the demand for the enfranchisement of women becomes so strong as to be irresistible. the enormous change of opinion in that public within a few years inspires the association to hope for the speedy conclusion of its labors." mrs. george bass, the well-known suffrage and political worker of chicago, said in the course of her remarks: women want the ballot because they need it in their business--the business of being a woman--in the business that began when the first man and the first woman commenced housekeeping in a cave. the duties of the man and the woman differentiated themselves at that time and they have been differentiated ever since. the woman as mother became the first artisan because she had to clothe the children. she became the first doctor because she had to treat the ills that came to those children of hers and to the man who lived by her side. she had to invent tools; she was the first farmer. man and his duties and his responsibilities have been the same from that time to this. he brought in to her the slain animal which she transmuted into food and changed into clothing. he was the protector, and the first government that grew up about that first home considered only the problems of offense and defense. as the governments of the world became more stable, as they developed, they still centered about war, offense and defense.... woman still is the mother of the race but what of the home? it has become socialized and the spinning wheel is in the attic and millions of women are standing at the great looms of this country. the women are in the shops, the factories, the offices, everywhere that modern industrialism is extending itself. the school has been socialized and the children are by the thousands in the schools. mrs. bass then strikingly illustrated how the business of being a woman now took women to legislative bodies in the interest of the state's dependent children, of the women in the industries, of the so-called fallen women, and showed how fatally handicapped all were without the power of the ballot. mrs. medill mccormick, chairman of the congressional committee of the association, sent a comprehensive report of the vast work it had done in district organization throughout the states and the evident influence this had exerted on congress. dr. shaw introduced mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage alliance, who made the principal address, a searching and comprehensive review of the methods by which men had obtained the ballot compared to those which had been used by women and showed the many requirements made of the latter which were entirely omitted in the case of men. she took the four recent campaigns in massachusetts, new york, new jersey and pennsylvania as the basis of her masterly address, which will be found in the appendix of this chapter. at the end of it she said: "it was twenty-two years ago that i had the privilege and pleasure of standing upon the same platform with the chairman of this committee when he made an eloquent appeal to the citizens of colorado for the women there and many said that his speech turned the tide and gave women the vote. i hope that he and every member will not only make a favorable report but will do more--will follow that report on the floor of the senate and work for it and immortalize themselves while freeing us from the humiliation and the burden of this struggle." the hearing was closed by dr. shaw with a strong and convincing argument to show that "if nothing entered into the life of the homes of this nation except what came through state action it might be said that only the state should decide who should vote but since the women are as much affected by the acts of congress as are the men, this becomes a national question." she drew a striking picture of conditions among the nations of europe where the war was raging; of how "women in our own country every morning scanned the papers to see whether we were nearer with the rising sun than we were with the setting sun of the day before to connections with the old world which will plunge us into the war." she took up the questions of tariff and of prohibition, asked if women should not have a vote on these and the other great national issues before the country and concluded: "i only wish that the woman whose name is so closely associated with this amendment--susan b. anthony--might have lived to see this committee as it exists today instead of having passed away before it was composed of members of the character of those before whom we now come to present our cause." * * * * * at the hearing of the congressional union the following day, senator thomas, chairman of the committee, was present but refused to preside, as the leaders of the union had gone to colorado during the recent campaign and spoken and worked, though unsuccessfully, against his re-election. senator sutherland took the chair. it was conducted by the vice-president of the union, miss anne martin. "one of our chief purposes in asking this hearing," she said, "is to bring before you not only the ethical importance but the political urgency of settling this question of national suffrage for women. at present the thought and strength of large numbers of them throughout the country are absorbed by this campaign to secure fundamental justice, which prevents their giving assistance in matters vitally affecting the interests of the men, women and children of the nation." there would be five-minute speeches, she said, until the last half hour, which would be divided between the envoys of the women voters' convention in san francisco during the past summer.[ ] most of the speeches were crisp and clever and well fortified with facts and figures to prove the advantage of a federal amendment over state amendments in securing universal woman suffrage. the two "envoys" were miss frances jolliffe and mrs. sara bard field of california, who started in an automobile from the grounds of the exposition in san francisco to motor to washington to present to congress a petition which had been collected during the fair and to do propaganda work on the way. the former made only part of the trip in the car but mrs. field completed the entire , miles. both made excellent addresses. * * * * * senator hollis occupied the chair at the hearing of the national anti-suffrage association december . its president, mrs. arthur m. dodge, introduced the speakers, saying: "we appear before you to urge that you do not report this resolution to the senate because we believe very earnestly that it is a question which should be taken to the states to be voted on by the electorates and not submitted to the legislatures." mrs. m. c. talbot, secretary of the maryland anti-suffrage association, read a paper prepared by the hon. john w. foster, a strong argument against a federal amendment but without a word of opposition to the granting of woman suffrage by the states. the other speakers were miss florence h. hall, publicity chairman of the pennsylvania association; mrs. george p. white, a member of its executive board; miss lucy j. price, secretary of the cleveland, o., branch; mrs. a. j. george (mass.), executive secretary of the national congressional committee. they were trained speakers and their side of the question was well presented. it was heard by the senate committee without interruption except on one point. miss hall said: "on waves of populism, mormonism, insurgency and socialism ten states have been added to the pioneer state of wyoming and are recognizing the suffrage flag." when she had finished the following colloquy took place: senator sutherland. i do not ordinarily like to inject anything into these hearings, but one statement has been made by the last speaker which i do not think i ought to let go without making a suggestion in regard to it. if i understood her correctly she insists that mormonism has had something to do with the granting of woman suffrage in the ten states in which it has been granted. i want to say that in california, oregon, washington and kansas, taking those four states which are the largest in which suffrage has been granted, the mormon population and mormon vote are practically negligible. miss hall. i did not base it on that. i said mormonism, populism, socialism and insurgency brought suffrage along with them. senator sutherland. there is only one state in all of these, so far as i know, where mormons are in the majority and that is in my own state of utah. there are comparatively few in colorado, probably not more than a thousand altogether in the entire population, and their numbers are practically negligible in the other states. miss hall. how about idaho? forty per cent. there. senator sutherland. i think perhaps there are twenty-five per cent. there are probably or in the state of nevada. in arizona i do not know just what the percentage is but there are a number of mormon voters there. miss hall. i would refer the committee to senator cannon's recent letter on that question, where he names eleven states---- senator sutherland (interposing). i know that claim has been made but i undertake to say that it is utterly without foundation. i speak in regard to this matter with just as much knowledge as mr. cannon or anybody else. senator jones. it is without foundation, so far as the state of washington is concerned. senator sutherland. while i am not a member of the mormon church and never have been, i have lived in that section practically all my life and it is not correct to say that such a situation as has been described prevails in those states. miss hall. i thought i had pretty good authority for making that statement and i think i could produce the evidence to show it. senator sutherland. i would be surprised if you could produce any evidence whatever to substantiate that statement. mrs. george, who spoke last, came to the rescue of miss hall and this dialogue occurred: mrs. george. i am confident that the speaker only meant to imply that woman suffrage has always been a radical movement and that where mormonism did exist it helped on suffrage.... senator sutherland. as a matter of fact, the mormon church and the mormon people are not radical. they are conservative and in some instances almost ultra conservative.... mrs. george. they may be conservative along certain lines but we do look upon the mormon church as advocating certain social measures which seem to us radical. senator sutherland. i will grant you that in the past there have been some things that you and i would not agree with, but from a very careful observation of events i can say to you with perfect confidence in the truth of what i say, that that sort of thing has passed away. mrs. george. may i say un-american, if you object to the word "radical"? senator sutherland. i object to the word "un-american" much more strongly because the mormon people are not un-american. they are good citizens, among the best in this country. mrs. george concluded her address to the committee with these words: "these are grave times. questions of international relationships, of preparedness, of the national defense, of finance, are vexing the wisest minds. is it a time to further the propaganda of this new crop of hyphenated americans--suffrage-americans--who place their propaganda above every need of the country?" * * * * * with the women of eleven states now eligible to vote for all candidates at the general election of and the large number in illinois possessing the presidential franchise woman suffrage had become a leading issue. most of the house judiciary committee of twenty-one members, including the chairman, edwin y. webb of north carolina, an immovable opponent, were present at the hearing on december and they faced sixteen speakers for the federal amendment and twelve opposed. three hours were granted to the former, divided between the national american association and the congressional union, and two hours to the national association opposed to woman suffrage. dr. shaw opened the hearing by referring to the thirty-seven years that had seen the leaders of her association pleading with congress for favorable action on this amendment and introduced mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage alliance, comprising twenty-six nations. mrs. catt said in part: mr. chairman and gentlemen of the committee, i fear that the hearings before this judiciary committee have become in the eyes and understanding of many of the members a rather perfunctory affair which you have to endure. may i remind you that since the last hearing something new has happened in the united states and that is that more than a million men have voted for woman suffrage in four of the most conservative states of the east? i consider that that big vote presents to this committee a mandate for action which was never presented before. there are those, doubtless, who will say that this is a question of state rights. i have been studying congressmen for a good many years and i have discovered that when a man believes in woman suffrage it is a national question and when he does not believe in it he says it is a question for the states.... mrs. catt told of the prominent educator who was sent from belgium to investigate the working of woman suffrage in the united states and after he had made a visit to the states where it existed he summed up the result by saying: "i am convinced in favor in my mind but my heart is still opposed." "there are members of this committee," she said, "who are governed by their hearts instead of their heads," and she continued: gentlemen, this movement has grown bigger and stronger as the years have passed by until today millions of women are asking in all the states for the vote. the president of cornell university, dr. schurman, said that his reason for now aggressively advocating woman suffrage was because he had discovered in studying history that it was never good for a government to have a restless and dissatisfied class; he had made up his mind that the women of the nation did think that they had a grievance, whether they had or not, and he believed that a government was stronger and safer when grievances were relieved. a few days before the election in order to show that the women wanted to vote there was a parade in new york city and , marched up fifth avenue, among them a great number of public school teachers of the city, , of whom had contributed to our campaign funds. these women deal with the most difficult problems; they are teaching all that the new-coming people know of citizenship and they were asking their own share in that citizenship. a man whose name is known to every one of you was sitting at the window of a clubhouse watching the women pass hour after hour until at last this great group of teachers, sixteen abreast, marched by with their banners. he looked out upon them and do you think he said, "i am convinced that the women of new york do want to vote and i will help them?" that is what an honorable american citizen, an open-minded man, would have said. instead he exclaimed: "my god! i never realized what a menace the woman suffrage movement is to this country; we have got to do something next tuesday to keep the women from getting the vote." there is not a man on this committee or in this house who can produce a single argument against woman suffrage that will hold water, and the thing that is rousing the women of this land continually and making them realize that our government visits upon us a daily injustice is that the doors of our ports are left wide open and the men of all the nations on earth are permitted to enter and receive the franchise. in new york city women must ask for it in twenty-four languages.... walter m. chandler of new york city, a member of the committee, asked mrs. catt if she thought a representative should vote against the mandate of his district, which in his case had given a majority of , against a state amendment in november, although he himself had spoken and voted for it. a spirited dialogue followed which filled several pages of the printed report, mrs. catt insisting that he should stand by the broad principle of justice and mr. chandler equally insistent that he must represent his constituents. as dr. shaw rose to return to the convention mr. carlin of virginia said: "dr. shaw, would you mind explaining to this committee the essential difference between this organization known as the national woman suffrage association and the congressional union? there is a great deal of confusion among the members of the committee as to just what is the difference between them," and she answered: it is, perhaps, like two different political parties, which believe in different procedure. the national woman suffrage association has two fundamental ideas--to secure the suffrage through state and national constitutions--and we appeal both to congress and to the states. the congressional union, as i understand it, appeals only to the congress. another essential difference is that the policy of the union is to hold the party in power responsible for the acts of congress, whether they are acts of that party by itself or of the whole congress. they follow a partisan method of attacking the political party in power, whether the members of it are friendly to the woman-suffrage movement or not. for instance, senator thomas of colorado, senator chamberlain of oregon and other senators and representatives who have always been favorable to our movement and have aided us all the way along, have been attacked by this union not because of their personal attitude toward our question but because of the attitude of their party. the national suffrage association pursues a non-partisan method, attacking no political party. if we could defeat a member of any political party who persistently opposed our measure we would do it, whether in the republican or the democratic or any other, but would never hold any party responsible for the acts of its individual members. many other questions were asked, the committee seeming incredulous that suffragists would fight the re-election of their friends. the next speaker was miss alice stone blackwell whose address consisted in a solid array of facts and figures that were absolutely unanswerable. as the daughter of lucy stone and editor of the _woman's journal_ from girlhood she was fortified beyond all others with information as to the progress of woman suffrage; the connection of the liquor interests with its many defeats; the statistics of the votes that had been taken and all phases of the subject. mrs. harriet stokes thompson, an educator and social worker of chicago, said in part: i wish to make my appeal this morning to both your intellect and your sympathies when i speak to you in behalf of the nine million women who are out today assuming their part in the industrial world. these women who are working in the shops and factories have simply followed the evolution of industry. it is not that they have entered into man's work at all, because they are doing what they formerly did in their homes, and i am asking today that you give to them power to protect themselves. those girls working there now are the mothers of the generation to come and that they may be well protected in their hours of labor, in the conditions under which they work, that they may become mothers of healthy children in the future, we are asking that they may speak with authority through legislative chambers.... i wish to appeal to you, too, for another large group of women, the teachers of the united states. i myself am one of those who stand before the children of this great nation day after day. the teachers should be made citizens in order that they may keep both the letter and the spirit of this democratic country in their teachings. i have lived in my own state to know the difference in the spirit with which you teach citizenship when you yourself are a citizen. a slave cannot teach freedom, cannot comprehend the spirit of freedom; neither can a woman who is not a citizen comprehend the spirit of true citizenship. the teachers of illinois since they were enfranchised have come to their work with a new life, a new zest and a new responsibility and we expect to send the boys out with a finer appreciation of what it means to render public service to a whole community and not a fraction of it. we also recognize the fact that our men are feeling that in every good work which they undertake a great help has been given to them. mrs. george bass, whose address is quoted in the report of the senate hearing in this chapter, gave a valuable résumé of the civic and legal reforms which already the women of illinois had been able to accomplish with their votes and answered a number of questions. miss ruutz-rees spoke along the lines of her speech before the senate committee, as did mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs, who made a strong appeal in the name of southern women for the federal amendment. she was subjected to a crossfire of questions from the southern members and chairman webb asked the question which many times afterwards came back to plague him: "do you not think that as soon as you have a big enough majority of women in alabama who want suffrage you will get it from the state and that you ought not come here bothering congress about something that it should not, under our form of government, take jurisdiction of?" she answered: "i am very regretful that you have been bothered." during the questions and answers that followed mrs. jacobs brought forward the unjust laws of south carolina and alabama for working women and for all women and said: "the southern man still prefers to think of the southern women as the sheltered, protected beings he would like to have them and he does not realize that now they are the exploited class." representatives whaley of south carolina and tribble of georgia denied her statements and afterwards put into the record statistics attempting to disprove them. in the paper presented by mrs. medill mccormick, chairman of the congressional committee, she showed the excellent work that had been done by its branches organized in the congressional districts; the pressure on members of congress by their constituents; the favorable resolutions that had been passed by organizations and meetings representing hundreds of thousands and closed: "i wonder whether you gentlemen of the committee have computed the number of votes that are now behind the woman suffrage movement in this country? i do not mean the votes of women in the equal suffrage states alone, i mean the popular voting strength as shown at the polls all over the country. nearly , , votes were cast for woman suffrage in new york, pennsylvania, new jersey and massachusetts this fall. nearly , were cast in ohio, missouri, the dakotas and nebraska last fall, besides the popular vote of the equal suffrage states and illinois. the total of these figures from twenty-one states is , , --that is, , more than were cast for president wilson in forty-eight states. would congress fail to recognize such voting strength upon any other issue? * * * * * the rest of the time was given to the congressional union, its chairman, miss alice paul, presiding. the speakers were mrs. andreas ueland, president of the minnesota suffrage association; miss mabel vernon of nevada; mrs. jennie law hardy, an australian residing in michigan; mrs. florence bayard hilles of delaware; miss helen todd, miss frances jolliffe and mrs. sara bard field of california. the first two speakers proceeded without interruption but when mrs. hardy said that by marrying in the united states she found herself disfranchised, the committee woke up. after questioning her on this point mr. steele of pennsylvania asked her how she accounted for the large defeat the second time the suffrage amendment was submitted in michigan and she answered: "i account for it partly by the fact that this was the only state having a campaign that year and the whole opposition was centered there. the liquor interests themselves admitted that they spent a million dollars to defeat it." the address of mrs. hilles also brought out a flood of questions, which, with the answers made by miss paul, filled four printed pages of the official report. they began with requests for information about the difficulties of amending state constitutions but soon centered on the campaign of the union against the democrats in and this line was followed throughout the rest of the hearing, the federal amendment being largely lost sight of. the members showed deep personal resentment. for example: mr. taggart (kan.). your organization spent a lot of time and money trying to defeat men on this committee that you are now before, did it not? miss paul. we went out into the suffrage states and told the women voters what was done to the suffrage amendment by the last congress. mr. taggart. we have before us a joint suffrage resolution by mr. taylor of colorado. you tried to defeat him, did you not? miss paul. the suffrage amendment was not brought to a vote in the house until after we went to the west. mr. taggart. you tried to defeat the man in the house who presented this resolution which you are having hearings for, did you not? miss paul. what we did was to go to the rules committee, a democratic committee, to ask that this measure be reported out and brought to a vote; when the committee had refused to do this we went out into the suffrage states of the west and told the women voters how the bill was being blocked at washington. as soon as we did that they stopped blocking and the bill was brought up before the house for the first time in history. mr. taggart. that was after the election? miss paul. yes. mr. taggart. you are aware that more democrats voted for it than men of any other party? miss paul. we are aware that the democrats met in caucus and decided that woman suffrage should not be brought up in the house and after we went out into the west they brought it up. we went out to tell the women voters about the way some of their representatives were treating the matter. mr. taggart. and with this result--that in the suffrage state of colorado senator thomas, a democrat, was re-elected to succeed himself; in the suffrage state of arizona, senator smith, a democrat, was re-elected to succeed himself; in the suffrage state of california a democrat was elected to succeed a republican; in the suffrage state of washington the house was reinforced by one democrat, and in the suffrage state of utah and in the suffrage state of kansas democrats were elected to reinforce the party. one democrat only, mr. seldomridge of colorado, was defeated, for the reason, he says, that his district has been gerrymandered; nevertheless, he came and voted for the amendment on the floor of the house. why should you take such an interest in defeating democratic congressmen and senators? miss paul persisted that all the favorable action taken by congress after the election of was because they campaigned against the democrats, ignoring the fact that nevada and montana had enfranchised their women at that election and public sentiment was veering so rapidly in favor of woman suffrage as to compel both parties to regard it as a political issue. after the opening sentences of miss todd's speech it became a heated dialogue between her and the members of the committee. miss paul said in introducing miss frances jolliffe: "she is a strong democrat who campaigned for president wilson and senator phelan and is one of the envoys sent by the women's convention in san francisco, at which there were present , people who bade her 'godspeed' on this journey."[ ] the beginning of her speech was as follows: "i am here as a messenger from the women voters of the west. perhaps first i should offer my apologies to the minority for appearing at all; for, gentlemen, i did my level best to defeat the republican candidate for the senate last year and i think i did a good deal to defeat him when i went before the women and told them they could not send back----" mr. volstead spoke quickly saying: "will you pardon me an interruption? was that the pay you gave the republicans for giving you almost as many votes in the house as the democrats gave you, and that despite the fact that the democrats had a two-thirds majority in the house? that is, less than one-half of the vote in favor of your proposition came from the democrats and more than five out of every six who voted against it were democrats." the controversy kept up and when mrs. sara bard field, the other "envoy," commenced her speech she begged that she might finish it without interruption. toward the close, however, the hearing became a free-for-all debating society, the discussion filling seven pages of the official report. miss paul's closing remarks caused the debate to be continued through another six pages. "can you tell me what will be in the platform of the democratic party in ?" she asked chairman webb. "i can tell you one plank that will not be in it and that is a plank in favor of woman suffrage," he answered. the retorts of the women were clever but both republican and democratic members of the committee were very much out of humor and not in a very good frame of mind to make a favorable report. * * * * * the hearing of the national association opposed to woman suffrage followed immediately. its president, mrs. arthur m. dodge, said in opening their hearing: "we have come here today to ask you as a committee not to report this bill favorably to the house, because we consider that, in the first place, it is a question of state's rights. in the second place we consider that the women, as represented by their men--good, bad and indifferent, honest or venal--should be heard through the men who represent them at the present time and whom the majority of women are still perfectly willing to have represent them." she then showed how much larger the majorities were which had voted against woman suffrage than for it. the speakers were miss emily p. bissell of delaware; mrs. o. d. oliphant of the new jersey association; mrs. james wells of the texas association; miss lucy j. price of the cleveland branch; mrs. a. j. george of the massachusetts association. the judiciary committee was in an argumentative mood and began with mrs. dodge as follows: mr. dyer (mo.). what is the position of your organization with reference to the question of whether or not women should have the right to vote at all? are you in favor of women voting? mrs. dodge. we are in opposition to woman suffrage generally. we have never opposed women voting in school matters; we think that is a perfectly legitimate line for them to vote upon. the only trouble is they do not vote upon those questions where authorized; only two per cent. of them do so. mr. dyer. that is as far as you want them to go? mrs. dodge. yes; that is a perfectly legitimate line for them, we have always taken that position from the first, but that does not mean that women are to be drawn into politics and government and we only draw the line at their taking part in politics and government. mr. dyer. i understand your position is that you favor submitting this question to the states directly. mrs. dodge. yes. we have always rather inclined to the idea that it should be submitted to the women themselves.[ ] ... mr. taggart. would you say that it was just to require a woman to pay the income tax demanded by the government and then deny her the right to any voice as to who should be the representative that voted that tax on her? mrs. dodge. i certainly should. i have paid taxes in five states myself. i feel that i am entirely protected--that is what the tax is for. i think that taxpaying men are just as capable of taking care of my rights as of their own and i feel that i am justified in saying that the men can quite as well look after that which ought to be and is their business as i can. mr. taggart asked: "why should the women of kansas have the vote when it is denied to those of other states who need it as much or more?" mrs. dodge answered: "we think the men in kansas did not quite know what they were doing when they gave it to women and a great many thousands of women there wish they had not done so." "you are then opposed to having a state grant suffrage to its own women?" he asked. "not at all," she replied. "then why do you say the men did not know what they were about?" "i do not know whether a majority or a minority of the voters desired it," she said. "well, it was a very large majority and i have never heard a regret expressed in the state that it was done," responded mr. taggart. mrs. oliphant was held up because after saying that the women did not want the suffrage she argued against a federal amendment because if the women got it it would be very difficult to repeal it. mr. graham (penn.) rushed to her relief by saying: "the line of thought is that states, holding a minority of the population of the united states might pass this national amendment over the protest of the larger states with the greater population." his attention was called by one of the committee to the fact that it would require states. mrs. wells kept reminding the committee that she was an inexperienced speaker and knew nothing about politics but said: "i am a catholic and a democrat. i claim no knowledge of northern women but i cannot understand how southern women--i speak for them--can so far forget the memory of thomas jefferson and state's rights as to insist on having a minority of men in congress pass this constitutional amendment against our desire." she was reminded that it required two-thirds of each house. she then told of opposing a suffrage resolution in the texas legislature some years before but neglected to tell of opposing one for prohibition also. asked if women did not vote at school elections in texas she answered: "i do not know because i know nothing about politics." miss price was a shrewd speaker and guarded her position but before she had finished the members of the committee themselves were making speeches for or against woman suffrage. the speech of mrs. george of massachusetts with its statistics filled fifteen closely printed pages of the stenographic report. it was an argument for state's rights which would have done credit to the most extreme southerner and she protected her defenses against the volley of questions that were kept up until time for the committee to adjourn. the anti-suffragists had wisely refrained this year from bringing any of their male advocates but the latter did not intend to be left out and they obtained a hearing six weeks later on february . franklin carter, secretary of the man suffrage association of new york city, told the committee he could "get through in half an hour," which was granted. he consumed over an hour, the official report showing that after the first few sentences there were not more than three or four without an interruption from the committee and the "heckling" continued through seventeen interesting printed pages. mr. carter, who said he received a salary of $ a month and had expended between $ , and $ , during the recent new york amendment campaign, was at last obliged to submit what he had to say in the form of a "brief," which filled six closely printed pages. he was followed by paul littlefield representing the men's campaign committee of the pennsylvania women's anti-suffrage association. his experience was more disconcerting than that of mr. carter, who had freely stated the expenditures of his association and his own salary while mr. littlefield refused any information on these and other points. he brought a message from mrs. horace brock, president of the association, saying: "the women of our state trust the men to legislate wisely and justly for them, and the ideas of chivalry which have existed for a thousand years are the great bulwark surrounding and protecting women, upon which, because of their lack of physical strength, they must rely for safety and happiness." his grilling filled twelve printed pages of the report. mr. stone asked permission to get a "brief" from the chairman of the massachusetts man suffrage association, robert turner, which would clear up many matters. his own recollection was that the expenditures of that association in the campaign were $ , . mr. littlefield then relented and said that the pennsylvania men's committee spent $ , on the campaign. mr. turner's "brief" of , words was afterwards submitted but did not mention expenditures. footnotes: [ ] call: in the long years of work for equal suffrage none has been so crowded with self-sacrificing labor for the cause as this one and no year so significant of its early ultimate triumph. as we issue this call four great campaigns for equal suffrage are in progress in four eastern states. thousands of women are working with voice and pen and tens of thousands are contributing in time and money to win political freedom for women in these states. other states are rapidly preparing for active campaigns in . at the same time the national association is putting forth the strongest efforts to win nation-wide suffrage through the passage of its historic amendment to the constitution of the united states. we shall come together at this, our forty-seventh annual convention, larger in numbers, more united in spirit and effort, more assured of early success than ever before....and, with renewed zeal and inspiration, rejoicing that the long struggle for the new freedom for women is nearing an end. public opinion for equal suffrage has increased a hundredfold in this fateful year. it seems borne in upon the most conservative that it is only a matter of time when nation-wide political freedom will be granted to women as an inevitable outcome of our democracy and the last step in the great experiment of self-government.... anna howard shaw, president. katharine dexter mccormick, first vice-president. nellie nugent somerville, second vice-president. katharine bement davis, third vice-president. nellie sawyer clark, corresponding secretary. susan walker fitzgerald, recording secretary. emma winner rogers, treasurer. helen guthrie miller,} auditors. ruth hanna mccormick,} [ ] although dr. shaw was but sixty-eight years old and in perfect health she afterwards asked the custodians of this fund--george foster peabody, james lees laidlaw and norman de r. whitehouse, new york bankers--to hold it in trust, paying her only the annuity each year and giving her the right to dispose of it at her death in some way to advance the cause of woman suffrage, which was done. [ ] the speakers were mrs. william spencer murray, secretary of the women's political union of connecticut; mrs. annie g. porritt, press chairman of the connecticut woman suffrage association; mrs. dana durand of minnesota; miss julia hurlburt, vice-chairman of the women's political union of new jersey; mrs. agnes jenks, president of the rhode island w. s. a.; mrs. alden h. potter, chairman of the congressional union in minnesota; mrs. glendower evans, member of the minimum wage commission of massachusetts; mrs. r. h. ashbaugh, president of the michigan federation of women's clubs; mrs. james rector, vice-chairman of the c. u. of ohio; mrs. cyrus mead of the ohio c. u. [ ] the automobile started from the exposition and there were possibly more than that many people on the grounds. as its departure had been widely advertised and was made a spectacular event a large crowd was at the gate. [ ] for the last twenty years the members of the anti-suffrage association had appeared regularly before committees of legislatures in various states to oppose the submission of the question to the voters, picturing the injury it would be to the community and to the women. they had never in any state made the slightest effort to have it submitted to women themselves. the school suffrage was granted in most of the states before they had any organization but they went before a committee in the new york legislature to oppose women on school boards. chapter xvi. national american convention of . the year marked a turning point in the sixty-year-old struggle for woman suffrage. large delegations of women had attended the republican and democratic national conventions during the summer and for the first time each of them had put into its platform an unequivocal declaration in favor of suffrage for women; the progressive, socialist and prohibition platforms contained similar planks, the last three declaring for a federal amendment. it had become one of the leading political issues of the day and a subject of nation-wide interest. the president of the national american woman suffrage association, mrs. carrie chapman catt, quickly recognized the situation and saw that its official action must not be deferred until the usual time for its annual convention which would be after the presidential elections, therefore the board of officers issued a call for an emergency convention to meet in atlantic city, n. j., sept. - , .[ ] the members throughout the country were much surprised but welcomed the opportunity to visit this beautiful ocean resort. the headquarters were in the famous hotel marlborough-blenheim and after the first day the sessions were held in the large new nixon theater on the board walk. after two days of executive meetings the forty-eighth annual convention opened the morning of september in the handsome st. paul's methodist episcopal church, granted by the trustees and pastor, with an invocation by the latter, the rev. a. h. lucas. mayor harry backarach gave a cordial address of welcome, ending by presenting to mrs. catt, who was in the chair, a huge "key to the city and to our hearts" tied with ribbons of blue and gold, the colors of the association. members of the board made their official reports at this and other meetings and all were valuable and interesting but space permits only a brief mention of most of them. miss hannah j. patterson (penn.), corresponding secretary and chairman of organization, told of the division of the national work into six departments with a national officer at the head of each and of moving the national headquarters from fifth avenue, corner of nd street, new york, where they had been since , into much larger offices at madison avenue, corner of rd street. an entire floor was rented with , square feet of space, nearly , more than in the old location. the publishing company took part of this, the association retaining ten rooms. miss patterson told of the thorough organization work being done under fourteen organizers, who had covered twelve states. she spoke of the need of training schools for organizers and told of the value of combining all departments, data, literature, publishing, organizing, etc., under headquarters management. miss esther g. ogden (n. j.), third vice-president and head of the publishing company, told of doing field work in colorado and california to interest their women in the demonstrations which were being planned for the political conventions. she spoke of the large correspondence in connection with the trip of the little "golden flier," saying: this tour was undertaken by miss alice burke and miss nell richardson, who left new york april to make a circuit of the united states in the interest of the national association and the cause of suffrage. the saxon motor company donated the car, while the association arranged for entertainment for miss burke and miss richardson along the route and for expenses over and above the collections taken at their meetings, of which they have held one a day in the closely settled states. they reached san francisco early in june and are now on their way east. from each state through which they have passed we have had appreciative letters of their endurance and courage as automobilists and of their worth as public speakers. they have suffered actual privations crossing the desert and more recently in the bad lands of the northwest. they were on the mexican border during the raids and their car had to be pulled out of rivers during the floods; their courage has never faltered and they have given another proof of the well-known fact that you can't discourage a suffragist. they set out to make a circuit of the united states with the same determination that we all have set out to win our enfranchisement and they will not give up until the circuit is made. so far nineteen states have been included in the itinerary and it is planned to cover six more. the newspaper publicity has been nation-wide.... later miss ogden made her report for the national woman suffrage publishing company. "we exist," she said, "for two purposes--to serve the suffrage cause throughout the country and to prove that we can serve that cause and also develop a successful business." she spoke of the devoted office staff, under the business manager, miss anna de baun, who had made personal sacrifices again and again when necessary. the report of the recording secretary, mrs. mary foulke morrisson (ills.), to whom had been entrusted the organization of the great parade of suffragists during the national republican convention in chicago and especially its financing, stated that $ , had been raised by the state and chicago equal suffrage associations; $ by the chicago political equality league and some hundreds of dollars by local leagues and individuals. she paid high tribute to the unwearying work of mrs. medill mccormick, who, speaking and organizing in the city and outlying towns "won the support of whole sections of the community that had hitherto been utterly indifferent." mrs. morrisson herself had spoken fifty times in the interest of the parade in illinois, indiana, kansas, iowa and the mississippi valley conference. the report of the national treasurer, mrs. henry wade rogers, was received with much appreciation of her money-getting ability and satisfactory accounting. the total receipts for the year were $ , and the close of the fiscal year found a balance on hand of $ , . the largest contributions had been $ each from the state associations of illinois, massachusetts, new york, new jersey and pennsylvania. the national college equal suffrage league gave $ . the expenditures in round numbers were: headquarters, including salaries, expenses of conventions, etc., $ , ; publicity, $ , ; national congressional committee, $ , ; publishing _news letter_, $ ; contributions to campaigns, $ , ; demonstrations, organization, etc., $ , . in commenting mrs. rogers said: "nothing to my mind indicates so vividly the progress of equal suffrage as the comparative ease with which the largest budget in the history of the national association was pledged and most of it paid by august , and the fact that an excess of that budget amounting to many thousands of dollars has been raised three months before the usual convention date. 'money talks' and it is saying this year: 'no cause in which i could be used appeals to me as does this fundamental one of enfranchising women, of opening the door to let them enter and help to make a more christian civilization.' literally we have had only to ask and it has been given unto us. scores and hundreds of women in sending their generous gifts have said: 'would that my check were ten times as large!' the wonderful spirit of kindliness and ardent desire to cooperate have touched the treasurer's heart deeply and made the work of the passing year a real joy. i am confident that all necessary funds for suffrage expenditures--national, state and local--can be raised, even to a million dollars, if more systematic work is done on the financial side in the states...." mrs. rogers outlined the business methods that should be used and expressed her obligations to her committee of fifty on finance for their helpful support. mrs. walter mcnab miller (mo.), first auditor, in the report of her field work told of days, weeks and months spent in visiting cities from new york to st. louis, holding conferences and meetings and writing hundreds of letters to raise money and arrange for the demonstration to be held in st. louis during the democratic national convention--the "walkless parade," to which the missouri suffrage association contributed nearly $ , . she attended state suffrage and political conventions and the biennial of the general federation of women's clubs in new york. "and then came chicago," the report said, "with its exciting surge, its march in the rain and its near-victory plank, followed by st. louis with its 'golden lane' of suffragists and a plank a little less pleasing; another trip to indianapolis with our chief--and the most momentous june in suffrage history was over." the report told of the journey to cheyenne to attend the council of women voters; the addresses of the present democratic governor kendrick and the former republican governor and u. s. senator carey; the two days at the state university in laramie, "the guest of one of the best-known suffragists in the state, professor grace raymond hebard"; the visit in denver, "asking questions and being interviewed." "all of this," she said, "sent me back firmly convinced that the western women want to help us in our battle and only wait for a definite program of work." the second auditor, mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs (ala.), in the report of her field work showed an equally full schedule. she had been present at every board meeting but one, of which she was notified too late; as a member of the congressional committee had assisted with the lobby work in washington; had attended a three-days' state conference in nashville and spoken three times; the mississippi state convention and spoken twice; spoken in savannah and asheville and at the may-day celebration of the nashville league; attended the chicago and st. louis demonstrations and spent the intervening times in raising the money to meet her pledge of $ , for her state to the national association. mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, chairman of the press department, stated that this was largely a nominal position, as the practical work was done by professionals and would be related in the report from the publicity department. the reports of the national officers were concluded by that of mrs. catt, chairman of the campaign and survey committee, a new feature of the association. it began: "for the purpose of making a survey of suffrage conditions throughout the nation, either an officer of the national board or some person or persons representing the board have visited nearly every state in the union. i have myself visited twenty-three states; miss hauser and miss walker visited nine enfranchised states; mrs. miller, mrs. jacobs, mrs. morrisson and mrs. rogers have each visited several; mrs. roessing and miss patterson have made a number of trips to west virginia. our chief motive was to learn conditions. to corroborate our impressions questionnaires were sent to all the state associations in january and again in july. as a result of the information obtained the national board is convinced that our movement has reached a crisis which if recognized will open the way to a speedy and final victory." mrs. catt expressed the belief that in the future a better understanding between national and state boards would be possible and spoke of the visits of herself and other national officers to west virginia and south dakota, where woman suffrage amendments would be voted on in november. she then took up the case of iowa, where one had been defeated the past june, and made an analysis of a situation which had existed here and in nearly all states where defeats had taken place as follows: when the present board came into office, iowa was in campaign and but a few months remained for work. in january i met with the state board and we counselled together concerning the needs of the campaign; later i met with it on three different occasions and gave one month to speaking in the state. the national board contributed $ , to the campaign from the legacy of mary j. coggeshall of iowa and gave one organizer from january until the vote was taken. it also sent speakers and workers toward the end of the campaign. the various states contributed generously through the national treasury. the campaign came up splendidly at the last. men, i believe, supported it more earnestly than they have done in other states. one of the best press bureaus any state has had, under the direction of mrs. rose lawless geyer, was at work for some months. the able president, miss flora dunlap, gave all her time and ability. there were many brilliant forays which were truly effective, but nothing could overcome a weakness which has appeared in every campaign and that is the inability of newly-formed, untrained committees to put speakers and workers to the best use. it will be the case in every campaign that, near the end, weak spots must be reinforced by outside experienced workers. another difficulty was that money-raising was left to the close of the campaign when all the efforts of workers were demanded by other duties. this has been the trouble in most states. the lesson we must learn is that at the beginning a money-raising plan must be formed and carried out and pledges must be made to cover the major portion of the cost before the real campaign is begun. toward the close there are many things which ought to be done but are left undone for want of money. state committees grow timid because they do not see the money in sight and naturally trim their budgets to the point which renders defeat inevitable. iowa, like every other state, showed opposition from the "wets," tricks of politicians and the rounding up of every drunkard and outcast to vote against the amendment. the unprecedented result was that , more votes were cast on the suffrage proposition than on the governor. this could only have been brought about by inducements of some sort which were made to the lowest elements of the population. this story differs in coloring and detail with each campaign but varies little as to general fact. it must be borne in mind and our campaigns must be so good that these purchasable and controllable elements will be outvoted. a number of men worked against the amendment in iowa and men are working at this time in south dakota and west virginia. who employs or pays these men we have never been able to discover. their ordinary method is to secure strictly private meetings of men only, where they spread the basest of untruths. all past campaigns point to the necessity of waging those of the future with a distinct understanding that the worst elements of the population will be lined up by this unscrupulous, well-supported, combined opposition of men and of women. the women appeal to the respectable elements of the community; the men make little pretense in this direction. there is a sure alliance between the two. the first public session was held thursday afternoon and the delegates looked forward with keen enjoyment to the "three-cornered debate" on what had become a paramount question. mrs. catt was in the chair. each leader was to have ten minutes and her second five minutes to speak in the affirmative only; when the six had presented their arguments there was to be free discussion from the floor, and, after all who had wished had spoken, each leader would have ten minutes to answer the opposition to her point of view. the program was as follows: shall the national american woman suffrage association drop work on the federal amendment and confine its activities to state legislation? leader, miss laura clay, kentucky; second, miss kate gordon, louisiana. shall the national american woman suffrage association drop work for state referenda and concentrate on the federal amendment? leader, mrs. ida husted harper, new york; second, mrs. glendower evans, massachusetts. shall the present policy of the national american woman suffrage association to work for woman suffrage "by appropriate national and state legislation" be continued? leader, mrs. raymond brown, new york; second, miss florence allen, ohio. the alternative amendments to the constitution will then be put: i. to strike out the words "national and." ii. to strike out the words "and state." if both are lost, the constitution will remain as it is and the national american woman suffrage association will stand pledged to both federal and state campaigns. the speakers presented their arguments with great earnestness; the discussion was vigorously carried on and the rebuttals were made with much spirit. by request the honorary president, dr. shaw, who was sitting on the platform, closed the debate and she strongly urged that there should be no change in the policy of the association. the convention voted overwhelmingly in favor of continuing to work for both national and state constitutional amendments, nearly all of the southern delegates joining in this vote. mrs. harper then rose to a question of personal privilege and said that she should consider it a great calamity for the association to discontinue its work for state amendments and that she only took the opposite side at the urgent request of mrs. catt, with the promise that she should be permitted to make this explanation. mrs. evans made a similar statement and the audience, which had been mystified by their position, had a hearty laugh. this debate and the vote of the convention restored the association to its position of standing for the original federal suffrage amendment and working for amendments of state constitutions as a means to this end. in the evening a brilliant reception for the officers and delegates was given in the large drawing-room of the marlborough-blenheim by the atlantic city woman suffrage club and the new jersey state association. the convention was opened in the new nixon theater thursday morning with prayer by the rev. thomas j. cross, pastor of the chelsea baptist church, and much routine business was disposed of. the constitution was changed so as to exclude from membership all organizations not in harmony with the policy of the association and the term of the officers was extended from one to two years. a unique program was carried out in the afternoon under the direction of the second vice-president, mrs. katharine dexter mccormick--the handicapped states, a concrete lesson in constitutions. the states whose constitutions practically could not be amended were grouped under these heads: the impossibles; the insuperables; the inexecutables; the improbables; the indubitables; the inexcusables; the irreproachables. each group was represented by one or more women who quoted from the constitutions. it was intended as an object lesson to show the necessity for a federal amendment. at : mrs. catt began her president's address before an audience that filled the large theater and listened with intense interest until the last word was spoken at five o'clock. it was a masterly review of the movement for woman suffrage and a program for the work now necessary to bring it to a successful end. the opening sentences were as follows: i have taken for my subject, "the crisis," because i believe that a crisis has come in our movement which, if recognized and the opportunity seized with vigor, enthusiasm and will, means the final victory of our great cause in the very near future. i am aware that some suffragists do not share in this belief; they see no signs nor symptoms today which were not present yesterday; no manifestations in the year which differ significantly from those in the year . to them, the movement has been a steady, normal growth from the beginning and must so continue until the end. i can only defend my claim with the plea that it is better to imagine a crisis where none exists than to fail to recognize one when it comes, for a crisis is a culmination of events which calls for new considerations and new decisions. a failure to answer the call may mean an opportunity lost, a possible victory postponed.... this address, coming at the moment when woman suffrage was accepted as inevitable by the president of the united states and all the political parties, was regarded as the key-note of the beginning of a campaign which would end in victory. in pamphlet form it was used as a highly valued campaign document. mrs. catt showed the impossibility of securing suffrage for all the women of the country by the state method and pointed out that the federal amendment was the one and only way. "our cause has been caught in a snarl of constitutional obstructions and inadequate election laws," she said, after drawing upon her own experience to show the hazards of state referenda, and we have a right to appeal to our congress to extricate it from this tangle. if there is any chivalry left this is the time for it to come forward and do an act of simple justice. in my judgment the women of this land not only have the right to sit on the steps of congress until it acts but it is their self-respecting duty to insist upon their enfranchisement by that route.... were there never another convert made there are suffragists enough in this country, if combined, to make so irresistible a driving force that victory might be seized at once. how can it be done? by a simple change of mental attitude. if you are to seize the victory, that change must take place in this hall, here and now. the crisis is here, but if the call goes unheeded, if our women think it means the vote without a struggle, if they think other women can and will pay the price of their emancipation, the hour may pass and our political liberty may not be won.... the character of a man is measured by his will. the same is true of a movement. then _will_ to be free." the address made a deep impression and was accepted as a call to arms. throughout the convention open-air meetings were held on the boardwalk addressed by popular suffrage speakers and thousands in the great crowds that throng this noted thoroughfare were interested listeners. the friday morning session was enlivened by a resolution offered by mrs. raymond robins, which said that this emergency convention had been called to plan for the final steps which would lead to nation-wide enfranchisement of women; that the method of amending state constitutions meant long delay; that many national candidates in all parties had declared in favor of a federal amendment, and therefore the delegates in this convention urged that in the present campaign suffragists should support for national office only those candidates who pledged their support to this amendment. the delegates quickly recognized that this meant to endorse judge charles evans hughes for president, although president wilson was to address the convention that evening. party feeling ran high but still stronger was the determination of the convention that the association should not depart from its policy of absolute non-partisanship. motions were made and amendments offered and the discussion raged for two hours. dr. shaw spoke strongly against the resolution and finally it was defeated by a large majority. later mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of chicago offered a resolution which after several amendments read: "we re-affirm our non-partisan attitude concerning national political parties but this policy does not preclude the right of any member to work against any candidate who opposes woman suffrage, nor shall it refer to the personal attitude of enfranchised women." this was carried enthusiastically. a resolution by mrs. j. claude bedford (penn.) for a vigorous publicity campaign to make clear the association's non-partisan policy was passed. there had been such marked increase of public opinion in favor of woman suffrage in the southern states and so many of their able women had come into the association that a "dixie evening" had been arranged. mrs. catt presided and the following program was presented: master words--mrs. minnie fisher cunningham, president texas woman suffrage association; kentucky and her constitution--mrs. thomas jefferson smith, president kentucky equal rights association; the evolution of woman--mrs. eugene reilley, vice-president general federation of women's clubs and vice-president north carolina woman suffrage association; progress of today and traditions of yesterday--mrs. edward mcgehee, president mississippi federation of women's clubs; for woman herself--mrs. lila mead valentine, president virginia equal suffrage league; the southern temperament as related to woman suffrage--mrs. guilford dudley, president tennessee equal suffrage association, inc.; real americanism--mrs. t. t. cotnam, vice-president arkansas woman suffrage association. southern women have a natural gift of oratory and the audience was delightfully entertained. but three of these addresses were published and space can be given only to brief extracts. "there is in america today," mrs. cotnam said, "a large class of people who are restless and dissatisfied and are smarting under the injustice of being governed without their consent. this is a class with the blood of the pilgrim mothers in their veins--of those who cheerfully endured untold hardships as the price of liberty; a class with the blood of the revolutionary fathers in their veins--of those who gave their lives that their children might be free; a class who are the rightful joint heirs with all the people of the united states of the heritage of freedom but whose inheritance after years is still kept 'in trust.'" she referred to the anxiety of congress "to make the filipinos a self-governing people after only a few years of american tutelage while years have not been enough to equip american women for self-government," and said: "political leaders say america is 'the waymark of all people seeking liberty' and yet one-half of the american people have never known liberty. they promise justice to the oppressed of every land who are seeking refuge and practice injustice against one-half of those whose homes have always been here. every citizen of the united states is jealous of her standing among the nations and just now each political party is claiming to be the only worthy custodian of national honor. it is with amazement we read the arraignment of one party by another and note that in no instance have they taken each other to task for injustice to american women which violates the fundamental principle of democracy, 'equal rights for all, special privileges to none.' ... americanism--it stands for the recognition of the equality of men and women before the law of man as they are equal before the law of god. americanism--it stands for truth triumphant. americanism--it will find its full realization when men and women meet upon a plane of equal rights with a united desire to maintain peace, to guard the nation's honor, to advance prosperity and to secure the happiness of the people." "we are a race of dreamers in the south by choice and because of climatic conditions," said mrs. guilford dudley in an eloquent address. after a keenly sarcastic comparison between southern chivalry and the unjust laws for women, and the observation that "the only business a southern girl is taught is the business of hearts," she said: as long as it was a question of woman's rights; as long as the fight had any appearance of being against man; as long as there seemed to be a vestige of sex antagonism, the southern woman stood with her back turned squarely toward the cause. she wouldn't even turn around to look at it, she would have none of it, but when she awoke slowly to a social consciousness, when eyes and brain were at last free, after a terrible reconstruction period, to look out upon the world as a whole; when she found particularly among the more fortunate classes that her leisure had come to mean laziness; when she realized that through the changed conditions of modern life so much of her work had been taken out of the home, leaving her to choose between following it into the world or remaining idle; when with a clearer vision she saw that her help in governmental affairs, especially where they touched her own interests, was much needed--right about face she turned and said to the southern man: "i don't wish to usurp your place in government but it is time i had my own. i don't complain of the way you have conducted your part of the business but my part has been either badly managed or not managed at all. in the past you have not shown yourself averse to accepting my help in very serious matters; my courage and fortitude and wisdom you have continually praised. now that there is a closer connection between the government and the home than ever before in the history of the world, i ask that you will let me help you." mrs. dudley described the effect of the demand for woman suffrage on the politicians, on the men who feared they would be "reformed," on the sentimentalists, and then she paid tribute to the broad-minded, justice-loving men who encouraged the women in their new aspirations and concluded: "so you see not only the southern woman but the southern man is now awake and present conditions strongly indicate that before another year has passed we will have some form of suffrage for the woman of tennessee.... we have had a vision--a vision of a time when a woman's home will be the whole wide world, her children all those whose feet are bare and her sisters all who need a helping hand; a vision of a new knighthood, a new chivalry, when men will not only fight for women but for the rights of women." the plea of mrs. valentine for a higher womanhood should be given in full but an idea at least can be gained by a quotation: if i were asked to give one reason above all others for advocating the enfranchisement of women i should unhesitatingly reply, "the necessity for the complete development of woman as a prerequisite for the highest development of the race." just so long as woman remains under guardianship, as if she were a minor or an incompetent--just so long as she passively accepts at the hands of men conditions, usages, laws, as if they were decrees of providence--just so long as she is deprived of the educative responsibilities of self-government--by just so much does she fall short of complete development as a human being and retard the progress of the race. we are the children of our mothers as well as of our fathers and we inherit the defects as well as the perfections of both. many a man goes down in his business--is a "failure in life," as the phrase goes--because he is the son of an undeveloped mother and, like her, is lacking in independence, in initiative, in ability to seize upon golden opportunities. yet she was trained to passivity, to submission, to the obliteration of whatever personality she may have possessed. what more could we expect of her son? imagine for a moment the effect upon men had they from infancy been subjected to the narrowing, ossifying processes applied to women for centuries! happily for the race, however, the great majority of women are waking from the sleep of centuries, are eagerly stretching out their hands for the key that is to open wide the door of larger opportunity. happily, too, the forward-looking men of today are seeing the vision of womanhood released from the old-world thraldom. in rapidly increasing numbers they are welcoming the new woman, in whom they find not only the wife and mother more fully equipped for her task but a comrade of congenial tastes, keenly interested in the outside world and capable of taking her place beside the husband, whether in peace or war, wherever her country calls.... the suffrage movement is a world-wide protest against the mental subjection of woman. therein lies its vital importance. it strikes deep into the core of life. it is a basic, fundamental reform, for it is releasing for the service of the state the unused natural resources dormant in womanhood; it is transforming the dependent woman into woman enfranchised that she may the more perfectly fulfill her destiny as the mother of the race. the morning and afternoon sessions were crowded with reports, conferences and business of various kinds in which the delegates were keenly interested. mrs. grace thompson seton, chairman of the art publicity committee, gave an interesting account of its work, told of the prizes that had been offered for posters and slogans and the cooperation of men and women prominent in the literary, artistic and social world; of the "teas" given at the national headquarters, bringing many who had never visited them before: of the beautiful banners and costumes designed for the suffrage parades and other features of this somewhat neglected side of the work for woman suffrage. the chairman of the literature committee, mrs. arthur l. livermore, submitted a comprehensive report of the systematizing of that department, the classifying and cataloguing and the endeavor to ascertain and meet the varied demands. a suffrage study outline, a blue book suffrage school and mrs. annie g. porritt's laws relating to women and children had been published; literature for the rural districts, for the home, for campaigns, placards, fliers and an endless number of novelties. it would be impossible to give in a few paragraphs even an idea of the carefully prepared report of mrs. mary sumner boyd, the skilled head of the data department, which filled eight printed pages. it told of the progress that had been made in organizing the department, the wide scope of the collections and the increasing demand for information from many sources. it would be equally difficult to do justice to the sixteen printed pages of the report of charles t. heaslip, national publicity director. he had organized a publicity council, which thus far had members in twenty-six states. his full knowledge of the large syndicates had enabled him to keep the subject before the public throughout the country; he had made wide use of photographs, cartoons, posters and moving pictures. hundreds of papers on the route of the "golden flier" had been supplied with pictures and stories. he had gone to iowa to assist in the campaign there and he described also the large amount of publicity work done at the time the suffragists were making their national demonstrations during the presidential conventions in chicago and st. louis. he showed how victory could be hastened by thorough publicity work in every state from maine to california. later the chair announced the receipt of a letter from the press, signed by representatives of nineteen newspapers at the convention, expressing their thanks to mr. heaslip and their hearty appreciation of his services, without which they could not have handled its press work in a satisfactory manner. under the topic how and where to drive the entering wedge, miss florence allen of ohio told of the openings offered by amending city charters for woman suffrage and mrs. roger g. perkins described the successful campaign in east cleveland for this purpose. the recent campaigns in west virginia and south dakota were discussed by the state presidents, mrs. ellis a. yost and mrs. john l. pyle; that of iowa by mrs. geyer, publicity director, and the work in tennessee for a constitutional convention by mrs. james m. mccormack, state president. the chairman of the presidential suffrage committee, mrs. robert s. huse (n. j.), reported that bills had been introduced in the legislatures of new york, new jersey, kentucky and rhode island, public hearings being granted by the first three, but no vote was taken. is limited suffrage worth while? was answered by mrs. george bass (ills.) who declared it to be "a positive influence for good"; it was called by mrs. grace wilbur trout (ills.) "a step toward full suffrage"; by mrs. harriet taylor upton (ohio) "a help to other states." mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch described "the chances opened by the illinois law." it was the consensus of opinion that partial suffrage was quite worth striving for. this was directly opposed to that heretofore held by the association but in the past only a municipal vote had been asked for and kansas alone had granted it. miss laura clay (ky.) made a strong presentation of the elections bill, which would permit women to vote for members of congress. what kansas thinks about woman suffrage was graphically told by mrs. w. y. morgan, president of the state association. help from the west was promised by mrs. emma smith devoe (wash.), president of the national council of women voters. the climax of the convention came on the evening of september with the address of woodrow wilson, president of the united states. only once before had a president appeared before a national suffrage convention--when william howard taft made a ten-minute speech of welcome to washington in but without committing himself to the movement. when the present convention was called, after the endorsement of woman suffrage by the national conventions of all parties, the two leading candidates for president were invited to address it. judge hughes, who had declared in favor of the federal suffrage amendment, answered that he would be too far away on a speaking tour to reach atlantic city. president wilson wrote that he would endeavor to arrange his itinerary so as to be present. later he announced that he would come and would remain throughout the evening. undoubtedly he never before faced such an audience. the greatest care had been taken to exclude all but delegates and invited guests and from the stage of the theater to the back stretched tier after tier of white-robed women, while the boxes were filled with prominent people, mostly women. as he came from the street to the stage with mrs. wilson, also gowned in white, he passed through a lane of suffragists, one from each state, designated by banners, with broad sashes of blue and gold across their breasts. he was accompanied by private secretary tumulty and several distinguished men and the entire stage behind the decorations of palms and other plants was surrounded by a cordon of the secret service. forty-three large newspapers throughout the country were represented at the reporters' table. the president had asked to speak last and he listened with much interest to a program of noted public workers as follows: why women need the vote. the call of the working woman for the protection of the woman's vote--mrs. raymond robins, president of national women's trades union league. mothers in politics--miss julia lathrop, chief of national children's bureau. a necessary safeguard to public morals--dr. katharine bement davis, chief of parole commission, new york city. working children--dr. owen r. lovejoy, general secretary of national child labor committee. each speaker emphasized the necessity for the enfranchisement of women as a means for the nation's highest welfare. mrs. catt was in the chair and introduced the president, who said with much earnestness and sincerity: madam president, ladies of the association: i have found it a real privilege to be here tonight and to listen to the addresses which you have heard. though you may not all of you believe it, i would a great deal rather hear somebody else speak than speak myself, but i would feel that i was omitting a duty if i did not address you tonight and say some of the things that have been in my thoughts as i realized the approach of this evening and the duty that would fall upon me. the astonishing thing about the movement which you represent is not that it has grown so slowly but that it has grown so rapidly. no doubt for those who have been a long time in the struggle, like your honored president, it seems a long and arduous path that has been trodden, but when you think of the cumulating force of the movement in recent decades you must agree with me that it is one of the most astonishing tides in modern history. two generations ago--no doubt madam president will agree with me in saying this--it was a handful of women who were fighting for this cause; now it is a great multitude of women who are fighting for it. there are some interesting historical connections which i should like to attempt to point out to you. one of the most striking facts about the history of the united states is that at the outset it was a lawyers' history. almost all of the questions to which america addressed itself, say a hundred years ago, were legal questions; were questions of methods, not questions of what you were going to do with your government but questions of how you were going to constitute your government; how you were going to balance the powers of the state and the federal government; how you were going to balance the claims of property against the processes of liberty; how you were going to make up your government so as to balance the parts against each other, so that the legislature would check the executive and the executive the legislature. the idea of government when the united states became a nation was a mechanical conception and the mechanical conception which underlay it was the newtonian theory of the universe. if you take up the federalist you see that some parts of it read like a treatise on government. they speak of the centrifugal and centripetal forces and locate the president somewhere in a rotating system. the whole thing is a calculation of power and adjustment of parts. there was a time when nobody but a lawyer could know enough to run the government of the united states.... and then something happened. a great question arose in this country which, though complicated with legal elements, was at bottom a human question and nothing but a question of humanity. that was the slavery question, and is it not significant that it was then, and then for the first time, that women became prominent in politics in america? not many women--those prominent in that day are so few that you can almost name them over in a brief catalogue--but, nevertheless, they then began to play a part not only in writing but in public speech, which was a very novel part for women to play in america; and after the civil war had settled some of what seemed to be the most difficult legal questions of our system the life of the nation began not only to unfold but to accumulate. life in the united states was a comparatively simple matter at the time of the civil war. there was none of that underground struggle which is now so manifest to those who look only a little way beneath the surface. stories such as dr. davis has told tonight were uncommon in those simpler days. the pressure of low wages, the agony of obscure and unremunerated toil did not exist in america in anything like the same proportions as they exist now. and as our life has unfolded and accumulated, as the contacts of it have become hot, as the populations have assembled in the cities and the cool spaces of the country have been supplemented by feverish urban areas, the whole nature of our political questions has been altered. they have ceased to be legal questions. they have more and more become social questions, questions with regard to the relations of human beings to one another, not merely their legal relations but their moral and spiritual relations to one another. this has been most characteristic of american life in the last few decades, and as these questions have assumed greater and greater prominence the movement which this association represents has gathered cumulative force, so that when anybody asks himself, what does this gathering force mean? if he knows anything about the history of the country he knows that it means something _which has not only come to stay but has come with conquering power_. i get a little impatient sometimes about the discussion of the channels and methods by which it is to prevail. _it is going to prevail_ and that is a very superficial and ignorant view of it which attributes it to mere social unrest. it is not merely because women are discontented, it is because they have seen visions of duty, and that is something that we not only can not resist but if we be true americans we do not wish to resist. because america took its origin in visions of the human spirit, in aspirations for the deepest sort of liberty of the mind and heart, and, as visions of that sort come to the sight of those who are spiritually minded america comes more and more into its birthright and into the perfection of its development; so that what we have to realize is that in dealing with forces of this sort we are dealing with the substance of life itself. i have felt as i sat here tonight the wholesome contagion of the occasion. almost every other time that i ever visited atlantic city i came to fight somebody. i hardly know how to conduct myself when _i have not come to fight anybody but with somebody_. i have come to suggest among other things that when the forces of nature are working steadily and the tide is rising to meet the moon, you need not be afraid that it will not come to its flood. we feel the tide; we rejoice in the strength of it, and _we shall not quarrel in the long run as to the method of it_, because, when you are working with masses of men and organized bodies of opinion, you have got to carry the organized body along. the whole art and practice of government consist not in moving individuals but in moving masses. it is all very well to run ahead and beckon, but, after all, you have got to wait for them to follow. i have not come to ask you to be patient, because you have been, but i have come to congratulate you that there has been a force behind you that will beyond any peradventure be triumphant and for which you can afford a little while to wait. when president wilson had finished amid enthusiastic applause mrs. catt asked dr. anna howard shaw, honorary president, to respond. she was much moved by the occasion and taking the last sentence of the address for a text she eloquently told how women had already worked and waited for more than three score years. "we have waited long enough for the vote, we want it now," she exclaimed, and then turning to the president with her irresistible smile she finished, "and we want it to come in your administration!" he smiled and bowed and the whole audience rose in a sea of waving handkerchiefs as he took his departure. the president of the united states had said: "your cause is going to prevail; i have come to fight with you; we shall not quarrel as to the method!" the other speeches of the evening were all of a high order. mrs. robins, as always, made an unanswerable argument for giving women wage earners the protection of the ballot. "in the children's bureau," miss lathrop said, "we have come to see the close connection between the welfare of mother and child. because we are so concerned for the children we asked a physician to take those vast, mysterious volumes of the census and look up the facts about the mortality of mothers. last year in the united states more than , women lost their lives carrying on the life of the race. the death rate from other things, such as typhoid and diphtheria, has been cut in half but between and maternal mortality was not lessened but seemingly increased; yet this waste of life is just as preventable as those diseases, for medical science has shown that with proper care the dangers of childbirth can be made very small. just as fast as women are allowed a voice in public affairs it is their duty to see that no mother and child shall perish for lack of care. every country should have a mother and child welfare center. when a memorial was lately proposed for a woman who had died in the war, a well-known man said: 'we can enfranchise her sex in tribute to the valor which she proved that it possessed.' it is not too much to give suffrage to women in tribute to the , who are dying every year in this great duty and service; yet we do not ask the ballot for women as a reward but because, as a duty and a service, we ought to ask for it...." "woman suffrage is needed in the interest of good morals," was the keynote of dr. davis's address, who said: you cannot legislate righteousness into the human heart but you can reduce to a minimum the temptations that are offered to youth. to a large extent you can stop commercialized vice and the manufacture of criminals. i am not one of those who think that the millenium will come soon after women get the vote, but i believe that women will take an unusual interest in the effort to clean up vicious conditions, because all down the ages women have paid the price of vice and crime. i do not believe that at heart a man is any worse than a woman, but all through the centuries he has been taught that he may do some things which a woman may not. it is only of late that we have begun to fight these things in the open and you cannot successfully fight any evil in the dark. for sixteen years my work has brought me in contact with this peculiar phase of public morals and i know whereof i speak. public morals are corrupted because woman's point of view has no representation. we have laws to regulate these things but they are man-made and the public sentiment behind them which should govern their enforcement has grown up through the ages and it is the sentiment of men only. the laws are not equal nor equally enforced. if you doubt it you have only to go into the night court and you will see woman after woman convicted on the word of a policeman only, while in order to convict a man you have to pile evidence on evidence. i think this inequality of treatment will not cease till women get a vote. in a very convincing address dr. lovejoy said: the past month has been memorable in the history of child labor reform in america. a three-years' campaign culminated last friday in the signing of a bill by president wilson which excludes from the facilities of interstate commerce the exploiters of child labor. it has been estimated that , children who now bow under the yoke of excessive toil will be able to straighten up and look heaven in the face when this law begins to operate on the first of next september. in signing the bill the president said: "i want to say that with real emotion i sign this bill, because i know how long the struggle has been to secure legislation of this sort and what it is going to mean to the health and vigor of this country and also to the happiness of those whom it affects. it is with genuine pride that i play my part in completing legislation." i am convinced that we need the voice of the church, the school, the home, in making and enforcing laws to protect working children, and, since half the adult population of our american homes are women, since approximately per cent. of the church members are women, since per cent. of the school teachers are women and since every moral and educational enterprise in the country is represented in about the same proportion, cold logic forces us to the conclusion that we need women in politics. of , members of the national child labor committee, , are women. some of the experiences we have had with men in legislatures in response to the appeal of mothers for the protection of working children have forced me to the conclusion that in this protection the participation of women in the law-making of the state is vital. the primary nominations and elections were held with voting machines and when the result was announced it was found that all the old board was nominated with the exception of mrs. roessing, miss patterson and mrs. morrisson, who declined to stand for re-election. their places were filled with mrs. frank j. shuler (n. y.), corresponding secretary; mrs. thomas jefferson smith (ky.), recording secretary and miss heloise meyer (mass.), first auditor. as there were no other candidates the secretary was unanimously requested by the convention to cast its vote. this was a remarkable record for delegates. a national suffrage flag was adopted, the gift of pennsylvania--a yellow field with fringed edges, in the center a circle of eleven blue stars representing the equal suffrage states enclosing an eagle on the wing holding the globe in its talons. mrs. j. o. miller in behalf of the president made an eloquent presentation. miss clay moved a resolution on her elections bill that the convention endeavor to protect women citizens in their right to vote for u. s. senators and representatives and with this object in view endorse this bill introduced by senator robert l. owen (okla.). this motion was carried. mrs. catt stated that the resolution of mrs. sallie clay bennett (ky.) was similar and this also was passed. a large number of letters and telegrams were read from eminent men and women and from societies of many kinds. mrs. catt stated that in not one had it been suggested that the association lessen its activities for the federal amendment. the convention then adopted a resolution instructing the congressional committee "to concentrate all its resources on a determined effort to carry this amendment through the next session of congress." invitations for the next convention were received from nine states. greetings were sent to three of the original surviving pioneers, the rev. antoinette brown blackwell of new jersey; mrs. judith w. smith of massachusetts and miss emily howland of new york. the delegates were introduced who brought greetings from the national equal franchise union of canada, and mrs. campbell mcivor responded. a special vote of thanks was given to miss mary garrett hay and miss lulu h. marvel, chairman of the general committee of arrangements, for their perfect management of president wilson's visit to the convention. among those submitted by the committee on resolutions, mrs. alice duer miller (n. y.), chairman, and adopted were the following: whereas, all political parties in their national platforms have endorsed the principle of woman suffrage, be it resolved, that the national american woman suffrage association in convention assembled calls upon congress to submit to the states the constitutional amendment providing nation-wide suffrage for women. whereas, the democratic and republican parties in endorsing the principle of woman suffrage have specially recognized the right of the states to settle the question for themselves, we call upon these parties in the states where amendment campaigns are in progress to take immediate action to obtain the enfranchisement of women, and in other states to take such action as the suffrage organizations deem expedient. whereas, honest elections are vital to good government in this country and to the decisions in the campaigns for woman suffrage; and whereas, public records of all funds used in political campaigns will benefit our movement in that they will bring to light its real opponents, therefore resolved, that this convention urges the passage by congress and the states of a thorough and comprehensive corrupt practices act providing effectual punishment for offenders. that in recognition of miss clara barton's lifelong support of woman suffrage, as well as her service to the country in founding the american red cross and standing at its head for more than a quarter of a century, this association endorses the bill recently introduced in congress providing for an appropriation of $ , to place a suitable memorial to miss barton in the red cross building now being constructed in the city of washington. that we express our profound sympathy with the women in the countries now at war and our sense of the advance that has been made in the cause of all women by the devotion, ability and courage with which those women have risen to the new demands on them. that we express our deep appreciation of the great honor the president of the united states has done the women of the country by coming to atlantic city especially to address this convention. rejoicing was expressed over the many victories during the year, the endorsement by large organizations--the general conference of the methodist episcopal church, the anti-saloon league, the women's relief corps and others; a plank for woman suffrage in all national party platforms; a favorable declaration by all presidential candidates and for the first time the sanction of the president of the united states. the report of mrs. frank m. roessing, chairman of the national congressional committee, gave so complete an account of the situation at the time the great "drive" for the federal amendment was begun that it is largely reproduced. at the opening of the th congress in december, , several political leaders interested in the progress of social and economic legislation stated that would be a lean year in congress for such movements. it was pointed out that particularly in the senate some of the most reactionary men had been returned at the preceding election. it is also a presidential election year and neither of the great parties is willing to take one unnecessary step which in its judgment may tend to add to the number of its adversaries or to its vulnerable points in some particular section of the country. all of the members of the house and one-third of the senators come up for re-election in november of this year--they, too, are shy and sensitive. some legislation, notably child labor after it had been endorsed by the national democratic platform, successfully ran the gauntlet but not so our federal suffrage amendment. it is with keen regret your committee reports that it has not had action in either the senate or house of representatives. in the senate the resolution was introduced dec. , , by senators sutherland, thomas and thompson of kansas and referred to the senate committee on woman suffrage. this committee reported favorably resolution no. , introduced by senator sutherland. the written report made from the committee by senator thomas is one of the best pieces of literature on the subject and copies were mailed to every state president and state chairman of congressional work. since that early date our measure has been on the calendar. it has come to the top a number of times but at the request of suffrage senators has been held until a more auspicious hour. as the national association was desirous of having a vote on the measure at this session, your committee began to work to that end immediately after receiving specific instructions from the board june , . the meaning of the suffrage planks in the republican and democratic platforms was disputed by some men in both parties. the leaders stated that the planks were silent as to the federal amendment and thus left men free to vote on the amendment as each decided. in order to ascertain the interpretation which would be given by members of congress it was determined to push for a vote in the senate. on june mrs. catt, miss hannah j. patterson, corresponding secretary of the national suffrage association, mrs. antoinette funk, vice-chairman of the committee, miss hay and the chairman held an informal conference with the senators of the enfranchised states in the office of senator shafroth to secure their assistance. as unanimous consent is required for the consideration of such a measure, the senators agreed that if we would have the vote taken without debate it would probably be possible, since this would not consume the time of the senate. we believed that this was best in order to make sure of the vote. on july senator thomas wrote to every senator asking whether he would consent to a vote being taken without debate. he informed us that on both the republican and democratic sides there were men who would not give such consent, some stating that they had been asked by certain suffragists of the other organization not to consent. after the endorsement of the federal amendment by judge hughes, the candidate for president, frequent remarks were made in the senate on it by members of both parties. senator clark (republican) of wyoming and senator pittman (democrat) of nevada were among those who urged action at this session but finally in august senator thomas gave up the effort. the unfair treatment of the amendment resolution in the house judiciary committee and its final suppression by chairman edwin y. webb (n. c.) were described in full and the unsuccessful efforts, led by mrs. catt, to obtain action on it. [see chapter on federal amendment.] the report continued: federal elections bill: on december representative raker introduced at the request of the federal suffrage association a bill to protect the rights of women citizens of the united states to register and vote for senators and members of the house. the bill was referred to the committee on the election of the president, vice-president and representatives in congress and has not yet been reported out. on december this same bill was introduced by senator lane of oregon, referred to the committee on woman suffrage and is still there. united states elections bill: the united states elections bill, introduced by senator owen at the request of miss laura clay on february , aims also to secure to women the right to vote for senators and representatives in congress. miss clay says it is simply a declaratory act; that it does not permit congress to specify qualifications of voters and therefore does not involve the issue of state's rights. this bill was referred to the committee on privileges and elections, where it remains. your committee assisted the suffragists in the district of columbia in the effort for a bill enabling it to elect a delegate to the lower house.... * * * * * planks:[ ] for some time prior to june your committee used every opportunity with senators and representatives to further the work of securing suffrage planks in the republican and democratic national platforms. its chairman was put in charge of drafting for submission to mrs. catt the planks which were to be offered to the two conventions on behalf of the national association. its members who went to chicago and st. louis concentrated their efforts on the planks. the two demonstrations of women planned and supervised by the national board were the culmination of the campaign on behalf of these planks. in cooperation with your congressional committee, many state delegations of women who came for the demonstrations did special eleventh-hour work with the delegates to the conventions. your committee regrets that the planks in the two dominant national party platforms, since they mention method at all, do not specifically endorse federal action, but they will be of great value in the states and progress there will help the federal work. every man in congress is keenly alive to the strength of our movement in his district and state. for that reason we urged the women of each state to secure planks in the state platforms endorsing the principle of woman suffrage. as a last resort, if they could not secure a separate plank in their state platforms, we asked them to make sure that each state convention endorsed its party's national platform, that the plank might in this way have the equivalent of a state endorsement. with the final yielding of the two dominant parties to the justice of woman suffrage all are now on record in favor of the principle; all except the republican and democratic endorse the federal amendment. republicans have been strengthened in their advocacy of federal action by judge hughes' personal endorsement of the amendment. your committee must sound a note of warning here against over-confidence. some too zealous suffragists, including one suffrage organ, state quite seriously, notwithstanding the fact that their attention has been called to their error, that "the republican party has specifically declared for the federal suffrage amendment." alas! it has done no such thing. it has not done one bit more than the democratic party. the personal endorsement of the republican candidate for president can not properly be construed as party endorsement. those of us who have had some years of experience have witnessed the worming and screwing, fallacy and treachery exhibited by members of a party after their leading candidate has endorsed a particular measure. we know that we can not hold the party responsible for one man's utterances made after the platform had been adopted by the party convention and accepted by the party candidate. committee: mrs. medill mccormick was unable to continue as chairman of the congressional committee and the present chairman was appointed by the national board in january, , immediately went to washington and lived there eight months, until the opening of this convention. during the entire term of this session of congress this committee has had some representatives on duty at the washington headquarters every moment. the service of each member has not been continuous but has varied from a week to three months in length. in addition to the chairman, the committee consisted of mrs. funk of illinois; miss hay of new york; mrs. jacobs of alabama; mrs. cotnam of arkansas; mrs. c. s. mcclure of michigan; mrs. valentine of virginia; miss martha norris of ohio; mrs. elizabeth higgins sullivan of nebraska and miss ruth white of missouri. mrs. funk resigned march to take up other work and in july miss white was appointed secretary and has done much special work. because of the amount of travel involved only two meetings of the full committee have been held, on march and september . every plan for congressional work has been submitted to the national board or to the national president for approval. revision of work: at the beginning of the present year the work of the national association was revised and departmentalized, the organization branch was separated from the congressional work, made a distinct department, placed under another head and operated from the new york office. this division was advisable, since each task is big enough by itself. the only disadvantage resulted from the distance between the bases of operation of the two departments--one of the paramount reasons for the removal of all the headquarters to washington.... the work of the committee in consisted of the supervision and direction of all activity connected with the federal amendment, including lobby work at the capitol; the stimulating of congressional activity in the states; the cataloguing of information concerning senators and representatives; the assembling and filing of all information specifically relating to the federal amendment in congress and in the states; the issuing of newspaper articles; the handling of the large correspondence. headquarters: the chairman had been on duty only a short time when the necessity for removing national headquarters to washington was deeply impressed upon her--so deeply that she made a special trip to new york to labor with the national officers there to this end but was unsuccessful. the headquarters of the congressional committee at the opening of this session consisted of two rooms in the munsey building at washington too diminutive to hold even our furniture, to say nothing of our workers. on february it moved to two larger rooms in the same building. a summary of the correspondence, etc., was given and the report said of the lobby work: all the direct work with senators and congressmen is a time as well as brain consuming process. usually it means tramping up and down the long stone corridors, hour after hour, in order to find one man in his office. then he may be having a committee meeting or a previous engagement or emergency business and you are invited to come some other day. perhaps you have waited an hour before you are sure that he can not see you. it is not uncommon for the members of our lobby to state that they have made as many as six, eight or ten calls before they succeeded in reaching a man. speaking from my own knowledge, i have wasted hours at the capitol trying to see men who would not make appointments. i have called eighteen times to see one man and have not seen him yet! he is the representative from my own district. we carried the district for suffrage in pennsylvania last year but i am told that he does not want to vote for the federal amendment. it is, of course, possible to interview members by calling them out of the session but this method is uncertain and not very successful, since they feel hurried and interviews in a public reception room are seldom satisfactory. the latest piece of work done by the committee is the interviewing by letter of all congressional candidates who will stand for election in november. this has been done in cooperation with the state associations which have been urged to institute vigorous interviewing in the congressional districts. presidential interviewing: the presidential candidates of the two parties whose platforms do not endorse the federal amendment have been interviewed in person. on july mrs. catt, dr. shaw and mrs. norman der. whitehouse, president of the new york suffrage association, called on judge hughes in new york and had a long and satisfactory conversation. he told them that in his speech of acceptance he could not endorse the federal amendment because this was the accepting of the party's nomination and of its platform, which had not mentioned it. he said, however, that he believed in it and that soon after his speech of acceptance he would announce his personal advocacy of the amendment. he asked them to hold this information in confidence, which of course they did. his public statement of august was therefore no surprise to them but was nevertheless most gratifying. on august mrs. catt and your chairman called on president wilson in washington. he reiterated his belief that woman suffrage should come by state action. we presented the arguments in behalf of the federal amendment but he remained unconvinced. he is a fair and openminded man and your representatives have by no means given up hope of proving to him the justice and advisability of the amendment. conferences: at the last national convention a special committee recommended that the board of officers should consider the suggestion of conferences between the congressional committee of the national association and the legislative committee of the congressional union, with a view to securing more united action in the lobby work in washington. nine such conferences were held--one in january, three in february, three in march, one in june, one in july. your chairman was present at each and miss anne martin, representing the union, was present at each. at some of them each organization had additional representatives. mrs. catt attended two and our corresponding secretary, miss patterson, attended one. the subject was the time at which action on the federal amendment should be secured in both branches of congress. when on july it was found that the national committee wished to obtain a vote in the senate before adjournment and the congressional union wished to postpone it the conferences came to an end. it is the unanimous judgment of your committee that they were of no value to the work on the amendment. general: the congressional work done in washington this year by the national association has not been spectacular. your committee had not been on duty long before they realized that many members had been irritated by the too-frequent calls of suffragists and by the inconsiderate demands on their time. as our last national convention was held at the opening session of this congress, delegations of suffragists used the opportunity to call on their senators and representatives. considering the strain of work of congress during the past months and the fact that the men had already been interviewed by state delegations or representatives, we did not encourage further visits to the capitol. in washington such visits, like pageants and other spectacular forms of activity, have been overdone. there was nothing to be gained and probably something to be lost by them. your committee wishes to express its appreciation of the cooperation of many senators and members of the house. our friends have often gone out of their way to assist us and not once has any one refused a request for help. they have made speeches on the floor at our suggestion, taken polls for us, held conferences, arranged interviews, provided us with documents and extended all the official courtesies within their power. while we have not secured action we are not discouraged in the least. even the most radical opponents acknowledge that our movement has grown tremendously this year. we have achieved recognition of the justice of our principle by the political parties and we have with us in our federal fight the great majority of the leaders of thought and action who believe in suffrage at all. by a continuation of sane methods, sound tactics, coordination and concentration we shall soon accomplish the submission of the federal amendment. your chairman becomes more convinced each day that one of the next steps necessary to nationalize our work and to secure federal action is the removal of the national headquarters to washington. she feels it to be her clear duty frankly to state to the convention her conviction on this point. it is her judgment, based upon her own observation this year and a study of the past work on the federal amendment, that it will not pass until the national headquarters are in washington and the national board as well as the congressional committee is in a position to gives its direct attention to the work on this amendment. a lobby in washington for special educational purposes may be a good thing but you will have to do special educational and political work in the states if your committee is to achieve political action to the point of a two-thirds vote on the amendment. we appreciate that support has been given to it by many suffragists and a number of state chairmen and presidents but there has not been the intensive, persistent, determined congressional activity in the states which there must be before the amendment can be passed and ratified. your committee has done its utmost, i believe, but it can no more put the federal amendment through congress without your activity in the states than a state committee can achieve success without activity in the counties. activity on the part of a small number of local washington suffragists is not a sufficient backing for the work of the congressional committee. if you propose to secure the federal amendment you must work just as hard in the states as you expect it to work in washington. without a doubt we can secure the federal amendment if the women of this country enthusiastically want their enfranchisement that way.... the friendliness of members of congress toward the national association and their continued respect for the suffrage movement in this country have been maintained by the dignity, poise and ability of the national lobby. in the many years of my connection with various kinds of organizations i have never served any in which there was more frankness, unity and good fellowship than in the national board and the national congressional committee. that such harmony exists is due to our great president, to whom each is more indebted than all of us together can express. her visits to washington did for us what nothing and no one else could do. it was my duty and pleasure always to accompany her to the capitol, and the unfailing impression of nobility, directness and power which she left upon the men was a joy to witness. i can not close this report without acknowledging my personal debt to that co-officer who is not on our committee, miss hannah j. patterson. it is but fair to say that had we not had her assistance at hazardous moments the suffrage planks would not be in the two national platforms today. food, sleep, rest, pleasure, all were day after day given up by this most self-sacrificing officer. she it was who kept with one other [mrs. roessing] the lonely vigil the night of june at the door of the republican resolutions committee while it debated for hours its sub-committee's adverse report on the suffrage plank. the crisis in our work for both the planks came in this sub-committee of seven, for we knew that if we lost in chicago there would be no hope in st. louis. at midnight that all-powerful sub-committee by a vote of to turned down our plank and refused to permit suffrage to be mentioned in the platform in any way. that committee has seldom been reversed in all the history of the party. when later senator borah, also sleepless and hungry, came to us in one of those agonizing moments when decision must be made at once, when we could not reach our president or our board, it was miss patterson who made the decision that won the plank.[ ] a comprehensive plan of work was adopted with the following principal features: federal work: the national board shall continue a lobby in washington until the federal amendment shall be submitted; the matter of removing headquarters to washington shall be left to the judgment of the board; it shall conduct a nation-wide campaign of agitation, education, organization and publicity in support of the amendment, which shall include the following: a million-dollar fund for the campaign from oct. , , to oct. , ; a monthly propaganda demonstration simultaneously conducted throughout the nation; at least four campaign directors and organizers in the field and a vigorous, thorough organization in every state; a nationalized scheme for education through literature; national suffrage schools; a speakers' bureau; innumerable activities for agitation and publicity; a national press bureau and a national publicity council with departments in each state; a national committee to extend suffrage propaganda among non-english-speaking races. state work: a council of the representatives of states shall meet in executive session in connection with each annual national convention to hear reports as to the status of each campaign state and to fix upon states which shall be recommended to go forward with campaigns. no state association shall ask the legislature for the submission of a state constitutional amendment or for the submission of the question by initiative or by a referred law until such council or the national board has had the opportunity to investigate conditions and to give consent. any state which proceeds to a referendum campaign without securing this consent shall be prepared to finance its own campaign without help from the national board. any state which has secured the consent of the national board to proceed with a campaign shall have its cooperation to the fullest extent of its powers. as soon as possible experienced campaign managers shall be trained for the work and shall be supplied to a campaign state to work under the direction of the national board in cooperation with the state board. states willing to contribute to campaigns in other states should do so by the advice of the national board, who should be informed as to conditions, and the money so contributed should be passed through the national treasury. the rule that the national board shall do nothing in states without the consent of the state shall be repealed. the organization, press work, literature distributed and general activity of the states shall be standardized and regular reports on all of these departments shall be made to the national board in order that advice and help may be rendered when most needed. this board shall have the authority to nationalize the suffrage movement by unifying the work as far as is possible. any states not desiring to work for the federal amendment may remain members of the national association provided they do not work actively against it. dr. shaw presided over the last evening session of the convention and three of the strongest speeches during the convention were made by the hon. herbert parsons, new york member of the republican national committee; mrs. deborah knox livingston (me.), superintendent of franchise of the national woman's christian temperance union, and raymond robins, a national leader of progressive thought. the convention ended with a mass meeting sunday afternoon in the new nixon theater with mrs. catt presiding. rabbi henry m. fisher of atlantic city gave the invocation and inspiring addresses were made by mrs. david f. simpson (minn.) and the rev. effie mccollum jones (ia.). dr. shaw closed her address with a beautiful delineation of americanism, saying at its close: what is americanism? every one has a different answer. some people say it is never to submit to the dictation of a king. others say americanism is the pride of liberty and the defence of an insult to the flag with their gore. when some half-developed person tramples on that flag, we should be ready to pour out the blood of the nation, they say. but do we not sit in silence when that flag waves over living conditions which should be an insult to all patriotism? why do we care more about our flag than any other flag? why, when we have been travelling and seeing others, does the sight of the american flag bring tears to our eyes and warmth to our hearts? is it not because it is a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of the men and women of the whole world? they say americanism is the love of liberty, but men died for that and women gave their lives for it thousands of years before america was known. others say it is the love of justice but the whole world is filled with that, no one country loves it more than another. human love, sacrifice and sympathy have been manifested in the history of the world since the beginning of time. the american sees in americanism just what he wants to see. he looks over the world and finds every good thing and calls it his own--justice, liberty, humanity, patriotism. it is not americanism but humanism. there is only one thing we can claim in higher degree than the other nations--opportunity is the word which means true americanism. the anti-suffragists have said that when women have the vote they will have less time for charity and philanthropy. they are right--when we have the vote there will be less need for charity and philanthropy. the highest ideal of a republic is not a long bread line nor a soup kitchen but such opportunity that the people can buy their own bread and make their own soup. opportunity must be for all, men and women alike, and the peoples of every nationality. americanism does not mean militarism. the greatest need of americans is not military preparedness nor changed economic conditions but a baptism of the spirit, higher religious ideals, deeper tolerance and sympathy. the human heart must be in accord with the divine heart if america is to mean more than other countries, and, if we are to be what our mothers and fathers aspired to be, we must all be a part of the government. at o'clock mrs. catt spoke the closing words and declared the convention adjourned. footnotes: [ ] call: our cause has been endorsed in the platforms of every political party. in order to determine how most expeditiously to press these newly won advantages to final victory this convention is called. women workers in every rank of life and in every branch of service in increasing numbers are appealing for relief from the political handicap of disfranchisement.... unmistakably the crisis of our movement has been reached. a significant and startling fact is urging american women to increased activity in their campaign for the vote. across our borders three large canadian provinces have granted universal suffrage to their women within the year. in every thinking american woman's mind the question is revolving: had our forefathers tolerated the oppressions of autocratic george the third and remained under the british flag would the women of the united states today, like their canadian sisters, have found their political emancipation under the more democratic george the fifth? american men are neither lacking in national pride nor approval of democracy and must in support of their convictions hasten the enfranchisement of women. to plan for the final steps which will lead to the inevitable establishment of nation-wide suffrage for the women of our land is the specific purpose of the atlantic city convention. anna howard shaw, honorary president. carrie chapman catt, president. jennie bradley roessing, first vice-president. katharine dexter mccormick, second vice-president. esther g. ogden, third vice-president. hannah j. patterson, corresponding secretary. mary foulke morrison, recording secretary. emma winner rogers, treasurer. helen guthrie miller, } pattie ruffner jacobs, } auditors. [ ] on june , a short time before the meeting of republican and democratic national conventions, twenty-nine members of the lower house of congress from states where women vote, who wished the conventions to put woman suffrage in their platforms, had a hearing before the house judiciary committee. the representatives, both democratic and republican, who made brief arguments for the federal amendment were: ariz., carl hayden; cal., denver s. church, charles h. randall, william kettner, john e. raker; colo., benjamin c. hilliard, edward keating, edward t. taylor; ills., james t. mcdermott, adolph j. sabath, james mcandrews, frank h. buchanan, thomas gallagher, clyde h. tavenner, claudius u. stone, henry t. rainey, martin d. foster, william elza williams (a member of the judiciary committee); kans., joseph taggart (also a member), dudley doolittle, guy t. helvering, john r. connelly, jouett shouse, william a. ayres; mont., john m. evans, tom stout; utah, james h. mays; wash., c. c. dill. judge raker acted as chairman and the remarkably strong presentation called out many questions from the anti-suffrage members of the judiciary committee. [ ] senator borah told them that the plank the national suffrage board had submitted, endorsing a federal amendment, was absolutely impossible but one could be obtained declaring for woman suffrage by state action. they accepted it, which was a wise thing to do, as had the republican platform not favored woman suffrage _per se_ the democratic platform, adopted the following week, would not have done so. chapter xvii. national american convention of . the forty-ninth national suffrage convention, which met in poli's theater at washington dec. - , , was held under the most difficult conditions that ever had been faced in the long history of these annual gatherings. always heretofore they had been comfortable, happy times, when the delegates came from far and wide to exchange greetings, report progress and plan the future work for a cause to which many of them were giving their entire time and effort. now great changes had taken place, as the call for the convention indicated. since last we met the all-engulfing world war has drawn our own country into its maelstrom and ominous clouds rest over the earth, obscuring the vision and oppressing the souls of mankind, yet out of the confusion and chaos of strife there has developed a stronger promise of the triumph of democracy than the world has ever known. every allied nation has announced that it is fighting for this and our own president has declared that "we are fighting for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own government." new russia has answered the call; great britain has pledged full suffrage for women and the measure has already passed the house of commons by the enormous majority of seven to one. canada, too, has responded with five newly enfranchised provinces; france is waiting only to drive the foe from her soil to give her women political liberty. such an array of victories gives us faith to believe that our own government will soon follow the example of other allied nations and will also pledge votes to its women citizens as an earnest of its sincerity that in truth we do fight for democracy. this is our first national convention since our country entered the war. we are faced with new problems and new issues and the nation is realizing its dependence upon women as never before. it must be made to realize also that, willingly as women are now serving, they can serve still more efficiently when they shall have received the full measure of citizenship. these facts must be urged upon congress and our government must be convinced that the time has come for the enfranchisement of women by means of an amendment to the federal constitution. men and women who believe that the great question of world democracy includes government of the people, by the people and for the people in our country, are invited to attend our convention and counsel with us on ways and means to attain this object at the earliest possible moment.[ ] on account of the large rush of soldiers to the eastern coast and the many other problems of transportation travelling had become very hard and expensive but so greatly had the interest in suffrage increased among women that nearly delegates were present, the highest number that had ever attended one of the conventions. they came through weather below zero, snowstorms and washouts; trains from the far west were thirty-six hours late; delegates from the south were in two railroad wrecks. it was one of the coldest decembers ever known and the eastern part of the country had never before faced such a coal famine, from various reasons. washington was inundated with people, the vast number who had suddenly been called into the service of the government, the soldiers and the members of their families who had come to be with them to the last, and this city of only a few hundred thousand inhabitants had neither sleeping nor eating accommodations for all of them. the suffrage convention had been called before these conditions were fully known and because of the necessity of bringing pressure at once on congress. the national suffrage headquarters were now occupying a large private house and the officers were cared for there but the delegates were obliged to scatter over the city wherever they could find shelter, were always cold and some of the time not far from hungry and prices were double what was expected. notwithstanding all these drawbacks the convention program was carried out and a large amount of valuable work accomplished, tried and loyal suffragists being accustomed to hardships and self-sacrifice. the victory in new york state the preceding month had marked the beginning of the end and the universal enfranchisement of women seemed almost in sight. even the intense excitement of the war had not entirely overshadowed what had now became a national issue. under the auspices of mrs. helen h. gardener, resident in washington, an advisory council was formed to act in an honorary capacity and extend official recognition to the convention, senators, representatives, cabinet officers, judges, clergymen and others prominent in the life of the capital, with their wives and other women of their family, cheerfully giving their names for this purpose.[ ] the evening before the convention opened a reception by invitation was given in the ball room of the new willard hotel to dr. shaw, mrs. catt and the other officers and the delegates, the following acting as hostesses: mrs. william gibbs mcadoo, mrs. newton d. baker, mrs. thomas w. gregory, mrs. albert sidney burleson, mrs. josephus daniels, mrs. franklin k. lane, mrs. david f. houston, miss agnes hart wilson, mrs. james r. mann, mrs. philip pitt campbell. the first seven were the wives and the eighth the daughter of the members of president wilson's cabinet, only mrs. robert lansing being absent, who, like her husband, was an anti-suffragist. the last two were the wives of prominent representatives from illinois and kansas. because of the war the other social festivities that were usually so delightful a feature of these annual meetings were omitted. before the convention opened mrs. gifford pinchot, whose home was directly across from "suffrage house," the national headquarters, entertained the officers at luncheon. the hearings before the committees of congress which generally took place during the convention, had been held in the spring at an extra session and therefore mrs. catt had planned an effective ceremony for this occasion at the senate office building, the senior senator from each state where women were without a vote being requested to invite to his office the congressional delegation from the state to receive its women who were in attendance at the convention. there were thirty of these gatherings and in many instances all the delegation were present. senators penrose and knox refused to call the pennsylvania members together. it is impossible to go into details but most of the interviews were satisfactory, the women asking solely for votes in favor of the federal suffrage amendment, and it was said that thirty-five were won for it. from fifty to one hundred women were in many of the groups. to the missouri delegation, headed by mrs. walter mcnab miller, vice-president of the national association, speaker of the house champ clark said: "if my vote is necessary to pass the amendment i will cast it in favor," and the delegation was solid for it except representative jacob e. meeker. senator warren g. harding received the ohio women, led by mrs. harriet taylor upton, state president, and mrs. baker, wife of the secretary of war, and later, he voted for the amendment. a hundred women called on the virginia members and fifty on those of alabama, without effect, but many of the large groups of southern women did receive much encouragement from the members from their states. president wilson himself gave an audience to the arkansas women, whose legislature had recently granted full primary suffrage and whose entire congressional delegation would vote for the federal amendment. this was found to be the case in nearly all of the northern and western states. forty-four states had sent delegates to the convention and from the equal suffrage states of montana and wyoming came mrs. margaret hathaway and mrs. mary g. bellamy, members of the legislature; from colorado, mrs. mary c. c. bradford, state superintendent of public instruction; from new mexico, mrs. w. e. lindsay, wife of the governor, and from kansas, mrs. w. y. morgan, wife of the lieutenant governor. fraternal delegates were present from four countries. the convention was opened wednesday afternoon, december , with an invocation by the honorary president of the association, the rev. anna howard shaw. in her brief words of greeting mrs. carrie chapman catt, the president, who was in the chair, declared her firm conviction that the american congress would not allow this country to be outstripped in the race toward the enfranchisement of women while the countries of europe were hastening to give woman suffrage as a part of that right to self-government for which the world is fighting today, and said: "for fifty years we have been allaying fears, meeting objections, arguing, educating, until today there remain no fears, no objections in connection with the question of woman suffrage that have not been met and answered. the new york campaign may be said to have closed the case. it carried the question forever out of the stage of argument and into the stage of final surrender. as the women of the country foregather for this convention nothing stands out more emphatically than the new stress that has been laid on suffrage as a political issue in the minds of women as in the minds of men. as such the federal amendment must now be dealt with by congress." mrs. catt emphasized the necessity for active war work and introduced mrs. james lees laidlaw, vice-president of the new york suffrage association, who presented the "service flag" and said: "the national american suffrage association's service flag, here unfurled--a field of white with golden stars surrounded by a deep blue border--shows thirteen stars for its first thirteen women serving at the front. these stars represent women who have been connected with the association or one of its state affiliations in official or representative capacity. the total of suffragists in foreign service numbers thousands."[ ] the president accepted the flag on behalf of the convention. miss hannah j. patterson, an officer of the pennsylvania association, presented the following resolution: whereas, the executive council of the national american woman suffrage association, assembled in executive session last february, pledged the loyalty of the organization to the country in event of war and forthwith placed a plan of intensive service at the government's command in view of the impending peril, and whereas, america since then has entered into the dread actuality of war and is in greater need of woman's loyal service than our readiest anticipation could visualize last february, and whereas, the suffragists of this organization are already in compact formation as a second line of defense for husbands, sons, fathers and brothers "somewhere in france," therefore, be it resolved, that we, delegates to the forty-ninth annual convention of the association, representing a membership of over , , women, reaffirm this organization's unswerving loyalty to the government in this crisis, and, while struggling to secure the right of self-government to the women of america, pledge anew our intention gladly and zealously to continue those services of which the government has so freely availed itself in its war to secure the right of self-government to the people of the world. on request of dr. shaw a rising vote was taken and the resolution was adopted with no dissenting vote. the first evening meeting was devoted to the great victory in new york, where an amendment to the state constitution giving full suffrage to women had been carried at the november election by a majority of , . the following program was given in the presence of a large and very enthusiastic audience, mrs. catt presiding: addresses: mrs. ella crossett, former president new york state woman suffrage association, - . miss harriet may mills, former president, - . organization in new york state--mrs. raymond brown, chairman. campaign district chairman, mrs. f. j. tone. rural assembly district leader, mrs. willis g. mitchell. election district captain, mrs. frederick edey. from the organization to the voter--mrs. laidlaw. organization and campaign work in new york city--miss mary garrett hay, chairman. assembly district leader, mrs. charles l. tiffany. election district captain, mrs. seymour barrett. state departmental work: teachers--miss katharine d. blake, chairman. industrial: miss rose schneiderman, proxy for chairman. speakers in war time--mrs. victor morawetz, chairman of speakers' bureau. financing a state campaign--mrs. ogden mills reid, treasurer. winning new york--mrs. norman der. whitehouse, state president. the many phases of this remarkable campaign, which won the state of largest population and opened the way to certain victory in congress, were presented in a most interesting manner. in speaking of the big city where the fight was actually won, miss hay, chairman of the committee, said: "we won, first, because of a continuous campaign in new york city begun eight years ago. on election day in , about midnight, when we knew the amendment had not carried, we decided to have another campaign and began it the next day. second, we won because of organization along district political lines. no state should ever go into a campaign unless the women are willing to organize in this way and stick to it. it was not the five borough leaders but the , precinct captains who carried the city. the campaign represented an immense amount of work in many fields. there were , meetings reported to the state officers and many that were never reported. women of all classes labored together. 'if you want to reach the working men,' said rose schneiderman, 'remember that it is the working women who can reach them.' the campaign cost $ , . this sum, which lasted for two years and covered the whole state, was less than half the amount spent in three months in new york city that year to elect a mayor. the largest individual gift to the new york city campaign was $ , from mrs. dorothy whitney straight. most of the money was given in small sums and represented innumerable sacrifices." the story of the campaign in maine the preceding september was told by the chairman of the campaign committee, mrs. deborah knox livingston, the next afternoon, and the reasons given for its almost inevitable failure. [see maine chapter.] a lively discussion took place on the advisability of campaigns for presidential suffrage and mrs. catt gave the opinion that its legality when granted by a legislature was unquestioned but if by a referendum to the voters it would be doubtful. the war work undertaken by the association was thoroughly considered, with a general review of women's war service by mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, second vice-president. she sketched briefly the appointment of a woman's branch of the council of national defense and pointed out how the choice of dr. shaw for chairman had brought the suffragists into even closer cooperation with the government if possible than would have resulted from their intense patriotism.[ ] reports were made by the chairmen of the association's four committees, as follows: food production--mrs. henry wade rogers; thrift--mrs. walter mcnab miller; americanization--mrs. frederick p. bagley; industrial protection of women--miss ethel m. smith. a child welfare committee was added to the list. dr. shaw presided at the evening session of the second day of the convention and to this and other programs mrs. newton d. baker contributed her beautiful voice, with mrs. morgan lewis brett at the piano. mrs. charles w. fairfax and paul bleyden also sang most acceptably and there was music by the meyer-davis orchestra. this evening the speakers were the hon. franklin k. lane, secretary of the interior; the hon. jeannette rankin, first woman member of the national house of representatives, and mrs. catt, who gave her president's address. the presence of secretary lane added much prestige as well as political significance to the program, for it was interpreted as an indication that president wilson had advanced from a belief in woman suffrage itself to an advocacy of the federal amendment, which was the keynote of the convention. "i come to you tonight," the secretary said, "to bring a word of congratulation and good will from the first man in the nation. dr. shaw spoke of always being proud when she had some man back of her who could give respectability to the cause. what greater honor can there be, what greater pride can you feel, than in having behind you the man who is not alone the president of the united states but also the foremost leader of liberal thought throughout the world? it is to have with you the conscience, the mind and the spirit of today and tomorrow." he spoke of his own strong belief in the enfranchisement of women and the necessity of establishing for every one an individuality entirely her own, socially and politically. only scattered newspaper references to this strong speech are available. especial interest was felt in the address of the young member of congress, miss jeannette rankin. in speaking of the bill which she had recently introduced to enable women to retain their nationality after marriage she said: "we, who stand tonight so near victory after a majestic struggle of seventy long years, must not forget that there are other steps besides suffrage necessary to complete the political enfranchisement of american women. we must not forget that the self-respect of the american woman will not be redeemed until she is regarded as a distinct and social entity, unhampered by the political status of her husband or her father but with a status peculiarly her own and accruing to her as an american citizen. she must be bound to american obligations not through her husband's citizenship but directly through her own." mrs. catt's address had been announced as a message to congress and was eagerly anticipated. miss rose young, the enthusiastic editor of _the woman citizen_, gave this vivid pen picture of the occasion: when mrs. catt rose, the house rose with her. it was a crowded house and everybody was aware that the message in mrs. catt's hand was the vital message of the convention. everybody wondered what would be its main focus. nobody quite understood why an address to congress should be delivered at a mass meeting. the latter point the speaker quickly cleared up. once before in suffrage history, she said, there had been an address to congress. susan b. anthony and elizabeth cady stanton had made it. at this moment she was but doing over what they had done a half-century ago. she would deliver her address to congress from that platform to that audience and leave it to the printed page to carry the message on into the sacred halls themselves. then, with senate and house visualized by the directness of her appeal to them and by the sharp limning of her argument, she pleaded for democracy, arraigned the obstructionists of the federal suffrage amendment, showed up the harsh inconsistencies, the waste of time and energy and money asked of women in state referenda, clarified the reasons for establishing suffrage by the federal route and brought the whole case into high relief by resting the responsibility where it belongs--on the congress of the united states. the speaker, never ornate in rhetoric or delivery, seemed to withdraw her personality utterly, so that there was left only the mental and spiritual content of her message. to hear her was like listening to abstract thought, warmed by the fire of abstract conviction. to see her was like looking at sheer marble, flame-lit. many an orator sways an audience's mind by emotional appeal. hers was the crowning achievement to sway an audience to emotion by the symmetry and force of her appeal to its mind. again and again salvos of applause stopped her for a moment but again and again the steady rhythm of her strong voice regained control. at the end her grip on attention was so acute that a little hush followed the last word. the address consumed an hour and a half in delivery and made a pamphlet of twenty-two pages when published. up to the time the federal amendment was ratified it was a part of the standard literature of the national association and thousands of copies were circulated.[ ] among the subheads were these: the history of our country and the theory of our government; the leadership of the united states in world democracy compels the enfranchisement of its own women; three reasons for the federal method; three objections answered. it was an absolutely conclusive argument and closed with a ringing appeal for "the submission and ratification of the federal suffrage amendment in order that this nation may at the earliest possible moment show to all the nations of the earth that its action is consistent with its principles." dr. shaw, who never could forego a little joke, had said in introducing mrs. catt: "i had long thought i should be willing to die as soon as suffrage was won in new york; that i never should be interested in politics or the making of tickets, but five minutes after the midnight of november i had picked my ticket and now i don't want to die until it is elected." here she stopped and presented the speaker. after mrs. catt had finished dr. shaw rose and looking at her with twinkling eyes said to the delighted audience: "the head of my ticket!" the mornings of the convention were devoted to routine business and to the reports of the presidents of the states, most of whom were present, and almost without exception they told of active work and a great advance in public sentiment. it was such a time of rejoicing and hopefulness as suffragists had never known. the chief and universal interest, however, was centered in the action of congress, as this had always been the goal and it now seemed near at hand. therefore the report of the congressional committee, made through its chairman, mrs. maud wood park, was heard with close attention. the outline presented was as follows: the duties of the present chairman began march , , four days before president wilson called an extra session of congress to meet on april , a significant step toward the entrance of the united states into the world war. thus our work started at a time of supreme importance in the history of our country and under conditions full of new possibilities for the cause of woman suffrage. mrs. catt, keenly alive to the crisis in our national affairs, foresaw that our people, with their idealism fired by thought of increased freedom for the oppressed subjects of autocratic governments, might be aroused to new consciousness of the flaw in our own democracy. with this thought in mind, on the eve of the opening of the extraordinary session, she sent out a summons to the suffragists of the whole country to unite in a stupendous appeal to congress for the immediate submission of the federal amendment. the opening of the sixty-fifth congress was marked by another circumstance of unusual interest, the seating of the first woman member, the hon. jeannette rankin of montana, who made a speech from the balcony of our headquarters on the morning of april and was then escorted to the capitol by mrs. catt and other members of our association in a cavalcade of decorated motor cars. the day which opened so happily for suffragists ended with the president's message to congress asking for the declaration of war. in the senate the resolution for our amendment was introduced in behalf of our association by senator andrieus a. jones of new mexico, the new chairman of the senate committee on woman suffrage, the other members of which were senators owen of oklahoma; ransdell of louisiana; hollis of new hampshire; johnson of south dakota; jones of washington; nelson of minnesota; cummins of iowa and johnson of california. chairman jones, at our request, had secured the privilege of having his resolution made number one on the calendar, but when it was decided that the war resolution should be introduced immediately, he tactfully yielded his place. similar suffrage resolutions were introduced by senators shafroth, owen, poindexter and thompson. in the house our resolution was introduced by representative raker, on the democratic side, and by representative rankin, on the republican side. similar ones were introduced by representatives mondell, keating, hayden and taylor. the war resolution was adopted by the senate april and by the house april . a few days later the finance committee of the senate informally recommended and leaders of both parties agreed that only legislation included in the war program should be considered during the extra session. the democratic caucus of the house passed a similar recommendation, which was acquiesced in by the republicans. it soon became clear to your committee that the suffrage resolution would not be admitted under this rule, and a total revision of plans had to be made. three meetings were held and it was the opinion of all that the aim should be to establish and maintain friendly relations with both parties rather than to arouse the antagonism of leaders whose support we must have if our measure is to succeed, so it was recommended and the national board voted that our "drive" should be postponed until there was a possibility of securing a vote on the federal amendment. happily, however, there were forms of work not prohibited by the legislative program. the senate committee on woman suffrage gave a hearing to our association april ... and on september , chairman jones made a favorable report. the measure is now on the calendar of the senate. in the house, resolutions calling for the creation of a committee on woman suffrage had been introduced at the beginning of the session by representatives raker, keating and hayden and referred to the committee on rules. our first step was to get the approval of speaker clark, who gave us cordial support. later, to offset the fear on the part of certain members of conflicting with president wilson's legislative program, a letter was sent, at mrs. helen h. gardener's request, to chairman edward pou (n. c.), of the rules committee, by the president himself, who stated that he thought the creation of the committee "would be a very wise act of public policy and also an act of fairness to the best women who are engaged in the cause of woman suffrage." then, through the efforts of a working committee made up of the six members who had introduced suffrage resolutions, a petition asking for the creation of a committee on woman suffrage, as called for in the raker resolution, was signed by all members from equal suffrage states and by many of those from presidential suffrage states and from primary suffrage arkansas. this petition was presented to the rules committee, which on may granted a hearing on the subject. on june , by a vote of to , on motion of mr. cantrill of kentucky, a resolution calling for the creation of a committee on woman suffrage to consist of thirteen members, to which all proposed action touching the subject should be referred, was adopted, with an amendment, made by mr. lenroot of wisconsin, to the effect that the resolution should not be reported to the house until the pending war legislation was out of the way. the report of the rules committee, therefore, was not brought into the house until september , when the extremely active opposition of chairman edwin y. webb (n. c.) and most of the other members of the judiciary committee made a hard fight inevitable. thanks to the hearty support of speaker clark, the good management of chairman pou and the help of loyal friends of both parties in the house, as well as to the admirable work done by our own state congressional chairmen, the report was adopted by a vote of yeas to noes, with answering present and not voting. of the favorable votes, were from democrats and from republicans. of the unfavorable votes, were from democrats and from republicans. of those not voting, were democrats and were republicans. these facts show that the measure was regarded, as we had hoped it would be, as strictly non-partisan. the victory came so late in the session that the appointment of the new committee was postponed until the present session. referring to the housing of the congressional committee in the new headquarters of the national association in washington mrs. park said: to the preceding chairman, mrs. miller, fell the hard work of finding new headquarters, moving the office and establishing the house routine which has been continued under the efficient care of our house manager, mrs. elizabeth w. walker. the secretary of the committee, miss ruth white, who has worked indefatigably in the office since june, , has had charge of the records of members of congress and of correspondence with our state chairmen, besides lightening in numberless other ways the burdens of your chairman. to a member of the committee, who is a long-time resident of washington, mrs. gardener, the association is profoundly indebted for constant advice and help, as well as for the most skillful handling of delicate and difficult situations. she has been called the "diplomatic corps" of the committee and the name in every good sense has been well won by the important services which she has rendered. another member of the committee, a former chairman, mrs. frank m. roessing, after helping to start the legislative work last december, generously came to our aid at busy seasons and took active charge of the work from july to september , during the absence of the chairman. the management of the office and the department of publicity have been in the hands of the executive secretary, miss ethel m. smith. social activities through the spring and early summer were in charge of miss heloise meyer, assisted by mrs. j. borden harriman. miss mabel caldwell willard has represented the committee in undertakings involving the house as a center for local work. these have included getting hostesses to receive visitors at headquarters, supplying speakers for local meetings, providing cooperation with the suffrage federation of the district of columbia for the daily afternoon teas, and looking after hospitality for delegates to conventions meeting in washington. among the organizations for which receptions have been arranged are daughters of the american revolution, association of collegiate alumnæ, confederate veterans, sons of veterans, daughters of the confederacy, congress of mothers, parent-teacher associations and farm and garden associations. ten of the fourteen members of the committee, in addition to the executive secretary, have given highly valued service in washington during the last nine months. other suffragists not members have kindly devoted days or weeks to our work and the local suffrage associations have been most cordial in their response to our requests. any attempt to state our obligations to our national president would be futile. our high hope for the adoption of the federal amendment by the th congress is linked inseparably with our faith in her leadership. [illustration: a lecture in the banquet hall of the washington suffrage headquarters. formerly occupied by the french embassy.] the report of mrs. walter mcnab miller (mo.) first vice-president, described a year of continuous work, almost from ocean to ocean, speaking to state suffrage conventions, federations of women's clubs, federations of labor, trade unions, universities, normal schools, churches, meetings of all kinds and without number. in the two dakotas she spoke twenty-nine times. she referred to her visit to jefferson city, mo., her luncheon with the wife of governor frederick d. gardner, the suffrage meeting "which put the state capital in a ferment and caused the politicians to sit up and take notice" and the governor's declaration for woman suffrage. mrs. miller said of the work during the five months when she was chairman of the congressional committee: after mature consideration the board decided that, for various reasons, it was not wise to move the headquarters from new york to washington but that more spacious quarters should be found than the office here where the efficient lobby work that had already been done could be followed up and supplemented by a social atmosphere. finally we found our present home, a large private mansion at rhode island avenue, just off of scott circle. it was taken for a term of eight months, the offices moved at once and cards sent out to , people for a housewarming before we had been there a week. during five months miss meyer and i made calls, organized a junior suffrage league, planned for publicity "stunts," such as the dedication of the susan b. anthony room, the presentation of a flag by pennsylvania, a poster exhibit, celebration of the north dakota victory and the mid-lenten bazaar. much of the work was of the sort that would be impossible to tabulate, but the effect of the whole in making the national association well known in washington and able to work effectively from there has proved the wisdom of the expenditure for the headquarters. the latter part of february the so-called war council was called, a meeting of the association's executive committee of one hundred, and planning for that and the mass meeting on sunday kept us all busy for several weeks. this council decided that the suffragists should undertake certain definite forms of war work and the chairmanship of the division of the elimination of waste was given to me.... summing up the year i have attended six state meetings, spoken times in states, written , letters and travelled , miles. all of friday was given to symposiums on different phases of this movement, grouped as follows: what my state will do for the federal amendment. should we work for woman suffrage in war time? what good will woman suffrage do our country? what is the best thing it has done for my state? what can the enfranchised women do to secure suffrage for the women of the entire nation? twenty-five women, most of them state presidents, took part in these valuable discussions. mrs. mccormick related how her work as chairman of the national press committee had been taken over by the press department of the leslie bureau of education when it was organized the preceding march and a merger committee appointed consisting of miss rose young and mrs. ida husted harper of the leslie commission, and mrs. shuler and herself of the association.[ ] the report of the leslie bureau filled over thirty pages of fine print as submitted by miss young, director, who said in beginning: by january of it had become apparent that the national association had an increasingly direct and comprehensive part to play in state and federal campaigns through its press department as one of its various points of contact with the suffrage field. to inaugurate news and feature propaganda and information services that would be live wires of connection between madison avenue and the state affiliations all over the country and the capitol at washington and the public press was the immediate prospect of the then press department.... its accumulated task included not only the conduct of its federal political campaign at washington, not only its definite program of state propaganda and organization for constitutional amendment campaigns, it had on its hands as well the great "drive" for presidential suffrage that had been initiated. by spring mrs. catt's custodianship of the leslie funds had been determined by court decision and plans that she had been mothering since could be put into execution. those plans had for their central detail the founding of a bureau for the promotion of the woman suffrage cause through the education of the public to the point of seeing it as essential to democracy, and in march the leslie bureau of suffrage education was organized for that purpose. from the beginning the outstanding feature of the work was its size, and the outstanding need was to get it housed and departmentalized, with department heads and an adequate clerical staff. this done, the bureau, with a staff of twenty-four, swarmed out over the whole th floor, besides two small rooms on the th floor. it now includes six departments, counting the magazine department, which is an everlasting story by itself. miss young told of merging the _woman's journal_, the _woman voter_ and the _national suffrage news_ in the _woman citizen_, for which , subscriptions were taken at this convention. the report included those of mrs. harper, chairman of editorial correspondence; mrs. mary sumner boyd, of the research bureau; miss mary ogden white, feature and general news department; mrs. rose lawless geyer, field press work. there was also a report of the washington press bureau after the headquarters there were opened, at first in charge of mrs. gertrude c. mosshart, afterwards of miss ethel m. smith. the latter told of the unexcelled opportunities in that city for the distribution of news through the more than special correspondents of the large newspapers and the bureaus of all the great press associations and syndicates. news had to be fresh and well written and copies of each of her "stories" distributed. about half of them were sent to state press chairmen, presidents and others. mrs. harper's work was almost wholly with editors, watching the editorials, which now came in literally by hundreds every day. her report of three closely printed pages said in part: when an editorial was friendly a letter of thanks has been sent expressing the hope that the paper would contain many such editorials. when one made a strong appeal for woman suffrage the editor has had a letter expressing the deep appreciation of all at headquarters and saying that it would unquestionably affect public sentiment in his city and state. in many instances, even in the largest papers, there have been mistakes in facts and figures, as the question has not been a national issue long enough for editors to become thoroughly informed, and these have been corrected as tactfully as possible. often carefully selected literature, suited to the editor's point of view, has been enclosed--to western editors arguments in favor of a federal amendment; to southern editors statements on the good effects of woman suffrage in the western states; to eastern editors a good deal of both. where an editorial has been directly hostile an argument has been taken up with the editor, supported by unimpeachable testimony. when the editor has been implacable i have frequently written to suffragists in his city to learn what were the influences behind the paper, and usually have found they were such as gave the editor no chance to express his own opinions, but even those papers have almost invariably published my letters. during the year letters were written to over , editors in the united states and several in canada and the returns through the clipping bureaus indicated that a large majority were published. the report said: "i wish there were space to give concrete instances of the results of this year's experiment. editors have written that, while for years their paper had supported woman suffrage, this was the first time they ever had come in touch with the national organization or known that their work was being recognized outside of their own locality. many who were wavering have been persuaded to come out definitely in favor; this has been especially noticeable in the south. in a number of cases papers which condemned a federal amendment have been helped to see its necessity, and this in the south as well as the north...." as an example of the many special articles it continued: when the "picketing" began in washington last january, almost every newspaper in the united states held the entire suffrage movement responsible for it. at once letters were sent in answer to editorials of this nature, stating that the national american association organized in , had been always strictly non-partisan and non-militant; that it represented about per cent. of the enrolled suffragists of the united states; that all the suffrage which the women possessed to-day was due to its efforts and those of its state auxiliaries, and that dr. shaw, its honorary president, and mrs. catt, its president, strongly condemned the "picketing." the letter urged the newspapers in their comment on it to make a clear distinction between the two organizations. in countless instances this request was complied with but at the time of the russian banner episode of the "pickets" before the white house another flood of more than , editorials poured into the national headquarters, many of them crediting it to the whole cause. a second letter more emphatic than the first was sent to of the largest newspapers in the country, enclosing mrs. catt's protest against the "picketing." these had the desired effect and practically all of the papers thereafter, except those hostile to woman suffrage, exonerated the national association from any part in it. an argument for the federal suffrage amendment and asking support for it was sent to a carefully selected list of , editors the month before the first vote was taken in congress. over individual letters were sent, for the most part to prominent persons, called out by some expression of theirs, which almost without exception were cordially answered. a long letter to the international suffrage news each month had been part of the work of this department. miss white's report on publicity should be reproduced in full, as it convincingly showed why all of a sudden the newspapers of the country were flooded with matter on woman suffrage. not until the leslie bequest became available had the national association been possessed of the funds to do the publicity work necessary to the success of a great movement. she told how the very first "stories" sent out describing the granting of presidential suffrage in the winter of brought back returns of about half-a-million words. the story of the maine campaign returned columns in papers and mrs. catt's speeches, , words. her protest against the "antis" charge of disloyalty against the suffragists instantly brought a return of columns in metropolitan papers. feminism in japan, a story written in the bureau around a little japanese suffragist, was sent out by syndicate to a circulation of , , . the war service of the national suffrage association was told in , words and the first instalment came back in over newspapers and , words. the papers gave , words to the story of the woman's committee of national defense. these figures might be continued indefinitely. plate matter was furnished to papers in sixteen states in may, and the bulletins of facts, statistics and propaganda issued during the nine months would make a book of , words. the report of mrs. geyer, a trained journalist, was equally valuable. a part of her work had been to organize a press committee in every state, arrange for the collection of news and put it in proper form for the bulletins, the plate service, the _woman citizen_ or wherever it was needed and make a roster of the principal newspapers and their position on woman suffrage. she had managed in person the press work for the maine campaign, the mississippi valley conference in columbus, o., and the present national convention. mrs. boyd's painstaking, scholarly and efficient report on the service rendered by the data department showed the vast amount of time and labor necessary to collect accurate data and how unreliable is much that exists. this was especially the case in regard to woman suffrage, which, when compiled from current sources and returned to the various states for verification, always required much correction. the report told of letters sent to county clerks in the equal suffrage states for trustworthy information as to the proportion of women who voted, with most gratifying response. many such investigations were made of women in office, laws relating to women, suffrage and labor legislation, women's war record, an infinite variety of subjects. thousands of newspaper clippings were tabulated and a roomful of carefully labelled files testified to the unremitting work of the bureau. twenty state libraries and some others were supplied during the year with the books issued by the national suffrage publishing company and its pamphlets were widely distributed. miss esther g. ogden, president of the national woman suffrage publishing company, made an interesting report and showed how suffrage victories, the thing the company was working for, meant its financial loss, for as soon as a state had won the vote it ceased to order literature. the tremendous demands of the campaigns of and had enabled the company to pay a three per cent. dividend but the entrance of the united states into the war, causing a general lessening of suffrage work, would create a deficit for the present year. for the new york campaign of the company furnished , , pieces of literature, all promptly paid for. miss ogden gave an amusing account of how the company was "bankrupted" trying to supply "suffrage maps" up to date, for as soon as a lot was published another state would give presidential or municipal suffrage and then the demand would come for maps with the new state "white," and thousands of the others would have to be "scrapped." the chairman of the literature committee, mrs. arthur l. livermore, said that for the first time finances had been available for publishing a well-indexed catalogue with the publications grouped under more than twenty headings. these included efficiency booklets, suffrage arguments, answers to opponents, federal amendment literature, state reports, etc. some of these publications were in book form, including mrs. catt's volume on the federal amendment, mrs. annie g. porritt's laws affecting women and children and miss martha stapler's woman suffrage year book. a number of pamphlets were printed in lots of , , and , copies of the amendment speech of senator john f. shafroth of colorado before the senate. the report of the art publicity committee was made by its chairman, mrs. ernest thompson seton, and related principally to the poster competition, which closed with the exhibition at the national suffrage headquarters in january. about posters were submitted and $ in prizes awarded. afterwards the prize winners and a selection from the others, about thirty in all, were sent to the washington suffrage headquarters for display and then around to various cities which had asked for them. one of the largest evening meetings was that devoted to american women's war service, with mrs. catt presiding. the first speaker was secretary of war newton g. baker and a few detached paragraphs can give little idea of his eloquent address: i sometimes ask myself what does this war mean to women? war always means to women sorrow and sacrifice and a mission of mercy but one of the large, redeeming hopes of this particular struggle is that it will bring a broadening of liberty to women. this war is waged for democracy. democracy is never an accomplished thing, it is always a process of growth, an endless series of advances. president wilson has called it a rule of action. it is a rule that adapts conduct to environment. what was called a democracy in greece was a small privileged class ruling over slaves. the members of the ruling class had certain democratic relations with one another. there was no more of real democracy in rome. the first constitutional convention of the french revolution had a very restricted electoral system with a property qualification. it was so with our own government in and . it was a rule of conduct adapted to the environment of that time.... the whole environment has changed. in we might quite possibly have defined ourselves as a democracy, although women did not vote, but not now. we speak of this as a war for democracy. women are making sacrifices just like men. the activities of women in aid of the war are a necessary part of it. if all the women were to stop their work tonight we should have to withdraw from the war, at least temporarily, until we could entirely readjust ourselves. one of the things this war is bringing home to us is that men and women are essentially partners in an industrial civilization, and by the end of the war the women will be recognized as partners. when the secretary finished dr. shaw said: "may we not send a message to president wilson and say: 'mr. president, as you came to our convention a year ago to fight with us, so we come now to fight with you. as you have kept your pledge of loyalty to us, so we shall keep our pledge to you. we are with you in this world struggle.'" the convention enthusiastically endorsed the message. other speakers were mrs. mcadoo and mrs. bass--financing the war; miss martha van rensselaer, department of home economics, cornell university--food and the war; miss jane delano--the red cross and the war; mrs. laidlaw, mrs. louis f. slade--women's war service in new york; dr. shaw, chairman woman's committee of the national council of defense. mrs. mcadoo, daughter of president wilson and wife of the secretary of the treasury, said that she was a resident of new york state and a voter and that women were making a great fight for democracy but the thought which should now be first in the minds of all of them was how to win the war. she described briefly her work as chairman of the women's committee of the liberty loan and told of its wonderful success in raising millions of dollars. mrs. bass, the only woman member of the war savings committee, added an earnest appeal to women to help finance the war, and the other speakers on their several topics raised the meeting to a high level of patriotic enthusiasm. in a stirring address dr. shaw showed what the country expected of women at this critical time, saying: we talk of the army in the field as one and the army at home as another. we are not two armies; we are one--absolutely one army--and we must work together. unless the army at home does its duty faithfully, the army in the field will be unable to carry to a victorious end this war which you and i believe is the great war that shall bring to the world the thing that is nearest our hearts--democracy, that "those who submit to authority shall have a voice in the government" and that when they have that voice peace shall reign among the nations of men. the united states government, learning from the weaknesses and the mistakes of the governments across the sea, immediately after declaring war on germany knew that it was wise to mobilize not only the man power of the nation but the woman power. it took great britain a long time to learn that--more than a year--and it was not until , women paraded the streets of london with banners saying, "put us to work," that it dawned upon the british government that women could be mobilized and made serviceable in the war. and what is the result? it has been discovered that men and women alike have within them great reserve power, great forces which are called out by emergencies and the demands of a time like this. dr. shaw described the forming of the woman's committee of the council of national defense by the government and her selection as its chairman. she said she had no idea what the committee was expected to do, so she went to the secretary of the navy to find out, and continued: "i learned that the woman's committee was to be the channel through which the orders of the various departments of the government concerning women's war work were to reach the womanhood of the country; that it was to conserve and coordinate all the women's societies in the united states which were doing war work in order to prevent duplication and useless effort. this was very necessary, not because our women are not patriotic but because they are so patriotic that every blessed woman in the country was writing washington, or her organization was writing for her, asking the government what she could do for the war and of course the government did not know; it has not yet the least idea of what women can do." an amusing picture was given of men supervising a department of the red cross where women were knitting, making comfort bags, etc. she showed how for the past forty years women in their clubs and societies had been going through the necessary evolution, "until today," she said, "they are a mobilized army ready to serve the country in whatever capacity they are needed. so when the council of national defense laid upon the woman's committee the responsibility of calling them together to mobilize women's war work, we knew exactly how to do it.... it is not a question of whether we will act or not, the government has said we _must_ act; it is an order as much as it is an order that men shall go and fight in the trenches. it is an order of the government that the women's war work of the country shall be coordinated, that women shall keep their organizations intact, that they shall get together under directed heads. i said to the gentlemen here in washington, when at first they feared our women might not be willing to cooperate: 'if you put before them an incentive big enough, if you appeal to them as a part of the government's life, not as a by-product of creation or a kindergarten but as a great human, living energy, ready to serve the country, they will respond as readily as the men.'" we must remember that more and more sacrifices are going to be demanded but i want to say to you women, do not meekly sit down and make all the sacrifices and demand nothing in return. it is not that you want pay but we all want an equally balanced sacrifice. the government is asking us to conserve food while it is allowing carload after carload to rot on the side tracks of railroad stations and great elevators of grain to be consumed by fire for lack of proper protection. if we must eat indian meal in order to save wheat, then the men must protect the grain elevators and see that the wheat is saved. we must demand that there shall be conservation all along the line. i had a letter the other day giving me a fearful scorching because of a speech i made in which i said that we women have mr. hoover looking into our refrigerators, examining our bread to see what kind of materials we are using, telling us what extravagant creatures we are, that we waste millions of money every year, waste food and all that sort of thing, and yet while we are asked to have meatless days and wheatless days, i have never yet seen a demand for a smokeless day! they are asking through the newspapers that we women shall dance, play bridge, have charades, sing and do everything under the sun to raise money to buy tobacco for the men in the trenches, while the men who want us to do this have a cigar in their mouth at the time they are asking it! i said that if men want the soldiers to have tobacco, let them have smokeless days and furnish it! if they would conserve one single cigar a day and send it to the men in the trenches the soldiers would have all they would need and the men at home would be a great deal better off. if we have to eat rye flour to send wheat across the sea they must stop smoking to send smokes across the sea. there is no end to the things that women are asked to do. i know this is true because i have read the newspapers for the last six months to get my duty before me. the first thing we are asked to do is to provide the enthusiasm, inspiration and patriotism to make men want to fight, and we are to send them away with a smile! that is not much to ask of a mother! we are to maintain a perfect calm after we have furnished all this inspiration and enthusiasm, "keep the home fires burning," keep the home sweet and peaceful and happy, keep society on a level, look after business, buy enough but not too much and wear some of our old clothes but not all of them or what would happen to the merchants?... we are going to rise as women always have risen to the supreme height of patriotic service.... the woman's committee of the council of national defense now asks for your cooperation, that we may be what the government would have us be, soldiers at home, defending the interests of the home, while the men are fighting with the gallant allies who are laying down their lives that this world may be a safe place and that men and women may know the meaning of democracy, which is that we are one great family of god. that, and that only, is the ideal of democracy for which our flag stands. the national anti-suffrage association took this time to hold its one day's annual convention in a washington hotel and re-elect for president mrs. james w. wadsworth, jr., wife of the new york senator, and elect as secretary mrs. robert lansing, wife of the secretary of state. mrs. wadsworth at this time sent to the members of congress and circulated widely a pamphlet entitled consider the facts, in which she charged the suffragists with being pacifists and socialists and asserted that the recent new york victory was due to the socialist vote. miss mary garrett hay, who was chairman of the campaign committee in new york city, where the victory was won, expressed her opinion from the platform in this fashion: senator wadsworth and his wife announced that they weren't going to give any entertainments till the war was over, nevertheless they are dining tonight the senators and representatives who are opposed to the federal amendment. so i thought i would signalize the occasion by answering the circular mrs. wadsworth has sent broadcast asking people to "consider a few facts about the woman suffrage victory in new york." here are some other facts to consider: there were only three assembly districts in manhattan where the suffrage amendment did not poll over a thousand more votes than the socialists polled. even in these three suffrage got an average of more votes than the socialist candidate got. in the th district suffrage had the advantage of the socialists by votes; in the th it got more votes than socialism got; in the th it got more. in the th, a typical district, where the socialists got only , votes, suffrage got , . in my own district, the th, suffrage and fusion ran almost neck and neck, suffrage polling , , fusion, , ; the socialists polled only . in brooklyn the th, th and rd assembly districts are accounted the socialists' strongholds. in all three suffrage ran ahead of socialism. in the th suffrage polled a "yes" vote of , , the socialists , ; in the th suffrage polled , , the socialists , ; in the rd suffrage polled , , the socialists , . considering the suffrage vote in greater new york in comparison with the vote for mayor, suffrage polled a "yes" vote of , , the socialist candidate only , . the fusion candidate polled , ; the republican, , ; the democratic, the successful one, , . suffrage, therefore, polled , more affirmative votes than did the successful candidate. no candidate for mayor was in the class with the amendment, though all were for suffrage. others prominent in the suffrage movement, both men and women, made indignant protest against mrs. wadsworth's accusation and pointed to the splendid organized work of the national suffrage association in cooperation with the government from the very beginning of the war. during this week of the convention the federal prohibition amendment made its triumphant passage through the house, having already passed the senate, and the suffragists saw the bitterest opponents of their amendment on the ground of state's rights throw this doctrine to the winds in their determination to put through the one for prohibition. they felt that the adoption of that amendment opened wide the way for the passing of the one for suffrage in the near future and this was the view generally taken by the public. another event in this remarkable week was the creation and appointment of a woman suffrage committee in the house of representatives, for which the association had been so long and earnestly striving. this was done against the vigorous opposition of the judiciary committee, which for the past forty years had prevented the question of woman suffrage from coming before the house for a vote. at this time it reported the federal amendment "without recommendation" and tried to prevent its being referred to the new committee. the report of the corresponding secretary, mrs. nettie r. shuler, for , continued the story of the immense amount of work that had been done at and through the national headquarters, beginning immediately after the great impetus of the atlantic city convention. a nation-wide campaign was instituted under the three heads set forth by susan b. anthony at the beginning of the movement--agitate, educate, organize. it was decided to center the effort even more than ever before on the federal amendment and a wide call was sent out for universal demonstrations in its favor, where a resolution for it would be adopted. twenty-six states responded, new york leading with such meetings. these were followed by visits to state political conventions to secure endorsements, which met with considerable success, and candidates for congress were interviewed in most of the states. there was advertising in the street cars of washington during the sessions of congress. carefully selected literature was distributed by the hundreds of thousands of copies to the clergy, the politicians, the business men, the rural population; no class was overlooked. questionnaires were sent to the equal suffrage states for information which was compiled in pamphlets. the first experiment in "suffrage schools," which proved so successful that they were made a permanent feature of the work, was thus described: it was the general of our suffrage army, mrs. catt, "the country's greatest expert in efficient suffrage methods," who first saw the need of suffrage schools and put them into effect in new york state. she knew the value of systematic training and realized that our failure many times had not alone been due to the fact that numbers of women would not work but that those who were willing were untrained and inefficient. it was at first proposed to charge for instruction in the schools but this plan had to be abandoned and the national association assumed most of the financial obligation. our first school was held in baltimore in december, . the manager was mrs. livermore, the instructors herself, mrs. wilson and mrs. geyer. the second was in portland, me., january - , . the nineteen schools were all under the direction of the organization department. they began with maryland and extended through fourteen of the southern and middle-west states, closing march in detroit, mich. three instructors, mrs. halsey wilson, mrs. cotnam and miss doughty, taught suffrage history and argument, organization, publicity and press, money raising, parliamentary law. the chairman of organization, mrs. shuler, taught organization, parliamentary law and money raising in the portland school and in the last five schools of the series. mrs. shuler referred to the war work of the association, which is described elsewhere, and told of the wide field that had been covered by organizers, who had reached the number of during the year, many of them employed by the states. the organization work was classified and standardized. a conference of organizers met in new york where they were instructed by mrs. catt, and a pamphlet, the a. b. c. of organization, was prepared by mrs. shuler. as an example of the work done, nine organizers reported meetings in eleven weeks in states and organization effected in towns. the report told of the work done from the headquarters for the presidential suffrage that had been obtained in various states and in campaigns. the report of the committee on presidential suffrage was of especial interest, as for the first time in all the years, with one exception, there were victories to record. this report had been made annually by henry b. blackwell, editor of _the woman's journal_ until his death in , but although he had implicit faith in the possibility of this partial franchise he did not live to see its first success in illinois in . miss elizabeth upham yates (r. i.) followed him in the chairmanship but met with an accident which caused her to relinquish it to mrs. robert s. huse. she believed the granting of this form of the franchise helped the cause of full suffrage and through a questionnaire to the different states she had collected much information as to the best method of handling such bills. all wrote that the anti-suffragists were supported in their opposition to them by the liquor interests. during a discussion of the war work of women mrs. f. louis slade of new york moved (adopted) that as so large a share of the work of the red cross is done by women, the association request that women be given adequate representation on the war council of the american red cross. miss yates suggested that clara barton's name be introduced into mrs. slade's resolution. dr. shaw spoke of the far-reaching importance of the work clara barton had accomplished and of the unworthy manner in which it had been treated. mrs. l. h. engle (md.) suggested that the red cross be reminded that the plan of having women nurses in army hospitals had originated with a woman and that the first military hospital in the world had been established by a woman. mrs. medill mccormick moved that the chair appoint a committee of three to confer with the executive committee of the american red cross. the chair appointed mrs. mccormick as chairman, mrs. slade and dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college. mrs. catt read telegrams from governor w. p. hobby of texas, the houston _chronicle_, the chamber of commerce and the mayor inviting the association to hold the next convention in that city; also "a telegram from the mayor of dallas, texas, inviting it to meet there. fraternal delegates cordially received by the convention were mrs. flora macdonald denison, honorary president of the canadian suffrage association, and mrs. philip moore, president of the national council of women. mrs. rachel foster avery was presented by dr. shaw as having been corresponding secretary of the association for twenty-one years and was warmly greeted. mrs. frances c. axtel was introduced as a former member of the legislature in washington, now chairman of the u. s. employees' compensation commission. mrs. margaret hathaway, a member of the montana legislature, addressed the convention. the rev. olympia brown told of the memorial of mrs. clara bewick colby, which she had prepared, and asked the delegates to see that copies were placed in libraries. mrs. catt paid high tribute to mrs. brown's many years of work for woman suffrage. the rev. james shera montgomery, of the fourth m. e. church, and the rev. henry n. couden, chaplain of the house of representatives, pronounced the invocation at the opening of two sessions. the elections of the association were models of fairness with no unnecessary waste of time. mrs. catt received all the votes cast for president but three. all of the other officers but one had only from to opposing votes. five members of the old board retired at their own wish, one of them, miss meyer, being in the war service in france. mrs. mccormick, mrs. rogers and mrs. shuler were re-elected. the new members were miss mary garrett hay (n. y.), second vice-president; mrs. guilford dudley (tenn.) third; mrs. raymond brown (n. y.) fourth and mrs. helen h. gardener (d. c.) fifth; mrs. halsey wilson (n. y.) recording secretary. the convention had voted to drop the two auditors from the list of officers and substitute two vice-presidents. a board of directors was elected for the first time, in the order of the votes received as follows: mrs. james lees laidlaw (n. y.); miss esther g. ogden (n. y.); mrs. nonie mahoney (tex.); mrs. horace c. stilwell (ind.); dr. mary a. safford (fla.); mrs. t. t. cotnam (ark.); mrs. charles h. brooks (kans.); mrs. arthur l. livermore (n. y.). in place of a flowery speech of acceptance mrs. catt laid out more and still more work and outlined a plan of organization for uniting the women of the enfranchised states in an association which should be auxiliary to the national american. each state association would upon enfranchisement automatically become a member of this organization with an elected working committee of five persons, these state committees to be finally united in a central body to be known as the national league of women voters. [handbook of convention, page .] besides the obvious advantages, she suggested that such an organization would provide a way for recently enfranchised states to maintain intact their suffrage associations for the benefit of work on the federal amendment.[ ] one of the most vital reports was that of the treasurer, mrs. henry wade rogers. it was a remarkable story especially to those who remembered the time when the receipts of the association for the whole year did not exceed $ , , laboriously collected by miss anthony, with possibly a little assistance, in subscriptions of from $ to $ with one of $ regarded as high water mark. the report began: "our fiscal year closed october with a balance of $ , in the treasury and in addition to this our books showed investments of $ , , the interest of which we have received during the year." the feeling of many suffragists that they wished to use all their money for war work retarded contributions but the example of the national association was pointed out, which undertook a widespread war service, as the treasury had proved, but did not leave its legitimate suffrage work undone. mrs. rogers, whose gratuitous services as treasurer had proved of the highest value to the association, told of the help of her committee of forty-two members in the various states and presented her report carefully audited by expert accountants. it showed expenditures for the year of $ , . this covered the expenses of the two headquarters, congressional work, state campaigns, publicity and organization throughout the united states. mrs. catt's plan to raise a million dollar fund for had met a generous response and had not lacked a great deal of fulfilment. pledges to the amount of $ , were made for the coming year, the leslie commission leading with $ , , mrs. william thaw, jr., of pittsburgh subscribed $ , ; mrs. robert gould shaw of boston, $ , ; mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, $ , ; mrs. catt, mrs. joseph fels, mrs. v. everit macy of new york; mrs. wirt dexter of boston; mrs. arthur ryerson, mrs. cyrus h. mccormick of chicago, $ , each. the plan of work for the coming year provided for concentration on securing the submission of the federal amendment and the following was adopted: "if the sixty-fifth congress fails to submit the federal amendment before the next congressional election this association shall select and enter into such a number of senatorial and congressional campaigns as will effect a change in both houses of congress sufficient to insure its passage. the selection of candidates to be opposed is to be left to the executive board and to the boards of the states in question. our opposition to individual candidates shall not be based on party considerations, and loyalty to the federal amendment shall not take precedence over loyalty to the country." it was resolved that a compact of state associations willing and ready to conduct such campaigns should be formed. it was directed that the six departments of war work should be continued and that each state association should be asked to establish a war service committee composed of a chairman and the chairmen of these departments, with an additional one for liberty loans, and that this committee cooperate with the state divisions of the woman's committee of national defense. in addition to the resolution of loyalty to the government at the beginning of the convention the following, submitted by the committee, miss blackwell chairman, were among those adopted: whereas, the war is demanding from women unprecedented labor and sacrifices and women by millions are responding with utmost loyalty and devotion; and whereas, abraham lincoln, writing of woman suffrage, declared that all should share the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens; and whereas, it is important to a country in war even more than in peace that all its loyal citizens should be equipped with the most up-to-date tools; therefore be it resolved, that we urge congress, as a war measure, to submit to the states an amendment to the united states constitution providing for the nation-wide enfranchisement of women. that we rejoice this year in the most important victories yet won in the history of the cause. since january , , women have received full suffrage in new york, practically full suffrage in arkansas, presidential suffrage in rhode island, michigan and indiana, presidential and municipal suffrage in nebraska and north dakota, statewide municipal suffrage in vermont, local municipal suffrage in seven cities of ohio, florida and tennessee and nation-wide suffrage in canada and russia; while the british house of commons has gone on record in favor of full suffrage for women by a vote of seven to one. that we pledge our unswerving loyalty to our country and the continuance of our aid in patriotic service to help make the world safe for democracy both at home and abroad. that we pledge our unqualified support to the campaign for the sale of the war savings certificates and thrift stamps and urge our members to aid it in every way.... that we urge the establishment of the economic principle of equal pay for equal work as vital to the welfare of the nation.... that an american-born woman should not lose her nationality by marrying a foreigner and we urge a change of the law in this respect. a resolution of gratitude to the memory of the many earnest workers for woman suffrage who had passed away during the year was adopted and letters of greeting were sent to the pioneers still living. a message of love and admiration was sent to mrs. catherine breshkovsky, "the grandmother of the russian revolution." "cordial and grateful appreciation for the inestimable service of the press," was voted. the program for the last evening was devoted to women's war service abroad. miss helen fraser, representing great britain, was here on a special mission from its government to tell what its women were doing. the audience was deeply moved by her simple but thrilling recital of the unparalleled sacrifices of the women of great britain and its colonies. madame simon pictured in eloquent language how the war had strengthened the devotion of france to america, not only through the unequalled assistance of this government in money and soldiers but also through the sympathy and help of the american women. miss c. m. bouimistrow, a member of the russian relief council, spoke of the warm feeling of that country for the united states and the bond between them created by the war in which they had a common enemy. mrs. nellie mcclung, a leader of the canadian suffragists, described what the war had meant to the women of the dominion, and, as the _woman citizen_ said in its account, "kept her hearers wavering between laughter and tears as she hid her own emotion behind a veil of stoicism and humor." the convention ended with a mass meeting at the theater on sunday afternoon at three o'clock with a notable audience such as can assemble only in washington. mrs. catt presided. mrs. mcclung told enthusiastically the story of how suffrage came to the women of canada in and , and miss fraser related how the work of women during the war had made it impossible for the british government longer to deny them the franchise, that now only awaited the assent of the house of lords, which was near at hand. it was always left to dr. shaw to finish the program. one who had attended many suffrage conventions said of her at this time: "as ever, dr. shaw's oratory was a marked feature of the week's proceedings. sometimes she was the able advocate of loyalty to the country; sometimes she rose to heights of supplication for an applied democracy which shall include women; sometimes the mischief that is in her bubbled and sparkled to the surface." mrs. catt closed the meeting with ringing words of inspiration, with a call for more and better work than had ever been done before and with a prophecy that the long-awaited victory was almost won. this convention, which had been held under such unfavorable auspices, proved to have been one of the best in way of accomplishment, and, although the papers were overflowing with news of the war, they came to the national suffrage press bureau from states with excellent accounts of the convention; there were over illustrated "stories" and it was estimated that it had received half a million words of "publicity." * * * * * it had been customary to have a hearing on the federal suffrage amendment before the committees of every new congress and this year an extra session had been called in the spring. as the question of a special committee on woman suffrage in the lower house was under consideration no hearing before its judiciary committee was asked for but a hearing took place before the senate committee on woman suffrage april . this was largely a matter of routine as the entire committee was ready to report favorably the resolution for the amendment. chairman jones announced that the entire forenoon had been set apart for the hearing, which would be in charge of mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national american woman suffrage association. mrs. catt said: "the senate committee of woman suffrage was established in . thirty-four years have passed since then and seventeen congresses. we confidently believe that we are appearing before the last of these committees and that it will be your immortal fame, mr. chairman, to present the last report for woman suffrage to the united states senate." with words of highest praise she introduced senator john f. shafroth of colorado, "who has been our staunch and unfailing friend through trial and adversity." senator shafroth answered conclusively from the twenty-four years' experience of his state the stock objections to woman suffrage, which he declared to be "simply another step in the evolution of government which has been going on since the dawn of civilization." he asked to have printed as part of his speech two chapters of mrs. catt's new book woman suffrage by constitutional amendment, which was so ordered. senator kendrick of wyoming, former governor, gave his experience of woman suffrage in that state for thirty-eight years. he declared that the early settlers were of the type of the revolutionary fathers and gladly gave to woman any right they claimed. he testified to the help he had received from them "in the promotion of every piece of progressive legislation" and said: "if for no other reason than the forces that are fighting woman suffrage, every decent man ought to line up in favor of it." he closed as follows: "here and now i want to give this constitutional amendment my unqualified endorsement. no state that has adopted woman suffrage has ever even considered a plan to get along without it. it is soon realized that the votes of women are not for sale at any price, and, while they align themselves with the different parties, one thing is always and preeminently true--they never fail to put principle above partisanship and patriotism above patronage." senator william howard thompson of kansas sketched the steady progress of woman suffrage in his state, told of its beneficent results and submitted a comprehensive address which he had made before the senate in . the committee listened with much interest to the first woman member of congress, representative jeannette rankin of montana, who reviewed the almost insurmountable difficulties of amending many state constitutions for woman suffrage and made an earnest plea for the federal amendment. senator charles s. thomas of colorado, who for the past twenty-five years had been a consistent and never failing friend of woman suffrage, said in beginning: "i learned this lesson in my early manhood by reading the addresses of and listening to such advocates as susan b. anthony," and he summed up his strong speech by saying: "the matter is simply one of abstract and of concrete justice. we cannot preach universal suffrage unless we practice it and we can never practice it while fifty per cent. of our population is disfranchised." senator reed smoot of utah, to whom the women of his state could always look for help in this and every other good cause, said in his brief remarks: "i have for many years watched the work and the sacrifices by many of the best women of this country to bring this question before the people and convince them of its justice and righteousness and i have gloried with them in every victory they have won. nothing on earth will stop it. the country will not much longer tolerate it that a woman shall have the privilege of voting in one state and upon moving into another be disfranchised." mrs. catt stated that senators chamberlain of oregon and johnson of california, were not able to be present and asked that the favorable speeches they would have made be put in the congressional record, which was granted. senator thomas j. walsh of montana made a thorough analysis of the attitude of the federal constitution toward suffrage and its gradual extension and declared that it was now "the duty of the government to see that every one of its citizens was assured of this fundamental right." the hearing was closed by mrs. catt with a comprehensive review of the status of woman suffrage throughout the world and the naming of the many countries where it prevailed. she pointed out that great britain and her colonies had recognized the political rights of women as the united states had never done, and, now that they were to be called on for the supreme sacrifices of the war, the british government was granting them the franchise, which our own government was still withholding. "this fact," she said, "has saddened the lives of women, it has dimmed their vision of american ideals and lowered their respect for our government. the tremendous capacity of women for constructive work, for upbuilding the best in civilization and for enthusiastic patriotism has been crushed. in consequence this greatest force for good has been minimized and the entire nation is the loser." senator walsh's and mrs. catt's speeches were printed in a separate pamphlet and circulated by the thousands. on april the senate committee granted a hearing to that branch of the suffrage movement called the national woman's party. miss anne martin, its vice-chairman, presided and able speeches were made by mrs. mary ritter beard and mrs. rheta childe dorr of new york; mrs. richard f. wainwright of the district; miss madeline z. doty and miss ernestine evans, war correspondents; miss alice carpenter, chairman of the new york women's navy league; miss rankin and dudley field malone, collector of the port of new york. on may the national anti-suffrage association claimed a hearing. its president, mrs. arthur m. dodge, introduced the president of the new york branch, the wife of u. s. senator james w. wadsworth, jr., who presided. the speakers were miss minnie bronson, national secretary; miss lucy price of ohio; judge oscar leser of maryland and mrs. a. j. george of massachusetts. their speeches, which fill twenty pages of the printed report, comprise a full résumé of the arguments against the enfranchisement of women and will be read with curiosity by future students of this question. on may , at the request of the national woman's party, the committee granted a supplementary hearing at which the speakers were j. a. h. hopkins of new jersey, representing the new progressive party being organized; john spargo of vermont, representing the socialist party; virgil henshaw, national chairman of the prohibition party and miss mabel vernon. they gave to the committee copies of a "memorial" which they had presented to president wilson urging immediate action by congress. it was signed also by former governor david i. walsh of massachusetts for the progressive democrats and edward a. rumely for the progressive republicans. the pamphlet of these four hearings, of which the senate committee furnished , copies, was widely used for propaganda. a hearing was held on may before the committee on rules of the lower house, with the entire membership present: representatives edward w. pou, n. c.; chairman; james c. cantrill, ky.; martin d. foster, ills.; finis j. garrett, tenn.; "pat" harrison, miss.; m. clyde kelly, penn.; irvine l. lenroot, wis.; daniel j. riordan, n. y.; thomas d. schall, minn.; bertrand h. snell, n. y.; william r. wood, ind. its purpose was to urge favorable report for a committee on woman suffrage. the speakers for the national american suffrage association were judge raker, representatives jeannette rankin of montana; edward t. taylor of colorado; frank w. mondell of wyoming and edward keating of colorado; mrs. maud wood park, chairman, and mrs. helen h. gardener, member of the association's congressional committee. the speakers for the national woman's party were miss martin, miss maud younger, mrs. wainwright, miss vernon, representatives george f. o'shaughnessy of rhode island; c. n. mcarthur of oregon; carl hayden of arizona. on december a committee on woman suffrage was appointed. footnotes: [ ] signed: dr. anna howard shaw, honorary president; mrs. carrie chapman catt, president; mrs. walter mcnab miller, mrs. stanley mccormick and miss esther g. ogden, vice-presidents; mrs. frank j. shuler, corresponding secretary; mrs. thomas jefferson smith, recording secretary; mrs. henry wade rogers, treasurer; mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs, auditor; mrs. maud wood park, chairman congressional committee; miss rose young, chairman of press; mrs. arthur l. livermore, chairman of literature. [ ] on the list were: all the members of the cabinet except secretary of state lansing; nineteen u.s. senators and fourteen prominent representatives; speaker champ clark; u.s. commissioner of education philander p. claxton; assistant secretary of agriculture carl vrooman; justices of the supreme court of the district wendell p. stafford and frederick l. siddons; secretary to the president joseph p. tumulty; commissioners of the district louis brownlow and w. gwynn gardiner; former commissioners henry f. macfarland and simon wolf; major raymond s. pullman, chief of police; resident commissioner and mme. jaime de veyra (philippine islands); resident commissioner felix c. davila (porto rico); john barrett, director of the pan-american union; major-general w. c. gorgas; the reverends u. g. b. pierce, henry n. couden, chaplain of the house of representatives; james shera montgomery, rabbi abram simon, john van schaick, president of the school board; theodore noyes, editor of the _evening star_; arthur brisbane, the _times_; c. t. brainerd, the washington _herald_; w. p. spurgeon, the washington _post_; gilbert grosvenor, editor of the _national geographic magazine_; j. leftwich sinclair, president, and thomas grant, secretary of the washington chamber of commerce; dr. harry a. garfield, president williams college and director fuel administration for the united states; edward p. costigan, u. s. tariff commission; frank a. vanderlip, v. everit macy, on war boards; samuel gompers, president american federation of labor; alexander graham bell; gifford pinchot; dr. ryan devereux; general julian s. carr, commander-in-chief united confederate veterans. miss julia lathrop, chief of the children's bureau; mrs. mary c. c. bradford, president, and mrs. ella flagg young, secretary national education association; mrs. george thacher guernsey, president-general daughters of the american revolution; mrs. cordelia r. p. odenheimer, president-general daughters of the confederacy; miss janet richards; mrs. charles boughton wood; mrs. blaine beale; mrs. ellis meredith; mrs. christian hemmick; mrs. herbert c. hoover; mrs. a. garrison mcclintock. [ ] the names of the thirteen were given as follows: miss heloise meyer of massachusetts, first auditor of the association, scheduled for canteen work in france. mrs. j. borden harriman, member of the congressional committee of the association, now on governmental assignment in europe. miss irene c. boyd, of the new york suffrage party, serving in a united states base hospital with the american expeditionary forces in france. dr. esther pohl-lovejoy of portland, ore., serving with the party sent by the "fund for french wounded." miss mary w. dewson, chairman of legislative committee of the massachusetts suffrage association, social worker in france at the call of major grayson m. p. murphy. miss lodovine lemoyne, publicity chairman of the fall river equal suffrage league, serving in a united states base hospital with the american expeditionary forces in france. miss elizabeth g. bissell, corresponding secretary of the iowa equal suffrage association in the french red cross canteen. miss susan p. ryerson, former corresponding secretary chicago equal suffrage association, now bacteriological expert attached to base hospital in france. miss lucile atcherson, of the ohio association, serving as secretary to miss anne morgan in her relief work in france. to these nine will be added the names of the four doctors leading the new york infirmary hospital unit, which is now seeking the support and authorization of the national suffrage association--caroline finley, mary lee edwards, anna von sholly and alice gregory. [ ] see mrs. mccormick's complete account in the last chapter on the war work of organized suffragists prepared for this volume. [ ] this address to congress in handsome pamphlet form was presented to every member in person by the various women of the association's congressional committee. after the federal amendment was submitted by congress it was revised, printed under the title an address to legislatures, and through the mail or by the state suffrage workers was put into the hands of every one of the , members of the forty-eight state legislatures. [ ] for information regarding the bequest of mrs. frank leslie see appendix. [ ] this organization, originated by mrs. catt even to the name, was effected at the national convention in st. louis, march, . chapter xviii. national american convention of - . for the first time since it was founded in the national american woman suffrage association in omitted its annual convention. suffragists were accustomed to strenuous effort but this year strained to the last ounce the strength of all engaged in national work. the congressional committee could not secure the respite of a single day and were summoning women from all parts of the country for service in washington and demanding extra work from them at home, telegrams, letters, influence from the constituencies, etc. there was a vote jan. , , in the lower house and a continual pressure from that moment to get a vote in the senate, which did not come till october and was adverse. then the committee pushed on without stopping. mrs. shuler, the corresponding secretary, had been in the michigan, south dakota and oklahoma campaigns all summer and was exhausted. the three states were carried for suffrage and when the election was over all the forces were used to obtain presidential suffrage in the big legislative year beginning january, . it was a question of pressing forward to victory or stopping to prepare for and hold a convention and lose the opportunities for gains in congress. during the first ten months of the vast conflict in europe had gone steadily on; the united states had sent over millions of soldiers and other millions were in training camps on this side of the ocean; transportation was blocked; the advanced cost of living had brought distress to many households; thousands of families were in mourning, and everywhere suffragists were devoting time and strength to those heavy burdens of war which always fall on women. by november , when it would have been necessary to issue the call for a convention, there was no prospect of a change in these hard conditions, and when on november the armistice was suddenly declared no one was interested in anything but the end of the war and its world-wide aftermath.[ ] during the dark days of , however, there had come a tremendous advance in the status of woman suffrage. the magnificent way in which women had met the demands of war, their patriotic service, their loyalty to the government, had swept away the old-time objections to their enfranchisement and fully established their right to full equality in all the privileges of citizenship. early in the winter the lower house of congress by a two-thirds vote declared in favor of submitting to the legislatures an amendment to the federal constitution, the object for which the national suffrage association had been formed, and the parliament of great britain had fully enfranchised the majority of its women. in the spring the canadian parliament conferred full dominion suffrage on women. before and after the armistice the nations of europe that had overthrown their emperors and kings gave women equal voting rights with men. in november at their state elections, michigan, south dakota and oklahoma gave complete suffrage to women. the u. s. senate was still holding out by a majority of two against submitting the federal amendment but it was almost universally recognized that the seventy years' struggle for woman suffrage in this country was nearing the end. with the opening of the year the progress was evident by the addition of seven more states to those whose legislatures had granted the presidential franchise to women; that of tennessee included municipal suffrage and that of texas had given primary suffrage the preceding year. the situation now seemed to require an early convention of the national association and the time was especially opportune, as this year marked the th anniversary of its founding. a call was issued, therefore, for a jubilee convention to be held in march, fifteen months after the one of . as it was the intention to launch the organization of women voters it was decided to meet in the central part of the country and the invitation of st. louis was accepted.[ ] the report of the annual convention of , with which this volume begins, filled printed pages; the report of filled , which makes a complete account of its proceedings impracticable. their character had been changing from year to year and at this convention it was almost transformed. at the public evening meetings there were no longer eloquent pleas and arguments for the ballot and the daytime sessions were not devoted to discussions of the many phases of the work. now there was business and political consideration of the best and quickest methods of bringing the movement to an end and the most effective use that could be made of the suffrage already so largely won. it was a little difficult for some of the older workers to accustom themselves to the change, which deprived the convention of its old-time crusading, consecrated spirit, but the younger ones were full of ardor and enthusiasm over the limitless opportunities that were nearly within their grasp. on sunday evening the national officers and directors held an informal reception in the hotel statler for the delegates and all the sessions were held in this hotel, with the two evening mass meetings in the odeon theater. the convention opened monday evening, march , with the president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, in the chair. dr. anna howard shaw, who was an ordained methodist minister, pronounced the invocation and the community singing at this and all sessions was led by mrs. w.d. steele of st. louis.[ ] the mayor, henry w. kiel, extended a cordial welcome to the city and pledged his earnest support of woman suffrage. mrs. walter mcnab miller, president of the missouri suffrage association, gave the welcome from the state. mrs. b. morrison fuller, president of the daughters of pioneers, brought their greeting and referred to a convention held in st. louis in , introducing three ladies who were present at that time. dr. shaw, honorary president, took the chair and presented mrs. catt. her address, the nation calls, was a strong appeal for an organization of women voters to be formed in the states where they were enfranchised. the plan was outlined and she asked: "shall the women voters go forward doing their work as free women in the great world while the non-free women are left to struggle on alone toward liberty unattained?" she showed how powerful an influence such a coordinated body could wield and among its primary objects she pointed out the federal suffrage amendment, corrections in the present laws and true democracy for the world. she named nine vital needs of the government at the present time, to which the proposed organization could contribute--compulsory education, english the national language, education of adults, higher qualifications for citizenship, direct citizenship for women and not through marriage, compulsory lessons in citizenship through foreign language papers, oath of allegiance as qualification for citizenship, schools of citizenship in every city ward and rural district and an educational requirement for voting. this comprehensive and convincing address is given in part in the chapter on the league of women voters, by mrs. nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary. it showed beyond question the great work that awaited the action of women endowed with political power and it swept away all doubts of the necessity for this new organization to which mrs. catt and her committee had given so much time and thought. throughout the convention the league was the dominating feature, meetings being held daily to discuss its organization, constitution, objects, methods, officers, etc. at the close of mrs. catt's address mrs. guilford dudley of tennessee, with a group of sixteen women from as many southern states came to the platform and with eloquent words presented her and dr. shaw with large framed parchments on which president wilson's appeal to the senate for the submission of the federal suffrage amendment sept. , , was beautifully wrought in illuminated letters by the artist scapecchi. at mrs. catt's request dr. shaw made the response for both of them. tuesday morning the convention was cordially welcomed to the city by mrs. george gellhorn, president of the st. louis equal suffrage league and chairman of local arrangements. there were present delegates, seventeen officers and three chairmen of standing committees. the chair announced that because of the crowded program the separate reports of officers and committee chairmen, which always had been read to the conventions, would be replaced with a general report of the year's work by mrs. shuler, chairman of campaigns and surveys. this report was a remarkably comprehensive survey of the varied work of the association. after recounting the gains in the states she said: our question is now political. the past year has seen suffrage by federal amendment endorsed by twenty-one democratic and twenty republican state conventions; by all those of the minor parties and by many state central committees, while many others have approved the principle of equal suffrage by a large vote. in july, , our second vice-president, miss mary garrett hay, was made chairman of the platform committee at the state republican conference in saratoga, n. y., a distinct suffrage victory, inasmuch as the men realized that in thus signally honoring her they were honoring the woman, who, by her work in winning the suffrage campaign in new york city, had made possible the victory in the state. miss hay has since been made a member of the republican state executive committee and chairman of the executive committee woman's division of the republican national committee. the work of the last fifteen months has been accomplished under most trying and difficult conditions. many women under the allurement of war work dropped suffrage work altogether, and could not be persuaded that it was necessary at this time; others were unable to endure the criticism that they would be "slackers" if they did anything besides war work; still others thought if they did this well that men, "seeing their good works" would "reward them openly" with the ballot. mobilization: the mobilization of our suffrage army came april , , with the call for the executive council meeting at indianapolis. at that time mrs. catt, our chief, plainly stated that there could be no "go it alone" campaigns but that provincial shackles must be dropped, nation-wide plans adopted and constructive cooperation from all branches assured. her plans were accepted unanimously. on may a bulletin was issued asking for a nation-wide protest campaign against further delay in passing the federal amendment. resolutions were to be passed by state bodies and points given to be stressed at mass meetings and in publicity. resolutions of protest were sent from the women of the allied countries of europe to the president of the united states; from national republican and democratic committees; general federation of women's clubs; national women's trade union league; american collegiate alumnæ; american nurses' association; national education association; national convention of business women; woman's christian temperance union; american federation of labor. many states responded with resolutions from state political parties, press associations, churches, granges, labor and business organizations, political leaders and large numbers of citizens. our fighting units: from honorary president to the last director, every member of the board of the national association had some part in war work. our service flag representing suffrage officials of our branches carried twenty-five stars. dr. shaw, mrs. catt and mrs. mccormick were conscripted for the woman's committee of the national council of defense; mrs. catt for the liberty loan's national list; miss hay, mrs. gardener and mrs. dudley for congressional and mrs. brown for oversea hospitals work. other members of the board were sent from time to time to various states on special missions. congressional work: mrs. rogers went to new jersey; mrs. wilson and mrs. stilwell to delaware and mrs. livermore to new hampshire for work connected with the federal amendment. mrs. wilson attended the state suffrage conventions in maine, rhode island, new hampshire and made a longer stay in florida and vermont. mrs. shuler went to the three campaign states twice, spending five weeks in south dakota, holding a suffrage school there; five weeks in michigan and nearly five months in oklahoma, later going to west virginia. others who were sent by the national association on special missions were miss louise hall, mrs. fitzgerald, mrs. anna c. tillinghast and miss eva potter to new hampshire; miss mabel willard to delaware; mrs. cunningham, miss marjorie shuler and mrs. mary grey brewer to florida, while mrs. brewer made a trip as special envoy to five of the western states. our nineteen national organizers have been in twenty states. in eighteen part or all of the expenses have been borne by the national association. at present we have ten organizers in the field. to the one who has made our victories possible, our national and international president, mrs. catt, women owe a debt of gratitude that can never be paid. her strength and sagacity, her unerring judgment and masterful leadership have acted as a stimulus and inspiration, not only to those of us who have been privileged to work at close range but also to the women of the entire world. our national suffrage headquarters have been a place of peace and happiness because of her patience, good-nature and sympathy. her battle for the past fifteen months has been with adverse conditions and reactionary forces, which are always the hardest to combat, but not once has her courage faltered or her strength of purpose failed. our ammunition: at national headquarters in new york city our work is departmentalized and functions through the leslie bureau of suffrage education under three department heads: the _woman citizen_, press bureau and research. these cooperate with a fourth department, the national publishing company, and all are so closely co-ordinated that they work as one. the _woman citizen_--our national organ. (see special report.) as you will remember, the leslie commission took over the press bureau march, , and since then has paid all of its expenses. in order to keep our official machinery moving, there are about fifty people on the two floors at madison avenue, new york. circularization: the _woman citizen_ has been sent each week to members of congress and on thirty different occasions they received literature prepared in the most tempting fashion for their instruction and edification. mrs. catt put into operation the plan for resolutions from the legislatures calling upon the senate to pass the federal suffrage amendment. these from twenty-four states were read into the congressional record, and while they did not put the federal amendment through they were effective as showing the nation-wide urge for favorable action. the legislatures themselves were circularized with excellent literature. in february, , a bulletin was sent to state presidents offering one or more traveling libraries of sixty-two volumes, the leslie commission to pay expenses to the state and its association to pay them within the state. a library could be held one year. quantities of literature have been sent to the states for distribution while requests for special literature have received prompt attention. the activity regarding the appointment of a woman or women on the peace commission originated in the national office and stirred the people of the entire country. on dec. , , the association held a meeting of war workers in the national theatre in washington, d. c., to protest against further delay in the senate on the federal amendment. twenty-seven delegates representing the association attended the eight congresses held throughout the united states in the interest of the league of nations. field work. the resolution committing the national association to an aggressive policy was passed at its convention of . it read: "if the th congress fails to submit the federal amendment before the next congressional election the association shall select and enter into such a number of campaigns as will effect a change in both houses of congress sufficient to insure its passage." october came; the november elections were approaching; the th congress had failed to pass the amendment. probabilities had to be weighed which would produce the necessary two votes if possible and it was decided to enter the campaigns in new hampshire, new jersey, massachusetts and delaware. the first two were at no time specially hopeful, as they were likely to poll republican majorities and the republican senatorial candidates of both were against woman suffrage. however, as a result of the work done in new jersey, senator baird fell much behind his ticket, while in new hampshire the women and the advertising made so strong a case for the pro-suffrage candidate that for a day or two the result was in doubt, but it was finally declared that moses had won by , votes.... the two most important and successful contests were in massachusetts against the republican senator weeks; in delaware against the democratic senator saulsbury.... under the sub-title "in the trenches" mrs. shuler told of the three great state campaigns of the year in michigan, south dakota and oklahoma (described in the chapters for those states) and said: the national association gave to these states eighteen organizers, all of whom rendered valuable service. it gave plate matter at a cost of $ , ; , posters, , , pieces of literature, eighteen street banners and , buttons. it gave to south dakota a "suffrage school," june - , sessions in the daytime in seven cities and street meetings in ten of the nearby towns in the evenings. the sending of miss marjorie shuler as press chairman to oklahoma enabled it to issue , copies of a suffrage supplement and supply papers with weekly bulletins, information service and two half-pages of plate. these three campaigns cost the association $ , . this was the financial cost, but the immense output of time and energy by the women cannot be computed. it is safe to say that all of them as they emerged from this trench warfare again questioned the advisability of trying to secure suffrage by the state route. mrs. shuler's fine report closed with an optimistic peroration on seeing it through. [see handbook of convention.] the carefully audited report of the treasurer, mrs. henry wade rogers, showed almost incredible collections during a period when the war was making its endless calls for money. in part it was as follows: "the year has been a very remarkable one for the national suffrage treasury. the large demands of the war on every individual, both for money and work, seemed to forebode financial difficulties for us before the close of our fiscal year. instead, the response to the needs of our treasury was never more fully met, both in the payment of pledges made at the last convention and in securing new pledges and donations. early in the year the treasurer was asked to assume also the duties of treasurer of the association's women's oversea hospitals committee and this fund has passed regularly through the treasury, amounting in all to $ , . the very generous and hearty response of the state suffrage associations to the demands of our oversea hospitals' war work has been most gratifying and its financing has not diminished the regular income of the association.... about one-third of the association's income has been received from the state auxiliaries and two-thirds from individual donations. the receipts for suffrage work were $ , ; balance on hand $ , ." [the leslie commission contributed $ , .] a message to the convention from president wilson was received conveying his greetings and best wishes for the success of the federal amendment. on motion of dr. shaw the convention sent to the president an expression of its appreciation of his support. mrs. philip north moore, president of the national council of women, brought its fraternal greetings. others were received from far and wide.... on motion of mrs. shuler a telegram of appreciation was sent to mrs. helen h. gardener of washington, and on motion of dr. shaw one to mrs. ida husted harper of new york. a message of sympathy in the loss of her husband was sent to the veteran suffragist, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert of pasadena, formerly of chicago. it was voted that letters from the convention should be sent to the pioneers, dr. antoinette brown blackwell, miss rhoda palmer, mrs. charlotte pierce, miss emily howland and mrs. c. d. b. mills. during the convention the legislature of missouri passed the bill giving presidential suffrage to women by to in the senate and to in the house. the convention sent a message of enthusiastic appreciation. [for full account see missouri chapter.] miss anna b. lawther, president of the iowa suffrage association, requested the national association and the league of women voters to appeal to the legislature of that state to pass a similar bill. mrs. dudley of tennessee and miss mary bulkley of connecticut made the same request for these states and it was granted for all three. mrs. frederick nathan (n. y.) urged the suffragists to contribute to the women's roosevelt memorial association. mrs. gellhorn's young daughter was introduced as having recently organized a junior suffrage league in st. louis of thirty-two members. mrs. katharine philips edson (cal.) announced that though it had no regular suffrage organization, northern and southern california each had telegraphed a contribution of $ to the work of the national association. the present policies of the association were endorsed. the reason given for wishing the officers to hold over until the next annual convention in was that the complete ratification of the federal amendment by that time was considered certain and these officers would be best fitted to close up the affairs of the association, which would then be merged into the league of woman voters. from the list of candidates the following eight directors were elected: mrs. george gellhorn (mo.); mrs. richard e. edwards (ind.); mrs. c. h. brooks (kans.); mrs. ben hooper (wis.); mrs. arthur l. livermore (n. y.); mrs. j. c. cantrill (ky.); miss esther g. ogden (n. y.); mrs. george a. piersol (penn.). mrs. brooks, mrs. livermore and miss ogden were re-elected. the afternoon session of tuesday was devoted to suffrage war work, with mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, chairman of the war service department, presiding. at the meeting of the executive council of the national association in washington, in february, , just before the united states entered the war, it formed a number of committees in order that the suffragists throughout the country might do their especial work for it under the same generalship as they were accustomed to, and later chairmen of these committees were appointed to organize and superintend state branches. at the present session of the national convention these chairmen reported as follows: general survey of war program, mrs. mccormick (n. y.); food production, miss hilda loines (n. y.); americanization, mrs. frederick p. bagley (mass.); child welfare, mrs. percy pennybacker (tex.); industrial protection of women, mrs. gifford pinchot (d. c.); food conservation, mrs. walter mcnab miller (mo.); oversea hospitals service, mrs. charles l. tiffany (n. y.), chairman, and mrs. raymond brown (n. y.) director general in france. these reports are considered at length in mrs. mccormick's chapter on war work of the national american woman suffrage association and they conclusively refuted the charge publicly made again and again by the national anti-suffrage association through its official organ and on the platform that the suffragists were "slackers," unpatriotic, pro-german and concerned only in getting the franchise for themselves. this charge was frequently made by the editor of the paper and president of the association, mrs. james w. wadsworth, jr., wife of the republican u. s. senator from new york, also a strong opponent of woman suffrage. at the close of this very interesting session the convention enjoyed an automobile ride to see the beautiful city and its environs, tendered by the st. louis equal suffrage league and under the auspices of mrs. philip b. fouke. the "inquiry dinner" in the banquet room of the hotel in the evening, with mrs. catt presiding, carried out the clever idea of trying to ascertain why american women could not obtain their enfranchisement. the program was as follows: what is the matter with the united states? women want it! mrs. grace wilbur trout (ills.); men want it! the rev. w. c. bitting (mo.); political parties want it! mrs. emma smith de voe (wash.); the press wants it! miss rose young (n. y.); the old south wants it! mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs (ala.); congress wants it! mrs. maud wood park (mass.); the legislatures want it! mrs. t. t. cotnam (ark.); all other countries have it! mrs. guilford dudley (tenn.); who doesn't want it! mrs. harriet taylor upton (ohio); well then what is the matter? mrs. arthur l. livermore (n. y.); making it right next time! u. s. senator selden p. spencer (mo.). at one business session miss laura clay (ky.) argued that the time had come to change the form of the federal suffrage amendment to meet the objections of the southern members of congress. discussion showed a preponderance of sentiment in favor of the old amendment and the convention so voted, but at the suggestion of mrs. park it empowered the congressional committee to make any minor changes which might seem advisable. at another session there was considerable talk of merging the national american association into the new organization of voters and dropping its name at this convention, but miss hay carried the delegates with her in urging that they retain the old name until they celebrated miss anthony's one-hundredth birthday and were safely through the ratification of the federal amendment. this decision was especially pleasing to the older members for whom the name had many endearing memories. mrs. catt announced that suffrage societies had been formed in cuba, porto rico, hawaii and the philippines and it was voted to extend an official invitation to them to join the national association without payment of dues. mrs. catt called attention to the increased educational value of the convention through the many opportunities extended to the delegates for addressing bodies of various kinds in the city. these included the churches, synagogues, ethical society, public schools, chamber of commerce, junior chamber of commerce, city club, rotary club, town club, wednesday club, women's trade union league and other organizations. one of the leading features of the convention was the report of mrs. maud wood park, chairman of the congressional committee, which gave a complete summary of the status of the federal suffrage amendment in congress from the time of the last convention to the present. this and mrs. shuler's secretary's report offer so comprehensive a survey of the important work of the national association that a considerable amount of space is devoted to them. the report of mrs. park filled over thirty pages of the handbook of the convention and was an interesting account of the struggle of the past year and a half to secure from congress the submission of the federal suffrage amendment. a large part of it will be found in the chapter devoted to that amendment. it showed the work done at the national headquarters in new york city and washington and also in the states and gave an idea of the tremendous effort which was necessary before the measure was sent to the legislatures for ratification. it told of the house judiciary committee reporting the resolution on dec. , , "without recommendation," after amending it so as to limit the time for ratification to seven years, and of the determination of the opponents to force a vote on it before the appointment of a woman suffrage committee for which the friends were striving. this committee was announced, however, on december , . all the members but three of the committee were in favor of the amendment. chairman raker introduced a new resolution omitting the seven-year clause and the committee gave a five-days' hearing to the national american association, the national woman's party and the anti-suffrage association, january - inclusive. the committee made a favorable report to the house on january . on the th twelve democratic members called by appointment on president wilson, _who advised the submission of the amendment_. speaker clark gave valuable assistance, as did many prominent democrats and republicans both in and out of congress. a five-hours' debate took place in the house on the afternoon of jan. , , and the vote resulted as follows: in favor opposed republicans democrats miscellaneous --- --- this was a majority of less than one vote over the necessary two-thirds. mrs. park gave a graphic account of the struggle to secure a favorable vote in the senate. she described the influences brought to bear from all possible sources; the conferences with committees and individuals; the fixing and then postponing of days for a vote; the difficulty in arranging "pairs"; the "filibustering" of the opponents, the adjournments, the endless tactics for preventing a vote which for years had been employed against this amendment. she described the great five days' discussion in the senate september -october ; the appeal to president wilson for help and his magnificent response in person on september with its contemptuous treatment by the opponents; the failure of the republican leaders to supply the thirty-three votes promised and of the democrats to provide from their ranks the thirty-fourth, which would complete the necessary two-thirds, and she gave the summary of the result of the balloting on october . analyzed by parties and including pairs the vote stood: yes no democrats republicans -- -- total the amendment was lost by two votes. this debate, printed in full in the congressional record for those days, hands down to posterity the noble effort of some members of the u. s. senate to grant to women a voice in the government to which they were giving the most loyal and devoted service in this hour when it was joining with other nations in the greatest battle for democracy ever fought. it preserves also the determination of other u. s. senators to deny them this citizen's right and to continue their disfranchised condition. the _woman citizen_, official organ of the national american woman suffrage association, in its issue of oct. , , gave a spirited account of the proceedings of those momentous five days. mrs. park took up the story after the defeat in the senate and said in part: "the election returns on nov. , , indicated that the necessary two-thirds majority in the th congress had been secured. this belief was shared by prominent democrats, who from that time on spared no effort to make unfriendly democratic senators realize the folly of their position in leaving the victory for a republican congress. only the stupidity of extreme conservatism or a thoroughly provincial point of view can account for their failure to yield, unless we are to suppose that more sinister forces were at work.... on the eve of his sailing for europe december president wilson included in his address to a joint session of congress another eloquent appeal for the submission of the federal suffrage amendment."[ ] she described the mass meeting of the suffrage war workers on december at the national theater in washington arranged by miss mabel willard with the following program: mrs. catt, the national president, in the chair; dr. anna howard shaw, chairman woman's committee of national council of defense; mrs. william gibbs mcadoo, chairman national woman's liberty loan committee; mrs. josephus daniels, member national war work council, y. w. c. a.; miss jane delano, director department of nursing, american red cross; mrs. charles l. tiffany, representing community war work and women's oversea hospitals; mrs. f. louis slade, of young women's department, y. m. c. a.; mrs. raymond robins, president national women's trade union league; miss hannah black, munitions worker. an overflow meeting was held and strong resolutions for the amendment were adopted at both and sent to each senator. resolutions calling on every senator to vote for submission of the amendment were adopted by twenty-five state legislatures during january and february, , and the gaining of presidential suffrage in vermont, indiana and wisconsin that winter increased hope. the suffrage democrats were desirous of taking one more vote before going out of power. mrs. park's report said: "on petition of twenty-two senators, a democratic caucus on suffrage was held on february , the first since the united states entered the war. on a motion to adjourn, the suffragists without proxies defeated the "antis," who voted proxies, by to . on a resolution recommending that the democratic senators support the federal amendment, twenty-two voted in the affirmative and when ten had voted in the negative, those ten were allowed by senator thomas s. martin (va.), democratic floor leader, to withdraw their votes in order that he might declare that, as the vote stood to , a quorum had not voted and the resolution was lost! this decision was, of course, most irregular and unfair but it afforded a good illustration of the kind of tactics used by the opponents. "after the close of the morning business february , senator jones moved to take up the amendment. an extremely strong speech in its favor was made by the new senator, william p. pollock of south carolina. the only other speeches were by senator frelinghuysen (n. j.), on the question of individual naturalization of women and by senator gay (la.) in opposition to the amendment. the vote taken early in the afternoon showed in favor and opposed. as on october , all the members who were not present to vote were accounted for by pairs, so that it stood practically in favor to opposed. in other words the amendment was lost in the th congress by one vote. the responsibility for the defeat lies at the door of every man who voted against it. analyzed by parties and including pairs, the vote on february , was: yes no democrats republicans -- -- total "thus the democrats lost their last opportunity and on march the resolution for the amendment was again favorably reported by the woman suffrage committee of the lower house to be acted upon by a republican congress." in commenting on this result mrs. park said: "while we are condemning the un-american stand of our opponents, we should never lose sight of the hard work done by many of the senators who were our friends. there is not space here for the record of all who helped us but special mention should be made of one, the hon. john f. shafroth, who will not be present to vote when victory comes in the next congress. when our cause had only a handful of supporters in public life, he, then a member of the house, helped miss anthony bring the amendment forward, and from that time to the present his loyal and devoted service never flagged. chairman jones, senators ransdell, hollis, wesley jones, cummins and the other members of the woman suffrage committee worked in constant cooperation with your committee. among the others who were most frequently called on for help were senators curtis, smoot, walsh, pittman, lenroot, mcnary, hollis and sheppard." mrs. park spoke briefly of the hearing before the house committee on woman suffrage april on the bill granting to the legislature of hawaii the power to enfranchise its women. (see the chapter on territories.) this bill had passed the senate in september, . on jan. , it passed the house without a roll call. tribute to the association's congressional committee and other workers in washington was paid by mrs. park, who said: during the past fifteen months there have been several changes in the personnel of the committee, chief among them the resignation in september, , of miss ruth white, whose gratuitous service as secretary had extended more than three years. she was succeeded by mrs. minnie fisher cunningham, but just as her marked gift for political work was making itself felt in washington, the submission of a constitutional amendment in texas made it necessary for her to return home in january, . in august, , the national board appointed as a special congressional steering committee two women of widely known political acumen and experience, miss mary garrett hay of new york and mrs. guilford dudley of nashville, with mrs. catt and mrs. park ex officio. in october mrs. frank roessing, who had been residing in washington since the preceding april and thus had been able to give help from time to time, sent in her resignation. in november miss marjorie shuler was added to the committee as secretary in charge of publicity, a designation that by no means expresses the varied duties which have fallen to her lot or the extent to which she has proved of service. to mrs. helen h. gardener a new title, that of vice-chairman of the congressional committee, has been recently given by the national board.... her work can rarely be reported because of its confidential nature, but this may truly be said, that whenever a miracle has appeared to happen in our behalf, if the facts could be told they would nearly always prove that mrs. gardener was the worker of wonders.... other members of the congressional committee who have been in washington for the whole or a part of the period covered by this report are, in addition to its chairman, miss mabel caldwell willard, chairman of the social activities; mrs. george bass and mrs. medill mccormick, representing respectively the organizations of democratic and republican women affiliated with the national party committees; mrs. j. borden harriman, mrs. c. w. mcclure and mrs. william l. mcpherson. no report of the washington headquarters would be complete without mention of the help given in innumerable ways by our house manager, mrs. elizabeth w. walker, whose patience, tact and good judgment have made comfortable living possible under the most trying circumstances. members of the national board who have been called on to assist are first and foremost our honorary president, dr. shaw; mrs. katharine dexter mccormick and mrs. horace c. stilwell of indiana. upon mrs. catt, the national president, your committee has constantly depended for advice and direction. our misfortune has been that we could not have her continually in washington. to these a list of names was added of those who assisted during long or short periods. there was an account of the social uses of the washington headquarters. in january, february and march of miss willard, with the help of mrs. louis brownlow, arranged a series of weekly teas on wednesday afternoons. among the hostesses, the guests of honor and those serving at the table were some of the most prominent women in washington--wives of the members of the cabinet, senators and representatives. social affairs were finally given up as war relief work absorbed other interests. under the direction of mrs. brownlow, daughter of representative sims (tenn.) and wife of the chief commissioner for the district of columbia, the washington equal franchise league established a red cross branch at headquarters, where valuable work was done by suffragists. several entertainments for the benefit of the oversea hospitals were given at the house and over $ , raised. at the close of this report the convention gave a rising vote of thanks to mrs. park and a number of delegates paid special tribute to the excellent work of the chairman and the committee. a discussion which followed by miss katharine ludington (conn.); mrs. andreas ueland (minn.); miss anna b. lawther (iowa); mrs. lila mead valentine (va.) and mrs. leslie warner (tenn.), under the head "and now--what?" was devoted to ways and means for carrying the federal amendment. a number of conferences were held to consider various phases of the work of the association which had become all-embracing. the one on how to do political work for suffrage was led by a past-master in it, miss hay. one on how to use our organization to win was under the direction of mrs. shuler. the conference of press workers was in charge of miss young. why we did not win was told by mrs. lydia wickliffe holmes, president of the woman suffrage party of louisiana, referring to the defeat of the state suffrage amendment; why we did win, by mrs. ben hooper, president of the wisconsin association, describing the gaining of the presidential franchise. there were reports by the state presidents of the work that had been done by women during the year throughout the country for the war, for suffrage, for civic improvement. a report that was heard with the deepest interest was that of the oversea hospitals in france, by mrs. raymond brown, general director, and mrs. charles l. tiffany, chairman of the committee. this had been a very important part during the past two years of the work of the association, which had raised $ , for its maintenance. [see the chapter on war work.] when it had been arranged to hold the convention the last week in march, , it was supposed that the federal suffrage amendment would have been submitted by congress by that time, as it had passed the lower house early in january. it seemed especially appropriate that this jubilee convention could celebrate this event on the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the national association for the sole purpose of obtaining this amendment but to the keen disappointment of its leaders and members two obdurate senators had spoiled this beautiful plan. its success, however, was so universally conceded that it was decided to hold the semi-centennial celebration and the afternoon of march was dedicated to this purpose and to the honoring of the early leaders. fifty years of ever widening empire was the motto at the head of the program. the tribute to the pioneers of the national association was paid by mrs. rachel foster avery, for twenty-one years from the corresponding secretary of the association and closely associated with lucretia mott, mrs. stanton, miss anthony and the other pioneers almost from her girlhood. to miss anthony she was like a daughter and she gave a touching account of her personal relations with these noble leaders. miss alice stone blackwell drew from her stores of memory a wealth of incidents of the lives of her parents and the eminent men and women who were associated with them in founding the american woman suffrage association, also begun in . a resolution offered by mrs. desha breckinridge was enthusiastically adopted--that "we owe an undying and inextinguishable debt to henry b. and lucy stone blackwell for their great service in behalf of suffrage for women but believe their greatest gift was their daughter, who has kept us true to the trust which they committed to the care of their followers." mrs. catt, who always had an eye to the practical and who was on the program to urge the members of the united associations to finish the fight, soon yielded her time to miss hay, the noted money-raiser, whose subject was, make the map white. in a very short time the delegates had shown their appreciation of the pioneers by subscribing $ , , the whole amount of the "budget" for the work of the coming year. dr. shaw then closed the afternoon's services with reminiscences of her forty years' companionship with the workers in both associations. "the suffragist who has not been mobbed," she said, "has nothing really interesting to look back upon." she spoke of the last national convention which miss anthony ever attended, in at baltimore, and how she had set her heart on a grand triumph for the cause in that old, conservative city, describing how her hopes had been realized in the most successful one from every point of view that ever had been held. and then she told with exquisite pathos how one month later miss anthony passed into eternal rest. little did the listeners think that the next annual convention would hold memorial services for dr. shaw herself and for mrs. avery! throughout the week the meetings of the national association alternated with the conferences for organizing the enfranchised women and the name officially decided on was league of women voters. a constitution for it was adopted and mrs. charles h. brooks of kansas was elected chairman. mrs. catt presented its first aims as outlined in her annual address and with some additions they were adopted. the addresses made by the chairmen of the war committees evinced statesmanship of a high order. the entire proceedings of the convention connected with this new organization are fully described in mrs. shuler's chapter on the league of women voters. there could be no greater contrast than between the firmness and authority of the speakers on this program and the pleading and argument of just as able women in earlier years for the opportunity and power to help in the solution of great national problems. the large odeon theater was crowded on the evening of march by an audience that heard with much interest the story of the recent campaigns for full and presidential suffrage as told in the following program: the indiana irritation, mrs. richard e. edwards; the vermont vortex, mrs. halsey w. wilson; the nebraska nightmare, mrs. w. e. barkley; the south dakota sore disasters, mrs. john l. pyle; the michigan mystery, mrs. myron b. vorce; the oklahoma ordeal, mrs. nettie r. shuler; the texas turmoil, mrs. minnie fisher cunningham; the duty of citizenship, mrs. raymond robins; all roads lead to rome, dr. shaw. the report of the leslie bureau of suffrage education, made by its director, miss rose young, filled eighteen pages of the printed handbook and covered a vast field of activity which included service to , publications-- , dailies, , weeklies, , monthlies, a number issued fortnightly, quarterly, etc., and the large syndicates and press associations. in addition were the mimeographed news bulletins and the editorial service. an idea was given of the varied character of the material sent out and the immense amount furnished during the campaigns. a compliment was paid to the press work of mrs. rose geyer, "whose task it is to collect the news, state by state, and distribute the parts of nation-wide interest through weekly bulletins, and who has by direct personal correspondence of an intimate and tactful kind trained state organization women to send in reports of conventions, political and legislative situations, candidates, etc." many incidents were cited of important publicity, special editions of papers and display advertising. six pages were devoted to the mission of the weekly official magazine, the _woman citizen_, and the way it had been fulfilled. a tribute was paid to its very able associate editor, miss mary ogden white. the invaluable service of the research bureau, under the expert direction of mrs. mary sumner boyd, assisted by miss eleanor garrison, was strongly set forth. mrs. ida husted harper, who conducted the editorial correspondence, referred in her report to her full accounts in preceding years of the wide correspondence with editors. "the scope of the department was gradually enlarged," she said, "and many letters were sent to prominent people in reference to their speeches, interviews in newspapers and other public expressions. for instance, in the debates on the federal amendment in the senate, whenever a speaker showed lack of correct information, a letter giving it was sent to him. other letters also were sent to senators and usually received courteous answers from themselves, not their secretaries." the report continued: several letters were written to colonel theodore roosevelt urging him to use his influence with the republican leaders and always were fully answered. a letter dictated and signed by him on january , , enclosed one he had just sent to senator moses of new hampshire, strongly urging him to cast his vote for the federal suffrage amendment on the th. i received it on january and he died the night of the th. letters were sent to chairman hays and members of the national republican committee and to different state chairmen on various points connected with the suffrage amendment. the pamphlet on the difficulty of amending state constitutions, which was prepared and sent to every senator, was put into the congressional record by senator shafroth, and a circular letter on the founding and record of the national woman's party by senator thomas. scores of letters were sent out showing up the fallacies of the anti-suffragists during the year; others exposing the connection of the german-american alliance with the antis; others giving historic information and still others telling of gains in our own and foreign countries. during the first year i wrote to over , editors in the united states and canada. at the end of that time, and after the new york victory, so many were in favor of woman suffrage itself that during the work was very largely concentrated on the federal amendment. in the two months from november, , to january, , when the vote was taken in the house of representatives, , circular letters containing an argument for this amendment went out from this department to the principal newspapers of the united states and in addition special articles were sent to the largest papers. after that vote was taken this record was kept up to obtain favorable action by the senate and a second and different circular argument was sent to , papers. a carefully selected list of several hundred southern newspapers was furnished to senator morris sheppard of texas, to which he sent franked copies of his excellent speech on this amendment. an open letter to senator baird was supplied to all the principal papers of new jersey; one to senator benet to those of south carolina; one to senator shields to tennessee papers. a letter showing the attitude of the national association toward organized labor went to a considerable number of labor papers in the various states. during the week following the failure to vote on the federal amendment in may, letters and articles in regard to it were sent out from this department. most of them enclosed printed or typed suffrage literature, some of mrs. catt's editorials and articles, and some from other sources, including my printed pamphlet on the federal amendment. altogether nearly , letters and articles went out from this department. several pamphlets also were prepared and an article of about , words was furnished every month to the _international suffrage news_ in london, with many clippings for its files. a number of letters and clippings also were sent to mrs. fawcett, the national president of great britain, keeping her informed on the progress of the movement in the united states, of which she was very appreciative, and letters of information were written to other countries. by the end of from to editorials on woman suffrage were received every month and it was as much a subject of comment in the newspapers as any political issue of the day. the old-time attacks were almost entirely absent; the editorials showed knowledge and discrimination; fully nine-tenths of the northern newspapers advocated not only woman suffrage but the federal amendment, while in every southern state some leading papers were in favor of enfranchising women and a few approved of its being done through this amendment. this editorial department of the leslie bureau might venture to claim some share in the evolution of editorial opinion, to which, of course, many causes contributed. while the need for its work was by no means at an end, another task yet remained for the bureau to see accomplished. mrs. harper then stated that it was the wish of both the leslie commission and the board of the national association that the final volume of the history of woman suffrage should be written while the excellent facilities of the headquarters were available. because of her experience in writing volume iv this work was entrusted to her and the editorial department, therefore, was discontinued and the history begun in january, . the report of the washington press bureau was made by its secretary, miss marjorie shuler, dating from the preceding november and it stated that weekly press articles had been furnished to the big news services, the newspaper correspondents in washington, the papers of that city and many outside; state presidents, congressional and press chairmen, in addition to a certain daily service; feature articles and washington letters to the _woman citizen_. material for favorable editorials was sent out through the washington correspondents and friendly to the policy of the national association were received with only opposed. the social activities at the washington headquarters furnished good local publicity. in the report of miss esther g. ogden, president of the national woman suffrage publishing co., she called attention to the almost insuperable difficulties of the publishing business during the past eighteen months through the high cost of production, deterioration of materials and uncertainties of transportation. with all these handicaps the company had printed , , pieces of literature for the association and , , for its own stock. it had filled orders from great britain, canada, south america, mexico, porto rico and the philippines. she told of prominent visitors from foreign countries who expressed much surprise at the variety and extent of the literature and took samples home with them for translation. mrs. arthur l. livermore, chairman of the literature committee, gave a list of the new publications which filled two printed pages and told of a notable group of booklets dealing with patriotic subjects; a large amount of special literature to facilitate the passage of the federal amendment; maps, folders, booklets and posters. the following recommendations were made by the executive council and adopted by the convention: . that the n. a. w. s. a. continue to support and endorse the federal amendment which has been before congress for the past forty years. . that the next convention be in the nature of a centennial celebration of the birthday of susan b. anthony and be held in february, . . that the board of officers be asked to serve until that date, thus confining the election of officers at this convention to directors only. . that the budget for be adopted as presented by mrs. henry wade rogers, the treasurer--$ , if the voters' league is formed and $ , if it is not formed. . that the six war service committees appointed at the last convention be discontinued with the exception of the oversea hospitals committee, which shall be discontinued at the conclusion of its work, and those on americanization and industrial protection of women, which shall be continued. . that the post-convention board be requested to reappoint mrs. maud wood park as chairman of the congressional committee and extend to her a vote of appreciation of her services. . that the board of directors shall have authority to enter any state to carry on work without the authority of that state, if necessary. . that the policy of the association in regard to referendum campaigns be affirmed. . that an organization of women voters be formed. . that the constitution when amended and made satisfactory to the needs of the association be substituted for the present constitution; that, with this end in view, the chair be instructed to appoint a committee of five women from enfranchised states and five from the executive council to whom the constitution shall be referred.[ ] it was recommended that the following resolution be adopted "in view of the fact that a request had been made for a new definition of 'non-partisan' in relation to the national association as at present constituted or as it may be constituted": "resolved, that the n. a. w. s. a. shall not affiliate with any political party or endorse the platform of any party or support or oppose any political candidates unless such action shall be recommended by the board of directors in order to achieve the ends and purposes of this organization as set forth in its constitution. nothing in this resolution shall be construed to limit the liberty of action of any member or officer of this association to join or serve the party of her choice in any capacity whatsoever as an individual." miss alice stone blackwell, chairman of the committee, offered fourteen resolutions, the last which were acted upon by representatives of the national american suffrage association, the first having been presented in . they illustrate the wide scope of women's interests considered by that body. after full discussion the following, which are somewhat condensed, were among those adopted: whereas, women may now vote for president in twenty-six states of the union, and for all elective officers in england, scotland, ireland, canada and throughout the largest part of europe; our eastern and southern states are now the only communities in the english-speaking world in which women are still debarred from self-government; our nation has just emerged from a war waged in the name of making the world safe for democracy and ought in consistency to establish real democracy at home; and every political party in the united states has endorsed woman suffrage in its national platform; therefore be it resolved, that we call upon the th congress to submit the constitutional amendment for nation-wide woman suffrage to the states at the earliest possible moment. whereas, one-fourth of the men examined for the army were unable to read english or to write letters home to their families, be it resolved, that we urge the establishment at washington of a national department of education with a secretary of education in the cabinet. resolved, that this association earnestly favors a league of nations to secure world-wide peace based upon the immutable principles of justice. resolved, that we protest against the unfair treatment of professional women by the united states authorities in declining the services of women physicians, surgeons and dentists in the recent war, thus compelling loyal, patriotic women to serve under the flag of a foreign government. we recommend that in future our government recognize the fitness of accepting the services of professional women for work for which their training and experience have qualified them. resolved, that we urge our government to bring about the prompt redress of all legitimate grievances, as the removal of the sense of injustice is the surest safeguard against revolution by violence. whereas, the woman in industry service of the u. s. department of labor was established as a result of the war emergency, resolved, that we call upon congress to establish this service as a permanent women's bureau in the u. s. department of labor with adequate funds for the continuance and extension of its work. resolved, that we ask the u. s. government in its next census to classify definitely the unpaid women housekeepers as homemakers, thus recognizing their important service to the nation. resolved, that we call upon congress to give military rank to army nurses. resolved, that we tender to our national president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, our deep appreciation of her sagacity, good judgment, fairness and indefatigable devotion to the cause of equal rights, and we pledge our best efforts to carry out her wise and far-reaching plans for ultimate victory. the last evening of the convention was given to a second mass meeting at the odeon theater with dr. shaw presiding and a notable program. the first speaker was miss helen fraser of great britain, who had been making a tour of the united states in the interest of the women's war hospital work of that country. she was announced on the program as "great britain's foremost speaker," and she eloquently pictured women and the future. the hon. henry j. allen, governor of kansas, stirred the audience to enthusiasm with an address on woman's place in war and peace. mrs. catt's splendid closing speech on looking forward ended a convention whose keynote throughout had been "progress"; a farewell to the past years of toil and disappointment, a preparation for the future work of women under better conditions than had ever before existed. a spirit of hope, courage and unlimited expectation pervaded the army of younger women, who were soon to take up the great work committed to their care. on saturday three important meetings took place. in the morning was the formal organization of the league of women voters, election of officers, appointment of committees and adoption of a program; also the final business session of the convention to harmonize the work of the national association and that of the league. in the afternoon the two bodies met in joint session to discuss the question of how voting and non-voting women might best cooperate and the three following objects were agreed upon: ( ) to secure the vote for all the women of the nation in the shortest possible time; ( ) to obtain the vote for women in all civilized countries; ( ) to carry out the legislative program of the new organization. thus ended the perfectly managed jubilee convention, probably the most important and far-reaching in the long history of the national association. hearing on the federal suffrage amendment before the house committee on woman suffrage of the th congress, jan. - , . there was no longer any necessity for a hearing before the senate committee on woman suffrage, as it had unanimously reported in favor of the federal amendment. the suffrage leaders were profoundly thankful that they would never again have to address a hostile judiciary committee of the lower house, which not in all the years had permitted the amendment to come before the representatives for discussion, and which had now under pressure reported it out but "without recommendation." a new era had dawned and a committee on woman suffrage had been formed, whose chairman, judge john e. raker of california, by advice of speaker clark, had introduced another resolution for the submission of the amendment which was sent to this committee and it desired to have a hearing.[ ] this began jan. , , and in opening it the chairman said: "we have determined to hear first the national american suffrage association and then the woman's party. there seem to be a few opponents--a few men--and they will be given an opportunity to be heard, as well as mrs. wadsworth and her organization." this hearing extended through four days and the stenographic report filled closely printed pages. it was the last of the committee hearings on a federal suffrage amendment which began in and had been held during every congress since that date. if an investigator of this subject has time to read only one document it should be the report of this hearing. the committee was composed of seven democrats and six republicans and it was well known that all but three--saunders, clark and meeker--would report in favor of submitting the amendment. the national suffrage association was represented the first day by its honorary president, dr. anna howard shaw; its president, mrs. carrie chapman catt; the chairman of its congressional committee, mrs. maud wood park; mrs. rosalie loew whitney, an able lawyer of new york; mrs. guilford dudley of tennessee, a vice-president of the association; mrs. henry ware allen, a prominent suffragist and war worker of kansas. their speeches were among the strongest ever made at a hearing. those of the opponents show the character of their objections up to the very end of the long contest. dr. shaw's address was especially notable for two reasons: it was devoted largely to the work of women in the war, which was now at its height, and it was the last one before a congressional committee by this eloquent woman, who had been coming to the capitol for almost thirty years in behalf of the amendment, as she died the following year. she was introduced as having been appointed by the secretary of war chairman of the woman's committee of national defense and as such the head of the war work of women throughout the country. dr. shaw began by referring to the new line of attack which was now being made on suffragists as pro-germans and pacifists but scattered quotations can give small idea of the strength and beauty of her answers to these charges. regarding the one of pacifism she said: we grant that we are in favor of peace; we grant that we have a large sympathy for the sufferings of humanity, but we also claim to be possessed of intelligence and knowledge and these have convinced us that there could be nothing more disastrous to the human race than a peace at this time, which would lead to greater suffering than a continuation of the war. therefore, because we love peace and because we have large sympathy for human sufferings, we are opposed to anything that will bring a peace which does not forever and forever make it impossible that such sufferings shall again be inflicted on the world, and the women of all countries take that stand with us. we have only to face the present situation to know that any charges that women as a whole are not courageous, are not patriotic, are not devoted to the highest interests of their country are wholly false.... even before war was declared the national american woman suffrage association met in convention in this city and was the first organized body of women to formulate a definite line of action and present to the president and the government a plan which would be followed by its more than , , members, provided hostilities went so far that war should be declared. the president accepted our services, and not only did he accept them but the devotion of the suffragists to the welfare of the country was so uniformly recognized that when the government decided upon war and upon the necessity for organizing the woman-power of the nation, it called upon the leaders of this association and appointed them on a committee for co-ordinating the war work of women throughout the united states. can it for a moment be supposed that the men in whose charge the great interests of our nation rested would have called upon women whom they did not know to be thoroughly endowed with patriotic devotion and loyalty to their country for such a service at such a time? dr. shaw told of the loyalty of women in other countries and quoted from the tributes of their distinguished men, such men as mr. asquith, lloyd george, lord derby and general joffre to the services of these women and in our own country of general pershing and scores of others. she told of how the canadian government gave the suffrage to women and how they voted for conscription; of the splendid courage of the men of australia and new zealand, born of enfranchised mothers. she said that in ten of the eleven western states which filled their quota of volunteers before any eastern state had done so, there was equal suffrage. she referred to the eminent supporters of the federal suffrage amendment, beginning with president wilson and his cabinet and theodore roosevelt; asked if these men were pro-germans and pacifists and matched them with equally loyal women. in conclusion she said: to fail to ask for the suffrage amendment at this time would be treason to the fundamental cause for which we, as a nation, have entered the war. president wilson has declared that "we are at war because of that which is dearest to our hearts--democracy; that those who submit to authority shall have a voice in the government." if this is the basic reason for entering the war, then for those of us who have striven for this amendment and for our freedom and for democracy to yield today, to withdraw from the battle, would be to desert the men in the trenches and leave them to fight alone across the sea not only for democracy for the world but also for our own country.... the time of reconstruction will come and when it comes many women will have to be both father and mother to fatherless children, and these mothers and their children will have no representatives in this government unless it is through the mothers who have given everything that it might be saved and democracy might be secured.... no men better than those of the south know what it owes to southern women and shall those men stand in the way of freedom for the women who gave everything to retain for our country the very best of southern traditions--shall they plead in vain for the freedom of their daughters? what is true of the women of the south is true of the women of the north.... we are today a united people with one flag and one country because the women are worthy of their men, and we plead because we are a part of the people, a part of the government which claims to be a democracy, and in order that this country may stand clean-handed before the nations of the world. the speech of mrs. whitney, analyzing the vote on the suffrage amendment which was carried in new york state the preceding november was a complete statistical refutation of the charge made by the anti-suffragists that the favorable vote was due to socialists and pro-germans. a letter was read from secretary of war newton d. baker, saying that speaking personally and not officially he favored the submission of the amendment. telegrams urging it were received from well-known women in the southern states and mrs. catt read editorials strongly favoring it from a number of southern newspapers. mrs. george bass, head of the democratic women's national committee, protested against the circulation in the capitol which was being made by the "antis" of president wilson's declaration made in , "i believe this is a matter to be fought out in the individual states," because in he addressed the national suffrage convention in atlantic city, saying: "i have come to fight with you ... and in the end we shall not differ as to methods." mrs. dudley represented the women of the south, saying in the course of her address: what has happened to the state's rights doctrine? recently the federal constitution has been twice amended and that under a democratic administration. while the child labor bill and eight-hour bill are not amendments, they are really open to the same objections because they impose upon a state laws to which it has not given consent. these bills were proposed in one house or both by southern democrats; federal prohibition was proposed in both houses by southern democrats and passed by the votes of others. so it appears that the theory of state's rights is only invoked when women plead at the bar of justice for that voice in their government to which all those who submit to authority are entitled. now, as to the negro problem. we southern women feel that the time has come to lay once and for all this old, old ghost that stalks through the halls of congress. it is a phantom as applied to woman suffrage. in fifteen states south of the mason and dixon line there are over a million more white women than negro men and women combined. there are only two states in which the negro race predominates, south carolina and mississippi. in the former the percentage is . , but there a voter must read and write and own and pay taxes on $ worth of property. in mississippi the percentage is . but there also they impose an educational qualification. in the eight years since these figures were estimated by the government this percentage has greatly decreased, so that south carolina claims that there is now no preponderance of negroes. in the other four states also in the so-called "black belt" an educational test is imposed upon the voters. in addition to all this we must consider that during the last decade the negro population has increased per cent and the white population per cent. furthermore, in the past year alone , negroes have gone from one southern state to the north, and , have gone from three other southern states to one northern state alone. so it appears that we must transfer part of our rather hysterical anxieties with regard to the southern negro vote to some other states. mrs. allen spoke from the standpoint of one who had lived many years in a state where women voted and asked the question: "can you gentlemen not think what it means to women to know that their men are so chivalrous and have such a belief in their integrity and their intelligence that they are willing to make them their equal partners politically? can you not see that under such conditions men and women are firmer friends; that husbands and wives are closer together and that all of the family relations are better because the adults of all the families are equally interested in city, state and national affairs?" she told how on the battlefield and in the hospitals in france could be heard in all languages the one cry, "mother," and she ended with the plea: "our world is weary and wounded and sick and if you will listen in the silence of the night you will hear the same cry; the world is calling for the mother voice in its councils and in its activities." the afternoon was devoted to the address of mrs. catt, which, with the questions of the committee and her answers, filled twenty-five pages of the printed report. for four decades the distinguished presidents of the national suffrage association had made their arguments and pleadings before committees of congress--mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, miss susan b. anthony, dr. anna howard shaw, and then mrs. catt for eight years. this was the last time it would ever be necessary and the first time before a house committee which intended to report in favor. the changed character of her speaking was shown in her opening sentence: "the time of argument on woman suffrage has gone by. the controversy has been waged over a greater part of the civilized world for the last fifty years, with the result that many nations have capitulated and woman suffrage is now established under many flags. that it is still pending in the congress of the united states is a disgrace to our country and a reflection on the intelligence and progress of our people." she illustrated how the doctrine of state's rights had been ignored by the southern members in their fight for prohibition, led by mr. webb of north carolina, who as chairman of the house judiciary committee had also led the opposition to woman suffrage on this same ground. she proved by editorial quotations from southern papers the changing attitude on this point. the vast number of american men who would be in the army in france at the time of the next election was pointed out and the question was asked: "when the election comes who will do the voting? every 'slacker' has a vote; every newly-made citizen; every pro-german who cannot be trusted with any kind of war service; every peace-at-any-price man; every conscientious objector and even the alien enemy. it is a risk, a danger, to a nation like ours to send millions of loyal men out of the country and not replace their votes by those of the loyal women left at home." in referring to the "negro problem" in the south mrs. catt said: in talking with some of the members of congress we have learned that an idea prevails throughout the south that the colored women are more intelligent, ambitious and energetic than the men, and that while it is easy enough to keep the men from exercising too much ambition in the matter of politics, it will not be easy to control the women. when talking with these same men about the white women of the south, i have never known an exception to the rule that they have finally rested their case upon the statement that the women of the south do not want the vote anyway and if they did they would only vote as their husbands do. to say that means what? that the women of the south in the estimate of those men are too weak-minded to have an opinion of their own; it means that they have no independence of character; it means that they have been reduced so far to nonentity that they will only echo their husbands' opinions. is living in the homes of the white men of the south so degrading to the character of the white women that they really cannot be trusted to have an honest conviction of their own, but that living in the south outside of those homes renders women more ambitious and more intelligent than the men? do these men realize that they are saying almost in the same breath that the colored woman is superior to the colored man but that the white woman is the inferior of the white man? or is it possible that the climate of the south produces a stronger "female of the species" than male, and that the men of the south are afraid of both the white and the black women? detached quotations give a most inadequate idea of this masterly address which embodied the complete case for the advocates of the federal amendment. toward its close mrs. catt, in speaking of the assertion of the "antis" that president wilson was opposed to the federal suffrage amendment, made this significant answer: "i request you, mr. chairman, to ask mr. wilson for a conference and go to it taking democrats and republicans and say: 'mr. president, are you or are you not for this federal amendment?' then you will know. i trust that you will do this and that, if then it is possible to make a public statement, you will do so." afterwards it was apparent that she knew of mr. wilson's complete change of opinion and his intention to support the amendment. on january mr. raker and eleven other members of the lower house held a conference with the president and he urged the submission of the amendment. at the continuation of the hearing on january the american constitutional league, formed after the suffrage amendment was adopted in new york out of the men's anti-suffrage association, was represented by the chairman of its executive committee, everett p. wheeler, a lawyer of new york city, and by one of its members introduced as "dr. lucian howe of buffalo, a very eminent surgeon, a fellow of the royal academy of medicine and the royal academy of surgeons." the two men occupied the entire day, mr. wheeler about two-thirds of it, but the committee consumed a good deal of this time by a running fire of questions not far from "heckling." mr. wheeler offered for insertion in the _record_ a page and a half of finely printed statistics compiled by the men's anti-suffrage association to prove that the laws for women and children were not so good in equal suffrage states as in those where women could not vote. the session of january began with the reading of another sheaf of urgent telegrams from women of the southern states and petitions for the amendment signed by a long list of southern women. the first speaker was mrs. l. a. hamilton, president of the national equal franchise association of canada and president also of the women's union government league of toronto, who was thoroughly informed on the granting of provincial and dominion suffrage and able to answer convincingly all the questions of the committee. the hearing was then turned over to the national association opposed to woman suffrage, with its president, mrs. james w. wadsworth, jr., in charge. i am much pleased by the personnel of this committee," she said, "because both the republican speaker, mr. gillett, and the democratic floor leader, mr. kitchin, promised us that, unlike the suffrage committee in the senate, this one would have a fair representation of 'antis.' i find we have been given two out of thirteen. of course we think that a perfectly fair ratio, as we have always felt that one 'anti' was worth about five suffragists, but we did not suppose you would admit it." "that is about the ratio that exists in the house," observed mr. blanton, of the committee. "we will know more about that when we vote in the house," answered mr. clark, member from florida. "i am going to give you the privilege this morning of hearing from my general staff," said mrs. wadsworth, "and i will have some of my officers of the line here monday. i want to introduce miss minnie bronson, our general secretary." the second speaker was mr. eichelberger, who presented elaborate charts and figures to show that woman suffrage was carried in new york by the socialists. to the question of chairman raker, "this is nothing more or less than a compilation of figures as an idea of your own, to show what certain votes could do or certain figures would do, isn't it?" he answered: "yes, absolutely, that is the idea." at one point miss jeannette rankin of the committee asked: "are you the gentleman who compiled some figures on the democratic and republican women's vote in montana last year?" "i think so," was the answer. "where did you get your figures?" "from the official election report." "how could you tell a democratic woman's vote from a republican woman's vote?" "well, that part of it was estimation!" the statements of mr. eichelberger and the questions of the committee filled twenty-four pages of the stenographic report and with miss bronson's address consumed one session. the hearing in the afternoon was given to the national woman's party, in charge of its vice-chairman, miss anne martin of nevada. mrs. william kent of california introduced the speakers--mrs. richard wainwright, mrs. townsend scott, miss ernestine evans, mrs. francis j. heney, miss elizabeth gram, miss maud younger, mrs. adeline atwater, mrs. ellis meredith. monday morning the hearing of the anti-suffrage association was resumed, mrs. wadsworth presiding and speaking at length, saying: "we never have and never will ask a man to vote with us against his conscience but the men we do blame are those spineless opportunists who for political expediency or because they are too lazy to fight are preparing to surrender their principles for the sake of a dishonorable and, we believe, a temporary peace." mrs. edwin ford followed and then miss lucy price. her remarks and the committee's questions filled fourteen pages of the report. about fifty telegrams opposing the amendment were received, nearly half of them from men and all from massachusetts. one purported to represent women of wellesley and another , of new bedford. henry a. wise wood was introduced as president of the aero club of america. during his speech he declared that "this was no time to unman the government by this foolhardy jeopardizing of the rights of both sexes"; that "one wonders at the spectacle of strong, masculine personalities urging at such an hour the demasculinization of government--the dilution with the qualities of the cow, of the qualities of the bull upon which all the herd safety must depend"; that "this from now on is a man's job--the job of the fighting, the dominating, not the denatured, the womanlike man." referring to miss rankin's vote against war he said: "i do not think she cried; i was speaking of the real woman, the woman that men love." he also said that during his campaign for "preparedness" he discovered that "the woman suffrage movement was hopelessly given over to pacifism in its extreme socialistic form." in closing he said that "for any sentimental or political reason it is a damnable thing that we should weaken ourselves by bringing into the war the woman, who has never been permitted in the war tents of any strong, virile dominating nation." this speech was made jan. , , after nearly a year's experience in the united states of the war work done by women. at this hearing the opponents made their supreme effort, knowing that it was their last chance, and they brought to washington one of the south's most noted orators, former u. s. senator joseph w. bailey, of texas. he began by saying: "i shall confine my speech entirely to the political aspect of the question, leaving these very intelligent women to explain the effect of suffrage on their sex and on our homes," but he got to the latter phase of it long before he had finished. he believed that under the federal constitution the right to control the suffrage belonged absolutely to the states but he said: "i am opposed to women voting anywhere except in their own societies; i would let them vote there but nowhere else in this country.... no free government should deny suffrage to any class entitled to it and no free government should extend suffrage to any class not entitled to it, for the ultimate success or failure of every free government will depend upon the average intelligence and patriotism of the electorate. i hope to show that as a matter of political justice and political safety women should not be allowed to vote...." giving other reasons why women should not be allowed to vote, he said: "the two most important personal duties of citizenship are military service and sheriff's service, neither of which is a woman capable of performing." reminded by the chairman that there were many places where women then were performing the duty of sheriff, constable, marshal and police, he answered: "they may be playing at them but they are not really performing them. if an outlaw is to be arrested are you going to order a woman to get a gun and come with you? if you did she would sit down and cry, and she ought to keep on crying until her husband hunts you up and makes you apologize for insulting his wife.... a woman who is able to perform a sheriff's duty is not fit to be a mother because no woman who bears arms ought to bear children.... we agree, i think, that the women of this country will never go into our armies as soldiers or be required to serve on the sheriff's posse comitatus. that being true i hardly think they have the right to make the laws under which you and i must perform those services." the chairman asked: "when the men go to front with the cartridges and guns the women assisted in making are the latter not participating in the war the same as men?" he answered: "they are doing their part and it may be just as essential as the man's, for if there is not somebody here to provide the ammunition the guns would be useless, but it is not military service." the war had been in progress three and a half years when these assertions were made and the whole world knew the part that women had taken in it. "the third personal duty of citizenship is jury service," mr. bailey said, "and while women are physically capable of performing that service there are reasons, natural, moral and domestic, which render them wholly unfit for it.... we go to the court house for stern, unyielding justice. will women help our courts to better administer justice? they will not. nobody is qualified to decide any case until they have heard all the testimony on both sides but the average woman would make up her mind before the plaintiff had concluded his testimony." the awful consequences of "sending women with strange men into the jury room to discuss testimony which a sensible mother would not talk over with her grown daughter" were declared to be that "modesty for which we reverence women would disappear from among them." "who will care for the children during the mother's absence?... they tell me they will require the unmarried women to act as jurors. there will be enough of them, for marrying will become a lost habit in our country if we apply ourselves much longer to this business of making women like men." mr. bailey appeared not to know that women had been serving on juries for from twenty to forty years in the western states where they were enfranchised. "will women vote intelligently? can they do it? what time will a woman have to prepare herself for these new duties of citizenship? will she take it from her home and husband or from her church and children or from her charities and social pleasures? she must take it from one or all of them and will she make herself or the world better by doing so?" mr. bailey asked. he said he wished that "every woman in the land was fortunate enough to have servants to do their work"; deplored "the unfortunate situation of eighty per cent. of the good women whose hard lot it is to toil from sunup to sundown" and inquired: "do you think when they have done all this they will have time and strength to learn something about their duties as a citizen?" asked if he did not think a woman ought to have something to say about the laws that concern the education and disposition of her children, he answered: "if she cannot trust that to the father of her children i pity her." "how about the women who have lost their husbands?" asked a member of the committee. "if they have neither father nor son nor brother to provide for them the public will do so," mr. bailey replied. in pointing out how favorable "man-made laws" are to women he said: "in my state, where women have never voted and where i sincerely trust they never will, the law gives to the wife as her separate property everything she owns at the time of her marriage and everything she may afterwards acquire by gift, devise or descent," but he omitted to say that all of it passes under the absolute control of the husband and that the wages she earns belong to him. further on he said: "we must have two sexes and if the women insist on becoming men i suppose the men must refine themselves into women.... i dread the effect of this woman's movement upon civilization because i know what happened to the roman republic when women attained their full rights. they married without going to church and were divorced without going to court." after having discussed widows' pensions, the double standard of morals, divorce, alimony and various other matters in carrying out his promise at the beginning to confine his remarks "entirely to the political aspect of the question" he reached the subject of women's smoking. he summed up his opinion of this by saying: "if it were a question between their smoking and their voting and they would promise to stay at home and smoke i would say let them smoke." in this connection he said: "a single standard of conduct for men and women is an iridescent dream. we cannot pay women a higher tribute than to insist that their behavior shall be more circumspect than ours." finally mr. blanton of texas, a member of the committee, having obtained mr. bailey's assent that the right of petition is the most sacred right of the people and that legislators should give it careful consideration, said: "i have here a very extensive petition from your state signed by prominent citizens of the leading cities urging congress to submit the federal suffrage amendment and i notice from houston, your city, the following: he then read a long list of bank presidents, judges, editors, college professors, the mayor and other city officials, officers of labor unions, and, in addition, the chief justice of the supreme court, attorney general, district attorney and other state officials, and pressed mr. bailey to admit their high character and standing. he did so but said: "i would not vote for this amendment if a majority of my constituents asked me to do so." an undue amount of space is given to the address of mr. bailey because he had been selected by the anti-suffragists as the strongest speaker for their side in the entire country and it embodied their views as these had been presented ever since the suffrage movement began. he was thoroughly representative of the opposition, and the officers and members of the women's association opposed to woman suffrage who were present applauded his remarks from beginning to end. he made this speech jan. , , and the following march the texas legislature by a large majority gave primary suffrage to women for all officers from president of the united states down the list and the bill was immediately signed by the governor. the primaries decide the election in that state.[ ] the committee received petitions asking their favorable action on the amendment from the texas state federation of women's clubs and those of houston and other cities; from women's clubs of many kinds in waco representing , members; from women's organizations all over the state and from individuals, the number reaching thousands. there was the same outpouring from the other southern states, although it was the principal argument of the opposition that the vote was being forced on southern women. there was also a remarkable expression from southern men. seventy-five pages of these petitions were printed in the official report of this hearing. as the sentiment in the northern states was now so largely in favor it was considered unnecessary for them to send petitions, although many did so. there were presented to the committee a message from the governor of every equal suffrage state urging the immediate submission of the amendment and strong letters to this effect from secretary of the navy josephus daniels and secretary of the treasury william g. mcadoo, southerners and democrats. none of this pressure was necessary to influence it but the leaders of the national suffrage association arranged this demonstration in order to show that favorable action by the committee would be fully sustained by the sentiment of the country, and as an answer to the charge that "a small, insistent lobby was forcing the amendment through congress." the anti-suffragists did not present one communication of any kind from any state except massachusetts. the valuable space in this volume could not be better used perhaps than for the closing speeches of mrs. park, chairman of the association's congressional committee, and mrs. catt, its president. a greater contrast can scarcely be imagined than that between their statesmanlike quality and the rambling, inconsequential, prejudiced character of mr. bailey's. "after the eloquent address of the last speaker," began mrs. park with delicious satire, "i sympathize with the committee and the audience who will have to return to the plain subject of the federal amendment for woman suffrage.... i think those who have been listening to all of these hearings will agree that the opponents have made many interesting statements but have given comparatively few facts." saying that mrs. catt would reply to mr. bailey's speech she answered the points in the others with a keenness and clearness that no lawyer could have exceeded and met with dignity and acumen the questions of the opponents on the committee. she was not once disconcerted or unable to reply convincingly and always with a disarming courtesy but she did not deviate from her subject or allow the questioners to do so. mrs. catt's answer to mr. bailey's speech, which filled twenty-five pages of the stenographic report, occupied seven pages and there was not a superfluous word. she began by calling attention to the petitions as a whole from the southern states, printed copies of which were furnished to each member of the committee. they included the names of over a thousand prominent men, among them two and a half pages of mayors; the governors of arkansas, tennessee and florida and many other state officials. she said that as she listened to mr. bailey's speech she was reminded of the declaration of a president of harvard college, who asserted that without question there were witches and it was the duty of all good people to hunt them out, but twenty-five years later every intelligent man knew there had never been such a thing as a witch. a man once wrote a book to prove that a steamship could never cross the ocean and the book was brought to america by the first one that crossed. daniel webster made a speech against admitting as a state one of the western territories because its members of congress after their election would not be able to reach washington until the session was over. "these men lacked vision," she said, "and so does the last speaker. he does not know what has been happening in the world." she referred to the vast changes in the industrial life of women since the days of the mother of washington and the wife of jefferson, whom he had used as models for those of the present day, and said: "it is my pleasure to inform him that i myself am that which he regrets--a voter--and i would rather have my vote as a protector than the reverence even of the gentleman from texas." mrs. catt continued: "the speech to which we have listened has been interesting because it has seemed to be a chapter from a book that was written long ago. the week before the war began it was my privilege, sitting in the balcony of the house of commons, to look down upon the bald head of mr. asquith while he made a speech against woman suffrage. 'i am unalterably opposed to woman suffrage because great britain is a mighty empire and it will always be necessary to defend it by military power and what do women know about war?' he asked. three years later he humbly confessed before the world that when a nation like great britain goes to war, and such a war as this one, which calls for every ounce of power the nation can offer in its defense, men and women make equal sacrifices and therefore it is not a man's job but it is a man's and a woman's job and they are doing it together. so the premier demanded woman suffrage and voted for it in the house of commons. remembering mr. asquith, i think there is hope for mr. bailey." mrs. catt pictured eloquently the marvelous work being done by women in great britain in the munitions factories, the railway service, the dockyards, and also in our own and all countries; she described the heroic sacrifices of the nurses; she told how the women of canada and new zealand had voted for conscription and how in all countries the women were backing their men in the war. "it is declared that american women cannot carry a gun," she said. "why that is the kind of talk we heard forty years ago and mr. bailey's speech is just that much behind the times.... i am sorry for any man who has stood still while the world has moved on." only the merest outline of this convincing address is given but before its conclusion mr. bailey had deliberately insulted mrs. catt by leaving the room. mrs. wadsworth, when asked if she wished her side to be heard in rebuttal, introduced miss charlotte e. rowe of yonkers, n. y., who made a vigorous plea for saving the home, children and womanhood and declared woman suffrage would lead to socialism. during the course of her speech she said, according to the official stenographic report: "if working girls and women in colleges will study cooking and sewing and domestic science and hygiene, or simple rules of health and how to care for the sick and the fine and beautiful art of home making, it will be much better for them and better for the country than if they spend their time parading up the avenue of a crowded city and praying that they may some day, somehow, become policemen or boiler-makers side by side with men.... i say to you that it has remained for this self-sufficient th century to have produced a womanhood which would stand--even a small proportion of it--in legislative halls and say that they are doing more in this great and terrible war than the men are doing.... gentlemen, if i were a married woman and my husband was a feminist and on the first tuesday after the first monday in november he said to me, 'come, walk by me so as to strengthen and sustain me as i go to the polls,' i would say to him, 'look here, mabel, here is the key of the flat; i am going home to father.' i would advise men and women suffragists--and especially those suffragist men who need their wives to strengthen and sustain them on election day--i would advise them to go to the cellar and check over the laundry." this last hearing on the federal suffrage amendment closed on january and the following day the committee made a favorable report to the house of representatives. by consent of the committee on rules the th was set for the debate and vote and on that day the house by a two-thirds majority voted to submit the amendment to the state legislatures. footnotes: [ ] although there was no national convention in mrs. catt called a conference of the executive council, consisting of the national officers, chairmen of standing and special committees and state presidents, at indianapolis, april th and th. it was in effect a convention except for the presence of elected delegates and forty-five states were represented, including many of the south. they were entertained by the indiana women's franchise league, welcomed by governor goodrich and mayor jewett and were guests at many brilliant social functions. a full program of daytime plans for work and committee reports and of evening addresses was carried out. the visitors were able to attend meetings of the indiana state suffrage convention and the league of women voters. [ ] call: the national american woman suffrage association calls its state auxiliaries, through their elected delegates, to meet in annual convention at st. louis, statler hotel, march to march , , inclusive. in , wyoming led the world by the grant of full suffrage to its women. the convention will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of this event. in , the national and the american woman suffrage associations were organized--to be combined twenty years later into the national american. the convention will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the organization which without a pause has carried forward the effort to secure the enfranchisement of women. as a fitting memorial to a half-century of progress the association invites the women voters of the fifteen full suffrage states to attend this anniversary and there to join their forces in a league of women voters, one of whose objects shall be to speed the suffrage campaign in our own and other countries. the convention will express its pleasure with suitable ceremonials that since last we met the women of england, scotland, ireland and wales, canada and germany have received the vote, but it will make searching inquiry into the mysterious causes which deny patriotic, qualified women of our republic a voice in their own government while those of monarchies and erstwhile monarchies are honored with political equality. suffrage delegates, women voters, there is need of more serious counsel than in any preceding year. it is not you but the nation that has been dishonored by the failure of the th congress to pass the federal suffrage amendment. let us inquire together; let us act together. carrie chapman catt, president. anna howard shaw, honorary president. katharine dexter mccormick, first vice-president. mary garrett hay, second vice-president. anne dallas dudley, third vice-president. gertrude foster brown, fourth vice-president. helen h. gardener, fifth vice-president. nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary. justina leavitt wilson, recording secretary. emma winner rogers, treasurer. [ ] ministers who opened the different sessions with prayer were mary j. safford, of iowa; dr. ivan lee holt, rabbi samuel thurman, dr. g. nussman and the rev. father russell j. wilbur; at the meetings in the odeon, dr. j. w. mclvor and dean carrol davis, all of st. louis. [ ] from the address of president wilson: and what shall we say of the women?... their contribution to the great result is beyond appraisal. they have added a new luster to the annals of american womanhood. the least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in political rights as they have proved themselves their equals in every field of practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for their country. these great days of completed achievements would be sadly marred were we to omit that act of justice. [ ] for action of this committee see appendix for chapter xix. [ ] names of committee: john e. raker, california, chairman; edward w. saunders, virginia; frank clark, florida; benjamin c. hilliard, colorado; james h. mays, utah; christopher d. sullivan, new york; thomas l. blanton, texas; jeannette rankin, montana; frank w. mondell, wyoming; william h. carter, massachusetts; edward c. little, kansas; richard n. elliott, indiana; jacob e. meeker, missouri. [ ] in the summer of , mr. bailey, who had been living in new york city ever since he resigned from the senate, returned to texas and made the race for governor to "rescue" the state from woman suffrage, prohibition and other progressive measures which had made great headway since he left it. he was badly defeated for the nomination, with women voting. chapter xix. national american convention of . the official report of the fifty-first convention, in , was entitled victory convention of the national american woman suffrage association and first congress of the league of women voters and the call was as follows: "suffragists, hear this last call to a suffrage convention! "the officers of the national american woman suffrage association hereby call the state auxiliaries, through their elected delegates, to meet in annual convention at chicago, congress hotel, february th to th, inclusive. in other days our members and friends have been summoned to annual conventions to disseminate the propaganda for their common cause, to cheer and encourage each other, to strengthen their organized influence, to counsel as to ways and means of insuring further progress. at this time they are called to rejoice that the struggle is over, the aim achieved and the women of the nation about to enter into the enjoyment of their hard-earned political liberty. of all the conventions held within the past fifty-one years, this will prove the most momentous. few people live to see the actual and final realization of hopes to which they have devoted their lives. that privilege is ours. "turning to the past let us review the incidents of our long struggle together before they are laid away with other buried memories. let us honor our pioneers. let us tell the world of the ever-buoyant hope, born of the assurance of the justice and inevitability of our cause, which has given our army of workers the unswerving courage and determination that at last have overcome every obstacle and attained their aim. come and let us together express the joy which only those can feel who have suffered for a cause. "turning to the future, let us inquire together how best we can now serve our beloved nation. let us ask what political parties want of us and we of them. come one and all and unitedly make this last suffrage convention a glad memory to you, a heritage for your children and your children's children and a benefaction to our nation.[ ]" the seven days of the convention were divided between the national association and the league of women voters, the latter having the lion's share as a new organization requiring much time and attention. all of february was given to the meetings of its committees, with dinners for all delegates and a program of speakers at the auditorium, morrison and la salle hotels in the evening. all matters relating to the league are considered in the chapter on the league of women voters by mrs. nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary. the addresses at the convention, with the exception of those on miss anthony's one hundredth birthday and the memorial meeting for dr. shaw, were given under the auspices of the league and the resolutions were prepared by its committee. the convention of the national association began february but the two preceding days had been occupied by almost continuous business sessions of the officers and board of directors. mrs. grace wilbur trout, state president, was chairman of the local committee of arrangements of nearly forty women of chicago, evanston and suburban towns for this largest national suffrage convention ever held and the arrangements had never been surpassed. nothing was forgotten which could contribute to the success or pleasure of the convention. a hostess was appointed for each state to make its delegates acquainted and contribute to their comfort. there were present delegates, a large number of alternates and thousands of visitors, while for the audiences at the public meetings there was not even standing room.[ ] at the morning session on the th, with mrs. catt presiding, the following program was presented by the executive council for the consideration of the delegates and was discussed at this and other business sessions: . shall the national american woman suffrage association dissolve when the last task concerning the extension of suffrage to women is completed? . shall it recommend its members to join the league of women voters? . shall this be the last suffrage convention held under its auspices? if not, when shall the next be called? . if this is to be the last convention, shall a board of officers be elected at this convention to serve until all tasks are completed? if this is done, to whom shall such a board render its final report and by whom shall it be officially discharged? . if dissolution is determined upon, what disposition shall be made of (a) the files of data; (b) the property; (c) the funds, if any remain? . in the event that the association shall be dissolved what agency shall become the auxiliary of the international woman suffrage alliance? . what plan for the intensive education of new women voters is possible and shall it be recommended that the league of women voters take up this work or shall it be conducted under the national american woman suffrage association? at the beginning of the afternoon session mrs. catt said that for twenty-eight years the rev. anna howard shaw had opened the national conventions with prayer and she asked that in memory of her the delegates rise and join in silent prayer. they did so and many were in tears. the rev. herbert l. willet then offered the invocation. mrs. trout, president of the illinois suffrage association, cordially welcomed the delegates to chicago. the greeting from the canadian woman suffrage association was brought by its president, dr. margaret gordon. mrs. catt made a gracious response and resigning the chair to the first vice-president, mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, gave a brief address, reserving a longer one for the league of women voters. she said in part: when we met at st. louis a year ago in the th annual convention of our association, we knew that the end of our long struggle was near. we comprehended in a new sense the truth of victor hugo's sage epigram: "there is one thing more powerful than kings and armies--the idea whose time has come to move." we knew that the time for our idea was here, and as state after state has joined the list of the ratified we have seen our idea, our cause, move forward dramatically, majestically into its appropriate place as part of the constitution of our nation. we have not yet the official proclamation announcing that our amendment has been ratified by the necessary thirty-six states, but thirty-one have done so and another will ratify before we adjourn; three governors have promised special sessions very soon and two more legislatures will ratify when called together. there is no power on this earth that can do more than delay by a trifle the final enfranchisement of women. the enemies of progress and liberty never surrender and never die. ever since the days of cave-men they have stood ready with their sledge hammers to strike any liberal idea on the head whenever it appeared. they are still active, hysterically active, over our amendment; still imagining, as their progenitors for thousands of years have done, that a fly sitting on a wheel may command it to revolve no more and it will obey. they are running about from state to state, a few women and a few paid men. they dash to washington to hold hurried consultations with senatorial friends and away to carry out instructions.... it does not matter. suffragists were never dismayed when they were a tiny group and all the world was against them. what care they now when all the world is with them? march on, suffragists, the victory is yours! the trail has been long and winding; the struggle has been tedious and wearying; you have made sacrifices and received many hard knocks; be joyful to-day. our final victory is due, is inevitable, is almost here. let us celebrate to-day, and when the proclamation comes i beg you to celebrate the occasion with some form of joyous demonstration in your own home state. two armistice days made a joyous ending of the war. let two ratification days, one a national and one a state day, make a happy ending of the denial of political freedom to women! our amendment was submitted june , , and to-day, eight months and eight days later, it has been ratified by thirty-one states. no other amendment made such a record but the time is not the significant part of the story. of the thirty-one ratifications twenty-four have taken place in _special sessions_. these mean extra cost to the state, opportunity for other legislation and the chance of political intrigue for or against the governor who calls them. these obstacles have been difficult to overcome, far more difficult than most of you will ever know, and in a few instances well-nigh insurmountable, but the point to emphasize to-day is that they _were_ overcome. as a whole the ratifications have moved forward in splendid triumphal procession. there have been many inspiring incidents of daring and clever moves on the part of suffragists to speed the campaign and there have been many incidents of courage, nobility of purpose and proud scorn of the pettiness of political enemies on the part of governors, legislators and men friends. on the other hand there have been tricks, chicanery and misrepresentation, but let us forget them all. victors can afford to be generous. referring to the cost of special sessions, mrs. catt said: if the governor is a republican tell him that had it not been that two republican senators, borah of idaho and wadsworth of new york, refused to represent their states as indicated by votes at the polls, resolutions by their legislatures and planks in their party platforms, the suffrage amendment would have passed the th congress. it then would have come into the regular sessions of forty-two legislatures with more than thirty-six pledged to ratify and without a cent of extra cost to any state! when a republican governor calls an extra session in order to ratify he merely atones for the conduct of two members of his own party. they, not he, are to blame that it became necessary. if the governor is democratic say that had it not been for two northern democratic senators, pomerene of ohio and hitchcock of nebraska, who refused to represent their states on the question as indicated by their legislatures and platforms, congress would have sent the amendment to the legislatures and it would have cost the states nothing. the democratic governor who calls a special session only makes honorable amends for the misrepresentation of members of his own party.... we should be more than glad and grateful to-day, we should be proud--proud that our fifty-one years of organized endeavor have been clean, constructive, conscientious. our association never resorted to lies, innuendoes, misrepresentation. it never accused its opponents of being free lovers, pro-germans and bolsheviki. it marched forward even when its forces were most disorganized by disaster. it always met argument with argument, honest objection with proof of error. in fifty years it never failed to send its representatives to plead our cause before every national political convention, although they went knowing that the prejudice they would meet was impregnable and the response would be ridicule and condemnation. it went to the rescue of every state campaign for half a century with such forces as it could command, even when realizing that there was no hope. in every corner it sowed the seeds of justice and trusted to time to bring the harvest. it has aided boys in high school with debates and later heard their votes of "yes" in legislatures. reporters assigned to our washington conventions long, long ago, took their places at the press table on the first day with contempt and ridicule in their hearts but went out the last day won to our cause and later became editors of newspapers and spoke to thousands in our behalf. girls came to our meetings, listened and accepted, and later as mature women became intrepid leaders. in all the years this association has never paid a national lobbyist, and, so far as i know, no state has paid a legislative lobbyist. during the fifty years it has rarely had a salaried officer and even if so she has been paid less than her earning capacity elsewhere. it has been an army of volunteers who have estimated no sacrifice too great, no service too difficult. mrs. catt enumerated some of the immortal pioneer suffragists and said: "how small seems the service of the rest of us by comparison, yet how glad and proud we have been to give it. ours has been a cause to live for, a cause to die for if need be. it has been a movement with a soul, a dauntless, unconquerable soul ever leading onward. women came, served and passed on but others took their places.... how i pity the women who have had no share in the exaltation and the discipline of our army of workers! how i pity those who have not felt the grip of the oneness of women struggling, serving, suffering, sacrificing for the righteousness of woman's emancipation! oh, women, be glad today and let your voices ring out the gladness in your hearts! there will never come another day like this. let joy be unconfined and let it speak so clearly that its echo will be heard around the world and find its way into the soul of every woman of every race who is yearning for opportunity and liberty still denied...." after this inspiring address the convention was turned into a jollification meeting for a considerable time until the delegates were tired out by their enthusiasm and composed themselves to receive a telegram of greeting from president woodrow wilson addressed to mrs. catt: "permit me to congratulate your association upon the fact that its great work is so near its triumphant end and that you can now merge it into a league of women voters to carry on the development of good citizenship and real democracy; and to wish for the new organization the same wise leadership and success." on motion of mrs. mccormick it was voted that "the gratitude of the convention be expressed to the president for his constant cooperation and help, with deep regret for his illness." on motion of miss mary garrett hay, second vice-president, the convention authorized a letter of appreciation to be sent to the governors of states that had ratified the federal amendment and telegrams to those who had not called special sessions strongly urging them to do so.[ ] this was made especially emphatic to governor louis f. hart of washington, the only equal suffrage state which had not ratified. [the session was called and the legislature ratified unanimously march , leaving but one more to be gained.] at the evening session the recommendations were considered as presented by the executive council, which consisted of the president of the association, officers, board of directors, chairmen of standing and special committees, presidents of affiliated organizations and one representative of each society which paid dues on , or more members. after discussion and some amendment they were adopted as follows: whereas, the sole object of many years' endeavor by the national american woman suffrage association has been "to secure the vote to the women citizens of the united states by appropriate national and state legislation" and that object is about to be attained, and whereas, the association must naturally dissolve or take up new lines of work when the last suffrage task has been completed, therefore, be it resolved, that the association shall assume no new lines of work and shall move toward dissolution by the following process: ( ) that a board of officers shall be elected at this convention, as usual, to serve two years (if necessary) in accordance with the provisions of the constitution; ( ) that the eight directors elected at the th annual convention, and whose term of office does not expire until march, , shall be asked to serve until the term of elected officers shall expire; ( ) that any vacancy or vacancies occurring in the list of directors shall be filled by election at this convention; ( ) that all vacancies in the board of directors occurring after this convention shall be filled by majority vote of the board; ( ) that the board of officers so constituted shall have full charge of the remainder of the ratification campaign and all necessary legal proceedings and shall dispose of files, books, data, property and funds (if any remain) of the association subject to the further instruction of this convention. the executive council shall be subject to call by the board of officers if necessary; ( ) that the board of officers shall render a quarterly account of its procedure and an annual report of all funds in its possession duly audited by certified accountant, to the women who in february, , compose its executive council. when its work is completed and its final report has been accepted by this council it may by formal resolution dissolve.[ ] a resolution was adopted regarding action in case of a referendum to the voters of ratification by a legislature but later the u. s. supreme court declared this unconstitutional. another urged the new league to make political education of the voters its first duty. the last resolution was as follows: "we recommend that the league of women voters, now a section of the national american woman suffrage association, be organized as a new and independent society, and that its auxiliaries, while retaining their relationship to the board of officers to be elected in this st convention in form, shall change their names, objects and constitutions to conform to those of the national league of women voters and take up the plan of work to be adopted by its first congress." following the precedent of the last convention, in order to save time, all headquarters' activities were summed up in the report of the corresponding secretary, mrs. nettie rogers shuler. much condensed the report was as follows: in the greater glory of the federal amendment and the ratifications which are bringing about our ultimate victory we should not overlook the solid, constructive work of the past ten and a half months and those successes of the national american woman suffrage association and its branches in the various states, which made possible the federal amendment. at our convention in st. louis, march - , , when we met to counsel together for the future and to gird on our armor for the "one fight more--the last and the best," we celebrated the missouri victory, the twenty-seventh state to give presidential suffrage to women. mrs. catt, by resolution of the convention, immediately wrote to the legislators of tennessee and iowa urging passage of a similar bill. tennessee gave presidential and municipal suffrage to women april and iowa presidential suffrage on april , increasing the number of presidential electors for whom women may vote to out of , the total in the united states. connecticut women made a magnificent campaign for presidential suffrage, failing by only one vote in the legislature. the strength displayed by the suffragists, the obtaining of , women's signatures and the dignity and ability shown under the leadership of miss katherine ludington, so advanced suffrage in that state as to make the battle seem a victory rather than a defeat. municipal suffrage was given by the legislature to the women of orlando, fla., april , making sixteen towns in ten counties in that state where women have this right. an effort to secure a primary suffrage bill for the entire state failed. suffrage in the democratic municipal primaries was granted by the local democratic committee to the women of atlanta, ga., may , for one election. in a referendum vote on a state amendment, may , , full suffrage was defeated in texas. the main causes were: the large number of men who were so confident of the success of the amendment that they did not take the trouble to go to the polls to vote for it; illegal changes in the numbering and position of the amendment on the ballots of the various counties; the absence from the state of about , soldiers; unfavorable weather conditions; the shortness of the time allowed for the campaign, and, chief of all, the organized opposition of the foreign-born and negro voters. the texas suffragists won a clear-cut victory january when the state supreme court upheld the decisions of the lower courts that the primary suffrage bill was constitutional.... on june the women of nebraska won a distinctive victory when the state supreme court held the presidential and municipal suffrage act of to be constitutional. the history of woman suffrage records no harder fought legal battle than this. they won another victory in the decision by attorney general clarence e. davis that they had the right to help choose delegates to the national political party conventions. on february the constitutional convention voted to leave the word "male" out of the new constitution. in tennessee the decision of the court of chancery, which declared the presidential and municipal suffrage bill of unconstitutional, has been reversed by the state supreme court.... on february the suffrage committee of the constitutional convention then in session in illinois voted unanimously to strike "male" out of the new constitution. we began the year with nineteen organizers, but as the legislative work came to occupy the place of chief importance most of the states expressed a preference for the services of their own women and it became necessary to reduce the national staff.[ ] during the winter of - a series of conferences was offered to the southern states but for various reasons not accepted. at the st. louis convention in march, , mrs. catt requested the southern representatives to outline the definite help desired from the national association and their requests were accepted by the board at its post-convention meeting as follows: the national to give (a) one speaker or organizer to each state for two months; (b) a suffrage school to each; (c) one thousand copies of senator pollock's speech to each. this help from the national was conditional upon the promise of the southern states (a) that each state would furnish one of its own workers to be under the instruction of the national worker and to continue in charge after her departure; (b) that it would establish and maintain a speakers' bureau; (c) that it would begin the petition campaign. by october the association had fulfilled its promise of an organizer for two months to virginia, west virginia, north carolina, south carolina, texas, georgia, florida, alabama and tennessee and had arranged to send organizers to kentucky, delaware and mississippi when those states were ready for them. later, because of ratification, it gave additional help, sending mrs. mcmahon to delaware, mrs. cunningham, miss watkins and miss peshakova to mississippi; miss pidgeon, miss miller and mrs. mcmahon to alabama, where a splendid campaign for ratification was directed by mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs, state suffrage president. not only were the promised copies of senator pollock's speech sent but an additional , pieces of literature were given to maryland, north carolina and delaware; , to virginia, south carolina, georgia and florida; , to west virginia and , to mississippi. in place of the suffrage schools a series of conferences was agreed to by the southern states. three speakers were selected with great care and an outline for the trip was submitted to the states. some responded that they could not arrange satisfactory conferences, others that they could not make dates to fit the itinerary, two did not reply in time and two did not respond at all. since speakers could not be sent at such great cost for small, unsatisfactory meetings or on an incomplete itinerary, we were reluctantly forced to cancel the conferences. with regard to the work which the southern states agreed to do, only one state met the provision to provide a worker of its own under the direction of the national organizer to take charge after her departure. none of the states established a speakers' bureau. three states started the petition campaign but none finished it. federal amendment. we were confident of victory for the amendment in in the th congress. the house passed it may by an affirmative vote of , a majority of votes, and june the senate by a vote of to . the passage of this amendment introduced in congress over forty years ago by the national suffrage association closed a long and interesting chapter of the movement. the completion of that part of our work made it no longer necessary for us to maintain a washington headquarters. accordingly june , , the doors of the suffrage house, rhode island avenue, were closed after having received cabinet members, senators, congressmen, distinguished persons from this and foreign countries, thousands of american men and women and those active suffragists who were called to washington from time to time to assist in the work of the congressional committee. mrs. maud wood park, to whose indefatigable energy, honesty of purpose and action and infinite tact we owe much, led the way to victory for the amendment. mrs. helen h. gardener, whose diplomatic abilities made her the constant adviser of the committee, miss marjorie shuler, chief of publicity, miss mabel willard in charge of social affairs, miss caroline i. reilly and mrs. minnie fisher cunningham, secretaries, formed the personnel of the congressional committee at the time of victory. during the months preceding the passage of the federal amendment the national association had carried not only the burden of the actual amendment campaign but had planned and carried out the preparatory work for ratification. legislatures had been polled, governors interviewed on the subject of special sessions and organization and publicity built up, looking forward to the final ratification battle. the presidential suffrage campaigns and the resolutions calling upon congress to pass the suffrage amendment, which the national association had secured in state legislatures, were all part of the ratification strategy, a test of the suffrage sentiment in the current legislatures as well as an impelling force on congress to pass the amendment. we had hoped that from this point the state associations would undertake their own campaigns and to that end mrs. catt issued a bulletin may telling each one just what steps to take. she stated that the national association would immediately ask governors of all equal suffrage states to call sessions and would circularize all the legislatures. she called upon the state associations to ( ) circularize their legislators with the news of the final victory; ( ) send deputations to secure the pledge of the vote of each legislator for ratification; ( ) begin a statewide campaign through the press, petitions, literature and meetings to secure their own special sessions. it soon became apparent that the states as a whole were not carrying out these plans and instead of promises of special sessions excuses came from the men with the endorsement of the women themselves. it was evident that the national office in new york must be in command. during the following weeks up to the present time the days and nights have been filled with intensive effort. never before have the members of the national force, the board, the office force of forty persons in the national headquarters, the leslie commission, the publicity department, the _woman citizen_ and the publishing company worked with so little sparing of themselves and with such absolute concentration upon the matter in hand, still carrying on citizenship preparation, organization and all the routine work but always giving ratification the right of way. it was mrs. catt who sounded the rallying call, who mapped out every step of the way, who did the work of a dozen women herself and cheered the rest on. no one will ever know the full story of her ingenious plans which brought about the ratification and in some states even the women think it was easily won because they do not know of the efforts put forth from the national office. as soon as the amendment had passed the senate, mrs. catt kept the agreement made by her in the bulletin and sent telegrams to the governors of full suffrage states, asking for special sessions, and to legislatures then in session asking for ratification. with the cooperation of the suffrage associations, illinois, wisconsin and michigan ratified on june , in six days after the amendment was submitted by congress. kansas and new york ratified in special session and ohio in regular session on june . pennsylvania ratified on june , its blackness wiped off the map. the change of black massachusetts to the ratified white on june gave another big impetus to the campaign. texas distinguished itself by ratifying on june . this made nine ratifications in nineteen days! mrs. catt had previously asked the presidents of state suffrage associations to interview their governors regarding special sessions and she had sent personal letters to them and to members of the legislatures enclosing facts concerning the federal amendment. as a result the governors of nebraska, indiana and minnesota sent letters and telegrams to twenty-two other governors asking them to call special sessions. to carry the appeal to the west, two commissions were sent out the last of july, mrs. john glover south of kentucky and miss shuler of new york to the republican states; mrs. cunningham of texas and mrs. hooper of wisconsin to the democratic states. after a tour of the states and visits to the governors they went to salt lake city for the governors' conference. their reports revealed the fact that women in the enfranchised states had been absorbed into the political parties, and, with their suffrage campaign organizations practically dissolved, were in no position to determine or carry out independent political action. the replies of the governors--that "the women of _my_ state have the suffrage, it will not help us, the cost of a special session is too great, ill-advised legislation might be considered"--revealed an even more deplorable fact, that both men and women in those states were bounded in thought by their state lines and did not have a national point of view on national issues. from the first mrs. catt had believed that the strategy of ratification demanded rapid action by the western full suffrage states, the partial suffrage states falling into line and the last fight coming in the eastern states where women had not yet become political factors. therefore the governors of the fully enfranchised states were wired as soon as the federal amendment passed. those of kansas and new york responded at once with special sessions on june . then came an ominous pause. no far western states had yet ratified. what mysterious cause delayed them? ratifications came in iowa july ; missouri july ; arkansas july ; montana july ; nebraska august ; minnesota september ; new hampshire september ; utah september . another ominous pause, with montana and utah the only far western states yet heard from. on october mrs. catt opened a "drive" for ratification through sixteen conferences in twelve states, all but two with equal suffrage. she was accompanied by two chairmen of the league of women voters, dr. valeria parker of the committee of social hygiene, and mrs. edward p. costigan of the committee on food supply and demand, with mrs. jean nelson penfield speaking for the committee on unification of laws and miss shuler for that on child welfare. mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of the committee on unification of laws and miss julia lathrop, chairman of the child welfare committee, spoke at one of the conferences and miss jessie haver substituted for mrs. costigan during the latter part of the trip. mrs. catt's address--wake up america--was an appeal for special sessions to ratify in those states where there were to be no regular sessions until and an appeal to both men and women to use their votes for a better america. ratifications in north dakota december ; south dakota december ; colorado december ; oregon january ; nevada february --were in answer to those stirring appeals. california ratified november ; maine november ; rhode island and kentucky january ; indiana january . following soon new jersey ratified by regular session february . idaho by special session february ; arizona february . the special session is called in new mexico february and in oklahoma february . [both ratified.] in the story of our ratification campaign there occurs often the name of our second vice-president, miss mary garrett hay, whose work for the national association has always been valuable but who has made her greatest contribution in work for the passage of the federal amendment in the campaign to secure special sessions and the overwhelming number of ratifications in republican states. mrs. shuler told of the oversea hospitals, which are considered in another chapter. she gave an eloquent tribute to dr. anna howard shaw and spoke of the beautiful memorial booklet prepared by a committee of officers of the national association, who distributed , copies. it also aided in circulating , copies of her last speech--what the war meant to women--prepared as a memorial by the league to enforce peace. she spoke tenderly of the death of mrs. rachel foster avery, corresponding secretary of the national association twenty-one years; of that of mrs. elizabeth wheeler walker, who presided so charmingly over the headquarters in washington, and of miss aloysius larch-miller, who as secretary of the committee on ratification in oklahoma sacrificed her life through her work for it. reference was made to the contributory work of the national board in stabilizing the league of women voters; to the citizenship schools and travelling libraries, and the very complete report closed with a testimonial to the immeasurable value of the national organization which read in part: our state suffrage associations welded into a great chain have made the national association. our members have been one in heart, one in hope, one in purpose. we have held the same standards, the same ideals. when the way has seemed long and dark and the goal of our efforts afar off, we have supported, cheered and encouraged each other. we have rejoiced over even the smallest victory and have never been a downhearted group. the suffrage spirit has ever buoyed us up and carried us on even when the road was the steepest and the obstructions seemed almost insurmountable. these experiences could not have been realized through fifty-one years without "lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes of friendship" but more--the result has been a liberal training, a greater belief in each other and more confidence in the merits of our cause. while the value of any movement depends upon the success with which its practical details are worked out, yet in the final analysis the idealism of a movement is the mainspring of its vitality. "the spirit stands behind the deed, in holy thought the dream must start and every cause that moves the world was born within a single heart." so to-day we render homage to our great leader, mrs. catt, whose hand has guided and whose genius has vitalized our movement. she has given to a world of women her love, her faith. she has dreamed a dream and then with prophetic vision and undaunted courage led the way to victory and the consummation of that dream. the exquisite poem, "oh, dreamer of dreams," was quoted and the report ended: "year after year at national conventions women have agreed to 'carry on'. how well this has been done the records prove. all who have shared in the service and sacrifice which were necessary to bring about the great victory which we are here to celebrate will be glad that they were given and rejoice that they helped in putting to flight the powers of darkness." in the course of her report as national treasurer mrs. henry wade rogers said: it was in november, , at the nashville convention, that i was elected treasurer of the national suffrage association. in november, , i completed my fifth year of service, these last three months additional being by way of good measure. i succeeded with trepidation mrs. katharine dexter mccormick's very efficient service. she and i are the only members on the present board who were members in . in february, , the duties of treasurer of the women's oversea hospitals were added to those of the association and the sum of $ , has passed through the special treasury of the hospitals to carry on the splendid war work undertaken by the national suffrage association. a balance of about $ , remains in that treasury, the use of which in some form of memorial this convention will be asked to designate.[ ] the receipts of the treasury since i took office have been, for - , $ , ; - , $ , ; - , $ , ; - , $ , ; - , $ , ; a total of $ , . adding the fund raised for the hospitals the total is $ , . each year i have solicited funds for the national association from hundreds of suffragists, in addition to the large sums pledged at the conventions, and have had always most generous responses. in november and december, , , letters were sent out signed by the president and treasurer of the national suffrage association asking for a ratification fund of $ , . very gratifying returns have come from this appeal and are still coming.... we come to this final convention of our national association with a balance in the treasury and it must be determined here whether or not this sum is sufficient to finish the fight for nation-wide suffrage. because of your sympathy and generous cooperation i have found the treasurership a real pleasure. the actual work has been lightened by the faithful service of miss eleanor bates, accountant of the association since . we cannot too gratefully acknowledge also the devoted service of many others, who, unheralded and unsung, have helped to make possible this victory hour.... with this report were ten closely printed pages of perfectly kept and audited accounts. they showed a balance of $ , in the treasury. mrs. rogers continued the duties of her office at unanimous request having given up to the present time about seven years of most efficient service, spending days, weeks and months at the national headquarters with no remuneration except the joy of helping the cause of woman suffrage. at one session through the efforts of miss mary garrett hay and mrs. raymond brown, pledges of $ , were obtained for the league of women voters, miss lucy e. anthony making the first contribution of $ , in memory of her aunt, susan b. anthony. the leslie commission guaranteed $ , of this amount. the board of regents of the smithsonian institution in washington had during the year set apart a division of space for mementoes of distinguished suffragists, and mrs. helen h. gardener, through whose efforts chiefly this concession had been secured, offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted: "this convention expresses to the directors of the smithsonian institution profound appreciation of this section devoted to the great women leaders of liberty and civilization on the same broad basis accorded to men and believes that this shrine will be an object of the reverence and education of all womanhood.[ ] a resolution was adopted to send congratulatory and affectionate letters to the pioneers, miss emily howland of sherwood, n. y.; the rev. antoinette brown blackwell of elizabeth, n. j., and mrs. charlotte pierce of philadelphia. the rev. olympia brown of racine, wis., one of the few remaining pioneers, was guest of honor of the convention and received especial attention throughout the week. a telegram was sent to mrs. ida husted harper of new york in recognition of her constant, untiring work on the last volumes of the history of woman suffrage, still in progress. very laudatory resolutions of "sincere gratitude" were adopted and sent to will h. hays and homer cummings, chairmen of the republican and democratic national committees, for their services in behalf of the federal suffrage amendment. five large rooms in the hotel were required for the , guests who attended the "ratification banquet" the evening of february and there were almost as many disappointed women who could not obtain seats. mrs. catt presided and the following program of sparkling speeches was given: the apology of new york [for re-election of u. s. senator wadsworth], mrs. f. louis slade; the specials of the middle west, mrs. peter olesen, minnesota; tradition vs. justice, mrs. pattie jacobs, alabama; by the grace of governors, dr. grace raymond hebard, wyoming; "all's well that ends well," mrs. t. t. cotnam, arkansas. mrs. halsey w. wilson, "cheer leader," had prepared a program of well-known songs cleverly adapted to suffrage and set to popular airs. the culminating feature, arranged by mrs. richard e. edwards, was a living "ratification valentine." on the stage was disclosed a big heart of silver and blue and in the opening appeared one after another the faces of the presidents of the states whose legislatures had ratified and they recited caustic but good humored rhymes at the expense of the women whose states were still in outer darkness. it was a hilarious occasion greatly enjoyed by the younger suffragists and those who had come late into the movement. many memories were awakened, however, in those older in years and service of the days when conventions were largely a time of serious conferences and impassioned appeal; a time when one banquet table was all sufficient but those who gathered around it were very near and dear to each other as they consecrated themselves anew to continue the work till the hour of victory, which seemed very far ahead. the th of february was the seventy-third birthday of dr. shaw, who had died the preceding july , and the th was the one hundredth of susan b. anthony, falling on sunday this year, but it was arranged to have the memorial services for dr. shaw on the afternoon of this day. the following program was carried out: memorial to dr. anna howard shaw fourth presbyterian church corner lake shore drive and delaware place dr. stone, pastor of the church, presiding. sunday, february , . "she was a genuine american with all the qualities which in fiction collect about that name but which are not so often seen in real life; an american with the measureless patience, the deep and gentle humor, the whimsical and tolerant philosophy and the dauntless courage, physical as well as moral, which we find most satisfyingly displayed in lincoln, of all our heroes."--new york _times_. organ prelude, "in memoriam." anthem by choir, "how blest are they." invocation. anthem, "crossing the bar." scripture lesson, bishop samuel fallows, d.d., ll.d. greetings and communications, miss caroline ruutz-rees. address--memory pictures, mrs. florence cotnam. anthem--the shepherds and wise men. (composed for this occasion by witter bynner and a. madely richardson.) address--the courageous leader, mrs. james lees laidlaw. address--reminiscences, miss jane addams. address--mrs. carrie chapman catt. a closing word, rev. john timothy stone, d.d., ll.d. the last farewell, dr. caroline bartlett crane. hymn--"my country 'tis of thee." benediction. choir refrain. organ postlude--toccata. eric delamater, formerly director of the chicago symphony orchestra, was the organist. it was a most impressive occasion with many evidences of deep feeling, and, although it was a church service, the audience responded with warm applause as mrs. catt closed her eulogy with this beautiful comparison: "a significant ceremony is performed each easter in the church of the holy sepulcher in jerusalem. in the wall that encloses the tomb of christ there is an opening which on easter sunday is surrounded by priests of the shrine carrying unlighted candles. it is believed that the candles are touched into flame by a holy fire emanating from divinity through this opening. also provided with candles are the worshippers who throng the church, the nearby receiving their light from the priests and passing it on until every candle is aflame. men nearest the door hasten to light the candles of horsemen outside who speed away on the mission of torchbearer to every home, so that by nightfall the candles on every altar burn with a new brightness that has been transmitted from the holy fire. likewise the fire of inspiration, kindled in the great soul of anna howard shaw, touched into flame the zeal and courage of her messengers, who in turn reached the homes throughout the nation with her fervor and power." * * * * * [dr. shaw had given forty-five years of consecrated devotion to the cause of woman suffrage and this was the first national convention for nearly thirty years without the inspiration of her presence. she first met miss anthony at the international council of women in washington in and from that time gave her the deepest affection and truest allegiance. while the years went by she became nearer and dearer to miss anthony and was loved by her beyond all others. as an orator she played upon the whole gamut of human emotions, lifting her audiences to intellectual heights, touching their sentiment with her exquisite pathos, convincing them with her keen logic and winning their hearts with her irresistible humor. people not only admired but loved her, and this was true not alone in the united states but in all parts of the world, as she had addressed international congresses in most of the large cities of europe. she lived to see the submission by congress of the federal suffrage amendment and to render most valuable assistance to her country during the world war as chairman of the woman's committee of the council of national defense, and she died in its service.] there was considerable discussion in the convention of a suitable memorial to dr. shaw and finally a resolution was adopted that the association establish an official joint memorial--at bryn mawr college a foundation in politics and at the woman's medical college of pennsylvania a foundation in preventive medicine--as a fitting continuation of her life work;[ ] that a committee be appointed to carry out the project by appealing to the women throughout the country and that this committee be incorporated and assume the financial responsibility.[ ] the chair presented as the first donation towards the fund a check of $ , sent by mrs. george howard lewis of buffalo, in memory of dr. shaw on her birthday. the gift was accompanied by an eloquent tribute from mrs. lewis, an intimate and devoted friend of nearly twenty years, in which she gave beautiful quotations from dr. shaw's letters and an extract from her charming autobiography, the story of a pioneer.[ ] as had long been the custom the officers of the association gave an informal reception to the delegates and friends on sunday evening. this took place in the congress hotel and they were assisted by the local committee of arrangements. the final report of the oversea hospitals maintained by the national association, as given by mrs. charles l. tiffany, chairman, and mrs. raymond brown, general director in france, is in the chapter on the war work of organized suffragists. a brief report of the leslie bureau of education was made by miss young who said: "the leslie bureau was founded by mrs. catt in , as administratrix of the fortune left to her to promote the cause of suffrage by mrs. frank leslie. mrs. catt cherished the view that if the public were thoroughly educated on the subject of suffrage it would be wholly in favor of it. she proposed to set aside a large part of the leslie fund for use in channels of education. i was appointed director of the bureau and departmentalized it under the following heads: news, field work, features, research.... the _woman citizen_ was termed "an adventure in journalism." miss young was editor-in-chief and business manager and miss mary ogden white was associate editor. "the great body of testimony shows," she said, "that the service of the magazine has been at all times indispensable." miss esther g. ogden, president of the national woman suffrage publishing co., supplemented mrs. shuler's report of its dissolution, paid a tribute to its board of directors and said: "in reviewing the six years of the company's existence a few facts come to my mind which i think may interest you. we have printed and distributed over , , pieces of literature. besides supplying suffrage material to practically every state in the union we have filled orders from switzerland, france, italy, great britain, norway, canada, philippine islands, hawaiian islands, porto rico, argentina, china and japan. recently we have been asked to send a complete line of our publications to the new american library in rome, italy, and nearly every day we receive requests for pamphlets from libraries all over the united states and from universities for their extension courses. my correspondence and association with suffragists over the country through the publishing company will ever be among the happiest memories of my life." almost every state president submitted a report of vigorous work either to secure the suffrage or where this had been done to organize and put into operation a league of women voters. never before in the history of the national association had so much interest and activity been manifest in the states. the pioneer suffrage luncheon with mrs. mccormick presiding brought together many of the older workers, whose rejoicing over the final victory after their long years of toil and sacrifice such as the younger ones had never known, was lessened by the thought that this was the last of the love feasts which they had shared together for many decades. the response to the leading toast--what the modern woman owes to the pioneers--was made by the rev. olympia brown, now eighty-four years old, whose excellent voice was not equalled among any of the younger women. songs, reminiscences and clever, informal speeches contributed to a most delightful afternoon. it had been a keen disappointment that the jubilee convention of the preceding year--march, --which marked the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the association, could not have celebrated the submission of the federal suffrage amendment but this had to await a new congress. now it was almost unendurable that this commemoration of miss anthony's one hundredth birthday could not have been glorified by the proclamation that this amendment was forever a part of the national constitution. however, by the time another month had rolled by, this culmination of her life work awaited the ratification of only one more legislature and it was so universally recognized as near at hand that this last meeting could appropriately be termed the victory convention. following is the program of the celebration of her centenary: susan b. anthony centenary celebration. "to me susan b. anthony was an unceasing inspiration--the torch that illumined my life. we went through some difficult times together--years when we fought hard for each inch of headway gained--but i found full compensation for every effort in the glory of working with her for the cause that was first in our hearts and in the happiness of being her trusted friend."--anna howard shaw. monday, february , , p. m. what happened in ten decades briefly told: - --the age of mobs and eggs. mrs. e. f. feickert, president of new jersey. - --the first school suffrage. mrs. desha breckenridge, president of kentucky. - --the dawn of property rights. mrs. walter mcnab miller, former president of missouri. - --the first high school for girls. miss alice stone blackwell, president of massachusetts. - --the world's first full suffrage. dr. grace raymond hebard, professor of political science, university of wyoming. - --the negro's hour. mrs. henry youmans, president of wisconsin. - --the first municipal suffrage. mrs. william a. johnston, president of kansas. - --suffrage spreads. mrs. ida porter boyer, former press director of pennsylvania. - --ridicule gives way to argument, indifference to to organization. mrs. harriet taylor upton, president of ohio. - --the portent of victory. mrs. raymond brown, national vice-president. miss anthony--an appreciation, mrs. harriette taylor treadwell, member of the illinois board. miss anthony--a historical recognition, mrs. helen h. gardener, national vice-president. the suffrage honor roll. "undaunted by opposition brave spirits led on." presentation of acknowledgements by the national american woman suffrage association to pioneers, those who labored before ; veterans, those who labored between and ; honor workers after . while mrs. catt was busy handing out the honor rolls to pioneers and veterans with a few precious words to each, mrs. upton came suddenly forward and laid a detaining hand on her arm. with tender reminiscence, relieved by the sparkles of humor never absent from whatever she said, she presented in the name of countless suffragists an exquisite pin, a large star sapphire surrounded by diamonds and set in platinum. it was the association's parting gift to its beloved leader, whose usually perfect poise deserted her and she could not acknowledge it. to her whispered appeal to mrs. upton to speak for her, the latter laughingly answered that this was the first time she ever was able to do something that mrs. catt could not. the evening part of the celebration began with community singing, william griswold smith, director, and was followed by an illustration of then and now, told in pictures, under the management of miss young. down a wide flight of stairs came one picturesque figure after another garbed to represent the passing years during the suffrage contest, beginning with the middle of the last century, many clothed in the actual garments worn at the period, and after crossing the stage they took their seats in tiers, a lovely spectacle. at the last came the red cross workers, the nurses, the motor corps and others in war service. the picture ended with a gay group of debutantes in filmy chiffon gowns to symbolize the present day of rejoicing. the triumphs of women in the intellectual field were told in the program that followed: education--professor maria l. sanford; medicine--dr. julia holmes smith; law--miss florence allen; theology--the rev. olympia brown; journalism--miss ethel m. colson; politics--miss mary garrett hay. different sections of the league of women voters were in session day and night perfecting the organization of this most significant association of women ever attempted. the culmination of seventy years' continuous effort was about to be reached in the complete and universal enfranchisement of women and now a new generation, under the guidance of the older workers who remained, was bravely taking up another great task, that of bringing about cooperation among women in the effective use of this supreme power for the highest welfare of the state. on the last afternoon of the convention the national american woman suffrage association and the league of women voters held a joint session for discussion of matters in which they had a mutual interest. on the last evening, just before the beginning of the first session of the school for political education in the florentine room, mrs. catt, with suitable ceremony formally adjourned the victory convention, the last of a series held for fifty years by the old association. footnotes: [ ] following are the officers of the association who were elected at the convention in st. louis in and re-elected in chicago in to remain in office until the association should go out of existence: president, mrs. carrie chapman catt; first vice-president, mrs. katharine dexter mccormick; second vice-president, miss mary garrett hay; third vice-president, mrs. guilford dudley; fourth vice-president, mrs. raymond brown; fifth vice-president, mrs. helen h. gardener; treasurer, mrs. henry wade rogers; corresponding secretary, mrs. nettie r. shuler; recording secretary, mrs. halsey w. wilson. all were of new york city except mrs. dudley of tennessee and mrs. gardener of the district of columbia. dr. anna howard shaw, who had been president from to and honorary president thereafter, had died july , . directors: mrs. charles h. brooks (kans.); mrs. j. c. cantrill (ky.); mrs. richard e. edwards (ind.); mrs. george gellhorn (mo.); mrs. ben hooper (wis.); mrs. arthur l. livermore (n. y.); miss esther g. ogden (n. y.); mrs. george a. piersol (penn.). [ ] fraternal delegates were present from the association of collegiate alumnæ; florence crittenden mission; general federation of women's clubs; ladies of the grand army of the republic; national board of the young women's christian association; national congress of mothers; parent teachers' association; national council of jewish women; national council of women; national council of college women; national women's trade union league; national women's association of commerce; national women's relief corps; national women's relief society; state federation of women's clubs; state trade union league; woman's christian temperance union; women's city club; state league of women voters; womens' international league for peace and freedom. [ ] to governors who called special sessions: "on behalf of the national american woman suffrage association meeting in its st annual convention i am instructed to express its official appreciation and gratitude to you for your assistance in ratifying the federal suffrage amendment. woman suffrage will soon be a closed chapter in the history of our country and we are confident that the pride and satisfaction of every governor and legislator who has aided the ratification will increase as time goes on. we want you to know that the women of the nation are truly grateful to you for your part in their enfranchisement. nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary. [ ] for account of meetings of the board of officers and executive council in april and june, , see appendix for this chapter. [ ] the names of the organizers retained, all of whom gave most effective service, were mrs. augusta hughston, miss edna annette beveridge, mrs. maria s, mcmahon, miss mary elizabeth pidgeon, miss josephine miller, miss lola trax, miss edna wright, miss marie ames and miss gertrude watkins. their organized work extended over iowa, missouri, texas, mississippi, alabama, florida, georgia, south carolina, north carolina, virginia, west virginia, tennessee, kentucky, delaware and new hampshire. in addition to the regular force mrs. minnie fisher cunningham and miss liba peshakova were sent to mississippi for two months. the work of the organizers is regarded as the hardest and most difficult connected with a state campaign and mrs. shuler paid high tribute to them. [ ] the final report of the oversea hospitals committee is given in the chapter on war work of organized suffragists. [ ] in this space have been placed the little mahogany table on which were written the call for the first woman's rights convention in , the declaration of principles and the resolutions; a portrait in oil of miss anthony on her eightieth birthday; large framed photographs of dr. shaw and mrs. catt; photographs of the signing of the federal suffrage amendment by vice-president marshall and speaker gillett, the pens with which it was done and the pen with which secretary of state colby signed the proclamation that it was a part of the national constitution, and personal mementoes of miss anthony. the table has special historical value. it stood for years in the parlor of the mcclintock family at waterloo, n. y., and was bequeathed to mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, who, with mrs. mcclintock, lucretia mott and her sister, martha c. wright, wrote the call, etc. when mrs. stanton died in new york city it stood at the head of her casket holding the biography of susan b. anthony and the history of woman suffrage, of which mrs. stanton and miss anthony wrote the first three volumes. the table was left to miss anthony and was in her home at rochester, n. y., until her death, when it stood at the head of her casket, bearing a floral tribute from the national american woman suffrage association. it then passed to dr. anna howard shaw and was in her home at moylan, penn., until the national suffrage headquarters were opened in washington december, , when it was taken there. at the time they were closed, after the federal suffrage amendment had been submitted by congress, the table found a final haven in the smithsonian institution. [ ] dr. shaw was a graduate of albion college, mich.; of the medical department of boston university and of its school of theology. the honorary degree of ll.d. was conferred on her by temple university, philadelphia. [ ] mrs. john o. miller, president of the pennsylvania state suffrage association, was appointed chairman of this committee, to which six others were added and it was decided to raise $ , to be divided between the two colleges. when bryn mawr was making its "drive" for $ , , in it included an appeal for $ , for this chair in politics, which were subscribed. the medical college raised $ , for the chair in preventive medicine. the committee hopes to have the full amount by feb. , . several months before, at the invitation of dean virginia c. gildersleeve, a meeting had been held at barnard college, columbia university, to arrange for the anna howard shaw chair of american citizenship. it was addressed by president nicholas murray butler, who strongly favored it; by dean gildersleeve, mrs. james lees laidlaw and other alumnæ and a committee formed to raise $ , , of which amount $ , were subscribed at that time. mrs. george mcaneny (a daughter of dr. mary putnam jacobi) was made chairman and the other members were barnard alumnæ and well-known workers for woman suffrage. the convention was asked to endorse the project, which was done. the committee expects soon to have the full amount. these lectures on american citizenship will not be confined to barnard students but will be offered to women in general. [ ] for accounts and tributes see appendix for this chapter. chapter xx. the federal amendment for woman suffrage.[ ] the first convention in all history to consider the rights of women was called by lucretia mott, elizabeth cady stanton and two others to meet july , , , at seneca falls in western new york, mrs. stanton's home.[ ] in the work was taken up by susan b. anthony, destined to be its supreme leader for the next half century. meetings soon began to take place and societies to be formed in various states, so that by there was a well-defined movement toward woman suffrage. large conventions were held annually in eastern and western cities, in which the most prominent men and women participated. the commencement of the civil war ended all efforts for this object and its leaders devoted themselves for the next five years to the women's part of every war. in may, , mrs. stanton and miss anthony issued a call for the scattered forces to come together in convention in new york city, and here began the movement for woman suffrage which continued without a break for fifty-four years. no large extension of the franchise had been made since the government was founded except to the working men between and and this had been accomplished by amending state constitutions. there had been no thought of enfranchising women in any other way but now congress, for the purpose of giving the ballot to the recently freed negro men, was about to submit an amendment to the national constitution. this convention was called to protest against "class legislation" and demand that women should be included. it adopted a memorial to congress, prepared by mrs. stanton, which contained a portion of charles sumner's great speech, equal rights for all, and was a complete statement of woman's right to the franchise. in miss anthony's address she said: "up to this hour we have looked only to state action for recognition of our rights but now, by the results of the war, the whole question of suffrage reverts to congress and the united states constitution. the duty of congress at this moment is to declare what shall be the true basis of representation in a republican form of government." as soon as the intention to submit the th amendment was announced miss anthony and her co-workers began rolling up petitions to congress that it should provide for the enfranchisement of women and tens of thousands of names had been sent to washington. these petitions represented the first effort ever made for an amendment to the federal constitution for woman suffrage and the action of this convention marked the first organized demand--may , . at this time the american equal rights association was formed and the woman's rights society merged with it, as having a larger scope.[ ] the following month the th amendment was submitted by congress for the ratification of the state legislatures and it was declared adopted by the necessary three-fourths in july, . by this amendment the status of citizenship was for the first time definitely established--"all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens." this plainly put men and women on an exact equality as to citizenship. then followed the broad statement: "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." this also seemed to guarantee the equal rights of men and women. it was the second section which aroused the advocates of suffrage for women to vigorous protest: section . representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to the _male_ inhabitants of such state, being years of age and citizens of the united states, or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such _male_ citizens shall bear to the whole number of _male_ citizens years of age in such state. up to this time there was no mention of suffrage in the federal constitution except the provision for electing members of the lower house of congress but now for the first time it actually discriminated against women by imposing a penalty on the states for preventing men from voting but leaving them entirely free to prohibit women. when even this penalty proved insufficient to protect negro men in their attempts to vote, congress in submitted a th amendment which was declared ratified the following year: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude." those who had been striving for two decades to obtain suffrage for women protested by every means in their power against this second discrimination. they implored and demanded that the word "sex" should be included in this amendment, which would have forever settled the question, just as the omission of the word "male" in the th amendment would have settled it. the most of the men who had stood by them in their early struggles for the vote, when both were working together for the freedom of the slaves, now sacrificed them rather than imperil the political rights of the negro men. some of the women themselves were persuaded to abandon their opposition to these amendments by the promise of the republican leaders that as soon as they were safely intrenched in the constitution another should be placed there providing for woman suffrage. this promise they did not try to keep and it remained unfulfilled over fifty years. miss anthony and mrs. stanton were never for one moment deceived or silenced but in their paper, _the revolution_, they opposed these amendments as long as they were pending. * * * * * although the protests were in vain the women had learned that they might be relieved of the intolerable burden of having to obtain the suffrage state by state through permission of a majority of the individual voters. they had seen an entire class enfranchised through the quicker and easier way of amending the federal constitution and they determined to invoke this power in their own behalf. from the office of _the revolution_ in new york in the autumn of went out thousands of petitions to be signed and sent to congress for the submission of an amendment to enfranchise women. immediately after its assembling in december, , senator s. c. pomeroy of kansas introduced a resolution providing that "the basis of suffrage shall be that of citizenship and all native or naturalized citizens shall enjoy the same rights and privileges of the elective franchise but each state shall determine the age, etc." a few days later representative george w. julian of indiana offered one in the house which declared: "the right of suffrage shall be based on citizenship ... and all citizens, native or naturalized, shall enjoy this right equally ... without any distinction or discrimination founded on sex." these were the first propositions ever made in congress for woman suffrage by national amendment. in order to impress congress with the seriousness of the demand, a woman's convention--the first of its kind to meet in the national capital--was held in washington in january, . it continued several days with large audiences and an array of eminent speakers, including lucretia mott, clara barton, mrs. stanton, a number of men and miss anthony, the moving spirit of the whole. in response congress the next month submitted the th amendment with even a stronger discrimination against women than the th contained. * * * * * the annual gatherings of the equal rights association had been growing more and more stormy while the th and th amendments were pending and the point was reached where any criticism of them made by the women was met by their advocates with hisses and denunciation. finally at the meeting of may , , in new york city, with mrs. stanton presiding, an attempt was made, led by frederick douglass, to force through a resolution of endorsement. miss anthony opposed it in an impassioned speech in which she said: "if you will not give the whole loaf of justice to the entire people, then give it first to women, to the most intelligent and capable of them at least.... if mr. douglass had noticed who applauded when he said black men first and white women afterwards, he would have seen that it was only the men." the men succeeded in wresting the control of the convention from the women, who then decided that the time had come for them to have their own organization and endeavor to have the question of their enfranchisement considered entirely on its own merits. three days later, at the women's bureau in east rd street, where now the metropolitan life building stands, with representatives present from nineteen states, the national woman suffrage association was formed. mrs. stanton was made president, miss anthony chairman of the executive committee. one hundred women became members that evening and here was begun the organized work for an amendment to the federal constitution to confer woman suffrage which was to continue without ceasing for half a century.[ ] its constitution declared the object of the association to be "to secure the ballot to the women of the nation on equal terms with men." on june its executive board sent a petition to congress for "a th amendment to be submitted to the legislatures of the states for ratification which shall secure to all citizens the right of suffrage without distinction of sex." before the work for a th amendment was fairly organized a number of members of congress and constitutional lawyers took the ground that women were already enfranchised by the first clause of the th amendment. at the convention held in st. louis in the autumn of , francis minor, a prominent lawyer of that city, presented this position so convincingly that the newly formed national association conducted an active campaign in its favor for several years. in women tried to vote in a number of states and in a few of them were successful. miss anthony's vote was accepted in rochester, n. y., and later she was arrested, charged with a _crime_, tried by a justice of the u. s. supreme court and fined $ . the inspectors in st. louis refused to register mrs. francis minor, she brought suit against them, and her husband carried the case to the supreme court of the united states (minor vs. happersett). he made an able and exhaustive argument but an adverse decision was rendered march , .[ ] the women then returned to the original demand for a th amendment, which indeed many of them, including miss anthony and mrs. stanton, never had entirely abandoned. beginning with congressional committees had granted hearings on woman suffrage every winter, even though no resolution was before them. under the auspices of the national association petitions by the tens of thousands continued to pour into congress, which were publicly presented. finally on jan. , , senator a. a. sargent of california offered the following joint resolution: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex." the committee on privileges and elections granted a hearing which consumed a part of two days, with the large senate reception room filled to overflowing and the corridors crowded. extended hearings were given also by the house judiciary committee and constitutional arguments of the highest order were made by noted women in attendance at the national suffrage convention. the senate committee reported adversely, however, and the house committee not at all. this took place over forty years ago. senator sargent's amendment, which in later years was sometimes called the susan b. anthony amendment, was presented to every congress during this period and hearings were granted by committees of every one. the women who made their pleadings and arguments simply to persuade these committees to give a favorable report and bring the question before their respective houses for debate comprised the most distinguished this country had produced. it is only by reading their addresses in the history of woman suffrage that one can form an idea of their masterly exposition of laws and constitution, their logic, strength and oftentimes deep pathos. there are in the pages of history many detached speeches of rare eloquence for the rights of man but nowhere else is there so long an unbroken record of appeals for these rights--the rights of man and woman. again and again at the close of the suffrage hearings the chairman and members of the committee said that none on other questions equalled them in dignity and ability. from to there were five favorable majority reports from senate committees, two from house committees and four adverse reports. thereafter, when miss anthony no longer spent her winters in washington and persisted in having a report, none of any kind was made until the movement for woman suffrage entered a new era in . one significant event, however, occurred during this time. largely through the efforts of senator henry w. blair (rep.) of new hampshire, the resolution for a th amendment was brought before the senate. after a long and earnest discussion the vote on jan. , , resulted in ayes, all republican; noes, eleven republican, twenty-three democratic; twenty-six absent.[ ] * * * * * it early became apparent to the leaders of the movement that there would have to be a good deal of favorable action by the states before congress would give serious consideration to this question and therefore under the auspices of the national american association, they continuously helped with money and work the campaigns for securing the suffrage by amendment of state constitutions. miss anthony herself took part in eight such campaigns, only to see all of them end in failure. up to there had been at least twenty and only two had been successful--colorado, ; idaho, ; wyoming and utah had equal suffrage while territories and came into the union with it in their constitutions, but all were sparsely settled states whose influence on congress was slight. commercialism had become the dominating force in politics and moral issues were crowded into the background. nevertheless in every direction was evidence of an increasing public sentiment in favor of woman suffrage in the accession of men and women of influence, in the large audiences at the meetings, in the official endorsement of all kinds of organizations--the federation of labor, the grange and many others of men, of women and of the two together, for educational, patriotic, religious, civic and varied purposes almost without number. there was not yet, however, any strong political influence back of this movement which was so largely of a political nature. in an insurgent movement developed in congress and extended into various states to throw off the party yoke and the domination of "special interests" and adopt progressive measures. one of its first fruits was the granting of suffrage to women by the voters in the state of washington. under the same influence the women of california were enfranchised in , a far-reaching victory. in oregon, arizona and the well populated state of kansas adopted woman suffrage by popular vote. in the new legislature of alaska granted it, and that of illinois gave all that was possible without a referendum to the voters, including municipal, county and that for presidential electors. in nevada and montana completed the enfranchisement of women in the western part of the united states, except in new mexico. the effect upon congress of the addition of between three and four million women to the electorate was immediately apparent. a woman suffrage amendment to the federal constitution had suddenly become a live question. a circumstance greatly in its favor was the shattering of the traditional idea that the federal constitution must not be further amended, by the adoption of two new articles--for an income tax and the election of u. s. senators by the voters. * * * * * in came the division in republican ranks and the forming of the progressive party, headed by former president theodore roosevelt, which made woman suffrage one of the principal planks in its platform, and for the first time it took a place among the other political issues. the republican party so long in power was defeated. woman suffrage never had received any special assistance from this party during its long régime but the entire situation had now changed. the national association appointed a congressional committee of young, energetic women headed by miss alice paul, a university graduate with experience in civic work in this country and england. they arranged an immense suffrage parade in which women from many states participated. it took place in washington march , , the day before the inauguration of woodrow wilson, and the new administration entered into office with a broader idea of the strength of the movement than its predecessor had possessed. an extra session was soon called and senate and house resolution number one, introduced april , was for a federal woman suffrage amendment. the chairmanship of the new senate committee on woman suffrage, instead of being filled as usual by an opponent, was given to senator charles s. thomas (dem.) of colorado, always an ardent suffragist, and a friendly committee was appointed--robert l. owen (okla.); henry f. ashurst (ariz.); joseph e. ransdell (la.); henry p. hollis, (n. h.); george sutherland (utah); wesley l. jones (wash.); moses e. clapp (minn.); thomas b. catron (n. m.). there were now eighteen members of the senate with women constituents and several million women were eligible to vote, so that it was possible to bring a pressure which had never before existed. many of the large newspapers were declaring that the time had come for the submission of this amendment to the state legislatures. on may a great suffrage procession took place in new york with a mass meeting in the metropolitan opera house addressed by colonel roosevelt, who made a ringing speech in favor of votes for women. on june the senate committee on woman suffrage gave a unanimous favorable report, senator catron, the only opponent, not voting. on july the resolution was discussed on the floor of the senate, twenty-two speaking in favor and three in opposition. it had been referred to the judiciary committee in the lower house, where resolutions also were introduced for the creation of a committee on woman suffrage and referred to the committee on rules. during july pilgrimages of women came from different parts of the country and on the st a petition with , signatures was presented to the senate by "pilgrims." three deputations called on president wilson asking his support of the amendment, one from the national american association, one from the national college equal suffrage league and one from the national council of women voters, and in november a fourth from his own state of new jersey. congress remained in session all summer and mass suffrage meetings in theaters were held in washington. the large corps of newspaper correspondents were constantly supplied with news. countless suffrage meetings were held in maryland, virginia and all the way up to new york and the members were kept constantly informed of the activities in their own districts. on september senator ashurst announced on the floor of the senate that he would press the resolution to a vote at the earliest possible moment and senator andrieus a. jones of new mexico spoke in favor and asked for immediate action. during the regular session in the resolution was discussed at different times and many strong speeches in favor were made. the senate vote, which was taken on march , stood, ayes, ; noes, ; lacking eleven of a necessary two-thirds majority. twenty republicans, one progressive and fourteen democrats voted aye; twelve republicans and twenty-two democrats voted no; ten republicans and sixteen democrats were absent. for the first time southern senators declared in favor of giving suffrage to women by amending the national constitution--senators owen, ransdell, luke lea of tennessee and morris sheppard of texas voting in the affirmative. for a trial vote this was considered satisfactory. the effort in the lower house was not so successful. its judiciary committee had been continuously opposed to allowing the amendment to reach the representatives, but two favorable majority reports having been made in the thirty-six years during which the question had been before it ( , ). a larger congressional committee had been formed by the national suffrage association, of which the chairman was mrs. ruth hanna mccormick, a daughter of former u. s. senator mark hanna, who had inherited her father's genius for constructive politics. headquarters were opened in the munsey building in washington and the work was divided into three departments--lobby, publicity and organization. careful and systematic effort was made and it was followed by the senate vote recorded above. a record was compiled of the votes of every member of congress on prohibition, child labor and various humanitarian and welfare measures and sent to the women in his district for use in urging him to vote for the suffrage amendment. organizers were placed where needed to hold meetings and arrange for chairmen of counties who would cooperate with the national committee in bringing pressure on members from their own constituencies. the federal amendment as usual was held up in the house judiciary committee in . the suffrage leaders had tried for years to get a house committee on woman suffrage, such as the senate had. a resolution for this purpose had been introduced by representative edward t. taylor of colorado in april, , referred to the committee on rules, an extended hearing granted, but no action taken. mrs. mccormick's committee brought great pressure to bear and on jan. , , the question came before the committee on rules through a motion by representative irvine l. lenroot (wis.) to make a favorable report. eight of the eleven members were present and martin d. foster (ills.), philip p. campbell (kans.), and m. clyde kelly (penn.) voted with mr. lenroot; james c. cantrill (ky.), finis j. garrett (tenn.), edward w. pou (n. c.) and thos. w. hardwick (ga.) voted in the negative, making a tie. two of the absent members were known to be favorable and a democratic caucus was called for february to discuss the matter. just before it met the democratic members of the ways and means committee, who constitute the ruling body of that party's membership, met in the office of representative oscar w. underwood (ala.). representative john e. raker (cal.) offered a resolution for the creation of a committee on woman suffrage. representative j. thomas heflin (ala.) moved a substitute: "resolved, that it is the sense of this caucus that woman suffrage is a state and not a federal question." it was carried by ayes, noes and further action blocked. the house judiciary committee, after granting a hearing to the suffragists on march , , voted to report the resolution for a federal amendment "without recommendation." at a meeting of the rules committee august representative campbell moved that an opportunity be given to the house to vote on submitting this amendment. representatives pou, garrett and cantrill voted to adjourn; campbell, kelly and goldfogle (n. y.) against it. chairman robert l. henry (texas) gave the deciding vote to adjourn.[ ] during this year of , while such heroic efforts were being made to secure favorable action by congress on a federal amendment and the workers were being told that they should look to the states for the suffrage, hard campaigns were carried on for this purpose in seven states. in only two, and those the most sparsely settled--montana and nevada--were they successful. even these had their influence, however, as they added four to the u. s. senators who were elected partly by the votes of women. the national suffrage association continued mrs. mccormick as chairman of its congressional committee and she increased her forces. although the judiciary committee had reported the resolution for the federal amendment "without recommendation" representative frank w. mondell, who introduced it, and its other friends were determined to have a vote on it and a reluctant consent was obtained from the committee on rules. the congressional committee directed its fullest energies toward obtaining as large an affirmative vote as was possible. through the courtesy of speaker champ clark they learned who would be the probable speakers and carefully assorted literature was sent them. thousands of letters and telegrams poured in upon the members from their constituencies. every available pressure was used to obtain favorable votes and to have all the friends present. mr. mondell, the republican leader, and mr. taylor, the democratic, gave fullest support. the first debate on this amendment in the house of representatives took place on jan. , , and lasted ten hours without intermission. at its conclusion the vote resulted in ayes, republicans and progressives, democrats; noes, republicans and democrats. the affirmative vote was larger than expected. the suffragists had been thirty-seven years trying to secure a vote in the lower house and they felt that this was the beginning which could have but one end. both the suffragists and the anti-suffragists now redoubled their efforts. the four big campaigns of in massachusetts new york, new jersey and pennsylvania for suffrage amendments to their state constitutions attracted the attention of the whole country. all failed of success at the november election but the effects were not wholly disastrous. the announcement by president wilson and the majority of his cabinet that they were in favor of woman suffrage brought many doubters into the fold. the two-thirds vote of massachusetts in opposition set that state aside as one in which women could only hope to gain the suffrage through a federal amendment. in new jersey in one county alone thousands of votes were afterwards found to have been cast illegally and there was colossal fraud throughout the state, yet the law did not permit the question to be submitted again for five years. in pennsylvania the amendment polled over per cent of the whole vote cast on it and was defeated by the notoriously dishonest election practices of philadelphia, but by the law of that state it could not be submitted again for four years. the facts thus disclosed converted many people to a belief in the necessity for an amendment to the national constitution. in new york the measure had received - / per cent. of the vote cast on it; in new jersey per cent. (by the returns), and the total vote in the four states of a million and a quarter for the amendments was indisputable evidence of the large sentiment for woman suffrage. the immense cost of these campaigns in time, labor and money made it seem more than ever necessary to bring about the short cut to the universal enfranchisement of women through a federal amendment. the congressional committee was strengthened and as mrs. mccormick could no longer act as chairman it was headed by mrs. frank m. roessing, the efficient president of the state association in the recent pennsylvania campaign. resolutions for the amendment were presented to the senate on december by senators thomas, sutherland and thompson (kans.). on jan. , , the favorable report was made by senator thomas, a valuable document, widely circulated by the national association. this was the year of the presidential campaign and there was no time when the prospect for a majority vote seemed good enough to take the risk. it was carefully considered after judge charles e. hughes, the republican candidate for president, made his declaration for the federal amendment but many members were absent and a vote was not deemed advisable. the planks in the republican and democratic national platforms demanding woman suffrage by state action deprived it of political support. the judiciary committee of the house, edwin y. webb (n. c.), chairman, added to its unpleasant reputation. resolutions for the amendment were introduced in december, , by five members--representatives mondell, raker, taylor, keating of colorado and hayden of arizona. they were referred to a sub-committee which on feb. , , reported one of them to the main committee "without recommendation." on the th it sent the resolution back to the sub-committee to hold until the next december by a vote of , all democrats, to , three democrats and four republicans. as this was done when many were absent the congressional committee undertook to have the judiciary take up the resolution again when the full committee could be present. it finally agreed to do so on march . twenty of the twenty-one members were present, nine opponents and eleven friends, hunter h. moss of west virginia among the latter coming from a sick bed. a motion was made to reconsider the action of february , which chairman webb ruled out of order. a debate of an hour and a half followed and to relieve the parliamentary tangle unanimous consent was given to act on the amendment resolution march at : a.m. four members of the national association's congressional committee were on hand at that time but the judiciary went at once into executive session, which barred them out. instead of presenting the amendment resolution for consideration, which was the chairman's duty when there was a special order of business, he permitted a motion to postpone all constitutional amendments indefinitely! ten of the members present were pledged to vote for a favorable report but representative leonidas c. dyer of missouri defaulted and voted with the nine opponents and no further action in was possible. * * * * * with the whole country now aroused to the importance of the votes of women in the election of a president the suffrage leaders saw the opportune time for pushing a measure which they had long advocated, namely, the granting to women by state legislatures of the right to vote for presidential electors. that of illinois had been persuaded to do this in ; they had exercised it in and its constitutionality had been established by the acceptance of the state's vote in the electoral college. as soon as the legislatures of the various states met in they received from the headquarters of the national american association in new york the opinion of chief justice walter clark of north carolina that the federal constitution empowered legislatures to determine who should vote for presidential electors, with the authorities and arguments to support it. the presidents of the state suffrage associations affiliated with the national were prepared to take up the matter at once with their legislatures and as a result those of north dakota, nebraska, indiana, michigan, ohio and rhode island conferred this vote on women during the winter. that of arkansas gave to women full suffrage in all primaries, equivalent to a vote in regular elections, and that of vermont gave the municipal franchise. the following november came the great victory in new york. this was the situation when congress met in december, . mrs. roessing could not serve longer as chairman of the congressional committee and the national association had appointed mrs. maud wood park (mass.), a founder and organizer of the national college women's suffrage league, who had taken up the work in march. the association, whose headquarters were in new york city, had enlarged its staff in washington and taken a large house for this committee and its work. there on april the first woman ever elected to congress, miss jeannette rankin of montana, was entertained at breakfast, made a speech from an upper balcony and was escorted to the capitol by mrs. carrie chapman catt, national president, at the head of a cavalcade of decorated automobiles, filled with suffragists. that day the president asked congress for a declaration of war against germany. the resolution for the federal suffrage amendment was to have been the first introduced in the senate but the war resolution took its place and it became number two on the calendar. senator thomas had given up the chairmanship of the committee on woman suffrage and senator andrieus a. jones (n. m.) had been appointed. senators nelson (minn.), johnson (s. d.) cummins (iowa) and johnson (cal.) had been added to the committee and senators ashurst, sutherland, clapp and catron had retired. in the house the resolution was introduced by representatives rankin, raker, mondell, taylor, keating and hayden. both houses agreed that only legislation pertaining to the war program should be considered during the extra session, which excluded the amendment, but there were some forms of work not prohibited. on april the senate committee gave a hearing on it with mrs. catt in charge and very strong addresses were made by her and by senators shafroth (colo.), kendrick (wyo.), walsh (mont.), smoot (utah), thomas, thompson and representative rankin. thousands of copies were franked and given to the national association for distribution. on september chairman jones made a unanimous favorable report to the senate. in the house efforts were concentrated on securing a committee on woman suffrage, resolutions for which had been introduced by representatives raker, hayden and keating and referred to the committee on rules. mrs. park's report said: our first step was to get the approval of speaker clark, who gave us cordial support. later, to offset the fear on the part of certain members of conflicting with president wilson's legislative program, a letter was sent to chairman edward w. pou (n. c.) of the rules committee by the president, who stated that he thought the creation of the committee "would be a very wise act of public policy and also an act of fairness to the best women who are engaged in the cause of woman suffrage." a petition asking for the creation of a committee on woman suffrage was signed by all members from equal suffrage states and by many of those from presidential suffrage states, and from arkansas. this was presented to the rules committee, which, on may , granted a hearing. on june , by a vote of to , on motion of mr. cantrill a resolution calling for the creation of a committee on woman suffrage to consist of thirteen members, to which all proposed action touching the subject of woman suffrage should be referred, was adopted by the rules committee, with an amendment, made by mr. lenroot to the effect that the resolution should not be reported in the house until the pending war legislation was out of the way. the report of the rules committee, therefore, was not brought into the house until september , when the extremely active opposition of chairman webb and most of the other members of the judiciary committee made a hard fight inevitable. thanks to the hearty support of speaker clark, the good management of chairman pou and the help of loyal friends of both parties in the house, as well as to the admirable work done by our own state congressional chairmen, the report was adopted by a vote of yeas to nays, with answering present and not voting. of the favorable votes, were from democrats and from republicans. of the unfavorable votes, were from democrats and from republicans. of those not voting, were democrats and were republicans. these facts show that the measure was regarded, as we had hoped that it would be, as strictly non-partisan. the victory came so late in the session that the appointment of the new committee was postponed until the present session. at the november election in occurred the greatest victory for woman suffrage ever achieved, when the voters of new york by a majority of , declared in favor of an amendment to the state constitution granting the complete franchise to women. this added to the members of congress elected partly by votes of women and presumably obligated to support a federal amendment. colonel roosevelt and other leading republicans and progressives were advocating it and william jennings bryan headed the democratic leaders in its favor. president wilson had not yet reached this point but he had congratulated mrs. catt, dr. anna howard shaw and the other leading suffragists on every victory gained. both republican and democratic opponents now realized that it was inevitable and they could only hope to postpone it. after strong efforts to prevent it the committee on woman suffrage was appointed in the house on december with judge raker (cal.) chairman. besides himself nine of the thirteen members were openly in favor of submitting the amendment: benjamin c. hilliard (colo.); james h. mays (utah); christopher d. sullivan (n. y.); thomas l. blanton (texas); jeannette rankin (mont.); frank w. mondell (wyo.); william h. carter (mass.); edward c. little (kans.); richard n. elliott (ind.). three were opposed: edward w. saunders (va.); frank clark (fla.); jacob e. meeker (mo.). the judiciary refused to turn over the amendment resolution to the new committee but amended it by limiting to seven years the time in which the legislatures could ratify it, and reported it "without recommendation" on december . democratic floor leader claude kitchin (n. c.) announced that it would come to a vote on the th. he was strongly pressed to set a later date, as the required number of votes were not yet assured, but the alternative was probably a long postponement. finally he consented to wait until january . at the beginning of the session, through the initiative of mrs. park, a "steering committee" of fifty-three friendly republicans had been brought together with an executive composed of mr. hayden chairman, mr. french (ida.) secretary, mr. keating, mr. mcarthur (ore.) and mr. cantrill, who had now become an ally. during all of december the national suffrage association had a large lobby of influential women working daily at the capitol with the members from their states. the national suffrage convention met in washington december - , and, following a plan of mrs. catt, the president, senators from about thirty states invited the representatives to their offices to meet the women from their states who were attending the convention and many pledges of votes were obtained. in the meantime, at the suggestion of speaker clark and chairman pou, judge raker introduced a new amendment resolution, which went automatically to his own committee, where it was in the hands of a strong friend instead of a bitter opponent as was mr. webb. the committee on woman suffrage held hearings jan. - , , for the national suffrage association, the national woman's party and the anti-suffrage association.[ ] on the th it reported favorably and on the th the committee on rules voted to give to it instead of the judiciary committee charge of the hearing. great efforts were made to secure the cooperation of democratic and republican leaders. letters of endorsement were given out by secretaries mcadoo, daniels and baker of the cabinet among others of influence. it was now understood that president wilson had come to favor the federal amendment but he had not yet spoken. finally through the mediation of mrs. helen h. gardener, vice-president of the national suffrage association, an appointment was made for chairman raker and eleven democratic representatives to call on the president january . after a conference he wrote with his own hand the following statement to be made public: "the woman suffrage committee found that the president had not felt at liberty to volunteer his advice to members of congress in this important matter but when we sought his advice he very frankly and earnestly advised us to vote for the amendment as an act of right and justice to the women of the country and of the world." this declaration had a marked effect on the democratic members and on the party outside. [illustration: balcony of the national suffrage headquarters in washington. mrs. helen h. gardener, mrs. carrie chapman catt, mrs. maud wood park.] on the republican side, colonel roosevelt wrote a letter to chairman willcox of the republican national committee, urging that the party do everything possible for the amendment, and mr. willcox went more than once to washington to labor with republican leaders in the house to secure fuller party support for it. on the evening of january , a meeting was called in the hope of securing caucus action. it could not be had but the following very moderate resolution was adopted: "the republican conference of the house of representatives recommends and advises that the republican members support the federal suffrage amendment in so far as they can do so consistently with their convictions and the attitude of their constituents"! shortly after o'clock on jan. , , with the galleries of the house crowded, representative foster (ills.) presented the rule, which, when adopted, provided for the closing of debate at five o'clock that afternoon and even division of time between supporters and opponents. with chairman raker's consent the general debate was opened by miss rankin and it continued until five o'clock, when amendments were in order. one, offered by representative moores of indiana, providing for ratification by convention in the several states instead of by the legislatures, was defeated by a vote of to . a second, by representative gard of ohio, limiting the time allowed for ratification by the states to seven years, was defeated by a vote of to . analyzed by parties and not including pairs, the vote on the joint resolution for submitting the federal suffrage amendment to the legislatures was as follows: republicans ayes, noes democrats " " miscellaneous " " --- --- this vote was a fraction less than one over the necessary two-thirds. twenty-three state delegations voted solidly for the amendment: arizona, arkansas, california, colorado, idaho, illinois, indiana, kansas, maine, minnesota, montana, nebraska, nevada, new hampshire, new mexico, north dakota, oklahoma, oregon, rhode island, south dakota, utah, washington and wyoming. the delegations of only six states voted solidly against it--alabama, delaware, georgia, louisiana, mississippi and south carolina. a number of men who voted favorably came to the capitol at considerable inconvenience to cast their votes. republican leader mann of illinois at much personal risk came from a hospital in baltimore. he had not been present in congress for months and his arrival shortly before five o'clock caused great excitement in the chamber. representative sims of tennessee, who had broken his shoulder two days before, refused to have it set until after the suffrage vote and against the advice of his physician was on the floor for the discussion and the vote. representative barnhart of indiana was taken from his bed in a hospital in washington and stayed at the capitol just long enough to cast his vote. one of the new york representatives came immediately after the death of his wife, who had been an ardent suffragist, and returned on the next train. when it became apparent that the resolution had carried, the opponents became very active on the floor attempting to persuade some member to change his vote. they demanded a recapitulation but it stood the same as the original vote. speaker clark had given his assurance that in case of a tie he would vote in favor. only one member broke his pledge to the women. the most remarkable feature was that of the affirmative votes were from southern states. the women were jubilant, as they believed the end of their long struggle was near. it was not anticipated that there would be serious difficulty in the senate. its committee had reported favorably and in a short time promises were obtained for the needed two-thirds lacking only three or four. there had been, however, an unprecedented series of deaths in the senate during the past few months which in the early part of were increased to ten, seven of whom were pledged to vote for the amendment. some of the vacancies were filled by friends and some by foes but there was a net loss to it of one. nevertheless no means were left untried to obtain help from individuals, committees and organizations with influence. through the national headquarters in new york a petition signed by a thousand men of nation wide reputation was obtained and presented to the senate. among the most important favorable resolutions adopted were those by the democratic national committee feb. , ; by the republican national committee february ; by the democratic congressional committee june ; by the model state platforms of the republican and democratic parties in indiana in may and june; by the republican congressional committee; by the general federation of women's clubs may ; by the american federation of labor june . will h. hays, newly elected chairman of the republican national committee, gave interviews in favor and worked diligently in many other ways for its success, as did vance mccormick, former chairman, and homer cummings, present chairman of the national democratic committee, and many other men conspicuous in public life. it was finally decided to take a vote on may but on the th so serious a fight in opposition had developed that it was considered best to postpone it. by june the outlook was so favorable that the amendment was brought before the senate. senators poindexter (wash.) and thompson (kans.) spoke in favor, brandegee (conn.) in opposition. a wrangle over "pairs" followed and reed (mo.) launched a "filibuster." after he had spoken two hours chairman jones saw that the situation was hopeless and withdrew his motion. during the summer representatives of the national association obtained in delaware a petition of over , to senators wolcott and saulsbury to support the amendment. petitions poured in on other opposing senators and influence of many kinds was exerted. only two more votes were needed and it seemed important to put the amendment through before the fall election. on august a conference of republican senators was held in washington to elect a floor leader in place of senator gallinger (n. h.), who had died, and it passed the following resolution: "we shall insist upon the consideration of the federal suffrage amendment immediately after the disposition of the pending unfinished business and upon a final vote at the earliest possible moment, provided that this resolution shall not be construed as in any way binding the action or vote of any member of the senate upon the merits of said suffrage amendment"! the friends of the measure could have had "immediate consideration" at almost any time during the past year. they could have had a vote on may had they considered that time favorable. even on june some way might have been found to obtain it had there been a very great desire to have it taken then. this conference resolution called upon the senate to vote on it and get it out of the way, no matter whether it should be carried or defeated, and did not even give it the prestige of a favorable endorsement. here, as in the state's rights plank put into the republican national platform in , one could easily see the fine hand of senator henry cabot lodge of massachusetts. the way was now wide open for president wilson to secure for the democratic party the credit for submitting the amendment, which the suffrage leaders were quick to take advantage of. on september a delegation of democratic women, members of the national american suffrage association, had a conference with him to ask his help, which he willingly promised. a few of the newly elected or appointed senators held out some hope and chairman jones gave notice that he would call up the amendment on september , as it was most important to get it through at this session, so as not to have it go back to the house. on august a five days' debate in the senate began and the report of it in the _congressional record_ is a historic document which will take its place with the debates on slavery before the civil war. it was soon apparent that three of the new senators, who there was reason to hope would vote in favor--drew of new hampshire, baird of new jersey and benet of south carolina--were among the opponents and there would be two less than a two-thirds majority. every minute was filled with the efforts to obtain these votes and finally an appeal was again made to president wilson. there was the greatest anxiety until it was learned that he would take the unprecedented step of addressing the senate in person on the subject september . this was done to the joy of its friends and the wrath of its enemies. mrs. park, chairman of the congressional committee of the national suffrage association, said in her report: "for a while our fears were at rest and monday afternoon when the words of that noble speech fell upon our ears it seemed impossible that a third of the senate could refuse the never-to-be-forgotten plea.[ ] scarcely had the door closed upon the president when senator underwood took the floor for a prolonged state's rights argument against the amendment. he was followed by others opposed and in favor, during whose speeches the leaders of the opposition of both parties went about among the members trying to counteract the influence of the president's address. the next day various amendments proposed were defeated; one by senator williams (miss.) to amend by making the resolution read: "the right of _white_ citizens to vote shall not be denied, etc.," was laid on the table by a vote of to . one by senator frelinghuysen (n. j.), denying the vote to "female persons who are not citizens otherwise than by marriage" was also laid on the table by a vote of to . one by senator fletcher (fla.) to strike out the words "or by any state" so that the section would read: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states on account of sex," was laid on the table by a vote of to . the senate vote oct. , , on the amendment itself, stood in favor to against, or, including pairs, in favor to against, two votes short of the needed two-thirds majority. chairman jones changed his vote and moved reconsideration, which put the amendment back in its old place on the calendar. analyzed by parties and including pairs the vote stood: yes no democrats republicans -- -- total president wilson on the eve of sailing for europe to the peace conference included in his address to a joint session of congress december another eloquent appeal for the passage of the federal suffrage amendment. it had become evident by the action of the th congress that something more efficacious than public opinion or pressure from high sources was required to secure the needed two votes in the senate. the official board of the national suffrage association, therefore, for the first time in its history decided to enter the political campaigns. those of new hampshire, new jersey, massachusetts and delaware were selected in the hope of defeating the senatorial candidates for re-election who had opposed the amendment and electing those who would support it. it was necessary to use influence against republican candidates in three states and a democratic candidate in delaware. two of these efforts were successful and a republican, j. heisler ball, defeated the democratic senator saulsbury of delaware, and a democrat, david i. walsh, defeated the republican senator weeks of massachusetts. both of the new members voted for the amendment in the th congress. the election returns on november indicated that the necessary two-thirds majority in the th congress had been secured. this belief was shared by prominent democrats, who from that time spared no effort to make unfriendly democratic senators realize the folly of their position in leaving the victory for the republican congress which had been elected. at this election the voters of michigan, south dakota and oklahoma by large majorities fully enfranchised their women, adding six senators and twenty-four representatives to the number partly elected by the votes of women. texas this year had given women a vote at primary elections, almost equal to the complete suffrage. resolutions were passed by twenty-five state legislatures in january and early february, , calling upon the senate to submit the federal amendment. william p. pollock of south carolina, who had been elected to succeed senator benet, was not only in favor of it but was working to secure the one vote among the southern senators which, added to his own, would complete the two-thirds. a conference of friendly democratic senators on february decided that a vote must be taken the following week if this party was to have the credit. the next day the senate woman suffrage committee met and unanimously voted to bring up the amendment on february . the reasons for the decision were, first, that there was a chance to win and nothing to be lost by recording the friends and enemies; second, that one man had been gained since the last vote and there was a possibility that another could be won. president wilson cabled from paris urging doubtful senators to vote in favor. william jennings bryan came to washington to intercede for it. on petition of twenty-two democratic senators, a party caucus on suffrage was held on february , but the enemies died hard. they immediately made a motion to adjourn but the suffragists without proxies defeated the "antis," who voted proxies, by to . on a resolution that the democratic senators support the federal suffrage amendment, twenty-two voted in the affirmative but when ten had voted in the negative those ten were allowed by senator thomas s. martin (va.), democratic floor leader, to withdraw their votes in order that he might declare that, as the vote stood to , a quorum had not voted! after the close of the morning business on feb. , , chairman jones moved to take up the amendment. an extremely strong speech in its favor was made by senator pollock. the only other speeches were by senator frelinghuysen on points of naturalization and by edward j. gay, the new senator from louisiana, in opposition. the vote taken early in the afternoon showed in favor and opposed. as on october , all the members who were not present to vote were accounted for by pairs, so that it stood practically to . in other words the amendment was lost in the th congress by only one vote and the individual responsibility for the defeat lay at the door of every senator who voted against it. from the states west of the mississippi river only three senators voted "no"--borah of idaho, reed of missouri and hitchcock of nebraska. only three states--alabama, delaware and georgia--cast all their votes in both senate and house against the amendment. twenty states cast all their votes in senate and house in favor--arizona, arkansas, california, colorado, idaho, illinois, indiana, kansas, minnesota, montana, nevada, north dakota, new mexico, oklahoma, oregon, rhode island, south dakota, utah, washington and wyoming. in all of these women already had full or partial suffrage. on february senator wesley l. jones of washington re-introduced the amendment in its old form, stating that he expected no action during the present congress. on the following day senator gay introduced an amendment in which the right of enforcement was given to the various states and congress was excluded. on the th senator kenneth mckellar of tennessee introduced one requiring personal naturalization of alien women. senator gay agreed to support an amendment introduced february by chairman jones, giving the states the right to enforce the amendment, but, in case of their failure to do so, permitting congress to enact appropriate legislation. just before the close of the session on march , a southern democrat, in response to a cablegram from president wilson, consented to give the measure the lacking vote if it could be brought up again but this the republicans declined to permit. * * * * * during this winter of the national american association continued the work of obtaining from the legislatures presidential suffrage for women and to the list were added maine, vermont, wisconsin, minnesota, iowa, missouri and tennessee, fourteen altogether. by may , adding the states with this presidential suffrage to the fifteen where women had the complete franchise, it was estimated that about , , would be able to "vote for the president" in the general election of . they could vote for of the members of the electoral college, more than half. about half of the above number would exercise the full suffrage. thirty-four senators and representatives were now elected partly by women, including those from arkansas and texas. one-third of the senate and all of the house of representatives were elected in november, . many of the old members were re-elected, some friends and some enemies of the federal suffrage amendment. the republicans had a large majority and both parties wanted an early vote on it. president wilson made this possible by calling a special session to meet may , . representative frank w. mondell (wyo.) was elected majority leader of the house and representative james r. mann (ills.) appointed chairman of the committee on woman suffrage, both republicans. the resolution for the federal amendment was introduced by six members on the opening day and on the th was favorably reported by the committee and placed on the calendar for the next day, even before the president's message was read, in which it was recommended. on may , after two hours' discussion, it was passed by more than the needed two-thirds. the vote stood as follows: in favor opposed republicans democrats miscellaneous --- -- members from southern states cast of the affirmative votes and four from the north were born in the south. the democrats polled per cent. of their voting strength for the amendment and the republicans polled per cent. of theirs. in all the great area west of the mississippi river, excluding texas and louisiana, only one vote in the lower house was cast against the amendment--that of representative h. e. hull (rep.), iowa. in the group of middle states only five opposing votes were cast--two from wisconsin, one from michigan, two from ohio. the opposition centered in the coast states from louisiana to maryland; aside from these the largest opposing majorities were from pennsylvania and massachusetts. twenty-six states--over half of the whole number--gave unanimous support; thirteen had large favorable majorities; one was tied--maryland; five gave opposing majorities--alabama, georgia, louisiana, north carolina, virginia; only two cast a solid vote in opposition--mississippi and south carolina. these statistics did not indicate that "a few states were trying to force this amendment on a vast unwilling majority of states," as the opponents asserted. the increase from the majority of one in to in is accounted for by the fact that at the congressional election during the interim new members were elected, of whom voted for the amendment. as it had been an issue in the campaign they represented the sentiment of their constituencies. fifteen of the former members who were re-elected changed from negative to affirmative. from january, , to june, , not one member of either house broke his promise to vote for the amendment except representative daniel j. riordan (dem.) of new york, although many of them were subjected to extreme pressure by the interests opposed to it. the resolution for the amendment was introduced in the senate may , , by four members and half a dozen others expressed a wish to present it. the new committee on woman suffrage had not been appointed and it was referred to the old one, whose chairman, senator jones, asked unanimous consent to have it placed on the calendar at once. senators underwood of alabama; hoke smith of georgia; swanson of virginia; reed of missouri, democrats; borah of idaho; wadsworth of new york, republicans, and other opponents objected and it was delayed several days. meanwhile a new committee was appointed with senator james e. watson (rep.) of indiana, as chairman. finally on may he was able to report the resolution favorably, by unanimous vote of the committee, and have it placed on the calendar for june . the discussion was continued for two days, principally by the opposition, the friends of the amendment having agreed to consume no time except when necessary to correct misstatements. for this purpose senators lenroot of wisconsin and walsh of montana, republicans, and thomas of colorado, king of utah, kirby of arkansas and ashurst of arizona, democrats, made brief speeches. senators wadsworth, brandegee (rep.) of connecticut and borah; underwood, smith (dem.) of south carolina and reed, consumed the rest of the time, reed speaking several hours. senator underwood offered an amendment to have the ratifications by conventions instead of legislatures, and senator phelan (dem.) of california wanted to amend this by requiring them to be called the first week in december. senator harrison (dem.) of mississippi tried to have the word "white" inserted in the original amendment. senator gay (dem.) of louisiana wished to amend by providing that the states instead of the congress should have power to enforce it. all these amendments were defeated by large majorities. the senators knew that all this debate was a waste of time, as enough votes were pledged to pass the amendment. senator watson opened and closed it in a dozen sentences. the roll was called at p. m. june , and the vote was announced, ayes, noes. with the "pairs" that had been arranged the entire members of the senate were recorded and they stood as follows: ayes noes republicans democrats -- -- total the certificate to be sent to the legislatures for ratification was signed by president of the senate thomas r. marshall (ind.) and speaker of the house frederick h. gillett (mass.) both unyielding opponents of the amendment. thus ended the struggle for the submission to the legislatures of an amendment to the national constitution to give complete universal suffrage to women, which had been carried on without cessation for almost exactly fifty years--a struggle which has no parallel in history. it is not possible to give in this limited space due recognition to all the senators and representatives who during this long period stood faithfully by this federal amendment, many of them at serious political risk. this was especially true of those from the south. the speech of senator morris sheppard of texas, aug. , , was as strong an argument as ever was made for the federal amendment. the great corporate interests of the country, including the liquor interests, which were the dominating force in politics, were implacably opposed to woman suffrage and the women had no material influence to counteract them. all the more honor is due, therefore, to those members who loyally supported it in this long contest founded upon abstract right, justice and democracy. vote on federal woman suffrage amendment in the u. s. senate, june , . _republicans, aye_ _democrats, aye_ cal. johnson ariz. { ashurst col. phipps { smith del. ball ark. { kirby ills. { mccormick { robinson { sherman cal. phelan ind. { new col. thomas { watson ga. harris iowa { cummins ida. nugent { kenyon ky. stanley kans. { capper la. ransdell { curtis mass. walsh me. { fernald mont. { myers { hale { walsh md. france nev. { henderson mich. { newberry { pittman { townsend n. m. jones minn. { kellogg okla. { gore { nelson { owen mo. spencer ore. chamberlain neb. norris r. i. gerry n. h. keyes s. d. johnson n. j. { edge tenn. mckellar { frelinghuysen tex. { culberson n. m. fall { sheppard n. y. calder utah king n. d. { gronna wyo. kendrick { mccumber ohio harding ore. mcnary r. i. colt s. d. sterling utah smoot vt. page wash. { jones { poindexter w. va. { elkins { sutherland wis. { lafollette { lenroot wyo. warren -------- -------- total total _republicans, no_ _democrats, no_ conn. { brandegee ala. { bankhead { mclean { underwood ida. borah del. wolcott mass. lodge fla. { fletcher n. h. moses { trammell n. y. wadsworth ga. smith penn. { knox ky. beckham { penrose la. gay vt. dillingham md. smith miss. { harrison { williams mo. reed neb. hitchcock n. c. { overman { simmons ohio pomerene s. c. { dial { smith tenn. shields va. martin swanson -------- -------- total total benet was appointed for a few months to succeed senator tillman and voted against the amendment october . pollock was elected to serve until march and voted for it february . dial was elected for the full term beginning march . senator hale of maine was the only hold-over senator who changed his position, voting "no" in october and "aye" in june. the suffragists deeply regretted that senator john f. shafroth of colorado, an able and valued friend for the past twenty-five years, was no longer a member of the senate. after the woman suffrage amendment had become a part of the constitution of the united states mrs. carrie chapman catt, the national president, prepared a complete summary of the several votes on it in the two houses of congress according to the political parties and sent it to chairman will h. hays of the republican national committee and chairman george white of the democratic. to the former she said in part: "i take the occasion to express to you personally on behalf of the national american woman suffrage association, our grateful appreciation of your own faithful, consistent and always sincere efforts to carry out the platforms of your party wherein they referred to the enfranchisement of women. ratification at this date would not have been achieved without your conscientious and understanding help. i wish also to express our gratitude to the republican party for its share in the final enfranchisement of the women of the united states...." to mr. white mrs. catt said: "there is one important democratic factor which should be included in the record and that is the fearless and able sponsorship of the amendment by the leader of your party, the president of the united states.... he has never hesitated to let members of his party know in every state that he favored ratification.... his championship furnishes cause for pride to all forward-looking democrats, since his vision foresaw this now achieved fact of the enfranchisement of the women of this country. on behalf of the national american woman suffrage association, i wish to thank you and your party for its share in the completion of the task to which our association set itself more than fifty years ago." mrs. catt said in the course of her summing up: "women owe much to both political parties but to neither do they owe so much that they need feel themselves obligated to support that party if conscience and judgment dictate otherwise. their political freedom at this time is due to the tremendous sentiment and pressure produced by their own unceasing activities over a period of three generations. had either party lived up to the high ideals of our nation and courageously taken the stand for right and justice as against time-serving, vote-winning policies of delay, women would have been enfranchised long ago.... if, however, neither of the dominant parties has made as clean and progressive a record as its admirers could have wished, there is no question but that individual men of both parties have given heroic service to the cause of woman suffrage and this has been true in every state, those which ratified and those which rejected. women should not forget these men who have stepped in advance of the more slow moving of their own constituents to help this great cause of political freedom." ratification. before this federal amendment could become effective it had to be ratified by the legislatures of thirty-six states, three-fourths of the whole number. the plan by which mrs. catt, president of the national american suffrage association, had expected ratification to follow the submission immediately was that all of the western equal suffrage states would ratify at once. to make certain that this would be done a representative of the association was sent on a circuit of these states while the amendment was still pending. she called on the governors and instructed the women as to the procedure when it was submitted. if there had been the expected early vote this plan would have succeeded but it was thwarted by the late submission. had the vote taken place even as late as february, , the legislatures could have considered it, which was the principal reason why the opponents prevented it. by june most of them had adjourned not to meet again for two years. a few, however, were still in session and of these illinois, wisconsin and michigan ratified it within six days of its submission and pennsylvania and massachusetts a little later. that of ohio had taken a recess until june and ratified it on this date. to obtain enough extra sessions, with all the expense, time and trouble entailed, seemed a hopeless undertaking. nevertheless, scarcely had the senate vote been announced when mrs. catt began telegraphing to the governors of many states a request that they would call special sessions for the purpose of ratification. this was favored by leaders in both political parties in order that it might be completed in time for the women of the entire country to vote in the general election of . governors alfred e. smith (dem.) of new york and henry j. allen (rep.) of kansas were the first to call special sessions. they were followed by a few others, some willingly, others under great pressure from the women of their states. even the governors of some of the equal suffrage states were hesitating for various reasons and vigorous action seemed to be necessary. under the auspices of the national association four women, mrs. minnie fisher cunningham of texas, mrs. john g. south of kentucky, mrs. ben hooper of wisconsin and miss marjorie shuler of new york, were sent to these states in july. the two republican women visited republican states and the two democratic women visited democratic states, the four reaching salt lake city to attend the national conference of governors. despite their pledges of extra sessions some of them still demurred, as special sessions were not approved by the taxpayers. two of these governors, one republican and one democratic, were threatened with impeachment proceedings whenever the legislature should meet. others feared that matters besides the ratification might come up. the summer waned and the required number of special sessions were not called, although letters and telegrams and every kind of influence were being used. finally mrs. catt herself headed a deputation consisting of miss julia lathrop, chief of the u. s. children's bureau; mrs. jean nelson penfield of new york; dr. valeria h. parker of connecticut; mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of illinois, mrs. edward p. costigan of colorado and miss shuler, who had continued working in those western states. the governors were again interviewed; the situation was presented to the states through public meetings and at last the desired pledges were secured. in oregon the women agreed to raise the money to pay for a special session. in nevada, wyoming and south dakota campaigns to persuade the members to attend at their own expense were started and carried through. altogether sixteen conferences were held in twelve western states. while this campaign in the west was under way the women of other states were hard at work to obtain legislative action. those of indiana had the herculean task of collecting a petition of , names asking for a special session and securing pledges from two-thirds of the legislature to consider no other business, before the governor would call the session. while this strenuous work was in progress, which continued into , the national republican and democratic committees, will h. hays and homer s. cummings, chairmen, used all of their great influence for special sessions and for favorable action. prominent politicians of both parties lent their assistance. the successful efforts to secure ratification planks in the national platforms of all the political parties are described in chapter xxiii. every candidate for president and vice-president gave his full endorsement. it was only necessary for thirteen legislatures to hold out against ratification to prevent the adoption of the amendment and those of the nine southeastern states from maryland to louisiana were certain to do this. all of them defeated it except that of florida, which did not vote on it. by march , , thirty-five legislatures had ratified, leaving but four states from which to obtain the thirty-sixth and final ratification. delaware defeated it in june, leaving only tennessee, connecticut and vermont. a provision in the state constitution of tennessee prevented action by its legislature. the republican governors of connecticut and vermont refused absolutely to call a special session. the former declared that there was no emergency requiring it and was adamant to every argument. mrs. catt and her board then undertook another herculean task of bringing to connecticut an influential woman from every state, and, cooperating with those of connecticut, a mass meeting was held in hartford. after this they divided into groups and held meetings in every city and large town, ending the campaign with a visit to the governor, at which earnest pleas were made that he would call the legislature to give the final vote for ratification, as the women of the nation were waiting for it. in vermont, under the auspices of the national board, women of the state under most trying weather conditions met in montpelier and called on the governor with pleadings and arguments for a special session, through whose action the women of the whole country would be enfranchised. both governors remained obdurate. in the meantime the opponents had succeeded in maine under its initiative and referendum law in having the ratification submitted to the voters and they threatened to take this action in all states having this law. the ohio supreme court sustained the legality of a petition for a referendum and it was carried to the supreme court of the united states--hawk vs. the secretary of the state of ohio. here it was argued april , . on june the court announced its decision that the ratification of a federal amendment was not subject to action by the voters. this decision removed the obstacle that existed in tennessee and its governor called a special session for august . mrs. catt took charge of the campaign in person and the ratification was obtained in the senate on the th and the house on the th, in the latter with the greatest difficulty. it called for assistance from president wilson, from both of the presidential candidates, the national committees of both parties and many prominent men and women within and without the state. a full account will be found in the tennessee chapter. a vote for reconsideration followed; enough members left the state to prevent a quorum and it was not until the th that governor roberts could forward the certificate of ratification to secretary of state bainbridge colby in washington.[ ] here on august he proclaimed the th amendment a part of the federal constitution. a body of the tennessee legislators, headed by speaker of the house seth walker, went immediately to washington and undertook to obtain an injunction on this action but it was refused by the court. although the ratification by the tennessee legislature was due to the votes of both democrats and republicans the former claimed the credit. the general election was close at hand in which all women could take part and republican leaders felt that some action was necessary. governor marcus h. holcomb of connecticut called a special session of the legislature for september and its first act was to ratify the federal amendment by unanimous vote of the senate and to in the house. owing to a technical question the ratification was repeated september .[ ] the stories of these ratifications are interesting--in some states occasions of much pleasure accompanied by music and feasting; in others strenuous contests which left some unpleasant memories. they are described in each state chapter and the failures as well. especial reference should be made to those of states mentioned here and of delaware, virginia, west virginia, north carolina, georgia, mississippi and louisiana. when the opponents could not prevent ratification they had recourse to the law. the attempt to have a referendum to the voters has been referred to. efforts were made in many states to have the attorney generals declare that the ratification was unconstitutional or that further legislation by the states would be necessary, but they were unavailing. in may, , the official board of the national woman suffrage association retained former u. s. supreme court justice charles evans hughes as counsel and his advice and his opinions widely published proved to be of the greatest benefit. although one of the most eminent of lawyers his interest in woman suffrage was so great that he never refused any appeal for assistance. on july , , before the th state had ratified, charles s. fairchild, president of the american constitutional league, formerly the men's anti-suffrage association of new york, instituted injunction proceedings in the supreme court of the district of columbia against secretary of state bainbridge colby and attorney general a. mitchell palmer. they sought to restrain the secretary from proclaiming the federal suffrage amendment when it should receive the final ratification and the attorney general from doing anything to enforce it. on july the case for the government was argued by solicitor general william l. frierson and assistant u. s. district attorney james b. archer. mr. fairchild and the league were represented by everett p. wheeler, a new york attorney and officer of the league. he contended that under the u. s. constitution congress had no power to submit the amendment and that various ratifications were illegal. justice thomas j. bailey dismissed the injunction proceedings on the ground that neither mr. fairchild nor the league had sufficient interest to entitle them to ask for an injunction and that the court had no authority to go behind the action of the legislatures in voting for ratification. the case was taken to the district court of appeals. on october this court denied the injunction and dismissed the case as "frivolous and brought for delay." it was then carried to the supreme court of the united states. litigation was threatened in tennessee. in maryland a league for state defense was formed to defeat ratification. it succeeded in the maryland legislature and had delegations of legislators sent to tennessee and west virginia for the purpose, who were not successful. on oct. , , this league brought a test case in the court of common pleas in baltimore through attorney william l. marbury against j. mercer garnett et al., constituting the board of registry, to compel them to strike the names of two women from the registration books. the suit was filed in the name of oscar leser, a former judge, who had long fought woman suffrage, and twenty members of the league, on the following grounds: the alleged th amendment is not authorized by article v of the u. s. constitution; it was never legally ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states; (those of west virginia, tennessee and missouri were cited); it was rejected by the maryland legislature. everett p. wheeler assisted in the trial just before christmas. the case was conducted for the state by attorney general j. lindsay spencer. judge heuisler gave an adverse decision on jan. , . the case was taken to the court of appeals and set for april . the decision of the lower court was sustained--that "the power to amend the constitution of the united states granted by article v is without limit except as to the words 'equal suffrage in the senate.' ... from all the exhibits and other evidence submitted the court is of the opinion that there was due, legal and proper ratification of the amendment by the required number of state legislatures." this case also went to the u. s. supreme court and there both of them rested. meanwhile millions of women voted in the general election on nov. , , and in the state and local elections which followed through , and the cases were almost forgotten. finally in february, , the court heard the arguments, the government represented by solicitor general james m. beck. on the th it handed down its decision on the two cases. it upheld the authority of congress under the constitution of the united states to submit the amendment; declared that "the validity of the th amendment had been recognized for half a century"; that "the federal constitution transcends any limitations sought to be imposed by the state"; that "the secretary of state having issued the proclamation the amendment had become a part of the national constitution." this was the decision of the highest legal authority, from which there was no appeal. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. ida husted harper, author of the life and work of susan b. anthony, and with miss anthony of volume iv of the history of woman suffrage, which ended with . [ ] for full account see history of woman suffrage, volume i, page . [ ] life and work of susan b. anthony, chapter xvi. [ ] the american woman suffrage association was organized in cleveland, o., nov. , , with the rev. henry ward beecher, president; lucy stone, chairman of the executive committee, to work especially for amending state constitutions. the two bodies united in february, , under the name national american and the association thenceforth worked vigorously by both methods. [ ] history of woman suffrage, volume ii, page . [ ] for full account see history of woman suffrage, volume iv, chapter vi. [ ] in and the years following strenuous work with members of congress was done by the congressional union, afterwards called the national woman's party. [ ] for full report of this hearing see chapter xviii. [ ] for speech in full see appendix for this chapter. [ ] as soon as the certificate was despatched mrs. catt left nashville, where she had been for six weeks, accompanied by mrs. harriet taylor upton, vice-chairman of the national republican executive committee; miss charl williams, vice-chairman of the democratic national committee, and miss marjorie shuler, the national association's chairman of publicity, who had been working with her during this time. they went to washington, called on the president and secretary of state and in the evening addressed an enthusiastic mass meeting that filled the largest theater to overflowing. secretary colby represented president wilson, from whom he brought this message: "will you take the opportunity to say to my fellow citizens that i deem it one of the greatest honors of my life that this great event, the ratification of this amendment, should have occurred during the period of my administration. nothing has given me more pleasure than the privilege that has been mine to do what i could to advance the cause of ratification and to hasten the day when the womanhood of america would be recognized by the nation on the equal footing of citizenship that it deserves." from washington the women, joined by others, went to new york, where governor alfred e. smith was waiting at the station and said in greeting mrs. catt: "i am here on behalf of the people of the state of new york to convey congratulations to you on your great victory for the motherhood of america." [see frontispiece volume vi.] [ ] vermont was thus left the only state, except those in the so-called "black belt," which did not ratify the federal amendment and its legislature was ready to do so any day when governor percival w. clement would permit it to meet. it ratified unanimously in the senate and with three negative votes in the house when it met in regular session in . chapter xxi. various woman suffrage associations in the united states. the national woman suffrage association formed in new york city may , , by pioneers in the movement from nineteen states was the first of the kind in the world. [history of woman suffrage, volume ii, page .] this was followed by the forming on november at cleveland, o., of the american woman suffrage association. [same, page .] in these two were combined under the name national american. [volume iv, pages , .] for various reasons other organizations came into existence, as the years passed, which had some claim to being considered national, but this great united association was the bulwark of the movement for woman suffrage from its beginning to its end in . it was always the official authority recognized by congress, state legislatures, the press and the public, but all of the others assisted, each in its own way and degree, and, except in the case of one, the national woman's party, there was no antagonism among them, as all were consecrated to a common cause, and followed similar methods. the federal suffrage association. this association was organized on march rd and th, , in the lecture room of the sherman house, chicago, with the following officers: president, the hon. m. b. castle, sandwich, ills.; vice-president, the rev. olympia brown, racine, wis.; secretary, mrs. a. j. loomis, chicago; treasurer, mrs. s. m. c. perkins, cleveland, o. judge charles b. waite of chicago; mrs. isabella beecher hooker of hartford, conn.; mrs. lucinda h. stone of kalamazoo, mich., and mrs. lucia e. blount of washington, d. c., with many other prominent people assisted. the object was to secure the passage of a law by congress authorizing women to vote for members of the house of representatives, according to sections and , article i of the federal constitution, which gives congress authority to change the regulations made by the states for the election of these members. the way for this organization had been prepared by articles in the _forum_ and the _arena_ by judge francis minor of st. louis, presenting the arguments for this law. he quoted james madison, who said at the time virginia adopted the national constitution that "the power was given to congress to change the regulations made by the states in order to protect the people. should the people at any time be deprived of the right of suffrage for any cause it was deemed proper that it should be remedied by the general government." at the first meeting a memorial was adopted asking congress to enact this law, which later was presented by representative clarence d. clark of wyoming. the officers of the association were instructed to present a memorial to the republican national convention in minneapolis that summer asking that a plank approving this federal suffrage be inserted in the platform. the rev. mrs. brown and mrs. perkins attended the convention, where they were treated with marked courtesy and given prominent seats. they secured a hearing and the presentation of the memorial in the committee on resolutions. the papers of minneapolis printed it in full, which was something unusual at that time when woman suffrage was scarcely recognized by the press. at the columbian exposition in a section in the political congress was assigned to the federal association and a day appointed for its meetings. two sessions were held, addressed by prominent speakers and attended by large audiences. much propaganda work was done and efforts were made to form local organizations. the subject was kept before the republican and democratic parties by memorials presented to their national conventions. in the society was reorganized as the woman's federal equality association in order to include other interests of women besides suffrage. it was hoped thus to enlist the cooperation of those employed by the government but this hope not being realized the name was changed to the original. mrs. belva a. lockwood had been chosen president in and was followed in by the rev. olympia brown, who held the office until the end in , mrs. lockwood continuing as honorary president until her death. mrs. clara bewick colby was chosen corresponding secretary in and devoted herself to the interests of the association unceasingly until her death sept. , . no session of congress was allowed to pass without the presenting of a bill demanding the right of women to vote for federal officers. these bills were referred to the committee on election of president, vice-president and representatives in congress. usually hearings were granted and arranged for with much care by mrs. colby, who resided in washington. they were very effective. among the most important was that of , which attracted so much attention that the committee appointed a second day to continue it and invited mrs. colby to explain more fully the demand of the association. another important hearing was that of , when the largest committee room was filled, many standing outside. it began in the morning and was continued in the evening, with the speakers nearly all members of congress, a remarkable circumstance at that time. at the hearings of , and representative burton l. french of idaho was a valuable speaker, as was representative john e. raker of california. mrs. lockwood and other women took part at different times, mrs. colby in all the hearings and the rev. mrs. brown in most of them. dr. clara mcnaughton, the treasurer, rendered important service in raising money and in other ways. at the great gettysburg celebration in she and mrs. anna harmon represented the association, obtaining signatures to petitions, circulating literature and finding a wide sentiment for woman suffrage among the old soldiers. on july - , , the federal suffrage association held a congress at the panama pacific exposition in san francisco, over which the rev. olympia brown presided. mrs. colby went out some time before the meeting and made the arrangements. among the distinguished people who took part were mrs. may wright sewall, founder of the international council of women, mrs. ida husted harper, historian of woman suffrage and biographer of susan b. anthony; mrs. adelaide johnson, the noted sculptor; the eminent mrs. elizabeth lowe watson of california; mrs. emma smith devoe of tacoma, president of the national council of women voters, and mrs. mary g. bellamy, former member of the wyoming legislature. the most notable of the exercises was the fine pageant in the court of abundance on the closing night. this court was a most beautiful place for scenic display, the arrangement of the platform, lights and decorations all contributing to make any function there an enchanting scene. mrs. colby had prepared a comprehensive lecture on woman's part in the building of america, and, with the assistance of a skilful specialist, mrs. andrea hofer, had arranged a memorable entertainment. she stood on the pedestal of a massive column while she gave her lecture, which was illustrated by tableaus on the platform in the presence of a large audience. the congress was continued at san diego with largely attended meetings. the history of federal suffrage would not be complete without some mention of the work of miss laura clay and her sister, mrs. sarah clay bennett, of kentucky, who advocated the idea of federal suffrage even before the forming of the association and long worked for a u. s. elections bill. miss clay's maintenance of the federal suffrage principles, her writings and her strong personality were a guarantee to many of the southern women that no infringement of the state's rights idea was intended. by aug. , , the federal amendment had been submitted by congress and ratified. all the women of the united states were fully enfranchised and the association had no longer any reason for being. [prepared by the rev. olympia brown.] united states elections bill. from the time the national woman suffrage association was organized to secure the enfranchisement of women by amending the federal constitution there were among its members those who did not favor this method because it was contrary to the doctrine of state's rights. they did, however, want congress to provide that woman should vote for its own representatives, which could be done simply by a law requiring only a majority vote of each house. from the early 's this group was led by miss laura clay and mrs. sarah clay bennett of kentucky. there was no doubt that congress had authority over the election of its representatives, as was clearly shown in article i, section , which prescribes the manner of their election and the qualifications of the electors in the different states. later it fixed a time for these elections. this authority was conferred when, after the amendment was adopted for the election of u. s. senators by the voters, congress enacted that all who were qualified to vote for representatives should be eligible to vote for senators. the leaders of the national american suffrage association recognized the constitutionality of the bill and for many years kept a standing committee on it but they did not believe congress ever would accept it. its advocates claimed that if members of congress had women for their constituents they would soon see that the states enfranchised them. the national leaders held that if women could elect members of congress it would not take them long to compel the submission of a federal amendment and that the members would not put this power into their hands. they held also that it would be just as much a violation of the state's right to determine its own voters as would the federal amendment itself. the southern woman suffrage conference, or association, however, had a committee to further this u. s. elections bill. at the annual convention of the national american association in its congressional committee was instructed to include this bill in the measures which it promoted. it was re-endorsed at the conventions of and . miss clay went to washington and lobbied for it with all the prestige of her family back of her and with all her commanding ability, supporting it by unanswerable argument. members often presented it in both houses but it never was reported by a committee. national college equal suffrage league. while miss maud wood of boston was a senior in radcliffe college her attention was directed to woman suffrage by the efforts of its women opponents in cambridge to enlist the college girls on their side. later, hearing a speech in favor of it by miss alice stone blackwell, she associated herself with the massachusetts suffrage association, spoke at its next annual convention and was drawn into its work. after hearing and meeting miss susan b. anthony she felt a deeper obligation of service to the cause for which miss anthony and her associates had sacrificed so much and she thought that college women especially should pay their debt to those who had made their education possible by helping them fight the battle for woman suffrage. in , with the help of mrs. inez haynes gillmore, also a radcliffe student, miss wood, now mrs. park, founded the massachusetts college equal suffrage league and steps were at once taken to form leagues in other states. in the national american woman suffrage association held its annual convention in baltimore and under the auspices of dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr, there occurred that remarkable "college women's evening," when before an audience that filled the theater women professors from the largest colleges for women in the united states paid their tributes to miss anthony and announced their allegiance to her cause. it was decided at this meeting that there ought to be a national association of college women, the first steps toward it were taken, and mrs. park was appointed to organize leagues in the states. in a call was sent out signed by dr. thomas, president mary e. woolley of mt. holyoke college: miss mary e. garrett, a founder of the johns hopkins medical school; mrs. elsie clews parsons, ph.d. of barnard college; miss caroline e. lexow (barnard), president of the new york college equal suffrage league, and miss florence garvin of the rhode island league, to meet for organization. the time and place selected were during the annual convention of the national american woman suffrage association in buffalo, n. y., october - . by this time college leagues had been formed in fifteen states extending across the country to california. on october , in the beautiful club house of the woman's twentieth century club, with delegates present from most of these states, the national college league was organized with the following officers: president, dr. thomas; professor sophonisba breckinridge of chicago university at the head of a list of five vice-presidents; secretary, miss lexow; treasurer, dr. margaret long (smith) of denver; mrs. park was made chairman of the organization committee. the purpose of the league was announced to be "to promote equal suffrage sentiment among college women and men both before and after graduation." it became auxiliary to the national association and its annual conventions were to be held at the same time and place as those of the association. in its early existence office space was given in the national suffrage headquarters in new york city. for the next nine years this national college league was a vital force in the movement for woman suffrage. it soon had the largest voting delegation at the national suffrage conventions except that of new york. dr. thomas remained its president and dr. anna howard shaw its honorary vice-president. miss martha gruening and miss florence allen (now judge of the court of common pleas in cleveland, o.), were secretaries, and from mrs. ethel puffer howes (smith) of new york city. organizers were sent throughout the states to form new leagues and lecturers of note were engaged to address league meetings. among the latter were professor frances squire potter of the university of minnesota; dr. b. o. aylesworth and mrs. helen loring grenfell, state superintendent of public instruction of colorado; mrs. charlotte perkins gilman of new york and mrs. philip snowden of england. dr. shaw spoke a number of times. in a lecture tour among the colleges was arranged for mrs. emmeline pankhurst. literature and letters were sent to colleges and to graduates. in , for instance, twenty colleges in new york state were supplied and letters were sent to a thousand graduates in new jersey, campaigns being in progress in those states. during the iowa campaign in the colleges of that state received , leaflets. travelling libraries of twenty-five volumes relating to suffrage were circulated among the colleges. the most important achievement of an individual league was that in california in . under the presidency of miss charlotte anita whitney the work of the league of over a thousand members was a large factor in the success of the campaign for a woman suffrage amendment. in , during the second new york campaign, miss m. louise grant (columbia), under the auspices of the national and state leagues, made forty-five speeches to arouse the college women, which contributed to the victory for the suffrage amendment in november. the gaining of the franchise in this influential state made a federal amendment a certainty of the not distant future and in december the following official notice was sent to the branches of the national league: at the meeting of the annual council of the national college equal suffrage league, held at the new ebbitt hotel in washington, d. c., on dec. , , it was unanimously voted on recommendation of the president and executive secretary to close its work and go out of existence. the delegates present, the officers, and many other suffragists who had been consulted were of the opinion that the objects for which the league was originally organized had been fully attained and that there was no reason for it to continue its work as a separate suffrage organization.... at the time when the league began its work the subject of suffrage could scarcely be mentioned in gatherings of college students and college faculties and was forbidden even as a topic for discussion in the annual conventions of the association of collegiate alumnæ, but in the nine years that have elapsed since then an overwhelming change of opinion has taken place. many colleges in which it was planned to organize chapters have stated that there is no need for them, as practically all the members of their faculties and most of their students are already suffragists. at the last biennial convention of the association of collegiate alumnæ held in washington, d. c., in april, , by a unanimous vote it not only reaffirmed its belief in woman suffrage but urged its members to win it for all american women by working for the federal amendment. in bringing about this revolution in educated opinion we are happy to believe that the national college equal suffrage league has played an important part.... there are belonging to the national league , members enrolled in over fifty state leagues and chapters and it suggests that they become "federal amendment suffrage clubs" and arrange for speakers and student debates on the amendment.... its officers wish to make an urgent appeal to all its leagues and chapters and to every one of its individual members to put their whole force behind the drive for this amendment.... we can perform no more patriotic service for our country or for the world than to win woman suffrage while we are working with all our might to win the war.[ ] this notice contained a statement that the small dues and special gifts had never been sufficient to meet the expenses of the league and said: "with the exception of $ lent by one of its former officers all the loans and debts of the national college league, amounting to $ , were paid off by its president, who stated that in thus financing its work during the past few years she believed she was making the most valuable financial contribution that she could make to the cause of woman suffrage." friends' equal rights association.[ ] the society of friends always has held advanced views on the woman question and was for a long time the only religious body which gave women equal rights with men in the church. women of this sect were naturally leaders in the great movement for the emancipation of women educationally, professionally and politically. lucretia mott stepped forth almost alone at first but soon susan b. anthony and lucy stone (both of quaker ancestry) stood by her side, powerful in vision to see and will to do and dedicated to their great task. with such heritage comes unusual responsibility, and, feeling the surge of this tremendous wave everywhere for human rights, the society of friends at its biennial or general conference (liberal branch) representing the seven yearly meetings of the united states and canada--philadelphia, baltimore, new york, ohio, indiana, illinois and genesee (western new york and canada)--held at chautauqua, n. y., th month, th day, , through the union for philanthropic labor, created a new department to be known as women in government and recommended to the committees of the various yearly meetings that they "should work in this direction." before the adjournment of the conference mariana w. chapman of brooklyn was made superintendent of the department and the name was changed to equal rights for women. this official action committed all the yearly meetings of this branch of friends to the endorsement of political rights for women. realizing the need for increased enthusiasm and active participation in the imminent struggle for the enfranchisement of women, members of the new york yearly meeting organized the state friends' equal rights association, with annual membership dues to meet necessary expenses. a definite list of members was thus made, who could be called upon when opportunity for service occurred. at westbury (long island) quarterly meeting in a proposal was approved that this association should ask to co-operate as an auxiliary with the national american woman suffrage association and at the following annual convention of that body in washington, d. c., it was represented by five delegates. in december, , mrs. chapman, president of the new york association, addressed a meeting in philadelphia and a branch was formed there, which in less than three months numbered about members, with susan w. janney as president. the baltimore yearly meeting quickly followed with a paid-up membership of , which increased the following year to , with elizabeth b. passmore president. in the entire dues-paying membership was over . the new york association sent letters to members of the state senate and assembly bearing on woman suffrage bills and was active in all state suffrage campaigns. much energy was devoted to public meetings and literature. the philadelphia and baltimore associations worked mainly along educational lines. this year the baltimore branch sent out , leaflets--for equal rights. the philadelphia association reorganized in , with an enrolled instead of a paid membership. their yearly meeting is a large body with a membership scattered over pennsylvania, new jersey, delaware and the eastern shore of maryland.... the associations continued their work, holding meetings and "round tables," especially at times of annual and biennial conferences, one of the most effective of these meetings being held at saratoga in , addressed by mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage alliance. the subject was kept constantly under consideration by the society of friends at large and in local gatherings, such as monthly and quarterly meetings, where it was brought up in regular order as one of the departments of philanthropic labor or social service to be reported upon. each branch held a meeting at the time of its yearly meeting. a business meeting of the whole association (branches and general membership) was always held at the biennial conference of the seven yearly meetings. usually a fine speaker was engaged to address the conference at a public meeting numbering from to , . the superintendent of the department for equal rights in the general conference was always the president of the friends' equal rights association as a whole and made the contact between the society of friends and the national american woman suffrage association. in mrs. effie l. d. mcafee, a member of the new york branch, was sent by the friends' equal rights association to the congress of the international alliance held at stockholm, sweden, where, in honor of a sect so long identified with the cause of woman suffrage, she was given a place on the program and filled it most acceptably. in the philadelphia branch returned to the regular dues-paying basis, with rebecca webb holmes of swarthmore as president. the new york branch, notwithstanding the enfranchisement of the women of that state in , continued its organization in order to help the less fortunate sisters, with p. francena maine as president. the illinois yearly meeting in added to the membership of the friends' equal rights association. the association usually has been represented at the annual conventions of the n. a. w. s. a. its presidents have been: mrs. chapman, new york; lucy sutton, baltimore; mary bentley thomas, ednor, md.; ellen h. e. price, philadelphia; anne webb janney, baltimore. the specific task of the association has been to get a clear utterance on woman suffrage from the different yearly meetings, representing in total membership about , . invariably they have endorsed the principle and any pending legislation in favor. affiliation with the national association has been deeply appreciated by its members, as to be an integral part of one of the glorious world forces is a privilege not to be lightly held. the mississippi valley conferences.[ ] for half a dozen years toward the end of the long contest for the enfranchisement of women-- - inclusive--an organization that played a considerable part in it was the mississippi valley conference. from the time that the national suffrage association was formed in to its annual conventions were held in washington, and from that date to nine of the seventeen were held in eastern states. because of the expense of travel the representation of western women was very small compared to that of the eastern section of the country. all the national presidents were from the east and in order that the officers might attend board meetings and conferences most of them were eastern women. those of the west keenly realized the need of greater opportunity of getting together, becoming acquainted, developing leadership and planning their work, as all of the suffrage campaigns at this time took place in the western states. this was felt more especially by the women of the middle west, as many of the states in the far west had given the vote to their women. finally in the initiative was taken by a group of women in chicago, headed by mrs. ella s. stewart, six years president of the illinois suffrage association; miss jane addams, national vice president, and mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, a former state and national officer, to form an organization in the central part of the country that could hold occasional conferences. they asked the presidents of the state associations in that section if they would join in a call for a meeting in chicago for this purpose and sixteen responded in the affirmative. mrs. stewart, as chairman of the committee, took charge of the arrangements, assisted by mrs. mary r. plummer, and prepared the program. the meeting took place in la salle hotel, may - , with the following states represented by women prominent in the movement for woman suffrage: illinois, wisconsin, minnesota, michigan, indiana, ohio, kentucky, tennessee, alabama, mississippi, louisiana, missouri, kansas, oklahoma, iowa, nebraska, south dakota, mrs. elvira downey, president of the illinois suffrage association, presiding. there were three sessions daily with large audiences and the _woman's journal_ said: "every session was like a great study class with teachers and students, questions, answers and discussion. it was not an occasion for a display of oratory but a practical and business-like conference." all phases of the work for suffrage were considered and especially the management of campaigns, which were now frequent. the third day a meeting was held in milwaukee, arranged by miss gwendolen brown willis. the great need and value of such an organization was clearly apparent and the mississippi valley conference was organized with mrs. stewart president. there was no constitution or fixed rules, it was simply decided to hold a meeting the next year and a committee to arrange for it appointed: mrs. stewart, chairman; miss kate gordon of louisiana and mrs. maud c. stockwell of minnesota. the second conference met in st. louis april - , , in the buckingham hotel, at the call of nineteen state presidents. mrs. george gellhorn, president of the missouri association, had charge of the arrangements, with a corps of committee chairmen. mrs. stewart presided and the conference was welcomed by mrs. david m. o'neil. the three daily sessions were crowded with eager, interested women. at one evening mass meeting in the sheldon memorial governor joseph k. folk made an address. miss harriet e. grim of illinois was elected president and mrs. gellhorn and mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs, president of the alabama suffrage association, were appointed to assist her in arranging for the next conference. the third conference took place in des moines, iowa, march - , , in the savery hotel, with the presidents of twenty state suffrage associations among the delegates. it opened with a mass meeting on sunday afternoon in berchel theater and an overflow meeting had to be held for the hundreds who could not gain admittance. governor george w. clark, miss jane addams, rabbi mannheimer, miss dunlap and mrs. stewart were the speakers. in the morning and evening most of the pulpits in the city were filled by delegates. the conference was welcomed monday by miss flora dunlap, president of the iowa suffrage association and mrs. marie m. carroll, president of the des moines woman's club, and at the mass meeting in the evening by mayor james r. hanna. several hundred delegates were in attendance and a valuable program of work occupied the sessions. mrs. harriet taylor upton, president of the ohio association, was elected president and with miss laura clay and mrs. john pyle, presidents of the kentucky and south dakota suffrage associations, was appointed to arrange for the next conference. the fourth conference was held at indianapolis, march - , , in the hotel claypool, with dr. amelia r. keller, president of the equal franchise league, chairman of the committee of arrangements. it opened with a mass meeting sunday afternoon in murat theater, dr. keller presiding. an address of welcome was made by james a. ogden in behalf of the chamber of commerce, to which mrs. upton responded. the principal speaker was rosika schwimmer of hungary, formerly an officer of the international woman suffrage alliance. presidents and delegates from twenty-two state suffrage associations carried out the usual comprehensive program. mrs. florence bennett peterson of chicago was elected president, with mrs. w. e. barkley and miss annette finnegan, presidents of the nebraska and texas suffrage associations, to assist in the plans for the next meeting. the conference of met in minneapolis, may - , four days now being none too long to carry out the important program of work. mrs. andreas ueland, president of the minnesota suffrage association, was chairman of the large committee of arrangements. the conference opened with a mass meeting in the auditorium sunday afternoon, mrs. ueland presiding. the invocation was pronounced by dr. cyrus northrop, president emeritus of the state university. the conference was welcomed by mayor wallace g. nye and mrs. peterson responded. professor maria l. sanford of the state university; president frank nelson of minnesota college; mrs. nellie mcclung of alberta, can.; mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international suffrage alliance and the national american association, and others made addresses. an evening mass meeting was held in st. paul. at a banquet attended by guests dr. george e. vincent, president of the state university, made his first declaration in favor of woman suffrage. twenty-six states were now members of the organization and nearly all of those who took part at this time were prominent in the activities of their various states. the _woman's journal_ said: "it was a magnificent and glorified work conference." mrs. peterson was continued as president and mrs. ueland and miss elizabeth j. hauser of the ohio suffrage association were placed on her committee, the latter to act as chairman for arranging the next conference. the sixth annual meeting of what had now become an important factor in the movement for woman suffrage took place at columbus, o., may - , , in hotel deshler. at the sunday afternoon mass meeting in memorial hall, the hon. william littleford of cincinnati, president of the ohio men's league for woman suffrage, was in the chair and a number of eminent men and women were on the platform. the speakers were governor james m. cox and mrs. catt. the governor strongly endorsed the movement and pledged his support. mrs. catt gave a masterly review of its progress throughout the world. twenty-one states were represented on the program. an important feature of this, as of several preceding conferences, was the reports of what women had been able to accomplish in the many states where they were now enfranchised. organization and political action in order to carry state amendments formed the principal theme of discussion. mrs. john r. leighty of kansas was elected president with mrs. ueland and mrs. grace julian clarke of indianapolis on her committee to arrange for the next conference. the shadow of war rested over the meeting, yet in all the speeches was a note of victory for woman suffrage, which evidently was not far distant. it was planned to hold the next conference in sioux falls, may - , , as south dakota was in the midst of an amendment campaign, but mrs. catt called the executive council of the national association to meet at indianapolis during the indiana state convention april - , to plan action on the federal amendment, which seemed near passing. this required the attendance of its members from every state and as many of them did not wish to spare the time and money for another meeting so soon the conference was given up. in the convention of the national association was held in st. louis and in in chicago, which made the conference unnecessary, and then the federal amendment was ratified and the long contest was ended. the southern woman suffrage conference. the southern woman suffrage conference was formed as the result of a call sent out in by women of the southern states to the governors of those states to meet them in conference and prepare for the extension of woman suffrage by state enactment rather than by federal amendment. women from every southern state signed the call, although in north and south carolina and florida not a vestige of suffrage organization existed. miss kate gordon, who inaugurated the conference, felt impelled to begin some distinctly southern suffrage movement when listening to the effort of the speaker of the house of representatives in louisiana, to secure the ratification of the income tax amendment upon the sole and only ground that it was a democratic party measure. to make woman suffrage a democratic party measure seemed then the logical field for immediate, intensive propaganda. the congressional committee of the national american association was vitalizing into activity the federal woman suffrage amendment. what more logical from a political standpoint than for the southern suffrage forces to advance with a flank movement in harmony with the traditions and policies of the democratic party? in november, , there assembled in new orleans the organization force of the southern conference, with representatives from almost all of the southern states. the platform adopted was primarily for state's right suffrage. miss gordon was elected president and miss laura clay of kentucky vice-president; mrs. john b. parker of louisiana corresponding secretary; mrs. nellie nugent somerville of mississippi treasurer. the plan of campaign consisted of the establishment of headquarters in new orleans; the creating of an active press bureau and the holding of conferences in the southern states, particularly those where no suffrage organization existed. it was originally hoped that the national association would encourage with active support the development of this specialized suffrage work but it refused any financial assistance. the founders undaunted pursued their own plan of financing, when suddenly through the generosity of mrs. oliver h. p. belmont of new york the wheels were set in motion. under caution that secrecy be maintained, mrs. belmont, a southern born woman, attracted by the practicability of the plan, endorsed it by sending a check for $ , . later at a meeting of the conference in chattanooga, tenn., she said: "i plead guilty to so strong a desire for the political emancipation of women that i am not at all particular as to how it shall be granted. i have sworn allegiance to the national amendment for woman suffrage, while the southern states conference, of which i am proud to be a member, holds rigidly to the principle of state's rights. as a southerner i thoroughly understand the problems which create this attitude and if that method proves effective i shall gratefully accept the results." in may, , the headquarters were opened in new orleans with mrs. ida porter boyer of pennsylvania as their secretary. within three months , southern newspapers were using the specially prepared weekly editorials and fillers sent out. in october was launched the _new southern citizen_, a monthly suffrage magazine, which made its initial trip with a distinctively southern suffrage appeal. this little arsenal of facts reached every legislator in the south prior to the sessions of the legislatures. special bills endorsed by suffragists or women were made the theme of weekly news articles, which called out editorials by wholesale. to illustrate: when mississippi women were making an effort to secure an amendment to enable women to serve on public boards, an enthusiastic mississippian wrote to the conference of the support given by local papers in their editorials and general comments. every word printed had been furnished by the news bulletins from the conference headquarters. the work of the southern conference would be incomplete without special mention of the valuable services of mrs. wesley martin stoner of washington, d. c. mrs. stoner had been sent as the special representative of the national association's congressional committee to make a survey of southern conditions, in the winter of - , and reported that her observations led her to believe that the best results would be obtained by a furtherance of the policies of the southern conference and from that time she became a valued worker in its ranks. the conference felt that in a great measure its chief purpose had been achieved when the democratic party, in its national platform of , went on record for woman suffrage by state enactment. it kept up an active organization throughout the south, however, until may, , when the war situation demanded caution in continuing a movement which was costing over $ a month. an additional reason for discontinuance was that miss gordon, who had been donating all of her time to the work, was obliged to give attention to her own business affairs. [prepared by miss kate gordon.] international and national men's leagues for woman suffrage. the national men's league for woman suffrage in the united states was the outgrowth of the state league in new york, formed in , an account of which is in the new york chapter. national leagues were afterwards formed in other countries. in great britain the earl of lytton was president and among the vice-presidents were earl russell, the lord bishop of lincoln, sir john cockburn, k.c., m.g., forbes robertson, israel zangwill and others of prominence in various fields. at the time of the congress of the international woman suffrage alliance in stockholm in the summer of delegates from these national leagues held a convention there and formed an international men's league. the united states league was represented by frederick nathan of new york. a second international convention of national men's leagues took place in london in , the sessions continuing one week. the third convention occurred in budapest in june, , when the international woman suffrage alliance held its congress and the delegates were warmly welcomed by the men's league of hungary. in came the world war. at the next congress of the alliance, in geneva in , the international men's league was represented by a fraternal delegate, colonel william mansfeldt, president of the national league of the netherlands. the new york men's league soon received requests for information from far and wide and it was evident that such a league was needed in every state. correspondence followed and in omar e. garwood, assistant district attorney of colorado, came to new york. an association of influential men had been formed in that state two years before to refute the misrepresentations of the effects of woman suffrage and he was interested in the new york men's league. while here he assisted in organizing a national league and consented to act as secretary. james lees laidlaw, a banker and public-spirited man of new york city, who was at the head of the state men's league, was the unanimous choice for president and continued in this office until the federal woman suffrage amendment was ratified in . in a comparatively short time men's leagues were formed in california, colorado, connecticut, florida, georgia, illinois, iowa, kansas, kentucky, maine, maryland, massachusetts, michigan, montana, nebraska, nevada, new hampshire, new jersey, north dakota, oregon, pennsylvania, tennessee, texas and virginia. as the years went by leagues were formed in other states and were more or less active in furthering the cause of woman suffrage according to their leaders. their officers assisted the campaigns in various states, spoke at hearings by committees of congress and sent delegations to the conventions of the national american suffrage association. here an evening was always set apart for their meetings, at which mr. laidlaw presided, and addresses were made by men well known nationally and locally. a delegation from the national league marched in the big suffrage parade in washington march , . in every state the members were of so much prominence as to give much prestige to the movement. for instance in pennsylvania judge dimner beeber was president and the right reverend james h. darlington a leading member. in massachusetts edwin d. mead was president; former secretary of the navy john d. long vice-president; john graham brooks treasurer; francis h. garrison chairman of the executive committee. a similar roster could be given in other states. in new york the most eminent men in many lines were connected with the league. the leagues remained in existence until their services were no longer needed. the national woman's party. the national woman's party was organized in the spring of under the name of the congressional union for woman suffrage. its original purpose was to support the work of the congressional committee of the national american woman suffrage association and its officers were the members of that committee: miss alice paul (n. j.); miss crystal eastman (wis.); miss lucy burns (n. y.); mrs. lawrence lewis (penn.); mrs. mary beard (n. y.). in successive years names added to its executive committee were those of mesdames oliver h. p. belmont, william kent, gilson gardner, donald r. hooker, john winters brannan, harriot stanton blatch, florence bayard hilles, j. a. h. hopkins, thomas n. hepburn, richard wainwright; miss elsie hill, miss anne martin and others. a large advisory committee was formed. the object of the union was the same as that of the national association--to secure an amendment to the federal constitution which would give universal woman suffrage. at the annual convention of the association in december, , a new congressional committee was appointed and the congressional union became an independent organization. its headquarters were in washington, d. c. it never was regularly organized by states, districts, etc., although there were branches in various states. the work was centralized in the washington headquarters and the forces were easily mobilized. the exact membership probably was never known by anybody. it was a small but very active organization and miss paul was the supreme head with no restrictions. a great deal of initiative was allowed to the workers in other parts of the country who were often governed by the exigencies of the situation. after the first few years annual conventions were held in washington. while the principal object of the national association always was a federal amendment, for which it worked unceasingly, it realized that congress would not submit one until a number of states had made the experiment and their enfranchised women could bring political pressure to bear on the members. therefore the association campaigned in the states for amendments to their constitutions. the union did no work of this kind but when it was organized nine states had granted full suffrage to women, the time was ripe for a big "drive" for a federal amendment and it could utilize this tremendous backing. within the next five years six more states were added to the list, including the powerful one of new york. in addition the national association, cooperating with the women in the states, had secured in fourteen others the right for their women to vote for presidential electors. the federal amendment was a certainty of a not distant future but there was yet a great deal of work to do. in carrying on this work, while the two organizations followed similar lines in many respects there were some marked differences. the national association was strictly non-partisan, made no distinction of parties, and followed only constitutional methods. the congressional union held the majority party in congress wholly responsible for the success or failure of the federal amendment and undertook to prevent the re-election of its members. in the congressional elections of its representatives toured the states where women could vote and urged them to defeat all democratic candidates regardless of their attitude toward woman suffrage. this policy was followed in subsequent campaigns. in the union held a convention in san francisco during the panama-pacific exposition and sent envoys across the country with a petition to president wilson and congress collected at its headquarters during the exposition. in it held a three days' convention in chicago during the national republican convention and at this time organized the national woman's party with the federal suffrage amendment as the only plank in its platform and a campaign committee was formed with miss anne martin of nevada as chairman. at a meeting in washington in march, , the name congressional union was officially changed to national woman's party and miss paul was elected chairman. on jan. , , the union began the "picketing" of the white house, delegations of women with banners standing at the gates all day "as a perpetual reminder to president wilson that they held him responsible for their disfranchisement." they stood there unmolested for three months and then the united states entered the war. conditions were no longer normal, feeling was intense and there were protests from all parts of the country against this demonstration in front of the home of the president. in june the police began arresting them for "obstructing the traffic" and during the next six months over were arrested representing many states. they refused to pay their fines in the police court and were sent to the jail and workhouse for from three days to seven months. these were unsanitary, they were roughly treated, "hunger strikes" and forcible feeding followed, there was public indignation and on november president wilson pardoned all of them and the "picketing" was resumed. congress delayed action on the federal amendment and members of the union held meetings in lafayette square and burned the president's speeches. later they burned them and a paper effigy of the president on the sidewalk in front of the white house. arrests and imprisonments followed. while these violent tactics were being followed the union worked also along legitimate lines, organized parades, lobbied in congress, attended committee hearings, went to political conventions, interviewed candidates and worked unceasingly. when the amendment was submitted for ratification it transferred its activities to the legislatures and the presidential candidates. after the federal amendment was proclaimed a convention was called to meet in washington feb. - , , and decide whether the organization should disband or continue its work until women stood on the same legal, civil, and economic basis as men. the convention decided on the latter course. the name was retained. miss paul insisted upon retiring from office and miss elsie hill, who had long been an officer, was elected chairman. a large executive committee was named, headed by mrs. oliver h. p. belmont of new york. an impressive ceremony took place in the rotunda of the capitol on february , the st birthday of susan b. anthony, when the party presented to congress a marble group of miss anthony, mrs. stanton and lucretia mott, the work of mrs. adelaide johnson, with representatives of sixty organizations of women taking part. it was officially accepted by congress. the national woman's party will undertake to secure a federal amendment removing all disabilities on account of sex or marriage and will also have bills for this purpose introduced in state legislatures. in mrs. belmont, who had been the largest contributor, gave $ , for the purchase of a historic mansion in washington to be used for permanent headquarters and for a national political clubhouse for women. at a new election mrs. belmont was made president; miss paul vice-president and miss hill chairman of the executive committee. associations opposed to woman suffrage. the first society of women opposed to the suffrage seems to have been formed in washington, d. c., in , with the wife of general sherman, the wife of admiral dahlgren and mrs. almira lincoln phelps, a sister of miss emma willard, as officers. their first public effort on record was two letters to the washington _post_ published in and a memorial from mrs. dahlgren in to a senate committee which was to grant a hearing to the suffragists on a federal amendment. an anti-suffrage committee was formed in massachusetts in the early ' 's with mrs. charles d. homans as chairman. about twenty prominent women signed a remonstrance against a state suffrage amendment, which was first presented to the legislature in and each year afterwards when there was a resolution before it for this purpose. an association opposed to the further extension of suffrage to women was organized in massachusetts in may, , with mrs. j. elliott cabot president and mrs. charles e. guild secretary; laurence minot, treasurer. executive committee, chairman, mrs. henry m. whitney. a paper called the _remonstrance_, started about , was published quarterly in boston, edited for some years by frank foxcroft. it ceased publication october, , at which time mrs. j. m. codman was editor. in , when a convention for revising the constitution of new york state was held, anti-suffrage committees were formed in brooklyn, april ; in new york city, april ; in albany, april . these committees combined to form the new york state association opposed to woman suffrage on april , , with mrs. francis m. scott, president. the other states in which there was an association or committee in late years were as follows: alabama, connecticut, delaware, georgia, illinois, iowa, maine, maryland, michigan, minnesota, new hampshire, nebraska, new jersey, north dakota, ohio, pennsylvania, vermont, virginia, washington, d. c., wisconsin. the national association opposed to woman suffrage was organized in new york city in november, , with the following officers: president, mrs. arthur m. dodge; vice-presidents, miss mary a. ames, boston, and mrs. horace brock, philadelphia; secretary, mrs. william b. glover, fairfield, conn.; treasurer, mrs. robert garrett, baltimore. mrs. james w. wadsworth, jr., succeeded mrs. dodge in july, , and was followed by miss mary g. kilbreth in . the aim of the association was "to increase general interest in the opposition to universal woman suffrage and to educate the public in the belief that women can be more useful to the community without the ballot than if affiliated with and influenced by party politics." it held mass meetings during campaigns; sent delegates to hearings given by committees of congress on a federal suffrage amendment and other matters connected with national woman suffrage; also to legislatures to oppose state amendments; sent speakers and workers to states where amendment campaigns were in progress and circulated vast quantities of literature. the national headquarters were in new york city at west th st. until when they were moved to washington, d. c. three papers were published, the _anti-suffragist_ in albany; the _woman's protest_ in new york from may, to march , , when it was succeeded by the _woman patriot_, published in washington. the man suffrage association. it is difficult to get statistics of the men's association to prevent woman suffrage. everett p. wheeler, a prominent lawyer of new york city, always the moving spirit of the association and its branches, sent the following information: "the man suffrage association, opposed to political suffrage for women, was organized in new york in at the request of the state woman's anti-suffrage association. its officers were: everett p. wheeler, chairman; executive committee: walter c. childs, arthur b. church, john r. dospassos, chas. s. fairchild, eugene d. hawkins, henry w. hayden, george douglas miller, robert k. prentice, louis t. romaine, herbert l. satterlee, george w. seligman, prof. munroe smith, francis lynde stetson, john c. ten eyck, gilbert m. tucker, dr. talcott williams, george w. wickersham. "the association issued many pamphlets, briefs, legal arguments, articles and speeches by prominent men, editorials, etc. the case against woman suffrage, a pamphlet of pages, was prepared as a manual for writers, lecturers and debaters and contained historical sketches, statistics, opinions of men and women, bibliography, answers to suffrage arguments--a mass of information from the viewpoint of opponents. "the association continued in existence until after the adoption of the suffrage amendment to the state constitution of new york in november, . it was not national in scope but was in affiliation with similar societies in other states. the name of the new jersey association was men's anti-suffrage league and its principal officers were: colonel william libbey, president; edward q. keasbey, vice-president; walter c. ellis, secretary; john c. eisele, treasurer. there was also an association in maryland and other states. "the name of the new york association was not changed but in november, , a new one called the american constitutional league, was formed. the reason for the change was that the question so far as the constitution of new york was concerned had been settled by vote and agitation was being pressed with vigor in congress for the proposal by that body of a national suffrage amendment. this league is still in existence ( ). it was active in opposing the adoption of the federal amendment, was heard before committees of congress and afterwards before committees of the legislatures opposing ratification. it is national in its scope and has members in fifteen states. "when it was announced that the legislature of west virginia had passed a resolution ratifying the federal amendment, the league presented to secretary of state colby the evidence that it had not been legally adopted. this evidence he declared he had no power to consider but was bound by any certificate he might receive from the secretary of west virginia. the league also urged upon him that under the constitution of tennessee, when the legislature was called in extra session it had no power to ratify the amendment. this evidence he also declined to consider. thereupon a suit was brought in the supreme court of the district of columbia to restrain him from issuing the proclamation of ratification. the ground was taken that the proposed amendment was not within the amending power of article v of the national constitution; that its first ten amendments form a bill of rights which can only be changed by the unanimous consent of all the states. it was contended that it was essential to a republican form of government that the states should have the right to regulate and determine the qualifications for suffrage for the election of their own officers and that the guarantee in the national constitution of a republican form of government would be violated if this amendment should be held to be valid. the bill was dismissed in the supreme court on several grounds, partly technical, and the decree was affirmed in the district court of appeals apparently on the ground that the proclamation of ratification was not final. an appeal from this decree is now pending in the supreme court of the united states. all this litigation has been conducted by the american constitutional league. "the new york headquarters are in mr. wheeler's office in william street; the washington headquarters are where the official anti-suffrage organ, the _woman patriot_, is published. while the declared object of the league is 'to protect the federal constitution from further invasion' the only effort it has made is to defeat woman suffrage. the hon. charles s. fairchild, secretary of the treasury under president cleveland, is president; honorary vice-presidents, dr. lyman abbott, francis lynde stetson, herbert l. satterlee, george w. wickersham, john c. milburn, george w. seligman, the rev. anson p. atterbury and dr. william p. manning; mr. wheeler, chairman of the executive committee." during the struggle to secure ratification of the federal suffrage amendment from the tennessee legislature in august, , mr. wheeler went to that state and a branch of the league was formed there. the strongest possible fight against it was made. chancellor vertrees wrote articles and delivered speeches against it. professor g. w. dyer of vanderbilt university; frank p. bond, a nashville attorney, and others made a speaking tour of the state. when governor roberts sent the certificate of ratification to secretary of state colby, speaker of the house seth m. walker headed a delegation to washington to protest against its being accepted. failing in this they went on to connecticut to try to prevent ratification by its legislature. in maryland the men's anti-suffrage association took the name of league for state defense. having defeated ratification in the legislature of that state a delegation went to the west virginia legislature in a vain effort to prevent it there. after maryland women had voted in , suit was brought in the court of common pleas to invalidate the action in the name of judge oscar leser and twenty members of the league's board of managers. receiving an adverse decision they carried the case to the court of appeals, which sustained the decision. mr. wheeler and william l. marbury, george arnold frick and thomas f. cadwalader of baltimore represented the league. they carried the case to the u.s. supreme court, where it remains at present.[ ] footnotes: [ ] the following were the officers of the national college equal suffrage league at the time it disbanded: president, m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college; first vice-president, dr. anna howard shaw, honorary president of the national american woman suffrage association; vice-presidents: mary e. woolley, president of mount holyoke college; ellen f. pendleton, president of wellesley college; lucy m. salmon, professor of history in vassar college; lillian welch, professor of physiology and hygiene in goucher college (baltimore); virginia c. gildersleeve, dean of barnard college (columbia university); lois k. mathews, dean of women in the university of wisconsin; eva johnston, dean of women in the university of missouri; florence m. fitch, dean of college women and professor of biblical literature, oberlin college; maud wood park, boston; executive secretary, mrs. ethel puffer howes, new york city; treasurer, mrs. raymond b. morgan, president washington, d. c., collegiate alumnæ. ethel puffer howes, m. carey thomas, executive secretary. president. [ ] the history is indebted for this sketch to anne webb (mrs. o. edward) janney, president of the friends' equal rights association and superintendent of the department of equal rights of the committee of philanthropic labor of the friends' general conference. [ ] detailed accounts of these conferences may be found in the _woman's journal_ (boston) of the dates following those on which they were held. [ ] as this volume goes to press the u. s. supreme court on feb. , , rendered a unanimous adverse decision in both cases and declared that the federal amendment had been legally ratified. chapter xxii. the league of woman voters.[ ] the league of women voters was first mentioned at the convention of the national american woman suffrage association in washington, d. c., dec. - , , when its president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, outlined a plan to unite the women of the equal suffrage states. she suggested organization committees of five women in each, these committees to be united in a central body known as the national league of women voters. upon the enfranchisement of its women each state would automatically join the organization, which would provide a way to retain suffrage associations for work on the federal amendment and various reforms. it was voted that a committee be appointed to undertake such a plan of organization. [handbook of convention, page .] the league of women voters was organized at the national convention in st. louis march - , , in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the first grant of suffrage on equal terms with men in the world (in wyoming) and the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the first national woman suffrage association. women were eligible at this time to vote for president in twenty-eight states. the submission of the federal woman suffrage amendment was promised by the sixty-sixth congress and early ratification was assured, so that the object for which the association had labored through half a century of arduous sacrifice and toil was nearly attained. the natural question, therefore, was, should the association make plans to dissolve immediately upon ratification or was there reason for continuance? on the opening night of the convention mrs. catt answered this question and gave the purpose and aims of the new organization in her address the nation calls. she said in part: every suffragist will hope for a memorial dedicated to the memory of our brave departed leaders, to the sacrifices they made for our cause, to the scores of victories won.... i venture to propose one whose benefits will bless our entire nation and bring happiness to the humblest of our citizens--the most natural, the most appropriate and the most patriotic memorial that could be suggested--a league of women voters to "finish the fight" and to aid in the reconstruction of the nation. what could be more natural than that women having attained their political independence should desire to give service in token of their gratitude? what could be more appropriate than that such women should do for the coming generation what those of a preceding did for them? what could be more patriotic than that these women should use their new freedom to make the country safer for their children and their children's children? let us then raise up a league of women voters, the name and form of organization to be determined by the members themselves; a league that shall be non-partisan and non-sectarian and consecrated to three chief aims: . to use its influence to obtain the full enfranchisement of the women of every state in our own republic and to reach out across the seas in aid of the woman's struggle for her own in every land. . to remove the remaining legal discriminations against women in the codes and constitutions of the several states in order that the feet of coming women may find these stumbling blocks removed. . to make our democracy so safe for the nation and so safe for the world that every citizen may feel secure and great men will acknowledge the worthiness of the american republic to lead. the following ten points covered by mrs. catt in her address were adopted later as the first aims of the league of women voters and made the plan of work for the committee on american citizenship: . compulsory education in every state for all children between six and sixteen during nine months of each year. . education of adults by extension classes of the public schools. . english made the national language by having it compulsory in all public and private schools where courses in general education are conducted. . higher qualifications for citizenship and more sympathetic and impressive ceremonials for naturalization. . direct citizenship for women, not through marriage, as a qualification for the vote. . naturalization for married women to be made possible. . compulsory publication in foreign language newspapers of lessons in citizenship. . schools of citizenship in conjunction with the public schools, a certificate from such schools to be a qualification for naturalization and for the vote. . an oath of allegiance to the united states to be one qualification for the vote for every citizen native and foreign born. . an educational qualification for the vote in all states after a definite date to be determined. with mrs. catt in the chair and miss katharine pierce of oklahoma secretary, after full discussion the league of women voters was launched to replace the national american woman suffrage association when the work for which the latter was organized was fully accomplished. dr. anna howard shaw, honorary president of the association, expressed herself as "whole-heartedly in favor of the proposed action." [handbook of convention, page .] mrs. charles h. brooks of kansas was elected national chairman. the recommendations of the sub-committees on organization plans, mrs. raymond brown (n. y.) chairman, were adopted as follows: . the council of the league of women voters will consist of the presidents of the states having full, presidential or primary suffrage and the chairmen of the ratification committees in the seven states of montana, idaho, washington, colorado, nevada, arizona and wyoming--this council to pass upon all policies of the league and approve the legislative programs. . the permanent chairman, who will also be chairman of the legislative committee, will conduct correspondence, direct organization in unorganized states and visit states with the view of stimulating organization and clarifying the objects of the league, the work for suffrage to remain in the national congressional committee and the state ratification committees. . the state leagues of women voters will consist of individual members and organized committees with the addition of associations already established which subscribe to the principles of the league. at the regular state convention or at a special state conference to be called the object of the league will be set forth and each department presented, with publicity and advertising to bring it to the attention of the public. eight departments each composed of a national chairman and one woman from every state were recommended, the members of these departments to become familiar with all laws on the subjects under consideration, recommend legislative programs, prepare and issue literature on their subjects and work in the states through the state committees. a "budget" of $ , was recommended. the program for the women in industry committee presented by mrs. raymond robins (ills.) was adopted. the greatest needs for unification and improvement of laws defining the legal status of women were named by mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch (ills.), such as joint guardianship of children, marriage and divorce laws, property rights, industry, civil service, morality, child welfare and elections. education was set forth as the best means to social morality and social hygiene by dr. valeria parker (conn.). miss julia lathrop (washington, d. c.), chief of the federal child welfare bureau, spoke on present needs, saying: "child labor and an educated community, child labor and modern democracy cannot co-exist.... time does not wait, the child lives or dies. if he lives he takes up his life well or ill equipped, not as he chooses but as we choose for him." the following needed improvements of election laws were named by mrs. ellis meredith (colo.): _federal_--a national amendment guaranteeing women the franchise on the same terms as men; restricting the franchise to those who are citizens; repealing the act of which disfranchises women marrying foreigners; an extension of the present five-year time after which a foreigner becomes a full citizen by virtue of having taken out two sets of papers and giving the oath of allegiance. _state_--adoption of the australian ballot; reduction of number of ballots printed to not more than per cent. more than registration; for "military" and "poll tax" substitution of "election tax," to be remitted to persons voting and collected from those failing to do so when not unavoidably prevented by illness; adoption of absent voter law--montana or minnesota statutes recommended; discontinuance of vehicles except for sick or feeble or crippled persons; even division of judges between major political parties, examination required, more latitude in appointment and removal for cause; election of judicial, legislative and educational officers at a different time from that for national and state. miss jessie r. haver, legislative representative of the national consumers' league and executive secretary of the consumers' league of the district of columbia, read a paper on the government and the market basket, after which she presented a resolution urging the chairman of the senate and house interstate commerce committee to re-introduce and pass the bill drafted by the federal trade commission in reference to the packers' trust. during the convention sectional conferences were held on the department subjects. out of these conferences came many suggestions and two resolutions were adopted: . that the league of women voters supports the federal trade commission in its efforts to secure remedial legislation in the meat-packing industry. . that the convention endorses the principle of federal aid to the states for the removal of adult illiteracy and the americanization of the adult foreign born. in june, , the initial conference of the president, mrs. brooks, and the committee chairmen of the league of women voters, was held at the headquarters of the national suffrage association, madison avenue, new york city, and plans were made to render the league effective throughout the united states. * * * * * the record of the action of the official board of the national american woman suffrage association in on questions pertaining to the league of women voters is as follows: in april it was voted that the americanization committee and the committee on protection of women in industry of the association be united with the committees of the same name in the league. in may the following chairmen for new committees were selected, subject to endorsement of the council of the league: mrs. edward p. costigan, washington, d. c., food supply and demand; mrs. jacob baur (ills.), improvement of election laws and methods; mrs. percy v. pennbacker (tex.), child welfare. in july an appropriation of $ for each of the eight departments of the league was made from the treasury of the association. as the national association was the convener of the first congress of the league of women voters and there was no method of determining the number of delegates that any league was entitled to, the board on december , in preparation for the approaching annual convention in chicago, adopted the following resolution: . that each state auxiliary of the association be invited to secure for the league congress, which would be held at the same time, one delegate from the state federation of women's clubs, one from the state woman's christian temperance union and one from the state women's trade union league; and ten delegates at large from the national organizations of each. . that invitations be extended to the following national bodies, asking each to send ten delegates at large: association of collegiate alumnæ, international child welfare league, ladies of the grand army of the republic, ladies of the maccabees, national council of jewish women, national congress of mothers and parent-teachers' associations, federation of college women, florence crittenden mission, women's relief corps, women's relief society, women's benefit association of the maccabees, women's department national civic federation, united daughters of the confederacy and the young women's christian association. . that each of the ten unorganized western states be entitled to ten delegates to be secured by the chairman of ratification. at the convention of the national american woman suffrage association and the league of women voters in chicago feb. - , , there were present delegates, alternates and fraternal delegates. among the resolutions for dissolving the association recommended by its executive council and adopted by vote of the delegates was the following pertaining to the league of women voters: _citizenship_--whereas, millions of women will become voters in , and, whereas, the low standards of citizenship found in the present electorate clearly indicate the need of education in the principles and ideals of our government and the methods of political procedure, therefore be it resolved: . that the national league of women voters be urged to make political education for the new women voters (but not excluding men) its first duty for . . that the nation-wide plan shall include normal schools for citizenship in each state followed by schools in each county. . that we urge the league of women voters to make every effort to have the study of citizenship required in the public schools of every state, beginning in the primary grades and continuing through the upper grades, high schools, normal schools, colleges and universities. the recommendations were: . that the league of women voters, now a section of the national american woman suffrage association, be organized as a new and independent society. . that the present state auxiliaries of the association, while retaining their relationship in form to the board of officers to be elected in this convention, shall change their names, objects and constitutions to conform to those of the league and take up the plan of work to be adopted in its first congress. at the opening session of the congress of the league of women voters saturday afternoon, february , mrs. brooks, the chairman, presiding, mrs. catt was made permanent chairman and mrs. halsey w. wilson recording secretary for the convention. by vote of the convention the chair named the following committees and chairmen: constitution, mrs. raymond brown (n. y.); nominations, mrs. george gellhorn (mo.); regions, mrs. andreas ueland (wis.). the constitution was adopted defining the aims of the league--to foster education in citizenship; to urge every woman to become an enrolled voter, but as an organization the league not to be allied with or support any party. following are the officers elected for - , the regional division of states and the chairmen of departments: directors at large--mrs. maud wood park (mass.), mrs. richard e. edwards (ind.), mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs (ala.). board as organized--chairman, mrs. park; vice-chairman, mrs. gellhorn; treasurer, mrs. edwards; secretary, mrs. jacobs. mrs. catt was made honorary chairman by the board. regional directors--first region: miss katharine ludington (conn.)--maine, vermont, new hampshire, massachusetts, connecticut and rhode island. second: mrs. f. louis slade (n. y.)--new york, new jersey, pennsylvania, maryland and delaware. third: miss ella dortch (tenn.)--virginia, district of columbia, north carolina, south carolina, georgia, alabama, florida, mississippi, louisiana and tennessee. fourth: miss elizabeth j. hauser (o.)--michigan, ohio, indiana, kentucky, illinois, west virginia and wisconsin. fifth: mrs. james paige (minn.)--minnesota, iowa, north dakota, south dakota, wyoming and montana. sixth: mrs. george gellhorn (mo.)--nebraska, kansas, colorado, new mexico, oklahoma, texas, arkansas and missouri. seventh: mrs. c. b. simmons (ore.)--washington, oregon, idaho, nevada, utah, arizona and california. chairmen of departments.-- . american citizenship, mrs. frederick p. bagley, boston; . protection of women in industry, miss mary mcdowell, chicago; . child welfare, mrs. percy v. pennybacker, austin (tex.); social hygiene, dr. valeria h. parker, hartford (conn.); . unification of laws concerning civil status of women, mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, chicago; . improvement in election laws and methods, mrs. carrie chapman catt, new york; . food supply and demand, mrs. edward p. costigan, washington, d. c.; . research, mrs. mary sumner boyd, new york. the recommendations of the committee on plans for citizenship schools, appointed by the national suffrage association, mrs. nettie rogers shuler, chairman, were adopted as follows: . that a normal school be held in the most available large city in each state, to which every county shall be asked to send one or more representatives, the school to be open to all local people. . that no state shall feel that it has approached the task of training for citizenship which has not had at least one school in every county, followed by schools in as many townships and wards as possible, with the ultimate aim of reaching the women of every election district. . that minimum requirement of a citizenship school should include (a) the study of local, state and national government; (b) the technique of voting and election laws; (c) organization and platform of political parties; (d) the league of women voters--its aims, its platforms, its plans of work. . that each state employ a director for citizenship schools to be under the direction of the national director of such schools. . that the states urge the assistance of state universities through summer schools, extension departments and active participation by professors from these departments to make the teaching of citizenship of real benefit to the state. . that the states invite the cooperation of local men who are experienced in public affairs and that every agency, including that of publicity, be employed which will tend to increased interest in the teaching of citizenship. . that the states try to make the study of citizenship compulsory in the public schools from the primary grades up. the following resolutions were adopted: . that a copy of the legislative program as selected by the board of directors shall be submitted to all state presidents and presidents of national women's organizations for approval, and that a deputation from the league of women voters be sent to the conventions of two at least of the dominant political parties to present this program to the delegates and to chairmen of the resolutions committees if announced in advance, leaders of these parties having been previously interviewed or circularized. . that the recommendations of the standing committees as accepted by the convention be referred to the board of directors of the league of women voters; after consultation with the chairmen the board in turn to pass on its recommendations to the state chairmen with the request that they use as many of them as possible. . that resolutions relating to federal legislation, after submission to the national board, be considered binding; that resolutions affecting state legislation be considered recommendations to be submitted to states. . that in order to create a better understanding of the purposes of the league of women voters and its relation to other national organizations of women, the directors of the league make the purposes of the league exceedingly clear to local groups--namely, that its function is for the purpose of fostering education in citizenship and of supporting improved legislation; that as far as possible organizations already existing and doing similar work be used and asked to cooperate in the work of educating women to an understanding of these purposes; that a committee on congressional legislation be created with headquarters in washington and that in addition to a chairman the committee be made up of a representative from each of the great national organizations of women. it was moved by mrs. john l. pyle (s. d.), seconded by mrs. harriet taylor upton (o.) and carried by the convention that, whereas, all women citizens of the united states would today be fully enfranchised had not james w. wadsworth, jr., misrepresented his state and his party when continuously and repeatedly voting, working and manoeuvering against the proposed th amendment to the federal constitution, be it resolved, that we, representing the enfranchised women of the country, extend to the women of new york our appreciation and our help in their patriotic work of determining to send to the u. s. senate to succeed the said james w. wadsworth, jr., a modern-minded senator who will be capable of comprehending the great american principles of freedom and democracy. before the convention opened there were eight conferences followed by dinners presided over by the chairmen of the departments. the voting members of each conference were the chairman and forty-eight state members and representatives of other agencies doing the same work. the purpose of each conference was to formulate a legislative program combining the best judgment and experience of all workers for the same cause. this program was presented to the convention of the league of women voters for its consideration and after adoption it became the platform to which the league was pledged. these conferences were open to visitors without speaking or voting privileges. the program as submitted by the chairmen, approved by the conferences and amended and adopted by the convention was as follows: women in industry, mrs. raymond robins; recommendations presented by miss grace abbott (ills.): i. we affirm our belief in the right of the workers to bargain collectively through trade unions and we regard the organization of working women as especially important because of the peculiar handicaps from which they suffer in the labor market. ii. we call attention to the fact that it is still necessary for us to urge that wages should be paid on the basis of occupation and not on sex. iii. we recommend to congress and the federal government: . the establishment in the u. s. department of labor of a permanent women's bureau with a woman as chief and an appropriation adequate for the investigation of all matters pertaining to wage earning women and the determination of standards and policies which will promote their welfare, improve their working conditions and increase their efficiency. . the appointment of women in the mediation and conciliation service of the u. s. department of labor and on any industrial commission or tribunal which may hereafter be created. . the establishment of a joint federal and state employment service with women's departments under the direction of technically qualified women. . the adoption of a national constitutional amendment giving to congress the power to establish minimum labor standards and the enactment by congress of a child labor law extending the application of the present federal child labor tax laws, raising the age minimum for general employment from to years and the age for employment at night to years. . recognizing the importance of a world-wide standardization of industry we favor the participation of the united states in the international labor conference and the appointment of a woman delegate to the next conference. iv. we recommend to the states legislative provision for: . the limitation of the hours of work for wage earning women in industrial undertakings to not more than hours in any one day or hours in any one week and the granting of one day's rest in seven. . the prohibition of night work for women in industrial undertakings. . the compulsory payment of a minimum wage to be fixed by a minimum wage commission at an amount which will insure to the working woman a proper standard of health, comfort and efficiency. . adequate appropriations for the enforcement of labor laws and the appointment of technically qualified women as factory inspectors and as heads of women in industry divisions in the state factory inspection departments. v. we urge upon the federal board of vocational education and upon state and local boards of commissioners of education the necessity of giving to girls and women full opportunity for education along industrial lines, and we further recommend the appointment of women familiar with the problems of women in industry as members and agents of the federal board of vocational education and of similar state and local boards. vi. recognizing that the federal, state and local governments are the largest employers of labor in the united states, we urge (a) an actual merit system of appointment and promotion based on qualifications for the work to be performed, these qualifications to be determined in open competition, free from special privilege or preference of any kind and especially free from discrimination on the ground of sex; (b) a reclassification of the present federal civil service upon this basis with a wage or salary scale determined by the skill and training required for the work to be performed and not on the basis of sex; (c) a minimum wage in federal, state and local service which shall not be less than the cost of living as determined by official investigations; (d) provisions for an equitable retirement system for superannuated public employees; (e) enlarging of federal and state civil service commissions so as to include three groups in which men and women shall be equally represented; namely, representatives of the administrative officials, of the employees and of the general public, and (f) the delegating to such commissions of full power and responsibility for the maintenance of an impartial, non-political and efficient administration. vii. finally this department recommends that the league of women voters shall keep in touch with the women's bureau of the u. s. department of labor securing information as to the success or failure of protective legislation in this and other countries, as to standards that are being discussed and adopted and as to the results of investigations that are made. upon motion of miss abbott, duly seconded, it was voted that the following resolutions be adopted: "that the report of the women in industry department of the national league of women voters in its entirety be officially transmitted by the secretary to the congressional legislative bodies or committees thereof before which legislation on the subject is now pending and to the administrative officials who may have authority to act upon any of its recommendations; that the article concerning the establishment on a permanent basis of the women's bureau of the u. s. department of labor be telegraphed tonight to representative james w. good and senator francis e. warren, chairmen of the house and senate appropriations committees in congress, and to senator william s. kenyon and representative j. m. c. smith, chairmen of the senate and house committees on labor before which this legislation is now pending; that the whole of the article concerning the federal civil service be telegraphed tonight to senator a. a. jones, chairman of the joint congressional commission on reclassification of the federal service; to senator kenyon of the state labor committee; senator thomas sterling and representative frederick r. lehbach, chairmen of the senate and house committees on the civil service. food supply and demand, mrs. edward p. costigan, chairman. whereas, in addition to the results of inflated currency due to the war, the high cost of living in the united states is increased and the production of necessary food supplies diminished by unduly restrictive private control of the channels of commerce, markets and other distributing facilities by large food organizations and combinations; and, whereas, if our civilization is to fulfil its promise, it is vital that nourishing food be brought and kept within the reach of every home and especially of all the growing children of the nation, be it resolved, first, that the principles and purposes of the kenyon-kendrick-anderson bills now pending in congress for the regulation of the meat-packing industry be endorsed for prompt and effective enactment into laws and that this declaration be brought to the attention of the leading political parties in advance of an urgent request for corresponding and unqualified platform pledges; second, that the food supply and demand committee be authorized to keep in touch with the progress of the proposed legislation and to cooperate with the national consumers' league, the american live stock association, the farmers' national council and other organizations of like policy in an effort to promote through legislation the realization of such principles and purposes; furthermore, that the committee be authorized to confer with the department of agriculture in regard to the extension of its service, with a view to establishing long-distance information to enable shippers and producers to know daily the supplies and demands of the food market; third, that the early enactment of improved state and federal laws to prevent food profiteering, waste and improper hoarding is urged and the strict enforcement of all such present laws is demanded; fourth, that the various state leagues of women voters are requested to consider the advisability of establishing public markets, abattoirs, milk depots and other terminal facilities; fifth, that aid be extended to all branches of the league in spreading knowledge of the methods and benefits of legitimate cooperative associations and that endorsement be given to suitable national and state legislation favoring their organization and use. the meat packers asked for a hearing and by vote of the convention ten minutes were allowed them to present their case. this was done by louis d. weld, manager of the commercial research department of swift and company, chicago, who said during his remarks: "i believe you ladies are not prepared to pass on such a vital matter as this proposed legislation; it is a mighty complicated and intricate subject." a decided titter ran around the room. women who had been making a study of the question from the home side for a number of years did not resent being told that they did not understand it but they smiled at a man's coming to tell them so. to show that they were fair, when he said that the packers did a great amount of good in carrying food in time of war he was cheered. his argument had no effect. after he had finished the league adopted the committee's recommendations and passed the resolution against which the packers had directed their efforts. social hygiene, dr. valeria h. parker, chairman. resolutions recommended and adopted on the abolition of commercialized prostitution: (a) the abolition of all segregated or protected vice districts and the elimination of houses used for vicious purposes. (b) punishment of frequenters of disorderly houses and penalization of the payment of money for prostitution as well as its receipt. (c) heavy penalties for pimps, panderers, procurers and go-betweens. (d) prevention of solicitation in streets and public places by men and women. (e) elimination of system of petty fines and establishment of indeterminate sentences. (f) strict enforcement of laws against alcohol and drug trades. drastic resolutions were passed for the control of venereal diseases, applying alike to men and women. those on delinquents, minors and defectives were as follows: (a) legal age of consent to be not less than and laws to include protection of boys under as well as of girls. (b) trying cases involving sex offenses in chancery courts instead of in criminal courts is advocated. (c) mental examination and diagnosis of all children, registration of abnormal cases, education suited to their possibilities; supervision during and after school age; custodial care for those unable to adjust to a normal environment. (d) reformatory farms for delinquent men and women ... these institutions to have trained officers. (f) women on governing boards of all charitable and penal institutions; as probation and parole officers; as state and local police; as protective officers; as court officials, as jurors; as physicians in institutions for women and on all state and local boards of health. the committee recommends the establishment of local protective homes for girls in all the larger cities, proper detention quarters for women awaiting trial and separate detention quarters for juvenile offenders, as well as travelers' aid agents at all large railroad stations and steamship embarkation points. child welfare--mrs. percy v. pennybacker, chairman. the resolutions adopted covered: . the endorsement of the sheppard-towner bill for the public protection of maternity and infancy; ( ) of the principle of a bill for physical education about to be introduced into congress to be administered by the bureau of education of the department of the interior; ( ) of an appropriation of $ , for the children's bureau of the u. s. department of labor; ( ) of the gard-curtis bill for the regulation of child labor in the district of columbia. american citizenship--mrs. frederick p. bagley, chairman. resolutions provided for: . compulsory education which shall include adequate training in citizenship in every state for all children between six and sixteen nine months of each year. . education of adults by extension classes of the public schools. . english made the basic language of instruction in the common-school branches in all schools public and private. . specific qualifications for citizenship and impressive ceremonials for naturalization. . direct citizenship for women, not through marriage, as a qualification for the vote. . naturalization for married women made possible, american women to retain their citizenship after marriage to an alien. . printed citizenship instruction in the foreign languages for the use of the foreign born, as a function of the federal government. . schools of citizenship in conjunction with the public schools, a certificate from such schools to be a qualification for the educational test for naturalization. . an educational qualification for the vote in all states after a sufficient period of time and ample opportunity for education have been allowed. laws concerning the legal status of women, mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, chairman. following resolutions presented and adopted: . independent citizenship for married women. . equal interest of spouses in each other's real estate. . the married woman's wages and business under her sole control. . just civil service laws in all cities and states now under the spoils system; amendments to existing civil service laws to enable men and women to have equal rights in examinations and appointments. . mothers' pensions with a minimum amount adequate and definite; the maximum amount left to the discretion of the administering court; the benefits of all such laws extended to necessitous cases above the age specified in the law, at the discretion of the administering body, and residence qualifications required. . the minimum "age of consent" eighteen years. . equal guardianship by both parents of the persons and the property of children, the utah law being a model. . legal workers should read a book published by the department of labor entitled illegitimacy laws of the united states. . a court should be established having original exclusive jurisdiction over all affairs pertaining to the child and his interests. . the marriage age for women should be eighteen years, for men twenty-one years. the state should require health certificates before issuing marriage licenses. there should be federal legislation on marriage and divorce and statutes prohibiting the evasion of marriage laws. . laws should provide that women be subject to jury service and the unit vote of jurors in civil cases should be abolished. . members of committees of the league of women voters should not use their connection with the league to assist any political party. on february miss mary garrett hay in an appeal for funds secured pledges of $ , . of this sum the amount of $ , by the leslie commission was offered by mrs. catt as follows: ( ) the _woman citizen_ as an organ of the league until jan. , , at which time we believe that it should issue a bulletin of its own. ( ) the full use of the publicity department of the national american woman suffrage association until may , . ( ) the remainder for the use of the league during the year. following the convention mrs. catt conducted a school of political education in the auditorium of recital hall, in chicago, february - . its aim was to train women already equipped with competent knowledge of civil government and political science to teach new voters the ideals of american citizenship, the processes of registering and casting a vote, the methods of making nominations and platforms, the nature of political parties and the best ways of using a vote to get what they want and to effect the general welfare of the people. mrs. catt urged each state to hold a similar state school to be followed by others in every election district, to carry the message to every woman that good citizens not only register and vote but know how to do so and why they do it; to set a standard of good citizenship with an "irreducible minimum" of qualifications below which no person can fall and lay claim to the title good citizen. it was planned to give certificates of endorsement to those who passed per cent. in the examinations at the close. a widespread demand arose for citizenship schools, requests coming even from women who were indifferent or opposed to suffrage but who, now that the vote was assured, were anxious to make good and intelligent use of the ballot. under the direction of mrs. gellhorn, vice-chairman of the national league of women voters and chairman of organization, twenty-seven field directors were employed and schools held in thirty-five states. missouri had schools, nebraska , ohio . in sixteen states, the state universities cooperated with the league of women voters in their citizenship work. those of iowa and virginia employed in their extension departments directors of citizenship schools, who, responding to calls, went to various localities and conducted courses in citizenship. that of missouri put in a required course for every freshman, with five hours' credit. a normal training school was conducted in st. louis in august and a correspondence course of twelve lessons was issued and used by forty-two states. in many cases these schools made a thorough study of the fundamental principles of government. in compliance with the instruction of the convention the board of directors of the league of women voters at its post-convention meeting in chicago selected from the program recommended by the standing committees the issues to be presented to the resolution committees of the political parties with a request that they be adopted as planks in the national platforms. two of the federal measures endorsed by the league in chicago--the bill for the women's bureau in the department of labor and the retirement bill for superannuated public employees--were passed by congress the following june and became law. twelve others were grouped into six planks and later condensed into a single paragraph as follows: "we urge federal cooperation with the states in the protection of infant life through infancy and maternity care; the prohibition of child labor and adequate appropriation for the children's bureau; a federal department of education; joint federal and state aid for the removal of illiteracy and increase of teachers' salaries; instruction in citizenship for both native and foreign born; increased federal support for vocational training in home economics and federal regulation of the marketing and distribution of food; full representation of women on all commissions dealing with women's work and women's interests; the establishment of a joint federal and state employment service with women's departments under the direction of technically qualified women; a reclassification of the federal civil service free from discrimination on account of sex; continuance of appropriations for public education in sex hygiene; federal legislation which shall insure that american-born women resident in the united states but married to aliens shall retain american citizenship and that the same process of naturalization shall be required of alien women as is required of alien men." deputations from the board of directors of the league of women voters presented this program to the resolutions committee of the republican party at its convention in chicago; to that of the democratic party in san francisco, and to the convention of the farmer labor party and the committee of forty-eight held jointly in chicago. the last named included the following planks: abolition of employment of children under years of age; a federal department of education; public ownership and operation of stock yards, large abattoirs, cold-storage and terminal warehouses; equal pay for equal work. five of the planks were included in the republican platform: prohibition of child labor throughout the united states; instruction in citizenship for the youth of the land; increased federal support for vocational training in home economics; equal pay for equal work; independent citizenship for married women. the democratic resolutions committee incorporated in its platform all of the requests made by the league of women voters except a federal department of education. the socialist party held its convention before the planks were sent out. the prohibition party adopted the full program of the league of women voters. one of the important steps taken in by the league of women voters in support of its social welfare program was the presenting of these platform planks to the presidential candidates of the two major parties for their approval. its representatives with a deputation went to marion, o., the home of senator harding, republican candidate, october and to dayton, o., the home of governor cox, democratic candidate, the following day. each promised assistance in the event of his election. at the call of mrs. park, chairman of the league, delegates representing national organizations which collectively numbered about , , women, met in washington on november . these included the national league of women voters, general federation of women's clubs, national council of women, the women's christian temperance union, national women's trade union league, national consumers' league, national congress of mothers and parent-teachers' associations, association of collegiate alumnæ, american home economics association, national federation of business and professional women's clubs. they formed a woman's joint congressional committee and endorsed the largest constructive, legislative program ever adopted. it was arranged that all organizations might participate to the limit of their specific field of work and purposes and at the same time all possibility was eliminated of any being involved in supporting a measure or a principle outside of its scope or contrary to its opinions. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary of the national american woman suffrage association. chapter xxiii. woman suffrage in national presidential conventions.[ ] the courage and patience of the woman suffrage leaders in their long struggle for the ballot is nowhere more strongly evidenced than in their continued appeals to the national political conventions to recognize in their platforms woman's right to the franchise. these distinguished women were received with an indifference that was insulting until far into the th century. to two parties, the prohibition and the socialist, it was never necessary to appeal. the prohibition party was organized in and from that time always advocated woman suffrage in its national platform except in , when it had only a single plank, but this was supplemented by resolutions favoring equal suffrage. the socialist party, which came into existence in , declared for woman suffrage at the start and thereafter made it a part of its active propaganda. all the minor parties as a rule put planks for woman suffrage in their platforms.[ ] before the conventions in the board of the national american woman suffrage association secured full lists of delegates and alternates of the two dominant parties-- republicans and democratic delegates; republican alternates and democratic, a total of , . to each a letter was sent directing his attention to a memorial enclosed, signed by the officers of the association, an urgent request for the insertion in the platform of the following resolution: "resolved, that we favor the submission by congress to the various state legislatures of an amendment to the federal constitution forbidding the disfranchisement of united states citizens on account of sex." the republican convention met in chicago june - . the committee appointed by the national association consisted of mrs. harriet taylor upton and miss elizabeth j. hauser of ohio, its treasurer and headquarters secretary, and mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of chicago, a former officer, who arranged the hearing. the beautiful rooms of the chicago woman's club were placed at their disposal, where they kept open house, assisted by mrs. gertrude blackwelder, president of the chicago political league, mrs. ellen m. henrotin and other prominent club women. mrs. mcculloch went to the auditorium annex to ask the committee on resolutions for a hearing. senator hopkins of illinois presented her to senator henry cabot lodge, the chairman, and the choice was given her of having it immediately or the next morning. she chose the nearest hour and a little later returned with her committee. mrs. mcculloch introduced the speakers and made the closing argument. mrs. upton, the rev. celia parker woolley and the rev. olympia brown addressed the committee. they were generously applauded, the suffrage plank was referred to a sub-committee and buried. the democratic convention was held in st. louis july - and mrs. priscilla d. hackstaff, an officer of the new york suffrage association, secured a hearing before the resolutions committee. mrs. louise l. werth of st. louis and miss kate m. gordon of louisiana joined her on the opening day of the convention and at o'clock the evening of the th they appeared before the committee. mrs. hackstaff argued on the ground of abstract justice and miss gordon from the standpoint of expediency. the committee listened attentively and were liberal with applause but the resolution never was heard from. undaunted by a failure which began in and had continued ever since, the suffragists made their plans for . the republican convention was again held in chicago, june - , and a committee of eminent women presented the suffrage resolution--miss jane addams, mrs. henrotin, the rev. caroline bartlett crane, miss harriet grim, mrs. blackwelder and mrs. harriot stanton blatch. they were heard politely but not the slightest attention was paid to their request. samuel gompers, president of the american federation of labor, tried to secure the adoption of a plank pledging the republican party to support a federal woman suffrage amendment but also was ignored. when the democratic party met in national convention in denver july - , all the delegates and alternates received an appeal which read: "you are respectfully requested by the national american woman suffrage association to place the following plank in your platform: 'resolved, that we favor the extension of the elective franchise to the women of the united states by the states upon the same qualifications as it is accorded to men.' we ask this in order that our government may live up to the principles upon which it was founded and in order that the women in the homes and the industries may have equal power with men to influence conditions affecting these respective spheres of action. in making this demand for justice our association calls your attention to the fact that more than , , women who are occupied in the industries of the united states are helpless to legislate upon the hours, conditions and remuneration for their labor. we call your attention to the fact that through the commercialized trend of legislation the children of our nation are being sacrificed to a veritable juggernaut--cheap labor--while this same trend is wasting our mineral land and water resources, imperiling thereby the inheritance of future generations. we call your attention to the moral conditions menacing the youth of our country. justice and expediency demand that women be granted equal power with men to mould the conditions directly affecting the industries, the resources and the homes of the nation. we therefore appeal to the democratic convention assembled to name national standard bearers and to determine national policies, to adopt in its platform a declaration favoring the extension of the franchise to the women of the united states." this appeal was signed by dr. anna howard shaw, president, kate m. gordon, rachel foster avery, alice stone blackwell, harriet taylor upton, laura clay and mary s. sperry, national officers. it received no consideration whatever, but, although the suffragists did not know it, this was the last year when the two powerful political parties of the country could stand with a united front hostile to all progressive movements. there was shortly to be brought to the assistance of such movements strong forces which could not be resisted. early in president william howard taft and u. s. senator robert m. la follette announced their intention of trying to secure the republican nomination for the presidency and the press of the country took up the burning question, "will roosevelt be a candidate for a third term?" on february he announced his candidacy and from then until the date of the republican national convention the public interest was intense. the convention met in chicago, june - . miss jane addams, vice-president of the national american woman suffrage association, had arranged with a number of women to appear at a few hours' notice before the resolutions committee but she could not give even that, as she learned at : p.m. on the th that the committee would meet at : in the congress hotel and she must appear at that time. there was hastily mustered into service a small but distinguished group of suffragists consisting of mrs. joseph t. bowen and miss mary bartelme of chicago; professor sophonisba breckinridge of kentucky; mrs. b. b. mumford of richmond, va.; miss lillian d. wald and mrs. simkovitch of new york city; miss helen todd of california; professor freund of the chicago university law faculty and a few others. at ten o'clock the suffragists were admitted to the committee room and greeted cordially by governor hadley of missouri and courteously by the chairman, charles w. fairbanks. miss addams was told that she might have five minutes (later extended to seven) and present one speaker. she introduced mrs. bowen, president of the juvenile protective association, who spoke earnestly four minutes, leaving miss addams three to make the final plea. there were confusion and noise in the room and the attention of the committee was distracted. the platform contained no reference to woman suffrage. senator lafollette presented his own platform to the convention in which was a plank favoring the extension of suffrage to women but it went down to defeat. two days later the convention amid great excitement nominated president taft by a vote of while colonel roosevelt's vote was only . directly after the convention adjourned the delegates who favored roosevelt assembled at orchestra hall and nominated him in the name of the new progressive party, miss addams seconding the nomination. soon after colonel roosevelt announced his candidacy he was visited by judge "ben" lindsey of denver, a representative of the progressive element in politics, who pointed out to him the great assistance it would be to his campaign for him to come out for woman suffrage. roosevelt, who was an astute politician, saw the advantage of enlisting the help of women, who through their large organizations had become a strong factor in public life. judge lindsay therefore was authorized to announce that he would favor a woman suffrage plank in the progressive platform and roosevelt confirmed it. this caused wide excitement and the suffragists throughout the country began to rally under the roosevelt banner. he had always been theoretically in favor but with many reservations and during his two terms as president he had refused all appeals to endorse it in any way. when he went to chicago to the first convention of the progressive party august he carried with him the draft of the platform and in it was a plank favoring woman suffrage but calling for a nation-wide referendum of the question to women themselves! when this plank was submitted to the resolutions committee, on which were such suffragists as miss addams, judge lindsay and u. s. senator albert j. beveridge, they vetoed it at once. it had already been issued to the press in printed form and telegrams recalling it had to be sent far and wide. the plank presented by the resolutions committee and unanimously adopted by the convention read as follows: "the progressive party, believing that no people can justly claim to be a true democracy which denies political rights on account of sex, pledges itself to the task of securing equal suffrage to men and women alike." many states sent women delegates and they were cordially welcomed. the convention was marked by a deep, almost religious zeal, the delegates breaking frequently into the singing of hymns of which onward christian soldiers was a favorite. women took a prominent part in the proceedings and woman suffrage was made one of the leading features. senator beveridge referred to it at length in his speech, saying: "because women as much as men are a part of our economic and social life, women as much as men should have the voting power to solve all economic and social problems. votes are theirs as a matter of natural right alone; votes should be theirs as a matter of political wisdom also." later in a glowing tribute mr. roosevelt said: "it is idle to argue whether women can play their part in politics because in this convention we have seen the accomplished fact, and, moreover, the women who have actively participated in this work of launching the new party represent all that we are most proud to associate with american womanhood. my earnest hope is to see the progressive party in all its state and local divisions recognize this fact precisely as it has been recognized at the national convention.... workingwomen have the same need to combine for protection that workingmen have; the ballot is as necessary for one class as for the other; we do not believe that with the two sexes there is identity of function but we do believe that there should be equality of right and therefore we favor woman suffrage." the progressive party in state after state followed the lead of the convention and women were welcomed into its deliberations. from this time woman suffrage was one of the dominant political issues throughout the country. the democratic national convention met in baltimore june -july . the baltimore suffragists applied on thursday for a hearing before the resolutions committee for dr. anna howard shaw and were informed that the hearings had ended on wednesday. urged by the women the chairman, john w. kern of indiana, finally consented to give a hearing that day, although he said he had turned away hundreds of men who wanted hearings, and he allotted five minutes to it. mrs. w. j. brown of baltimore, mrs. lawrence lewis of philadelphia and several others went with dr. shaw but after a long wait only mrs. lewis and she were admitted. with a strong, logical speech dr. shaw presented the following resolution and asked that it be made a plank in the platform: whereas, the fundamental idea of a democracy is self-government, the right of citizens to choose their own representatives, to enact the laws by which they are governed, and whereas, this right can be secured only by the exercise of the suffrage, therefore, resolved, that the ballot in the hand of every qualified citizen constitutes the true political status of the people and to deprive one-half of the people of the use of the ballot is to deny the first principle of a democratic government. the committee was courteous and listened with marked attention, william jennings bryan among them, but took no action on the resolution.[ ] the convention nominated woodrow wilson, who had answered a question from a chairman of the new york woman suffrage party the preceding winter, while governor of new jersey: "i can only say that my mind is in the midst of the debate which it involves. i do not feel that i am ready to utter my confident judgment as yet about it. i am honestly trying to work my way toward a just conclusion." president taft had written in answer to a letter of inquiry from the secretary of the men's suffrage league of new york: "i am willing to wait until there shall be a substantial, not unanimous, but a substantial call from that sex before the suffrage is extended." as the result of the year's political work a summing up in december, , showed a woman suffrage plank in the national platforms of the progressive, socialist and prohibition parties; a plank in the platform of every party in new york state and in that of one or more parties in many states. the progressive party with woman suffrage as one of its cardinal principles had polled , , votes. kansas, oregon and arizona by popular vote had been added to the number of the equal suffrage states. in these were increased by montana and nevada, making eleven where women voted on the same terms as men. in illinois granted a large amount of suffrage including a vote for presidential electors. in president wilson and all his cabinet, except secretary lansing; speaker champ clark and mr. bryan publicly endorsed suffrage for women. constitutional amendments were defeated in four eastern states but they polled , , favorable votes. by , the year of the presidential nominating conventions, there had been so vast an advance of public sentiment that the official board of the national american woman suffrage association was encouraged to believe that its effort of nearly fifty years to obtain woman suffrage planks in the national platforms of the republican and democratic parties would be successful. its president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, in the letters sent to the delegates, who were circularized three times, called attention to the great gains and the existing status of the movement, adapting the appeal to each party. under her direction, as a preliminary to the conventions, favorable opinions were obtained from many leading men who were to attend them, similar to the following: representative john m. nelson of the house judiciary committee said: "the endorsement of equal suffrage by either of the two great parties would do more at this time to simplify the question than any other one thing. it seems to me that in directing their efforts toward securing this endorsement its advocates have exhibited sound practical judgment and admirable political acumen." "i am in favor of an endorsement in the republican platform of the principle of equal suffrage," said senator borah, a republican delegate. "i have no doubt there will be a plank offered to that effect and it will receive my active support." u. s. senator owen on the floor of the senate declared: "this demand ought to be made by men as well as by thinking, progressive women. i hope that all parties will in the national conventions give their approval to this larger measure of liberty to the better half of the human race." the suffragists began preparations for two striking demonstrations during the conventions. the republican convention took place in chicago june - . on the th a mass meeting was held under the auspices of the association at the princess theater. speeches by mrs. catt and others roused the audience to great enthusiasm and the following resolution was adopted: "we, women from every state, gathered in national assembly, come to you in the name of justice, liberty and equality to ask you to incorporate in your platform a declaration favoring the extension of suffrage to the only remaining class of unenfranchised citizens, the women of our nation, and to urge you to give its protecting power and prestige to the final struggle of women for political liberty. we are not asking your endorsement of an untried theory but your recognition of a fact. the men of eleven states and alaska have already fully enfranchised their women and illinois has granted a large degree of suffrage, including the presidential vote. the women of five states have gained the vote since , your last convention, and have party affiliations yet to make." a parade of , women had been planned to show the strength of the movement. a cold, heavy rain upset these plans but on june , , women (the others believing the demonstration would not be given) braved the storm, gathered in grant park and marched to the coliseum, where the republican resolutions committee was meeting. the chicago _herald_ in describing that march said: "over their heads surged a vast sea of umbrellas extending two miles down the street; under their feet swirled rivulets of water. wind tore at their clothes and rain drenched their faces but unhesitatingly they marched in unbroken formation. never before in the history of this city, probably of the world, has there been so impressive a demonstration of consecration to a cause." the first division reached the convention hall before five o'clock. the committee had given a hearing to the suffragists and was listening to the "antis." just as mrs. a. j. george of brookline, mass., was asserting, "there is no widespread demand for woman suffrage" hundreds of drenched and dripping women began to pour into the hall, each woman's condition bearing silent witness to the strength of her wish for the vote. thousands of converts were made among those who witnessed the courage and devotion of the women in facing this storm. the hearing took place before a sub-committee of the resolutions committee and instead of seven minutes being allotted to it, as in , representatives of the national american woman suffrage association had half an hour, the national association opposed to woman suffrage the next half hour and the congressional union a final half hour. mrs. catt, mrs. abbie a. krebs of california, mrs. ellis meredith of colorado, mrs. grace wilbur trout of illinois and mrs. frank m. roessing of pennsylvania spoke for the national suffrage association. they asked for the following resolution: "the republican party reaffirming its faith in government of the people, by the people and for the people, as a measure of justice to one-half the adult people of this country, favors the extension of the suffrage to women." the speakers for the congressional union were miss anne martin, mrs. harriot stanton blatch and mrs. sara bard field and they asked for an endorsement of the federal suffrage amendment. the "antis" were represented by their national president, mrs. arthur m. dodge, and national secretary, miss minnie bronson; miss alice hill chittenden, new york state president, and mrs. george. they asked that there should be no mention of woman suffrage. the sub-committee reported against the adoption of a suffrage plank, the vote standing five to four--senators lodge, wadsworth, oliver, and charles hopkins clark, editor of the hartford (conn.) _courant_, and former representative howland of ohio opposed; senators borah, sutherland and fall and representative madden of illinois in favor. the question was then taken up in the full committee on resolutions. senators borah and smoot led a vigorous fight for a plank; senator marion butler of north carolina headed the opposition. the strongest possible influence was brought to bear against it by the party leaders, senators w. murray crane and henry cabot lodge of massachusetts; boies penrose of pennsylvania and james w. wadsworth, jr., of new york and speaker cannon of illinois. nevertheless it was carried by to . within a half hour defeat was again threatened when seven absent members of the committee came and asked for a reconsideration. after repeated parleys it was reconsidered and emerged as the last plank in the platform. the final vote was to but it was the result of a compromise, for it read: "the republican party, reaffirming its faith in government of the people, by the people and for the people, as a measure of justice to one-half the adult people of this country, favors the extension of the suffrage to women but recognizes the right of each state to settle this question for itself"! for the first time this party declared for the doctrine of state's rights, which was the chief obstacle in the way of the federal amendment, the goal of the national association for nearly fifty years. mrs. catt knew that it would be utterly useless to ask for a plank favoring this amendment and so she asked simply for a clear-cut endorsement of the principle of woman suffrage. this was secured, after women had been appealing to national republican conventions since , and although it was weakened by the qualifying declaration, she realized that an immense gain had been made. by the press throughout the country the adoption of the plank was hailed as "a victory of supreme importance," and as guaranteeing a suffrage plank in the democratic national platform, which could not have been obtained without it. it was adopted by the convention without opposition and with great enthusiasm. the democratic convention met in st. louis june - . the first day the suffragists staged their "walkless parade," which the press poetically called "the golden lane," as the , white-robed women who formed a continuous lane from the convention headquarters in the jefferson hotel to the coliseum where the convention was held carried yellow parasols and wore yellow satin sashes. they gave resplendent color to the aisle through which hundreds of delegates walked to their political councils. on the steps of the art museum the suffragists presented a striking tableau showing liberty, a symbolic figure effectively garbed, surrounded by three groups of women, those in black typifying the non-suffrage states; those in gray representing the partial suffrage states; those in red, white and blue the states where political equality prevailed. the suffragists had now no difficulty in obtaining a hearing and plenty of time. representatives of the national american association, the national woman's party, the southern states woman suffrage conference and the national association opposed to woman suffrage appeared before the sub-committee of the resolutions committee. the entire resolutions committee met in the evening of the th to make the final draft of the platform. although it was a foregone conclusion that it would have to contain a woman suffrage plank the enemies did not intend to concede it willingly. it was not reached until o'clock in the morning, when platform building was suspended while a contest raged. the sleepy committeemen became wide awake and their voices rose till they could be heard in the corridors and out into the street. the unqualified endorsement of woman suffrage asked for by the national association was defeated by a vote of to . the approval of the federal amendment asked for by the national woman's party was rejected by a vote of to . the plea of the "antis" not to mention the subject was defeated by to . finally the committee fell back on what was said to have been president wilson's suggestion for a plank, which was adopted by ayes, noes. a minority report was immediately prepared by james nugent of new jersey, senator smith of south carolina, former representative bartlett of georgia, stephen b. fleming of indiana, governor ferguson of texas and governor stanley of kentucky, in opposition. the resolutions committee adjourned at : a.m. and the convention opened at . senator william j. stone of missouri, chairman of the resolutions committee, brought forward the platform but confessed that he was too tired to read it, so senators hollis and walsh took turns at it and when the suffrage plank was reached it was greeted with applause and cheers. senator stone moved the adoption of the platform and governor ferguson was given thirty minutes to present the minority report, which finally was signed by himself, nugent, bartlett and fleming. the resolution was supported by the chairman. the young nevada senator, key pittman, handled the signers of the minority report without gloves, showed up their unsavory records and stirred the convention to a frenzy. yells and catcalls on the floor were met with the cheers of the women who filled the gallery and waved their banners and yellow parasols. again and again he was forced to stop until senator john sharp williams took the gavel and restored a semblance of order. senator walsh of montana made a powerful speech from the standpoint of political expediency and pointed out that the minority report was signed by only four of the fifty members of the resolutions committee. attempts were made to howl him down and in the midst of the turmoil a terrific storm broke and flashes of lightning and roars of thunder added to the excitement. at last the vote was taken on the minority report and stood noes, ayes. that ended the opposition. senator stone had said to the delegates: "i may say that president wilson knows of this plank and deems it imperative to his success in november that it be inserted in the platform." the plank, which was adopted by a viva voce vote read as follows: "we favor the extension of the franchise to the women of this country, state by state, on the same terms as to the men." it transpired afterwards that president wilson had written it. as soon as the convention adjourned mrs. catt, president of the national suffrage association, who with the board of officers was present, sent the following telegram to president wilson: "inasmuch as governor ferguson of texas and senator walsh of montana made diametrically opposite statements in the democratic convention today with regard to your attitude toward the suffrage plank adopted, we apply to you directly to state your position on the plank and give your precise interpretation of its meaning." to this message the president replied on june : "i am very glad to make my position about the suffrage plank clear to you, though i had not thought that it was necessary to state again a position that i have repeatedly stated with entire frankness. the plank received my entire approval before its adoption and i shall support its principle with sincere pleasure. i wish to join with my fellow democrats in recommending to the several states that they extend the suffrage to women upon the same terms as to men." later the president made it plain that the democratic plank was to be considered a distinct approval of the suffrage movement and that it did not necessarily disapprove of a federal amendment. the general sentiment of the press was to the effect that as a result of the endorsement of the national conventions woman suffrage went before the country with its prestige immeasurably strengthened and recognized as a great force to be reckoned with. the suffragists ended their political convention campaign with planks in the platforms of all the five parties, republican, democratic, progressive, prohibitionist and socialist. the progressive party made its declaration stronger than at its national convention in , its plank reading: "we believe that the women of the country, who share with the men the burden of government in times of peace and make equal sacrifice in times of war, should be given the full political right of suffrage both by state and federal action." it was adopted unanimously and with great applause at the party's national convention in chicago june - . the planks were taken by the suffragists as pledges that the parties would help in a practical way to assist the movement in the various states and nationally and this view was made plain to the leaders and to the rank and file of the voters. results were soon apparent and between and the cause of woman suffrage took immense strides forward. in new york state gave the complete suffrage to women. in michigan, south dakota and oklahoma fully enfranchised them, increasing the number of equal suffrage states to fifteen. in thirteen other states women obtained the presidential franchise and in two the vote in primary elections. the resolution for a federal amendment passed both houses of congress in may and june, , and was submitted to the state legislatures for ratification. by march , , it had been ratified by , lacking only one of the three-fourths required to make it a part of the national constitution. the women, therefore, approached the political parties this year in quite a different frame of mind from that of the past, feeling the strength of their position and realizing that where they had formerly pleaded they could now demand. the burning question of the hour was whether the th state would ratify in time to enable the millions of women to vote in the presidential elections in november. the national committees of the two dominant parties had become ardently in favor of it. through the influence of republican women suffragists, the committee of that party sent on june to the republican governors and legislators of delaware, connecticut and vermont the following appeal to ratify the federal amendment so that the republican party might have the credit of assisting women to win their final battle and thus gain their gratitude and allegiance: whereas, the republican national committee at its regular meetings has repeatedly endorsed woman suffrage and the th amendment to the constitution of the united states, and has called upon the congress to submit and the states to ratify such amendment; and, whereas, it still lacks ratification by a sufficient number of states to become a law, therefore be it resolved, by the republican national committee that the th amendment be and the same is hereby again endorsed by this committee, and such republican states as have not already done so are now urged to take such action by their governors and legislatures as will assure its ratification and establish the right of equal suffrage at the earliest possible time. when the republican national convention met in chicago june - the resolutions committee received the following memorial: the national american woman suffrage association asks permission to place on record with the national republican convention its appreciation of the resolution of the national republican executive committee on june .... it seems the spirit of fairness underlying the committee's action must commend it to every lover of liberty regardless of party and its political far-sightedness must be evident to every republican desirous of party victory. conceding to the committee's action its full and friendly significance, this association further asks permission to re-emphasize before this convention the fact that on the very eve of complete victory a deadlock supervenes in the ratification of this amendment and for that deadlock the republican party must carry its full share of responsibility, since three states with republican legislatures remain on the unratified list. republican leaders frequently point out that their party has insured a far larger proportion of ratifications than has the democratic, and apparently count on this situation to accrue to its advantage. this position would be logical if the relative proportion between republicans and democrats were the essential thing but it is by no means the essential thing. the th state is the essential thing. women who are waiting on that state for their right to vote in the presidential elections of cannot rest satisfied with the assurance or the evidence that republican leaders are doing all in their power to bring about ratification. women who are going to vote the republican ticket anyhow may be satisfied but they are not the women whose vote is important to the party. the important vote is the vote of the undecided woman who would just as soon be a republican as a democrat. that woman has not been convinced by the final republican showing on ratification and she will not be convinced until the th state has ratified. this ratification is the only solution of the situation that can make actual what is so far a merely potential claim of the republican party on the woman voter. the national american woman suffrage association urges upon this convention the necessity for such action as will make inevitable and immediate the ratification of the federal suffrage amendment by the th state. this was signed by mary garrett hay, acting president, in the absence of mrs. catt in europe; gertrude foster brown, vice-president; nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary; emma winner rogers, treasurer; esther g. ogden, director, and rose young, press chairman. miss hay called a conference of the suffragists attending the convention in chicago and a plank was drawn up. miss hay, mrs. richard edwards, mrs. maud wood park, mrs. george gellhorn, miss ada bush and mrs. pattie ruffner jacobs constituted a committee to present this plank to the resolutions committee of which senator james e. watson (ind.) was chairman. miss hay made the principal speech and mrs. gellhorn and miss bush spoke briefly. a sub-committee of the resolutions committee accepted the plank which was given out to the press on june . it read: we welcome women into full participation in the affairs of government and the activities of the republican party. we urge republican governors whose states have not yet acted upon the suffrage amendment to call immediately special sessions of their legislatures for the purpose of ratifying said amendment, to the end that all the women of the nation of voting age may participate in the coming election, so important to the welfare of our country. as soon as this appeared in the chicago papers, members of the connecticut delegation rushed to leaders of the platform committee and protested that it was a gross insult to their governor, marcus h. holcomb, and they wanted the wording changed. accordingly the offending sentence was revised and in the plank adopted by the convention read: "we earnestly hope that republican legislatures in states which have not yet acted upon the suffrage amendment will ratify it, to the end that all the women of the nation of voting age may participate in the election of so important to the welfare of our country." republican women in attendance at the convention united in a demand for a fifty-fifty recognition inside of the party. they asked for a woman vice-chairman of the national republican committee and for men and women to be represented on it in equal numbers. the committee on rules, responding to this demand, changed the rules for representation and provided that seven members be added to the national executive committee, all to be women. with this concession the women had to be content. the democratic national convention met in san francisco june -july . prior to the convention the national committee had yielded to the pressure from the suffrage leaders and democratic women and on may sent out the following call: "this committee calls upon the legislatures of the various states for special sessions, if necessary, to ratify woman suffrage when the constitutional amendment is passed by congress, in order to enable women to vote at the presidential election in ." on june , after the amendment had been submitted by congress, the committee again gave its aid by sending the following message to governor roberts of tennessee: we most earnestly emphasize the extreme importance and urgency of an immediate meeting of your state legislature for the purpose of ratifying the proposed th amendment to the federal constitution. we trust that for the present all other legislative matters may, if necessary, be held in abeyance and that you will call an extra session for such brief duration as may be required to act favorably on the amendment. tennessee occupies a position of peculiar and pivotal importance and one that enables her to render a service of incalculable value to the women of america. we confidently expect, therefore, that under your leadership and through the action of the legislature of your state, the women of the nation may be given the privilege of voting in the coming presidential election. the national american woman suffrage association appointed mrs. mrs. guilford dudley, one of its vice-presidents, who was a delegate-at-large from tennessee to the convention and a member of the credentials committee, to present the following plank to the resolutions committee: "the federal suffrage amendment, whose passage in congress was greatly furthered by the efforts of a democratic president, is one state short of the number required to make its ratification effective. in two republican states, vermont and connecticut, where ratification could be at once achieved, republican governors are refusing to call special sessions. in simple justice to women, we, democrats in national convention assembled, urge the cooperation of democratic governors and legislators in north carolina, tennessee, florida and other democratic states that have not ratified, in a united effort to complete ratification by the addition of the th state in time for the women of america to participate in the approaching elections." the national woman's party through mrs. abby scott baker, its publicity chairman, presented a plank through u. s. senator carter glass of the resolutions committee, which read: "the democratic party endorses the proposed amendment to the u. s. constitution enfranchising women and calls upon all democratic governors of states which have not yet ratified the amendment immediately to convene their legislatures so that they may act upon it and urges all democratic members of such legislatures immediately to vote for the amendment...." the plank finally adopted by the convention read: "we endorse the proposed th amendment of the constitution of the united states granting equal suffrage to women. we congratulate the legislatures of states which have already ratified said amendment and we urge the democratic governors and legislatures of tennessee, north carolina and florida and such states as have not yet ratified it to unite in an effort to complete the process of ratification and secure the th state in time for all the women of the united states to participate in the fall election. we commend the effective advocacy of the measure by president wilson." the democratic women achieved a victory also in the important decision which was reached in regard to the representation of women in future national conventions, this convention deciding that full sex equality should be observed in its delegations and that the national committee hereafter should include one man and one woman from each state. thus the struggle begun in for the approval of woman suffrage by the national presidential conventions of the political parties ended with its complete endorsement by all of them in . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss mary garrett hay, second vice-president of the national american woman suffrage association. [ ] for a full account of the effort to obtain planks in the national platforms from to , inclusive, see chapter xxiii, volume iv, history of woman suffrage. [ ] one evening during the convention the maryland suffragists, reinforced by others from surrounding cities, had a long and handsomely equipped parade. chapter xxiv. war service of organized suffragists.[ ] the response of the women of the united states to the call of their country as it entered the world war was as vigorous and eager as had been that of women of other more deeply involved nations. although american women had little opportunity for giving first line aid in comparison with the women of the allied countries they gave a second or supporting line service in organization and conservation to which they applied their full energy. these efforts brought them close in spirit to the firing line long before the stars and stripes were carried to chateau thierry and beyond. it is the province of this chapter to review especially the work of the organized suffragists in their loyalty to their government--a government which from the first had refused to women all voice and part in its proceedings. this work may best be examined under two headings: . war service of the national american woman suffrage association; . war service of suffragists as a whole under the direction of the woman's committee of the council of national defense. on feb. , , the president of the association, mrs. carrie chapman catt, issued the following call to its executive council of one hundred to meet in washington on february - to confer upon the approaching crisis in national affairs: "to members of the executive council: "our nation may be on the brink of war. to those who live in the interior war may seem a long way off but in the east, where public buildings, water works, forts, etc., are now under military guard and where some of the regiments of the national guard have been called to duty, it comes as a sad realization that our country is facing a far more serious crisis than most of us have ever known. a few days may determine whether our people are to be drawn into war at once or whether the break can be patched up and the more tragic circumstances postponed or even averted. "if the worst comes, very serious problems confront us. our suffrage work would unquestionably come to a temporary standstill. how shall we dispose of our headquarters, our workers, our plans? how shall we hold our organization and resources meanwhile, so that our movement will not lose its prestige and place among the political issues of our country? these are questions we must not leave to answer themselves. if we are 'not the hammer, our cause will be the anvil.' women not connected with any particular movement are calling meetings in order to pass pointless resolutions of the promised service of women if required. the big question presents itself, shall suffragists do the 'war work' which they will undoubtedly want to do with other groups newly formed, thus running the risk of disintegrating our organizations, or shall we use our headquarters and our machinery for really helpful constructive aid to our nation? the answer must be given _now_. "because this unexpected turn of public affairs creates an unprecedented condition, the majority of the national board avails itself of the provision of the constitution which permits the call of the executive council on a two weeks' notice. i therefore issue this call to all elected officers, all presidents, all auxiliaries, all state members, (auxiliaries which pay dues on a membership of or more are entitled to a state member in addition to the president), and all chairmen of standing and special committees to meet in washington at the national suffrage headquarters, rhode island avenue, february - inclusive, as per inclosed program. each state is urged to send its state congressional chairmen also to this meeting...." it was, therefore, for the executive council to decide what the association could best do to help the government in case of war. the summons came as no surprise to the members of the national association, since for many months their eyes had been fixed on the war-clouds gathering upon the horizon. it was evident that the united states was about to enter the world war. when this council met at the headquarters in washington the national officers submitted to it the draft of a note that specified various concrete ways in which, according to their ideas, the members of the association might give aid to their country in an emergency. this draft was discussed section by section and the motion then came to adopt the note as a whole. this called out the most important debate of the two-days' meeting, remarkable for the kindly spirit and good temper with which were set forth opposing views on a vital matter concerning which public feeling ran high. the president gave an opportunity to all "conscientious objectors" to come forward and record their names as dissenting. almost all who did so stated that they believed women should give their assistance in case of war but they feared that an offer of help to the government made in advance might tend to fan the war spirit and create a psychological impetus towards war. even this minority felt that the proposed services were judiciously chosen, as they were such as would benefit the country were it at war or at peace. the majority decision was that the national association should now abandon its unbroken custom of not participating in any matters except those relating directly to woman suffrage and that in view of the national emergency it should offer its assistance to the government of the united states and proceed to organize for war service. the registered vote on such action was to . as the attendance at the conference represented states out of the in which the association had auxiliaries, it might be considered as expressing an almost nation-wide conviction among the members of the association. on february the conference issued the following note: "to the president and government of the united states: "we devoutly hope and pray that our country's crisis may be passed without recourse to war. we declare our belief that the settlement of international difficulties by bloodshed is unworthy of the th century, and also our confidence that our government is using every honorable means to avoid conflict. if, however, our nation is drawn into the maelstrom, we stand ready to serve our country with the zeal and consecration which should ever characterize those who cherish high ideals of the duty and obligation of citizenship. with no intention of laying aside our constructive forward work to secure the vote for the womanhood of this country as 'the right protective of all other rights,' we offer our services in the event that they should be needed, and, in so far as we are authorized, we pledge the loyal support of our more than two million members. we make this offer now in order to avoid waste of time and effort in an emergency; also, that the executive ability, industry and devotion of our women, trained through years of arduous endeavor, may be utilized, with all other national resources, for the protection of our country in its time of stress. we propose that a national committee be formed at once, composed of a representative from each national organization of women willing to aid in war work, if the need arises. the object shall be to establish a clearing house between the government and those organizations in order that service may be rendered in the most expeditious manner. with this end in view we recommend that each component organization list its resources and report to this central committee concerning the definite work it is prepared to do. to further the practical application of this suggestion our association declares its willingness to undertake the following departments of work: "i. the establishing of employment bureaus for women.--through its local, state and national headquarters to register the names and qualifications of women available for occupations which men will leave to enter the army; to supply these women to employers and to protect the work of such women. "ii. the increase of the food supply by the training of women for agricultural work and by the elimination of waste. the aid of the department of agriculture will be sought in planning systematic courses for women to accomplish these purposes. the cultivation by women of garden plots and vacant lots in cities will be encouraged at the same time that the larger importance of regular farming is urged. "iii. the red cross.--as the red cross, in which many of our members are zealous workers, is already equipped to render hospital, medical and general supply service, we offer our organized service in other fields and we promise continued cooperation with the red cross as needed. "iv. americanization.--a problem unknown to other lands will become accentuated in the event of war. within our borders are eight millions of aliens, who by birth, tradition and training will find it difficult, if not impossible, to understand the causes which have led to this war. war invariably breeds intolerance and hatred and will tend to arouse antagonisms inimical to the best interests of the nation. with the desire to minimize this danger, our association, extending as it does into every precinct of our great cities and into the various counties of the states, offers to conduct classes in school centers wherein national allegiance shall be taught, emphasizing tolerance, to the end that the stars and stripes shall wave over a loyal and undivided people. "v. conference committee.--in order to carry out our expressed desire and purpose, a committee of three is hereby ordered appointed to confer with the proper authorities of the government. if need arises, this committee shall be the intermediary between the government and our association." signed, executive council, national american woman suffrage association. by anna howard shaw, honorary president; carrie chapman catt, president; helen guthrie miller, first vice-president; katharine dexter mccormick, second vice-president; esther g. ogden, third vice-president; emma winner rogers, treasurer; mrs. thomas jefferson smith, recording secretary; nettie rogers shuler, corresponding secretary; pattie ruffner jacobs, first auditor; heloise meyer, second auditor. the conference ended on saturday and on sunday afternoon a public mass meeting was held. poli's theater was filled by a representative audience and on the platform were four members of the cabinet: secretaries baker, mcadoo, daniels and houston, with their wives; also united states senators, representatives and many other prominent people, including miss margaret wilson, the daughter of the president. the meeting was opened with an address by mrs. catt on the impending crisis, expressing the hope that after the war there would arise a truer democracy than ever known before and that the world would never see another war. the note to president wilson was read by mrs. ida husted harper and handed to secretary of war baker. in accepting it he paid a tribute to the aspirations of women and expressed the belief that at the close of the war the united states would take its place in a concert of neutral nations and having practiced justice at home it would have earned the right to help establish international justice. mrs. harriet taylor upton delighted the rather tense audience with her inimitable humor and dr. shaw closed the meeting with one of her strongest speeches. the addresses of mrs. catt and dr. shaw emphasized not only the desire of women to do effective patriotic service in time of stress but also their wish that a more civilized way than by the waste and destructiveness of war might be found to settle international disputes. president wilson immediately answered as follows: "the secretary of war has transmitted to me the resolutions presented to him at the meeting held on sunday afternoon, february , under the auspices of the national american woman suffrage association. i want to express my great and sincere admiration of the action taken. cordially and sincerely yours, woodrow wilson." on april , , the united states declared that a state of war with germany existed. news of the severance of diplomatic relations elicited a deep and reverberating response from the millions of suffragists over the country. at the new york and washington headquarters of the national association telephone calls and telegrams were received all day, as state by state the suffrage organizations proffered concerted action with the national on any program of constructive service which it might decide to offer to the government. the national suffrage association at once commenced its war work on the lines adopted at the washington conference. this comprised departments under four sections: thrift; food production; industrial protection of women and americanization. branches of these four sections had already been formed by all its state auxiliaries and mrs. mccormick, its second vice-president, had been appointed general chairman of the war service department. in many states the president of the suffrage association became chairman of the war service committee. thus the suffragists of the united states started their war activities with as much vigor as they had been accustomed to put into efforts for their own cause. * * * * * there had been created in august, , by an act of congress, the council of national defense, composed of the secretaries of war, navy, interior, agriculture, commerce and labor. this council was formed in order that an emergency might not find the country without a central agency to direct the mobilization of troops back of the regular army. it was not an executive body; its function was to consider and advise. by a wise provision of the congressional act the formation of subordinate agencies was authorized and upon the declaration of war advantage of this was quickly taken. large fields of action were mapped out and assigned to committees on which were appointed the foremost men and women of the country. it was at once evident that the women of the united states had a definite and powerful rôle to play in the great war and the council decided that "for the purpose of coordinating the women's preparedness movement a central body of woman should be formed under the council of national defense." on april , , the director, secretary of war baker, telegraphed to dr. anna howard shaw that secretary of the interior lane and he would like to consult her in regard to important matters concerning the relations of women to the council. she was on a lecture tour in the south but arranged to meet with them in washington on april . on april , before the time for this meeting, the council of national defense voted that a woman's committee be formed with the following personnel: dr. anna howard shaw, mrs. carrie chapman catt, mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, mrs. josiah evans cowles, mrs. philip north moore, mrs. antoinette funk, miss ida tarbell, miss maude wetmore, mrs. joseph r. lamar. later miss agnes nestor and miss hannah j. patterson were added. of the eleven members of the committee all were prominent suffragists except miss tarbell, mrs. lamar and miss wetmore, who were well-known "antis." it was learned that the names had been carefully considered by the council. dr. shaw was designated as chairman of the woman's committee of the council of national defense and asked to hold a meeting in washington at the earliest possible date. its headquarters were opened in this city and the members accepted their appointments as a call by the government to the service of the country. * * * * * in december, , the th annual convention of the national american woman suffrage association was held at washington. the chairman of its war service department, mrs. mccormick, described the combination of efforts desirable between its branches and those of the woman's committee of the council of national defense, saying that such a combination was essential to efficient war-service by the women of the country. comprehensive reports were made of the activities of the four sections by their chairmen which may be read in full in the handbook of the association for and space can be used here only for the briefest summaries. ( ) thrift and elimination of waste. the chairman, mrs. walter mcnab miller, first vice-president of the association, said in part: "after consultation with assistant secretary of agriculture vrooman and the heads of economics and extension departments and the children's bureau, a letter was sent to each state suffrage president outlining the plan of work and asking that a chairman be appointed to inaugurate and carry out the thrift program. food conservation was the subject stressed, for the experience of the european countries made it of prime importance. it is a matter of interest that the original food outline sent out in april contained all the suggestions afterwards insisted upon by mr. hoover, and the outline on clothing contained the same advice as was later given out by the woman's committee of the council of national defense. the response from the southern states was especially gratifying. i have spoken times for thrift, travelled , miles, sent out form letters and written individual letters. reports from states where thrift committees have been at work show constantly increasing interest and the gradual adoption of a definite line of effort." ( ) food production. the chairman, mrs. henry wade rogers, treasurer of the association, after speaking of the cooperation received from the department of agriculture, said in part: "we appealed to all state suffrage presidents to appoint chairmen and encourage their local leagues to cooperate in every way possible in increasing the food supply and a splendid response came. we urged the importance of enlisting women to undertake practical gardening or farming and to provide training for women to this end. we urged the opening in every state of two or three farm employment bureaus for women through which graduates of agricultural colleges and others with less training could be placed on farms, and farmers who were progressive enough to want women's help could be reasonably sure of securing it. we arranged with the largest overalls company in the united states to design and put out a suitable farm uniform for women, which was extensively sold and used.... the reports at the end of the season testified to the millions of gardens worked by suffragists, to the thousands who helped on farms or went to farm training schools, to canning kitchens and home canning on a scale hitherto unthought-of." ( ) industrial protection of women. the chairman, miss ethel m. smith, said in part: "this committee was created by the national suffrage board to secure women workers to fill the places of men called for military service and it promised to 'protect the work of such women.' a letter was sent to five hundred chambers of commerce over mrs. catt's signature, asking for their cooperation in behalf of women workers against the danger of excessive overtime and underpay. the slogan of 'equal pay for equal work' was utilized and vigilance committees were planned for each state to note the conditions in industrial localities and report back to washington. the questions of equal pay for equal work and equal opportunity for women were then taken up with the government departments, which have been quite as unfair to women employees as have private firms. the scale of pay is notoriously less than for men, and women have been excluded from the civil service examinations for many positions which they are well equipped to fill. we therefore sent a letter to the departments of war, navy, state and commerce where the discrimination had been proved, asking whether they would not modify their regulations to give women equal chances with men, and, now that men were needed for the army, give women the clerical positions in preference to men. we published these letters and received favorable replies from all but the state department." miss smith told of the discovery that women in the bureau of engraving, under the treasury department, were working twelve hours a day seven days in the week; of the protest of her committee sent through mrs. catt to secretary mcadoo and of his order restoring the eight-hour day and removing all cause of complaint." ( ) americanization. the chairman, mrs. frederick p. bagley, said that her first act was to secure three wise and experienced suffragists to form with her a central committee, mrs. shuler, corresponding secretary of the national suffrage association; mrs. robert s. huse of new jersey, and mrs. winona osborn pinkham, executive secretary of the boston equal suffrage association. a plan for americanization work was printed in the _woman citizen_, june , , and was sent to each state president with a letter asking for the appointment of a state chairman. mrs. bagley's thorough résumé of the work of her committee filled eleven pages of the printed convention report and among the various branches described were recruiting in the foreign tenement quarters for attendance at the public schools; securing cooperation with foreign leaders and with existing agencies for americanization work; enlisting the cooperation of employers in providing school facilities for employees; teaching english in the homes where the women had not been able to attend school and aiding in the carrying on of the day school for immigrant women now established in the north end of boston. she told of two new departments, americanization for rural districts and citizenship classes for women voters. she urged, not only the necessity of schools for adult foreigners but the desirability of good ones that would hold their attention and she made a special plea for the immigrant women. she also called attention to the imperative need for teaching patriotism. the plan of work recommended by the executive council and adopted by this convention provided that the association during should continue the four departments and add the woman's hospital unit in france and child welfare; that these six departments be placed under the direction of a committee, the chairman of which should be a member of the national suffrage board; that each state suffrage auxiliary be asked to establish a war service committee, composed of chairmen of the above sections, with an additional one on liberty bonds. this committee of eight was to direct the war work for each state in cooperation with the state division of the woman's committee, council of national defense. the land army section was added in the spring of and took the place of the food production section. the name of the thrift section was changed to that of food conservation; miss hilda loines became its chairman and its work was combined as closely as possible with the similar section in the woman's national defense committee directed by mrs. mccormick. * * * * * the national suffrage association held no convention in but it met in march, , at st. louis for its th anniversary. the armistice had been declared and the final reports of the association's war activities were rendered. in that of the war service department the chairman, mrs. mccormick, stated that the reason the reports did not cover all six of its sections but only land army, americanization and oversea hospitals was that the other sections, after the convention of , were merged with the similar sections of the woman's committee, council of national defense. detailed statements regarding food conservation and industrial protection for women in which the suffrage committees took so large a part, may be found in the reports of the government agriculture and labor departments. the child welfare department was combined with that of the woman's national defense committee and both were put under the guidance of miss julia lathrop, chief of the children's bureau of the united states department of labor. miss lathrop made an address to the convention in st. louis on this subject which was published in full in its handbook for . in the section industrial protection of women mrs. gifford pinchot had followed miss ethel m. smith as chairman and in a brief report told how nominal the function of her committee had recently become, owing to the fact that all agencies working in this field had been consolidated under the direction of the u. s. department of labor. before this amalgamation three interesting lines of effort had been carried forward by this committee: an attempt was made to secure a representation of women on the war labor board, which did not succeed; action was taken against the decision of this board in dismissing women street car conductors in cleveland, o., and the committee's position was upheld; an unsuccessful effort was made through mr. gompers to have women appointed on the committee of labor delegates who went abroad to confer with the labor representatives of other countries during the peace conference. land army. miss hilda loines, chairman, said in part: "the training of women for agricultural work as a war necessity was early foreseen by the national suffrage association and was made a part of its program of war service. early in the spring of a number of organizations undertook to register and place women who could and would do agricultural labor. bureaus were opened for their registry and field workers were sent out to secure promises of employment from the farmers. this was difficult at first but as the season wore on and there were no men to cultivate the crops and pick the fruit the farmers in desperation turned to the women. during the spring and summer of the woman's land army was organized in thirty states, and about , women were placed on the land, , in units and , in emergency groups. the majority of these women had had no previous experience and most of them could receive little training but they did practically every kind of farm labor, ploughing, planting, cultivating and harvesting. they cut, stacked and loaded hay, corn and rye and filled the silos; worked on big western farms and orchards, dairy farms, truck farms, private estates and home gardens; did poultry work, beekeeping and teaming; learned to handle tractors, harvesters and other farm machinery. their efficiency is best proved by the change of attitude from skepticism to enthusiastic appreciation on the part of the farmers for whom they worked." americanization. the chairman, mrs. bagley, continued her report of the preceding year of the work in connection with the councils of defense of the several states "by means of the local machinery of the various suffrage organizations." she urged the teaching of english to aliens as the first step in americanization, with emphasis on the point that the immigrant women must not be left out. "this americanization is a function peculiarly appropriate to suffragists," she said, "as a woman married to an alien must herself forever remain an alien unless her husband becomes a citizen, and as the states enfranchise women hundreds of thousands will still be left without the vote. every married alien whom suffragists help to take out naturalization papers means not only a vote for him but also for his wife. during the convention in december, , the plan for oversea hospitals was presented to the delegates by mrs. charles l. tiffany of new york, at the request of mrs. catt, the national president, to whom the matter had been suggested by the action of the scottish suffrage societies in sending to france in the scottish women's hospitals, units managed and staffed entirely by women, and was accepted. mrs. tiffany was made chairman of the hospital committee and mrs. raymond brown director of the work in france. at the convention of march, , in st. louis, mrs. brown made a full report, from which the following is an extract. "at its convention in the national suffrage association, as part of its war work, agreed to support a hospital unit in france and undertook to raise $ , for its maintenance for a year. this unit was already in process of organization by a group of women physicians of the new york infirmary for women and children and was to be composed entirely of women. since the u. s. government does not accept women in its medical reserve corps, and at that time neither it nor the red cross was sending women surgeons for service abroad, the unit was offered to the french government, which accepted it by cable. the first group of the unit sailed on feb. , , and expected to establish a hospital for refugees in the devastated area. before they could be installed the villages to which they had been assigned were taken in a new drive by the germans and about half the group, headed by dr. caroline finley, was suddenly called upon for hospital service within the war zone. the hospital to which they were assigned was evacuated before they could reach it and they were finally placed in chateau ognon, a few miles north of senlis on the road to compiègne. "soon after the first group was sent into the war zone, the french government asked the remainder of the unit to go to the department of landes in the south of france in order to establish there a hospital for refugees. the germans were still advancing and as the refugees poured into the south the government was trying to build villages of barracks for them. when dr. alice gregory with a group of fifteen women, including a carpenter, plumber, chemist and chauffeur, reached labouheyre, early in april, a site had still to be found for the hospital and the buildings were still to be built, furnished and equipped. the barracks were erected in due time by the government; the equipment was the gift of the american red cross; the planning, directing purchasing and installing were done by our women. dr. marie formad was finally put in charge. later, at the request of the french service de sante, a -bed hospital unit for gas cases was organized by the women's oversea hospitals and was started on its way from america to france. this was the first hospital unit exclusively for gas cases and had a personnel solely of women. its principal group in lorraine cared for , cases in three months." the oversea hospitals service was divided and sent from point to point to answer the many demands of war, having charge of hospitals and treating tens of thousands of cases. "with the signing of the armistice," mrs. brown's report said, "the great problem in france became the care of refugees and repatriates, who were returning at the rate of thousands a day, most of them utterly destitute and in need of medical care, to homes in many cases completely destroyed." the hospital and dispensary service was therefore continued. dr. finley and her group were sent to germany and here met the returned prisoners of war, who were in desperate condition. "the work of the oversea hospitals has been handled with great economy," the report said, "and has cost less than was anticipated, both because of the large amount of volunteer work and because the units in french military hospitals received french rations. the state suffrage organizations have contributed most generously." a list was furnished of the trucks and ambulances given by the women's organizations in the united states. "the total number of women sent to france with the hospitals was seventy-four, who came from all parts of the united states. several of the doctors received the french equivalent of a commission; three obtained the croix de guerre and two were decorated with the medaille d'honneur." the report of mrs. henry wade rogers, treasurer of the national association, given at the convention, stated that funds for the hospitals service to the amount of $ , had passed through her hands. their disbursement, carefully audited, is published in the handbook of the association for , page . at the annual convention of the national suffrage association held in chicago, in february, , the report of mrs. rogers stated that oversea hospitals funds to the amount of $ , had passed through the treasury and a balance of $ , remained. (see handbook, page .) the question of the disposition of this balance was put to the convention, which voted that it be divided equally between the work in france of the women's oversea hospitals and the american hospital for french wounded in rheims. mrs. tiffany, chairman of the committee, and mrs. brown, director in france, made a final report to the convention, stating that the work in france was continued until september , , in order to care for the french disabled soldiers, and to maintain hospitals, dental clinics, dispensaries, ambulances, motor cars, etc. such work proceeded in connection with the american fund for french wounded. the principal group was transferred from lorraine to rheims in april, with dr. marie lefort still in charge. on september , with its mission finished, the hospital and all its equipment were presented to the american fund for french wounded. the mayor sent a letter to dr. lefort which said in part: "the municipality of rheims would like to express to you and the women's oversea hospitals its profound gratitude for the splendid assistance you have given our population. france and the city of rheims are deeply moved." the full equipment of the smaller hospital groups was given to the french government for its own hospital service. dr. caroline finley returned to the u. s. in august, still a lieutenant in the french army. the prince of wales, who was in new york, invited her on board h. m. s. _renown_, where he conferred on her the order of the british empire in recognition of her work at metz, where british prisoners stricken with influenza were cared for as they arrived from german prison-camps. this ends the story of the women's oversea hospitals, for which the national suffrage association willingly raised nearly $ , at the crisis in its own fifty-year movement. desks for suffrage work were vacant over all the country while their occupants were cheerfully giving their best service to the demands of the war. for the vast majority this took the forms indicated by the above committee reports. in addition there were the activities of money-raising; caring for children and other dependents; safeguarding public health; the usual tasks of nursing and other red cross work; the distribution of food administration pledge cards, the organizing of food committees in all townships under the direction of district captains, with "clean-up" days and "elimination of waste" days in counties; canning demonstrations throughout communities; alloting and directing garden plots; holding normal training schools to teach gardening; making collections for the red cross and other war funds, with countless other activities. liberty bonds in the second, third and fourth campaigns to the amount of one-fourth of the total sales were disposed of through the national suffrage association, its state branches and women throughout the country. * * * * * while the suffragists were devoting themselves to war-service they did not lay down arms for their own cause, which had reached a stage where further delay was impossible. there was a general tacit understanding that, while the war needs of their country were and should be uppermost, their hands must never relinquish the suffrage throttle, and the double tasks of war work and suffrage work were undertaken in a fine spirit of devotion to both. nevertheless, the anti-suffrage women seized upon the occasion to accuse them of disloyalty, pacifism, pro-germanism and of placing the interests of woman suffrage above those of the nation! these attacks were repeatedly made in the press and on the platform, mrs. catt, the president of the national association, being especially the victim. at times they grew so virulent that it became necessary to answer them through the newspapers. her letters were published with headlines and widely quoted. one of these letters, under date of oct. , , addressed to mrs. margaret c. robinson of cambridge, mass., chairman of the press committee of the national anti-suffrage association, began: "my attention has been called to the fact that you are circulating by public letter and bulletin various statements that impugn my loyalty as an american and thereby put in jeopardy my good name and reputation. these assertions are made by you either with wilful intent to injure my name and standing in the community or without having made an effort to establish their proof. i hereby set forth the facts which have been distorted by you into untruths, either by contrary statements or by implications." it ended: "in the name of our common womanhood, i ask you to meet the suffrage issue fairly and squarely, and i warn you that for personal attacks tending to injure my name or those of my fellow-workers, you will be held responsible." another letter dated nov. , , addressed by mrs. catt to mrs. james w. wadsworth, jr., president of the anti-suffrage association; mrs. robinson and miss alice hill chittenden, president of the new york state anti-suffrage association, took up and refuted the charges saying: "to every single and collective insinuation, implication or direct charge, published or spoken in any place at any time by professional anti-suffrage campaigners, which has conveyed the impression that i or any other officially responsible leader of the national suffrage association has by word or deed been disloyal to our country, i make complete and absolute denial here and now." it said in closing: "in this connection i wish to call your attention to the fact that the late john hay, the father of the president of the national association of anti-suffragists, had his own experiences with people who challenged his loyalty and 'cursed me,' he says, 'for being the tool of england.' in may, , when our country was at war with spain, john hay actually had the temerity to draft a peace project, although he knew, so he said, that he 'would be lucky if he escaped lynching for it.' are you willing to apply to mrs. wadsworth's father the chain of alleged reasoning that you apply to me, and, because of his great faith in and hope for peace, call him a traitor to his country?" these letters had no effect on the abuse and misrepresentation of the suffragists but the charges were continued by the leaders of the "antis" until after the close of the war. there can be no doubt that the splendid war work of the suffragists was a principal factor in the submission and ratification of the federal amendment. their instant and universal response in new york to the call of the government, and later the actual conscription of all women over sixteen years of age by the governor, proved that not only were women capable of war service but actually liable for it. these facts were largely responsible for the big majority vote cast by the men for woman suffrage in november, , and the action of this great state paved the way for the success of the federal amendment in congress. it is impossible in this brief space to set forth the achievements of the woman's committee, council of national defense, whose chairman, dr. anna howard shaw, was honorary president of the national american woman suffrage association and had been for eleven years its president; two of whose members, mrs. catt and mrs. mccormick, were now its president and vice-president, while five of the remaining eight were prominent suffragists. its accomplishments were on so large a scale and embodied so much important detail that only a full review could do them justice. the facts attested to the work of an organization which built up branches in forty-eight states comprising , component units and capable in at least one instance of reaching as many as , women in a single state. the reader is referred to the excellent account by mrs. emily newell blair--the woman's committee, united states council of national defense, an interpretative report. (government printing office.) from the time dr. shaw called the first meeting, may , , to the middle of march, , the committee labored unceasingly to perform its great task. on new year's day, , a telegram to dr. shaw from queen mary expressed the "thanks of the women of the british empire for the inspiring words of encouragement and assurance from the woman's committee of the council of national defense of america." on nov. , , the armistice was signed and on the th representatives of new york organizations of women met in the ball-room of the hotel mcalpin at the call of mrs. catt. the second vice-president, miss mary garrett hay, presided and mrs. catt offered the following resolution: "whereas, the great war just ended has been a partnership of all the people of all belligerent countries composing two vast armies, one of soldiers in the trenches and one of civilians who formed a second line of defense to supply the needs of the fighters, thus making it possible to fight; and whereas, the war could not have been carried to a victorious conclusion without the aid of women in civilian activities, as is shown by the testimony of men in high authority in every belligerent land; and whereas, all truly civilized, intelligent people now wish to make a final end of war and to organize the forces of civilization so as to make future war impossible; and whereas, women compose half of society with very special and peculiar interests to be conserved and protected--all too frequently overlooked by men--therefore resolved, that we urge the president of the united states to give women adequate representation on the united states delegation to the peace conference to meet in paris. we urge him to select women whose broad experience and sympathies render them competent to support and defend every point which bears upon the establishment of liberty for all the peoples of the world and especially upon the proper protection of women and children in peace and war. we urge him to select women who may be relied upon to uphold free representative institutions, based upon the will of the people in every land in which independence is established, in order that democratic institutions may make an end of war." no attention was paid to this resolution by the president or the government and no women were appointed on the peace delegation as a recognition of their work and sacrifice. the woman's committee gradually closed up its affairs and at a meeting on feb. , , dr. shaw was instructed to write to the secretary of war that it believed its work to be at an end and tendered its resignation to take effect when, in the judgment of his council, its services should no longer be required. this resignation was accepted by president wilson on february with a splendid tribute to the work of the committee. the announcement was formally made on march , and the committee passed out of existence.[ ] two of its members, the chairman and the resident director, miss hannah j. patterson, received from the government in may the distinguished service medal. secretary of war newton d. baker in a foreword to mrs. blair's report said: "the chairman of the woman's committee of the council of national defense from the beginning was dr. anna howard shaw--ripened by a long life devoted intensely to the advocacy of great causes; cheered and heartened by recent victories for the greatest cause for which she had fought in her long and unusual life; loved and honored by her sex as their leader and by men as a citizen combining in a rare degree high qualities of intellect, force of character and persuasive eloquence in speech. she and her committee wrought a work the like of which had never been seen before, and her reward was to see its success and then to be caught up as she was engaged in another high and fierce conflict into which she threw herself when hostilities ceased in order that this great work might be but a helpful part of a greater thing in the hope and history of mankind.... the woman's committee was the leader of the women of america. it informed and broadened the minds of women everywhere, and with no thought of propaganda it made an argument by producing results. the council of national defense fades out of this work and the woman's committee looms large--and yet larger still is the american woman...." it was the earnest desire of dr. shaw and the suffragists that she might now give her important services to the federal suffrage amendment, which was at a critical stage, but this hope could not be realized. former president taft and president lowell of harvard university, both of whom had done valuable work for the peace treaty and the league of nations, were starting in may, , on a speaking tour to advocate the league in fifteen states and they urged dr. shaw to cancel all other engagements and join them on this tour. for two years she had been giving her time and labor without price and now she had commenced again to fill her own lecture dates. she was going later to spain as the guest of dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college, for a well-earned and much-needed rest, but at this call everything was given up willingly and cheerfully to continue her service to her country. as the tour was arranged, every night was to be spent on a sleeping car and dr. shaw was to speak only once in twenty-four hours. she could not, however, resist the pleading of people in different cities and at indianapolis she filled eight engagements of various kinds in one day. the following day at springfield, ills., she succumbed to her old foe, pneumonia. she received every possible care in the hospital and after two weeks recovered sufficiently to make the journey to her home at moylan, pennsylvania. she had, however, put too great a strain on her vital forces and died july , at the age of seventy-two. * * * * * whatever may have been the unthinking verdict passed upon suffragists and their activities prior to the world war, it was thereafter widely acknowledged that in the national crisis they played a leading rôle in the support and defense of the nation. while it is a matter for regret that their war record cannot be chronicled as fully and definitely as can their work for suffrage, nevertheless, even a casual examination will show that it was a heroic one and none the less so because it was frequently merged, through far-sighted efficiency, in the war-service of all american women, of which it formed a distinguished part. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. katharine dexter mccormick, first vice-president of the national american woman suffrage association and general chairman of its war service department. [ ] it was a question long and seriously discussed whether this vast organization should be wholly dissolved or whether it should be continued in the various states for civic and humanitarian purposes. dr. shaw was strongly in favor of preserving it and her earnest appeal will be found in mrs. blair's report, page . appendix to chapter iii. the death of mrs. stanton. from the address of an old and valued friend, the rev. moncure d. conway of virginia, who was many years at the head of the ethical culture society of london, at the funeral of elizabeth cady stanton in her home in new york city, oct. , . a lighthouse on the human coast is fallen. to vast multitudes the name elizabeth cady stanton does not mean so much a person as a standard inscribed with great principles. roses will grow out of her ashes; individual characters will give a resurrection to her soul and genius, but the immortality she has achieved is that of her long and magnificent services to every cause of justice and reason. beginning her career amid ridicule and obloquy, all the worth she put into her life has not only been returned to her personally in the love and friendship which have surrounded her and made life happy even to her last day, but has been returned to her tenfold in the successes of her cause. could i utter to her my farewell i would say: revered and beloved friend, you pass to your rest after a brave and beautiful life; you have journeyed by a path of unsullied light. if ever there shall be established in america a republic--a constitution and government free from all caste and privilege, whether of color, creed or sex--its founders will be discovered not in those who purchased by their valor and blood mere independence of territory in which a government allied with slavery was founded, but among those who, while faithful to heart and home, toiled unweariedly for an ideal civilization. a few touching words were spoken by the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, a contemporary in the early days of the movement for woman suffrage. at woodlawn cemetery the committal to earth was pronounced by the rev. phoebe a. hanaford, another companion in the long contest. * * * * * miss anthony's last birthday letter to mrs. stanton, written a few days before her sudden death. my dear mrs. stanton:-- i shall indeed be happy to spend with you november , the day on which you round out your four-score and seven, over four years ahead of me, but in age as in all else i follow you closely. it is fifty-one years since first we met and we have been busy through every one of them, stirring up the world to recognize the rights of women. the older we grow the more keenly we feel the humiliation of disfranchisement and the more vividly we realize its disadvantages in every department of life and most of all in the labor market. we little dreamed when we began this contest, optimistic with the hope and buoyancy of youth, that half a century later we would be compelled to leave the finish of the battle to another generation of women. but our hearts are filled with joy to know that they enter upon this task equipped with a college education, with business experience, with the fully admitted right to speak in public--all of which were denied to women fifty years ago. they have practically but one point to gain--the suffrage; we had all. these strong, courageous, capable young women will take our place and complete our work. there is an army of them where we were but a handful. ancient prejudice has become so softened, public sentiment so liberalized and women have so thoroughly demonstrated their ability as to leave not a shadow of doubt that they will carry our cause to victory. and we, dear, old friend, shall move on to the next sphere of existence--higher and larger, we cannot fail to believe, and one where women will not be placed in an inferior position but will be welcomed on a plane of perfect intellectual and spiritual equality. ever lovingly yours, susan b. anthony. practically every magazine in the united states contained an article about mrs. stanton and her great work and there was scarcely a newspaper that did not have an editorial. an extended account, with tributes from miss anthony, will be found in her life and work, chapter lxi. in the _review of reviews_ for december, , appeared an appreciation from the writer of these volumes. appendix to chapter iv. declaration of principles. the following declaration of principles, prepared by mrs. catt, dr. shaw, miss blackwell and mrs. harper, was adopted by the convention of the national american woman suffrage association in . when our forefathers gained the victory in a seven years' war to establish the principle that representation should go hand in hand with taxation, they marked a new epoch in the history of man; but though our foremothers bore an equal part in that long conflict its triumph brought to them no added rights and through all the following century and a quarter, taxation without representation has been continuously imposed on women by as great tyranny as king george exercised over the american colonists. so long as no married woman was permitted to own property and all women were barred from the money-making occupations this discrimination did not seem so invidious; but to-day the situation is without a parallel. the women of the united states now pay taxes on real and personal estate valued at billions of dollars. in a number of individual states their holdings amount to many millions. everywhere they are accumulating property. in hundreds of places they form one-third of the taxpayers, with the number constantly increasing, and yet they are absolutely without representation in the affairs of the nation, of the state, even of the community in which they live and pay taxes. we enter our protest against this injustice and we demand that the immortal principles established by the war of the revolution shall be applied equally to women and men citizens. as our new republic passed into a higher stage of development the gross inequality became apparent of giving representation to capital and denying it to labor; therefore the right of suffrage was extended to the workingman. now we demand for the , , wage-earning women of our country the same protection of the ballot as is possessed by the wage-earning men. the founders took an even broader view of human rights when they declared that government could justly derive its powers only from the consent of the governed, and for years this grand assertion was regarded as a corner-stone of the republic, with scarcely a recognition of the fact that one-half of the citizens were as completely governed without their consent as were the people of any absolute monarchy in existence. it was only when our government was extended over alien races in foreign countries that our people awoke to the meaning of the principles of the declaration of independence. in response to its provisions, the congress of the united states hastened to invest with the power of consent the men of this new territory, but committed the flagrant injustice of withholding it from the women. we demand that the ballot shall be extended to the women of our foreign possessions on the same terms as to the men. furthermore, we demand that the women of the united states shall no longer suffer the degradation of being held not so competent to exercise the suffrage as a filipino, a hawaiian or a porto rican man. the remaining territories within the united states are insisting upon admission into the union on the ground that their citizens desire "the right to select their own governing officials, choose their own judges, name those who are to make their laws and levy, collect, and disburse their taxes." these are just and commendable desires but we demand that their women shall have full recognition as citizens when these territories are admitted and that their constitutions shall secure to women precisely the same rights as to men. when our government was founded the rudiments of education were thought sufficient for women, since their entire time was absorbed in the multitude of household duties. now the number of girls graduated by the high schools greatly exceeds the number of boys in every state and the percentage of women students in the colleges is vastly larger than that of men. meantime most of the domestic industries have been taken from the home to the factory and hundreds of thousands of women have followed them there, while the more highly trained have entered the professions and other avenues of skilled labor. we demand that under this new régime, and in view of these changed conditions in which she is so important a factor woman shall have a voice and a vote in the solution of their innumerable problems. the laws of practically every state provide that the husband shall select the place of residence for the family, and if the wife refuse to abide by his choice she forfeits her right to support and her refusal shall be regarded as desertion. we protest against the recent decision of the courts which has added to this injustice by requiring the wife also to accept for herself the citizenship preferred by her husband, thus compelling a woman born in the united states to lose her nationality if her husband choose to declare his allegiance to a foreign country. as women form two-thirds of the church membership of the entire nation; as they constitute but one-eleventh of the convicted criminals; as they are rapidly becoming the educated class and as the salvation of our government depends upon a moral, law-abiding, educated electorate, we demand for the sake of its integrity and permanence that women be made a part of its voting body. in brief, we demand that all constitutional and legal barriers shall be removed which deny to women any individual right or personal freedom which is granted to man. this we ask in the name of a democratic and a republican government, which, its constitution declares, was formed "to establish justice and secure the blessings of liberty." appendix to chapter vii. the anthony memorial building in rochester, n.y. shortly after the death of susan b. anthony a group of her co-workers and other friends in rochester set out to raise a fund for the purpose of erecting, as a memorial to her, a building for the use of women students at the university of rochester. this seemed to them especially fitting, as miss anthony had been intensely interested and very active in the raising of the co-education fund which admitted women students to the university in .[ ] endorsement of this plan and the use of their names were given by her sister, mary s. anthony, dr. anna howard shaw and many well known women throughout this country and several from over-seas. a memorial association was formed with an executive committee of rochester women[ ] but very little organized committee work was done. suffragists were by this time too busy with the growing intensity of their own campaigns and said, truly enough, that miss anthony would much rather they would spend their time and money for the cause. however, an appeal was issued, coupon books were scattered among many women's organizations and individuals and the chairman of the committee addressed her personal appeal to every club and conference that would give her a hearing. the largest single gift was from miss anthony's old friend mrs. sarah l. willis of rochester, $ , . mrs. susan look avery of louisville, ky., gave $ , . of nine gifts of $ , each, five were from rochester women--miss mary s. anthony, mrs. hannah m. byam, mrs. mary h. hallowell, miss ada howe kent and miss frances baker. the other $ , gifts were from mrs. emma j. bartol, george and mary a. burnham of philadelphia; john c. haynes of boston; mrs. lydia coonley ward of chicago. among many interesting gifts may be noted one from the women of the netherlands and one from the portia suffrage club of new orleans. women students at the college made class gifts from time to time but the fund grew slowly. after eight years it had reached $ , . at this point the college authorities offered to complete the amount necessary for the building as planned, if the committee would turn over its money, which it gladly did. the cost was $ , , the balance, which came to $ , , being paid from the co-education fund raised by and for the women in . in the fall of the college girls took possession of the handsome gray stone building, bearing on its face, cut in stone, "anthony memorial." it contains a well-equipped gymnasium, a lunch room and four parlors for the social life of the students and the use of the alumnæ association. the possession of this building and catherine strong hall, the two connected by a cloistered walk, has added greatly to the enjoyment and convenience of the women students. miss eddy's half-length portrait of miss anthony hangs over the chimney-piece in the largest parlor and these rooms furnish a homelike place for their smaller social gatherings: larger affairs, such as the alumnæ dinner, are held in the gymnasium. "miss anthony would certainly rejoice if she could look in on some february th and see the girls commemorating her birthday, as they do in some way every year," mrs. gannett writes in sending information for this account. dr. rush rhees, president of the university, who has sent for this volume a picture of the memorial building and some additional information, says: "the building is in constant use and is a great contribution to the comfort, health and pleasure of our women students." friends of miss anthony gave a scholarship for women in her name and miss mary s. anthony gave the money for one in her own name. the university has seven other scholarships for women. appendix to chapter x. statement by mrs. carrie chapman catt at senate hearing in although the constitution of the united states in section of article i seems to have relegated authority over the extension of the suffrage to the various states, yet, curiously, few men in the united states possess the suffrage because they or the class to which they belong have secured their right to it by state action. the first voters were those who possessed the right under the original charters granted by the mother country and as the restrictions were many, including religious tests in most of the colonies and property qualifications in all, the number of actual voters was exceedingly small. when it became necessary at the close of the revolution to form a federation for the "common defense" and the promotion of the "general welfare," it was obvious that citizenship must be made national. to do this it became clearly necessary that religious tests must be abandoned, since catholic maryland, quaker pennsylvania and congregational massachusetts could be united under a common citizenship by no other method. the elimination of the religious test enfranchised a large number of men and this without a struggle or any movement in their behalf. in the first naturalization law was passed by congress. under the articles of confederation citizenship had belonged to the states but since it was apparent that it must now be national, a compromise was made between the old idea of state's rights and the new idea of federal union. each of the original states had its representatives in the convention which drafted the federal constitution and by common consent it was there planned that citizenship should carry with it the right to vote, although this was to be put into the state constitutions and not into the national. these delegates, influencing their own states in the forming of their constitutions, easily brought this about and without any movement on the part of those who were to be naturalized. this common understanding in the national constitutional convention and the naturalization act of congress in certainly enfranchised somewhere between three-fourths and four-fifths of all men in the united states at this time. the population of the colonies at the time of the revolution was two and a half millions and even though all men had been voters the number could not have been more than seven or eight hundred thousand. by the census of there were , , men of voting age in the united states. the act, therefore, of the u. s. government virtually enfranchised millions upon millions of men. generations then unborn have come into the right of the suffrage in this country under that act and men of every nationality have availed themselves of its privileges to become voting citizens. although, technically speaking, enfranchisement of the foreign-born was extended by the states, yet in reality it is obvious that the real granting of this privilege came from congress itself. the thirteen original states retained their property qualifications after the formation of the union and these were removed by state amendments. this extension of the suffrage was made in most cases many years ago, when the electorate was very small in numbers. the history of the enfranchisement of the negro is well known. states attempted it by amending their constitutions but in no case was this accomplished. congress undertook to secure it by national amendment and although this was ratified by the necessary three-fourths of the state legislatures yet it must be remembered that all the southern states were virtually coerced into giving their consent.... the indians were enfranchised by acts of congress. the evolution of man suffrage in the united states shows that but one class received their votes by direct state action--the nonproperty holders. they found political parties and statesmen to advocate their cause and their enfranchisement was made easy by state constitutional action. in the years of our national life no class of men have been forced to organize a movement in behalf of their enfranchisement; they have offered no petition or plea or even given sign that the extension of suffrage to them would be acceptable. yet american women, who have conducted a persistent, intelligent movement for a half-century, which has grown stronger and stronger with the years, appealing for their own enfranchisement and supported now by a petition of , citizens of the united states are told that it is unnecessary to consider their plea since all women do not want to vote! gentlemen, is it not manifestly unfair to demand of women a test which has never been made in the case of men in this or any other country? is it not true that the attitude of the government toward an unenfranchised class of men has ever been that the vote is a privilege to be extended and it is optional with the citizen whether or not he shall use it? if any proof is needed it can be found in the fact that the u. s. government has no record whatever of the number who have been naturalized in this country. it has no record of the number of indians who have accepted its offer of the vote as a reward for taking up land in severalty. manifestly the government, as represented by congress and the state legislatures, considers it entirely unnecessary to know whether men who have had the suffrage "thrust upon them" use it or not, but imperative that women must not only demand it in very large numbers but give guaranty that they will use it, before its extension shall be made to them. is it not likewise unfair to compel women to seek their enfranchisement by methods infinitely more difficult than those by means of which any man in this country has secured his right to a vote? ordinary fair play should compel every believer in democracy and individual liberty, no matter what are his views on woman suffrage, to grant to women the easiest process of enfranchisement and that is the submission of a federal amendment. appendix to chapter xiv. the shafroth-palmer woman suffrage amendment. in the congressional committee of the national american woman suffrage association, of which mrs. medill mccormick was chairman and mrs. antoinette funk vice-chairman, caused to be introduced in congress, with the sanction of the national board, a federal amendment for woman suffrage radically different from the one for which the association had been working since . it was named for its introducers in senate and house. the merits of the proposed amendment, as stated by mrs. funk, which are given in condensed form in chapter xiv, will be found in full in the published handbook or minutes of the national suffrage convention of this year. specimens of the objections made as published in the _woman's journal_ are given herewith: mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch (ills.), a lawyer: senator shafroth's new suffrage amendment may do good by keeping law-makers discussing woman suffrage but as a practical method of securing it has serious defects. it is open to all the states' rights objections raised against our susan b. anthony amendment,[ ] for it goes further and proposes a universal method of amending state constitutions. state law-makers and judges and even state voters from the north as well as the south will resent such dictation as an unwarrantable interference. the initiative and referendum scheme will have its own enemies, who will fear that this way may be an entering wedge for more initiative and referendum amendments to be pushed into state constitutions. the amendment is, however, too indefinitely framed to be workable. no officer is named to whom the petitions should go; no officer is obligated to submit the question; no method of authenticating the petitions is prescribed and no time for voting is fixed. the united states has no facilities of its own for conducting any such elections or punishing state or county officers who may not volunteer to do the work. the congressional committee would better keep this amendment in committee rather than let the country know the great objection there is to it on the part of our constituency.... * * * * * mrs. m. tascan bennett (conn.): the three principal objections to the new amendment appear to be as follows: it divides suffragists all over the country. the anthony amendment has had the support since of the annual conventions, where the members of the national association have their one opportunity to direct its work. the shafroth amendment furnishes an excellent excuse to congress for taking no action on the anthony amendment. it might well appear as a happy way to dispose of the whole question of woman suffrage by foisting responsibility for it back on the states where it already is.... it defeats what i consider to be the unanswerable advantage of the anthony amendment, whose ratification by the required three-fourths of the states will force the remaining one-fourth into line. the southern states, for whose special benefit the shafroth amendment appears to have been conceived, will undoubtedly be many years in accepting woman suffrage. with this new amendment ratified, they can still hold it back within their borders as long as they cling to their prejudices. * * * * * george h. wright, m.d. (conn.): the greatest objection is that, if passed, this amendment would throw the whole suffrage campaign into chaos. at present when we have carried one state we stop worrying about that state. the women cannot again be disfranchised except by an amendment to the state constitution, which would first have to pass a legislature elected by the whole people. no such legislature would dare to pass such a bill; the members who voted for it would accomplish nothing and would at once be ousted by their outraged women constituents. but under the shafroth amendment per cent. of the voters could force a referendum on the question at any time.... also a large part of the effort and money now used to gain new victories would be spent in defending what we had already won. * * * * * the rev. olympia brown (wis.), a pioneer suffragist: the passage of the shafroth amendment is spoken of several times in the explanations and arguments for it as being an "endorsement of woman suffrage by congress." "federal sanction," it is said, "would dignify the movement." this is another misnomer. there is no "indorsement" by congress and no "federal sanction" about it. there is not even a hint that congress favors woman suffrage. the amendment merely provides for the initiative and referendum in the states. the _woman's journal_ lately called attention to the statement twice made that "the effect of the amendment, if ratified, would be the same as if every state in the union had passed a suffrage amendment." this is a most singular assertion. if every state adopted a suffrage amendment our work would be done. again: "the passage of this resolution would have the same effect over the united states as if any other suffrage amendment had passed." surely anyone can see that if the anthony amendment had been passed by congress the effect would be entirely different from that produced by the passage of one merely giving the initiative and referendum to the states. and again: "if ratified, this amendment would have the same effect in every state as if a suffrage amendment had already passed its legislature." even this is untrue. if any legislature had submitted a suffrage amendment, the subject would at once go to the men to be voted on but by this method there must be a petition signed by per cent. of the voters.... one thing, however, seems to be ignored by all. when once an amendment to the federal constitution is passed and ratified by three-fourths of the legislatures it becomes a part of the constitution and is fixed for all time. no amendment has ever yet been repealed but it would be difficult, if not impossible, to secure another amendment on the same subject, especially one providing for a course of action entirely different from the former. therefore, this shafroth amendment, if passed, will place an impassable barrier to future congressional action in behalf of woman suffrage. it simply refers the matter to the states. as a reason for passing it, it is claimed that we cannot secure the submission of the original amendment. perhaps not today or during this session of congress; possibly not during this administration, but with the wonderful progress of our cause, the spread of the recognition of the rights of women and the "new doctrine of freedom," the demand for it will be overwhelming and it will be gained at no distant day. * * * * * mrs. ida husted harper, historian of the suffrage movement: in behalf of many loyal and experienced suffragists i wish to enter two strong protests--one against the resolution which has been presented in the u. s. senate by senator shafroth of colorado, by request of mrs. medill mccormick and mrs. antoinette funk; the other against their statement made to congress that they speak for the , members of the national american suffrage association in offering this resolution. the congressional committee, of which they are chairman and vice-chairman, was appointed, according to the understanding of the convention which met in washington last fall, to work for the submission by congress of the federal amendment for which the association has stood sponsor forty-five years. it was organized in for the express purpose of securing this amendment: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex." no other ever has been considered by the association. when this committee opened its headquarters in washington the national board asked contributions for its support through the _woman's journal_, saying: "the speedy submission of this federal amendment is of vital concern to every suffragist." later it announced: "the washington office will be occupied largely with the political end of the federal amendment campaign, while a chicago office will specialize in the work of organizing the congressional districts of the united states in cooperation with the various state associations." all this, of course, was for the old, original amendment. no experienced suffragist expected it to receive the necessary two-thirds vote this session, but, as it had been reported favorably to the senate, the desire was to have it brought to a discussion; to secure as large a vote as possible and to ascertain which members were friends and which were enemies. in spite of most unfavorable conditions this was accomplished and the amendment received a majority. there were no more negative votes than when it was acted upon in by the senate and over twice as many favorable votes. the opposition was based almost entirely on the doctrine of state's rights, as was to be expected; but three southern senators voted in the affirmative. before another session of congress several more states are certain to be carried for woman suffrage, thus insuring more votes for this federal amendment. the defeat of suffrage bills in a number of legislatures in the south is converting the women of that section to the necessity of action by congress. just at the most favorable moment in the entire history of this amendment, the committee having it in charge suddenly throws it on the dust heap; has another introduced of a radically different character, and announces to the public that this is done with the sanction of the national board and that it represents the sentiment of the , members of the national american association!... in behalf of countless members of this association, i protest against this high-handed action. i insist that the national board exceeded its prerogatives when it sanctioned so radical and complete a change in the time-honored policy of the association without first bringing it before a national convention and giving the delegates a chance to pass upon it. the proposed amendment seems undesirable from every point of view.... these and all protests were answered by miss alice stone blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_, generally recognized as high authority by the suffragists of the country. throughout the months of controversy she kept up a vigorous defense and advocacy of the shafroth amendment, saying: "the old amendment has not been dropped and many of us believe that the new amendment will pave the way for the passage of the old one. most of the suffragists are much attached to the old nation-wide amendment. if any proposal should be made at the next national convention to drop it the proposal could hardly carry, or, if it did, the resulting dissatisfaction would greatly weaken the national association, but at present nothing of the sort is proposed." she did, however, say in mild criticism: the national board has authority to decide questions that come up in the interim between the national conventions. on the other hand it has never before had to pass upon anything so important as committing the association to the advocacy of a wholly new amendment to the u.s. constitution. it would probably have been the part of wisdom to get a vote of the national executive council. this would not have taken long and would have saved considerable hard feeling and perplexity. the approval of the majority of the council could probably have been had, for there is no earthly ground for objecting to the shafroth amendment when it is thoroughly understood. it merely furnishes a short cut to amendments in the states--a method which any state could use or not as it chose. supposing the shafroth amendment to have passed congress and been ratified, if the suffragists of any state preferred the old way of amending their state constitution, it would still be open. the shafroth amendment would lay no compulsion upon any state; it would only take snags out of the way of amendments in those states where the snags are now very thick. feeling on this subject is more acute than it needs to be because the suffrage atmosphere just now is highly charged with electricity. the shafroth amendment is a first-rate little amendment and the sooner it passes the better. the national convention at nashville in november, , after many hours of heated discussion, finally adopted a resolution that it should be the policy of the association to "support by every means within its power the anthony amendment and to support such other legislation as the national board might authorize to the end that the anthony resolution should become law." (minutes, p. .) at the convention of december, , in washington it was voted that the last year's action in regard to the shafroth amendment be rescinded; that the association re-indorse the anthony amendment and that no other be introduced by it during the coming year. (minutes, page .) this ended the matter for all time. appendix to chapter xv. from address of dr. anna howard shaw when resigning the presidency of the national american woman suffrage association, dec. , . after a brief sketch of the condition of the world after a year and a half of the war in europe, the address continued: as an association we are confronted through the eternal law of progress by changes in our methods such as we have not met since the union of the two national societies in . our enlarged and expanding status as an association, the new and varied duties which devolve upon us and the innumerable demands increasing with the accumulation of means and workers call for a new kind of service in leadership. political necessity has supplanted the reform epoch; the reapers of the harvest have replaced the ploughman and seed sower, each equally needed in the process of the cultivation and the development of an ideal as in the harvest of the land. when this movement began its pioneers were reformers, people who saw a vision and dreamed dreams of the time when all mankind should be free and all human beings have an equal opportunity under the law. other reformers became possessed by it, and, following it in the spirit of him who cried, "i was not disobedient to the heavenly vision," they went forth proclaiming it to the world, knowing that misunderstanding, misrepresentation and persecution would combine to make the task difficult. it was not that they sought persecution but that they loved justice and freedom more than escape from it--these pioneers of the greatest political reform which history recounts. year after year the task has been carried forward until the time has come when "new occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth," and the idealist and the reformer are supplanted in our movement by the politician. our cause has passed beyond the stage of academic discussion and has entered the realm of practical politics. the time has come when our organized machinery must be political in its character and work along political lines directed by political leaders.... the united states is looked upon as being the most powerful neutral nation, which with its high human ideal is the best equipped to present its good offices in mediation between the warring nations of the east, but is this true? what better preparation could it make than by removing from within its own borders the very cause which led to the present barbarous conditions across the sea?... how can the united states, in any spirit of a truly great nation, offer its services as mediator when it is following the same line of action towards its own people? how can it plead for justice in the east when it denies this to its own women? how can it claim that written agreements between nations are binding when it violates the fundamental principles of its own national constitution which declare that "the right of the citizen to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or any state," and for forty-five years congress has turned a deaf ear to the appeal of our own citizens for protection under this law? is it true that the united states constitution too is but a "scrap of paper" to be repudiated at will? if, as a mediator of justice, we hold out our hands to lift other nations from the abyss into which injustice has plunged them, they must be clean hands. our words must ring true.... many appeals will be made to our association to abandon its one purpose of securing votes for women and turn its attention and organized machinery to the real or imaginary dangers which beset us as a nation, but let us never for a moment forget the specious promises and assurances that were given to the pioneers, who, when the civil war took place, gave up their associated work and turned their efforts to its demand in the belief that when the war was over the country would recognize their patriotic services and the dependence of the nation upon women in war as in peace and reward them with the ballot, the crowning symbol of citizenship. but instead of recognizing their service and rewarding the loyal women, the cry went forth: "this is the negroes' hour. let the women wait"--and they are still waiting. as they wait they are not blind to the fact that this nation did what no other nation has ever done, when it voluntarily made its former slaves the sovereign rulers of its loyal and patriotic women. the greatest service suffragists can render their country and through it the whole world at this time, is to teach it that there is no sex in love of individual liberty and to stand without faltering by their demand for justice and equality of political rights for men and women. dr. shaw impressed upon the workers, especially the younger ones, not to be discouraged at what seemed slow progress and said: it has been the privilege of your president to participate actively in twenty-four out of twenty-seven state campaigns; in the new hampshire constitutional convention campaign, the wheeling municipal campaign and directly though not actively in all the others except that of illinois. the vote cast upon the amendments but inadequately expresses the expanding sentiment in behalf of woman suffrage and it needs only consecrated, persistent, systematic service to reach the goal and complete the task begun by the pioneers of and led by susan b. anthony until her death in . while we accept as our motto her last public utterance, "failure is impossible," we must also remember her prophetic words, uttered just before she laid down her life work: "there is nothing which can ultimately prevent the triumph of our cause but the time of its coming depends largely upon the loyalty and devotion of those who believe in it." ... while recognizing that our primary object is to secure the ballot for women citizens and that as an organization we are not wedded to one method of obtaining it but are willing to adopt any just plan which promises success, nevertheless until a better way is found we will seek to secure an amendment to the national constitution prohibiting disfranchisement on account of sex, and at the same time will appeal to the states that by their action a sufficiently strong support may be given to the federal amendment to secure its adoption, unless it become unnecessary by action of the states themselves.... we must face the fact that large bodies of our new recruits know practically little of the history of the suffrage movement, of the long years of faithful devotion and the wise and statesmanlike service which have brought it to its present successful position. these recruits are attracted by new and spectacular methods, are impatient of delay and eagerly follow any scheme which promises to "get it quick." ... if we analyze the arguments set forth by these most ardent advocates of the federal constitutional amendment as the only means of securing immediate results and learn upon what they base their hopes of success, we shall see, as has been shown again and again, that every one of them has its source in the enfranchised states; that instead of state by state action being "wasteful, expensive and slow," it is the foundation of hope. this is the strongest argument in behalf of the wisdom of the founders of our movement, that they recognized the necessity that state and federal action must go together. address of mrs. carrie chapman catt at senate hearing, dec. , . mr. chairman and gentlemen of the committee: since our last appeal was made to your committee a vote has been taken in four eastern states upon the question of amending their constitutions for woman suffrage. the inaction of congress in not submitting a federal amendment naturally leads us to infer that members believe the proper method by which women may secure the vote is through the referendum. we found in those four states what has always been true whenever any class of people have asked for any form of liberty and was best described by macaulay when he said: "if a people are turbulent they are unfit for liberty; if they are quiet, they do not want it." we met a curious dilemma. on the one hand a great many men voted in the negative because women in great britain had made too emphatic a demand for the vote. since they made that demand it is reported that , , men have been killed, wounded or are missing through militant action, but all of that is held as naught compared with the burning of a few vacant buildings. evidently the logic that these american men followed was: since some turbulent women in another land are unfit to vote, no american woman shall vote. there was no reasoning that could change the attitude of those men. on the other hand the great majority of the men who voted against us, as well as the great majority of the members of legislatures and congress who oppose this movement, hold that women have given no signal that they want the vote. between the horns of this amazing dilemma the federal amendment and state suffrage seem to be caught fast. so those of us who want to learn how to obtain the vote have naturally asked ourselves over and over again what kind of a demand can be made. we get nothing by "watchful waiting" and if we are turbulent we are pronounced unfit to vote. we turned to history to learn "what kind of a demand the men of our own country made and determined to do what they had done. the census of reported , , males over . of these , , are direct descendants of the population of ; , , are negroes; , , are aliens, naturalized or descendants of naturalized citizens since . the last two classes compose two-thirds of the male population over . the enfranchisement of negro men is such recent history that it is unnecessary to repeat here that they made no demand for the vote. the naturalization laws give citizenship to any man who chooses to make a residence of this country for five years and automatically every man who is a citizen becomes a voter in the state of his residence. in the years since not one single foreigner has ever been asked whether he wanted the vote or whether he was fit for it--it has literally been thrust upon him. two-thirds of our men of voting age today have not only made no demand for the vote but they have never been asked to give any evidence of capacity to use it intelligently. we turned again to history to see how the men who lived in this country in got their votes. at that time per cent. of the total population were voters in new york as compared with per cent. now. there was a struggle in all the colonial states to broaden the suffrage. new york seemed always to have lagged behind the others and therefore it forms a good example. it was next to the last state to remove the land qualification and it was not a leader in the extension of the suffrage to any class. in the british parliament disqualified the catholics for naturalization in this country. that enactment had been preceded in several of the states by their definite disfranchisement. in they were disfranchised by an act of the assembly of new york. although the writers on the early franchise say that jews were not permitted to vote anywhere in this country in , as they certainly were not in england, yet occasionally they apparently did so. in new york that year there was a definite enactment disfranchising them. in the assembly passed another disfranchising act. catholics and jews were disfranchised in most states. it is interesting to learn how they became enfranchised. one would naturally suppose that together or separately they would make some great demand for political equality with protestants but there is no record that they did. i find that the reason why our country became so liberal to them was not because there was any demand on their part and not because there was any special advocacy of their enfranchisement by statesmen. it was due to the fact that in the revolution, great britain, having difficulty with the american colonies on the south side of the st. lawrence river, did as every belligerent country does and tried to hold canada by granting her favors. in order to make the canadian colonies secure against revolution the british parliament, which had previously disfranchised the catholics and the jews, now extended a vote to them. the american constitution makers could not do less than great britain had done, and so in every one of the thirteen states they were guaranteed political equality with protestants. the next great movement was the elimination of the land qualification and on this we find that history is practically silent. in connecticut and rhode island a small petition was presented to the assembly asking for its removal. in new york in the constitutional convention of when some members advocated its removal others asked, "where is the demand? who wants to vote that has no land?" the answer was that there had been some meetings in new york in behalf of removing this qualification. no one of them had seen such a meeting but some members had heard that a few had been held in the central districts of the state. this constitutes the entire demand that has been made by the men of our country for the vote. in contrast we may ask what have women done? again i may say that new york is a fair example because it is the largest of the states in population and has the second city in size in the world and occupies perhaps the most important position in any land in which a suffrage referendum has been taken. women held during the six months prior to the election in , , meetings. they printed and circulated , , leaflets or three-and-a-half for every voter. these leaflets weighed more than twenty tons. they had treasuries in the state among the different groups doing suffrage work and every bookkeeper except two was a volunteer. women by the thousands contributed to the funds of that campaign, in one group , public school teachers. on election day , women watched at the polls from : in the morning until after the vote was counted. i was on duty myself from : until midnight. there were , campaign officers in the state who gave their time without pay. the publicity features were more numerous and unique than any campaign of men or women had ever had. they culminated in a parade in new york city which was organized without any effort to secure women outside the city to participate in it, yet , marched through fifth avenue to give some idea of the size of their demand for the vote. what was the result? if we take the last announcement from the board of elections the suffrage amendment received , votes-- , more than the total vote of the nine states where women now have suffrage through a referendum. it was not submitted in wyoming, utah or illinois. yet new york suffragists did not win because the opponents outvoted them. how did this happen? why did not such evidence of a demand win the vote? because the unscrupulous men of the state worked and voted against woman suffrage, aided and abetted by the weakminded and illiterate, who are permitted a vote in new york. in rochester the male inmates of the almshouse and rescue home were taken out to vote against the amendment. men too drunk to sign their own names voted all over the state, for drunkards may vote in new york. in many of the polling places the women watchers reported that throughout the entire day not one came to vote who did not have to be assisted; they did not know enough to cast their own vote. those are some of the conditions women must overcome in a referendum. one can eventually be carried even in new york but we believe we have made all the sacrifices which a just government ought to expect of us. even the federal amendment is difficult enough, with the ratification of legislatures required, but we may at least appeal to a higher class of men. we were obliged to make our campaign in twenty-four different languages.... it is too unfair and humiliating treatment of american women to compel us to appeal to the men of all nations of the earth for the vote which has been so freely and cheaply given to them. we believe we ought to have the benefit of the method provided by the federal constitution. appendix to chapter xvii. headquarters of the national american woman suffrage association. during the early years of the movement for woman suffrage the headquarters were in the home of miss susan b. anthony, in rochester, n. y. in her strong desire to have a center for work and social features in washington was fulfilled by the national association's renting two large rooms in the club house of wimodaughsis, a newly formed stock company of women for having classes and lectures on art, science, literature and domestic and political economy, with dr. anna howard shaw president. it did not prove to be permanent, however, and in two years the association had to give up the rooms and the work went back to rochester, where much of it had continued to be done. in october, , when mrs. carrie chapman catt became chairman of the organization committee, she opened headquarters in one room of her husband's offices in the _world_ building, new york city. at the same time miss anthony, with a gift of $ , from mrs. louisa southworth of cleveland, had mrs. rachel foster avery, national corresponding secretary, open headquarters in philadelphia, with miss nicolas shaw as secretary. both acts were endorsed by the business committee of the association. at the next convention mrs. avery recommended that the philadelphia headquarters be removed to those of new york. this was done april , ; two large rooms were rented in the _world_ building and all the work of the association except the treasurer's and the convention business was transacted here. for six years the national headquarters, in charge of mrs. catt, remained in new york. in may, , they were removed to warren, ohio, near cleveland, and mrs. harriet taylor upton, national treasurer, took charge of them, with miss elizabeth j. hauser, executive secretary. here they were beautifully housed, first in the parlors of an old mansion and later on the ground floor of the county court house where formerly was the public library. in , partly through the contribution of mrs. oliver h. p. belmont, they were returned to new york city and with the new york state association occupied the entire seventeenth floor of a large, new office building, fifth avenue, corner of nd street. when mrs. catt again became president the work of the association had outgrown even these commodious headquarters and in january, , the fourteenth floor, with much more space, was taken in an office building at madison avenue, corner of rd street. in march, , the leslie commission opened its bureau of suffrage education in this building and the two organizations occupied two floors with a staff of fifty persons. on may , , their work was concentrated on one floor, as the great task of securing complete, universal suffrage for the women of the united states was almost finished. branch headquarters: in january, , branch headquarters were opened in the munsey building on pennsylvania avenue in washington for the work of the association's congressional committee. they continued there until the effort to obtain a federal amendment became of such magnitude as to require a great deal more room and in december, , a large house was taken at rhode island avenue, just off of scott circle [see page ]. this was occupied by the committee, national officers, the lobbyists and other workers until july, , when the amendment had been submitted by congress. the first headquarters in a business building in had been rented for $ a month; the last year's rent for the headquarters in new york and washington was $ , . bequest of mrs. frank leslie. mrs. frank leslie, long at the head of the leslie publications in new york city, died sept. , , leaving a will which made the following provisions: all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, whatsoever and wheresoever situate, whereof i may be seized or possessed, or to which i may be in any manner entitled at the time of my death, including the amount of any legacies hereinbefore given which may for any reason lapse or fail, i do give, devise and bequeath unto my friend, mrs. carrie chapman catt of the city of new york. it is my expectation and wish that she turn all of my said residuary estate into cash, and apply the whole thereof as she shall think most advisable to the furtherance of the cause of women's suffrage, to which she has so worthily devoted so many years of her life, and that she shall make suitable provision, so that in case of her death any balance thereof remaining unexpended may be applied and expended in the same way; but this expression of my wish and expectation is not to be taken as creating any trust or as limiting or affecting the character of the gift to her, which i intend to be absolute and unrestricted. mrs. leslie had previously made two wills of a similar character. the estate was appraised at $ , , in stocks, bonds and real estate. there was an immense inheritance tax to be paid and harassing litigation was at once begun and continued. it was not until the winter of that the executors commenced a distribution of the funds. mrs. catt incorporated the leslie woman suffrage commission, which has received and expended all monies realized from the estate. they were a large factor in the legitimate expenditures for obtaining the submission of the federal suffrage amendment from congress and its ratification by state legislatures. they were also of great assistance in the campaigns of the last years to secure the amendments of state constitutions, which required organizers, speakers, printing, postage, etc. contributions have been made to women's struggle for the franchise in other countries. appendix to chapter xix. present status of the national american woman suffrage association, organized in . acting on the plan adopted at the last convention of the national american association at chicago in february, , mrs. carrie chapman catt, president, issued a call for a meeting of the executive council in hotel statler at the time of the second annual convention of the national league of women voters in cleveland, ohio. the meeting took place at a. m., april , , mrs. catt in the chair. she made a report of the receipts and disbursements of the leslie fund, saying that as soon as the estate was finally settled she would render a detailed statement. she said there were reasons why the association should not at this time be dissolved and gave them as follows: ( ) legal attacks on the federal amendment are still pending and there are attempts to secure submission of a repeal to the voters. the association must remain till no further efforts are made to invalidate the amendment. ( ) the necessity of some authority to give advice and to help our dependencies where suffrage campaigns are pending. ( ) several bequests, delayed because estates are not settled, also require the continuation of the association. the chair stated that the incorporation does not expire till . conventions of elected delegates are no longer feasible and, therefore, continuation without conventions should be provided for in an amended constitution, such amendments to be confirmed by the executive council. it was unanimously agreed that the association be continued and on motion of mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, attorney, of chicago, it was voted that the chair appoint two other members of the council to co-operate with her in revising the constitution in accordance with the new arrangement. she appointed mrs. mcculloch and mrs. nettie rogers shuler, the corresponding secretary of the association. the report of the national treasurer from jan. , , to march , , showed that $ , had been used for the expenses connected with the ratification in eleven difficult states; the headquarters had been maintained; legal fees paid; the expenses of the chicago convention met; deficit of the national woman suffrage publishing co. paid; printing and other bills settled, and a balance of $ , remained in the treasury. the general officers had been re-elected in chicago to serve until the end. at the present meeting the directors, whose term of office had expired, were re-elected to serve continuously, except mrs. arthur l. livermore, whose resignation was accepted and mrs. harriet taylor upton was chosen to fill the vacancy. it was voted that the league of women voters be asked to take the place of the national suffrage association as auxiliary to the international woman suffrage alliance; also that the association no longer continue as auxiliary of the national council of women of the united states. brief remarks were made by delegates present and enthusiastic appreciation was expressed of the action of the tennessee legislature in giving the th ratification of the federal suffrage amendment. mrs. catt closed the meeting with advice to the delegates to put their state records, literature, etc., into libraries for preservation and she urged the necessity of the best training for their new responsibilities, reminding them that the duty would always rest on women to conserve civilization. * * * * * the committee, consisting of mrs. catt, mrs. shuler and mrs. mcculloch, recommended the adoption of an abridged constitution with the elimination of all the by-laws and articles of the old one which were now unnecessary. the board could incur no financial obligations beyond the assets in their hands; they could fill vacancies caused by death or resignation as heretofore; adopt such rules for their meetings as they deemed proper and amend the constitution by a two-thirds vote. the board should continue to consist of nine officers and eight directors, with the power to summon the executive council. this council should comprise the board and the presidents and executive members of state auxiliaries as they existed in . the name of the association would be retained. the abridged constitution was sent to every member of the council to be voted on. * * * * * the executive council was called to meet at the headquarters of the national american woman suffrage association in new york at : a.m., june , , for final action on the new constitution. mrs. catt presided and mrs. lewis j. cox, state executive member from indiana, acted as secretary. it was voted that the following sentence be added to the objects of the association: "to remove as far as it is possible all discriminations against women on account of sex." sixty-six of the eighty-two members of the council having voted in the affirmative and none in the negative the constitution was declared to be legally adopted. appendix to chapter xix. death of dr. anna howard shaw. it is literally true that a nation mourned the death of anna howard shaw. having lectured from ocean to ocean for several decades she was universally known and there were few newspapers which did not contain a sympathetic editorial on her public and personal life. telegrams were received at her home from all parts of the world and the letters were almost beyond counting. friend and foe alike yielded to the unsurpassed charm of her personality and the rare qualities of her mind and heart. in february, , the woman's council of national defense, of which dr. shaw had been chairman since its beginning in april, , dissolved with its duties ended. for the past two years she had practically given up her platform work for woman suffrage, then at its most critical stage with the federal amendment pending. now she had made a large number of speaking engagements for the spring in its behalf and had accepted the invitation of dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college, to be her guest on a trip to spain afterwards. everything was put aside when in may came an urgent request from former president taft and president lowell, of harvard university, to join them in a speaking tour of fourteen states from new hampshire to kansas to arouse sentiment in favor of the league of nations as a means of assuring peace forevermore. she was to speak but once a day but she could not resist the appeals in the different cities and it became four or five times a day. at indianapolis she made speeches, gave interviews, etc., eight times. the next day at springfield, ill., she was stricken with pneumonia and was in the hospital two weeks. by june she was able to leave for her home in moylan, a residence suburb of philadelphia, with her beloved friend and companion, lucy anthony, who had gone to her and who wrote to anxious friends: "she made the journey without even a rise of temperature, found the house all bright with sunshine and flowers and was the happiest person in the world to be at home again." she seemed to recover entirely but on june had a sudden relapse and died at o'clock on the evening of july . dr. shaw's tribute to the american flag, given many times. "this is the american flag. it is a piece of bunting and why is it that, when it is surrounded by the flags of all other nations, your eyes and mine turn first toward it and there is a warmth at our hearts such as we do not feel when we gaze on any other flag? it is not because of the beauty of its colors, for the flags of england and france which hang beside it have the same colors. it is not because of its artistic beauty, for other flags are as artistic. it is because you and i see in that piece of bunting what we see in no other. it is not visible to the human eye but it is to the human soul. "we see in every stripe of red the blood which has been shed through the centuries by men and women who have sacrificed their lives for the idea of democracy; we see in every stripe of white the purity of the democratic ideal toward which all the world is tending, and in every star in its field of blue we see the hope of mankind that some day the democracy which that bit of bunting symbolizes shall permeate the lives of men and nations, and we love it because it enfolds our ideals of human freedom and justice." * * * * * in . "it is because we love our country so much and because we are so anxious to give ourselves entirely to the great service of winning the war, that we want the freedom of american women now. we suffragists would be thrice traitors if at this time of the great struggle of the world for democracy we should fail to ask for the fundamental principles here which america is trying to help bring to other countries." * * * * * when dr. shaw received the distinguished service medal from secretary of war baker she said: "i realize that in conferring upon me the distinguished service medal, the president and the secretary of war are not expressing their appreciation of what i as an individual have done but of the collective service of the women of the county. as it is impossible to decorate all women who have served equally with the chairman of the woman's committee, i have been chosen, and while i appreciate the honor and am prouder to wear this decoration than to receive any other recognition save my political freedom, which is the first desire of a loyal american, i nevertheless look upon this as the beginning of the recognition by the country of the service and loyalty of women, and above all that the part women are called upon to take in times of war is recognized as equally necessary in times of peace. this departure on the part of the national government through the president and secretary of war gives the greater promise of the time near at hand when every citizen of the united states will be esteemed a government asset because of his or her loyalty and service rather than because of sex." * * * * * dr. shaw was a valued member of the executive committee of the league to enforce peace, under whose auspices she was making the tour with former president taft and president lowell of harvard university, and it sent her a transcript of her speech to revise for publication. this she did on the last sunday of her life and the committee prepared tens of thousands of copies of it for circulation. it was entitled what the war meant to women and mere extracts can give little idea of its strength and beauty. after speaking of the woman's committee of the council of national defense, the peace treaty and president wilson's declaration that the united states did not want any material advantage out of the war, she ended: while mr. wilson declared we want nothing out of the war, i said in my own heart: "it may be that we want nothing material out of the war, but, oh, we want the biggest thing that has ever come to the world--we want peace now and peace forever." if we cannot get that peace out of this war what hope is there that it will ever come to humanity? was there ever such a chance offered to the world before? was there ever a time when the peoples of all nations looked towards america as they are looking to-day because of our unselfishness in our dealings with them during the war? we have not always been unselfish but we have been in this war. the war is over as far as the fighting is concerned but it is only begun as far as the life of the people is concerned. what would there be of inspiration to them to come back to their ruined homes and build up again their cities if within a few years the same thing could be repeated and homes destroyed and cities devastated, the people outraged and made slaves as they have been? men and women, they are looking to us as the hope of the world and whenever i gaze on our flag, whenever i look on those stars on their field of blue and those stripes of red and white, i say to myself: "i do not wonder that when that flag went over the trenches and surmounted the barriers, the people of the world took heart of hope. it was then that they began to feel they could unite with us in some sort of security for the future. and that flag means so much to me. i never look on its stars but that i see in every star the hope that must stir the peoples of the old world when they think of us and the power we have of helping to lead them up to a place where they may hope for their children and for their children's children the things that have not come to them." ... we women, the mothers of the race, have given everything, have suffered everything, have sacrificed everything and we say to you now: "the time is come when we will no longer sit quietly by and bear and rear sons to die at the will of a few men. we will not endure it. we demand either that you shall do something to prevent war or that we shall be permitted to try to do something ourselves." could there be any cowardice, could there be any injustice, could there be any wrong, greater than for men to refuse to hear the voice of a woman expressing the will of women at the peace table of the world and then not provide a way by which the women of the future shall not be robbed of their sons as the women of the past have been? to you men we look for support. we look for your support back of your senators and from this day until the day when the league of nations is accepted and ratified by the senate of the united states, it should be the duty of every man and every woman to see that the senators from their state know the will of the people; know that the people will that something shall be done, even though not perfect; that there shall be a beginning from which we shall construct something more perfect by and by; that the will of the people is that this league shall be accepted and that if, in the senate of the united states, there are men so blinded by partisan desire for present advantage, so blinded by personal pique and narrowness of vision, that they cannot see the large problems which involve the nations of the world, then the people of the states must see to it that other men sit in the seats of the highest. * * * * * in the beautiful memorial issued by the board of directors of the national american woman suffrage association were affectionate tributes from those who were officially associated with her for many years. among the many from eminent men and women which were reproduced in the memorial were the following: it was not my privilege to know dr. shaw until the later years of her life but i had the advantage then of seeing her in many lights. i saw her acting with such vigor and intelligence in the service of the government, and, through the government, of mankind, as to win my warmest admiration. i had already had occasion to see the extraordinary quality of her clear and effective mind and to know how powerful and persuasive an advocate she was. when the war came i saw her in action and she won my sincere admiration and homage. woodrow wilson, president of the united states. (president and mrs. wilson, who were on the way home from france, sent a wireless message of sympathy and a handsome floral tribute from the white house.) the world is infinitely poorer by the death of so great and good a woman. thomas r. marshall, vice-president of the united states. dr. anna howard shaw was a member of the executive committee of the league to enforce peace. she was constant in her attendance, full of suggestion and earnest in support of the cause. it was my great pleasure to speak with her from many a platform in favor of the league and to enjoy the very great privilege of listening to her persuasive eloquence and her genial wit and humor, which she always used to enforce her arguments. she thought nothing of the sacrifice she had to make and was only intent upon the consummation of our purpose. she was a remarkable woman. i deeply regret her death. there were many avenues of great usefulness which a continuance of her life would have enabled her to pursue. her going is a great loss to the community. william howard taft, president of the league to enforce peace. i desire officially to pay tribute to the passing of dr. shaw. aside from her epic contribution to the cause of progressive american womanhood it is in no sense perfunctory to say that whether in war time washington, organizing and directing the eighteen thousand units of the woman's committee of national defense, or with indomitable courage and power going up and down the country pleading great public causes relating to the war, this woman of seventy years was an inspiration to all of us. there was no one in american life who epitomized more finely roosevelt's philosophy that in the public arena one must to the uttermost spend and be spent. it was a magnificent and enduring trail that dr. shaw blazed. everywhere her endeavors had the impersonal and unselfish touch that marks the great protagonist of new ideals. she was a gallant and stirring figure in the history of this country and leaves the government of the united states distinctly in her debt. grosvenor b. clarkson, director united states council national defense. as a member of the council of national defense i wish to express my very sincere appreciation of the patriotic service that dr. shaw rendered during the past two years, the magnitude of which cannot be appreciated except by those intimately familiar with it. her distinguished service medal was well earned. franklin k. lane, secretary of the interior. i hardly know how to write you about the death of our dear anna howard shaw. she has been such a tower of strength to our cause everywhere and now her place knows her no more! there is one comfort in that she lived long enough to know of the triumph of your cause in the passage of the federal amendment. she will be sorely missed and deeply mourned, first and foremost in america and great britain, but really all over the world, in every country where woman's cause is a living issue. millicent garrett fawcett, honorary president, national union of societies for equal citizenship of great britain. my deepest sorrow and sympathy go out to the family of dr. shaw, to the national council of women of the united states and to the international council and the woman suffrage alliance. her passing is indeed a great loss to the women of the whole world. ishbel aberdeen and temair, president international council of women. truly all womanhood has lost a faithful friend. elizabeth c. carter, president northeastern federation of women's clubs (colored). loving and appreciative tributes were sent from the officers of national and international associations in all parts of the world. appendix for chapter xx. appeal of president wilson to the senate of the united states to submit the federal amendment for woman suffrage delivered in person sept. , . gentlemen of the senate: the unusual circumstances of a world war in which we stand and are judged in the view not only of our own people and our own consciences but also in the view of all nations and peoples, will, i hope, justify in your thought, as it does in mine, the message i have come to bring you. i regard the concurrence of the senate in the constitutional amendment proposing the extension of the suffrage to women as vitally essential to the successful prosecution of the great war of humanity in which we are engaged. i have come to urge upon you the considerations which have led me to that conclusion. it is not only my privilege, it is also my duty to apprise you of every circumstance and element involved in this momentous struggle which seems to me to affect its very processes and its outcome. it is my duty to win the war and to ask you to remove every obstacle that stands in the way of winning it. i had assumed that the senate would concur in the amendment, because no disputable principle is involved but only a question of the method by which the suffrage is to be now extended to women. there is and can be no party issue involved in it. both of our great national parties are pledged, explicitly pledged, to equality of suffrage for the women of the country. neither party, therefore, it seems to me, can justify hesitation as to the method of obtaining it, can rightfully hesitate to substitute federal initiative for state initiative if the early adoption of this measure is necessary to the successful prosecution of the war, and if the method of state action proposed in the party platforms of is impracticable within any reasonable length of time, if practical at all. and its adoption is, in my judgment, clearly necessary to the successful prosecution of the war and the successful realization of the objects for which the war is being fought. that judgment i take the liberty of urging upon you with solemn earnestness for reasons which i shall state very frankly and which i shall hope will seem as conclusive to you as they seem to me. this is a people's war and the people's thinking constitutes its atmosphere and morale, not the predilections of the drawing room or the political considerations of the caucus. if we be indeed democrats and wish to lead the world to democracy, we can ask other peoples to accept in proof of our sincerity and our ability to lead them whither they wish to be led, nothing less persuasive and convincing than our actions. our professions will not suffice. verification must be forthcoming when verification is asked for. and in this case verification is asked for--asked for in this particular matter. you ask by whom? not through diplomatic channels; not by foreign ministers; not by the intimations of parliaments. it is asked for by the anxious, expectant, suffering peoples with whom we are dealing and who are willing to put their destinies in some measure in our hands, if they are sure that we wish the same things that they do. i do not speak by conjecture. it is not alone that the voices of statesmen and of newspapers reach me, and that the voices of foolish and intemperate agitators do not reach me at all. through many, many channels i have been made aware what the plain, struggling, workaday folk are thinking, upon whom the chief terror and suffering of this tragic war fall. they are looking to the great, powerful, famous democracy of the west to lead them to the new day for which they have so long waited; and they think, in their logical simplicity, that democracy means that women shall play their part in affairs alongside men and upon an equal footing with them. if we reject measures like this, in ignorant defiance of what a new age has brought forth, of what they have seen but we have not, they will cease to believe in us; they will cease to follow or to trust us. they have seen their own governments accept this interpretation of democracy--seen old governments like that of great britain, which did not profess to be democratic, promise readily and as of course this justice to women, though they had before refused it; the strange revelations of this war having made many things new and plain to governments as well as to peoples. are we alone to refuse to learn the lesson? are we alone to ask and take the utmost that our women can give--service and sacrifice of every kind--and still say we do not see what title that gives them to stand by our side in the guidance of the affairs of their nation and ours? we have made partners of the women in this war. shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right? this war could not have been fought, either by the other nations engaged or by america, if it had not been for the services of the women--services rendered in every sphere--not merely in the fields of efforts in which we have been accustomed to see them work but wherever men have worked and upon the very skirts and edges of the battle itself. we shall not only be distrusted, but shall deserve to be distrusted if we do not enfranchise women with the fullest possible enfranchisement, as it is now certain that the other great free nations will enfranchise them. we cannot isolate our thought or action in such a matter from the thought of the rest of the world. we must either conform or deliberately reject what they approve and resign the leadership of liberal minds to others. the women of america are too intelligent and too devoted to be slackers whether you give or withhold this thing that is mere justice; but i know the magic it will work in their thoughts and spirits if you give it to them. i propose it as i would propose to admit soldiers to the suffrage--the men fighting in the field of our liberties of the world--were they excluded. the tasks of the women lie at the very heart of the war and i know how much stronger that heart will beat if you do this just thing and show our women that you trust them as much as you in fact and of necessity depend upon them. i have said that the passage of this amendment is a vitally necessary war measure and do you need further proof? do you stand in need of the trust of other peoples and of the trust of our own women? is that trust an asset or is it not? i tell you plainly, as the commander-in-chief of our armies and of the gallant men in our fleets; as the present spokesman of this people in our dealings with the men and women throughout the world who are now our partners; as the responsible head of a great government which stands and is questioned day by day as to its purpose, its principles, its hope.... i tell you plainly that this measure which i urge upon you is vital to the winning of the war and to the energies alike of preparation and of battle. and not to the winning of the war only. it is vital to the right solution of the great problems which we must settle, and settle immediately, when the war is over. we shall need in our vision of affairs, as we have never needed them before, the sympathy and insight and clear moral instinct of the women of the world. the problems of that time will strike to the roots of many things that we have hitherto questioned, and i for one believe that our safety in those questioning days, as well as our comprehension of matters that touch society to the quick, will depend upon the direct and authoritative participation of women in our counsels. we shall need their moral sense to preserve what is right and fine and worthy in our system of life as well as to discover just what it is that ought to be purified and reformed. without their counsellings we shall be only half wise. that is my case. this is my appeal. many may deny its validity, if they choose, but no one can brush aside or answer the arguments upon which it is based. the executive tasks of this war rest upon me. i ask that you lighten them and place in my hands instruments, spiritual instruments, which i have daily to apologize for not being able to employ. footnotes: [ ] see life and work of susan b. anthony, page and following. [ ] executive committee: mrs. mary t. l. gannett, chairman; mrs. georgia f. raynsford, first vice-chairman; mrs. helen b. montgomery, second; mrs. william s. little, third; mrs. w. l. howard, fourth; mrs. henry g. danforth, treasurer; miss jeannette w. huntington, assistant; miss charlotte p. acer, corresponding secretary; mrs. emma b. sweet, assistant; mrs. adele r. ingersoll, recording secretary. security trust co., rochester, n.y., financial agent. a national committee of prominent women was formed. [ ] for the purpose of making a clear distinction between the two amendments the name of susan b. anthony is permitted in this one instance for the original federal amendment. it is not just to the others who worked for it to give it this designation. index readers of this volume of the history of woman suffrage will be spared some trouble in searching the index by noticing the arrangement of the chapters as shown in the table of contents. the introduction gives a very brief outline of the movement for woman suffrage. the first chapters contain accounts of the annual conventions of the national american association during the last twenty years chronologically arranged, including the hearings before the committees of each congress. enough extracts from speeches are included to show the line of argument. the plans of work and the reports of committees indicate the development from year to year. these chapters record the work for a federal woman suffrage amendment, for which the association was especially organized. chapter xx contains in condensed form the full story of the contest for the federal suffrage amendment. it is followed by chapters on various suffrage associations; the league of women voters; woman suffrage in national presidential conventions of the political parties and the war service of the organized suffragists. each has practically complete information on its particular subject, to which reference is made in other chapters and indexed. the activities in the states auxiliary to the national association are recorded in volume vi, also accounts of the work in great britain and other countries and the chapter on the international woman suffrage alliance. abbot, grace, - . abbott, dr. lyman, dr. shaw criticizes, ; ; . aberdeen and temair, marchioness of, pres. intl. council of women, tribute to dr. shaw, . adams, abigail, makes first decl. for wom. suff, . adams, gov. alva, tribute to wom. suff. in colorado, answers criticisms; state will never repeal, - . addams, jane, on child labor, ; noteworthy address on municipal franchise for women, ; guest of miss garrett, ; ; entertains natl. suff. conv. at hull house, ; ; ; guest of honor coll. wom. suff. league, ; working woman's need of vote, humanitarian woman's need, domestic woman's need, ; elected first vice-pres. of natl. assn, ; helps sub-station for suff. lit. in chicago, ; necessity for women to deal with social evil, ; presides at suff. hearing ; says america falling behind rest of world; if women are to continue humanitarian efforts they must have the franchise, - ; urges a commssn. to investigate the equal suff. states and report, ; men and women must solve social problems together with ballots in the hands of both, - ; at hearing bef. house com. on rules, gives nine instances where cong. controlled suff, ; unfair process for wom. suff, ; western campaigning, ; at nashville conv. refers to andrew jackson and chief justice marshall, asks why southern men so progressive in their day and so reactionary now, ; ; resigns office, ; ; at mem. service for dr. shaw, ; ; org. miss. valley conf, - ; at repub. natl. conv, , ; bef. repub. res. com. in ; seconds roosevelt's nomination, ; for wom. suff. plank in progressive platform, . additon, lucia faxon, . advisory committee on woman suffrage in senate, - ; approves shafroth amend, . alabama, peculiar chivalry, ; hostility of members of cong. to fed. suff. amend, . alaska, wom. suff. granted, , , . alaska - yukon - pacific exposition, ; great beauty, suff. day, - . alden, cynthia westover, . allen, florence e, in independence square, ; advises amending city charters for wom. suff, ; ; . allen, gov. henry j. (kans.), addresses suff. conv, ; calls spec, session to ratify fed. amend, . allen, mrs. henry ware, at suff. hearing; world calls for mother voice, , . allender, nina, . amalgamated copper co, works against wom. suff, . amendments, state, failure of campaigns for, xvii; natl. assn. assists, xvii, , ; difficulty of, xviii; requirements in different states; record of, ; in new york, ; defeated in in mass, n. y, penn. and n. j, but reed, million and a quarter votes, ; campaigns for must have consent of natl. bd, ; carried in mich, s. dak. and okla, ; the campaigns, ; ; ; foundation of fed. wom. suff. amend, . american constitutional league, at last suff. hearing, ; tries to prevent proclaiming of fed. suff. amend, ; work against amend, - . american equal rights association, formed, ; women desert, - . american federation of labor, endorses wom. suff, , ; record of wom. suff. res, ; . american woman suffrage association, ; ; formed, . americanization, natl. suff. assn. works for, , , . ames, mayor albert a, (minneapolis), . ammons, prof. theodosia, . anderson, martha scott, . anthony, u. s. rep. daniel r. (kans.), ; . anthony, lucy e, ; gives $ , to league of women voters in memory of her aunt, susan b, ; . anthony, mary s, ; ; reads decl. of sentiments to conv, ; death, ; last message to suff. conv, ; ; assists memorial bldg. at rochester university; scholarship, - . anthony memorial building at rochester university, ; names of exec. com; list of donors; miss anthony's work for admission of girls; they commemorate her birthday; pres. rhees calls bldg. great contribution, - . anthony, susan b, work for hist, of wom. suff, iii, iv, resigns as pres. of natl. amer. suff. assn, ; at natl. conv. in minneapolis, reads mrs. stanton's letter on church and wom. suff. and comments, - ; ; appeal against "regulated" vice, ; work on congressl. com, ; vase presented, ; interest in n. y. sun suff. dept, ; presides and introduces pioneers, ; extract from biography, ; clara barton's tribute, ; welcomes intl. suff. conf, had early idea of it, ; presides at pioneer's meeting, ; on eductl. qualif. for suff, ; introd. mr. blackwell, ; at teacher's conv, ; d birthday celebr. in washtn, ; lack of self-consciousness, ; on com. to interview pres. roosevelt, ; pen picture of on suff. platform, ; at natl. suff. conv. in new orleans, ; tribute to mrs. merrick, ; flowers presented from phyllis wheatly club, ; presides at conv, ; ; tribute to mrs. stanton, - ; writes to govs. of equal suff. states, ; dele. to intl. suff. conv. in berlin, ; attends white house reception, tells pres. roosevelt to expect the suffs; alice roosevelt greets, ; th birthday celebr. in washtn, ; incident, ; mrs. catt's tribute, ; presides on colo, evening, ; women pledge loyalty, ; ; tribute to miss barton, who responds, ; presides at senate hearing, says she has appealed to seventeen congresses, urges a report for the last time, - ; recep. by chicago woman's club and others en route to portland, - ; entertained by u.s. sen. and mrs. carey in cheyenne, ; responds to greetings to natl. suff. conv, receives ovation, tells of mrs. stanton's and her visit to ore. in ' and early opposition, , ; presides at first session, pen picture of, not always roses that were thrown, ; introduces mrs. duniway, ; tells of her paper, _the revolution_, ; speaks at unveiling of sacajawea statue, ; recep. on expos. grounds, central figure, tribute of miss blackwell, ; appeal to pres. roosevelt, ; fills pulpit in portland, ; would not compel natl. suff. convs. to be held in washtn, ; for helping ore. campaign, ; fervent appeal, ; dedicates park in chico, cordial recep. in calif, ; attends her last suff. conv, ; tribute of clara barton, ; pres. m. carey thomas and miss mary e. garrett assure her of their interest in the natl. conv. in baltimore, ; guest of miss garrett, very ill but goes to conv. on college evening; warmly greeted; account of baltimore _american_, great triumph, - ; tribute of women college presidents and professors, - ; supreme moment, her response, ; miss garrett's social functions in her honor, ; dr. thomas and miss garrett promise her to raise large fund for suff. work; her great happiness, ; gives birthday money to ore. campaign, ; last words to a suff. conv, ; not able to attend congressl. hearing, ; last birthday celebr. in washtn, letters of congratulation, places work in dr. shaw's charge, pays tribute to the suff. workers, speaks last words in public, - ; lorado taft's bust of, ; dr. shaw's farewell tribute, miss anthony never missed natl. suff. convs, ; plans for memorials, - ; mrs. johnson's bust of; mem. bldg. in rochester; mem. fund, - ; celebr. of birthday, , mem. services, - ; favorite poem, ; champion of colored race, ; wide comment of press on her death, magazine articles, accounts of funeral, leaves hist. of wom. suff. to natl. assn, ; ; mrs. lewis gives natl. assn. $ , in her memory, ; wanted stenog. rept. of dr. shaw's speeches, ; memorial fund, , ; urged bequests for wom. suff, ; at first wom. suff. hearings, ; early visit to ky, ; writes women's decl. of rights, ; at senate hearings, ; secured reports from coms. of cong, ; argument for fed. suff. amend. bef. judic. com, ; urges dr. shaw to accept presidency; places duty in her hands but would be satisfied with mrs. catt, - ; dr. shaw wishes she could know present senate com, ; address to cong. in , ; susan b. anthony room at natl. suff. headquarters, ; collections for assn. in early days, ; ; ; u.s. sen. shafroth helped, ; mem. meeting at natl. suff. conv, dr. shaw's and mrs. avery's reminis, ; centennial to be celebr. by assn, ; at suff. hearings, ; ; ; first meets dr. shaw, ; celebr. of th birthday by natl. suff. conv.; tribute of dr. shaw; program of exercises, - ; enters wom. suff. movement, calls first conv. after civil war, ; her first demand and work for fed. suff. amend; opposes th and th amends, ; in her paper, _the revolution_, - ; arranges first conv. in washtn, ; scores amer. rights assn, deserts it and forms natl. wom. suff. assn, - ; in eight campaigns, ; ; ; last birthday letter to mrs. stanton, ; work for admis. of girls to rochester university; memorial bldg. for her, ; her portrait over fireplace, birthday celebr. each year, ; scholarship, ; has natl. suff. headqrs. in rochester, n. y, till ; later in washtn.; still later in phila, then back to rochester, ; last words, ; see susan b. anthony amend. anti-suffrage associations, weakness of, xix; in australia, ; undeveloped women, ; ; natl. assn. asks pres. taft not to welcome suff. conv, ; urges cong. not to grant petition of suffs, ; at congressl. hearing in , , - ; at hearing on appointmt. of wom. suff. com, ; mrs. arthur m. dodge presides, list of speakers, ; natl. assn. membership compared with that of natl suff. assn, same with petitions, ; ; u.s. sen. lea answers, ; work in mont, ; bef. house judic. com. to oppose fed. suff. amend, , ; membership analyzed, ; bef. senate com, ; bef. house com, ; com. "heckles" speakers, , ; some male speakers appear, - ; expenditures of men's associations to defeat wom. suff. amends, in n. y, penn. and mass, - ; alliance with liquor interests, ; natl. assn. holds one day conv. in washtn. hotel, re-elects mrs. wadsworth pres, makes mrs. lansing secy, ; at senate com. hearing, , ; at last suff. hearing, , ; misrepresents pres. wilson on fed. amend, ; two members of men's assn. occupy whole day, ; hearing continued, - ; ; last efforts, ; ; first heard in washtn, com. in mass, assn. org. there, officers, _remonstrance_ published, ; coms. and assns. in n.y. and other states, natl. assn. formed, officers, work, headqrs, papers published, ; men's assns. organized, officers, various branches, work, name changed, ; oppose. fed. suff. amend, in cong. and ratif. by states; take cases to the courts, - ; at rep. natl. conv. in , ; , ; at dem, ; attack mrs. catt and other suffs, during the war, mrs. catt makes defense, - . arizona, gov. brodie vetoes wom. suff. bill, ; admission to statehood, - ; natl. assn. helps suff. work, ; gives majority vote for wom. suff, ; ; . arkansas, gives primary suff. to women, xxiii, ; dele. to suff. conv. reed, by pres. wilson, . armistice, effect on wom. suff, . armstrong, eliza, . arthur, clara b, ; ; . ashley, jessie, natl. treas. report, ; re-elected, ; reports $ , receipts for , ; ; . ashurst, u. s. sen. henry f, urges wom. suff, ; senate speech, ; - ; speaks for fed. amend, . asquith, prime minister herbert h. (gt. brit.), ; . atlantic city, entertains natl. suff. conv. in , . australia, grants natl. suff. to women, ; mrs. watson-lister describes, . avery, rachel foster, ; ; testimonial to, ; ; on phila. women in civic work, ; chmn. anthony mem. fund com, ; tribute to miss anthony, ; re-elected to natl. bd, ; ; report on natl. petit, for fed. suff. amend, ; vast work of petit, ; resigns office, ; urges fav. rept. on petit, ; ; reminis. of suff. pioneers, - ; years cor. secy. natl. assn, ; ; has charge of natl. suff. headqrs. in phila, . avery, susan look, . axtel, frances c, . b. babcock, elnora m, ; work with press, ; ; natl. chmn. press com, gives rept, ; - ; ; wide work of natl. press dept, ; makes last rept, efficient work, . bacharach, mayor harry, presents key to atlantic city to mrs. catt, . bacon, anna anthony, . bacon, elizabeth d, . bagley, mrs. frederick p, reports for natl. assn's, war com. on americanization, ; ; ; chmn. amer. citizenship, ; work for americanization, , . bailey, ex-u. s. sen. joseph w, star speaker for "antis" at last suff. hearing; women cannot perform sheriff's duties or jury or military service; have no time to vote; men can make laws for them; single standard of morals "iridescent dream"; flouts petitions from his constituents, - ; mrs. catt answers, ; he leaves the room, ; texas women defeat for governor, . baker, abby scott, . baker, la reine, ; . baker, secretary of war newton d, addresses natl. suff. conv; the war will bring broadening of liberty to women, ; favors fed. suff. amend, ; speaks at suff. meeting and carries message to pres. wilson, - ; tribute to dr. shaw and woman's com. natl. defense, ; presents disting. service medal to dr. shaw, . baker, mrs. newton d, - ; sings for natl. conv, . baldwin, mrs. felix, . balentine, katharine reed, - ; danger in women's disfranchisement, ; . ball, u. s. sen. j. heisler, . ballantyne, grace h, ; . baltimore, entertains natl. suff. conv, a noteworthy meeting, . banker, henrietta l, bequest to natl. assn, . barber, mrs. a. l, ; receives conv, . barker, pres. h. s. (ky. university), . barkley, edna m, ; . barnard college, chair of amer. citizenship, mem. to dr. shaw, . barnhart, u. s. rep. henry a. (ind.), . barnum, gertrude, says suff. movement needs working women, . barrett, kate waller, speaks for intl. council; safety of the country depends on women's having a vote, . barrett, mrs. seymour, . barrows, isabel c, . barrows, rev. samuel j, . bartol, emma j, . barton, clara, at intl. suff. conv, address, , ; ; receives natl. suff. conv, ; gives adherence to miss anthony, who responds, ; at natl. suff. conv. in baltimore, ; pen picture of, tribute to mrs. stanton and miss anthony, wom. suff. near, ; ; ; ; natl. suff. assn. endorses bill for mem. to her in red cross bldg. in washtn, ; dr. shaw speaks of unworthy treatment of her work, ; at first suff. conv. in washtn, . bass, mrs. george, bef. senate com. shows women's work in the home, schools, factories, offices, philanthropies handicapped without the ballot, - ; bef. house com, ; on limited suff, ; urges women to help finance war, - ; on congressl. com, ; protests against "antis'" use of pres. wilson's name, . bates, eleanor, . baur, mrs. jacob, . bazar, natl, in new york, , . beard, mary ritter, ; bef. com. on rules, shows small constituencies back of southern members; asks them not to abuse their power, ; bef. house judic. com, demolishes state's rights argument against wom. suff; gives record of dem. party, - ; ; . beck, solicitor genl. james m, . bedford, mrs. j. claude, . beeber, judge dimner, ; . beecher, henry ward, ; . belden, evelyn h, . belford, helen, . belgium, . bellamy, mary g, member wyo. legislature, ; . belmont, mrs. oliver h. p, offers to assist taking natl. suff. headqrs. to new york, conv. accepts and thanks, ; maintains natl. suff. press dept, - ; ; recog. of her support of press bureau, ; ; moves to take natl. suff. headqrs. from new york to washtn, natl. officers oppose, ; gives $ , to south. wom. conf, ; ; chmn. exec. com. natl. wom. party, ; gives it natl. headqrs, ; contributes to natl. assn. headqrs, . benedict, crystal eastman, ; ; bef. house judic. com, tells dem. members their party will be held responsible for fed. suff. amend; they object, - ; . bennett, belle, . bennett, mrs. m. toscan, objections to shafroth palmer amend, . bennett, sarah clay, on fed. suff, ; ; urges a fed. elections bill, , , ; ; . berger, u. s. rep. victor l. (wis.), wom. suff. necessary from polit. and economic standpoint; women who do the same work as men could enforce an equal wage rate, . beveridge, u. s. sen. albert j, ; ; for wom. suff. plank in progressive platform, - . bible, edicts on women are perverted by men, . bidwell, annie k, . bigelow, rev. herbert s, ; . biggars, kate l, . bissell, emily p, ; . bitting, rev. w. c, . bjorkman, frances maule, ; report of lit. com, ; . black, hannah, . blackwelder, gertrude, ; pres. chicago woman's club, receives natl. suff. conv, ; . blackwell, alice stone, ; ; ; edits _progress_, ; ; addresses senate com, ; ; how to please editors, ; tribute to mrs. hussey, ; prepares decl. of principles, ; writes of wyo, ; of portland conv, ; ; reminis. of mother and aunts elizabeth and emily, ; tribute to miss anthony, ; ; ; presents testimony from equal suff. states to coms. of cong. ; ; ; ; ; makes "exhibit" of liquor dealers anti wom. suff. circular, ; ; ; retires as rec. secy. after yrs; work on _woman's journal_, conv. thanks, ; account of expos. and suff. day in seattle, - ; comment on pres. taft's speech to natl. suff. conv, ; misses conv. of , ; ; ; offers to make _woman's journal_ offic. organ of natl. assn; accepted, ; edits _woman's journal_, ; answer to barry's article on colo, ; has to resume charge of _woman's journal_, ; tribute to men, ; refutes statements of "antis" at hearing bef. house com. on rules in pages of fine print, complete answer, - ; ; supports shafroth amend, ; ; presents resolutions, ; addresses house com, ; gives reminis. of pioneers, conv. pays tribute to her, ; presents resolutions, ; at anthony celebr, ; ; ; defends shafroth palmer amend, but criticises, . blackwell, antoinette brown, on chivalry, ; ; at portland conv, , ; mrs. catt's tribute, ; ; goes to alaska, ; ; ; ; tells of early days at oberlin coll, ; ; ; natl. conv. sends greetings, , , ; farewell words for mrs. stanton, . blackwell, dr. elizabeth, . blackwell, dr. emily, . blackwell, henry b, mrs. catt introd. to conv, refers to marriage; he urges effort for pres. suff. for women, ; presents resolutions, ; tells of marriage, ; ; ; reports on pres. suff, argument for, ; "the open door", ; ; ; tribute to deborah and the jewish race, ; work in colo, ; ; ; speaks against class govt.; portland _journal_ pays tribute, ; physical vigor, ; presents resolutions, - ; natl. conv. expresses appreciation, ; ; ; ; chmn. res. com, ; ; pays tribute to miss anthony, ; ; ; ; presents resolutions showing women's great progress, ; at spokane, ; report on pres. suff. and resolutions, his last suff. conv, ; ; audience rises to greet, ; mem. service at natl. suff. conv. of ; tributes of mrs. villard, mrs. mcculloch, miss campbell, miss miller and dr. shaw, - ; natl. suff. conv. passes resolution of indebtedness, . blair, emily newell, writes history of woman's com. council of natl. defense, , . blair, u. s. sen. henry w, ; secures first senate vote on wom. suff, . blake, katharine devereux, campaign work in west, ; in n. y, . blankenburg, lucretia l, addresses senate com, ; shows need of women's votes in phila, - ; dele. to berlin suff. conf, ; ; report on laws for women, ; on women's phila. civic campaign and the way they were ignored, ; ; ; brings to suff. conv. greetings genl. fed. of clubs, ; report on legis. for women, ; same, ; greets natl. suff. conv. in phila, - . blankenburg, mayor rudolph, on educatl. qualif. for suff, ; ; welcomes natl. suff. conv. to phila, . blanton, u. s. rep. thomas l. (tex.), ; presents petition for wom. suff, . blatch, harriot stanton, ; ; ; ; speaks of mrs. stanton's clear vision, saw need of suff. for women, - ; workingwomen's need of vote, ; demonstrates out-door meetings, ; objects to shafroth amend, ; ; at repub. natl. convention of , ; of , . blount, dr. anna e, shows women doctors' need of suff, ; . blount, lucia e, . bock, annie, . booth, elizabeth k, work for pres. suff. in ills, ; . booth, maud ballington, addresses natl. suff. conv, . booth, mrs. sherman m, on congressl. com, - ; - ; card catalogues membs. of cong, ; at hearing, . borah, u. s. sen. william e, opp. fed. suff. amend, ; effort for wom. suff. plank in natl. repub. platform, ; refuses to represent his state on fed. amend, ; ; for wom. suff. plank in , , . boutwell, gov. george s. (mass.), . bowen, mrs. joseph t, - ; shows need for women police, judges and jurors, . bowne, prof. borden p, . boyd, mary sumner, report of natl. research bureau, ; same, ; ; invaluable service, ; . boyer, ida porter, ; ; tells of lax system in libraries, ; ; makes bibliog. of wom. suff, ; sent to help ore. campaign, ; ; ; rept. on libraries, ; ; ; at anthony celebr, ; ed. _new southern citizen_, . brackenridge, eleanor, . bradford, mary c. c, presents gavel to mrs. catt, ; ; effect of wom. suff. in colo, , ; ; on congressl. com, ; pres. natl. educ. assn, dele. natl. suff. conv, ; same, st. supt. of educ, . braly, j. h, ; tells of calif. victory and work of polit. equal. league; presents state flag to natl. assn, - . brandegee, u. s. sen. frank b, ; . brannan, mrs. john winters, . breckinridge, desha, . breckinridge, mrs. desha, on prospect of woman suffrage in the south; dem. party may secure it; would insure preponderance of anglo-saxon over the african, ; on. com. to ask pres. wilson for interview on wom. suff, ; ; at hearing bef. com. on rules, shows right of southern women to ask for fed. amend, ; women's part in war justifies their demand, ; on congressl. com, ; suggests special campn. com, its members, - - ; ; speaks at anthony celebr, . breckinridge, prof. sophonisba, need of munic. suff. for women, ; all classes need ballot, ; ; addresses natl. suff. conv, ; elected vice-pres, ; helps sub-station for suff. lit. in chicago, ; ; ; ; . brehaut, ella c, opp. wom. suff, . brehm, marie c, - . brent, mistress margaret, . brewer, justice u. s. sup. ct. david j, . brewer, mary grey, . breyman, mrs. arthur h, ; . bright, john and jacob, . bright, william h, . bristow, u. s. sen. joseph l, on shafroth amend, . british colonies, women vote in, . brock, mrs. horace, ; . bronson, minnie, secy. natl. anti-suff. assn, ; ; ; at last suff. hearing, ; at natl. repub. conv, . brooks, mrs. charles h, ; director, natl. suff. assn, ; chmn. league of women voters, ; ; ; . brooks, john graham, . brougher, rev. j. whitcomb, . brown, jennie a, addresses senate com, . brown, rev. olympia, at natl. conv. in minneapolis, ; ; ; conv. sermon, ; in washtn, ; in baltimore, ; addresses sen. com, ; ; ; ; prepares mem. to mrs. colby, ; guest of honor at jubilee conv, ; speaks at pioneer suff. luncheon, ; on last evening, ; heads fed. suff. assn, - ; at repub. natl. conv, ; objections to shafroth palmer amend, . brown, mrs. raymond, ; ; ; rept. on n. y. campn, ; ; ; ; presents res. to make dr. shaw hon. pres, ; ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; ; rept. on oversea hospitals, , ; raises fund for league of women voters, ; oversea hospitals, ; at anthony celebr, ; ; ; ; full rept. of work of women's oversea hospitals during the war, - . brownlow, mrs. louis, . bruce, laura, bequest to natl. assn, . bruns, dr. henry dixon, addresses natl. suff. conv, . bryan, u. s. rep. j. w. (wash), . bryan, mrs. j. w, . bryan, william jennings, helps wom. suff, xxi; speaks for it in neb, ; ; supports fed. suff. amend, ; same, ; at dem. natl. conv. , ; endorses wom. suff. in , . bryn mawr college foundation in politics, mem. to dr. shaw, . buckley, lila sabin, bequest to natl. assn, . buffalo, entertains natl. suff. conf. , ; same, , . bulkley, mary, . burke, alice, , mile motor suff. trip, . burleson, mrs. albert sidney, ; . burnett, frances hodgson, for wom. suff, . burns, frances e, . burns, lucy, ; ; ; in eng. "militant" movement; on natl. congressl. com, - ; resigns, ; ; . bush, ada, . butler, u. s. sen. marion, . butler, pres. nicholas murray, . butt, hala hammond, on restricted suff, . bynner, witter, . byrns, elinor, rept. of natl. press com, ; same, - . c. cabot, mrs. j. elliott, . calhoun, judge william j, on shafroth suff. amend, . california, wom. suff. amend, carried, xx; same, ; dr. shaw's comment; reports from state officials, ; natl. conv. sends greetings, ; anti-suff. petition fails, ; contrib. to natl. suff. assn, ; . calkins, prof. mary w, at natl. suff. conv. in balto; what leaders of movement have a right to ask of college women, , . calls to convs. of natl. suff. assn, at beginning of first chapters. campaigns and surveys, mrs. shuler's rept.; great progress in polit. parties; mrs. catt's plans for nation-wide fed. amend, campn. carried out; res. of protest against delay sent to pres. wilson from large orgztns. in this country and in europe, ; nearly every state visited by members of the natl. bd.; the work of the press and research bureaus, the bulletins and travelling libraries have extended over the country; resolutions have been put through legislatures; polit. work has been done, - . campaigns, state, fund for, given by mrs. quincy a. shaw, ; in , , ; mrs. catt shows usual weaknesses, ; record of, ; in new york mrs. catt describes, . campbell, ida e, invites ass'n. to canada, . campbell, isabel, . campbell, jane, satire on the unbiased editor, takes mr. bok for example, ; ; ; mem. tribute to mr. blackwell and lucy stone, ; ; . campbell, margaret w, ; . campbell, u. s. rep. philip p. (kans.), . campbell, mrs. philip p, . canada, sends message to natl. suff. conv.; its natl. assn. hopes to greet members in canada, ; natl. eq. franchise union sends greetings to natl. suff. conv, ; enfranchises women, ; natl. suff. assn. sends return greetings, . cannon, speaker joseph g, . cantrill, u.s. rep. james c. (ky.), offers res. for wom. suff. com, ; ; ; ; . cantrill, mrs. james c, . capen, pres. elmer h. (tufts coll.), . carey, u. s. sen. joseph m, addresses council of women voters, . carey, u. s. sen. and mrs. joseph m, . carey, mrs. joseph m, obtains suff. petit, . carpenter, alice, . carter, elizabeth c, pres. n. e. fed. of women's clubs (colored), tribute to dr. shaw, . carter, franklin, secy, of n. y. anti-suff. assn, . castle, m. b, . catholics, how enfranchised, . catron, u. s. sen. thomas b, ; . catt, carrie chapman, elected natl. pres, xxii, ; secures special legis. sessions, xxiii; at natl. suff. conv. in minneapolis, , address on obstacles to wom. suff, gavel presented; plan of work for fed. amend, orgztn, - ; appeal against "regulated" vice, ; introd. mr. blackwell, ; ; arr. trip to yellowstone, ; at natl. conv. in washtn, , first steps toward intl. alliance, ; introd. clara barton, ; president's address, ; presides over congressl. hearing, ; estab. natl. suff. headqrs. in new york, ; ; tour of states, ; scores seth low, ; card case presented, ; on miss anthony's birthday, ; obtains foreign reports, ; ; presides at congressl. hearing, urges appoint. of a com. to investigate effects in equal suff. states, , ; presides at natl. suff. conv. in new orleans, , - ; annual address, receives ovation, ; work of natl. headqrs, ; reports cong. ignores appeals, ; ; ; tributes to the dead, ; says each state must decide race problem for itself, ; lectures in new orleans, ; presides at natl. suff. conv. in washtn. in , ; prepares decl. of principles, ; dele. to berlin intl. suff. conf, ; tells of miss anthony's visit to white house, ; pres. address, less illiteracy among women than men, would disfranchise for failure to vote, ; presides over work conf, ; speaks for peace and arbitration, ; tribute on miss anthony's birthday, ; work in colo, , ; compliments ladies of the maccabees, ; resigns presidency of natl. assn, ; its tribute; introd. dr. shaw; remains as vice-pres. at large, ; presents miss anthony and miss barton, closes conv, - ; on success of wom. suff. in colo, ; urges house judic. com. to report on fed. suff. amend, ; recep. en route to portland conv, , ; responds to greetings to conv, ; estab. "work conferences", ; raises fund for ore. campn, ; presides at conv, tributes to speakers, ; fourth of july address, ; tribute of _oregonian_, ; resigns vice-presidency, ; for helping ore. campn, ; rept. on intl. suff. alliance, , ; would abolish proxy votes at conv. ; rept. on intl. suff. alliance; opens evening with women in history, says women are not the inferior sex, ; brings intl. suff. alliance greeting, ; report as chmn. congressl. com, its work for fed. amend, ; appoint. frat. dele. to peace conf, ; powerful speech, the battle to the strong, woman's hour has struck, ; dr. shaw pays tribute, natl. conv. in seattle sends greetings, ; work as chmn. of natl. petit. for fed. suff. amend, ; added to official bd, ; work on fed. amend. petition, her contrib, conv. expresses appreciation, - ; address ordered printed, ; on polit. dist. orgztn, ; address bef. senate com. , most men in u.s. received suff. from govt. not states, , ; leaflet on what to do, ; sends letter from south africa to natl. suff. conv, ; "suffs. of two countries are actuated by the same motives, inspired by the same hopes, working to the same end;" letter of good wishes sent her with regrets for absence, ; home from trip around world, address at natl. suff. conv, ; need for polit. power in hands of women to combat social evil, - ; speaks in carnegie hall, new york, ; ; inquires about congressl. union at natl. suff. conv. in ; has its report separated from that of congressl. com, - ; reviews advanced position of women and great responsibilities, ; bef. house com. on rules asking for wom. suff. com, says while judic. com. has been refusing to report a res. on wom. suff, european countries have considered it; has spirited discussion with rep. hardwick; says men have not had to ask other men for the vote, ; tells of n. y. amend. campn, ; explains to alice paul why natl. suff. assn, cannot coöperate with congressl. union, ; had persuaded dr. shaw to accept natl. presidency in , ; dr. shaw wants her to take it in ; her duties as pres. of intl. alliance and chmn. of n.y. campn. com. prevent; pressure from delegates forces her to yield; unanimously elected, ; dr. shaw casts first vote with tribute, - ; mrs. catt asks loyalty of members who show joy over her election, ; addresses washtn. mass meeting, resents mr. malone's assertion that women would vote for "preparedness" and declares they would settle disputes without war, ; bef. senate com. reviews way men got the vote, , (appendix ); account of four recent st. campns, tribute to sen. thomas, ; presides at house hearing; says when a man believes in wom. suff. it is a natl. question and when he doesn't it is one for the states, ; tells of great vote for wom. suff. during past year; parade in new york of , women, , public school teachers; in that city women must ask for it in languages, there is no argument against it, ; argues with rep. chandler whether a member should obey mandate of his district or broad principle of justice, - ; calls natl. suff. conv. to meet in atlantic city, , ; mayor presents key to city, ; report as chmn. of campaign and survey com, had visited states, members of the natl. bd. nearly all the others and questionnaires sent to all st. presidents; convinced crisis has been reached which if recognized will lead to speedy victory, ; discusses recent iowa campn.; shows its weaknesses, same as in all; lessons learned for future; methods of liquor interests and other "antis", alliance between them, ; opens conv, ; president's address on the crisis, keynote of great campn, ; declares fed. amend, only method; women must sit on steps of cong.; a "call to arms," ; introd. pres. wilson to natl. suff. conv, ; asks dr. shaw to respond, ; says no suggestion has been made to lessen work for fed. amend, ; work with cong, - ; for planks in party platforms, ; calls on presidential candidates, , ; tribute from chmn. natl. congressl. com, ; presides over mass meeting sunday afternoon, ; closes the conv, ; reception, with wives of cabinet at suff. conv, , ; arr. for dele, to meet their senators and reps, ; opens conv, thinks cong. will not allow this country to be outstripped by europe in giving suff. to women; urges necessity for war work, ; presides at n. y. victory meeting, ; says legis. can legally grant pres. suff. to women, ; president's address to cong.; plea for fed. amend.; pen picture in _woman citizen_; in pamphlet form standard literature of natl. assn, - ; dr. shaw nominates her for office, ; calls for nation-wide appeal for fed. amend, : escorts hon. jeannette rankin to capitol, ; mrs. catt's tribute, ; condemns "picketing", ; presides at amer. women's war serv. meeting in washtn, ; writes book on fed. amend, ; originates suff. schools, ; instructs organizers, ; tribute to rev. olympia brown, ; re-elected pres, ; first suggests league of women voters, ; plan for million dollar fund, ; contrib. to natl. assn, ; closes conv. with "ringing words of inspiration," ; presides at senate hearing, april, , believes it will be last, ; says action of govt. in denying suff. has "saddened women's lives"; thousands of copies circulated, ; opens natl. suff. conv. , gives president's address, the nation calls; outlines plan for natl. league of women voters; names vital needs of govt, ; presented with illuminated testimonial by southern dele, ; govt. puts her on woman's com. of natl. defense and liberty loan com, ; carries for'd great campn. for fed. amend.; women of entire world owe thanks, - ; presides at "inquiry" dinner at st. louis conv, ; announces suff. soc. in cuba, porto rico, hawaii and philippines, ; presides at meeting of suff. war workers, ; work with cong, ; help to congressl. com, ; urges dele. to conv. to "finish the fight," ; outlines aims of league of women voters, ; conv. adopts res. of apprec. and loyalty, ; closing speech on looking forward, ; at last suff. hearing, ; reads testimony from south, ; ; address to com.; analyzes "negro problem"; scores attitude of southern members on fed. amend, ; tells members of com. to have conf. with pres. wilson, ; answers speech of ex-sen. bailey; he reminds her of pres. of harvard who said there were witches and daniel webster who objected to admitting western states to the union; tells of premier asquith's change of views; heard such speeches years ago; mr. bailey leaves room, - ; presides at last natl. suff. conv, ; responds to greetings, gives president's address, says fed. amend. close at hand, ; describes spec. sessions of legis. to obtain; both repubs. and dems. responsible for delay; unsullied record of natl. suff. assn.; its vast work, - ; pities those not in it; tribute to pioneers, ; pres. wilson sends greetings, ; ; asks southern women to state help desired from natl. assn; granted, ; her immense work for fed. amend, ; for ratification, having special sessions called, legis. polled, commissns. of women sent, etc, - ; mrs. shuler's tribute, ; western trip for amend, ; presides at ratif. banquet, ; eulogy at dr. shaw's mem. service, ; founds leslie bureau of educatn, ; gives honor rolls to early workers; suffs. present with diamond pin; asks mrs. upton to respond, ; closes victory conv. and opens school for polit. education, ; escorts rep. jeannette rankin to capitol, ; addresses senate com, ; pres. wilson congratulates, ; ; mrs. catt sends to repub. and dem. natl. chairmen a summary of votes on fed. wom. suff. amend, thanking their parties and dividing the credit; tribute to pres. wilson, ; says women are not bound to either party, ; plans and works for ratification, et seq. (see ratification.) mass meeting in washtn. to greet mrs. catt and workers for ratif. in tenn; pres. wilson sends message; gov. smith welcomes at railroad station in new york, ; addresses friends' eq. rights assn, ; miss. valley conf. in minnesota, ; in ohio, ; calls exec. council meeting in indpls, ; launches league of women voters, - - ; ; ; offers assistance of leslie commissn, ; conducts school for polit. educatn, - ; sends letter to delegates of natl. pres. convs. in ; addresses mass meeting in chicago, ; marches in parade, ; secures plank, ; asks pres. wilson meaning of dem. suff. plank, ; ; calls exec. council of natl. suff. assn. to consider helping govt. in war work, ; speaks on impending crisis, deprecates war, ; on woman's com. natl. defense, ; asks equal pay for equal work, - ; resents attacks of anti-suffs. during the war and answers them, - ; after war calls meeting and urges appt. of some women to peace conf; president and govt. ignore them, ; address before senate com. in , federal enfranchisement of men, ; in , progress of men's enfranchisement, different treatment of women, small effort by men; how jews and catholics obtained suff; land qualif. removed; immense effort of women; plea for fed. amend, - ; natl. suff. headqrs, under her presidency, - ; opens natl. suff. headqrs, in n. y. city in and again in ; branch headqrs. in washtn. in , ; calls exec. council to meet in cleveland in ; later in new york, to arr. end of natl. amer. wom. suff. assn, - . catt, george w, . chamberlain, gov. george e. (ore.), welcomes suff. conv, ; as u. s. senator, . chandler, u. s. rep. walter m. (n. y.), . chapin, rev. augusta, . chapman, mariana w, ; ; ; ; . charleston, s. c, wom. suff. conf, . chase, mary n, ; ; . cheney, ednah d, . chicago, entertains natl. suff. conv. , ; women petit. for munic. suff, ; their power doubled when gained, ; entertains natl. conv. , . child labor, ; mrs. kelley speaks on, , ; natl. suff. assn. calls for legislation, ; mrs. kelley shows backwardness of u. s, ; natl. suff. conv. protests against, ; its end waits on wom. suff, ; dr. lovejoy shows help of women in securing natl. law; need of women in politics, . chittenden, alice hill, ; ; ; mrs. catt refutes her attacks during the war, . church and woman suffrage; mrs. stanton's views, miss anthony's, dr. shaw's, olympia brown's, , . ministers at natl. suff. convs. listed in each chapter; church work for wom. suff, ; ; in , ; women comprising two thirds of membership demand ballot, ; effort to secure admission of women to m. e. genl. conf, south, ; religious gatherings addressed on wom. suff. ministers asked to preach on it, ; thousands asked to preach on it mother's day, ; apathy of women for suff, clergy favor, ; southern ministerial assns. friendly to wom, suff.; at miss. valley conf. in des moines pulpits filled by delegates; letters sent to , clergymen asking for wom. stiff, in sermons on mother's day, ; work in n. j. and w. va, ; see clergy. churchill, isabella, . churchill, mrs. winston, . citizenship schools, ; . clapp, u. s. sen. moses e, invites natl. suff. conv. to st. paul, ; ; on suff. platform, ; . clark, speaker champ, helps wom. suff, xxi; name applauded at suff. conv, ; invites dr. shaw to speaker's bench, ; assists congressl. com, ; ; promises vote for fed. amend, ; supports creation of com. on wom. suff, - ; assists in vote for fed. amend, ; advises new res. for amend, ; assists amend, , - - ; promises vote for, ; endorses wom. suff, . clark, mrs. champ, greetings to natl. suff. conv, ; sends flowers to, . clark, u. s. rep. clarence d. (wyo.), . clark, u. s. rep. frank (fla.), . clark, gov. george w. (iowa), . clark, mrs. orton h, . clark, chief justice walter, . clarke, grace julian, . clarkson, director u. s. council of natl. defense grosvenor b, tribute to dr. shaw, . clay, u. s. sen. alexander s, ; . clay, laura, address to conv. , ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; - ; ; ; ; responds to welcome of natl. suff. conv, ; ; ; every protection which manhood can offer to womanhood should be extended, ; social order depends on women, ; founder and pres. ky. eq. rights assn, welcomes natl. suff. conv. to louisville; recalls visits of the pioneers, lucy stone and susan b anthony; pays tribute to men's leagues for wom. suff, ; makes suff. address bef. house of governors, ; has natl. suff. bd. ask members of cong, to empower woman to vote for u. s. senators, ; ; for fed. elect. bill, ; explains it, ; debate on future work of natl. assn, ; speaks on u. s. elections bill, ; conv. endorses, ; ; wants form of fed. amend, changed, ; work for fed. elections bill, , , ; vice-pres. south wom. conf, . clay, mary b, . clayton, judge henry d, presides at house hearing on wom. suff, photographed, ; asks questions, - ; promises consideration and offers to "frank" the hearing reports, ; . clement, gov. percival w. (vt.), . clergy, in new orleans endorse wom. suff, , , , ; in washtn, ; objections reviewed, ; changed attitude, ; in canada, ; testimony in equal suff. states, . see names in footnotes of first chapters of those officiating at natl. suff. convs. cleveland, president grover, dr. shaw answers, ; ; she criticizes article against women's clubs, ; second against wom. suff, ; ; . cockran, mrs. bourke, . codman, mrs. j. m, . coe, mrs. henry waldo, ; . coggeshall, mary j, ; ; tributes to, ; ; bequest to natl. suff. assn, ; used for iowa campn, . colby, secretary of state bainbridge, proclaims fed. wom. suff. amend, vi; xxiii; ; effort to enjoin, - ; brings message from pres. wilson to suff. mass meeting, ; men's anti-suff. assn. tries to prevent proclaiming amend, - . colby, clara bewick, industrial problems of women, ; ; ; shows govt. and civil service unfair to women, ; same, ; ed. of _woman's tribune_, ; ; addresses house judic. com, describes past hearings, mrs. stanton's and miss anthony's speeches, ; life work for fed. elections bill, , ; memorial to, . college women's equal suffrage league, formed, ; object of, ; fully org. in , evening at natl. suff. conv, , - ; at natl. suff. conv. of , ; of , ; of , ; has an evening at conv, noted speakers, - ; debate at natl. suff. conv. in bet. suffs. and pretended "antis", ; in , ; in , ; ; deputation calls on president, ; sketch of; organization, officers, - - ; great force for wom. suff, ; results among college women, ; pres. m. carey thomas's contribution, league dissolves, . college women's evening at natl. suff. conv. in balto, ; program of eminent speakers, ; all tell of indebtedness to suff. leaders, - ; miss anthony's response, . collins, emily p, . collins, franklin w, anti-suff, . colorado, effect of wom. suff, ; eminent speakers testify as to wom. suff, - ; gov. adams, mrs. grenfell and others refute charges, - ; u. s. sen. shafroth on election frauds, ; highest testimony exonerates women, ; wom. suff. re-affirmed by large majority, ; sen. shafroth testifies as to wom. suff, ; rep. rucker, same, ; men's defense league, ; mrs. dorr's article, ; richard barry's slanders in _ladies home journal_; thousands of copies of miss blackwell's answer sent to editor by women with protest, ; report on wom. suff. by rep. taylor, , ; women satisfied with suff, ; sen. shafroth answers charges against it, ; state gives wom. suff, . committee on rules, natl. suff. conv. asks for an especial com. on wom. suff, ; grants a hearing in dec, , dr. shaw presides, "antis" out in force, ; names of com, tie vote on reporting res, ; grants a hearing and creates wom. suff. com, , - ; names of rules com, ; sets time for suff. debate in house, ; ; action of house judic. com, ; mrs. park's report of com. on rules, - . committee on woman suffrage, the natl. conv. of makes strenuous effort for in lower house; appeals to pres. wilson to recommend, he approves, - ; three res. for presented, ; rep. edward t. taylor's referred to com. on rules, which grants hearings; "antis" out in force, ; names of com, ; tie vote on reporting, ; in pres. wilson approves; speaker clark supports; all members from equal suff. states sign petition, ; com. on rules grants hearing; creates desired com.; vote on, ; house judic. com. had prevented it for years, - ; hearing for bef. com. on rules, may, , ; com. appointed, ; it gives days' hearing on fed. amend.; names of com, ; reports favorably to house, ; effort for com. in lower house, , defeated, ; full report, pres. wilson favors, house votes for, ; names of com, ; judic. com. hostile, ; friendly "steering" com. names, . committees, of national american woman suffrage association (special) for war work, , , , , ; on state councils of natl. defense, . committees, senate, on wom. suff, ; ; ; . conger-kanecko, josephine, . congress, united states, deaf to appeals for wom. suff, xvii, xviii; converted, xxi; votes on fed. amend, xxiii; no power to give wom. suff, xxiii; committees urged by suff. leaders to appt. com. to investigate results of equal suff, , , ; they refuse, , , ; many members kind and helpful, ; first petitioned for wom. suff, - ; submits th and th amends, - ; receives first petition for th, - ; insurgency in, ; no. of members elected by women, ; james madison says it has right to confer suff, . congressional committee of national american woman suffrage association, mrs. catt reports for, ; emma m. gillett's report; com. entered upon polit. work; letters sent to candidates for cong. asking opinion on wom. suff.; dif. bet. dems. and repubs, ; com. for , tribute to by natl. cor. secy.; assn. coöperates, - ; in - - , mrs. william kent chmn, ; declines to serve longer, alice paul appt.; report for ; hearings bef. senate and house coms.; processions, pilgrimages, deputations to pres. wilson, state campns, press work, etc; fav. report from senate com.; reasons for progress, new congressl. com. appt, names of, headqrs, - ; washtn. and chicago officers, mrs. medill mccormick's work, - ; ; com. for , ; protest against congressl. union's effort for dem. caucus on forming wom. suff. com, ; members of cong. canvassed, ; shafroth amend. decided on, - ; attends hearing on the original amend, ; its lobby, publicity and campn. work, - ; self-denial day, the "melting pot," ; assists neb, ; natl. conv. appreciates its work, ; on "blacklisting" candidates, ; ethel m. smith's report; members of cong. catalogued, pressure from women of home district to vote on fed. suff. amend, checking up records, votes compared with those on prohib. amend.; work in congressl. districts necessary to success, - ; mrs. funk's report, important work for vote on fed. amend.; for shafroth amend, ; mrs. mccormick's report, , ; shows , , votes cast for wom. suff. in , ; instructed by natl. conv. to concentrate forces on fed. amend, ; report of work in by mrs. roessing, chmn, - ; effort for fed. amend. in cong, fav. report from senate com.; senators urged action, no vote taken, - ; unfair treatment by house judic. com, . (see pages to .) names of congressl. com, headqrs, ; its work divided into depts, lobby work, - ; report of maud wood park, chmn, for , - ; headqrs. in washtn, mrs. miller's report, - ; report of mrs. park, - ; see ref. under fed. amend, ; mrs. park praises members of com. and tells of their work; gives names, ; at time of victory, ; its work under alice paul, ; under ruth hanna mccormick, - ; under mrs. frank m. roessing, ; under maud wood park, ; her report on effort for a wom. suff. com. in house, ; ; ; com. made up of many orgztns. under league of women voters, . _congressional record_, report of debate on fed. suff. amend, . congressional union, (national woman's party), organized to assist natl. congressl. com.; headqrs.; large work; first appears at natl. suff. conv. of ; mrs. catt will not recognize; proves to be orgztn. to duplicate work of natl. amer. assn.; natl. bd. demands complete separation; it continues as independt. society, - ; urges dems. in cong. to caucus on forming wom. suff. com.; disastrous result, decides on policy of fighting party in power, ; ; names fed. amend. susan b. anthony, ; arr. suff. hearing, ; speakers urge fed. amend, - ; difference in policy from natl. amer. assn, , ; house judic. com. asks its size, ; fights the party in power, opp. re-election of best friends of wom. suff; res. offered in natl. suff. conv. of for com. to secure cooperation with natl. assn, ; each orgztn. appoints five; union declines to change policy; will duplicate the work of assn. in states; no affiliation possible, ; hope for dividing on lobby work given up, union opens fight on dem. party, ; hearing bef. senate com, ; list of speakers, - ; bef. house com, - ; com. "heckles" speakers, - ; result of its policy summed up, ; hearings bef. senate and house coms, - ; account of orgztn. put in _congressl. record_, ; at last suff. hearing, , ; (natl. woman's party) work with congress, , ; ; organized by alice paul, officers, headqrs, object, ; opp. party in power, convs. in san francisco and chicago, ; "picketing" and "militancy," jail sentences, reorganizes, presents busts of pioneers to cong, ; seeks fed. amend. for civil rights of women, mrs. belmont presents headqrs. in washtn, ; at natl. repub. conv. , ; at dem. natl. conv, . connecticut, , women ask for pres. suff. in vain, ; ratif. of fed. amend, . conventions, annual, of national american woman suffrage association, in minneapolis, , ; washington, ; new orleans, ; washington, ; portland, ore, ; baltimore, ; chicago, ; buffalo, ; seattle, ; washington, ; louisville, ; philadelphia, ; washington, ; nashville, ; washington, ; atlantic city, ; washington, ; st. louis, ; chicago (last), . names of speakers given in each: chronologically arranged in first chapters; tribute to in anthony biography, . conventions, woman's rights, first ever held, ; first in washtn, . conway, rev. moncure d, funeral service for mrs. stanton, . cooke, katharine, ; . cooke, marjorie benton, . coover, bertha, . costello, ray (england), tribute of buffalo _express_, ; . costigan, mrs. edward p, on tour for ratif, ; ; ; ; assn's. chmn. food supply and demand, . cotnam, mrs. t. t, shows injustice of cong. to women, failure of america to stand by its ideals, - ; instructs suff. schools, ; ; ; ; at service for dr. shaw, . coudon, chaplain henry n, . council of women voters, ; . court decisions, on length of women's work day, - ; in ills, st. supreme court upholds pres. suff, ; in texas, primary suff. for women constitutl, ; in tenn. and neb. pres. and munic. constitl, ; on miss anthony's voting under th amend, ; on mrs. minor's attempt, ; on referendum of fed. amends, ohio st. sup. ct, u. s. sup. ct, ; to prevent ratif. and proclaiming of amend in d. c. and md, - ; u. s. sup. ct. decision, ; in d. c. on fed. wom. suff. amend, ; in md, on its ratif, ; in u. s. sup. ct. on its validity, . cowles, commssr. grace espey patton, . cowles, mrs. josiah evans, . cox, gov. james m. (ohio), addresses wom. suff. conf, ; as presidential candidate receives league of women voters, . cox, mrs. lewis j, . craigie, mary e, chmn. church work, points out real opp. to wom. suff, : church work for wom. suff. in canada, ; - ; says church women are seeing need of suff, ; church not appreciating the resources lying dormant with two-thirds of its membership disfranchised, ; ; ; on church work in , ; church work most important to be done for wom. suff, must be non-sectarian and omni-sectarian, . crane, rev. caroline bartlett, women must vote as well as pray, ; addresses natl. suff. conv. in , "politics a noble profession in which women long to engage," ; ; at mem. service for dr. shaw, ; . crane, u. s. sen. w. murray, . crosby, john s, . crossett, ella hawley, ; responds for new york, ; ; ; on n. y. campn, . crowley, teresa a, ; on mass. campn, ; . cuba, suff. soc. formed, . cummings, homer s, chmn. dem. natl. com, natl. suff. conv. thanks for help with fed. amend, ; ; helps ratif. in tenn, . cummins, u. s. sen. albert b, . cummins, mrs. albert b, . cunningham, minnie fisher, ; ; ; ; on suff. commssn. to west, ; . d. dana, paul, gives space in n. y. _sun_ for wom. suff, . daniels, secretary of the navy josephus, ; . daniels, mrs. josephus, ; ; . dargan, olive tilford, . darlington, rt. rev. james henry, congratulates suffs. and scores "antis," ; . darrow, clara l, tells of defeat in n. dak, ; . data department (research bureau), org. , . davenport, mrs. john d, . davis, dr. katharine bement, elected natl. vice-pres, ; ; ; asks wom. suff. in the interest of good morals, ; . day, lucy hobart, ; ; ; . de baun, anna, with natl. suff. pub. co, . deborah, ; . decker, sarah platt, . declaration of principles, presented to natl. conv. , ; ; in full, reasons for demanding wom. suff, . deering, mabel craft, . delano, jane, red cross and the war, . delemater, eric, organist at mem. service for dr. shaw, . de merritte, laura, . democratic national committee, gives natl. suff. com. list of its candidates for cong, ; receives suff. speakers, ; natl. suff. conv. thanks chmn. for help with fed. amend, ; ; ; - ; urges gov. roberts to call spec. session of tenn. legis. to ratify fed. suff. amend, . democratic national conventions, dr. shaw describes one in balto, ; in refuses plank for fed. amend. but endorses wom. suff, ; ; action on wom. suff. planks in , ; in , ; in , ; great struggle in , - ; in league of women voters' planks accepted, ; women welcomed, strong fed. amend. plank adopted, full polit. recog. granted, - . democratic party, hostile to wom. suff, adopts plank, xxi; vote in cong, xxiii; members in cong. caucus against wom. suff. com, , ; senators for state's rights, - ; reasons for holding it responsible for fed. wom. suff. amend, ; early leaders ignored state's rights, ; this argument against wom. suff. demolished by its own record, - ; not strong enough in cong. to submit fed. suff. amend, ; candidates for cong. fought by congressl. union, ; vote of members of cong. on wom. suff. com, ; on fed. suff. amend, - , ; folly in leaving victory to repubs, ; unfair caucus on fed. amend, , ; members in cong. responsible for delay of fed. suff. amend, . democratic vote in congress on fed. amend, , , , , , , , ; see - - . denison, flora macdonald, . denmark, greeting to suff. conv. in u. s, ; ; . dennett, mary ware, elected natl. cor. secy, ; ; in report of , tells of vast work of natl. suff. headqrs. in new york; pushed plan of polit. dist. orgztn; sent out tens of thousands of suff. stamps and seals and scores of thousands of leaflets; letters to members of cong. to give women a vote in direct election of u.s. senators, etc, ; re-elected, ; report for ; , , pieces of literature published, kinds of printed matter, reference library established, ; report , suff. bills passed by ten legislatures; campns, parades, tours, petitions, mass meetings, work with cong, delegations to europe, - ; report for ; record of state amends, tribute to mrs. medill mccormick, nation-wide work of speakers and organizers, women's independence day, - ; resigns office, ; supports shafroth amend, . de rivera, belle, . devine, edward t, . devlin, t. c, . de voe, emma smith, welcomes delegates to st. of wash, ; ; ; ; - ; ; ; . dewey, dr. nina wilson, . dexter, mrs. wirt, . dickinson, mary lowe, . "dix, dorothy," elizabeth m. gilmer, speaks to colored women's club, ; addresses conv. on the woman with a broom, ; gives "mirandy's reason why women can't vote, no backbone," . dodge, mrs. arthur m, presides at hearing bef. rules com, opposes wom. suff. com. in lower house, ; speaks bef. house judic. com. against fed. suff. amend, - ; urges senate com. not to report amend, ; tells house com. women are willing to be represented by men, ; says her assn. believes women should have school suff. but not take part in politics and govt; question should be submitted to women; tax paying men can look after rights of tax paying women; men of kans. didn't know what they were doing and women wish they hadn't suff, ; is told these statements contrary to facts, ; at senate com. hearing, ; ; at natl. repub. conv, . dorman, marjorie, . dorr, rheta childe, article on colorado women voters, ; ; edits wom. suff. paper, ; . dos passos, john r, says suff. would convert women into beasts, - . doty, madeline z, . douglas, judith hyams, restriction put upon women came from man not god, - . douglass, frederick, . downey, elvira, . dreier, mrs. h. edward, ; . drewsen, mrs. gudrun, : ; addresses senate com. on wom. suff. in norway, . du bois, dr. w. e. burghardt, . dudley, mrs. guilford, welcomes natl. suff. conv. to nashville, ; on changed attitude of southern women toward suff; now demand it, - ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; - ; ; ; ; at last suff. hearing, ; repudiates state's rights doctrine as applied to wom. suff; discusses negro vote, . duniway, abigail scott, ; ; meets delegates to portland suff. conv, ; writes ode, presents gavel to dr. shaw, ; tour with miss anthony in ' , tribute to both, ; makes fine address, ; tells of her paper the _new northwest_, tribute to _woman's journal_, ; speaks at unveiling of sacajawea statue, ; son wants her to vote, she receives full recog, ; ; reminis. of pioneer suff. days in northwest, ; ; . duniway, willis, . dunlap, flora, ; - . dunn, arthur, . dunne, mayor and gov. edward f. (ills.), - . dye, eva emery, ; ; . dyer, u. s. rep. leonidas c. (mo.), . e. eager, harriet a, . eaker, helen n, . eastman, max, on need of politics to develop women; will improve family life, . eaton, dr. cora smith, tribute to, ; ; ; - ; ; tribute to pioneers, ; ; ; ; see king. eberhard, gov. adolph o. (minn.), . eddy, sarah j, portrait of miss anthony, . edson, katharine philips, . education, opportunities for women, iv. educational qualifications for suffrage, , , ; plea of mrs. swift, ; argument of mayor rudolph blankenburg, - ; mrs. gilman objects, ; natl. suff. conv. votes in favor but not policy of assn, ; miss kearney's demand for it, ; mrs. catt approves, ; miss mills for, . edwards, mrs. richard e, ; ; ; ; . eichelberger, j. s, at last suff. hearing; grilled by members of com, . election of officers of national american suffrage association, in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , ; in , - ; in , directors elected, , old board continued, ; in , , - ; list of officers at beginning of first chapters; newspapers compliment election methods, . eliot, rev. thomas l. and mrs, . ellicott, mrs. william m, ; . ely, richard t, for wom, suff, . engle, mrs. l. h, . equal guardianship, . etz, anna cadogan, . eustis, william henry, . evald, emmy, - ; addresses house com. on status of women in sweden, ; urges wom. suff. in u. s, . evans, ernestine, ; . evans, mrs. glendower, bef. house judic. com, ; closes hearing with eulogy of pres. wilson, stirs com, ; bef. senate com, ; debate on future work of natl. assn, . evans, sarah a, . f. fairbanks, vice-president charles w, ; . fairchild, charles s, - ; ; . fall, u. s. sen. albert b, . fallows, bishop samuel, espouses cause of wom. suff, ; officiates at dr. shaw's mem. service, . farmer labor party and committee of on league of women voters' planks, . farraday, mabel, . farrar, edgar h, . fawcett, millicent garrett (mrs. henry), hon. pres. of british natl. union, writes chapter for history, iii; tribute to dr. shaw, . federal amendments, th, defines citizenship, puts "male" in natl. constitution, ; th guarantees male suff, women protest, ; women demand th, ; try to vote under th, miss anthony arrested, ; mrs. minor brings suit, ; res. for th presented in cong, first hearings granted, ; reports of committees, first senate vote, ; for income tax and election of u. s. senators, . federal elections bill, natl. conv. approves, ; introd. in cong, miss clay explains, ; natl. conv. endorses, ; ; see u. s. elections bill. federal enfranchisement of men, natl. constl. conv. and naturalization act enfranchised most men in u. s. religious and property tests abolished, - ; congressl. action gave suff. to negro and indian men; only women sent to states, . federal woman suffrage amendment, effect on laws for women and office holding, iv; natl. assn's. work for, vi, xvii, , ; vote taken, xxii; submitted and , legislators vote for, xxiii; proclaimed, text of, xxiv; work described in full in first chapters; plan of work for, ; petitions for in , ; natl. assn's. work for, ; pres. wilson urged to recommend, - ; great effort for in , - ; senate com. reports favorably, ; dem. members of cong. caucus against, ; in danger of being replaced, ; status in in senate and house, - ; receives majority vote in senate but not two-thirds; votes in the past, ; re-introduced by sen. bristow, ; hearing bef. house com, , ; amend. reported, ; sometimes called susan b. anthony amend, . for arguments on see congressl. hearings and conv. speeches. voted on first time in house of representatives, ; first measure introd. in cong, in , ; dr. shaw asks pres. wilson to use his influence for, ; conv. speeches show work for it paramount, ; com. on rules reports it; pressure by women on members of cong. from their districts, ; natl. suff. conv. , resolves to work only for original fed. amend, ; strong demand for it, - ; lost in senate and house, - , new hearings granted by committees, ; southern women appeal for, ; record of dem. and repub. members of cong, - ; prog. prohib. and soc. natl. convs. declare for, ; debate at atlantic city suff. conv. on continuing work for, ; vote largely in favor, ; object lesson in its necessity, ; mrs. catt says only way to wom. suff, ; natl. conv. resolves to concentrate all its resources on getting it through cong, ; congressl. com. report of great "drive" for, ; members of lower house from equal suff. states have hearing for bef. house judic. com, ; nation-wide plan of work for, ; conditions at end of favorable to, ; delegates to natl. suff. conv. discuss it with their senators and representatives, many pledged, ; mrs. catt says cong. must deal with, ; pres. wilson reaches a belief in, ; mrs. catt's strong plea for, - ; issues nation-wide appeal, ; her book on, ; mrs. shuler reports work for all over the country, - ; natl. assn. will campaign against enemies in cong, ; cong. urged to submit as a war measure, ; hearings bef. coms. of cong, - ; lower house votes in favor, senate defeats, , - ; nation-wide campaign by natl. amer. assn, - ; pres. wilson sends best wishes for, ; change of form proposed, conv. refuses, ; no merging of assn. till fed. amend, secured, ; mrs. park's report, complete summary; house judic. com. tries to defeat; pres. wilson advises the amend, ; wom. suff. com. appt. gives five days' hearing; speaker clark assists; five hours' debate, ; vote in house; five days' discussion in senate; pres. wilson's appeal in person; vote, oct. , , ; second appeal from the president; vote in feby, , ; twenty-five state legislatures call for submission, ; dem. caucus opposes, ; natl. assn. continues its efforts, ; last hearing bef. com. of cong, ; roosevelt and pres. wilson support; not to ask for it would be treason, ; pres. wilson urges, ; sentiment in south, , - , - , ; four days' hearing ends; favorable report, debate in lower house and vote to submit, ; record of ratifications, ; governors called on by natl. suff. conv. for spec. sessions, ; strenuous work for from natl. suff. headqrs. in new york and washtn, under mrs. catt's supervision, ; great "drive" for ratification, - . entire chapter on amend, ; first petitions for, ; first resolutions for in cong, ; first vote in senate, , ; discussed, ; second vote, , ; first vote in lower house, ; struggle for second, ; vote, - ; action of house judic. com, - - , ; senate com. gives hearing and makes favorable report, ; difficulty in senate, - ; , prominent men petition for, ; five days' debate, ; vote, oct. , , ; vote, feb. , ; analyzed by states, ; final vote in house, analyzed by states, ; debate in senate, final vote, signed by vice-pres. and speaker, - ; friends and foes, - ; table of votes, . see ratification. proclaimed by secy. of state, ; many law suits; u. s. sup. ct, decides in favor, - ; opp. by women's anti-suff. assns, ; by men's, - ; record of polit. natl. convs, - ; appeals for amend, in , ; at repub. natl. conv, , ; at dem, ; great change, ; endorsed by all parties at natl. convs, , , , ; indebtedness to bequest of mrs. frank leslie, ; pres. wilson's address to senate in its favor, . federal woman suffrage association, at hearings, , , ; organized, officers, object, ; memorializes cong. and polit. convs; at columbian expos, ; congressl. hearings on bills, conv. in san francisco, ; miss clay's u. s. elec. bill, . federation of women's clubs, genl. and state, endorse wom. suff, xix; genl. fedn. invites suff. speaker, ; coöperates with natl. suff. assn, ; sends first greeting to natl. suff. conv, ; causes "epidemic of suffrage meetings," ; in states, bills show civic conscience, ; genl fedn, . feickert, lillian j, on n. j. campn, ; ; at anthony celebr, . fels, joseph, - . fels, mrs. joseph, . fensham, florence (turkey), . ferguson, gov. james e. (texas), . fernald, fannie j, . fessenden, susan, ; ; . field, mrs. cyrus w, ; . field, sara bard, motors from san francisco to washtn. with suff. petition, - ; bef. house judic. com, ; at natl. repub. conv, . finley, dr. caroline, work in women's oversea hospitals during the war, ; decorated by prince of wales, . finnegan, annette, . fitch, dean florence m, . fitzgerald, susan walker, ; asks suff. for home makers, ; elected natl. rec. secy, ; ; at senate hearing, ; ; ; . flags, miss barton's at intl. suff. conf.; the suff. flag, ; penn. suff. assn. presents one to natl, ; dr. shaw's tribute to flag of u. s, ; "service" flag of assn, ; dr. shaw's tribute to american, . fleischer, rabbi charles, . fleming, stephen b, . fletcher, u. s. sen. duncan u, . formad, dr. marie (france), . foss, samuel walter, . foster, j. ellen, ; . foster, genl. john w, . foster, mabel, . foster, u. s. rep. martin d. (ills.), . fouke, mrs. philip b, . foulke, commissr. william dudley, ; ; ; . foxcroft, frank, . fray, ellen sully, ; . frazer, helen, tells of british women's war work, which brought suff, ; . freeman, elizabeth, . freeman, mary wilkins, for wom. suff, . frelinghuysen, u. s. sen. joseph s, as st. senator approves school suff. for women, ; ; . french, u. s. rep. burton l. (ida.), . french, mrs l. crozier, ; welcomes natl. suff. conv. to nashville, ; . french, rose, . friedland, sofja levovna, ; ; ; addresses house com. on status of woman in russia, ; . friends' equal rights association, ; orgztn. and work for wom. suff, - . frierson, solicitor general william l, . fry, susannah m. d, . fuller, mrs. b. morrison, . fuller, chief justice melville weston, decision on appointment of presidential electors, . funck, emma maddox, arranges for and welcomes natl. suff. conv. in balto, ; it passes vote of thanks, . funck, dr. william, . funk, antoinette, work for pres. suff. in ills, ; ; ; on congressl. com, ; bef. house judic. com, refers to new fed. suff. amend, - ; explains and defends shafroth amend, to natl. suff. conv, - ; report of campn. work in western states; found liquor interests active; travels , miles, - ; re-appointed vice chmn, ; foreshadows new fed. amend, at congressl. hearing, ; chmn. campn. and survey com, work in n. j. campn, ; report for congressl. com, ; ; ; resigns from com, ; ; sponsor for shafroth palmer amend, - . g gage, matilda joslyn, writes women's declaration of rights, . gains, for wom. suff. in , ; in , . gale, zona, ; offers res. to unite work of natl. suff. assn. and congressl. union, - . gannett, mrs. william c, chmn. com. for anthony mem. bldg, - ; women's duty to want to vote, ; work for bldg, . gano, eveline, shows disadvantage to teachers in having no vote, quotes new york, . gardener, helen h, arr. parade to carry fed. amend, petition to cong, ; "unstinted personal service," ; tells how to get congressl. docs, ; ; urges appt. of com. on wom. suff, ; on congressl. com, ; bef. house judic. com, quotes bryan's declaration that pres. wilson insists the govt. must derive just powers from consent of governed and applies it to women's demand for suff, - ; arr. for natl. suff. conv, , ; asks pres. wilson for letter on forming com. on wom. suff, ; called "diplomatic corps," ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; bef. rules com, ; natl. suff. conv. sends greeting, ; vice-chmn. congressl. com, ; ; secures space in smithsonian inst. for suff. exhibit; offers res. of thanks to inst, ; at anthony celebr, ; . gardner, gov. frederick d. (mo.), for wom. suff, . gardner, mrs. gilson, ; . garrett, u. s. rep. finis j. (tenn.), . garrett, mary e, entertainments for natl. suff. conv. in balto, - ; conv. sends letter of thanks, ; invitations "to meet miss anthony," account of functions, distinguished women house guests, ; with dr. thomas raises large fund for suff. work, , ; ; . garrett, mrs. robert, ; . garrett-thomas suffrage fund, , . garrison, eleanor, . garrison, francis j, . garrison, william lloyd, . garrison, william lloyd, jr, ; mem. service at natl. suff. conv, ; tributes of dr. shaw and mrs. mcculloch, - . garvin, florence, . garwood, omar e, ; secy. natl. men's league, . gay, u. s. sen. edward j, opp. fed. suff. amend, ; - ; . gellhorn, mrs. george, welcomes natl. suff. conv, ; ; ; ; ; ; . george, mrs. a. j, ; in anti-suff. speech attacks mormons, says suffs. place their cause above needs of country, - ; makes state's rights argument bef. house com, ; ; - . german american alliance, anti-suff. work in ky, . germany, venerates suff. pioneers, . geyer, rose lawless, press work in iowa campn, ; report to natl. conv, ; ; report on natl. press work, ; instructs suff. schools, ; tribute to her work, . gibbons, cardinal, dr. shaw answers, ; mrs. harper answers, ; opp. women's societies, dr. shaw criticizes, . gilbert, judge hiram, on shafroth suff. amend, . gilder, richard watson, . gildersleeve, dean virginia c, ; . gillett, emma m, ; report as chmn. of congressl. com, . gillett, speaker frederick h, ; . gillmore, inez haynes, . gilman, charlotte perkins, ; mem. poem, ; on educated suff, ; describes lester f. ward's biolog. theory of the sexes, ; ; ; ; on "hand that rocks the cradle," ; woman's right to citizenship, ; economic dependence cause of immorality, ; ; ; ; ; . giltner, prof. william s, . glasgow, ellen, for wom. suff, . glass, u. s. sen. carter, . gleason, kate, . goddard, mary catherine, congress ignored her paper in days of revolution, . goldenberg, rosa h, . goldstein, vida, - ; ; addresses senate com. on wom. suff, in australia and new zealand, ; candidate for senate, . gompers, samuel, ; greeting to suff. conv, ; ; ; ; . goodlett, caroline meriwether, . goodrich, gov. james p. (ind.), . goodrich, sarah knox, . gordon, anna a, . gordon, rev. eleanor, . gordon, jean, ; welcomes miss anthony to new orleans, ; receives testimonial from natl. suff. conv, ; address on duty of women of leisure to workingwomen, ; ; . gordon, kate m, elected natl. cor. secy, ; report in , chivalry in ala, - ; ; welcomes natl. suff. conv. to new orleans, ; report of year's work, ; ; receives loving cup, ; tells of dr. shaw's southern tour attitude of south, - ; ; report in , ; protests against southern members' attitude on wom. suff, ; shows need of personal acquaintance of suff. leaders with editors, politicians, teachers, women's clubs; appeals for funds for ore. campn, ; tells of women's munic. suff. in new orleans, - ; ; ; ; ; describes interview with pres. roosevelt, ; arr. hearings, ; ; tells of liquor dealers' fight on wom. suff. in ore, ; urges suff. assn. to use polit. methods, ; resigns as cor. secy, convention thanks, ; - ; elected vice-pres, ; ; ; ; debate on future work of natl. assn, ; ; org. southern wom. suff. conf ; ; at dem. natl. conv, , - . gordon, laura de force, . gordon, dr. margaret (canada), . graddick, laura j, working women polit. nonentities forced to compete with those having full polit. rights, . graham, frances w, . gram, elizabeth, . grand army of republic, for wom. suff, . grange, national and state, endorses wom. suff, ; always for it, dr. shaw a member, ; natl, . grant, m. louise, . gray, james, . great britain, wom. suff. work not finished, iii; xxii; official and polit. status of women, ; women made eligible to office, ; women's demonstratn, "militancy," situation in parliament, - ; "militant" movement, ; enfranchises women, ; chapter on in vol. vi. greeley, helen hoy, ; . greene, judge roger s, . greenleaf, halbert s, . gregg, laura, ; ; edits _progress_, ; ; ; indifferent women real enemy to equal suff, ; ; . gregory, dr. alice, work in women's oversea hospitals during the war, . gregory, mrs. thomas w, . grenfell, helen loring, describes effect of wom. suff. in colo, ; ; refutes charges against women, . grew, mary, . griffin, frances a, . grim, harriet, ; ; ; ; . gruening, martha, . guernsey, mrs. george thatcher, pres. genl. d. a. r, . guild, mrs. charles e, . gulick, alice gordon, . h hackstaff, priscilla d, ; ; ; work on natl. petit, ; . haggart, dr. mary e, . hale, rev. edward everett, . hale, u. s. sen. frederick, . haley, margaret a, . hall, florence howe (n. j.), speaks for her mother at conv. of , . hall, florence h. (penn.), in anti-suff. speech attacks mormonism; sen. sutherland objects, - . hall, louise, . hall, dr. stanley, . hallinan, charles t, ; ; report of natl. publicity dept; tribute to dr. shaw; orgztn. of data dept, - . hamilton, mrs. l. a. (canada), ; pres. natl. assn, . hanaford, rev. phoebe a, last words for mrs. stanton, . hanna, mayor james r. (des moines), . harbert, elizabeth boynton, ; ; ; . harding, u. s. sen. warren g, votes for fed. suff. amend, ; as pres. candidate receives league of women voters, . hardwick, u. s. rep. thomas w. (ga.), ; discussion with mrs. catt at com. hearing, . hardy, jennie law, . harmon, mrs. anna, . harper, ida husted, tells of suff. dept. in n. y. _sun_, ; ; presents decl. of principles to natl. conv, ; answers cardinal gibbons, ; presides at press conf, , ; address, wom. suff. will come from the west, ; has interview with pres. roosevelt, ; articles on death of miss anthony, ; report as chmn. of natl. press com, immense increase of notice of wom. suff; appreciation of support of natl. press bureau by mrs. belmont, - ; ; presents and supports res. that officers of natl. assn. must be non-partisan, ; ; bef. house judic. com, , makes constitl. argument; quotes from presidents taft and roosevelt; says women have been asking cong. for fed. amend. years; shows st. amends. practically impossible; no other country subjects women to this struggle; answers questions, - - ; bef. house com. on rules; asks appoint. of com. on wom. suff; shows treatment of res. for a fed. suff. amend. by judic. coms. for over forty years; the defeats in st. campns; the need of a fed. amend, - ; no class of men in u. s. have lifted a finger to get suff. but women have struggled yrs, ; debate at atlantic city conv. on future work of natl. assn, ; ; editorial dept. leslie bureau of education, describes work with editors, espec. for fed. amend; concrete results; many letters to editors on "picketing" and results; change in southern papers, - ; natl. suff. conv. sends greeting, ; second report of dept. in leslie bureau; letters to , editors; letters to and from ex-president roosevelt; work for fed. amend; , letters sent; articles to _intl. suff. news_; change in character of editorials, - ; prepares to finish history of wom. suff, ; conv. sends telegram of recog. for work on history, ; writes chapter on fed. suff. amend. for history, ; ; objections to shafroth palmer amend, . harriman, mrs. j. borden, in war service, ; ; on congressl. com, . harrison, u. s. rep. pat (miss.), ; u. s. sen, . hart, gov. louis f. (wash.), urged to call spec. session, . hartshorne, myra strawn, ; . harvey, col. george, ; . haslup, mary r, . haskell, oreola williams, ; . hatch, lavina, . hathaway, margaret, member mont. legis, ; . hauser, elizabeth j, shares work of natl. suff. headqrs. in , ; tells of work at conv. of , ; in , vast amount of literature distrib. res. secured from convs, etc, ; describes the statehood protest of orgztns. of women to senate com. against proposed bill for admitting new territories, ; ; ; in , endorsement of orgztns, ; - ; in , describes vast work, - ; headqrs. secy's. report for ; thousands of articles furnished, hundreds of orgztns. endorse, ; presides at press conf, ; report for , polit. work; many endorsements, widely extended press work; conv. thanks; goes to n. y. headqrs, - ; ; ; ; ; ; at repub. natl. conv, ; . haver, jessie r, on tour for ratif, ; . hawaii, natl. assn. asks wom. suff. for, ; suff. soc. formed, , ; action of cong. on wom. suff, . hawk, george, takes referendum on fed. amend, to u. s. sup. ct, . hay, secy. of state john, . hay, mary garrett, at natl. conv, , ; conv. thanks, ; ; champion money raiser, ; report on organization, ; work on fed. amend. petition, ; arr. parade to carry it to cong, ; tells how to organize, ; natl. conv. thanks for arr. pres. wilson's visit, ; ; on congressl. com, ; shows why new york campn. was won, ; scores circular of mrs. wadsworth on new york victory; gives figures to show not due to socialist vote, - ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; repub. party gives important positions, - ; does congressl. and war work, ; wants name of natl. assn. retained, ; on congressl. steering com, ; ; raises "budget" for , ; offers res. to thank governors who have called spec. sessions and urge others to do so, ; great service in securing ratif. of fed. amend, ; raises money for league of women voters, , ; speaks on women in politics, ; at repub. natl. conv, , calls conf. of suffs; they present plank to res. com, - ; presides at meeting for women on peace conf, . hayden, u. s. rep. carl (ariz.), ; . hays, will h, chmn. natl. repub. com, natl. suff. conv. thanks for help with fed. amend, ; work for it, ; mrs. catt thanks in name of natl. amer. suff. assn. for his own and party's support of fed. suff. amend, ; helps in tenn, . headquarters, national suffrage, in new york, xx; ; removed to warren, o, ; important work described, ; see hauser; removed to new york, mrs. belmont assists financially, thanked by natl. conv, ; ills. dele. want them removed to chicago, ; natl. conv. votes to retain in new york, ; mrs. belmont offers res. to move to washtn, ; mrs. roessing urges it, , ; natl. bd. decides not wise to move from new york but estab. branch in washtn, activities, - ; closed, ; ; ; summary, in rochester, new york, washington, philadelphia, warren, o, and new york city, . hearings, before committees of congress for quarter of a century, ; in , names of senate com, miss anthony hon. pres. natl. suff. assn. presides and pleads for a fed. suff. amend; noted speakers, ; bef. house judic. com, mrs. catt introd. foreign speakers, ; she and dr. shaw urge cong. to appoint a com. to investigate results of wom. suff, ; - ; in miss anthony presides at senate hearing, her last; had appealed to congresses; mrs. watson-lister tells of wom. suff. in australia; a report promised, none made, - ; house judic. com, mrs. catt presides; urges a commsn. to investigate conditions in equal suff. states; sen. shafroth, gov. adams and eminent colo. women speak, - ; in , miss anthony, unable to attend; had missed but two hearings in years; dr. shaw presided at senate, mrs. florence kelley at house; strong speeches but no report, - ; in , hearing given but convention not in session, ; in , first in splendid new office bldgs; names of senate com; dr. shaw presides, tells of great petition for fed. suff. amend, just presented; introd. women speakers representing different professions, - ; closes with strong appeal for a report; the chairman promises one, ; none ever made, ; bef. house judic. com. in ; names of com; mrs. kelley presides, tells of great petition; many strong speeches along industrial lines, - ; in , arr. by mrs. william kent, ; - ; names of senate com, ; of house com, ; in , - ; bef. com. on rules in , dr. shaw presides, asks for a spec. com. because judiciary never reports suff. res, ; bef. house judic. com, in , ; in , bef. senate, names of com, ; house, ; representatives from equal suff. states bef. judic. com, list of, ; bef. senate com, , entire forenoon given, ; apr. to natl. wom. party, ; may to anti-suff. assn, ; may bef. com. on rules, ; bef. wom. suff. com. last ever held, ; résumé, ; mrs. park's report, ; . heaslip, charles t, . hebard, dr. grace raymond, ; ; at anthony celebr, . heflin, u. s. rep. j. thomas (ala.), at suff. hearing, ; southern women incensed, ; rep. mondell ridicules, ; offers res. against fed. suff. amend, ; sends his anti-suff. speeches to western states, ; quotes poetry against wom. suff, ; . helm, mrs. ben hardin, . hemphill, robert r, . henderson, rev. charles r, . henderson, mrs. john b, receives conv, ; . heney, mrs. francis j, . henrotin, ellen m, ; asks ballot for working women, ; . henry, alice, ; ; . henry, u. s. rep. robert l. (texas), ; opposes sending fed. amend. to the house, . henshaw, virgil, at suff. hearing, . hepburn, mrs. thomas n. (katharine houghton), ; . hidden, mrs. m. l. t, . hifton, harriette j, . higgins, u. s. rep. edwin w. (conn.), at congressl. hearing, . higginson, col. thomas wentworth, ; ; . "hikes," headed by members of senate com. on wom. suff, . hill, elsie, ; . hill, mrs. homer m, . hilles, florence bayard, bef. house com, - ; . himes, dr. george h, . hinchey, margaret, - . hindman, matilda, . hirsch, rabbi emil, appeal for wom. suff, ; address in chicago, . histories, give no place to women, . history of woman suffrage, early vols; work of mrs. stanton, miss anthony, mrs. harper; mrs. catt arranges for last two, labor in preparing, wide scope, their value, see preface; ; ; ; miss anthony bequeaths to natl. assn, its wide distribution, , ; ; ; ; mrs. harper begins last vols, ; ; contain great speeches, . hitchcock, u. s. sen. gilbert h, refuses to represent his state on fed. suff. amend, . hoar, u. s. sen. george f, ; first to suggest pres. suff. for women, . hobby, gov. w. p. (texas), invites natl. suff. conv, . holcomb, gov. marcus h. (conn.), ; . hollis, u. s. sen. henry p, ; ; at senate hearing, ; ; . hollister, lillian m, ; . holmes, lydia wickliffe, . hooker, mrs. donald, contrib. to natl. assn, ; at senate hearing, ; bef. house judic. com, ; . hooker, isabella beecher, ; ; ; . hooper, gov. ben w. (tenn.), addresses natl. suff. conv, . hooper, mrs. ben (wis.), ; ; on commissn. to west, ; . hoover, mrs. herbert c, . hopkins, j. a. h, at suff. hearing, . hopkins, mrs. j. a. h, . horton, albert h, . horton, mrs. john miller, presents greetings and flowers, ; recep. to natl. suff. conv, . house of governors in ky. and n. j. hears suff. speeches by miss clay and dr. shaw, ; natl. suff. assn. represented in , ; suffs. received in , . houston, secretary of agriculture david franklin and mrs, ; . houston, mrs. david franklin, . howard, emma shafter, . howe, frederick c, on the city for the people, ; . howe, julia ward, ; ; ; at natl. suff. conv. in balto, ; introd, by dr. shaw, ; escorted by governor, responds to greetings, speaks of lucy stone and mrs. livermore, ; guest of miss garrett, ; too ill to give address, read by her daughter, tells of conversion to wom, suff; speaks of the great leaders, plea for the ballot, - ; ; ; suff. dele, to genl. fed. of women's clubs, ; ; ; ; gets testimony on wom. suff. from ministers and editors, . howe, dr. lucian, at suff. hearing, . howe, marie jenney, ; ; . see jenney. howells, william dean, for wom. suff, . howes, elizabeth puffer, . howes, ethel puffer, ; . howland, emily, ; ; tells of pioneers, ; ; at anthony mem. meeting, ; tells of first wom. rights conv, ; ; natl. conv. sends greetings, ; ; conv. sends letter, , . howse, mayor hilary (nashville), . hughes, gov. charles evans (n. y.), ; on teachers' salaries, ; as presidential candidate, ; in favor of fed. suff. amend, ; personal but not party endorsement, ; natl. suff. leaders interview, tells them he will endorse fed. amend, ; declares for it, ; counsel for natl. suff. assn, . hughes, james l. (canada), . hughes, rev. kate, ; ; ; . huidobro, carolina holman (chili), - ; ; . hull, u. s. rep. harry e. (iowa), . hultin, rev. ida c, ; . humphrey, mrs. alexander pope, . hundley, mrs. oscar, . hunt, gov. george p. (ariz.), greets natl. suff. conv, . huntington, bishop daniel t, . huse, mrs. robert s, ; ; . hussey, cornelia c, ; contrib. to natl. suff. assn, ; bequest to assn, . hussey, dr. mary d, ; ; . hutchinson, john, ; . hutton, may arkwright, tells anecdote of mckinley, ; writes ode to suff, ; ; welcomes suff. dele, to spokane, ; . huxley, thomas h, . i idaho, effect of wom. suff, . indianapolis, entertains natl. exec. council, . indians, men enfranchised by congress, . industrial problems, govt. discriminates against women, ; unpaid housework, . industrial program, ; congressl. hearings on, . initiative and referendum, endorsed by natl. suff. conv, adverse effect on suff. and prohib, - ; natl. conv. re-endorses, ; again, ; petit. to repeal wom. suff. in calif, failed, ; suff. campn. in mo. and other states, - ; shafroth palmer suff. amend, called natl. i. and r, , ; dem. party and pres. wilson in favor of, ; on ratif. fed. suff. amend, in me; in ohio, st. sup. ct. sustains; u. s. sup. ct. decides against, . international council of nurses of nations endorses wom suff, . international council of women, forms wom. suff. com, xix; ; estab. standing com. on equal rights, ; . _international suffrage news_, . international woman suffrage alliance, vi; formed, xix; first conf. held in washtn, ; its duty, ; intl. com. formed, ; sends greeting to natl. assn, ; mrs. catt's presiding, . see complete chapter on in vol. vi. iowa, mrs. catt discusses suff. campn, . ivins, mrs. william m, ; furnishes dr. shaw's office, . j jacobi, dr. mary putnam, addresses suff. conv, ; ; . jacobs, pattie ruffner, ; answers rep. heflin, ; elected to natl. bd. ; at senate hearing, shows attitude of southern women, proud of past but do not live in it; fed. suff. amend, does not interfere with state's rights, ; bef. house com. shows unjust laws for women in the south; members try to disprove, - ; report of extensive field work, ; ; - ; ; - ; ; . james, ada l, . james, prof. william, for wom. suff, . janney, dr. o. edward, ; . janney, mrs. o. edward, ; ; . jeffreys, dr. annice, . jenks, agnes m, ; bef. senate com, . jenney, julie r, . jenney, rev. marie (howe), - ; . jewett, cornelia telford, . jews, how enfranchised, . johns, laura m, ; on civil rights, . johnson, addie m, . johnson, adelaide, makes bust of miss anthony, ; . johnson, u. s. sen. hiram w, . johnson, philena everett, . johnson, dr. and mrs. rossiter, . johnston, dean eva, . johnston, mary, ; ; addresses natl. suff. conv. in , ; . johnston, mrs. william a, ; report of kans. campn, ; on congressl. com, ; at anthony celebr, . jolliffe, frances, ; controversy with house com, . jones, u. s. sen. andrieus a, speaks for wom. suff, ; chmn. senate wom. suff. com, ; makes favorable report, ; ; ; - ; - ; ; - ; . jones, effie mccollum, . jones, dr. harriet b, . jones, jenkin lloyd, tribute to miss anthony, . jones, u. s. sen. wesley l, ; ; . jordan, prof. mary a, address at natl. suff. conv. in balto, college women's tribute to suff. leaders, , . jubilee convention of national american woman suffrage association in st. louis, . julian, u. s. rep. george w. (ind.), offers first res. for fed. wom. suff, . juries, women on, dr. shaw's idea, ; ex-senator bailey's idea, . jury service for women, iv. _jus suffragii_, _offic._ organ, intl. wom. suff. alliance, ; . k kauffman, reginald wright, . kearney, belle, on the south's need of woman suffrage, ; . keating, u. s. rep. edward (colo.), introd. fed. amend, and res. for wom. suff. com, , ; . keble, dean john bell, . keil, mayor henry w. (st. louis), . keith, william, picture for suff. bazaar, ; memorial, . keller, dr. amelia, . kelley, florence, on labor laws for women and children, ; comment on editors, ; speaks on child labor, ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; gives facts on child labor, ; presides at hearing, speaks of work for wom. suff. by her father, william d. kelley, asks for fed. suff. amend, , - ; shows need of munic. suff. for women, , ; ; on the social evil, ; describes struggle of consumer's league for working women in new york, ; - ; ; ore. decision on woman's work-day, ; ; ; ; declines re-election, ; ; presides at judic. com. hearing, discusses conflicting court decisions on labor laws for women, gives tragic instances, need of vote; women's war service, - . kelley, william d, ; work in cong. for wom. suff, . kelly, u. s. rep. m. clyde (penn.), . kendall, dr. sarah a, , . kendrick, gov. john b, addresses council of women voters, ; as u. s. senator bef. senate com. tribute to wom. suff. in wyo.; endorsement of fed. amend, ; . kennedy, julian, . kent, carrie e, ; welcomes natl. suff. conv, . kent, mrs. william, report for congressl. com, , ; speaks of wom. suff. in calif, ; congressl. com. work, ; ; ; urges house judic. com. to spare women drudgery of st. campns, ; ; . kern, chairman democratic national convention john w, . ketcham, emily b, . kilbreth, mary, . kimber, helen, . king, dr. cora smith, bef. house judic. com, ; see eaton. king, u. s. sen. william h, . kingsley, charles, . kirby, u. s. sen. william f, speaks for fed. amend, . kitchin, u. s. rep. claude (n. c.), . knowland, u. s. rep. joseph r, praises wom. suff. in calif, . knowles, antoinette, . knox, u. s. sen. philander chase, . kramers, martina g. (holland), . krebs, abbie a, . krog, gina (norway), letter to intl. conf, . l. labor, unions endorse wom. suff. in , ; st. fedn. for it in wash, ; organizations demand it, . see american federation of labor. _ladies' home journal_, prints attacks on women's clubs and wom. suff, ; refuses to allow answers, ; ; barry's article on colo, ; tries to find "antis" in colo, . lafferty, u. s. rep. a. w. (ore.), urges fed. suff. amend, . la follette, fola, . la follette, u. s. sen. robert m, presents fed. amend. petition, natl suff. conv. thanks, ; mrs. la follette, ; sen. and mrs. receive delegates to natl. suff. conv, many in official life present, ; senator asks wom. suff. plank in natl. platform, . laidlaw, james lees, presides at men's night, natl. suff. conv, , ; at senate hearing, expediency of wom. suff, ; presides men's league, , ; says anti-suffs. distrust democracy, ; presides, , ; holds dr. shaw's annuity fund, ; pres. natl. men's suff. league, . laidlaw, mrs. james lees, at natl. suff. conv, , ; elected natl. auditor, ; responds to conv. greetings, ; speaks at senate hearing, ; assists in ovation to dr. shaw, ; presents war service flag, ; ; women's war work in n. y, ; ; at mem. service for dr. shaw, . lamar, mrs. joseph r, . lambson, nellie h, . lane, secretary of the interior franklin k. with mrs. lane, ; on suff. platform, brings good will of pres. wilson to natl. conv. and expresses his own belief in wom. suff, ; tribute to dr. shaw, . lane, mrs. franklin k, . langhorne, orra, . langston, j. luther, . lansing, secretary of state robert, opp. to wom. suff, ; . lansing, mrs. robert, opp. to wom. suff, . larch-miller, aloysius, . lathrop, julia, great speech at natl. suff. conv; woman suff. inevitable step in march of society; not a mad revolution; working women's is not the ignorant vote; women must vote to protect the family, - ; asks wom. suff. for welfare of mother and child, , ; on recep. com. for natl. conv, ; speaks for ratif. of fed. amend, ; works for it, ; on child labor, ; report of child welfare dept. during the war, . laughlin, gail, on the industrial laggard, ; ; ; addresses senate com, ; praised, asks square deal for women, at natl. conv. of , . lawther, anna b, ; . lea, u. s. sen. luke, addresses natl. suff. conv, , gives reasons for voting for fed. suff. amend; results in equal suff. states irrefutable argument; scores "anti" women, ; . league of nations, natl. suff. assn. sends dele. to congresses, ; assn. favors, ; dr. shaw makes speaking tour for it with former pres. taft and pres. lowell, - . league to enforce peace, memorial to dr. shaw, ; dr. shaw, mem. exec. com, speaks for, . league of women voters, national, vi; originated by mrs. catt, ; call for, ; mrs. catt urges orgztn, shows necessity; dominating feature of natl. suff. conv. in , - ; natl. assn. refuses to merge till fed. amend. is secured, ; name decided on, constitn. adopted, mrs. catt outlines aims, ; natl. exec. council recommends; $ , appropriated, ; formal orgztn, objects agreed upon, ; call to first cong, , ; lion's share of natl. suff. conv, ; mrs. shuler writes chapter on, ; pres. wilson sends best wishes, ; org. as independent society, auxiliaries of natl. assn. to join, ; chairmen make western tour for ratif. of fed. amend, ; large fund raised, ; org. in states, ; orgztn. perfected, ; points of mrs. catt's address at orgztn. in , its object and plan of work, - ; dr. shaw favors, ; officers, duties, eight depts, ; each discussed, ; plans adopted by board of natl. suff. assn, chairmen elected, ; permanent orgztn. at natl. suff. conv. in chicago in , ; its cong. opens, officers elected, ; schools for citizenship arranged, ; purposes of league, ; censures u. s. sen. wadsworth, ; confs. and dinners, program of work, resolutions adopted, improved legislation for women demanded; cong. notified of action, - ; program presented to natl. polit. convs. and pres. candidates, - ; it forms large congressl. com, ; takes place of natl. suff. assn. in the intl. alliance, . see chapter xxii for full account. leckenby, ellen s, . legislatures, special sessions for ratifying fed. suff. amend, xxiii. leighty, mrs. john r, . lenroot, u. s. sen. irvine l, moves to report res. for wom. suff. com, ; ; ; . leonard, gertrude halliday, . leser, judge oscar, opp. fed. suff. amend, bef. senate com; , brings suit to test, ; same, . leslie bureau of suffrage education, reports of depts, - ; founded by mrs. catt with bequest of mrs. frank leslie, . leslie, mrs. frank, legacy for wom. suff, iv, xxii; ; ; great bequest to mrs. catt for wom. suff, terms of will, . leslie woman suffrage commission, organizes bureau of research, iv; its work, ; contrib. to natl. assn, - ; sends out travelling suff. libraries, ; assists league of women voters, ; incorporated, headqrs. in new york, - ; mrs. catt's report, . leupp, constance, . lewis and clark exposition, entertains natl. suff. conv, ; woman's day, recep. to miss anthony and the conv, - . lewis, mrs. george howard, entertains officers of natl. and state suff. assns. and coll. league, , ; presents $ , to natl. assn. in memory of miss anthony, ; conv. sends greetings, , ; contrib. to assn, ; presents res. that natl. officers must be non-partisan, ; at dr. shaw's right hand when she resigns, contrib. salary of her secy, - ; tribute to dr. shaw and contrib. to memorial fund, . lewis, mrs. lawrence, ; ; ; . lexow, caroline, ; ; speaks on coll. wom. eve, ; ; ; ; ; . life and work of susan b. anthony, ; miss anthony on "college women's evening" at balto. conv, ; miss garrett's recep, ; large fund for suff. work, ; gives birthday money to ore. campn, ; account of last birthday, ; accounts of death and funeral services, ; ; ; ; ; ; account of mrs. stanton's death, ; of miss anthony's effort for co-education in roch. univ, . lindsey, judge ben, visits roosevelt to urge wom. suff. in prog. party platform, . lindsey, louise, gavel to dr. shaw, . lindsey, mrs. w. e, . liquor interests, hostility to wom. suff, xviii; power ends, xxiii; ; ; ; power in politics, at bottom of opp. to wom. suff, ; fight on wom. suff. in ore, ; work against in ky, ; in neb, s. dak. and mont, - ; in mich, ; work in iowa, ; alliance with women "antis", ; opp. even pres. suff. for women, . littlefield. paul, of men's anti-suff. com. (penn.), . littleford, hon. william, pres. ohio men's league, . littleton, u. s. rep. martin w. (n. y.), at congressl. hearing, ; allies wom. suff. with socialism, . livermore, mrs. arthur l, report for literature com, , ; same, , over , , copies of pamphlets, speeches, etc, distributed, ; directs suff. school, ; ; ; ; ; ; . livermore, mary a, letter to natl. suff. conv, ; memorial res. of natl. assn, ; mrs. howe's tribute to, . livingston, deborah knox, speaks at natl. suff. conv, ; report on maine campn, . lobby, for fed. wom. suff. amend, . locke, leon, . lockwood, belva a, . lodge, u. s. sen. henry cabot, anti-fed. suff. amend. res, ; ; opp. wom. suff. plank in repub. platform, , . loines, hilda, report as chmn. of assn's food production com, ; ; report on women's land army during the war, . long, ex-secy, of navy john d, on suff. advisory com, ; vice-pres. men's suff. league, . long, dr. margaret, treas. natl. coll. women's league, ; . longshore, dr. hannah, ; . loomis, rev. alice ball, ; . lord. mrs. m. b, . lord, rev. william r, . lorimer, rev. george c, . louisville, ky, entertains natl. suff. conv. in , . lovejoy, dr. owen r, shows need of wom. suff. in the cause of child labor, , . low, seth, ignores women, . lowe, caroline a, ; speaks at hearing for , , working women, denial of ballot greatest injustice, . lowell, pres. a. lawrence, dr. shaw joins on speaking tour for league of nations, ; . lowell, josephine shaw, ; for wom. suff, . lowell, judge stephen r, . ludington, katharine, at natl. suff. conv, ; work in conn, ; . luscomb, florence, . m. mack, judge julian, . mackay, mrs. clarence, on advisory com, . mcadoo, secy, of the treasury william g, for fed. suff. amend, ; on suff. platform, ; restores -hour day to women, . mcadoo, mrs. william g, on recep. com. for suff. conv, ; speaks at conv. on liberty loan, . mcafee, effie l. d, . mcaneny, mrs. george, . mcarthur, u. s. rep. c. n. (ore.), . mccall, sarah j, bequest to natl. suff. assn, . mcclintock, mary ann, calls first wom. rights conv, . mcclung, nellie, tells of canadian women's war work and how it brought suffrage, ; in minn, . mcclure, s. s. and t. c, for wom. suff, . mccormack, mrs. james m, . mccormick, mrs. cyrus h, . mccormick, katharine dexter, ; appt. to natl. board, address on broadening effects of suff. work, ; sends gift of suff. literature to many states, ; pays natl. assn's deficit of $ , on _woman's journal_, ; treas. report for , ; ; elected vice-pres, ; organizes volunteer suff. league, ; ; re-elected, ; ; unique evening program, ; ; re-elected, ; contrib. to natl. assn, ; on wom. com. of natl. defense, ; chmn. assn's war service dept, presides at meeting, ; refutes slanders of "antis", ; assists congressl. com, ; address at natl. conv, ; moves res. of gratitude to pres. wilson, ; ; ; writes chapter on war work of suffs. for history, ; ; - ; ; . mccormick, mrs. medill, work for pres. suff. in ills, ; offers res. to ask pres. wilson for interview on wom. suff. and is on com, ; chmn. natl. congressl. com, ; valuable service, estab. woman's independence day, ; ; report of congressl. com's. work for fed. suff. amend; reasons for introd. shafroth amend, and defense of it, - , ; report for campn. com, ; her com. assists neb, ; re-apptd. chmn, ; elected natl. auditor; produces play, your girl and mine, ; contrib. to publicity work, ; bef. house judic. com, ; shows difference between natl. suff. assn. and congressl. union, ; presides at conf, ; ; report as chmn. congressl. com, ; ; report to senate com, ; suff. work in ills, ; resigns as chmn. congressl. com, ; moves for com. to confer with red cross war council, is herself appt, ; ; ; ; sponsor for shafroth palmer amend, - . mccormick, vance, for fed. suff. amend, . mccracken, elizabeth, - ; . mcculloch, catharine waugh, ; on legal privileges of women, ; legal adviser to natl. assn, ; conducts protest against bill admitting new territories with women classed with insane, idiots and felons, ; legislative work, ; mem. tributes to mr. blackwell and mr. garrison, ; elected natl. vice-pres, - ; report as legal adviser, rising vote of thanks, ; ; at senate hearing as justice of the peace, shows professional women's demand for the vote, ; pays tribute to "family of clay," tells of new chivalry, ; ; ; report on mother's equal guardianship, ; early work for pres. suff. in ills, ; presides at hearing bef. com. on rules, ; ; offers res. of non-partisanship, ; on limited suff, ; on tour for ratif, ; works for fed. suff. amend, ; org. miss. valley conf, ; on legal status of women, , , ; at repub. natl. conv, ; objects to shafroth palmer amend, ; helps revise constn. of natl. suff. assn, . mcdowell, mary e, on the workingwomen as a natl. asset, tribute to miss anthony and suffs, - ; ballot will give wage-earning women new status in industry, - ; . mcdowell, r. a, . mcfarland, henry b. f, ; . mcgehee, mrs. edward, . mcivor, mrs. campbell (canada), ; . mckeller, u. s. sen. kenneth, invites natl. suff. conv. to chattanooga, ; . mckinley, pres. william, for wom. suff. when a youth, . mckinley, mrs. william, gives doll for suff. bazaar, . mclaren, priscilla bright, . mclean, frances w, . mcnaughton, dr. clara w, ; . macy, mrs. v. everit, . maddox, etta, obtains admis. of women to the bar in md, ; ; . mahoney, nonie, . malone, collector of the port dudley field, on natl. suff. platform, plea for wom. suff, says women would vote for "preparedness," mrs. catt and dr. shaw object, - ; bef. senate com, . manila, natl. suff. assn. protests against "regulated" vice in, . mann, u. s. rep. james r. (ills.), votes for fed. amend, ; chmn. com. on wom. suff, . mann, mrs. james r, . manning, rev. william p, . mansfeldt, lieut. col. w. a. e. (holland), . maps, difficulty with suff. maps, . marbury, william l, brings suit to test fed. suff. amend, ; same, . marshall, vice-pres. thomas r, ; tribute to dr. shaw, . martha washington hotel, . martin, anne, tells natl. conv. of successful suff. campn. in nev, ; work in nev, ; ; ; presides at senate hearing of congressl. union, ; same, ; ; at last suff. hearing, ; ; chmn. natl. wom. party, ; at natl. repub. conv, . martin, u. s. sen. thomas s, unfairness in dem. caucus on fed. suff. amend, ; same, . marvel, lulu h, natl. suff. conv. thanks, . mathews, dean lois k. (wis. univ.), . matthews, j. n, opp. wom. suff, . matthews, prof. shailer, for wom. suff, . maud, queen of norway, . mead, edwin d, . mead, lucia ames, pleads for world orgztn. for peace, ; ; ; work for peace, ; same, ; responsibility of u. s. for peace and arbitration, ; all classes of women need the suffrage, ; ; report on peace conferences; amer. school peace league, ; urges natl. suff. assn. to work for peace, ; ; tells of great peace funds and endowments and "pres. taft's noble efforts to secure treaties," ; . meehan, mrs. s. d, . meeker, u. s. rep. jacob e. (mo.), . memorials, to pioneer suffs. at natl. conv, , ; to miss anthony, - ; ; . men's leagues for woman suffrage, international and national, mr. blackwell's interest in, ; in calif, ; from calif. to va, ; in u. s, has an evening at natl. suff. conv. in , ; in , ; in , ; league formed in tenn, ; chapter on, . meredith, ellis, address on menace of podunk, ; edits _progress_, ; on effect of wom. suff. in colo, ; ; ; improved election laws, ; at repub. natl. conv, . merrick, caroline e, ; pioneer suff. of la, shares honors with miss anthony, ; ; ; ; ; . merrick, edwin, need of wom. suff, . meyer, heloise, elected to natl. bd, ; in war service, ; - ; retires from office, ; . michigan, gives women taxpayers a vote, ; wom. suff. amend. defeated by fraud, ; other reasons, ; gives suff. to women, ; natl. assn. assists campn, . milholland, inez, . "militancy," in gt. brit, xv; mrs. snowden justifies, - ; dr. shaw and natl. suff. conv. sympathize, ; alice paul's account, ; mrs. pankhurst says women stood hrs. at entrance of house of commons; assault of police, - . miller, alice duer, sisterhood of women, ; . miller, anne fitzhugh, ; tribute to mr. blackwell, . miller, caroline hallowell, ; ; . miller, elizabeth smith, ; ; ; ; memorial, . miller, florence fenwick, at intl. conf. in washtn, ; - ; addresses house com. on official and polit. status of women in gt. brit, ; . miller, mayor john f. (seattle), wom. suff. record of wash, . miller, mrs. john o, presents suff. flag from penn. assn. to natl, ; chmn. com. on dr. shaw's mem. fund, . miller, mrs. walter mcnab, tells of suff. petition in mo, ; elected to natl. bd, ; ; report of extensive field work, ; ; ; reports for assn's war com. on thrift, ; work as chmn. of congressl. com; spoke times in states, wrote , letters, travelled , miles; work at washtn. headqrs, - ; welcomes natl. suff. conv. to st. louis, ; report on food conservation, , ; at anthony celebr, ; ; work on thrift com, . mills, mrs. c. d. b, . mills, harriet may, addresses senate com, ; same, ; speaks at natl. suff. conv, ; same, ; same, ; on n. y. campn, . miner, maude e, no danger in immoral women's vote, ; . minor, judge francis, urges women to vote under th amend, ; carries case to u. s. sup. ct, ; wants cong. to enable women to vote for its members, . minor, mrs. francis, tries to vote under th amend, . mississippi valley conference, members opp. shafroth amend, ; orgztn, great need of, valuable work, - . mitchell, john, . mitchell, u. s. sen. john a, . mitchell, mrs. willis g, . mondell, u. s. rep. frank w. (wyo.), introd. fed. suff. amend, , ; testimony for equal suff. in wyo, criticises pres. wilson for not referring to wom. suff. in message, calls for special suff. com, ; speaks for amend. bef. house judic. com, ; ; natl. suff. conv. thanks for assistance, - ; introd. fed. amend, , ; speaks for wom. suff. com, ; speaks for fed. amend, ; on wom. suff. com, ; majority leader, . mondell, mrs. frank w, . monroe, lilla day, . montana, successful suff. campn, , ; liquor interests and copper company opp. wom. suff. amend, miss rankin's work, ; repub. and dem. women's vote, ; gives wom. suff, . moore, laura, ; . moore, mrs. philip north (eva perry), pays tribute to miss anthony and other suff. pioneers, ; ; ; . morawetz, mrs. victor, in n. y. campn, . morgan, laura puffer, ; . morgan, mrs. raymond b, . morgan, mrs. w. y, ; . mormonism, attack on in anti-suff. speech, sen. sutherland protests; its part in wom, suff, - . morris, esther, ; . morrisson, mrs. james w, elected natl. rec. secy, ; work for suff. parade in chicago during repub. natl. conv, tribute to mrs. medill mccormick, ; ; . morton, dr. rosalie slaughter, urges higher moral standard for men, . moses, u. s. sen. george h, roosevelt urges to vote for fed. amend, . moss, u. s. rep. hunter h. (w. va.), votes for fed. suff. amend, . mosshart, gertrude c, . mott, anna c, . mott, lucretia, ; ; "the inspired preacher," - ; reminis. of, ; calls first woman's rights conv, ; at first one in washtn, ; . mountford, lydia von finkelstein, . moylan, penn, home of dr. anna howard shaw, . munds, frances w, . municipal suffrage, plan of work for, ; jane addams shows women's need of, ; campn. for, ; prof. sophonisba breckinridge urges; its value in new orleans, ; anna e. nicholas shows need of, ; defeated in chicago by charter conv, ; miss addams tells of, ; in kans, ; in new orleans, - ; women's petitions for in chicago, ; granted in tenn, ; in fla. and atlanta, ; in vt, . municipal work, women's, in new york, ; in phila, . murdock, u. s. rep. victor (kans.), . mussey, ellen spencer, . myers, dr. annice jeffreys, ; ; ; ; ; memorial, . myers, jefferson, ; pays tribute to miss anthony, her co-workers and their cause, . mythen, rev. james grattan, . n names, distinguished list on receiving com. for natl. suff. conv. of , ; those in war service, . nashville, entertains natl. suff. conv. of in representatives' hall, welcomed by mayor hilary howse, . nathan, maud, ; on the wage earner and the ballot, ; ; on women warriors, ; . national american woman suffrage association, efforts for planks in natl. polit. convs, see planks; work for fed. amend, xvii; orgztn. of two branches and their union, objects and work, , ; its convs, congressl. hearings, money raised, nation-wide efforts and their result, chapters i to xix inclusive; list of officers, first page of each; business women's tribute, ; calls intl. suff. conf, ; conv. protests against "regulated" vice in philippines, appts. com. to see pres. roosevelt, who declares against it and war dept. stops it, ; attacked on "race question" states its neutral position, ; plan of work for , ; assists campns. in ore, ; s. dak, ; okla, ; ariz, s. dak, ; passes res. of non-partisanship, ; membership and petitions compared with anti-suff's, ; permeated with new life in , great accession of young women, ; repudiates shafroth palmer amend; resolves to work only for original fed. amend, ; coöperation with congressl. union found impossible, ; elects mrs. catt pres, - ; ovation to dr. shaw, ; demand for fed. amend, ; work of st. auxiliaries; attacks no party, ; dr. shaw shows diff. bet. it and congressl. union, ; debate at atlantic city conv. on its future policy, ; dr. shaw urges no change, ; mrs. catt takes same view, ; nation-wide plan of work, ; call for conv. of demands fed. amend. from cong, ; officers in war service, ; exec. council pledges loyalty and service to govt, , ; decides to enter polit. campns, ; celebrates th anniv, ; no conv. in ; conf. of exec. council at indpls; call for natl. conv. in ; changed character of convs, ; nation-wide work for fed. amend, - ; campns. against anti-suff. candidates for cong, ; gives $ , to suff. campns. in mich, s. dak. and okla, ; natl. conv. vetoes proposal to merge assn. in league of women voters till fed. amend. is secured, ; pioneers' evening, ; recommendations of natl. exec. council for , ; first organized body of women to offer services to govt. for war; attitude toward peace, ; chicago entertains last natl. suff. conv. and first cong. of league of women voters, ; jubilee conv. to celebr. end of its work, ; exec. council program for future action, ; thanks governors who called spec. sessions to ratify amend, ; program adopted by conv. assn. shall "move toward dissolution," ; auxiliaries will join league of women voters, ; large assistance to southern states, ; mrs. shuler's tribute to, ; presents honor rolls to early workers, ; meets with league of women voters, ; assn. was formed for amending fed. constitn, ; united with american assn, ; works against election of anti-suff. senators, ; assists league of women voters, ; effort for wom. suff. planks in natl. polit. platforms, ; calls on res. com. of natl. repub. conv. in to secure final ratif. of fed. suff. amend, ; war service to govt. during the war, et seq; pres. wilson approves, ; its officers and members on woman's com. of council of natl. defense, ; action on shafroth palmer amend, in and , ; reasons for continuing after suff. was gained, new constitn. made, officers elected, principal object to remove legal and civil discriminations against women, present status, - ; official bd. issues mem. for dr. shaw, . national council of women voters, ; res. for wom. suff. in , ; greetings to natl. suff. conv, ; in washtn, , . nationality of wives, miss rankin's bill for, . national junior suffrage corps, . national press bureau, reports, mrs. babcock, chmn, , ; , ; , . miss hauser, chmn, , ; , ; , . mrs. harper, chmn, , . miss reilly, chmn, , ; , . miss byrns, chmn, , ; , . mr. hallinan, chmn, , . mr. heaslip, chmn, , . mrs. mccormick, chmn, , . mrs. harper, . miss young, chmn, , , ; mrs. harper, . at washtn. headqrs, miss shuler, chmn, , , . national woman suffrage conventions, described in first chapters; tribute to, ; descrip. by _woman's journal_, . changed character of, ; see conventions. national woman suffrage publishing co, organized, ; ; ; report, , over , , pieces of suff. literature printed, ; , , , pieces, ; total, , , ; see ogden, esther g. national woman's party, see congressional union. nebraska, liquor interests in suff. campn, ; pres. and munic. suff. declared legal and "male" left out of new constitn, . negroes, "race question" injected at natl. suff. conv. in new orleans, official board responds, ; delegates address phyllis wheatley club; its president gives flowers to miss anthony with touching words, ; dr. shaw settles color questions, ; ; ; mrs. catt says each state must decide, ; mrs. terrill pleads for negroes, ; miss anthony champions cause, ; danger of vote in south discussed, ; men enfranchised by fed. amend, ; after civil war, . nelson, pres. frank (minn. coll.), . nelson, u. s. rep. john m. (wis.), . nelson, julia b, . nelson, u. s. sen. knute, . nestor, agnes, . nevada, story of successful campn, . new jersey, sends wom. suff. deputn. to pres. wilson, ; fraudulent vote on wom. suff, . new orleans, entertains natl. suff. conv, - ; delightful entertainment, . _news letter_, published by natl. assn, . new york, gives suff. to women, xxiii; discriminates against women teachers, ; adoption of state amend. decides suff. question, ; natl. conv. devotes evening to victory, story of great campn.; cost $ , , - ; women's war service, ; statistics of vote on wom. suff. amend, ; great value of, ; mrs. catt describes campn, . nicholes, anna e, women's need of munic. suff, . nicholes, s. grace, . nicholson, eliza j, ed. of _picayune_, . nightingale, florence, for wom, suff, . nixon, frederick s, . non partisanship, natl. suff. conv. , defeats res. for and then passes one, - ; natl. amer. assn. opposed to holding party in power responsible for wom. suff, , ; members of congressl. union give reasons for, dems. object, - ; natl. suff. assn. stands for non partisanship, ; ; ; ; reaffirmed at natl. conv, , ; at conv. , . northrop, dr. cyrus, . norway, wom. suff. and women in office, . nugent, james r, . o obenchain, lida calvert, . oberlin college, ; ; . o'connor, mrs. t. p, . odenheimer, cordelia r. p, pres. genl. daughters of confederacy, . officers, women, effect of fed. suff. amend, iv; in norway, ; in australia, , . ogden, esther g, elected natl. vice-pres, ; tells of natl. suff. pub. co. and little "golden flier," - ; reports for natl. suff. pub. co, ; ; ; ; final report of natl. suff. pub. co, ; ; . ohio, effort to ratify fed. suff. amend, ; . oklahoma, natl. assn. assists effort for wom. suff, ; first suff. campn, , ; second, ; successful, . olds, emma s, ; ; . oleson, mrs. peter, . oliphant, mrs. o. d, ; ; . olmstead, rev. margaret t, ; . olsen, justice harry, . o'neil, mrs. david m, . oregon, polit. leaders urge suff. campn; natl. assn. agrees to assist, ; dr. shaw points out responsibility of ore. men and women, ; assn. helps, ; appeal for campn. funds at natl. suff. conv, ; generous response, miss anthony gives her birthday money, ; defeat of amend, ; work of natl. assn, ; ; majority vote for amend, , ; . o'reilly, leonora, ; bef. senate com; demand of working women for the ballot, . organizations, large number endorse wom. suff, , ; none oppose, ; in , ; in , ; in , . organizations of women, efforts for better laws, iv. organizers, employed in , instructed by mrs. catt, work done, ; in , work in states, - ; list of in , mrs. shuler praises, . osborn, gov. chase s. (mich.), greets natl. suff. conv, . osborne, eliza wright, ; ; memorial, . o'shaughnessy, u. s. rep. george f. (r. i.), . o'sullivan, mary kenney, ; asks suff. for working women, injustice of govt, . oversea hospitals, women's, natl. suff. assn. maintains, ; ; ; assn's. fund for, ; final report, ; report of mrs. tiffany and mrs. brown, its directors, at natl. conv. of , valuable work in france, recognition by french govt, - ; financial report of mrs. rogers, natl. treas, . owen, u. s. sen. robert l, natl. suff. conv. greets mother, ; his powerful argument for wom. suff, ; ; ; ; ; ; . owens, helen brewster, . p page, mary hutcheson, conf. on polit. work, . palmer, atty. gen. a. mitchell, . palmer, alice freeman, ; for wom. suff, . palmer, prof. george herbert, . palmer, u. s. sen. thomas w, bequest to natl. suff. assn, . pankhurst, emmeline, advises u. s. suff. headqrs. to sell not give literature, ; receives ovation at natl. suff. conv.; explains revolution of women in gt. brit, . parades, begun in u. s, xx; in london, ; in gt. brit, ; with fed. amend, petit, in washtn, ; in new york and washtn, , ; in washtn. bef. inauguration, - ; in new york, ; in chicago during repub. natl. conv, - ; "walkless parade," in st. louis at dem. natl. conv, ; in chicago, ; of british women during the war, ; in washtn, ; new york, ; washtn, ; men's leagues march, ; in balto, ; rainy day parade in chicago in , ; the "walk-less" in st. louis, . park, alice l, . park, maud wood, natl. suff. conv, , ; ; ; at conv. in balto, unselfishness of suff. leaders, duty of college women to assist their work, ; ; describes coll. wom. suff. league, ; ; on mass, campn, ; ; report for congressl. com, , ; presides at hearing bef. rules com, ; ; report as chmn. of congressl. com, , - ; tribute to helpful senators; names them, ; praise for members of congressl. com, names them, ; conv. gives rising vote of thanks and dele, speak words of praise, - ; re-elected, ; at last suff. hearing, ; excellent speech, ; ; ; congressl. com. report, ; tribute to pres. wilson, ; org. coll. wom. suff. league, - ; ; chmn. natl. league of women voters, ; ; bef. repub. natl. com, . parker, adella m, ; ; . parker, u. s. rep. richard wayne (n. j.), chmn. at suff. hearing, ; compliments speakers, makes no report, . parker, dr. valeria, on tour for ratif, ; ; on social hygiene, , , . parsons, elsie clews, . parsons, national committeeman herbert, . parsons, mary ely, furnishes dr. shaw's office, . patten, dr. simon n, . patterson, hannah j, report on penn. campn, ; on how to organize, ; ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; natl. cor. secy's, report, , ; ; ; ; tribute from chmn. congressl. com, ; on woman's com. of council of natl. defense, ; receives distinguished service medal, . patterson, u. s. sen. thomas m, addresses natl. suff. conv, . patterson, mrs. thomas m, . paul, alice, tells of "militancy" in gt. brit, ; chmn. congressl. com, ; arranges for pres. wilson to receive wom. suff. deputation, ; takes part in english "militant" movement, sent to prison; wants to start one in u. s. but idea frowned upon by dr. shaw, who appoints her chmn. congressl. com. to organize parade in washtn.; shows much exec. ability; makes com. report to natl. conv, - ; forms congressl. union, is chmn.; mrs. catt makes inquiries, - ; natl. suff. bd. will not permit her to act as chmn. of both and she is deposed from congressl. com.; remains head of union, ; has it fight dem. party, - ; presides at hearing bef. house com.; members attack her for trying to defeat dems, who were friends of wom. suff; she defends this action, - ; asks chairman webb what will be in dem. platform, ; heads congressl. com, ; org. congressl. union, ; reorganized as natl. woman's party, , miss paul chmn, ; - . peabody, george foster, on wom. suff. platform, ; holds dr. shaw's annuity fund, . peace and arbitration, natl. suff. assn. favors, ; mrs. mead and mrs. catt appeal for, - ; responsibility of u. s. for, ; natl. suff. conv. endorses recommendation of inter parliamentary union, ; ; mrs. mead calls on natl. amer. suff. assn. to assist educatl, work for it, ; pres. taft's effort for treaties, ; ; natl. suff conv. in demands women should have a voice, commends pres. wilson's effort for peace, ; assn's. attitude during the war, ; dr. shaw's demand for world peace, . peck, prof. mary gray, elected natl headqrs. secy, ; gives report of new headqrs, value of new york center, increased demand for literature, large sales, valuable suggestions, - ; on congressl. com, . pendleton, pres. ellen f, . penfield, jean nelson, ; bef. senate com, women's need of ballot in social service work, ; on tour for ratif, ; same, . penfield, perle, ; . penn, hannah, only woman governor, . penn, william, govt. free only when people make laws, . pennybacker, mrs. percy v, report on child welfare, ; ; ; . penrose, u. s. sen. boies, refuses to see suff. dele, ; opp. to suff. plank in repub. natl. platform, . perkins, prof. emma m, . perkins, mrs. roger g, . perkins, mrs. s.m.c, . petersen, florence bennett, - . petition of national american suffrage association for federal amendment, list of com, immense work, ; report on vast work, mrs. catt's contrib. signatures of writers; automobile parade to capitol to present; vote of thanks to members from natl. suff. conv, ; last petition, - ; distinguished signers, ; in , ; , names presented to senate, ; those of suffs. and "antis" compared, ; first to cong, for worn, suff, ; first for th amend, ; great petition , ; for wom. suff. com, ; to senate for fed. amend, ; initiative petit, of , in mo, ; , conn, women petit. legis. for pres. suff, ; , in del. to u.s. senate for fed. amend, ; treatment of petitions in mass, . phelan, u. s. sen. james d, . philadelphia, municipal corruption, need of women's votes, , ; ignoring of women's civic work, ; entertains natl. suff. conv. of , overflow meetings, ; great rally in independence square, . philippines, wom. suff. soc. formed, . phillips, elsie cole, at senate hearing; need of the ballot by wives and mothers of working classes; theirs not the ignorant vote, ; . "picketing," work of natl. press bureau to counteract; mrs. catt and dr. shaw condemn, editorials on, - . pierce, charlotte, ; ; sole survivor of first woman's rights convention, ; ; natl. conv. sends letter, , . pierce, katherine, . pierce, rev. u. g. b, ; . pinchot, gifford, shows nation's need of women's vote, . pinchot, mrs. gifford, entertains natl. bd, ; report on industrial protection of women, ; . pinkham, winona osborne, . pioneers, at natl. conv. ' , ; suff. luncheon at natl. conv. in chicago, . pittman, u. s. sen. key, . pitzer, annie, . planks, for woman suffrage, efforts to obtain in platforms of polit. parties; repub. and dem. endorse suff. in but not fed. amend.; efforts at state convs, - ; natl. assn's. effort to secure from natl. pres. convs, in , ; in , ; in , - ; in , , ; in , . see chapter xxiii. plan of work, for , ; for , ; for , ; for , . platt, margaret b, . plummer, mary r, . podell, nettie a, . pohl, dr. esther lovejoy, . poindexter, u. s. sen. miles, . poindexter, mrs. miles, . polk, gov. joseph k. (mo.), . pollock, u. s. sen. william p, speaks for fed. suff. amend, , ; copies of speech sent to southern states, ; tries to obtain needed vote, ; . pomerene, u.s. sen. atlee, refuses to represent his state on fed. suff. amend, . pomeroy, u. s. sen. s. c, offers first res. for fed. wom. suff. amend, in , . porritt, annie g, laws affecting women and children, ; . portland, ore, entertains natl. suff. conv, ; mrs. duniway and others meet the delegates, cordial welcome from press and people, . porto rico, natl. assn. asks wom. suff. for, ; suff. soc. formed, . post, louis f, on ethics of suffrage, ; ; ; . potter, eva, . potter, prof. frances squire, women and the vote, speech on coll. women's eve, ; at spokane, ; masterly speech on coll. women and democracy, - ; ; elected natl. cor. secy, ; ; sends letter of regret from natl. suff. bd. to pres. taft, ; address on the making of democracy, ; natl. cor. secy's, report, conv. gives rising vote, declines re-election, - ; on res. com, ; . pou, u. s. rep. edward w. (n. c.), chmn. rules com, ; ; ; ; for wom. suff. com, - . pound, l. annice, . poyntz, juliet stuart, . pratt, mayor n. s, welcomes suff. dele, to spokane, . presidential conventions, treatment of wom. suff, see chapter xxiii. presidential suffrage, natl. assn's. early work for, , ; mr. blackwell's argument for, ; right of legis. to grant, ; great value of, ; chief justice fuller's decision, ; line of least resistance, ; gained in ills. and other states, power it gives women; first suggested by u. s. sen. hoar, - ; ills. sup. ct. declares legality, ; natl. exec. council strongly endorses, ; bills introduced in , ; mrs. catt declares grant by legis. legal, ; great "drive" for begun, ; natl. assn. works for, victories gained, ; great gains in , - ; mo. legis. grants during natl. suff. conv; appeals to conv. from iowa, tenn. and conn, to ask their legis. for it, ; , women ask for in conn, ; granted in many states, , , ; effect on personnel of cong, . price, ellen h. e, welcomes natl. suff. conv. to phila, - ; . price, lucy j, ; ; ; ; . primary suffrage, in texas, ; in ark, ; in texas, . prince of wales, decorates amer. woman doctor for war service, . see finley. _progress_, natl. suff. organ, begun, ; wide circulation, ; , distrib, made a monthly, ; changed to weekly, . progressive party, adopts worn, suff, xxi; women assist, , ; natl. conv. declares for fed. suff. amend, ; for worn, suff, ; formed in chicago, adopts worn, suff, women flock into it, - ; strong woman suffrage plank, . prohibition, federal amendment adopted, xxiii; vote for compared with vote for suff. amend, ; submitted by cong; suffs. see state's rights advocates voting for it, . prohibition party, wom. suff. in platform, ; women assist, , ; natl. conv. declares for fed. suff. amend, ; accepts league of women voters' planks, ; always for wom, suff, ; . proxies, natl, suff. conv. , abolishes their voting, . publishing company, woman suffrage; see natl. wom. suff. pub. co. pyle, mrs. john l, work in s. dak, - ; describes successful campn, ; ; ; offers res. against u. s. sen. wadsworth in natl. suff. conv, . q queen mary, cables dr. shaw thanks of british women to woman's com. of council of natl. defense, . queen maud, of norway, . r race problem, natl. suff. assn. declares its neutral position, ; mrs. catt says each state must decide it, ; u. s. sen. borah's opinion, . see negroes. rainey, mrs. henry t, . raker, u. s. rep. john e. (calif.), wom. suff. clean cut question of right, ; demands com. on wom. suff. in lower house, ; at hearing in , - ; introd. fed. amend, and res. for wom. suff. com, , ; ; introd. new res. for fed. suff. amend, ; presides at hearing, ; interviews pres. wilson, ; ; chmn. new com. on wom. suff, - - ; for fed. elections bill, . raker, mrs. john e, . rankin, jeannette, report as field secy, ; tells of montana victory, ; on congressl. com, ; as u. s. rep. addresses suff. conv, - ; tells of her bill for nationality of wives, ; speaks at natl. suff. headqrs. in washtn, ; introd. fed. suff. amend, ; urges it at senate hearing, ; ; grills anti-suff. speaker, ; vote against war, ; first wom. representative, speaks at suff. headqrs. and escorted to capitol, ; ; opens debate on fed. amend, . ranlett, helen, ; . ransdell, u. s. sen. joseph e, on wom. suff. com, ; votes for fed. amend, . ratification of federal woman suffrage amendment, mrs. catt's plans and work for; sends representatives to governors, - ; effort for spec, sessions of legis, new york and kans. lead; mrs. catt heads deputation to western states, ; action of southern section; conn, and vt, ; great fight in tenn, mrs. catt leads, pres. wilson assists, ; maine and ohio try referendum, u. s. sup. ct. decision, final victory, amend, proclaimed, ; conn, then ratifies and later vt, ; appeals to courts, - . see st. chapters in vol. vi near end of each. fight on by men's anti-suff. assn. in conn, md, w. va, and tenn, - . ratifications of federal amendment, partial list, . red cross, ; natl. suff. conv. asks that women be represented on its war council; women do much of its work, plan of worn, nurses in army hospitals orig. with a woman and first military hospital was estab. by a woman; com. appointed to confer with red cross, ; branch in natl. suff. headqrs, . reed, u. s. sen. james a, ; . reed, speaker thomas b, ; for wom. suff. . reid, mrs. ogden mills, . reilley, mrs. eugene, . reilly, caroline i, ; report of natl. press bureau for ; its work extends around the globe, ; for , syndicates on list, , copies of press bulletin sent weekly to every state and many countries, spec, editions for papers prepared, , letters answered during year, ; . remsen, pres. ira, presides at coll. wom. suff. evening, in balto, ; invites natl. suff. conv. to visit johns hopkins, . reports on federal suffrage amendment, senate and house coms, urged to report, , , ; refuse, , ; from coms, of cong, ; favorable from senate, , ; few reports from house, ; from house com. on rules, ; from house judic, ; from house wom. suff. com. . republican national committee refuses to give natl. suff. com. list of its candidates for cong, ; receives suff. speakers, ; natl. suff. conv. thanks chmn. for help with fed. amend, ; effort for amend, - ; mrs. catt thanks, ; work for ratification, - ; in sends out appeal for it, . republican national conventions, one in declares for wom. suff, ; refuses plank for fed. amend, but endorse wom. suff, ; struggle over plank, - ; action on league of women voters' planks, ; on wom. suff. planks in , ; in , ; in , ; great struggle in , names of friends and foes, state's rights plank, - ; in , natl. suff. assn. demands ratif. of fed. amend, presents plank, res. com. evades, - ; women ask representation in party, partially conceded, . republican party, attitude toward wom. suff, xviii, xx; adopts plank, xxi; vote in cong, xxii, xxiii; record on fed. suff. amend, ; why was it not held responsible, ; record of members of cong, on fed. suff. amend, - ; vote of members of cong, on wom. suff. com, ; vote of members of cong, on fed. amend, , ; members in cong, responsible for delay of amend, ; promise amend, ; do not assist, ; vote in cong, on fed. amend, senate, , ; lower house, , ; senate, , ; house, ; senate, . see - - . res. of senators, ; party makes first declaration for state's rights in wom. suff. plank, , . resolutions, adopted by natl. suff. conv. of , ; of , ; , ; of , ; of , , - ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , - ; of , sacredness of home and marriage, ; of , ; of , loyalty and service to the govt, ; cong. urged to submit fed. suff. amend. as a war measure; rejoicing over many important victories; support for war measures of govt; equal pay for equal work, ; of , - ; of , - . resolutions for woman suffrage by various organizations, . reynolds, minnie j, work on natl. suff. petit, ; secures writers' names, ; gives eminent list at senate hearing, - . rhees, pres. rush, speaks of anthony mem. bldg, . rhinelander, rt. rev. philip mercer, . richards, janet, , ; bef. house judic. com, ; on recep. com, , . richardson, a. madely, . richardson, nell, , mile motor suff. trip, . richardson, "tom", welcomes natl. suff. conv. to new orleans, . ringrose, mary e, . riordan, u. s. rep, daniel j. (n. y.), ; . roberts, gov. albert h, helps ratif. in tenn, ; dem. natl. com. urges to call spec. session for ratif, . robertson, beatrice forbes, . robins, raymond, ; . robins, mrs. raymond, pres. natl. wom. trade union league, on white slave traffic, ; appeals for vote in name of the league, ; ; res. that suffs. support only candidates favoring fed. amend, stirs up atlantic city conv, ; asks ballot for women wage earners, , ; ; ; chmn. women in industry com, , . robinson, state sen. helen ring (colo.), . robinson, margaret c, accused by mrs. catt of making false assertions against her during the war, . rochester university, mem. bldg. for miss anthony, - . rodgers, helen z. m, . roessing, mrs. frank m, tells of penn. campn, ; ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; ; ; appt. chmn. congressl. comm, ; report of work, - ; aids congressl. com, ; ; work at repub. natl. conv, . rogers, mrs. henry wade, elected natl. treas, ; report, large receipts, ; re-elected, ; report for , receipts, $ , ; obligations to "finance com. of fifty," - ; report as chmn. for war com. on food production, ; re-elected, treas. report for , comparison with early days, ; ; report for , receipts, $ , ; oversea hospitals' fund, $ , , ; report, receipts from to ; with oversea hospitals' fund, $ , , ; seven years of gratuitous service, ; at repub. natl. conv, ; ; report of funds for women's oversea hospitals during the war, . rogers, mrs. john, . roosevelt, alice, greets miss anthony, . roosevelt, president theodore, xxi; invites miss anthony to white house, ; receives natl. suff. conv, ; it asks him to recommend fed. suff. amend, ; miss anthony presents list of requests, all ignored, ; birthday letter to miss anthony, ; suff. com. interviews, he says a petition would have no effect on him, ; ; says people have a right to change natl. constitn, ; speaks for wom. suff, in metrop. opera house, new york, ; urges u. s. sen. moses to vote for fed. suff. amend, ; favors amend, ; favors wom. suff. plank in progressive platform, ; speaks for it, ; urges fed. suff. amend, , ; at natl. repub. conv, , ; forms progressive party; its res. com. substitutes another for his wom. suff. plank, ; he accepts and speaks for it, ; while pres, he refused all appeals, . roosevelt, jr, mrs. theodore, . root, mrs. elihu, advises pres. taft not to welcome natl. suff. conv, . root, martha s, ; . rowe, charlotte, amazing "anti" speech, . rucker, u. s. rep. a. w, speaks for colo, at suff. conv, ; introd. fed. suff. amend, ; women's vote in colo, ; . rumely, edward a, . russia, loyal to u. s, ; legal and polit. status of women, ; . ruutz-rees, caroline, ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; org. junior suff. corps, ; chmn. com. on literature, compiles some of dr. shaw's speeches, ; bef. senate com, ; bef. house com, ; at mem. service for dr. shaw, . ryan, agnes e, ; . ryerson, mrs. arthur, . ryshpan, bertha, . s sacajawea, statue dedicated, . safford, rev. mary a, ; ; . sage, mrs. russell, contributions to suff. work, , . st. louis, entertains jubilee conv. of natl. suff. assn, ; report fills pages. salmon, prof. lucy m, college women's debt to suff. pioneers, address at natl. suff. conv. in balto, - ; . sanders, m. j, shows need of wom. suff, . sanford, prof. maria l, ; . sargent, u. s. sen. a. a, first to present fed. wom. suff. amend, . sargent, ellen clark (mrs. a. a.), ; entertains suff. leaders, ; ; ; memorial, . sargent, mrs. james, . savage, bessie j, . savage, clara, . schall, u. s. rep. thomas d. (minn.), . schauss, elizabeth, shows working women's need of suff, . schneiderman, rose, ; no chivalry to working women, ; . schoff, mrs. frederick, . schools for citizenship, under league of women voters, , , - . schwimmer, rosika (hungary), brings petition for peace to pres. wilson and says wom. suff. would do away with war, ; at miss. valley conf, . scott, mrs. francis m, . scott, prof. john a, invites suff. conv. to visit northwestern univ, . scott, mrs. townsend, . scott, mrs. william force, . seattle, entertains natl. suff. conv. of , ; receives vote of thanks, . semple, patty blackburn, tells of "indirect influence," . senate committee on woman suffrage, ; grants six hearings in , names of com, - . seneca falls, has first woman's rights conv, ; . seton, ernest thompson, for wom. suff, . seton, mrs. ernest thompson, ; report of art publicity com, ; ; arr. display of suff. posters, . severance, caroline m, pioneer suff, ; ; . sewall, may wright, ; speaks for peace and arbitration, ; for memorial bust of miss anthony, - ; founder intl. council of women, . sexton, minola graham, . shafroth, u. s. sen. john f, addresses natl. suff. conv, ; answers pres. cleveland's anti-suff. article, ; bef. senate com. in , men have usurped suff. rights, - ; arr. hearing for dr. shaw bef. house of governors, ; introd. shafroth suff. amend, ; answers misrepresentations on wom. suff. in colo, ; natl. suff. conv. thanks for assistance, ; on suff. platform, ; has conf. of senators on wom, suff, ; , copies amend, speech circulated, ; mrs. catt introd. to senate com. as an "unfailing friend" of wom. suff; he declares it to be "simply another step in the evolution of govt," ; tribute of chmn. congressl. com, ; ; speech for fed. suff. amend, ; . shafroth-palmer national woman suffrage amendment, full story of, - , - , ; drawn up and submitted to lawyers and senators, introd. by sen. shafroth and rep. palmer, - ; official bd. approves it, text of, ; its merits presented to conv. by mrs. funk; refers to at hearing bef. judic. com; u. s. sen. bristow calls it a national initiative and referendum; _woman's journal_ says it should have been submitted to natl. exec. council, - ; strong protest at miss. valley conf, ; great dissatisfaction among suffs; official bd. stands by it; discussion at natl. conv; miss blackwell supports it, - ; will hasten day of fed. amend, ; mrs. blatch objects, res. adopted, ; effect on election of officers, ; mrs. funk calls it natl. initiative; congressl. com. works for, ; natl. suff. conv. , rescinds last year's action; passes res. that natl. amer. assn. will work only for old fed. amend; dr. shaw explains her action; end of amend, - ; letters on it in _woman's journal_, - . shaw, dr. anna howard, at natl. conv. in , would rather starve than give up wom. suff, ; on chivalry, scores "antis," ; appeal against "regulated" vice, ; ; ; welcomes intl. suff. conf, ; at balto. conv, ; on miss anthony's birthday, ; speech on power of an incentive, ; addresses senate com. and urges cong. to investigate practical working of wom. suff, ; at natl. suff. conv. in new orleans, ; responds to greetings, tribute to southern women, ; preaches sunday sermon, ; presides at meetings, - ; tribute to mrs. stanton, miss anthony and lucy stone, ; lively answers to question box, ; on the modern democratic ideal, ; on fate of republics, ; at natl. conv. of , ; prepares decl. of principles; dele, to berlin conf; makes southern tour, ; optimistic view of wom. suff, ; ; on hymn, america, ; elected pres. of natl. assn; mrs. catt presents, tribute of washtn, _star_, ; speaks on woman without a country, ; recep. en route to portland conv, ; presides at conv, ore. hist. society presents gavel, ; gives first written address, pen picture of, ; pays tribute to sacajawea, ; extols work of suffs, ; answers criticisms of cardinal gibbons and ex-pres. cleveland, ; describes great "dreamers" of the past, ; chmn. of suff. com. of intl. council of women, ; ; ; ; on ore. suff. campn, ; cordial recep. in calif, ; opens natl. suff. conv. in balto, ; responds to greetings, says people must help god to answer their prayers, ; replies to gov. warfield, time women ceased to be proxy voters, - ; introd. mrs. howe and miss barton, ; gives written address, hearers protest, ; criticises pres. roosevelt's statement that women in industry decreases marriage, ; that woman's domain is home, ; has fun with the "oracles," cardinal gibbons, ex-pres. cleveland and dr. lyman abbott, - ; women need self-respect; scores legislatures, loss to country by women's disfranchisement, ; great injustice from time of civil war; when will pres. and cong. act, ; would continue proxy votes at convs, ; asks for women on natl. divorce commissn, ; guests of miss garrett at balto. conv, ; conducts sunday services, ; ; closes conv. with appeal for consecrated work, ; presides at senate hearing, ; miss anthony places the work in her charge, ; presides over natl. suff. conv. of ' , ; president's address, rejoices over victories; never will be orgztn. of tories; farewell tribute to miss anthony and her sister, , ; on mem. fund com, ; tribute to suff. pioneers, ; addresses chicago univ. girls, ; reads last message of mary anthony, ; closes conv. with hopeful words, ; presides at natl, conv. of , flowers presented, comment on teachers, ; sends suff. assn's. greetings to natl. w. c. t. u, ; president's address on revolution of the pioneers; tribute of buffalo _express_, ; opens coll. evening, ; mrs. george howard lewis gives luncheon at th century club, ; presides at sunday service, personal notice, believes in dignity of labor, ; women work but do not receive wages, ; tells of parade in london, ; rec. first salary as pres, ; rec. mrs. lewis's gift to natl. assn, ; sympathy with brit, "militants," ; eloquent peroration, ; at st. paul, ; presented with gavel at spokane, says blow for wom. suff. will be struck on pacific coast, ; opens suff. conv. at seattle, pays tribute to mrs. catt, - ; is member of grange, ; ; no stenographic report of speeches, ; "question box," ; ; sunday services, ; thanks miss gordon, compliments gov. vessey, ; does not know politics, ; ; closing speech, ; at expos, on suff. day, ; opens natl. conv. of , ; presiding when pres. taft makes address of welcome, distressed at apparent hissing, expresses regret in the conv, sends letter to the president in name of official bd, , - ; tributes to mr. blackwell and mr. garrison, ; re-elected pres, ; presides at sunday meeting, ; closes conv. ; presides at senate hearing, tells of great petit, says democracy never has been tried; introd. speakers; scores women "antis"; begs for a report, - ; opens natl. conv. in louisville, ; gives $ , from unknown contrib, ; president's address; tribute to men of wash, and calif, ; guest of honor coll. women's suff. league, ; presides at sunday afternoon meeting, introd. noted speakers, ; re-elected, ; closing address, "eloquent with hope," ; "citizen of the world," ; large fund for campns. received from mrs. quincy a. shaw, ; president's address, "american women are ruled by the men of every country in the world," ; sends congrat. of natl. assn. to governors of states with suff. victories, who respond, ; presides at great sunday meeting in phila, ; ; at senate hearing, , ; begs the com. to bring a fed. suff. amend, bef. the senate and to appoint a com. to investigate its working in equal suff. states, ; speaks in states and countries of europe in , ; president's address at natl. conv; has heard objections against wom. suff. but no reasons; women too emotional; compares last pres. conv. in balto. with natl. convs. of women, - ; criticizes pres. wilson for ignoring wom. suff. in his first message, - ; recd. by him and presents case for suffs, ; appoints alice paul head of congressl. com, ; closes conv, ; presides at hearing for a wom. suff. com, ; ; says suffs. would not ask partisan com, ; business of the govt. to protect women in their right to vote, ; presides at natl. conv. in nashville, presented with gavel from tree planted by andrew jackson, ; pays tribute to southern women, calls on southern men to give them the ballot, ; conv. passes res. of appreciation for her "splendid services" of past year and willingness to stand for re-election, ; president's address, divine right of kings soon obsolete; with wom. suff. war could be averted, ; asks pres. wilson to proclaim women's independence day, ; uses her campn. fund, her long itinerary, ; rec. testimonial from organizers, ; tribute to people of nashville, ; agrees to shafroth-palmer amend, ; re-elected, , ; sits on speaker's bench at opening of cong; recd, by pres. wilson, asks him to use his influence for a fed. suff. amend, and plank in dem. natl. platform, ; welcomes new workers, thanks god for old, ; tribute of publicity chmn, ; decides to retire from presidency, states reasons in _woman's journal_, ; president's address, leading' feature of convs; outlines future work of assn, ; shows need of loyalty and co-operation bet. officers and members; receives ovation, ; shows miss anthony's pin from wyoming women; conv. orders address printed, ; compilation of her speeches made; speaks times in n. j. campn, ; in n. y, ; addresses coll. league, ; attitude on shafroth amend, opposed but yields to official bd, thinks it was introd. too soon, - ; accepted presidency of natl. assn. in only because urged by miss anthony; compelled to give it up by other duties, wants mrs. catt for her successor, - ; votes for her and pays tribute, ; natl. suff. conv. releases dr. shaw with beautiful ceremonies, elects her hon. pres. and friends present her with annuity, - ; she responds and introd. mrs. catt, ; presides at mass meeting sunday, - ; appreciation and thanks of natl. assn, ; presides at senate hearing, ; takes up world questions and asks for woman's vote on them; tribute to com, - ; at house hearing asked to state diff. between natl suff. assn. and congressl. union and does so, ; urges no change in policy of natl. am. assn, ; stands for non partisanship, ; responds to pres. wilson's address to natl. suff. conv, "women want suff, now," ; presides over last evening session; closes address with a definition of americanism and tribute to the flag, ; reception with wives of cabinet at suff. conv. , ; opens convention with invocation, ; moves rising vote on pledge of war service to govt, ; appointed by govt. as chmn. of woman's com. of council of national defense, ; presides at evening session, ; nominates mrs. catt for office, - ; condemns "picketing", ; proposes message of loyalty and support to pres. wilson, which conv. sends, ; speech on women and war, - ; women the army at home; must not make all the sacrifices; should be "smokeless" days; describes woman's com. of natl. defense, ; speaks of injustice to clara barton; presents mrs. avery, ; tribute to her oratory, ; invocation at opening of natl. conv. ; presents mrs. catt, ; southern dele. give illuminated testimonial and she responds, ; moves a res. of thanks to pres. wilson, ; ; assistance to congressl. com, ; at pioneer's evening gives reminis. of miss anthony, - ; presides on last evening, ; at last suff. hearing, ; speech shows govt's recognition of loyalty of natl. suff. assn, ; other countries recognize women's service by giving suff, ; eminent supporters of fed. suff. amend; to fail to ask it would be treason, ; ; opened natl. convs. with prayer yrs, ; tribute of mrs. shuler, memorial booklet by natl. bd; her last speech, what the war meant to women, ; memorial service at natl. suff. conv, program, tribute of n. y. _times_, ; mrs. catt's eulogy, beautiful comparison, ; devotion to cause of wom. suff; nearest and dearest to miss anthony; great power of oratory, ; work for her country; two college foundations estab. as memorials; her college degrees. autobiography, story of a pioneer, ; her tribute to miss anthony, ; pres. wilson congratulates, ; vice-pres. coll. equal suff. league, ; favors league of women voters, ; appeals to dem. natl. conv. in , ; in , ; ; on women's attitude toward war, ; govt. appoints her chmn. woman's com. of council of natl. defense, - ; her work, ; telegram from queen mary, ; tribute by secy. of war baker; receives distinguished service medal, ; closes work of woman's com. but thinks it should be continued for civic work, ; goes on speaking tour in behalf of league of nations with former pres. taft and pres. lowell, ; overworks and dies before it is finished, . appendix, approves anthony mem. bldg, , ; address on resigning presidency of natl. amer. assn; u. s. govt. violates its own principles in refusing suff. to women, ; assn. must not be swerved from its purpose, new recruits want spectacular methods, state action is the foundation, ; on tour for league of nations; nation mourns death, - ; tribute to amer. flag; women traitors to democracy not to demand suff; receives disting. service medal; accepts it for service of all women; on exec. com. of league to enforce peace; it circulates her last speech, ; "out of this war must come world peace; american flag means hope for the world; mothers will not endure war; will of the people must prevent it," ; memorial of natl. suff. bd; tributes of pres. wilson, vice-pres. marshall, former pres. taft, director grosvenor b. clarkson, secy. of the interior lane, mrs. henry fawcett, lady aberdeen, elizabeth c. carter, natl. and intl. assns, - . shaw, helen adelaide, . shaw, nicolas, . shaw, mrs. quincy a. (pauline agassiz), ; gives fund for campn. work, . shaw, mrs. robert gould, ; contrib. to wom. suff, . shepherd, lulu loveland, . sheppard, u. s. sen. morris, speech for fed. amend, ; votes for it, ; . shetter, charlotte, designs seal, . shibley, george h, . shores, mrs. e. a, . shortt, rev. j. burgette, . shuler, marjorie, natl. chmn. of publicity, in fla, ; in okla. campn, ; on congressl. com, ; report of washtn. suff. press bureau, ; on congressl. com, ; on commissn. to west, - ; same, ; welcomed in washtn, . shuler, nettie rogers, pres. western new york fed. of wom. clubs, welcomes natl. conv, ; elected natl. cor. secy, ; ; report for ; tells of universal demonstrations for fed. amend, vast distrib. of literature, suff. schools, work of organizers instructed by mrs. catt, - ; work for pres. suff, ; re-elected, ; campns. in western states, ; valuable report for com. of campaigns and surveys, - ; in campn. states, ; ; ; ; chapter for hist, on league of women voters, , ; sends letter of thanks to governors for natl. assn, ; report for , most important year in history of assn, - ; lines of work indexed under respective heads; great "drive" for ratif; of fed. amend. from natl. headqrs, under mrs. catt's direction, - ; renders homage to her, ; tribute to natl. suff. assn, ; chmn. citizenship schools com, ; at natl. repub. conv, ; ; helps revise constn. of natl. assn, . siewers, dr. sarah m, . simkovitch, mary m. k, . simpson, mrs. david, . sims, u. s. rep. thetus w. (tenn.), . sioussat, mrs. albert l, . skinner. mrs. otis, . slade, mrs. louis f, women's war service in n. y, ; offers res. for women on red cross war council, - ; new york's apology for u. s. sen. wadsworth, ; . smith, gov. alfred e. (n. y.), calls spec, session to ratify fed. suff. amend, ; welcomes mrs. catt from tenn. campn, . smith, caroline m, . smith, charles sprague, . smith, mrs. draper, tells of defeat in neb, ; campn. work, ; . smith, u. s. sen. ellison d, . smith, ethel m, estab. natl. speakers' bureau, ; work on congressl. com, ; report on indust. protect. of women, ; chmn. of publicity, , ; report on protect. of women in government service, . smith, u. s. sen. hoke, . smith, judith w, ; ; . smith, dr. julia holmes, . smith, mrs. thomas jefferson, speaks at natl. conv, ; elected to natl. bd, ; . smithsonian institution, gives space for suff. exhibit; list of articles including historic table on which call for first woman's rights conv. was written; story of, . smoot, u. s. sen. reed, "glories in every victory for wom. suff," ; speaks at senate hearing, ; for wom. suff. plank in repub. platform, . smoot, mrs. reed, . snell, u. s. rep. bertrand h. (n. y.), . snowden, mrs. philip, situation in brit. parl, defends "militancy," - . social evil, natl. suff. conv. protests against "regulated" vice in manila, and hawaii, ; again; govt. "regulation" in philippines stopped by war dept, ; conv. protests against it in cincinnati, ; protests against legal sanction, ; calls for suppression of white slave traffic, ; discussion of social evil, - ; position of natl. suff. assn, ; miss addams shows necessity for women to deal with, ; mrs. catt demands polit. power in the hands of women to deal with, . socialist party, for wom. suff, ; the only one, ; rep. berger at house hearing, - ; natl. conv. declares for fed. suff. amend, ; statistics of vote in n. y. suff. amend, campn, ; did not carry n. y, ; "antis" say they did, ; always advocate wom. suff, ; plank in platform, . somerville, nellie nugent, natl. vice-pres, ; . south, members of cong, vote for fed. suff. amend, women work for it, xxii; attitude toward wom. suff, ; see chap. iii; child labor laws, ; resentment of southern women against attitude of southern members of cong. on wom. suff, ; dr. shaw pays tribute to the women, says it is duty of southern men to give them suff, ; jane addams speaks of the men, ; attitude of women toward suff, ; want fed. suff. amend, ; at natl. suff. conv, speakers demand wom. suff, - ; position of members of cong. on fed. suff. amend, ; press sentiment changes, ; southern dele. to natl. suff. conv. present testimonials to mrs. catt and dr. shaw, ; shall southern men stand in the way, ; mrs. dudley says state's rights doctrine a fallacy; negro vote discussed, ; many petitions for fed. suff. amend, ; from texas, - ; from other southern states, - ; natl. assn. gives large assistance for wom. suff. but states fail in their part, ; vote in cong. for fed. suff. amend, ; same, - . south africa, iii. south dakota, natl. assn. helps campns, ; ; ; liquor interests in suff. campn. , ; in , ; gives worn, suff, . south, mrs. john g, on commissn. for ratif. to west, ; . south, mrs. oliver, . southworth, louisa, ; contrib. to suff. headqrs, . southern woman suffrage conference, reason for, organization, officers, plan of campn, ; mrs. belmont finances, headqrs, paper started, ; with state's rights plank in dem. natl. platform conf. is discontinued, . spargo, john, at suff. hearing, . spencer, rev. anna garlin, conv. sermon in , ; felix adler's tribute, ; conv. sermon in , ; first woman's rights conv. result of wave of idealism, ; strong speech on social evil, . spencer, u. s. sen. selden p, speaks at suff. conv, . sperry, mary s, birthday gift to miss anthony in , ; entertains suff. leaders, ; pres. calif, suff. assn, responds to greetings, , ; elected to natl. bd, ; ; responds to greetings at portland conv, ; ; at louisville conv, ; signs appeal to natl. repub. conv, , . spofford, jane h, ; ; mem. res. for, . spokane, entertains dele. to natl. suff. conv, - . springer, elmina, . stanford, mrs. leland, mem. res. for, . stanley, u. s. sen. a. o, . stanton, elizabeth cady, work for hist, of wom. suff, iii; pres. natl. suff. assn, ; ; letter on church and wom. suff, , ; clara barton's tribute, ; had first idea of intl. suff. conf, ; on educated suff, ; last address to natl. suff. conv, ; ; tributes of miss anthony and dr. shaw, ; early fight for wom. suff, ; tributes from college women at natl. suff. conv. in balto, - ; for admission of women to cornell univ, ; ; ; on first wom. rights conv, , ; signs call for it, ; at early wom. suff. hearings, ; writes women's decl. of rights, , ; bef. house judic. com, ; address to cong. in , ; mem. evening at natl. suff. conv, ; at suff. hearings, ; calls first woman's rights conv. and first after civil war, , prepares memorial to cong. ; at first suff. conv. in washtn, ; deserts amer. equal rights assn, forms natl. suff. assn, made pres, - ; address at funeral by the rev. moncure d. conway; farewell words by women ministers; miss anthony's last birthday letter to; extended tributes in the press, - . stapler, martha, prepares wom. suff. year book, . statehood protest, natl. suff. assn. heads protest against bill for admitting new territories classing women with insane, idiots and felons, , . state's rights, this argument against wom. suff. demolished by history of dem. party; a continuous record of fed. control, - ; all nations but u. s. regard suff. as a natl. matter, ; fallacy shown in vote for fed. prohib. amend, ; vote for this amend, ; a "phantom" in south, ; repub. natl. conv. declares for, ; most men in u. s. recd. suff. from govt, not states, - . states, six more grant wom. suff, - , . stearns, sarah burger, . steele, mrs. w. d, . steinem, pauline, - ; educatl. suff. work, ; ; women neglected in histories, ; chmn. com. on education, ; valuable work, . stern, meta l, . stevens, isaac n, . stevenson, u. s. sen. isaac, . stevenson, dr. sarah hackett, . stewart, ella s, reviews clergy's objection to wom. suff, ; scores ex-pres. cleveland and dr. abbott, ridicules so-called chivalry, ; at congressl. hearing, ; welcomes natl. conv. to chicago, ; - ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; ; witty remarks, - ; ; re-elected, ; ; ; at senate hearing, ; work for pres. suff. in ills, ; at house hearing, ; org. miss. valley conf, - . stewart, oliver w, . stiles, florence, . stilwell, mrs. horace c, director natl. assn, ; assists congressl. com, . stockman, eleanor c, . stockwell, maud c. (mrs. s. a.), welcomes natl. suff. conv. to minneapolis, ; meets dele, to seattle conv, ; ; . stockwell, s. a, . stolle, antonie, - . stone, rev. john timothy, d. d, officiates at mem. service for dr. shaw, . stone, lucinda h, . stone, lucy, ; marriage, , ; dr. shaw's tribute, ; great leader, ; ; mrs. howe tells of, ; ; tributes from college women at natl. suff. conv. in balto, - ; for admis. of women to cornell univ, ; ; days at oberlin coll, ; tribute of mrs. villard, ; of mrs. mcculloch, ; ; visit to ky. in early ' 's, ; natl. suff. conv. passes res. of indebtedness, ; ; . stone, melville e, for wom. suff, . stone, collector of port william f, welcomes natl. suff. conv, . stone, u. s. sen. william j, for wom. suff. plank in dem. natl. platform, . stoner, mrs. wesley martin, . stowe-gullen, dr. augusta (canada), ; . strachan, grace c, . straight, dorothy whitney, contrib. to n. y. campn, . strong, dr. josiah, . stubbs, gov. w. r. (kans.), greetings to natl. suff. conv, . stubbs, mrs. w. r, . suffrage schools, originated by mrs. catt, ; large number in , ; natl. amer. assn. endorses, ; in s. dak, - . sun, n. y, suff. dept. under paul dana, . susan b. anthony amendment, ; natl. assn. endorses; stanton family and others object to name, ; assn. re-endorses, ; . sutherland, u. s. sen. george, ; at senate hearing, , ; objects to attack on mormons in anti-suff. speech, - ; introd. res. for fed. suff. amend, ; ; . sutton, lucy, . swanson, u. s. sen. claude a, . sweden, legal and polit. status of women, ; . swift, mary wood, birthday gift to miss anthony, , ; speaks at natl. suff. conv. in new orleans, ; pres. natl. council of women; brings its greetings to natl. conv. , ; bef. senate com, ; brings greetings in , ; ; entertains suff. leaders, ; greetings, , . t taft, gov. genl. william howard, on social evil in philippines, ; same, . taft, president william howard, accepts invitation to welcome natl. suff. conv; while speaking sound like hissing heard; dr. shaw's distress, ; text of speech, ; officers of natl. assn. frame a res. of appreciation of his welcome to conv, which delegates endorse and send with letter expressing sorrow at the incident; the president returns a cordial answer, - ; _woman's journal_ says he should have welcomed conv. without declaring his opinions, ; peace treaties, , ; appoints miss lathrop head of children's bureau, ; says fed. constn. guarantees self-govt, ; ; nominated in , ; not ready for wom. suff, ; dr. shaw joins on speaking tour for league of nations, , ; his tribute to her, . taggart, u. s. rep. joseph (kans.), at house hearing, scores congressl. union, ; quizzes "antis", . talbot, dean marion, . talbot, mrs. m. c, . talbot, mrs. r. c, . talmage, rev. t. de witt, for wom. suff, . tarbell, ida m, . tarkington, booth, for worn, suff, . tasmania, . taylor, a. s. g, . taylor, u. s. rep. edward t, presents record of wom. suff. in colo, calls it unqualified success, women back of good laws, valuable campn. document, , , ; natl. suff. conv. thanks for assistance, - ; congressl. union tries to defeat, ; introd. fed. suff. amend, , ; for wom. suff. com, ; same, - . taylor, u. s. rep. ezra b. (ohio), . taylor, graham romeyn, ; . taylor, dr. howard s, . ten eyck, john c, . tennessee, grants pres. and munic. suff. to women, ; legis. gives final ratif. of fed. suff. amend, ; speaker and opposing members carry case to washtn, . terrell, mary church, pleads for negroes, . terry, mrs. d. d, . testimony in favor of wom. suff. from governors, ; from colo, - , - , . texas, officials invite natl. suff. conv, ; prominent citizens petition for fed. suff. amend; legis. gives primary suff. to women, - ; defeats st. wom. suff. amend; court declares primary suff. legal, . thaw, mrs. william, jr, . thomas, u. s. sen. charles s, friendly chmn. of senate com. on wom. suff, ; his re-election opposed by congressl. union, ; presides at senate com. hearing; dr. shaw's tribute, ; mrs. catt's, ; refuses to preside at congressl. union hearing, ; re-elected, ; reports fed. suff. amend, from com, ; effort for a vote, ; "never failing friend of wom. suff," urges fed. amend, ; ; ; . thomas, pres. m. carey of bryn mawr, arr. college women's evening at natl. suff. conv. in balto, , ; her own strong speech, shows increase of women in colleges, their inevitable demand for suff, their gratitude to early leaders, - ; splendid tribute to miss anthony, ; conv. sends letter of thanks, ; assists miss garrett in hospitality, ; with miss garrett raises large fund for suff. work, ; declares in intellect no sex; elected pres. natl. coll. wom. equal suff. league, ; ; ; ; ; presides over coll. league, ; says coll. women's work for social reconstruction amounts to little without franchise, ; ; presides at college women's evening at natl. conv. , ; same, , ; presents dr. shaw with laurel wreath, ; on com. to confer with red cross war council, ; speaks for fed. suff. amend, ; work for coll. league, contrib. to, - ; invites dr. shaw for trip to spain, . thomas, mary bentley, ; ; ; ; . thompson, ellen powell, ; . thompson, harriet stokes, appeals to house com. for working girls, future mothers of the race and teachers who train citizens, . thompson, jane, field secy, presents testimonial of organizers to dr. shaw, . thompson, dr. mary h, . thompson, u. s. sen. william howard, bef. senate com, tells beneficent results of wom. suff. in kans, , ; ; ; . tiffany, mrs. charles l, ; in n. y. campn, ; ; report on oversea hospitals, , , ; work for hospitals, . tillinghast, anna c, . tinnin, glenna, . todd, helen, motor suff. trip, ; bef. com. on rules, ; bef. house com, ; heated dialogue, ; at repub. natl. conv, . tone, mrs. f. j, in n. y. campn, . tours, pilgrimages to washtn, ; the "golden flier," motor suff. trip from new york to san francisco, . towle, mary rutter, report as legal adviser to assn, , , . treadwell, harriet taylor, at anthony celebr, . troupe, hattie hull, . trout, grace wilbur, work for pres. suff. in ills, ; on limited suff, ; ; chmn. com. of arr. for natl. suff. conv, ; welcomes dele, ; at repub. natl. conv, . trumbull, lillie r, . tucker, mrs. james, . tumulty, joseph p, . turner, robert, of mass. anti-suff. assn, . twain, mark, for wom. suff, . u ueland, mrs. andreas, bef. house com. ; ; arr. miss. valley conf, - ; . underhill, charles l, . underwood, u. s. rep. oscar (ala.), ; as u. s. senator, ; ; . united mine workers of america, . united states elections bill to permit women to vote for members of cong, , ; natl. suff. assn. and southern women's conf. favor, . see federal elections bill. upton, harriet taylor, treas. report at natl. conv. of , ; ; ; accepts charge of suff. headqrs, ; presents testimonials to the misses gordon, ; ; work as natl. treas, love for suff. cause, ; tribute of washtn. _post_, ; ; report, , ; has interview with pres. roosevelt, ; how to deal with newspapers, ; ; report for , ; bef. senate com, ; on anthony mem. com, ; report for , ; ; interviews pres. roosevelt, ; report for ; salaries paid for first time, ; ; ; treas. report for , where the money went, ; ; report for ; legacies recd, work as treas. for yrs; ed. of _progress_ yrs; conv. thanks, - ; re-elected, resigns, ; bef. house com, urges that the mother heart and home element be expressed in govt, ; ; on congressl. com, ; ; bef. house com, ; ; ; on limited suff, ; ; ; speaks at anthony celebr, ; in tenn. ratif. campn, ; ; res. against u. s. sen. wadsworth, ; at repub. natl. conv, , - ; ; elected director of natl. amer. assn, . u'ren, w. s, father of initiative and referendum, . v valentine, lila meade, pres. va. suff. assn, ; speaks to house of governors, ; asks suff. for development of woman and the race, - ; on congressl. com, ; . vanderlip, frank a, on recep. com. for natl. suff. conv, . van klenze, camilla, . van rensselaer, prof. martha (cornell), financing the war, . van sant, gov. samuel r. (minn.), . van winkle, mina, ; . van wyck, mayor robert a. (new york), women without a vote waste time appealing to legislators, . varney, rev. mecca marie, . vermont, struggle for ratif. of fed. amend, , . vernon, mabel, bef. house com, ; . vessey, gov. robert s. (s. dak.), . victoria (australia), gives women state vote, . victory convention of national american woman suffrage association in chicago to celebr. end of its work; call, ; largest ever held, ; list of frat. dele, ; festivities, . villard, fanny garrison (mrs. henry), ; on anthony fund com, ; - ; at natl. suff. conv, , ; at st. paul, recalls visit with her husband when n.p. r.r. was completed, ; same at spokane, ; at seattle, his devotion to wom. suff. and education, ; she appeals for wom. suff, ; tribute to lucy stone, ; ; mem. tribute to mr. blackwell and lucy stone, ; by dr. shaw's side when she resigns natl. presidency, . villard, henry, - ; . villard, oswald garrison, - . vincent, dr. george e, declares for wom. suff, . volunteer league, eminent officers, . von suttner, baroness bertha, plea for peace of world and wom. suff. as necessary factor, - . vorce, mrs. myron, ; . w wadsworth, u. s. sen. james w, ; refuses to represent his state on fed. suff. amend, ; ; censured by natl. league of women voters, ; opp. wom. suff. plank, , . wadsworth, mrs. james w, re-elected pres. natl. anti-suff. assn; during natl. suff. conv. issues circular in washtn. saying suffs. are pacifists and socialists and the n. y. victory was due to latter; mary garrett hay answers, - ; at senate com. hearing, ; calls suffs. pro-germans and "slackers," ; at last suff. hearing, ; introd. her "staff", ; scores members of cong. who favor fed. suff. amend, ; ; ; mrs. catt resents her attacks during the war, refers to her father, john hay, - . wainwright, mrs. richard, bef. coms. of cong, , , ; . waite, judge charles b, ; . wald, lillian d, . waldo, clara h, . walker, elizabeth wheeler, ; ; . walker, dr. mary, . walker, speaker seth (tenn.), opp. fed. amend, ; goes to washtn. and conn, to prevent, . wallace, zerelda g, suff. petit. scorned, . walsh, u. s. sen. david i, for fed. suff. amend, ; voted for it, . walsh, u. s. sen. thomas j, bef. senate com, "duty of govt. to see that every citizen is assured of fundamental right of suff"; speech widely circulated, ; same, ; ; for wom. suff. plank in dem. platform, . ward, lester f, on development of sexes, . ward, lydia avery coonley, ; . warfield, gov. edwin (md.), welcomes natl. suff. conv, pays tribute to suffs, ; later sends letter of appreciation, ; . warner, mrs. leslie, speaks at natl. suff. conv, . warren, ohio, natl. suff. headqrs, removed to, , . war service of women in europe, natl. conv. devotes evening to it, speakers from various countries, ; of suffs. in the civil war, . war work of organized suffragists, vi, xxii; in canada, ; ; in u. s, officers of suff. assns. in service; mrs. catt urges necessity for war work, ; exec. council of natl. assn. pledges loyalty and service to the govt, ; four depts. of work, ; war work of suffs. reviewed by mrs. katharine dexter mccormick; "dr. shaw's appt. as chmn. of woman's com. of council of national defense has made coöperation with govt. closer", ; natl. assn. plans more depts. of war work, reaffirms loyalty to govt and support of its war measures, ; all officers of natl. assn. in service, ; oversea hospitals, , ; mass meeting in washtn, ; reports of war coms, , mrs. mccormick's chapter on, refutes charges of "antis", ; ; natl. assn. first organized body of women to offer services to govt; president accepts and calls upon suff. leaders to coöperate, ; patriotism where women vote, ; see chap. xxiv, ; mrs. catt calls exec. council of natl. assn. to washtn, ; board of officers submits plan for aiding the govt, which is discussed and adopted, ; depts. of work, ; mass meeting held and plan sent to pres. wilson by secy. of war baker; he expresses approval and assn. begins its work, - ; dr. shaw, its hon. pres, appt. by council of natl. defense chmn. of woman's com, which is named, - ; assn. makes mrs. mccormick genl. chmn. of its war service dept, reports of heads to natl. suff. conv. of , - ; to conv. of , - ; report of oversea hospitals, - ; to conv. of , - ; women's war work in n. y. obtains the suff. for them, ; work of suits, on woman's com. of council of natl. defense, ; its work ended, secy. baker's tribute, ; heroic record, . washington city, entertains natl. suff. conv. of , ; of , ; of , ; of , ; of , under war conditions, ; distinguished recep. com, . washington, state, wom. suff. amend, carried, xx; how women were disfranchised when territory, ; adopts constitl. amend, for wom. suff, ; dr. shaw's comment; reports from state officers, ; natl. conv. sends greetings, ; . waterman, julia t, opp. wom. suff, . watson, elizabeth lowe, tells of calif. victory, . watson, u. s. sen. james e, chmn. senate wom. suff. com, - ; at natl. repub. conv. , . watson-lister, mrs. a, tells of wom. suff. in australia, , . watterson, col. henry, . way, amanda, . weaver, ida m, . webb, u. s. rep. edwin y. (n. c.), ; ; chmn. judic. com, ; tells suffs. they should not come "bothering" congress, ; says there will be no wom. suff. plank in dem. platform, ; tries to prevent wom. suff. com, ; suppresses report on fed. amend, ; unfair treatment of res, , , . webster, jean, for wom. suff, . weeks, anna o, . welch, prof. lillian, . weld, louis d. (swift and co.), addresses league of women voters, . wells, mrs. james b, ; amuses house com, . wentworth, jennie wells, . west, gov. oswald (ore.), greetings to natl. suff. conv, . wester, catharine j, . western new york federation of women's clubs, first to admit suff. societies, . wetmore, maude, . wheat, fannie j, vase to miss anthony, . wheeler, everett p, bef. com. on rules, ; ; at last suff. hearing, ; brings suit against fed. suff. amend, ; org. men's anti-suff. assns. in n. y, tenn, and maryland, conducts cases in court, - . white, armenia s, ; . white, natl. dem. chmn. george, mrs. catt thanks in name of natl. amer. suff. assn. for his own and party's support of fed. suff. amend, . white, mrs. george p, . white, mrs. henry, . white, mary ogden, ; report on natl. publicity, returns reach millions of words; instances given, ; work on _woman citizen_, ; . white, nettie lovisa, ; ; secures names to fed. amend, petition, ; . white, ruth, ; natl. exec, secy, ; resigns, . whitehouse, norman der, . whitehouse, mrs. norman der, interviews pres. candidate hughes, ; on n. y. campn, . whitney, charlotte anita, tells of coll. women's league in calif, campn, ; elected natl. vice-pres, ; work in calif, . whitney, mrs. henry m, . whitney, rosalie loew, at last suff. hearing, , . wickersham, george w, ; . wilbur, henry, . wildman, john k, . wiley, dr. harvey w, address at natl. suff. conv, , - . wilkes, rev. eliza tupper, . willard, mabel caldwell, at natl. suff. headqrs, ; work in del, - ; . willcox, william r, chmn. repub. natl. com, . williams, charl, . williams, fannie barrier, offers tribute of colored people to miss anthony, . williams, jesse lynch, . williams, u. s. sen. john sharp, ; . williams, mrs. richard, ; . williams, sylvanie, addresses miss anthony, . willis, gwendolen brown, . willis, sarah l, . wills, m. frances, . wilson, agnes hart, . wilson, mrs. benjamin f, entertains natl. suff. conv. . wilson, mrs. halsey w, instructs suff. schools, ; elected natl. rec. secy, ; ; ; at ratif. banquet, ; . wilson, margaret, on hon. com. for natl. suff. conv, ; showers dr. shaw with flowers, sits on suff. platform, ; at suff. meeting in washtn, . wilson, gov. woodrow (n. j.), approves of school suff. for women, . wilson, pres. woodrow, converted to wom. suff, xxi; first delegation recd. is a group of suffs; they quote from his book the new freedom, ; urged by natl. suff. conv. to make fed. suff. amend. administration measure and recommend it in his message; he pays no attention; dr. shaw and conv. resent; make appt. to call on him; he receives them, first president to do so, - ; dr. shaw presents their case, tells how cong. has ignored them, asks him to send spec. message and recom. a wom. suff. com. in lower house; he answers that he cannot speak as an individual but only as directed by his party but he favors the wom. suff. com; delegation pleased, - ; ; asked to proclaim women's independence day, ; miss schwimmer brings petition for peace, ; favors initiative and referendum, ; natl. suff. assn. commands effort for peace, ; ; with seven of his cabinet declares for wom. suff; votes in n. j. for amend; receives natl. suff. conv; says he is thinking of suff. plank in dem. platform, ; natl. conv. expresses appreciation of his declaration for wom. suff, ; it received more votes at last election than he did, ; ; - ; addresses natl. suff. conv. in ; scene in theater, - ; listens to other speakers; mrs. catt introduces; text of speech, ; pictures the evolution of the govt, says movement for wom. suff. has come with conquering power and will prevail; he has come to fight with its advocates and they will not quarrel as to method, - ; dr. shaw tells him women want it in his administration and he smiles and bows, - ; signs natl. child labor law "with pride and pleasure," ; suff. leaders urge him to endorse fed. amend, but he declines, ; sends congrat. to natl. suff. conv; has reached a belief in fed. amend, ; calls extra session of cong. asks for declaration of war, ; says creation of com. on wom. suff. would be very wise act, ; "democracy a rule of action," ; dr. shaw proposes message of loyalty and support which conv. sends, ; chairmen of four minor parties petition for fed. suff. amend, ; sends best wishes for fed. amend, to natl. suff. conv; it returns appreciation of his support, ; dem. members call on him; he advises submission of fed. suff. amend, ; appeals to senate in person, ; makes second appeal, ; accepts services of natl. suff. assn. for war, ; favors fed. amend, ; anti-suffs. misuse his declaration on wom. suff, ; members of house com. interview and he urges it, ; sends best wishes to league of women voters, ; natl. conv. expresses gratitude, ; inaugurated, receives four deputns. for wom. suff, ; favors it, ; favors wom. suff. com, ; ; declares for fed. suff. amend, ; dem. women confer with, ; appeals to senate, ; second appeal, ; cables from paris, - ; calls spec. session of cong, ; mrs. catt pays tribute for his support of fed. suff. amend, ; assists ratif. in tenn; sends message to jubilee suff. meeting, ; on wom. suff. in and , ; suggests wom. suff. plank in , - ; explains it; does not disapprove fed. amend, ; natl. amer. wom. suff. assn. offers its services for war work, ; he expresses appreciation, ; women ask representn. at peace conf, ; he pays tribute to woman's com. of council of natl. defense, ; dr. shaw answers his declaration that u. s. wants nothing material out of the war, ; tribute to dr. shaw after her death, ; with mrs. wilson sends sympathy and flowers, ; address to u. s. senate urging submission of fed. suff. amend; "wom. suff. necessary to prosecution of the war and trust of other peoples," - . winslow, rose, ; brings to natl. conv. res. for suff. of natl. wom. trade union league, . winsor, mary, . wise, rabbi stephen s, . wollstonecraft, mary, . _woman citizen_, _woman's journal_ and other papers merged in, ; work for fed. amend, ; acct. of senate debate on fed. suff. amend, ; "service indispensable," ; . woman suffrage, status in , . woman suffrage committee, gives five days' hearing on fed. suff. amend, reports favorably, ; again, . woman suffrage party, name widely adopted, . woman suffrage publishing co, natl, final report, printed and distrib. , , pieces of literature, . see ogden, esther g. woman's christian temperance union, state of tasmania sends greetings to natl. suff. conv, ; world's, endorses wom. suff, ; action of states, ; close cooperation with suff. assns, ; ; many references. woman's committee of council of national defense, govt. appoints dr. anna howard shaw, chairman, ; she describes its duties, asks cooperation of natl. suff. assn, - ; further acct, other members, - ; ; great work, ; its duties ended, secy, of war baker's tribute, . _woman's journal_, ; on natl. conv. in new orleans, ; ; ; ; accounts of suff. conv. in portland, - ; compliments to, ; tribute to miss anthony, ; comment on change of heart of miss anthony and mr. blackwell, ; report on wom. suff. in legislatures, ; miss blackwell's work on, ; account of expos, at seattle and suff. day, ; criticises pres. taft's speech to natl. suff. conv, ; mr. blackwell's work on paper, ; miss blackwell offers to make it offic. organ of natl. amer. assn, which accepts, ; descrip. of natl. suff. convs, ; founder and editors, ; first report under auspices of natl. amer. assn, ; high praise for ky. women, ; bound vols. at natl. suff. headqrs, ; deficit under control of natl. assn, paid by mrs. mccormick and paper returned to miss blackwell, ; says shafroth amend, should have been submitted to natl. exec. council but supports it, , ; merged in _woman citizen_, ; . woman's medical college of pennsylvania, foundation in preventive medicine, mem. to dr. shaw, . woman's rights convention, first, ; th anniv. celebr, ; mrs. stanton's and miss howland's descriptions, ; program of meeting, . women's trade union league, natl. res. for wom. suff, . wood, c. e. s, . wood, harriette johnson, . wood, henry a. wise, at last suff. hearing, "voting a man's job," . wood, u. s. rep. william r. (ind.), . woods, dr. frances, ; . woodward, mrs. c. s, . woolley, rev. celia parker, ; ; . woolley, pres. mary e, at natl. suff. conv. in balto, shows indebtedness of higher education of women to suff. leaders, tribute to miss anthony, plea for wom, suff, - ; ; signs call for natl. coll. wom. suff. league, ; an officer, . woolsey, kate trimble, . working women, laws for, ; need of vote, ; ; suff. movement needs, - ; their need of vote, injustice of govt, ; ; their need of suff, ; conditions in new york, ; duty of women of leisure, ; congressl. suff. hearing devoted to, ; ; ; miss lathrop says theirs would not be the ignorant vote, ; their case presented at natl. suff. conv, , - ; ; ; ; on natl. wom. suff. platform, , the ballot and a square deal demanded, - ; their large orgztns. want suff, ; laws for in equal suff. states, ; they demand the vote, ; no chivalry for, ; ; they only can reach working men, . works, u. s. sen. john d, ; . works, mrs. john d, . wright, carroll d, for wom. suff, . wright, dr. george h, objects to shafroth amend, . wright, martha c, in anti-slavery days, ; calls first wom. rights conv, . writers and editors, eminent list sign petit, for wom. suff, - . wyoming, first to give wom. suff, ; effect of, ; . y yates, elizabeth upham, pres. r. i. assn, ; report on pres. suff, , ; shows value of pres. suff. already gained, ; - . yellowstone park, delegates visit, . yost, mrs. ellis a, describes w. va. suff. campn, . youmans, mrs. henry, at anthony celebr, . young, ella flagg, ; . young, rose, describes mrs. catt's address to cong, ; report of _woman citizen_ and leslie bureau of educatn. in ; founded with mrs. frank leslie fund under six depts, - ; ; report in , vast field of activity described, ; in , ; arranges tableaux at last suff. conv, ; . young, virginia durant, ; ; . younger, maud, at rules com. hearing, ; at wom. suff. com. hearing, . z zakrzewska, dr. marie, . * * * * * transcriber's note: the transcriber made the following changes to the text to correct obvious errors: . p. february , **illegible text** anthony's th birthday --> february , was miss anthony's th birthday . p. applicaation --> application . p. pertainng --> pertaining . p. suffrange --> suffrage . p. this chapter. --> this chapter.] . p. we though --> we thought . p. wth --> with . p. triumpant --> triumphant . p. misissippi --> mississippi . p. gellborn --> gellhorn . p. acordance --> accordance . p. punctuation in index standardized . p. cingressl. --> congressl. . p. u'rea --> u'ren proofreaders samantha among the brethren. by "josiah allen's wife" (marietta holley) part chapter xxiii. miss timson's letter wuz writ to me on the th day of his sickness, and josiah and me set sail for loontown on the follerin' day after we got it. i laid the case before the female sisters of the meetin' house, and they all counselled me to go. for, as they all said, on account of sister bobbet's fallin' on the apple parin' we could not go on with the work of paperin' the meetin' house, and so the interests of zion wouldn't languish on account of my absence for a day or two any way. and, as the female sisters all said, it seemed as if the work i wuz called to in loontown wuz a fair and square case of duty, so they all counselled me to go, every one on 'em. though, as wuz nateral, there wuz severel divisions of opinions as to the road i should take a-goin' there, what day i should come back, what remiedies wuz best for me to recommend when i got there, what dress i should wear, and whether i should wear a hankerchif pin or not--or a bib apron, or a plain banded one, etc., etc., etc., etc. but, as i sez, as to my goin' they wuz every one on 'em unanimus. they meen well, those sisters in the meetin' house do, every one on 'em. josiah acted real offish at first about goin'. and he laid the case before the male brothers of the meetin' house, for josiah wuz fearful that the interests of the buzz saw mill would languish in his absence. one or two of the weaker brethren joined in with him, and talked kinder deprestin' about it. but deacon sypher and deacon henzy said they would guard his interests with eagle visions, or somethin' to that effect, and they counselled josiah warmly that it wuz his duty to go. we hearn afterwards that deacon sypher and deacon henzy wanted to go into the north woods a-fishin' and a-huntin' for or days, and it has always been spozed by me that that accounted for their religeus advice to josiah allen. howsumever, i don't _know_ that. but i do know that they started off a-fishin' the very day we left for loontown, and that they come back home about the time we did, with two long strings of trout. [illustration: the return of the hunters.] and there wuz them that said that they ketched the trout, and them that said they bought 'em. and they brung back the antlers of a deer in their game bags, and some bones of a elk. and there are them that sez that they dassent, either one of 'em, shoot off a gun, not hardly a pop gun. but i don't know the truth of this. i know what they _said_, they _said_ the huntin' wuz excitin' to the last degree, and the fishin' superb. and there wuz them that said that they should think the huntin' would be excitin', a-rummagin' round on the ground for some old bones, and they should think the fishin' would be superb, a-dippin' 'em out of a barell and stringin' 'em onto their own strings. but their stories are very large, that i know. and each one on 'em, accordin' to their tell, ketched more trouts than the other one, and fur bigger ones, and shot more deers. wall, deacon sypher'ses advice and deacon henzy's influenced josiah a good deal, and i said quite a few words to him on the subject, and, suffice it to say, that the next day, about a.m., we set out on our journey to loontown. [illustration: "miss timson and rosy seemed dretful glad to see me."] miss timson and rosy seemed dretful glad to see me, but they wuz pale and wan, wanner fur than i expected to see 'em; but after i had been there a spell i see how it wuz. i see that ralph wuz their hero as well as their love, and they worshipped him in every way, with their hearts and their souls and their idealized fancies. wall, he wuz a noble lookin' man as i ever see, fur or near, and as good a one as they make, he wuz strong and tender, so i couldn't blame 'em. and though i wouldn't want josiah to hear me say too much about it, or mebby it would be best that he shouldn't, before i had been there hours i begun to feel some as they did. but my feelin's wuz strictly in a meetin' house sense, strictly. but i begun to feel with them that the middle of the world wuz there in that bedroom, and the still, white figure a-layin' there wuz the centre, and the rest of the world wuz a-revolvin' round him. his face wuz worn and marked by the hand of time and endeaver. but every mark wuz a good one. the soul, which is the best sculptor after all, had chiselled into his features the marks of a deathless endeavor and struggle toward goodness, which is god. had marked it with the divine sweetness and passion of livin' and toilin' for the good of others. he had gi'n his life jest as truly to seek and save them that wuz lost as ever any old prophet and martyr ever had sense the world began. but under all these heavenly expressions that a keen eye could trace in his good lookin' face, could be seen a deathly weakness, the consumin' fire that wuz a-consumin' of him. miss timson wept when she see me, and rosy threw herself into my arms and sobbed. but i gently ondid her arms from round my neck and give miss timson to understand that i wuz there to _help_ 'em if i could. "for," sez i softly, "the hull future time is left for us to weep in, but the present wuz the time to try to help ralph s. robinson." wall, i laid to, josiah a-helpin' me nobly, a-pickin' burdock leaves or beet leaves, as the case might be, and a-standin' by me nobly all through the follerin' night (that is, when he wuz awake). josiah and i took care on him all that night, miss timson refusin' to give him into the charge of underlin's, and we a-offerin' and not to be refused. wall, josiah slept some, or that is, i s'poze he did. i didn't hear much from him from p.m. to a.m., only once i heard him murmer in his sleep, "buzz saw mill." [illustration: "didn't see how folks needed so much sleep."] but every time i would come out into the settin' room where he sot and roust him up to get sunthin' for me, he would say, almost warmly-- "samantha, that last remark of your'n wuz very powerful." and i wouldn't waste my time nor hisen by tellin' him that i hadn't made no remark, nor thought on't. i see it would hurt his feelin's, specilly as he would add in haste-- "that he didn't see how folks needed so much sleep; as for him, it wuz a real treat to keep awake all night, now and then." no, i would let it go, and ask him for burdock or beet, as the case might be. truly i had enugh on my mind and heart that night without disputin' with my josiah. ralph s. robinson would lay lookin' like a dead man some of the time, still and demute, and then he would speak out in a strange language, stranger than any i ever heard. he would preach sermons in that language, i a-knowin' it wuz a sermen by his gestures, and also by my feelin's. and then he would shet up his eyes and pray in that strange, strange tongue, and anon breakin' out into our own language. and once he said: "and now may the peace of god be with you all. amen. the peace of god! the peace! the peace!" his voice lingered sort o' lovin'ly over that word, and i felt that he wuz a-thinkin' then of the real peace, the onbroken stillness, outside and inside, that he invoked. rosy would steal in now and then like a sweet little shadow, and bend down and kiss her pa, and cry a little over his thin, white hands which wuz a-lyin' on the coverlet, or else lifted in that strange speech that sounded so curius to us, a-risin' up out of the stillness of a loontown spare bedroom on a calm moonlit evenin'. wall, friday and saturday he wuz crazier'n a loon, more'n half the time he wuz, but along saturday afternoon the doctor told us that the fever would turn sometime the latter part of the night, and if he could sleep then, and not be disturbed, there would be a chance for his life. wall, miss timson and rosy both told me how the ringin' of the bells seemed to roust him up and skair him (as it were) and git him all excited and crazy. and they both wuz dretful anxius about the mornin' bells which would ring when ralph would mebby be sleepin'. so thinkin' it wuz a case of life and death, and findin' out who wuz the one to tackle in the matter, i calmly tied on my bonnet and walked over and tackled him. chapter xxiv. it wuz deacon garven and he wuz a close communion baptist by perswaision, and a good man, so fur as firm morals and a sound creed goes. some things he lacked: he hadn't no immagination at all, not one speck. and in makin' him up, it seems as if he had a leetle more justice added to him to make up a lack of charity and pity. and he had a good deal of sternness and resolve gin him, to make up, i spoze, for a lack of tenderness and sweetness of nater. a good sound man deacon garven wuz, a man who would cheat himself before he would cheat a neighber. he wuz jest full of qualities that would hender him from ever takin' a front part in a scandel and a tragedy. yes, if more men wuz like deacon garven the pages of the daily papers would fairly suffer for rapiners, embezzlers, wife whippers, etc. wall, he wuz in his office when i tackled him. the hired girl asked me if i come for visitin' purposes or business, and i told her firmly, "business!" so she walked me into a little office one side of the hall, where i spoze the deacon transacted the business that come up on his farm, and then he wuz justice of the peace, and trustee of varius concerns (every one of 'em good ones). he is a tall, bony man, with eyes a sort of a steel gray, and thin lips ruther wide, and settin' close together. and without lookin' like one, or, that is, without havin' the same features at all, the deacon did make me think of a steel trap. i spoze it wuz because he wuz so sound, and sort o' firm. a steel trap is real firm when it lays hold and tries to be. [illustration: "the deacon did make me think of a steel trap."] wall, i begun the subject carefully, but straight to the pint, as my way is, by tellin' him that ralph s. robinson wuz a-layin' at death's door, and his life depended on his gettin' sleep, and we wuz afraid the bells in the mornin' would roust him up, and i had come to see if he would omit the ringin' of 'em in the mornin'. "not ring the bells!" sez he, in wild amaze. "not ring the church bells on the sabbath day?" his look wuz skairful in the extreme, but i sez-- "yes, that is what i said, we beg of you as a christian to not ring the bells in the mornin'." "a christian! a christian! advise me as a _christian_ to not ring the sabbath bells!" i see the idee skairt him. he wuz fairly pale with surprise and borrow. and i told him agin', puttin' in all the perticilers it needed to make the story straight and good, how ralph s. robinson had labored for the good of others, and how his strength had gin out, and he wuz now a-layin' at the very pint of death, and how his girl and his sister wuz a-breakin' their hearts over him, and how we had some hopes of savin' his life if he could get some sleep, that the doctors said his life depended on it, and agin i begged him to do what we asked. but the deacon had begin to get over bein' skairt, and he looked firm as anybody ever could, as he sez: "the bells never hurt anybody, i know, for here i have lived right by the side of 'em for years. do i look broke down and weak?" sez he. "no," sez i, honestly. "no more than a grannit monument, or a steel trap." "wall," sez he, "what don't hurt me won't hurt nobody else." "but," sez i, "folks are made up different." sez i, "the bible sez so, and what might not hurt you, might be the ruin of somebody else. wuz you ever nervous?" sez i. "never," sez he. and he added firmly, "i don't believe in nerves. i never did. there hain't no use in 'm." "it wuz a wonder they wuz made, then," sez i. "as a generel thing the lord don't make things there hain't no use on. howsumever," sez i, "there hain't no use in disputin' back and forth on a nerve. but any way, sickness is so fur apart from health, that the conditions of one state can't be compared to the other; as ralph s. robinson is now, the sound of the bells, or any other loud noise means torture and agony to him, and, i am afraid, death. and i wish you would give orders to not have 'em rung in the mornin'." "are you a professor?" sez he. "yes," sez i. "what perswaision?" sez he. "methodist episcopal," sez i. "and do you, a member of a sister church, which, although it has many errors, is still a-gropin' after the light! do you counsel me to set aside the sacred and time honored rules of our church, and allow the sabbath to go by unregarded, have the sanctuary desecrated, the cause of religion languish--i cannot believe it. think of the widespread desolation it would cause if, as the late lamented mr. selkirk sung: "'the sound of the church-going bells, these valleys and hills never heard.'" "no church, no sanctuary, no religius observances." "why," sez i, "that wouldn't hinder folks from goin' to church. folks seem to get to theatres, lectures, and disolvin' views on time, and better time than they do to meetin'," sez i. "in your opinin' it hain't necessary to beat a drum and sound on a bugle as the salvation army duz, to call folks to meetin'; you are dretful hard on them, so i hear." "yes, they make a senseless, vulgar, onnecessary racket, disturbin' and agrivatin' to saint and sinner." "but," sez i, "they say they do it for the sake of religion." "religion hain't to be found in drum-sticks," sez he bitterly. "no," sez i, "nor in a bell clapper." "oh," sez he, "that is a different thing entirely, that is to call worshippers together, that is necessary." sez i, "one hain't no more necessary than the other in my opinion." sez he, "look how fur back in the past the sweet bells have sounded out." "yes," sez i candidly, "and in the sweet past they wuz necessary," sez i. "in the sweet past, there wuzn't a clock nor a watch, the houses wuz fur apart, and they needed bells. but now there hain't a house but what is runnin' over with clocks--everybody knows the time; they know it so much that time is fairly a drug to 'em. why, they time themselves right along through the day, from breakfast to midnight. time their meals, their business, their pleasures, their music, their lessons, their visits, their visitors, their pulse beats, and their dead beats. they time their joys and their sorrows, and everything and everybody, all through the week, and why should they stop short off sundays? why not time themselves on goin' to meetin'? they do, and you know it. there hain't no earthly need of the bells to tell the time to go to meetin', no more than there is to tell the time to put on the tea-kettle to get supper. if folks want to go to meetin' they will get there, bells or no bells, and if they don't want to go, bells hain't a-goin' to get 'em started. "take a man with the sunday _world_ jest brung in, a-layin' on a lounge, with his feet up in a chair, and kinder lazy in the first place, bells hain't a-goin' to start him. "and take a woman with her curl papers not took down, and a new religeus novel in her hand, and a miliner that disapinted her the night before, and bells hain't a-goin' to start her. no, the great bell of moscow won't start 'em. [illustration: "bells hain't a-goin' to start him."] "and take a good christian woman, a widow, for instance, who loves church work, and has a good handsome christian pasture, who is in trouble, lost his wife, mebby, or sunthin' else bad, and the lack of bells hain't a-goin' to keep that women back, no, not if there wuzn't a bell on earth." "oh, wall, wavin' off that side of the subject," sez he (i had convinced him, i know, but he wouldn't own it, for he knew well that if folks wanted to go they always got there, bells or no bells). "but," sez he wavin' off that side of the subject, "the observance is so time honored, so hallowed by tender memories and associations all through the past." "don't you 'spoze, deacon garven," sez i, "that i know every single emotion them bells can bring to anybody, and felt all those memorys and associations. i'll bet, or i wouldn't be afraid to bet, if i believed in bettin', that there hain't a single emotion in the hull line of emotions that the sound of them bells can wake up, but what i have felt, and felt 'em deep too, jest as deep as anybody ever did, and jest es many of 'em. but it is better for me to do without a upliftin', soarin' sort of a feelin' ruther than have other people suffer agony." "agony!" sez he, "talk about their causin' agony, when there hain't a more heavenly sound on earth." [illustration: "a-leanin' over the front gate on a still spring mornin'."] "so it has been to me," sez i candidly. "to me they have always sounded beautiful, heavenly. why," sez i, a-lookin' kinder fur off, beyond deacon garven, and all other troubles, as thoughts of beauty and insperation come to me borne out of the past into my very soul, by the tender memories of the bells--thoughts of the great host of believers who had gathered together at the sound of the bells--the great army of the redeemed-- 'some of the host have crossed the flood, and some are crossin' now,' thinks i a-lookin' way off in a almost rapped way. and then i sez to deacon garven in a low soft voice, lower and more softer fur, than i had used to him, "don't i know what it is to stand a-leanin' over the front gate on a still spring mornin', the smell of the lilacs in the air, and the brier roses. a dew sparklin' on the grass under the maples, and the sunshine a-fleckin' the ground between 'em, and the robins a-singin' and the hummin' birds a-hoverin' round the honeysuckles at the door. and over all and through all, and above all clear and sweet, comin' from fur off a-floatin' through the sabbath stillness, the sound of the bells, a-bringin' to us sweet sabbath messages of love and joy. bringin' memories too, of other mornin's as fair and sweet, when other ears listened with us to the sound, other eyes looked out on the summer beauty, and smiled at the sound of the bells. heavenly emotions, sweet emotions come to me on the melody of the bells, peaceful thoughts, inspirin' thoughts of the countless multitude that has flocked together at the sound of the bells. the aged feet, the eager youthful feet, the children's feet, all, all walkin' to the sound of the bells. thoughts of the happy youthful feet that set out to walk side by side, at their ringin' sounds. thoughts of the aged ones grown tired, and goin' to their long dreamless sleep to their solemn sound. thoughts of the brave hero's who set out to protect us with their lives while the bells wuz ringin' out their approval of such deeds. thoughts of how they pealed out joyfully on their return bearin' the form of peace. thoughts of how the bells filled the mornin' and evenin' air, havin' throbbed and beat with every joy and every pain of our life, till they seem a part of us (as it were) and the old world would truly seem lonesome without 'em. "as i told you, and told you truly, i don't believe there is a single emotion in the hull line of emotions, fur or near, but what them bells have rung into my very soul. "but such emotions, beautiful and inspirin' though they are, can be dispensed with better than justice and mercy can. sweet and tender sentiment is dear to me, truly, near and dear, but mercy and pity and common sense, have also a powerful grip onto my right arm, and have to lead me round a good deal of the time. "beautiful emotion, when it stands opposed to eternal justice, ort to step gently aside and let justice have a free road. sentiment is truly sweet, but any one can get along without it, take it right along through the year, better than they can without sleep. "you see if you can't sleep you must die, while a person can worry along a good many years without sentiment. or, that is, i have been told they could. i don't know by experience, for i have always had a real lot of it. you see my experience has been such that i could keep sentiment and comfort too. but my mind is such, that i have to think of them that hain't so fortunate as i am. "i have looked at the subject from my own standpoint, and have tried also to look at it through others' eyes, which is the only way we can get a clear, straight light on any subject. as for me, as i have said, i would love to hear the sweet, far off sound of the bells a-tremblin' gently over the hills to me from jonesville; it sounds sweeter to me than the voices of the robins and swallers, a-comin' home from the south in the spring of the year. and i would deerly love to have it go on and on as fur as my own feelins are concerned. but i have got to look at the subject through the tired eyes, and feel it through the worn-out nerves of others, who are sot down right under the wild clamor of the bells. "what comes to me as a heavenly melody freighted full of beautiful sentiment and holy rapture comes to them as an intolerable agony, a-maddenin' discord, that threatens their sanity, that rouses 'em up from their fitful sleep, that murders sleep--the bells to them seem murderus, strikin' noisily with brazen hands, at their hearts. [illustration: "tossin' on beds of nervous sufferin'."] "to them tossin' on beds of nervous sufferin', who lay for hours fillin' the stillness with horror, with dread of the bells, where fear and dread of 'em exceed the agony of the clangor of the sound when it comes at last. long nights full of a wakeful horror and expectency, fur worse than the realization of their imaginin's. to them the bells are a instrument of torture jest as tuff to bear as any of the other old thumb screws and racks that wrung and racked our old fathers in the name of religion. "i have to think of the great crowd of humanity huddled together right under the loud clangor of the bells whose time of rest begins when the sun comes up, who have toiled all night for our comfort and luxury. so we can have our mornin' papers brought to us with our coffee. so we can have the telegraphic messages, bringing us good news with our toast. so's we can have some of our dear ones come to us from distant lands in the morning. i must think of them who protect us through the night so we can sleep in peace. "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these, our helpers and benafacters, work all night for our sakes, work and toil. the least we can do for these is to help 'em to the great restorer, sleep, all we can. "some things we can't do; we can't stop the creakin' sounds of the world's work; the big roar of the wheel of business that rolls through the week days, can't be oiled into stillness; but sundays they might get a little rest sunday is the only day of rest for thousands of men and wimmen, nervous, pale, worn by their week's hard toil. "the creakin' of the wheels of traffic are stopped on this day. they could get a little of the rest they need to carry on the fight of life to help support wife, child, father, husband; but religeon is too much for 'em--the religeon that the bible declares is mild, peacible, tender. it clangs and bangs and whangs at 'em till the day of rest is a torment. "now the lord wouldn't approve of this. i know he wouldn't, for he was always tender and pitiful full of compassion. i called it religeon for oritory, but it hain't religeon, it is a relict of old barberism who, under the cloak of religeon, whipped quakers and hung prophetic souls, that the secrets of heaven had been revealed to, secrets hidden from the coarser, more sensual vision." sez deacon garven: "i consider the bells as missionarys. they help spread the gospel." "and," sez i, for i waz full of my subject, and kep him down to it all i could, "ralph s. robinson has spread the gospel over acres and acres of land, and brung in droves and droves of sinners into the fold without the help of church or steeple, let alone bells, and it seems es if he ortn't to be tortured to death now by 'em." "wall," he said, "he viewed 'em as gospel means, and he couldn't, with his present views of his duty to the lord, omit 'em." sez i, "the lord didn't use 'em. he got along without 'em." "wall," he said, "it wuz different times now." sez i, "the lord, if he wuz here to-day, deacon garven, if he had bent over that form racked with pain and sufferin' and that noise of any kind is murderous to, he would help him, i know he would, for he wuz good to the sick, and tender hearted always." "wall, _i_ will help him," sez deacon garven, "i will watch, and i will pray, and i will work for him." sez i, "will you promise me not to ring the bells to-morrow mornin'; if he gets into any sleep at all durin' the hours, it is along in the mornin', and i think if we could keep him asleep, say all the forenoon, there would be a chance for him. will you promise me?" "wall," sez he kinder meltin' down a little, "i will talk with the bretheren." sez i, "promise me, deacon eben garven, before you see 'em." sez he, "i would, but i am so afraid of bringin' the cause of religeon into contempt. and i dread meddlin' with the old established rules of the church." sez i, "mercy and justice and pity wuz set up on earth before bells wuz, and i believe it is safe to foller 'em." but he wouldn't promise me no further than to talk with the bretheren, and i had to leave him with that promise. as things turned out afterwuds, i wuz sorry, sorry es a dog that i didn't shet up deacon garven in his own smoke house, or cause him to be shet, and mount a guard over him, armed nearly to the teeth with clubs. but i didn't, and i relied some on the bretheren. ralph wuz dretful wild all the forepart of the night. he'd lay still for a few minutes, and then he would get all rousted up, and he would set up in bed and call out some words in that strange tongue. and he would lift up his poor weak right arm, strong then in his fever, and preach long sermons in that same strange curius language. he would preach his sermon right through, earnest and fervent as any sermon ever wuz. i would know it by the looks of his face. and then he would sometimes sing a little in that same singular language, and then he would lay down for a spell. but along towards mornin' i see a change, his fever seemed to abate and go down some--very gradual, till just about the break of day, he fell into a troubled sleep--or it wuz a troubled sleep at first--but growin' deeper and more peaceful every minute. and along about eight o'clock he wuz a-sleepin' sweet for the first time durin' his sickness; it wuz a quiet restful sleep, and some drops of presperation and sweat could be seen on his softened features. we all wuz as still, almost, as if we wuz automatoes, we wuz so afraid of makin' a speck of noise to disturb him. we kep almost breathless, in our anxiety to keep every mite of noise out of his room. but i did whisper to rosy in a low still voice-- [illustration: "the lord be praised, we shall pull him through."] "your father is saved, the lord be praised, we shall pull him through." she jest dropped onto her knees, and laid her head in my lap and cried and wept, but soft and quiet so's it wouldn't disturb a mice. miss timson wuz a-prayin', i could see that. she wuz a-returnin' thanks to the lord for his mercy. as for me, i sot demute, in that hushed and darkened room, a-watchin' every shadow of a change that might come to his features, with a teaspoon ready to my hand, to give him nourishment at the right time if he needed it, or medicine. when all of a sudden--slam! bang! rush! roar! slam! slam! ding! dong! bang!!! come right over our heads the wild, deafening clamor of the bells. ralph started up wilder than ever because of his momentary repose. he never knew us, nor anything, from that time on, and after sufferin' for another hours, sufferin' that made us all willin' to have it stop, he died. and so he who had devoted his hull life to religeon wuz killed by it. he who had gin his hull life for the true, wuz murdered by the false. [illustration: "and i thought he wuz pronouncin' a benediction on the savages."] his last move wuz to spread out his hands, and utter a few of them strange words, as if in benediction over a kneelin' multitude. and i thought then, and i think still, that he wuz pronouncin' a benediction on the savages. and i have always hoped that the mercy he besought from on high at that last hour brought down god's pity and forgiveness on all benighted savages, and bigoted ones, deacon garven, and the hull on 'em. chapter xxv. the very next day after i got home from miss timson'ses, we wimmen all met to the meetin' house agin as usial, for we knew very well that the very hardest and most arjuous part of our work lay before us. for if it had been hard and tuckerin' to what it seemed the utmost limit of tucker, to stand up on a lofty barell, and lift up one arm, and scrape the ceilin', what would it be, so we wildly questioned our souls, and each other, to stand up on the same fearful hites, and lift _both_ arms over our heads, and get on them fearful lengths of paper smooth. i declare, when the hull magnitude of the task we had tackled riz before us, it skairt the hull on us, and nuthin' but our deathless devotion to the methodist meetin' house, kep us from startin' off to our different homes on the run. but lovin' it as we did, as the very apples in our eyes, and havin' in our constant breasts a determinate to paper that meetin' house, or die in the attempt, we made ready to tackle it. [illustration: "we had to wait for the paste to bile."] yet such wuz the magnitude of the task, and our fearful apprehensions, that after we had looked the ceilin' all over, and examined the paper--we all sot down, as it were, instinctivly, and had a sort of a conference meetin' (we had to wait for the paste to bile anyway, it wuz bein' made over the stove in the front entry). and he would lift up his poor weak right arm, strong then in his fever, and preach long sermons in that same strange curius language. he would preach his sermon right through, earnest and fervent as any sermon ever wuz. i would know it by the looks of his face. and then he would sometimes sing a little in that same singular language, and then he would lay down for a spell. but along towards mornin' i see a change, his fever seemed to abate and go down some--very gradual, till just about the break of day, he fell into a troubled sleep--or it wuz a troubled sleep at first--but growin' deeper and more peaceful every minute. and along about eight o'clock he wuz a-sleepin' sweet for the first time durin' his sickness; it wuz a quiet restful sleep, and some drops of presperation and sweat could be seen on his softened features. [illustration: "we all set and laid on our plans, and cut the edges offen the paper."] we all wuz as still, almost, as if we wuz automatoes, we wuz so afraid of makin' a speck of noise to disturb him. we kep almost breathless, in our anxiety to keep every mite of noise out of his room. but i did whisper to rosy in a low still voice--it middlin calm, and miss gowdy offered to be the one to carry it back to jonesville, and change it that very afternoon--for we could not afford to buy a new one, and we had the testimony of as many as twenty-one or two pairs of eyes, that the handle didn't come out by our own carelessness, but by its own inherient weakness--so we spozed he would swap it, we spozed so. but it wuz arrainged before we disbanded (the result of our conference), that the next mornin' we would each one on us bring our offerin's to the fair, and hand 'em in to the treasurer, so's she would know in time what to depend on, and what she had to do with. and we agreed (also the result of our conference) that we would, each one on us, tell jest how we got the money and things to give to the fair. and then we disbanded and started off home but i'll bet that each one on us, in a sort of secret unbeknown way, gin a look on that lofty ceilin', them dangerus barells, and that pile of paper, and groaned a low melancholy groan all to herself. [illustration: "the handle come out."] i know i did, and i know submit tewksbury did, for i stood close to her and heard her. but then to be exactly jest, and not a mite underhanded, i ort mebby to say, that her groan may be caused partly by the fact that that aniversery of hern wuz a-drawin' so near. yes, the very next day wuz the day jest years ago that samuel danker went away from submit tewksbury to heathen lands. yes, the next day wuz the one that she always set the plate on for him--the gilt edged chiny with pink sprigs. but i'll bet that half or three quarters of that low melancholy groan of her'n wuz caused by the hardness of the job that loomed up in front of us, and the hull of mine wuz. wall, that night josiah allen wuz a-feelin' dretful neat, fer he had sold our sorell colt for a awful big price. it wuz a good colt; its mother wuz took sick when it wuz a few days old, and we had brung it up as a corset, or ruther i did, fer josiah allen at that time had the rheumatiz to that extent that he couldn't step his foot on the floor for months, so the care of the corset come on me, most the hull on it, till it got big enough to run out in the lot and git its own livin'. night after night i used to get up and warm milk for it, when it wuz very small, for it wuz weakly, and we didn't know as we could winter it. [illustration: "i would meander out there in a icy night to feed it."] we kep it in a little warm shed offen the wood house for quite a spell, but still i used to find it considerable cold when i would meander out there in a icy night to feed it. but jest as it is always the way with wimmen, the more care i took on it, the more it needed me and depended on me, the better i liked it. till i got to likin' it so well that it wuzn't half so hard a job for me to go out to feed it in the night as it would have been to laid still in my warm bed and think mebby it wuz cold and hungry. so i would pike out and feed it two or three times a night. that is the nater of wimmen, the weaker it wuz and the humblier it wuz, and the more it needed me, the more i thought on it. and as is the nater of man, josiah allen didn't seem to care so much about it while it wuz weak and humbly and spindlin'. he told me time and agin, that i couldn't save it, and it never would amount to anythin', and wuzn't nothin' but legs any way, and lots of other slightin' remarks. and he'd call it "horse corset" in a kind of a light, triflin' way, that wuz apt to gaul a woman when she come back with icy night-gown and frosty toes and fingers, way along in the night. [illustration: "been out to tend to your 'horse corset,' have you?"] he'd wake up, a-layin' there warm and comfortable on his soft goose feather piller and say to me: "been out to tend to your 'horse corset,' have you?" "_horse corset_! 'wall, what if it wuz?" such language way along in the night, from a warm comfortable pardner to a cold one, is apt to make some words back and forth. and then he'd speak of its legs agin, in the most slightin' terms--and he'd ask me if didn't want its picter took--etc., etc., etc. (i believe one thing that ailed josiah allen wuz he didn't want me to get up and get my feet so cold). but, as i wuz a-sayin', though i couldn't deny some of his words, for truly its legs did seem to be at the least calculation a yard and a half long, specilly in the night, why they'd look fairly pokerish. and though i knew it wuz humbly still i persevered, and at last it got to thrivin' and growin' fast. and the likelier it grew, and the stronger, and the handsomer, so josiah allen's likin' for it grew and increased, till he got to settin' a sight of store by it. and now it wuz a two-year-old, and he had sold it for two hundred and fifteen dollars. it wuz spozed it wuz goin' to make a good trotter. wall, seem' he had got such a big price for the colt, and knowin' well that i wuz the sole cause of its bein' alive at this day, i felt that it wuz the best time in the hull three hundred and sixty-five days of the year to tackle him for sunthin' to give to the fair. i felt that the least he could do would be to give me ten or fifteen dollars for it. so consequently after supper wuz out of the way, and the work done up, i tackled him. proofreaders samantha among the brethren. by "josiah allen's wife" (marietta holley) part _with illustrations_. to all women who work, trying to bring into dark lives the brightness and hope of a better country, _this book is dedicated_. preface. again it come to pass, in the fulness of time, that my companion, josiah allen, see me walk up and take my ink stand off of the manteltry piece, and carry it with a calm and majestick gait to the corner of the settin' room table devoted by me to literary pursuits. and he sez to me: "what are you goin' to tackle now, samantha?" and sez i, with quite a good deal of dignity, "the cause of eternal justice, josiah allen." "anythin' else?" sez he, lookin' sort o' oneasy at me. (that man realizes his shortcomin's, i believe, a good deal of the time, he duz.) "yes," sez i, "i lay out in petickuler to tackle the meetin' house. she is in the wrong on't, and i want to set her right." josiah looked sort o' relieved like, but he sez out, in a kind of a pert way, es he set there a-shellin corn for the hens: "a meetin' house hadn't ort to be called she--it is a he." and sez i, "how do you know?" and he sez, "because it stands to reason it is. and i'd like to know what you have got to say about him any way?" sez i, "that 'him' don't sound right, josiah allen. it sounds more right and nateral to call it 'she.' why," sez i, "hain't we always hearn about the mother church, and don't the bible tell about the church bein' arrayed like a bride for her husband? i never in my life hearn it called a 'he' before." "oh, wall, there has always got to be a first time. and i say it sounds better. but what have you got to say about the meetin' house, anyway?" "i have got this to say, josiah allen. the meetin' house hain't a-actin' right about wimmen. the founder of the church wuz born of woman. it wuz on a woman's heart that his head wuz pillowed first and last. while others slept she watched over his baby slumbers and his last sleep. a woman wuz his last thought and care. before dawn she wuz at the door of the tomb, lookin' for his comin'. so she has stood ever sense--waitin', watchin', hopin', workin' for the comin' of christ. workin', waitin' for his comin' into the hearts of tempted wimmen and tempted men--fallen men and fallen wimmen--workin', waitin', toilin', nursin' the baby good in the hearts of a sinful world--weepin' pale-faced over its crucefixion--lookin' for its reserection. oh how she has worked all through the ages!" "oh shaw!" sez josiah, "some wimmen don't care about anythin' but crazy work and back combs." i felt took down, for i had been riz up, quite considerble, but i sez, reasonable: "yes, there are such wimmen, josiah, but think of the sweet and saintly souls that have given all their lives, and hopes, and thoughts to the meetin' house--think of the throngs to-day that crowd the aisles of the sanctuary--there are five wimmen to one man, i believe, in all the meetin' houses to-day a-workin' in his name. true daughters of the king, no matter what their creed may be--catholic or protestant. "and while wimmen have done all this work for the meetin' house, the meetin' house ort to be honorable and do well by her." "wall, hain't _he_?" sez josiah. "no, _she_ hain't," sez i. "wall, what petickuler fault do you find? what has _he_ done lately to rile you up?" sez i, "_she_ wuz in the wrong on't in not lettin' wimmen set on the conference." "wall, i say _he_ wuz right," sez josiah. "_he_ knew, and i knew, that wimmen wuzn't strong enough to set." "why," sez i, "it don't take so much strength to set as it duz to stand up. and after workin' as hard as wimmen have for the meetin' house, she ort to have the priveledge of settin'. and i am goin' to write out jest what i think about it." "wall," sez josiah, as he started for the barn with the hen feed, "don't be too severe with the meetin' house." and then, after he went out, he opened the door agin and stuck his head in and sez: "don't be too hard on _him_" and then he shet the door quick, before i could say a word. but good land! i didn't care. i knew i could say what i wanted to with my faithful pen--and i am bound to say it. josiah allen's wife, bonny view, near adams, new york, oct. th, . contents. chapter i. chapter ii. chapter iii. chapter iv. chapter v. chapter vi. chapter vii. chapter viii. chapter ix. chapter x. chapter xi. chapter xii. chapter xiii. chapter xiv. chapter xv. chapter xvi chapter xvii chapter xviii chapter xix chapter xx chapter xxi chapter xxii chapter xxiii chapter xxiv chapter xxv chapter xxvi chapter xxvii chapter xxviii _publishers' appendix_ chapter i. when i first heard that wimmen wuz goin' to make a effort to set on a conference, it wuz on a wednesday, as i remember well. for my companion, josiah allen, had drove over to loontown in a democrat and in a great hurry, to meet two men who wanted him to go into a speculation with 'em. and it wuz kinder curious to meditate on it, that they wuz all deacons, every one on 'em. three on 'em wuz baptis'es, and two on 'em had jined our meetin' house, deacons, and the old name clung to 'em--we spoze because they wuz such good, stiddy men, and looked up to. take 'em all together there wuz five deacons. the two foreign deacons from 'way beyond jonesville, deacon keeler and deacon huffer, and our own three jonesvillians--deacon henzy, deacon sypher, and my own particular deacon, josiah allen. it wuz a wild and hazardous skeme that them two foreign deacons wuz a-proposin', and i wuz strongly in favor of givin' 'em a negative answer; but josiah wuz fairly crazy with the idee, and so wuz deacon henzy and deacon sypher (their wives told me how they felt). the idee was to build a buzz saw mill on the creek that runs through jonesville, and have branches of it extend into zoar, loontown, and other more adjacent townships (the same creek runs through 'em all). as near as i could get it into my head, there wuz to be a buzz saw mill apiece for the five deacons--each one of 'em to overlook their own particular buzz saw--but the money comin' from all on 'em to be divided up equal among the five deacons. [illustration: "a wild and hazardous skeme."] they thought there wuz lots of money in the idee. but i wuz very set against it from the first. it seemed to me that to have buzz saws a-permeatin' the atmosphere, as you may say, for so wide a space, would make too much of a confusion and noise, to say nothin' of the jarin' that would take place and ensue. i felt more and more, as i meditated on the subject, that a buzz saw, although estimable in itself, yet it wuz not a spear in which a religious deacon could withdraw from the world, and ponder on the great questions pertainin' to his own and the world's salvation. i felt it wuz not a spear that he could revolve round in and keep that apartness from this world and nearness to the other, that i felt that deacons ought to cultivate. but my idees wuz frowned at by every man in jonesville, when i ventured to promulgate 'em. they all said, "the better the man, the better the deed." they said, "the better the man wuz, the better the buzz saw he would be likely to run." the fact wuz, they needed some buzz saw mills bad, and wuz very glad to have these deacons lay holt of 'em. [illustration: talking over the buzz-saw.] but i threw out this question at 'em, and stood by it--"if bein' set apart as a deacon didn't mean anything? if there wuzn't any deacon-work that they ought to be expected to do--and if it wuz right for 'em to go into any world's work so wild and hazardous and engrossin', as this enterprise?" and again they sez to me in stern, decided axents, "the better the man, the better the deed. we need buzz saws." and then they would turn their backs to me and stalk away very high-headed. and i felt that i wuz a gettin' fearfully onpopular all through jonesville, by my questions. i see that the hull community wuz so sot on havin' them five deacons embark onto these buzz saws that they would not brook any interference, least of all from a female woman. but i had a feelin' that josiah allen wuz, as you may say, my lawful prey. i felt that i had a right to question my own pardner for the good of his own soul, and my piece of mind. and i sez to him in solemn axents: "josiah allen, what time will you get when you are fairly started on your buzz saw, for domestic life, or social, or for religious duties?" and josiah sez, "dumb 'em! i guess a man is a goin' to make money when he has got a chance." and i asked him plain if he had got so low, and if i had lived with him twenty years for this, to hear him in the end dumb religious duties. and josiah acted skairt and conscience smut for most half a minute, and said, "he didn't dumb 'em." "what wuz you dumbin'?" sez i, coldly. "i wuz dumbin' the idee," sez he, "that a man can't make money when he has a chance to." but i sez, a haulin' up this strong argument agin-- "every one of you men, who are a layin' holt of this enterprise and a-embarkin' onto this buzz saw are married men, and are deacons in a meetin' house. now this work you are a-talkin' of takin' up will devour all of your time, every minute of it, that you can spare from your farms. "and to say nothin' of your wives and children not havin' any chance of havin' any comfort out of your society. what will become of the interests of zion at home and abroad, of foreign and domestic missions, prayer meetin's, missionary societies, temperance meetin's and good works generally?" and then again i thought, and it don't seem as if i can be mistaken, i most know that i heerd josiah allen mutter in a low voice, "dumb good works!" [illustration: "i heerd josiah mutter, 'dumb good works!'"] but i wouldn't want this told of, for i may be mistook. i didn't fairly ketch the words, and i spoke out agin, in dretful meanin' and harrowin' axents, and sez, "what will become of all this gospel work?" and josiah had by this time got over his skare and conscience smite (men can't keep smut for more'n several minutes anyway, their consciences are so elastic; good land! rubber cord can't compare with 'em), and he had collected his mind all together, and he spoke out low and clear, and in a tone as if he wuz fairly surprised i should make the remark: "why, the gospel work will get along jest as it always has, the wimmen will 'tend to it." and i own i was kinder lost and by the side of myself when i asked the question--and very anxious to break up the enterprise or i shouldn't have put the question to him. for i well knew jest as he did that wimmen wuz most always the ones to go ahead in church and charitable enterprises. and especially now, for there wuz a hardness arozen amongst the male men of the meetin' house, and they wouldn't do a thing they could help (but of this more anon and bimeby). there wuz two or three old males in the meetin' house, too old to get mad and excited easy, that held firm, and two very pious old male brothers, but poor, very poor, had to be supported by the meetin' house, and lame. they stood firm, or as firm as they could on such legs as theirs wuz, inflammatory rheumatiz and white swellin's and such. but all the rest had got their feelin's hurt, and got mad, etc., and wouldn't do a thing to help the meetin' house along. well, i tried every lawful, and mebby a little on-lawful way to break this enterprise of theirs up--and, as i heern afterwards, so did sister henzy. sister sypher is so wrapped up in deacon sypher that she would embrace a buzz saw mill or any other enterprise he could bring to bear onto her. "she would be perfectly willin' to be trompled on," so she often sez, "if deacon sypher wuz to do the tromplin'." some sez he duz. wall, in spite of all my efforts, and in spite of all sister henzy's efforts, our deacons seemed to jest flourish on this skeme of theirn. and when we see it wuz goin' to be a sure thing, even sister sypher begin to feel bad. she told albina widrig, and albina told miss henn, and miss henn told me, that "what to do she didn't know, it would deprive her of so much of the deacon's society." it wuz goin' to devour so much of his time that she wuz afraid she couldn't stand it. she told albina in confidence (and albina wouldn't want it told of, nor miss henn, nor i wouldn't) that she had often been obleeged to go out into the lot between breakfast and dinner to see the deacon, not bein' able to stand it without lookin' on his face till dinner time. and when she was laid up with a lame foot it wuz known that the deacon left his plowin' and went up to the house, or as fur as the door step, four or five times in the course of a mornin's work, it wuz spozed because she wuz fearful of forgettin' how he looked before noon. she is a dretful admirin' woman. she acts dretful reverential and admirin' towards men--always calls her husband "the deacon," as if he was the one lonely deacon who was perambulatin' the globe at this present time. and it is spozed that when she dreams about him she dreams of him as "the deacon," and not as samuel (his given name is samuel). [illustration: "the initials stood for 'miss deacon sypher.'"] but we don't know that for certain. we only spoze it. for the land of dreams is a place where you can't slip on your sun-bonnet and foller neighbor wimmen to see what they are a-doin' or what they are a-sayin' from hour to hour. no, the best calculator on gettin' neighborhood news can't even look into that land, much less foller a neighborin' female into it. no, their barks have got to be moored outside of them mysterious shores. but, as i said, this had been spozen. but it is known from actual eyesight that she marks all her sheets, and napkins, and piller-cases, and such, "m. d. s." and i asked her one day what the m. stood for, for i 'spozed, of course, the d. s. stood for drusillia sypher. and she told me with a real lot of dignity that the initials stood for "miss deacon sypher." wall, the jonesville men have been in the habit of holdin' her up as a pattern to their wives for some time, and the jonesville wimmen hain't hated her so bad as you would spoze they all would under the circumstances, on account, we all think, of her bein' such a good-hearted little creeter. we all like drusilly and can't help it. wall, even she felt bad and deprested on account of her deacon's goin' into the buzz saw-mill business. but she didn't say nothin', only wept out at one side, and wiped up every time he came in sight. they say that she hain't never failed once of a-smilin' on the deacon every time he came home. and once or twice he has got as mad as a hen at her for smilin'. once, when he came home with a sore thumb--he had jest smashed it in the barn door--and she stood a-smilin' at him on the door step, there are them that say the deacon called her a "infernal fool." but i never have believed it. i don't believe he would demean himself so low. but he yelled out awful at her, i do 'spoze, for his pain wuz intense, and she stood stun still, a-smilin' at him, jest accordin' to the story books. and he sez: "stand there like a----fool, will you! get me a _rag!_" i guess he did say as much as that. but they say she kept on a-smilin' for some time--couldn't seem to stop, she had got so hardened into that way. [illustration: "once, when her face wuz all swelled up, she smiled at him."] and once, when her face wuz all swelled up with the toothache, she smiled at him accordin' to rule when he got home, and they say the effect wuz fearful, both on her looks and the deacon's acts. they say he was mad again, and called her some names. but as a general thing they get along first rate, i guess, or as well as married folks in general, and he makes a good deal of her. i guess they get along without any more than the usual amount of difficulties between husbands and wives, and mebby with less. i know this, anyway, that she just about worships the deacon. wall, as i say, it was the very day that these three deacons went to loontown to meet deacon keeler and deacon huffer, to have a conference together as to the interests of the buzz saw mill that i first heard the news that wimmen wuz goin' to make a effort to set on the methodist conference, and the way i heerd on't wuz as follows: josiah allen brought home to me that night a paper that one of the foreign deacons, deacon keeler, had lent him. it contained a article that wuz wrote by deacon keeler's son, casper keeler--a witherin' article about wimmen's settin' on the conference. it made all sorts of fun of the projeck. we found out afterwards that casper keeler furnished nearly all the capital for the buzz saw mill enterprise at his father's urgent request. his father, deacon keeler, didn't have a cent of money of his own; it fell onto casper from his mother and aunt. they had kept a big millinery store in the town of lyme, and a branch store in loontown, and wuz great workers, and had laid up a big property. and when they died, the aunt, bein' a maiden woman at the time, the money naturally fell onto casper. he wuz a only child, and they had brung him up tender, and fairly worshipped him. they left him all the money, but left a anuety to be paid yearly to his father, deacon keeler, enough to support him. the deacon and his wife had always lived happy together--she loved to work, and he loved to have her work, so they had similar tastes, and wuz very congenial--and when she died he had the widest crape on his hat that wuz ever seen in the town of lyme. (the crape was some she had left in the shop.) he mourned deep, both in his crape and his feelin's, there hain't a doubt of that. wall, miss keelerses will provided money special for casper to be educated high. so he went to school and to college, from the time he was born, almost. so he knew plenty of big words, and used 'em fairly lavish in this piece. there wuz words in it of from six to seven syllables. why, i hadn't no idee till i see 'em with my own eye, that there wuz any such words in the english language, and words of from four to six syllables wuz common in it. his father, deacon keeler, wouldn't give the paper to my companion, he thought so much of it, but he offered to lend it to him, because he said he felt that the idees it promulgated wuz so sound and deep they ought to be disseminated abroad. the idees wuz, "that wimmen hadn't no business to set on the conference. she wuz too weak to set on it. it wuz too high a place for her too ventur' on, or to set on with any ease. there wuzn't no more than room up there for what men would love to set on it. wimmen's place wuz in the sacred precinks of home. she wuz a tender, fragile plant, that needed guardin' and guidin' and kep by man's great strength and tender care from havin' any cares and labors whatsoever and wheresoever and howsumever." josiah said it wuz a masterly dockument. and it wuz writ well. it painted in wild, glarin' colors the fear that men had that wimmen would strain themselves to do anything at all in the line of work--or would weaken her hull constitution, and lame her moral faculties, and ruin herself by tryin' to set up on a conference, or any other high and tottlin' eminence. the piece wuz divided into three different parts, with a headin' in big letters over each one. the _first_ wuz, wimmen to have no labors and cares whatsoever; _secondly_, none wheresoever; _thirdly_, none howsumever. the writer then proceeded to say that he would show first, _what_ cares and labors men wuz willin' and anxious to ward offen women. and he proved right out in the end that there wuzn't a thing that they wanted wimmen to do--not a single thing. then he proceeded to tell _where_ men wuz willin' to keep their labors and cares offen wimmen. and he proved it right out that it wuz every _where_. in the home, the little sheltered, love-guarded home of the farmer, the mechanic and the artizen (makin' special mention of the buzz sawyers). and also in the palace walls and the throne. there and every _where_ men would fain shelter wimmen from every care, and every labor, even the lightest and slightest. then lastly came the _howsumever_. he proceeded to show _how_ this could be done. and he proved it right out (or thought he did) that the first great requisit' to accomplish all this, wuz to keep wimmen in her place. keep her from settin' on the conference, and all other tottlin' eminences, fitted only for man's stalwart strength. and the end of the article wuz so sort of tragick and skairful that josiah wept when he read it. he pictured it out in such strong colors, the danger there wuz of puttin' wimmen, or allowin' her to put herself in such a high and percipitous place, such a skairful and dangerous posture as settin' up on a conference. [illustration: "josiah wept when he read it."] "to have her set up on it," sez the writer, in conclusion, "would endanger her life, her spiritual, her mental and her moral growth. it would shake the permanency of the sacred home relations to its downfall. it would hasten anarchy, and he thought sizm." why, josiah allen handled that paper as if it wuz pure gold. i know he asked me anxiously as he handed it to me to read, "if my hands wuz perfectly clean," and we had some words about it. and till he could pass it on to deacon sypher to read he kep it in the bible. he put it right over in galatians, for i looked to see--second galatians. and he wrapped it up in a soft handkerchief when he carried it over to deacon sypherses. and deacon sypher treasured it like a pearl of great price (so i spoze) till he could pass it on to deacon henzy. and deacon henzy was to carry it with care to a old male deacon in zoar, bed rid. wall, as i say, that is the very first i had read about their bein' any idee promulgated of wimmens settin' up on the conference. and i, in spite of josiah allen's excitement, wuz in favor on't from the very first. yes, i wuz awfully in favor of it, and all i went through durin' the next and ensuin' weeks didn't put the idee out of my head. no, far from it. it seemed as if the severer my sufferin's wuz, the much more this idee flourished in my soul. just as a heavy plow will meller up the soil so white lilies can take root, or any other kind of sweet posies. and oh! my heart! wuz not my sufferin's with lodema trumble, a hard plow and a harrowin' one, and one that turned up deep furrows? but of this, more anon and bimeby. chapter ii. wall, it wuz on the very next day--on a thursday as i remember well, for i wuz a-thinkin' why didn't lodema's letter come the next day--fridays bein' considered onlucky--and it being a day for punishments, hangin's, and so forth. but it didn't, it came on a thursday. and my companion had been to jonesville and brung me back two letters; he brung 'em in, leavin' the old mair standin' at the gate, and handed me the letters, ten pounds of granulated sugar, a pound of tea, and the request i should have supper on the table by the time that he got back from deacon henzy's. (on that old buzz-saw business agin, so i spozed, but wouldn't ask.) wall, i told him supper wuz begun any way, and he had better hurry back. but he wuz belated by reason of deacon henzy's bein' away, so i set there for some time alone. wall, i wuz goin' to have some scolloped oysters for supper, so the first thing i did wuz to put 'em into the oven--they wuz all ready, i had scolloped 'em before josiah come, and got 'em all ready for the oven--and then i set down and read my letters. wall, the first one i opened wuz from lodema trumble, josiah's cousin on his own side. and her letter brought the sad and harrowin' intelligence that she was a-comin' to make us a good long visit. the letter had been delayed. she was a-comin' that very night, or the next day. wall, i sithed deep. i love company dearly, but--oh my soul, is there not a difference, a difference in visitors? wall, suffice it to say, i sithed deep, and opened the other letter, thinkin' it would kind o' take my mind off. and for all the world! i couldn't hardly believe my eyes. but it wuz! it wuz from serena fogg. it wuz from the authoress of "wedlock's peaceful repose." i hadn't heard a word from her for upwards of four years. and the letter brung me startlin' intelligence. it opened with the unexpected information that she wuz married. she had been married three years and a half to a butcher out to the ohio. and i declare my first thought wuz as i read it, "wall, she has wrote dretful flowery on wedlock, and its perfect, onbroken calm, and peaceful repose, and now she has had a realizin' sense of what it really is." but when i read a little further, i see what the letter wuz writ for. i see why, at this late day, she had started up and writ me a letter. i see it wuz writ on duty. she said she had found out that i wuz in the right on't and she wuzn't. she said that when in the past she had disputed me right up and down, and insisted that wedlock wuz a state of perfect serenity, never broken in upon by any cares or vexations whatsomever, she wuz in the wrong on't. she said she had insisted that when anybody had moored their barks into that haven of wedded life, that they wuz forever safe from any rude buffetin's from the world's waves; that they wuz exempt from any toil, any danger, any sorrow, any trials whatsomever. and she had found she was mistook. she said i told her it wuz a first-rate state, and a satisfactory one for wimmen; but still it had its trials, and she had found it so. she said that i insisted its serenity wuz sometimes broken in upon, and she had found it so. the last day at my house had tottled her faith, and her own married experience had finished the work. her husband wuz a worthy man, and she almost worshipped him. but he had a temper, and he raved round considerable when meals wuzn't ready on time, and she havin' had two pairs of twins durin' her union (she comes from a family on her mother's side, so i had hearn before, where twins wuz contagious), she couldn't always be on the exact minute. she had to work awful hard; this broke in on her serenity. her husband devotedly loved her, so she said; but still, she said, his bootjack had been throwed voyalent where corns wuz hit onexpected. [illustration: "four twins broke in also on her waveless calm."] their souls wuz mated firm as they could be in deathless ties of affection and confidence, yet doors _had_ been slammed and oaths emitted, when clothin' rent and buttons tarried not with him. strange actions and demeanors had been displayed in hours of high-headedness and impatience, which had skaired her almost to death before gettin' accustomed to 'em. the four twins broke in also on her waveless calm. they wuz lovely cherubs, and the four apples of her eyes. but they did yell at times, they kicked, they tore round and acted; they made work--lots of work. and one out of each pair snored. it broke up each span, as you may say. the snorin' filled each room devoted to 'em. _he_ snored, loud. a good man and a noble man he wuz, so she repeated it, but she found out too late--too late, that he snored. the house wuz small; she could _not_ escape from snores, turn she where she would. she got tired out with her work days, and couldn't rest nights. her husband, as he wuz doin' such a flourishin' business, had opened a cattle-yard near the house. she wuz proud of his growin' trade, but the bellerin' of the cattle disturbed her fearfully. also the calves bleating and the lambs callin' on their dams. it wuz a long letter, filled with words like these, and it ended up by saying that for years now she had wanted to write and tell me that i had been in the right on't and she in the wrong. i had been megum and she hadn't. and she ended by sayin', "god bless me and adoo." [illustration: the lecture.] the fire crackled softly on the clean hearth. the teakettle sung a song of welcome and cheer. the oysters sent out an agreeable atmosphere. the snowy table, set out in pretty china and glassware, looked invitin', and i set there comfortable and happy and so peaceful in my frame, that the events of the past, in which serena fogg had flourished, seemed but as yesterday. i thought it all over, that pleasant evenin' in the past, when josiah allen had come in unexpected, and brung the intelligence to me that there wuz goin' to be a lectur' give that evenin' by a young female at the jonesville school-house, and beset me to go. and i give my consent. then my mind travelled down that pleasant road, moongilded, to the school-house. it stopped on the door-step while josiah hitched the mair. we found the school-house crowded full, fur a female lecturer wuz a rarity, and she wuz a pretty girl, as pretty a girl as i ever see in my life. and it wuz a pretty lecture, too, dretful pretty. the name of the lecture wuz, "wedlock's peaceful and perfect repose." a pretty name, i think, and it wuz a beautiful lecture, very, and extremely flowery. it affected some of the hearers awfully; they wuz all carried away with it. josiah allen wept like a child durin' the rehearsin' of it. i myself didn't weep, but i enjoyed it, some of it, first rate. i can't begin to tell it all as she did, 'specially after this length of time, in such a lovely, flowery way, but i can probably give a few of the heads of it. it hain't no ways likely that i can give the heads half the stylish, eloquent look that she did as she held 'em up, but i can jest give the bare heads. she said that there had been a effort made in some directions to try to speak against the holy state of matrimony. the papers had been full of the subject, "is marriage a failure, or is it not?" she had even read these dreadful words--"marriage is a failure." she hated these words, she despised 'em. and while some wicked people spoke against this holy institution, she felt it to be her duty, as well as privilege, to speak in its praise. i liked it first rate, i can tell you, when she went on like that. for no living soul can uphold marriage with a better grace that can she whose name vuz once smith. i _love_ josiah allen, i am _glad_ that i married him. but at the same time, my almost devoted love doesn't make me blind. i can see on every side of a subject, and although, as i said heretofore, and prior, i love josiah allen, i also love megumness, and i could not fully agree with every word she said. but she went on perfectly beautiful--i didn't wonder it brought the school-house down--about the holy calm and perfect rest of marriage, and how that calm wuz never invaded by any rude cares. how man watched over the woman he loved; how he shielded her from every rude care; kept labor and sorrow far, far from her; how woman's life wuz like a oneasy, roarin', rushin' river, that swept along discontented and onsatisfied, moanin' and lonesome, until it swept into the calm sea of repose--melted into union with the grand ocian of rest, marriage. and then, oh! how calm and holy and sheltered wuz that state! how peaceful, how onruffled by any rude changes! happiness, peace, calm! oh, how sweet, how deep wuz the ocian of true love in which happy, united souls bathed in blissful repose! [illustration: "he had on a new vest."] it was dretful pretty talk, and middlin' affectin'. there wasn't a dry eye in josiah allen's head, and i didn't make no objection to his givin' vent to his feelin's, only when i see him bust out a-weepin' i jest slipped my pocket-handkerchief 'round his neck and pinned it behind. (his handkerchief wuz in constant use, a cryin' and weepin' as he wuz.) and i knew that salt water spots black satin awfully. he had on a new vest. submit tewksbury cried and wept, and wept and cried, caused by remembrances, it wuz spozed. of which, more anon, and bimeby. and drusilly sypher, deacon sypherses wife, almost had a spazzum, caused by admiration and bein' so highly tickled. i myself didn't shed any tears, as i have said heretofore. and what kep' me calmer wuz, i _knew_, i knew from the bottom of my heart, that she went too fur, she wuzn't megum enough. and then she went on to draw up metafors, and haul in illustrations, comparin' married life and single--jest as likely metafors as i ever see, and as good illustrations as wuz ever brung up, only they every one of 'em had this fault--when she got to drawin' 'em, she drawed 'em too fur. and though she brought the school-house down, she didn't convince me. [illustration: "i myself didn't shed any tears."] once she compared single life to a lonely goose travellin' alone acrost the country, 'cross lots, lonesome and despairin', travellin' along over a thorny way, and desolate, weighed down by melancholy and gloomy forebodin's, and takin' a occasional rest by standin' up on one cold foot and puttin' its weery head under its wing, with one round eye lookin' out for dangers that menaced it, and lookin', also, perhaps, for a possible mate, for the comin' gander--restless, wobblin', oneasy, miserable. why, she brought the school-house down, and got the audience all wrought up with pity, and sympathy. oh, how submit tewksbury did weep; she wept aloud (she had been disappointed, but of this more bimeby). and then she went on and compared that lonesome voyager to two blissful wedded ones. a pair of white swans floatin' down the waveless calm, bathed in silvery light, floatin' down a shinin' stream that wuz never broken by rough waves, bathed in a sunshine that wuz never darkened by a cloud. and then she went on to bring up lots of other things to compare the two states to--flowery things and sweet, and eloquent. she compared single life to quantities of things, strange, weird, melancholy things, and curius. why, they wuz so powerful that every one of 'em brought the school-house down. and then she compared married life to two apple blossoms hangin' together on one leafy bough on the perfumed june air, floatin' back and forth under the peaceful benediction of summer skies. and she compared it to two white lambs gambolin' on the velvety hill-side. to two strains of music meltin' into one dulcet harmony, perfect, divine harmony, with no discordant notes. josiah hunched me, he wanted me to cry there, at that place, but i wouldn't. he did, he cried like an infant babe, and i looked close and searchin' to see if my handkerchief covered up all his vest. he didn't seem to take no notice of his clothes at all, he wuz a-weepin' so--why, the whole schoolhouse wept, wept like a babe. but i didn't. i see it wuz a eloquent and powerful effort. i see it was beautiful as anything could be, but it lacked that one thing i have mentioned prior and before this time. it lacked megumness. i knew they wuz all impressive and beautful illustrations, i couldn't deny it, and i didn't want to deny it. but i knew in my heart that the lonely goose that she had talked so eloquent about, i knew that though its path might be tegus the most of the time, yet occasionally it stepped upon velvet grass and blossomin' daisies. and though the happy wedded swans floated considerable easy a good deal of the time, yet occasionally they had their wings rumpled by storms, thunder storms, sudden squalls, and et cetery, et cetery. and i knew the divine harmony of wedded love, though it is the sweetest that earth affords, i knew that, and my josiah knew it--the very sweetest and happiest strains that earthly lips can sing. yet i knew that it wuz both heavenly sweet, and divinely sad, blended discord and harmony. i knew there wuz minor chords in it, as well as major, i knew that we must await love's full harmony in heaven. there shall we sing it with the pure melody of the immortals, my josiah and me. but i am a eppisodin', and to continue and resoom. wall, we wuz invited to meet the young female after the lecture wuz over, to be introduced to her and talk it over. she wuz the methodist minister's wive's cousin, and the minister's wife told me she wuz dretful anxious to get my opinion on the lecture. i spoze she wanted to get the opinion of one of the first wimmen of the day. for though i am fur from bein' the one that ort to mention it, i have heard of such things bein' said about me all round jonesville, and as far as loontown and shackville. and so, i spoze, she wanted to get hold of my opinion. wall, i wuz introduced to her, and i shook hands with her, and kissed her on both cheeks, for she is a sweet girl and i liked her looks. i could see that she was very, very sentimental, but she had a sweet, confidin', innocent look to her, and i give her a good kissin' and i meant it. when i like a person, i _do_ like 'em, and visy-versey. but at the same time my likin' for a person mustn't be strong enough to overthrow my principles. and when she asked me in her sweet axents, "how i liked her lecture, and if i could see any faults in it?" i leaned up against duty, and told her, "i liked it first-rate, but i couldn't agree with every word of it." here josiah allen give me a look sharp enough to take my head clear off, if looks could behead anybody. but they can't. and i kept right on, calm and serene, and sez i, "it wuz very full of beautiful idees, as full of 'em as a rose-bush is full of sweetness in june, but," says i, "if i speak at all i must tell the truth, and i must say that while your lecture is as sweet and beautiful a effort as i ever see tackled, full of beautiful thoughts, and eloquence, still i must say that in my opinion it lacked one thing, it wuzn't mean enough." "mean enough?" sez she. "what do you mean?" "why," sez i, "i mean, mean temperature, you know, middleinness, megumness, and whatever you may call it; you go too fur." she said with a modest look "that she guessed she didn't, she guessed she didn't go too far." and josiah allen spoke up, cross as a bear, and, sez he, "i know she didn't. she didn't say a word that wuzn't gospel truth." sez i, "married life is the happiest life in my opinion; that is, when it is happy. some hain't happy, but at the same time the happiest of 'em hain't _all_ happiness." "it is," sez josiah (cross and surly), "it is, too." [illustration: "you go too fur."] and serena fogg said, gently, that she thought i wuz mistaken, "she thought it wuz." and josiah jined right in with her and said: "he _knew_ it wuz, and he would take his oath to it." but i went right on, and, sez i, "mebby it is in one sense the most peaceful; that is, when the affections are firm set and stabled it makes 'em more peaceful than when they are a-traipsin' round and a-wanderin'. but," sez i, "marriage hain't _all_ peace." sez josiah: "it is, and i'll swear to it." sez i, goin' right on, cool and serene, "the sunshine of true love gilds the pathway with the brightest radiance we know anything about, but it hain't all radiance." "yes, it is," sez josiah, firmly, "it is, every mite of it." and serena fogg sez, tenderly and amiably, "yes, i think mr. allen is right; i think it is." "wall," sez i, in meanin' axcents, awful meanin', "when you are married you will change your opinion, you mark my word." and she said, gently, but persistently, "that she guessed she shouldn't; she guessed she was in the right of it." sez i, "you think when anybody is married they have got beyend all earthly trials, and nothin' but perfect peace and rest remains?" and she sez, gently, "yes, mem!" "why," sez i, "i am married, and have been for upwards of twenty years, and i think i ought to know somethin' about it; and how can it be called a state of perfect rest, when some days i have to pass through as many changes as a comet, and each change a tegus one. i have to wabble round and be a little of everything, and change sudden, too. "i have to be a cook, a step-mother, a housemaid, a church woman, a wet nurse (lots of times i have to wade out in the damp grass to take care of wet chickens and goslins). i have to be a tailoress, a dairy-maid, a literary soarer, a visitor, a fruit-canner, a adviser, a soother, a dressmaker, a hostess, a milliner, a gardener, a painter, a surgeon, a doctor, a carpenter, a woman, and more'n forty other things. "marriage is a first-rate state, and agreeable a good deal of the time; but it haint a state of perfect peace and rest, and you'll find out it haint if you are ever married." but miss fogg said, mildly, "that she thought i wuz mistaken--she thought it wuz." "you do?" sez i. "yes, mem," sez she. i got up, and sez i, "come, josiah, i guess we had better be a-goin'." i thought it wouldn't do no good to argue any more with her, and josiah started off after the mair. he had hitched it on the barn floor. she didn't seem willin' to have me go; she seemed to cling to me. she seemed to be a good, affectionate little creetur. and she said she would give anything almost if she could rehearse the hull lecture over to me, and have me criticise it. sez she: "i have heard so much about you, and what a happy home you have." "yes," sez i, "it is as happy as the average of happy homes, any way." and sez she, "i have heard that you and your husband wuz just devoted to each other." and i told her "that our love for each other wuz like two rocks that couldn't be moved." and she said, "on these very accounts she fairly hankered after my advice and criticism. she said she hadn't never lived in any house where there wuz a livin' man, her father havin' died several months before she was born; and she hadn't had the experience that i had, and she presumed that i could give her several little idees that she hadn't thought on." and i told her calmly "that i presumed i could." it seemed that her father died two months after marriage, right in the midst of the mellow light of the honeymoon, before he had had time to drop the exstatic sweetness of courtship and newly-married bliss and come down into the ordinary, everyday, good and bad demeanors of men. and she had always lived with her mother (who naturally worshipped and mentally knelt before the memory of her lost husband) and three sentimental maiden aunts. and they had drawed all their knowledge of manhood from moore's poems and solomon's songs. so serena fogg's idees of men and married life wuz about as thin and as well suited to stand the wear and tear of actual experience as a gauze dress would be to face a greenland winter in. and so, after considerable urgin' on her part (for i kinder hung back and hated to tackle the job, but not knowin' but that it wuz duty's call), i finally consented, and it wuz arranged this way: she wuz to come down to our house some day, early in the mornin', and stay all day, and she wuz to stand up in front of me and rehearse the lecture over to me, and i wuz to set and hear it, and when she came to a place where i didn't agree with her i wuz to lift up my right hand and she wuz to stop rehearsin', and we wuz to argue with each other back and forth and try to convince each other. and when we got it all arranged josiah and i set out for home, i calm in my frame, though dreadin' the job some. chapter iii. but josiah allen wuz jest crazy over that lecture--crazy as a loon. he raved about it all the way home, and he would repeat over lots of it to me. about "how a man's love was the firm anchor that held a woman's happiness stiddy; how his calm and peaceful influence held her mind in a serene calm--a waveless repose; how tender men wuz of the fair sect, how they watched over 'em and held 'em in their hearts." "oh," sez he, "it went beyond anything i ever heard of. i always knew that men wuz good and pious, but i never realized how dumb pious they wuz till to-night" "she said," sez i, in considerable dry axents--not so dry as i keep by me, but pretty dry--"no true man would let a woman perform any manuel labor." "wall, he won't. there ain't no need of your liftin' your little finger in emanuel labor." "manuel, josiah." "wall, i said so, didn't i? hain't i always holdin' you back from work?" "yes," sez i. "you often speak of it, josiah. you are as good," sez i, firmly, "full as good as the common run of men, and i think a little better. but there are things that have to be done. a married woman that has a house and family to see to and don't keep a hired girl, can't get along without some work and care." "wall i say," sez he, "that there hain't no need of you havin' a care, not a single care. not as long as i live--if it wuzn't for me, you might have some cares, and most probable would, but not while i live." i didn't say nothin' back, for i don't want to hurt his feelin's, and won't, not if i can help it. and he broke out again anon, or nearly anon-- [illustration: "oh, what a lecture that wuz."] "oh, what a lecture that wuz. did you notice when she wuz goin' on perfectly beautiful, about the waveless sea of married life--did you notice how it took the school house down? and i wuz perfectly mortified to see you didn't weep or even clap your hands." "wall," sez i, firmly, "when i weep or when i clap, i weep and clap on the side of truth. and i can't see things as she duz. i have been a-sailin' on that sea she depictured for over twenty years, and have never wanted to leave it for any other waters. but, as i told her, and tell you now, it hain't always a smooth sea, it has its ups and downs, jest like any other human states." sez i, soarin' up a very little ways, not fur, for it wuz too cold, and i was too tired, "there hain't but one sea, josiah allen, that is calm forever, and one day we will float upon it, you and me. it is the sea by which angels walk and look down into its crystal depths, and behold their blessed faces. it is the sea on whose banks the fadeless lilies blow--and that mirrors the soft, cloudless sky of the happy morning. it is the sea of eternal repose, that rude blasts can never blow up into billows. but our sea--the sea of married life--is not like that, it is ofttimes billowy and rough." "i say it hain't," sez he, for he was jest carried away with the lecture, and enthused. "we have had a happy time together, josiah allen, for over twenty years, but has our sea of life always been perfectly smooth?" "yes, it has; smooth as glass." "hain't there never been a cloud in our sky?" "no, there hain't; not a dumb cloud." sez i, sternly, "there has in mine. your wicked and profane swearin' has cast many and many a cloud over my sky, and i'd try to curb in my tongue if i was in your place." "'dumb' hain't swearin'," sez he. and then he didn't say nothin' more till anon, or nearly at that time, he broke out agin, and sez he: "never, never did i hear or see such eloquence till to-night i'll have that girl down to our house to stay a week, if i'm a living josiah allen." "all right," sez i, cheerfully. "i'd love to have her stay a week or ten days, and i'll invite her, too, when she comes down to rehearse her lecture." wall we got home middlin' tired, and the subject kinder dropped down, and josiah had lots of work come on the next day, and so did i, and company. and it run along for over a week before she come. and when she did come, it wuz in a dreadful bad time. it seems as if she couldn't have come in a much worse time. it wuz early one mornin', not more than nine o'clock, if it wuz that. there had come on a cold snap of weather unexpected, and josiah wuz a-bringin' in the cook stove from the summer kitchen, when she come. josiah allen is a good man. he is my choice out of a world full of men, but i can't conceal it from myself that his words at such a time are always voyalent, and his demeanor is not the demeanor that i would wish to have showed off to the public. he wuz at the worst place, too. he had got the stove wedged into the entry-way door, and couldn't get it either way. he had acted awkward with it, and i told him so, and he see it when it wuz too late. he had got it fixed in such a way that he couldn't get into the kitchen himself without gettin' over the stove, and i, in the course of duty, thought it wuz right to tell him that if he had heerd to me he wouldn't have been in such a fix. oh! the voyalence and frenzy of his demeanor as he stood there a-hollerin'. i wuz out in the wood-house shed a-bilin' my cider apple sass in the big cauldron kettle, but i heard the racket, and as i come a-runnin' in i thought i heard a little rappin' at the settin'-room door, but i didn't notice it much, i wuz that agitated to see the way the stove and josiah wuz set and wedged in. there the stove wuz, wedged firm into the doorway, perfectly sot there. there wuz sut all over the floor, and there stood josiah allen, on the wood-house side, with his coat off, his shirt all covered with black, and streaks of black all over his face. and oh! how wild and almost frenzied his attitude wuz as he stood there as if he couldn't move nor be moved no more than the stove could. and oh! the voyalence of the language he hurled at me acrost that stove. "why," sez i, "you must come in here, josiah allen, and pull it from this side." and then he hollered at me, and asked me: "how in thunder he was a goin' to _get_ in." and then he wanted to know "if i wanted him squshed into jelly by comin' in by the side of it--or if i thought he wuz a crane, that he could step over it or a stream of water that he could run under it, or what else do you think?" he hollered wildly. "wall," sez i, "you hadn't ort to got it fixed in that shape. i told you what end to move first," sez i. "you have moved it in side-ways. it would go in all right if you had started it the other way." "oh, yes! it would have been all right. you love to see me, samantha, with a stove in my arms. you love it dearly. i believe you would be perfectly happy if you could see me a luggin' round stoves every day. but i'll tell you one thing, if this dumb stove is ever moved either way out of this door--if i ever get it into a room agin, it never shall be stirred agin so much as a hair's breadth--not while i have got the breath of life in me." sez i, "hush! i hear somebody a-knockin' at the door." "i won't hush. it is nothin' but dumb foolishness a movin' round stoves, and if anybody don't believe it let 'em look at me--and let 'em look at that stove set right here in the door as firm as a rock." [illustration: "won't you be still?"] sez i agin in a whisper, "do be still, and i'll let 'em in, i don't want them to ketch you a talkin' so and a-actin'." "wall, i want 'em to ketch me, that is jest what i want 'em to do. if it is a man he'll say every word i say is gospel truth, and if it is a woman it will make her perfectly happy to see me a-swelterin' in the job--seven times a year do i have to move this stove back and forth--and i say it is high time i said a word. so you can let 'em in just as quick as you are a mind to." sez i, a whisperin' and puttin' my finger on my lip: "won't you be still?" "no, i won't be still!" he yelled out louder than ever. "and you may go through all the motions you want to and you can't stop me. all you have got to do is to walk round and let folks in, happy as a king. nothin' under the heavens ever made a woman so happy as to have some man a-breakin' his back a-luggin' round a stove." i see he wouldn't stop, so i had to go and open the door, and there stood serena fogg, there stood the author of "wedlock's peaceful repose." i felt like a fool. for i knew she had heard every word, i see she had by her looks. she looked skairt, and as surprised and sort o' awe-stricken as if she had seen a ghost. i took her into the parlor, and took her things, and i excused myself by tellin' her that i should have to be out in the kitchen a-tendin' to things for a spell, and went back to josiah. and i whispered to him, sez i: "miss fogg has come, and she has heard every word you have said, josiah allen. and what will she think now about wedlock's peaceful repose?" but he had got that wild and reckless in his demeanor and acts, that he went right on with his hollerin', and, sez he, "she won't find much repose here to-day, and i'll tell her that. this house has got to be all tore to pieces to get that stove started." sez i, "there won't be nothin' to do only to take off one side of the door casin'. and i believe it can be done without that." "oh, you believe! you believe! you'd better take holt and lug and lift for two hours as i have, and then see." sez i, "you hain't been here more'n ten minutes, if you have that. and there," sez i, liftin' up one end a little, "see what anybody can do who is calm. there i have stirred it, and now you can move it right along." "oh, _you_ did it! i moved it myself." i didn't contend, knowin' it wuz men's natural nater to say that. [illustration: "and he said i had rubbed 'em out."] wall, at last josiah got the stove in, but then the stove-pipe wouldn't go together, it wouldn't seem to fit. he had marked the joints with chalk, and the marks had rubbed off, and he said i had "rubbed 'em out." i wuz just as innocent as a babe, but i didn't dispute him much, for i see a little crack open in the parlor door, and i knew the author of "wedlock's peaceful repose" was a-listenin'. but when he told me for the third time that i rubbed 'em out on purpose to make him trouble, and that i had made a practice of rubbin' 'em out for years and years--why, then i _had_ to correct him on the subject, and we had a little dialogue. i spoze serena fogg heard it. but human nater can't bear only just so much, especially when it has stoves a dirtien up the floor, and apple sass on its mind, and unexpected company, and no cookin' and a threshin' machine a-comin'. proofreaders samantha among the brethren. by "josiah allen's wife" (marietta holley) part chapter xiii. curius, hain't it? how folks will get to tellin' things, and finally tell 'em so much, that finally they will get to believin' of 'em themselves--boastin' of bein' rich, etc., or bad. now i have seen folks boast over that, act real haughty because they had been bad and got over it. i've seen temperance lecturers and religious exhorters boast sights and sights over how bad they had been. but they wuzn't tellin' the truth, though they had told the same thing so much that probable they had got to thinkin' so. but in the case of one man in petickuler, i found out for myself, for i didn't believe what he wuz a sayin' any of the time. why, he made out in evenin' meetin's, protracted and otherwise, that he had been a awful villain. why no pirate wuz ever wickeder than he made himself out to be, in the old times before he turned round and become pious. [illustration: "his face wuz a good moral face."] but i didn't believe it, for he had a good look to his face, all but the high headed look he had, and sort o' vain. but except this one look, his face wuz a good moral face, and i knew that no man could cut up and act as he claimed that he had, without carryin' some marks on the face of the cuttin' up, and also of the actin'. and so, as it happened, i went a visitin' (to josiah's relations) to the very place where he had claimed to do his deeds of wild badness, and i found that he had always been a pattern man--never had done a single mean act, so fur as wuz known. where wuz his boastin' then? as the bible sez, why, it wuz all vain talk. he had done it to get up a reputation. he had done it because he wuz big feelin' and vain. and he had got so haughty over it, and had told of it so much, that i spoze he believed in it himself. curius! hain't it? but i am a eppisodin', and to resoom. trueman's wife would talk jest so, jest so haughty and high headed, about the world comin' to a end. she'd dispute with everybody right up and down if they disagreed with her--and specially about that religion of hern. how sot she wuz, how extremely sot. but then, it hain't in me, nor never wuz, to fight anybody for any petickuler religion of theirn. there is sights and sights of different religions round amongst different friends of mine, and most all on 'em quite good ones. that is, they are agreeable to the ones who believe in 'em, and not over and above disagreeable to me. now it seems to me that in most all of these different doctrines and beliefs, there is a grain of truth, and if folks would only kinder hold onto that grain, and hold themselves stiddy while they held onto it, they would be better off. but most folks when they go to follerin' off a doctrine, they foller too fur, they hain't megum enough. now, for instance, when you go to work and whip anybody, or hang 'em, or burn 'em up for not believin' as you do, that is goin' too fur. it has been done though, time and agin, in the world's history, and mebby will be agin. but it hain't reasonable. now what good will doctrines o' any kind do to anybody after they are burnt up or choked to death? you see such things hain't bein' megum. because i can't believe jest as somebody else duz, it hain't for me to pitch at 'em and burn 'em up, or even whip 'em. no, indeed! and most probable if i should study faithfully out their beliefs, i would find one grain, or mebby a grain and a half of real truth in it. [illustration: "ef i fell on a stun."] now, for instance, take the doctrines of christian healin', or mind cure. now i can't exactly believe that if i fell down and hurt my head on a stun--i cannot believe as i am a layin' there, that i hain't fell, and there hain't no stun--and while i am a groanin' and a bathin' the achin' bruise in anarky and wormwood, i can't believe that there hain't no such thing as pain, nor never wuz. no, i can't believe this with the present light i have got on the subject. but yet, i have seen them that this mind cure religion had fairly riz right up, and made 'em nigher to heaven every way--so nigh to it that seemin'ly a light out of some of its winders had lit up their faces with its glowin' repose, its sweet rapture. i've seen 'em, seen 'em as the patent medicine maker observes so frequently, "before and after takin'." folks that wuz despondent and hopeless, and wretched actin', why, this belief made 'em jest blossom right out into a state of hopefulness, and calmness, and joy--refreshin' indeed to contemplate. wall now, the idee of whippin' anybody for believin' anything that brings such a good change to 'em, and fills them and them round 'em with so much peace and happiness. why, i wouldn't do it for a dollar bill. and as for hangin' 'em, and brilin' 'em on gridirons, etc., why, that is entirely out of the question, or ort to be. and now, it don't seem to me that i ever could make a tree walk off, by lookin' at it, and commandin' it to--or call some posys to fall down into my lap, right through, the plasterin'-- or send myself, or one of myselfs, off to injy, while the other one of me stayed to jonesville. now, honestly speakin', it don't seem to me that i ever could learn to do this, not at my age, any way, and most dead with rheumatiz a good deal of the time. i most know i couldn't. but then agin i have seen believers in theosiphy that could do wonders, and seemed indeed to have got marvelous control over the forces of natur. and now the idee of my whippin' 'em for it. why you wouldn't ketch me at it. and spiritualism now! i spoze, and i about know that there are lots of folks that won't ever see into any other world than this, till the breath leaves their body. yet i've seen them, pure sweet souls too, as i ever see, whose eyes beheld blessed visions withheld from more material gaze. yes, i've neighbored with about all sorts of religius believers, and never disputed that they had a right to their own religion. and i've seen them too that didn't make a practice of goin' to any meetin' houses much, who lived so near to god and his angels that they felt the touch of angel hands on their forwards every day of their lives, and you could see the glow of the fairer land in their rapt eyes. they had outgrown the outward forms of religion that had helped them at first, jest as children outgrow the primers and abc books of their childhood and advance into the higher learnin'. i've seen them folks i've neighbored with 'em. human faults they had, or god would have taken them to his own land before now. their imperfections, i spoze sort o' anchored 'em here for a spell to a imperfect world. but you could see, if you got nigh enough to their souls to see anything about 'em--you could see that the anchor chains wuz slight after all, and when they wuz broke, oh how lightly and easily they would sail away, away to the land that their rapt souls inhabited even now. yes, i've seen all sorts of religius believers and i wuzn't goin' to be too hard on tamer for her belief, though i couldn't believe as she did. chapter xiv. he come to our house a visitin' along the first week in june, and the last day in june wuz the day they had sot for the world to come to an end. i, myself, didn't believe she knew positive about it, and josiah didn't either. and i sez to her, "the bible sez that it hain't agoin' to be revealed to angels even, or to the son himself, but only to the father when that great day shall be." and sez i to trueman's wife, sez i, "how should _you_ be expected to know it?" sez she, with that same collected together haughty look to her, "my name wuzn't mentioned, i believe, amongst them that _wuzn't_ to know it!" and of course i had to own up that it wuzn't. but good land! i didn't believe she knew a thing more about it than i did, but i didn't dispute with her much, because she wuz one of the relatives on his side--you know you have to do different with 'em than you do with them on your own side--you have to. and then agin, i felt that if it didn't come to an end she would be convinced that she wuz in the wrong on't, and if she did we should both of us be pretty apt to know it, so there wuzn't much use in disputin' back and forth. but she wuz firm as iron in her belief. and she had come up visitin' to our home, so's to be nigh when trueman riz. trueman wuz buried in the old risley deestrict, not half a mile from us on a back road. and she naterally wanted to be round at the time. she said plain to me that trueman never could seem to get along without her. and though she didn't say it right out, she carried the idea (and josiah resented it because trueman was a favorite cousin of his'n on his own side.) she jest the same as said right out that trueman, if she wuzn't by him to tend to him, would be jest as apt to come up wrong end up as any way. josiah didn't like it at all. wall, she had lived a widowed life for a number of years, and had said right out, time and time agin, that she wouldn't marry agin. but josiah thought, and i kinder mistrusted myself, that she wuz kinder on the lookout, and would marry agin if she got a chance--not fierce, you know, or anything of that kind, but kinder quietly lookin' out and standin' ready. that wuz when she first come; but before she went away she acted fierce. [illustration: "buried in the old risley deesirict."] wall, there wuz sights of adventists up in the risley deestrict, and amongst the rest wuz an old bachelder, joe charnick. and joe charnick wuz, i s'poze, of all advents, the most adventy. he jest _knew_ the world wuz a comin' to a end that very day, the last day of june, at four o'clock in the afternoon. and he got his robe all made to go up in. it wuz made of a white book muslin, and jenette finster made it. cut it out by one of his mother's nightgowns--so she told me in confidence, and of course i tell it jest the same; i want it kep. she was afraid joe wouldn't like it, if he knew she took the nightgown for a guide, wantin' it, as he did, for a religious purpose. but, good land! as i told her, religion or not, anybody couldn't cut anything to look anyhow without sumpthin' fora guide, and she bein' an old maiden felt a little delicate about measurin' him. his mother wuz as big round as he wuz, her weight bein' by the steelyards, and she allowed fingers and a half extra length--joe is tall. she gathered it in full round the neck, and the sleeves (at his request) hung down like wings, a breadth for each wing wuz what she allowed. jenette owned up to me (though she wouldn't want it told of for the world, for it had been sposed for years, that he and she had a likin' for each other, and mebby would make a match some time, though what they had been a-waitin' for for the last years nobody knew). but she allowed to me that when he got his robe on, he wuz the worst lookin' human bein' that she ever laid eyes on, and sez she, for she likes a joke, jenette duz: "i should think if joe looked in the glass after he got it on, his religion would be a comfort to him; i should think he would be glad the world _wuz_ comin' to a end." but he _didn't_ look at the glass, jenette said he didn't; he wanted to see if it wuz the right size round the neck. joe hain't handsome, but he is kinder good-lookin', and he is a good feller and got plenty to do with, but bein' kinder big-featured, and tall, and hefty, he must have looked like fury in the robe. but he is liked by everybody, and everybody is glad to see him so prosperous and well off. he has got acres of good land, "be it more or less," as the deed reads; head of cows, and head of horses (and the hull bodies of 'em). and a big sugar bush, over trees, and a nice little sugar house way up on a pretty side hill amongst the maple trees. a good, big, handsome dwellin' house, a sort of cream color, with green blinds; big barn, and carriage house, etc., etc., and everything in the very best of order. he is a pattern farmer and a pattern son--yes, joe couldn't be a more pattern son if he acted every day from a pattern. he treats his mother dretful pretty, from day to day. she thinks that there hain't nobody like joe; and it wuz s'pozed that jenette thought so too. but jenette is, and always wuz, runnin' over with common sense, and she always made fun and laughed at joe when he got to talkin' about his religion, and about settin' a time for the world to come to a end. and some thought that that wuz one reason why the match didn't go off, for joe likes her, everybody could see that, for he wuz jest such a great, honest, open-hearted feller, that he never made any secret of it. and jenette liked joe _i_ knew, though she fooled a good many on the subject. but she wuz always a great case to confide in me, and though she didn't say so right out, which wouldn't have been her way, for, as the poet sez, she wuzn't one "to wear her heart on the sleeves of her bask waist," still, i knew as well es i wanted to, that she thought her eyes of him. and old miss charnick jest about worshipped jenette, would have her with her, sewin' for her, and takin' care of her--she wuz sick a good deal, mother charnick wuz. and she would have been tickled most to death to have had joe marry her and bring her right home there. and jenette wuz a smart little creeter, "smart as lightnin'," as josiah always said. she had got along in years, jenette had, without marryin', for she staid to hum and took care of her old father and mother and tom. the other girls married off, and left her to hum, and she had chances, so it wuz said, good ones, but she wouldn't leave her father and mother, who wuz gettin' old, and kinder bed-rid, and needed her. her father, specially, said he couldn't live, and wouldn't try to, if jenette left 'em, but he said, the old gentleman did, that jenette should be richly paid for her goodness to 'em. that wuzn't what made jenette good, no, indeed; she did it out of the pure tenderness and sweetness of her nature and lovin'heart. but i used to love to hear the old gentleman talk that way, for he wuz well off, and i felt that so far as money could pay for the hull devotion of a life, why, jenette would be looked out for, and have a good home, and enough to do with. so she staid to hum, as i say, and took care of'em night and day; sights of watching and wearisome care she had, poor little creeter; but she took the best of care of 'em, and kep 'em kinder comforted up, and clean, and brought up tom, the youngest boy, by hand, and thought her eyes on him. and he wuz a smart chap--awful smart, as it proved in the end; for he married when he wuz , and brought his wife (a disagreeable creeter) home to the old homestead, and jenette, before they had been there weeks, wuz made to feel that her room wuz better than her company. that wuz the year the old gentleman died; her mother had died months prior and beforehand. her brother, as i said, wur smart, and he and his wife got round the old man in some way and sot him against jenette, and got everything he had. he wuz childish, the old man wuz; used to try to put his pantaloons on over his head, and get his feet into his coat sleeves, etc., etc. and he changed his will, that had gi'n jenette half the property, a good property, too, and gi'n it all to tom, every mite of it, all but one dollar, which jenette never took by my advice. for i wuz burnin' indignant at old mr. finster and at tom. curius, to think such a girl as jenette had been--such a patient, good creeter, and such a good-tempered one, and everything--to think her pa should have forgot all she had done, and suffered, and gi'n up for 'em, and give the property all to that boy, who had never done anything only to spend their money and make jenette trouble. but then, i s'poze it wuz old mr. finster's mind, or the lack on't, and i had to stand it, likewise so did jenette. but i never sot a foot into tom finster's house, not a foot after that day that jenette left it. i wouldn't. but i took her right to my house, and kep her for weeks right along, and wuz glad to. that wuz some years prior and before this, and she had gone round sewin' ever sense. and she wuz beloved by everybody, and had gone round highly respected, and at seventy-five cents a day. her troubles, and everybody that knew her, knew how many she had of 'em, but she kep 'em all to herself, and met the world and her neighbors with a bright face. if she took her skeletons out of the closet to air 'em, and i s'poze she did, everybody duz; they have to at times, to see if their bones are in good order, if for nothin' else. but if she ever did take 'em out and dust 'em, she did it all by herself. the closet door wuz shet up and locked when anybody wuz round. and you would think, by her bright, laughin' face, that she never heard the word skeleton, or ever listened to the rattle of a bone. and she kep up such a happy, cheerful look on the outside, that i s'poze it ended by her bein' cheerful and happy on the inside. the stiddy, good-natured, happy spirit that she cultivated at first by hard work, so i s'poze; but at last it got to be second nater, the qualities kinder struck in and she _wuz_ happy, and she _wuz_ contented--that is, i s'poze so. though i, who knew jenette better than anybody else, almost, knew how tuff, how fearful tuff it must have come on her, to go round from home to home--not bein' settled down at home anywhere. i knew jest what a lovin' little home body she wuz. and how her sweet nater, like the sun, would love to light up one bright lovin' home, and shine kinder stiddy there, instead of glancin' and changin' about from one place to another, like a meteor. some would have liked it; some like change and constant goin' about, and movin' constantly through space--but i knew jenette wuzn't made on the meteor plan. i felt sorry for jenette, down deep in my heart, i did; but i didn't tell her so; no, she wouldn't have liked it; she kep a brave face to the world. and as i said, her comin' wuz looked for weeks and weeks ahead, in any home where she wuz engaged to sew by the day. everybody in the house used to feel the presence of a sunshiny, cheerful spirit. one that wuz determined to turn her back onto troubles she couldn't help and keep her face sot towards the sun of happiness. one who felt good and pleasant towards everybody, wished everybody well. one who could look upon other folks'es good fortune without a mite of jealousy or spite. one who loved to hear her friends praised and admired, loved to see 'em happy. and if they had a hundred times the good things she had, why, she was glad for their sakes, that they had 'em, she loved to see 'em enjoy 'em, if she couldn't. and she wuz dretful kinder cunnin' and cute, jenette wuz. she would make the oddest little speeches; keep everybody laughin' round her, when she got to goin'. [illustration: "dretful kinder cunnin' and cute, jenette wuz."] yes, she wuz liked dretful well, jenette wuz. her face has a kind of a pert look on to it, her black eyes snap, a good-natured snap, though, and her nose turns up jest enough to look kinder cunnin', and her hair curls all over her head. smart round the house she is, and mother charnick likes that, for she is a master good housekeeper. smart to answer back and joke. joe is slow of speech, and his big blue eyes won't fairly get sot onto anything, before jenette has looked it all through, and turned it over, and examined it on the other side, and got through with it. wall, she wuz to work to mother charnick's makin' her a black alpacka dress, and four new calico ones, and coverin' a parasol. a good many said that miss charnick got dresses a purpose for jenette to make, so's to keep her there. jenette wouldn't stay there a minute only when she wuz to work, and as they always kep a good, strong, hired girl, she knew when she wuz needed, and when she wuzn't. but, of course, she couldn't refuse to sew for her, and at what she wuz sot at, though she must have known and felt that miss charnick wuz lavish in dresses. she had calico dresses, and everybody knew it, new ones, besides woosted. but, anyway, there she was a sewin' when the word came that the world was a comin' to a end on the th day of june, at o'clock in the afternoon. miss charnick wuz a believer, but not to the extent that joe was. for jenette asked her if she should stop sewin', not sposin' that she would need the dresses, specially the four calico ones, and the parasol in case of the world's endin'. and she told jenette, and jenette told me, so's i know it is true, "that she might go right on, and get the parasol cover, and the trimmins to the dresses, cambrick, and linin' and things, and hooks and eyes." and miss charnick didn't prepare no robe. but jenette mistrusted, though miss charnick is close-mouthed, and didn't say nothin', but jenette mistrusted that she laid out, when she sees signs, to use a nightgown. she had piles of the nicest ones, that jenette had made for her from time to time, over , all trimmed off nice enough for day dresses, so jenette said, trimmed with tape trimmin's, some of 'em, and belted down in front. wall, they had lots of meetin's at the risley school-house, as the time drew near. and miss trueman pool went to every one on 'em. she had been too weak to go out to the well, or to the barn. she wanted dretfully to see some new stanchils that josiah had been a makin', jest like some that pool had had in his barn. she wanted to see 'em dretful, but was too weak to walk. and i had had kind of a tussle in my own mind, whether or not i should offer to let josiah carry her out; but kinder hesitated, thinkin' mebby she would get stronger. but i hain't jealous, not a mite. it is known that i hain't all through jonesville and loontown. no, i'd scorn it. i thought pool's wife would get better and she did. one evenin' joe charnick came down to bring home josiah's augur, and the conversation turned onto adventin'. and miss pool see that joe wuz congenial on that subject; he believed jest as she did, that the world would come to an end the th. this was along the first part of the month. [illustration: "joe charnick came down to bring home josiah's augur."] he spoke of the good meetin's they wuz a-havin' to the risley school-house, and how he always attended to every one on 'em. and the next mornin' miss trueman pool gin out that she wuz a-goin' that evenin'. it wuz a good half a mile away, and i reminded her that josiah had to be away with the team, for he wuz a-goin' to loontown, heavy loaded, and wouldn't get back till along in the evenin'. but she said "that she felt that the walk would do her good." i then reminded her of the stanchils, but she said "stanchils and religion wuz two separate things." which i couldn't deny, and didn't try to. and she sot off for the school-house that evenin' a-walkin' a foot. and the rest of her adventins and the adventins of joe i will relate in another epistol; and i will also tell whether the world come to an end or not. i know folks will want to know, and i don't love to keep folks in onxiety--it hain't my way. chapter xv. wall, from that night, miss trueman pool attended to the meetins at the risley school-house, stiddy and constant. and before the week wuz out joe charnick had walked home with her twice. and the next week he carried her to jonesville to get the cloth for her robe, jest like his'n, white book muslin. and twice he had come to consult her on a bible passage, and twice she had walked up to his mother's to consult with her on a passage in the apockraphy. and once she went up to see if her wings wuz es deep and full es his'n. she wanted 'em jest the same size. miss charnick couldn't bear her. miss charnick wuz a woman who had enjoyed considerble poor health in her life, and she had now, and had been havin' for years, some dretful bad spells in her stomach--a sort of a tightness acrost her chest. and trueman's wife argued with her that her spells had been worse, and her chest had been tighter. and the old lady didn't like that at all, of course. and the old lady took thoroughwert for 'em, and trueman's wife insisted on't that thoroughwert wuz tightenin'. and then there wuz some chickens in a basket out on the stoop, that the old hen had deserted, and miss charnick wuz a bringin' 'em up by hand. and mother chainick went out to feed 'em, and trueman's wife tosted her head and said, "she didn't approve of it--she thought a chicken ought to be brung up by a hen." but miss charnick said, "why, the hen deserted 'em; they would have perished right there in the nest." but trueman's wife wouldn't gin in, she stuck right to it, "that it wuz a hen's business, and nobody else's." and of course she had some sense on her side, for of course it is a hen's business, her duty and her prevelege to bring up her chickens. but if she won't do it, why, then, somebody else has got to--they ought to be brung. i say mother charnick wuz in the right on't. but trueman's wife had got so in the habit of findin' fault, and naggin' at me, and the other relations on trueman's side and hern, that she couldn't seem to stop it when she knew it wuz for her interest to stop. and then she ketched a sight of the alpacker dress jenette wuz a-makin' and she said "that basks had gone out." and miss charnick was over partial to 'em (most too partial, some thought), and thought they wuz in the height of the fashion. but trueman's wife ground her right down on it. "basks _wuz out_, fer she knew it, she had all her new ones made polenay." and hearin' 'em argue back and forth for more'n a quarter of an hour, jenette put in and sez (she thinks all the world of mother charnick), "wall, i s'pose you won't take much good of your polenays, if you have got so little time to wear 'em." and then trueman's wife (she wuz meen-dispositioned, anyway) said somethin' about "hired girls keepin' their place." and then mother charnick flared right up and took jenette's part. and joe's face got red; he couldn't bear to see jenette put upon, if she wuz makin' fun of his religeon. and trueman's wife see that she had gone too fur, and held herself in, and talked good to jenette, and flattered up joe, and he went home with her and staid till ten o'clock. they spent a good deal of their time a-huntin' up passages, to prove their doctrine, in the bible, and the apockraphy, and josephus, and others. it beat all how many trueman's wife would find, and every one she found joe would seem to think the more on her. and so it run along, till folks said they wuz engaged, and josiah and me thought so, too. and though jenette wuzn't the one to say anything, she begun to look kinder pale and mauger. and when i spoke of it to her, she laid it to her liver. and i let her believe i thought so too. and i even went so fur as to recommend tansey and camomile tea, with a little catnip mixed in--i did it fur blinders. i knew it wuzn't her liver that ailed her. i knew it wuz her heart. i knew it wuz her heart that wuz a-achin'. wall, we had our troubles, josiah and me did. trueman's wife wuz dretful disagreeable, and would argue us down, every separate thing we tried to do or say. and she seemed more high-headed and disagreeable than ever sence joe had begun to pay attention to her. though what earthly good his attention wuz a-goin' to do, wuz more than i could see, accordin' to her belief. but josiah said, "he guessed joe wouldn't have paid her any attention, if he hadn't thought that the world wuz a-comin' to a end so soon. he guessed he wouldn't want her round if it wuz a-goin' to stand." sez i, "josiah, you are a-judgin' joe by yourself." and he owned up that he wuz. wall, the mornin' of the th, after josiah and me had eat our breakfast, i proceeded to mix up my bread. i had set the yeast overnight, and i wuz a mouldin' it out into tins when trueman's wife come down-stairs with her robe over her arm. she wanted to iron it out and press the seams. i had baked one tin of my biscuit for breakfast, and i had kep 'em warm for trueman's wife, for she had been out late the night before to a meetin' to risley school-house, and didn't come down to breakfast. i had also kep some good coffee warm for her, and some toast and steak. she laid her robe down over a chair-back, and sot down to her breakfast, but begun the first thing to find fault with me for bein' to work on that day. she sez, "the idee, of the last day of the world, and you a-bein' found makin' riz biscuit, yeast ones!" sez she. "wall," sez i, "i don't know but i had jest as soon be found a-makin' riz biscuit, a-takin' care of my own household, as the lord hes commanded me to, as to be found a-sailin' round in a book muslin mother hubbard." "it hain't a mother hubbard!" sez she. "wall," sez i, "i said it for oritory. but it is puckered up some like them, and you know it." hers wuz made with a yoke. and josiah sot there a-fixin' his plantin' bag. he wuz a-goin' out that mornin' to plant over some corn that the crows had pulled up. and she bitterly reproved him. but he sez, "if the world don't come to a end, the corn will be needed." "but it will," she sez in a cold, haughty tone. [illustration: "wall," sez he, "if it does, i may as well be doin' that as to be settin' round."] "wall," sez he, "if it does, i may as well be a-doin' that as to be settin' round." and he took his plantin' bag and went out. and then she jawed me for upholdin' him. and sez she, as she broke open a biscuit and spread it with butter previous to eatin' it, sez she, "i should think _respect_, respect for the great and fearful thought of meetin' the lord, would scare you out of the idea of goin' on with your work." sez i calmly, "does it scare you, trueman's wife?" "wall, not exactly scare," sez she, "but lift up, lift up far above bread and other kitchen work." and again she buttered a large slice, and i sez calmly, "i don't s'poze i should be any nearer the lord than i am now. he sez he dwells inside of our hearts, and i don't see how he could get any nearer to us than that. and anyway, what i said to you i keep a-sayin', that i think he would approve of my goin' on calm and stiddy, a-doin' my best for the ones he put in my charge here below, my husband, my children, and my grandchildren." (i some expected tirzah ann and the babe home that day to dinner.) "wall, you feel very diffrent from some wimmen that wuz to the school-house last night, and act very diffrent. they are good christian females. it is a pity you wuzn't there. p'raps your hard heart would have melted, and you would have had thoughts this mornin' that would soar up above riz biscuit." and as she sez this she begun on her third biscuit, and poured out another cup of coffee. and i, wantin' to use her well, sez, "what did they do there?" "do!" sez she, "why, it wuz the most glorious meetin' we ever had. three wimmen lay at one time perfectly speechless with the power. and some of em' screemed so you could hear 'em fer half a mile." i kep on a-mouldin' my bread out into biscuit (good shaped ones, too, if i do say it), and sez calmly, "wall, i never wuz much of a screemer. i have always believed in layin' holt of the duty next to you, and doin' _some_ things, things he has _commanded_. everybody to their own way. i don't condemn yourn, but i have always seemed to believe more in the solid, practical parts of religion, than the ornimental. i have always believed more in the power of honesty, truth, and justice, than in the power they sometimes have at camp and other meetins. howsumever," sez i, "i don't say but what that power is powerful, to the ones that have it, only i wuz merely observin' that it never wuz _my_ way to lay speechless or holler much--not that i consider hollerin' wrong, if you holler from principle, but i never seemed to have a call to." "you would be far better if you did," sez trueman's wife, "far better. but you hain't good enough." "oh!" sez i, reasonably, "i could holler if i wanted to, but the lord hain't deef. he sez specilly, that he hain't, and so i never could see the _use_ in hollerin' to him. and i never could see the use of tellin' him in public so many things as some do. why he _knows_ it. he _knows_ all these things. he don't need to have you try to enlighten him as if you wuz his gardeen--as i have heard folks do time and time agin. he _knows_ what we are, what we need. i am glad, trueman's wife," sez i, "that he can look right down into our hearts, that he is right there in 'em a-knowin' all about us, all our wants, our joys, our despairs, our temptations, our resolves, our weakness, our blindness, our defects, our regrets, our remorse, our deepest hopes, our inspiration, our triumphs, our glorys. but when he _is_ right there, in the midst of our soul, our life, why, _why_ should we kneel down in public and holler at him?" "you would be glad to if you wuz good enough," sez she; "if you had attained unto a state of perfection, you would feel like it." that kinder riled me up, and i sez, "wall, i have lived in this house with them that wuz perfect, and that is bad enough for me, without bein' one of 'em myself. for more disagreeable creeters," sez i, a prickin' my biscuit with a fork, "more disagreeable creeters i never laid eyes on." trueman's wife thinks she is perfect, she has told me so time and agin--thinks she hain't done anything wrong in upwards of a number of years. but she didn't say nothin' to this, only begun agin about the wickedness and immorality of my makin' riz biscuit that mornin', and the deep disgrace of josiah allen keepin' on with his work. but before i could speak up and take his part, for i _will_ not hear my companion found fault with by any female but myself, she had gathered up her robe, and swept upstairs with it, leavin' orders for a flatiron to be sent up. wall, the believers wuz all a-goin' to meet at the risley school-house that afternoon. they wuz about of 'em, men and wimmen. and i told josiah at noon, i believed i would go down to the school-house to the meetin'. and he a-feelin', i mistrust, that if they should happen to be in the right on't, and the world should come to a end, he wanted to be by the side of his beloved pardner, he offered to go too. but he never had no robe, no, nor never thought of havin'. the risley school-house stood in a clearin', and had tall stumps round it in the door-yard. and we had heard that some of the believers wuz goin' to get up on them stumps, so's to start off from there. and sure enough, we found it wuz the calculation of some on 'em. the school-boys had made steps up the sides of some of the biggest stumps, and lots of times in political meetin's men had riz up on 'em to talk to the masses below. why i s'poze a crowd of as many as or , had assembled there at one time durin' the heat of the campain. but them politicians had on their usual run of clothes, they didn't have on white book muslin robes. good land! chapter xvi. wall, lots of folks had assembled to the school-house when we got there, about o'clock p.m.--afternoon. believers, and world's people, all a-settin' round on seats and stumps, for the school-house wuz small and warm, and it wuz pleasanter out-doors. we had only been there a few minutes when mother charnick and jenette walked in. joe had been there for sometime, and he and the widder pool wuz a-settin' together readin' a him out of one book. jenette looked kinder mauger, and trueman's wife looked haughtily at her, from over the top of the him book. mother charnick had a woosted work-bag on her arm. there might have been a night gown in it, and there might not. it wuz big enough to hold one, and it looked sort o' bulgy. but it wuz never known--miss charnick is a smart woman. it never wuz known what she had in the bag. wall, the believers struck up a him, and sung it through--as mournful, skairful sort of a him as i ever hearn in my hull life; and it swelled out and riz up over the pine trees in a wailin', melancholy sort of a way, and wierd--dretful wierd. and then a sort of a lurid, wild-looking chap, a minister, got up and preached the wildest and luridest discourse i ever hearn in my hull days. it wuz enough to scare a snipe. the very strongest and toughest men there turned pale, and wimmen cried and wept on every side of me, and wept and cried. i, myself, didn't weep. but i drawed nearer to my companion, and kinder leaned up against him, and looked off on the calm blue heavens, the serene landscape, and the shinin' blue lake fur away, and thought--jest as true as i live and breathe, i thought that i didn't care much, if god willed it to be so, that my josiah and i should go side by side, that very day and minute, out of the certainties of this life into the mysteries of the other, out of the mysteries of this life into the certainties of the other. [illustration: "a sort of a lurid, wild-looking chap."] for, thinks i to myself, we have got to go into that other world pretty soon, josiah and me have. and if we went in the usual way, we had got to go alone, each on us. terrible thought! we who had been together under shine and shade, in joy and sorrow. our two hands that had joined at the alter, and had clung so clost together ever sence, had got to leggo of each other down there in front of the dark gateway. solemn gateway! so big that the hull world must pass through it--and yet so small that the hull world has got to go through it alone, one at a time. my josiah would have to stand outside and let me go down under the dark, mysterious arches, alone--and he knows jest how i hate to go anywhere alone, or else i would have to stop at the gate and bid him good-by. and no matter how much we knocked at the gate, or how many tears we shed onto it, we couldn't get through till our time come, we had _got_ to be parted. and now if we went on this clear june day through the crystal gateway of the bendin' heavens--we two would be together for weal or for woe. and on whatever new, strange landscape we would have to look on, or wander through, he would be right by me. whatever strange inhabitants the celestial country held, he would face 'em with me. close, close by my side, he would go with me through that blue, lovely gateway of the soft june skies into the city of the king. and it wuz a sweet thought to me. not that i really _wanted_ the world to come to a end that day. no, i kinder wanted to live along for some time, for several reasons: my pardner, the babe, the children, etc.; and then i kinder like to live for the _sake_ of livin'. i enjoy it. but i can say, and say with truth, and solemnity, that the idee didn't scare me none. and as my companion looked down in my face as the time approached, i could see the same thoughts that wuz writ in my eyes a-shinin' in his'n. wall, as the pinter approached the hour, the excitement grew nearly, if not quite rampant. the believers threw their white robes on over their dresses and coats, and as the pinter slowly moved round from half-past three to quarter to --and so on--they shouted, they sung, they prayed, they shook each other's hands--they wuz fairly crazed with excitement and fervor, which they called religion--for they wuz in earnest, nobody could dispute that. joe and miss pool kinder hung together all this time--though i ketched him givin' several wistful looks at jenette, as much as to say, "oh, how i hate to leave you, jenette!" but miss pool would roust him up agin, and he would shout and sing with the frienziedest and most zealousest of 'em. mother charnick stood with her bag in her hand, and the other hand on the puckerin' string. i don't say what she had in the bag, but i do say this, that she had it fixed so's she could have ondone it in a secont's time. and her eyes wuz intent on the heavens overhead. but they kep calm and serene and cloudless, nothin' to be seen there--no sign, no change--and ma charnick kep still and didn't draw the puckerin' string. but oh, how excitement reined and grew rampant around that school-house! miss pool and joe seemin' to outdo all the rest (she always did try to), till at last, jest as the pinter swung round to the very minute, joe, more than half by the side of himself, with the excitement he had been in for a week, and bein' urged onto it by miss pool, as he sez to this day, he jumped up onto the tall stump he had been a standin' by, and stood there in his long white robe, lookin' like a spook, if anybody had been calm enough to notice it, and he sung out in a clear voice--his voice always did have a good honest ring to it: farewell my friends, farewell my foes; up to heaven joe charnick goes. and jest as the clock struck, and they all shouted and screamed, he waved his arms, with their two great white wings a-flutterin', and sprung upwards, expectin' the hull world, livin' and dead, would foller him--and go right up into the heavens. and trueman's wife bein' right by the stump, waved her wings and jumped too--jest the same direction es he jumped. but she only stood on a camp chair, and when she fell, she didn't crack no bones, it only jarred her dretfully, and hurt her across the small of her back, to that extent that i kep bread and milk poultices on day and night for three weeks, and lobelia and catnip, half and half; she a-arguin' at me every single poultice i put on that it wuzn't her way of makin' poultices, nor her way of applyin' of 'em. [illustration: "farewell my friends, farewell my foes."] i told her i didn't know of any other way of applyin' 'em to her back, only to put 'em on it. but she insisted to the last that i didn't apply 'em right, and i didn't crumble the bread into the milk right, and the lobelia wuzn't picked right, nor the catnip. not one word did she ever speak about the end of the world--not a word--but a-naggin' about everything else. wall, i healed her after a time, and glad enough wuz i to see her healed, and started off. but joe charnick suffered worse and longer. he broke his limb in two places and cracked his rib. the bones of his arm wuz a good while a-healin', and before they wuz healed he was wounded in a new place. he jest fell over head and ears in love with jenette finster. for bein' shet up to home with his mother and her (his mother wouldn't hear to jenette leavin' her for a minute) he jest seemed to come to a full realizin' sense of her sweet natur' and bright, obleegin' ways; and his old affection for her bloomed out into the deepest and most idolatrous love--joe never could be megum. jenette, and good enough for him, held him off for quite a spell--but when he got cold and relapsted, and they thought he wuz goin' to die, then she owned up to him that she worshipped him--and always had. and from that day he gained. mother charnick wuz tickled most to death at the idea of havin' jenette for her own girl--she thinks her eyes on her, and so does jenette of her. so it wuz agreeable as anything ever wuz all around, if not agreeabler. jest as quick as she got well enough to walk, and before he got out of his bed, trueman's wife walked over to see joe. and joe's mother hatin' her so, wouldn't let her step her foot into the house. and joe wuz glad on't, so they say. mother charnick wuz out on the stoop in front of the house, when trueman's wife got there, and told her that they had to keep the house still; that is, they say so, i don't know for certain, but they say that ma charnick offered to take trueman's wife out to see her chickens, the ones she had brought up by hand, and trueman's wife wantin' to please her, so's to get in, consented. and miss charnick showed her the hull of 'em, all fat and flourishing--they wuz well took care of. and miss charnick looked down on 'em fondly, and sez: "i lay out to have a good chicken pie the day that joe and jenette are married." [illustration: "i lay out to have a good chicken pie the day that joe and jenette are married."] "married!" sez trueman's wife, in faint and horrified axcents. "yes, they are goin' to be married jest as soon as my son gets well enough. jenette is fixin' a new dress for me to wear to the weddin'--with a bask," sez she with emphasis. and es she said it, they say she stooped down and gathered some sprigs of thoroughwert, a-mentionin' how much store she set by it for sickness. but if she did, trueman's wife didn't sense it, she wuz dumbfoundered and sot back by the news. and she left my home and board the week before the weddin'. they had been married about a year, when jenette wuz here a-visitin'--and she asked me in confidence (and it _must_ be kep, it stands lo reason it must), "if i s'posed that book muslin robe would make two little dresses?" and i told her, "good land! yes, three on 'em," and it did. she dresses the child beautiful, and i don't know whether she would want the neighbors to know jest what and when and where she gets the materials-- it looks some like her and some like joe--and they both think their eyes on it--but old miss charnick worships it--wall, though es i said (and i have eppisoded to a extent that is almost onprecidented and onheard on). though josiah allen made a excuse of borrowin' a plow (a _plow_, that time of night) to get away from my arguments on the conference, and submit's kinder skairt face, and so forth, and so on-- he resumed the conversation the next mornin' with more energy than ever. (he never said nuthin' about the plow, and i never see no sign on it, and don't believe he got it, or wanted it.) he resumed the subject, and kep on a-resumin' of it from day to day and from hour to hour. he would nearly exhaust the subject at home, and then he would tackle the wimmen on it at the methodist meetin' house, while we methodist wimmen wuz to work. after leavin' me to the meetin' house, josiah would go on to the post-office for his daily _world_, and then he would stop on his way back to give us female wimmen the latest news from the conference, and give us his idees on't. [illustration: "he never had time to help."] and sometimes he would fairly harrow us to the very bone, with his dretful imaginins and fears that wimmen would be allowed to overdo herself, and ruin her health, and strain her mind, by bein' permitted to set! why submit tewksbury, and some of the other weaker sisters, would look fairly wild-eyed for some time after he would go. he never could stay long. sometimes we would beset him to stay and do some little job for us, to help us along with our work, such as liftin' somethin' or movin' some bench, or the pulpit, or somethin'. but he never had the time; he always had to hasten home to get to work. he wuz in a great hurry with his spring's work, and full of care about that buzz saw mill. and that wuz how it wuz with every man in the meetin' house that wuz able to work any. they wuz all in a hurry with their spring's work, and their buzz saws, and their inventions, and their agencys, etc., etc., etc. and that wuz the reason why we wimmen wuz havin' such a hard job on the meetin' house. chapter xvii. you see the way on't wuz: we had to do sumthin' to raise the minister's salary, which wuz most half a year behindhand, to say nothin' of the ensuin' year a-comin'. and as i have hinted at before but hain't gi'n petickulers, the men in the meetin' house had all gi'n out, and said they had gi'n every cent they could, and they couldn't and they wouldn't do any more, any way. as i have said more formally, there wuz a hardness arozen amongst the male brethern. deacon peedick thought he had gi'n more than his part in proportion, and come right out plain and said so. and deacon bobbet said "he wuzn't the man to stand it to be told right to his face that he hadn't done his share," and he said "he wuzn't the man either, to be hinted at from the pulpit about things." i don't believe he wuz hinted at, and sister bobbet don't and she felt like death to have him so riz up in his mind, and act so. i know what the tex' wuz; it wuz these words: "the lord loveth a cheerful giver." the minister didn't mean nothin' only pure gospel, when he preached about it. but it proved to be a tight-breasted, close-fittin' coat to several of the male brothers, and it fitted 'em so well it fairly pinched 'em. but there it wuz, deacon bobbet wouldn't gi'n a cent towards raisin' the money. and there wuz them that said, and stuck to it, that he said "he wouldn't give a _darn_ cent." but i don't know as that is so. i wouldn't want to be the one that said that he had demeaned himself to that extent. wall, he wouldn't give a cent, and peedick wouldn't give, and deacon henzy and deacon sypher wouldn't. they said that there wuz certain members of the meetin' house that had said to certain people suthin' slightin' about buzz saws. i myself thought then, and think still, that the subject of buzz saws had a great deal to do in makin' 'em act so riz up and excited. i believe the subject rasped 'em, and made 'em nervous. but when these various hardnesses aroze amongst some of the brethern, the rest of the men kinder joined in with 'em, some on one side, and some on the other, and they all baulked right out of the harness. (allegory.) and there the minister wuz, good old creeter, jest a-sufferin' for the necessities of life, and most half a year's salery due. i tell you it looked dark. the men all said they couldn't see no way out of the trouble, and some of the wimmen felt about so. and old miss henn, one of our most able sisters, she had gi'n out, she wuz as mad as her own sirname about how her metilda had been used. the meetin' house had just hauled her up for levity. and i thought then, and think now, that the meetin' house wuz too hard on metilda henn. she did titter right out in protracted meetin', sister henn don't deny it, and she felt dretful bad about it, and so did i. but metilda said, and stuck to it, that she couldn't have helped laughin' if it had been to save her life. and though i realized the awfulness of it, still, when some of the brethern wuz goin' on dretful about it, i sez to 'em: "the bible sez there is a time to laugh, and i don't know when that is, unless it is when you can't help it." what she wuz a-laughin' at wuz this: there wuz a widder woman by the name of nancy lum that always come to evenin' meetin's. she wuz very tall and humbly, and she had been on the look out (so it wuz s'pozed) for a d husband for some time. she had always made a practice of saying one thing over and over to all the protracted and conference meetin's, and she would always bust out a-cryin' before she got it all out. she always said "she wanted to be found always at the foot of the cross." she would always begin this remark dretful kinder loud and hysterical, and then would dwindle down kinder low at the end on't, and bustin' out into tears somewhere through it from first to last. but this evenin' suthin' had occurred to make her more hysterical and melted down than usial. some say it wuz because deacon henshaw wuz present for the first time after his wive's death. but any way, she riz up lookin' awful tall and humbly--she was most a head taller than any man there--and she sez out loud and strong: "i want to be found--" and then she busted right out a-cryin' hard. and she sobbed for some time. and then she begun agin, "i want to be found--" and then she busted out agin. and so it went on for some time--she a-tellin' out ever and anon loud and firm, "that she wanted to be found--" and then bustin' into tears. till finally deacon henshaw (some mistrust that he is on the point of gettin' after her, and he always leads the singin' any way) he struck right out onto the him-- "oh, that will be joyful!" and sister lum sot down. wall, that wuz what made metilda henn titter. and that was what made me bring forward that verse of scripter. that the bible said "'there wuz a time to laugh,' and i didn't know when it wuz unless it wuz when you couldn't help it--" but i didn't say it to uphold metilda--no, indeed. i only said it because they wuz so bitter on her, and laid the rules of the meetin' house down on her so heavy. but josiah said, "what would become of the meetin' house if it didn't punish its unruly members?" and i sez to josiah, "do you remember the case of deacon widrig over in loontown. he wuz rich and influential, and when he wuz complained of, and the meetin' house sot on him, they sot light, and you know it, josiah allen. and he was kep in the church, the meen old creeter. and miss henn is a widder and poor." "yes," sez josiah, calmly, "she hain't been able to help the meetin' house much, and brother widrig contributes largely." sez i, in a fearful meanin' axent, "i hearn he did at the time he wuz up--i hearn he contributed _lots_ to the male brethren who was a-judgin' him--but," sez i, "do you spoze, josiah allen, that if wimmen wuz allowed their way in the matter, that that man would be allowed to stay in the meetin' house, and keep on a-makin' and a-sellin' the poisen that is sendin' men to ruin all round him-- "makin' his hard cider by the barell and hogset and fixin' it some way so it will make a far worse drunk than whiskey, and then supplyin' every low saloon fur and near with it, and peddlin' it out to every man and boy that wants it. "and boys think they can drink cider without doin' any harm--so he jest entices 'em down into the road to ruin--doin' as much agin harm as a whiskey seller. "and mothers have to set still and see it go on. it is men that are always appinted to deal with sinners, male or female. men are judged by their peers, but wimmen never are. "i wonder if that is just? i wonder how deacon widrig would have liked it to have had miss henn set on him? he wuz dretful excited, so i hearn, about metilda's case--thought it wuz highly incumbient on the meetin' house to have her made a example of, so's to try to abolish such wicked doin's as snickerin' out in meetin'. [illustration: "supplyin' every low saloon fur and near."] "i wonder how he would have liked it to have had charley lanfear's mother set on him? she is a sister in the meetin' house and charley is a ruined boy--and deacon widrig is jest as much the cause of his ruin-- jest as guilty of murderin' all that wuz sweet and lovely in him es if he had fed arsenic to him with a teaspoon." sez i, "in that very meetin' house to loontown, there are mothers who have to set and take the bread and wine tokens of the blood and body of their crucified redeemer from a man's hands that they know are red with the blood of their own sons. fur redder than human blood and deeper-stained with the ruin of their immortal souls. "what thoughts does these mothers keep on a-thinkin' as they set there and see a man guilty of worse than murder set up as a example to other young souls? what thoughts do they keep on a-thinkin' of the young hearts that wuz pure before this man laid holt of 'em. young eyes that wuz true and tender till this man made 'em look on his accursed drink. young lips that smiled on their mothers till he gin 'em that that changed the smiles to curses? "would a delegation of wimmen keep such a man in the meetin' house if he paved the hull floor with fine gold? no, you know they wouldn't. let a jury of mothers set on such a man, and see if he could get up agin very easy. "they are the ones who have suffered by him, who have agonized, who went down into deeper than the valley of death led by his hand. they went down into that depth where they lose their boy. lose him eternally. "death, jest death, would give 'em a chance to meet their child again. but what hope does a mother have when down in the darkness that has no mornin', her boy tears his hand from her weak grasp and plunges downward? "how does such a mother feel as she sets there in a still meetin' house, and the man who has done all this passes her the emblems of a deathless love, a divine purity?" josiah sat demute and, didn't say nuthin', and i went on, for i wuz very roze up in my mind, and by the side of myself with emotions. and sez i, "take the case of simeon lathers. why wuz it that sister irene filkins wuz turned out of the meetin' house and the man who wuz the first cause of her goin' astray kep in--the handsome, smooth-faced hypocrite?--it wuz because he wuz rich as a jew, and jest plastered over the consciences of them that tried him with his fine speeches and his money." [illustration: "josiah looked up and sez, 'how a steeple would look a-pintin' down'"] "fixed over the meetin' house there in zoar, built a new steeple, a towerin' one. if wimmen had had their way, that steeple would have pinted the other way." josiah looked up from ayers' almanac, which he wuz calmly perusin', and sez he, "how a steeple would look a-pintin' down!" [transcriber's note: every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. text that has been changed to correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. also, many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain as they were in the original.] [illustration: susan b. anthony. (signed: affectionately yours susan b. anthony)] the history of woman suffrage edited by susan b. anthony & ida husted harper illustrated with copperplate and photogravure engravings _in four volumes_ vol. iv. - "perfect equality of rights for woman, civil, legal and political" susan b. anthony madison street, rochester, n. y. copyright, , by susan b. anthony the hollenbeck press indianapolis * * * * make me respect my material so much that i dare not slight my work. help me to deal very honestly with words and with people, because they are both alive. show me that, as in a river, so in writing, clearness is the best quality, and a little that is pure is worth more than much that is mixed. teach me to see the local color without being blind to the inner light. give me an ideal that will stand the strain of weaving into human stuff on the loom of the real. keep me from caring more for books than for folks, for art than for life. steady me to do my full stint of work as well as i can, and when that is done, stop me, pay me what wages thou wilt, and help me to say from a quiet heart a grateful amen. henry van dyke. preface after the movement for woman suffrage, which commenced about the middle of the nineteenth century, had continued for twenty-five years, the feeling became strongly impressed upon its active promoters, miss susan b. anthony and mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, that the records connected with it should be secured to posterity. with miss anthony, indeed, the idea had been ever present, and from the beginning she had carefully preserved as far as possible the letters, speeches and newspaper clippings, accounts of conventions and legislative and congressional reports. by they were convinced through various circumstances that the time had come for writing the history. so little did they foresee the magnitude which this labor would assume that they made a mutual agreement to accept no engagements for four months, expecting to finish it within that time, as they contemplated nothing more than a small volume, probably a pamphlet of a few hundred pages. miss anthony packed in trunks and boxes the accumulations of the years and shipped them to mrs. stanton's home in tenafly, n. j., where the two women went cheerfully to work. mrs. stanton was the matchless writer, miss anthony the collector of material, the searcher of statistics, the business manager, the keen critic, the detector of omissions, chronological flaws and discrepancies in statement such as are unavoidable even with the most careful historian. on many occasions they called to their aid for historical facts mrs. matilda joslyn gage, one of the most logical, scientific and fearless writers of her day. to mrs. gage vol. i of the history of woman suffrage is wholly indebted for the first two chapters--preceding causes and woman in newspapers, and for the last chapter--woman, church and state, which she later amplified in a book; and vol. ii for the first chapter--woman's patriotism in the civil war. when the allotted time had expired the work had far exceeded its original limits and yet seemed hardly begun. its authors were amazed at the amount of history which already had been made and still more deeply impressed with the desirability of preserving the story of the early struggle, but both were in the regular employ of lecture bureaus and henceforth could give only vacations to the task. they were entirely without the assistance of stenographers and typewriters, who at the present day relieve brain workers of so large a part of the physical strain. a labor which was to consume four months eventually extended through ten years and was not completed until the closing days of . the pamphlet of a few hundred pages had expanded into three great volumes of , pages each, and enough material remained unused to fill another.[ ] it was almost wholly due to miss anthony's clear foresight and painstaking habits that the materials were gathered and preserved during all the years, and it was entirely owing to her unequaled determination and persistence that the history was written. the demand for mrs. stanton on the platform and the cares of a large family made this vast amount of writing a most heroic effort, and one which doubtless she would have been tempted to evade had it not been for the relentless mentor at her side, helping to bear her burdens and overcome the obstacles, and continually pointing out the necessity that the history of this movement for the emancipation of women should be recorded, in justice to those who carried it forward and as an inspiration to the workers of the future. and so together, for a long decade, these two great souls toiled in the solitude of home just as together they fought in the open field, not for personal gain or glory, but for the sake of a cause to which they had consecrated their lives. had it not been for their patient and unselfish labor the story of the hard conditions under which the pioneers struggled to lift woman out of her subjection, the bitterness of the prejudice, the cruelty of the persecution, never would have been told. in all the years that have passed no one else has attempted to tell it, and should any one desire to do so it is doubtful if, even at this early date, enough of the records could be found for the most superficial account. in not a library can the student who wishes to trace this movement to its beginning obtain the necessary data except in these three volumes, which will become still more valuable as the years go by and it nears success. miss anthony began this work in without a dollar in hand for its publication. she never had the money in advance for any of her undertakings, but she went forward and accomplished them, and when the people saw that they were good they usually repaid the amount she had advanced from her own small store. in this case she resolved to use the whole of it and all she could earn in the future rather than not publish the history. mrs. elizabeth thompson, of new york, a generous patron of good works, gave her the first $ , in , but this did not cover the expenses that had been actually incurred thus far in its preparation. she was in nowise discouraged, however, but kept steadily on during every moment which could be spared by mrs. stanton and herself, absolutely confident that in some way the necessary funds would be obtained. her strong faith was justified, for the first week of came a notice from wendell phillips that mrs. eliza jackson eddy, of boston, had left her a large legacy to be used according to her own judgment "for the advancement of woman's cause." litigation by an indirect heir deprived her of this money for over three years, but in april, , she received $ , . the first volume of the history had been issued in may, , and the second in april, . in june, , mrs. stanton and miss anthony set resolutely to work and labored without ceasing until the next november, when the third volume was sent to the publishers. with the bequest miss anthony paid the debts that had been incurred, replaced her own fund, of which every dollar had been used, and brought out this last volume. all were published at a time when paper and other materials were at a high price. the fine steel engravings alone cost $ , . on account of the engagements of the editors it was necessary to employ proofreaders and indexers, and because of the many years over which the work had stretched an immense number of changes had to be made in composition, so that a large part of the legacy was consumed. the money which miss anthony now had enabled her to carry out her long-cherished project to put this history free of charge in the public libraries. it was thus placed in twelve hundred in the united states and europe. mrs. stanton and mrs. gage, who had contributed their services without price, naturally felt that it should be sold instead of given away, and in order to have a perfectly free hand she purchased their rights. in addition to the libraries, she has given it to hundreds of schools and to countless individuals, writers, speakers, etc., whom she thought it would enable to do better work for the franchise. for seventeen years she has paid storage on the volumes and the stereotype plates. during this time there has been some demand for the books from those who were able and willing to pay, but much the largest part of the labor and money expended were a direct donation to the cause of woman suffrage. from the time the last volume was finished it was miss anthony's intention, if she should live twenty years longer, to issue a fourth containing the history which would be made during that period, and for this purpose she still preserved the records. as the century drew near a close, bringing with it the end of her four-score years, the desire grew still stronger to put into permanent shape the continued story of a contest which already had extended far beyond the extreme limits imagined when she dedicated to it the full power of her young womanhood with its wealth of dauntless courage and unfailing hope. she resigned the presidency of the national association in february, , which marked her eightieth birthday, in order that she might carry out this project and one or two others of especial importance. among her birthday gifts she received $ , from friends in all parts of the country, and this sum she resolved to apply to the contemplated volume. one of the other objects which she had in view was the collecting of a large fund to be invested and the income used in work for the enfranchisement of women. already about $ , had been subscribed. by the time the first half year had passed, nature exacted tribute for six decades of unceasing and unparalleled toil, and it became evident that the idea of gathering a reserve fund would have to be abandoned. the donors of the $ , were consulted and all gave cordial assent to have their portion applied to the publication of the fourth volume of the history. the largest amount, $ , , had been contributed by mrs. pauline agassiz shaw, of boston. dr. cordelia a. greene, of castile, n. y., had given $ and mrs. emma j. bartol, of philadelphia, $ . the other contributions ranged all the way down to a few dollars, which in many cases represented genuine sacrifice on the part of the givers. it is not practicable to publish the list of the women in full. they will be sufficiently rewarded in the consciousness of having helped to realize miss anthony's dream of finishing the story, to the end of her own part in it, of a great progressive movement in which they were her fellow-workers and loyal friends. mrs. gage passed away in . although mrs. stanton is still living as this volume goes to the publishers in , and evinces her mental vigor at the age of eighty-seven in frequent magazine and newspaper articles, she could not be called upon for this heavy and exacting task. it seemed to miss anthony that the one who had recently completed her biography, in its preparation arranging and classifying her papers of the past sixty years, and who necessarily had made a thorough study of the suffrage movement from its beginning, should share with her this arduous undertaking. the invitation was accepted with much reluctance because of a full knowledge of the great labor and responsibility involved. it must be confessed that even a strong sense of obligation to further the cause of woman's enfranchisement would not have been a sufficient incentive, but personal devotion to a beloved and honored leader outweighed all selfish considerations. it is to miss anthony, however, that the world is indebted for this as well as the other volumes. it was she who conceived the idea; through her came the money for its publication; for several years her own home has been given up to the mass of material, the typewriters, the coming and going of countless packages, the indescribable annoyances and burdens connected with a matter of this kind. in addition she has borne from her private means a considerable portion of the expenses, and has endured the physical weariness and mental anxiety at a time when she has earned the right to complete rest and freedom from care. there is not a chapter which has not had the inestimable benefit of her acute criticism and matured judgment. the peculiar difficulties of historical work can be understood only by those who have experienced them. general information is the easiest of all things to obtain--exact information the hardest, and a history that is not accurate has no practical utility. if a reader discover one mistake it vitiates the whole book. every historian knows how common it is to find several totally different statements of the same occurrence, each apparently as authentic as the others. he also knows the eel-like elusiveness of dates and the flat contradictions of statistics which seem to disprove absolutely the adage that "figures do not lie." he has suffered the nightmare of wrestling with proper names; and if he is conscientious he has agonized over the attempt to do exact justice to the actors in the drama which he is depicting and yet not detract from its value by loading it with trivial details, of vital moment to those who were concerned in them but of no importance to future readers. all of these embarrassments are intensified in a history of a movement for many years unnoticed or greatly misrepresented in the public press, and its records usually not considered of sufficient value to be officially preserved. none, however, has required such supreme courage and faithfulness from its adherents and this fact makes all the more obligatory the preserving of their names and deeds. to collect the needful information from fifty states and territories and arrange it for publication has required the careful and constant work of over two years. it has been necessary many times to appeal to public officials, who have been most obliging, but the main dependence has been on the women of various localities who are connected with the suffrage associations. these women have spent weeks of time and labor, writing letters, visiting libraries, examining records, and often leaving their homes and going to the state capital to search the archives. all this has been done without financial compensation, and it is largely through their assistance that the editors have been able to prepare this volume. to give an idea of the exacting work required it may be stated that to obtain authentic data on one particular point the writer of the kansas chapter sent letters to city clerks. the meager record of florida necessitated about thirty letters of inquiry. several thousand were sent out by the editors of the history, while the number exchanged within the various states is beyond computation. the demand is widespread that the information which this book contains should be put into accessible shape. miss anthony herself and the suffrage headquarters in new york are flooded with inquiries for statistics as to the gains which have been made, the laws for women, the present status of the question and arguments that can be used in the debates which are now of frequent occurrence in legislatures, universities, schools and clubs in all parts of the country. practically everything that can be desired on these points will be found herein. the first twenty-two chapters contain the whole argument in favor of granting the franchise to women, as every phase of the question is touched and every objection considered by the ablest of speakers. it has been a special object to present here in compact form the reasons on which is based the claim for woman suffrage. in chapter xxiv and those following are included the laws pertaining to women, their educational and industrial opportunities, the amount of suffrage they possess, the offices they may fill, legislative action on matters concerning them, and the part which the suffrage associations have had in bringing about present conditions. there are also chapters on the progress made in foreign countries and on the organized work of women in other lines besides that of the franchise. all the care possible has been taken to make each chapter accurate and complete. beginning with , where vol. iii closes, the present volume ends with the century. this is not a book which must necessarily wait upon posterity for its readers, but it is filled with live, up-to-date information. its editors take the greatest pleasure in presenting it to the young, active, progressive men and women of the present day, who, without doubt, will bring to a successful end the long and difficult contest to secure that equality of rights which belongs alike to all the citizens of this largest of republics and greatest of nations. i. h. h. footnotes: [ ] the reader can not fail to be interested in the personal story of the writing of these books as related in the reminiscences of elizabeth cady stanton and the life and work of susan b. anthony--the many journeys made by the big boxes of documents from the home of one to that of the other; the complications with those who were gathering data in their respective localities; the trials with publishers; the delays, disappointments and vexations, all interspersed and brightened with many humorous features. introduction. it has been frequently said that the first three volumes of the history of woman suffrage, which bring the record to twenty years ago, represent the seed-sowing time of the movement. they do far more than this, for seeds sown in the early days which they describe would have fallen upon ground so stony that if they had sprung up they would soon have withered away. the pioneers in the work for the redemption of women found an unbroken field, not fallow from lying idle, but arid and barren, filled with the unyielding rocks of prejudice and choked with the thorns of conservatism. it required many years of labor as hard as that endured by the forefathers in wresting their lands from undisturbed nature, before the ground was even broken to receive the seed. then followed the long period of persistent tilling and sowing which brought no reaping until the last quarter of the century, when the scanty harvest began to be gathered. the yield has seemed small indeed at the end of each twelvemonth and it is only when viewed in the aggregate that its size can be appreciated. the condition of woman to-day compared with that of last year seems unchanged, but contrasted with that of fifty years ago it presents as great a revolution as the world has ever witnessed in this length of time. if the first organized demand for the rights of woman--made at the memorable convention of seneca falls, n. y., in --had omitted the one for the franchise, those who made it would have lived to see all granted. it asked for woman the right to have personal freedom, to acquire an education, to earn a living, to claim her wages, to own property, to make contracts, to bring suit, to testify in court, to obtain a divorce for just cause, to possess her children, to claim a fair share of the accumulations during marriage. an examination of chap. xxiv and the following chapters in this volume will show that in many of the states all these privileges are now accorded, and in not one are all refused, but when this declaration was framed all were denied by every state. for the past half century there has been a steady advance in the direction of equal rights for women. in many instances these have been granted in response to the direct efforts of women themselves; in others without exertion on their part but through the example of neighboring states and as a result of the general trend toward a long-delayed justice. enough has been accomplished in all of the above lines to make it absolutely certain that within a few years women everywhere in the united states will enjoy entire equality of legal, civil and social rights. behind all of these has been the persistent demand for political rights, and the question naturally arises, "why do these continue to be denied? educated, property-owning, self-reliant and public-spirited, why are women still refused a voice in the government? citizens in the fullest sense of the word, why are they deprived of the suffrage in a country whose institutions rest upon individual representation?" there are many reasons, but the first and by far the most important is the fact that this right, and this alone of all that have had to be gained for woman, can be secured only through constitutional law. all others have rested upon statute law, or upon the will of a board of trustees, or of a few individuals, or have needed no official or formal sanction. the suffrage alone must be had through a change of the constitution of the state and this can be obtained only by consent of the majority of the voters. therefore this most valuable of all rights--the one which if possessed by women at the beginning would have brought all the others without a struggle--is placed absolutely in the hands of men to be granted or withheld at will from women. it is an unjust condition which does not exist even in a monarchy of the old world, and it makes of the united states instead of a true republic an oligarchy in which one-half of the citizens have entire control of the other half. there is not another country having an elected representative body, where this body itself may not extend the suffrage. while the writing of this volume has been in progress the parliament of australia by a single act has fully enfranchised the , women of that commonwealth. the parliament of great britain has conferred on women every form of suffrage except that for its own members, and there is a favorable prospect of this being granted long before the women of the united states have a similar privilege. not another nation is hampered by a written federal constitution which it is almost impossible to change, and by forty-five written state constitutions none of which can be altered in the smallest particular except by consent of the majority of the voters. every one of these constitutions was framed by a convention which no woman had a voice in selecting and of which no woman was a member. with the sole exception of wyoming, not one woman in the forty-five states was permitted a vote on the constitution, and every one except wyoming and utah confined its elective franchise strictly to "male" citizens. thus, wherever woman turns in this boasted republic, from ocean to ocean, from lakes to gulf, seeking the citizen's right of self-representation, she is met by a dead wall of constitutional prohibition. it has been held in some of the states that this applies only to state and county suffrage and that the legislature has power to grant the municipal franchise to women. kansas is the only one, however, which has given such a vote. a bill for this purpose passed the legislature of michigan, after years of effort on the part of women, and was at once declared unconstitutional by its supreme court. similar bills have been defeated in many legislatures on the ground of unconstitutionality. it is claimed generally that they may bestow school suffrage and this has been granted in over half the states, but frequently it is vetoed by the governor as unconstitutional, as has been done several times in california. in new york, after four acts of the legislature attempting to give school suffrage to all women, three decisions of the highest courts confined it simply to those of villages and country districts where questions are decided at "school meetings." eminent lawyers hold that even this is "unconstitutional." (see chapter on new york.) the legislature and courts of wisconsin have been trying since to give complete school suffrage to women and yet they are enabled to exercise it this year ( ) for the first time. (see chapter on wisconsin.) some state constitutions provide, as in rhode island, that no form even of school suffrage can be conferred on women until it has been submitted as an amendment and sanctioned by a majority of the voters. the constitutions of a number of states declare that it shall not be sufficient to carry an amendment for it to receive a majority of the votes cast upon it, but it must have a majority of the largest vote cast at the election. not one state where this in the case ever has been able to secure an amendment for any purpose whatever. minnesota submitted this question itself to the electors in in the form of an amendment and it was carried, receiving a total of , , yet the largest number of votes cast at that election was , , so if its own provisions had been required it would have been lost. nebraska is about to make an effort to get rid of such a provision, but, as this can be done only by another amendment to the constitution, the dilemma is presented of the improbability of securing a vote for it which shall be equal to the majority of the highest number cast at the general election. since it is impossible to get such a vote even on questions to which there is no special objection, it is clearly evident that an amendment enfranchising women, to which there is a large and strong opposition, would have no chance whatever in states making the above requirement. it then remains to consider the situation in those states where only a majority of the votes cast upon the amendment itself is required. one or two instances will show the stubborn objection which exists among the masses of men to the very idea of woman suffrage. in the legislature of new jersey passed a law granting school suffrage to women in villages and country districts. after they had exercised it until the supreme court declared it to be unconstitutional, as "the legislature can not enlarge or diminish the class of voters." the women decided it was worth while to preserve even this scrap of suffrage, so they made a vigorous effort to secure from the legislature the submission of an amendment which should give it to them constitutionally. the resolution for this had to pass two successive legislatures, and it happened in this case that by a technicality three were necessary, but with hard work and a petition signed by , the amendment was finally submitted in . the unvarying testimony of the school authorities was that the women had used their vote wisely and to the great advantage of the schools during the seven years; there was no organized opposition from the class who might object to the full suffrage for women lest their business should be injured, or that other class who might fear their personal liberty would be curtailed; yet the proposition to restore to women in the villages and country districts the right simply to vote for school trustees was defeated by , noes, , ayes--over , majority. south dakota as a territory permitted women to vote for all school officers. it entered the union in with a clause in its constitution authorizing them to vote "at any election held solely for school purposes." they soon found that this did not include state and county superintendents, who are voted for at general elections, and that in order to get back their territorial rights an amendment would have to be submitted to the electors. this was done by the legislature of . there had not been the slightest criticism of the way in which they had used their school suffrage during the past fourteen years, no class was antagonized, and yet this amendment was voted down by , noes, , ayes, an opposing majority of , . with these examples in two widely-separated parts of the country, the old and the new, representing not only crystallized prejudice in the one but inborn opposition in both to any step toward enfranchising women, and with this depending absolutely on the will of the voters, is it a matter of wonder that its progress has been so slow? if the question were submitted in any state to-day whether, for instance, all who did not pay taxes should be disfranchised, and only taxpayers were allowed to vote upon it, it would be carried by a large majority. if it were submitted whether all owning property above a certain amount should be disfranchised, and only those who owned less than this, or nothing, were allowed to vote, it would be carried unanimously. no class of men could get any electoral right whatever if it depended wholly on the consent of another class whose interests supposedly lay in withholding it. political, not moral influence removed the property restrictions from the suffrage in order to build up a great party--the democratic--which because of its enfranchisement of wage-earning men has received their support for eighty years. after the civil war, although the republican party was in absolute control, amendments to the state constitutions for striking out the word "white," in order to enfranchise colored men, were defeated in one after another of the northern states, even in kansas, the most radical of them all in its anti-slavery sentiment. it finally became so evident that this concession would not be granted by the voters that congress was obliged to submit first one and then a second amendment to the federal constitution to secure it. but even then the ratification of the necessary three-fourths of the legislatures could be obtained only because it was positively certain that through this action an immense addition would be made to the republican electorate. now after a lapse of thirty years this same party looks on unmoved at the violation of these amendments in every southern state because it is believed that thus there can be, through white suffrage, the building up of the party in that section which the colored vote has not been able to accomplish. the most superficial examination of the conditions which govern the franchise answers the question why, after fifty years of effort, so little progress has been made in obtaining it for women. of late years every new or "third" party which is organized declares for woman suffrage. this is partly because such parties come into existence to carry out reforms in which they believe women can help, and partly because in their weak state they are ready to grasp at straws. while giving them full credit for such recognition, whatever may be its inspiring motive, it is clearly evident that the franchise must come to women through the dominant parties. if either of these could have had assurance of receiving the majority of the woman's vote it would have been obtained for her long ago without effort on her part, just as the workingman's and the colored man's were secured for them, but this has been impossible. even in the four states where women now have the full suffrage neither party has been able to claim a distinct advantage from it. at the last presidential election two of the four went democratic and two republican. in colorado, where women owed their enfranchisement very largely to the populists, that party was deposed from power at the first election where they voted and never has been reinstated. although there was no justification for holding women responsible, they were so held, and the party consequently did not extend the franchise to women in other states where it might have done so. many consider that the principles of the republican party in general would be more apt to commend themselves to women than those of the democratic, but others believe that, so great is their antipathy to war and all the evils connected with it and the consequences following it, they would have opposed the party responsible for these during the past four years. it may be accepted, however, as the most probable view that women will divide on the main issues in much the same proportion as men. from this standpoint neither party will see any especial advantage in their enfranchisement, and both will look with disfavor upon adding to the immense number of voters who must now be reckoned with in every campaign an equally great number who are likely to require an entirely different management. there is a certain element in the leadership of all parties which is not especially objectionable to men, but would not be tolerated by women. candidates who would be perfectly acceptable to men if they were sound on the political issues might be wholly repudiated by the women of their own party. if temperance and morality were made requisites many leaders and officials who now hold high position would be permanently retired. these are all reasons which appeal to politicians for deferring the day of woman suffrage as long as possible. each of the two dominant parties is largely controlled by what are known as the liquor interests. their influence begins with the national government, which receives from them billions of revenue; it extends to the states, to which they pay millions; to the cities, whose income they increase by hundreds of thousands; to the farmers, who find in breweries and distilleries the best market for their grain. there is no hamlet so small as not to be touched by their ramifications. no "trust" ever formed can compare with them in the power which they exercise. that their business shall not be interfered with they must possess a certain authority over congress and legislatures. they and the various institutions connected with them control millions of votes. they are among the largest contributors to political campaigns. there are few legislators who do not owe their election in a greater or less degree to the influence wielded by these liquor interests, which are positively, unanimously and unalterably opposed to woman suffrage. this can be gained only by the submission of an amendment to the national or state constitutions, and for that women must go to the congress or the legislatures. what can they offer to offset the influences behind these bodies? they have no money to contribute for party purposes. they represent no constituency and can not pledge a single vote, a situation in which no other class is placed. they ask men to divide a power of which they now have a monopoly; to give up a sure thing for an uncertainty; to sacrifice every selfish interest--and all in the name of abstract justice, a word which has no place in politics. was there ever apparently a more hopeless quest? with the exception of the three amendments made necessary by the civil war, the federal constitution has not been amended for ninety-eight years, and there is strong opposition to any changes in that instrument. if congress would submit an article to the state legislatures for the enfranchisement of women the situation would be vastly simplified and eventually the requisite three-fourths for ratification could be secured, but undoubtedly a number of states will have to follow the example of those in the far west in granting the suffrage before this is done. the question at present, therefore, may be considered as resting with the various legislatures. with all the powerful influences above mentioned strongly intrenched and pitted against the women who come empty-handed, it is naturally a most difficult matter to secure the submission of an amendment where there is the slightest chance of its carrying. with the two exceptions of colorado and idaho, it may be safely asserted that in every case where one has been submitted it has been done simply to please the women and to get rid of them, and with the full assurance that it would not be carried. two conspicuous examples of the impossibility of obtaining an amendment where it would be likely to receive a majority vote are to be found in california and iowa. in the former state one went before the electors in , and, although the conditions were most unfavorable and the strongest possible fight was made against it, so large an affirmative sentiment was developed that it was clearly evident it would be carried on a second trial. up to that time the women of this state had very little difficulty in securing suffrage bills, but since then the legislature has persistently refused to submit another amendment. (see chapter on california.) in probably no state is the general sentiment so strongly in favor of woman suffrage as in iowa, and yet for the past thirty years the women have tried in vain to secure from the legislature the submission of an amendment--simply an opportunity to carry their case to the electors. (see chapter on iowa.) the politics of that state is practically controlled by the great brewing interests and the balance of power rests in the german vote. it is believed that woman suffrage would be detrimental to their interests and they will not allow it. here, as in many states, a resolution for an amendment must be acted upon by two successive legislatures. if a majority of either party should pass this resolution, the enemy would be able to defeat its nominees for the next legislature before the women could get the chance to vote for them. in other words, all the forces hostile to woman suffrage are already enfranchised and are experienced, active and influential in politics, while the women themselves can give no assistance, and the men in every community who favor it are very largely those who have not an aggressive political influence. this very refusal of certain legislatures to let the voters pass upon the question is the strongest possible indication that they fear the result. if women could be enfranchised simply by an act of congress they would have an opportunity to vote for their benefactors at the same time as the enemies would vote against them, and thus the former would not, as at present, run the risk of personal defeat and the overthrow of their party by espousing the cause of woman suffrage. if, however, legislatures were willing to submit the question it is doubtful whether, under present conditions, it could be carried in any large number of states, as the same elements which influence legislators act also upon the voters through the party "machines." amendments to strike the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the constitution have been submitted by ten states, and by five of these twice--kansas, - ; michigan, ; colorado, - ; nebraska, ; oregon, - ; rhode island, ; washington, - ; south dakota, - ; california, ; idaho, . out of the fifteen trials the amendment has been adopted but twice--in colorado and idaho. in these two cases it was indorsed by all the political parties and carried with their permission. wyoming and utah placed equal suffrage in the constitution under which they entered statehood. in both, as territories, women had had the full franchise--in wyoming twenty-one and in utah seventeen years--and public sentiment was strongly in favor. in the states where the question was defeated it had practically no party support. aside from all political hostility, however, woman suffrage has to face a tremendous opposition from other sources. the attitude of a remonstrant is the natural one of the vast majority of people. their first cry on coming into the world, if translated, would be, "i object." they are opposed on principle to every innovation, and the greatest of these is the enfranchisement of women. to grant woman an equality with man in the affairs of life is contrary to every tradition, every precedent, every inheritance, every instinct and every teaching. the acceptance of this idea is possible only to those of especially progressive tendencies and a strong sense of justice, and it is yet too soon to expect these from the majority. if it had been necessary to have the consent of the majority of the men in every state for women to enter the universities, to control their own property, to engage in the various professions and occupations, to speak from the public platform and to form great organizations, in not one would they be enjoying these privileges to-day. it is very probable that this would be equally true if they had depended upon the permission of a majority of women themselves. they are more conservative even than men, because of the narrowness and isolation of their lives, the subjection in which they always have been held, the severe punishment inflicted by society on those who dare step outside the prescribed sphere, and, stronger than all, perhaps, their religious tendencies through which it has been impressed upon them that their subordinate position was assigned by the divine will and that to rebel against it is to defy the creator. in all the generations, church, state and society have combined to retard the development of women, with the inevitable result that those of every class are narrower, more bigoted and less progressive than the men of that class. while the girls are crowding the colleges now until they threaten to exceed the number of boys, the demand for the higher education was made by the merest handful of women and granted by an equally small number of men, who, on the boards of trustees, were able to do so, but it would have been deferred for decades if it had depended on a popular vote of either men or women. the pioneers in the professions found their most trying opposition from other women, instigated by the men who did their thinking for them to believe that the whole sex was being disgraced. married women almost universally were opposed to laws which would give them control of their property, being assured by their masculine advisers that this would deprive them of the love and protection of their husbands. public sentiment was wholly opposed to these laws and no such objections ever have been made in legislatures even to woman suffrage as were urged against allowing a wife to own property. the contest was won by the smallest fraction of women and a few strong, far-seeing men, the latter actuated not alone by a sentiment of justice but also by the desire of preventing husbands from squandering the property which fathers had accumulated and wished to secure to their daughters, and fortunate indeed was it that this action did not have to be ratified by the voters. there are in the united states between three and four million women engaged in wage-earning occupations outside of domestic service. would this be possible had they been obliged to have the duly recorded permission of a majority of all the men over twenty-one years old? if the question were submitted to the votes of these men to-day whether women should be allowed to continue in these employments and enter any and all others, would it be carried in the affirmative in a single state? and yet this prejudiced, conservative and in a degree ignorant and vicious electorate possesses absolutely the power to withhold the suffrage from women. a large part of it is composed of foreign-born men, bringing from the old world the most primitive ideas of the degraded position which properly belongs to woman. another part is addicted to habits with which it never would give women the chance to interfere. boys of twenty-one form another portion, fully imbued with a belief in woman's inferiority which only experience can eradicate. men of the so-called working classes vote against it because they fear to add to the power of the so-called aristocracy. the latter oppose it because they think the suffrage already has been too widely extended and ought to be curtailed instead of expanded. the old fogies cast a negative ballot because they believe woman ought to be kept in her "sphere," and the strictly orthodox because it is not authorized by the scriptures. a large body who are "almost persuaded," but have some lingering doubts as to the "expediency," satisfy their consciences for voting "no" by saying that the women of their family and acquaintance do not want it. thus is the most valuable of human rights--the right of individual representation--made the football of legislatures, the shuttlecock of voters, kicked and tossed like the veriest plaything in utter disregard of the vital fact that it is the one principle above all others on which the government is founded. nevertheless there is abundant reason for belief that, in the face of all the forces which are arrayed against it, this measure could be carried in almost any state where the women themselves were a unit or even very largely in the majority in favor of it. in the indifference, the inertia, the apathy of women lies the greatest obstacle to their enfranchisement. investigation in states where a suffrage amendment has been voted on has shown that practically every election precinct where a thorough canvass was made and every voter personally interviewed by the women who resided in it, was carried in favor. some men of course can not be moved, but many who never have given the subject any thought can be set to thinking; while there is in the average man a latent sense of justice which responds to the persuasion of a woman who comes in person and says, "i ask you to grant me the same rights which you yourself enjoy; i am your neighbor; i pay taxes just as you do; our interests are identical; give me the same power to protect mine which you possess to protect yours." a man would have to be thoroughly hardened to vote "no" after such an appeal, but if he were let alone he could do so without any qualms. the same situation obtains in the family and in social life. the average man would not vote against granting women the franchise if all those of his own family and the circle of his intimate friends brought a strong pressure to bear upon him in its favor. the measure could be carried against all opposition if every clergyman in every community would urge the women of his congregation to work for it, assuring them of the sanction of the church and the blessing of god, and showing them how vastly it would increase their power for good. every privilege which has been granted women has tended to develop them, until their influence is incomparably stronger at the present time than ever before. their great organizations are a power in every town and city. if these throughout a state would unite in a determined effort to secure the franchise, bringing to bear upon legislators the demands of thousands of women, high and low, rich and poor, of all classes and conditions, they would be compelled to yield; and the same amount of influence would carry the amendment with the voters. but the petitioners for the suffrage are in the minority. there are many obvious reasons for this, and one of them, paradoxical as it may seem, is because so much already has been gained. woman in general now finds her needs very well supplied. if she wants to work she has all occupations to choose from. if she desires an education the schools and colleges are freely opened to her. if she wishes to address the public by pen or voice the people hear her gladly. the laws have been largely modified in her favor, and where they might press they are seldom enforced. she may accumulate and control property; she may set up her own domestic establishment and go and come at will. if the workingwoman finds herself at a disadvantage she has not time and often not ability to seek the cause until she traces it to disfranchisement, and if she should do so she is too helpless to make a contest against it. those women who "have dwelt, since they were born, in well-feathered nests and have never needed do anything but open their soft beaks for the choicest little grubs to be dropped into them," can not be expected to feel or see any necessity for the ballot. nor will the woman half way between, absorbed in her church, her clubs, her charities and her household, make the philosophical study necessary to show that she could do larger and more effective work for all of these if she possessed the great power which lies in the suffrage. even women of much wealth who are not idle, self-centered and indifferent to the needs of humanity, but are giving munificently for religious, educational and philanthropic purposes, have not been aroused in any large number to the necessity of the suffrage, for reasons which are evident. reforms of every kind are inaugurated and carried forward by a minority, and there is no reason why this one should prove an exception. in not an instance has a majority of any class of men demanded the franchise, and there is no precedent for expecting the majority of women to do so. it will have to be gained for them by the foresight, the courage and the toil of the few, just as all other privileges have been, and they will enter into possession with the same eagerness and unanimity as has marked their acceptance of the others. with this mass of prejudice, selfishness and inertia to overcome is there any hope of future success? yes, there is a hope which amounts to a certainty. nothing could be more logical than a belief that where one hundred privileges have been opposed and then ninety-nine of them granted, the remaining one will ultimately follow. while women still suffer countless minor disadvantages, the fundamental rights have largely been secured except the suffrage. this, as has been pointed out, is most difficult to obtain because it is intrenched in constitutional law and because it represents a more radical revolution than all the others combined. the softening of the bitter opposition of the early days through the general spirit of progress has been somewhat counteracted by a modern skepticism as to the supreme merit of a democratic government and a general disgust with the prevalent political corruption. this will continue to react strongly against any further extension of the suffrage until men can be made to see that a real democracy has not as yet existed, but that the dangerous experiment has been made of enfranchising the vast proportion of crime, intemperance, immorality and dishonesty, and barring absolutely from the suffrage the great proportion of temperance, morality, religion and conscientiousness; that, in other words, the worst elements have been put into the ballot-box and the best elements kept out. this fatal mistake is even now beginning to dawn upon the minds of those who have cherished an ideal of the grandeur of a republic, and they dimly see that in woman lies the highest promise of its fulfilment. those who fear the foreign vote will learn eventually that there are more american-born women in the united states than foreign-born men and women; and those who dread the ignorant vote will study the statistics and see that the percentage of illiteracy is much smaller among women than among men. the consistent tendency since the right to individual representation was established by the revolutionary war has been to extend this right, until now every man in the united states is enfranchised. while a few, usually those who are too exclusive to vote themselves, insist that this is detrimental to the electorate, the vast majority hold that in numbers there is the safety of its being more difficult to purchase or mislead; that even the ignorant may vote more honestly than the educated; that more knowledge and judgment can be added through ten million electors than through five; and also that by this universal male suffrage it is made impossible for one class of men to legislate against another class, and thus all excuse for anarchy or a resort to force is removed. added to these advantages is the developing influence of the ballot upon the individual himself, which renders him more intelligent and gives him a broader conception of justice and liberty. all of these conditions must lead eventually to the enfranchising of the only remaining part of the citizenship without this means of protection and development. the gradual movement in this direction in the united states is seen in the partial extension of the franchise which has taken place during the past thirty-three years, or within one generation. during this time over one-half of them have conferred school suffrage on women; one has granted municipal suffrage; four a vote on questions of taxation; three have recognized them in local matters, and a number of cities have given such privileges as were possible by charter. since four states, by a majority vote of the electors, have enfranchised , women by incorporating the complete suffrage in their constitutions, from which it never can be removed except by a vote of women themselves. during all these years there have been but two retrogressive steps--the disfranchising of the women of washington territory in by an unconstitutional decision of the supreme court, dictated by the disreputable elements then in control; and the taking away of the school suffrage from all women of the second-class cities in kentucky by its legislature of for the purpose of eliminating the vote of colored women. in every other legislature a bill to repeal any limited franchise which has been extended has been overwhelmingly voted down. another favorable sign is the action taken by legislatures on bills for the full enfranchisement of women. formerly they were treated with contempt and ridicule and either thrown out summarily or discussed in language which the descendants of the honorable gentlemen who used it will regret to read. now such bills are treated with comparative courtesy; a discussion is avoided wherever possible, members not wishing to go on record, but if forced it is conducted in a respectful manner; and, while usually rejected, the opposing majority is small, in many instances only just large enough to secure defeat, and frequently members have to change their votes to the negative as they find the measure is about to be carried. several instances have occurred in the last year or two where the bill passed but during the night the party whip was applied with such force that the affirmative was compelled to reconsider its action the next day. there is little doubt that even now if members were free to vote their convictions a bill could be carried in many legislatures. a most encouraging sign is the attitude of the press. although the country papers occasionally refer to the suffrage advocates as hyenas, cats, crowing hens, bold wantons, unsexed females and dangerous home-wreckers--expressions which were common a generation ago--these are no longer found in metropolitan and influential newspapers. scores of both city and country papers openly advocate the measure and scores of others would do so if they were not under the same control as the legislatures. ten years ago it was almost impossible to secure space in any paper for woman suffrage arguments. to-day several of the largest in the country maintain regular departments for this purpose, while the report of the press chairman of the national association for stated that during the past eight months , articles on the subject had been sent to the press and a careful investigation showed that three-fourths of them had been published. in addition different papers had used special articles, while the page of plate matter furnished every six weeks was extensively taken. new york reported papers accepting suffrage matter regularly; pennsylvania, ; iowa, ; illinois, ; massachusetts, , and other states in varying numbers. since this question is very largely one of educating the people, the opening of the press to its arguments is probably the most important advantage which has been gained. the progress of public sentiment is strikingly illustrated in a comparison of the votes in those states which have twice submitted an amendment to their constitution that would give the suffrage to women. in kansas such an amendment in received , ayes, , noes; in , , ayes, , noes. the second time it was indorsed by the populists and not by the republicans, therefore the latter, who in that state are really favorable to the measure, largely voted against it in order that the populists might not strengthen their party by appearing to carry it, and yet the percentage of opposition was considerably decreased. in colorado in the vote stood , ayes, , noes; in the amendment was carried by , ayes, , noes--a majority of , . oregon in gave , ayes, , noes; in , , ayes, , noes--an increase of opponents and , advocates. the vote in washington in was , ayes, , noes; in , , ayes, , noes--the opposing majority reduced from , to , , or almost one-half. one is logically entitled to believe from these figures that the question will be carried in each of those states the next time it is voted on. it must be remembered that women go into all these campaigns with no political influence and practically no money, not enough to employ workers and speakers to make an approach to a thorough organization and canvass of the state; totally without the aid of party machinery; with no platform on which to present their cause except such as is granted by courtesy; and with no advocacy of it by the speakers on the platforms of the various parties. the increased majorities indicate solely that men are emerging from the bondage of tradition, prejudice and creed, and that when they can escape from the bondage of politics they will grant justice to women. the very fact that women themselves are arousing from their inertia to the extent of organizing in opposition to what they term "the danger of having the ballot thrust upon them" shows life. while their enrollment is infinitesimal it has set women to thinking, and a number who have signed the declaration that they do not want the franchise, have for the first time been compelled to give the matter consideration and have decided that they do want it. the facts also that within a few years the membership of the national suffrage association has doubled; that auxiliaries have been formed in every state and territory; that permanent headquarters have been established in new york; and that the revenues (almost wholly the contributions of women) have risen from the $ , or $ , per annum, which it was barely possible to secure half-a-dozen years ago, to $ , in , $ , in (including receipts from bazar), $ , in --these facts are indisputable evidence of the growth of the sentiment among women. in this line of progress must be placed also the thousands of other organizations containing millions of women, which, although not including the suffrage among their objects, are engaged in efforts for better laws, civic improvements and a general advance in conditions that inevitably will bring them to realize the immense disadvantage of belonging to a class without political influence. nothing could be more illogical than the belief that a republic would confer every gift upon woman except the choicest and then forever withhold this; or that women would be content to possess all others and not eventually demand the one most valuable. the increasing number who are attending political conventions and crowding mass meetings until they threaten to leave no room for voters, are unmistakable proof that eventually women themselves and men also will see the utter absurdity of their disfranchised condition. the ancient objections which were urged so forcibly a generation or two ago have lost their force and must soon be retired from service. the charge of mental incapacity is totally refuted by the statistics of showing the percentage of girls in the high schools to be . and of boys, . ; the number of girl graduates, , ; boys, , ; per cent. of the public school teachers women; , women college graduates scattered throughout the country and , now in the universities, with the percentage of their increase in women students three times as great as that of men, and , women practicing in the various professions. the charge of business incompetency is disproved by the , women who are engaged in trade and transportation, the , in agriculture and the , , in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. every community also furnishes its special examples of the aptitude of women for business, now that they are allowed a chance to manifest it. statistics show further that one-tenth of the millionaires are women and that they are large property holders in every locality. whether they earned or inherited their holdings, the fact remains that they are compelled to pay taxes on billions of dollars without any representation. the military argument--that women must not vote because they can not fight--is seldom used nowadays, as it is so clearly evident that it would also disfranchise vast numbers of men; that the value of women in the perpetuation of the government is at least equal to that of the men who defend it; and that there is no recognition in the laws by which the franchise is exercised of the slightest connection between a ballot and a bullet. the most persistent objection--that if women are allowed to enter politics they will neglect their homes and families--is conclusively answered in the four states where they have had political rights for a number of years and domestic life still moves on just as in other places. in two of the four while territories women had exercised the franchise from seventeen to twenty-one years, and yet a large majority of the men voted to grant it perpetually. women do not love their families because compelled to do so by statute, or cling to their homes because there is no place for them outside. this same direful prediction was made at every advanced step, but, although the entire status of women has been changed, and they are largely engaged in the public work of every community, they are better and happier wives, mothers and housekeepers because they are more intelligent and live a broader life. but they are learning, and the world is learning, that their housekeeping qualities should extend to the municipality and their power of motherhood to the children of the whole nation, and that these should be expressed through this very politics from which they are so rigorously excluded. the objections of the opponents have been so largely confuted that they have for the most part been compelled to make a last defense by declaring: "when the majority of women ask for the suffrage they may have it." by this very concession they admit that there is no valid reason for withholding it, and in thus arbitrarily doing so they are denying all representation to the minority, which is wholly at variance with republican principles. this is excused on the ground that the franchise is not a "right" but a privilege to be granted or not as seems best to those in power. this was the tory argument before the american revolution, and, carried back to its origin, it upholds "the divine authority of kings." the law to put in force the one and only amendment ever added to our national constitution to extend the franchise was entitled, "an act to enforce the _right_ of citizens of the united states to vote;" and the amendment itself reads, "the _right_ of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged." (see chap. i.) the readers of the present volume will not find such a story of cruel and relentless punishment inflicted upon advocates of woman suffrage as is related in the earlier volumes of this history, but the passing of rack and thumbscrew, of stake and fagot, does not mean the end of persecution in the world. those who stand for this reform to-day do not tread a flower-strewn path. it is yet an unpopular subject, under the ban of society and receiving scant measure of public sympathy, but it must continue to be urged. if the assertion had been accepted as conclusive, that a measure which after years of advocacy is still opposed by the majority should be dropped, the greatest reforms of history would have been abandoned. the personal character of those who represent a cause, however, sometimes carries more weight than the numbers, and judged by this standard none has had stronger support than the enfranchisement of women[ ]. the struggle of the nineteenth century was the transference of power from one man or one class of men to all men, it has been said, and while but one country in had a constitutional government, in fifty had some form of constitution and some degree of male sovereignty. must the twentieth century be consumed in securing for woman that which man spent a hundred years in obtaining for himself? the determination of those engaged in this righteous contest was thus expressed by the president of the national suffrage association in her address at the annual convention of : before the attainment of equal rights for men and women there will be years of struggle and disappointment. we of a younger generation have taken up the work where our noble and consecrated pioneers left it. we, in turn, are enlisted for life, and generations yet unborn will take up the work where we lay it down. so, through centuries if need be, the education will continue, until a regenerated race of men and women who are equal before man and god shall control the destinies of the earth. but have we not reason to hope, in this era of rapid fulfilment--when in all material things electricity is accomplishing in a day what required months under the old régime--that moral progress will keep pace? and that as much stronger as the electric power has shown itself than the coarse and heavy forces of the stone and iron periods, so much superior will prove the _noblesse oblige_ of the men and women of the present, achieving in a generation what was not possible to the narrow selfishness and ignorant prejudice of all the past ages? a part of the magnificent plan to beautify washington, the capital of the nation, is a colossal statue to american womanhood. the design embodies a great arch of marble standing on a base in the form of an oval and broken by sweeps of steps. on either side are large bronze panels, bearing groups of figures. one of these will be a symbolic design showing the spirit of the people descending to lay offerings on woman's altar. lofty pillars crowned by figures representing victory, are to be placed at the approaches. surmounting the arch will be the chief group of the composition, symbolizing woman glorified. she is rising from her throne to greet war and peace, literature and art, science and industry, who approach to lay homage at her feet. inside the arch is a memorial hall for recording the achievements of women. how soon this symbol shall become reality and woman stand forth in all the glory of freedom to reach her highest stature, depends upon the use she makes of the opportunities already hers and the fraternal assistance she receives from man. fearless of criticism, courageous in faith, let each take for a guide these inspiring words which it has been said the puritan of old would utter if he could speak: "i was a radical in my day; be thou the same in thine! i turned my back upon the old tyrannies and heresies and struck for the new liberties and beliefs; my liberty and my belief are doubtless already tyranny and heresy to thine age; strike thou for the new!" footnotes: [ ] for partial list, see appendix--eminent advocates of woman suffrage. illustrations anthony, susan b. _frontispiece_ anthony, mary s. avery, rachel foster avery, susan look blackwell, alice stone blankenburg, lucretia l. catt, carrie chapman chapman, mariana w. clay, laura coggeshall, mary j. eaton, dr. cora smith gordon, kate m. greenleaf, jean brooks gregg, laura a. hall, florence howe harper, ida husted hatch, lavina a. hayward, mary smith howard, emma shafter howland, emily jenkins, helen philleo johns, laura m. mcculloch, catharine waugh meredith, ellis mills, harriet may nelson, julia b. osborne, elizabeth wright shaw, rev. anna howard southworth, louisa spencer, rev. anna garlin stanton, elizabeth cady swift, mary wood thomas, mary bentley upton, harriet taylor wells, emmeline b. table of contents. list of illustrations xxxiv introduction. review of the situation xiii-xxxiii pioneers break the ground -- all their demands now practically conceded except the franchise -- why is this still refused? -- all other rights depend on statute law, suffrage on change of constitution -- no other nation thus fettered -- further almost insurmountable obstacles -- experience in many states -- either dominant party would enfranchise women if it were sure of their votes -- liquor interests and political "machines" allied in opposition -- they control the situation -- figures of votes on amendments -- majority of people born opponents of all innovations -- character of electorate on which women must depend -- indifference of women themselves -- reaction against a democratic government -- facts showing steady progress of woman suffrage -- all signs favorable -- women in education and business -- old objections dying out -- personal character of advocates -- persecution not obsolete but the enfranchisement of women inevitable. chapter i. woman's constitutional right to vote - early state constitutions provided against woman suffrage -- first demand for it -- women after the civil war -- "male" first used in national constitution -- fourteenth amendment -- endeavor to make it include women -- they attempt to vote -- susan b. anthony's trial -- case of virginia l. minor -- supreme court decisions -- suffrage as a right -- arguments for the federal franchise -- national association decides to try only for new amendment -- hearings before congressional committees -- reports of these committees -- debate in congress. chapter ii. the national suffrage convention of - forming of national association in -- washington selected for annual conventions -- call for that of ' -- extracts from speeches on kentucky laws for women -- woman before the law -- outrage of disfranchisement -- ethics of woman suffrage -- england vs. the united states -- bishop matthew simpson in favor of woman's enfranchisement -- resolutions and plan of work -- memorial to wendell phillips -- miss anthony on disfranchisement a disgrace -- matilda joslyn gage on the feminine in the sciences. chapter iii. congressional hearings and reports of - debate in the house on a special woman suffrage committee -- extracts from speeches of john h. reagan on awful effects of woman suffrage -- james b. belford on woman's right to a special committee -- j. warren keifer on justice of the enfranchisement of women -- john d. white on woman's right to be heard -- hearing before senate committee -- interdependence of men and women -- woman suffrage a paramount question -- a right does not depend on a majority's asking for it -- woman's ballot for the good of the race -- preponderance of foreign vote -- miss anthony on action by congress vs. action by legislatures -- elizabeth cady stanton on self-government the best means of self-development; moral need of woman's ballot, men as natural protectors, inherent right of self-representation -- favorable senate report -- adverse house report by william c. maybury -- editorial comment -- luke p. poland on men should represent women -- strong report in favor by thomas b. reed, ezra b. taylor, moses a. mccoid, thomas m. browne. chapter iv. the national suffrage convention of - startling descriptions of delegates' attire -- mrs. stanton on separate spheres an impossibility -- discussion on resolution denouncing religious dogmas -- criticism by ministers -- great speech in favor of woman suffrage in the u. s. senate by thomas w. palmer; action by congress a necessity, scriptures not opposed to the equality of woman, figures of women's vote, state needs woman's ballot. chapter v. the national suffrage convention of - relation of the woman suffrage movement to the labor question -- take down the barriers -- german and american independence contrasted -- resolution condemning creeds and dogmas again discussed -- woman's right to vote under fourteenth amendment -- disfranchisement cuts women's wages -- one-half no right to a vote on liberties of other half -- woman suffrage necessary for life of republic -- america lags behind in granting political rights to women -- minority house report in favor of a sixteenth amendment by ezra b. taylor, w. p. hepburn, lucian b. caswell, a. a. ranney; men hold franchise by force, women require it for development, history of woman one of wrong and outrage, government needs woman's vote, no excuse for waiting till majority demand it. chapter vi. first discussion and vote in u. s. senate, - joint resolution for sixteenth amendment extending right of suffrage to women -- able speech of henry w. blair; government founded on equality of rights, no connection between the vote and ability to fight, property qualification an invasion of natural right, man's deification of woman a shallow pretense, no such thing as household suffrage here, maternity qualifies woman to vote, fear of family dissension not a valid excuse -- joseph e. brown replies; creator intended spheres of men and women to be different, man qualified by physical strength to vote, caucuses and jury duty too laborious for women, they are queens, princesses and angels, they would neglect their families to go into politics, the delicate and refined would feel compelled to vote, only the vulgar and ignorant would go to the polls, ballot would not help workingwomen, husbands would compel wives to vote as they dictated -- editorial comment -- joseph n. dolph supports the resolution; if but one woman wants the suffrage it is tyranny to refuse it, neither in nature nor revealed will of god is there anything to forbid, contest for woman suffrage a struggle for human liberty, its benefits where exercised -- james b. eustis objects -- george g. vest depicts the terrible dangers, negro women all would vote republican ticket, husband does not wish to go home to embrace of female ward politician, women too emotional to vote, suffrage not a right, we must not unsex our mothers and wives -- editorial comment -- george f. hoar defends woman suffrage; arguments against it are against popular government, senators brown and vest have furnished only gush and emotion -- senator blair closes debate with an appeal that women may carry their case to the various legislatures -- vote on submitting an amendment, yeas, nays. chapter vii. the national suffrage convention of - bishop john p. newman favors woman suffrage -- mrs. stanton's sarcastic comments on the speeches of senators brown and vest -- lillie devereux blake's satire on the rights of men -- isabella beecher hooker on the constitutional rights of women -- woman of the present and past -- delegate joseph m. carey on woman suffrage in wyoming -- authority of congress to enfranchise women -- zerelda g. wallace on woman's ballot a necessity for the permanence of free institutions; the lack of morality in government has caused the downfall of nations -- resolutions -- u. s. treasurer spinner first to employ women in a government department. chapter viii. international council of women -- hearing of - origin of the council -- call issued by national suffrage association -- official statistics of this great meeting -- eloquent sermon of the rev. anna howard shaw on the heavenly vision; release of woman from bondage of centuries, crucifixion of reformers, the visions of all ages -- miss anthony opens the council -- mrs. stanton's address; psalms of women's lives in a minor key, sympathy as a civil agent powerless until coined into law, women have been mere echoes of men -- council demands all employments shall be open to women, equal pay for equal work, a single standard of morality -- forming of permanent national and international councils -- convention of suffrage association -- mrs. stanton expounds national constitution to senate committee and shows the violation of its provisions in their application to women -- mrs. ormiston chant makes address -- also julia ward howe -- frances e. willard pleads for enfranchisement. chapter ix. the national suffrage convention of - official call shows non-partisan character of the demand for woman suffrage -- senator blair makes clear presentation of woman's right to vote for representatives in congress under the federal constitution -- mrs. stanton ridicules women for passing votes of thanks to men for restoring various minor privileges which they had usurped -- hebrew scriptures not alone the root of woman's subjection -- representative william d. kelley speaks -- foreign and catholic vote contrasted with american and protestant -- the position of woman in marriage -- miss anthony on woman's attempt to vote under the fourteenth amendment -- the coming sex -- woman's bill of rights -- favorable report from committee, senators blair, charles b. farwell, jonathan chace, edward o. wolcott. chapter x. national-american convention of - mrs. stanton addresses senate committee; the south has not treated negro men more unjustly than the north has treated all women, women never can fully respect themselves or be respected while degraded legally and politically, queen victoria contrasted with american women who do not wish to vote -- zebulon b. vance questions mrs. stanton and miss anthony -- committee reports in favor -- celebration of miss anthony's seventieth birthday -- first convention of the two united associations -- striking resolutions -- address of wm. dudley foulke; fundamental right of self-government, equal rights never conceded to women, a just man accords to every other human being the rights he claims for himself, if one woman insists upon the franchise the justice of america can not afford to deny it -- miss anthony demands free platform -- chivalry of reform -- mrs. wallace on a whole humanity; woman is teacher, character-builder, soul-life of the race, not a question of woman's rights but of human rights -- washington _star's_ tribute to miss anthony. chapter xi. national-american convention of - triennial meeting of national council -- hail to wyoming! -- mrs. stanton on the degradation of disfranchisement; women suffer from the disgrace just as men would, state, church and society uphold their subordination, all must be brought into harmony with the idea of equality -- lucy stone speaks -- the rev. frederick a. hinckley on husband and wife are one; together they must establish justice, temperance and purity -- u. s. senator carey tells of the admission of wyoming, first state with full suffrage for women; tribute to their influence in government -- the rev. miss shaw describes recent campaign in south dakota, indians given preference over women. chapter xii. national-american convention and hearings of - discussion on sunday opening of columbian exposition -- last appearance of mrs. stanton at a national convention after an attendance of forty years -- miss anthony elected president -- value of organizations for women -- first hearing before a democratic house committee -- mrs. stanton on the solitude of self; the right of individual conscience, individual citizenship, individual development, man and woman need the same preparation for time and eternity -- lucy stone pleads for the rights of women, for justice and fair play, for the feminine as well as the masculine influence in government -- mrs. hooker speaks -- senate committee addressed by carrie chapman catt, and other noted women -- miss shaw on an appeal to deaf ears; time will come when ears will be unstopped, voice of the people is voice of god, but voice of the whole people never has been heard -- miss anthony compliments senator hoar -- committee report in favor by senators hoar, john b. allen, francis e. warren; vance and george dissent. chapter xiii. national-american convention of - washington _evening news_ pays a compliment to the association -- memorial service for george william curtis, john g. whittier and others -- frederick douglass speaks of other days -- miss shaw on mrs. ralph waldo emerson and the rev. anna oliver -- miss anthony tells what has been gained in fourscore years -- woman independent only when she can support and protect herself -- the girl of the future -- opinions of governors of states on woman suffrage -- last message from lucy stone -- u. s. commissioner of labor, carroll d. wright, on the industrial emancipation of women -- miss anthony on publishing a paper -- discussion on sunday observance -- resolutions -- miss anthony opposes national conventions outside of washington -- majority votes for alternate meetings elsewhere -- bishop john f. hurst in favor of woman suffrage. chapter xiv. national-american convention of - interesting picture of convention in _woman's journal_ -- miss anthony describes forty years' wandering in the wilderness -- colorado women present her with flag -- she declares the suffrage association knows no section, no party, no creed -- memorial service for lucy stone and other distinguished members, with addresses by mrs. howe, mr. foulke, mr. blackwell and others -- many interesting speeches -- miss shaw's anecdotes -- her sunday sermon, "let no man take thy crown;" this was written to the church and includes woman, responsibility should be placed on women to steady them in the use of power -- letter commending woman suffrage from gov. davis h. waite of colorado -- rachel foster avery tells of miss anthony's part in securing the world's fair board of lady managers -- discussion on federal suffrage -- kate field states her position. chapter xv. national-american convention of - the atlanta convention first one held outside of washington -- cordial reception by press and people -- miss anthony's charm as presiding officer -- examples of bright informal business meetings -- addresses of welcome by mayor and others -- woman as a subject -- out of her sphere -- the new woman of the new south -- woman suffrage a solution of the negro problem -- good suggestions for organization and legislative work -- three classes of opponents. chapter xvi. national-american convention of - the rev. miss shaw's account of miss anthony's and her trip to the pacific coast -- philosophy of woman suffrage -- universal not limited suffrage -- memorial service for frederick douglass, theodore lovett sewall, ellen battelle dietrick and others -- welcome to utah, a new state with full suffrage for women -- response by senator frank j. cannon and representative c. e. allen -- contest over the resolution against mrs. stanton's woman's bible -- miss anthony's eloquent protest -- resolution adopted -- women as legislators -- charlotte perkins stetson on the ballot as an improver of motherhood -- congressional hearings -- representative john f. shafroth on the good effects of woman suffrage in colorado -- paper of mrs. stanton picturing dark page which present political position of woman will offer to historian of the future. chapter xvii. national-american convention of - annual meeting in des moines welcomed by the governor, the mayor, the rev. h. o. breeden and others -- miss anthony in her president's address describes campaigns the previous year in idaho, where woman suffrage was carried, and in california where it was defeated -- eulogized by the _leader_ -- mrs. chapman catt receives an ovation -- mrs. colby presents memorial resolutions for nearly forty faithful friends -- president george a. gates of iowa college advocates woman suffrage -- maternal love high but narrow -- domestic life of suffragists -- should the advocates of woman suffrage be strictly non-partisan? -- celebration in honor of the free states, wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho -- all god's works recognize co-equality of male and female -- letter from daughter of speaker reed -- press work -- presidential suffrage. chapter xviii. national-american convention of - fiftieth anniversary of first woman's rights convention -- chief obstacle to organization is women themselves -- gains of half-a-century -- miss anthony's birthday luncheon -- mrs. stanton's paper on our defeats and our triumphs -- the distinguished dead -- mrs. hooker and miss anthony in pretty scene -- roll-call of pioneers -- letter from abigail bush, president of first convention -- greetings from lucinda h. stone, dr. elizabeth blackwell and many individuals and associations -- addresses by mrs. cannon, a woman state senator from utah, mrs. conine, a woman state representative from colorado, miss reel, state superintendent of instruction from wyoming, u. s. senators teller and cannon, and others -- senate hearing -- wm. lloyd garrison on the nature of a republican form of government -- may wright sewall on fitness of women to become citizens from the standpoint of education and mental development -- the rev. anna garlin spencer on moral development -- laura clay on physical development -- harriot stanton blatch on woman as an economic factor -- florence kelley, state factory inspector of illinois, on the workingwoman's need of the ballot -- mariana w. chapman on women as capitalists and taxpayers -- elizabeth burrill curtis, are women represented in our government? -- henry b. blackwell, woman suffrage and the home -- mrs. stanton, the significance and history of the ballot -- house hearing -- practical working of woman suffrage -- alice stone blackwell on the indifference of women -- miss anthony closes hearing. chapter xix. national-american convention of - excellent arrangements at grand rapids -- welcome from women's organizations -- miss anthony's response; counting negro men and refusing them representation no worse than counting all women and refusing them representation, not discouraged, help of the press -- the rev. anna garlin spencer on our duty to our new possessions; strong protest against giving their men political power and refusing it to their women -- discussion; commissions sent to investigate commerce, finance, everything but social conditions, demand for commission of women, in all savage tribes women superior to men, they should have ballot in hawaii and the philippines -- letter from samuel gompers -- care to secure soldiers' votes -- effects of suffrage teaching -- mrs. sewall on true civilization -- miss shaw speaks -- mrs. stanton on women alone left to fight their own battles -- women and war -- epigrams from southern women--miss anthony on every woman can help -- resolutions of encouragement -- memorial services for parker pillsbury, robert purvis, matilda joslyn gage and many others, with mrs. stanton's tribute -- efforts of the national association to secure equal rights for hawaiian women -- shameful action of congressional committee -- unimpeachable testimony from the philippines. chapter xx. national-american convention of - woman suffrage editorial in washington _post_ -- large number of young college women present -- miss anthony's last opening address as president -- miss shaw tells joke on her and then describes international council of women in london -- miss anthony reports as delegate to the council, which was in effect a big suffrage meeting -- the winning of educational freedom for women -- woman suffrage in colorado -- new professions for women centering in the home -- justice of woman suffrage -- federation of labor for woman's enfranchisement -- conditions of wage-earning women -- miss shaw's sermon on the rights of women -- woman suffrage in the south -- work done in congress and miss anthony's part in it -- congressional hearings -- woman's franchise in england -- mrs. chapman catt on why we ask for the submission of an amendment -- miss anthony closes senate hearing with touching appeal -- constitutional argument before house committee by mrs. blake -- mrs. stanton's annual state paper -- the economic basis of woman suffrage -- the protective power of the ballot -- miss shaw's plea for justice and liberty -- first appearance of anti-suffragists -- their amusing inconsistencies -- charges made by them officially refuted -- miss anthony's reception by president and mrs. mckinley. chapter xxi. national-american convention of continued - miss anthony's determination to resign the presidency -- her address to the convention -- affecting scene at the election of carrie chapman catt -- her acceptance -- press notices of the new president -- birthday gifts to miss anthony -- interesting occurrences of the last session -- the retiring president introduces her successor, who makes a strong address -- miss anthony's farewell -- birthday celebration in lafayette opera house -- program and _woman's tribune_ report -- women in all professions bring tributes of gratitude -- organizations of women send greetings -- colored women express devotion -- presents from the "four free states" and from the district of columbia -- mrs. coonley-ward's poem -- mrs. stanton's daughter brings her mother's love -- miss shaw's inspiring words -- miss anthony's beautiful response -- evening reception at corcoran art gallery attended by thousands -- great changes wrought in one life-time. chapter xxii. the american woman suffrage association - annual meeting of in chicago -- lucy stone's account in _woman's journal_ -- work in the south -- resolutions and plan of work -- memorial service for wendell phillips, frances dana gage and others -- list of officers -- annual meeting of -- welcomed by mayor of minneapolis -- julia ward howe responds -- letters from louisa m. alcott, mary a. livermore, chancellor wm. g. eliot, dr. mary f. thomas -- major j. a. pickler tells of woman suffrage in south dakota -- need of converting women -- lucy stone on fair play -- annual meeting of -- cordial greeting of topeka -- addresses of welcome review history of woman suffrage in kansas -- president wm. dudley foulke and mrs. howe respond with tributes to men of kansas -- speech of prof. w. h. carruth -- mr. foulke on the value of dreamers -- many letters and telegrams -- annual meeting of -- state senator a. d. harlan gives welcome of philadelphia -- col. t. w. higginson's address -- report of lucy stone, chairman of executive committee -- resolutions congratulating kansas women on the granting of municipal suffrage -- great suffrage bazar in boston -- annual meeting of -- favorable comment of cincinnati papers -- letter from clara barton -- address of henry b. blackwell -- lucy stone's description -- large amount of work done -- committee to arrange for union with national suffrage association -- in delegates from both organizations perfect arrangements -- appeal of mrs. stone, mrs. howe and mrs. livermore to constitutional conventions of dakota, washington, montana and idaho -- visit of mr. blackwell to first three to secure woman suffrage amendments -- in the two associations hold joint convention in national capital. chapter xxiii. suffrage work in political and other conventions - mrs. stanton and miss anthony make first appeal to political conventions in -- faint recognition of national republican convention in , , , , -- no democratic national platform ever noticed women -- record of populists on woman suffrage -- course pursued by prohibition and other parties -- women as delegates -- miss anthony's work in various conventions -- unusual efforts made in -- letters and memorial to all parties -- amazing result in republican platform -- ignored by democrats and populists -- sentiment developed among delegates -- petitions to non-political conventions -- approval of labor organizations -- effect in brewers' convention -- strong testimony from wyoming -- thousands of letters written--petitions for woman suffrage representing millions of individuals sent to congress. chapter xxiv. the rights of women in the states - status of woman at close of the century as shown in organization, legislative action, laws, suffrage, office-holding, occupations and education -- part of different associations in securing present conditions -- every state shows progress -- legal and civil rights of women now approximate those of men -- property laws for wives -- guardianship of children -- causes for divorce in various states -- "age of protection" for girls -- the amount of suffrage women now possess -- women in office in various states -- occupations open to women -- educational advantages. chapter xxv. alabama - organization for suffrage -- legislative action and laws -- office-holding -- occupations -- education -- clubs. chapter xxvi. arizona - same as above -- (school suffrage). chapter xxvii. arkansas - same as above. chapter xxviii. california - early efforts for the suffrage -- woman's congress -- amendment submitted to voters -- great campaign of -- national officers go to its assistance -- experience with state political conventions -- favorable attitude of the press -- liquor dealers fight woman suffrage -- treachery of party managers -- defeat and its causes. southern california - first suffrage society -- woman's parliament -- organization and work for the great campaign -- methods worthy of imitation -- friendly spirit of the press and many associations -- southern california declares for woman suffrage -- laws for women -- ellen clark sargent's test case in san francisco for the franchise -- large donations of women for education. chapter xxix. colorado - organization for woman suffrage -- question submitted to voters -- endorsed by all political parties -- work of women in the campaign -- eastern anti-suffragists and western liquor dealers join hands -- amendment carries by over , -- reasons for success -- after the battle -- political work of women -- only three per cent. failed to vote in -- laws -- legislature of urges all states to enfranchise women -- general effects of woman suffrage. chapter xxx. connecticut - organization for suffrage -- legislative action and laws -- school suffrage -- office-holding of women -- occupations -- education -- clubs. chapter xxxi. dakota - suffrage work in the territory. north dakota - efforts of women for the franchise in first constitutional convention -- organization of suffrage clubs to secure amendment of constitution -- legislative action and laws -- school suffrage -- office-holding of women -- occupations -- education -- clubs. south dakota - same as above -- campaign of to secure woman suffrage amendment -- assistance of national association -- hardships of the canvass -- treachery of politicians -- amendment defeated by nearly , -- second attempt in -- defeated by , . chapter xxxii. delaware - organization for suffrage -- legislative action and laws -- school suffrage -- office-holding of women -- occupations -- education -- clubs. chapter xxxiii. district of columbia - peculiar position of women -- work of suffrage association with congressional committees -- property rights secured -- women on school board -- women in government departments -- woman's college of law -- other things accomplished by women of the district. chapter xxxiv. florida - organization for suffrage -- effort to raise "age of protection" for girls and its failure -- laws -- occupations -- education. chapter xxxv. georgia - same as above -- annual convention of national association in . chapter xxxvi. idaho - first work for woman suffrage -- submission of amendment -- campaign of -- favored by all political parties -- carried by large majority -- favorable decision of supreme court -- women elected to office -- percentage of women voting -- effects of woman's vote -- endorsement of prominent men -- laws, etc. chapter xxxvii. illinois - organization -- obtaining school suffrage -- supreme court gives wide latitude to legislature -- women trustees for state university -- equal guardianship of children for mothers -- many women in office -- women's part in columbian exposition -- remarkable achievement of two teachers in compelling corporations to pay taxes -- education. chapter xxxviii. indiana - early suffrage organization -- efforts in political conventions -- work in legislature -- laws -- amazing decisions of supreme court on the right of women to practice law, keep a saloon and vote -- struggle for police matrons -- women organized in fifty departments of work. chapter xxxix. iowa - long years of organized work -- continued refusal of legislature to submit a woman suffrage amendment to voters -- convention of the national association in -- liberal laws for women -- many holding office -- bond suffrage. chapter xl. kansas - organization work and large number of conventions -- granting of municipal suffrage -- alliance with parties -- efforts for full suffrage -- amendment submitted -- republicans fail to endorse -- campaign of -- national association and officers assist -- amendment defeated by defection of all parties -- attempt to secure suffrage by statute -- a pioneer in liberal laws for women -- they hold offices not held by those of any other state -- official statistics of woman's vote -- many restrictions placed on municipal suffrage -- class of women who use the franchise. chapter xli. kentucky - organization -- efforts to secure full suffrage from constitutional convention -- state association succeeds in revolutionizing the property laws for women -- school suffrage -- educational facilities, etc. chapter xlii. louisiana - women's work at cotton centennial and in anti-lottery campaign -- organization for suffrage -- efforts in constitutional convention of -- taxpayer's suffrage granted to women -- campaign in new orleans for sewerage and drainage -- measure carried by the women -- napoleonic code of laws. chapter xliii. maine - organization for suffrage -- legislative action and laws -- office-holding of women -- occupations -- education -- clubs. chapter xliv. maryland - same as above -- pioneers in woman's rights -- women vote in annapolis -- contest of miss maddox to practice law -- work of women for medical department of johns hopkins university. chapter xlv. massachusetts - pioneer work for suffrage -- new england and state associations and may festivals -- list of officers -- death of lucy stone -- anti-suffrage association formed -- fifty years of legislative work -- republicans declare for woman suffrage -- submission of mock referendum -- campaign in its behalf -- activity of the "antis" -- measure defeated, but woman's vote more than ten to one in favor in every district -- laws -- equal guardianship of children -- school suffrage -- women in office -- education -- pay of women teachers. national suffrage association of massachusetts - organization -- efforts to secure large school vote -- legislative work -- assistance in referendum campaign -- press work -- many meetings held. chapter xlvi. michigan - organization -- efforts in political conventions -- municipal suffrage granted to women -- declared unconstitutional by supreme court -- coarse methods of opponents -- convention of national association in -- laws -- school suffrage -- woman can not be prosecuting attorney -- education, etc. chapter xlvii. minnesota - organization -- legislative action and laws -- school and library suffrage -- women in office -- occupations -- education -- clubs. chapter xlviii. mississippi - organization -- legislative action -- good property laws -- efforts to secure suffrage for women from constitutional convention -- fragmentary franchise -- education. chapter xlix. missouri - organization -- legislative action and laws -- office-holding -- education. chapter l. montana - organization -- attempt to obtain woman suffrage from first constitutional convention -- school and taxpayers' suffrage granted -- legislative action and laws -- office-holding -- women's work for location of capital and at world's fair. chapter li. nebraska - same as above -- (school suffrage). chapter lii. nevada - same as above. chapter liii. new hampshire - same as above -- school suffrage. chapter liv. new jersey - organization -- attempt for amendment for school suffrage -- defeated by , majority -- legislative action and laws -- first state in which women voted -- how they were deprived of the ballot -- franchise now possessed -- office-holding -- women in professions. chapter lv. new mexico - organization -- legislative action and laws -- office-holding -- education -- equal rights for women among spanish-americans. chapter lvi. new york - battle-ground for woman suffrage -- conventions for fifty years -- great campaign in to secure amendment from constitutional convention -- governors hill and flower recommend women delegates -- parties refuse to nominate them -- miss anthony speaks in all the sixty counties -- vast amount of work by other women -- in new york and albany women organize in opposition -- , petition for suffrage, , against -- convention refuses to submit amendment to voters -- long-continued efforts in legislature -- liberal laws for women -- school and taxpayers' suffrage -- many women in office -- superior educational advantages -- political and other clubs. chapter lvii. north carolina - agitation of suffrage question -- legislative action and laws -- education. chapter lviii. ohio - organization -- mrs. southworth's excellent scheme of enrollment -- legislative action and laws -- successful contest in legislature and supreme court for school suffrage -- women on school boards -- education -- clubs -- rookwood pottery. chapter lix. oklahoma - organization -- legislative action and laws -- attempt to secure full suffrage from legislature of -- eastern "antis" and oklahoma liquor dealers co-operate -- treachery of a pretended friend -- office-holding -- school suffrage. chapter lx. oregon - organization -- congress of women -- legislature submits suffrage amendment -- defeated in by only , votes, nearly all in portland -- excellent laws for women -- school suffrage -- occupations. chapter lxi. pennsylvania - organization -- press work -- philadelphia society -- women taxpayers -- legislative action and laws -- office-holding -- hannah penn a governor -- women in professions -- oldest medical college for women -- educational advantages -- clubs. chapter lxii. rhode island - early organization -- state officers -- legislative action and laws -- campaign for woman suffrage amendment in -- ably advocated but defeated -- efforts to secure amendment from constitutional convention in -- women in office -- admitted to brown university -- clubs and local council of women. chapter lxiii. south carolina - organization -- legislative action and laws -- office-holding -- education. chapter lxiv. tennessee - organization -- protest of women against disfranchisement -- legislative action -- cruel laws for women -- occupations -- education. chapter lxv. texas - organization -- laws -- office-holding -- occupations -- education. chapter lxvi. utah - women enfranchised by territorial legislature in -- _woman's exponent_ -- congress disfranchises women in -- they organize to secure their rights -- canvass the state and hold mass meetings -- appear before constitutional convention and ask for suffrage amendment, which is granted--miss anthony and the rev. anna howard shaw visit salt lake city--amendment carried by large majority in --official statistics of woman's vote--laws--office-holding--women legislators--women delegates--education--clubs. chapter lxvii. vermont - organization -- legislative action and laws -- school suffrage -- women office-holders -- education -- progressive steps. chapter lxviii. virginia - agitation of suffrage question -- laws for women -- education -- woman head of family. chapter lxix. washington - women enfranchised by territorial legislature in -- figures of vote -- unconstitutionally disfranchised by supreme court -- suffrage amendment refused in constitutional convention for statehood -- submitted separately and defeated in -- action of political conventions in -- experience in legislature -- amendment again submitted -- campaign of -- defeated by majority less than one-half that of nine years before -- organization -- legislative action and laws -- school suffrage -- office-holding -- occupations. chapter lxx. west virginia - organization -- legislative action and laws -- office-holding -- education. chapter lxxi. wisconsin - organization -- canvass of state -- long but successful struggle to secure school suffrage -- decisions of supreme court -- laws -- women in office -- education. chapter lxxii. wyoming - first place in the united states to enfranchise women -- territorial legislature gave full suffrage in -- people satisfied with it -- constitutional convention for statehood unanimously includes woman suffrage -- strong speeches in favor -- fight against it in congress -- debate for amusement of present and wonder of future generations -- men of wyoming stand firm -- finally admitted to the union -- celebration in new state -- honors paid to women -- miss anthony and the rev. anna howard shaw visit cheyenne -- interesting scene -- highest testimony in favor of woman suffrage -- legislature of urges every state to enfranchise its women -- women on juries -- effects of woman's vote -- laws -- office-holding. chapter lxxiii. great britain. efforts for parliamentary franchise - household suffrage for men proves a disadvantage to women -- primrose league and liberal federation -- women in politics -- vote on suffrage bill in -- _nineteenth century_ and _fortnightly review_ open their columns to a discussion -- parliamentary tactics in to defeat the bill -- vote in shows opposing majority of only out of -- great efforts of women in - -- petition of , presented -- in the bill passes second reading by majority of -- kept from a vote since then by shrewd management -- its friends and its enemies -- franchise given to women in ireland -- efforts of wage-earning women -- death of queen victoria. laws specially affecting women guardianship of children, property rights of wives, etc. laws relating to local government municipal franchise for women of england, scotland and ireland -- women on school boards, county councils, poor-law boards, etc. -- deprived of seats in borough councils. women in public work on royal commissions, as factory, school and sanitary inspectors. steps in education admission to universities and opening of woman's colleges. the isle of man full suffrage granted to women. new zealand steps for the parliamentary franchise -- granted in -- statistics of woman's vote. south australia as above -- granted in . west australia as above -- granted in . new south wales as above -- granted in . victoria efforts for parliamentary franchise. queensland as above. tasmania as above. south african and other colonies dominion of canada efforts for parliamentary franchise -- present political conditions -- municipal and school suffrage in the various provinces -- right of women to hold office. chapter lxxiv. woman suffrage in other countries - a limited vote granted in most places -- situation in germany -- woman's franchise in russia -- advanced action in finland -- situation in belgium -- many rights in sweden and norway. chapter lxxv. national organizations of women - first societies on record -- progress by decades -- women's club houses -- changed status of women's conventions -- list of national associations -- evolution of their objects -- women gradually learning the disadvantages of disfranchisement -- , , enrolled in organized work for the good of humanity -- must necessarily become great factor in public life -- government will be obliged to have their assistance. appendix. eminent advocates of woman suffrage - presidents, vice-presidents, supreme court judges, u. s. senators and representatives, governors of states, presidents of universities, clergymen and other noted individuals who advocate the enfranchisement of women. testimony from woman suffrage states - signed statements from the highest authorities in colorado, idaho, utah and wyoming as to the value of woman's vote in public affairs and the absence of predicted evils. new york - legal opinion on suffrage and office-holding for women. washington - detailed statement of women's voting and their unconstitutional disfranchisement by the territorial supreme court. constitution of national-american woman suffrage association - résumé of its principal points -- officers -- standing and special committees -- life members -- list of delegates to national conventions. alphabetical index of subjects - alphabetical index of proper names - chapter i. woman's constitutional right to vote. in the early days of the movement to enfranchise women, no other method was considered than that of altering the constitution of each individual state, as it was generally accepted that the right to prescribe the qualifications for the suffrage rested entirely with the states and that the national constitution could not be invoked for this purpose. while the word "male" was not used in this document, yet with the one exception of new jersey, where women exercised the full suffrage from the adoption of its first constitution in until , there is no record of any woman's being permitted to vote. at the inception of the republic women were almost wholly uneducated; they were unknown in the industrial world; there were very few property owners among them; the manifold exactions of domestic duties absorbed all their time, strength and interest; and for these and many other causes they were not public factors in even the smallest sense of the word. one could readily believe that the founders of the government never imagined a time when women would ask for a voice were it not for the significant fact that every state constitution, except the one mentioned above, was careful to put up an absolute barrier against such a contingency by confining the elective franchise strictly to "male" citizens--and there it has stood impassable down to the present day. it was almost the exact middle of the nineteenth century before the first demand was made by women for the right to represent themselves--the right for which their forefathers had fought a seven-years' war, and the one which had been made the corner-stone of the new government. the complete story of the startling results which followed this demand never has been told but once, and that was when vol. i of this history of woman suffrage was written. it was related then by the two who were the principal personages in a period which tried women's souls as they were never tried before--elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony.[ ] this movement for the freedom of women was scarcely launched when the long-threatened civil war broke forth and precipitated the struggle for the liberty of another class whose slavery seemed far more terrible than the servitude of white women. the five years' ordeal which followed developed women as all the previous centuries had not been able to do, and when peace reigned once more, when an entire race had been born into freedom and the republic had been consecrated anew, the whole status of the american woman had been changed and the lines which circumscribed her old sphere had been forever obliterated. women were studying laws, constitutions and public questions as never before in all history, and, as they saw millions of colored men endowed with the full prerogatives of citizenship, they began to ask, "am i not also a citizen of this great republic and entitled to all its rights and privileges?" up to this time the word "male" never had appeared in the federal constitution. in , when the leaders among women were beginning to gather up their scattered forces, and the fourteenth amendment was under discussion, they saw to their amazement and indignation that it was proposed to incorporate in that instrument this discriminating word. miss anthony was the first to sound the alarm, and mrs. stanton quickly came to her aid in the attempt to prevent this desecration of the people's bill of rights. the thrilling account of their efforts to thwart this highhanded act, their abandonment in consequence by nearly all of their co-workers before and during the war, their anger and humiliation at seeing the former slaves, whom they had helped to free, made their political superiors and endowed with a personal representation in government which women had been pilloried for asking--all this is graphically told in vol. ii of the history of woman suffrage, chaps. xvii and xxi. the story with many personal touches is also related in the life and work of susan b. anthony, chaps. xv and xvi. the fourteenth amendment was declared adopted july , ,[ ] and the women felt that the ground had been swept from beneath their feet, as now the barriers opposed to their enfranchisement by all the state constitutions had been doubly and trebly strengthened by sanction of the national constitution. the first ray of encouragement came in october, , when, at a state woman suffrage convention held in st. louis, mo., francis minor, a leading attorney of that city, declared that this very fourteenth amendment in enfranchising colored men had performed a like service for all women. his argument was embodied concisely in the following resolutions, which were adopted by that convention with great enthusiasm, and by the national association at its annual convention in washington, d. c., the next january: whereas, all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside; therefore be it _resolved_, . that the immunities and privileges of american citizenship, however defined, are national in character and paramount to all state authority. . that while the constitution of the united states leaves the qualification of electors to the several states, it nowhere gives them the right to _deprive_ any citizen of the elective franchise which is possessed by any other citizen--to _regulate_ not including the right to _prohibit_. . that, as the constitution of the united states expressly declares that no state shall make or enforce any laws that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states, those provisions of the several state constitutions which exclude women from the franchise on account of sex are violative alike of the spirit and letter of the federal constitution. . that, as the subject of _naturalization_ is expressly withheld from the states, and as the states clearly have no right to deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to deprive native-born women citizens of the franchise. in support of these resolutions various portions of the national constitution were quoted, including article iv, section : "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states;" and section : "the united states shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government." many other authorities were cited, including numerous court decisions, as to the right of women to the suffrage now that their citizenship had been clearly established and the protection of its privileges and immunities guaranteed. this position was sustained by many of the best lawyers in the united states, including members of congress. the previous may the national woman suffrage association had been formed in new york city, and henceforth this right to vote under the fourteenth amendment was made the keynote of all its speeches, resolutions, etc., as will be seen in the history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, chap. xxiii. for the first time the federal constitution had defined the term "citizen," leaving no doubt that a woman was a citizen in the fullest meaning of the word. until now there had been but one supreme court decision on this point--that of chief justice taney in , in the dred scott case, which declared that citizens were "the political body who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty and hold the power, and conduct the government through their representatives." this plainly had barred negroes and white women from citizenship. at the next general election, in , women attempted to vote in many parts of the country, in some cases their votes being received, in others rejected.[ ] the vote of miss anthony was accepted in rochester, n. y., and she was then arrested for a criminal offense, tried and fined in the u. s. circuit court at canandaigua, by associate justice ward hunt of the u. s. supreme court. there is no more flagrant judicial outrage on record. the full account of this case, in which she was refused the right of trial by jury as guaranteed by the constitution, will be found in vol. ii, history of woman suffrage, p. and following; also much more in detail in the life and work of susan b. anthony, p. , with her great constitutional argument delivered in fifty of the postoffice districts of the two counties before the trial, p. and following. the vote of mrs. virginia l. minor was refused in st. louis and she brought suit against the inspectors of election. the case was decided against her in the circuit court of the county and the supreme court of missouri. she then carried it to the supreme court of the united states--_minor vs. happersett et al._ no. , october term, . the case was argued by her husband, francis minor, and after the lapse of a quarter of a century it is still believed that his argument could not have been excelled. the decision was delivered by chief justice waite, march , , and was in brief: "the national constitution does not define the privileges and immunities of citizens. the united states has no voters of its own creation. the constitution does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one, but the franchise must be regulated by the states. the fourteenth amendment does not add to the privileges and immunities of a citizen; it simply furnishes an additional guarantee to protect those he already has. before the passage of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments the states had the power to disfranchise on account of race or color. these amendments, ratified by the states, simply forbade that discrimination but did not forbid that against sex." the full text of argument and decision will be found in the history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. and following. in making this decision the court was compelled to reverse absolutely its own finding of three years previous in what was known as the _slaughter house cases_ ( wallace) which said: "the negro having by the fourteenth amendment been declared to be a citizen of the united states, _is thus made a voter_ in every state in the union." the fifteenth amendment says: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude." no right is conferred by this amendment. it simply guarantees protection for a right already existing in the citizen, and the negro having been declared a citizen by the fourteenth amendment is thus protected in his right to vote. but whence did he obtain this right unless from the national constitution, which the supreme court in the minor decision declares "does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one"? volume ii of this history of woman suffrage, containing nearly , pages, is devoted mainly to a recital of the efforts on the part of women to obtain and exercise the franchise through the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. this decision of the supreme court destroyed the last hope, although it did not shake the belief of the leaders of this movement in the justice and legality of their claim. a number of the women contended that, if the national constitution did not confer full suffrage, it did at least guarantee federal suffrage--the right to vote for congressional representatives--and in this opinion they were sustained by eminent lawyers. the national association, however, never made an issue of this question, considering that it would be useless, but it has a standing committee on federal suffrage empowered to make such efforts in this direction as it deems advisable.[ ] the assertion is made that if congress had no authority over the election of its own members, it would be wholly unable to perpetuate itself should the states at any time decide that they no longer care to be under the authority of a central governing body, and refuse to elect representatives. many able reports have been made by this standing committee, and the question was clearly stated in an article in _the arena_, december, , by francis minor, who gave the question of woman suffrage a more thorough legal examination, perhaps, than any other man. he prepared the following bill which was presented in the house of representatives, april , , by the hon. clarence d. clark, member from wyoming: an act to protect the right of citizens of the united states to register and to vote for members of the house of representatives. whereas, the right to choose members of the house of representatives is vested by the constitution in the people of the several states, without distinction of sex, but for want of proper legislation has hitherto been restricted to one-half of the people; for the purpose, therefore, of correcting this error and of giving effect to the constitution: _be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled:_ that at all elections hereafter held in the several states of this union for members of the house of representatives, the right of citizens of the united states, of either sex, above the age of twenty-one years, to register and to vote for such representatives shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or by any state, on account of sex. the argument for the authority of congress to pass this law is based partly on article i of the federal constitution: section . the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. section . the time, place and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof, but the congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.[ ] congress is here endowed unquestionably with the right to regulate the election of representatives. james madison, one of the framers of the constitution, when asked the intention of this clause, in the virginia convention of , called to ratify this instrument, answered that the power was reserved to congress because "should the people of any state by any means be deprived of the right of suffrage, it was judged proper that it should be remedied by the general government." [elliott's debates, vol. ii, p. .] again madison said in _the federalist_ (no. ), in speaking of the enumeration for representatives: the federal constitution, therefore, decides with great propriety in the case of our slaves when it views them in the mixed character of persons and property. this is in fact their true character. it is the character bestowed on them by the laws under which they live; and it will not be denied that these are the proper criteria; because it is only under the pretext that the laws have transformed the negroes into subjects of property, that _a place is disputed them in the computation of numbers_; and it is admitted that, if the laws were to restore the rights which have been taken away, _the negroes could no longer be refused an equal share of representation_. therefore, as women _are_ counted in the enumeration on which the congressional apportionment is based, they are legally entitled to an equal share in direct representation. in the case of jasper yarbrough and others who had been sentenced to hard labor in the penitentiary in georgia for preventing a colored man from voting for a member of congress, was brought to the u. s. supreme court by a petition for a writ of _habeas corpus_. the decision rendered march , virtually nullified that given by this court in the case of mrs. minor in , as quoted above, which held that "the national constitution has no voters," for this one declared: but it is not correct to say that the right to vote for a member of congress does not depend on the constitution of the united states. the office, if it be properly called an office, is created by the constitution and by that alone. it also declares how it shall be filled, namely, by election. its language is: "the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature." the states in prescribing the qualifications of voters for the most numerous branch of their own legislature, do not do this with reference to the election for members of congress. nor can they prescribe the qualifications for those _eo nomine_ [by that name]. they define who are to vote for the popular branch of their own legislature, and the constitution of the united states says the same persons shall vote for members of congress in that state. it adopts the qualification thus furnished as the qualification of its own electors for members of congress. _it is not true, therefore, that the electors for members of congress owe their right to vote to the state law in any sense which makes the exercise of the right to depend exclusively on the law of the state._ counsel for petitioners seizing upon the expression found in the opinion of the court in the case of _minor vs. happersett_, "that the constitution of the united states does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one," without reference to the connection in which it is used, insists that the voters in this case do not owe their right to vote in any sense to that instrument. but the court was combating the argument that this right was conferred on all citizens, and therefore upon women as well as men.(!) in opposition to that idea it was said the constitution adopts, as the qualification for voters for members of congress, that which prevails in the state where the voting is to be done; therefore, said the opinion, the right is not definitely conferred on any person or class of persons by the constitution alone, because you have to look to the law of the state for the description of the class. but the court did not intend to say that, when the class or the person is thus ascertained, his right to vote for a member of congress was not _fundamentally based upon the constitution which created the office of member of congress_, and declared it should be elective, and pointed to the means of ascertaining who should be electors. the fifteenth amendment of the constitution, by its limitation of the power of the states in the exercise of their right to prescribe the qualifications of voters in their own elections, and by its limitation of the power of the united states over that subject, clearly shows that the right of suffrage was considered to be of supreme importance to the national government and _was not intended to be left within the exclusive control of the states_. in such cases this fifteenth article of amendment does _proprio vigore_ [by its own force] substantially _confer on the negro the right to vote_, and congress has the power to protect and enforce that right. in the case of _united states vs. happersett_, so much relied on by counsel, this court said, in regard to the fifteenth amendment, that it has invested the citizens of the united states with a new constitutional right which is within the protecting power of congress. that right is an exemption from discrimination in the exercise of the elective franchise on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. this new constitutional right was mainly designed for [male] citizens of african descent. the principle, however, that the protection of the exercise of this right _is within the power of congress_, is as necessary to the right of other citizens to vote in general as to the right to be protected against discrimination. this legal hair-splitting is beyond the comprehension of the average lay mind and will be viewed by future generations with as much contempt as is felt by the present in regard to the infamous decision of the supreme court in the dred scott case in . if it decides anything it is that the right to vote for congressional representatives is a federal right, vested in all the people by the national constitution, and one which it is beyond the power of the states to regulate. therefore, no state has the power to deprive women of the right to vote for representatives in congress. those who hold that women are already entitled to federal suffrage under the national constitution, further support their claim by a series of decisions as to the citizenship of women and the inherent rights which it carries. they quote especially the case of the _united states vs. kellar_. the defendant was indicted by a federal grand jury in illinois for illegal voting in a congressional election, as he never had been naturalized. he and his mother were born in prussia, but came to the united states when he was a minor, and she married a naturalized citizen. the case was tried in june, , in the circuit court of the united states for the southern district of illinois, by associate justice harlan of the u. s. supreme court, who discharged the defendant. he held that the mother, having become a citizen by marriage while the son was a minor, transferred citizenship to him. in other words she transmitted a federal citizenship including the right to vote which she did not herself possess, thus enfranchising a child born while she was an alien. the whole matter was settled not by state but by federal authority.[ ] if a mother can confer this right on a son, why not on a daughter? but why does she not possess it herself? the clause of the national constitution which established suffrage at the time that instrument was framed, does not mention the sex of the elector. the argument for federal suffrage was presented in a masterly manner before the national convention of by u. s. senator henry w. blair (n. h.); and it was discussed by miss anthony and mrs. minor. see present volume, chap. ix. from this bare outline of the claim that women already possess federal suffrage, or that congress has authority to confer it without the sanction of the states, readers can continue the investigation. notwithstanding its apparent equity, the leaders of the national association, including miss anthony herself, felt convinced after the decision against mrs. minor that it would be useless to expect from the supreme court any interpretation of the constitution which would permit women to exercise the right of suffrage. they had learned, however, through the passage of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, that it had been possible to amend this document in such a way as to enfranchise an entire new class of voters--or in other words to protect them in the exercise of a right which it seemed that in some mysterious way they already possessed. as the fourteenth amendment declared the negroes to be citizens, and the fifteenth forbade the united states or any state to deny or abridge "the right of citizens of the united states to vote, on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude," it was clearly evident that this right inhered in citizenship. this being the case women must already have it, but as there was no national authority prohibiting the states from denying or abridging it, each of them did so by putting the word "male" in its constitution as a qualification for suffrage; just as many of them had used the word "white" until the adoption of the fifteenth amendment by a three-fourths majority made this unconstitutional. therefore, since the _minor vs. happersett_ decision, the national association has directed its principal efforts to secure from congress the submission to the several state legislatures of a sixteenth amendment which should prohibit disfranchisement on account of "sex," as the fifteenth had done on account of "color." the association does not discourage attempts in various states to secure from their respective legislatures the submission of an amendment to the voters which shall strike out this word "male" from their own constitutions. on the contrary, it assists every such attempt with money, speakers and influence, but having seen such amendments voted on sixteen times and adopted only twice (in colorado and idaho), it is confirmed in the opinion that the quickest and surest way to secure woman suffrage will be by an amendment to the federal constitution. in other words it holds that women should be permitted to carry their case to the selected men of the legislatures rather than to the masses of the voters. from until the decision in the minor case in , the national association went before committees of every congress with appeals for a declaratory act which would permit women to vote under the fourteenth amendment. since that decision it has asked for a sixteenth amendment. in both cases it has been supported by petitions of hundreds of thousands of names. the ablest women this nation has produced have presented the arguments and pleadings. many of the older advocates have passed away, but new ones have taken their place. it is the unvarying testimony of the senate and house committees who have granted these hearings, that no body of men has appeared before them for any purpose whose dignity, logic and acumen have exceeded, if indeed they have equaled, those of the members of this association. they have been heard always with respect, often with cordiality, but their appeals have fallen, if not upon deaf, at least upon indifferent ears. they have asked these committees to report to their respective houses a resolution to submit this sixteenth amendment. sometimes the majority of the committee has been hostile to woman suffrage and presented an adverse report: sometimes it has been friendly and presented one favorable; sometimes there have been an opposing majority and a friendly minority report, or vice versa; but more often no action whatever has been taken. during these thirty years eleven favorable reports have been made--five from senate, six from house committees.[ ] in the history of woman suffrage, vols. ii and iii, will be found a full record of various debates which occurred in senate and house on different phases of the movement to secure suffrage for women previous to , when the present volume begins. in thomas w. palmer gave his great speech in the united states senate in advocacy of their enfranchisement; and in occurred the first and only discussion and vote in that body on a sixteenth amendment for this purpose, both of which are described herein under their respective dates. in the following chapters will be found an account of the annual conventions of the national suffrage association since , and of the american until the two societies united in , with many of the resolutions and speeches for which these meetings have been distinguished. they contain also portions of the addresses, covering every phase of this subject, made at the hearings before congressional committees, and the arguments advanced for and against woman suffrage in the favorable and adverse reports of these committees, thus presenting both sides of the question. readers who follow the story will be obliged to acknowledge that the very considerable progress which has been made toward obtaining the franchise is due to the unceasing and long-continued efforts of this association far more than to all other agencies combined; and that the women who compose this body have demonstrated their capacity and their right to a voice in the government infinitely beyond any class to whom it has been granted since the republic was founded. footnotes: [ ] the part of this record with which miss anthony herself was directly connected, and which comprises by far the greater portion of the whole, is given with many personal incidents in her life and work. [husted-harper.] [ ] article xiv. _section ._ all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, or deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. _section ._ representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the _male_ inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the united states, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such _male_ citizens shall bear to the whole number of _male_ citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. [ ] women also had attempted to vote in local and state elections in and . an account of the trials and decisions which followed will be found in the history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, chap. xxv. [ ] the most earnest advocates of the constitutional right of women to federal suffrage are mrs. sallie clay bennett, ky.; mrs. clara b. colby, d. c.; mrs. martha e. root, mich.; miss sara winthrop smith, conn. they have done a large amount of persistent but ineffectual work in the endeavor to obtain a recognition of this right. [ ] senator john sherman did at one time introduce a bill for this purpose. [ ] this is precisely what was done in the case of susan b. anthony above referred to. [ ] the first report, in , was signed by representatives benjamin f. butler (mass.) and william a. loughridge (ia.): history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. . the second, in , was signed by senators george f. hoar (mass.), john h. mitchell (ore.), angus cameron (wis.): id., vol. iii, p. . the third, in , was signed by senators elbridge g. lapham (n. y.), thomas w. ferry (mich.), henry w. blair (n. h.), henry b. anthony (r. i.): id., p. . the fourth, in , was signed by representative john d. white (ky.): id., p. . for the fifth and sixth, in , see chap. iii of present volume; for the seventh and eighth, in , id., chap. v. (see also, chap. vi.); for the ninth and tenth, in , id., chap. x; for the eleventh, in , id., chap. xii. it is worthy of notice that from to , inclusive, miss susan b. anthony was enabled to spend the congressional season in washington [see pp. , ], and during this time nine of these eleven favorable reports were made. for adverse reports see history of woman suffrage: , vol. ii, p. ; , vol. iii, p. ; , id., p. ; , present volume, chap. iii (see also, chap. vi); , id., chap. xii; , id., chap. xiv; , id., chap. xvi. chapter ii. the national suffrage convention of . the first woman's rights convention on record was held in seneca falls, n. y., in july, ; the second in salem, o., in april, ; the third in worcester, mass., in october, . by this time the movement for the civil, educational and political rights of women was fully initiated, and every year thenceforth to the beginning of the civil war national conventions were held in various states for the purpose of agitating the question and creating a favorable public sentiment. these were addressed by the ablest men and women of the time, and the discussions included the whole scope of women's wrongs, which in those days were many and grievous. immediately after the war the political disabilities of the negro man were so closely akin to those of all women that the advocates of universal suffrage organized under the name of the equal rights association. the "reconstruction period," however, engendered so many differences of opinion, and a platform so broad permitted such latitude of debate, the women soon became convinced that their own cause was being sacrificed. therefore in may, , under the leadership of mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony, the national woman suffrage association was formed in new york city, having for its sole object the enfranchisement of women. from this time it held a convention in washington, d. c., every winter. the above mentioned associations and conventions, as well as the american woman suffrage association, formed at cleveland, o., in november, , under the leadership of mrs. lucy stone, are described in detail in the preceding volumes of this history. the present volume begins with the usual convention of the national association in washington in . this place was selected for a twofold purpose: because here a more cosmopolitan audience could be secured than in any other city, including representatives from every state in the union and from all the nations of the world; and because here the association could carry directly to the only tribunal which had power to act, its demand for a submission to the state legislatures of an amendment to the federal constitution which should forbid disfranchisement on account of sex. during each of these conventions it was the custom for committees of the senate and house to grant hearings to the leading advocates of this proposition. the sixteenth of these annual conventions met in lincoln hall, in response to the usual call,[ ] march , , continuing in session four days.[ ] on the evening before the convention a handsome reception was given at the riggs house by charles w. and mrs. jane h. spofford to miss susan b. anthony, which was attended by several hundred prominent men and women. delegates were present from twenty-six states and territories.[ ] miss anthony was in the chair at the opening session and read a letter from mrs. stanton, who was detained at home, in which she paid a glowing tribute to wendell phillips, the staunch defender of the rights of women, who had died the preceding month. mrs. mary b. clay, in speaking of the work in her state, said: in talking to a kentuckian on the subject of woman's right to qualify under the law, you have to batter down his self-conceit that he is just and generous and chivalric toward woman, and that she can not possibly need other protection than he gives her with his own right arm--while he forgets that it is from man alone woman needs protection, and often does she need the right to protect herself from the avarice, brutality or neglect of the one nearest to her. the only remedy for her, as for man himself, in this republic, is the ballot in her hand. he thinks he is generous to woman when he supplies her wants, forgetting that he has first robbed her by law of all her property in marriage, and then may or may not give her that which is her own by right of inheritance.... a mother, legally so, has no right to her child, the husband having the right to will it to whom he pleases, and even to will away from the mother the unborn child at his death. the wife does not own her own property, personal or real, unless given for her sole use and benefit. if a husband may rent the wife's land, or use it during his life and hers, and take the increase or rental of it, and after her death still hold it and deprive her children of its use, which he does by curtesy, and if she can not make a will and bequeath it at her death, then i say she is robbed, and insulted in the bargain, by such so-called ownership of land. "a woman fleeing from her husband and seeking refuge or protection in a neighbor's house, the man protecting her makes himself liable to the husband, who can recover damages by law." "if a husband refuse to sue for a wife who has been slandered or beaten, she can not sue for herself." these are kentucky laws. mrs. harriette r. shattuck closed her record for massachusetts by saying: "the dead wall of indifference is at last broken down and the women 'remonstrants,' by their active resistance to our advancing progress, are not only turning the attention of the public in our direction and making the whole community interested, but also are paving the way for future political action themselves. by remonstrating they have expressed their opinion and entered into politics." mrs. abigail scott duniway gave a full report of the situation in oregon, and a hopeful outlook for the success of the pending suffrage amendment.[ ] this was followed later by a strong address. a letter was read from mrs. sallie clay bennett (ky.). dr. clemence s. lozier (n. y.) spoke briefly, saying that for eleven years her parlor had been opened each month for suffrage meetings, and that "this question is the foundation of christianity; for christians can look up and truly say 'our father' only when they can treat each other as brothers and sisters." mrs. mary seymour howell (n. y.) gave an eloquent address on the outlook, answering the four stock questions: why do not more women ask for the ballot? will not voting destroy the womanly instincts? will not women be contaminated by going to the polls? will they not take away employment from men? at the opening of the evening session miss anthony read a letter from mrs. millicent garrett fawcett of england, and an extract from a recent speech by her husband, henry fawcett, member of parliament and postmaster general, strongly advocating the removal of all political disabilities of women. mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert (ills.) spoke on the statesmanship of women, citing illustrious examples in all parts of the world. mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.) gave a trenchant and humorous speech on the unknown quantity in politics, showing the indirect influence of women which unfortunately is not accompanied with responsibility. she took up leading candidates and their records, criticising or commending; illustrated how in every department women are neglected and forgotten, and closed as follows: it is better to have the power of self-protection than to depend on any man, whether he be the governor in his chair of state, or the hunted outlaw wandering through the night, hungry and cold and with murder in his heart. we are tired of the pretense that we have special privileges and the reality that we have none; of the fiction that we are queens, and the fact that we are subjects; of the symbolism which exalts our sex but is only a meaningless mockery. we demand that these shadows shall take substance. the coat of arms of the state of new york represents liberty and justice supporting a shield on which is seen the sun rising over the hills that guard the hudson. how are justice and liberty depicted? as a police judge and an independent voter? oh, no; as two noble and lovely women! what an absurdity in a state where there is neither liberty nor justice for any woman! we ask that this symbolism shall assume reality, for a redeemed and enfranchised womanhood will be the best safeguard of justice. mrs. blake was followed by mrs. martha mcclellan brown, of cincinnati wesleyan college, who spoke on disabilities of woman. miss anthony read the report from missouri by mrs. virginia l. minor, who strongly supported her belief in the constitutional right of women to the franchise. a letter of greeting was read from miss fannie m. bagby, managing editor st. louis _chronicle_; miss phoebe w. couzins (mo.) gave a brilliant address entitled what answer? at the evening session the hall was crowded. the speech of mrs. belva a. lockwood (d. c.), the first woman admitted to practice before the supreme court, was a severe criticism on the disfranchising of the women in utah as proposed by bills now before congress. it was a clear and strong legal argument which would be marred by an attempt at quotation. in an address on women before the law, the report says: mrs. helen m. gougar of indiana traced the development of human liberty as shown in the history of the ballot, which was at first given to a certain class of believers in orthodox religions, then to property holders, then to all white men. she showed how class legislation had been gradually done away with by allowing believer and unbeliever, rich and poor, white and black, to vote unquestioned and unhindered, and as a result of this onward march of justice, the last remaining form of class legislation, now shown by the sex ballot, must pass away. she declared the sex-line to be the lowest standard upon which to base a privilege and unworthy the civilization of the present time. she answered many of the popular objections to woman suffrage by showing that if education were to be made the test of the ballot, women would not be the disfranchised class in america, as three-fifths of all graduates from the public schools in the last ten years have been women. if morality were to be made a test, women would do more voting than men. the ratio of law-abiding women to men is as one to every ; of drunken women to drunken men, one to every , . reasoning from these facts, if sobriety, virtue and intelligence were necessary qualifications, women enfranchised would largely reflect these elements in the government. at noon on march the delegates were courteously received at the white house by president chester a. arthur. during the afternoon session the pennsylvania report was presented by edward m. davis, son-in-law of lucretia mott, and an exhaustive account of woman's work in philadelphia by mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg. a letter from mrs. anna c. wait (kas.) was read by mrs. bertha h. ellsworth, who closed with a tribute to mrs. wait and a poem dedicated to kansas. the guest of the convention, mrs. jessie m. wellstood of edinburgh, presented a report made by miss eliza wigham, secretary of the scotland suffrage association, prefaced with some earnest remarks in which she said: to those who are sitting at ease, folding their hands and sweetly saying: "i have all the rights i want, why should i trouble about these matters?" let me quote the burning words of the grand old prophet isaiah, which entered into my soul and stirred it to action: "rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech; many days shall ye be troubled, ye careless women, etc." it is just because we fold our hands and sit at ease that so many of our less fortunate fellow creatures are leading lives of misery, want, sin and shame. in the evening mrs. may wright sewall (ind.) delivered a beautiful address on forgotten women, which she closed with these words: "it was not a grander thing to lead the forlorn hope in , not a grander thing to strike the shackles from the black slaves in , than it would be in to carry a presidential campaign on the basis of political equality to women. the career, the fame, to match that of washington, to match that of lincoln, awaits the man who will espouse the cause of forgotten womanhood and introduce that womanhood to political influence and political freedom." interesting addresses were made by mrs. mary e. haggart (ind.), why do not women vote? and by the rev. phebe a. hanaford, pastor of the second universalist church, jersey city, on new jersey as a leader--the first to grant suffrage to women. they voted from until the legislature took away the right in . at the afternoon session of the last day mrs. lizzie d. fyler, a lawyer of arkansas, gave an extended résumé of the legal and educational position of women in that state, which was shown to be in advance of many of the eastern and western states. george w. clark, one of the old abolition singers contemporaneous with the hutchinsons, expressed a strong belief in woman suffrage and offered a tribute of song to wendell phillips. brief addresses were made by mrs. j. ellen foster (ia.) and mrs. morrison (mass.). a letter of greeting was read from the corresponding secretary, rachel g. foster, julia and mrs. julia foster (penn.), written in florence, italy. mrs. caroline gilkey rogers described school suffrage in lansingburgh, n. y. an eloquent address was made by mrs. caroline hallowell miller (md.), in which she said: there are a great many excellent people in the world who are strongly prejudiced against what they designate "isms," but who are always glad of any opportunity of serving god, as they express it. i ask what can finite beings do to serve omnipotence unless it be to exert all their powers for the good of humanity, for the uplifting of man, which, if aught of ours could do, must rejoice our creator. when we see more than one-half of the adult human family--reasonably industrious and intelligent, if we make for them no larger claim, and certainly the _raison d'etre_ of the other half--called to account by the laws of the land and held in strict obedience to them without the slightest voice in their making, with neither form nor shadow of representation before state or country, do we not see that there rests upon the entire race a stigma that materialist and idealist, agnostic and churchman, should each and all hasten to remove? "behold, the fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few!" how can it be longer tolerated that the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters, of a land claiming the highest degree of civilization and boasting of freedom as its watchword, should still rank before the law with criminals, idiots and slaves? i feel as confident as i do of my existence, that the apathy which we are now fighting against, especially among our own sex, springs mainly from want of thought; the women of culture throughout the country placidly accept the comfortable conditions in which they find themselves. they receive without question the formulated theories of woman's sphere as they accept the formulated theories of the orthodox religions into which they may chance to have been born; occasionally an original thinker steps out of the ranks and finds herself after a while with a few followers. they remain but few, however, for it is too much trouble to think. at the evening session the rev. florence kollock (ills.) spoke on the ethics of woman suffrage, saying in part: by what moral right stands a law upon the statute books that infringes upon the rights and duties of womanhood, that prohibits a mother from the full discharge of the duties of her sacred office, as all are prohibited through the law that forbids them the opportunity of throwing their whole moral strength, influence and convictions against the existence and growth of social and political iniquities and in defense of truth and purity? the great evils of our day are of such a nature that all, regardless of moral principles or sex, suffer from their effects, proving clearly that all have a moral obligation in these matters, and the fact that one human being suffers from an evil carries with it the highest authority to remove that evil. the silent influence of woman has failed to accomplish the desired good of humanity, has failed to bring about the needed moral reforms, and all observing persons are ready to concede that posing is a weak way of combating giant evils--that attitudism can not take the place of activity. to suppress the full utterance of the moral convictions of those who so largely mold the character of the race is a crime against humanity, against progress, against god. mrs. shattuck, in discussing the question, said: it is absolutely necessary for the improvement of the race that the manly and womanly elements shall be side by side in all walks of life, and the fact that our social status, our literature and our educational systems have been greatly improved by woman's co-operation with man, points to the eternal truth that man and woman must work hand in hand in the state also, in order that it shall be uplifted and saved. woman herself will not be harmed by the ballot, for the acquisition of greater responsibilities improves and not degrades the recipient thereof. if the ballot has made man worse it will make woman worse, and not otherwise. whoever studies the history of the race from age to age and nation to nation finds the world has advanced and not retrograded by giving responsibility to the individual. the opposition to woman suffrage strikes a blow at the foundation-stone of this republic, which is self-representation by means of the ballot. at the bottom of this opposition is a subtle distrust of american institutions, an idea of "restricted suffrage" which is creeping into our republic through so-called aristocratic channels. a distinguishing feature of this convention was the large number of letters and reports sent from abroad, undoubtedly due to the fact that mrs. stanton and miss anthony had spent the preceding year in europe, making the acquaintance and arousing the interest of foreign men and women in the status of the suffrage question in the united states. among these letters was one from miss frances power cobbe in which she said: "the final and complete emancipation of our sex ere long, i think, is absolutely certain. all is going well here and i hope with you in america; and with all my heart, dear miss anthony, i wish you and the woman's convention triumphant success." miss jane cobden, daughter of richard cobden, said in the course of her letter: "i feel all the more certain of the righteousness of the work in which i am so much engaged, because i know from words spoken and written by my father as far back as , that had he been living at the present day i should have had his sympathy. he was nothing if not consistent, and so he said in a speech delivered in london that year on free trade: 'there are many ladies present, i am happy to say. now it is a very anomalous and singular fact that they can not vote themselves and yet they have the power of conferring votes upon other people. i wish they had the franchise, for they would often make a much better use of it than their husbands.'" miss caroline ashurst biggs, for many years editor of the _englishwoman's review_, sent a full report of the situation in england. there was a letter of greeting also from miss lydia becker, editor of the _women's suffrage journal_ and member of the manchester school board. john p. thomasson and peter a. taylor, members of parliament, favored woman suffrage in the strongest terms, the latter saying: "justice never can be done to the rising generations till the influence of the mother is freed from the ignominy of exclusion from the great political and social work of the day." mrs. thomasson, daughter of margaret bright lucas, and mrs. taylor, known as the organizer of the women's suffrage movement in england, also sent cordial good wishes.[ ] the wife of jacob bright, who was largely responsible for the married women's property bill, presented a review of present suffrage laws; his sister, mrs. priscilla bright mclaren, wife of duncan mclaren, m. p., and the great abolitionist, mrs. elizabeth pease nichol of edinburgh, sent long and valuable letters. mrs. mclaren wrote: i was in exeter hall, london, on the day our parliament assembled; a prayer-meeting was held there the whole of that day. earnest were the intercessions that the hearts of our rulers might be influenced to repeal every vestige of the contagious diseases acts; and the women especially prayed that our men might be led to send representatives to parliament of much higher morality than such acts testified to, and that the eyes of the women of their country might be opened to see the iniquity of such legislation. i venture to express that the burden of my prayer had been, whilst sitting in that meeting, that the eyes of the women there assembled, and of the women throughout our country, might be opened to see that we could not expect men who did not consider morality to be a necessary part of their own character, to regard it as needful for the men who were to represent them in parliament; that we needed a new moral power to be brought into exercise at our elections, and as parliament was meeting that day and one of its first acts would be to bring in a new reform bill, that we might unite in prayer that the petitions so long put forth by many of the women of this land, that their claim to the suffrage should be included in this new act for the extended representation of the people, might be righteously answered; and the power given to women not only to pray for what was just and right, but to have by the parliamentary vote a direct power to promote that higher legislation which they all so much desired. i know nothing which calls for more faith and patience than to hear women pleading for justice, and refusing to help get it in the only legitimate way.... whilst we have our anomalies here, you have a glaring inconsistency in your country. it is not a property qualification which gives a vote in america. is not every human being, who is of age, according to your constitution, entitled to equal justice and freedom? are you women not human beings? the lowest and most ignorant man who leaves any shore and lands on yours, ere he has earned a home or made family ties, becomes a citizen of your great country; whilst your own women, who during a life-time may have done much service and given much to the state, are denied the right accorded to that man, however low his condition may be. you are fighting to overcome this great monopoly of citizenship. we watch your proceedings with deep interest. we rejoice in your successes and sympathize with you in your endeavors to gain fresh victories. congratulatory letters were received from ewing whittle, m. d., of the royal academy, liverpool, and miss isabella m. s. tod, the well-known reformer of belfast. m. leon richer, the eminent writer of paris, and mlle. hubertine auclert, editor of _la citoyenne_, sent cordial words of co-operation. there were also greetings from mrs. ernestine l. rose, a polish exile, one of the first women lecturers in america; from the wife and daughter of a. a. sargent, u. s. minister to berlin; from theodore stanton; miss florence kelley, daughter of the hon. william d. kelley; the wife of moncure d. conway; rosamond, daughter of robert dale owen; mrs. charlotte b. wilbour and dr. frances e. dickinson, all americans residing abroad. among the noted men and women of the united states who sent letters endorsing equal suffrage, were george william curtis, william lloyd garrison, u. s. senators henry b. anthony and henry w. blair, the hon. george w. julian, the hon. william i. bowditch, robert purvis, the rev. anna oliver, mrs. zerelda g. wallace, the "mother" of ben hur, and mrs. abby hutchinson patton.[ ] to this assembly bishop matthew simpson, of the methodist episcopal church, sent almost his last public utterance: for more than thirty years i have been in favor of woman suffrage. i was led to this position not by the consideration of the question of natural rights or of alleged injustice or of inequality before the law, but by what i believed would be the influence of woman on the great moral questions of the day. were the ballot in the hands of women, i am satisfied that the evils of intemperance would be greatly lessened, and i fear that without that ballot we shall not succeed against the saloons and kindred evils in large cities. you will doubtless have many obstacles placed in your way; there will be many conflicts to sustain; but i have no doubt that the coming years will see the triumph of your cause; and that our higher civilization and morality will rejoice in the work which enlightened woman will accomplish. the resolutions presented by mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert (ills.), chairman of the committee, were adopted. whereas, the fundamental idea of a republic is the right of self-government, the right of every citizen to choose her own representatives to enact the laws by which she is governed; and whereas, this right can be secured only by the exercise of the suffrage; therefore _resolved_, that the ballot in the hand of every qualified citizen constitutes the true political status of the people, and to deprive one-half of the people of the use of the ballot is to deny the first principle of a republican government. _resolved_, that it is the duty of congress to submit a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution, securing to women the right of suffrage; first, because the disfranchisement of one-half of the people deprives that half of the means of self-protection and support, limits their resources for self-development and weakens their influence on popular thought; second, because giving all men the absolute authority to decide the social, civil and political status of women, creates a spirit of caste, unrepublican in tendency; third, because in depriving the state of the united wisdom of man and woman, that important "consensus of the competent," our form of government becomes in fact an oligarchy of males instead of a republic of the people. _resolved_, that since the women citizens of the united states have thus far failed to receive proper recognition from any of the existing political parties, we recommend the appointment by this convention of a committee on future political action. _resolved_, that as there is a general awakening to the rights of women in all european countries, the time has arrived to take the initiative steps for a grand international woman suffrage convention, to be held in either england or america, and that for this purpose a committee of three be appointed at this convention to correspond with leading persons in different countries interested in the elevation of women. miss couzins submitted the following, which was unanimously accepted: _resolved_, that in the death of wendell phillips the nation has lost one of its greatest moral heroes, its most eloquent orator and honest advocate of justice and equality for all classes; and woman in her struggle for enfranchisement has lost in him a steadfast friend and wise counselor. his consistency in the application of republican principles of government brought him to the woman suffrage platform at the inauguration of the movement, where he remained faithful to the end. the national woman suffrage association in convention assembled, would express their gratitude for his brave words for woman before the legislatures of so many states and on so many platforms, both in england and america, and would extend their sincere sympathy to her who was his constant inspiration to the utterance of the highest truth, his noble wife, ann green phillips. _resolved_, that the services of anna ella carroll of maryland, who directed the armies of the republic up the tennessee river and then southward to the center of the confederate power to its base in northern alabama, cutting the memphis and charleston railroad and thus breaking the backbone of the rebellion, entitle her justly to the name of the military genius of the war; that her long struggle for recognition at the hands of our government commends her to the sympathy of all who believe in truth and justice; and the continued refusal of the government to acknowledge this woman's service, which saved to us the union, defeated national bankruptcy and prevented the intervention of foreign powers, merits the condemnation of all lovers of right, and we hereby not only send to her our loving recognition and sympathy, but pledge ourselves to arouse this nation to the fact of her services.[ ] the plan of work submitted by mrs. gougar, chairman of the committee, was adopted.[ ] this was supplemented by suggestions of the national board as to methods of organization.[ ] the following officers were elected: president, elizabeth cady stanton, n. y.; vice-presidents-at-large, susan b. anthony, matilda joslyn gage, n. y., the rev. olympia brown, wis., phoebe w. couzins, mo., abigail scott duniway, ore.; recording secretaries, ellen h. sheldon, d. c., julia t. foster, penn.; pearl adams, ills.; corresponding secretary, rachel g. foster (avery), penn.; foreign corresponding secretaries, caroline ashurst biggs, lydia e. becker, england; marguerite berry stanton, hubertine auclert, france; treasurer, jane h. spofford, d. c.; auditors, ruth c. dennison, julia a. wilbur, d. c.; chairman of executive committee, may wright sewall, ind., and vice-presidents in every state. the financial report showed the receipts for to be in round numbers $ , , and a balance of $ still remaining in the treasury. in her address closing the convention miss anthony said: the reason men are so slow in conceding political equality to women is because they can not believe that women suffer the humiliation of disfranchisement as they would. a dear and noble friend, one who aided our work most efficiently in the early days, said to me, "why do you say the 'emancipation of women?'" i replied, "because women are political slaves!" is it not strange that men think that what to them would be degradation, slavery, is to women elevation, liberty? men put the right of suffrage for themselves above all price, and count the denial of it the most severe punishment. if a man serving a term in state's prison has one friend outside who cares for him, that friend will get up a petition begging the governor to commute his sentence, if for not more than forty-eight hours prior to its expiration, so that, when he comes out of prison he may not be compelled to suffer the disgrace of disfranchisement and may not be doomed to walk among his fellows with the mark of cain upon his forehead. the only penalty inflicted upon the men, who a few years ago laid the knife at the throat of the nation, was that of disfranchisement, which all men, loyal and disloyal, felt was too grievous to be borne, and our government made haste to permit every one, even the leader of them all, to escape from this humiliation, this degradation, and again to be honored with the crowning right of united states citizenship. how can men thus delude themselves with the idea that what to them is ignominy unbearable is to women honor and glory unspeakable.[ ] an able address from mrs. matilda joslyn gage (n. y.) arrived too late for the convention. it was a denial of the superiority of man from a scientific standpoint, and was so original in thought that it deserves to be reproduced almost in full: ....we must bear in mind the old theologic belief that the earth was flat, the center of the universe, around which all else revolved--that all created things animate and inanimate, were made for man alone--that woman was not part of the original plan of creation but was an after-thought for man's special use and benefit. so that a science which proves the falsity of any of these theological conceptions aids in the overthrow of all. the first great battle fought by science for woman was a geographical one lasting for twelve centuries. but finally, columbus, sustained and sent on his way by isabella in , followed by magellan's circumnavigation of the globe twenty years later, settled the question of the earth's rotundity and was the first step toward woman's enfranchisement. another great battle was in progress at the same time and the second victory was an astronomical one. copernicus was born, the telescope discovered, the earth sank to its subordinate place in the solar system and another battle for woman was won. chemistry, long opposed under the name of alchemy, at last gained a victory, and by its union of diverse atoms began to teach men that nature is a system of nuptials, and that the feminine is everywhere present as an absolute necessity of life. geology continued this lesson. it not only taught the immense age of creation, but the motherhood of even the rocks. botany was destined for a fierce battle, as when linnæus declared the sexual nature of plants, he was shunned as having degraded the works of god by a recognition of the feminine in plant life. philology owes its rank to catherine ii of russia, who, in assembling her great congress of deputies from the numerous provinces of her empire, gave the first impetus to this science. max müller declares the evidence of language to be irrefragable, and it is the only history we possess prior to historic periods. through philology we ascend to the dawn of nations and learn of the domestic, religious and governmental habits of people who left neither monuments nor writing to speak for them. from it we learn the original meaning of our terms, father and mother. father, says müller, who is a recognized philological authority, is derived from the root "pa," which means to protect, to support, to nourish. among the earliest aryans, the word _mater_ (mother), from the root "ma," signified maker; creation being thus distinctively associated with the feminine. taylor, in his primitive culture says the husband acknowledged the offspring of his wife as his own as thus only had he a right to claim the title of father. while philology has opened a new fount of historic knowledge, biology, the seventh and most important witness, the latest science in opposition to divine authority, is the first to deny the theory of man's original perfection. science gained many triumphs, conquered many superstitions, before the world caught a glimpse of the result toward which each step was tending--the enfranchisement of woman. through biology we learn that the first manifestation of life is feminine. the albuminous protoplasm lying in silent darkness on the bottom of the sea, possessing within itself all the phenomena exhibited by the highest forms of life, as sensation, motion, nutrition and reproduction, produces its like, and in all forms of life the capacity for reproduction undeniably stamps the feminine. not only does science establish the fact that primordial life is feminine, but it also proves that a greater expenditure of vital force is requisite for the production of the feminine than for the masculine. the experiments of meehan, gentry, treat, herrick, wallace, combe, wood and many others, show sex to depend upon environment and nutrition. a meager, contracted environment, together with innutritious or scanty food, results in a weakened vitality and the birth of males; a broad, generous environment together with abundant nutrition, in the birth of females. the most perfect plant produces feminine flowers; the best nurtured insect or animal demonstrates the same law. from every summary of vital statistics we gather further proof that more abundant vitality, fewer infantile deaths and greater comparative longevity belong to woman. it is a recognized fact that quick reaction to a stimulus is proof of superior vitality. in england, where very complete vital statistics have been recorded for many years, it is shown that while the mean duration of man's life within the last thirty years has increased five per cent. that of woman has increased more than eight per cent. our own last census (tenth) shows new hampshire to be the state most favorable for longevity. while one in seventy-four of its inhabitants is eighty years old, among native white men the proportion is but one to eighty, while among native white women, the very great preponderance of one to fifty-eight is shown. that the vitality of the world is at a depressed standard is proven by the fact that more boys are born than girls, the per cent. varying in different countries. male infants are more often deformed, suffer from abnormal characteristics, and more speedily succumb to infantile diseases than female infants, so that within a few years, notwithstanding the large proportion of male births, the balance of life is upon the feminine side. many children are born to a rising people, but this biological truth is curiously supplemented by the fact that the proportion of girls born among such people, is always in excess of boys; while in races dying out, the very large proportion of boys' births over those of girls is equally noticeable. from these hastily presented scientific facts it is manifest that woman possesses in a higher degree than man that adaptation to the conditions surrounding her which is everywhere accepted as evidence of superior vitality and higher physical rank in life; and when biology becomes more fully understood it will also be universally acknowledged that the primal creative power, like the first manifestation of life, is feminine. footnotes: [ ] the call ended as follows: "the satisfactory results of unrestricted suffrage for women in wyoming territory, of school suffrage in twelve states, of municipal and school suffrage in england and scotland, of municipal and parliamentary suffrage in the isle of man, with the recent triumph in washington territory; also the constant agitation of the suffrage question in this country and in england, and the demands that women are everywhere making for larger liberties, are most encouraging signs of the times. this is the supreme hour for all who are interested in the enfranchisement of women to dedicate their time and money to the success of this movement, and by their generous contributions to strengthen those upon whom rests the responsibility of carrying forward this beneficent reform. "elizabeth cady stanton, president. "susan b. anthony, vice-pres't at large. "may wright sewall, ch. ex. committee. "jane h. spofford, treasurer." [ ] the report of this convention, edited by miss anthony and mrs. stanton, is the most complete of any ever issued by the association and has been placed in most of the public libraries of the united states. [ ] a list of delegates and those making state reports from year to year will be found in the last chapter of the appendix. [ ] the history of the work in the various states, as detailed more or less fully in these reports from year to year, will be found recorded in the state chapters. [ ] letters were received from s. alfred steinthal, treasurer of the manchester society; f. henrietta müller, member of the london school board; frances lord, poor-law guardian in london; eliza orme, england's first woman lawyer; dr. agnes mclaren, hannah ford, mary a. estlin, anna m. and mary priestman, margaret priestman tanner, rebecca moore, margaret e. parker, all distinguished english women. [ ] california--clarina i. h. nichols, mrs. s. j. manning, sarah knox goodrich; colorado--dr. alida c. avery, henry c. dillon; connecticut--frances ellen burr; district of columbia--cornelia a. sheldon; illinois--dr. alice b. stockham, ada h. kepley, pearl adams, lucinda b. chandler, annette porter, m. d.; iowa--caroline a. ingham, jonathan and mary v. s. cowgill, m. a. root; kansas--ex-governor and mrs. j. p. st. john, mary a. humphrey, lorenzo westover, susan e. wattles, mrs. van coleman; kentucky--ellen b. dietrick; massachusetts--lilian whiting; michigan--catharine a. f. stebbins, mrs. r. m. young, cordelia f. briggs; maine--ellen french foster, lavina m. snow; minnesota--eliza b. gamble, laura howe carpenter, mrs. t. b. walker; missouri--elizabeth avery meriwether, annie r. irvine; nebraska--judge and mrs. a.d. yocum, madame charlton edholm, harriet s. brooks; new jersey--theresa walling seabrook, augusta cooper; new hampshire--armenia s. white, eliza morrill; new york--madame clara neymann, mary f. seymour, jean brooks greenleaf, mary f. gilbert, mathilde f. wendt, helen m. loder, augusta lilienthal, amy post, sarah h. hallock, elizabeth oakes smith; ohio--frances dana gage; pennsylvania--adeline thomson, deborah a. pennock, matilda hindman, hattie m. du bois, mrs. lovisa c. mccullough; rhode island--catherine c. knowles; texas--jennie bland beauchamp; virginia--n. o. town; washington ty.--barbara j. thompson; wisconsin--almeda b. gray, evaleen l. mason, mathilde anneke; canada--dr. emily h. stowe. [ ] for a full account of miss carroll's services and such congressional action as was taken, see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, pp. and . it is the story of a national disgrace. [ ] _resolved_, that we hold a convention in every unorganized state and territory during the present year, as far as possible, at the capital. _resolved_, that we consider the enfranchisement of the women citizens of the united states the paramount issue of the hour, therefore _resolved_, that we will, by all honorable methods, oppose the election of any presidential candidate who is a known opponent to woman suffrage, and we recommend similar action on the part of our state associations in regard to state and congressional candidates and further _resolved_, that the officers of this convention shall communicate with presidential nominees of the several political parties and ascertain their position upon this question. _resolved_, that all legislatures shall be requested to memorialize congress upon the submission of a sixteenth amendment to the constitution, this to be the duty of the vice presidents of the states and territories. whereas, the national government, through congress and the supreme court, has persistently refused to protect the women of the several states and territories in "the right of the citizen to vote," therefore _resolved_, that this association most earnestly protests against national interference to abolish the right where it has been secured by the legislature--as, for example, the edmunds tucker bill, which proposes to disfranchise all the women of utah, thus inflicting the most degrading penalty upon the innocent equally with the guilty, by robbing them of their most sacred right of citizenship. [ ] the method of organization must be governed by circumstances. in some localities it is best to call a public meeting, in others to invite the friends of the movement to a private conference. both women and men should be members and co-operate, and the society should be organized on as broad and liberal a basis as possible. hold conventions, picnics, teas, and occasionally have a lecture from some one who will draw a large crowd. utilize your own talent, encourage your young women and men to speak, read essays and debate on the question. hold public celebrations of the birthdays of eminent women, and in that way interest many who would not attend a pronounced suffrage meeting. persons who can not be induced to attend a public meeting will often accept an invitation to a parlor conference or entertainment where woman suffrage can be made the subject of conversation. cultured women and men, who "have given the matter no thought," can be interested through a paper presenting the life and work of such women as margaret fuller, abigail adams, lucretia mott, etc., or showing the rise and progress of the woman suffrage movement, giving short biographies of the leaders. advocate suffrage through your local papers. send them short, pithy communications, and, when possible, secure a column in each, to be edited by the society. invite pastors of churches to select from the numerous appropriate texts in the bible and preach occasionally upon this subject. a strong effort should be made to circulate literature. every society should own a copy of the woman question in europe, by theodore stanton, of the history of woman suffrage, by mrs. stanton, miss anthony and mrs. gage, of mrs. robinson's massachusetts in the woman suffrage movement, of t. w. higginson's common sense for women, of john stuart mill's subjection of women, and of frances power cobbe's duties of women. these will furnish ammunition for arguments and debates. suffrage leaflets should be circulated in parlors and places of business, and "pockets" should be filled and hung in railroad stations, post-offices and hotels, that "he who runs may read." over these should be printed "woman suffrage--take and read." all the above methods aim rather at the education of the popular mind than the judiciary and legislative branches of the government. the next step is to educate the representatives in congress and on the bench of the supreme court in the principles of constitutional law and republican government, that they may understand the justice of the demands for a sixteenth amendment which shall forbid the several states to deny or abridge the rights of women citizens of the united states. [ ] miss anthony never wrote her addresses and no stenographic reports were made. brief and inadequate newspaper accounts are all that remain. chapter iii. congressional hearings and reports of . both senate and house of the preceding congress had appointed select committees on woman suffrage to whom all petitions, etc., were referred.[ ] the senate of the forty-eighth congress renewed this committee, but the house declined to do so. early in the session, dec. , , the committee on rules refused to report such a committee but authorized speaker warren keifer of ohio to present the question to the house. a spirited debate followed which displayed the sentiment of members against the question of woman suffrage itself. john h. reagan of texas was the principal opponent, saying in the course of his remarks: i hope that it will not be considered ungracious in me that i oppose the wish of any lady. but when she so far misunderstands her duty as to want to go to working on the roads and making rails and serving in the militia and going into the army, i want to protect her against it. i do not think that sort of employment suits her sex or her physical strength. i think also, when we attempt to overturn the social status of the world as it has existed for six thousand years, we ought to begin somewhere where we have a constitutional basis to stand upon.... but i suppose whoever clamors for action here finds a warrant for it in the clamor outside, and it is not necessary to look to the constitution for it; it is not necessary to regard the interests of civilization and the experience of ages in determining our social as well as our political policy; but we will arrange it so that there shall be no one to nurse the babies, no one to superintend the household, but all shall go into the political scramble, and we shall go back as rapidly as we can march into barbarism. that is the effect of such doings as this, disregarding the social interests of society for a clamor that never ought to have been made. mr. reagan then rambled into a long discussion of the rights allowed under the constitution, although no action had been proposed except the mere appointment of a select committee, to whom all questions relating to woman suffrage might be referred, such as already existed in the senate. james b. belford of colorado in an able reply said: i have no doubt that this house will be gratified with the profound respect which the gentleman from texas has expressed for the constitution of the country. the last distinguished act with which he was connected was its attempted overthrow; and a man who was engaged in an enterprise of that kind can fight a class to whom his mother belonged. i desire to know whether a woman is a citizen of the united states or an outcast without any political rights whatever.... what is the proposition presented by the gentleman from ohio? that we will constitute a committee to whom shall be referred all petitions presented by women. is not the right of petition a constitutional right? has not woman, in this country at least, risen above the horizon of servitude, discredit and disgrace, and has she not a right, representing as she does in many instances great questions of property, to present her appeals to this national council and have them judiciously considered? i think it is due to our wives, daughters, mothers and sisters to afford them an avenue through which they can legitimately and judicially reach the ear of this great nation. moved by mr. reagan's attacks, mr. keifer made a strong plea for the rights of women, which deserves a place in history, saying in part: we must remember that we stand here committed in a large sense to the matter of woman suffrage. in the territories of wyoming and utah for fifteen years past women have had the right to vote on all questions which men can vote upon; and the congress of the united states has stood by without disapproving the legislative acts of those territories. and we now have before us a law passed at the last session of the legislature of washington, giving to its women the right to vote. we have not passed upon the question one way or the other, but we have the right to pass upon it. this, i think, seems to dispose sufficiently of the question of constitutional legislative power without trampling upon the toes of any state-rights man. the right of petition belongs to all persons within the limits of our republic, and with the right of petition goes the right on the part of the congress through constitutional means to grant relief. do gentlemen claim it is unconstitutional to amend the constitution? i know that claim was made at one time on the floor of this house and on the floor of the senate. when it was proposed to abolish slavery in the united states, distinguished gentlemen argued that it was unconstitutional to amend the constitution so as to abolish slavery. but all that has passed away and we now find ourselves, in the light of the present, seeing clearly that we may amend the constitution in any way we please, pursuing always the proper constitutional methods of doing so. there are considerations due to the women of this country which ought not to be lightly thrust aside. for thirty-five years they have been petitioning and holding conventions and demanding that certain relief should be granted them, to the extent of allowing them to exercise the right of suffrage. in that thirty-five years we have seen great things accomplished. we have seen some of the subtleties of the common law, which were spread over this country, swept away. there is hardly anybody anywhere who now adheres to the doctrine that a married woman can not make a contract, and that she has no rights or liabilities except those which are centered in her husband. even the old common-law maxim that "husband and wife are one, and that one the husband," has been largely modified under the influence of these patriotic, earnest ladies who have taken hold of this question and enlightened the world upon it. there are now in the vaults of this capitol _hundreds of thousands of petitions_ for relief, sent in here by women and by those who believed that women ought to have certain rights and privileges of citizenship granted to them. for sixteen years there has been held in this city, annually, a convention composed of representative women from all parts of the country. these conventions, as well as various state and local conventions, have been appealing for relief; and they ought not to be met by the statement that we will not even give them the poor privilege of a committee to whom their petitions and memorials may be referred. we have made some progress. in there was a very strong minority report made in this house in favor of woman suffrage. notwithstanding the notion that we must stand by all our old ideas, the supreme court of the united states, after deliberately considering the question, admitted a woman to practice at the bar of that court.[ ] a hundred years ago, in the darkness of which some gentlemen desire still to live, i suppose they would not have done this. favorable reports on this subject were made by the committee on privileges and elections in the senate of the forty-fifth congress, and in the last congress by a select committee of the senate and of the house. the legislatures of many of the states have expressed their judgment on the matter. there has been a great deal of progress in that direction. the senate and the house of representatives of the last congress provided select committees to whom all matters relating to woman suffrage could be referred. will this house take a step backward on this question? i want especially to notify the gentleman from texas that we are not standing still on this matter. eleven states--new hampshire, vermont, massachusetts, new york, michigan, kentucky, minnesota, nebraska, kansas, colorado and oregon--have authorized women to vote for school trustees and members of school boards. kentucky extends this right to widows who have children and pay taxes. women are nominated and voted for not only in the eleven states and three territories, but in nearly all the northern and western states. pennsylvania, illinois, iowa and other states have large numbers of women county superintendents of public schools. and let me say, for the benefit of the democratic party, that in the great, progressive western state of kansas the democracy rose so high as to nominate and vote for a woman for state superintendent of public instruction at the last election. so there has been a little growing away from those old ideas and notions, even among the democracy. we are permitting women to fill public offices. why should they not participate in the election of officers who are to govern them? we require them to pay taxes and there are a great many burdens imposed upon them. kansas, michigan, colorado and nebraska have in recent years submitted the question of woman suffrage to a vote of the people and more than one-third of the electors of each voted in favor. oregon has now a similar proposition pending. by the laws of all the states women are required to pay taxes; but we are practically working on the theory that these women shall be taxed without the right of representation. taxation without representation led to the separation of the colonies from the mother country. they were not so much opposed to being taxed as they were to being taxed without representation. the patriots of that day conceived the idea that there was a principle somewhere involved in the right of representation. so they evolved and formulated that revolutionary maxim, "millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." the basis of that maxim was that they would not give to the payment of taxes without the right of representation. revolution and war made representation and taxation correlative. but the states tax all women on their property. for illustration, , women of boston and , in massachusetts pay $ , , of taxes, one-eleventh of the entire tax of that great and wealthy state. the same ratio will be found to prevail in all the other states. progress has gone on elsewhere than in the united states. england has been moving forward in this matter, and we should not stand behind her in anything.... i am one of those who do not believe that to give to women common rights and privileges will degrade them, but on the contrary i believe it will ennoble them; and i believe further that to put them on an equality in the matter of rights and privileges with men will enhance their charms and not lessen their beauty. the vote resulted--yeas, ; nays, ; not voting, . of the affirmative votes were republican, democratic; of the negative, were republican, democratic. in january, , after the return of the members from their holiday recess, miss anthony addressed letters to the absentees, asking each how he would have voted had he been present. fifty-two replies were received, from republicans, all of whom would have voted yes; from democrats, of whom would have voted yes, , no, and could not tell which way they would have voted. in the hope that this respectable minority could be increased to a majority, the hon. john d. white (ky.) made a further attempt, feb. , , to secure the desired committee, saying in his speech upon this question: it seems to me to be an anomalous state of affairs that in a great nation like this one-half of the people should have no committee to which they could address their appeals. women consider they have the same political rights as men. i might read from such distinguished authority as miss susan b. anthony, whose name has been jeered in her native state, and who has been prosecuted there for voting, but who stands before the american people to-day the peer of any woman in the nation, and the superior of half the men occupying a representative capacity. it does seem to me hard that when a woman like this comes to congress, instructed by thousands and tens of thousands of her sex, in order to be heard she should be compelled to hang around the doors of the judiciary committee, or of some other committee, pre-eminently occupied with other matters. but we are told there is no room. yet we have a room where lobbyists of every sort are provided for. and are we to be told that no room in this wing of the capitol can be had where respectable women of the nation can present arguments for the calm consideration of their friends in this body? i ask simply for the opportunity to be afforded the representatives of the political rights of women to be heard in making respectful argument to the law-making power of the nation. byron m. cutcheon (mich.) also spoke in favor of the committee, saying: ever since the organization of this house i have received petitions from my constituents in regard to this matter of the political rights of women, but there seems to be no committee to which they could properly be referred. a few years since, when this question of woman suffrage was submitted to the people in my state, more than , electors were in favor of it. it seems to me, without committing ourselves on the question of the political rights of women, it is but respectful to a very large number of people in all our states that there should be a committee to receive and consider and report upon these petitions which come to us from time to time. the house refused to allow a vote. the senate committee on woman suffrage granted a hearing march , , at : a. m., in the senate reception room, to the speakers and delegates in attendance at the convention, the entire committee being present.[ ] in introducing the speakers miss anthony said: "this is the sixteenth year that we have come before congress in person, and the nineteenth by petitions, asking national protection for the citizen's right to vote, when the citizen happens to be a woman." mrs. harriet r. shattuck (mass.): we canvassed four localities in the city of boston, two in smaller cities, two in country districts and made one record also of school teachers in nine schools of one town. the teachers were unanimously in favor of woman suffrage, and in the nine localities we found that the proportion of women in favor was very much larger than of those opposed. the total of women canvassed was . those in favor were , those opposed, ; indifferent, ; refused to sign, ; not seen, . these canvasses were made by respectable, responsible women, and they swore before a justice of the peace as to the truth of their statements. thus we have in massachusetts this reliable canvass of women showing those in favor are to those opposed as nine to one.... mrs. may wright sewall (ind.): ... my friend has said that men have always kept us just a little below them where they could shower upon us favors and they have done that generously. so they have, but, gentlemen, has your sex been more generous to women than they have been generous toward you in their favors? neither can dispense with the service of the other, neither can dispense with the reverence of the other or with the aid of the other in social life. the men of this nation are rapidly finding that they can not dispense with the service of woman in business life. i know that they are also feeling the need of the moral support of woman in their political life. you, gentlemen, by lifting the women of the nation into political equality would simply place us where we could lift you where you never yet have stood--upon a moral equality with us. i do not speak to you as individuals but as the representatives of your sex, as i stand here the representative of mine, and never until we are your equals politically will the moral standard for men be what it now is for women, and it is none too high. let woman's standard be still more elevated, and let yours come up to match it. we do not appeal to you as republicans or as democrats. we were reared with our brothers under the political belief and faith of our fathers, and probably as much influenced by that rearing as they were. we shall go to strengthen both the parties, neither the one nor the other the more, probably. so this is not a partisan measure; it is a just measure, which is our due, because of what we are, men and women both, by virtue of our heritage and our one father, our one mother eternal. mrs. helen m. gougar (ind.): i maintain there is no political question paramount to that of woman suffrage before the people of america to-day. political parties would have us believe that tariff is the great question of the hour. it is an insult to the intelligence of the present to say that when one-half of the citizens of this republic are denied a direct voice in making the laws under which they shall live, that the tariff, the civil rights of the negro, or any other question which can be brought up, is equal to the one of giving political freedom to women. i ask you to let me have a voice in the laws under which i shall live because the older empires of the earth are sending to the united states a population drawn very largely from their asylums, penitentiaries, jails and poor-houses. they are emptying those men upon our shores, and within a few months they are intrusted with the ballot, the law-making power in this republic, and they and their representatives are seated in official and legislative positions. i, as an american-born woman, enter my protest at being compelled to live under laws made by this class of men while i am denied the protection that can only come from the ballot. while i would not have you take this right from those men whom we invite to our shores, i do ask you, in the face of this immense foreign immigration, to enfranchise the tax-paying, intelligent, moral, native-born women of america. ....we have in our state the signatures of over , of the school teachers asking for woman's ballot. i ask you if the government does not need the voice of those , educated teachers as much as it needs the voice of the criminals who are, on an average, sent out of the penitentiary of indiana each year, to go to the ballot-box upon every question, and make laws under which those teachers must live, and under which the mothers of our state must keep their homes and rear their children? on behalf of the mothers of this country i demand that their hands shall be loosened before the ballot-box, and that they shall have the privilege of throwing the mother heart into the laws which shall follow their sons not only to the age of majority, but even after their hair has turned gray and they have seats in the united states congress; yes, to the very confines of eternity. this can be done in no indirect way; it can not be done by silent influence; it can not be done by prayer. while i do not underestimate the power of prayer, i say give me my ballot with which to send statesmen instead of modern politicians into our legislative halls. i would rather have that ballot on election day than the prayers of all the disfranchised women in the universe! ....our forefathers did not object to taxation, but they did object to taxation without representation, and we object to it. we are willing to contribute our share to the support of this government, as we always have done; but we demand our little yes and no in the form of the ballot so that we shall have a direct influence in distributing the taxes. i am amenable to the gallows and the penitentiary, and it is no more than right that i shall have a voice in framing the laws under which i shall be rewarded or punished. it is written in the law of every state in this union that a person tried in the courts shall have a jury of his peers; yet so long as the word "male" stands as it does in the constitution of the united states and the states, no woman can have a jury of her peers. i protest in the name of justice against going into the court-room and being compelled to run the gauntlet of the gutter and saloon--yes, even of the police court and of the jail--as is done in selecting a male jury to try the interests of woman, whether relating to life, property or reputation.... the political party that presumes to fight the moral battles of the future must have the women in its ranks. we are non-partisan. we come as democrats, republicans, prohibitionists and green-backers, and if there were half a dozen other political parties some of us would affiliate with them. we ask this beneficent action upon your part, because we believe the intelligence and justice of the hour demand it. we ask you in the name of equity and humanity alone, and not in that of any party.... you ask us if we are impatient. yes; we are impatient. some of us may die, and i want our grand old standard-bearer, susan b. anthony, whose name will go down to history beside those of george washington, abraham lincoln and wendell phillips--i want that woman to go to heaven a free angel from this republic. the power lies in your hands to make all women free. mrs. caroline gilkey rogers (n. y.): it is often said to us that when _all_ the women ask for the ballot it will be granted. did _all_ the married women petition the legislatures of their states to secure to them the right to hold in their own name the property which belonged to them? to secure to the poor forsaken wife the right to her earnings? _all_ the women did not ask for these rights, but _all_ accepted them with joy and gladness when they were obtained, and so it will be with the franchise. woman's right to self-government does not depend upon the numbers that demand it, but upon precisely the same principles on which man claims it for himself. where did man get the authority which he now exercises to govern one-half of humanity; from what power the right to place woman, his helpmeet in life, in an inferior position? came it from nature? nature made woman his superior when it made her his mother--his equal when it fitted her to hold the sacred position of wife. did women meet in council and voluntarily give up all their right to be their own law-makers? the power of the strong over the weak makes man the master. thus, and thus only, does he gain the authority. it is all very well to say, "convert the women." while we most heartily wish they could all feel as we do, yet when it comes to the decision of this great question they are mere ciphers, for if it is settled by the states it will be left to the men, not to the women, to decide. or if suffrage comes to women through a sixteenth amendment to the national constitution, it will be decided by legislatures elected by men only. in neither case will women have an opportunity of passing upon the question. so reason tells us we must devote our best efforts to converting those to whom we must look for the removal of the barriers which now prevent our exercising the right of suffrage.... mrs. mary seymour howell (n. y.): we ask for the ballot for the good of the race. huxley says: "admitting, for the sake of argument, that woman is the weaker, mentally and physically, for that very reason she should have the ballot and every help which the world can give her." when you debar from your councils and legislative halls the purity, the spirituality and the love of woman, then those councils are apt to become coarse and brutal. god gave us to you to help you in this little journey to a better land, and by our love and our intellect to help make our country pure and noble, and if you would have statesmen you must have stateswomen to bear them.... mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.): it is often said that we have too many voters; that the aggregate of vice and ignorance among us should not be increased by giving women the right of suffrage. in the enormous immigration which pours upon our shores every year, numbering nearly half a million, there come twice as many men as women. what does this mean? it means a constant preponderance of the masculine over the feminine; and it means also, of course, a preponderance of the voting power of the foreign men as compared to the native born men. to those who fear that our american institutions are threatened by this gigantic inroad of foreigners, i commend the reflection that the best safeguard against any such preponderance of foreign influence is to put the ballot in the hands of the american born woman, and of all other women also, so that if the foreign born man overbalances us in numbers we shall be always in a majority on the side of the liberty which is secured by our institutions.... mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert: from the great state of illinois i come, representing , men and women of that state who have recorded their written petitions for woman's ballot, , of these being citizens under the law, male voters; those , have signed petitions for the right of woman to vote on the temperance question; , women also signed those petitions; , men and women signed the petitions for the school vote, and , more have signed petitions that the full right of suffrage might be accorded to woman. this growth of public sentiment has been occasioned by the needs of the children and the working women of that great state. i come here to ask you to make a niche in the statesmanship and legislation of the nation for the domestic interests of the people. you recognize that the masculine thought is more often turned to material and political interests. i claim that the mother-thought, the woman-element needed, is to supplement the statesmanship of american men on political and industrial affairs with domestic legislation. in her closing address miss anthony took up the question of obtaining suffrage for women through the states instead of congress and said: my answer is that i do not wish to see the women of the thirty-eight states of this union compelled to leave their homes to canvass each one of these, school district by school district. it is asking too much of a moneyless class. the joint earnings of the marriage co-partnership in all the states belong legally to the husband. it is only that wife who goes outside the home to work whom the law permits to own and control the money she earns. therefore, to ask of women, the vast majority of whom are without an independent dollar of their own, to make a thorough canvass of their several states, is asking an impossibility. we have already made the experiment of canvassing four states--kansas in , michigan in , colorado in , nebraska in --and in each, with the best campaign possible for us to make, we obtained a vote of only one-third. one man out of every three voted for the enfranchisement of the women of his household, while two out of every three voted against it.... we beg, therefore, that instead of insisting that a majority of the individual voters must be converted before women shall have the franchise, you will give us the more hopeful task of appealing to the representative men in the legislatures of the several states. you need not fear that we shall get suffrage too quickly if congress submits the proposition, for even then we shall have a long siege in going from legislature to legislature to secure the vote of three-fourths of the states necessary to ratify the amendment. it may require twenty years after congress has taken the initiative step, to obtain action by the requisite number, but once submitted by congress it always will stand until ratified by the states. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton's paper on self-government the best means of self-development was read to the committee. a few extracts will serve to show its broad scope: the basic idea of a republic is the right of self-government, the right of every citizen to choose his own representatives and to have a voice in the laws under which he lives. as this right can be secured only by the exercise of the suffrage, the ballot in the hand of every qualified citizen constitutes the true political status of the people in a republic. the right of suffrage is simply the right to govern one's self. every human being is born into the world with this right, and the desire to exercise it comes naturally with the feeling of life's responsibilities. those only who are capable of appreciating this dignity, can measure the extent to which women are defrauded, and they only can measure the loss to the councils of the nation of the wisdom of representative women. they who say that women do not desire the right of suffrage, that they prefer masculine domination to self-government, falsify every page of history, every fact in human experience. it has taken the whole power of the civil and canon law to hold woman in the subordinate position which it is said she willingly accepts. if woman naturally has no will, no self-assertion, no opinions of her own, what means the terrible persecution of the sex under all forms of religious fanaticism, culminating in witchcraft in which scarce one wizard to a thousand witches was sacrificed? so powerful and merciless has been the struggle to dominate the feminine element in humanity, that we may well wonder at the steady, determined resistance maintained by woman through the centuries. to every step of progress which she has made from slavery to the partial freedom she now enjoys, the church and the state alike have made the most cruel opposition, and yet, under all circumstances she has shown her love of individual freedom, her desire for self-government, while her achievements in practical affairs and her courage in the great emergencies of life have vindicated her capacity to exercise this right.... the right of suffrage in a republic means self-government, and self-government means education, development, self-reliance, independence, courage in the hour of danger. that women may attain these virtues we demand the exercise of this right. not that we suppose we should at once be transformed into a higher order of beings with all the elements of sovereignty, wisdom, goodness and power full-fledged, but because the exercise of the suffrage is the primary school in which the citizen learns how to use the ballot as a weapon of defense; it is the open sesame to the land of freedom and equality. the ballot is the scepter of power in the hand of every citizen. woman can never have an equal chance with man in the struggle of life until she too wields this power. so long as women have no voice in the government under which they live they will be an ostracised class, and invidious distinctions will be made against them in the world of work. thrown on their own resources they have all the hardships that men have to encounter in earning their daily bread, with the added disabilities which grow out of disfranchisement. men of the republic, why make life harder for your daughters by these artificial distinctions? surely, if governments were made to protect the weak against the strong, they are in greater need than your stalwart sons of every political right which can give them protection, dignity and power.... the disfranchisement of one-half the people places a dangerous power in the hands of the other half. all history shows that one class never did legislate with justice for another, and all philosophy shows they never can, as the relations of class grow out of either natural or artificial advantages which one has over the other and which it will maintain if possible. it is folly to say that women are not a class, so long as there is any difference in the code of laws for men and women, any discrimination in the customs of society, giving advantages to men over women; so long as in all our state constitutions women are ranked with lunatics, idiots, paupers and criminals. when you say that one-half the people shall be governed by the other half, surely the class distinction is about as broad as it can be.... the disfranchisement of one-half the people deprives the state of the united wisdom of man and woman--that "consensus of the competent" so necessary in national affairs--making our government an oligarchy of males, instead of a republic of the people, thus perpetuating with all its evils a dominant masculine civilization. but in answer to this it is said that although women do not vote, yet they have an indirect influence in government through their husbands and brothers. yes, an "irresponsible power," of all kinds of influence the most dangerous.... the dogged, unreasonable persecutions of sex in all ages, the evident determination to eliminate, as far as possible, the feminine element in humanity, has been the most fruitful cause of the moral chaos the race has suffered, under every form of government and religion.... the loss to women themselves of the highest development of which they are capable is sad, but when this involves a lower type of manhood and danger to our free institutions, it is still more sad. the primal work in every country, for its own safety, should be the education and freedom of woman. the arguments before the judiciary committee of the house were given the next morning, march , twelve of the fifteen members being present.[ ] miss anthony opened the hearing with an earnest address in which she referred to the hundreds of thousands of petitions which had been sent to congress for woman suffrage--far more than for any other measure--and continued: negro suffrage was again and again overwhelmingly voted down in various states--new york, connecticut, ohio, etc.--and you know, gentlemen, that if the negro had never had the right to vote until the majority of the rank and file of white men, particularly foreign-born men, had voted "yes," he would have gone without it till the crack of doom. it was because of the prejudice of the unthinking majority that congress submitted the question of the negro's enfranchisement to the legislatures of the several states, to be adjudicated by the educated, broadened representatives of the people. we now appeal to you to lift the decision of woman suffrage from the vote of the populace to that of the legislatures, that you may thereby be as considerate, as just, to the women of this nation as you were to the male ex-slaves. every new privilege granted to women has been by the legislatures. the liberal laws for married women, the right of the wife to own and control her inherited property and separate earnings, the right of women to vote at school elections in a dozen states, the right to vote on all questions in three territories, have all been gained through the legislatures. had any one of these beneficent propositions been submitted to the masses, do you believe a majority would have placed their sanction upon them? i do not. it takes all too many of us women, and too much of our hard earnings, from our homes and from the works of charity and education of our respective localities, even to come to washington, session after session, until congress shall have submitted the proposition, and then to go from legislature to legislature, urging its adoption; but when you insist that we shall beg at the feet of each and every individual voter of each and every one of the thirty-eight states, native and foreign, white and black, educated and ignorant, you doom us to incalculable hardships and sacrifices and to most exasperating insults and humiliations. i pray you, therefore, save us from the fate of working and waiting for our freedom until we shall have educated the masses of men to consent to give their wives and sisters equality of rights with themselves. you surely will not compel us to wait the enlightenment of all the freedmen of this nation and all the newly-made voters from the monarchial governments of the old world! liberty for one's self is a natural instinct possessed alike by all, but to be willing to accord liberty to another is the result of education, of self-discipline, of the practice of the golden rule--"do unto others as you would that others should do unto you." therefore we ask that the question of equality of rights to women shall be arbitrated upon by the picked men of the nation in congress, and the picked men of the several states in their respective legislatures. the rev. florence killock (ills.): ... called as i am into the homes of the people through the requirements of my office, i know whereof i speak when i say that i am as faithfully fulfilling its sacred duties when i come before you urging this claim, as when, on my bended knees, i plead at the throne of god for the salvation of souls. i know too well the suffering that might be alleviated, the terrible wrongs that might be righted, the sins that might be punished, could the moral power of the women of our land be utilized--could it be brought to bear on those great questions which affect so vitally the welfare of society. the gigantic evil of intemperance is prostrating the finest powers of our country and threatening the life of social purity; it is in truth the fell destroyer of peace, virtue and domestic and national safety, and upon the unoffending the blow falls with the greatest weight. why should not they who suffer the most deeply through this evil, be authorized before the law of the land to protect themselves and their loved ones from its fearful ravages? is it other than simple justice which i ask for them? i have listened to too many sad stories from heart-broken wives and mothers not to know that the demand which the women of the land make in this matter comes not from love of power, is not prompted by false ambition, springs not from unwomanly aspirations, but does come from a direful need of self-protection and an earnest desire to protect those dearer than life itself. gentlemen of the judiciary committee, in the same spirit in which i seek the aid of heaven in my endeavor to promote the spiritual welfare of mankind, i now and here seek your aid in promoting the highest moral welfare of every man, woman and child. this you will do in giving your vote and influence for the equality of women before the law, and as you thus confer this new power upon the women of our land, like the bread cast upon the waters, it shall come to you in a higher, nobler type of womanhood, in sweeter homes, in purer social life, in all that contributes to the welfare of the individual and the state. mrs. mary b. clay (ky.): we do not come here to plead as individual women with individual men, but as a subject class with a ruling class; nor do we come as suffering individuals--though god knows some of us might do that with propriety--but as the suffering millions whom we represent.... we are born of the same parents as men and raised in the same family. we are possessed of the same loves and animosities as our brothers, and we inherit equally with them the substance of our fathers. so long as we are minors the government treats us as equals, but when we come of age, when we are capable of feeling and knowing the difference, the boy becomes a free human being, while the girl remains a slave, a subject, and no moral heroism, no self-sacrificing patriotism, ever entitles her to her freedom. is this just? is it not, indeed, barbarous? if american men intend always to keep women slaves, political and civil, they make a great mistake when they let the girl, with the boy, learn the alphabet, for no educated class will long remain in subjection. we are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket-handkerchief? each one of you is responsible for these laws continuing as they are, and you can not avoid responsibility by saying that you did not help to make them. great injustice is done us in the fact that we are not tried by a jury of our peers. great injustice is done us everywhere by our not having a vote. human nature is naturally selfish, and, as woman is deprived of the ballot, and powerless either to punish or reward, man, loving his bread and butter more than justice, will ever thrust her aside for the benefit of those who can help him, those with ballots in their hands. ....all that is good in the home, and largely the highest principles taught in your youth, were given by your mothers. how then it is possible for you to return this love and interest, as soon as you are capable of acting, by riveting the chains which hold them still slaves, politically and civilly? you need woman's presence and counsel in legislation as much as she needs yours in the home; you need the association and influence of woman; her intuitive knowledge of men's character and the effect of measures upon the household; you need her for the economical details of public work; you need her sense of justice and moral courage to execute the laws; you need her for all that is just, merciful and good in government. but above all, women themselves need the ballot for self-protection, and as we are by common right and the laws of god free human beings, we demand that you no longer hold us your subjects--your political slaves. mrs. mary e. haggart (ind.): when abraham lincoln penned the immortal emancipation proclamation he did not stop to inquire whether every man and every woman in southern slavery did or did not want to be free. whether women do or do not wish to vote does not affect the question of their right to do so. the right of man to the ballot is a logical deduction from the principles enunciated in the declaration of independence. and singular to say, while this inheres in all people alike, the privilege of exercising it is withheld from women by a class who have no right to say whether they are willing or not that women should vote. their right to the ballot was long ago settled beyond a quibble, by laws and principles of justice which are superior to the codes of men, who have usurped the power to regulate the voting privileges of citizens. if this right be inherent and existing in the great body of society before governments are formed, it follows that all citizens of a republic, be they male or female, are alike entitled to its exercise. ....is there a man among you willing to resign his own right to the ballot and to place his own business interests and general welfare at the mercy of the votes of others? would you not resent an attempt on the part of any man, or set of men, to fix your mental status, assign your work in life and lay out with mathematical precision your exact sphere in the world? and yet men undertake to adjust the limitations of the elizabeth cady stantons, the susan b. anthonys, the harriet beecher stowes, the frances e. willards, the harriet hosmers of the world, and continue to talk with patronizing condescension of female retirement, female duties and female spheres. the question is not whether women want or do not want to vote, but how can republican inconsistencies be wiped out, justice universally recognized and impartially administered, and the civil and political errors of the past effectually repaired. whoever admits that men have a right to the franchise must include in the admission women also, for there are no reasons capable of demonstrating an abstract right in behalf of one sex which are not equally applicable to the other.... the assertion that women do not want to vote is absolutely without authority, so long as each individual woman does not speak out for herself. in ohio , , and in illinois , , have signified a desire to use the ballot for home protection, and yet it is still asserted in those states that women do not want it. over , women have already notified this congress that they desire equality of political rights, and still it is declared all around us that women do not want to vote. gentlemen, this is most emphatically an assertion which no individual can be justified in making for another. since the elective franchise is the parent stem from which branch out legal, industrial, social and educational enterprises necessary to the welfare of the citizens, it will be readily seen how women engaged in reforms, public charities, social enterprises, are hampered and trammeled in their progress without the ballot. women have beheld their plans frustrated, their herculean labor undone, their lives wasted, for want of legislative power through the citizen's emblem of sovereignty.... all ranks and occupations are beginning to realize that monstrous evils must ever crowd upon both classes while one side of humanity only is represented, and while one sex has the irresponsible keeping of the rights and privileges of the other. to-day, throughout the length and breadth of our land, woman finds the greatest need of the ballot through an almost overpowering desire to have her wishes and opinions crystallized into law. i have no hesitancy in saying that if the conditions which surround the women of this nation to-day were the conditions of the male citizens of the country, they would rise up and pronounce them the exact definition of civil and political slavery, instead of the true interpretation of natural justice and civil equity. many persons claim that men are born with the right to vote, as they are to the right of life, liberty and happiness; that suffrage is the gift of the state, and that the state has a right to regulate it in any way that it may deem best for the common good. if men are born with the right to life, liberty and happiness, they are also born with the right to give expression as to how these are to be maintained; and in this nation, which professes to rest upon the consent of the governed, this expression is given through the ballot. consequently the expression of a freeman's will is as god-given as his right to be free. since the year of magna charta we have repudiated the idea of representation by proxy. we all know that there are thousands of women in this nation who are owners of property, mothers of children, devoted to their homes and families and to all the duties and responsibilities which grow out of social life, and hence are most deeply interested in the public welfare. they have just as much at stake in this government, which affords them no opportunity of giving or withholding their consent, as men who are consulted. john quincy adams said in that grand speech in defense of the petitions of the women of plymouth: "the women are not only justified, but exhibit the most exalted virtue, when they do depart from the domestic sphere and enter upon the concerns of their country, of humanity and of god." miss phoebe w. couzins (mo.) in closing her address said: "at the gateway of this nation, the harbor of new york, there soon shall stand a statue of the goddess of liberty, presented by the republic of france--a magnificent figure of a woman, typifying all that is grand and glorious and free in self-government. she will hold aloft an electric torch of great power which is to beam an effulgent light far out to sea, that ships sailing towards this goodly land may ride safely into harbor. so should you thus uplift the women of this nation, and teach these men, at the very threshold, when first their feet shall touch the shore of this republic, that here woman is exalted, ennobled and honored; that here she bears aloft the torch of intelligence and purity which guides our ship of state into the safe harbor of wise laws, pure morals and secure institutions." it had been the custom of these committees, when they reported at all, to delay doing so until the following year. in , however, those of both senate and house submitted reports soon after the hearings. the favorable recommendation was presented march , , signed by thomas w. palmer, henry w. blair, elbridge g. lapham and henry b. anthony. senators francis marion cockrell and joseph e. brown dissented.[ ] the name of senator james g. fair does not appear on either document, but he had signed an adverse report in . an adverse majority report from the house judiciary committee was presented by william c. maybury (mich.) and began thus: the right of suffrage is not and never has, under our system of government, been one of the essential rights of citizenship.... what class or portion of the whole people of any state should be admitted to suffrage, and should, by virtue of such admission, exert the active and potential control in the direction of its affairs, was a question reserved exclusively for the determination of the state. [the report loses sight entirely of the point that this question was not and never has been left to "the people" of a state, but that men alone usurped the right to decide who should be admitted to the suffrage, arbitrarily excluded women and have kept them excluded.] under the influence of a just fear that without suffrage as a protective power to the newly-acquired rights and privileges guaranteed to the former slave he might suffer detriment, and with this dominant motive in view, originated the fifteenth amendment. it will be noted that by this later amendment the privilege of suffrage is not sought to be _conferred_ on any class; but an inhibition is placed upon the states from _excluding_ from the privilege of suffrage any class on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. [the fifteenth amendment does not mention the "privilege" of suffrage. it says expressly, "the _right_ of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged." but whether it be a "right" or a "privilege," where did the negro get that which the states are forbidden to deny or abridge, if it does not inhere in citizenship? the report is incorrect in saying that the state is prohibited from excluding any "class;" it is only the "males" of any class who are protected from exclusion. the same right or privilege belongs to women, but they are not protected in the exercise of it. women never have asked congress to grant them any _new_ right or privilege, but only to prohibit the states from denying or abridging what is already theirs, as it did in the case of negro men.] woman's true sphere is not restricted, but is boundless in resources and consequences. in it she may employ every energy of the mind and every affection of the heart, while within its limitless compass, under providence, she exercises a power and influence beyond all other agencies for good. she trains and guides the life that is, and forms it for the eternity and immortality that are to be. from the rude contact of life, man is her shield. he is her guardian from its conflicts. he is the defender of her rights in his home, and the avenger of her wrongs everywhere. [that is, what man considers her true sphere is not restricted, but she is not allowed to decide for herself what shall be its dimensions. "her power for good is beyond all other agencies," but it is not wanted in affairs of state, where surely it is needed quite as badly as in any place in the world. "man is her shield, guardian, defender and avenger." witness the common law of england, made by men, under which women lived for centuries and which is still in force in a number of the states; witness the records of the courts with the wife-beaters and slayers, the rapists, the seducers, the husbands who have deserted their families, the schemers who have defrauded widows and orphans--witness all these and then say if all men are the natural protectors of women. but even if they were, witness the millions of women who are not legally entitled to the protection and assistance of any man. however, the report does not forget these women.] the exceptional cases of unmarried females are too rare to change the general policy, while expectancy and hope, constantly being realized in marriage, are happily extinguishing the exceptions and bringing all within the rule which governs wife and matron. to permit the entrance of political contention into the home would be either useless or pernicious--useless if man and wife agree, and pernicious if they differ. in the former event the volume of ballots alone would be increased without changing results. in the latter, the peace and contentment of home would be exchanged for the bedlam of political debate and become the scene of base and demoralizing intrigue. [what a breadth of statesmanship, what a grasp of the principles of a republican form of government, to see in the voting of husband and wife only an "increase of ballots"; what a reflection upon men to assume that if there were an honest difference of opinion "the home would become a scene of base and demoralizing intrigue"; what a recognition of justice to decree that, since possibly there might be a disagreement, the man should do the voting and the woman should be forbidden a voice!] in respect to married women, it may well be doubted whether the influences which result from the laws of property between husband and wife, would not make it improbable that the woman should exercise her suffrage with freedom and independence. this, too, in despite of the fact that the dependence of woman under the common law has been almost entirely obliterated by statutory enactments. [almost, but not quite, and it would still prevail everywhere had its obliteration depended upon the committee making this report. think of saying in cold blood that, as the husband holds the purse-strings, the wife would not dare vote with freedom and independence!] your committee are of the opinion that while a few intelligent women, such as appeared before the committee in advocacy of the pending measure, would defy all obstacles in the way of their casting the ballot, yet the great mass of the intelligent, refined and judicious, with the becoming modesty of their sex, would shrink from the rude contact of the crowd and, with the exceptions mentioned, leave the ignorant and vile the exclusive right to speak for the gentler sex in public affairs. [this opinion has been wholly disproved by the experience of states where women do vote. the "intelligent and judicious" have learned that there is more "rude contact" in going to the market, the theater, the train and the ferry-boat, than in a quiet booth where no man is permitted to come within a hundred feet. but women are not so "modest and refined" as to shrink from "rude contact" even, if it would give them the opportunity to control the conditions which surround and influence their husbands, their children, their homes and their community.] your committee are of the opinion that the general policy of female suffrage should remain in abeyance, in so far as the general government is concerned, until the states and communities directly chargeable under our system of government with the exercise and regulation of this privilege, shall put the seal of affirmation upon it; and there certainly can be no reason for an amendment of the constitution to settle a question within the jurisdiction of the states, and which they should first settle for themselves. [of course, according to this logic, after the states settle the question and put the seal of affirmation on it, then the general government will take a hand!] this house report (no. ) was not drastic enough to suit the hon. luke p. poland (vt.), so he made his own, in which he said: no government founded upon the principle that sovereignty resides in the people has ever allowed all the people to vote, or to directly participate in making or administering the laws. suffrage has never been regarded as the natural right of all the people or of any particular class or portion of the people. suffrage is representation, and it has been given in free governments to such class of persons as in their judgment [whose judgment?] would fairly and safely represent the rights and interests of the whole. the right has generally, if not universally, been conferred on men above twenty-one years of age, and often this has been restricted by requiring the ownership of property or the payment of taxes. [which?] the great majority of women are either under the age of twenty-one, or are married and therefore _under such influence and control_ as that relation implies and confers. is there any necessity for the protection and preservation of the rights of women, that they must be allowed to vote and, of course, to hold office and directly to participate in the administration of the laws? nearly every man who votes has a wife or mother or sisters or daughters; some sustain all these relations or more than one. i think it certain that the great majority of men when voting or when engaged as legislators or in administering the laws in some official character, are fully mindful of the interests of all that class with whom they are so closely connected, and whose interests are so bound up with their own, and that, therefore, they fairly represent all the rights and interests of women as well as their own. persons who have been accustomed to see legal proceedings in the courts, and occasionally to see a female litigant in court, know very well whether they are apt to suffer wrong because their rights are determined wholly by men.[ ] there is just as little reason for suspicion that their rights are not carefully guarded in legislation, and in every way where legislation can operate. there is another reason why i think this proposal to enlist the women of the country as a part of its active political force, and to cast upon them an equal duty in the political meetings, campaigns and elections--to make them legislators, jurors, judges and executive officers--is all wrong. i believe it to be utterly inconsistent with the very nature and constitution of woman, and wholly subversive of the sphere and function she was designed to fill in the home and in society. the office and duty which nature has devolved upon woman during _all the active and vigorous portion_ of her life would often render it impossible, and still more often indelicate, for her to appear and act in caucuses, conventions or elections, or to act as a member of the legislature or as a juror or judge. i can not bring myself to believe that any large portion of the intelligent women of this country desire any such thing granted them, or would perform any such duties if the chance were offered them. [to comment upon this would be "to gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet." it would be positively "indelicate."] william dorsheimer (n. y.) agreed with the committee to table the resolution, but did not endorse their arguments. he signed the following statement: "i think it probable that the interests of society will some time require that women should have the right of suffrage, and i am not willing to say more than that the present is not an opportune time for submission to the states of the proposed amendment." in this, it will be observed, there is no recognition of woman's right to represent herself, no disposition to grant her petition for her own sake, but simply the opinion that should there ever be a crisis when her suffrage was needed it should be allowed as a matter of expediency. in the eyes of posterity the judiciary committee of this forty-eighth congress will be redeemed from the disgrace of these reports by that of the minority, signed by thomas b. reed, afterwards for many years speaker of the house; ezra b. taylor (o.); moses a. mccoid (ia.); thomas m. browne (ind.). the question of woman suffrage never has been and never can be more concisely and logically stated. no one who listens to the reasons given by the superior class for the continuance of any system of subjection can fail to be impressed with the noble disinterestedness of mankind. when the subjection of persons of african descent was to be maintained, the good of those persons was always the main object. when it was the fashion to beat children, to regard them as little animals who had no rights, it was always for their good that they were treated with severity, and never on account of the bad temper of their parents. hence, when it is proposed to give to the women of this country an opportunity to present their case to the various state legislatures to demand equality of political rights, it is not surprising to find that the reasons on which the continuance of the inferiority of women is urged are drawn almost entirely from a tender consideration of their own good. the anxiety felt lest they should thereby deteriorate would be an honor to human nature were it not an historical fact that the same sweet solicitude has been put up as a barrier against all the progress which women have made since civilization began. there is no doubt that if to-day in turkey or algiers, countries where woman's sphere is most thoroughly confined to the home circle, it was proposed to admit them to social life, to remove the veil from their faces and permit them to converse in open day with the friends of their husbands and brothers, the conservative and judicious turk or algerine of the period, if he could be brought even to consider such a horrible proposition, would point out that the sphere of woman was to make home happy by those gentle insipidities which education would destroy; that by participating in conversation with men they would debase their natures, and men would thereby lose that ameliorating influence which still leaves them unfit to associate with women. he would point out that "nature" had determined that women should be secluded; that their sphere was to raise and educate the man-child, and that any change would be a violation of the divine law which, in the opinion of all conservative men, ordains the present but never the future. so in civilized countries when it was proposed that women should own their own property, that they should have the earnings of their own labor, there were not wanting those who were sure that such a proposition could work only evil to women, and that continually. it would destroy the family, discordant interests would provoke dispute, and the only real safety for woman was in the headship of man; not that man wanted superiority for any selfish reason, but to preserve intact the family relation for woman's good. to-day a woman's property belongs to herself; her earnings are her own; she has been emancipated beyond the wildest hopes of any reformer of twenty-five years ago. almost every vocation is open to her. she is proving her usefulness in spheres which the "nature" worshiped by the conservative of the last generation absolutely forbade her to enter. notwithstanding all these changes the family circle remains unbroken, the man-child gets as well educated as before, and the ameliorating influence of woman has become only the more marked. thirty years ago hardly any political assemblage of the people was graced by the presence of women. had it needed a law to enable them to be present, what an argument could have been made against it! how easily it could have been shown that the coarseness, the dubious expressions, the general vulgarity of the scene, could have had no other effect than to break down that purity of thought and word which women have, and which conservative and radical are alike sedulous to preserve. and yet the actual presence of women at political meetings has not debased them but has raised the other sex. coarseness has not become diffused through both sexes but has fled from both. to put the whole matter in a short phrase: the association of the sexes in the family circle, in society, and in business, having improved both, there is neither history, reason nor sense to justify the assertion that association in politics will lower the one or demoralize the other. hence, we would do well to approach the question without trepidation. we can better leave the "sphere" of woman to the future than confine it in the chains of the past. words change nothing. prejudices are none the less prejudices because we vaguely call them "nature," and prate about what nature has forbidden, when we only mean that the thing we are opposing has not been hitherto done. "nature" forbade a steamship to cross the atlantic the very moment it was crossing, and yet it arrived just the same. what the majority call "nature" has stood in the way of all progress of the past and present, and will stand in the way of all future progress. it is only another name for conservatism. with conservatism the minority have no quarrel. it is essential to the stability of mankind, of government and of social life. to every new proposal it rightfully calls a halt, demanding countersign, whether it be friend or foe. the enfranchisement of women must pass this ordeal like everything else. it must give good reason for its demand to be, or take its place among the half-forgotten fantasies which have challenged the support of mankind and have not stood the test of argument and discussion. the majority of the committee claim that suffrage is not a right but a privilege to be guarded by those who have it, and to be by them doled out to those who shall become worthy. that every extension of suffrage has been granted in some form or other by those already holding it is probably true. in some countries, however, it has been extended upon the simple basis of expediency, and in others in obedience to a claim of right. if suffrage be a right, if it be true that no man has a claim to govern any other man except to the extent that the other man has a right to govern him, then there can be no discussion of the question of woman suffrage. no reason on earth can be given by those who claim suffrage as a right of manhood which does not make it a right of womanhood also. if the suffrage is to be given man to protect him in his life, liberty and property, the same reasons urge that it be given to woman, for she has the same life, liberty and property to protect. if it be urged that her interests are so bound up in those of man that they are sure to be protected, the answer is that the same argument was urged as to the merging in the husband of the wife's right of property, and was pronounced by the judgment of mankind fallacious in practice and in principle. if the natures of men and women are so alike that for that reason no harm is done by suppressing women, what harm can be done by elevating them to equality? if the natures be different, what right can there be in refusing representation to those who might take juster views about many social and political questions? our government is founded, not on the rule of the wisest and best, but upon the rule of all. the learned and the ignorant, the wise and the unwise, the judicious and the injudicious are all invited to assist in governing, and upon the broad principle that the best government for mankind is not the government which the wisest and best would select, but that which the average of mankind would select. laws are daily enacted, not because they seem the wisest even to those legislators who pass them, but because they represent what the whole people wish. and, in the long run, it may be just as bad to enact laws in advance of public sentiment as to hold on to laws behind it. upon what principle in a government like ours can one-half the minds be denied expression at the polls? is it because they are untrained in public affairs? are they more so than the slaves were when the right of suffrage was conferred on them? it is objected that to admit women would be temporarily to lower the suffrage on account of their lack of training in public duties. what is now asked of us is not immediate admission to the right, but the privilege of presenting to the legislatures of the different states the amendment, which can not become effective until adopted by three-fourths of them. it may be said that the agitation and discussion of this question will, long before its adoption, have made women as familiar with public affairs as the average of men, for the agitation is hardly likely to be successful until after a majority, at least, of women are in favor of it. we believe in the educating and improving effect of participation in government. we believe that every citizen in the united states is made more intelligent, more learned and better educated by his participation in politics and political campaigns. it must be remembered that education, like all things else, is relative. while the average american voter may not be all that impatient people desire, and is far behind his own future, yet he is incomparably superior to the average citizen of any other land where the subject does not fully participate in the government. discussions on the stump, and above all the discussions he himself has with his fellows, breed a desire for knowledge which will take no refusal and which leads to great general intelligence. in political discussion, acrimony and hate are not essential, and have of late years quite perceptibly diminished and will more and more diminish when discussions by women, and in the presence of women, become more common. if, then, discussion of public affairs among men has elevated them in knowledge and intelligence, why will it not lead to the same results among women? it is not merely education that makes civilization, but diffusion of education. the standing of a nation and its future depend not upon the education of the few, but of the whole. every improvement in the status of woman in the matter of education has been an improvement to the whole race. women have by education thus far become more womanly, not less. the same prophecies of ruin to womanliness were made against her education on general subjects that are now made against her participation in politics. it is sometimes asserted that women now have a great influence in politics through their husbands and brothers. this is undoubtedly true. but that is just the kind of influence which is not wholesome for the community, for it is influence unaccompanied by responsibility. people are always ready to recommend to others what they would not do themselves. if it be true that women can not be prevented from exercising political influence, is not that only another reason why they should be steadied in their political action by that proper sense of responsibility which comes from acting themselves? we conclude then, that every reason which in this country bestows the ballot upon man is equally applicable to the proposition to bestow the ballot upon woman, and that in our judgment there is no foundation for the fear that woman will thereby become unfitted for all the duties she has hitherto performed. footnotes: [ ] for an interesting account of the struggle to secure these committees see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, p. . [ ] but it was after five years of persistent appeal to congress by mrs. belva a. lockwood, and the enactment of a law, by overwhelming majorities in both houses, prohibiting the supreme court from denying admission to lawyers on account of sex, that this act of justice was accomplished. [ ] this committee was composed of senators cockrell (mo.), fair (nev.), brown (ga.), anthony (r. i.), blair (n. h.), palmer (mich.), lapham (n. y.). [ ] j. randolph tucker, va.; nathaniel j. hammond, ga.; david b. culberson, tex.; samuel w. moulton, ills.; james o. broadhead, mo.; william dorsheimer, n. y.; patrick a. collins, mass.; george e. seney, o.; william c. maybury, mich.; thomas b. reed, me.; ezra b. taylor, o.; moses a. mccoid, ia.; thomas m. browne, ind.; luke p. poland, vt.; horatio bisbee, jr., fla. [ ] their report, dated april , , was used entire by senator brown in the debate on woman suffrage which took place in the senate of the united states january , , and will be found in chapter vi, which contains also a portion of the majority report included in the speech of senator blair. [ ] would the men whose crimes very often have sent these "female litigants" into the courts, be willing to have their cases tried before a jury of women? chapter iv. the national suffrage convention of .[ ] the seventeenth of the national conventions was held in lincoln hall, washington, d. c., jan. - , , preceded by the usual brilliant reception, which was extended by mr. and mrs. spofford each season for the twelve years during which the association had its headquarters at the riggs house. it is rather amusing to note the custom of the newspaper reporters to give a detailed description of the dress of each one of the speakers, usually to the exclusion of the subject-matter of her speech. on this occasion the public was informed that one lady "spoke in dark bangs and bismarck brown;" one "in black and gold with angel sleeves, boutonnière and ear-drops;" another "in a basque polonaise and snake bracelets;" another "in black silk dress and bonnet, gold eye-glasses and black kid gloves." one lady wore "a small bonnet made of gaudy-colored birds' wings;" one "spoke with a pretty lisp, was attired in a box-pleated satin skirt, velvet newmarket basque polonaise, hollyhock corsage bouquet;" another "addressed the meeting in low tones and a poke bonnet;" still another "discussed the question in a velvet bonnet and plain linen collar." "a large lady wore a green cashmere dress with pink ribbons in her hair;" then there was "a slim lady with tulle ruffles, velvet sacque and silk skirt." of one it was said: "her face, though real feminine in shape, was painted all over with business till it looked like a man's, and her hair was shingled and brushed in little banglets." "miss anthony," so the report said, "wore a blue barbe trimmed in lace," while mrs. stanton "was attired in a black silk dress with a white handkerchief around her throat." one record declares that "there was not a pair of earrings on the platform, but most of the ladies wore gold watch-chains." these extracts are taken verbatim from the best newspapers of the day. the conventions had passed the stage where, according to the reporters, all of the participants had short hair and wore bloomers, but, according to the same authority, they had reached the wonderful attire described above. this was fifteen years ago. the proceedings of the national convention of occupied from four to seven columns daily in each of the washington papers, and one or more columns were telegraphed each day to the large newspapers of the united states, and yet it may be safely said that there was not one line of reference to the costumes of the ladies in attendance. the business meetings, speeches, etc., were reported with the same respect and dignity as are accorded to national conventions of men. the petty personalities of the past were wholly eliminated and women were presented from an intellectual standpoint, to be judged upon their merits and not by their clothes. this result alone is worth the fifty years of endeavor. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton presided over all of the sessions. mrs. lillie devereux blake gave a full report of the legislative work done in new york during the past year. in the address of mrs. harriette r. shattuck (mass.) she laid especial stress on the need for women to be invested with responsibility. mrs. matilda joslyn gage (n. y.) discussed the woman question from a scientific standpoint. she was followed by mrs. laura de force gordon, the second woman admitted to practice before the u. s. supreme court, who answered the question, is our civilization civilized? and described the legal status of women in california. mrs. caroline gilkey rogers (n. y.) gave a spirited talk on the aristocracy of sex. the principal address of the evening was by mrs. stanton, a long and thoughtful paper in which she said: those people who declaim on the inequalities of sex, the disabilities and limitations of one as against the other, show themselves as ignorant of the first principles of life as would that philosopher who should undertake to show the comparative power of the positive as against the negative electricity, of the centrifugal as against the centripetal force, the attraction of the north as against the south end of the magnet. these great natural forces must be perfectly balanced or the whole material world would relapse into chaos. just so the masculine and feminine elements in humanity must be exactly balanced to redeem the moral and social world from the chaos which surrounds it. one might as well talk of separate spheres for the two ends of the magnet as for man and woman; they may have separate duties in the same sphere, but their true place is together everywhere. having different duties in the same sphere, neither can succeed without the presence and influence of the other. to restore the equilibrium of sex is the first step in social, religious and political progress. it is by the constant repression of the best elements in humanity, by our false customs, creeds and codes, that we have thus far retarded civilization.... there would be more sense in insisting on man's limitations because he can not be a mother, than on woman's because she can be. surely maternity is an added power and development of some of the most tender sentiments of the human heart and not a "limitation." "yes," says another pertinacious reasoner, "but it unfits woman for much of the world's work." yes, and it fits her for much of the world's work; a large share of human legislation would be better done by her because of this deep experience.... if one-half the effort had been expended to exalt the feminine element that has been made to degrade it, we should have reached the natural equilibrium long ago. either sex, in isolation, is robbed of one-half its power for the accomplishment of any given work. this was the most fatal dogma of the christian religion--that in proportion as men withdrew from all companionship with women, they could get nearer to god, grow more like the divine ideal. telegrams of greetings were received from many associations and individuals. miss frances ellen burr, who made a fine stenographic report of the entire convention, spoke for connecticut, closing with an ideal picture of civilization as it might be with the wisdom of both sexes brought to bear on the problems of society. the following resolutions were written by mrs. clara bewick colby: whereas, the dogmas incorporated in the religious creeds derived from judaism, teaching that woman was an afterthought in creation, her sex a misfortune, marriage a condition of subordination, and maternity a curse, are contrary to the law of god as revealed in nature and the precepts of christ; and, whereas, these dogmas are an insidious poison, sapping the vitality of our civilization, blighting woman and palsying humanity; therefore, _resolved_, that we denounce these dogmas wherever they are enunciated, and we will withdraw our personal support from any organization so holding and teaching; and, _resolved_, that we call upon the christian ministry, as leaders of thought, to teach and enforce the fundamental idea of creation that man was made in the image of god, male and female, and given equal dominion over the earth, but none over each other. and further we invite their co-operation in securing the recognition of the cardinal point of our creed, that in true religion there is neither male nor female, neither bond nor free, but all are one. the resolutions were introduced and advocated by mrs. stanton, who said: "woman has been licensed to preach in the methodist church; the unitarian and universalist and some branches of the baptist denomination have ordained women, but the majority do not recognize them officially, although for the first three centuries after the proclamation of christianity women had a place in the church. they were deaconesses and elders, and were ordained and administered the sacrament. yet through the catholic hierarchy these privileges were taken away in christendom and they have never been restored. now we intend to demand equal rights in the church." this precipitated a vigorous discussion which extended into the next day. miss anthony was opposed to a consideration of the resolutions and in giving her reasons said: i was on the old garrisonian platform and found long ago that this matter of settling any question of human rights by people's interpretation of the bible is never satisfactory. i hope we shall not go back to that war. no two can ever interpret alike, and discussion upon it is time wasted. we all know what we want, and that is the recognition of woman's perfect equality--in the home, the church and the state. we all know that such recognition has never been granted her in the centuries of the past. but for us to begin a discussion here as to who established these dogmas would be anything but profitable. let those who wish go back into the history of the past, but i beg it shall not be done on our platform. mrs. mary e. mcpherson (ia.) insisted that the bible did not ignore women, although custom might do so. the rev. dr. mcmurdy (d. c.) declared that women were teachers under the old jewish dispensation; that the catholic church set apart its women, ordained them and gave them the title "reverend"; that the episcopal church ordained deaconesses. he hoped the convention would not take action on this question. john b. wolf upheld the resolution. mrs. shattuck thought the church was coming around to a belief in woman suffrage and it would be a mistake to antagonize it. mrs. colby insisted the resolutions did not attack the bible, but the dogmas which grew out of man's interpretation of it, saying: this dogma of woman's divinely appointed inferiority has sapped the vitality of our civilization, blighted woman and palsied humanity. as a christian woman and a member of an orthodox church, i stand on this resolution; on the divine plan of creation as set forth in the first chapter of genesis, where we are told that man was created male and female and set over the world to have equal dominion; and on the gospel of the new dispensation, in which there is neither male nor female, bond nor free, but all are one. this resolution avows our loyalty to what we believe to be the true teachings of the bible, and the co-operation of the christian ministry is invited in striving to secure the application of the golden rule to women. edward m. davis (penn.) declared that, while individual members might favor woman suffrage, not one religious body ever had declared for it, and the convention ought to express itself on this subject. mrs. gordon pointed out the difference between religion and theology. mrs. stanton, being called on for further remarks, spoke in the most earnest manner: you may go over the world and you will find that every form of religion which has breathed upon this earth has degraded woman. there is not one which has not made her subject to man. men may rejoice in them because they make man the head of the woman. i have been traveling over the old world during the last few years and have found new food for thought. what power is it that makes the hindoo woman burn herself on the funeral pyre of her husband? her religion. what holds the turkish woman in the harem? her religion. by what power do the mormons perpetuate their system of polygamy? by their religion. man, of himself, could not do this; but when he declares, "thus saith the lord," of course he can do it. so long as ministers stand up and tell us that as christ is the head of the church, so is man the head of the woman, how are we to break the chains which have held women down through the ages? you christian women can look at the hindoo, the turkish, the mormon women, and wonder how they can be held in such bondage. observe to-day the work women are doing for the churches. _the church rests on the shoulders of women._ have we ever yet heard a man preach a sermon from genesis i: - , which declares the full equality of the feminine and masculine element in the godhead? they invariably shy at that first chapter. they always get up in their pulpits and read the second chapter. now i ask you if our religion teaches the dignity of woman? it teaches us that abominable idea of the sixth century--augustine's idea--that motherhood is a curse; that woman is the author of sin, and is most corrupt. can we ever cultivate any proper sense of self-respect as long as women take such sentiments from the mouths of the priesthood?... the canon laws are infamous--so infamous that a council of the christian church was swamped by them. in republican america, and in the light of the nineteenth century, we must demand that our religion shall teach a higher idea in regard to woman. people seem to think we have reached the very end of theology; but let me say that the future is to be as much purer than the past as our immediate past has been better than the dark ages. we want to help roll off from the soul of woman the terrible superstitions that have so long repressed and crushed her. through the determined efforts of miss anthony and some others the resolution was permitted to lie on the table. miss matilda hindman (penn.) gave an address on as the rulers, so the people, well fortified with statistics. the rev. olympia brown (wis.) made a stirring appeal under the title all are created equal. among the many excellent addresses were those of mrs. colby, mrs. annie l. diggs (kas.) and dr. alice b. stockham (ills.). the usual resolutions were adopted, and the memorial called forth a number of eulogies: _resolved_, that in the death of the hon. henry fawcett, of england, senator henry b. anthony, the rev. william henry channing, ex-secretary of the treasury charles j. folger, bishop matthew simpson, madame mathilde anneke, kate newell doggett, frances dana gage, laura giddings julian, sarah pugh and elizabeth t. schenck, the year has been one of irreparable losses to our movement. among the many interesting letters written to the convention was one from wm. lloyd garrison, inclosing letters received in times past expressing sympathy with the efforts of the suffrage advocates, from his father, from ralph waldo emerson and from the rev. william henry channing, whose body at this very time was being borne across the ocean to its resting place in this country. a touching message was read from that faithful and efficient pioneer, clarina i. h. nichols, of california, which ended: "my last words in the good work for humanity are, 'god is with us.' there can be no failure and no defeat outside ourselves." the writer passed away before it reached the convention. other encouraging letters were received from the reverends anna garlin spencer (r. i.), ada c. bowles and phebe a. hanaford (mass.); from mrs. julia foster and her daughters, rachel and julia, in berlin; from mrs. caroline e. merrick (la.), mrs. emma c. bascom, of wisconsin university, and friends and workers in all parts of the country. the convention adopted a comprehensive plan of work submitted by mrs. blake, miss hindman and mrs. colby.[ ] at the last session miss anthony made a strong, practical speech on the present status of the woman suffrage question, and mrs. stanton closed the convention. a number of ministers on the following sunday took as a text the resolution which had been discussed so vigorously, and used it as an argument against the enfranchisement of women, some of them going so far as to denounce the suffrage advocates as infidels and the movement itself as atheistic and immoral. they wholly ignored the facts--first, that the resolution was merely against the dogmas which had been incorporated into the creeds, and was simply a demand that christian ministers should teach and enforce only the fundamental declarations of the scriptures; second, that there was an emphatic division of opinion among the members on the resolution; third, that by consent it was laid on the table; and fourth, that even had it been adopted, it was neither atheistic nor immoral. on february , , thomas w. palmer (mich.) brought up in the senate the joint resolution for a sixteenth amendment which had been favorably reported by the select committee on woman suffrage the previous winter, and in its support made a masterly argument which has not been surpassed in the fifteen years that have since elapsed, saying in part: this resolution involves the consideration of the broadest step in the progress of the struggle for human liberty that has ever been submitted to any ruler or to any legislative body. its taking is pregnant with wide changes in the pathway of future civilization. its obstruction will delay and cripple our advancement. the trinity of principles which lord chatham called the "bible of the english constitution," the magna charta, the petition of rights, and the bill of rights, are towering landmarks in the history of our race, but they immediately concerned but few at the time of their erection. the declaration of independence by the colonists and its successful assertion, the establishment of the right of petition, the abolition of imprisonment for debt, the property qualification for suffrage in nearly all the states, the recognition of the right of women to earn, hold, enjoy and devise property, are proud and notable gains. the emancipation of , , slaves and the subsequent extension of suffrage to the male adults among them were measures enlarging the possibilities of freedom, the full benefits of which have yet to be realized; but the political emancipation of , , of our citizens, equal to us in most essential respects and superior to us in many, it seems to me would translate our nation, almost at a bound, to the broad plateau of universal equality and co-operation to which all these blood-stained and prayer-worn steps have surely led. like life insurance and the man who carried the first umbrella, the inception of this movement was greeted with derision. born of an apparently hopeless revolt against unjust discrimination, unequal statutes, and cruel constructions of courts, it has pressed on and over ridicule, malice, indifference and conservatism, until it stands in the gray dawn before the most powerful legislative body on earth and challenges final consideration. the laws which degraded our wives have been everywhere repealed or modified, and our children may now be born of free women. our sisters have been recognized as having brains as well as hearts, and as being capable of transacting their own business affairs. new avenues of self-support have been found and profitably entered upon, and the doors of our colleges have ceased to creak their dismay at the approach of women. twelve states have extended limited suffrage through their legislatures, and three territories admit all citizens of suitable age to the ballot-box, while from no single locality in which it has been tried comes any word but that of satisfaction concerning the experiment. the spirit of inquiry attendant upon the agitation and discussion of this question has permeated every neighborhood in the land, and none can be so blind as to miss the universal development in self-respect, self-reliance, general intelligence and increased capacity among our women. they have lost none of the womanly graces, but by fitting themselves for counselors and mental companions have benefited man, more perhaps than themselves. in considering the objections to this extension of the suffrage we are fortunate in finding them grouped in the adverse report of the minority of your committee, and also in confidently assuming, from the acknowledged ability and evident earnestness of the distinguished senators who prepared it, that all is contained therein in the way of argument or protest which is left to the opponents of this reform after thirty-seven years of discussion. i wish that every senator would examine this report and note how many of its reasonings are self-refuting and how few even seem to warrant further antagonism. they cite the physical superiority of man, but offer no amendment to increase the voting power of a sullivan or to disfranchise the halt, the lame, the blind or the sick. they regard the manly head of the family as its only proper representative, but would not exclude the adult bachelor sons. they urge disability to perform military service as fatal to full citizenship, but would hardly consent to resign their own rights because they have passed the age of conscription; or to question those of quakers, who will not fight, or of professional men and civic officials, who, like mothers, are regarded as of more use to the state at home. they are dismayed by a vision of women in attendance at caucuses at late hours of the night, but doubtless enjoy their presence at balls and entertainments until the early dawn. they deprecate the appearance of women at political meetings, but in my state women have attended such meetings for years upon the earnest solicitation of those in charge, and the influence of their presence has been good. eloquent women are employed by state committees of all parties to canvass in their interests and are highly valued and respected.... they object that many women do not desire the suffrage and that some would not exercise it. it is probably true, as often claimed, that many slaves did not desire emancipation in --and there are men in most communities who do not vote, but we hear of no freedman to-day who asks re-enslavement, and no proposition is offered to disfranchise all men because some neglect their duty. the minority profess a willingness to have this measure considered as a local issue rather than a national one, but those who recall the failures to extend the ballot to black men, in the most liberal northern states, by a popular vote, may be excused if they question their frankness in suggesting this transfer of responsibility. the education of the people of a whole state on this particular question is a much more laborious and expensive work than an appeal to the several legislatures. the subject would be much more likely to receive intelligent treatment at the hands of the picked men of a state, where calm discussion may be had, than at the polls where prejudice and tradition oftentimes exert a more potent influence than logic and justice. to refuse this method to those to whom we are bound by the dearest ties betrays an indifference to their requests or an inexplicable adhesion to prejudice, which is only sought to be defended by an asserted regard for women, that to me seems most illogical. i share no fears of the degradation of women by the ballot. i believe rather that it will elevate men. i believe the tone of our politics will be higher, that our caucuses will be more jealously guarded and our conventions more orderly and decorous. i believe the polls will be freed from the vulgarity and coarseness which now too often surround them, and that the polling booths, instead of being in the least attractive parts of a ward or town, will be in the most attractive; instead of being in stables, will be in parlors. i believe the character of candidates will be more closely scrutinized and that better officers will be chosen to make and administer the laws. i believe that the casting of the ballot will be invested with a seriousness--i had almost said a sanctity--second only to a religious observance. the objections enumerated above appear to be the only profferings against this measure excepting certain fragmentary quotations and deductions from the sacred scriptures; and here, mr. president, i desire to enter my most solemn protest. the opinions of paul and peter as to what was the best policy for the struggling churches under their supervision, in deferring to the prejudices of the communities which they desired to attract and benefit, were not inspirations for the guidance of our civilization in matters of political co-operation; and every apparent inhibition of the levelment of the caste of sex may be neutralized by selections of other paragraphs and by the general spirit and trend of the holy book.... sir, my reverence for this grandest of all compilations, human or divine, compels a protest against its being cast into the street as a barricade against every moral, political and social reform; lest, when the march of progress shall have swept on and over to its consummation, it may appear to the superficial observer that it is the bible which has been overthrown and not its erroneous interpretation. if with our present experience of the needs and dangers of co-operative government and our present observation of woman's social and economic status, we could divest ourselves of our traditions and prejudices, and the question of suffrage should come up for incorporation into a new organic law, a distinction based upon sex would not be entertained for a moment. it seems to me that we should divest ourselves to the utmost extent possible of these entanglements of tradition, and judicially examine three questions relative to the proposed extension of suffrage: first, is it right? second, is it desirable? third, is it expedient? if these be determined affirmatively our duty is plain. if the right of the governed and the taxed to a voice in determining by whom they shall be governed and to what extent and for what purposes they may be taxed is not a natural right, it is nevertheless a right to the declaration and establishment of which by the fathers we owe all that we possess of liberty. they declared taxation without representation to be tyranny, and grappled with the most powerful nation of their day in a seven-years' struggle for the overthrow of such tyranny. it appears incredible to me that any one can indorse the principles proclaimed by the patriots of and deny their application to women. samuel adams said: "representation and legislation, as well as taxation, are inseparable, according to the spirit of our constitution and of all others that are free." again, he said: "no man can be justly taxed by, or bound in conscience to obey, any law to which he has not given his consent in person or by his representative." and again: "no man can take another's property from him without his consent. this is the law of nature; and a violation of it is the same thing whether it is done by one man, who is called a king, or by five hundred of another denomination." james otis, in speaking of the rights of the colonists as descendants of englishmen; said they "were not to be cheated out of them by any phantom of virtual representation or any other fiction of law or politics." again: "no such phrase as virtual representation is known in law or constitution. it is altogether a subtlety and illusion, wholly unfounded and absurd." the declaration of independence asserts that, to secure the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, governments are instituted among men, "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." benjamin franklin wrote that "liberty or freedom consists in having an actual share in the appointment of those who frame the laws and who are the guardians of every man's life, property and peace;" that "they who have no voice nor vote in the electing of representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes and to their representatives." james madison said: "under every view of the subject, it seems indispensable that the mass of the citizens should not be without a voice in making the laws which they are to obey, and in choosing the magistrates who are to administer them." ... the right of women to personal representation through the ballot seems to me unassailable, wherever the right of man is conceded and exercised. i can conceive of no possible abstract justification for the exclusion of the one and the inclusion of the other. is the recognition of this right desirable? the earliest mention of the saxon people is found in the germany of tacitus, and in his terse description of them he states that "in all grave matters they consult their women." can we afford to dispute the benefit of this counseling in the advancement of our race? the measure of the civilization of any nation may be no more surely ascertained by its consumption of salt than by the social, economic and political status of its women. it is not enough for contentment that we assert the superiority of our women in intelligence, virtue, and self-sustaining qualities, but we must consider the profit to them and to the state in their further advancement. our statistics are lamentably meager in information as to the status of our women outside their mere enumeration, but we learn that in a single state , are assessed and pay one-eleventh of the total burden of taxation, with no voice in its disbursements. from the imperfect gleaning of the tenth census we learn that of the total enumerated bread-winners of the united states more than one-seventh are women.... that these , , citizens of whom we have official information labor from necessity and are everywhere underpaid is within the knowledge and observation of every senator upon this floor. only the government makes any pretense of paying women in accordance with the labor performed--without submitting them to the competition of their starving sisters, whose natural dignity and self-respect have suffered from being driven by the fierce pressure of want into the few and crowded avenues for the exchange of their labor for bread. is it not the highest exhibit of the moral superiority of our women that so very few consent to exchange pinching penury for gilded vice? will the possession of the ballot multiply and widen these avenues to self-support and independence? the most thoughtful women who have given the subject thorough examination believe it, and i can not but infer that many men, looking only to their own selfish interests, fear it. history teaches that every class which has assumed political responsibility has been materially elevated and improved thereby, and i can not believe that the rule would have an exception in the women of to-day. i do not say that to the idealized women so generally described by obstructionists--the dainty darlings whose prototypes are to be found in the heroines of walter scott and fenimore cooper--immediate awakening would come; but to the toilers, the wage-workers and the women of affairs, the consequent enlargement of possibilities would give new courage and stimulate to new endeavor, and the state would be the gainer thereby. the often-urged fear that the ignorant and vicious would swarm to the polls while the intelligent and virtuous would stand aloof, is fully met by the fact that the former class has never asked for the suffrage or shown interest in its seeking, while the hundreds of thousands of petitioners are from our best and noblest women, including those whose efforts for the amelioration of the wrongs and sufferings of others have won for them imperishable tablets in the temple of humanity. would fear be entertained that the state would suffer mortal harm if, by some strange revolution, its exclusive control should be turned over to an oligarchy composed of such women as have been and are identified with the agitation for the political emancipation of their sex? saloons, brothels and gaming-houses might vanish before such an administration; wars avoidable with safety and honor might not be undertaken, and taxes might be diverted to purposes of general sanitation and higher education, but neither in these respects nor in the efforts to lift the bowed and strengthen the weak would the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness be placed in peril. women have exercised the highest civil powers in all ages of the world--from zenobia to victoria--and have exhibited statecraft and military capacity of high degree without detracting from their graces as women or their virtues as mothers.... the preponderance of women in our churches, our charitable organizations, our educational councils, has been of such use as to suggest the benefit of their incorporation into our voting force to the least observant. a woman who owns railroad or manufacturing or mining stock may vote unquestioned by the side of the brightest business men of our continent, but if she transfers her property into real estate she loses all voice in its control. their abilities, intellectual, physical and political, are as various as ours, and they err who set up any single standard, however lovely, by which to determine the rights, needs and possibilities of the sex. to me the recognition of their capacity for full citizenship is right and desirable, and it only remains to consider whether it is safe, whether it is expedient. to this let experience answer to the extent that the experiment has been made. during the first thirty years of the independence of new jersey, universal suffrage was limited only by a property qualification; but we do not learn that divorces were common, that families were more divided on political than on religious differences, that children were neglected or that patriotism languished, although the first seven years of that experiment were years of decimating war, and the remaining twenty-three of poverty and recuperation--conditions most conducive to discontent and erratic legislation. the reports from wyoming, which i have examined, are uniform in satisfaction with the system, and i do not learn therefrom that women require greater physical strength, fighting qualities or masculinity to deposit a ballot than a letter or visiting card; while in their service as jurors they have exhibited greater courage than their brothers in finding verdicts against desperadoes in accordance with the facts. governors, judges, officers and citizens unite in praises of the influence of women upon the making and execution of wholesome laws. in washington territory, last fall, out of a total vote of , there were , ballots cast by women, and everywhere friends were rejoiced and opponents silenced as apprehended dangers vanished upon approach. some of the comments of converted newspaper editors which have reached us are worthy of preservation and future reference. the elections were quiet and peaceable for the first time; the brawls of brutal men gave place to the courtesies of social intercourse; saloons were closed, and nowhere were the ladies insulted or in any way annoyed. women vote intelligently and safely, and it does not appear that their place is solely at home any more than that the farmer should never leave his farm, the mechanic his shop, the teacher his desk, the clergyman his study, or the professional man his office, for the purpose of expressing his wishes and opinions at the tribunal of the ballot-box. to-day--and to a greater extent in the near future--we are confronted with political conditions dangerous to the integrity of our nation. in the unforeseen but constant absorption of immigrants and former bondmen into a vast army of untrained voters, without restrictions as to the intelligence, character or patriotism, many political economists see the material for anarchy and public demoralization. it is claimed that the necessities of parties compel subserviency to the lawless and vicious classes in our cities, and that, without the addition of a counterbalancing element, the enactment and enforcement of wholesome statutes will soon be impossible. fortunately that needed element is not far to seek. it stands at the door of the congress urging annexation. in its strivings for justice it has cried aloud in petitions from the best of our land, and more than one-third of the present voters of five states have indorsed its cause. its advocates are no longer the ridiculed few, but the respected many. a list of the leaders of progressive thought of this generation who espouse and urge this reform would be too long and comprehensive for recital. mr. president, i do not ask the submission of this amendment, nor shall i urge its adoption, because it is desired by a portion of the american women, although in intelligence, property and numbers that portion would seem to have every requisite for the enforcement of their demands; neither are we bound to give undue regard to the timidity and hesitation of that possibly larger portion who shrink from additional responsibilities; but i ask and shall urge it because the nation has need of the co-operation of women in all directions. the war power of every government compels, upon occasion, all citizens of suitable age and physique to leave their homes, families and avocations to be merged in armies, whether they be willing or unwilling, craven or bold, patriotic or indifferent, and no one gainsays the right, because the necessities of state require their services. we have passed the harsh stages incident to our permanent institution. we have conquered our independence, conquered the respect of european powers, conquered our neighbors on the western borders, and at vast cost of life and waste have conquered our internal differences and emerged a nation unchallenged from without or within. the great questions of the future conduct of our people are to be economic and social ones. no one doubts the superiority of womanly instincts, and consequent thought in the latter, and the repeated failures and absurdities exhibited by male legislators in the treatment of the former, should give pause to any assertion of superiority there. the day has come when the counsel and service of women are required by the highest interests of the state, and who shall gainsay their conscription? we place the ballot in the keeping of immigrants who have grown middle-aged or old in the environment of governments dissimilar to the spirit and purpose of ours, and we do well, because the responsibility accompanying the trust tends to examination, comparison and consequent political education; but we decline to avail ourselves of the aid of our daughters, wives and mothers, who were born and are already educated under our system, reading the same newspapers, books and periodicals as ourselves, proud of our common history, tenacious of our theories of human rights and solicitous for our future progress. whatever may have been wisest as to the extension of suffrage to this tender and humane class when wars of assertion or conquest were likely to be considered, to-day and to-morrow and thereafter no valid reason seems assignable for longer neglect to avail ourselves of their association. footnotes: [ ] this chapter closes with the speech in favor of woman suffrage by thomas w. palmer in the u. s. senate. [ ] the primal object of the national woman suffrage association has been from its foundation to secure the submission by the congress of a sixteenth amendment which shall prohibit the several states from disfranchising united states citizens on account of sex. to this end all state societies should see that senators and members of congress are constantly appealed to by their constituents to labor for the passage of this amendment by the next congress. woman suffrage associations in the several states are advised to push the question to a vote in their respective legislatures. the time for agitation alone has passed, and the time for aggressive action has come. it will be found by a close examination of many state constitutions that by the liberal provisions of their bill of rights--often embodied in article i--the women of the state can be enfranchised without waiting for the tedious and hopeless proviso of a constitutional amendment.... in states where there has been little or no agitation we recommend the passage of laws granting school suffrage to women. this first step in politics is an incentive to larger usefulness and aids greatly in familiarizing women with the use of the ballot. we do not specially recommend municipal suffrage, as we think that the agitation expended for the fractional measure had better be directed towards obtaining the passage of a full suffrage bill, but we leave this to the discretion of the states. the acting vice-president in every state must hold a yearly convention in the capital or some large town. no efficient organization can exist without some such annual reunion of the friends. in each county there should be a county woman suffrage society auxiliary to the state; in each town or village a local society auxiliary to the county. friends desirous of forming a society should meet, even though few in number, and organize. chapter v. the national suffrage convention of . the eighteenth national convention met in the church of our father, washington, d. c., feb. - , , presided over by miss susan b. anthony, vice-president-at-large, with twenty-three states represented. in her opening address miss anthony paid an eloquent tribute to her old friend and co-laborer, their absent president, mrs. elizabeth cady stanton; sketched the history of the movement for the past thirty-six years, and described the first suffrage meeting ever held in washington. this had been conducted by ernestine l. rose and herself in , and the audience consisted of twenty or thirty persons gathered in an upper room of a private house. to-night she faced a thousand interested listeners. the first address was given by mrs. sarah m. perkins (o.), are women citizens? "while suffrage will not revolutionize the world," she said, "the door of the millennium will have a little child's hand on the latch when the mothers of the nation have equal power with its fathers." in the evening mrs. clara bewick colby addressed the audience on the relation of the woman suffrage movement to the labor question. she began by saying, "all revolutions of thought must be allied to practical ends." after sketching those already attained by women, she continued: the danger threatens that, having accomplished all these so thoroughly and successfully that they no longer need our help and already scarcely own their origin, we will be left without the connecting line between the abstract right on which we stand and the common heart and sympathy which must be enlisted for our cause ere it can succeed. why is it that, having accomplished so much, the woman suffrage movement does not force itself as a vital issue into the thoughts of the masses? is it not because the ends which it most prominently seeks do not enlist the self-interest of mankind, and those palpable wrongs which it had in early days to combat have now almost entirely disappeared?... we need to vitalize our movement by allying it with great non-partisan questions, and many of these are involved in the interests of the wage-earning classes.... we need to labor to secure a change of the conditions under which workingwomen live. we need to help them to educative and protective measures, to better pay, to better knowledge how to make the most of their resources, to better training, to protection against frauds, to shelter when health and heart fail. we must help them to see the connection between the ballot and better hours, exclusion of children from factories, compulsory education, free kindergartens; between the ballot and laws relating to liability of employers, savings banks, adulteration of food and a thousand things which it may secure when in the hands of enlightened and virtuous people. miss ada c. sweet, who for a number of years occupied the unique position of pension agent in chicago, supplemented mrs. colby's remarks by urging all women to work for the ballot in order to come to the rescue of their fellow-women in the hospitals, asylums and other institutions. she emphasized her remarks by recounting instances of personal knowledge. the rev. rush r. shippen, pastor of all souls unitarian church of washington, a consistent advocate of equal suffrage, spoke on woman's advance in every department of the world's work, on the evolution of that work itself and the necessity for a continued progress in conditions. mrs. may wright sewall presented a comprehensive report of the year's work of the executive committee. the edmunds bill had been a special point of attack because of its arbitrary disfranchisement of utah women, and mrs. zerelda g. wallace (ind.) had written a personal plea against it to every member of the house. at the close of this report a vote on woman suffrage was called for. the audience voted unanimously in favor, except one man whose "no" called forth much laughter. miss anthony said she sympathized with him, as she had been laughed at all her life. mrs. sallie clay bennett (ky.), whose specialty was the bible argument for woman's equality, said in the course of her remarks: "i am filled with shame and sorrow that from listening to men, instead of studying the bible for myself, i did once think that the god who said he came into the world to preach glad tidings to the poor, to break every yoke and to set the prisoners free, had really come to rivet the chains with which sin had bound the women, and to forge a gag for them more cruel and silencing than that put into their mouths by heathen men; for in many heathen nations women were once selected to preside at their most sacred altars." miss mary f. eastman (mass), in an impressive address, said: i asked a friend what phase of the subject i should talk about to-night. she answered, "the despair of it.".. can you conceive what it is to native-born american women citizens, accustomed to the advantages of our schools, our churches and the mingling of our social life, to ask over and over again for so simple a thing as that "we, the people," should mean women as well as men; that our constitution should mean exactly what it says?... men tell us that they speak for us. there is no companionship of women as equals permitted in the state. a man can not represent a woman's opinion. it was in inspiration that magnificent declaration of independence was framed. men builded better than they knew; they were at the highest perception of principles; but after declaring this magnificent principle they went back on it.... although i hold the attitude of a petitioner, i come not with the sense that men have any right to give. our forefathers erected barriers which exclude women. i want to press it into the consciousness of the legislator and of the individual citizen that he is personally responsible for the continuance of this injustice. we ask that men take down the barriers. we do not come to pledge that we will be a unit on temperance or virtue or high living, but we want the right to speak for ourselves, as men speak for themselves. mrs. caroline hallowell miller (md.) spoke strongly on a case in point. mrs. elizabeth avery meriwether, of st. louis, devoted her remarks chiefly to a caustic criticism of senator george g. vest, who had recently declared himself uncompromisingly opposed to woman suffrage. he was made the target of a number of spicy remarks, and some of the newspaper correspondents insisted that the presence of the suffrage convention in the city was responsible for the senator's severe illness, which followed immediately afterwards. mrs. meriwether's son, lee, paid a handsome tribute to "strong-minded mothers". mrs. harriette r. shattuck (mass.) addressed the convention on the basis of our claim, the right of every individual to make his personality felt in the government. madame clara neymann (n. y.) gave a scholarly paper on german and american independence contrasted, in which she said: the difference between the german and the american is simply this: germans believe in monarchism, in the rule of the emperor and prince bismarck, while americans believe in the government by all the people, high or low, rich or poor. you have conferred the blessings of free citizenship upon the negro; you invite the humblest, the lowest men to cast their vote; you make them feel that they are sovereign human beings; you place those men above the most virtuous, intelligent women; you set them above your own daughters. yes, your own child, if born a girl on this free soil, is not free, for she stands without the pale of the constitution. she, and only she, is deprived of her rightful heritage. oh, shame upon the short-sightedness, the delinquency of american statesmen, who will quietly look on and suffer such an injustice to exist! nowhere in the world is woman so highly respected as in free america, and nowhere does she feel so keenly and deeply her degradation. the vote--you know it full well--is the insignia of power, of influence, of position. and from this position the american woman is debarred. do you wonder at the low estimate of american politics? the exclusion of women means the exclusion of your best men. not before the husband can take his wife, the brother his sister, the father his daughter to the primary meeting, to the political assembly and to the polls, will he himself become interested and fulfil his duty as a voter and a citizen.... "look at the homes of the wealthy, or even of the large middle-class", it is often said; "what shallowness and pretense among the women; how they shrink from the responsibility of motherhood; how they spend their days in idle gossip, in hollow amusements; how they waste their hours in frivolities; see what extravagant, unhallowed lives they lead". sad and true enough! for there is no aristocracy so pernicious as a moneyed aristocracy--no woman so dangerous as she who has privileges and no corresponding duties. there is nothing so wasteful as wasted energies, nothing so harmful as powers wrongfully directed; and the gifts and powers of our wealthy, well-to-do women are wrongfully directed. they are employed in the interest of vanity, of worldly ambition, of public display, of sense gratification. from whence arises this misdirected ambition? the harm is caused by the false standard man holds up to woman. if men would no longer admire the shallowness of such women they would undoubtedly aim higher. on the one side man subordinates himself to woman's whims and caprices, and on the other side she is made conscious all the time of her dependence and subordination in all that pertains to the higher interests of life; and while he makes a slave of her, she revenges herself and makes a slave of him. see how these women hold men down to their own low level; for women who have no higher aspirations than their own immediate pleasure will induce men to do the same. there is an even-handed justice that rules this world. for every wrong society permits to exist, society must suffer. look what fools men are made by foolish women--women who are brought up with the idea that they must be ornamental, a beautiful toy for man to play with. see how they turn around and make a toy of him, an instrument to play upon at their leisure. what we ask in place of all this indulgence is simple justice, a recognition of woman's higher endowment. in giving her larger duties to perform, nobler aims to accomplish--in making her a responsible human being--you not only will benefit her, but will regenerate the manhood of america.... to make the advocates of suffrage responsible for the sins of american women is simply atrocious, since it is from these very advocates that every reform for and among women has started; it is they who preach simplicity, purity, devotion, and who would gird all womanhood with the armor of self-respect and true womanliness. that such women are compelled to come before the public, before the congress and the legislatures, and pray for such rights as are freely given to every unenlightened foreigner is a burning shame and reflects badly upon the intelligence, the righteousness of legislatures and people. much indignation was expressed during the convention over the recent action of gov. gilbert a. pierce, of the territory of dakota. the legislature, composed of residents, the previous year passed a bill conferring full suffrage on women, which was vetoed by the governor, an outsider appointed a short time before by president chester a. arthur. with a stroke of the pen he prevented the enfranchisement of , women. hundreds were turned away at the last evening session and there was scarcely standing room within the church. a witty and vivacious speech by mrs. helen m. gougar (ind.) was the first number on the program. mrs. julia b. nelson (minn.) followed in an original dialect poem, hans dunderkopf's views of equality. mrs. sewall showed the absurdity of the american woman's disfranchisement: the inconsistency of the present position of the american woman is forcibly shown in that she is now making such an advance in education, studying political science under the best teachers of constitutional law, and enjoying such advantages at the expense of the government, yet is not allowed to make use of this knowledge in the government.... much has been said about the need of the ballot to protect the industrial interests of men, but is it not as ungallant as it is illogical that they should have the ballot for their protection while women, pressed by the same necessities, should be denied it?... i may perhaps put it that man is composed of brain and heart and woman of heart and brain. we must have the brain of man and the heart of woman employed in the higher developments to come. there can be no great scheme that does not require to be conceived by our brains, quickened by our hearts and carried into execution by our skilled hands. the activities which are considered the especial sphere of woman need more brain; the realm of state developed by the brain of man needs more heart. home and state have been too long divided. man must not neglect the interests of home, woman must care for the state. our public interests and private hopes need all the subtle forces of brain and heart. an interesting feature of these national conventions was the state reports, which contained not only valuable specific information, but often felicitous little arguments quite equal to those of the more formal addresses. such reports were received in from thirty different states. a large number of interesting letters also were read, among them one from george w. childs, inclosing check; john w. hutchinson, belva a. lockwood, the hon. j. a. pickler, madame demorest, dr. mary f. thomas, lucinda b. chandler, the rev. olympia brown, mary e. haggart, armenia s. white, emma c. bascom, almeda b. gray and many others. a letter from mrs. elizabeth cady stanton urged that the question of woman suffrage should now be carried into the churches and church conventions for their approval, and that more enlightened teaching from the pulpit in regard to women should be insisted upon. the letter was accompanied by a resolution to this effect, both expressed in very strong language. they were read first in executive session. the following extracts are taken from the stenographic report of the meeting: mrs. helen m. gougar (ind.) moved that the resolution be laid upon the table, saying: "a resolution something like this came into the last convention, and it has done more to cripple my work and that of other suffragists than anything which has happened in the whole history of the woman suffrage movement. when you look this country over you find the slums are opposed to us, while some of the best leaders and advocates of woman suffrage are among the christian people. a bishop of the roman catholic church stood through my meeting in peoria not long since. we can not afford to antagonize the churches. some of us are orthodox, and some of us are unorthodox, but this association is for suffrage and not for the discussion of religious dogmas. i can not stay within these borders if that resolution is adopted, from the fact that my hands would be tied. i hope it will not go into open convention for debate. mrs. perkins (o.): i think we ought to pay due consideration and respect to our beloved president. i have no objection to sending missionaries to the churches asking them to pay attention to woman suffrage; but i do not think the churches are our greatest enemies. they might have been so in mrs. stanton's early days, but to-day they are our best helpers. if it were not for their co-operation i could not get a hearing before the public. and now that they are coming to meet us half way, do not throw stones at them. i hope that resolution, as worded, will not go into the convention. mrs. meriwether (mo.): i think the resolution could be amended so as to offend no one. the ministers falsely construe the scriptures. we can overwhelm them with arguments for woman suffrage--with biblical arguments. we can hurl them like shot and shell. herbert spencer once wrote an article on the different biases which distort the human mind, and among the first he reckoned the theological bias. in christ's time and in the early christian days there was no liberty, every one was under the despotism of the roman cæsars, but women were on an equality with men, and the religion that christ taught included women equally with men. he made none of the invidious distinctions which the churches make to-day. mrs. shattuck (mass.): we did not pass the resolution of last year, so it could not have harmed anybody. but i protest against this fling at masculine interpretation of the scriptures. mrs. minor (mo.): i object to the whole thing--resolution and letter both. i believe in confining ourselves to woman suffrage. mrs. colby (neb.): i was on that committee of resolutions last year and wrote the modified one which was presented, and i am willing to stand by it. i have not found that it hurts the work, save with a few who do not know what the resolution was, or what was said about it. the discussion was reported word for word in the _woman's tribune_ and i think no one who read it would say that it was irreligious or lacked respect for the teachings of christ. i believe we must say something in the line of mrs. stanton's idea. she makes no fling at the church. she wants us to treat the church as we have the state--viz., negotiate for more favorable action. we have this fact to deal with--that in no high orthodox body have women been accorded any privileges. edward m. davis (penn.): i think we have never had a resolution offered here so important as this. we have never had a measure brought forward which would produce better results. i agree entirely with mrs. stanton on this thing, that the church is the greatest barrier to woman's progress. we do not want to proclaim ourselves an irreligious or a religious people. this question of religion does not touch us either way. we are neutral. madame neymann (n. y.): because the clergy has been one-sided, we do not want to be one-sided. i know of no one for whom i have a greater admiration than for mrs. stanton. her resolution antagonizes no one. mrs. brooks (neb.): let us do this work in such a way that it will not arouse the opposition of the most bigoted clergyman. all this discussion only shows that the old superstitions have got to be banished. mrs. snow (me.): mrs. stanton wishes to convert the clergy. mrs. dunbar (md.): i don't want the resolution referred back to the committee, out of respect to mrs. stanton and the manner in which she has been treated by the clergy. i do not want to lose the wording of the original resolution, and therefore move that it be taken up here. mrs. gougar: i think it is quite enough to undertake to change the national constitution without undertaking to change the bible. i heartily agree with mrs. stanton in her idea of sending delegates to church councils and convocations, but i do not sanction this resolution which starts out--"the greatest barrier to woman's emancipation is found in the superstitions of the church." that is enough in itself to turn the entire church, catholic and protestant, against us. mrs. nelson (minn.): the resolution is directed against the superstitions of the church and not against the church, but i think it would be taken as against the church. miss anthony (n. y.): as the resolution contains the essence of the letter, i move that the whole subject go to the plan of work committee. the meeting adjourned without action, and on friday morning the same subject was resumed. a motion to table mrs. stanton's resolution was lost. miss anthony then moved that both letter and resolution be placed in her hands, as the representative of the president of the association, to be read in open convention without indorsement. "i do not want any one to say that we young folks strangle mrs. stanton's thought." the rev. dr. mcmurdy (d. c.): i do not intend to oppose or favor the motion, but as a clergyman and a high church episcopalian, i can not see any particular objections to mrs. stanton's letter. the scriptures must be interpreted naturally. whenever paul's remarks are brought up i explain them in the light of this nineteenth century as contrasted with the first. it was finally voted that the letter be read without the resolution. the resolution was brought up later in open convention and the final vote resulted in ayes and noes. this was not at that time a delegate body, but usually only those voted who were especially connected with the work of the association. before the present convention adjourned a basis of delegate representation was adopted, and provision made that hereafter only regularly accredited delegates should be entitled to vote. the resolution calling upon congress to take the necessary measures to secure the ballot for women through an amendment to the federal constitution, was vigorously opposed by the southern delegates as contrary to states' rights, but was finally adopted. there was some discussion also on the resolution which condemned the disfranchising of gentile as well as mormon women, but which approved the action of congress in making disfranchisement a punishment for the crime of polygamy. a difference of opinion was shown in regard to the latter clause. this closed the convention. as a favorable senate report was pending, no hearing was held before that committee. the house judiciary committee[ ] granted a hearing on the morning of february . the speakers, as usual, were introduced to the chairman of the committee by miss anthony. the first of these, mrs. virginia l. minor, had attempted to vote in st. louis, been refused permission, carried her case to the supreme court and received an adverse decision.[ ] miss anthony said in reference to this decision: "chief justice waite declared the united states had no voters. the dred scott decision was that the negro, not being a voter, was not a citizen. the supreme court decided that women, although citizens, were not protected in the rights of citizenship by the fourteenth amendment." mrs. minor said in part: i do not stand here to represent rich women but poor women. should you give me the right to vote and deny it to my sister i should spurn the gift. without the ballot no class is so helpless as the working women. if the ballot is necessary for man, it is necessary for woman. we must have one law for all american citizens. the supreme court has half done the work. when my case came up, and i asked them that the same law should protect me as protected the negro, the court said, "when the state gives you the right to vote, we will perpetuate it; the united states has no voters." i want to ask you one question. if there are no united states voters, what right has the u. s. court to go into the state of new york, arrest susan b. anthony and condemn her under federal law?[ ] another decision of the supreme court said in relation to the fourteenth amendment, that the negro, because of citizenship, was made a voter in every state of the union. the court went on to say that it had a broader significance, that it included the chinese or any nationality that should become citizens. that court has said we are citizens. if the chinese would have the right to vote if they were citizens, have not we the right to vote because of citizenship? a third decision was in the case of the united states vs. kellar in the state of illinois. a man arrested for illegal voting was brought before the court; he was born abroad and was the son of an american woman. justice harlan held that because his mother was a citizen, she had transmitted citizenship to her son, therefore he had a right to vote. this right must have been inherent in the mother, else she could not have transmitted it to her son. mrs. julia b. nelson (minn.), who had been for many years teaching the freed negroes of the south, said: what are the obligations of the government to me, a widow, because my husband gave his life for it? i have been forced to think. as a law-abiding citizen and taxpayer and one who has given all she could give to the support of this government, i have a right to be heard. i am teaching for it, teaching citizens. i began teaching freedmen when it was so unpopular that men could not have done it. the voting question met me in the office of the mission, which sends out more women than men because better work is done by them. a woman gets for this work $ per month; if capable of being a principal she has $ . a man in this position receives $ a month. there must be something wrong, but i do not need to explain to you that an unrepresented class must work at a disadvantage. if it were granted to women to fill all positions for which they are qualified, they would not be so largely compelled to rush into those occupations where they are unfairly remunerated. as so many people have faith that whatever is is right, the law as it stands has great influence. if it puts woman down as an inferior, she will surely be regarded as such by the people. if i am capable of preparing citizens, i am capable of possessing the rights of a citizen myself. i ask you to remove the barriers which restrain women from equal opportunities and privileges with men. mrs. meriwether pointed out the helplessness of mothers to obtain legal protection for themselves and their children, or to influence the action of municipal bodies, without the suffrage. miss eastman said in the course of her address: the first business of government is foreshadowed in the constitution, that it is to secure justice between man and man by allowing no intrusion of any on the rights of others. this principle is large in application although simple in statement. the first words, "we, the people," contain the foundation of our claim. if we limit the application of the word "people," all the rest falls to the ground. whatever work of government is referred to, it all rests on its being managed by "we, the people." if we strike that out, we have lost the fundamental principle. who are the people? i feel that it is not my business to ask men to vote on my right to be admitted to the franchise. i have been debarred from my right. you hold the position to do me justice. why should i go to one-half of the people and ask whether so clear and explicit a declaration as this includes me? the suffrage is not theirs to give, and i would not get it from them easily if it were. neither would you get even education if you had to ask them for it. this question is not for the people at large to settle. justice demands that we should be referred to the most intelligent tribunals in the land, and not remanded to the popular vote. mrs. clay bennett based her argument largely on the authority of the scriptures. mrs. gougar said: we do not come as democrats or republicans, not as northern or as southern, but as women representing a great principle. this is in line with the magna charta, with the petition of rights, with the articles of confederation, with the national constitution. this is in direct line of the growth of human liberty. the declaration of independence says, "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." are you making a single law which does not touch me as much as it does you? questions are upon you which you can not solve without the moral sentiment of womanhood. you need us more than we need suffrage. in our large cities the vicious element rules. the reserve force is in the womanhood of the nation. woman suffrage is necessary for the preservation of the life of the republic. to give women the ballot is to increase the intelligent and law-abiding vote. the tramp vote is entirely masculine. by enfranchising the women of this country, you enfranchise humanity. mrs. colby thus described to the committee the recent vote in nebraska on a woman suffrage amendment: the subject was well discussed; the leading men and the majority of the press and pulpit favored it. everything indicated that here at last the measure might be safely submitted to popular vote. on election day the women went to the polling places in nearly every precinct in the state, with their flowers, their banners, their refreshments and their earnest pleadings. but every saloon keeper worked against the amendment, backed by the money and the power of the liquor league. the large foreign vote went almost solidly against woman suffrage. nebraska defies the laws of the united states by allowing foreigners to vote when they have been only six months on the soil of america. many of these, as yet wholly unfamiliar with the institutions of our country, voted the ballot which was placed in their hands. the woman suffrage amendment received but a little over one-third of the votes cast. men were still so afraid women did not want to vote that only one thing remained to convince them we were in earnest, and that was for us to vote that way. so the next session we had another amendment introduced, to be voted on by the men as before, but not to take effect until ratified by a majority of the women. we were willing to be counted if the legislature would make it legal to count us. it refused because the question, it said, had already been settled by the people. although we had worked and pleaded and done all that women could do to obtain our rights of citizenship, yet the legislature looking at "the people" did not see us, and refused to submit the question again. having failed to obtain our rights by popular vote, we now appeal to you. miss anthony related the unsuccessful efforts of mrs. caroline e. merrick and other ladies of louisiana to have women placed on the school boards of that state, due wholly to their disfranchisement. in a forcible speech mrs. sewall declared: in coming here my sense of justice is satisfied, for we belong to this nation as well as you. this room, this building, this committee, the whole machinery of government is supported in part by the money of women and is for their protection as well as for that of men.... our question should never be partisan. we do not wish to go before our state legislatures crippled with the fact that an amendment has been submitted by one party rather than the other. the republican party gave the ballot to the negro and claimed its vote in return. we do not wish any party to feel it has a right to our vote. the senate now has a majority of republicans and the house of democrats, consequently any measure which is passed by this congress will be unpartisan. this question should receive support of both parties by the higher laws of the universe. another name for life is helpfulness. separation of parts belonging to one whole is death. separation of parties on questions not of partisan interest is death to many issues. it is in your power to bring the parties together by that higher law of the universe on this proposition to submit a sixteenth amendment to our legislatures, that without entanglement of partisan interests this question can be decided. the committee were so interested in the address of madame neymann that the time of the hearing was extended in order that she might finish it. she said in part: why americans, so keen in their sense of what is right and just, should be so dull on this question of giving woman her due share of independence, i can not comprehend. is not this the land where foreigners flock because they have heard the bugle call of freedom? why then is it that your own children, the patriotic daughters of america, who have been reared and nurtured in free homes, brought up under the guidance and amidst the blessings of freedom--why is it that you hold them unworthy of the honor of being enrolled as citizens and voters? england, canada and even ireland have gone ahead of us, and was not america destined by its tradition to be first and foremost in this important movement of making women the equal, the true partner of man? in a free country the national life stands in direct relation to the home life, the public life reacts upon the family, and the family furnishes the material for the state. the lives and the characters of our children are influenced by the manners and methods of our government, and to say that mothers have no right to be concerned in the politics of the country is simply saying that the life and character of our children are of no concern to us. the citizen's liberty instead of being sacrificed by society has to be defended by society. who defends woman's individuality in our modern state? universal suffrage is the only guarantee against despotism. every man who believes in the subjection of woman will play the despot whenever you give him an opportunity. we have no right to ask if it is expedient to grant suffrage to women. we recognize that the principle is just and justice must be done though the heavens fall. it is small minds that bring forth small objections. the man who believes in a just principle trusts and confides in it, and thus we ask you to confide in suffrage for women. on may , , the committee report, made by the hon. john w. stewart (vt.), stated that the resolution was laid on the table. the following minority report was submitted: in a government by the people the ballot is at once a badge of sovereignty and the means of exercising power. we need not for our present purpose define the right to vote, nor inquire whence it comes. whether it is a natural or a political right, one arising from social relations and duties, or a necessity incidental to individual protection and communal welfare, is immaterial to the discussion. let the advocates of man's right to participate in governmental affairs choose their own ground and we will be content. the voting franchise exists, and it exists because it has been seized by force or because of some right antedating its sanction by law. nativity does not confer it, because aliens exercise it; it does not arise from taxation, for many are taxed who can not vote and many vote who are not taxed. ability to bear arms is not the test of the voting franchise, as many legally vote who were never able to bear arms, and others who have become unable to do so by reason of sickness, accident or age; nor does education mark the line, for the learned and the illiterate meet at the ballot box. with us a portion of the adult population have assumed to exercise the right, admitted to exist somewhere, of governing, and have forced another portion into the position of the governed. that this assumption is just and wise is averred by some and denied by others. if we call upon these rulers for a copy of their commission they present one written by themselves. children, idiots and convicted felons properly belong to the governed and not to the governing class, as they are intellectually or morally unfit to govern. necessity only places them there; necessity is an absolute monarch and will be everywhere obeyed. to this governed class has been added woman, and we beg the house and the country to inquire why. they are also "people" and we submit that they are neither moral nor intellectual incapables, and no necessity for their disfranchisement can be suggested; on the contrary, we believe that they are now entitled to immediate and absolute enfranchisement. first: because their own good demands it. give woman the ballot and she will have additional means and inducements to a broader and better education, including a knowledge of affairs, of which she will not fail to avail herself to the uttermost; give her the ballot and you add to her means of protection of her person and estate. the ballot is a powerful weapon of defense sorely needed by those too weak to wield any other, and to take it from such and give to those already clothed in strength and fully armed, would appear to be unjust, unfair and unwise to one unaccustomed to the sight. long usage "sanctions and sanctifies" wrongs and abuses, and causes cruelty to be mistaken for kindness. the history of woman is for the most part a history of wrong and outrage. created the equal companion of man, she early became his slave, and still is so in most parts of the world. in many so-called christian nations of europe she is to-day yoked with beasts and is doing the labor of beasts, while her son and husband are serving in the army, protecting the divine right of kings and men to slay and destroy. in the farther east she is still more degraded, being substantially excluded from the world. man has not been consciously unjust to woman in the past, nor is he now, but he believes that she is in her true sphere, not realizing that he has fixed her sphere, and not god. this is as true of the barbarian as of the christian, and no more so. if the "unspeakable turk" should be solicited to open the doors of his harem and let the inmates become free, he would be indignant, doubtless, and would swear by the beard of the prophet that he never would so degrade lovely woman, who, in her sphere, was intended to be the solace of glorious, superior man. yet, as man advances, woman is elevated, and her elevation in turn advances him. no liberty ever given her has been lost or abused or regretted. where most has been given she has become best. liberty never degrades her; slavery always does. for her good, therefore, she needs the ballot. second: woman's vote is needed for the good of others. our horizon is misty with apparent dangers. woman may aid in dispelling them. she is an enemy of foreign war and domestic turmoil; she is a friend of peace and home. her influence for good in many directions would be multiplied if she possessed the ballot. she desires the homes of the land to be pure and sober; with her help they may become so. without her what is the prospect in this regard? we do not invite woman into the "dirty pool of politics," nor does she intend to enter that pool. politics is not necessarily unclean; if it is unclean she is not chargeable with the great crime, for crime it is. politics must be purified or we are lost. to govern this great nation wisely and well is not degrading service; to do it, all the wisdom, ability and patriotism of all the people is required. no great moral force should be unemployed. but it is sometimes said that women do not desire the ballot. some may not; very many do not, perhaps a majority. such indifference can not affect the right of those who are not indifferent. some men, for one or other insufficient reason, decline to vote; but no statesman has yet urged general disfranchisement on that account. it may be true, and in our judgment it is, that those individuals who so fail to appreciate the rights and obligations of freemen as to deliberately refuse to vote should be disfranchised and made aliens, but their offense should not be visited on vigilant and patriotic citizens. neither male nor female suffragists can be forced to use the ballot, and while the individuals of each class may fail to appreciate the privilege or recognize the duty the franchise confers, in the main it will result otherwise. the conservative woman who feels that her present duties are as burdensome as she can bear, when she realizes what she can accomplish for her country and for mankind by the ballot, will as reverently thank god for the opportunity and will as zealously discharge her new obligations, as will her more radical sister who has long and wearily labored and fervently prayed for the coming of the day of equality of rights, duties and hopes. e. b. taylor. w. p. hepburn. l. b. caswell. i concur in the opinion of the minority that the resolution ought to be adopted. a. a. ranney. footnotes: [ ] john randolph tucker, va.; nathaniel j. hammond, ga.; david b. culberson, tex.; patrick a. collins, mass.; george e. seney, o.; william c. oates, ala.; john h. rogers, ark.; john r. eden, ill.; risden t. bennett, n. c.; ezra b. taylor, o.; abraham x. parker, n. y.; ambrose a. ranney, mass.; william p. hepburn, ia.; john w. stewart, vt.; lucien b. caswell, wis. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. . [ ] this had been done when miss anthony voted in rochester, n. y., in . chapter vi. first discussion and vote in the u. s. senate-- . although the senate select committee on woman suffrage had reported several times in favor of a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution which should prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex, and although thomas w. palmer, in , had delivered a speech on the question in the senate, it never had been brought to a discussion and vote.[ ] urged by the members of the national association, and by his own strong convictions as to the justice of the cause, senator henry w. blair (n. h.), on dec. , , called up the following, which he had reported for the majority of the committee on february of that year: joint resolution proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states extending the right of suffrage to women. _resolved by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled (two-thirds of each house concurring therein)_, that the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several states as an amendment to the constitution of the united states; which, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures, shall be valid as part of said constitution, namely: section . the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. section . the congress shall have power, by appropriate legislation, to enforce the provisions of this article. senator blair supported this resolution in a long and comprehensive speech, that will be recorded in history as one of the ablest ever made on this subject, in the course of which he said:[ ] upon solemn occasions concerning grave public affairs, and when large numbers of the citizens of the country desire to test the sentiments of the people upon an amendment of the organic law in the manner provided by the provisions of that law, it may well become the duty of congress to submit the proposition to the amending power, which is the same as that which created the original instrument itself--the electors of the several states. it can hardly be claimed that two-thirds of each branch of congress must necessarily be convinced that the constitution should be amended, before it submits the same to the judgment of the states. if there be any principle upon which our form of government is founded, and wherein it is different from aristocracies, monarchies and despotisms, that principle is this: every human being of mature powers, not disqualified by ignorance, vice or crime, is the equal of and is entitled to all the rights and privileges which belong to any other human being under the law. the independence, equality and dignity of all human souls is the fundamental assertion of those who believe in what we call human freedom. but we are informed that women are represented by men. this can not reasonably be claimed unless it first be shown that their consent has been given to such representation, or that they lack the capacity to consent. but the exclusion of this class from the suffrage deprives them of the power of assent to representation even when they possess the requisite ability.... the czar represents his whole people, just as much as voting men represent women who do not vote at all. true it is that the voting men, in excluding women and other classes from the suffrage, by that act charge themselves with the trust of administering justice to all, even as the monarch whose power is based upon force is bound to rule uprightly. but if it be true that "all just government is founded upon the consent of the governed," then the government of woman by man, without her consent given in a sovereign capacity, even if that government be wise and just in itself, is a violation of natural right and an enforcement of servitude against her on the part of man. if woman, like the infant or the defective classes, be incapable of self-government, then republican society may exclude her from all participation in the enactment and enforcement of the laws under which she lives. but in that case, like the infant and the idiot and the unconsenting subject of tyrannical forms of government, she is ruled and not represented by man. this much i desire to say in the beginning in reply to the broad assumption of those who deny women the suffrage by saying that they are already represented by their fathers, their husbands, their brothers and their sons. the common ground upon which all agree may be stated thus: all males having certain qualifications are in reason and in law entitled to vote. these qualifications affect either the body or the mind or both. the first is the attainment of a certain age. the age in itself is not material, but maturity of mental development is material, although soundness of body in itself is not essential, and want of it never works forfeiture of the right. age as a qualification for suffrage is by no means to be confounded with age as a qualification for service in war. society has well established the distinction, and also that one has no relation whatever to the other--the one having reference to physical prowess, while the other relates only to the mental state. this is shown by the ages fixed by law, that of eighteen years as the commencement of the term of presumed fitness for military service and forty-five as the period of its termination; while the age of presumed fitness for the suffrage, which requires no physical superiority certainly, is set at twenty-one years when still greater strength of body has been attained than at the period when liability to the dangers and hardships of war begins. there are at least three million more male voters in our country than of the population liable by law to the performance of military duty. it is still further to be observed that the right of suffrage continues as long as the mind lasts, while ordinary liability to military service ceases at a period when the physical powers, though still strong, are beginning to wane. the truth is that there is no legal or natural connection between the liability to fight and the right to vote. the right to fight may be exercised voluntarily, or the liability to fight may be enforced by the community, whenever there is need for it, and the extent to which the physical forces of society may be called upon in self-defense or in justifiable revolution is measured not by age or sex, but by necessity, which may go so far as to call into the field old men and women and the last vestige of physical force. it can not be claimed that woman has no right to vote because she is not liable to fight, for she is so liable, and the freest government on the face of the earth has the reserved power under the call of necessity to place her in the forefront of the battle itself; and more than this, woman has the right, and often has exercised it, to go there. if any one could question the existence of this reserved power to call woman to the common defense, either in the hospital or the field, it would be woman herself, who has been deprived of participation in the government and in shaping public policies which have resulted in dire emergency to the state. but in all times, and under all forms of government and of social existence, woman has given her body and her soul to the common defense. the qualification of age, then, is imposed for the purpose of securing mental and moral fitness for the suffrage on the part of those who exercise it. it has no relation to the possession of physical powers at all. the property qualification for suffrage is, to my mind, an invasion of natural right, which elevates mere property to an equality with life and personal liberty, and it ought never to be imposed. but, however that may be, its application has no relation to sex, and its only object is to secure the exercise of the suffrage under a stronger sense of obligation and responsibility. the same is true of the qualifications of sanity, education and obedience to the laws, which exclude dementia, ignorance and crime from participation in the sovereignty. every condition or qualification imposed upon the exercise of the suffrage, save sex alone, has for its only object or possible justification the possession of mental and moral fitness, and has no relation to physical power. the question then arises why is the qualification of masculinity required? the distinction between human beings by reason of sex is a physical distinction. the soul is of no sex. if there be a distinction of soul by reason of the physical difference, woman is the superior of man. in proof of this see the minority report of this committee with all the eulogiums of woman pronounced by those who, like the serpent of old, would flatter her vanity that they may continue to wield her power. i repeat that the soul is of no sex, and that so far as the possession and exercise of human rights and powers are concerned, sex is but a physical property, whose possession renders the female just as important as the male, and in just as great need of power in the government of society. if there be a difference, however, her average physical inferiority is really compensated for by a superior mental and moral fitness to give direction to the course of society and to the policy of the state. if, then, there be a distinction between the souls of human beings resulting from sex, woman is better fitted for the exercise of the suffrage than man. it is asserted by some that the suffrage is an inherent natural right, and by others that it is merely a privilege extended to the individual by society at its discretion. however this may be, its extension to any class must come through the exercise of the suffrage by those who already possess it. therefore, the appeal by those who have it not must be made to those who are asked to part with a portion of their own power. it is only human nature that the male sex should hesitate to yield one-half of its power to those whose cause, however strong in reason and justice, lacks that physical force by which so largely the masses of men themselves have wrung their own rights from rulers and kings. it is not strange that when overwhelmed with argument and half won by appeals to his better nature, and ashamed to refuse blankly that which he finds no reason for longer withholding, man avoids the dilemma by a pretended elevation of woman to a higher sphere, where, as an angel, she has certain gauzy, ethereal resources and superior attributes and functions which render the possession of mere earthly, every-day powers and privileges non-essential to her, however mere mortal men may find them indispensable to their own freedom and happiness. but to the denial of her right to vote, whether that denial be the blunt refusal of the ignorant or the polished evasion of the refined courtier and politician, woman can oppose only her most solemn and perpetual appeal to the reason of man and to the justice of almighty god. she must continually point out the nature and object of the suffrage and the necessity that she possess it for her own and the public good. what, then, is the suffrage, and why is it necessary that woman should possess and exercise this function of freemen? i quote briefly from the majority report of the senate committee:[ ] "the rights for the maintenance of which human governments are constituted are life, liberty and property. these rights are common to men and women alike and both are entitled to the sovereign power to protect these rights. this right to the protection of rights appertains to the individual, not to the family, or to any form of association, whether social or corporate. probably not more than five-eighths of the men of legal age, qualified to vote, are heads of families, and not more than that proportion of adult women are united with men in the legal merger of married life. it is, therefore, quite incorrect to speak of the state as an aggregate of families duly represented at the ballot-box by their male head. the relation between the government and the individual is direct; all rights are individual rights, all duties are individual duties. "government in its two highest functions is legislative and judicial. by these powers the sovereignty prescribes the law and directs its application to the vindication of rights and the redress of wrongs. conscience and intelligence are the only forces which enter into the exercise of these primary and highest functions of government. the remaining department is the executive or administrative, and in all forms of government the primary element of administration is force, but even in this department conscience and intelligence are indispensable to its direction. "if, now, we are to decide who of our sixty millions of human beings are, by virtue of their qualifications, to be the law-making power, by what tests shall the selection be determined? the suffrage is this great primary law-making power. it is not the executive power. it is not founded upon force. never in the history of this or any other genuine republic has the law-making power, whether in general elections or in the framing of laws in legislative assemblies, been vested in individuals by reason of their physical powers.... "the executive power of itself is a mere physical instrumentality--an animal quality--and it is confided from necessity to those who possess that quality, but always with danger, except so far as wisdom and virtue control its exercise. therefore it is obvious that the greater the spiritual forces, whether found in those who execute the law, or in the large body by whom the suffrage is exercised, and who direct its execution, the greater will be the safety and the surer will be the happiness of the state. "it is too late to question the intellectual and moral capacity of woman to understand political issues and intelligently decide them at the polls. indeed the pretense is no longer advanced that woman should not vote because of her mental or moral unfitness to perform this legislative function; but the suffrage is denied to her because she can neither hang criminals, suppress mobs nor handle the enginery of war. we have already seen the untenable nature of this assumption, because those who make it bestow the suffrage upon very large classes of men who, however well qualified they may be to vote, are physically unable to perform any of the duties which appertain to the execution of the law and the defense of the state. scarcely a senator on this floor is liable by law to perform military or other administrative duty, yet this rule set up against the right of women to vote would disfranchise nearly this whole body. "but it is unnecessary to grant that woman can not fight. history is full of examples of her heroism in danger, of her endurance and fortitude in trial, of her indispensable and supreme service in hospital and field.... it is hardly worth while to consider this trivial objection--that she is incompetent for purposes of national murder or of bloody self-defense--as the basis for denying a fundamental right, when we consider that if this right were given to her she would by its very exercise almost certainly abolish this great crime of the nations, which has always inflicted upon woman the chief burden of woe." mr. blair then demonstrated the intellectual ability of the woman of the present day, proving in this respect her capacity and fitness to vote. he quoted from the minority report of the senate committee, which had been submitted by senators brown and cockrell, saying: it proceeds to show that both man and woman are designed for a higher final estate--to-wit, that of matrimony. it seems to be conceded that man is just as well fitted for matrimony as woman herself, and the whole subject is illuminated with certain botanical lore about stamens and pistils, which, however relevant to matrimony, does not prove that woman should not vote unless at the same time it proves that man should not vote. and certainly it can not apply to those women, any more than to those men, whose highest and final estate never is merged in the family relation at all.... the right to vote is the great primitive right in which all freedom originates and culminates. it is the right from which all others spring, in which they merge, and without which they fall whenever assailed. this right makes all the difference between government by and with the consent of the governed, and government without and against the consent of the governed; and that is the difference between freedom and slavery. if the right to vote be not that difference, what is? if either sex as a class can dispense with the right to vote, then take it from the strong and do not longer rob the weak of their defense for the benefit of the strong. but it is impossible to conceive of the suffrage as a right dependent at all upon such an irrelevant condition as sex. it is an individual, a personal right, and if withheld by reason of sex it is a moral robbery. it is said that the duties of maternity disqualify for the performance of the act of voting. it can not be, and i think is not claimed by any one, that the mother who otherwise would be fit to vote is rendered mentally or morally less fit to exercise this high function in the state because of motherhood. on the contrary, if any woman has a motive more than another person, man or woman, to secure the enactment and enforcement of good laws, it is the mother, who, besides her own life, person and property--to the protection of which the ballot is as essential as to those of man--has her little contingent of immortal beings to conduct safely to the portals of active life through all the snares and pitfalls woven around them by bad men and bad laws, and to prepare rightly for the discharge of all the duties of their day and generation, including, if boys, the exercise of the very right denied to their mother. certainly if but for motherhood woman should vote, then ten thousand times more necessary is it that the mother should be armed with this great social and political power for the sake of all men and women who are yet to be. it is said that she has not the time. let us see. by the best deductions i can make from the census and from other sources, of the women of voting age in this country not more than one-half are married and still liable to the duties of maternity; for it will be remembered that a considerable proportion of the mothers at any given time are below the voting age, while another large proportion have passed beyond the point of this objection. then why disfranchise the half to whom your objection, even if valid as to any, does not apply at all; and most of these, too, the most mature and therefore the best qualified to vote of any of their sex? but how much is there of this objection of want of time or physical strength to vote in its application to those women who are bearing and training the coming millions?... the average mother will attend church at least forty times yearly from her cradle to her grave; and there is, besides, an infinity of other social, religious and industrial obligations which she performs because she is a married woman and a mother rather than for any other reason whatever. yet it is proposed to deprive all women alike of an inestimable privilege for the reason that on any given day of election perhaps one woman in twenty of voting age may not be able to reach the polls.... when one thinks of the innumerable and trifling causes which keep many of the best of men and the strongest opponents of woman suffrage from the polls upon important occasions, it is difficult to be tolerant of the objection that woman by reason of motherhood has no time to vote.... it is urged that woman does not desire the privilege. if the right exist at all it is an individual right, and not one which belongs to a class or to the sex as such. yet men tell us that they will vote to give the suffrage to women whenever the majority of women desire it. what would we say if it were seriously proposed to recall the suffrage from all colored or from all white men because a majority of either class should decline or for any cause fail to vote? if one or many choose not to claim their right it is no argument for depriving me of mine or one woman of hers. there are many reasons why some women declare themselves opposed to the extension of suffrage to their sex. some well-fed and pampered, without serious experiences in life, are incapable of comprehending the subject at all. vast numbers, who secretly and earnestly desire it, from the long habit of deference to the wishes of the other sex upon whom they are so entirely dependent, and knowing the hostility of their "protectors" to it, conceal their real sentiments. the "lord" of the family referring this question to his wife, who has heard him sneer or worse than sneer at suffragists for half a lifetime, ought not expect an answer which she knows will subject her to his censure and ridicule. it is like the old appeal of the master to his slave to know if he would like to be free. full well did the wise and wary slave know that happiness depended upon declaring contentment with his lot.... we are told that husband and wife will disagree and thus the suffrage will destroy the family and ruin society. if a married couple will quarrel at all, they will find the occasion, and it would be fortunate indeed if their contention might concern important affairs. there is no peace in the family save where love is, and the same spirit which enables husband and wife to enforce the toleration act between themselves in religious matters will keep the peace between them in political discussions. at all events this argument is unworthy of notice unless we are to push it to its logical conclusion, and, for the sake of peace in the family, to prohibit woman absolutely the exercise of free speech and action. men live with their countrymen and yet disagree with them in politics, religion and ten thousand of the affairs of life, as often the trifling as the important. what harm, then, if woman be allowed her thought and vote upon the tariff, education, temperance, peace, war, and whatsoever else the suffrage decides. we are told that no government of which we have authentic history ever gave to women a share in the sovereignty. this is not true, for the annals of monarchies and despotisms have been rendered illustrious by queens of surpassing brilliance and power. but even if it be true that no nation ever enfranchised woman--even so until within one hundred years universal or even general suffrage was unknown among men. has the millennium yet dawned? is all progress at an end? if that which is should therefore remain, why abolish the slavery of men? we are informed that woman does not vote when she has the opportunity. wherever she has the unrestricted right she exercises it. the records of wyoming and washington demonstrate this fact. mr. blair then quoted the statistics embodied in the report of the committee, showing the slow but sure progress of the enfranchisement of women, and concluded: it is sometimes urged against this movement for the submission of a resolution for a national constitutional amendment that women should go to the states and fight it out there. but we did not send the colored man to the states. no other amendment touching the general national interest has been left to be fought out by individual action in the separate states.... we only ask for woman an opportunity to bring her suit in the great court for the amendment of fundamental law. it is impossible for any right mind to escape the impression of solemn responsibility which attaches to our decision. ridicule and wit of whatever quality are here as much out of place as in the debates upon the declaration of independence. we are affirming or denying the right of petition which by all law belongs as much to women as to men.... let us by our action to-day indorse, if we do not initiate, a movement which, in the development of our race, shall guarantee liberty to all without distinction of sex, even as our glorious constitution already grants the suffrage to every male citizen without distinction of color or race. as senator brown was absent, senator cockrell objected to a consideration of the resolution and it was postponed. the minority report of the select committee on woman suffrage signed by these two senators consisted wholly of extracts from a series of anonymous articles which had appeared in the chicago _tribune_, entitled "letters from a chimney-corner." on january , , senator blair again called up his resolution and a spirited debate followed. senators joseph e. brown (ga.) and george g. vest (mo.) represented the negative; henry w. blair (n. h.) and joseph n. dolph (ore.) the affirmative. senator brown opened the discussion by presenting, word for word, the report signed by senator francis m. cockrell (mo.) and himself in . it embodied the stock objections to woman suffrage, practically all in fact which are ever made, and was in part as follows:[ ] mr. president, the joint resolution introduced by my friend, the senator from new hampshire, proposing an amendment to the constitution of the united states, conferring the right to vote upon the women of the united states, is one of paramount importance, as it involves great questions far-reaching in their tendency, which seriously affect the very pillars of our social fabric, which involve the peace and harmony of society, the unity of the family, and much of the future success of our government.... i believe that the creator intended that the sphere of the males and females of our race should be different, and that their duties and obligations, while they differ materially, are equally important and equally honorable, and that each sex is equally well qualified by natural endowments for the discharge of the important duties which pertain to each, and that each sex is equally competent to discharge those duties. we find an abundance of evidence, both _in the works of nature_ and in the divine revelation, to establish the fact that the family properly regulated is the foundation and pillar of society, and is the most important of any other human institution. in the divine economy it is provided that the man shall be the head of the family, and shall take upon himself the solemn obligation of providing for and protecting the family. man, by reason of his physical strength, and his other endowments and faculties, is qualified for the discharge of those duties that require strength and ability to combat with the sterner realities and difficulties of life. it is not only his duty to provide for and protect the family, but as a member of the community it is also his duty to discharge the laborious and responsible obligations which the family owe to the state, and which obligations must be discharged by the head of the family, until the male members have grown up to manhood and are able to aid in the discharge of those obligations, when it becomes their duty each in turn to take charge of and rear a family, for which he is responsible. among other duties which the head of the family owes to the state is military duty in time of war, which he, _when able-bodied_, is able to discharge and which the female members of the family are unable to discharge.[ ] he is also under obligation to discharge jury duty,[ ] and by himself _or his representatives_ to perform his part of the labor necessary to construct and keep in order roads, bridges, streets and all grades of public highways.[ ] and in this progressive age upon the male sex is devolved the duty of constructing and operating our railroads, and the engines and other rolling stock with which they are operated; of building, equipping and launching shipping and other water craft of every character necessary for the transportation of passengers and freight upon our rivers, our lakes, and upon the high seas. the labor in our fields, sowing, cultivating and reaping crops must be discharged _mainly_ by the male sex, as the female sex, for want of physical strength, are generally unable to discharge these duties. as it is the duty of the male sex to perform the obligations to the state, to society and to the family, already mentioned, with numerous others that might be enumerated, it is also their duty to aid in the government of the state, which is simply a great aggregation of families.[ ] society can not be preserved nor can the people be prosperous without good government. the government of our country is a government _of the people_, and it becomes necessary that the _class_ of people upon whom the responsibility rests should assemble together and consider and discuss the great questions of governmental policy which from time to time are presented for their decision. this often requires the assembling of caucuses in the night time, as well as public assemblages in the daytime. it is a _laborious task_, for which the male sex is infinitely better fitted than the female sex; and after proper consideration and discussion of the measures that may divide the country from time to time, the duty devolves upon those who are responsible for the government, at times and places to be fixed by law, to meet and by ballot to decide the great questions of government upon which the prosperity of the country depends. these are some of the _active and sterner duties_ of life to which the male sex is by nature better fitted than the female sex. if in carrying out the policy of the state on great measures adjudged vital such policy should lead to war, either foreign or domestic, it would seem to follow very naturally that those who have been responsible for the management of the state should be the parties to take the hazards and hardships of the struggle.[ ] here again man is better fitted by nature for the discharge of the duty--woman is unfit for it. on the other hand, the creator has assigned to woman very laborious and responsible duties, _by no means less important_ than those imposed upon the male sex, though entirely different in their character.[ ] in the family she is a _queen_. she alone is fitted for the discharge of the sacred trust of wife and the endearing relation of mother. while the man is contending with the sterner duties of life, _the whole time_ of the noble, affectionate and true woman is required in the discharge of the delicate and difficult duties assigned her in the family circle, in her church relations and in the society where her lot is cast. when the husband returns home weary and worn in the discharge of the difficult and laborious tasks assigned him, he finds in the good wife solace and consolation which is nowhere else afforded. but a still more important duty devolves upon the mother. after having brought into existence the offspring of the nuptial union, the children are dependent upon the mother _as they are not upon any other human being_. the trust is a most sacred, most responsible and most important one. she molds the character. she educates the heart as well as the intellect, and she prepares the future man, now the boy, for honor or dishonor. upon the manner in which she discharges her duty depends the fact whether he shall in future be a useful citizen or a burden to society. she inculcates lessons of patriotism, manliness, religion and virtue, _fitting the man by reason of his training_ to be an ornament to society, or dooming him by her neglect to a life of dishonor and shame. society acts unwisely, when it imposes upon her the duties that by common consent have always been assigned to the stronger and sterner sex, and the discharge of which causes her to neglect those sacred and all-important duties to her children and to the society of which they are members.[ ] in the church, by her piety, her charity and her christian purity, she not only aids society by a proper training of her own children, but the children of others, whom she encourages to come to the sacred altar. in the sunday-school room the good woman is a _princess_ and she exerts an influence which purifies and ennobles society. in the sick room and among the humble, the poor and the suffering the good woman is an _angel_ of light.... if the wife and the mother is required to leave the sacred precincts of home and to attempt to do military duty when the state is in peril; or if she is to be required to leave her home from day to day in attendance upon the court as a juror, and to be shut up in the jury room from night to night with men who are strangers, while a question of life or property is being discussed; if she is to attend political meetings, take part in political discussions and mingle with the male sex at political gatherings; if she is to become an active politician; if she is to attend political caucuses at late hours of the night; if she is to take part in all the unsavory work that may be deemed necessary for the triumph of her party; and if on election day she is to leave her home and go upon the streets electioneering for votes for the candidates who receive her support, and mingling among the crowds of men who gather round the polls, she is to press her way through them to the precinct and deposit her ballot; if she is to take part in the corporate struggles of the city or town in which she resides, attend to the duties of his honor, the mayor, the councilman, or of policeman, to say nothing of the many other like obligations which are disagreeable (!) even to the male sex, how is she, with all these heavy duties of citizen, politician and officeholder resting upon her shoulders, to attend to the more sacred, delicate, refining trust to which we have already referred, and for which she is peculiarly fitted by nature? who is to care for and train the children while she is absent in the discharge of these masculine duties?[ ] but it has been said that the present law is unjust to woman; that she is _often_ required to pay tax on the property she holds without being permitted to take part in framing or administering the laws by which her property is governed, and that she is taxed without representation. _that is a great mistake._ it may be very doubtful whether the male or female sex in the present state of things has more influence in the administration of the affairs of the government and the enactment of the laws by which we are governed.[ ] while the woman does not discharge military duty, nor does she attend courts and serve on juries, nor does she labor on the public streets, bridges or highways, nor does she engage actively and publicly in the discussion of political affairs, nor does she enter the _crowded precincts of the ballot-box_ to deposit her suffrage, still the intelligent, cultivated, noble woman is a power behind the throne. all her influence is in favor of morality, justice and fair dealing, all her efforts and her counsel are in favor of good government, wise and wholesome regulations and a faithful administration of the laws.[ ] ... it would be a gratification, and we are always glad to see the ladies gratified, to many who have espoused the cause of woman suffrage if they could take active part in political affairs and go to the polls and cast their votes alongside the male sex; but while this would be a gratification to a large number of very worthy and excellent ladies who take a different view of the question from that which we entertain, we feel that it would be a great cruelty to a much larger number of the cultivated, refined, delicate and lovely women of this country who seek no such distinction, who would enjoy no such privilege, who would with womanlike delicacy shrink from the discharge of any such obligation, and who would sincerely regret that what they consider the folly of the state had imposed upon them any such unpleasant duties. but should female suffrage be once established it would become an imperative necessity that the very large class, indeed much the largest class, of the women of this country of the character last described should yield, contrary to their inclinations and wishes, to the necessity which would compel them to engage in political strife. we apprehend no one who has properly considered this question will doubt, if female suffrage should be established, that the more ignorant and less refined portions of the female population, to say nothing of the baser class of females, laying aside feminine delicacy and disregarding the sacred duties devolving upon them, to which we have already referred, would rush to the polls and take pleasure in the crowded association which the situation would compel, of the two sexes in political meetings and at the ballot-box.... it is now a problem which perplexes the brain of the ablest statesmen to determine how we will best preserve our republican system as against the demoralizing influence of the large class of our present citizens and voters who by reason of their illiteracy are unable to read or write the ballot they cast. if our colored population, who were so recently slaves that even the males who are voters have had but little opportunity to educate themselves or to be educated, whose ignorance is now exciting the liveliest interest of our statesmen, are causes of serious apprehension, what is to be said in favor of adding to the voting population all the females of that race, who, on account of the situation in which they have been placed, have had much less opportunity to be educated than even the males of their own race?[ ] it may be said that their votes could be offset by the ballots of the educated and refined ladies of the white race in the same section; but who does not know that the ignorant female voters would be at the polls _en masse_, while the refined and educated, shrinking from public contact on such occasions, would remain at home and attend to their domestic and other important duties?[ ] are we ready to expose the country to the demoralization, and our institutions to the strain, which would be placed upon them, for the gratification of a minority of the virtuous and good of our female population at the expense of the mortification of a very large majority of the same sex? it has been frequently urged that the ballot is necessary to women to enable them to protect themselves in securing occupations, and to enable them to realize the same compensation for the like labor which is received by men. this argument is plausible, but upon a closer examination it will be found to possess but little real force. the price of labor is and must continue to be governed by the law of supply and demand, and the person who has the most physical strength to labor, and the most pursuits requiring such strength open for employment, will always command the higher prices. ladies make excellent teachers in public schools; many of them are every way the equals of their male competitors, and still they secure less wages than males. the reason is obvious. the number of ladies who offer themselves as teachers is much larger than the number of males who are willing to teach. the larger number of females offer to teach _because other occupations are not open to them_. the smaller number of males offer to teach _because other more profitable occupations are open_ to most males who are competent to teach.... the ballot can not impart to the female physical strength which she does not possess, nor can it open to her pursuits which she does not have physical ability to engage in; and as long as she lacks the physical strength to compete with men in the different departments of labor, there will be more competition in her department, and she must necessarily receive less wages.[ ] but it is claimed again that females should have the ballot as a protection against the tyranny of bad husbands. this is also delusive. if the husband is brutal, arbitrary or tyrannical, and tyrannizes over her at home, the ballot in her hands would be no protection against such injustice, but the husband who compelled her to conform to his wishes in other respects would also compel her to use the ballot, if she possessed it, as he might please to dictate. the ballot would, therefore, be of no assistance to the wife in such case, nor could it heal family strifes or dissensions. on the contrary, one of the gravest objections to placing the ballot in the hands of the female sex is that it would promote unhappiness and dissensions in the family circle. there should be unity and harmony in the family.[ ] ... when woman becomes a voter she will be more or less of a politician, and will form political alliances or unite with political parties which will frequently be antagonistic to those to which her husband belongs. this will introduce into the family circle new elements of disagreement and discord which will frequently end in unhappy divisions, if not in separation and divorce. this must frequently occur when she becomes an active politician, identified with a party which is distasteful to her husband. on the other hand, if she unites with her husband in party associations and votes with him on all occasions so as not to disturb the harmony and happiness of the family, then the ballot is of no service, as it simply _duplicates the vote of the male_ on each side of the question and leaves the result the same.[ ] ... it may be said, however, that there is a class of young ladies who do not choose to marry, and who select professions or avocations and follow them for a livelihood. this is true, but this class, compared with the number who unite in matrimony with the husbands of their choice, is comparatively very small, and it is the duty of society to encourage the increase of marriages rather than of celibacy. if the larger number of females select pursuits or professions which require them to decline marriage, society to that extent is deprived of the advantage resulting from the increase of population by marriage. it is said by those who have examined the question closely that the largest number of divorces is now found in the communities where the advocates of female suffrage are most numerous, and where the _individuality_ of woman as related to her husband, which such a doctrine inculcates, is increased to the greatest extent.[ ] ... senator brown then introduced a long quotation from the "chimney-corner," covering so exactly the ground of his speech and in so nearly the same language as to suggest, if not collusion, at least "two souls with but a single thought," which he thus emphasized in closing: the woman with the infant at the breast is in no condition to plow on the farm, labor hard in the workshop, discharge the duties of a juryman, conduct cases as an advocate in court, preside in important cases as a judge, command armies as a general, or bear arms as a private. these duties, and others of like character, belong to the male sex; while the more important duties of home, to which i have already referred, devolve upon the female sex. we can neither reverse the physical nor the moral laws of our nature, and as this movement is an attempt to reverse these laws, and to devolve upon the female sex important and laborious duties for which they are not by nature physically competent, i am not prepared to support this bill. he was followed by senator dolph, who said: mr. president, i shall not detain the senate long. i do not feel satisfied, when a measure so important to the people of this country and to humanity is about to be submitted to a vote of the senate, to remain wholly silent. fortunately for the perpetuity of our institutions and the prosperity of the people, the federal constitution contains a provision for its own amendment. the framers of that instrument foresaw that time and experience, the growth of the country and the consequent expansion of the government, would develop the necessity for changes in it. under this provision, at the first session of the first congress, ten amendments were submitted to the legislatures of the several states, in due time ratified by the constitutional number, and thus became a part of the constitution. since then there have been added to the constitution by the same process five different articles. to secure an amendment requires the concurrent action of two-thirds of both branches of congress and the affirmative action of three-fourths of the states. the question as to whether this resolution shall be submitted to the legislatures for ratification does not involve the right or policy of the proposed amendment.... no question in this country has been more ably discussed than this has been by the women themselves. i do not think a single objection which is made to woman suffrage is tenable. no one will contend but that women have sufficient capacity to vote intelligently. sacred and profane history is full of the records of great deeds by women. they have ruled kingdoms, and, my friend from georgia to the contrary notwithstanding, they have commanded armies. they have excelled in statecraft, they have shone in literature, and, rising superior to their environments and breaking the shackles with which custom and tyranny have bound them, they have stood side by side with men in the fields of the arts and the sciences. if it were a fact that woman is intellectually inferior to man, which i do not admit, still that would be no reason why she should not be permitted to participate in the formation and control of the government to which she owes allegiance. if we are to have as a test for the exercise of the right of suffrage a qualification based upon intelligence, let it be applied to women and to men alike. if it be admitted that suffrage is a right, that is the end of controversy; there can no longer be any argument made against woman suffrage; because, if it is her right, then, if there were but one poor woman in all the united states demanding the right it would be tyranny to refuse the demand. but our opponents say that suffrage is not a right; that it is a matter of grace only; that it is a privilege which is conferred upon or withheld from individual members of society by society at pleasure. society as here used means man's government, and the proposition assumes that men have a right to institute and control governments for themselves and for women. i admit that in the governments of the world, past and present, men as a rule have assumed to be the ruling class; that they have instituted governments from participation in which they have excluded women; that they have made laws for themselves and for women, and have themselves administered them. but, that the provisions conferring or regulating suffrage, in the constitutions and laws of governments so constituted, have determined the question of the _right_ of suffrage, can not be maintained. let us suppose, if we can, a community separated from all others--having no organized government, owing no allegiance to any existing governments, without any knowledge of the character of those present or past, so that when they come to form one for themselves they can do so free from the bias or prejudice of custom or education--a community composed of an equal number of men and women, having equal property rights to be defined and to be protected by law. when such community came to institute a government--and it would have an undoubted right to institute one for itself, and the instinct of self-preservation would soon lead it to do so--will my friend from georgia tell me by what right, human or divine, the male portion could exclude the female portion, equal in number and having equal property rights, from participation in the formation of such government and in the enactment of its laws? i understand that the senator, if he would answer, would say that he believes the author of our existence, the ruler of the universe, has given different spheres to man and woman. admit that; and still neither in nature nor in the revealed will of god do i find anything to lead me to believe that the creator did not intend that a woman should exercise the right of self-government. during the consideration by this body, at the last session, of the bill to admit washington territory into the union, referring to the fact that in that territory woman already had been enfranchised, i briefly submitted my views on this subject, which i now ask the secretary to read. the secretary read as follows: " ... i do not believe the proposition so often asserted that suffrage is a political privilege only, and not a natural right. it is regulated by the constitution and laws of a state, i grant, but it needs no argument to show that a constitution and laws adopted and enacted by a fragment only of the whole body of the people, but binding alike on all, are a usurpation of the powers of government. "government is but organized society. whatever its form, it has its origin in the necessities of mankind and is indispensable for the maintenance of civilized society. it is essential to every government that it should represent the supreme power of the state, and be capable of subjecting the will of its individual citizens to its authority. such a government can derive its just powers only from the consent of the governed, and can be established only under a fundamental law which is self-imposed. every person of suitable age and discretion who is to be subject to such a government has, in my judgment, a natural right to participate in its formation. it is a significant fact that, should congress pass this bill and authorize the people of washington territory to frame a state constitution and organize a state government, the fundamental law of the state would be made by all the citizens who were to be subject to it, and not by one-half of them. and we shall witness the spectacle of a state government founded in accordance with the principles of equality, and have a state at last with a truly republican form of government.[ ] "the fathers of the republic enunciated the doctrine 'that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' it is strange that any one in this enlightened age should be found to contend that this declaration is true only of men, and that a man is endowed by his creator with inalienable rights not possessed by a woman. the lamented lincoln immortalized the expression that ours is a government 'of the people, by the people and for the people,' and yet it is far from that. there can be no government by the people where one-half of them are allowed no voice in its organization and control. i regard the struggle going on in this country and elsewhere for the enfranchisement of women as but a continuation of the great struggle for human liberty which, from the earliest dawn of authentic history, has convulsed nations, rent kingdoms and drenched battlefields with human blood. i look upon the victories which have been achieved in the cause of woman's enfranchisement in washington territory and elsewhere, as the crowning victories of all which have been won in the long-continued, still-continuing contest between liberty and oppression, and as destined to exert a greater influence upon the human race than any achieved upon the battlefield in ancient or modern times." mr. president, the movement for woman suffrage has passed the stage of ridicule. the pending joint resolution may not pass during this congress, but the time is not far distant when in every state of the union and in every territory women will be admitted to an equal voice in the government, and that will be done whether the federal constitution is amended or not.... no measure involving such radical changes in our institutions and fraught with so great consequences to this country and to humanity has made such progress as the movement for woman suffrage. denunciation will not much longer answer for arguments by the opponents of this measure. the portrayal of the evils to flow from woman suffrage such as we have heard pictured to-day by the senator from georgia, the loss of harmony between husband and wife and the consequent instability of the marriage relation, the neglect of husbands and children by wives and mothers for the performance of their political duties, in short the incapacitating of women for wives and mothers and companions, will not much longer serve to frighten the timid. proof is better than theory. the experiment has been made and the predicted evils to flow from it have not followed. on the contrary, if we can believe the almost universal testimony, wherever it has been tried it has been followed by the most beneficial results. in washington territory, since woman was enfranchised, there have been two elections. at the first there were , votes cast by women out of a total vote of about , . at the second election, which was held in november last, out of , votes, , were cast by women. i desire also to inform my friend from georgia that since women were enfranchised in washington territory nature has continued in her wonted course. the sun rises and sets; there are seed-time and harvest; seasons come and go. the population has increased with the usual regularity and rapidity. marriages have been quite as frequent and divorces have been no more so. women have not lost their influence for good upon society, but men have been elevated and refined. if we are to believe the testimony which comes from lawyers, physicians, ministers of the gospel, merchants, mechanics, farmers and laboring men--the united testimony of the entire people of the territory--the results of woman suffrage there have been all that could be desired by its friends. some of the results have been seen in its making the polls quiet and orderly, awakening a new interest in educational questions and those of moral reform, securing the passage of beneficial laws and the proper enforcement of them, elevating men, and doing so without injury to women. senator james b. eustis (la.) inquired whether, if the right of suffrage were conferred, women ought to be required to serve on juries. to this senator dolph replied: "i can answer that very readily. it does not necessarily follow that because a woman is permitted to vote and thus have a voice in making the laws by which she is to be governed and by which her property rights are to be determined, she must perform such duty as service upon a jury. but i will inform the senator that in washington territory she does serve upon juries, and with great satisfaction to the judges of the courts and to all parties who desire to see an honest and efficient administration of law." the following colloquy then ensued: mr. eustis: i was aware of the fact that women are required to serve on juries in washington territory because they are allowed to vote. i understand that under all state laws those duties are considered correlative. now, i ask the senator whether he thinks it is a decent spectacle to take a mother away from her nursing infant and lock her up all night to sit on a jury? mr. dolph: i intended to say before i reached this point of being interrogated that i not only do not believe that there is a single argument against woman suffrage which is tenable, but also that there is not a single one which is really worthy of any serious consideration. the senator from louisiana is a lawyer, and he knows very well that a mother with a nursing infant, that fact being made known to the court, would be excused. he knows himself, and he has seen it done a hundred times, that for trivial excuses compared to that, men have been excused from service on a jury. mr. eustis: i will ask the senator whether he knows that under the laws of washington territory this is a legal excuse from serving on a jury? mr. dolph: i am not prepared to state that it is; but there is no question in the world but that any judge, this fact being made known, would excuse a woman from attendance upon a jury. no special authority would be required. i will state further that i have not learned that there has been any serious objection on the part of any woman summoned for jury service in that territory to performing that duty. i have not learned that it has worked to the disadvantage of any family, but i do know that the judges of the courts have taken especial pains to commend the women who have been called to serve upon juries for the manner in which they have discharged their duty. i wish to say further that there is no connection whatever between jury service and the right of suffrage. the question as to who shall perform jury service, who shall perform military service, who shall perform civil official duty, is certainly a matter to be regulated by the community itself; but the question of the right to participate in the formation of a government which controls the life, the property and the destinies of its citizens, i contend is one which goes back of these mere regulations for the protection of property and the punishment of offenses under the laws. it is a matter of right which it is a tyranny to refuse to any citizen demanding it. now, mr. president, i shall close by saying, god speed the day when not only in all the states of the union and in all the territories, but everywhere, woman shall stand before the law freed from the last shackle which has been riveted upon her by tyranny and the last disability which has been imposed upon her by ignorance--not only in respect to the right of suffrage but in every other respect the peer and equal of her brother, man. senator vest then entered into a long and elaborate discussion of the resolution, in which he said: mr. president, any measure of legislation which affects popular government based on _the will of the people as expressed through their suffrage_ is not only important but vitally so. if this government which is based on _the intelligence of the people_, shall ever be destroyed it will be by injudicious, immature or corrupt suffrage. if the ship of state launched by our fathers shall ever be destroyed, it will be by striking the rock of universal, unprepared suffrage. suffrage once given can never be taken away. legislatures and conventions may do everything else; they never can do that. when any particular class or portion of the community is once invested with this privilege _it is fixed, accomplished and eternal_.[ ] the senator who spoke last on this question refers to the successful experiment in regard to woman suffrage in the territories of wyoming and washington. it is not upon the plains of the sparsely-settled territories of the west that woman suffrage can be tested. suffrage in the rural districts and sparsely-settled regions of this country must from the very nature of things remain pure when corrupt everywhere else. the danger of corrupt suffrage is in the cities, and those masses of population to which civilization tends everywhere in all history. wyoming territory! washington territory! where are their large cities? where are the localities in which the strain upon popular government must come? the senator from new hampshire, who is so conspicuous in this movement, appalled the country some months since by his ghastly array of illiteracy in the southern states.... he proposes to give the negro women of the south this right of suffrage, utterly unprepared as they are for it. in a convention some two-years-and-a-half ago in the city of louisville an intelligent negro from the south said the negro men could not vote the democratic ticket because the women would not live with them if they did. the negro men go out in the hotels and upon the railroad cars; they go to the cities and by attrition they wear away the prejudice of race; but the women remain at home, and their emotional natures aggregate and compound the race-prejudice, and when suffrage is given them what must be the result? mr. president, it is not my purpose to speak of the inconveniences, for they are nothing more, of woman suffrage.[ ] i trust that as a gentleman i respect the feelings of the ladies and their advocates. i am not here to ridicule. my purpose only is to use legitimate argument as to a movement which commands respectful consideration if for no other reason than because it comes from women. but it is impossible to divest ourselves of a certain degree of sentiment when considering this question. i pity the man who can consider any question affecting the influence of woman with the cold, dry logic of business. what man can, without aversion, turn from the blessed memory of that dear old grandmother, or the gentle words and caressing hand of that blessed mother gone to the unknown world, to face in its stead the idea of a female justice of the peace or township constable? for my part i want when i go to my home--when i turn from the arena where man contends with man for what we call the prizes of this paltry world--i want to go back, not to be received in the masculine embrace of some female ward politician, but to the earnest, loving look and touch of a true woman. i want to go back to the jurisdiction of the wife, the mother; and instead of a lecture upon finance or the tariff or the construction of the constitution, i want those blessed, loving details of domestic life and domestic love. i have said i would not speak of the inconveniences to arise from woman suffrage--when the mother is called upon to decide as a juryman or jurywoman rights of property or rights of life, whilst her baby is "mewling and puking" in solitary confinement at home. there are other considerations more important, and one of them to my mind is insuperable. i speak now respecting women as a sex. i believe that they are better than men, but i do not believe they are adapted to the political work of this world. i do not believe that the great intelligence ever intended them to invade the sphere of work given to men, tearing down and destroying all the best influences for which god has intended them. the great evil in this country to-day is in emotional suffrage. the great danger to-day is in excitable suffrage. if the voters of this country could think always coolly, and if they could deliberate, if they could go by judgment and not by passion, our institutions would survive forever, eternal as the foundations of the continent itself; but massed together, subject to the excitement of mobs and of these terrible political contests that come upon us from year to year under the autonomy of our government, what would be the result if suffrage were given to the women of the united states? women are essentially emotional. it is no disparagement to them they are so. it is no more insulting to say that women are emotional than to say that they are delicately constructed physically and unfitted to become soldiers or workmen under the sterner, harder pursuits of life. what we want in this country is to avoid emotional suffrage, and what we need is to put more logic into public affairs and less feeling.[ ] there are spheres in which feeling should be paramount. there are kingdoms in which the heart should reign supreme. that kingdom belongs to woman, the realm of sentiment, the realm of love, the realm of the gentler and holier and kindlier attributes that make the name of wife, mother and sister next to that of god himself. i would not, and i say it deliberately, degrade woman by giving her the right of suffrage. i mean the word in its full signification, because i believe that woman as she is today, the queen of home and of hearts, is above the political collisions of this world, and should always be kept above them.... sir, if it be said to us that this is a natural right belonging to women, i deny it. the right of suffrage is one to be determined by expediency and by policy, and given by the state to whom it pleases. it is not a natural right; it is a right that comes from the state.[ ] it is claimed that if the suffrage be given to women it is to protect them. protect them from whom? the brute that would invade their rights would coerce the suffrage of his wife or sister or mother as he would wring from her the hard earnings of her toil to gratify his own beastly appetites and passions.[ ] it is said that the suffrage is to be given to enlarge the sphere of woman's influence. mr. president, it would destroy her influence. it would take her down from that pedestal where she is today, influencing as a mother the minds of her offspring, influencing by her gentle and kindly caress the action of her husband toward the good and pure.[ ] senator vest then presented a list of two hundred men from massachusetts, among them forty-five clergymen, remonstrating against any further extension of suffrage to women. he next presented the old-time letter of mrs. clara t. leonard of that state protesting against the enfranchisement of women. senator hoar called attention to the fact that the writer herself was an office-holder, a member of the state board of lunacy and charity, to which senator vest answered: ah! but what sort of an office-holder? she held the office delegated to her by god himself, a ministering angel to the sick, the afflicted and the insane. what man in his senses would take from woman this sphere? what man would close to her the charitable institutions and eleemosynary establishments of the country? that is part of her kingdom; that is part of her undisputed sway and realm. is that the office to which woman suffragists of this country ask us now to admit them? is it to be the director of a hospital? is it to the presidency of a board of visitors of an eleemosynary institution? oh, no; they want to be president, to be senators and members of the house of representatives and, god save the mark, ministerial and executive officers, sheriffs, constables and marshals. of course, this lady is found on this board of directors. where else should a true woman be found? where else has she always been found but by the fevered brow, the palsied hand, the erring intellect, aye, god bless them, from the cradle to the grave the guide and support of the faltering steps of childhood and the weakening steps of old age.[ ] oh, no, mr. president, this will not do. if we are to tear down all the blessed traditions, if we are to desolate our homes and firesides, if we are to unsex our mothers and wives and sisters and turn our blessed temples of domestic peace into ward political-assembly rooms, pass this joint resolution. but for one i thank god that i am so old-fashioned that i would not give one memory of my grandmother or of my mother for all the arguments that could be piled, pelion upon ossa, in favor of this political monstrosity. i now present a pamphlet sent to me by a lady. i do not know whether she be wife or mother. she signs this pamphlet as adeline d. t. whitney. i have read it twice, and read it to pure and gentle and intellectual women. i shall not read it today for my strength does not suffice.[ ] ... there is not one impure, unintellectual aspiration or thought throughout the whole of it. would to god that i knew her, that i could thank her on behalf of the society and politics of the united states for this production. she says to her own sex: "after all, men work for women; or, if they think they do not, it would leave them but sorry satisfaction to abandon them to such existence as they could arrange without us." oh, how true that is, how true! this pamphlet of over five thousand words which began, "what is the law of woman-life? what was she made woman for, and not man?"--might be described as the apotheosis of the sentimental effusions of senators brown and vest. during the discussion senator george f. hoar (mass.) said: mr. president, i do not propose to make a speech at this late hour of the day, it would be cruel to the senate, and i had not expected that this measure would be here this afternoon. i was absent on a public duty and came in just at the close of the speech of my honorable friend from missouri. i wish, however, to say one word in regard to what seemed to be the burden of his speech. he says that the women who ask this change in our political organization are not simply seeking to be put upon school boards and upon boards of health and charity and to fulfil all the large number of duties of a political nature for which he must confess they are fit, but he says they will want to be president of the united states, and senators and marshals and sheriffs, and that seems to him supremely ridiculous. now i do not understand that this is the proposition. what they want is simply to be eligible to such public duty as a majority of their fellow-citizens may think they are fitted for. the most of the public duties in this country do not require robust, physical health, or exposure to what is base or unhealthy; and when those duties are imposed upon anybody it will be only upon such persons as are fit for them. my honorable friend spoke of the french revolution and the horrors in which the women of paris took part, and from that he would argue that american wives and mothers and sisters are not fit for the calm and temperate management of our american republican life. his argument would require him by the same logic to agree that republicanism itself is not fit for human society. the argument is against popular government, whether by men or women, and the senator only applies to this new phase of the claim of equal rights what his predecessors would have argued against the rights which men now enjoy. but the senator thought it was unspeakably absurd that woman with her sentiment and emotional nature and liability to be moved by passion and feeling should hold the office of senator. why, mr. president, the senator's own speech is a refutation of its own argument. everybody knows that my honorable friend from missouri is one of the most brilliant men in this country. he is a logician, he is an orator, he is a man of wide experience, he is a lawyer entrusted with large interests; yet when he was called upon to put forth this great effort of his, this afternoon, and to argue this question which he thinks so clear, what did he do? _he furnished the gush and the emotion and the eloquence, but when he wanted an argument he had to call upon two women to supply it._ if mrs. leonard and mrs. whitney have to make the argument in the senate of the united states for the distinguished senator from missouri, it does not seem to me so absolutely ridiculous that they should have, or that women like them should have, seats in this body to make arguments of their own. senator blair closed the debate by saying in part: i appeal to senators not to decide this question upon the arguments which have been offered here today for or against the merits of the proposition. i appeal to them to decide it upon that other principle to which i have adverted, whether one-half of the american people shall be permitted to go into the arena of public discussion in the various states, and before their legislatures be heard upon the issue, "shall the federal constitution be so amended as to extend this right of suffrage?" if, with this opportunity, those who believe in woman suffrage shall fail, then they must be content; for i agree with the senators upon the opposite side of the chamber and with all who hold that if the suffrage is to be extended at all, it must be by the operation of existing law. i believe it to be an innate right; yet even an innate right must be exercised only by the consent of the controlling forces of the state. that is all woman asks--that an amendment be submitted. the opposition had presented three documents, each representing the views of one woman, and one of these anonymous. senator blair presented a petition for the suffrage from the woman's christian temperance union of , members, signed by miss frances e. willard, president, and the entire official board. this was accompanied by a strong personal appeal from a number of distinguished women, and hundreds of thousands of petitions had been previously sent. the senator also received permission to have printed in the _congressional record_ the arguments made by the representatives of the suffrage movement before the senate committee in and .[ ] a vote was then taken on the resolution to submit to the state legislatures an amendment to the federal constitution forbidding the disfranchisement of united states citizens on account of sex, which resulted in yeas, nays, absent.[ ] of the absentees senators chace, dawes, plumb and stanford announced that they would have voted "yea;" jones of arkansas and butler that they would have voted "nay." thus on january , , occurred the first and only discussion and vote in the united states senate on the submission of an amendment to the federal constitution which should forbid disfranchisement on account of sex, that took place up to the end of the nineteenth century. footnotes: [ ] the only time the direct question of woman suffrage ever had been discussed and voted on in the u. s. senate was in december, , on the bill to regulate the franchise for the district of columbia--history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. ; and in may, , on the bill to establish the territory of pembina--the same, p. ; but these were entirely distinct from the submission of a constitutional amendment. [ ] extended space is accorded this discussion, as it might reasonably be expected that on the floor of the united states senate would be made the most exhaustive arguments possible on both sides of this important question. [ ] this report had been presented mar. , , by senators t. w. palmer, h. w. blair, e. g. lapham and h. b. anthony. [ ] the italics are made by the editors of the history. [ ] senator brown did not enter the army during the civil war. [ ] as a lawyer senator brown was always exempt from jury service. [ ] senator brown had this done by his representatives, as any woman could do. [ ] as every private family urgently needs the man and the woman, why are both not needed in this "great aggregation?" [ ] do women have no hardships or hazards in time of war? [ ] if her duties are just as laborious, responsible and important as man's, do they not entitle her to a voice in the government? [ ] since this tremendous responsibility is placed upon woman, why should she not have a voice in the conditions which surround these children outside the home? why should man alone determine these conditions which often counteract all the mother's training? [ ] senator brown assumes that all women are wives and the mothers of young children, and that the mother's sense of duty would not hold her to the care of her children if she had a chance to go into politics. [ ] would any man be willing to exchange his influence for that of a woman in the affairs of government? [ ] this would seem to be the very influence which ought to be enforced by a vote. [ ] in readjusting the qualifications for the suffrage the southern states have been very careful to secure the right to all the illiterate _white_ men. [ ] senator brown says in the preceding paragraph that the "delicate and lovely women" would not remain at home but would consider it an imperative duty to go to the polls. [ ] is it because women lack physical strength that they are not allowed to practice law in georgia or to act as notaries public or to fill any office, even that of school trustee, and that no woman is permitted to enter the state university? the men should at least give their "queens" and "princesses" and "angels" an education. [ ] yes, if the husband has to enforce it with a club. this paragraph does not tally with the one in the early part of the senator's speech where all women were placed on a throne, and all men were declared to be their natural protectors. [ ] the picture of family life in georgia is not alluring, but the senator takes small account of the woman who does not happen to possess a "male," or rather to be possessed by one. [ ] therefore the wife should not be allowed any individuality. statistics, however, from the states where women do vote prove exactly the opposite of this assertion in regard to divorce. [ ] for account of the unconstitutional disfranchisement of the women of washington territory by its supreme court, see chapter on that state. [ ] this does not seem to apply to negro suffrage in the southern states. [ ] one hearing senator brown's blood-curdling descriptions would think they were more than "inconveniences." [ ] observe that senator vest's entire argument against woman suffrage is based wholly on sentiment and emotion and is entirely devoid of logic. [ ] the senator meant that it is a right which comes from the men of the state, from one-half of its people. [ ] because of a few such brutes millions of women must be deprived of the suffrage. if women had some control over the conditions which tend to make men brutes, might the number not be lessened? the senator ignores entirely the secret ballot which would prevent the aforesaid brutes from knowing how the women voted. [ ] in the preceding paragraph she did not seem to be on a pedestal. [ ] the advocates of woman suffrage have repeatedly had bills in the various legislatures asking that women might be appointed on the boards of all state institutions, and as physicians in all where women and children are placed, but up to the present day not one woman is allowed this privilege in senator vest's own state of missouri. [ ] this does not accord with the argument of senator brown that man must do the voting for the family on account of his superior physical strength. [ ] these were susan b. anthony, nancy r. allen, lillie devereux blake, lucinda b. chandler, abigail scott duniway, helen m. gougar, mary seymour howell, elizabeth boynton harbert, dr. clemence s. lozier, julia smith parker, caroline gilkey rogers, elizabeth lyle saxon, may wright sewall, mary a. stuart, sara andrews spencer, harriette r. shattuck, zerelda g. wallace, sarah e. wall--nearly all of national reputation. [ ] yeas: blair, n. h.; bowen, col.; cheney, n. h.; conger, mich.; cullom, ills.; dolph, ore.; farwell, ill.; hoar, mass.; manderson, neb.; mitchell, ore.; mitchell, penn.; palmer, mich.; platt, conn.; sherman, o.; teller, col.; wilson, iowa-- . nays: beck, ky., berry, ark, blackburn, ky., brown, ga., call, fla., cockrell, mo., coke, tex., colquitt, ga., eustis, la., evarts, n. y., george, miss., gray, del., hampton, s. c., harris, tenn., hawley, conn., ingalls, kan., jones, nev., mcmillan, mich., mcpherson, n. j., mahone, va., morgan, ala., morrill, vt., payne, o., pugh, ala., saulsbury, del., sawyer, wis., sewell, n. j., spooner, wis., vance, n. c.; vest, mo., walthall, miss., whitthorne, tenn., williams, cal., wilson, md.-- . absent: aldrich, r. i., allison, ia., butler, s. c., camden, w. va., cameron, penn., chace, r. i., dawes, mass., edmunds, vt., fair, nev., frye, me., gibson, la., gorman, md., hale, me., harrison, ind., jones, ark., jones, fla., kenna, w. va., maxey, tex., miller, n. y., plumb, kan., ransom, n. c., riddleberger, va.; sabin, minn., stanford, cal.; van wyck, neb., voorhees, ind.-- . chapter vii. the national suffrage convention of . the nineteenth national convention assembled in the m. e. metropolitan church of washington, jan. , , continuing in session three days. on no evening was the building large enough to accommodate the audience. the rev. john p. newman, pastor of the church, prayed earnestly for the blessing of god "on these women, who, through good and evil report, have been striving for the right."[ ] miss susan b. anthony came directly from the capitol and opened the convention by reading a letter from mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, who was in england. she then referred to the fact that while this convention was in session the united states senate was discussing the question of woman suffrage. there would be taken the first direct vote in that body on a sixteenth amendment to enfranchise women. the attention of the advocates of woman suffrage was directed to congress for the first time when the fourteenth amendment was under discussion in . that article in the beginning was broad enough to include women but political expediency inserted the word "male," so that if any state should disfranchise any of its _male_ citizens they should be counted out of the basis of representation. she continued: this taught us that we might look to congress. we presented our first petition in . in december, , came the discussion in the senate on the proposition to strike the word "male" from the district of columbia suffrage bill and nine voted in favor. from that day we have gone forward pressing our claims on congress. denied in the construction of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments we have been trying for a sixteenth amendment. we have gained so much as a special committee, who hear our arguments and have four times reported in our favor; senator hoar, chairman in , senator lapham in , senator palmer in , and senator blair in . this is the bill which is pending now. we are not asking congress to enfranchise us, because it does not possess that power. we are asking it to submit a proposition to be voted on by the legislatures. mrs. stanton's letter said in part: for half a century we have tried appeals, petitions, arguments, with thrilling quotations from our greatest jurists and statesmen, and lo! in the year of our lord, , the best answer we can wring from senators brown and cockrell, in the shape of a minority report, is a "chimney corner letter" written by a woman ignorant of the first principles of republican government, which, they say, gives a better statement of the whole question than they are capable of producing. verily this is a new departure in congressional proceedings! though a woman has not sufficient capacity to vote, yet she has superior capacity to her representatives in drawing up a minority report.... but if senators cockrell and brown hope to dispose of the question by remanding us to "the chimney corner" we trust their constituents will send them to keep us company, that they may enliven our retirement and make us satisfied 'in the sphere where the creator intended we should be' by daily intoning for us their inspired minority report. the one pleasant feature in this original document is the harmony between the views of these gentlemen and their creator. the only drawback to our faith in their knowledge of what exists in the divine mind, is in the fact that they can not tell us when, where and how they interviewed jehovah. i have always found that when men have exhausted their own resources, they fall back on "the intentions of the creator." but their platitudes have ceased to have any influence with those women who believe they have the same facilities for communication with the divine mind as men have. the right and liability to be called on to fight, if we vote, as continually emphasized by our opponents, is one of the greatest barriers in our way. if all the heroic deeds of women recorded in history and our daily journals, and the active virtues so forcibly illustrated in domestic life, have not yet convinced our opponents that women are possessed of superior fighting qualities, the sex may feel called upon in the near future to give some further illustrations of their prowess. of one thing they may be assured, that the next generation will not argue the question of woman's rights with the infinite patience we have had for half a century, and to so little purpose. to emancipate woman from the fourfold bondage she has so long suffered in the state, the church, the home and the world of work, harder battles than we have yet fought are still before us. mrs. caroline hallowell miller (md.) paid a beautiful tribute to miss anthony, "the sir galahad in search of the holy grail," and closed with an eloquent prophecy of future success. mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.) gave a clever satire on the rights of men, which was very imperfectly reported. ....surely it is time that some one on this platform should say something for this half of humanity, which we really must confess after all is an important half. ought we not admit that men have wrongs to complain of? are they not constantly declaring themselves our slaves? is it not a well known fact, conceded even here, that women shine in all the tints of the rainbow while men must wear only costumes of dull brown and somber black? nor is this because men do not like bright colors, for never a belle in all the sheen of satin and glimmer of pearls looks half so happily proud as does a man when he has on a uniform, or struts in a political procession with a white hat on his head, a red ribbon in his buttonhole and a little cane in his hand. then, too, have not men, poor fellows, had to do all the talking since the world began? have we not heretofore been the silent sex? even to-day a thousand men speak from pulpit and platform where one woman uplifts her voice. but let us pass to other and more important rights which have been denied to man in the past. the first right that any man ought to be allowed--a right paramount to all others--is the right to a wife. but look how even in this matter he has been hardly dealt with. has he had just standards set before him as to what a wife should be? no, but he has been led to believe that the weak woman, the dependent woman, is the one to be desired.... look again at the unhappy mess into which man all by himself has brought politics and public affairs. is it not too bad to leave him longer alone in his misery? like the naughty boy who has broken and destroyed his toys, who needs mamma to help him mend them, and perhaps also to administer to him such wholesome discipline as solomon himself has advised--so does man need woman to come to his rescue. look what politics is now. who to-day can tell the difference between a democrat and a republican? even a mugwump is becoming a doubtful being.... do not these wrongs which men suffer appeal to our tenderest sympathies? is it not evident that the poor fellows can't go on alone much longer, that it is high time we should take the boys in hand and show them what a correct government really is? there is another question which deserves our gravest consideration. man sinks or rises with woman; if she is degraded he is tempted to vice; if she is oppressed he is brutalized. what is the industrial condition of women to-day?... in behalf of the sons, the brothers and the husbands of these wage-earning women we ask for that political power which alone will insure equality of pay without regard to sex. for the sake of man's redemption and morality we demand that this injustice shall cease, for it is not possible for woman to be half-starved and man not dwarfed; for many women to be degraded and all men's lives pure; for women to be fallen and no man lost. we all know that man himself has been most willing to grant to women every right, every opportunity. if he has hesitated it has been rather from love and admiration of woman than from any tyrannical desire of oppression. he has said that women must not vote because they can not perform military duty. can they not serve the nation as well as those men, who during the last war sent substitutes and to-day hold the highest places in the government? but we ask one question: which every year does most for the state, the soldier or the mother who risks her life not to destroy other life but to create it? of the two it would be better to disfranchise the soldiers and enfranchise the mothers. for much as the nation owes to the soldiers, she owes far more to the mothers who in endless martyrdom make the nation a possibility.... man deserves that we should consider his present unhappy condition. in all ages he has proved his reverence for woman by embodying every virtue in female form, and has left none for himself. truth and chastity, mercy and peace, charity and justice, all are represented as feminine, and lately, as a proof of his devotion, he has erected at the entrance to the harbor of our greatest metropolis a statue of liberty and this too is represented as a woman.... and so we hail the men, liberty enlightening a world where woman and man shall alike be free. one interesting address followed another throughout the convention, presenting the question of suffrage for women with appeal, humor, logic, statistics and every variety of argument. mrs. harriette robinson shattuck (mass.) presented in striking contrast the women who ask and the women who object. mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert in a fine address told of our motherless government. mrs. isabella beecher hooker (conn.) gave for the first time her masterly speech, the constitutional rights of the women of the united states, which has been so widely circulated in pamphlet form, and which closed with this peroration: there are those who say we have too many voters already. no, we have not too many. on the contrary, to take away the ballot even from the ignorant and perverse is to invite discontent, social disturbance, and crime. the restraints and benedictions of this little white symbol are so silent and so gentle, so atmospheric, so like the snow-flakes that come down to guard the slumbering forces of the earth and prepare them for springing into bud, blossom, and fruit in due season, that few recognize the divine alchemy, and many impatient souls are saying we are on the wrong path--the old world was right--the government of the few is safe; the wise, the rich, should rule; the ignorant, the poor, should serve. but god, sitting between the eternities, has said otherwise, and we of this land are foreordained to prove his word just and true. and we will prove it by inviting every newcomer to our shore to share our liberties so dearly bought and our responsibilities now grown so heavy that the shoulders which bear them are staggering under their weight; that by the joys of freedom and the burdens of responsibility they, with us, may grow into the stature of perfect men, and our country realize at last the dreams of the great souls who, "appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of their intentions," did "ordain and establish the constitution for the united states of america"--the grandest charter of human rights that the world has yet conceived. in an impassioned address mrs. mary seymour howell (n. y.) contrasted the present and the past, saying: the destiny of the world to-day lies in the hearts and brains of her women. the world can not travel upward faster than the feet of her women are climbing the paths of progress. put us back if you can; veil us in harems; make us beasts of burden; take from us all knowledge; teach us we are only material; and humanity will go back to the dark ages. the nineteenth century is closing over a world arising from bondage. it is the grandest, sublimest spectacle ever beheld. the world has seen and is still looking at the luminous writing in the heavens--"the truth shall make you free"--and for the first time is gathering to itself the true significance of liberty. all the progress of these years has not come easily or from conservatism, but from the persistent efforts of enthusiastic radicals, men and women with ideas in their heads and courage in their hearts to make them practical. ever since woman took her life in her own hands, ever since she began to think for herself, the dawning of a great light has flooded the world. we are the mothers of men. show me the mothers of a country and i will tell you of the sons. if men would ever rise above their sensuality and materialism, they must have mothers whose pure souls, brave hearts and clear intellects have touched them deeply before their birth and equipped them for the journey of life.... it is the evening of the nineteenth century, but the starlight is clearer than the morning of its existence. i look back and see in each year improvement and advancement. i see woman gathering up her soul and personality and claiming them as her own against all odds and the world. i see her asking that this personality may be impressed upon her nation. i see her speaking her soul from platforms, preaching in pulpits of a life of which this is the shadow. i see her pleading before courts, using her brains to solve the knotty questions of the law. woman's sphere is the wide world, her sceptre the mind that god has given her, her kingdom the largest place that she has the brains to fill and the will to hold. so is woman influencing the world, and as her sphere widens the world grows better. with the freedom she now has, see how she is arousing the public conscience on all questions of right.... what is conservatism? it is the dying faith of a closing century. what is fanaticism? it is the dawning light of a new era. yes, a new era will dawn with the twentieth century. i look to that time and see woman the redeeming power of the world. mrs. pearson of nottingham gave a glowing account of the progress of suffrage in england and the work of the primrose league; madame clara neymann (n. y.) made a scholarly address entitled skeptics and skepticism; mrs. clara bewick colby (neb.), the rev. rush r. shippen of washington city and miss phoebe w. couzins (mo.) were among the speakers. delegate joseph m. carey (wy.) said in the course of his address: eighteen years ago the right of suffrage was given to the women of wyoming. women have voted as universally and as conscientiously as men. i have had the honor of voting for women and of being voted for by them. there are not three per cent. of women old enough who do not vote in every part of the territory. in intelligence, beauty, grace, in perfection of home and social duties, the women of wyoming will compare favorably with those of any other state. i have been asked if they neglect home affairs on account of politics. i have never known an instance of this. i have never known a controversy to arise from the wives voting differently from their husbands, which they often do. if women could vote in the states to-day they would vote as wisely as men.... i will say to woman's credit she has not sought office, she is not a natural office-seeker, but she desires to vote, has preferences and exercises her rights. the superintendents in nearly all the counties are women. they have taken a deep interest in school matters and as a rule they control school meetings. three-fourths of the voters present at these are women. in cheyenne they alone seem to have the time to attend. give woman this right to vote and she will make out of the boys men more capable of exercising it. i have seen the results and am satisfied that every woman should have the suffrage. mrs. carey sat on the platform with miss anthony, mrs. hooker and other prominent members of the convention. the eloquent address of mrs. may wright sewall (ind.) on the conditions of liberty attracted special attention. mrs. caroline gilkey rogers (n. y.) proved in an original manner that there is nothing new under the sun. in a statesmanlike paper mrs. matilda joslyn gage (n. y.) set forth the authority of congress to secure to woman her right to the ballot: to protect all citizens in the use of the ballot by national authority is not to deprive the states of the right of local self-government. when andrew jackson, who had been elected as a state's rights man, asserted the supremacy of the national government, that assertion, carried out as it was, did not deprive states of their power of self-government. neither did the reconstruction acts nor the adoption of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. yet in many ways it is proved that states are not sovereign. besides their inability to coin money, to declare peace and war, they are proved by their own acts not even to be self-protective. if women as individuals, as one-half of the people, call upon the nation for protection, they are doing no more nor less than so-called sovereign states themselves do. national aid has been frequently asked to preserve peace, or to insure that protection found impossible under mere local or state authority.... in ratifying an amendment states become factors in the nation, the same as by the acts of their representatives and senators in congress. a law created by themselves in this way can be no interference with their local rights of self-government; because in helping enact these laws, either through congressional action, or by legislative ratification of amendments, each state has arisen above and beyond itself into a higher national realm. the one right above all others which is not local is the right of self-government. that right being the corner stone on which the nation was founded, is a strictly national right. it is not local, it is not state.... it does not matter by what instrumentality--whether by state constitution or by statute law--woman has been deprived of her national right of self-government, it is none the less the duty of congress to protect her in regaining it. surely her right to govern herself is of as much value as the protection of property, the quelling of riots, the destruction or establishment of banks, the guarding of the polls, the securing of a free ballot for the colored race or the taking of it from a mormon voter. in her address on the work of women, miss mary f. eastman (mass.) said: "men say the work of the state is theirs. the state is the people. the origin of government is simply that two men call in a third for umpire. the ideal of the state is gradually rising. no state can be finer in its type of government than the individuals who make it. we enunciate a grand principle, then we are timid and begin restricting its application. we are a nation of infidels to principle." the leading feature of the last evening was the address of mrs. zerelda g. wallace (ind.) on woman's ballot a necessity for the permanence of free institutions. a washington paper said: "as she stood upon the platform, holding her hearers as in her hand, she looked a veritable queen in israel and the personification of womanly dignity and lofty bearing. the line of her argument was irresistible, and her eloquence and pathos perfectly bewildering. round after round of applause greeted her as she poured out her words with telling effect upon the great congregation before her, who were evidently in perfect accord with her earnest and womanly utterances." an imperfect extract from a newspaper report will suggest the trend of her argument: in this nineteenth annual convention, reviewing what these nineteen years have brought, we find that we have won every position in the field of argument for our cause. by its dignity and justice we have overcome ridicule, although our progress has been impeded by the tyranny of custom and prejudice. i will ask the american question "will it pay" to enfranchise the women of this nation--i will not say republic? the world has never been blessed with a republic. those who think this is a narrow struggle for woman's rights have never conceived the height, length and breadth of this momentous question. the purpose of divinity is enunciated in that it is said he would create humanity in his image. the purpose of the creator is that the two are to have dominion; woman is included in the original grant. free she must be before you yourselves will be free. the highest form of development is to govern one's self. no man governs himself who practices injustice to another.... we have passed through one gethsemane because of our refusal to co-operate with the deity in his purpose to establish justice and liberty on this continent. it took a hundred years and a civil war to evolve the principle in our nation that all men were created free and equal. will it require another century and another civil war before there is secured to humanity the god-given inalienable right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" the most superficial observer can see elements at work, a confusion of forces, that can only be wiped out in blood, unless some new, unifying power is brought into government. no class was ever known to extend a right or share the application of a just principle as long as it could safely retain these exclusively for itself. we have no quarrel with men. they are grand and just and noble in exact proportion as their spiritual nature is exalted. as sure as you live down low to the animal that is in you, will the animal dominate your nature. woman is the first to recognize the divine. when god was incarnated in humanity, when the word was made flesh and born of a woman, the arsenal of heaven was exhausted to redeem the race.... woman is your last resource, and she will not fail you. i have faith that humanity is to be perfected. examine the record for yourselves. i do not agree with the view of some of our divines. we find the creator taking a survey, and man is the only creation he finds imperfect. therefore a helpmeet is created for him. according to accepted theology the first thing that helpmeet does is to precipitate him into sin. i have unbounded faith in the plans of god and in his ability to carry them out, and when he said he would make a helpmeet i believe he did it, and that eve helped adam, gave him an impetus toward perfection, instead of causing him to fall. man was a noble animal and endowed with intellectual ability, but eve found him a moral infant and tried to teach him to discriminate between good and evil. that is the first and greatest good which comes to anybody, and adam, instead of falling down when he ate the apple, rose up. there is no moral or spiritual growth possible without being able to discern good from evil. adam was an animal superior to all others that preceded him, but it needed a woman to quicken his spiritual perceptions. eve having taken it upon herself to teach man to know the difference between good and evil, the responsibility rests upon woman to teach man to choose the good and refuse the evil. she will do this if she has freedom of opportunity. man has been given schools to develop brain power, and i do not underrate their value. he has nearly entered into his domain as far as the material forces are concerned, but there is a moral and spiritual element in humanity which eludes his grasp in practically everything he undertakes. this lack of the moral element is to-day our greatest danger. we do not ask for the ballot because men are tyrants, but because god has made us the conservators of the race. to-day we are queens without a scepter; the penalty to the nation is that men are largely indifferent to its best interests and many do not vote. men are under the influence of women during the formative period of their lives, first of their mothers, then of women teachers; how can they do otherwise than underestimate the value of citizenship? how can the young men of this nation be inspired with a love of justice? it is a dangerous thing that the education of citizens is given over to women, unless these teachers have themselves the rights of citizens. how can you expect such women as have addressed you here in this convention to teach the youth to honor a government which thus dishonors women? the world has never known but one susan b. anthony. god and the world needed her and god gave her to the world and to humanity. the next statue of liberty will have her features. of all the newspaper criticisms and remarks which have been made about her i read one the other day which exactly suited me; it called her "that grand old champion of progress." the women are coming and the men will be better for their coming. men say women are not fit to govern because they can not fight. when men live upon a very low plane so there is only one way to manage them and that is to knock them on the head, that is true. it probably was true of government in the beginning, but we are to grow up out of this low state. when we reach the highest development, moral and spiritual forces will govern. that women can and do govern even in our present undeveloped condition is shown by the fact that three-fourths of our educators are women. i remember when it used to be said, "you can not put the boys and girls into the hands of women, because they can not thrash them." to-day brute force is almost entirely eliminated from our schools. that women should not take part in government because they can not fight was probably true in ages gone by when governments were maintained by brute force, but it does not obtain in a government ruled by public opinion expressed on a little piece of paper. women as a class do not fight, and that is the reason they are needed to introduce into government a power of another kind, the power with which women govern their children and their husbands, that beautiful law of love which is to be the only thing that remains forever.... our statesmen are doubting the success of self-government. they say universal suffrage is a failure, forgetting that we have never had universal suffrage. the majority of the race has never expressed its sense in government. we are a living falsehood when we compare the basic principles of our government with things as they are now. it is becoming a common expression, "the voice of the people is not the voice of god." if you do not find god in the voice of the people you can not find him anywhere. it is said, "power inheres in the people," and the nation is shorn of half its power for progress as long as the ballot is not in the hands of women. what has caused heretofore the downfall of nations? the lack of morality in government. it will eat out the life of a nation as it does the heart of an individual. this question of woman's equal rights, equal duties, equal responsibilities, is the greatest which has come before us. the destiny of the whole race is comprised in four things: religion, education, morals, politics. woman is a religious being; she is becoming educated; she has a high code of morals; she will yet purify politics. i want to impress upon the audience this thought, that every man is a direct factor in the legislation of this land. every woman is not a direct factor, but yet is more or less responsible for every evil existing in the community. i have nothing but pity for that woman who can fold her hands and say she has all the rights she wants. how can she think of the great problem god has given us to solve--to redeem the race from superstition and crime--and not want to put her hand to the wheel of progress and help move the world? mrs. hannah whitall smith (penn.) pronounced the benediction at the closing session. sixteen states were represented at this nineteenth convention, and reports were sent from many more. mrs. sewall, chairman of the executive committee, presented a comprehensive report of the past year's work, which included appeals to many gatherings of religious bodies. conventions had been held in each congressional district of kansas and wisconsin. she referred particularly to the completion of the last of the three volumes of the history of woman suffrage by miss anthony, mrs. stanton and mrs. gage. an elaborate plan of work was adopted for the coming year, which included the placing of this history in public libraries, a continuation of the appeals to religious assemblies, the appointment of delegates to all of the approaching national political conventions, and the holding by each vice-president of a series of conventions in the congressional districts of her state. it was especially desired that arrangements should be made for the enrollment in every state of the women who want to vote, and mrs. colby was appointed to mature a suitable plan. among the extended resolutions adopted were the following: whereas, for the first time a vote has been taken in the senate of the united states on an amendment to the national constitution enfranchising women; and whereas, nearly one-third of the senators voted for the amendment; therefore, _resolved_, that we rejoice in this evidence that our demand is forcing itself upon the attention and action of congress, and that when a new congress shall have assembled, with new men and new ideas, we may hope to change this minority into a majority. whereas, the anti-polygamy bill passed by both houses of congress provides for the disfranchisement of the non-polygamous women of utah; and whereas, the women thus sought to be disfranchised have been for years in the peaceable exercise of the ballot, and no charge is made against them of any crime by reason of which they should lose their vested rights; therefore, _resolved_, that this association recognizes in these measures a disregard of individual rights which is dangerous to the liberties of all; since to establish the precedent that the ballot may be taken away is to threaten the permanency of our republican form of government. _resolved_, that we call the attention of the working women of the country to the fact that a disfranchised class is always an oppressed class and that only through the protection of the ballot can they secure equal pay for equal work. _resolved_, that we recognize as hopeful signs of the times the indorsement of woman suffrage by the knights of labor in national assembly, and by the national woman's christian temperance union, and that we congratulate these organizations upon their recognition of the fact that the ballot in the hands of woman is necessary for their success. _resolved_, that we extend our sympathy to our beloved president, in the recent death of her husband, henry b. stanton; and we recall with gratitude the fact that he was one of the earliest and most consistent advocates of human liberty. thanks were extended to the united states senators who voted for a sixteenth amendment. a committee was appointed, mrs. blake, chairman, to wait upon president grover cleveland and protest against the threatened disfranchising of the women of washington territory; also to secure a hearing before the proper congressional committee in reference to the edmunds-tucker bill, which proposed to disfranchise both the gentile and mormon women of utah. the usual large number of letters were received.[ ] the following letter was read from ex-united states treasurer f. e. spinner, the first official to employ women: i am eighty-five years old, and i can no longer look forward for future earthly happiness. all my joys are now retrospective, and in the long vista of years that i constantly look back upon, there is no time that affords me more pleasure than that when i was in the treasury of the united states. the fact that i was instrumental in introducing women to employment in the offices of the government, gives me more real satisfaction than all the other deeds of my life. a committee consisting of the national board and chairman of the executive committee was appointed to arrange for a great international meeting the next year. on the opening day of this convention a vote on woman suffrage was taken in the united states senate as described in the preceding chapter; at its close a telegram was received that a municipal suffrage bill had been passed by the kansas legislature; and its members separated with the consciousness that two distinctly progressive steps had been taken. footnotes: [ ] dr. newman was an advocate of suffrage for women. after he became bishop he wrote for publication, july , : "the exalted mission of christianity is to reverse the verdict of the world on the rights of woman. until christ came she had been regarded by state and church, in the most highly civilized lands, as the servant of man, created for his pleasure and subordinated to his authority. her rights of life, property and vocation were in his hands for control and final disposition. "against this tyranny we wage a war of extermination. henceforth in state and church, in business and pleasure, whether married or single, woman is to be esteemed an individual, one of the two equal units of humanity, to count one the whole world over, and to possess and exercise the rights of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'" [ ] among the writers were harriot stanton blatch of england, the rev. frederick a. hinckley, philadelphia; prudence crandall philleo (kan.); mary v. cowgill, mary j. coggeshall, editor _woman's standard_, (ia.); belva a. lockwood (d. c.); general and mrs. rufus saxton, sallie clay bennett (ky.); alice m. pickler (dak.); sarah r. langdon williams, sarah m. perkins (o.); mr. and mrs. mcclung (tenn.); telegram signed by emmeline b. wells and a long list of names from utah. chapter viii. international council of women--hearing of . the year is distinguished for the largest and most representative woman's convention held up to that time--the international council of women, which met in washington, d. c., march , continuing until april . the origin of this great body is briefly stated in the official report as follows: "visiting england and france in , mrs. stanton conceived the idea of an international council of women interested in the movement for suffrage, and pressed its consideration on the leading reformers in those countries. a few accepted the idea, and when miss anthony arrived in england early the following year, they discussed the question fully with each other, and seeing that such a convention was both advisable and practicable, they resolved to call it in the near future. on the eve of their departure, at a reception given them in liverpool, the subject was presented and favorably received. among the guests were priscilla bright mclaren, margaret bright lucas, alice scatcherd and margaret e. parker. the initiative steps for an international council were then taken and a committee of correspondence appointed.[ ] "when mrs. stanton and miss anthony returned to america it was decided, in consultation with friends, to celebrate the fourth decade of the woman suffrage movement by calling an international council. at its nineteenth annual convention, january, , the national suffrage association had resolved to assume the entire responsibility and to extend the invitation to all associations of women in the trades, professions and reforms, as well as those advocating political rights. the herculean task of making all the necessary arrangements fell chiefly on miss anthony, miss rachel g. foster (avery) and mrs. may wright sewall, as mrs. stanton and mrs. spofford were in europe. to say nothing of the thought, anxiety, time and force expended, we can appreciate in some measure the magnitude of the undertaking by its financial cost of nearly $ , . "this was the first attempt to convene an international body of women and its conception would have been possible only with those to whom the whole cause of woman is indebted for its most daring and important innovations. the call for this meeting was issued in june, : the first public demand for equal educational, industrial, professional and political rights for women was made in a convention held at seneca falls, new york, in the year . to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of this event, an international council of women will be convened under the auspices of the national woman suffrage association, in albaugh's opera house, washington, d. c., on march , . it is impossible to overestimate the far-reaching influence of such a council. an interchange of opinions on the great questions now agitating the world will rouse women to new thought, will intensify their love of liberty and will give them a realizing sense of the power of combination. however the governments, religions, laws and customs of nations may differ, all are agreed on one point, namely: man's sovereignty in the state, in the church and in the home. in an international council women may hope to devise new and more effective methods for securing in these three institutions the equality and justice which they have so long and so earnestly sought. such a council will impress the important lesson that the position of women anywhere affects their position everywhere. much is said of universal brotherhood, but for weal or woe, more subtle and more binding is universal sisterhood. women recognizing the disparity between their achievements and their labors, will no doubt agree that they have been trammeled by their political subordination. those active in great philanthropic enterprises sooner or later realize that, so long as women are not acknowledged to be the political equals of men, their judgment on political questions will have but little weight. it is, however, neither intended nor desired that discussions in the international council shall be limited to questions touching the political rights of women. formal invitations requesting the appointment of delegates will be issued to representative organizations in every department of woman's work. literary clubs, art unions, temperance unions, labor leagues, missionary, peace and moral purity societies, charitable, professional, educational and industrial associations will thus be offered equal opportunity with suffrage societies to be represented in what should be the ablest and most imposing body of women ever assembled. the council will continue eight days, and its sixteen public sessions will afford ample opportunity for reporting the various phases of woman's work and progress in all parts of the world, during the past forty years. it is hoped that all friends of the advancement of women will lend their support to this undertaking. on behalf of the national woman suffrage association: elizabeth cady stanton, president. susan b. anthony, first vice-pres. matilda joslyn gage, second vice-pres. rachel g. foster, corresponding sec'y. ellen h. sheldon, recording sec'y. jane h. spofford, treasurer. may wright sewall, chairman ex. com. "all of the intervening months from june until the next march were spent in the extensive preparations necessary to the success of a convention which proposed to assemble delegates and speakers from many parts of the world. as the funds had to be raised wholly by private subscription, no bureau with an expensive pay-roll was established but the entire burden was carried by a few individuals, who contributed their services."[ ] fifty-three organizations of women, national in character, of a religious, patriotic, charitable, reform, literary and political nature, were represented on the platform by eighty speakers and forty-nine delegates, from england, ireland, france, norway, denmark, finland, india, canada and the united states. among the subjects discussed were education, philanthropies, temperance, industries, professions, organizations, social purity, legal, political and religious conditions. while no restriction was placed upon the fullest expression of the most widely divergent views upon these vital questions of the age, the sessions, both executive and public, were absolutely without friction. a complete stenographic report of these fifty-three meetings was transcribed and furnished to the press by a thoroughly organized corps of women under the direction of miss mary f. seymour of new york city, an unexcelled if not an unparalleled feat.[ ] the management of the council by the different committees was perfect in every detail, and the eight days' proceedings passed without a break, a jar or an unpleasant circumstance. saturday evening, march , mr. and mrs. spofford, of the riggs house, gave a reception to enable the people of washington to meet the distinguished speakers and delegates. the large parlors were thrown open and finally the big dining-room, but the throng was so dense that it was almost impossible to move from one room to another. president and mrs. grover cleveland received the council friday afternoon. monday evening a reception was given by senator and mrs. thomas w. palmer of michigan, for which eight hundred invitations were sent to foreign legations, prominent officials and the members of the council. senator and mrs. leland stanford opened their elegant home on tuesday afternoon in honor of the pioneers in the woman suffrage movement. in addition to these many special entertainments were given for the women lawyers, physicians, ministers, collegiate alumnae, etc., and those of a semi-private nature were far too numerous for mention. albaugh's opera house was crowded to its capacity at all of the sixteen sessions. religious services were held on both sundays, conducted entirely by women representing many different creeds. some of the old-time hymns were sung, but many were from modern writers--whittier, samuel longfellow, john w. chadwick, elizabeth boynton harbert, julia mills dunn, etc. the assisting ministers for the first sunday were the reverends phebe a. hanaford, ada c. bowles, antoinette brown blackwell, amanda deyo. the rev. anna howard shaw gave the sermon, a matchless discourse on the heavenly vision. "whereupon, o, king agrippa, i was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." acts, xxvi: . in the beauty of his oriental home the psalmist caught the vision of the events in the midst of which you and i are living to-day. and though he wrought the vision into the wonderful prophecy of the th psalm, yet so new and strange were the thoughts to men, that for thousands of years they failed to catch its spirit and understand its power. the vision which appeared to david was a world lost in sin. he heard its cry for deliverance, he saw its uplifted hands. everywhere the eyes of good men were turned toward the skies for help. for ages had they striven against the forces of evil; they had sought by every device to turn back the flood-tide of base passion and avarice, but to no purpose. it seemed as if all men were engulfed in one common ruin. patient, sphinx-like, sat woman, limited by sin, limited by social custom, limited by false theories, limited by bigotry and by creeds, listening to the tramp of the weary millions as they passed on through the centuries, patiently toiling and waiting, humbly bearing the pain and weariness which fell to her lot. century after century came forth from the divine life only to pass into the great eternity--and still she toiled and still she waited. at last, in the mute agony of despair, she lifted her eyes above the earth to heaven and away from the jarring strifes which surrounded her, and that which dawned upon her gaze was so full of wonder that her soul burst its prison-house of bondage as she beheld the vision of true womanhood. she knew then it was not the purpose of the divine that she should crouch beneath the bonds of custom and ignorance. she learned that she was created not from the side of man, but rather by the side of man. the world had suffered because she had not kept her divinely-appointed place. then she remembered the words of prophecy, that salvation was to come to the race not through the man, but through the descendant of the woman. recognizing her mission at last, she cried out: "speak now, lord, for thy servant heareth thee." and the answer came: "the lord giveth the word, and the women that publish the tidings are a great host." [illustration: the rev. anna howard shaw. vice-president-at-large of national-american woman suffrage association.] to-day the vision is a reality. from every land the voice of woman is heard proclaiming the word which is given her, and the wondering world, which for a moment stopped its busy wheel of life that it might smite and jeer her, has learned at last that wherever the intuitions of the human mind are called into special exercise, wherever the art of persuasive eloquence is demanded, wherever heroic conduct is based upon duty rather than impulse, wherever her efforts in opening the sacred doors for the benefit of truth can avail--in one and all these respects woman greatly excels man. now the wisest and best people everywhere feel that if woman enters upon her tasks wielding her own effective armor, if her inspirations are pure and holy, the spirit omnipotent, whose influence has held sway in all movements and reforms, whose voice has called into its service the great workmen of every age, shall, in these last days, fall especially upon woman. if she venture to obey, what is man that he should attempt to abrogate her sacred and divine mission? in the presence of what woman has already accomplished, who shall say that a true woman--noble in her humility, strong in her gentleness, rising above all selfishness, gathering up her varied gifts and accomplishments to consecrate them to god and humanity--who shall say that such an one is not in a position to do that for which the world will no longer rank her other than among the first in the work of human redemption? then, influenced by lofty motives, stimulated by the wail of humanity and the glory of god, woman may go forth and enter into any field of usefulness which opens up before her.... in the scripture from which the text is taken we recognize a universal law which has been the experience of every one of us. paul is telling the story of a vision he saw, which became the inspiration of his life, the turning point where his whole existence was changed, when, in obedience to that vision, he put himself in relation with the power to which he belonged, and recognizing in that one which appeared to him on his way from jerusalem to damascus his divine master, he also recognized that the purpose of his life could be fulfilled only when, in obedience to that master, he caught and assimilated to himself the nature of him, whose servant he was.... every reformer the world has ever seen has had a similar experience. every truth which has been taught to humanity has passed through a like channel. no one of god's children has ever gone forth to the world who has not first had revealed to him his mission, in a vision. to this jew, bound by the prejudices of past generations, weighed down by the bigotry of human creeds, educated in the schools of an effete philosophy, struggling through the darkness and gloom which surrounded him, when as a persecutor he sought to annihilate the disciples of a new faith, there came this vision into his life; there dawned the electric light of a great truth, which found beneath the hatred and pride and passion which filled his life and heart, the divine germ that is implanted in the soul of each one of god's children.... then came crowding through his mind new queries: "can it be that my fathers were wrong, and that their philosophy and religion do not contain all there is of truth? can it be that outside of all we have known, there lies a great unexplored universe to which the mind of man can yet attain?" and filled with the divine purpose, he opened his heart to receive the new truth that came to him from the vision which god revealed to his soul. all down through the centuries god has been revealing in visions the great truths which have lifted the race, step by step, until to-day womanhood, in this sunset hour of the nineteenth century, is gathered here from the east and the west, the north and the south, women of every land, of every race, of all religious beliefs. but diverse and varied as are our races, our theories, our religions, yet we come together here with one harmonious purpose--that of lifting humanity into a higher, purer, truer life. to one has come the vision of political freedom. she saw how the avarice and ambition of one class with power made them forget the rights of another. she saw how the unjust laws embittered both--those who made them and those upon whom the injustice rested. she recognized the great principles of universal equality, seeing that all alike must be free; that humanity everywhere must be lifted out of subjection into the free and full air of divine liberty. to another was revealed the vision of social freedom. she saw that sin which crushed the lives of one class, rested lightly on the lives of the other. she saw its blighting effect on both, and she lifted up her voice and demanded that there be recognized no sex in sin. another has come hither, who, gazing about her, saw men brutalized by the rum fiend, the very life of a nation threatened, and the power of the liquor traffic, with its hand on the helm of the ship of state, guiding it with sails full spread straight upon the rocks to destruction. then, looking away from earth, she beheld a vision of what the race and our nation might become, with all its possibility of wealth and power, if freed from this burden, and forth upon her mission of deliverance she sped her way. another beheld a vision of what it is to be learned, to explore the great fields of knowledge which the infinite has spread before the world. and this vision has driven her out from the seclusion of her own quiet life that she might give this great truth to womanhood everywhere.... and so we come, each bearing her torch of living truth, casting over the world the light of the vision that has dawned upon her soul. but there is still another vision which reaches above earth, beyond time--a vision which has dawned upon many, that they are here not to do their own work, but the will of him who sent them. and the woman who sees the still higher truth, recognizes the great power to which she belongs and what her life may become when, in submission to that master, she takes upon herself the nature of him whom she serves. we will notice in the second place the purpose of all these visions which have come to us. paul was not permitted to dwell on the vision of truth which came to him. god had a purpose in its manifestation, and that purpose was revealed when he said to the wonder-stricken servant, "arise; for i have appeared unto thee for this purpose, not that thou behold the truth for thyself, but to make thee a minister and a witness both of that which thou hast already seen and of other truths which i shall reveal unto thee. go unto the gentiles. give them the truth which thou shalt receive that their eyes may be opened, and that they may be turned from darkness to light; that they, too, may receive a like inheritance with thyself...." this, then, is god's lesson to you and to me. he opens before our eyes the vision of a great truth and for a moment he permits our wondering gaze to rest upon it; then he bids us go forth. jacob of old saw the vision of god's messengers ascending and descending, but none of them standing still. herein, then, lies the secret of the success of the reformer. first the vision, then the purpose of the vision. "i was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." this is the manly and noble confession of one of the world's greatest reformers, and in it we catch a glimpse of the secrets of the success of his divinely-appointed mission. the difference between the saul of tarsus and paul the prisoner of the lord was measured by his obedience. this, too, is a universal law, true of the life of every reformer, who, having had revealed to him a vision of the great truth, has in obedience to that vision carried it to humanity. though at first he holds the truth to himself, and longs to be lifted up by its power, he soon learns that there is a giving forth of that which one possesses which enriches the giver, and that the more he gives of his vision to men the richer it becomes, the brighter it grows, until it illuminates all his pathway.... yet paul's life was not an idle dream; it was a constant struggle against the very people whom he tried to save; his greatest foes were those to whom he was sent. he had learned the lesson all reformers must sooner or later learn, that the world never welcomes its deliverers save with the dungeon, the fagot or the cross. no man or woman has ever sought to lead his fellows to a higher and better mode of life without learning the power of the world's ingratitude; and though at times popularity may follow in the wake of a reformer, yet the reformer knows popularity is not love. the world will support you when you have compelled it to do so by manifestations of power, but it will shrink from you as soon as power and greatness are no longer on your side. this is the penalty paid by good people who sacrifice themselves for others. they must live without sympathy; their feelings will be misunderstood; their efforts will be uncomprehended. like paul, they will be betrayed by friends; like christ in the agony of gethsemane, they must bear their struggle alone. our reverence for the reformers of the past is posterity's judgment of them. but to them, what is that now? they have passed into the shadows where neither our voice of praise or of blame disturbs their repose. this is the hardest lesson the reformer has to learn. when, with soul aglow with the light of a great truth, she, in obedience to the vision, turns to take it to the needy one, instead of finding a world ready to rise up and receive her, she finds it wrapped in the swaddling clothes of error, eagerly seeking to win others to its conditions of slavery. she longs to make humanity free; she listens to their conflicting creeds, and yearns to save them from the misery they endure. she knows that there is no form of slavery more bitter or arrogant than error, that truth alone can make man free, and she longs to bring the heart of the world and the heart of truth together, that the truth may exercise its transforming power over the life of the world. the greatest test of the reformer's courage comes when, with a warm, earnest longing for humanity, she breaks for it the bread of truth and the world turns from this life-giving power and asks instead of bread a stone. it is just here that so many of god's workmen fail, and themselves need to turn back to the vision as it appeared to them, and to gather fresh courage and new inspiration for the future. this, my sisters, we all must do if we would succeed. the reformer may be inconsistent, she may be stern or even impatient, but if the world feels that she is in earnest she can not fail. let the truth which she desires to teach first take possession of herself. every woman who to-day goes out into the world with a truth, who has not herself become possessed of that truth, had far better stay at home. who would have dreamed, when at that great anti-slavery meeting in london, some years ago, the arrogance and pride of men excluded the women whom god had moved to lift up their voices in behalf of the baby that was sold by the pound--who would have dreamed that that very exclusion would be the keynote of woman's freedom? that out of the prejudice of that hour god should be able to flash upon the crushed hearts of those excluded the grand vision which we see manifested here to-day? that out of a longing for the liberty of a portion of the race, god should be able to show to women the still larger vision of the freedom of all human kind? grand as is this vision which meets us here, it is but the dawning of a new day; and as the first beams of morning light give promise of the radiance which shall envelop the earth when the sun shall have arisen in all its splendor, so there comes to us a prophecy of that glorious day when the vision which we are now beholding, which is beaming in the soul of one, shall enter the hearts and transfigure the lives of all. the formal opening of the council, monday morning, march , was thus described: "the vast auditorium, perfect in its proportions and arrangements, was richly decorated with the flags of all nations and of every state in the union. the platform was fragrant with evergreens and flowers, brilliant with rich furniture, crowded with distinguished women, while soft music with its universal language attuned all hearts to harmony. the beautiful portrait of the sainted lucretia mott, surrounded with smilax and lilies of the valley, seemed to sanctify the whole scene and to give a touch of pathos to all the proceedings." this great meeting, like so many before and since that time, was opened by miss anthony. after the invocation and the hymn, she said in part: forty years ago women had no place anywhere except in their homes; no pecuniary independence, no purpose in life save that which came through marriage. from a condition, as many of you can remember, in which no woman thought of earning her bread by any other means than sewing, teaching, cooking or factory work, in these later years the way has been opened to every avenue of industry, to every profession, whereby woman to-day stands almost the peer of man in her opportunities for financial independence. what is true in the world of work is true in education, is true everywhere. men have granted us, in the civil rights which we have been demanding, everything almost but the pivotal right, the one that underlies all other rights, the one with which citizens of this republic may protect themselves--the right to vote. i have the pleasure of introducing to you this morning the woman who not only joined with lucretia mott in calling the first convention, but who for the greater part of twenty years has been president of the national suffrage association--mrs. elizabeth cady stanton. the entire audience arose with clapping of hands and waving of handkerchiefs to greet this leader, who had come from england to attend the council. in the course of a long and dignified address of welcome, she said: whether our feet are compressed in iron shoes, our faces hidden with veils and masks; whether yoked with cows to draw the plow through its furrows, or classed with idiots, lunatics and criminals in the laws and constitutions of the state, the principle is the same; for the humiliations of spirit are as real as the visible badges of servitude. a difference in government, religion, laws and social customs makes but little change in the relative status of woman to the self-constituted governing classes, so long as subordination in all countries is the rule of her being. through suffering we have learned the open sesame to the hearts of each other. with the spirit forever in bondage, it is the same whether housed in golden cages with every want supplied, or wandering in the dreary deserts of life, friendless and forsaken. long ago we of america heard the deep yearnings of the souls of women in foreign lands for freedom responsive to our own. mary wollstonecraft, madame de stael, madam roland, george sand, frederica bremer, elizabeth barrett browning, frances wright and george eliot alike have pictured the wrongs of woman in poetry and prose. though divided by vast mountain ranges, oceans and plains, yet the psalms of our lives have been in the same strain--too long, alas, in the minor key--for hopes deferred have made the bravest hearts sometimes despairing. but the same great over-soul has been our faith and inspiration. the steps of progress already achieved in many countries should encourage us to tune our harps anew to songs of victory.... i think most of us have come to feel that a voice in the laws is indispensable to achieve success; that these great moral struggles for higher education, temperance, peace, the rights of labor, international arbitration, religious freedom, are all questions to be finally adjusted by the action of government and thus, without a direct voice in legislation, woman's influence will be entirely lost. experience has fully proved that sympathy as a civil agent is vague and powerless until caught and chained in logical propositions and coined into law. when every prayer and tear represents a ballot, the mothers of the race will no longer weep in vain over the miseries of their children. the active interest women are taking in all the great questions of the day is in strong contrast with the apathy and indifference in which we found them half a century ago, and the contrast in their condition between now and then is equally marked. those who inaugurated the movement for woman's enfranchisement, who for long years endured the merciless storm of ridicule and persecution, mourned over by friends, ostracized in social life, scandalized by enemies, denounced by the pulpit, scarified and caricatured by the press, may well congratulate themselves on the marked change in public sentiment which this magnificent gathering of educated women from both hemispheres so triumphantly illustrates.... we, who like the children of israel, have been wandering in the wilderness of prejudice and ridicule for forty years feel a peculiar tenderness for the young women on whose shoulders we are about to leave our burdens. although we have opened a pathway to the promised land and cleared up much of the underbrush of false sentiment, logic and rhetoric intertwisted with law and custom, which blocked all avenues in starting, yet there are still many obstacles to be encountered before the rough journey is ended. the younger women are starting with great advantages over us. they have the results of our experience; they have superior opportunities for education; they will find a more enlightened public sentiment for discussion; they will have more courage to take the rights which belong to them. hence we may look to them for speedy conquests. when we think of the vantage-ground woman holds to-day, in spite of all the artificial obstacles placed in her way, we are filled with wonder as to what the future mothers of the race will be when free to have complete development. thus far women have been the mere echoes of men. our laws and constitutions, our creeds and codes, and the customs of social life are all of masculine origin. the true woman is as yet a dream of the future. a just government, a humane religion, a pure social life await her coming.... at the close of this address miss anthony presented greetings from the woman's liberal association of bristol, england, signed by many distinguished names; from the woman suffrage association of norway, and from a number of prominent women in dublin.[ ] there were also individual letters from mrs. priscilla bright mclaren and many other foreigners.[ ] dr. elizabeth c. sargent and eight other women physicians of san francisco sent cordial good wishes. congratulations were received from many americans,[ ] and a cablegram from mrs. harriot stanton blatch, of england. miss anthony then presented the foreign delegates: england, mrs. laura ormiston chant, mrs. alice scatcherd, mrs. ashton dilke, madame zadel b. gustafson; ireland, mrs. margaret moore; france, madame isabella bogelot; finland, baroness alexandra gripenberg; denmark, madame ada m. frederiksen; norway, madame sophie magelsson groth; italy, madame fanny zampini salazar; india, pundita ramabai sarasvati; canada, mrs. bessie starr keefer. after all had acknowledged the introduction with brief remarks, miss anthony presented, amid much applause, lucy stone, frances e. willard, julia ward howe, isabella beecher hooker, matilda joslyn gage, clara barton--the most eminent galaxy of women ever assembled upon one platform. frederick douglass and robert purvis were introduced as pioneers in the movement for woman suffrage. it would be impossible within the limits of one chapter to give even the briefest synopsis of the addresses which swept through the week like a grand procession. the program only could convey an idea of the value of this intellectual entertainment which called together, day after day and night after night, audiences that taxed the capacity of the largest opera house in washington.[ ] on the second sunday afternoon, easter day, the services consisted of a symposium conducted by sixteen women, of all religious faiths and of none. in the evening, when as in the morning a vast and interested audience was present, brief farewells were spoken by a number of the foreign delegates. the leading address was by mrs. zerelda g. wallace on the moral power of the ballot. mrs. stanton closed the meeting with a great speech, and the following resolution was adopted: it is the unanimous voice of this international council that all institutions of learning and of professional instruction, including schools of theology, law and medicine, should, in the interests of humanity, be as freely opened to women as to men, and that opportunities for industrial training should be as generally and as liberally provided for one sex as for the other. the representatives of organized womanhood in this council will steadily demand that in all avocations in which both men and women engage, equal wages shall be paid for equal work; and they declare that an enlightened society should demand, as the only adequate expression of the high civilization which it is its office to establish and maintain, an identical standard of personal purity and morality for men and women. during the month of preparation for this international council, the idea came many times to mrs. sewall that it should result in a permanent organization. the other members gave a cordial assent to this proposition, and the necessary committees were appointed. before the delegates left washington both a national and international council of women were formed.[ ] immediately following the council the national woman suffrage association held its twentieth annual convention in the church of our father, april , , . as there had been eight days of continuous speech-making this meeting was devoted principally to the presenting of state reports and transacting of necessary business. there were, however, a number of addresses from the distinguished women who remained after the council to attend this convention. the committee on national enrollment, mrs. louisa southworth of ohio, chairman, reported , names of adult citizens who favored equal suffrage; , of these were from ohio and , from nebraska. women were urged to send petitions to members of congress from their respective states. mrs. stanton was requested to prepare a memorial to be presented to each of the national political conventions to be held during the year, and committees were appointed to visit each for the purpose of securing in their platforms a recognition of woman suffrage. the most interesting feature was the hearing before the senate committee on woman suffrage, which took place april .[ ] mrs. stanton made the opening address, in which she took up the provisions of the federal constitution, one by one, and showed how they had been violated in their application to women, saying: even the preamble of the constitution is an argument for self-government--"we, the people." you recognize women as people, for you count them in the basis of representation. half our congressmen hold their seats to-day as representatives of women. we help to swell the figures by which you are here, and too many of you, alas, are only figurative representatives, paying little heed to our rights as citizens. "no bill of attainder shall be passed." "no title of nobility granted." so says the constitution; and yet you have passed bills of attainder in every state of the union making sex a disqualification for the franchise. you have granted titles of nobility to every male voter, making all men rulers, governors, sovereigns over all women. "the united states shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government." and yet you have not a republican form of government in a single state. one-half the people have never consented to one law under which they live. they have rulers placed over them in whom they have no choice. they are taxed without representation, tried in our courts by men for the violation of laws made by men, with no appeal except to men, and for some crimes over which men should have no jurisdiction.... landing in new york one week ago, i saw steerage passengers leave the vessel. dull-eyed, heavy-visaged, stooping with huge burdens and the oppressions endured in the old world, they stood in painful contrast with the group of brilliant women on their way to the international council here in washington. i thought, as this long line passed by, of the speedy transformation the genial influences of equality would effect in the appearance of these men, of the new dignity they would acquire with a voice in the laws under which they live, and i rejoiced for them; but bitter reflections filled my mind when i thought that these men are the future rulers of our daughters; these will interpret the civil and criminal codes by which they will be governed; these will be our future judges and jurors to try young girls in our courts, for trial by a jury of her peers has never yet been vouchsafed to woman. here is a right so ancient that it is difficult to trace its origin in history, a right so sacred that the humblest criminal may choose his juror. but alas for the daughters of the people, their judges, advocates, jurors, must be men, and for them there is no appeal. but this is only one wrong among many inevitable for a disfranchised class. it is impossible for you, gentlemen, to appreciate the humiliations women suffer at every turn.... you have now the power to settle this question by wise legislation. but if you can not be aroused to its serious consideration, like every other step in progress, it will eventually be settled by violence. the wild enthusiasm of woman can be used for evil as well as good. to-day you have the power to guide and direct it into channels of true patriotism, but in the future, with all the elements of discontent now gathering from foreign countries, you will have the scenes of the french commune repeated in our land. what women, exasperated with a sense of injustice, have done in dire extremities in the nations of the old world, they will do here.... i will leave it to your imagination to picture to yourselves how you would feel if you had had a case in court, a bill before some legislative body or a political aspiration for nearly half a century, with a continual succession of adverse decisions, while law and common justice were wholly on your side. such, honorable gentlemen, is our case.... in the history of the race there has been no struggle for liberty like this. whenever the interest of the ruling classes has induced them to confer new rights on a subject class it has been done with no effort on the part of the latter. neither the american slave nor the english laborer demanded the right of suffrage. it was given in both cases to strengthen the liberal party. the philanthropy of the few may have entered into those reforms, but political expediency carried both measures. women, on the contrary, have fought their own battles and in their rebellion against existing conditions have inaugurated the most fundamental revolution the world has ever witnessed. the magnitude and multiplicity of the changes involved make the obstacles in the way of success seem almost insurmountable.... society is based on this fourfold bondage of woman--church, state, capital and society--making liberty and equality for her antagonistic to every organized institution. where, then, can we rest the lever with which to lift one-half of humanity from these depths of degradation, but on "that columbiad of our political life--the ballot--which makes every citizen who holds it a full armed monitor?" miss anthony then introduced a number of the foreign delegates who had been in attendance at the national council. mrs. laura ormiston chant of england, in an eloquent address, said: i stand here as the grandniece of one of the greatest orators and clearest and wisest statesmen that europe has known, edmund burke. it seems to me an almost overwhelming humility that i should be compelled to echo the magnificent impeachment that he made against warren hastings, in our house of commons, on behalf of the oppressed women of hindostan, in this my passionate appeal on behalf of oppressed women all over the world.... by all you have held most sacred and beautiful in the women who have loved you and made life possible for you--for their sake and in their name--i do intreat that you will not allow your grandest women to plead for another half century. say rather "the past has been a long night of wrong, but the day has come and the hour in which justice shall conquer." mrs. alice scatcherd, delegate from the liberal and the suffrage associations of leeds and neighboring cities, gave an interesting account of the manner in which englishwomen exercise the franchise and the influence they wield in politics. miss anthony then said, "i have the pleasure of introducing to you the woman who, twenty-five years ago, wrote the battle hymn of the republic, mrs. julia ward howe." mrs. howe spoke briefly, saying: "my heart has been full with the words of others which have been here uttered; but a single word will enable me to cast in my voice with theirs with all the emphasis that my life and such power as i have will enable me to add. gentlemen, what a voice you have here to-day for universal suffrage. think that not only we american women, your own kindred, appear here--and you know what we represent--but these foremost women from other countries, representing not alone the native intelligence and character of those countries, but deep and careful study and precious experience, and think that between them and us who ask for suffrage, there is entire unanimity. we all say the same words; we are all for the same thing...." mrs. caroline e. merrick, wife of the former chief justice of louisiana, addressed the committee with that deep and touching earnestness so characteristic of southern women. after saying that women were present from every state and territory who would add their pleadings if there were time, miss anthony introduced mrs. bessie starr keefer of canada, who told of the good effects of woman suffrage in that country. miss anthony then said: "gentlemen of the committee, here stands before you one who is commander-in-chief of an army of , women. it is said women do not want to vote, but this woman has led this vast army to the ballot-box, or to a wish to get there. i present to you miss frances e. willard." this was the only time miss willard ever appeared before a suffrage committee in the capitol, and she was heard with much interest. beginning with the playful manner which rendered her speeches so attractive, she closed with great seriousness: i suppose these honorable gentlemen think that we women want the earth, when we only want half of it. we call their attention to the fact that our brethren have encroached upon the sphere of woman. they have definitely marked out that sphere, and then they have proceeded with their incursion by the power of invention. they have taken away the loom and the spinning-jenny, and they have obliged jenny to seek her occupation somewhere else. they have set even the tune of the old knitting-needle to humming by steam. so that we women, full of vigor and desire to be active and useful and to react upon the world around us, finding our industrial occupations largely gone, have been obliged to seek out a new territory and to pre-empt from the sphere of our brothers some of that which they have hitherto considered their own. i know it is a sentiment of chivalry in some good men which hinders them from giving us the ballot. they think we might not be what they admire so much; they think we should be lacking in womanliness of character. i ask you to notice if the women who have been in this international council, if the women who are school teachers all over this nation, if these hundreds of thousands are not a womanly set of women, and yet they have gone outside of the old sphere. we believe that in the time of peace women can come forward and with peaceful plans can use weapons which are grand and womanly, and that their thoughts, winged with hope and the force of the heart given to them, will have an effect far mightier than physical power. for that reason we ask you that they shall be allowed to stand at the ballot-box, because we believe that there every person expresses his individuality. the majesty or the meanness of a person comes out at the ballot-box more than anywhere else. the ballot is the compendium of all there is in civilization, and of all that civilization has done for us. we believe that the mothers who had the good sense to train noble men, like you who have achieved high positions, had the good sense to train your sisters in the same way, and that it is a pity the state has lost that other half of the conservative power which comes from a christian rearing and a christian character. i have spoken thus on the principles which have made me, a conservative woman, devoted to the idea of the ballot, and one in heart with all these good and true suffrage women, though not one in organic community. i represent before you the woman's christian temperance union and not a suffrage society, but i bring these principles to your sight, and i ask you, my brothers, to be grand and chivalrous towards us in this new departure which we now wish to make. i ask you to remember that it is women who have given the costliest hostages to fortune, and out into the battle of life they have sent their best beloved into snares that have been legalized on every hand. from the arms which held him long, the boy has gone forever, for he will not come back again to the home. then let the world in the person of its womanhood go forth and make a home in the state and in society. by all the pains and dangers the mother has shared, by the hours of patient watching over beds where little children tossed in fever and pain, by the incense of ten thousand prayers wafted to god from earnest lips, i charge you, gentlemen, give woman power to go forth, so that when her son undertakes life's treacherous battle, his mother will still walk beside him clad in the garments of power. miss anthony, who knew better than anyone else when not another word was needed, said at the close of miss willard's touching address: "now, gentlemen, we are greatly obliged to you. i feel very proud of all my 'girls' who have come before you this morning, and you may consider the meeting adjourned." footnotes: [ ] the following report was prepared by mrs. parker: at a large and influential gathering of the friends of woman suffrage, at parliament terrace, liverpool, november , , convened by e. whittle, m. d., to meet mrs. stanton and miss anthony prior to their return to america, a resolution was proposed by mrs. parker of penketh, seconded by mrs. mclaren of edinburgh, and unanimously passed: "recognizing that union is strength and that the time has come when women all over the world should unite in the just demand for their political enfranchisement; therefore "_resolved_, that we do here appoint a committee of correspondence, preparatory to forming an international woman suffrage association. "_resolved_, that the committee consist of the following friends, with power to add to their number. "for the american center--mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, miss susan b. anthony, miss rachel g. foster. for foreign centers--(an extended committee was named of prominent persons in great britain, ireland and france)." [ ] there were printed and distributed by mail , calls (four pages each); , appeals (two pages each); sketches were prepared of the lives and work of a number of the delegates and circulated by means of a press committee of over ninety persons in various cities of many states. on march , the first edition ( , ) of the sixteen-page program was issued; this was followed by five other editions of , each and a final seventh edition of , copies. each edition required revision and the introduction of alterations made necessary by changing conditions. there were written in connection with the preparations about , letters. including those concerning railroad rates, there were not less than , more circulars of various kinds printed and distributed. a low estimate of the number of pages thus issued (circulars, calls, programs, etc.) gives , . during the week of the council and the following convention of the n. w. s. a., the _woman's tribune_ was published by mrs. clara bewick colby eight times (four days sixteen pages, four days twelve pages), the daily edition averaging , copies. the receipts from contributions and memberships were in round numbers $ , ; from sale of seats and boxes at opera-house $ , , and from sale of daily _woman's tribune_, photographs and badges, collections, advertisements, etc., $ , , making a total of nearly $ , . the largest sums were from julia t. foster, $ ; elizabeth thompson, $ ; mrs. leland stanford, $ ; rachel g. foster, $ ; and $ each from adeline thomson, ellen clark sargent, emma j. bartol, margaret caine, sarah knox goodrich, mary hamilton williams, lucy winslow curtis, mary gray dow, jane s. richards, george w. childs and henry c. parsons. the cost of the _tribune_ (printing, stenographic report, mailing, etc.) was over $ , ; hall rent, $ , . when one considers the entertainment of so many officers, speakers and delegates, printing, postage, the salary of one clerk for a year (whose board was a contribution from miss adeline thomson and miss julia foster of philadelphia), and the thousand et ceteras of such a meeting, the total cost of about $ , is not surprising. an international convention of men, held in washington within the year, cost in round numbers $ , . [ ] after the council mrs. stanton, miss anthony and miss foster remained in washington for six weeks preparing a complete report of the addresses and proceedings which filled nearly pages. five thousand copies of these were printed, a large number of which were placed in the public libraries of the united states and foreign countries. [ ] anna maria haslam, honorable secretary woman's suffrage association; mary edmundson, honorable secretary dublin prison gate mission; hannah maria wigham, president women's temperance association, dublin, and member of peace committee; wilhelmina webb, member of ladies' sanitary committee, women's suffrage, etc., rose mcdowell, honorable secretary women's suffrage committee, isabella mulvany, head mistress alexandra school, dublin, harriet w. russell, member of women's temperance association; deborah webb, late honorable secretary ladies' dublin contagious diseases act repeal association; lucy smithson, member of the sanitary committee and women's suffrage association; emily webb, member of women's suffrage association; agnes mason, medical student and member of the women's suffrage committee; ellen allen, member of women's temperance and peace associations. [ ] among these were elizabeth pease nichol, eliza wigham, edinburgh; mrs. jacob bright, catherine lucas thomasson, margaret e. parker, jane cobden, margaret bright lucas, caroline ashurst biggs, frances lord, f. henrietta muller, england; isabella m. s. tod, belfast, caroline de barrau, theodore stanton, hubertine auclert, editor of _la citoyenne_, maria deraismes, eugénie potonié, m. dupuis vincent, france; johanna frederika wecket, germany, prince kropotkin, russia. [ ] john g. whittier, t. w. higginson, oliver johnson, george w. julian, samuel e. sewall, amelia bloomer, dr. james c. jackson, theodore d. weld, elizabeth buffam chace, rev. t. de witt talmage, abigail scott dumway, mrs. frank leslie, dr. laura ross wolcott, charlotte b. wilbour, dr. agnes kemp, augusta cooper bristol, dr. seth and mrs. hannah rogers, dr. alida c. avery, harriet s. brooks, sarah burger stearns, helen m. gougar, caroline b. buell, lucy n. colman. [ ] among those not mentioned above who gave addresses were e. florence barker, susan h. barney, leonora m. barry, isabel c. barrows, cora a. benneson, ada m. bittenbender, henry b. blackwell, lillie devereux blake, martha mcclellan brown, dr. mary weeks burnett, helen campbell, matilda b. carse, ednah d. cheney, sarah b. cooper, "jennie june" croly, caroline h. dall, abby morton diaz, mary f. eastman, martha a. everett, martha r. field, alice fletcher, j. ellen foster, caroline m. s. frazer, helen h. gardiner, anna gordon, elizabeth boynton harbert, frances e. w. harper, marilla m. hills, clara c. hoffman, laura c. holloway, john w. hutchinson, mary h. hunt, laura m. johns, mary a. livermore, huldah b. loud, ella m. s. marble, marion mcbride, laura mcneir, prof. rena a. michaels, harriet n. morris, amelia hadley mohl, mrs. john p. newman, clara neymann, ex-u. s. senator s. c. pomeroy, anna rice powell, amelia s. quinton, emily s. richards, victoria richardson, harriet h. robinson, elizabeth lisle saxon, lita barney sayles, harriette r. shattuck, hannah whitall smith, elizabeth g. stuart, prof. louisa reed stowell, dr. sarah hackett stevenson, m. louise thomas, esther m. warner, dr. caroline b. winslow, jennie fowler willing, dr. ruth m. wood, anna m. worden. on pioneers' evening about forty of the most prominent of the old workers were on the platform. [ ] the officers of the national council were: president, frances e. willard, ill.; vice-president-at-large, susan b. anthony, n. y.; cor. sec., may wright sewall, ind.; rec. sec., mary f. eastman, mass.; treas., m. louise thomas, n. y. officers of the international council: president, millicent garrett fawcett, england; vice-president-at-large, clara barton, united states; cor. sec. rachel g. foster, united states; rec. sec., kirstine frederiksen, denmark. [ ] this committee consisted of senator francis m. cockrell, mo.; joseph e. brown, ga.; samuel pasco, fla.; henry w. blair, n. h.; thomas w. palmer, mich.; jonathan chace, r. i.; thomas m. bowen, colo. no hearing was held before the judiciary committee of the house, but on april mrs. sallie clay bennett of kentucky obtained an audience and made an extended and unanswerable argument from two points of view, the scriptural and the constitutional. her address is printed in full in the _woman's tribune_ of april , . chapter ix. the national suffrage convention of . the twenty-first annual convention of the national association met in the congregational church at washington, jan. - , , in answer to the official call: neither among politicians, nor among women themselves, is this in any sense a party movement. while the prohibition party in kansas incorporated woman suffrage in its platform, the republicans made it a fact by extending municipal suffrage to the women of that state. the democrats of connecticut on several occasions voted for woman suffrage while republicans voted against it. in the new york legislature republicans and democrats alike have advocated and voted for the measure. in congress the last vote in the house stood eighty republicans for woman suffrage and nearly every democrat against it, while not a single democrat voted in favor of it on the floor of the senate. both the labor and greenback parties have uniformly recognized woman suffrage in their platforms.... our strength for future action lies in the fact that woman suffrage has some advocates in all parties and that we, as an association, are pledged to none. the denial of the ballot to woman is the great political crime of the century, before which tariff, finance, land monopoly, temperance, labor and all economic questions sink into insignificance; for the right of suffrage involves all questions of person and of property. while each party in power has refused to enfranchise woman, being skeptical as to her moral influence in government, yet with strange inconsistency they alike seek the aid of her voice and pen in all important political struggles. while not morally bound to obey the laws made without their consent, yet we find women the most law-abiding class of citizens in the community. while not recognized as a component part of the government, they are most active in all great movements for education, religion, philanthropy and reform. the magnificent convocation of women from the world over--held in washington last march--a council more important than any since the diet of worms--was proof of woman's marvelous power of organization and her clear comprehension of the underlying principles of all questions of government. with such evidence of her keen insight and executive ability, we invite all interested in good government to give us the inspiration of their presence in the coming convention. in the absence of mrs. stanton miss anthony presided, opening her address with the sentence, "here we have stood for the last twenty-one years, demanding of congress to take the necessary step to secure to the women of this nation protection in the exercise of their constitutional right to a voice in the government." she introduced the hon. albert g. riddle (d. c.), who in had made an argument before the joint judiciary committee in favor of woman's right to vote under the fourteenth amendment; and later had argued before the supreme court her right to vote in the district. in the course of his remarks he said: "all the changes in favor of woman--everything indeed that has been achieved--has been in consequence of this contest for woman suffrage. its advocates began it; they traveled along with it; and all that has been gained in the statutes of the various states and of the united states has been by their efforts; whatever has taken a crystallized form of irrepealable law is because of this discussion, because of this agitation." mrs. isabella beecher hooker (conn.) read the resolution demanding a representation of women in the centennial celebration of the adoption of the united states constitution soon to be held in new york city. miss anthony then introduced senator henry w. blair (n. h.), who was received with much applause, as the unswerving champion of woman suffrage. in an address considering the constitutional phase of the question, he said: there has been such progress in the formulation of the state and the national law that it has become necessary for the supreme court of the united states to decide that we are not a sovereign people, that we have no nation at all, in order to prevent woman from exercising the right of suffrage throughout this country. in that decision which deprived mrs. virginia l. minor of her right, the supreme court was driven to the necessity of deciding in express terms, "the united states has no voters of its own creation." if the united states has no voters, then the old doctrine of state sovereignty is the true one and there is no nation. we are subservient and subordinate to the power of the states to-day by virtue of this decision just exactly as it was claimed we were prior to the recent war. we thought the war established the fact that we were a nation; that the controversy which led up to the war had been decided in favor of the sovereignty of the nation. under our republican form of government the sovereignty is lodged in the masses of the people. if, therefore, it is not in the man who votes by virtue of his membership in the association of the people known as the united states, then there is no sovereignty there.... as the law now is, in the federal constitution there must always have been such a voter of the united states, for in the second clause of the first article it is provided that there shall be a house of representatives "elected by the people in the states." where that provision is made it says that the electors shall have the qualifications of the electors in the states. but it does not say that they shall be the same individuals; it does not say that they are to act in the same capacity. they might vary in different portions of the country, in different states; but nevertheless, in giving to the people of the states the right to specify the qualifications which should belong to the electors of the united states, the constitution did not give up the power to create electors itself.... take the fifteenth amendment. there is the first instance in the entire constitution where we find the franchise declared to be a "right," and in specific terms alluded to as such. and there it is provided that a right already recognized as existing shall not be abridged by the united states or by the states--a right already _existing_, not _established_. and by virtue of that amendment and the provision that this existing right shall not be denied or abridged on account of "race, color or previous condition of servitude," either by the united states or by the states, the _national existence_ of the voter is established.... i think our great difficulty about this is that women perhaps do not, to the extent that they should, place their cause upon the platform that it is a right; that to uphold that it is not a right is a wrong greater than any which has been perpetrated in the past; that freedom to half the human race is a glorious achievement which it still remains for mankind to accomplish.... there is no way in which you can do so much for this world as by giving liberty to those who are the mothers of the generations past and to come; so that freedom to think, freedom to formulate opinions, freedom to decide by the majority of the whole of mature human nature, shall be the universal boon as far as the human race extends.... miss anthony then read a letter from mrs. stanton which embodied that spirit of independence possessed by her almost beyond all other women: i notice that in some of our conventions resolutions of thanks are passed to senators, congressmen and legislators for advocating some minor privileges which have been conceded to women, such as admission to colleges and professions, limited forms of suffrage, etc. now i do not see any occasion for gratitude to these honorable gentlemen who, after robbing us of all our fundamental rights as citizens, propose to restore a few minor privileges. there is not one impulse of gratitude in my soul for any of the fragmentary privileges which by slow degrees we have wrung out of our oppressors during the last half century, nor will there be so long as woman is robbed of all the essential rights of citizenship. if strong appeals could induce the highway robber to return a modicum of what he had stolen, it might mitigate the miseries of his victim, but surely there would be no reason for gratitude, and an expression of thanks to him would be quite as much out of place as are complimentary resolutions passed in our conventions to legislators for their concessions to women. they deserve nothing at our hands until they make full restitution of all we possessed in the original compact under the colonial constitutions--rights over which in the nature of things men could have no lawful jurisdiction whatever.... woman has the same right to a voice in this government that man has, and it is based on the same natural desire and capacity for self-government and self-protection.... until woman is recognized as an equal factor in civilization, and is possessed of her personal property, civil and political rights, all minor privileges and concessions are but so many added aggravations, and are insulting mockeries of that justice, liberty and equality which are the birthright of every citizen of a republic. "universal suffrage," said charles sumner, "is the first proof and only basis of a genuine republic." mrs. stanton referred to the bravery of recent women writers in attacking social problems, citing mrs. humphrey ward, margaret deland, olive schreiner, mona caird and helen gardiner. she closed with a tribute to the co-laborers who had died during the past year, among them the rev. james freeman clarke, judge samuel e. sewall, dr. clemence s. lozier, dr. mary f. thomas, miss abby w. may and numerous others. during the second day's proceedings the rev. alexander kent, of the church of our father (universalist), addressed the convention, saying in part: it is not uncommon among writers on woman suffrage to find the root of the trouble in those notions of the creation and fall set forth in the ancient jewish scriptures--notions which have very generally prevailed throughout christendom until recently, and which even yet have a large hold upon many people professing to be christians. in the account of the origin of evil given by the ancient hebrew writer, woman is the chief offender, and upon her falls the burden of the penalty. in sorrow she is to bring forth her children; her desire is to be to her husband and he is to rule over her. unquestionably this has tended to prolong the reign of brute force in christendom by perpetuating a belief in the rightful headship of man in the family and state. but it is a great mistake to see in this scripture the root of the evil. it is only the record of a theory offered to explain a fact--which antedated both the theory and the record. we find the fact to-day even where we do not find the record--the woman ruled by the man in places where there is no knowledge whatever of the hebrew scriptures. i doubt not that among the founders of our government--meaning the people generally--this doctrine of the rightful headship of man and the subordination of woman was sacredly held as a part of the revealed word of god, and that as such it operated to keep the women as well as the men of that day from perceiving the full significance, the comprehensive scope of the principles affirmed by their leaders, in the constitution and the declaration of independence.... if the ballot in the hands of woman is to do a great work for society, it will be first and foremost because of its wholesome influence on herself--because it rouses in her more of hope, more of laudable ambition, more of earnest purpose, more of self-reliance, more independence of the fashions, frivolities and conventionalities of society and the dictates of the church.... praying for the speedy coming of this day, and hoping it may work gradually toward a purer and happier social life, and a further companionship in thought and feeling, in purpose and effort, between men and women, and especially between husbands and wives in the life of the home, i express my sympathy with the purpose of this convention. mrs. caroline hallowell miller (md.) took the ground that, after fifty years of argument, women now should unite in a continuous demand for the rights of citizenship. in introducing the hon. william d. kelley (penn.) miss anthony said that not only in congress, where he was known as the father of the house, but years ago in his own state legislature, he advocated the political equality of women. after paying a tribute to his mother, to mary wollstonecraft and to frances wright, he said: "i am here, because i feel that i should again declare publicly the justice of the enfranchisement of women, which, having cherished through youth and early manhood, i asserted in a public address in independence hall, at high noon on the fourth of july, , before there was any organization for promoting woman's rights politically." he then sketched results already achieved and urged women to keep the flame burning for the benefits which would come to posterity. the rev. olympia brown (wis.) spoke on foreign rule, and after pointing out the glory of a country which offered a home to all, and expressing a belief in universal suffrage, she continued: in wisconsin we have by the census of a population of , native-born, , foreign-born. our last vote cast was , american, , foreign; thus you see nearly , , native-born people are out-voted and out-governed by less than half their number of foreigners. is that fair to americans? is it just to american men? will they not, under this influence, in a little while be driven to the wall and obliged to step down and out? when the members of our legislatures are the greater part foreigners, when they sit in the office of mayor and in all the offices of our city, and rule us with a rod of iron, it is time that american men should inquire if we have any rights that foreigners are bound to respect.... the last census shows, i think, that there are in the united states three times as many american-born women as the whole foreign population, men and women together, so that the votes of women will eventually be the only means of overcoming this foreign influence and maintaining our free institutions. there is no possible safety for our free school, our free church or our republican government, unless women are given the suffrage and that right speedily.... the question in every political caucus, in every political convention, is not what great principles shall we announce, but what kind of a document can we draw up that will please the foreigners?... when we remember that the first foot to touch plymouth rock was a woman's--that in the first settlement of this country women endured trials and privations and stood bravely at the post of duty, even fighting in the ranks that we might have a republic--and that in our great western world women came at an early day to make the wilderness blossom as the rose, and rocked their babies' cradles in the log cabins when the indians' war-whoop was heard on the prairies and the wolves howled around their doors--when we remember that in the last war thousands of women in the northwest bravely took upon themselves the work of the households and the fields that their husbands and sons might fight the battles of liberty--when we recollect all this, and then are told that loyal women, pioneer women, the descendants of the pilgrim fathers, are not even to ask for the right of suffrage lest the scandinavians should be offended, it is time to rise in indignation and ask, whose country is this? who made it? who have periled their lives for it? our american women are property holders and pay large taxes; but the foreigner who has lived only one year in the state, and ten days in the precinct, who does not own a foot of land, may vote away their property in the form of taxes in the most reckless manner, regardless of their interests and their rights. women are well-educated; they are graduating from our colleges; they are reading and thinking and writing; and yet they are the political inferiors of all the riff-raff of europe that is poured upon our shores. it is unbearable. there is no language that can express the enormous injustice done to women.... we can not separate subjects and say we will vote on temperance or on school matters, for all these questions are part of government.... when women as well as men are voters, the church will get some recognition. i marvel that all ministers are not in favor of woman suffrage, when i consider that their audiences are almost entirely composed of women and that the church to-day is brought into disrepute because it is made up of disfranchised members. the minister would stand a hundred-fold higher than he does now if women had the suffrage. everybody would want to know what the minister was saying to those women voters. we are in danger in this country of catholic domination, not because the catholics are more numerous than we are, but because the catholic church is represented at the polls and the protestant church is not. the foreigners are catholic--the greater portion of them; the foreigners are men--the greater part of them, and members of the catholic church, and they work for it and vote for it. the protestant church is composed of women. men for the most part do not belong to it; they do not care much for it except as something to interest the women of their household. the consequence is the protestant church is comparatively unrepresented at the ballot-box.... i urge upon you, women, that you put suffrage first and foremost, before every other consideration upon earth. make it a religious duty and work for the enfranchisement of your sex, which means the growth and development of noble characters in your children; for you can not educate your children well surrounded by men and women who hold false doctrines of society, of politics, of morals. leave minor issues, leave your differences of opinion about the trinity, or the holy ghost, or endless misery; about high license and low license; or dorcas societies and chautauqua circles. let them all go; they are of no consequence compared with the enfranchisement of women. mrs. mary seymour howell gave a humorous series of suffrage pictures in new york, which was greatly relished by the audience. mrs. laura m. johns described municipal suffrage in kansas in an enthusiastic and interesting manner. the rev. anna howard shaw then delivered her lecture, which has since become so famous, the fate of republics, tracing the rise and fall of the republics of history, which grew because of material prosperity and failed because of moral weakness. all were in the hands of men, and women were excluded from any share.[ ] mrs. harriette r. shattuck gave an account of the recent school election in boston where , women voted, a much higher percentage of those registered than of the men, and thus defeated the dangerous attempt which had been made by the church to interfere with the state. richard w. blue, state senator of kansas, was called to the platform by mrs. gougar as one who had greatly aided its municipal suffrage bill. mrs. may wright sewall (ind.) spoke on women in the recent campaign. in the national prohibition convention they sat as delegates and served on committees. in all parts of the country republican and democratic women organized clubs and marched in processions; but she called attention to the fact that these methods are not advocated by the suffrage societies so long as women remain disfranchised. over two hundred clubs were formed for political study. all of the parties placed women on their platforms to speak in behalf of the candidates. a central republican headquarters was opened in new york and put in charge of a national committee of women who sent out hundreds of thousands of campaign documents. when election day came not one of all these women could put her opinion in the ballot-box. at the evening session mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.) in her trenchant way discussed political methods and pointed out the inconsistent and illogical declarations of platforms and speakers when applied to women, also the delight afforded to men by the tin horns and fireworks. she suggested for president harrison's cabinet, elizabeth cady stanton, secretary of state; susan b. anthony, secretary of war; may wright sewall, secretary of the treasury; zerelda g. wallace, secretary of the navy; clara barton, secretary of the interior; laura de force gordon, attorney-general. mrs. sarah m. perkins (o.) spoke on the concentration of forces, showing how prone women are to organize for every object except suffrage, and yet the majority of these workers would rejoice to have the power which lies in the ballot and would be infinitely better equipped for their work. mrs. mary b. clay (ky.) opened the last day's session with a forcible address entitled, are american women civil and political slaves? she proved the affirmative of her question by quoting the spoken and written declarations of the greatest statesmen on the right of individual representation and the exceptions made against women, citing walker, the legal writer: "this language applied to males would be the exact definition of political slavery; applied to females, custom does not so regard it." mrs. abigail scott duniway (ore.) described the recent arbitrary and unwarranted disfranchisement of the women of washington territory. frederick douglass was loudly called for and in responding expressed his gratitude to women, "who were chiefly instrumental in liberating my people from actual chains of bondage," and declared his full belief in their right to the franchise. mrs. helen m. gougar (ind.) made a strong speech upon partisan or patriot? in her address on woman in marriage mrs. clara bewick colby, editor of the _woman's tribune_, said: it is customary to regard marriage as of even more importance to woman than to man, since the maternal, social and household duties involved in it consume the greater portion of the time and thought of a large majority. love, it is commonly said, is an incident in a man's life, but makes or mars a woman's whole existence. this, however, is one of the many popular delusions crystallized into opinion by apt phraseology. to one who believes in the divinely intended equality of the sexes it is impossible to consider that any mutual relation is an incident for the one and the total of existence for the other. we may lay it down as a premise upon which to base our whole reasoning that all mutual relations of the sexes are not only divinely intended to, but actually do bring equal joys, pains, pleasures and sacrifices to both. whatever mistake one has made has acted upon the other, and reacted equally upon the first. the one great mistake of the ages--since woman lost her primal independence and supremacy--to which is due all the sins and sorrows growing out of the association of the sexes, has been in making woman a passive agent instead of an equal factor in arranging the laws, customs and conditions of this mutual state. whether marriage be a purely business partnership for the care and maintenance of children, or whether it be a sacrament to which the benediction of the church gives peculiar sanctity and perpetuity and makes the parties "no more twain but one flesh," in either case it is an absurdity, which we only tolerate because of custom, for men alone to make all the regulations and stipulations concerning it. this unnatural and strained assumption by one sex of the control of everything relating to marriage, and the equally unnatural and mischievous passivity on the part of the other, have given birth to the meek maiden waiting for her fate, to the typical disconsolate and forlorn "superfluous woman," to the two standards of morality for the sexes, to the mercenary marriage with all its attendant miseries, to the selfish, exacting, querulous wife, to the disappointed or tyrannical husband; and of late, with the wider possibilities of individual pleasure and satisfaction, to the growing aversion of young people to matrimony, and the rush of women to the divorce courts for freedom from the galling bonds; all these and a thousand variations of each, until the nature of both sexes is so perverted that it is impossible to decide what is nature. a letter was read from mrs. matilda joslyn gage (n. y.) urging women individually to petition senators and representatives for the removal of their political disabilities, because by this means these men were compelled to think on the question. mrs. virginia l. minor (mo.) addressed the convention on the law of federal suffrage, a legal argument on the right to vote conferred by the constitution. miss anthony supplemented mrs. minor's argument with a history of the fourteenth amendment, in which she said: when that fourteenth amendment was under discussion--when it was proposed to put the word "male" into the second section--it read: "if any state shall disfranchise any of its citizens on account of color, all of that class shall be counted out of the basis of representation." but there were timid souls on the floor of congress at the close of the war, as well as at other periods of our history, and to prevent the enfranchisement of women by this amendment they moved to make it read: "if any state shall disfranchise any of its _male_ citizens, all of that class shall be counted out of the basis of representation." male citizens! for the first time in the history of our government that discriminating adjective was placed in the constitution, and yet the men on the floor of congress, from charles sumner down, all declared that this amendment would not in any wise change the status of women! we at once asserted our right to vote under this amendment: "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." our first trial was on civil rights, when mrs. myra bradwell of chicago, who had been for some time publishing a law journal which every lawyer in the state said he could not afford to do without, applied for admission to the bar, and these same lawyers denied it. she appealed to the illinois supreme court and it confirmed the denial, because she was not only a woman but a married woman. then she appealed her case to the supreme court of the united states, and a majority of this court decided that the right to be a lawyer was not especially a citizen's right and that therefore the state of illinois could legally abridge the privileges and immunities of its women by denying them admission to the bar. i shall never forget how our hearts sank when in that decision came, declaring the powerlessness of the federal constitution to protect women in their civil right of being eligible to the legal profession. when we said if these rights which it is meant to protect are not civil they must be political rights, we thought we had the supreme court in a corner. but when my trial for voting came on, justice hunt said that the right to vote was a special right belonging to men alone. we didn't believe that this decision could be confirmed, but it was, when mrs. minor, who attempted to vote at the same election in her state of missouri, appealed her case to the supreme court of the united states. it was argued by her husband, the ablest of lawyers, and when the judges brought in their decision it was to the effect that the constitution of the united states has no voters. thus it is that we have two supreme court decisions relative to the powers of the fourteenth amendment to protect women, and in both cases they have been excluded absolutely from its provisions. i remember, mrs. minor (turning to that lady), how we discussed these questions in those early years. we weren't sleepy in our talk as we were being cut off inch by inch from the protection of the constitution. i remember how mrs. stanton said in a public address: "if you continue to deny to women the protection of this amendment, you will finally come to the point when it will cease to protect even black men," and we have lived to see that day. the address on the coming sex by mrs. eliza archard connor, a well-known journalist of new york, was declared by the press to be in its delivery "the gem of the convention." she said in part: it is my conviction that women are the natural orators of the race. they have keener sympathies and quicker intuitions than men. they have a gift of language that not even their worst enemies will deny, and these are just the qualities which go to make the orator.... the time is coming when we shall need all our eloquence, all our intellectual power and all our love. the day is approaching when men will come with ballots in their hands, begging women to use them.... wherever you go, wake women up, tell them to learn everything. tell them to study with all their might history, civil government, political economy, social and industrial science--for the time is coming when they will need them all.... this is the work before us. this is the meaning of the desperate unrest and unhappiness of women. it is this that has drawn us here to enter our protest against the wicked, old, one-legged order of things. our honored miss anthony has gone through fire and hail while she worked for her convictions. all of us have wrought as best we might for the higher education of women, for their pecuniary independence, for their civil and political rights, fighting the world, the flesh and the devil. my own work has been in the field of journalism. for nearly twenty years i have faced here every form of disability because i am a woman, have met defeat after defeat, till the iron has entered my soul. yet every day i have thanked god that i have been permitted to bear my share in the tremendous struggle for the development of women in the nineteenth century. struggle means development; it can come in no other way, and this will be the grandest since creation began--the crowned, perfected woman. for this the cry of womanhood has risen out of the depths through the centuries. up through agony and despair it has come, through sin and shame, through poverty and martyrdom, through torture which has wrung drops of blood from woman's lips, still up, up, till it has reached the great white throne itself. the enrollment committee reported a list of about one hundred thousand names of persons asking for woman suffrage. the treasurer announced the receipts for to be $ , . all of the expenses of the great international council had been paid and a balance of nearly $ remained. the resolutions might be described as an epitomized recital of wrongs and a bill of rights. whereas, women possessed and exercised the right of suffrage in the inauguration of this government; and, whereas, they were deprived of this right by the arbitrary acts of successive state legislatures in violation of the original compact as seen in the early constitutions; therefore, _resolved_, that it is the duty of the several states to make prompt restitution of these ancient rights, recognized by innumerable precedents in english history, and to-day by the gradual extension of the suffrage over vast territories. whereas, woman's title deed to an equal share in the inheritance left her by the fathers of the republic has been examined and proved by able lawyers; and, whereas, this right is already exercised in some form in one hundred localities in different parts of the world; therefore, _resolved_, that sex is no longer considered a bar to the exercise of suffrage by civilized nations. _resolved_, that it is the duty of congress to pass a declaratory act, compelling the several states to establish a "republican form of government" within their borders by securing to women their right to vote, thus nullifying the fraudulent acts of legislatures and making our government homogeneous from maine to oregon. _resolved_, that the question of enfranchising one-half the people is superior to that of indian treaties, admission of new states, tariff, international copyright or any other subject before the country, and that it is the foremost duty of the fiftieth congress at this, its last session, to submit an amendment to the constitution forbidding states to disfranchise citizens on account of sex. _resolved_, that as a question of ethics the difference between putting a fraudulent ballot in the box and keeping a rightful ballot out is nothing, and that we condemn the action which prevents women from casting a ballot at any election as a shameful evidence of the corruption of dominant political parties in this country. whereas, the legislature of washington territory has twice voted for woman suffrage--women for the most part having gladly accepted and exercised the right, governor squire in his report to the secretary of the interior in having declared that it met the approval of a large majority of the people; and, whereas, in , after the women had voted for three and a half years, the territorial supreme court pronounced the law invalid on the ground that the nature of the bill must be described in the title of the act; and, whereas, in january, , another bill passed by the legislature gave to this law an explicit title; and the bill, again granting suffrage to women, was signed by governor semple, thus triumphantly showing the approval of the people, the legislature and the governor; and, whereas, the territorial supreme court, in august, , again rendered a decision against the right of the women of the territory to vote, basing their decision upon the false assumption that congress had never delegated to the territories the right to define the status of their own voters; and, whereas, this decision strikes a blow at the fundamental powers of the united states congress, confounding laws delegated to the territories by the organic act of , which vests in their legislatures the power to prescribe their qualifications for voting and holding office--with state governments which limit legislative enactments by constitutions of their own making--thus setting at naught the will of the people; therefore, _resolved_, that we earnestly and respectfully petition congress that in passing an enabling act or acts for the admission of the other territories there be incorporated a clause allowing women to vote for delegates to their constitutional conventions, and at the election for the adoption of the constitution, in every one where the legislature has granted woman suffrage and such law has not been repealed by a subsequent legislature. whereas, in the year our leader, susan b. anthony, was deprived of the right of trial by jury, by a judge of the supreme court of the united states, simply because she was a woman, it is the duty of all women to resent the insult thus offered to womanhood and demand of the men of this closing century of constitutional government such condemnation of this infamous decision of judge ward hunt[ ] as shall teach the coming generation of voters that the welfare of the republic demands that women be protected equally with men in the exercise of citizenship; and, whereas, in the great centennial celebration of women were denied all participation in the public proceedings commemorating the birth of the declaration of independence, though they sought earnestly and respectfully to declare their sentiments of loyalty to the great principles of liberty and responsibility there enunciated, they should now demand official recognition by congress and the state legislature on all the boards of commissioners which, at the public expense, are to initiate and carry out the august ceremonials of the coming constitutional celebration in new york in april, , to the end that taxation without representation shall no longer be acknowledged a just and constitutional policy in this government nominally of the _people_, therefore, _resolved_, that a committee be appointed by the national w. s. a. to memorialize congress on this subject, and to take such other action as shall bring before the enlightened manhood of our country their duty of chivalry no less than justice in this important matter.[ ] whereas, the question of woman's enfranchisement is fundamental and of paramount importance; therefore, _resolved_, that, while the national woman suffrage association welcomes and claims the support of persons of all parties and beliefs, it desires to strongly reassert the position which it has held of being nonpartisan. a hearing was granted by the senate committee on woman suffrage the morning of january . mrs. hooker, mrs. minor, mrs. duniway, mrs. johns, the rev. olympia brown, the rev. miss shaw and miss alice stone blackwell were introduced to the committee by miss anthony, and each from a different standpoint presented the arguments for the submission of a sixteenth amendment enfranchising women. on february , senator blair reported for the committee--senators charles b. farwell (ill.), jonathan chace (r. i.), edward o. wolcott (col.), in favor of the amendment. after an able and exhaustive argument the report closed as follows: unless this government shall be made and preserved truly republican in form by the enfranchisement of woman, the great reforms which her ballot would accomplish may never be; the demoralization and disintegration now proceeding in the body politic are not likely soon to be arrested. corruption of the male suffrage is already a well-nigh fatal disease; intemperance has no sufficient foe in the law-making power; a republican form of government can not survive half-slave and half-free. the ballot is withheld from women because men are not willing to part with one-half the sovereign power. there is no other real cause for the continued perpetration of this unnatural tyranny. enfranchise women or this republic will steadily advance to the same destruction, the same ignoble and tragic catastrophe, which has engulfed the male republics of history. let us establish a government in which both men and women shall be free indeed. then shall the republic be perpetual. the women of the nation are deeply indebted to senator blair for his able and persistent efforts in their behalf. year after year, in the midst of the great pressure of duties connected with his office, he carefully prepared these constitutional and legal reports knowing that they could have only the indirect results of educating public sentiment and contributing to the history of this great movement for the political rights of half the race. the other members of the committee, senators zebulon b. vance (n. c.), joseph e. brown (ga.), j. b. beck (ky.), announced that they should present a minority report in opposition, but as "letters from a chimney corner," by mrs. caroline f. corbin, and "the law of woman life," by mrs. a. d. t. whitney, apparently had been exhausted, and as no other woman had provided them with the necessary ideas, the report never materialized. senator vance, however, as chairman of this select suffrage committee asked for a clerk at this time, to be paid out of the contingent fund. the house judiciary committee granted a hearing january , which was addressed by miss anthony, mrs. hooker, mrs. duniway, mrs. minor, the rev. olympia brown, mrs. colby, miss lavina a. hatch (mass.) and mrs. ella m. marble (minn.). the committee took no action. footnotes: [ ] it is a loss to posterity that miss shaw never writes her addresses. she is beyond question the leading woman orator of this generation, and is not surpassed in power by any of the men. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. . [ ] this was done, but no representation was allowed women in the celebration. chapter x. the national-american convention of . the winter of brought the usual crowd of eminent women to washington to attend the twenty-second national convention of the suffrage association, february - . as the president, mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, was to start for europe on the th, the congressional hearings took place previous to the convention and consisted only of her address. the senate hearing on february was held for the first time in the new room set apart for the select committee on woman suffrage, but much objection was made because on account of its size only a small audience could be admitted. senators vance, farwell, blair and john b. allen of the new state of washington were present. mrs. stanton said in part: for almost a quarter of a century a body of intelligent and law-abiding women have held annual conventions in washington and made their appeals before committees of the house and the senate, asking to be recognized as citizens of this republic. a whole generation of distinguished members, who have each in turn given us aid and encouragement, have passed away--seward, sumner, wilson, giddings, wade, garfield, morton and sargent--with hamlin, butler and julian still living, have all declared our demands just, our arguments unanswerable. in consulting at an early day as to the form in which our claims should be presented, some said by an amendment to the constitution, others said the constitution as it is, in spirit and letter, is broad enough to protect the rights of every citizen under our flag. but when the war came and we saw that it took three amendments to make the slaves of the south full-fledged citizens, we thought it would take at least one to make woman's calling and election sure. so we asked for a sixteenth amendment. but learned lawyers, judges and congressmen took the ground that women were already enfranchised by the fourteenth amendment. the house minority report in , signed by benjamin f. butler and william loughridge, held that view. it is an able, unanswerable argument on the whole question, based on the oft-repeated principles of the republican party at that time. it stands to-day a living monument of the grossest inconsistencies of which the republican party ever was guilty.[ ] ... we can not play fast and loose with the eternal principle of justice without being caught sooner or later in the net of our own weaving. the legitimate results of the war have been all frittered away by political maneuvering. while northern statesmen have made a football of the rights of , , women as voters, and by supreme court decisions driven them from the polls, why arraign the men in the south for treating , , freedmen in the same way? are the rights of that class of citizens more sacred than ours? are the violations of the fundamental principles of our government in their case more dangerous than in ours?... in addressing those who already enjoy the right of suffrage, one naturally would suppose that it would not be necessary to enlarge on the advantages of having a voice in deciding the laws and the rulers under which one lives. and neither would it if each member of this committee understood that woman's wants and needs are similar to his own; that the cardinal virtues belong to her as well as to him; that personal dignity, the power of self-protection, are as important for her as for him; that woman loves justice, equality, liberty, and wishes the right to give her consent to the government under which she lives, as much as man does. matthew arnold says: "the first desire of every cultured mind is to take part in the great work of government." ... if we would rouse new respect for womanhood in the hearts of the masses, we must place woman in a position to respect herself, which she can never do as long as her political status is beneath that of the most degraded, ignorant classes of men. to make women the political equals of their sons, or even of their gardeners and coachmen, would add new dignity to their position; and to change our laws and constitutions in harmony with the new status would have its influence on the large class of young men now devoting themselves to the study of the law. lord brougham said long ago that the common law of england for women, and all the statutes based on such principles, were a disgrace to the christianity and civilization of the nineteenth century. do you think our sons can rise from such studies with a high ideal of womanhood? and with what feelings do you suppose women themselves read these laws, and the articles in the state constitutions, rating them with the disreputable and feeble-minded classes? can you not understand the dignity, the pride, the new-born self-respect which would thrill the hearts of the women of this nation in their enfranchisement? it would elevate their sphere of action and every department of labor in which they are occupied; it would give new force to their words as teachers, reformers and missionaries, new strength to their work as guardians of the young, the wayward and the unfortunate. it would transform them from slaves to sovereigns, crowned with the rights of citizenship, with the ballot, that scepter of power, in their own right hands.... if there are any who do not wish to vote, that is the strongest reason for their enfranchisement. if all love of liberty has been quenched in their souls by their degraded condition, the duties of citizenship and the responsibility of self-government should be laid upon them at once, for their pitiful indifference is merely the result of their disfranchisement. would that i could awake in the minds of my countrywomen the full significance of this demand for the right of suffrage; what it is to be queens in their own right, intrusted with the power of self-government, possessed of all the privileges and immunities of american citizens.... whoever heard of an heir apparent to a throne in the old world abdicating her rights because some conservative politician or austere bishop doubted woman's capacity to govern? history affords no such example. those who have had the right to a throne have invariably taken possession of it and, against intriguing cardinals, ambitious nobles and jealous kinsmen, fought even to the death to maintain the royal prerogatives which by inheritance were theirs. when i hear american women, descendants of jefferson, hancock and adams, say they do not want to vote, i feel that the blood of the revolutionary heroes must long since have ceased to flow in their veins. suppose when the day dawned for victoria to be crowned queen of england she had gone before the house of commons and begged that such terrible responsibilities might not be laid upon her, declaring that she had not the moral stamina nor intellectual ability for the position; that her natural delicacy and refinement shrank from the encounter; that she was looking forward to the all-absorbing duties of domestic life, to a husband, children, home, to her influence in the social circle where the christian graces are best employed. suppose with a tremulous voice and a few stray tears in her blue eyes, her head drooping on one side, she had said she knew nothing of the science of government; that a crown did not befit a woman's brow; that she had not the physical strength even to wave her nation's flag, much less to hold the scepter of power over so vast an empire; that in case of war she could not fight and hence could not reign, as there must be force behind the throne, and this force must be centered in the hand which governed. what would her parliament have thought? what would other nations have thought?... none of you would admit, honorable gentlemen, that all the great principles of government which center round our theories of justice, liberty and equality in favor of individual sovereignty have not as yet produced as high a type of womanhood as has a monarchy in the old world. we have a large number of women as well fitted as victoria for the most responsible positions in the government, who could fill the highest places with equal dignity and wisdom. there is no subject more intensely interesting to men than the science of government, and when their wives are intelligent on all the questions it comprises they will be far more valuable companions than they are to-day. marriage means companionship, a similarity of tastes and opinions, and where one of the parties has no interest in or knowledge of those subjects most absorbing to the other, the bonds of union necessarily are weakened. so long as woman's thought is centered in personal and family aggrandizement, her strongest influence will be used to keep man's interest there also. the virtue of patriotism would be far greater among men, their devotion to the public good far more earnest, if the influences of home life were not continually drawing them into a narrow selfishness. women naturally take no interest in questions where their opinions have no weight, in a sphere of action from which they are excluded. they are not supposed to know what is necessary for the public good, hence how could they influence their husbands to make that their first duty when in public life? but when women are enfranchised their interest in the state will deepen. they will see that the welfare of their own children depends as much on the conditions of the outside world as on the environments of their own homes. this settled discontent of women is exerting an insidious influence which is undermining the very foundations of the home as well as the state. we must rouse them to new hopes, new ambitions, new aspirations, through the enjoyment of the blessings of freedom and self-government. moreover, an active participation in the practical duties of government by educated women would bring a new and needed element to the state. we can not overestimate the influence women exert, whether for good or ill, hence the immense importance of their having right views on all questions of public interest and some knowledge of the requirements of practical politics. but their power to-day is wholly irresponsible and hence dangerous. lay on them the responsibility of legislating, with all the criticism and odium of a constituency and a party, in case they make some blunder, and you render them wiser in judgment and more deliberate in action. to secure this large disfranchised class as allies to one of the leading parties would be a wise measure for that party and bring a new element of morality and intelligence into the body politic. women are now taking a more active part in public affairs than ever before and, with political freedom, always will be the reserved moral power to sustain great men in their best endeavors. an interesting conversation followed. chairman zebulon b. vance (n. c.) asked mrs. stanton if women would be willing to go to war if they had the ballot. she answered that they would decide whether there should be war. he inquired whether women would not lose their refining influence and moral qualities if they engaged in men's work. she replied that there would have to be a definition of "men's work" and that she found the latter in many avocations, such as washing, cooking, and selling needles and tape, which might be considered the work of women. "the moral qualities," she said, "are more apt to grow when a human being is useful, and they increase in the woman who helps to support the family rather than in the one who gives herself to idleness and fashionable frivolities. the consideration of questions of legislation, finance, free trade, etc., certainly would not degrade woman, nor is her refinement so evanescent a virtue that it could be swept away by some work which she might do with her hands. queen victoria looked as dignified and refined in opening parliament as any lady one ever had seen." miss susan b. anthony, who was never so happy as when her beloved friend was scoring a victory, said there would always be a division of labor, in time of war as in time of peace. women would do their share in the hospitals and elsewhere, and if they were enfranchised, the only difference would be that they would be paid for their services and pensioned at the close of the war. mrs. colby reminded the committee that the report of the u. s. commissioner of labor showed that the largest proportion of immoral women came from home life and the more feminine occupations. mrs. stanton drew from the chairman the admission that his wife wanted the franchise, and he laughingly admitted that he had had the worst of the discussion. senator allen expressed himself in favor of woman suffrage, and senator charles b. farwell said, "the suffragists have logic, argument, everything on their side." another heaping was granted by the senate committee, february , when they were addressed by the rev. anna howard shaw, mrs. sallie clay bennett, mrs. virginia l. minor and mrs. clara bewick colby. later in the session senator henry w. blair (n. h.) presented the majority report of the committee (no. ), the usual strong, dignified statement. it closed as follows: "to deny the submission of this joint resolution to the action of the legislatures of the states is analogous to the denial of the right of justice in the courts. it is to say that no plaintiff shall bring his suit; no claimant of justice shall be heard; and whatever may be the result to the friends of woman suffrage when they reach the legislatures of the states, it is, in our belief, the duty of congress to submit the joint resolution and give them the opportunity to try their case." mrs. stanton presented the same address before the house judiciary committee, february , with the result that for the first time in history a majority house report in favor of a sixteenth amendment was submitted. it was presented by lucien b. caswell (wis.) and said in conclusion: "the disfranchisement of twelve millions of people, who are citizens of the united states, should command from us an immediate action. since the women of this country are unjustly deprived of a right so essential to complete citizenship in a republic as the elective franchise, common justice requires that we should submit the proposition for a change in the fundamental law to the state legislatures, where the correction can be made."[ ] the fiftieth birthday of susan b. anthony had been celebrated in new york city in by a large number of prominent men and women, the first instance of the kind on record. it had been decided by her friends that her seventieth birthday should receive a similar recognition, but that it should be more national in character. the arrangements were made by mrs. may wright sewall and mrs. rachel foster avery, and on the evening of february a distinguished company of two hundred sat around the banquet tables in the great dining-room of the riggs house. miss anthony occupied the place of honor, on her right senator blair and mrs. stanton, on her left robert purvis, mrs. isabella beecher hooker and mrs. sewall, who presided. in addition to the after-dinner speeches of these distinguished guests there were clever and sparkling responses to toasts by the rev. anna howard shaw, mrs. matilda joslyn gage, miss phoebe w. couzins, the rev. frederick a. hinckley, representative j. a. pickler (s. d.), mrs. colby, mrs. stanton's two daughters--mrs. harriot blatch and mrs. margaret lawrence--mrs. laura ormiston chant of england, and others. mrs. stanton began her address by saying: "if there is one part of my life which gives me more intense satisfaction than another, it is my friendship of more than forty years' standing with susan b. anthony." the key-note to miss anthony's touching response was struck in the opening sentence: "the thing i most hope for is that, should i stay on this planet twenty years longer, i still may be worthy of the wonderful respect you have manifested for me to-night." among the more than two hundred letters, poems and telegrams received were those of george william curtis, william lloyd garrison, john g. whittier, george f. hoar, lucy stone, frances e. willard, speaker thomas b. reed, mrs. john a. logan, thomas w. palmer, the rev. olympia brown, harriet hosmer, elizabeth boynton harbert, alice williams brotherton, charles nordhoff, frank g. carpenter, u. s. senator henry l. dawes, neal dow, laura m. johns, t. v. powderly and leonora m. barry. most of the prominent newspapers in the country contained editorial congratulations, and the _woman's tribune_ issued a special birthday edition. the convention opened in metzerott's music hall, february , , continuing four days. the feature of this occasion which will distinguish it in history was the formal union of the national and the american associations under the joint name. for the past twenty-one years two distinctive societies had been in existence, both national as to scope but differing as to methods. negotiations had been in progress for several years toward a uniting of the forces and, the preliminaries having been satisfactorily arranged by committees from the two bodies,[ ] the officers and members of both participated in this national convention of . mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, the newly-elected president of the united societies, faced a brilliant assemblage of men and women as she arose to make the opening address. having declared that in going to england as president of the national-american association she felt more honored than if sent as minister plenipotentiary of the united states, she spoke to a set of resolutions which she presented to the convention.[ ] after reviewing the history of the movement for the rights of woman and naming some of its brilliant leaders she said: for fifty years we have been plaintiffs in the courts of justice, but as the bench, the bar and the jury are all men, we are nonsuited every time. some men tell us we must be patient and persuasive; that we must be womanly. my friends, what is man's idea of womanliness? it is to have a manner which pleases him--quiet, deferential, submissive, approaching him as a subject does a master. he wants no self-assertion on our part, no defiance, no vehement arraignment of him as a robber and a criminal. while the grand motto, "resistance to tyrants is obedience to god," has echoed and re-echoed around the globe, electrifying the lovers of liberty in every latitude and making crowned heads tremble on their thrones; while every right achieved by the oppressed has been wrung from tyrants by force; while the darkest page on human history is the outrages on women--shall men still tell us to be patient, persuasive, womanly? what do we know as yet of the womanly? the women we have seen thus far have been, with rare exceptions, the mere echoes of men. man has spoken in the state, the church and the home, and made the codes, creeds and customs which govern every relation in life, and women have simply echoed all his thoughts and walked in the paths he prescribed. and this they call womanly! when joan of arc led the french army to victory i dare say the carpet knights of england thought her unwomanly. when florence nightingale, in search of blankets for the soldiers in the crimean war, cut her way through all orders and red tape, commanded with vehemence and determination those who guarded the supplies to "unlock the doors and not talk to her of proper authorities when brave men were shivering in their beds," no doubt she was called unwomanly. to me, "unlock the doors" sounds better than any words of circumlocution, however sweet and persuasive, and i consider that she took the most womanly way of accomplishing her object. patience and persuasiveness are beautiful virtues in dealing with children and feeble-minded adults, but those who have the gift of reason and understand the principles of justice, it is our duty to compel to act up to the highest light that is in them, and as promptly as possible. mrs. stanton urged that women should have more power in church management, saying: as women are taking an active part in pressing on the consideration of congress many narrow sectarian measures, such as more rigid sunday laws, the stopping of travel, the distribution of the mail on that day, and the introduction of the name of god into the constitution; and as this action on the part of some women is used as an argument for the disfranchisement of all, i hope this convention will declare that the woman suffrage association is opposed to all union of church and state, and pledges itself as far as possible to maintain the secular nature of our government. as sunday is the only day that the laboring man can escape from the cities, to stop the street-cars, omnibuses and railroad trains would indeed be a lamentable exercise of arbitrary authority. no, no, the duty of the state is to protect those who do the work of the world, in the largest liberty, and instead of shutting them up in their gloomy tenement houses on sunday, to open wide the parks, horticultural gardens, museums, libraries, galleries of art and the music halls where they can listen to the divine melodies of the great masters. she demanded that women declare boldly and decisively on all the vital issues of the day, and said: in this way we make ourselves mediums through which the great souls of the past may speak again. the moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life flow no longer into our souls. every truth we see is ours to give the world, not to keep for ourselves alone, for in so doing we cheat humanity out of their rights and check our own development. as mrs. stanton finished she introduced her daughter, mrs. blatch, a resident of england, who in a few impressive remarks showed that on the great socialistic questions of the day--capital and labor, woman suffrage, race prejudice--england was liberal and the united states conservative; that the latter had beautiful ideas but did not apply them, and tended too much to the worship of legislation. the hon. wm. dudley foulke, retiring president of the american association, an uncompromising advocate of woman's enfranchisement, then made a strong and scholarly address in the course of which he said: the fundamental rights of self-government, the right of each man to cast his single vote and have it counted as it is cast, is of greater and more lasting importance than any of the temporary consequences which flow from the result of any election. beyond all matters of expediency and good administration lies the great question of human liberty and equality, which can only be maintained by the uncorrupted equal suffrage of every citizen; and so sacred is this in the eyes of the law that years of penitentiary service are prescribed for the interference with the right of a single human being of the male sex to cast the vote which the law allows him. but there may be a moral guilt outside the law, of a character quite similar to that which is so punished when it comes within the terms of the statute, and it may be the crime, not of a single lawbreaker, but of the entire community that establishes the constitutions and enacts the statutes, which denies these equal rights to citizens who are subject to equal burdens. wherever the rule of power is substituted for the just and equitable principle that all who are subject to government should have a voice in controlling it, we are guilty under the form of law of the same violation of the just rights of others for which the corruptor of elections and the forger of tally-sheets is tried, convicted and incarcerated. yet from the remotest times the world has done this thing, for equal rights have never been conceded to women, and so warped are our convictions by custom and prejudice that a denial of their political equality seems as natural as the breath we draw.... paternalism in government, which seeks to do good to the people against their will, is wrong in the czar of russia and in old king george, but is quite right and just when it affects only our wives, sisters and daughters! they have everything they need, why ask the ballot? ah, my friends, so long as they have not the right to determine the thing they need, so long as the ultimate sovereignty remains with men to say what is good and what is bad for them, they are deprived of that which we, as men, esteem the most precious of all rights. i suppose there never was a time when men did not believe that women had everything they ought to want; that they had as much as was good for them. the woman must obey in consideration of the kind protection which her lord vouchsafes to her. the wife's property ought to belong to the husband, because upon him the law casts the burden of sustaining the family. there must be a ruler, and the husband ought to be that one. but this is the same principle which, during thousands of years, maintained the divine right of kings. when we apply it to our system of suffrage the number of sovereigns is increased, that is all. it is a recognition of the divine right of man to legislate for himself and woman too. it is only a difference in the number of autocrats and the manner in which their decrees are promulgated.... by what argument can a man defend his own suffrage as a right and not concede an equal right to woman? a just man ought to accord to every other human being, even his own wife, the rights which he demands himself. "but she has her sphere and she ought not go beyond it." my friend, who gave you the right to determine what that sphere should be? if nature prescribes it, nature will carry out her own ordinances without your prohibitory legislation. i have the greatest contempt for the sort of legislation which seeks to enable nature to carry out her own immutable laws. i would have very little respect for any decree, enacted with whatever solemnity, which should prescribe that an object shall fall towards the earth and not from it; and i have just as little respect for any statute of man which enacts that women shall continue to love and care for their children by shutting them out from political action and preferment lest they should neglect the duties of the household.... "but," say you, "woman is already adequately represented. she does not form a separate class. she has no interests different from those of her husband, brother or father." these arguments have been used even by so eminent an authority as john bright. is it indeed a fact? wherever woman owns property which she would relieve from unjust taxation; wherever she has a son whom she would preserve from the temptations of intemperance, or a daughter from the enticements of a libertine, or a husband from the conscriptions of war, she has a separate interest which she is entitled to protect. "but she can control legislation by her influence." if it were proposed to take away our right to vote, we would think it a satisfactory answer that our influence would still remain? if she has influence she is entitled to that and her vote too. you have no right to burn down a man's house because you leave him his lot. "but woman does not want the suffrage." how do you know? have you given her an opportunity of saying so? wherever the right has been accorded it has been generally exercised, and the best proof of her wishes is the actual use which she makes of the ballot when she has it. but it makes no difference whether all women want to vote or whether most women want to vote, so long as there is one woman who insists upon this simple right, the justice of america can not afford to deny it.... at the close of mr. foulke's address mrs. stanton was obliged to leave in order to reach new york city in time for her steamer. the entire audience arose, the women waving handkerchiefs and the men joining in three farewell cheers. one splendid address followed another, morning and evening, while the afternoons were occupied with business meetings, and even here there were many little speeches which were worthy of preservation. among them was one of miss anthony's, in which she said: "if it is necessary, i will fight forty years more to make our platform free for the christian to stand upon, whether she be a catholic and counts her beads, or a protestant of the straightest orthodox sect, just as i have fought for the rights of the 'infidels' the last forty years. these are the principles i want to maintain--that our platform may be kept as broad as the universe, that upon it may stand the representatives of all creeds and of no creeds--jew and christian, protestant and catholic, gentile and mormon, believer and atheist." mrs. isabella beecher hooker (conn.) discussed the centennial of , demanding the recognition of women. mrs. mary seymour howell (n. y.) spoke on the present, the destiny of to-day. mrs. ormiston chant (eng.) depicted the glory of the coming woman. mrs. carrie chapman catt made her first appearance on the national platform with an address on the symbol of liberty, describing political conditions with a keen knowledge of the facts and showing their need of the intelligence, morality and independence of women. the subject selected by miss phoebe w. couzins, herself an office-holder, was woman's influence in official government. henry b. blackwell made a strong speech on woman suffrage a growth of civilization. he read a letter from lucy stone, his wife, who was to have spoken on the progress of women but was prevented by illness, in which she said: "the time is full of encouragement for us. we look back to our small beginnings and over the many years of constant endeavor to secure for women the application of the principles which are the foundation of a representative government. now we are a host. both houses of congress and the legislative bodies in nearly all the states, have our questions before them. so has the civilized world. surely at no distant day the sense of justice which exists in everybody will secure our claim, and we shall have at last a truly representative government, of the people, by the people and for the people. we may, therefore, rejoicing in what is already gained, look forward with hope to the future." a large audience listened to the address of mrs. julia ward howe on the chivalry of reform, during which she said: the political enfranchisement of woman has long been sought upon the ground of abstract right and justice. this ground is surely the soundest and safest basis for any claim to rest upon. but mankind, after yielding a general obedience to the moral law, will reserve for themselves a certain freedom in its application to particular things. even in so imperative a matter as the salvation of their own souls they will not be content with weights and measures. the touch of sentiment must come in, uplifting what law knocks down, freeing what it trammels, satisfying man's love for freedom by ministering to his sense of beauty. when this subtle power joins itself to the demonstrations of reason, the victory is sure and lasting. it is in the grand order of these ideas that i stand here to advocate the enfranchisement of my sex. morally, socially, intellectually equal with men, it is right that we should be politically equal with them in a society which claims to recognize and uphold one equal humanity. i do not say it is _our_ right. i say it is right--god's right and the world's. in the name of high sentiment then, in the name of all that good men profess, i ask that the gracious act may be consummated which will admit us to the place that henceforth befits us, that of equal participants with you in the sovereignty of the people. do this in the spirit of that mercy whose quality is not strained. remember that the neglect of justice brings with it the direst retribution. make your debt to us a debt of honor, and pay it in that spirit; if you do not pay it, dread the proportions which its arrears will assume. remember that he who has the power to do justice and refrains from doing it, will presently find it doing itself, to his no small discomfiture.... women, trained for the moral warfare of the time, armed with the fine instincts which are their birthright, are not doomed to sit forever as mere spectators in these great encounters of society. they are to deserve the crown as well as to bestow it; to meet the powers of darkness with the powers of light; to bring their potent aid to the eternal conquest of right. and let me say here to those women who not only hang back from this encounter but who throw obstacles in the way of true reform and progress, that the shallow ground upon which they stand is within the belt of the moral earthquake, and that what they build upon it will be overthrown.... the rev. miss shaw, in an address filled with humor as well as logic, treated of our unconscious allies, among whom she included clergymen who oppose equal suffrage, the women remonstrants with their weak documents, the colleges which try to keep out girls, and the many cases of outrage and wrong committed by "our motherless government." the rev. olympia brown replied to the question, where is the mistake? with great power and earnestness she pointed out the mistakes made by our government during the century of its existence and demanded the correction of the greatest one of all--the exclusion of women. the address of mrs. zerelda g. wallace (ind.), a whole humanity, aroused the universal sympathy and appreciation of the audience, permeated as it was with the spirit of love, charity and justice: ....the animus of this movement for woman's freedom has been mistaken in the idea that it meant competition between women and men; to my thought it simply means co-operation in the work of the world. the man is to bring the physical forces, and he has done that work magnificently. i never go over this continent and see what men have done, that i do not feel like bowing my head in reverence to their wisdom, their strength, their power, and i think the nearest thing we see to divinity is the incarnation of the god-head in a grand good man. but there are other forces which must be brought into subjection to humanity before we reach the highest development, and those are the moral and spiritual forces. that is woman's share largely, not that i exempt man, but pre-eminently woman is the teacher of the race; in virtue of her motherhood she is the character builder; she forms the soul life; she rears the generations. it is not part of woman's work to contend with man for supremacy over the material forces. it was never told to woman that she should earn her bread by the sweat of her brow. that was man's curse. he was to earn his bread and woman's too, if he faithfully performed his duty, and we are not "dependents" even if he does that. i never allow a man to say in my presence that he "supports" his wife, and i want every woman to take the same position. i would correct any man and tell him he was mistaken in his phraseology if he should say anything of that kind. you have something different to do, my sisters. you shall hate evil, was said to woman, and evil shall hate you. there shall go forth from you an influence which shall ultimately exterminate evil.... the men of this nation would never have made the success they have in the material world, if some stronger force had limited them on all sides. i said a moment ago that i do not like the idea of dependence of women on men, or the dependence of men on women. i do not like the word independence, but i do like the word interdependence. it is said of this beautiful country, "united we stand, divided we fall." it is the same with men and women. men without women would go back to barbarism, and women without men would be most frivolous and vain. if we work not in competition but in co-operation and harmony we shall bring the race to its ultimate inheritance, which is rulership over the universe. now to deprive woman of the right to express her thought with authority at the ballot-box in regard to the laws under which she is governed, puts a mark of imbecility upon her at once. so far as the government is concerned we are held in perpetual tutelage, we are minors always, and while good men will act justly towards women, it is an excuse for every bad and foolish man to oppress them, and every unfledged boy to make them the subject of ridicule.... i believe the great majority of american men love our free institutions; i believe they have hope and pride in the future of this nation; but as sure as you live, every argument you use against the enfranchisement of women deals a death-blow against the fundamental principle which lies at the base of our government, and it is treason to bring an argument against it. another thing which you permit is reacting now to the detriment of our free institutions; if from prejudice or expediency you think you have a right to withhold the ballot from the women of this nation, you have but to go one step further and deprive any other class of a right they already have, should you think it expedient to do so. it is beginning to bear its fruit now in your elections. you are becoming demoralized; ballots are bought and sold; you have your blocks of five; and in some entire communities the men are deprived of the right of suffrage. it is simply a question of time how long you will be able to maintain the freedom you cherish for yourselves. if we women are citizens, if we are governed, if we are a part of the people, according to the plain declarations of the fundamental principles which underlie this nation, we are as much entitled to vote as you, and you can not make an argument against us that would not disfranchise yourselves. i feel this phase of the question more acutely than any other because i think from a fundamental standpoint the progress of the race is bound up in republican institutions. it is not a question of woman's rights, it is a question of human rights, of the success or failure of these institutions, and the more highly cultured a woman is the more deeply she feels this humiliation.... i do not think it weakness to say that women love, and that love predominates in their nature, because, my friends, love is the only immortal principle in the universe. love is to endure forever. faith will be swallowed up in knowledge after a while, and hope in fruition, but love abides forever. it is peculiarly an attribute of our feminine nature to love our offspring over everything else; for them we would peril our lives; and for the men of this nation, under our form of government, to say to us that we shall not have the power which will enable us through laws and legislation to decide the conditions which shall surround them, and throw the mother love around these children from the cradle to the grave, is an inhuman use of their authority.... the washington _star_ said: "if the first day of the convention was mrs. stanton's, the rest have belonged to miss anthony, 'saint susan,' as her followers love to call her. as vice-president-at-large she presided over every session, and never was in better voice or more enthusiastic spirits. as she sat by the table clad in a handsome dress of black satin, she was the life and soul of the meetings.... she does not make much noise with her gavel,[ ] nor does she have to use it often, but she manages to keep the organization over which she presides in a state of order that puts to shame many a convention of the other sex. business is transacted in proper shape, and every important measure receives its due share of attention. there is no filibustering. the speakers who have been invited to address the convention are listened to with attention and interest. when speeches are on the program they are made. when resolutions are desired they are presented, discussed, rejected or adopted as the case may be.... there are no attempts to push through unsuitable measures in haste and without the necessary attention. if any of those who have not attended the meetings of the association are of the opinion that serious breaches of parliamentary usage are committed through ignorance or with intent, they are laboring under a decided delusion." the business meeting devoted to a discussion of our attitude toward political parties proved to be the most exciting of the series. among the speakers were mr. foulke, mrs. sewall, mrs. howe, miss blackwell, mrs. blake, the rev. mr. hinckley, mrs. alice m. a. pickler, mrs. ellen sully fray, mr. blackwell, miss shaw, mrs. martha mcclellan brown, the rev. mrs. brown, mrs. martha e. root and miss mary desha. without exception the sentiment was in favor of keeping strictly aloof from all political alliances. it was pointed out that repeatedly the promises made by politicians were violated and the planks in the platforms ignored; it was shown that the suffrage can be gained only through the assistance of men in all parties; and it was proved beyond doubt that in the past, where members had allied themselves with a political party it had injured the cause of woman suffrage. in addition to the speakers already mentioned wm. lloyd garrison, col. d. r. anthony, ellen battelle dietrick, laura clay, the hon. j. a. pickler, sallie clay bennett, margaret w. campbell, laura m. johns, frances ellen burr, frances stuart parker, dr. frances dickinson and others participated in the various discussions of the convention. a deep interest was felt in the pending woman suffrage amendment in south dakota. the subject was presented by representative and mrs. pickler, national speakers were appointed to canvass the state and a fund of over $ , was eventually raised. tributes of respect were paid to caroline ashurst biggs and margaret bright lucas of england, u. s. senator elbridge g. lapham, maria mitchell, the great astronomer, prudence crandall philleo, harriet winslow sewall, amy post, wm. d. kelley, m. c., dinah mendenhall, emerine j. hamilton, amanda mcconnell and other friends and supporters of woman suffrage who had passed away during the year. the vote for officers of the united association, which was limited strictly to delegates, stood as follows: for president, elizabeth cady stanton, ; susan b. anthony, ; scattering, : for vice-president-at-large, susan b. anthony, ; scattering, .[ ] rachel foster avery was elected recording secretary; alice stone blackwell, corresponding secretary; jane h. spofford, treasurer; lucy stone, chairman of the executive committee by unanimous vote; eliza t. ward and the rev. frederick a. hinckley, auditors. the rev. anna howard shaw was appointed national lecturer. footnotes: [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. . [ ] the other members in favor of this report were ezra b. taylor, o., _chairman_; george e. adams, ill.; james buchanan, n. j.; albert c. thompson, o.; h. c. mccormick, penn., and joseph r. reed, ia. the six members from the southern states were opposed. [ ] national:--may wright sewall, _chairman_; isabella beecher hooker, harriette r. shattuck, olympia brown, helen m. gougar, laura m. johns, clara bewick colby, virginia l. minor, abigail scott duniway, matilda joslyn gage, mary b. clay, mary f. eastman, clara neymann, sarah m. perkins, jane h. spofford, lillie devereux blake, elizabeth boynton harbert, rachel foster avery, _secretary_. american:--julia ward howe, _chairman_; wm. dudley foulke, margaret w. campbell, anna howard shaw, mary f. thomas, hannah m. tracy cutler, henry b. blackwell, _secretary_. [ ] the resolutions declared the constitutional right of women to vote, and continued: _resolved_, that as the fathers violated the principles of justice in consenting to a three-fifths representation, and in recognizing slavery in the constitution, thereby making a civil war inevitable, so our statesmen and supreme court judges by their misinterpretation of the fourteenth amendment, declaring that the united states has no voters and that citizenship does not carry with it the right of suffrage, not only have prolonged woman's disfranchisement but have undermined the status of the freedman and opened the way for another war of races. whereas, it is proposed to have a national law, restricting the right of divorce to a narrower basis, and whereas, congress has already made an appropriation for a report on the question, which shows that there are , divorces annually in the united states and the majority demanded by women, and whereas, liberal divorce laws for wives are what canada was for the slaves--a door of escape from bondage, therefore, _resolved_, that there should be no farther legislation on this question until woman has a voice in the state and national governments. _resolved_, that the time has come for woman to demand of the church the same equal recognition she demands of the state, to assume her right and duty to take part in the revision of bibles, prayer books and creeds, to vote on all questions of business, to fill the offices of elder, deacon, sunday school superintendent, pastor and bishop, to sit in ecclesiastical synods, assemblies and conventions as delegates, that thus our religion may no longer reflect only the masculine element of humanity, and that woman, the mother of the race, may be honored as she must be before we can have a happy home, a rational religion and an enduring government. they concluded with a demand that the platform of the suffrage association should recognize the equal rights of all parties, sects and races. [ ] there is no woman in the world who has wielded the gavel at as many conventions as has miss anthony. [ ] for account of miss anthony's determination not to accept the presidency see her life and work, p. . chapter xi. the national-american convention of . immediately preceding the twenty-third annual suffrage convention in , the first triennial meeting took place of the national council of women, which had been formed in . it was held in albaugh's opera house, washington, beginning sunday, february , and continuing four days, an assemblage of the most distinguished women of the nation in many lines of work. miss frances e. willard presided and the other officers contributed to the success of the council--miss susan b. anthony, vice-president; mrs. may wright sewall, corresponding secretary; miss mary f. eastman, recording secretary; mrs. m. louise thomas, treasurer. ten national organizations were represented by official delegates and forty sent fraternal delegates. the sunday services were conducted entirely by women, the rev. ida c. hultin giving the sermon from the text, "for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." "and i saw a new heaven and a new earth". the program of the week included charities, education, temperance, religion, organized work, political status of women, etc.[ ] on saturday evening mrs. jane h. spofford gave a large reception at the riggs house to the council and the suffrage association. the latter held its sessions february -march , occupying the same beautifully decorated opera house which had been filled for four days by audiences in attendance at the council, who kept on coming, scarcely knowing the difference. the call for this convention expressed the great joy over the action of congress during the past year in admitting wyoming as a state with woman suffrage in its constitution: the admission of wyoming into the union as a state with equal rights for women guaranteed in its organic law, not only sets a seal of approval upon woman suffrage after a practical experience of twenty-one years, but it makes woman a recognized factor in national politics. hereafter the chief executive and both houses of congress will owe their election partly to the votes of women. the injustice and absurdity of allowing women in one state to be sovereign rulers, and across the line in every direction obliging them to occupy the position of a subject class, taxed without representation and governed without consent--and this in a nation which by its constitution guarantees equal rights to all the states and equal protection to all their citizens--must soon be manifest even to the most conservative and prejudiced. we therefore congratulate the friends of woman suffrage everywhere that at last there is one spot under the american flag where equal justice is done to women. wyoming, all hail; the first true republic the world has ever seen! the program attracted considerable attention from a design on the cover showing a woman yoked with an ox to the plow, and, looking down upon them a girl in a college cap and gown with the inscription, "above the senior wrangler," referring to the recent victory at cambridge university, england, by philippa fawcett, in outranking the male student who stood highest in mathematics. the first session was opened by the singing of mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert's inspiring hymn, the new america. after a welcome by mrs. ella m. s. marble, president of the district w. s. a., miss anthony read the address of mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, who was in england, entitled, the degradation of disfranchisement, which said in part: disfranchisement is the last lingering shadow of the old spirit of caste which always has divided humanity into classes of greater or less inferiority, some even below certain animals that were considered special favorites with heaven. one can not contemplate these revolting distinctions among mankind without amazement and disgust. this spirit of caste which has darkened the lives of millions through the centuries still lives. the discriminations against color and sex in the united states are but other forms of this same hateful spirit, still sustained by our religion as in the past. it is the outgrowth of the false ideas of favoritism ascribed to deity in regard to races and individuals, but which have their origin in the mind of man. banish the idea of divine authority for these machinations of the human mind, and the power of the throne and the church, of a royal family and an apostolic order of succession, of kings and queens, of popes and bishops, and man's headship in the state, the church, and the home will be heard of no more forever.... all men of intelligence appreciate the power of holding the ballot in their own hands; of having a voice in the laws under which they live; of enjoying the liberty of self-government. those who have known the satisfaction of wielding political influence would not willingly accept the degradation of disfranchisement. yet men can not understand why women should feel aggrieved at being deprived of this same protection, dignity and power. this is the gibraltar of our difficulties to-day. we can not make men see that women feel the humiliation of their petty distinctions of sex precisely as the black man feels those of color. it is no palliation of our wrongs to say that we are not socially ostracized as he is, so long as we are politically ostracized as he is not. that all orders of foreigners also rank politically above the most intelligent, highly-educated women--native-born americans--is indeed the most bitter drop in the cup of our grief which we are compelled to swallow.... again, the degradation of woman in the world of work is another result of her disfranchisement. some deny that, and say the laboring classes of men have the ballot yet they are still helpless victims of capitalists. they have the power and hold the weapon of defense but have not yet learned how to use it. the bayonet, the sword, the gun, are of no value to the soldier until he knows how to wield them. yet without the weapons of defense what could individuals and nations do in time of war for their own protection? the first step in learning to use a gun or a ballot is to possess one.... man has the prestige of centuries in his favor, with the force to maintain it, and he has possession of the throne, which is nine-tenths of the law. he has statutes and scriptures and the universal usages of society all on his side. what have women? the settled dissatisfaction of half the race, the unorganized protests of the few, and the open resistance of still fewer. but we have truth and justice on our side and the natural love of freedom and, step by step, we shall undermine the present form of civilization and inaugurate the mightiest revolution the world has ever witnessed. but its far-reaching consequences themselves increase the obstacles in the way of success, for the selfish interests of all classes are against us. the rulers in the state are not willing to share their power with a class over whom as equals they could never obtain absolute control, whose votes they could not manipulate to maintain the present conditions of injustice and oppression.... again, the rulers in the church are hostile to liberty for a sex supposed for wise purposes to have been subordinated to man by divine decree. the equality of woman as a factor in religious organizations would compel an entire change in church canons, discipline, authority, and many doctrines of the christian faith. as a matter of self-preservation, the church has no interest in the emancipation of woman, as its very existence depends on her blind faith.... society at large, based on the principle that might makes right, has in a measure excluded women from the profitable industries of the world, and where she has gained a foothold her labor is at a discount. man occupies the ground and holds the key to the situation. as employer, he plays the cheap labor of a disfranchised class against the employe, thus in a measure undermining his independence, making wife and daughter in the world of work the rivals of husband and father. the family, too, is based on the idea of woman's subordination, and man has no interest, as far as he sees, in emancipating her from that despotism by which his narrow, selfish interests are maintained under the law and religion of the country. here, then, is a fourfold bondage, so many cords tightly twisted together, strong for one purpose. to attempt to undo one is to loosen all.... to my mind, if we had at first bravely untwisted all the strands of this fourfold cord which bound us, and demanded equality in the whole round of the circle, while perhaps, we should have had a harder battle to fight, it would have been more effective and far shorter. let us henceforth meet conservatives on their own ground and admit that suffrage for woman does mean political, religious, industrial and social freedom--a new and a higher civilization.... woman's happiness and development are of more importance than all man's institutions. if constitutions and statute laws stand in the way of woman's emancipation, they must be amended to meet her wants and needs, of which she is a better judge than man possibly can be. if church canons and scriptures do not admit of woman's equal recognition in all the sacred offices, then they must be revised in harmony with that idea. if the present family life is necessarily based on man's headship, then we must build a new domestic altar, at which the mother shall have equal dignity, honor and power; and we do not propose to wait another century to secure all this; the time has come.... miss anthony, with an allusion to pioneer days, then introduced lucy stone, who, amid much applause, said that, while this was the first time she had stood beside susan b. anthony in a washington suffrage convention, she had stood beside her on more than one hard-fought battle-field before many of those present were born. after sketching briefly the progress of the last forty years and giving some trying personal experiences, she said in conclusion: "the vote will not make a man of a woman, but it will enable her to demand and receive many things which are hers by right; to do the things which ought to be done, to prevent what ought not to be done. women and men can help each other in making the world better. this is not an anti-man movement, but an effort toward the highest good of the race. we can congratulate ourselves upon what we have gained, but the root of the evil still remains--the root of disfranchisement. all organizations of women should join with us in pulling steadily at this deeply-planted and obstinate root." mrs. isabella beecher hooker (conn.) read an able paper on woman in politics and jurisprudence, in which she showed the necessity in politics and in law of a combination of the man's and the woman's nature, point of view and distinguishing characteristics. the second evening mrs. julia ward howe gave an address on the possibilities of the american salon, and the rev. anna garlin spencer considered the democratic principle. mrs. spencer pointed out that the reason why the advance in the specific line of woman suffrage had not been so great as in some other directions was because its advocates had to contend with a reaction of disbelief in the democratic principle. in expressing her own faith in this principle she said: "there are wisdom enough and virtue enough in this country to take care of all its ignorance and wickedness. the difficulty is that the average american citizen does not know that he wears a crown. and oh, the pity of it, and the shame of it, when some of us women, who do feel the importance of the duty of suffrage and who need no man to teach us patriotism, wish to help in this work that any man should say us nay!" miss florence balgarnie, who brought the greetings of a number of great english associations,[ ] gave a comprehensive sketch of the status of women in england. the rev. ida c. hultin (ills.) followed in an eloquent appeal that there should be no headship of either man or woman alone, but that both should represent humanity; government is a development of humanity and if woman is human she has an equal right in that development. mrs. ellen battelle dietrick (mass.) showed that the present supremacy of men was a reaction from the former undue supremacy of women, and brought out many historical points of deep interest. mrs. josephine k. henry spoke on the kentucky constitutional convention, illustrating the terrible injustice of the laws of that state in regard to women and the vain efforts of the latter to have them changed. the rev. frederick a. hinckley (r. i.) lifted the audience to the delectable heights, taking as a text, "husband and wife are one." after illustrating the tendency of all nature and all science toward unity and harmony, he said: humanity is the whole. men alone are half a sphere; women alone half a sphere; men and women together the whole of truth, the whole of love, the whole of aspiration. we have come to recognize this thought in nearly all the walks of life. we want to acknowledge it in the unity of mankind. the central thought we need in our creeds and in our lives is that of the solidarity and brotherhood of the race. this movement derives its greatest significance not because it opens a place here and there for women; not because it enables women to help men; but because in all the concerns of life it places man and woman side by side, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, putting their best thought, their finest feeling, their highest aspiration, into the work of the world. this reflection gives us a lasting and sublime satisfaction amid defeat and derision. whatever of fortune or misfortune befalls the suffrage association in the carrying on of its work, this belief is the root which is calculated to sustain and inspire us--that this movement is the next step in the progress of the race towards the unification of humanity.... i look forward to the time when men and women, labor and capital, all classes and all sections, shall work side by side with one great co-operative spirit, the denizens of the world and the keepers of human progress. when that time comes we may not have reached the millennium but we shall be nearer to it. we shall then together establish justice, temperance, purity of life, as never has been done before. earth's aspirations then shall grow to events. the indescribable--that shall then be done. u. s. senator joseph m. carey was introduced by miss anthony as "the man who on the floor of congress fought wyoming's battle for statehood." his address on wyoming, the true republic, was a leading feature of the convention. he said in part: on the tenth day of july last, the state of wyoming was born and the forty-fourth star took its place on the old flag. never was first-born more warmly welcomed, for not only had a commonwealth been created, but the principle of equality of citizenship without regard to sex had been fully recognized and incorporated as a part of the constitution of the new state. the adoption of a woman suffrage bill by the first territorial legislature was graphically described, and after relating the subsequent efforts for its repeal, and its incorporation finally into the state constitution, he told of the struggle in congress and said: while i would not make invidious distinctions by giving the names of those in both branches of congress who favored wyoming's admission, i wish to say that i was agreeably surprised to have many of the ablest members, both in public and private, disclose the fact that they firmly believed the time would come when women would be permitted to exercise full political rights throughout the united states. they rejoiced that an opportunity had presented itself by which they could show they had no prejudice or opposition in their hearts to women's exercising the rights of citizenship. he closed with the following strong argument for the enfranchisement of women: suffrage should be granted to women for two reasons: first, because it will help women; and second, because it will promote the interests of the state. whatever doubt i may have entertained in the past concerning either the first or second proposition, has entirely disappeared. from the experiment made under my own eyes i can state in all candor that suffrage has been a real benefit to women. it gives them a character and standing which they would not otherwise possess. it does not lower a woman to be consulted about public affairs, but is calculated to make her more intelligent and thoughtful in matters that concern her own household, especially in bringing up her sons and daughters. it increases her interest in those things which concern the great body of the people. men in office and out of office, particularly those who expect to serve the public, are compelled to be more considerate of her wishes, and more desirous of doing those things which will secure her approval. the greater the number of persons living under a government who are interested in the administration of its affairs, its well-being and the perpetuity of its institutions, the stronger the government and the more difficult it will be to compass its overthrow.... we frequently hear it said that women will not vote if they have the opportunity; or, if permitted to vote, such an inconsiderable number will exercise the privilege that it will not be worth while to encumber the electoral system by granting it. in all matters in which women have an interest, as large a percentage vote as of the other sex. they have the same interest in all which pertains to good government. they have exercised the privilege of voting not in a careless and indifferent manner but in a way reflecting credit on their good sense and judgment. i know women who have exercised the fullest political rights for a period of more than twenty years. they have taken the deepest interest in the political affairs of the territory and young state. neither in their homes nor in public places have they lost one womanly quality; but their minds have broadened and they have become more influential in the community in which they live. during these years i have never heard of any unhappiness brought into the home on account of women's exercising their political rights. a fair and unbiased test of this question has been made by the people of wyoming, and no unprejudiced man or woman who has seen its workings, can now raise a single honest objection. where women have voted, the family relation has not been destroyed, men have loved them none the less, the mountains have not been shaken from their foundations, nor have social earthquakes or political convulsions taken place.... in order that women shall be more influential citizens of the state and better qualified to raise noble men and women to fight the battles of life, and to carry out the true purpose of this republic, they must possess the full rights of citizenship. at the close of his speech the senator was presented with a large basket of roses from the delegates. mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.) spoke on the right of a citizen to a trial by a jury of his peers, showing that women never have possessed this right; that in many criminal cases, such as seduction and infanticide, women could better understand the temptations than could men; that the feminine heart, the maternal influence, are needed in the court-room as well as in the home. mrs. lida a. meriwether (tenn.) spoke in a keen, sarcastic but humorous manner of the silent seven, "the legally mute"--minors, aliens, paupers, criminals, lunatics, idiots and women. the rev. anna howard shaw took for her subject women vs. indians, and reviewed the suffrage amendment campaign in south dakota the previous year. in an address brimming and bubbling over with wit, satire and pathos, she showed how much greater consideration the indians received from the men of that state than did women. she told how per cent. of the votes cast the preceding year were for male indian suffrage and only per cent. for woman suffrage; how indians in blankets and moccasins were received in the state convention with the greatest courtesy, and susan b. anthony and other eminent women were barely tolerated; how, while these indians were engaged in their ghost dances, the white women were going up and down the state pleading for the rights of citizens; how the law in that state gives not only the property but the children to the husband, in the face of all the hardships endured by those pioneer wives and mothers. she suggested that the solution of the indian question should be left to a commission of women with alice fletcher at its head, and said in closing: "let all of us who love liberty solve these problems in justice; and let us mete out to the indian, to the negro, to the foreigner, and to the woman, the justice which we demand for ourselves, the liberty which we love for ourselves. let us recognize in each of them that one above, the father of us all, and that all are brothers, all are one." the moral and political emergency was presented by mrs. emma smith devoe (s. d.). henry b. blackwell and mrs. alice m. a. pickler described the south dakota campaign. representative j. a. pickler was introduced by miss anthony as the candidate who, when told that if he expressed his views on woman suffrage he would lose votes, expressed them more freely than ever and ran ahead of his ticket; and his wife as the woman who bade her husband to speak even if it lost him the office, and who was herself the only congressman's wife that ever took the platform for the enfranchisement of women. mrs. clara bewick colby took for her subject ibsen's drama, a doll's house, and discussed its ethical problems, closing with the sentence: "as long as the fighting qualities of woman remain, there is a chance for the nation to make a robust, steady progress; but if these die out and woman willingly surrenders herself for the sake of selfish ease to the dominance of man, civilization is arrested and true manhood becomes impossible." the convention ended with a scholarly address by wm. lloyd garrison (mass.) on the social aspect of the woman question. the present officers were re-elected. mrs. lucia e. blount (d. c.), chairman of the committee appointed to push the claim of anna ella carroll, reported that a great deal of work had been done by mr. and mrs. melvin a. root of michigan, mrs. colby and herself. every possible effort had been made but the prospect was that congress would do nothing for miss carroll. miss frances e. willard brought an invitation from mrs. harrison to the national council of women and the members of all its auxiliary societies to attend a reception at the white house, which was accepted by the convention. mrs. ellen m. henrotin presented in the name of mrs. bertha honoré palmer an official invitation to the association to meet in chicago during the columbian exposition, promising a hall which would seat five thousand. miss anthony announced that she had engaged permanent headquarters for the association in the wimodaughsis club building, which action was ratified. it was decided to give especial attention to suffrage work in the southern states during the year. the wives of the two senators from wyoming, mrs. warren and mrs. carey, occupied seats on the platform. mrs. blake reported the work done by the platform committee in having suffrage resolutions endorsed by a large number of labor unions. miss sara winthrop smith had been equally successful in granges and branches of the knights of labor. dr. frances dickinson, dr. lucy waite, mrs. corinne s. brown and mrs. colby had visited the national convention of locomotive engineers and secured the endorsement of a suffrage petition. they obtained also the cordial approval of t. v. powderly and the knights of labor, and of samuel gompers and the federation of labor. the illinois trade and labor assembly endorsed their petition. all of these bodies circulated suffrage petitions among their members, as also did the illinois farmers' mutual benefit association and the grand army posts, a number of which were reported as heartily recommending the enfranchisement of women. signatures representing millions of voters were thus obtained.[ ] in addition to the resolutions adopted by the convention bearing directly on suffrage, there was a demand for women on school boards and as physicians, matrons and managers in all public institutions containing women and children; and for a revision of the laws on marriage and property. on sunday afternoon a great audience assembled for the closing exercises. the sermon was given by the rev. caroline j. bartlett from the text, "the night is far spent, the day is at hand." it had been said on the preceding sunday that the sermon of miss hultin could not be equalled. the verdict now was that the honors must be evenly divided. footnotes: [ ] a complete report of the able addresses made by specialists in these subjects was prepared by the new corresponding secretary, mrs. rachel foster avery, and placed by miss anthony in the large libraries of the country. [ ] the central national society for women's suffrage; the women's franchise leagues of edinburgh, glasgow, bedford, bridgeport, leicester, nottingham and york; the bristol woman's temperance association; the international arbitration and peace society; the woman councillors' society; the women's federal association of great britain. [ ] the funds necessary for this work were furnished by j. w. hedenberg of chicago, who also made a personal appeal to many of these bodies; but he claimed possession of the petitions, and for some reason never permitted them to be presented to congress. chapter xii. national-american convention and hearings of . the twenty-fourth annual woman suffrage convention, held in the church of our father, washington, d. c., jan. - , , was preceded by the usual services at three o'clock on sunday afternoon. the text of the sermon, by the rev. mila tupper, was "think on these things" and it was devoted to a lofty consideration of "success through the moral power of ideals." unexpectedly the congressional hearings were set for monday morning, which called to the capitol both mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony, president and vice-president of the association. the convention was called to order by the rev. anna howard shaw, and mrs. caroline mccullough everhard (o.) was made chairman _pro tem_. twenty-six states were represented by seventy-six delegates, the reports showed a year of unprecedented activity and there were requests from every state for speakers and organizers. the treasurer reported receipts for the past year, $ , . the executive sessions throughout the convention were spirited and interesting. after some discussion it was decided to carry the work into the southern states, and also to appropriate money and workers for kansas, where it was likely that an amendment for full suffrage soon would be submitted. it was voted to accept the space offered at the columbian exposition, to furnish and decorate a booth, circulate literature, etc. the motion to have the next meeting in chicago during the fair renewed the question of holding alternate conventions in some other city besides washington, but the measure was defeated. mrs. stanton introduced a resolution in favor of keeping the world's fair open on sunday, which was advocated and opposed with great earnestness. the majority of opinion evidently was in favor of opening the gates on sunday but many felt that the subject was not germane to the purposes of the association, while others were conscientiously opposed to sunday opening. finally, in the midst of the controversy mrs. stanton withdrew her resolution, saying that she had offered it largely for the sake of discussion. miss shaw presented a resolution opposing the sale of intoxicating liquor on the fair grounds, saying that she did so as a matter of conscience and in order that it might go on record. it was voted to call an international suffrage meeting at chicago during the columbian exposition. miss anthony urged more systematic organization, special efforts with the legislatures, the securing of a woman's day at all chautauqua assemblies, county fairs, camp meetings, etc. at the earnest request of mrs. stanton, who had now reached the age of seventy-six, she was permitted to retire from the presidency, and miss anthony, aged seventy-two, was elected in her place. the rev. anna howard shaw was made vice-president-at-large. lucy stone, who was now seventy-four, begged to be released as chairman of the executive committee, which was then abolished, the duties being transferred to the business committee consisting of all the officers of the association. mrs. stanton and mrs. stone were made honorary presidents. this was mrs. stanton's last appearance at a national convention after an attendance of forty years, but she never failed to take an active interest in the proceedings and to send her speech to be read by miss anthony. this also was the last time lucy stone appeared upon the national platform, as she died the next year, and miss anthony alone, of this remarkable trio of women, was left to carry forward the great work. the addresses of this convention were up to the high standard of those which had preceded them during the past years, and no organization in existence, of either men or women, can show a more brilliant record of oratory. as mrs. stanton, lucy stone and miss anthony came on the platform the first evening they were enthusiastically applauded. the mental and physical vigor of mrs. stanton was much commented upon as in a rich and resonant voice she read the speech which she had that morning delivered before the judiciary committee of the house. it was entitled the solitude of self, and is considered by many to be her masterpiece. lucy stone discussed the outlook with clear vision. she contrasted the woman of the past, her narrow life, her limited education, her inferior position, with the educated, ambitious, independent woman of to-day, and urged that the latter should be equal to her opportunities, lay aside all frivolous things and labor unceasingly to secure for her sex an absolute equality of civil and political rights. in the half-humorous address of mrs. caroline hallowell miller (md.) on the golden rule, she said: i am firmly convinced that our present powerless--i may almost say ignominious--position arises not so much, as many aver, from the lukewarmness of our own sex as from the supreme and absolute indifference of men. with a few honorable exceptions, men do not care one iota whether we vote or not.... now if only men would take to betting on this question of woman suffrage, if we could open it up as a field of speculation, if we could manipulate it by some sort of patent process into stocks or bonds and have it introduced into wall street, we should very soon find ourselves emancipated. i keep on hoping that, by some fortuitous chance, fate may eventually execute for us as brilliant a _coup d'etat_ as did general butler for the colored slaves when he made them contraband of war, so that we shall just tumble into freedom as they did very soon thereafter. until then let us trust in god, keep our powder very dry and our armies well drilled and disciplined. in an inspiring address on the true daughters of the republic, mme. clara neymann (n. y.) pointed out the splendid material progress of our country under the guidance of men, and urged that women should be the power to lift it up to an equally exalted spiritual plane. the paper of mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.) on wyoming, in which as a territory women had voted for twenty years and as a state for two years, presented a most convincing array of statistics proving the benefits of equal suffrage. ex-governor john w. hoyt of wyoming came to the platform and corroborated these statements, paying a fine tribute to the political influence of women. he was followed by mrs. lida a. meriwether (tenn.), whose reputation as a humorist was fully sustained in her clever portrayal of dreams that go by contraries. mrs. carrie chapman catt (n. y.) gave a brilliant address on the mission of a republic. in discussing the value of organizations for women, mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon (la.) said: among the various organizations of women the suffrage society must rank first, for its demands have reached out and embraced every reform which comes under the head of right, justice or charity; and i am firmly persuaded that if the demand for the ballot, the full right of citizenship, had not been made the foundation of all other advantages, our organization would have fallen apart and drifted into the more conservative and popular lines along which less courageous women have successfully worked.... financial independence has been gained by many women, who, proud of their own success, never try to benefit others, and fail to comprehend the debt they owe to the brave, unselfish ones who first made demands for them and who never ceased their efforts until one after another the barriers were removed and opportunities secured for thousands which they never could have found themselves. it was this stanch band of pioneers, defying criticism, scorn and hate, who forced open college doors, invaded the law courts and stubbornly contested every inch of ground so persistently held by fraud or force from the daughters of the great republic.... organized as women now are, they could pour such an overwhelming moral influence into the political life of the country as to become its saving grace; for when women vote they will show good men, who have weakly shrunk from political duty, that they have a moral and clean constituency to stand with them. the platform proceedings of the convention closed with miss shaw's splendid delineation of the injustice of chivalry. every suffrage convention for the last twelve years had been preceded by a handsome reception at the riggs house. this well-known and commodious hotel had been the convention headquarters, and it also had been the winter home of miss anthony, where she remained as a guest of the proprietor, c. w. spofford, and his wife, being thus enabled to do a vast amount of congressional and political work, such as never has been done since. the hotel now had passed into other hands and the washington _post_, in speaking of this matter, said: "the delegates feel like lost sheep without mrs. spofford's hospitality at the riggs house, which has always been headquarters for suffragist and all women's conventions. probably no one but those in the inner circle will ever know just how much mrs. spofford has done for the advancement of women in every direction. whatever was hers was at the disposal of the leaders, and in the absence of so much assistance it is appreciated more nearly at its real worth." [illustration: mrs. elizabeth cady stanton. honorary president of national-american woman suffrage association.] the new club house of wimodaughsis was opened for a reception to the delegates by the district w. s. a., with miss anthony, lucy stone, mrs. stanton, henry b. blackwell, and miss shaw, president of wimodaughsis, as guests of honor. all made clever little speeches toward the close of the evening, which were supplemented with remarks by senator joseph m. carey (wy.), representatives j. a. pickler (s. d.), martin n. johnson (n. d.) and the rev. dr. corey of the metropolitan church. the hearing on january was held for the first time before a judiciary committee of the house, the majority of which was democratic.[ ] the washington _star_ said: "the new members of the committee were apparently surprised at receiving such a talk from a woman and there was the most marked attention on the part of every one present. their surprise was still greater when they found that mrs. stanton was not a phenomenal exception, but that every woman there could make an argument which would do credit to the best of public men." the hearing before the senate committee on woman suffrage was held the morning of february . four of the greatest women this nation ever produced addressed this committee, asking for themselves and their sex a privilege which is freely granted without the asking to every man, no matter how humble, how ignorant, how unworthy, who is not included within the category of the insane, the idiotic, the convicted criminal--elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, lucy stone, isabella beecher hooker. mrs. stanton (n. y.) gave her address, the solitude of self, in place of the old arguments so many times repeated, saying in part: the point i wish plainly to bring before you on this occasion is the individuality of each human soul--our protestant idea, the right of individual conscience and judgment--our republican idea, individual citizenship. in discussing the rights of woman, we are to consider, first, what belongs to her as an individual, in a world of her own, the arbiter of her own destiny, an imaginary robinson crusoe with her woman friday on a solitary island. her rights under such circumstances are to use all her faculties for her own safety and happiness. secondly, if we consider her as a citizen, as a member of a great nation, she must have the same rights as all other members, according to the fundamental principles of our government. thirdly, viewed as a woman, an equal factor in civilization, her rights and duties are still the same--individual happiness and development. fourthly, it is only the incidental relations of life, such as mother, wife, sister, daughter, which may involve some special duties and training. in the usual discussion in regard to woman's sphere, such men as herbert spencer, frederick harrison and grant allen uniformly subordinate her rights and duties as an individual, as a citizen, as a woman, to the necessities of these incidental relations, some of which a large class of women never assume. in discussing the sphere of man we do not decide his rights as an individual, as a citizen, as a man, by his duties as a father, a husband, a brother or a son, some of which he may never undertake. moreover he would be better fitted for these very relations, and whatever special work he might choose to do to earn his bread, by the complete development of all his faculties as an individual. just so with woman. the education which will fit her to discharge the duties in the largest sphere of human usefulness, will best fit her for whatever special work she may be compelled to do. the isolation of every human soul and the necessity of self-dependence must give each individual the right to choose his own surroundings. the strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her forces of mind and body; for giving her the most enlarged freedom of thought and action; a complete emancipation from all forms of bondage, of custom, dependence, superstition; from all the crippling influences of fear--is the solitude and personal responsibility of her own individual life. the strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread, is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty; because, as an individual, she must rely on herself.... to throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes; to deny the rights of property is like cutting off the hands. to refuse political equality is to rob the ostracized of all self-respect, of credit in the market place, of recompense in the world of work, of a voice in choosing those who make and administer the law, a choice in the jury before whom they are tried, and in the judge who decides their punishment. shakespeare's play of titus and andronicus contains a terrible satire on woman's position in the nineteenth century--"rude men seized the king's daughter, cut out her tongue, cut off her hands, and then bade her go call for water and wash her hands." what a picture of woman's position! robbed of her natural rights, handicapped by law and custom at every turn, yet compelled to fight her own battles, and in the emergencies of life to fall back on herself for protection.... how the little courtesies of life on the surface of society, deemed so important from man towards woman, fade into utter insignificance in view of the deeper tragedies in which she must play her part alone, where no human aid is possible! nothing strengthens the judgment and quickens the conscience like individual responsibility. nothing adds such dignity to character as the recognition of one's self-sovereignty; the right to an equal place, everywhere conceded--a place earned by personal merit, not an artificial attainment by inheritance, wealth, family and position. conceding then that the responsibilities of life rest equally on man and woman, that their destiny is the same, they need the same preparation for time and eternity. the talk of sheltering woman from the fierce storms of life is the sheerest mockery, for they beat on her from every point of the compass, just as they do on man, and with more fatal results, for he has been trained to protect himself, to resist, to conquer.... in music women speak again the language of mendelssohn, beethoven, chopin, schumann, and are worthy interpreters of their great thoughts. the poetry and novels of the century are theirs, and they have touched the keynote of reform in religion, politics and social life. they fill the editor's and professor's chair, plead at the bar of justice, walk the wards of the hospital, speak from the pulpit and the platform. such is the type of womanhood that an enlightened public sentiment welcomes to-day, and such the triumph of the facts of life over the false theories of the past. is it, then, consistent to hold the developed woman of this day within the same narrow political limits as the dame with the spinning wheel and knitting needle occupied in the past? no, no! machinery has taken the labors of woman as well as man on its tireless shoulders; the loom and the spinning wheel are but dreams of the past; the pen, the brush, the easel, the chisel, have taken their places, while the hopes and ambitions of women are essentially changed. we see reason sufficient in the outer conditions of human beings for individual liberty and development, but when we consider the self-dependence of every human soul, we see the need of courage, judgment and the exercise of every faculty of mind and body, strengthened and developed by use, in woman as well as man.... with the earnest persuasiveness for which she had been noted nearly half a century, lucy stone (mass.) said: i come before this committee with the sense which i always feel, that we are handicapped as women in what we try to do for ourselves by the single fact that we have no vote. this cheapens us. you do not care so much for us as if we had votes, so that we come always with that infinite disadvantage. but the thing i want to say particularly is that we have our immortal declaration of independence and the various bills of rights of the different states (george washington advised us to recur often to first principles), and in these nothing is clearer than the basis of the claim that women should have equal rights with men. a complete government is a perfectly just government.... what i desire particularly to impress upon this committee is the gross and grave injustice of holding thirty millions of women absolutely helpless under the government. the laws touch us at every point. from the time the girl baby is born until the time the aged woman makes her last will and testament, there is not one of her affairs which the law does not control. it says who shall own the property, and what rights the woman shall have; it settles all her affairs, whether she shall buy or sell or will or deed.... persons are elected by men to represent them in congress and the state legislatures, and here are these millions of women, with just the same stake in the government that men have, with a class interest of their own, and with not one solitary word to say or power to help settle any of the things which concern them. men know the value of votes and the possession of power, and i look at them and wonder how it is possible for them to be willing that their own mothers, sisters, wives and daughters should be debarred from the possession of like power. we have been going to the legislature in massachusetts longer than mrs. stanton has been coming here. we asked that when a husband and wife make a contract with each other, as for instance, if the wife loan the husband her money, the contract should be considered valid just as it would be between any other parties--for now in case the husband fails in business, she can not get her money--and the legislature very kindly gave us leave to withdraw. then we asked that when a man dies and the wife is left alone, with the whole burden of life on her shoulders, the law might give her more than forty days in which to stay in her home without paying rent. but we could not defeat one of our legislators, and they cared not a cent for our petition and less than a cent for our opinion; and so when we asked for this important measure they gave us leave to withdraw. they respect the wants of the voter, but they care nothing about the wants of those who do not have votes. so, when we asked for protection for wives beaten by their husbands, and that the husband should be made to give a portion of his earnings to support the minor children, again we had leave to withdraw.... i can think of nothing so helpless and humiliating as the position of a disfranchised person. i do not know whether i am treading on dangerous toes when i say that, after the late war the government in power wished to punish jefferson davis, and it considered that the worst punishment it could inflict upon him was to take away his right to vote. now, the odium which attached to him from his disfranchisement is just the same as attaches to women from their disfranchisement. the only persons who are not allowed to vote in massachusetts are the lunatics, idiots, felons and people who can not read and write. in what a category is this to place women, after one hundred years and at the close of this nineteenth century? and yet that is history. in massachusetts we are trying to get a small concession--the right to vote in the cities and towns in which we live in regard to the taxes we have to pay. in , in newburyport, mass., it was not thought necessary to give women education. at that time there were no schools for girls; the public money was not so used, and when one man said he had five daughters, and paid his taxes like other men, and his girls were not allowed to attend school, and that they ought to give the girls a chance, another man said, "take the public money and educate shes? never!" remember this was one hundred years ago. some of the fathers urged that the girls should be educated in the public schools, and so the men--god forgive them!--said, "we will let the girls go in the morning between and o'clock, before the boys want the schoolhouse." just think of the time those girls would have to rise in order to have a little instruction before the boys got there! this plan did not work well, and the teacher was directed not to teach females any longer. every descendant of those men now feels ashamed of them; and i think that in one hundred years the children of the men who are now letting us come here, year after year, pleading for suffrage, will feel ashamed. men would rather lose anything than their votes; they would fight for their right of suffrage, and if anybody attempted to deprive them of it there would be war to the knife and the knife to the hilt. we come here to carry on our bloodless warfare, praying that the privilege granted in the foundation of the government should be applied to women.... what we look forward to is part of the eternal order. it is not possible that thirty millions of women should be held forever as lunatics, fools and criminals. it is not possible, as the years go on, that each person should not at least have the right to look after his or her own interests. as the home is at its best when the father and mother consult together in regard to the family interests, so it is with the government. i do not think a man can see from a man's point of view all the things that a woman needs, or a woman from her single point of view all the things that a man needs. now men have brought their best, and also brought their worst, into the government, and it is all here, but the thing you have not at all is the qualities which women possess, the feminine qualities. it has been said that women are more economical, peaceful and law-abiding than men, and all these qualities are lacking in the government today.... but whether this be so or not, it is right that every class should be heard in behalf of its own interest.... now, gentlemen, i hope you will try to make this case your own. it is simple justice and fair play, and it is also a fundamental principle of the government. here we are trying to have a complete republic, and yet there are twelve millions of disfranchised adults. i believe that among the great people--and by the people i do not mean men, but men and women, the whole people--nothing creates such disrespect for a fundamental principle as not to apply it. the government was founded upon the principle that those who obey the laws should make them, and yet it shuts out a full half. as long as this continues to be done, it certainly tends to create disrespect for the principle itself. do you not see it? why not reach out a hand to woman and say, "come and help us make the laws and secure fair play"? at the close of this argument miss anthony said: "we have with us one not so old in our cause as mrs. stone--i never call myself old because i shall be young until the crack of doom--and that is mrs. hooker, a sister of harriet beecher stowe and henry ward beecher. the world has always made special place for the family of beechers." mrs. hooker (conn.) spoke very briefly, saying: "you all know those old jewish words in the decalogue, 'honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land that the lord thy god giveth thee.' if we want to help the republic, if we want to perpetuate the institutions our fathers brought across the water, we must honor the mothers equally with the fathers in the government. to-day the laws compel our sons the moment they are twenty-one to come to us and say: 'my mother, i owe you much; sometimes i think all that is good in me has come from you, but to-day you will retire and i will rule. i will no longer listen to your counsel; but i will make the laws for you and my sisters, and you must obey them. henceforth i am your ruler.' now, friends, a government can not last long which teaches its sons disrespect to its mothers. it is in line with our principles that we recognize the mother element in the government as well as in the family." miss anthony closed the hearing with a strong appeal for a report from the committee which should recommend congress to submit a sixteenth amendment and allow the women of the country to carry their case to the state legislatures. the committee seemed much impressed by the arguments, but evidently there was no change of opinion.[ ] a hearing was granted february by the house judiciary committee, with delegates present from twenty-six states. addresses were made in part as follows: mrs. chapman catt: ... you know that in these modern years there has been a great deal of talk about natural rights, and we have had an innumerable host of philosophers writing books to tell us what natural rights are. i believe that to-day both scientists and philosophers are agreed that they are the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to free speech, the right to go where you will and when you please, the right to earn your own living and the right to do the best you can for yourself. one of the greatest of those philosophers and writers, herbert spencer, has accorded to woman the same natural rights as to man. i believe every thoughtful man in the united states to-day concedes that point. the ballot has been for man a means of defending these natural rights. even now in some localities of the world those rights are still defended by the revolver, as in former days, but in peaceable communities the ballot is the weapon by means of which they are protected. we find, as women citizens, that when we are wronged, when our rights are infringed upon, inasmuch as we have not this weapon with which to defend them, they are not considered, and we are very many times imposed upon. we find that the true liberty or the american people demands that all citizens to whom these rights have been accorded should have that weapon.... mrs. lida a. meriwether (tenn.): "oh, cæsar, we who are about to die salute you!" was the gladiators' cry in the arena, standing face to face with death and with the roman populace. all over this fair city, youth and beauty, freshness and joy, stand with welcoming hands, calling you to all pleasures of ear and eye, of soul and sense. but here, into the inner sanctuary of your deepest, gravest thought, come, year after year, a little band of women over whose heads the snows of many winters and of many sorrows have sifted. here "we who are about to die salute you." we do not come asking for gifts of profit or preferment for ourselves; for us the day for ban or benison has almost passed. but we ask for greater freedom, for better conditions for the children of our love, whom we shall so soon leave behind. in the short space allowed each petitioner we have not time to ask for much. but in my state the grandmothers of seventy are growing weary of being classed with the grandsons of seven. they fail to find a valid reason why they should be relegated to perpetual legal and political childhood. years ago, when the bugle call rang out over this unhappy land, as the men rallied to the standard of their state, we, the wives and mothers, who had no voice in bringing about those cruel conditions, were called to give up our brightest and best for cannons' food. we furnished the provisions, ministered on the battlefield, nursed in the hospital; we, equally with our brothers, regarded "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor" only as gifts held in trust to spend and be spent for home and state. and to-day when we see the wayfaring man, who probably hails from a penal institution of the old world, who honors no home, no country and no political faith, freely enjoying the right to say who shall make and who shall enforce the laws by which we women are governed, we grow weary of being classed as perpetual aliens upon our nation's soil. the honest, industrious, bread-winning women of tennessee do not enjoy the knowledge that the pauper of their state is their political superior. four years ago we saw it practically demonstrated that when a great moral issue was at stake the male pauper could cast his ballot without hindrance from the penal code, but if the widow or the single woman, who earned and owned property and paid her quota of the tax for his support, should attempt to cast a counteracting ballot, her penalty would be fine or imprisonment. year after year we have journeyed to the mecca of the petitioner--the legislative halls. there we have asked protection for our boys from the temptation of the open saloon; we have asked that around our baby girls the wall of protection might be raised at least a little higher than ten years; we have asked for reform schools for boys, where they should not be thrown in daily contact with old and hardened criminals. year after year we have pleaded for better conditions for the children to whom we have given the might of our love, the strength and labor of our lives; but in not one instance has that prayer been granted. and at last we have found the reason why. a senator in a sister state said to a body of petitioners: "ladies, you won't get your bill, but your defeat will be a paying investment if it only teaches you that the politician, little or big, is now, always was, and always will be, the drawn image, pocket edition, safety valve and speaking-trumpet of the fellow that voted him in." gentlemen, we ask your help to the end that not we, perhaps, but the daughters and granddaughters whom we leave behind, may be counted with "those that voted him in." mrs. jean brooks greenleaf (n. y.): soon after i came to washington to make it my home for two years, one clear, bright morning i drove up to this capitol with a friend. as we ascended the hill on the left we warmly expressed our admiration for the beautiful structure within whose walls we are now standing, and were enthusiastic in our admiration for those who so nobly planned that, with the growth of the nation, there could be a commensurate outstretching of its legislative halls without loss to the dignity of the whole. we drove slowly around the front and commenced the descent on the opposite side, when i called to the driver to stop in order that we might feast our eyes on the inspiring view which lay before us. there rose washington monument so simple yet so grand, and i recalled the fact that in its composition it fitly represented the union of the states. my heart swelled and my eyes overflowed as i thought of the grand idea embodied in this government, the possibilities of this country's future. the lines of "my country, 'tis of thee," rose to my lips, but they died there. whence came my right to speak those words? true i was born here; true i was taught from my earliest youth to repeat the glorious words of thomas jefferson, roger sherman and other patriots; but when i grew to womanhood i had to learn the bitter lesson that these words applied only to men; that i simply counted as one in the population; that i must submit to be governed by the laws in the selection of whose makers i had no choice; that my consent to be governed would never be asked; that for my taxation there would be no representation; that, so far as my right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" was concerned, others must judge for me; that i had no voice for myself; that i was a woman without a country, and only on the plane of political equality with the insane, the idiot, the pauper, indians not taxed, the criminal, and the unnaturalized foreigner. honorable gentlemen, women come here annually to ask that these wrongs be righted. to-day we have come again to entreat that, as you have extended this building to meet the needs of the people, you will extend your thought of the people and make it possible that the principle underlying the government of this country may be embodied in a law which will make the daughters of the land joint heirs with the sons to all the rights and privileges of an enfranchised people. in the name of the women of the state of new york, i ask it. miss alice stone blackwell (mass.): except where there is some very strong reason to the contrary, it is generally admitted that every man has a right to be consulted in regard to his own concerns. the laws which he has to obey and the taxes he has to pay are things that do most intimately concern him, and the only way of being directly consulted in regard to them, under our form of government, is through the ballot. is there any very good reason why women should not be free to be consulted in this direct manner? let us consider a few of the reasons which are generally given against this freedom of women, and see whether they are good. it is said that women do not need to vote, because they are virtually represented by their husbands, fathers and brothers. the first trouble with this doctrine of virtual representation is that it is not according to numbers. i know a man who had a wife, a widowed mother, four unmarried daughters and five unmarried sisters. according to this theory his vote represented himself and all those eleven women. yet it counted but one, just the same as the vote of his next-door bachelor neighbor without a female relative in the world. then, again, suppose that all the women in one family do not think alike. a member of our massachusetts legislature had two daughters. one was a suffragist, the other was so much opposed that she used to burn the _woman's journal_ as soon as it came in the house. how was that man to represent both his daughters by his single vote on the suffrage question? instead of two daughters he might have had three, one a republican, one a democrat and the other a prohibitionist. how could he have represented all of them by his one vote unless he had voted "early and often?" again, in order to represent the women of his family a man may have to go without representation himself. there was a case of an old gentleman in chicago, a greenbacker, who had three daughters, all of whom were republicans. when election day approached his three daughters said to him that he was the natural representative of their family--he had always told them so, and they fully agreed with him--and they pointed out to him how very wrong it would be, when that family consisted of three republicans and only one greenbacker, with but one ballot to represent the family, that it should be cast for the greenback candidate. the old gentleman was conscientious and consistent and, although he was a man of strong greenback convictions, he actually voted the republican ticket in order to represent his daughters. it was the nearest he could come to representing them under this theory. but did it give that family any accurate or adequate representation? evidently not. the greenback candidate was entitled to one vote from that family, and he did not get it; and the republican candidate was entitled to three ballots, and he got only one. and then, in order to represent his daughters, that chivalrous father had to go without any representation himself. it is evident that the only fair way to get at public sentiment in such a case is for each member of the family to have one vote, and thus represent himself or herself. another proof that women are not virtually represented is to be found in the laws as they actually exist. these one-sided laws were not made because men meant to be unjust or unkind to women, but simply because they naturally looked at things mainly from their own point of view. it does not indicate any special depravity on the part of men. i have no doubt that if women alone had made the laws, those laws would be just as one-sided as they are to-day, only in the opposite direction. it is said that if women are enfranchised, husbands and wives will vote just alike, and you will simply double the vote and have no change in the result. then, in the next breath, it is said that husbands and wives would vote for opposing candidates, and then there would be matrimonial quarrels. if they vote just alike there will be no harm done, and this good may be done--the women will be broadened by a knowledge of public affairs, and husband and wife will have a subject of mutual interest in which they can sympathize with each other. in cases where husband and wife do not think alike as to who will make the best selectmen, for instance, you will admit that is hardly sufficient to cause them to quarrel; but if they should think differently on very many other points, they would quarrel anyway, so that politics would not make much difference with them. then it is said that women do not want to vote, and in proof it is said they do not vote generally for school committeemen where allowed to do so. we all know that the size of the vote cast at any election is just in proportion to the amount of interest that election calls forth. at a presidential election nearly all the voters turn out; in an ordinary state election only about half; at a municipal election only a small fraction of the men take the trouble to vote. the troy _press_ states that at a recent election in syracuse for a board of education, out of about , qualified voters only voted. then, it is said that this movement is making no progress; that while the movements along other lines are largely succeeding, there has been no advance along this line. twenty-five years ago, with insignificant exceptions, women could not vote anywhere. to-day they have school suffrage in twenty-three states, full suffrage in wyoming, municipal suffrage in kansas, and municipal suffrage for single women and widows in england, scotland and most of the british provinces. the common sense of the world is slowly but surely working toward the enfranchisement of women. mrs. annie l. diggs (kan.): you remember the time when the theoretical objection was often urged that if the suffrage was given to women, men would cease to show them the proper respect. for instance, the weighty argument was made that they would not raise their hats when they met women on the street, and that they would not give up their seats in the cars. but, gentlemen, you should just see how they take off their hats to us in kansas, and how every man of them gets up and offers us his seat when we come into a street car! it was also urged that if the ballot were put into the hands of women it would be detrimental to the interests of the home. there is not a man in the state to-day who would venture to go before a kansas audience and urge that objection. there is not a man there who would be willing to jeopardize his political, social or business interests by casting any kind of obloquy upon the women who have exercised the right of the elective franchise for the last five years. this is the result of success. we have municipal suffrage. one little ounce of fact outweighs whole tons of theory.... the rev. anna howard shaw (penn.): yesterday i noticed in a report of our hearing before the judiciary committee of the house the headline, "appeals to deaf ears". and i said, "has it come to this, that when earnest and sincere women of this great country make an appeal to the heads of the government it is dubbed an 'appeal to deaf ears'?" time was when the british government thought our ancestors had not sufficient merit in their cause to be heard, and when they made an "appeal to deaf ears". but the time came when those ears were unstopped and they heard, and what they heard was the cry of victory by a free people. we may be appealing to deaf ears to-day, but the time is coming when it will not be so. men will hear and, hearing, they will answer, because ultimately men desire the right. if i were asked what i conscientiously believe the real condition of the hearts of most men to be, i should say they are positively ignorant in regard to the justice of this matter, and if it could be brought properly before them, they would stand on the side of justice and right for women. therefore i desire only to say that i know from my travels all over the country, conferring with the intelligent women to bring before them this great principle, that the good work is going on. it may be deafness yesterday and partial hearing to-day, but it will be full hearing to-morrow. to-day we may be blind to the truth; to-morrow we shall see the whole truth. we may not have another centennial before we shall see justice for all human kind. you know, gentlemen, that this government exists for only three things, and in those every woman is as much interested as every man. it exists for the administration of justice, for the protection of person and property, and for the development of society. just as you and all men have persons and property to protect, so we women have. we are because of our nature and because it seems as if the almighty had intended it should be so, more interested than men in the development of society. wherever there is any movement for the uplifting of society you will find women in the forefront. there never has been any great movement in this nation when women have not stood side by side with the noblest and truest men. we do to-day nine-tenths of the philanthropic work, nine-tenths of the church work, and form three-fourths of the church membership. we are the teachers of the young; we are the mothers of the race. if you want the noblest men you must have the noblest mothers. "eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive" the kind of men and women god had in view when he created man in his own likeness and gave to male and female dominion over the world, to subdue it and to bring out of it the best things. you who talk of a great government in which the voice of god is heard must remember that, if "the voice of the people is the voice of god," you never will know what that is until you get the voice of the people, and you will find it has a soprano as well as a bass. you must join the soprano voice of god to the bass voice in order to get the harmony of the divine voice. then you will have a law which will enable you to say, "we are a people justly ruled, because in this nation the voice of the people is the voice of god, and the voice of the people has been heard." mrs. ellen m. bolles (r. i.) said in the course of her remarks: "the conditions surrounding women to-day are quite different from what they were in the days of our grandmothers. women are becoming property earners and owners, as they were not in those former times before they began asking for the ballot. twenty-five per cent. or more of the women of this country are property owners. nearly nine-tenths of the laws are made for the protection of property and of those who own it and who earn wages. now it seems to me that this twenty-five per cent. of the women should have a voice in the making of laws for the protection of their property and of their right to earn a living...." mrs. colby thus closed her address on wyoming: "having thus shown that the twenty-two years' experience of woman suffrage has been satisfactory to the citizens of wyoming; that it has conduced to good order in the elections and to the purity of politics; that the educational system is improved and that teachers are paid without regard to sex; that wyoming stands alone in a decreased proportion of crime and divorce; and that it has elevated the personal character of both sexes--what possible good is there left to speak of as coming to that state from woman suffrage save its position as the vanguard of progress and human freedom. not the bartholdi statue in new york harbor, but wyoming on the crest of the continent, the first true republic, represents liberty enlightening the world." short addresses were made also by mrs. caroline mccullough everhard, mrs. mary jewett telford, the rev. mila f. tupper, mrs. marble, dr. frances dickinson, miss h. augusta howard, mrs. saxon, mrs. hannah j. bailey, mrs. evaleen l. mason and mrs. olive pond amies.[ ] the _post_, in an account of the senate hearing, said: "miss anthony called attention to senator hoar as the gentleman who had presented the first favorable suffrage report to the senate in . everybody shouted "stand up," and as he retired deeper into his leather chair they continued to cry, "up, up!" it was a tableau when the senator found his feet, and at the same time was confronted with a round of applause and a volley of white handkerchiefs waved at him in chautauqua style. he capped the climax by moving at once a favorable report. laurel wreaths and bouquets would have been senator hoar's portion if they had been available, but the women all assured him afterward of their sincere appreciation. the hearing was held in the ladies' reception room, which was completely filled." these matchless arguments had no effect upon the democratic members of the committee, but senator warren of wyoming made a favorable report for himself, senators hoar of massachusetts, quay of pennsylvania and allen of washington, which concluded by saying: "the majority of the members of this committee, believing that equal suffrage, regardless of sex, should be the legitimate outgrowth of the principles of a republican form of government, and that the right of suffrage should be conferred upon the women of the united states, earnestly recommend the passage of the amendment submitted herewith." senators vance of north carolina and george of mississippi filed the same minority report which already had done duty several times, although the former was said to have declared that the speeches of the women surpassed anything he ever had heard, and that their logic, if used in favor of any other measure, could not fail to carry it. footnotes: [ ] david b. culberson, tex.; william c. oates, ala.; thomas r. stockdale, miss.; charles j. boatner, la.; isaac h. goodnight, ky.; john a. buchanan, va.; william d. bynum, ind.; alfred c. chapin, n. y.; fernando c. layton, o.; simon p. wolverton, penn.; case broderick; kan.; james buchanan, n. j.; george w. ray, n. y.; h. henry powers, vt. [ ] zebulon b. vance, n. c.; john g. carlisle, ky.; j. z. george, miss.; george f. hoar, mass.; john b. allen, wash.; matthew s. quay, penn.; francis e. warren, wyo. [ ] after the convention had adjourned miss sara winthrop smith (conn.) made an argument on federal suffrage before the judiciary committee of the house. see chap. i for general statement of position taken by its advocates. chapter xiii. the national-american convention of . at the close of the twenty-fifth annual meeting the washington _evening news_ said: "there will be an exodus from washington during the next three days--an exodus of some of the intellectually powerful and brilliant women who participated in what was agreed to be the brightest and most successful convention ever held by the national suffrage association. whatever may be the opinion of the world at large upon the feasibility or desirability of granting the franchise to women, none who attended their annual reunion of delegates or listened to the addresses of their orators and leaders, can deny that the convention was composed of clever, sensible and attractive women, splendidly representative of their sex and of the present time." after complimentary notices of the leading members, it continued: "'one very pleasant thing connected with our business committee is the beautiful relations existing among its members,' said one of the officers the other evening. 'we all have our opinions and they often differ, but we are absolutely true to each other and to the cause. we are most of us married, and all of us have the co-operation of our husbands and fathers. of the business committee of nine, six are married. for the past two years we have had one man on our board, the hon. wm. dudley foulke, but as a rule men have not the time and thought to give this subject, as they are engaged in more remunerative employment.' the self-control and good-nature prevailing even in the heated debate on the religious liberty interference resolution have already been alluded to in our columns." miss susan b. anthony presided over the convention, jan. - , , held in metzerott's music hall and preceded by the usual religious services sunday afternoon. the sermon was given by the rev. annis f. eastman (n. y.), an ordained congregational minister, from the text in isaiah, "take away the yoke." the memorial service, which was of unusual impressiveness, opened with the reading by miss anthony of mrs. elizabeth cady stanton's tribute to the distinguished dead of the past year who advocated equality of rights for women--george william curtis, john greenleaf whittier, ernestine l. rose, abby hutchinson patton and others.[ ] of mr. curtis she said: if the success of our cause could be assured by the high character of the men who from the beginning have identified themselves with it, woman would have been emancipated long ago. a reform advocated by garrison, phillips, emerson, alcott, theodore parker, gerrit smith, samuel j. may and george william curtis must be worthy the consideration of statesmen and bishops. for more than one generation mr. curtis maintained a brave attitude on this question. as editor of _harper's magazine_, and as a popular lecturer on the lyceum platform, he was ever true to his convictions. before the war his lecture on fair play for women aroused much thought among the literary and fashionable classes. in the new york constitutional convention in , a most conservative body, mr. curtis, though a young man and aware that he had but little sympathy among his compeers, bravely demanded that the word "male" should be stricken from the suffrage article of the proposed constitution. his speech on that occasion, in fact, philosophy, rhetoric and argument never has been surpassed in the english language. from the beginning of his public life to its close mr. curtis was steadfast on this question. _harper's magazine_ for june, , contains his last plea for woman and for a higher standard for political parties.... mrs. ernestine l. rose, exiled from poland on account of her religious faith, married an englishman and came to america, where she was one of the first and most eloquent of the women who spoke on the public platform. in she circulated petitions for the property rights of married women, in company with mrs. paulina wright (davis), and presented them to the new york legislature. for forty years she was among the ablest advocates of the rights of women, lecturing also on religion, government and other subjects. mrs. abby hutchinson patton was lovingly referred to, the last but one of that family who had sung so many years for freedom, not only for the negro but for woman. whittier, the uncompromising advocate of liberty for woman as well as for man, was eulogized in fitting terms. the hon. a. g. riddle (d. c.) offered a fine testimonial to francis minor and gen. benjamin f. butler, saying: "mr. minor was the first to urge the true and sublime construction of that noble amendment born of the war. it declares that all persons--not simply males--born or naturalized in the united states are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. those who are denied or are refused the right to exercise the privileges and franchises of citizenship are less than citizens. those who still declare that women may not vote, simply write 'falsehood' across that glorious declaration." general butler, as a leading member of the house judiciary committee, in a matchless argument had asserted the right of women to vote under the fourteenth amendment,[ ] and used all his influence to secure suffrage for women. miss anthony said in part: the good of this hour is that it brings to the knowledge of the young the work of the pioneers who have passed away. it seems remarkable to those standing, as i do, one of a generation almost ended, that so many of these young people know nothing of the past; they are apt to think they have sprung up like somebody's gourd, and that nothing ever was done until they came. so i am always gratified to hear these reminiscences, that they may know how others have sown what they are reaping to-day. one of the earliest advocates of this cause was sally holly, the daughter of myron holly, founder of the liberty party in the state of new york, and also founder of unitarianism in the city of rochester. frederick douglass will say a few words in regard to sally holly, and of such of the others as he may feel moved to speak; and i want to say that when, at the very first convention called and managed by women, elizabeth cady stanton read her resolution that the elective franchise is the underlying right, there was but one man to stand with her, and that man was frederick douglass. mr. douglass (d. c.) told of attempting to speak in buffalo against slavery in , when every hall was closed to him and he went into an abandoned storeroom: i continued from day to day speaking in that old store to laborers from the wharves, cartmen, draymen and longshoremen, until after awhile the room was crowded. no woman made her appearance at the meetings, but day after day for six days in succession i spoke--morning, afternoon and evening. on the third day there came into the room a lady leading a little girl. no greater contrast could possibly have been presented than this elegantly dressed, refined and lovely woman attempting to wend her way through that throng. i don't know that she showed the least shrinking from the crowd, but i noticed that they rather shrank from her, as if fearful that the dust of their garments would soil hers. her presence to me at that moment was as if an angel had been sent from heaven to encourage me in my anti-slavery endeavors. she came day after day thereafter, and at last i had the temerity to ask her name. she gave it--sally holly. "a daughter of myron holly?" said i. "yes," she answered. i understood it all then, for he was amongst the foremost of the men in western new york in the anti-slavery movement. his home was in rochester and his dust now lies in mt. hope, the beautiful cemetery of that city. over him is a monument, placed there by that other true friend of women, gerrit smith of peterboro.... i have seen the hutchinson family in a mob in new york. when neither mr. garrison, mr. phillips nor mr. burleigh, nor any one could speak, when there was a perfect tempest and whirlwind of rowdyism in the old tabernacle on broadway, then this family would sing, and almost upon the instant that they would raise their voices, so perfect was the music, so sweet the concord, so enchanting the melody, that it came down upon the audience like a summer shower on a dusty road, subduing, settling everything. i can not add to the paper which mrs. stanton has sent. after her--silence. your cause has raised up no voice so potent as that of elizabeth cady stanton--no living voice except yours, madame president. how delighted i am to see that you have the image of lucretia mott here [referring to her marble bust on the stage]. i am glad to be here, glad to be counted on your side, and glad to be able to remember that those who have gone before were my friends. i was more indebted to whittier perhaps than to any other of the anti-slavery people. he did more to fire my soul and enable me to fire the souls of others than any other man. it was whittier and pierpont who feathered our arrows, shot in the direction of the slave power, and they did it well. no better reading can now be had in favor of the rights of woman or the liberties of man than is to be found in their utterances.... miss clara barton (d. c.) spoke in a touching manner of the great service rendered to humanity by dr. harriet n. austin, who assisted dr. james c. jackson to establish the "home on the hillside," the dansville (n. y.) sanitorium. henry b. blackwell told of john l. whiting, "a power and a strength to the massachusetts suffrage association for many years, one of those rare men not made smaller by wealth, and always willing to give himself, his mind, his heart, his money, to help the cause of woman." the rev. anna howard shaw said in part: i have been asked to speak a word of mrs. ralph waldo emerson. it has been said by some people that we have wrongfully quoted mr. emerson as being on our side. his biographers appear to have put in his early statements and forgotten to include his later declarations, which were all in favor of the enfranchisement of women. i was once sent to concord by the massachusetts society to hold a meeting. the churches were closed against suffrage speakers and there was not money enough to pay for a hall. mrs. ralph waldo emerson heard the meeting was to be given up, and she sent a message to the lady having the work in charge, saying: "shall it be said that here in concord, where the revolutionary war began, there is no place to speak for the freedom of women? get the best hall in town and i will pay for it." so on that occasion and on another mrs. emerson paid for the hall and sent a kind word to the meeting, declaring herself in favor of the suffrage for women, and stating that her husband's views and her own were identical on this question. she had the new england trait of being a good wife, a good mother and a good housekeeper, and mr. emerson's home was a restful and blessed place. we sometimes forget the wives of great men in thinking of the greatness of their husbands, but mrs. emerson was as great in her way as mr. emerson in his, and no more faithful friend to woman and to woman's advancement ever has lived among us.[ ] a word as to the rev. anna oliver, the first woman to enter the theological department of boston university. she was much beloved by her class. she was a devoted christian, eminently orthodox, and a very good worker in all lines of religious effort. after miss oliver graduated she was ambitious to become ordained, as all women ought to be who desire to preach the gospel; and so after i had graduated from the theological school, the year following, we both applied to the conference of the methodist episcopal church for admission. miss oliver's name beginning with o and mine with s, her case was presented first. she was denied ordination by bishop andrews. our claims were carried to the general conference in cincinnati, and the methodist episcopal church denied ordination to the women whom it had graduated in its schools and upon whom it had conferred the degree of bachelor of divinity. it not only did this, but it made a step backwards; it took from us the licenses to preach which had been granted to miss oliver for four years and to myself for eight years. but miss oliver was earnest in her efforts, and so she began to preach in the city of brooklyn, and with great courage bought a church in which a man had failed as a minister, leaving a debt of $ , . she was like a great many other women--and here is a warning for all women. god made a woman equal to a man, but he did not make a woman equal to a woman _and_ a man. we usually try to do the work of a man and of a woman too; then we break down, and they say that women ought not to be ministers because they are not strong enough. they do not get churches that can afford to send them to europe on a three months' vacation once a year. miss oliver was not only the minister and the minister's wife, but she started at least a dozen reforms and undertook to carry them all out. she was attacked by that influential methodist paper, the _christian advocate_, edited by the rev. dr. james m. buckley, who declared that he would destroy her influence in the church, and so with that great organ behind him he attacked her. she had that to fight, the world to fight and the devil to fight, and she broke down in health. she went abroad to recover, but came home only to die.[ ] the death of those less widely known was touchingly referred to by women of the different states. miss anthony closed the services by saying: "i am just informed that we must add to this list the revered name of abby hopper gibbons, of four-score-and-ten, who with her father, isaac t. hopper, formed the women's prison association, and who has stood for more than the allotted years of man the sentinel on the watch-tower to guard unfortunate women and help them back into womanly living." at the first evening session miss anthony, in her president's address, answered the question, "what has been gained by the forty years' work?" she called attention to the woman who had preached the day before, ordained by an orthodox denomination; to the women alternate delegates to the late national republican convention; to the recommendation of gov. roswell p. flower that women should be delegates to the approaching new york constitutional convention. she pointed out rapidly many other straws showing the direction of the wind, saying: "wendell phillips said what he wanted to do on the abolition question was to turn congress into an anti-slavery debating society. that is what we have done with every educational, industrial, religious and political body--we have turned them all into debating societies on the woman question." u. s. senator joseph m. carey (wy.) sent a letter reaffirming his conviction that the granting of full political rights to women would be for the best interests of the country. mr. blackwell sketched the successive extensions of suffrage to women, and set forth the special importance of their trying to secure the municipal and the presidential franchises, both of which could be granted by the legislature. mrs. ellen battelle dietrick (mass.) read an able paper on the best methods of interesting women in suffrage, in which she said: the truth is, the american woman has been so pleasantly soothed by the sweet opiate of that high-sounding theory of her "sovereignty," that until very recently she could not be aroused to examine the facts. forty years ago the voices of a few crying in the wilderness began to prepare the way for the present awakening.... the deliverance of woman must have as its corner-stone self-support. the first step in this direction must be to explode the fallacy that marriage is a state of being supported. as men are most largely the gatherers of money, it is mistakenly assumed that they are most largely the creators of wealth. the man goes abroad and gives his daily labor toward earning his board and clothes; but what he actually receives for his work can neither be eaten nor worn. it does nothing whatever until he puts it into his wife's hands, and upon her intelligence, energy and ability depend how much can be done through the using of it. not until her labor in transforming raw material, in cooking, sewing, and rendering a house habitable, is joined to his, can a man be said to have really received anything worth having. he begins, she completes, the making of their joint wealth. their dependence is mutual; the position of the one who turns the money into usable material by her labor being equally important, equally valuable, with that of him who turned his labor into money; and this must be fully recognized if woman is ever to come into her true relation to man. she supports him exactly as he supports her, and this is equally the case with the wife who herself produces directly, or the one who gives her time and intelligence to direct the production of others.... closely allied to the fallacy that man supports woman is the fallacy that man protects woman, and has a right to control her by virtue of this protection. there was a period in the world's transition from savagery to civilization when mankind had so little conception of the mutuality of human interests that war was a perpetual condition of society. originally women also were fighters; just as the lioness or tigress is as capable as her mate of self-defense and protection of her young, so the savage woman, when necessity required, was equally capable of conducting warfare in the same cause. but long before men had given up killing each other for the better business of trading with and helping each other woman had ceased to be a fighter. she was the first to see the advantages of peace, both because she was the earliest manufacturer and trader and because it cost her more in the production of every soldier than it cost man. instinct directed her toward peace long before reason made it possible for her to explain why she hated war, and she hated it as an occupation for herself long before it occurred to her to despise it as an occupation for man. to-day the love of peace and hatred for war which she is rapidly spreading through the world is the real protector of woman; she is a self-protector by virtue of this proclivity, and, as war is equally the enemy of man, here again woman gives to man as much as she receives. whatever force the argument based on the right of soldiers to rule may once have had is rapidly passing away. the era of the destroyer is dying, the epoch of the creator is coming in.... the subjugation of woman doubtless arose from an honest desire of man to protect her. his mistake lay in assuming that his mind and will could do private and public duty for both. woman's mistake lay in assuming that she might with safety permit man's mind and will to discharge the duties nature meant to be fulfilled by her own. unhappily nature has a way of allowing the human race to learn by its own experience, even though the lesson consume ages of time; and she has also a rule that unused faculties and functions fall into a state of atrophy. it was by such a substitution of masculine for feminine will that woman fell so far behind him whom she originally led in the race, industrial and intellectual. if they are ever to march side by side as true comrades and free partners, it must be by a voluntary resumption of independence in feminine mind and will. in this man can assist by stimulating her spirit of independence, or he can discourage it by a contrary course, but the final result lies with woman herself. she alone can free herself from the habits of thought and action engendered by thousands of years of slavery. the steps toward the emancipation of women are first intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. great strides in the first two of these stages already have been made by millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely carrying them towards the last. in the address of mrs. ruth c. d. havens (d. c.) on the girl of the future, which was greatly enjoyed, she said: the training and education of the girl of the present have seldom been discussed except from one standpoint--her suitable preparation for becoming an economical housekeeper, an inexpensive wife, a willing and self-forgetful mother, a cheap, unexacting, patient, unquestioning, unexpectant, ministering machine. the girl's usefulness to herself, to her sex and race, her preferences, tastes, happiness, social, intellectual or financial prosperity, hardly have entered into the thought upon this question.... if woman would be a student, a scientist, a lecturer, a physician; if she would be a pioneer in a wilderness of scoffers to make fair roads up which her sex might easily travel to equal educational and legal rights, equal privileges and pay in fields of labor, equal suffrage--she must divide her eager energies and give the larger half to superior homekeeping, wifehood and motherhood, in order that her new gospel shall be received with any respect or acceptance. and probably no class of women have been such sticklers for the cultivation of all woman's modest, unassuming home duties as have been the great, ambitious teachers on this suffrage platform.... but this will not be the training of the girl of the future. it is not the sort of preparation to which the boy of the present is urged. "jack of all trades, good at none" is the old epithet bestowed upon a man who thus diffuses his energies. you do not expect a distinguished lawyer to clean his own clothes, a doctor to groom his horse, a teacher to take care of the schoolhouse furnace, a preacher to half-sole his shoes. this would be illogical, and men are nothing if not logical. yet a woman who enters upon any line of achievement is invariably hampered, for at least the early years, with the inbred desire to add to the labor of her profession all the so-called feminine duties, which, fulfilled to-day, are yet to be done to-morrow, which bring to her neither comfort, gain nor reputation, and which by their perpetual demand diminish her powers for a higher quality of work.... everywhere there is too much housekeeping. it is not economy of time or money for every little family of moderate means to undertake alone the expensive and wearing routine. the married woman of the future will be set free by co-operative methods, half the families on a square, perhaps, enjoying one luxurious, well-appointed dining-room with expenses divided _pro rata_. in many other ways housekeeping will be simplified. homes have no longer room for people--they are consecrated to things. parlors and bedrooms are full of the cheap and incongruous or expensive and harmonious belongings of a junk shop. plush gods hold the fort. all the average house needs to make it a museum is the sign, "hands off." ... the girl of the future will select her own avocation and take her own training for it. if she be a houseworker, and many will prefer to be, she will be so valuable in that line as to command much respect and good wages. if she be an architect, a jeweler, an electrical engineer, she will not rob a cook by mutilating a dinner, or a dressmaker by amateur cutting and sewing, or a milliner by creating her own bonnet. the house helper will not be incompetent, because the development and training of woman for her best and truest work will have extended to her also, and she will do housework because she loves it and is better adapted to it than to any other employment. she will preside in the kitchen with skill and science. the service girl of the future will be paid perhaps double or treble her present wages, with wholesome food, a cheerful room, an opportunity to see an occasional cousin and some leisure for recreation. at present this would be ruinous, and why? because too frequently the family has but one producer. the wife, herself a consumer, produces more consumers. daughters grow up around a man like lilies of the field, which toil not, neither do they spin. every member of every family in the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. the only one who will have the right of exemption will be the mother, for a child can hardly be born with cheerful views of living whose mother's life has been, for its sake, a double burden. from this root spring melancholy, insanity, suicide. the production of human souls is the highest production of all, the one which requires most preparation, truest worth, gravest care and holiest consecration. if the girl of the future recognizes this truth, she will have made an advance indeed. but apart from the mother every member of the family should be a material producer; and then there will be means sufficient for the producer in the kitchen to get such remuneration for her skill as will eliminate the incompetent, shirking, migratory creature of today.... i hardly need say to this audience that the girl of the future will vote. she will not plead for the privilege--she will be urged to exercise the right, and no one will admit that he ever opposed it, or remember that there was a time when woman's ballot was despised and rejected of men. she will not be told that she needs the suffrage for her own protection, but she will be urged to exercise it for the good of her country and of humanity. it will not be known that the declaration of independence was once a dead letter. no one will believe that it ever was declared that the constitution did not protect this right. it will be incredible that women were once neither people nor citizens, _and yet were the mothers, and in so much the creators, of the men who governed them_. mrs. mary s. lockwood (d. c.), member-at-large of the world's fair board of lady managers, read a carefully prepared statement of the methods and aims of that body, which began: "the board of lady managers owe their existence to susan b. anthony and her co-workers. it was these women who went before congress and not only asked but demanded that women should have a place in the management of this columbian exposition--and they got it"![ ] she closed as follows: i have been greatly impressed as i have come into this hall from day to day, and have looked upon the sweet representative face in marble of lucretia mott and the benign, glorified face of mrs. stanton, with susan b. anthony as the central figure of the trio, and have thought of the years they have lifted up their voices praying they might see the glory of the coming of the lord; and i have felt if only i could bring before them the sheaves which we are gathering from the women of the earth for this great exposition; if only i could show them how their work has put the women of this nation in touch with the women of every other country, awakening them to new aspirations, new hopes, new efforts, to whom the dawn of a brighter day is visible--these pioneers would say, "our eyes are indeed opened; a handful of corn planted on the top of the mountain has been made to shake all lebanon." miss mary h. williams (neb.) reported that, as chairman of a committee for this purpose, she had sent letters to forty-nine governors of states and territories; twenty-one replies had been received--nine in favor of full suffrage for women, two of school suffrage only, three were totally opposed and the others made evasive replies. the nine in favor were governors barber of wyoming, routt of colorado, mellette of south dakota, winans of michigan, thomas of utah, burke of north dakota, humphrey of kansas, colcord of nevada, knapp of alaska. all of these were western men and all republicans but winans. tillman of south carolina and willey of idaho favored school suffrage alone. stone of mississippi and fleming of west virginia answered "no". gov. james e. boyd of nebraska was opposed, although he would allow women to vote on school questions. governor boyd's election had been contested on the ground that his father had not been properly naturalized. gov. thomas m. holt of north carolina replied: "i am utterly opposed to woman suffrage in any shape or form. i have a wife and three daughters, all married, who are as much opposed to women going into politics as i am, and they _reflex_ the sentiment of our southern women generally." gov. francis p. fleming of florida gave nine reasons why he was opposed, but concluded: "the above objections would not as a rule apply to church or school elections, and as women are usually much more pious than men and take more interest in church matters, i am inclined to think it would be well for them to vote at church elections, and am not aware of any particular objection to their voting at school elections." the address of mrs. orra langhorne (va.) was read by her niece, miss henderson dangerfield. it gave a charming picture of the oldtime southern woman, her responsible social position, her care for her great household in her own small world; described how she was handicapped by tradition and lack of intellectual training; depicted the changed conditions since the war and her gradual awakening to the demands of modern life and the need of larger rights. lucy stone was not able to be present and a letter from her was read by her husband, mr. blackwell: dear friends:--wherever woman suffragists are gathered together in the name of equal rights, there am i always in spirit with them. although unable to be present in person, my glad greeting goes to you, every one, to those who have borne the heat and burden of the day, and to the strong, brave, younger workers who have come to lighten the load and help bring the victory. the work still calls for patient perseverance and ceaseless endeavor; but we have every reason to rejoice when there are so many gains and when favorable conditions abound on every hand. the end is not yet in sight, but it can not be far away. the road before us is shorter than the road behind. this was her last message to the association. she passed away in october of this year, having labored nearly half a century for the enfranchisement of women. mrs. carrie chapman catt, in an address entitled comparisons are odious, showed the contrast between the government's treatment of the sioux indians, exempted from taxation and allowed to vote, and of law-abiding, intelligent women in the same section of the country, compelled to pay taxes and not allowed to vote.[ ] miss elizabeth upham yates closed the evening with a brilliant address. before adjourning miss anthony read gov. roswell p. flower's certificate appointing her a member of the board of managers of the state industrial school at rochester, n. y. she took considerable satisfaction in pointing out that it referred to her as "him," because she had always contended that, if the masculine pronoun in an official document is sufficient to send a woman to the jail or the gallows, it is sufficient to enable her to vote and hold office. on the last evening, the hon. carroll d. wright, u. s. commissioner of labor, delivered a valuable address on the industrial emancipation of women, in which he said: until within a comparatively recent period, woman's subjection to man has been well-nigh complete in all respects, whether such subjection is considered from a social, political, intellectual or even a physical point of view. at first the property of man, she emerged under civilization from the sphere of a drudge to that of a social factor and, consequently, into the liberty of cultivating her mental faculties.... industrial emancipation, using the term broadly, means the highest type of woman as the result, the word "industrial" comprehending in this sense all remunerative employment. the entrance of woman into the industrial field was assured when the factory system of labor displaced the domestic or hand labor system. the age of invention, with the wonderful ramifications which invention always has produced, must be held accountable for bringing woman into a field entirely unknown to her prior to that age. as an economic factor, either in art, literature or industry, she was before that time hardly recognizable. with the establishment of the factory system, the desire of woman to have something more than she could earn as a domestic or in agricultural labor, or to earn something where before she had earned nothing, resulted in her becoming an economic factor, and she was obliged to submit to all the conditions of this new position. it hardly can be said that in the lower forms of industrial pursuits she superseded man, but it is true that she supplemented his labors.... each step in industrial progress has raised her in the scale of civilization rather than degraded her. as a result she has constantly gone up higher and gained intellectual advantages, such as the opening to her of the higher institutions of learning, which have in turn equipped her for the best professional employment. the moral plane of the so-called workingwoman certainly is higher than that of the woman engaged in domestic service, and is equal to that of any class of women in the community.... as women have occupied the positions of bookkeepers, telegraphers and many of what might be called semi-professional callings, men have entered engineering, electrical, mechanical and other spheres of work which were not known when women first stepped into the industrial field. as the latter have progressed from entire want of employment to that which pays a few dollars per week, men, too, have progressed in their employments, and occupied larger fields not existing before.... woman is now stepping out of industrial subjection and coming into the industrial system of the present as an entirely new economic factor. if there were no other reasons, this alone would be sufficient to make her wages low and prevent their very rapid increase.... the growing importance of woman's labor, her general equipment through technical education, her more positive dedication to the life-work she chooses, the growing sentiment that an educated and skilful woman is a better and truer companion in marriage than an ignorant and unskilful one, her appreciation of the value of organization, the general uplifting of the principle of integrity in business circles, woman's gradual approach to man's powers in mental achievement also, her possible and probable political influence--all these combined, working along general avenues of progress and evolution, will bring her industrial emancipation, by which she will stand on an equality with man in those callings in life for which she may be fitted. as she approaches this equality her remuneration will be increased and her economic importance acknowledged.... if woman's industrial emancipation leads to what many are pleased to call "political rights," we must not quarrel with it. it is not just that all other advantages which may come through this emancipation shall be withheld simply because one great privilege on which there is a division of sentiment may also come. one of the greatest boons which will result from the industrial emancipation of woman will be the frank admission on the part of the true and chivalric man that she is the sole and rightful owner of her own being in every respect, and that whatever companionship may exist between her and man shall be as thoroughly honorable to her as to him. miss harriet may mills (n. y.) gave a paper on the present political status of woman, which showed the trained mind and logical method of thought one would expect from a graduate of cornell university. the last address of the convention was given by the rev. anna howard shaw, entitled the america undiscovered by columbus. this, like so many of miss shaw's unsurpassed lectures, will be lost to posterity because unwritten and not stenographically reported. in her report as vice-president-at-large miss shaw announced that she had given during the year lectures for which she had received pay, twenty-five of these for suffrage associations and the rest for temperance and literary organizations, but on every occasion it had been a suffrage lecture. in addition she had given gratuitously to the service of this cause lectures which at her regular price would have amounted to $ , . she also related the following incident: "i was present at the national woman's christian temperance union in denver, and miss willard introduced me as a fraternal delegate from the national suffrage association. i made my little speech and the whole convention arose and waved their handkerchiefs at the message sent by this body. one woman jumped to her feet and moved that a telegram be returned from that convention, giving its sisterly sympathy. miss willard got up and said, 'shoo, ladies; this is different from what it was in washington in , when you refused to let me have miss anthony on my platform. things are coming around, girls.'" the corresponding secretary, mrs. rachel foster avery, announced that thirty-three state associations were auxiliary to the national. miss adelaide johnson was introduced as the sculptor who had modeled the fine busts of lucretia mott, mrs. stanton and miss anthony, which were on the platform. miss laura clay reported on the work that had just been commenced in the southern states, which she considered a most hopeful field. in the discussion on press work, when it was proposed that the association start an official paper, miss anthony said with much feeling: "i had an experience in publishing a paper about twenty-five years ago and i came to grief. i never hear of a woman starting a suffrage paper that my blood does not tingle with agony for what that poor soul will have to endure--the same agony i went through. i feel, however, that we shall never become an immense power in the world until we concentrate all our money and editorial forces upon one great national daily newspaper, so we can sauce back our opponents every day in the year; once a month or once a week is not enough. the resolutions presented by the chairman, mrs. dietrick, were adopted without dissent,[ ] except the last: whereas, the constitution of the united states promises noninterference with the religious liberty of the people; and whereas, congress is now threatening to abridge the liberties of all in response to ecclesiastical dictation from a portion of the people; therefore, _resolved_, that this association enters a protest against any national attempt to control the innocent inclinations of the people either on the jewish sabbath or the christian sunday, and this we do quite irrespective of our individual opinions as to the sanctity of sunday. _resolved_, that we especially protest against this present attempt to force all the people to follow the religious dictates of a part of the people, as establishing a precedent for the entrance of a most dangerous complicity between church and state, thereby subtly undermining the foundation of liberty, so carefully laid by the wisdom of our fathers. this precipitated the discussion as to the opening of the world's fair on sunday which had been vigorously waged during two preceding conventions without resulting in definite action. it was now continued during three sessions and then, by majority vote, indefinitely postponed. mrs. avery, chairman of the columbian exposition committee,[ ] closed her report as follows: "as we are to be represented in so many ways during the world's fair--i. e., at the world's congress of representative women, in the suffrage congresses, in the meetings to be held in the auditorium of the woman's building, in the program to be presented by us for the approval of the committee on general meetings of the board of lady managers--i would strongly urge against attempting to hold a separate suffrage congress, either national or international, during the exposition." this was agreed to. the congressional committee, through mrs. harriet taylor upton, reported that letters had been sent to members of congress asking for an expression on the question of woman suffrage. of those who responded fifty-nine were in favor of full suffrage; twenty-five of qualified suffrage; sixty-five wholly opposed. the remainder did not reply, although stamps were enclosed. this committee also arranged for the printing, purchasing and distributing of , copies of the senate and house hearings. the report concluded: "the time has come when women wanting legislation must proceed exactly as men do who want it. no man procures an office for himself or a friend, nor does any man or association get an act passed, unless the claim is persistently pressed, not only upon the members of the committee in charge of it but upon his friends and acquaintances in congress. there is no use in supposing the justice or right of a question, without persistent work, is going to bring about a reform."[ ] mrs. colby, chairman of the committee on federal suffrage, appointed to urge the legal right of women to vote for representatives under the u. s. constitution, reported that she had sent a copy of francis minor's argument to every member of the judiciary committee of the house of representatives, with a personal letter asking for an opinion, and that not one replied. petitions were sent from twenty states, including suffrage associations, temperance societies, granges, etc. letters asking an opinion were written to nineteen senators who were considered friendly to the enfranchisement of women, and only one answered, joseph n. dolph of oregon. miss sara winthrop smith (conn.) opened the discussion.[ ] the motion of miss alice stone blackwell to amend the constitution so that it would not be obligatory to hold every annual convention in washington, was amended by mrs. avery to the effect that "the annual delegate convention shall be held in washington during the first session of each congress, in order to influence national legislation; the meeting of the alternate conventions to be left an open question." miss anthony was greatly opposed to holding any of the national meetings outside of washington, and in a forcible speech she said: the sole object, it seems to me, of this organization is to bring the combined influence of all the states upon congress to secure national legislation. the very moment you change the purpose of this great body from national to state work you have defeated its object. it is the business of the states to do the district work; to create public sentiment; to make a national organization possible; and then to bring their united power to the capital and focus it on congress. our younger women naturally can not appreciate the vast amount of work done here in washington by the national association in the last twenty-five years. the delegates do not come here as individuals but as representatives of their entire states. we have had these conventions here for a quarter of a century, and every congress has given hearings to the ablest women we could bring from every section. in the olden times the states were not fully organized--they had not money enough to pay their delegates' expenses. we begged and worked and saved the money and the national association paid the expenses of delegates from oregon and california in order that they might come and bring the influence of their states to bear upon congress. last winter we had twenty-three states represented by delegates. think of those twenty-three women going before the senate committee, each making her speech, and showing these senators the interest in all these states. we have educated at least a part of three or four hundred men and their wives and daughters every two years to return as missionaries to their respective localities. i shall feel it a grave mistake if you vote in favor of a movable convention. it will lessen our influence and our power; but come what may, i shall abide by the decision of the majority. miss anthony was strongly supported by miss shaw, mrs. colby, mrs. louisa southworth, mrs. rosa l. segur, mrs. olivia b. hall, mrs. jean brooks greenleaf and others. mrs. claudia quigley murphy (o.) expressed the sentiment of the other side in saying: it seems better to sow the seed of suffrage throughout the country by means of our national conventions. we may give the people mass meetings and district and state conventions and various other things, but we can never give them anything as good as the national convention. we must get down to the unit of our civilization, which is the individual voter or person. we have worked for twenty-five years here among the legislators at washington; we have gone to the halls of congress and to the legislatures, and we have found the average legislator to be but a reflex of the sentiment of his constituents. if we wish representation at washington we can send our delegation to the halls of congress this year and next year, the same as we have done in the past. this great convention does not go to congress; it sends a committee.... let us get down to the people and sow the seed among them. it is the people we want to reach if we expect good results. the amendment was warmly advocated by mr. and miss blackwell, miss clay, mrs. dietrick, mrs. esther f. boland and others. it was finally adopted by a vote of yeas, nays. among the many excellent state reports that of kansas, prepared by mrs. laura m. johns and read by miss jennie, daughter of representative case broderick, was of special interest, as a suffrage campaign was imminent in that state and the national association had resolved to contribute speakers and money. it spoke of the great canvass of thirty conventions the previous year, with mrs. johns as chairman and a large corps of speakers from outside and inside the state; of their cordial reception by the republican state convention; of the benefits of municipal suffrage; and ended with an earnest appeal for the friends to rally to the support of kansas. brief remarks were made by the wives of representatives john g. otis of kansas and halbert s. greenleaf of new york. letters of greeting were received from mrs. annie besant of england, and many others. bishop john f. hurst, of the methodist episcopal church, in regretting that it was impossible to accept the invitation to address the convention, said: "i have the fullest sympathy with your work and have had for many years. i believe that every year brings nearer the great achievement when women will have the right of the ballot if they please to use it." footnotes: [ ] bishop phillips brooks, who declared himself unequivocally for woman suffrage, died the week following the convention. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. . [ ] for other instances see life and work of susan b. anthony, pp. , . [ ] the rev. anna oliver left $ , to the national suffrage association. [ ] for the part of miss anthony and others in securing this board, see chap. xiv. [ ] as mrs. chapman catt spoke always without ms., it is impossible to give extracts from her speeches, which were among the ablest made at the national conventions. [ ] _resolved_, that without expressing any opinion on the proper qualifications for voting, we call attention to the significant facts that in every state there are more women who can read and write than the whole number of illiterate male voters; more white women who can read and write than all negro voters; more american women who can read and write than all foreign voters; so that the enfranchisement of such women would settle the vexed question of rule by illiteracy, whether of home-grown or foreign-born production. _resolved_, that as all experience proves that the rights of the laboring man are best preserved in governments where he has possession of the ballot, we therefore demand on behalf of the laboring woman the same powerful instrument, that she may herself protect her own interests; and we urge all organized bodies of working women, whether in the field of philanthropy, education, trade, manufacture or general industry, to join our association in the endeavor to make woman legally and politically a free agent, as the best means for furthering any and every line of woman's work. _resolved_, that in all states possessing school suffrage for women, suffragists are advised to organize in each representative district thereof, for the purpose of training and stimulating women voters to exercise regularly this right, using it as a preparatory school for the coming work of full-grown citizenship with an unlimited ballot. we also advise that women everywhere work for the election of an equal number of women and men upon school boards, that the state in taking upon itself the education of children may provide them with as many official mothers as fathers. whereas, many forms of woman suffrage may be granted by state legislatures without change in existing constitutions; therefore, _resolved_, that the suffragists in every state should petition for municipal, school and presidential suffrage by statute, and take every practicable step toward securing such legislation. _resolved_, that we urge all women to enter protest, at the time of paying taxes, at being compelled to submit to taxation without representation. [ ] rachel foster avery, susan b. anthony, alice stone blackwell, ellen battelle dietrick, elizabeth boynton harbert, the rev. florence kollock, lida a. meriwether, the rev. anna howard shaw, may wright sewall, mrs. leland stanford, elizabeth cady stanton, lucy stone, jane h. spofford, harriet taylor upton. [ ] during the years when mrs. upton's father, the hon. ezra b. taylor of ohio, was in congress, she made it her especial business to press this matter upon the members. at least two favorable reports were due to her efforts, and the association greatly missed her congressional work when she left washington. [ ] the arguments for federal suffrage are contained in chapter i. chapter xiv. the national-american convention of . the call for the twenty-sixth annual convention contained this paragraph of hope and joy: "the government's recognition of women on the board of managers for the world's columbian exposition; the world's congress of representative women--the greatest convocation of women ever assembled; their participation in the entire series of congresses; the gaining of full suffrage in colorado--all give to our demand for equality for women unprecedented prestige in the world of thought." the meetings were held in metzerott's music hall, washington, d. c., feb. - , . an excellent summary of the week was given by the secretary, miss alice stone blackwell, in the _woman's journal_, of which she was editor: over the platform was draped a large suffrage flag, bearing two full stars for wyoming and colorado, and two more merely outlined in gold for kansas and new york, which have equal suffrage amendments now pending and hope to add their stars to the galaxy next november. instead of "old glory," the equal rights banner might be called "new glory." beside it hung the american flag, the great golden flag of spain with its two red bars, the crimson flag of turkey with its crescent and star, and the british flag--these last three in honor respectively of senorita catalina de alcala of spain, madame hanna korany of syria and miss catherine spence of australia, who were on the program. at one side the serene face of lucy stone looked down upon the audience. on the afternoon of the memorial service the frame of the portrait was draped with smilax, entwining bunches of violets from south carolina, and beneath stood a jar of great white lilies.... kansas and new york divided the interest of the convention, and the importance of the two campaigns was ably presented by the respective state presidents, stately mrs. greenleaf and graceful mrs. johns. the appeals of the former were warmly supported by mrs. lillie devereux blake, and of the latter by mrs. annie l. diggs. mrs. johns is a strong republican, and mrs. diggs an equally ardent populist, but they were perfectly agreed in their devotion to the woman suffrage amendment and in their desire that help should be given to the kansas campaign. both are small women of gentle and feminine aspect, though known as mighty workers; and when mrs. diggs, a soft-voiced, bright-eyed morsel of humanity, said in presenting the needs of the kansas equal suffrage association, "mrs. johns is our president, and i am vice-president; she is the gentle officer, i am the savage one; my business is to frighten people"--the audience roared with laughter. the new york women generously declared that they would carry the financial burden of their own campaign and would ask no outside help except in speakers and sympathy. this left the field clear for kansas and more than $ , were raised at one session towards the expenses of the campaign.... the two delegates from colorado, mrs. ellis meredith and mrs. hattie e. fox, were the objects of much interest and of hearty congratulations. they seemed very happy over their recent enfranchisement, as they well might be. mrs. meredith, who is very small, looked up brightly at a tall maryland lady, who was congratulating her, and said, "i feel as tall as you." these two ladies looked just like other women and had developed no horns or hoofs or other unamiable and unfeminine characteristics in consequence of their having obtained the right to vote.... the southern women have distinguished themselves in the national suffrage conventions during the last few years. this year, on "presidents' evening," among a number of brilliant addresses that of mrs. virginia d. young of south carolina fairly brought down the house.... a beautiful silk flag, bearing the two suffrage stars, was presented to miss anthony in honor of her seventy-fourth birthday, on the first evening of the convention, a gift from the enfranchised women of wyoming and colorado. one of these women had been called upon to act as a judge of elections and had received three dollars for her services. she spent two dollars on shoes for her little boy and sent the third dollar as her contribution toward the suffrage flag. it was a pleasure to see the gathering of the clans--so many good and able and interesting women assembled together to report their work for equal rights and to plan more for the future. one with a pleasant, honest face and wistful brown eyes, had been lecturing in the interest of the amendment in the country districts of new york, riding from village to village in an open sleigh, with the thermometer many degrees below zero, and speaking sometimes in unwarmed halls. she did not expect to take a day's rest until the th of next november, and then if the amendment carried, she said quietly, she should be willing to lie down and die.... it is pleasant also to note the increasing number of bright, sensible, earnest young women coming from all parts of the country to aid the older workers and to close up their thinning ranks. the sight would be a revelation to that massachusetts legislator who was lately reported as saying that the petitioners who had been asking for suffrage for so many years were fast dying off, and soon there would be none left. he would have seen how greatly he was reckoning without his host--or his hostesses. a sound and righteous reform does not die with any leader, however beloved. the rev. anna howard shaw pronounced the invocation at the opening session. in the course of her president's address miss susan b. anthony said: for the twenty-sixth time we have come together under the shadow of the capitol, asking that congress shall take the necessary steps to secure to the women of the nation their right to a voice in the national government as well as that of their respective states. for twelve successive congresses we have appeared before committees of the two houses making this plea, that the underlying principle of our government, the right of consent, shall have practical application to the other half of the people. such a little simple thing we have been asking for a quarter of a century. for over forty years, longer than the children of israel wandered through the wilderness, we have been begging and praying and pleading for this act of justice. we shall some day be heeded, and when we shall have our amendment to the constitution of the united states, everybody will think it was always so, just exactly as many young people believe that all the privileges, all the freedom, all the enjoyments which woman now possesses always were hers. they have no idea of how every single inch of ground that she stands upon to-day has been gained by the hard work of some little handful of women of the past. this was miss anthony's birthday and mrs. chapman catt concluded her little speech in presenting a silk flag by saying: "and now, our beloved leader, the enfranchised women of wyoming and colorado, upon this the seventy-fourth anniversary of your life--a life every year of which has been devoted to the advancement of womankind--have sent this emblem and with it the message that they hope you will bear it at the head of our armies until there shall be on this blue field not two stars but forty-four. they have sent it with the especial wish that its silent lesson shall teach such justice to the men of the state of new york that in november they will rise as one man to crown you, as well as their own wives and daughters, with the sovereignty of american citizenship." for a few moments miss anthony was unable to reply and then she said: "i have heard of standard bearers in the army who carried the banner to the topmost ramparts of the enemy, and there i am going to try to carry this one. you know without my telling how proud i am of this flag and how my heart is touched by this manifestation." large boxes of flowers were sent her from georgia and south carolina, a telegram of greeting was received from ex-governor and mrs. routt of colorado, and there were many other pleasant remembrances. the convention was welcomed by the hon. john ross, commissioner of the district of columbia. miss catherine h. spence of south australia said in speaking of the suffrage there: "this country was not only the birthplace of the australian ballot, by which you now vote in the united states, but it was the birthplace of woman suffrage, because six years before the municipal franchise was granted to women in england it was in effect in the towns and cities in south australia." at a later session miss spence gave a practical illustration of what is known as proportional representation. miss windeyer also represented the women electors of australia. in response to mrs. young, bearing the greetings of south carolina, miss anthony said with much feeling: i think the most beautiful part of our coming together in washington for the last twenty-five years has been that more friendships, more knowledge of each other, have come through the hand-shakes here than would have been possible through any other instrumentality. i shall never cease to be grateful for all the splendid women who have come up to this great center for these twenty-six conventions, and have learned that the north was not such a cold place as they had believed; i have been equally glad when we came down here and met the women from the sunny south and found they were just like ourselves, if not a little better. in this great association we know no north, no south, no east, no west. this has been our pride for all these years. we have no political party. we never have inquired what anybody's religion is. all we ever have asked is simply, "do you believe in perfect equality for women?" this is the one article in our creed. senator joseph m. carey of wyoming and representative lafayette pence of colorado referred with great pride to the enfranchisement of the women of their respective states. mrs. johns was introduced by miss anthony as "the general of the kansas army;" mrs. greenleaf as the democratic nominee for member of the n. y. constitutional convention; mrs. henry as the woman who received , votes for clerk of the supreme court of kentucky. miss anthony's spicy introductions of the various speakers were always greatly relished by the audiences. no more impressive or beautiful memorial service ever was held than that in remembrance of lucy stone. the principal address was made by mrs. julia ward howe (mass.), in the course of which she said: in all action taken under her supervision, mrs. stone was most careful that the main issue should be constantly presented and kept in view. while welcoming every reform which gave evidence of the ethical progress of the community, she yet held to woman suffrage, pure and simple, as the first condition upon which the new womanhood should base itself. efforts were often made to entangle suffrage with the promise of endless reforms in various directions, but firm as cato, who always repeated his words that carthage should be destroyed, lucy stone always asked for suffrage because it is right and just that women should have it, and not on the ground of a swiftly-coming millennium which should follow it.... when lucy stone first resolved to devote her life to the rehabilitation of her sex, to what a task did she pledge herself! the high road to reform which she held so dear was not even measured before her. the ground was covered with a growth of centuries. could this small hand that held a sickle hope to cut down those forests of time-honored prejudice and superstition? what had she to work with? a silver voice, a winning smile, the great gift of a persuasive utterance. what had she to work from? a deep and abiding faith in divine justice and in man's ability to follow its laws and to execute its decrees. the prophetic sense of good to come, vouchsafed to her in the morning of life, did not forsake her at its close. her mind was of a very practical cast and in her many days of labor her eyes were always fixed upon her work. but when her work was taken from her, she saw at once the heavens open before her and the eternal life and light beckoning to her to go up higher. with a smile she passed from the struggle of earthly existence to the peace of the saints made perfect. here she was still debarred the right to cast her ballot at the polls, but lo, in the blue urn of heaven her life was received, one glowing and perfect vote for the rights of women, for the good of humanity, for the kingdom of god on earth. a few sentences may be given as the key-note of the eulogy of the hon. wm. dudley foulke (ind.): "her career, while different from that of most women, was characterized throughout by entire and consistent womanliness. among the many admirable qualities that she possessed, it is difficult to single out the one for which she will hereafter be best remembered, but as dauntless moral courage is a rarer quality perhaps than any other, it seems to me that this will remain her brightest jewel." in the address of mrs. josephine k. henry (ky.) she referred to the marriage of lucy stone and henry b. blackwell as follows: their matrimonial contract is the grandest chart of the absolute equality of man and woman that has ever been made, and it throws a new halo of consecration and sanctity around the institution of marriage. it has not yet been written in our ecclesiastical and civil codes that every woman shall retain and dignify her own name through life, but civilization is preparing now to issue this edict. the coming woman will not resign her name at the marriage altar, and it will be told in future years of these two great souls who were the first to recognize the dignity of human individuality. the domestic life of this couple who set up the standard of absolute equality of husband and wife was an exquisite idyl, fragrant with love and tenderness, a poem whose rhythm was not marred, a divine melody that rose above the discords and dissensions of domestic life upon the lowlands where man is the ruler and woman the subject. in the touching tribute of miss laura clay (ky.) she said: "lucy stone is one of those who paid what must be paid for liberty or for any high good of humanity. she made sacrifices and did things that none of us to-day would be called upon to do, did them bravely, did them without shrinking, did them almost without knowing that she was doing anything which would call forth the blessing, the gratitude of the human race." mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.) referred more especially to the domestic qualities, saying: when the gift of a little child came it was more to her than all else beside. for a while the world centered in that tiny cradle, and the hand which rocked that cradle had rather perform this gentle office than rule the world. it will ever be thus. with the true woman, dearer than wealth or fame is the touch of baby hands, sweeter than the applause of multitudes is the ripple of a baby's laughter. as the years passed by, the mother gave more of her life to the public, but always with the thought of the young girl who was growing up beside her and making of her home the dearest and most sacred spot. this part of the memorial services appropriately closed with the tender reminiscences of forty-five years of married life, by the husband, mr. blackwell. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton (n. y.) sent an eloquent tribute to the memory of lucy stone, leland stanford, george w. childs, elizabeth oakes smith and elizabeth peabody. after reciting the contributions of each in the cause of woman, she closed with these words from the prince of india in reference to the last great record: "there is thy history and mine, and all of little and great and good and bad that shall befall us in this life. death does not blot out the records. everlastingly writ, they shall be everlastingly read; for the shame of some, for the glory of others." mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg of philadelphia told of the loyalty to women of mr. child's paper, the _public ledger_, and of his many benefactions. frederick douglass gave the offering of his eloquence and ended as follows: it is not alone because of the goodness of any cause that men can safely predicate success. much depends on the character and quality of the men and women who are its advocates. the redeemer must ever come from above. only the best of mankind can afford to support unpopular opinions. the common sort will drift with the tide. no good cause can fail when supported by such women as were lucretia mott, abby kelly, angelina grimke, lydia maria child, maria w. chapman, thankful southwick, sally holly, ernestine l. rose, e. oakes smith, elizabeth peabody and the noble and gifted lucy stone. not only have we a glorious constellation of women on the silent continent to assure us that our cause is good and that it must finally prevail, but we have such men as william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips, william henry channing, francis jackson, gerrit smith, samuel j. may, samuel e. sewall--now no longer with us in body, but in spirit and memory to cheer us on in the good work of lifting women in the fullest sense to the dignity of american liberty and american citizenship. miss anthony closed the services with heartfelt testimonials to mrs. myra bradwell, one of the first woman lawyers and founder and editor of _the legal news_; miss mary f. seymour, founder of _the business woman's journal_; and col. john thompson, a founder of the patrons of husbandry, the first national organization of men to indorse woman suffrage. at one of the evening sessions miss anthony presented dr. john trimble, secretary of the national grange, and leonard rhone, chairman of its executive committee. the latter said in course of a few brief remarks: "when the farmers of this country organized they took with them their wives and daughters, and for twenty-seven years we have tried woman suffrage in the grange and it has worked well. what we have demonstrated by experience in our organization we are ready to indorse, and by almost a unanimous vote at our last national convention we passed a resolution in favor of woman suffrage." mrs. orra langhorne read a clever paper on house cleaning in old virginia, describing present social and political conditions and showing the need of woman's participation. mrs. mary lowe dickinson (n. y.), secretary of the king's daughters, gave a talk which sparkled with anecdotes and illustrations, every one scoring a point for woman suffrage. madame hanna korany, from syria, told in her soft, broken english how the women of the old world looked to those of america to free them from the slavery of customs and laws. mrs. miriam howard dubose took for her subject some georgia curiosities, which she showed to be "men who love women too dearly to accord them justice; women who are deceived by such affection; the self-supporting woman, who crowds all places where there is any money to be made without encountering the masculine frown and declares she has all the rights she wants. georgia's motto should read: unwisdom, injustice, immoderation." miss harriet a. shinn (ills.), president of the national association of women stenographers, gave unanswerable testimony from employers in many different kinds of business expressing a preference for women stenographers. miss elizabeth upham yates (me.) illustrated how class distinctions, public schools, religious liberty and social life have been affected by the thought of the times, by fashionable thought. the official report said: "so bristling with humor was this address that there were several times when the speaker had to stop and wait for the laughter to subside. at the conclusion, her effort was acknowledged by long applause." miss shaw closed an evening which had been full of mirth, saying in the course of her vivacious remarks: i spoke at a woman's club in philadelphia yesterday and a young lady said to me afterwards: "well, that sounds very nice, but don't you think it is better to be the power behind the throne?" i answered that i had not had much experience with thrones, but a woman who has been on a throne, and who is now behind it, seems to prefer to be on the throne.[ ] mr. edward bok, editor of the _ladies' home journal_, says that by careful watching for many years, he has come to the conclusion that no woman has had any business relations with men who has not been contaminated by them; and this same individual who does not want us to have business relations with men, lest we be contaminated by the association, wants us to marry these same men and live with them three hundred and sixty-five and one-fourth days a year! on sunday mrs. chapman catt gave a sermon in the people's church, mrs. ellen battelle dietrick in all soul's church (unitarian), and the rev. anna howard shaw in metzerott's music hall. at the last named meeting mrs. howe offered the prayer and, at the close, recited her battle hymn of the republic. miss shaw preached from the text, "let no man take thy crown." ....since the beginning of the christian era those who have expounded the scriptures have been principally men, and the gospel has been presented to us from the standpoint of men. in all these interpretations heaven has been peopled with men, god has been pictured as a man, and even the earth has been represented as masculine. in the beginning this was wise, because people have always been more impressed by law, order, system and government than by the spirit of faith. but we have passed the stage of force in nature, of force in physical life, and have arrived at the age of spiritual thought and earthly needs when the mother comes to the front. in the old world i have seen venerable men, strong men, and women kneeling together at the shrine of mary pouring out their sufferings into the mother heart of the virgin and rising refreshed and solaced. what catholicism has done for its church, protestantism must do for christianity everywhere, by revealing the mother-life and the mother-spirit of divine nature. in the lesson of life there is not only a father but a mother-love. jesus christ, we are told, was a man and so were his disciples, and this is given as the reason why men only should preach the gospel, yet the scriptures tell us that the first divinely-ordained preacher was a woman. all the way down in the history of christianity are found women side by side with men, always ready and willing to bear the burdens and sorrows of life in order to better their fellows. in this country every reformation has been urged by women as well as men. the names of william lloyd garrison and wendell phillips will go down to posterity linked with those of lucretia mott, harriet beecher stowe and susan b. anthony. in the great temperance movement the name of gough will at once bring to mind frances e. willard. there is no name more prominently identified in the effort to uplift the indian than that of helen hunt jackson. wherever there has been a wrong committed there have always been women to defend the wronged. julia ward howe gave us the "battle hymn of the republic," while lucy stone's last words should be the motto of every young girl's life, "make the world better." with respect to my text, "let no man take thy crown," these words were written to the church, and not to the men alone, and the command should be obeyed by every woman. if the churches then were anything like the churches of to-day, they were composed of three-fourths women. hence this injunction was intended especially for women. this crown, i take it, means the crown of righteousness, of regeneration, of redemption, of purity, and applies to the whole body of the church. i believe the crown of womanhood in its highest sense means womanly character and nature. we never can wear a higher or nobler crown than pure and womanly womanhood.... the world has always been more particular how we did things than what things we did.... all human beings are under obligations first to themselves. if self-sacrifice seems best, then we should practice that; while if self-assertion seems best, then we should assert ourselves. the abominable doctrine taught in the pulpit, the press, in books and elsewhere, is that the whole duty of women is self-abasement and self-sacrifice. i do not believe subjection is woman's duty any more than it is the duty of a man to be under subjection to another man or to many men. women have the right of independence, of conscience, of will and of responsibility. women are robbed of themselves by the laws of the country and by fashion. the time has not passed when women are bought and sold. social custom makes the world a market-place in which women are bought and sold, and sometimes they are given away. in the marriage ceremony woman loses her name, and under the old common law a married woman had no legal rights. she occupied the same position to her husband as the slave to his master. these things degraded marriage, but the home would be the holiest of spots if the wife asserted her individuality and worked hand-in-hand with her husband, each uplifting the other. women are robbed of the right of conscience. their silence and subjection in the church have been the curse not only of womanhood but of manhood. no other human being should decide for us in questions pertaining to our own moral and spiritual welfare. women are beginning to believe that god will listen to a woman as quickly as to a man. the time has come when councils of women will gather and do their work in their quiet way without regard to men. no person is human who may not "will" to be anything he can be. when the woman says "i will," there is not anything this side of the throne of god to stop her, and the girls of the present day should learn this lesson. now there is placed upon women the obligation of service without the responsibility of their actions. the man who leads feels the responsibility of his acts, and this urges him to make them noble. women should have this same responsibility and be made to feel it. the most dangerous thing in the world is power without responsibility.... monday night's session was designated "president's evening" and many short, clever talks were given.[ ] james l. hughes, superintendent of schools in toronto and president of the equal suffrage association of that city, told how the women of canada voted, sat on the public and high school boards and even served as president of the toronto board. at the tuesday evening meeting miss anthony introduced senator w. a. peffer and representatives jerry simpson, john c. davis, case broderick and charles curtis of kansas, and henry a. coffeen of wyoming. ex-senator blanche k. bruce of mississippi was invited to the platform and responded by saying he hoped to see the day when every qualified woman could exercise the suffrage. the hon. simon wolf, commissioner of the district, urged equality of rights for women. grace greenwood was presented as one of the pioneer woman suffragists. mrs. mary seymour howell (n. y.), the heroine of many campaigns, in a stirring speech related her varied experiences and said: "ours is one of the greatest wars of the centuries. indeed, it is a continuation of the same battle which has been waged almost since the world began but carried on with different tactics. it stands unique. no cannon is heard. no smoke tells of defeat or victory. no bloody battlefields lift their blushing faces to the heavens. it is a battle of ideas, a battle of prejudices, the right and the wrong, the new and the old, meeting in close contact. it is the 'war of the roses,' if you so please to call it. it is the motherhood of the republic asking for full political recognition." the last address of the convention was made by the rev. ida c. hultin, on the crowning race, whose men and women should be equally free. gov. davis h. waite of colorado sent a letter in relation to the enfranchising of women the previous year, in which he said: the populists more than any other political party in colorado favored equal suffrage, but many republicans and democrats also voted for it, and in my opinion the result may be considered as due to the enlightened public sentiment of the common people of the state. the more i consider the matter the more it grows upon me in importance, and the more i realize the fact that all the patriotism, all the intelligence and all the virtue of the commonwealth are necessary to preserve it from the corrupt and mercenary attacks made upon it from all points by corporate trusts and monopolies. equal suffrage can not fail to encourage purity in both private and public life, and to elevate the official standard of fitness. a letter from mrs. may wright sewall, regretting her enforced absence, closed by saying: many of you know that the last few months i have spent in editing the papers presented at the world's congress of representative women, held in chicago last may. it is a remarkable and to me quite an unexpected fact that the papers upon the subject of civil and political reform are hardly more earnest appeals for political equality than are the addresses to be found in every other chapter. hereafter if one asserts that the interest in the woman suffrage movement is not growing, let him be cited to this galaxy of witnesses, whose testimony is all the more valuable because in the large majority of instances it proceeds from women who never have identified themselves with it, and are not at all known as advocates of political equality. the meaning of the entire report is equality, co-operation, organization; that is, the demand made by the national suffrage association is the demand borne to us by the echoes of that great congress. among the committee reports that of mrs. rachel foster avery, chairman of columbian exposition work, attracted especial attention and was in part as follows: there is a most valuable and interesting bit of unpublished history which seems to me to form an integral part of your committee's report. it concerns the origin of the board of lady managers, and this association should be proud to be able to feel that to our president is largely due the recognition of women in official capacity at the world's fair. the fact that women were not officially recognized during the centennial exposition in was a great disappointment to all interested in the advancement of womankind, and while it was suggested on every side that women must have a voice in the management of the world's fair in , it remained for susan b. anthony to take the initiatory step which led to the creation of the board of lady managers. she had invitations sent to women of official and social position to meet in the riggs house parlors to consider this matter, in december, . at this meeting mrs. conger, wife of senator omar d. conger of michigan, was made chairman, and mrs. harriet taylor upton, secretary. miss anthony was not present, fearing lest her well-known radical views might hinder the progress of affairs in the direction she wished them to take, but she restlessly walked about her room in the hotel anxiously awaiting the result. several meetings followed this and a committee was appointed to wait upon congress, asking that the commission should consist of both men and women. meanwhile the world's fair bill had been brought before the house and miss anthony soon saw that there would not be time for this committee to act. she therefore prepared petitions, sent them to women in official life and asked them to obtain signatures of official people.[ ] on the strength of these petitions there was added to the bill, in march, , an amendment providing for the appointment of women on the board. miss anthony's self-effacement was perhaps the wisest thing under the circumstances, for the board, as appointed, being unconnected with woman suffrage, proved an immense source of education to the conservative women of the whole world--an education not needed by the radical women of our own ranks. i think the time has surely come when the truth of this history should be known to all. the election of officers resulted in miss anthony's receiving for president out of possible votes; miss shaw for vice-president-at-large, ; rachel foster avery for corresponding secretary, unanimous; alice stone blackwell for recording secretary, ; harriet taylor upton for treasurer, unanimous. during the convention the death of miss anna ella carroll was announced. a resolution of sympathy with her sister was adopted and a collection was taken up, as had been done for miss carroll a number of times during the past twenty-five years, which resulted in over forty dollars. mrs. sallie clay bennett (ky.), the faithful champion of federal suffrage, insisted that, instead of asking for an amendment to confer suffrage, we should demand protection in the right already guaranteed by the u. s. constitution: "even when asking for municipal suffrage, we never should fail to assert that it is already ours under the constitution, and that there is strength enough in our national government to protect every woman in the union provided the men had interpreted the laws right." miss sara winthrop smith (conn.) supported mrs. bennett, saying: "it is useless labor to petition for a sixteenth amendment--we do not need it. our fundamental institutions most adequately protect the rights of all citizens of the united states, irrespective of sex. in the twenty-four years since the passage of the fifteenth amendment, amendments to the constitution have been introduced into congress which never met with any approval from either house. i think it is wasted time for us to continue in this work, and therefore i feel that it concerns our dignity as a part of the people of this great united states that we declare and ask only for that which recognizes the dignity of such citizens." mrs. diggs, mrs. dietrick, mrs. colby and others supported this view. in expressing his dissent mr. blackwell said: "i do not believe in federal suffrage. i agree with the state's rights party in their views." miss blackwell and others took the same position, and miss anthony closed the debate by saying: "there is no doubt that the spirit of the constitution guarantees full equality of rights and the protection of citizens of the united states in the exercise of these rights, but the powers that be have decided against us, and until we can get a broader supreme court--which will not be until after the women of every state in the union are enfranchised--we never will get the needed liberal interpretation of that document." the majority concurred in this view. the most spirited discussion of the convention was in regard to the place of holding the next annual meeting. urgent invitations were received from detroit and cincinnati, but the persuasive southern advocates, claudia howard maxwell, miriam howard dubose and h. augusta howard, three georgia delegates, carried off the prize for atlanta. this was the first and last appearance on the suffrage platform of miss kate field, who was introduced by miss anthony with her characteristic abruptness: "now, friends, here is kate field, who has been talking all these years against woman suffrage. she wants to tell you of the faith that is in her." miss field responded quickly: i take exception to what miss anthony has said, because i think she has misconstrued my position entirely. i never have been against woman suffrage. i have been against universal suffrage of any kind, regardless of sex. i think that morally woman has exactly as much right to the suffrage as man. it is a disgrace that such women as you and i have not the suffrage, but i do think that all suffrage should be regarded as a privilege and should not be demanded as a right. it should be the privilege of education and, if you please--i will not quarrel about that--of a certain property qualification. i have not changed my opinion, but i did say that i was tired of waiting for men to have common sense, that there evidently never would be any restriction in suffrage and that i should come in for the whole thing, woman included. now, that is my position.... i withdraw my former attitude and take my stand on this platform. the usual able "hearings" were held. before the senate committee--senators hoar, teller, wolcott, blackburn and hill--the speakers were the rev. ida c. hultin, miss blackwell, mrs. lucretia mitchell, mrs. diggs, mrs. phoebe c. wright, miss alice smith, mrs. bennett, mrs. colby, representative john c. davis of kansas. although the majority of the committee were in favor of woman suffrage no report was made. the hon. isaac h. goodnight (ky.) was in the chair of the house judiciary committee, which was addressed by the reverends miss shaw and miss hultin, mrs. young, mrs. emily g. ketcham, miss lavina a. hatch, prof. jennie gifford, mrs. alice waugh, mrs. pickler, miss howard, mrs. meredith, mrs. greenleaf, mr. blackwell. miss anthony presented the speakers and closed the discussion. later mr. goodnight submitted an adverse report for a majority of the committee. footnotes: [ ] the hawaiian ex-queen, then in the united states endeavoring to have her throne restored to her. [ ] among the speakers were mrs. mary l. bennett, mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg, miss laura clay, mrs. clara bewick colby, mrs. etta grymes farrah, mrs. jean brooks greenleaf, mrs. florence howe hall, mrs. rebecca henry hayes, mrs. laura m. johns, mrs. emily b. ketcham, mrs. claudia howard maxwell, mrs. ellis meredith, mrs. mary bentley thomas, mrs. emmeline b. wells, mrs. virginia d. young. [ ] miss anthony herself also went among prominent persons of her own acquaintance obtaining signatures. in a few days names were secured of the wives and daughters of judges of the supreme court, the cabinet, senators, representatives, army and navy officers--as influential a list as the national capital could offer. these names may be found in the published minutes of this convention of , p. . at the time miss anthony secured this petition no organization of women had considered the question and, if she had not been on the ground and taken immediate action, there is every reason to believe that the bill would have passed congress without any provision for a board of women. for a further account of this matter, and for a description of this great congress of women, see life and work of susan b. anthony, chap. xli; also chapter on illinois in this volume of the history. chapter xv. the national-american convention of . the twenty-seventh annual convention--jan. -feb. , --possessed an unusual interest because of its being held outside of washington. the american society had been accustomed to migratory conventions, but the national had gone to the capital for twenty-six winters. the _woman's journal_, whose editors were strongly in favor of the former plan, said of the atlanta meeting: there had been some fears that holding the convention so far south might result in a smaller attendance of delegates than usual; but there were ninety-three delegates, representing twenty-eight states, and also a large number of visitors. some, like mrs. abigail scott duniway of oregon, had come nearly , miles to be present. de give's opera house was crowded. even at the morning meetings the seats were full and men stood for hours, several rows deep all around the sides and back of the house--a novel and gratifying sight at a business meeting. the proportion of men among the delegates and in the audiences, both day and evening, was larger than usual.... over the platform hung two large flags, that of the association, with the two stars of wyoming and colorado, and another flag, the work of georgia ladies, on which was ingeniously depicted the relative standing of the different states on this question. the states where women have no form of suffrage were represented by black stars. those where they can vote for school committee or on certain local questions had a golden rim. kansas and iowa had a wider golden rim, to indicate municipal and bond suffrage. wyoming and colorado shone with full and undimmed luster. portraits of lucy stone and elizabeth cady stanton, draped in yellow, adorned opposite sides of the platform. many of the delegates were from the southern states, and some of them strikingly illustrated miss anthony's assertion, "these southern women are born orators." in sweetness of voice, grace of manner and personal charm they have all the qualities to make most effective speakers, while in the fervor of their equal rights sentiments they go even beyond their sisters from the north and west. one handsome young lady, who sat on the platform a good deal of the time, was supposed to be from new england, because she wore her hair short. it turned out, however, that she was from new orleans and was a cousin of jefferson davis. the announcement of this fact caused her to be received by the audience with roars of enthusiasm. the atlanta papers devoted columns every day to friendly reports and innumerable portraits. ministers of different denominations opened the convention with prayer and their pulpits afterwards for addresses by the ladies. some of the best people of the city took visitors into their homes, entertaining them hospitably and delightfully, and showing them what a southern home is like. the national officers and speakers were entertained by the georgia w. s. a. at the aragon, and the state officers generously insisted upon taking almost the entire expenses of the great convention upon their own young shoulders. these "georgia girls" devoted unlimited time, thought and work to getting up the convention, and then effaced themselves as far as possible....[ ] perhaps no one person did more, unintentionally, to promote the enthusiasm of the convention than the rev. dr. hawthorne, a baptist preacher. he had felt called upon to denounce all woman suffragists from his pulpit, not only with severity but with discourtesy, and had been so misguided as to declare that the husbands of suffragists were all feeble-minded men. as the average equal-rights woman is firmly convinced that her husband is the very best man in the world, this remark stirred the women up to a degree of wrath which no amount of abuse leveled against themselves would have aroused. on the other hand, the atlanta people, even those who were not in favor of suffrage, felt mortified by this unprovoked insult to their guests, and many of them took occasion in private to express their regret. several speakers at the convention criticised dr. hawthorne's utterances, and every such allusion was received with warm applause by the audience.... at the beginning of the convention four announcements were made which added much to the general good cheer--that south australia had followed the example of new zealand in extending full suffrage to women; that the supreme court of ohio had pronounced the school suffrage law constitutional; that the governor of illinois had filled a vacancy on the board of trustees of the state university by appointing a woman; that the idaho legislature had submitted a woman suffrage amendment. the most perfect arrangements had been made for the meetings, and the novelty of the occasion attracted large crowds, but there was also much genuine interest. the success was partly due to the excellent work of the press of atlanta. there was, however, no editorial endorsement except by _the sunny south_, col. henry clay fairman, editor. the national president, miss susan b. anthony, said in opening the convention: "with this gavel was called to order in that legislature of wyoming which established the first true republic under the stars and stripes and gave the franchise to what men call the better-half of the people. we women do not say that, but we do claim to be half." miss anthony seldom made a stated address either in opening or closing, but throughout the entire convention kept up a running fire of quaint, piquant, original and characteristic observations which delighted the audience and gave a distinctive attraction to the meetings. it was impossible to keep a record of these and they would lose their zest and appropriateness if separated from the circumstances which called them forth. they can not be transmitted to future generations, but the thousands who heard them during the fifty years of her itineracy will preserve them among their delightful memories. perfectly at home on the platform, she would indulge in the same informality of remarks which others use in private conversation, but always with a quick wit, a fine satire and a keen discrimination. words of praise or criticism were given with equal impartiality, and accepted with a grace which would have been impossible had the giver been any other than the recognized mentor of them all. her wonderful power of reminiscence never failed, and she had always some personal recollection of every speaker or of her parents or other relatives. she kept the audience in continuous good-humor and furnished a variety to the program of which the newspaper reporters joyfully availed themselves. at the morning business meetings which were always informal there would often be a running dialogue something like the following, when mrs. alberta c. taylor was called to the platform: miss anthony: this is an alabama girl, transplanted to the rockies--a daughter of governor chapman of alabama. she is as good a southerner as any one, and also as good a northerner and westerner. mrs. taylor: a southern paper lately said no southern woman could read the report of the late election in colorado without blushing. i went through the election itself without blushing, except with gratification. miss anthony: instead of degrading a woman it makes her feel nobler not to be counted with idiots, lunatics and criminals. it even changes the expression of her face. voice in the audience: how many women are there in the colorado legislature? mrs. taylor: three. miss anthony: it has always been thought perfectly womanly to be a scrub-woman in the legislature and to take care of the spittoons; that is entirely within the charmed circle of woman's sphere; but for women to occupy any of those official seats would be degrading. miss lucy e. anthony: what salaries do the women legislators receive? mrs. taylor: the same as the men, $ a day. the pay of our legislators is small. a prosperous business man has to make a great sacrifice to go to the legislature, and we can not always get the best men to serve. this is an additional reason for making women eligible. there are more first-class women than first-class men who have the leisure. miss shaw: we are accused of wishing to belittle men, but in colorado they think a man's time is worth only as much as a woman's. mrs. clara b. colby: the hon. mrs. holley has just introduced in the colorado house, and carried through it against strong opposition, a bill raising the age of protection for girls to eighteen years. mrs. duniway: i was in the colorado house and saw it done. the women members are highly respected. i have never seen women so honored since those of washington were disfranchised. the leading men are as proud of the enfranchisement of their women as georgia men will be when the time comes. the colorado women have organized a good government league to promote education, sanitation and general prosperity. mrs. taylor: a bookseller in denver told me that since women were given the suffrage he had sold more books on political economy than he had sold since colorado was admitted into the union. miss anthony: the bill raising the age of protection for girls shows that suffrage does not make a woman forget her children, and the bookseller's remark shows that she will study the science of government. mrs. mary bentley thomas: one of our most conservative maryland women, who married in colorado ten years ago, writes to me: "i enjoyed every moment of the campaign, especially the primary meetings." a virginia woman who also married a colorado man writes back: "come west, where women are appreciated, and where they are proud and happy citizens." she adds: "if you will come i will show you the sweetest girl baby you ever saw." mrs. henry: let it be recorded that the first bill introduced by a woman member in any state legislature was a bill for the protection of girls. on motion of mrs. colby, it was voted to send a telegram of congratulation to the hon. mrs. holley. again: before introducing the president of the florida w. s. a. miss anthony said: "for several years a big box of oranges has come to me from florida. not long ago, i got home on one of the coldest nights of the year, and found a box standing in my woodshed, full of magnificent oranges. next morning the papers reported that all the oranges in florida were frozen; but the president of the suffrage association saved that boxful for me." mrs. ella c. chamberlain: those were all we saved.... a man in florida who hires himself and his wife out to hoe corn, charges $ . for his own services and cents for hers, although she does just as much work as he, so the men who employ them tell me. it costs his wife cents a day to be a woman. voice in the audience: and the cents paid for her work belongs to her husband. miss anthony: i suppose those are colored men. mrs. chamberlain: no, they are white. miss anthony: white men have always controlled their wives' wages. colored men were not able to do so until they themselves became free. then they owned both their wives and their wages. the delegate from the district of columbia answered in a very faint tone of voice, and miss anthony remarked that "this was through mortification because even the men there had no more rights than women." when another delegate could not be heard she said: "women have always been taught that it is immodest to speak in a loud voice, and it is hard for them to get out of the old rut." at another time: miss lavina a. hatch: in massachusetts there are between , and , families which have no male head. some of these pay large taxes and none of them has any representation. mrs. mariana w. chapman: in about two-thirds of the state of new york, and not including new york city, women are assessed on $ , , . mrs. louisa southworth: this year, with the new income tax, i shall pay in taxes, national, state and municipal, $ , . miss anthony: yet why should she have a right to vote? inconsistency is the jewel of the american people. mrs. meriwether: tennessee caps the climax in taxation without representation. in shelby county there are two young women, sisters, who own farms. both are married, and both were sensible enough to have their farms secured to themselves and their children. in one case, at least, it proved a wise precaution. one of these young women asked the other, when she went to town, to pay a few bills for her and settle her taxes. accordingly she went to the tax office, and as she handed in the papers she noticed written at the foot of her sister's tax bill, "poll tax, $ . ." she exclaimed, "oh, when did mrs. a. become a voter? i am so glad tennessee has granted suffrage to women!" "oh, she hasn't; it doesn't," said the young clerk with a smile. "that is her husband's poll tax." "and why is she required to pay her husband's poll tax?" "it is the custom," he said. she replied, "then tennessee will change its custom this time. i will see the tax collector dead and very cold before i will pay mr. a.'s poll tax out of my sister's property in order that he may vote, while she is not allowed to do so!" miss anthony: it seems to me that these southern women are in a state of chronic rebellion. mrs. meriwether: we are. in closing this meeting miss anthony said: "now, don't all of you come to me to tell me how glad you are that i have worked for fifty years, but say rather that you are going to begin work yourselves." the delegates were eloquently welcomed in behalf of the south by bennett j. conyers of atlanta, who declared that "suffrage for women is demanded by the divine law of human development." he said in part: the work of miss anthony needs no apology. she has blazed a way for advanced thought in her lonely course over the red-hot plowshares of resistance. now almost at the summit she looks back to see following her an army with banners. may she long worship where she stands at truth's mountain altar, as, with the royal sunset flush upon her brow, she catches the beckoning of the lights twinkling on the heavenly shore.... the south is a maiden well worthy of the allegiance of this cause, and when her aid is given it will be as devoted as it has been reserved. the south is the land where has lingered latest on earth the chivalry which idealized its objects of worship. what though it may have meant repression? is it any wonder that the tender grace of a day that is dead even now lingers and makes men loath to welcome change? perhaps it can not be told how much it has cost men to surrender the ideal, even though it be to change it for the perfected womanhood.... the address of welcome for the state was made by mrs. mary l. mclendon, who spoke earnestly in favor of equal suffrage, saying: if georgia women could vote, this national convention could hold its session in our million dollar capitol, which rears its grand proportions on yonder hill. crowning its loftiest pinnacle is the statue of a woman representing liberty, and on its front the motto, "justice, wisdom and moderation." it was built with money paid into our state's treasury by women as well as men, both white and black; but men alone, white and black, have the privilege of meeting in legislative session to make laws to govern women. men are also allowed to hold their democratic, republican, prohibition and populist conventions in its halls. it is with difficulty that women can secure a hearing before a legislative committee to petition for laws to ameliorate their own condition, or to secure compulsory training in the public schools, that their children may be brought up in the way they should go, and become sober, virtuous citizens. major charles w. hubner extended the welcome of the city, saying in conclusion: "reason and right are with you, and these, in the name of god, will at last prevail." afterwards he contributed the poem, "thank god that thought is free." miss anthony was presented by miss h. augusta howard and, after a speech complimentary to southern women, introduced mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.), who eulogized southern chivalry, and mrs. lida a. meriwether (tenn.), who spoke in behalf of motherhood. miss elizabeth upham yates (me.) made the closing address, in which she said: "as surely as i want to vote--and nothing is more certain--the man for whom i have most wished to vote was your own beloved henry w. grady. there is something else for women to do than to sit at home and fan themselves, 'cherishing their femininity.' womanliness will never be sacrificed in following the path of duty and service." one of the principal addresses of the convention was that of gen. robert r. hemphill of south carolina, who began by saying that in he introduced a woman suffrage resolution in his state senate, which received fourteen out of thirty-five votes. he closed as follows: "the cause is making headway, though slowly it is true, for it has the prejudices of hundreds of years to contend against. the peaceful revolution is upon us. it will not turn backward but will go on conquering until its final triumph. woman will be exalted, she will enjoy equal rights; pure politics and good government will be insured, the cause of morality advanced, and the happiness of the people established." miss alice stone blackwell (mass.) discussed the strongholds of opposition, showing what they are and how they must be attacked. woman as a subject was presented by mrs. caroline e. merrick (la.), who said in part: women are, and ever will be, loyal, tender, true and devoted to their well beloved men; for they naturally love them better than they do themselves. it is the brave soldier submissive to authority who deserves promotion to rank and honor; so woman, having proved herself a good subject, is now ready for her promotion and advancement. she is urgently asking, not to rule over men, but to take command of herself and all her rightful belongings.... as a self-respecting, reasonable being, she has grave responsibilities, and from her is required an accountability strict and severe. if she owns stock in one of your banks, she has an influence in the management of the institution which takes care of her money. the possession of children makes her a large stockholder in public morality, but her self-constituted agents act as her proxy without her authorization, as though she were of unsound mind, or not in existence. the great truths of liberty and equality are dear to her heart. she would die before she would imperil the well-being of her home. she has no design to subvert church government, nor is she organized to tear up the social fabric of polite society. but she has now come squarely up to a crisis, a new epoch in her history here in the south, and asks for a womanly right to participate by vote in this representative government. gentlemen, you value the power and privilege which the right of suffrage has conferred upon you, and in your honest, manly souls you can not but disdain the meanness and injustice which might prompt you to deny it to women. language utterly fails me when i try to describe the painful humiliation and mortification which attend this abject condition of total disfranchisement, and how anxiously and earnestly women desire to be taken out of the list of idiots, criminals and imbeciles, where they do not belong, and placed in the respectable company of men who choose their lawmakers, and give an intelligent consent to the legal power which controls them. do women deserve nothing? are they not worthy? they have a noble cause, and they beg you to treat it magnanimously. mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon (la.) described in an interesting manner club life among the women of the south. mrs. blake gave a powerful address on wife, mother and citizen. miss shaw closed the meeting with an impromptu speech in which, according to the reporter, she said: "it is declared that women are too emotional to vote; but the morning paper described a pugilistic encounter between two members of congress which looked as if excitability were not limited to women. it is said that 'the legal male mind' is the only mind fit for suffrage." miss shaw then made her wit play around the legal male mind like chain lightning. "it is said that women are illogical, and jump to their conclusions, flea-like. i shall not try to prove that women are logical, for i know they are not, but it is beyond me how men ever got it into their heads that _they_ are. when we read the arguments against woman suffrage, we see that flea-like jumping is by no means confined to women." on one evening the hon. henry c. hammond of georgia made the opening address, which was thus reported: after declaring that the atmosphere of the nineteenth century is surcharged with the sentiment of woman's emancipation, he traced the gradual evolution of this sentiment, showing that one by one the shackles had been stricken from the limbs of woman until now she was making her final protest against tyranny and her last appeal for liberty. "what is meant," said he, "by this mysterious dictum, 'out of her sphere?' it is merely a sentimental phrase without either sense or reason." he then proceeded to say that if woman had a sphere the privilege of voting was clearly within its limitations. there was no doubt in his mind as to woman's moral superiority, and the politics of the country was in need of her purifying touch. in its present distracted and unhappy condition, the adoption of the woman suffrage platform and the incorporation of equal rights into the supreme law of the land was the only hope of its ultimate salvation.... j. colton lynes of georgia, taking for his subject women to the front, gave a valuable historical review of their progress during the last half century. mrs. josephine k. henry was introduced as "the daughter of kentucky," and the _constitution_ said the next day: "if the spirit of old patrick henry could have heard the eloquent plea of his namesake, he would have had no reason to blush for a decadence of the oratory which gave the name to the world." in considering woman suffrage in the south, mrs. henry said: it is asserted on all sides that the women of the south do not want the ballot. the real truth is the women of the south never have been asked what they want. when pundita ramabai was in this country she saw a hen carried to market with its head downward. this christian method of treating a poor, dumb creature caused the heathen woman to cry out, "oh, how cruel to carry a hen with its head down!" and she quickly received the reply, "why, the hen does not mind it"; and in her heathen innocence she inquired, "did you ask the hen?" past civilization has not troubled either dumb creatures or women by consulting them in regard to their own affairs. for woman everything in sociology, law or politics has been arranged without consulting her in any way, and when her rights are trampled on and money extorted from her by the votes of the vicious and ignorant, the glib tongue of tyranny says, "tax her again, she has no wish or right to tell what she wants." ... where the laws rob her in marriage of her property, she does want possession and control of her inheritance and earnings. where she is a mother, she wants co-guardianship of her own children. where she is a breadwinner she wants equal pay for equal work. she wants to wipe out the law that in its savagery protects brutality when it preys upon innocent, defenseless girlhood. she wants the streets and highways of the land made safe for the child whose life cost her a hand to hand conflict with death. she wants a single standard of morals established, where a woman may have an equal chance with a man in this hard, old world, and it may not be possible to crowd a fallen woman out of society and close against her every avenue whereby she can make an honest living, while the fallen man runs for congress and is heaped with honors. more than all, she needs and wants the ballot, the only weapon for the protection of individual rights recognized in this government. in short, this new woman of the new south wants to be a citizen queen as well as a queen of hearts and a queen of home, whose throne under the present regime rests on the sandy foundation of human generosity and human caprice. it should be remembered that the women of the south are the daughters of their fathers, and have as invincible a spirit in their convictions in the cause of liberty and justice as had those fathers. we come asking the men of our section for the right of suffrage, not that it be bestowed on us as a gift on a suppliant, but that our birthright, bequeathed to us by the immortal jefferson, be restored to us.... the most pathetic picture in all history is this great conflict which women are waging for their liberty. men armed with all the death-dealing weapons devised by human ingenuity, and with the wealth of nations at their backs, have waged wars of extermination to gain freedom; but women with no weapon save argument, and no wealth save the justice of their cause, are carrying on a war of education for their liberty, and no earthly power can keep them from winning the victory. the next phase of the woman question was considered by miss mary c. francis (o.) from the standpoint of a practical newspaper woman. mrs. chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, made the last address, taking for a subject eternal justice. the _constitution_ said: "as a rapid, logical and fluent speaker it is doubtful if america ever has produced one more gifted, and the suffrage movement is fortunate in having so brilliant a woman for its champion." henry b. blackwell urged the south to adopt woman suffrage as one solution of the negro problem: apply it to your own state of georgia, where there are , white women who can read and write, and , negro voters, of whom , are illiterates. the time has come when this question should be considered. an educational qualification for suffrage may or may not be wise, but it is not necessarily unjust. if each voter governed only himself, his intelligence would concern himself alone, but his vote helps to govern everybody else. society in conceding his right has itself a right to require from him a suitable preparation. ability to read and write is absolutely necessary as a means of obtaining accurate political information. without it the voter is almost sure to become the tool of political demagogues. with free schools provided by the states, every citizen can qualify himself without money and without price. under such circumstances there is no infringement of rights in requiring an educational qualification as a pre-requisite of voting. indeed, without this, suffrage is often little more than a name. "suffrage is the authoritative exercise of rational choice in regard to principles, measures and men." the comparison of an unintelligent voter to a "trained monkey," who goes through the motion of dropping a paper ballot into a box, has in it an element of truth. society, therefore, has a right to prescribe, in the admission of any new class of voters, such a qualification as every one can attain and as will enable the voter to cast an intelligent and responsible vote. in the development of our complex political society we have to-day two great bodies of illiterate citizens: in the north, people of foreign birth; in the south, people of the african race and a considerable portion of the native white population. against foreigners and negroes, as such, we would not discriminate. but in every state, save one, there are more educated women than all the illiterate voters, white and black, native and foreign. the convention proper closed on saturday night, but the exercises sunday afternoon may be said to have been a continuation of it. the official report said: the services began at o'clock and more than half an hour before this time the theatre was filled almost to its fullest capacity. when the opening hour arrived there was not an empty chair in the house, every aisle was crowded, and people anxious to hear the sermon of the rev. anna howard shaw had invaded the stage. so dense became the crowd that the doors were ordered closed and people were refused admission even before the services began. after the doors were closed the disappointed ones stood on the stairs and many of them remained in the streets. the vast congregation was made up of all classes of citizens. every chair that could be found in the theatre had been either placed in the aisles or on the stage, and then boxes and benches were pressed into service. many of the most prominent professional and business men were standing on the stage and in different parts of the house. miss shaw gave her great sermon the heavenly vision. she told of the visions of the man which it depended upon himself to make reality; of the visions of the woman which were forever placed beyond her reach by the church, by society and by the laws, and closed with these words: "we ask for nothing which god can not give us. god created nature, and if our demands are contrary to nature, trust nature to take care of itself without the aid of man. it is better to be true to what you believe, though that be wrong, than to be false to what you believe, even if that belief is correct." mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.) preached to more than a thousand people at the bethel (colored) church; mrs. meriwether at the unitarian church; miss yates and miss emily howland (n. y.) also occupied pulpits. the evening programs with their formal addresses naturally attracted the largest audiences and occupied the most space in the newspapers, but the morning and afternoon sessions, devoted to state and committee reports and the business of the association, were really the life and soul of this as of all the conventions. among the most interesting of the excellent state reports presented to the atlanta meeting were those of new york and kansas, because during the previous year suffrage campaigns had been carried on in those states. the former, presented by mrs. jean brooks greenleaf, state president, said in part: the new york constitutional convention before whom we hopefully carried our cause--"so old, so new, so ever true"--is a thing of the past. we presented our petition, asking that the word "male" be eliminated from the organic law, with the endorsement of _over half a million_ citizens of the state. we laid before the convention statistics showing that outside the city of new york the property on which women pay taxes is assessed at $ , , ; the number of women taxed, , in cities and towns; not reported, . we had the satisfaction of knowing that the delegates assembled were kept upon a strong equal suffrage diet for days and nights together. at the public hearings, graciously granted us, we saw the great jury listen not only with patience but with evident pleasure and enthusiasm, while women representing twenty-six districts gave reasons for wanting to be enfranchised; and we also saw the creative body itself turned into a woman suffrage meeting for three evenings. at the close of the last we learned that there were in this convention ninety-eight men who dared to say that the freemen of the state should not be allowed to decide whether their wives, mothers and daughters should be enfranchised or not. we learned also, that there were fifty-eight men, constituting a noble minority, who loved justice better than party power, and were willing to risk the latter to sustain the former.[ ] the report of the press committee chairman, mrs. ellen battelle dietrick (mass.), called especial attention to the flood of matter relating to the woman question which was now appearing in the newspapers and magazines of the country, to the activity of the enemy and to the necessity for suffragists to "publish an antidote wherever the poison appears." the legislative committee, mrs. blake, mrs. henry and mrs. diggs, closed their report as follows: in a state where there is hope of support from the political parties, where there has been long agitation and everything points to a favorable result, it is wise to urge a constitutional amendment striking out the word "male" as a qualification for voters. this must pass both houses in the form of concurrent resolution; in some states it must pass two successive legislatures; and it must be ratified at the polls by a majority of the voters. when the conditions are not yet ripe for a constitutional amendment, there are many measures which are valuable in arousing public interest and preparing the way for final triumph, as well as important in ameliorating the condition of women. among these are laws to secure school suffrage for women; women on boards of education and as school trustees; equality of property rights for husbands and wives; equal guardianship of children for mother and father; women factory inspectors; women physicians in hospitals and insane asylums; women trustees in all state institutions; police matrons; seats for saleswomen; the raising of "the age of consent." the report of the plan of work committee, mrs. chapman catt, chairman, began by saying: the great need of the hour is organization. there can be no doubt that the advocates of woman suffrage in the united states are to be numbered by millions, but it is a lamentable fact that our organization can count its numbers only by thousands. there are illustrious men and women in every state, and there are men and women innumerable, who are not known to the public, who are openly and avowedly woman suffragists, yet we do not possess the benefit of their names on our membership lists or the financial help of their dues. in other words, the size of our membership is not at all commensurate with the sentiment for woman suffrage. the reason for this condition is plain; the chief work of suffragists for the past forty years has been education and agitation, and not organization. the time has come when the educational work has borne its fruit, and there are states in which there is sentiment enough to carry a woman suffrage amendment, but it is individual and not organized sentiment, and is, therefore, ineffective. the audience was greatly amused when miss anthony commented on this: "there never yet was a young woman who did not feel that if she had had the management of the work from the beginning the cause would have been carried long ago. i felt just so when i was young." there was much laughter also over one of mrs. abigail scott duniway's short speeches in which she said: there are in oregon three classes of women opposed to suffrage. . women who are so overworked that they have no time to think of it. they are joined to their wash-tubs; let them alone. but the children of these overworked women are coming on. . women who have usurped all the rights in the matrimonial category, their husbands' as well as their own. the husbands of such women are always loudly opposed to suffrage. the "sassiest" man in any community is the hen-pecked husband away from home. . young girls matrimonially inclined, who fear the avowal of a belief in suffrage would injure their chances. i can assure such girls that a woman who wishes to vote gets more offers than one who does not. their motto should be "liberty first, and union afterwards." the man whose wife is a clinging vine is apt to be like the oaks in the forest that are found wrapped in vines--dead at the top. when miss anthony said, "one reason why politicians hesitate to grant suffrage to woman is because she is an unknown quantity," mrs. henry responded quickly, "there are two great unknown forces to-day, electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity than they can on woman." a resolution was adopted for a public celebration in new york city of mrs. elizabeth cady stanton's eightieth birthday, november , by the association.[ ] the treasurer, mrs. harriet taylor upton, reported the receipts of the past year to be $ , , of which $ , went to the kansas campaign. the contributions and pledges of this convention for the coming year were about $ , . in addition, mrs. louisa southworth of cleveland gave $ , to miss anthony to use as she thought best, and she announced that it would be applied to opening national headquarters. a national organization committee was for the first time formally organized and mrs. chapman catt was made its chairman by unanimous vote. mrs. colby presented the memorial resolutions, saying in part: during the past year our association has lost by death a number of members whose devotion to the cause of woman's liberty has contributed largely to the position she holds to-day, and whose labors are a part of the history of this great struggle for the amelioration of her condition. among these beloved friends and co-workers three stood, each as the foremost representative in a distinct line of action: myra bradwell of chicago, virginia l. minor of st. louis, amelia bloomer of council bluffs, ia. mrs. bradwell was the first to make a test case with regard to the civil rights of women, and to prove that the disfranchised citizen is unprotected. [her struggle to secure from the u.s. supreme court a decision enabling women to practice law was related.] the special importance of mrs. minor's connection with the suffrage work lies in the fact that she first formulated and enunciated the idea that women have the right to vote under the united states constitution. [the story was then told of mrs. minor's case in the u.s. supreme court to test the right of women to vote under the fourteenth amendment.][ ] mrs. amelia bloomer was the first woman to own and edit a paper devoted to woman suffrage and temperance, the _lily_, published in seneca falls, n. y. she was also an eloquent lecturer for both these reforms and one of the first women to hold an office under the government, as deputy postmaster. the costume which bears her name she did not originate, but wore and advocated for a number of years. of the noble band that started in , few now remain, but a host of young women are already on the stage of action, even better equipped than were our pioneers to plead their own cases in the courts, the halls of legislation, the pulpit and the press. two large receptions were given to the delegates and visitors, one at the hotel aragon, and one by mrs. w. a. hemphill, chairman of the committee on the professional work of women at the approaching cotton states exposition soon to be held in atlanta. she was assisted by mrs. w. y. atkinson, wife of the newly-elected governor of georgia. during several weeks before the convention miss anthony and mrs. chapman catt had made a tour of the southern states, speaking in the principal cities to arouse suffrage sentiment, as this section was practically an unvisited field. immediately after the convention closed a mass meeting was held in the court-house of atlanta. afterwards mrs. blake was requested to address the legislature of north carolina, miss anthony lectured in a number of cities on the way northward, and others were invited to hold meetings in the neighboring states. most of the speakers and delegates met in washington on february to celebrate miss anthony's seventy-fifth birthday and participate in the triennial convention of the national council of women. footnotes: [ ] the three sisters, claudia howard maxwell, miriam howard du bose and h. augusta howard, who as delegates at washington the previous winter had invited the association to atlanta, bore the principal part of these expenses and were largely responsible for the success of the convention. [ ] the facts and figures presented in the report from kansas by the president, mrs. laura m. johns, will be found in the chapter on that state. [ ] for an account of this beautiful celebration in the metropolitan opera house with an audience of , , see life and work of susan b. anthony, p. ; also reminiscences of elizabeth cady stanton. [ ] for account of mrs. bradwell's case see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. ; of mrs. minor's, same, p. . chapter xvi. the national-american convention of . the suffrage association held its twenty-eighth annual convention in the church of our father, washington, d. c., jan. - , . in her opening remarks the president, miss susan b. anthony, said: the thought that brought us here twenty-eight years ago was that, if the federal constitution could be invoked to protect black men in the right to vote, the same great authority could be invoked to protect women. the question has been urged upon every congress since . we asked at first for a sixteenth amendment enfranchising women; then for suffrage under the fourteenth amendment; then, when the supreme court had decided that against us, we returned to the sixteenth amendment and have pressed it ever since. the same thing has been done in this fifty-fourth congress which has been done in every congress for a decade, namely, the introducing of a bill providing for the new amendment.... you will notice that the seats of the delegation from utah are marked by a large united states flag bearing three stars, a big one and two smaller ones. the big star is for wyoming, because it stood alone for a quarter of a century as the only place where _women had full suffrage_. colorado comes next, because it is the first state where a majority of the men voted to grant women equal rights. then comes utah, because its men in convention assembled--in spite of the bad example of congress, which took the right away from its women nine years ago--those men, having seen the good effects of woman suffrage for years, voted by an overwhelming majority to leave out the little word "male" from the suffrage clause of their new state constitution, and their action was ratified by the electors. next year, if i am here, i hope to rejoice with you over woman suffrage in california and idaho. some one whispered to miss anthony that the convention had not been opened with prayer, and she answered without the slightest confusion: "now, friends, you all know i am a quaker. we give thanks in silence. i do not think the heart of any one here has been fuller of silent thankfulness than mine, but i should not have remembered to have the meeting formally opened with prayer if somebody had not reminded me. the rev. anna howard shaw will offer prayer." miss shaw's report as vice-president-at-large was full of the little touches of humor for which she was noted: the report of my specific work would not take long; but the work that really did count for our association began last may, when your president and i were invited to california. on the way we stopped first at st. louis, where miss anthony spoke before the women's federation, the woman's council, and the state w. s. a. from there we went to denver, where we had a remarkable meeting, and a warm greeting was given to miss anthony by the newly enfranchised women of colorado. it was pleasant to find them so grateful to the pioneers. the large opera house was packed, and a reception, in which the newspapers estimated that , persons took part, was afterwards given at the palace hotel. from denver we went to cheyenne, where we addressed the citizens, men and women. for once there were present at our meeting quite as many men as women, and not only ordinary but extraordinary men. after introducing us to the audience, mrs. theresa a. jenkins introduced the audience to us. it included the governor, senators, representatives, judges of the supreme court, city officials, and never so many majors and colonels, and it showed that where women have a vote, men think their meetings are worth going to. we were the guests of the governor during our stay in colorado, and guests of a u. s. senator in wyoming. at salt lake all the city turned out, and i spoke in the tabernacle to the largest audience i ever had. it was sympathetic too, for utah people are accustomed to go to church and listen. at ogden they had to take two buildings for the meeting. at reno, nevada, there was a large audience. the woman's congress at san francisco was the most marvelous gathering i ever saw. the newspapers said the men were all hypnotized, or they would not stand on the sidewalk two hours to get into a church. every subject considered during the whole week, whether it was the care of children or the decoration of the home, turned on the ballot for women, and susan b. anthony was the belle of the ball. the superintendent of san francisco closed the schools that miss anthony might address the teachers. the ministers' association passed resolutions favoring the amendment. we went the whole length of the state and the meetings were just as enthusiastic. the citizens' committee asked women to take part in the fourth of july celebration. the women accepted more than the men meant they should, for they insisted that a woman should be on the program. the program committee refused, and the executive committee said if they did not put a woman on they should be discharged. instead of this they proposed that mrs. sarah b. cooper should provide sandwiches for over , kindergarten children. that was the kind of work they invited such women to do. the program committee discussed the matter, and their discussion could be heard four blocks away, but they finally yielded and invited me to speak. so miss anthony and i rode for three miles in a highly-decorated carriage, just behind the mayor and followed by a brass band and the fire brigade, and i wore a big badge that almost covered me, just like the badge worn by the masculine orator. the dispute between the executive and the program committees had excited so much interest that there were more cheers for your president and vice-president as we passed along than there were for the mayor.... they wanted us both to come back in the fall. i went and spoke thirty-four times in thirty-seven evenings. as the vice-president finished, miss anthony observed in her characteristic manner: "miss shaw said she only went to california to hold miss anthony's bonnet, but, when we left, everybody thought that i had come to hold her bonnet. it is my delight to see these girls develop and outdo their elders. there is another little woman that i want to come up here to the platform, mrs. chapman catt. while she is blushing and getting ready, there is a delegation here from the woman's national press association." mesdames lockwood, gates, cromwell and emerson were introduced, and miss anthony remarked: "our movement depends greatly on the press. the worst mistake any woman can make is to get crosswise with the newspapers."[ ] by this time mrs. chapman catt had reached the platform, and miss anthony continued: "mrs. catt went down south with me last year to hold my bonnet; and wherever we were, at memphis or new orleans or elsewhere, when she had spoken, miss anthony was nowhere. it is she who has done the splendid organization work which has brought into the association nearly every state in the union, and every territory except the indian and alaska and we shall have them next year." an able address was given by mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.) on the philosophy of woman suffrage, in which she said: woman suffrage is in harmony with the evolution of the race. the progress of civilization has developed the finer forces of mankind and made ready for the entrance of woman into government. as long as man was merely a slayer of men and animals he did not feel the need of the co-partnership of woman, but as his fatherhood was developed he felt his inadequacy and the necessity of the maternal element by his side. woman suffrage is in harmony with the growth of the idea of the worth of the individual, which has its best expression in our republic. our nation is heir of all the struggles for freedom which have been made.... the magna charta belongs to us as much as does the declaration of independence. in all these achievements for liberty women have borne their share. not only have they inspired men but the record of the past is illumined with the story of their own brave deeds. women love liberty as well as men do. the love of liberty is the corollary of the right of consent to government. all the progress of our nation has been along the line of extending the application of this basic idea.... woman suffrage is in harmony with the evolution in the status of women. they always have done their share in the development of the race. there always has been a "new woman," some one stepping out in advance of the rest and gaining a place for others to stand upon.... we have no cause to blush for our ancestors. we may save our blushes for the women of to-day who do not live up to their privileges. now that woman has made such advance in personal and property rights, educational and industrial opportunities, to deny her the ballot is to force her to occupy a much more degrading position than did the women of the past. we think the savage woman degraded because she walks behind her husband bearing the burden to leave his hands free for the weapon which is his sign of sovereignty; what shall we say of the woman of to-day who may not follow her husband and brother as he goes forth to wield the weapon of civilization, the ballot? if the evolution in the status of woman does not point to the franchise it is meaningless. mrs. colby was followed by miss julie r. jenney, a member of the bar in syracuse, n. y., with a thoughtful address on law and the ballot. she showed that woman's present legal rights are in the nature of a license, and therefore revocable at the will of the bodies granting them, and that until women elect the lawmakers they can not be entirely sure of any rights whatever. between daybreak and sunrise was the title of the address of mrs. may stocking knaggs (mich.), who pleaded for the opportunity of complete co-operation between men and women, declaring that "each human being is a whole, single and responsible; each human unit is concerned in the social compact which is formed to protect individual and mutual rights." this was the first appearance of mrs. stetson on this national platform. she came as representative of the pacific coast woman's congress and california suffrage association. the _woman's journal_ said: "those of us who have for years admired mrs. stetson's remarkably bright poems were delighted to meet her, and to find her even more interesting than her writings. she is still a young woman, tall, lithe and graceful, with fine dark eyes, and spirit and originality flashing from her at every turn like light from a diamond. she read several poems to the convention, made an address one evening and preached twice on sunday; and the delegates followed her around, as iron filings follow a magnet." mrs. catharine e. hirst, president of the ladies of the g. a. r.; mrs. lillian m. hollister, representing the supreme hive ladies of the maccabees; miss harriette a. keyser, from the political study club of new york; mrs. rose e. lumpkin, president virginia king's daughters, were presented as fraternal delegates. grace greenwood and mrs. caroline b. buell were introduced to the convention. mrs. chapman catt spoke for the course of study in political science, which had been in operation only five months, had sold five hundred full sets of books and reported over one hundred clubs formed. the committee on credentials reported delegates present, and all the states and territories represented except thirteen. a very satisfactory report of the first year's work of the organization committee was presented by its chairman, mrs. chapman catt, which closed as follows: our committee are more than ever convinced that it is possible to build a great organization based upon the one platform of the enfranchisement of women. with harmony, co-operation and determination we shall yet build this organization, of such numbers and political strength that through the power of constituency it can dictate at least one plank in the platform of every political party, and secure an amendment from any legislature it petitions. we believe it will yet have its auxiliaries in every village and hamlet, township and school district, to influence majorities when the amendment is submitted. more--we believe ere many years its powers will be so subtle and widespread that it can besiege the conservatism of congress itself, and come away with the laurel wreath of victory. nearly $ , were at once pledged for the committee, miss anthony herself agreeing to raise $ of this amount. mrs. chapman catt presented also a detailed plan of work, which included organization, club work, letter writing, raising of money and political work. of the last she said: "the time has fully come when we should carry the rub-a-dub of our agitation into 'the political africa,' that is into every town meeting of every township of every county, and every caucus or primary meeting of every ward of every city of every state.... for a whole half century we have held special suffrage meetings, with audiences largely of women; that is, women have talked to women. we must now carry our discussion of the question into all of the different political party gatherings, for it is only there that the rank and file of the voters ever go. they won't come to our meetings, so we must carry our gospel into theirs. it will be of no more avail in the future than it has been in the past to send appeals to state and national conventions, so long as they are not backed by petitions from a vast majority of the voting constituents of their members." with the thousand dollars which had been put into miss anthony's hands by mrs. louisa southworth of cleveland the preceding year, national headquarters had been opened in philadelphia with mrs. rachel foster avery, corresponding secretary, in charge. mrs. harriet taylor upton, treasurer, reported total receipts for to be $ , , with a balance of several hundred dollars in the treasury. the principal feature of the saturday evening meeting was the address of miss elizabeth burrill curtis, daughter of george william curtis, on universal suffrage. she said in part: i find many people in my native state of new york who are leaning toward a limited suffrage, and therefore i am beginning to ask, "what does it mean? is democratic government impossible after all?" for a government in order to be democratic must be founded on the suffrages of all the people, not a part. a republic may exist by virtue of a limited suffrage, but a democracy can not, and a democratic government has been our theoretical ideal from the first. are we prepared, after a hundred and twenty years, to own ourselves defeated?... universal suffrage, to me, means the right of every man and woman who is mentally able to do so, and who has not forfeited the right by an ill use of it, to say who shall rule them, and what action shall be taken by those rulers upon questions of moment.... this brings me to what i wish to say about those who desire a limited suffrage. who are they, and to what class do they belong? for the most part, as i know them, they are men of property, who belong to the educated classes, who are refined and cultivated, and who see the government about them falling into the hands of the unintelligent and often illiterate classes who are voted at the polls like sheep. therefore these gentlemen weep aloud and wail and say: "if we had a limited suffrage, if we and our friends had the management of affairs, how much better things would be!" do not misunderstand me here. i am far from decrying the benefits of education. nobody believes in its necessity more sincerely than i do. in fact i hold that, other things being equal, the educated man is immeasurably in advance of the uneducated one; but the trouble is that other things are often very far from being equal and it is utterly impossible for the average man, educated or not, to be trusted to decide with entire justice between himself and another person when their interests are equally involved.... the intelligent voter in a democratic community can not abdicate his responsibility without being punished. he is the natural leader, and if he refuses to fulfil his duties the leadership will inevitably fall into the hands of those who are unfitted for the high and holy task--and who is to blame? it is the educated men, the professional men, the men of wealth and culture, who are themselves responsible when things go wrong; and the refusal to acknowledge their responsibility will not release them from it.... the principle of universal suffrage, like every other high ideal, will not stand alone. it carries duties with it, duties which are imperative and which to shirk is filching benefits without rendering an equivalent. how dare a man plead his private ease or comfort as an excuse for neglecting his public duties? how dare the remonstrating women of massachusetts declare that they fear the loss of privileges, one of which is the immunity from punishment for a misdemeanor committed in the husband's presence? "when i was a child, i spake as a child, i thought as a child, i understood as a child; but when i became a man, i put away childish things." throughout history all women and many men have been forced, so far as government has been concerned, to speak, think and understand as children. now, for the first time, we are asking that the people, as a whole body, shall rise to their full stature and put away childish things. the sermon on sunday afternoon was given by mrs. stetson from the topic which was to have been considered by the rev. anna garlin spencer, the spiritual significance of democracy and woman's relation to it. she spoke without notes and illustrated the central thought that love grows where people are brought together, and that they are brought together more in a democracy than in any other mode of living. "women have advanced less rapidly than men because they have always been more isolated. they have been brought into relation with their own families only. it is men who have held the inter-human relation.... everything came out of the home; but because you began in a cradle is no reason why you should always stay there. because charity begins at home is no reason why it should stop there, and because woman's first place is at home is no reason why her last and only place should be there. civilization has been held back because so many men have inherited the limitations of the female sex. you can not raise public-spirited men from private-spirited mothers, but only from mothers who have been citizens in spite of their disfranchisement. in holding back the mothers of the race, you are keeping back the race." at the memorial services loving tributes were paid to the friends of woman suffrage who had passed away during the year. among these were ex-secretary of the treasury hugh mcculloch, ex-governor oliver ames (mass.), dr. james c. jackson of dansville (n. y.), dr. abram w. lozier of new york city, thomas davis, sarah wilbur of rhode island, marian skidmore of lily dale, n. y., and amelia e. h. doyon of madison, wis., who left $ , to the national association. henry b. blackwell spoke of theodore d. weld, the great abolitionist, leader of the movement to found oberlin, the first co-educational college, and one of the earliest advocates of equal rights for women. he told also of frederick douglass, whose last act was to bear his testimony in favor of suffrage for women at the woman's council in washington on the very day of his death. mrs. avery gave a tender eulogy of theodore lovett sewall of indianapolis, his brilliancy as a conversationalist, his charm as a host, his loyalty as a friend, his beautiful devotion to his wife, mrs. may wright sewall, and his lifelong adherence to the cause of woman. the loss of mrs. ellen battelle dietrick came with crushing force, as her services to the association were invaluable. to her most intimate friend, the rev. anna howard shaw, was assigned the duty of speaking a word in her memory, and in broken sentences she said: "i never knew such earnest purpose and consecration or such a fund of knowledge in any one as mrs. dietrick possessed. she never stopped thinking because she had reached the furthest point to which some one else had thought. she was the best antagonist i ever saw; i never knew any one who could differ so intensely, and yet be so perfectly calm and good-tempered. what she was as a friend no one can tell. her death is a great loss to our press work. perhaps no one ever wrote so many articles in the same length of time. this was especially the case last summer. it seemed as if she had a premonition that her life would soon end, for she sat at her desk writing hour after hour. i believe it shortened her life. she had just finished a book--women in the early christian ministry--and she left many other manuscripts. it would be a pity if the rich, ripe thought of this woman should not be preserved. her funeral was like her life, without show or display. no one outside the family was present except myself. no eulogy was uttered there; she would not have wanted it. tennyson's last poem, crossing the bar, was recited by her brother-in-law, the rev. j. w. hamilton.[ ]" miss shaw ended her remarks by reciting this poem. miss anthony, who was to close the exercises, was too much affected to speak and motioned that the audience was dismissed, but no one stirred. at length she said: "there are very few human beings who have the courage to utter to the fullest their honest convictions--mrs. dietrick was one of these few. she would follow truth wherever it led, and she would follow no other leader. like lucretia mott, she took 'truth for authority, not authority for truth.' miss anthony spoke also of the "less-known women": "adeline thomson, a most remarkable character, was a sister to j. edgar thomson, first president of the pennsylvania railroad. she lived to be eighty, and for years she stood there in philadelphia, a monument of the past. her house was my home when in that city for thirty years. we have also lost in julia wilbur of the district a most useful woman, and one who was faithful to the end. this is the first convention for twenty-eight years at which she has not been present with us. we should all try to live so as to make people feel that there is a vacancy when we go; but, dear friends, do not let there be a vacancy long. our battle has just reached the place where it can win, and if we do our work in the spirit of those who have gone before, it will soon be over." there was special rejoicing at this convention over the admission of utah as a state with full suffrage for women. senator and mrs. frank j. cannon and representative and mrs. c. e. allen of utah were on the platform. in her address of welcome miss shaw said: every star added to that blue field makes for the advantage of every human being. we are just beginning to learn that we are all children of one father and members of one family; and when one member suffers or is benefited, all the members suffer or rejoice. so when utah comes into the union with every one free, it is not only that state which is benefited, but we and all the world. as the stars at night come out one by one, so will they come out one by one on our flag, till the whole blue field is a blaze of glory. we expected it of the men of utah. no man there could have stood by the side of his mother and heard her tell of all that the pioneers endured, and then have refused to grant her the same right of liberty he wanted for himself, without being unworthy of such a mother. they are the crown of our union, those three states on the crest of the rockies, above all the others. in the name of the national american woman suffrage association, we extend our welcome, our thanks and our congratulations to utah, as one of the three so dear to the heart of every woman who loves liberty in these united states. senator cannon said in response: " ... only one serious question came before our constitutional convention, and that was whether the adoption of woman suffrage would hinder the admission of our territory as a state.... but our women had furnished courage, patience and heroism to our men, and so we said: 'utah shall take another forty-nine years of wandering in the wilderness as a territory before coming in as a state without her women.' my mother wandered there for twelve years. women trailed bleeding feet and lived on roots that those of to-day might reap bounteous harvests. utah gave women the suffrage while still a territory. congress, in its not quite infinite wisdom, took it away after they had exercised it intelligently for seventeen years; but the first chance that the men of utah had they gave it back." representative allen was called on by miss anthony to "tell us how nice it seems to feel that your wife is as good as you are," and said in part: "perhaps you have read what the real estate agents say about utah--how they praise her sun and soil, her mountains and streams, and her precious metals. they tell you that she is filled with the basis of all material prosperity, with gold, silver, lead and iron: but greatness can not come from material resources alone--it must come from the people who till and delve. utah is great because her people are great. when she has centuries behind her she will make a splendid showing because she has started right. she has given to that part of the people who instinctively know what is right, the power to influence the body politic.... this movement is destined to go on until it reaches every state in the union." mrs. allen and mrs. sarah a. boyer told of the heroic efforts the women had made for themselves; and mrs. emily s. richards, vice-president of the territorial suffrage association, described in a graphic manner the systematic and persistent work of this organization. the tribute to its president, mrs. emmeline b. wells, whose influence had been paramount in securing the franchise for the women of utah, was heartily applauded and a telegram of congratulation was sent to her.[ ] the address of mrs. ella knowles haskell, assistant attorney-general of montana, on the environments of woman as related to her progress, attracted much attention. she had been the populist candidate for attorney-general and made a strong canvass but went down to defeat with the rest of her party. soon afterward she married her competitor, who appointed her his assistant. she reviewed the laws of past ages, showing how impossible it was then for women to rise above the conditions imposed upon them, and pointed out the wonderful progress they had made as soon as even partial freedom had been granted. mrs. virginia d. young (s. c.), taking as a subject the sunflower bloom of woman's equality, gave an address which in its quaint speech, dialect stories and attractive provincialisms captivated the audience. the convention received an invitation from mrs. john r. mclean for monday afternoon to meet mrs. ulysses s. grant on her seventieth birthday. the ladies were welcomed by their hostess and mrs. nellie grant sartoris, while miss anthony, who had attended the luncheon which preceded the reception, presented the ladies to mrs. grant. mrs. rachel foster avery, corresponding secretary, devoted a portion of her report to an account of the visit made by the delegates of the association in response to an invitation from the woman's board of congresses of the atlanta exposition, oct. , . the principal address on that occasion was made by mrs. helen gardiner. this convention was long remembered on account of the vigorous contest over what was known as the bible resolution. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton recently had issued a commentary on the passages of scripture referring to women, which she called "the woman's bible." although this was done in her individual capacity, yet some of the members claimed that, as she was honorary president of the national association, this body was held by the public as partly responsible for it and it injured their work for suffrage. a resolution was brought in by the committee declaring: "this association is non-sectarian, being composed of persons of all shades of religious opinion, and has no official connection with the so-called 'woman's bible' or any theological publication." the debate was long and animated, but although there was intense feeling it was conducted in perfectly temperate and respectful language. those participating were rachel foster avery, katie r. addison, henry b. blackwell, alice stone blackwell, carrie chapman catt, annie l. diggs, laura m. johns, helen morris lewis, anna howard shaw, frances a. williamson and elizabeth u. yates speaking for the resolution; lillie devereux blake, clara b. colby, cornelia h. cary, lavina a. hatch, harriette a. keyser, j. b. merwin, caroline hallowell miller, althea b. stryker, charlotte perkins stetson, mary bentley thomas and victoria c. whitney speaking against it. miss anthony was thoroughly aroused and, leaving the chair, spoke against the resolution as follows: the one distinct feature of our association has been the right of individual opinion for every member. we have been beset at each step with the cry that somebody was injuring the cause by the expression of sentiments which differed from those held by the majority. the religious persecution of the ages has been carried on under what was claimed to be the command of god. i distrust those people who know so well what god wants them to do, because i notice it always coincides with their own desires. all the way along the history of our movement there has been this same contest on account of religious theories. forty years ago one of our noblest men said to me: "you would better never hold another convention than allow ernestine l. rose on your platform;" because that eloquent woman, who ever stood for justice and freedom, did not believe in the plenary inspiration of the bible. did we banish mrs. rose? no, indeed! every new generation of converts threshes over the same old straw. the point is whether you will sit in judgment on one who questions the divine inspiration of certain passages in the bible derogatory to women. if mrs. stanton had written approvingly of these passages you would not have brought in this resolution for fear the cause might be injured among the _liberals_ in religion. in other words, if she had written _your_ views, you would not have considered a resolution necessary. to pass this one is to set back the hands on the dial of reform. what you should say to outsiders is that a christian has neither more nor less rights in our association than an atheist. when our platform becomes too narrow for people of all creeds and of no creeds, i myself can not stand upon it. many things have been said and done by our _orthodox_ friends which i have felt to be extremely harmful to our cause; but i should no more consent to a resolution denouncing them than i shall consent to this. who is to draw the line? who can tell now whether these commentaries may not prove a great help to woman's emancipation from old superstitions which have barred its way? lucretia mott at first thought mrs. stanton had injured the cause of all woman's other rights by insisting upon the demand for suffrage, but she had sense enough not to bring in a resolution against it. in when mrs. stanton made a speech before the new york legislature in favor of a bill making drunkenness a ground for divorce, there was a general cry among the friends that she had killed the woman's cause. i shall be pained beyond expression if the delegates here are so narrow and illiberal as to adopt this resolution. you would better not begin resolving against individual action or you will find no limit. this year it is mrs. stanton; next year it may be i or one of yourselves who will be the victim. if we do not inspire in women a broad and catholic spirit, they will fail, when enfranchised, to constitute that power for better government which we have always claimed for them. ten women educated into the practice of liberal principles would be a stronger force than , organized on a platform of intolerance and bigotry. i pray you vote for religious liberty, without censorship or inquisition. this resolution adopted will be a vote of censure upon a woman who is without a peer in intellectual and statesmanlike ability; one who has stood for half a century the acknowledged leader of progressive thought and demand in regard to all matters pertaining to the absolute freedom of women. notwithstanding this eloquent appeal the original resolution was adopted by yeas, nays.[ ] at the request of about thirty of the delegates, mostly from the far western states, miss anthony sent a message to mrs. cleveland asking that they might be permitted to call upon her, and she received them with much courtesy. the association decided to help california and idaho in whatever manner was desired in their approaching campaigns for a woman suffrage amendment. invitations for holding the national convention were received from springfield, ill.; denver, col.; cincinnati, o.; st. louis, mo.; portland, ore.; charleston, s. c. it was voted to leave the matter to the business committee, who later accepted an invitation from des moines, ia., as the suffrage societies of that state were organizing to secure an amendment from the legislature. at the last meeting, on tuesday evening, every inch of space was occupied and people were clinging to the window sills. miss anthony stated that since frederick douglass was no longer among them as he had been for so many years, his grandson, joseph douglass, who was an accomplished violinist, would give two selections in his memory. mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.), spoke on presidential candidates and the interests of women, outlining the attitude of the various nominees and parties. miss harriet may mills (n. y.) discussed our unconscious allies, the remonstrants, illustrating from her experience as organizer how their efforts really help the cause they try to hinder. mrs. emma smith devoe (ills.), in demonstrating that the liberty of the mother means the liberty of the race, showed the need of truer companionship between man and woman and that the political disabilities of women affect all humanity. this was further illustrated by mrs. annie l. diggs (kas.) under the topic women as legislators. she said in part: you have before you a great problem as to whether republican government itself is to be successful at this time, and statesmen to save their souls can not tell what will be the outcome. we believe that women have in their possession what is needed to make it a success--those things upon which are built the home life and the ethical life of the nation. we can supply what is lacking, not because women are better than men, but because they are other than men; because they have a supplementary part, and it is their mission to guard most sacredly and closely those things which protect the home life. because of their womanhood, because of their divine function of motherhood, women must always be most closely concerned with the matters that pertain to the home. it belongs to man, with his strong right arm, to pioneer the way, and then woman comes along to help him build the enduring foundation upon which everything rests. miss shaw, in a short, good-naturedly sarcastic speech on the bulwarks of the constitution, showed the illogical position of president eliot of harvard in declaiming grand sentiments in favor of universal suffrage and then protesting against having them applied to women. the last number on the program was the ballot as an improver of motherhood, by mrs. stetson. it was an address of wonderful power which thrilled the audience. among other original statements were these: we have heard much of the superior moral sense of woman. it is superior in spots but not as a whole.... here is an imaginary case which will show how undeveloped in some respects woman's moral sense still is: suppose a train was coming with a children's picnic on board--three hundred merry, laughing children. suppose you saw this train was about to go through an open switch and over an embankment, and your own child was playing on the track in front of it. you could turn the switch and save the train, or save your own child by pulling it off the track, but there was not time to do both. which would you do? i have put that question to hundreds of women. i never have found one but said she would save her own child, and not one in a hundred but claimed this would be absolutely right. the maternal instinct is stronger in the hearts of most women than any moral sense.... what is the suffrage going to do for motherhood? women enter upon this greatest function of life without any preparation, and their mothers permit them to do it because they do not recognize motherhood as a business. we do not let a man practice as a doctor or a druggist, or do anything else which involves issues of life and death, without training and certificates; but the life and death of the whole human race are placed in the hands of utterly untrained young girls. the suffrage draws the woman out of her purely personal relations and puts her in relations with her kind, and it broadens her intelligence. i am not disparaging the noble devotion of our present mothers--i know how they struggle and toil--but when that tremendous force of mother love is made intelligent, fifty per cent of our children will not die before they are five years old, and those that grow up will be better men and women. a woman will no longer be attached solely to one little group, but will be also a member of the community. she will not neglect her own on that account, but will be better to them and of more worth as a mother. mrs. stetson closed with her own fine poem, mother to child. the usual congressional hearings were held on tuesday morning, january .[ ] the speakers were presented by miss shaw, who made a very strong closing argument. at its conclusion senator peffer announced his thorough belief in woman suffrage, and senator hoar planted himself still more firmly in the favorable position he always had maintained.[ ] miss anthony led the host before the judiciary committee of the house, and opened with the statement that the women had been coming here asking for justice for nearly thirty years. she gave a brief account of the status of the question before congress and then presented her speakers, each occupying the exact limit of time allotted and each taking up a different phase of the question.[ ] miss anthony called on representative john f. shafroth of colorado, who was among the listeners, to say something in regard to the experiment in his state. he spoke in unqualified approval, saying: "in the election of a greater per cent. of women voted than men, and instead of their being contaminated by any influence of a bad nature at the polls, the effect has been that there are no loafers, there are no drunkards, there are no persons of questionable character standing around the polls. one of the practical effects of woman suffrage will be to inject into politics an element that is independent and does not have to keep a consistent record with the party. we find that the ladies of colorado do not care whether they vote for one ticket or the other, but they vote for the men they think the most deserving. consequently if a man is nominated who has a questionable record invariably they will strike the party that does it. that tendency, i care not where it may exist, must be for good." miss anthony closed with an earnest appeal that the committee would report in favor of a sixteenth amendment to the constitution, thus enabling the women to carry their case to the legislatures of the different states instead of to the masses of voters. she then submitted for publication and distribution the address of mrs. stanton, which said in part: there is not a principle of our government, not an article or section of our constitution, from the preamble to the last amendment, which we have not elucidated and applied to woman suffrage before the various committees in able arguments that have never been answered. our failure to secure justice thus far has not been due to any lack of character or ability in our advocates or of strength in their propositions, but to the popular prejudices against woman's emancipation. eloquent, logical arguments on any question, though based on justice, science, morals and religion, are all as light as air in the balance with old theories, creeds, codes and customs. could we resurrect from the archives of this capitol all the petitions and speeches presented here by women for human freedom during this century, they would reach above this dome and make a more fitting pedestal for the goddess of liberty than the crowning point of an edifice beneath which the mother of the race has so long pleaded in vain for her natural right of self-government--a right her sons should have secured to her long ago of their own free will by statutes carved indelibly on the corner-stones of the republic. as arguments have thus far proved unavailing, may not appeals to your feelings, to your moral sense, find the response so long withheld by your reason? allow me, honorable gentlemen, to paint you a picture and bring within the compass of your vision at once the comparative position of two classes of citizens: the central object is a ballot box guarded by three inspectors of foreign birth. on the right is a multitude of coarse, ignorant beings, designated in our constitutions as male citizens--many of them fresh from the steerage of incoming steamers. there, too, are natives of the same type from the slums of our cities. policemen are respectfully guiding them all to the ballot box. those who can not stand, because of their frequent potations, are carefully supported on either side, each in turn depositing his vote, for what purpose he neither knows nor cares, except to get the promised bribe. on the left stand a group of intelligent, moral, highly-cultivated women, whose ancestors for generations have fought the battles of liberty and have made this country all it is to-day. these come from the schools and colleges as teachers and professors; from the press and pulpit as writers and preachers; from the courts and hospitals as lawyers and physicians; and from happy and respectable homes as honored mothers, wives and sisters. knowing the needs of humanity subjectively in all the higher walks of life, and objectively in the world of work, in the charities, in the asylums and prisons, in the sanitary condition of our streets and public buildings, they are peculiarly fitted to write, speak and vote intelligently on all these questions of such vital, far-reaching consequence to the welfare of society. but the inspectors refuse their votes because they are not designated in the constitution as "male" citizens, and the policemen drive them away. sad and humiliated they retire to their respective abodes, followed by the jeers of those in authority. imagine the feelings of these dignified women, returning to their daily round of duties, compelled to leave their interests, public and private, in the state and the home, to these ignorant masses. the most grievous result of war to the conquered is wearing a foreign yoke, yet this is the position of the daughters of the puritans.... what a dark page the present political position of women will be for the future historian! in reading of the republics of greece and rome and the grand utterances of their philosophers in pæans to liberty, we wonder that under such governments there should have been a class of citizens held in slavery. our descendants will be still more surprised to know that our disfranchised citizens, our pariahs, our slaves, belonged to the most highly educated, moral, virtuous class in the nation, women of wealth and position who paid millions of taxes every year into the state and national treasuries; women who had given thousands to build colleges and churches and to encourage the sciences and arts. from the dawn of creation to this hour history affords no other instance of so large a class of such a character subordinated politically to the ignorant masses. footnotes: [ ] letters and telegrams of greeting were received from the hon. mrs. c. c. holly, member colorado legislature, mrs. henry m. teller, mrs. francis e. warren, mrs. foster, from the national woman's christian temperance union, state and local associations of various kinds. [ ] now bishop in the methodist episcopal church. [ ] george w. catt presented a significant paper showing that the victory of utah was almost wholly due to the excellent organization of the suffrage forces, as with a population of , it had over , active workers for the franchise. if the same proportion existed in other states nothing could prevent the success of the movement to enfranchise women. this report was printed by the association as a leaflet. [ ] _yeas_: rachel foster avery, katie r. addison, lucy e. anthony, mary o. arnold, lucretia l. blankenburg, caroline brown buell, sallie clay bennett, henry b. blackwell, alice stone blackwell, emma e. bower, jennie broderick, jessie j. cassidy, carrie chapman catt, mariana w. chapman, mary n. chase, laura clay, elizabeth b. dodge, annie l. diggs, matilda e. gerrigus, caroline gibbons, john t. hughes, mary louise haworth, mrs. frank l. hubbard, mary n. hubbard, mary g. hay, mary d. hussey, hetty y. hallowell, laura m. johns, mary stocking knaggs, helen morris lewis, mary elizabeth milligan, rebecca t. miller, jessie g. manley, alice m. a. pickler, florence m. post, florence post, the rev g. simmons, anna r. simmons, alice clinton smith, sarah h. sawyer, amanthus shipp, mrs. m. r. stockwell, mary clarke smith, d. viola smith, anna h. shaw, sarah vail thompson, harriet taylor upton, laura h. van cise, frances a. williamson, mary j. williamson, eliza r. whiting, elizabeth a. willard, elizabeth upham yates-- _nays:_ susan b. anthony, mary s. anthony, s. augusta armstrong, elizabeth d. bacon, lillie devereux blake, elisan brown, annie caldwell boyd, cornelia h. cary, clara bewick colby, dr. cora smith eaton, caroline mccullough everhard, dr. m. virginia glauner, mary e. gilmer, mrs. l. c. hughes, lavina a. hatch, emily howland, isabel howland, julie r. jenney, harriette a. keyser, jean lockwood, orra langhorne, mary e. moore, j. b. merwin, harriet may mills, mrs. m. j. mcmillan, julia b. nelson, adda g. quigley, charlotte perkins stetson, althea b. stryker, mary b. sackett, harriet brown stanton, mrs. r. w. southard, ellen powell thompson, helen rand tindall, mary bentley thomas, martha s. townsend, mary wood, victoria conkling whitney, mary b. wickersham, mrs. george k. wheat, virginia d. young-- . [ ] the senate committee on woman suffrage--senators wilkinson call, james z. george, george f. hoar, matthew s. quay and william a. peffer--were addressed by elizabeth d. bacon (conn.), sallie clay bennett (ky.), lillie devereux blake (n. y.), lucretia l. blankenburg (penn.), mariana w. chapman (n. y.), mary n. chase (vt.), dr. mary d. hussey (n. j.), mrs. frank hubbard (ills.), lavina a. hatch (mass.), may stocking knaggs (mich.), helen morris lewis (n. c.), orra langhorne (va.), mary elizabeth milligan (del.), caroline hallowell miller (md.), julia b. nelson (minn.), mrs. r. w. southard (ok.), ellen powell thompson (d. c.), victoria conkling whitney (mo.), virginia d. young (s. c.). [ ] on april senator call submitted the bill for a sixteenth amendment without recommendation, and for himself and senator george the same old adverse report which had begun to do duty in , and which, he said, expressed their views. it will be found in the history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, p. . senator quay evidently allowed himself to be counted in the opposition. [ ] the members of the committee present were representatives david b. henderson (chairman), broderick, updegraff, gillett (mass.) baker (n. h.), burton (mo.), brown, culberson, boatner, washington, terry and de armond. absent: ray, connolly, bailey, strong and lewis. the speakers were mrs. l. c. hughes (ariz.), charlotte perkins stetson (cal.), annie l. diggs, katie r. addison (kan.), elizabeth upham yates (me.), henry b. blackwell (mass.), harriet p. sanders (mont.), clara b. colby (neb.), frances a. williamson (nev.), dr. cora smith eaton (n. d.), caroline mccullough everhard (o.), anna r. simmons (s. d.), emily s. richards (utah), jessie g. manley (w. va.). chapter xvii. the national-american convention of . this year the suffrage association took its convention west of the mississippi river, the twenty-ninth annual meeting being held in des moines, ia., jan. - , . circumstances were unfavorable, the thermometer registering twenty-four degrees below zero and a heavy blizzard prevailing throughout the west. nevertheless sixty-three delegates, representing twenty states, were present. all the visitors were entertained in the hospitable homes of this city, and the entire executive board were the guests of james and martha c. callanan at their handsome home in the suburbs. receptions were given by the des moines woman's club, by the young women's christian association and by mr. and mrs. f. m. hubbell at their palatial residence, terrace hill. the convention was welcomed in behalf of the state by gov. francis m. drake, who paid the highest possible tribute to the social and intellectual qualities of women, pointed out the liberality of iowa in respect to manhood suffrage and congratulated the association generally, but was extremely careful not to commit himself on the question of woman suffrage. mayor john mcvicar extended the welcome of the city in eloquent language. he also skirted all around the suffrage question, came much nearer an expression of approval than did the governor, but cleverly avoided a direct assertion in favor. he was followed by the rev. h. o. breeden, pastor of the christian church in which the convention was assembled. not being in politics he dared express an honest opinion and said in the course of his remarks: [illustration: (miss anthony's cabinet in .) catharine waugh mcculloch. second auditor. alice stone blackwell. recording secretary. rachel foster avery. corresponding secretary years. laura clay. first auditor. harriet taylor upton. treasurer. ] it is my privilege to address you in behalf of the churches, and i do so with great pleasure, because i have a robust faith that you are right, and also that the churches are with you in sympathy and heart. i belong to one which welcomes women to its pulpit and to all its offices. i should distrust the christianity of any that would deny to my mother and wife the rights it accords to my father and myself. we welcome you to this city of churches and to the churches of the city, and to its homes. woman shows her capacity for the highest functions in proportion as she is admitted to them. i hold it true, with dr. storrs, that as dante measured his progress in paradise not by outer objects but by the increased beauty upon the face of beatrice, so the progress of the race is measured by the increasing beauty of character shown in its women. the fanaticism of yesterday is the reform of to-day, and the victory of to-morrow. truth always goes onward and never back. the day of equal rights for women is surely coming. you are fighting a good warfare, with god, with conscience and with right to inspire you, and the triumph is near at hand. mrs. mattie locke macomber extended the greetings of the women's clubs of the state; mrs. adelaide ballard, president of the iowa suffrage association, presented its welcome, and greetings were read from various women's christian temperance unions. miss anthony responded briefly, contrasting the welcome by governor, mayor and different societies with the olden times when perhaps not one person would extend a friendly hand to those who attempted to hold a suffrage meeting. "i hardly know what to say now," she continued. "it is so much easier to speak when brickbats are flying. but i do rejoice with you over the immense revolution and evolution of the past twenty-five years, and i thank you for this cordial greeting." the meetings were held in the large and well-arranged christian church, with an auditorium seating , . the four daily papers gave full and fair reports and, although there was no editorial endorsement, there was no adverse comment. the _leader_ thus described the opening session, tuesday afternoon: it is doubtful if the church ever before held so many people. they poured in at all the doors, and the great audience room, with the balconies and the windows, the choir and the aisles, the platform and every foot of available space, was early occupied. there were many gentlemen in the audience, but probably four of every five were women. the men had come, apparently, to see and hear miss anthony; and when she was done many of them left. it was such an audience as is not often seen. the ladies were generally elderly, the great majority beyond middle-age; they had braved the cold and wind to hear the leader whom they had known and loved for many years, but whom most of them had never seen. their bright faces framed in silvery hair, with brighter eyes upturned to the speakers, must have been an inspiration to those on the platform; in the case of miss anthony it was plain that she was indeed inspired by her audience. there was much rejoicing over the enfranchisement of the women of idaho by an amendment to the state constitution during the past year; and much sorrow over the defeat of a similar amendment in california. in her president's address miss anthony said in part: the year witnessed greater successes than any since the first pronunciamento was made at seneca falls, n. y., july , . on january president cleveland proclaimed utah to be a state, with a constitution which does not discriminate against women. with utah and wyoming we have two states coming into the union with the principle of equal rights to women guaranteed by their constitutions. on november the men of idaho declared in favor of woman suffrage, and for the first time in the history of judicial decisions upon the enlargement of women's rights, civil and political, a supreme court gave a broad interpretation of the constitution. the supreme court of idaho--isaac n. sullivan, joseph w. huston, john t. morgan--unanimously decided that the amendment was carried constitutionally. this decision is the more remarkable because the court might as easily have declared that the constitution requires amendments to receive a majority of the total vote cast at the election, instead of a majority of the votes cast on the amendment itself. by the former construction it would have been lost, notwithstanding two to one of all who expressed an opinion were in favor. if anyone will study the history of our woman suffrage movement since the days of reconstruction and the adoption of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the federal constitution--taking the decisions of the supreme court of the united states in the cases of mrs. myra bradwell for the protection of her civil rights; of mrs. virginia l. minor for the protection of her political rights; of the law granting municipal suffrage to women in michigan; on giving women the right to vote for county school commissioners in new york, and various other decisions--he will find that in every case the courts have put the narrowest possible construction upon the spirit and the letter of the constitution. the judges of idaho did themselves the honor to make a decision in direct opposition to judicial precedent and prejudice. the idaho victory is a great credit not only to the majority of men who voted for the amendment, but to the three judges who made this broad and just decision. after sketching the situation in california, and relating the part taken by the national association in these two campaigns, she concluded: in every county which was properly organized, with a committee in every precinct, who visited every voter and distributed leaflets in every family, the amendment received a majority vote. this ought to be sufficient to teach the women of all the states that what we need is house-to-house educational work throughout every voting precinct. we may possibly carry amendments with education short of this, but we are not likely to. i believe if the slums of san francisco and oakland had been thus organized, even the men there could have been made to see that it was for their interest and that of their wives and daughters to vote for the amendment. but, while the suffragists had no committees whatever in those districts, the "liquor men" had an active committee in every saloon, "dive" and gambling house. i am, therefore, more and more convinced that it is educational work which needs to be done. it is of little use for us to make our appeals to political party conventions, state legislatures or congress for resolutions in favor of woman's enfranchisement, while no appeal comes up to them from the rank and file of the voters. until we do this kind of house-to-house work we can never expect to carry any of the states in which there are large cities. if idaho had had san francisco, with all its liquor interests and foreigners banded together, she would probably have been defeated as was california. so, friends, i am not in any sense disheartened, and while i rejoice exceedingly over idaho, i also rejoice exceedingly over the grand work done in california, and over the , votes given for woman suffrage in that state. it was vastly more than was ever done in any other amendment campaign. study then the methods of california and idaho and improve on them as much as you possibly can. the des moines _leader_ thus finished its report: it was not difficult for one who saw miss anthony for the first time to understand why she is so well beloved by her associates. seventy-seven years old, she is the most earnest worker of them all; she is not only their leader but their counsellor and friend. while she occupied the platform the utmost solicitude was manifested for her on the part of everybody. once a glass of water was sent for but did not come as soon as it should, and everyone on the stage was visibly concerned except miss anthony herself, who calmly observed, by way of apology for a trifling difficulty with her voice, that she was not accustomed to speak in public, at which a laugh went round.... her silvery hair was parted in the middle and brushed down over her ears. her eyes have the deep-set appearance which is characteristic of elderly people who have been hard mental laborers, but on the whole she did not look all her years, though older than most of her hearers had expected to see her. but those beaming, earnest eyes, taking in her whole audience as she talked, told of a nature tenacious of purpose and not to be daunted by any obstacle--the qualities which in her many years' work in the cause miss anthony has so many times manifested. the rev. anna howard shaw devoted the most of her report as vice-president-at-large to the california campaign, as she had spent the greater part of the past year in that state. she closed by saying: "our reception by the californians was such as to make them forever dear to us. i wish you could have seen miss anthony for once walking ankle-deep in roses. it showed that the sentiment for suffrage had reached the point where its advocates not only were tolerated but honored. i used to like to see her sitting in a chair all adorned with flowers and with a laurel crown suspended over her head, and to feel that it was woman suffrage that was crowned. the work was hard, but we all came back from california better in health and stronger in hope." on wednesday evening the crowd was so great it became necessary to hold an overflow meeting, which was attended by five hundred persons. mrs. carrie chapman catt, who was introduced as "one of iowa's own daughters," was received with great applause. she said in part: i have a deep and tender love for iowa. when i cross her boundary, i always feel that i am coming home. in my travels through the west i meet many men and women who give me a warmer hand-shake because they too are from iowa. but this state no longer occupies the first place in my heart. there are four that i love better, and every woman here feels the same. the first is wyoming. many pass through that state and see only a barren plain covered with sage brush, but when i cross her border, i feel a thrill as sacred as ever the crusaders felt in visiting the holy land. the second state is colorado, the third utah, and the fourth idaho. all of us iowa women will love these states better than our own until it shall arouse and place its laws and institutions on an equality for women and men.... we ask suffrage in order to make womanhood broader and motherhood nobler. men and women are inextricably bound together. if we are to have a great race, we must have a great motherhood. do you ask why people can not see this? in all history no class has been enfranchised without some selfish motive underlying. if to-day we could prove to republicans or democrats that every woman would vote for their party, we should be enfranchised. do you say that whenever all women wish the ballot they will have it? that time will never come. not all of any class of men ever wanted to vote till the ballot was put into their hands. when the first woman desired to study medicine, not one school would admit her. since that time, only half a century ago, , women have been admitted to the practice of medicine. if a popular vote had been necessary, not one of them would yet have her diploma. we have gained these advantages because we did not have to ask society for them. if woman suffrage were granted in iowa, women would soon wish to vote, and every home would become a forum of education.... there never had been so many deaths in the ranks as during the past year. the following were among the names presented by mrs. clara bewick colby as those whom the association would ever hold in reverent memory: hannah tracy cutler of illinois, former president of the american association and one of the earliest and most self-sacrificing of woman suffrage lecturers; sarah b. cooper of california, auditor of this association, whose labors for the enfranchisement of the women of the pacific coast will be remembered and honored equally with her beneficent work in founding and sustaining free kindergartens, and in whatever promoted justice, truth and mercy, so that on the day of her funeral all the flags in san francisco were placed at half-mast; mary grew, who began her work for freedom as corresponding secretary of the philadelphia female anti-slavery society in , one of the founders of the new century club of philadelphia, and of the pennsylvania woman suffrage association, of which she was president for twenty-three years; elizabeth mcclintock phillips, who in signed the call for the first convention which demanded the ballot for women; j. elizabeth jones of new york, a pioneer in anti-slavery and woman suffrage; judge e. t. merrick of new orleans, whose home was ever open to the woman suffrage lecturers in that section, and who by his eminent position as chief justice of louisiana for many years, sustained his wife in work which in earlier days but for him would have been impossible; eliza murphy of new jersey, who bequeathed five hundred dollars to this association; harriet beecher stowe of connecticut, who, although the apostle of freedom in another field, yet held as firmly and expressed as steadfastly her allegiance to the cause of woman suffrage; dr. caroline b. winslow, the earliest woman physician in the district of columbia, intrepid as a journalist, successful in practice, a leader in many lines of reform; maria g. porter of rochester, n. y.; sarah hussey southwick of massachusetts, a worker in the cause of liberty for more than sixty years; kate field of washington, d. c.; gov. frederick t. greenhalge of massachusetts; dr. hiram corson of pennsylvania, who stood for the full opportunities of women in medicine, and secured the opening to them of the conservative medical societies of philadelphia. the names of over thirty other tried and true friends who had passed away during the months since the last meeting were given. mrs. colby closed the memorial service by saying: the best that comes to this world comes through the love of liberty. these were souls of noble aspiration and undaunted courage. we enter into their labors; we will enshrine them in the history of the suffrage movement and bear them gratefully in our hearts forever. may our lives be as fruitful as theirs, and when we too pass away may we "join the choir invisible of these immortal dead who live again, in minds made better by their presence." among letters received was one from parker pillsbury (n. h.), now years old, who had spoken so eloquently in early days for the emancipation of the slaves and the freedom of women. one of the many excellent addresses was on the general topic equal rights, by miss alice stone blackwell (mass.), illustrated by a number of the piquant and appropriate stories for which she is noted and which perhaps leave a more lasting impression than a labored argument. mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, a practicing lawyer of chicago, considered the hackneyed phrase all the rights we want, showing up in a humorous way the legal disabilities of women in her own state. the wife's earnings may be seized to pay for her husband's clothes; she can not testify against her husband; she can not enter into a business partnership without his consent; a married mother has no right to her children; the age of protection for girls is only fourteen, etc. president george a. gates of iowa college said in part: "i never heard or read a single sound argument against the suffrage of women in a democracy. there are a hundred arguments for it. the question now is one of organization, of agitation, of perseverance. in my judgment he who sneers at suffrage not only proclaims himself a boor and casts discredit on at least four women--his mother, his wife, his sister and his daughter--but he reveals a depth of ignorance that is pitiable. let the appeal be to experience. not one of the direful consequences predicted has come to pass where suffrage is enjoyed. homes have not been deserted, bad women have not flocked to the polls, conjugal strife has not been aroused, bad effects have not come but good effects have. bad men seek office in vain where women have the ballot. new states are coming into line and the triumph of the cause can not much longer be delayed." mrs. charlotte perkins stetson spoke with her usual ability on duty and honor: underlying the objections to woman suffrage is a reason of which, as an american, i am deeply ashamed. i do not think either men or women have the same honest pride in our democracy that they had fifty years ago. we are becoming a little afraid of what europe has always told us was an experiment, but one reason it has not yet been all we could wish is that it is not a democracy at all, but a semi-democracy, one-half of the race ruling over the other half. another deep-seated feeling is that, while development is the general rule, yet the production of the best men and women requires "the maternal sacrifice," _i. e._ that the mother shall be sacrificed to her children, and incidentally to her husband. if the sacrifice is necessary, well and good; but how if it is not?... it has been regarded as dangerous to improve the condition of women for fear they would not be as good mothers. if gain to the mother means robbery to the child, let the mother remain as she is. but the standard is the amount of good done to the children, not the amount of evil done to herself.... grant that it is a woman's business to take care of her children--not merely of her own children. if children anywhere are not under right conditions, women ought to see to it. the trouble is we are too wrapped up in _my_ children to think of _our_ children. we can not keep out disease by shutting our own front door. we have to know and care about the world outside our gates. in order to do our duty to our children we must make this world a better place to live in. our children are not born with that degree of brain power that we could wish. they will not be, until our minds are widened by study of the whole duty of a human being.... what is needed for women is an enlargement of their moral sense so as to include social as well as private virtues. we have been taught that there is only one virtue for us. our morality is high but narrow. it is not wholesome to limit oneself to one virtue, or to six or to ten. sons resemble their mothers. while mothers limit their interests to their own narrow domestic affairs, regardless of the world outside, their sons will betray the interests of the country for their own private business interests.... women and men are so connected that we can not improve one without improving the other. under equal rights we shall raise the moral sense of the community by the natural laws of transmission through the mothers. we shall learn to blame a man as much if he betrays a public trust as we do if he deserts his wife. have we done our full duty when we have loved and served and taken care of those that every beast on earth loves and serves and takes care of--our own young? that is the beginning of human duty but not the whole of it. the duty of woman is not confined to the reproduction of the species; it extends to the working of the will of god on earth. the family is a leaf on the tree of the state. it can grow in strength and purity while the state is healthy, but when the state is degraded the family becomes degraded with it. we have not done our full duty to the family till we have done our best to serve the state. miss shaw took up this subject, saying: the millennium will not come as soon as women vote, but it will not come until they do vote. if a woman has only a little brain, she has a right to the fullest development of all she has.... if we are to keep our children healthy, as mrs. stetson says is our duty, pure water is essential. i know a city (philadelphia) where you can fast for forty days, drinking only water, and grow fat--because you have chowder every time. is there any reason why women should not have a vote in regard to water-works? a woman knows as much about water as a man. generally, she drinks more of it. see how the street cleaners sweep the dirt into heaps on monday and leave it to blow about until saturday, before it is taken up. any housekeeper would know better. sewers and man-traps spread disease literally and also metaphorically. you may teach your boy every precept in the bible from beginning to end, and he will go out into the street and be taught to violate every one of them, under the protection of law, and you can't help yourself or him. at one of the morning meetings miss anthony said in response to a message from the w. c. t. u. accompanied by a great bunch of daisies: "we always are glad to receive greetings from this society, because one of its forty departments is for the franchise. the suffrage association has only one, but that one aims to make every state a true republic." she continued: "a newspaper of this city has criticized the suffrage banner with its four stars and has accused us of desecrating our country's flag. but no one ever heard anything about desecration of the flag during the political campaign, when the names and portraits of all the candidates were tacked to it. our critics compare us to texas and its lone star. we have not gone out of the union, but four states have come in. keep your flag flying, and do not let any one persuade you that you are desecrating it by putting on stars for the states where government is based on the consent of the governed, and leaving them off for those which are not." state senators rowen, kilburn and byers brought an official message inviting the convention to visit the senate and select certain of their members to address that body. each of these gentlemen spoke briefly but unequivocally in favor of the enfranchisement of women. the ladies found the senate chamber crowded from top to bottom on the occasion of their visit friday morning, and they were welcomed by lieutenant-governor parrott. in her response miss anthony called attention to the fact that the women of iowa had been pleading their cause in vain before the legislature for nearly thirty years. mrs. mary c. c. bradford, mrs. emmeline b. wells and mrs. mell c. woods spoke for the states of colorado, utah and idaho, which had enfranchised women; mrs. colby represented wyoming. clever two-minute speeches were made by mrs. ballard, miss shaw and mrs. chapman catt, which were highly appreciated by the legislators and the rest of the audience. during the convention an informal speech of mrs. harriet taylor upton (o.), as the world sees us, was much enjoyed. in the course of her remarks she said: the world thinks our husbands are inferior men, and i do not like it. for fifty years they have said all sorts of things about the overbearing suffragists--that they were crazy, tyrannical, etc., but they never have said we were fools. why should they think that we would pick out fools for our husbands?... the world also thinks the suffrage advocates are poor housekeepers. i know, for i was in the world a long time and i thought so. when i was brought into the movement and visited the leaders, i was surprised to find the order and executive ability with which their homes were conducted. the world thinks we are office-seekers. most of us have not the slightest wish for office, but we do want to see women serving on all boards that deal with matters where woman's help is needed. the world thinks we are irreligious; but our individual churches do not think so--for most of us are members of churches in good and regular standing, and we are not denied communion. we can not be vestrymen, but if the church wants a steam heater it is voted to have one, without a cent in the treasury, because the women are relied upon to raise the money. we are religious enough to have oyster suppers in aid of the church and to make choir-boys' vestments and to raise the minister's salary and to make up the congregation. religion is love to god and man. if it is not religion to promote a cause that will make men better and women wiser and happier, what is it? the world thinks we are irreligious because in the early days some of our leaders were held to be unorthodox. but most of those who years ago were looked upon as such are regarded as orthodox to-day. the eye-sight of the world is much better than it used to be.... the discussion--_resolved_, that the propaganda of the woman suffrage idea demands a non-partisan attitude on the part of individual workers--was led by miss laura clay in the affirmative and henry b. blackwell in the negative. miss clay said in part: it is a well established rule that the greater should never be subordinated to the less. therefore, suffrage should never be made a tail to the kite of any political party. there are momentous issues now before the people, but none so momentous as woman suffrage. this principle appeals to the conscience of the people, and will ultimately convince all those who cherish the political principles of our fathers. already we believe we have convinced a sufficient number to make this a practical question. we have now to deal with the politicians. they may be divided into two classes, men of high ideals and those who cling to party, right or wrong. it is necessary to gain both classes. partisan methods are not suited to the discussion of this question. we must show that when enfranchised we shall hold a self-preservative attitude; that we know our rights, and, knowing them, dare maintain. wisdom is less tangible than force but more powerful in the end. women are different from men and their political methods will differ from those of men. women will never win so long as they consent to barter their services for vague promises of what will be done for them in the future, or to subordinate woman suffrage to the interests of any party. mr. blackwell: we are all agreed that woman suffrage associations, local, state and national, are and must be non-partisan. but a clear distinction should be made between the attitude of a society and that of the individual women and men who compose its membership. suffrage societies, being composed of men and women of all shades of political belief, can not take sides on any other question without violating each member's right and duty to have and express personal political opinions. but, as individuals, it is our duty to be partisans. woman suffrage is not the only issue. in almost every political contest one party is right and the other wrong. everybody is bound to do what he or she can to promote the success of the right side. if no moral questions were involved, political contests would be ignoble and insignificant. we value suffrage mainly because questions of right and wrong are settled by votes.... every woman, equally with every man, should be affiliated with some political party.... every manifestation by women of intelligent interest in political questions helps woman suffrage. political questions necessarily become party questions, for we live under a government of parties. a non-partisan attitude is a phrase which needs definition. if "partisan" means "our party, right or wrong," then no woman and no man should be a partisan. an attitude of moderation and conciliation befits every candid person. i am for holding equal suffrage paramount to ordinary political questions, but i am not for repudiating party ties altogether. woman suffrage, though the most important question, is not always the one to be first settled. it is not the only question. voting, though the most direct form of political power, is not the only political power. women's interests and those of their children are involved, equally with those of men, in every question of finance, currency, tariff, domestic and foreign relations. they have no right to be neutral or apathetic. so long as they remain silent and inert they command no attention or respect. i maintain, therefore, that affirmative political activity, working by and through party machinery, is the duty of every individual citizen--whether man or woman. in states where a suffrage amendment is pending, in meetings where suffrage is advocated, party politics should be laid aside for the time being. in religious meetings no distinction should be made between republicans, democrats or populists. in political meetings no distinction should be made between methodists, baptists or presbyterians. in suffrage meetings there should be no distinction of sect or party. but we hold our individual opinions all the same. miss anthony: i want to say that you can not possibly divide yourself up as mr. blackwell suggests. you can not be a republican in one convention to-day and non-partisan in another to-morrow. the men who believe in suffrage are voters, and must have their parties, of course. but any woman who champions either political party makes more votes against than for suffrage. i could give numerous examples. do not be deluded with this idea that one party is right and the other wrong. which is it? one party seems right to one-half of the people, and the other party to the other half. as long as women have no votes, any one of them who will make a speech either for gold or silver or for any party issue is lacking in self-respect. miss blackwell: miss clay seems to have understood the question presented for discussion in a different sense from what i did. i do not believe in making suffrage a tail to any party kite, of course; but women as well as men are bound to do what they can to promote good government, and hence to promote by all legitimate means the party which they believe to be in the right. they will inevitably do this more and more as they become more interested in public questions. see how many women took part in the late campaign, making speeches for gold or silver, not with any eye to woman suffrage--for neither party was committed to it--but purely for the sake of the welfare of the country, as they understood it. i can not agree that they were lacking in self-respect.... miss shaw: i have made only one party speech in my life. that was ten years ago, for the prohibition party; and if the lord will forgive me, i will never do it again till women vote. in spite of the lively difference of opinion, the meeting adjourned in great good humor and amid considerable laughter. the last session of the convention was a celebration of the suffrage victory in idaho, conducted by representatives of what the association liked to call "the free states." mrs. colby said in behalf of wyoming: ....no matter if we fill the field of blue with stars, one will always shine with peculiar lustre, the star of wyoming, who opened the door of hope for women. there is a beautiful custom in switzerland among the alpine shepherds. he who, tending his flock among the heights, first sees the rays of the rising sun gild the top of the loftiest peak, lifts his horn and sounds forth the morning greeting, "praise the lord." soon another shepherd catches the radiant gleam, and then another and another takes up the reverent refrain, until mountain, hill and valley are vocal with praise and bathed in the glory of a new day. so the dawn of the day that shall mean freedom for woman and the ennobling of the race was first seen by wyoming, on the crest of our continent, and the clarion note was sounded forth, "equality before the law." for a quarter of a century she was the lone watcher on the heights to sound the tocsin of freedom. at last colorado, from her splendid snow-covered peaks, answered back in grand accord, "equality before the law." then on utah's brow shone the sun, and she, too, exultantly joined in the trio, "equality before the law." and now idaho completes the quartette of mountain states which sing the anthem of woman's freedom. its echoes rouse the sleepers everywhere, until from the rock-bound coast of the atlantic to the golden sands of the pacific resounds one resolute and jubilant demand, "equality before the law," and lo, the whole world wakes to the sunlight of liberty! mrs. mary c. c. bradford, in speaking for colorado, said: civilization means self-realization. the level is being slowly but surely raised and the atmosphere improved. freedom for the individual, properly guarded, is the ideal to-day. when woman is free, the eternal feminine shows itself to be also the truly human. witness wyoming, with its magnificent school system, its equal pay for equal work. witness colorado, where women cast per cent. of the total vote though the state contains a large majority of men. what does this show if not that women wish to vote? we women believe that election day administers to each of us the sacrament of citizenship, and we go, most of us, prayerfully and thankfully to partake in this outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.... the first time i went to vote i was out of the house just nine minutes. the second time i took my little girl along to school, stopped in to vote, and then went down town and did my marketing; and i was gone twenty minutes. while i was casting my vote the men gave my little one a flower. they always decorate the polling-places with flowers now, for they know women love beauty. the tone of political conventions has improved since suffrage was granted to women. so has the character of the candidates.... there is no character-builder like responsibility. every woman's club in the state has been turned into a study club, and the women are examining public questions for themselves. this is one of the best results of equal suffrage. when women obtained the ballot they wanted to know about public affairs, and so they asked their husbands at home (every woman wants to believe that her husband knows everything), and the husbands had to inform themselves in order to answer their wives' questions. equal suffrage has not only educated women and elevated the primaries, but it has given back to the state the services of her best men, large numbers of whom had got into the habit of neglecting their political duties.... mrs. emmeline b. wells said in describing the conditions in utah: after the ballot was given to women the men soon came to us and asked us to help them. we divided on party lines but not rigidly so. we helped not only the good men and women of our own party, but those of the other. if they put up a republican or a democrat who is not fit for the position, the women vote against him. in all the work i do for the republicans, i never denounce the democrats.... this year the men were more willing to have us go to the primaries than we were to go. even the women who had not wished for suffrage voted. i do not mind going to the primaries. i am not afraid of men--not the least in the world. i have often been on committees with men. i don't think it has hurt me at all, and i have learned a great deal. they have always been very good to me. we must stand up for the men. we could not do without them. certainly we could not have settled utah without them. they built the bridges and killed the bears; but i think the women worked just as hard, in their way.... when mrs. mell c. woods came forward to speak for idaho the audience arose and received her with cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs. she brought letters of greeting from most of the women's clubs of that state, and in a long and beautiful address she said: with her head pillowed in the lap of the north, her feet resting in the orchards of the south, her snowy bosom rising to the clouds, idaho lies serene in her beauty of glacier, lake and primeval forest, guarding in her verdure-clad mountains vast treasures of precious minerals, with the hem of her robe embroidered in sapphires and opals.... as representing idaho, first i wish to express the heartfelt gratitude of every equal suffragist in our proud and happy state to the national association for the most generous help afforded us in our two years' campaign. without the aid of the devoted women, mrs. devoe, mrs. chapman catt, mrs. bradford and mrs. johns, who made the arduous journey to organize our clubs, plead our cause and teach us how to work and win, we should not be celebrating idaho's victory to-night.... after describing the great output of the mines and the fruit-producing value of the state, she continued: i fancy few of you know much of the conditions existing in the mining country, dotted with camps in every gulch; the preponderance of the adult males over the women of maturity; the power of the saloon element, and the cosmopolitan character of the people--men from all parts of the world, ignorant and cultured, depraved and respectable, seeking fame and fortune in the far west--no reading-rooms, no lectures, no lyceums, no spelling-bees or corn-huskings, the relaxation of the farm hand; single men away from home and its influences, forced from the draughty lobby of the hotel or tavern to the warmth and comfort of the well-appointed saloon. the missionary suffrage work in such places was obliged to be quietly done, without any apparent advocacy on the part of men who were in reality ardent supporters of our cause, lest the saloon element should organize and, by concerted action, crush the movement as they did in the state of washington in ; and california, too, owes her defeat of the amendment at least partially to this cause. yet you may go far to find nobler men than we have in idaho, and we did not lack able champions. our amendment was carried by more than a two-thirds majority of the votes cast upon it. the last address, by the rev. ida c. hultin (ills.), the point of view, was a masterly effort. she said in part: before any woman is a wife, a sister or a mother she is a human being. we ask nothing as women but everything as human beings. the sphere of woman is any path that she can tread, any work that she can do. let no one imagine that we wish to be men. in the beginning god created them male and female. the principle of co-equality is recognized in all of god's kingdom. we are beginning to find in the human race, as in the vegetable and the animal, that the male and the female are designed to be the equals of each other. it is because woman loves her home that she wants her country to be pure and holy, so that she may not lose her children when they go out from her protection. we want to be women, womanly women, stamping the womanliness of our nature upon the country, even as the men have stamped the manliness of their nature upon it. the home is the sphere of woman and of man also. the home does not mean simply bread-making and dish-washing, but also the place into which shall enter that which makes pure manhood possible. give woman a chance to do her whole duty. what is education for, what is religion for, but as a means to the end of the development of humanity? if national life is what it ought to be also, a means to the same end, it needs then everything that humanity has to make it sweet and hopeful. women have moral sentiments and they want to record them. that is the only difference between voting and not voting. the national life is the reflected life of the people. it is strong with their strength and weak with their weakness. a letter was read to the convention by miss anthony from miss kitty reed, daughter of speaker thomas b. reed, who had been with her father in california during the recent suffrage campaign. in referring to this she said: there and elsewhere the thinking women who opposed it used this argument: there are too many people voting already; the practical effect of woman suffrage would be an increase in the illiterate vote, without a proportionate increase in the intelligent vote. they were not in favor of it unless there could be an educational qualification. in other words, they were opposed to woman suffrage because they were opposed to universal suffrage. i have always regarded universal suffrage as the foundation principle of our government. if "governments deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" does not mean that, what can it mean? so i tried to persuade these women of the truth of that which i supposed had been settled about one hundred and twenty-one years ago. it is necessary to make women believe that suffrage is a natural right rather than a privilege; that, while abstractly it seems well for an intelligent citizen to govern an ignorant one, human nature is such that the intelligent will govern selfishly and leave the ignorant no opportunity to improve. it seems to me that the worst obstacle we have to encounter now is not the prejudice of men against women's voting, but a misunderstanding on the part of women of the real meaning of government by the people. this may be ancient history to you, but it impressed me deeply while i was in california and that is why i write it. of course there are many women who do not think. when they hear woman suffrage spoken of, they go to their husbands and ask them what they think about it, and their husbands tell them that they are too good to vote, and those women are content. it does not occur to them to ask why, if they are too pure and good to vote, they are not excused from obeying the laws and paying taxes. the report of the first year's work done at national headquarters was very satisfactory. in regard to the press it contained the following: the year has seen the beginning of an effort by our national association to use systematically the mighty lever of the public press in behalf of our work. we have sent out in regular weekly issues since march hundreds of copies of good equal suffrage articles. these go into the hands of press committees in forty-one states, and now between six and seven hundred papers publish them each week. of forty-one different articles by about thirty different writers, nearly , copies have been distributed to newspapers. these articles reach, in local papers, not less than one million readers weekly. we have taken charge of the national suffrage bulletin which is edited by the chairman of the organization committee, have had it printed in philadelphia and mailed from the headquarters. in the past twelve months there have been wrapped and sent out separately , copies of the bulletin. a portion of the expenses has been defrayed by special contributions of $ of the $ , given to miss anthony by mrs. southworth, and $ through the new york state association, from the bequest of mrs. eliza j. clapp of rochester to miss anthony. mr. blackwell, as usual, reported for the committee on presidential suffrage, suggesting a form of petition as follows: whereas, the constitution of the united states, the supreme law of the land, expressly confers upon the legislature of every state the sole and exclusive right to appoint or to delegate the appointment of presidential electors, in article ii, section , paragraph , as follows: "each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the congress;" and whereas, in some of the states said appointment has been repeatedly made by the legislature; and whereas, women equally with men are citizens of this state and of the united states; therefore, _the undersigned_, citizens of the state of ----, years of age and upwards, respectfully petition your honorable bodies so to amend the election laws as to enable women to vote in the appointment of presidential electors. the report of the treasurer, mrs. upton, showed that the receipts had risen to $ , during the year just passed. it ended thus: "in closing this report the treasurer would like to say that no one person has ever been to the treasury what miss anthony has been and is. every dollar given to her for any purpose whatever, she feels belongs to the work and is most happy when she turns it in. on the other hand the association does very little for her. she pays her own traveling expenses and her own clerk hire. it is to be hoped that this is the last year we may be so neglectful in this direction." the congressional committee, mrs. ellen powell thompson, acting chairman, reported as a part of the work done: "to still further advance the matter we determined to address a letter to each member of the house and senate, asking his opinion on the proposed amendment to enfranchise women. at least three-fourths of these letters were promptly answered in most gracious terms, and in many of them hearty sympathy with the purpose of the amendment was expressed. not a small number declared they were ready to vote for the amendment when opportunity should be given." among the state reports those of california, by mrs. ellen clark sargent, and of idaho, by mrs. eunice pond athey, were of special interest, as they contained an epitomized history of the recent campaigns in these states. it was decided that there should be a special effort to make the next annual meeting a noteworthy affair, as it would celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the first woman's rights convention. chapter xviii. the national-american convention of . the thirtieth annual convention of the suffrage association took place in the columbia theatre, washington, d. c., feb. - , , and celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the first woman's rights convention.[ ] in the center of the stage was an old-fashioned, round mahogany table, draped with the stars and stripes and the famous silk suffrage flag with its four golden stars. in her opening address the president, miss susan b. anthony, said: "on this table the original declaration of rights for women was written at the home of the well-known mcclintock family in waterloo, n. y., just half a century ago. around it gathered those immortal four, elizabeth cady stanton, lucretia mott, martha c. wright and mary ann mcclintock, to formulate the grievances of women. they did not dare to sign their names but published the call for their convention anonymously.[ ] we have had that remarkable document printed for distribution here, and you will notice that those demands which were ridiculed and denounced from one end of the country to the other, all have now been conceded but the suffrage, and that in four states." this convention was the largest in number of delegates and states represented of any in the history of the association, being in attendance and all but four of the states and territories represented. the rev. anna howard shaw devoted the most of her vice-president's report to an account of the work to secure a suffrage amendment from the legislature which was being done in iowa, where she had been spending considerable time. the report on press work by the chairman, miss jessie j. cassidy, stated that , suffrage articles had been sent from headquarters to the various newspapers of the country and the number willing to accept these was constantly increasing. the headquarters had been removed from philadelphia to new york city during the year and united with the organization office. the committee on course of study, mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman, reported that during the past three years they had published , books and pamphlets, purchased from publishers , and had , contributed. the treasurer, mrs. harriet taylor upton, announced the receipts of the past year to be $ , . bequests had been received of $ by the will of mrs. eliza murphy of new jersey, and $ from mrs. a. viola neblett of south carolina. the report of the organization committee, mrs. chapman catt, chairman, showed a large amount of work done in iowa, illinois, south dakota and the southern states, the writing of , letters, the holding of , public meetings under the auspices of this committee. it closed by saying: the chief obstacle to organization is not found in societies opposed to the extension of suffrage to woman, nor in ignorance, nor in conservatism; it is to be found in that large body of suffragists who believe that the franchise will come, but that it will come in some unaccountable way without effort or concern on their part. it is to be found in the hopeless, faithless, lifeless members of our own organization. they are at times the officers of local clubs, and the clubs die on their hands; in state executive committees, and there, appalled by the magnitude of the undertaking, they decide that organization is impossible because there is no money, and they make no effort to secure funds. they are in our national body, ready to find fault with plans and results and to criticise the conscientious efforts of those who are struggling to accomplish good--yet they are never ready to propose more helpful methods. in short, we find them everywhere, doing practically nothing themselves, but "throwing cold water" upon every effort inaugurated by others. "it can not be done" is their motto, and by it they constantly discourage the hopeful and extract all enthusiasm from new workers. judging from the intimate knowledge of the condition of our association gained in the last three years, i am free to say that these are our most effective opponents to-day, and, without question, the best result of the three years' work is the gradual strengthening of belief in the possibility of organization. mrs. sallie clay bennett, chairman, presented the report on federal suffrage;[ ] mrs. lillie devereux blake, chairman, on legislation; and miss laura clay on the suffrage convocation at the tennessee exposition the preceding year. the plan of work, offered by the chairman, mrs. mariana w. chapman, and adopted, represented the best result of many years' experience and exemplified the aims and methods of the association. the old board of officers was almost unanimously re-elected. the afternoon work conferences, to exchange ideas as to methods for organizing, raising funds, etc., which met in a small hall, aroused so much interest and attracted so many people that it was necessary to transfer them to the large auditorium. the resolutions committee presented by its chairman, mrs. ida husted harper, a brief summary of the results already accomplished and the rights yet to be secured, in part as follows: the national-american woman suffrage association, at this its thirtieth annual meeting, celebrates the semi-centennial anniversary of the first woman's rights convention, held in in seneca falls, n. y., and reaffirms every principle then and there enunciated. we count the gains of fifty years. woman's position revolutionized in the home, in society, in the church and in the state; public sentiment changed, customs modified, industries opened, co-education established, laws amended, economic independence partially secured, and equal suffrage a recognized subject of legislation. fifty years ago women voted nowhere in the world; to-day wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho have established equal suffrage for women, and have already in the congress of the united states eight senators and seven representatives with women constituents. kansas has granted women municipal suffrage, and twenty-three other states have made women voters in school elections. this movement is not confined to the united states; in great britain and her colonies women now have municipal and county suffrage, while new zealand and south australia have abolished all political distinctions of sex. therefore, _resolved_, that we hereby express our profound appreciation of the prophetic vision, advanced thought and moral courage of the pioneers in this movement for equality of rights, and our sincere gratitude for their half century of toil and endurance to secure for women the privileges they now enjoy, and to make the way easier for those who are to complete the work. we, their successors, a thousandfold multiplied, stand pledged to unceasing effort until women have all the rights and privileges which belong equally to every citizen of a republic. that in every state we demand for women citizens equality with male citizens in the exercise of the elective franchise, upon such terms and conditions as the men impose upon themselves. that we appeal to congress to submit a sixteenth amendment to the united states constitution, thereby enabling the citizens of each state to carry this question of woman suffrage before its legislature for settlement. that we will aid, so far as practicable, every state campaign for woman suffrage; but we urgently recommend our auxiliary state societies to effect thorough county organizations before petitioning their legislatures for a state constitutional amendment. whereas, the good results of woman suffrage in wyoming since have caused its adoption successively by the three adjoining states; therefore, _resolved_, that we earnestly request the citizens of these four free states to make a special effort to secure the franchise for women in the states contiguous to their own. that we demand for mothers equal custody and control of their minor children, and for wives and widows an equal use and inheritance of property. that we ask for an equal representation of women on all boards of education and health, of public schools and colleges, and in the management of all public institutions; and for their employment as physicians for women and children in all hospitals and asylums, and as police matrons and guards in all prisons and reformatories. that this association limits its efforts exclusively to securing equal rights for women, and it appeals for co-operation to the whole american people. miss alice stone blackwell, mrs. ida porter boyer and mrs. harper were appointed fraternal delegates to the woman's press association, in session at this time in washington. a beautiful feature of this occasion was the luncheon given by mrs. john r. mclean to miss anthony on her seventy-eighth birthday, february , attended by thirty-six of the most distinguished ladies in the national capital, and followed by a reception to the members of the convention. mrs. mclean was assisted in receiving by miss anthony and mrs. ulysses s. grant. seventy-eight wax tapers burned upon the birthday cake, which was three feet in diameter and decorated with flowers. it was presented to miss anthony, who carried it in triumph to the convention in columbia theatre, where it was cut into slices that were sold as souvenirs and realized about $ , which she donated to the cause. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, at the age of eighty-two, sent two papers for this fiftieth anniversary, one for the congressional hearing, on the significance of the ballot; the other, our defeats and our triumphs, was read to the convention by mrs. colby. both displayed all the old-time vigor of thought and beauty of expression. the latter, filled with interesting reminiscence, closed with these words: another generation has now enlisted for a long or short campaign. what, say they, shall we do to hasten the work? i answer, the pioneers have brought you through the wilderness in sight of the promised land; now, with active, aggressive warfare, take possession. instead of rehearsing the old arguments which have done duty fifty years, make a brave attack on every obstacle which stands in your way.... lord brougham said: "the laws for women [in england and america] are a disgrace to the civilization of the nineteenth century." the women in every state should watch their law-makers, and any bill invidious to their interests should be promptly denounced, and with such vehemence and indignation as to agitate the whole community.... there is no merit in simply occupying the ground which others have conquered. there are new fields for conquest and more enemies to meet. whatever affects woman's freedom, growth and development affords legitimate subject for discussion here.... some of our opponents think woman would be a dangerous element in politics and destroy the secular nature of our government. i would have a resolution on that point discussed freely, and show liberal thinkers that we have a large number in our association as desirous to preserve the secular nature of our government as they themselves can possibly be.... when educated women, teachers in all our schools, professors in our colleges, are governed by rulers, foreign and native, who can neither read nor write, i would have this association discuss and pass a resolution in favor of "educated suffrage." ... the object of our organization is to secure equality and freedom for woman: first, in the state, which is denied when she is not permitted to exercise the right of suffrage; second, in the church, which is denied when she has no voice in its councils, creeds and discipline, or in the choice of its ministers, elders and deacons; third, in the home, where the state makes the husband's authority absolute, the wife a subject, where the mother is robbed of the guardianship of her own child, and where the joint earnings belong solely to the husband. ....let this generation pay its debt to the past by continuing this great work until the last vestige of woman's subjection shall be erased from our creeds and codes and constitutions. then the united thought of man and woman will inaugurate a pure religion, a just government, a happy home and a civilization in which ignorance, poverty and crime will exist no more. they who watch behold already the dawn of a new day. the rev. antoinette brown blackwell (n. y.), the first woman to graduate in theology and be ordained, delineated the changing phases of opposition, pointing out that when the first woman's rights convention was held the general tone of the press was shown in that newspaper which said: "this bolt is the most shocking and unnatural incident ever recorded in the history of humanity; if these demands were effected, it would set the world by the ears, make confusion worse confounded, demoralize and degrade from their high sphere and noble destiny women of all respectable and useful classes, and prove a monstrous injury to all mankind." yet this present convention was celebrating the granting of all those demands except the suffrage and not one of the predicted evils had come to pass. the direful prophecies of the early days were taken up, one by one, and their utter absurdity pointed out in the light of experience. now all of those ancient, stereotyped objections were concentrated against granting the suffrage. mrs. virginia d. young (s. c.) delighted the audience with one of her characteristic addresses. prof. frances stewart mosher, of hillsdale college (mich.), gave an exhaustive review of the great increase and value of woman's work in church philanthropies. mrs. may wright sewall (ind.) demonstrated the wonderful progress of women in education. the new education possessed the charm of novelty in being presented by miss grace espy patton, state superintendent of public instruction in colorado, a lady so delicate and dainty that, when miss anthony led her forward and said, "it has always been charged that voting and officeholding will make women coarse and unwomanly; now look at her!" the audience responded with an ovation. miss belle kearney (miss.) discussed social changes in the south, depicting in a rapid, magnetic manner, interspersed with flashes of wit, the evolution of the southern woman and the revolution in customs and privileges which must inevitably lead up to political rights. mrs. mary seymour howell (n. y.) gave an eloquent review of the splendid services of women in philanthropy. at the memorial services mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.) offered the following resolutions: it is fitting in this commemorative celebration to pause a moment to place a laurel in memory's chaplet for those to whom it was given to be the earliest to voice the demand that woman should be allowed to enter into the sacred heritage of liberty, as one made equally with man in the image of the creator and divinely appointed to co-sovereignty over the earth. to name them here is to recognize their presence with us in spirit and to invoke their benediction upon this generation which, entering into the results of their labors, must carry them forward to full fruition. lucretia mott always will be revered as one of those who conceived the idea of a convention to make an organized demand for justice to women. she became a quaker preacher in at the age of twenty-five, and the last suffrage convention she attended was in her eighty-sixth year. her motto, "truth for authority and not authority for truth," is still the tocsin of reform. sarah pugh, the lovely quaker, was ever her close friend and helper. frances wright, a noble scotchwoman, a friend of general lafayette, early imbibed a love for freedom and a knowledge of the principles on which it is based. in this the land of her adoption she was the first woman to lecture on political subjects, in . ernestine l. rose, the beautiful polish patriot, sent the first petition to the new york legislature to give a married woman the right to hold real estate in her own name. this was in , and she continued the work of securing signatures until , when the bill was passed. she was a matchless orator and lectured on woman suffrage for nearly fifty years. lucy stone's voice pleaded the wide continent over for justice for her sex. her life-long devotion to the woman suffrage cause was idealized by the companionship and assistance of her husband, henry b. blackwell, the one man in this nation who under any and all circumstances has made woman's cause his chief consideration. her first lecture on woman's rights was given in , the year of her graduation at oberlin college, and her life work was epitomized in her dying words, "make the world better." martha c. wright, jane hunt and mary ann mcclintock were three of those noble women who issued the call for the seneca falls convention, and were ever ready for service. paulina wright davis, who called the first national convention in and presided over its twentieth celebration in , was one of the moving spirits of the work for more than twenty-five years. assisted by caroline h. dall, she edited the _una_, founded in , the first distinctively woman suffrage paper. frances dana gage, better known by her pen-name, "aunt fanny," was farmer, editor, lecturer and worker in the sanitary commission. of her eight children six were stalwart sons, and she used to boast that she was the mother of thirty-six feet of boys. she was a pillar of strength to the movement in early days. clarina howard nichols is associated with the seed-sowing in vermont, in wisconsin and especially in kansas, where her labors with the first constitutional convention, in , engrafted in organic law many rights for women which were obtained elsewhere, if at all, only by slow and difficult legislative changes. susan e. wattles led the kansas campaign of with mrs. nichols. emily robinson of salem, ohio, was one of the chief movers in the second woman's rights convention, and this was held in her own town in . from that time until the present year she has been unfaltering in her devotion. dr. susan a. edson, who was graduated in medicine in , was a fellow-pioneer in the district of columbia with dr. caroline b. winslow, whose death preceded hers by about one year. she was one of the most distinguished army nurses and the friend and faithful attendant of president garfield. for many years she was the president of the district woman suffrage association. among the earlier woman physicians who espoused the cause were dr. harriot k. hunt, dr. mary b. jackson, dr. ann preston, one of the founders and physicians of the woman's hospital of philadelphia, and dr. clemence s. lozier, a founder and physician of the new york medical college for women. sarah helen whitman was the first literary woman of reputation who gave her name to the movement, which later counted among its warmest friends lydia maria child, alice and phoebe cary and mary clemmer. amalia b. post of cheyenne, to whom the enfranchisement of the women of wyoming was largely due, was ready, as she often said, at the first tap of the drum at seneca falls. she occupied the place of honor by the side of the governor on that proud day when the admission of wyoming as a state was celebrated. josephine s. griffing, organizer of the freedman's bureau; amelia bloomer, editor of the _lily_, the first temperance and woman's rights paper; mary grew, for twenty-three years president of the pennsylvania woman suffrage association; myra bradwell, the first woman to enter the ranks of legal journalism; virginia l. minor, the dove with the eagle's heart, who took to the u. s. supreme court her suit against the missouri officials for refusing her vote--all these, and many more who might be added, form the noble galaxy who brought to the cause of woman's liberty rare personal beauty, social gifts, intellectual culture, and the all-compelling eloquence of earnestness and sincerity. albert o. willcox of new york, whose eighty-seven years were filled with valuable work for reforms, was drawn to the conviction that women should have a share in the government by a sermon preached by lucretia mott in , and from that time declared himself publicly for the movement and was its life-long supporter. james g. clark, the sweet-souled troubadour of reform, sang for woman's freedom in suffrage conventions all over the land. joseph n. dolph was always to be counted on to further the political emancipation of women, both in his own state of oregon and in the u. s. senate, of which he was long an honored member. to name the men who have been counselors and friends of the woman suffrage movement is to name the greatest poets, preachers and statesmen of the last half century. wherever there has been a woman strong enough to demand her rights there has been a man generous and just enough to second her. surely we may say that "the spirits of just men made perfect" are our strength and our inspiration. no less entitled to remembrance and gratitude are the unnamed multitude who have helped the onward march of freedom by standing for the truth that was revealed to them. whether they pass away in the beauty of youth, the strength of maturity or the glory of old age, they who have given to the world one impulse on the upward path to freedom and to light are not dead. they live here in the life of all good things, and, because of strength gained in earthly activity, have strength to perfect in other spheres what here they but dreamed of. the _woman's tribune_ thus described one scene of the convention: the opening address of wednesday evening was by mrs. isabella beecher hooker (conn.) on united states citizenship. she was not heard distinctly and the audience was very fidgety. miss anthony came forward and told them they ought to be perfectly satisfied just to sit still and look at mrs. hooker. she is always a commanding presence on the stage, and on this evening, impressed with the deep significance of the event, and clad in silver gray, which harmonized beautifully with her whitening curls, she was a picture which would delight an artist. but notwithstanding miss anthony's admonition, the audience really wanted to hear as well as to see. mrs. hooker realizing this at last said impatiently, "i never could give a written speech, but susan insisted that i must this time," and, discarding her manuscript, she spoke clearly and forcibly with her old-time power. a portion of her address was a graphic recital of miss anthony's trial for illegal voting in . when mrs. hooker's time had expired miss anthony rose and put her arm around her, and thus these striking figures, representing the opposite poles of the woman suffrage force, made a tableau which will never pass from the mental vision of those who witnessed it. at the close of her remarks mrs. hooker threw her arms around miss anthony and kissed her. the latter, more moved than was her wont, gave vent to that strong feeling of the injustice of woman's disfranchisement which is ever present with her, and exclaimed: "to think that such a woman, belonging by birth and marriage to the most distinguished families in our country's history, should be held as a subject and have set over her all classes of men, with the prospect of there being added to her rulers the cubans and the sandwich island kanakas. shame on a government that permits such an outrage!" mrs. caroline hallowell miller (md.), one of the first suffrage advocates south of mason and dixon's line, gave a glimpse of the past and present. dr. clara marshall, dean of the woman's medical college of pennsylvania, presented the history of fifty years in medicine. she related in a graphic manner the struggle of women to gain admission to the colleges, the embarrassments they suffered, the obstacles they were obliged to overcome, reading from published reports the hostile demonstrations of the male students. in closing she bore testimony to the encouragement and assistance rendered by those men who were broad-minded and generous enough to recognize the rights of women in this profession and help secure them. the ministry of religion as a calling for women was the subject of an able and interesting address by the rev. florence buck of unity church, cleveland, ohio. mrs. ella knowles haskell, assistant attorney-general of montana, spoke on women in the legal profession, giving many incidents of the practice of law in the far west. samuel j. barrows, member of congress from massachusetts, was called from the audience by miss anthony, and closed his brief remarks by saying: "i believe in woman suffrage; it has in it the elements of justice which entitle it to every man's support, and we all ought to help secure it." a leading feature of the program was the speech of august w. machen, head of the free delivery division of the national post office, on women in the departmental service of the united states. he gave the history of their employment by the government, declared they had raised the standard of work and testified to their efficiency and faithfulness. the civil rights of women were ably discussed by the rev. frederick a. hinckley of the second unitarian church, philadelphia, who reviewed the existing laws and pointed out the changes in favor of women. in regard to the prevalence of divorce he said: "there is a large class of our fellow-citizens who greatly misinterpret, in my opinion, the significance of the increase in the number of divorces. no one would counsel more earnestly than i, patience and consideration and every reasonable effort on the part of people once married to live together. but i can not dispute the proposition, nor do i believe any one can dispute it, that in the great process of evolution divorce is an indication of growing independence and self-respect in women, a proclamation that marriage must be the union of self-respecting and mutually respected equals, and that in the ideal home of the future that hideous thing, the subjugation of woman, is to be unknown." mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch (ills.) discussed the economic status of women. madame clara neymann (n. y.) read a philosophical paper on marriage in the light of woman's freedom. the progress of colored women was pictured in an impassioned address by mrs. mary church terrell, president of the national association of colored women. she received numerous floral tributes at its close. mrs. emmy c. evald of chicago, with an attractive foreign enthusiasm, told of the work of swedish women in their own country and in the united states. mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.) with clever satire and amidst laughter and applause, considered women in municipalities. the pioneers' evening was one of great interest, when miss anthony marshalled her hosts and made "the roll-call of the years." as each decade was called, beginning with , those who began the suffrage work at that time rose on the stage and in all parts of the house and remained standing. not one was there who was present at the original seneca falls convention, but it had held an adjourned meeting at rochester, three weeks later, and miss anthony's sister, mary s., responded as having attended then and signed the declaration of rights. the daughters of mrs. martha c. wright, who called this convention--mrs. eliza wright osborne and mrs. wm. lloyd garrison--and also mrs. millie burtis logan, whose mother, miss anthony's cousin, served as its secretary, were introduced to the audience. the children of frederick douglass, who had spoken at both meetings, were present and should have come forward with this group. the rev. antoinette brown blackwell stated that she had spoken in favor of woman's rights in . among the earliest of the pioneers present were john w. hutchinson, the last of that famous family of singers; henry b. blackwell, mrs. helen philleo jenkins (mich.), miss sarah wall (mass.) and mrs. hooker. many of those who arose made brief remarks and the occasion was one which will not be forgotten by those who witnessed it. among the letters received from the many pioneers still living was one from mrs. abigail bush, now eighty-eight years old and residing in california, who presided over the rochester meeting, aug. , . it is especially interesting as showing that even so advanced women as lucretia mott and mrs. stanton, although they dared call such a meeting, were yet so conservative as to object to a woman's presiding over it: to susan b. anthony, greeting: you will bear me witness that the state of society is very different from what it was fifty years ago, when i presided at the first woman's rights convention. i had not been able to meet in council at all with the friends until i met them in the hall as the congregation was gathering, and then fell into the hands of those who urged me to take part with the opposers of a woman serving, as the party had with them a fine-looking man to preside at all of their meetings, james mott, who had presided at seneca falls. afterward i fell in with the old friends, amy post, rhoda de garmo and sarah fish, who at once commenced labors with me to prove that the hour had come when a woman should preside, and led me into the church. amy proposed my name as president; i was accepted at once, and from that hour i seemed endowed as from on high to serve. it was a two days' meeting with three sessions per day. on my taking the chair, lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton left the platform and took their seats in the audience, but it did not move me from performing all my duties, and at the close of the meeting lucretia mott came forward, folded me tenderly in her arms and thanked me for presiding. that settled the question of men's presiding at a woman's convention. from that day to this, in all the walks of life, i have been faithful in asserting that there should be "no taxation without representation." it has seemed long in coming, but i think the time draws near when woman will be acknowledged as equal with man. heaven grant the day to dawn soon! mrs. catharine a. f. stebbins (mich.), who had attended the seneca falls convention and signed the declaration of rights, sent an interesting descriptive letter. mrs. lucinda h. stone (mich.), the mother of women's clubs and a pioneer on educational lines, wrote: you wanted i should write you any anecdotes of early interest in woman suffrage. the remembrance of dr. stone's waking up to that subject has come to me, and i have thought i would tell you about it. it was some time in the forties that he was requested to deliver a fourth of july oration in kalamazoo. i can not tell the exact year, but it was before i had ever heard of the rochester convention, or of you or mrs. stanton, and he was looking up all that he could find in the early history of our declaration of independence, and the principles of jefferson and the early revolutionists. i remember his coming in one day (it must have been before ), seeming very much absorbed in something that he was thinking about. he threw down the book he had been reading, and said to me: "the time will come when women will vote. mark my words! we may not live to see it, we probably shall not, but it will come. it is not a woman's right or a man's right; it is a human right, and their voting is but a natural process of evolution." ... mrs. esther wattles, who helped secure school suffrage and equal property laws for women in the state constitution of kansas in , sent this message: "my attention was first called to the injustice done to women by a lecture given near wilmington, ohio, by john o. wattles in . he devoted most of his time to lecturing on woman's rights, the sin of slavery, the temperance reform and peace. i heard him on all these subjects, off and on, till , when we were married.... seventy-nine summers with their clouds and sunshine, make it fitting i should greet you by letter rather than personal presence. may the cause never falter till the victory is won." most of the letters were sent to miss anthony personally. among these were the following: we, the members of the national association of woman stenographers, take great pleasure in extending congratulations to you on the occasion of your seventy-eighth birthday, and hope that the days of your years may still be many and happy. we also desire to express our appreciation of and gratitude for the work you have done in securing freedom and justice for women. as business women we are better able to comprehend what you have accomplished, especially for those who are bread-winners, and we trust the time may soon come when we shall not be limited to understanding what freedom is, but be able to act in accordance with its principles. the nevada equal suffrage association: although we are young in the ranks and few in number compared with the older states, yet we are none the less loyal to the principles advocated and established by the national association. we are brave because we draw inspiration from the thoughts and acts of that spartan band of suffragists of fifty years ago, who devoted the sunshine of their lives and the energies of their philosophic minds to the effort to obtain for womankind their inherent right to have a voice in the government which derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. alfred h. love, president of the universal peace union: from our rooms in the east wing of independence hall, i send greetings to you and your cause. your cause is ours, and has been one of our essential principles since our organization. your success is a triumph for peace. mary lowe dickinson, secretary of the international order of the king's daughters and sons: i hope you will live to see the full day for the cause whose dawn owed so much to your labors, and i can ask nothing better for you than that you have "the desire of your heart," which i am sure will be the ballot for us all. dr. elizabeth blackwell, the first woman physician: although i can not respond in person to your very friendly invitation to be a representative of "the pioneers," yet i gladly send my hearty greeting to you and to the other brave workers for the progress of the race--a progress slow but inevitable. amongst all its steps i consider the admission of women to the medical profession as the most important. whilst thankfully recognizing the wonderful accumulations of knowledge which generations of our brethren have gathered together, our future women physicians will rejoice to help in the construction of that noble temple of medicine, whose foundation stone must be sympathetic justice. pray allow me to send my warm greeting to the congress through you. there were messages and grateful recognition from so many societies and individuals in the united states that it would be impossible even to call them by name; also from the dominion of canada suffrage club, through dr. augusta stowe gullen; the national union of women's suffrage societies in great britain, with individual letters from lady aberdeen, mrs. millicent garrett fawcett, mrs. priscilla bright mclaren and others; on behalf of the swedish frederika bremer förbundet, by carl lindhagen; on behalf of finnish women by baroness alexandra gripenberg; on behalf of german women by frau hanna bieber-bohm, president of the national council of women; on behalf of the woman suffrage society of holland by its secretary, margarethe gallé; from the norwegian woman suffrage club; from the verein jugendschutz of berlin, and from the union to promote woman's rights in finland. the remarkable scenes of the closing evening made a deep impression upon the large audience. after fifty years of effort to overcome the most stubborn and deeply-rooted prejudices of the ages, the results were beginning to appear. among the speakers were a woman state senator from utah, mrs. martha hughes cannon; a woman member of the colorado legislature, mrs. martha a. b. conine; a woman state superintendent of public instruction, miss estelle reel of wyoming; u. s. senators henry m. teller of colorado, and frank j. cannon of utah, states where women have full suffrage; representative john f. shafroth of colorado--and in the center of this distinguished group, susan b. anthony, receiving the fruits of her half century of toil and hardship. miss reel: i want to tell you a little about our work in wyoming, where women have been voting and holding office for nearly thirty years, and where our people are convinced that it has been of great benefit. our home life there is as sacred and sweet as anywhere else on the globe. equal suffrage has been tried and not found wanting. you may ask, what reforms has wyoming to show? we were the first state to adopt the australian ballot, and to accept a majority verdict of juries in civil cases. we are noted for our humane treatment of criminals, our care of the deserving poor and the education of our young. child labor is prohibited. the supreme court has just decided that every voter must be able to read the constitution in english. we have night schools all over the state for those who can not attend school by day. equal suffrage was given to help protect the home element, and the home vote is a great conservative force. woman suffrage means stable government, anchored in the steadfast rock of american homes. mrs. conine was commissioned as a delegate to the convention by gov. alva adams of colorado. she read the statement recently put forth, testifying to the good results of equal suffrage and signed by the governor, three ex-governors, all the state senators and the representatives in congress, the chief justice and the associate justices of the supreme court, the judges of the court of appeals, the judges of the district court, the secretary of state, the state treasurer, auditor, attorney-general, the mayor of denver, the presidents of the state university and of colorado college, the president of the general federation of women's clubs and the presidents of thirteen women's clubs, and said: during the session of the legislature last winter, there were three women in the house. we met the other members upon terms of absolute equality. no thought of incongruity or unfitness seems to have arisen, and at the same time those little courtesies which gentlemen instinctively pay to ladies were never omitted. each of the ladies was given a chairmanship, one of them that of the printing committee, and the printing bill was lower by thousands of dollars than for any previous session. the women were as frequently called to the chair in committee of the whole as were the men. one of them was placed upon the judiciary committee at the request of its chairman. every honorary committee appointed during the session included one or more of the ladies. our state federation of women's clubs now numbers about , representing a united membership of , . they are largely occupied in studying social and economic questions, earnestly seeking for the best methods of educating their children, reforming criminals, alleviating poverty and purifying the ballot; in short, striving to make their city and their state a cleaner, better home for their families. their work receives added encouragement from the knowledge that by their ballots they may determine who shall make and administer the laws under which their children must be reared. the home has always been conceded to be the woman's kingdom. in the free states she has but expanded the walls of that home, that she may afford to the inmates, and also to those who unfortunately have no other home, the same protection and loving care which was formerly limited to the few short years of childhood passed beneath the parental roof. senator teller: i want to indorse what has been said by the two members from colorado and wyoming. the former is rather young as a suffrage state, but we are living side by side with the latter, where they have had equal suffrage for nearly thirty years. the results of woman suffrage have proved entirely satisfactory--not to every individual, but to the great mass of the people: i hear it said in this city every day that if women are allowed to vote the best women will not take part. i want to say to you that this is a mistake. to my certain knowledge, the best women do take part. when i went back to colorado, after the granting of equal suffrage, a prominent society woman, whom i had known for years, telephoned me to come up and speak to the ladies at her house. i found her big parlors full of representative women--the wives of bankers, lawyers, preachers--society women. if you put any duty upon women they are not going to shirk it. those who feared the responsibility are now as enthusiastic as those who had been "clamoring" for it. in the past, women have had no object in studying political questions; now they have, and they are taking them up in their clubs. we find that women are less partisan than men. why? because they generally have more conscience than men. they will not vote for a dissolute and disreputable man who may happen to force himself on a party ticket.... we are an intelligent community; we have long had a challenge to our fellow-citizens to show any other city that has as large a proportion of college graduates as denver. colorado people are proud of equal suffrage. the area where it prevails spread last year and took in utah and idaho. it will take in more neighboring states. i predict that in ten years, instead of four suffrage states, we shall have twice as many--perhaps three or four times that number. representative shafroth: i want to say this, as coming from colorado: the experience we have had ought to demonstrate to every one that woman suffrage is not only right but practical. it tends to elevate. there is not a caucus now but is better attended and by better people, and held in a better place. i have seen the time when a political convention without a disturbance and the drawing of weapons was rare. that time is past in colorado, and it is due to the presence of women. every man now shows that civility which makes him take off his hat and not swear, and deport himself decently when ladies are present. instead of women's going to the polls corrupting them it has purified the polls. husband and wife go there together. no one insults them. there are no drunken men there, nothing but what is pleasant and decorous. woman is an independent element in politics. she has no allegiance to any party. when a ticket is presented to her, she asks, "are these good men?" a man is apt to say, "well, this is a bad ticket, but i must stand by my party." he wants to keep his party record straight. she votes for the best man on the ticket. that element is bound to result in good in any state. people say they don't know how it will work; they are afraid of it. can it be that we distrust our mothers and sisters? we shall never have the best possible government till women participate in it. senator cannon: no nation can exist half slave and half free. ten years before i was old enough to vote, my mother was a voter. i learned at her knee to vote according to my conscience, and not according to the dictation of the bosses. the strongest argument for the suffrage of any class exists in behalf of womankind, because women will not be bound by mere partisanship. if the world is to be redeemed, it must be by the conscience of the individual voter. the woman goes to the truth by instinct. men have to confer together and go down street and look through glasses darkly. the woman stays at home and rocks the cradle, and god tells her what to do. the suffrage never was abused by women in utah. during the seventeen years that they voted in the territory there was not a defalcation in any public office. i believe in the republic. i believe that its destiny is to shed light not only here, but all over the world. if we can trust woman in the house to keep all pure and holy there, so that the little ones may grow up right, surely we can trust her at the ballot-box. when children learn political wisdom and truth from their mother's lips, they will remember it and live up to it; for those lessons are the longest remembered. when senator teller withdrew from a political convention for conscience's sake, a man said, commenting on his action: "it is generally safe to stay with your party." his wife said: "and it is always safe to stay with your principles." in the midst of the convention came the sad news on february of the death of miss frances e. willard, president of the national woman's christian temperance union. affectionate tributes were offered by miss anthony, miss shaw and other members; a telegram of sympathy was sent to her secretary and close companion, miss anna gordon, by a rising vote, and the audience remained standing for a few moments in silent prayer. a large wreath of violets and southern ivy, adorned with miniatures of mrs. stanton, miss anthony and other pioneer suffrage workers was sent by the delegates to be laid on her coffin. the congressional hearings on the morning of february , miss anthony's birthday, attracted crowds of people to the capitol. the hearing before the senate committee was conducted by the rev. anna howard shaw, and considered the philosophy of the movement for woman suffrage. only two members of the committee were present--james h. berry of arkansas, and george p. wetmore of rhode island--but a number of other senators were interested listeners, and the large marble room was crowded with delegates and spectators. the first paper, by wm. lloyd garrison (mass.) considered the nature of a republican form of government: the advocates of complete enfranchisement of women base their demand upon the principles underlying all suffrage, rather than upon the question of sex. if manhood suffrage is a mistake; if voting is a privilege and not a right; if government does not derive its just powers from the consent of the governed; if lincoln's aphorism that ours is a "government of the people, for the people and by the people" is only a rhetorical generality, then women have no case. if not, they see no reason why, as they are governed, they should not have a voice in choosing their rulers; why, as people, they are not covered by lincoln's definition. they feel naturally that their exclusion is unjust. woman suffragists are not unconscious of the glaring contrast between declared principles and actual practice, and they venture to believe that a professed self-government which deliberately ignores its own axioms is tending to decadence. they are not unmindful of the slow evolution of human government from earliest history, beginning in force and greed, reaching through struggles of blood, in the course of time, to the legislative stage where differences are adjudicated by reason, and the sword reserved as the last resort. this vantage ground has been gained only by a recognition of the primal right of the people to be consulted in regard to public affairs; and in proportion as this right has been respected and the franchise extended has government grown more stable and society more safe. it has come through a succession of steps, invariably opposed by the dominant classes, and only permitted after long contest and a changed public opinion. in england, where the progress of constitutional government can be most accurately traced, there was a time when the landowning aristocracy controlled the franchise and elected the members of parliament. the dawn of a sense of injustice in the minds of the mercantile classes brought with it a demand for the extension of the suffrage, which was of course vigorously combated. it was an illogical resistance, which ended in the admission of the tradesmen. later the workingmen awakened to their political disability and asserted their rights, only to be promptly antagonized by both classes in power. eventually logic and justice won in this issue. in the light of history none of the objections urged against the extension of the right of voting have been sustained by subsequent facts. on the contrary, the broadening of the suffrage base has been found to add stability to the superstructure of british government and to have been in the interest of true conservatism. in the course of time the woman's hour has struck. her cause is now going through the same ordeal suffered by the classes referred to. her triumph is as sure as theirs. the social and industrial changes of constitutional government in all countries have revolutionized her condition. fifty years ago the avenues of employment open to women were few and restricted. to-day, in every branch of manufacture and trade, and in the professions formerly monopolized by men, they are actively and successfully engaged. every law put upon the statute books affects their interests directly and indirectly--undreamed of in a social order where household drudgery and motherhood limited a woman's horizon. it is inevitable, therefore, that, feeling the pressure of legislation under which they suffer, a new intelligence should stir the minds of women such as stirred the once disfranchised classes of men in great britain. it leads to an examination of the principles of self-government and to their application on lines of equality and not of sex. in them is found no justification for the present enforced political disability. therefore all legislative bodies vested with the power to change the laws are petitioned to consider the justice and expediency of allowing women to register their opinions, on the same terms with men, at the ballot-box. the principles at stake are rarely alluded to by the opponents of woman suffrage. the battle rages chiefly upon the ground of expediency. every argument formerly used by the english tories is to-day heard in the mouths of men who profess a belief in a democratic form of government.... in the discussion of the rights of labor, the inadequacy of wages, the abuses of the factory system, the management of schools, of reformatory and penal institutions, the sanitary arrangements of a city, the betterment of public highways, the encroachment of privileged corporations, the supervision of the poor, the improvement of hospitals, and the many branches of collective housekeeping included in a municipality--women are by nature and education adapted to participate. in many states, certainly in massachusetts, it is a common practice to appoint women to responsible positions demanding large organizing and directing power. if thus fitted to rule, are women unfitted to have a voice in choosing rulers? the true advancement of common interest waits for the active and responsible participation of women in political matters. indirect and irresponsible influence they have now, but indirection and irresponsibility are dangerous elements in governments which assume to be representative, and are a constant menace. if this whole question of equal political rights of women is considered in the light of common sense and common justice, the sooner will the present intolerable wrong be wiped out and self-government be put upon a broader and safer basis. mrs. may wright sewall (ind.) discussed the fitness of women to become citizens from the standpoint of education and mental development. from the close of the revolution, we find all the distinguished american patriots expressing the conviction that a self-governing people must be an educated people. hancock, jay, franklin, morris, paine, quincy adams, jefferson, hamilton, washington, all urge the same argument in support of education. it is no longer to produce an educated ministry, but to insure educated citizens, that schools are maintained and colleges multiplied.... in this year of - not less than , , pupils and students of all ages, from the toddlers in the kindergartens to the full-grown candidates for post-graduate honors, are registered in the schools, academies, colleges and universities of the united states. the average length of time which girls spend in school exceeds by nearly three years the average length of time which boys stay there; while the number of girls graduating from high-school courses, those which include united states history and civil government, is almost double the number of boys. thus, at the present time, largely more than one-half of the moneys spent by the governments, local and national, in support of free schools, is used in the education of girls. by what authority does the government tax its citizens to support schools for the education of millions of women to whom, after they have received the education declared necessary to citizenship, this is denied? is it urged that the government gets its return upon its investment in the education of women through the increased intelligence with which women rear their children, manage their homes and conduct the larger social affairs outside the boundary of their home life? i have no disposition to diminish the government's recognition of such return, but i wish to remind you that no one has ever justified the maintenance of public schools, and an enforced attendance upon them, on the theory that the government has a right to compel _men_ to be agreeable husbands and wise fathers, or that it is responsible for teaching _men_ how to conduct their own business with discretion and judgment. quite in another tone is it urged that the schools are the fountains of the nation's liberties and that a government whose policy is decided by a majority of the votes cast by its men is not safe in the hands of uneducated voters. ....it is the political life of our nation which stands in the sorest need; yet this is the only department of our national life which rejects the aid of women. if intelligence is vital to good citizenship in a republic, it would seem that, to justify the exclusion of the present generation of american women, whose intelligence is bought at so high a price and at the expense of the whole people, there must be some proof that they have qualities which so vitiate it as to render it unserviceable. such proof has never yet been presented. at the present moment the education and the intellectual culture of american women has reached a plane where its further development is a menace, unless it is to be accompanied by the direct responsibility of its possessors--a responsibility which in a republic can be felt only by those who participate directly in the election of public officers and in the shaping of public policies. the rev. anna garlin spencer (r. i.) considered the fitness of women to become citizens from the standpoint of moral development. government is not now merely the coarse and clumsy instrument by which military and police forces are directed; it is the flexible, changing and delicately adjusted instrument of many and varied educative, charitable and supervisory functions, and the tendency to increase the functions of government is a growing one. prof. lester f. ward says: "government is becoming more and more the organ of the social consciousness and more and more the servant of the social will." the truth of this is shown in the modern public school system; in the humane and educative care of dependent, defective and wayward children; in the increasingly discriminating and wise treatment of the insane, the pauper, the tramp and the poverty-bound; in the provisions for public parks, baths and amusement places; in the bureaus of investigation and control and the appointment of officers of inspection to secure better sanitary and moral conditions; in the board of arbitration for the settlement of political and labor difficulties; and in the almost innumerable committees and bills, national, state and local, to secure higher social welfare for all classes, especially for the weaker and more ignorant. government can never again shrink and harden into a mere mechanism of military and penal control. it is, moreover, increasingly apparent that for these wider and more delicate functions a higher order of electorate, ethically as well as intellectually advanced, is necessary. democracy can succeed only by securing for its public service, through the rule of the majority, the best leadership and administration the state affords. only a wise electorate will know how to select such leadership, and only a highly moral one will authoritatively choose such.... when the state took the place of family bonds and tribal relationships, and the social consciousness was born and began its long travel toward the doctrine of "equality of human rights" in government and the principle of human brotherhood in social organization, man, as the family and tribal organizer and ruler, of course took command of the march. it was inevitable, natural and beneficent so long as the state concerned itself with only the most external and mechanical of social interests. the instant, however, the state took upon itself any form of educative, charitable or personally helpful work, it entered the area of distinctive feminine training and power, and therefore became in need of the service of woman. wherever the state touches the personal life of the infant, the child, the youth, or the aged, helpless, defective in mind, body or moral nature, there the state enters "woman's peculiar sphere," her sphere of motherly succor and training, her sphere of sympathetic and self-sacrificing ministration to individual lives. if the service of women is not won to such governmental action (not only through "influence or the shaping of public opinion," but through definite and authoritative exercise), the mother-office of the state, now so widely adopted, will be too often planned and administered as though it were an external, mechanical and abstract function, instead of the personal, organic and practical service which all right helping of individuals must be. in so far as motherhood has given to women a distinctive ethical development, it is that of sympathetic personal insight respecting the needs of the weak and helpless, and of quick-witted, flexible adjustment of means to ends in the physical, mental and moral training of the undeveloped. and thus far has motherhood fitted women to give a service to the modern state which men can not altogether duplicate.... whatever problems might have been involved in the question of woman's place in the state when government was purely military, legal and punitive have long since been antedated. whatever problems might have inhered in that question when women were personally subject to their families or their husbands are well-nigh outgrown in all civilized countries, and entirely so in the most advanced. woman's nonentity in the political department of the state is now an anachronism and inconsistent with the prevailing tendencies of social growth.... the earth is ready, the time is ripe, for the authoritative expression of the feminine as well as the masculine interpretation of that common social consciousness which is slowly writing justice in the state and fraternity in the social order. miss laura clay (ky.) illustrated the fitness of women to become citizens from the standpoint of physical development. among the objections brought against the extension of suffrage to women, that of their physical unfitness to perform military duties is the most plausible, because in the popular mind there is an idea that the right of casting a ballot is in its final analysis dependent upon the ability to defend it with a bullet.... it is by no means self-evident that women are naturally unfitted for fighting or are unwarlike in disposition. the traditions of amazons and the conduct of savage women give room to believe that the instinct for war was primitively very much the same in both sexes. though the earliest division of labor among savages known to us is that of assigning war and the chase to men, yet we have no reason to believe that this was done by way of privilege to women; but in the struggle for tribal supremacy that tribe must have ultimately survived and succeeded best which exposed its women the least. polygamy, universal among primitive races, could in a degree sustain population against the ravages among men of continual warfare, but any large destruction of women must extinguish a tribe that suffered it. so those tribes which earliest engrafted among their customs the exclusion of women from war were the ones that finally survived.... military genius among women has appeared in all ages and people, as in deborah, zenobia, joan of arc and our own anna ella carroll. the prowess of women has often been conspicuous in besieged cities. our early history of indian warfare recounts many of their valiant deeds. it is well known that in the late war many women on both sides eluded the vigilance of recruiting officers, enlisted and fought bravely. who knows how many of such women there might have been if their enlistment had been desired and stimulated by beat of drum and blare of trumpet and "all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war?" but no state can afford to accept military service from its women, for while a nation may live for ages without soldiers, it could exist but for a span without mothers. since woman's exemption from war is not an un-bought privilege, it is evident that in justice men have no superior rights as citizens on that account. it is an equally fallacious idea that sound expediency demands that every ballot shall be defended by a bullet. the theory of representative government does not admit of any connection between military service and the right and duty of suffrage, even among men. it is trite to point out that the age required for military service begins at eighteen years, when a man is too young to vote, and ends at forty-five years, when he is usually in the prime of his usefulness as a citizen. some very slight physical defects will incapacitate a man under the usual recruiting rules. many lawyers, judges, physicians, ministers, merchants, editors, authors, legislators and congressmen are exempt on the ground of physical incapacity. a citizen's ability to help govern by voting is in no manner proportioned to ability to bear arms.... in the finest conception of government not only is there room for women to take part, but it can not be realized without help from them. men alone possess only a half of human wisdom; women possess the other half of it, and a half that must always be somewhat different from men's, because women must always see from a somewhat different point of view. the wisdom of men must be supplemented by that of women to discover the whole of governmental truth. women's help is equally indispensable in persuading society to love and obey law. this help is very largely given now, or civilization as we know it would be impossible. but the best interests of society demand that women's present indirect and half-conscious influence shall be strengthened by the right of suffrage, so that their sense of duty to government may be stimulated by a clear perception of the connection which exists between power and responsibility. mrs. harriot stanton blatch (eng.) treated of woman as an economic factor. it is often urged that women stand greatly in need of training in citizenship before being finally received into the body politic.... as a matter of fact women are the first class who have asked the right of citizenship after their ability for political life has been proved. i have seen in my time two enormous extensions of the suffrage to men--one in america and one in england. but neither the negroes in the south nor the agricultural laborers in great britain had shown before they got the ballot any capacity for government; for they had never had the opportunity to take the first steps in political action. very different has been the history of the march of women toward a recognized position in the state. we have had to prove our ability at each stage of progress, and have gained nothing without having satisfied a test of capacity.... the public demand for "proved worth" suggests what appears to me the chief and most convincing argument upon which our future claims must rest--the growing recognition of the economic value of the work of women.... there has been a marked change in the estimate of our position as wealth producers. we have never been "supported" by men; for if all men labored hard every hour of the twenty-four, they could not do all the work of the world. a few worthless women there are, but even they are not so much supported by the men of their family as by the overwork of the "sweated" women at the other end of the social ladder. from creation's dawn our sex has done its full share of the world's work; sometimes we have been paid for it, but oftener not. unpaid work never commands respect; it is the paid worker who has brought to the public mind conviction of woman's worth. the spinning and weaving done by our great-grandmothers in their own homes was not reckoned as national wealth until the work was carried to the factory and organized there; and the women who followed their work were paid according to its commercial value. it is the women of the industrial class, the wage-earners, reckoned by the hundreds of thousands, and not by units, the women whose work has been submitted to a money test, who have been the means of bringing about the altered attitude of public opinion toward woman's work in every sphere of life. if we would recognize the democratic side of our cause, and make an organized appeal to industrial women on the ground of their need of citizenship, and to the nation on the ground of its need that all wealth producers should form part of its body politic, the close of the century might witness the building up of a true republic in the united states. mrs. florence kelley, state factory inspector of illinois, showed the working woman's need of the ballot. no one needs all the powers of the fullest citizenship more urgently than the wage-earning woman, and from two different points of view--that of actual money wages and that of her wider needs as a human being and a member of the community. the wages paid any body of working people are determined by many influences, chief among which is the position of the particular body of workers in question. thus the printers, by their intelligence, their powerful organization, their solidarity and united action, keep up their wages in spite of the invasion of their domain by new and improved machinery. on the other hand, the garment-workers, the sweaters' victims, poor, unorganized, unintelligent, despised, remain forever on the verge of pauperism, irrespective of their endless toil. if, now, by some untoward fate the printers should suddenly find themselves disfranchised, placed in a position in which their members were politically inferior to the members of other trades, no effort of their own short of complete enfranchisement could restore to them that prestige, that good standing in the esteem of their fellow-craftsmen and the public at large which they now enjoy, and which contributes materially in support of their demand for high wages. in the garment trades, on the other hand, the presence of a body of the disfranchised, of the weak and young, undoubtedly contributes to the economic weakness of these trades. custom, habit, tradition, the regard of the public, both employing and employed, for the people who do certain kinds of labor, contribute to determine the price of that labor, and no disfranchised class of workers can permanently hold its own in competition with enfranchised rivals. but this works both ways. it is fatal for any body of workers to have forever hanging from the fringes of its skirts other bodies on a level just below its own; for that means continual pressure downward, additional difficulty to be overcome in the struggle to maintain reasonable rates of wages. hence, within the space of two generations there has been a complete revolution in the attitude of the trades-unions toward the women working in their trades. whereas forty years ago women might have knocked in vain at the doors of the most enlightened trade-union, to-day the federation of labor keeps in the field paid organizers whose duty it is to enlist in the unions as many women as possible. the workingmen have perceived that women are in the field of industry to stay; and they see, too, that there can not be two standards of work and wages for any trade without constant menace to the higher standard. hence their effort to place the women upon the same industrial level with themselves in order that all may pull together in the effort to maintain reasonable conditions of life. but this same menace holds with regard to the vote. the lack of the ballot places the wage-earning woman upon a level of irresponsibility compared with her enfranchised fellow workingman. by impairing her standing in the community the general rating of her value as a human being, and consequently as a worker, is lowered. in order to be rated as good as a good man in the field of her earnings, she must show herself better than he. she must be more steady, or more trustworthy, or more skilled, or more cheap in order to have the same chance of employment. thus, while women are accused of lowering wages, might they not justly reply that it is only by conceding something from the pay which they would gladly claim, that they can hold their own in the market, so long as they labor under the disadvantage of disfranchisement?... finally, the very fact that women now form about one-fifth of the employes in manufacture and commerce in this country has opened a vast field of industrial legislation directly affecting women as wage-earners. the courts in some of the states, notably in illinois, are taking the position that women can not be treated as a class apart and legislated for by themselves, as has been done in the factory laws of england and on the continent of europe, but must abide by that universal freedom of contract which characterizes labor in the united states. this renders the situation of the working woman absolutely anomalous. on the one hand, she is cut off from the protection awarded to her sisters abroad; on the other, she has no such power to defend her interests at the polls, as is the heritage of her brothers at home. this position is untenable, and there can be no pause in the agitation for full political power and responsibility until these are granted to all the women of the nation. mrs. mariana w. chapman (n. y.) spoke from the standpoint of women as capitalists and taxpayers. the first impulse toward the organization of women to protect their own rights came from the injustice of laws toward married women, and in it manifested itself in the first woman's rights convention in seneca falls. slowly the leaven spread. there was agitation in one state after the other about the property rights of women.... now in many states married as well as single women are proprietors of business enterprises upon the same basis as men, and are interested as capitalists and tax-payers in every law which affects the country industrially or financially. in a careful copy was made of the women taxpayers of brooklyn. names with initials were not placed on the list, so that the total was probably under rather than over estimated. this showed . or nearly one-fourth of all the assessable realty in the names of women, amounting to $ , , , besides many large estates in which they were interested. in the assessed value of real estate in the state of new york was $ , , , , which, if estimated in the same ratio, would give taxable property owned by women to the extent of $ , , , . they are agriculturally interested, inasmuch as they are frequently owners of large tracts of land in the west as well as of smaller farms in our eastern states. what shall we say to a government that gives land in severalty to the indian, supplies him with tools and rations, puts a ballot in his hand, and then says to the american woman who purchases the same right to land, "you shall not have the political privileges of american citizenship?" under the laws of our country every stock company is obliged to give men and women shareholders a vote upon the same basis, and one fails to see why a government, which professedly exists to maintain the rights of the people, should practice in its own dealing such flaunting injustice.... women help to support every public institution in the state and should have representation upon every board, and in the laws which control them. they help to pay the army pensions and should be allowed to help in deciding how much shall be paid. they help to pay for standing armies and for navies and they have the larger part in the nurture and training of every man who is in army or navy, and this is not the smaller part of the tax, since it is at times the matter of a life for a life. women pay their part of the taxes to support our public schools and have intense interests in their well-doing. twenty-six states have recognized this fact and have given to women some kind of school suffrage, one has granted municipal suffrage and four full political equality; but this is only a fraction of the justice which belongs to a government founded by statesmen whose watchword was, "no taxation without representation." miss elizabeth burrill curtis (n. y.) answered the question, are women represented in our government? "taxation without representation is tyranny" was one of the slogans of liberty in this country one hundred and twenty years ago. have we outlived this principle? if not, why is it supposed to have no application to women? that a century ago the latter were not thought of as having any rights under this motto is not surprising. so few women then held property in their own name that the injustice done them was not so apparent. but the situation is changed now, and the right of women to be considered as individuals is everywhere acknowledged save in this one particular. even those who feel that the granting of universal male suffrage was a mistake, and that the right to self-government should be proved by some test, educational or otherwise--even those do not assert that it would be anything but gross injustice to tax men without allowing them a voice in the disposal of their money.... but there is still another side to the question. it is not only that the disfranchised women are unfairly treated, but the public good inevitably suffers from the political nonexistence of half the citizens of the republic. either women are interested in politics or they are not. if the former, the country is distinctly injured, for nothing is more fatal to good government than the intermeddling of a large body of people who have never studied the questions at issue and whose only interest is a personal one. if, on the other hand, women are not interested in politics, what is the condition of that country, half of whose citizens do not care whether it be well or ill governed? that women influence men is never denied, even by the most strenuous opponents of woman suffrage. it is, on the contrary, most violently asserted by those very people; but of what value is that interest if woman is utterly ignorant of one of the most important duties of a man's life?... on one hand the public good demands that no class of citizens be arbitrarily prevented from serving the commonweal; and on the other hand thinking and patriotic women are crying against the injustice which forbids them to prove their fitness for self-government. what shall be the result of this double demand? woman suffrage and the home was the topic of henry b. blackwell (mass.). one of the objections to extending suffrage to women is a fear that its exercise will divert their attention from domestic pursuits, and diminish their devotion to husband, children and home. we believe, on the contrary, that it will increase domestic happiness by giving women greater self-respect and greater respect and consideration from men. people who make this objection seem to regard the conjugal and maternal instincts as artificial, as the result of education and circumstances, losing sight of the fact that these qualities are innate in the feminine soul. mental cultivation and larger views of life do not tend to make women less womanly any more than they tend to make men less manly. no one imagines that business or politics diminishes or destroys the conjugal and paternal instinct in men. we do not look for dull or idle or indolent men as husbands for our daughters. ignorant, narrow-minded men do not make the best husbands and fathers. ignorant, narrow-minded women do not make the best wives and mothers. mental discipline and intelligent responsibility add strength to the conjugal and parental sentiment alike in men and women.... but fortunately this is no longer a question of theory. we appeal to the experience of the four states which have extended equal suffrage to women. wyoming has had complete woman suffrage since . for twenty-nine years, as a territory and a state, women have voted there in larger ratio than men. supreme judge j. w. kingman many years ago testified that the actual proportion of men voting had increased to per cent., but that per cent. of the women went to the polls. and now, after a generation of continuous voting, the percentage of divorces in wyoming is smaller than in the surrounding states where women do not vote, and while the percentage in the latter is rapidly increasing, in wyoming it is steadily diminishing. where women have once voted the right has never been taken away by the people. in utah women voted for seventeen years while it was a territory, until congress abolished it for political reasons. but when utah was about to be admitted to statehood the men in framing their constitution restored the suffrage to women. would they have done so if it had proved injurious to their homes? impossible! you have eight senators and seven representatives in congress from the four states where women have the full franchise. ask them if it has demoralized their homes or the homes of their fellow-citizens, and your fears, if you have any, will be forever set at rest.... believe me, gentlemen, it is not patriotism, it is not a passion for justice, it is not loyalty to sister women, it is not a desire to better her country, which will make a woman neglect her husband. society women, superficial, selfish, silly women, the butterflies of the ballroom, the seekers for every new sensation, the worldly-minded aspirants for social position, these are the women who neglect their homes; and not the brave, earnest, serious-minded, generous, unselfish women who ask for the ballot in order by its use to make the world better. in the twentieth century, already dawning, we shall have a republican family in a republican nation, a true democracy, a government of the people, by the people and for the people, men and women co-operating harmoniously on terms of absolute equality in the home and in the state. the senate hearing closed with the paper of mrs. elizabeth cady stanton on the significance and history of the ballot, which was in part as follows: the recent bills on immigration, by senators lodge of massachusetts and kyle of south dakota, indirectly affect the interests of woman. their proposition to demand a reading and writing qualification on landing strikes me as arbitrary and equally detrimental to our mutual interests. the danger is not in their landing and living in this country, but in their speedy appearance at the ballot-box and there becoming an impoverished and ignorant balance of power in the hands of wily politicians. while we should not allow our country to be a dumping ground for the refuse population of the old world, still we should welcome all hardy, common-sense laborers here, as we have plenty of room and work for them. here they can improve their own condition and our surroundings, developing our immense resources and the commerce of the country. the one demand i would make in regard to this class is that they should not become a part of our ruling power until they can read and write the english language intelligently and understand the principles of republican government. this is the only restrictive legislation we need to protect ourselves against foreign domination. to this end the congress should enact a law for "educated suffrage" for our native-born as well as foreign rulers. with free schools and compulsory education, no one has an excuse for not understanding the language of the country. as women are governed by a "male aristocracy," they are doubly interested in having their rulers able at least to read and write. see with what care in the old world the prospective heirs to the throne are educated. there was a time when the members of the british parliament could neither read nor write, but these accomplishments are now required of the lords and commons, and even of the king and queen, while we have rulers, native and foreign, who do not understand the letters of the alphabet; and this in a republic supposed to be based on intelligence of the people! much as we need this measure for the stability of our government, we need it still more for the best interests of women. this ignorant vote is solid against woman's emancipation. in states where amendments to their constitutions are proposed for the enfranchisement of women, this vote has been in every case against them. we should ask for national protection against this hostile force playing football with the most sacred rights of one-half of the people.... in all national conflicts it is ever deemed the most grievous accident of war for the conquered people to find themselves under a foreign yoke, yet this is the position of the women of this republic to-day. foreigners are our judges and jurors, our legislators and municipal officials, and decide all questions of interest to us, even to the discipline in our schools, charitable institutions and prisons. woman has no voice as to the education of her children or the environments of the unhappy wards of the state. the love and sympathy of the mother-soul have but an evanescent influence in all departments of human interest until coined into law by the hand that holds the ballot. then only do they become a direct and effective power in the government.... the popular objection to woman suffrage is that it would "double the ignorant vote." the patent answer to this is, "abolish the ignorant vote." our legislators have this power in their own hands. there have been serious restrictions in the past for men. we are willing to abide by the same for women, provided the insurmountable qualification of sex be forever removed. some of the opponents talk as if educated suffrage would be invidious to the best interests of the laboring masses, whereas it would be most beneficial in its ultimate influence.... surely when we compel all classes to learn to read and write and thus open to themselves the door to knowledge, not by force, but by the promise of a privilege which all intelligent citizens enjoy, we are benefactors and not tyrants. to stimulate them to climb the first rounds of the ladder that they may reach the divine heights where they shall be as gods, knowing good and evil, by withholding the citizen's right to vote for a few years is a blessing to them as well as to the state. we must inspire our people with a new sense of their sacred duties as citizens of a republic, and place new guards around our ballot-box. walking in paris one day i was greatly impressed with an emblematic statue in the square chateau d'eau, placed there in in honor of the republic. on one side is a magnificent bronze lion with his fore paw on the electoral urn, which answers to our ballot-box, as if to guard it from all unholy uses.... as i turned away i thought of the american republic and our ballot-box with no guardian or sacred reverence for its contents. ignorance, poverty and vice have full access; thousands from every incoming steamer go practically from the steerage to the polls, while educated women, representing the virtue and intelligence of the nation, are driven away. i would like to see a monument to "educated suffrage" in front of our national capitol, guarded by the goddess minerva, her right hand resting on the ballot-box, her left hand on the spelling book, the declaration of rights and the federal constitution. it would be well for us to ponder the frenchman's idea, but instead of the royal lion, representing force to guard the sacred urn, let us substitute wisdom and virtue in the form of woman. the washington _star_ said of the hearing before the house judiciary committee: the members paid a tribute to the devotion of the woman suffragists, and at the same time showed appreciation of it by nearly all being in attendance at the hearing this morning. it is seldom that more than a quorum of any committee can be induced to attend a hearing of any sort. to-day fifteen out of seventeen members were present and manifested a deep interest in the remarks submitted by the women. the character of the assemblage was one to inspire respect, and the force and intelligence of what was said warranted the attention and interest shown. the people who not many years ago thought that every woman suffragist was a masculine creature who "wanted to wear the pants" would have been greatly embarrassed in their theories had they been present at the hearing to-day. there was not a mannish-appearing woman among the number. it was such an assemblage as may be seen at a popular church on sunday, or at a fashionable afternoon reception. in fact there was not anywhere such an affectation of masculinity as is common among the society women of the period. each year there have appeared more young women at these hearings, and the average of youth seemed greater to-day than ever before. fashionably attired and in good taste, representative of the highest grade of american womanhood, the fifty or sixty women present inspired respect for their opinions without destroying the sentiment of gallantry which men generally feel that they must extend towards women. the speakers before this committee[ ] presented the practical working of woman suffrage. miss anthony introduced them. limited suffrage in the united states was discussed by prof. ellen h. e. price of swarthmore college, penn., whose address was rendered especially valuable by a carefully compiled table of statistics showing the amount of suffrage possessed by women in every state and territory. municipal suffrage in kansas was described by j. w. gleed; woman suffrage in wyoming by ex-u. s. senator joseph m. carey; woman suffrage in colorado by the hon. martha a. b. conine, member of its state legislature; woman suffrage in idaho by wm. balderston, editor of the boisé _statesman_; woman suffrage in foreign countries by miss helen blackburn, editor _the englishwomen's review_.[ ] woman suffrage in utah was depicted by state senator martha hughes cannon: ....the history of the struggle in utah for equal rights is full of interest and could be recounted with advantage. but, after all, the results which have been attained speak with such unerring logic, and vindicate so thoroughly the argument that woman should take part in the affairs of government which so vitally affect her, that i point to the actual conditions now existing as a complete vindication of the efforts of equal suffragists, and as the most cogent of all reasons why woman should have the right to aid in nominating and electing our public officers. i can say, in all sincerity, that there is a strong and cumulative evidence that even those who opposed equal suffrage with the greatest ability and vehemence would not now vote for the repeal of the measure. the practical working of the law demonstrates its wisdom and verifies the claims which were advanced by its ardent advocates. it has proved to the world that woman is not only a helpmeet by the fireside, but when allowed to do so she can become a most powerful factor in the affairs of the government. none of the unpleasant results which were predicted have occurred. the contentions in families, the tarnishment of woman's charm, the destruction of ideals, have all been proved to be but the ghosts of unfounded prejudices. "the divinity which doth hedge woman about like subtle perfume" has not been displaced. women have quietly assumed the added power which always was theirs by right, and with the grace and ready adaptation to circumstances peculiar to the women of america, they have so conducted themselves that they have gained admiration and respect while losing none of their old-time prestige. before suffrage was granted to women they had ideas upon public questions. suffrage has given them opportunity for practical expression of these views. they pay more attention to political affairs. they studied political economy more earnestly. they familiarize themselves with public questions, and their mistakes, if they have made any, have not thus far been brought to light. women have acted as delegates to county and state conventions, and represented utah in the national convention of one of the great political parties, held in chicago in . they have acted upon political committees and have taken part in political management, and, instead of being dragged down, as was most feared, their enfranchisement has tended to elevate them. under our system of the australian ballot, they have found that the contaminating influence of which they had been told was but a bugbear, born of fright, produced by shadows. they learned that to deposit their vote did not subject them to anything like the annoyance which they often experienced from crowds on "bargain days," while their presence drove from the polls the ward workers who had been so obnoxious in the past. through the courtesy of the governor and the approval of the senate they have been given places upon various state boards, and in the last legislature, in both the senate and the house, they represented the two most populous and wealthy counties of utah. the bills introduced by women received due consideration, and a majority were enacted into laws. whatever they have been required to do they have done to the full satisfaction of their constituents, and they have proved most careful and painstaking public officers. no one in utah will dispute the statements i have made. to the people of that young commonwealth, destined by its manifold resources and the intelligence of its men and women to become the empire state of the rocky mountains, i refer you, in the fullest confidence that, with scarcely a dissenting voice, they will say that woman suffrage is no longer an experiment, but is a practical reality, tending to the well-being of the state. miss alice stone blackwell, national recording secretary, took for a subject the indifference of women: it is often said that the chief obstacle to equal suffrage is the indifference and opposition of women, and that whenever the majority ask for the ballot they will get it. but it is a simple historical fact that every improvement thus far made in their condition has been secured, not by a general demand from the majority, but by the arguments, entreaties and "continual coming" of a persistent few. in each case the advocates of progress have had to contend not merely with the conservatism of men, but with the indifference of women, and often with active opposition from some of them. when a man in saco, me., first employed a saleswoman the men boycotted his store, and the women remonstrated with him on the sin of which he was guilty in placing a young woman in a position of such publicity. when lucy stone tried to secure for married women the right to their own property, they asked with scorn, "do you think i would give myself where i would not give my property?" when elizabeth blackwell began to study medicine, the women at her boarding house refused to speak to her, and those passing her on the streets would hold their skirts aside so as not to touch her. it is a matter of history with what ridicule and opposition mary lyon's first efforts for the education of women were received, not only by the mass of men, but by the mass of women as well. in england when the oxford examinations were thrown open to women, the dean of chichester preached a sermon against it, in which he said: "by the sex at large, certainly, the new curriculum is not asked for. i have ascertained, by extended inquiry among gentlewomen, that, with true feminine instinct, they either entirely distrust or else look with downright disfavor on so wild an innovation and interference with the best traditions of their sex." pundita ramabai tells us that the idea of education for girls is so unpopular with the majority of hindoo women that when a progressive hindoo proposes to educate his little daughter it is not uncommon for the women of his family to threaten to drown themselves. all this merely shows that human nature is conservative, and that it is fully as conservative in women as in men. the persons who take a strong interest in any reform are always comparatively few, whether among men or women, and they are habitually regarded with disfavor, even by those whom the proposed reform is to benefit. thomas hughes says, in school days at rugby: "so it is, and must be always, my dear boys. if the angel gabriel were to come down from heaven and head a successful rise against the most abominable and unrighteous vested interest which this poor old world groans under, he would most certainly lose his character for many years, probably for centuries, not only with the upholders of the said vested interest, but with the respectable mass of the people whom he had delivered." many changes for the better have been made during the last half century in the laws, written and unwritten, relating to women. everybody approves of these changes now, because they have become accomplished facts. but not one of them would have been made to this day if it had been necessary to wait until the majority of women asked for it. the change now under discussion is to be judged on its merits. in the light of history the indifference of most women and the opposition of a few must be taken as a matter of course. it has no more rational significance than it has had in regard to each previous step of woman's progress. miss anthony closed with an impassioned argument which profoundly moved both the committee and the audience. the chairman said that in all the years there had never been so dignified, logical and perfectly managed a hearing before the judiciary, and several of its members corroborated this statement and assured the ladies present of a full belief in the justice of their cause. yet neither the senate nor the house committee made any report or paid the slightest heed to these earnest and eloquent appeals. footnotes: [ ] the sunday afternoon preceding the convention religious services were held in the theatre, which was crowded. the sermon was given by the rev. anna howard shaw, from the text, "one shall chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight." [ ] a most interesting account of that historic occasion may be found in the history of woman suffrage, vol. i, p. . [ ] federal suffrage is considered in chapter i. [ ] david b. henderson, ia.; george w. ray, n. y.; case broderick, kan.; thomas updegraff, ia.; james a. connolly, ill.; samuel w. mccall, mass.; john j. jenkins, wis.; riehard wayne parker, n. j.; jesse r. overstreet, ind.; dealva s. alexander, n. y.; warren miller, w. va.; william l. terry, ark.; david a. dearmond, mo.; samuel w. t. lanham, tex.; william elliott, s. c.; oscar w. underwood, ala.; david h. smith, ky. [ ] the main facts brought out in all these addresses are fully included in the various state chapters in this volume. chapter xix. the national-american convention of . a departure was made by the suffrage association in in having its convention in the late spring instead of the winter, the thirty-first annual meeting being held in grand rapids, mich., april -may . it was thought by many that this was an unfavorable season, as the audiences were not so large as usual, but in all other respects it was one of the most delightful of these many gatherings. the meetings were held in the handsome st. cecilia club house, whose auditorium seats , , and the official report, usually confined to bare details, contains the following account: the music arranged by mrs. rathbone carpenter and her efficient committee was throughout of the finest character and fully justified the reputation of grand rapids as a musical community. mrs. w. d. giddings, chairman of decorations, worked daily with different members of her committee in arranging the cut flowers and decorative plants generously furnished by different florists, so that the platform was beautiful and fragrant from beginning to end of the meetings. at the evening sessions the audience was seated by the help of young lady ushers under the management of mrs. marie wilson beasley. the bureau of information, under the charge of mrs. h. margaret downs; the courtesies, chairman, mrs. delos a. blodgett, and the opening reception on the first evening of the convention, chairman, mrs. william alden smith, were ably managed. but, with the exception of the work devolving upon mrs. ketcham, the most constant and trying labor fell to the chairman of entertainment, mrs. allen c. adsit, who cared for the housing of all the delegates and also of the michigan friends in attendance. of the efforts bf mrs. emily b. ketcham the entire convention bore witness; it went to grand rapids upon her invitation, and upon her work for many months before its opening depended its success, which was unquestioned. at one of the evening sessions she was surprised by the presentation of a handsome souvenir of the occasion containing the signatures of the officers of the association, the speakers and many of the local workers. at the close of the first evening the national officers, assisted by mrs. ketcham, mrs. william alden smith, mrs. julius burrows and several of the speakers, received in the beautiful parlor of the st. cecilia, thus giving delegates and visitors an opportunity to meet the people of the city and to exchange social greetings with each other. the ladies' literary club, which also owns its home, kept open house several afternoons from four to six, the officers receiving the guests and serving light refreshments. this club also tendered the freedom of its house for any and all hours of the day to the delegates. saturday afternoon the federation of the woman's christian temperance unions of grand rapids received the convention at the young woman's building, where a substantial supper was served. the bissell carpet-sweeper factory, president, mrs. m. r. bissell, presented to the delegates one hundred and fifty specially made small carpet-sweepers, each marked in gilt, national american woman suffrage association. but to the board of trade belongs the honor of having outrivaled all the other kind hosts in the extent of their hospitality. they presented to the convention its programs, beautifully printed on extra fine paper and bearing a picture of the st. cecilia club house. the board also sent carriages to take the entire working convention for a drive through the city, a visit to one of the largest furniture warehouses and to the carpet-sweeper factory, where mrs. bissell received the delegates and all were shown through the works. a handsome souvenir containing many views of the city was given by the board to every delegate. the ladies of the st. cecilia were kindness itself, and it was delightful to hold the meetings in so friendly an atmosphere, as well as in so well appointed a building. the president, mrs. kelsey, presented to the badge committee st. cecilia pins having a reproduction of carlo dolci's head of the musical saint after whom this club is named, the only musical society of women in the united states which owns a club-house. cordial addresses of welcome were made by emily b. ketcham, president of susan b. anthony club; mary atwater kelsey, president of st. cecilia; josephine ahnafeldt goss, president of ladies' literary club; may stocking knaggs, president of state equal suffrage association; martha a. keating, president of state federation of women's clubs; mrs. a. s. benjamin, president of state women's christian temperance union; mary a. mcconnelly, department president of state woman's relief corps; lucy a. leggett, president of state woman's press association, and frances e. burns, great commander ladies of the maccabees. mrs. ketcham expressed their pleasure in having grand rapids selected in preference to several larger cities which had extended invitations; referred to the long distances many of the delegates had come and assured the convention of a royal welcome, not only from the city but from the state. brief extracts must give an idea of the scope and cordiality of these addresses: mrs. goss: this has been called the woman's century. the past centuries might have been called man's, because of the great progress he has made in them; and it is now conceded that god made women to match the men. the next will be the children's century, when they will make real their parents' ideals. after humanity has been sufficiently educated, people will understand that no class has a right to special privileges, or can appropriate them without injury to the body politic. then a woman will not demand any special privilege because she is a woman, nor be denied it because she is not a man. as a result of this movement, old lessons have been better learned and old burdens more easily carried. we advocate equal suffrage not alone because it is just to the mothers, but because it will be good for the children, good for man, good for all humanity. we are glad to be a part of this movement for a higher civilization. grand rapids is noted for its furniture factories, and after equal suffrage is granted it will supply plenty of material for the president's cabinet. mrs. knaggs: i welcome you in behalf of the michigan e. s. a., representing the women of this state who are especially interested in woman's enfranchisement. we have looked forward to the day when you would bring us the inspiration of one of these great meetings; we needed it. we are told that women are indifferent. many are so; and nothing can better arouse us than to meet those engaged in this work from so many different places. an alderman this spring boasted that he had been elected by the votes of eight nationalities. he enumerated seven of them but for some time was unable to think of the eighth. at last he remembered; it was the american. the ballot in the hands of our present voters might be improved by the intelligence that the great body of michigan women would bring to it. we are beginning to appreciate the solidarity of women. when one state wins suffrage, all the others are gainers by it. the good of this meeting will go abroad over the country. mrs. keating: ....in the happy tone of welcome that you may hear rising from all parts of our state the club women join, with voices , strong. we have never been happier than now, even during the annual club elections, amid the joy and intelligence of the club ballot. your fame has preceded you. mrs. benjamin: the w. c. t. u. of michigan numbers about , active members, and i bring you the greeting of your white-ribbon sisters. we welcome not only you but your principles, and your avowed determination to conquer before you die. a good mother works in the home, but she would not wish to be forbidden to cross the threshold. for the good of her child, she needs sometimes to cross it. a mother should guard her child outside the home as well as in it. every mother worthy of the name wishes to protect her own child from vice, and her duty extends to her neighbor's child also. equal suffrage is coming, friends, and coming soon. mrs. burns: i bring you the welcome of the , ladies of the maccabees. times have greatly changed in michigan since seventy years ago, when the indian squaws did all the manual labor, and the braves limited themselves to the noble task of hunting. there has been a corresponding change in the condition of women all along the line. in the response of miss susan b. anthony, the national president, she said: since our last convention the area of disfranchisement in the possessions of the united states has been greatly enlarged. our nation has undertaken to furnish provisional governments for hawaii and the philippine islands, cuba and porto rico. hitherto the settlers of new territories have been permitted to frame their own provisional governments, which were ratified by congress, but to-day congress itself assumes the prerogative of making the laws for the newly-acquired territories. when the governments for those in the west were organized there had been no practical example of universal suffrage in any one of the older states, hence it might be pardonable for their settlers to ignore the right of the women associated with them to a voice in their governments. but to-day, after fifty years' continuous agitation of the right of women to vote, and after the demand has been conceded in one-half the states in the management of the public schools; after one state has added to that of the schools the management of its cities; and after four states have granted women the full vote--the universal reports show that the exercise of the suffrage by women has added to their influence, increased the respect of men, and elevated the moral, social and political conditions of their respective commonwealths. with those object-lessons before congress, it would seem that no member could be so blind as not to see it the duty of that body to have the provisional governments of our new possessions founded on the principle of equal rights, privileges and immunities for all the people, women included. i hope this convention will devise some plan for securing a strong expression of public sentiment on this question, to be presented to the fifty-sixth congress, which is to convene on the first monday of december next.... during the reconstruction period and the discussion of the negro's right to vote senator blaine and others opposed the counting of all the negroes in the basis of representation, instead of the old-time three-fifths, because they saw that to do so would greatly increase the power of the white men of the south on the floor of congress. therefore the republican leaders insisted upon the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to secure the ballot to the negro men. only one generation has passed and yet nearly all of the southern states have by one device or another succeeded in excluding from the ballot-box very nearly the entire negro vote, openly and defiantly declaring their intention to secure the absolute supremacy of the white race, but there is not a suggestion on their part of allowing the citizens to whom they deny the right of suffrage to be counted out from the basis of representation. some of the northern newspapers have been growing indignant upon the subject, declaring that a vote in south carolina counts more than two votes in new york, in the election of the president and the house of representatives. it seems to me that a still greater violation of the principle of "the consent of the governed" is practiced in all the states of the union where women, though disfranchised, are yet counted in the basis of representation, and i think the time has come when this association should make a most strenuous demand for an amendment to the constitution of the united states forbidding any state thus to count disfranchised citizens.... the increased discussion of the enfranchisement of women in the newspapers throughout the country evidences the larger demand of the public for information on this line, and a vast amount of educational work is being done in this way.... the presentation of the woman question in the new york _sunday sun_ each week by mrs. ida husted harper, with the articles it has elicited from the opposition, is of incalculable value; and when we add to the number of people who read the _sun_ the vast numbers who read the copies of these articles made by the many newspapers between the two oceans, we see what an immense reading audience is gained by getting our question into that one of the best new york dailies. we must remember that these papers never would have copied mrs. harper's or any other literary woman's productions had they been first published in one of our special organs; therefore one very important branch of press work is to gain access to the metropolitan dailies. then there is the immense work done by mrs. elnora m. babcock for the state of new york, and by the chairmen of the different state press committees, as well as that done by our national organizer from the headquarters. never has the press of the entire nation been kept so alive with discussions upon the woman suffrage question as during the past year, and my hope is that we may yet have upon every one of the great city papers a strong, educated suffrage woman, as editor of a woman's page or, better still, as writer of suffrage articles to be inserted without a special heading which would advertise to the general reader that they were about women. though we have not obtained the suffrage in any of the states where we had hoped to do so during the past year, the failures have been by very small majorities. in south dakota, where eight years ago a woman suffrage amendment was lost by a majority of over , , at the election of the opposing majority was reduced to , ; while in washington, where the question was submitted for the second time, it was lost by a majority less than one-half as large as that of nine years ago. in california both houses of the legislature passed the school suffrage bill, which the governor refused to sign, repeating the action of . the suffrage bills in the territorial legislatures of oklahoma and arizona were carried by very fine majorities through both lower houses, but were lost in both upper houses (as will be stated by our national organizer, who led our suffrage hosts in each case) through a shameful surrender to the temptation of bribery from the open and avowed enemies of woman's enfranchisement, the liquor organizations. none of these so-called defeats ought to discourage us in the slightest degree. our enemies, the women remonstrants, may comfort themselves with the thought that the liquor interest has joined in their efforts, but we surely can solace ourselves with the fact that the very best men voted in favor of allowing women to exercise their right to a voice in the conditions of home and state. so we have nothing to fear but everything to gain by going forward with renewed faith to agitate and educate the public, until the vast majority of men and women are thoroughly grounded in the great principle of political equality.... i thank you, friends, for your cordial words of welcome. we are glad to come here. i always feel a certain kinship to michigan since the constitutional amendment campaign of , in which i assisted. i remember that i went across one city on a dray, the only vehicle i could secure, in order to catch a train. a newspaper said next day: "that ancient daughter of methuselah, susan b. anthony, passed through our city last night, with a bonnet looking as if she had just descended from noah's ark." now if susan b. anthony had represented votes, that young political editor would not have cared if she were the oldest or youngest daughter of methuselah, or whether her bonnet came from the ark or from the most fashionable man milliner's. there are women's clubs all over the country; did you ever hear of one organized for other than an uplifting purpose? (several voices: "yes, the anti-suffrage associations!") well, even the "antis" wish to keep the world just as it is; they do not aim to make it worse. some persons have tried to belittle the resolution passed by the colorado legislature recently, testifying to the good results of equal suffrage, by declaring that the members were afraid of the women. i never heard before of a legislature that voted solidly in a certain way for fear of women. we have with us to-day mrs. welch, the president of the colorado equal suffrage association, of whom it is said that the legislature was so afraid. [miss anthony led forward mrs. welch, a pretty little woman in a very feminine bonnet, who shrank away slightly from the compelling hand, and showed shyness in every line of her figure, as she felt the eyes of the audience' concentrated upon her.] at the time of the first recognition of women in the early granger days, when the farmers used to harness up their horses to their big wagons and take all their women folks to the meetings, i used to say that i could tell a grange woman as far off as i could see her, because of her air of feeling herself as good as a man. now look at this woman from colorado! mrs. welch: when i came before the executive committee this morning, and they said they were proud of me as a free woman, i felt almost ashamed to be a free woman. i thought of all the tears and sorrows and struggles of miss anthony and wondered if she ever would possess the ballot for which she had done so much, and i so little. miss anthony: i am glad you have it. we are not working for ourselves alone; that is one reason why our society does not grow as fast as some others. the paper of the rev. anna garlin spencer (r. i.) was a strong, philosophical presentation of our duty to the women of our new possessions: ....prof. otis t. mason, author of that important book, "woman's share in primitive culture," tells us that "the longer one studies the subject the more he will be convinced that savage tribes can now be elevated chiefly through their women." why is this true? for the reason that the savage is in the stage of social order through which all civilized nations have passed at some period--the stage of the mother-rule more or less modified by partial masculine domination. it is a well-known fact of human history and prehistoric record that the matriarchate, or the mother-rule, preceded the patriarchate, or the father-rule. "all the social fabrics of the world are built around women. the first stable society was a mother and her child." the reason why the primitive descent of name and property, and the first fixed stake of home life, was the expression of this maternal relationship is obvious. motherhood was demonstrated by nature before fatherhood was definitely known. inheritance of name by the female line was alone possible; and that, as well as the female holding and transmitting of property, was a family or tribal or clan relationship, women always retaining rule and wealth not so much as individuals as custodians of communal life and possessions. not only was the mother with the child the first founder of human society, but the woman in savage life was the first inventor and originator of all life-sustaining industries.... when man also began to "settle down"--whether from personal choice or from social pressure--when he, too, began to learn and practice the industrial arts heretofore solely in the hands of women, he began to press his more personal and individualistic claims of recognition and of property-owning against the family wealth of which the woman was the custodian. as man more and more assumed the burden of the world's industries outside the home (which before had been woman's care alone), and as woman became more and more absorbed in purely domestic concerns, man's individualism assumed greater and greater power within the family life, and he gradually acquired the despotic family headship which marked the ancient patriarchal order of rome. this was not a social descent, but an immense social uplift, in the age in which it was natural. professor mason says, and with profound truth, "matrimony in all ages is an effort to secure to the child the authenticity of the father." it was necessary for social growth that offspring should have two parents instead of one; that the division of labor should be more equal, and man be fastened to domestic needs by bonds he could not break, and through labors which were peaceful as well as arduous. for that process his individualism, developed through ages of free wandering and purely militant life, must be not only tamed somewhat, but harnessed to the home life. to accomplish that mighty social uplift by which offspring secured two parents instead of one, woman's subjection to man was paid as the price of the higher form of family unity. nor was her subjection to man in the ruder ages of the world wholly an evil to herself. it has been said that "woman was first the wife of any, second the wife of many, and third one of many wives." each of these steps was an advance in her sexual relationship. all were stepping-stones to the monogamic union which is the standard of our civilization, and the realized ideal of all our best and wisest men and women.... bebel says, "woman was the first human being to taste of bondage." true, and her bondage has been long and bitter; but the subjection of woman to man in the family bond was a vast step upward from the preceding condition. it gave woman release from the terrible labor-burdens of savage life; it gave her time and strength to develop beauty of person and refinement of taste and manners. it gave her the teaching capacity, for it put all the younger child-life into her exclusive care, with some leisure at command to devote to its mental and moral, as well as physical, well-being. it led to a closer relationship between man and woman than the world had known before, and thus gave each the advantage of the other's qualities. and always and everywhere the subjection of woman to man has had a mitigation and softening of hardships unknown to other forms of slavery, by reason of the power of human affection as it has worked through sex-attraction. as soon, however, as the slavery of woman to man was outgrown and obsolete it became (as was african slavery in a professedly democratic country like our own) "the sum of all villainies." and to-day there is no inconsistency so great, and therefore no condition so hurtful and outrageous, as the subjection of women to men in a civilization which like ours assumes to rest upon foundations of justice and equality of human rights.... to-day these considerations (especially the failure fully to apply the doctrine of equality of human rights to women, even in the most advanced centers of modern civilization) have an especial and most fateful significance in relation to the women of the more backward races as they are brought into contact with our modern civilization. i said the peoples with whom we are now being brought as a nation into vital relationship may be still in the matriarchate. if they are not, most of them are certainly in some transition stage from that to the father-rule. not all peoples have had to pass through the entire subjection of women to men which marked our ancestral advance. the more persistent tribal relationship and collective family life have sometimes softened the process of social growth which was so harsh for women under the old roman law and the later english common law. it may be that the dusky races of africa and of the islands of the sea, as well as our aryan cousins of india, may pass more easily through the stages of attachment of man's responsibility to the family life than we, with our tough fiber of character, were able to do. if so, in the name of justice they should have the chance! but if we, who have not yet "writ large" in law and political rights that respect for woman which all our education, industry, religion, art, home life and social culture express; if we, who are still inconsistent and not yet out of the transition stage from the father-rule to the equal reign of both sexes; if we lay violent hands upon these backward peoples and give them only our law and our political rights as they relate to women, we shall do horrible injustice to the savage women, and through them to the whole process of social growth for their people. when we tried to divide "in severalty" the lands of the american indian, we did violence to all his own sense of justice and co-operative feeling when we failed to recognize the women of the tribes in the distribution. we then and there gave the indian the worst of the white man's relationship to his wife, and failed utterly, as in the nature of the case we must have done, to give him the best of the white man's relation to his wife. when in india, as mrs. garrett fawcett has so finely shown, we introduce the technicalities of the english law of marriage to bind an unwilling wife to her husband, we give the hindoo the slavery of the anglo-saxon wife, but we do not give him that spirit of anglo-saxon marriage and home-life which has made that slavery often scarcely felt, and never an unmixed evil. if, to-day, in the hawaiian islands or in cuba we fail to recognize the native women, who still hold something of the primitive prestige of womanhood, fail to recognize them as entitled to a translation, under new laws and conditions, of the old dignity of position, we shall not only do them an injustice, but we shall forcibly give the hawaiian and cuban men lessons in the wrong side and not the right side of our domestic relations. above all, if in the philippines we abruptly and with force of arms establish the authority of the husband over the wife, by recognizing men only as property-owners, as signers of treaties, as industrial rulers and as domestic law-givers, we shall introduce every outrage and injustice of women's subjection to men, without giving these people one iota of the sense of family responsibility, of protection of and respect for woman, and of deep and self-sacrificing devotion to childhood's needs, which mark the anglo-saxon man. in a word, if we introduce one particle of our belated and illogical political and legal subjection of women to men into any savage or half-civilized community, we shall spoil the domestic virtues that community already possesses, and we shall not (because we can not so abruptly and violently) inoculate them with the virtues of civilized domestic life. nature will not be cheated. we can not escape, nor can we roughly and swiftly help others to escape, the discipline of ages of natural growth. this all means that we need another commission to go to all the lands in which our flag now claims a new power of oversight and control--a commission other than that so recently sent to the philippines--to see what may be done to bring order to that distracted group of islands. we need a commission which shall study domestic rather than political conditions, and which shall look for the undercurrents of social growth rather than the more showy political movements. we should have on that commission two archæologists, a man and a woman, and i can name them--otis t. mason and alice c. fletcher.... an earnest discussion followed this paper, in which mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.), mrs. helen philleo jenkins (mich.), henry b. blackwell (mass.), miss octavia w. bates (mich.), miss martha scott anderson (minn.), and miss anthony took part: mrs. jenkins: ....whatever power in government may be given to the men of our new possessions in selecting their rulers, let the same privilege be accorded the women. it may be said that the women are ignorant, and need yet to be held in subjection--that they are unfit to have a voice in the new order of things. let us not be deceived. probably the women are no more ignorant and stupid than the masses of men in these newly acquired regions--excepting always the few men whom circumstances have developed. the ignorant mother can guide her child quite as safely as its ignorant father. men and women in all nations and tribes are pretty nearly on a level as to common sense and forethought for the future good of the family. indeed, the interests of the home, protection of the children, and the morals and behavior of the community make the standard of even unlettered women one notch higher than that of their ignorant husbands. let us of this nation hesitate before we establish a sex supremacy that it may take long centuries to overcome.... thousands of dollars are expended on a military commission; it is sent to investigate the commercial possibilities, the financial opportunities, in remote lands; but the army, the commerce, the finance are not all there is of a nation. there are more vital interests--there is something which lies at the very base of the nation, without which it could not exist--the homes, the women and the children. it is the social conditions that need special consideration in our country's dealings with these new lands. miss bates: ....in the presence of the events which have transpired during the past year, and in all the discussions pertaining to the new peoples who have suddenly become our protégés, seldom if ever does one hear a word about the women, who, all will admit, are a most important factor in the civilization--or the lack of it--which we have taken under our control. we women are here at this time to do our best to awaken the public conscience to a realizing sense of the state of affairs. we are the result of what the religion, the education of the nineteenth century and the liberty which it has granted to women have made us. we are ready and willing and competent to befriend our less favored sisters beyond the seas, and to extend to them the benefits we enjoy, so far as they are able to receive them; but--the tragedy of it--in a certain sense we are utterly helpless to reach them and to give them what they, unconsciously to themselves, so grievously need. there is no place for the thought of the women of this land in the plans of the nation for the study of these questions. no matter how much our speaker may think and write and publish on this subject--aye, and women like her--no matter how wise the conclusions they reach, is it at all likely that their voices will be listened to in the din and blare and clash of warring political parties, or respected in legislative halls? or is it probable that the advocates of territorial expansion will pause a moment to ponder on the woman side of that question? we, to-day, are discussing this subject without even the shadow of a hope of putting our convictions into practice. is it any wonder that women at large are dead to the importance of this matter?... i am in favor of pushing the question to the utmost--not that i have any hope that such a commission will be appointed, but because it furnishes a most valuable argument for extending the suffrage to women: first, in order that, by its possession, they may have an uncontested, legally-defined right of serving on such commissions; and, second, because of the opportunity it offers for proving to the world the necessity of commissions like this for settling questions and conditions of which women form a central and integral part. of course if we possessed the suffrage, we should have no necessity for a discussion like the present. everything we are saying would seem like truisms then, instead of being contested point by point, as it is to-day.... mr. blackwell: ....in those islands are peoples ranging from absolute savagery to mediæval civilization, from fighters with blow-guns and bows and arrows to fighters with mauser rifles and modern artillery. laws and institutions suited to the needs of one tribe are unsuited to those of another. side by side are catholicism, mohammedanism and heathenism. their amusements vary from cannibalism to cock-fighting. their social status ranges from barbarous promiscuity to moslem polygamy and thence to hindoo monogamy. but everywhere exist masculine domination and feminine subjection, under varied forms of political despotism, tempered with protestant liberalism in the case of hawaii. to establish over all these diverse social conditions the rigid principles of the english common law, which prevail largely in our jurisprudence, will perpetuate and intensify the tyranny of husband over wife, of father over offspring. we see the consequences already in the british west indies, where negro women generally prefer to live outside of legal marriage because as wives they find themselves subjected to practical serfdom. in jamaica per cent. of the births are illegitimate for this reason. when i visited haiti, i was told to my great surprise that the homes and small farms were usually owned by the women. expressing my admiration of this chivalrous recognition of women's right to the homestead, i was informed that there was no such sentiment. it was solely because the men were so lazy and unreliable that the perpetuity of the race was endangered. the fathers of the children were here to-day and away to-morrow. they spent their time in loafing, drinking, gambling and plotting "revolutions." the women, anchored by the love for their children, lived in the little huts on their small plantations, raising yams and bananas, and if the men became too drunken and abusive the women ordered them to leave. among those people, in a tropical climate, with land to squat upon, most of the work is done by the women. let no one imagine that the so-called "matriarchate" of early ages was an ideal condition of society. it was based primarily upon the industrial and moral irresponsibility of men. in our new possessions, side by side with these primitive conditions, we have great bodies of chinese and hindoo coolies, who represent ancient and fossilized types of civilized society, patient, economical, industrious, monogamous and exclusive in their family relations. the trouble is that where western civilization interferes with oriental abuses it does not go far enough. when in india the british government prohibited the custom of burning widows on the funeral pyre of their deceased husbands, widows became the slaves of their husband's relatives, and were actually believed to be responsible for his death and were ill treated accordingly. when infanticide was forbidden and peace maintained, population multiplied until famine became chronic. the only salvation for the women of our new possessions lies in a legal recognition of their personal, industrial, social and political equality. if, as seems too probable, their rights shall be simply ignored in the reconstruction, women will suffer all the disabilities of the law, without the practical alleviations afforded by an enlightened public opinion. such women, even more than those of our own states, will need the ballot as a means of self-protection.... miss anthony: i have been overflowing with wrath ever since the proposal was made to engraft our half-barbaric form of government on hawaii and our other new possessions. i have been studying how to save, not them, but ourselves from the disgrace. this is the first time the united states has ever tried to foist upon a new people the exclusively masculine form of government. our business should be to give this people the highest form which has been attained by us. when our state governments were originally formed, there was no example of woman suffrage anywhere, but now we have a great deal of it, and everywhere it has done good. the principle is constantly spreading.... we are told it will be of no use for us to ask this measure of justice--that the ballot be given to the women of our new possessions upon the same terms as to the men--because we shall not get it. it is not our business whether we are going to get it; our business is to make the demand. suppose during these fifty years we had asked only for what we thought we could secure, where should we be now? ask for the whole loaf and take what you can get. mrs. mary l. doe (mich.), brought greetings from the american federation of labor. "woman suffrage would find its most hopeful and fertile field among the labor organizations," she said; "the workingmen stood for weak and defenseless women even before they did for their own rights." from samuel gompers, president of the federation, she read the following letter: the american federation of labor, at every convention where the subject has been brought up and discussed, has unfalteringly declared for equal legal, political and economic rights for women. at the convention held in detroit, some thirteen years ago, a resolution to that effect was unanimously adopted. a petition to congress for the submission of a constitutional amendment enfranchising women was circulated among our various unions, and within two months it received nearly , signatures and indorsements. at the kansas city convention last december, the question of woman's work was discussed, and the following declaration was unanimously adopted: "in view of the awful conditions under which woman is compelled to toil, this, the eighteenth annual convention of the american federation of labor, strongly urges the more general formation of trade unions of wage-working women, to the end that they may scientifically and permanently abolish the terrible evils accompanying their weakened, because unorganized state; and we emphatically reiterate the trade-union demand that women receive equal compensation for equal service performed." you will see that there ought to be no question as to the attitude of the organized labor movement on this subject, notwithstanding the designing misrepresentations of enemies of our cause, who seek to place our movement in a false light. let me say, too, that the declaration just quoted is not for compliment merely, for members of many of our organizations have been involved in long and sacrificing contests in order to secure to women equal pay for equal work. please convey fraternal greetings to our friends who will meet at grand rapids. when mrs. loraine immen came forward with a greeting from the michigan elocutionists' association, miss anthony spoke of the great change which had taken place in women's voices in the last twenty-five years. at an early woman's rights convention, when she insisted that they should speak louder, one of them answered, "we are not here to screech; we are here to be ladies." mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.) spoke entertainingly on the hope of the future: the lessons of the past year have brought home to many of us more forcibly than any other recent events the injustice and cruelty of denying to women their proper share in deciding questions for the public good. we have seen the republic plunged into war in which women have borne a heavy share of the burdens. it should be the rule of all nations that no contest of arms should be entered into without the consent of the women.... another significant object lesson grew out of the war. when the time of election approached, the governmental authorities became much exercised over the means of providing for the voting of the soldiers. it is astonishing how much men think of their own right to vote. extra sessions of the legislatures were called to provide means of meeting this emergency. in this dilemma i ventured to write to the governor of my state and suggest that he recommend the passing of a law empowering each soldier and sailor to send to some woman at home a proxy permitting her to vote for him. you can see how simple a plan this would be. every man would have a beloved mother, a dear sister or some adored damsel whom he would be proud to have represent him at the polls, and the amount of money which this scheme would have saved to the state is enormous. the counting of the soldiers' votes when at last they were sent to new york cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. in one instance, in a certain county where the board of supervisors had to be called together in two special sessions and the county officials summoned as if at a regular election, to count six votes, the amount reached $ per vote! miss frances a. griffin (ala.), a new speaker on the national platform, captured the audience with her rich voice and southern intonation as she discussed the effects of our teaching: the thanksgiving of the old jew, "lord, i thank thee that thou didst not make me a woman," doubtless came from a careful review of the situation. like all of us, he had fortitude enough to bear his neighbors' afflictions.... miss anthony deals recklessly with years, apportioning them to her friends as liberally as napoleon dealt out kingdoms and duchies to his brothers and other relations. her example has strengthened me; you never would have had this next remark but for miss anthony: thirty-five years ago i read a graduating essay. i knew i was doing an unwomanly thing, and in order to preserve what little womanliness i might have left, when i got up to read it i whispered the whole essay. i've quit that. since i made up my mind to be heard, i have been heard.... a great progress of women has gone on and is going on. men for the most part are manageable; women are the converts needed. when women have their minds made up to vote, it will be with them as it was with me about being heard.... this is a new era for woman. if the larger sphere now open to her is not a new discovery, it is at least a new testament. the day will come that people will look back with shame on the time when brains and virtue were shut away from the ballot-box, if they belonged to a woman.... miss anna caulfield (mich.) pointed out the achievements of woman in art. mrs. may wright sewall (ind.) spoke eloquently on the true civilization of the world, saying in part: in the new civilization the sense of personal responsibility is strong; it respects the child's individuality and also recognizes the unity of all educational agencies--kindergarten, school, college and university. there is also a new theology, in which individual conscience is substituted for the dictates of authority, and which distinguishes between metaphysical doctrine and practical principle. it seeks the higher unity, all embracing. the new political economy recognizes the right of the individual, and the body politic as composed of units, each one of which must be respected. its whole effort is to preserve the rights of employers and to give equal recognition to the employed; to unify all those classes that have heretofore been kept divided. the new civilization results from all these. the difficulties in realizing this perfect unit arise from selfishness. we have long recognized that individual selfishness is a defect, but national selfishness has been for a long time extolled under the name of patriotism, and has gone on cleaving great chasms between different peoples. in the new civilization the individual will recognize himself at his best in his relation to the whole. the different professions will recognize that what each contributes bears but a small ratio to what each receives from the rest. the different nationalities will recognize their respective dignities in just the proportion in which the whole must transcend any part. then humanity will exceed national feeling and the unity of the race will exalt the dignity of the individual. the resolution presented by mrs. sewall, member for the united states of the international peace union, rejoicing over the approaching peace conference at the hague and assuring the commissioners from the united states of the sympathy of the women of this country, was unanimously adopted. the rev. anna howard shaw, national vice-president, whose childhood and early girlhood had been spent in michigan, closed the saturday evening meeting with a tender address on working partners, a graphic description of the pioneer days of this state and the hardships of its women, during which she said: "women have been faithful partners and have done their full share of the work. a gentleman opposed to their enfranchisement once said to me, 'women have never produced anything of any value to the world.' i told him the chief product of the women had been the men, and left it to him to decide whether the product was of any value. is it said that women must not vote because they can not bear arms? why, women's arms have borne all the arm-bearers of the world. we have no antique art in america, but we have antique laws. we do not look back to the antiquity of the world, but to the babyhood of the world. who would think of calling a new-born infant antique? yet laws made in the babyhood of the world are in this day of its manhood quoted for our guidance. much has been said lately about 'the white man's burden', but the white man will never have a heavier burden to take up than himself." twelve churches offered their pulpits, which were filled by the women speakers sunday morning.[ ] the regular convention services were held sunday afternoon in the st. cecilia building, a large audience being present. the rev. antoinette brown blackwell led the devotional exercises, and the rev. florence kollock crooker gave the sermon from the text: "whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it." afterwards mrs. sewall spoke on the coming peace congress at the hague and, on motion of melvin a. root, a resolution was adopted that on may , the opening day of the congress, the women of our country assemble in public and send to it the voice of women in favor of peace. a touching letter from mrs. elizabeth cady stanton was read by miss anthony during the convention, in which she said: "we seem to be pariahs alike in the visible and the invisible world, with no foothold anywhere, though by every principle of government and religion we should have an equal place on this planet. we do not hold the ignorant class of men responsible for these outrages against women, but rather the published opinions of men in high positions, judges, bishops, presidents of colleges, editors, novelists and poets--all taught by the common and civil law. it is a sad reflection that the chains of woman's bondage have been forged by her own sires and sons. every man who is not for us in this prolonged struggle for liberty is responsible for the present degradation of the mothers of the race. it is pitiful to see how few men ever have made our cause their own, but while leaving us to fight our battle alone, they have been unsparing in their criticism of every failure. of all the battles for liberty in the long past, woman only has been left to fight her own, without help and with all the powers of earth and heaven, human and divine, arrayed against her." monday evening mrs. harriet taylor upton, national treasurer, told of an ohio woman's experience as member of a school board. she gave a lively account of her own nomination and election in warren, and said in concluding: "it was not a war of women against men, but of liberalism against conservatism, of principle against prejudice, of the new against the old. it does not take any more time to clean up a schoolhouse and keep out scarlet fever than it does to nurse the children through the scarlet fever." mrs. flora beadle renkes, school commissioner of barry county, mich., described some phases of public school work. she advocated industrial and moral as well as intellectual training and all of this equally for both sexes. mrs. minerva welch, in considering woman's possibilities, said: "to my mind it is given to woman to develop the greatest possibilities in all the world. she can direct the character of generations. if woman ever gains the place god intended her to have it must be through the mother element. in denver we have organized women's clubs for the study of art, literature and political science. we have learned to fraternize. men have found that women bring their moral influence into politics, and the men also know that they must look to their own morals if they want office. many questions have been sent to our state asking about the new conditions. woman suffrage has proved a success, and the women can stand with heads erect, shoulder to shoulder with any one, knowing that they are full, free citizens of the state of colorado and of the united states." miss anthony then, by special request, gave a recital of all the facts connected with her arrest, trial and conviction for voting in . miss shaw introduced her as a criminal, and miss anthony retorted, "yes, a criminal out of jail, just like a good many of the brethren." with marvelous power she recalled all the details of that dramatic episode. mrs. abigail scott duniway (ore.) gave an address on how to win the ballot, containing much sound sense. it was published in full by the grand rapids _democrat_. mrs. evelyn h. belden, president of the iowa equal suffrage association, spoke on women and war, saying: did you ever have to live with heroes--with men who have survived the hardships and dangers of war? one of the reasons for my mildness in public is that i have to be mild at home. i live with the heroes of two wars. the elder put down the rebellion--so he tells me. the younger, for whom i am responsible, has accomplished an even more perilous feat; he met in mortal combat every day for six months the product of the commissary department of our late war. he is still alive, but "kicking"--and so is his mother! note that there were no women on the war investigating commission. brutal officers, incompetent quartermasters and ignorant doctors were tried before a jury of their peers. every department which was conducted without the help of women has been for months writhing under the probe of an official investigation, and is still writhing under the lash of public opinion. when the war broke out, the women of iowa, with the suffragists at their head, cheerfully consecrated themselves to the service of a state which does not recognize them as the equals of their own boys. i have one old trunk that made six trips to chickamauga park, filled with delicacies for the soldiers. about august i made up my mind to go and see things for myself. my husband was told it was no place for a woman there among , men and , animals; but he had business at home which he did not think i could attend to, and he thought i could go to chickamauga just as well as he.... if there had been women on the commission, would they have pitched the camp five miles from water? or provided only one horse and one mule to bring the water for two companies? or ordered the soldiers to filter and boil their drinking water, without furnishing any filters or any vessels to boil it in? it is said that suffragists do not know how to keep house. if so, the men who managed the war must all be suffragists. but clara barton and the women nurses have won golden opinions from every one. if any man had given a tithe of what helen gould did, he could have had any office in the gift of the administration. so could she, if she had been a voter. she might even have been secretary of war. we raise our sons to die not for their country--no woman grudges her sons to her country--but to die unnecessarily of disease and neglect, because of red tape.... history furnishes no parallel to the women of america during the last year's war. they were fully alive to its issues, intelligently conversant with its causes, its purposes and possibilities; they studied camp locations, conditions and military rules; and through the hand the heart found constant expression, as many a company of grateful boys can testify. the experience of this war ought to have effectually destroyed the last trace of mediæval sentiment concerning the propriety of women mixing in the affairs of government, and also the last shadow of doubt as to the expediency of recognizing them as voters. mrs. josephine k. henry (ky.) made an address sparkling with the epigrams for which she was noted, entitled a plea for the ballot: ....the light and the eager interest in the faces of american women show that they are going somewhere; and when women have started for somewhere, they are harder to head off than a comet.... all roads for women lead to suffrage, even if they do not know it. we are daughters of evolution, and who can stop old dame evolution?... we must live up to our principles, or, as a nation, we are not going to live at all. then it will be time for liberty to throw down her torch, and go out of the enlightening business.... "woman's sphere"--these are the two hardest-worked words in the dictionary.... they call in the mental and moral wreckage of foreign nations to help rule us. a man was asked, "how are you going to vote on the constitution?" he answered: "my constitution's mighty poorly; my mother was feeble before me." there is deep tragedy in giving such men control of the lives and property of american women.... there is not so much the matter with the u. s. constitution as with the constitutions of some of our statesmen.... it is not an expansion of territory that we need so much as an expansion of justice to our own women.... american men have had a hard struggle for their own liberty, and some of them are afraid there will not be liberty enough to go around.... what relation is woman to the state? she is a very poor relation, yet her tax-money is demanded promptly. dr. mary h. barker bates, of the denver school board, discussed our gains and our losses, and said in closing: "we have learned that in politics we must have a machine, only it should be used for good government, not for corruption. make your machine as perfect as you can, without a flaw in it anywhere, and then use it for good ends." mrs. mary b. clay (ky.) gave a careful survey of conditions resulting from the removal of industries from the home, which had forced woman to follow them and made her an industrial factor in the outside world. miss griffin being again called on told these anecdotes: in my home in alabama there are four educated women. my father has passed away. my sisters are widows and i am an old maid. we have as our gardener a negro boy twenty-three years old. when he came to us he said that he had been in the second reader for ten years, but on election day he goes over and votes to represent our family. if we complain of having no vote on the expenditure of our tax-money, we are told we must "influence" men; in other words, we must influence that gardener. but when we start to do so, and ask him how he means to vote, he says he doesn't know yet, because he hasn't seen "uncle peter," the colored minister. in my section men are chivalric and say, "don't you know that you shall have everything you ask as ladies? don't you know that we are your natural protectors?" but what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? the bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors. on the islands off our coast there was a large population that could not read or write. a missionary-spirited woman went there to help educate them. after awhile she was made a member of the school board, which consisted of a few white men and more negroes. the president of the board, a colored man, was disgusted at the elevation of a woman to that dignity, and when she was sworn in he resigned, saying, "now you've swore her in, you've got to swear me out; i'm not going to sit on no board with no woman." during the convention miss anthony made an earnest appeal for co-operation in the equal suffrage work, saying: "why is it the duty of the little handful on this platform to be talking and working for the enfranchisement of women any more than that of all of you who sit here to-night? every woman can do something for the cause. she who is true to it at her own fireside, who speaks the right word to her guests, to her children and her neighbors' children, does an educational work as valuable as that of the woman who speaks from the platform." she also urged a wider reading of the equal rights papers, the _woman's journal_, _tribune_, _standard_, _wisconsin citizen_, etc., and suffrage pamphlets and leaflets. she defended herself against the accusation of abusing the men, saying, "we have not been fighting the 'male' citizen anywhere but in the statute books." eighty-seven delegates representing twenty-two states were present at this convention. the treasurer reported the receipts of the past year to be $ , . mrs. chapman catt, chairman of the organization committee, related the work done by the suffrage organizations in behalf of the spanish-american war. she described also the efforts made to obtain suffrage for women in the new constitution of louisiana the preceding year, which resulted in securing the franchise for taxpaying women on all matters submitted to taxpayers. the work in different states and territories, especially in arizona and oklahoma, was sketched in detail, and will be found in their respective chapters. in concluding her report as chairman of the legislative committee, mrs. blake called attention to the more hopeful character of this record as compared to that of last year, and urged upon all state presidents the importance of having some one to represent the interests of women constantly at their capitals during the legislative sessions, not only to secure favorable legislation but to prevent that inimical to their interests, citing the case of new mexico, where a law which infringes on the right of dower was recently passed without the knowledge of women. mrs. elnora m. babcock (n. y.) was made chairman of national press work, with power to appoint a chairman in each state. the customary telegram of congratulation and appreciation was sent to the honorary president, mrs. stanton. mrs. eliza wright osborne (n. y.) was appointed fraternal delegate to the international council of women to meet in london in june. greetings were received through fraternal delegates, mrs. jessie r. denney, from the ancient order of united workingmen, and mrs. emma a. wheeler from the canadian w. c. t. u. the letter to miss anthony from its president, mrs. annie o. rutherford, said: "a vigorous campaign is being carried on in every province in favor of equal suffrage, with fair hope of success in most of them. we wish for your convention a most successful issue, and that your life, whose grand pioneer work has made it easy for those who follow after, may be spared many years yet to help broaden the path and uplift the cause of humanity." many letters and telegrams were received from state suffrage associations and from individuals. mrs. belva a. lockwood (d. c.) wrote: "as a delegate to the ninth annual convention of the international league of press clubs just held in baltimore, i succeeded in gaining recognition on equal terms for women journalists in the space to be allotted to men journalists in the exposition at paris in ." a lively discussion was caused by a resolution offered by mrs. lottie wilson jackson, a delegate from michigan, so light-complexioned as hardly to suggest a tincture of african blood, that "colored women ought not be compelled to ride in smoking cars, and that suitable accommodations should be provided for them." it was finally tabled as being outside the province of the convention.[ ] the memorial resolutions were presented by the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, who said: "these tributes are largely to older men and women with whom i was associated long ago and it is a pleasure to recall their noble services to humanity in times when they and their work were far more unpopular than to-day. there are twenty-five on my list, yet i think there was only one of the entire number who was not more than fifty years old, and most of them reached on toward the eighties and nineties. all were earnest advocates of equal suffrage, but there were kindred causes to which most of them were also devoted.... laura p. haviland spent seventy years of her life in michigan, the last five here in grand rapids. at one time she assumed the care of nine orphan children; at another, during the civil war she was the active agent who freed from prison a large number of union soldiers held upon false charges. she labored for every good cause and was a simple quaker in religion and life.... "parker pillsbury of new hampshire, who died last year, aged , known as a life-long worker for the oppressed before the civil war, gave much of his energy to the cause of anti-slavery. when that noble philanthropy was split in two throughout its whole length because one-half would not let women serve on committees with men or raise their voices publicly for those who were dumb and helpless, parker pillsbury stood by the side of abby kelly and the grimké sisters. his terse, characteristic, uncompromising language, his cheerful braving of prejudice, his sympathetic claim for justice to womanhood, made him one of the noblest of men.... "in the long and many-sided history of the woman's cause, mrs. matilda joslyn gage made a deep and lasting mark. i recall her as she came first upon our platform at the syracuse woman's rights convention in , a young mother of two children, yet with a heart also for a wider cause. wendell phillips said of her then, 'she came to us an unknown woman. she leaves us a co-worker whose reputation is established.' ... "the hon. nelson w. dingley was able officially to help our movement with efficient good-will. his vote was recorded for the admission of states with a woman suffrage constitution." mrs. blackwell paid personal tribute to most of those who had passed away, and mrs. clara bewick colby continued the memorial, speaking at length of the splendid work of mrs. gage; of mrs. flora m. kimball and mrs. abigail bush, of california--but early eastern pioneers; mrs. sarah m. kimball of utah; mrs. frances bagley and dr. charlotte levanway of michigan; and a long list of men and women in various states who had done their part in aiding the cause of equal suffrage. she concluded with eloquent words of appreciation of the services of robert purvis of philadelphia, and presented the following resolutions sent by mrs. stanton: during the period of reconstruction, the popular cry was, "this is the negro's hour," and republicans and abolitionists alike insisted that woman's claim to the suffrage must be held in abeyance until the negro was safe beyond peradventure. distinguished politicians, lawyers and congressmen declared that woman as well as the negro was enfranchised by the fourteenth amendment, yet reformers and politicians denounced those women who would not keep silent, while the republican and anti-slavery press ignored their demands altogether. in this dark hour of woman's struggle, forsaken by all those who once recognized her civil and political rights, two noble men steadfastly maintained that it was not only woman's right but her duty to push her claims while the constitutional door was open and the rights of citizens in a republic were under discussion; therefore, _resolved_, that women owe a debt of gratitude to robert purvis and parker pillsbury for their fearless advocacy of our cause, when to do so was considered to be treason to a great party measure, involving life and liberty for the colored race. _resolved_, that in the death of men of such exalted virtue, true to principle under the most trying circumstances, sacrificing the ties of friendship and the respect of their compeers, they are conspicuous as the moral heroes of the nineteenth century. the memorial service was closed with prayer by the rev. anna howard shaw, who voiced the gratitude for the inspiration of such lives as these and the hope that this generation might carry the work on to its full fruition. * * * * * the keynote to the speeches and action of this convention was the status of women in our new possessions. at a preliminary meeting of the business committee, held in the home of mrs. chapman catt at bensonhurst-by-the-sea, n. y., jan. , , the following "open letter" had been prepared and sent to every member of congress: to the senate and house of representatives: we respectfully request that in the qualifications for voters in the proposed constitution for the new territory of hawaii the word "male" be omitted. the declared intention of the united states in annexing the hawaiian islands is to give them the benefits of the most advanced civilization, and it is a truism that the progress of civilization in every country is measured by the approach of women toward the ideal of equal rights with men. under barbarism the struggle for existence is entirely on the physical plane. the woman freely enters the arena and her failure or success depends wholly upon her own strength. when life rises to the intellectual plane public opinion is expressed in law. justice demands that we shall not offer to women emerging from barbarism the ball and chain of a sex disqualification while we hold out to men the crown of self-government. the trend of civilization is closely in the direction of equal rights for women. [then followed a list of the gains for woman suffrage.] the hon. john d. long, secretary of the navy, calls the opposition to woman suffrage a "slowly melting glacier of bourbonism and prejudice". the melting is going on steadily all over our country, and it would be most inopportune to impose upon our new possessions abroad the antiquated restrictions which we are fast discarding at home. we, therefore, petition your honorable body that, upon whatever conditions and qualifications the right of suffrage is granted to hawaiian men, it shall be granted to hawaiian women.[ ] notwithstanding this appeal, and special petitions also from the suffrage associations of the forty-five states, our congress provided a constitution in which the word "male" was introduced more frequently than in the constitution of the united states or of any state, in the determination to bar out hawaiian women from voting and holding office. it was declared that only "male" citizens should fill any office or vote for any officer, a sweeping restriction which is not made in a single state of our union. not satisfied with this infamous abuse of power, our congress refused to this new territory a privilege enjoyed by every other territory in the united states--that of having the power vested in its legislature to grant woman suffrage--and provided that this territorial legislature must submit the question to the voters. it took care, however, to enfranchise every male being in the islands--kanaka, japanese and portuguese--and it will be only by their permission that even the american and english women residing there ever can possess the suffrage. the members of the commission who drafted this constitution were president sanford b. dole and associate justice w. f. frear of hawaii; senators john t. morgan, ala.; shelby m. cullom, ills.; representative robert r. hitt, ills. justice frear said over his own signature, feb. , : "i proposed at a meeting of the hawaiian commission that the legislature be permitted to authorize woman suffrage, and president dole supported me, but the other members of the commission took a different view." in other words, the hawaiian members favored the enfranchisement of their women but were overruled by the american members. if but one of the latter had stood by those from hawaii its women would not have been placed, as they now are, under greater subjection even than those of the united states, and far greater than they were before the annexation of the islands. yet after the consummation of this shameful act the world was asked to rejoice over the creation of a new republic! there is not the slightest reason to hope that the appeals for justice to the women of the philippines will meet with any greater success, as it is the policy of our government to give to men every incentive to study its institutions and fit themselves for an intelligent voice in their control, but to discourage all interest on the part of women and to prevent them absolutely from any participation. having held american women in subjection for a century and a quarter, it now shows a determination to place the same handicap upon the women of our newly-acquired possessions. * * * * * during the spring of , just before this volume goes to the publishers, the u. s. senate philippine commission has been summoning before it a number of persons competent to give expert testimony as to existing conditions in those islands. among these were judge w. h. taft, who for the past year has been governor of the philippines and speaks with high authority; and archbishop nozaleda, who has been connected with the catholic church in the islands for twenty-six years, and archbishop since , and who has the fullest understanding of the natives. governor taft said in answer to the committee: the fact is that, not only among the tagalogs but also among the christian filipinos, the woman is the active manager of the family, so if you expect to confer political power on the filipinos it ought to be given to the women. archbishop nozaleda testified as follows: (senate document , p. .) the woman is better than the man in every way--in intelligence, in virtue and in labor--and a great deal more economical. she is very much given to trade and trafficking. if any rights and privileges are to be granted to the natives, do not give them to the men but to the women. q. then you think it would be much better to give the women the right to vote than the men? a. o, much better. why, even in the fields it is the women who do the work; the men who go to the cock fights and gamble. the woman is the one who supports the man there; so every law of justice demands that even in political life they should have the privilege over the men. the action which our government will eventually take in conferring the suffrage on the filipinos can not be recorded in this volume, but the prophecy is here made that, in spite of the above testimony, and much more of the same nature which has been given by correspondents in the philippines and by many who have returned from there, the government of the united states will enfranchise the inferior male inhabitants and hold as political subjects the superior women of these islands. and again the world will be called upon to greet another republic! footnotes: [ ] miss anthony spoke to a crowded house in the fountain street baptist church on the moral influence of women, and the rev. anna howard shaw to another great audience in the park congregational church from the text, "only be thou strong and very courageous." calvary baptist church was filled to overflowing to hear miss laura clay on the bible for equal rights. interested congregations listened to the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, who preached at the division street methodist church from the text, "knowledge shall increase"; miss laura gregg, who spoke at the second baptist church on my country, 'tis of thee; mrs. colby, at the plainfield avenue methodist church, on the legend of lilith; miss lena morrow at memorial church, miss lucy e. textor at all souls, and mrs. harriet taylor upton and various members of the convention in other pulpits. [ ] the following resolutions were adopted: that we reaffirm our devotion to the immortal principle that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and we call for its application in the case of women citizens. we protest against the introduction of the word "male" in the suffrage clause of the proposed constitution of hawaii, and declare that upon whatever terms the franchise may be granted to men, it should be granted also to women. in all the great questions of war and peace, currency, tariff and taxation, annexation of foreign territory and alien races, women are vitally interested and should have an equal expression at the ballot box, and we recommend to the president of the united states the appointment of a committee of women to investigate the condition of women in our new island territories. we congratulate the women of ireland who have just voted for the first time for municipal and county officers, and we call attention to the fact that per cent. of the qualified women voted, and that the dispatches say they discharged their duty in a serious and businesslike spirit, with a keen eye to the personal merits of candidates. we congratulate the women of colorado, whose legislature lately passed a resolution testifying to the good effects of equal suffrage by a vote of to in the house, and to in the senate. we congratulate the women of new orleans, who are about to vote for the first time, on a tax levy for sewerage and drainage, and we commend their patriotic activity in collecting the signatures of , taxpaying women of that city in behalf of clean streets and a pure water supply. we congratulate the women of france, who have just voted for the first time for judges of tribunals of commerce, and we call attention to the fact that in paris, of the qualified voters, men and women taken together, only per cent. voted, but of the women per cent. voted. we congratulate the women of kansas on the increased municipal vote of april, , over the entire state, kansas city alone registering , women and casting over , women's votes at the municipal election. we thank the house of representatives of oklahoma for its vote of to , and of arizona for its vote of to , for woman suffrage, and regret that the question did not reach the councils of these territories. we thank the legislature of california for its enactment, with only one dissenting vote in the house and six in the senate, of a school suffrage law (which failed to receive the approval of the governor), also we thank the legislatures of connecticut and ohio, which have defeated bills to repeal the existing school suffrage laws of those states. we thank the legislators of oregon who have just submitted an amendment granting suffrage to women by a vote of to in the house and to in the senate, and we hope that oregon will add a fifth star to our equal suffrage flag. this association is non sectarian and non partisan, and asks for the ballot not for the sake of advancing any specific measure, but as a matter of justice to the whole human family. in all the states where equal suffrage campaigns are pending we advise women and men to base their plea on the ground of clear and obvious justice, and not to indulge in predictions as to what women will do with the ballot before it is secured. we protest against women being counted in the basis of representation of state and nation so long as they are not permitted to vote for their representatives. we appreciate the friendly attitude of the american federation of labor, the national grange and other public bodies of voters, as shown by their resolutions indorsing the legal, political and economic equality of women. we rejoice in the peace congress about to meet at the hague, and hope it may be preliminary to the establishment of international arbitration. [ ] see also chap. xxiii for further efforts to protect the women of hawaii. chapter xx. the national-american convention of . the thirty-second annual convention of the suffrage association, held in washington, d. c., feb. - , , possessed two features of unusual interest--it closed the century and it marked the end of miss susan b. anthony's presidency of the organization. the latter event attracted wide attention. sketches of her career and of the movement whose history was almost synonymous with her own, appeared in most of the leading newspapers and magazines of the country; special reporters were sent to washington, and the celebration of her eightieth birthday at the close of the convention was in the nature of a national event. on the opening morning the _post_ said in a leading editorial: washington entertains the national woman suffrage association from year to year with entire complacency, apart from any political prejudice, without any sense of partisanship and in a spirit of keen interest in the great propaganda which is being thus conducted. there was a time, not so very long ago, when the plea for suffrage was ridiculed far and wide; but the women have worked ahead undaunted by the scoffings of the world, until they have actually won the battle in such a marked degree as to give them unbounded assurance for the future.... the world is beginning to take a new view of this suffrage question. the advent of women into the professions and even the trades, their appearance as wage-earners in virtually every branch of modern activity, and their success in these various enterprises which they have entered, have worked a reform even more significant than the absolute and universal grant of the suffrage would have been. it can not be denied by men to-day that the women have become economic factors of marked importance, and this appreciation has had a great influence in softening the sentiments of the male population toward the suffragists. one of the foremost arguments formerly urged against the extension of the suffrage to women was that it would be harmful to woman's moral nature to thrust her into contact with the rough conditions of campaigning. the women answered that their entrance would perhaps redeem the immoral character of the politics of many communities. in the minds of impartial observers the argument was a stand-off. but this economic, professional tendency of the women has done much to destroy the force of the men's plea to preserve the women from contaminating contact with harsh conditions. the security of the average woman worker in the various lines of honest activity which the sex has fearlessly entered has worked a revelation. the close of the century is witnessing a great change in public sentiment in this regard. the demand of the suffragists can not but be strengthened by the demonstrated fact that women can become workers in competition with men without becoming demoralized. just where this new tendency will lead in an economic direction is a serious question, to be answered by facts rather than by theories. some students of the science believe that it is working a revolution and is affecting the whole business fabric. there may be a reaction against it, affecting in turn the now moderate attitude of most men toward the suffrage question; but in any event it is clear that this great agitation, carried on by the association now in session, has been of serious importance and not without palpable fruits. the advocates of woman's enfranchisement never were brighter, happier or more hopeful and courageous. all of the states but four were represented by the delegates in attendance. some of them were white-haired and wrinkled and had been coming to washington for the whole thirty-two years. others were in the prime and vigor of life and had entered the movement after the heaviest blows had been struck and the hardest battles had been won, but now they had enlisted until the end of the war. and now there were a large number of beautiful and highly-educated young women, graduates of the best colleges, filled with the zeal of new converts, bringing to the work well-trained and thoroughly-equipped minds and giving to the old members the comforting assurance that the vital cause would still be carried forward when their own labors were ended. the _woman's journal_ in recounting the gains for suffrage concluded: "in this year, , the woman suffragists, after a half-century of unbroken national organization, can go before congress and claim the support of members from four states who were elected in part by the votes of women. they can enforce their pleas before presidential nominating conventions with the concrete fact that thirteen members of the electoral college have a constituency of women voters." miss anthony presided at three public sessions daily and at all the executive and business meetings, went to baltimore and held a one-day's conference and made a big speech, addressed a parlor meeting, attended several dinners and receptions, participated in her own great birthday festivities, afternoon and evening, and remained for nearly a week of executive committee meetings after the convention had closed. as she rose to open the convention, clad as usual in soft black satin, with duchesse lace in the neck and sleeves and the lovely red crépe shawl falling gracefully from her shoulders, there were many a moist eye and tightened throat at the thought that this was the last time. her fine voice with its rich alto vibrations was as strong and resonant as fifty years ago, and her practical, matter-of-fact speech, followed by the rev. anna howard shaw's lively stories, soon dispelled the sadness and put the audience in a cheerful mood. miss anthony commenced by saying: i have been attending conventions in washington for over thirty years. it is good for us to come to this mecca, the heart of our nation. here the members of congress from all parts of the country meet together to deliberate for the best interests of the whole government and of their respective states. so our delegates assemble here to plan for the best interests of our cause in the nation and in their respective states. we come here to study how we may do more and more for the spread of the doctrine of equality, but chiefly to study how to get the states to concentrate their efforts on congress. our final aim is an amendment to the federal constitution providing that no citizen over whom the stars and stripes wave shall be debarred from suffrage except for cause. i am always glad when we come to washington, and in our little peregrinations over the country i have been more and more impressed with the conviction that, while we should do all the good work we can in our own states, we ought to hold our annual meeting in the national capital. in beginning her vice-president's address, which as usual defied reporting, miss shaw said: before giving my report i want to tell a story against miss anthony. we suffragists have been called everything under the sun, and when there was nothing else quite bad enough for us we have been called infidels, which includes everything. once we went to hold a convention in a particularly orthodox city in new york, and miss anthony, wishing to impress upon the audience that we were not atheists, introduced me as "a regularly-ordained orthodox minister, the rev. anna h. shaw, _my right bower_!" that orthodox audience all seemed to know what a "right bower" is, for they laughed even louder than you do. after the meeting miss anthony said to me, "anna, what did i say to make the people laugh so?" i answered, "you called me your right bower." she said, "well, you are my right-hand man. that is what right bower means, isn't it?" and this orthodox minister had to explain to her quaker friend what a right bower is. the chief event of last summer was the quinquennial meeting of the international council of women in london. the woman's national council of the united states is made up of about twenty societies with an aggregate membership of over a million women. it was only allowed two delegates besides its president, and it is not a suffrage association, yet it honored two women who have been known for some years as suffragists, miss anthony and myself, by making us its delegates to london. they said they did this because they wanted women who did not represent anything too radical! that congress was the greatest assemblage of women from all parts of the world that ever had taken place, and therefore the biggest suffrage convention ever held. suffrage seemed to take possession of the whole meeting, as it does at every great gathering of women. from this point of view it was a decided and emphatic success. the largest meeting of all was the one held by the suffrage association and every suffrage heart would have swollen so large it could hardly have been kept within the bounds of the body if it had heard the applause with which miss anthony was greeted. she could not speak for ten minutes.... in england i entered upon a role i had never filled before, or had any ambition for--i "entered society," and for ten days i was in it from before breakfast till after midnight; and i prayed the prayer of the pharisee--i thanked the lord that i was not as other women are who have to go into society all the time. i had thought that traveling up and down the country with gripsack in hand was hard enough; but it is child's play to hand-shaking and hob-nobbing with duchesses and countesses. however, the experience was good for us, and it was especially good for those american women who had thought that they knew more than other women till they met them and found that they didn't. i came home, spent three days there, and then took my grip in hand and started out again lecturing--mostly for the redpath bureau, and for people who did not want to hear about suffrage; so i spoke on "the fate of republics," "the american home," "the new man," etc. under these titles i gave them stronger doses of suffrage than i ever do to you here, and they received it with great enthusiasm, because it was not called suffrage. i spoke the other day in cincinnati to about , people and they were delighted, and did not suspect that i was talking suffrage. they don't know what woman suffrage is. they think it only means to berate the men. in this way i have perhaps done the best suffrage work i possibly could. later in the session miss anthony made her report as delegate from the national council of women of the united states to this international congress in london, in which she said: during the last seventeen years there has been a perfect revolution in england. when mrs. stanton and i went there for the first time, in , just a few families were not afraid of us--the brights, peter taylor's household, and some of the old abolitionists who knew all about us. when it was proposed to get up a testimonial meeting for us, even the officers of the suffrage societies did not dare to sign the invitation. they thought we americans were too radical.... this time when we reached london we were the recipients of testimonials not only from the real, radical suffrage people, but also from the conservatives. at that magnificent queen's hall meeting of the suffrage association, with mrs. fawcett presiding, three or four thousand people packed the hall. it was a representative gathering. australia and new zealand were there to speak for themselves, and they had me to speak for the united states. i tried to have them call on miss shaw instead, but they would not do it.... every young woman who is to-day enjoying the advantages of free schools and opportunities to earn a living and the other enlarged rights for women, is a child of the woman suffrage movement. this larger freedom has broadened and strengthened women wonderfully. at the end of the council, lady aberdeen, who had been its president for six years, in a published interview summing up the work of the women who had been present, said there was no denying that the english-speaking women stood head and shoulders above all the others in their knowledge of parliamentary law, and that at the very top were those of the united states and canada--the two freest parts of the world. i said: "if the women of the united states, with their free schools and all their enlarged liberties, are not superior to women brought up under monarchical forms of government, then there is no good in liberty." it is because of this freedom that europeans are always struck with the greater self-poise, self-control and independence of american women. these characteristics will be still more marked when we have mingled more with men in their various meetings. it is only by the friction of intellect with intellect that these desirable qualities can be gained. the public sessions of the council were all that heart could wish. i was present at only a few of them because the business meetings came at the same hour, and were held miles away. but every day people would say to me, "miss anthony, you yourself could not have made a stronger suffrage speech than so-and-so made to-day in such-and-such a section"--industrial, professional, etc. in the educational section, one of the best speeches was made by miss brownell, dean of sage college, cornell university, on co-education. it was a great occasion. here were the advocates of this movement for absolutely equal rights received and entertained by the nobility of england--american women at the head. among many others a reception was given by the lord bishop of london at his home, fulham palace. in talking with lady battersea, daughter of a rothschild, i caught myself repeatedly addressing her as "mrs. battersea," and i said, "i suppose i shock you very much by forgetting your title." she answered emphatically: "not at all. i like an american to be an american. it is much pleasanter than when they come cringing and crawling and trying to conform to our customs." when all sorts of notables were giving us receptions, i said to lady aberdeen: "if this great council of women of ten nations were meeting in washington, we would be invited to the white house. can't you contrive an interview with the queen?" miss anthony then described the reception of the congress by the queen at windsor castle, the serving of tea in the great hall of st. george, and all the incidents of that interesting occasion, and concluded: "what i want most to impress upon you is this: if we had represented nothing but ourselves we should have been nowhere. wendell phillips said: 'when i speak as an individual, i represent only myself, but when i speak for the american anti-slavery society, i represent every one in the country who believes in liberty.' it was because miss shaw and i represented you and all which makes for liberty that we were so well received; and i want you to feel that all the honors paid to us were paid to you." a paper to be remembered was that of mrs. isabel c. barrows (mass.) on woman's work in philanthropy. after tracing the various lines of philanthropic effort in which women had been distinguished, she said in conclusion that no woman who ever had lived had done more in the line of philanthropy than susan b. anthony. miss harriet may mills (n. y.) gave a fine address on the winning of educational freedom, saying in part: abigail adams said of the conditions in the early part of the nineteenth century: "female education in the best families went no farther than reading, writing and arithmetic and, in some rare instances, music and dancing." a lady living in the first quarter of the century relates that she returned from a school in charleston, where she had been sent to be "finished off," with little besides a knowledge of sixty different lace stitches.... the majority of women were content, they asked no change; they took no part in the movement for higher education except to ridicule it. this, like every other battle for freedom which the world has seen, was led by the few brave, strong souls who saw the truth and dared proclaim it. in the world looked aghast upon "bluestockings." because a young woman was publicly examined in geometry at one of mrs. emma willard's school exhibitions, a storm of ridicule broke forth at so scandalous a proceeding. it was ten years after holyoke was founded before mary lyon dared to have latin appear in the regular course, because the views of the community would not allow it. boston had a high school for girls in , which was maintained but eighteen months, mayor quincy declaring that "no funds of any city could stand the expense." the difficulty was that "too many girls attended." ... in president charles w. eliot of harvard protested against the opening of the boston latin school to girls, saying: "i resist the proposition for the sake of the boys, the girls, the schools and the general interest of education." nearly twenty years later, he said to the radcliffe graduates: "it is a quarter of a century since the college doors were open to women. from that time, where boys and girls have been educated together, it has become a historical fact that women have taken a greater number of honors, in proportion to their numbers, than men." it is to be hoped that the next twenty years may work further conversion in the mind of this learned president, and lead him to see that equality in citizenship is as desirable as equality in education. one learned man prophesied that all educated women would become somnambulists. another declared that the perilous track to higher education would be strewn with wrecks. there are now over thirty thousand of these college-educated wrecks, the majority of them engaged in the active work of the world. it was found in , when dr. e. h. clarke's evil prophecies as to higher education were attracting attention, that at antioch, opened to women in , thirteen and one-half per cent. of the men graduates had died, nine and three-fourths per cent. of the women. this did not include war mortality or accidental death. three of the men then living were confirmed invalids; not one of the women was in such a condition. the association of collegiate alumnae has compiled later and fuller statistics. the results show an increase during the college course of from three to six per cent. in good health, and the health after graduation to be twenty-two per cent. higher among graduates than among women who have not been in college.... elizabeth blackwell applied to twelve colleges before she gained admittance to the geneva (n. y.) medical school in , and secured the first m. d. ever given to a woman in this country. to-day , women are studying medicine. not so full a measure of freedom has been won in law or theology. in , women were in the law schools, in the theological schools, but women are still handicapped in these professions.... unfortunately, educational freedom has not been followed by industrial freedom. of the leading colleges for women but four have women presidents; but one offers a free field to women on its professional staff. in the majority of co-educational colleges which give women any place as teachers, they appear in small numbers as assistant professors and, more often, as instructors.... with educational freedom partially won has come general interest among collegiate and non-collegiate women in furthering the movement. large gifts have been bestowed for scholarships and for colleges, both co-educational and separate. within the last year thirty-four women have given $ , , to the cause of education. mrs. stanford's munificent benefactions, and other lesser ones, swell the amount to more than fifty millions from women alone. as a result of the struggle for educational freedom, we have , women in the colleges of the country.[ ] educational freedom without political freedom is but partial. minerva sprang fully armed from the head of jove; not only had she wisdom, but she had the spear and the helmet in her hands--every weapon of offense and defense to equip her for the world's conquest. standing on the threshold of the new century, we behold the woman of the future thus armed; we see the fully educated woman possessed of a truer knowledge of the fundamental principles of government; we see her conscious of her responsibilities as a citizen, and doing her part in the making of laws and in the fulfilment of the ideal of democracy. educational freedom must lead to political freedom. mrs. mary c. c. bradford, a leader among colorado women, spoke eloquently on the social transformation, following the stages in evolution expressed in the words, "i dare, i will, i am." describing the effects of woman suffrage, she said: i wish i could make you all understand that the home is not touched. equal suffrage does not mean destruction or disintegration but the radiation of the home--carrying it out into the wider life of the community. the ideal of the family must pervade society; and that is what equal suffrage is gradually bringing about. i know you hear all sorts of things about woman suffrage in colorado. not very long ago certain eastern papers gave great prominence to an interview with a "distinguished citizen of colorado," who gave a highly unfavorable account of the workings of woman suffrage there. the "distinguished citizen" in question was a prize-fighter who had killed three men--a gambler driven out by woman suffrage; and he naturally said that woman suffrage was a failure.... the great woman's club of denver is a power for good in the city; it is carrying on schools in "the bottoms," night schools, kitchen gardens, traveling libraries; it secured the establishment of the state home for dependent children, the removal of the emblems from the australian ballot, and other good things.... i would that you could all go out to colorado and see how subtly, yes, and how swiftly, the social transformation is going on. it is the home transforming the state, not the state destroying the home. a denver paper lately said the men had found out that in determining all questions of morality, sanitation, etc., if the women were consulted, better results were obtained. we have more intelligent homes because of equal suffrage. where children see their father and mother go to the polls together, and hear them talk over public questions, and occasionally express different views, they learn tolerance. a party slave will not come out from such a home. the children will grow up seeing that it is un-american to say that everybody in the opposite party is either a fool or a knave. the two best features of equal suffrage are the improvement of the individual woman and the prospective abolition of the political "boss." introducing henry b. blackwell (mass.) to report on presidential suffrage, miss anthony said: "here is a man who has the virtue of having stood by the woman's cause for nearly fifty years. i can remember him when his hair was not white, and when he was following up our conventions assiduously because a bright, little, red-cheeked woman attracted him. she attracted him so strongly that he still works for woman suffrage, and will do so as long as he lives, not only because of her who was always so true and faithful to the cause--lucy stone--but also because he has a daughter, a worthy representative of the twain who were made one." on friday evening mrs. ida husted harper gave a portion of her paper, the training of the woman journalist, which she had presented at the international congress in london. miss anna barrows (mass.), literary editor of _the american kitchen magazine_, spoke on new professions for women centering in the home: the main objection made by conservative people to definite occupations or professions for women has been that such callings would inevitably tend to destroy the home. once let women prove that they can follow a trade or profession and yet make a home for themselves and others, and such objectors have no ground left.... the fear is sometimes expressed that the club movement is drawing women away from home interests; but the general attention now given to household economics by all the women's clubs proves that women are realizing that knowledge of history, art and science is needed to give the broad culture necessary for the proper conduct of the home life. although as yet few women's colleges offer adequate courses in home economics, nevertheless after marriage the college women begin to study household problems with all the energy brought out by the college training. a very general comment on woman's desire for a share in municipal and national government is that the servant question is yet unsolved; that, since she has not succeeded in governing her own domain, she has no rights outside of it. by going outside of her home as an employee herself she is learning to deal with this problem. it has been necessary for women to have thorough business training in other directions before they could discover how unbusinesslike were the methods pursued in the average household. the more women have gone out of their homes into new occupations, the more they have realized that the home is dependent upon the same principles as the business world. the business woman understands human nature, and therefore can deal successfully with the butcher, the baker and other tradespeople. she has a power of adapting herself to new conditions which is impossible to her sister accustomed only to the narrow treadmill of housework. specialization is the tendency of the age, and by wise attention to this in the household, as elsewhere, enough time should be saved to each community for the world's work to be done in fewer hours, and for men and women to have time besides to be homemakers and good citizens. little by little one art and craft after another has been evolved into the dignity of a profession, while housework as a whole has been left to untrained workers. needle work, cookery and cleaning are dependent on the fundamental principles of all the natural sciences.... there is need also of trained women to lead public sentiment to recognize the dignity of manual labor. the statesmanlike paper of mrs. isabella beecher hooker (conn.) on the duty of woman citizens of the united states in the present political crisis, was read by mrs. mary seymour howell (n. y.), who enforced its sentiments by earnest and stirring remarks of her own. mrs. mary church terrell, a. m. of oberlin college, president of the national association of colored women and a member of the washington school board, considered the justice of woman suffrage: ....to assign reasons in this day and time why it is unjust to deprive one-half of the human race of rights and privileges freely accorded to the other, which is neither more deserving nor more capable of exercising them, seems like a reflection upon the intelligence of the audience. as a nation we professed long ago to have abandoned the principle that might makes right. before the world we pose to-day as a government whose citizens have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. and yet, in spite of these lofty professions and noble sentiments, the present policy of this government is to hold one-half of its citizens in legal subjection to the other, without being able to assign good and sufficient reasons for such a flagrant violation of the very principles upon which it was founded. when one observes how all the most honorable and lucrative positions in church and state have been reserved for men, according to laws which they themselves have made so as to debar women; how, until recently, a married woman's property was under the exclusive control of her husband; how, in all transactions where husband and wife are considered one, the law makes the husband that one--man's boasted chivalry to the disfranchised sex is punctured beyond repair. these unjust discriminations will ever remain, until the source from which they spring--the political disfranchisement of woman--shall be removed. the injustice involved in denying woman the suffrage is not confined to the disfranchised sex alone, but extends to the nation as well, in that it is deprived of the excellent service which woman might render.... the argument that it is unnatural for woman to vote is as old as the rock-ribbed and ancient hills. whatever is unusual is called unnatural, the world over. whenever humanity takes a step forward in progress, some old custom falls dead at our feet. nothing could be more unnatural than that a good woman should shirk her duty to the state. if you marvel that so few women work vigorously for political enfranchisement, let me remind you that woman's success in almost everything depends upon what men think of her. why the majority of men oppose woman suffrage is clear even to the dullest understanding. in all great reforms it is only the few brave souls who have the courage of their convictions and who are willing to fight until victory is wrested from the very jaws of fate. in treating of women in the ministry, the rev. ida c. hultin (mass.) considered what is known as "the woman movement" from a broad and philosophical standpoint, which carried conviction and disarmed opposition. at the opening of the saturday evening meeting a telegram was read from the executive committee of the national anti-trust conference, in session at chicago: "hearty congratulations to the distinguished president of the woman suffrage association, and hopes that miss anthony may enjoy many years of added happiness and honor. this cordial salutation includes elizabeth cady stanton and all of the noble souls who have wrought so great a work in the liberation and advancement of the women of this country." a letter was read also from frank morrison, secretary of the american federation of labor, with the following resolution, which was passed by the convention held in detroit, mich., the previous december: whereas, disfranchised labor, like that of the enslaved, degrades all free and enfranchised labor; therefore, _resolved_, that the american federation of labor earnestly appeals to congress to pass a resolution submitting to the legislatures of the several states a proposition for a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution that shall prohibit the states from disfranchising united states citizens on account of sex. miss anthony expressed her satisfaction that equal suffrage was endorsed by "the hard-working, wage-earning men of the country, each of them with a good solid ballot in his hand." mrs. clara bewick colby (d. c.) gave a historical sketch of our great leaders, replete with beauty and pathos. miss kate m. gordon spoke entertainingly on the possibilities of a scrap of suffrage.[ ] in presenting her miss anthony said: "the right of taxpaying women in louisiana to vote upon questions of taxation is practically the first shred of suffrage which those of any southern state have secured, and they have used it well. they deserve another scrap, and i think they will get it before some of us do who have been asking for half a century." miss gail laughlin, a graduate of wellesley and of the law department of cornell university, discussed conditions of the wage-earning women of our country, saying in part: "wage-earner" among women is used in a broad sense. all women receiving money payment for work are proud to be called wage-earners, because wage-earning means economic independence. the census of reports nearly occupations open to women, and nearly , , women engaged in them. but government reports show the average wages of women in large cities to be from $ . to $ . per week, and the general average to be from $ . to $ . . in all lines women are paid less than men for the same grade of work, and they are often compelled to toil under needlessly dangerous and unsanitary conditions. if the people of this country want to advance civilization, they have no need to go to the islands of the pacific to do it. how are these evils to be remedied? by organization, suffrage, co-operation among women, and above all, the inculcation of the principle that a woman is an individual, with a right to choose her work, and with other rights equal with man. our law-makers control the sanitary conditions and pay of teachers. here is work for the women who have "all the rights they want." when one of these comfortably situated women was told of the need of the ballot for working women, she held up her finger, showing the wedding ring on it, and said, "i have all the rights i want." the next time that i read the parable of the man who fell among thieves and was succored by the good samaritan, methought i could see that woman with the wedding ring on her finger, passing by on the other side. it is said that every woman who earns her living crowds a man out. that argument is as old as the trade guilds of the thirteenth century, which tried to exclude women. the rev. samuel g. smith of st. paul, who has recently declared against women in wage-earning occupations, stands to-day just where they did seven hundred years ago....[ ] mrs. helen adelaide shaw (mass.), in a review of the remonstrants, was enthusiastically received. young, handsome and a fine elocutionist, her imitation of the "remonstrants" and their objections to woman suffrage convulsed the audience and was quite as effective as the most impassioned argument. the speakers of the convention were invited to fill a number of pulpits in washington sunday morning and evening. in the unitarian church, where the rev. ida c. hultin preached, there was not standing room. the rev. anna howard shaw gave the sermon at the universalist church, of which the _post_ said: never in the history of the church had such a crowd been in attendance. the lecture rooms on either side of the auditorium had been thrown open, and these, as well as the galleries, were crowded almost to suffocation. women stood about the edges of the room, and seats on window sills were at a premium. outside in the vestibules of the church women elbowed one another for points of vantage on the gallery stairs, where an occasional glimpse might be caught of the handsome, dark-eyed, gray-haired woman who looked singularly appropriate at the pulpit desk. the congregation hung upon every word, and her remarks, sometimes bitter and caustic, were met with a hum of approval from the crowded auditorium. perhaps eight-tenths of the congregation were women. miss shaw's pulpit manner is easy, but her words are emphasized by gestures which impress her hearers with a sense of the speaker's earnestness. her voice, while sweet and musical, is strong, and carries a tone of conviction. her subject last night was "strength of character." the text was chosen from joshua, : : "have i not commanded thee? be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the lord thy god is with thee whithersoever thou goest." in the opening remarks the speaker said it was now time that women asserted their rights. "men have no right to define for us our limitations. who shall interpret to a woman the divine element in her being? it is for me to say that i shall be free. no human soul shall determine my life for me unless that soul will stand before the bar of god and take my sentence. men who denounce us do so because they are ignorant of what they do. woman has broken the silence of the century. her question to god is, 'who shall interpret thee to me?' the churches of this day have not begun to conceive of what christianity means. "it is not true that all women should be married and the managers of homes. there is not more than one woman in five capable of motherhood in its highest possible state, and i may say that not one man in ten is fitted for fatherhood. we strongly advocate that no woman and man should marry until they are instructed in the science of home duties. instead of woman suffrage breaking up families, it has just the opposite effect. in the state of wyoming where it has existed thirty years, there is a larger per cent. of marriages and a less of divorces than in any other state in the union. because a woman is a suffragist is no reason that she may not be a good housekeeper. the two most perfect housekeepers i ever knew in my life were members of my congregation in new england--one was a suffragist and the other had no thought of the rights of women." ... after the services almost every woman in the congregation crowded forward to shake the hand of the speaker. on monday evening the national character of the convention was conspicuously demonstrated, as the speakers represented the east, the south, the middle west and the pacific slope. mrs. florence howe hall (n. j.), the highly educated daughter of mrs. julia ward howe, read a charming farce entitled the judgment of minerva, the suffragists and the antis, as goddesses, bringing their cause before jupiter, with a decision, of course, in favor of the former. miss diana hirschler, a young lawyer of boston, presented woman's position in the law in a paper which was in itself an illustration of the benefit of a legal training. mrs. virginia d. young (s. c.) told the story of woman suffrage in the south, and sketched the history of the progressive southern woman, beginning as follows: the woman suffragists of the south have suffered in the pillory of public derision. it has been as deadly a setting up in the stocks as ever new england practiced on her martyrs to freedom. the women who have led in this revolt against old ideals have had to be as heroic as the men who stormed san juan heights in the contest for santiago de cuba.... it is out of date to be carried in a sedan chair when one can fly around on a bicycle, and though in our conservative south, we have still some preachers with florida moss on their chins, who storm at the woman on her wheel as riding straight to hell, we believe, with julian ralph, that the women bicyclists "out-pace their staider sisters in their progress to woman's emancipation." clark howell, the brilliant georgian, in his recent address before the independent club, set people to talking about him, from niagara falls in the east to the garden of the gods in the west, by his elucidations of "the man with his hat in his hand;" but i propose to show you to-night a greater--the woman with her bonnet off, who speaks from the platform in a southern city. you know how the women of the stagnant orient stick to their veils, coverings for head and face, outward signs of real slavery. the bonnet is the civilized substitute for the oriental veil, and to take it off is the first manifestation of a woman's resolve to have equal rights, even if all the world laugh and oppose. in south carolina the first newspaper article in favor of woman suffrage written by a woman over her own name, was met by the taunt that she had imbibed her views from the women of the north. but this was merely ignorance of history, for the story of woman suffrage in the south really antedates that in new england. the new woman of the new south, who asks for equal rights with her brother man, is in the direct line of succession to that magnificent "colonial dame," mistress margaret brent of maryland, who asked for a vote in the colonial assembly after the death of her kinsman, lord baltimore, who had endowed her with powers of attorney. margaret brent antedated abigail adams by over a century. mrs. annie l. diggs, state librarian, depicted municipal suffrage in kansas, with the knowledge of one who had been a keen observer and an active participant.[ ] mrs. abigail scott duniway described the work which had been and would be done in the interest of the approaching suffrage amendment campaign in oregon. on tuesday evening mrs. mabel loomis todd (mass.), under the head of the village beautiful, told what might be accomplished toward the beautifying of towns and cities if the authority and the means were allowed to women. this was followed by a strong, clear business talk from mrs. a. emmagene paul, superintendent of the street-cleaning department of the first ward, chicago, who told how "crooked contractors and wily politicians" at first began to cultivate her. they found, however, that they could not shake her determination to make them live up to their contracts; they had agreed to clean the streets, they were receiving pay for that purpose, and she, as an inspector, was there to see that the contracts were lived up to. mrs. paul was appointed when the municipal government adopted a civil service system, and holds her position by virtue of its examination. she has checkmated the contractor and politician, and has accomplished a long-needed reform in the street-cleaning department of chicago.[ ] an interesting description of the russian woman was given by madame sofja levovna friedland, who said that there is little suffrage for either men or women in russia, but such as there is both alike possess. mrs. amy k. cornwall, president of the colorado equal suffrage association, related the work accomplished by the women of her state since they had been enfranchised; "only six years," she said, "and yet we are expected to have cleaned up all colorado, including denver." grace greenwood (mrs. sara j. lippincott) was introduced by miss anthony as a suffragist of thirty years' standing. the audience was greatly amused by her recital of the answers which she had made to the "remonstrants" more than a quarter of a century ago, showing that they were using then exactly the same objections which are doing service to-day. several of the speakers having failed to appear, a very unusual occurrence, mrs. may wright sewall, president of the international council of women, was pressed into service by miss anthony. she introduced her address gracefully by saying: "we women think we believe in freedom, but we are often told that we love best the tyrant who can make us obey, and i can testify to the truth of it," motioning toward miss anthony. she then made an eloquent and convincing plea for the enfranchisement of women. the mornings were devoted to committee reports and to ten-minute reports from each of the states, often the most interesting features of the convention. the afternoons were given to work conferences, when all the various details of the work were discussed under the leadership of those who had proved most competent--methods of organization, of holding conventions, etc. the treasurer, mrs. upton, stated that the receipts for the past year were $ , ; that the association had an indebtedness of about $ , , and miss anthony, desiring to leave it entirely free from debt, had raised almost all of this amount herself; that the books now showed every bill to be paid. before the close of the convention almost $ , were subscribed toward the work of the coming year. it was decided to hold a national suffrage bazar in new york city before the holidays in order to add to this fund.[ ] mrs. chapman catt, chairman of the organization committee, reported that with the secretary of the committee, miss mary g. hay, she had visited twenty states, lecturing and attending state conventions, giving fifty-one lectures and traveling , miles. ten thousand letters had been sent out from the office. the comprehensive report of mrs. elnora m. babcock (n. y.), chairman of the press committee, showing the remarkable success achieved in securing the publication of articles on suffrage, seemed to offer the best possible proof of an increasing favorable public sentiment. articles had been furnished regularly to , newspapers; , had been prepared on the present convention and birthday celebration; altogether , weekly articles had been sent out and, so far as could be ascertained, all had been published. the number of papers which would use plate matter on suffrage was limited only by the money which could be commanded to supply it. miss anthony, in reporting for the congressional committee, made a good point when she said: one reason why so little has been done by congress is because none of us has remained here to watch our employes up at the capitol. nobody ever gets anything done by congress or by a state legislature except by having some one on hand to look out for it. we need a watching committee. the women can not expect to get as much done as the railroads, the trusts, the corporations and all the great moneyed concerns. they keep hundreds of agents at the national capital to further their interests. we have no one here, and yet we expect to get something done, although we labor under the additional disadvantage of having no ballots to use as a reward or punishment. whatever takes place in washington is felt to the circumference of the country. i have had nearly all the states send petitions to congress asking that upon whatever terms suffrage is extended to the men of hawaii and our other new possessions, it may be extended to the women, and it is this which has stirred up the anti-suffragists in massachusetts, new york and illinois to their recent demonstrations.... mrs. harper has culled extracts from all the favorable congressional reports we have had during the past thirty years, and we have made a pamphlet of them, which will be laid on the desk of every member of congress.[ ] mary f. gist, anna s. hamilton and emma southwick brinton were introduced as fraternal delegates from the woman's national press association; mrs. william scott, from the universal peace union; dr. agnes kemp, from the peace society of philadelphia; elizabeth b. passmore from the baltimore yearly meeting of friends. letters of greeting were received from mrs. priscilla bright mclaren of scotland, mrs. mary foote henderson, of washington, d. c., and many others. among the memorial resolutions were the following: in reviewing the gains and losses of the past year, we recall with profound regret the loss of those tried and true workers for woman's enfranchisement, george w. and mrs. henrietta m. banker of new york, who died within a few days of each other. "lovely in life, in death they were not divided." although we shall sorely miss their genial and inspiring presence, they will continue by the munificent provisions of their wills to aid the cause. we are also saddened by the news just received of the decease of dr. elizabeth c. sargent of san francisco, our valued co-worker in the recent california suffrage campaign, and daughter of our lifelong friends, u. s. senator aaron a. and mrs. ellen clark sargent. all advocates of equal suffrage unite in offering to the bereaved mother their heartfelt sympathy in her loss. a vote of thanks was passed to bishop spaulding of peoria, ills., bishop mcquaid of rochester, n. y. (catholics), and the rev. frank m. bristol of the m. e. metropolitan church, washington (the one attended by president mckinley), for their recent sermons referring favorably to woman suffrage. these were the more noticeable as during this convention cardinal gibbons of baltimore devoted his sunday discourse to a terrific arraignment of society women and those asking for the suffrage, denouncing them alike as destroyers of the home, etc. the national association requested the appointment by president mckinley of mrs. bertha honoré palmer as national commissioner from the united states to the paris exposition, and of mrs. may wright sewall as delegate to represent the organized work of women in the united states. both of these appointments were afterwards made. the corresponding secretary read invitations for the next annual convention from the citizens' business league of milwaukee; the business men's league and the mayor of cincinnati; the chamber of commerce of detroit; the business men's league of san antonio; the cleveland business men's convention league; the suffrage society of buffalo and the following: "the minnesota woman suffrage association takes great pride in being able to invite you most cordially to hold your annual meeting for in the city of minneapolis. we guarantee $ towards expenses and more if necessary. enclosed are invitations from the board of trade, the mayor and our three daily newspapers, all assuring us of financial backing." this was signed by mrs. martha j. thompson, president, and dr. ethel e. hurd, corresponding secretary. the invitation was accepted. the usual hearings were held tuesday morning, february , in the marble room of the senate and the committee room of the house judiciary, both of which were crowded to the doors, the seats being filled with women while members of congress stood about the sides of the room. that before the senate committee--john w. daniel (va.), chairman; james h. berry (tenn.); george p. wetmore (r. i.); addison g. foster (wash.)--was confined to a historical résumé of the movement for woman suffrage, the speakers being presented by miss anthony. the work with congress was carefully delineated by mrs. colby, who concluded: "everything that a disfranchised class could do has been done by women, and never in the long ages in which the love of freedom has been evolving in the human heart has there been such an effort by any other class of people. surely it ought to win the respect and support of every man in this republic who has a brain to understand the blessings of liberty and a heart to beat in sympathy with a struggle to obtain it."[ ] municipal suffrage in kansas was described by mrs. laura m. johns. woman suffrage in colorado was presented by mrs. bradford. mrs. harriot stanton blatch told of woman suffrage in england, closing as follows: we have heard about the suffrage in the western states of america, and the reply always is: "oh, that is all very well for thinly populated countries." now i am going to tell you a little of the suffrage question in england, not a thinly populated country, with its , , of people crowded in that small space. gentlemen of the committee, i would like to draw your attention to one thing, which is true in america as well as in england--that nothing has been given to women gratuitously. they have had at each step to prove their ability before you gave them anything else. in england passed the education act, which gave women the right to sit on the school boards and to vote for them. it was the first time they had had elective school boards in england; before that all the education had been controlled by church organizations, who had appointed boards of managers. women had been appointed to those boards and so admirable had been their work that when the law was passed in many women stood for election and were elected, and in three cases they came in at the head of the polls. five years after that a verdict was passed upon the work of those women as school officials, for in , women were allowed to go on the poor-law boards. in the law was further modified so that it contemplated the possibility of a larger circle of poor-law guardians. before that there had been a high qualification--occupation of a house of a certain rental, etc., but now that was all pushed aside. what was the result? nearly , women are now sitting on the poor-law boards of england; on the great board of london itself. these local boards deal with the great asylums, with the great pauper schools, with the immense poorhouses and, more than that, they deal with one of the largest funds in england, the outdoor and indoor relief. what has been the verdict upon the work of those women on the poor-law board? in there was the question, when this law was extended to ireland, whether women should be put on those boards. the vote in parliament was in favor of the women and only against. eight men only, so unwise, so foolish, left in the great english parliament, who said it was not for women to deal with those immense bodies of pauper children, not for women to deal with this outdoor relief fund, not for women to deal with the unfortunate mothers of illegitimate children.... women in england, qualified women, have every local vote, everything which would correspond with your state and municipal vote here, they have all except the parliamentary vote. in england we have opponents, just as you have here. i do not know whether they are more illogical or less so, but they certainly do one extraordinary thing--they are in favor of everything that has been won and take advantage of it. a large number of the , women who are sitting on the various local bodies in england are opposed to the parliamentary vote for their sex, and yet they are really in political life. now, gentlemen, if you want to have the women stop coming here, give us the vote and then we won't come; give the "antis" the vote, and then they will have the political life that they are really longing for. almost always, if you analyze the anti-suffrage idea in either a man or a woman you find it is anti-democratic. i have begun to think that i am the only good democrat left in america. i believe in the very widest possible suffrage. why do i believe it? because i have lived and seen the other thing in england, and i have seen that as democracy broadened politics was purified. that has been the history from the beginning. no politics in the world was more corrupt than the english at the beginning of this century, but as democracy has come farther and farther into the field, england has become politically one of the purest nations in the world. the paper on woman suffrage in the british isles and colonies was prepared by miss helen blackburn, editor of the _englishwoman's review_; and woman suffrage in foreign countries was described by mrs. jessie cassidy saunders. the last address was given by mrs. carrie chapman catt (n. y.), why we ask for the submission of an amendment: a survey of the changes which have been wrought within the past hundred years in the status of women--educational, social, financial and political--fills the observing man or woman with a feeling akin to awe. no great war has been fought in behalf of their emancipation; no great political party has espoused their cause; no heroes have bled and died for their liberty; yet words fail utterly to measure the distance between the "sphere" of the woman of and that of the woman of . how has the transformation come? what mysterious power has brought it? on the whole, men and women of the present rejoice at every right gained and every privilege conceded. not one jot or tittle would they abate the advantage won; yet when the plea is made that the free, self-respecting, self-reliant, independent, thinking women of this generation be given the suffrage, the answer almost invariably comes back, "when women as a whole demand it, men will consider it." this answer carries with it the apparent supposition that all the changes have come because the majority of women wanted them, and that further enlargement of liberty must cease because the majority do not want it. alas, it is a sad comment upon the conservatism of the average human being that not one change of consequence has been desired by women as a whole, or even by a considerable part. it would be nearer the truth to say women as a whole have opposed every advance. the progress has come because women of a larger mold, loftier ambitions and nobler self-respect than the average have been willing to face the opposition of the world for the sake of liberty. more than one such as these deserve the rank of martyr. the sacrifice of suffering, of doubt, of obloquy, which has been endured by the pioneers in the woman movement will never be fully known or understood.... with the bold demand for perfect equality of rights in every walk of life the public have compromised. not willing to grant all, they have conceded something; and by repeated compromises and concessions to the main demand the progress of woman's rights has been accomplished. there are two kinds of restrictions upon human liberty--the restraint of law and that of custom. no written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion. at the beginning of our century both law and custom restricted the liberty of women. it was the edict of custom which prohibited women from receiving an education, engaging in occupations, speaking in public, organizing societies, or in other ways conducting themselves like free, rational human beings. it was law which forbade married women to control their own property or to collect their own wages, and which forbade all women to vote. the changes have not come because women wished for them or men welcomed them. a liberal board of trustees, a faculty willing to grant a trial, an employer willing to experiment, a broad-minded church willing to hear a woman preach, a few liberal souls in a community willing to hear a woman speak--these have been the influences which have brought the changes. there is no more elaborate argument or determined opposition to woman suffrage than there has been to each step of progress.... had a vote been taken, co-education itself would have been overwhelmingly defeated. in , before women had studied or practiced medicine, had it been necessary to obtain permission to do so by a vote of men or women, , graduated women physicians would not now be engaged in the healing art in our country. in , when vindictive epithets were hurled from press, pulpit and public in united condemnation of the few women who were attempting to be heard on the platform as speakers, had it been necessary to secure the right of free public speech through legislatures or popular approval, the voices of women would still be silent.... the rights of women have come in direct opposition to the popular consensus of opinion. yet when they have once become established, they have been wanted by women and welcomed by men. there are a few fanatics who, if they could, would force the women of this generation back into the spheres of their grandmothers. there are some pessimists who imagine they see all natural order coming to a speedy end because of the enlarged liberties and opportunities of women. there are sentimentalists who believe that the american home, that most sacred unit of society, is seriously imperiled by the tendencies of women to adopt new duties and interests. but this is not the thought of the average american. there are few intelligent men who would be willing to provide their daughters no more education than was deemed proper for their grandmothers, or who would care to restrict them to the old-time limited sphere of action. thinking men and women realize that the american home was never more firmly established than at the present time, and that it has grown nobler and happier as women have grown more self-reliant. the average man and woman recognize that the changes which have come have been in the interest of better womanhood and better manhood, bringing greater happiness to women and greater blessings to men. they recognize that each step gained has rendered women fitter companions for men, wiser mothers and far abler units of society. the public acknowledges the wisdom, the common sense, the practical judgment of the woman movement until it asks for the suffrage. in other words, it approves every right gained because it is here, and condemns the one right not yet gained because it is not here. had it been either custom or statutory law which forbade women to vote, the suffrage would have been won by the same processes which have gained every other privilege. a few women would have voted, a few men and women would have upheld them, and, little by little, year after year, the number of women electors would have increased until it became as general for women to vote as it is for men. had this been possible the women would be voting to-day in every state in the union; and undoubtedly their appearance at the polls would now be as generally accepted as a matter of fact as the college education. but, alas, when this step of advancement was proposed, women found themselves face to face with the stone wall of constitutional law, and they could not vote until a majority of men should first give their consent. indeed the experiment was made to gain this sacred privilege by easier means. the history of the voting of susan b. anthony and others is familiar to all, but the supreme court decided that the national constitution must first be amended. it therefore becomes a necessity to convert to this reform a majority of the men of the whole united states. when we recall the vast amount of illiteracy, ignorance, selfishness and degradation which exists among certain classes of our people the task imposed upon us is appalling. there are whole precincts of voters in this country whose united intelligence does not equal that of one representative american woman. yet to such classes as these we are asked to take our cause as the court of final resort. we are compelled to petition men who have never heard of the declaration of independence, and who have never read the constitution, for the sacred right of self-government; we are forced to appeal for justice to men who do not know the meaning of the word; we are driven to argue our claim with men who never had two thoughts in logical sequence. we ask men to consider the rights of a citizen in a republic and we get the answer in reply, given in all seriousness, "women have more rights now than they ought to have;" and that, too, without the faintest notion of the inanity of the remark or the emptiness of the brain behind it. when we present our cause to men of higher standing and more liberal opinion, we find that the interest of party and the personal ambition for place are obstacles which prevent them from approving a question concerning whose popularity there is the slightest doubt. the way before us is difficult at best, not because our demand is not based upon unquestioned justice, not because it is not destined to win in the end, but because of the nature of the processes through which it must be won. in fact the position of this question might well be used to demonstrate that observation of aristotle that "a democracy has many striking points of resemblance with tyranny...." it is for these reasons, gentlemen, that we appeal to your committee to aid in the submission of a sixteenth amendment. such an amendment would go before the legislatures of our country where the grade of intelligence is at least higher than we should find in the popular vote. though you yourselves may doubt the expediency of woman suffrage, though you may question the soundness of our claim, yet, in the name of democracy, which permits the people to make and amend their constitutions, and in the name of american womanhood, prepared by a century of unmeasured advance for political duties, we beg your aid in the speedy submission of this question. we ask this boon in the direct interest of the thousands of women who do want to vote, who suffer pangs of humiliation and degradation because of their political servitude. we ask it equally in the indirect interest of the thousands of women who do not want to vote, as we believe their indifference or opposition is the same natural conservatism which led other women to oppose the college education, the control of property, the freedom of public speech and the right of organization. years ago george william curtis pleaded for fair play for women. it is the same plea we are repeating. we only petition for fair play, and this means the submission of our question to the most intelligent constituency which has power to act upon it. if we shall fail, we will abide by the decision. that is, we will wait till courage has grown stronger, reason more logical, justice purer, in the positive knowledge that our cause will eventually triumph. as the daughters of zelophehad appealed to moses and his great court for justice, so do the daughters of america appeal to you. miss anthony closed the hearing in a speech whose vigor, logic and eloquence were accentuated in the minds of the hearers by the thought that for more than thirty years she had made these pleas before congressional committees, only to be received with stolid indifference or open hostility. she began by saying: "in closing i would like to give a little object lesson of the two methods of gaining the suffrage. by one it is insisted that we shall carry our question to what is termed a popular vote of each state--that is, that its legislature shall submit to the electors the proposition to strike the little adjective "male" from the suffrage clause. we have already made that experiment in fifteen different elections in ten different states. five states have voted on it twice." she then summarized briefly the causes of the defeats in the various states, and continued: now here is all we ask of you, gentlemen, to save us women from any more tramps over the states, such as we have made now fifteen times. in nine of those campaigns i myself, made a canvass from county to county. in my own state of new york at the time of the constitutional convention in , i visited every county of the sixty--i was not then years of age, but .... there is an enemy of the homes of this nation and that enemy is drunkenness. every one connected with the gambling house, the brothel and the saloon works and votes solidly against the enfranchisement of women, and, i say, if you believe in chastity, if you believe in honesty and integrity, then do what the enemy wants you not to do, which is to take the necessary steps to put the ballot in the hands of women.... i pray you to think of this question as you would if the one-half of the people who are disfranchised were men, if we women had absolute power to control every condition in this country and you were obliged to obey the laws and submit to whatever arrangements we made. i want you to report on this question exactly as if the masculine half of the people were the ones who were deprived of this right to a vote in governmental affairs. you would not be long in bringing in a favorable report if you were the ones who were disfranchised and denied a voice in your government. if it were not women--if it were the farmers of this country, the manufacturers, or any class of men who were robbed of their inalienable rights, then we would see that class rising in rebellion, and the government shaken to its very foundation; but being women, being only the mothers, daughters, wives and sisters of men who constitute the aristocracy, we have to submit. the rev. anna howard shaw (penn.) presided over the hearing before the house judiciary committee.[ ] the constitutional argument was made by mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.), who said in the course of a long and logical address: we find that it is declared in article iv, section , that "the united states shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government." what is a republican form of government? in a monarchy, the theory is that all power flows directly from the monarch; even in constitutional monarchies each concession has been obtained "by consent of our gracious sovereign." when the laws are based on the idea that the caprices of the ruler regulate the privileges granted to the people, it is at least logical, even if it is cruel, to refuse the right of suffrage to any class of the community. you will agree that this is not a monarchy, where power flows from the sovereign to the people, but a republic, where the sovereign people give to the executive they have chosen the power to carry out their will. can you really claim that we live under a republican form of government when one-half the adult inhabitants are denied all voice in the affairs of the nation? it may be better described as an oligarchy, where certain privileged men choose the rulers who make laws for their own benefit, too often to the detriment of the unrepresented portion of our people, who are denied recognition as completely as was ever an oppressed class in the most odious form of oligarchy which usurped a government. article xiv, section , provides that "representation shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians, not taxed." what sort of justice is there in excluding from the basis of representation indians who are not taxed and including in this basis women who are taxed? the framers of this amendment were evidently impressed with the tenet that taxation and representation should be associated, and that as the indian paid no taxes, and was not, therefore, forced to carry the burdens of citizenship, he might, with justice, be denied the privileges of citizenship. but by what specious reasoning can any one maintain that it is honest to tax the great body of women citizens, to count them in the basis of representation, and yet deny to them the right of personal representation at the ballot box? what excuse can be made for this monstrous perversion of liberty? each one of you, gentlemen, sits here as the representative of thousands of women who, by their money, have helped to build this capitol in which you assemble and to pay for the seats in which you sit; nay, more, they pay a part of the salary of every man here, and yet what real representation have they? how often do you think of the women of your states and of their interests in the laws you pass? how much do you reflect on the injustice which is daily and hourly done them by denying to them all voice in this body, wherein you claim to "represent the people" of your respective states.... some years ago, when the bill regulating affairs in utah was under discussion senator edmunds said, "disfranchisement is a cruel and degrading penalty, that ought not to be inflicted except for crime." yet this cruel and degrading penalty is inflicted upon practically all the women of the united states. of what crime have we been guilty? or is our mere sex a fault for which we must be punished? would not any body of men look upon disfranchisement as "a cruel and degrading penalty?" suppose the news were to be flashed across our country to-morrow that the farmers of the nation were to be disfranchised, what indignation there would be! how they would leave their homes to assemble and protest against this wrong! they would declare that disfranchisement was a burden too heavy to be borne; that if they were unrepresented laws would be passed inimical to their best interests; that only personal representation at the ballot box could give them proper protection; and they would hasten here, even as we are doing, to entreat you to remove from them the burden of "the cruel and degrading penalty of disfranchisement." and now, i desire to call your attention to a series of declarations in the constitution which prove beyond all possibility of contravention that the government has solemnly pledged itself to secure to the women of the nation the right of suffrage. article xiv, section , declares that "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside." the women of this country are, then, citizens thereof and entitled to all the rights of citizens. article xv speaks of "the right of a citizen to vote," as if that were one of the most precious privileges of citizenship, so precious that its protection is embodied in a separate amendment. if we now turn to article iv, section , we find it declares that "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states." what do these assertions mean? is there one of you who can explain away these noble guarantees of the right of individual representation at the ballot box as mere one-sided phrases, having no significance for one-half the people? no. these grand pledges are abiding guarantees of human freedom, honest promises of protection to all the people of the republic. you, gentlemen, have sworn to carry out all the provisions of the constitution. does not this oath lay upon you the duty of seeing that this great pledge is kept and that the fifty-sixth congress sets its mark in history by fulfilling these guarantees and securing the ballot to the millions of women citizens, possessing every qualification for the intelligent use of this mighty weapon of liberty? the dome of this capitol is surmounted by a magnificent statue representing the genius of american freedom. how is this mighty power embodied? as a majestic woman, full-armed and panoplied to protect the liberty of the republic. is not this symbol a mockery while the women of the country are held in political slavery? we ask you to insist that the pledges of the republic shall be redeemed, that its promises shall be fulfilled, and that american womanhood shall be enfranchised. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton (n. y.), as had been her custom during all the years since she had ceased to appear in person before these committees, sent a strong appeal for justice, beginning as follows: in adjusting the rights of citizens in our newly-acquired possessions, the whole question of suffrage is again fairly open for discussion in the house of representatives; and as some of the states are depriving the colored men of the exercise of this right and all of the states, except four, deny it to all women, i ask congress to submit an amendment to the national constitution declaring that citizens not allowed a voice in the government shall not be taxed or counted in the basis of representation. to every fair mind, such an amendment would appear pre-eminently just, since to count disfranchised classes in the basis of representation compels citizens to aid in swelling the number of congressmen who may legislate against their most sacred interests. if the southern states that deny suffrage to negro men should find that it limited their power in congress by counting in the basis of representation only those citizens who vote, they would see that the interests of the races lay in the same direction. a constitutional amendment to this effect would also rouse the northern states to their danger, for the same rule applied there in excluding all women from the basis of representation would reduce the number of their members of congress one-half. and if the south should continue her suicidal policy toward women as well as colored men, her states would be at a still greater disadvantage.... by every principle of our republic, logically considered, woman's emancipation is a foregone conclusion. the great "declarations," by the fathers, regarding individual rights and the true foundations of government, should not be glittering generalities for demagogues to quote and ridicule, but eternal laws of justice, as fixed in the world of morals as are the laws of attraction and gravitation in the material universe. in regard to the injustice of taxing unrepresented classes, lord coke says: "the supreme power can not take from any man his property without his consent in person or by representation. the very act of taxing those who are not represented appears to me to deprive them of one of their most sacred rights as free men, and if continued, seems to be in effect an entire disfranchisement of every civil right; for what one civil right is worth a rush when a man's property is subject to be taken from him without his consent? woman's right to life, liberty and happiness, to education, property and representation, can not be denied, for if we go back to first principles, where did the few get the right, through all time, to rule the many? they never had it, any more than pirates had the right to scour the high seas, and take whatever they could lay hands upon. miss elizabeth sheldon tillinghast (conn.) considered the economic basis of woman suffrage: ....however we may explain it, and whether we like it or not, woman has become an economic factor in our country and one that is constantly assuming larger proportions. the question is now what treatment will make her an element of economic strength instead of weakness as at present. the presence of women in business now demoralizes the rate of wages even more than the increase in the supply of labor. why? principally because she can be bullied with greater impunity than voters--because she has no adequate means of self-defense. this seems a hard accusation, but i believe it to be true. trade is a fight--an antagonism of interests which are compromised in contracts in which the economically stronger always wins the advantage. there are many things that contribute to economic strength besides ability, and among them the most potent is coming more and more to be the power which arises from organization expressing itself in political action. without political expression woman's economic value is at the bottom of the scale. she is the last to be considered, and the consideration is usually about exhausted before she is reached. she must do better work than men for equal pay or equal work for less pay. in spite of this she may be supplanted at any time by a political adherent, or her place may be used as a bribe to an opposing faction. women are weak in the business world because they are new in it; because they are only just beginning to learn their economic value; because their inherent tendencies are passive instead of aggressive, which makes them as a class less efficient fighters than men. for these reasons women are and must be for years, if not for generations, economically weaker than men. does it appeal to any one's sense of fairness to give the stronger party in a struggle additional advantages and deny them to the weaker one? would that be considered honorable--would it be considered tolerable--even among prize-fighters? what would be thought of a contest between a heavy-weight and a feather-weight in which the heavy-weight was allowed to hit below the belt and the feather-weight was confined to the marquis of queensberry's rules? and yet these are practically the conditions under which women do business in forty-one of our states. while the state does not owe any able-bodied, sound-minded man or woman a living, it does owe them all a fair--yes, even a generous opportunity to earn their own living, and one that shall not be prolonged dying. i do not claim that woman suffrage would be a panacea for all our economic woes. but i do claim that it would remove one handicap which women workers have to bear in addition to all those they share in common with men. i do claim that the men of the future will be healthier, wiser and more efficient wealth-producers if their mothers are stimulated by a practical interest in public affairs. i do claim that that nation will be the strongest in which the economic conditions are the most nearly just to all, and in which co-operation and altruism are the most completely incorporated in the lives of the people. mrs. hala hammond butt (miss.) discussed the changed intellectual qualifications of the women of this century, with the intense eloquence of southern women, and closed as follows: there are mighty forces striving within our souls--a latent strength is astir that is lifting us out of our passive sleep. defenseless, still are we subject to restrictions, bonds as illogical in theory as unjust in practice. helpless, we may formulate as we will; but demonstrate we may not. the query persists in thrusting itself upon my mind, why should i be amenable to a law that does not accord me recognition? why, indeed, should i owe loyalty and allegiance to a government that stamps my brow with the badge of servility and inferiority? our human interests are identical--yours and mine; our paths not far apart; we have the same loves, the same hates, the same hopes, the same desires; a common origin, a common need, a common destiny. our moral responsibilities are equal, our civil liabilities not less than yours, our social and industrial exactions equally as stringent as yours, and yet--o, crowning shame of the nineteenth century!--we are denied the garb of citizenship. gentlemen, is this justice? mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, auditor of the national suffrage association and a member of the chicago bar, demonstrated the protective power of the ballot: the spirit of struggle against oppression and dependence is in the air, and all have breathed it in--women as well as men. they, too, feel the desire for freedom, opportunity, progress; the wish for liberty, a share in the government, emancipation. the practical method by which these aspirations can be realized is through the ballot. it is the insignia of power. the outlander wants it; so does the filipino, the slav, the cuban; so do women. women need the ballot not only for the honor of being esteemed peers among freemen, but they want it for the practical value it will be in protecting them in the exercise of a citizen's prerogatives.... but, it is asked, "have not women had some sort of protection without the ballot?" yes, but it has been only such protection as the caprice or affection of the voting class has given, gratuities revocable at will. the man of wealth or power defends his wife, daughter or sweetheart because she is his, just as he would defend his property. his own opinions, not her views, decide him concerning the things from which she should be protected. should she ever need protection against "her protector," there is no one to give it.... entrance into remunerative employments in many instances has been denied women. in many of the states the professions of law, medicine, dentistry and all the elective offices are closed by statute. appointive positions, also, which women might legally hold are practically withheld from them because of their lack of the ballot. the appointing power--president, governor, mayor, judge or commissioner--all owe their own positions to voters who expect some minor appointment in acknowledgment of service. even large private corporations not supposed to be influenced by politics have occasionally desired and received governmental help and protection. in return, the employes of these enterprises have been advised to vote for the party which has protected their employers' business. at a caucus, a street parade and on election day, the or , or , persons employed in a certain industry make a considerable political showing if they are all voters. on such occasions women employes are of no value. women refused employment in various enterprises not alone are injured in their feelings, but they are not protected in their right to earn food, shelter and clothes. there are many different kinds of employment which do not debar women, but even in these they need protection in securing a fair return for their labor. in an investigation conducted by the u. s. department of labor concerning the wages received by men and women it appeared that in per cent. of the instances investigated, men received per cent. higher wages than did women laboring with the same degree of efficiency on the same kind of work. women also need protection of their property. a man who knows the inside truth says, "widows and minors are always assessed higher than men." if the assessor desires re-election, one of the easiest methods of securing it is to lower the assessments of the politicians who control most voters.... women also want protection for the one sphere which even the most conservative loudly proclaim should be theirs--the home. that the water supply is good and abundant, that the sewage is carried away properly and speedily, that contagious cases are isolated, that food is pure in quality and reasonable in price, that inspection of food is honest and scientific, that weights and measures are true, that gas and electricity are inexpensive, that buildings are strongly constructed--these are all matters under the control of certain officials elected by voters.... women, too, want protection for the children, proper regulations in regard to the schools, the trains at crossings, seducers, tramps and child abductors. they want strict laws against obscene literature and the unhealthy cigarette; and what is equally important, honest enforcement of such laws and ordinances.... one class can not, will not, legislate better for all classes than they can do for themselves. so men alone can not legislate better for women and men than can the two for both. women need the ballot to protect themselves and all that they hold dear. the hearing was closed by miss shaw, who said in ending her remarks: dire results have been predicted at every step of radical progress. when women first enjoyed higher education the cry went out that the home would be destroyed. it was said that if all the women were educated, all would become bluestockings, and if all women became bluestockings all would write books, and if all women wrote books what would become of the homes, who would rear the children? but the schools were opened and women entered them, and it has been discovered that the intelligent woman makes a wiser mother, a better homemaker and a much more desirable companion, friend and wife than a woman who is illiterate, whose intellectual horizon is narrowed. in many of the states where the statutes were based on the old english common law, the husband absorbed the wife's property as he absorbed her personal rights. then came the demand for property rights for wives, but the cry went up they will desert their homes. then it was found there were thousands of women who could have no home if they were not permitted to pursue avocations in the outside world. and then it was said that the moral life of women would be degraded by public contact. yet the statistics show that in those occupations in which women are able to earn a livelihood in an honorable and respectable manner they have raised the standard of morality rather than lowered it. the results have not been those which were predicted. the homes have not been broken up; for human hearts are and always will be the same, and so long as god has established in this world a greater force than all other forces combined--which we call the divine gravity of love--just so long human hearts will continue to be drawn together, homes will be founded, families will be reared; and never so good a home, never so good a family, as those founded in justice and educated upon right principles. consequently the industrial emancipation of women has been of benefit to the home, to women and to men. the claim is made that we are building a barrier between men and women; that we are antagonistic because men are men and we are women. this is not true. we believe there never was a time when men and women were such good friends as now, when they esteemed each other as they do now. we have coeducation in our schools; boys and girls work side by side and study and recite together. when coeducation was first tried men thought they would easily carry off the honors; but soon they learned their mistake. that experience gave to men a better opinion of woman's intellectual ability. there is nothing in liberty which can harm either man or woman. there is nothing in justice which can work against the highest good of humanity; and when on the ground of expediency this measure is opposed, in the words of wendell phillips, "whatever is just, god will see that it is expedient." there is no greater inexpediency than injustice.... we do not ask the ballot because we do not believe in men or because we think men unjust or unfair. we do not ask to speak for ourselves because we believe men unwilling to speak for us; but because men by their very nature never can speak for women. it would be as impossible for all men to understand the needs of women and care for their interests as it would be for all women to understand the needs and care for the interests of men. so long as laws affect both men and women, both should make the laws. gentlemen, we leave our case with you. i wish those who oppose this measure could know the great need of the power of the ballot in the hands of those who struggle in the world's affairs. i thank you in the name of our association for your kindness in listening to us. there will never be laid before you a claim more just--one more in accord with the fundamental principles of our national life. no one can read the arguments for the enfranchisement of women as presented before these two committees without a profound conviction of the justice of their cause and the imperative duty of those before whom they pleaded it to report in favor of submitting the desired amendment. this report would simply have placed the matter before the respective houses of congress. but neither committee took any action whatever and as far as practical results were concerned these eloquent pleas fell upon deaf ears and hardened hearts. a unique feature was added to the hearings this year because, for the first time, the advocates of woman suffrage were opposed before the committees by a class of women calling themselves "remonstrants." the _woman's journal_ said: about a dozen women from new york and massachusetts, with one from delaware, came to washington and made public speeches before congressional committees to prove that a woman's place is at home. they said they were led to take this action by their alarm at the activity of the national-american w. s. a. the party of "antis" who came to the senate hearing in the marble room would not have been able to get in but for miss anthony. as this room accommodates only about sixty persons, admission was by tickets, and these had been issued to delegates only. the "antis," having no tickets, were turned away; but miss anthony, learning who they were, persuaded the doorkeeper to admit them, introduced them herself to the chairman of the committee, and placed them in good seats near the front, where they certainly heard more about the facts of equal suffrage than they ever did before.[ ] mrs. arthur m. dodge and miss bissell addressed the senate committee on woman suffrage, and mr. thomas russell, mrs. a. j. george, miss emily bissell and mrs. rossiter johnson addressed the house judiciary committee. in each case they secured the last word, to which they were not entitled either by equity or custom, by asking to speak at the conclusion of the suffrage hearing. it was trying to have to listen to egregious misstatements of fact, and to hear the _woman's journal_ audaciously cited as authority for them, without a chance to reply. the time for these hearings belonged exclusively to the suffrage delegates, the chairmen of the two congressional committees stating that they would appoint some other day for the "remonstrants." the delegates, however, declaring that they had no objections, the "antis" were permitted to read their papers at the close of the suffrage hearing, thus having the benefit of the large audiences, but furnishing a vast amount of amusement to the suffragists.[ ] the _woman's journal_ said in its perfectly fair description: the chairman of the house committee asked mrs. a. j. george of massachusetts, who conducted the hearing for the "antis," a number of questions that she could not answer, and thomas russell of that state had to prompt her repeatedly. the chairman would ask a question; mrs. george would look nonplussed; mr. russell would lean over and whisper, "say yes," and she would answer aloud "yes." the chairman would ask another question; mr. russell would whisper, "say no," and mrs. george would answer "no." this happened so often that both the audience and the committee were visibly amused, and several persons said it was mr. russell who was really conducting the hearing. he is a boston lawyer who has conducted the legislative hearings for the "antis" in massachusetts for some years. mrs. dodge, in her speech, begged the committee not to allow the "purely sentimental reasons of the petitioners" to have any weight, and said: "the mere fact that this amendment is asked as a compliment to the leading advocate of woman suffrage on the attainment of her eightieth birthday, is evidence of the emotional frame of mind which influences the advocates of the measure, and which is scarcely favorable to the calm consideration that should be given to fundamental political principles." miss anthony's birthday had not been mentioned by any speaker before either committee, and the suffragists under her leadership had been making their pleas and arguments for a sixteenth amendment for over thirty years. as the suffrage speakers were not permitted to answer the misstatements and prevarications of the "remonstrants" at the time of the hearings and these were widely circulated through the press, the convention passed the following resolutions on motion of miss alice stone blackwell: whereas, at this morning's congressional hearing letters were read by the anti-suffragists from two men and one woman in colorado, asserting equal suffrage in that state to be a failure; therefore, _resolved_, that we call attention to a published statement declaring that the results are wholesome and that none of the predicted evils have followed. this statement is signed by the governor and three ex-governors of colorado, the chief justice, all the judges of the state supreme court, the denver district court and the court of appeals; all the colorado senators and representatives in congress; president slocum of colorado college, the president of the state university, the state superintendent of public instruction, the attorney-general, the mayor of denver, prominent clergymen of different denominations, and the presidents of thirteen of the principal women's associations of denver. the social science department of the denver woman's club has just voted unanimously to the same effect, and the colorado legislature lately passed a similar resolution by a vote of to in the house and to in the senate. on the other hand, during the six years that equal suffrage has prevailed in colorado the opponents have not yet found six respectable men who assert over their own names and addresses that it has had any bad results. whereas, at the congressional hearing it was asserted that equal suffrage had led to no improvements in the laws of colorado; therefore, _resolved_, that we call attention to the fact that colorado owes to equal suffrage the laws raising the age of protection for girls to eighteen years; establishing a state home for dependent children and a state industrial school for girls; making fathers and mothers joint guardians of their children; removing the emblems from the australian ballot; prohibiting child labor; also city ordinances in denver providing drinking fountains in the streets; forbidding expectoration in public places, and requiring the use of smoke-consuming chimneys on all public and business buildings. this anecdote was related the next day: "miss anthony's love of the beautiful leads her always to clothe herself in good style and fine materials, and she has an eye for the fitness of things as well as for the funny side. 'girls,' she said yesterday, after returning from the capitol, 'those statesmen eyed us very closely, but i will wager that it was impossible after we got mixed together to tell an anti from a suffragist by her clothes. there might have been a difference, though, in the expression of the faces and the shape of the heads,' she added drily." on tuesday afternoon about two hundred members of the convention were received by president mckinley in the east room of the white house. miss anthony stood at his right hand and, after the president had greeted the last guest, he invited her to accompany him upstairs to meet mrs. mckinley, who was not well enough to receive all of the ladies. giving her his arm he led her up the old historic staircase, "as tenderly as if he had been my own son," she said afterward. when she was leaving, after a pleasant call, mrs. mckinley expressed a wish to send some message to the convention and she and the president together filled miss anthony's arms with white lilies, which graced the platform during the remainder of the meetings. footnotes: [ ] the statistics used in this paper were taken from the report of the u. s. commissioner of education for . [ ] see chapter on louisiana. [ ] the address of miss laughlin created a sensation. a member of the united states labor commission was in the audience, and was so much impressed with the power of this young woman that shortly afterwards she was made a member of this commission to investigate the condition of the working women of the united states. her valuable report was published in pamphlet form. [ ] see chapter on kansas. [ ] immediately after the convention, the new york _times_ published an alleged interview with mrs. paul, in which she was made to say that she was not a believer in suffrage for women. she at once denied this emphatically over her own signature, saying that the interview was a fabrication and that she was an advocate of the enfranchisement of women especially because of the need of their ballot in city government. [ ] this was held the first week in december, , and netted about $ , for the association. [ ] it will be noticed in this pamphlet that all but one of the favorable reports from congressional committees were made during the years when miss anthony had a winter home at the riggs house, through the courtesy of its proprietors, mr. and mrs. c. w. spofford, and was able to secure them through personal attention and influence. there were always some members of these committees who were favorable to woman suffrage, but with the great pressure on every side from other matters, this one was apt to be neglected unless somebody made a business of seeing that it did not go by default. this miss anthony did for many years, and during this time secured the excellent reports of , , , , and . the great speech of senator t. w. palmer, made february , , was in response to her insistence that he should keep his promise to speak in favor of the question. in - mrs. upton, who was residing in washington with her father, ezra b. taylor, m. c., did not permit the judiciary committee to forget the report for that year, which was the first and only favorable house report. [ ] for account of the work of the association before congress see chap. i. [ ] george w. ray, n. y., chairman; john j. jenkins, wis.; richard wayne parker, n. j.; jesse overstreet, ind.; de alva s. alexander, n. y.; vespasian warner, ill.; winfield s. kerr, o.; charles e. littlefield, me.; romeo h. freer, w. va.; julius kahn, calif.; william l. terry, ark.; david a. de armond, mo.; samuel w. t. lanham, tex.; william elliott, s. c.; oscar w. underwood, ala.; david h. smith, ky.; william h. fleming, ga. [ ] that this was a mistaken courtesy was proved by subsequent events, as afterwards mrs. dodge came out with a card in the new york _sun_ denying that they were admitted through the intervention of miss anthony. [ ] in the official senate report of the hearing the arguments of the suffragists filled forty pages; those of the "antis" five pages. they consisted of brief papers by mrs. dodge and miss bissell. the former took the ground that the congress should leave this matter to be decided by the states; that women are not physically qualified to use the ballot; and that its use by them would render "domestic tranquillity" a byword among the people. miss bissell began by saying, "it is not the tyranny but the chivalry of men that we have to fear," and opposed the suffrage principally because the majority of women do not want it, saying, "i have never yet been so situated that i could see where a vote could help me. if i felt that it would, i might become a suffragist perhaps." chapter xxi. the national-american convention of continued. it had been known for some time before the suffrage convention of feb. - , , that miss anthony intended to resign the presidency of the national association at that time, when she would be eighty years old, but her devoted adherents could not resist urging that she would reconsider her decision. when they assembled, however, they found it impossible to persuade her to continue longer in the office. the washington _post_ of february said: miss susan b. anthony has resigned. the woman who for the greater part of her life has been the star that guided the national woman suffrage association through all of its vicissitudes until it stands to-day a living monument to her wonderful mental and physical ability has turned over the leadership to younger minds and hands, not because this great woman feels that she is no longer capable of exercising it, but because she has a still larger work to accomplish before her life's labors are at an end. in a speech which was characteristic of one who has done so much toward the uplifting of her sex, miss anthony tendered her resignation during the preliminary meeting of the executive committee, held last night at the headquarters in the parlors of the riggs house. although miss anthony had positively stated that she would resign in , there were many of those present who were visibly shocked when she announced that she was about to relinquish her position as president of the association. in the instant hush which followed this statement a sorrow settled over the countenances of the fifty women seated about the room, who love and venerate miss anthony so much, and probably some of them would have broken down had it not been that they knew well her antipathy to public emotion. in a happy vein, which soon drove the clouds of disappointment from the faces of those present, she explained why she no longer desired to continue as an officer of the association after having done so since its beginning. "i have fully determined," she began, "to retire from the active presidency of the association. i was elected assistant secretary of a woman suffrage society in , and from that day to this have always held an office. i am not retiring now because i feel unable, mentally or physically, to do the necessary work, but because i wish to see the organization in the hands of those who are to have its management in the future." then jestingly she continued: "i want to see you all at work, while i am alive, so i can scold if you do not do it well. give the matter of selecting your officers serious thought. consider who will do the best work for the political enfranchisement of women, and let no personal feelings enter into the question." while miss anthony seemed at the height of her physical and mental vigor, those who loved her best felt it to be right that she should be relieved of the burdens of the office which were growing heavier each year as the demands upon the association became more numerous, and should be free to devote her time to certain lines of work which could be done only by herself. they tried to imitate her own cheerfulness and philosophy in this matter, but found it more difficult than it ever before had been to follow where she led. the last of the resolutions, presented to the convention a few days later by the chairman of the committee, henry b. blackwell, read as follows: "in view of the announced determination of miss susan b. anthony to withdraw from the presidency of this association, we tender her our heartfelt expression of appreciation and regard. we congratulate her upon her eightieth birthday, and trust that she will add to her past illustrious services her aid and support to the younger workers for woman's enfranchisement. we shall continue to look to her for advice and counsel in the years to come. may the new century witness the fruition of our labors." this was unanimously adopted by a rising vote. observing that many of the delegates were on the point of yielding to their feelings, miss anthony arose and in clear, even tones, with a touch of quaint humor, said: i wish you could realize with what joy and relief i retire from the presidency. i want to say this to you while i am still alive--and i am good yet for another decade--don't be afraid. as long as my name stands at the head, i am yankee enough to feel that i must watch every potato which goes into the dinner-pot and supervise every detail of the work. for the four years since i fixed my date to retire, i have constantly been saying to myself, "let go, let go, let go!" i am now going to let go of the machinery but not of the spiritual part. i expect to do more work for woman suffrage in the next decade than ever before. i have not been for nearly fifty years in this movement without gaining a certain "notoriety," at least, and this enables me to get a hearing before the annual conventions of many great national bodies, and to urge on them the passage of resolutions asking congress to submit to the state legislatures a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution forbidding disfranchisement on account of sex. this is a part of the work to which i mean to devote myself henceforward. then you all know about the big fund which i am going to raise so that you young workers may have an assured income and not have to spend the most of your time begging money, as i have had to do. the convention proceeded to the election of officers. mrs. lillie devereux blake (n. y.), who was a candidate for president, asked permission to make a personal explanation and said: "i have received from many parts of the united states expressions of regard and esteem that have deeply touched me. but in the interests of harmony i desire to withdraw my name from any consideration you may have wished to give me." of the votes cast for president mrs. carrie chapman catt (n. y.) received ; eleven of the remaining twenty-four were cast for miss anthony and ten for mrs. blake. the other members of the old board were re-elected almost unanimously.[ ] the washington _post_ said: "there was a touching scene when the vote for mrs. chapman catt was announced. first there was an outburst of applause, and then as though all at once every one realized that she was witnessing the passing of susan b. anthony, their beloved president, the deepest silence prevailed for several seconds. lifelong members of the association, who had toiled and struggled by the side of miss anthony, could not restrain their emotions and wept in spite of their efforts at control." the washington _star_ thus described the occasion: mrs. blake not being in the hall, miss anthony was made a committee of one to present mrs. catt to the convention. the women went wild as, erect and alert, she walked to the front of the platform, holding the hand of her young co-worker, of whom she is extremely fond and of whom she expects great things. miss anthony's eyes were tear-dimmed, and her tones were uneven, as she presented to the convention its choice of a leader in words freighted with love and tender solicitude, rich with reminiscences of the past, and full of hope for the future of the new president and her work. "suffrage is no longer a theory, but an actual condition," she said, "and new occasions bring new duties. these new duties, these changed conditions, demand stronger hands, younger heads and fresher hearts. in mrs. catt you have my ideal leader. i present to you my successor." by this time half the women were using their handkerchiefs on their eyes and the other half were waving them in the air. the object of all this praise stood with downcast eyes and evidently was deeply moved. at length she said in response: good friends, i should hardly be human if i did not feel gratitude and appreciation for the confidence you have shown me; but i feel the honor of the position much less than its responsibility. i never was an aspirant for it. i consented only six weeks ago to stand. i was not willing to be the next president after miss anthony. i have known that there was a general loyalty to her which could not be given to any younger worker. since miss anthony announced her intention to retire, there have been editorials in many leading papers expressing approval of her--but not of the cause. she has been much larger than our association. the papers have spoken of the new president as miss anthony's successor. miss anthony never will have a successor. a president chosen from the younger generation is on a level with the association, and it might suffer in consequence of miss anthony's retirement if we did not still have her to counsel and advise us. i pledge you whatever ability god has given me, but i can not do this work alone. the cause has got beyond where one woman can do the whole. i shall not be its leader as miss anthony has been; i shall be only an officer of this association. i will do all i can, but i can not do it without the co-operation of each of you. the responsibility much overbalances the honor, and i hope you will all help me bear the burden. [illustration: mrs. carrie chapman catt. successor of miss susan b. anthony as president of national-american woman suffrage association.] it was voted on motion of mrs. rachel foster avery to make miss anthony honorary president, which was done with applause and she observed informally: "you have moved me up higher. i always did stand by elizabeth cady stanton, and my name always was after hers, and i am glad to be there again." the press notices said of the new officer: mrs. carrie chapman catt, the newly-elected president of the national suffrage association, is a young and handsome woman with a charming personality, and is one of the most eloquent and logical speakers upon the public platform. for the past five years she has been lecturer and organizer for the association, where she has shown rare executive ability and earnestness of purpose. she has traveled from east to west and from north to south many times, lectured in nearly every city in the union and has been associated with every important victory that equal suffrage has won of late years. she was in colorado during the amendment campaign, and the women attribute their success to her more than to any other person from outside the state. she was in idaho, where all four political parties put suffrage planks into their platforms and the amendment carried. she went before the louisiana constitutional convention, by the earnest invitation of new orleans women, and it gave tax-paying women the right to vote upon all questions submitted to the tax-payers. it had been known for several years that mrs. chapman catt was miss anthony's choice as her successor; she was considered the best-equipped woman in the association for the position, and the vote of the delegates showed how nearly unanimous was her election. the rev. anna howard shaw, who for a number of years had been vice-president-at-large, could have had miss anthony's sanction and the unanimous vote of the convention if she would have consented to accept the office. mrs. chapman catt opened the next day's meeting by saying: a surprise was promised as part of this afternoon's program and a pleasant duty now falls to me. it is to present miss anthony with the spirit of a gift, for the gift itself is not here. suffrage people from all over the world go to see miss anthony at her home in rochester, n. y., and consequently the carpets of the parlor and sitting-room are getting a little worn. when she goes home she will find two beautiful smyrna rugs fitting the floors of those two rooms--the gift of her suffrage friends. i am also commissioned to present her with an album. some of our naughty officers have been making fun of it and saying that albums are all out of date; but this one contains the photographs of all the presidents of the state suffrage associations, and the chairmen of standing committees. no collection of "antis" could be found that would present in their faces as much intelligence and strength of character. miss anthony expressed her thanks, and said: "these girls have disproved the old saying that a secret can not be kept by a woman, for i have not heard a word of a rug or a picture." from the utah silk commission composed of women came a handsome black brocaded dress pattern, the work of women, from the tending of the cocoons to the weaving of the silk. a beautiful solid silver vase was presented from "the free women of idaho." there was also from this state an album of two hundred pages of pen drawings, water colors and pressed flowers, with a sentiment on each page, the contributions of as many individuals. california sent more than one hundred dollars. from every state came gifts of money, silver-plate, fine china, sofa cushions, books, pictures, exquisite jewelry, lace, chatelaine bags and every token which loving hearts could devise. to each miss anthony responded with a terse sentence or two, half tender, half humorous; the audience entered fully into the spirit of it all, and the convention was like a big family enjoying the birthday of one of its members. of the last session on february , the washington _post_ said: a vast audience consisting of both men and women witnessed at the church of our father, last evening, the passing of susan b. anthony as president of the national suffrage association. it was the final evening session of the thirty-second annual convention, which, miss anthony announced at its close, had been the most successful from every point of view of any ever held. long before the opening hour arrived the church was completely filled, and people stood eight and ten deep in the aisles, sat around the edge of the speakers' platform and filled the approaches to the church. miss anthony and many of the other speakers, who arrived at eight o'clock, had great difficulty in reaching the platform. john c. bell, member of congress from colorado, made the opening address in which he said: "the greatest obstruction to human progress is human prejudice. as long as men are controlled more by their prejudices than by their reason, they will be slaves to habit. if women had voted from the foundation of the government it would now be as difficult to deprive them of this privilege as it would be to repeal the bill of rights, but as the men have done the voting from the beginning, the force of habit is successfully battling with both reason and justice." he refuted the charge that woman suffrage made dissension in families, saying: "you must bear in mind that the extending of the elective franchise to women not only elevates and broadens them but the men as well." the address of mrs. blatch on woman and war was among the most notable of the convention. she declared that one of the good effects of war was that "it made women work." the _post_ said: "mrs. harriot stanton blatch, a daughter of elizabeth cady stanton, whose present home is in england, laid the blame of all the british reverses in the transvaal at the door of what she termed 'the evils of an idle aristocracy.' in a most dramatic manner she denounced the course of the british empire. after summing up the war situation she said: 'the english armies now on the battle-fields in the transvaal have at their heads as officers sons of this idle aristocracy, who through their incompetency are not fit to be leaders. they are beneath contempt, but to the english soldier all honor is due. he is all right.'" the speech of the pioneer quaker suffragist, mrs. caroline hallowell miller (md.), delighted the audience, and her comparison of abraham lincoln and susan b. anthony, "both having devoted their lives to freedom," was enthusiastically received. then occurred one of the pleasant diversions so characteristic of these suffrage conventions. during the interval while the collection was being taken, mrs. helen mosher james, niece of miss anthony, stepping to the front of the platform, said: "this is the rev. anna shaw's birthday. her friends wish to present her with an easy chair to await her when she comes back wearied from going up and down the land, satchel in hand, on her many lecture tours. here are fifty-three gold dollars, one for each year of her life, and we wish her to buy such a chair as suits her best." in response the little minister said in part: "i am not like miss anthony, so used to having gifts poured in upon me that i know just what to say. i shall buy the chair when i have been told what is the correct thing to buy by another niece of miss anthony's, who for twelve years has made a home for me. if you want to see a pretty little spot, come to our home, and every one of you shall sit in _our_ chair."[ ] then miss anthony, clasping the hand of mrs. chapman catt, led her forward and introduced her to the audience as "president of the national-american woman suffrage association." the _woman's journal_ thus described the occasion: she was received with immense applause, the great audience rising and waving handkerchiefs. she spoke on the three i's, showing how every effort of women for improvement was called, first, indelicate, then immodest, and finally impracticable, but how all the old objections had been proved to be, in legal phrase, "incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial." the woman's rights agitation began in the early days of the republic, and a moral warfare along that line has been waged for more than a hundred years. each step has been fiercely contested. the advocates of every claim have been lovers of justice and the opponents have been adherents of conservatism. the warfare has been waged in three distinct battles, the weapon of the opponents always being ridicule, that of the defenders, appeals to reason. in the early days, when colleges and public schools were closed to women and the education of girls was confined to the three r's, an agitation was begun to permit them to take more advanced studies. society received it with the cry "indelicate." at that time delicacy was the choicest charm of woman and indelicacy was a crushing criticism. but the battle was won. the second great battle occurred between and . upon every hand incorrigible woman, with a big w, arose to irritate and torment the conservatives of the world. she appeared in the pulpit, on the platform, in conventions, in new occupations and in innumerable untried fields. everywhere the finger of scorn was pointed at her, and the world with merciless derision pronounced her immodest. but that battle was won. we are now in the heat of the greatest of all battles. woman asks for the suffrage. the world answers, "impractical." we are told that this movement is quite different from all others because there is an organized opposition of women themselves against it, but the "remonstrant" is not new. this century has witnessed ten generations of remonstrants. in the remonstrant was horrified at the study of geography. in she accepted geography but protested against physiology. in she accepted physiology but protested against geometry. in she accepted geometry but protested against the college education. in she accepted the college but remonstrated against the property laws for married women. in she accepted the property laws but remonstrated against public speaking. in she protested against the freedom of organization. in she remonstrated against the professions for women. in she protested against school suffrage. in she protested against women in office. in she accepts everything that every former generation of remonstrants has protested against and, availing herself of the privilege of free public speech secured by this women's rights movement, pleads publicly that she may be saved from the burden of voting. the remonstrant of said "indelicate," of "immodest," of "impractical." that the forces of conservatism will surrender as unconditionally to the forces of justice in the great battle of the impractical as they did in the battle of the indelicate and of the immodest is as inevitable as that the sun will rise tomorrow. at the close of her fine address, of which this is the barest synopsis, miss anthony came forward and asked triumphantly, "do you think the three hundred delegates made a mistake in choosing that woman for president?"--a question which brought out renewed applause. she then introduced to the audience the other officers, all of whom except mrs. mcculloch had served in their present capacity from eight to ten years, mrs. avery having been corresponding secretary twenty years. they were enthusiastically greeted. afterwards she presented miss clara barton, the president of the red cross association, an earnest advocate of suffrage, and as the cheers for her rang out, miss anthony observed, "politically her opinion is worth no more than an idiot's." miss anthony came forward at the close of the program and, the audience realizing that she was about to say good-bye, there was the most profound stillness, with every eye and ear strained to the utmost tension. a woman who loved the theatrical and posed for effect would have taken advantage of this opportunity to create a dramatic scene and make her exit in the midst of tears and lamentations, but nothing could be further from miss anthony's nature. her voice rang out as strong and true as if making an old-time speech on the rights of women, with only one little break in it, and she covered this up by saying quickly, "not one of our national officers ever has had a dollar of salary. i retire on full pay!" the washington _post_ said of this occasion: the convention closed its labors with the farewell address of miss anthony. the retiring president paid a magnificent tribute to the faithful women whose aid and loyal companionship she had enjoyed for so many years. emphatically she declared that she was not going to give up her efforts in behalf of that for which she had struggled so long, and concluded: "i am grateful to this association; i am grateful to you all, and to the world, for the great kindness which has been mine. to-morrow i will have finished fourscore years. i have lived to rise from the most despised and hated woman in all the world of fifty years ago, until now it seems as if i am loved by you all. if this is true, then i am indeed satisfied." miss anthony lost control of her voice for a moment. she soon regained her composure, however, and, calling the officers of the association to her side, she told of what each individual had done for the organization. it was a pretty picture. the audience caught the spirit of determination from miss anthony and a thunderous applause and waving of handkerchiefs followed. the great crowd sang the doxology and even then seemed unwilling to disperse, hundreds of people staying for a hand-shake and a few personal words with the officers and delegates. the day following the close of the convention was the eightieth anniversary of miss anthony's birth, and many suffrage advocates from different parts of the country had come to the national capital to assist in celebrating it. the following program was handsomely prepared for distribution and was carried out, except that mrs. birney and dr. smith were unavoidably absent. celebration of the eightieth birthday of susan b. anthony, at the lafayette opera house, washington, d. c., feb'y , . _song_ john w. hutchinson greetings from national congress of mothers, mrs. theodore weld birney, president national council of women, fannie humphreys gaffney, president international council of women, may wright sewall, president greetings from the professions: ministry rev. ida c. hultin law diana hirschler medicine dr. julia holmes smith _violin solo--hungarian rhapsodie (hansen)_, joseph h. douglass greetings from business women lillian m. hollister colored women coralie franklin cook district equal suffrage association ellen powell thompson greetings from the enfranchised states: wyoming helen m. warren colorado virginia morrison shafroth utah emily s. richards idaho mell c. woods "_love's rosary_" (poem) lydia avery coonley-ward greeting from elizabeth cady stanton harriot stanton blatch greeting from the national american suffrage association rev. anna howard shaw response susan b. anthony to susan b. anthony. the gibe and ridicule and social frown, that through long years her faithful life assailed, are dead and vanished; as a queen now hailed, upon her reverend brow rests honor's crown, a faith that faced all adverse fortune down, a courage that in trial never failed, a scorn of self that grievous weight entailed, have blossomed into laurels of renown. as, after days of bitter storm and blast, the chilling wind becomes a breeze of balm, billows subside, and sea-tossed vessels cast their anchors in the restful harbor calm, so this brave life has gained its haven blest, bathed in the sunset glories of the west. wm. lloyd garrison. birthday celebration committee: carrie chapman catt, chairman, new york. rev. anna howard shaw, pennsylvania. harriet taylor upton, ohio. emily m. gross, illinois. frances p. burrows, michigan. helen m. warren, wyoming. lucy e. anthony, pennsylvania. harriot stanton blatch, england. may wright sewall, indiana. mary b. clay, kentucky. rachel foster avery, pennsylvania. every large newspaper in the country had a description of what might be properly considered an event of national interest. the washington _post_ said: "the program, though a long one, was replete throughout with stirring tributes to miss anthony's great career. eloquent women who ascribed the opportunities which they had been allowed to enjoy to the tremendous effort to which their beloved leader had devoted her whole life, stood before the audience and voiced their sentiments. tears and applause mingled swiftly as the voices of the speakers rang through the theater, recounting the hardships, the struggles, and at last the crowning achievements of the woman whose eightieth birthday was being celebrated." the _woman's tribune_ thus began its report: there never has been before and, in the nature of things, there can never be again, a personal celebration having the significant relation to the woman suffrage movement which marked that of miss anthony's eightieth birthday. when mrs. stanton's eightieth birthday was celebrated five years ago she had already retired from the active leadership of the organization; the program was in charge of the national council of women and was largely in the nature of a jubilee for the whole woman movement, although rallying around mrs. stanton as a center. lucretia mott's eightieth birthday came before the movement had gained the impetus necessary for such a celebration. lucy stone passed on in before reaching this ripe age, and now there is no one left in the lead who represents the earliest stage of the work but miss anthony. it was the fairest and sunniest day of all the good convention weather, and lafayette opera house was full to the remotest part of its fourth gallery with invited guests when mrs. chapman catt opened the program at o'clock. on the stage were the birthday committee, a large number of persons who had been thirty years or more in the work, relatives of miss anthony and the national officers. miss anthony's entrance while the ladies' mandolin club were playing was greeted with long-continued applause. john w. hutchinson was first introduced. after stating that he had known miss anthony for fifty-five years, had attended in ohio in the second suffrage convention ever held, and had always sympathized with the cause, he sang with a clear, far-reaching voice a song composed by himself. the presiding officer stated that the gains of the last half-century in all lines relating to women were largely due to the guest of the occasion and her fellow-workers, and said: "when miss anthony began her labors there were practically no organizations of women; now they are numbered by thousands. the crown of the whole is the union of all organizations, the national council of women. its president will now address us." mrs. gaffney said in her tribute: ....the christian world reckoned by centuries is just coming of age. therefore women are beginning to put away childish things and to realize the greatness of womanhood. they have had to let ideals wait. they submitted to conditions because they were afraid that if they did not man would take to the woods and become again a wild barbarian. they were flattered by the fact that men liked them as they were, and they failed to realize that their power to civilize was god-given. they needed a leader to rally them, to give them the courage of their convictions; and such a leader miss anthony has been. she spoke to the world in tones which rang out so clear and true that they will echo down the centuries. some who had been protected and petted were slow to rally; others who had broader views accepted sooner the doctrine of rights--not privileges--of rights for all women. miss anthony taught us the sisterhood of woman, and that the privileges of one class could not offset the wrongs of another.... mrs. sewall, president of the international council of women, composed of the councils of thirteen nations, and the largest organization of women in the world, said in part: it is proper that the international council should remember today "to render unto cæsar the things that are cæsar's," and to pay tribute to the organization which it may not regard as other than its direct progenitor. there are certain incidents, simple in themselves, in which probably the actors are always at the time quite unconscious of their perennial significance, and yet which become landmarks in the evolution of the human spirit. such are thermopylæ and marathon and bunker hill. such was that first convention at seneca falls.... the light from that meeting, springing from a vital source, has vitalized every point it has touched. other torches lit by that have become beacon lights, and every one has stood for the illumination of women.... in the name and in the blended tongues of the women of the different nationalities who belong to the international council, i salute and congratulate you.... i beg the proud honor of placing your name, miss anthony, among the list of patrons of the council as a birthday gift, where it shall one day be pronounced in every language.... the rev. ida c. hultin brought the gratitude of the ministers, saying: ....women have failed to see that the work of every woman has touched that of every other. the woman who works with the hand helps her who works with the brain. to-day we know there could be no choice of work until there was freedom of choice to work. o, beloved leader, we of the ministry, as they of all ministries of service, bring our greetings and benediction. i hear the voices which shall tell of the new gospel and among them are the glad tones of women and the intonations of this one who spake in tears, who dared to speak before other tongues were loosed. years will never silence that voice. woman in her highest moods will catch the cadence of its melody and in the future there shall be that which will work back and forth to the enlightenment of the world because you have lived and ever shall live.... miss hirschler thus closed the tribute of her profession: "in the generations to come when courts of law shall have become courts of justice, women lawyers will think of susan b. anthony as one who paved the way and made this possible." mrs. hollister said in part: "miss anthony has opened the portals of activities; has dignified labor; has made it possible for women to manage their own affairs--four millions to-day earning independent incomes. women have given their lives for philanthropies and reforms, but the one we honor to-day gave hers for woman. olive schreiner tells of an artist who painted a wonderful picture and none could learn what pigments he used. when he died a wound was found over his heart; he had painted his masterpiece with his own blood. such women as miss anthony are painting their masterpieces with their life's blood." mrs. cook, with a dignity and simplicity which won the audience, said: ....it is fitting on this occasion, when the hearts of women the world over are turned to this day and hour, that the colored women of the united states should join in the expressions of love and praise offered to miss anthony upon her eightieth birthday. ....she is to us not only the high priestess of woman's cause, but the courageous defender of rights wherever assailed. we hold in high esteem her strong and noble womanhood, for in her untiring zeal, her uncompromising stand for justice to women, her unfailing friendship for all good work, she herself is a stronger and better argument in favor of woman's rights than the most gifted orator could put into words. when she first championed woman's cause, humiliation followed her footsteps and injustice barred the door of her progress among even the most favored classes of society; while among less enlightened and enslaved classes the wrongs which woman suffered were too terrible to mention. carlyle has said, "beware when the great god lets loose a thinker upon this earth." when susan b. anthony was born, a thinker was "let loose." her voice and her pen have lighted a torch whose sacred fire, like that of some old roman temples, dies not, but whose penetrating ray shall brighten the path of women down the long line of ages yet to come. our children and our children's children will be taught to honor her memory, for they shall be told that she has been always in the vanguard of the immortal few who have stood for the great principles of human rights. grander than any achievement that has crowned the work of woman in this woman's century has been that which has led her away from the narrow valley of custom and prejudice up to the lofty height where she can accept the divine teaching that "god hath made of one blood all nations of men." not until the suffrage movement had awakened woman to her responsibility and power, did she come to appreciate the true significance of christ's pity for magdalene as well as of his love for mary; not till then was the work of pundita ramabai in far away india as sacred as that of frances willard at home in america; not till she had suffered under the burden of her own wrongs and abuses did she realize the all-important truth that no woman and no class of women can be degraded and all womankind not suffer thereby. and so, miss anthony, in behalf of the hundreds of colored women who wait and hope with you for the day when the ballot shall be in the hands of every intelligent woman; and also in behalf of the thousands who sit in darkness and whose condition we shall expect those ballots to better, whether they be in the hands of white women or black, i offer you my warmest gratitude and congratulations. mrs. thompson presented $ from the district of columbia, with the following affectionate tribute: ....in behalf of the suffragists of the district of columbia, both men and women, i am happy to say i am deputized to present to you a gift which expresses their regard and love for you as well as their appreciation of the almost superhuman efforts you have made for the past fifty years to secure justice and civil and political equality for women. the gift is in the form of what is often called "the sinews of war"--money. not coarse, dead cash, such as passes from hand to hand in everyday transactions, but money every penny of which is alive with sincere thanks and earnest, loving wishes for happiness and continued success in all your endeavors.... we do not hail you, love you, as one who has made woman's life easier, strewn it with more rose leaves of idleness, shielded it from more stress and storm, but as one who has taken the grander, truer view, that by equally sharing stress and storm, by equal effort and work, by equality in rights, privileges, powers and opportunities with her other self--man--woman will evolve and will reach her loftiest, loveliest development. not as an apostle of ease, parasitism and shrinking fear do we regard you, but as the apostle, the incarnation, of work, of high courage and deathless endeavor. we wish our gift were myriad-fold greater, but it would never express more appreciation of what you stand for and what you are--a _liberator of woman_. mrs. helen m. warren, wife of the senator from wyoming, speaking in a fine, resonant voice which would do credit to any legislative hall, read the poem written by miss phoebe cary for the celebration of miss anthony's fiftieth birthday, presented her with a brooch, a little american flag, made of gold and jewels, and said: "i feel honored on this, your eightieth birthday, to represent the state of wyoming which has espoused your cause for more than thirty years. i have in my hand a flag, which bears on its field forty-one _common_ stars and four diamonds, representing the four progressive or suffrage states--wyoming, the banner state; colorado, utah and idaho. the back of the flag bears this inscription: 'miss anthony. from the ladies of wyoming, who love and revere you. many happy returns of the day. - .' we hope you may live to see all the common stars turn into diamonds. with kindly greetings from wyoming i present you this expression of her esteem." mrs. shafroth, wife of the representative from colorado, presented a gift designed and made by the women of her state, saying: "it is with great pleasure that i bring you the greeting from the sun-kissed land of the west, where the flag which we all love, and of which we all sing, really waves over the land of the free and the home of the brave. our men are brave and generous and our women are free. you and your noble co-workers stormed the heights of ridicule and prejudice to win this freedom for woman. in behalf of our non-partisan equal suffrage association, i beg you to accept this 'loving cup' of colorado silver." mrs. emily s. richards brought the affectionate greetings of the women of utah, and mrs. chapman catt referred to the loving testimonials which had been sent by the idaho women.[ ] then after an exquisite violin solo by mr. douglass, she said: "the liberties of the citizens of the future will be still more an outgrowth of this movement than those of the present," and to the delighted surprise of the audience the following scene occurred, as described by the _post_: the most beautiful and touching part of the program was when eighty little children, boys and girls, passed in single file across the stage, each bearing a rose. slowly they marched, keeping time to music, and, as they reached the spot where miss anthony sat, each child deposited a blossom in her lap, a rose for every year. it was a surprise so complete, so wonderfully beautiful, that for a few moments she could do nothing more than grasp the hand of each child. then she began kissing the little people, and the applause which greeted this act was deafening. the roses were distributed among the pioneers at the close of the exercises by her request. mrs. coonley-ward of chicago gave an eloquent poem, entitled love's rosary, which closed as follows: behold our queen! surely with heart elate at homage given to her love and power, world-famed associate of the wise and great, she is herself the woman of the hour. how kindly have the years all dealt with her! she proves that bible promises are true; she waited on the lord without demur, and he failed not her courage to renew. oft on the wings of eagles she uprose; on mercy's errands have her glad feet run; and yet no sign of weariness she shows; she does not faint, but works from sun to sun. deep in her eyes burn fires of purpose strong; her hand upholds the sceptre of god's truth; her lips send forth brave words against the wrong; glows in her heart the joy of deathless youth. kindly and gentle, learned too, and wise; lover of home and all the ties of kin; gay comrade of the laughing lips and eyes; give us new words to sing your praises in. yet let us rather now forget to praise, remembering only this true friend to greet, as drawing near by straight and devious ways, we lay our hearts--love's guerdon--at her feet. blow, o ye winds across the oceans, blow! go to the hills and prairies of the west! haste to the tropics, search the fields of snow, let the world's gift to her become your quest. shine, sun, through prism of the waterfall, and build us here a rainbow arch to span the years, and hold the citadel of her abiding work for god and man. what is the gift, o winds, that ye have brought? o, sun, what legend shines your arch above? ah, they are one, and all things else are naught, take them, beloved--they are love, love, love! mrs. blatch spoke eloquently for her mother, saying in part: i bring to you, susan b. anthony, the greetings of your friend and co-worker, elizabeth cady stanton, greetings full of gracious memories. when the cause for which you have worked shall be victorious, then as is the way of the world, will it be forgotten that it ever meant effort or struggle for pioneers; but the friendship of you two women will remain a precious memory in the world's history, unforgotten and unforgettable. your lives have proved not only that women can work strenuously together without jealousy, but that they can be friends in times of sunshine and peace, of stress and storm. no mere fair-weather friends have you been to each other. does not emerson say that friendship is the slowest fruit in the garden of god? the fruit of friendship between you two has grown through half a hundred years, each year making it more beautiful, more mellow, more sweet. but you have not been weak echoes of each other; nay, often for the good of each you were thorns in the side. yet disagreement only quickened loyalty. supplementing each other, companionship drew out the best in each. you have both been urged to untiring efforts through the sympathy, the help of each other. you have attained the highest achievement in demonstrating a lofty, an ideal friendship. this friendship of you two women is the benediction for our century. the last and tenderest tribute was offered by the rev. anna howard shaw who said, in rich, musical accents and with a manner which seemed almost to be inspired, what can only be most inadequately reported: a little over a hundred years ago there came men who told us what freedom is and what freemen may become. later women with the same love of it in their hearts said, "there is no sex in freedom. whatever it makes possible for men it will make possible for women." a few of these daring souls went forth to blaze the path. gradually the sunlight of freedom shone in their faces and they encouraged others to follow. they went slowly for the way was hard. they must make the path and it was a weary task. sometimes darkness settled over them and they must grope their way. mott, stanton, stone, anthony--not one retraced her footsteps. the two who are left still stand on the summit, great, glorious figures. we ask, "is the way difficult?" they answer, "yes, but the sun shines on us and in the valley they know nothing of its glory. their cry we hear and are calling back to those who are still in the valley." leader, comrade, friend, no name can express what you are to us. you might have led us as commander, and we might have followed and obeyed, but there still might have been wanting the divine force of unchanging love. we look up to the sunlight where you stand and say, "we are coming." when we shall be fourscore we shall still be calling to you, "we are coming," for you will still be beckoning us on as you climb still loftier heights. souls like yours can never rest in all the eternities of god. then a hush fell on the people and all waited for miss anthony. during the afternoon she had been sitting in a large armchair that was almost covered by her cloak of royal purple velvet which she had thrown over it, the white satin lining forming a lovely background for her finely-shaped head with its halo of silver hair. no one ever had seen her so moved as on this occasion when her memory must have carried her back to the days of bare halls, hostile audiences, ridicule, abuse, loneliness and ostracism by all but a very few staunch friends. "would she be able to speak?" many in the audience asked themselves, but the nearest friends waited calmly and without anxiety. they never had known her to fail. the result was thus described: for a moment after gaining her feet, miss anthony stood battling with her emotions, but her indomitable courage conquered, and she smiled at the audience as it rose to greet her. she wore a gown of black duchesse satin with vest and revers of fine white lace in which were a few modest pinks, while she carried a large bouquet of violets. the moment she began talking the shadow passed from her face and she stood erect, with head uplifted, full of her old-time vigor. "how can you expect me to say a word?" she said. "and yet i must. i have reason to feel grateful, for i have received letters and telegrams from all over the world.[ ] but the one that has touched me the most is a simple note which came from an old home of slavery, from a woman off of whose hands and feet the shackles fell nearly forty years ago. that letter, my friends, contained eighty cents--one penny for every year. it was all that this aged person had.... i am grateful for the many expressions which i have listened to this afternoon. i have heard the grandson of the great frederick douglass speak to me through his violin. i mention this because i remember so well frederick douglass when he rose at the convention where the first resolution ever presented for woman suffrage had his eloquence to help it.... among the addresses from my younger co-workers, none has touched me so deeply as that from the one of darker hue.... nothing speaks so strongly of freedom as the fact that the descendants of those who went through that great agony--which, thank heaven, has passed away--have now full opportunities and can help to celebrate my fifty years' work for liberty. i am glad of the gains the half-century has brought to the women of anglo-saxon birth. and i am glad above all else that the time is coming when all women alike shall have the fullest rights of citizenship. i thank you all. if i have had one regret this afternoon, it is that some whom i have longed to have with me can not be here, especially mrs. stanton. i want to impress the fact that my work could have accomplished nothing if i had not been surrounded with earnest and capable co-workers. then, good friends, i have had a home in which my father and mother, brothers and sisters, one and all, stood at my back and helped me to success. i always have had this co-operation and i have yet one sister left, who makes a home for me and aids my work in every possible way.... i have shed no tears on arriving at a birthday ten years beyond the age set for humanity. i have shed none over resigning the presidency of the association. i am glad to give it up. i do it cheerfully. and even so, when my time comes, i shall pass on further, and accept my new place and vocation just as cheerfully as i have touched this landmark. i have passed as the leader of the association of which i have been a member for so long, but i am not through working, for i shall work to the end of my time, and when i am called home, if there exist an immortal spirit, mine will still be with you, watching and inspiring you. miss anthony's words and manner thrilled every heart and left the audience in a state of exaltation. in the evening, the corcoran art gallery, one of the world's beautiful buildings, was thrown open for the birthday reception. a colored orchestra, under the leadership of mr. douglass, rendered a musical program. president kauffman, of the board of trustees, presented the visitors to the guest of honor, and the birthday committee assisted in receiving. although miss anthony had attended a business meeting in the morning, and been the central figure in the celebration of the afternoon lasting until o'clock, she was so alert, happy and vivacious during the entire evening as to challenge the admiration of all. there was no picture in all that famous collection more attractive than this white-haired woman, robed in garnet velvet, relieved by antique fichu, collar and cuffs of old point lace. the city press said: for two hours, without a moment's intermission, miss anthony clasped hands with those who were presented to her and listened to congratulatory expressions. a number of local organizations of women, and also the entire membership of the washington college of law, for women, attended the reception in a body. on the second floor hung her fine portrait which was presented to the corcoran gallery of art last night by mrs. john b. henderson, wife of the former senator from missouri. the portrait is in oil and represents miss anthony in full profile, attired in black with lace at the throat, and about her shoulders the red shawl which has come to be regarded as the emblem of her office as president of the national association. during the two hours it seemed as if every one who greeted miss anthony had met her at some time or at some place long ago. everybody wanted to stop and converse with her, and in the brief minute they stood before her they plied her with countless questions. in speaking of the event after she had returned to the riggs house, she said: "wasn't it wonderful? it seemed as if every other person in that vast throng had met me before, or that i had during my long life been a visitor at the home of some of their relatives. it was grand. it was beautiful. it is good to be loved by so many people. it is worth all the toil and the heartaches." from a little band apparently leading a forlorn hope, almost universally ridiculed and condemned, miss anthony had increased her forces to a mighty host marching forward to an assured victory. from a condition of social ostracism she had brought them to a position where they commanded respect and admiration for their courageous advocacy of a just cause. the small, curious, unsympathetic audiences of early days had been transformed into this great gathering, which represented the highest official life of the nation's capital and the intellectual aristocracy of all the states in the union. it was a wonderful change to have been effected in the lifetime of one woman, and all posterity will rejoice that the leader of this greatest of progressive movements received the full measure of recognition from the people of her own time and generation. footnotes: [ ] from the founding of the national association in the presidency was usually held by mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, while miss susan b anthony was either vice president, corresponding secretary or chairman of the executive committee, although she sometimes filled the presidential chair. mrs. stanton continued as president until , when she resigned at the age of seventy six. miss anthony was elected that year and held the office until , when she resigned at the age of eighty. mrs. rachel foster avery served as corresponding secretary for twenty one years, from to . her resignation was reluctantly accepted and a gift of $ , was presented to her, the contribution of friends in all parts of the country. the other officers since have been as follows: vice presidents at large, miss anthony, matilda joslyn gage, the rev. olympia brown, phoebe w. couzins, abigail scott duniway and, from , the rev. anna howard shaw, treasurers, jane h. spofford from to , and since then harriet taylor upton, recording secretaries, ellen h. sheldon, julia t. foster, pearl adams, julia a. wilbur, caroline a. sherman, sara winthrop smith, hannah b. sperry and, since , alice stone blackwell, auditors, ruth c. denison, julia a. wilbur, eliza t. ward, ellen m. o'connor, the rev. frederick a. hinckley, harriet taylor upton, the hon. wm. dudley foulke, may wright sewall, ellen battelle dietrick, josephine k. henry, h. augusta howard, annie l. diggs, sarah b. cooper, laura clay, catharine waugh mcculloch. mrs. sewall was chairman of the executive committee from until she resigned in and lucy stone was elected; in she begged to be relieved as she was seventy four years old. the committee was then abolished, its duties being transferred to the business committee. [ ] miss shaw referred to miss lucy e. anthony, who for twelve years had been her secretary and companion. [ ] the most of the numerous gifts were presented during the convention, as related earlier in the chapter. [ ] miss anthony received on this occasion , letters and telegrams, every one of which she acknowledged later with a personal message. chapter xxii. the american woman suffrage association.[ ] _ ._--the american woman suffrage association which was organized in cleveland, ohio, in november, , held its sixteenth annual meeting, november , , at hershey hall, chicago. lucy stone in the _woman's journal_ said: beginning with a good-sized audience, it went on increasing in numbers until the gallery, the stairs and the side aisles were literally packed with people. reports of the work done by auxiliary and other societies came in from maine to oregon and all the way between, showing in some cases very little and in others a great deal of good work. but each one was helpful in its measure to the final success, just as streams of all sizes flow to make great rivers and the seas. there were present some of the oldest workers--dr. mary f. thomas of indiana and mrs. hannah m. tracy cutler of illinois--who, having put their hands to the plow in the beginning of the movement, have never looked back. to supplement and continue the work there were noble and earnest younger women, who came down from minnesota, iowa, wisconsin and michigan and up from ohio, missouri, kansas, indiana and illinois, women who can speak well for the cause and whose reports show that they know how to work well for it, too. it was a joy and a comfort to meet them.... not the least pleasant feature was the cordial friendliness that seemed all-pervasive. troops of women we had never seen came to shake hands.... a bevy of bright girls stood below the platform on the last evening and, looking up, they said: "we are school-girls now, but we are bound to help." the collections more than paid the expenses, and two hundred memberships were taken. all the local arrangements had been admirably made by a committee of influential chicago women.[ ] the city papers gave friendly reports, those of the _inter-ocean_ being especially full. the convention was not expected to open till wednesday evening, but so large a number of delegates and friends met in the hall in the afternoon that an informal meeting was held in advance. mrs. cutler called the assembly to order, and the rev. florence kollock offered prayer. a telegram was read from chief-justice roger s. greene, of washington territory, saying: "be assured that woman suffrage has worked well, done good, and been generally exercised by women at our state election." brief addresses were made by mrs. lucy stone, mrs. mary a. livermore and mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert. dr. mary f. thomas, in the name of the indiana w. s. a., the oldest state association in the country, organized in , presented the association with a bouquet of never fading chrysanthemums. on wednesday evening mrs. helen ekin starrett gave the address of welcome. in referring to the influence of the woman suffrage movement upon the legal status of women, she said that kansas entered the union as a state with women's personal and property rights legally recognized as never before. this was largely because a delegate to the kansas constitutional convention which met in leavenworth, (mr. sam wood), wrote to lucy stone at her home in orange, n. j., asking her to draft a legal form, which she did, with her baby on her knee, and its suggestions were afterwards incorporated in the organic law of that state.[ ] as one result of school suffrage in the hands of women, kansas had the best schools in the united states while the people still lived in cabins. mrs. mary b. clay, of kentucky, president of the association, made a special plea for work in the south, saying in part: alabama has given married women equal property rights with their husbands. this monied equality i regard as one of the most essential steps to our freedom, for as long as women are dependent upon men for bread their whole moral nature is necessarily warped. there never was a truer thought than that of alexander hamilton, when he said, "he who controls my means of daily subsistence controls my whole moral being." i therefore recommend to the southern women particularly the petitioning for property rights, because pecuniary independence is one of the most potent weapons for freedom, and because that claim has less prejudice to overcome.... mississippi also has made equal property laws for women; and arkansas allows married women to hold their own property, and all women to vote on the licensing of saloons within three miles of a church or school-house. a lady writing from there says: "the welcome accorded the law by the women of the state refutes all adverse theories, and establishes the fact that woman's nature possesses an inherent strength and courage which no surroundings can extinguish, and which only need the light of hope and the voice of duty to call them into action." i would recommend that whenever it is possible, we hold our conventions and send our speakers through the south.... henry b. blackwell said: "this is not an anti-man society. suffrage is demanded as much for the sake of men as for the sake of women. what is good for one is good for both;" and mrs. livermore said, "women should have a share in the government because the whole is better than the half." in the annual report of mrs. lucy stone, chairman of the executive committee, she said in part: "during the past year, the chief effort of the society has been directed to aid the work in oregon, where a constitutional amendment had been submitted to the voters. one thousand dollars were raised for this purpose by our auxiliary societies, and forwarded to the oregon woman suffrage association.[ ] the society has also printed and circulated at cost more than , tracts and leaflets." officers for the next year were elected, as follows: president, the hon. wm. dudley foulke, state senator of indiana; vice-presidents-at-large, mrs. mary a. livermore, the hon. george william curtis, n. y.; the hon. george f. hoar, mass.; mrs. mary b. willard, mrs. h. m. t. cutler, ill.; mrs. d. g. king, neb.; mrs. r. a. s. janney, o.; mrs. j. p. fuller, mrs. rebecca n. hazard, mo.; mrs. martha a. dorsett, minn.; mrs. mary j. coggeshall, ia.; mrs. mary b. clay, ky.; foreign corresponding secretary, mrs. julia ward howe; corresponding secretary, henry b. blackwell; recording secretary, mrs. margaret w. campbell; treasurer, mrs. abbie t. codman; chairman executive committee, mrs. lucy stone.[ ] mr. blackwell, chairman of the committee, reported resolutions which were adopted with a few changes as follows: _resolved_, in the words of abraham lincoln, that "we go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens, by no means excluding women;" that a government of the people, by the people, for the people, must be a government of men and women, by men and women, for men and women; and that any other form of government is unreasonable, unjust and inconsistent with american principles. _resolved_, that we rejoice in the triumph of woman suffrage in washington territory; in the continued success of woman suffrage in wyoming; in the exercise of school suffrage by the women of twelve states; in the establishment of municipal woman suffrage by nova scotia and ontario, and in the steady growth of woman suffrage during the past year as shown by more than , petitioners for it in massachusetts, by increased activity in connecticut, new york, ohio, indiana, illinois, wisconsin, kansas, nebraska, kentucky, minnesota and oregon, by the recent formation of an active state association in vermont, and by the presence with us to-day of sixty-six delegates from organized societies in fifteen states. _resolved_, that the american association is non-partisan; that success will be promoted by refusing to connect woman suffrage with any political party, or to take sides as suffragists in any party conflict; but that we will question candidates of all parties for state legislatures, and use every honorable effort to secure the election of suffragists as legislators irrespective of party lines, provided they be men of integrity. _resolved_, that this association expresses its appreciation of the services rendered by the co-workers who since our last meeting have been gathered with the honored dead: mrs. frances d. gage, who from the beginning of our movement until the last week of her life never ceased to do what she could for its success; wendell phillips, who as early as attended a woman's rights convention at worcester, mass., and made an argument which covered the whole ground of statement and defense, and with serene faith advised: "take your part with the perfect and abstract right and trust god to see that it shall prove the expedient." besides these we record the names of kate newell doggett, laura giddings julian, bishop matthew simpson, mrs. l. b. barrett, emily j. leonard and jane gray swisshelm. speaking to the memorial resolution mrs. cutler said: "some years ago i paid a visit to an old and valued friend who had long been an invalid, though never so absorbed in her own suffering as to forget the great needs of her human brothers and sisters. said she, 'if you outlive me, i hope you will say for me that i tried honestly and earnestly to do my duty.' the promise then given i now attempt to fulfil in behalf of mrs. frances dana gage, our beloved 'aunt fanny,' who entered upon her rest nov. , ." mrs. cutler gave a full and appreciative review of mrs. gage's life. dr. mary f. thomas spoke feelingly of her, of mrs. julian and mr. phillips; and mrs. livermore paid a warm tribute to mr. phillips and mrs. doggett. the plan of work adopted was in part as follows: . that the officers of this association memorialize congress in behalf of a sixteenth constitutional amendment prohibiting all political distinctions on account of sex. . that while we do not undervalue any form of agitation, state or national, we hold that practical woman suffrage can at present be best promoted by urging legislative as well as constitutional changes, and by appealing to state as well as national authority; therefore we urge the establishment of active state societies, with their working centers in the state capitals and their corresponding committees in every representative district. . that in every state, at each session of its legislature, petitions should be presented by its own citizens asking for woman suffrage by statute in all elections and for all officers not expressly limited by the word "male" in the state constitution. . that school suffrage having been secured for women by statute in twelve states, our next demand should be for municipal suffrage by statute; also for presidential suffrage by statute, under article , section , par. , of the united states constitution. . and, whereas, in three territories, viz., wyoming, utah and washington, our cause is already won by statutes, therefore a special effort should be made to secure similar statutory action in the remaining territories, viz.: dakota, montana, idaho, arizona and new mexico. addresses were made by the rev. s. s. hunting, mrs. margaret w. campbell of iowa and dr. thomas. mr. foulke, mrs. mary e. haggart of indiana, mrs. livermore and lucy stone addressed the evening meeting, and the singing of the doxology closed a memorable convention. _ ._--the seventeenth annual meeting was held in minneapolis, october - , in the church of the redeemer (universalist), the finest in the city, which was given without charge. here, as the daily papers said, "the most brilliant audiences that ever assembled in minneapolis" gathered evening after evening until the last when crowds of people went away unable to find even standing room. the pulpit steps were occupied, extra seats were brought in, the aisles were crowded, and as far as one could see over the throng that filled the doorway, was another assembly eager to hear what it could. the earnest, interested, assenting faces of the vast audience and their hearty applause attested their sympathy with the ideas and principles expressed. every evening several of the speakers addressed large audiences in st. paul, thus carrying on two series of meetings contemporaneously. the hon. wm. dudley foulke occupied the chair. mayor george a. pillsbury, of minneapolis, gave the address of welcome, which he closed by saying: "our citizens may not all agree with you, yet we recognize the fact that some of the greatest and best minds in the country are engaged in this work. i have never identified myself with your organization but wish you godspeed, and hope to see the time when the women shall stand with the men at the polls." mrs. julia ward howe in responding said: "we are glad to be welcomed for ourselves; we are still more gratified by the welcome extended to our cause. we do not live altogether in our magnificent cities and houses; we all live in houses not made with hands. we have with us some who have devoted their lives to this noble work. they have been building up, stone by stone, a mighty structure, and it is to lay a few more stones that we have gathered here." it had been persistently asserted that mrs. howe and louisa m. alcott had renounced their belief in equal suffrage. mrs. howe was present to speak for herself. miss alcott wrote from concord, mass.: i should think it was hardly necessary for me to say that it is impossible for me ever to "go back" on woman suffrage. i earnestly desire to go forward on that line as far and as fast as the prejudices, selfishness and blindness of the world will let us, and it is a great cross to me that ill-health and home duties prevent my devoting heart, pen and time to this most vital question of the age. after a fifty years' acquaintance with the noble men and women of the anti-slavery cause and the sight of the glorious end to their faithful work, i should be a traitor to all i most love, honor and desire to imitate if i did not covet a place among those who are giving their lives to the emancipation of the white slaves of america. if i can do no more, let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won. most heartily yours for woman suffrage and all other reforms. elizabeth stuart phelps wrote: "with all my head and with all my heart i believe in womanhood suffrage; can i say more for your convention?" and from the rev. james freeman clarke, of boston, "every word spoken for or against our cause helps it forward. i feel that there is a current of conviction sweeping us on toward the day when there shall be neither male nor female, in church or state, but equal rights for all, and the tools to those who can use them." chief-justice greene, of washington territory, sent a careful statistical computation in regard to the women's votes, and said: "my sober judgment, from the best light i have succeeded in getting, is that at our last general election the women cast as full or a fuller vote than the men in proportion to their numbers." mrs. livermore wrote: whatever may be the apparent direction of the ripples on the surface, facts which accumulate daily show us that the cause of woman's enfranchisement progresses with a deep and steady undercurrent. the long, weary, faithful work of the past, covering almost half a century, has resulted in a radical change of public opinion. it has opened to woman the doors of colleges, universities and professional schools; it has increased her opportunities for self-support till the united states census enumerates nearly employments in which women are working and earning livelihoods; it has repealed many of the unjust laws which discriminate against woman; it has given her partial suffrage in twelve states and full suffrage in three territories. courage, then, for the end draws near! a few more years of persistent, faithful work and the women of the united states will be recognized as the legal equals of men; for the goal towards which we toil is the enfranchisement of women, since the ballot is the only symbol of legal equality that is known in a republic. chancellor wm. g. eliot, of washington university, st. louis, wrote: considered as a _right_, suffrage belongs equally to man and woman. they are equally citizens and taxpayers. they share equally in the advantages of good government and suffer equally from bad legislation. they equally need the right of self-protection which the ballot alone can give. in average good, practical sense, wherever fair opportunity is permitted women are equal to men. in moral perception and practice women are at least equal--generally the superiors, if such comparison must be made. there is, therefore, no justification in saying that the right of suffrage, on whatever founded, belongs to man rather than to woman. considered as a _privilege_, little needs to be said on either side.... every citizen is under moral obligation to take part in the social interests and welfare of the community, whether national or municipal. woman equally with man is under that moral law. in a republic she can not rightly be deprived of the opportunity to do her full share as a citizen in all that concerns good government. this seems to be the whole story. i have read with astonishment the arguments (so called) of francis parkman, the rev. brooke herford and mrs. kate gannett wells. they scarcely touch the real merits of the case. dr. mary f. thomas, of indiana, wrote: as i see pictured before me all of you gathered from different parts of this great sisterhood of states to discuss the grand principle of human freedom, i can but compare this assembly with one convened in philadelphia over a hundred years ago with this difference--they declared for the civil and political freedom of all men; you ask to-day that all human beings of sound mind shall enjoy the civil and political rights which they are entitled to by virtue of their humanity. as the judicious management of the family circle requires the combined wisdom and judgment of father and mother, so this great political family, whose interests are identical, can only be consistently managed by the complete representation and concurrence of each individual governed by its laws. it is not necessary for me to show argument for this statement, as your meeting to-day, composed of men and women thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the great truth contained in the declaration of independence, will supply words glowing with fervor that can not be written, that comes with a full conviction of the magnitude of this great question, involving even the perpetuity of our government.... but without other reasons than that it is right, let the united voice of your meeting demand full recognition of the political rights of the women of the nation, so that it may stand before the world exemplifying the meaning of a true republic. after near half a century of earnest, continued pleading we see light breaking in different parts of the political horizon. if it takes half a century more, nay, even longer than that, to establish this truth let us never falter. for we know our cause is just and, as god is just, the eternal principles of right must succeed. among the speakers were mr. foulke, mr. blackwell, mrs. alice pickler of dakota, mrs. cutler, miss bessie isaacs of washington territory, the rev. ada c. bowles of massachusetts, mrs. abigail scott duniway, editor of the _new northwest_, oregon, and from minneapolis mrs. sarah burger stearns, c. h. du bois, editor of the _spectator_, dr. martha g. ripley, the rev. dr. j. h. tuttle, pastor of the church of the redeemer, the rev. kristofer jansen, of the swedish unitarian church, the rev. mr. williams of the city mission, the rev. mr. tabor of the friends' church, the rev. mr. harrington, a visiting universalist minister, and mrs. charlotte o. van cleve, of the bethany home, who spoke of herself and her associates as "the ambulance corps, to pick up and care for the fallen and wounded of their sex." judge norton h. hemiup of minneapolis, read a humorous play in several acts, dramatically representing the venerable widows of ex-presidents and wives of living ones going to the polls in their respective precincts and offering their votes in vain, while those of the late slaves and of men half-drunk and wholly ignorant were received without a question. major j. a. pickler, the chivalrous legislator of dakota, who championed the suffrage bill which passed both houses and was defeated by the veto of gov. gilbert f. pierce, was invited to tell the history of the bill and did so in a vigorous speech. he said its passage was materially aided by the efforts of eastern remonstrants to defeat it, and added: "there are peculiar reasons why our women should have their rights, as they own fully one-fourth of the land and are veritable heroines." during the convention the men and women present from dakota organized an association to carry on the battle for equal rights in that territory. mrs. howe said in her address: while a great deal needs to be said to both men and women on the subject of woman suffrage, i am one who thinks that most needs to be said to women. this is quite natural both because of their timidity in putting themselves forward and because of their frequent ignorance of the principles upon which reform is based. no one could be more opposed to woman suffrage than i was twenty years ago. everything i had read and heard seemed to point in exactly the opposite direction. but at the first meeting i attended i heard lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, elizabeth cady stanton and other pioneers of the cause, found nothing but reasonableness in their speech and their arguments and so was speedily converted. the battle hymn of the republic was then sung by prof. james g. clark, the well-known singer of anti-slavery days, the audience rising and joining in the chorus. mrs. margaret w. campbell of iowa, who was introduced by lucy stone with a history of her many years of devoted work for the cause, said in part: "good men who mean well often say that women are as fit to vote as the ignorant foreigners just landed at castle garden or the freedmen who can not read or write. don't say that any more; you don't know how it hurts. say instead, 'you are as fit to vote as we are.' the names of those who emancipated the slave will be written in letters of gold, but the names of those who have helped to emancipate the women of this nation will be written in letters of living light." the closing address was made by mrs. stone. "her feeling and womanly appeals," said the minneapolis papers, "were such as to move any masculine heart not thoroughly indurated." she said in part: if the question of the right of women to a voice in making the laws they are to obey could be treated in the same common-sense way that other practical questions are treated it would have been settled long ago. if the question were to be asked in any community about to establish a government, "shall the whole people who are of mature age and sound mind have a right to help make the laws they are required to obey?" the natural answer would be that they should have that right. but the fact is that only the men exercise it. if the question were asked, "shall the whole people who are of mature age and sound mind and not convicted of crime have a right to elect the men who will have the spending of the money they pay for taxes?" the common-sense answer would be that they should have that right. but the fact is that only men are allowed to exercise it. so of the special interests of women, their right to settle the laws which regulate their relation to their children, their right to earn and own, to buy and sell, to will and deed, the application of the simple principles of fair play, would have given women equal voice with men in these questions of personal and common interest. but as it is men control it all, whether it is the child we bear, the dollar we earn or the will we wish to make. one would suppose that under a government whose fundamental principle affirms that "the consent of the governed" is the just basis, the consent of the governed women would have been asked for. the only form of consent is a vote and that is denied to women. as a result they are at a disadvantage everywhere. the stigma of disfranchisement cheapens the respect due to their opinions, diminishes their earnings and makes them subjects in the home as they are in the state. the woman suffrage movement means equal rights for women. it proposes to secure fair play and justice. at this convention valuable reports were presented from twenty-six states. of especial interest was that from texas, where mrs. mariana t. folsom had done seven months' work under the auspices of the american w. s. a., giving nearly public addresses in advocacy of equal rights. texas was virgin soil on this subject, and mrs. folsom's description of the conditions she found there was both entertaining and instructive. the old officers were re-elected with but few changes. among the resolutions adopted were the following: the american woman suffrage association, at its seventeenth annual meeting, in this beautiful city of the new northwest, reaffirms the american principle of free representative government, and demands its application to women. "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," and women are governed; "taxation without representation is tyranny," and women are taxed; "all political power inheres in the people," and one-half of the people are women. _resolved_, that women, as sisters, wives and mothers of men, have special rights to protect and special wrongs to remedy; that their votes will represent in a special sense the interests of the home; that equal co-operation of the sexes is essential alike to a happy home, a refined society, a christian church and a republican state. whereas, under the federal constitution, "all persons born or naturalized in the united states are citizens thereof, and of the states in which they reside;" and, by the decision of the united states courts, "women are citizens, and may be made voters by appropriate state legislation;" therefore, _resolved_, that this association regards with satisfaction the acceptance of the claim of anna ella carroll by the united states court of claims, by which the remarkable services of miss carroll in urging the campaign of tennessee, which broke the force of the rebellion and gave success to our armies, will have at last, after more than a score of years, their late reward.[ ] _resolved_, that the association send a deputation to washington in behalf of its memorial to congress to frame a statute prohibiting the disfranchisement of women in the territories, and to co-operate with the national woman suffrage association (at its january meeting) for a sixteenth amendment forbidding political distinctions on account of sex. the great success of this convention was due in large measure to the excellent arrangements made by the friends in minneapolis, especially dr. ripley and mrs. martha a. dorsett. the association sent two delegates, henry b. blackwell and the rev. anna h. shaw, to washington, to urge upon the house committee the duty of congress to establish equal suffrage in the territories. they were given a respectful hearing. _ ._--the eighteenth annual meeting was held in topeka, kan., october - . the morning and afternoon sessions were held in music hall. above the platform hung the beautiful banner of the minnesota w. s. a., sent by dr. martha g. ripley, and at its side was a package of , leaflets for distribution contributed by mrs. cornelia c. hussey of new jersey, which were gladly taken for use in different states. the evening meetings assembled in the hall of the house of representatives, seating , persons; the floor and both galleries were crowded with the best citizens of topeka; all the desks were taken out, making room for more chairs, and even then hundreds of people were turned away. both halls were given free. all the preparations had been admirably made by mrs. juliet n. martin, miss olive p. bray, mrs. s. a. thurston and other topeka women, who had a collation spread in music hall for the delegates on their arrival. the press gave full and cordial reports. lucy stone wrote in the _woman's journal_: we found the editors of the four daily papers all suffragists. among these was major j. k. hudson, who took his first lessons in equal rights on the _anti-slavery bugle_ in ohio and, reared among "friends," was ready to continue the good service he has all along rendered. here, too, we found our old co-worker, william p. tomlinson, who at one time published the _anti-slavery standard_ for wendell phillips and the american anti-slavery society, and who a little later, in his young prime, devoted his time, his money and his strength to the publication of the _woman's advocate_ in new york, of which he was proprietor and editor. he is now editor of the topeka _daily democrat_. mr. b. p. baker, now editor and proprietor of the _commonwealth_, did good service to the woman suffrage cause in in the topeka _record_. mr. mclennan, of the _journal_, is also with us. the whole convention was interspersed with ringing reminiscences of the heroic early history of kansas. mrs. s. n. wood, who in the border ruffian days went through the enemy's lines and at great personal peril brought into beleaguered lawrence the ammunition which enabled it to defend itself, came to the platform to add her good word for equal suffrage. it was a great pleasure to the officers of the association to meet her and the other early kansas workers, many of whom, like mrs. j. h. slocum, of emporia, were old personal friends. mrs. anna c. wait, president of the kansas w. s. a. and editor of the lincoln _beacon_, gave the address of welcome in behalf of the suffragists. referring to the first campaign for a woman suffrage amendment in , when lucy stone and henry b. blackwell spoke in forty-two counties of kansas, mrs. wait said: "nineteen years ago when you came to kansas you found no suffrage societies and even seven years ago you would have found none. to-day, in behalf of the state w. s. a. and its many flourishing auxiliaries, i welcome these dear friends who come to us from the rock-ribbed shores of the atlantic, from the coast of the pacific, from the lakes of the north and from the sunny south, a veritable gathering of the clans of freedom." major hudson, in his address of welcome in behalf of the city, reviewed the history of woman suffrage in kansas, paid a tribute to the work of the pioneer suffragists, and said: we welcome you to kansas, because it has been good battle-ground for the right.... we place the ballot in the hands of the foreigner who can not read or speak our language, and who knows nothing of our government; we enfranchised a slave race, most of whom can not read; and yet we deny to the women of america the ballot, which in their hands would be the strongest protection of this republic against the ignorance and vice of the great centers of our population. give to woman the ballot, and you give her equal pay with men for the same work; you break down prejudice and open to her every vocation in which she is competent to engage; you do more--you give her an individuality, and equal right in life. the president, the hon. william dudley foulke, in his response to the welcome of the suffrage association said: "it gives us great pleasure to visit your beautiful city and fertile state. it gives us pleasure not because your state is fertile and your city beautiful but because it is in these western states that there is most hope of the growth of the woman suffrage movement. the older states are what old age is in the human frame, something that is difficult to change; but where there is young blood there is hope and the progress of a new idea is more rapid." mrs. howe, responding to the welcome of the citizens, said some one had spoken of woman suffrage as a hobby; she questioned whether the opposition to suffrage was not the hobby and suffrage the horse. the discussion of these great questions was doing much to make the women of the country one in feeling, and to do away with sectional prejudices. a most cordial hearing was given to the woman's congress lately held at louisville, ky., and especially to the woman suffrage symposium which occupied one evening. mrs. howe spoke of the wonderful, providential history of kansas, and the way in which a new and unexpected chapter of the country's history opened out from the experience of the young territory. she remembered when the name of kansas was the word which set men's blood at the east tingling. she continued: you men of kansas, you who have been bought with a price, noble men have worked and suffered and died that you might be free. for you charles sumner fell in the senate of the united states. he fell to rise again, but others fell for whom there was no rising. having received this great gift of freedom, pray you go on to make it perfect. you may think that you have a free state, well founded and stable, and that it will stand; but remember that the state, like the church, is not a structure to be built and set up but a living organism to grow and move. its life is progress and freedom. do not think that you can stay this great tide of progress by saying, "thus far shalt thou go and no farther." no such limitation is possible. that tide will oversweep every obstacle set in its way. why, men of kansas, having been so nobly endowed at the beginning, have you let the younger children in the nursery of our dear mother country learn lessons that you have not learned? are the women of wyoming and washington better than your women, and do the men of those territories love their women better than you love yours? you will say "no," with indignation; but remember that love is shown in deeds far more than in words. until you make your women free i must hold that you do not love them as well as those do who have given their mothers and sisters the gift of political enfranchisement. this place is the temple of your liberties; here, if anywhere, should be spoken the words of wisdom and be enacted just and equal laws. however grand the words may be which have been spoken here, may they become grander and better and deeper, until to all your other glories shall be added that of having set the crown of freedom upon the heads of the women of your state! only a few gleanings from the many speeches can be given. professor w. h. carruth, of the kansas state university, said in part: we are likely to meet some good-natured person who will say: "why, yes, i am in favor of woman suffrage, but i don't see that there is any need of it here in kansas. if i were in rhode island or connecticut, where there are so many laws unjust to women, i would petition and work for it; but i don't see that it is worth while to make a fuss about it here." now, what can be said to such a person? weapons are both defensive and aggressive. the ballot has both uses. what would a herdsman say if you told him his sheepfold was all that was needed, and refused to give him a gun? what would the farmer say if you gave him a cultivator but no plough? what would christianity be if it had only the ten commandments and not the golden rule? he who thinks the ballot is given simply as a means of protection--protection in a limited sense, against fraud and violence--has but a limited conception of the duties of american citizenship. the old let-alone theory of government has been found a failure, and instead of it people are coming to think that government is good to do anything that it can do best--just as they have already learned that it is proper for woman to do anything that she can do well. in a word, as mrs. howe said the other evening, the ballot is a means of getting things done which we want done. when your good friend with a kind and prosperous husband, a pleasant home and nothing lacking which better laws could secure for her, says she thinks women are already pretty well treated and she doesn't know that she would care for the ballot, ask her how she would feel if she were a teacher and were expected to work beside a man, equal work and equal time, he to get $ and she $ a month? ask her whether she would not want to have a vote then? isn't this a case, kind mistress of a home, where you should remember those in bonds as bound with them? i very much fear there never will be a time when all the good people in this world can dispense with any effective weapon against wrong. and, beyond this, there are all the offensive, aggressive uses of the ballot. we want a sewer here, a bridge there, a lamp-post or a hydrant yonder. a woman's nose will scent a defective drain where ten men pass it by, but votes get these things looked after. we want a new schoolhouse, or more brains or more fresh air in an old one. don't you know that women will attend to such needs sooner than men? mr. foulke said in part: it is said that woman suffragists are dreamers. there was a time within our memory when human flesh in this our free america was sold at auction. in those days a few earnest men dreamed of a time when our flag should no longer unfurl itself over a slave. inspired by this great vision they bore the persecution and contumely of their fellows. in season and out of season they preached their glorious gospel of immediate and unconditional emancipation. wild visionaries they, incendiaries whose very writings, like the heresies of old, must be consigned to the flames; impracticable enthusiasts, seditious citizens. but lo! the flame of war passed over us and their dream is true; and in the clearer light which shines upon us to-day, we can hardly realize that this great blot upon our civilization could have existed, the time seems so far away. and we of america, we who have reached the summit of the prophecies of centuries past, we dream of new and loftier mountains in the distance. we who have realized in our political institutions a universal equality of men before the law, find that we have only reached the foothills of the greater range beyond. there are men in our midst who are dreaming to-day of a time when mere political equality shall be based upon that broader social and economic equality which is so necessary to maintain it. they dream of a time when each man's reward shall be proportioned to his own exertions and his own desert, and nothing at all shall be due to the accident of birth; dream of a time when bitter, grinding poverty, save as a punishment for idleness, shall no longer exist in a world so full of the bounty of heaven. is it wilder than the dream of him who, under the despotism of the bourbons, could dream of a great people whose birth should be heralded by the cry that all men are created equal? is it wilder than the dream of him who, oppressed by the tyranny of alva, could dream of a day of perfect religious toleration? men talk with contemptuous pity of the dreamer. but he rather is the object of pity who bars the windows and draws the curtains of his soul to shut out the light of heaven that would smile in upon him. let us rather pity the man who fears to utter the divine thought which fills him. let us pity rather that man or that nation which lives in the complacent consciousness of its own virtue and blessedness, and dreams of no higher good than it possesses. he that has a dream of something better than he sees around him, let him tell it though the world smile. he that has a prophecy to utter, let him speak, though men account it his folly as much as they will. god bless the dreamers of all just and perfect dreams! the great wheel of the ages with ever-increasing motion is sure to roll out their accomplishment. the rev. louis a. banks, lately of washington territory, spoke of woman suffrage there. he said: the first fact proved by experience is that women do vote. before the law was enacted, the old objection used to meet us on every hand, "the women do not want to vote"--as though that, if true, were a valid reason. they ought to want to. it is my business to urge men to repent, and i have never supposed it a reason to cease preaching to them because they did not want to repent; they ought to want to. but our experience has proved that women do want to vote. it was universally conceded that in our first general territorial election fully as many women voted in proportion to their numbers as men.... woman's influence as a citizen has been of equal value in the jury-box. experience shows that she is peculiarly fitted for that duty. woe to the gambler who enriches himself by the folly or innocence of the ignorant, and the rum-seller who lures boys into his backroom! woe to the human vultures who prey upon young lives, when they fall into the hands of a jury of mothers!... you who have not hitherto been woman suffragists, why not espouse this cause now, when it is in the full flush of its heroic struggle? when john adams went courting abigail smith, her proud father said to her: "who is this young adams? where did he come from?" abigail answered: "i do not know where he came from and i do not care, but i know where he is going and i am going with him." ladies and gentlemen, you know where we are going; we invite your company for the journey. state senator r. w. blue said: "one of the greatest questions of the day is how to counteract the influence of the vicious vote cast every year in the large cities. i believe the only way to do that is to enfranchise the women." he added that he had worked for the municipal suffrage bill in the preceding legislature, and should do so in the next. president foulke complimented him on his bold and outspoken remarks, and said he thought a man in politics never lost anything by telling the people exactly where he stood on vital issues.[ ] james g. clark, associate editor of the minneapolis _spectator_, was a delegate, and delighted the audience with his equal rights songs. a letter was received from dr. mary f. thomas and, by a rising vote of the convention, it was decided to send her a telegram of greeting and congratulations on her seventieth birthday. letters were read from chief-justice greene of washington territory, and from mrs. margaret bright lucas of england, sister of john and jacob bright; also telegrams from the minnesota w. s. a., from major and mrs. pickler of south dakota, and from others, and reports from the different state societies. chancellor j. a. lippincott, of the state university, invited the association to visit that institution, and mrs. howe and mrs. stone to address the students. mrs. stone wrote in the _woman's journal_: "it was worth the journey to receive the warm welcome which greeted us on every hand, and still more to see the progress the cause has made in the nineteen years that have passed since the first suffrage campaign in kansas. it would not be surprising if municipal suffrage should be secured in this state at the next session of the legislature.[ ] the very air was full of suffrage, even in the midst of the political contest." _ ._--the nineteenth annual meeting was held in association hall, philadelphia, october , november , . the platform had been beautifully decorated with tropical plants and foliage by miss elizabeth b. justice and other pennsylvania friends. the weather was fine, the audience sympathetic and the speaking excellent. state senator a. d. harlan gave the address of welcome in behalf of the pennsylvania w. s. a. president wm. dudley foulke in responding paid a tribute to the senator's good service in the legislature in behalf of a constitutional amendment for equal suffrage. a letter of welcome was read from the venerable and beloved president of the association, miss mary grew, who was kept away by illness. col. t. w. higginson said: i have the sensations of a revolutionary veteran, almost, in coming back to philadelphia and remembering our early suffrage meetings here in that time of storm, in contrasting the audiences of to-day with the audiences of that day, and in thinking what are the difficulties that come before us now as compared with those of our youth. the audiences have changed, the atmosphere of the community has changed; nothing but the cause remains the same, and that remains because it is a part of the necessary evolution of democratic society and is an immortal thing. i recall those early audiences; the rows of quiet faces in quaker bonnets in the foreground; the rows of exceedingly unquiet figures of southern medical students, with their hats on, in the background. i recall the visible purpose of those energetic young gentlemen to hear nobody but the women, and the calm determination with which their bootheels contributed to put the male speakers down. i recall also their too-assiduous attentions in the streets outside when the meeting broke up.... woman suffrage should be urged, in my opinion, not from any predictions of what women will do with their votes after they get them, but on the ground that by all the traditions of our government, by all the precepts of its early founders, by all the axioms which lie at the foundation of our political principles, woman needs the ballot for self-respect and self-protection. the woman of old times who did not read books of political economy or attend public meetings, could retain her self-respect; but the woman of modern times, with every step she takes in the higher education, finds it harder to retain that self-respect while she is in a republican government and yet not a member of it. she can study all the books that i saw collected this morning in the political economy alcove of the bryn mawr college; she can master them all; she can know more about them perhaps than any man of her acquaintance; and yet to put one thing she has learned there in practice by the simple process of dropping a piece of paper into a ballot-box--she can no more do that than she could put out her slender finger and stop the planet in its course. that is what i mean by woman's needing the suffrage for self-respect. then as to self-protection. we know there have been great improvements in the laws in regard to women. what brought about those improvements? the steady labor of women like these on this platform, going before legislatures year by year and asking for something they were not willing to give, the ballot; but, as a result of it, to keep the poor creatures quiet, some law was passed removing a restriction. the old english writer pepys, according to his diary, after spending a good deal of money for himself finds a little left and buys his wife a new gown, because, he says, "it is fit that the poor wretch should have something to content her." i have seen many laws passed for the advantage of women and they were generally passed on that principle. i remember going before the rhode island legislature once with lucy stone and she unrolled with her peculiar persuasive power the wrong laws which existed in that commonwealth in regard to women. after the hearing was over the chairman of that committee, a judge who had served on it for years, said to her: "mrs. stone, all that you have stated this morning is true, and i am ashamed to think that i, who have been chairman for years of this judiciary committee, should have known in my secret heart that it was all true and should have done nothing to set these wrongs right until i was reminded of them by a woman." again and again i have seen that experience. women with bleeding feet, women with exhausted voices, women with wornout lives, have lavished their strength to secure ordinary justice in the form of laws which a single woman inside the state house, armed with the position of member of the legislature and representing a sex who had votes, could have had righted within two years. every man knows the weakness of a disfranchised class of men. the whole race of women is disfranchised, and they suffer in the same way. among the other speakers were the rev. charles g. ames, henry b. blackwell, the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, dr. thomas, mrs. campbell, mrs. mary e. haggart, mrs. frances e. w. harper, the rev. s. s. hunting, miss cora scott pond, the rev. ada c. bowles and mrs. adelaide a. claflin. the chairman of the executive committee, mrs. lucy stone, in her annual report, reviewed the year's activities and continued: but the chief work of the american woman suffrage association during the past year has been to obtain wide access to the public through the newspapers. early in the year correspondence was opened with most of the papers in the united states. the editors were asked whether they would publish suffrage literature if it were sent them every week without charge. more than a thousand answered that they would use what we sent, in whole or in part. accepting this the association has, for the last eight months, furnished , weekly papers with a suffrage column. the cost of it consumes nearly the whole interest of the eddy fund, besides much time and strength gratuitously given. but as these papers come to us week by week containing the suffrage items and articles which through their columns reach millions of readers, we feel that no better use could be made of money or time. the revs. anna h. shaw and ada c. bowles were chosen national lecturers. among the resolutions were the following: we congratulate the legislature of kansas upon its honorable record in extending municipal suffrage last february to the women of that state, and the , women of kansas by whose aid, last april, reformed city governments were elected in every municipality; we hail the national w. c. t. u. as an efficient ally of the woman suffrage movement; we recognize the woman suffrage resolutions of the knights of labor, the land and labor organizations, the third party prohibitionists and other political parties, as evidence of a growing public sentiment in favor of the equal rights of women; we rejoice that two-thirds of the northern senators in the congress of the united states voted last winter for a sixteenth constitutional amendment prohibiting political distinctions on account of sex; we observe an increasing friendliness in the attitude of press and pulpit and the fact that , newspapers now publish a weekly column in the interests of woman suffrage; we are encouraged by more general discussions and more favorable votes of state legislatures than ever before--all indicating a sure and steady progress toward the complete enfranchisement of women. whereas, the woman suffragists of the united states were all united until in the american equal rights association; and whereas, the causes of the subsequent separation into the national and the american woman suffrage societies have since been largely removed by the adoption of common principles and methods, therefore, _resolved_, that mrs. lucy stone be appointed a committee of one from the american w. s. a. to confer with miss susan b. anthony, of the national w. s. a., and if on conference it seems desirable, that she be authorized and empowered to appoint a committee of this association to meet a similar committee appointed by the national w. s. a., to consider a satisfactory basis of union, and refer it back to the executive committees of both associations for final action. a pleasant incident of the convention was the presentation to the audience of mrs. e. r. hunter, of wichita, kan., a real voter. letters of greeting were read from miss matilda hindman of pennsylvania, senator m. b. castle of illinois, mrs. mary b. clay of kentucky, and judge stanton j. peelle of indiana. mrs. stone, the rev. antoinette brown blackwell and mrs. mary a. livermore were elected delegates to the international council of women to be held in washington, d. c., in , with dr. mary f. thomas, miss mary grew and mrs. hannah m. tracy cutler as alternates. after mrs. howe's address on the last evening, the battle hymn of the republic was sung standing, the great assembly joining in the chorus. the officers had the pleasure of visiting bryn mawr college, by invitation of dean m. carey thomas, during the convention. in december of this year, a suffrage bazar was held in boston for the joint benefit of the american w. s. a. and of the state suffrage associations that participated,[ ] which was a success both socially and financially. the _woman's journal_ of december said: music hall is a wonderful sight; the green and gold banner of kansas occupies the place of honor in the middle of the platform, flanked on the left by the great crimson banner of michigan with its motto "neither delay nor rest," and on the right by the blue flag of maine, decorated with a pine branch and cones. the bronze statue of beethoven which has looked calmly down upon so many different assemblages in music hall, gazes meditatively at the kansas table, with a large yellow sunflower which surmounts the kansas banner blazing like a great star at his very feet. next comes the banner of vermont, rich and beautiful, though smaller than the rest, in two shades of blue, with the seal of the state in the center surrounded by wild roses and bearing the motto "freedom and unity." at the extreme right of the platform hangs the banner of pennsylvania, yellow, with heavy crimson fringe and the motto "taxation _with_ representation." on the other side of michigan is a large portrait of wendell phillips, sent by friends in minnesota. at the left are the _woman's journal_ exhibit, press headquarters and a display of exquisite blankets made at the lamoille mills and contributed to the vermont exhibit by the manufacturer, mrs. m. g. minot. all down the hall on both sides and across the middle hang the many banners of the massachusetts local leagues, of all sizes and colors and with every variety of motto and device. at the extreme end hangs the white banner of the state association. this handsome banner, bearing the motto, "male and female created he them, and gave _them_ dominion," was presented to the association by miss cora scott pond and the rev. anna howard shaw, to whose energetic work the success of the bazar was largely due. mrs. livermore, the president of the bazar, made the opening address on the first evening. floor and gallery were filled and scores of yellow-ribboned delegates threaded their way through the smiling crowd. mrs. howe followed, saying in part: addresses this evening are something like grace before meat; they are expected to be short and sweet. the grace is a good thing because it reminds us that we do not live by bread alone but by all the divine words with which the creator has filled the universe. the most divine word of all is justice, and in that sacred name we are met to-night. in her name we set up our tents and spread our banners.... in the suspense in which we have so long waited for suffrage, i sometimes feel as if we were in a dim twilight through which at last a single star sheds its way to show us there is light yet, and then another and another star follow. wyoming was the first, the evening star--we may call her our venus; then came washington territory, and then kansas. what sort of a star shall we call boston? she might aptly be compared to sleepy old saturn, surrounded by a triple ring of prejudice. dr. channing was asked once if he did not despair of harvard college. he replied: "no, i never _quite_ despair of anything." therefore, following his good example, i never quite despair of boston. we want our flag to be full of such stars as those i have mentioned. mrs. lucy stone closed a brief address by saying: "to-morrow will be election day and the papers urge all citizens to go and vote; but there are , women in boston who have the same interest in the city government that men have, and yet can have no voice in the matter. make this bazar a success and so enable us to take massachusetts by its four corners and shake it till it gives suffrage to women." _ ._--the twentieth annual meeting was held in cincinnati, ohio, november - , with large crowds in attendance and much interest shown. the _enquirer_ said: "the audiences may be said to have chestnutized the time-honored assertion that advocates of the ballot for the fair sex are unable to win even womankind to their way of thinking. new faces of ladies of the highest standing in society are seen at every succeeding session. the scottish rite cathedral has rarely or never held as large a number of ladies, and equally rarely has there been present at a meeting of woman suffragists so large a proportion of men." and the _commercial gazette_: "the scottish rite cathedral never held a finer-looking company, composed as it was of a large number of the oldest and best citizens." the hon. wm. dudley foulke presided.[ ] addresses of welcome were made by the hon. alphonso taft and mrs. mcclellan brown, president of the wesleyan woman's college. mrs. julia ward howe responded. in a letter the hon. george william curtis said: "every change in the restrictive laws regarding women is an acknowledgment of the justice of the demand for equal suffrage. the case was conceded when women became property holders and taxpayers in their own right. in every way their interest in society is the same as that of men, and the reason for their voting in school meetings is conclusive for their voting upon the appropriation of other taxes which they pay." u. s. senator george f. hoar wrote: "my belief in the wisdom and justice of the demand that women shall be admitted to the ballot grows stronger every year." in a letter to lucy stone, clara barton wrote: it gives me pain to be compelled to decline your generous invitation to attend your annual meeting, but there is a deep pleasure in the thought that you remembered and desired me to be with you. nowhere would i so gladly speak my little word for woman, her rights, her needs, her privileges delayed and debarred--yet blessed with the grand advance of the last thirty years, the budding and blossoming of the seed sown in darkness, doubt and humiliation, scattered by the winds of conscious superiority and power and the whirlwinds of opposing wrath--as on the green, native soil, the home of the early labors of its sainted citizen, frances d. gage. dear, noble, precious aunt fanny, with the soul so pure and white, the heart so warm, the sympathies so quick and ready, the sensitive, shrinking modesty of self, the courage that scoffed at fear when the needs of others were plead; the friend of the bondman and oppressed, who knew no sect, sex, race or color, but toiled on for freedom and humanity till the glorious summons came! if only five minutes of her clarion voice could ring out in that meeting--mcgregor on his native heath--"'twere worth a thousand men." i pray you, dear friend, whose voice will reach and be heard, try to point out to the younger and later workers of the grand, old state the broad stubble swath of the scythe and the deep blazing of the sturdy axe of this glorious pioneer of theirs--the grandest of them all--whose sleeping dust is an honor to ohio. it is nothing that i am not there; it is much that you will be, who carry back the memories of your girlhood, your school-life, your earliest labors, to lay them on this freely-proffered altar, in a spot where then there was no room for the tired foot, nor scarce safety for the head. the occasion points with unerring finger to the hands on the dial of thirty years in the future. we need not to see it then, for it is given us to foresee it now. god's blessing on this work and on the meeting, and on all who may compose it![ ] henry b. blackwell said in his address: in equal suffrage lies our only hope of a representative government. women are one-half of our citizens with rights to protect and wrongs to remedy. they are a distinct class in society, differing from men in character, position and interest. every class that votes makes itself felt in the government. women will change the quality of government when they vote. they are more peaceable, temperate, chaste, economical and law-abiding than men; less controlled by physical appetite and passion; more influenced by humane and religious considerations. they will superadd to the more harsh and aggressive masculine qualities those feminine qualities in which they are superior to men. and these qualities are precisely what our government lacks. women will always be wives and mothers. they will represent the home as men represent the business interests, and both are needed. this is a reform higher, broader, deeper than any and all others. let good men and women of all sects, parties and opinions unite in establishing a government of and by and for the people--men and women. lucy stone, describing the convention in the _woman's journal_ of december , wrote: the local arrangements had been carefully made by dr. juliet m. thorpe, mrs. ellen b. dietrick and miss annie mclean marsh. the spirit and temper of the meeting were of the best. telegrams of greeting were received from various states, and from far and near came letters from those who were already friends of the cause, and others who wished to learn. one old lady with snow-white locks had come alone forty miles. she was not a delegate and she had no speech to make, but her heart was in the work and she found opportunity to speak words of cheer to those who were in the thick of the fight. one young woman, a busy teacher, came from knoxville, tenn. she wanted to know how to work for suffrage in that state, and said she thought it "the best way to come where the suffrage was." a large supply of leaflets, copies of the _woman's journal_ and of the _woman's column_, were given her, with such advice and instruction as the time permitted. two ladies were there from virginia. this was their first suffrage meeting, but they listened eagerly, subscribed for our periodicals and gladly accepted leaflets. it was a comfort to see by these new recruits how widely the idea of equal rights for women is taking root. at these annual meetings the workers who come from far distant states and territories strengthen each other. the sight of their faces and the warm grasp of their hands serve to renew the strength of those who never have flinched, and who never will flinch till women are secure in possession of equal rights. a number of ladies who came over from kentucky took the opportunity to organize a kentucky equal suffrage association. it is always a matter of regret that the excellent speeches made at these meetings can not be phonographically reported, but it must suffice to say that they covered all the ground, from the principles on which representative government rests, to the teaching of the bible, which miss laura clay, in an able speech, warmly claimed was on the side of equal rights for women. mrs. zerelda g. wallace, that noble mother in israel, agreed with her, though from a different point of view, while frederick douglass claimed that the "eternal right exists independent of all books." the cincinnati press gave noticeably friendly and fair reports. hospitality to delegates was abundant. the sunny side of many of the best people of the queen city was evidently turned toward this meeting. a distinguished member of the hamilton county bar, who had not been thoroughly converted before, said: "when you come again, let me make the address of welcome!" the annual report of the chairman of the executive committee stated that the association had continued to supply with suffrage matter all editors who would use it; and that to save postage this weekly bulletin had been put into the form of a small newspaper, the _woman's column_: its woman suffrage arguments come back to us in papers scattered from maine to california, and reach hundreds of thousands of readers who would not take a paper devoted specifically to this reform.... twenty thousand suffrage leaflets were given to the rev. anna h. shaw, national lecturer for the american w. s. a., whose position as national superintendent of franchise for the w. c. t. u. enables her to use them with great effect; , were made a gift to the ohio centennial exposition at cincinnati with hundreds of copies of the _woman's journal_ and _woman's column_; also many to the exposition at columbus; , leaflets were sent to the meeting of the wisconsin w. s. a. at milwaukee, and to its recent meeting at stevens point; many were sent to the fair at ottumwa, ia.; a large number were distributed at the annual meeting of the national w. c. t. u. in new york, and smaller quantities have been supplied for local use in almost all the states and territories. several friends have made donations of money for this purpose, and there is no way in which money goes further or does more good. in august, the association began the publication of a series of tracts under the title of the _woman suffrage leaflet_. the association has given $ for work in montana, $ in vermont, $ in wisconsin and $ in new york. memorial resolutions were adopted for louisa m. alcott, dr. mary f. thomas and james freeman clarke, d. d. the following committee was chosen to continue the negotiations for union with the national woman suffrage association, which had been entered upon in pursuance of the resolution adopted at philadelphia: the hon. william dudley foulke, indiana; the rev. anna h. shaw, michigan; miss laura clay, kentucky; mrs. margaret w. campbell, iowa; prof. w. h. carruth, kansas; miss mary grew, pennsylvania; the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, new jersey; mrs. sarah c. schrader, ohio; mrs. catherine v. waite, illinois; mrs. may s. knaggs, michigan; miss alice stone blackwell, massachusetts. _ ._--in january these delegates met with those from the national association at the convention of the latter in washington, d. c., and arrangements for the union of the two societies for the following year were practically completed.[ ] in the summer an appeal was addressed by lucy stone, julia ward howe and mary a. livermore to the constitutional conventions which were preparing for statehood in dakota, washington, montana and idaho. it said in part: the undersigned, officers of the american woman suffrage association, though not properly entitled to address your convention, nevertheless ask its courtesy on account of the great interest they feel in the question of the status you will give to women. you, gentlemen, felt keenly the disadvantage you were under when you had only territorial rights. if you will consider how much greater are the disadvantages of a class that is wholly without political rights, you will, we feel sure, pardon our entreaty that in building your new constitution you will secure for women equal political rights with men. the men of the older states inherited their constitutions, with the odious features which the common law imposes upon women. but you are making constitutions. you have the golden opportunity to save your women from all these evils by securing their right to vote in the organic law of the new state. by doing this, over and above the satisfaction which comes from having done a just deed, you will win the gratitude of women for all time, as our fathers won the gratitude of the race when they announced the principle which we ask you to apply. you will also secure the historic credit of being the first men to take the next great step in civilization--a step sure to be taken at no distant day.... edward everett once said, illustrating the effect of small things on character: "the mississippi and the st. lawrence rivers have their rise near each other. a very small difference in the elevation of the land sends one to the ocean amid tropical heat, while the other empties into the frozen waters of the north." so, it may seem a small matter whether you admit or shut out women from an equal share in the government. but if you exclude them you shut out a class of citizens pre-eminently orderly, law-abiding and peaceful, and especially interested in the welfare of the home and the safety of society. if, at the same time, you admit all classes of men, however worthless, provided they are out of prison, and if you make them free to stamp their impress upon the government, in the long run you will find the moral tone of the community lowered and cheapened, and your most sacred institutions imperiled by the dangerous classes to whom you entrusted the power which you denied to orderly and good women. henry b. blackwell, secretary of the association, visited north dakota, montana and washington, and personally labored with the members of the three constitutional conventions. he carried with him letters written expressly for these conventions by governor francis e. warren and u. s. delegate joseph m. carey of wyoming; governor lyman u. humphrey, attorney-general l. b. kellogg, chief justice albert h. horton and all the judges of the supreme court of kansas; u. s. senator henry m. teller of colorado, u. s. senator cushman k. davis of minnesota, governor oliver ames, u. s. senator george f. hoar, william lloyd garrison and others of massachusetts, commending his mission and expressing the hope that the new states would incorporate equal suffrage in their constitutions. copies of these letters were placed in the hands of every delegate. mr. blackwell devoted over a month to the journey and the work in these territories, paying his own expenses and giving them and his services to the american suffrage association. [detailed accounts of these efforts will be found in chapters on these three states.] _ ._--in february the american and the national societies held a convention in washington under the name of the national-american association and this body has continued its annual meetings as one organization. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss alice stone blackwell, editor of _the woman's journal_, boston, mass. for early accounts of this organization see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, chap. xxvi. [editors of history. [ ] mrs. helen ekin starrett, principal of highland park academy; miss ada c. sweet, head of the pension office in illinois; mrs. mary b. willard, of the _union signal_; mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert, of the _inter-ocean_; dr. julia holmes smith, helen k. pierce, mrs. w. o. carpenter, mrs. h. w. fuller, mrs. george harding, mrs. catherine v. waite, mrs. elizabeth loomis and the rev. florence kollock composed the entertainment committee. [ ] mr. wood, in many public addresses made during the first kansas amendment campaign in , attributed this action of the kansas constitutional convention to mrs. stone; but it is certain that other influences contributed to it. [for a further account of these, see history of woman suffrage, vol. , p. . eds.] [ ] massachusetts gave to this fund $ ; pennsylvania, $ . ; indiana, $ ; new jersey, $ ; connecticut, $ ; new hampshire, $ ; ohio, $ ; delaware, $ ; new brunswick, canada, $ . [ ] vice-presidents, ex-officio: mrs. e. n. bacon, me.; mrs. armenia s. white, n. h.; mrs. m. l. t. hidden, vt.; william i. bowditch, mass.; mrs. elizabeth b. chace, r. i.; mrs. emily p. collins, conn.; mrs. mariana w. chapman, n. y.; kate a. browning, n. j.; miss mary grew, penn.; mrs. mary a. heald, del.; mrs. frances m. casement, o.; mary f. thomas, m. d., ind.; miss ada c. sweet, ill.; lucy c. stansell, mich.; sylvia goddard, ky.; mrs. a. e. dickinson, mo.; lizzie d. fyler, ark.; jennie beauchamp, tex.; emma c. bascom, wis.; narcissa t. bennis, ia.; gertrude m. mcdowell, neb.; the hon. charles robinson, kan.; gen. theodore f. brown, col.; jennie carr, cal.; abigail scott duniway, ore.; martha g. ripley, m. d., minn.; the hon. j. w. hoyt, wy. ty.; elizabeth lyle saxon, tenn.; mrs. cadwallader white, ga.; the hon. roger s. greene, wash. ty.; mary j. ireland, md.; caroline e. merrick, la. executive committee: lucy stone, chairman; mrs. c. a. quinby, me.; dr. j. h. gallinger, n. h.; laura moore, vt.; mrs. judith w. smith, mass.; mrs. s. e. h. doyle, r. i.; the hon. john sheldon, conn.; anna c. field, n. y.; cornelia c. hussey, n. j.; john k. wildman, penn.; dr. john cameron, del.; jennie f. holmes, neb.; prof. w. h. carruth, kan.; mary f. shields, col.; sarah knox goodrich, cal.; mrs. n. coe stewart, o.; mary e. haggart, ind.; helen e. starrett, ill.; mrs. geary, va.; jennie a. crane, w. va.; mrs. l. s. ellis, mich.; laura clay, ky.; charlotte a. cleveland, mo.; rhoda munger, ark.; mrs. h. buckner, tex.; helen r. olin, wis.; mary a. work, ia.; laura howe carpenter, minn.; mrs. a. s. duniway, ore.; the hon. j. w. kingman, wy. ty.; mrs. smith of seattle, wash. ty. [ ] congress never could be persuaded to take any action and miss carroll died in poverty and need. [eds. [ ] among the other speakers were lucy stone and henry b. blackwell, of massachusetts; mrs. margaret w. campbell and the rev. s. s. hunting, of iowa; mrs. mary e. haggart, of indiana; the rev. anna howard shaw, of michigan; mrs. laura m. johns, mrs. hammer, mrs. barnes, mrs. annie l. diggs, miss sarah a. brown, mrs. brown of abilene, william p. tomlinson, of the topeka _democrat_; the revs. c. h. lovejoy, h. w. george and dr. mccabe, dr. fisher, judge w. a. peffer, mrs. m. e. de geer call, mrs. martia l. berry, col. a. b. jetmore, j. c. hebbard and hon. c. s. gleed. [ ] this was done. [ ] the american w. s. a. afterwards voted to give to each state the entire amount of its gross sales. [ ] mr. foulke served as president from to . during this time but few changes were made in the official board. in mrs. mary e. haggart (ind.) was added to the vice-presidents-at-large; in dr. mary f. thomas (ind.), j. k. hudson (kas.), the rev. anna howard shaw (mass.); , mrs. may stocking knaggs (mich.); , miss clara barton (d. c.), mrs. zerelda g. wallace (ind.), mrs. phebe c. mckell (ohio). in mrs. martha c. callanan (iowa) was elected recording secretary. the various state auxiliaries made numerous changes in vice-presidents ex-officio and members of the executive committee. [ ] among speakers not elsewhere mentioned were the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, mrs. lucy stone, mrs. sarah c. schrader, mrs. margaret w. campbell, mrs. martha c. callahan, dr. caroline m. dodson, madame calliope kachiya (a greek friend of mrs. howe's), and miss alice stone blackwell. mrs. wessendorf read a poem, and there were songs by the blaine glee club and by miss annie mclean marsh and her little niece, and violin music by miss lucille du pre. [ ] the american woman suffrage association was indebted for state reports during the past years to the following: arkansas, lizzie dorman fyler; california, sarah knox goodrich, elizabeth a. kingsbury, sarah m. severance, fannie wood; connecticut, emily p. collins, abby b. sheldon; dakota, major j. a. pickler, alice m. pickler; delaware, dr. john cameron; illinois, mary e. holmes, catherine g. waugh (mcculloch); indiana, florence m. adkinson, mary s. armstrong, sarah e. franklin, adelia r. hornbrook, mary d. naylor; iowa, mary j. coggeshall, eliza h. hunter, mary a. work, narcissa t. bemis; kansas, prof. w. h. carruth, mrs. m. e. de geer, bertha h. ellsworth; kentucky, mary b. clay, laura clay; maine, the rev. henry blanchard, mrs. c. s. quinby; massachusetts, henry b. blackwell, lucy stone; missouri, rebecca n. hazard, amanda e. dickenson; minnesota, martha angle dorsett, ella m. s. marble, dr. martha g. ripley; michigan, mrs. e. l. briggs, mary l. doe, emily b. ketcham, mrs. h. l. udell, mrs. ellis; new hampshire, armenia s. white, mrs. m. h. ela; new jersey, cornelia c. hussey, therese m. seabrook; new york, lillie devereaux blake, mariana w. chapman, mrs. e. o. putnam heaton, anna holyoke howard, hamilton willcox; nebraska, erasmus m. correll, deborah g. king, lucinda russell, clara albertson young; ohio, lou j. bates, frances m. casement, orpha d. baldwin, s. s. bissell, mary j. cravens, mrs. (dr.) henderson, mrs. m. b. haven, martha m. paine, mary p. spargo, rosa l. segur, cornelia c. swezey; oregon, abigail scott duniway, w. s. duniway; pennsylvania, florence a. burleigh, mary grew, matilda hindman; rhode island, elizabeth b. chace, marilla m. brewster, sarah w. ladd, mary c. peckham, louise m. tyler; tennessee, lida a. meriwether, elizabeth lyle saxon; texas, mariana t. folsom; vermont, laura moore; virginia, orra langhorne; washington territory, bessie j. isaacs; wisconsin, mary w. bentley, alura collins; wyoming, dr. kate kelsey. chapter xxiii. suffrage work in political and other conventions. the chapters thus far have given some idea of the endeavor to secure the ballot for women through national suffrage conventions, which bring together delegates from all parts of the country and send them back to their respective localities strengthened and fortified for the work; and which, through strong and logical arguments covering all phases of the question, given before large audiences, gradually have created a wide-spread sentiment in favor of the enfranchisement of women. there have been described also the hearings before committees of congress, at which the advocates of this measure have made pleas for the submission to the state legislatures of a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution which should prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex, as the fifteenth amendment does on account of color--pleas which a distinguished senator, who reported against granting them, said "surpassed anything he ever had heard, and whose logic if used in favor of any other measure could not fail to carry it" (p. ); and of which another, who had the courage to report in favor, declared, "the suffragists have logic, argument, everything on their side" (p. ). in addition to this national work the following chapters will show that the state work has been continued on similar lines--state and local conventions and appeals to legislatures to submit an amendment to the electors to strike the word "male" from the suffrage clause of their own state constitution. these appeals, in many instances, have been supported by larger petitions than ever presented for any other object. further efforts have been made on a still different line, viz.: through attempts to secure from outside conventions an indorsement of woman suffrage, not only from those of a political but also from those of a religious, educational, professional or industrial nature. this has been desired in order that the bills may go before congress and legislatures with the all-important sanction of voters, and also because of its favorable effect on those composing these conventions and on public sentiment. the idea of asking for recognition from a national political convention was first suggested to mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony in . by their protests against the use of the word "male" in the fourteenth amendment, as described in chap. i of this volume, they had angered the republican leaders, some of whom, even those who favored woman suffrage, sarcastically advised them to ask the democrats for indorsement in their national convention of this year and see what would be the response. these two women, therefore, did appear before that body, which dedicated the new tammany hall in new york city, on july . an account of their insulting reception may be found in the history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. , and in the life and work of susan b. anthony, p. . they, with abby hopper gibbons, daughter of isaac t. hopper, and elizabeth smith miller, daughter of gerrit smith, previously had sent an earnest letter to the national republican convention which had met in chicago in june, asking in the name of the women who had rendered the party such faithful service during the civil war, that it would recognize in its platform their right to the suffrage, but the letter received no notice whatever. from that year until the present a committee of women has attended every national convention of all the parties, asking for an indorsement or at least a commendation of their appeal for the franchise. sometimes they have been received with respect, sometimes with discourtesy, and occasionally they have been granted a few minutes to make their plea before the committee on resolutions. in but a single instance has any one of these women, the most eminent in the nation, been permitted to address a republican convention--at cincinnati in . twice this privilege has been extended by a democratic--at st. louis in and at cincinnati in . a far-off approach to a recognition of woman's claim was made by the national republican convention at philadelphia in , in this resolution: the republican party, mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of america, expresses gratification that wider avenues of employment have been opened to woman, and it further declares that her demands for additional rights should be treated with respectful consideration. again in the national convention, held in cincinnati, adopted the following: the republican party recognizes with approval the substantial advance recently made toward the establishment of equal rights for women by the many important amendments effected by the republican (!) legislatures, in the laws which concern the personal and property relations of wives, mothers and widows, and by the election and appointment of women to the superintendence of education, charities and other public trusts. the honest demands of this class of citizens for additional rights, privileges and immunities should be treated with respectful consideration. in , ' , ' and ' the women were wholly disregarded. the national platform of , however, contained this plank: we recognize the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful citizen to cast one free ballot in all public elections and to have that ballot duly counted. the leaders of the woman suffrage movement at once telegraphed to chicago to the chairman of the convention, the hon. morris m. estee, asking if this statement was intended to include "lawful women citizens," and he answered, "i do not think the platform is so construed here." a letter was addressed to the presidential candidate, gen. benjamin harrison, begging that in his acceptance of the nomination, he would interpret this declaration as including women, but it was politely ignored. in miss anthony appeared before the resolutions committee of the national convention in minneapolis and in an address of thirty minutes pleaded that women might have recognition in its platform. at the close many of the members assured her of their thorough belief in the justice of woman suffrage, but said frankly that "the party could not carry the load."[ ] the following was the suffrage plank in its platform that year: we demand that every citizen of the united states shall be allowed to cast one free and unrestricted ballot in all public elections, and that such ballot shall be counted as cast; that such laws shall be enacted and enforced as will secure to every citizen, be he rich or poor, native or foreign, white or black, this sovereign right guaranteed by the constitution. the free and honest popular ballot, the just and equal representation of all the people, as well as their just and equal protection under the laws, are the foundation of our republican institutions, and the party will never relax its efforts until the integrity of the ballot and the purity of elections shall be guaranteed and protected in every state. but not once during the campaign did the party speakers or newspapers apply this declaration to the women citizens of the united states. in , when the prospects of success seemed certain enough to justify the party in assuming some additional "load," the women made the most impassioned appeal to the committee at the st. louis convention, with the following remarkable result: the republican party is mindful of the rights and interests of women. protection of american industries includes equal opportunities, equal pay for equal work, and protection to the home. we favor the admission of women to wider spheres of usefulness, and welcome their co-operation in rescuing the country from democratic mismanagement and populist misrule. a whole plank to exploit republicanism and a small splinter to cajole the women, who had not asked for the suffrage to "rescue" or to defeat any political party! no democratic national platform ever has recognized so much as the existence of women, in all its grandiloquent declarations of the "rights of the masses," the "equality of the people," the "sovereignty of the individual" and the "powers inherent in a democracy." the populists at the beginning of their career sounded the slogan, "equal rights to all, special privileges to none," and many believed that at length the great party had arisen which was to secure to women the equal right in the suffrage which thus far had been the special privilege of men. full of joy and hope there went to the first national convention of this party, held in omaha, july , , susan b. anthony and the rev. anna howard shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the national suffrage association. to their amazement they were refused permission even to appear before the committee on resolutions, a courtesy which by this time was usually extended at all political conventions. the platform contained no woman suffrage plank and no reference to the question except that in the long preamble occurred this sentence: we believe that the forces of reform this day organized will never cease to move forward until every wrong is righted, and equal rights and equal privileges securely established for all the men and women of this country. in the populist national convention in st. louis effected its great fusion with the democrats, and the political rights of women were hopelessly lost in the shuffle. by the organization was thoroughly under democratic control, and the expectations of women to secure their enfranchisement through this "party of the people," created to reform all abuses and abolish all unjust discriminations, vanished forever. it must be said to its credit, however, that during its brief existence women received more recognition in general than they ever had had from the old parties. they sat as delegates in its national and state conventions and served on national and state committees; they were employed as political speakers and organizers; and they were elected and appointed to official positions. various state and county conventions declared in favor of enfranchising women, the majority of the legislators advocated it, and there is reason to believe that in those states where an amendment to secure it was submitted, individual populists very largely voted for it. the prohibition national conventions many times have put a woman suffrage plank in their platforms, and women have served as delegates and on committees. the woman's christian temperance union forms the bulwark of this party, and, like its distinguished president, miss frances e. willard, her successor, mrs. lillian m. n. stevens, is an earnest advocate of the enfranchisement of women, which is also true of the vast majority of its members, so it has not been necessary for the woman suffrage association to send delegates to the national conventions, although it has occasionally done so. these have frequently failed, however, to adopt a plank declaring for woman suffrage, the refusal to do so at pittsburg in being a principal cause of the division in the ranks which took place at that time. the greenback party, the labor party, the various socialist parties, and other reform organizations of a political character have made unequivocal declarations for woman suffrage and welcomed women as delegates. whether they would do so if strong enough to have any hope of electing their candidates must remain an open question until practically demonstrated.[ ] women have served a number of times as delegates in the national conventions of most of the so-called third parties. in they appeared for the first time at a republican national convention, serving as alternates from wyoming. in women alternates were sent from utah to the democratic national convention. in mrs. w. h. jones went as delegate from that state to the republican, and mrs. elizabeth cohen to the democratic national convention, and both discharged the duties of the position in a satisfactory manner. mrs. cohen seconded the nomination of william j. bryan. a newspaper correspondent published a sensational story in regard to her bold and noisy behavior, but afterwards he was compelled to retract publicly every word of it and admit that it had no foundation. doubtless miss anthony has attended more political conventions to secure recognition of the cause which she represents than any other woman, and also has presented the subject to more national conventions of various associations. in early days this was because she was one of the few who had the courage to take this new and radical step, and also because she was the only one who made the suffrage the sole object of her life and was ready and willing to work for it at all times and under all circumstances. in later days her name has carried so much weight and she is so universally respected that she has been able to obtain a hearing and often a resolution where this would be difficult if not impossible for other women. however, in national and state work of this kind she has had the valuable co-operation of the ablest women of two generations. in no way can the scope and extent of these efforts be better understood than by reviewing miss anthony's report to the national suffrage convention of , as chairman of the committee on convention resolutions. it is especially interesting as a fair illustration of the vast amount of work which women have been doing in this direction for the past thirty years. after stating that the names and home addresses of most of the delegates to all the national political conventions of were obtained, miss anthony submitted copies of four letters of which , were sent in june from the national suffrage headquarters in new york, signed by herself and the other members of the committee--carrie chapman catt, anna howard shaw, ida husted harper and rachel foster avery. (to the republican delegates.) the undersigned committee, appointed by the national-american woman suffrage association, beg leave to submit to you, as delegate to the approaching republican convention, the enclosed memorial. the republican party was organized in response to the demand for human freedom. its platform for the last forty years has been an unswerving declaration for liberty and equality. animated by the spirit of progress, it has continued to enlarge the voting constituency from time to time, thus acknowledging the right of the individual to self-representation. this principle was embodied in the plank adopted at the chicago convention of , and has been often reaffirmed: "we recognize the supreme and sovereign right of every lawful citizen to cast one free ballot in all public elections and have that ballot duly counted." we appeal to the republican party to sustain its record by applying this declaration to the lawful women citizens of the united states. you will observe that this petition does not ask you to endorse the enfranchisement of women, but simply to recommend that congress submit this question to the decision of the various state legislatures. in the name of american womanhood we ask you to use every means within your power to bring this matter to a discussion and affirmative vote in your convention. * * * * * (to the democratic delegates.) since its inception the democratic party has had for its rallying cry the immortal words of thomas jefferson, "no taxation without representation," "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." under this banner wage-earning men, native and foreign, were endowed with the franchise, by which means alone an individual can represent himself or consent to his government, and by this act the party was kept in power for nearly sixty years. at the close of the eighteenth century this was a broad view for even so great a leader to take. in this closing year of the nineteenth century it would show an equally progressive spirit if his loyal followers would carry these splendid declarations to their logical conclusion and enfranchise women. * * * * * (to the populist delegates.) at the very first national convention of the people's party, held at omaha in , the preamble of their platform declared that "equal rights and privileges must be securely established for all the men and women of the country." in the majority of state conventions held since that time there has been specific recognition of equal political rights for women. by admitting women as delegates in their representative assemblies and by appointing them to state and local offices, the populists have put into practice this fundamental principle of their organization. therefore, in asking you to give your influence and vote in favor of this petition, we are proposing only that you shall reaffirm your previous declarations. * * * * * (to the prohibition delegates.) judging from the honorable record made by your party upon this subject, we have every reason to hope that you will give your influence and your vote in favor of the petition contained herein. in the democratic letter was enclosed an open letter from gov. charles s. thomas (dem.) of colorado, setting forth in the strongest manner the advantages of woman suffrage, and in all was placed favorable testimony from prominent men of the respective states, accompanied by the following memorial. the latter was mailed also to every member of the resolutions committees, and , copies were sent to editors and otherwise circulated throughout the country. memorial to the national presidential convention of . gentlemen: you are respectfully requested by the national-american woman suffrage association to place the following plank in your platform: _resolved_, that we favor the submission by congress, to the various state legislatures, of an amendment to the federal constitution forbidding disfranchisement of united states citizens on account of sex. the chief contribution to human liberty made by the united states is the establishment of the right of personal representation in government. in other countries suffrage often has been called "the vested right of property," and as such has been extended to women the same as to men. our country at length has come to recognize the principle that the elective franchise is inherent in the individual and not in his property, and this principle has become the corner-stone of our republic. up to the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the application of this great truth has been made to but one-half the citizens. the women of the united states are now the only disfranchised class, and sex is the one remaining disqualification. a man may be idle, corrupt, vicious, utterly without a single quality necessary for purity and stability of government, but through the exercise of the suffrage he is a vital factor. a woman may be educated, industrious, moral and law-abiding, possessed of every quality needed in a pure and stable government, but, deprived of that influence which is exerted through the ballot, she is not a factor in affairs of state. who will claim that our government is purer, wiser, stronger and more lasting by the rigid exclusion of what men themselves term "the better half" of the people? every argument which enfranchises a man, enfranchises a woman. there is no escape from this logic except to declare sex the just basis of suffrage. but this position can not be maintained in view of the fact that women already have full suffrage in wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho, municipal suffrage in kansas, school suffrage in twenty-five states, a vote on tax levies in louisiana, on bond issues in iowa, and on minor questions in various other states. they have every franchise except the parliamentary in england, scotland and ireland, the full ballot in new zealand and south and west australia, and some form of suffrage in every english colony. in a large number of the monarchical countries certain classes of women vote. on this fundamental question of individual sovereignty surely the united states should be a leader and not a follower. the trend of the times is clearly toward equal suffrage. it will add to the credit and future strength of any party to put itself in line with the best modern and progressive thought on this question. in the division of the world's labor an equal share falls to woman. as property holder and wage-earner her material stake in the government is equal to that of man. as wife, as mother, as individual, her moral stake is certainly as great as his. the perpetuity of the republic depends upon the careful performance of the duties of both. one is just as necessary as the other to the growth and prosperity of the country. all of these propositions are self-evident, but they are wholly foreign to the question at issue. the right of the individual to a vote is not founded upon the value of his stake in government, upon his moral character, his business ability or his physical strength, but simply and solely upon that guarantee of personal representation which is the essence of a true republic, a true democracy. the literal definition of these two terms is, "a state in which the sovereign power resides in the whole body of the people and is exercised by representatives elected by them." by the declaration of independence, by the rules of equity, by the laws of justice, women equally with men are entitled to exercise this sovereign power, through the franchise, the only legal means provided. but whatever may be regarded as the correct basis of suffrage--character, education, property, or the inherent right of the person who is subject to law and taxation--women possess all the qualifications required of men. at this dawn of a new century are not the sons of the revolutionary fathers sufficiently progressive to remove the barriers which for more than a hundred years have prevented women from exercising this citizen's right? we appeal to this great national delegate body, representing the men of every state, gathered to outline the policy and select the head of the government for the next four years, to adopt in your platform a declaration approving the submission by congress of an amendment enfranchising women. we urge this action in order that the question shall be carried to the various legislatures, where women may present their arguments before the representative men, instead of being compelled to plead their cause before each individual voter of the forty-one states where they are still disfranchised. we make this earnest appeal on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of women who, from year to year, have petitioned congress to take the action necessary for their enfranchisement; and of those millions who are so engrossed in the struggle for daily bread, or in the manifold duties of the home, that they are compelled to leave this task to others. we make it also on behalf of the generations yet to come, for there will be no cessation of this demand until this highest privilege of citizenship has been accorded to women. elizabeth cady stanton, } honorary presidents. susan b. anthony, } carrie chapman catt, president. harriet taylor upton, anna howard shaw, treasurer. vice-president-at-large. laura clay, rachel foster avery, first auditor. corresponding secretary. catharine waugh mcculloch, alice stone blackwell, second auditor. recording secretary. headquarters, national-american woman suffrage association, american tract society building, new york city. four women were permitted to appear before a sub-committee of the committee on platform at the republican national convention at philadelphia, in . they met with a polite but chilly reception and were informed that they could have ten minutes to present their case. this time was occupied by the president and the vice-president-at-large in concise but forcible arguments on the duty of the party to recognize their claim for enfranchisement. the platform eventually contained the following plank: we congratulate the women of america upon their splendid record of public service in the volunteer aid association, and as nurses in camp and hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies in the eastern and western indies, and we appreciate their faithful co-operation in all works of education and industry. in other words, being asked to recognize women as political factors, the committee responded by commending them as nurses! this plank was written by mrs. j. ellen foster, who as president of the woman's national republican league and a campaign speaker, has done far more for the party than any other woman, and originally it ended with this clause: "we regard with satisfaction their unselfish interest in public affairs in the four states where they have already been enfranchised, and their growing interest in good government and republican principles." but even so small a recognition as this of women in political life was ruthlessly struck out by the committee. mrs. chapman catt and miss mary g. hay attended the democratic national convention at kansas city and were not allowed to address any committee, but the platform contained the declaration of independence as its preamble! the populist national platform adopted at sioux city did not contain even a reference to women or their rights and privileges. the prohibition convention followed its action of and put no woman suffrage plank in its platform. a separate resolution was passed expressing a favorable regard but carrying no official weight. the only national political convention in which adopted a plank declaring for the enfranchisement of women was that of the social-democratic party at indianapolis. in not one of the four largest parties were the delegates in convention given so much as an opportunity to discuss and vote on a resolution to enfranchise women. all these heroic efforts, all these noble appeals, had not the slightest effect because made by a class utterly without influence by reason of this very disfranchisement which it was struggling to have removed. at every political convention all matters of right, of justice, of the eternal verities themselves, are swallowed up in the one all-important question, "will it bring party success?" and to this a voteless constituency can not contribute in the smallest degree, even though it represent the ten commandments, the sermon on the mount, the golden rule, the magna charta and the declaration of independence. paradoxical as it may seem, notwithstanding the refusal of the resolutions committees of all these national bodies to grant even an indirect recognition of woman suffrage in their platforms, its advocates never before found such a general sentiment in its favor among the individual delegates. in a number of instances they were told that a poll of delegations had shown a majority of the members to be ready to vote for it. it was demonstrated beyond doubt that the rank and file of the delegates, if freed from hostile influences among their constituents and granted the sanction of the political leaders, could be won to a support of the measure, but that at present it must wait on party expediency. as every campaign brings with it national issues on which each party makes a fight for its life, and which it fears to hamper by any extraneous questions; as the elements most strongly opposed to the enfranchisement of women not only are fully armed with ballots themselves but are in complete control of an immense force similarly equipped; and as the vote of women is so problematical that none of the parties can claim it in advance, it is impossible to foresee when and how they are to obtain political freedom. the one self-evident fact is, however, that in order to win it they must be supported by a stronger public sentiment than exists at present, and that this can be secured only through a constant agitation of the subject. a return to miss anthony's report will illustrate other methods adopted to bring this question to the attention of the public. "during the year i have also sent petitions and letters to more than one hundred national conventions of different sorts--industrial, educational, charitable, philanthropic, religious and political.[ ] below are the forms of petition:" _to the senate and house of representatives of the fifty-sixth congress of the united states:_ the undersigned on behalf of (naming the association) in annual convention assembled at ......, ......, , and representing fully ...... members, respectfully ask for the prompt passage by your honorable body of a _sixteenth amendment_ to the federal constitution, to be submitted to the legislatures of the several states for ratification, prohibiting the disfranchisement of united states citizens on account of sex. ................, president. ................, secretary. _to the senate and house of representatives of the fifty-sixth congress of the united states:_ whereas, the trend of civilization is plainly in the direction of equal rights for women, and whereas, woman suffrage is no longer an experiment, but has been clearly demonstrated to be beneficial to society; therefore, _resolved_, that we, on behalf of [as above], do respectfully petition your honorable body not to insert the word "male" in the suffrage clause of whatever form of government you shall recommend to hawaii, cuba, porto rico or any other newly-acquired possessions. we ask this in the name of justice and equality for all citizens of a republic founded on the consent of the governed.[ ] "a number of large associations adopted these and returned them to me duly engrossed on their official paper, signed by the president and secretary and with their seal affixed; and i forwarded all to the senators and representatives whom i thought most likely to present them to congress in a way to make an impression. "the general federation of labor at detroit was the first to respond. i was invited to address its annual convention and, after i had spoken, the four hundred delegates passed a resolution of thanks to me, adopted the above petition for the sixteenth amendment by a rising vote, and ordered their officers to sign it in the name of their one million constituents. "the national building trades council at milwaukee had an able discussion in its annual meeting, based on my letter, and adopted both petitions. this body has half a million members. "the bricklayers' and masons' international union of america was held in rochester, and invited me to address the delegates. they received me with enthusiasm, passed strong woman suffrage resolutions and signed both petitions. afterwards a stenographic report of my speech, covering two full pages of their official organ, _the bricklayer and mason_, was published with an excellent portrait of myself, thus sending me and my argument to each one of their more than sixty thousand members, all of whom subscribe to this paper as part of their dues to the union. "the national grange, which has indorsed woman suffrage for so many years, adopted the resolutions and petitions. "at the federation of commercial schools of the united states and canada, which met in chicago, my letter was read, the question was thoroughly discussed and the suffrage petitions were adopted almost unanimously. "the columbia catholic summer school, held at detroit, gave a hearing to our national president, mrs. chapman catt, at which she is said to have made many converts. a strong suffrage speech was made by the rev. father w. j. dalton, and other prominent members expressed themselves in favor. "the contents of my letters to religious and educational bodies can readily be imagined, and one which was sent to the united states brewers' association, in convention at atlantic city, n. j., may be cited as an example of the subject-matter of those to other organizations: gentlemen: as chairman of the committee appointed by our national suffrage association to address letters to the large conventions held this year, allow me to bring before you the great need of the recognition of women in all of the rights, privileges and immunities of united states citizenship. though your association has for its principal object the management of the great brewing interests of this country, yet i have noted that you have adopted resolutions declaring against woman suffrage. i therefore appeal to you, since the question seems to come within the scope of your deliberations, to reverse your action this closing year of the century, and declare yourselves in favor of the practical application of the fundamental principles of our government to all the people--women as well as men. whatever your nationality, whatever your religious creed, whatever your political party, you are either born or naturalized citizens of the united states, and because of that are voters of the state in which you reside. will you not, gentlemen, accord to the women of this nation, having the same citizenship as yourselves, precisely the same privileges and powers which you possess because of that one fact? the only true principle--the only safe policy--of a democratic-republican government is that every class of people shall be protected in the exercise of the right of individual representation. i pray you, therefore, to pass a resolution in favor of woman suffrage, and order your officers, on behalf of the association, to sign a petition to congress for this purpose, and thereby put the weight of your influence on the side of making this government a genuine republic. should you desire to have one of our best woman suffrage speakers address your convention, if you will let me know as soon as possible, i will take pleasure in arranging for one to do so. "this was read to the convention, and the secretary, gallus thomann, thus reported its action to me: mr. obermann [ex-president of the association and one of the trustees] voicing the sentiments of the delegates, spoke as follows: "miss susan b. anthony is entitled to the respect of every man and woman in this country, whether agreeing with her theories or not. i think it but fair and courteous to her that the secretary be instructed to answer that letter, and to inform miss anthony that this is a body of business men; that we meet for business purposes and not for politics. furthermore, that she is mistaken and misinformed so far as her statement is concerned that we have passed resolutions opposing woman suffrage. _we have never taken such action at any of our conventions or on any other occasion._ i submit this as a motion." the motion was unanimously adopted, and that part of mr. obermann's remarks which related to the respect due miss anthony was loudly and enthusiastically applauded. to the sentiment thus expressed, permit me, dear miss anthony, to add personally the assurance of my highest esteem. "among the results of the work with state conventions it may be mentioned that the georgia federation of labor, the minnesota federation of labor, the state teachers' association of washington and the new york state grange signed the petitions and passed the resolutions. "as another branch of the work, copies of these two petitions were sent to each of the forty-five states and three territories, with letters asking the suffrage presidents, where associations existed, and prominent individuals in the few states where they did not, to make two copies of each petition on their own official paper, sign them on behalf of the suffragists of the state, and return them to me to be sent to the members of congress from the respective districts. this was done almost without exception and these petitions were presented by various members, one copy in the senate and one in the house. of all the state petitions, the most interesting was that of wyoming, which, in default of a suffrage association (none being needed) was signed by every state officer, from the governor down, by several united states officials, and by many of the most influential men and women. with it came a letter from the wife of ex-u. s. senator joseph m. carey, who collected these names, saying the number was limited only by the brief space of time allowed. "in all, more than two hundred petitions for woman suffrage from various associations were thus sent to congress in , representing millions of individuals. many cordial responses were received from members, and promises of assistance should the question come before congress, but there is no record of the slightest attempt by any member to bring it before that body. "in doing this work i wrote fully a thousand letters to associations and individuals, in all of which i placed some of our best printed literature. there was a thorough stirring up of public sentiment which must have definite results in time, for it should not be forgotten that in addressing conventions we appeal to the chosen leaders of thought and work from many cities and states, and so set in motion an ever-widening circle of agitation in countless localities." a most valuable means of educating public sentiment is the securing of a woman's day at chautauqua assemblies and state and county fairs, when good speakers present the "woman question" in its various phases, including always the need for enfranchisement. the rev. anna howard shaw and mrs. chapman catt, the leading orators of the country, have addressed chautauquas in all parts of the united states, as well as countless other large gatherings which have no connection with suffrage, being thus enabled to propagate the principle over a vast area. it can be seen from the above résumé that the ground of effort is widely extended and that the harvest is ripening, but alas, there is a constant repetition of the old, old cry, "the laborers are few." one can only repeat what has often been said, that never before were such results as can be seen on every hand in the improved conditions for women and the advanced public sentiment in favor of a full equality of rights, accomplished by so small a number of workers and under such adverse conditions. perhaps this will continue to be said even unto the end, but their labors will know neither faltering nor cessation until the original object, as announced over fifty years ago, has been attained, viz.: the full enfranchisement of women. footnotes: [ ] see life and work of susan b. anthony, p. . [ ] for the names of the women who have addressed the national conventions and resolutions committees of the various parties in the effort to obtain an indorsement of woman suffrage, and for a full account of their reception, of the memorials presented and the results which followed, the reader is referred to the history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, pp. and ; vol. iii, pp. and ; and for many personal incidents, to the life and work of susan b. anthony in the chapters devoted to the years of the various presidential nominating conventions, beginning with . mrs. lillie devereux blake, from the national suffrage association, and henry b. blackwell and mrs. j. ellen foster, as republicans, presented the question to the resolutions committee of the national republican convention of in st. louis, above referred to; dr. julia holmes smith, accompanied by a committee of ladies, to that of the national democratic convention in chicago that year. [ ] miss anthony sent a special letter to each of these bodies worded to appeal particularly to the interests it represented. [ ] for the answer to this petition see chap. xix. chapter xxiv. the rights of women in the states. the preceding chapters have been devoted principally to efforts made in behalf of women by the national-american suffrage association through its conventions, committees, officers, speakers, organizers and members. contemporaneous with this line of action there has been for a number of years a similar movement in the respective states carried forward through their associations auxiliary to the national, their committees, officers, speakers, organizers and individual membership. each of the two divisions has been largely dependent upon the other, the states forming the strength of the national body, the latter extending assistance to the states whenever a special campaign has been at hand or help has been needed in organizing, convention or legislative work. the following chapters are confined wholly to the situation in the various states and are subdivided into organization, legislative action, laws, suffrage, office-holding, occupations and education. their object is to give a general idea of the status of woman at the close of the nineteenth century and the manifold changes of which it is the result. it is desired also to put on record the part which women themselves have had in the steady advance which will be observed. the account of only the past seventeen years is given, as the three preceding volumes of this history relate in detail the pioneer work and the gains made previous to . unfortunately it is inevitable in a recital of this kind that many names should be omitted which are quite as worthy of mention as those that find place, for in some instances the records are imperfectly kept and in others the list is so long as to forbid reproduction.[ ] it has been necessary to bar compliments in order to avoid unjust discrimination and to meet the demands of limited space. to posterity the work is of more importance than the workers, and those who have engaged in the efforts to improve the condition of women necessarily have had to possess a spirit of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice which neither expected nor desired personal rewards. the subject of organization in most of the states is treated in the briefest possible manner, the intention being merely to show that in every state and territory there has been some attempt to gather into a working force the scattered individuals who believe in the justice of woman suffrage and wish to obtain it. more extended mention of course is due to the older states, where there has been continuous organized work for many years, and where the societies have remained intact and held their regular meetings in spite of such defeats and discouragements as never have had to be faced by any other cause. it is most difficult to form and maintain an association which has not a concrete object to labor for, and when a campaign for an amendment is not actually in progress, the suffrage in the distant future appears largely as an abstraction. the early days of the movement necessarily had to be given to creating the sentiment which would later be organized, and it is only within the past decade that the time has seemed ripe for systematic effort in this direction. the lack of effective organization has been a serious but unavoidable weakness which henceforth will be remedied as speedily and thoroughly as possible. it is a favorite argument of the opponents of woman suffrage that the many gains of various kinds have not been due to the efforts of women themselves. under the head of legislative action will be found the dates and figures to prove that, year after year, in almost every state, women have gone to the legislatures with appeals for every concession which has been granted and many more which have been refused. the bills presented by the woman's christian temperance union have not been specifically included because they are fully recorded in the publications of that body, and because this volume is confined almost exclusively to the one subject of enfranchisement. while the suffrage associations have directed their legislative efforts principally to secure action for this purpose, individual members have joined the w. c. t. u. innumerable times in its attempts to obtain other bills of advantage to women and children, and in some instances this has been done officially by the associations. among various measures in which the two organizations have united may be mentioned the raising of the "age of protection" for girls; the securing of women physicians in all institutions where women and children are confined, and women on the boards of all such; women city physicians; matrons at jails and station houses; better conditions for working women; the abolition of child-labor; industrial schools for girls. measures which have been especially championed by the w. s. a., but which the w. c. t. u. has aided officially or individually, have been those asking for every form of suffrage; equal property laws for wives; the opening of all educational institutions to women; their admission to all professions and occupations; the repeal of laws barring them from office; the enactment of laws giving father and mother equal guardianship of children.[ ] the w. c. t. u. alone has secured temperance measures of many kinds, including a law in every state requiring scientific temperance instruction in the public schools; in many states curfew laws, and statutes prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and of liquor on or near fair grounds, soldiers' homes and school-houses, and preventing gambling devices, immoral exhibits, etc. the federation of women's clubs has obtained laws for free traveling libraries and has united with other organizations in various states in efforts for equal guardianship of children, school suffrage, women on school and library boards and the abolishing of child labor. other associations have joined in one or more of the above lines of work and have had independent measures of their own, such as prison reform, social purity, the assistance of different races--as the negro and the indian--village improvement, kindergartens, public playgrounds, etc. it would not be possible to draw a distinct line dividing the legislative work of one association from the others, except that it may be said the suffrage societies have made the franchise their chief point, believing it to be the power with which the rest could be gained, and the temperance unions have made their principal attack upon the liquor traffic, considering it the greatest evil. the objects of the various bodies are indicated in the last chapter of this volume on organizations of women, but whatever these may be, if they include any direct, practical work their promoters usually find themselves at the door of the legislature asking for help. here they get their first lesson in the imperative necessity of possessing a vote, and seeing their measures fail because asked for by a disfranchised class, to whom the legislators are in no way indebted, they frequently become ardent advocates of suffrage for women. as it would be wholly impossible in the small space which can be allowed to include an account of all the legislative work done by women, mention is made principally of that for the franchise. while the successes have been few compared to the number of bills presented, the record is valuable as indicating that determined and persistent effort will not be relaxed until it is granted in every state. under the head of legislation is related also the attempts to get from constitutional conventions an amendment striking out the word "male" as a qualification for suffrage. it includes, besides, graphic accounts of the campaigns made in behalf of such amendments when submitted to the voters by the legislatures. those who have not closely followed these events doubtless will be surprised to learn the amount of effort which has been expended by women to obtain the franchise. it is infinitely greater than has been put forth for this purpose by all other classes combined, since the revolutionary war was fought to secure to every citizen the right of individual representation. the laws regarding women as here given are in no sense of the word a "brief," but merely present the facts in the language of a layman and in the simplest and most concise form. those relating to property are in the nature of a curiosity. an attorney in san francisco who was asked for information as to the laws in general for women in california, answered that to give in full those of property alone would require as much space as could be granted in the history for the entire chapter. it is not possible to make in these introductory paragraphs an adequate digest of these laws in various states. they are not precisely the same in any two of the forty-nine states and territories, and they offer a striking illustration of the attempts of law-makers, during the last few decades, to rectify in a measure the legal outrages of the past, and of their inability in the present state of their development to grant absolute justice. that must await the lawmakers of the future, and probably the time when women shall have a part in selecting them. all that can be claimed for the statutes quoted herein is that they are as nearly correct as it has been possible to make them. with but one or two exceptions, the attorney-generals in every state have been most courteous and obliging when appealed to for assistance. the laws for women, however, have been so taken from and added to, so torn to pieces and patched up, that the best lawyers in many states say frankly that they do not know just what they are at the present time. legislatures and code revision committees are continually tinkering at them and every year witnesses some changes in most of the states.[ ] a very thorough abstract of the laws, made in by miss lelia j. robinson, ll. b., a member of the bar in massachusetts, was of almost no use in the compilation for this volume because of the endless alterations since that time. the legal status of women, a condensed résumé issued in by the national suffrage association, has been covered thickly with pencil marks during the preparation of this summary, as the reports received from different states have shown the changes effected in the few years which have since elapsed. a new book, woman and the law, prepared by a lecturer on political science in one of our largest universities and published in , was hailed with joy, but was found to include a number of laws which had been repealed within the past four or five years and to omit some very important ones which had been enacted during this time, as well as to contain frequent mistakes in regard to others. these instances show the impossibility of an absolutely authentic presentation of the laws for women in their constantly changing condition. although it was the intention to close this history with , in several states, notably massachusetts, connecticut, new york, illinois and wisconsin, laws have been passed since that date of sufficient importance to demand a place. during the two years of its preparation the entire codes of property laws for women in massachusetts and virginia have been revolutionized. an amusing part of a difficult task has been the reluctance of men to admit the existence of laws which are conspicuously unjust to women, the admission being frequently accompanied by the statement that it is the intention to change them at an early date, or that it would only be necessary to call the attention of the legislature to them in order to secure their repeal. even women themselves in states where the statutes especially discriminate against them, have written that these must not be published unless those from all the others are given. whether this is due to state pride or personal humiliation is not clearly evident. the one encouraging feature is that in almost every state decided progress is shown since , when in new york and pennsylvania the first change was made in the english common law which then everywhere prevailed, and which did not permit a married woman to hold property, to buy or sell, to sue or be sued, to make a contract or a will, to carry on business in her own name, to possess the wages she earned, or to have her children in case of divorce. an examination of the laws in the following chapters will show that the wife now may own and control her separate property in three-fourths of the states, and in the other fourth only one northern state is included. in every state a married woman may make a will, but can dispose only of her separate property. in about two-thirds of the states she possesses her earnings. in the great majority she may make contracts and bring suit. the property rights of unmarried women always have been nearly the same as those of unmarried men, but the common law declared that "by marriage husband and wife are one person in law and the legal existence of the wife is merged in that of the husband. he is her baron or lord, bound to supply her with shelter, food, clothing and medicine, and is entitled to her earnings and the use and custody of her person, which he may seize wherever he may find it." (blackstone, i, .)[ ] in his commentaries, after enumerating some of the disabilities of woman under these laws, blackstone calmly argues that the most of them were really intended for her benefit, "so great a favorite is the female sex with the law of england." he strikes here the keynote of even the special statutes which have superseded the common law in the various states, all have been "intended for her benefit," man alone being the judge of what she needed and careful while providing it to retain within himself the exclusive power of law-making. it has been gradually dawning upon him, however, that, as a human being like himself, her needs are very similar to his own, and where he has failed to see it she has reminded him of it as she has slowly learned this fact herself. the laws show an awakening conscience on the part of men and a tardy but continuous advance toward justice to women, although there is yet very much to be desired. for instance, in reading the laws regarding the inheritance of separate property, which in a number of states is now made the same for widow and widower, the first thought will be, "these are absolutely just." but a little investigation will show that the separate property of either is what he or she possesses at marriage or receives afterwards by gift or inheritance, while all that is acquired during marriage by the joint earnings of the two belongs to the husband. in many states the law now provides that if the wife engages in business as a sole trader or goes outside the home to work, her earnings belong to her, but all the proceeds of her labor within the household are still the sole and separate property of the husband. the common law on this point, which never has been changed in a single state,[ ] makes the services of the wife belong to the husband, and in return she is legally entitled only to food, shelter and clothes, and these of such quality and quantity as the husband dictates. she can not dispose by will of any of the property acquired during marriage, nor has she any control of it during the husband's lifetime. these facts should be borne in mind when reading the laws which declare that husband and wife have the same power to dispose of separate property. comparatively few women in this country have property when married, especially if young at the time, and the same is true of the majority of men, but afterwards the woman may never hope to accumulate any, as the joint earnings of the marriage partnership belong exclusively to the husband, and the duties of the average household prevent the wife from engaging in outside work. however, in order that she might not be left absolutely penniless after years of labor, the common law provided that she should be entitled to "dower," i. e., the possession, for her lifetime, of one-third of all the real estate of which her husband was possessed in fee simple during the marriage. that is, she should receive the life-use of one-third of any realty she might have brought into the marriage and one-third of all they had earned together. but if the husband had converted these into cash, bonds, stocks or other personal property, she could legally claim nothing. he had "curtesy," i. e., the life-use of all her real estate, (sometimes dependent on the birth of children, sometimes not), and usually the whole of her personal estate absolutely. curtesy has now been abolished in over one-half the states. the law of dower still exists in more than one-half, but special statutes in regard to personal property and the wife's separate estate have been made so liberal that in comparatively few states is she left in the helpless condition of olden times. in about one-half of them she takes from one-third to the whole (if there are no children) of both real and personal estate absolutely; but in all of them it is only at the death of the husband that she has any share or control of the joint accumulations except such as he chooses to allow. at the death of the wife all of these belong legally to the husband and she can not secure to her children or her parents any part of the property which she has helped to earn. space forbids going into a discussion of the general upheaval which follows the death of the husband, the inventories which must be taken, the divisions which must be made, generally resulting in the breaking up of the home; while at the death of the wife all passes peacefully into the possession of the husband and there is no scattering of the family unless he wishes it. a general but necessarily superficial statement of the property laws will be found in connection with each state in the following chapters, and they represent a complete legal revolution during the past half century. fathers and mothers are given equal guardianship of children in the district of columbia and nine states--colorado, connecticut, illinois, kansas, maine, massachusetts, nebraska, new york and washington. (see pennsylvania.) in all others the father has the sole custody and control of the persons, education, earnings and estates of minor children. where this right is abused the mother can obtain custody only by applying for separation or divorce or proving in court the unfitness of the father. in a number of states the father may by will appoint a guardian even of a child unborn, to the exclusion of the mother. in others the widow is legally entitled to the guardianship but forfeits it by marrying again. others do not permit a widow to appoint by will a guardian for her children. tennessee and louisiana offer examples of the english and french codes in this respect. although the father is the sole guardian and entitled to the services of the children, and although the joint earnings of the marriage belong exclusively to him, and in a number of states he is declared in the statutes to be the "head of the family," in many of them the mother is held to be equally liable for its support. her separate property may be taken for this purpose and she is also required to contribute by her labor. in such cases the husband decides what constitutes "necessities" and the wife must pay for what he orders. a recent decision of the illinois courts compelled a wife to pay for the clothes of an able-bodied husband. in most but not all of the states the husband, if competent, is punished for failure to support his family. the punishment consists in a fine, the state thus taking from the family what money he may possess; or confinement in prison, where he is boarded and lodged while the family is in nowise relieved. it has not been deemed necessary to consider at length the subject of divorce, except to mention the laws of the few states which discriminate against women. south carolina is the only one which does not grant divorce; new york the only one which makes adultery the sole cause. in the remainder the causes have a wider range, but in all the records show that the vast majority of divorces are granted to wives. the following list is taken from the new york _sun_ ( ) and corresponds with information gathered from other sources: habitual drunkenness, in all except eight states. wilful desertion, generally. felony, in all except three. cruelty, and intolerable cruelty, in all except five. failure by the husband to provide, in twenty. fraud and fraudulent contract, in nine. absence without being heard from, for different periods, in six. ungovernable temper, in two. insupportably cruel treatment, outrages and excesses, in six. indignities rendering life burdensome, in six. attempt to murder other party, in three. insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, in six. insanity lasting ten years, in washington; incurable insanity, in north dakota, florida and idaho. husband notoriously immoral before marriage, unknown to wife, in west virginia. [pregnancy of wife before marriage, unknown to husband, in many states]. fugitive from justice, in virginia. gross misbehavior or wickedness, in rhode island. any gross neglect of duty, in kansas and ohio. refusal of wife to remove into the state, in tennessee. mental incapacity at time of marriage, in georgia. three years with any religious society that believes the marriage relation unlawful, in massachusetts; and joining any such sect, in new hampshire. when parties can not live in peace and union, in utah. vagrancy of the husband, in missouri and wyoming. excesses, in texas. where wife by cruel and barbarous treatment renders condition of husband intolerable, in pennsylvania. by reference to the history of woman suffrage, vol. i, pp. , , and following, it will be seen that the resolutions favoring divorce for habitual drunkenness offered in the first women's conventions, during the early ' 's, almost disrupted the meetings, and caused press and pulpit throughout the country to thunder denunciations, but half a century later such laws exist in thirty-seven of the forty-five states and meet with general approval. it is frequently charged that the granting of woman suffrage has been followed by laws for free divorce, but an examination of the statutes will show that exactly the same causes obtain in the states where women do not vote as in those where they do; that there has not been the slightest change in the latter since the franchise was given them; and that in wyoming, where it has been exercised since , there is the smallest percentage of divorce in proportion to the population of any state in the union. the three places which are so largely utilized by outsiders who wish a speedy divorce, because only a ninety days' residence is required, are north and south dakota and oklahoma, in neither of which have women any suffrage except for school trustees. the "age of consent or protection" for girls, i. e., the age when they are declared to have sufficient understanding to consent to intercourse, and above which they can claim no legal protection, was fixed at ten years by the common law. no action was taken by any state to advance the age up to which they might be protected until , when oregon raised it to fourteen years. no other state followed this example until , when wyoming made it fourteen. in nebraska added two years making it twelve. at this date women commenced to besiege the legislatures in all parts of the country, and there was a general movement from that time forward to have the age of protection increased, but in almost every instance where this has been accomplished, the penalty for violation of the law has been reduced, and now in thirteen states no minimum penalty is named. the age still remains at ten years in florida, georgia, mississippi, north and south carolina. in kentucky, louisiana, tennessee and west virginia the age is twelve years, but in tennessee it is only a "misdemeanor" between twelve and sixteen. (for the recent efforts of women in georgia and florida to have the age advanced, and their failure, see the chapters on those states.) in delaware the common law age of ten years was reduced to seven by the legislature in , and no protection was afforded to infants over seven until when the age was raised to fifteen, but the crime was declared to be only a "misdemeanor." women who have "all the rights they want," and men who insist that "the laws are framed for the best interests of women," are recommended to make a study of those presented herewith. under the head of suffrage it is stated whether women possess any form of it and, if so, in what it consists. the story of the four states where they have the complete franchise--wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho--naturally is most interesting, as it describes just how this was obtained and gives considerable information on points which are not fully understood by the general public. the chapter on kansas doubtless will come next in interest, as there women have had the municipal ballot since . it is frequently said in criticism that women have school suffrage in twenty-six states and territories, including the five mentioned above, but they do not make use of it in large numbers. what this fragmentary suffrage includes, the restrictions thrown around it and the obstacles placed in its way, are described in the chapters of those states and territories where it prevails--arizona, connecticut, delaware, illinois, kentucky, massachusetts, minnesota, michigan, montana, nebraska, north dakota, new hampshire, new jersey, new york, ohio, oklahoma, oregon, south dakota, vermont, washington, wisconsin. it will be seen that in new york women tax-payers in villages, and in louisiana and montana all tax-paying women, may vote on questions submitted for taxation, and an account is given of the first use which women made of this privilege in louisiana in . in iowa all women may vote on the issuing of bonds. in mississippi they have the merest form of a franchise on a few matters connected with country schools and the running at large of stock. in arkansas they may sign a petition against liquor selling within certain limits and their names count for as much as men's. after a careful study of the situation the wonder will not be that women do not exercise more largely these grudgingly-given and closely-restricted privileges, but that in many states they think it worth while to exercise them at all. in the four, however, where they have the full suffrage, and in kansas where they have the municipal, the official figures which have been carefully tabulated will demonstrate beyond further controversy that where they possess exactly the same electoral rights as men they use them in even a larger proportion. these statistics answer conclusively the question, "do women want to vote?" the information as to office-holding is necessarily somewhat desultory as there is no record in any state of the women in office. this is true even of those pertaining to the schools, and in very few cases does the state superintendent of public instruction know how many women are serving as county superintendents and members of school boards. the information on these points contained in the state chapters was secured principally through personal investigation and by an extended correspondence, and while it is believed to be entirely correct so far as it goes, it does not by any means include the total number of offices filled by women. imperfect as is the list it will be a surprise to those who look upon office-holding as the natural prerogative of man. a stock objection to woman suffrage is that women will be wanting the offices. an examination of the reports here submitted will disclose the surprising fact that in a number of states where women do not vote they are filling as many offices as in those where they have the full franchise. probably the majority of state constitutions declare that the offices must be held by electors, but where this proviso is not made, women have been elected and appointed to various offices and so far as can be learned have given general satisfaction.[ ] the necessity for matrons at police stations and jails, and for women physicians in all institutions where women and children are confined, is too evident to need any argument in its favor, and yet it is only within the past ten years that they have been thus employed to any extent and even now they are found in only a small fraction of such institutions. the objection to these matrons on the part of the police force has been strenuous, and yet, almost without exception, after they have gained a foothold, the police officers testify that they do not understand how the department got on without them. it ought to be equally evident that there should be women on the boards of all institutions which care for women and children, but, although in most instances these positions have no salary, there is the most violent opposition to giving women a place, and the concession has had to be wrung from legislatures in the few states where it has been obtained. the right of women and their value to school offices is now partly conceded in about half the states. women librarians also have met with some favor. as to offices in general, most of which carry either salary or patronage or both, they will continue to be regarded as belonging entirely to voters and as perquisites of party managers with which to reward political service, although all of them are proportionately supported by women tax-payers. as regards occupations, the census of shows , , women engaged in wage-earning employments, exclusive of domestic service, and the question of their admittance to practically all such may be regarded as settled, but it has not been gained without a contest. women, however, are still barred from the best-paying positions and are usually compelled to accept unequal wages for equal work. this is partly due to disfranchisement and partly to economic causes and can be remedied only by time. in many of the states of which it is said, "no profession is forbidden to women," the test has not been made, and until some woman attempts to be a minister, physician, lawyer or notary public it can not be known whether she will encounter a statutory prohibition. the department of education presents the most satisfactory condition. the battle for co-education, which means simply a chance for women to have the best advantages which exist, has been bitterly fought. a guerilla warfare is still maintained against it, but the contest is so nearly finished as to warrant no fears as to the future. every state university but those of georgia, louisiana, north carolina and virginia, is open to women on exactly the same terms as to men (with the exception of some departments of pennsylvania). they have full admission to chicago and leland stanford universities, two of the largest in the united states. they may enter the post-graduate department of yale and receive its degrees. harvard and princeton are still entirely closed to them, as are a number of the smaller of the old, established eastern universities, but this is largely compensated by the great woman's colleges of the east--bryn mawr, wellesley, smith and vassar--which accommodate nearly , students. the medical department of johns hopkins, and medical, theological, law and dental colleges in all parts of the country, admit women to their full courses. this is true also of agricultural colleges and of technical institutes such as drexel and pratt. there is now no lack of opportunity for them to obtain the highest education, either along the line of general culture or specialized work.[ ] the details of the following chapters will show that the civil, legal, industrial and educational rights of women are so far secured as to give full assurance that they will be absolute in the near future. the political rights are further off, for reasons which are presented in the introduction to this volume, but the yielding of all the others is proof sufficient that the spirit of our institutions will eventually find its fullest expression in perfect equality of rights for all the people. footnotes: [ ] the names of newspapers which have supported this cause are not given, partly for these reasons and partly because on this question they reflect simply the personal views of the editors, and a change of management may cause a complete reversal of their attitude toward woman suffrage. [ ] a reading of these chapters will show that the suffrage societies have started many progressive movements and then turned them over to other organizations of women, believing they would thrive better if freed from the effects of the prejudice against woman suffrage and everything connected with it. [ ] notwithstanding these efforts, the very statutes which are intended to be fair to women are continually found to be defective, and whenever any doubt arises as to their construction the common law must prevail, which in all cases is unjust to women. an example of this kind will be found in the chapter on new york, showing that it was held in that a wife's wages belonged to her husband, although it was supposed that these had been secured to her beyond all question by a special statute of . [ ] for abstract of the common law in regard to women see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, p. . [ ] a few of the states were formed under the spanish or french code instead of the english common law, but neither was more favorable to women. [ ] no mention is made of women postmasters as these are found in all states. the first were appointed by president grant during his first term of office, - . [ ] in the various states under the head of education, roman catholic colleges and universities are not considered, as they are nowhere co-educational. the public school statistics are taken from the reports for - of the u. s. commissioner of education. chapter xxv. alabama.[ ] actual work for woman suffrage in alabama began in , at the time the constitutional convention of mississippi was in session. the editor of the new decatur _advertiser_ opened his columns to all matter on the question and thus aroused local interest, which in culminated in the formation in that town of the first suffrage club in the state, with seven charter members. the women who thus faced a most conservative public sentiment were mesdames harvey lewis, f. e. jenkins, e. g. robb, a. r. rose, b. e. moore, lucy a. gould and ellen stephens hildreth. before the close of the year a second club was formed in verbena by miss frances a. griffin, who has since become noted as a public speaker for this cause. others were soon established through the efforts of mesdames minnie hardy gist, bessie vaughn, m. c. arter, w. j. sibert and miss b. m. haley. in and the _woman's column_, published in boston, was sent by the national association to , teachers, ministers, school superintendents, editors, legislators and other prominent people, the names being furnished by mrs. hildreth. a state organization was effected in , with mrs. hildreth, president, and miss griffin, secretary. in miss susan b. anthony, president of the national association, and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of its organization committee, who were making a southern tour, were asked by the new decatur club to include that city in their itinerary. they were also invited by mrs. alberta taylor to address her society at huntsville. these visits of the great leader and her eloquent assistant aroused much interest, but the financial depression prevented active work. mrs. virginia clay clopton was elected state president in ; mrs. annie d. shelby, mrs. milton hume and mrs. taylor were made vice-presidents; mrs. laura mccullough and mrs. amelia dilliard, recording secretaries; mrs. hildreth, corresponding secretary; and mrs. e. e. greenleaf, treasurer. mrs. clopton represented the association at the tennessee centennial in . opposition is so great that it has been deemed wise to do nothing more than distribute literature and present the arguments in the press. a state convention was held at huntsville, oct. , , mrs. taylor presiding. mrs. clopton being obliged to resign, miss griffin was made president. mrs. hume and mrs. robert cunningham were chosen vice-presidents; mrs. greenleaf, treasurer; miss julia tutweiler, state organizer. legislative action and laws: in january, , through the influence of the suffrage association, senator j. w. inzer presented a bill to amend the state constitution so as to permit women to vote on municipal questions and prohibitory liquor enactments. it never was reported from the judiciary committee. in , at the desire of the new decatur club, representative osceola kyle introduced a bill raising the "age of protection" for girls from ten to fourteen years, and a similar one was offered for the woman's christian temperance union. although these efforts were not successful then, public attention was drawn to the subject, and at the next session, in , the age was raised to fourteen years with a penalty of death or imprisonment for not less than ten years in the penitentiary. previous to legislation and public sentiment in alabama were of the most conservative kind, but at the constitutional convention held that year changes in the statutes were made which gave to women many rights and privileges not before possessed. dower but not curtesy obtains. if there are no lineal descendants, and the estate is solvent, the widow takes one-half of the real estate for life, but if the estate is insolvent, one-third only. if there are lineal descendants, then the dower right is one-third, whether the estate is solvent or not. if a husband die without a will, his widow, if there are no children, is entitled to all of his personal property; if there is but one child, she is entitled to one-half; if there are more than one and not more than four children, then she is entitled to one child's portion. a homestead to the value of $ , is exempt to her from all creditors and no will can deprive her of it, unless she has signed a mortgage on it. if a wife die without a will, her husband is entitled to one-half of her personal property, whether there are children or not, and to the life use of all her real estate. a wife may will her property to whom she pleases, excluding her husband from all share. he can do this with his property, but can not impair her dower rights. she can not sell her real estate without his written consent, but can sell her personal property without it. he can mortgage or sell his real estate, except the homestead, and can dispose of his personal property, without her consent. a married woman may be agent, guardian or administrator. she may acquire and hold separate property not liable for the debts of her husband, though necessaries for the family can be a liability. her bank deposit is her own, and her earnings can not be taken by her husband or his creditors. a wife can not become surety for her husband. property purchased with her money will be returned to her upon application to the court. a wife may engage in business with her husband's written consent. if she does so without it she incurs no penalty, but it is necessary in order that her creditors may recover their money. she must sue and be sued and make contracts jointly with the husband. if a woman commit a crime in partnership with her husband (except murder or treason) she can not be punished; nor, if she commit a crime in his presence, can he testify against her. common law marriage is valid and the legal age for a girl is fourteen years. the father is the guardian of the minor children, and at his death may appoint a guardian to the exclusion of the mother. if this is not done she becomes the legal guardian of the girls till they are eighteen, of the boys till fourteen. alabama is one of the few states which do not by law require the husband to support the family. the convicted father of an illegitimate child must pay to the probate court for its support not exceeding $ yearly for ten years, and must give $ , bond for this purpose. failing to do this, judgment is rendered for not more than $ and he is sentenced to hard labor for the county for one year. it is a criminal offense to use foul language to or in the hearing of a woman, or by rude behavior to annoy her in any public place; or to take a woman of notorious character to any public place of resort for respectable women and men. slander against a woman's character is heavily punished; a seducer is sent to the penitentiary if his victim previously has been chaste. procurers may be sentenced to the penitentiary. the "age of protection for girls" is years, and the penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary from ten years to life. suffrage: women have no form of suffrage.[ ] office holding: women are not eligible to any elective office. they act as enrolling clerks in the legislature. two women, whose fathers died while holding the position, were made registrars in chancery. women can not serve as notaries public. there are no women trustees on the board of any state institution, although the charitable and benevolent work is almost entirely in the hands of women. a man is superintendent of the girls' industrial school and the entire board is composed of men. limited state aid is extended to a number of institutions founded and controlled by women, including the boys' industrial farm. occupations: women are legally prohibited from acting as lawyers, physicians or ministers. they are not allowed to engage in mining. education: all educational institutions admit women. the state polytechnic at auburn was the pioneer, offering to women in every course, technical, scientific and agricultural. the state university at tuscaloosa opened its doors to them in . two scholarships for girls are maintained here, one by the ladies of montgomery and one by those of birmingham. in , out of a class of boys and girls, two boys and four girls took the highest honors. the state industrial school for girls, at montevallo, was established in . there are two co-educational normal schools at florence and troy. the colored men and women have excellent advantages in several normal schools and colleges. the tuskegee normal and industrial institute, under the presidency of booker t. washington, has a national reputation. colored children have also their full share of public schools. there are in the public schools , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * the most progressive movement in the state is that of the federation of women's clubs, formed in , and including at present fifty-eight clubs. its work has been extremely practical in the line of education and philanthropy. the most important achievement is the boys' industrial farm, located at east lake near birmingham. this is managed by a board of women and has a charter which secures its control to women, even if it become entirely a state institution. the club women have for three years sustained five scholarships for girls, two at tuscaloosa and three at montevallo. they have organized also a free traveling library, and in four cities free kindergartens. in conclusion it may be noted that the strength of the woman movement in the state has been wonderfully developed in all directions during the last five years. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. ellen stephens hildreth of new decatur, the first president of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] in the constitutional convention of , an amendment providing that any woman paying taxes on $ worth of property might vote on all bond propositions was adopted with great enthusiasm, but the next day, under the influence of the argument that "it would be an entering wedge for full suffrage," it was reconsidered and voted down. u. s. senator john t. morgan urged this amendment. the new constitution did contain a clause, however, providing that if a wife paid taxes on $ worth of property her husband should be entitled to this vote. chapter xxvi. arizona.[ ] the territory having elected delegates to a convention to be held in phoenix in august and september, , to prepare a constitution for statehood, henry b. blackwell and lucy stone of massachusetts sent mrs. laura m. johns of kansas to arizona in august to endeavor to secure a clause in this constitution granting suffrage to women. she was received in tucson by mr. and mrs. hughes, editors and proprietors of an influential daily paper, who gave every possible assistance. mrs. johns soon went to phoenix, where the convention was in session, and followed up a previous correspondence with the delegates by personal interviews. she found a powerful champion in ex-attorney-general william herring, chairman of the committee which had the question of woman suffrage in charge. when she asked permission to address this committee it set an early date and suggested that it might be pleasanter for the ladies if the hearing should be held in a private residence. accordingly mrs. e. d. garlick, formerly of winfield, kansas, opened her parlor, invited a number of ladies who were interested and the committee met with them and listened courteously to their plea for the ballot. a favorable report was presented to the convention and general herring, mrs. johns, mrs. hughes and others spoke eloquently in favor of its acceptance. the measure was lost by three votes. so much interest had been manifested that a territorial suffrage association was formed, with mrs. hughes as president and mrs. garlick as corresponding secretary. mrs. johns intended to organize the territory but was suddenly called home by a death in her family. four years later, in , while she was working in new mexico for the national association, she was requested by mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of its organization committee, to speak at the annual convention in phoenix; and on the way she held preliminary meetings at tucson, tempe and other places. in january, , mrs. hughes, whose husband was now governor, went to the convention of the national association in washington to interest that body in arizona, which it was then expected would soon enter statehood. she made a strong appeal, assuring the delegates that the pioneer men of the territory were willing to confer the suffrage on the women who had braved the early hardships with them, and saying: it is of the most vital importance that our women be enfranchised before the election of delegates to the approaching constitutional convention, as the congressional enabling act provides that all persons qualified as voters under the territorial law shall be qualified to vote for delegates to this convention and for the ratification or rejection of the same. if our women are enfranchised before the enabling act is passed, then arizona is safe and no power can prevent them from being accorded their rights in the constitution, and if their rights are not conceded they will see to it that the constitution fails of ratification. in march the national association sent mrs. johns again into the territory and she remained until may. in company with mrs. hughes she made a successful tour through the salt river valley, receiving generous hospitality, addressing large audiences and forming local clubs. the two ladies then crossed the territory to yuma, speaking at various points on the way, and went from there to prescott. governor hughes himself spoke at the meetings held in clifton. mrs. johns then went to the northern counties. altogether most of the towns were visited, and while the distances were great and the difficulties numerous, the meetings were well attended and earnest advocates were found even in small mining camps among the mountains. mrs. johns returned in the winter of and addressed the legislature in behalf of a bill for woman suffrage but no action was taken. among the friends and workers not elsewhere mentioned were the hon. and mrs. george p. blair, ex-mayor gustavus hoff, c. r. drake, john t. hughes; the other officers of the suffrage association were mrs. c. t. hayden, vice-president; mrs. r. g. phillips, corresponding secretary; mrs. lillian collins, recording secretary; mrs. mary e. hall, treasurer. in the winter of the time seemed propitious for a vigorous movement, and mrs. chapman catt and miss mary g. hay spent a month at phoenix during the legislative session. every possible effort was made, there seemed to be a remarkable sentiment in favor of woman suffrage among the better classes and it looked as if it would be granted. the final result is thus described in mrs. chapman catt's report to the national convention the following april: our bill went through the house by an unprecedented majority, yeas, nays, and then, as in oklahoma, the remonstrants concentrated their opposition upon the council. here, as there, the working opponents were the saloon-keepers, with the difference that in arizona they are often the proprietors of a gambling den and house of prostitution in connection with the saloons, and thus the opposition was more bitter and intolerant because it was believed greater damage would result from the votes of women. every member of the council received letters or telegrams from the leading proprietors of such resorts, threatening political ruin if he failed to vote against the measure. it was well known that money was contributed from these same sources. here, as in oklahoma, a majority were pledged to support the bill, but here, too, they played a filibustering game which prevented its coming to final vote. pledges made to women are not usually counted as binding, but these pledges, as in oklahoma, were made to men who were political co-workers. they did not deem it prudent to break these pledges by an open vote against the bill, but they held that they were not violated when they kept the matter from coming to a vote. the opposition was led by the proprietor of the largest and richest saloon in the territory. i have never found anywhere, however, so many strong, determined, able men, anxious to espouse our cause as in arizona. the general sentiment is overwhelmingly in our favor. at one time three prominent men were in phoenix to do what they could for the suffrage bill, each of whom had traveled four hundred miles for this express purpose. governor n. o. murphy recommended woman suffrage in his message and did all that was possible to assist its passage. the press is favorable, the intelligent and moral citizens are eager for it, but the vicious elements, as everywhere, are opposed. for a month the question was bitterly contested, but its foes prevented a vote. so again a campaign, which was sure of victory had each man voted his conviction, ended in crime and bribery won the day. the pay of legislators in the territories is very small, and the most desirable men can not afford to serve. in consequence there drifts into every legislature enough men of unprincipled character to make a balance of power. it may interest you to know that in both territories we were told that all such legislation is controlled by bribery, and that our measure could be put through in a twinkling by "a little money judiciously distributed," but to such suggestions we replied that what the suffragists had won they had won honestly and we would postpone further advances till they could come in the same way. in the future years of strife over this question there will be many hands stained with guilt, but they will be those of the remonstrants and not ours. though crime prevented the victory, yet we were abundantly assured of the lasting results of the campaign. laws: curtesy and dower were abolished by territorial legislation, but in congress passed an act granting a widow dower in all the territories. if either husband or wife die without a will, leaving descendants, out of the separate property of either the survivor has one-third of the personal and a life use of one-third of the real estate. if there are no descendants, the survivor has all of the personal and a life use of one-half the real estate; if there are neither descendants nor father nor mother of the decedent, the survivor has the whole estate. the community property goes entirely to the survivor if there are no descendants, otherwise one-half goes to the survivor, in either case charged with the community debts. if the widow has a maintenance derived from her own property equal to $ , , the whole property so set apart, other than her half of the homestead, must go to the minor children. if the homestead was selected from the community property it vests absolutely in the survivor. if selected from the separate property of either, it vests in that one or his heirs. it can not exceed $ , in value. married women have the exclusive control of their separate property; it is not liable for the debts or obligations of the husband; it may be mortgaged, sold or disposed of by will without his consent. the same privileges are extended to husbands. a married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name as regards her separate property, but she must sue jointly with her husband for personal injuries, and damages recovered are community property and in his control. if a married woman desire to become a sole trader she must file a certificate in the registry of deeds setting forth the nature and place of business. she can not become a sole trader if the original capital invested exceeds $ , unless she takes oath that the surplus did not come from any funds of the husband. if the wife is not a sole trader her wages are community property and belong to the husband while she is living with him. the father is the legal guardian of the minor children. at his death the mother becomes guardian so long as she remains unmarried, provided she is a suitable person. if the husband fails to support his wife, she may contract debts for necessaries on his credit, and for such debts she and her husband must be sued jointly and if he is not financially responsible her separate property may be taken. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in , and to in . the penalty is confinement in the penitentiary for life or for not less than five years. suffrage: since every person, male or female, twenty-one years old, who is the parent or guardian of a child of school age residing in the district, or has paid territorial or county school tax, exclusive of poll-tax, during the preceding year, is eligible to the office of school trustee and entitled to vote for this officer at any school district election. this includes all cities and towns in the territory. office holding: women may legally serve as school trustees, court commissioners, clerks of court, official stenographers, deputies and clerks in territorial, county and municipal offices, and notaries public. very few, however, are filling any of these offices. governor l. c. hughes held that women were qualified to sit on any state board and appointed one on the board of the state normal school and one assistant superintendent of the insane asylum. none have since been appointed. there are no women physicians in any public institutions, and no police matrons at any jail or station-house. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: the state university is co-educational. in the public schools there are men and women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted to mrs. l. c. hughes of tucson, former president of the territorial woman suffrage association, and to mrs. laura m. johns of kansas for material used in this chapter. chapter xxvii. arkansas.[ ] in the first woman suffrage association in arkansas was formed at eureka springs by miss phoebe w. couzins and mrs. lizzie d. fyler, who was made president. miss susan b. anthony lectured in february, , in helena, fort smith and little rock, at the last place introduced by gov. james b. eagle. on sunday afternoon she spoke at a temperance meeting in this city, to a large audience that manifested every evidence of approval although she advocated woman suffrage. these were the first addresses on woman's enfranchisement given in the state. no regularly constituted state suffrage convention ever has been held, but at the close of the annual woman's christian temperance union convention it is customary for the members of this body who favor the ballot for woman to meet and elect the usual officers for that branch of the work. for fifteen years before her death in , mrs. clara a. mcdiarmid was a leader, was president of the association and represented the state at the national conventions. dr. ida j. brooks is an earnest worker, and valuable assistance has been given by mrs. fannie l. chunn and mrs. bernie babcock. in mrs. lida a. meriwether of tennessee gave twelve lectures under the auspices of the national association. miss frances a. griffin of alabama also spoke here on this subject. not even this brief history of the suffrage movement would be complete without a mention of the _woman's chronicle_, established in by catherine campbell cunningham, mary burt brooks and haryot holt cahoon. mrs. brooks was principal of the forest grove school, and miss cunningham a teacher in the public schools of little rock, but every week for five years this bright, newsy paper appeared on time. it was devoted to the general interests of women, with a strong advocacy of their enfranchisement. during the general assembly it was laid each saturday morning on the desk of every legislator. charles e. cunningham encouraged and sustained his daughter in her work. legislative action and laws: the only bill for woman suffrage was that championed in the senate by j. p. h. russ, in , "an act to give white women the right to vote and hold office, and all other rights the same as are accorded to male citizens." this unconstitutional measure passed third reading, but it is not surprising that it received only four affirmative votes; fourteen voted against it and fourteen refrained from voting. in the law recognizing insanity after marriage as a ground for divorce was repealed. this year a law was passed requiring the councils of all first-class cities to elect a police matron to look after woman prisoners. dower exists but not curtesy, unless the wife dies intestate and there has been issue born alive. if there are children the wife is entitled to one-third of the real property for her life and one-third of the personal property absolutely. if there are no children living she takes in fee simple one-half of the real estate where it is a new acquisition and not an inheritance, and one-half of the personal estate absolutely as against the collateral heirs; but as against creditors she takes one-third of the real estate in fee simple and one-third of the personal property absolutely. if either the husband or the wife die without a will and there are neither father, mother, nor their descendants, nor any paternal or maternal kindred capable of inheriting, the whole estate, both real and personal, goes to the surviving wife or husband. the wife may sell or transfer her separate real estate without the consent of the husband. he can do the same with his real estate but can not impair her dower. a transfer of the homestead requires the joint signature. a married woman as sole trader may engage in business on her own account and have the profits free from the interference of her husband, but if she is simply working for wages he may sue for her earnings and his receipt will bind her. the father is the legal guardian of the children, having custody of their persons and property, but "no man shall bind his child to apprenticeship or service, or part with the control of such child, or create any testamentary guardianship therefor, unless the mother shall in writing signify her consent thereto." at the father's death the mother may be guardian of the persons of the children but not of their property unless derived from her. there is no law requiring the husband to support his family. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in , with a penalty of imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five years nor more than twenty-one. in the minimum penalty was reduced to one year. suffrage: women have no form of suffrage except under the three-mile law. this provides that, on petition of a majority of the inhabitants living within three miles of any church or school, the court shall make it illegal for liquor to be sold within this limit for two years. the law never has been utilized in the larger cities, but has been tried in numerous small towns and hundreds of outlying districts, where it has borne the test bravely, ruling out completely the public drink-houses. wherever it has been put into force, women have been a strong factor, giving their own signatures in its favor and in many instances making house to house canvasses to obtain signers. office holding: women are not eligible for any elective office. for twenty-five years, however, they have held clerkships in both branches of the general assembly. in a bill to disqualify them from holding these was defeated in the lower house by a considerable majority. but this same legislature did not hesitate to declare women not qualified to serve as notaries public, which they had been doing for several years. there are police matrons in little rock and hot springs. for one year the "visiting committee" appointed by the school board was composed of three men and two women. the latter made a written report, but the innovation was not repeated. occupations: women are not permitted to practice law. no other profession or occupation is legally forbidden. education: all of the universities and colleges are coeducational, even the law and medical departments of the state university being open to women. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . , of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material for this chapter to miss catherine campbell cunningham of little rock, one of the earliest suffrage workers in the state. chapter xxviii. california.[ ] the first woman suffrage meeting on the pacific coast was held in san francisco in may, , and a state association was formed in january, . from that date meetings were held regularly and a committee of women did faithful work at the legislature every session, securing many changes in the laws to the advantage of women.[ ] at the annual meeting of the association in san francisco in december, , mrs. laura de force gordon succeeded mrs. clara s. foltz as president and held the office for the next ten years. during this time she attended a number of national suffrage conventions in washington and delivered addresses in many parts of the united states. in the political campaign of mrs. gordon and mrs. foltz were employed as speakers by the democratic central committee, and miss addie l. ballou by the republican. the populist and the labor parties selected women as delegates to their state conventions and placed them on their tickets for various offices. mrs. lillie devereux blake of new york and mrs. marilla m. ricker of new hampshire visited the pacific coast and gave very acceptable lectures to the suffrage societies. in mrs. ellen clark sargent and mrs. sarah knox goodrich each subscribed $ to send mrs. gordon to washington territory to aid the women there in securing the adoption of a suffrage amendment to the state constitution. she canvassed the state, contributing her services. the next year, through the efforts of these two ladies and their own contributions, over $ , were sent to south dakota to assist the women in a similar attempt. suffrage meetings for various purposes were held in , the largest being a grand rally at metropolitan temple, july , to celebrate the admission of wyoming as a state with full suffrage for women, at which there were addresses by the hon. t. v. cator, the rev. c. w. wendte, james k. barry, the hon. p. reddy, the hon. charles summer, mrs. gordon and others. this year the state grange and the farmers' alliance cordially indorsed woman suffrage at their conventions. the annual suffrage meeting was held in washington hall, san francisco, september . mrs. gordon was appointed a committee to select her own assistants and have full charge of the legislative work during the winter. in practically every organization of either men or women seemed to be permeated with the agitation for woman suffrage. among the most effective speakers and writers were mrs. charlotte perkins stetson, mrs. sarah b. cooper, miss agnes manning, miss ina d. coolbrith, mme. a. l. sorbier, mrs. e. o. smith and mrs. sara a. t. lemmon.[ ] many informal business meetings were held during the next two years in mrs. gordon's law office. the adoption of equal suffrage by colorado in inspired the california women to renewed effort. an equal rights league was formed of experienced suffrage workers. this was followed by the young woman's suffrage club, miss fannie lemme, president, which became very popular. the political equality club of alameda county was organized in april. the portia law club, mrs. foltz, dean, occupied a prominent place. the woman's federation also was an active society. in the trans-mississippi congress met in san francisco with five regularly accredited women delegates in attendance. a woman suffrage resolution was presented for their indorsement and eloquently advocated by mrs. mary lynde craig. it was bitterly contested but finally passed by yeas, nays, amidst cheers and the waving of hats. in was held the great midwinter fair, and the woman's congress auxiliary became an intellectual focus for gifted women. it culminated in the brilliant convocation which was in session in golden gate hall, san francisco, for a week in may. its promoters were mrs. john vance cheney, mrs. horace davis, mrs. cooper, miss hattie cooper, mrs. mary s. sperry, mrs. lovell white, mrs. william a. keith, mrs. tupper wilkes, mrs. alice moore mccomas, mrs. gordon and others. mrs. irving m. scott, president of sorosis, received the congress socially in her elegant home. a large reception was given also at the magnificent country residence of mrs. frank m. smith in east oakland. the congress was followed by a mass meeting under the auspices of the suffrage societies. the hall would scarcely hold the audiences, which were especially distinguished by the large number of men, and noted men were also among the speakers. the venerable alfred cridge of the single tax league created much interest by a practical illustration of proportional representation, the candidates for president and vice-president being elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony, the women doing the voting. letters of regret at inability to be present but expressing sympathy with the object of the meeting were received from gov. james h. budd, president david starr jordan of leland stanford university, u. s. senator perkins, supreme judge mcfarland, judge james g. maguire and others. this year the state association elected as its president mrs. nellie holbrook blinn, who had been an ardent worker in the cause for a number of years and a prominent speaker for the republican party. mrs. annie k. bidwell was made vice-president; mrs. hester a. harland, recording secretary; mrs. emily pitt stevens, corresponding secretary; mrs. emma gregory, treasurer. meetings were held every fortnight in st. george's hall. in a short time general warfield, proprietor of the california hotel, offered the society the use of its parlors, which was gladly accepted. in august a reception was given in honor of the national press association, then holding a convention in san francisco, at which addresses were made by mayor adolph sutro, the hon. samuel shortridge and others. during the autumn a number of large and enthusiastic meetings were held. in may, , miss susan b. anthony and the rev. anna howard shaw, president and vice-president of the national association, arrived in san francisco in response to a cordial invitation to assist in the woman's congress which opened on the th. no meetings ever held were more beautiful and inspiring than these, presided over by mrs. cooper.[ ] the best speakers in the state, men and women, participated and every possible honor, public and social, was conferred upon the two eastern guests. after the congress they accepted invitations to speak in san jose, los angeles, pasadena, riverside, pomona and san diego. the audiences everywhere were large and cordial and their pathway was literally strewn with flowers. they returned to san francisco and again addressed great audiences in that city and oakland. miss shaw accepted the invitation of the executive committee to be one of the orators at the fourth of july celebration in woodward's pavilion. on july , , these ladies met with the state suffrage convention in golden gate hall. under their wise counsel a board of officers was elected which proved acceptable to all the members of the association,[ ] and a constitution was adopted which eliminated the causes of past contentions. the state was now thoroughly aroused over the submission by the legislature the preceding winter of an amendment conferring full suffrage on women, which was to be voted on the next year. auxiliary societies were reported from oakland, san jose, stockton, los angeles, fresno and other places and new members were enrolled. the big hall was crowded at the evening meetings and addresses were made by mrs. sargent, the new president, miss anthony, miss shaw, mrs. cooper, mrs. craig, mrs. blinn and others. the officers elected at this time continued through all the long and trying campaign of , which is described further on. the amendment was defeated at the election of november . the state convention was called for november , , in order that the eastern women might be present, as they were to leave on the th. a magnificent farewell meeting was held on the first evening in metropolitan temple, which was crowded from pit to dome. the _call_ declared, "it was more like the ratification of a victory than a rally after defeat;" and at the close of the convention said: "it furnished during its entire sessions an example of pluck and patience such as should forever quiet the calumny that women do not know how to govern themselves--that they become hysterical in the face of defeat." the committee[ ] reported a set of strong, courageous resolutions which were adopted with cheers. the last one declared: "while we accept the verdict of the election we do not regard it as final, but believing that our cause is just and must prevail, we will enter at once on a vigorous campaign which will end only when the ballot is placed in the hands of california women." a systematic plan of work was adopted and, as mrs. sargent was about to leave for a year abroad, mrs. mary wood swift was elected president. mrs. goodrich and mrs. sargent were made honorary presidents. twelve hundred dollars were raised to pay all outstanding campaign debts, and the convention closed with a good-bye reception to miss anthony, miss shaw, mrs. carrie chapman catt and the other ladies from the east. the annual state meeting of was held in san francisco, october , , with able addresses by the rev. e. s. chapman, albert h. elliott, a san francisco attorney, doctors beecher and bushnell, representing the women in their profession, mrs. e. o. smith and many others. mrs. swift was re-elected president and continued to serve until . the convention of also was held in san francisco, october - , and was made a jubilee meeting to celebrate the calling of the first woman's rights convention in . in the annual state meeting, held in san francisco november , , was greatly stimulated by the presence of mrs. chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and miss mary g. hay, its secretary. active societies were reported in many counties and a large amount of work done by the press committee of fourteen members, mrs. mary l. wakeman curtis, chairman. it was announced that the susan b. anthony club would hold a public meeting in the audience room of the century club, february , to celebrate that lady's eightieth birthday, at which president jordan and albert h. elliott would be the orators. addresses were given by miss sarah severance, mrs. julia s. sanborn, mrs. mary mchenry (wm. a.) keith, mrs. smith, miss selina solomons and miss clara m. schlingheyde. on the evening of november the convention was transferred to oakland and every seat in the large unitarian church was filled. mrs. chapman catt was the speaker, introduced by the rev. j. k. mclean. mrs. baldwin, president of the alameda county society, mrs. swift and other prominent women occupied the beautifully decorated platform. during the afternoon a reception had been given in the artistic home of mrs. emma shafter howard. the convention for was held in san francisco as usual, december , . mrs. annie r. wood was elected president.[ ] one of the largest auxiliary societies is that of alameda county with a dozen branches. the presidents have been the rev. j. k. mclean, mrs. m. s. haight, mrs. alice m. stocker, mrs. isabel a. baldwin, mrs. h. j. d. chapman and mrs. frances a. williamson.[ ] the san jose club was formed for campaign work, nov. , , with fifty-four charter members. it has continued to hold weekly meetings under the presidency of dr. alida c. avery.[ ] there are a number of other efficient clubs in northern california. legislative action: as early as , and for many years afterwards, mrs. laura de force gordon addressed the legislature in behalf of political rights for women, and from then until the present time there have been few sessions which have not had the question brought before them. a large number of legislators, lawyers and leading women have contended that the constitution of the state is so worded that it is within the power of the legislature to confer the full franchise by statute, but bills for this purpose always have been defeated by a majority who hold that this can be done legally only by an amendment to the constitution adopted by the electors. mrs. nellie holbrook blinn has spent many winters at sacramento in the interest of suffrage bills, and mrs. clara s. foltz has frequently made legal arguments before joint committees. beginning with mrs. sturtevant peet, president of the state woman's christian temperance union, has remained through every legislative session representing that organization, with bills for temperance measures, suffrage and other matters of especial interest to women. during all of these years the suffrage bills before the legislature have been reinforced by great petitions and hundreds of personal letters from the women of southern california. in miss sarah m. severance, state superintendent of franchise for the w. c. t. u., went to sacramento with a large petition asking for school suffrage. mrs. gordon, a practicing lawyer, already had prepared three bills asking for municipal and school suffrage including the right to hold every educational office. all were reported favorably from the senate committee. the first was passed, reconsidered and although again receiving a majority vote, had not the constitutional two-thirds. the school suffrage bill passed by ayes, noes. in the assembly it received ayes, noes, not the required majority. in a bill was presented to enfranchise women by statute. it was championed by senators mcgowan, dargie and simpson of the northern, and carpenter and mccomas of the southern part of the state. on february a hearing was granted by the judiciary committee, and mrs. gordon gave a strong legal argument which was presented to the members as a "brief;" and addresses were made by miss severance, mrs. addie l. ballou and mrs. emily pitt stevens. before the vote was taken in the legislature mrs. sturtevant peet presented the great petition of the w. c. t. u. containing , names, and many were offered by senators from various counties. individual appeals were sent by mrs. ellen clark sargent, mrs. sarah knox goodrich, dr. alida c. avery, mrs. e. o. smith and many other well-known women. the bill passed the senate by ayes, noes. it had been delayed so long, however, that it was too late to reach the assembly. in the state republican convention adopted a plank as follows: "believing that taxation without representation is against the principles of the government we favor the extension of the right of suffrage to all citizens of the united states, both men and women." the legislature of was strongly republican and the time seemed to be highly propitious for securing woman suffrage. to this end a number of influential women visited sacramento. the first bill presented called for enfranchisement by special statute and was introduced and championed in the assembly by judge e. v. spencer. on the afternoon of january mrs. blinn and mrs. foltz addressed the senate judiciary committee, and in the evening a mass meeting took place in the court house, which the judiciary and elections committees of the senate and house attended in a body, as did also a large number of the members. mrs. gordon made the leading address and mrs. foltz the closing speech. another meeting, held in the assembly chamber february , was addressed by mrs. e. v. spencer, mrs. blinn, miss laura tilden, a lawyer, mrs. gordon and mrs. peet. great assistance also was rendered by mrs. annie k. bidwell, mme. a. l. sorbier, dr. lillian lomax and mrs. jennie phelps purvis. the bill came to a vote in the assembly february and passed. a defect was then discovered in the title and it was voted on again february , receiving ayes, noes. in the senate it met with many vicissitudes which need not be recounted, as it eventually failed to pass. this was largely because the members did not believe it would be constitutional. this question being settled, senators mcgowan of eureka, and bulla of los angeles, assemblyman spencer of lassen, and others championed a resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause. this was adopted in march, , by a two-thirds majority of both houses, and signed by gov. james h. budd. the story of the campaign which was made to secure the adoption of this amendment is related hereafter. it was defeated by the voters. although the experienced national officers told the california women that it would be many years before they would be able to secure another bill they did not believe it, but went to the legislature of full of hope that an amendment would be submitted again and they could make another campaign while their organizations were intact and public sentiment aroused. mrs. mary wood swift, mrs. mary s. sperry and mme. a. l. sorbier spent much of the winter in sacramento, and enough members were pledged to pass the bill. when it was acted upon, however, while it received a majority in both houses, it lacked seven votes in the assembly and one in the senate of the necessary two-thirds.[ ] in representative w. s. mellick of los angeles introduced a bill giving women the right to vote for school trustees, and at elections for school bonds or tax levy. it passed the assembly with only one dissenting vote, and the senate by a majority of six. gov. henry t. gage refused to sign it on the old ground of unconstitutionality. constitutional amendment campaign: the action of the legislature of in submitting an amendment to the voters, instead of conferring the franchise by statute, was somewhat of a disappointment to the women as it precipitated a campaign which would come at the same time as that for president of the united states, and for which there was not sufficient organization. they were very much at sea for a while but in the spring of miss susan b. anthony and the rev. anna howard shaw, president and vice-president of the national association, came to california to the woman's congress, and while here, having had much experience, helped them plan their work and gave every possible encouragement. in the autumn miss shaw returned and held meetings throughout the state, managed by miss harriet cooper. the next year, at the urgent request of the state association, miss anthony and miss shaw came back and remained from the first of march until after the election in november, rendering all the assistance within their power in the longest and hardest campaign ever made for a woman suffrage amendment. an amendment committee had been appointed at the last annual convention and out of this and the state officers a campaign committee[ ] was formed and, in addition, a state central committee was organized. mrs. sargent opened her handsome home for headquarters the first three months, and for eight months she and her daughter, dr. elizabeth c. sargent, gave every hour to this work, entertaining as guests miss anthony, miss shaw and other workers and contributing large sums of money. in february, dr. sargent and miss shaw's secretary, lucy e. anthony, arranged a series of two days' conventions in every county in the state. miss harriet may mills and miss mary g. hay of new york, experienced organizers, were invited to california to manage these conventions and remained throughout the campaign.[ ] the rev. miss shaw and miss elizabeth upham yates of maine were the speakers. the audiences were large and cordial, clubs were formed and the meetings more than paid expenses. on sunday, may , the san francisco _call_, the leading republican paper, under the management of charles m. shortridge, came out with flaming headlines declaring for woman suffrage, and several hundred copies were sent to the state republican convention which met in sacramento the following tuesday. a number of prominent women went to this convention, as it was considered very important that it should repeat its indorsement of the previous year. the delegation consisted of miss anthony, miss shaw, mrs. sargent, state president, mrs. mary wood swift, mrs. sarah knox goodrich, mrs. mary s. sperry, mrs. ida husted harper and miss mary g. hay, members of the campaign committee. miss anthony and miss shaw addressed the committee on resolutions, and the next day a plank declaring for the amendment was adopted by the big convention with only one dissenting voice. on may most of these ladies attended the populist convention in sacramento. they were received with cheers, escorted to front seats, invited to address the convention and the plank was unanimously adopted. from here a part of them went to the prohibition convention in stockton, meeting a most cordial reception and a similar result. the socialist labor and the national parties also indorsed the amendment. there was little hope for the indorsement of the democratic convention, but the ladies, reinforced by mrs. sarah b. and miss harriet cooper, mrs. henry krebs, jr., mrs. alice m. stocker and mrs. e. o. smith attended it on june . they were permitted to address the resolutions committee and present a petition signed by about , men and women of the state asking for the amendment, but it was laid on the table almost before they had left the room.[ ] a minority report was at once prepared by charles wesley reed and signed by himself, william h. alford, chairman of the committee, and two other members, but it was prevented from coming before the convention by order of its chairman, frank gould of san joaquin county. after the platform had been adopted miss anthony and miss shaw were invited to address the convention, which they did to such effect that when they had finished the minority report was demanded. it was too late for this but, in spite of the efforts of john p. irish and w. w. foote of alameda county,[ ] and others, the original resolution declaring for an amendment was brought to a vote, receiving ayes, noes, more than one-fourth the whole number. the women opened their campaign a few days later with an immense ratification meeting in metropolitan temple. all of the political parties were represented by prominent men who made strong suffrage speeches, congressman james g. maguire speaking for the fraction of the democratic party. most of the ladies who had attended the conventions made addresses and there was the greatest enthusiasm. miss anthony was invited to speak at the ratification meeting of each of the political parties and was most cordially received. no suffrage campaign ever commenced so full of promise. headquarters were opened on main street in the fine new parrott building, five rooms being donated for the purpose by the manager of the emporium, william harper. the furnishings were contributed by different firms and individuals, and a handsome banner was swung across the street. here a force of women worked day and night for five months, most of them donating their services.[ ] the state board and all the committees were composed of women of good position and especial ability. the counties formed their own organizations and all the important towns had active local clubs. the report from southern california appears in another part of this chapter. in san francisco mrs. sarah b. cooper gave generously of her valuable time and powerful influence. mrs. mary wood swift and mrs. mary s. sperry responded many times when the finances were at the lowest ebb. it would be impossible to name even a small fraction of those who freely and continuously gave labor and money. each of the eighteen assembly districts of san francisco was organized by precincts, regular meetings were held, a personal canvass was made and an immense amount of literature was distributed. it is wholly impracticable in a limited space to mention the work done by the various counties, as in each where the amendment was carried it was due largely to the wise, faithful and unwearying efforts of its own women, and any distinction would be invidious. the work of the w. c. t. u. deserves a prominent place in the history of the struggle, as all the powers of its excellent organization and experienced workers were devoted to the success of the amendment, and the majority in several counties at least was due to its efforts. for the usual necessary and legitimate campaign purposes a fund of about $ , was raised and sent to headquarters, almost wholly the contributions of women. miss anthony remained in san francisco addressing meetings in that city and making many short trips to neighboring towns, speaking once or more every day for eight months. during this time she made a tour of central and southern california, lecturing in halls, churches, wigwams, parlors, schoolhouses and the open air. in some places the train was stopped and she spoke from the rear platform which was then banked with flowers. the rev. anna howard shaw spoke every night for seven months; miss yates made about one hundred speeches; mrs. chapman catt spent the last two months in the state giving several addresses every day. miss sarah m. severance spoke under the auspices of the w. c. t. u. throughout the campaign. mrs. naomi anderson represented the colored people. every california woman who could make a speech was pressed into service for clubs, ward meetings, etc. many handsome homes were opened for parlor lectures. miss anthony herself addressed great political rallies of thousands of people; church conventions of every denomination; spiritualist and freethinkers' gatherings; salvation army meetings; african societies; socialists; all kinds of labor organizations; granges; army and navy leagues; soldiers' homes and military encampments; women's clubs and men's clubs; y. m. c. a.'s and w. c. t. u.'s. she spoke at farmers' picnics on the mountain tops, and bethel missions in the cellars of san francisco; at parlor meetings in the most elegant homes; and in pool-rooms where there was printed on the blackboard, "welcome to susan b. anthony." her services during the entire time were a personal contribution. the attitude of the press was one of the remarkable features. mrs. ida husted harper was made chairman of the press committee which had local members in every community. in company with miss anthony every editor in san francisco was visited and assurances received that the amendment would have respectful treatment. the _call_, the _record_ and the _post_ gave strong editorial indorsement, the latter maintaining a daily department, the responsibility being largely taken by dr. sargent. mrs. harper had a long article each week in the _sunday call_ and many weeks one in the _chronicle_ also. the _examiner_ placed a column on the editorial page of its sunday edition at the disposal of miss anthony and she filled it for seven months, but the paper gave no official approval. the _report_ had a double column every saturday edited by miss winnifred harper. the _bulletin_ had one conducted by miss eliza d. keith, but editorially it was not friendly. mrs. mary l. wakeman curtis rendered especially valuable service. the populist press was universally favorable, as were the _star_ and other labor papers, the temperance, socialist and a. p. a. organs, the leading jewish papers, those of the colored people, several published in foreign languages and many in the interest of agriculture, insurance, etc. before the close of the campaign the press chairman was in communication with papers in the state which declared editorially for woman suffrage. only spoke openly against it, prominent among these being the _san francisco chronicle_, _argonaut_, _sacramento record-union_ and _los angeles times_. from california papers alone , clippings were received on this subject. had it not been the year of a presidential election it is probable that the amendment might have carried, but the bitter competition of politics soon produced many complications and, although the suffrage question was kept absolutely non-partisan, it could not escape their serious effects. the demand for free silver had made such inroads on the republican party that it was threatened with the loss of the state, and it was soon made to understand by the liquor element that its continued advocacy of the suffrage amendment would mean a great loss of money and votes. it was found that the chairman of the state central committee, major frank m'laughlin, was notifying the county chairmen not to permit the women to speak at the republican meetings, and it became very difficult to persuade the speakers of that party to refer to the amendment, although an indorsement of it was the first plank in their platform. the populists and democrats found themselves in accord on financial questions and in most localities a fusion was effected. while the former, for the most part, were loyal to the amendment they could not fully control the speakers or platforms at the rallies and it was kept out of sight as much as possible. the a. p. a. was strongly organized in california and was waging a bitter war against the catholic church, and both feared the effect of the enfranchisement of women, although at the beginning the former seemed wholly in favor. the women made a brave fight but these political conditions, added to insufficient organization, too small a number of workers, lack of necessary funds, the immense amount of territory to be covered, the large foreign population in san francisco and the strong prejudices in general against the movement, which must be overcome everywhere, made defeat inevitable. the final blow was struck when, ten days before election, the wholesale liquor dealers' league, which had been making its influence felt all during the campaign, met in san francisco and resolved "to take such steps as are necessary to protect our interests." one of these steps was to send to the saloonkeepers, hotel proprietors, druggists and grocers throughout the state the following: at the election to be held on november , constitutional amendment no. six, which gives the right to vote to women, will be voted on. it is to your interest and ours to vote against this amendment. we request and urge you to vote and work against it and do all you can to defeat it. see your neighbor in the same line of business as yourself, and have him be with you in this matter. although the women had the written promise of the secretary of state saying, "the amendment shall be third in order on the ballot, as certified to me by the various county clerks," it was placed last, which made it the easy target for the mass of voters who could not read. hundreds of tickets were cast in san francisco on which the only cross was against this amendment, not even the presidential electors voted for. there were , votes cast on the suffrage amendment; , for; , against; defeated by , . the majority against in san francisco county was , ; in alameda county, comprising oakland, alameda and berkeley, , ; total , -- votes more than the whole majority cast against the amendment. berkeley gave a majority in favor, so in reality it was defeated by the vote of san francisco, oakland and alameda.[ ] alameda is the banner republican county and gave a good majority for the republican ticket. there never had been a hope of carrying san francisco for the amendment, but the result in alameda county was a most unpleasant surprise, as the voters were principally republicans and populists, both of whom were pledged in the strongest possible manner in their county conventions to support the amendment, and every newspaper in the county had declared in favor of it. the fact remains, however, that a change of , votes in the entire state would have carried the amendment; and proves beyond question that, if sufficient organization work had been done, this might have been accomplished in spite of the combined efforts of the liquor dealers and the political "bosses."[ ] as it is almost universally insisted that woman suffrage amendments are defeated by the ballots of the ignorant, the vicious and the foreign born, an analysis of the vote of san francisco, which contains more of these elements than all the rest of california, is of interest. not one of the eighteen assembly districts was carried for the amendment and but one precinct in the whole city. it is not practicable to draw an exact dividing line between the best and the worst localities in any city, but possibly the th, or water front, district in san francisco may come under the latter head and the th under the former. the vote on the amendment in the th was ayes, , noes; in the th, ayes, , noes, a larger percentage of opposition in the district containing the so-called best people. districts , , , , , would probably be designated the most aristocratic of the city. their vote on the amendment was , ayes, , noes, an opposing majority of , , or about , to the district. this left the remainder to be distributed among the other eighteen districts, including the ignorant, the vicious and the foreign born, with an average of less than , adverse votes in each district. the proportion of this vote was duplicated in oakland, the most aristocratic ward giving as large a negative majority as the one commonly designated "the slums." southern california.[ ] in the spring of the first woman suffrage association of southern california was organized in los angeles at the home of mrs. elizabeth a. kingsbury, a lecturer and writer of ability and a co-worker with the eastern suffragists in pioneer days. this small band of men and women held weekly meetings from this time until the opening of the amendment campaign in , when it adjourned--subject to the call of its president--and its members became a part of the los angeles campaign committee. the principal work of this early suffrage society was educational. once a month meetings were held to which the public was invited, addresses were given by able men and women, good music was furnished and suffrage literature distributed. for five years mrs. kingsbury continued its efficient president and then returned to her eastern home. she was succeeded by mrs. margaret v. longley, another pioneer worker from the east, who served acceptably for the same length of time, when mrs. alice moore mccomas was elected. under her regime was called the first county suffrage convention ever held in the state. all other organizations of women wholly ignored the suffrage association during these years. the woman's christian temperance union had its franchise department, but it was by no means so popular as the other thirty-nine. discouragement was met on every hand, but the faithful few, adhering to the principles of political liberty, saw year by year a slow but certain growth of sentiment in favor of the ballot for women. in the winter of , an effort was made to secure a bill from the legislature conferring municipal suffrage upon women. hundreds of letters were written and a large petition was sent but no action was taken.[ ] every year afterward a bill asking for some form of suffrage was presented to the legislature, accompanied by great petitions signed by representative people, and an unremitting agitation was kept up throughout southern california, until a strong sentiment was created in favor of the enfranchisement of women. among those who championed the cause in the legislature in those days were r. n. bulla, r. b. carpenter, edward denio and w. s. mellick. u. s. senators george c. perkins and stephen m. white also gave their influence in its favor. in the autumn of the southern california woman's parliament was organized. while the fact was emphasized that it was "not a woman's rights society;" the suffragists saw here an opportunity for good work. the whole membership of their various organizations went into this parliament and were active promoters of all the enterprises taken up, fully realizing that, sooner or later, in a body where all phases of woman's work--in the home, the church, the school and society--were discussed, woman's political limitations could not fail to receive attention. they were not mistaken for in a short time its sessions might properly have been called "woman's rights meetings," but none were more careful not to mention this fact than the "strong-minded" members. the women who were afraid to be seen at suffrage meetings were being so quietly converted that they had no idea of it. the sentiment grew and grew--and so did the suffrage association--until, after consultation with various members of the legislature, it was decided to ask for an amendment to the state constitution which would enfranchise women. meanwhile the los angeles suffrage association called a convention of delegates from the southern counties in april, , and a central committee was organized consisting of one representative woman from each voting precinct. this was productive of systematic work, and when the legislature the following winter submitted an amendment, workers in every city, town, hamlet and school district were ready for the campaign. county campaign committees were organized of which that of los angeles was the leader, and from its headquarters the main work was carried on. these, consisting of four large rooms on the second floor of the muskegon block, a fine stone building in the business center of los angeles, were donated by t. d. stimson. they were handsomely furnished by friends with every requirement for office work and semi-public meetings. leo alexander and william d. hayward contributed the typewriters. their arrangement was in the hands of mesdames j. h. braly, a. m. davidson, r. l. craig and laura b. fay. all through that ever-to-be-remembered hot summer of these dainty, artistic rooms, constantly supplied with fresh flowers, afforded a cool retreat for the busy suffragists, as well as a resting place for their less active sisters who were invited to visit them, even if not in sympathy, and none left without some of the literature and a gentle hint as to their obvious duty. in san diego the work was led by the president, mrs. flora m. kimball. mrs. kimball was the first woman ever elected master of a grange, and was for eight years a member of the san diego school board. she was a most efficient manager and the beautiful grounds around her home were the scene of many gatherings. a gifted writer also, her satires during this campaign, over the signature "betty snow, an anti-suffragist," made many converts. prominent among the workers were mrs. annie bristol sloan, president of the san diego county w. s. a., the rev. amanda deyo, dr. lelia latta and mrs. laura riddell; mrs. helen joslin le boeuf (tustin), organizer of orange county; mrs. lizzie h. mills, secretary of the southern california w. c. t. u., and its president, mrs. n. p. j. button, who kept the question prominently before the people of riverside county. mrs. ida k. spears led the work in ventura county with pen and voice. kern county though less densely settled had in its little clusters of humanity staunch friends of the cause under the leadership of mrs. mcleod, and gave also its majority for the amendment. san bernardino was ably marshaled by mrs. ella wilson merchant, the county president. in santa barbara county mrs. emily wright had stood sponsor for the cause for many years, and mrs. s. e. a. higgins assisted with her facile pen. this county in its favorable vote ranked next to los angeles. the work was tremendous but the result was compensating. the key-note of the campaign was to reach every voter without regard to race or rank. therefore, women of all castes and conditions were set to work where their direct influence would be most effective. hundreds of precinct meetings were held during the whole summer. each precinct had its own organization officered by its own people--men and women--a vice-president being appointed from each of its churches, and this was called campaign committee precinct no. ----, pledged to work only until election. the meetings numbered from five to eighteen a day, and one day in august twenty-two were held in a single county. in the city of los angeles the highest number in any one day was nine precinct meetings and one public rally in the evening, near the close of the campaign. mrs. mccomas addressed four of these meetings and spoke at the rally--which was not unusual work for the speakers in the field. from the afternoon meetings, held generally in the largest homes in the precinct, hundreds of leaflets were sent out and every effort was made to increase the interest among women, for it was believed that if these did their duty the votes could be secured. the evening meetings were held principally in halls or churches, though frequently the larger homes and hotel parlors were thrown open for a reception where men were the honored guests. the churches of all protestant denominations were offered for debates and entertainments. in several the rev. mila tupper maynard--the salaried campaign speaker--preached sunday evenings on texts pertinent to the subject, and many pastors delivered special sermons on equal rights. leading hotels gave their parlors for precinct meetings and many of the halls used for public gatherings were donated by the owners. noontide meetings were held in workshops, factories and railroad stations, and while the men ate their lunch a short suffrage talk was given or some good leaflet read aloud. the wives of these men were invited to take part, or to have full charge, and many earnest, competent workers were found among them who influenced these voters as no one else could do. the large proportion of foreign citizens were thus reached in a quiet, educational manner. another most effective method of work was carried on by the public meeting committee. every political organization had in its ranks some father, husband, son or brother who was pledged to watch the suffrage interests and report to this committee--composed of men from these organizations and women from the campaign committees--when and where a wedge could be put in for the amendment. its main duty was to present at political meetings, through the most distinguished speaker on the program, a resolution favoring the amendment. in this way it was treated as one of the general issues and, being brought before the voters by one of their own speakers, did not give the annoyance that is sometimes felt when a lady is introduced for this purpose. in every instance, the speaker would call upon the voters to "honor themselves in honoring the women." this method became very popular and won many votes where, otherwise, a hearing could not have been secured. another popular plan was that of utilizing the young people, who proved effective helpers. every boy and girl who could sing, play, declaim, write an essay or in any other way entertain was enlisted for oratorical debates, prize essays and public meetings.[ ] through their work many a young man cast his first vote for his mother. hearings were secured before clubs and organizations, when short addresses were made and resolutions adopted.[ ] the w. c. t. u. was throughout the campaign, active, efficient and helpful, while its members were found on all the suffrage committees. valued assistance was given also by the woman's parliament, the church auxiliaries, labor unions, christian endeavor societies, epworth leagues, theosophical societies and the southern california federation of woman's clubs--which devoted a whole session of its annual meeting to the question. the afro-american congress, convening in los angeles, gave up an afternoon session to listen to mrs. naomi anderson, the salaried organizer. this was followed up with faithful work by the colored woman's club, its president, dr. mary t. longley, assisted by mesdames washington, white, jackson, knott, campbell, clarkson and others, being instrumental in converting many of the colored men to a belief in suffrage for women. a number of them indeed became active workers, the most prominent being the rev. john albright. mrs. mccomas addressed the los angeles county republican convention, which put in its platform a resolution in favor of the amendment. literature in small, concise leaflets was hung up in the street cars, railroad offices, hotels, theaters and post-offices; wrapped in dry-goods and grocery parcels and placed in profusion in the public libraries, many of these being compiled especially to suit certain localities. this required unceasing labor and watchfulness on the part of the press committee. much original matter was used to show the people that the women of their community were fully capable of expressing their ideas and giving their reasons for desiring the ballot. fourteen of the papers published in los angeles were friendly to the amendment and gave it more or less editorial support, while three used their influence against it. the los angeles _times_ was unyielding in its opposition throughout the campaign, although it published fair reports of the meetings. the _sunday world_ kept pace with the _liquor dealer_ in its coarse hostility, while the pasadena _town talk_ was a good second to both. the majority of the newspapers in southern california were favorable to the proposed measure and were largely responsible for its success in this section of the state.[ ] the most harmonious spirit existed at headquarters and among all the workers. enough money was raised to pay salaries to county presidents, organizers, corresponding secretary and one speaker. all others donated their services. among the series of county conventions called by the state board, los angeles not only paid its own expenses but contributed $ to the general state fund. this money was freely given by friends and workers, no special assessments being levied and no collections taken at public meetings. those who could not give largely worked the harder to secure contributions from those who could. great credit is due to the excellent management of the financial secretary, mrs. almeda b. gray, who labored constantly at headquarters from may to november, besides contributing a monthly instalment to the county fund. much of it was also due to the wise and conservative policy of the president of the campaign committee, mrs. elizabeth h. meserve. it would be impossible to give even the names of all who assisted in this long and arduous campaign. the work was far-reaching, and many were modest home-keepers who gave effective service in their own immediate neighborhood.[ ] the amendment was defeated--for many reasons. among the most conspicuous were ignorance of the real merits of the issue; indifference--for thousands of voters failed to vote either way; a secret but systematic opposition to woman's voice in legislative affairs from the only organization against it--the liquor dealers' association; and, most potent of all, a political combination which would not have occurred except at the time of a presidential election. every county in southern california gave a majority for the amendment, los angeles county leading with , . miss anthony, who spent the summer in california aiding and encouraging the women with her wisdom, cheerfulness and hope, said on leaving: "the campaign was a magnificent one, and it has developed many splendid workers who will be ready for the next which is sure to come." after the disappointing result the campaign committee held a meeting, passed resolutions of fealty to the cause and adjourned _sine die_. but in order to perpetuate the work already done and be ready for "new business" at any time, the los angeles county woman suffrage league was organized the following week, mrs. elmira t. stephens, president; mrs. gray, chairman of advisory board; mrs. craig, secretary. the natural reaction after defeat followed and no work was done for several years. in november, , the state president, mrs. mary wood swift, came to los angeles and gave a parlor talk at the home of her hostess, mrs. i. g. chandler, and later an address at a public meeting in the woman's club house, of which mrs. caroline m. severance was chairman. practically all were in favor of reviving the old woman suffrage league and an executive committee was appointed, mrs. sarah burger stearns (formerly of minnesota), chairman. at its call a meeting was held december , and the league reorganized: president, mrs. severance; vice-president, mrs. shelley tolhurst; secretary, mrs. carl schutz; treasurer, mrs. amelia griffith; chairman of executive committee, mrs. stearns. a leaflet announcing the formation of the league, its plan of work, etc., was largely circulated. a committee was appointed who went before the legislative conference, which was held later in the chamber of commerce, and expressed the thanks of the league for the efforts of the southern california members who had worked and voted for the school suffrage bill at the previous session of . the executive committee meets once a month and special sessions are called whenever necessary. the plan of work, as outlined by mrs. stearns, was sent to the state convention at san francisco and cordially approved. in february half of a show window on broadway was secured, with ample floor space back of it. with the donation of $ by a los angeles woman both were made attractive with flags, engravings and furnishings. above a handsome desk the suffrage flag with its four stars is draped and photographs of prominent women adorn the walls. the suffrage papers are kept on file and quantities of fresh literature are ready for distribution. stationery, photographs, medallions, etc., are for sale, a register is open for the enrollment of friends and a member of the league is always in attendance. when another amendment campaign is to be made southern california will be found ready for work and will declare in its favor by a largely increased majority. * * * * * laws: the original property law of california is an inheritance from the mexicans, which it incorporated in its own code, and it is quite as unjust as those which still exist on the statute-books of some states as a remnant of the barbarous old english common law. community property includes all which is accumulated by the joint labors of husband and wife after marriage. this is in the absolute control of the husband. previous to he could dispose of all of it as if he had no wife, could will, sell, mortgage, pledge or give it away. that year the legislature enacted that he could not make a gift of it or convey it without a valuable consideration, unless the wife consented in writing, although he could still dispose of it in ordinary business transactions without her knowledge or consent. the decision in the spreckles case apparently nullified this law, as the gift was made in and the supreme court in declared it legal.[ ] in it was provided that at the husband's death the wife is entitled to one-half of what remains, subject to one-half of the debts. at the death of the wife the whole belongs absolutely to the husband without administration. if some portion of it may have been set apart for her support by judicial decree, this is subject to her testamentary disposition, or, if she makes none, it passes to her heirs. a homestead to the value of $ , , which must continuously be occupied by the family, may be selected from the community property, or from the husband's separate estate, or from the wife's with her consent. if from the first-named it belongs to the survivor, if from the separate property it descends to his or her heirs, subject to the power of the court to assign it to the family for a limited period. during marriage it can not be mortgaged or conveyed without the signature of both. in case of divorce, if it has been selected from community property, it may be assigned to the innocent party absolutely or for a limited time, or it may be sold and the proceeds divided, according to decree. if selected from separate property it shall be returned to the former owner, but the court may assign it for a limited time to the innocent party. in a law was passed that if the estate is less than $ , it shall be assigned to the widow, subject to incumbrances, funeral charges and expenses of settlement. separate property consists in what was possessed before marriage or is received by gift or inheritance afterwards. if the deceased leave wife or husband and only one child, or the lawful issue of one, the separate estate is divided in equal shares. if there be more than one child or the issue of one, the widow or widower is entitled to one-third. if there is no issue the survivor takes one-half and the other half goes to the father, mother, brothers and sisters of the deceased. if none exists, the survivor is entitled to the whole estate. either husband or wife may dispose of separate property without the consent of the other. until it rested upon the wife to prove that property was her separate possession, but now the proof rests upon the contestants. until she was compelled to prove that it was not paid for with community earnings. neither of these recent laws applies to property acquired previous to may , . a married woman may be administrator or executor. ( .) the wife may engage in business as sole trader and her husband is not liable for her contracts, but her earnings, and also any wages she may make by her labor, are community property and belong absolutely to him, and suit for them must be brought by him. by becoming a sole trader she makes herself liable for the support of the family. a married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in regard to her separate property, but in torts of a personal nature she must be sued jointly with her husband, although the wife may defend in her own right. until common law marriage was legal, and this consisted merely in a promise and the mutual assumption of marital rights, duties and obligations. that year a law was passed requiring a license and a civil or religious ceremony. the law declares specifically that "the husband is the head of the family and the wife is subject to him." the wife may sue for separate maintenance without divorce. the father is the guardian of the minor children and entitled to their custody, services and earnings. at his death, or if he has abandoned his family, the guardianship belongs to the mother, if suitable. the husband is expected to give his family proper maintenance. there is no penalty for not supporting a wife but he can be arrested for failure to support the children. if he have no property or is disabled from any cause, then the wife must support him and the family out of her property or her earnings. the husband decides what are necessaries and may take even her personal belongings to pay for them. in the w. c. t. u. asked to have the "age of protection" for girls raised from to years, but secured only . in they succeeded in having a bill passed for years but it was vetoed by gov. james h. budd. in they obtained one for years which he signed and it is now the law. the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than five years. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. in , to make a test case, mrs. ellen clark sargent brought suit before judge m. c. sloss, of the supreme court of san francisco, to recover her taxes for that year, about $ . the city through its attorney filed a demurrer which was argued march by george c. sargent, son of the plaintiff and a member of the bar. he based his masterly argument on the ground that a constitution which declares that "all political power is inherent in the people" has no right to exclude one-half of the people from the exercise of this inherent power. he quoted the most eminent authorities to prove that taxation and representation are inseparable; that the people of the united states would have been slaves if they had not enjoyed the constitutional right of granting or withholding their own money; that it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people that no taxes can be imposed upon them except with their consent given personally or by their representatives. he said in closing: if article i of the state constitution defines inalienable rights and article ii abrogates them, it is monarchy. the code of civil procedure says that where one of two constructions is in favor of natural right and the other against it, the former shall be accepted. the question is whether the court shall grant this right, or whether by toil and struggle it shall be wrung from the consciences of the electors. the court decided that the case required a mandamus before the registrar. application was then made for a writ of mandate against the registrar of elections to compel him to place mrs. sargent's name upon the list of voters. should this be denied she asked to have her taxes returned. both demands were refused by judge sloss in the superior court. he took the ground that if mr. sargent's argument should be carried to its logical conclusion it would enfranchise idiots, lunatics and criminals; that if there is a conflict between the two sections of the constitution cited it should be settled in favor of limiting the suffrage to males, as where a general and a particular provision are inconsistent the latter is paramount to the former. he quoted various state supreme court decisions and declared that he decided the case according to the law.[ ] as mrs. sargent had every assurance that this judgment would be sustained by the supreme court she did not carry the case further. it attracted attention and comment in all parts of the country and she received encouragement and wishes for her success from all classes of society. office holding: the legislature of made women eligible to all school offices. none ever has been elected state superintendent of public instruction but there is scarcely a county where women have not served as superintendents. at present seventeen are acting in this capacity. they have frequently been elected school trustees and a woman is now president of the san francisco school board at a salary of $ , per annum. the constitution is interpreted to prohibit women from holding any other office. it is claimed by some that this does not include the boards of state institutions, but out of twenty-six such boards and commissions only one ever has had a woman member--mrs. phoebe a. hearst, who is on the board of regents of the state university. there are women on local library boards. a woman has been assistant state librarian, and there have been women deputies and clerks in county and city offices. at present in the offices of the attorney-general, board of examiners, state department of highways and debris committee women hold positions as clerks at salaries of from $ , to $ , . they may serve as notaries public. in the autumn of the california woman's club resurrected an old law which never had been enforced, providing for the appointment of assistant women physicians at the hospitals for the insane "provided there are already three assistant male physicians." they petitioned the proper authorities and the matter was presented to the state lunacy commission by gov. henry t. gage with his earnest indorsement. from highly qualified candidates, whom the club had in readiness, two were appointed, and the promise was made that others should be at an early date. in a short time the superintendent of one hospital wrote that he did not see how they ever had managed without a woman physician. a woman physician is on the board of health in oakland. in a law was passed providing for jail matrons in cities of , and over. this included only san francisco and was not mandatory. in a law was secured requiring all cities of over , to have a matron at jails and city prisons, to be appointed for two years at a salary of $ , $ or $ a month, according to the size of the city. occupations: after the hard struggle to obtain a law admitting women to the bar in , a long contest followed to secure their admission to the hastings college of law, a branch of the state university, which ended in a favorable decision of the supreme court.[ ] as a result of these efforts the constitutional convention of incorporated a provision that "no person shall, on account of sex, be disqualified from entering upon or pursuing any lawful business, vocation or profession." this does not, however, include appointive or elective offices. education: this same constitution of provided also that "no person shall be debarred admission to any of the collegiate departments of the state university on account of sex." most of the smaller colleges are co-educational. the assertion will hardly be questioned that the gifts of women for educational purposes in all parts of the union, in all time, do not equal those made by the women of california within the last decade. as a memorial to their son, u. s. senator and mrs. leland stanford erected the leland stanford, jr., university at palo alto in and endowed it with many millions of dollars. mr. stanford's death before it was fully completed threw the estate into litigation for a number of years, the legality of even some portion of the university endowment being in doubt. he left the bulk of his great fortune to his wife, and, after the estate was settled and free from all encumbrances, she reaffirmed the titles of all previous gifts and added the largest part of her own property. the endowment is now about $ , , , all but $ , , of this having been given by mrs. jane lathrop stanford. this is the largest endowment ever made by any one person for one institution, and places stanford at the head of the endowed universities of the world. it has been co-educational in all departments from the beginning and the tuition is practically free. in mrs. miranda lux of san francisco left a bequest of $ , for a school of manual training for both sexes. in miss cora jane flood of san francisco conveyed to the university of california her magnificent estate at menlo park and , shares of stocks, valued at not far from $ , , . the request was made that the income should be devoted to some branch of commercial education. mrs. jane krom sather of oakland has given about $ , to the university. the donations of mrs. phoebe a. hearst have been thus far about $ , , but this is merely preliminary to the great endowment of millions for which she has arranged. it is exclusive also of $ , a year for several archæological expeditions. liberal gifts have been made by other women. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women $ . . as a law of requires equal pay of teachers for equal work, these figures show that the highly salaried positions are largely occupied by men. * * * * * women's clubs play a very prominent part in the social life. of these, with a membership of over , belong to the state federation. the oldest in the state is the ebell of oakland, organized over twenty-five years ago, and having now a handsome club house and a membership of . it raised $ , to purchase a site for the new carnegie library. the century club of san francisco with members is one of the oldest and most influential; the california club has an active membership of ; and there are a number of other flourishing clubs in that city, oakland, berkeley, alameda and sacramento, of from to members. the friday morning club of los angeles, with a membership of , owns a beautiful club house. the ebell of that city has members, and clubs of from to are found in various places in southern california. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for most of the material in this chapter to mrs. ellen clark sargent of san francisco, honorary president, and miss carrie a. whelan of oakland, corresponding secretary, of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, chap. liii. [ ] other names which appear in the scant records are dr. cora morse, mesdames william a. keith, a. w. manning, helen moore, emily pitt stevens, julia schlessinger, gertrude smythe--of san francisco and the towns around the bay; e. l. collins of the stockton _daily mail_, mrs. d. p. burr and mrs. james gillis of stockton. [ ] for full description see life and work of susan b. anthony, chap. xlv. [ ] president, mrs. ellen clark (aaron a.) sargent; first vice-president, mrs. annie k. (general john) bidwell; second vice-president, mrs. nellie holbrook blinn; third vice-president, mrs. john spalding; corresponding secretary, mrs. george oulton; recording secretary, mrs. hester a. harland; treasurer, mrs. sarah knox goodrich; auditors, mrs. mary wood (john f.) swift and mrs. isabel a. baldwin. [ ] ida husted harper, the rev. eliza tupper wilkes, mary wood swift, dr. ida v. stambach, harriet e. cotton, ada h. van pelt. [ ] the others who have held office in the state association since are--first vice-presidents, mesdames frank m. smith, c. r. randolph, h. j. d. chapman, mary wood swift, second vice presidents, mrs. annie k. bidwell, mrs. e. o. smith, third vice-presidents, mrs. elmira t. stevens, mrs. r. h. pratt, mrs. a. k. bidwell, corresponding secretaries, mrs. harriet e. cotton, miss mary e. donnelly, dr. amy g. bowen, miss carrie a. whelan, recording secretaries, mrs. nellie holbrook blinn, miss mary g. gorham, mrs. henry krebs, jr., mrs. dorothy harnden, treasurers, mrs. mary s. sperry (six years), miss clara m. schlingheyde; auditors, mrs. lovell white, mrs. george oulton, miss mary s. keene, dr. alida c. avery, mrs. mary mc. h. keith, mrs. anna k. spero. [ ] among those who have been officially connected with the work are col. p. t. dickinson, col. george and mrs. olive e. babcock, drs. alice bush, susan j. fenton, kellogg lane, carra b. schofield, rev. c. w. wendte, rev. eliza tupper wilkes, mr. and mrs. john l. howard, mr. and mrs. maurice woodhams, mesdames a. e. s. banks, s. c. borland, j. c. campbell, ella e. greenman, l. g. judd, mary mchenry keith, a. a. moore, m. b. pelton, emily m. vrooman, c. l. wood, j. a. waymire, john yule; misses mollie e. connors, mary s. keene, mary snell, winifred warner, carrie a. whelan. [ ] among the most active members are mesdames m. b. braley, fred l. foster, sarah knox goodrich, j. h. henry, h. jennie james, a. k. de jarnette (spero), e. o. smith, laura j. watkins, alice b. wilson. [ ] immediately afterwards the ladies said to one of the members, "why did you break your pledge to us and vote against the bill?" without a moment's hesitation he answered, "because i had a telegram this morning from the liquor dealers' association telling me to do so." [ ] chairman, ellen clark sargent; vice-chairman, sarah b. cooper; corresponding secretary, ida husted harper; recording secretary, harriet cooper; treasurer, mary s. sperry; auditors, mary wood swift and sarah knox goodrich. state central committee: mrs. sargent, miss anthony, mrs. swift, mrs. sperry, mrs. blinn, with mary g. hay, chairman. [ ] later mrs. ida crouch hazlitt of colorado, mrs. laura m. riddell of san diego and other state women were added to the organizing force. [ ] dr. elizabeth sargent was chairman of the committee on petitions for northern and mrs. alice moore mccomas for southern california. as the names had to be collected in the winter months preceding the spring campaign, the distances to be covered were long and the labor was the free offering of busy women, it is surprising that the list was so large. it by no means represented the suffrage sentiment in the state. [ ] alameda had sent in the largest petition for woman suffrage of any county in the state, and san joaquin afterwards gave a big majority vote for the amendment. [ ] a number of young women who were engaged the greater part of every day in teaching, stenography, bookkeeping, etc., gave every hour that could be spared to the work at headquarters, a free will offering. among those who deserve special mention are misses mary, louise and sarah donnelly, mary gorham, clara schlingheyde, effie scott vance, evelyn grove, mrs. n. w. palmer, winifred and marguerite warner and carrie a. whelan. mrs. lelia s. martin also contributed five months' time. [ ] los angeles county gave a majority of , in favor of the amendment. [ ] many personal incidents and anecdotes of this campaign will be found in the life and work of susan b. anthony, chap. xlvii. [ ] this portion of the chapter was prepared by mrs. alice moore mccomas, former president of the los angeles woman suffrage association and chairman of the southern california press committee during the amendment campaign of . a considerable amount of space is given because it presents so admirable an example of the manner in which the work in such a campaign should be done. [ ] the first paper to establish a suffrage column was the los angeles _express_, in , h. z. osborne, editor. this was conducted by mrs. mccomas for three years. [ ] among the many were gertrude foster, the young california actress, who added attraction to many programs with her brilliant readings, and jessie, daughter of superior judge waldo york, who won the prize of $ offered by dr. ella whipple marsh, superintendent of franchise of the southern california w. c. t. u., for the best essay on woman suffrage, one hundred young people of both sexes competing. an oratorical contest for young college men--original orations on woman suffrage--resulted in a $ prize to edwin hahn of pomona college, five young men participating. clare, daughter of judge c. c. mccomas, gave highly-appreciated recitations on the woman question, and miss nina cuthbert, the young teacher of elocution, delighted many audiences with her readings and wonderful imitations. [ ] prominent among these were the single tax club, royal arcanum, foresters, native daughters of the golden west, socialist league, y. m. c. a., carpenters' union, woman's relief corps, y. w. c. a., friday morning woman's club and the fraternal brotherhood. [ ] it is regretted that the carefully compiled list of these papers, sent by mrs. mccomas, is too long to be used. [eds. [ ] in addition to men and women already mentioned the following is a partial list of those who aided in various ways: annie b. andrews, alice armor, prof. w. c. and sarah a. bowman, mary m. bowman, mrs. (dr.) b. w. beacher, mary e. benson, mary e. bucknell, alice e. broadwell, rollo k. bryan, james g. clark, mary l. crawford, lucy e. cook, mary lynde craig, pauline curram, gen. a. b. campbell, edith cross, adelaide comstock, prof. g. a. dobinson, the hon. c. h. dillon, florence dunham, virginia w. davis, sallie markham davis, ella h. enderline, katheryne phillips edson, dr. and mrs. eli fay, ada c. ferriss, mary e. fisher, miss m. m. fette, kate tupper galpin, mary e. garbutt, prof. burt estees howard, emma hardacre, mary i. hutchinson, rachel handby, mrs. c. e. haines, georgia hodgeman, judge and mrs. ivan, mrs. mary e. and miss kinney, mrs. e. a. and miss lawrence, alice beach mccomas, ben s. may, susie munn, mattie day murphy, dr. mary nixon, mrs. c. w. parker, delia c. percival, ursula m. poats, mary rankin, rachel reid, aglea rothery, mr. and mrs. w. c. b. randolph, caroline m. severance, mrs. fred smith, dora g. smith, drusilla e. steele, annie b. smith, gabrella stickney, mrs. a. tichenor, mrs. r. h. f. variel, dr. theoda wilkins, mrs. (dr.) wills, fanny wills, attorney sarah wild, judge waldo york, jessie york. [ ] claus spreckles gave his son rudolph a large amount of sugar stock which was community property, and mrs. spreckles did not join. afterwards he sued to recover and the supreme court, all the judges concurring, decided the gift was legal. justice temple rendered the decision as follows: "all these differences point to the fact that the husband is absolute owner of the community property. the marital community was not acquired for the purpose of accumulating property, and the husband owes no duty to the community or to the wife, either to labor or accumulate money, or to save or to practice economy to that end. he owes his wife and children suitable maintenance, and if he has sufficient income from his separate estate he need not engage in business, or so live that there can be community property. if he earns more than is sufficient for such maintenance, he violates no legal obligation if he spends the surplus in extravagance or gives it away. the community property may be lost in visionary schemes or in mere whims. within the law he may live his life, although the community property is dissipated. of course i am not now speaking of moral obligations." [ ] during this trial mrs. sargent and her friends in attendance were caricatured in the most shameless manner by the san francisco _call_, which had passed under a new management. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, p. . chapter xxix. colorado.[ ] after the campaign of , when a woman suffrage amendment was defeated in colorado, the first really important step forward was the organization at denver, in , of a little club to aid the campaign in south dakota. in april miss matilda hindman, who was working there, came from that state to ask assistance and formed a committee of six, who pledged themselves to raise $ . they were miss georgiana watson, president; mrs. susan sharman, secretary; mrs. mary j. nichols, treasurer; and mesdames amy k. cornwall, jennie p. root and lavinia c. dwelle. shortly afterward mrs. louise m. tyler removed from boston to denver, bearing a letter from lucy stone urging colorado suffragists to unite in an organization auxiliary to the national woman suffrage association. mrs. tyler heard of this small band, called with mrs. elizabeth p. ensley, delivered her message, and their names were added to the list of members. the organization was completed and became an auxiliary. about this time mrs. leonora barry lake followed her lecture, delivered under the auspices of the woman's christian temperance union by an appeal to the women of the audience to join the suffrage association; and among those who responded were two whose ears had longed for such a gospel sound, mrs. emily r. meredith and her daughter ellis. temperance women who repeatedly had found their work defeated by the lack of "the right preservative of rights," such women as mrs. anna steele, mrs. ella l. benton, mrs. eliza j. patrick and others, thought truly that a society whose sole aim should be the ballot was a necessity. at this time the meetings were held in mrs. tyler's parlor. miss watson was much occupied with school duties, and in the fall of mrs. tyler was chosen president in her stead. in a petition for the right of suffrage by constitutional amendment was presented to the legislature, but the bill not being introduced within the specific time it went by default. ashamed of their lack of political acumen, the women then persuaded representative f. f. o'mahoney, who had a bill prohibiting foreigners from voting on their first naturalization papers, to strike the word "male" from his measure, thus making it an equal suffrage enactment, but bill and rider were defeated. the ladies who worked for suffrage were treated with such scant courtesy by some of the legislators, and the general sentiment was so adverse, that ultimate success looked very distant to the most sanguine friends. some of the club even questioned the advisability of giving an afternoon a week, as they had been doing, to the study of a government in which they had no part and might never hope to have. mrs. sharman, a small, delicate woman, who already had passed four-score years, was its inspiration. she advised the members to remain united, ready for active effort when opportunity offered, and in the meantime to continue as seed-sowers and students of citizenship in the preparatory department. the membership slowly increased. mrs. tyler served as president until , when mrs. olive hogle was elected. mrs. benton (adams) had given the use of her rooms in the central part of denver, and the society remained with her until, having outgrown its quarters, it accepted the hospitality of dr. minnie c. t. love early in . in the spring of a small majority of its members had put up a woman candidate for the east denver school board and tried their "prentice hands" at voting. it is a settled fact that a partial suffrage seldom awakens much interest. the school ballot had been given to women by the constitution when colorado became a state, but here, as elsewhere, they exercised it only when aroused by some especial occasion. mrs. scott saxton was the candidate selected. the wiser of the suffragists thought the work should have been undertaken sooner, if at all, as there was not then sufficient time for canvassing, and the result proved they were right. more women voted than ever before, but the men opposed to women on the school board came out in still greater numbers. twelve hundred ballots were cast--by far the largest school vote ever polled in the district. of these about were for mrs. saxton. two years later this effort was repeated and other organizations of women aided the suffragists. mrs. ione t. hanna was the candidate. there were four tickets in the field and over , votes were cast. this time both men and women voted in favor and, in the face of bitter opposition, mrs. hanna was elected by , majority. a bill providing that the question of full suffrage for women should be submitted to the voters at the next general election was drawn by j. warner mills and presented in the house early in by j. t. heath. on this, and all other occasions when advice or assistance was needed, mr. mills gave his legal services without charge. this was indeed the golden opportunity, the tide which taken at the flood might lead on to fortune. the populist party, which was in power, had a suffrage plank in its state platform; in both the other parties there were individuals who favored it; and, if the bill passed, the governor's signature was a certainty. but there are as many vicissitudes in the life of a bill as in that of an infant. it is thrown in the midst of its fellows to struggle for existence, and the outcome is not a question of the survival of the fittest but of the one that receives the best nursing. if it escapes the death that lurks in the committee room, it still may be gently crowded toward the edge until it falls into the abyss which awaits bills that never reach the third reading. mrs. tyler, chairman of legislative work, gave a large share of her time during the entire session to looking after the bill in the house, and miss minnie j. reynolds was equally untiring in the senate. three other suffrage bills were introduced that session but two yielded precedence to the one prepared by the association. the author of the third believed that women could obtain suffrage only through a constitutional amendment, which was what his bill called for. the women received such contradictory advice on this point as to awaken much anxiety. however, they read in their meetings a copy of the statutes of colorado, and possessing only plain common sense and not the legal ability which would have qualified them for a place in the supreme court, concluded that the referendum to the voters, which their bill provided for, was the proper thing to request. the opposition came from the usual sources. after the bill was presented, the _remonstrance_, the organ of the anti-suffrage society in boston, soon appeared on the desk of every legislator. the liquor influence also was prominent in the lobby. the bill was reported from the committee to the house on jan. , , with the recommendation that it should not pass and a minority report in favor. the former was rejected by a vote of to . the bill was brought to a final vote on march . a number of the members of the suffrage club and some other women who approved their cause were present by request of the friends in the house. some of the arguments used were peculiar. ruth didn't vote and she married very well (at least at the second trial) nor did any of the women referred to in the bible, so why should the women of the united states do so? one representative said he always attended to affairs out of doors and left those within to his wife. he thought that was the right way and didn't believe his wife would vote if she could. "but she says she would," declared another, who was prompted by mrs. tyler, and a ripple of laughter arose at the speaker's expense. there was the customary talk about neglected homes and implied disbelief in woman's ability to use the ballot rightly, but only one man tried the weapon of insult. robert w. bonynge spoke so slightingly of the character of women who upheld equal suffrage that one incensed woman, not a member of the association and presumably ignorant of parliamentary courtesy, gave a low hiss. immediately he assumed the denunciatory and threatened immediate expulsion of all persons not members from the house. frank carney then arose and referred to the fact that the anti-suffrage speakers had received repeated applause from their adherents and no notice had been taken of it, although it was equally out of place. mr. bonynge subsided from his position and continued his speech.[ ] the bill finally passed by ayes, noes; divided politically as follows: ayes, populists, republicans, democrat; noes, populists, republicans, democrats. hamilton armstrong had introduced the bill into the senate, where it had been tabled to await the action of the house. it passed on april by ayes, noes: ayes, populists, republicans, no democrat; noes, one populist, republicans, democrats. the bill received the signature of the populist governor, davis h. waite, without delay. a general election was to be held in the fall of , so that the verdict of the voters was soon to follow. at the annual meeting of the state woman suffrage association that spring the officers chosen were: president, miss martha pease; vice-president, mrs. ellis meredith; secretary, mrs. c. s. bradley; treasurer, mrs. ensley; chairman executive committee, mrs. tyler. on motion of mrs. meredith, the name of the society was changed to the non-partisan equal suffrage association of colorado, as in the word "equal" there is an appeal to justice which does not seem to exist in the word "woman." the women realized the conflict before them in the near future, and mrs. ellis meredith volunteered to visit the woman's congress, which was to meet at chicago in may, during the world's fair, and appeal for aid to the representatives of the national association who would be there. miss susan b. anthony, mrs. lucy stone and other notables were present and appointed a meeting to listen to appeals. these asked help for the constitutional convention campaign in new york and the kansas amendment campaign, which were both considered very hopeful compared to what was thought in the east to be the almost hopeless campaign in colorado. mrs. lillie devereux blake presented the claims of new york, mrs. laura m. johns of kansas, and mrs. meredith of colorado. "why was your campaign precipitated when our hands are so full?" was one of the discouraging questions. "are all those mexicans dead?" asked miss anthony, referring to the heavy vote against equal suffrage in the first colorado campaign of . "no," said mrs. meredith, "the mexicans are all there yet;" but she explained that there were favorable influences now which did not then exist. in the labor unions women members voted, and this fact inclined the men belonging to them to grant the full franchise. the w. c. t. u., now organized throughout the state, had become a firm friend and advocate, and the ruling political party was favorable. clearly this was the time to strike. a promise of consideration and such aid as the national association was able to furnish was given. later they decided to send mrs. carrie chapman catt and guarantee her expenses in case she was not able to raise them in the state. from her past record, they thought it likely she would not only do that but put money in the treasury, and the result justified their expectations. she was a financial help, but, much as money was needed, her eloquence and judgment were worth more, and she always will have a warm place in the hearts of colorado women who were active in the campaign of . when that campaign opened, there were just $ in the treasury. lucy stone sent a donation of $ . iowa and california gave aid, and there were small contributions in money from members of the e. s. a. and from auxiliary clubs formed by mrs. chapman catt in different parts of the state. besides these, others already had been organized. in longmont a club was formed in the spring of by mesdames mary l. carr, orpha bacon, rosetta webb and jane lincoln. they took up the study of laws relating to the property rights of women and endeavored to awaken interest in the question to be settled the following november. the majority which longmont gave for suffrage is a testimony to the value of their work. in colorado springs mrs. mary c. c. bradford was president of a large local society which afterward became auxiliary to the state association, with mrs. ella l. c. dwinnell as president, and did excellent work in el paso county. in greeley many of the workers of were still active. mrs. lillian hartman johnson organized a club in durango and spoke for the cause. mrs. a. guthrie brown formed one in breckinridge of which mesdames h. r. steele, c. l. westermann and e. g. brown were active members. all these clubs, large and small, scattered throughout the state, assisted in arousing public sentiment, but the situation in denver was the one of most anxious interest. it is always in cities that reforms meet defeat, for there the opposing interests are better organized and more watchful. in no other state is the metropolis so much the center of its life as is denver of colorado. through this modern palmyra, which stands in the center of the continent and of the tide of commerce from east and west, flow all the veins and arteries of the state life. arapahoe county, in which it is situated, contains more than one-fourth of the population of the entire state. upon the women of denver, therefore, was imposed a triple share of responsibility. besides the importance of the large vote, there rested particularly upon the members of its suffrage club the burden of having invited this contest and made it a campaign issue. in the early fall, the city league of denver was organized with members and mrs. john l. routt, wife of the ex-governor, as president. mrs. thomas m. patterson and mrs. n. p. hill were prominent workers in this club. a young woman's league was formed by misses mary and margaret patterson and miss isabel hill, and there were other leagues in various parts of the city. in all this work mrs. tyler was indefatigable. miss minnie j. reynolds, chairman of press work, enlisted the help of seventy-five per cent. of the newspapers. in some cases editorial approval and assistance were given, in others space was allowed for suffrage matter. in august mrs. elizabeth tabor donated the use of two rooms in the opera house block, one large enough to seat several hundred persons, the other a suitable office for the corresponding secretary. dr. minnie c. t. love had acted gratuitously in that capacity and opened communication with suffragists throughout the state, but it was now deemed necessary to employ some one who could devote her entire time to the work. miss helen m. reynolds was chosen and added to unusual capability the most earnest zeal. the rooms were furnished through loans of rugs, desks, chairs, etc. equal suffrage was indorsed by the county conventions of the republican, prohibition and populist parties, and also at a called meeting of the democratic state central committee. many ministers and lawyers spoke in its favor. among the latter were charles s. thomas, since governor of the state, j. warner mills, judge l. c. rockwell, charles hartzell, eugene engley and attorney-general i. n. stevens, who was one of the most trusted advisers. there were also women speakers of experience: mrs. therese jenkins of wyoming, mrs. susan s. fessenden of massachusetts; mrs. dora phelps buell, mrs. mary jewett telford, president of the woman's relief corps in the department of colorado and wyoming and also president for several terms of the state w. c. t. u., who made a five-months' speaking tour; mrs. leonora barry lake of st. louis, who spoke efficiently under the auspices of the knights of labor. mrs. laura ormiston chant of england delivered an address on her way westward. some women made speeches who never had been on the platform before but have since developed much oratorical ability. when needed, women who did not dare risk an unwritten address read papers. meetings were held all over the city and state. "i should think," said a banker, "from the campaign the women are running that they had a barrel of money;" but he was a contributor to the fund and knew it was very limited. in all about $ , were raised, over $ of which were spent for literature. some of the most efficient leaflets were written by members of the association and printed in denver. nearly , of these were issued. in the city press mrs. patience mapleton represented the cause in the _republican_; mrs. ellis meredith in the _rocky mountain news_. there were house to house canvassers, distributors of literature and others who rendered most valuable assistance and yet whose names must necessarily remain unrecorded. the most of this service was given freely, but some of the women who devoted all their time received moderate salaries, for most of the workers belonged to the wage-earning class. the speakers asked no compensation but their expenses were frequently borne. halls and churches had to be paid for and on several occasions opera houses were rented. when in the final report the expenses of election day were given as $ a murmur of amusement ran through the audience. the women who "had all the rights they wanted" appeared late in the campaign. some of them sent communications to the papers, complaining of the effort to thrust the ballot upon them and add to the already onerous duties of life. when told that they would not be compelled to vote and that if silent influence was in their opinion more potent than the ballot, it would not be necessary to cast it aside for the weaker weapon, they responded indignantly that if they had the franchise of course it would be their duty to use it. let it be noted that many of them have voted regularly ever since they were enfranchised, though some have reconsidered and returned to their silent influence. the liquor element slept in fancied security until almost the eve of election, as they did not believe the amendment would receive popular sanction. when they awoke to the danger they immediately proceeded to assess all saloon keepers and as many as possible of their prominent patrons. they got out a large number of dodgers, which were put into the hands of passers-by. these were an attack upon equal suffrage and the women who advocated it, and at the bottom of the first issue was a brewer's advertisement. this dodger stated that "only some old maids like lucy stone, susan anthony, frances willard, elizabeth stanton and mary livermore wanted to vote." they also employed an attorney to juggle the ballots so that they might be thrown out on a technicality. there was consternation among the suffragists when the ballot was finally produced bearing the words "for the amendment," "against the amendment," for it was well known that the measure was not an "amendment." the best legal talent in denver was consulted and an opinion rendered that the ruse would prove of no avail, as the intention was still clear. the women, however, issued a leaflet instructing the voters just where to put the cross on the ticket if they wished to vote for equal suffrage. the suffragists were divided in opinion as to the presence of women at the polls on the election day which was to decide their fate. some thought it might be prejudicial, but the friends among the men strongly approved their presence in order to influence voters. what future election could be of more importance to women than this, and why should they hesitate to show their interest? under directions from suffrage headquarters workers at the polls distributed the leaflets, often supplementing them by their own eloquence. no woman received any discourtesy. the night of november was an anxious one. women went home and lay awake wondering whether they had done everything possible to insure success, or whether failure might be the result of some omission. when the returns published the next morning, although incomplete, showed that success really had crowned their efforts it seemed almost too good to be true. all day long and in the evening people were coming and going at suffrage headquarters with greetings and congratulations. women of all classes seemed drawn together by the new tie of citizenship. the full returns gave the result as follows: for suffrage, , ; against. , ; an affirmative majority of , . * * * * * what were the causes of this unique success? first, it may be claimed that western men have more than others of that spirit of chivalry of which the world has heard so much and seen so little. the human mind inclines to justice, except when turned aside by prejudice, and there is less prejudice against and a stronger belief in equal rights in the newer communities. the pressure of hard times, culminating in the panic of , undoubtedly contributed to the success of the populist party, and to its influence the suffrage cause owes much. a new party boldly accepts new principles while the old parties are struggling to conform to precedents. this is shown clearly in both the legislative and the popular vote. it was in the counties giving populist pluralities that the majority of , in favor of equal suffrage was found. the counties which went republican and democratic gave a majority of against the measure. the fact, however, that in all parties there were friends who were willing to work and speak for it, and also the number of suffrage bills which had been introduced at this time, showed that the state was ready for it. [illustration: laura a. gregg. omaha, neb. mary wood swift. san francisco, cal. ellis meredith. denver, colo. emma shafter howard. oakland, cal. dr. cora smith eaton. minneapolis, minn. ] the favorable influence of the w. c. t. u. and the labor organizations has been referred to. there was but little active opposition from women and, as the campaign progressed, indifference often turned into sympathy. women who had kept silent even at home for fear of ridicule were surprised and delighted to hear their husbands express approval. those of all classes of society worked unitedly and well. they could not have done this if they had not been used to organized effort in other directions. how many doors stand open now through which women freely pass, unmindful of the fact that they were unlocked by the earlier workers in the suffrage cause! the first feeling was the one common in all victories, that of joy and exultation, but the weight of responsibility was soon felt. at the first meeting of the executive board of the equal suffrage association after the election, mrs. routt, a woman of queenly presence, said as she took the hand of another member, "i never felt so weak in all my life." mrs. routt was the first woman in the state to register. it was natural that other women should look to the suffragists for direction, and as long as headquarters were kept open there were frequent calls for advice and instruction. foreign women came to ask concerning the measures which would make them naturalized citizens; there were inquiries about registration, and the question often came from those in humble life: "now that i have received this new right, what books shall i get to teach me how to exercise it?" surely such an awakening of conscience ought to have a purifying effect! one firm in denver stated that they sold more books on political economy in the first eight months after the suffrage victory than in twenty years before. the suffrage club took up the study of fiske's civil government and of parliamentary law, and as long as it existed in the old form was actively devoted to political subjects. the day after the election a german woman came out of her house and accosted one of the members of the club with the exclamation, "ach, yon he feel so bad; he not vote any more; me, i vote now!" when assured that john had not been deprived of any of his rights, with more generosity than can be attributed to many of the johns, she called her husband, exclaiming delightedly: "yon, yon, you vote too; we bofe vote!" after the battle was won: colorado had always gone republican in national elections until , when the people's party scored an overwhelming majority. in , while still partially a unit on national issues, the parties were widely separated on state affairs and each put a ticket in the field. the reign of the populists was of short duration. the eccentricities of gov. davis h. waite brought upon his party an unmerited degree of censure. the republicans raised a cry of "redeem the state!" and under that motto called to their aid women of former republican affiliations. at no subsequent election have women given such close allegiance to party lines. mrs. j. ellen foster, who was sent by the national republican committee to canvass the state, probably won many straight republican votes by arousing in the minds of the women the fear that by attempting to scratch a ticket they might lose their vote entirely. they have learned since that the australian ballot is not so intricate that any one who can read and write need stand in awe of it. the populist women had formed clubs to assist that party before the suffrage was granted. in february, , they opened headquarters in denver and began organizing throughout the state. miss phoebe w. couzins of st. louis assisted them in this campaign. mrs. helen m. gougar of indiana worked for the prohibitionists. when the annual convention of the national republican league clubs was held at denver, in june, the republican women were as yet unorganized. at this time mrs. frank hall was persuaded to take charge of that department under the direction of the state central committee. women's republican leagues were established throughout the state, and in the larger towns and cities complete precinct organizations were effected. in denver women's republican clubs were formed in every district and, with their committees subject to the county central committee, worked separately from the men. that known as the east capitol hill women's republican league, founded by mrs. h. b. stevens, acquired a membership of , . the east denver women's republican club, president, mrs. alma lafferty, was equally successful. these were very active in managing the large mass meetings which contributed so much to the success of their party. the democratic women had a peculiar task. their party was in the minority and it was divided into silver democrats and white wings (cleveland democrats). the women refused to acknowledge either faction. mrs. anna marshall cochrane and mrs. mary c. c. bradford called a meeting of the democratic women of denver at the home of the latter in may, , and organized the colorado women's democratic club with a membership of nine: president, mrs. mary v. macon; secretary, mrs. cochrane; treasurer, mrs. mary holland kincaid. the national committee recognized this as the only straight democratic association in colorado, and appointed mrs. bradford as organizer. she canvassed the state and being a pleasant and convincing speaker and bringing letters from the chairmen of the two state committees, both factions attended her meetings. she formed twelve large women's clubs and set them to work. when the two state conventions met in denver, they were both quite willing to acknowledge delegates from these clubs, but the delegates refused to act except with a united convention. mrs. bradford was nominated as state superintendent of public instruction, being the first woman named in colorado for a state office. mrs. macon was nominated for regent of the state university. since there was no chance of electing their ticket, the principal work of the democratic women in this campaign was the unifying of the party. the republicans elected mrs. antoinette j. peavy superintendent of public instruction and three women members of the legislature--mrs. clara cressingham, mrs. frances s. klock and mrs. carrie c. holly. during this campaign women gained a good deal of insight into political machinery and learned much which dampened their ardor as party politicians. the idea began to prevail that at least in municipal government the best results could be attained by non-partisan methods. in the spring of mrs. hall, as vice-chairman of the republican state central, committee, being in charge of the woman's department, called a conference of the several presidents of the women's republican clubs of denver. their object was to purify the ballot and to overcome corrupt gang rule and present worthy candidates. a meeting of all the clubs was called in the broadway theater and the house was crowded. mrs. e. m. ashley read an announcement of the objects to be accomplished "in the party if they could, out of it if they must." at this election, for the first time, the _demi-monde_ were compelled to register. desiring to avoid it they sent a petition to this woman's organization, imploring its interference in their behalf. a committee of three women of high standing was appointed and appeared before the fire and police board to request that these unfortunates should not be forced to vote against their will. the board promised compliance but disregarded their pledge and those women were compelled to vote. it is no wonder that other organizations sprang up in rebellion against such corrupt methods. the tax-payers' party and the independent citizens' movement were examples of these attempts, defeated at first but succeeding later. the civic federation of denver, an outcome of these efforts, is an organization composed of women from all parties, which has endeavored to enforce the selection of suitable candidates. the silver issue of created a division in the ranks of the republican party which dissolved many of its women's clubs. the larger wing, under the name of silver republican, fused with the other silver parties and elected their state ticket. miss grace espy patton, who had been prominent in democratic politics, was chosen state superintendent of public instruction. three women were elected to the lower house: mrs. olive c. butler, national silver party; mrs. martha a. b. conine, non-partisan; mrs. evangeline heartz, populist, all of denver. in the campaign of voters were divided between the national republican party under u. s. senator edward o. wolcott and a fusion of the silver republicans, democrats and populists under the leadership of u. s. senator henry m. teller, thomas m. patterson and charles s. thomas. in arapahoe county, owing to various conflicting interests in the municipal government of denver, fifteen tickets were filed. each of the principal parties appointed a woman as vice-chairman of the state central committee: national republican, mrs. ione t. hanna; silver republican, mrs. arras bissel; democratic, mrs. s. e. shields; populist, mrs. heartz. a woman's executive committee was formed in each party. the fusion party elected mrs. helen m. grenfell, silver republican, as state superintendent of public instruction; and mrs. frances s. lee, democrat, mrs. harriet g. r. wright, populist, and dr. mary f. barry, silver republican, as members of the house of representatives. conditions in the state changed materially between the presidential elections of and . the depression in the price of silver, which closed many mines and reduced the working force in others, set countless men adrift and led to much prospecting and the discovery of new gold fields. the mines of cripple creek gave colorado the foremost place among gold-producing states, california taking second. consequently, although interest in the silver question did not cease, its pressure was less felt. in the mckinley republicans had no hope of carrying the state, while the silver republicans, populists and democrats had united and were confident of the success which always had attended a complete fusion of those parties. thus in both cases the incentive to the utmost exertion was wanting. in the situation was different. the republicans thought there was a chance to win and the fusionists were not over-confident, hence both parties were stimulated to greater efforts. in the straight republicans had only one daily and not more than five weekly papers. in they had fifteen daily and weekly papers supporting their ticket. they were thoroughly organized throughout the state. in denver a woman's republican league was formed which vied in size with the organization of . mrs. stanley m. casper, a most efficient member of the equal suffrage club in the campaign of , was president; mrs. a. l. welch, vice-president and miss mary h. thorn, secretary. they organized every district in the city of denver, appointing women to look after the registration, secure speakers and get out the vote. it was through this league that u. s. senator henry cabot lodge came to the state. mrs. j. ellen foster and u. s. senator j. b. foraker also spoke under their auspices, as well as other distinguished orators, and from their own ranks mrs. hanna, mrs. lucy r. scott, mrs. peavey and mrs. thalia m. rhoads. the colorado woman's bryan league were not less active, under the following officers: chairman, mrs. salena v. ernest; vice-chairmen, mesdames sarah platt decker, katherine a. g. (thomas m.) patterson and mary l. fletcher; secretary, mrs. helen thomas belford; treasurer, mrs. harriet g. r. wright. both organizations kept open headquarters, and the daily papers contained long lists of parlor meetings held throughout the city, addressed by men and women of prominence. the bryan league was fortunate in having among its own members many excellent speakers, including mrs. decker, mrs. patton cowles, formerly state superintendent of public instruction, dr. rose kidd beare, mrs. bradford, mrs. dora phelps buell and mrs. wright. mrs. grenfell, present state superintendent, and mrs. heartz, now representative, both candidates for re-election, made many speeches.[ ] the committees of men and women worked together. on october the woman's bryan league held a rally of the silver parties and a reception to u. s. senator teller at the coliseum. the same evening the woman's republican league gave a reception to their candidates at windsor hall. women seem to have an unsuspected gift for managing large meetings. the denver _times_ (republican) said: "the women have shown an ability to handle campaigns for which they never were given credit in the past." in the election of the republicans not only lost their electoral ticket but carried fewer counties than they had done for years, yet their vote of , for mckinley in was increased to , ; and the bryan vote was reduced from , to , . john f. shafroth and john c. bell, fusionists, both strong advocates of woman suffrage, were elected by large majorities. the legislature was overwhelmingly democratic, which defeated the re-election to the u. s. senate of edward o. wolcott, that the women had especially determined upon. thomas m. patterson was elected. i. n. stevens, of the _colorado springs gazette_, republican, in closing an article on the state campaign says: the women have demonstrated their effectiveness in political campaigns, and wherever party candidates and party politics are up to the high standard which they have a right to demand they can be counted upon for loyal support. the republican party in colorado can only hope to triumph in one way and that is by appealing to the judgment of the honest and intelligent people of the state with clean candidates for commendable policies and under worthy leadership. this testimony certainly implies two things, viz.: that the women of colorado are a power in politics which must be reckoned with, and that their loyal support can be fully counted upon only when the character of the candidates as well as the political methods and aims of the party receive due consideration. the vote at the second presidential election after the suffrage was conferred on women was as follows: percentage of population in the state: males, ; females, (in round numbers). percentage of vote cast: males, (nearly) - / ; females, (over) - / . percentage of vote cast in denver: males, - / ; females, - / . this vote shows that from all causes an average of only three per cent. of the women in the entire state failed to exercise the suffrage. legislative action: the legislation of most importance which is directly due to woman suffrage may be summed up as follows: equal guardianship of children; raising the "age of protection" for girls from to years; establishment of a state home for dependent children; a state industrial school for girls; indeterminate sentence for criminals; a state arbitration board; open meetings of school boards; the removal of emblems from ballots; placing drinking fountains on the corners of most of the down-town streets of denver. indirectly, the results have been infinitely greater. the change in the conduct of denver stores alone, in regard to women employes, is worthy a chapter. probably no other city of the same size has more stores standing upon the so-called white list, and laws which prior to were dead letters are enforced to-day. the bills introduced by women in the legislature have been chiefly such as were designed to improve social conditions. the law raising the "age of protection" for girls, the law giving the mother an equal right in her children, and the law creating a state home for dependent children were secured by women in . in the next session they secured the curfew law and an appropriation for the state home for incorrigible girls. by obtaining the removal of the emblems from the ballot, they enforced a measure of educational qualification. they have entirely answered the objection that the immature voter would be sure so to exaggerate the power of legislation that she would try to do everything at once. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton said that when she viewed the exhibit of woman's work at the centennial, her heart sank within her; but when she bethought her to examine into the part women had had in the work accredited to men, she took new courage. in like manner much of the legislative work women already have done in colorado is unchronicled. when a woman finds that there are several other bills besides her own advocating the same measure of reform, she wisely tries to concentrate this effort, even if it is necessary to let the desired bill appear in the name of another. many excellent bills for which they receive no credit have run the gauntlet of legislative perils piloted by women. a notable instance of this is what was called the frog-blocking bill, for the protection of railroad employes, which was introduced by a man but so ably engineered by mrs. evangeline heartz that upon its passage she received a huge box of candy, with "the thanks of , railroad men." while she introduced a number of bills herself, only two of them finally passed--one compelling school boards to hold open meetings instead of star chamber sessions, and the present law providing for a state board of arbitration. in order to make the latter effective it should have a compulsory clause, which she will strive for in the legislature of . laws: while the laws of colorado always have been liberal to women in many respects, there are a few notable exceptions. the first legislature of the territory, in , passed a bill to the effect that either party to the marriage contract might dispose of property without the signature or consent of the other. the men of this new mining country often had left their wives thousands of miles away in the eastern states; there was no railroad or telegraph; mining claims, being real estate, had to be transferred by deed, often in a hurry, and this law was largely a necessity. it now works great injustice to women, however, through the fact that all the property accumulated after marriage belongs to the husband and he may legally dispose of it without the wife's knowledge, leaving her penniless. even the household goods may be thus disposed of.[ ] a law of recent years exempts from execution a homestead to the value of $ , for "the head of the family," but even this can be sold by the husband without the wife's signature, although he can not mortgage it. this property must be designated as a "homestead" on the margin of the recorded title, and it must be occupied by the owner. "a woman occupying her own property as the home of the family has the right to designate it as a homestead. the husband has the legal right to live with her and enjoy the homestead he has settled upon her."(!) he has, however, the sole right to determine the residence of the family, as in every other state, and by removing from a property the homestead right is destroyed. if the husband abandon the wife and acquire a homestead elsewhere, she has a right only in that. neither curtesy nor dower obtains. the surviving husband or wife, if there are children or the descendants of children living, receives, subject to the payment of debts, one-half of the entire estate, real and personal. if there is no living child nor a descendant of any child, the entire estate goes to the survivor. husband and wife have the same rights in making wills. each can will away from the other half of his or her separate property. in buying and selling, making contracts, suing and being sued, the married woman has the same rights as the unmarried. in fathers and mothers were made joint guardians of the children with equal powers. the expenses of the family and the education of the children are chargeable upon the property of both husband and wife, or either of them, and in relation thereto they may be sued jointly or separately. in case a man fails to support his family, he can be compelled to do so on the complaint of the wife, the chairman of the board of county commissioners, or the agent of the humane society. unless he show physical incapacity, or some other good reason for this failure, he may be committed to jail for sixty days. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in ; from to in . the penalty is confinement in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than twenty years. suffrage: school suffrage was granted to women by the constitution in , the year colorado became a state. the amendment to the constitution adopted by , majority, nov. , , is as follows: every female person shall be entitled to vote at all elections, in the same manner in all respects as male persons are or shall be entitled to vote by the constitution and laws of this state, and the same qualifications as to age, citizenship and time of residence in the state, county, city, ward and precinct, and all other qualifications required by law to entitle male persons to vote, shall be required to entitle female persons to vote. office holding: possessing the full suffrage, women of course are eligible to all offices, but naturally the men will not surrender them unless compelled to do so. that of state superintendent of public instruction is generally conceded by all parties as belonging to a woman, and no man has been a candidate for this office since . it can best be spared, as it does not encourage idleness or enable its holder to amass wealth. beginning with ten women have been elected to the lower house of the legislature but none to the senate. not more than three have been members during any one term. only two women were elected to state offices in . the others holding office at present are as follows: county school superintendents, ; school directors, ; county clerk, one; county treasurer, one; assessor, one; clerk of county court, one; clerk of district court, one. of the county superintendents, three were elected by a fusion of democrats and prohibitionists, three by democrats, prohibitionists and silver republicans; ten by democrats and thirteen by republicans. the state board of charities and corrections, which has general supervision over all the charitable and penal institutions, has had mrs. sarah platt decker for its president through this and previous administrations. dr. eleanor lawney also is on this board. on the board of control of the state industrial school for girls, three out of five members are women; state home for dependent children, four out of five; state school for deaf and blind, one out of five; state normal school, two out of seven; state board of horticulture, one out of six. there have been women on the state board of pardons. there are women physicians in the state insane asylum and connected with all institutions containing women and children. the law for jurors is construed by the judges to apply equally to men and women, but thus far it has been so manipulated that no women have been drawn for service. in - two counties had women coroners. there are eight women clerks in the senate and seven in the house of the present legislature. a number are employed in the court-house and in the county offices. this partition of offices does not appear very liberal, considering that women have cast as high as per cent. of the total vote; but there are in the state , more men than women, who could vote if they chose, and they are much more accustomed to holding offices and much more anxious to get them. the less the probabilities of election, the more liberal the parties have been in granting nominations to women. occupations: the only occupation legally forbidden to women is that of working in mines. children under fourteen can not be employed, legally, in mines, factories, stores, etc. education: all the institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes. there are five women on the faculty of the state university, one on that of the school of agriculture, nine in the state normal school, and in the state institute for deaf mutes seventeen of the thirty-three teachers are women. the medical department of the university of denver has three women professors. in the public schools there are men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . . colorado spends a larger amount per capita for public school education than any other state. * * * * * on june , , , a general meeting of colorado suffragists was held in denver and a reorganization of the state association effected. the reason for its continuance was the desire to help other states in their efforts to win the franchise, and a feeling of loyalty to the national association, to which in common with all other women those of colorado owed so much. in may , miss susan b. anthony, president of the national association, and the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president at large, on their way to california, addressed a large and delighted audience in the broadway theater, and a reception was given them by the woman's club. in the colorado e. s. a. raised the funds to send mrs. mary c. c. bradford to aid in the idaho amendment campaign. during the biennial of the general federation of women's clubs, held in denver in june, , the e. s. a. celebrated the jubilee anniversary of the first woman's rights convention at seneca falls, n. y., by a meeting in the auditorium and a reception in the parlors of the central christian church, with addresses by eminent local and visiting speakers. in these rooms, for the entire week, this organization and the civic federation kept open house, and in a flag-draped booth gave an illustration of the australian system of voting.[ ] in january, , denver entertained mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and miss mary g. hay, secretary, as they were passing through the state. mrs. a. l. welch gave a reception in their honor, at which ex-gov. charles s. thomas and gov. alva adams spoke enthusiastically of the results of equal suffrage, followed by mrs. chapman catt in an interesting address. the occasion was especially happy because that day the legislature had almost unanimously passed a joint resolution as follows: whereas, equal suffrage has been in operation in colorado for five years, during which time women have exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that better candidates have been selected for office, methods of election have been purified, the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence increased and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by political responsibility; therefore, _resolved_, by the house of representatives, the senate concurring, that in view of these results the enfranchisement of women in every state and territory of the american union is hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better social order. that an authenticated copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the governor of the state to the legislature of every state and territory, and the press be requested to call public attention to them.[ ] this year mrs. katherine a. g. patterson, who had been president of the state e. s. a. for three years, retired and was succeeded by mrs. welch, who was followed in by mrs. amy k. cornwall, and in by prof. theodosia g. ammons. one of the uncongenial tasks of the officers of the association has been the answering of the many attacks made in eastern papers on the position of women in colorado, though this becomes far less trying when it is remembered that in most states public opinion on the question of woman suffrage is still in its formative stage. so soon do we become accustomed to a new thing, if it is in the order of nature, that the women of colorado have almost ceased to realize that they possess an uncommon privilege. it seems as much a matter of course that women should vote as that they should enjoy the right of free speech or the protection of the _habeas corpus_ act. it is seldom defended, for the same reason that it is no longer thought necessary to defend the copernican vs. the ptolemaic theory. one aim of the association is to arouse a more altruistic spirit, and another so to unite women that they will stand together for a good cause irrespective of party. there is at present a strong legislative committee which has been studying the statutes from a non-partisan standpoint, with a view to influencing needful legislation.[ ] before the autumn of there were many clubs in denver, mostly of a literary nature, each formed of women of a certain rank in life, with similar tastes and pursuits. some had a membership so limited as to render them very difficult of access, but in their way all were good. perhaps the only truly democratic association, if those of the churches were excepted, where the rich and the poor met together on a plane so perfectly level that only mental or moral height in the individual produced any difference, was the equal suffrage club. whether related to it or not, this new ideal of club life followed closely after the gaining of political equality. the woman's club of denver was organized april , , with charter members, and now has nearly , . it contains many women of wealth and high social standing, many quiet housekeepers without the slightest aspirations toward fashionable life, and many women who earn their daily bread by some trade or profession. what the public school is supposed to do for our youth in helping us to become a homogeneous nation, the modern woman's club is doing for those of maturer years. the north side woman's club of denver is second to the woman's club only in size and time of organization. the colorado federation of women's clubs was formed april , , with a charter membership of thirty-seven. it now is composed of over clubs, containing about , individuals. * * * * * this is merely a plain tale from the hills. colorado women feel that they have done well but have made only a beginning. the fact that women are factors in politics underlies and overrules many things not directly connected with the results of election day. many of the dire effects predicted of equal suffrage have proved their prophets false. in some cases the women themselves have been surprised to find they had entertained groundless fears. this is particularly true concerning the fierce partisanship which is supposed to run riot in the female nature. there is a strong tendency on the part of women to stand by each other, though not always to the extent evinced by one lady who was and still is a pronounced "anti." at the first election she voted for every woman placed in nomination for the legislature, populist, democrat, republican and prohibitionist, until she had filled out her ticket. women frequently scratch their ballots when by so doing they can elect a better man. in legislative work there are absolutely no party lines. the republican and the democratic women both want the same measures, and they look upon themselves as constituents whether the member belongs to their party or not. the vote of the _demi-monde_ always has been a stumbling-block to certain particularly good people. these women never register, never vote and never attend primaries except when compelled to do so. their identity is often a secret even to their closest associates. it is almost impossible to learn their true names. all they ask is to be let alone. unfortunately the city of denver is under what is known as the metropolitan fire and police system. the firemen and police are controlled by boards appointed by the governor. if he is a politically scrupulous man and his appointments are good ones, this class is not molested. gov. davis h. waite did not compel these women to vote for him in , though he had the power. under the administration of governor adams, when the hon. ralph talbot was president of the board, they took no part whatever. possibly those who have been most disappointed at the workings of equal suffrage are the prohibitionists, yet they really have reason for congratulation. weld county, which gave the largest vote for equal suffrage of any in the state, has excluded liquor from its borders except in one small town, a coal mining camp with a heavy foreign vote. in many sections the liquor traffic has been abolished, always by the votes of women, but there are many more men than women in the state and without their co-operation no general reform can be enacted or enforced. every political party has banished liquor and tobacco from its headquarters, as desiring to win the women's support they are careful not to give offense. on election days denver has a holiday appearance. the vote is cast early and the members of a family usually go together to the polls. the most noteworthy result is the improved character of the candidates, as one of the most important points to be considered is whether they can get the votes of women. the addition of a large number of independent and conscientious voters to the electorate; the wider outlook given to woman herself through the exercise of civic rights; and the higher degree of comradeship made possible by the removal of political inequality between man and woman; these are the greatest benefits which equal suffrage has brought to colorado. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. emily r. meredith and her daughter, ellis meredith of denver, both strong factors in securing suffrage for the women of their state; the latter is on the staff of the _rocky mountain news_ and editor of the _western clubwoman_. [ ] in mr. bonynge was a candidate for congress on the republican ticket and was overwhelmingly defeated by the votes of women. [ ] mrs. grenfell was re-elected on the fusion ticket, having been indorsed by the heads of all the state institutions, most of the county superintendents and all the prominent educators. the republicans had a woman candidate for this office. mrs. heartz was re-elected on the fusion ticket. there was a republican woman candidate for the legislature also. [ ] a bill was introduced in the legislature of to give the wife a half-interest in all the earnings after marriage, but it failed to pass either house, perhaps owing to the time consumed by the important revenue bill. [ ] governor adams did a splendid work for equal suffrage in his welcome to this great body of women. quite unaware that it was a tabooed subject, he made a most eloquent address openly glorying in it and advocating its wholesale extension. probably no one act of his administration made him so many friends among women, and it is said that scores of those from other states went home thoroughly converted. [ ] see appendix--testimony from woman suffrage states. [ ] the legislature of passed bills, a number being of special interest to women. among these was one establishing truancy schools; another for the care of the feeble-minded; several humane society bills; a measure permitting the state board of charities and corrections to investigate private charitable institutions; a bill for an eight-hour day; one for the preservation of forest trees; one for a bi-weekly pay-day, and an insurance bill providing that in cases where a company has to be sued for the amount of a policy it must pay the costs of said suit. this last was indorsed by nearly every woman's organization in the state. the eight hour law requires a constitutional amendment, and will be voted on in the fall of . this is also true of a bill consolidating and reducing the number of elections, and of one providing for full citizenship and an educational qualification as requisites for suffrage. chapter xxx. connecticut.[ ] the connecticut woman suffrage association was organized in september, , after a memorable two days' convention in hartford, under the call and management of mrs. isabella beecher hooker,[ ] the rev. nathaniel j. burton, d. d., was elected its first president and in he was succeeded by mrs. hooker, who has now held the office thirty years with unswerving loyalty and devotion to the cause. during the first fifteen years eight conventions were held, addressed by the most prominent speakers in the country. in a state convention took place in hartford, attended by miss susan b. anthony and a large delegation of men and women from various parts of the state. but one other ( ) intervened between this and that which met in meriden in , when the society was reorganized under a broader constitution, with the name of connecticut woman suffrage society for the study of political science. mrs. hooker was made president and mrs. elizabeth d. bacon vice-president-at-large.[ ] since then annual conventions have been held in hartford (four), meriden, willimantic and southington. several executive meetings have been called yearly and the business of the association has been systematically arranged. public meetings have been addressed by miss anthony, president of the national association, mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of its organization committee, mrs. mary seymour howell of new york, miss elizabeth upham yates of maine and many others.[ ] the hartford equal rights club was organized in through the efforts of mrs. emily p. collins and miss frances ellen burr, both pioneers in the work. located in the capital, it is the center of the effort for the enfranchisement of women. the meriden political equality club was formed in . the late hon. isaac c. lewis, one of its charter members and a lover of justice and equality, in gave $ , in invested funds to aid its work. the equal rights club of willimantic, founded in , is an active body. a series of public meetings was held in at seymour, willimantic, winsted and ansonia, arranged and financially supported by the meriden club and addressed by mrs. howell. in , under the auspices of the state society, a course of twenty lectures was arranged by mrs. bacon for miss yates. the local clubs have kept the question before the people through addresses, the circulation of literature and other methods of propaganda. for several years a suffrage tent was supported at the state fair held in meriden, and one day set apart as woman's day, with good speakers to present the subject. the press department has been an important feature of the work, most efficiently conducted by mrs. ella b. kendrick, its superintendent for the past three years. legislative action and laws: women have been instrumental in securing the passage of laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco in any form to boys under sixteen years of age; compelling merchants to provide women and girls in their employment with seats when not engaged in their duties; securing scientific temperance instruction in the public schools; and requiring a police matron in all cities of , or more inhabitants. in a bill giving women the right to vote in school district meetings was rejected in the house by ayes, noes, and in the senate by a majority vote. in a bill for school suffrage was rejected by both houses. in a bill for full suffrage was defeated in both houses. in two bills were introduced, one asking full suffrage and the other that unmarried women be exempt from taxation. in both cases the committee reported "ought not to pass," and the petitioners were given leave to withdraw. at this session women were made eligible to serve as school trustees. this year the annual sessions were changed to biennial. in the petitions for full suffrage of mrs. elizabeth d. bacon and others were indefinitely postponed. during the same session women were made eligible to hold the office of assistant town clerk, and to become members of ecclesiastical societies. in a legal dispute as to the result of a gubernatorial election caused the former governor to hold over, and all legislative business to be postponed for two years. in the committee, after giving several hearings upon a bill asking full suffrage, substituted, with the consent of the state association, one for school suffrage. upon the third reading this passed the house, but the senate referred it back to the committee as imperfect. there it would have remained but for the efforts of the hartford equal rights club. it finally passed the senate and the house, was signed by gov. luzon b. morris and became law. several attempts have been made to repeal it but unsuccessfully. in a bill providing for the right of women to vote for presidential electors was reported unfavorably by the committee, the report being accepted. the same year a municipal suffrage bill went to a third reading and was passed by the house, but failed in the senate by unanimous vote. in a bill conferring upon women the right to vote for presidential electors was rejected after a third reading both in the house and senate. another was presented for the exemption of women from taxation, the committee reported, "ought not to pass," and the report was accepted. a bill for municipal suffrage met the same fate. this year a bill was introduced at the request of the hartford club, creating the office of woman factory inspector, with the same salary as the male inspector. the judiciary committee reported unanimously in favor. great opposition developed in the house, but after some amendments it passed, but failed in the senate. in a municipal suffrage bill was again introduced and reported upon favorably, but on the third reading it was rejected in the house, and defeated by ayes, noes in the senate. a bill also was presented providing that any woman who pays taxes on real estate wherein she resides may vote at any meeting upon questions of taxation or appropriation of money. this passed the house, but was rejected in the senate. the house refused to concur, and the senate adhered to its former action. there have been hearings before the judiciary committees of several legislatures for the purpose of securing a reformatory for women. members of the woman's aid society of hartford and others equally interested have appeared in its behalf. the law regarding the property rights of women upon the statute books of to-day, except one amendment, was passed in april, , and reads as follows: in case of marriage on or after april , , neither husband nor wife shall acquire, by force of marriage, any right to or interest in any property held by the other before, or acquired after such marriage, except as to the share of the survivor in the property as provided by law. the separate earnings of the wife shall be her sole property. she shall have power to make contracts with third persons and to convey to them her real estate, as if unmarried. her property shall be liable to be taken for her debts except when exempt from execution, but in no case shall be liable to be taken for the debts of her husband. and the husband shall not be liable for her debts contracted before her marriage, nor upon contracts made after her marriage, except as provided by the succeeding sections. the dower rights of women married before this date are: a life estate in one-third the husband's realty and one-half his personalty absolutely, unless they shall have made together with their husbands a written contract and recorded the same in the probate records, in which they mutually agree to abandon their respective common-law rights in the property of each other, and to claim in place thereof certain other rights as provided by statute made in as below. the husband before that date took the whole of the wife's personal estate absolutely and the use for life of all her real estate. women married on or after april , , and those married earlier, who have made and recorded contracts with their husbands as above stated, have no dower rights, and their husbands have no rights by curtesy, but both have, in place of these, rights more valuable. where there are children, the survivor is entitled to one-third of decedent's real and personal estate absolutely, and in the absence of children, takes all of the decedent's estate absolutely to the extent of $ , , and one-half of the remainder absolutely after the decedent's debts have been paid. the father always has been entitled to the custody and control of the minor children with power to appoint a guardian by will; but a law was passed the present year ( ) which gives the father and mother equal rights of guardianship, and on the death of the father makes the mother the legal guardian. if a husband neglect to support his wife he may be committed to the workhouse or county jail and sentenced to hard labor not more than sixty days, unless he can show good cause why he is unable to furnish such support, or unless he can give a bond. if he neglect to comply with his bond the selectmen of the town shall immediately furnish support to the extent provided for in such bond. ( .) in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years, and in this was increased to . the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three years. suffrage: the school suffrage law of allows all women citizens who have arrived at the age of majority, and have resided one year in the state and six months in the town, to vote at any meeting held for election of school trustees or for any educational purpose. at the first election after the passage of this act, , women voted in the state. since then the number has gradually decreased for several reasons. women soon learned that their vote amounted to but little because of the fact that connecticut has a minority representation upon its school boards. this practically eliminates contest in the election of school officers, for it often occurs that only the exact number of candidates to be elected are placed in nomination. in cities men are frequently placed on school boards to pay political debts or as an opening for further advancement, therefore it has been found almost impossible to secure the nomination of women. this, of course, decreases their interest in the election. in several marked instances, however, where some question of importance has arisen, women have registered and voted in large numbers. willimantic offers a good illustration. all the schools in the town of windham, of which willimantic is a borough, were under the district system. for some time the largest school district had been unwisely managed through the influence of one man, who controlled enough votes to insure his retention as chairman year after year. in june, , when he had entirely forfeited confidence, mrs. ella l. bennett, president, and other wide awake members of the equal rights club, determined he should no longer hold this office. the best citizens assured the women that their fears of his re-election were groundless, but they kept on in their efforts and secured the attendance of fifty women at the district meeting, where he was defeated by about twenty votes. the level-headed ones saw that consolidation of all the school districts was absolutely necessary. before the election in october the women did valiant work in agitating this question. previous to this not more than women ever had voted; but now the number registered reached , , and on election day, although the rain fell in torrents and rivers of water ran down the streets, cast their ballots. the equal rights club conducted the election so far as the women were concerned, assisted in preparing ballots, kept a check-list and sent carriages where it seemed necessary. every little while, all day long, could be heard from the hall where the voting was going on, "fall back, ladies, fall back and give the men a chance." at the noon hour a crowd of male voters saw a line of women coming down the street and, seizing a ladder, they set it against a window over the stairway, scrambled up and thus got into the hall and headed off the women until the men had voted. the measure for consolidation was carried. in hartford the question of consolidation of districts has twice come before the people since women voted, and in both instances they cast a large number of ballots. in several districts in this city women have shown much interest in the annual meetings. one woman has served three years upon a district committee very acceptably, and it is due to the efforts and votes of women that wise management has been sustained and a good principal kept in office. in his report of , secretary charles d. hine of the state board of education, after speaking in unmeasured terms of the efficient service rendered by women as school visitors, on boards of education and on town and district committees, says: the returns indicate that women are not anxious to vote upon educational matters alone. if men were reluctantly permitted as a great favor to vote for agent of the town-deposit fund, they would not swarm to the polls. the exciting interests of state elections are important and varied enough to allure per cent. of the male voters to the polls, but in many districts it is difficult to obtain enough of them to transact the business of the annual meeting. in the largest district in the state, school meetings have been held and considerable sums of money voted, with less than a dozen men present. woman can not be adjudged peculiarly lacking in interest because they are not found voting in large numbers on one question and one set of officers.[ ] in the legislature amended the school suffrage law. the women believed that this change was effected to make the process of becoming a voter more disagreeable. heretofore they had been permitted to go at any time before the town clerk, answer the necessary questions and be registered. the amendment required them to observe the same regulations as the men who have the full franchise. they must make application to the registrar at one fixed time, fill out a blank and have their names published in the newspapers in the list of those who wish to be made voters. then at another fixed time they must go before the selectmen, await their turn, take the necessary oath, etc. in many towns and cities it was ruled that all who had been made voters under the old law must re-register. feeling the injustice of this, many women refused. in hartford they rebelled absolutely, and after much discussion in the papers and otherwise the city attorney decided that the law was not retroactive. office holding: since women have been eligible as school trustees, and at present are serving, of whom are school visitors. the latter prescribe rules for the management, classification, studies and discipline of the public schools. the old school district system prevails in many cities and towns and there are a dozen or more women on district committees. women are filling other offices, elective and appointive, as follows: public librarians, ; police matrons, ; matron of the state hospital for the insane, one; matrons of reform school for boys, six, and one assistant; visiting committee of state industrial school for girls, , two acting each month; assistant superintendent for same, one; in each of the eight homes connected with this school are to be found a matron and an assistant. two of the five members of the state board of charities must be women. women may serve as notaries public and forty-two are now doing so. they are eligible as assistant town clerks. occupations: no profession or occupation is forbidden to women by law. education: wesleyan university, in middletown, admitted women to equal privileges with men in . by a vote of the trustees in the number of women was limited to per cent. of the total number of students. in the theological seminary (cong'l) of hartford admitted women upon the same terms as men. in yale university opened the courses of the post-graduate department, with the degree of ph. d. to women. in , by an act of the legislature, the state agricultural school, at storrs, admitted women to its full course. in the public schools there are men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * the state federation of women's clubs was organized in and under its auspices traveling libraries have been formed for rural schools, free kindergartens supported, etc. the society of colonial dames has loaned to the library committee twenty libraries which have been placed in public schools. the civic club of hartford, organized in with a membership of women, has been instrumental in securing greater cleanliness of streets and public places. it has raised $ , for the support of vacation schools, for three years, and has instituted plans for public playgrounds. in the home for incurable children was founded by the children's aid society, entirely the work of women. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. elizabeth d. bacon of hartford, vice-president-at-large of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, p. . [ ] county vice-presidents, mesdames ella b. kendrick, j. h. hale, rose i. blakeslee, mary l. hemstead, george sanger, mary c. hickox, the hon. edwin o. dimock, miss elizabeth sheldon; recording secretary, miss frances ellen burr; corresponding secretary, mrs. g. w. fuller; treasurer, mrs. mary j. rogers; auditors, joseph sheldon, mrs. s. e. browne; member national executive committee, miss sara winthrop smith. among others who have served as state officers are miss hannah j. babcock, mesdames jane s. koons, emma hurd chaffee, annie c. s. fenner, ella s. bennett, ella g. brooks, b. m. parsons, mary j. warren. [ ] among those who have advocated and worked for equal suffrage are the hon. john hooker, judge joseph sheldon, judge george a. hickox, the hon. radcliffe hicks, the rev. john c. kimball, the hon. henry lewis, judge m. h. holcomb, ex-speaker john h. light, ex-gov. charles b. andrews, the hon. george m. gunn, miss emily j. leon and mrs. susan j. cheney. honorable mention might be made of many others who have spent time and money without stint in efforts to advance this cause. [ ] in a revised state constitution was submitted and only per cent. of the electors voted on it. chapter xxxi. dakota. the territory of dakota was created in , but in it entered the union divided into two separate states, north and south dakota. as early as the territorial legislature lacked only one vote of conferring the full suffrage on women. the sparsely settled country and the long distances made any organized work an impossibility, although a number of individuals were strong advocates of equal suffrage. in it gave women the right to vote at school meetings. in a school township law was passed requiring regular polls and a private ballot instead of special meetings, which took away the suffrage from women in all but a few counties. at the convening of the territorial legislature in january, , major j. a. pickler (afterward member of congress), without solicitation early in the session introduced a bill in the house granting full suffrage to women, as under the organic act the legislative body had the power to describe the qualifications for the franchise. the bill passed the house, february , by ayes, noes. soon afterward it passed the council by ayes, noes, and its friends counted the victory won. but gov. gilbert a. pierce, appointed by president arthur and only a few months in the territory, failed to recognize the grand opportunity to enfranchise , american citizens by one stroke of his pen and vetoed the bill. not only did it express the sentiment of the representatives elected by the voters, but it had been generally discussed by the press of the territory, and all the newspapers but one were outspoken for it. an effort was made to carry it over the governor's veto, but it failed. in a law was passed enlarging the school suffrage possessed by women and giving them the right to vote at all school elections and for all school officers, and also making them eligible to any elective school office. at this time, under the liberal provisions of the united states land laws, more than one-third of the land in the territory was held by women. in this same legislature of another effort was made to pass an equal suffrage bill, and a committee from the franchise department of the woman's christian temperance union, consisting of mesdames helen m. barker, s. v. wilson and alice m. a. pickler, appeared before the committee and presented hundreds of petitions from the men and women of the territory. the committees of both houses reported favorably, but the bill failed by votes in the house and in the council. it was mainly through women's instrumentality that a local option bill was carried through this legislature, and largely through their exertions that it was adopted by sixty-five out of the eighty-seven organized counties at the next general election. in october, , the american woman suffrage association held a national convention in minneapolis, minn., which was attended by a number of people from dakota, who were greatly interested. the next month the first suffrage club was formed, in webster. several local societies were afterwards started in the southern part of the territory, but for five years no attempt was made at bringing these together in a convention.[ ] the long contention as to whether the territory should come into the union as one state or two was not decided until , when congress admitted two states. thenceforth there were two distinct movements for woman suffrage, one in north and one in south dakota. north dakota.[ ] on july , , a convention met at bismarck to prepare a constitution for the admission of north dakota as a state. as similar conventions were to be held in several other territories, henry b. blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_, came from boston in the interest of woman suffrage. his object was to have it embodied in the constitution if possible, but failing in this he endeavored to have the matter left as it had been under the territorial government, viz.: in the hands of the legislature. to this end, h. f. miller introduced the following clause: the legislature shall be empowered to make further extensions of suffrage hereafter at its discretion to all citizens of mature age and sound mind, not convicted of crime, without regard to sex, but it shall not restrict suffrage without a vote of the people. toward the adoption of this all efforts were directed. two public meetings were addressed by mr. blackwell, and on july the constitutional convention itself invited him to speak to its members. after remaining in bismarck two weeks he went to helena to attend the montana convention, but before leaving he succeeded in obtaining the promise of votes out of the necessary for the adoption of the clause. during his absence dr. cora smith (eaton), secretary of the grand forks suffrage club, was called to bismarck to carry on the work. the secretary of the territory, l. b. richardson, placed at her service a room on the same floor as convention hall, and to this the friends of woman suffrage brought members who had not yet declared themselves in favor. some ladies were always there to receive them and present the arguments in the case, among these mrs. mary wilson, mrs. george watson, dr. kate perkins and mrs. benjamin of bismarck. everything was managed with scrupulous formality and courtesy. mr. miller's proposition was championed by r. m. pollock and judge john e. carland in committee of the whole, and after a second reading was referred to the committee on elective franchise, but on july it reported the substitute of s. h. moer, confining the suffrage to males. a minority report was offered, directing the legislature at its first session to submit an amendment to the voters to enfranchise women. after a heated discussion the minority report was defeated, and the constitution provided as follows: no law extending or restricting the right of suffrage shall be enforced until adopted by _a majority of the electors of the state voting at a general election_. by requiring not merely a majority of those voting on the question but of the largest number voting at the election, no amendment for any purpose ever has been carried. on the question of school suffrage women received greater consideration, the constitution providing that all women properly qualified should vote for all school officers, including state superintendent, also upon any question pertaining solely to school matters, and should be eligible to any school office. organization: the suffragists were widely scattered over this immense territory and there had been little opportunity for organized work. in the spring of a call had been issued in grand forks, signed by seventy-five representative men and women, for a meeting to form an association, and on april this was held in the court-house, which was crowded to the doors. the extension of the franchise to women was strongly advocated by judge j. m. cochrane, prof. h. b. wentworth, mrs. sara e. b. smith, mrs. sue r. caswell and others; and encouraging letters were read from the hon. william dudley foulke, lucy stone and julia ward howe of the american suffrage association. a public meeting on july at the same place was addressed by mrs. ella m. s. marble of minnesota. on september mrs. lillie devereux blake of new york gave a strong lecture. other local clubs were formed during the following years, and the first state convention was held in grand forks, nov. , , . it was called to order by dr. cora smith eaton, president of the local society. mrs. laura m. johns of kansas, a national organizer who had just made a successful lecturing tour of the state, was elected chairman and mrs. edwinna sturman was made secretary. cordial letters of greeting were read from miss susan b. anthony, president of the national suffrage association, mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, u. s. senator henry c. hansbrough,[ ] miss elizabeth preston, president of the state w. c. t. u., and others. in miss anthony's letter was outlined the plan of work that she never failed to recommend to state organizations, which said in part: first, your local clubs should cover the respective _townships_, and the officers should not only hold meetings of their own to discuss questions pertaining to their work, but should have the men, when they go into their _town meetings_ for any and every purpose pertaining to local affairs--especially into the meetings which nominate delegates to county conventions--pledged to present a resolution in favor of the enfranchisement of women. by this means you will secure the discussion of the question by the men who compose the different political parties in each township--an educational work that can not be done through any distinctively woman suffrage meeting, because so few of the rank and file of voters ever attend these. then, when the time comes for the county convention to elect delegates to the state nominating convention, let every town meeting see to it that they are instructed to vote for a resolution favoring the submission and indorsement of a proposition to strike the word "male" from your constitution. if the state conventions of the several parties are to put indorsement planks in their platforms, the demand for these must come from the townships composing the counties sending delegates thereto. women going before a committee and asking a resolution indorsing equal suffrage, are sure to be met with the statement that _they have heard nothing of any such demand among their constituents_. this has been the response on the many different occasions when this request has been made of state conventions. from this repeated and sad experience we have learned that _we must begin with the constituents_ in each township and have the demand start there. dr. eaton was elected president of the association. the second convention took place at fargo, nov. , . an extra meeting was held this year at the devil's lake chautauqua assembly on woman's day, with mrs. julia b. nelson, president of the minnesota, and mrs. ella knowles haskell, of the montana w. s. a., among the speakers. dr. eaton having removed from the state, miss mary allen whedon was made president. the third convention met in larimore, sept. , , , with delegates from eleven counties. mrs. chapman catt was present and contributed much to the success of the meetings. these were held in the m. e. church with the active co-operation of the pastor, the rev. h. c. cooper. mrs. flora blackman naylor was chosen president. the fourth convention was held in hillsboro, sept. , , , at which mrs. susan s. fessenden of massachusetts gave valuable assistance. a page to be devoted to suffrage matter was secured in the _white ribbon bulletin_, a paper published monthly under the auspices of the state w. c. t. u. the annual meeting of convened in lakota, september , , in the m. e. church, its pastor, the rev. stephen whitford, making the address of welcome. a matron's silver medal oratorical contest was given under the direction of mrs. cora ross clark.[ ] legislative action and laws: in the legislature of a bill was introduced granting women taxpayers the right of suffrage. this was voted down by the house: ayes; noes. a motion was offered that all woman suffrage bills hereafter presented at this session should be rejected, but it was tabled. a bill to submit to the voters an amendment conferring full suffrage on women in the manner provided by the constitution was introduced in the senate by j. w. stevens and passed by ayes, noes. it was called up in the house on the last day of the session. miss elizabeth preston was invited to address that body, and the senate took a recess and came in. the bill received ayes, a constitutional majority, and was returned to the senate. the house then took a recess, and during this brief time the enemies of the measure secured enough votes to recall it from the senate. this body by vote refused to send it back, thus endorsing it a second time. the speaker of the house, george h. walsh, refused to sign it. then began a long fight between the house and the senate. a motion was made by judson la moure instructing the president of the senate to sign no more house bills until the speaker signed the woman suffrage bill. this armed neutrality lasted until o'clock that night when some of the senators, who had important measures yet to pass, weakened and voted to send the bill back to the house. when it reached there a motion prevailed to expunge all the records relating to it. in the legislature of a bill for a suffrage amendment was introduced in the house by a. w. edwards, editor of the fargo _forum_. mrs. emma smith devoe was sent by the national association to assist in the work for the passage of this and other bills of interest to women. the courtesy of the floor was extended to her in the house and she was invited to address the members, the senate again taking a recess and coming in to listen. col. w. c. plummer spoke against the bill, which received ayes but not a constitutional majority. no suffrage bill has been introduced since.[ ] dower and curtesy have been abolished. if either husband or wife die without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one child, the survivor is entitled to one-half of the real and personal estate. if there is more than one child living, or one child and the lawful issue of one or more children, the widow or widower receives one-third of the estate. if there is no issue living, he or she receives one-half of the estate; and if there is neither father, mother, brother nor sister, the whole of it. the survivor may retain a homestead to the value of $ , , which on his or her death the minor children are entitled to occupy. a married woman may contract, sue and be sued and proceed in all actions as if unmarried. she may dispose of all her separate property by deed or will, without the consent of her husband. he can not do this. the father is the legal guardian of the persons, estates and earnings of the minor children. if he abandon them the mother is entitled thereto. at his death she is the guardian, if suitable. should she marry again she loses the guardianship but, by agreement, the court may re-appoint her. if the husband is not able to support the family the wife must maintain him and the children to the best of her ability, and her separate estate may be held liable. if he wilfully neglect to provide for them his separate property shall be held liable, and he may be imprisoned in the county jail not less than sixty days nor more than six months. in case either husband or wife abandons the family and leaves the state for a year or more, or is sent to prison for a year or more, the court may authorize the one remaining to sell or encumber the property of the other for the maintenance of the family or the debts which were left unpaid after due notice has been given to the absent one. the causes for divorce do not differ from those in a number of other states, but by requiring a residence of only six months a great inducement is offered to persons from outside to come here for the express purpose of securing a divorce. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in . the women attempted in to have it raised to but succeeded only in getting years. the reduction of the penalty, however, made this of small avail. for the first degree it is imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than ten years; second degree, imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five years. "but no conviction can be had in case the female is over the age of years and the man under the age of years, and it appears to the satisfaction of the jury that the female was sufficiently matured and informed to understand the nature of the act and consent thereto." suffrage: the territorial legislature of gave women a vote on questions pertaining to the schools, which were then decided at school meetings. this was partially repealed by a law of which required regular polls and a private ballot, but this act did not include fifteen counties which had school districts fully established, and women still continued to vote at these district school meetings. in a law was enacted giving all women the right to vote at all school elections for all officers, and making them eligible for all school offices. by the state constitution adopted in all women properly qualified may vote for all public school officers, including state superintendent, and on all questions pertaining solely to school matters. at the special school election held in grand forks, aug. , , mrs. sara e. b. smith and dr. cora smith (eaton) voted. objections were raised, but with the law and the constitution back of them they carried the day. on september , in response to a request from the grand forks w. s. a., attorney-general j. m. cochrane gave a written opinion that the provision of the constitution relating to woman suffrage was not self-executing, and that until supplementary legislation was enacted providing the requisite machinery for recording school ballots cast by women, they could not vote. as the authorities in a number of places refused to provide separate boxes, the legislature of passed an act requiring them. office holding: women are eligible for all school offices, but for no other elective office. in mrs. laura j. eisenhuth was elected state superintendent of public instruction on the democratic ticket. in she was again nominated but was defeated by miss emma bates on the republican ticket. eleven women are now serving as county superintendents, and many on local school boards. they do not sit on any state boards. all of the directors of the woman's reformatory, under control of the w. c. t. u., are women. in the legislature they serve as librarians, journal, enrolling and engrossing clerks and stenographers. they act also as deputies in state, county and city offices. by special statute of they may be notaries public. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: all of the educational institutions are open to both sexes alike and women are on the faculties. dr. janette hill knox was vice-president of red river valley university (meth. epis.) for five years. there are in the public schools , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . the woman's christian temperance union was the first and still continues to be the largest of the organizations. it works for the franchise through public lectures, petitions, legislative bills and various educational measures. the woman's relief corps and a large number of church, lodge and literary societies enlist women's activities in a marked degree. they sit on the official boards of many churches and some of these are composed entirely of women. south dakota.[ ] in june, , a convention was held at huron to discuss the question of dividing the territory and forming two states, and a convention was called to meet at sioux falls, september , and prepare a constitution for those in the southern portion. the suffrage leaders in the east were anxious that this should include the franchise for women. mrs. matilda joslyn gage of new york, vice-president-at-large of the national suffrage association, lectured at various points in the territory during the summer to awaken public sentiment on this question. on september a petition signed by , dakota men and women, praying that the word "male" should not be incorporated in the constitution, was presented to the convention, accompanied by personal appeals. there was some disposition to grant this request but the opponents prevailed and only the school ballot was given to women, which they already possessed by act of the legislature of . however, this constitution never was acted upon. the desire for division and statehood became very urgent throughout the great territory, and this, with the growing sentiment in congress in favor of the same, induced the legislature of to provide for a convention at sioux falls, composed of members elected by the voters of the territory, to form a constitution for the proposed new state of south dakota and submit the same to the electors for adoption, which was done in november, . many of the women had become landholders and were interested in the location of schoolhouses, county seats, state capital and matters of taxation. as their only organization was the woman's christian temperance union, a committee was appointed from that body, consisting of alice m. a. pickler, superintendent of the franchise department, helen m. barker and julia welch, to appear before the committee on suffrage and ask that the word "male" be left out of the qualifications of electors. they were helped by letters to members of the convention from lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, susan b. anthony, lillie devereux blake and others of national reputation. seven of the eleven members of the committee were willing to grant this request but there was so much opposition from the convention, lest the chances for statehood might be imperiled, that they compelled a compromise and it was directed that the first legislature should submit the question to the voters. they did incorporate a clause, however, that women properly qualified should be eligible to any school office and should vote at any election held solely for school purposes. this applied merely to school trustees, as state and county superintendents are elected at general and not special elections. the constitution was ratified by the voters in , with a provision that "the legislature should at its first session after the admission of the state into the union, submit to a vote of the electors at the next general election, the question whether the word 'male' should be stricken from the article of the constitution relating to elections and the right of suffrage." congress at that time refused to divide the territory and thus the question remained in abeyance awaiting statehood. in , an enabling act having been passed by congress, delegates were elected from the different counties to meet in convention at sioux falls to prepare for the entrance of south dakota into statehood. this convention reaffirmed the constitution adopted in , and again submitted it to the voters who again passed upon it favorably, and the territory became a state, nov. , . the first legislature met at once in pierre, and although they were required by the constitution to submit an amendment for woman suffrage a vote was taken as to whether this should be done. it stood in the senate yeas, one nay; absent or not voting, ; in the house yeas, nays; absent. on nov. , , miss anthony, in response to urgent requests from the state, made a lecture tour of twelve cities and towns and addressed the farmers' alliance at their convention in aberdeen, when they officially indorsed the suffrage amendment. on her return home she sent , copies of senator t. w. palmer's great woman suffrage speech to individual voters in dakota under his frank. a state suffrage association had been formed with s. a. ramsey, president, alonzo wardall, vice-president, the rev. m. barker, secretary, and mrs. helen m. barker, treasurer and state organizer; but the beginning of this campaign found the women with no funds and very little local organization. mr. wardall, who was also secretary of the farmers' alliance, went to washington and, with representative and mrs. j. a. pickler, presented a strong appeal for assistance to the national suffrage convention in february, . it was heartily responded to and a south dakota campaign committee was formed with miss anthony chairman. the officers and friends made vigorous efforts to raise a fund and eventually $ , were secured. of this amount california sent $ , ; senator stanford personally gave $ ; rachel foster avery of philadelphia, the same amount; mrs. clara l. mcadow of montana, $ ; a number gave $ , among them u. s. senator r. f. pettigrew of south dakota, and different states sent various sums.[ ] the first of may miss anthony returned to south dakota and established campaign headquarters in huron. a mass convention of men and women was held and an active state organization formed with mrs. philena everett johnson, president, mr. wardall, vice-president, which co-operated with the national committee and inaugurated an active campaign. the new state had adopted as its motto, "under god the people rule," and the suffragists wrote upon their banners, "under god the people rule. women are people." a large number of national speakers came in the summer. local workers would organize suffrage clubs in the schoolhouses and these efforts would culminate in large rallies at the county seats where some noted speakers would make addresses and perfect the organization. those from the outside who canvassed the state were henry b. blackwell, editor _woman's journal_, boston, the rev. anna howard shaw, national lecturer, mary seymour howell (n. y.), the rev. olympia brown (wis.), matilda hindman (penn.), carrie chapman catt (wash.), laura m. johns (kan.), clara bewick colby (neb.), the rev. helen g. putnam (n. d.), julia b. nelson (minn.) miss anthony was always and everywhere the moving spirit and contributed her services the entire six months without pay. when $ were lacking to settle the final expenses she paid them out of her own pocket. mr. blackwell also donated his services. most effective state work was done by mrs. emma smith de voe, and the home of mr. and mrs. de voe was a haven of rest for the toilers during the campaign. among the other valuable state workers were dr. nettie c. hall, mrs. helen m. barker, and mrs. elizabeth m. wardall, superintendent of press. a large number of ministers indorsed the amendment. two grand rallies of all the speakers were held, one in mitchell, august , , during which time miss anthony, mr. blackwell, miss shaw and mrs. pickler addressed the republican state convention; the other during the state fair in september. the th was "woman's day" and the fair association invited the ladies to speak. miss anthony, miss shaw and mrs. de voe complied. the summing up of the superintendent of press was as follows: total number of addresses by national speakers, ; state speakers, ; under the auspices of the w. c. t. u., ; total, , ; local clubs of women organized, ; literature sent to every voter. it would be difficult to put into words the hardships of this campaign of in a new state through the hottest and dryest summer on record. frequently the speakers had to drive twenty miles between the afternoon and evening meetings and the audiences would come thirty miles. all of the political state conventions declined to indorse the amendment. the republicans refused seats to the ladies on the floor of their convention although indians in blankets were welcomed. the democrats invited the ladies to seats where they listened to a speech against woman suffrage by e. w. miller, land receiver of the huron district, too indecent to print, which was received with cheers and applause by the convention. the minority committee report asking for an indorsement, presented by judge bangs of rapid city, was overwhelmingly voted down. a big delegation of russians came to this convention wearing huge yellow badges lettered, against woman suffrage and susan b. anthony. the greatest disappointment of the campaign was the forming of an independent party by the farmers' alliance and the knights of labor. the alliance at its convention the previous year, delegates present, at the close of miss anthony's address, had declared that they would do all in their power to carry the suffrage amendment, and it was principally on account of their assurances of support and on the invitation of their leaders, that she undertook the work in south dakota. the knights of labor at their convention in january of the present year had adopted a resolution which said: "we will support with all our strength the amendment to be voted on at the next general election giving women the ballot ... believing this to be the first step toward securing those reforms for which all true knights of labor are striving." but the following june these two organizations formed a new party and absolutely refused to put a woman suffrage plank in their platform, although miss anthony addressed their convention and implored them to keep their promise, assuring them that their failure to support the amendment would be its death blow. the previous summer h. l. loucks, president of the farmers' alliance, had made a special journey to the state suffrage convention at minneapolis to invite her to come to south dakota to conduct this canvass. he was a candidate for governor on this new party ticket and in his speech of acceptance did not mention the pending amendment. before adjourning the convention adopted a long resolution containing seven or eight declarations, among them one that "no citizen should be disfranchised on account of sex," but so far as any party advocacy was concerned the question was a dead issue. a bitter contest was being made between huron and pierre for the location of the state capital, and the woman suffrage amendment was freely used as an article of barter. there were , russians, poles, scandinavians and other foreigners in the state, most of whom opposed woman suffrage. the liquor dealers and gamblers worked vigorously against it, and they were reinforced by the women "remonstrants" of massachusetts, who sent their literature into every corner of the state. at the election, nov. , , the amendment received , ayes, , noes, majority opposed , . the republicans carried the state by , majority. at this same election an amendment was submitted as to whether male indians should be enfranchised. it received an affirmative vote of per cent.; that for woman suffrage received per cent. of the two classes of voters it seemed the men preferred the indians. it was claimed by many, however, that they did not understand the wording of the indian amendment and thought they were voting against it.[ ] as the school suffrage possessed by women applied only to trustees and did not include the important offices of state and county superintendents, and as it was held that the franchise for this purpose could be secured only by a constitutional amendment, it was decided to ask for this. through the efforts of mrs. anna r. simmons and mrs. emma a. cranmer, officers of the state association, a bill for this purpose was secured from the legislature of . as there seemed to be no objection to women's voting for school trustees it was not supposed that there would be any to extending the privilege for the other school officers. it was submitted at the regular election in november, , and defeated by , ayes, , noes, an opposing majority of , . in the above ladies made one more effort and secured from the legislature the submission again of an amendment conferring the full suffrage on women. the campaign was managed almost entirely by mrs. simmons and mrs. cranmer. the national association assisted to the extent of sending a lecturer, miss laura a. gregg of kansas, who remained for two months preceding the election; and $ worth of literature also was furnished for distribution. the dakota women raised about $ , , and every possible influence was exerted upon the voters. the returns of the election in november, , gave for the amendment , ; against, , ; adverse majority, , . in the amendment had received per cent. of the whole vote cast upon it; in it received per cent. the figures show unmistakably that the falling off in the size of the vote was almost wholly among the opponents.[ ] organization: after the defeat of the suffrage amendment in a more thorough state organization was effected and a convention has been held every year since. that of met in huron and mrs. irene g. adams was elected president. soon afterwards she compiled a leaflet showing the unjust laws for women which disgraced the statute books. in a successful annual meeting took place at hastings and mrs. mary a. groesbeck was made president. in september, , the convention was held in aberdeen during the grain palace exposition. the state president and the president elect, mrs. emma a. cranmer, had charge of the program for woman's day, and mrs. clara hoffman (mo.) gave addresses in the afternoon and evening. in mrs. anna r. simmons was elected president and continued in office for six years. this year $ was sent to aid the kansas campaign. during and ' she made twenty public addresses and held ten parlor meetings. at the convention in pierre in september, , she was able to report fifty clubs organized with members. mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, was present at this convention. active work was continued throughout and , when the submission of a suffrage amendment was secured. the year of was given up to efforts for its success. mrs. c. c. king established and carried on almost entirely at her own expense the _south dakota messenger_, a campaign paper which was of the greatest service. the state convention met in mitchell september - . miss elizabeth upham yates (me.) came as representative of the national association and gave two addresses to large audiences. the following october a conference of national and state workers was held at sioux falls, the former represented by mrs. chapman catt, the rev. henrietta g. moore (o.) and miss mary g. hay, national organizers. several public sessions were held. the annual meeting of took place in madison, september , . the tenth convention met in brookings, sept. , . mrs. simmons having removed from the state, mrs. alice m. a. pickler was elected president. mrs. philena everett johnson was made vice-president.[ ] among the prominent friends of woman suffrage may be mentioned the hon. arthur c. mellette, first state governor; u. s. senators richard f. pettigrew, james h. kyle and robert j. gamble; lieutenant-governor d. t. hindman; members of congress j. a. pickler, w. b. lucas and e. w. martin; the hons. s. a. ramsey and coe i. crawford; attorney-general john l. pyle, judge d. c. thomas, general w. h. beadle, professor mcclennen, of the madison normal school, and ministers of many churches. the hon. j. h. patton and the hon. w. c. bowers paid the expenses of the legislative committee of the suffrage association while they were in pierre during the winter of to secure the submission of an amendment. chief justice of the supreme court a. j. edgerton, was a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage and appointed a woman official stenographer of his judicial district, the best salaried office within his gift. associate justice seward smith appointed a woman clerk of the faulk county district court.[ ] laws: neither dower nor curtesy obtains. if either husband or wife die without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one, the survivor is entitled to one-half of the separate estate of the other; or one-third if there are more than one child or the issue of more than one. if there are no children nor the issue of any, the survivor is entitled to one-half of the estate and the other half goes to the kindred of the deceased. if there are none the survivor takes all. a homestead of acres, or one-quarter of an acre in town, may be reserved for the widow or widower. either husband or wife may dispose of separate property, real or personal, by deed or will, without the consent of the other. joint real estate, including the homestead, can be conveyed only by signature of both, but the husband may dispose of joint personal property without the consent of the wife. in order to control her separate property the wife must keep it recorded in the office of the county register. on the death of an unmarried child the father inherits all of its property. if he is dead and there are no other children, the mother inherits it. if there are brothers and sisters she inherits a child's share. a married woman can not act as administrator. of several persons claiming and equally entitled to act as executors, males must be preferred to females. a married woman can control her earnings outside the home only when living separate from her husband. the father is the legal guardian and has custody of the persons and services of minor children. if he refuse to take the custody or has abandoned his family or has been legally declared a drunkard, the mother is entitled to the custody. the law declares the husband the head of the family and he must support the wife by his separate property or labor, but if he has not deserted her, and has no separate property, and is too infirm to support her by his labor, the wife must support him and their children out of her separate property or in other ways to the extent of her ability. an act of feb. , , makes the wife liable for necessaries for the family purchased on her own account to the same extent that her husband would be liable under a similar purchase, but with no control over the joint earnings. the causes for divorce are the same as in most states but only six months' residence is required. the disposition of the children is left entirely with the court. in , through the efforts of the w.c.t.u., the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years. in they tried to have it made but the legislature compromised on years. rape in the first degree _is punishable_ by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than ten years; in the second degree, not less than five years. the penalty for seduction and for enticing away for purposes of prostitution is prescribed by the same words "is punishable," which in reality leaves it to the judgment of the court, but the statutes fix the penalty for all other crimes by the words "shall be punished." in addition to this latitude the penalty for seduction or enticing for purposes of prostitution is, if the girl is under , imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than five years, or in the county jail not more than one year, or by fine not exceeding $ , , or both; with no minimum penalty. suffrage: the territorial legislature of gave women a vote on questions pertaining to the schools, which were then decided at school meetings. this was partially repealed by a law of which required regular polls and a private ballot, but this act did not include fifteen counties which had school districts fully established, and women still continued to vote at these district school meetings. in a law was enacted giving all women the right to vote at all school elections for all officers, and making them eligible for all school offices. the constitution which was adopted when south dakota entered the union ( ) provided that "any woman having the required qualifications as to age, residence and citizenship may vote at any election held solely for school purposes." as state and county superintendents are elected at general and not special elections, women can vote only for school trustees. they have no vote on bonds or appropriations. office holding: the state constitution provides that all persons, either male or female, being twenty-one years of age and having the necessary qualifications, shall be eligible to the office of school director, treasurer, judge or clerk of school elections, county superintendent of public schools and state superintendent of public instruction. all other civil offices must be filled by male electors. there are at present eleven women serving as county superintendents. they sit on the school boards in many places and have been treasurers. a woman was nominated for state superintendent of public instruction by the independent party. efforts to secure a law requiring women on the boards of state institutions have failed. the governor is required to appoint three women inspectors of penal and charitable institutions, who are paid by the state and make their report directly to him. they inspect the penitentiary, reform school, insane hospitals, deaf and dumb institute and school for the blind. there is one assistant woman physician in the state hospital for the insane. women in subordinate official positions are found in all state institutions. they act as clerks in all city, county and state offices and in the legislature, and have served as court stenographers and clerk of the circuit court. there are eight women notaries public at the present time. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. ten hours is made a legal working day for them. four women are editing county papers. education: all institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes and there are women on the faculties. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women $ . . * * * * * the w.c.t.u. was the first organization of women in the state and through its franchise department has worked earnestly and collected numerous petitions for suffrage. the woman's relief corps is the largest body, having , members. the eastern star, daughters of rebekah, ladies of the maccabees, and other lodge societies are well organized. the federation of clubs, the youngest association, represents members. a number of churches have women on their official boards. footnotes: [ ] at the new orleans exposition in the displays of kansas, dakota and nebraska taught the world the artistic value of grains and grasses for decoration, but it was exemplified most strikingly in the dakota's woman's department, arranged by mrs. j. m. melton of fargo. among the industrial exhibits was a carriage robe sent from a leading furrier to represent the skilled work of women in his employ. there were also bird fans, a curtain of duck skins and cases of taxidermy, all prepared and cured by women, and a case of work from women employed in the printing office of the fargo argus. four thousand bouquets of grasses were distributed on dakota day and carried away as curious and beautiful memorials. all were made by women in the territory. [ ] the history is indebted for this part of the chapter to dr. janette hill knox, of wahpeton, corresponding secretary of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] u. s. senator w. n. roach also wrote and voted in favor of woman suffrage. martin n. johnson, m. c., was a strong advocate. [ ] officers elected: honorary presidents, dr. cora smith eaton and miss mary allen whedon; president, mrs. flora blackman naylor; vice-president, mrs. g. s. roberts; corresponding secretary, dr. janette hill knox; recording secretary, mrs. henrietta paulson haagenson; treasurer, mrs. anna carmody; auditors, mrs. j. s. kemp, mrs. addie l. carr; member national executive committee, mrs. lois l. muir; organizer and lecturer, mrs. mary e. slater; press superintendent, mrs. flora p. gates. in addition to these, the following have served as state officers: vice-presidents, mesdames mary wilson, florence dixon and g. s. roberts; corresponding secretaries, mrs. sara e. b. smith, mrs. delia lee hyde; recording secretary, mrs. helen de lendrecie; treasurer, mrs. katherine v. king; auditors, dr. helena g. wink and mesdames m. b. goodrich, l. c. mckinney and l. c. campbell. among other efficient workers may be mentioned gov. eli shortridge, gov. roger allen, dr. m. v. b. knox, miss bena halerow, and mesdames ida s. clark, mazie stevens, nellie mott, frances m. dixon, r. c. cooper and s. m. woodhull. [ ] in the legislature of a bill was introduced in the house by h. e. lavayea of grand forks county, to take away school suffrage from women. the bill was unconstitutional and was never reported from the committee, but its introduction stirred up indignant protests from all parts of the state. [ ] the history is indebted to mrs. alice m. a. pickler of faulkton, president of the state woman suffrage association, for the material contained in this part of the chapter. [ ] the speakers raised about $ , which went toward paying their expenses. over $ , were secured by other means. most of the state workers donated their expenses. [ ] a graphic account of this campaign, with many anecdotes and personal reminiscences, will be found in the life and work of susan b. anthony, chap. xxxviii. [ ] petitions have been presented to several legislatures to grant municipal suffrage by statute but a bill for this purpose has been brought to a vote only once, in , when it was passed by the senate, ayes, noes; and defeated in the house by only one vote. [ ] others who have served in official position are vice-president, mrs. emma a. cranmer; corresponding secretaries, mesdames kate uline folger, f. c. bidwell, hannah v. best; treasurers, mrs. elizabeth m. wardall, mrs. marion l. bennett, mrs. clara m. williams; auditor, mrs. john davis; superintendents of literature, mrs. jane rooker breeden, mrs. delia robinson king. [ ] the list of men and women who are not so widely known but who have stood faithfully for woman suffrage would be a long one. among them are s. h. cranmer, rev. and mrs. c. e. hagar, mrs. alice gossage, mrs. c. e. thorpe, mrs. luella a. ramsey, mrs. ruby smart, kara smart and floy cochrane. chapter xxxii. delaware.[ ] in the campaign of the republicans had a ship of state called the new constitution, with an eagle on the top, which was mounted on wheels and taken from place to place where they held public meetings. when they came to greenwood, the home of mrs. mary a. stuart, she put a "blue hen" upon it, saying they should not have an eagle to represent freedom for men and nothing to represent women. so the hen went from one end of delaware to the other, sitting in state in a glass coop. some of the republican speakers announced from the platform this year that they favored enfranchisement of women. in the state woman's christian temperance union adopted the franchise department with mrs. patience kent as superintendent, and held several public meetings. in mrs. martha s. cranston was elected her successor, and still occupies the position. mrs. rachel foster avery, corresponding secretary of the national association, organized the wilmington equal suffrage club, the first in the state, on nov. , , with twenty-five members. the membership soon increased to fifty-three. the following winter mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, sent into the state the rev. henrietta g. moore of ohio and miss mary g. hay of new york, the latter to arrange meetings and the former to address them and organize clubs. on jan. , , , they assisted in a convention at wilmington, where a state association was formed. as delaware was to hold a constitutional convention in , the national association was especially interested in pushing the suffrage work there. mrs. chapman catt met with the executive committee in wilmington to arrange plans, and mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado and miss laura a. gregg of kansas were sent during march and april to further organization. three county associations were formed, and mrs. hortense davenport held parlor meetings in various towns throughout may. on nov. , , the second annual convention was held in the new century club parlors in wilmington. judge william n. ashman of philadelphia and mrs. mary heald way of oxford, penn., addressed the audience in the evening. petitions were circulated throughout the state, and mrs. cranston and miss hay went to dover to present the constitutional convention with a memorial, which was referred to the committee on elections. it contained the signatures of , men and , women. a hearing was granted jan. , . mrs. emalea p. warner, mrs. margaret w. houston and miss emma worrell made addresses. mrs. chapman catt was the chief speaker. only two members of the committee were absent. a vote was taken february on omitting the word "male" from the new constitution, and the proposition was defeated by yeas, nays, with not present. a national conference was held in wilmington april , . mrs. chapman catt and the rev. anna howard shaw, national vice-president-at-large, were the principal speakers, and mrs. elizabeth g. robinson, mrs. elizabeth walling and mrs. houston assisted in making the meetings a success. on sunday miss shaw preached in the union m. e. church in the morning and the delaware avenue baptist church in the evening. the third state meeting took place at wilmington, dec. , , with addresses by miss diana hirschler of boston and mrs. c. o. h. craigie of brooklyn. there was no convention in , but the state association held a meeting in the unitarian church, in wilmington, dec. , , which was addressed by mrs. chapman catt. after the national convention in february, , mrs. bradford made a few addresses in the state. the annual meeting took place in newcastle, nov. , . among the speakers were mrs. ellen h. e. price of pennsylvania and professors william h. purnell and wesley webb. mrs. martha s. cranston has been president of the state association, and mrs. margaret w. houston vice-president, since its beginning. others who have served in official capacity are mrs. margaret h. kent, edward mullen, miss emma lore, mrs. mary r. de vou and mrs. may price phillips. among those not previously mentioned who have given valuable assistance are chief justice charles b. lore and mrs. gertrude nields. legislative action and laws: no bill for woman suffrage has been presented to the legislature since . on the petition of women a law was passed in requiring employers to provide seats for female employes when not on duty. in a police matron was appointed for wilmington. in the bastardy law, which compelled the father of an illegitimate child to pay fifty cents a week for its support during seven years, was repealed; $ a week for ten years were asked, but the law made it $ a week for ten years. until the "age of protection" for girls was only seven years. that year, on petition of many women, it was raised to fifteen, but the violation of the law was declared to be only a "misdemeanor," punishable by a fine of not more than $ , or imprisonment for not more than seven years, or both, at the discretion of the court, with no minimum penalty named. in the legislature, on the insistence of women, raised the "age of protection" to eighteen years, but continued to extend the "protection" to boys as well as girls. it has been found very difficult to secure the conviction of men for this crime, and those convicted have been repeatedly pardoned by the governor. on may , , the legislature passed a bill requiring the proprietors of mills, factories and stores in the city of wilmington to provide comfortable toilet-rooms for their female employes, and one giving power for the appointment of women as factory inspectors. one was appointed by chief justice lore the same year. if there is a child or the lawful issue of a child living, the widow has a life-interest in one-third of the real estate and one-third absolutely of the personal property. if there is no child nor the descendant of any child living, the widow has a life-interest in one-half of the real estate and one-half absolutely of the personal estate. if there are neither descendants nor kin--brothers, sisters, their descendants, father nor mother--the widow has the entire real estate for her life, and all the personal estate absolutely. if a child of the marriage was born alive, whether living or dead at the death of the wife, the widower has her entire real estate during his life, and the whole of her personal estate absolutely, subject to all legal claims. if there has not been a child born alive, the widower has a life-interest in one-half of her real estate, but the whole of her personal estate absolutely. the father is the legal guardian of the children, and he alone may appoint a guardian at his death. for failure to support his wife and minor children, a man may be fined from $ to $ ; and, by act of , arrested and required to give bail not exceeding $ . the court may order him to pay reasonable support not exceeding $ per month and give security to the state. if he fail to comply, he may be committed to jail. the wife is competent as a witness. suffrage: the women in milford, townsend, wyoming and newark who pay a property tax are privileged to vote for town commissioners in person or by proxy. all such women in the state may vote for school trustees. office holding: in january, , the supreme court denied the application of a woman to practice at the bar, on the ground that a lawyer is a state officer and all state officers must be voters. in the one city of wilmington women are eligible as school directors, but none ever has been elected. a woman factory inspector was appointed by the chief justice in , and reappointed in . women never have served as notaries public. occupations: only the practice of law is legally forbidden. education: delaware has one college, at newark, which receives state funds. women were admitted in , and during the next thirteen years eighty availed themselves of its advantages. it was then closed to them. the only high school in the state, at wilmington, is open to girls. there are in the public schools men and women teachers. it is impossible to obtain their average salaries. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. martha s. cranston of newport, president of the state woman suffrage association. chapter xxxiii. district of columbia.[ ] the women of the district of columbia who desire the suffrage have a unique place among those of other localities. as the franchise for men even is not included in the privileges of citizenship, all are compelled to work circuitously through congress in order to gain that which in the states is secured directly by the ballot. the suffrage societies stand in especially close relation to the national association, as every year from until , and each alternate year since, they have served as its hosts and arranged the many details of its delegate conventions. being near, also, to the great legislative body of the nation they often serve as messengers and mediators between congressional committees and various state organizations of women. the district, however, has its own vital problems to solve, and in these the suffrage association takes a prominent part. since , through its organized and persistent efforts, alone or in co-operation with other societies, many local reforms and improvements have been secured. these have been unusually difficult to obtain because subject to the dual authority of congress and of the district commissioners. nevertheless, so systematically and harmoniously have the women worked that the entire personnel of the association's committees has often been changed during the long delays in the introduction of a bill, the lobbying for it and its final passage, without in the least imperiling its success. the district society never has languished since its organization in . dr. clara w. macnaughton is now president and there are over one hundred active members.[ ] the equal suffrage association of the district of columbia is a separate body, corresponding to a state association, and is composed of delegates elected from the district society and the junior equal suffrage club. it was organized dec. , , and holds regular meetings. mrs. helen rand tindall is the president.[ ] the association made every possible effort to secure a bill to recompense anna ella carroll for her services during the war. it has used its influence in favor of industrial schools and kindergartens in the public schools and has urged congress to appropriate money for vacation schools. in it petitioned the national convention of the knights of labor, meeting in washington, to adopt a resolution asking congress to restore suffrage to the citizens of the district of columbia with no distinction of sex. this was unanimously adopted without even the formality of referring to a committee. delegates were sent to the international congress of women in brussels in . in , for the first time, the suffrage women of the district gave free entertainment to delegates to the national convention. mrs. ellen powell thompson was chairman of the committee and contributed largely to the success of that memorable convention, which ended with the celebration of miss susan b. anthony's eightieth birthday and her retirement from the presidency of the national association. mrs. thompson was especially active in securing the handsome gift of a purse of over $ , which was presented to her by the district society. mrs. julius c. burrows assisted in many ways and through her influence the corcoran gallery of art was opened to the brilliant reception given in honor of miss anthony. among many who openly espouse woman suffrage are ex-gov. and mrs. john w. hoyt of wyoming, now living in washington, mrs. john b. henderson, mrs. a. l. barber, mrs. judith ellen foster, president of the woman's republican association of the united states, and miss clara barton, founder and president of the national red cross society; to whom might be added hosts of others. legislative action and laws: the suffrage association has been largely instrumental in securing most of the district legislation in favor of women, as the records of the past twenty years will show. what is regarded as the most important achievement of this nature since is the passage by congress, in , of the married woman's property rights bill. the removal of the disabilities of wives had been agitated for a number of years by the association. in a bill for this purpose, drafted by one of its members, miss emma m. gillett, attorney-at-law, was passed by the senate. when it reached the house it went through the usual stages, was tossed about from one committee to another and deferred and delayed in the most exasperating manner. it was championed by miss gillett, however, with an unswerving courage and fidelity which never allowed it to be forgotten or neglected, and she was treated always with the utmost courtesy when appearing before congressional committees. in mrs. ellen spencer mussey, always an ardent suffragist, as chairman of the committee on legislation for the district federation of women's clubs, began a vigorous prosecution of this bill before congress. miss gillett and mrs. mussey were ably assisted by mrs. belva a. lockwood, mrs. lucia b. blount, mrs. m. e. coues and mrs. mary s. lockwood. at this time married women had no legal right to hold property, and in most respects the district laws remained about as arbitrary as they were in the reign of king charles ii. a mother had no right by law to her own child, the father having legal sanction to dispose of the offspring even before it was born. at the time this committee was urging congress to pass the bill, the public was horrified by a notorious case in the courts of the district in which a profligate father, who had never done anything to benefit his children, had disposed of them by will, debarring the mother from their custody and control. this cruelty and injustice was an object-lesson which especially evoked the sympathy of congress. the bill finally passed both houses, was approved by president william mckinley, and became a law june , . at a special meeting, held june , mrs. belva a. lockwood presented the association with an engrossed copy of the new law, and the women held a jubilee to celebrate their victory. the law provides that the real, personal or mixed property which shall come to a woman by descent, purchase, gift, etc., shall be and remain her sole and separate property, notwithstanding her marriage, and shall not be subject to the disposal of her husband or be liable for his debts. a married woman may bargain, sell and convey her real and personal property, enter into any contract, sue and be sued the same as a married man. a married woman may carry on any business or enter any profession, by herself or with others, and the proceeds shall be her separate property and may be invested in her own name. the law also provides that the father and mother shall be equal guardians of their children, and that the survivor may by last will and testament appoint a guardian. the husband, if he have property, is required by a recent decision to furnish his family with reasonable support; otherwise there is no penalty for failure to do so. dower and curtesy obtain. the widow's dower is one-third for life of the real estate, and one-third of the personal estate absolutely if there is a child or descendant of any living. if there is no issue or descendant of any, but father, mother, brother, sister or descendants of these, the widow has one-half the personal estate. if none of these, the widow may have all of the personal estate, and all of the real estate if there is no kindred whatever. a widower, if his wife has borne a living child, is entitled to the use of one-third of her real estate for life, and one-third of her personal property. if there are no heirs, lineal or collateral, he takes the whole estate absolutely. the "age of protection" for girls was raised in from to years. the penalty is, for the first offense imprisonment at hard labor in the penitentiary not more than fifteen years, and for each subsequent offense not more than thirty years. no minimum penalty is fixed. suffrage: since the territorial government was abolished and male citizens disfranchised, in , there have been numerous petitions to congress for the ballot by both men and women, but no action has been taken by that body. office holding: through the early ' 's mrs. belva a. lockwood, mrs. jane h. spofford and others worked unceasingly for the placing of matrons at the jail and police stations. one was appointed in , and, during the sixteen years since, a matron has been secured for the jail and three for the ten police stations, largely through the efforts of the suffragists and especially of mrs. ellen powell thompson, president of the district association. the women have had the hearty support of major richard sylvester, chief of police. in an act was passed for a board of guardians for dependent children, of which at least three of the nine members must be women. principally to the efforts of mrs. sara a. spencer, with the help of other members of the association, is due the bill providing for a girl's reform school, in . the board of managers has always been composed of men, but there are a woman superintendent and a woman physician. mrs. lockwood and mrs. elizabeth a. russell worked long and arduously to secure a house of detention and also a special carriage and a special court for the women and children arrested. to major sylvester above all others, however, belongs the credit of securing this house of detention. senator james mcmillan of michigan, chairman of the committee on the district of columbia, framed the bill and it was finally transformed into law. this house was opened in the summer of . a lieutenant of police and three matrons have charge, under supervision of the chief. mrs. marilla m. ricker was made notary public and master in chancery in , and miss emma m. gillett soon afterward. they secured the legislation necessary for women to hold the latter office. there are at present four or five women masters in chancery and twenty women notaries in the district. it required six years of agitation and effort on the part of the suffrage association before women were allowed to serve as members on the board of public school education. the principal movers in this work were dr. clara w. macnaughton, mrs. thompson, mrs. helen rand tindall, mrs. lockwood and mrs. caroline e. kent. during this time the bill passed through many vicissitudes and its friends became discouraged, but in dr. macnaughton went to work with a strong determination to secure its passage. great assistance was rendered by senator mcmillan and the hon. edwin f. uhl, at that time assistant secretary of state. the bill was finally passed just before congress adjourned for that year. the school board, which has charge of both white and colored schools, consists of five members, each with a salary of $ a year. mrs. mary c. terrill (colored) served five years and resigned. she was succeeded by mrs. betty g. francis (colored). mrs. mary hope west (white) is the other woman member. a woman is serving as assistant superintendent of the public schools, receiving $ , per annum; and a woman is employed as assistant secretary of the board of education. women sit on the hospital boards and those of public charities. it never has been possible to secure the appointment of women physicians at any of the hospitals or asylums. as women are admitted to the various government departments there naturally would be more of them holding office in the district of columbia than in all the states combined. the relative number of men and women employed is as follows: _legislative._ _male._ _female._ senate, officers and employes house of representatives, officers and employes ... capitol police ... library of congress united states botanic garden ... ---- ---- _executive._ executive office ... state department treasury department , , war department[ ] , navy department[ ] , postoffice department interior department , , department of justice department of agriculture government printing office , , department of labor fish commission interstate commerce commission ... civil service commission industrial commission smithsonian institution bureau of american republics local postoffices in district ---- ---- , , _judicial._ supreme court of the united states ... court of claims ---- ---- _summary._ , , whether the number of women is increasing or decreasing is a disputed question. the civil service alone enables them to hold their places or to secure new ones against the tremendous pressure for the offices which is brought upon the appointing powers by the men who form the voting constituency of the country. chiefs of the divisions rarely call for a woman on the civil service list of eligibles. few women fill the highly salaried positions. one woman receives $ , as portuguese translator; one, working in the u. s. land office at lander, wyoming, receives the same. one secured a $ , position in the federal postoffice department but was soon reduced to an $ , place and her own given to a man. the salaries of women in general range from $ to $ , , not more than fifty receiving the latter sum, while many hundreds of men clerks receive $ , . clerkships under civil service rules are supposed to pay the same to men and women, but the latter rarely secure the better-paid ones. there are a large number of positions graded above clerkships and paying from $ , to $ , a year to which women are practically never appointed. occupations: no professions or occupations are forbidden to women. two of the pioneer women physicians in the united states made name and fame in washington--dr. caroline b. winslow and dr. susan a. edson--the latter the attending physician during the last illness of president james a. garfield. education: howard university, for white and colored students, is the only one which graduates women in medicine. in all of its ten departments, including law, it is co-educational. columbian university (baptist) opens its literary departments to women but excludes them from those of law and medicine, which are its strongest departments.[ ] they were admitted to the medical school in , but excluded in on the ground that the university could not afford to have professors for separate classes and that the buildings were too small for the increased number of students. mrs. ellen s. mussey and miss emma m. gillett, in , established the washington college of law for the legal education of women. mrs. mussey has been the dean since its organization and is the only woman dean of a law school in the country. the hon. edward f. bingham, chief justice of the supreme court of the district, is president of the board of trustees, and leading members of the bar have used their influence to make the college a success. the curriculum is the same as obtains in the leading institutions. there are several men among the students. mrs. mussey is counsel for the red cross society. the american university (methodist episcopal), now being organized for post-graduate work, is to be co-educational. the great catholic universities, here, as everywhere, are closed to women. trinity college for women (roman catholic) was dedicated nov. , . the necessity for this college became apparent from their many applications to enter the universities for men. it is the first institution founded by this church for the higher education of women such as is provided by the largest of the women's colleges in the united states. there are in the public schools men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * the introduction of kindergartens into the public schools received the assistance of all the women's societies in the district. in a bill passed congress appropriating $ , with which to make the experiment. this proving successful an annual appropriation of $ , was made.[ ] the woman's christian temperance union, mrs. clinton smith, president, has secured the suppression of liquor selling in the café of the new library of congress, and a large number of most beneficent measures. in december, , the national convention of the w. c. t. u. was held in washington and among the strongest resolutions adopted were those declaring for woman suffrage and the abolishment of the army canteen. a bill for the latter purpose passed the house while the convention was in session, and soon afterwards passed the senate. the district federation of women's clubs includes eleven affiliated organizations comprising nearly four thousand women. mrs. julius c. burrows (mich.) is among the most prominent of the many women engaged in philanthropic work. largely under her direction the training school for nurses connected with the garfield memorial hospital has become one of the best in the country. mrs. clara bewick colby has long owned and published the _woman's tribune_. mrs. mary s. lockwood for a number of years has edited the _american magazine_, the official organ of the national society daughters of the american revolution. mrs. belva a. lockwood is associate editor of _the peacemaker_. dr. anita newcombe mcgee was the first woman in the united states commissioned as surgeon, with the rank of lieutenant and the privilege of wearing shoulder straps. she examined most of the women nurses who volunteered their services in cuba and the philippines. all of the women mentioned above are members of the suffrage association, and those engaged in public work of all kinds are, almost without exception, advocates of woman suffrage. during the spanish-american war the women of the district, including the daughters of the american revolution, the woman's christian temperance union and the district federation of women's clubs, united in their services. pleasant headquarters were opened in different localities. mrs. judith ellen foster, mrs. james b. tanner and many other loyal red cross women answered the call of clara barton, and assisted daily through the long, hot summer of in contributing to the comfort of the soldiers when passing through washington or while stationed at camp alger; and also in sending supplies for the comfort of those at the front. there were no castes, creeds or factions in this great work of patriotism. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. florence adele chase, for a number of years on the editorial staff of a daily paper at grand rapids, mich., now on the editorial force in the division of publications of the agricultural department at washington, the only woman who has held the position. [ ] the presidents since have been mrs. ruth g. denison, dr. susan a. edson, mrs. ella m. s. marble, mrs. mary l. bennett, mrs. mary powell davis, mrs. ellen powell thompson, miss cora la matyr thomas and mrs. helen rand tindall. on march , , the association was incorporated by clara w. macnaughton, mary l. talbott, ellen powell thompson, helen rand tindall, clara bewick colby, kate w. burt, sara a. haslett, caroline e. kent and belva a. lockwood, "to secure for women citizens of the united states the full rights of citizenship; to build a clubhouse for women; and to collect funds for appropriate memorials to the memory of women who have performed meritorious work for the enfranchisement of women and the good of humanity." [ ] the junior equal suffrage club is probably the first organization of young people to become affiliated with the national association. it was founded jan. , , by three girls in the central high school, anna kemball, alice stearns and edith maddren. young men comprise about one-third of its membership and join in its proceedings and discussions. [ ] not including officers of the u. s. army on duty at the war department. [ ] not including officers u. s. navy and officers u. s. marine corps on duty at navy department. [ ] in women graduates were admitted as special students to lecture courses in the graduate department, known as the national school of jurisprudence and diplomacy, by a special vote of the trustees in each case, but no general rule has been made. [ ] the senate committee included senators allison, cullom, gorman, quay and cockrell. when mrs. mussey appeared before them to ask for a new appropriation, after the trial had proved a success, she stated that she was about to ask something for that which is the most precious to every woman's heart--a little child. the senators at once declared that a little child was also the dearest thing on earth to a man's heart, and unanimously recommended the appropriation. chapter xxxiv. florida.[ ] the brief history of work in florida for the enfranchisement of women gathers about the name of mrs. ella c. chamberlain. she returned to her home in tampa from attendance on the woman's inter-state conference at des moines in the autumn of , and secured space for a suffrage department in the principal paper of that city. in january, , she presented the question so forcibly at a social gathering, as a woman taxpayer, that a gentleman suggested forming a society and twenty members were secured, eight of them men. mrs. chamberlain was made president; o. g. sexton, secretary; miss stowell, treasurer. in the president addressed the carpenters' union twice, and considerable literature was distributed. in december the suffragists of tampa, aided by those of melrose, held a bazar which netted $ . in january, , a state convention was held in tampa and the following officers were elected: president, mrs. chamberlain; vice-presidents, mesdames e. w. king, emma tebbitts, jessie m. bartlett; secretary, miss nellie glenn; treasurer, j. l. cae. during the year mrs. chamberlain gave addresses at the de funiak springs assembly, the adventists' campmeeting and in various towns. the society paid dues to the national association until , when the president removed from the state, no one came forward to take the leadership and the movement has since languished. legislative action and laws: until the women never had a bill before the legislature, although the w. c. t. u. aided greatly in securing the state reform school. its influence also was strongly used against a dispensary bill. some men and many women had long felt that the law placing the "age of consent" for girls at years was a disgrace to the state. in w. b. lamar (now attorney-general) presented a bill raising it to years, but this was defeated. florida makes a distinction between "age of consent" and "age of protection." up to years the crime is rape and the penalty is death or imprisonment for life. the law "protects" girls until to the extent of a penalty of imprisonment not more than one year or a fine not exceeding $ , with no minimum fixed. several attempts were made by the w. c. t. u. to have both ages changed to years, but bills for this purpose always were laid on the table. in this organization, under the leadership of mrs. c. s. burnett-haney, its superintendent of purity, began a thorough and systematic canvass of the state to secure such a petition for raising the age as it would be impossible for the legislature to ignore. for this , signatures of representative men and women were obtained, besides the official indorsement of u. s. senators stephen r. mallory and james p. taliaferro, congressmen s. m. sparkman and robert w. davis, four judges of the circuit court, with many other judges, attorneys and city officers; also those of presidents w. f. yocum of the state agricultural college, g. m. ward of rollins college, john f. forbes of stetson university, the state superintendent of public instruction and over other leading educators. the petition received also the unanimous indorsement of the state press association and the state medical association, and the signatures of physicians, including every member of the state medical board. in the hope of at least a measure of success two bills were introduced, one raising the "age of consent" from to years, and, as it had been found practically impossible to secure a conviction under the existing penalty, to reduce this to a term of imprisonment. this bill was presented and championed in the house by r. h. burr, the age was raised to years and the bill passed unanimously, may . in the senate it was indefinitely postponed. the second bill asked that the "age of protection" be raised from to years, and that the penalty be increased to imprisonment from one to twenty years or a fine of from $ to $ , . this bill also was advocated by mr. burr and passed the house may , but with no minimum penalty. the vote stood ayes, noes. in the senate every possible means was adopted to prevent this bill from reaching a vote, and it was only by the determined efforts of e. n. dimick, and all the influence which the w. c. t. u. could bring to bear, that it finally was passed the last day of the session, may , with but two dissenting votes, although a number of senators absented themselves. it was signed the same day by gov. william s. jennings. thus as the result of all this great canvass, the expenditure of much time and money and the assistance of the best elements in the community, a child of years may still consent to her own ruin in florida, and the age at which the law will give any protection whatever was raised only two years. the penalty which may be inflicted was increased, but by the refusal to fix a minimum of fine or imprisonment there is but a slight improvement over the original status. if over each of the parties may be punished by imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding $ . all property of the wife, real or personal, owned by her before marriage or lawfully acquired afterward, by gift, bequest or purchase, is her separate estate and is not liable for the debts of the husband without her written consent in legal form. it remains, however, under his care and management, but he can not charge for these, nor can she compel him to account for its rents, proceeds or profits. the wife can not transfer her real or personal property without the husband's joinder. if he has been insane one year she can convey or transfer without his signature. any married woman who may wish to take charge of her estate, and become a free dealer in every respect, must apply to the court for a license. since a married woman's earnings acquired by any employment aside from the household are her separate property. dower but not curtesy prevails. the widow has the life use of one-third of the real estate and, if there are no children or but one child, she has one-half the personal estate absolutely; if more than one, she has one-third. if there are no children and no will she takes the whole estate, real and personal. if the wife die without a will, and the husband but no descendants survive her, the whole of her estate goes to him; but if there are children or their descendants, the estate, both real and personal, descends in distribution to them. the homestead, to the extent of acres of land in the country or a half-acre in town, is exempt from seizure for debt. a married woman may dispose of her property, both real and personal, by last will and testament in the same manner as if she were unmarried. the father has legal control of the persons, education and property of the children, and he alone may appoint a guardian by will, during any part of infancy. the husband is required by law to support his family and, on his failure to do so, the court may make such orders as are necessary. if living separate from him, the wife may sue for alimony without divorce if legal cause exist. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: women are not eligible to any office, elective or appointive, except that they may serve as notaries public. occupations: women have been admitted to the practice of law in a few judicial circuits, but none have been admitted into the medical profession. no other occupation is legally forbidden. education: all of the institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted to mrs. c. s. burnett-haney of stuart, superintendent of purity for the state woman's christian temperance union, for much of the information in this chapter. chapter xxxv. georgia.[ ] the first woman suffrage association of georgia was organized in july, , by miss h. augusta howard and her sister, miss claudia hope howard (maxwell). for some time the membership was composed only of these two, their mother, mrs. anne jane lindsay howard, and other relatives, all residents of columbus. mr. and mrs. d. m. allen of douglasville were the first outside the howard family to encourage and support the infant organization. in mrs. kate mallette hardwick and mrs. mary l. mclendon became members, and served for several years as auditor and vice-president. the atlanta association was organized in the marietta street m. e. church, march , , by mrs. mclendon and mrs. margaret chandler; perfected in the unitarian church on march , and begun with a membership of forty men and women. in the latter part of , miss howard and mrs. maxwell, who had served continuously as president, secretary and treasurer of the state association, resigned their offices; and mrs. frances cater swift was elected president; mrs. u. o. robertson, secretary; miss adelaide wilson, treasurer. in mrs. mclendon was made president; mrs. s. l. ober allen and mrs. ala holmes cheney, vice-presidents; dr. l. d. morse, corresponding secretary; mrs. gertrude c. thomas, recording secretary; miss sarah a. gresham, treasurer. the annual convention of the national association, which was held in the opera house in atlanta the first week of february, , gave a new impetus to the movement in georgia.[ ] men and women throughout the state felt its widespreading influence. many ancient southern prejudices received a death-blow when those who harbored them saw what manner of women had espoused this hitherto unpopular cause.[ ] all the atlanta papers extended a cordial greeting to the convention and devoted columns of space to biographical sketches, reports of meetings, etc., but the _sunny south_, edited by col. henry clay fairman, was the only one which editorially indorsed the suffrage movement. the business manager of the atlanta _constitution_, william a. hemphill, and his wife, tendered a large reception to the members of the convention. f. h. richardson, editor of the atlanta _journal_, the largest evening paper in the state, was converted to a belief in woman suffrage at this time, and is now an honorary member of the organization. as a part of his work, he has made an earnest and long-continued effort to have women placed on the school board.[ ] the woman's board of the cotton states and international exposition, soon to be held in atlanta, were so impressed by the _personnel_ of this convention that an official invitation was extended for them to hold a suffrage day on oct. , , in the woman's congress assembly hall. this was accepted by miss anthony on behalf of the national association, and under the guiding hand of mrs. rachel foster avery, its corresponding secretary, suffrage day was one of the very best of the many days celebrated during the woman's congress. the state association also fitted up a booth in the liberal arts building and large quantities of literature were distributed by mrs. h. m. tripp, who kindly took charge. the first state convention was held in atlanta, nov. , , . the following resolution, offered in the legislature by representative martin v. calvin, was adopted: "the use of the hall of the house of representatives is hereby granted to mrs. virginia d. young of south carolina, miss frances a. griffin of alabama, and mrs. isabella webb parks of georgia, on the th inst., for the purpose of delivering lectures on the scope of the elective franchise."[ ] the first evening session was held in the state capitol. mrs. mclendon, the president, called the meeting to order. the address of welcome for georgia was made by mrs. thomas; for atlanta, by its president, mrs. swift; miss gresham responded to both. mrs. young, miss griffin, mrs. maxwell and mrs. parks delivered addresses to a large and interested audience.[ ] legislative action and laws: in the hon. augustus dupont applied to the legislature for a city charter for the town of dupont, and sought to secure suffrage to all persons, male or female, owning property in the corporation, but failed. in the atlanta association presented two bills to the legislature--one to raise the "age of protection" for girls from to years; the other, drawn by charles a. reid, a member of the society and an able lawyer, to take the necessary measures for granting equal legal and political rights to women. neither was reported from the committees. in representative martin v. calvin introduced a bill to make a woman eligible to serve on the staff of physicians at the state insane asylum, but it failed to pass. in an effort was made to secure a bill providing police matrons in every city of , or more inhabitants, and one to exempt the property of women from taxation until they should be permitted to vote. both failed. miss frances a. griffin appeared for the georgia w. s. a. at the convention of the state federation of labor, held in augusta in april, , and in response to her address it called on its members to demand a change in the united states constitution which should secure the legal and political equality of women. a strong suffrage plank was added to the platform of the federation, and miss griffin was invited by it to address the legislature in the interest of the child labor bill, which it had championed so unsuccessfully for a number of years. one result of the state suffrage convention held in atlanta in , was that the following petitions were ordered to be circulated and returned for presentation to the legislative committees in the fall of : . that the university of georgia be opened to women. . that women be members of the boards of education. . that women physicians be placed on the staff of the state insane asylum. . that women be made eligible to the office of president of the state normal and industrial college for girls. . that the "age of protection" for girls be raised from to years. . that girls of eighteen be permitted to enter the textile department of the state technological school. four bills were considered by the legislature of in which the women of the state were deeply interested. all failed, and many of them now see that legislatures, like juries, should be composed of an equal number of men and women to secure exact justice for both. the child labor bills, introduced by representative seaborn wright and c. c. houston, to prevent the employment in factories of children under ten and under twelve years of age were defeated by a vote of more than three to one. the textile bill was read twice in the house but failed to secure a third reading. lyman hall, president of the school, was in favor of the bill. the age of protection bill, introduced by representative c. s. reid, was very quietly handled. only one paper (the atlanta _daily news_) informed the public that it would be made the special order for november . it was defeated by ayes, noes. at the request of women mr. reid moved that it be reconsidered november , which resulted in its being voted down by a larger majority than the day before. mr. reid thought it well that his bill was defeated, since it only asked that the "age of protection" be raised from to years. the suffragists asked that it be raised from to , and the woman's christian temperance union from to . many petitions had been sent to previous legislatures by both these organizations, but this was the first time a bill had been presented and carried to a vote. the bill to admit women to the state university was not considered by the legislature of .[ ] the state w. c. t. u. has been laboring to secure the passage of a law for scientific temperance instruction in the public schools since , when mrs. mary h. hunt of massachusetts, who was the first woman to speak in the capitol building, addressed the legislature. the bill passed both houses in , but was vetoed by gov. william j. northen because no provision had been made to require teachers to stand an examination on the subject.[ ] since , when the law which gave a husband the right to whip his wife was amended, there have been some favorable changes. in a law was enacted allowing a married woman to own property, but not including any wages she might earn. in , when a married woman was suing for personal injury in a railroad accident, chief justice logan e. bleckley decided that the amount of a wife's recovery for physical damages "is not to be measured by pecuniary earnings, for such earnings as a general rule belong to the husband and the right of action for this loss is in him." in judge thomas j. simmons rendered practically the same decision, and in ruled again: "inasmuch as the earnings of the wife belong to her husband, her individual and personal damages can be measured only by the consciences of an impartial jury." in november, , when william h. flemming (now a member of congress) was speaker of the house of representatives, he offered a bill which, as he said, "was to complete the good work begun with the married woman's property act of , by making a wife's labor as well as her acquired property her own." it passed the house by ayes, noes, but was killed in the senate. as the law now stands a married woman in georgia can control her earnings only if a sole trader with her husband's consent by notice published in the papers for one month, or if living separate from him. dower obtains but not curtesy. if a husband die intestate, leaving a wife and issue, the wife may elect to take dower--a life interest in one-third of the real estate--or she may take a child's share of the whole estate absolutely, unless the shares exceed five in number, when she may have one-fifth. the father is legally entitled to the custody and control of the children, and at his death may appoint a guardian to the exclusion of the mother. the husband must furnish necessities for the family suitable to their station in life. the "age of protection" for girls still remains years, with a penalty of death, or if recommended to mercy by the jury, imprisonment in the penitentiary at hard labor not less than one nor more than twenty years. suffrage: women have no form of suffrage. office holding: in december, , representative martin v. calvin introduced and carried through the legislature, under most unfavorable pressure, a bill to render women eligible to employment in the state house. besides the large number engaged in manual labor, a woman is now postmaster of the house of representatives, and many others are employed as stenographers, typewriters and engrossing clerks, the governor himself having a woman stenographer. in representative j. e. mosley succeeded in having an ancient law amended, by which women were made eligible to the position of state librarian; but none has been appointed, although one is now assistant. in the opinion of state school commissioner g. r. glenn, women are eligible to sit on school boards, but none ever has done so. within the past two years the board of education in atlanta has appointed a board of women visitors to the public schools, but they can exercise no authority. lately they have been permitted to be present at the meetings of the board as listeners but they can have no voice. in july, , a committee, mrs. f. s. whiteside, chairman, appeared before the city council of atlanta with a petition asking for a police matron, signed by more than , well-known citizens. on the same day a committee of the w. c. t. u., mrs. mclendon, chairman, presented a similar petition from temperance people.[ ] the matter was referred to the police committee, who "laid it on the table" and it never was heard from afterward. in a woman was employed by the ladies' society of the first m. e. church south to stay at police barracks and serve as matron. in may, , she was engaged by the city at a salary of $ per month, but was dismissed without warning in june of the same year. the different organizations of women protested so vigorously that the position of police matron was created by the city council with a salary of $ per month, but no matron has been appointed up to date.[ ] women can not serve as notaries public. occupations: women may practice medicine, but are forbidden by statute to practice law. education: the legislature of established the state normal and industrial college for girls (white) at athens, largely through the efforts of women. the hon. w. y. atkinson, afterward governor, championed the bill. no woman is eligible to serve as president of this college. a board of women visitors was appointed by governor atkinson. considerable effort has been made by the georgia federation of woman's clubs to have the doors of the state university opened to women. at present they are permitted to enter certain departments of the branch colleges in different parts of the state, but not to enter the university itself upon any terms, being thus deprived of the highest educational facilities. the state normal school and the north georgia agricultural college (both white), the georgia state industrial college (colored) and the atlanta university (white and colored) are co-educational. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. it is impossible to obtain the average monthly salaries, but those of women are estimated to be two-thirds of those paid to men. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material for this chapter to mrs. mary l. mclendon, of atlanta, honorary president of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] see chap. xv. [ ] the state association never should cease to be grateful to "the howard girls," (augusta, claudia and mrs. miriam howard du bose), as the national officers called them, who brought this grand object lesson to georgia to give southern women the advantages which they themselves had enjoyed the previous year in washington, d. c. they refused all proffered aid and themselves paid the expenses, which amounted to $ , declaring that it was only right for them to do so, since they had consulted no one when they gave the invitation at washington but had taken the full responsibility. [ ] william c. sibley, will n. harben, g. gunby jordan, walter h. johnson, j. colton lynes, charles hubner, lucian knight, editor of the _constitution_, and walter b. hill, chancellor of the state university, all have declared in favor of woman suffrage. mrs. julia i. patten, editor of the _saturday review_, is a member of the atlanta association and her paper is its official organ. among others who have stood by a cause which it requires courage to advocate in this state are j. h. and mrs. addie d. hale, w. t. cheney, s. m. white and william forsyth; mesdames harriet winchell, a. h. ames, mary brent reid, harry dewar, nettie c. hall, francis bellamy, a. g. helmer, sara strahan, m. t. wynne, sarah mcdonald sheridan, patrick h. moore, e. a. latimer, e. a. corrigan, charles behre and dr. schuman; misses mary lamar jackson, editor of the woman's department in the atlanta _journal_, e. williams, willette allen and sarah freeman clarke, sister of james freeman clarke, of boston. [ ] this certainly proved that woman suffrage had gained at least in respectful consideration among politicians since february, . at that time gov. w. y. atkinson refused the use of the same hall for the great national association to hold a mass meeting on the last day of its visit to atlanta. he declared it would be unconstitutional to allow women to use it, although white and negro men had been permitted to do so for many and varied purposes. the hon. charles a. collier, a county commissioner, granted the basement of the courthouse for this meeting, which was a marked success, though held underground. speeches were made by miss susan b. anthony, mrs. carrie chapman catt, mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon, mrs. josephine k. henry and others. [ ] officers elected: president, mrs. gertrude c. thomas; vice-presidents, mrs. s. l. ober allen, miss sarah a. gresham; corresponding secretary, mrs. alice daniel; recording secretary, mrs. claudia howard maxwell; treasurer, mrs. e. o. archer; auditor, d. m. allen. mrs. mclendon, who had been in office since , refused to serve longer and was made honorary president. [ ] a bill presented by thomas j. chappelle in to make the university co-educational was defeated in the senate and not considered in the house. virginia and louisiana are the only other states which exclude women, although north carolina admits them only to its post-graduate department. [ ] a bill providing for the teaching of the effects of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics upon the system, requiring all teachers to stand an examination on this subject, and affixing a penalty for the failure of any board of education to enforce the law, passed the legislature of --senate, ayes, nays; house, ayes, nays. it was signed by gov. allan c. candler, december . this law is now in effect in every state, georgia being the last to adopt it. [ ] the atlanta south side w. c. t. u. is the only one in the state to adopt the franchise department. mrs. isabella webb parks, one of the editors of the _union signal_ and also a member of the city suffrage association, is its superintendent of franchise. [ ] in august, , a police matron was at last appointed at a salary of $ per month. in december one of the police commissioners stated that she was invaluable and he did not see how they ever had managed to get on without a matron. chapter xxxvi. idaho.[ ] idaho was admitted into the union as a state in . previous to this time there had been practically no work done for woman suffrage in the territory except that of mrs. abigail scott duniway of oregon. between and she gave public lectures, at the same time securing subscribers to her paper, the _new northwest_, devoted to the interests of women, and distributing literature. she traveled , miles by river, rail, stage and buckboard and canvassed many a mile on foot. in mrs. duniway addressed the territorial legislature in behalf of a bill to enfranchise women. in she appealed to the constitutional convention at boise to adopt a woman suffrage clause. judge william h. claggett, the president, and a majority of the members favored it, but yielded to the fears of the minority that it would endanger the acceptance of the constitution by the voters. judge milton kelly, founder and for many years editor of the boise _daily statesman_, was one of the early advocates of the rights of women, as also was his wife, who was, indeed, the pioneer suffragist of idaho. mrs. rebecca mitchell, president of the state woman's christian temperance union, was another early laborer. at her request louis e. workman introduced a bill into the house of the legislature of , asking for a constitutional amendment conferring suffrage on women, and it was defeated by only two votes. in a little country schoolhouse, may , , at hagerman, lincoln county, the first suffrage society was formed. the teacher, mrs. elizabeth ingram, was president and prime mover, and its members were scattered over a territory of ten miles. up to this time, there had not been any organized effort in the state to secure the ballot for women, although there was a pronounced sentiment in its favor. the real campaign began at the time of the assembling of the republican state convention in . at a conference of a few friends of the measure a resolution was prepared for presentation, pledging the party to submit the question of equal suffrage to a vote. the plank was introduced and championed by the hon. w. e. borah. mrs. j. ellen foster of washington, d. c., addressed the convention, and the hon. edgar wilson urged the adoption of the resolution, which was done with little or no opposition. the populist state convention passed a similar resolution, but it was not adopted by the democratic. as a result of the election the republicans were placed in overwhelming control of the legislature, and the desired joint resolution submitting the question to a vote was passed unanimously in the senate on january , and by yeas, nays in the house on jan. , . the campaign for woman suffrage was spirited and effective. in the early part of the year mrs. duniway came to boise and held a meeting. a temporary organization was formed at that time, but for sufficient reasons nothing was done to start the work until some months later. in the summer the national association sent mrs. emma smith devoe of illinois to assist in organizing the state. she lectured through june and july and formed many clubs, often making her own appointments and overcoming the most discouraging obstacles. a state convention was held in boise nov. , , at which officers were elected as follows: president, mrs. j. h. richards; vice-president, mrs. w. w. woods; secretary, mrs. eunice pond athey; treasurer, mrs. leah burnside; advisory board, mrs. kate e. n. feltham, mrs. m. j. whitman, miss annette bowman. a telegram was received from miss susan b. anthony, saying: "educate the rank and file of voters through political party newspapers and meetings." to the advisory board were added william balderston,[ ] d. l. badley and james a. mcgee. the last having been made chairman of the democratic state central committee was able to be of much assistance to the suffragists. mrs. laura m. johns of kansas came into the state in may, , in time to attend a meeting of the advisory board at nampa and to render invaluable help. by order of the board a convention was called in boise, july - , at which mrs. johns was present. the officers elected were: president, mrs. whitman; vice-presidents, mrs. feltham, mrs. helen young, idaho's only woman attorney, mrs. d. l. badley; secretary, mrs. athey; treasurer, mrs. i. herron; press committee, mrs. kate green, mrs. young, mrs. minnie priest dunton. thus organized, the association conducted the final campaign. the president authorized the secretary to send a circular letter to all clubs urging them to commence in the precinct primaries the work of securing suffrage planks in the platforms of the several political parties. wherever possible delegates were elected pledged to support the amendment. mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organizing committee, came to boise august . on the th and th she lectured to crowded houses there and captured her audiences. she addressed the committees on resolutions of the different party state conventions, and, with the aid of mrs. johns, major and mrs. w. w. woods and other effective workers, secured a plank favoring the amendment in each of the four platforms--republican, democratic, populist and silver republican. her coming was opportune and her work most valuable. the indorsement by the democratic convention was a great achievement, and the fact that the planks had been inserted in all the political platforms was a strong point later on in the case before the supreme court.[ ] after the conventions mrs. johns returned home, and mrs. chapman catt went to aid the california campaign, speaking several times in idaho _en route_. mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado came in september. for six weeks she traveled over sandhills, mountains, valleys and sage plains, visiting points not reached by other workers. she organized fourteen new clubs and made many converts. mrs. helen d. harford of oregon lectured at several places on her way to the st. louis w. c. t. u. convention. many campaign speakers of all political parties called the attention of the voters to the amendment, and some gave a large portion of their time to the cause. this proved of great benefit, reaching voters who would not attend a suffrage meeting. headquarters were opened at boise august . as three of the counties had no organizations whatever, it was found necessary to reach the precincts in these, as well as in some others, by correspondence; but by november there were few without at least one active worker. mrs. whitman came to boise october , and labored zealously until the election. previous to her coming miss frances wood had ably assisted the secretary at headquarters. the press was carefully looked after during the last three months of the campaign, and out of sixty-five papers only three were openly opposed. seven thousand copies of the resolutions passed at the suffrage convention in july were sent out; also literature presented by the utah association, copies of the _woman's tribune_ and , leaflets from mrs. clara bewick colby, and , tracts purchased of the national association.[ ] a strong factor in the campaign was the large colony in the southern part of the state who were residents of utah when women voted there and who believed in their enfranchisement. mrs. emily s. richards of utah did effective work among them. the amendment was voted upon at the general election of november, . the association had had , dodgers printed, "vote for the woman suffrage amendment." these were sent to every precinct in the state and given to voters on election day as a reminder. on that day the local clubs did heroic work. it would be impossible to describe in detail the final effort made by the women. mrs. r. h. leonard, sr., of silver city, and her co-workers stood all day, ankle-deep in snow, distributing the slips and urging the voters to cast their ballots in favor of the amendment. at many points refreshments were served as near the polls as permissible under the law. when the results of the election were officially announced it was found that there were , votes in favor of the amendment and , against it--a majority of , . a question arose, however, whether this was such a majority as is contemplated by the constitution, the number of electors voting on the amendment not being as great as the largest number voting on the candidates. the constitution provides that "if a majority of the electors shall ratify the same, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of this constitution." it was held by the opponents that it would require a majority of all the electors to ratify it, and the matter was taken at once to the supreme court. attorneys j. h. hawley, w. e. borah and m. w. tate gave their services gratuitously to prosecute the case. judge j. h. richards also rendered valuable assistance. after a few weeks of anxious waiting, this tribunal, consisting of judges isaac n. sullivan, joseph w. huston and john t. morgan, rendered a unanimous decision that a _majority of those voting on the question_ was sufficient to carry it. and thus the women of idaho were enfranchised! the total expenses of this campaign were less than $ , . the city election of boise, in july, , was the first after the adoption of equal suffrage, and the woman vote was a most important factor. the issue was that of public improvements. on this the majority of women took sides in favor of progress, although the _personnel_ of the tickets was such that it was thought they would generally vote the other way; and to them belongs the credit of the victory. the first state election under equal suffrage was in , and there was very general participation by women. in all the counties their clubs did effective work and exercised a good influence. the election was noticeable for its order and the absence of anything like the scenes at the polls so common in former times. about per cent. of the vote was cast by women. one of them, mrs. b. t. jeffers, rode sixty miles on horseback to her old home in order to vote. three women were elected members of the legislature, mrs. clara campbell, republican; mrs. hattie noble, democrat; mrs. mary allen wright, populist. mrs. wright was chairman of the house committee of the whole during one entire afternoon, and ruled with a firm but impartial hand. four women were elected county treasurers, and these have given entire satisfaction. one of them has been renominated by her party. miss permeal french was elected state superintendent of public instruction and re-elected in .[ ] fifteen women were chosen county superintendents. in nearly all the counties women are found holding responsible appointments. three have been made deputy sheriffs. since equal suffrage was adopted women have been placed on the board of regents of the state university for the first time. gov. frank steunenberg said in : in a general sense there can be no doubt that the participation of women in our public affairs has had a most elevating influence. all parties see the necessity of nominating the best individuals. the natural aim of women is toward the highest good of the community, and the best social conditions. instead of seeking extremes of reform, as had been predicted, they are interested in stable and conservative administration, for the benefit of the homes and the children, and they avoid radical and excessive reforms. in short, the objections which in theory have been urged against woman's participation in public affairs have been overcome by the actual application of the system in idaho. the suggestion may be made that this activity of women in public affairs has operated to draw them away from their homes and from the usual domestic avocations, a suggestion which our experience amply disproves. in idaho women are to-day the same loving wives, kind mothers and capable home-managers that they always have been. nor has there been the least belittling of the sex in the eyes of the men, nor any falling off in that tenderness and respect which men universally accord to women. there is not the slightest interruption of family ties. whether husband and wife vote together or oppositely excites no interest and no animosity, although naturally families are apt to have the same party affiliations. the system has not operated to take women from their homes, nor has it tended to make them in any way masculine.[ ] in the presidential election of women showed the liveliest interest. the universal testimony was that never in the history of the state had there been such order about the polling-places. four-fifths of the ballots were cast by o'clock. the women did as effective work as the men in getting out the voters. the total population of idaho is , , and is composed, in round numbers, of per cent. of males and per cent. of females. the total vote of the men was , ; of the women, , . in the counties representing the agricultural, manufacturing and general business of the state the women's vote averaged per cent. of the total ballot. in the counties devoted exclusively to mining, where there are very few women, they cast only per cent. this brought the average of the women's vote in the entire state down to - / per cent. of the total. in boise , men and , women registered; total, , . the vote cast was , . allowing for the usual failures on the part of the men, these figures show that over per cent. of the vote of this city must have been cast by women.[ ] legislative action and laws: the placing of the ballot in the hands of women has had the effect of bringing about two changes of the highest importance. the session of the legislature held immediately after the adoption of the suffrage amendment passed an act prohibiting gambling. prior to that time it had been licensed in the state, and its establishments were openly conducted in practically all communities. against this evil the sentiment of the women was solidly arrayed, and it could not be ignored. before they voted, a bill altering the law would have been ignominiously pigeon-holed, but the ballot in their hands wrought a change under which a measure abolishing gambling was enacted. this was found defective, and gambling continued until the next legislative session. the gambling interests organized a lobby to prevent the enactment of a valid law against their business, but they failed, the law was passed, and gambling has since been suppressed in nearly all communities. the sentiment which obtained the law secures its enforcement--men do not dare run counter to the wishes of women, when the latter have in their hands the power to make or unmake politicians. the present session of the legislature ( ) passed a bill exempting women from jury service. gov. frank w. hunt returned it with his veto, in which he said that this was in response to the protests of the women themselves, who objected to being deprived of this right. there was some talk in the legislature of passing it over his veto, but this was finally abandoned. the women took the ground that while the ostensible object was to relieve them of an onerous duty, the real one was to protect the gamblers and other law-breakers to whom women jurors show no favor. it is to be regretted that governor hunt could not have been influenced by the protests of women on another point. the law of idaho provides that while a wife may hold property in her own name, the husband shall have control of it. the present legislature passed an act giving married women control of their separate property. this was vetoed by the governor, who said: our statutes as they now exist provide complete adjustment of the property relations between man and wife, placing them upon equal terms, excepting that the husband has the management and control of his wife's property during marriage, unless it should be taken from him on complaint of the wife for causes set forth in sec. , . as the law stands the wife can secure control over her own property only by going into court, showing that her husband is mismanaging it, and obtaining a decree taking it away from him. the law regarding the inheritance of the separate estates is the same for husband and wife, but not so of the community. upon the death of the wife the entire community property belongs to the husband without administration. upon the death of the husband one-half the community property belongs to the wife; the other half is subject to his testamentary disposition, or in the absence of that goes to his descendants in equal shares. if he leave neither will nor descendants, it goes to the wife. the earnings of the wife belong to the husband unless she is living separate from him. no provision is made compelling the husband to support the wife, but if he is infirm she must support him. if the wife desire to engage in business she must apply to the court for permission, showing the necessity for it; and every time she wishes to remove to another place she must repeat this process. the father is the legal guardian of the children. at his death the mother, if suitable, is guardian while she remains unmarried. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in , and from to in . the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than five years, and this may be extended for life. suffrage: women have complete suffrage. office holding: women are eligible to all offices. (see previous pages.) occupations: naturally none are forbidden to women. education: the state university and all other educational institutions are open to both sexes. in the public schools there are men and women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to william balderston, editor of the boise _daily statesman_, and mrs. eunice pond athey, secretary of the state suffrage association during the amendment campaign of , when women became enfranchised. [ ] it was through the influence of mr. balderston more than that of any other one man that the suffrage amendment was passed by the legislature. his power politically was felt during all the campaign. it was only his personal influence which secured for the measure the help of the _daily statesman_ of boise, which it was so necessary to have. through his persuasion the co-operation of the national woman suffrage association was invited. he was our principal adviser throughout, and with money, voice and pen aided the cause in every possible way. [eunice pond athey. [ ] republican: we favor the amendments to the constitution of this state proposed by the late republican legislature, including equal suffrage for men and women, and recommend their adoption. silver republican: we favor the adoption of the proposed amendment to the constitution of the state providing for the extension of the right of suffrage to women. people's party: believing in equal rights to all and special privileges to none, we favor the adoption of the pending woman's suffrage amendment to the constitution. democratic: we recommend to the favorable consideration of the voters of the state the proposed constitutional amendment granting equal suffrage, believing that the great question should receive the earnest attention of every person as an important factor in the future welfare of the state. [ ] among those who aided this movement were judge j. h. richards, the hon. fremont wood, ex-secretary of state george j. lewis, judge c. o. stockslager, j. h. hawley, u. s. marshal joseph pinkham, judge j. h. beatty, the hon. j. a. mcgee, the hon. joseph perrault, the hon. edgar wilson, and their wives; also the wives of the justices of the supreme court; mesdames martha b. keller, m. a. wright and mina j. mathew, and miss annette bowman of the faculty of the state university. [ ] gov. frank steunenberg thus testified: "it is conceded by all that miss french is the best officer in that capacity the state ever has had. the place she occupies is one of unusual importance with us.... of the three women in the legislature it may also be said that they made most acceptable public officers, serving with ability and success." [ ] see appendix--testimony from woman suffrage states. [ ] prof. l. f. henderson of the state university says that equal suffrage, even in the few years it has been in operation in idaho, has proved itself a thing so simple, so natural, so entirely free from any objectionable features, that it is now generally accepted and looked upon as a matter of course. it has already converted the majority of the men who were opposed and, which is still more remarkable, has converted also the majority of the women. mrs. henderson says the intelligent women take more interest in suffrage than the ignorant ones; that women have suffered no loss of consideration or social influence, but are treated, if anything, with more respect. the possession of the ballot has made them much more intelligent about public questions, as it has stimulated the study of these. chapter xxxvii. illinois.[ ] the illinois equal suffrage association has had only four presidents in the past sixteen years. mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert retired from this office at the annual meeting of sept. , , and was succeeded by mrs. mary e. holmes, who served until the autumn of , when mrs. harbert again filled the presidency for one year. at the convention of mrs. holmes was re-elected, and held office until her resignation in . in may of this year, mrs. julia mills dunn was elected. in mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch was made president, and in mrs. harbert resumed the position for one year. the other officers elected were: vice-president, dr. julia holmes smith; corresponding secretary, mrs. mary munn; recording secretary, miss s. grace nicholas; treasurer, the rev. kate hughes; chairman executive committee, mrs. elmina e. springer. as the work is divided into districts and counties, and as there are twenty-two districts and counties partially organized, it will not be possible to name in this chapter the hundreds of quiet but very efficient workers, men and women, or to tell of their unselfish devotion, shown often in the face of fierce opposition. the association has held a state convention each year, except , the year of the columbian exposition in chicago, when it was decided instead to attend the world's congress of representative women, which met in may.[ ] at many of these meetings national officers were present, among them susan b. anthony and lucy stone, and the halls were seldom large enough to accommodate the crowds in attendance. there have been also district and county conventions every year, while fourth of july celebrations, county fairs and chautauqua assemblies have been utilized to disseminate suffrage sentiment. in senator miles b. castle, judge c. b. waite, mrs. dunn and mrs. helen m. gougar, the last-named from indiana, held suffrage conferences in various cities. later in this and the following year, similar meetings were held in a number of other places by the illinois workers, with the assistance of mrs. gougar and the rev. anna howard shaw. in occurred a series of conventions which extended over six weeks and was conducted by mrs. zerelda g. wallace of indiana and mrs. mcculloch. in november mrs. holmes made a two-weeks' lecturing trip. in and ' mrs. emma smith devoe canvassed the state, speaking in nearly fifty towns and cities, and raising enough money to defray all expenses and put a handsome amount in the treasury for legislative work. in march, , mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, made a lecture tour of the central and southern part of illinois. in the national association held a series of meetings in illinois with miss mary g. hay of new york, mrs. jennie hutchins, mrs. leonora beck, as managers, and mrs. dunn and the rev. ida c. hultin as speakers. during the summer mrs. dunn, with mrs. martha a. b. conine of colorado lectured in numerous cities; and in november the national officers held a conference in chicago, in which miss anthony and miss shaw, president and vice-president of the national association, mrs. chapman catt and also many local workers participated. in miss lena morrow made speeches for the state association and spent a month lecturing before labor organizations. she secured suffrage resolutions from unions representing a membership of , . mrs. mcculloch gave the month of june, , to canvassing south dakota in the interest of the suffrage amendment there; and in the fall of mrs. dunn and miss morrow were sent to that state to assist in its second campaign for one month, at the expense of the illinois association. miss morrow worked also in the amendment campaign of in oregon for two-and-one-half months, a portion of her expenses being contributed by illinois suffragists. the chicago political equality league was organized by miss ellen a. martin, who was at its head for many years. legislative action and laws: in , at the request of the state e. s. a., a joint resolution was presented to the legislature for an amendment to the constitution enfranchising women. this was championed in the house by george w. curtis and brought to a vote. it received votes, a majority of those cast but not a constitutional majority, which is one over one-half of the whole membership. charles bogardus managed the bill in the senate, but was not able to secure a vote upon it. the hard work for this amendment bill, however, paved the way for the passage of the school suffrage bill later in the session. this bill had been prepared by the state woman's christian temperance union, and was introduced into the senate by t. c. macmillan. although there were many more petitions asking for the amendment than for school suffrage, their combined influence, with senator macmillan's earnest work, was sufficient to pass this bill through the senate by ayes, noes. at the closing hour of the last session in the house, dr. h. m. moore, one of the members of a third party that finally had assisted the democrats to elect john m. palmer as united states senator, made an urgent plea that something should be done for the women; and because of his eloquence, or the gratitude of the democrats, or the keen sense of justice among all the members, the senate school suffrage bill was passed by ayes, noes. as it was the general impression that women had received the full school franchise by this bill, they proceeded to vote on bonds, location of buildings and various other matters pertaining to the schools, and also for county superintendents. the bill was obscurely worded, and it has taken four decisions of the supreme court of illinois to decide just the points which it covered and the limits to which it might be constitutionally extended. as it now stands, under this law women can vote only for candidates for such school offices as have been created by the legislature. (see suffrage.) however, this bill was useful in securing from the supreme court the ruling that the legislature had power to regulate the suffrage concerning all positions created by itself. heretofore the weight of judicial opinion had been the other way; that no change whatever could be made in the suffrage except by constitutional amendment.[ ] during the session of r. w. coon secured the passage in the senate of a township suffrage bill prepared by the state association. its members argued that if school offices not named in the constitution are creations of the legislature, so are most of the township offices and therefore it has power to grant women the suffrage for these. this bill was accompanied by a petition of , names. senator bogardus made a spirited report on these, extolling the character of the signers, whose standing he had ascertained from the senators of their districts. it passed the senate by votes, a constitutional majority. in the house the committee reported it favorably, many members pledged themselves to its support, and it went through the second reading safely; but just when expectation ran highest, it was referred back to the committee and smothered. in this same legislature a bill to repeal the school suffrage law was defeated in the house, less than of the members voting aye. it was not brought to a vote in the senate. in senator coon introduced the township bill again, but owing to absentees it received only votes, being necessary to pass it. fearing that a majority of the members of the house were pledged to vote for it, the chairman of the committee to which it was referred made a sub-committee of three notorious opponents who took care that it never was reported. in senator g. w. monroe took charge of the state association's measures. bills for township and bond suffrage, and for suffrage for certain city, county and township officers and for presidential electors, were introduced by him but failed to pass. in the special session of only such matters could be considered as were named by gov. john r. tanner in calling it. the state association petitioned him to include woman suffrage in the list, but he did not grant the request. one of the subjects named was taxation. the association prepared a bill to exempt the property of women from taxation until they were allowed to vote. all the metropolitan papers were interested in or amused by this bill, and gave it considerable publicity, but it was not acted upon. in the three bills championed by senator monroe in were managed by senator isaac h. hamilton. he forced two of them to a vote, but neither received a majority. during all this time mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, a practicing lawyer of chicago, auditor of the national association and former president of the state e. s. a., was the very efficient legislative superintendent. she pressed the bills with a force which almost brought success by its own momentum, and yet by her good judgment and fair methods kept the respect of legislators who were bitterly opposed to her measures.[ ] sometimes the hearings on these bills occurred in the senate chamber or the house of representatives. one of the most noteworthy was in , when about twenty women, representing many different localities, societies and nationalities, made clever five-minute speeches. the state association has sent the _woman's journal_, the _woman's column_ and other suffrage literature to members of the legislature for months at a time. petitions always have accompanied the bills. added to those presented in were resolutions adopted by various chicago labor organizations of men, representing a membership of , . the petitions of the state association generally have exceeded all those presented for all other measures.[ ] there has been no distinction between husband and wife in the laws of inheritance since . the surviving wife or husband is endowed of a third part of all the real estate of which the other dies possessed. if either die without a will, leaving a surviving child or children, or descendants of such, the survivor receives, in addition, one-third of the personal estate absolutely. if, however, there are no lineal descendants, the widow or widower receives absolutely one-half of the real estate and the whole of the personal estate. if there are no descendants and no kindred, the whole estate goes to the surviving widow or widower. a married woman has held her property in her own name since . she has been entitled to engage in business, control her earnings, sue and be sued and make contracts since . until the father was entitled to the care of the persons and education of the minor children. in mrs. mcculloch published, in the form of a story called mr. lex, a _résumé_ of the terrible injustice and cruelty possible under this law; and also pointed out the same possibilities in the administration of other laws which seem entirely fair to the casual observer. it was widely reviewed by the chicago press and aroused much interest. in the winter of a bill was passed by the legislature giving fathers and mothers equal guardianship and custody of their minor children. mrs. mcculloch, representing the state e. s. a., had charge of this bill. a copy of her book, mr. lex, was sent to every member, as well as the full facts from every state which had such a law as the one proposed. she also obtained the indorsement of numerous organizations and influential persons, and had many individual letters written to members. all this simply to give mothers equal guardianship with fathers of their own children! mrs. mcculloch was ably assisted by the rev. kate hughes. the bill passed by the large vote of ayes, noes, in the senate; ayes, one no, in the house. it was signed by gov. richard yates on may . the wife is entitled to support suited to her condition in life. the husband is entitled to the same support out of her individual property. they are jointly liable for family expenses. failure to support the wife and children under twelve years of age is a misdemeanor, and may be punished by a fine of not less than $ or more than $ , or imprisonment in the county jail, house of correction or workhouse not less than one month nor more than twelve months, or both such fine and imprisonment. the wife may sue for separate maintenance without divorce. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in , but it never has been possible to have this age extended. the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for from one year to life. in mrs. florence kelley and miss mary kenney, aided by the women's and men's labor organizations of chicago and by many women's clubs, secured a factory inspection law. it contained a prohibition against the employment of a woman over eight hours daily in any factory or workshop, but this section was declared unconstitutional because it was a restriction upon the right to contract. suffrage: the legislature which adjourned in left the school suffrage law obscure, incomplete and with no provisions to carry out its intentions. in many cases the women had to provide their own ballots and ballot-boxes. to the credit of the large majority of the judges of election it can be said that they accepted the votes of the women with no certainty that they were acting legally or would be sustained by future decisions. in a number of instances, however, in the more ignorant parts of the state, the votes were insolently refused. in the country and unincorporated towns, in villages and small cities, where the school boards are elected by the people, there are a number of officers for whom women may vote;[ ] but in places like chicago, where the board is appointed by the mayor, the only vote they have is for three trustees of the state university every two years. in the summer and fall of the officers of the state association agitated the question of asking for the nomination of a woman as one of these trustees, and in march, , the convention in danville approved this suggestion. the auxiliary societies were urged to use all their influence to have delegates from their counties to the state political conventions instructed to vote for a woman candidate. later in the spring several of the suffrage officers and prominent women of chicago appeared before the republican state central committee, and the same day visited the republican state editorial association, asking their influence to secure the nomination of a woman for trustee. letters were sent to leading politicians of different parties giving reasons why such action should be taken and asking for their co-operation. personal appeals were made to the editors of the chicago dailies for their influence. then came the most important work of all--securing the indorsement of the cook county conventions. previous to that of the republicans mrs. mcculloch interviewed leading members of the county committee and received an invitation to present the matter to the convention, which she did, representing both the state e. s. a. and the woman's club of chicago. mrs. elmina d. springer also made an address. they were invited to meet the resolutions committee, were treated with great courtesy, and the resolution asking that delegates to the state convention be instructed to vote as a unit for the nomination of a woman for university trustee, was adopted. the chicago woman's club sent fifty women to the cook county democratic convention and secured the same pledge. committees were then appointed to manage this question in the state conventions of the parties. just a few days before the first (democratic), the attorney-general, who was a democrat, gave the opinion that women could not legally vote for trustees or be trustees, and published it widely in the chicago press. mrs. mcculloch followed him with a carefully prepared brief which also was given to the press. this new difficulty made it imperative for her to attend the democratic state convention to present her view of the disputed legal point, and this she did with marked success. whenever any of the delegates said, "why, haven't you read maloney's opinion that a woman can not hold the office or vote for trustee?" she would answer, "yes, but haven't you read my opinion that she can?" she addressed the entire convention, and the nomination of dr. julia holmes smith was made unanimously. the other political parties then had to follow with the nomination of a woman or fall behind the democrats in chivalry. as the chicago woman's club sent a strong representation to the republican convention, and as pledges already had been secured from the delegates, the committee appointed by the suffrage association did not deem it necessary to attend. mrs. lucy l. flower was nominated by this body. the prohibitionists nominated two women, one of them the secretary of the illinois e. s. a., prof. rena michaels atchison. this recognition from the different parties so encouraged the women that in they voted enthusiastically throughout the state, especially in chicago where the candidates were well known. before the election, however, a difficulty arose from an unexpected quarter. the men composing the board of university trustees became alarmed, and employed an attorney who gave an opinion that women neither could vote for trustees nor be elected to the office. he rushed into print; mrs. mcculloch, who might have been worn to shreds by this time, patiently answered the young man, and "the women went right on voting." professor atchison had the compliment of receiving about , votes more than the men on the same ticket as herself, and dr. smith likewise ran ahead of her ticket.[ ] mrs. flower was the successful candidate, also leading the nominees of her party. the republican women organized by appointing a state central committee, and placed upon it a woman from each congressional district.[ ] the democratic women formed a cornelia club which worked for the interest of their party's nominee. office holding: a statute of illinois ( ) provides that no person shall be debarred from any occupation, profession or employment (except the military), on account of sex, and that this shall not be construed to affect the eligibility of any person to an elective office.[ ] the following have served as trustees of the state university: mrs. lucy l. flower, dr. julia holmes smith, mrs. mary turner carriel, mrs. alice asbury abbott, mrs. carrie thomas alexander. the term of office is six years. women are eligible to all school offices ( ) and large numbers have served as county superintendents, members of city boards of education and directors of district schools. all the principal cities now have women on their school boards. in chicago there are two at the present time. ten counties have women for superintendents. miss cora b. hirtzell was appointed as assistant by c. s. thornton, corporation counsel of chicago, and served during his whole term of office. miss mary m. bartelme was appointed by gov. john r. tanner public guardian of cook county, and is the only woman in the united states to fill such a position. her duties are to look after the persons of minors and their small estates, when no one else will take the guardianship, and she has over children under her care. she received the highest commendation from judge christian c. kohlsaat, formerly of the probate court, and continues to hold office under his successor. a decision of the supreme court permits a woman to be master in chancery, but only one ever was appointed. women may be official court reporters, but only two have been appointed. the office of a judge being elective he naturally feels obliged to give these places to voters. women have been notaries public for over twenty years. miss kate o'connor was deputy clerk of winnebago county for ten years, and miss rose beatson was deputy county treasurer. mrs. a. t. ames was deputy sheriff of boone county. frequently the position of state librarian has been filled by a woman, and of late years that of postmaster in the house and the senate. the librarian of the southern normal university at carbondale is a woman. women have served as presidents of library boards in various places. women sit on the board of directors of the illinois farmers' institute. one of the state commissioners of public charities was a woman; but she resigned because of the introduction of politics into the board. a woman has served on the state board of health. the home for juvenile female offenders was established in . it is under the control of five trustees, two of whom are women. the superintendent also is a woman. the soldiers' widows' home was established by a law of , which provided that of the five trustees three should be women and members of the state woman's relief corps. the entire board is now composed of women. chicago has three women deputy factory inspectors, and formerly had a chief inspector, mrs. florence kelley, who served four years with great ability. miss jane addams of hull house was appointed garbage inspector of the nineteenth ward of chicago by mayor george b. swift. she served one year and was succeeded by miss amanda johnson, also a resident of hull house. under their care this ward, which had been one of the most neglected in the city, became famous for cleanliness and order. volunteer associations of women in chicago did so much in this direction that some of their members finally took the civil service examinations for garbage inspectors or contractors and several received official positions. among the most prominent of these is mrs. a. emmagene paul, who superintends a large force of men in the first ward of chicago. as this is a down-town ward it is one of the hardest in the city to keep clean, but she performs the work to the satisfaction of all except "gang" politicians, who have made every possible effort to have mayor carter harrison remove her. mrs. bertha honore palmer of chicago was appointed united states commissioner at the paris exposition of by president mckinley, the only woman distinguished by any government with so important a position. miss addams was appointed a member of the jury of international awards, department of social economics, for the same exposition. her election as vice-president of this jury made her eligible to membership in the group jury, on which she also served. this was a distinction conferred upon no other woman. occupations: all occupations were opened to women by a statute of , which declared also that they should not be required to work on streets or roads or serve upon juries. they were not allowed to practice law until , mrs. myra w. bradwell having been the first to make application in .[ ] since that time ninety women have been admitted to the bar. among those who have done noteworthy work is the daughter of judge and mrs. bradwell, mrs. bessie bradwell helmer, who was chief editor of twenty volumes of the appellate court reports and, since the death of her mother, has been president of the _chicago legal news_ company, which issues the principal law publications of the state. mrs. catharine v. waite published the _chicago law times_ for two years; mrs. marietta b. r. shay wrote the student's guide to common law pleading; and miss ellen a. martin organized the national woman lawyer's league, and is its secretary. women are members of the state and the chicago bar associations and of the chicago law institute. the world's columbian exposition, held in chicago in , opened large fields of usefulness and power to women. those of illinois were especially conspicuous in the wonderful work done by their sex during this world's fair. its board of lady managers was appointed under an act of congress to represent the special interests of women at the exposition, and mrs. bertha honore palmer was elected president. mrs. ellen m. henrotin of chicago was vice-president and active superintendent of the woman's branch of the world's congress auxiliary. a complete official report of nearly , pages of the congress of representative women, the greatest assemblage of women which ever had been held up to this date, was prepared by the chairman of the organization committee, mrs. may wright sewall of indianapolis, who made several trips abroad in the interest of the congress. to her great executive capacity and untiring efforts for three years, with those added of its secretary, mrs. rachel foster avery of philadelphia, and the splendid co-operation of the committee of chicago women--miss frances e. willard. dr. sarah hackett stevenson, dr. julia holmes smith, mrs. lydia avery coonley, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert and mrs. william thayer brown--is due the fact that this congress was the most conspicuous success of any held during the exposition, with the exception of the parliament of religions. it convened may , , and continued one week, during which eighty-one meetings were held in the different rooms of the art palace. twenty-seven countries and organizations were represented by delegates. according to official estimate the total attendance exceeded , .[ ] education: the law colleges never have been closed to women. union college of law was the first in the united states to graduate a woman, mrs. ada h. kepley, in . some of the medical schools are still bitterly opposed to admitting women. all the homeopathic colleges are open to them with the exception of the chicago homeopathic. at harvey medical college about half the students are women, and several of the full professorships are filled by them. hahnemann college admits them but has no woman professor or instructor. in dr. julia holmes smith was elected dean of the national medical college (homeopathic) with no dissenting vote, and in she was re-elected. she is the only woman dean of a medical institution composed of both sexes. women are received in the college of physicians and surgeons, which is the medical department of the state university. rush college, one of the largest of the allopathic institutions, has just been opened to them. all of the colleges named above are in chicago. dr. sarah hackett stevenson was the first woman admitted to the american medical association. the theological schools generally are closed to women. they are admitted to the full courses of the garrett biblical institute of the northwestern university. lombard university gives them the full privileges of its divinity school (universalist). in the chicago union theological seminary (congregationalist) opened its doors to them. they may also enter the theological department of chicago university, but its circular of information says: "women students receive no encouragement to become ministers." the state university and all of the other large universities and colleges in illinois are open to women, although some of the minor institutions are still closed. there are in the public schools , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . in the chicago schools women receive the same pay as men for the same work, but the highly salaried positions are largely monopolized by men. an incident which has no parallel deserves a place on these pages. in chicago it was long the custom, whenever retrenchment of taxes became necessary, to cut down the salaries of the school teachers. in they could not get even what was legally due to them, and in the same condition prevailed. various reasons were given for the shortage of funds, but two of the teachers. miss margaret haley and miss catharine goggin, obtained information that the reason of the deficit was that some of the largest corporations in the state were not assessed for taxes. without any backing they began an investigation. when proof positive was secured, through a long search of official records, they laid the case before the teachers' federation of , members, who authorized them to prosecute it to the end and supplied the necessary funds. they went before the board of equalization with proofs that hundreds of millions of dollars of corporation property was not assessed for taxation; but the board refused absolutely to act. then they filed a mandamus to compel it to do so, and brought the matter into the courts. every legal, political and financial influence that could be secured in the state was used to fight these courageous women. they carried the case through the lower courts and into the supreme court, which confirmed their contention that these corporations should be taxed (oct . .) the union traction company and the chicago consolidated traction company, two of the greatest corporations which for years had been avoiding their legal taxes, applied to the united states circuit court for an injunction to restrain the state board of equalization from assessing them. they invoked the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution, which says that private property shall not be taken without due process of law. the injunction was refused. this decision will increase the revenues of chicago not less than $ , , a year, unless some scheme is evolved for circumventing the law, which has not been enforced up to this time. (july, .) * * * * * during the campaign of both republican and democratic clubs of women were formed. the democratic club of chicago announced that it would be permanent, and at all times would oppose every legislative and congressional candidate who should be unfavorable to woman suffrage. the illinois federation of women's clubs has been a great educator. it was organized in , and is composed of clubs with a membership of , . the chicago woman's club is one of the largest in the united states and does a vast amount of practical work. miss frances e. willard belonged to illinois as well as to the world, and it was through her powerful influence that the great organization of the w. c. t. u. was first swung into line for the enfranchisement of women. by voice and pen she aided this cause for over twenty years. among other staunch supporters are mrs. lydia avery coonley-ward, whose home and purse and pen are used for the benefit of woman suffrage; and her mother, mrs. susan look avery, who speaks and writes with the vigor of youth, although eighty-three years of age. mrs. emily m. gross is one of the large contributors. senator miles b. castle was chairman of the illinois e. s. a. executive committee for over twenty years, and edited and published the state organ, the _suffragist_, for five years, supplying the deficit from his own pocket. the rev. c. c. harrah, now of iowa, did valiant service for many years as chairman of the state advisory committee. he sent his leaflet, jesus christ the emancipator of woman, at his own expense to hundreds of ministers throughout the country, and it is still in use by the national association. mrs. eva munson smith, vice-president of the state association, published a volume entitled woman in sacred song, which contains poems written by , and musical compositions by different women. mrs. carrie ashton johnson, secretary, compiled a popular suffrage dime speaker. miss mary h. krout, for ten years connected with the _inter-ocean_, never has failed to use her influence in favor of woman suffrage. mrs. fannie h. rastall gave her services as editor-in-chief of the _woman's forum_ for several years. sixteen years ago but one paper in illinois had a woman's department; now this is a feature of all, and are regularly publishing suffrage matter furnished by the state press bureau. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. mary e. holmes of chicago, who has been officially connected with the state equal suffrage association since . [ ] state conventions have been held as follows: watseka, ; geneseo, ; sandwich, ; galva, ; rockford, ; joliet, ; moline, ; kewanee, ; aurora, ; chicago (world's fair), ; danville, ; decatur, ; harvey, ; waukegan, ; springfield, ; barry, . the twenty-seventh annual meeting took place in edgewater, oct. , , . [ ] among the officers for whom the legislature has the power to allow women to vote are presidential electors, members of the state board of equalization, clerk of the appellate court, county collector, county surveyor, members of the board of assessors, sanitary district trustees, members of the board of review, all officers of cities, villages and towns (except police magistrates), supervisor, town clerk, assessor, collector and highway commissioner. the legislature has power also to permit women to vote on general questions submitted to the electors, besides voting in all annual and special town meetings. [ ] during these years various suffrage bills were introduced by other organizations. the school board of winnetka had one to give women a right to vote on all matters relating to schools; the w. c. t. u. one for a constitutional amendment; and members of the legislature occasionally on their own responsibility introduced bills. [ ] in an anti-suffrage petition, signed by twelve persons, aroused some interest on account of its novelty. in later legislatures their petitions do not seem to have appeared, but some of those twelve signers can be found composing the chicago anti suffrage society of the present day. [ ] in april, , fifteen women of lombard voted at the municipal election under a special charter which gave the franchise to citizens over twenty-one years of age. the judges were about to refuse the votes, but miss ellen a. martin, of the law firm of perry & martin in chicago, argued the legal points so conclusively that they were accepted. no one has contested that election, and the women have established their right to vote. [ ] although dr. smith was defeated she was really the first woman who served as trustee of the state university, for gov. john p. altgeld appointed her to fill a member's unexpired term and she took her seat one month before mrs. flower, serving eighteen months. at the next election her name was again placed on the democratic ticket, which was again defeated. [ ] they continued to hold delegate conventions every two years to nominate a woman for trustee, until the primary election law, recently passed, provided that delegates to nominating conventions must be elected at the polls. [ ] during the legislature of a joint special committee was appointed to revise the laws. through the heroic efforts of miles b. castle in the senate and judge james b. bradwell in the house, with the assistance of the veteran law professor and reviser of statutes, the hon. harvey b. hurd, a most liberal legislation for women, in all directions possible at that time, was secured. [ ] see history woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. . [ ] mrs. sewall's report will be found in most public libraries. a graphic account of this congress is contained in the life and work of susan b. anthony, chap. xli. see also present volume of this history, chap xiv. chapter xxxviii. indiana.[ ] the earliest woman suffrage society in indiana was formed in dublin only three years after that first memorable convention at seneca falls, n. y., in , and annual meetings were held until the beginning of the civil war, and resumed after its close. that of took place december , , in the methodist church at kokomo with delegates present from a number of cities. the resolutions included one of sorrow over the deaths of frances dana gage, a pioneer suffragist, and laura giddings julian, daughter of joshua r. giddings and wife of george w. julian, m. c., both staunch advocates of the enfranchisement of women, as she herself had been. dr. mary f. thomas, who had joined in the call for the first meeting in , was re-elected president and the hon. william dudley foulke made vice-president-at-large. among the speakers were the reverends frazier, hudson and mccune, dr. gifford and judge pollard. the annual meeting of was held at warsaw, october , , and welcomed by mayor royse. on account of the advanced age of dr. thomas her resignation was accepted and mrs. mary s. armstrong elected president. henry b. blackwell and lucy stone were present throughout the sessions. the state convention of met in richmond, november , , in the eighth street friends' meeting house and was welcomed by the mayor. addresses were made by mr. blackwell, mrs. stone, mrs. zerelda g. wallace, dr. thomas, mr. foulke, mrs. mary e. haggart, mrs. armstrong, mrs. mattie stewart charles, sylvester johnson and others. in the convention took place at la porte, december , , and was addressed by mr. foulke, professor hailman and mrs. eudora f. hailman, the rev. mr. grant, general packard, mrs. j. w. ridgway, mrs. rhenton, sylvanus grover and others. mr. foulke was elected president and mrs. haggart vice-president-at-large.[ ] up to this time these annual meetings had been convened under the auspices of the american woman suffrage association. in a strong society had been organized in indianapolis with mrs. zerelda g. wallace, president, mrs. may wright sewall, secretary, and members. it had held numerous meetings and done a large amount of legislative and political work, but had made no state or national alliances. in may, , however, it called a convention, which met in plymouth congregational church, and with the assistance of miss susan b. anthony a state organization was effected, auxiliary to the national woman suffrage association. the officers elected were: president, mrs. helen m. gougar; vice-president-at-large, mrs. wallace; secretary, mrs. ida husted harper; treasurer, mrs. juliette k. wood; chairman executive committee, mrs. sewall; superintendent of press, miss mary e. cardwill. in november, under the management of this board, two days' conventions were held in each of the congressional districts of the state, at evansville, vincennes, bloomington, kokomo, logansport, wabash, lafayette, south bend, fort wayne, muncie, madison, new albany and terre haute. the speakers were miss anthony, mrs. wallace, mrs. sewall and mrs. gougar, the meetings being arranged by mrs. harper. they were well attended, a great deal of suffrage sentiment was aroused and a balance was left in the treasury. the annual convention took place at indianapolis in the grand opera house, may , , , with delegates present from every congressional district. among the speakers were mr. foulke, mrs. annie jenness miller and miss anthony. the board of officers was re-elected. the third convention met at rushville, oct. , , . miss anthony was in attendance. by previous arrangement delegates from the american branch were present and, with unanimous consent, a union of two bodies into one state organization was effected. although receiving a majority vote, mrs. sewall, miss cardwill and mrs. harper, for personal reasons, refused longer to serve. the election finally resulted: president, mrs. gougar; vice-president-at-large, mrs. wallace; secretary, mrs. caroline c. hodgin; treasurer, mrs. hattie e. merrill; chairman executive committee, mrs. e. m. seward; superintendent of press, mrs. georgia wright. a resolution was adopted mourning the death of dr. mary f. thomas. state meetings were held for several years afterward, but the records of them are not available. in , the state association having been apparently defunct for a long time, a conference of the officers of the national association was called to meet in indianapolis, at the earnest request of mrs. sewall and a committee. there were present on december , , miss anthony, president, the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large, mrs. harriet taylor upton, treasurer, miss laura clay and mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch, auditors, and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the organization committee. mrs. sewall gave two receptions to enable the people of the city to greet them; a large one was given by mrs. lucy mcdowell milburn, wife of the rev. joseph a. milburn, of the second presbyterian church; and a luncheon at the handsome residence of mrs. alice wheeler peirce by the committee. business meetings were held at the denison hotel. the evening meetings, in plymouth church, were large and enthusiastic. a new state association was formed and also a new local club for indianapolis, while the staunch and steadfast old societies of kokomo and tipton were aroused to new activity.[ ] at the state meeting in indianapolis in november, , the old board of officers was re-elected, except that mrs. mary shank was made vice-president and mrs. ethel b. mcmullen, treasurer. a very considerable sentiment in favor of woman suffrage exists throughout the state and many well-known individuals advocate it, among them u. s. senator albert j. beveridge and most of the congressional delegation, state officials, judges, clergymen and prominent members of the women's clubs, but there is so slight an organization that little opportunity is afforded for public expression or action. from down to the present women have appeared many times in person and by petition before county and state conventions of the different political parties, asking for a recognition in their platforms of the right of women to the suffrage. although these efforts have met with no response from the democratic party, and none from the republican in state meetings, a few county conventions have adopted planks to this effect. in the greenback and the united labor state conventions unequivocally indorsed the franchise for women. in the populist and the prohibition state platforms contained declarations for woman suffrage. in the populists again adopted the plank. similar action was taken by the social democratic party in . among those appearing before these bodies are found the names of mrs. sewall, mrs. gougar, mrs. haggart, mrs. pauline t. merritt, miss flora hardin, mrs. florence m. adkinson, mrs. augusta cooper bristol and mrs. harper. during the past sixteen years a number of women have sat as delegates in the state conventions of the greenback, prohibition, populist, socialist and labor parties. women have shown great interest in politics for many years, crowding the galleries at the state conventions and forming at least one-half of the audiences at the campaign rallies. among those who have canvassed the state in national campaigns are the noted orators, miss anna e. dickinson, and mrs. nellie holbrook blinn of california, for the republican party; mrs. mary e. lease and mrs. annie l. diggs, both of kansas, for the populist; miss cynthia cleveland for the democratic, and mrs. helen m. gougar for the republican, prohibition and populist. legislative action and laws: it is most difficult to look up the history of legislation on any subject in indiana. the original bills are not printed but are presented in writing, stowed away in pigeon-holes and thenceforth referred to only by number, with perhaps a fragment of their titles. after several women, deeply interested in the question, had attempted to make a list of the suffrage bills during the last sixteen years and had given up in despair, they appealed to one of the best lawyers in the state, who is a firm believer in the enfranchisement of women. he responded that no accurate report could be made without first going through all the pigeon-holes and over all the journals of the two houses during that period, which would require weeks of time and great expense. as very few of these bills ever were reported from the committees, it seemed unnecessary to undertake their resurrection for the purposes of this history. the indiana legislature meets biennially and there is seldom a session in which bills are not presented for municipal or full suffrage. in bills were before this body asking for the municipal ballot, and newspaper accounts speak of mrs. zerelda g. wallace, mrs. mary s. armstrong and mrs. laura g. schofield as working industriously for their passage. in judge george b. cardwill introduced two bills without request, one for an amendment to the constitution striking out the word "male;" the other to amend the law so as to make it obligatory to have one woman on the school board of every city. the women made no effort to secure consideration of these bills, and they lay dormant in committee. it never has been thought worth while to make the struggle for school suffrage, as indianapolis is the only city which elects its school board. in the others this is appointed by the common council. on feb. , , miss susan b. anthony, who was visiting mrs. sewall, addressed the legislature in joint session asking it to recommend to congress the passage of a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution enfranchising women. in , under the auspices of mrs. m. a. tompkins, state superintendent of franchise for the woman's christian temperance union, an active and systematic canvass was begun to secure from the legislature the submission of an amendment to the state constitution to strike out the word "male." she was assisted by members of her organization in every county; short, convincing articles were prepared for the newspapers, petitions circulated and , names of men and women obtained. accompanied by these a joint resolution was presented to the legislature of --in the senate by o. z. hubbell, in the house by quincy a. blankinship, and both labored strenuously for its passage. the senate bill was referred to the committee on revision of laws, frederick a. joss, chairman, and the house bill to the judiciary committee, silas a. canada, chairman. they granted hearings, were addressed by miss marie brehm of chicago, national superintendent of franchise for the w. c. t. u., and reported the bill favorably. it passed the senate by unanimous vote, january . the members of the house had been personally interviewed by mrs. tompkins and miss brehm, and two-thirds of them were pledged to vote for the measure. the law provides that not more than two bills for amending the state constitution can be before the legislature at one time, and, as two preceded this one, speaker littleton, who was opposed to it, ruled it out of order and would not permit it to be considered. the same condition existed in the senate but that body deemed its action perfectly legal, as all which could be done was to submit the bill to the next legislature. thus all the work of nearly two years was lost.[ ] in a number of factory inspection laws were passed, some of them especially intended to protect women. while these serve their purpose in one way they may defeat it in another, as those, for instance, limiting the work of women to ten hours a day and prohibiting their employment at night in any manufacturing concern, when no such restrictions are imposed on men, which often is to their advantage with employers. seats for women employes, suitable toilet-rooms and a full hour for the noonday meal are commendable features of these new laws. through the efforts of robert dale owen and a few other broad-minded men, when the constitution of indiana was revised in the laws for women were made more liberal than those of most other states at that period, although conservative compared to present standards. unjust discriminations have been abolished from time to time since then, until now, in a very large degree, the laws bear equally upon husband and wife. some distinctions, however, still exist, as is shown by the introduction of bills in almost every legislature "to remove the existing disabilities of married women." dower and curtesy are abolished. if a husband die, with or without a will, one-third of his real estate descends to the widow in fee simple, free from all demands of creditors; provided, however, that where the real estate exceeds in value $ , , the widow shall have one-fourth only, and where it exceeds $ , , one-fifth only as against creditors. if a husband die without a will and leave a widow and one child, the real estate is divided equally between them; the personal estate is divided equally if there are not more than two children; if there are more than two the widow still has one-third. if a man has children living by a former marriage and none by a subsequent marriage, the widow can have only a life interest in her share of his estate. if a wife die, with or without a will, one-third of her real and personal estate descends to the widower, regardless of its value, but subject to its proportion of her debts contracted before marriage. if a husband or wife die without a will, leaving no child, but father or mother, one or both, three-fourths of the entire estate goes to the widow or widower, unless it does not exceed $ , , in which case it all goes to the widow or widower. if there are neither children, father nor mother, the entire estate goes to the widow or widower. the husband is liable for the wife's debts incurred before marriage to the extent of any property received by him through her. he is not liable for his wife's contracts with respect to her separate property, business or labor, or for torts committed by her. she may sue in her own name for injury to her person, property or character. the husband may maintain action for the loss of her society and services. a wife can not convey or encumber her separate real estate without the joinder of her husband, nor can he do this with his separate real estate unless she joins. husband and wife each may dispose of two-thirds of their real and personal estate by will without the consent of the other. a married woman may without any legal formalities carry on business or trade or perform any labor or services on her sole and separate account and her earnings shall be her sole and separate property, provided she keeps her business distinct from her husband's, as all their joint earnings are his property. a wife can act as executor or administrator of an estate only with her husband's consent. no married woman can become surety for any person. the father has the custody of the persons and the control of the education of the minor children, even though there may be a guardian appointed for their property. ( .) a wife may sue for support: ( ) if deserted by her husband and left without means of support; ( ) if he has been convicted of a felony and put in state prison; ( ) if he is a habitual drunkard; ( ) if he join a religious society prohibiting marriage. the court may award necessary support according to circumstances, may sell lands of the husband, or allow the wife to sell her lands without his joining. ( .) the "age of protection" for girls is years. no bills presented by women to have it raised ever have been allowed to get beyond a legislative committee. the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to twenty-one years. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. a decision of the supreme court, feb. , , that an amendment to be adopted must receive a majority of the highest number of votes cast at the election, has made it practically impossible to secure the franchise for women by changing the state constitution. it is held, however, by lawyers whose opinion is of value, that this even now may be legally construed so as to permit them to vote. sustained in her own belief by these views and by a supreme court decision of , which interpreted this constitution to permit women to practice law (see occupations), mrs. helen m. gougar decided to make a test case, and offered her vote in the state election, nov. , , at her home in lafayette. it was refused and she brought suit against the election board in the superior court of tippecanoe county. sayler & sayler and john d. gougar, husband of the plaintiff, were her attorneys, but she was herself admitted to the bar and argued her own case before judge f. b. everett, jan. , . she based her masterly argument on the rights guaranteed to all citizens by the federal constitution, and on the first article of the constitution of indiana, which declares that "the general assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens;" and she used with deadly effect the parallel between the decision of the supreme court in the case of antoinette d. leach, by which she was enabled to practice law, and the claims which were now being made as to the right of women to vote.[ ] the long, adverse decision of judge everett was based upon his declaration that "suffrage is not a natural right or one necessarily incident to such freedom and preservation of rights as are upheld by the national and state constitutions;" that "the intention of their framers to limit the suffrage to males is so strong that it can not be disregarded;" and that "the legal and well understood rule of construction is that the express mention of certain things excludes all others." mrs. gougar then carried her case to the supreme court of indiana, and was herself the first woman admitted to practice before that body. her brief was filed by her attorneys and she made her own argument before the full bench, the court-room being crowded with lawyers and members of the legislature. it was said by one of the judges to be the clearest and ablest oral argument presented since he had been a member. nevertheless the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. the decision, in which the five judges concurred, was founded almost exclusively upon the affirmation that "that which is expressed makes that which is silent cease." this decision reversed absolutely the one rendered in the case of leach for the right to practice law, which had declared that "although the statute says voters may practice, it says nothing about women, and therefore there is no denial of this right to them;" or in other words "that which is expressed does _not_ make that which is silent cease." yet both of these opinions were written by the same chief justice--leonard j. hackney! the decision closed by saying: "whatever the personal views of the justices upon the advisability of extending the franchise to women, all are agreed that under the present constitution it can not be extended to them." as it is practically impossible to amend the state constitution, the outlook for woman suffrage in indiana appears hopeless except through an amendment to the national constitution. office holding: women are not eligible for election to any offices within the gift of the voters, except those pertaining to the public schools. in the legislature enacted that women should be eligible to any office the appointment or election to which is or shall be vested in the governor or general assembly. in it was enacted that women should be eligible to any office under the general or special school laws of the state. notwithstanding these liberal provisions there is scarcely one of the northern states where so few women have served in office. there never has been even a woman candidate for that of state superintendent. many years ago there were a few county superintendents but none now fill that office and not half a dozen women ever have sat on local school boards. these are appointed by the common council in all the towns and cities except indianapolis. on one occasion its local council of women nominated two of its members for school trustees, but both were defeated. women themselves were not allowed to vote, but their interest brought out an unusually large number of men.[ ] at present not one woman is known to be filling any school office. the law of includes the boards of all penal and benevolent institutions, state librarian, custodians of public buildings, and many minor offices, but women have found it practically impossible to secure any of these. the explanation for this probably lies in the fact that indiana is a pivotal state in politics and the parties are so evenly divided that the elections are equally apt to be carried by either party. it thus becomes vitally necessary to utilize every office for political purposes and none can be spared to persons without votes. for a number of years the two parties elected women as state librarian, and they gave much satisfaction, although several times the political pressure has been so great that the office has had to be given to men.[ ] a number of times bills have been presented to require the governor to put a representation of women on the boards of all state institutions where women and children are confined, but they never have been carried. in the first state prison in the united states exclusively for women was opened in indianapolis, but the management was vested in a board of men with a visiting board of women and a woman superintendent. in a bill was passed placing the entire management of this woman's reformatory in the hands of women. an industrial school for girls is now under the same supervision.[ ] in an act of the legislature established the state board of charities and corrections and provided that two of its six trustees should be women. it exercises supervision over the state penal and benevolent institutions. in a legislative act required that on petition of fifteen citizens of any county the circuit judge must appoint a board to exercise the same supervision over its institutions, to consist of four men and two women. the only other women serving on state boards are one for the soldiers' and sailors' orphans' home at knightstown and one for the home for feeble-minded youth at ft. wayne.[ ] the state board of charities and corrections has made great effort to secure women physicians at all state institutions and, though there is no law authorizing it, there is now one at each of the four hospitals for the insane, and at the woman's prison and girls' industrial school. one was appointed for the home for feeble-minded but a man now holds the position. almost every state, county and city office has women deputies, assistants or stenographers. it is said that one-third of the employes in the state house are women. many serve as notaries public, and a number as court stenographers. the need of a police matron in indianapolis was so obvious and it had been so impossible to persuade the authorities of this fact, that in november, , the meridian w. c. t. u. obtained permission from the mayor and commissioners to place one on duty at the central station house at their own expense. this was continued until march, , when a change in the city charter vested the authority in a board of safety. the matron, mrs. annie m. buchanan, had given such satisfaction that on petition of the woman's local council she was regularly employed by the city, with full police powers, at a salary of $ per month and two furnished rooms for her occupancy. the first year women and children came into her charge, of the latter being under five years of age. the state w. c. t. u. appointed mrs. buchanan as the head of a movement to secure police matrons in all cities of , inhabitants. a bill for this purpose was presented in but failed to pass. in the local council of women also made this a special line of work, and to mrs. buchanan's petition, signed by one hundred of the leading men and women of the state and the entire common council, were added the names of the presidents of the forty-nine societies composing the council of women, representing , members. it asked for a law compelling the appointment of police matrons in all cities of , inhabitants. this time the bill passed both houses but so altered as to merely permit the mayor and commissioners to appoint such matrons, a power they already possessed. mrs. buchanan remained in office seven years, until her marriage. the experiment in indianapolis has been so successful that matrons are now employed in evansville, terre haute, richmond and lafayette, but these by no means include all of the cities of over , inhabitants. occupations: the only occupations forbidden to women are those of working in mines and selling liquor. women have served as bank cashiers and directors for twenty years. in miss elizabeth eaglesfield was admitted to practice law at the vigo county bar, through the efforts of judge william mack, and had a number of cases in the courts of indianapolis. eighteen years later mrs. antoinette d. leach, although properly qualified, was refused a license to practice in greene county. the lower court based its refusal on a clause in the state constitution which says: "every person of good moral character, _being a voter_, shall be entitled to practice law in all the courts of the state." she carried the case to the supreme court which reversed this judgment. its decision, june , , says that "while voters are granted admission to practice there is no _denial_ of such right to women, and it must be held to exist as long as not forbidden by law. that which is expressed does not make that which is silent cease." (see suffrage on previous page.) the decision continued: the right to practice law is not a political question, but belongs to that class of rights inherent in every citizen, and pertains to the fundamental duty of every inhabitant to gain a livelihood. judge cooley says: "to forbid to an individual or a class the right to the acquisition or enjoyment of property in such manner as should be permitted to the community at large, would be to deprive them of liberty in particulars of primary importance." in story on the constitution it is said that the right to acquire, possess and enjoy property and to choose from those which are lawful the profession or occupation of life, are among the privileges which the states are forbidden by the constitution to abridge.[ ] basing her claims on this decision, a woman the next year, , applied for license to sell liquor. this was refused on the ground that the statute reads: "any _male_ inhabitant having certain other specified qualifications may obtain a license." the supreme court decided that "by the use of the word 'male' women are inhibited from obtaining license to vend intoxicating liquor at retail." thus within three years-- , ' , ' --the same supreme court rendered three decisions each absolutely reversing the others. education: the state university was opened to women in . they are admitted on equal terms with men to all state institutions of learning, including purdue university (agricultural). the only colleges closed to them are wabash at crawfordsville, and the rose polytechnic at terre haute. there are women on the faculties of most of the co-educational universities. a number of women have been graduated from the various law and medical schools. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women $ . . * * * * * the women's clubs number considerably over one hundred, and there are also many which are composed of both men and women. the state press association had both as charter members. the union of literary clubs, a strong organization of branches, includes many of these and also those composed of women alone and of men alone. the woman's club of indianapolis, founded in , is the oldest in the city. under its auspices and through the inspiration of mrs. may wright sewall, the propylæum, a handsome club house, was built at a cost of over $ , . it was dedicated in with imposing ceremonies, in which the governor, the mayor and many distinguished guests assisted the board of directors. all of the stock is held by women and the construction was entirely superintended by women. it is one of the important institutions of the city, and is used by a number of men's and of women's clubs and for many public and private functions. in numerous forms of organized work, sanitary inspection, free kindergartens, flower missions, training schools for nurses, collegiate alumnæ, art associations, musical clubs, industrial unions, patriotic societies, church missionary boards, lodge auxiliaries and countless others--women render conspicuous and inestimable service. the state monograph for the world's fair, previously referred to, gives detailed information of the associated work of indiana women in nearly fifty distinct departments. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted to mrs. alice judah clarke of vincennes for much of the information contained in this chapter. [ ] the other names which appear most frequently during these years as officers and workers are the rev. a. marine, doctors isabel stafford and anna b. campbell, miss mary d. naylor and mesdames laura c. schofield, georgia wright, sarah e. franklin, laura sandefur, laura c. arnold, c. a. p. smith, s. s. mccain, h. r. ridpath, mary b. williams, laura kregelo, h. r. vickery, emma e. dixon, pauline t. merritt, eliza j. hamilton, l. may wheeler and florence m. adkinson. [ ] state officers: president, mrs. bertha g. wade; vice-president, mrs. mary s. armstrong; corresponding secretary, mrs. alice wheeler peirce; recording secretary, mrs. hester moore hart; treasurer, mrs. alice e. waugh; auditors, mrs. grace julian clarke and mrs. albertina a. forrest. among the strong members of the tipton club are judge and mrs. dan waugh, state senator and mrs. g. w. gifford, representative and mrs. w. r. ogleboy, postmaster and mrs. m. w. pershing, dr. and mrs. m. v. b. newcomer and w. h. barnhart, editor of the _advocate_. [ ] in the suffrage societies had a similar bill before the legislature, supported by a large petition. it was passed by the house on march by ayes, noes. enough votes to carry it had been pledged in the senate, but the night following its success in the house hurried consultations were held and the element which fights woman suffrage to the death issued its edict. the next morning the vote was reconsidered and the measure defeated. it was therefore unnecessary to bring it before the senate. [ ] mrs. gougar's argument in full, with authorities cited, was published in a pamphlet of sixty pages. [ ] in the political equality club of indianapolis put up a woman candidate who polled over , votes but was not elected. [ ] the women who have filled this office are sarah a. oren, - ; margaret f. peelle, - ; elizabeth o. callis, - ; mary a. ahern, - ; mrs. e. l. davidson, - . at present the first and second assistants are women. [ ] for particulars of this unique institution see vol. iii, p. . [ ] a monograph on the associated work of indiana women, prepared in by mrs. ida husted harper for the columbian exposition, showed about twenty county and city orphans' home entirely controlled by women, and also a number of homes for the friendless, old ladies' homes, children's aid societies, etc. [ ] some of the highest legal authorities in the state declare that this is not the law and that it will be so decided whenever the question is presented to another supreme court. if this should happen then women could practice law only by an amendment of the constitution. what then would be the status of the cases in which mrs. leach and other women had acted as attorney? chapter xxxix. iowa.[ ] for thirty years the women of iowa have been petitioning its legislative body for the elective franchise. any proposed amendment to the state constitution must pass two successive legislatures before being submitted to the voters, which makes it exceedingly difficult to secure one. throughout the state, however, there has been a steady, healthy growth of favorable sentiment and the cause now numbers its friends by thousands. the iowa equal suffrage association was formed in and ever since has held annual conventions. that of took place in des moines, november , , mrs. narcissa t. bemis presiding. the report of the vice-president, mrs. jane amy mckinney, stated that miss matilda hindman of pennsylvania had been employed two months of the year, besides working several weeks upon her own responsibility. she had delivered seventy-two lectures, formed about forty organizations and obtained many hundreds of names to pledges of help. mrs. helen m. gougar of indiana had given fifteen addresses, distributed , tracts and secured subscribers for her paper, _our herald_. mrs. mariana t. folsome, financial secretary, had gone from town to town, arranging her own meetings and visiting many places where no suffrage work ever before had been done. mrs. margaret w. campbell, state organizer, had addressed meetings and assisted in organizing ten counties. letters urging a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution had been written to all the iowa members of congress. the convention met oct. , , , in cedar rapids, and elected mrs. campbell president. lucy stone and henry b. blackwell delivered evening addresses, while among the delegates was mrs. carrie lane chapman (catt). mrs. mary j. coggeshall, chairman of the executive committee, reported that each of the eleven congressional districts had been given in charge of a vice-president of the state association, local societies had been formed, numerous public meetings held and seventeen counties organized. petitions were in circulation asking the legislature to amend the constitution of the state so as to enfranchise women, and others that women be excused from paying taxes until they had representation. about forty weekly papers had columns edited by the press committee. at the state agricultural fair this committee had, as usual, a large amount of literature in a handsomely decorated booth, which was crowded with visitors from all parts of the state. in the autumn of the annual meeting convened in ottumwa. during that year funds had been raised and a permanent cottage erected on the state fair grounds to be used as suffrage headquarters. there was also established in des moines a state paper, the _woman's standard_, with mrs. coggeshall as editor and mrs. martha c. callanan as business manager. this paper, an eight-page monthly, issued its first number in september.[ ] the state convention of was held in des moines, and that of in ames. at the latter miss susan b. anthony gave an inspiring address. the state agricultural college is located at ames, and capt. james rush lincoln of the military department tendered the delegates an exhibition drill on the campus of company g, which was composed entirely of girls. the annual convention took place in oskaloosa, oct. -nov. , . a letter of approval was received from george a. gates, president of iowa college. mr. blackwell and lucy stone were present and added much to the interest of the meetings. mrs. campbell was for the third time elected president. on dec. , , , the association again assembled in des moines, with miss anthony in attendance. the resolutions recommended that the suffragists make an effort to place women on all the school boards, and that they work for the election of legislators favoring municipal and school suffrage for women. the society was incorporated under the state laws nov. , , as the iowa equal suffrage association. the twentieth convention was held at ames, december , . three departments of work were arranged--fair, press and oratorical contest--and a superintendent of each was appointed. reports were received from all parts of the state which indicated an increasing growth of sentiment and it was decided to place another organizer in the field. the delegates were invited by president william beardshear to visit the state agricultural college. upon their return they passed a resolution declaring that "the legislature ought to provide a suitable hall for women students." margaret hall has since been erected, a commodious building designed for their exclusive use. the twenty-first annual meeting was called at des moines, sept. , , in connection with the mississippi valley suffrage conference. there were present miss anthony, president of the national association, mr. blackwell, senator m. b. castle and mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of illinois, miss laura clay of kentucky, mrs. sarah burger stearns of minnesota and many others from different states. the report of mrs. eliza h. hunter, chairman of the executive committee, said: in no previous year has the demand upon our workers been so great, and never has the response been so quick and hearty. mrs. chapman catt, mrs. emma smith devoe of illinois, the rev. olympia brown of wisconsin, and mrs. belle mitchell of iowa, have been our lecturers and organizers. the association was invited to send a speaker to the chautauqua assembly at colfax and the rev. c. c. harrah was secured. a plan of work prepared by mrs. chapman catt was issued as a supplement to the _woman's standard_, and sent to every county president and local club. mrs. callanan published at the same time the iowa collection of readings and recitations for suffrage societies. the study topics arranged for clubs two years ago had been in such demand that a new supply was necessary. we also have had printed , copies of a tract, a woman suffrage catechism, by mrs. c. holt flint. the state agricultural society by request set apart one day of the fair as woman's day, and five women's organizations took part in the exercises. at the hour devoted especially to suffrage mrs. devoe made the address, mrs. coggeshall presiding. it was hard to tell where this hour began and ended, for to the listener all seemed suffrage hours. this report told also of a series of questions sent out which ascertained that, in the territory covered by twenty-eight clubs, seventy-eight ministers were in favor of suffrage and eighteen opposed; and in the same territory forty editors were in favor and nineteen opposed. there were at that time fifty-seven clubs in the state. the year marked a period of unusual activity. the executive committee held monthly meetings. four organizers were kept in the field. a large amount of money was raised and $ donated to the campaign in colorado. a request was sent to the clubs that each contribute to the campaign in kansas, which in many instances was done. the annual meeting took place in webster city, november , . the convention of was held in marshalltown, november , . that of met in des moines, october , . mrs. laura m. johns of kansas was secured for a month of organization work and the suffrage enrollment ordered to be continued. in mrs. adelaide ballard was elected state organizer. at the state fair mrs. pauline swalm delivered an address on the woman citizen. the suffrage cottage was kept open and a long list of names was placed upon the enrollment books. the annual meeting convened in independence, november - . mrs. ballard reported thirty-seven new clubs organized. mrs. anna h. satterly announced that forty-two newspapers were publishing articles furnished by the national association, which also sent mrs. devoe for a month's work in the state. in january, , the national association held its convention in des moines, with many noted women in attendance.[ ] this gave a great impetus to the work and had a decided effect upon sentiment in the state, particularly on that of the daily papers in des moines, most of which since this time have treated the cause with marked courtesy. at the close of the convention fifty members were added to the city club. the national association heartily approved the plan of an active campaign with a view to securing the submission of a suffrage amendment from the legislature. under the directions of mrs. chapman catt, chairman of its organization committee, workers were sent into the field to hold a series of conventions for the purpose of perfecting the organization of the state. these resulted in county societies in ninety-four of the ninety-nine counties and one hundred new clubs. the speakers were the rev. anna howard shaw, national vice-president-at-large, and the rev. henrietta g. moore of ohio; the managers, miss mary g. hay of new york and miss laura a. gregg of kansas. mrs. ballard and mrs. clara m. richey each gave a month to conducting meetings, and other iowa women rendered valuable assistance. the annual meeting of took place in des moines, october - . mrs. chapman catt, miss hay, miss moore and mrs. addie m. johnson of missouri were present. much enthusiasm was manifested and $ , were raised to carry on the next year's work. it was decided to open headquarters in des moines the first of january, , with mrs. ina light taylor as office secretary. beginning in april, , the state association conducted a series of conferences throughout the northern part of iowa, employing as speakers mrs. campbell and mrs. ballard; and as managers miss ella harrison of missouri and mrs. richey. at the same time the national association sent into the southern part miss moore and mrs. martha a. b. conine of colorado, as speakers, and miss gregg and mrs. jennie l. wilson as managers. the annual meeting was held in council bluffs, october - . mrs. evelyn h. belden was made president. during a large amount of work was done by correspondence. the office of press superintendent was transferred to headquarters, from which newspapers were supplied each week with suffrage matter. two hundred and fifty clubs were in active existence. the convention met in mason city, october - . mrs. belden was unanimously re-elected and $ , were raised. the convention of was held in des moines, october - , with mrs. chapman catt in attendance. during the year mrs. nellie welsh nelson had done organization work in northwestern iowa, and miss hay and dr. frances woods lately had held a number of meetings and formed several clubs. one thousand dollars were pledged to continue the state headquarters. mrs. belden was again elected to the presidency, and the association entered upon the new century bearing the banner it had followed for thirty years, with the inscription, "never give up."[ ] year after year the executive committee have visited the state conventions of all the political parties asking for a plank in their platforms indorsing equal suffrage, but without success. many of the prominent officials and political leaders, however, have openly declared in favor of the enfranchisement of women.[ ] legislative action and laws: from its organization in the state association has had a bill before every legislature asking some form of suffrage for women. this usually has passed one house but never both at the same session. the petitions accompanying these bills have varied from , signatures in to , in . in the measure was carried in the senate but lost in the house. in a bill for municipal suffrage was introduced by representative j. a. lyons, amended to include school suffrage and recommended for passage, but it never came to a vote. in a bill for municipal and school suffrage was lost in the house by ayes, noes. this was presented in the senate also but never voted upon. in a bill for school suffrage was recommended for passage in the house but did not reach a vote. a bill for municipal suffrage at the same session was not reported. both were killed in the senate committee. in a bill allowing women to vote for presidential electors was introduced in the house but was unfavorably reported and indefinitely postponed. in the senate it was referred to the committee on suffrage and never reported. in a bill for municipal and school suffrage was favorably reported in the house. it was made a special order and, after being amended so as to give women the right to vote _only when bonds were to be issued_, it was returned to the judiciary committee. they reported it without recommendation for the reason that they were not agreed as to its constitutionality. it was passed by ayes, noes. in the senate the amended bill passed by ayes, noes. the greatest difficulty in the way of securing municipal or school suffrage was the opinion prevalent among legislators that it would be unconstitutional. in view of this fact the state association decided to drop all partial suffrage measures and ask only for the full franchise by constitutional amendment. in a legislative committee was appointed with mrs. belden, state president, as chairman. assisted by miss mary g. hay of new york, she spent some time at the capital trying to secure a joint resolution for the submission of an amendment. the resolution was lost in the house by ayes, noes--just one short of a constitutional majority, which is one over a half of the whole number of members. it did not come to a vote in the senate. in mrs. belden established headquarters at the savery house in des moines, and with other members of the legislative committee conducted a vigorous campaign for submission. the bill was reported favorably by unanimous vote of both house and senate committees, but was lost in the house by ayes, noes. subsequently it passed the "sifting committee," for the first time in the history of suffrage legislation in the state. it was then acted upon by the senate and lost by ayes, noes--lacking two votes of a constitutional majority. the absence on account of illness of some of the friends of the measure contributed to this result. in the meantime work had been done in the house by mrs. belden and the hon. g. w. hinkle which had made it certain that if the bill was carried in the senate the house would reconsider and pass it. the bill was treated with courtesy and fairness and instead of ignoring its claims men came voluntarily to talk about it and showed a genuine interest. the laws of inheritance are the same for husband and wife. dower and curtesy are abolished. the surviving husband or wife is entitled to one-third in fee simple of both real and personal estate of the other at his or her death. if either die intestate, leaving no issue, one-half of the estate goes to the survivor, the rest to his or her parents, one or both; or if they are both dead, to their descendants. if there are none such, the whole estate goes to the surviving husband or wife. if there should have been more than one wife or husband, the half portion is equally divided between the husband or wife living and the heirs of those who are dead, or the heirs of all, if all are dead. a married woman may contract, sue and be sued and carry on business in her own name as if unmarried and her earnings are her sole and separate property. in an act was passed making it illegal for the husband to mortgage household goods without the wife's signature. the same year it was made a misdemeanor and punishable as such for a man to desert a woman whom he married to escape prosecution for seduction. the law declares the father and mother natural guardians and legally entitled to the custody of the minor children, but in practice the father has prior claim. the support and education of the family are chargeable equally on the husband's and the wife's property. in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years; and in , on petition of the woman's christian temperance union, from to years. the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for life or for any term of years not less than twenty. an amendment was made in that "a man can not be convicted upon the testimony of the person injured unless she be corroborated by other evidence." the same year this organization secured a law compelling the separation of men and women prisoners in county jails. suffrage: since the right of any citizen to vote at any city, town or school election, on the question of issuing any bonds for municipal or school purposes, and for the purpose of borrowing money, or on the question of increasing the tax levy, shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. at all elections where women may vote, no registration of women shall be required, separate ballots shall be furnished for the question on which they are entitled to vote, a separate ballot-box shall be provided in which all ballots cast by them shall be deposited, and a separate canvass thereof made by the judges of the election, and the returns thereof shall show such vote. office holding: women are not forbidden by law to hold any office except that of legislator. in thirteen women were serving as county superintendents and ten as superintendents of city schools; six were presidents, thirty-five secretaries and fifty treasurers of school boards. in the school board of des moines elected a woman city superintendent at a salary of $ , , with charge of eighty teachers, including two male principals. in twenty-one women were elected county superintendents. a large number are acting as school trustees but it is impossible to get the exact figures. the office of state librarian always was filled by a woman until , when gov. leslie m. shaw placed a man in charge. the librarian of the state university always has been a woman. there are two women on the library board of des moines. clerkships in the legislature and in the executive offices are frequently given to women. for six years mrs. anna hepburn was recorder of polk county, and this office has been held by women in other counties. a law of requires cities of over , inhabitants to employ police matrons. they wear uniform and star and have the same authority as men on the force, with this difference in their appointment: the law makes it permanent and they can not be dismissed unless serious charges are proved against them. a woman has been appointed a member of the board of examiners for the law department of the state university. for a number of years women have been sitting on the state boards of charities and reforms. they have served on the board of trustees of the soldiers' orphans' home. a woman is on the state board of education, and another on the state library commission. the law provides that women physicians may be employed in the state hospitals for the insane, but only two or three have been appointed. the board of control may appoint a woman on the visiting committee for these asylums but this has not yet been done. a few women have served on this board. the law also provides for women physicians in all state institutions where women are placed, but does not require them. the legislature of passed a bill to establish a woman's industrial reformatory of which the superintendent must be a woman. the salary is $ , a year. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. in iowa furnished, at marion, what is believed to be the first instance of the election of a woman as president of a united states national bank. education: the universities and colleges, including the state agricultural college, always have been co-educational. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * the women of iowa have thrown themselves eagerly into the great club movement, and clubs literary, philanthropic, scientific and political abound. the state federation numbers of these with a membership of , . this, however, does not include nearly all the women's organizations. by all the means at their command women are striving to fit themselves for whatever duties the future may have in store for them. with an unfaltering trust in the manhood of iowa men, those who advocate suffrage are waiting--and working while they wait--for the time when men and women shall stand side by side in governmental as in all other vital matters. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. clara m. richey of des moines, recording secretary of the state equal suffrage association. [ ] the _woman's standard_ has continued to be a source of pride to iowa women up to the present time, and is now edited by j. o. stevenson and published by mrs. sarah ware whitney. [ ] see chapter xvii. [ ] the following have served as presidents, beginning with : mrs. narcissa t. bemis, mrs. margaret w. campbell (four terms), mrs. mary b. welch, mrs. mary j. coggeshall (two terms), mrs. estelle t. smith (two terms), mrs. rowena stevens, mrs. m. lloyd kennedy, mrs. adelaide ballard (two terms), mrs. evelyn h. belden (three terms). the officers at present are: vice-president, mrs. dollie romans bradley; corresponding secretary, mrs. nellie welsh nelson; recording secretary, mrs. clara m. richey; treasurer, mrs. mary j. coggeshall; executive committee, mrs. anna h. ankeny, mrs. emma c. ladd, miss alice priest; auditors, mrs. martha c. callanan, mrs. ina light taylor; member national executive committee, mrs. margaret w. campbell; state organizer, dr. frances woods. [ ] it is plainly impossible to mention the names of all or even a large part of the workers in a state where so much has been done. a few of the most prominent not already named are george w. bemis; mesdames irene adams, virginia branner, s. j. cole, s. j. cottrell, mary e. emsley, clara f. harkness, julia clark hallam, helen m. harriman, etta s. kirk, alice s. longley, hannah lecompte, florence maskrey, emily phillips, martha a. peck, mettie laub romans, c. a. reynolds, cordelia sloughton, roma w. woods; misses daisy deighton, ella moffatt, katharine pierce. chapter xl. kansas.[ ] the first woman's rights association was organized in kansas in the spring of , by a little coterie of twenty-five men and women, with the object of securing suffrage for women from the convention which was to meet in july to form a constitution for statehood. they did not succeed in this but to them is largely due its remarkably liberal provisions regarding women.[ ] afterwards local suffrage societies were formed but there was no attempt to have a state association until . in the winter of that year mrs. bertha h. ellsworth was sent to the national convention at washington by the society of lincoln, and she returned enthusiastic for organization. after some correspondence the first convention was called by mrs. hetta p. mansfield, who had been appointed vice-president of kansas by the national association, and it met in the senate chamber at topeka, june . mrs. helen m. gougar, who was making a lecture tour of the state, was invited to preside, and mrs. anna c. wait, president of the five-year-old society at lincoln and for many years the strongest force behind the movement, acted as secretary.[ ] telegrams of greeting were received from lucy stone and henry b. blackwell, editors of the _woman's journal_. at the evening meeting mrs. ellsworth recited an original poem and mrs. gougar delivered a fine address to a large audience. professor w. h. carruth, of the university of kansas, assisted, coming as delegate from a flourishing suffrage society at lawrence, of which miss sarah a. brown was president and mrs. annie l. diggs secretary. a constitution was adopted and mrs. mansfield was elected president; mrs. wait, vice-president; mrs. ellsworth, corresponding secretary. in the fall of mrs. ellsworth and mrs. clara b. colby of nebraska, made an extended lecture and organizing tour. at salina they met and enlisted mrs. laura m. johns, and then began the systematic work which rapidly brought mrs. johns to the front as the leader of the suffrage forces in kansas. in addition to her great ability as an organizer, she is an unsurpassed manager of conventions, a forceful writer, an able speaker and a woman of winning personality. on jan. , , , the state association held its annual meeting in topeka, during the first week of the legislature. its chief business was to secure the introduction of a bill granting municipal woman suffrage, in which it succeeded. mrs. gougar was an inspiring figure throughout the convention, addressing a large audience in assembly hall. a committee on the political rights of women was secured in the lower house by a vote of yeas, nays, after a spirited contest. one was refused in the senate by a tie vote. much interest and discussion among the members resulted and a favorable sentiment was created. mrs. wait was made president, mrs. johns, vice-president. a second convention was held this year in salina, october , , with "mother" bickerdyke and mrs. colby as the principal speakers. a large amount of work was planned, all looking to the end of securing municipal suffrage from the next legislature. during the state woman's christian temperance union, under the presidency of mrs. fannie h. rastall, zealously co-operated with the suffrage association in the effort for the municipal franchise, miss amanda way, mrs. sarah a. thurston, miss olive p. bray and many other able women making common cause with its legislative committee and working for the bill. about , suffrage documents were distributed. this autumn eleven conventions in the congressional districts of the state were held under the efficient management of mrs. johns and mrs. wait, beginning at leavenworth, october , , and following at abilene, lincoln, florence, hutchinson, wichita, anthony, winfield, independence, fort scott and lawrence. miss susan b. anthony, vice-president-at-large of the national association, mrs. colby and mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon of new orleans, were the speakers. they were greeted by crowded houses, miss anthony especially receiving an ovation at every place visited. in october the american w. s. a. held its national convention in topeka. lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, the rev. anna howard shaw and mrs. julia ward howe, of massachusetts, and the hon. william dudley foulke and mrs. mary e. haggart, of indiana, were present. the meeting was of incalculable benefit at this time. for the next few months mrs. gougar, with her strong speeches, was everywhere in demand; mrs. saxon was continuously at work; mrs. zerelda g. wallace of indiana made a number of powerful addresses, and the whole state was aroused in the interest of the bill. instead of holding the usual state convention in it met in topeka, jan. - , , when the legislature was in session, and was largely attended for success seemed near at hand. mrs. belva a. lockwood of washington, d. c., made an able address. the other speakers were professor carruth, the rev. c. h. rogers, mrs. saxon and mrs. colby. miss sarah a. brown, as chairman of the committee, reported a resolution urging the legislature to confer municipal suffrage on women, which was unanimously carried, and the most determined purpose to secure its passage by the legislature then in session was manifested. mrs. johns was elected president, an office which she held eight consecutive years. the bill passed and became a law february . the next annual meeting took place in newton, oct. - , , with the usual large attendance.[ ] miss anthony, mr. blackwell, the rev. miss shaw and rachel g. foster (avery) were the speakers from abroad. two notable events were the appearance of kansas' first woman mayor, mrs. m. d. salter of argonia, and the reading of a carefully compiled statement relative to the first vote of women in the towns and cities at the election the preceding april. this paper was the work of judge francis g. adams, for many years secretary of the state historical society, and a lifelong friend and helper of woman's enfranchisement. it answered conclusively the question whether women would vote if they had an opportunity. this convention was followed by a very successful series of meetings in many cities to arouse public sentiment in favor of full suffrage, under the management of mrs. johns and mrs. letitia v. watkins, state organizer, with miss anthony, miss shaw and miss foster as speakers. considerable attention was given to the speech recently made by u. s. senator john j. ingalls at abilene, vigorously opposing woman suffrage. mrs. mary a. woodbridge of the national, and mrs. rastall of the kansas w. c. t. u., also made an active canvass of the state. these organizations united in a strong appeal to women to be equal to their new responsibilities, which was supplemented by one from the national president, miss frances e. willard. the state convention met at emporia, nov. - , , with miss anthony as its most inspiring figure. a notable feature was the address of mrs. johns, the president, in which she said: and this brings me to speak of our attitude toward political parties. whatever may be the individual preferences of the officers of our state association, _our organization is non-partisan_. i have hitherto regarded it as necessary that it should be strictly non-partisan, just as i have believed that it must remain non-sectarian, so that no one of any faith, political or religious, shall be shut out from our work.... i believe that this attitude toward sects will be necessary to the day of our full enfranchisement; but not as it now is will our relations to _party_ remain. the time is not yet ripe perhaps, but the years will not be many to go over our heads before we shall feel the necessity of declaring our allegiance to a party, and it is possible that to this we will be compelled to come before we secure an amendment to the constitution of the state striking out the word "male." a strong speech was made by secretary adams, urging that women should do aggressive political work with a view of securing the franchise. from this time on women were not only welcomed as political allies, but their influence and active participation were sought in party politics. many women lent their aid chiefly owing to their belief that they would thus become so valuable as to win party support to their full enfranchisement; others were enlisted by reason of their interest and devotion to the issues. whether for good or ill as it should affect full suffrage, kansas women thenceforth entered fully into party affiliations, but as individuals and not as representing the suffrage association. the state convention of assembled in wichita, october - . miss anthony was an honored guest and among those who made addresses were mrs. colby, mrs. mary d. lowman, mayor of oskaloosa, and the hon. randolph hatfield. at the convention of in atchison, november - , miss anthony was again present accompanied by mrs. carrie chapman catt and mrs. colby. the annual meeting of was held in topeka, november , . during the past year the great political change from republicanism to populism had taken place in kansas. women had been among the most potent factors in this revolution, and as woman suffrage was at that time a cardinal principle of the populist party, and there always had been considerable sentiment in favor of it among republicans, the prospects of obtaining the full franchise seemed very bright. in february and march of a series of thirty two-days' conventions was held in the congressional districts and in nearly one-third of the counties of the state, attended by great crowds. miss jennie broderick was chairman of the committee, mrs. rachel foster avery secretary and treasurer, and mrs. martha powell davis, mrs. martia l. berry, mrs. diggs and mrs. wait were the other members. mrs. avery contributed $ , toward this canvass. outside speakers were miss florence balgarnie of england, mrs. mary seymour howell of new york, mrs. clara c. hoffman of missouri, and the rev. miss shaw. the state speakers were mesdames s. a. thurston, may belleville brown, elizabeth f. hopkins, j. shelly boyd and caroline l. denton. mrs. johns arranged all of these conventions, presided one day or more over each and spoke at every one, organizing in person twenty-five of the thirty-one local societies which were formed as a result of these meetings. the first week in june a two-days' suffrage conference was held at the ottawa chautauqua assembly, with the assistance of miss anthony, president, and miss shaw, vice-president-at-large of the national association. from here miss anthony went to the state republican convention, in session at topeka, accompanied by mrs. johns, mrs. hopkins and mrs. brown, officers of the state suffrage society. they were joined by miss amanda way and "mother" bickerdyke, and by unanimous vote all of these ladies were given seats upon the floor of the convention. miss anthony was invited to address the body, conducted to the platform amid ringing cheers and her remarks were cordially received. later several of the ladies addressed the resolutions committee, and the final result, by yeas, nays, was a plank in the platform unequivocally declaring for the submission of an amendment to the constitution to enfranchise women. a similar plank already had been adopted by the populist state convention at wichita with great enthusiasm. during the autumn campaign following, mrs. diggs and other women spoke from the populist platform, and miss anthony, mrs. johns and mrs. t. j. smith from the republican. miss anthony, however, simply called attention to the record of the republican party in the cause of human freedom, and urged them to complete it by enfranchising women, but did not take up political issues. the state convention of was held at enterprise, december - , and the problem of preserving the non-partisan attitude of the organization so as to appeal with equal force to republicans and populists presented itself. with this in view, mrs. diggs, a populist, was made vice-president, as support and counsellor of mrs. johns, the president, who was a prominent republican, and the association, despite the political diversity of its members, was held strictly to a non-partisan basis. both republicans and populists having declared for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment, the legislature of passed a bill for this purpose, championed by representative e. w. hoch and senator householder. from that time forward, mrs. johns, mrs. diggs and hundreds of kansas women of both republican and populist faith labored with untiring zeal for its success. nothing was left undone that human wisdom could plan or human effort carry out. on sept. , , , a mass meeting was held in kansas city at which mrs. chapman catt ably presented the question. mrs. emma smith devoe of illinois agreed to raise $ , in the state. mrs. thurston, at the head of the press bureau, announced that hundreds of papers were pledged to support the amendment; the state teachers' association passed a strong resolution for it; the grand army of the republic was in favor; miss helen l. kimber related much success in organizing, and from every county came reports of meetings and debates. mrs. johns, state president, went to the national suffrage convention in washington in the winter of and made a most earnest appeal for assistance in the way of speakers and funds, both of which were promised by the association. she was appointed chairman of the amendment committee with power to name the members,[ ] and they opened up with energy the long campaign of agitation, education and organization. they started enrollment books, appointed polling committees and undertook to put people to work in every one of the , voting precincts. the national association contributed $ , and also a number of speakers. a constitutional amendment campaign was in progress in new york but miss anthony made many trips from there to kansas, and spent months in canvassing the state, donating her services during the entire time. work was continued without cessation for the purpose of creating a public sentiment which would be strong enough to compel the delegates to the political state conventions of to adopt a plank supporting this amendment, just as in they had adopted one asking for it. but in the populists had swept the state, and in the republicans were determined to regain possession of it at all hazards. the amazement and grief of the republican women was beyond expression when they learned early in that their party was going to refuse indorsement at its convention in june. every possible influence was brought to bear by the state and the national associations. miss anthony, miss shaw and mrs. chapman catt went to kansas to open the spring canvass for the women, may . they spoke to an immense audience in kansas city and a resolution was adopted urging all parties to put a woman suffrage plank in their platforms. miss anthony's speech was published in full in the leavenworth _times_, col. d. r. anthony, editor, and circulated throughout the state. this was the beginning of a great series of two-days' suffrage conventions held by two groups of speakers and so "overlapping" that meetings were going on in four county seats every day, until of the counties had been reached in this way. the rev. miss shaw and mrs. chapman catt represented the national association, reinforced by a number of able state speakers. all of these meetings were arranged and managed by mrs. johns. although obliged to return to new york at that time, in three weeks miss anthony went back to kansas, arriving the day before the republican convention, june . neither she nor miss shaw was allowed to address the resolutions committee, which had been carefully fortified against all efforts by the appointment as chairman of ex-gov. c. v. eskridge, an active opponent of woman suffrage since the previous campaign of . mrs. j. ellen foster of washington, d. c., and mrs. johns, both strong republican speakers, were, however, permitted to present the claims of the women, but the platform was absolutely silent, not even recognizing the services of republican women in municipal politics. the next saturday night a mass meeting attended by over , people was held in topeka, mrs. diggs presiding, miss anthony and miss shaw making the addresses. every effort was now put forth to secure a plank from the populist convention, june . there was great opposition, as the party knew the approaching struggle would be one of life or death. gov. l. d. lewelling had asserted he would not stand for re-election on a platform which declared for woman suffrage. while the resolutions committee was out, miss anthony, miss shaw and mrs. chapman catt addressed the convention amidst great enthusiasm. the majority of the committee, led by its chairman, p. p. elder, were bitterly opposed to a suffrage plank. it occupied them most of the night, and was defeated by yeas, nays. the one woman member, mrs. eliza hudson, brought in a minority report signed by herself and the other seven, and in spite of every parliamentary tactic it was brought to a debate and discussed four hours, judge frank doster[ ] leading the affirmative. the debate was closed by mrs. diggs,[ ] and the resolution was adopted by yeas, nays--with a rider attached to it saying, "but we do not regard this as a test of party fealty." the democratic women brought every possible influence to bear on the state convention of that party but it adopted the following resolution: "we oppose woman suffrage as tending to destroy the home and family, the true basis of political safety, and express the hope that the helpmeet and guardian of the family sanctuary may not be dragged from the modest purity of self-imposed seclusion to be thrown unwillingly into the unfeminine places of political strife." miss shaw continued canvassing the state for two months. then mrs. chapman catt went out and remained until after election, making addresses, conferring with the politicians and counseling with the women. miss anthony, who was obliged to give most of the summer to the great campaign in progress in her own state of new york, returned to kansas october , and spoke daily on the populist platform in the principal towns until election day, november , but only on the suffrage plank. a large number of the ablest of the kansas women made speeches throughout the campaign and an army of them worked for the amendment.[ ] the battle was lost, and the grief and disappointment of the kansas women were indescribable. the amendment failed by , votes-- , yeas, , nays. the total vote cast for governor was , ; total vote on suffrage amendment, , ; not voting on amendment, , . there was an attempt to keep count of the ballots according to parties, but it was not entirely successful and there was no way of correctly estimating their political complexion. however, the vote for gov. e. n. morrill (rep.) lacked only , of that for the other three candidates combined, which shows how easily the republican party might have carried the amendment. subtracting the , prohibition votes, three-fourths of which it was conceded were cast for the amendment, it lacked , of receiving as many votes as were cast for the populist candidate for governor. since some republicans must have voted for it, the figures prove that a vast number of populists did not do so.[ ] the first state convention following the defeat of was held at winfield, december , , of that year. mrs. johns was once more elected president, but the profound disappointment over the defeat of the amendment made it impossible to revive organization or interest to any satisfactory degree. from until mrs. johns was the efficient and devoted president of the state association. as she declined to serve longer, the convention which met at eureka, november , , elected mrs. kate r. addison to this office. mrs. addison began her official work with much hopefulness, established a monthly paper, the _suffrage reveille_, and succeeded in enlisting new workers in the cause. miss laura a. gregg, state organizer, added a number of clubs and over members. in june, , mrs. charlotte perkins stetson was brought into the state for twenty-seven lectures, beginning with the chautauqua assembly at winfield. the annual meeting took place at topeka, november , ll, and mrs. addison was re-elected. the convention of was held at yates center, december - , and mrs. addison was continued in office. mrs. stetson had again made a lecturing tour of the state and a general revival of interest was reported. miss anthony and mrs. chapman catt were present at the state convention in paola, oct. , , . mrs. abbie a. welch, a pioneer in the cause, was elected to the presidency. during this year mrs. johns and miss gregg organized a number of counties, and the press superintendent, mrs. alice g. young, did effective work with the newspapers. the annual meeting of was held in kansas city, october - , and was the most largely attended since the great defeat. gov. john p. st. john was the orator of the occasion. the rev. father kuhls, a catholic priest, spoke as a disbeliever in woman's enfranchisement, which furnished inspiration for a reply by mrs. diggs. this event created an interest equalling the old-time enthusiasm, and it was believed that the hour for renewed activity had struck. mrs. diggs was made president, and it was unanimously resolved to take up again the work for full enfranchisement. the convention of was held in olathe, december , . the state at the recent presidential election having gone strongly republican, mrs. diggs thought it not political wisdom to remain at the head of the association and miss gregg was elected president. when it was learned that she had taken charge of the nebraska suffrage headquarters her duties devolved upon miss helen l. kimber, the new vice-president. this convention voted against the proposition to ask the legislature of to submit a constitutional amendment, thinking it advisable first to devote two years to the work of organization, after which it is generally believed the full suffrage can be secured.[ ] legislative action: the state association from its beginning in made municipal suffrage its chief object. in a bill for this purpose was presented in the house by frank j. kelly. it was favorably reported by the judiciary committee, but although advanced somewhat on the calendar it was too far down to reach a vote. at a special session in the bill was reported to the house by the committee on political rights of women, and a large force of competent women went to topeka to urge its passage. on february it stood eighth from the top on the calendar. on february , when the committee on revision submitted its report, it stood sixty-first. a strong protest was made by its friends on the floor and by a standing vote it was restored to its original place. the enemies were now thoroughly alarmed. a state election was close at hand and the prohibitionists were crowding the republicans. the bill was practically a republican measure and its opponents in that party hit upon the scheme of getting up a third party scare. they were led by ex-gov. george t. anthony who declared he would spend his last cent to defeat the bill. it was denounced by press and politicians as a sly prohibition trick, some of its best friends were thus silenced and it was quietly smothered. the bill was introduced in the senate by l. b. kellogg and favorably reported from the judiciary committee with an opposing minority report. it was ably championed by himself, senators h. b. kelly and r. w. blue, but was eventually stricken from the calendar by the committee on revision and a motion to reinstate was lost by yeas, nays, on february . when the legislature convened in the election was over and had resulted favorably for the republicans. the suffragists had spent the intervening ten months in a campaign of their own. miss anthony had come to kansas and they had held conventions in all the principal cities. at her request the w. c. t. u. had given up their plan of asking for an amendment to the constitution and joined the attempt to secure municipal suffrage under the leadership of their president, mrs. fannie h. rastall. mrs. zerelda g. wallace, their national superintendent of franchise, gave a series of her eloquent lectures. the strongest suffrage speakers in the country came to the state, under the management of mrs. laura m. johns, and petitions were secured containing , names, more than ever had been presented for any purpose. this agitation was continued up to the opening of the legislature, jan. , , when mrs. johns was on hand with the bill. it was introduced in the senate by judge r. w. blue and referred to the judiciary committee, of which he was chairman. a favorable report, with a minority dissent, was made, but the original bill had been substituted by one which provided merely that "women should vote for all city officers." a vigorous protest was made by the suffrage leaders. they insisted that the right to vote for city bonds should be included, and that the inequalities should be remedied in the present law which prevented women of first and second class cities from voting on school questions as did those of the third class and the country districts. a compromise was finally effected and a bill drafted by which women should vote for all city and school officers and on bonds for school appropriations. a petition against the bill was sent in signed by nineteen women of independence, saying in effect that women had all the rights they needed. on the morning when it was to be discussed an enormous bouquet adorned the desk of senator r. m. pickler, leader of the opponents, the card inscribed, "from the women of kansas who do not wish to vote. history honors the man who dares to do what is right." later investigation disclosed the fact that no woman had any part in sending the flowers, but that, as one member remarked in open session, their chief perfume was that of alcohol. after hours of debate and an adjournment the bill finally was adopted on january , by yeas, all republicans; nays, republicans, democrats. judge blue's table was loaded with flowers and every senator who voted in favor was decorated with a choice buttonhole bouquet sent by the ladies. the bill was already far advanced in the house, under the management of gen. t. t. taylor. on february the discussion continued the entire day. scripture was read and biblical authorities cited from eve to st. paul; the pure female angels were dragged through the filthy cesspool of politics, and the changes were rung on the usual hackneyed objections. the measure was splendidly championed, however, by many members, especially by t. a. mcneal (rep.) who made a telling response to the scurrilous speech of edward carrol (dem.), leader of the opposition. no member of the house rendered more effective service than did a. w. smith, speaker. it passed by yeas-- rep., dem.; nays, rep., dem. the total vote of both houses was yeas-- rep., dem.; nays, rep., dem. the bill was signed by gov. john a. martin (rep.), february , .[ ] notwithstanding all the efficient work done by the officers of the state association, the local clubs and the platform speakers, this measure would not have become a law but for the vigilant work of the women with the legislature itself. mrs. johns was on hand from the first, tactfully urging the bill. she had very material aid in the constant presence, active pen and careful work of j. b. johns, her husband. mrs. helen m. gougar of indiana was granted the privilege of addressing the house while in session. prominent women from all parts of the state were in attendance, using their influence with the members from their districts. on the day of final debate in the house the floor and galleries were crowded, over women being present. a jubilee impossible to describe followed the announcement that the bill had passed.[ ] the next day the house was transformed by the women into a bower of blossoms. in march, the next month after municipal suffrage was granted to women, the "age of protection" for girls was raised from ten to eighteen years. two years later, in , a bill was presented to amend this law, which passed the senate by yeas, nays, and was sent to the house. it was so smothered in words that the general public was not aware of its meaning. by the time it reached the house, however, the alarm had been sounded that it proposed to reduce the age of consent, and there was a storm of protest. this was not alone from women but also from a number of men. the labor unions were especially active in opposition and the house was inundated with letters and petitions. the bill was referred to the judiciary committee which reported it with the recommendation that it be not passed. its author claimed that it was intended simply to afford some protection for boys.[ ] in attorney-general l. b. kellogg recommended that, in order to protect young men of immature years from women of immoral life, inquiry as to the character of the woman bringing the charge should be permitted. gov. lyman u. humphrey urged that such an amendment should be adopted, which could be done without lowering the age of protection for girls. no change, however, has been made in the law. in the divorce law was so amended as to give the wife all the property owned by her at the time of marriage and all acquired by her afterward, alimony being allowed from the real and personal estate of the husband. this year a bill was passed creating the girls' industrial school. mrs. s. a. thurston was one of the prime factors in securing this bill. as the legislature was overwhelmingly republican the greatest effort was put forth to secure a law making it mandatory to place women on the state boards of charitable institutions. thirty-six large petitions were introduced by as many members in each house but all failed of effect. in the populist party gained control of the house of representatives, although the senate was still republican. mrs. annie l. diggs had been appointed by the farmers' alliance on their state legislative committee and she began a vigorous campaign to secure full suffrage for women by statutory enactment, which it was believed could be done under the terms of the constitution. the bill was introduced into the house and urged by j. l. soupene. mrs. diggs had the assistance of col. sam wood and other ardent friends of suffrage. the committee on political rights of women reported the bill favorably, and said through its chairman, d. m. watson: while the constitution declares in the first section of its suffrage article that "every white male person, etc., shall be deemed a qualified elector," in the second section it names certain persons who shall be excluded from voting. women are not given the right to vote in the first nor are they excluded in the second, and this indicates that the question of their right to vote was intended to be left to the legislature. the supreme court (wheeler vs. brady, th kas., p. ,) says: "there is nothing in the nature of government which would prevent it. women are members of society, members of the great body politic, citizens as much as men, with the same natural rights, united with men in the same common destiny, and are capable of receiving and exercising whatever political rights may be conferred upon them." on february the bill received yeas, nays, not a constitutional majority. the sentiment in favor was so strong among the populists that a reconsideration was finally secured and the bill passed by yeas-- pop., rep., dem.; nays-- pop., rep., dem. previous to its passage the speaker, p. p. elder (pop.) presented a protest signed by himself, populists, republicans and democrats, declaring it to be unconstitutional and giving eight other objections.[ ] the friends were much elated at its passage over this protest and sent at once for mrs. johns to come to topeka and work for its success in the senate. she made every possible effort but in vain, the republicans basing their refusal on its unconstitutionality. there was every reason to believe the supreme court would have upheld the statute. in an amendment to the constitution was submitted to the electors by votes of both republican and populist members of the legislature and was defeated in , as has been related. in two bills were introduced, one providing for a bond suffrage which is not included in the municipal; the other to enable women to vote for presidential electors. they were not reported from committee. in a bill providing that there should be women physicians in penal institutions containing women and at least one woman on the state board of charities was favorably reported by, the house committee, but did not reach a vote. this year an act was secured creating the traveling libraries commission. the work for this was initiated and principally carried forward by mrs. lucy b. johnston, who enlisted the women of the social science federation in . the federated club women had conducted the enterprise three years and now turned over to the state forty libraries of about , volumes. in the appropriation was raised from $ , to $ , . on jan. , , a bill prepared by auditor carlisle of wyandotte county was introduced by its representative j. a. butler (dem.) of kansas city, to repeal the law giving municipal suffrage to women. it was received with jeers and shouts of laughter and referred to the judiciary committee, which, on the th, reported it with the recommendation that it be not passed. on january he re-introduced the same measure under another title. this time protests were sent in from all parts of the state. mrs. diggs went to mr. butler's home and secured a large number of these from his own constituents. a hearing was given by the judiciary committee to a delegation of prominent women and the bill was never reported. as there seemed so much favorable sentiment it was hastily decided to ask this legislature to give women the right to vote for presidential electors, which would unquestionably be legal. mrs. johns and miss helen kimber looked after its interests with the republican members; mrs. diggs with the populists. the evening of february , when the vote was to be taken in the senate, floor and galleries were crowded with women of position and influence. senator fred dumont smith (rep.) had charge of the bill, and senator g. a. noftzger (rep.) led the opposition. the vote resulted in yeas-- rep., pop., dem.; nays-- rep., pop. the friends had every reason to believe the house would pass the bill, but in the still small hours of the night following the action of the senate, its republican members in caucus decided that this might injure the party at the approaching state election, and the next morning it was reconsidered and defeated by yeas-- rep., pop., dem.; nays-- rep., pop., dem. laws: the constitution of kansas, adopted in , contained more liberal provisions for women than had existed in any state up to that time. it made the law of inheritance the same for widow and widower; gave father and mother equal guardianship of children; and directed the legislature to protect married women in the possession of separate property. this was not done, however, until , the next year after the first campaign to secure an amendment conferring suffrage upon women. at this time a statute provided that all property, real and personal, owned by a woman at marriage, and all acquired thereafter by descent or by the gift of any person except her husband, shall remain her sole and separate property, not subject to the disposal of her husband or liable for his debts. a married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued as if unmarried; engage in any business or perform any services and her earnings shall be her sole and separate property to be used or invested by her. the wife can convey or mortgage her separate personal property without the husband's signature. he can do the same without her signature except such as is exempt so long as a man is married. neither can convey or encumber real estate without consent of the other. if there are no children the surviving husband or wife takes all the property real and personal; if there are children, one-half. neither can dispose by will of more than one-half of the separate property without the consent of the other. a homestead of acres of land, or one acre within city limits, is reserved free from creditors for the survivor. if the wife marry again, or when the children have attained their majority, the homestead must be divided, she taking one-half. if she die first the husband has the right of occupancy for life, whether he marry or not, but the homestead must descend to her heirs. the husband must support the wife according to his means, or she may have alimony decreed by the court without divorce, or in some cases she may sue directly for support. in case of divorce the wife is entitled to all the property owned by her at marriage and all acquired by her afterwards, alimony being allowed from the real and personal estate of the husband. the "age of protection" for girls is , with penalty of imprisonment at hard labor not less than five nor more than twenty-one years. suffrage: (see page .) office holding: the first state constitution, in , declared women eligible for all school offices. as it does not require that any state officer except member of the legislature shall be an elector, women are not legally debarred from any other state office. the constitution does prescribe the qualifications for some county officers, and the legislature for others and for all township officers. some of these are required to be electors and some are not; some can be voted for only by electors and the law is silent in regard to others. it would perhaps require a supreme court decision in almost every case if there were any general disposition to elect women to these offices. twenty years ago a few were serving as county clerks, registers of deeds, regents of the state university, county superintendents and school trustees. in attorney-general l. b. kellogg (rep.) appointed his wife assistant attorney-general. she was a practicing attorney and her husband's law partner and filled the office with great ability. miss ella cameron served out her father's unexpired term as probate judge and the legislature legalized her acts. there is no law requiring women on the boards of state institutions but a number have been appointed. gov. l. d. lewelling (pop.) in appointed mrs. mary e. lease member of the state board of charities and mrs. eva blackman on the board of police commissioners of leavenworth. these were the first and last appointments of women to these positions. in women physicians were appointed by him in two insane asylums, the orphans' home and the girls' industrial school. in gov. john w. leedy (pop.) appointed mrs. john p. st. john member board of regents of state agricultural college and dr. eva harding physician at boys' reform school. in mrs. annie l. diggs was appointed state librarian by the supreme court, judges frank doster, stephen allen, populists; william a. johnston, republican. the term is four years. there are two women assistants in the state library. miss zu adams is first assistant in the state historical library. three other women are employed as assistants in that office. each of the three state hospitals for the insane has a woman physician, but this is not required. the law provides that the girls' industrial school shall have a woman physician and superintendent. its officers always have been women, except the farmer and engineer. in a woman was appointed as farmer and was said to be the best the institution ever had. mrs. lucy b. johnston and mrs. mary v. humphreys are members of the state traveling library commission, mrs. diggs, as state librarian, being president. since the very first time that women voted they have been clerks of elections, and in some instances, judges. several small towns have put the entire local government into the hands of women. from to there had been about fifty women aldermen, five police judges, one city attorney, several city clerks and treasurers, and numerous clerks and treasurers of school boards. in a report from about half the counties showed twenty women county superintendents of schools, and serving on school boards. they are frequently made president or secretary of the board. women have been candidates for state superintendent of public instruction, but none has been elected. a number of women within the past few years have been elected county treasurers, recorders, registers and clerks. they serve as notaries public. probably one-third of the county offices have women deputies. the record for , as far as it could be obtained, showed the women in office to be one clerk of the district court, two county clerks, seven registrars of deeds and twenty-seven county superintendents of schools. this list is far from complete. about twenty-five women have been elected to the office of mayor in the smaller towns of kansas. in several instances the entire board of aldermen have been women. the business record of these women has been invariably good and their industrious efforts to improve sanitation, schools, sidewalks, and to advance the other interests of their town, have been generously seconded and aided by the men of their community. among the most prominent of the women mayors were mrs. mary d. lowman of oskaloosa, mrs. minnie d. morgan of cottonwood falls, and mrs. antoinette haskell of gaylord. mrs. lowman, the second woman to be elected, conducted a great work in improving the conditions of the municipality, morally and physically. she held her office two terms with entire boards of women aldermen, and refused to serve a third term, saying that she and her boards had accomplished the work they set out to do. they retired with much honor and esteem, having made a creditable amount of street improvements and left the treasury with more money than they found in it. mrs. morgan is editor with her husband of a republican newspaper, an officer in the woman's state press association and holds high official position in the woman's relief corps. mrs. haskell is the wife of a prominent lawyer and politician. she held the office of mayor for two terms and the last time her entire board of aldermen were women. her administration of municipal affairs was so satisfactory that she was besought to accept a third term but declined. occupations: the constitution of the state, framed in , opened every occupation to women. education: this first constitution also required the admission of women to all the state educational institutions and gave them a place on the faculties. as early as one-half of the faculty of the state university was composed of women. this university, the state agricultural college and the state normal college average an equal number of men and women graduates. women hold places on the faculties of all these institutions. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . suffrage: the constitution for statehood, framed in , provided that all women over should vote at all school district meetings the same as men, the first one to contain such a provision. this excluded all women in first and second class cities in after years, as their school affairs are not managed through district meetings. when a test case was made it was decided by the supreme court that no women could legally vote for state or county superintendents, but only for trustees. ( th kansas, p. .) both the constitution and the statutes are confused as to the qualifications of those who may vote for various county and township officers but women never have been permitted to do so. in the legislature granted municipal suffrage to women. the law is as follows: in any election hereafter held in any city of the first, second or third class, for the election of city or school officers, or for the purpose of authorizing the issuance of any bonds for school purposes, the right of any citizen to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex; and women may vote at such elections the same as men, under like restrictions and qualifications; and any women possessing the qualifications of a voter under this act shall also be eligible to any such city or school office. this law includes women in all of the villages, as these are known as "third class cities." women in country districts, however, continue to have only a limited school suffrage. it does not give women a vote on any questions of taxation which are submitted to the electors except for school purposes. nevertheless this was an advanced step which attracted the attention of the entire country. while in wyoming women had full suffrage, it was a sparsely settled territory, with few newspapers and far removed from centers of political activity. kansas was a battle-ground for politics, and great interest was felt in the new forces which had been called into action. from the first women very extensively took advantage of their new privilege. it was granted february and the next municipal election took place april , so there were only a few weeks in which to accustom them to the new idea, make them acquainted with the issues, settle the disputed points and give them a chance to register. the question was at once raised whether they could vote for justices of the peace and constables, and at a late hour attorney-general s. b. bradford gave his opinion that they could not do so, as these are township officers. this made separate ballot-boxes necessary and in many places these were not provided, so there was considerable misunderstanding and confusion. on election day a wind storm of unusual violence, even for that section of the country, raged all day. through the influence of the liquor dealers' association, which had used every possible effort to defeat the suffrage bill, reporters were sent by a number of large papers in different cities, especially st. louis, with orders to ridicule the voting of the women and minimize its effects. as a result the eastern press was soon flooded with sensational and false reports. an official and carefully prepared report of pages was issued by judge francis g. adams, secretary of the kansas state historical association, and prof. william h. carruth of the state university, giving the official returns from cities. the total vote was , ; vote of men, , ; of women, , . in a few of the very small cities there were no women's votes. in many of the second-class cities more than one-half as many women as men voted. in leavenworth, , ballots were cast by men, and , by women; in lawrence, , by men, , by women. in kansas city, topeka and fort scott about one-fourth as many women as men voted. in these estimates it must be taken into consideration that there were many more men than women in the state. in , three years later, the census report showed the excess of males to be about , . the pamphlet referred to contained pages of extracts from the press of kansas on the voting of women, and stated that these represented but a fraction of the comment. they varied as much as the individual opinions of men, some welcoming the new voters, some ridiculing and abusing, others referring to the movement as a foolish fad which would soon be dropped. the republican and prohibitionist papers almost universally paid the highest tribute to the influence of women on the election and assured them of every possible support in the future. the democratic papers, with but few exceptions, scoffed at them and condemned woman suffrage. the immense majority of opinion was in favor of the new regime and was an unimpeachable answer to the objections and misrepresentations which found place in the press of all other parts of the country. the interest of kansas women in their political rights never has abated. the proportion of their vote varies in about the same ratio as that of men. upon occasions when the character of candidates or the importance of the issue commands especial attention a great many go to the polls. their chief interest, however, centers in questions which bear directly upon the education and welfare of their children, the environment of their homes and those of kindred nature. when issues involving these are presented they vote in large numbers. there is always a larger municipal vote in the uneven years when mayors are to be elected, and therefore a comparison is made in five prominent cities between the vote of and that of to show that in the fourteen years the interest of women in the suffrage has increased instead of diminished. _town._ _year._ _man-vote._ _woman-vote._ kansas city , , kansas city , , topeka , , topeka , , fort scott , fort scott , , leavenworth , , leavenworth , , wichita , , wichita ..... ..... it was impossible to obtain the vote of wichita in but the registration was , men, , women, and out of these , , there were , who voted. one of the most prominent lawyers in wichita writes of this election: "the women fully maintained the ratio of the registration. the vote was small on account of inclement weather but i am sure that it kept away more men than women." at one election it is recorded the vote of women exceeded that of men in one second-class and three third-class cities. in one instance all but two of the women of cimarron cast their ballots. in lincoln for several years women have polled per cent. of the entire vote. the percentage of males in the state by the census of was . . the question frequently is asked why, with the ballot in their hands, women do not compel the enforcement of the prohibitory law, as it is generally supposed that municipal suffrage carries with it the right to vote for all city officials. the same year that women were enfranchised, the legislature, for whom women do not vote, passed a law authorizing the governor, for whom women do not vote, to appoint a board of police commissioners for each city of the first class, with power to appoint the police judge, city marshal and police, and have absolute control of the organization, government and discipline of the police force and of all station-houses, city prisons, etc. temperance men and women strongly urged this measure as they believed the governor would have stamina enough to select commissioners who would enforce the prohibitory law. this board was abolished at the special session of the legislature in , as it was made a scapegoat for city and county officers who were too cowardly or too unfriendly to enforce the liquor ordinances, and it did not effect the hoped-for reforms. in city courts were established. by uniting the townships with cities and giving these courts jurisdiction over state and county cases, to relieve the congested condition of state courts, women are deprived of a vote for their officers. the exercise of the municipal franchise at present is as follows: men vote for women vote for mayor, mayor, councilmen, councilmen, school board, school board, city attorney, city attorney, city treasurer, city treasurer, city clerk, city clerk. judge of city court, clerk of city court, appointed by mayor marshal of city court, police judge, two justices of the peace, city marshal, two constables. chief of police. in cities of less than , the police judge is elected and women may vote for this officer. in the smallest places the city marshal is also chief of police. it will be seen that even for the police court in the largest cities women have only an indirect vote through the mayor's appointments. in all the cities and towns liquor sellers when convicted here simply take an appeal to a higher court over which women have no jurisdiction. they have no vote for sheriff, county attorney or any county officer. these facts may in a measure answer the question why women are helpless to enforce the prohibitory law or any other to which they are opposed. nevertheless even this small amount of suffrage has been of much benefit to the women and to the cities. as the years go by the general average of the woman-vote is larger. municipal voting has developed a stronger sense of civic responsibility among women; it has completely demolished the old stock objections and has familiarized men with the presence of women at the polls. without question a higher level in the conduct of city affairs has resulted. it may, however, well be questioned as to whether municipal suffrage has not militated against the full enfranchisement of women. politicians have been annoyed by interference with their schemes. men have learned that women command influence in politics, and the party machine has become hostile to further extension of woman's opportunity and power to demand cleaner morals and nobler standards.[ ] judge s. s. king, commissioner of elections at kansas city, has given the suffrage question much thought, and he has gleaned from the figures of his official records some interesting facts. alluding to the mooted question of what class of women vote he says: the opponents of woman suffrage insist that the lower classes freely exercise the franchise, while the higher classes generally refrain from voting. as women in registering usually give their vocation as "housekeeper" it is impossible to learn from that record what particular ledge of the social strata they stand upon, therefore, in order to locate them as to trades, business, etc., i give them the positions occupied by their husbands and fathers. i take the th voting precinct of kansas city as a typical one. it is about an average in voting population of white and colored men and women and in the diversified industries. the white women who registered in this precinct, as indicated by the vocations of their husbands, fathers, etc., would be classified thus: the trades (all classes of skilled labor), ; the professions, ; merchants (all manner of dealers), ; laborers (unskilled), ; clerks, ; public officers, ; bankers and brokers, ; railroad employes, ; salesmen, ; contractors, ; foremen, ; paymaster, ; unclassified, . thus, if the opponents of woman suffrage use the term "lower classes" according to some ill-defined rule of élite society, the example given above would be a complete refutation. if by "lower classes" they mean the immoral and dissolute, the refutation appears to be still more complete, for the woman electorate in the th precinct is particularly free from those elements. it is extremely rare to find a prominent man in kansas, except certain politicians, who openly opposes woman suffrage. with a very few exceptions the most eminent cordially advocate it, including a large number of ministers, lawyers and editors. it would require a chapter simply to catalogue the names of well-known men and women who are heartily in favor of it. had kansas men voted their convictions, kansas women would long since have been enfranchised, but political partisanship has been stronger than the sense of justice. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter principally to mrs. annie l. diggs of topeka, state librarian and former president of the state woman suffrage association. the editors are also under obligations to mrs. laura m. johns of salina and mrs. anna c. wait of lincoln, former presidents. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. i, p. . [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, chap. l. [ ] at this meeting, on motion of mrs. johns, the yellow ribbon was adopted as the suffrage badge, in honor of the sunflower, the state flower of kansas, the one which follows the wheel track and the plough, as woman's enfranchisement should follow civilization. it was afterwards adopted by the national association in recognition of kansas, then the most progressive state in regard to women. those of a classical bent accepted it because yellow among the ancients signified wisdom. [ ] secretary, may belleville brown; treasurer, elizabeth f. hopkins; mrs. s. a. thurston, mrs. l. b. smith, alma b. stryker, eliza mclallin, bina a. otis, helen l. kimber, sallie f. toler, annie l. diggs; from the national association, carrie chapman catt, chairman of the organization committee, rachel foster avery and alice stone blackwell, corresponding and recording secretaries. [ ] now chief justice of the supreme court of kansas. [ ] of mrs. diggs' speech mrs. johns writes: "it was one of the most masterly arguments i ever heard. at one point she said: 'the great majority of you declare that woman suffrage is right, (a roar of 'yes,' 'yes,' went up), and yet you oppose this plank. are you afraid to do right?' her reply to the flimsy objections of the chairman, p. p. elder, was simply unanswerable. she cut the ground from under his feet, and his confusion and rout were so complete that he stood utterly confounded. that small woman with her truth and eloquence had slain the goliath of the opposition!" [ ] the following speakers and organizers were placed at fairs, chautauqua assemblies, picnics, teachers' institutes and in distinctive suffrage meetings: james clement ambrose (ills.), theresa jenkins (wyo.), elizabeth upham yates (me.), clara c. hoffman (mo.); mrs. johns, j. b. johns, the revs. eugenia and c. h. st. john, mary g. haines, luella r. kraybill, helen l. kimber, laura a. gregg, lizzie e. smith, ella w. brown, naomi anderson, eva corning, ella bartlett, alma b. stryker, olive i. royce, caroline l. denton, mrs. diggs, may belleville brown, j. willis gleed, thomas l. bond, the rev. granville lowther, prof. w. h. carruth and mayor harrison of topeka. during the autumn mrs. emma smith devoe (ills.), and mrs. julia b. nelson (minn.), made addresses for one month; mrs. rachel l. child (ia.) spoke and organized for two months. [ ] returns were received from out of the counties, covering of the , voting precincts. these returns were carefully tabulated by mrs. thurston, acting secretary of the amendment campaign committee. the result showed that of republicans _voting on the proposition_, - / per cent. voted _for_; of populists, per cent.; of democrats, per cent.; of prohibitionists, per cent. of the entire vote of the republican party for its ticket, per cent. were silent on the amendment; of the entire vote of the people's party, per cent.; of the democratic, per cent.; of the prohibition, per cent. [ ] others who have held official position are vice-presidents, mesdames j.k. hudson, sallie f. toler, noble l. prentis, abbie a. welch, fannie bobbet and emma troudner; corresponding secretaries, mrs. priscilla finley, miss sarah a. brown, dr. nannie stephens, mrs. elizabeth f. hopkins, mrs. ray mclntyre, mrs. b.b. baird, mrs. alice g. young; recording secretaries, dr. addie kester, mrs. alice g. bond, prof. william h. carruth, mrs. m.m. bowman, mrs. emma s. albright, miss matie toothaker; treasurers, mrs. martia l. berry, dr. c.e. tiffany, mrs. lucia o. case, mrs. henrietta stoddard turner; auditors, mrs. emma s. marshall, mrs. s.a. thurston; parliamentarians, mesdames ella w. brown, bina a. otis, luella r. kraybill, antoinette l. haskell; librarians, mrs. may belleville brown, dr. emily newcomb; state organizer, miss jennie newby; superintendent press work, mrs. nannie k. garrett. a number of these filled various offices and some of them bore the brunt of the work continuously for years. other names which appear frequently are j. k. hudson, editor topeka _capital_, dr. sarah c. hall, mesdames m. e. de geer, m. s. woods, e. d. garlick, e. a. elder, l. b. kellogg, jennie robb maher, miss emma harriman, the rev. w. a. simkins, judge nathan cree, walter s. wait, sarah w. rush, dr. j. e. spaulding, dr. f. m. w. jackson, henrietta b. wall, mrs. lucy b. johnston, miss genevieve l. hawley. [ ] miss susan b. anthony was in the national convention at washington and this news was telegraphed her as a birthday greeting. [ ] among the most influential workers for this bill during the three sessions of the legislature, in addition to those mentioned, were thomas l. bond; mesdames bertha h. ellsworth, hetta p. mansfield, martia l. berry, s. a. thurston and henrietta b. wall; misses jennie newby, olive p. bray and amanda way. [ ] mrs. johns says of this occasion: "if we had ever had any doubt that even our small moiety of the suffrage would strengthen our influence for righteousness, the effect of our protest at this time and the attitude of the politicians toward us would have dispelled that doubt. we felt our power and it was a new thrill which we experienced." [ ] among these were the following: the relations of man and wife "are one and inseparable" as to the good to be derived from or the evil to be suffered by laws imposed, and the addition of woman suffrage will not better their condition, but is fraught with danger and evil to both sexes and the well-being of society. this privilege conferred will bring to every primary, caucus and election--to our jury rooms, the bench and the legislature--the ambitious and designing women only, to engage in all the tricks, intrigues and cunning incident to corrupt political campaigns, only to lower the moral standing of their sex; it invites and creates jealousies and scandals and jeopardizes their high moral standing; hurls women out from their central orb fixed by their creator to an external place in the order of things. promiscuous mingling with the rude and unscrupulous element around earnest and exciting elections tends to a familiarity that breeds contempt for the fair sex deeply to be deplored. the demand for female suffrage is largely confined to the ambitious office-seeking class, possessing an insatiable desire for the forum, and when allowed will unfit this class for all the duties of domestic life and transform them into politicians, and dangerous ones at that. when the laws of nature shall so change the female organization as to make it possible for them to sing "bass" we shall then be quite willing for such a bill to become a law. it is a grave mistake, an injury to both sexes and the party, to add another "ism" to our political creed. republican--a. h. heber, w. r. hopkins, f. w. willard, j. showalter. democrat--j. o. milner, g. m. hoover, t. c. craig, f. m. gable. populist--robt. b. leedy, j. l. andrews, wellington doty, b. f. morris, levi dumbauld, c. w. dickson, geo. e. smith of neosho. [ ] in , in topeka, a candidate for the mayoralty, supposed to represent the liquor element, speaking on the afternoon of election day--bleak, dismal and shoe-top deep in snow and mud--said: "i will lose , votes on account of the weather as the women are out and they are opposed to me. it is impossible to keep them from voting." chapter xli. kentucky.[ ] in october, , the association for the advancement of women held its annual congress in louisville, and for the first time woman suffrage was admitted to a place on the program. it was advocated by mrs. ednah d. cheney of massachusetts and miss laura clay. the subject was much discussed for the next two years and in february, , mrs. mary b. clay, vice-president of the american and of the national woman suffrage associations, called a convention in frankfort. delegates from lexington and richmond attended, and mrs. zerelda g. wallace of indiana was present by invitation. the hall of representatives was granted for two evenings, the general assembly being in session. on the first mrs. wallace delivered an able address and the hall was well filled, principally with members of the legislature. on the second mrs. clay spoke upon the harsh laws in regard to women, and prof. e. b. walker on the injustice of the property laws and the advantage of giving women the ballot in municipal affairs. he was followed by mrs. sarah clay bennett, who argued that women already had a right to the ballot under the fourteenth amendment to the united states constitution. at the conclusion of her address she asked all legislators present who were willing to give the ballot to women to stand. seven arose and were greeted with loud applause. when the annual meeting of the american w. s. a. convened in cincinnati, ohio, nov. - , , miss laura clay, member of its executive committee from kentucky, issued a call to the suffragists of that state to attend this convention for the purpose of organizing a state association. accordingly delegates from the fayette and kenton county societies met and organized the kentucky equal rights association. the following officers were elected: president, miss clay; vice-presidents, mrs. ellen battelle dietrick, mrs. mary b. clay; corresponding secretary, mrs. eugenia b. farmer; recording secretary, miss anna m. deane; treasurer, mrs. isabella h. shepard. the second annual convention was held in the court house at lexington, nov. - , , with officers and delegates representing seven counties. the evening speakers were mrs. clay, mrs. josephine k. henry and joseph b. cottrell, d. d. a committee was appointed, mrs. henry, chairman, to present the interests of women to the approaching general assembly and the constitutional convention. (see legislative action for .) the next annual meeting took place in richmond, dec. , , . mrs. sarah hardin sawyer was asked to prepare a tract on co-education, which proved of great assistance in opening the colleges to women. the evening speakers were mrs. shepard, mrs. henry and the rev. john g. fee, the venerable kentucky abolitionist. the fourth convention was held in louisville, dec. - , , and was addressed by the rev. anna howard shaw and the rev. dr. c. k. j. jones. the fifth annual meeting convened in richmond, nov. , , .[ ] mrs. lida calvert obenchain's paper, "why a democratic woman wants the ballot," was afterwards widely circulated as a leaflet. the evening speakers were mrs. clara bewick colby of washington, d. c., and dr. j. franklin browne. the general assembly of was in session most of that year and some months in , as there was a vast amount of business to be done in bringing all departments of legislation into harmony with the new constitution. during all this time the state association was busy urging the rights of women; and at its sixth convention, held in newport, oct. - , , was able to report that a law had been secured granting a married woman the power to make a will and control her separate property. among the speakers was the rev. g. w. bradford. the annual meeting took place in lexington, oct. - , . the most encouraging successes of any year were reported in the extension of school suffrage and the passage of the married woman's property rights bill. in answer to the petition of the fayette county society to mayor henry t. duncan and the city council of lexington to place a woman on the school board, mrs. wilbur r. smith had been appointed. she was the first to hold such a position in kentucky. mrs. farmer gave an address on school suffrage, with illustrations of registration and voting, which women were to have an opportunity to apply in .[ ] in richmond was again selected as the place for the state convention, december - , at which legislative work in the general assembly of was carefully planned. (see legislative action.) the convention met in lexington, dec. , . a committee was appointed to work for complete school suffrage in the extra session of the general assembly the next year.[ ] covington entertained the annual meeting oct. , , . mrs. emma smith devoe of illinois, a national organizer, was present, being then engaged in a tour through the state. this convention was unusually large and full of encouragement. the eleventh convention was held in richmond, dec. , , and the twelfth in lexington, dec. , , . mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and miss mary g. hay, secretary, assisted, the former giving addresses both evenings. it was decided to ask the general assembly to make an appropriation for the establishment of a dormitory for the women students of the state college. miss laura clay has been president of the state association since it was organized in . mrs. ellen battelle dietrick was the first vice-president, but removing to massachusetts the following year, mrs. mary barr clay, the second vice-president, was elected and has continued in that office. there have been but two other second vice-presidents, the hon. william randall ramsey and mrs. mary c. cramer, and but two corresponding secretaries, mrs. eugenia b. farmer and mrs. mary c. roark. the office of treasurer has been filled continuously by mrs. isabella h. shepard.[ ] during all these years h. h. gratz, editor of the lexington _gazette_, and john w. sawyer, editor of the _southern journal_, have been among the most faithful and courageous friends of woman suffrage. the prohibition papers, almost without exception, have been cordial. legislative action and laws: during the general assembly of , a committee of eight from the e. r. a. went to frankfort to ask legislation on the property rights of women, and for women physicians in the state asylums for the insane. a petition for property rights was presented, signed with , names. of these , were collected by mrs. s. m. hubbard. on january appeals were made in representatives' hall by miss laura clay for the women physicians bill, and by mrs. josephine k. henry for the property rights bill. the latter had carefully prepared a compendium of the married women's property laws in all the states, which was of incalculable value throughout the years of labor necessary to secure this bill. the press of the state, with few exceptions, espoused the cause of property rights for women. seven bills were presented to this general assembly, among them one drawn and introduced into the senate by judge william lindsay, afterward united states senator. this secured to married women the enjoyment of their property, gave them the power to make a will and equalized curtesy and dower. although reported adversely by the committee, it was taken up for discussion and was eloquently defended by judge lindsay. it passed the senate, but, was defeated in the house by the opposing members withdrawing and breaking the quorum.[ ] a bill introduced by the hon. william b. smith, making it obligatory upon employers to pay wages earned by married women to themselves and not their husbands, became a law at this session. the constitutional convention held in - was the field of much labor by the state association. in october a committee consisting of mrs. henry, miss clay, mrs. eugenia b. farmer, mrs. isabella h. shepard and mrs. sarah clay bennett went to frankfort to appeal for clauses in the new constitution empowering the general assembly to extend full suffrage to women; to secure the property rights of wives; and to grant school suffrage to all women. the importance of their claims was so impressed upon the convention that it appointed a special committee on woman's rights, with one of its most esteemed members, the hon. jep. c. jonson, as chairman, who did all in his power to bring their cause favorably before this body. on the evening of october , in representatives' hall, miss clay, mrs. shepard and mrs. bennett addressed an audience composed largely of members, being introduced by mr. jonson. later, mrs. henry was given a hearing before the committee. her tract appealing for property rights was read before the convention by mr. jonson and supplied to each of the members. in addition she supplied them several times a week with leaflets, congressional hearings, etc., and wrote articles for the press on property rights and thirty-one on suffrage. the five ladies, with mrs. sarah hardin sawyer and mrs. margaret a. watts, met in frankfort again on december , and obtained hearings before the committees on revision of the constitution, education and woman's rights. mrs. henry also addressed the committee on elections, who asked that her speech be printed and furnished to each member of the convention. on december the hon. w. h. mackoy, at the request of the suffragists, offered this amendment to the section on elections: "the general assembly may hereafter extend full or partial suffrage to female citizens of the united states of the age of years, who have resided in this state one year, etc." by his motion the ladies appeared before the convention in committee of the whole. they selected miss clay as their spokesman and sat in front of the speaker's stand during her address. the only clause finally obtained in the new constitution was one permitting the general assembly to extend school suffrage to women; but the legislature of made important concessions. among the members of the general assembly of especial gratitude is due to judges s. b. vance and w. h. beckner. the former introduced the bill for married women's property rights in the house, giving senator lindsay credit for being practically its author. judge beckner cordially supported this bill, saying he preferred it to one of his own, which he had introduced but would push only if it should be evident that judge vance's more liberal bill could not become law. to the leadership of these two is due the vote of ayes to noes with which the bill passed the house. in the senate it came near to defeat, but was carried through by the strenuous efforts of its friends, especially of senators w. w. stephenson, rozel weissinger and william goebel. senator weissinger withdrew in favor of the house bill one of his own, not so comprehensive. the bill passed on the very last day of the session possible to finish business. the senate vote was yeas, nays.[ ] it was signed march by gov. john young brown, who always had favored it. another signal victory this year was school suffrage for women of the second-class cities. since widows with children of school age had been voters for school trustees in the country districts, and in this right was extended to allow tax-paying widows and spinsters to vote on school taxes. this general law, however, did not apply to chartered cities. the vigilance of mrs. farmer observed and seized the opportunity offered by the revision of city charters, after the adoption of the new constitution, to put in clauses granting full school suffrage to all women. at her instigation, in , the equal rights associations of covington, newport and lexington, the only second-class cities, petitioned the committee selected to prepare a charter for such cities to insert a clause in the section on education, making women eligible as members of school boards and qualified to vote at all elections of such boards. this was done, and the charter passed the general assembly in , and was signed by governor brown on march . the influence of the state association was not sufficient, however, to have school suffrage put in the charters of cities of the first, third and fourth classes. the hons. charles jacob bronston, john o. hodges, william goebel and joel baker did excellent service for this clause. the changes wrought by liberal legislation and the part the state association had in securing this will be best understood by quotations from a leaflet issued by the state association: in the kentucky e. r. a. was organized for the purpose of obtaining for women equality with men in educational, industrial, legal and political rights. we found on the statute books a law which permitted a husband to collect his wife's wages. we found kentucky the only state which did not allow a married woman to make a will. we found that marriage gave to the husband all the wife's personal property which could be reduced to possession, and the use of all her real estate owned at the time or acquired by her after marriage, with power to rent the same and receive the rent. we found that the common law of curtesy and dower prevailed, whereby on the death of the wife the husband inherited absolutely all her personalty and, when there were children, a life interest in all her real estate; while the wife, when there were children, inherited one-third of her husband's personalty and a life-interest in one-third of his real estate. i. in we secured a law which made the wife's wages payable only to herself. ii. from the general assembly of - we secured a law giving a married woman the right to make a will and control her real estate. iii. from the general assembly of we secured the present law for husband and wife. the main features of this are: . curtesy and dower are equalized. after the death of either husband or wife, the survivor is given a life estate in one-third of the realty of the deceased and an absolute estate in one-half of the personalty. . the wife has entire control of her property, real and personal. she owns her personal property absolutely, and can dispose of it as she pleases.[ ] the statute gives her the right to make contracts and to sue and be sued as a single woman. this enables a married woman to enter business and hold her stock in trade free from the control of her husband and liability to his creditors. . the power to make a will is the same in husband and wife, and neither can by will divest the other of dower or interest in his or her estate. these splendid property laws are pronounced by leading lawyers to be the greatest legal revolution which has taken place in our history. a section of the new constitution made it the duty of the general assembly to provide by law as soon as practicable for houses of reform for juvenile offenders. the state woman's christian temperance union decided in to urge it to act speedily, and the equal rights association co-operated heartily, with a special view to securing provision for girls equal to that for boys, and women on the board of managers. a joint committee from the two associations was appointed, with mrs. frances e. beauchamp chairman for the former and mrs. s. a. charles for the latter. they compiled a bill with legal advice of senator bronston, who had been largely instrumental in securing the section. the unremitting labor of three years was at last crowned with success in , when a bill, essentially that prepared by the women, passed the general assembly and was signed by gov. william o. bradley, march .[ ] this bill provides for two separate institutions, one for girls and one for boys, on the cottage family plan. the general government is vested in a board of six trustees, three women and three men. from the general assembly of the e. r. a. finally obtained the law making it mandatory to have at least one woman physician in each state insane asylum, for which they had been petitioning ten years. representative w. c. g. hobbs introduced the bill into the house, where it passed by a vote of ayes, noes. mr. bronston supported it in the senate, where it received ayes, one no. it was approved by governor bradley march . in the same year the benevolent associations of the women of louisville secured an act providing for police matrons in that city, the only first-class one in the state, which was approved by the governor march .[ ] the first police matron was appointed march , before the law required it, at the request of women and through the influence of mayor charles p. weaver, chief of police jacob h. haager, jailer john r. pflanz and judge reginald h. thompson. by the action of the state board of prison commissioners this year, two women were appointed as guards for the women's wards in the penitentiary, their duties being such as usually pertain to a matron. this year the women's club of central kentucky set on foot a movement for a free library in lexington. senator bronston secured a change in the city charter to facilitate this object. the act provides that the library shall be under the control of a board of five trustees and was intentionally worded to make women eligible. mayor joseph simrall appointed two of the club women, mrs. mary d. short and mrs. ida withers harrison. this is the first free library established in kentucky. owing to the turbulent political conditions in the general assembly of , the state association did not send its usual committee to the capital. however, a committee from the w. c. t. u. did go, and succeeded in securing an appropriation to build the young women's dormitory at the state college, receiving in this effort the encouragement of the e. r. a., as agreed upon at their convention of . the history of the state association would not be complete without recording its failures. in an effort to raise the "age of protection" for girls from to was made a part of its work. it was deemed expedient to place this in the hands of a special committee, mrs. thomas l. jones and mrs. sarah g. humphreys consenting to assume the arduous task. mrs. henry wrote a strong leaflet on the "age of protection," and mrs. humphreys sent many articles to the press. a petition was widely circulated and bore thousands of names when the ladies carried it to the general assembly in . they succeeded in having a bill introduced, and were given hearings before an appropriate committee; but the assembly adjourned without acting. in , mrs. martha r. stockwell was added to the committee, which again went to the assembly with the petition; but without success, and the "age of protection" still remains years. the penalty is death or imprisonment for life. by special statute the common law is retained which makes years the legal age for a girl to marry. a law to make mothers equal guardians with fathers of minor children is one to which the state association has devoted much attention, but which still waits on the future for success. at present the father is the legal guardian, and at his death may appoint one even for a child unborn. if the court appoints a guardian, the law ( ) requires that it "shall choose the father, or his testamentary appointee; then the mother if [still] unmarried, then next of kin, giving preference to the males." the husband is expected to furnish the necessaries of life according to his condition, but if he has only his wages there is no law to punish him for non-support. suffrage: kentucky was the first state in the union to grant any form of suffrage to women by special statute, as its first school law, passed in , permitted widows in the country districts with children of school age to vote for trustees. in further extensions of school suffrage were made and in the country districts, including fifth and sixth class cities, i. e., the smallest villages, any widow having a child of school age, and any widow or spinster having a ward of school age, may now vote for school trustees and district school taxes; also taxpaying widows and spinsters may vote for district school taxes. in the general assembly granted women the right to vote for members of the board of education on the same terms as men in the second-class cities, by a special clause in their charter. there are three of these--covington, newport and lexington.[ ] in the one first-class city, louisville, the five third-class and the twenty or more fourth-class cities, no woman has any vote. office holding: in mrs. amanda t. million was appointed to the office of county superintendent of public schools. her husband had been elected in madison county, but dying at the commencement of his term, judge j. c. chenault, after the eligibility of a woman had been ascertained, appointed the widow to fill out the year. mrs. million then became a candidate, and was elected for the remaining three years of the term, being the first woman in the state to fill that office. her case attracted much attention and at the election in four women were elected county superintendents; in , eight, and in , eighteen. in mayor henry t. duncan appointed two women on the lexington school board, mrs. ida withers harrison and mrs. mary e. lucas, to serve until their successors were elected under the laws of the new charter. in august the women held a mass meeting, conducted by a joint committee from the local e. r. a., the w. c. t. u. and the woman's club of central kentucky, to nominate a woman from each ward. they named mrs. harrison, mrs. ella williamson, mrs. sarah west marshal and mrs. mary c. roark. this ticket was indorsed the same day by the citizens' association (of men). judge frank bullock allowed private houses to be used for women to register, one in each precinct, the registration officers all to be women--clerk, two judges and a sheriff. they were sworn in and did their duty nobly. the democratic and republican parties refused to accept the woman's ticket. the women therefore selected a man from each ward in addition to the four women nominated, making the required number of eight, known as the independent ticket, which was triumphantly elected in november by voters of all parties and both sexes. in covington, three women were placed on the republican ticket, but were defeated. about , women voted. in newport two women were placed on the democratic ticket, but it was defeated. about , women registered. the prohibitionists nominated mrs. josephine k. henry for clerk of the court of appeals in . though in many places the election clerks refused to enter her name on the polling-books, doubting the eligibility of a woman, she received , votes. this case is worthy of note because it was the first in kentucky where a woman was a candidate for election to a state office; and because, as she ran on a platform containing a suffrage plank, practically all the votes for her were cast for woman suffrage. women have been state librarians continuously since january, , when the first one was elected. in the senate for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk, and women have held this office ever since. during the session of , stormy as it was, the house for the first time elected a woman as enrolling clerk. women serve as notaries public. (for other offices see legislative action.) occupations: women are engaged in all the professions and no occupation is forbidden to them by law. on dec. , , the court of appeals affirmed the right of women to dispense medicines. the case was that of bessie w. white (hager), a graduate of the school of pharmacy of michigan university. she applied to the state board of pharmacy for registration in , complying with all the requirements. they rejected her application, whereupon she applied for a mandamus. the writ was granted but an appeal was taken. judge william h. holt delivered the opinion of the appellate court, saying in his decision: "it is gratifying to see american women coming to the front in these honorable pursuits. the history of civilization in every country shows that it has merely kept pace with the advancement of its women." education: on april , , at a called meeting of the board of curators of kentucky university (disciples of christ) in lexington, it was decided to admit women students. this was the result of a petition the preceding june by the fayette county e. r. a. in response a committee had been appointed, president charles louis loos, chairman, and, upon its favorable report, the resolution was carried by unanimous vote. an immediate appropriation was made for improvements to the college buildings to accommodate the new students, the opening was announced in the annual calendar and women invited to avail themselves of its advantages. this was the second institution of higher education opened to women, the state agricultural and mechanical college and normal school, also in lexington, having admitted them in . in the work done by mrs. sarah hardin sawyer resulted in the admission of women to wesleyan college in winchester. the baptist college at georgetown became co-educational through the influence of prof. james jefferson rucker. the homeopathic medical college, opened in louisville the same year, admitted women from the first and placed a woman upon the faculty. in the madison county e. r. a. secured the admission of girls to central university at richmond. co-education now prevails in all the normal and business schools, and in the majority of the institutions of higher learning; the only notable exceptions being centre university, danville; baptist college, russellville; baptist theological college[ ] and allopathic medical college, louisville. there are in the public schools , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . * * * * * the woman's emergency association of louisville, organized during the spanish-american war, called a non-partisan mass meeting february , , "for the special purpose of directing the attention of women to the importance and necessity of using their influence on behalf of good citizenship." the mass meeting was addressed by several prominent gentlemen, who deplored the spirit of lawlessness prevailing in the state and declared that the remedy rested with the women, but the suggestion that these should have the franchise was not once made. the state e. r. a. sent a memorial to the annual meeting of the kentucky federation of women's clubs in , soliciting their assistance in securing from the general assembly the extension of school suffrage to the women of all towns and cities. it was voted to give the co-operation desired. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss laura clay of lexington, president of the state equal rights association since its organization, and first auditor of the national-american woman suffrage association since . [ ] the state w. c. t. u. at its convention in adopted a franchise department, and has proved a faithful and valuable ally in educating public sentiment and obtaining desired legislation. [ ] in the congressional contest of the seventh district, between w. c. p. breckinridge and w. c. owens, in , the women took such a share in defeating the former that their action became an instructive part of political history. mrs. f. k. hunt, president of their owens club, which did such distinguished service for public morality, afterwards became a member of the equal rights association, this campaign having convinced her, as she said, that "there is a place for women in politics." [ ] in the presidential campaign of , mrs. josephine k. henry and miss margaret ingals spoke for the silver democrats, and mrs. frances e. beauchamp for the prohibitionists, under the auspices of the party committees. in june, , mrs. beauchamp, president of the state w. c. t. u., was elected permanent chairman and presided over the state prohibition convention held in louisville--the first time a woman ever filled such a position in kentucky. she was also elected a member of the national central committee of the prohibitionists in . this party has retained the woman suffrage plank in its state platform since . [ ] the other state officers have been, recording secretaries, dr. sarah m. siewers; mesdames mary ritchie mckee, mary muggeridge, mary r. patterson, sarah hardin sawyer, kate rose wiggins; misses anna m. deane, mary susan hamilton, mary e. light; third vice-presidents, mesdames sallie h. chenault, s. m. hubbard, mary h. johnson, thomas l. jones, n. s. mclaughlin; miss belle harris bennett; superintendents of press, mrs. lida calvert obenchain, mrs. sarah g. humphreys; superintendent of legislative work, mrs. josephine k. henry. [ ] this bill, drawn up with legal precision and clearness, was practically the one passed four years later ( ), which raised kentucky's property laws for wives to a just and honorable plane. [ ] on the night of march mrs. josephine k. henry spoke in frankfort on the subject of american citizenship. the legislative hall was voted unanimously and the senate, which was holding night sessions, adjourned to hear her address. the property rights bill was on this night virtually dead. mrs. henry in her speech never alluded to this bill, but plainly asked the legislature to create a power to which she could apply and receive her papers of citizenship, claiming that she had every qualification save that of sex. the speech did not procure for her the right to vote, but the next morning, amid the greatest tumult, the dead property rights bill was resurrected and passed. minutes of kentucky e. r. a., . [ ] the wife can not dispose of real estate without the husband's signature. he can convey real estate without her signature but it is subject to her dower. [ ] this year the e. r. a., the w. c. t. u. and the woman's club of central kentucky petitioned governor bradley to appoint a woman physician for the insane asylum at lexington. he did appoint one, dr. kathryn houser, but placed her in the hopkinsville asylum. [ ] a notable feature of this act is that none shall be appointed who has not been recommended by a committee composed of one woman selected by each of the following organizations: home of friendless women, flower mission, free kindergarten association, humane society, charity organization society, city federation of women's clubs, kentucky children's home society, w. c. t. u. and women's christian association. [ ] this act was repealed in because more colored than white women voted in lexington at the spring election. this is the only instance where the suffrage has been taken from women after being conferred by a legislature. [eds. [ ] this college was opened to women in . chapter xlii. louisiana.[ ] the history of woman suffrage in louisiana must center always about the names of mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon and mrs. caroline e. merrick. in , before there had been any general agitation of this question in the state, these ladies appeared before the convention which was preparing a new constitution, and urged that the ballot should be granted to women on the same terms as to men. the only concession to their demands was a clause making women eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of the state. mrs. saxon continued to create equal suffrage sentiment until her removal to another state, and mrs. merrick remains still a principal figure in the movement. until his death in she had the earnest encouragement and assistance of her distinguished husband, edwin t. merrick, for ten years chief justice of the supreme court of louisiana prior to the civil war. as new orleans is the only large city and contains one-fourth of the population of a state which is among the most conservative in the union, organized work naturally would be confined to this locality, but up to it had no active club or society of women. in this year there was a demand by the press that the women of new orleans should organize for the promotion of the world's cotton centennial, to be held there in the autumn and winter of - . this was done and the woman's department was a conspicuous feature of the centennial. mrs. julia ward howe of massachusetts was the commissioner for the government, different states sent capable representatives and there was cordial co-operation with the women of new orleans. [illustration: susan look avery. louisville, ky., and chicago, ill. helen philleo jenkins. detroit, mich. louisa southworth. cleveland, ohio. mary bentley thomas. ednor, md. kate m. gordon. new orleans, la. ] in march, , miss susan b. anthony visited the city for two weeks. she was deluged with invitations for addresses, and spoke in agricultural hall of the exposition at the request of the press club, in tulane hall under the auspices of the city teachers, at the girls' high school and in half-a-dozen other places. everywhere she was most warmly welcomed and was favorably reported in the papers, although her doctrines were new and unpopular. mrs. eliza j. nicholson, owner and manager of the _picayune_, and mrs. m. a. field (catharine cole), of its editorial staff, gave pleasant manifestations of friendship. one of the addresses delivered by miss anthony was before the woman's club, which had been an outgrowth of the exposition committees. mrs. may wright sewall of indiana gave an address on this same occasion. while this club had by no means been formed in the interests of suffrage, it was a decided innovation and the first step out of tradition and conservatism. the work of the women of louisiana in the anti-lottery campaign of is entitled to special mention. the lottery, as the great money power, controlled absolutely the politics of the state, and the leading newspapers were a unit in its support. the reform movement to prevent the renewal of its charter was without money, prestige or the influence of the press. the women came nobly to the rescue of this apparently hopeless cause. they formed leagues for the collection of money, they called meetings, they assisted in every possible way to educate the public mind and awaken the public conscience. to them belongs a large share of the credit for the final overthrow at the polls of this octopus corporation, which was so long a reproach to the state. in the portia club was formed, a strictly suffrage organization, with mrs. merrick as president.[ ] under its auspices the association for the advancement of women held its annual congress in new orleans in , during which mrs. clara bewick colby of washington, d. c., gave an address on the philosophy of woman suffrage. at another time mrs. clara c. hoffman of missouri lectured for the club. in january, , miss anthony, president of the national suffrage association, accompanied by mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of its organization committee, came again to new orleans. the _picayune_ said of their first appearance: if any one doubted the interest which southern women feel in the all-absorbing question of the day, "woman and her rights," that idea would have been forever dispelled by a glance at the splendid audience assembled last night. the hall was literally packed to overflowing, not only with women but with men, prominent representatives in every walk of life. in the era[ ] club was organized with miss belle van horn as president. the successful work of this society has been largely due to the ability and personal influence of mrs. evelyn w. ordway, a progressive massachusetts woman, professor of chemistry in newcomb college, new orleans, who was its second president. miss kate m. gordon was the third. in the era united with the portia club in the beginning of a state suffrage association, of which mrs. merrick was made president. mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado gave two lectures before the new association this year. those who have represented this body at the national conventions are mrs. merrick, miss katharine nobles and miss gordon. in a convention was held in new orleans to prepare a new state constitution. a committee composed of mrs. marie garner graham, miss nobles, miss gordon and miss jean gordon appeared before the suffrage committee in support of a petition for full suffrage for the educated, taxpaying women of louisiana, which had been presented to the convention by the hon. a. w. faulkner. mrs. graham made an eloquent appeal in behalf of using the intelligence and morality embodied in the woman's vote in solving the political problem of the south. the committee further requested that mrs. chapman catt be permitted to address the convention. the request was immediately granted and an official invitation courteously extended. mrs. merrick, who was a delegate to the suffrage convention then in session at washington, urged that some prominent members of the national association should accompany this speaker on her important mission, and miss laura clay of kentucky and miss mary g. hay of new york were duly appointed. on february , in tulane hall, before the assembled convention and a large throng of listeners in the galleries, mrs. chapman catt made a strong argument for the enfranchisement of louisiana women. for many days woman suffrage was seriously considered as a means to the end of securing white supremacy in the state. the following week the athenæum, the finest lecture hall in new orleans, was crowded with men and women from all classes of society anxious to hear more on this daily topic of discussion, as presented by mrs. chapman catt, miss clay and miss frances a. griffin of alabama. seats were reserved for the members of the constitutional convention, who responded almost unanimously to the invitation to be present. dr. henry dickson bruns, a member of the suffrage committee, bent every effort to secure full suffrage for women as the only means to effect the reform in political conditions so much desired. the majority report of the committee, however, contained only this clause: "all taxpaying women shall have the right to vote in person or by proxy on all questions of taxation." while the women were greatly disappointed, this was really a signal victory in so conservative a state. those who supposed that women would make practically no use of this scrap of suffrage were soon to be undeceived. new orleans was at this time a city of , with absolutely no sewerage system; an inadequate water supply, and what there was of this in the hands of a monopoly; an excellent drainage system plodding along for the want of means at a rate which would have required twenty years to complete it. the return of yellow fever, the city's arch-enemy, after a lapse of eighteen years, created consternation. senseless quarantines prevailed on all sides; business was paralyzed; property values had fallen; commercial rivals to the right and left were pressing. a crisis was at hand, and all depended on the hygienic regeneration of the city. the lawful limit of taxation had been reached. one of two ways alone remained--either to grant franchises to private corporations, or for the taxpayers to vote to tax themselves for the necessary improvements. finally a plan was evolved, where, by a combination with the drainage funds, the great public necessities--water, sewerage and drainage--could be secured to the city by a tax of two mills on the dollar, covering a period of forty-two years. a similar proposition had been voted down two years before, and little hope was entertained that it would carry this time. here was the women's opportunity. they found that one-third of the taxpayers must sign a petition calling the election to establish its legality. this meant that from , to , signatures must be secured. they learned also that to carry the measure there must be a majority of numbers as well as of property values. realizing that a campaign of education was on their hands, the era club called a mass meeting of women, at which prominent speakers presented the necessities of the situation. at its close a resolution was adopted to form a woman's league for sewerage and drainage, of which miss gordon was made president. the papers, which a short time before had been most vehement in their denunciation of suffrage for taxpaying women, were now unanimous in commending their public spirit and predicting ultimate victory through the women. the first work of the league was to secure a correct list of women taxpayers, the number of whom had been variously estimated from , to , . actual count proved that the names of more than , women appeared on the roll, about one-half the taxpayers of the entire city. leaving a large margin for possible duplicates, foreign residents and changes by death, a conservative estimate gave at least , women eligible to vote. few can realize the magnitude of this undertaking, for the names were without addresses but simply given as owners of such and such pieces of property in such and such boundaries. the work of location was at last accomplished, and then came the task of securing the names of these women to the petitions. the lists were divided according to wards, with a chairman for each, who appointed lieutenants in the various precincts. parlor meetings to interest women were held everywhere, in the homes of the rich, the poor and the middle classes. volunteer canvassers were secured and suffrage sentiment awakened. occasionally mass meetings of men and women together were called, and good speakers obtained to arouse the people to the necessity of voting for the tax. it was the number of women's signatures which enabled the mayor to order the election. the law carried with it the privilege of voting by proxy, and the women who were active in this movement had the great task of gathering up the proxies of all those who had not the courage to go to the polls. these had to be made out in legal form and signed by two witnesses, and they then learned that no woman in louisiana can legally witness a document, so in all these thousands of cases it was necessary to secure two men as witnesses. it made no difference whether they could read or write, whether they owned property or not, if males it was sufficient.[ ] the election was held june , . the _picayune_, which, with the other papers, had opposed the extension of even this bit of suffrage to women, came out the next morning with a three-quarter-page picture of a beautiful woman, labeled new orleans, on a prancing steed named progress, dashing over a chasm entitled sanitary neglect and commercial stagnation, to a bluff called a greater city, while in one corner was a female angel with wings outspread, designated as victory. the two-page account began as follows: the great election for sewerage and drainage has come and gone, and with it a notable chapter in the history of woman's work in new orleans in behalf of municipal improvement. it is unanimously conceded, as incontestably proven by facts, that but for the number of signatures of women sent to the mayor the election never would have been called. it was also conceded late yesterday afternoon that the noble work of the women had won the day in behalf of these much-needed improvements for our beloved city.... the politician has been crushed, and let the credit go where it belongs. the women of new orleans did it, under the leadership of those two active, energetic and self-sacrificing young women, the misses kate m. and jean gordon, and all the glory is theirs. woman plays a most important part in the politics and affairs of this city. whenever a crisis approaches, the men on the right side appeal to her and the appeal is never in vain. she jumps into the breach, and invariably victory perches upon her banner. all honor to the fair sex! the women, or rather the few women who were in the sewerage and drainage league, probably did as much work for the special tax as all the men in this city put together, and they did it quietly and thoroughly.... it was the first time in the history of new orleans that women were allowed the proud privilege of the suffrage, and it was a novel sight to see them at the polls, producing their certificates of assessment and then retiring to the booths, fixing their ballots and depositing them in the boxes.... enough of them showed their independence of the sterner sex to prove to the community that they are a deal more competent to wield the ballot than a vast majority of the male suffragans. from what some of the commissioners of election say, the women demonstrated that they had observed the instructions as to voting with a great deal more punctiliousness than the men. they had no difficulty in arranging their ballots, and knew the routine better than many men who had been in the habit of voting, not only early but often. this paper contained also an interview with mrs. merrick, of which the following is a portion: "women are saying everywhere, mrs. merrick, that much of the glory of this day is due to you, for you were the first woman in the state to pin your faith to the suffrage cause." "without boasting," she said modestly, "the women of louisiana, i think, do owe a little to me. for years i stood alone for their enfranchisement, especially where questions of property and taxation were concerned.... i may say i have fought, labored and almost died for suffrage. i do hope to see the women of new orleans with the school and municipal suffrage before i die. i am getting old now," she added sweetly; "i am threescore and ten; i cast my first vote to-day. it was only for sewerage and drainage; but then it was for the protection of the home from the invasion of disease, the better health of our city, the greater prosperity of our commonwealth, and i am satisfied; for it will be discovered that women hold the balance of power in all things good and true, and our votes will soon be wanted in other praiseworthy reforms." the duties of the women did not end when they had voted for the tax. it was necessary to have a sewerage and water board of seven commissioners, and the voters were to decide whether these should be elected by the people or appointed by the mayor with the ratification of the city council. the politicians were determined on the former method, while the business interests of the city demanded the latter. the women almost to a unit voted for appointment, and the majority of , by which it was carried can be placed practically to the credit of the woman's league for sewerage and drainage.[ ] it was conceded that of the , votes cast at this election, at least one-half were those of women. the tax was immediately levied, the necessary legislative and constitutional authority was obtained, the bonds were all sold and the work is now under way for a complete system of drainage, sewerage and water supply. legislative action and laws: in a law was passed permitting women to receive degrees from law and medical schools; also one allowing a married woman to "subscribe for, withdraw or transfer stock of building, homestead or loan associations, and to deposit funds and withdraw the same without the assistance and intervention of her husband." this law was secured by these associations to protect their own interests. in the same privilege was extended in regard to depositing money in savings banks and withdrawing it, which a married woman could not do up to this time. the laws of louisiana for the most part are a survival of the napoleonic code: art. . men are capable of all kinds of engagements and functions, unless disqualified by reasons and causes applying to particular individuals. women can not be appointed to any public office, nor perform any civil functions, except those which the law specially declares them capable of exercising. widows and unmarried women of age may bind themselves as sureties or indorsers for other persons, in the same manner and with the same validity as men who are of full age. art. . if a father has disappeared, leaving minor children born during his marriage, the mother shall take care of them, and shall exercise all the rights of her husband with respect to their education and the administration of their estate. art. . if the mother contracts a second marriage, she can not preserve her superintendence of her children, except with the consent of a family meeting composed of the relations or friends of the father. [failing to call this family meeting, she forfeits also her right to appoint a guardian at her death.] art. . the wife can not appear in court without the authority of her husband, although she may be a public merchant,[ ] or possess her property separate from her husband. art. . the wife, even when she is separate in estate from the husband, can not alienate, grant, mortgage, acquire, either by gratuitous or encumbered title, unless her husband concurs in the act, or yields his consent in writing. art. . a married woman over the age of twenty-one years, may, by and with the authorization of her husband, and with the sanction of the judge, borrow money or contract debts for her separate benefit and advantage, and to secure the same, grant mortgages or other securities affecting her separate estate, paraphernal or dotal. art. . the wife may make her last will without the authority of her husband. art. . the following persons can not be tutors [_i. e._, guardians]: . minors, except the father and mother. . women, except the mother or grandmother. . idiots and lunatics. . those whose infirmities prevent them from managing their own affairs. . those whom the penal law declares incapable of holding a public office, etc. art. . married women, even if separated in property, can not institute a suit for partition without the authorization of their husbands or of the judge. art. . a married woman can not make a donation _inter vivos_ [between living persons] without the concurrence or special consent of her husband, or unless she be authorized by the judge. but she needs neither the consent of her husband nor any judicial authorization to dispose by donation _mortis causa_ [in prospect of death]. art. . the following persons are absolutely incapable of being witnesses to testaments: . women of what age soever. . male children who have not attained the age of sixteen years complete. . persons who are insane, deaf, dumb or blind. . persons whom the criminal laws declare incapable of exercising civil functions. art. . a married woman can not accept a testamentary executorship without the consent of her husband. if there is between them a separation of property, she may accept it with the consent of her husband, or, on his refusal, she may be authorized by the courts. art. . all persons have the capacity to contract, except those whose incapacity is specially declared by law--these are married women, those of insane mind, those who are interdicted, and minors. art. . the separate property of the wife is divided into dotal and extradotal. dotal property is that which the wife brings to the husband to assist him in bearing the expenses of the marriage establishment. extradotal property, otherwise called paraphernal property, is that which forms no part of the dowry. art. . whatever in the marriage contract is declared to belong to the wife, or to be given to her on account of the marriage by other persons than the husband, is part of the dowry, unless there be a stipulation to the contrary. art. . the dowry is given to the husband, for him to enjoy the same as long as the marriage shall last. art. . the income or proceeds of the dowry belong to the husband, and are intended to help him support the charges of the marriage, such as the maintenance of the husband and wife, that of their children, and other expenses which he may deem proper. art. . the husband alone has the administration of the dowry, and his wife can not deprive him of it; he may act alone in a court of justice for the preservation or recovery of the dowry, against such as either owe or detain the same, but this does not prevent the wife from remaining the owner of the effects which she brought as her dowry. art. . the wife may, with the authorization of her husband, or, on his refusal, with the authorization of the judge, give her dotal effects for the establishment of the children she may have had by a former marriage. all accumulations after marriage, except by inheritance, here as in all states, are the property of the husband. any wages the wife may earn, the very clothes she wears, belong entirely to him. the laws of inheritance of separate property are practically the same for widow and widower. the father is the legal guardian of the persons and property of minor children. until the custody of children while a divorce suit was pending was given to the father, but now this is granted to the mother. the final guardianship is awarded by the judge to the one who succeeds in obtaining the divorce. before no "age of protection" for girls was named in the statutes, but the penalty for rape was death. in this year, the arena club of new orleans, a socio-economic society of women, secured a law fixing the age at years. the penalty was changed to imprisonment, with or without labor, for a period not exceeding five years, with no minimum penalty named. suffrage: since taxpaying women have the right to vote in person or by proxy on all questions of taxation. office holding: the clause in the constitution of that made women eligible to school offices was inoperative on account of some technicality, which in mrs. helen behrens, a member of the portia club, succeeded in having removed. in mrs. evelyn w. ordway, as chairman of a committee from the era club, presented a petition to the city council signed by all of the editors and many other representative men of new orleans, asking for the appointment of a woman to an existing vacancy on the school board, but this was refused. no women ever were appointed to such positions except in a few country districts. the office of state librarian had been held by a number of women previous to . the constitutional convention of that year, however, which gave the taxpayer's suffrage to women, swept away every vestige of their right to hold any office by adopting a clause declaring that only qualified voters should be eligible to office. under this ruling women can not serve as notaries public. there are no women on the boards of any public institutions in the state and none has a woman physician. four police matrons are employed by new orleans, one for the parish prison, one for the police jail and two for station houses. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: the state university at baton rouge is one of three in the united states which do not admit women to any department. tulane, in new orleans, the largest university in louisiana, admits women to post-graduate work and to the departments of law and pharmacy, but the medical department is still closed to them. the h. sophie newcomb memorial college for girls is a part of tulane university. it was endowed by mrs. josephine louise newcomb with $ , , in memory of her daughter. at her death she left to it the remainder of her estate, valued at $ , , . new orleans university (white) and leland university (colored) are co-educational. most of the other colleges in the state are open to women. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material for this chapter to miss kate m. gordon, president of the era club, mrs. evelyn w. ordway and mrs. martha gould, all of new orleans. [ ] other presidents: mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon, mrs. evelyn w. ordway, miss florence huberwald, mrs. helen behrens. [ ] the clever reader between the lines will see that e. r. a.--equal rights association--is concealed in this innocent appearing word. [ ] miss kate m. gordon herself obtained and voted proxies. after the election the business men's association of new orleans presented her with a gold medal. [eds. [ ] so determined were the politicians to have this board elected, instead of appointed, in order that they might get control of the $ , , fund, that a bill for this purpose was passed by the legislature of and signed by gov. william w. heard. the matter will be carried to the supreme court. [ ] certain legal processes are necessary before a woman can engage in business on her own account. chapter xliii. maine.[ ] the maine woman suffrage association entered upon its career in , flourished until and then ceased active work, which was not resumed until . in september of that year, a convention was called in co-operation with the new england w. s. a., which resulted in the reorganization of the society. the rev. henry blanchard, d. d., pastor of the first universalist church at portland, was elected president, continuing in that capacity until . during these six years of unremitting service, twelve public meetings (with occasional executive sessions) are recorded, all of which were held in portland and addressed by the best speakers on suffrage, including mrs. lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, the rev. anna howard shaw, mrs. julia ward howe and mrs. mary a. livermore. in dr. blanchard resigned and mrs. hannah j. bailey was elected president, as she said, "because it was thought best to have a woman at the head of the organization in order to confute the argument, then often advanced by the legislators, that women do not want the ballot." mrs. bailey's term of office expired in , by her own request. in the six years of her leadership, six public conventions took place, all in portland. the business of the association having been systematically arranged, a large amount of work was done in the executive meetings which occurred frequently. in a local club was organized in portland, and this, as a live and aggressive force, has been of incalculable benefit to the cause. other clubs were formed in this administration at saco, waterville and hampden. the last owes its existence to the efforts of mrs. jane h. spofford, formerly of washington, d. c., and for many years treasurer of the national association. in the present incumbent, mrs. lucy hobart day, was chosen state president. during the past three years there have been three annual conventions held respectively at hampden, waterville and portland, with one semi-annual conference at saco. miss susan b. anthony, president of the national association, was present at the first of these and afterwards addressed a public meeting in portland. in addition to these conventions, in may, , a series of public meetings in the interest of further organization was held at old orchard, saco, waterville, hampden, winthrop, monmouth, cornish and portland, arranged by the president and addressed by miss diana hirschler, a practicing lawyer of boston. the second week of august, , was celebrated in maine as "old home week," and from the th to the th the state association kept "open house" in portland to old and new friends alike. the register shows a record of names, with fourteen states represented, from california to maine. on august , the association again made a new departure by holding a suffrage day at ocean park, old orchard, this being the first time maine suffragists had appeared on the regular platform of any summer assembly in the state. the national president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, was in attendance and the day was a memorable one. since the press department has taken on new life under the management of mrs. sarah g. crosby, and has grown from a circulation of six to eighty newspapers containing suffrage matter. new clubs have been formed at old orchard and skowhegan. a regular system of bi-monthly meetings of the executive committee has been instituted, the business there transacted being reported to the various clubs, thus keeping the mother in touch with her children.[ ] legislative action and laws: there have been several hearings before legislative committees in the interest of a reformatory prison for women, together with repeated petitions for a matron of the state prison, so far with negative results. in all changes of laws in favor of women much work has been done by themselves. they have been instrumental also in securing the passage of laws against obscene literature, cigarettes and immoral kinetoscope exhibitions. they have opposed and prevented the appointment of a conspicuously immoral man as judge; have prevented the pardon of notoriously vile women in some marked cases, and have secured police matrons in several of the large cities, also matrons of almshouses. in a petition was presented to the legislature asking for a constitutional amendment in favor of woman suffrage. "the significant vote" was upon the third reading of the bill, when it was ordered to be engrossed by yeas, nays in the senate, and yeas, nays in the house; but as a two-thirds vote was necessary it failed to pass. in the vote on a bill granting municipal suffrage to women stood yeas, nays in the house; yeas, nays in the senate. in the judiciary committee reported "ought not to pass" on the bill to confer municipal suffrage on women, to which the house voted to adhere, the senate concurring. in it was moved in the house to substitute the favorable minority report for the majority report on the municipal suffrage bill. this motion was lost by yeas, nays. the senate non-concurred with the house and accepted the minority report by yeas, nays. in the campaign of an exceedingly active canvass for municipal suffrage was made by the use of petitions. these were circulated by the state association and the woman's christian temperance union, over , names being sent to the legislature. at the hearing before the judiciary committee every county in the state was represented, and the hall was crowded to its utmost capacity. the committee reported in favor, and their report was accepted in the house by yeas, nays. the senate refused to concur in the action of the house by yeas, nays. in the petitions for municipal suffrage were placed on file, the house and senate concurring in this action. in a bill was presented asking "exemption from taxation for the taxpaying women of maine," on the ground that "taxation without representation is tyranny." the committee on taxation granted a hearing and reported "leave to withdraw," which report was accepted in the house, the senate concurring. dower and curtesy were abolished in . if there is no will the interest of the husband or wife in the real estate of the other is the same; if there is issue of the marriage living, one-third absolutely; if no such issue, then one-half; if there is neither issue nor kindred, then the whole of it. the same provisions of law hold regarding the personal estate of each. both a wife and a husband have the right to claim their statutory share in the estate of the other in preference to any provision that may have been made by a will, provided that such an election is made within a period of six months. the widow is entitled to occupy the home for ninety days after the husband's death, and to have support for that length of time. he is accorded the same privileges and the presence of a will does not change the case. a more liberal allowance than formerly is granted to the family from an insolvent estate. in the presence of two witnesses, before marriage, the man and the woman may determine what rights each shall have in the other's estate during marriage and after its dissolution by death, and may bar each other of all rights in their respective estates not then secured to them. a married woman may acquire and hold real and personal property in her own right, and convey the same without joinder of her husband. he has the same legal privilege. the wife may control her own earnings, and carry on business, and the profits are her sole and separate property. she can prosecute and defend suits in her own name both in contract and in tort, and the wages of the wife and minor children are exempt from attachment in suits against the husband. dower, alimony and other provisions for the wife are made in case of divorce for the husband's fault, and a law of compels the husband to support his family or contribute thereto (provided the separation was not the fault of the wife) and the supreme judicial court may enforce obedience. maine is one of the few states in the union where fathers and mothers have equal guardianship of their children. ( .) in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years. in it was advanced to years, providing unqualified protection, with penalty of imprisonment for life or for a term of years. in an act was passed providing a "qualified" protection for girls between and --that is, protection from men over twenty-one years of age. some of the above laws have originated with the legislators themselves. others have been asked for by the women of the state, through the medium of the w. s. a., the w. c. t. u. and the woman's council; but in the various organizations it has been those who are suffragists that have carried these measures to a successful issue.[ ] suffrage: women have no form of suffrage. office holding: at the present time women are filling offices, elective and appointive, as follows: school superintendents, ; school supervisor, one; school committee, ; public librarians, ; trustee of state insane asylum, one; physician on board of same, one; matron of same, one; supervisor female wards of same, one; police matrons, ; visiting committee of state reform school, one; trustees of westbrook seminary, ; stenographic commissioners, ; trustees of girls' state industrial school, ; principal of same, one; matrons of same, . there are fifteen women justices of the peace, with authority to administer oaths and solemnize marriages. women are eligible also as deputy town clerk and register of probate. they can not serve as notaries public. occupations: as early as maine had women lawyers, ministers, physicians, authors and farmers. no occupation is forbidden them by law, and they are found in all departments of work. since the working day for women and children is limited to ten hours. education: the educational advantages accorded to women are equal to those of men. bates college, colby college and the state university, including the agricultural department, were opened to them before . bowdoin college alone does not admit women. there are in the public schools , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * during the past ten years the literary club movement has done an immense amount of educational work, and maine was the first state to federate. in the federation instituted a system of traveling libraries, which has become a great power for good in the rural districts, and several clubs circulate libraries of their own. it also has secured minor bills on educational matters. in two important institutions were established--the home for friendless girls, in belfast, and the home for friendless boys, in portland. there are also other homes for children. in the invalids' home (now the mary brown home, in honor of its founder) was incorporated. any woman in portland of good character may be admitted to it for $ a week. all of the above were organized by women, and are managed by them. this in brief is the history of woman's progress in the pine tree state since . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. lucy hobart day of portland, president of the state suffrage association, whose work is done under the motto, "in order to establish justice." [ ] state officers for : president, mrs. lucy hobart day; vice-president-at-large, mrs. s. j. l. o'brion; vice-president, mrs. sarah fairfield hamilton; corresponding secretary, miss anne burgess; recording secretary, miss lillia floyd donnell; treasurer, dr. emily n. titus; auditor, miss eliza c. tappan; superintendent press work, miss vetta merrill. among others who have served are mesdames lillian m. n. stevens, etta haley osgood, winnifred fuller nelson and helen coffin beedy; miss louise titcomb and dr. jane lord hersom. [ ] among those who have been instrumental in securing better legislation for the women of the state may be mentioned the hon. thomas brackett reed, judge joseph w. symonds, franklin payson; ex-governors joseph bodwell, frederick robie, henry b. cleaves and llewellyn powers; mesdames augusta merrill hunt, margaret t. w. merrill and ann frances greeley; dr. abby mary fulton and the misses cornelia m. dow, charlotte thomas and elizabeth upham yates. chapter xliv. maryland.[ ] if but one state in the union allowed woman to represent herself it should be maryland, which was named for a woman, whose capital was named for a woman, and where in mistress margaret brent, the first woman suffragist in america, demanded "place and voyce" in the assembly as the executor and representative of her kinsman, lord baltimore. her petition was denied but she must have had some gallant supporters, as the archives record that the question of her admission was hotly debated for hours. after the signal defeat of mistress brent, there seems to have been no demand for the ballot on the part of maryland women for about years.[ ] in and ' miss susan b. anthony, mrs. lucy stone and mrs. julia ward howe lectured in baltimore and there was some slight agitation of the subject. immediately following the national suffrage convention of , in washington, miss phoebe w. couzins of missouri addressed a large and enthusiastic audience at sandy spring. soon afterwards madame clara neymann of new york spoke in the same place and was cordially received. she and mrs. caroline hallowell miller were invited about this time to make addresses at rockville. mrs. miller also spoke on the rights and wrongs of women at the sandy spring lyceum. in mrs. miller invited some of her acquaintances to meet at her home in sandy spring to form a suffrage association. thirteen men and women became members, all but one of whom belonged to the society of friends.[ ] this year maryland was represented for the first time at the national suffrage convention by a delegate, mrs. sarah t. miller. she is now superintendent of franchise in the state woman's christian temperance union, this department having been adopted in . annual state conventions have been held since and about different members have been enrolled. the membership includes many men; one public meeting was addressed by a father and daughter, and a mother and son. the officers for are: president, mary bentley thomas; vice-president, pauline w. holme; corresponding secretary, annie r. lamb; recording secretary, margaret smythe clarke; treasurer, mary e. moore; member national executive committee, emma j. m. funck. the first to organize a suffrage club in baltimore was mrs. sarah h. tudor. it has now a flourishing society and many open meetings have been held with large and interested audiences. in six members of the w. c. t. u. of baltimore went before the registrars and demanded that their names should be placed on the polling books. mrs. thomas j. boram, whose husband was one of the registrars, was spokeswoman and claimed their right to vote under the constitution of the united states. she made a strong argument in the name of taxpaying women and of mothers but was told that the state constitution limited the suffrage to males. the other ladies were dr. emily g. peterson, miss annie m. v. davenport, mrs. jane h. rupp, mrs. c. rupp and mrs. amanda peterman. among the outside speakers who have come into the state at different times are the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large of the national association, mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado, miss elizabeth upham yates of maine, the rev. henrietta g. moore of ohio, mrs. annie l. diggs and miss laura a. gregg of kansas, miss helen morris lewis of north carolina, mrs. ruth b. havens of washington, d. c., and mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch of chicago. one of the first and most efficient of the workers is mrs. caroline hallowell miller, who has represented her state for many years at the national conventions and pleased the audiences with her humorous but strong addresses. her husband, francis miller, a prominent lawyer, was one of the very few men in the state who advocated suffrage for women as early as , when he made an appeal for the enfranchisement of the women of the district of columbia before the house judiciary committee. legislative action and laws: the constitution of maryland opens as follows: the right of the people to participate in the legislature is the best security of liberty and the foundation of all free government; for this purpose, elections ought to be free and frequent; and every male (!) citizen having the qualifications prescribed by the constitution ought to have the right of suffrage. the legislature has been petitioned to grant full suffrage to women; to raise the "age of protection" for girls, and to refrain from giving state aid to institutions of learning which do not admit women students on equal terms with men. the legislature of took a remarkably progressive step. an act authorizing the city of annapolis to submit to the voters the question of issuing bonds to the amount of $ , , to pay off the floating indebtedness and provide a fund for permanent improvements, contained a paragraph entitling women to vote. this bill was introduced in the senate january , by elijah williams and was referred to the committee on finance. on january , austin l. crothers reported it favorably. on february , at the motion of senator williams, the bill was recommitted and on the th senator crothers again reported it favorably. on the th it was passed by the senate unanimously. the senate bill was presented to the house of delegates february , and referred to the committee on ways and means. on the th, ferdinand c. latrobe (who had been mayor of baltimore four or five times) reported the bill favorably. on march it was passed by the house, yeas, one nay, the negative vote being cast by patrick e. finzel of garrett county. it is a common practice of the general assembly to pass laws applicable only to one county or portion of a county, or to one municipality or to one special occasion, as in this instance. as this law was a decided innovation in a very conservative community, naturally the number of women availing themselves of it for the first time was not large, and it hardly seemed worth a special act of the legislature, except as a progressive step. the baltimore _sun_ of may said: women voted in annapolis to-day under the law permitting property owners to say if $ , bonds shall be issued for street and other improvements. the novelty of their presence did not disturb the serenity of the polling-room or unnerve the ladies who were exercising their right to vote for the first time. they were calm, direct and as unruffled as though it were the usual order of things. those who voted are of the highest social standing. they received the utmost courtesy at the polls and voted without any embarrassment whatever. numerous changes in the statutes have been made during the past twelve years, modifying the discriminations against married women under the old common law. in it was enacted that a wife might bring action for slander in her own name and defend her own character. the last of these improved laws went into effect in , when the inheritance of property was made the same for widow and widower. absolute control of her own estate was vested in the wife. power was given her to make contracts and bring suit, and she alone was to be liable for her own actions. inequalities still exist, however, in regard to divorce and guardianship of children. the fifth ground for absolute divorce is as follows: "where the woman before marriage has been guilty of illicit carnal intercourse with another man, the same being unknown to the husband at the time of marriage." a similar act on the part of the husband prior to the marriage does not entitle the wife to a divorce. the father has complete control of the minor children and may appoint a guardian by will. if he die without doing so the mother becomes their natural guardian, but her control over a daughter terminates at eighteen years of age while the father's continues to twenty-one. this power of appointing a testamentary guardian was created by an act of charles ii, and adopted as a part of the laws of maryland. it gives the father power, by deed or will, to dispose of the custody and tuition of his infant children up to the age of twenty-one, or until the marriage of the daughters. it gives him custody of their persons and all their real and personal estate, not only such as comes from his family, but all they may acquire of any person soever, even from the family of the mother. the guardian is placed _in loco parentis_ and his rights are generally regarded as paramount. for non-support of the family the husband may be fined $ or imprisoned in the house of correction not exceeding one year, or both, at discretion of the court. ( .) wife-beaters are punished by flogging or imprisonment. in women succeeded in having the "age of protection" for girls raised from to years, with penalty ranging from death to imprisonment in the penitentiary for eighteen months. employers are compelled to provide seats for female employes. children under twelve can not work in factories. women or girls may not be employed as waiters in any place of amusement. suffrage: women have no form of suffrage. office holding: the state librarian is a woman, who has filled the position most satisfactorily for a number of years and through her care valuable documents relating to colonial times have been saved from destruction and classified. a leading paper of baltimore said that these had been allowed to remain in the cellar of the state house for years, and would have been ruined but for the new system of public housekeeping inaugurated by the womanly element. women physicians have been placed in charge of women patients at one state insane asylum. police matrons are employed at all the station houses in baltimore. during the past two years women have been placed on its jail boards and on the boards of most of its charitable and reformatory institutions. by the recommendation of two mayors they have been put on the school board. they have applied for positions on the street-cleaning board but without success. women are doing efficient work on the jail and almshouse boards of harford county and the school boards of montgomery. women serve as notaries public. occupations: in miss etta maddox, a graduate of the baltimore college of law, was refused admission to the bar and carried her case to the supreme court. it was argued before the full bench and the opinion rendered by justice c. j. mcsherry, november . her petition was denied on the ground that the act providing for admission to the bar uses the masculine pronouns. in this decision the general proposition was affirmed that "women are excluded from all occupations which were denied them by the english common law, except when the disability has been removed by express statutory enactment."[ ] it is believed that this opinion makes it illegal for women to serve as notaries public, and as a number have been serving for several years, three in baltimore, the situation promises to be very serious, many deeds, etc., having been acknowledged before them. education: through the leadership of miss mary e. garrett and dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college, assisted by miss mary gwinn and miss elizabeth king (now mrs. william ellicott), committees of prominent women were organized in various states for raising a fund to open a medical department in johns hopkins university which should be co-educational. the trustees required an endowment of $ , . the committees raised $ , and miss garrett herself added the remaining $ , . in this medical college, which is not outranked in the country, was dedicated alike to men and women with absolutely no distinction in their privileges. women are not admitted to any other department of johns hopkins. of the nine other colleges and universities two are open to women, and the woman's college of baltimore, which receives state aid, is for them alone. they may be graduated from the baltimore colleges of law and of dentistry. the state colleges of agriculture, of medicine and of law are closed to them. the state normal schools admit both sexes on equal terms. there are , men and , women teachers in the public schools. it is impossible to obtain the average monthly salaries. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. mary bentley thomas of ednor, who for the last nine years has been president of the state suffrage association. [ ] miss mary catherine goddard conducted the baltimore post-office and also the only newspaper in the city, the _maryland journal and commercial advertiser_, through all the trying times of the revolutionary war. on july , , she published a detailed account of the battle of bunker hill, which had occurred on june , and the declaration of the continental congress giving the causes and necessity for taking up arms. the first official publication of the declaration of independence, with the signers' names attached, was entrusted by congress, at that time sitting in baltimore, to miss goddard. she remained in control of her paper for ten years. in she made an appeal through its columns for the destitute families of the american soldiers, and by her efforts $ , were raised for their needs. [ ] the charter members were caroline h., margaret e., sarah t., rebecca t. and george b. miller, margaret b. and mary magruder, ellen and martha t. farquhar, james p. and jessie b. stablu, hannah b. brooke and mary e. moore. at the second meeting a number of others became members, including the writer of this chapter. [ ] state senator jacob m. moses presented a bill in the legislature of to permit women to practice law, which passed, was signed by the governor and miss maddox was admitted to the bar. chapter xlv. massachusetts.[ ] the first suffrage convention ever held which assumed a national character by inviting representatives from other states took place in worcester, mass., oct. , , .[ ] the new england woman suffrage association was formed at boston in november, , with mrs. julia ward howe as president; and the massachusetts association was organized in the same city jan. , , of which also mrs. howe was elected president. in henry b. blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_, was made corresponding secretary of both associations and has filled the office of the latter continuously, of the former twenty-two years. from those years until the present each of these bodies has held an annual meeting in boston and they have almost invariably been addressed by men and women of state, of national and of international reputation. they have met in various churches and halls, but of late years the historic old faneuil hall has been selected. the state association meets in the winter and the new england association during anniversary week in may, when there are business sessions with reports from the various states, public meetings and a great festival or banquet. the last is attended by hundreds of people, all the tickets are frequently sold weeks in advance, and with its prominent after-dinner speakers it has long been an attractive feature.[ ] the annual meeting of was held january , , presided over by william i. bowditch, who had succeeded the rev. dr. james freeman clarke as president in . a number of fine addresses were given and the official board was unanimously re-elected.[ ] mr. bowditch's opening address was afterwards widely circulated as a tract, the forgotten woman in massachusetts. it was voted that a fund should be raised to organize local suffrage associations or leagues throughout the state, and that, as soon as $ , was in hand, an agent should be put in the field. mr. bowditch, miss louisa m. alcott, john l. whiting and henry h. faxon each subscribed $ on the spot; $ was raised at the meeting and more than $ , within four months. this year, in the death of wendell phillips, the cause of equal rights lost one of its earliest and noblest supporters. on february an impressive memorial service was held in boston. mrs. howe presided and the other speakers were william lloyd garrison, theodore d. weld, judge thomas russell, mrs. ednah d. cheney, elizur wright, the rev. samuel may, george w. lowther, mrs. lucy stone and mr. blackwell. john boyle o'reilly and william p. liscomb read memorial poems. fifty-seven meetings were held this year in different parts of the state, arranged by arthur p. ford and miss cora scott pond. the speakers were the rev. anna howard shaw, miss matilda hindman, miss pond and miss ida m. buxton, and at some of the meetings lucy stone, mr. blackwell and mrs. adelaide a. claflin. in addition six conventions were held and a large number of local leagues were formed. suffrage sociables were given monthly in boston. leaflets were printed, including wendell phillips' great speech at the worcester convention in , which were sent out by tens of thousands, and , special copies of the _woman's journal_ were distributed gratuitously. mrs. h. m. tracy cutler was employed for a month in worcester to enlist interest in the churches, and miss pond for two months in boston. letters were sent to every town, with postal cards inclosed for reply, to find who were friends of suffrage, and to those so found a letter was sent asking co-operation. this constitutes an average twelve months' work for the past thirty years. the sixteenth annual meeting of the new england association took place may , , lucy stone presiding. the rev. minot j. savage and edward m. winston of harvard university were among the speakers. the two associations united as usual in the may festival. letters of greeting were read from the hons. george f. hoar, john d. long and john e. fitzgerald, postmaster edward s. tobey, col. albert clarke and chancellor william g. eliot, of washington university, st. louis. the rev. robert collyer, mr. garrison and the rev. miss shaw made addresses. at the state convention, jan. , , , addresses were made by mrs. margaret moore of ireland, a. s. root of boston university, and the usual brilliant galaxy, while letters expressing sympathy with the cause were read from john g. whittier, the rev. samuel longfellow, the rev. samuel j. barrows and many others. an appeal to the legislature, written by lucy stone, was unanimously adopted. an anti-woman suffrage association formed in massachusetts the previous year, had devoted itself chiefly to securing signatures of women to a protest against the franchise. in mrs. kate gannett wells and her associates obtained the signatures of about influential men to a remonstrance against "any further extension of suffrage to women," and published it as an advertisement in the boston _herald_ of sunday, february . the list included president eliot of harvard, a number of college professors, one or two literary men, several ex-members of the legislature, and a number of clergymen of conservative churches; but it was made up largely of those prominent chiefly on account of their wealth. an average of ten suffrage meetings and conventions a month were held in various cities throughout the year. the rev. miss shaw and miss pond attended nearly all, and mrs. stone, mr. blackwell, mrs. claflin, mr. garrison, miss eastman and mr. bowditch addressed some of them, besides local speakers. two thousand persons gathered in tremont temple on the opening night of the may anniversary, lucy stone presiding. senator hoar, mrs. livermore and others made short speeches and later responded to toasts at the festival. mr. blackwell presided over the state convention jan. , . at the new england meeting this year frederick douglass delivered an oration and spoke also at the festival, over which miss eastman presided. the association kept miss shaw in the field for six months and miss pond throughout the year and held summer conventions in cottage city and nantucket, besides ten county conventions in the fall. there were , pages of literature sent out and agents visited seventy-five towns. a suffrage bazar was held in december with mrs. livermore as president and mrs. howe as editor of the _bazar journal_. the list of vice-presidents included phillips brooks and many other distinguished persons. the brunt of the work, however, was borne by miss pond and miss shaw, and the bazar cleared $ , . mrs. howe, mrs. stone, mr. garrison, mrs. cheney, state senator elijah a. morse and others addressed the annual convention of . petitions were circulated for municipal and presidential suffrage and a constitutional amendment; also for police matrons, the raising of the age of protection for girls, improvements in the property rights of married women, a bill enabling husbands and wives to make legal contracts with each other, and one making women eligible to all offices from which they are not debarred by the constitution. in march the association gave $ , to the constitutional amendment campaign in rhode island, and a number of the officers contributed their services. mrs. howe presided at the may festival, and among the speakers were mrs. helen m. gougar of indiana, mrs. j. ellen foster of iowa, the revs. henry blanchard of maine and frederick a. hinckley of rhode island. mr. garrison read an original poem rejoicing over the granting of municipal suffrage in kansas. at the new england convention which followed, these speakers were reinforced by the rev. jenkyn lloyd jones of chicago. on october the state association gave a reception to miss frances e. willard, president of the national woman's christian temperance union, at the hotel brunswick. in december a great bazar was held in boston for the joint benefit of the american suffrage association and various states which took part. the gross receipts were nearly $ , . this year the association moved into larger offices at no. park street; held fifty-one public meetings and four county conventions and organized twenty-one new leagues. the _woman's journal_ was sent for three months to all the members of the legislature; , pages of suffrage literature were sold and many thousands more given away. during the annual meeting in february, , a reception was given to mrs. rebecca moore, of england, at which john w. hutchinson sang and many bright speeches were made. at the twentieth anniversary of the new england association, in may, lucy stone presided. mrs. laura ormiston chant and mrs. alice scatcherd of england, and baroness gripenberg and miss alli trygg of finland, were among the speakers. others were miss clara barton, mrs. isabella beecher hooker of connecticut, the hon. william dudley foulke and mrs. zerelda g. wallace of indiana. at the festival music hall was crowded to overflowing and miss susan b. anthony was one of the guests of honor. this year great excitement was aroused among both men and women by a controversy over the historical text-books used in the public schools of boston. at the request of a priest the school board removed a history which the catholics regarded as unfair in its statements, and substituted one which many protestants considered equally unfair. the school vote of women never had risen much above , , and generally had been below that number. this year , applied to be assessed a poll tax and registered, and , voted, in one of the worst storms of the season. all the catholic candidates were defeated. the suffrage association kept out of the controversy as a body, but its members as individuals took sides as their personal views dictated. in gov. oliver ames, for the third time, recommended women suffrage in his inaugural, saying: "recent political events have confirmed the opinion i have long held, that if women have sufficient reason to vote they will do so and become an important factor in the settlement of great questions. if we can trust uneducated men to vote we can with greater safety and far more propriety grant the same power to women, who as a rule are as well educated and quite as intelligent as men." the convention met january - . among outside speakers were mrs. ellen battelle dietrick of kentucky, prof. william h. carruth of kansas, and the hon. hamilton willcox of new york. col. thomas wentworth higginson presided at the may festival and mrs. howe's seventieth birthday was celebrated. mrs. laura m. johns of kansas, mrs. mary seymour howell of new york, mrs. emily p. collins of connecticut, and many from other states were present. an organizer was kept in the field eight months and a state lecturer two months; summer meetings were held at swampscott, hull and nantasket. two quarterly conferences took place in boston between the state officers and representatives from the eighty-nine local leagues. a great historical pageant was given under miss pond's supervision in may and october, which netted $ , ; the _woman's journal_ was sent four months to all the legislators, and leaflets to all the students of harvard and boston universities; , leaflets were given to the south dakota campaign. the state farmers' institute, held at west brookfield, adopted a woman suffrage resolution almost unanimously. in boston , women voted and the catholic candidates for the school board were again defeated. the independent women voters elected all their nominees, and candidates who had the joint nomination of both republicans and democrats were defeated. ex-gov. john d. long was one of the speakers at the convention of jan. , , ; also miss elizabeth upham yates of maine. in april an evening with authors and composers was arranged, chiefly by miss lucia t. ames. well-known authors read from their writings and musicians contributed from their own compositions. in the same month a week's fair called the country store was held, miss charlotte h. allen supervising the arrangements, with gross receipts, $ , . the rev. charles g. ames presided at the may festival and the rev. anna garlin spencer of rhode island was one of the speakers. in july a reception was given in the suffrage parlors to the ladies of the national editorial association and the members of the new england women's press association. the editors of the _woman's journal_--lucy stone, mr. and miss blackwell--and the associate editor, mrs. florence m. adkinson, received the guests, assisted by the rev. miss shaw and miss lucy e. anthony. during grand army week in august a reception was extended to the ladies of the woman's relief corps and others, the guests received by mrs. livermore, mrs. howe, the editors of the _journal_ and dr. emily blackwell, dean of the women's medical college of the new york infirmary for women and children. in october the association exhibited at the hollis street theater a series of art tableaux, the history of marriage, showing the marriage ceremonies of different ages and countries, mrs. livermore acting as historian. the receipts were $ , . the association sent literature to the legislators, to several thousand college students and to all the members of the mississippi constitutional convention; had a booth for two months at the mechanics' fair in boston; supplied suffrage matter every week to editors in all parts of the country and gave , pages of leaflets to the campaign in south dakota. the chairman of its executive committee, mrs. stone, also donated , copies of the _woman's column_ to the same campaign, and the secretary, mr. blackwell, contributed five weeks' gratuitous service in dakota, lecturing for the amendment. the boston methodist ministers, at their monday meeting, passed unanimously a resolution in favor of municipal woman suffrage; and a gathering of massachusetts farmers, at the rooms of the _ploughman_, did the same with only one dissenting vote, after an address by lucy stone, herself a farmer's daughter.[ ] the annual meeting, jan. , , , was made a celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the first national woman's rights convention, which had been held at worcester in october, . miss susan b. anthony came on from washington to attend. the advance of women in different lines during the past forty years was ably reviewed in the addresses by representative women in their respective departments.[ ] only two of the speakers at the convention of forty years ago were present on this occasion, lucy stone and the rev. antoinette brown blackwell; and two who had signed the call--colonel higginson and charles k. whipple. the resolutions were reaffirmed which had been reported by wendell phillips and adopted at the convention of . at this time mrs. howe was elected president of the state association. the new england meeting in may was preceded by a reception to miss anthony, the rev. miss shaw and miss florence balgarnie of england, all of whom made addresses at the convention and the festival, where ex-governor long presided. the meetings this year included a number of college towns and among the speakers were senator hoar, mr. garrison, mr. blackwell, mrs. livermore, mrs. howe and mrs. stone, with the younger women, mrs. anna christy fall, mrs. adelaide a. claflin, miss elizabeth sheldon (tillinghast), miss elizabeth deering hanscom. at amherst a large gathering of students listened to senator hoar. president and mrs. merrill e. gates occupied seats on the platform. at south hadley president elizabeth storrs mead of mt. holyoke entertained all the speakers at the college, and at northampton it was estimated by the daily papers that smith college girls came to the meeting. on october the association gave a reception to theodore d. weld in honor of his eighty-eighth birthday. this date was the anniversary of the famous mob of , which attacked the meeting of the boston female anti-slavery society. later a reception was tendered to mrs. annie besant of the london school board. on november , during the week when the w. c. t. u. held its national convention in boston, a reception was given in the suffrage parlors to all interested in the franchise department. a special invitation was issued to white ribboners from the southern states where none was yet adopted, and the spacious rooms were filled to overflowing. lucy stone presided and julia ward howe gave the address of welcome. many brief responses were made by the southern delegates and by northern delegates and friends. in december a suffrage fair was held under the management of mrs. dietrick, now of boston, which netted $ , . senator hoar's speech at amherst was sent to the students of all the colleges in the state. at the annual meeting jan. , , , the rev. joseph cook gave an address. lucy stone presided at the new england convention and mrs. howe at the festival. mrs. carrie chapman catt was the speaker from a distance. letters were read from the hon. thomas b. reed, terence v. powderly and u. s. senators joseph m. carey and francis e. warren of wyoming. in addition to the usual work this year $ were offered in $ prizes to the children of the public schools for the best essays in favor of woman suffrage. mrs. dietrick was employed for six months as state organizer. an appeal for equal suffrage signed by mrs. stone, mrs. howe and mrs. livermore was sent to editors throughout the state with the request to publish it and to indorse it editorially, which was done by many. a letter signed by the same was sent to every minister in boston asking him either to present the subject to his congregation or permit it to be presented by some one else, and a number consented. a woman's day was held at the state agricultural fair in worcester, when it was estimated , people were present. col. daniel needham, president of the fair, expressed himself as thankful for the opportunity to welcome woman suffrage. mrs. rufus s. frost, lucy stone, mrs. livermore, mrs. claflin and mr. blackwell were the speakers. when a vote was taken at the close, the whole audience rose in favor of suffrage. the independent women voters of boston again elected their entire school ticket. miss frances e. willard and mrs. claflin addressed the working girls' clubs of the state on suffrage at their annual reunion in boston. the association was represented at the great farewell reception to lady henry somerset, lucy stone presenting her with twenty-three yellow roses for the states with school suffrage and one pure white for wyoming. this year at a special meeting the association amended the old constitution under which it had been working since , and unanimously adopted a delegate basis of representation. the annual meeting was held dec. , , , instead of january, . mrs. howe presided and addresses were made by mrs. stone, mrs. livermore, the hon. george a. o. ernst, mrs. estelle m. h. merrill, president of the new england women's press association, and others. lucy stone was elected president and superintendents were instituted for different departments of work. at a gathering of massachusetts farmers in boston, lucy stone and mrs. olive wright of denver, spoke for woman suffrage; the meeting declared for it unanimously by a rising vote and every farmer present signed the petition. the state grange, at its annual convention, adopted a strong suffrage resolution by yeas, nays. the unitarian ministers' monday club of boston, after an address by mrs. stone, did the same, and every minister present but one signed the petition. the universalist ministers' monday meeting in boston, at her request, voted by a large majority to memorialize the legislature for woman suffrage. the central labor union took similar action. the boston _transcript_, _globe_, _advertiser_, _traveller and beacon_, the springfield _republican_, greenfield _gazette and courier_, salem _observer_, salem _register_ and many other papers supported the municipal suffrage bill which was then pending. at the may festival of senator hoar presided and persons sat down to the banquet. mrs. laura ormiston chant of england, and miss kirstine frederiksen of denmark, were the speakers from abroad. a reception to these ladies preceded the annual meeting of the new england association. mme. marie marshall of paris, was added to the above speakers, also wendell phillips stafford of vermont, mrs. ellen m. bolles of rhode island, and others. on june a reception was given to mrs. jane cobden unwin of london, richard cobden's daughter. on july , by invitation of the waltham suffrage club, the state association and the local leagues united in a basket picnic at forest grove. on this occasion lucy stone made her last public address. woman's day at the new england agricultural fair in worcester was observed in september with addresses by mrs. chant, mrs. livermore, mrs. fanny purdy palmer and mr. blackwell, representing lucy stone, who was too ill to be present. there was a very large audience. part of a day was also secured at the marshfield fair with an address by mrs. katherine lente stevenson. a convention was held at westfield, october , when the opera house was crowded to hear mrs. livermore. mr. blackwell presented a resolution in favor of municipal suffrage for women in the resolutions committee of the republican state convention, october . it was warmly advocated by the hon. john d. long, samuel walker mccall, m. c., mayor fairbanks of quincy, and others, and would possibly have been passed but for the strenuous opposition of the chairman, ex-gov. george d. robinson, who said he would decline to read the platform to the convention if the resolution was adopted. it was finally lost by yeas, nays. on oct. , , occurred the death of lucy stone at her home in dorchester. she said with calm contentment, "i have done what i wanted to do; i have helped the women." her last whispered words to her daughter were, "make the world better." the funeral was held in james freeman clarke's old church in boston. hundreds of people stood waiting silently in the street before the doors were opened. the rev. charles g. ames said afterward that, "the services were not like a funeral but like a solemn celebration and a coronation." the speakers were mr. ames, colonel higginson, mrs. livermore, mr. garrison, mrs. cheney, the rev. samuel j. barrows, mrs. chant, the rev. anna garlin spencer of providence, mary grew of philadelphia, with a poem by mrs. howe. a strong impetus was given to the suffrage movement by the wide publication in the papers of the facts of lucy stone's simple and noble life, and by the universal expression of affection and regret. a life-long opponent declared that the death of no woman in america had ever called out so general a tribute of public respect and esteem. the state association again held its annual meeting in december. among the resolutions adopted was the following: in the passing away of lucy stone, our president, the beloved pioneer of woman suffrage, who has been, ever since , its mainstay and unfailing champion, the cause of equal rights in this state and throughout the union has suffered an irreparable loss. her daughter closed the report of the year's work by saying: "let all those who held her dear show their regard for her memory in the way that would have pleased and touched her most--by doing their best to help forward the cause she loved so well." mrs. mary a. livermore was elected president. on december the association celebrated in faneuil hall the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of the boston tea party. one of the last expressed wishes of lucy stone had been that the celebration should take place in the old south church, but the use of this historic building was refused by the trustees, much to the mortification of the more liberal members of the general committee of the old south. colonel higginson, who had presided at the centennial celebration of the same event by the suffragists twenty years before, again presided and made the opening address. other speakers were mrs. chapman catt and wendell phillips stafford. mr. garrison gave a poem and mr. blackwell read the speech made by lucy stone at the celebration in . letters were read from senator hoar, frederick douglass and others. governor-elect frederick t. greenhalge and lieut. gov.-elect roger wolcott occupied seats on the platform. this year the massachusetts w. s. a. had become incorporated. it had sent suffrage literature to all the episcopalian, unitarian and universalist clergymen in the state, to most of the methodist ministers, to , public school teachers and to a large number of college students. its president, lucy stone, had sent, from her death bed, the largest contribution to the colorado campaign given by any individual outside of that state. its secretary, mr. blackwell, had attended the national convention of republican clubs at louisville, ky., and secured the adoption of the following resolution: "we recommend to the favorable consideration of the republican clubs of the united states, as a matter of education, the question of granting to the women of the state and nation the right to vote at all elections on the same terms and conditions as male citizens." a thousand copies of william i. bowditch's taxation without representation and george pellew's woman and the commonwealth were bound and presented to town and college libraries. mayor nathan matthews, jr., of boston appointed two women on the board of overseers of the poor, despite the strong opposition of the aldermen. he also appointed three women members of a commission to investigate and report to him upon the condition of public institutions. toward the end of the year he again appointed two women on a similar committee, including one of those who served before. the hon. george s. hale said at the annual suffrage meeting, "both ladies are admirably qualified, and the one who acted last year is declared by all the men who served with her to be the most valuable member of the board." out of students and professors at wellesley college, who were questioned as to their views on suffrage, declared themselves in favor, and of them united in sending a telegram of congratulation to the women of colorado on the passage of the equal suffrage amendment this year. ( .) at the may festival , sat down to the banquet and hundreds occupied the balconies. ex-governor long presided. one of the speakers was robert s. gray, chairman of the committee on woman suffrage in the legislature. in honor of mrs. howe's seventy-fifth birthday mrs. alice j. harris sang the battle hymn of the republic, the audience joining in the chorus. on june delegates from many labor organizations met in boston, in response to a call from the boston workingmen's political league, and decided to act together at the ballot box. their platform demanded universal suffrage irrespective of sex. lucy stone mite-boxes were circulated by the association for funds to aid the amendment campaign in kansas. mr. blackwell attended the national convention of republican clubs held in denver. on june it reiterated the woman suffrage resolution it had passed the year before in louisville. on july woman's day was celebrated at the massachusetts chautauqua in south framingham, with many able speakers. on september woman's day was observed at the new england agricultural fair in worcester. colonel needham, its president, made an earnest woman suffrage address and was followed by mrs. howe, miss yates, mrs. mary sargent hopkins and mr. blackwell. in december a suffrage fair was held under the management of mrs. abby m. davis which cleared about $ , . on the opening night mrs. cheney presided and there were addresses by lady henry somerset and miss frances e. willard. this year the association kept the papers supplied with suffrage articles more thoroughly than ever before; had speakers present the subject to thirty-one women's clubs; furnished literature to the legislators, to , public school teachers, to all the congregational ministers in the state and to many of other denominations; and sent , leaflets to college students and graduates. governor greenhalge in his inaugural in , said, "i hold to the views expressed in the message of last year as to the extension of municipal suffrage to women." he also referred to it favorably in an address before the new england women's press association, and at the parliament of man held in boston. mrs. livermore presided at the annual meeting, january , . mrs. helen h. gardiner and representative alfred s. roe were among the speakers. from this time date the fortnightly meetings at the suffrage headquarters, and these have been held ever since except during the summer vacations. they are usually well attended and seldom fail to have some speaker of note. on may mr. blackwell's seventieth birthday was celebrated by a reception and dinner at copley square hotel, boston, ex-governor long presiding. a newspaper said, "the guests on this occasion represented the conscience and culture of new england." addresses were made by many of his co-workers,[ ] and among those who sent letters were the rev. samuel may, mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, ainsworth r. spofford, of the library of congress, ex-governor claflin, mrs. j. ellen foster, the hon. james l. hughes, president of the equal rights association of toronto, professor and mrs. carruth of kansas university, and others. on may the golden wedding of the rev. d. p. and mrs. livermore was celebrated by a reception in the suffrage parlors. their daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren received with them. in accordance with mrs. livermore's wish there was no speaking but a great throng of distinguished guests, including both suffragists and "antis," were present. at the may anniversary a reception was given to dr. mary putnam jacobi of new york, and miss elizabeth burrill curtis, daughter of the staunch advocate of suffrage, george william curtis. mr. blackwell presided at the festival in music hall and sat down to the banquet. woman suffrage was indorsed by the garment makers' union of boston, with its members. this year a long list of prominent persons signed a published statement declaring themselves in favor, all the names being collected within about a week. this remarkable list included several hundred names, about one-third of men. so far as personal achievement goes they were among the most prominent in the state and included several presidents of colleges, a large number of noted university men, public officials, lawyers, editors, etc. among the women were the president, dean and twenty professors of wellesley college; the director of the observatory and six instructors of smith college, physicians, lawyers, authors, large taxpayers, and many noted for philanthropy.[ ] the association secured a woman's day at the new england chautauqua assembly; brought the question before hundreds at parlor meetings and public debates, outside of the many arranged by the referendum committee; published six leaflets and a volume, the legal status of women in massachusetts, by mr. ernst, and distributed an immense amount of literature. up to this time the anti-suffrage associations organized in massachusetts always had gone to pieces within a short period after they were formed. but in may, , the present association opposed to the further extension of suffrage to women was organized, with mrs. james m. codman at its head and mrs. charles e. guild as secretary. this was a society composed of women alone. col. higginson said in _harper's bazar_: all the ladies move in a limited though most unimpeachable circle. all may be presumed to interchange visiting cards and meet at the same afternoon teas. there is not even a hint that there is any other class to be consulted. where are the literary women, the artists, the teachers, the business women, the temperance women, the labor reform advocates, the members of the farmers' grange, the clergymen's wives? compared with this inadequate body how comfortably varied looks the list of the committee in behalf of woman suffrage. [distinguished names given.] it includes also women who are wholesomely unknown to the world at large but well known in the granges and among the christian endeavorers. can any one doubt which list represents the spirit of the future? the more cultivated social class--the "four hundred," as the saying is--have an immense value in certain directions. they stand for the social amenities and in many ways for the worthy charities. generous and noble traditions attach to their names and nowhere more than in boston. but one thing has in all ages and places been denied to this class--that of leadership in bold reforms. on november the mock referendum, which had been opposed by many of the leading suffragists, was voted on and received a large negative majority. (see legislative action.) the state association held its annual convention, jan. , , , with large audiences. it opened with a young people's meeting, miss blackwell presiding.[ ] the rev. father scully and mrs. fanny b. ames, state factory inspector, were among the many who gave addresses. at the business meeting the following resolution on the mock referendum was adopted: whereas, the returns show that we only need to convert twenty per cent. of the male voters in order to have a majority; and whereas, public sentiment is growing rapidly and grows faster the more the subject is discussed; therefore, _resolved_, that we petition the legislature to give us a real instead of a sham referendum, by submitting to the voters a constitutional amendment enfranchising women. the president, mrs. livermore, was made a doctor of laws by tufts college and was given a great birthday reception by her fellow-townsmen, with addresses by mrs. susan s. fessenden and mr. blackwell and a poem by hezekiah butterworth. the may festival also opened with a young people's meeting, mrs. howe as "grandmother" introducing the speakers.[ ] mr. garrison presided at the festival and the speakers included alfred webb, m. p., of dublin, the rev. dean hodges, of the episcopal theological school, mrs. charlotte perkins stetson and prof. ellen hayes of wellesley. a series of meetings was held this year in berkshire county. mrs. mary clarke smith was kept in the field as state organizer for seven months. a speaker was sent free of charge to every woman's club or other society willing to hear the suffrage question presented; , pages of literature were distributed. on october the state baptist young people's union at its anniversary indorsed woman suffrage. in december a rousing meeting was held in canton, congressman elijah morse presiding, with mrs. livermore and miss yates as speakers. among the deaths of the year was that of frederick t. greenhalge--the latest of a long line of massachusetts governors who have advocated woman suffrage since --governors claflin, washburn, talbot, brackett, long, butler and ames. at the annual meeting, in , the speakers included the rev. george l. perin and augusta chapin, d. d. as the laws were about to be revised and codified it was decided to ask for an equalization of those bearing on domestic relations. the _women's journal_ noted that never before had so many petitions for suffrage been sent in within so short a time. on february the association gave a large and brilliant reception at the vendome to miss jane addams of chicago. col. higginson presided, and miss addams, mrs. howe and mrs. livermore spoke. on april a reception was given in the suffrage parlors to mrs. harriet tubman, the colored woman so noted in anti-slavery days for her assistance to fugitive slaves, mrs. ednah d. cheney assisting. mr. blackwell presided at the festival, may , and eloquent addresses were made by the rev. dr. george c. lorimer, lieutenant-governor john l. bates, mrs. florence howe hall and many others, while letters of greeting were read from lady henry somerset and mrs. millicent garrett fawcett of england. it was mrs. howe's seventy-eighth birthday and she was received with cheers and presented with flowers. on july the annual meeting of the berkshire historical and scientific society, held at adams, was "a woman suffrage convention from end to end," with miss susan b. anthony as the guest of honor in her native town. her friends and relatives from all parts of the country were present and addresses were made by the vice-president of the society, the rev. a. b. whipple, by miss shaw, mrs. chapman catt, mrs. rachel foster avery, mrs. harriet taylor upton and miss blackwell, officers of the national suffrage association, and by mrs. may wright sewall, vice-president of the international council of women, mrs. clara bewick colby, editor of the _woman's tribune_ and mrs. ida husted harper, miss anthony's biographer. the prohibition state convention in september resolved that "educational qualifications and not sex should be the test of the elective franchise." the next year it adopted a woman suffrage plank. in december the association held a bazar under the management of miss harriet e. turner which cleared $ , . during the year the usual large amount of educational work was done, which included , suffrage articles furnished to newspapers, and the holding of public meetings. the new england historical and genealogical society voted unanimously to admit women to membership. strong efforts were made to have the boston school board elect several eminently qualified women as submasters, but sex prejudice defeated them. the anti-suffrage association published an anonymous pamphlet entitled tested by its fruits. the massachusetts w. s. a. published a counter-pamphlet by chief-justice groesbeck of wyoming, who testified that some of the laws which it represented as then in force had been repealed many years before, and that upon some "an absurd construction" had been placed. the convention of jan. , , was addressed by j. m. robertson of england. at the may festival in hotel brunswick, the hon. hugh h. lusk of new zealand gave an address, and the occasion was made noteworthy by bright speeches from young women--mrs. helen adelaide shaw, miss maud wood (park) of radcliffe and miss hanscom of boston university and smith college. several members of the legislature spoke and reports were received from all the new england states. woman's day was celebrated at the mechanics' fair in boston. this year the association began to issue a monthly letter to the local leagues. as an addition to the literature, secretary-of-the-navy john d. long's suffrage address with his portrait was issued as a handsome pamphlet. in response to an appeal from the president, mrs. livermore (so well known through the sanitary commission during the civil war), $ and many boxes of supplies were sent to the soldiers in the spanish-american war, and the secretary of the state association, mrs. ellie a. hilt, literally worked herself to death in this service. the usual meetings were held in and and the same great amount of work was done. to increase the school vote of women in thirty-eight public meetings were held by the association, with the result that in boston , new names were added to the registration list. in the association contributed liberally to the suffrage campaign in oregon. a large and brilliant reception was given at the hotel vendome in honor of mrs. livermore's th birthday. presidents of the state association since have been the hon. william i. bowditch ( ) to ; mrs. julia ward howe to ; mrs. lucy stone elected that year but died in october; mrs. mary a. livermore, and still in office. henry b. blackwell has been corresponding secretary over thirty years.[ ] the first president of the new england association was mrs. howe. in mrs. lucy stone was elected, and at her death in mrs. howe was again chosen and is still serving.[ ] legislative action:[ ] the first petition for the rights of women was presented to the legislature by william lloyd garrison in . in lucy stone, theodore parker, wendell phillips and thomas wentworth higginson went before the constitutional convention held in the state house, with a petition signed by , names, and pleaded for an amendment conferring suffrage on women. the first appearance of a woman in this state before a legislative committee was made in , when lucy stone, with the rev. james freeman clarke and mr. phillips, addressed the house judiciary asking suffrage for women and equal property rights for wives. the next year samuel e. sewall and dr. harriot k. hunt were granted a similar hearing. in , through the efforts of the new england suffrage association, two hearings were secured to present the claims of , women who had petitioned for the franchise on the same terms as men. this was the beginning of annual hearings on this question, which have been continued without intermission for over thirty years. henry b. blackwell has spoken at every hearing and lucy stone at every one until her death. _ _--petitions were presented for municipal suffrage, for the appointment of police matrons; also for laws permitting husbands and wives to contract with each other and make gifts directly to each other; allowing a woman to hold any office to which she might be elected or appointed; and requiring that a certain number of women should be appointed on boards of overseers of the poor, on state boards of charities and as physicians in the women's wards of insane asylums. hearings were given on most of these petitions. at that of january for municipal suffrage the speakers were william i. bowditch, mrs. stone, mr. blackwell, mrs. julia ward howe, mrs. ednah d. cheney, the rev. j. w. and mrs. jennie f. bashford, mary f. eastman, mrs. h. h. robinson, mrs. harriette robinson shattuck and miss nancy covell. on january a hearing was given to the remonstrants conducted by thornton k. lothrop. the speakers were francis parkman (whose paper was read for him by mr. lothrop) louis b. brandeis, mrs. kate gannett wells, william h. sayward, mrs. lydia warner and george c. crocker. a letter was read from mrs. clara t. leonard. mr. parkman asserted that the suffragists "have thrown to the wind every political, not to say every moral principle;" that "three-fourths of the agitators are in mutiny against providence because it made them women;" and that "if the ballot were granted to women it would be a burden so crushing that life would be a misery." this year petitions for suffrage with , signatures were presented. the remonstrants who set out with the avowed intention of getting more secured about , . a number of persons who signed the anti-suffrage petition in boston published letters afterwards over their own names and addresses saying that they had signed without reading, upon the assurance of the canvasser employed by the remonstrants that it was a petition to permit women to vote on the question of liquor license. in the house municipal suffrage was discussed march , , and finally was defeated by yeas, nays. a bill to let women vote on the license question, which had not been asked for by the suffrage association, was voted down without a count. a law was enacted requiring two women trustees on the board of every state lunatic hospital, and one woman physician in each. samuel e. sewall, frank b. sanborn, mr. blackwell and miss mary a. brigham had been the speakers at the hearing in behalf of this measure. all the other petitions were refused. _ _--on municipal suffrage and the submission of a constitutional amendment a hearing was given february . as usual the green room was crowded. there were before the committee petitions for suffrage with , signatures, and petitions against it with . the speakers in favor were the rev. james freeman clarke, mrs. cheney, lucy stone, mr. blackwell, mr. bowditch, william lloyd garrison, jr., miss eastman, mrs. adelaide a. claflin, mrs. abby m. gannett and miss lelia j. robinson. the opposition was conducted by mr. brandeis and the speakers were judge francis c. lowell, mrs. gannett wells, thomas weston, jr., henry parkman and the rev. brooke hereford, lately from england, with letters from president l. clark seelye of smith college, miss mary e. dewey and mr. sayward. the committee reported in favor of municipal suffrage with only one dissenting. the house on may rejected the bill by yeas, nays. while the women sat in the gallery waiting for the measure to be discussed, the bill proposing to limit the working day for women and children to ten hours was "guyed, laughed at and voted down amid ridicule and uproar." this legislature also refused the petition of mr. sewall and others for one or more women on every board of overseers of the poor; for the better protection of wives; for the submission of a constitutional amendment granting women full suffrage; and for the amendment of the school suffrage law to make it as easy for women as for men to register. (see suffrage.) _ _--at the hearing, january , a letter was read from the hon. josiah g. abbott, and addresses were made by mr. garrison, lucy stone, mr. blackwell, mrs. cheney, mrs. eliza trask hill, the rev. ada c. bowles, mrs. shattuck, mrs. robinson, miss eastman and mrs. claflin. the remonstrants' hearing had been appointed for january . their attorney, e. n. hill, tried at the last moment to get a postponement but failed. the leaders of the "antis" declined to speak but several of the rank and file appeared and made the usual objections. the committee reported in favor of municipal suffrage. it was discussed in the house april , about the same number speaking on each side, and defeated by yeas, nays, the most favorable vote since . on may , before the senate judiciary committee, representatives of the suffrage association and other societies had a hearing in behalf of bills to raise the "age of protection" and to provide adequate penalties for seduction, but no action was taken. _ _--on january governor oliver ames, in his inaugural address to the legislature, said, "i earnestly recommend, as a measure of simple justice, the enactment of a law securing municipal suffrage to women." the suffrage petitions this year had , signatures, the remonstrant petitions . on february it was ordered in the house, on motion of josiah quincy, that the committee on woman suffrage consider the expediency of submitting the question of municipal suffrage to the women of the different cities and towns, the right to be given to them in any city or town where the majority of those who voted on the question should vote in favor; or where a number of women should petition for it equal to a majority of the number of men who voted at the last annual municipal or town election; or where a majority vote of the men should be given for it at the annual election. on motion of mr. quincy an order for legislation to equalize the interest of husbands and wives in each other's property had been previously introduced but was lost. on february a hearing was given to the petitioners. the speakers were the same as the previous year with the addition of col. t. w. higginson. mr. blackwell presented two letters in favor of the bill, one addressed to republicans, one to democrats.[ ] clement k. fay spoke for the remonstrants. the committee reported in favor of municipal suffrage, two dissenting. it was discussed in the house march and . mr. bailey of everett offered an amendment that the provisions of the bill be tried for ten years, but it was not put to a vote. the bill was lost by yeas, nays, including pairs. a bill to let women vote on the license question passed the house by yeas to nays, including pairs, but was defeated in the senate, yeas, nays. the bill was passed providing for police matrons in all cities of , or more inhabitants. _ _--the legislature was asked for municipal and presidential suffrage and for the submission of a constitutional amendment; also for various improvements in the laws relating to women. the woman's christian temperance union petitioned for license suffrage. several thousand women signed the petition and one hundred the remonstrance. on january a hearing was given on the petitions for municipal and license suffrage. mr. bowditch, lucy stone, mr. blackwell, mrs. howe and mrs. cheney spoke for municipal suffrage and miss elizabeth s. tobey for license suffrage. mr. brandeis made an argument as attorney for the remonstrants. charles carleton coffin, a. a. miner, d. d., mrs. claflin, the rev. ada c. bowles and miss cora scott pond replied for the petitioners. on february and hearings were given on the petitions for six bills drawn by mr. sewall: . to give mothers the equal care, custody and education of their minor children. . to give married women a right to appoint guardians for their minor children by will. . to repeal the act of limiting the inheritance of personal property. . to regulate and equalize the descent of personal property between husband and wife. . to equalize curtesy and dower and the descent of real estate between husband and wife. . to enable husbands and wives to make gifts, contracts and conveyances directly with one another, and to authorize suits between them. addresses in support of the petitions were made by mr. sewall, mrs. howe, mrs. stone, mr. blackwell, the hon. george a. o. ernst, miss robinson, george h. fall and others. all these measures were refused. several new statutes for the better protection of women were passed this year, however, at the instance of mr. sewall, among them one providing severe penalties for any person who should aid in sending a woman as inmate or servant to a house of ill fame; one prohibiting railroads from requiring women or children to ride in smoking cars; one providing that women arrested should be placed in charge of police matrons. on april municipal suffrage was defeated in the house, yeas, nays. license suffrage, after a prolonged contest, passed by yeas, nays, and was defeated in the senate, yeas, nays. _ _--at the hearing of january the attendance was larger than ever before. prof. w. h. carruth, franklyn howland and the rev. j. w. hamilton (afterwards bishop of the methodist episcopal church) were added to the usual list of speakers. on february a hearing was granted to the w. c. t. u. for municipal suffrage, and on february one was given to the remonstrants. the hon. john m. ropes, the rev. charles b. rice, the rev. dr. dexter of the _congregationalist_ and arthur lord spoke in the negative. they said they were employed as counsel by the remonstrants, whose names and numbers they declined to give. as mr. lord was unable to complete his argument in the allotted time, at his request a further hearing was granted on february . extracts were read from letters by mrs. clara t. leonard and mrs. a. d. t. whitney.[ ] mrs. howe, lucy stone, mr. blackwell, col. l. edwin dudley and miss tobey replied. chester w. kingsley, chairman of the legislative committee, said that as no petitions against suffrage had been sent in he would ask all the remonstrants present to rise. not a person rose, but the men standing in the aisles tried to sit down. mr. lord suggested that the remonstrants were averse to notoriety, whereupon senator kingsley asked all in favor to rise, and the great audience rose in a body. among the petitions sent in this year for municipal suffrage was one signed by president helen a. shafer of wellesley college, a number of the professors and about seventy students who were over twenty-one. the committee reported in favor of both municipal and license suffrage. the former was discussed march and lost by a vote, including pairs, of yeas, nays. the _woman's journal_ said: "although not a majority, the weight of character, talent and experience was overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, as is shown by the fact that _the chairmen of thirty of the house committees_, out of a total of forty-one, were recorded in its favor." license suffrage passed the senate, yeas, nays, after a long fight, and was defeated in the house, yeas, nays. _ _--suffrage petitions were presented and also petitions asking that fathers and mothers be made equal guardians of their children; that contracts between husbands and wives be legally valid; and that a widow be allowed to stay more than forty days in the house of her deceased husband without paying rent. all these were refused. on march a hearing was given to the petitioners for suffrage. mrs. stone, mr. blackwell, the rev. j. w. hamilton, mrs. ellen b. dietrick, the rev. frederick a. hinckley, mr. crane of woburn and miss alice stone blackwell spoke in behalf of the w. s. a., and mrs. susan s. fessenden, mrs. amelia c. thorpe and miss tobey in behalf of the w. c. t. u. mr. ropes, dr. a. p. peabody and j. b. wiggin spoke against woman suffrage. mr. lord asked that the hearing be extended for another day, as he wished to speak in behalf of the remonstrants, although no petitions had been sent in. mr. blackwell requested the chairman of the committee to ask mr. lord to state definitely whom he represented. the chairman answered that if he did not choose to tell he could not compel him. on march a hearing was given to mr. lord, who spoke for more than an hour. the usual distinguished suffrage advocates spoke in answer. on april seventy-nine republican representatives met at the parker house, boston, in response to an invitation from the republican members of the house committee on woman suffrage. ex-gov. john d. long presided. addresses were made by mr. long, u. s. collector beard, mayor thomas n. hart of boston, the hon. albert e. pillsbury, ex-president of the senate, ex-governor claflin and state treasurer george e. marden. letters were read from the hon. w. w. crapo and ex-governor ames. the following was unanimously adopted: _resolved_, that it is the duty of the republican party of massachusetts forthwith to extend municipal suffrage to the women of the commonwealth. on april , after extended discussion in the house, the bill was lost, including pairs, by yeas, nays. the same legislature defeated a proposal to disfranchise for a term of three years men convicted of infamous crimes, and it voted to admit to suffrage men who did not pay their poll-tax. _ _--on february a hearing was granted to the petitioners for municipal suffrage, conducted by mr. blackwell for the association, by mrs. fessenden for the w. c. t. u. to the usual speakers for the former were added mrs. helen campbell, the rev. charles g. ames, and also the rev. daniel whitney, who had advocated woman suffrage in the massachusetts constitutional convention of and now celebrated his eighty-first birthday by supporting it again. the speakers for the w. c. t. u. were the rev. joseph cook, mrs. thorpe, president elmer hewitt capen of tufts college, mrs. katherine lente stevenson and others. mrs. martha moore avery spoke for the labor reformers. no remonstrants appeared. in the senate, march , senators gilman, nutter and breed spoke for municipal suffrage, and no one in the negative. the bill was lost by a vote, including pairs, of yeas, nays. this year a bill was passed requiring the appointment of women as factory inspectors, and two were appointed. _ _--the suffrage association petitioned for municipal and full suffrage, also for equal property rights for women. the w. c. t. u. for municipal and license suffrage, and both societies for legislation granting women equal facilities with men in registering to vote for school committee. on march a hearing was given by the committee on election laws on an order introduced by senator gorham d. gilman to remove the poll-tax prerequisite for women's school vote, as it had been removed from men. bills to secure for them a more just and liberal method of registration, drafted by ex-governor long and mr. blackwell, were submitted. addresses were made by these two, senator gilman, mrs. cheney, dr. salome merritt, mrs. brockway and others. on february a hearing was given on the suffrage petitions which were advocated by senator gilman, colonel dudley, mrs. howe, lucy stone, mr. blackwell, the hon. george s. hale, mrs. trask hill and others. no remonstrants appeared. on march the hearing for the w. c. t. u. was held with many prominent advocates. license suffrage was discussed in the house april , and on a _viva voce_ vote was declared carried, but on a roll call was defeated, yeas, nays. a reconsideration was moved next day and the advocates of the bill secured twenty-three additional votes, but the opponents also increased their vote and the motion was refused. out of the members recorded themselves in favor of the bill. municipal suffrage was voted down in the senate may , without debate, by yeas, nays. the poll-tax was abolished as a prerequisite for voting in the case of women. this had been done in the case of men in . a bill to permit a wife to bring an action against her husband, at law or in equity, for any matter relating to her separate property or estate passed the house but was defeated in the senate. the senate judiciary committee reported against legislation to enable a woman to be appointed a justice of the peace. _ _--this year for the first time the state w. s. a., the national w. s. a. of massachusetts, the w. c. t. u., the independent women voters and the loyal women of american liberty all united in petitioning for a single measure, municipal suffrage. the hearing at the state house on february was conducted by mr. blackwell. addresses were made by lucy stone,[ ] mrs. howe, mrs. mary a. livermore, mrs. stevenson, the rev. louis a. banks, mayor elihu b. hayes of lynn, mrs. a. j. gordon, mrs. trask hill, mrs. a. p. dickerman, mrs. fiske of st. johns, n. b., amos beckford, george e. lothrop, mrs. m. e. s. cheney and miss blackwell. mrs. m. e. tucker faunce was the sole remonstrant. the committee reported in favor of the petitioners, yeas, nays. the question was debated in the legislature february . every inch of space was crowded, the first three rows of the men's gallery were allowed on this occasion to be occupied by women and even then many stood. on motion of representative white of brookline an amendment was adopted by yeas, nays, providing that municipal suffrage should be granted conditionally; the question be submitted to a vote of the men and women of the state, and the measure to go into effect only in case the majority of those voting on it voted in favor. the bill as amended was then defeated by yeas, nays, almost every opponent of suffrage voting against it. they thus virtually declared that they were not willing women should have municipal suffrage even if the majority of both men and women could be shown to favor it. the adverse majority this year was ten votes; the smallest in any previous year had been . _ _--gov. frederick t. greenhalge, in his inaugural message to the legislature, strongly urged that it should consider the extension of municipal suffrage to women. on january a hearing was given by the joint special committee. no remonstrant petitions had been sent in. the chairman invited alternate speeches from suffragists and opponents, but only one of the latter presented himself, j. otis wardwell of haverhill, who said: i appear here this morning for a lady who, i understand, has occupied a position as chairman or secretary of an organization that has for some time been an active opponent of woman suffrage. _mr. blackwell_--may i inquire what the organization is that the gentleman refers to? we have never been able to find out much about this organization against woman suffrage. we hear that there is one, but if so it is a secret society. what is the name of it? mr. wardwell--i do not know the name of it, sir. [laughter.] when pressed for the name of the lady at whose request he appeared he finally acknowledged that it was mrs. c. d. homans of boston. it was afterwards reported that she was extremely indignant with him for having disclosed her name. addresses in favor of suffrage were made by mrs. howe, mrs. livermore, mr. ernst, mr. garrison, mr. and miss blackwell, for the state w. s. a.; by mrs. cheney, president, for the state school suffrage association; by dr. salome merritt and miss charlotte lobdell for the national w. s. a. of massachusetts; by willard howland, mrs. gleason and others for the w. c. t. u.; by mrs. trask hill for the independent women voters; and by mrs. avery for the labor element; also by miss catherine spence of australia, mrs. emily a. fifield of the boston school board, and others. henry h. faxon added a few words. a second hearing was given january , at which mrs. fessenden and twelve other speakers represented the w. c. t. u. no remonstrants appeared. at the request of a member of the joint special committee a third hearing was given on january . the rev. dr. hamilton, mrs. l. a. morrison, mrs. trask hill and others spoke in favor of suffrage, and jeremiah j. donovan against it. the committee made a majority report against municipal suffrage and a minority report in favor. on january arthur s. kneil offered an amendment providing that the question should be submitted to the men and women of the state, and that the act should take effect only if a majority of the votes cast on the proposition were in favor. wm. h. burges wanted it submitted to the men only. a second amendment proposed to lay the whole matter on the table till the opinion of the supreme court could be taken on the constitutionality of mr. kneil's amendment. on february there was a spirited discussion but finally both amendments were defeated, and the minority report in favor of the bill was substituted for the adverse majority report by a vote of yeas, nays. on february senator arthur h. wellman urged the adoption of his order that the justices of the supreme court should be required to give their opinion to the house on three questions: . is it constitutional, in an act granting to women the right to vote in town and city elections, to provide that such act shall take effect throughout the commonwealth upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of the commonwealth? . is it constitutional to provide in such an act that it shall take effect in a city or town upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of such city or town? . is it constitutional to provide that such an act shall take effect throughout the commonwealth upon its acceptance by a majority of the voters of the commonwealth, including women specially authorized to register and vote upon this question? alfred s. roe and the other leading advocates of municipal suffrage withdrew their opposition to the order, saying that they preferred the bill as it stood, but that if amendments were to be added to it at any subsequent stage it would be well to know whether they were constitutional. the order was adopted. on march four justices of the supreme court--field, allen, morton and lathrop--answered "no" to all three questions. justices holmes and barker answered "yes" to all three; and justice knowlton answered "no" to the first and third and "yes" to the second. these opinions were published in full in the _woman's journal_ of march , . on march municipal suffrage was discussed in open session. an amendment was offered to limit the right to taxpaying women and a substitute bill to allow women to vote at one election only. the latter was offered by richard j. hayes of boston, who said, "you would see the lowest women literally driven to the polls by thousands by mercenary politicians. the object lesson would settle the question forever." the amendment and the substitute were lost and the bill was passed to its third reading by a vote, including pairs, of yeas, nays. on march the galleries were crowded with women. richard sullivan of boston offered an additional section that the question be submitted to the men at the november election for an expression of opinion. this was adopted by yeas, nays. the bill to grant women municipal suffrage at once, irrespective of what the expression of opinion in november might be, was then passed to be engrossed, by a vote, including pairs, of yeas, nays. a motion to reconsider was voted down. on april the bill came up in the senate. floor and galleries were crowded and hundreds were turned away. senator william b. lawrence of medford, a distiller, offered as a substitute for the bill a proposal to submit the question to the men at the november election for an expression of opinion as a guide to action by the next legislature. he said it was absurd to grant women the suffrage first and call for an expression of opinion by the men afterward. the vote on the substitute was a tie, yeas, nays. to relieve the president of the senate from the necessity of voting senator john f. fitzgerald changed his vote, but senator butler declined to be so relieved and gave his casting vote against the substitute. the bill for municipal suffrage was then defeated by yeas, nays. the boston _herald_, of april , had an editorial entitled liquor and woman suffrage, expressing satisfaction in the defeat of the bill but emphatic disapproval of the corrupt methods used against it in the senate. a majority of the senators had promised to vote for it but the liquor dealer's association raised a large sum of money to accomplish its defeat, a persistent lobby worked against it and several senators changed front. the _herald_ plainly intimated that the result was due to bribery. the credit of the unusually good vote in the house in and ' was largely due to representative alfred s. roe of worcester, an able member, highly esteemed and very popular, who worked for the bill with the utmost zeal and perseverance. there were petitions this year from many different organizations representing a vast aggregate membership. on june a bill to allow women to be notaries public was defeated in the senate by yeas, nays. _ ._--on january a great hearing was held in old representatives' hall at the state house, with floor, aisles and galleries crowded to the utmost capacity. senator alpheus m. eldridge presided and mrs. livermore, as president of the state association, conducted the hearing for the five organizations that appeared as petitioners. addresses were made by lady henry somerset, mrs. howe, mr. blackwell, profs. hayes and webster of wellesley college, mrs. fessenden, mrs. trask hill, mrs. emily mclaughlin, mrs. boland, john dean, f. c. nash, frank h. foster, chairman of the legislative committee of the american federation of labor for massachusetts, james f. norton, the representative of , good templars. no opposing petitions had been sent in but thomas russell appeared as attorney for the remonstrants and said: "believing as they do that the proper place for women is not in public urging or remonstrating against legislation before public gatherings, but rather in the home, the hospital, the school, the public institution where sin and suffering are to be found and to be alleviated, they have not themselves appeared before you"--but had sent him.[ ] representative roe said that the lawyer who had spoken for the remonstrants at the hearing of had received $ for his services, and asked mr. russell if he appeared in the same capacity. he answered that no compensation had been promised him, and that he did not mean to accept any. he added: "i represent no organization, anything more than an informal gathering of ladies, and as for the numbers i can not state. but i do not come here basing my claim to be heard on the numbers of those who have asked me to appear. it is the justice of the cause which i speak upon that entitles me to a hearing, as it would if there were no one but myself." later twelve remonstrances were sent in, signed by women. for suffrage there were petitions from towns and cities representing , individuals, men and women. the opposition, alarmed by the large affirmative vote of , this year put forth unprecedented efforts. daily papers were paid for publishing voluminous letters against suffrage--sometimes of four columns--and an active and unscrupulous lobby worked against the bill. for the first time in history an anti-suffrage association was formed within the legislature itself. representatives dallinger, humphrey, bancroft of clinton, eddy of new bedford, and others, organized themselves into a society, elected a chairman and secretary and worked strenuously and systematically, making a thorough canvass of the house and pledging as many members as possible to vote "no." the suffragists made the mistake of devoting their attention mainly to the senate, where it was expected that the bill would come up first, and where it was believed that the main difficulty would be, but on march the municipal suffrage bill was brought up in the house. every inch of space was crowded with spectators. after much discussion the bill was defeated by yeas, nays. on march a bill to raise the "age of protection" for girls from to years was defeated by yeas, nays. on may senator wellman's bill for a "mock referendum" was adopted by the legislature. it proposed to take a vote of the men and women of the state on the question "is it expedient that municipal suffrage should be extended to women?" the mock referendum: this is called by the advocates of equal rights a "mock referendum" because it was to have no legal validity and was to give the women nothing even if it should be carried in their favor. the _woman's journal_ said: two years ago an amendment was added to the municipal suffrage bill providing that it should become law when ratified by a vote of the majority of the men and women of the state. nearly every opponent in the house voted against the bill after that amendment had been incorporated, showing clearly that they were not willing to let women have suffrage even if a majority of the men and women of the state should vote for it. it was then believed that such action would be constitutional. the supreme court afterwards gave its opinion that municipal suffrage could not be extended by a popular vote of either the men or the women, or both, but must be extended, if at all, by the legislature. following that decision, the opponents have become clamorous for a popular vote. the suffragists, who, beginning in , had petitioned year after year for the submission to the voters of a legal and straightforward constitutional amendment, which would give women the ballot if the majority voted for it, were disgusted with this sham substitution. mrs. livermore, the state president, declared that she would neither take part in the mock vote herself nor advise others to do so. this feeling was so general that at the last meeting of the executive committee of the w. s. a. for the season, in june, it was found impossible even to pass a resolution recommending those men and women who favored equal suffrage to go to the polls and say so. a number of individual suffragists, however, believed that advantage should be taken of the chance to make an educational campaign and, as the _woman's journal_ of june said, "to use the opportunity for what it is worth as a means of agitation." therefore a suffrage referendum state committee was formed of more than fifty prominent men and women, including u. s. senator hoar, ex-governor long, the hon. j. q. a. brackett, mrs. howe, mrs. livermore, mrs. fannie b. ames, mrs. elizabeth stuart phelps ward, the editors of the _woman's journal_ and others. mrs. mary clarke smith was employed as organizer, beginning july , and as good a campaign was made as the circumstances permitted. by the time the executive committee reassembled in october, every one had become convinced of the wisdom of this course, and the state suffrage association and the referendum committee worked hand in hand during the last few weeks before election. it was a disadvantage that the bill for the "mock referendum" was passed just before people went away for the summer, and that the vote was to be taken soon after they came back in the fall; nevertheless, a spirited campaign was made, a large number of meetings and rallies were held and a great quantity of literature was distributed. about six weeks before election a man suffrage association was formed with francis c. lowell as chairman, thomas russell as treasurer and charles r. saunders as salaried secretary.[ ] this society was composed wholly of men. it sent out an enormous number of circulars and other documents, spent money like water, enlisted active political workers, utilized to a considerable extent the party "machines," and as far as possible secured a committee of men to work at each polling place on election day and roll up a large negative vote of men. it contained a number of influential politicians who displayed much skill in their tactics. they published a manifesto against equal rights signed by one hundred prominent men. the _woman's journal_, which printed this document on october , said: in the main the protest represents merely money and social position. there are half-a-dozen names on it which it is a pity and a shame to see there. all the rest were to be expected. they are men whose opinion would be of weight on questions of stocks and bonds, but whose opinion on questions of moral reform has only a minus value.... its signers have pilloried themselves for posterity. it is regarded as discourteous to-day to remind president eliot of harvard that his father was the only member of congress from massachusetts who voted for the fugitive slave law. forty years hence it will be regarded as cruel to remind the children of these gentlemen [among whom was president eliot] that their fathers put their names to a protest against equal rights for women. at first the two anti-suffrage associations, the men's and the women's, co-operated with the suffragists in getting up debates; but no man ever consented to take part in one against suffrage a second time, and toward the end of the campaign it became almost impossible to secure speakers in the negative. both sides published appeals and counter-appeals and the question was discussed in the press, at public meetings and in social circles to an extent unprecedented in the history of the state. even the advertisements in the street cars began with the query in large letters, should women vote? in order to attract attention to a particular brand of soap, etc. during the early part of the canvass the opponents of suffrage circulated pledges for signature by women promising to vote "no" in november,[ ] but they soon became convinced that in trying to get out a large vote of women against suffrage they had undertaken more than they could accomplish. the massachusetts association opposed to the further extension of suffrage to women supplied in plate form to a large number of state papers a series of articles one of which urged women to express themselves against suffrage, warned them that "_silence will be cited as consent_," and said: "it is our duty in any clear and forcible way that presents itself, to say 'i am not sure that our country should run this enormous new risk.'" the "antis" have since asserted that in saying "in any clear and forcible way that presents itself," they did not mean to include the most obvious way, _i. e._, by voting "no" when given an opportunity by the legislature to do so. later in the campaign they issued a manifesto declaring that they did not urge women to register or vote, and that _silence was not to be interpreted as consent_. and finally, just before registration closed in boston and the other cities, when it was clear that the majority of women were not going to register to vote either way, they issued another manifesto urging women _not_ to vote against suffrage! this was a transparent device to conceal the fewness of their numbers, and they thus stultified all their previous professions, as they had asserted for years that whenever women were given the right to vote on an important question it would be their duty to do so, irrespective of their personal inclinations, and it was in order to save women from this burden that their enfranchisement was opposed. if they could have brought out an overwhelming vote of women against equal suffrage, of course they would have done so. since they could not, it was their policy to advise women not to express themselves and thus let the few who were strongly opposed be confounded with the mass of those who were indifferent. the man suffrage association, which professed to be working in full harmony with the women's organization, declared in small and inconspicuous type that it did not urge women to take the trouble to register, merely for the sake of expressing themselves on the referendum, but that it did urge those who voted at all to vote "no." it published a circular giving reasons "why women and the friends of women should vote no," and it covered walls and fences from one end of the state to the other with huge placards bearing in enormous letters the words, "men and women, vote no!" the main object of this association, however, was not to get an expression of opinion from the women (which would weigh little either way) but to influence the legislature through a large negative vote from the men. mr. saunders was reported in an interview in the boston _herald_ as saying that the women who took the trouble to vote at all would probably vote in favor ten to one (it proved to be twenty-five to one), but that if the _men_ would give a good majority against it the legislature could be relied upon to defeat a genuine amendment for years. the suffragists spent only $ , during the entire canvass. the man suffrage association never made the sworn report of its receipts and expenditures which the law requires of every campaign committee, although even the papers opposed to suffrage exhorted it to do so and warned it that it was placing itself in a false position by refusing, but the treasurer published an unsworn statement, not of his receipts but of his general expenditures, by which it appeared that the association, during the six weeks of its existence, spent $ , . in addition large sums were expended by the women's anti-suffrage association, which, not being a campaign committee but a permanent society, was under no legal obligation to file a statement. the "mock referendum" was voted on at the state election, nov. , , receiving , yeas, , nays. men cast , yeas, , nays; women cast , yeas, nays. forty-eight towns gave a majority for equal suffrage, two were a tie, and in several the adverse majority was only one or two votes, and yet in most of these towns no suffrage league existed, and in some of them no suffrage meeting ever had been held. the number of men who voted in the affirmative was a general surprise. a leaflet by one of the leading remonstrants, circulated during the campaign, asserted that "not one citizen of sound judgment in a hundred is in favor of woman suffrage;" but nearly one-third of the male voters who expressed themselves declared for it. there was the smallest affirmative vote in the most disreputable wards of boston. nearly , more votes of men were cast for suffrage than had been cast for prohibition in . the proportion of votes in favor was almost twice as large as in rhode island, the only other new england state in which the question had been submitted, although in that there was no anti-suffrage association in the field. outside of boston the largest negative vote by women was cast in cambridge and newton, which have the reputation of being remonstrant strongholds. in of the towns not one woman voted "no." in most of these the anti-suffrage association had no branches, and there is no reason to suppose that the women ever had heard of its eleventh-hour advice to women not to vote. in every county, and in every congressional, senatorial and representative district the women's vote was in favor at least ten to one. the "mock referendum" answered the main purpose of its promoters, however, for it did seriously cut down the vote for suffrage in the legislature for several years thereafter, but it made a host of converts among the people at large and gave a fresh impetus to the activity of the state suffrage association, which ever since has steadily grown in membership. * * * * * _ _--the usual petitions for suffrage were presented from cities and towns, with , signatures. the joint special committee on woman suffrage, which had been appointed annually for many years, was discontinued, with the good result that the suffragists ever since have had their hearings before two more influential committees, those on constitutional amendments and on election laws. on february the latter gave a hearing for municipal suffrage. mr. blackwell opened the case for the petitioners and the usual number of fine addresses were made. thomas russell spoke for the remonstrants, and miss blackwell replied to him. on february the committee on constitutional amendments gave a hearing. addresses were made by mrs. howe, mr. garrison, the rev. florence e. kollock, oswald garrison villard, mr. ernst, mrs. isabel c. barrows, miss cora a. benneson and clyde duniway, formerly of oregon. mr. russell again spoke for the remonstrants and was answered by miss blackwell, miss gail laughlin and mrs. mary clarke smith. on march a hearing was given to the petitioners for license suffrage. just after the hearing closed mr. russell arrived to remonstrate, but too late. on march a hearing was given on the petition of the state w. s. a. that the times of registration should be the same for women (school) voters as for men. the committee on constitutional amendments recommended that the question of submitting a suffrage amendment be referred to the next legislature--three dissenting and favoring its submission this year. on march consideration of the question was voted down and the yeas and nays were refused. on march and april license suffrage was discussed and finally defeated by yeas, nays, including pairs. the committee on election laws reported in favor of municipal suffrage but the bill was defeated. the supreme court decided that women could not be made notaries public because they are not distinctly named as eligible in the state constitution. thomas f. keenan, an opponent of woman suffrage, introduced a bill to license houses "for commercial sexual intercourse," which he alone voted for.[ ] _ _--it was decided to ask this year for a thorough revision and equalization of the statutes bearing on domestic relations, in view of the fact that the last legislature had appointed a committee of lawyers to revise and codify the laws. especial attention was called to the need of a law making fathers and mothers joint guardians of their children. mr. ernst, in behalf of the association, prepared a bill equalizing the property rights of husbands and wives. mr. russell, in behalf of the m. a. o. f. e. s. w. (which had for years been circulating leaflets declaring that the laws of massachusetts were already more than just to women) prepared a bill tending in a similar direction; and a judge of probate prepared a more limited bill. all three appeared before the revising committee and, after repeated conferences, a bill making some improvements was recommended by the committee and enacted by the legislature, but with a proviso that it should not go into effect until the following year, in order that the next legislature might have a chance to amend it. on february the committee gave a hearing to the petitioners for the submission of an amendment to enfranchise women. it was addressed by mr. blackwell, mrs. cheney, mrs. boland, the rev. thomas scully, the rev. mr. ames, the rev. augusta chapin, miss blackwell and others. no remonstrants appeared. the committee reported favorably, but on february the bill was defeated by yeas, nays. on february the committee on election laws heard arguments for municipal and presidential suffrage, and also on the petition of the w. c. t. u. for license suffrage. the committee had before it largely signed petitions for suffrage and none against it. mrs. howe and mr. blackwell spoke in behalf of the measures asked for by the suffrage association, and a large number of prominent women for the w. c. t. u. mr. russell, mrs. j. elliott cabot, frank foxcroft, miss dewey, dr. walter channing, mrs. a. j. george, a. lawrence lowell and miss mary a. j. mcintyre spoke against all three bills. miss blackwell, at the close, replied in behalf of both associations. members of the committee asked the president of the anti-suffrage association, mrs. cabot, and almost all the women who spoke on that side whether they would vote for or against license if they had the ballot. everyone answered that she would vote for license. mr. russell had declared that if women were allowed to vote, "no license would be carried in every town and city of the commonwealth, contrary to the will of the people." the committee gave a majority report against all the bills. on march the question of accepting the adverse report on license suffrage came up in the legislature. the vote stood, yeas, nays, and speaker john l. bates gave his casting vote in favor of substituting the bill for the adverse report. on march the question was debated and the vote resulted in yeas, nays. there was much public interest and a lively discussion in the papers. municipal and presidential suffrage were lost without a roll-call. a bill to make the boston school board appointive instead of elective, which would have deprived women of their school suffrage, was defeated. _ _--the hearing on february was conducted by mr. blackwell for the petitioners; mr. russell for the remonstrants. a letter from ex-gov. william claflin in favor of suffrage was read. mrs. anna christy fall, mr. garrison, ex-u. s. attorney frank b. allen, mrs. helen adelaide shaw, dr. a. e. winship, editor of the _journal of education_, and others spoke for suffrage; mrs. arthur d. gilman, mrs. egbert c. smythe, mrs. rothery of wellesley, mrs. lincoln r. stone and mrs. george against it. miss blackwell replied for the petitioners. the committee reported "leave to withdraw." on february , after debate in the house of representatives, the vote stood yeas, nays. on february the committee gave a hearing on municipal suffrage and on license suffrage, both of which were eloquently urged. mrs. cabot, mrs. charles e. guild, the rev. thomas van ness, the rev. reuen thomas, mrs. henry f. durant, mrs. william t. sedgwick, mr. foxcroft and mr. russell spoke in opposition. municipal suffrage was not debated, but after discussion on march and , in the house of representatives, the vote on license suffrage, including pairs, stood yeas, nays. the record for and presented no variations except that a number of local associations petitioned for municipal suffrage for taxpaying women. the state association did not officially ask for this, though the majority of its officers favored the measure. the annual hearings were given, the usual large crowds were in attendance, the ablest men and women in the state advocated the granting of suffrage, those heretofore mentioned spoke in opposition,[ ] and the negative vote was in about the same proportion as before the "remonstrants" made their appearance.[ ] laws: until the women of massachusetts suffered to the fullest extent the barbarities of the english common law. after that date the changes were gradual but very slow. from there was but little improvement in the property laws until , when a radical revision was effected by a legislative committee and approved by the legislature. as there was to be a general revision of the statutes and the new book would not be issued until jan. , , it was decided that all should go into effect at that date. the new property law for women provides as follows: no distinction is made between real and personal property in distributing the estate. the surviving husband or wife takes and holds one-third if the deceased leaves children or their descendants; $ , and one-half of the remaining estate if the deceased leaves no issue; and the whole if the deceased leaves no kindred. this is taken absolutely and not for life. curtesy and dower have not been abolished but the old-time curtesy, which is a life interest in the whole of a deceased wife's real estate, is cut down to a life interest in one-third, the same as dower; and in order to be entitled to dower or curtesy the surviving husband or wife must elect to take it in preference to abiding by the above provisions. either husband or wife can make a will under the new law without the consent of the other, but the survivor, if not satisfied with the will of the deceased, can waive it within a year and take the same share of the estate that he (or she) would have taken if there had been no will, except that, if he would thus become entitled to more than $ , in value, he shall receive, in addition to that amount, only the income during his life of the excess of his share of such estate above that amount; and except that, if the deceased leaves no kindred, he, upon such waiver, shall take the interest he would have taken if the deceased had died leaving kindred but no issue. a discretionary amount may be assigned by the probate court to the widow for the support of herself and minor children and takes precedence of the debts of the deceased. the old law took this allowance out of the personal estate only, and often the widow was not able to receive the immediate assistance she needed, because the property was all in the form of real estate. the new law permits the real estate to be used if necessary. it also gives $ to a minor child for his immediate necessities, if there is no widow; the old law gave $ . the new law permits the widow to remain in her husband's house for six months after his death. the old law gave her only forty days. a married woman has full control of her separate property, and can dispose of her real estate subject only to the husband's interests. if she has been deserted or if the court has decreed that she is living apart from him for justifiable cause, she can by will or deed dispose of all her real and personal estate as if unmarried. the husband can do the same. a married woman can be executor, administrator, guardian or trustee. she may make contracts with any one except her husband; may sue and be sued, carry on business in her own name, by complying with the legal requirements; control and invest her earnings and enter into partnerships. she is responsible for her contracts and debts and her property may be held for them. the husband is not liable on any judgments recovered against the wife alone, and her separate property is not liable on any judgment or execution against the husband. suits between husband and wife are not allowed except for divorce. the father is the legal guardian of the persons and estates of minor children; he has power to dispose of them during the lifetime of the mother and may appoint a guardian at his death.[ ] for non-support of wife and minor children the husband may be fined not exceeding $ or imprisoned in the house of correction not exceeding six months. at the discretion of the court the fine is paid in whole or part to the town, city, society or person actually supporting such wife and children. ( .) the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in ; to in ; to in . the penalty is imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years, or for any term in any other penal institution in the commonwealth. this may be one day in the city jail. among various laws passed in the interests of women was one in making army nurses eligible to receive state aid. one of requires the state to inter the wife or widow of an honorably discharged soldier, sailor or marine who served during the civil war, if she did not leave sufficient means for funeral expenses, provided she was married prior to . in it was enacted that the state should perform a similar service for the mothers of said soldiers, sailors or marines, and that this should not be with the pauper dead, in either case. massachusetts has detailed laws regarding the employment of women, among them one restricting the hours of work in any mercantile establishment to fifty-eight in a week, except in retail stores during the month of december. ten hours is a legal workday for women in general. separate houses of detention are required for women prisoners in cities of over , .[ ] suffrage: the original charter of massachusetts in did not exclude women from voting. in the first constitution prohibited them from voting except for certain officers. the new constitution of limited the suffrage strictly to males. in the legislature enacted that a woman twenty-one years of age, who could give satisfactory evidence as to residence and who could stand the educational test (_i. e._, be able to read five lines of the constitution and write her name), and who should give notice in writing to the assessors that she wished to be assessed a poll tax (two dollars) and should give in under oath a statement of her taxable property (which was not required of men, as they had the option of letting the assessors guess at the amount) should thereupon be assessed and should be entitled to register and vote for members of school boards.[ ] in order to keep her name on the registration list this entire process had to be repeated every year, while a man's name once placed on the list was kept there without further effort on his part, and the payment of the same poll tax entitled him to full suffrage. in the poll tax was reduced to fifty cents, and the law was changed so that women's names should remain on the registration list so long as they continued to reside and pay their taxes in the place where they were registered. even now, however, it requires constant watchfulness on their part to have this done. in the poll tax as a prerequisite for voting was abolished for men, and in for women. only a few weeks in each year were set apart when women might register until , when it was enacted that the time of registration should be the same for both. the school suffrage includes only a vote for members of the school board and not for supervisors, appropriations or any questions connected with the public schools. women are not authorized to attend caucuses or have any voice in nominations of school officers. as they were thus deprived of all voice in selecting candidates, an association, independent women voters, was formed in boston in by mrs. eliza trask hill, who served as president until , when she removed from the city, and mrs. sarah j. boyden has filled the office since then. this organization, which was entered at the registration office as a political party, holds a caucus in each ward between january and april every year and nominates candidates for the school board. such nomination by or more legal voters entitles their names to be placed on the australian ballot. some of the nominees of the independent women voters are often accepted by the regular parties, but even when this is refused they are sometimes elected over the republican or democratic candidates. because of the conditions attached and the small privilege granted it is remarkable that any considerable number of women should have voted during these past years. when school suffrage was first granted, in , only women voted, and for the first seven years the average was only . since then there has been a large increase of interest. during the past seven years the number never has fallen below , . in , , women voted; in , , ; in , , ; and this year ( ) there were , names on the register and , voted. the highest number was reached in , when under special circumstances , women were registered and , voted. office holding: women have served as school committee (trustees) since . for some time previous to they could hold by appointment the offices of overseers of the poor, trustees of public libraries, school supervisors, members of the state boards of education and of health, lunacy and charity, without special legislation. it was required that there should be women on the boards of the three state primary and reform schools, state workhouse, state almshouse and board of prison commissioners, and that certain managers and officers of the reformatory prison for women at sherborn should be women. in a bill was passed requiring the appointment of two women on the board of every hospital for the insane and one woman physician for each. in it was enacted that women might be assistant registers of deeds; in that they might be elected overseers of the poor. in a law was passed requiring police matrons in all cities of , inhabitants or more. there had been matrons in boston fifteen years. in the supreme court decided that a woman could not act as notary public. in it was enacted that there should be women factory inspectors; in that a woman could be appointed assistant town or city clerk; in that county commissioners might appoint a woman clerk _pro tempore_! the evolution of the special commissioner shows the laborious processes by which women make any gains in massachusetts. in a law was passed that women attorneys could be appointed special commissioners to administer oaths, take depositions and acknowledge deeds. in it was amended to give special commissioners the same powers as justices of the peace in the above respects and also that of issuing summonses for witnesses. in it was provided that any woman over twenty-one, the same as any man, whether a lawyer or not, could be appointed commissioner; a change of name by marriage should terminate her commission but should not disqualify her for re-appointment. in the powers were extended to appointments of appraisers of estates. in the powers of the special commissioner were made coincident with those of justice of the peace, but the authority to perform the marriage ceremony was taken from justices generally and is now given to specified ones only. women can not be justices of the peace. they may be appointed by the state to take acknowledgments of deeds but not to perform the marriage ceremony unless regularly ordained ministers. women at present are serving on state boards as follows: commissioners of prisons, charity and free public library--two each; trustees of insane hospitals at danvers, northampton, taunton, worcester and medfield--two each, and at westborough, three; school for feeble-minded, one; hospital for epileptics, two; for dipsomaniacs and inebriates, one; hospital cottages for children, one; state hospital and state farm, two; lyman and industrial schools, two. it has been impossible to ascertain the number of women serving as school trustees later than . then the records showed on boards in towns, but, as in many cases only the initials of the prefixes to the names were given, this is probably an underestimate. women serve on the boards of public libraries. women are found in the following official positions in boston: trustees of public institutions, two; of children's institutions, three; of insane hospitals, two; of bath departments, two; overseers of the poor, two; city conveyancer in law department, one; superior court stenographer, one; probation officers, two; chief matron house of detention, one; supervisor of schools, one; members of school committee, four. occupations: massachusetts claims the first woman who ever practiced medicine in the united states--dr. harriot k. hunt, who studied with her father and began in , long before a medical college in the country was open to women. in lelia j. robinson applied for admission to the bar in boston and the supreme court decided a woman to be ineligible. the legislature of enacted that women should be admitted to the practice of law. no professions or occupations are now legally forbidden to them. education: one of the first seminaries for women in the united states was mt. holyoke at south hadley, mass., now a college with students; the largest college for women in the world is smith at northampton, with , students; one that ranks among the four highest in existence, wellesley, has ; radcliffe at cambridge, has . the requirements of admission and the examinations are the same for radcliffe as for harvard and the courses of instruction are identical. the teaching is done by members of the harvard faculty, over one hundred of them. all degrees must be approved by the president and fellows of harvard, the diplomas are countersigned by the president and bear the university seal. nevertheless radcliffe is not recognized as having any official connection with the ancient university. a number of graduate courses in harvard are open to women but without degrees. boston university, with , students, is co-educational in all its departments, including law, medicine and theology. the same is true of the massachusetts institute of technology and the state agricultural college. there has been no distinction of sex in tufts college (univers.) since ; or in clark university (post-graduate) in worcester, since . the college of physicians and surgeons and tufts colleges of medicine and surgery, in boston, admit women. they are excluded from andover theological seminary (cong'l), newton theological institute (baptist), amherst college, williams college and worcester polytechnic institute. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . omitting the high school salaries, the average amount paid to men per month is $ . ; to women, $ . . in some counties over one-half as much is paid to women teachers as to men, but in essex county the monthly ratio is $ . to men, and $ . to women, and in suffolk county $ . to men and $ . , or less than one-third, to women. boston has men teachers at an average monthly salary of $ . ; and , women at an average of $ . . in no other state is the discrepancy so great in the salary of men and women teachers. the women's clubs of massachusetts are as the sands of the sea. of these , with a membership of , , belong to the state federation. the new england woman's club was organized in , the same year as sorosis in new york and about one month earlier. these two are generally spoken of as the pioneers of women's clubs as they exist to-day. the national woman suffrage association of massachusetts.[ ] when the third volume of the history of woman suffrage closed in it left this association three years old, with mrs. harriette robinson shattuck, president, dr. salome merritt, vice-president, and thirteen other vice-presidents who represented the same number of counties. to these leaders and others it seemed necessary that massachusetts should have this society in order to give a support to the officers and the methods of the national woman suffrage association, which they were not receiving from the state society, at that time auxiliary to the american association. in those three years conventions had been held in some twenty cities. mrs. harriet m. emerson was then engaged in preparing petitions, to which she secured many signers, asking for "a statute to enable a widow who desires it, to become on reasonable terms a co-executor with those appointed by her husband's will." for several years she spent much time on this work and had the help of many of the best citizens of boston. it was ably presented at each session of the legislature, but no action was taken.[ ] mrs. harriet h. robinson, the corresponding secretary, has published massachusetts in the woman suffrage movement, the new pandora, a woman's play, capt. mary miller, etc.; mrs. shattuck, the woman's manual of parliamentary law, advanced rules for large assemblies. another member, mrs. sara a. underwood, has done valuable work on the newspapers of boston, new york and other cities, and before the legislature. the writings of mrs. evaleen l. mason are well known. [illustration: harriet may mills. syracuse, n. y. florence howe hall. plainfield, n. j. rev. anna garlin spencer. providence, r. i. lucretia l. blankenburg. philadelphia, pa. lavina a. hatch. e. pembroke, mass. ] in certain historical text-books which were objected to by the roman catholics were removed from the schools and replaced by others. this caused great excitement, over , women registered to vote, and for two successive years helped to defeat all the catholic candidates for the school board and to elect a number of women. the members of this association maintained the non-partisan side and opposed the extremists who urged that catholics should be excluded from the board, thus depriving it of some of its most experienced and faithful men. in april, , the association applied for a charter and became the first incorporated body of woman suffragists in the state. in december a petition was sent to congress asking for an amendment to the united states constitution prohibiting disfranchisement on account of sex. in a petition from this association was introduced in the legislature to require assessors to ask at every house whether there are women there who wish to be assessed a poll tax. a petition was also sent in for a law providing that one-third of the membership of the school committee consist of women. these were presented by mr. barker of malden. at the eighth annual meeting in may, , c. w. ernst gave an instructive address on political topics. in october, , a special meeting was called to discuss the question of discontinuing auxiliaryship to the national-american association, and continuing work as an independent organization. after a full discussion the vote resulted in remaining auxiliary, only one opposed. in march, , a plan was laid before the association by dr. merritt for action in the various cities and towns of the state to secure the nomination in caucuses of such senators and representatives only as would declare themselves in favor of woman suffrage. a committee was formed to confer with other organizations, and at the next meeting it reported that the boston suffrage league, mrs. ellen battelle dietrick, president, had approved the plan and called a meeting where nine wards were represented and a compact signed. in may this agreement was adopted by the suffolk county committee, who were to work in boston while the association was to manage outside counties. one thousand copies were printed and circulated but the final results showed not enough interest to make the measure a success. at this time mrs. shattuck resigned the presidency, "being engaged in work more imperative," and mrs. robinson gave up her office of corresponding secretary. at the october meeting miss hatch was elected a member of the executive committee of the national association for the columbian exposition. mrs. sarah a. p. dickerman acted as president during the remainder of the year. valuable discussions were held on state and national banks, should the governor exercise the veto power? shall immigration be restricted? which would benefit boston most, license or no license? and other timely questions. in january, , it was voted to petition the legislature that women be allowed to vote on a constitutional amendment affecting their property rights. a special effort was made in petition work both for congress and the legislature. in one small village where forty-two signatures were obtained, only four persons refused to sign. in may dr. merritt was unanimously elected president of the association, and remained in office until her death in . at this meeting a statement was made that in massachusetts there were from , to , families with widows or single women as heads, not represented by one vote. in december a committee was appointed to confer with the legislative committee of the state school suffrage association to secure an extension of the time (then only two or three days) which was allotted to the registration of women. at the legislative hearing in january, , petitions were presented by this association from seven counties, covering twenty-one towns. at this date women were reported as holding office, eleven being district superintendents of schools. the following may the registration laws were so changed that women have since had the same time as men in which to register. under the present law, the assessors in their regular rounds are required to take the names of women voters having the same residence as on a previous voting list. these are then entered on the register for the ensuing campaign without further trouble. in september, , a special meeting was called to decide how best to help the work for the referendum which had been submitted by the legislature in order to ascertain how many women desired to vote. twenty-five dollars were appropriated toward defraying the expenses of the state committee appointed to conduct this campaign. in much time was spent on measures helpful to women and children. one of these was to secure the early closing of stores, the result being that through the entire summer all the principal stores in boston were closed at p. m. every day, and on saturdays at m., as they have been each summer since. house bill of started with a most innocent appearance under the title, "a bill to enlarge the powers of the police commissioners of boston." in reality it asked that the powers of the police force be so extended as to allow them to issue permits for the keeping of houses of ill-repute, with authority for their inspection and control. other organizations joined this one in opposition, with the result that the bill was defeated. the association also advocated "a bill to prohibit child insurance," on account of the injury done to families by absorbing the means which should be expended for food, clothes and other necessaries in the payment of policies. it was considered, moreover, in the nature of a premium for child murder by neglect. the most interesting event of was the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the first woman's rights convention. dr. merritt spoke of the rise of the movement, saying that was as marked an epoch in the rights of women as was in the rights of men. miss hatch's paper gave the trend of events previous to the seneca falls convention, showing that these molded public sentiment and gave rise to the calling of this memorable meeting. speeches, letters from absent members and a roll of honor, each giving the name of an old worker and adding appropriate remarks, followed. in addition to the usual petitions was one to congress in behalf of the hawaiian women. a protest was also sent against the admission to congress of brigham h. roberts of utah, a polygamist and an enemy to woman suffrage. since this association has held public meetings. it has been represented by active working delegates at every convention of the national association since becoming an auxiliary in . the recording secretary has held that office for seventeen years, never having been absent from a monthly meeting unless because of illness or attendance at the national conventions. she has been a delegate to the latter for fourteen years. this association did much pioneer press work. from its first session a report of the same, with items made up of whatever had occurred in any part of the world advantageous to woman's advancement since the previous meeting, has appeared next day in the leading boston dailies, with scarcely an omission during the eighteen years. besides those already mentioned the following have held office and been faithful workers: mesdames a. m. mahony, sarah a. rand and lydia l. hutchins; and the misses hannah m. todd, elizabeth b. atwill, charlotte lobdell, agnes g. parrott and sophia m. hale. in the society united with the massachusetts state association. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material for this chapter to miss alice stone blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_ (boston) and recording secretary of the national american woman suffrage association since . it is due to the _woman's journal_, founded in , that so complete a record of the state work has been obtained. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. i, p. . [ ] among many names which appear in connection with these annual meetings are those of the revs. daniel p. livermore, charles w. wendte, s. s. herrick, philip s. moxom, charles f. thwing, l. b. bates, f. a. abbott, s. w. bush, william j. potter, c. p. pitblado, george willis cooke, fielder israel, eben l. rexford, christopher r. eliot, david a. gregg, edward a. horton, b. f. hamilton, george a. gordon, charles f. dole, nathan e. wood, w. w. lucas, the revs. ida c. hultin, lorenza haynes, mary traffern whitney, lila frost sprague, j. w. clarke, of the boston traveller, d. h. beggs, president of the central labor union, judge robert pitman, the hon. joseph h. walker, francis j. garrison, john graham brooks, john l. whiting, sam walter foss, sherman hoar, w. l. haskel, mesdames martha perry lowe, e. n. l. walton, martha sewall curtis, o. a. cheney, ellie a. hilt, abby m. davis, judith w. smith, misses anna gardner, lucia t. ames, eva channing, amorette beecher, alice parker, all of massachusetts. the rev. j. w. bashford, delaware college, ohio, the rev. florence e. kollock, illinois, mrs. caroline m. severance, california, mrs. helen coffin beedy, mrs. etta h. osgood, maine, u. s. senator henry w. blair, mrs. armenia s. white, miss mary n. chase, new hampshire, mrs. m. l. t. hidden, mrs. a. d. chandler, vermont, mrs. elizabeth b. chace, dr. john c. wyman, dr. ira aldrich, jeanette s. french, louise tyler, rhode island, mesdames emily o. kimball, josephine m. bissell, emily j. leonard, annie c. s. fenner, judge joseph and miss elizabeth sheldon, connecticut, mrs. cornelia collins hussey, new jersey, judge william s. peirce, philadelphia, miss anna gordon, illinois, dr. ida joe brooks, arkansas, ellis meredith, denver, giles b. stebbins, michigan, lloyd mckim garrison, new york, amelia b. edwards, mrs. percy widdrington, england. [ ] as this board was continued for many years with but little change, and as it indicates clearly the personnel of the association, the remainder is given in full. vice presidents, mrs. mary a. livermore, john g. whittier, u. s. senator george f. hoar, mrs. julia ward howe, mrs. ednah d. cheney, theodore d. weld, ex gov. william claflin, judge samuel e. sewall, william lloyd garrison, mrs. ralph waldo emerson, the hon. john hopkins, miss abby w. may, a. bronson alcott, marie e. zakrzewska, m. d., col. thomas w. higginson, miss elizabeth stuart phelps, wendell phillips, miss louisa m. alcott, the rev. james freeman clarke, mrs. adelaide a. claflin, the rev. william i. haven, judge thomas russell, lucy sewall, m. d., robert c. pitman, george a. walton, mrs. c. b. redmund, charles w. slack, seth hunt, mrs. eliza k. church, the rev. jesse h. jones, uretta mcallister, julia m. baxter; recording secretary, charles k. whipple; treasurer, miss amanda m. lougee; executive committee, mrs. lucy stone, chairman, mrs. mary c. ames, miss mary f. eastman, mrs. judith w. smith, mrs. henrietta l. t. wolcott, mrs. w. i. bowditch, mrs. s. e. m. kingsbury, mrs. e. n. l. walton, mrs. s. c. vogl, s. c. hopkins, mrs. e. p. nickles, mrs. fenno tudor, dr. j. t. leonard, miss alice stone blackwell, miss eva channing, the rev. j. w. bashford, mrs. harriet w. sewall, miss kate ireson, frederick a. claflin, arthur p. ford, miss m. ada molineux, s. frank king, miss cora scott pond, j. avery howland. [ ] in the granges of the state, women were secretaries and lecturers this year. [ ] mrs. helen campbell spoke on women in industry, mrs. howe on women in literature, the rev. antoinette brown blackwell on women in the ministry, mrs. charlotte emerson brown, president of the general federation, on women's clubs, mrs. susan s. fessenden, president of the state w. c. t. u., on women's work for temperance, mary a. greene, ll. b., on women in law, dr. emily blackwell on women in medicine, mrs. sallie joy white, late president of the new england women's press association, on women in journalism, and miss eastman on steps in education for girls from dame school to college. the opportunities for women at vassar, wellesley, bryn mawr, boston university and mt. holyoke were presented respectively by dr. emma b. culbertson, prof. a. eugenia morgan, miss cora a. benneson, miss e. d. hanscom and miss sarah p. eastman, president of the boston mt. holyoke alumnæ. mrs. cheney read a paper on women in hospitals and miss alla foster gave reminiscences of her mother, mrs. abby kelly foster. lucy stone spoke on the gains of forty years, colonel higginson on landmarks of progress, mr. blackwell on kansas and wyoming. woman suffrage by state and federal legislation; mr. garrison on women needed as political helpmeets; and the rev. ada c. bowles on the suffrage revival in worcester in . miss elizabeth upham yates spoke on suffrage, and the rev. anna garlin spencer on our debt to the pioneers. letters were read from u. s. senators joseph m. carey and francis e. warren of wyoming, ex-president james h. fairchild of oberlin, the hon. charles robinson of kansas, thomas davis, husband of paulina wright davis, francis g. adams, secretary of the kansas historical society, theodore d. weld, mesdames hannah m. tracy cutler, elizabeth b. chace, frances h. drake, caroline healy dall, j. elizabeth jones, elizabeth cady stanton, caroline m. severance, clara b. colby, miss mary grew, miss anna l. t. parsons, mrs. millicent garrett fawcett of england, and others. [ ] mrs. livermore, the rev. charles g. ames, mrs. cheney, prof. ellen hayes of wellesley, the hon. alfred s. roe, mrs. phebe stone beeman, mrs. sallie joy white and mr. m. h. gulesian of armenia, with a poem by mr. garrison. [ ] the best known of these names are included in the list of eminent persons in the appendix. [ ] there were addresses by fletcher dobyns and oswald garrison villard of harvard, miss maud thompson of wellesley college, edson reifsnyder of tufts, and miss mabel e. adams, with music by the boston choral society. [ ] miss elva hurlburt young, president of the senior class of wellesley college, a. m. kales and raymond m. alden of harvard, w. h. spofford pittinger of providence, r. i. a poem by mrs. stetson, girls of to-day, was recited by miss marion sherman of the boston school of oratory. [ ] other officers have been recording secretary, miss alice stone blackwell, treasurers, miss amanda m. lougee, mrs. harriet w. sewall, francis j. garrison, william lloyd garrison, chairmen of the executive committee, mrs. lucy stone, mrs. judith w. smith, miss blackwell. vice presidents for are the hons. george f. hoar, john d. long, william claflin, w. w. crapo, josiah quincy, george a. o. ernst, j. w. candler, lieut. gov. john l. bates, col. t. w. higginson, the rev. george willis cooke, william i. bowditch, william lloyd garrison, prof. ellen hayes, mesdames julia ward howe, elizabeth stuart phelps ward, pauline agassiz shaw (quincy a.), oliver ames, fanny b. ames, abby morton diaz, susan s. fessenden, ole bull, emma walker batcheller, martha perry lowe, mary schlesinger, miss mary f. eastman, miss lucia m. peabody. [ ] mr. blackwell was corresponding secretary from to , miss laura moore of vermont, one year, and mrs. ellen m. bolles of rhode island, from to the present time, recording secretaries, charles k. whipple, mrs. o. augusta cheney, mrs. ellie a. hilt, miss eva channing, treasurers, mrs. harriet w. sewall, john l. whiting, miss amanda m. lougee, francis j. garrison. the vice presidents are the presidents and prominent members of the new england state associations. [ ] limited space has prevented any résumé of the speeches made during these years in the conventions or before the legislative committees. the reader is referred to the files of the _woman's journal_ which have been placed in a number of public libraries. the names of legislators who have advocated woman suffrage will be found at the close of legislative action. [ ] the one to the republican members was signed by alanson w. beard, william claflin, william w. crapo, henry l. dawes, frank p. goulding, thomas n. hart, george f. hoar, john d. long, samuel may, adin thayer and john g. whittier; the other to the democratic by josiah g. abbott, edward avery, john m. corse, john e. fitzgerald, john hopkins, george e. mcneil, bushrod morse, frederick o. prince, albert palmer and charles h. taylor. [ ] these letters have been doing duty ever since, being quoted in adverse reports of congressional committees, legislatures, speeches and documents of the opponents, etc. [ ] this was the last time lucy stone addressed a legislative committee. she had presented her first plea in . every year since she had made her annual pilgrimage to the state house to ask for the rights of women. [ ] the remonstrants in past years had gone repeatedly before legislative committees, and since they have appeared and spoken every year in opposition to any form of suffrage for women. [ ] mr. saunders, when asked by a reporter of the boston _record_ if it was true that he received $ per month for his services, declined to say, but stated that he should consider that a small amount, as he was giving practically all of his time and effort. [ ] the m. a. o. f. e. s. w. says that this was not done by the association officially. it was certainly done by some of its prominent members. [ ] on one occasion, after mrs. julia ward howe and her associates had made their appeals, mr. keenan referred to them in the legislative debate as "women masquerading in pants," and said, "i never knew a woman who loved her children or her home that wanted to vote." [ ] dr. lyman abbott of new york, miss heloise e. hersey, miss sarah e. hunt, mesdames barrett wendell, w. w. vaughan, judith andrews, nathaniel payne, james h. robbins, frank b. fay and henry thompson also "remonstrated." [ ] it seems desirable to preserve the names of those who have championed and voted for a measure so bitterly opposed. those of the eighty four opponents may drop into oblivion. honor roll senators s. stillman blanchard, arthur b. breed, gorham d. gilman, robert s. gray, charles h. innes, francis w. kittridge, joel d. miller, henry s. milton, joseph o. neill, isaac n. nutter, representatives john e. abbott, charles h. adams, frederick atherton, frank e. badger, thomas c. batchelder, john l. bates, alanson w. beard, amos beckford, frank p. bennett, thomas w. bicknell, john b. bottum, harvey l. boutwell, george a. brown, walter j. d. bullock, edward b. callender, james f. carey, george d. chamberlain, albert clarke, charles carleton coffin, henry cook, louis a. cook, charles u. corey, fred e. crawford, franklin cross, arthur b. curtis, francis w. darling, william d. dennis, solomon k. dexter, e. walter everett, george h. fall, frank e. fitts, jubal c. gleason, samuel l. gracey, james w. grimes, thomas e. grover, luther hall, harris c. hartwell, martin e. hawes, william r. hayden, alfred s. hayes, ehhu b. hayes, charles e. haywood, edmund hersey, john hildreth, john g. horan, charles r. johnson, george r. jones, william e. judd, alfred f. kinney, john larrabee, mahlon r. leonard, frederic o. maccartney, samuel w. mccall, james h. mellen, john m. merriman, charles h. miller, daniel l. milliken, charles p. mills, bushrod morse, james j. myers, h. heustis newton, herbert c. parsons, george w. penniman, francis c. perry, albert poor, josiah quincy, francis h. raymond, alfred s. roe, (judge) thomas russell, thomas e. st. john, howard k. sanderson, charles f. shute, george t. sleeper, frank smith, metcalf j. smith, george l. soule, eugene h. sprague, ezra a. stevens, hazard stevens, stephen s. taft, george f. tucker, john e. turtle, o. w. h. upham, horace g. wadlin, jesse b. wheeler, frederick l. whitmore, john w. wilkinson, john a. woodbury, charles l. young. [ ] in lucy stone began to advocate giving the mother equal guardianship of the children with the father. during the past thirty years the state suffrage association has repeatedly petitioned the legislature to this effect. in many other organizations joined in the effort, and the petition for equal guardianship was indorsed by , women. the committee on probate and chancery reported adversely. representative george h. fall's equal guardianship bill was debated on two days and finally passed both houses and was signed by gov. w. murray crane in june. the only society of women that has ever ranged itself publicly on the opposing side of this question is the massachusetts anti-suffrage association. for years it circulated with its official imprint a leaflet in defense of the law which excluded mothers from the custody and guardianship of their children. [ ] for information in regard to the laws the history is indebted to mrs. anna christy (george h.) fall, a practicing lawyer of malden. [ ] this was purely class legislation, as the woman who had paid property tax was not required to pay poll-tax, and poor women could not vote without paying two dollars each year. the law was not asked for by the suffrage association. [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss lavina allen hatch of east pembroke, recording secretary of the association from its beginning in , and also corresponding secretary from . [ ] in the boston political class was formed as an auxiliary. while the idea of such an educational scheme originated with sara a. underwood, its successful development is due to harriette robinson shattuck, who became president of the class. lavina allen hatch kept its records, and dora bascom smith gave the use of her parlors for its fortnightly meetings. chapter xlvi. michigan.[ ] from the time of the defeat of the suffrage amendment to the state constitution in there was no central organization in michigan for ten years, although a few local societies maintained an existence. through a conjunction of these forces a convention was called at flint, may , , which resulted in the forming of a state equal suffrage association, officered as follows: president, mary l. doe; vice-president, gov. josiah w. begole; corresponding secretary, nellie walker; recording secretary, fannie holden fowler; treasurer, cordelia f. briggs. the second state convention was held in grand rapids, oct. - , , with lucy stone and henry b. blackwell in attendance. letters were received from susan b. anthony, president of the national association, and thomas w. palmer, u. s. senator from michigan. the latter said: "i hope that you will put forward the economic aspect of the question--its effect upon taxation. women are the natural economists." in lieu of the annual meeting in four political state conventions--prohibition, greenback, republican and democratic--were memorialized for a plank indorsing a municipal suffrage bill. sarah e. v. emery appeared before the prohibition convention, which adopted the plank. she also attended the democratic, where she was invited to the platform and made a vigorous speech, which was received with applause, but the suffrage resolution was not adopted. emily b. ketcham attended the republican convention but was refused a hearing before the committee on resolutions. after its report had been accepted friends obtained an opportunity for her to address the meeting, but she was received with considerable discourtesy. mrs. fowler secured the adoption of the plank by the greenback convention. the association met in the state house at lansing, jan. , , . miss anthony, vice-president-at-large of the national association, gave an address in representative hall. she was introduced by gov. cyrus g. luce, and many senators and representatives were in the audience.[ ] the convention of took place in bay city, june - . the rev. anna howard shaw and helen m. gougar of indiana addressed large audiences in the opera house on successive evenings. immediately afterward a series of two days' meetings was held by mrs. gougar, assisted by may stocking knaggs, at saginaw, flint, port huron, detroit, battle creek and grand rapids, societies being organized at several places. in november the association for the advancement of women met in detroit. many suffragists were in attendance and the state president, mrs. doe, called a council in the parlors of the church of our father. fifty responded and it was unanimously decided to renew the effort for municipal suffrage. the annual meeting was held in the state house at lansing, jan. - , . a letter was received from senator palmer, enclosing a draft for $ and saying: "equal suffrage in municipal affairs means better statutes, better ordinances, better officers, better administration, lower taxation, happier homes and a better race." this generous gift enabled the association to keep a committee--helen philleo jenkins, harriet a. cook, mrs. ketcham and mrs. knaggs--at the capital for several weeks, where they worked systematically to convert members and to secure victory. the convention met at detroit, feb. , , . mrs. doe, who had been the leader of the state forces since their organization, declined renomination and mrs. jenkins was chosen president. the association convened at lansing again feb. - , ; and its speakers were given a joint hearing in representative hall on the municipal suffrage bill, which was then before the legislature. addresses were made by harriet j. boutelle, belle m. perry, sarah e. v. emery and martha snyder root. miss anthony was present at the state convention, which took place in battle creek, may , , . articles of incorporation were adopted and mrs. ketcham was elected president. in june the state republican convention met at east saginaw. mrs. ketcham, with mrs. doe, chairman of the legislative committee, pleaded before the committee on resolutions for recognition of this measure. they were courteously treated and when about to retire their opinion was asked on a list of resolutions presented from genesee county, _viz._: that women professors be appointed at michigan university until their number should bear a fair proportion to the number of women students; that women be appointed on boards of control of the state penal, reformatory and charitable institutions; that municipal suffrage for women be recommended, and that an amendment to the state constitution, striking out the word "male" as a qualification for voters, be submitted to the electors. the ladies indorsed all except the fourth proposition, but none of them was adopted. after the nominations for the legislature had been made, letters were written to candidates of all parties to ascertain their attitude toward the municipal suffrage bill. many favorable and some evasive replies were received, while not a few letters were wholly ignored. a suffrage lecture course was arranged in eight cities, from november, , to march, , inclusive, with miss anthony and miss shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the national association and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the organization committee, mrs. clara bewick colby of washington, d. c., and mrs. lida a. meriwether of tennessee, as speakers. the next annual convention was held in the capitol, feb. - , . mrs. colby had preceded it in january with her address on wyoming, given in representative hall, the facts and figures of which left a strong impression.[ ] the speakers addressed the legislature in behalf of the municipal suffrage bill. in january, , miss anthony lectured at ann arbor before the university association. by the efforts of mrs. olivia b. hall, her hostess and friend of many years, preparations had been made for a mass meeting, in which the state e. s. a. participated, miss shaw also being present. it convened in newberry hall, january - , with a large attendance and resulted in the organization of the ann arbor e. s. a., with one hundred members and mrs. hall as president. on the last evening she gave a large reception at her home in honor of the two ladies, which was attended by president and mrs. george b. angell and many of the university faculty. this year's convention assembled at grand rapids, may - , with the rev. ida c. hultin of illinois as the principal speaker. the meeting of took place at saginaw, may - . in the evening representative george h. waldo gave a review of his efforts in behalf of the equal suffrage bill, and an enthusiastic indorsement of the measure. this convention had the assistance of mrs. chapman catt, who made the chief address. mrs. ketcham retired from the presidency and the association elected mrs. knaggs. a new standing committee of five was appointed to secure women physicians and attendants in public institutions for the care of women and girls. after adjournment the saginaw political equality club was formed. in the state convention met in pontiac, may - . senator palmer was the orator of the occasion. the following july mrs. knaggs and carrie c. faxon addressed the democratic state convention at bay city, through the courtesy of the hons. john donovan and o'brien j. atkinson. they were accorded an attentive hearing with much applause, and given a rising vote of thanks, emphasized by an exhortation from the chairman, the hon. thomas barkworth, that the party prepare to concede to the women of the state their political rights. the annual meeting of took place in vermontville, may - . on november , , a national conference was held in grand rapids by miss anthony, miss shaw and mrs. chapman catt, together with the officers of the state association and many other michigan women. in the convention met in bay city, may - . on the last evening mrs. may wright sewall of indiana gave a brilliant address on the duties of women considered as patriots. its strong peace sentiments aroused deep interest, as this was at the beginning of the spanish-american war. the invitation of the susan b. anthony club of grand rapids to the national w. s. a., to hold its annual convention in that city in , having been accepted, the date was fixed for april to may , inclusive, and it was decided that the state meeting should immediately follow. this national gathering was full of interest, affording as it did an opportunity of attendance to many women of the state who were unable to go to the convention at washington.[ ] grand rapids women were generous in their hospitality, all visitors being entertained free of expense. the executive ability of mrs. ketcham was evident from first to last. the state association held a business session may , and was addressed by mr. blackwell and mrs. colby. mrs. lenore starker bliss was elected president. an immediate result of the national meeting was the organization of the anna shaw junior equal suffrage club of grand rapids, with seventeen youthful members. in december the american federation of labor held its annual convention in detroit. miss anthony addressed it by invitation and urged the members to adopt a resolution asking congress for a sixteenth amendment forbidding the disfranchisement of united states citizens on account of sex. her speech was most enthusiastically received and the resolution she offered was immediately adopted, and, in the form of a petition which represented nearly , , members, duly forwarded to congress. prior to the state convention of mrs. chapman catt, assisted by miss shaw, miss harriet may mills of new york and mrs. root, held two days' conventions at hillsdale, battle creek, kalamazoo and ann arbor, organizing suffrage clubs at the first three places. the annual meeting convened in detroit, may - , miss shaw and mrs. chapman catt giving addresses on consecutive evenings. mrs. bliss declining renomination, mrs. ketcham was unanimously replaced at the head of the state association.[ ] in july, at the request of miss anthony, the columbia catholic summer school held in detroit extended an invitation for a speech on suffrage. mrs. chapman catt was selected, all arrangements being made by mrs. jenkins and others. father w. j. dalton, who introduced her, said he hoped to see women voting and filling all offices, even that of police commissioner. the greenback and the people's parties have welcomed women as assistants. prominent among these have been marian todd, martha e. strickland and elizabeth eaglesfield. in mrs. emery and mrs. root were placed upon the state central committee of the people's party. the prohibitionists also have received women as party workers. besides those already named, others who have been foremost in every plan to forward equality for women are giles b. and catharine a. f. stebbins, sara philleo skinner, lila e. bliss, h. margaret downs, delisle p. holmes, wesley emery, brent harding, smith g. ketcham and john wesley knaggs; among the younger women, florence jenkins spalding and edith frances hall. legislative action: prior to the charters of twelve cities made inoperative the early state law which gave school suffrage to women. by appealing to the legislature of that year the charters of grand rapids and bay city were so amended that the right to vote at school meetings was conferred upon women. the new state association organized in adopted as its principal plan of work a bill which had been drawn by the hon. samuel fowler and introduced in the legislature of , to grant municipal suffrage to women. in this bill was presented in the senate by john w. belknap, a strong supporter. independent of the state association, theodore g. houk introduced in the house a joint resolution to strike the word "male" from the constitution. the joint judiciary committees granted a hearing to the friends of woman suffrage in february. the municipal bill came to a vote in the senate on may , which resulted in ayes, noes, but was not acted upon in the house. the houk joint resolution passed the house by ayes, noes, but was not brought up in the senate. in the municipal suffrage bill was again taken up, being introduced simultaneously in both houses, in the lower by henry watson, in the upper by charles j. monroe, both staunch friends. a hearing was had before the senate judiciary and the house committee on elections in march. miss frances e. willard aided the suffragists by a brief address. on april the house committee reported in favor of striking out all after the enacting clause, thus completely obliterating the bill, which report was accepted by a vote of ayes, noes. the senate bill was not considered. in the municipal suffrage bill was introduced in the senate by arthur d. gilmore and in the house by dr. james b. f. curtis. it was referred to the judiciary committees, and at their request the hearing was had before the entire legislature during the annual convention of the state e. s. a. no outside lecturers were invited, because the friends of the measure were met by a strongly-expressed wish that the women of michigan should speak for themselves. short speeches were made by may stocking knaggs, catharine a. f. stebbins, emily b. ketcham, lucy f. andrews, elizabeth eaglesfield, frances riddle stafford, harriet a. cook, mrs. r. m. kellogg, phebe b. whitfield and mary b. clay of kentucky who was then residing in the state. mrs. clara bewick colby being present, she was invited to make the closing remarks. just before this hearing the bevy of officers and speakers passing through the corridor on their way to the house were warned by joseph greusel, a friendly journalist, that a circular of protest had been placed upon the desk of each member. this was headed: "massachusetts remonstrants against woman suffrage, to the members of the michigan legislature;" and contained the familiar array of misrepresentations. with the co-operation of lucy stone, a reply was printed immediately after the convention and likewise distributed in the legislature. the house bill remained under the judicious guardianship of dr. curtis. the chairman of the legislative committee, mrs. knaggs, was in constant attendance and secured valuable information on the practical working of municipal suffrage from gov. lyman u. humphrey, attorney-general simeon b. bradford, ex-attorney-general l. b. kellogg and laura m. johns, all of kansas. the hon. charles b. waite of chicago prepared by request an exhaustive legal opinion on the power of the legislature of michigan in reference to municipal suffrage. the judiciary committee--john v. b. goodrich, russell r. pealer, byron s. waite, norris j. brown, oliver s. smith, thomas c. taylor, james a. randall--gave a unanimous report in favor of the bill, which included this opinion and the kansas reports. senator thomas w. palmer, who had been appointed minister to spain, went to lansing on the very eve of leaving this country and, in an address to the joint houses of the legislature, made a strong plea for the measure. as the day fixed for the consideration of the bill approached, the suffrage committee found itself confronted by an arrangement, quietly made by the opponents, to have an address delivered in representative hall by a mrs. mary livermore, who had been holding parlor meetings in detroit for pay and speaking against woman suffrage; and the false report was industriously circulated that this was the great suffragist of like name, who had discarded her lifelong convictions and gone over to the enemy. the bill was considered may , . by the courtesy of j. b. mulliken, general manager of the d. l. and n. r. r., a special train which carried a large delegation of women was sent from detroit. some came from other parts of the state and the societies of lansing were well represented. the galleries were filled and the floor of the house was lined with interested women. after a largely favorable discussion the vote was taken, resulting in yeas, noes. the bill was immediately dispatched to the senate. that body lost no time, but at once brought the measure under consideration and after a brief discussion it was defeated by one vote-- ayes, noes.[ ] that evening mrs. livermore gave her belated dissertation and, upon motion, was followed by adele hazlitt, who with great courtesy slew her weak arguments. at this session the charters of east saginaw and detroit were amended to give women of those cities the school ballot; the former through the efforts of representative rowland connor.[ ] in the municipal suffrage bill was again presented to the legislature, in the house by samuel miller and in the senate by alfred milnes, both champions of the measure. the state suffrage convention was in session at the capital february - , and the legislature gave a joint hearing in representative hall to its speakers, all michigan women. the senate bill was taken up march , discussed and lost by ayes, noes. it was then tabled and taken up again may , receiving ayes, noes. just prior to this consideration of the bill ninety-five petitions in its favor, representing eighty-eight towns and bearing several thousand signatures, were presented. this discussion was the most trying of all during the ten years of effort to secure municipal suffrage, owing to the character of the chief opponent, senator frank smith, who represented the basest elements of detroit. knowing his illiteracy, the reporters had expected much sport by sending his speech to the papers in full, but in the interests of decency they refrained from publishing it. women came down from the galleries white with anger and disgust, and avowed that if they never had wanted the ballot before they wanted it now. the suffrage committee received many friendly courtesies from lieut.-gov. john strong, besides a substantial gift of money. when asked for the use of the senate chamber for one evening of the convention he said: "certainly; your money helped to build the state house. you have as much right to it as any of us." in march, , the bill was introduced by henry wirt newkirk in the house and samuel w. hopkins in the senate. both were lawyers of distinguished ability, and among the most earnest advocates the measure ever had. the state suffrage convention was in session while it was being considered. the rev. anna howard shaw and the rev. caroline bartlett made addresses before the legislature, the latter speaking on woman's legitimate and illegitimate work in politics. these speeches took the place of the customary committee hearing. the evening before the bill was voted on miss anthony addressed the legislature with her customary acumen and force. the measure had been made the special order for : p. m. the next day. the house assembled at o'clock. following the roll-call the usual order was the presentation of petitions. at this time a member in the rear, at a sufficient distance from the speaker's desk to give impressiveness to what would follow, rose and presented "a petition from the people of chippewa county in favor of the municipal woman suffrage bill." a page sprang forward and taking the document, which was prepared upon paper of an extra size and ornamented with long streamers of red and green ribbons, ran with it to the clerk's desk, and that officer proceeded to read it at length, including a long list of signatures which comprised patrick o'shea, annie rooney, spotted tail, etc. this petition was followed by two others of similar character, bearing indian names of such significance as the wit of the opposition could invent. after this dignified prelude the house discussed the measure at length, and defeated it by a vote of ayes, noes. a reconsideration was moved and the bill tabled. this municipal suffrage bill was taken up again in may and passed the house on the th with an educational amendment: "women who are able to read the constitution of michigan in the english language." the vote was ayes, noes. on may it was considered in the senate and, after a vigorous battle, was carried by a vote of ayes, noes. gov. john t. rich affixed his signature may , and apparent victory was won after ten years of effort. representative newkirk and senator hopkins received the heartfelt gratitude of those for whom they had given their ardent labors, and local societies held jubilee meetings. the newspapers of the state were unanimous in expressing welcome to the new class of voters. mary l. doe started at once upon a tour for the purpose of organizing municipal franchise leagues for the study of city government, and everywhere was met with eager interest. she left a league in every place she visited, men also joining in the plans for study. thus in conscientious preparation for their new duties, women in the various municipalities passed the summer and early autumn of . mayor pingree of detroit recognizing the new law, ordered a sufficient additional number of registration books, but edward h. kennedy and henry s. potter, who were opposed to it, filed an injunction against hazen s. pingree and the common council to restrain them from this extra purchase. mary stuart coffin and mary e. burnett "countered" by filing a mandamus september , to compel the election commissioners to provide means for carrying out the law. as these were cases for testing the constitutionality of the law they were taken directly to the supreme court. they were set for argument october , at p. m., but a case of local interest was allowed to usurp the time till o'clock, one hour only being left for the arguments with three advocates on each side. two of the women's lawyers, john b. corliss and henry a. haigh, therefore filed briefs and gave their time to the first attorney, col. john atkinson. a decision was rendered october , the mandamus denied and the injunction granted, all the judges concurring, on the ground that the legislature had no authority to create a new class of voters. those who gave this decision were chief justice john w. mcgrath and justices frank a. hooker, john d. long, claudius b. grant and robert m. montgomery.[ ] in spite of this waterloo, the names of those men who, through the ten years' struggle, in the various sessions of the legislature, stood as champions of the political rights of women, are cherished in memory. besides those already given are lieut-gov. archibald butters, senators edwin g. fox, james d. turnbull, charles h. mcginley and c. j. brundage, and representative fremont g. chamberlain. in both houses, session after session, there were many eloquent advocates of woman's equality. no further efforts have been made by women to secure the suffrage; but in george h. waldo, without solicitation, introduced into the house a joint resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male." this was done in fulfilment of a promise to his mother and his wife, when nominated, to do all that he could to secure the enfranchisement of women if elected. although the officers of the state association did not believe the time to be ripe for the submission of such an amendment, they could not withhold a friendly hand from so ardent and sincere a champion. the resolution was lost by one vote. this legislature passed what was known as "the blanket charter act," in which the substitution of "and" for "or" seemed so to affect the right of women to the school ballot in cities of the fourth class as to create a general disturbance. it resulted in an appeal to attorney-general fred a. maynard, who rendered an opinion sustaining the suffrage of women in those cities. in the main efforts of the association were directed toward securing a bill to place women on boards of control of the state asylums for the insane, and one to make mandatory the appointment of women physicians to take charge of women patients in these asylums and in the home for the feeble-minded. these measures were both lost; but on april governor pingree appointed jane m. kinney to the board of control of the eastern michigan asylum for the insane at pontiac for a term of six years, and after twenty days' delay the senate confirmed the appointment. interest was taken also in a bill requiring a police matron in towns of , inhabitants or more, which this year became law. in a bill was again introduced into the legislature to make mandatory the appointment of women physicians in asylums for the insane, the industrial home for girls, the home for the feeble-minded, the school for deaf mutes and the school for the blind. this measure had now enlisted the interest of the state federation of women's clubs and many other organizations of women, and thousands of petitions were presented. emma j. rose led the work of the women's clubs in its behalf. it passed the legislature and became a law. laws: in a law was enacted that manufacturers who employ women must furnish seats for them; in that no girl under fifteen years of age should be employed in factories or stores for a longer period than fifty-four hours in a single week; in that no woman under twenty-one should be employed in any manufacturing establishment longer than sixty hours in any one week; in that no woman under twenty-one should be allowed to clean machinery while in motion.[ ] a law enacted in prohibits the use of indecent, immoral, obscene or insulting language in the presence of any woman or child, with a penalty for its violation. dower but not curtesy obtains. the widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the rents, issues and profits of property not conveniently divisible, owned by her husband. she may stay in the dwelling of her husband and receive reasonable support for one year. she is entitled to her apparel and ornaments and those of her husband, $ worth of his household furniture and $ worth of his other personal property, which she may select. if he die without a will and there are no children she inherits one-half, and if there are no other heirs the whole of her husband's real estate, and personal property, if the latter, after all debts are paid, does not exceed $ , . if there is excess of this it is distributed like real estate. this reservation is not made for the widower, but "no individual, under any circumstances, takes any larger interest than the husband in the personal property of his deceased wife." where the wife has separate real estate she may sell, mortgage or bequeath it as if she were "sole." the husband can not give full title to his real estate unless the wife joins so as to cut off her dower. the wife's time, services, earnings and society belong to her husband, but he may give to his wife her services rendered for another, whether in his own household or elsewhere, so that she may recover for them in her own name. damages for the loss of such services and society, resulting from injuries inflicted upon the wife, belong to the husband and are to be recovered in his own name. her obligation to render family services for him is co-extensive with his obligation to support her. she can sue in her own name for personal injuries. husband and wife can not be partners in business; but of personal property owned by them jointly she is entitled to her share the same as if unmarried; and real estate held by them in fee or in joint tenancy goes entirely to the survivor without probate or other proceedings. a wife may become a sole trader with the husband's consent, or may form a business partnership with another. she can not become security. all persons, except infants and married women and persons of unsound mind, may submit differences to arbitration. the father is legally entitled to the custody of the persons and education of minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will for the minority even of one unborn, but the mother may present objections to the probate judge and appeal from his decision. the husband must provide the necessities of life according to his station and means while the wife remains in his domicile. if she is deserted or non-supported, the circuit court of the county shall assign such part of his real or personal estate as it deems necessary for her support, and may enforce the decree by sale of such real estate, which provision holds during their joint lives. in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years. in a bill to raise the age from to was introduced in the senate by joseph r. mclaughlin. more than , persons petitioned for its passage, two similar bills having been introduced in the house. a hearing was granted by the judiciary committees, at which speeches were made by senator and mrs. mclaughlin, clara a. avery, mrs. andrew howell, dr. e. l. shirley, the aged lucinda hinsdale stone, melvin a. and martha snyder root. mrs. root also addressed the legislature in representative hall. the bill was amended to years and passed in the senate. the next day, after its friends had dispersed, the vote was reconsidered and the bill amended to years, passing both houses in this form. the penalty is imprisonment for life, or for any such period as the court shall direct, no minimum penalty being named. suffrage: when at the close of the civil war the states eliminated the word "white" from their constitutions, michigan in amended her school law to conform and also struck out the word "male" as a qualification for the suffrage, and gave tax-paying women a vote for school trustees. in this law was further amended to include parents or guardians of children of school age. no woman can vote for county or state superintendents, as these officers are provided for under the constitution. tax-paying women may also vote on bonds and appropriations for school purposes. the year of was marked by a test of the constitutionality of this school law, which involved the right of the legislature to confer any form of suffrage whatever upon women. the test was made through the prosecution of the inspectors of election of the city of flint by mrs. eva r. belles, whose vote was refused at a school election, she being a qualified voter under the state law. mrs. belles won her case which was then appealed to the supreme court. this affirmed the decision of the lower court and sustained the law. in may, , the legislature conferred municipal suffrage on women, but in october the supreme court decided it unconstitutional on the ground that "the legislature had no authority to create a new class of voters." (see legislative action.) the court held that it could, however, confer school suffrage as "the whole primary school system is confided to the legislature and its officers are not mentioned in the constitution." by this decision women can have no other form of the franchise except by constitutional amendment. office holding: hundreds of women are serving as officers and members of school boards throughout the state, as township school inspectors and as county school commissioners and examiners. a number are acting as deputy county clerks, and one as deputy clerk of the united states district court. the latter frequently opens the court. women serve as notaries public. for thirty years women have filled the office of state librarian, the present incumbent being mary c. spencer. dr. harriet m. c. stone has been for several years assistant physician in the michigan asylum for the insane at kalamazoo. the state industrial school for girls has two women on the board of guardians, one of whom, allaseba m. bliss, is the president and is serving her second term of four years, having been reappointed by gov. hazen s. pingree.[ ] since the law requires women physicians in asylums for the insane and other state institutions where women and children are cared for. in the autumn of mrs. merrie hoover abbott, law-partner in the firm of abbott & abbott of west branch, was nominated on the democratic ticket as prosecuting attorney of ogemaw county. she was elected and entered upon her duties jan. , . _quo warranto_ proceedings were instituted by attorney-general horace m. oren to test her right to the office, and october the supreme court filed its opinion and entered judgment of ouster. in the meantime mrs. abbott had discharged successfully the duties of the position. the opinion was as follows: "where the constitution in creating a public office is silent in regard to qualification to office, _electors_ only are qualified to fill the same, and since under the constitution women are not electors, they are not eligible to hold such offices. the office of prosecuting attorney is a constitutional office which can only be held by one possessing the qualification of an elector." from this opinion justice joseph b. moore dissented, making an able argument. in closing he said: the statutes of this state confer upon woman the right to practice law. she may represent her client in the most important litigation in all the courts, and no one can dispute her right. she may defend a person charged with murder. can she not prosecute one charged with the larceny of a whip? to say she can not seems illogical.... individuals may employ her and the courts must recognize her employment. if the people see fit, by electing her to an office the duties of which pertain almost wholly to the practice of the law, to employ her to represent them in their litigation, why should not the courts recognize the employment?... where the constitution and the statutes are silent as to the qualification for a given office, the people may elect whom they will, if the person so elected is competent to discharge the duties of the office.... none of the duties of prosecuting attorney are of such a character as to preclude one from their performance simply because of sex. charles s. abbott, allen s. morse and t. a. e. weadock were the advocates for mrs. abbott, and she also made a strong oral argument in her own behalf. unfortunately the case was not one which permitted an appeal to the u. s. supreme court. occupations: no profession or occupation is forbidden by law to women. education: all universities and colleges admit women. the university of michigan (ann arbor), one of the largest in the country, was among the first to open its doors to them. ( .) mrs. lucinda hinsdale stone was a strong factor in securing their admission. in having women on its faculty, it is still in advance of most of those where co-education prevails. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * michigan may truly be called the founder of woman's clubs, as the first one for purely literary culture of which we have any record was formed in kalamazoo, in , by mrs. stone, to whom the women of the state are deeply indebted in many ways. at present ( ) there are in the general federation with a membership of about , , and a number are not federated. this state also leads all others in the number of women's club houses, ten of the leading clubs possessing their own. there are two of these in grand rapids--the st. cecilia (musical) costing $ , , and the ladies' literary costing $ , , both containing fine libraries, large audience rooms and every convenience. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. mary l. doe and mrs. may stocking knaggs, both of bay city and former presidents of the state equal suffrage association. [ ] this year strong societies were formed in detroit, bay city and battle creek. michigan sent three representatives, melvin a. and martha snyder root and emily b. ketcham, to the new england woman suffrage bazaar held at boston in december. mr. and mrs. root had spent much time and money canvassing the state to arouse interest and secure contributions for this, and at its close new england gave to michigan the total proceeds of her sales. [ ] melvin a. root presented at this convention a compact digest of the legal condition of girls and women in michigan, which was published the following year. it has been used widely, not only in this but in other states, and has proved of inestimable service. a liberal gift of money came from the hon. delos a. blodgett of grand rapids, a constant friend. [ ] see chap. xviii. [ ] other officers elected: vice-president, clara b. arthur; corresponding secretary, alde l. t. blake; recording secretary, edith frances hall; treasurer, martha snyder root; auditors, margaret m. huckins, frances ostrander; member national executive committee, lenore starker bliss. [ ] many petitions in favor of the bill had been sent unsolicited, this not being a part of the plan of work. after the quick defeat in the senate it was found that the chairman of the committee to which these had been referred had on file the names of , petitioners ( , men, , women) out of twenty-one senatorial districts. these were in addition to many thousands sent in previous sessions, when petitioning had been a method of work. [ ] although the detroit women obtained the change in their law just before the spring election, they made a house to house canvass to secure registration and polled a vote of , women, electing sophronia o. c. parsons to the school board. [ ] it is interesting to note that in wayne county women registered and attended primary meetings prior to this decision, but their votes were held not to invalidate the nominations, although at least one of the judges of the recorder's court owed his election to being nominated through the votes of women. [ ] in april, , a large number of the philanthropic women of detroit, including many suffragists, organized the protective agency for women and children, opening an office in the chamber of commerce building and employing an agent on salary. since then it has done admirable work and has obtained some good legislation. [ ] mrs. may stocking knaggs has been appointed ( ) a member of the board of control of the state industrial school for girls, by gov. aaron t. bliss. [eds. chapter xlvii. minnesota.[ ] the first agitation of the question of woman suffrage in minnesota, and the first petitions to the legislature to grant it, began immediately after the civil war, through the efforts of mrs. sarah burger stearns and mrs. mary j. colburn, and the first suffrage societies were formed by these ladies in . the work has continued with more or less regularity up to the present. from to the state suffrage association held its annual meetings regularly in one or the other of the twin cities, minneapolis and st. paul. susan b. anthony, lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, julia ward howe, the hon. william dudley foulke, mary a. livermore, the rev. ada c. bowles, abigail scott duniway and other eminent advocates were secured as speakers at different times. dr. martha g. ripley succeeded mrs. sarah burger stearns as president in , and was re-elected each year until . she was followed by mrs. ella m. s. marble for that year, and dr. mary emery for . the association contributed toward sending mrs. julia b. nelson to south dakota to speak in the suffrage campaign of . on november , , the state convention was held in st. paul, mrs. stearns presiding. mrs. nelson was elected president. among the speakers were attorney-general moses e. clapp, the reverends mr. vail and mr. morgan, mrs. a. t. anderson, mrs. priscilla m. niles, mrs. ella tremain whitford and the rev. olympia brown of wisconsin. in the autumn of the convention met at blue earth city. this place had not lost the savor of the salt which elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony and phoebe w. couzins had scattered in the vicinity thirteen years before, and the meetings were enthusiastic and well-attended. the rev. w. k. weaver was the principal speaker. it was largely as the superintendent of franchise of the state woman's christian temperance union, which was better organized, that mrs. nelson, president of the suffrage association from to , was able to secure thousands of signatures to the petitions for the franchise which were sent to each legislature during those years. the meeting of took place at hastings, september - , and was welcomed by the rev. lewis llewellyn. letters were read from many noted people, and addresses given by the rev. mr. morgan, mrs. stearns and several local speakers. the convention met in lake city, aug. , , , with the usual fine addresses, good music and representative audiences. in woman's day was celebrated at the state fair, its managers paying the speakers. in the spring and autumn of mrs. emma smith devoe of illinois and mrs. laura m. johns of kansas, national organizers, lectured throughout minnesota and formed a number of clubs. they also attended the state convention, which was held in the capitol at st. paul, september , . gov. d. m. clough was among those who made addresses. in the president, mrs. nelson, gave one month to lecturing and visiting societies. in october, , the acting president, mrs. concheta ferris lutz, made an extended lecture tour. the annual meeting convened at minneapolis in november, at the same time as a conference of the officers of the national association. all arrangements were made by dr. cora smith eaton, dr. ripley and mrs. niles. the meetings in the first baptist church, one of the largest in the city, were very successful. on sunday evening the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large of the national association, preached in the universalist church, and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, lectured in the wesley m. e. church, both to crowded houses. the next evening, when miss anthony, national president, and the latter spoke, every foot of standing ground was occupied, and on tuesday, when miss shaw gave her lecture on the fate of republics, the church was equally well-filled. mrs. nelson, after seven years' service, relinquished the office of president and dr. eaton was elected. professional duties soon made it necessary for her to resign and her place was filled by mrs. lutz. political equality clubs were formed in six different wards of minneapolis by dr. eaton. the convention of was called october , , at minneapolis, with mrs. chapman catt in attendance. the meetings were held in the g. a. r. hall, the masonic temple and the lyceum theater. mrs. martha j. thompson was elected president and dr. ethel e. hurd corresponding secretary. in the convention met in the court-house of albert lea, october , . on the first evening mrs. chapman catt was the speaker, her theme being a true democracy. the rev. ida c. hultin of illinois lectured on the crowning race. miss laura a. gregg and miss helen l. kimber, both of kansas, national organizers, gave reports of county conventions conducted by them throughout minnesota, with the assistance of mrs. evelyn h. belden, president of the iowa equal suffrage association. the records showed ninety-eight suffrage meetings altogether to have been held during the year. in the convention took place at stillwater, october , . the officers elected were: president, mrs. maude c. stockwell; vice-president, mrs. jennie e. brown; corresponding secretary, miss delia o'malley; recording secretary, mrs. maria b. bryant; treasurer, dr. margaret koch; auditors, sanford niles and mrs. estelle way; chairman executive committee, mrs. martha j. thompson.[ ] judge j. b. and mrs. sarah burger stearns, c. w. and mrs. martha a. dorsett have been among the oldest and most valued suffrage workers in the state. miss martha scott anderson, on the staff of the minneapolis _journal_, gives efficient help to the cause. three presidents of the state w. c. t. u., mesdames harriet a. hobart, susanna m. d. fry and bessie laythe scoville have been noted as advocates of equal rights.[ ] legislative action and laws: in february, , at the request of mrs. julia b. nelson, president, and mrs. a. t. anderson, chairman of the executive committee of the state association, s. a. stockwell introduced in the house a bill conferring municipal suffrage upon women. mrs. nelson spent several weeks at the capital looking after the petitions which came from all parts of the state, interviewing members of the legislature, distributing literature and trying to get the bill out of the hands of the committee on elections, to which it had been referred. after repeated postponements a hearing finally was granted, at which she made a strong plea and showed the good results of woman suffrage in kansas and wyoming. the bill was indefinitely postponed in committee of the whole, by a vote of yeas, nays. among the leaflets placed on the desk of each member was one especially prepared by mrs. nelson, entitled points on municipal suffrage. one of its twelve points was this: "if the legislature has the power to restrict suffrage it certainly has the right to extend it. the legislature of minnesota restricted the suffrage which had been given to women by a constitutional amendment, when it granted to the city of st. paul a charter taking the election of members of the school board entirely out of the hands of women by giving their appointment to the mayor, an officer elected by the votes of men only."[ ] early in the session of mrs. nelson had a conference with ignatius donnelly, leader of the populists, who was then in the senate. he was willing to introduce a suffrage bill, but as the republicans were in the majority it was thought best to have this done by john day smith, the leader of that party in the senate. mr. smith consented, with the understanding that mr. donnelly should help by championing the bill. "municipal suffrage for women with educational qualifications," was all this bill asked for. mrs. nelson, mrs. anna b. turley and senator donnelly made addresses before the judiciary committee at a hearing in the senate chamber, with an interested audience present. mrs. nelson also gave an evening lecture here on the road to freedom. in place of this bill one to submit an amendment to the voters was substituted. the suffragists were averse to this, but accepted it with the best grace possible, and enthusiastically worked for the new bill to amend the state constitution by striking the word "male" from the article restricting the suffrage. senators smith, donnelly and edwin e. lommen spoke for the bill, and it passed the senate by yeas, nays. in the house it was persistently delayed by the chairman of the judiciary committee, george h. fletcher, and the friends could not get it upon the calendar in time to be reached unless it should be made a special order. edward t. young endeavored to have this done, but as there were several hundred other bills to be considered and less than three days of the session left, his motion was lost. on the last night, mr. young and h. p. bjorge made an effort to have the rules suspended and the bill put upon its final passage. the vote on this motion was yeas, nays, but as a two-thirds vote is necessary it was lost. speaker w. e. lee voted with the affirmative.[ ] three suffrage bills were introduced into the legislature of , two in the house and one in the senate. the first, for an amendment to the state constitution, was offered by o. l. brevig and was indefinitely postponed. s. t. littleton presented the second, which was to give women a vote upon all questions pertaining to the liquor traffic. this found favor in the eyes of the w. c. t. u., as did also the county option bill of j. f. jacobson, but both were unsuccessful. george t. barr introduced a municipal suffrage bill into the senate, but too late for it to be acted upon. in ignatius donnelly secured the introduction of a bill to enfranchise taxpaying women. a hearing was given by the judiciary committee, at which mrs. nelson argued that in simple justice women who pay taxes should have a voice in their expenditure or be exempted from taxation, but the bill was not reported. this year the state federation of clubs secured a resolution to submit an amendment to the electorate in , giving women the privilege of voting for and serving on library boards. in the local council of women of minneapolis obtained the traveling library bill. during this year no petitioning or legislative work was done by the suffragists. the previous legislature had submitted an amendment, which carried, providing that all amendments hereafter must receive a majority of the largest number of votes cast at an election, in order to be adopted. the precedent had been established in of requiring a vote of the electors on the granting of school suffrage to women, and in , of library suffrage, and it was held that _the same would have to be done_ on granting municipal or any other form of the franchise. dower and curtesy were abolished march , . if either husband or wife die without a will, the survivor, if there is issue living, is entitled to the homestead for life and one-third of the rest of the real estate in fee-simple, or by such inferior tenure as the deceased was possessed of, but subject to its just proportion of the debts. if there are no descendants, the entire real estate goes absolutely to the survivor. the personal property follows the same rules. if either husband or wife has wilfully and without just cause deserted and lived separately from the other for the entire year immediately prior to his or her decease, such survivor shall not be entitled to any estate whatever in any of the lands of the deceased. the estate of a child who dies without a will and leaves neither wife nor children, goes to the father; if he is dead, to the mother. the wife can not convey or encumber her separate real estate without the joinder of her husband. the husband can sell or mortgage all his real estate without her joinder, but subject to her dower. they are both free agents as to personal property. if divorce is obtained for the adultery of the wife, her own real estate may be withheld from her, but not so in case of the husband. in case of divorce, the court decides which parent is more fit for the guardianship of children under fourteen years of age; over fourteen, the child decides. except when children are given to the mother by decree of court, the father is the legal guardian of their persons and property. he may appoint by will a guardian for a child, born or unborn, to the exclusion of the mother. the husband must support the family according to his means. failure to do so used to be considered a misdemeanor but it has recently been made a felony punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary from one to three years unless he give bond for their maintenance. this is likely to be of little effect, however, because of the law of "privileged communications" which makes it impossible for the wife to testify against the husband. in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years, after thousands of women had petitioned to have it raised to . if the child is under years the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for life; between and not less than seven nor more than thirty years; between and not less than one nor more than seven years, or it may be imprisonment in the county jail not less than three months nor more than one year. suffrage: an amendment to the constitution was adopted in , giving women a vote on all questions pertaining to the public schools. it being held afterward that this did not enable them to vote for county superintendents, an act for this purpose was passed by the legislature in . (!) the constitution was further amended by popular vote in , granting to women the franchise for members of library boards, and making them eligible to hold any office pertaining to the management of libraries. on as harmless an amendment as this , men voted in the negative, but , voted in the affirmative; and it was adopted. this was probably the last election at which any amendment whatever could have been carried; for, among four submitted in the same year, was one providing that thereafter no amendment could be adopted by merely a majority of those voting upon it, but that it must have a majority of the largest number of votes cast at that election.[ ] none ever has been submitted which aroused sufficient interest to receive as large a vote of both affirmative and negative combined as was cast for the highest officer. therefore in minnesota it is impossible for women to obtain any further extension of the franchise. their only hope for the full suffrage lies in the submission of an amendment to the federal constitution by congress to the legislatures of the various states. office holding: an act of declares that a woman shall retain the same legal existence and legal personality after marriage as before, and shall receive the same protection of all her rights as a woman which her husband does as a man; and for any injury sustained to her reputation, person or property, she shall have the same right to appeal, in her own name alone, to the courts for redress; but this act shall not confer upon the wife the right to vote or hold office, except as is otherwise provided by law. by a constitutional amendment adopted in women were made eligible to all offices pertaining to the public schools and to public libraries. they have served as state librarians. miss jennie c. crays was president of the minneapolis school board for two years. there are forty-three women county superintendents at the present time, each having from to districts to visit. women have served as clerks and treasurers of school districts. a law of gave to women as well as men the powers of constables, sheriffs or police officers, as agents of the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. a law of enabled women to be appointed deputies in county offices. dr. adele s. hutchison is a member of the state medical board which examines physicians for license to practice. she was appointed by gov. john lind and is the first woman to hold such a position. women can not sit on any other state boards. there is no law requiring police matrons but they are employed in minneapolis and st. paul by the city charters. the state hospitals for the insane are required by law to have women physicians. the steward's clerk in the state institute for defectives is a woman. the state public school for dependent and neglected children has a matron, a woman agent and a woman clerk. the state training school, once called the reform school, has women for agent and secretary. the state prison has a matron for the eight women prisoners. there are about men prisoners ( ). the bethany home at minneapolis was established by women in , and is entirely officered by them. in it cared for mothers and infants, and had a kindergarten and a training school for nurses. the city hospitals send all their charity obstetrical cases here, and about half of its support comes from the city. the northwestern hospital for women and children was founded by women in , and until was entirely officered and managed by them. the maternity hospital for unfortunate women was founded by dr. martha g. ripley in . in it cared for mothers and infants. occupations: no profession or occupation is forbidden to women by law. women were admitted to the bar in by act of the legislature. there are sixty-eight women doctors registered as in actual practice in the state. in minneapolis there is an active medical women's club of physicians of both schools. women ministers are filling pulpits of congregational, universalist, christian and wesleyan methodist churches, and the superintendent of the state epworth league is a woman. women are especially conspicuous in farming, which is one of the greatest industries of the state.[ ] a number of women own and publish papers, and each of the large metropolitan dailies has one or more women on its staff. education: women have been admitted to all departments of the state university since its foundation, and there are women professors and assistants in practically every department, including that of political science and the college of engineering and mechanic arts. of the four officers of the department of drawing and industrial art, three are women. the college of medicine and surgery also has women professors in every department, and women are on the faculty of the college of dentistry. the state school of agriculture was established in the fall of . in october, , women were admitted to the regular course of study. in the academic department their class work is with the men, but instead of the especial branches of carpentry, blacksmithing and field work, they have sewing, cooking and laundering. they also have a department of home management, home economy, social culture, household art and domestic hygiene, mrs. virginia c. meredith, preceptor. all the other educational institutions are open to women, and the faculties of the normal schools are largely composed of women. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . * * * * * the state federation of women's clubs, mrs. lydia p. williams, president, is in effect a suffrage kindergarten, many of its members working on committees of education, reciprocity, town and village improvements, household economics, legislation, etc. in minneapolis a stock company, capitalized at $ , , is being formed to erect a club house for the women's societies. the local council of women of minneapolis, organized , is one of the strongest associations of the kind in the united states. during the past seven years it has been composed of nearly one hundred different organizations in the city, and now comprises twelve departments: reform and philanthropy, church, temperance, art, music, literature, patriotism, history, education, philosophy, social and civic. honorary president, mrs. t. b. walker, acting president mrs. a. e. higbee, and corresponding secretary, mrs. j. e. woodford, are largely responsible for the success of the council. ( ). the school and library association was formed in at a meeting called by representatives of the political equality, the business women's, the medical women's and the teachers' clubs of minneapolis. eleven hundred signatures are required for the nomination of a member of the school board, but the women secured over , names on each petition for their candidates for school and library trustees, the largest one having , . the association sent out dodgers with pictures and brief write-ups of the candidates, and also leaflets explaining to the women how to register and vote. mrs. a. t. anderson has been at the head of this work. women attend the conventions of the prohibition and the people's parties as delegates, and are welcome speakers. miss eva mcdonald (valesh) was secretary of the populist executive committee. both prohibitionists and populists have passed woman suffrage resolutions in their state conventions. the federation of labor and the grange have done the same. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. julia b. nelson of red wing, who for twenty years has been the rock on which the effort for woman suffrage has been founded in this state. she acknowledges much assistance from drs. cora smith eaton and ethel e. hurd, both of minneapolis. [ ] among the officers of the state association at different times have been mesdames harriet armstrong, sarah c. brooks, s. p. t. bryan, e. g. bickmore, fxine g. bonwell, annie w. buell, charlotte bolles, jessie gray cawley, e. l. crockett, l. b. castle and hannah egleston, prof. s. a. farnsworth, mesdames eleanor fremont, sarah m. fletcher, may dudley greeley, mary a. hudson, julia huntington, dr. bessie park hames, oliver jones, miss anna m. jones, mrs. charles t. koehler, miss ruth elise kellogg, the rev. george w. lutz, mrs. julia moore, william b. reed, mesdames susie v. p. root, lottie rowell, antoinette b. st. pierre, h. g. selden, miss blanche segur, mesdames martha adams thompson, t. f. thurston, mr. j. m. underwood, miss emma n. whitney, mesdames belle wells, roxana l. wilson and mattie b. whitcomb. [ ] it would be impossible to name all of the men and women, in addition to those already mentioned, who have rendered valuable assistance. among the more conspicuous are miss pearl benham, mesdames r. coons, m. b. critchett, j. a. clifford, edith m. conant, lydia h. clark, miss a. a. connor, mesdames eliza a. dutcher, l. f. ferro, h. e. gallinger, doctors chauncey hobart, mary g. hood, nettie c. hall, mesdames norton h. hemiup, rosa hazel, julia a. hunt, doctors phineas a. and katherine u. jewell, mrs. lucy jones, miss eva jones, mesdames leland, kirkwood, a. d. kingsley, v. j. d. kearney, frances p. kimball, m. a. luly, viola fuller miner, paul mckinstry, jennie mcsevany, the rev. hannah mullenix, mesdames e. j. m. newcomb, antoinette v. nicholas, the reverends margaret olmstead, alice ruth palmer, mesdames pomeroy, e. a. russell, d. c. reed, the rev. w. w. satterlee, mesdames rebecca smith, abigail s. strong, c. s. soule, anna smallidge, m. a. van hoesen, dr. mary e. whetstone, mesdames l. may wheeler, sarah e. wilson and e. n. yearley. [ ] mrs. nelson published at this time, through financial aid from mrs. sarah burger stearns, a little paper for gratuitous distribution, called the _equal rights herald_. [ ] this legislature of provided for the adoption of a state flag, and appointed a committee of women to select an appropriate design. at the request of a few women the moccasin blossom was made the state flower by an act of the same legislature, which was passed with great celerity. [ ] the vote on this was , for, and , against, a total of , ; yet the whole number of votes cast in that election of was , . the amendment itself could not have been adopted if its own provisions had been required! [ ] the woman farmer turns up the soil with a gang-plow and rakes the hay, but not in the primitive fashion of maud muller. she is frequently seen "comin' through the rye," the wheat, the barley or the oats, enthroned on a twine-binder. the writer has this day seen a woman seated on a four-horse plow as contentedly as her city cousin might be in an automobile. among the many plow-girls of nobles county is coris young, a genuine american of vermont ancestry, who has plowed acres this season, making a record of eighty acres in thirteen days with five horses abreast. chapter xlviii. mississippi.[ ] in the idea of an organization devoted exclusively to the advancement of the "woman's cause" in mississippi had not assumed tangible form, granting that even the audacious conception had found lodgment in the brain of any person. the nearest approach seems to have been a woman's press club, which sprung into being about this time, but was short-lived, due to the fact, it is charged, that a little leaven of "woman's rights" having crept in, "the whole lump" was threatened. to the women's christian temperance union the state is largely indebted for the existence of its woman suffrage association, which was organized in meridian, may , , immediately upon the adjournment of a convention of the state w. c. t. u. the seed sown in by mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and miss elizabeth upham yates of maine, and in by miss ella harrison of missouri and mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado, now produced a harvest of clubs, and resulted in a roster of friends in twenty-four towns. mrs. nellie m. somerville was elected president of the association, and mrs. lily wilkinson thompson corresponding secretary. the first annual convention was held in greenville, march , , . the second and third took place at clarksdale, the former april , , , and the latter in may, .[ ] at this meeting the report of the superintendent of press, mrs. butt, showed that twenty-two newspapers had opened their columns to suffrage articles. mrs. chapman catt and miss mary g. hay, national organizer, were present, and the former gave an address to a large and sympathetic assemblage. she was likewise greeted with good audiences at seven other towns, among them jackson, the capital, where she spoke in the house of representatives. a work conference was held at flora in september of this year. legislative action and laws: the w. s. a. has not attempted any legislative work, other than the one effort made in to secure a bill providing for a woman physician at the state hospital for the insane. this was introduced and championed in the senate by r. b. campbell (to whom the association is also indebted for the compilation of a valuable pamphlet on the legal status of mississippi women). it passed that body almost unanimously, but did not reach the house. the measure which provided for the state industrial institute and college for women (white) was the conception of mrs. annie coleman peyton, the bill itself being framed by her brother, judge s. r. coleman, a legislator and a leading attorney. it was sent to the legislature as early as , but was not at that time even considered. mrs. peyton continued her agitation in its behalf and succeeded in having it introduced in and in , but it was twice defeated. by the time the legislature convened in , however, its author had enlisted the sympathy of so many of the prominent men and women of the state that the bill was passed at that session. wiley p. nash and mac c. martin were its earnest champions on the floor of the house; while col. j. l. power, the present secretary of state, major jonas, of the aberdeen _examiner_, and mrs. olive a. hastings were among the ablest coadjutors of mrs. peyton. in the suffrage association petitioned gov. a. h. longino to appoint one woman on the board of this institution, which is wholly for women, but he refused on the ground that it would be unconstitutional. in the legislature abrogated the common law as to its provisions for wives, being a pioneer among the southern states to take such action. it declared: the legislature shall never create any distinction between the rights of men and women to acquire, own, enjoy and dispose of property of all kinds, or their power to contract in reference thereto. married women are hereby emancipated from all disabilities on account of coverture. but this shall not prevent the legislature from regulating contracts between husband and wife; nor shall the legislature be prevented from regulating the sale of homesteads. the property belonging to the wife at the time of marriage no longer passes to her husband, although it is still largely under his control. he becomes her debtor and is accountable to her for her separate property; and she must have him account to her annually for the income and profits which he may receive from it, otherwise she will be barred. if the wife permit the husband to employ the income or profits of her estate in the maintenance of the family, he will not be liable to her therefor. dower and curtesy are abolished. if either husband or wife die without a will, leaving no children nor descendants of any, the entire estate, real and personal, goes to the survivor. but if there are one or more children or descendants by this or by a former marriage, the surviving wife or husband has a child's share of both real and personal estate. each has equal rights in making a will, although if the provisions are not satisfactory to the survivor he or she can take under the law, but this can not be done if separate property is owned equal to what would be the inheritable portion of the estate. if the residence is upon the property of the husband, that is the homestead and exempt from his debts and he is the head of the family. if it is upon the property of the wife, that is the homestead and exempt from her debts, and she is the head of the family. in neither case can it be mortgaged or sold unless both join, but the one owning it may dispose of it by will. a married woman may qualify as executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased person, and as guardian of the estate of a minor or person of unsound mind. she may contract, sue and be sued and carry on business in her own name as if unmarried and her earnings belong to her. the father is the legal guardian of the minor children and by will may appoint a guardian of their property, but he can not deprive the mother of the custody of their persons. the husband is required by law to support and maintain his family out of his estate and by his services unless the wife sees fit to allow him to use her property for this purpose. alimony is allowed to the wife whether the suit for divorce is brought by her or against her, or whether she asks simply for separation; but, even if divorced, unchastity on her part will bar her right to further alimony. the "age of protection" for girls remains at years. the penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. the constitutional convention of provided that no legislature should repeal or impair the above property rights of married women. this convention was called primarily to change the constitution with reference to the elimination of the negro vote. it was composed of representative men thoroughly alive to what they construed as the best interests of the state. as one way of circumventing the threatened supremacy of this vote, the enfranchisement of women was variously considered. the first amendment for this purpose was submitted by judge john w. fewell: _resolved_, that it is a condition necessary to the solution of the franchise problem, that the right to vote shall be secured by proper constitutional enactment to every woman who shall have resided in this state six months, and who shall be years of age or upward, and who shall own, or whose husband, if she have a husband, shall own real estate situate in this state of the clear value of $ over and above all incumbrances. the vote of any woman voting in any election shall be cast by some male elector, who shall be thereunto authorized in writing by such woman so entitled to vote; such constitutional amendment not to be so framed as to grant to women the right to hold office. this was referred to the committee on franchise, composed of thirty-five members, but was defeated. the idea was that a great many white women owned property, while very few negro women did, hence the woman vote would furnish a reserve fund which could be called out in an emergency, the author of the measure himself being "not an advocate of female suffrage generally," according to his remarks before the convention. many, perhaps a majority, at one time favored the scheme, it was said, though comparatively few of the committee recognized the justice of woman's enfranchisement _per se_. j. w. odom offered, among other measures from the "california alliance" of desoto county, a proposition that the right of suffrage be conferred upon women on "certain conditions" not specified. john p. robinson and d. j. johnson also submitted sections providing for "female suffrage under certain conditions." jordan l. morris offered the following: the legislature shall have power to confer the elective franchise on all women who are citizens of the state and of the united states, years of age and upwards, who own, in their own right, over and above all incumbrances, property listed for taxation of the value of $ or upwards, or who, being widows, own jointly with their own or their husband's children, property of said value listed for taxation; or who are capable of teaching a first-grade public school in this state, as prescribed by law, and who never have been convicted, and shall not thereafter be convicted of any crime or misdemeanor and not pardoned therefor, to such extent and under such restrictions and limitations as it may deem proper to prescribe. all of these noble efforts resulted in no action whatever to enfranchise women. suffrage: since a woman as a freeholder, or leaseholder, may vote at a county election, or sign a petition for such an election to be held, to decide as to the adoption or non-adoption of a law permitting stock to run at large. she may also, if a widow and, as such, the head of the family, manifest by ballot her consent or dissent to leasing certain portions of land in the township, known as the "sixteenth sections," which are set apart for school purposes. as a patron of a school, which presupposes her widowhood, she may vote at an election of school trustees, other than in a "separate school district," which practically limits this privilege to women in the country.[ ] as a taxpayer a woman can petition against the issuance of bonds by the municipality in which she resides (except where the proposed issuance is governed and regulated by a charter adopted previous to the code of ), but if a special election is ordered she can not vote for or against issuing the bonds. the legislature in dealing with the liquor traffic may make the grant of license depend upon a petition therefor signed by men and women, or by women only, or upon any other condition that it may prescribe; and it seems to be equally true that the legislature may grant to women the right to vote at elections held to determine whether or not local option laws shall be put in force, but it never has done so. office holding: the constitution provides that "all qualified electors, and no others, shall be eligible to office." in the constitutional convention of jordan l. morris offered a resolution "that the legislature may make women, with such qualifications as may be prescribed, competent to hold the office of county superintendent of schools." this amendment was tabled. j. w. cutrer submitted a section "making eligible to all offices connected with the public schools, except that of state superintendent of public education, all women of good moral character, twenty-five years or upwards of age," which was not favorably reported. a clause was introduced by w. b. eskridge making "any white woman twenty-one years old, who has been a _bona fide_ citizen of the state two years before her election, and who shall be of good moral character," eligible to the office of chancery or circuit clerk; and another, that "any white woman, etc., shall be qualified to hold the office of keeper of the capitol and state librarian." the last office, as recommended in a separate measure by george g. dillard, which was adopted, is the only one to which women are specifically eligible, but none has held it. in some counties the constitution has been liberally interpreted to make women eligible to serve on school boards; this, however, is regulated usually by the judgment of the county superintendent. women are elected to such positions occasionally in the smaller towns. the code of created the text-book committee, whose duty is to adopt a uniform series of books for use in the public schools of a county. an official record is kept of its specific functions, all members being required to "take the oath of office," etc., and thus constituted public officers according to a recent ruling of the attorney-general. the majority of these committees are women teachers, appointed by the county superintendents, but no provision has been made for their remuneration. women can not serve as notaries public. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. they are licensed to practice medicine, dentistry and pharmaceutics. it is believed that the statute would be construed to enable them to practice law, but the test has not been made. several women own and manage newspapers. education: the state university has been open to women for twenty years, and annually graduates a number. millsaps college, a leading institution for men, has recently admitted a few women to its b. a. course, and this doubtless will become a fixed policy. the agricultural and mechanical college and the state normal school (both colored) are co-educational. several women hold college professorships. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers: the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * the state federation of women's clubs was organized in and has a membership of fifteen societies. women have never actively participated in public campaigns except in local politics where the liquor question has been the paramount issue. miss belle kearney is a temperance lecturer of national reputation, and a pronounced advocate of woman suffrage. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. hala hammond butt of clarksdale, president of the state woman suffrage association and editor of the _challenge_, a county paper. [ ] officers elected: president, mrs. hala hammond butt; vice-president, mrs. fannie clark; corresponding secretary, mrs. harriet b. kells; recording secretary, mrs. rebecca roby; treasurer, miss mabel pugh. other officers have been miss belle kearney and mesdames nellie nugent, charlotte l. pitman and pauline alston clark. [ ] any municipality of or more inhabitants may be declared a "separate school district" by an ordinance of the mayor or board of aldermen if it maintain a free public school at least seven months in each year. four months is the ordinary public term, the additional three months' school being supported by special taxation. thus as soon as a woman has to pay a special tax she is deprived of a vote. chapter xlix. missouri.[ ] the movement toward equal suffrage in missouri must always recognize as its founder mrs. virginia l. minor. she was a thorough believer in the right of woman to the franchise, and at the november election of offered her own vote under the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution. it was refused; she brought suit against the inspectors and carried her case to the supreme court of the united states, where it was argued with great ability by her husband, francis minor, but an adverse decision was rendered.[ ] the first suffrage association in the state was organized at st. louis in the winter of . mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony lectured under its auspices at library hall in the autumn of that year, and a reception was given them in the parlors of the southern hotel. for many years meetings were held with more or less regularity, mrs. minor was continued as president and some legislative work was attempted. on feb. , , , an interstate woman suffrage convention was held in kansas city. mrs. laura m. johns, president of the kansas association, in the chair. mrs. minor, mrs. beverly allen and mrs. rebecca n. hazard were made honorary presidents and mrs. virginia hedges was elected president. addresses were given by mrs. clara c. hoffman, the rev. anna howard shaw, mrs. mary seymour howell of new york and miss florence balgarnie of england. a club was formed in kansas city with mrs. sarah chandler coates as president. during the next few years the state association co-operated with other societies in public and legislative work. mrs. minor passed away in , an irreparable loss to the cause of woman suffrage. in may, , the mississippi valley congress was called at st. louis under the auspices of the woman's christian temperance union, and various other organizations participated. miss anthony and miss shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the national association, stopped on their way to california and made addresses. just before miss anthony began her address, seventy-five children, some of them colored, passed before her and each laid a rose in her lap, in honor of her seventy-five years. the preceding spring the national association had sent mrs. anna r. simmons of south dakota into missouri to lecture for two months and reunite the scattered forces. a state suffrage convention followed the congress and mrs. addie m. johnson was elected president. at its close a banquet with covers was given in the mercantile club room, with miss anthony as the guest of honor. a local society, of nearly one hundred members, was formed in st. louis. during october mrs. simmons again made a tour of the state at the expense of the national association. on june , , , the annual convention took place in st. louis with delegates present from seventeen clubs. addresses were made by mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, henry b. blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_, mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado and others who were in the city trying to obtain some recognition for women from the national republican convention. miss ella harrison was made president. public meetings were called for november , , in kansas city, as it was then possible to have the presence of miss anthony, miss shaw and mrs. chapman catt on their return from the suffrage amendment campaign in california. in january, , mrs. bradford spent three weeks lecturing in the state, and the president devoted a month to this purpose during the autumn. the annual meeting convened in bethany, december - , mrs. johns and mrs. hoffman being the principal speakers. the convention of was held at st. joseph, october - , with miss anthony and mrs. chapman catt in attendance, and the board of officers was re-elected. in the fall of a series of conferences, planned by the national organization committee, was held in twenty counties, being managed by mrs. johnson and miss ella moffatt, and addressed by miss lena morrow of illinois and mrs. mary waldo calkins. these ended with a state convention at chillicothe in october. the annual meeting of was held in st. joseph during october, and mrs. johnson was elected president.[ ] legislative action and laws: in , through the efforts of mrs. julia s. vincent and mrs. isabella r. slack, a bill was introduced in the legislature to found a home for dependent children. the bill was amended until when it finally passed it created two penal institutions, one for boys and one for girls. in a bill proposing an amendment to the state constitution, conferring full suffrage on women, was brought to a vote in the assembly and received ayes, noes. in a similar bill was lost in the assembly. in , largely through the efforts of miss mary perry, a bill was secured creating a state board of charities, two members of which must be women. this was supported by the philanthropic federation of women's societies, who also presented one for women on school boards, which was not acted upon. bills for conferring school suffrage on women have been presented on several occasions, but never have been considered. one has been secured compelling employers to provide seats for female employes.[ ] dower and curtesy both obtain. if there are any descendants living, the widow's dower is a life-interest in one-third of the real estate and a child's share of the personal property. if there are no descendants, the widow is entitled to all her real estate which came to the husband through the marriage, and to all the undisposed-of personal property of her own which by her written consent came into his possession, not subject to the payment of his debts; and to one-half of his separate real and personal estate absolutely, and subject to the payment of his debts. if the husband or wife die intestate, leaving neither descendants, father, mother, brothers, sisters, or descendants of brothers or sisters, the entire estate, real and personal, goes to the survivor. if a wife die, leaving no descendants, her widower is entitled to one-half of her separate real and personal estate absolutely, subject to her debts. (act of .) in an attempt was made to give a married woman control of her separate real estate, which up to that time had belonged to the husband. endless confusion has resulted, as the law applies only to marriages made since that date. to increase the complications a wife may hold real property under three different tenures: an equitable separate estate created by certain technical words in the conveyance, and this she can dispose of without the husband's joining in the deed; a legal separate estate, which she can not convey without his joining; and a common-law estate in fee, of which the husband is entitled to the rents and profits. in either case, if the wife continually permits the husband to appear as the owner and to contract debts on the credit of the property, she is estopped from withholding it from his creditors. there may be also a joint estate which goes to the survivor upon the death of either. no married woman can act as executor or administrator. the wife's separate property is liable for debts contracted by the husband for necessaries for the family. if he is drunken and worthless she may have him enjoined from squandering her property. for these causes and for abandonment the court may authorize her to sell her separate property without his signature. the wife may insure the husband's life, or he may insure it for her, and the insurance can not be claimed by his creditors. a married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on business in her own name, and possess her wages. she may recover in her own name for injuries which prevent her from conducting an independent business, but not for those which interfere with the performance of household duties, as her services in the home belong to the husband. she may, however, bring suit in her own name for bodily injuries. the wife may sue for alienation of her husband's affections and recover, according to a recent supreme court decision, "even though they may not be entirely alienated from her and though he may still entertain a sneaking affection for her." the husband is liable for torts of the wife and for slanders spoken by her, although out of his presence and without his knowledge or consent. ( .) the father is the guardian of the persons, estates and education of minor children. at his death the mother is guardian, but if she marries again she loses the guardianship of the property because no married woman can be curator of a minor's estate. if the husband abandon or fail to support his family, he may be fined and imprisoned and the court may decree their maintenance out of his property. the wife must live where and how the husband shall determine. if she chooses to live elsewhere his obligation to support her ceases. in case of divorce he must support the children, even if their custody is given to the mother. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in and to years in . the penalty was reduced, however, and is at present "imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of two years, or a fine of not less than $ or more than $ , or imprisonment in the county jail not less than one month nor more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court." between the ages of and years, the girl must be "of previously chaste character." suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: in the supreme court decided that women may hold any office from which they are not debarred by the constitution of the state. they are now eligible as county clerks, county school commissioners and notaries public, and for various offices up to that of judge of the supreme court, which are not provided for by the constitution. it is the opinion of lawyers that they may serve on city school boards, and they have been nominated without objection, but none has been elected. women are barred, however, from all state offices. two women sit on the state board of charities, but they can not do so on any other state boards. a number are now serving as county clerks and county commissioners. the w. s. a. and the w. c. t. u. have secured the appointment of salaried police matrons from the board of police commissioners in st. louis, kansas city and st. joseph. there are also depot matrons in these cities, and the first two have women guards at the jails and workhouses. st. louis has a woman inspector of shops and factories. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: this was one of the first states in the union to open its law and medical schools to women. in , when harriet hosmer, the sculptor, could not secure admission to any institution in the east where she might study anatomy she was permitted to enter the missouri medical college. in the law college of washington university at st. louis admitted miss phoebe w. couzins, and she received her degree in . the state university and all the state institutions of learning are co-educational. the presbyterian theological school admits women. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for material for this chapter to mrs. addie m. johnson of st. louis, president of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, p. , and following, or wallace's supreme court reports, vol. xxi. [ ] other officers elected: vice-president, mrs. kate m. ford; corresponding secretary, dr. marie e. adams; recording secretary, mrs. sue dehaven; treasurer, mrs. alice c. mulkey; auditors, miss almira hayes and mrs. ethel b. harrison; member national executive committee, mrs. etta e. m. weink. among those who have held official position since are: vice-presidents, mrs. cordelia dobyns, mrs. amelie c. fruchte; corresponding secretaries, mrs. g. g. r. wagner, mrs. emma p. jenkins; recording secretary, mrs. e. montague winch; treasurer, mrs. juliet cunningham; auditors, mrs. maria i. johnston, mrs. minor meriwether. [ ] in women obtained a law and appropriation for a state home for feeble-minded children. chapter l. montana.[ ] in august, , miss frances e. willard, national president, came to montana and formed a territorial woman's christian temperance union in butte. at this time miss willard in her speeches, and the union in its adoption of a franchise department, made the initiative effort to obtain suffrage for the women of montana. this organization has been here, as elsewhere, a great educative force for its members, training them in parliamentary law, broadening their ideas and preparing them for citizenship. out of its ranks have come the rev. alice s. n. barnes, mesdames laura e. howey, delia a. kellogg, mary a. wylie, martha rolfe plassman, anna a. walker and many other earnest advocates of the ballot for women. within the past five or six years a number of professional and business women have joined the suffrage forces and to-day they compose a majority of the active leaders. no attempt was made to organize the state until mrs. emma smith de voe was sent by the national association in . she visited most of the prominent towns and formed clubs or committees. the first state convention was called at helena in september of this year by the suffrage association of that city, miss sarepta sanders, president, and mrs. kellogg, secretary. it was assisted by mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, to whose eloquent addresses was due the great impetus the cause received at this time.[ ] mrs. de voe again visited the state in the spring of . the annual meeting took place at butte in november. mrs. harriet p. sanders, wife of senator sanders, having declined re-election, was unanimously made honorary president, and mrs. ella knowles haskell succeeded her in the presidency. nearly members were reported. a large and successful convention met at helena in november, , when a state central committee was appointed, with mrs. haskell as chairman and members in nearly every county. madame f. rowena medini was made president, but she left the state before her year of office had expired and dr. mary b. atwater filled her place. no convention being held in or she acted as president until that of october, , when dr. maria m. dean was elected. mrs. chapman catt was present. to mrs. p. a. dann of great falls, a contemporary of miss susan b. anthony, too much honor can not be given for her years of service and financial help. u. s. senator wilbur f. sanders has been a loyal friend. foremost among the early workers for woman suffrage in montana was mrs. clara l. mcadow, whose energy and business talent made the spotted horse, a mine owned by herself and husband, a valuable property. in july, , henry b. blackwell, corresponding secretary of the american w. s. a., came to montana to present the question to the constitutional convention. his address was received with warm applause but the convention refused to adopt a woman suffrage amendment by yeas, nays. a resolution was presented that the legislature might extend the franchise to women whenever it should be deemed expedient, thus putting the matter out of the hands of its proverbial enemies. the measure had able champions in b. f. carpenter, w. m. bickford, j. e. rickards, hiram knowles, p. w. mcadow, j. a. callaway, peter breen, t. e. collins, w. a. burleigh, w. r. ramsdell, francis e. sargeant, william a. clark (now u. s. senator), its president, and others. prominent among those opposed were martin maginnis and allen joy. it was lost by a tie vote, july . a proposal to submit the question separately to the electors was defeated by the same vote, august . the constitution conferred school suffrage, which women already possessed under territorial government, and gave to taxpaying women a vote on questions of taxation. legislative action and laws: in women secured an enactment that the commissioners of any county, at the request of a certain number of petitioners, must call a special election for a vote on licensing the sale of liquor. a two-thirds vote is necessary to prohibit this. women themselves can neither petition nor vote on the question. this year a bill was introduced by representative john s. huseby for a constitutional amendment granting suffrage to women. it was passed in the house, yeas, nays; indefinitely postponed in the senate by a "rising vote," yeas, nays. in a systematic effort was made to secure a bill for this amendment. mrs. ella knowles haskell, chairman of the state central committee, invaded the legislative halls with an able corps of assistants from the w. s. a. petitions signed by about , citizens were presented, and it looked for a time as if the bill might pass. it was debated in the house and attracted much attention from the press, but lacked five votes of the required two-thirds majority. it was not acted upon in the senate. in dr. mary b. atwater, then president of the state association, with other officers and members, succeeded in having a suffrage amendment bill introduced. some excellent work was done, but the measure was lost in committee of the whole. dower is retained but curtesy abolished. if there is only one child, or the lawful issue of one child, the surviving husband or wife receives one-half of the entire estate, real and personal; if there is more than one child, or one child and the lawful issue of one or more deceased children, the survivor receives one-third. if there is no issue living the survivor takes one-half of the whole unless there is neither father, mother, brother, sister nor their descendants, when the widow or widower takes it all. the wife may mortgage or convey her separate property without the husband's signature. he may do this but can not impair her dower right to one-third. a married woman may act as executor, administrator or guardian. she may also sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name. a married woman can control her earnings by becoming a sole trader through the necessary legal process. she thus makes herself responsible for the maintenance of her children. the father, if living, or if not, the mother, while she remains unmarried and if suitable, is entitled to the guardianship of minor children. in case of divorce, other things being equal, if the child be of tender years, it is given to the mother, and if of an age to require education and preparation for business, then to the father. by the code of the husband is required to furnish support for the family as far as he is able, and the wife must help if necessary. her personal property is subject to debts incurred for family expenses. even though divorce be denied, the court may award maintenance to wife and children. montana is one of three states which make years the legal age for the marriage of girls. in all others it ranges from to years. in , on petition of women, the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years, and in to . the penalty is imprisonment not less than five years. suffrage: women may vote for school trustees on the same terms as men, but not for other school officers. they had this privilege under territorial government. those possessing property may vote also on all questions submitted to taxpayers. these privileges were incorporated in the first state constitution. office holding: women may serve as county superintendents or hold any school district office. in there were two women county superintendents; now every county in the state has a woman in this office. the superintendent of the helena schools is a woman. the rev. alice s. n. barnes held the position of school trustee as early as . dr. maria m. dean has been elected three times in succession as a trustee in helena. she is chairman of the board and has been influential in many progressive measures. women have served on library boards and been city librarians. miss lou guthrie has been for a number of years librarian of the state law library, and mrs. laura e. howey fills this position in the state historical library. there has been a woman on the state board of charities since its organization in , mrs. howey, mrs. m. s. cummins and mrs. lewis penwell having been successively elected. dr. mary b. atwater has been for over three years chairman of the board of health of helena. women served as notaries public until a ruling of attorney-general c. b. nolan ( ) declared this illegal. in , the first year the populist party put a ticket in the field, it nominated miss ella knowles for the office of attorney-general. she made a spirited campaign, addressing more than eighty audiences, and alone organized some fourteen counties, being the first populist to speak in them. she ran , votes ahead of her ticket, in a state which casts only about , . the contest was so close that it was three weeks before it was decided who had been elected; but when the votes came in from the outlying precincts, where she was unknown, it was found that her republican opponent, h. j. haskell, had a majority. miss knowles was then appointed assistant attorney-general, an office which she filled for four years to the eminent satisfaction of the people. during this time she married her rival. occupations: no occupation is now legally forbidden to women. mainly through the efforts of mrs. haskell, a bill was passed by the legislature of which gave women the right to practice law. the rev. alice s. n. barnes was ordained in the congregational church in , and has preached regularly ever since. in she was chosen as moderator at the conference of the congregational churches of montana, at helena. education: the educational advantages for women are the same as those accorded men. all institutions of learning--the state university, the agricultural college, even the school of mines--are open to both sexes. in the public schools there are men and women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * montana women were awarded seven medals at the world's fair in chicago in . their botanical exhibit was one of the most notable at the exposition. it was artistically arranged by mrs. jennie h. moore, the flowers being all scientifically labeled and properly classified. of the $ , appropriated to the use of the state commission, the men assigned $ , to the women for their department, exercising no supervision over them. at the close of the exposition they brought back $ , , which they turned into the state treasury, and $ , worth of furniture, which they presented to various state institutions. in there was an exciting contest over removing the location of the permanent capital and some fear that helena would lose it. a number of her leading women, in a special car provided by the northern pacific r. r., visited the prominent towns in eastern montana, speaking and working in the interest of their city and undoubtedly gaining many votes for helena, which was selected instead of the rival, anaconda. in mrs. haskell was made a delegate to the populist convention of lewis and clarke county, which met in helena, and also to the populist state and national conventions. she took a prominent part in their proceedings, and was instrumental in securing a woman suffrage plank in the populist state platform after a hard fight on the floor of the convention. at the populist convention in st. louis that year she was chosen a member of the national committee. in the autumn of a number of prominent women of helena appeared as representatives of the suffragists before the lewis and clarke county conventions, and before the state conventions--republican, democrat and populist--asking that they insert a plank in their platforms recommending the submission of the question of woman suffrage to the voters. only the populists adopted it. the ladies also attended the state conventions of the three parties with the same resolution; but the populists alone indorsed it, "demanding" suffrage for women. one of the important factors in this movement is the woman's relief corps, an organization which has grown in strength during the last decade and is making its members staunch patriots and woman suffragists. it has had an educative influence equal to that of the w. c. t. u. but on different lines. women are actively identified with lodges and clubs, many of the latter being members of the general federation of women's clubs. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. mary long alderson of helena, one of the first officers of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] officers elected: president, mrs. harriet p. sanders; vice-president, mrs. martha rolfe plassman; corresponding secretary, mrs. delia a. kellogg; recording secretary, mrs. mary long alderson; treasurer, dr. mary b. atwater; auditors, mrs. martha e. dunckel and mrs. hiram knowles; delegate-at-large, mrs. mary a. wylie. dr. atwater has been elected to the same office at each succeeding convention. chapter li. nebraska.[ ] after the defeat of the constitutional amendment to confer the suffrage, which was submitted to the voters of nebraska in , the women were not discouraged, but continued to hold their state conventions as usual. that of took place at york, in january, and was welcomed by mayor harlan. on jan. , , , the annual meeting was held at lincoln. mrs. ada m. bittenbender was the principal speaker, and the convention was specially favored with music by the noted singer of ante-bellum days, james g. clark. mrs. clara bewick colby, editor of the _woman's tribune_, was elected president. the convention of met at madison, august , , and was addressed by mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon of new orleans. on jan. - , , the convention assembled in the hall of representatives in lincoln. it was fortunate in having miss susan b. anthony, who was enthusiastically received by large audiences. the chancellor postponed the opening lecture of the university course so that the students might hear her address. mrs. saxon again rendered valuable assistance. the convention of met in the opera house at omaha, december , , memorable in being honored by the presence of the two great leaders, mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, president, and miss susan b. anthony, vice-president-at-large of the national association. a reception was held at hotel paxton, and short speeches were made by prominent men. a notable feature was the exhibit of the rolls containing the names of , nebraska men and women asking for equal suffrage. the convention for took place in may, at kearney, james clement ambrose being among the speakers. fremont claimed the tenth annual meeting, nov. , , miss anthony, and mrs. julia b. nelson of minnesota stopping off to attend it on their return from several months' campaigning in south dakota. the convention of was held at hastings in october, and that of at pender, july , . in all efforts were concentrated on the work done at the world's fair in chicago, and the raising of money to assist the colorado campaign, and the convention was omitted. miss anthony, now national president, also attended the meeting of , in beatrice, november , . this time she was on her way home from a campaign in kansas for a suffrage amendment, to which the nebraska association had contributed liberally. a telegram announcing its defeat was handed her on the platform, just as she was about to begin her speech, and no one who was present ever will forget her touching account of the efforts which had been made in various states for this measure during the past twenty-seven years. the delegates were welcomed by mayor schultz. david city was selected for the next convention, oct. , , ; and that of was enjoyed at the summer session of the long pine chautauqua assembly. mrs. colby had spent two months lecturing throughout the state and preparing for this meeting. money was raised for the idaho suffrage campaign, then in progress. mrs. colby and miss elizabeth abbott addressed the resolution committee of the populist state convention, asking for a woman suffrage plank. the meeting of , at lincoln, september , was assisted by mrs. ida crouch hazlett, a lecturer and organizer from denver, who was engaged for state work. in october, , the convention was held in omaha during the executive meeting of the national council of women, which enabled it to have addresses by miss anthony, the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large of the national association, mrs. adelaide ballard of iowa, and other prominent speakers. mrs. colby declining to stand for re-election, after sixteen years' service, mrs. mary smith hayward was the choice of the association. one hundred dollars were sent to south dakota for amendment campaign work. in october, , the national w. s. a. sent eight organizers into the state to hold a series of forty-nine county conventions; meetings were held, county organizations effected and local clubs formed. the canvass ended in an enthusiastic convention in the capitol building at lincoln, with mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, the rev. ida c. hultin of illinois, mrs. evelyn h. belden of iowa, miss laura a. gregg of kansas and miss mary g. hay of new york, among the speakers. state headquarters were opened at omaha with miss gregg in charge. her work has been so effective that it has been necessary to employ assistants to send out press articles, arrange for lectures, etc. in a very successful annual meeting took place in blair, october , , with a representation almost double that of the previous year and an elaborate program. mrs. chapman catt was again present, there was much enthusiasm and it was resolved to continue the efforts to create a public sentiment which would insure a woman suffrage clause in the new state constitution which is expected in the near future.[ ] among the many flourishing local societies may be mentioned that of table rock, which is so strong an influence in the community that the need of any other club for literary or public work is not felt. it holds an annual banquet to which husbands and friends are invited, and the husbands, in turn, under the name of the h. h. (happy husband) club give a reception to the suffragists, managing it entirely themselves. the society at chadron, under the inspiration of mrs. hayward, is one of the most active, and has sent money to assist campaigns in other states. a canvass of the town in february, , showed that per cent. of the women wanted full suffrage. mrs. colby organized a club in lincoln which has done excellent service under the leadership of dr. inez c. philbrick. suffrage headquarters have been established at the chautauquas held at long pine, beatrice, salem and crete, and various woman's days have been held under the auspices of the state association, at which speakers of national reputation have made addresses. anthony and stanton birthdays have been largely observed by the suffrage clubs. the history of the nebraska work for the past sixteen years is interwoven with that of the president, mrs. colby, who has given her life and money freely to the cause. at a convention in grand island in may, , it was voted to establish a suffrage paper at beatrice, for which the state association was to be financially responsible, and mrs. colby was made editor. a year later, when the executive committee withdrew from the arrangement, she herself assumed the entire burden, and has edited and published the _woman's tribune_ to the present time. in she issued the paper in washington, d. c., during the sessions of the international woman's council and the national w. s. a., publishing eight editions in the two weeks, four of sixteen and four of twelve pages, each averaging daily , copies. a few years afterwards the office was permanently removed to washington. as long as mrs. colby was a resident of nebraska she stood at the head of every phase of the movement to obtain equal rights for women. miss mary fairbrother, editor and proprietor of the _woman's weekly_, has made her paper a valuable ally. miss helen m. goff, a lawyer, acted as corresponding secretary of the state association for many years, speaking for the cause in political campaigns, holding a suffrage booth at state fairs, and working in the legislature for suffrage bills.[ ] legislative action and laws: in a bill for municipal suffrage was introduced by senator snell of fairbury, and by representative cole of juniata. mrs. colby had secured , signatures for this measure, and with mrs. jennie f. holmes, president of the state woman's christian temperance union, worked all winter to secure its passage.[ ] in three bills were introduced into the legislature relating to suffrage for women, and one asking for a law providing for police matrons in cities of , or more inhabitants. miss goff remained at the capital all winter looking after these bills. mrs. colby, representing the state w. s. a., and mrs. zara a. wilson the state w. c. t. u., had charge of the bill for municipal suffrage. j. f. kessler introduced this in the house and worked for it. it was defeated by ayes, noes. the bill for full suffrage was introduced into the house by g. c. lingenfelter, and championed by w. f. porter (now secretary of state) and others. it was defeated by ayes, noes. the populist members supported this, but considered that municipal suffrage discriminated against women in the country. the bill for extended school suffrage was introduced too late to reach a vote. the police matron bill was carried. in the w. s. a. decided to do no legislative work except to second the efforts of the w. c. t. u. to have the "age of protection" for girls raised to years; and to secure a resolution asking congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the federal constitution. the latter measure was not acted upon; the former was successful. in bills were introduced for the federal amendment, for municipal suffrage, to allow women property holders to vote on issuing bonds, and to make the right of the surviving husband or wife equal in the family estate. both branches of the legislature invited mrs. colby to address them. immediately afterward the house judiciary committee approved an amendment to the state constitution, striking out the word "male," but this was defeated later in the session. the other bills were not reported from the committees. in a hearing was granted to a committee from the suffrage association urging a resolution asking congress to submit a woman suffrage amendment to the state legislatures, and such a measure was reported to the house but not adopted. dower and curtesy both obtain. a widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate. in case the husband die without a will, after the payment of all debts, charges, etc., she may have household furniture to the value of $ and other personal property not exceeding $ . if any residue remains she is entitled to the same share that a child receives. if there is no issue living, a widow takes the use for life of the entire estate, both real and personal. if there is no kindred of the husband, the widow comes into absolute possession. if a wife die, leaving no issue, the husband has the life use of all her real estate. if she leave children by a former husband they are entitled to all of the estate which did not come to her as a gift from her surviving husband. if she leave issue by the latter only, or by both, then the widower has a life interest in one-third of her real estate. after the payment of her debts her personal property is distributed in the same way as her real estate. the wife can mortgage or sell her real estate without the husband's signature and without regard to his curtesy. he can do the same with his separate property but subject to her dower. both must join in an incumbrance or sale of the homestead. a married woman may control her own property and wages and carry on business in her own name. father and mother have equal guardianship and custody of minor children. ( .) the husband is expected to furnish suitable maintenance according to his own ideas. the property which belonged to the wife before marriage can be levied on for the husband's debts for necessaries furnished the family if he have no property. the mother is not "next of kin" and can not sue for damages to a minor child. in a child of thirteen was injured by a locomotive, and the judge held that the father and not the mother was entitled to bring suit, although she had a divorce years before and had brought up the child without any assistance from him. if a divorce is granted for the wife's adultery "the husband may hold such of her personal estate as the court may term just and reasonable." if she secure a divorce on account of his adultery, "the court may restore to her the whole, or such part as may seem just, _of her own property_ which she had at marriage. if this is insufficient for the support of herself and her children the court may decree alimony from the husband's estate." the "age of protection" for girls was raised in from to years; in from to ; in from to . the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than twenty nor less than three years, but the law provides that if such "female child is over and previously unchaste" this penalty shall not be inflicted. for such the law offers no protection. nor shall there be conviction for the crime against a child of any age without other evidence than her own testimony. ( .) suffrage: in school suffrage was conferred on women. in the legislature repealed this law except for widows and spinsters. in it was again changed, and women since then have voted in school district matters on the same terms as men; _i. e._, if parents of children of school age or assessed on property real or personal they may vote at all elections pertaining to schools. they can not, however, vote for state or county superintendents or county supervisors (commissioners). as the last named levy the taxes, and the other two are the most important officers connected with the schools, it will be seen that women are deprived of the most valuable school vote. all efforts, however, to secure an extension of the school franchise have resulted in failure. as it requires a majority of the highest number of votes cast at an election to carry an amendment, it is useless to ask the legislature to submit one conferring full suffrage upon women. office holding: there is nothing in the state constitution or the statutes making women ineligible to any elective office except membership in the legislature. although they are not allowed to vote for county superintendents there are at present sixteen women filling this office, eight of them serving a second term and three a third, while nineteen are superintendents or principals of schools. a woman was candidate on the fusion ticket for regent of the state university; another has been registrar since the university opened, and one is at present recorder. mrs. ada m. bittenbender was candidate for supreme judge. a woman is deputy state auditor. women are serving or have served as postmasters and as clerks in both houses of the legislature, clerk of the state library and member of the state examining committee of education. miss mary fairbrother was proof-reader in the house in . miss helen m. goff is assistant reporter in the state department of the judiciary. women act as notaries public. the w. s. a. and w. c. t. u. secured a bill requiring the appointment of women physicians at three state insane asylums. there are matrons at all of the state institutions for the blind, feeble-minded, etc., and also at the girls' industrial school, although the superintendent is always a man. the milford industrial school has a woman physician, a woman superintendent and a board of five women visitors. at the home for the friendless all the officers and employees are required to be women and there is a board of women visitors. all cities of , or more are required to appoint police matrons at $ per month. this includes only omaha and lincoln. a woman is secretary of the board of trade in omaha and official agent for the humane society with police powers. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. a woman is president of one bank and vice-president of another. among the many in newspaper work, an indian, mrs. susette la f. tibbles, is prominent. education: all institutions of learning are open to women. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . , of the women, $ . . * * * * * the prohibition party always puts a suffrage plank in its state platform and women candidates on its ticket, even for the office of lieutenant-governor, but it polls so small a vote that this can be only complimentary. the populist and republican parties have indorsed equal suffrage at county conventions and elected women on their tickets. women go as delegates to the prohibition and populist conventions. one of the strongest of the state organizations is the woman's relief corps. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material for this chapter to mrs. mary smith hayward of chadron, former president of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] the present officers of the association are: president, mrs. clara a. young; vice-president, mrs. amanda j. marble; corresponding secretary, miss nelly e. taylor; recording secretary, mrs. ida l. denny; treasurer, mrs. k. w. sutherland; auditors, mrs. mary smith hayward and mrs. getty w. drury. [ ] other names which appear from time to time as doing good work for this cause are the hon. j. d. ream, m. h. marble, j. w. dundas, mesdames a. j. marble, susanna a. kendall, irene hernandez, miriam baird buck, lucy merwin, vannessa goff, maria c. arter, mary e. mcmenemy, f. c. norris, m. a. van middlesworth, m. a. cotton, misses viola kaufman and edna naylor. [ ] mrs. colby gives this interesting bit of description: "our husbands were both in the senate. we had apartments in the same house, where, hobnobbing over our partnership housekeeping, we planned our public work. our husbands each had a spell of sickness at the same time, and while our functions of state presidency were temporarily exchanged for those of nursing, our enemies took advantage of us and killed that bill, on the very day, february , that gov. john a. martin signed the bill under which the women of kansas have ever since enjoyed the municipal ballot." chapter lii. nevada.[ ] the question of equal political rights for women always has been a subject of discussion in nevada. through the efforts of miss hannah k. clapp and a few other women a suffrage bill was passed by the senate in , but was defeated in the house. miss mary babcock was one of the most efficient of these early workers. many party leaders, whenever opportunity permitted, have referred to the justice of enfranchising the women who with the men braved the dangers and endured the hardships of pioneer life, and are equally interested in the material development and political well-being of the state. after the organization of the nevada woman's christian temperance union the superintendent of the franchise department distributed literature, brought up the topic at public meetings, urged it as a subject of debate in clubs and schools and thus secured a steady gain in suffrage sentiment. the first step toward associated effort was taken by the women of austin, nov. , , in forming the lucy stone non-partisan equal suffrage league. one or two others were organized that year, and a general agitation was begun through press and petition work by the suffragists in every community. in the spring of the visit of miss susan b. anthony, president of the national association, and the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large, who were on their way to california, created such widespread enthusiasm that a new impetus was given to the movement. a little later mrs. emma smith devoe of illinois was sent by the national association to canvass the state with the help of the local workers. as a result a convention was held at reno, october , . mrs. devoe and mrs. frances a. williamson were the principal speakers, and the ten minutes' addresses by the delegates from various counties were very clever and acceptable. a state equal suffrage association was formed with mrs. williamson as president; miss clapp and dr. eliza cook, vice-presidents; fannie weller, corresponding secretary; phoebe stanton marshall, recording secretary; elda a. orr, treasurer; kate a. martin and alice ede, auditors; annie warren, press work; mary a. boyd, state fair work; emma b. blossom, superintendent of literature; marcella rinkle, member national executive committee. the president, who was also chairman of the legislative work committee, was in the lecture field four months. she had to act as her own advance agent, but during this time she spoke in every city and town in the state and organized numerous clubs. her meetings were well attended, and great interest was manifested. the second convention was held at reno, sept. , , with every county represented. mrs. elda a. orr was elected president and mrs. williamson, state organizer and lecturer. mrs. orr has ever since been continued as president, and to no one person in nevada is the cause of woman suffrage so much indebted for hospitality, financial aid and valuable work. the public meeting called on november to greet miss anthony and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, was very successful. miss anthony gave a _résumé_ of the exciting campaign just closed in california, and made an object lesson of its critical points which greatly amused the audience. mrs. chapman catt followed in an able argument on woman suffrage as the best and safest means to secure and maintain good government. in order to give the movement a more pronounced individuality mrs. williamson and her daughter, m. laura williamson, founded the _nevada citizen_, a monthly paper devoted to the social, civil and industrial advancement of women. they edited and managed it, publishing it at their own risk, and it received a liberal patronage. after a successful existence of two years, business called both from the state and it was discontinued. in mrs. williamson again canvassed the various counties, and the most prominent men and women were found willing to give the measure their indorsement. the third annual meeting was held at carson city, october , with delegates from most of the counties. the numerous greetings from leading politicians showed an increasing interest in this question. mrs. orr and mrs. williamson were both re-elected. the former made an able address, and mrs. frances folsom gave a general review of the laws relating to the property rights of women in the different states. the fourth convention was postponed till the meeting of the legislature in the winter of , in order that the speakers might appear before that body with their arguments for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment to the voters.[ ] legislative action and laws: in a bill was introduced in the house by henry h. beck, to amend the state constitution by eliminating the word "male" from before the word "citizen" wherever it occurs. all amendment bills have to pass two successive legislatures and then be submitted to the voters. the rev. mila tupper maynard and mrs. frances a. williamson managed the legislative work this year. the former made an eloquent address before the legislature in joint assembly. an exciting debate followed in the house, but the bill was defeated by six votes. about ten days later it was introduced in the senate by dr. william comins, who supported it with an able speech. it was strongly opposed but finally passed by a two-thirds vote. toward the close of the session it was reconsidered in the house, and after a spirited debate was passed by four votes. in the legislative work was conducted by mrs. williamson. she read a brief of the constitutional grounds on which women claim the right of suffrage before the judiciary committees of both houses, and addressed the legislature in joint assembly.[ ] this year the bill for a constitutional amendment was introduced in the senate by dr. comins. the judiciary committee recommended its passage, and after a lively debate it received a two-thirds vote. later on the bill was presented in the house by frank norcross. it was held in committee and delayed in every possible way, but finally was brought up in joint assembly. a stubborn debate followed, in which the advocates made an able defense, but it was defeated by a tie vote. a motion to reconsider it was defeated also. in the constitutional amendment bill again passed the senate by the usual two-thirds vote, and was defeated again in the house by the usual small vote. governors colcord, jones and sadler recommended in their biennial messages to the legislature that the proposed suffrage amendment to the state constitution be submitted to the voters.[ ] the reno _gazette_ and wadsworth _dispatch_ merit special mention for the able manner in which they have advocated the suffrage movement. a married woman may control her separate property if a list of it is filed with the county recorder, but unless it is kept constantly inventoried and recorded it becomes community property. the community property, both real and personal, which includes all accumulated after marriage, is under absolute control of the husband, and at the death of the wife all of it belongs to him without administration. on the death of the husband the wife is entitled to one-half of it. if he die leaving no will and no children, she may claim all of it after she has secured the payment of debts to the satisfaction of creditors. the inheritance of separate property is the same for both, and either may claim a life interest in a homestead not exceeding $ , in value. to become a sole trader a woman must comply with certain legal conditions. her earnings are considered by law to belong to her if her husband has allowed her to appropriate them to her own use, when they are regarded _as a gift from him to her_. a married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name. the father is the legal guardian of the children and may appoint one by will. if this is not done, the mother, if suitable, is the guardian while she remains unmarried. the husband is required to furnish the necessaries of life to the family; but there is no penalty for failure to do so, except that where the neglect has been continued for one year, when it could have been avoided by ordinary industry, the wife is entitled to a divorce. in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years. the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than five years, which may extend for life. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: women are not eligible to any elective or appointive offices except those of county school superintendents and school trustees. there are serving at present one county superintendent and fifteen trustees. women act as clerks in state, county and city offices. they can not serve as notaries public. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. a number are carrying on mining, and have had mines patented in their own names. education: women are admitted to all educational institutions on the same terms as men. in the public schools there are men and women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. frances a. williamson, first president of the state equal suffrage association. [ ] among those who have filled the various offices are: vice presidents, margaret campbell and susan humphreys, corresponding secretaries, may gill and catharine shaw; auditors, a. a. rattan, mary cowen and laura a. huffines; superintendent of press work, margaret furlong; superintendent of literature, hester tate; members national executive committee, caroline b. norcross and elizabeth webster. prominent among the active suffragists, besides those already mentioned, are sadie bath, lettie richards, martha j. wright, gerty grey, annie ronnow, emma hilp, mary haslett, mamie dickey, edith jenkins, louisa loschenkohl, clara dooley, mary bonner, eliza timlin and josie marsh. [ ] mrs. williamson was assisted by elda a. orr, elizabeth webster, mary alt, mary a. boyd, jane frazer, kate a. martin, elizabeth evans, marcella rinkle, susan humphreys, sara reynolds, frances folsom, emma b. blossom and others, whose womanly and dignified work was complimented by the legislative body and the public in general. [ ] among the members of both houses who from time to time have championed this question and favored all legislation for the advancement of women are messrs. bell, birchfield, coryell, denton, ernest, garrard, gregooich, haines, julien, kaiser, lord, mante, martin, marshall, mchardy, mcnaughton, mccone, murphy, richards, skagg, vanderleith and williamson. chapter liii. new hampshire. new hampshire has been rich in distinguished citizens who believed in woman suffrage. ex-united states senator henry w. blair always has been one of its most devoted advocates, and his successor, dr. jacob h. gallinger, is no less a staunch friend. the names of both for many years have stood as vice-presidents of the state association. from the hon. nathaniel p. and mrs. armenia s. white were the pillars of the movement and there was an efficient organization. his death in and her advancing years deprived it of active leadership and, while the sentiment throughout the state continued strong, there was little organized work. mrs. white was president for many years and afterwards was made honorary president. parker pillsbury was for a long time vice-president and later the hon. oliver branch. mrs. jacob h. ela and mrs. bessie bisbee hunt served several years as chairmen of the executive committee.[ ] many petitions for suffrage were circulated and sent to the legislature and money was raised for the national association. the grange and the woman's christian temperance union have been valuable allies. on june , , , a convention was held in concord and arrangements made for a systematic canvass of the state. on jan. , , mrs. white and other officers of the state association were granted a hearing by the constitutional convention then in session. they presented petitions and made a plea that the state constitution be amended so as to prohibit political distinctions on account of sex. the special committee reported "inexpedient to legislate" and their report was adopted. a state meeting was held in concord, dec. , , a full board of officers was elected and it was voted to become auxiliary to the national american association and to remain auxiliary to the new england association. on jan. , , the new england w. s. a. held a convention in nashua with miss elizabeth upham yates of maine, mrs. julia ward howe, henry b. blackwell and miss alice stone blackwell, editors of the _woman's journal_, boston, as speakers. the day after its close the annual business meeting of the new hampshire association was held and was addressed by miss blackwell. on november it called a meeting at the same place for the transaction of some special business. on jan. , , and on feb. , , the annual meetings were held in nashua, the latter addressed by miss blackwell. mrs. marilla m. ricker, a former officer of the society but now practicing law in washington, d.c., was candidate for u. s. minister to colombia, and new hampshire was one of six states which petitioned for her appointment. ex-senator blair exerted himself in her behalf, but it is hardly necessary to say that she was not appointed. the desire for a more effective organization had grown so strong that in november, , mrs. susan s. fessenden of boston was sent into the state by the new england association and spent two weeks, forming clubs in concord, newport, littleton, andover and north conway, and preparing for societies in nashua and manchester. in the autumn of miss mary n. chase of andover spent a month organizing local societies. a convention was called for december , , in manchester, at which ten towns were represented. the meetings were held in the city hall, and mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the national association, was introduced to a fine audience the first evening by cyrus h. little, speaker of the house of representatives. addresses were made also by mr. and miss blackwell. a strong official board was elected[ ] and an effort will be made to educate public sentiment to demand a woman suffrage clause from the convention to revise the state constitution, which is likely to be held within a short time. on the evening of december mrs. chapman catt spoke in concord, the state capital. legislative action and laws: the suffrage association has been petitioning the legislature since . that year it secured a law allowing women to serve on school boards. in it obtained school suffrage for women. in it presented a petition, signed by several thousand citizens, asking the full franchise for women, and was given "leave to withdraw." in a bill conferring municipal suffrage and permitting women to hold all municipal offices was presented with a petition signed by , citizens. a hearing was granted by the committee on july and persons were present. on the th it was favorably reported in the house, but august , it was defeated by ayes, noes. this year the house raised the "age of protection" for girls from to years but the senate amended to years. in the bill for municipal suffrage was again introduced, sent to the judiciary committee and referred to the next session as "unfinished business." in the petitions for this bill contained , signatures, and mr. angell of derry also introduced a bill for suffrage for tax-paying women, but neither was acted upon. this experience was repeated in . in , after a hearing had been granted to the women, the bill was reported favorably by the judiciary committee and passed a second reading in the house, but a third was refused. d. c. remick and m. lyford were earnest in their support of the measure. this year the "age of protection" for girls was raised to , but the bill was vetoed by gov. busiel who claimed that it was not properly framed. dower and curtesy both obtain. the widow is entitled to a life interest in one-third of the real estate and a homestead right of $ , and if she waive the provisions of the will in her favor she may have, after the payment of debts, one-third of the personal property if issue survive; if not, one-half. if she waive its provisions and release her dower and homestead right, she may have, after all debts and expenses of administration are paid, one-third of the real estate absolutely if issue by her survive, and, if not, one-half, and the same amount of personal property. the widower is entitled to a life interest in all the wife's real estate, and a homestead right of $ , and if he waive the provisions of her will in his favor, the same amount of her personal property as she would receive of his. if he release his curtesy and homestead right he is entitled to the same amount of her real estate as she would have of his. a married woman retains control of her separate property. she can mortgage or convey it without the husband's joinder but can not bar his curtesy of life use of the whole or his homestead right; nor can she deprive him of these by will. the husband has the same privileges, subject to her dower. a married woman may carry on business in her own name. she may sue and be sued and make contracts. her earnings are her sole and separate property. she can not become surety for her husband. the father is the legal guardian but if he is insane or has given cause for divorce the court may award the minor children to the mother. the judge of probate may appoint a guardian, when necessary, to have care of the persons and property of minor children, and it may be either the father or mother. if the husband refuse to provide for his family he may be prosecuted in criminal form. if he is insane or has given cause for divorce the court may award support out of his property. the common law making years the legal age for a girl to marry has been retained by special statute. the "age of protection" for girls is years with a penalty of imprisonment not exceeding thirty years, but no minimum punishment named. suffrage: since women, possessing the same qualifications required of men, that is, residence in the district three months preceding the election, are entitled to vote for members of the school board and for appropriations of money. there are no county superintendents, and the state superintendent of instruction is appointed by the governor and council. the city ordinances of manchester, franklin and nashua prohibit women from this suffrage, but they may vote in concord, the capital. new hampshire was the first state in new england to give school suffrage to women. office holding: women are eligible to all elective or appointive school offices except where it is forbidden by special charters. they are not eligible to any other elective office. a number are serving on school boards. they may sit on state boards which are appointed by the governor. they have done so only on the board of charities and corrections and on that of the state normal school. there is no law requiring women physicians in any state institutions, or police matrons in any city. one has been appointed in manchester. women may act as notaries public. occupations: on july , , chief justice charles doe of the supreme court delivered the opinion that women may become members of the bar and practice in all the courts. no occupation or profession is legally forbidden. ten hours are made a working day. education: the old college of dartmouth at hanover is for men only. the state agricultural college at durham admits both sexes. in the public schools there are men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women $ . . footnotes: [ ] among other officers since are: presidents, mrs. e. j. c. gilbert and miss josephine f. hall; vice-presidents, judge j. w. fellows, gen. elbert wheeler, the rev. enoch powell, mrs. martha e. powell, john scales, mesdames c. a. quimby, caroline r. wendell, n. h. knox, marilla h. ricker, m. l. griffin, fanny w. sawyer and mary powers filley; corresponding secretaries, mrs. jacob h. ela, mrs. maria d. adams; recording secretary, the rev. h. b. smith; treasurers, mesdames a. w. hobbs, c. r. meloon, uranie e. bowers and miss abbie e. mcintyre; auditor, mrs. c. r. pease; executive committee, mrs. mary e. h. dow and mrs. (dr.) tucker. [ ] president, miss mary n. chase; vice-president, mrs. elizabeth b. hunt; secretary, miss mary e. quimby; treasurer, the rev. angelo hall; auditors, miss c. r. wendell and the hon. sherman e. burroughs. chapter liv. new jersey.[ ] although many local suffrage meetings had been held in new jersey prior to , in that year a state society was organized by lucy stone, which met regularly in various cities until she removed to massachusetts a few years afterwards, when the association and its branches gradually suspended, except the one at vineland, with mrs. anna m. warden as president. mrs. cornelia c. hussey, mrs. katherine h. browning, mrs. warden and others continued to represent the state as vice-presidents at the national conventions. in dr. mary d. hussey, who had been a member of the old society, invited a number of active suffragists to unite in forming a new state association. eleven responded and, at the residence of mrs. charlotte n. enslin, in orange, february , a constitution was adopted, judge john whitehead elected president and dr. hussey secretary and treasurer.[ ] in the rev. antoinette brown blackwell became president; mrs. amelia dickinson pope was elected in ; and in mrs. florence howe hall, daughter of mrs. julia ward howe, accepted the presidency. the first public meeting of the association was held at orange, march , , where mrs. clara c. hoffman of missouri, gave an address. the first auxiliary society formed was that of essex county, with forty members, mrs. jennie d. de witt, president. five other state meetings were held and the membership trebled. among the lecturers were aaron m. powell, mrs. blackwell, mrs. s. m. perkins of ohio, and the president. a number of clergymen gave sermons on suffrage, , pages of literature were circulated in seventeen of the twenty-one counties, and the _woman's column_ was sent to persons at the expense of mrs. cornelia c. hussey. the women's vote at school meetings greatly increased and a number were elected trustees. the annual convention was held at newark in november. the constitutional amendment campaign in the neighboring state of new york had a very favorable effect on public opinion in new jersey during . in addition to the usual meetings a memorial service in honor of lucy stone was held in peddie memorial church, newark, one of the largest churches in the state, with more than , people present, mrs. mary a. livermore being the chief speaker. another meeting was held in orange, mrs. julia ward howe making the principal address. a sunflower lunch was given to raise funds for the campaign in kansas and $ were sent, of which half was contributed by mrs. hussey. among the vast amount of literature circulated were , copies of suffrage papers. the state convention was held as usual in newark, november . this year the populist party declared for woman suffrage in its state convention. the knights of labor also have indorsed it. in , before entering upon the three years' campaign for the restoration of school suffrage, which had been declared unconstitutional the previous year, the association presented to the legislature petitions signed by about , persons, asking for the restoration of full suffrage to the women of new jersey, which had been taken away in . this was done not with any expectation of success but in order to place the association on record as having demanded this right. in the new measure for school suffrage they begged that it might include the women of towns and cities instead of merely country districts, according to the law of , but this was refused. mrs. anna b. s. pond arranged a course of lectures for the benefit of the school suffrage fund and, with a souvenir, $ were raised. a handsome suffrage flag was presented to the association by miss martha b. haines, recording secretary. four meetings of the state association were held in newark, and one in plainfield during the year, and lectures were given by mrs. lillie devereux blake of new york, mrs. annie l. diggs of kansas, miss elizabeth upham yates of maine, and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee. the fifth convention assembled in the chapel of trinity (episcopal) church, elizabeth, november . mrs. ella b. carter, chairman on press work, stated that many leading papers were advocating the restoring of school suffrage. mrs. harriet l. coolidge, chairman of the school suffrage committee, reported that about fifty women had held the office of trustee since , when this right was given, that twelve more were still serving despite the supreme court decision, and that women had voted in school meetings in almost every county. the school suffrage resolution passed the legislature, but as it had to be approved by two successive legislatures before it could be submitted to the voters, it was necessary to agitate the subject so the law-makers might see that the people really desired the passage of this measure, and the winter of was devoted to this purpose. a new circular setting forth the success it had previously been was circulated in connection with the petition. as the president was unable to attend the session of the legislature, miss mary philbrook, chairman of the committee on laws, took charge of the measure, which in march was passed for the second time without opposition. it was decided, however, to have certain other proposed amendments to the constitution altered, and that for school suffrage was kept back with the others, as the constitution can be amended only once in five years. in the spring circulars were sent to newspapers to be published, urging women to attend school meetings and to exercise the scrap of franchise still left to them--a vote on appropriations.[ ] new jersey sent $ to the national association and $ to california for its campaign this year, in addition to the money spent on state work. the annual meeting was held in orange, nov. , . a vote of thanks was tendered miss jane campbell of philadelphia for her generous gift of copies of "woman's progress" containing an account of suffrage in new jersey by mrs. hall. the signatures to the petition were increased to over , in , and the legislature passed the resolution for the school suffrage amendment for the third time, in march. the association at once began active work to influence the voters. meetings were held in halls, churches and parlors in all parts of the state and many articles were published explaining the scope of the amendment. the state federation of women's clubs, the granges, working girls' societies, daughters of liberty, the ladies of the g. a. r., the junior order of american mechanics and other organizations gave cordial indorsement. mrs. hall delivered three addresses on this subject before the state federation of clubs; mrs. emily e. williamson, afterwards its president, also made a strong speech, urging the members to work for the amendment, and paid for , of the appeals which were sent out. the w. c. t. u. rendered every possible assistance in securing signers for the petitions and educating public sentiment. during the summer an extensive correspondence was carried on with prominent people including the state board of education, state, county and city superintendents of public instruction, etc. they were asked to sign an appeal to the friends of education which clearly set forth the advantages of the proposed amendment. having obtained the one hundred influential signatures desired the document was widely distributed to the press. copies were sent to many organizations of men and women, and also to the clergy, with the request that they would use their influence with their congregations. a number did so, but probably many were afraid to speak on this subject lest they injure the chances of the anti-gambling amendment to the constitution, which was to be voted on at the same time. the school authorities strongly indorsed the amendment and related the benefit which school suffrage for women had been within their experience. extracts from these letters, including one from the state superintendent of public instruction, the hon. charles j. baxter, thanking the association for work in its behalf, were widely published. the republican state executive committee and some county committees indorsed the amendment. efforts were made to have it presented at the many meetings which were held in behalf of the anti-race track amendment, but they were not always successful. through an unavoidable circumstance the press work fell principally on the president. the corresponding secretary, dr. hussey, gave an immense amount of labor, devoting the whole summer to the work of the campaign. mrs. angell rendered most efficient service, a part of it the sending of a letter to nearly every minister in the state. mrs. l. h. rowan was chairman of the finance committee but so sure were the friends of success that only $ were expended. the special election was held sept. , , and the result was a great disappointment. the school suffrage amendment, to which it was generally supposed there would be practically no opposition, was defeated-- , ayes, , noes. the adverse vote came almost entirely from the cities where the actual experiment never had been made. the country districts, where women had exercised school suffrage, understood its workings and voted for the amendment. the germans in particular opposed it, and it was said that they and many other voters understood it to give complete suffrage to women. as it was printed in full on the ballot itself, the carelessness and indifference of the average voter were thus made painfully apparent. the labor was not altogether wasted, however, as through it the people were brought to understand that women still had a partial vote at school meetings. (see suffrage.) for instance the women of cranford, where a new schoolhouse was badly needed, were told by their town counsel that they had lost the ballot, but the president of the suffrage association informed them of the error of this learned gentleman, and they came out and voted, the campaign being conducted by the village improvement association, a club composed of women. the majority in favor of the new schoolhouse was only seven. the opposition called a second meeting and reversed this decision. the women circulated petitions and compelled the school board to call a third meeting where they won the day. it was voted to erect one new building to cost $ , and another on the south side to cost nearly $ , . this same year, in south orange, two unsuccessful attempts were made to get an appropriation to build a much-needed high school. the men finally decided to call upon the women for help. nearly attended the meeting, and the $ , appropriation was carried by an overwhelming majority. the school at westfield and two new high school buildings at asbury park and atlantic highlands were built because of the women's vote. manual training was introduced into the vineland schools through the zeal of women. a report from moorestown says: "the year that women first began to vote at school meetings marks a decided revival of intelligent interest in our public schools." in scotch plains, where the meetings were held in the public school building, a holiday afterwards had always been necessary in order to clean it. with the advent of the feminine voters, expectoration and peanut shells ceased to decorate the floors, and the children were able to attend school the next day as usual. the women's educational association introduced manual training into the public schools of east orange.[ ] a number of meetings of the state association were held during , and among the speakers were mrs. mary c. c. bradford and mrs. ellis meredith of colorado, mrs. celia b. whitehead and miss laura e. holmes. the annual convention took place at wissner hall, newark, november . three state meetings were held in , the conference of the national board co-operating with the state association, taking the place of the convention. this was held may , , at orange, and was the strong feature of the year. through the efforts of the local committee, mrs. minola graham sexton, chairman, a large attendance was secured. among the speakers were the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large of the national association, mrs. carrie chapman catt, mrs. mariana w. chapman, president of the new york state association, and a number of state women. new jersey contributed this year $ to the organization committee of the national, most of which went to the oklahoma campaign. the largest contributions were from mrs. cornelia c. hussey, $ ; moorestown league (miss s. w. lippincott) $ ; collections at orange, $ ; essex county, $ ; mrs. a. van winkle, $ . the annual meeting was held at camden, nov. , . mrs. rachel foster avery, corresponding secretary of the national association, and miss jane campbell, president of the philadelphia county association, were the afternoon speakers, mrs. bradford making the principal address of the evening. the new jersey legal aid association was formed this year in newark, dr. hussey taking an active part. the first president was miss cecilia gaines, who was succeeded by mrs. stewart hartshorn. its object is to give legal assistance to those unable to pay for it, and especially to women. all its officers are women, and a woman attorney is employed. up to the present time ( ) it has had applications from persons. two meetings of the state association were held in . a contribution of $ was made to the national organization committee. at the annual meeting, held november , at jersey city, major z. k. pangborn, editor of the _journal_, made an address at the evening session. the principal speaker was mrs. percy widdrington of london, who gave an account of woman suffrage and its good practical results in england. resolutions of deep regret for the death of aaron m. powell, editor of _the philanthropist_, were adopted. the state association held two meetings during , and did a great deal of work in preparation for the national suffrage bazar. dr. hussey was made chairman of the bazar committee, while mrs. sexton arranged the ten musical entertainments which were given during the bazar. the tenth annual convention was held at moorestown, november , . there was a large attendance, including many men. the new national president, mrs. carrie chapman catt, was the principal speaker. others were mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg, president of the pennsylvania association; mrs. mary v. grice, president of the state congress of mothers; mrs. catharine b. lippincott, representing the grange, and mrs. hall, who spoke on the american woman in the american home. mrs. hall, who had been president during the whole period of active life of the association, declined re-election. she did so with the greatest reluctance, but felt that the increasing pressure of work made it important that some one with more leisure at her disposal should fill the office. mrs. sexton was elected president.[ ] mrs. cornelia c. hussey is the largest contributor in new jersey to the suffrage cause in general. since many of her donations have been made to the national association directly, not passing through the hands of the state treasurer, they can not be computed here, nor does she herself know their full amount. she has given also most liberally to state work and her contributions run well up into the thousands. a number of new jersey women have been made life members of the national association by her. she is a member of its organization committee.[ ] in early days mrs. theresa walling seabrook stood almost alone in the w. c. t. u. in her advocacy of woman suffrage and it required ten years of effort to secure a franchise department, of which she was made the first superintendent. for many years, however, this organization has been an active and helpful force and undoubtedly has made numerous converts, besides securing valuable legislation. the grange has been always a faithful ally of the woman suffrage cause. legislative action and laws: on feb. , , a special committee of the assembly granted a hearing on the petition of mrs. celia b. whitehead and others, asking the restoration of the right of full suffrage which had been unconstitutionally taken away from women in . (see suffrage.) henry b. blackwell and the rev. phoebe a. hanaford of massachusetts and mrs. theresa walling seabrook presented the question. they asked also for school suffrage. the committee reported favorably on both measures. the former reached a vote and was defeated by yeas, nays. in dr. william m. baird, speaker of the assembly, had a bill introduced conferring school suffrage on women in villages and country districts, and advocated it from the floor. it passed unanimously, march , not on its merits but because the speaker wanted it. it was passed by the senate march , by yeas, nays, and signed april , by gov. robert s. green. this year aaron m. powell and the rev. a. h. lewis secured a law raising the "age of protection" for girls from to . in the courts decided that the law granting school suffrage to women was unconstitutional and that an amendment to the constitution would be necessary to enable them to exercise it. the suffrage association immediately took steps to secure a resolution submitting this amendment to the electors, as previously described. in it was introduced in the senate by foster m. voorhees (now governor) and passed in june by yeas, nays. it passed the assembly by yeas, one nay. it had to be acted upon by two legislatures. in march, , it passed the senate unanimously; and the assembly by yeas, one nay. a technicality required it to pass the third legislature, which it did in march, --senate, yeas, nay; assembly, yeas, nays. in april, , it was enacted that women might be notaries. in march, , a bill was secured making women eligible to appointment as commissioners of deeds, after having failed in , ' and ' , and miss mary m. steele was appointed. in miss mary philbrook, an attorney, with the help of the suffrage officials, secured a bill making women eligible as masters in chancery and was herself the first one appointed. this year the state teachers' association secured a law permitting a teachers' retirement fund to be created, which, with some amendments in , enables a teacher after twenty years' service, if incapacitated for further work, to receive from $ to $ per annum. some improvement also was made in the property laws for women. in april, , through the efforts of the federation of women's clubs, a law was passed and an appropriation made for state traveling libraries. dower and curtesy obtain. the widow is entitled to a life use of one-third of the real estate and, if there is a child or children, to one-third of the personal property absolutely; if there are no children, to one-half of it. the remainder of the real and personal estate goes to the husband's kindred. "the widow may remain in the mansion house of her husband free of rent until dower is assigned." the widower is entitled to the life use of all the wife's real estate, and if there is no will, to all her personal property without administration. she may, however, dispose of all of it by will as she pleases. she can not by will deprive the husband of his curtesy in real estate, except by order of the court of chancery when she is living separate from him. she can not encumber or dispose of her separate estate without his joinder. he can mortgage or convey his real estate without her joinder but it is subject to her dower. her separate property is liable for her debts but not for those of her husband. since a married woman may contract as if unmarried, and sue and be sued in her own name as to property, but for personal injuries the husband must join. she can not become surety. since she may carry on business in her own name, her earnings and wages are her separate property, and her deposits in savings banks are free from the control of her husband. the father is the legal guardian of the persons and estates of minor children. at his death the mother becomes guardian. in case of separation with no misconduct on the part of either, the mother has the preference until the child is seven years old, after which the rights are equal. provision is made for the access of the mother to infant children. on the death of the one to whom the child is assigned it is subject to the order of the court. the husband must furnish such support as will maintain the wife in the position in which he has placed her by marriage. if he refuse he must give bonds or go to jail. the wife must contribute to the support of the family if the husband is unable. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in . the penalty is a fine not exceeding $ , or imprisonment at hard labor not exceeding fifteen years, or both. no minimum penalty is named. no girl under fourteen shall be employed in a factory, and no children under fourteen shall be employed in any workshop or factory over ten hours a day or sixty hours a week. the failure of employers to provide seats for female employes beside a work bench or counter shall be punished as a misdemeanor. suffrage: new jersey is the first state in which a woman ever cast a ballot. the constitution adopted july , , conferred the franchise on "all inhabitants worth $ , etc." in a revision of the election law used the words "he or she," thus giving legislative sanction to a construction of the constitution which placed women in the electorate. while the records show that women did vote for various officers, including president of the united states and members of the legislature, yet in those days of almost absolute male supremacy, when it was not customary for women to own even $ worth of property and all they possessed became the husband's at marriage, it is not to be supposed that very many could avail themselves of the privilege. enough did so, however, to make them a factor in the fierce political contentions which soon arose, and to gain the enmity of politicians. in the legislature passed an arbitrary act limiting the suffrage to "white male citizens." this was clearly a usurpation of authority, as the constitution could be changed only by action of the voters. nevertheless, men were in power and women were no longer permitted to exercise the franchise. in a convention framed a new constitution in which the suffrage was restricted to "white males," and only men were allowed to vote on its adoption. women were still electors according to the existing constitution, and yet they were not permitted to vote for delegates to this convention nor for the ratification of the new constitution. no supreme court could have rendered any other decision than that this was illegally adopted. for exactly eighty years women were deprived of any franchise. during the last twenty of this period they made repeated efforts to vote and presented numerous petitions to the legislature to have their ancient right restored. in this body enacted that women might vote at school meetings (i. e. in villages and country districts) for trustees, bonds, appropriations, etc. in a law was enacted giving the right to vote for road commissioner to "all freeholders." an election was very soon contested at englewood, and in june, , the supreme court decided that the act was illegal because "it is not competent for the legislature to enlarge or diminish the class of voters comprehended within the constitutional definition." [the court had forgotten about that legislature of .] this gave the opportunity for those who were opposed to women's exercising the school suffrage. at a special election for school trustees held in vineland, july , , the women were forcibly prevented from depositing their ballots. the state superintendent of public instruction was appealed to and he directed the county superintendent to appoint a board of trustees, as the election from which the women were excluded was illegal. this was done on the advice of the attorney-general, who held that the constitution by empowering the legislature to "provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free public schools," gave it the power to confer on women the right to vote at school meetings for school officers. without following the details it is only necessary to relate that the supreme court declared that "the state constitution says, 'every male citizen, etc., shall be entitled to vote for all officers that are now or may be hereafter elective by the people' (!) and school trustees are elective officers within this provision, therefore the act allowing women to vote for them is unconstitutional." women had been voting for these officers seven years under this act, and always for the benefit of the schools, according to the almost universal testimony of educational authorities. it now became necessary, in order to continue this privilege, to obtain an amendment to the constitution. the story of the three years' effort made by the state suffrage association for this purpose is related earlier in the chapter. since this had to be made they begged that the amendment might include school suffrage for the women in towns and cities also, but this was refused. and yet even a proposition to restore school suffrage to those of villages and rural districts, when submitted to the voters, was defeated at the election on sept. , , by , yeas, , nays, over , majority. while the supreme court decision took away the vote for trustees it did not interfere with the right of women in villages and country districts to vote on questions of bonds and appropriations for the building of schoolhouses and other school purposes, and that is the amount of suffrage now possessed by women in new jersey. when the school laws were revised in this fragment was carefully guarded and provision made for furnishing two boxes, one in which the men might put their vote on all school matters, and the other where women might put theirs on the ones above specified. office holding: in a law was passed that "no person hereafter shall be eligible to the office of school trustee unless he or she can read and write," and women were authorized to serve when duly elected. in , when the school suffrage was taken away by the supreme court, thirty-two were holding the office and the decision did not abrogate this right. they have continued to be elected and twenty-seven are serving at the present time. at englewood, in , miss adaline sterling was president of the board. women are not eligible as state or county superintendents. four of the nine trustees of the state industrial school for girls are women, and a woman physician is employed when one is needed. dr. mary j. dunlop has been superintendent and medical director of the state institution for feeble-minded women since , and three of the seven managers are women. there are no women physicians in any other state institution and no law requiring them. in most of the hospitals there are training schools for nurses with women superintendents. the state board of children's guardians has a woman chairman of the executive committee, and a woman attorney. the state charities aid association has seven women on the board of managers, including the general secretary. women sit on the boards of the state school for deaf mutes, the home for waifs and those of some county asylums. most of the almshouses have matrons in the female department but there are no women on the boards of management. a matron and three assistants are in charge of the women in the penitentiary and there is a matron at the jails of most cities. in some of them police matrons have been appointed, but no law requires this. in the state hospital at trenton over eighty women are employed, including four supervisors, a librarian, stenographers, nurses, etc. in the state home for boys there are over twenty women, including principal of school, teachers, matrons, typewriters, etc. there are women on a number of public library boards, and one, at least, acts as treasurer. the head librarian and all the assistants of the plainfield public library are women. sixty of the ninety-nine public libraries in the state employ women librarians, and five are served by volunteers. most of the assistants in all cities are women. women act as masters in chancery, commissioners of deeds and notaries public, and one at least has served as district clerk. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. admission to the bar having been denied to miss mary philbrook, in , solely on account of her sex, she requested a hearing before the judiciary committee of the legislature of , which was addressed by mrs. florence howe hall, president of the state suffrage association, mrs. carrie burnham kilgore, a lawyer of philadelphia, and miss philbrook herself. soon afterward a law was enacted making women eligible to examination for admission to the bar, which, in june, was passed successfully by miss philbrook, who thus became the first woman lawyer. there are now eight. in , miss mary g. potter of the new york bar, miss philbrook of the new jersey bar, and dr. mary d. hussey of the new york university law school, called a meeting of women attorneys at east orange. a committee was appointed which organized the women lawyers' club in new york, on june , with members in both states. there are about one hundred women physicians in the state, seventy-five allopathic and the rest belonging to other schools. they are members of most of the county medical societies, which makes them members of the state medical society. dr. sarah f. mackintosh was the first woman admitted to a county society (passaic) in . dr. frances s. janney was elected president of the burlington county medical society in , the first to receive such an honor. the first meeting of women physicians took place in atlantic city, june, , when those of the state gave a reception to those from other states who were attending the convention of the american medical association. the medical club of newark, the first organization of women physicians, was formed the next november, with seventeen charter members from newark and its vicinity, dr. katherine porter of orange, president. education: princeton university is closed to women, and so are princeton theological seminary (presb.), drew theological seminary (meth. epis.) and rutgers college (dutch reformed). there is no college for women in new jersey. the state normal school is co-educational. in the public schools there are men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women $ . . in plainfield the principals of all the public schools, except the high school, are women. this is due to the fact that the city superintendent from to was a woman, miss julia buckley (afterwards dean of the woman's department of chicago university), and the custom established by her has been continued. * * * * * new jersey has so many associations of women that they have acted as a bar against the formation of suffrage clubs, women feeling that they had already too many meetings to attend. the state federation of women's clubs has been an active and progressive force. it secured state traveling libraries; and if the palisades are preserved from destruction, as now seems likely, this will be due to its earnest efforts. it was influential, in , in having the kindergarten made a part of the public school system. it also has a town improvement department, with numerous branches. several of its auxiliary clubs have founded public libraries, and some of them have conducted campaigns to put women on the school board. other clubs have supported kindergartens and arranged free lectures for the public. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. florence howe hall of plainfield, president of the state woman suffrage association for the past eight years, and to dr. mary d. hussey of east orange, its founder and corresponding secretary. [ ] the others present were mesdames phebe c. wright, alice c. angell, sarah a. mcclees, caroline ross graham, katherine h. browning, anna m. warden, mrs. minola graham sexton, mrs. emma l. blackwell. [ ] the sending of this yearly circular to the press, shortly before the time of the annual school meeting, has been continued under the special charge of the president. [ ] east orange also had from to a school committee consisting of ten women elected every year at the annual school meeting--a sort of auxiliary association which did good work. in it became a city, and the school officers are now elected at the polls where women can not vote. [ ] the remaining officers elected were: vice-president, mrs. w. j. pullen; corresponding secretary, dr. mary d. hussey; recording secretary, miss j. h. morris; treasurer, mrs. anna b. jeffery; auditor, mrs. mary c. bassett. the other officers who have served during the past ten years are: vice-presidents, mrs. katherine h. browning, mrs. margaret c. campfield, rev. antoinette brown blackwell, mrs. harriet lincoln coolidge; corresponding secretary, mrs. charlotte c. r. smith; recording secretaries, miss martha b. haines, mrs. emma l. blackwell, mrs. alice c. angell, miss mary philbrook; treasurers, mrs. charlotte n. enslin, dr. mary d. hussey, mrs. stephen r. krom; auditors, aaron m. powell, miss susan w. lippincott, mrs. j. m. pullen; chairmen press committee, anna b. s. pond, dr. florence de hart. [ ] among many others who have served faithfully as local presidents and in other ways are dr. ella prentiss upham, mrs. maria h. eaton, mrs. samuel r. huntington, mrs. madge s. macclary, mrs. sarah s. culver, miss m. louise watts. chapter lv. new mexico.[ ] at the constitutional convention held in an effort was made to secure equal political rights for women, but it received little support. in september, , mrs. e. m. marble visited albuquerque and organized a suffrage club with mrs. g. w. granger as president. in december, , mrs. laura m. johns, president of the kansas e. s. a. and national organizer, spent a few days in new mexico, on the way to and from arizona, and formed several clubs. in mrs. julia b. nelson, president of the minnesota w. s. a., began work in the territory under the auspices of the national association, her first address being delivered at raton, april , and her last may , at the same place. her mission was to discover the suffragists, make converts, arrange for a territorial convention and effect an organization auxiliary to the national.[ ] as a result a convention was held at albuquerque, april , , conducted by mrs. johns and mrs. nelson. a territorial association was formed and the following officers were elected: president, mrs. j. d. perkins; corresponding secretary, mrs. alice p. hadley; recording secretary, miss clara cummings; treasurer, mrs. martha c. raynolds. in and no conventions were held, on account of the absence of several of the officers from the territory. through the efforts of mrs. hadley (herself prevented by physical infirmity), h. b. fergusson, delegate to congress for new mexico, represented the territory and made a speech in the convention of the national association at washington in . in november, , mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and miss mary g. hay, secretary, spent one day in santa fé with george h. and mrs. catherine p. wallace. mr. wallace was secretary of the territory, and in their home, the historic old palacio, forty people gathered to hear mrs. chapman catt lecture. she made an hour's address, after which there was an interesting discussion. as a result, a meeting was called for december , and the territorial association was reorganized with the following officers: president, mrs. wallace; vice-president, mrs. hadley; corresponding secretary, mrs. esther b. thomas; recording secretary, mrs. anna van schick; treasurer, miss mary morrison; member national executive committee, mrs. ellen j. palen. several vice-presidents were named and twenty-five members enrolled.[ ] legislative action and laws: on feb. , , a bill was passed in the lower house declaring the right of female citizens to vote at elections and hold offices relating to public schools and public education. it was not acted upon by the senate. in this bill was defeated. in a bill was introduced by representative mcintosh of san juan county (near the colorado line), on request of his constituents, for the extension of school suffrage to women. this received the favorable votes of one-third of the lower house, but did not reach the senate. a law was passed april , , defining the rights of the married woman. it secured to her the control of property owned by her at the time of marriage and of wages earned afterward, made her not liable for her husband's debts and gave her the same power to make contracts, wills, etc., as was possessed by him. the law at present is as follows: curtesy still obtains. one-half of the community property goes to the wife whether the husband dies testate or intestate. in addition to this she is entitled to one-fourth of the rest of his estate, "provided this deduction shall only be made when said property amounts to $ , , and the heirs be not descendants; although it may exceed this sum in the absence of the latter. also from the property of the wife the fourth shall be deducted as the marital right of the husband, and upon the same conditions, should the husband without this aid remain poor." if there are no legitimate children surviving, the widow or widower shall be heir to all the acquired property of the marriage community. by act of , a mortgage not executed by the wife shall in no wise affect the homestead rights of the wife or family. by act of : "the signature or consent of the wife shall not be necessary or requisite in any conveyance, incumbrance or alienation of real property owned by the husband, whether such property became his before or during coverture; but the right to make such conveyance or create such incumbrance shall exist in the husband to the same extent as though he were unmarried."[ ] the father is the legal guardian of the minor children. the husband is not required by law to support the family. in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years, with penalty of imprisonment not less than five nor more than twenty years. suffrage: women have no form of suffrage. office holding: in a bill passed for appropriations, etc., for the deaf and dumb asylum recommended the appointment of two women on the board of (five) trustees. the appointments were duly made and confirmed. women serve as members of county school examining boards. the new office of supervising teacher of the government indian pueblo schools has been filled by miss mary e. dissett. women are special masters in court, notaries public, court and legislative stenographers in spanish and english and census enumerators. in the last two administrations a woman has acted as private secretary to the governor. a woman has been appointed commissioner for new mexico to take testimony in indian depredation claims. at a territorial irrigation convention, in , one woman was a duly elected delegate, taking part in the discussions, etc. occupations: all professions and occupations are open to women. they conduct ranches and engage in mining. in santa fé the woman's board of trade, an incorporated body, has so ably conducted the work for charities and for civic improvements as to arouse a sentiment that women might well be intrusted with educational and more extended municipal affairs. in las cruces an organization of women is doing a similar work. education: all educational institutions are open to both sexes, and degrees are conferred alike upon men and women. the territorial university at albuquerque, the las vegas normal university and others have women on their faculties. at the meeting of the territorial educational association in december, , a council was formed composed of twenty-five members, both women and men. at its first meeting, in september, , a resolution in favor of school suffrage for women was unanimously adopted. in the public schools there are (approximately) men and women teachers. the average salaries are not obtainable. * * * * * the call to arms for the spanish-american war brought men to the different recruiting posts in new mexico, but no provision for them had been made by the government. the women of santa fé, albuquerque, las cruces, las vegas and other towns quickly organized soldiers' aid societies and raised funds to feed and care for them, till the companies were mustered in and came under uncle sam's charge. at the territorial democratic convention in albuquerque, april, , the following was included in the platform: "it is our belief that women should be granted an equal voice and position with men in all matters pertaining to our public schools." the native spanish-americans have great reverence for their elders. among a few of the old don families where the eldest member living is a senora, so greatly are her wishes and opinions respected that the entire community will vote as she dictates; the politician has only to secure her allegiance and he is sure of the vote in her precinct. the suffrage bills which have been presented to the legislature have not been opposed by the spanish-american members, but by the anglo-saxons. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. catherine p. wallace of santa fé, president of the territorial suffrage association. while mr. wallace was consul-general to australia, in , she visited new zealand and assisted the women there in their successful effort for the franchise. when this subject was before the australian parliament at melbourne, she furnished the premier with the debate in the united states congress on the admission of wyoming, and with other documents. [ ] mrs. nelson visited raton, blossburg, albuquerque, santa fé, springer, las vegas, watrous, wagon mound, socorro, san marcial, las cruces, deming, silver city, hillsboro and kingston, giving two or three lectures at each place and leaving a club in many. [ ] among the best known of the advocates are mrs. m. j. borden, professor and mrs. hiram hadley of the agricultural college, president and mrs. c. l. herrick and miss catherine fields, all of the territorial university; mr. and mrs. jefferson raynolds, judge and mrs. mcfie, col. and mrs. i. h. elliott and secretary george h. wallace. [ ] this law was repealed by the legislature of , and it was made impossible for either husband or wife to convey real property without the signature of the other. chapter lvi. new york.[ ] the state of new york, home of elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony, may be justly described as the great battle-ground for the rights of women, a title which will not be denied by any who have read the preceding three volumes of this history. the first woman's rights convention in the world was called at seneca falls in .[ ] new york was also a pioneer in beginning a reform of the old english common law, so barbarous in its treatment of women. and yet, with all the splendid work which has been done, the state has been slow indeed in granting absolute justice. at the commencement of the new century, however, the legal and educational rights of women are very generally conceded, but their political rights are still largely denied. except during the civil war, there has not been a year since when one or more conventions have not been held to demand these rights, and when a committee of women has not visited the legislature to secure the necessary action. a state association was formed in . the convention of met in the common council chamber at albany, march , , with the usual large attendance of delegates from all parts of the state, and the evening sessions so crowded that an overflow meeting was held in geological hall. mrs. lillie devereux blake, the president, was in the chair and addresses were made by mesdames matilda joslyn gage, mary seymour howell, caroline gilkey rogers and henrica iliohan; and by mrs. abigail scott duniway of oregon, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert of illinois and mrs. helen m. gougar of indiana, who had come from the national convention in washington. on the way to albany a large reception had been tendered to them at the hoffman house in new york. on march a hearing was held in the assembly chamber before the judiciary committee on the bill for full suffrage for women. the room was filled and strong speeches were made by all of the above women. gov. grover cleveland gave a courteous reception to the delegates. in the convention took place in steinway hall, new york, february , , all the counties being represented by delegate or letter. the speakers were mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, mrs. gage, mrs. howell, mrs. rogers and the rev. dr. charles h. eaton and mrs. delia s. parnell (mother of charles stewart parnell). on the evening of the th a large reception to mrs. stanton was given at the murray hill hotel. the convention of met in masonic hall, new york, march , . addresses were made by miss susan b. anthony, james redpath, mesdames blake, howell, rogers and iliohan, gov. john w. hoyt of wyoming and mrs. margaret moore of ireland. a reception was tendered to dr. clemence s. lozier at the park avenue hotel. in the fall an interesting observance was arranged by the state suffrage association when the statue of liberty enlightening the world, given to the american nation by france, was unveiled on october . there was a great excursion down the bay to witness this ceremony and the association chartered a boat which was filled with friends of the cause. a place was secured in the line between two of the great warships, and, while the cannon thundered a salute to the majestic female figure which embodied freedom, speeches were made on the suffrage boat by mrs. blake, mrs. margaret parker of england, mrs. harriette r. shattuck of massachusetts, mrs. gage, mrs. howell and others. the convention met again in new york at masonic hall, april , , , and was addressed by madame clara neymann, rabbi gustave gottheil, mrs. florence mccabe, mrs. gage, mrs. howell, dr. lozier and others. in the annual meeting assembled at the same place, march , . it was attended by the many delegates who had come from european countries to the international congress of women about to be held in washington, d. c. among the speakers were baroness alexandra gripenberg of finland and mrs. ashton dilke, mrs. alice scatcherd and mrs. zadel barnes gustafson of england. on the evening preceding the opening of the convention a large reception was given to these foreign ladies at the park avenue hotel. the state convention was held in rochester, dec. , , , in the first universalist church. its distinguishing feature was the reception given in the chamber of commerce to miss susan b. anthony by her fellow townsmen, as a welcome home from her long and hard campaign in south dakota. the large rooms were handsomely decorated and over people were present during the evening, including president david jayne hill and a number of the faculty of rochester university, several members of congress and many men of prominence. the speakers at the convention were miss mary f. eastman of boston, the rev. anna howard shaw, mrs. greenleaf, mrs. blake, mrs. howell and miss anthony. mrs. blake positively declined a re-election, having served eleven consecutive years, and mrs. jean brooks greenleaf was elected president. during mrs. blake's presidency she had many times canvassed new york and had extended her lecture tours into various other states, going as far west as california. henceforth, in addition to annual conventions, the association adopted the plan of holding mid-year executive meetings in various cities for the transaction of business, with public sessions in the evenings addressed by the best speakers. in the convention met in auburn, november , , the audiences crowding the opera house on both evenings. miss anthony, mrs. greenleaf, mrs. blake, mrs. howell and miss shaw were the speakers, with an address of welcome from mrs. j. mary pearson. reports showed that the membership had doubled in the last year, and that woman's day had been observed at many fairs, resulting in the forming of county organizations. a resolution was adopted urging the legislature to appoint some women on the state board of managers for the columbian exposition in . the convention closed with a reception at the elegant home of mrs. eliza wright osborne, niece of lucretia mott and daughter of martha c. wright, two of those who called the first woman's rights convention. syracuse was selected for the annual meeting of , november - . miss anthony, president of the national association, was in attendance, and the opera house was filled at all the sessions. mrs. martha t. henderson, vice-president-at-large, who had been appointed to represent the state, was delegated to arrange for the noon-day suffrage meetings during the columbian exposition. mrs. greenleaf's address reviewed the great debate which had taken place at the new york chautauqua assembly the preceding august, between the rev. anna howard shaw and the rev. j. m. buckley, editor of the _christian advocate_, and emphasized the evident sympathy of the immense audience with the side of the question presented by the former. suffrage day had been observed at the cassadaga lake assembly with an address by miss anthony, and also at the state fair. the association was congratulated on the fact that there had been a further extension of school suffrage during the year. all interest centered in the approaching convention to revise the constitution of the state, through which it was hoped a woman suffrage amendment would be obtained. miss anthony, mrs. blake and mrs. howell had been appointed to address the legislature, which they had done in april of this year, for the purpose of securing women delegates to this convention, that was to be held in , but eventually was deferred one year. committees were appointed which visited the political state conventions the following summer, asking a declaration in their platforms for this amendment, but were unsuccessful. the annual meeting of was held at brooklyn, in long island historical hall, nov. - . it was welcomed by mrs. mariana wright chapman, president of the brooklyn suffrage society. the plan of work was perfected, which had been prepared by miss anthony and mrs. stanton, for an active canvass of the state in behalf of a plank in the approaching constitutional convention. addresses were made by mrs. julia ward howe and henry b. blackwell of boston, miss anthony, the rev. miss shaw, national vice-president-at-large; mrs. ella a. boole, aaron m. powell, gen. c. t. christiansen, mrs. anna c. field, mrs. emma bourne, mrs. blake and others. among the resolutions adopted was the following: the thanks of this association are due to gov. roswell p. flower for his recognition of woman's ability in the appointment to a state office of our national president, susan b. anthony, viz: as one of the board of managers of the state industrial school at rochester. the great campaign of , undertaken to secure a clause for woman suffrage in the revised state constitution, will be considered further on in this chapter. the annual convention met in ithaca, nov. - , , the opera house being filled with the usual large audiences. it was welcomed by mayor clinton d. bouton and president jacob gould schurmann of cornell university. miss anthony was present and a galaxy of eloquent new york women made addresses. newburgh entertained the convention nov. - , . the speakers were miss anthony, dr. edward mcglynn, miss elizabeth burrill curtis, daughter of george william curtis; miss arria s. huntington, daughter of bishop frederick d. huntington; miss margaret livingston chanler, madame neymann, mrs. maude s. humphrey, mrs. chapman, mrs. cornelia k. hood, miss julie jenney, mrs. boole, mrs. annie e. p. searing, mrs. m. r. almy, miss harriette a. keyser, mrs. blake, mrs. howell, the rev. miss shaw and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee. miss anthony was especially stirred by a previous speech which reflected on the dress, manners and social standing of the pioneers in the movement for the rights of women, and which felicitated the present advocates on their great superiority in these respects. she named the pioneers, one by one, paid warm tribute to their beautiful personality and commanding ability and asked where a woman could be found in all the present generation to excel, if, indeed, to equal them. the delegates enjoyed visits to the many interesting places in the neighborhood, including west point and vassar college. a beautiful reception was given by mrs. c. s. jenkins. it was supposed that the disappointment of the previous year in failing to secure an amendment from the constitutional convention would result in a falling off in membership, but instead this was found to be considerably augmented. at the close of the convention the delegates went to new york to attend mrs. stanton's eightieth birthday reception at the metropolitan opera house. the convention of was held in rochester, november , , with more delegates present than ever before. it was preceded by a reception on the evening of the th, where the guests were delighted to greet miss anthony and her little band, who had arrived that morning from their arduous field of labor in the california amendment campaign. the welcome for the city was extended by mayor george warner. many of the speakers of the previous year were present, with the addition of the rev. antoinette brown blackwell, the first ordained woman minister, and the noted colored woman of anti-slavery days, harriet tubman. the press chairman, mrs. elnora monroe babcock, reported that, instead of the newspapers of the year before, in the state were now using suffrage matter regularly furnished by her committee. on the friday night succeeding the convention a banquet was given in honor of miss anthony, with over guests. mrs. mary lewis gannett was toastmistress and miss anthony and miss shaw made interesting addresses. mrs. greenleaf, who had done such heroic work during the past six years and sustained the association on so high a plane, felt obliged to decline a re-election, and mrs. mariana wright chapman was unanimously chosen for her place. mrs. greenleaf was appointed fraternal delegate to the annual meeting of the state grange, and mrs. howell to the state labor convention, and both were cordially received. the grange had on several occasions declared for woman suffrage. geneva extended a welcome to the convention nov. - , , and successful meetings were held in collins hall and the opera house. the speakers from abroad and many delegates were entertained at the handsome home of mrs. elizabeth smith miller, daughter of gerrit smith. added to the usual list were miss alice stone blackwell, recording secretary of the national association; the rev. annis ford eastman, mrs. gannett, mrs. mary e. craigie, and miss m. f. blaine, charles hemiup, w. smith o'brien, the rev. remick and dr. william h. jordan of geneva. a pleasant event of the year had been the carving of miss anthony's face on the stairway of the magnificent new capitol building at albany, by order of george w. aldridge, state superintendent of public works. on april , , , the fortieth anniversary of the first woman's rights convention was held in rochester. this city also had entertained that convention which had adjourned in seneca falls to hold a session here. the anniversary proceedings took place afternoons and evenings in the central presbyterian church with a fine corps of speakers.[ ] on nov. - , , the annual meeting was held in the court house at hudson. it was welcomed by the mayor, richard a. m. deeley, for the city and by mrs. mary holsapple for the local suffrage club. an address of greeting also was given by judge levi s. longley, and the hudson club extended its courtesies. a letter from mrs. stanton was read by her daughter, mrs. harriot stanton blatch of england, who also made an address. many of the strong speakers were present who have been frequently mentioned in connection with these state conventions. the treasurer reported receipts for the year $ , . chautauqua county invited the convention of to dunkirk, november - , and entertained it royally. there was a reception on the first evening, and a luncheon was given every day to the delegates who wished to remain at the hall between sessions. both day and evening meetings were large and enthusiastic, the former held at the woman's union, the latter in academy hall. mayor alexander williams welcomed the convention for the city, and mrs. ellen cheney for the county in a witty poem, mrs. chapman responding. stirring addresses were made by the hon. f. s. nixon and dr. j. t. williams. miss anthony was present, with many of the old speakers and several new ones, among them mrs. carrie e. s. twing. the last annual meeting of the century convened at glens falls, oct. -nov. , , in ordway hall. addresses of welcome were made by the hon. addison b. colvin and the president of the warren county association, mrs. susie m. bain. mrs. chapman catt, miss shaw, mrs. boole, president state woman's christian temperance union; mrs. chapman, mrs. howell and miss harriet may mills were among the principal speakers. a notable feature was the presence of many bright and enthusiastic young workers. pledges of support were made for the national bazar to be held the next month in new york. among the resolutions adopted was one congratulating miss anthony upon her success in raising the last of the $ , fund which was to open the doors of rochester university to women. in addition to this long array of conventions without a break, the mid-year executive meetings in various cities have been of almost equal interest. at nearly every one of these state conventions miss anthony has assisted with her inspiring presence and strong words of counsel. to many of them mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, not able to come in person, has sent ringing letters of encouragement, for which the affectionate greetings of the delegates have been returned. new york has the largest membership of any state in the union and pays the largest amount of money into the national treasury each year, not alone in auxiliary dues, but in private subscriptions. the state association has had but three presidents in over twenty years: mrs. lillie devereux blake, - ; mrs. jean brooks greenleaf, - ; mrs. mariana w. chapman, and still serving. mrs. matilda joslyn gage was continuously in office from the time a state association first existed.[ ] with active work in progress for so many years, and with suffrage organizations in the counties and towns throughout all of this large state, it would be impossible to make personal mention of even a small fraction of those who have aided the movement. the hundreds who have furnished the money and the thousands who have served in a quiet way through all the years would require a separate chapter.[ ] it would be equally impossible to describe the efforts made from year to year, the meetings held, the memorials presented to political conventions, the debates, the parliamentary drills, the lecture courses, the millions of pages of literature distributed, the struggles to place women on the school boards, the special efforts of the standing committees on legislation, press, industries, work among children, etc. it is far more difficult to write the history of a state where so much has been done than where the tale may be quickly told. no state is better organized for suffrage work.[ ] there is no doubt that a strong sentiment exists outside of new york city in favor of the enfranchisement of women. however, with the adverse influence always exerted by a great metropolis, it is impossible to foretell when this will be accomplished. constitutional amendment: the history of the struggle of a comparatively few women to secure a clause for equal suffrage in the state constitution, when it was revised in , told in the fewest possible words, is as follows:[ ] as early as gov. david b. hill, at the earnest request of the state suffrage association, had recommended that women should have a representation in the convention which would frame this revision. miss susan b. anthony, mrs. lillie devereux blake, mrs. mary seymour howell and mrs. caroline gilkey rogers addressed a joint committee of the legislature urging that women delegates should be permitted to sit in this convention. mrs. blake also prepared a strong written appeal which was sent to every member. gov. roswell p. flower in his message in made a similar recommendation. again miss anthony, mrs. blake and mrs. howell made a plea for women, this time before the assembly judiciary committee. the original bill provided for a certain number of delegates to be appointed by the governor, among these four to represent the prohibitionists, three the labor party and three the woman suffrage association. the power of the governor to appoint was afterwards declared unconstitutional. a bill allowing three women delegates passed the assembly, but was defeated in the senate. the act which finally was secured provided that all the delegates should be elected, and that there should be two representatives each for the prohibition, labor and socialist parties. none was granted to the suffragists; but the law said: "the electors may elect any citizen of the state above the age of twenty-one years." the following was then sent to each of the political party conventions, through properly accredited delegates: among other duties incumbent upon the members of your honorable body is that of nominating delegates-at-large to the convention called for the revision of the state constitution. as women are eligible to these positions we offer you the names of three who have been selected by the executive board of the state w. s. a. as their choice of delegates for that convention, with the hope that you will accept them as candidates of your own. the names presented were those of miss anthony, mrs. howell and miss emily howland, the last a large taxpayer and an excellent business woman. the ladies were courteously listened to by the democrats, and refused an opportunity to speak by the republicans. similar efforts were made in district conventions. both republicans and democrats, however, refused to nominate any women, the compensation of $ per day, in addition to the political power conferred, making the positions entirely too valuable to give to a disfranchised class. the name of even susan b. anthony was declined by the republicans of her district. the democrats of that district, who were in a hopeless minority, made the one exception in the whole state and nominated mrs. jean brooks greenleaf, who ran some votes ahead of the rest of the ticket. [illustration: mary s. anthony. rochester, n. y. jean brooks greenleaf. rochester. n. y. mariana w. chapman. brooklyn, n. y. emily howland. sherwood, n. y. eliza wright osborne. auburn, n. y. ] every effort was now directed toward obtaining a clause in the new constitution, as there was little doubt that if this could be done it would be adopted with the rest of that instrument. an eloquent appeal was issued to all the friends of liberty throughout the state, urging them to assist in securing this measure of justice to women. a campaign was carefully planned with an ability which would have been creditable to experienced political managers, and $ , were raised and expended with the most rigid economy.[ ] to save rent headquarters were established in miss anthony's own home in rochester, which soon became a beehive of industry, and the work increased until practically every room was pressed into service. the president of the state association and campaign committee, mrs. greenleaf, and the corresponding secretary, miss mary s. anthony, gave practically every hour of their time for six months to this great effort. the postoffice daily sent mail sacks to the house, which were filled with petitions and other documents and set out on the porch for collection. miss anthony herself, at the age of seventy-four, spoke in every one of the sixty counties of the state, contributing her services and expenses. this series of mass meetings was managed by miss harriet may mills and miss mary g. hay. the rev. anna howard shaw spoke at forty of these, and mrs. howell at a large number. the entire management of new york city was put into the hands of mrs. blake, while the campaign for brooklyn was conducted by mrs. mariana w. chapman. mrs. carrie chapman catt made thirty-eight speeches in these two cities and vicinity. mrs. stanton, from her home in new york, sent many strong articles to the metropolitan press, which were copied throughout the state. mrs. martha r. almy. state vice-president, was an active worker. women of social influence in this city, who never had shown any public interest in the question, opened headquarters at sherry's, held meetings and secured signatures to a suffrage petition. the leaders of this branch were mrs. josephine shaw lowell, mrs. joseph h. choate, dr. mary putnam jacobi, mrs. j. warren goddard, mrs. robert abbe, mrs. henry m. sanders and miss adele m. fielde. among those who signed the petition were chauncey m. depew, russell sage, frederick coudert, the rev. heber newton, the rev. w. s. rainsford, bishop henry c. potter, rabbi gustave gottheil, john d. rockefeller, robert j. ingersoll and william dean howells. one of the surprises of the campaign was the organization in albany of a small body of women calling themselves "remonstrants," under the leadership of the episcopal bishop, william croswell doane, and mrs. john v. l. pruyn. another branch was organized in new york city by mrs. francis m. scott, and one in brooklyn with mrs. lyman abbott at the head and the support of her husband's paper, _the outlook_. the suffrage forces circulated , petitions and secured , individual signatures, about half of them women (including , collected by the w. c. t. u.) and memorials from labor organizations and granges, bringing the total, in round numbers, to , .[ ] the "remonstrants" obtained only , signatures, yet at that time and ever afterwards many of the newspapers insisted that the vast preponderance of sentiment among men and women was opposed to equal suffrage. a part of the work was to collect statistics showing the amount of property on which taxes were paid by women. it was impossible to obtain these in new york city, but in three-fifths of the towns and cities outside it was found to be $ , , . in brooklyn women paid one-fourth of all the taxes. the drudgery of preparing these tax lists and recounting and labeling all the petitions was done chiefly by miss isabel howland. during the convention an office and a reception room in the capitol were granted for the use of the women. on may miss anthony and mrs. greenleaf addressed the suffrage committee of the constitutional convention in the assembly chamber of the capitol at albany. a large crowd was present, including the committee and most of the delegates. mrs. greenleaf's remarks were brief but forcible, and miss anthony spoke earnestly for three-quarters of an hour, seeming to have the full sympathy of her audience. the women of new york city were accorded a hearing on may , and strong arguments were made by dr. jacobi, miss margaret livingstone chanler, mrs. blake and miss harriette a. keyser. on june the suffrage committee was addressed by representative women, in five-minute speeches, from all of the senatorial districts outside of new york city.[ ] mrs. greenleaf presided at all these meetings.[ ] the final hearing was accorded june , when u. s. senator joseph m. carey, who had come from wyoming by invitation for this purpose, made a most convincing argument based on the practical experience of his own state for twenty-five years. he was followed by mrs. howell and mrs. mary t. burt, president of the state w. c. t. u. all of these addresses in favor of recognizing woman's right to the franchise were valueless except for the creation of public sentiment and as a matter of history, for the chairman of the convention, the hon. joseph h. choate, had appointed a suffrage committee the large majority of whom were known anti-suffragists, and he was reported to have said before the convention met that the amendment should not be placed in the constitution. the committee made an adverse report, which was discussed by the convention on the evenings of august and , with the assembly chamber crowded at each session.[ ] the advocates of adopting a woman suffrage plank were led by the hon. edward lauterbach and the opponents by mr. root and william p. goodelle, chairman of the suffrage committee.[ ] while the ballot was being taken mr. choate went on the floor among the delegates, and himself gave the last vote against the amendment. the ballot resulted--in favor of the amendment, ; opposed, . even though a defeat, this was a decided advance over the constitutional convention of , when there were but ayes and noes. then less than one-seventh, this time more than one-third of the members were in favor of the enfranchisement of women. the following month miss anthony and mr. lauterbach addressed the committee on resolutions of the state republican convention, and miss anthony and mrs. blake that of the democratic, asking for a recognition of woman suffrage in their platforms, but both ignored the request. legislative action: mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony were the pioneers in legislative work for woman suffrage, the former making her first speech before a committee--in behalf of property rights--as early as , and continuing her appeals for the various rights of women during twenty-five years, after which her addresses were given usually before the committees of the united states congress. miss anthony made her first appearance in albany in , and her last one before a committee there in . she devoted her strongest efforts to the legislature of her own state until the demands of national work became so great as to absorb most of her time, and then she, too, transferred her appeals to the legislative body of the united states, although assisting always the work in new york. meanwhile other competent laborers had come into the field. in mrs. lillie devereux blake began her legislative work, and for twenty-five years there were few bills in the interests of women under consideration at albany which were not managed by her, with an able corps of assistants, chief among whom was mrs. mary seymour howell. for fifty years there is an almost unbroken record of the efforts of women to secure equality of rights from the legislature of new york, and they have succeeded to the extent that now, with the exception of the statute providing for dower and curtesy, but few serious discriminations exist against women in the laws, although the injustice of disfranchisement has been mitigated in only a slight degree. when the legislature assembled on jan. , , mrs. blake and mrs. howell were at hand to further the interests of the pending bill "to prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex." on march a hearing was held in the assembly chamber before the judiciary committee and a large audience. the speakers were mrs. abigail scott duniway of oregon, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert of illinois and mrs. helen m. gougar of indiana, mrs. blake, mrs. howell and mrs. caroline gilkey rogers. on may , after an exciting debate, the bill was defeated-- ayes, noes. the bill of was drawn by mrs. blake and was accompanied by a strong written argument, with many court decisions to show that it was within the power of the legislature itself to protect all citizens from disfranchisement. this was presented by gen. james w. husted, speaker of the house. two hearings were given in the assembly chamber, at which addresses were made by mrs. stanton, mrs. blake, mrs. howell, mrs. rogers and gov. john w. hoyt of wyoming. the bill was debated april . general husted, mayor james haggerty and dr. j. t. williams spoke in favor; gen. n. m. curtis and kidder scott in opposition. the vote stood ayes, noes, but a constitutional majority was lacking. during the summer mrs. blake spoke in almost every district whose member had voted against the measure. in a bill for municipal suffrage only was presented, drawn by augustus levy and introduced in the senate by george z. erwin, in the house by speaker husted. on february a hearing took place in the assembly chamber. mrs. blake presided and the speakers were mrs. matilda joslyn gage, mrs. howell, mrs. rogers and mrs. annie jenness miller. on march the senate gave a hearing to mr. levy and james redpath. the campaign this winter was one of the most vigorous ever made. besides the executive officers of the state association, who were in albany some days of every week, much help was secured by the occasional visits of prominent women and the numerous letters of influential people from all parts of the state. on the night of the final vote the assembly chamber was filled by friends of the measure and many officials were present, including the lieutenant-governor and the attorney-general. as this bill would give women only the right to vote in municipal affairs, it had many supporters who would not have favored full suffrage. the debate was long and earnest, mr. erwin, general husted, mr. longley of brooklyn, mr. freligh of ulster and others speaking in favor, and general curtis, william f. sheehan and others in opposition. the roll-call was taken in great excitement, and the ayes went up until their number reached , the constitutional majority. a round of applause broke out, but in an instant two men arose and changed their votes from the affirmative to the negative, so that on the final call the vote stood, ayes, noes. this winter another law was enacted to remove all doubts as to the constitutionality of the one of , which conferred school suffrage on women in villages and country districts. representative charles sprague introduced a bill making mothers and fathers joint guardians of their children, but it was defeated. in mrs. howell drew up the municipal suffrage bill, which was introduced by senator erwin. she spent ten days personally interviewing every senator until she had the promise of the twenty votes which were given the bill on its final passage, seventeen being necessary. there were but nine noes. after the clerk had read the bill in the assembly, speaker husted said: "if there is no objection this bill will go at once to the third reading." wm. f. sheehan, the leading opponent of woman suffrage, was asleep at the time and so it was thus ordered. mrs. howell continued her efforts, but the measure was defeated-- ayes, noes--by a moneyed influence from new york city, after nearly enough votes to carry it had been promised. a bill providing police matrons in cities, with the exception of new york and brooklyn, was secured from this legislature. it had been passed in , but not signed by gov. alonzo b. cornell; passed again in the assembly in , but defeated in the senate by the police department of new york city. the bill was finally secured by the woman's prison association, but it was not made mandatory and no attention was paid to it by the city authorities. a bill was presented this year to relieve women from the death penalty, on the ground that since they had not the full privileges of men they should not suffer equal punishment. the measure was ably supported, but failed to pass. in the municipal suffrage bill was presented in the senate by charles coggeshall, and in the assembly by danforth e. ainsworth. a hearing in the senate chamber on february was addressed by mrs. blake, mrs. rogers and the rev. anna garlin spencer of rhode island. the bill was lost in the senate by a tie vote, ayes, noes; in the house by ayes, noes. laws were enacted at this session providing that there shall be women physicians in all state insane asylums where women are patients; and also that there shall be at least one woman trustee in all public institutions where women are placed as patients, paupers or criminals. in the municipal suffrage bill was again presented in the assembly by mr. ainsworth, but it was lost by ayes, noes, not a constitutional majority. in the municipal suffrage bill was presented by speaker husted, but was defeated by ayes, noes. in no legislative work was attempted beyond the efforts toward securing a representation of women in the constitutional convention, which it was supposed would be held at an early date. in an act was passed to enable women to vote for county school commissioners, which received the signature of gov. roswell p. flower. this year a police matron bill was obtained which was made mandatory in cities of , and over. this bill had been passed several times before and vetoed, but it finally obtained the governor's signature. even then the police commissioners of new york refused to appoint matrons until the matter was taken up by the woman suffrage league of that city. this was the end of a ten years' struggle on the part of women to secure police matrons in all cities. most active among the leaders were mrs. mary t. burt, mrs. abby hopper gibbons and mrs. josephine shaw lowell, backed by the w. c. t. u., the prison reform, the suffrage and various other philanthropic and religious societies. in hamilton willcox, who had worked untiringly in the legislature for many years, had a bill introduced in the assembly to give a vote to self-supporting women. it was referred to the judiciary committee, but met with general disfavor. mrs. howell being in the assembly chamber with friends one evening, three of its members invited her to go to their committee room and draw up a bill for full suffrage, telling her they would report it favorably in place of the working woman's bill. this she did and the new bill was at once reported. the next week she gave every moment to working with the members for it, aided by general husted, mr. willcox and william sulzer. on friday morning, one week from the day the bill was reported, it came to the final vote and passed by ayes, only being required for the constitutional majority. excitement ran high at this success and ten minutes were given for congratulations to mrs. howell by friends and foes alike. the monday following she carried the bill from the engrossing committee to the senate. only three days of the session were left and the committee held no more meetings, so she saw separately each member of the judiciary committee and all gave a vote in favor of considering the bill. mr. sheehan was now lieutenant-governor and presiding officer of the senate and would allow no courtesies to mrs. howell, but one senator, charles e. walker, arranged for her to see every member, and she secured the promise of votes, being required. on thursday evening, although senator cornelius r. parsons made many attempts to secure recognition, the bill was not allowed to come before the senate. there was every reason to believe governor flower would have signed it.[ ] in mrs. cornelia h. cary worked for a bill providing that on all boards of education one person out of five should be a woman, but it failed to pass. the measure making fathers and mothers joint guardians of their children, so often urged, became a law this year chiefly through the efforts of the women's educational and industrial union of buffalo, which had been hampered constantly in its efforts to care for helpless children by the interference of worthless fathers.[ ] a law also was enacted, championed by col. george c. webster, giving to a married woman the right to make a valid will without her husband's consent. the season of was given wholly to the work of securing a woman suffrage amendment in the revised state constitution. in mrs. martha r. almy, as chairman of the legislative committee, began work in albany early in january and was absent but one legislative day from that time until may. she was assisted by mrs. helen g. ecob, and their effort was to secure a resolution to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male." in order to submit such an amendment in new york, a resolution must be passed by two successive legislatures. judge charles z. lincoln, the legal adviser of gov. levi p. morton, drew up the resolution and it was introduced january in the assembly by fred s. nixon, and in the senate by cuthbert w. pound. it was favorably reported by the senate judiciary committee early in the session. the chairman of the assembly committee, aaron b. gardenier, was very hostile, and after every effort to get a report had been exhausted, mr. nixon and mrs. almy made a personal appeal to the committee and were successful. on march six men brought in the mammoth petition for woman suffrage which had been presented to the constitutional convention the previous year. the resolution was passed by ayes, noes. this was a remarkable action for the first legislature after the great defeat in the constitutional convention only a few months before. when the measure came to the senate it was moved by senator pound to substitute mr. nixon's resolution for his own, as they were identical. but amasa j. parker[ ] objected in order to make it run the gauntlet of the senate committee again, and this gave the anti-suffragists an opportunity to oppose it. he then asked for a hearing for bishop william croswell doane and others before the state judiciary committee, of which he was a member, which chairman edmond o'connor granted. the committee met but once a week, and twice the hearing was postponed to accommodate the opposition. the second time, as no one appeared against the resolution, it was again reported favorably. just after this had been done mr. parker appeared and objected, and the chairman agreed to recall it and give the opposition one more chance. on april , the time appointed for the hearing, bishop doane sent a letter declining the honor of appearing, but a delegation from new york city came up, and mrs. francis m. scott and prof. monroe smith of columbia university addressed the committee opposing the measure. mrs. almy and mrs. mary h. hunt replied in its behalf. for the third time the resolution was reported favorably by the senate committee, and april the vote was taken. senators pound, coggeshall and bradley spoke in favor, and jacob h. cantor in opposition. it was carried by ayes, noes. when the resolution went to the revision committee it was found that in one section there was a period where there should have been a comma. mrs. almy was obliged to remain two weeks and get an amendment through both houses to correct this error. finally the resolution was declared perfect, and was ordered published throughout the state, etc. then it was discovered that the word "resident" was used instead of "citizen," and the entire work of the winter was void. as it is not required that copies of original bills shall be preserved, the responsibility for the mistake never can be located. the senate of , by a change in the term of office, was to sit three years instead of two; and a concurrent resolution, in order to pass two successive legislatures, would have to be deferred still another year, so no work was attempted. on jan. , , when the legislature assembled, every member found on his desk a personally addressed letter appealing for the right of women citizens to representation, signed by all the officers of the state suffrage association and by the presidents of all the local societies. the resolution asking for a suffrage amendment was introduced in the senate by joseph mullen, in the assembly by w. w. armstrong, and was referred to the judiciary committees. repeated interviews by mrs. mariana w. chapman, mrs. mary e. craigie, chairman of the legislative committee, and other members were not sufficient to secure a favorable vote even from the committees, as they were frightened by the action of the preceding legislature. the new york society opposed to the further extension of suffrage to women was at work on the spot, and every legislator received a letter urging him not to consider any kind of a bill for woman suffrage. finally a hearing was appointed by the senate committee for march . in the midst of a snowstorm, all the way from rochester came the national president, miss anthony; from new york city, the state president, mrs. chapman; the chairman of the national organization committee, mrs. carrie chapman catt; dr. mary putnam jacobi and miss elizabeth burrill curtis; from syracuse, miss harriet may mills; and in albany already were mrs. blake, mrs. almy, mrs. julia d. sheppard and a number of local suffragists. miss anthony, mrs. chapman catt and miss mills addressed the committee. as the delegation withdrew one senator said to another: "i do not know what is to become of us men when such women as these come up to the legislature." nevertheless the resolution was not reported by the committee. under the auspices of a civic union of all the boroughs of the proposed "greater new york," an active campaign was carried on during this winter to secure various advantages for women under the new charter, but it met with no especial success. in mrs. mary hilliard loines was chairman of the legislative committee, and mrs. florence dangerfield potter, a graduate of cornell and of the new york university law school, acted as attorney. the suffrage amendment resolution was introduced the first week of the session by representative otto kelsey, a steadfast friend of woman suffrage. the usual number of letters was sent throughout the state to secure co-operation and a hearing was given march in the assembly library. the speakers introduced by mrs. loines were mrs. chapman, miss mills, mrs. craigie, miss margaret livingstone chanler and mrs. martha a. b. conine, a member of the colorado legislature. the rev. william brundage of albany spoke forcibly in favor of the amendment. no opponents were present. although the chairman and some members of the committee were in favor, it was learned that the majority were opposed, so a vote was not pressed. the senate committee being the same as the previous year, it was thought not worth while to introduce the resolution into that body. in the legislative work differed from that of the years directly preceding, the executive committee having decided that it might be wiser to ask for some form of suffrage which the legislature itself could grant without submitting the question to the voters. the following bills were authorized: : to make it obligatory to appoint at least one woman on school boards in those cities, about forty-six in all, where the office is appointive. : to amend the village law, making it obligatory that in all charters where a special vote of tax-payers is required on municipal improvements or the raising or distribution of taxes, women properly qualified shall vote on the same basis as men. a great many letters had been sent to gov. theodore roosevelt, then newly elected, asking him to recognize the rights of women in his inaugural address, which he did by calling the attention of the legislature to "the desirability of gradually extending the sphere in which the suffrage can be exercised by women." these two bills, therefore, were sent to him for approval and he appointed an interview at albany with a committee from the state association. mrs. loines, mrs. blake, miss mills, miss mary lyman storrs and mrs. nellie f. matheson went with the state president to this interview, and the governor cordially indorsed the bills. letters were sent to the legislators and also to the presidents of the county suffrage societies, asking them to influence their representatives. the bill for the taxpayers' suffrage was introduced into the assembly by mr. kelsey. that good work was done was evident by the vote-- ayes, noes. but the battle was with the senate, where the bill was introduced by w. w. armstrong. on february a hearing was given in the senate chamber before the judiciary committee. suffragists and opponents were there in force. the latter were represented by mesdames arthur m. dodge, w. winslow crannell and rossiter johnson. the state president introduced the suffrage speakers, miss chanler, mrs. blake and mrs. harriot stanton blatch, the last being qualified from residence to testify to the good effect of this kind of suffrage in england. mrs. elizabeth smith miller, miss anne fitzhugh miller and others were present. owing largely to the influence of elon r. brown the committee brought in an adverse report.[ ] senator armstrong moved to disagree and the vote, thus called for, in the senate stood ayes, noes--a vote on the report, not on the bill, but it put the senate on record. the bill for women on appointed boards of education, which had been changed under protest of the suffragists to "one-third of the members of the board" from "at least one woman," was voted on april . in the assembly it received ayes, noes; but was the constitutional majority, so senate action was useless. it was bitterly opposed by many prominent school officers. in the legislature made a glaring exhibition of the position in which a non-voting class can be placed. early in the session a resolution was offered on the motion of senator thomas f. grady of new york city, "that it is not expedient or advisable to attempt at this session any changes in the constitution in regard to woman suffrage." it passed by ayes, noes. let it be said, for the honor of the state, that there were senators who protested indignantly against such trampling upon the rights of the people. several who voted in favor of this resolution afterwards voted for the suffrage bill. the bill for woman suffrage on tax questions was introduced the very next day by senator armstrong. soon afterward it was presented in the assembly by mr. kelsey. on march it passed with only two negative votes--john hill morgan of brooklyn and james b. mcewan of albany. when this bill came to the senate there were so many before it that april its friends moved to take it up out of order by suspension of rules. senators armstrong, coggeshall and lester h. humphrey spoke in favor, senator grady against. the vote in favor was ayes, noes (nine of these from new york city), but twenty-six votes were necessary to suspend. the situation, however, was more encouraging than the year before. the legislative committee of the state w. s. a. this year consisted of mesdames loines, blake, matheson, priscilla d. hackstaff and ella hawley crossett. in the committee was composed of mesdames loines, hackstaff, craigie, jean brooks greenleaf and lucy p. allen. all efforts were centered on the bill to give taxpaying women the right to vote on questions of taxation. a conference with governor odell showed his friendliness to the bill and disclosed the fact that he had used his influence to amend the charter of his own city of newburg to give this privilege to women. speaker nixon, in his opening address, referred to the bill as a measure of justice which he hoped would be introduced every year until it became a law. mr. kelsey for the third time constituted himself its champion, and worked earnestly for its success. letters poured in from all parts of the state, the w. c. t. u. co-operated cordially, and hearings were granted by house and senate committees. the bill passed the assembly february by ayes, noes. of the latter were from new york city. of the absent or not voting were from that city. in the senate the bill was referred to the judiciary committee as usual. on march a hearing before this committee was arranged for those in favor and opposed. it was conducted by mrs. loines for the suffragists, who were represented by mrs. chapman, miss chanler, a large taxpayer in dutchess county, and miss alice stone blackwell of boston, but a taxpayer in new york. mrs. arthur m. dodge was at the head of the eighteen women who came from the anti-suffrage society to protest against taxpaying women being granted a representation on questions of taxation. the other speakers were mrs. rossiter johnson of new york city, mrs. crannell of albany, and mrs. william putnam of groton who read a paper written by mrs. charles wetmore. the first took the ground that the bill was unconstitutional. the second protested against the attempt "to force widows, spinsters and married women to vote against their will." the third begged the members of the senate committee "not to be hoodwinked into believing this was not a suffrage measure," and assured them that "many of the members had pledged themselves to vote for it without recognizing that it was a suffrage bill." she also said: "for the last fifty years, while the suffragists have been wasting their strength in the effort to get the ballot, we, and women like us, have been quietly going ahead and gaining for women the rights they now enjoy in regard to education, property and the professions. the suffragists had nothing to do with it." the friends of the bill in the senate tried in vain to obtain a report from the judiciary committee, the chairman, edgar truman brackett, being opposed to the bill. finally, on april , senator humphrey moved "to discharge the committee from further consideration," which was carried by ayes, noes. on april it was brought to a vote and passed by ayes, noes, of the latter from new york city. mr. grady was absent. the bill was signed by gov. benjamin f. odell, april , . it was generally understood that u. s. senator thomas c. platt was in favor of the measure. judge charles z. lincoln, chairman of the statutory revision committee, gave most valuable assistance. the effect of this bill was far greater than had been anticipated, because of the importance of new york as a state. before six months had passed women in considerable numbers had voted in a dozen different places. although it applied only to towns and villages, these numbered about , . what was of more importance, the principle had been recognized. there was scarcely a newspaper in the united states that did not contain an editorial upon the subject, which in the vast majority of cases declared the law to be just. laws: dower and curtesy obtain. if the husband die without a will the widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate and, after the payment of the debts, to one-third of the personal estate absolutely. if there are no children she may have one-half of the latter--stocks, cash, furniture, pictures, silver, clothing, etc.--and the other half goes to the husband's relatives, even down to nephews and nieces. the widow may, however, have the whole if it does not exceed $ , . if it exceed that amount, $ , may be added to her half. if there are no relatives of the husband she may have all the personal property. if there has been a living child the widower has a life interest in all the wife's estate. if there have been no children he takes all the personal property absolutely, and her real estate goes to her next of kin. if there is a child living he has one-third of the personal property absolutely. the husband is liable for the wife's debts before marriage to the extent of any property acquired from her by ante-nuptial agreement. she holds her separate property, however acquired, free from any control of the husband and from all liability for his debts. she can live on her own real estate, and forbid her husband entering upon it. either husband or wife can make a will without the knowledge or consent of the other, the latter disposing of all her separate property, the former of all but the wife's life interest in one-third of the real estate. the law provides, however, that no person having husband, wife, child or parent can bequeath over one-half of his property, after payment of debts, to any institution, association or corporation. the wife can mortgage or convey her real and personal estate without the husband's signature. he may do this with his personal property but not with his real estate. a married woman may carry on any trade or business and perform any labor or services on her own account, and her earnings are her sole and separate property. she may sue and be sued as if unmarried, and may maintain an action in her own name and the proceeds of such action will be her separate property.[ ] she may contract as if unmarried and she and her separate estate are liable. a woman engaged in business can not be arrested for a debt fraudulently contracted. all women enjoy certain exemptions from the sale of their property under execution which in the case of men are granted only to householders--that is, a man who provides for a family. the husband's creditors have no claim to a life insurance unless the annual premiums have exceeded $ ; and it is also exempt from execution for the wife's debts. common law marriages are legal, requiring neither license nor ceremony, and years is the legal age for the girl.[ ] absolute divorce is granted only for adultery. in case of either absolute or limited divorce the husband may be required to pay alimony to the wife during her life, even if she should marry again. every married woman is joint guardian of her children with her husband, having equal powers, rights and duties in regard to them, and on the death of either parent the survivor continues guardian. ( .) a husband is required to support his wife commensurately with his means and her station in the community, without regard to the extent of her individual property. if he fail to do this or if he abandon his family he may be arrested and compelled to give security that he will provide for them and will indemnify the town, city or county against their becoming a charge upon the public within one year. failing, he may be sent to prison or penitentiary for not less than six months' hard labor, or until he gives such bond, but none of this is obligatory on the court. in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years, and it was made optional with the court to impose less than the existing penalty of ten years' imprisonment. a few years afterward it was proposed to reduce the age to years. mrs. mary h. hunt, in behalf of the w. c. t. u., went before the judiciary committee and said: "i represent , women and any man who dares to vote for this measure will be marked and held up to scorn. we are terribly in earnest." the matter was dropped. in the age was raised from to , with a penalty for first degree of not more than twenty years' imprisonment; for second degree, not more than ten. no minimum penalty is named. trials may be held privately, and it is the testimony of the various protective associations of women that it is almost impossible to secure convictions. the laws contain many provisions for the benefit of female employes; among them one that if any employer in new york city fail to pay wages due up to $ , none of his property is exempt from execution and he may be imprisoned without bail. suffrage: in a law was enacted by the legislature declaring that "no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve as any school officer, or to vote at any school meeting, by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications now required by law." it was the undoubted intention to give school suffrage to all women by this law, but at once attorney-general hamilton ward rendered a decision that it did not apply to cities but only to places where separate "school meetings" were held, mainly country districts and villages. in another attempt was made by the legislature to confer school suffrage on all women by striking out the word "male" in an old statute of , but as it failed to amend the very portion of the law which referred to school commissioners, this left the condition unchanged. in the legislature tried it again by enlarging the qualifications of voters, but as the words "school district" were used it did not succeed in giving the suffrage to any women except those who already possessed it. in the legislature once more came boldly to the rescue, and undertook to enact that women should have a vote for _district_ school commissioners, which would bring under its provisions all the women of the state. the act read: "all persons without regard to sex, who are eligible to the office of school commissioner, and have the other qualifications required by law, shall have the right to vote for school commissioner." as the act of had said specifically that "no person shall be deemed ineligible to serve as any school officer by reason of sex," this seemed to settle the question. the act further provided that "all persons so entitled to vote for school commissioner shall be registered as provided by law for those who vote for county officers, and whenever school commissioners are to be elected it shall be the duty of the county clerk to prepare a ballot to be used exclusively by those who, by reason of sex, can vote only for school commissioner." this act went into effect in april, , and in the autumn mrs. matilda joslyn gage registered in manlius, onondaga county. immediately the board of inspectors were requested to remove her name from the registry. they refused and application was made to the supreme court to strike off her name, on the sole contention that she was not a lawful voter on account of her sex. the application was granted on the ground that the act conferring upon women the right to vote for school commissioner was unconstitutional. the inspectors obeyed the order. mrs. gage appealed to the general term, where the order was affirmed, and then she carried her case to the court of appeals. the decision here was in brief that a school commissioner is a _county officer_, and that by the state constitution only male citizens may vote for such officers. the decision closed by saying: "a constitutional convention may take away the barrier which excludes the claimed right of the appellant, but until that is done we must enforce the law as it stands."[ ] thus after twenty years of time, four acts of the legislature and three decisions of the highest courts, the school suffrage for women is still confined exclusively to those of the villages and country districts. the law condensed reads as follows: every person of full age residing in any school district, etc., who owns or hires real property in such district liable to taxation for school purposes; and every such resident who is the parent of a child who shall have attended the school in said district for a period of at least eight weeks within one year preceding such school meeting; and every such person, not being the parent, who shall have permanently residing with him or her a child of school age, etc.; and every such resident and citizen as aforesaid, who owns any personal property, assessed on the last preceding assessment-roll of the town, exceeding $ in value, exclusive of such as is exempt from execution, and no other, shall be entitled to vote at any school meeting held in such district, for all school district officers and upon all matters which may be brought before said meeting. no person shall be deemed ineligible to vote at any such school district meeting, by reason of sex, who has one or more of the other qualifications required by this section.[ ] this was the only suffrage granted to women until , when the following was enacted by the legislature: a woman who possesses the qualifications to vote for village or town officers, except the qualification of sex, and who is the owner of property in the town or village assessed upon the last preceding assessment-roll thereof, is entitled to vote upon a proposition to raise money by tax or assessment. this law is believed to include about , places. the bill for it was managed by a committee of the state suffrage association in three successive legislatures. by the city charters of eleven of the thirty-six third-class cities--amsterdam, cohoes, corning, geneva, ithaca, jamestown, newburg, niagara falls, north tonawanda, oswego and watertown, taxpaying women have a vote on special appropriations. hornellsville also conferred this privilege but it was declared illegal by the corporation council, because the word "resident" was used instead of "citizen." office holding: by a statute of women are eligible for any school office. the state superintendent of public instruction is elected by the legislature. instead of county superintendents, as in most states, new york has district commissioners. a district may comprise either a part or the whole of a county, but no city may form any part of it. at present ten women are serving as district commissioners. a considerable number sit on the school boards of cities and villages but no exact record is kept. in greater new york thirty women serve as school inspectors; there are also four supervisors in the departments of sewing, cooking, kitchen-garden and physical culture, at salaries ranging from $ , to $ , . the same law which enables women to serve as district school commissioners makes them eligible to all district offices, including those of trustee, collector, treasurer and librarian, as the law in prescribing qualification, omits the word "male."[ ] women also are eligible to the office of village clerk. they serve as notaries public, clerks of the surrogate court and deputy tax collectors. miss christine ross of new york city is a certified public accountant and auditor. most cities have police matrons. sixty fill this position in greater new york at a salary of $ , per annum. women are employed as city physicians in several places. the law requires one woman physician in each state hospital for the insane and eleven are at present employed, leaving only the state homeopathic hospital at gowanda[ ] and the manhattan hospital on long island without one. one woman trustee is required on the board of every state institution where women are placed as patients, paupers or criminals, but this is not strictly obeyed. a list of the boards of eleven hospitals shows twelve women and sixty-five men, but four have no women members. two women are on the board of craig colony of epileptics; three on that of the custodial asylum for feeble-minded. the following are serving as state officials: on state board of charities of twelve commissioners, one woman, with thirteen employed in different departments at from $ to $ , per annum; state superintendent woman's relief corps, at $ , ; two state hospital accountants at $ , , three at $ ; principal of house of refuge for women at hudson, $ , ; superintendent western house of refuge, $ , ; five in commission of lunacy department, $ to $ , ; fourteen in the state library, $ to $ per month; seven in administrative department of the board of regents of the university of new york, and thirteen in the college and high school departments (not teachers), $ to $ , per annum; ten in home education department, $ to $ per month; in the department of public instruction, five confidential clerks at from $ to $ , ; in bureau of examinations seven women at $ (men in same positions receive $ , ); in state museum one woman at $ ; in training class bureau two women clerks at $ ; three women in office of secretary of state at $ ; one index clerk in bureau of charitable institutions at $ , ; one in state comptroller's office at $ , ; one examiner for civil service commission at $ (men receive $ , for same work), and three stenographers at $ to $ ; two state's prison stenographers at $ , ; a bertillon indexer, $ , ; one clerk for commission of labor, $ , ; one for free employment bureau, $ ; under superintendent of insurance, five women, $ , to $ , ; in office of state architect three, $ to $ ; in bureau of records two clerks, $ , ; thirteen women are factory inspectors or employes in that department, $ to $ , ; twelve in the service of commissioner of excise, $ to $ , . occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. several are presidents of banks, a number are brokers, many are directors of corporations and there are women managers of countless enterprises. education: the two great universities, cornell at ithaca and columbia in new york city, admit women to all departments and grant them the full degrees. in cornell they recite in the same classes with the men students, and have the additional advantage of a residential hall on the campus. there are no women on the faculty. dr. m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college, has been a member of the board of trustees for several years. the women undergraduates of columbia have class-rooms and residence in barnard, an independent corporation but an affiliated college, its dean having the same relation to columbia as the heads of all the other colleges. the faculty is composed partly of the regular columbia staff and partly of special professors, among whom are a number of women. the seniors attend certain courses in philosophy and science in the regular university classes, and all of these are open to post graduates. the university of new york, situated in and near the city, is co-educational in its post-graduate courses and in its departments of law, pedagogy and commerce. its law department is celebrated for the prominent women it has graduated. pratt institute of brooklyn is open to both sexes alike. the universities of syracuse and rochester are co-educational. the latter was opened in through the efforts of the women of the city in raising a fund of $ , . the project would have failed, however, had it not been for the assistance of miss anthony. on the morning of the day when the limit would expire which had been fixed by the trustees for the raising of this sum, $ , were still lacking. every possible source had been exhausted and in despair the women appealed to miss anthony, who already had collected and turned over a considerable amount. she set out with the wonderful determination which always has characterized her, and at o'clock in the afternoon she went before the board of trustees with the full quota in checks and pledges, making herself responsible for the last $ , . union theological seminary of new york city (presbyterian) is one of the very few orthodox institutions of this kind which admit women. the state is distinguished by having in vassar the first of the great colleges for women which offer a course of study approximating that of the best universities. it was founded in . over students are in attendance. besides seven large co-educational institutions there are eight or ten smaller ones for boys alone and several for girls alone. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers; in new york city , men and , women. the average annual salary for teachers in the cities outside of new york is $ ; in that city, which employs one-third of the whole number, $ , . the average annual salary in the commissioner districts is $ . . there are women in greater new york receiving $ , ; there are hundreds in the state receiving one-tenth of that sum. so far as it has been possible to secure an estimate there is fully as much discrepancy between men's and women's salaries for the same work as in other states. * * * * * the women of greater new york take a prominent part in political campaigns. there are seven or eight women's republican clubs, a health protective association and a woman's municipal league which were active in when seth low, president of columbia college, was candidate for mayor on the reform ticket.[ ] there is also a flourishing ladies' democratic club. a unique observance is the annual pilgrim mothers' dinner at the renowned waldorf-astoria hotel. this was instituted in december, , by the new york city suffrage league, mrs. lillie devereux blake, president, in memory of those noble women, who are apt to be overlooked at the celebrations in honor of the pilgrim fathers. new york divides with massachusetts the honor of forming the first woman's club--sorosis, in --and it continues foremost among the states in the size and influence of its organizations of women. over , part of them suffrage societies, belong to the federation of clubs, and these represent only a portion of the whole number. there are eighty auxiliaries to the state suffrage association. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material for this chapter to mrs. mariana wright chapman of brooklyn, mrs. jean brooks greenleaf of rochester, and mrs. lillie devereux blake of new york, the presidents of the state woman suffrage association during the past twenty years. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. i, p. . [ ] those making addresses were miss anthony, miss shaw, mrs. chapman catt, mrs. gannett, mrs. searing, rabbi max landsberg, the hon. charles s. baker, the hon. john van voorhis, the rev. h. clay peeples, the rev. ward platt, the rev. h. h. stebbins, the rev. j. w. a. stewart and prof. s. a. lattimore, acting president of the rochester university. addresses of welcome: miss mary s. anthony for the city political equality club, the rev. w. c. gannett for the church that welcomed the first convention, mrs. jean brooks greenleaf for the state association. the committee of arrangements were mesdames s. a. west, amy e. t. searing, j. g. maurer, s. c. blackall, florence d. alexander, mary l. gannett, d. l. kittredge, emma b. sweet, a. b. taylor, d. l. johnson, f. b. van hoesen; misses jessie post, frances alexander; messrs. c. g. alexander and joseph bloss. [ ] the others who have held office since are as follows: mary s. anthony, martha r. almy, elnora monroe babcock, henrietta m. banker, ella hawley crossett, hannah b. clark, elizabeth burrell curtis, everline r. clark, charlotte f. daley, margaret h. esselstyne, mrs. hannah l. howland, emily howland, isabel howland, cornelia k. hood, maude s. humphrey, mary seymour howell, priscilla dudley hackstaff, ada m. hall, martha h. henderson, helen m. loder, anne f. miller, jennie mcadams, harriet may mills, clara neymann, eliza wright osborne, mary j. pearson, helen c. peckham, mary thayer sanford, kate stoneman, kate s. thompson, emily s. van biele, emilie j. wakeman. [ ] aside from those elsewhere mentioned, the names which seem to occur most often in looking over the records are those of dr. sarah l. cushing, dr. cordelia a. greene, zobedia alleman, abigail a. allen, kornelia t. andrews, amanda alley, mary e. bagg, charlotte a. cleveland, ida k. church, susan dixwell, eliza b. gifford, esther herman, ella s. hammond, mary bush hitchcock, belle s. holden, mary h. hallowell, emeline hicks, mary n. hubbard, marie r. jenney, rhody j. kenyon, lucy s. pierce, harriet m. rathbun, martha j. h. stebbins, julia d. sheppard, chloe a. sisson, delia c. taylor. [ ] much of the credit for the excellent organization is due to miss harriet may mills, state organizer, daughter of c. d. b. mills of anti-slavery record. miss mills is a graduate of cornell university, and is devoting her youth and education entirely to the cause of woman suffrage. [ ] the story of this canvass, the largest and most systematic which ever has been made for such a purpose, is given in full in "record of the new york campaign of ," a pamphlet of pages, issued by the state association in , and placed in many libraries throughout the country. it is given also, with many personal touches, in the life and work of susan b. anthony, chap. xlii. [ ] from treasurer's report: emily howland generously contributed $ , . that staunch friend, sarah l. willis of rochester gave $ . abby l. pettengill of chautauqua county, $ . mr. and mrs. h. s. greenleaf of rochester, $ . general c. t. christiansen of brooklyn began the contributions of $ , of which there were eight others from our own state--semantha v. lapham, ebenezer butterick, mrs. h. s. holden, marian skidmore, hannah l. howland, cornelia h. cary, mr. and mrs. james sargent; mrs. louisa southworth of ohio. [ ] one who was a witness gives this description: "there were no more dramatic scenes during the convention than those afforded by the presenting of the petitions. the names were enrolled on pages of uniform size and arranged in volumes, each labeled and tied with a wide yellow ribbon and bearing the card of the member who was to present it. at the opening of the sessions, when memorials were called for, he would rise and say: 'mr. president, i have the honor to present a memorial from mary smith and , others (for example), residents of ---- county, asking that the word 'male' be stricken from the constitution.' often one after another would present a bundle of petitions until it would seem as though the entire morning would be thus consumed. they were all taken by pages and heaped up on the secretary's table, where they made an imposing appearance. later they were stacked on shelves in a large committee room. "mrs. burt, the president of the w. c. t. u., brought in the petitions of her society all at once, many great rolls of paper tied with white ribbon. a colored porter took them down the aisle on a wheelbarrow." [ ] mesdames cornelia k. hood, cornelia h. cary, mariana w. chapman, mary e. craigie, cora sebury, martha r. almy, a. e. p. searing, elinor ecob morse, marcia c. powell, helen g. ecob, susie m. bain, carrie e. s. twing, clara neymann, selina s. merchant, henrietta m. banker, maude s. humphrey, mary lewis gannett; dr. sarah h. morris; misses arria s. huntington, emily howland, elizabeth burrill curtis. [ ] a hearing, on june , was given to the "antis," as the press dubbed the remonstrants. their petition against being allowed the suffrage was presented by the hon. elihu root, and the speeches were made by francis m. scott, the rev. clarence a. walworth, the hon. matthew hale and j. newton fiero. letters were read from the hon. abram s. hewitt and austin abbott. [ ] among the earnest advocates of the suffrage article were judges titus and blake of new york, judge towns of brooklyn, judge moore of plattsburg, messrs. lincoln, church and mckinstry of chautauqua, maybee of sullivan, cornwall of yates, powell of kings, cassidy of schuyler, kerwin of albany, phipps of queens, fraser of washington, arnold of dutchess, bigelow and campbell of new york, roche of troy. speeches in opposition were made by messrs. mcclure, goeller and platzek of new york, fuller of chenango, griswold of greene, mereness of lewis, sullivan of erie, lester of saratoga, hirshberg of newburg, kellogg of oneonta, mantanye of cortland, cookinham of utica. [ ] members of committee in favor of woman suffrage clause: edward lauterbach, mirabeau lamar towns, vasco p. abbott, john bigelow, gideon j. tucker. opposed: william p. goodelle, henry j. cookinham, john f. parkhurst, henry w. hill, d. gerry wellington, john w. o'brien, henry w. wiggins, thomas g. alvord, david mcclure, de lancy nicoll, john a. deady, william h. cochran. [ ] in the work for other bills mrs. howell was assisted by miss kate stoneman, new york's first woman lawyer, mrs. sarah a. le boeuf, mrs. joan cole and miss winnie, all of albany. george rogers howell, assistant and also state librarian, aided his wife in every way. as a state officer for many years he had strong influence and it always was used for woman's political freedom. during these years mrs. howell, as president of the albany political equality club, conducted many public meetings in the senate chamber of the historic old capitol building until it was torn down. legislators and state officers came each tuesday night to hear the suffrage speeches. [ ] in , after ten years of persistent effort by mrs. stanton, miss anthony and other pioneer workers, who had gathered up thousands of petitions and besieged the legislature, session after session, a law was secured giving father and mother joint guardianship. in , so quietly that the women were not aware of it, the legislature repealed this law and again vested the guardianship solely in the father. although repeated efforts were afterwards made to have the mother's right restored, this was not done for thirty years. [ ] senator parker is a brother of mrs. j. v. l. pruyn, who organized the first anti-suffrage society in the state, at albany. [ ] in senator brown's own city of watertown, over per cent. of the women had just voted to bond the city for a new high school, the press giving them full credit for it, but he persistently opposed this bill. [ ] it was not supposed that this right could be questioned, but in , in new york city, a woman who was supporting her children by washing while her husband was in the hospital, was thrown from a trolley car with her baby in her arms and injured so that she could not work. she brought suit against the street railway company before a municipal court, and was awarded $ . . the company appealed to the supreme court and justice david leaventritt reversed the decision, saying in his opinion, "at common law the husband was absolutely entitled to the earnings of his wife, and neither the enabling act of nor the broader one of has affected the right, unless the service and earnings were rendered and received expressly upon her sole and separate account." afterwards in explanation he said that the woman had not made it clear in her suit that she was working for herself and not performing service for her husband. in a law was passed securing absolutely to married women their own earnings and the right to sue for damages by loss of wages in case of personal injury. [ ] in an attempt was made to correct this evil, and a ridiculous law was passed and duly signed by governor odell providing that a couple may become husband and wife by signing an agreement before witnesses, but in order to make this legal it must be recorded within six months. if at the end of this time it has not been recorded both are free to marry somebody else. if the fourteen year old wife should not know of this legal requirement she may find herself abandoned without redress. [ ] this decision covers many pages with hair-splitting definitions, tracing the laws governing school commissioners back to , and summing up with the following unintentional satire. "the constitution, in article , section , prescribes the qualifications of voters 'for all officers that now are or hereafter may be elected by _the people_,' and confines the franchise specifically to 'male citizens.' the office of school commissioner was one thereafter made 'elective by _the people_,' through the operation of the alternative given by article , section , which provides that 'all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law shall be elected by _the people_ or appointed as the legislature may direct.' that is, in such cases, it may choose between election and appointment and in the latter event may dictate the authority and mode of appointment. the legislature chose that the office should be elective, and, becoming such, it fell within the scope and terms of the constitutional provisions applicable to elections by _the people_." [ ] by the charters of the third class cities of auburn, geneva, hornellsville, jamestown, norwich, union springs and watertown women have school suffrage on the same terms as men. the city of kingston is divided into several common and union free school districts and women are authorized to vote. [ ] for legal opinion see appendix for new york. [ ] in the hospital at gowanda, the largest of the kind in the state, placed a woman on its staff as specialist in gynecology. [ ] in , when mr. low was again a candidate and was elected, these clubs were a prominent factor in the campaign. they arranged meetings, addressed large audiences, raised $ , and circulated , , pieces of literature. their work was commended by the press of the whole united states and much credit was given them for the success of the reform ticket. when the board of education of forty-six members was appointed by mayor low, various societies petitioned him to give women a representation upon it, but he declined to do so. chapter lvii. north carolina.[ ] the only attempt at suffrage organization in north carolina was made by miss helen morris lewis, nov. , . a meeting was called at the court house in asheville and attended by a large audience, which was addressed by miss lewis and miss floride cunningham. thomas w. patton, mayor of the city, made a stirring speech in favor of giving the ballot to women. at his residence the next day a society was formed with a membership of forty-five men and women; president, miss morris; vice-president, t. c. westall; secretary, mrs. eleanor johnstone coffin; treasurer, mayor patton. the next mayor of asheville, theodore f. davidson, also advocated woman suffrage. in addresses were made in various cities by miss laura clay of kentucky and miss elizabeth upham yates of maine, who had been attending the national convention in atlanta. later on miss frances e. willard, president of the national woman's christian temperance union, and miss belle kearney, a noted lecturer from mississippi, aroused considerable enthusiasm in various places by pleas for woman suffrage in their temperance addresses. miss lewis has spoken in a number of towns and at the state normal school. no organized work has been done, however, and but little public interest is felt. legislative action and laws: early in february, , as a result of the suffrage meeting held in asheville, a bill was presented in the legislature to place women on school boards. mrs. lillie devereux blake of new york, a native of north carolina, addressed the legislators in its behalf and upon the rights of women. the bill provoked a hot discussion but was defeated. it is impossible to obtain a record of the vote. in a bill to permit women to serve as notaries public was defeated in the house on the ground that it would be unconstitutional, as this is a state office. the same year a bill providing for the appointment of women physicians in the state insane asylums was referred to a committee and never reported. bills also have been presented for full suffrage and suffrage for tax-paying women, but none has been acted upon. several acts have been passed prohibiting employers from working women in the chain gangs on the public roads in different counties.[ ] the most unjust discriminations against women in the property laws were removed by the constitutional convention of . since then a married woman may acquire and hold real estate and have the enjoyment of its income and profits in her own separate right, and she may dispose of it by will subject to the husband's curtesy (the life use of the whole); but she can not sell any of it without his consent. the husband can not sell his real estate so as to cut off the dower of the wife (the life use of one-third) without her consent. the code of stipulates that if the husband receives the income of the wife's separate property and she offers no objection, he can not be made liable to account for his use of it for more than one year previous to the date of the complaint or of her death. by an act of , the husband is required to list the property of the wife "in his control." both dower and curtesy obtain. if there are neither descendants nor kindred the widow is heir of the entire estate. if there are not more than two children, and the husband die without a will, one-third of the personal property goes to the widow; if there are more than two children, she shares equally with them; if there be no child or legal representative of a deceased child, one-half goes to the widow, the other half to the kindred of the husband. if a wife die without a will, the widower has a life estate in her real property, if there has been issue born alive, and all of her personal property absolutely, subject to her debts. a homestead to the value of $ , is exempt from sale during widowhood unless the widow have one in her own right. the wife is not bound by contract unless the husband joins in writing. in actions against her he must be served with the suit. the wife can not be a sole trader without the husband's written and recorded consent, unless living apart from him under legal divorce or separation, or unless he is an idiot or a lunatic, or has abandoned her or maliciously turned her out of doors. she controls even her wages only under these circumstances. the divorce laws make the discrimination against women that while the husband can secure a divorce for one act of adultery on the part of the wife, she can secure one from him on this ground only if he separates from her and lives openly in adultery. the father is the legal guardian of the persons and education of the minor children, and may appoint a guardian by will even for one unborn. the court appoints the guardian for the estate. wilful neglect by the husband to provide adequate support for the wife and children is a misdemeanor. the "age of protection" for girls still remains years, with a penalty of death. over and under the crime is a misdemeanor, punishable with fine or imprisonment in the penitentiary at discretion of the court, if the child has been previously chaste. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: by the state constitution only those entitled to vote are eligible to office. women are thus barred from every elective and appointive office, even that of notary public. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. they are admitted to the state medical society and made chairmen of various sections. there has been a revolution of public sentiment during the past twenty years in regard to women in wage-earning occupations. what formerly would have caused ostracism is now regarded as proper and commendable. education: in the post-graduate work of the state university was opened to women. the undergraduate departments are still closed to them. other institutions are about equally divided among co-educational, for boys only and for girls only. the state normal and industrial school for girls (white) and the agricultural and mechanical college for boys (colored), both at greensborough, offer excellent opportunities. there are four other universities and colleges for colored students. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for most of the information in this chapter to mrs. sarah a. russell of wilmington, the wife of gov. daniel l. russell. [ ] in a bill, supported by a petition largely signed by women, which provided for a reformatory for youthful criminals where they might be separated from the old and hardened, was introduced in the legislature but never was brought to a vote. chapter lviii. ohio.[ ] the second woman's rights convention ever held took place at salem, ohio, in april, , and such meetings were continued at intervals until the beginning of the civil war. after the war a state association was formed, but the records of its existence are not available. in the early summer of mrs. rachel s. a. janney, whose husband was president of the state agricultural college (now the state university), called a convention in columbus, at which mrs. rosa l. segur, mrs. ellen sully fray, mr. and mrs. o. g. peters, mrs. elizabeth coit and family, mrs. ammon of cleveland, and other well-known advocates were present. so few were in attendance, however, that it was thought best not to organize permanently, but judge ezra b. taylor of warren was chosen president and mrs. frances m. casement, vice-president. judge taylor, in declining because of congressional duties, expressed sympathy and interest in the movement. he was a member of the judiciary committee of the u. s. house of representatives for thirteen years, and through his influence when chairman, in , a majority report in favor of a sixteenth amendment to the constitution to enfranchise women was submitted to the house for the first and last time. mrs. casement did very efficient work, especially in the northern part of the state, and as a result a large and enthusiastic meeting was held at painesville, her home, in may, , and a state association regularly organized. on the list of officers were placed three persons who through all these years have made the enfranchisement of women their paramount work--mrs. casement, mrs. segur of toledo and mrs. coit of columbus. mrs. casement, who was made president, always has given generously of time and money and is still a member of the executive committee. mrs. segur, who was elected corresponding secretary, also continues her activity. she does much press work and is one of the main supports of the toledo w. s. a., which has held regular monthly meetings since its organization in . mrs. coit was chosen treasurer and held the office fourteen years, during which she seldom missed a convention or an executive meeting. in she was made honorary president without one dissenting vote.[ ] in addition to the state conventions from two to five executive committee meetings have been held yearly since . before the adoption of the biennial sessions of the legislature, there were usually conferences at columbus in midwinter to influence legislation, and different members remained there for weeks. mrs. sarah c. schrader, mrs. martha h. elwell and mrs. louisa southworth rendered especially valuable service in such matters. mrs. southworth, in her home at cleveland, also had charge of the systematic enrollment of persons indorsing woman suffrage, which has been very effective in answering the objection that women do not want to vote. this was begun in , when she was made national superintendent of enrollment, as she was a thorough advocate of this method of petition. bills for woman suffrage introduced into the legislature need the backing of many names, and in this way more can be added each year. the blanks are headed: "we believe that women should vote on equal terms with men;" and an effort is made to keep the names of men and women separate. the original lists are carefully preserved, but typewritten copies for reference are made and classified according to towns, counties and congressional districts, pains being taken each year not to register duplicates. the entire expenses, amounting to several thousand dollars, have been borne by mrs. southworth. all of the canvassers have contributed their services.[ ] good educational work has been done through woman's day at colleges, camp meetings and county fairs. a memorable occasion was that of the centennial celebration of the city of cleveland in . one day was devoted to the consideration of the advancement of woman in philanthropy, education, domestic science, etc. although the speakers had been requested not to touch upon the question of her political enfranchisement, three women indirectly mentioned it and these received the heartiest applause of any brought out in the course of a whole day of able speechmaking. one of them was not permitted to retire until she acknowledged in a graceful word or two the enthusiasm of the audience. the committee having charge of this celebration asked a woman in each township on the western reserve to gather facts in regard to its early women, and over granted the request. these papers when published made four volumes of valuable information respecting the pioneer women of this famous section of ohio. in the rev. henrietta g. moore, a universalist minister of springfield, and miss laura a. gregg of kansas, visited seventeen towns and cities in the interest of the state w. s. a. and formed numerous organizations. a conference of national and state officers, with several public meetings, was held at toledo in the autumn of , mrs. fray, president of lucas county, making the arrangements. the following spring mrs. harriet brown stanton of cincinnati did the preparatory work for a two days' meeting in that city, the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large, and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the organization committee of the national association, being the speakers. in the spring of mrs. harriet taylor upton, president of the state association, visited fifteen principal towns preparing the way for organization, while in others plans were made by correspondence. five persons participated in the campaign made later: miss shaw and mrs. chapman catt as speakers, each contributing two weeks of time; miss harriet may mills and miss mary g. hay, of new york, national organizers; mrs. upton accompanying the party. the object was to ascertain suffrage sentiment and to organize the northwestern part of the state. the next work was done in the southern part, ohio women making the arrangements and dr. frances woods of iowa acting as speaker and organizer. at the close of the state had twice as many members as the year before, with vastly increased interest and activity. this growth was due to many causes, not least among them being the work and inspiration of miss elizabeth j. hauser, who was corresponding secretary for five years, and for ten has scarcely missed a convention. legislative action: in the legislature was asked to submit to the voters an amendment giving full suffrage to women. this measure was lost, and a municipal suffrage bill met a like fate. in a bill for full suffrage was defeated in the senate by ayes, noes, a three-fifths majority being required. in a similar bill was introduced in the house and discussed at length. it received ayes, noes, but not a constitutional majority. in the legislature was petitioned without result, and in and school suffrage bills were defeated by small majorities. it was enacted in that mayors in cities of , inhabitants and upward shall furnish proper quarters for women and female children under arrest, and that these shall be out of sight of the rooms and cells where male prisoners are confined. the law further provides for the appointment of police matrons. in a municipal suffrage bill was introduced but was not reported from committee. this year, however, school suffrage was granted to women. to mrs. caroline mccullough everhard and mrs. katherine b. claypole, president and recording secretary of the state w. s. a., women are largely indebted for this law. like all reform measures, it was preceded by many discouraging defeats. in a bill was introduced into the house by e. w. doty, providing that women should vote for and serve as members of school boards. it was lost by seven votes, reconsidered in the adjourned session of and lost again by six votes. another bill was introduced into the house in january, , by gustavus a. wood, but was defeated by ayes, noes. mrs. everhard then made an earnest appeal to senator william t. clark to introduce the same bill. he promptly acceded and it passed the senate on april by ayes, noes. it was returned to the house and passed april by ayes, noes, not voting. mr. clark at once sent a telegram to the president of the association: "woman suffrage bill a law; truth is mighty yet." in the legislature was asked to enact a law making women eligible as trustees of homes and asylums for women and children. the request was refused on the ground that the law would be declared unconstitutional because such trustees must be electors. in free traveling libraries were established. in the legislature provided that a woman could be a notary public. two months later the law was declared unconstitutional, as notaries must be electors. laws: in a law was enacted giving a married woman the right to sue and be sued and to proceed in various other matters as if unmarried. her personal property and real estate were liable to judgment, but she was entitled to the benefits of all exemptions to heads of families. in married women obtained absolute control of their own property. this act gave a wife the right to enter into any engagements or transactions with her husband, or any other person, to hold and dispose of real and personal property and to make contracts. dower was retained but curtesy abolished, except for a man married before and regarding property owned by his wife before that date. either husband or wife on the death of the other is now entitled to one-third of the real estate for life. if either die without a will, and there are no children or their legal representatives living, all the real estate passes to the survivor, and the personal property subject to the debts. if there are children, or their legal representatives, the widow or widower is entitled to one-half of the first $ , and to one-third of the remainder subject to distribution. a homestead not exceeding $ , in value may be reserved for the widow. in it was made legal for a married woman to act as guardian; and in as executor or administrator. by the code of the father is legal guardian of the children and may appoint a guardian by will, even of one unborn. if he has abandoned the mother, she has custody. the husband must support his wife and minor children by his property or labor, but if he is unable to do so, the wife must assist as far as she is able. the father or, when charged with maintenance thereof, the mother of a legitimate or illegitimate child under sixteen, who being able, either by reason of having means or by labor or earnings, shall neglect or refuse to provide such child with proper home, care, food and clothing; or, if said child is a legal inmate of the county or district children's home, shall refuse to pay the reasonable cost of its keeping, shall upon conviction be guilty of felony and punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than three years nor less than one, or in a county jail or workhouse at hard labor for not more than one year nor less than three months. in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years; in from to ; in from to . the penalty is imprisonment not more than twenty nor less than three years. suffrage: the law of permits women, on the same terms as men, to vote for members of the boards of education (trustees), but not for state commissioner (superintendent) nor on any question of bonds or appropriations. there are no county commissioners in ohio. the history of this law, after it passed into the revised statutes, is as follows: in december, , mrs. ida m. earnhart of columbus, whose husband, senator m. b. earnhart, had championed the bill, was one of the first women to register for voting at the school election to be held the next april. for the purpose of a test case a written request was made of the board of elections to strike her name from the list; they refused and suit was brought in the name of the state of ohio against the board and mrs. earnhart. the case was argued in the circuit court of franklin county in january, . mrs. caroline mccullough everhard, president of the state w. s. a., attended the hearing. senators william t. clark and m. b. earnhart ably defended the law. on february the decision was rendered by judge j. g. shauck, judges charles g. shearer and gilbert h. stewart concurring in the opinion, which declared the law to be constitutional. the case was appealed to the supreme court, where the decision of the lower court was sustained. this completed the victory which the state suffrage association had worked so hard to win. more than , women voted at the first election following. in the spring of , , women registered in cleveland and per cent. voted. everything was quiet until the winter of , when the activity of the suffragists was again called out by the introduction into the house of a bill by a. j. hazlett to repeal the school suffrage law. the board of elections of cleveland had asked for this. forthwith letters were sent to all the suffrage clubs by mrs. everhard, and requests were made to many prominent persons to use their influence against it. protesting petitions were circulated and, with more than , names, were sent to the legislature in a very short time. on feb. , , members of the legislative committee of the state w. s. a. appeared before the house committee on elections and spoke against the bill. through courtesy to mr. hazlett, who was a member of this committee, it was reported back, but without recommendation, and when brought to a vote in the house it was overwhelmingly defeated-- against repeal, in favor. office holding: no woman can be elected or appointed to any office, with the exception of that of school trustee, as the statutes provide that all incumbents must be electors. the same law applies to the boards of all state institutions. it also prevents women from serving as notaries public. they can act as deputies, since these are considered merely as clerks. the law specifies that women can be probate court deputies because minors are eligible to that office. women can not be state school commissioners, and there is no office of county commissioner. they are serving acceptably on the school boards of various towns and cities, but no official record is anywhere kept of the exact number.[ ] a law of says: "in all asylums for the insane there shall be employed at least one female physician." there are eight such institutions in the state and at present only four have women physicians. the same year it was made mandatory on every judge of common pleas to appoint in his county a board of visitors consisting of three men and three women, whose duty it is to make periodical visits to the correctional and charitable institutions of the county and to act as guardians _ad litem_ to delinquent children. a law of requires police matrons in all cities of , inhabitants and over. they must be more than thirty years old, of good moral character and sound physical health, and must have the indorsement of at least ten women residents of good standing. their salary is fixed at not less than two-thirds of the minimum salary paid to patrolmen in the same city, and they may serve for life unless they are discharged. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: oberlin was the first co-educational college in the united states ( ). antioch was the second ( ). the state university and all other state institutions of learning always have been open to both sexes alike. of the thirty-four colleges and universities twenty-seven are co-educational, five are for men and two for women. there are seventy-nine higher educational institutions other than colleges, such as academies, normal and business schools, theological seminaries, etc. of these eight are for men, ten for women, fifty-nine co-educational and two without statistics. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . * * * * * ohio is one of the leading states in the number of women's clubs-- , with a membership of , , being enrolled in the general federation. it was principally through the efforts of this large body of women that a bill was passed in providing for traveling free libraries and are now in circulation, more than in any other state. it also was instrumental in securing a bill for the establishment of state normal schools in connection with ohio and miami universities. the rookwood pottery of cincinnati, which has more than a national reputation, is the result of the intelligence and well directed efforts of a woman--mrs. maria longworth nichols (now mrs. bellamy storer). inspired by the japanese display at the centennial exposition in philadelphia, in , she began experimenting with the clays of the ohio valley and eventually developed the exquisite pottery which is found in every art museum and large private collection in the country, and whose manufacture employs a number of skilled artists. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. harriet taylor upton of warren, treasurer of the national-american woman suffrage association since and president of the state association. [ ] presidents of the state association: frances m. casement, - , martha h. elwell, - , caroline mccullough everhard, - , harriet brown stanton, - , harriet taylor upton, and now serving. state conventions: painesville, , toledo, , cleveland, ; chillicothe, , akron, , massillon, , warren, , salem, , delaware, , cincinnati, , ashtabula, , alliance, , cincinnati, , akron, , athens, . during the presidential campaign of , when william mckinley, a resident of ohio, was a candidate, the excitement was so intense that it was thought wise to abandon the convention, which was to have been held in october at springfield. [ ] when the state suffrage association decided to abandon this work, mrs. southworth was elected state superintendent of franchise by the w. c. t. u. and the enrollment was continued. at their national convention, in , it showed , names and aroused great enthusiasm. of these, , were collected in the four cities of cleveland, cincinnati, columbus and toledo; during the year , names had been added to the list. the system has been adopted by the unions in many states. [ ] mrs. harriet taylor upton, the author of this chapter, is now serving her second term on the board of education in warren, o. in the spring of the local political equality club determined to have some women in this position and selected mrs. upton and mrs. carrie p. harrington. two vacancies having occurred, the board (which fills such vacancies) was asked to appoint them but refused. their names therefore were presented to the republican caucus in the spring of . instead of two candidates, as usual, there were four, as the two vacancies were to be filled for the remainder of the term. the board and the politicians still refused to recommend the women, so six names went before the caucus. the women were asked whether they wanted to run for the short term to fill the vacancies or for the full term of three years. they refused to say, but simply asked that their names should be considered. they had little hope of anything but to fill the vacancies, as the president and treasurer of the present board were candidates for the long term. the night of the caucus was very stormy, but the women of the city turned out in force and, with the assistance of the men, the two women were nominated for the long term. a republican nomination is equivalent to an election in warren. the board was magnanimous, both ladies were placed on committees and most courteously treated. the next year mrs. upton was made chairman of the most important committee, that on supplies, buildings and grounds, which expends nine tenths of all the money used by the board. the other woman member was added to this committee when the new grammar school was begun in . it is considered one of the best ventilated and best planned buildings in that part of the state. in the spring of both were triumphantly re-elected. mrs. upton was continued as chairman of her committee, and mrs. harrington was made chairman of the next in importance, that on text books. [eds. chapter lix. oklahoma.[ ] oklahoma territory was opened to settlement april , , and its first woman's organization was the woman's christian temperance union, founded in guthrie, march , , by mrs. margaret o. rhodes, under the direction of miss frances e. willard. in the following april a convention was called at oklahoma city, delegates coming from ten societies, and mrs. rhodes was elected president. in october, , the first annual convention was held in guthrie, the capital, mrs. alice williams of missouri being the principal speaker. the first legislature was in session and she also addressed this body making a strong plea for legislation in favor of temperance and woman suffrage. in mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the organization committee of the national suffrage association, arranged for a lecturer to visit all the principal towns on the rock island and santa fé railroads, and miss laura a. gregg of kansas was selected for this pioneer work. she came into the territory the first week in october and lectured in twelve places, forming clubs. her campaign closed at guthrie where the first suffrage convention was held, november , , and an association organized. miss margaret rees was elected president,[ ] mrs. j. r. keaton, secretary, and mrs. r. w. southard, delegate to the national convention. mrs. julia b. nelson of minnesota was sent into the territory by the national association for three months in may, . she spoke in twenty-three towns, organizing a number of clubs, and on june , , closed her work with a mass meeting in guthrie. the third convention was held in perry, nov. , , , mrs. laura m. johns of kansas being present as the chief speaker. mrs. celia z. titus was elected president; margaret rees, corresponding secretary; sarah l. bosworth, recording secretary; eva a. crosby, treasurer. in september, , miss mary g. hay, organizer for the national suffrage association, arranged for a campaign, preparatory to asking the legislature to grant woman suffrage, as in a territory full suffrage can be given by legislative enactment. in october mrs. chapman catt came on and meetings were held in the chief towns, where committees were appointed to look after petitions and other necessary work. this series of meetings closed november , , with the annual convention in oklahoma city. mrs. rhodes was elected president, mrs. della jenkins, vice-president, miss rees continued as secretary, mrs. minnie d. storm made treasurer. legislative action: in the first legislature, in , specific work was begun for woman suffrage. when the law regarding the franchise was under discussion a petition was presented praying that it should read, "every citizen of the age of shall have a right to vote," instead of "every male citizen." a proposition for this was lost by three votes in the house and was not considered by the council. school suffrage was granted to women. in a bill asking for the enfranchisement of women was prepared by miss margaret rees and introduced in the house, where it was carried by a vote of yeas, nays, but was killed in the council. mrs. johns, who had been sent by the national association, labored most earnestly for the bill and won hundreds of friends for the cause by her wise council and able management. after the suffrage convention in , described above, miss hay returned to new york and miss laura a. gregg was appointed by the national association to co-operate with the oklahoma women in securing the franchise from the legislature of . their efforts and the results were thus related in the report to the national suffrage convention at grand rapids, mich., in april, by mrs. chapman catt, who had remained in guthrie most of the winter looking after the interests of the bill with the discretion and ability for which she is distinguished: last november headquarters were opened in a business block at guthrie, in charge of miss gregg, from which an active correspondence was conducted, resulting in a large petition and a constant accession of new recruits. there was a most thorough system of press work, nearly every newspaper in the territory aiding the movement. the strongest and best men espoused our cause and the outlook seemed propitious. the legislature convened the first week in january, but an unfortunate quarrel arose between it and the governor which hindered legislation and compelled our campaign to drag throughout the entire sixty days' session. miss gregg continued her work at headquarters during the winter, and miss hay spent a month in guthrie looking after the interests of our bill. it finally passed the house, yeas, nays, the week before the session was to close, and immediately the opposition concentrated its efforts on the council. however, a majority were pledged to support our measure, and we felt little fear. as soon as the news spread that the bill was through the house, a telegram was received by each member of the council from the albany (n. y.) women remonstrants. these were not all phrased alike, but each asked the recipient: "what can be done to defeat the woman suffrage bill? answer at our expense." at nearly the same moment, the chief agent of the saloonkeepers' league, an association recently organized, as they claimed, "to protect our interests from unjust legislation," appeared upon the scene. only a week remained of the legislative session. whether this agent of the oklahoma saloons came at the invitation of the albany remonstrants, or the albany remonstrants sent their telegrams offering assistance at the instigation of the saloonkeepers' league, or whether their simultaneous appearance was by chance, i am unable to say. that they appeared together seems significant. if they work as distinct forces, a study in the vagaries of the human reason is presented in the motives offered to the public by these two organizations. the albany remonstrants would protect the sweet womanly dignity of oklahoma women from the debasing influence of politics. the saloonkeepers' league would save the debasing influence of politics from the sweet womanly dignity of oklahoma women. so these albany women, who never fail to inform the public of their devotion to the church, join hands with the oklahoma saloonkeepers, who never fail to declare that the church is a fanatical obstacle to personal liberty. a queer union it is, but some day the world will discover the mystery which has consummated it! it so happened that in this legislature there was a member who for thirty years, in a neighboring state, had been an avowed friend of suffrage. this was known to all oklahoma, and even the enemies expected him to lead our forces in the council. this man not only betrayed us, but headed the opposition in a filibustering effort to keep the bill from coming to a final vote and succeeded. now, why did he fail us? did he renounce the faith of a lifetime? no. did the suffragists offend him? no; but even if they had done so a man of character does not change his views in a moment for a personal whim. why, then, this change? any member of the legislature, for or against suffrage, if he would speak as frankly to others as he did to us, would tell you it was for money. rumor was plentiful stating the amount and the donor. the saloons all over oklahoma, with a remarkable unanimity of knowledge, boasted beforehand that the bill was killed and that this man was the instrument which they had used, and while they were boasting he was conferring with us and promising us his faithful support, hoping to conduct the filibustering so adroitly that we could not detect his hand in it.... to come to the main point, we had won the victory but a crime robbed us of it. suffragists know how to bear defeats with fortitude, for each one is only a milestone showing the progress made on a journey, but a defeat by the defection of a friend is a new thing in the history of our movement. dr. delos walker of oklahoma city was one of those who assisted in every way possible to give the ballot to the women of the territory. dr. c. f. mcelwrath of enid championed the bill in the house and secured its passage over the head of every opponent. the efforts of the women were supplemented also by those of senator i. a. gandey and representative william h. merten, both of guthrie, and t. f. hensley of el reno, editor of the _democrat_. laws: dower and curtesy do not obtain. if either husband or wife die without a will, leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one child, the survivor receives one-half of both real and personal property. if there is more than one child or one child and descendants of one or more deceased children, the widow or widower receives one-third of the estate. if there is no issue living the survivor receives one-half; and if there is neither issue, father, mother, brother nor sister, the survivor takes the whole estate. a homestead may be occupied by the widow or widower until otherwise disposed of according to law. husband or wife may mortgage or convey separate property without the consent of the other. a married woman may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name. she may carry on business as a sole trader and her earnings and wages are her sole and separate property. the usual causes for divorce exist but only a days' residence is required. a wife may sue for alimony without divorce. in cases where both parties are equally at fault the court may refuse divorce but provide for the custody and maintenance of children and equitable division of property. the father is the legal guardian of the children. at his death the mother becomes the guardian, if a suitable person, but if she remarries the guardianship passes to the second husband. the husband is expected to furnish a suitable support for the family, but no punishment is prescribed for a failure to do this. no law existed for the protection of girls until when the age was made years. in it was raised to years. the penalty is first degree (under ), imprisonment not less than ten years; second degree (under ), not less than five years. in both cases the girl must have been "of previous chaste character." suffrage: the first territorial legislature ( ) granted school suffrage to the extent of a vote for trustees. office holding: women may hold all school offices. eleven of the twenty-three counties have women superintendents. they are not eligible to state offices but are not prohibited by law from any county offices. one woman is registrar of deeds and one is deputy u. s. marshal. there are at the present time about one hundred women notaries public. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. ten hours is made a legal working day. education: all educational institutions are open alike to both sexes. in the public schools there are men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * thirty federated clubs in oklahoma, with over members, are taking up successfully a great variety of public work. guthrie contains eight of these, with a membership of more than one hundred, and the library committee has succeeded in starting a library, which has now seven hundred volumes. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for material for this chapter to mrs. margaret olive rhodes of guthrie, president of the territorial woman suffrage association. [ ] mrs. rachel rees griffith and her two daughters are known as the mothers of equal suffrage in oklahoma. miss margaret was the first territorial president, while no one has done more in the local club of guthrie than miss rachel. mrs. griffith is nearly eighty years of age, but fully expects to live to see the women of oklahoma enjoying the full franchise. chapter lx. oregon.[ ] after the defeat of the woman suffrage amendment in no organized effort was made for ten years, although quiet educational work was done. on the fourth of july, , a meeting was called at the residence of mrs. abigail scott duniway in portland and a committee formed which met every week for several months thereafter. woman's day was celebrated at the convention of the state horticultural association, in september, by invitation of its president, william salloway. addresses were made by n. w. kinney and mrs. duniway, and governor lord and his wife were on the platform. on october a mass meeting was held at marquam grand theater, at which a state organization was effected and a constitution adopted which had been prepared by the committee.[ ] in january, , the association secured from the legislature a bill for the submission of a woman suffrage amendment, which it would be necessary for a second legislature to pass upon. the annual meeting of the state association was held at portland in november as quietly as possible, it being the aim to avoid arousing the two extremes of society, consisting of the slum classes on the one hand and the ultra-conservative on the other, who instinctively pull together against all progress. officers were elected as usual and the work went on in persistent quietude. the convention of met in portland, november .[ ] mrs. duniway, the honorary president, was made acting president, that officer having left the state; mrs. h. a. laughary, honorary president; dr. annice f. jeffreys, vice-president-at-large; ada cornish hertsche, vice-president; frances e. gotshall, corresponding secretary; mary schaffer ward, recording secretary; mrs. a. e. hackett, assistant secretary; jennie c. pritchard, treasurer. these state officers were re-elected without change until november, , when mrs. w. h. games was chosen recording secretary and mrs. h. w. coe, treasurer. in , and again in , mrs. eunice pond athey, formerly of idaho, became assistant secretary. the year was a period of continuous effort on the part of the state officers to disseminate suffrage sentiment in more or less indirect ways, so that other organizations of whatever name or nature might look upon the proposed amendment with favor. early in this year the executive committee decided to organize a woman's congress and secure the affiliation of all branches of women's patriotic, philanthropic and literary work, to be managed by the suffrage association. it was resolved also to obtain if possible the attendance of miss susan b. anthony, president of the national association, who was at that time in the midst of the amendment campaign in california. never has there been a more successful public function in oregon than this congress of women, which was held the first week in june, , with miss anthony as its bright particular star. the love of the people for the great leader was universally expressed, socially as well as publicly. the speakers represented all lines of woman's work--education, art, science, medicine, sanitation, literature, the duties of motherhood, philanthropy, reform--but sectarian and political questions were excluded. it was most interesting to note the clever manner in which almost all the speakers sandwiched their speeches and papers with suffrage sentiments, and also the hearty applause which followed every allusion to the proposed amendment from the audiences that packed the spacious taylor street church to overflowing. mrs. sarah b. cooper, the noted san francisco philanthropist, was a special attraction and made many converts to woman suffrage by her beautiful presence and eloquent words. for ten consecutive days in july commodious headquarters were maintained at the willamette valley chautauqua, under the supervision of the state recording secretary, mrs. ward. the rev. anna howard shaw day was the most successful one of the assembly. miss shaw spoke as if inspired, and afterward a large reception was held in her honor. thirty-six regular meetings and four mass meetings were held by the suffrage association during the year. the woman's club movement had by this time assumed important proportions among society women, under the tactful management of that staunch advocate of equal rights, mrs. a. h. h. stuart; and the suffragists joined heartily in the new organization, which, in spite of its non-political character, strengthened the current of public opinion in behalf of the proposed amendment. the oregon emergency corps and red cross society became another tacitly acknowledged auxiliary. the oregon pioneer association approved the amendment by unanimous resolution, and the state grange, the grand army of the republic, the woman's christian temperance union, the good templars, the knights of labor, the printers' union, the brotherhood of locomotive engineers and other organizations were recognized allies. in the second woman's congress took place at portland in april under the auspices of the executive committee of the state e. s. a., forty affiliated societies of women participating. the suffrage business for this year was all transacted in executive sessions, and no convention held. woman's day at the willamette valley chautauqua in july, when forty different organizations of men and women were represented, was a great success. suffrage addresses were given by mrs. alice moore mccomas of california, dr. frances woods of iowa, and mrs. games. col. r. a. miller, the president, himself an ardent suffragist, extended an invitation for the following year. in mrs. duniway was invited by the legislature to take part in the joint proceedings of the two houses in honor of forty years of statehood. this year, in preparation for the election at which the woman suffrage amendment submitted by the legislature of was to be voted on, parlor meetings were held, , pieces of literature distributed, and the names and addresses of , voters in fourteen counties collected. mrs. duniway spoke by special invitation to a number of the various orders and fraternities of men throughout the state, most of whom indorsed the amendment. the usual headquarters were maintained during the fair, under the management of dr. jeffreys. legislative action: the legislature, having changed its time of meeting from september in the even years to january in the odd ones, convened in . through the efforts of its leading members, a bill passed both houses in february to submit again a woman suffrage amendment to the voters. the resolution proposing it was carried without debate in the house by ayes--including that of speaker moore-- noes. in the senate the vote was ayes, noes. as mrs. abigail scott duniway was lecturing in idaho, the state suffrage association was represented at this legislature by its vice-president-at-large, dr. annice f. jeffreys. the meeting of the legislature of found the women ready and waiting for the necessary ratification of the amendment; but the solons of the non-emotional sex fell to quarreling among themselves over the united states senatorial plum and, being unable to agree on a choice of candidates, refused to organize for any kind of business, so another biennial period of public inactivity was enforced upon the suffragists. the legislature convened in january, , and with it came the long-delayed opportunity. mrs. duniway and dr. jeffreys had charge of the suffrage amendment bill. they were recognized by prominent members, and admitted by vote to the privileges of the floor in each house. senator c. w. fulton, who had distinguished himself as the champion of the amendment in and , was requested by them to carry their banner to victory once more. he assured them that personally he was willing, but said so many bills on all sorts of side issues had been insisted upon by women that the members were not in a mood to listen to any more propositions from persons who had no votes. the ladies did not press the matter, but for days they furnished short, pithy letters to the papers of the capital city, answering fully all of the usual objections to woman suffrage. they also sent an open letter to each member of the legislature, explaining that this plea for equal rights was based wholly upon the fundamental principle of self-government, and not made in the interest of any one reform. in this were enclosed to every republican member clarkson on suffrage in colorado and clara barton's appeal to voters; to every democrat her appeal and some other document, taking care to keep off of partisan toes. at length senators fulton and brownell, leaders in the upper house, considered the time ripe for calling up the amendment, which was at once sent in regular order of business to the lower house, where it was referred to the judiciary committee and--buried. finally senator fulton secured a request from the senate that the bill be returned for further consideration, and a hearing was made a special order of business. the room was filled with ladies and mrs. duniway was asked to present the claims of the women of the state, over half of whom, through their various societies, had asked for the submission of the amendment. on the roll-call which followed the vote stood ayes, one no. the measure was made a special order of business in the house the same evening. the hall was crowded with spectators, mrs. duniway spoke ten minutes from the speaker's desk, and the roll-call resulted in ayes, noes. a feature of the proceedings was the presentation by one of the members, in a long speech, of a large collection of documents sent by the anti-suffrage association of women in new york and massachusetts. the preceding autumn they had sent a salaried agent, miss emily p. bissell of delaware, to canvass the state against the bill. the succeeding campaign was very largely in the nature of a "still hunt." mrs. ida crouch hazlett, of colorado, held meetings for two months in counties away from the railroads and did effective work among the voters of the border. miss lena morrow, of illinois, also did good service for some time preceding election, in visiting the various fraternal associations of men in the city of portland, by whom she was generally accorded a gracious hearing. these ladies represented the national association.[ ] all went well until about two weeks before election day, june , , and the measure in all probability would have carried had it not been for the slum vote of portland and astoria, which was stirred up and called out by the _oregonian_, edited by h. w. scott, the most influential newspaper in the state. it was the only paper, out of , which opposed the amendment. but notwithstanding its terrible onslaught, over per cent. of all the votes which were cast upon the amendment were in its favor. twenty-one out of the thirty-three counties gave handsome majorities; one county was lost by one vote, one by and one by . the vote on the amendment in was , ayes; , noes. in it stood , ayes; , noes. although the population had more than doubled in the cities, where the slum vote is naturally the heaviest and is always against woman suffrage, the total increase of the "noes" of the state was only , while in the same time the "ayes" had been augmented by , . laws: if either husband or wife die without a will and there are no descendants living, all the real estate and personal property go to the survivor. if there is issue living, the widow receives one-half of the husband's real estate and one-half of his personal property. the widower takes a life interest in all the wife's real estate, whether there are children or not, and all of her personal property absolutely if there are no living descendants, half of it if there are any. all laws have been repealed that recognize civil disabilities of the wife which are not recognized as existing against the husband, except as to voting and holding office. by registering as a sole trader a married woman can carry on business in her own name. in the legislature enacted that "henceforth the rights and responsibilities of the parents, in the absence of misconduct, shall be equal, and the mother shall be as fully entitled to the custody and control of the children and their earnings as the father, and in case of the father's death the mother shall come into as full and complete control of the children and their estate as the father does in case of the mother's death." if the husband does not support the family, the wife may apply to the circuit court and the judge may issue such decree as he thinks equitable, generally conforming to that in divorce cases, and may have power to enforce its orders as in other equity cases. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to in and from to years in . the penalty is imprisonment not less than three nor more than twenty years. the fact that the victim was a common prostitute or the defendant's mistress is no excuse. suffrage: in an act was passed entitling women to vote for school trustees and for bonds and appropriations for school purposes, if they have property of their own in the school district upon which they or their husbands pay taxes. office holding: women are not eligible to any elective office, except that of school trustee. an old law permitted women to fill the offices of state and county superintendents of schools, but it was contested in by a defeated male candidate and declared unconstitutional by the supreme court. women can not sit on any state boards. they are employed as court stenographers, and in various subordinate appointive offices. they may serve as notaries. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: all the large educational institutions are open to women. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material for this chapter to mrs. abigail scott duniway of portland, honorary president of the state equal suffrage association and always at the head of the movement in oregon. [ ] dr. frances a. cady, lydia hunt king, eugenie m. shearer, charlotte de hillier barmore, mary schaffer ward, gertrude j. denny, alice j. mcarty, ada cornish hertsche, maria c. delashmutt, cora parsons duniway, frances moreland harvey and abigail scott duniway. [ ] department superintendents chosen: evangelical work, mrs. charlotte de hillier barmore; press, mrs. eugenie m. shearer; round table, mrs. julia h. bauer; music, mrs. h. r. duniway, mrs. a. e. hackett; cooper medal contests, h. d. harford and mrs. s. m. kern; health and heredity. dr. mary a. leonard; legislation and petitions, dr. annice f. jeffreys, mrs. duniway. fifteen counties were represented by dr. annie c. reed and mesdames f. m. alfred, r. a. bensell, f. o. mccown, a. a. cleveland, f. m. lockhart, j. h. upton, j. l. curry, a. r. burbank, m. e. thompson, j. w. virtue, a. s. patterson, a. c. hertsche and j. j. murphy. [ ] the chairmen of the county committees were miss belle trullinger, now the wife of gov. t. t. geer, and mesdames r. a. bensell, j. a. blackaby, thomas cornelius, s. t. child, c. h. dye, w. r. ellis, j. b. eaton, p. l. fountain, j. b. huntington, almira hurley, t. b. handley, ellen kuney, h. a. laughary, stephen a. lowell, a. e. lockhart, m. moore, james muckle, j. j. murphy, jennie mccully, celia b. olmstead, r. pattison, a. s. patterson, n. rulison, anna b. reed, e. l. smith, thomas stewart, c. u. snyder, c. r. templeton, m. e. thompson, j. h. upton, j. w. virtue, clara zimmerman. chapter lxi. pennsylvania.[ ] the thought of woman suffrage in pennsylvania always brings with it the recollection of lucretia mott of philadelphia, one of the four women who called the first woman's rights convention, at seneca falls, n. y., july , , , and among the ablest advocates of the measure.[ ] the pennsylvania woman suffrage association was organized dec. , , with mary grew as president.[ ] there have been annual meetings in or near philadelphia regularly since that time, and large quantities of suffrage literature have been distributed.[ ] in miss grew resigned, aged , and was succeeded in the presidency by mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg, who still holds this office. the convention of took place in philadelphia, november , , and the other officers elected were vice-president, mrs. ellen h. e. price; corresponding secretary, mrs. mary b. luckie; recording secretary, mrs. anna r. boyd; treasurer, mrs. margaret b. stone; auditors, mrs. mary f. kenderdine and mrs. selina d. holton. miss ida porter boyer, superintendent of press work, reported that newspapers in the state, exclusive of those in philadelphia which were supplied by a local chairman, were using regularly the suffrage matter sent out by her bureau, and that the past year this consisted of , different articles. a number of able speakers have addressed the legislature or canvassed the state from time to time, including miss susan b. anthony and the rev. anna howard shaw, president and vice-president of the national association; mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee; henry b. blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_; mrs. charlotte perkins stetson of new york, mrs. mary c. c. bradford of colorado, miss elizabeth upham yates of maine, and miss laura a. gregg of kansas; judge william n. ashman, miss matilda hindman, miss boyer, mrs. blankenburg and miss jane campbell, president of the philadelphia society.[ ] the latter is the largest and most influential suffrage society in the state. previously to the philadelphians who were identified with the movement belonged to the pennsylvania association. in the fall of this year it was decided to make it a delegate body, and as that meant barring out individual memberships, the philadelphia members formed a county organization. miss grew was invited to lead the new society, but feeling unable to perform the necessary duties she accepted only the honorary presidency. it was, however, largely owing to her counsel and influence that so successful a beginning was made. after her death in the office of honorary president was abolished. the first president of this society was miss campbell, who has been annually re-elected. the club has quadrupled its membership in the eight years of its existence, counting only those who pay their yearly dues, and has now members. it has worked in many directions; distributed large quantities of literature; has sent speakers to organizations of women; fostered debates among the young people of various churches and young men's literary societies by offering prizes to those successful on the side of woman suffrage; held public meetings in different parts of the city, which includes the whole county; assisted largely in the national press work, and always lent a generous hand to the enterprises of the national association.[ ] in this society prepared a list of all the real and personal property owned by women within the city limits, which amounted to $ , , real and $ , , personal. these figures comprise per cent. of the total city tax, and all of it is without representation. with the hope of arousing suffrage sentiment, classes were formed under the auspices of the state association to study political science; mrs. susan s. fessenden of massachusetts was employed to organize clubs in the state; requests were sent to all the clergymen of philadelphia to preach a sermon or give an address on woman suffrage; and prizes of $ , $ and $ were offered for the three best essays on political equality for women, fifty-six being received. a yellow ribbon bazar was held in philadelphia in , the net proceeds amounting to over $ , . miss mary g. hay, miss yates and miss gregg were then employed as organizers, and were very successful in forming clubs. there are now sixteen active county societies.[ ] legislative actions and laws: in miss matilda hindman was sent to harrisburg to urge the legislature to submit an amendment to the voters striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the state constitution. as a preliminary, letters were sent to members asking their views on the subject; replies were received, non-committal, favorable, unfavorable. miss hindman and eleven other women appeared before a joint committee of senate and house to present arguments in favor of submitting the amendment. a bill for this purpose passed the house, but was lost in the senate by a vote of ayes, noes. this was the first concerted action of the pennsylvania suffragists to influence legislation for women. a legacy of $ , from mrs. mary h. newbold aided their efforts to secure the bill. political conditions have been such that it has been considered useless to try to obtain any legislative action on woman suffrage, and no further attempts have been made. to influence public sentiment, however, mass meetings addressed by the best speakers were held in the hall of the house of representatives during the sessions of , ' , ' and ' . in and the suffragists made strenuous attempts to secure a bill to amend the intestate law, which greatly discriminates against married women, but it was killed in committee. owing to a gradual advance in public sentiment laws have been enacted from time to time protecting wage-earning women; also enlarging the property rights of wives, enabling them to act as incorporators for business of profit, and giving them freedom to testify in court against their husbands under some circumstances. in a number of influential women decided to form a corporation, with a stock company, for the purpose of building a club house and equipping the same to rent as a business of profit. the charter was refused, because several of the women making application were married. after some delay enough single women were found to take out the letters patent. when incorporated the original number organized the company and built the new century club house in philadelphia, which paid five per cent. to stockholders the first year. one of the members of this board of directors, to save time and trouble, made application to be appointed notary public, but she was refused because the law did not permit a woman to serve. public attention was thus called to the injustice of these statutes and, after much legislative tinkering, laws were passed in giving wives the same right as unmarried women to "acquire property, own, possess, control, use, lease, etc." the same year women were made eligible to act as notaries public. dower and curtesy both obtain. if there is issue living, the widow is entitled to one-third of the real estate for her life and one-third of the personal property absolutely. if no issue is living, but collateral heirs, the widow is entitled to one-half of the real estate, including the mansion house, for her life, and one-half of the personal estate absolutely. if a wife die intestate, the widower, whether there has been issue born alive or not, has a life interest in all her real estate and all of her personal property absolutely. if there is neither issue nor kindred and no will the surviving husband or wife takes the whole estate. a husband may mortgage real estate, including the homestead, without the wife's consent, but she can not mortgage even her own separate estate without his consent. each can dispose of personal property as if single. as a rule a married woman can not make a contract, but there are some exceptions. for instance, she can contract for the purchase of a sewing-machine for her own use. the wife must sue and be sued jointly with the husband. a married woman must secure the privilege from the court of carrying on business in her own name. the law provides that the party found guilty of adultery can not marry the co-respondent during the lifetime of the other party. if any divorced woman, who shall have been found guilty of adultery, shall afterward openly cohabit with the person proved to have been the partaker of her crime, she is rendered incapable of alienating either directly or indirectly any of her lands, tenements or hereditaments, and all wills, deeds, and other instruments of conveyance therefor are absolutely void, and after her death her property descends and is subject to distribution according to law in like manner as if she had died intestate. this latter clause does not apply to a divorced man. in june, , through the legislative committee of the state w. s. a., mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg, chairman, and with the co-operation of other women's organizations, the following law, championed by representative frank riter, was secured: a married woman who contributes by the efforts of her own labor or otherwise toward the support, maintenance and education of her minor child, shall have the same and equal power, control and authority over her said child, and the same and equal right to the custody and services, as are now possessed by her husband who is the father of such minor child. the best legal authorities are undecided as to whether labor within the household entitles the mother to this equal guardianship or whether it must be performed outside the home. the father is held to be the only person entitled to sue for the earnings of a minor child, and as no legal means are provided for enforcing the above law it is practically of no effect. the law says, "as her baron or lord, the husband is bound to provide his wife with shelter, food, clothing and medicine;" also: if any husband or father neglect to maintain his wife or children, it is lawful for any alderman, justice of the peace or magistrate, upon information made before him, under oath or affirmation, by the wife or children, or by any other person, to issue his warrant for the arrest of the man, and bind him over with one sufficient surety to appear at the next court of quarter sessions, there to answer the said charge. if he is found to be of sufficient ability to pay such sum as the court thinks reasonable and proper, it makes an order for the comfortable support of wife or children, or both, the sum not to exceed the amount of $ per month. the man is to be committed to jail until he complies with the order of the court, or gives security for the payment of the sum. after three months' imprisonment, if the court find him unable to pay or give security, it may discharge him. in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years. the penalty is a fine not exceeding $ , , and imprisonment by separate and solitary confinement at labor, or simple imprisonment, not exceeding fifteen years. no minimum penalty is named. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding:[ ] the state constitution of made women eligible for all school offices, but they have had great difficulty in securing any of these. out of , school directors in the state only thirty-two are women. in philadelphia a board of public education, appointed by the courts, co-operates with the school directors. this board consists of forty-one members, only three being women. in the entire state, six women are reported to be now filling the offices of county and city school superintendent and assistant superintendent. in seventeen years but sixty-seven women (in twelve counties) have been appointed members of the boards of public charities. in a law was passed recognizing accounting as a profession, and miss mary b. niles is now a certified public accountant and auditor. there have been women on the civil service examining board for nurses, matrons, etc., but there are none at present. to pennsylvania belongs the honor of appointing the first woman in a hospital for the insane with exclusive charge--dr. alice bennett, norristown asylum, in . now all of the six state hospitals for the insane employ women physicians. in philadelphia there are five hospitals under the exclusive control of women. women have entire charge of the female prisoners in the philadelphia county jail. police matrons are on duty at many of the station houses in cities of the first and second class, sixteen in philadelphia. committees of women, officially appointed, visit all the public institutions of philadelphia and montgomery counties. dr. frances c. van gasken served several years as health inspector, the only woman to fill such an office in philadelphia. six women are employed as state factory inspectors and receive the same salary as the men inspectors. within the past ten years a large number of women have become city librarians through appointment by the common councils. mrs. margaret center klingelsmith, ll.b., is librarian of the state university law school, but has been refused admission to the academy of law (bar association) of philadelphia, although there is a strong sentiment in her favor led by george e. nitzsche, registrar of the law school. occupations: the only prohibited industry is mining. no professions are legally forbidden to women. in a graduate of the law department of the university of pennsylvania, mrs. carrie burnham kilgore, made the fight for the admission of women to the bar and was herself finally admitted to practice in the courts of philadelphia. judges william s. pierce, william n. ashman and thomas k. finletter advocated this advanced step. there are women physicians in philadelphia alone. education: the woman's medical college of philadelphia, clara marshall, m. d., dean, was incorporated in .[ ] the idea of its establishment originated with dr. bartholomew fussell, a member of the society of friends. its foundation was made possible through the effective work of dr. joseph s. longshore in securing a charter from the legislature. dr. hannah myers longshore was a member of the first graduating class, a pioneer among women physicians, and through her skill and devotion won high rank in her profession.[ ] in the name was changed by decree of court from female medical college to woman's medical college. it is the oldest and largest medical school for women in the world, and has nearly , alumnae, including students from nineteen foreign countries. the management is entirely in the hands of women. in the woman's hospital was founded, mainly through the efforts of dr. ann preston, to afford women the clinical opportunities denied by practically all the existing hospitals. it is now one of the largest in philadelphia. during the past twenty years a number of educational institutions have been opened to women. of the forty colleges and universities in the state, just one-half are co-educational; three are for women alone; two catholic, one military and fourteen others are for men alone. of the sixteen theological seminaries, only one, the unitarian at meadville, admits women. they have the full privileges of the colleges of pharmacy and dentistry in philadelphia. the principal institutions closed to women are the jefferson medical, hahnemann medical, medico-chirurgical, franklin and marshall, haverford, lafayette, moravian, muhlenberg, st. vincent, washington and jefferson, waynesburg, lehigh and most of the departments of the western university. in the university of pennsylvania (state) women are admitted on equal terms with men to the post-graduate department; as candidates for the master of arts degree; and to the four years' course in biology, leading to the degree of b. s. they may take special courses in pedagogy, music and interior decoration (in the department of architecture) but no degree. the medical, dental and veterinary departments are entirely closed to them. of the large departments, law is the only one which is fully, freely and heartily open to women on exactly the same terms as to men, and it confers the degree of ll. b. upon both alike. there are no women on the faculty, but prof. sara yorke stevenson, the distinguished archoælogist, is secretary of the department of archæology and paleontology and curator of the egyptian and mediterranean section. the drexel institute, founded and endowed by anthony j. drexel, was opened in december, . instruction is given in the arts, sciences and industries. all the departments are open to women on the same terms as to men. booker t. washington has a free scholarship for a pupil, and one is held by the carlisle indian school. bryn mawr, non-sectarian, but founded by joseph w. taylor, m. d., a member of the society of friends, was opened in . it stands at the head of the women's colleges of the world, and ranks with the best colleges for men. miss m. carey thomas, ph. d., ll. d., is president. notwithstanding these splendid educational advantages, as late as there was no opportunity in the philadelphia public schools for a girl to prepare for college or for a business office. in the present superintendent, edward brooks, reorganized the girls' high school, arranging a four years' classical course and a three years' business course. there are in the public schools , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . in philadelphia the average for men is $ . ; for women, $ . . in this city, by decree of the board of education, the highest positions are closed to women. * * * * * pennsylvania is rich in women's clubs, belonging to the state federation. the three largest are the new century, with members; civic, ; new century guild (workingwomen), --all in philadelphia. most of the clubs have civic departments. the suffrage societies have full membership in the state federation of clubs. the civic and legal education society of philadelphia, composed of men and women, has lecture courses on national, state and municipal government and a practical knowledge of law. a study class of municipal law is conducted by mrs. margaret center klingelsmith, the law librarian of the state university. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. lucretia longshore blankenburg of philadelphia, who has been president of the state suffrage association since . [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. i, p. . [ ] officers in : president, mary grew, vice presidents, john k. wildman, ellen m. child, passmore williamson, corresponding secretary, florence a. burleigh, recording secretary, anna shoemaker, treasurer, annie heacock, executive committee, mary s. hillborn, martha b. earle, sarah h. peirce, gertrude k. peirce, joshua peirce, leslie miller, maria p. miller, harriet purvis, caroline l. broomall, deborah pennock, j. e. case, matilda hindman, dr. hiram corson. [ ] these meetings have been held in chester, west chester, lancaster, reading, lewistown, oxford, kennett square, norristown, scranton, pittsburg, harrisburg, philadelphia, chester and columbia. [ ] for an account of the citizens' suffrage association, edward m. davis, president, see vol. iii, p. . [ ] at the annual meeting of october, , the following were elected: president, miss jane campbell; vice-presidents, miss eliza heacock and miss elizabeth dornan; corresponding secretary, miss katherine j. campbell; recording secretary, mrs. olive pond amies; treasurer, mrs. mary f. kenderdine. sixteen delegates were elected to represent the society at the state convention. [ ] among the men and women who have been especially helpful to the cause of woman suffrage since , besides those already mentioned, are robert purvis, john m. broomall, edward m. davis, drs. hannah e. longshore, jane v. myers, jane k. garver; mesdames rachel foster avery, emma j. bartol, eliza sproat turner, elizabeth b. passmore, j. l. koethen, jr., helen mosher james, charlotte l. peirce, ellen c. h. ogden, mary e. mumford, elizabeth smith, j. m. harsh, j. w. scheel, h. c. perkins, hanna m. harlan, misses julia t. foster, m. adeline thomson, susan g. appleton, julia a. myers, l. m. mather, lucy e. anthony. [ ] william and hannah penn were both proprietary governors of the colony, william from the time of its settlement in until , when he was stricken with illness. hannah then took up the affairs and administered as governor until william's death in , and after that time until her son became of age. sidney fisher, in his account of the pennsylvania colony, says that this is the only instance in history where a woman has acted as proprietary governor. hannah penn was skilful in her management and retained the confidence of the people through financial and political embarrassments. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. i, p. . [ ] drs. joseph and hannah myers longshore were the uncle and mother of mrs. lucretia l. blankenburg. [eds. chapter lxii. rhode island.[ ] rhode island was one of the pioneer states to form a woman suffrage association. on dec. , , in answer to a call signed by a large number of its most distinguished men and women, a successful meeting was held in roger williams hall, providence, and mrs. paulina wright davis was elected president of the new organization.[ ] many series of conventions in different parts of the state were held between and , at which the officers and special speakers presented petitions for signatures and prepared for legislative appeals. in , by unanimous vote of the assembly, the state house was granted for the first time for a woman suffrage convention. four sessions were held in the hall of the house of representatives, and frederick douglass, susan b. anthony, lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, william lloyd garrison, mary f. eastman and others addressed great throngs of people who filled the seats, occupied all the standing room and overflowed into the lobbies. up to the present date this association has held an annual convention in october, a special may festival with social features in the spring, and from one to four meetings each intervening month. these have been rendered attractive by papers and addresses from the members and by public speakers of ability from different parts of the united states and from other lands. in addition to this active propaganda special organizers have been secured from time to time to canvass the state and win intelligent support for the cause. the association has had but three presidents--paulina wright davis for the first two years, elizabeth buffum chace from until her death in , aged ninety-two, and ardelia c. dewing, now serving. when mrs. chace was unable longer to be actively the leader, anna garlin spencer, who returned in to reside in rhode island, as first vice-president acted for her about seven years and mrs. dewing for the remainder of the time. mrs. davis was an exquisite personality with soul ever facing the light; mrs. chace, a woman of granite strength and stability of character, with a keen mind always bent upon the reason and the right of things, and with a single-hearted devotion to the great principles of life.[ ] the vice-presidents of the association number "honorable names not a few."[ ] among them was the rev. frederick a. hinckley, who during the eleven years of his ministry in providence, - , acted as the first vice-president and did the greatest possible service to the association in all ways, ever championing the principle of equality of rights. the secretaries of the association always have been among the leaders in the movement. at first rhoda anna fairbanks (peckham) was the single officer in that capacity. in anna c. garlin (spencer) was added as corresponding secretary but resigned in when her marriage required her removal from the state.[ ] mrs. ellen m. bolles served from to when mrs. annie m. griffin was elected. there have been but three treasurers--marcus t. janes, mrs. susan b. p. martin and mrs. mary k. wood.[ ] the chairman of the executive committee has always shared the heaviest burdens. mrs. chace was the first chairman. mrs. s. e. h. doyle succeeded her and continued in the office until her death in . mrs. anna e. aldrich then served to the end of her life in . the association has done a great deal of active work through its organizers, the brilliant and versatile elizabeth kittridge churchill, mrs. margaret m. campbell, mrs. louise m. tyler, and others. mrs. ellen m. bolles, from to , acted as organizer as well as secretary. the state society affiliated with the new england woman suffrage association from the first; with the american in and with the national-american in . it was incorporated in and has been the recipient of legacies from james eddy, mrs. rachel fry, mrs. sarah wilbour, mrs. elizabeth b. chace and others. it raised and expended for the woman suffrage campaign of more than $ , and has had some paid worker in the field during most of the years. legislative action: from the first year of its existence, , the state association petitioned the legislature for an amendment to the constitution abolishing sex as a condition of suffrage, and hearings were held before many committees. in , through the influence of representative edward l. freeman, a bill for such an amendment actually passed both houses, but failed through some technicality. in it passed both houses again by the constitutional majority of two-thirds. it was necessary that it should pass two successive legislatures, and the vote in was, senate, ayes, noes; house, ayes, noes. the amendment having been published and read at the annual town and ward meetings was then submitted to the voters. it was as follows: "women shall have the right to vote in the election of all civil officers and on all questions in all legal town, district or ward meetings, subject to the same qualifications, limitations and conditions as men." the story of this campaign can be compressed into a few sentences, but it was a great struggle in which heroic qualities were displayed and was led by the woman whose life has meant so much for rhode island, mrs. elizabeth buffum chace, who had as her able lieutenant the rev. frederick a. hinckley, and as her body-guard all the faithful leaders of the suffrage cause in the state and helpers from other states.[ ] headquarters were established immediately in the business center of providence. these rooms were opened each morning before nine o'clock and kept open until ten at night throughout the contest. the campaign lasted twenty-nine days, during which ninety-two public meetings were held, some in parlors but most in halls, vestries and churches. miss cora scott pond came at once into the state to organize the larger public meetings and miss sarah j. eddy and mrs. c. p. norton arranged for parlor meetings. the regular speakers were henry b. blackwell, william lloyd garrison, the revs. c. b. pitblado, louis a. banks, frederick a. hinckley, ada c. bowles; mesdames mary a. livermore, j. ellen foster, zerelda g. wallace, julia ward howe, katherine lente stevenson, e. s. burlingame, adelaide a. claflin; miss mary f. eastman and miss huldah b. loud.[ ] miss susan b. anthony was invited to make the closing speech of the campaign but declined as she considered the situation hopeless. the cities and towns were as thoroughly canvassed by these speakers as the short time permitted. a special paper, _the amendment_, was edited by mrs. lillie b. chace wyman, assisted by miss kate austin and col. j. c. wyman; the first number, issued march , an edition of , , and the second, march , an edition of , . they contained extracts from able articles on suffrage by leading men and women, letters from rhode island citizens approving the proposed amendment, and answers to the usual objections. the principal newspapers of providence, the _journal_ and the _telegram_, both led the opposition to the amendment, the former admitting in an editorial, published march , "the theoretic justice of the proposed amendment to the constitution conferring suffrage upon women," but hoping it would be rejected because "whatever may be said for it, the measure has the fatal defect of being premature and impolitic." the opposition of the _telegram_ was more aggressive and even of a scurrilous type. to offset this hostility if possible the suffrage association hired a column of space in the _journal_ and half a column in the _telegram_ and kept this daily filled with suffrage arguments; toward the end of the campaign securing space also in the _daily republican_. the papers of the state generally were opposed to the measure, but the woonsocket _daily reporter_, newport _daily news_, hope valley _sentinel-advertiser_, pawtuxet valley _gleaner_, providence _people_, bristol _phenix_, central falls _visitor_ and a few others gave effective assistance. the association distributed about , packages of literature to the voters. in the providence _journal_ of april the names of over ninety prominent voters were signed to this announcement: "we, the undersigned, being opposed to the adoption of the proposed woman suffrage amendment to the constitution, respectfully urge all citizens (!) to vote against it at the coming election." the next day the _journal_ contained in the space paid for by the association the signatures of about the same number of equally prominent men appended to this statement: "we favor the passage of the woman suffrage amendment which has been submitted to the voters of rhode island for action at the coming election." the same issue contained a list of many of the most distinguished men and women in this and other countries, beginning with phillips brooks and clara barton, and headed, "some other people of weight who have indorsed woman suffrage. match this if you can." the election was held april , , and at the sixty-two polling places men and women were on hand to urge the electors to vote for the amendment. the result was , ayes, , noes--the largest defeat woman suffrage ever received. many of the ablest lawyers having decided that no extension of franchise, not even a school vote, could be secured in rhode island through the legislature (except possibly presidential suffrage) and the amendment to the constitution having been defeated by so heavy a vote, it was deemed best not to ask for another submission of the question for a term of years. therefore other matters, involving legal equality of the sexes, formed for a while the chief subjects for legislative work. in a special appeal was made to the general assembly to confer upon women by statute the right to vote for presidential electors. three hearings were had before the house committee but the bill was not reported. in a hearing, managed by mrs. jeanette s. french, was granted by the senate committee. a number of able women of the state made addresses and the committee reported unanimously in favor of submitting again an amendment for the full suffrage. it was too late, however, for further action and was referred to the may session. at that time it passed the senate but was lost in the house by a small majority. in the governor was empowered by the general assembly to appoint a commission to revise the state constitution. this was deemed by many as opposed to the spirit of the basic law of the commonwealth, in substituting a small appointive body for the constitutional convention of electors previously considered necessary to revise the fundamental law of the state, but the commission was appointed. the woman suffrage association early presented a claim for a hearing which was granted for may . the rev. anna garlin spencer conducted it and introduced the other speakers who were all citizens of the state and of influence in their communities.[ ] after interviews were held with the commission, the association adopted resolutions which were afterwards incorporated in a letter and read by mrs. bolles to the committee on revision. it said in part: we are informed that you consider it inadvisable to incorporate a suffrage amendment in the revised constitution lest it endanger the acceptance of other proposed and necessary changes. this view may be correct, but surely it need not prevent you from advising a provision by which the legislature would be empowered to extend suffrage to women at its discretion, and this we greatly desire. a conservative measure of this nature could not call out a large amount of antagonism from the voters, while it would be a great help to women in their efforts to obtain a voice in such matters of public concern as are of vital importance to their interests. the constitution of rhode island is far behind the spirit of the age in its treatment of women, as only one other state makes it equally difficult for them to obtain even the simplest form of political rights. in revising the fundamental law this fact ought not to be overlooked and the instrument should be so constructed as to bring it up to date in this respect. these appeals were not responded to favorably by the commission, although great courtesy and willingness to consider the subject were manifested, and a large minority vote was given in the commission itself to empower the legislature to grant suffrage at discretion by statute. the proposed revision was submitted to the electors and during the campaign preceding their vote the association passed the following resolution at its annual meeting of oct. , : "resolved, that we consider the proposed constitution unworthy the intelligence and civilization of the age, for these reasons: first, it does not give suffrage to women citizens and makes the obtaining of an amendment for this purpose even more difficult than it is at present by requiring a larger legislative majority to submit any question to the voters. second, it restricts the suffrage of men by a property qualification." the revised constitution was voted down by a large majority. laws: the suffrage association from its first existence closely watched legislation affecting women and children, and often appeared by representative speakers before committees engaged in framing changes in such laws; but in and ' a special effort was made to secure full legal equality for men and women. miss mary a. greene, a rhode island lawyer, educated for and admitted to the bar in massachusetts, was engaged to prepare a full statement of the existing laws relating to women and children and to draw up a code for suggestion to the legislature which should embody the exact justice for which the association stood. this step was taken at that time because the legislature had just appointed a committee of codification to consider the statutes bearing on domestic relations, contract powers, etc. the suggestions of the association, as prepared by miss greene, were not acted upon in any formal way, still less with completeness, but the changes made in the interest of equal rights for women were marked and the association had a distinct share in them. the property laws for women are now satisfactory except that of inheritance which is as follows: dower and curtesy both obtain. if the husband die without a will, leaving children, the widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the personal property absolutely, the remainder going to them. if there are no children or descendants she takes one-half of the personal property and as much of the real estate for life as is not required to pay the husband's debts. the other half of the personal property goes to the husband's relatives and, after her death, all of the real estate. the widower is entitled to a life use of all the wife's real estate if there has been issue born alive. if she die without a will he may take the whole of her personal property without administration or accountability to the children or to her kindred. the widow and minor children are entitled to certain articles of apparel, furniture and household supplies and to six months' support out of the estate. the widow has the prior right as administrator. the wife may dispose of her personal and real property by will, but can not impair the husband's curtesy, or the life use of all her real estate. the husband may do the same subject to the wife's dower, or life use of one-third of the real estate. if any person having neither wife nor children die without a will "the property shall go to the father of such person if there be a father, if not, then to the mother, brothers and sisters." all the property of a married woman, whether acquired before or after marriage, is absolutely secured to her sole and separate use, free from liability for her husband's debts. personal and real estate may be conveyed by her as if unmarried, the latter subject to the husband's curtesy. her husband must present an order from her to collect the rents and profits. a married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued, and carry on any trade or business, and her earnings are her sole and separate property. she can not, however, enter into business partnership with her husband. neither husband nor wife is liable for the torts of the other. the wife's property is liable for her debts or torts. a married woman may act as executor, administrator or guardian if appointed to those offices by will, but she can not be appointed to them by the court except to the guardianship of children.[ ] in case of divorce for fault of the husband the wife may have dower as if he were dead. if alimony be claimed the dower is waived. if the divorce is for the fault of the wife, the husband, if entitled to curtesy, shall have a life estate in the lands of the wife, subject to such allowance to her, chargeable on the life estate, as the court may deem proper. in case of separation only, the petitioner may be assigned a separate maintenance out of the property of the husband or wife as the case may be. the father is the legal guardian of the minor children. at his death the mother is entitled to the guardianship and custody. the mother may be appointed guardian by the court during the husband's lifetime. if he is insane or has deserted or neglected his children she is entitled to full custody. if the wife is deserted by her husband unjustifiably and not supported by him, she may receive authority from the court for the custody and earnings of her minor children, and he may be imprisoned not less than six months nor more than three years. if he abandon her and is absent from the state one year or more or is condemned to prison for a year or more, the court can order the income from his property applied to the support of his family. a law of provided that a wife owning property might contract in writing for the support of her husband and children, but this was repealed in three months. she is not required to support them by her labor or property, as the husband is the legal head of the family. the most of the above laws have been enacted since . until , years was the age for the protection of girls, but then it was made years, with a penalty of not less than ten years' imprisonment. in it was raised to and the penalty made not more than fifteen years with no minimum number specified. the former penalty still holds, however, for actual rape. suffrage: women have no form of suffrage. the husband may vote as a taxpayer by right of his wife's real estate. office holding: eligibility to office is limited by the constitution to electors. the article referring to school committee (trustees) merely says, however, that they shall be "residents of the town." in and ' the suffrage association procured by direct effort an act qualifying women to serve on school committees and many have done so with distinction. there are sixteen now serving in the state. the city charter of pawtucket requires one of the three members to be a woman. as far back as an appeal was made by the suffrage association that women should be placed on all boards of management of institutions in which women were confined as prisoners or cared for as unfortunates. in partial response an act was passed in establishing an advisory board of female visitors to the charitable, penal and correctional institutions of the state. this board had no powers of control, but had full rights of inspection at all times and constituted an official channel for criticism and suggestions. it is still in existence and is composed of seven representative women. the association was not satisfied with a board of such limited powers and in it memorialized the legislature for an act requiring that women, in the proportion of at least three out of seven, should be placed on the state board of charities and correction, with equal powers in all particulars. this petition was presented for three years successively and special hearings granted to its advocates, but at last was definitely refused. in , however, two institutions, the state home and school for dependent children and the rhode island school for the deaf, were placed in charge of boards of control, to be appointed by the governor, to report to the legislature and to exercise full powers of supervision and management, "at least three of whom shall be women." in a meeting was held by the association to consider the need of good and wise women in all places where unfortunate women are in confinement, and the matter of placing police matrons in stations was discussed. agitation followed and the w. c. t. u., under the enthusiastic lead of mrs. j. k. barney, adopted the matter as a special work, the w. s. a. aiding in all possible ways. in march, , the first police matron in the country (it is believed) was appointed in providence and installed as a regular officer. from this beginning the movement spread until in an act was passed by the general assembly, without a dissenting voice, requiring police matrons in all cities, the nominations in each to be recommended by twenty women residents in good standing. the first agitation for women probation officers was started in a meeting of the state suffrage association in . the w. c. t. u. and the leaders in rescue mission work in providence continued the movement, and in a woman was appointed in providence to that office, with equal powers of the man probation officer, to be responsible for women who are released on parole. in an act was passed as the result of a determined movement lasting several years, in which the suffrage association shared, although the principal leaders were the labor reform organizations of the state and the council of women of rhode island (to which body the w. s. a. was auxiliary). it raised the legal age of the child-worker from ten to twelve years, provided for sanitary conditions and moral safeguards in shops and factories, and for the appointment of two factory and shop inspectors, "one of whom shall be a woman," to secure its enforcement. the man and woman inspector were made exactly equal in power, responsibility and salary, instead of the woman being, as in most states, a deputy or special inspector. mrs. fanny purdy palmer was chosen for this position. appointive offices which women have held recently, or are holding, are assistant clerk of the supreme court and court of common pleas; stenographer for same; clerk to state commissioner of public schools; clerk to state auditor and insurance commissioner; as superintendent of state reform school for girls, and as jailer in kent county. no woman has ever applied to serve as notary public, but doubtless it would not be considered legal. occupations: no occupation or profession is forbidden to women, but a test is soon to be made as to whether they will be admitted to the bar. women are prohibited from contracting to work more than ten hours a day. they can bind themselves to be apprentices till the age of eighteen, men until twenty-one. education: rhode island contains only one university--brown--founded in . in miss helen mcgill and miss annie s. peck, college graduates, addressed a meeting at providence on the higher education of women. arnold b. chace was requested at this time to report at the next regular meeting of the state suffrage association the prospects for the admission of women to brown university, as he was treasurer of the university corporation. at a later meeting the rev. ezekiel gilman robinson, then president of the university, by request addressed the association and declared his views, saying in substance that he was not in favor of their admission, especially in the undergraduate departments, as the discipline required by young men and women was quite different and all social questions would be complicated by the presence of the latter. after much discussion at other meetings it was decided to form a committee, representing several organizations interested in the advancement of women, to work more definitely in this direction. on feb. , , a number of ladies assembled at the home of mrs. rachel fry, a prominent member of the suffrage association, and, after discussion and advice from mr. chace, appointed a committee.[ ] three days later it met at the home of mrs. r. a. peckham, organized and elected miss sarah e. doyle chairman and mrs. fanny purdy palmer secretary. it met again march , to hear reports on the conferences of the members with professors of the university, and the result showed a considerable number of them in favor of the project. to influence public opinion the committee published statistics showing that thirty young women of rhode island were attending colleges outside the state, and argued that most of these who now were "exiles" would gladly receive the higher education at home. the movement was accelerated by the act of four young girls, elizabeth hoyt, henrietta r. palmer, emma l. meader and helen gregory, who took by permission the classical course in the providence high school, at that time limited to boys; and in addressed a petition prepared by david hoyt, the principal, to the president of the university, urging that when their preparation was complete they might be allowed to share the educational privileges of brown. they received a discouraging response and all turned to other colleges. up to this time friends on the faculty and in the corporation of the university were working up a scheme for the unofficial entrance of women and their instruction in the class-rooms, and the committee had engaged itself with the practical details connected with this plan. on feb. , , this somewhat informal committee organized an association and adopted a constitution which declared its object, "to secure the educational privileges of brown university for women on the same terms offered to men." of the thirty-two original signers to this constitution eighteen were members of the state suffrage association and the number included the president, two vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer and four members of the executive committee. the same officers were continued. prof. benjamin franklin clarke was from the first an earnest supporter of the claims of the women, and worked within the faculty as arnold b. chace did in the corporation. when in elisha benjamin andrews (who as professor had in indorsed the woman suffrage amendment) became the president of the university, the cause of the higher education of women took a great leap forward. in october, , the women's college connected with brown university was established and a small building hired for its home. six young women, among them the now distinguished president of mount holyoke college, miss mary woolley, entered the class rooms. the results of the next ten years are thus summed up in the official year-book for : the women's college was founded in october, . at first only the privileges of university examinations and certificates of proficiency were granted. in june, , all the university degrees and the graduate courses were opened. in november, , the institution was accepted by the corporation and officially designated the women's college of brown university. the immediate charge, subject to the direction of the president, was placed in the hands of a dean. all instruction was required to be given by members of the university faculty. pembroke hall, which was built by the rhode island society for the collegiate education of women, was formally transferred to the university in october, , and was accepted as the recitation hall of the women's college. the record of the admission of women to this ancient university is part of the history of the woman suffrage association, because all the initial movements were taken by that body, the society which continued the work was separated from the association only for purposes of practical efficiency, and the first principle on which the movement proceeded was that of absolute equality in educational opportunity, which is the corollary of political democracy. with its actual opening to women, however, other elements of leadership assumed control and have secured later results. on jan. , , the original association having practically secured its object, the money in the treasury was turned over to the women's educational and industrial union, and from that body finally found its way to a scholarship fund for the women's college, and the association disbanded. later the need for raising funds to meet the requirement for buildings and endowments led to the reorganization of the work, and the present rhode island society for the collegiate education of women was formed. miss doyle was elected the president of this new association, as she had been of the old. at the dedication of pembroke hall, which the efforts of this later society had secured, the early history (especially the connection of the woman suffrage association with the work) was not dwelt upon, but the facts should have permanent record to furnish one more proof that woman suffrage societies have started great collateral movements, which, when they are fully successful, often forget or do not know the "mother that bore them."[ ] it was not until that the full classical course of the providence high school, preparatory for the university, was officially thrown open to girls, although a few had previously attended. now all departments, including the manual training, are open alike to both sexes, and there are no distinctions anywhere in the public schools. in these there are men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . only one other state (mass.) shows so great a discrepancy. * * * * * the association of collegiate alumnæ has an active branch in rhode island. seventeen clubs representing , members belong to the state federation. the local council of women, which is auxiliary to the national council, has a membership, by delegate representation, of thirty-two of the leading educational, church, philanthropic and reformatory societies of providence and of the state. about one-half of these have men as well as women for members, but all are represented in the council by women. this body has done many important things, having taken the most active part in securing factory and shop inspection; initiated the formation of the providence society for organizing charity; started the movement for a consumers' league and launched that association; and is now at work to secure a state institution for the care and training of the feeble-minded. the council holds from six to ten private meetings in the year, at least two public meetings, and an annual public peace celebration in conjunction with the peace committee of the international council of women. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to the rev. anna garlin spencer of providence, vice-president-at-large of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, p. . [ ] the annual meeting in october, , celebrated the completion of a quarter of a century's service on the part of mrs. elizabeth buffum chace as president of the rhode island woman suffrage association. letters from absent friends were read expressing their high appreciation of her life-long service in the cause of humankind as well as womankind. mrs. julia ward howe, mr. william lloyd garrison and miss mary f. eastman attended to speak for the cause, and to testify their love for mrs. chace. the hon. e. l. freeman, ex-gov. john w. davis and others of the state also spoke words of great respect. the association honored itself by once more electing mrs. chace its chief officer, although she had expressed a strong desire to retire from the position as she felt that the burden of the work should be borne by younger shoulders. [annual report to national suffrage convention. [ ] thomas wentworth higginson, julia ward howe, rowland hazard, phebe jackson, susan sisson, sarah helen whitman, elizabeth k. churchill, abraham payne, sarah t. wilbour, charlotte a. jenckes, george l. clarke, francis c. frost, susan r. harris, augustus woodbury and many others of the best known and most useful citizens. [ ] others were mrs. m. m. brewster, mrs. mary c. peckham, mrs. rowena p. b. tingley, miss charlotte r. hoswell, mrs. anna e. aldrich and mrs. martha knowles. [ ] present board: president mrs. a. c. dewing; first vice-president, mrs. thomas w. chase; second vice-president, mrs. ellen m. bolles; third vice-president, mrs. charlotte b. wilbour; secretary, mrs. annie m. griffin; treasurer, mrs. mary k. wood; auditors, mrs. o. i. angell, mrs. elizabeth ormsbee; honorary vice-presidents, the hon. h. b. metcalf, dr. l. f. c. garvin and arnold b. chace. [ ] the officers were: president, mrs. chace; vice-presidents, mr. hinckley, arnold b. chace, phebe jackson, mary o. arnold and julia ward howe; acting secretary, mrs. anna e. aldrich; treasurer, mrs. mary k. wood; executive committee, mrs. s. e. h. doyle, miss sarah j. eddy, mesdames aldrich, fanny purdy palmer, c. p. norton, louisa a. bowen, elizabeth c. hinckley, susan c. kenyon, mary e. bliss, frances s. bailey and s. r. alexander, from whom the campaign committee was selected. [ ] occasional addresses were made by gen. thomas w. chace, col. j. c. wyman, judge r. c. pitman, dr. l. f. c. garvin, the revs. h. c. westwood, augustus woodbury, h. i. cushman, n. h. harriman, thomas r. slicer, o. h. still, j. h. larry; messrs. olney arnold, augustine jones, r. f. trevellick, ralph beaumont, john o'keefe and others. [ ] dr. helen c. putnam represented the physicians, mrs. mary frost evans the editors, miss sarah e. doyle the teachers, mrs. mary a. babcock and mrs. a. b. e. jackson the w. c. t. u., mrs. l. g. c. knickerbocker and mrs. s. m. aldrich women in private life, while the w. s. a. contributed mrs. j. s. french, mrs. a. c. dewing and mrs. ellen m. bolles. edwin c. pierce and rabbi david blaustein, members of the association, also spoke in favor of suffrage for women. [ ] the right to be appointed by the court was given to married women by act of . [ ] mrs. francis w. goddard, miss sarah e. doyle, principal of the girls' high school of providence; mrs. m. m. brewster, president of the women's educational and industrial union; mrs. fanny purdy palmer and mrs. r. a. peckham, representing the state suffrage association; mrs. augustine jones, representing the friends' school, and mrs. m. e. tucker. [ ] the suffrage association has held one meeting in pembroke hall, however, which was presided over by its acting president and at which the daughter of julia ward howe, mrs. florence howe hall, spoke upon "the political position of women in england," and the use of sayles hall of brown university was freely granted for a series of meetings under the auspices of the w. s. a. devoted to a presentation of "woman's contribution to the progress of the world." these were addressed by abba goold woolson, mary a. livermore, lillie devereux blake, lillie chace wyman, alice stone blackwell, mary f. eastman, prof. katherine hanscom and the rev. anna garlin spencer. in october, , miss susan b. anthony addressed the students and was enthusiastically received. chapter lxiii. south carolina.[ ] in mrs. virginia durant young being on a visit to mrs. adelaide viola neblett at greenville, these two did so inspire each other that then and there they held a suffrage conference with mrs. s. odie sirrene, mrs. mary putnam gridley and others, and pledged themselves to work for woman's enfranchisement in south carolina. mrs. young made a suffrage address to the woman's christian temperance union of beaufort in , and later spoke on the subject by invitation at lexington and in the baptist church at marion. she eventually succeeded in forming a state association of men and women who believed in equal rights, and interested themselves in circulating literature on this question. its officers for are mrs. young, president; mrs. mary p. prentiss, vice-president; miss harriet b. manville, corresponding secretary; mrs. gridley, treasurer. in miss susan b. anthony, president of the national association, mrs. lillie devereux blake of new york, and mrs. ellen battelle dietrick of massachusetts, made addresses at various places, on their way home from the national convention in atlanta. in april of this year miss laura clay of kentucky, miss helen morris lewis of north carolina, and miss elizabeth upham yates of maine, with mrs. young and mrs. neblett, began a suffrage campaign at greenville. they went thence to spartanburg, columbia and charleston. here the party divided, miss clay and mrs. young going to georgetown, florence, marion, latta, darlington, timmonsville and sumter. later mrs. neblett, miss clay and mrs. young spoke at allendale, barnwell, hampton and beaufort. miss clay, auditor of the national association, worked four months in south carolina this year at her own expense. half of the time was spent in columbia, assisting mrs. young and others in the effort to have an amendment giving suffrage to taxpaying women incorporated in the new constitution then being framed. they had hearings before two committees in september, and presented their arguments to the entire constitutional convention in the state house, with a large number of citizens present. the amendment failed by a vote of yeas, nays. president d. b. johnston, of the girls' industrial and normal college, and john j. mcmahan, state superintendent of instruction, have done much to advance the educational status of women, and both believe in perfect equality of rights. among other advocates may be mentioned the hon. walter hazard, dr. william j. young, mcdonald furman, b. odell duncan, george sirrene, col. john j. dargan, col. ellison keith, the rev. sidi h. brown, col. v. p. clayton, the rev. john t. morrison, samuel g. lawton, j. gordon coogler and william d. evans, president of the state agricultural society. miss martha schofield, superintendent of the colored industrial school at aiken, regularly enters a protest against paying taxes without representation. other women who have been devoted workers in the cause of suffrage are miss mary i. hemphill, editor with her father of the abbeville _medium_; mesdames marion morgan buckner, daisy p. bailey, florence durant evans, lillian d. clayton, gertrude d. lido, cora s. lott, abbie christensen, martha corley and mary p. screven; dr. sarah allen; misses claudia g. tharin, iva youmans, annie durant, kate lily blue and floride cunningham. legislative action and laws: in mrs. virginia durant young petitioned the legislature for her personal enfranchisement, adopting this method of presenting the arguments in a nutshell, and as "news" they were widely published and commented on. at this session gen. robert r. hemphill, a stanch advocate, presented a bill in the senate to give women the franchise and the right of holding office, and brought it to a vote on december ; yeas, , nays, . in numerously signed petitions for suffrage were sent to the legislature by the women of fairfax, lexington and marion. the right of petition was also frequently used by the members of the state w. c. t. u. in mrs. young addressed the legislature in behalf of presidential suffrage for women. in , ' , ' and ' the laws were improved in regard to married women's property rights, allowing them to hold real estate independently of their husbands, restraining husbands from collecting debts or wages owing to their wives, and making the wife's signature necessary to the legality of mortgage. in was enacted by the constitutional convention that, "the real and personal property of a woman, held at the time of her marriage, or that which she may thereafter acquire, either by gift, grant, inheritance, devise or otherwise, shall be her separate property, and she shall have all the rights incident to the same, to which an unmarried woman or a man is entitled. she shall have the power to contract and be contracted with, in the same manner as if she were unmarried." dower prevails but not curtesy. if either husband or wife die without a will the other has an equal claim on the property. should there be one or more children, the survivor receives one-third of the real and the personal estate. if there are no lineal descendants, but collateral heirs, the survivor takes one-half of the entire estate. if there are no lineal descendants, father, mother, brother, sister, child of such brother or sister, brother of the half-blood or lineal ancestor, the survivor receives two-thirds of the estate and the other third goes to the next of kin. if there is no kin, the survivor takes the whole estate. a homestead to the value of $ , is exempted to "the head of the family." south carolina is the only state which does not allow divorce. the father is the legal guardian of the children, and may appoint a guardian of their persons and property by will. the law requires the husband to support the family, but there is no effective way for its enforcement. any one may sell the wife necessaries and subject the husband's property to the payment of the bills, if he does not furnish a suitable support, but he can claim his homestead against such a debt and in many ways render this remedy unavailing. in the "age of protection for girls" was raised from to years. the penalty is "death, with privilege of the jury to recommend to mercy, whereupon the penalty may be reduced to imprisonment in the penitentiary at hard labor during the whole lifetime of the prisoner." seduction under promise of marriage is punished by a fine of not less than $ nor more than $ , , or imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than five years. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: in the early ' 's gov. benjamin r. tillman secured the election of the first woman state librarian. ever since this office has been filled by a woman, elected annually by the legislature. no other elective office is open to women. a number of the engrossing clerks in the senate are women. through the efforts of the w. c. t. u. there is a police matron at charleston. dr. sarah allen was appointed physician in the state hospital for the insane in , and still holds the position. there are women directors on the board of the columbia library association. women do not serve on the board of any state institution. they can not be notaries public. occupations: women are not permitted to practice law. no other profession or occupation is legally forbidden to them. education: in the state university at columbia opened its doors to women. in the same year the medical college of charleston admitted them, and still later furman university (baptist) at greenville. these were direct results of the agitation for equal rights. charleston college and clemson agricultural college are closed to women, but they may enter the other educational institutions. gov. benjamin r. tillman was largely instrumental in securing the girls' industrial and normal college at rock hill, in . in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. virginia d. young of fairfax, owner and editor of the _enterprise_ and president of the state woman suffrage association. chapter lxiv. tennessee.[ ] no organized work for woman suffrage had been done in tennessee up to , when mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon was appointed president of the state by the national association. in she removed to washington territory and mrs. lida a. meriwether was made her successor. as the best means of obtaining a hearing from people who would not attend a suffrage meeting, mrs. meriwether decided to begin her work in the ranks of the woman's christian temperance union. after three years of quiet effort in this organization (of which she was state president) she succeeded in adding the "franchise" to its departments and having a solid suffrage plank nailed into its platform by unanimous vote. in may, , she formed in memphis the first local suffrage club, with a membership of fifty. in january, , miss susan b. anthony, president of the national association, and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of its organization committee, came to memphis and were welcomed not only by the suffrage society, but also by the local council of women, the woman's club and the nineteenth century club. they addressed a fine audience in the young men's hebrew association hall. the following june mrs. meriwether was employed by the national association to lecture and organize for two weeks, and visited the most important towns in the state. in may, , miss frances a. griffin of alabama made a six weeks' lecture and organizing tour under the auspices of the association, during which she spoke in every available town of any size, mrs. nellie e. bergen acting as advance agent. no other organizing work ever has been done in tennessee. the first state suffrage convention was held at nashville in may, , an association formed and mrs. meriwether unanimously elected president. this was in fact an interstate convention, being held during the tennessee centennial exposition at the invitation of the managing committee, who offered the suffragists the use of the woman's building for three days to give reasons for the faith that was in them. delegates were present from tennessee, kentucky, alabama, mississippi and illinois. addresses were given by miss laura clay and mrs. lida calvert obenchain of kentucky, mrs. virginia clay clopton and miss griffin of alabama, miss josephine e. locke of illinois, mrs. flora c. huntington and mrs. meriwether. the second convention took place at memphis, april , , mrs. chapman catt and miss mary g. hay, national organizer, in attendance. mrs. meriwether was elected honorary president for life; mrs. elise m. selden was made president and miss margaret e. henry, corresponding secretary. on sunday evening mrs. chapman catt addressed a mass meeting in the grand opera house, and the next evening spoke in the audience hall of the nineteenth century club, both given free of charge. one incident will further show the growth of public sentiment in this direction. in a prominent memphis woman sent to the _arena_ an article entitled the attitude of southern women on the suffrage question, which she claimed to be that of uncompromising opposition. in conclusion she said: "the views presented have been strengthened by opinions from women all over the south, from the atlantic coast to texas, from the ohio to the gulf. more than one hundred of the home-makers, the teachers and the writers have been consulted, all of them recognized in their own communities for earnestness and ability. of these, only thirteen declared themselves outright for woman suffrage; four believed that women should vote upon property and school questions; while nine declined to express themselves. all the others were opposed to woman suffrage in any form." she then gave short extracts from the letters of eighteen women, four in favor and fourteen opposed. the editor wrote to mrs. josephine k. henry of kentucky asking for an article from the other side. she sent one entitled the new woman of the new south, and the two were published in the _arena_ of february, . mrs. henry gave extracts from the letters of seventy-two prominent women in various parts of the south--all uncompromising suffragists. she had written to mrs. meriwether that, as her opponent was from tennessee, she wanted a distinct voice from that state, and requested her to give a few reasons for desiring the suffrage and obtain the signatures of women to the same. mrs. meriwether supplied the following: we, the undersigned women of tennessee, do and should want the ballot because-- . being years old, we object to being classed with minors. . born in america and loyal to her institutions, we protest against being made perpetual aliens. . costing the treasuries of our counties nothing, we protest against acknowledging the male pauper as our political superior. . being obedient to law, we protest against the statute which classes us with the convict and makes the pardoned criminal our political superior. . being sane, we object to being classed with the lunatic. . possessing an average amount of intelligence, we protest against legal classification with the idiot. . we taxpayers claim the right to representation. . we married women want to own our clothes. . we married breadwinners want to own our earnings. . we mothers want an equal partnership in our children. . we educated women want the power to offset the illiterate vote of our state. mrs. meriwether sent this "confession of faith" to the presidents of every suffrage club and w. c. t. u. in tennessee, giving them a fortnight to obtain signatures and adding, "the king's business requires haste." in two weeks it was returned with the names of women, while several presidents wrote: "if you could only give us two weeks more we could double the number."[ ] legislative actions and laws: dower and curtesy both obtain. the widow receives one-third of the real estate, unless there are neither descendants nor heirs-at-law, when she takes it all in fee-simple. of the personal property she takes a child's share, unless there are no lineal descendants, when she takes it all. the widower is entitled to a life interest in the wife's real estate, if there has been issue born alive, and to all of her personal estate whether there are children or not. the law provides that a homestead to the value of $ , shall inure to the widow. the wife can neither sue nor be sued nor make contracts in her own name, unless the husband has deserted her or is insane. the husband is entitled to her earnings and savings. meigs' digest says: "the general principle of the law is that marriage amounts to an absolute gift to the husband of all personal goods of which the wife is actually or beneficially possessed at the time, or which come to her during coverture. so that if it be money in her pocket or personal property in the hands of a third party, the title vests at once in the husband. "by right of his marriage the husband takes an interest in his wife's real estate, and during their joint lives the law gives him a right to the crops, profits and products of her lands. he has the usufruct of all her freehold estate. the husband is entitled to the profits of all lands held by the wife for her life, or for the life of another. "when a marriage is dissolved at the suit of the husband, and the defendant is owner in her own right of lands, his right to and interest therein and to the rents and profits of the same, shall not be taken away or impaired, but the same shall remain to him as though the marriage had continued. and he shall also be entitled to her personal estate, in possession or in action, and may sue for and recover the same in his own name. "when the wife is forced to separate from her husband, by reason of cruel and inhuman treatment from him, she may, by a bill in equity, have a suitable provision made for her support, out of the rents and profits _of her land_." the code says: "a father, whether under the age of twenty-one years, or of full age, may by deed executed in his lifetime or by last will and testament in writing, from time to time and in such manner and form as he thinks fit, dispose of the custody and tuition of any legitimate child under the age of twenty-one years and unmarried, whether born at the time of his death or afterwards, during the minority of such child, or for a less time." if the father abandon the family the mother becomes guardian, but she can not appoint one by will. no law requires the husband to support wife or children. the legal age for marriage is fourteen years for boys and twelve for girls. by earnest pleading and continual petitioning during the past ten years women have secured the following: . the passage of a bill making women eligible as superintendents of county schools. . police matrons in two cities--memphis and knoxville. . a law raising the "age of protection" for girls from to years ( ), but if over the crime is only a misdemeanor. the penalty is, if under , "death by hanging, or, in the discretion of the jury, imprisonment in the penitentiary for life or for a period not less than ten years;" if over , "imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three months nor more than ten years; provided no conviction shall be had on the unsupported testimony of the female ... or if the female is a bawd, lewd or kept female." ( .) suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: women are not eligible to any elective office except that of county superintendent of schools, which was provided for by special statute about . they can not serve as school trustees. for a number of years all the librarians and engrossing clerks of both senate and house have been women. they can not act as notaries public. occupations: women have engaged in the practice of law, but this was forbidden by a recent decision of the supreme court ( ). it was based on the ground that an attorney is a public officer, and as women are not legally entitled to hold public office they can not practice law. education: degrees in law have been conferred upon several women at vanderbilt university, for white students, and at fiske university, for colored. all institutions of learning, except a few of a sectarian nature, are coeducational. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men (estimated) is $ . ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. lida a. meriwether of memphis, honorary president of the state woman suffrage association. [ ] among prominent men who have aided in protective and progressive work for women are legislators w. h. milburn, thomas a. baker and joseph babb; editors g. w. armistead of the _issue_, gideon baskette of the nashville _banner_ and j. m. keating of the memphis _appeal_; the revs. h. s. williams, w. b. evans, c. h. wilson and t. b. putnam; judges e. h. east and arthur simpson. among women may be mentioned mesdames e. j. roach, georgia mizelle, bettie m. donaldson, margaret gardner, emily settle, ida t. east, caroline goodlett, s. e. dosser, a. a. gibson, mary t. mcteer and kate m. simpson; misses louise and mary drouillard, j. e. baillett, m. l. patterson and s. e. hoyt. lo! all these are of the faithful--and yet "the half hath not been told." chapter lxv. texas.[ ] the first addresses in favor of woman suffrage in texas are believed to have been given by mrs. mariana t. folsom in . the first attempt at organization was made on may , , when mrs. rebecca henry hayes called a meeting in the parlors of the grand windsor hotel at dallas for the purpose of forming a state association. fifty-two names were enrolled; mrs. hayes was made president, dr. lawson dabbs corresponding secretary, and margaret l. watrous, recording secretary.[ ] mrs. sarah s. trumbull was elected state organizer and auxiliary associations were formed in various towns. mrs. hayes traveled , miles in the interest of this cause during the next two years, but as texas has counties and a scattered and widely separated population, organized work is very difficult. in mrs. elizabeth good houston became president. mrs. alice mcanulty served a number of years most efficiently as corresponding secretary. dr. grace danforth also did effective work. mrs. l. a. craig presented the question to the democratic state convention of , but without any practical result. mrs. mcanulty and mrs. elizabeth fry attended the populist state convention the same year, but no action was taken. since the state w. c. t. u. has been pledged to woman suffrage. the president, mrs. s. c. acheson, under whose management it was adopted, was an enthusiast upon the subject. mrs. fry was the first state superintendent of franchise, and, through both the w. c. t. u. and the w. s. a., has rendered valuable service. later, mrs. mary e. prendergast filled this position, distributing much literature and speaking in many cities. judge davis mcgee prendergast became a convert before his wife and convinced her of the righteousness of woman suffrage. these two ladies are southern-born and life-long texans. legislative action and laws: in , through the efforts of the w. c. t. u., the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years. in it was raised to years. the penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary from not less than five years to life. no attempt ever has been made to secure the franchise, but at this time ( ) the women learned that thirty of the legislators believed in woman suffrage, one of them declaring: "if some of these seats were occupied by women, we men would do better work." neither dower nor curtesy obtains. if there are any lineal descendants a surviving husband or wife is entitled to a life interest in one-third of the real estate and to one-third of the personal estate absolutely; if none, to all the personal property and a life interest in one-half the real estate. if there are neither father, mother, brothers, sisters nor their descendants, the surviving husband or wife is entitled to the whole estate, both real and personal, as to separate property. in addition to such provision, one-half of the community property passes to the widow or widower if there are one or more children and the whole of such property if there are no lineal descendants. a widow or widower is also entitled to retain a homestead not exceeding $ , in value. if either husband or wife die without a will or become insane, and there are no living descendants, and the other party to the marriage has no separate estate, the community property passes to the survivor without an administration, unless there is a guardianship by the state of the insane spouse. if, however, there are descendants, the survivor has the exclusive management of the community property. a woman loses this right if she contract another marriage. in the event of the insane person being restored to a sound mental condition, an accounting of such property must be rendered. the property which a woman owns at marriage, or acquires by gift, devise or descent afterward, remains her separate estate, but passes under the absolute control of the husband, except that he can not sell it without her consent. the wife can not sell her separate property without the husband's consent. he may sell his separate property without hers. he may also sell the community property, except the homestead, without her consent. the wife must sue and be sued jointly with her husband in regard to her separate property, and all other matters. the wages of the wife belong to the husband as part of the community property, whether she is living with him or separate from him. divorce is granted to the husband if the wife commit a single act of adultery; to the wife, only if the husband has abandoned her and lived in adultery with another. the law places the division of the property entirely in the hands of the judge, but provides that "nothing herein contained shall be construed to compel either party to divest himself or herself of real estate." supreme court decisions have laid down the general rule that separate property shall be restored to its owner. where there are no children the community property may be divided as in case of death. the court, however, may make such provision as it deems essential for the support of wife or children or an invalid husband. if necessary it may place separate or community property in the hands of trustees, the rents and profits to be applied to the maintenance and education of the children or the support of the wife. the judge assigns the children for their best interests. in general practice the mother, unless disqualified morally, retains the custody of female children of any age and of males to the age of eight, when they are usually given to the father. there is no absolute rule, and in case of children or property an appeal may be taken to a higher court. the father is the natural guardian of the persons and education of the minor children, and is entitled to be appointed guardian of their estates. the law of support, revised in , provides that "if the husband fail to support the wife or children from the proceeds of the land _she_ may have or fail to educate the children as the fortune of the _wife_ would justify, she may in either case complain to the county court, which upon satisfactory proof shall decree that so much of _her_ proceeds shall be paid to the wife for the support of herself and the education of the children as the court may deem necessary."[ ] suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: most of the public offices have some women on their clerical force, that of the comptroller having seven. they are paid the same as men for the same work. women were postmasters of both senate and house in the legislature of , and acted as clerks of committees. they can serve as notaries public. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. they practice law and medicine, are managers of many kinds of business and proprietors of hotels, and two have been presidents of banks. mrs. henrietta king is widely known as "the cattle queen of the world." her ranch covers a million acres, and the net proceeds of her sales of horses and cattle are estimated at $ , a year. a number of women own and manage ranches. education: most of the leading institutions of learning are open to both sexes. among these are the state university, baylor university (baptist), southwestern university (methodist south), fort worth polytechnic (methodist episcopal), trinity university (cumberland presbyterian) and wiley university (colored). austin college and the state agricultural and mechanical college are restricted to male students. the state industrial college for girls (white) was established by the legislature of , with an appropriation of $ , . all of the industries will be taught, from domestic science to draughting. the w. c. t. u. and others had been petitioning for this ten years.[ ] the prairie view state normal school for colored youth of both sexes has had an industrial department from its beginning years ago. a movement is now on foot to establish such a department as a portion of the public school system. austin already has one, made possible by legacy, and its fine results have greatly inspired the law-makers. one woman has served as superintendent of schools at waco, and there are many women principals of high schools. there are in the public schools , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * practically all of the progressive steps enumerated above have been taken since . when it is remembered that less than twenty years ago women were virtually ostracized if they attempted any kind of occupation outside the home, even teaching being looked upon askance, the changes seem almost miraculous. texas has woman's clubs with a membership of about , . with other good works they have distributed great quantities of reading matter among isolated families. they also have established forty public libraries and four traveling libraries. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. helen m. stoddard of fort worth, president of the state woman's christian temperance union. [ ] under the direction of dr. dabbs a congress of women was held in connection with the state fair, and a texas woman's council was formed, not committed to suffrage but progressive in its views. [ ] the lawyer who was consulted as to the accuracy of these statements said, after a careful examination: "there are so many other laws bearing upon each of these that all this is necessarily imperfect, but there is enough else, that is likewise true, to fill a book." [ ] in mrs. helen m. stoddard was appointed by gov. joseph d. sayers a member of the committee to locate this school. the appointment was confirmed by the senate, and the committee of twelve men elected her secretary. she received, of course, the same pay as the other members. later three women were placed on the board of regents, herself among the number. [eds. chapter lxvi. utah.[ ] to write the history of woman suffrage in utah one must turn backward to , when the legislature of the territory passed a bill conferring the franchise upon women, to which acting-governor s. a. mann affixed his signature february . from that time women voted at all elections, while some of them took a practical interest in public matters and acted as delegates to political conventions and members of territorial and county committees. the first attempt to elect a woman to any important office was made in salt lake city at the county convention of , when mrs. emmeline b. wells was nominated for treasurer. she received the vote of the entire delegation, but the statute including the word "male" was held to debar women from holding political offices. a bill was presented to the next legislature with petitions numerously signed asking that this word be erased from the statutes, which was passed. gov. george w. emory, however, refused to sign it, and though other legislatures passed similar bills by unanimous vote, none ever received his signature or that of any succeeding governor. in june, , mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and miss susan b. anthony, the president and vice-president-at-large of the national woman suffrage association, stopped at salt lake city on their way to the pacific coast and met many of the prominent men and women. in the _woman's exponent_ was established, and it is impossible to estimate the advantage this little paper gave to the women of this far western territory. from its first issue it was the champion of the suffrage cause, and by exchanging with women's papers of the united states and england it brought news of women in all parts of the world to those of utah. they also were thoroughly organized in the national woman's relief society, a charitable and philanthropic body which stood for reform and progress in all directions. through such an organization it was always comparatively easy to promote any specific object or work. the hon. george q. cannon, utah's delegate in the ' 's, coming from a territory where women had the ballot, interested himself in the suffrage question before congress. he thus became acquainted with the prominent leaders of the movement, who went to washington every winter and who manifested much interest in the women afar off in possession of the rights which they themselves had been so long and zealously advocating without apparent results. among these were mrs. stanton, miss anthony, mrs. isabella beecher hooker and others of national reputation. women were appointed as representatives from utah by the national suffrage association, and the correspondence between its officers and mrs. wells, who had been made a member of their advisory committee and vice-president for the territory, as well as the fact that the women of utah were so progressive on the suffrage question and had sent large petitions asking for the passage of a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution to enfranchise all women, resulted in an invitation for her to attend its annual convention at washington, in january, . mrs. wells was accompanied by mrs. zina young williams and they were cordially welcomed by mrs. stanton and miss anthony. this was a valuable experience for these women, as, even though they had the right of suffrage, there was much to learn from the great leaders who had been laboring in the cause of woman's enfranchisement for more than thirty years. they were invited to address the convention, and selected with others to go before congressional committees and the president of the united states, as well as to present important matters to the lady of the white house. the kindness which they received from mrs. hayes and other noted women always will remain a pleasant memory of that first visit to the national capitol. on their return home they took up the subject of the ballot more energetically in its general sense than ever before through public speaking and writing. during the seventeen years, from to , that the women of utah enjoyed the privilege of the ballot several attempts were made to deprive them of it. in a case came before the supreme court of the territory on a mandamus requiring the assessor and registrar to erase the names of emmeline b. wells, maria m. blythe and cornelia paddock from the registration list, also the names of all other women before a certain specified date, but the court decided in favor of the defendants. in the spring of a convention was held to prepare a constitution and urge congress to admit utah as a state. three women were elected--mrs. sarah m. kimball, mrs. elizabeth howard and mrs. wells--and took part in framing this constitution, and their work was as satisfactory as that of the male members. although this was a new departure, it caused no friction whatever and was good political discipline for the women, especially in parliamentary law and usage. this year another case was brought, before the third district court, to test the validity of the statute conferring the elective franchise upon the women of the territory. a registrar of salt lake city refused to place the names of women upon the list of voters, and mrs. florence l. westcott asked for a writ compelling him to administer the oath, enter her name, etc. the case was called for argument sept. , , chief justice james a. hunter on the bench, and able lawyers were employed on both sides of the question. the decision sustained the legislative act of under which women voted. associate justice emerson agreed with judge hunter, and associate justice twiss acknowledged the validity of the law, but insisted that women should be taxpayers to entitle them to the right. this test case decided all others and women continued to vote until the passage of the edmunds-tucker law, in march, . during this period women gained much political experience in practical matters, and their association with men acquainted with affairs of state, in council and on committees gave them a still wider knowledge of the manipulation of public affairs. in september, , the national w. s. a. held a conference in omaha, neb., and mrs. wells and mrs. zina d. h. young attended. miss anthony, mrs. may wright sewall, chairman of the executive committee, and many other distinguished women were in attendance. mrs. wells, as vice-president for utah, presented an exhaustive report of the suffrage work in the territory, which was received with a great deal of enthusiasm. at the national convention in washington the previous january the proposed disfranchisement of utah women by the edmunds bill had been very fully discussed and a resolution adopted, that "the proposition to disfranchise the women of utah for no cause whatever is a cruel display of the power which lies in might alone, and that this congress has no more right to disfranchise the women of utah than the men of wyoming."[ ] this sympathy was gratefully acknowledged by the women of the territory. the suffrage women throughout the various states made vigorous protests against the injustice of this pending measure. a committee appointed at the convention in washington, in the winter of , presented a memorial to the president of the united states requesting him not to sign the bills, but to veto any measure for the disfranchisement of the women of utah.[ ] mrs. belva a. lockwood made an able speech before the convention on this question. there were at that time several bills before congress to deprive utah women of the elective franchise. during the subsequent years of this agitation every issue of the _woman's exponent_ contained burning articles, letters and editorials upon this uncalled-for and unwarranted interference with the affairs of the women of this territory. the advocates of the rights of all women stood up boldly for those of utah, notwithstanding the scoffs and obloquy cast upon them. it was a fierce battle of opinions and the weaker had to succumb. the strong power of congress conquered at last, and the edmunds-tucker act of wrested from all the women, gentile and mormon alike, the suffrage which they had exercised for seventeen years. naturally they were very indignant at being arbitrarily deprived of a vested right, but were obliged to submit. they were determined, however, not to do so tamely but to teach their sons, brothers and all others the value of equal suffrage, and to use every effort in their power toward securing it whenever statehood should be conferred. mrs. arthur brown and mrs. emily s. richards were appointed to represent the territory at the national suffrage convention in washington in , and were there authorized to form an association uniform with those in various states and territories. heretofore it had not been considered necessary to organize, as women were already in possession of the ballot. mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon and mrs. clara bewick colby, who had been lecturing on suffrage in oregon and washington, visited salt lake in september, . they spoke in the theater, and on the following day a reception was tendered them in the gardo house, where they had the opportunity of meeting socially between five and six hundred people, both gentiles and mormons, men and women. the same evening another large audience in the theater greeted them, and on the day succeeding at a. m. there was a meeting for women only in the assembly hall. these meetings were held under the auspices of the woman's relief society, mrs. zina d. h. young, president. though they occurred at a time when the people were suffering from indignities heaped upon them because of unjust legislation, yet a strong impression was made on those (mostly gentiles) who never previously had been converted to suffrage. after careful deliberation and several preliminary meetings in the office of the _woman's exponent_, a public call was made through the daily papers, signed by the most influential women of salt lake city, for a meeting in the assembly hall, jan. , , to organize a territorial suffrage association. mrs. richards occupied the chair and mrs. lydia d. alder was elected secretary _pro tem_. prayer was offered and the old-fashioned hymn, "know this that every soul is free," was sung by the congregation.[ ] one hundred names were enrolled and mrs. caine and mrs. richards were elected delegates to the national convention. mrs. caine was already at the capital with her husband, the hon. john t. caine, utah's delegate in the house of representatives. mrs. richards arrived in time to give a report of the new society, which was heard with much interest. within a few months fourteen counties had auxiliary societies. possibly because of the former experience of the women there was very little necessity of urging these to keep up their enthusiasm. towns and villages were soon organized auxiliary to the counties, and much good work was done in an educational way to arouse the new members to an appreciation of the ballot, and also to convince men of the benefits to be derived by all the people when women stood side by side with them and made common cause. on april , three months after the territorial association was organized, a rousing meeting was held in the assembly hall, in salt lake city, mrs. alder, vice-president, in the chair. eloquent addresses were made by bishop o. f. whitney, the hon. c. w. penrose, the hon. george q. cannon, dr. martha p. hughes (cannon), mrs. zina d. h. young, mrs. richards, ida snow gibbs and nellie r. webber. a largely attended meeting took place in the county court house, ogden city, in june, the local president, elizabeth stanford, in the chair. besides brief addresses from members eloquent speeches were made by c. w. penrose and the hon. lorin farr, a veteran legislator. the women speakers of salt lake who had been thoroughly identified with the suffrage cause traveled through the territory in , making speeches and promoting local interests, and strong addresses were given also by distinguished men--the hons. john t. caine, john e. booth, william h. king (delegate to congress), bishops and legislators. the fact can not be controverted that the sentiment of the majority of the people of utah always has been in favor of equal suffrage. at the annual meeting, held in the social hall, salt lake city, in , mrs. sarah m. kimball, a woman of great executive ability, was elected president.[ ] in mrs. kimball and maria y. dougall went as delegates to the national convention and reached washington in time to be present at the banquet given in honor of miss anthony's seventieth birthday. in mrs. kimball's report she stated that there were paid-up members of the territorial association exclusive of the sixteen county organizations. during the women worked unceasingly, obtaining new members and keeping up a vigorous campaign all the year round. meetings were held in the most remote towns, and even the farmer's wife far away in some mountain nook did her part toward securing the suffrage. on july , , the day wyoming celebrated her statehood, the suffrage association of utah assembled in liberty park, salt lake city, to rejoice in the good fortune of wyoming women. the fine old trees were decorated with flags and bunting and martial music resounded through the park; speeches rich with independent thought were made by the foremost ladies, and a telegram of greeting was sent to mrs. amalia post at cheyenne. conventions were held yearly in salt lake city, with the best speakers among men and women, and the counties represented by delegates. many classes in civil government also were formed throughout the territory. at the national convention in washington, in february, , there were present from utah ten representatives, and the number of paid-up members entitled the delegates to twenty votes, the largest number of any state except new york. on feb. , , the association celebrated susan b. anthony's birthday in one of the largest halls in salt lake city, handsomely decorated and the stars and stripes waving over the pictures of mrs. stanton and miss anthony. several members of the legislature took part in the exercises, which were entirely of a suffrage character. a telegram was received from miss anthony which said, "greetings, dear friends: that your citizens' right to vote may soon be secured is the prayer of your co-worker." a message of love and appreciation was returned. on july , , a grand rally in the interest of suffrage was held in american fork, attended by the leaders from salt lake city and other parts of the territory. ladies wore the yellow ribbon and many gentlemen the sunflower; the visitors were met at the station with carriages and horses decorated in yellow, and bands of music were in attendance. mrs. hannah lapish, the local president, had charge, a fine banquet was spread, and the entire day was a grand feast of suffrage sentiment. c. w. penrose was the orator. during mrs. wells traveled in california and idaho, and wherever she went, in season and out of season, spoke a good word for the cause, often where women never had given the subject a thought, or had considered it brazen and unwomanly. the annual convention in october was an enthusiastic one, but the real work of the women during that year was for the columbian exposition, though a suffrage song book was published and much literature circulated, not only in utah but broadcast throughout the west; and mrs. richards did some work in southern idaho. in some striking respects was a woman's year, and much was done to advance the suffrage cause indirectly. the association gave a large garden party in salt lake, with addresses by mrs. minnie j. snow, mrs. julia p. m. farnsworth and the hon. george q. cannon. at the annual convention mrs. wells was elected president, mrs. richards vice-president, and they continued in office during the time of the struggle to obtain an equal suffrage clause in the state constitution. mrs. wells made personal visits throughout the territory, urging the women to stand firm for the franchise and encourage the men who were likely to take part in the work toward statehood to uphold the rights of the women who had helped to build up the country, as well as those who since then had been born in this goodly land, reminding them that their fathers had given women suffrage a quarter of a century before. in february, , mrs. wells called an assembly of citizens for the purpose of arousing a greater interest in a statehood which should include equal rights for women as well as men. the audience was a large one of representative people. they sang julia ward howe's battle hymn of the republic and also america, and brilliant addresses were made by the hon. john e. booth, the hon. samuel w. richards, dr. richard a. hasbrouck, a famous orator formerly of ohio, dr. martha hughes cannon, mrs. zina d. h. young and mrs. lucy a. clark. as a result of this gathering parlor meetings were held in various parts of the city, arousing much serious thought upon the question, as the territory was now on the verge of statehood. on july president grover cleveland signed the enabling act and the _woman's exponent_ chronicled the event with words of patriotic ardor, urging the women to stand by their guns and not allow the framers of the constitution to take any action whereby they might be defrauded of their sacred rights to equality. miss anthony's message was quoted, "let it be the best basis for a state ever engrossed on parchment;" and never did the faith of its editor waver in the belief that this would be done. from this time unremitting work was carried on by the women in all directions; every effort possible was made to secure a convention of men who would frame a constitution without sex distinction, and to provide that the woman suffrage article should be included in the document itself and not be submitted separately. at the annual convention in october, , a cordial resolution was unanimously adopted thanking the two political parties for having inserted in their platforms a plank approving suffrage for women. the november election was most exciting. women all over the territory worked energetically to elect such delegates to the convention as would place equal suffrage in the constitution. after the election, when the battle was in progress, women labored tactfully and industriously; they tried by every means to educate and convert the general public, circulated suffrage literature among neighbors and friends and in the most remote corners, for they knew well that even after the constitution was adopted by the convention it must be voted on by all the men of the territory. in january, , the president, mrs. wells, went to atlanta to the national convention, accompanied by mrs. marilla m. daniels and mrs. aurelia s. rogers. in her report she stated that the women of utah had not allied themselves with either party but labored assiduously with both republicans and democrats. in closing she said: "there are two good reasons why our women should have the ballot apart from the general reasons why all women should have it--first, because the franchise was given to them by the territorial legislature and they exercised it seventeen years, never abusing the privilege, and it was taken away from them by congress without any cause assigned except that it was a political measure; second, there are undoubtedly more women in utah who own their homes and pay taxes than in any other state with the same number of inhabitants, and congress has, by its enactments in the past, virtually made many of these women heads of families." a convention was held february in the probate court room of the salt lake city and county building. delegates came from far and near. mrs. wells presided, and vice-presidents were mrs. richards, mrs. c. w. bennett; secretary, mrs. nellie little; assistant secretary, mrs. augusta w. grant; chaplain, mrs. zina d. h. young. a committee was appointed by the chair to prepare a memorial for the convention,[ ] and stirring speeches were made by delegates from the various counties. in the afternoon as many of the ladies as could gain admittance went into another hall in the same building, where the constitutional convention was in session, and where already some members had begun to oppose woman suffrage in the constitution proper and to suggest it as an amendment to be voted upon separately. the hon. f. s. richards, a prominent member, presented their memorial, which closed with the following paragraph: "we therefore ask you to provide in the constitution that the rights of citizens of the state of utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex, but that male and female citizens of the state shall equally enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges." this was signed by emeline b. wells, president woman suffrage association; emily s. richards, vice-president; zina d. h. young, president national woman's relief society; jane s. richards, vice-president, and all the county presidents. the next morning a hearing was granted to the ladies before the suffrage committee. carefully prepared papers were read by mesdames richards, carlton, cannon, milton, pardee and pratt. mrs. wells spoke last, without notes, stating pertinent facts and appealing for justice. there was much debate, pro and con, in the convention after this time, and open and fair discussions of the question in committee of the whole. the majority report was as follows: _resolved_, that the rights of citizens of the state of utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. both male and female citizens of this state shall equally enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges. the minority report submitted later was too weak and flimsy to be considered. the women addressed a cordial letter of appreciation and thanks to the committee who had so nobly stood by their cause.[ ] having secured this favorable report the women had not supposed it would be necessary to continue their efforts, and it would not have been except for a faction led by brigham h. roberts who actively worked against the adoption of this article by the delegates.[ ] numerously signed petitions for woman suffrage from all parts of the territory were at once sent to the convention. on the morning of april the section on equal suffrage which had passed its third reading was brought up for consideration, as had been previously decided. the hall was crowded to suffocation, but as the debate was limited to fifteen minutes it was soon disposed of without much argument from either side. the vote of the convention was ayes, noes, absent. every member afterwards signed the constitution. on may , miss anthony and the rev. anna howard shaw, president and vice-president-at-large of the national association, arrived, as promised, to hold a suffrage conference. they were accompanied by mrs. mary c. c. bradford and mrs. ellis meredith of colorado. the conference met in the hall where the constitutional convention had adjourned a few days before. mrs. wells presided and gov. caleb w. west introduced miss anthony, assuring his audience it was a distinguished honor, and declaring that the new state constitution which included woman suffrage would be carried at the coming election by an overwhelming majority. miss anthony responded in a most acceptable manner. governor west also introduced miss shaw who made an eloquent address. mrs. bradford and mrs. meredith were formally presented and welcome was extended by mesdames zina d. h. young, w. ferry, b. w. smith, j. milton, c. e. allen, m. i. home, e. b. ferguson and the hon. j. r. murdock, a pioneer suffragist and member of the late convention. the same afternoon a reception was given in honor of the ladies at the handsome residence of the hon. f. s. and mrs. richards, attended by over three hundred guests, including state officials, officers and ladies from the military post, and many people of distinction. the conference lasted two days, with large audiences, and the newspapers published glowing accounts of the proceedings and the enthusiasm. many social courtesies were extended. miss anthony and her party held meetings in ogden and were honored in every possible way, the hon. franklin d. richards and his wife and the hon. d. h. peery being among the entertainers there. the question soon arose whether women should vote on the adoption of the constitution at the coming november election. the commission which had been appointed by the u. s. government to superintend affairs in utah, decided at their june meeting to submit the matter to the attorney-general. there was considerable agitation by the public press; some newspapers favored the women's voting and others thought its legality would be questioned and thus the admission to statehood would be hindered. the women generally were willing to abide by the highest judicial authority. a test case was brought before the district court in ogden, august . the court room was crowded with attorneys and prominent citizens to hear the decision of judge h. w. smith, which was that women should register and vote. the case was then carried to the supreme court of the territory and the decision given august . chief justice samuel a. merritt stated that judge g. w. bartch and himself had reached the conclusion that the edmunds-tucker law had not been repealed and would remain effective till statehood was achieved, and that he would file a written opinion reversing the judgment of the lower court. judge william h. king, the other member, dissented and declared that "the disfranchisement of the women at this election he regarded as a wrong and an outrage." the opinion of the supreme court could not be ignored and therefore the women citizens acquiesced with the best grace possible. unremitting and effective work continued to be done by the suffrage association, although the foremost women soon affiliated with the respective parties and began regular duty in election matters. the leaders went through the territory urging women everywhere to look after the interests of the election and see that men voted right on the constitution, which was not only of great importance to them and their posterity but to all women throughout the land. women attended conventions, were members of political committees and worked faithfully for the election of the men who had been nominated at the territorial convention. a few women also had been placed on the tickets--mrs. emma mcvicker for superintendent of public instruction, mrs. lillie pardee for the senate, and mrs. e. b. wells for the house of representatives, on the republican ticket, and it was held that although women were not allowed to vote, they might be voted for by men. but finally, so many fears were entertained lest the success of the ticket should be imperiled that the women were induced to withdraw. mrs. wells' name remained until the last, but the party continuing to insist, she very reluctantly yielded, informing the committee that she did it under protest. on nov. , , the republican party carried the election by a large majority; the constitution was adopted by , ayes, , noes, and full suffrage was conferred on women. [illustration: laura m. johns. salina, kan. mary j. coggeshall. des moines, iowa. emmeline s. wells, salt lake city, utah. mary smith hayward. chadron, neb. julia b. nelson. red wing, minn. ] president cleveland signed the constitution of utah, jan. , , and the inaugural ceremonies were held in the great tabernacle in salt lake city, january , "utah completing the trinity of true republics at the summit of the rockies." gov. heber m. wells took the oath administered by chief justice charles s. zane, and at a given signal the booming of artillery was heard from capitol hill. secretary-of-state hammond read the governor's first proclamation convening the legislature at o'clock that day. mrs. pardee was elected clerk of the senate and entered upon the duties of the office at the opening session, signing the credentials of the u. s. senators--the first case of the kind on record. c. e. allen had been elected representative to congress, and the legislature at once selected frank j. cannon and arthur brown as united states senators. at the national suffrage convention in washington, the evening of january was devoted to welcoming utah. representative allen and wife were on the platform. the rev. miss shaw tendered the welcome of the association. senator cannon, who had just arrived in the city, responded declaring that woman was the power needed to reform politics. mrs. allen and mrs. s. a. boyer spoke of the courage and persistence of the women, and mrs. richards gave a graphic account of the faithful work done by the utah suffrage association. in january, , mrs. wells attended the national convention in des moines, iowa, and described the first year's accomplishments to an appreciative audience. on oct. , , mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, and miss mary g. hay, secretary, came to salt lake city on the homeward way from montana, and a meeting was held in the office of the _woman's exponent_, mrs. wells in the chair and about twenty-five ladies present, all ardent suffragists. after due deliberation a committee was appointed, mrs. richards, chairman, mrs. j. fewson smith, secretary, to work for suffrage in other states, especially arizona. subsequently this committee organized properly, adopted the name utah council of women, and did all in their power to raise means and carry on the proposed work, and dues were sent to the national treasury. in february, , mrs. richards, president, and mrs. lucy a. clark, delegate, went to washington and took part in the national convention and the celebration of miss anthony's eightieth birthday. on this occasion the utah silk commission presented to her a handsome black silk dress pattern, which possessed an especial value from the fact that the raising of the silk worms, the spinning of the thread and all the work connected with its manufacture except the weaving was done by women. during this year the council of women worked assiduously to make a creditable exhibit at the national suffrage bazar, mrs. mary t. gilmer having personal charge of it in new york city. laws: dower and curtesy are abolished. the law reserves for the widow one-third of all the real property possessed by the husband free from his debts, but the value of such portion of the homestead as is set apart for her shall be deducted from this share. if either husband or wife die without a will leaving only one child or the lawful issue of one, the survivor takes one-half the real estate; if there are more than one or issue of one living, then one-third. if there is issue the survivor has one-half the personal estate. if none he or she is entitled to all the real and personal estate if not over $ , in value, exclusive of debts and expenses. of all over that amount the survivor receives one-half and the parents of the deceased the other half in equal shares; if not living it goes to the brothers and sisters and their heirs. also the widow or widower is entitled to one-half the community property subject to community debts, and if there is no will, to the other half provided there are no children living. a homestead not exceeding $ , in value and $ additional for each minor child, together with all the personal property exempt from execution, shall be wholly exempt from the payment of the debts of decedent, and shall be the absolute property of the surviving husband or wife and minor children. this section shall not be construed to prevent the disposition by will of the homestead and exempt personal property. a married woman has absolute control over her separate property and may mortgage or convey it or dispose of it by will without the husband's consent. the husband has the same right, but in conveying real estate which is community property, the wife's signature is necessary. a married woman may engage in business in her own name and "her earnings, wages and savings become her separate estate without any express gift or contract of the husband, when she is permitted to receive and retain them and to loan and invest them in her own name and for her own benefit, and they are exempt from execution for her husband's debts." ( .) a married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued in her own name. the father is the legal guardian of the children, and at his death the mother. the survivor may appoint a guardian. support for the wife may be granted by the court the same as alimony in divorce, if the husband have property in the state. if not there is no punishment for non-support. ( .) the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in , and to years in . the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five years. suffrage: the territorial legislature conferred the full suffrage on women in , and they exercised it very generally until when they were deprived of it by congress through what is known as the edmunds-tucker act. utah entered the union in with full suffrage for women as an article of the state constitution. that they exercise this privilege quite as extensively as men is shown by the following table prepared from the election statistics of . it is not customary to make separate returns of the women's votes and these were obtained through the courtesy of governor wells, who, at the request of the utah council of women, wrote personal letters to the county officials to secure them. eleven of the more remote counties did not respond but those having the largest population did so, and, judging from previous statistics, the others would not change the proportion of the vote. counties. registered. voted. men. women. total. men. women. total. salt lake , , , , , , utah , , , , , , cache , , , , , , box elder , , , , , , davis , , , , , , carbon , , uintah , , iron , , washington , , piute morgan rich wayne grand kane san juan , , , , , , total registration of men , " vote " " , registered but not voting , total registration of women , " vote " " , registered but not voting , it will be seen that in five counties the registration and vote of women was larger than that of men, and in the state a considerably larger proportion of women than of men who registered voted. women cast nearly per cent. of the entire vote and yet the u. s. census of this year showed that males comprised over per cent. of the population. all of the testimony which is given in the chapters on wyoming, colorado and idaho might be duplicated for utah. from mormon and gentile alike, from the press, from the highest officials, from all who represent the best interests of the state, it is unanimously in favor of suffrage for women. the evidence proves beyond dispute that they use it judiciously and conscientiously, that it has tended to the benefit of themselves and their homes, and that political conditions have been distinctly improved.[ ] office holding: governor heber m. wells at once carried into effect the spirit of the constitution, adopted in , by appointing women on all state boards of public institutions where it was wise and possible. two out of five places on the board of the deaf and dumb institute were given to women, harriet f. emerson and dr. martha hughes cannon. the first legislature, , passed "an act for the establishment of sericulture" (raising of silk worms). women had worked energetically to secure this measure, and it was appropriate that five of them, three republican and two democratic, should be appointed as a silk commission, zina d. h. young, isabella e. bennett, margaret a. caine, ann c. woodbury and mary a. cazier. each was required to give a thousand-dollar bond. a later legislature appropriated $ , per annum to pay the secretary. two women were appointed on the board of regents of the state university, mrs. emma j. mcvicker, republican and gentile; mrs. rebecca e. little, democrat and mormon. both are still serving. two were appointed regents of the agricultural college, mrs. sarah b. goodwin and mrs. emily s. richards. at the close of the legislature the republican state central committee was reorganized; mrs. emmeline b. wells was made vice-chairman, miss julia farnsworth, secretary. the democratic party was quite as liberal toward women and the feeling prevailed that at the next election women would be placed in various state and county offices. there were many women delegates in the county and also in the state conventions of both parties in , and a number of women were nominated. it was a democratic victory and the women on that ticket were elected--dr. martha hughes cannon to the senate, eurithe le barthe and sarah a. anderson to the house; margaret a. caine, auditor of salt lake county; ellen jakeman, treasurer utah county; delilah k. olson, recorder millard county; fannie graehl (rep.), recorder box elder county, and possibly some others. in the legislature of , mrs. le barthe introduced a bill forbidding women to wear large hats in places of public entertainment, which was passed. dr. cannon championed the measure by which a state board of health was created, and was appointed by the governor as one of its first members. she had part in the defeat of the strong lobby that sought to abolish the existing state board of public examiners, which prevents incompetents from practicing medicine. she introduced a bill compelling the state to educate the deaf, mute and blind; another requiring seats for women employes; what was known as the medical bill, by which all the sanitary measures of the state are regulated and put in operation; and another providing for the erection of a hospital for the state school of the deaf, dumb and blind, carrying with it the necessary appropriation. all the bills introduced or championed by dr. cannon became laws. she served on the committees on public health, apportionment, fish and game, banks and banking, education, labor, etc. at the close of their second term the senate presented her with a handsome silver-mounted album containing the autographs of all the senators and employes. she had drawn what is known as the long term, and at its close she was chosen to present a handsome gavel to the president of the senate in behalf of the members. thus far she has been the only woman senator. in mrs. alice merrill horne (dem.), the third woman elected to the house, was appointed chairman of the state university land site committee, to which was referred the bill authorizing the state to take advantage of the congressional land grant offered for expending $ , in buildings and providing for the removal of the state university to the new site. at a jubilee in recognition of the gift, held by the faculty and students, at which the governor and legislature were guests, mrs. horne was the only woman to make a speech and was introduced by president joseph t. kingsbury in most flattering terms for the work she had done in behalf of education. she championed the free scholarship bill giving one hundred annual normal school appointments, each for a term of four years; and one creating a state institute of art for the encouragement of the fine arts and for art in public school education and in manufactures, for an annual exhibition, a course of lectures and a state art collection, both of which passed. she was a member of committees on art, education, rules and insane asylum; was the only member sent to visit the state insane asylum, going by direction of the speaker of the house, as a committee of one, to surprise the superintendent and report actual conditions. mrs. horne was presented with a photographed group of the members of the house, herself the only woman in the picture. the november election of was fraught with great interest to the women, as the state officials were to be elected as well as the legislature, and they were anxious that there should be some women's names on the tickets for both the house and senate, and that a woman should be nominated for state superintendent of public instruction by both parties. for this office the republican and the democratic women presented candidates,--mrs. emma j. mcvicker and miss ada faust,--but both conventions gave the nomination to men. meantime dr. john r. park, the superintendent, died suddenly and gov. wells appointed mrs. mcvicker as his successor for the unfinished term. mrs. j. ellen foster, of washington, d. c. was sent to utah by the republican national committee, and with mrs. w. f. boynton and others, made a spirited and successful campaign. there never has been any scramble for office on the part of women, and here, as in the other states where they have the suffrage, there is but little disposition on the part of men to divide with them the "positions of emolument and trust." only one woman was nominated for a state office in , mrs. elizabeth cohen for the legislature, and she was defeated with the rest of the democratic ticket. all of the women who have served in the legislature have been elected by the democrats. several women were elected to important city and county offices. in many of these offices more women than men are employed as deputies and clerks. in mrs. w. h. jones was sent as delegate to the national republican convention in philadelphia, and mrs. elizabeth cohen to the democratic in kansas city, and both served throughout the sessions. this is the first instance of the kind on record, although women were sent as alternates from wyoming to the national republican convention at minneapolis in . women are exempted from sitting on juries, the same as editors, lawyers and ministers, but they are not excluded if they wish to serve or the persons on trial desire them. none has thus far been summoned. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women except that of working in mines. education: all of the higher institutions of learning are open to both sexes. in the public schools there are men and women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * women in utah always have been conspicuous in organized work. the national woman's relief society was established at nauvoo, ills., in , and transferred to salt lake city in . it is one of the oldest associations of women in the united states--the oldest perhaps of any considerable size. it has over , members and is one of the valuable institutions of the state. the national young ladies' mutual improvement association has , members and in raised $ , partly for building purposes and partly to help the needy.[ ] there are also a state council of women, daughters of the pioneers, daughters of the revolution, council of jewish women, etc. thirty-three clubs belong to the national federation but this by no means includes all of them. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. emmeline b. wells of salt lake city, editor of the _woman's exponent_, and president of the territorial association during the campaign when full suffrage was secured. valuable assistance has been rendered by mrs. emily s. richards of that city, vice-president during the same period. [ ] committee: lillie devereux blake of new york, virginia l. minor of st. louis, harriet r. shattuck of boston, may wright sewall of indianapolis and ellen h. sheldon of washington, d. c. [ ] committee: lillie devereux blake, matilda joslyn gage, caroline gilkey rogers and mary seymour howell, of new york; clara b. colby, nebraska; sarah t. miller, maryland; elizabeth boynton harbert, illinois; harriet r. shattuck, massachusetts, and louisa southworth, ohio. [ ] the officers elected were: president, margaret n. caine; vice-presidents, lydia d. alder, nellie r. webber, priscilla j. riter; secretary, cornelia n. clayton; corresponding secretary, charlotte i. kirby; treasurer, margie dwyer; executive committee, maria v. dougall, nettie y. snell, ann e. groesbeck, phoebe y. beatie and jennie rowe. [ ] vice-presidents, mrs. richards, ann d. groesbeck and caroline e. dye; recording secretary, rachel edwards; corresponding secretary, julia c. taylor; treasurer, margie dwyer; executive committee, cornelia h. clayton, margaret mitchell, nellie little, theresa hills and may talmage. [ ] mesdames richards, young, bennett, g. s. carlton, j. s. gilmer, romania b. pratt, phebe y. beatie, amelia f. young, martha h. cannon, c. e. allen, emma mcvicker, ruth m. fox, priscilla jennings, lillie pardee and martha parsons. [ ] hon. j. f. chidester, chairman; a. s. anderson, joseph e. robinson, parley christianson, peter lowe, james d. murdock, chester call, andreas engberg, a. h. raleigh, william howard, f. a. hammond, s. r. thurman. in addition to this committee those who sustained the women and pleaded their cause were messrs. richards, whitney, evans, cannon, murdock, rich, hart, ivins, snow, robinson, allen, miller, farr, preston, maeser and wells. there were others, but these were the foremost. [ ] mr. roberts was elected to congress on the democratic ticket in , although strenuously opposed by the women of utah, irrespective of politics, but largely owing to the vigorous protests of the women of the whole united states, he was not permitted to take his seat. [eds. [ ] see appendix--testimony from woman suffrage states. [ ] in mrs. susa young gates established the _young woman's journal_, a monthly magazine, as the organ of this association, although it was for eight years financially a private enterprise. the president, mrs. elmina s. taylor, was her constant help and inspiration. the first year mrs. lucy b. young, mother of the editor, then past sixty, took her buggy and traveled over utah explaining the venture and securing subscriptions. two thousand numbers a year were published. of late years the business managers have been women. in mrs. gates made over the magazine to the association without any consideration, but was retained as editor. there were at this time practically no debts and , subscribers, which later were increased to , . chapter lxvii. vermont.[ ] much credit is due to the new england woman suffrage association for the life and efficiency of the vermont society. in this organization secured the services of mrs. hannah tracy cutler of illinois for a series of lectures. at the close of these, and pursuant to a call signed by twenty-five citizens, a convention was held at st. johnsbury, november , , when, with the aid of lucy stone and henry b. blackwell, editors of the _woman's journal_, mrs. julia ward howe of massachusetts, and mrs. cutler, the state w. s. a. was formed.[ ] in over seventy towns and villages local committees have been appointed to distribute literature, circulate petitions and further the general plans of work. for the past two years the editors have been supplied with suffrage papers weekly or fortnightly. lecture trips have been arranged for the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large of the national association, mrs. zerelda g. wallace of indiana, the rev. ada c. bowles, the rev. louis a. banks, miss alice stone blackwell, miss diana hirschler, miss ida m. buxton, of massachusetts, and mrs. m. l. t. hidden. eighty appointments have been filled by miss mary n. chase, a. b. thirty conventions have been held at which valuable aid has been rendered by mr. and miss blackwell, miss shaw, mrs. howe, mrs. mary a. livermore and mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee.[ ] legislative action and laws: harvey howes of west haven was the only man in a convention called to amend the state constitution in , who voted to grant full political rights to women; voted in opposition. to secure to taxpaying women the right of municipal suffrage, has been the special line of legislative work for the state association. petitions asking for this, with signatures varying in number from , to , , and bills to grant it, have been presented in both houses of the legislature at nine biennial sessions, beginning with . in every instance save one these have been referred to the judiciary committees. in a municipal suffrage bill was introduced into the house by o. e. butterfield and supported by himself and messrs. adams, henry, stickney and others, but was lost by yeas, nays. in a bill to permit all women to vote who paid taxes was introduced and strongly advocated in the house by luke p. poland. it was amended without his consent to require that they should pay taxes on $ worth of property, and passed by yeas, nays. in the senate it was championed by messrs. bates, blake, bunker, clark, cushing, foster, pierce, smith, stanley and swain, but was lost by yeas, nays. in a municipal suffrage bill was introduced into the house by c. p. marsh, chairman of the judiciary committee, that gave a hearing at which the state w. s. a. was represented. later, at a public hearing in representatives' hall, henry b. blackwell, prof. w. h. carruth of kansas, col. albert clarke, mrs. mary w. foster and miss laura moore urged the passage of this bill. it was reported to the house "without expression of opinion." the friendly members on the committee were messrs. marsh, ballard and mann. in the debate which followed, these three, with messrs. southworth and dole, supported the bill; and a letter was read from amasa scott, presenting arguments in its favor. it was lost by yeas, nays. still later in this session a petition signed by the officers of the state association asking that "property owned by women be exempt from taxation," was presented in the house; as was also a bill by hosea mann providing that, "the property, both real and personal, owned by women shall be exempt from taxation, except for school purposes." this was defeated without debate. in a municipal suffrage bill was introduced into the house by mr. mann and favorably reported by the judiciary committee, with reasons given "why the bill ought to pass," signed by messrs. thompson, darling, enright, mann, robinson and smith of st. albans. it was advocated by them, smith of royalton and others, but was lost by yeas, nays. during this session a bill to incorporate the vermont w. s. a., was introduced into the senate by s. e. grout. it was favorably reported from the general committee, but was refused passage without debate by yeas, nays. in wendell phillips stafford introduced the municipal suffrage bill into the house; it was made a special order and was championed by messrs. stafford, booth, darling, enright, martin, taylor, weston and others, and was passed by yeas, nays. when it reached the senate it was reported from the judiciary committee with a weighty amendment, and a third reading was refused by yeas, nays. at this session gov. levi k. fuller in his address, under the heading of municipal suffrage, called attention to this question and advised "giving the matter such consideration as in your judgment it may warrant." in the bill was introduced again into the house by hosea mann, who advocated and voted for this measure in four sessions of the legislature. four members of the judiciary committee were favorable--messrs. ladd, lord, lawrence and stone. its champions were messrs. mann, burbank, bridgeman, butterfield, fuller, peck, paddock, smith of morristown, vance and others. it was defeated by yeas, nays. in , for the first time, a municipal suffrage bill was introduced into the senate, by joseph b. holton. it was reported favorably by the committee; ordered to a third reading with only one opposing voice; advocated by messrs. holton, hulburd, merrifield and weeks, and passed without a negative vote. when the bill reached the house it was reported from the judiciary committee "without recommendation." it was supported by speaker lord, messrs. bates, bunker, childs, clark, haskins, mcclary and others, but a third reading was refused by yeas, nays. in petitions for municipal suffrage signed by , citizens were presented to the legislature and a bill was introduced into the house by e. a. smith. this was reported by an unfriendly chairman of the judiciary committee at a time when its author was not present, and was lost without the courtesy of a discussion. in , petitions for municipal suffrage for women taxpayers were presented to the senate; a bill was introduced by h. c. royce, and at a hearing granted by the judiciary committee henry b. blackwell, l. f. wilbur, the hon. w. a. lord and mrs. e. m. denny gave arguments for it. adverse majority and favorable minority reports were presented by the committee. by request of messrs. royce and brown, the bill was made a special order, when it was advocated by messrs. royce and leland; but a third reading was refused by yeas, nays. later in this session, a petition signed by the officers of the state w. s. a., asking that "women, who are taxpayers, be exempt from taxation, save for school purposes," was presented to the senate. this was, by the presiding officer, referred to the committee on the insane. the names of all members voting for suffrage bills have been preserved by the state association. the names of the opponents pass into oblivion with no regrets. in a bill was presented, for the second time, by the federation of clubs, providing for women on the boards of state institutions where women or children are confined, but it was killed in committee. in the law granting to married women the right to own and control their separate property and the power to make contracts, was secured through the efforts of the hon. henry c. ide, now united states commissioner in the philippines. since their wages have belonged to them. dower and curtesy were abolished by the legislature of . where there are no children the widow or the widower takes in the estate of the deceased $ , and one-half of the remainder, the other half going to the relatives of the deceased. if there are children, the widow takes absolutely one-third of the husband's real estate (homestead of the value of $ included) and one-third of his personal property after payment of debts; the widower takes one-third of the wife's real estate absolutely, but does not share in her personal property. the court of chancery may authorize a wife to convey her separate property without the signature of her husband. the husband can mortgage or convey all his separate property without the wife's signature, except her homestead right of $ . the law equalizing the division of property to the fathers and mothers of children dying without wills, was secured by representative t. a. chase in . senator o. m. barber, now state auditor, was the author, in the same year, of the law allowing a married woman to be appointed executor, guardian, administrator or trustee. the father is the legal guardian and has custody of the persons and education of minor children. he may appoint by will a guardian even for one unborn. (code, .) if the husband fail to support his wife the court may make such decision as it thinks called for, and the town may recover from a husband who deserted his wife and children, leaving them a charge upon it for one year previous to the time of action. a married woman deserted or neglected by her husband "may make contracts for the labor of her minor children, shall be entitled to their wages, and may in her own name sue for and recover them." in the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years. in it was raised to years. the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than twenty years or a fine not exceeding $ , , or both, at the discretion of the court. no minimum penalty is named. suffrage: women have the same right as men to vote on all questions pertaining to schools and school officers in cities, towns and graded school districts; and the same right to hold offices relating to school affairs. this law, which had been enacted in and applied to "school meetings," was re-enacted when the "town system" was established in , and gave women the right to vote on school matters in the town meetings. office holding: since "women years of age" may be elected to the office of town clerk, and to all school offices. in thirteen women were elected town clerks; six were serving as school directors, eighty-four as county superintendents and seventy-five as postmasters, according to the vermont _register_, which is not always complete. women sit on the state board of library commissioners. in they were made eligible to serve as trustees of town libraries. this year also a law making women eligible to the office of notary public was secured by representative j. e. buxton. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: equal advantages are accorded to both sexes in all the colleges, except that the state university, at burlington, does not admit women to its medical department. in , dr. e. r. campbell, president of the society, reported as follows: "the vermont medical society opens wide its doors to admit women, and bids them welcome to all its privileges and honors, on an equal basis with their brother physicians." in the public schools there are men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . * * * * * progressive steps have been taken in the churches of most denominations. in , for the first time, women were elected as delegates to the annual state convention of the congregational churches. in there were fifteen accredited women delegates in the convention. the domestic missionary society, an ally of this church, has employed sixteen women during the past year as "missionaries," to engage in evangelistic work in the state. the vermont conference of the methodist episcopal church, although it does not admit women to its membership, has passed resolutions five times in the last ten years, indorsing equal rights, and has petitioned the legislature to grant them municipal suffrage. for this credit is due to the rev. george l. story and the rev. l. l. beeman. the free baptist church passed a resolution declaring unequivocally for the christian principle of political equality for women at its yearly meeting in . that year, for the first time in its history, it sent a woman delegate to the general conference. a similar resolution was passed at a meeting of the northern association of universalists, later in the same year. this church admits women to equal privileges in its conventions and its pulpits. this is also true of the unitarian church. the annual meeting of the state grange in adopted this resolution: "we sympathize with and will aid any efforts for equal suffrage regardless of sex." all the political parties have been urged to indorse woman suffrage. the prohibitionists did so in their annual convention of . at the republican state convention that year the committee on resolutions, through its chairman, col. albert clarke, presented the following, which was adopted: "true to its impulses, history and traditions of liberty, equality and progress, the republican party in vermont will welcome women to an equal participation in government, whenever they give earnest of desire in sufficient numbers to indicate its success." footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to miss laura moore of barnet, who has been secretary of the state woman suffrage association for seventeen years. [ ] the following have been presidents: mrs. m. l. t. hidden, c. w. wyman, mrs. m. e. tucker, the hon. hosea mann, willard chase, mrs. a. d. chandler, l. f. wilbur, mrs. p. s. beeman, the rev. george l. story, miss elizabeth colley, a. m. among those who have served on the executive board are mesdames l. e. alfred, a. f. baldwin, f. w. brown, a. m. w. chase, e. l. corwin, c. j. clark, l. d. dyer, p. r. edes, m. w. foster, c. d. gallup, s. f. leonard, emma j. nelson and julia a. pierce; misses clara eastman, o. m. lawrence, laura moore, julia e. smith and mary e. spencer; the hon. chester pierce, col. albert clarke, dudley p. hall and g. w. seaver. [ ] some of those who have rendered excellent service to the cause are mesdames clara bailey, lucia g. brown, m. a. brewster, inez e. campbell, h. g. minot, g. e. moody, harriet s. moore, emily e. reed, clinton smith, mary h. semple, anna e. spencer, l. b. wilson and jane marlette taft; misses caroline scott, eliza s. eaton and i. e. moody; the rev. mark atwood, l. n. chandler, editor arthur f. stone and ex-gov. carroll s. page. chapter lxviii. virginia. as early as and miss susan b. anthony, mrs. matilda joslyn gage of new york and mrs. paulina wright davis of rhode island lectured on woman suffrage in richmond. there has been, however, very little organized effort in its behalf, although the movement has many individual advocates. since the state has been represented at the national conventions by mrs. orra langhorne, who has been its most active worker for twenty years. other names which appear at intervals are miss etta grimes farrar, miss brill and miss henderson dangerfield. a few local societies have been formed, and in a state association was organized, with mrs. langhorne as president and mrs. elizabeth b. dodge as secretary and treasurer. its efforts have been confined chiefly to discovering the friends of the movement, distributing literature and securing favorable matter in the newspapers. the richmond _star_ is especially mentioned as a champion of the enfranchisement of women. in miss anthony, president of the national association, on her way home from its convention in atlanta, addressed a large audience at the opera house in culpeper. later this year miss elizabeth upham yates of maine spoke in the same place. mrs. ruth d. havens of washington, d. c., lectured on the girls of the future before the state teachers' normal institute. legislative action and laws: petitions have been sent to the legislature from time to time, by the state association and by individuals for woman suffrage with educational qualifications, the opening of state colleges to women, the appointment of women physicians in the prisons and insane asylums, women on school boards, proper accommodations in jails for women prisoners and the separation of juvenile offenders from the old and hardened. none of these ever has been acted upon. in a bill to permit women to serve as notaries public was vetoed by the governor as unconstitutional. dower and curtesy both obtain. the wife inherits a life interest in one-third of the real estate. if there are children she has one-third of the personal property absolutely; if none, one-half. the husband inherits all of the wife's personal property whether there are children or not, and the entire real estate for life if there has been issue born alive. if this has not been the case he has no interest in the wife's separate real estate. the homestead, to the value of $ , , is exempted for the wife. by act of , a married woman may dispose as though unmarried of all property heretofore or hereafter acquired. she can sell her personal property without her husband's uniting. he has the same right. she can sell her land without his uniting, but unless he does so, if curtesy exist, he will be entitled to a life estate. unless the wife unites with the husband in the sale of his real estate, she will be entitled to dower. by the above act a married woman may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, in the same manner and with the same consequences as if she were unmarried, whether the right or liability asserted by or against her accrued before or after the passage of the act. the husband is not responsible for any contract, liability or tort of the wife, whether the liability was incurred or the tort was committed before or after marriage. there has been no decision as to the wages of a married woman since the above act; but it is believed they would be held to belong to her absolutely, even if not engaged in business as a sole trader. the father is the legal guardian of the minor children, and may appoint a guardian for such time as he pleases. the husband is liable for necessaries for the support of the family, and can be sued therefor by any one who supplies them. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in . the penalty is death or imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than five nor more than twenty years. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: no offices are filled by women except that there is one physician at the western insane asylum and, through the efforts of the woman's christian temperance union, a matron in the woman's ward of the state prison. women are employed as clerks in various county offices. they can not serve as notaries public. occupations: under the ruling of the courts, a woman can not practice law. no other profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: for the higher education the women of virginia must go outside of their state.[ ] the state superintendent of free schools and the secretary of the state board of education both express great regret at this fact, and the hope that all institutions of learning will soon be opened to them. secretary frank p. brent says: we have as yet no women acting as school superintendents or members of school boards, but i feel sure the constitutional convention will make women eligible to one or both of these positions. last year i had the honor to decide that in matters pertaining to the educational affairs of this state, the wife may be regarded as the head of the family, although the husband is living; and this decision has just been reaffirmed by the united states court of appeals.[ ] women are admitted to several of the smaller colleges. the randolph-macon college in ashland, and the woman's college at lynchburgh, both under the same presidency, rank well among institutions for women only. miss celestia c. parrish is vice-president. hampton institute, for negroes and indians, is co-educational. the public schools make no distinction of sex. there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the state universities are closed to women only in virginia, georgia and louisiana, and the undergraduate departments in north carolina. [ ] the decision of the court was "when an intelligent, active, industrious, frugal woman finds she has married a man who, instead of coming up to the standard of a husband, is a mere dependent ... and leaves to her the support of the family, it would be contradictory of fact and an absurd construction of the law to say that he, and not she, is the head of the family." this is believed to be the first legal decision of the kind and has created wide discussion. chapter lxix. washington.[ ] the history of woman suffrage in washington begins with the passage of a bill by the legislature, giving women the full rights of the ballot on the same terms as men, which was approved nov. , , by the territorial governor, william a. newell. this was due principally to the efforts of a few individuals, both men and women, as there was no organization.[ ] the municipal elections of the following spring brought the first opportunity to exercise the newly-acquired right. the women evinced their appreciation of it by casting , ballots out of the whole number of , , and the leading papers testified to the widespread acknowledgment of the strength and moral uplift of their vote. the general election of november, , naturally showed a larger vote by both men and women, the latter casting , out of the , ballots. it was estimated at this time that there were less than one-third as many women as men in the territory. when the scattered population, the long distances and the difficulties of travel are taken into consideration it must be admitted that women took the largest possible advantage of the recently granted privileges. for the next two years they continued to use the franchise with unabated zeal, and newspapers and public speakers were unanimous in their approval. in a number of instances the official returns, during the three-and-a-half years they possessed the suffrage, exhibited _a larger percentage of women voting than of men_. chief justice roger s. greene of the supreme court estimated that at the last election before they were disfranchised four-fifths of all the women in the territory went to the polls. many women have remarked upon the increased respect and courtesy of the men during this period. mrs. elizabeth matthews, who removed from new orleans to port townsend in , states that, although accustomed from babyhood to the deferential gallantry of the men of the south, she never had dreamed that any women in the world were receiving such respectful consideration as she found in washington territory at that time. the political parties realized the necessity of putting their best men to the front, and it was fully conceded that ethics had become a factor in politics. prior to the legislature of some discussion arose as to the constitutionality of the equal suffrage law, and, in order to remove all doubt, a strengthening act was passed, which was approved by gov. watson c. squire, november . on feb. , , the case of _harlan vs. washington_ came before the territorial supreme court. harlan had been convicted of carrying on a swindling game by a jury composed of both men and women, and he contested the verdict on the ground that women were not legal voters. the supreme court, whose _personnel_ had been entirely changed through a new presidential administration, decided that the law conferring the elective franchise upon them was void because it had not been fully described in its title. this decision also rendered void nineteen other laws which had been enacted under the same conditions. the members of the next legislature had been elected so long before the rendering of this decision that their seats could not be contested; and as their election had been by both men and women they were determined to re-establish the law which the supreme court had ruthlessly overthrown. therefore the equal suffrage law was re-enacted, perfectly titled and worded, and was approved by gov. eugene semple, jan. , . the members of a convention to prepare a state constitution were soon to be chosen, and the opponents of woman suffrage were most anxious to have the question considered by the supreme court before the election of the delegates. they arranged that the judges of the spring municipal election in a certain precinct should refuse to accept the vote of a mrs. nevada bloomer, the wife of a saloon-keeper and herself an avowed opponent of woman suffrage. this was done on april , and she brought suit against them. the case was rushed through, and on august the supreme court decided that the act of january was invalid, as a territorial legislature had no right to enfranchise women, and that in consequence the equal suffrage law was void. the judges responsible for this decision were associate justices george turner and william g. langford. the very act of congress which organized the territory of washington stated explicitly that, at elections subsequent to the first, _all persons should be allowed to vote upon whom the territorial legislature might confer the elective franchise_. by the organic act under which all the territories were formed women had been voting in wyoming since and in utah since . the arbitrary disfranchisement of the women of the latter by congress in demonstrated that this body did have supreme control over suffrage in the territories, and therefore unimpeachable power to authorize their legislatures to confer it on women, as had been done by that of washington. there never was a more unconstitutional decision than that of this territorial supreme court. congress should have refused to admit the territory until women had voted for delegates to the constitutional convention and on the constitution itself.[ ] without doubt the supreme court of the united states would have reversed the decision of the territorial court, but mrs. bloomer refused to allow the case to be appealed, and no one else had authority to do so. as the women were thus illegally restrained from voting for delegates, the opponents of their enfranchisement were enabled to elect a convention with a majority sufficient to prevent a woman suffrage clause in the constitution for statehood. henry b. blackwell, corresponding secretary of the american w. s. a., came from massachusetts to assist in securing such a clause. after a long discussion as to whether he should be permitted to address the convention, both sides agreed that the delegates should be invited to hear him in tacoma hall. his address was highly praised even by newspapers and persons opposed to equal suffrage. four days later, with judge orange j. jacobs and mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon, he was granted a hearing before the suffrage committee of the convention. the question of incorporating woman suffrage in the new state constitution was debated at intervals from aug. to , . the fight for the measure was led by edward eldridge and w. s. bush. in a long and able argument mr. eldridge reviewed the recent decision of the supreme court and made an eloquent plea for justice to women. substitutes granting to women municipal suffrage, school suffrage, the right to hold office, the privilege of voting on the constitution, all were defeated. finally a compromise was forced by which it was agreed to submit a separate amendment giving them full suffrage, to be voted on at the same time as the rest of the constitution, women themselves not being allowed to vote upon it.[ ] only two-and-a-half months remained before election, the women were practically unorganized, there were few speakers, no money, and the towns were widely scattered. miss matilda hindman of pennsylvania and mrs. clara bewick colby of washington, d. c., editor of the _woman's tribune_, came on and canvassed the state. both were effective speakers and they received as much local assistance as possible, but all the money and influence which could be commanded by the disreputable element that had suffered from the woman's vote were brought to bear against the amendment, and its defeat was inevitable. the constitution was adopted nov. , , the woman suffrage amendment receiving , ayes, , noes; an adverse majority of , . in the first state legislature conferred school suffrage on women to the extent of voting for trustees and directors. the political campaign of was one in which reform of all kinds was unusually in evidence. three women sat as delegates in the state fusion convention at ellensburg. mrs. laura e. peters, president of the suffrage club at port angeles, was a populist delegate and was chosen a member of the platform committee. through her efforts a suffrage plank was inserted in the platform of that branch of the convention. the president of the state suffrage association, mrs. homer m. hill, said in her official report: "the people's party was composed of silver republicans, populists and democrats. at the state convention these met in separate sessions. the democrats voted down a resolution demanding that the committee on platform bring in a report favoring the amendment. the silver republicans passed one 'commending the action of the free silver party in presenting to the people the proposed amendment to the constitution.' the populists inserted in their platform a plank declaring that 'direct legislation without equal suffrage would be government by but one-half of the people,' and unequivocally favored the amendment. "although each of these three parties had its own platform, the combination formed the people's party and made its fight upon one composed of eleven planks, or articles of faith, to which all three agreed, _but equal suffrage was not one of them_. therefore the so-called union platform, minus suffrage, was the one generally published and used as the basis of the campaign speeches. because of this no speaker of the people's party was obliged to mention the amendment, and it was avoided as an issue in the campaign; the state central committee permitted each speaker to say what he pleased personally, but he was not allowed to commit the party or to urge men to vote for it. nearly every one, however, advocated equal suffrage. "the republicans, in convention at tacoma, adopted the following: 'firmly believing in the principle of equal rights to all and special privileges to none, we recommend to the voters of the state a careful consideration of the proposed constitutional amendment granting equal suffrage;' and this always was published as part of the platform. a few of the leading republican orators advocated the amendment and none spoke against it. its defeat is commonly attributed to the fact that , of the people's party did not vote upon it, and that _the republicans passed the word a short time before election to vote against it_. "mrs. w. winslow crannell, who was sent out by the albany (n. y.) anti-suffrage association, did not hold a meeting of women or a public meeting in the state. she conferred with men whom the anti-suffrage representative, alfred downing of seattle, already knew, and her coming tended to arouse the loyal support of the suffragists. "the prohibition party gave official indorsement. the social democratic party and the socialist labor party both inserted suffrage planks in their platforms. the latter claims , votes in the state." the fusion party was everywhere successful and the legislature of was composed of reform elements. mrs. peters had charge of the equal suffrage bill, which was introduced on the first day of the session by the hon. j. p. de mattos, and proposed to amend the constitution by striking out the word "male" from the suffrage clause. this passed the house on february by ayes, noes. the bill was amended in the senate and was strongly supported by joseph hill and w. v. rinehart. the amended bill passed the senate on february by ayes, noes, and was returned to the house. here it reached a vote march , the last day before the close of the session, only through mrs. peters' slipping up to speaker charles e. cline's desk and whispering to him to recognize l. e. rader, who wished to present it. as the speaker was a staunch suffragist he did so. the bill passed by ayes, noes, and was sent back for the signature of the president of the senate and then returned to the house for the speaker to sign. mrs. peters thus relates what happened after he had done so: by the merest accident, senator thomas miller, a friend, obeyed an impression to examine the bill to see if it were all right, when lo and behold! he discovered that the true bill had been stolen during the short recess and an absolutely worthless bill engrossed and signed. senator miller at once made the fraud public and speaker cline tore his signature from the bill. on thursday morning, the last day, a certified copy of the true bill was sent to the house, where it was ratified and returned to the senate. i then requested the president of the senate to make me a special messenger to take the bill to the governor for his signature. as i happened to hold the peculiar position of having voted (at the state convention) for both those gentlemen, and as i had taken pains to remind them of that fact, and as both the governor and lieutenant-governor were suffragists, i found no difficulty in having my request granted. i said that the bill had been delayed, deformed, pigeon-holed and stolen, and i would not feel safe until it was made law by the governor's signature. i was duly sworn in as special messenger, and very proudly carried the bill to the office, where gov. john r. rogers affixed his signature to it and declared it law. the history of the campaign which followed, as condensed by the president, mrs. hill, shows that active work did not begin until the convention held at seattle in january, . the executive committee was called together after its adjournment and the situation thoroughly canvassed. a resolution which welcomed work for the amendment by other societies under their own auspices was unanimously passed, as it was realized that there was not time in which to bring all suffragists into line under one management. money was scarce and hard to obtain, and public attention was divided between the spanish-american war and the gold excitement in alaska. the association at once turned its attention to the obtaining of funds, the securing of the favorable attitude of the press and the formal indorsement of the amendment by other organizations. clubs were formed in wards and precincts to hold meetings, assist the state association financially, distribute literature and circulate a petition for signatures of women only, asking that the voters cast their ballots for the proposed amendment. it was impossible to prosecute the petition work thoroughly throughout the state, but the largest cities--seattle, tacoma, spokane and olympia--with many country precincts, both east and west of the mountains, were very satisfactorily canvassed. it was found that over per cent. of all the women asked to sign the petition did so. the rest were divided between the indifferent and those positively opposed. no one received a salary for services. less than $ was collected, and $ . remained in the treasury, after every bill was paid, the day before election. the state association issued , pieces of literature of its own, a booklet of thirty pages containing testimonials from leading citizens of the four free states--wyoming, colorado, utah and idaho. early in the campaign mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, sent , pieces. henry b. blackwell, editor of the _woman's journal_, shortly before the election forwarded from boston pieces to each of the thirty-four counties in washington. this literature no doubt helped to swell the vote for the amendment. forty country newspapers were regularly sent free to state headquarters; the city papers at half-rates. the press was courteous in every instance, and either advocated equal suffrage, kept silence or opened its columns to both sides. the seattle _daily times_ strongly favored it. the christian church convention, which met in tacoma early in the campaign, gave hearty indorsement to the amendment. the m. e. church conference followed at the same place with a vote of ayes, noes; the congregational convention at snohomish with one dissenting vote. presbyterian and other ministers throughout the state quietly gave their support. the ministerial associations of seattle each received a committee from the e. s. a. one of the members of the ministers' association of spokane read a paper on equal suffrage, which was interestingly discussed, showing eight in favor, three opposed and one doubtful. the christian endeavorers at their convention in walla walla passed a resolution calling attention to the approaching election, and asking for the intelligent consideration of the amendment; eight of the trustees were in favor of recommending active work in local societies, but because the sentiment was not more nearly unanimous no action was taken. the independent order of good templars and the prohibition party indorsed the amendment. the woman's christian temperance union lent a helping hand judiciously. all demands and arguments were non-sectarian and non-political, being based upon the claims of justice as the only tenable ground on which to stand. many of the most self-sacrificing workers came from the liberal and free-thought societies, which are generally favorable to equal rights. the western central labor union of seattle extended courtesies to the e. s. a. and kept suffrage literature in its reading-room. the _freemen's labor journal_ of spokane, state organ of the trades unions, supported the amendment. single taxers, as a rule, voted for it. the state grange in convention formally indorsed it and promised support.[ ] on nov. , , the amendment was voted upon, receiving , yeas, , nays; majority opposed, , . as in , the adverse majority was , , a clear gain was shown of , in nine years. in a bill was prepared for the state association by judge j. w. langley, amending the constitution so that whenever an amendment giving the right of suffrage to women should be submitted to the people, the women themselves should be permitted to vote upon it. john w. pratt introduced the bill in the house, but it was referred to the committee on constitutional revision and not reported. near the close of the session mr. pratt brought it up on the floor of the house. a motion to postpone it indefinitely was immediately made and, practically without discussion, was carried by almost a unanimous vote. organization: for twelve years before the women of washington were enfranchised, mrs. abigail scott duniway of oregon was in the habit of canvassing the territory in behalf of woman suffrage, traveling by rail, stage, steamer and on foot, and where she found halls and churches closed against her, speaking in hotel offices and even bar-rooms, and always circulating her paper the _new northwest_. the legislature recognized her services by a resolution in , when accepting her picture, the coronation of womanhood. there was not during all this time any regularly organized suffrage association. when in the summer of the women of the territory saw the franchise taken away from them by decision of the supreme court, a number of local societies were formed and soon banded themselves into an association of which the hon. edward eldridge was president until his death in . afterward a. h. stewart was made president, mrs. laura e. peters, vice-president, and mrs. bessie isaacs savage, secretary. mrs. zerelda n. mccoy was president of the olympia club, and mrs. p. c. hale, treasurer. on jan. , , , the first delegate convention was held in olympia, and a state equal suffrage association formally organized. mrs. savage was elected president; mrs. clara e. sylvester, vice-president; mrs. lou jackson longmire, secretary; mrs. ella stork, treasurer. in april a special meeting was held in seattle and the state was divided into six districts for organization and other work, as it was evident there would soon be another amendment campaign. the second convention was held in seattle, jan. , , , with the hon. orange j. jacobs as the principal speaker. throughout the efforts of the suffragists were directed toward securing a resolution from the legislature for the submission of an amendment, and no convention was held. in january, , the state association again met in seattle. mrs. homer m. hill was elected president; mrs. peters, vice-president; miss martha e. pike, secretary; mrs. savage, treasurer. the management of the exposition held in seattle for three weeks in october, kindly accorded space to the red cross, equal suffrage association, w. c. t. u., kindergarten and city federation of women's clubs. mrs. carrie chapman catt, with miss mary g. hay, paid washington a visit during this month. she spoke in the first m. e. church at seattle to a large audience, and the woman's century club tendered her a reception. at tacoma the woman's study club arranged a lecture for her in the tacoma hotel parlors, which was well attended by representative people. mrs. emma c. mccully made the preparations for her at ellensburg, and mrs. lida m. ashenfelter bore the expense of the meeting at spokane. in december, , the state teachers' association passed a resolution strongly indorsing equal suffrage. the mental science convention took similar action. since the defeat of the amendment in no state conventions have been held. during the corresponding secretary, miss pike, visited many towns and conferred with representative women in reference to again taking up the work; while the president, mrs. hill, endeavored to secure the interest and indorsement of the various political parties. legislative action and laws: in the legislature amended the homestead law and gave to widows possession of the homestead, wearing apparel and household furniture of their deceased husbands, and the right to comply with the legal provisions for securing homesteads in case the husbands had not done so; it further declared that the homestead should be inviolate from executions for the payment of debts, either individual or community; it amended the community property law, giving husband and wife equal rights in the testamentary disposition of it. it also enabled married women to act as administrators. in the legislature conferred school suffrage upon women. the act was approved by gov. e. p. terry on march . the same legislature passed a bill requiring employers to provide seats for their female employes, and enacted that all avenues of employment should be open to women. it amended the community property law so that husband or wife could prevent the sale of his or her interest. in a bill was passed which made a woman punishable for the crime of arson, even though the property set fire to might belong to her husband. the legislature of appropriated $ , for the woman's department of the state at the world's fair in chicago. a bill passed this year provided matrons for jails in cities of , or more inhabitants. the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years. unfortunately the title of this bill was omitted and in compiling the code it was excluded, but the supreme court afterward legalized the action of the legislature. in the age was raised to years. this was accomplished through the efforts of the w. c. t. u., under the management of misses mary l. and emma e. page. the penalty is imprisonment in the penitentiary for life or "for any term of years." no minimum penalty is given. deceit or fraud may be considered force. married women were granted the right to act as executors of wills in . dower and curtesy are abolished. the testamentary rights of husband and wife are the same in regard to their separate property. if either die without a will, leaving only one child, or the lawful issue of one, the widow or widower takes half the real estate. if there is more than one child living, or one child and lawful issue of one or more children deceased, the widow or widower takes one-third of the real estate. if there is no descendant living the survivor receives one-half the real estate, unless there is neither father, mother, brother nor sister of the decedent living, when he or she takes all of it. the surviving husband or wife has one-half the personal property if there is issue living, otherwise all of it, after the debts are paid. the old spanish law in regard to community property obtains. while each retains control of his or her separate estate, the control of the community property is vested absolutely in the husband. this includes all acquired after marriage by the joint or separate efforts of either; lands acquired under the homestead laws; lands purchased with money derived from profits or loans of the wife's separate estate; lands purchased by her with money saved from household expenses; and the court has held that even her earnings outside the home are community property unless she is living apart from her husband. the husband can not convey this without the wife's signature, and he can not dispose of more than one-half of it by will. upon the death of either husband or wife one-half of the community property descends to the survivor, and the other half is subject to testamentary disposition. if there is no will the survivor takes half and the heirs of the deceased half; if there are none he or she takes the whole. the survivor has the preference in the right of administration. a married woman may make contracts and sue and be sued in her own name. husband and wife can not enter into business partnerships with each other. by an act of father and mother were given equal guardianship of the children, and in case of the death of either the guardianship passed to the survivor. but in the legislature enacted that the father might appoint by will a guardian of both persons and estates of minor children to the exclusion of the mother. the same legislature passed a law making the expenses of the family and education of the children chargeable upon the property of both husband and wife, or either of them, and provided that in relation thereto they might be sued jointly or separately. suffrage: since women may vote for school trustees, bonds and appropriations on the same terms as men, but can not vote for state or county superintendents. office holding: in the fall of miss ella guptil was elected superintendent of schools for clallam county. her right to hold the office was contested by her opponent, c. e. russell. miss guptil asked the following legislature to make her position definite, and in february, , a bill was passed and approved by gov. john h. mcgraw which removed all doubt, and she assumed the office. at the present time ( ) there are seven women county superintendents. women may sit on the school boards of all cities and towns. they are not eligible to any other elective office. in - mrs. carrie shaw rice served as a member of the state board of education. women do not sit on other boards. the law requires women matrons in the jails of all cities of , inhabitants and upwards, but not at police stations. women are employed in subordinate capacities in various state and municipal offices. they are also librarians in many places. they can not serve as notaries public. occupations: it was enacted by the legislature of that: "hereafter in this state every avenue of employment shall be open to women; and any business, vocation, profession and calling followed and pursued by men may be followed and pursued by women, and no person shall be disqualified from engaging in or pursuing any business, vocation, profession, calling or employment on account of sex: provided, that this section shall not be so construed as to permit women to hold public office." education: all of the educational institutions are open to both sexes alike. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ . ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for the material for this chapter to miss martha e. pike of seattle, corresponding secretary of the state equal suffrage association. [ ] see history of woman suffrage, vol. iii, p. . [ ] for further information see appendix for washington. [ ] for addresses and other proceedings see the _woman's tribune_, oct. , , and the following numbers. [ ] that practically all of the best elements in the state favored this amendment, and yet it was defeated, shows how thoroughly the disreputable classes controlled politics. chapter lxx. west virginia.[ ] in samuel young introduced into the senate of west virginia a bill to confer the suffrage on educated, taxpaying women, but it found no advocates except himself. in he presented a resolution asking congress for a sixteenth amendment to enfranchise women, which received the votes of eight of the twenty-two senators. no further step ever was taken in this direction until the spring of , when mrs. annie l. diggs of kansas was sent into the state by the national woman suffrage association but reported that the question was too new to make any organization possible. in the fall miss mary g. hay, national organizer, arranged a two weeks' series of meetings with the rev. henrietta g. moore of ohio as speaker, and several clubs were formed in the northern part of the state. a convention was called to meet in grafton, november , , when an association was formed and the following board of officers was elected: president, mrs. jessie c. manley; vice-president, harvey w. harmer; corresponding secretary, mrs. annie caldwell boyd; recording secretary, mrs. l. m. fay; treasurer, mrs. k. h. de woody; auditors, mrs. m. caswell and mrs. louise harden. the second convention was held at fairmont in january, , mrs. carrie chapman catt, chairman of the national organization committee, assisting. everything was so new that her presence and instruction were an inspiration and a help, without which it is doubtful whether the work would have continued. officers were elected as follows: president. mrs. fannie j. wheat; vice-president, mrs. mackie m. holbert; recording secretary, mrs. beulah boyd ritchie; auditors, mrs. mary long parson and mrs. mary butcher; member national executive committee, mrs. mary h. grove. the corresponding secretary and the treasurer were re-elected. in april, , the annual meeting was held at wheeling, in the carroll club auditorium. mrs. chapman catt and the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large of the national association, made addresses each afternoon and evening, and both filled the pulpit of the large methodist church on sunday. all the officers were re-elected except the treasurer, who was succeeded by miss j. b. wilson. the next convention took place at fairmont in the fall of , mrs. chapman catt again assisting to make it a success. the officers elected were: president, mrs. ritchie; vice-president, mr. harmer; corresponding secretary, mrs. boyd; recording secretary, miss clara reinheimer; treasurer, mrs. holbert; auditors, mrs. georgia g. clayton and mrs. belle mckinney; member national executive committee, mrs. wheat; press superintendent, mrs. manley. prior to , the subject of the enfranchisement of women was practically unknown in west virginia, but now there is no part of the state in which the injustice and ignominy of their disfranchisement has not been brought to the mind and conscience of the voters. legislative action and laws: in the legislature appointed a committee to draw up a new state constitution, and the suffragists presented to it a petition, signed by about leading men and women, asking that the word "male" be omitted from the suffrage clause. individual appeals were made and literature sent to each member of the committee. many signatures for the petition were obtained at the state fair, held in wheeling, where room for a suffrage booth in the manufacturer's building was given by the president of the board, anton reymann, while every other foot of space was rented out at a large price. the booth was decorated with portraits of the leaders, susan b. anthony and elizabeth cady stanton, and made as attractive as possible. in the rev. anna howard shaw addressed a joint session of both houses of the legislature in behalf of the enfranchisement of women. her expenses were paid by the fairmont suffrage club.[ ] the lecture was a decided success, many members of the legislature expressing themselves as favorable to the cause she advocated. the clause striking out the word "male" was not, however, reported from the committee, and the whole matter of a new constitution eventually was dropped.[ ] by an act of , no child under years of age, of either sex, can be employed in any mine, factory or workshop. by an act of a married woman may carry on business in her own name, and her earnings and all property, real and personal, purchased by her with the proceeds of such earnings, is in all cases her sole and separate property and not subject to the control or disposal of her husband or liable for his debts. by another act of this year a married woman may sue and be sued in any court in her own name. by an act of , a married woman may appoint an attorney in fact to execute any deed or other writing. by an act of employers are required to provide seats for female employes. dower and curtesy both obtain. the widower has a life interest in all his wife's real estate, whether they have had children or not. the widow has a life interest in one-third of her husband's real estate, if there are children living. if there are neither descendants nor kindred, the entire real estate of a husband or wife dying without a will goes to the survivor. if there are children living, the widow or widower has one-third of the personal property, and all of it if there are none. a homestead to the value of $ , is exempted for either. if a child die possessed of property and without descendants or a will the father is heir to all of it; if he is dead, the mother inherits only an equal share with each of the remaining children. if both parents and all brothers and sisters are dead, the grandfather is the sole heir; he failing the grandmother shares equally with her surviving children. the husband can convey his separate property without his wife's signature. the wife can not sell or encumber her separate property without her husband's consent. the father is the legal guardian of the minor children. if a widow remarry the guardianship of the children of the first husband passes to the second, and she can not even appoint a guardian at her death. no married woman can be a guardian. the husband is required to furnish support adequate to his property and position in life. in the legal age of marriage for girls was raised from twelve to sixteen years. the "age of protection" remains at years. formerly the penalty was death or, in the discretion of the jury, imprisonment for not less than seven nor more than twenty years. in it was enacted that it might be regarded as a felony and punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years. through the efforts of women bills to raise the age have been repeatedly introduced but always have been defeated. suffrage: women possess no form of suffrage. office holding: in dr. harriet b. jones was appointed assistant hospital physician in the state insane asylum, with the same salary paid the men physicians. she was the first woman ever appointed to such a position in a state institution in west virginia. on her resignation she was succeeded by dr. luella f. bullard, who still holds the office. to the untiring energy of dr. jones is due the state industrial home for girls. during two sessions of the legislature she remained at the capital, entirely at her own expense and leaving a lucrative practice, to urge the need of this institution. at length $ , were appropriated for this purpose in and $ , more in . now a girl committing a minor offense is no longer placed in jail or in the penitentiary while her brother for the same misdeed is sent to the reform school. dr. jones was elected president and all the officers are women. the state home for incurables also represents the work and ability of a woman, mrs. joseph ruffner. before the same legislatures as dr. jones, she appeared with a bill asking an appropriation, and by persistence secured one of $ , . the home is now in successful operation with mrs. ruffner as president. the governor is required to appoint boards composed equally of men and women for these two institutions. women sit also on the boards of orphan asylums, day nurseries and homes for the friendless. the humane society of wheeling was organized in with mrs. harriet g. list as president. in she secured an appropriation of $ , from the legislature to aid in its work. a woman is librarian on the staff of the agricultural experiment station. the board of education of wheeling appoints the three librarians in the public library, which is supported from the school fund, and for several years all of these have been women. in some parts of the state women are appointed examiners to decide on the fitness of applicants to teach in the public schools, but they can not sit on school boards. women can not serve as notaries public. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women except that of mining. education: all institutions of learning are open to both sexes alike. bethany college has admitted women for more than ten years, and four are on the faculty. in the state university was made co-educational, after much opposition. it has eight women on its faculty, and two of the three members of its library staff are women. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. it is impossible to obtain the average salaries. footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for this chapter to mrs. annie caldwell boyd of wheeling, who has been an officer continuously in the state woman suffrage association since it was organized. [ ] this club raised money by suppers, festivals and a woman's exchange for use in the work. it subscribed for twenty-five copies of the _woman's journal_ to be sent to the state university, to the six normal schools and to various individuals. it also offered $ in prizes for the best orations on the enfranchisement of women, to be competed for by the students of the above schools. [ ] in the legislature of a bill was introduced conferring on women the right to vote for presidential electors, as this can be done by the legislators without a reference to the voters. the bill was drawn up by george e. boyd, sr. it was reported by the house judiciary committee, february , with the recommendation "that it do not pass." henry c. hervey spoke strongly in its favor and was ably seconded by s. g. smith, who closed by demanding the ayes and noes on the speaker's question, "shall the bill be rejected?" the ayes were , noes , the bill being defeated by six votes. speaker william g. wilson voted against it. the bill was presented in the senate by nelson whittaker, but u. s. senator stephen b. elkins came on from washington and commanded that it be tabled, which was done. chapter lxxi. wisconsin.[ ] as a territory wisconsin interested herself in equal rights. in the first constitutional convention universal suffrage regardless of sex or color had a considerable vote. in the second woman suffrage received a certain amount of favorable consideration. early in the history of the state widows were made heirs of all the property in case of the death of the husband without children, and laws were passed by which a life interest in the homestead was secured to the wife. in the regents of the state university declared that their plan "contemplated the admission of women," and in women were made eligible to all school offices. the first woman suffrage association was organized in as a result of a large convention in milwaukee, arranged by dr. laura ross and miss lily peckham, a bright young lawyer, and addressed by mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, mrs. mary a. livermore, miss susan b. anthony and others. soon after this several local societies were organized. its annual meetings since have been held as follows: , richland center; , whitewater; , racine; , madison; , stevens' point; , milwaukee; , berlin; , menominee; , richland center; , mukwonago; , racine; , evansville; , waukesha; , monroe; , spring green; , platteville; , brodhead. the president during was mrs. emma c. bascom, wife of the president of the state university. on leaving for the east she was succeeded by the rev. olympia brown, who has been re-elected every year since.[ ] mrs. brown was called to the pastorate of the universalist church of racine in , and during her nine years of service there held occasional meetings in behalf of woman suffrage in various parts of the state. in addition to annual conventions numerous conferences have been held, too many and too similar in character to make a detailed history of them essential. in the winter of a course of lectures was given in racine on subjects relating to women by mrs. mary a. livermore, mrs. julia ward howe, mrs. mary e. haggart, mrs. may wright sewall and mrs. j. g. mcmurphy. in november, , mrs. brown held a series of nine district conventions in company with miss anthony and mrs. clara bewick colby. on november she received a telegram from miss anthony, then in kansas, saying that they would join in holding conventions in all the congressional districts beginning on the th. this seemed a very short time in which to prepare for such a campaign, but by the president's deciding on places and dates without consultation, sending posters to the different towns selected and announcements to all the papers of the state, and then going in person to secure halls and make local arrangements, the date named found a tolerable degree of preparation. the canvass opened with a large reception at the home of mrs. m. b. erskine in racine, which was followed by conventions at waukesha, ripon, oshkosh, green bay, grand rapids, eau claire, la crosse, evansville and madison. at the last place the ladies spoke in the senate chamber to a distinguished audience. the effect of these meetings was marked. many members were added to the state association, branches were organized and an impetus given to the work such as never was known before and has not been repeated. since then many conventions have been held by the president of the association, its several lecturers and outside speakers. in the suffrage association kept open house for ten days at the manona lake assembly; during this time the rev. anna howard shaw, national vice-president-at-large, gave one of the chautauqua lectures to an audience of , people. in a conference was held in madison by the officers of the national association, attended by the state executive board and representatives of various societies. the rev. ella bartlett, the rev. nellie mann opdale and the rev. alice ball loomis have each served as state lecturer for two or more years and proved most efficient. mrs. emma smith devoe has also lectured in the state during several different seasons with excellent effect. among those who have aided in the work in an early day may be mentioned madame mathilde f. anneke, dr. laura ross wolcott, mrs. ella partridge, mrs. emeline wolcott; and later mrs. lephia o. brown, the mother, and j. h. willis, the husband, of the rev. olympia brown.[ ] prof. henry doty maxon stands pre-eminent among the men who have assisted the cause. he was pastor of the unitarian church at menominee and vice-president of the state suffrage association for a number of years, attended the annual meetings regularly and himself arranged one of the most successful, which was held in his church, known as the mabel taintor memorial hall. col. j. g. mcmynn exerted an influence in favor of woman's advancement, at an early day. many men have aided by giving money and influence, among them state senator norman james, david b. james, capt. andrew taintor, the hon. t. b. wilson, burr sprague, m. b. erskine, the hon. w. t. lewis, steven bull, the hon. isaac stevenson, u. s. senator philetus sawyer and judge hamilton of neenah. the clergy generally have assisted by giving their churches for meetings. the richland center club and the greene county equal rights association deserve special mention for their faithfulness and generosity. the suffrage club of platteville is also very active. one of the most important features of the work has been the publication of the _wisconsin citizen_, a monthly paper devoted to the interests of women. it was started in to educate the people on the suffrage bill of and has continued ever since, no other one influence having been so helpful to the cause. the association owes this paper to mrs. martha parker dingee, a niece of theodore parker, who edited it for seven years, reading all the proofs, without help and without remuneration; and to mrs. helen h. charlton who has edited and published the paper from to the present time. miss sarah h. richards compiled and published an interesting history and directory of the wisconsin woman suffrage association to which the present sketch is much indebted. legislative action: only one measure looking to the extension of suffrage to women ever has been passed by the legislature. this was done in as the result of the efforts of alura collins hollister, who was appointed to represent the association in legislative work at madison. the following was submitted to the voters: "every woman who is a citizen of this state of the age of twenty-one years and upward, except paupers, etc., who has resided within the state one year and in the election district where she offers to vote ten days next preceding any election pertaining to school matters, shall have the right to vote at such election." this was discussed at length in both branches of the legislature and passed on march by a large majority. it was voted upon at the fall election in receiving a majority of , , and thus became a law.[ ] it will be noted that this law specifies what women are to vote, viz.: actual citizens who are not paupers; where women are to vote, viz.: in the election districts where they reside; when women are to vote, viz.: when there is an election pertaining to school matters. it does not specify what women are to vote upon or for whom--they are full voters without limitation at all elections pertaining to school matters. what elections pertain to school matters? first, the general election held once in two years, at which the state superintendent of public instruction and officers controlling the state university and other state institutions are chosen. second, the municipal election which in most cities pertains to school matters, as a school board or superintendent is chosen then. third, other elections in country villages where one or more school officers are chosen. fourth, special elections where subjects relating to schools are voted upon. of several suffrage bills reported at this session this one, called the ginty bill, was the only one which provided for a submission of the question to the voters, which shows the purpose of the framers to have been to grant state or national suffrage. the broad scope of this law practically giving women a vote on the election of all national, state and municipal officers, was pointed out to the leaders of the suffrage association by some of the men instrumental in its passage, notably senator norman james, chairman of the joint special committee that reported the bill. it is claimed that the legislature did not intend to pass a law so far reaching, but the circumstances of its passage, political conditions at the time, as well as the statements of its members and of the committee, show that they did intend to pass this broad, far-reaching law, giving suffrage to women. to awaken women to the necessity of voting at the first opportunity--the municipal election in --the suffrage association undertook an active canvass of the state which lasted without interruption until the autumn of , a period of over two years. the rev. olympia brown gave up her church in racine and devoted herself exclusively to the work. the association was assisted by miss anthony, mrs. livermore, mrs. elizabeth lyle saxon, mrs. elizabeth boynton harbert and mrs. catharine waugh mcculloch. some of these speakers remained a month, others a week and some only for two or three lectures. the state president attended every meeting. on the morning of the election in april, , attorney-general charles b. estabrook sent out telegrams to those places where he supposed women would be likely to vote, ordering the inspectors to reject their ballots, which was done; but where they were not advised by him the ballots of women were accepted. the next effort of the suffrage leaders was to instruct the people in the law and the circumstances of its passage, and thus to inspire confidence in spite of the refusal of the ballots. it was suggested that as the presidential election was near at hand, politicians would not leave it uncertain as to whether or not women were entitled to vote, but would secure an interpretation of the law from the supreme court without proper argument and presentation of the facts, hence the state w. s. a. decided to test the matter itself. the case was brought by mrs. brown against the election inspectors in racine for refusing to accept her vote, and was ably argued before judge john b. winslow of the circuit court, now a member of the supreme court of wisconsin. he overruled the demurrer of the inspectors, stating that women were entitled to vote at that election and for all candidates, thus confirming the law. an appeal was immediately taken by the inspectors to the supreme court, and in order to keep the subject before the people and to create a favorable public sentiment the association continued its canvass by distributing literature and giving lectures. the decision rendered jan. , , was written by justice john b. cassody and was so vague and loosely worded that lawyers were not agreed as to its meaning. he reversed the finding of the lower court, however, declaring the intent of the law to be to confer school suffrage only.[ ] the association now found itself confronted by a large debt, the whole suit having cost about $ , , but by active work the autumn of found everything paid. in all this mrs. almeda b. gray, one of the officers of the association, was a leading spirit, contributing largely in time and money; mrs. m. a. fowler worked night and day, making routes for speakers and planning the campaign, other women assisted according to their ability and the club at richland center did excellent service. the decision still left room for litigation, the claim being made that the ruling of the supreme court plainly recognized the right of women to vote provided their ballots were put in a separate box. in the following november wm. a. mckinley was elected superintendent of schools for oconto county by the votes of women placed in a separate box. his election was contested and the case was argued before judge samuel b. hastings of green bay, who, quoting from the decision of judge cassody, decided that women had a right to vote provided their ballots were put into a separate box. this case also was appealed to the supreme court, where the decision, rendered by judge william p. lyon, jan. , , was that the votes of the women in oconto county were illegally counted. the ground for this finding was that further legislative action was necessary before separate ballot-boxes could be legally provided. judge cassody dissented from this opinion. the law then became practically a dead letter, except in a few instances, until , when an act of the legislature provided for separate ballot boxes for women, and in the spring of they voted on school questions. in the legislative committee, consisting of mrs. jennie lamberson, mrs. jessie luther and mrs. alice kollock, assisted by mrs. charlton, secured the introduction of two bills--one to strike the word "male" from the state constitution, the other for a suffrage amendment by statute law. a hearing was granted before the joint committee of both houses in the senate chamber, which was crowded. mesdames elizabeth boynton harbert (ills.), helen h. charlton, nellie mann opdale, ellen a. rose and dr. annette j. shaw were the speakers.[ ] the bills were reported favorably but were lost after discussion. laws: dower and curtesy obtain. a widow is entitled to a life interest in one-third of the real estate and, if the husband die without a will, to the share of a child in the personal estate. if there is no lawful issue she has the entire estate, both real and personal. the widower has a life interest in all the real estate of his wife not disposed of by will, or in all of it if the wife died intestate, unless she left issue by a former husband, in which case such issue takes it, free from the right of the surviving husband to hold the same by curtesy. if the wife die without a will and leave no issue, the widower is entitled to the entire estate, both real and personal. there may also be reserved for the widow a homestead of not more than forty acres of farm land, or one-quarter of an acre in a town, which at her subsequent marriage or death passes to the heirs of the former husband. if none exist she does not lose her homestead rights by marrying again. the wife may dispose of all her real estate by conveyance during her lifetime or by will, without the husband's consent. he can not destroy her dower rights. a married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on business in her own name. the father, if living, and in case of his death the mother, while she remains unmarried, shall be entitled to the custody of the persons and education of the minor children. the father may by will appoint a guardian for a child, whether born or unborn, to continue during its minority or for a less time. neglect to provide for a wife and minor children is a misdemeanor, punished by imprisonment in the county jail not less than fifteen days, during ten days of which food may be bread and water only; or by imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding one year, or in the county workhouse, at the discretion of the court. in a law was passed raising the "age of protection" for girls from to years. in this was amended by lowering the age to and reducing the punishment from imprisonment for life to not more than thirty-five nor less than five years. the clause also was added: "provided that if the child shall be a common prostitute, the man shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than seven."[ ] in the age was raised again to years with the same penalty. suffrage: by the law of every woman who is a citizen of this state of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, except paupers, etc., who has resided in the state for one year and in the election district where she offers to vote ten days next preceding any election pertaining to school matters, shall have a right to vote at such election. by the present interpretation of this law the suffrage of women is limited to school officers and questions. suffrage may be extended by statute but such law must be ratified by a majority of the voters at a general election. office holding: there is no law authorizing women to hold any elective office except such as pertains to schools, but they have been eligible to these since . eighteen women have served as county superintendents at the same time; nine are acting at present. they sit on school boards in a number of cities. in the legislature women act as enrolling and engrossing clerks, and as clerks and stenographers to committees. they are also found as clerks, copyists and stenographers in the various elective and appointive state, city and county offices. in the state institutions they are employed as teachers, matrons, bookkeepers, supervisors, state agents for placing dependent children, etc. the milwaukee industrial school for girls, supported partly by public and partly by private funds, is the only institution managed entirely by women. there are no women physicians at any of the state institutions. one woman was appointed county physician in waukesha, and one or two have been made city physicians. the office of police matron was established by city ordinance in milwaukee in . there is none in any other city. women act as notaries public and court commissioners. women could not sit on any state boards until the legislature of authorized the appointment of one woman on the board of regents for the state university, and one on that of the state normal school. it also authorized the appointment of a woman state factory inspector. occupations: no profession or occupation is legally forbidden to women. education: in the regents of the state university took a stand in favor of co-education. in an act reorganizing the university declared that in all its departments it should be opened to male and female students; but owing to prejudices it was not until that complete co-education was established, although women were graduated in . all institutions of learning are open alike to both sexes. in the public schools there are , men and , women teachers. the average monthly salary of the men is $ ; of the women, $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted for most of the material in this chapter to the rev. olympia brown of racine, president of the state woman suffrage association since . [ ] the other officers at present are: vice-presidents, mrs. ellen a. rose and mrs. madge waters; chairman executive committee, mrs. etta gardner; corresponding secretary, mrs. m. geddes; recording secretary, miss emma graham; treasurer, mrs. lydia woodward; state organizer, the rev. alice ball loomis; district presidents, dr. abby m. adams, mesdames kate taylor, m. a. fowler, l. a. rhodes, augusta morris, alura collins hollister, l. m. eastman, mary upham, emma shores and sylvia rogers; press committee, mesdames sarah buck, clara f. eastland, jennie beck and dora putnam; finance committee, mesdames anna gile, donald jones and j. b. hamilton. [ ] besides those mentioned above, mesdames nancy comstock, josephine degroat, m. a. derrick, m. a. fowler, m. m. frazier, laura james, dr. sarah monroe, e. a. rose, s. a. rhodes, burr sprague and lydia woodward all have been most valuable helpers. among generous contributors have been w. h. crosby, charles erskine; mesdames l. j. barlow, laura c. demmon, almeda b. gray, mary e. hulett, emma v. laughton, mary merrill, margaret messenger, hannah patchen, dr. laura ross wolcott, emeline wolcott and park wooster; those who have aided by the pen are mesdames marian v. dudley, clara eastland, hattie tyng gardner, etta gardner, c. v. leighton and minnie stebbins savage. [ ] the state constitution provides that the suffrage may be extended by a law submitted to the electors at any general election. if it receives a majority vote it is held to have the force of a constitutional amendment. [ ] the open letter addressed to judge cassody, march , , by mrs. brown, in regard to this decision, was pronounced by the best lawyers as unsurpassed in logic, legal acumen, keen sarcasm and righteous indignation. [eds. [ ] e. p. wilder, associate editor of the madison _state journal_, chief official organ of the republican party, made an excellent address at this time in favor of woman suffrage, which was afterwards printed as a leaflet. [ ] this is believed to be the only case on record where the age of protection has been lowered. the amendment was urged by senator p. j. clawson of monroe, green county at its next meeting the county suffrage society passed the strongest possible denunciatory resolutions, and thereafter its members worked diligently to defeat mr. clawson for the nomination to congress, which they succeeded in doing. chapter lxxii. wyoming.[ ] it is said that a contented people or a happy life is one without a history. the cause of woman suffrage in wyoming has not been marked by agitation or strife, and for that reason there is no struggle to record, as is the case in all other states. in its story mrs. esther morris must ever be considered the heroine. a native of new york, she joined her husband and three sons in at south pass, then the chief town of wyoming. she was a strong advocate of the enfranchisement of women and succeeded in enlisting the co-operation of col. william h. bright, president of the first legislative council of the territory, which that very year passed a bill conferring on women the full elective franchise and the right to hold all offices. gov. john a. campbell was in some doubt as to signing it, but a body of women in cheyenne, headed by mrs. amalia post (wife of morton e. post, delegate to congress), went to his residence and announced their intention of staying until he did so. a vacancy occurring soon afterward in the office of justice of the peace at south pass, the governor appointed mrs. morris on petition of the county attorney and commissioners. she tried between thirty and forty cases and none was appealed to a higher court.[ ] in a bill to repeal this woman suffrage law was passed by the legislature and vetoed by governor campbell. an attempt to pass it over his veto failed. no proposition to abolish it ever was made in the legislature thereafter. in , fifteen years after women had first voted in wyoming, u. s. district attorney melville c. brown, at the request of miss susan b. anthony, sent to the national association an extended résumé of the status of women suffrage in the territory, to which he himself had been opposed in . it expressed throughout the most emphatic approval without any qualifications. some of the statements were as follows: women have exercised their elective franchise, at first not very generally but of late with universality, and with such good judgment and modesty as to commend it to the men of all parties who hold the good of the territory in high esteem.... it has been stated that the best women do not avail themselves of the privilege. this is maliciously false.... the foolish claim has also been made that the influence of the ballot upon women is bad. this is not true. it is impossible that a woman's character can be contaminated in associating with men for a few minutes in going to the polls any more than it would be in going to church or to places of amusement. on the other hand women are benefited and improved by the ballot.... the fact is, wyoming has the noblest and best women in the world because they have more privileges and know better how to use them. to conclude i will say: woman suffrage is a settled fact here, and will endure as long as the territory. it has accomplished much good; it has harmed no one; therefore we are all in favor, and none can be found to raise a voice against it. in the convention called the first monday of september, , to prepare a constitution for admission as a state, this was the first clause presented for consideration: the right of citizens of the state of wyoming to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. both male and female citizens of this state shall enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges. after just twenty years' experience of woman suffrage no man in this convention was found in opposition to it, but to the surprise of the members, one delegate, a. c. campbell of laramie, proposed to amend this section by making it a separate article to be voted upon apart from the rest of the constitution. he supported his amendment by a long speech in which he said that he himself should vote in favor of the article and, from his observations throughout the territory, he believed two-thirds or more of the people would do the same, but he thought they ought to have a chance to express themselves; that "they were going to have a pretty tough time anyhow getting into the union, and if they put in a proposition of this kind without giving those persons who were opposed to woman suffrage a chance to express themselves, they would vote against the whole constitution." the other members of the convention looked upon this as a scheme of the opponents, and mr. campbell had no support to his proposition. on the contrary, the most eloquent addresses were made by george w. baxter, henry a. coffeen, c. w. holden, asbury b. conaway, melville c. brown, charles h. burritt and john w. hoyt demanding that the suffrage clause should stand in the constitution regardless of consequences. space will permit only the keynote of these courageous speeches.[ ] mr. baxter: ... i defend this because it is right, because it is fair, because it is just.... i shall ever regard as a distinguished honor my membership in this convention, which, for the first time in the history of all this broad land, rising above the prejudice and injustice of the past, will incorporate into the fundamental law of the state a provision that shall secure to every citizen within her borders not only the protection of the courts, but the absolute and equal enjoyment of every right and privilege guaranteed under the law to any other citizen. mr. coffeen: ... the question, as i take it, is already settled in the hearts and minds and judgments of the people of our glorious state proposed-to-be, and shall we stand here to-day and debate over it when every element of justice and right and equality is in its favor; when not one iota of weight of argument has been brought against it; when every word that can be said is in favor of continuing the good results of woman suffrage, which we have experienced for twenty years?... i shall not go into the policy or propriety of submitting such a proposition as this now before us to the people of this territory.... mr. holden: i do not desire at this time to offer any reason why the right to vote should be granted to women; that is not the question before us. the question is, shall we secure that right by fundamental law? the proposition now under consideration is, shall we leave it to the people of wyoming to say whether or not the privilege of voting shall be secured to women? now, mr. chairman, i believe that i voice the wishes of my constituency when i say that rather than surrender the right which the women of this territory have so long enjoyed--and which they have used not only with credit to themselves but with profit to the country in which they live--i say that rather than surrender that right we will remain in a territorial condition throughout the endless cycles of time. mr. conaway: ... the sentiment of this convention, and i believe of the people whom we represent, is so nearly unanimous that extended discussion, it seems to me, would be a waste of time.... if it were proposed to submit to a vote of the people whether the property of the gentleman from laramie should be taken from him, or my property should be taken from me and given to somebody else, there would be no difference of opinion upon it. in wyoming this right of our women has been recognized, has been enjoyed; there are such things in law as vested rights, and the decisions of our courts are unanimous that it is not within the power of the legislature ever to take away from any person his rights or his property and to confer them upon another, and that is what this clause proposes to do, to submit to a vote whether we shall take away from one-half of our citizens--and, as my friend has well stated, the better half--a certain right, and increase the rights of the other half by so doing.... mr. brown: i was a member of that second legislature which tried to disfranchise women.... from that day to the present no man in the legislature of wyoming has been heard to lift his voice against woman suffrage. it has become one of the fundamental laws of the land, and to raise any question about it at this time is as improper, in my judgment, as to raise a question as to any other fundamental right guaranteed to any citizen in this territory. i would sooner think, mr. chairman, of submitting to the people of wyoming a separate and distinct proposition as to whether a male citizen of the territory shall be entitled to vote.... mr. hoyt: ... for twenty years the women of this territory have taken part with the men in its government, and have exercised this right of suffrage equally with them, and we are all proud of the results. no man in wyoming ever has dared to say that woman suffrage is a failure. there has been no disturbance of the domestic relations, there has been no diminution of the social order, there has been no lessening of the dignity which characterizes the exercise of the elective franchise; there have been, on the contrary, an improvement of the social order, better laws, better officials, a higher civilization. why, then, this extraordinary proposition that, after so many years, having exercised with us the right of suffrage since the foundation of this territorial government, women are now to be singled out, to be set aside, and the question submitted to a vote as to whether they shall have a continuance of the rights which have been given to them by unanimous consent, and which they have exercised wisely and properly and, as my friend says, with profit to the whole territory? this is indeed an extraordinary proposition, to submit to a vote the continuance of a vested right. i will not impugn the motives of the gentleman who makes it, but i demand as a matter of justice that it shall be voted down by an overwhelming majority, and i would that he had never presented it.... we are told that if we put this clause into our constitution as a fundamental law, we shall fail to secure its approval by the people of wyoming and its acceptance by the congress of the united states; but if it should so prove that the adoption of this provision to protect the rights of the women should work against our admission, then i agree with my friend, mr. holden, that we will remain out of the union until a sentiment of justice shall prevail.... mr. burritt: ... mr. campbell destroyed any argument that he made in favor of this amendment by saying, first, that woman suffrage as a principle is right; second, that he would vote for it if presented to the people. and he further said that he was not afraid, in defending the right of petition, to come before this convention and indorse this proposition to be separately voted upon, even if it cost him the ladies' vote or the votes of any other class. that certainly is very courageous on the part of the gentleman from laramie.... but i will say this much in addition, which he did not say, that, as a member of this convention and believing the right of suffrage to be a vested right, of which it would be wrong and wicked for us to attempt to deprive women, i have also the courage to rise above the single constituent that i have in johnson county who is opposed to woman suffrage (and i know but one) and to rise above the majority even of its citizens if i knew they were opposed, and i am sure that this convention and this state have as much courage as i have. believing that woman suffrage is right, i am sure that this convention has the courage to go before congress and say that if they will not let us in with this plank in our state constitution we will stay out forever.... i stand upon the platform of justice, and i advocate the continuance of the right of women to vote and hold office and enjoy equally with men all civil, religious and political privileges, and that this right be incorporated as a part of the fundamental law of the state.... the woman suffrage clause was retained as a part of the constitution, which was adopted by more than a three-fourths majority of the popular vote. a bill to provide for the admission of wyoming as a state was introduced into the house of representatives on dec. , , and later was favorably reported from the committee on territories by charles s. baker of new york. a minority report was presented by william m. springer of illinois, consisting of twenty-three pages, two devoted to various other reasons for non-admission and twenty-one to objections because of the woman suffrage article. as it was supposed that the new state would be republican, a bitter fight was waged by the democrats, using the provision for woman suffrage as a club. the bill was grandly championed by joseph m. carey, delegate from the territory (afterward united states senator) who defended the suffrage clause with the same courage and ability as all the others in the constitution.[ ] the principal speech in opposition was by joseph e. washington of tennessee, who said in part: my chief objection to the admission of wyoming is the suffrage article in the constitution. i am unalterably opposed to female suffrage in any form. it can only result in the end in unsexing and degrading the womanhood of america. it is emphatically a reform against nature.... i have no doubt that in wyoming to-day women vote in as many [different] precincts as they can reach on horseback or on foot after changing their frocks and bustles.... tennessee has not yet adopted any of these new-fangled ideas, not that we are lacking in respect for true and exalted womanhood.[ ] william c. oates of alabama also delivered a long speech in opposition, of which the following is a specimen paragraph: i like a woman who is a woman and appreciates the sphere to which god and the bible have assigned her. i do not like a man-woman. she may be intelligent and full of learning, but when she assumes the performance of the duties and functions assigned by nature to man, she becomes rough and tough and can no longer be the object of affection. he concluded his argument by saying that if ever universal suffrage should prevail the government would break to pieces of its own weight. the enfranchisement of women was also vehemently attacked by alexander m. dockery of missouri, george t. barnes of georgia, william m. springer of illinois, and william mcadoo of new jersey. it was strongly defended by henry l. morey of ohio, charles s. baker of new york, daniel kerr and i. s. struble, both of iowa, and harrison b. kelley of kansas. every possible effort was made to compel the adoption of an amendment limiting the suffrage to male citizens, and it was defeated by only six votes. the bill of admission was passed march , , after three days' discussion, by ayes to noes. during the progress of this debate delegate carey telegraphed to the wyoming legislature, then in session, that it looked as if the suffrage clause would have to be abandoned if statehood were to be obtained, and the answer came back: "we will remain out of the union a hundred years rather than come in without woman suffrage."[ ] in the senate the fight against the suffrage article was renewed with added intensity. the bill for the admission of wyoming was reported favorably through the chairman of the committee on territories, orville h. platt of connecticut, in january, , but was not reached on the calendar until february . on objection from francis m. cockrell of missouri, that there was not time then for its consideration, it was postponed, but without losing its place on the calendar. not until may , however, did it come up again as unfinished business, and only to be again postponed. on may the bill was set down for the following monday, but it was june before it finally received extended consideration. the debate continued for three days and the clause conferring suffrage on women took a prominent place. george g. vest of missouri led the opposition and said in the course of his lengthy oration: i shall never vote to admit into the union any state that adopts woman suffrage. i do not propose to discuss the sentimental side of the question.... in my judgment woman suffrage is antagonistic to the spirit, to the institutions, of the people of the united states. it is utterly antagonistic to my ideas of the government as the fathers made it and left it to us. if there were no other reason i would never give the right of suffrage to women because the danger to the institutions of the united states to-day is in hurried, spasmodic, sentimental suffrage.... i believe that with universal suffrage in this country, the injecting into our suffrage of all the women of the united states would be the greatest calamity that could possibly happen to our institutions and people.... if there were no other reason with me, i would vote against the admission of wyoming because it has that feature in its constitution. i will not take the responsibility as a senator of indorsing in any way, directly or indirectly, woman suffrage. i repeat that in my judgment it would be not only a calamity but an absolute crime against the institutions of the people of the united states.... in an extended speech john h. reagan of texas said: but what are we going to do, what are the people of this territory going to do, by the adoption of this constitution? they are going to make men of women, and when they do that the correlative must take place that men must become women. so i suppose we are to have women for public officers, women to do military duty, women to work the roads, women to fight the battles of the country, and men to wash the dishes, men to nurse the children, men to stay at home while the ladies go out and make stump speeches in canvasses.... mr. president, when the almighty created men and women he made them for different purposes, and six thousand years of experience have recognized the wisdom and justice of the almighty in this arrangement. it is only latterly that people have got wiser than their creator and wiser than all the generations which have preceded them.... the constitution of society, the necessity for the existence of society, the necessity of home government, which is the most important of all the parts of government, can only be preserved and perpetuated by keeping men in their sphere and women in their sphere.... it is a wholesome thing to reflect that after a hard day's struggle and of rough contacts which men must have with each other, they can go to a home presided over by one there who soothes the passions of the day by the sweetness of her temper, the gentleness of her disposition and the happiness which she brings around the family circle. but if the wife and the husband are both out in the bitter contests of the day, making speeches, electioneering with voters, pushing their way to the polls, they will both be apt to go home in a bad humor, and there will not be much happiness in a family during the remainder of the day which follows such a scene. and while they are both out what will become of the children? are they to take care of themselves? what rights can women expect to have that they do not have now? they are clothed with the protection of law.[ ] in my judgment, mr. president, the day that the floodgate of female suffrage is opened upon this country, the social organism will have reached the point at which decay and ruin begin.... why, sir, what is the advantage? if the head of the family votes he is apt to reflect the views of the family. it is more convenient than to have all the family going out to vote. wilbur f. sanders of montana interrupted senator reagan to ask if the law should not be an expression of the intellectual and moral sense of all the people, and whether governments did not derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. john t. morgan of alabama entered into a long and sarcastic argument to prove that if a woman could vote in wyoming she might be sent to congress and then she could not be admitted because the law says a senator or representative "must be an inhabitant of the state in which _he_ is chosen." he ignored the fact that all legal papers are made out with this pronoun, which presents no difficulty in their application to women. henry b. payne of ohio said that he was not in favor of woman suffrage, and that no woman in england ever had been permitted to exercise the elective franchise. (women then had been voting in england for twenty-one years, the same length of time as in wyoming.) he asked, however, if these little technical objections would not be more than overcome by the moral influence that a woman representative might exert in the committee rooms and on the floor of the house. mr. morgan at once launched forth into a panegyric on the moral influence of woman which certainly demonstrated that if sentimentalism were a bar to voting, as senators vest and reagan had insisted it should be, the senator from alabama would have to be disfranchised. part of it ran as follows: it is not the moral influence of woman upon the ballot that i am objecting to, and it is not to get rid of that or to silence or destroy such influence that i oppose it, but it is the immoral influence of the ballot upon woman that i deprecate and would avoid. i do not want to see her drawn into contact with the rude things of this world, where the delicacy of her senses and sensibilities would be constantly wounded by the attrition with bad and desperate and foul politicians and men. such is not her function and is not her office; and if we degrade her from the high station that god has placed her in to put her at the ballot-box, at political or other elections, we unman ourselves and refuse to do the duties that god has assigned to us. i can say for myself and for those who are dearest to me of all the objects in this life, that i would leave a country where it was necessary that my wife and daughters should go to the polls to protect my liberties. i would just as soon see them shoulder their guns and go like amazons into the field and fight beneath the flag for my liberties, as to see them muster on election day for any such purpose.[ ] james k. jones of arkansas based his argument on the estimate of an equal number of men and women in wyoming, and assumed that all the women had voted in favor of the suffrage clause and that therefore it did not represent the wishes of men, thus denying wholly the right of women to a voice in a matter which so vitally concerned themselves. in reality women formed considerably less than one-third of the adult population, while the constitution was adopted by more than a three-fourths vote. william m. stewart of nevada and algernon s. paddock of nebraska defended the right of the territory to decide this question for itself. george gray of delaware declared his belief that "woman suffrage is inimical to the best interests of society." john c. spooner of wisconsin disapproved the enfranchisement of women, but believed wyoming had a right to place it in its constitution. orville h. platt of connecticut in urging the acceptance of the report said: i never have been an advocate of woman suffrage. i never believed, as some senators do, that it was wise. but with all that, i would not keep a territory out of the union as a state because its constitution did allow women to vote, nor would i force upon a territory any restriction or qualification as to what its vote should be in that respect. when washington territory came here and asked for admission and the bill was passed, it had had woman suffrage, and i was appealed to by a great many citizens all over the united states to keep it out of the union, so far as my action could do so, until it restored the right of women to vote which had been taken away under a decision of its own courts--taken away, as i thought, unjustly; for i did not consider that decision good law. the senator from massachusetts, mr. hoar, interrogated me when i was advocating the admission of washington as to why we did not incorporate into that enabling act some language that should undo the wrong which had been done by the supreme court of the territory and restore to women the right of voting. i said then, as i say now, that i think this is a matter which belongs to the territory; and i am surprised that gentlemen who are so devoted to home rule as a sacred right which should never be interfered with in this republic, should not be willing to allow to a territory, when it asks for admission, the right to determine whether women should or should not be permitted to vote by the constitution of the proposed state.... why should we, the congress of the united states, stand here and say to that territory, where women have enjoyed the right of voting for twenty years, and nobody arises to gainsay it or to intimate that they have not exercised the right wisely, why should we stand here and say: "keep out of the union; we will let no community, no territory, in here which does not deprive its women of the right they have enjoyed while in a territorial condition"? after every possible device to strike out the obnoxious clause had been exhausted, the bill to admit wyoming as a state was passed on june , , by ayes, noes, absent.[ ] although henry w. blair of new hampshire and henry m. teller of colorado interposed remarks showing a thorough belief in the enfranchisement of women, there was no formal argument in its behalf, it being generally understood that all republicans would vote for the bill in order to admit a republican state, and a number did so who were not in favor of woman suffrage. when the people of wyoming met at cheyenne, july , to celebrate their statehood, by gov. francis e. warren sat mrs. amalia post, president of the woman suffrage association. the first and principal oration of the day was made by mrs. theresa a. jenkins, of which the history of wyoming says: proceeding to the front of the platform, mrs. jenkins, in clear, forceful tones which penetrated to the very outskirts of the crowd, delivered without manuscript or notes an address which in logic and eloquence has rarely if ever been equaled by any woman in the land.... at its conclusion she received an ovation and was presented with a magnificent basket of flowers. the great incident of the celebration, the presenting of the flag, next followed. mrs. esther morris, the "mother" of the woman suffrage movement in this state, who is widely respected for her great ability and heroic womanhood, was by general consent accorded the post of honor and made the presentation to governor warren. gathering its folds about her she said: "on behalf of the women of wyoming, and in grateful recognition of the high privilege of citizenship which has been conferred upon us, i have the honor to present to the state of wyoming this beautiful banner. may it always remain the emblem of our liberties, 'and the flag of the union forever.'" the governor, on receiving it from mrs. morris, made an eloquent response during which he paid this tribute to women: "wyoming in her progress has not forgotten the hands and hearts that have helped advance her to this high position; and, in the adoption of her constitution, equal suffrage is entrenched so firmly that it is believed it will stand forever.... women of wyoming, you have builded well, and the men of wyoming extend heartiest greeting at this time. they congratulate you upon your achievements, and ask you to join them in the future, as in the past, in securing good government for our commonwealth." the poet of the day was a woman, mrs. i. s. bartlett, who gave the true republic. in every possible way the men showed their honor and appreciation of the women, and from this noble attitude they never have departed. in may, , miss susan b. anthony, president of the national association, carried out a long-cherished desire to visit wyoming. she was on the way to take part in the woman's congress of san francisco, accompanied by the rev. anna howard shaw, vice-president-at-large, and they stopped at cheyenne where they were the guests of senator and mrs. carey, who gave a dinner party in their honor, attended by governor and mrs. richards, senator and mrs. warren, mrs. morris, mrs. jenkins, mrs. post and other distinguished guests. they went immediately from dinner to the new baptist church, which was filled to overflowing, and were introduced by the governor. at the close of the lecture mrs. jenkins said, "now i desire to introduce the audience to the speakers." she then called the names of the governor and all his staff, the attorney-general, the united states judges, the senators and congressmen, the mayor and members of the city council. each arose as his name was mentioned, and before she was through it seemed as if half the audience were on their feet, and the applause was most enthusiastic. miss anthony often spoke of this as one of the proudest moments of her life--when it was not necessary to beg the men in her audience to do justice to women, but when these men, the most eminent in the state, rose in a body to pay their respects to the women whom they had enfranchised without appeal, and to those other women who were devoting their lives to secure political freedom for all of their sex. during the more than thirty years which have elapsed since the suffrage was given to women, not one reputable person in the state ever has produced any evidence or even said over his or her own signature that woman suffrage is other than an unimpeachable success in wyoming. every governor of the territory for twenty years bore witness to its good results. governors of territories are appointed by the president, not elected by the people, and as they were not dependent on women's votes, their testimony was impartial. year after year the state officials, the judges of the supreme court, ministers, editors and other prominent citizens have testified in the strongest possible manner to the beneficial results of woman suffrage.[ ] gov. francis e. warren said in : "i have seen much of the workings of woman suffrage. i have yet to hear of the first case of domestic discord growing therefrom. our women nearly all vote." he also reported to the secretary of the interior: "the men are as favorable to woman suffrage as the women are. wyoming appreciates, believes in and indorses woman suffrage." in his official report the next year he stated: "woman suffrage continues as popular as at first. the women nearly all vote and neither party objects." and in : "no one will deny that woman's influence in voting always has been on the side of good government. the people favor its continuance." in the same year, while still governor, he wrote: after twenty years' trial of woman suffrage in wyoming territory, it is pronounced an unqualified success by men and women alike, and of both political parties.... i sincerely hope that all the new states will so provide that it may prevail immediately, or that it can be extended at any time hereafter when their legislatures desire, if they are not now ready to take the step. the women of wyoming have been exceedingly discreet and wise in their suffrage, so much so that the different legislatures have not attempted its overthrow, although majorities have sometimes been largely republican and at other times largely democratic. during all his years as united states senator mr. warren never has failed to give his testimony and influence in favor of the enfranchisement of women. in delegate joseph m. carey wrote from the house of representatives at washington: "wyoming territory has for twenty years had full woman suffrage. it has commended itself to the approval of our people of all parties ... i sincerely hope the new states will adopt suffrage principles without regard to sex, or provide by a clause in their respective constitutions that the legislatures may by statute confer the right of franchise upon women." throughout his subsequent term in the united states senate he was consistent in this attitude and has remained so ever since. following the example of every territorial governor, amos w. barber, the first state governor, declared: woman suffrage does not degrade woman. on the contrary, it ennobles her and brings out all the strong attributes of true womanhood. to their credit be it said, the women are almost a unit for ability, honesty and integrity wherever found, in high life or low life. a man must walk straight in wyoming, for the women hold the balance of power and they are using it wisely and judiciously. the cause of education is their first aim. they are making our schools the model of the country, and, too, they can make a dollar go much further than their husbands can. in a petition was circulated in the state, asking congress to submit a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of united states citizens on account of sex. it was signed by the governor, the secretary of state, the auditor of state, the state superintendent of instruction, the state engineer, the judges of the supreme court, the united states district attorney, the united states surveyor general, the director and the observer of the united states weather bureau, the mayor of cheyenne and a long list of editors, ministers, lawyers, physicians, bankers and the most prominent women in the state. mrs. carey, who had the petition in charge, wrote to miss anthony: "thousands of names could be secured if it were necessary." literally speaking the testimony from wyoming in favor of woman suffrage is limited only by the space for this chapter.[ ] in this joint resolution was passed: whereas, wyoming was the first state to adopt woman suffrage, which has been in operation since and was adopted in the constitution of the state in ; during which time women have exercised the privilege as generally as men, with the result that better candidates have been elected for office, methods of election purified, the character of legislation improved, civic intelligence increased and womanhood developed to greater usefulness by political responsibility; therefore, _resolved_, by the house of representatives, the senate concurring, that, in view of these results, the enfranchisement of women in every state and territory of the american union is hereby recommended as a measure tending to the advancement of a higher and better social order; _resolved_, that an authenticated copy of these resolutions be forwarded by the governor of the state to the legislature of every state and territory, and that the press be requested to call public attention to these resolutions. edward w. stone, _president of the senate_. j. s. atherley, _speaker of the house_. approved feb. , . deforest richards, _governor_. for a number of years women served on grand and petit juries. in compiling the first volume of the laws of wyoming, secretary and acting governor edward m. lee said: in the provisions of the woman suffrage clause, enacted in , we placed this youngest territory on earth in the van of civilization and progress. that this statement has been verified by practical experience the testimony is unanimous, continuous and conclusive. not a link is wanting in the chain of evidence and, as a governor of the territory once said: "the only dissenting voices against woman suffrage have been those of convicts who have been tried and found guilty by women jurors." women exercised the right of jurors and contributed to the speedy release of the territory from the régime of the pistol and bowie-knife. they not only performed their new duties without losing any of the womanly virtues, and with dignity and decorum, but good results were immediately seen. chief justice j. h. howe, of the supreme court, under whose direction women were first drawn on juries, wrote in : "after the grand jury had been in session two days the dance-house keepers, gamblers and _demi-monde_ fled out of the state in dismay to escape the indictment of women jurors. in short, i have never, in twenty-five years' experience in the courts of the country, seen a more faithful and resolutely honest grand and petit jury than these." the best women in the territory served as jurors, and they were treated with the most profound respect and highly complimented for their efficiency. the successor of chief justice howe was opposed to their serving and none were summoned by him. jury duty is not acceptable to men, as a rule, and the women themselves were not anxious for it, so the custom gradually fell into disuse. the juries are made up from the tax lists, which contain only a small proportion of women. there are no court decisions against women as jurors, and they are still summoned occasionally in special cases. women have not taken a conspicuous part in politics. the population is scattered, there are no large cities and necessarily no great associations of women for organized work. they are conscientious in voting for men who, in their opinion, have the best interests of the community at heart. more latitude must necessarily be permitted in new states, but in they decided that it was time to call a halt on the evil of gambling, and as the result of their efforts a law was passed by the present legislature ( ) forbidding it. the chicago _tribune_ gave a correct summing-up of this matter in the following editorial: the women of wyoming are to be credited with securing one reform which is a sufficient answer, in that state at least, to the criticism that woman suffrage has no influence upon legislation and fails to elevate political action. there will be no legalized gambling in wyoming after the first of january next, the legislature having just passed a law which makes gambling of every kind punishable by fine and imprisonment after the above date. this has been the work of the women. when they began their agitation about a year and a half ago, gambling was not only permitted but was licensed. the evil was so strongly entrenched and the revenue accruing to the state so large that there was little hope at first that anything would be accomplished. the leaders of the crusade, however, organized their forces skilfully in every town and village. their petitions for the repeal of the gambling statute and for the passage of a prohibitory act were circulated everywhere, and were signed by thousands of male as well as female voters. when the legislature met, the women were there in force, armed with their voluminous petitions. the gamblers also were there in force and sought to defeat the women by the use of large sums of money, but womanly tact and persuasion and direct personal appeals carried the day against strong opposition. the legislature passed the bill, but it was the women who won the victory. the most prejudiced must admit that women could not have done this if they had not represented at least as many votes as the gambling fraternity. laws: the first legislature ( ), which conferred the suffrage upon women, gave wives exactly the same rights as husbands in their separate property. dower and curtesy have been abolished. if either husband or wife die without a will, leaving descendants, one-half of the estate, both real and personal, goes to the survivor. if there are no descendants, three-fourths go to the survivor, one-fourth to the father and mother or their survivors, unless the estate, both real and personal, does not exceed $ , , in which case it all passes to the widow or widower. a homestead to the value of $ , is exempted for the survivor and minor children. a married woman may sue and be sued, make contracts and carry on business in her own name. the father is the guardian of the minor children, and at his death the mother. there is no law requiring a husband to support his family.[ ] the "age of protection" for girls was raised from to years in , and from to in . the penalty varies from imprisonment for one year to life. seduction under promise of marriage up to the age of years is a penitentiary offense. male and female habitues of a house of ill-repute are considered guilty of the same offense, but the man is liable for a fine of $ and imprisonment for sixty days, while the woman is liable for only half this punishment. suffrage: women have had the full franchise since . no separate record is kept of their votes, as they have exercised the suffrage so long that this would seem no more necessary than to keep one of the men's votes. the census of gives the percentage of men in the state as (in round numbers) and of women as . the estimate of those who are best informed is that per cent. of the women who are eligible use the suffrage. office holding: since the organization of the territory in women have been eligible to all official positions, but there never has been any scramble for office. no woman ever has served in the legislature. miss estelle reel was state superintendent of public instruction for four years. she is now national superintendent of indian schools, appointed by president william mckinley, and has of these under her charge. miss grace raymond hebard is librarian of the state university, and for the past ten years has filled the position of secretary of the board of trustees, upon which women serve. miss bertha mills is clerk of the state land board, with a salary equal to that of any clerk or deputy in the state house. miss rose foote was assistant clerk in the house of representatives of the last legislature, and as a reader she left nothing to be desired. women frequently serve as legislative enrolling clerks. there have been women clerks of the courts. women hold several important clerkships in the state capitol and are found as stenographers, etc., in all the state, county and municipal offices. in many districts they serve on the school board, and nearly all of the counties elect them to the responsible position of superintendent. as such they conduct the institutes, examine teachers and have a general supervision of the schools. occupations: the only industry legally forbidden to women is that of working in mines. education: all educational advantages are the same for both sexes. by a law of wyoming requires equal pay for men and women in all employment pertaining to the state. this includes the public schools, in which there are men and women teachers. but here as elsewhere the men hold the higher positions and their average monthly salary is $ . , while that of the women is $ . . footnotes: [ ] the history is indebted to the hon. robert c. morris of cheyenne, clerk of the supreme court of wyoming, for much of the information contained in this chapter. [ ] mrs. morris is the mother of robert c. morris, and this paragraph is inserted by the editors. a full account of this first experiment in woman suffrage will be found in vol. iii, chap. lii. [ ] published in full in wyoming historical collections, vol. i. [ ] in an address mr. carey said later: "i was agreeably surprised to have so many of the ablest men in congress, both in public and in private conversation, disclose the fact that they firmly believed the time would come when women would be permitted to exercise full political rights throughout the united states." [ ] see laws for women in tennessee chapter. [ ] miss susan b. anthony was an interested and anxious listener to this debate from the gallery of the house, and a joyful witness to the final passage of the bill. [ ] see laws for women in texas chapter. [ ] in , when a convention in alabama was framing a new constitution, senator morgan sent a strong letter urging that this should include suffrage for tax-paying women. [ ] a telegram announcing that president harrison had signed the bill was handed to miss anthony while she was addressing a large audience at madison, s. d., during the woman suffrage campaign in that state, and those who were present say, "she spoke like one inspired." by request of miss anthony and lucy stone, officers of the national w. s. a., the woman suffrage clubs of the entire country celebrated on the fourth of july the admission into the union of the first state with the full franchise for women, and an address from mrs. stanton was read--wyoming the first free state for women. [ ] from to edgar wilson nye (bill nye) was editor of the laramie _boomerang_, in which he published the following as the result of his eight years' observation of woman's voting: "female suffrage, i may safely and seriously assert, according to the best judgment of the majority in wyoming territory, is an unqualified success. an effort to abolish it would be at once hooted down. its principal opposition comes from those who do not know anything about it. i do not hesitate to say that wyoming is justly proud because it has thus early recognized woman and given her a chance to be heard. while she does not seek to hold office or act as juror, she votes quietly, intelligently and pretty independently. moreover, she does not recognize the machine at all, seldom goes to caucuses, votes for men who are satisfactory, regardless of the ticket, and thus scares the daylights out of rings and machines." [ ] see appendix--testimony from woman suffrage states. [ ] when the attention of a distinguished jurist of wyoming was called to these laws he said the question never had been raised, but there would be no objection to changing them. chapter lxxiii. great britain. efforts for the parliamentary franchise.[ ] by miss helen blackburn, editor of the englishwoman's review, london. the chapter on great britain contributed by miss caroline ashurst biggs to vol. iii of this history of woman suffrage brought the story down to the passage of the representation-of-the-people act of which extended household suffrage to the counties and created the service franchise, thus giving the ballot to a large number of agricultural labourers and men who had their residence on premises of which their employers paid the rent and taxes, but which still left all such women without any franchise whatsoever. with the passing of that act may be said to have begun a new phase in the movement. during the ' 's there had been a debate and division on the women's suffrage bill in the house of commons nearly every year. after the general election of the question of household suffrage in the counties came to the front, and all the efforts of the women's suffrage societies were directed and inspired by the anticipation that when the claims of the agricultural labourer were dealt with, those of women would find their opportunity. but far from this, they were left practically in a worse position than before, for now , , new voters were added to the number of those who could make prior claim to the attention of their representatives. _ ._--immediately after the general election which followed the passing of the new reform bill, mr. gladstone gave notice of his bill for home rule for ireland and the party feeling aroused was of such intensity that the liberal party was cloven in twain. the women's suffrage movement was affected by the keen party strife, in which women were as deeply interested as men, and the question of their enfranchisement was no longer the only rallying point for their political activity. this period is marked by a rapid development of organisations amongst women for party purposes. in the primrose league, which had been started in , women had been assigned unprecedented recognition as co-operating with men on equal footing for political purposes. it does not promote special measures but lays down for its principle the maintenance of religion, of the estates of the realm and of the imperial ascendancy of the british empire, thus indicating its conservative tendency. the women's liberal federation, founded in to promote liberal principles, endeavours to further special measures. the women's liberal unionist association founded in had for its principal object the defence of the legislative union between england and ireland. thus women entered actively into the work of the three respective parties, and this re-acted in various ways on the women's suffrage propaganda. it might seem that this had a depressing effect, for the rigid neutrality in regard to party which always had characterised the national societies for women's suffrage might easily seem dull and tame to the ardent party enthusiasts, and many of the liberal women threw their energies by preference into the women's liberal associations, but the old charge that women had no interest in politics, now received its complete quietus. it seems indeed a far cry from the manners of sixty years ago, when to talk politics to a woman was considered rude, to the manners of to-day when the primrose league balances its , knights with , dames, besides associates innumerable, both men and women; and the women's liberal federation with its associations has actively worked for candidates in a great number of counties in england. _ ._--the number of members returned after the general election of who were understood to be favorably inclined towards the enfranchisement of women, exceeded any previous experience and on february th the motion to adjourn discussion was rejected by ayes, noes, and the bill passed second reading without further division; but before going into committee another dissolution of parliament took place. the general election which followed was even more favorable, the friendly members returned being in an actual majority, and yet session after session passed and the pressure of government business consumed parliamentary time. _ - ._--the need of a central point, such as is afforded when there is a bill before the house, round which all the suffrage forces could rally independent of party, made it difficult for them to maintain their cohesion. the central committee of the national society for women's suffrage had been such a point but it could not escape the distracting outside influences, and a revision of its rules took place in december, , with the result that the society as hitherto existing dissolved and reformed in two separate organisations. one of these established new rules which enabled it to affiliate with societies formed for other purposes; and one adhered to the old rules which admitted only organisations formed with the sole object of obtaining the franchise. but if, as was held, the internal re-organisation of the societies redounded to greater strength, even more so did an unprecedented attack from the outside, in the summer of , when the _nineteenth century_ opened its pages to a protest against the enfranchisement of women, to which a few ladies in london society had been diligently canvassing for signatures. the appearance of this protest was naturally the sign for an immediate counterblast, and the two central societies in london put a form of declaration into immediate circulation. the _fortnightly review_ gave space to a reply from the pen of mrs. millicent garrett fawcett and to a selection from the signatures which poured into the suffrage offices with a rapidity that was amazing, as in sending out the forms for signature numbers had not been aimed at but rather it was sought to make the list representative. the _nineteenth century_ had contained the names of ladies, mostly known as wives of public men, while those who had taken part in work for the good of the community and to advance the interests of women were conspicuous by their absence. the _fortnightly_ gave space for about names asking for the suffrage, selected from over , received within a few days.[ ] this was the last work in which the distinguished reformer, miss caroline ashurst biggs, took part, as she died in september, . miss lydia becker, editor of _the women's suffrage journal_, which she had founded in , passed away the following summer. these two deaths were an irreparable loss to the movement for the enfranchisement of women. _ ._--parliamentary prospects grew brighter and mr. william woodall, who had charge of the suffrage bill, obtained may th for its consideration. the first lord of the treasury, mr. w. h. smith, had received a deputation appointed by the suffrage societies april th, to present him with a largely signed memorial praying that her majesty's government would reserve the day appointed for the discussion of a measure "which suffers under the special disadvantage that those whom it chiefly concerns have no voting power with which to fortify their claims." they received the assurance that the house would not adjourn before the th, and that the government had no intention of taking the day for their business. on april th, however, when the government proposed to take certain specified days for their business, mr. gladstone objected, insisting that they should be uniform in their action and take all wednesdays up to whitsuntide. this afforded a manifest opportunity for shelving the suffrage bill which the opponents were quick to perceive and, although mr. smith declared himself unable to take this day, sir henry james moved that all wednesdays be taken. this was carried and the government, for probably the first time in parliamentary history, had a day forced on them. _ ._--better fortunes attended the endeavours of the parliamentary leaders in the following session. mr. woodall having accepted office in the government, sir algernon borthwick (now lord glenesk) undertook the necessary arrangements for the introduction of the bill. this was placed, by the result of the ballot for a day, in the hands of sir albert rollit, who set it down for april th in the following terms: every woman who ( ) in great britain is registered as an elector for any town council or county council, or ( ) in ireland is a rate-payer entitled to vote at an election for guardians of the poor, shall be entitled to be registered as a parliamentary elector and, when registered, to vote at any parliamentary election for the county borough or division wherein the qualifying property is situate. this bill was brought forward for second reading on the appointed day by sir albert rollit with a powerful statement of the question, and a debate followed marked by a high and serious tone. for this brief narrative it will suffice to note the closing speech from the right hon. a. j. balfour, who concluded by saying that whenever any important extension of the franchise was brought up "they would have to face and deal with the problem of women's suffrage--and deal with it in a complete fashion." the division showed for the bill, against--a result which was a surprise to both sides, for the opponents had exerted themselves in a manner beyond all precedent; they had sent round a whip signed by twenty members, ten on each side of the house, and mr. gladstone had written a letter to mr. samuel smith, that had been circulated as a pamphlet, in which amongst other points he urged that at least it should be ascertained "that the womanly mind of the country was in overwhelming proportion and with deliberate purpose bent on procuring the vote." _ - ._--at the opening of the parliament it was a great satisfaction to the women's suffrage party that viscount wolmer (now the earl of selborne) had undertaken the parliamentary leadership of the question. it will hardly be needful here to go into all the causes which thwarted the vigilance of the leader in procuring a hearing for the measure in that parliament. on june st, , a representative conference was held at westminster town hall to consider a plan for an appeal to the house of commons from women all over the united kingdom. miss florence davenport hill, who presided, briefly explained that the object of such an appeal was to convince the country in a more emphatic manner than could be possible by the petitions, memorials and demonstrations that already had been tried again and again, all of which were necessarily limited in their scope. this appeal should be from women of all ranks and classes in all parts of the united kingdom. the appeal for the parliamentary franchise then agreed upon was managed by a committee appointed from the chief organisations amongst women. _ ._--this effort to "focus the diffused interest of women in the suffrage into one concentrated expression" resulted in the collection of , signatures, nearly every constituency in the united kingdom being represented. although the appeal was in readiness for presentation in the session of , a suitable opportunity did not arise until , when a fairly good place had been drawn in the ballot by mr. faithfull begg and the bill was set down for may th. permission was obtained to place the appeal in westminster hall on may th, and passes were given to the committee to enable them to show it to any members of parliament who might wish to inspect it. accordingly--although it was already known that all wednesdays had been taken in government business--the appeal of the women of this day and generation for constitutional rights was placed in that grand old hall, round which the parliamentary associations of a thousand years are clustered. many members showed great interest in studying the signatures from their respective constituencies. irrespective of the interest called forth, other good results followed, for the women's suffrage societies had been drawn into pleasant relation with a great many new friends and helpers all over the country. it was also shown that women who differed widely on political and social questions could work cordially and unanimously for this common object. the closer union which this work had brought about led to the modification of the special appeal committee into a combined committee for parliamentary work. a conference held in the priory rooms, birmingham, october th, attended by delegates from all the women's suffrage societies, greatly assisted concerted action. _ ._--all was thus in good working order when at the opening of the session an excellent place was drawn in the ballot by mr. faithfull begg (m. p. for st. rollox division of glasgow) and the women's franchise bill was set down for february rd, when it passed second reading by a majority of . the old opponents sent out a strong whip against the bill and mustered in force, but they were exceeded by the old friends, nor did the division show the whole strength of the movement, as many known to be favorable were still absent at that early date of the session.[ ] a statement issued by the national union of women's suffrage societies, said: this vote places the question of women's suffrage in a new phase, and its friends have only to continue to press it upon the attention of parliament and the public in order to render it necessary at no distant date that it should be dealt with by the government of the day. this has been the history of nearly all important measures of reform. they have very rarely been placed on the statute book by private members; but private members by repeatedly bringing a particular question before the house give the opportunity for its full consideration by parliament and the country, so that in due time it takes its place as a government measure. it will be the aim of the union to put women's suffrage in this position, so that no government, of whatever party, shall be able to touch questions relating to representation without at the same time removing the electoral disabilities of women. the closer coalition that autumn of all the societies which make women's suffrage their sole object into a national union was in itself a symptom of that new phase, and the combined sub-committee was now further modified into the executive committee of the national union of women's suffrage societies. _ - ._--the value of this second reading has been permanent notwithstanding that its progress through the next stage of going into committee was thwarted by what even the _times_ described as an "undignified shuffle." the rule that bills which have reached committee stage before whitsuntide should be taken on wednesdays after whitsuntide in their turn, so that if any one bill is not finished on the day it is taken it is carried to the next, was so worked as to shut out the women's franchise bill in , and the rule which was meant to give equitable share to all was abused by purposely protracted talk over bills which had no claim to such profuse attention. this was the last opportunity that the pressure of the eventful years with which the century closed afforded for parliamentary debate. the great meeting in queen's hall, london, june th, , when the national union of women's suffrage societies gave hearty welcome to their fellow-workers from all parts of the globe during the international council of women, remains the latest event of public significance. * * * * * the new house of commons, , includes members who have voted in former parliaments on the question of extending the parliamentary franchise to women; of these are opponents, are supporters. one has continued to be a consistent opponent from the division on mr. john stuart mill's amendment to the reform bill of . two have continued to be consistent supporters from the same division. of members whose first time of voting dates from one or other of the numerous divisions which took place between the reform acts of and , there still remain opponents and supporters. of the members who recorded their vote for the first time on the question in the division on sir albert rollit's bill of , there remain opponents and supporters. of those whose first votes date from the division on mr. faithfull begg's bill in , there remain opponents and supporters. thus the ratio of supporters gradually strengthens, and this notwithstanding the retirement of twice as many tried friends as of steady opponents. if to these considerations it is added that amongst the newly-elected members, for each one who is understood to be an opponent there are at least three understood to be friendly, it will be seen that the march of time strengthens the ranks of the women's suffrage cause in the house of commons. amongst the supporters who have retired from parliamentary life are three past leaders of the women's suffrage bill, mr. leonard courtney, mr. woodall and mr. faithfull begg. two past leaders now have seats in the cabinet, lord selborne and mr. george wyndham. the premier, lord salisbury, has been at all times a true friend; the leader of the house of commons, the right hon. a. j. balfour, has voted and spoken in favor of the question in that body. mention has been made of the death of miss becker and of miss biggs. miss isabella m. s. tod of belfast, who passed away on december th, , was a bright and leading spirit, in ireland especially. in november, , the edinburgh committee lost their much-loved hon. secretary, miss eliza wigham, who had held that office for more than thirty years. in the same month mr. jacob bright, who secured the municipal franchise for women, also passed away. in ireland the local government act of gave fresh impetus to women's public work, and mrs. haslam, the veteran hon. secretary of the dublin women's suffrage society, for the past twenty-six years, still encourages the rising workers of today. the north of england women's suffrage society has just sent a petition with over , signatures entirely from women working in lancashire cotton factories. the petition, which looked like a garden roller from its size, was brought up by a deputation of fifteen of the women, and by them placed in the hands of their parliamentary friends for presentation. in london the branches have amalgamated into one central society--president, lady frances balfour; chairman, mrs. millicent garrett fawcett--and life and effort are apparent in every direction.[ ] the new century has opened with a heavy shadow of sorrow for the british people in the death of their much-loved sovereign, queen victoria. her reign will always be conspicuous as an era of change of tone in regard to the studies and pursuits of women. the extent to which that change is due to the presence on the throne of a woman full of goodness--one for whom truth was her guide and duty her rule in every action of her life--will stand out more clearly perhaps to future generations. but this we know, that during the victorian era the idea of separateness in the interests of men and women has grown less and less, while co-operation and sympathy have grown more and more, so that these words of one of the pioneer thinkers on this subject, mrs. jameson, have become a key-note to the suffrage movement: "whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are wise, whatsoever things are holy, must be accomplished by communion between brave men and brave women." laws specially affecting women. half a century ago married women had no right to their earnings, nor to dispose of their property; all belonged to the husband unless settled on the wife and then it was in keeping of trustees. mothers had no rights in their children. all professions were closed to women. _ ._--custody of infants act empowered the lord chancellor to leave custody of her child to the mother, up to the age of seven, in case of divorce. _ ._--custody of infants act allowed the mother custody of her child to the age of sixteen in case of divorce. _ ._--guardianship of infants act gave the right to a surviving mother to be joint guardian in addition to any appointed by the father. the act also enabled her to appoint a guardian in case of the father's death or incapacity; it also required the court to have regard to the wishes of the mother as well as of the father. _ - ._--married women's property acts secured to them all rights to property acquired by their own skill and industry, and to all investments of their own money in their own names. _ ._--married women's property act consolidated and amended the previous act, enabling married women to acquire, hold and dispose by will or otherwise of any real or personal property without the intervention of a trustee. _ ._--medical education act permitted medical degrees to be conferred on women. _ ._--intestates act provided that when a man dies intestate leaving a widow and no children, all his estate if under £ , goes to the widow, if over £ she shall have £ in addition to her share in the residue.[ ] laws relating to local government. (suffrage.) _ ._--municipal corporations act restored to women rate-payers of england the vote in municipal elections which had been taken away by the municipal corporation act of . _ ._--elementary education act created school boards and placed women on a complete equality both as electors and as eligible for election. _ - ._--the municipal act for scotland gave to women the same municipal franchise possessed by those of england since . they already had the school franchise. _ ._--the county electors act gave women equal franchises with men for the election of councillors for the county councils created by the local government act of that year. _ ._--local government act which reorganised the parochial poor-law administration in the counties, confirmed the rights of women to all local franchises and their eligibility as poor-law guardians; and made them also eligible as parish and district councillors. _ ._--poor-law guardian act for ireland made women for the first time eligible as poor-law guardian. _ ._--irish local government act reorganized the system of local government in ireland on similar lines to that in england. women who had hitherto been excluded from the municipal franchise now had all local franchises conferred on them and were made eligible for rural and urban district councils. _ ._--london government act changed the system of vestries to that of borough councils throughout the metropolitan districts. women had been eligible on the old vestries and several were then serving. their claim to sit on the new borough councils was, however, rejected. women in public work. half a century ago no offices were held by women beyond such parochial offices as sextoness, overseer and churchwarden, which they occasionally filled. their always-existing right to act as poor-law guardians seems to have been entirely left in abeyance until the early ' 's, when the attention of public-spirited women was being called to the need of reformation in the workhouses. _ ._--members of school board: miss lydia becker was the first woman to be elected to public office by the popular vote. this was at the first school board election in manchester, in november, . she was re-elected at every subsequent triennial election until her death in . several were elected in london and other large towns. their number has gone on slowly increasing, both in towns and rural districts, the women being re-elected again and again whenever they continued to stand. _ ._--poor-law inspectors: the first woman was appointed poor-law inspector in . then for some years there was no other. two now fill that office, appointed in and respectively. _ ._ poor-law guardians: the first poor-law guardian was elected in . there are now over , serving as guardians and district councillors in england, a few in scotland, and about in ireland. _ ._--royal commissions: women were appointed as assistant commissioners on the royal commission of labor in , and as royal commissioners to enquire into secondary education in . _ ._--factory inspectors: the first women factory inspectors were appointed in , and six are now serving. the education department also has a few as inspectors. local authorities in large towns are realizing the value of women as sanitary inspectors, and the number of these increases gradually. steps in education. half a century ago there was not one school or college where women could have any approach to university classes. now there are over , women graduates, besides , who hold certificates from oxford and cambridge in place of the degrees which would have been theirs had those ancient seats of learning opened their gates to women graduates. the following table shows the particulars: approximate total number of graduates distribution. women admitted. in january, . london university by a supplemental charter of , victoria university by its charter of foundation, royal university of ireland the scottish universities: edinburgh, by an ordinance of the university glasgow, commissioners in empowering aberdeen, the admission of women st. andrews. university of wales by a charter in incorporating the colleges of aberystwith, cardiff, bangor durham by an amending charter in girton college, cambridge opened for women newnham college, " opened for women halls for women in oxford opened for women the students of the three women's colleges above take the examinations of cambridge and oxford and have instruction in part from their faculties, but receive only certificates instead of degrees. the other universities grant them full degrees. the establishment of an equal standard of knowledge for men and women has brought about the result that the achievements of women in literature, science and art, once treated as abnormal and exceptional are now quite normal and usual; and the liberal learning, once confined to the very few in favored circumstances, is within the reach of numbers. as a corollary to this it has been recognized that women's occupations also deserve systematic training, with the result that when once the training was given the resourcefulness of women has enabled them to follow out new lines, and a new independence has dawned upon them. at the same time the sense of personal responsibility which comes of independence has made many more women realize that they have a duty to the community, and therefore has compelled them to set their thoughts and minds to the performance of those duties. as a natural consequence the fact is being more and more realized by the electorate and by government departments that women can bring useful service to the community. the isle of man. [the ancient kingdom of the isle of man, with an independent government since the time of the vikings, and making its own laws which require only the sanction of the crown, extended full suffrage to women property owners in december, , and the act received the assent of queen victoria, january th, . this was extended to all women rate-payers in .] progress in the colonies. new zealand.[ ] the first of the colonies of the british empire to grant the parliamentary franchise to women was new zealand, therefore, the story of colonial progress fitly opens with the land of the maories. the earliest public mention that this writer has been able to find of the question was in a speech of sir julius vogel to his constituents in , when he said that he was in favor of extending the franchise to women--but as far back as a pamphlet on the subject, entitled an appeal to the men of new zealand, had been written by mrs. mary müller, who may be fitly termed the pioneer woman suffragist of that colony. in the government introduced an electoral bill which included the franchise for rate-paying women; this passed the house of representatives but met with much opposition in the upper house on points unconnected with women's suffrage, so that it was ultimately withdrawn. in sir julius vogel, colonial treasurer, introduced a bill giving practically universal suffrage to women. this was supported by the premier, sir robert stout, and passed the house of representatives may , , by ayes, noes. several members stated that they only voted for it in the hope that in committee it would be limited to owners of property. an amendment proposed to this effect in committee was rejected, but this proved a fatal victory, for when the clause was put as it stood the "noes" carried the day. a resolution moved by sir john hall in , carried by a majority of , was a further note of encouragement. the work for women's suffrage was mainly carried on by the women's christian temperance union, and they now put forth increased energy, so that early in mrs. kate w. sheppard, franchise superintendent, was able to report that many local unions had appointed franchise superintendents. with what effect they worked was shown when sir john hall presented in august, , a petition for the suffrage seventy yards long, which was run out to the furthest end of the house; a row of members ranged themselves on either side to inspect the signatures and found no two alike, as some seemed to expect. on september th sir john hall's bill again passed in the house of representatives, but was lost by two votes in the legislative council, or upper house. in sir john hall presented in behalf of the measure the largest petition ever seen in the new zealand parliament. that year the hon. j. ballance introduced an electoral bill on behalf of the government, in which the most important new feature was the franchise for women. it passed the house of representatives, but a difference on technical details between the two branches of the legislature delayed its passage in the council. in the electoral act of new zealand conferred the franchise on every person over twenty-one, although this did not carry the right to sit in parliament. as a general election was close at hand no time was lost in enrolling women on the register. the report of the new zealand w. c. t. u. of supplies the following figures: men. women. on the register , , voting at the poll , , a lady present in auckland during the election relates that the interest taken by the maori women was very great and that nearly half the maori votes registered in auckland were those of women. the hon. h. j. seddon, premier of new zealand, when in england for the celebration of the queen's jubilee in , spoke of the measure as a great success, saying, "it has come to stay." the bishop of auckland, speaking at the church congress in england that year, said "it had led to no harm or inconvenience, but the men of new zealand were wondering why they had permitted the women of that colony to remain so long without the right to vote in parliamentary elections." south australia.[ ] on july d, , dr. stirling moved a resolution in the house of assembly in favor of conferring the franchise for both houses of the legislature, on widows and spinsters who possessed qualifications (property) which would entitle them to vote for the legislative council. the debate was adjourned on the motion of the attorney-general and on august th the resolution carried without a division or serious opposition. this favorable start is the more remarkable that there had been no previous agitation, no society or committee formed, no petitions presented, no meetings held. it was a matter of enlightened conviction on the part of the legislators. dr. stirling introduced a bill in , in the same terms as his resolution, and on april th it passed second reading by a majority of two of those voting, but as amendments to the constitution must have a majority of the whole house, the bill could not be proceeded with. a general election followed soon after, at which dr. stirling did not re-enter parliament, and mr. caldwell took charge of the bill, which in november, , again passed second reading in the house of assembly, but again by an insufficient majority. in the summer of a public meeting was held to form a women's suffrage league, which set to work holding meetings and collecting signatures to petitions under the guidance of its hon. secretary, mrs. mary lee. the efforts of the parliamentary friends were thrice baffled--in , and --by the necessity for a majority of the whole house, which stopped further immediate progress though each time the bill had passed second reading. the growth of support was, however, evidenced by the reply of the premier to a deputation from the women's suffrage league in november, --that "on the question of women's suffrage the government were in the position of just persons who needed no conversion, as they were thoroughly at one in the matter and were willing to do all they could to place women's suffrage on the statute book." when, in august, , the government brought their adult suffrage bill to the legislative council the opponents did their utmost to bring about its defeat by obstructive amendments, but in vain. finally they moved that the clause prohibiting women from sitting in parliament be struck out, expecting thereby to wreck the bill, but the supporters of the measure accepted the amendment and so it was carried by a combination of opponents and supporters, giving women full suffrage and the right to sit in the parliament. an address and testimonial were presented to mrs. lee by the hon. c. c. kingston, the premier, dr. cockburn, other members of parliament and friends. in making the presentation the premier said he did so at request of the committee, for her important services in one of the greatest constitutional reforms in australian history. royal assent was given to the bill in . the first election under this act took place in april, . statistics published in the _australian register_ of june th, give the following totals: men. women. on the roll in adelaide and suburbs , , on the roll in the country districts , , voting in adelaide and suburbs , , voting in country districts , , percentage voting in adelaide and suburbs . . percentage voting in the country districts . . speaking at the annual meeting of the central committee of the women's suffrage society in london, july th, , dr. cockburn (now sir john cockburn, k. c. m. g.) said: "the refining influence of women has made itself felt in this sphere as in every other: they have elevated the whole realm of politics without themselves losing a jot of their innate purity. 'no poorer they but richer we,' by their addition to the electoral roll." west australia.[ ] the women of west australia enjoyed the unprecedented experience of having organised their franchise league and gained the franchise in one year. the question, however, had been more or less before the colony since . in that year mr. cookworthy had introduced a women's suffrage resolution in the house of assembly which was lost by only one vote. after the next general election, mr. cookworthy again introduced his resolution in , when it was lost by two votes, one of its strongest supporters being absent. although there was at that time no organisation specially for the suffrage, the women's christian temperance union did much to extend interest, and there was a large body of support to be found amongst the intelligent women of the colony. this led to the formation of a women's franchise league for western australia. this league was formally organized at a public meeting of the leisure hour club in perth, may th, , lady onslow presiding. that autumn a resolution similar to the one which had been introduced in the legislative assembly passed the council, and before the year closed the electoral act was passed of which the important part for women lies in the interpretation clause, which interprets "elector" as any person of either sex whose name is on the electoral roll of a province or district. royal assent to the bill was given in . although women now can vote for members of the parliament they can not sit in that body. already the women's franchise league of western australia is transformed into the women's electoral league. new south wales.[ ] the mother colony seems likely to be the next to enfranchise women. the question in that colony first came prominently forward when sir henry parkes, the veteran statesman and oft-times premier, proposed a clause to give equal voting power to women in his electoral bill in . the clause was eventually dropped, but the very fact that it had been introduced in a government bill by a man of such high position as sir henry parkes gave the question the impetus for which the friends of the movement were waiting to collect the growing interest into organized form and combined action. on may th, , the womanhood suffrage league of new south wales was formed, lady windeyer was elected president and an active campaign was begun. on july th sir henry parkes moved a resolution in the legislative assembly "that in the opinion of this house the franchise for the election of members of the legislative assembly should be extended to women on the same conditions and subject to the same qualifications as men." the debate was a very long one, occupying twelve hours and concluding at a. m., when the motion was lost by ayes, noes. the friends of women's suffrage were in no way cast down by this vote. they believed that in a full house on a fair test division their friends would have been in a majority, but many who were anxious for the passing of the electoral bill voted against sir henry parkes' motion lest the inclusion of women should imperil its chances in the upper house. the next debate on the question was on november th, , when mr. o'reilly moved a resolution that "in the opinion of this house the time has arrived when the franchise should be extended to women." this was supported by sir henry parkes. the premier, sir g. h. reid, approved of women's suffrage in the abstract but objected that the present parliament had received no mandate from the people. sir george dibbs thought the demand a just one. eventually the motion, with the words "the time has now arrived" omitted, was carried by a large majority. no debate has taken place since , as the pressure on the time of the legislature has been great with federal and other matters, but the question was never in a more hopeful position. the sudden change of government in placed a strong friend to the cause at the head of affairs in the present premier, sir william lyne, and at the annual meeting of the suffrage league in august, , mr. fegan, m. p. (minister for mines) congratulated the women of new south wales on being so near the goal of their desires. the premier had definitely said that before the session closed a bill would be introduced to give women the suffrage, and he hoped that next year they would be able to disband their league, its work being finished. the bill was introduced in but was lost by ayes, noes. on aug. , , the bill conferring the parliamentary franchise on women passed the council. it had already passed the assembly and is now law. victoria.[ ] in melbourne an organisation for women's suffrage has been in existence some sixteen years, but it is only within the last five years that the question has come within the region of practical politics. the movement suffered from want of concentration of energy. "at one time the original association, though still in existence, was rivalled by other societies with the same object, but more or less tinged with local, class or religious characteristics. this rivalry, though it tended to the growth of the movement, deprived it of force and eventually led to divided counsels and consequently to comparative failure." _the australian woman's sphere_[ ] from which the above words are quoted, goes on to say: "a few years since, largely owing to the patience and tact of the late annette bear crawford, its first hon. secretary, there was formed the 'united council for women's suffrage' which aimed at including representatives of all the leagues that had for their main object, or for one of them, the political enfranchisement of women." the formation of this council has been the sign of a new life in the question in melbourne. at the general election of a determined effort was made to secure the return of a majority of members pledged to vote for the suffrage cause. the government promised a bill in the session of , and on november th the premier, sir george turner, introduced a women's suffrage bill which passed the house of assembly without a division, but was lost in the legislative council by two votes. the women's suffrage bill passed the legislative assembly in , ' , ' , , ' , each time with an increased majority, but each time its progress has been stopped in the council. nevertheless there are many evidences of increasing vitality in the movement in victoria, not the least of these being the rise of an anti-women's suffrage crusade. these "new crusaders" have presented a petition which purports to be signed by , "adult women" of victoria. but in before the suffrage was a live subject, before it had entered the region of practical politics, the women suffragists in six weeks obtained , signatures of adult women. the first and the most natural result of the anti-suffrage movement has been to bring down enquiries on the united council from all parts of the colony how to help women's suffrage. queensland.[ ] the women's suffrage question appears to have received its first awakening in queensland from the visit of miss hannah chenings, who in came from adelaide on a lecturing tour in connection with an effort to obtain a law for the better protection of young girls. her account of the women's franchise league in south australia aroused a wish for a similar organisation here, and after a period of silent growth the women's suffrage association was formed in , mainly through the instrumentality of mrs. leontine cooper and mrs. maginie, who, as miss allen, had been a member of the new south wales society. at the first annual meeting of this association, in march, , the report showed that petitions had been presented with over , signatures, and that letters expressing themselves as favorable to the measure had been received from thirty members of the legislative assembly. in the general election of a large number of candidates declared themselves in favor, but so far the effort to carry a bill through the house has met with disappointment, and the women's suffrage association are bending their efforts towards inducing the government to bring in a bill. here, as in the other colonies where they are still unenfranchised, the women feel deeply the injustice of their exclusion from the federal referendum. tasmania.[ ] as long ago as a constitutional amendment act passed second reading in the tasmanian house of assembly which provided for the extension of the franchise to unmarried women rate-payers, but notwithstanding the support of the government the question made no further advance in parliament. in recent years a bill to enfranchise women on the same terms as men has passed the house of assembly on several occasions with increasing majorities, but the opponents are still too numerous to carry it through the upper house. the women's christian temperance union have been the most energetic workers in its behalf. [it will be noticed that in each of these australian states the women's suffrage bill repeatedly passed the assembly, or lower house, which is elected by the people, but was defeated in the council or upper house, which is composed entirely of wealthy and aristocratic members, who can be voted for only by these classes, and some of whom are appointed by the government and hold office for life. in a federation of the six states was formed with a national parliament, both houses to be elected by the people. in june, , a bill passed this federal parliament giving women the right to vote for its members and be elected to this body. about , women have been thus enfranchised, the largest victory ever gained for this movement. in south and west australia and new south wales women may vote for members of the state parliament. in victoria, queensland and tasmania they may vote for the federal but not for the state parliament, an anomaly which doubtless will be very soon rectified. it is possible that before this volume is read all the women of the six australian states will possess the full franchise by constitutional right.--eds.] in the south african colonies there has been, as yet, no history to record. that the question simmers in many thoughtful minds there can scarcely be a doubt, but the time for organised action does not seem to have yet arrived. the other colonies of great britain, with the exception of canada, are not self-governing. dominion of canada. the story of the movement to obtain the parliamentary franchise in the dominion dates back to . in april of that year the premier, sir john macdonald, introduced a bill in the legislature for amending the electoral law, including a clause which gave the suffrage to unmarried women who possessed the necessary qualifications. previously, on march th, the toronto women's literary and social progress club had gathered in public for the first time in the city council chamber to consider the suffrage question. mrs. mcewan presided and a paper "treating pithily and with much aptness on the subject of the franchise" was read by miss e. foulds, who moved a resolution "that in the opinion of this meeting the parliamentary franchise should be extended to women who possess the qualifications which entitle men to vote." this and a second resolution proposing the formation of a society to forward such legislation as might be required were both carried, many ladies and gentlemen speaking in their support and a large number of those present giving in their names as members. on april th an adjourned meeting was held and the canadian women's suffrage association was constituted. sir john macdonald's bill was presented too late to become a law and was re-introduced in . it was in this year that members of the british suffrage association visited canada. miss lydia becker and mrs. lilias ashworth hallett were among them, and they and several other english ladies united in sending an address to sir john macdonald thanking him for the introduction of provisions in his bill to enable women to vote and expressing their high appreciation of the just and generous spirit which had actuated him. mrs. hallett had some conversation with sir john hall, who told her the only difficulty they expected in canada as regarded passing the bill was from the french population. this expectation proved to be well-founded. the women's suffrage clauses were rejected by ayes, noes, after a debate extending over thirty-one consecutive hours. it was ten years before any further effort was made to secure the parliamentary franchise. in a petition for this, in behalf of the women's christian temperance union, supplemented by memorials from the provinces, was presented by sir james grant to the house of commons, and by the hon. mr. scott to the senate, but no resolution was offered. a bill introduced by mr. dickey, dealing with the electoral franchise, contained a clause asking suffrage for widows and spinsters, but the bill was read only once. mr. davis, unsolicited, brought in a resolution for women's franchise on the same terms as men. forty members voted for it, one hundred and five against it. a petition for the parliamentary franchise for women, very largely signed by federal voters throughout the dominion, was presented to the house of commons and the senate in . this was the last effort in the parliament, and as a change has since been made in the electoral act, making the voters' list for the dominion coincide with the provincial lists, the battle will therefore have to be fought out in each separate province. the present political condition.[ ] women in canada have no vote for any law maker, either federal or provincial. their franchise is confined to municipalities, which can only make by-laws that relate to the execution of existing laws. but although women have no direct vote, they have, by much labor and united effort, effected some important changes in the criminal code and civil laws, as well as in the political position of women in the municipalities. the societies which have accomplished the most, if not all, of these changes are the women's christian temperance union, the women's enfranchisement association and the national council of women. in the province of ontario, in , widows and spinsters were given the municipal franchise on the same terms as men. all women, married or single, if owners of property, may vote on money by-laws where such are submitted to the electors. any woman on the assessment roll may vote for school trustees and is eligible for this office. in it was enacted that women might study law and qualify for the bar. in a bill to give municipal suffrage to married women and one to grant the provincial suffrage to all women were defeated by ayes, noes. in the province of new brunswick the legislature in gave, unsolicited, to widows and spinsters the right to vote on the same terms as men at municipal elections. in an act was passed permitting the appointment of a woman as school trustee. this was amended in making it compulsory that two on each board shall be women. in the province of nova scotia the municipal franchise was granted to widows and spinsters in . a bill for the provincial franchise was defeated in ; and again in by one vote. an act of permits all women, if rate-payers, to vote on school matters. a married woman having property in her own right, provided that her husband is disqualified, may vote in municipal elections under the married woman's property act, since . in the city of halifax widows and spinsters who are rate-payers may vote on municipal questions. in a bill giving women a more extended suffrage was lost by seven votes; in by four votes; in a bill for the full provincial franchise was lost by twenty-seven votes. in the province of prince edward island, in , the municipal suffrage was granted to widows and spinsters owning property. an act of made women eligible to appointment on school boards. in the province of british columbia, in , the municipal franchise was conferred on widows and spinsters owning property. an act of allows the wife of any householder or freeholder to vote on school matters but not to hold office; in the act was amended making them eligible as school trustees. this same year all women rate-payers were given the municipal franchise. only owners of property may vote on by-laws for raising money upon the credit of the municipality. in the province of manitoba, in , the municipal franchise was extended to women. any qualified woman rate-payer can vote on school questions and is eligible for school offices. women property owners may vote on all submitted by-laws. in a measure to give women the full provincial suffrage was defeated by ayes, noes. in the province of quebec, in , the municipal and school franchise was conferred on widows and spinsters on the same terms as on men. the law relating to the right of women to sit on the school board was ambiguous, so a petition was presented that they be declared eligible. the response to this was an amendment excluding women. in montreal, under the old charter, only widows and spinsters who owned property had the municipal franchise; in this was amended, adding tenancy with residence as a qualification. in a bill granting them the provincial suffrage was lost on division. in the northwest territories, in , the municipal franchise was granted to widows and spinsters. in school matters every woman rate-payer can vote and is eligible to school offices.[ ] footnotes: [ ] the women of great britain and ireland possess every franchise except that for members of parliament. local suffrage is restricted to spinsters and widows, but the important vote for parish and district councils, created by the local government act of , is possessed by married women "provided husband and wife shall not both be qualified in respect to the same piece of property." it may be stated in general terms that all electors must be rate-payers, although there are some exceptions applying to a small percentage of persons. [eds. [ ] these were classified in groups: ( ) the general list ( ) wives of clergymen and church dignitaries. this list was headed by mrs. benson and mrs. thomson, the wives of the archbishops of canterbury and york. ( ) officials, including ladies who are poor law guardians and members of school boards. ( ) education, including the names of such leaders in the movement for the higher education of women as mrs. wm. grey, miss emily davies, mrs. henry sidgwick--the mistress of girton, the principal of newnham college, upwards of sixty university lecturers and teachers and head mistresses of high schools, upwards of eighty university graduates and certificated students, and there were omitted for want of space the names of over other women engaged in the teaching profession. ( ) registered medical practitioners, headed by mrs. garrett anderson, m. d.; miss elizabeth blackwell, m. d., and mrs. scharlieb, m. d., together with a number of ladies engaged in the department of nursing. ( ) social and philanthropic workers. ( ) literature, including miss anna swanwick, mrs. anne thackeray ritchie, miss s. d. collet, miss olive schreiner, mrs. emily crawford, miss amelia b. edwards. ( ) art and music. ( ) landowners, women engaged in business and working women, the latter class represented by the secretaries of nine women trades' societies, and over individual signatures of women artisans. [ ] the text of the bill was as follows: ( ) this act may be cited as the parliamentary franchise (extension to women) act, . ( ) on and after the passing of this act every woman who is the inhabitant occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house, tenement or building within the borough or county where such occupation exists, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter in the list of voters for such borough or county in which she is so qualified as aforesaid, and, when registered, to vote for a member or members to serve in parliament. provided always that such woman is not subject to any legal incapacity which would disqualify a male voter. [ ] the first petition for woman suffrage presented to parliament, in , was signed by only , women. the petition of was signed by , women. the petition presented to the members of the last parliament was signed by , women. [eds. [ ] no reference has been made in the above table to the various factory acts which impose restrictions on women's labour--these belong to a different department--but whether their interference with the labor of women be for good or for evil, that interference is an additional argument for allowing them a voice in the election of representatives. [ ] in new zealand granted school suffrage to women, and in municipal suffrage. [ ] in south australia granted municipal suffrage to women. [ ] in west australia granted municipal suffrage to women. [ ] in new south wales granted municipal suffrage to women. [ ] in victoria granted municipal suffrage to women. [ ] the first number of _the australian woman's sphere_ was published in melbourne, september , . it is edited by miss vida goldstein and appears monthly. [ ] in queensland granted municipal suffrage to women. [ ] tasmania granted municipal suffrage to women in . [ ] this portion of the report is condensed by the editors of the history from a chapter written by mrs. henrietta muir edwards for "the women of canada, their life and work," a handbook prepared by the national council of women, at the request of the canadian government, for the paris exposition of . [ ] in the city of vancouver any single woman, widow or spinster, may vote for municipal officers, and all women possessing the other necessary qualifications of male voters may vote for all municipal officers and upon all municipal questions. married women may vote in the election of school trustees. it has recently been decided that a man possessing no property of his own, and not being a householder in his own right, may be allowed to vote in municipal matters if his wife be a property owner or a householder. [eds. chapter lxxiv. woman suffrage in other countries. in most of the countries of the world women possess some form of suffrage, but for many reasons it is almost impossible to define exactly in what it consists. like suffrage for men it is largely based on property, and in most cases can be used only through a proxy. generally the woman loses the franchise by marriage and the husband may vote by right of the wife's property. in belgium, luxemburg, italy and roumania the husband votes at local elections by right of the taxes paid by the wife, and in case of a widow this right belongs to the eldest son, grandson or great grandson, or if there is none, then to the son-in-law. the italian electoral law of gave a widow the right to vote by proxy in parliamentary elections. all the italian universities are open to women. the constitution of germany says "every german" above twenty-five years of age shall have the parliamentary franchise, but no woman ever has been permitted to vote under it. there are, besides, twenty-five constitutions for the different states which form the empire. by the wording of some of them, women landed proprietors undoubtedly are entitled to take part in elections. the prussian code declares that the rights of the two sexes are equal, if no special laws fix an exception, and it gives the parliamentary franchise to _every one_ who possesses the county or burgess suffrage. the by-laws which prescribe the qualifications for the latter in some instances exclude women and in others declare that women land holders may act as electors, but only "through a proctor" (proxy). teachers undoubtedly, as state officials, are entitled to take part in local government. some of the provinces allow women taxpayers to vote by proxy in the rural districts. neither the government nor public sentiment, however, looks with favor upon women electors. it is only in recent years that a few of the most advanced have begun to agitate the question in this country, which holds a most conservative attitude towards women. they have recently been admitted to a few of the universities. in most of the prussian towns the property qualifications of the wife are accounted to the husband in order that he may take part in municipal elections. in saxony women proprietors of landed estates, whether married or single, are entitled to a municipal vote but this can be exercised only by proxy, and for this purpose one of their male relatives must be invested with their property. in saxony, baden, wurtemburg, hesse, the thuringian states and perhaps a few more, women are permitted to attend public political meetings and be members of political societies, but in all other german states they are excluded from both. they are thus prohibited from forming organizations to secure the franchise. in westphalia since , and schleswig-holstein since , all qualified women have some form of suffrage by male proxy. in the austro-hungarian empire, since , women with property have a proxy vote in municipal and provincial elections and for members of the lower house of the parliament, but there are many restrictions to this law. in bohemia, since , women who are large landed proprietors have a proxy vote for members of the imperial parliament and the local diet. in russia among the peasant class the representative of the household votes. the wife, if owner of the necessary amount of property, may select her husband as proxy, but he may also delegate his vote to the wife, and it is a common thing to see her take his place at elections and at village and country meetings of all kinds. in the cities and territorial assemblies, women, married or unmarried, possessing sufficient property, may vote by male proxy for members of the municipal and county assemblies. property-owning women of the nobility may vote by proxy in the assemblies of the nobility. part of the universities are open to them. there are women physicians in russia. so far as can be learned women are not eligible to office in the above-mentioned countries with a very few exceptions. in finland, since , widows and spinsters may vote at rural elections; since those who are rate-payers may vote at municipal elections. since women are eligible as guardians of the poor. in they were made eligible to all municipal offices. an influential finnish woman's association with twenty branches is agitating for suffrage on the same terms as men. in holland there is no form of woman suffrage and the constitution of expressly prohibits it. women in denmark have no franchise, but premier duentzer has announced that the first reform movement of the new cabinet ( ) will be the extension of municipal suffrage to women. in , through the efforts of the socialists, universal suffrage was granted to men in belgium. while this gives to every man a vote, it permits to the married man, if he pays a small tax, two votes as the head of a family; if he pays tax on what would be about $ , , or has a university degree, he is allowed three votes. the vast majority of those owning property or possessing university degrees belong to the established (catholic) church, and the socialists soon found themselves out-voted by a minority. they then instituted a new movement demanding "one man, one vote," and the government, which is catholic, said: "if you compel this we will enfranchise women," believing that this would strengthen its power. at this writing the contest is going on and becoming more violent. switzerland, whose pride is its absolutely republican form of government, allows no woman a vote on any question or for the election of any officer. they are admitted to the universities. in france, in , unmarried women engaged in commerce (including market women, etc.) were given a vote for judges of the tribunals of commerce. a woman suffrage society has just been formed in paris which is attracting considerable attention. women are admitted to the highest institutions of learning. the laws in all the countries thus far mentioned are most unjust to women and especially to wives. women in sweden have voted in church matters since . it was provided in that women who are rate-payers may vote directly or by proxy, as they choose, for all officers except for members of the parliament. indirectly they have a voice in the election of the first chamber or house of lords, as they vote for the county council which elects this body. they have school and municipal suffrage and that for provincial representatives. the laws are very liberal to women. all of the educational institutions, the professions, occupations and many of the offices are open to them. they are members of the boards of education, municipal relief committees and parochial boards. about six hundred have received university degrees. in norway, since , in towns women with children may vote for school inspectors and be eligible to the school boards. in rural communes they are eligible as inspectors, and women who pay a school tax may vote on all school questions and officers, while those who pay no tax but have children may vote on all questions not involving expenditures. in a woman suffrage association was formed under the leadership of miss gina krog for the purpose of securing the municipal franchise. in a bill for this purpose received out of votes in the parliament. it was then made an issue by the liberal party. in a vote on local option was granted to women. in the radical party secured universal suffrage for men without property restrictions. they then came to the assistance of women and were joined by a large number of conservatives. in municipal suffrage was granted to all women who pay taxes on an income of crowns ($ ) in country districts and in cities. if husband and wife together pay taxes on this amount both may vote. about , women thus became electors. women are found in many offices, in most occupations and professions, and are admitted to all educational institutions. iceland, since , grants municipal suffrage to tax-paying widows and spinsters; since all women have had a parish suffrage, which enables them to vote in the selection of the clergy, who have a prominent part in public affairs. at the cape of good hope women have a limited vote. in the tiny island of pitcairn, in the southern pacific, they have the same suffrage as men. this is doubtless true of many isolated localities whose records are little known. among primitive peoples the government is generally in the hands of the most competent without regard to sex, and some of these are still under the reign of the matriarchate, or the rule of mothers, to whom belong the property and the children. the early spanish inhabitants of the north american continent placed much authority in the hands of women, and the same is true of the indian tribes. chapter lxxv. national organizations of women. the most conspicuous and significant movement which challenges attention at the beginning of the new century is that toward organization, and the three great combinations which stand out most prominently in interest and importance are the organization of capital, the organization of labor and the organization of women. we scarcely can go back so far in history as not to find men banded together to protect their mutual interests, but associations of women are of very modern date. the oldest on record was formed in philadelphia, in the closing days of the eighteenth century--female society for the relief and employment of the poor--which in established a house of industry in arch st., known as the home for spinners. the society is still in active existence and gives employment to a large number of women. church missionary societies of women had their origin early in the century, but as mere annexes to those officered and managed by men. the first association to approach national prominence was the female anti-slavery society, founded in boston in , which almost cost the reputation of every one who joined it, so strong was the prejudice against any public action on the part of women. the american female guardian society and home for the friendless was established in new york in , and still exists, having cared for , children. later in this decade female bible societies came into being to supply bibles to penal and charitable institutions and to put them in various public places. [illustration: mrs. ida husted harper. author of life and work of susan b. anthony, and joint editor with her of the history of woman suffrage, vol. iv.] from to the old washingtonian societies, composed entirely of men, were gradually replaced by the sons of temperance, and as they also were decidedly averse to receiving women into their organization, and as the latter were deeply interested in the subject, a few of them timidly formed the daughters of temperance, in the face of extreme opposition on the part of both sexes. in the decade following commenced the agitation of the question of woman suffrage, and soon conventions in its interest began to be of frequent occurrence, to the joy of the newspapers, most of which treated them with ridicule and denunciation. the decade ushered in by brought the long civil war, during which, in the sanitary commission, the woman's loyal league, the freedmen's bureau and other associations, women displayed an unsuspected power of organization, and at its close their status in many ways was completely changed and greatly advanced. in the country was electrified by the advent of sorosis in new york city and the new england woman's club in boston. these were the first societies formed by women purely for their own recreation and improvement--all others had been for the purpose of reforming the weak and sinful or assisting the needy and unfortunate--and they met with a storm of derision and protest from all parts of the country, which their founders courageously ignored. the last quarter of a century has witnessed so many organizations of women that it would be practically impossible to record even their names. every village which is big enough for a church contains also a woman's club, and they exist in many country neighborhoods. in the larger cities single societies have from to , members, and in a number handsome club houses have been built and furnished, some of them costing from $ , to $ , . from the annual conventions in the interest of woman's rights were called under the auspices of a central committee, but in the national and american woman suffrage associations were formed. five years later the woman's christian temperance union sprang into existence. there are now more than one hundred associations of women in the united states which are national in their form and aims, and a number have become international through their alliance with those of other countries. in , in washington city, the national council of women, a heroic undertaking, was founded to gather these vast and diverse organizations into one great body. by sixteen had become thus affiliated, representing a membership of about , , women. an international council also was organized in to be composed of similar national councils in various countries and to meet in a congress every five years. at the close of the century fourteen national councils had affiliated with the international, representing a membership of , , . this is not only immeasurably larger than any other association of women but is exceeded in size by very few organizations of men, and its two great congresses--during the columbian exposition at chicago in , and at london in --were occasions of world-wide interest and value. each of the more than one hundred national associations of women in the united states holds its annual, biennial or triennial convention in some one of the large cities, which is attended by delegates from all parts of the country. the sessions are presided over by a woman, discussions are carried on with due attention to parliamentary usage, a large amount of business is transacted with system and accuracy, and in every respect these meetings compare favorably with those conducted by men after centuries of experience. they are treated with the greatest respect by the newspapers which vie with each other in publishing pictures of the delegates, their addresses and extended and complimentary reports of the proceedings. the character of these national organizations, the scope of their objects and the extent of their achievements can in no way be so strikingly illustrated as by giving a list of the most important.[ ] the international council of women was organized march , , in washington, d. c., "to unite the women of all the countries in the world for the promotion of co-operative internationalism through the abatement of that prejudice which springs from ignorance and which can be corrected only by that knowledge which results from personal acquaintance. "in the first place its influence has united different organizations of the same country hitherto indifferent or inimical to each other; and in the second it has commenced the work of uniting the women of different nations and abating race prejudice. it has promoted the movement of peace and arbitration, and through its international committees it is forming a central bureau of information in regard to women's contribution to the work of the world." it is composed at present of fourteen national councils of as many different countries representing an individual membership of about , , women. its president is mrs. may wright sewall, who was one of its founders. the national council of women was organized in washington, d. c., march , . its constitution is introduced by the following preamble: "we, women of the united states, sincerely believing that the best good of our homes and nation will be advanced by our own greater unity of thought, sympathy and purpose, and that an organized movement of women will best conserve the highest good of the family and the state, do hereby band ourselves together in a confederation of workers committed to the overthrow of all forms of ignorance and injustice, and to the application of the golden rule to society, custom and law. this council is organized in the interest of no one propaganda, and has no power over its auxiliaries beyond that of suggestion and sympathy; therefore, no society voting to become auxiliary shall thereby render itself liable to be interfered with in respect to its complete organic unity, independence or methods of work, or be committed to any principle or method of any other society or to any utterance or act of the council itself, beyond compliance with the terms of this constitution." the scope of the council's work is indicated by the heads of its departments: home life, educational interests, church and missionary work, temperance, art, moral reform, political conditions, philanthropy, social economics, foreign relations, press, organization; and by its standing committees: citizenship, domestic science, equal pay for equal work, dress reform, social purity, domestic relations under the law, press, care of dependent and delinquent children, peace and universal arbitration. each of these departments and committees works along its special lines and at the annual executive meetings and the triennial councils the reports of their work are discussed, their recommendations considered and every possible assistance rendered. the general public is invited to the evening sessions and valuable addresses are made by specialists on the above and other important subjects. the council is composed of sixteen national organizations, one state council, six local councils--representing a membership of about , , women. the national woman's christian temperance union was organized in cleveland, ohio, nov. - , , to carry the precepts of the following pledge into the practice of everyday life: "i hereby solemnly promise, god helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including wine, beer and cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same." its object was further stated as follows: "to confirm and enforce the rationale of this pledge, we declare our purpose to educate the young; to form a better public sentiment; to reform, so far as possible, by religious, ethical and scientific means, the drinking classes; to seek the transforming power of divine grace for ourselves and all for whom we work, that they and we may wilfully transcend no law of pure and wholesome living; and finally we pledge ourselves to labor and to pray that all these principles, founded upon the gospel of christ, may be worked out into the customs of society and the laws of the land." the w. c. t. u. is held to be the most perfectly organized body of women in existence. it originated the idea of scientific temperance instruction in the public schools and has secured mandatory laws in every state and a federal law governing the district of columbia, the territories and all indian and military schools supported by the government; , , children in the public schools receive instruction under these laws as to the nature and effect of alcohol and other narcotics on the human system. through its efforts the quarterly temperance lesson was included in the international sunday school lesson series in , and a world's universal temperance sunday was secured; , children are taught scientific reasons for temperance in the loyal temperance legions, and all these children are pledged to total abstinence and trained as temperance workers. w. c. t. u. schools of methods are held in all chautauqua gatherings. this organization has largely influenced the change in public sentiment in regard to social drinking, equal suffrage, equal purity for both sexes, equal remuneration for work equally well done, equal educational, professional and industrial opportunities for women. it has been a chief factor in state campaigns for statutory prohibition, constitutional amendment, reform laws in general and those for the protection of women and children in particular, and in securing anti-gambling and anti-cigarette laws. it has been instrumental in raising the "age of protection" for girls in many states and in obtaining curfew laws in towns and cities. it aided in securing the anti-canteen amendment to the army bill ( ) which prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquors at all army posts. it helped to inaugurate police matrons who are now required in nearly all the large cities of the united states. it organized mothers' meetings in thirty-seven states before any other society took up the work. illinois alone has held , mothers' meetings in a single year. it keeps a superintendent of legislation in washington during the entire session of congress to look after reform bills. it aided in preventing the repeal of the prohibitory law in indian territory, the resubmission of the prohibitory constitution of maine, and in preserving the prohibitory law of vermont. it has secured , , signatures and attestations, including , , on the polyglot petition to the governments of the world. thousands of girls have been rescued from lives of shame and tens of thousands of men have signed the total abstinence pledge and been redeemed from inebriety through its efforts. the association protests against the legalizing of all crimes, especially those of prostitution and liquor selling. it protests against the sale of liquor in soldiers' homes, where now an aggregate of $ , is spent annually for intoxicating liquors, and only about one-fifth of the soldiers' pension money is sent home to their families. it protests against the united states government receiving a revenue for liquors sold within prohibitory territory, either local or state, and against all complicity of the federal government with the liquor traffic. it protests against lynching and lends its aid in favor of the enforcement of law. it works for the highest well-being of our soldiers and sailors and especially for suitable temperance canteens and a generous mess. it works for the protection of the home, especially against its chief enemy, the liquor traffic, and for the redemption of our government from this curse, by the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes. the organizing of this great society in the various states and territories, and the systematizing of the work under forty different departments, is due to the efforts of miss frances e. willard more than to any other one person, and its success is indebted largely to her ability and personal popularity. as its president until her death in , she not only perfected the organization in this country, but originated the idea of the polyglot petition and of the world's w. c. t. u., which was organized under the auspices of that of the united states. it now includes fifty-eight different countries and has , members. the official organ, _the union signal_, a weekly of sixteen pages, is issued by the woman's temperance publishing association of chicago, which publishes also _the young crusader_ and many books and leaflets. the national w. c. t. u. gives away , , pages of literature per year, exclusive of that circulated by the states and different departments. it has received and expended since its organization in round numbers $ , . this does not include the large expenditures of the various state and local unions. every state and territory in the united states, including alaska and hawaii, has a w. c. t. u., and one is beginning in the philippines. these are auxiliary to the national. it is organized locally in over , cities and towns. the young woman's christian temperance union is called a branch, also the loyal temperance legions among children. there are thirty-eight other departments, and it is usual to include the two branches and speak of forty departments. the membership paying dues is , . there was a gain of , members this year above all losses. the frances e. willard national temperance hospital and training school for nurses, in chicago, is owned and controlled by an incorporated board of thirty trustees. its basic principle is the cure of disease without the use of alcohol as an active medicinal agent. eminent physicians are on the staff and every effort is made to have it rank with the very best of hospitals. at the national convention in washington, d. c., in , fifty states and territories were represented by delegates. mrs. lillian m. n. stevens succeeded miss willard as president. the american national red cross society was organized march , , with headquarters at washington, d. c. its object is the relief of suffering by war, pestilence, famine, flood, fires, and other calamities of sufficient magnitude to be deemed national in extent. it is governed by the provisions of the international convention of aug. , , at geneva, switzerland. up to the present time relief has been given on fields as follows: michigan forest fires, , material and money, $ , ; mississippi floods, , money and seeds, $ , ; mississippi floods, , material and seeds, $ , ; mississippi cyclone, , money, $ , ; balkan war, , money, $ ; ohio and mississippi river floods, , food, clothing, tools, housefurnishings and feed for stock, $ , ; texas famine, , appropriations and contributions, $ , ; charleston, s. c., earthquake, , money, $ ; mt. vernon, ill., cyclone, , money and supplies, $ , ; florida yellow fever epidemic, , physicians and nurses, $ , ; johnstown, pa., flood disaster, , money and all kinds of building material, furniture, etc., $ , ; russian famine, - , food, $ , ; pomeroy, ia., cyclone, , money and nurses, $ , ; south carolina islands hurricane and tidal wave disaster, money and all kinds of supplies, material, tools, seeds, lumber, $ , ; reconcentrado relief in cuba, - , $ , ; american-spanish war, - , $ , ; galveston flood and hurricane, , $ , ; total, $ , , . miss clara barton was its principal founder and has been its president continuously. the association of collegiate alumnae was organized january , ; incorporated by special act of the massachusetts legislature, april , , to unite the alumnae of different institutions for practical educational work. from to the association gave fourteen $ european fellowships (sharing two others) and ten $ american fellowships. among those holding the fellowships was the first woman admitted to the laboratory of the united states fish commission, the first woman to receive the ph. d. degree from yale, the first woman admitted to göttingen university, the first woman permitted to work in the biological laboratory at strasburg university, the first american woman to receive the degree of ph. d. from any german university, and the first american woman to receive a ph. d. from göttingen and heidelberg universities. the character of the work accomplished by those holding fellowships made it possible for the association to establish, three years ago, a council to accredit women for advanced work in foreign universities. any woman applicant, college graduate or otherwise, found qualified in work, character and serious purpose, receives a certificate properly signed and attested which will secure for her, if possible to any woman, the courtesy and privileges desired at a foreign university. the organization contributes to the support of the association for maintaining the american woman's table at the zoological station at naples and to that for promoting scientific research by women. the latter pays $ annually for the support of the woman's table, and to promote research has just offered a prize of $ , , which offer, it is expected, will be renewed biennially. the a. c. a. committee on corporate membership maintains a high standard of colleges whose graduates are admitted to this organization, which has done much in a quiet way to raise the standards of department work, equipment and endowment of american colleges admitting women. for the past three years the association has published a magazine containing the addresses and reports given at its annual meetings. among its other publications are statistics relative to the health of college women ( ); a bibliography of the higher education of women ( ); a full descriptive list of the fellowships for graduate study open to women in this country, together with a list of the undergraduate scholarships offered to women in the nineteen colleges belonging to the a. c. a. ( ). it will soon issue studies of the growth and development of colleges, a supplement to the bibliography of the higher education of women, a study of the child from the point of view of parents and teachers, and a comprehensive statistical investigation into the health, occupations and marriage-rate of college and non-college women. the work of the national association is carried on largely by standing committees which are under the leadership of the women most notable in education--college presidents, deans and professors. meanwhile, the president, six vice-presidents and presidents of the various branches, acting through a salaried secretary-treasurer, give coherency and support to the development of its various objects. in addition, each branch has committees which deal with local issues, such as public school work of all kinds, home economics, development of children, civil service reform, college settlements, etc. the investigation of the sanitary conditions of the boston public schools, - , started the wave of schoolhouse cleaning which has swept across the country and which has not stopped at schoolhouses but has included school boards and systems of school administration. the chicago branch has just issued a summary of laws relating to compulsory education and child-labor in the united states, which shows the inadequacy of the first (except in three states) and the lack of correlation between the two which makes for lawlessness and crime. it is hoped that this summary will serve as a basis for agitation which shall not cease until compulsory education becomes a fact and not a theory. the association has twenty-five branches and , members. the association for the advancement of women was organized in new york in october, , at the very beginning of the club movement, to interest the women of the country in matters of high thought and in all undertakings found to be useful to society, and to promote their efficiency in these through sympathetic acquaintance and co-operation. it had a number of distinguished presidents and held congresses in many states, which almost invariably led to the formation of local clubs for study and mutual improvement, as well as to good works in other lines. among the cities in which a congress was held were new york, syracuse, buffalo, cleveland, detroit, chicago, des moines, denver, madison, st. paul, toronto, baltimore, memphis, knoxville, louisville, atlanta and new orleans. many distinguished women were included in its membership and it had a strong influence in rendering possible the extensive formation of the women's clubs which are now so important a feature in american society. its work is partly chronicled in two large volumes which give the papers presented and action taken at the meetings. the many great organizations of women in recent years have made further work on the part of the association unnecessary. the general federation of women's clubs was organized march , , to bring into communication the various women's clubs in order that they may compare methods and become mutually helpful. the work is accomplished through three committees--art, education and industries. those on art have used their influence toward its study and its application to the home, and also for the quickening of enthusiasm in horticulture and gardening, from which has developed the beautifying of public squares and school yards. in education some of the most important results are the establishment of hundreds of traveling libraries, assistance in organizing and fostering kindergartens, encouragement of manual training in the public schools, and the formation of mothers' clubs for the study of child culture. the federation has worked with other organizations for the appointment of women on school boards and legislation for broader educational advantages for women. in fact, its work has ranged from kindergarten to university. the industrial committee studies conditions surrounding wage-earning women and children and encourages co-operation between the woman of leisure and the one who is self-supporting, and the organization of laboring women in unions and clubs. one principal object is to eliminate the child from the factory and then to educate it. the civic work has ranged from health protective associations in cities to village improvement societies. there are thirty-six state federations, eleven foreign clubs and nearly individual clubs belonging to the federation, representing over , members ( ). the national association of colored women was organized july, , to arouse all women, especially colored women, to a sense of their responsibility, both in molding the life of the home and in shaping the principles of the nation; to secure the co-operation of all women in whatever is undertaken in the interest of justice, purity and liberty; to inspire in all women, but especially in colored women, a desire to be useful in whatever field of labor they can work to the best advantage. kindergartens and day nurseries for the infants of working women have been established; mothers' meetings have been generally held and sewing classes formed; a sanitarium with a training school for nurses has been founded in new orleans; ground purchased on which an old folks' home is to be built in memphis, and charity dispensed in various ways. women on plantations in the "black belt" of alabama have been taught how to make their huts decent and habitable with the small means at their command, and how to care for themselves and their families in accordance with the rules of health. schools of domestic science are conducted, and a large branch is that of business women's clubs. the convict lease system, "jim crow" car laws, lynching and other barbarities are thoroughly discussed, in the hope that some remedy for these evils may be discovered. statistics concerning the progress and achievements of colored people are being gathered. musical clubs are formed to develop this inherent gift. an organ is published called _notes_, edited by mrs. booker t. washington and an assistant in each state. the association has branches in twenty-six states and over , members. the national congress of mothers held its first public convention at washington in february, , and permanent organization was effected there in . its objects are to raise the standards of home life; to give young women opportunities to learn how to care for children; to bring into closer relations the home and the school; to surround the childhood of the whole world with that wise, loving care in the impressionable years of life which will develop good citizens. practical efforts have been made to accomplish all of these objects. mothers have used their influence in behalf of free kindergartens in the public schools; in having school buildings properly constructed, lighted, heated and ventilated, and for shorter hours in school and less study outside. they have lent their efforts to the uplifting of the drama, since, rightfully used, it can be made a powerful educational factor, and have worked for a pure press, recognizing that it is the greatest material power in the world today. they have regarded their children first of all as future mothers and fathers, next as citizens, and they are demanding that public educational systems adopt their standards of values in the adjustment of curricula. they have established mothers' clubs in many communities, especially among women whose opportunities for training of any kind have been meager; have seen that creches and free kindergartens are provided for the children of the poor; that reading rooms are open for the use of boys and girls; have urged that women should serve upon all school boards and those of all prisons and reformatory institutions; have taken the city fathers to task wherever laws pertaining to the cleanliness and health of a community are not enforced; have called mass meetings once a month to discuss questions pertaining to the welfare of the child; by precept and example have set forth the advantages of simplicity of dress and entertainment, and have interested themselves in all kinds of humane work. state congresses have been formed in nine states, exact membership not known. mrs. theodore w. birney was the founder of the organization and has been its president continuously. the national woman's relief society was organized march , , at nauvoo, ills., being almost the oldest woman's society in existence. it became national in and was incorporated in , to assist the needy, and to care for the afflicted, to lift up the fallen, to ameliorate the condition of suffering humanity, to encourage habits of industry and economy; to give special attention to those who have not had proper training for life, to sacredly care for the dying and the dead, to minister to the lonely, however lowly, in the spirit of grace and heavenly charity. it has been a veritable school of instruction to thousands of women, and its organization is so perfect that it is comparatively easy to carry out any plan of work formed by the general board. donations are almost entirely by the members themselves, and they have working meetings, bazars and fairs occasionally to raise means for the needful purposes. many of the branches have built houses for meetings and some also own houses for their poor instead of paying rent. industries have been carried on to supply work to such as were able to do something for their own support. of these the most notable is the silk industry in utah. over , bushels of wheat have been stored in granaries against a day of famine or scarcity. hundreds of nurses and many midwives have been trained under the fostering care of the society. at present money is being raised by donation to erect a commodious building in salt lake city opposite the temple, suitable for headquarters. the society has branches and , members in this and other countries and upon the islands of the sea. mrs. eliza r. snow and mrs. zina d. h. young have been the only two presidents. the international sunshine society had its origin in the early nineties in a department edited by mrs. cynthia westover alden in the new york _recorder_, which she afterwards carried into the _tribune_. it was first called the shut-in society, but the present name was adopted in and it was incorporated in . its object is to incite its members to the performance of helpful deeds, and to thus bring happiness into the greatest possible number of hearts and homes. the membership fee consists of some act or suggestion that will carry sunshine where it is needed. this may be the exchange of books, pictures, etc., loaning or giving useful articles, suggesting ideas for work that can be done by a "shut-in" and sending the materials for it, making holiday suggestions and a general exchange of helpful ideas. there are many sunshine libraries, some of them traveling, all over the united states and canada. in memphis there is a sunshine home for aged men, a newsboys' club house and a lunch room for working girls. several branches have sunshine wards in hospitals. the leading women's clubs have sunshine committees, and hundreds of churches have them in their king's daughters' and christian endeavor societies. among the thousands of articles which have been placed where they will do the most good are pianos, sewing machines, invalid chairs, baby carriages, furniture and clothing of every description. there are more than , members and over , well-organized branches. the society is officered and managed by women and they compose the immense majority of the members. mrs. alden has been the president continuously. the national council of jewish women was organized in chicago in , as a result of the congress of jewish women, which was a branch of the parliament of religions held during the columbian exposition. its objects are to bring about closer relations among jewish women and a means of prosecuting work of common interest; to further united efforts in behalf of judaism through a better knowledge of the bible, jewish literature and conditions. it has given much attention to social reform through preventive philanthropy and it affiliates with many organizations of women interested in the public welfare. the council conducts manual training and industrial schools, sewing and household schools, kitchen gardens, kindergartens, mothers' clubs, boys' clubs, circulating libraries, reading rooms, free baths, employment bureaus, milk and ice depots for the poor, crippled children's classes and many other philanthropies. during the spanish-american war the council contributed about $ , in money and goods, and in several cities was the first organization to undertake this relief work. it has sixty-three sections in various states and , members. mrs. hannah g. solomon has been president continuously. the women's national indian association was organized in march, , for the civilization, education, enfranchisement and christianization of the native indians of the united states; the first society devoted exclusively to indian advancement, to ask and labor for all these; to demand from the government lands in severalty, citizenship, industrial teaching and education for the aborigines ( ), and these were granted in the passage of the dawes severalty bill in february, . besides its important work politically, beginning a movement which has gained , indian citizens, at least , of whom pay taxes and , of whom voted at the last elections, it has opened directly or indirectly christian, educational and industrial instruction at forty-seven stations, or in as many tribes; has builded many indian homes, starting civilized industries in these and in tribes, furnishing agricultural implements, sewing machines, looms, stock, etc., from a loan fund of $ , . it has various other departments of help for red men--schools, libraries, temperance teaching, etc.--and has expended in all these (besides sending missionary boxes of supplies for the aged and helpless into seventy tribes) from $ , to $ , annually. it has now a house of industries where women and girls are taught sewing, knitting, weaving, etc. altogether forty-one buildings have been erected. the association has nearly branches in between thirty and forty states and territories and has several thousand members. mrs. amelia stone quinton was general secretary from the beginning for eight years, and has since been president continuously. the national league of women workers was organized april , , in the interest of working women and their clubs. it is intended that the league shall stand as a central bureau of information, offering counsel and help when sought, but not placing restrictions upon any club. it has issued various publications, a monthly magazine, _the club worker_, a collection of songs, one of practical talks, another of plays and of entertainments; also a pamphlet entitled how to start a club. it has made a collection of all publications issued by the various auxiliary state associations and clubs, which are distributed free of charge to members. between , and , publications are annually sold and distributed. the secretary each year visits from fifty to one hundred clubs to acquaint them with the work of other similar organizations. the league has collected data relating to the management of lunch clubs, vacation houses and co-operative homes for working women. it is made up of five associations, and includes clubs in vermont, massachusetts, rhode island, connecticut, new york, pennsylvania and maryland, with a membership of over , . the national christian league for the promotion of social purity was organized in new york in october, , and a national charter was obtained in . its object is to elevate opinion respecting the nature and claims of morality, with its equal obligation upon men and women, and to secure a practical recognition of its precepts on the part of the individual, the family and the nation; to organize the efforts of christians in preventive, educational, reformatory and legislative effort in the interest of social purity. it uses every righteous means to free women and girls from financial dependence upon men, not only by seeking to raise the status of domestic service, but by teaching the advantages of self-support in every kind of legitimate business. during the past six years the league has secured employment directly for , applicants; it has supplied temporal and social benefits to thousands of distressed women; furnished more than , , pages of literature helpful to all the people; prevented and stopped immoral shows and impure exhibitions; clothed the naked, fed the hungry and housed the shelterless. the league has hospital auxiliaries, social culture clubs, industrial homes with training for italians and other foreigners; members in nearly every state and territory--in europe, china, japan, india and south america. it was founded by mrs. elizabeth b. grannis, who has been its president continuously. the young ladies' national mutual improvement association was organized at salt lake city in june, . associations were formed in different states, and these were gradually grouped into "stake" or county societies, each one presided over by a president and her board of workers. on june , , an organization of these "stakes" was effected and a general president elected. the object is mutual improvement for all, in spiritual, mental and physical conditions. it is an educational association and has bettered the condition of thousands of girls, leading them toward the light, cultivating unselfishness, a love of humanity, and a desire to help the world; it has given to all its members a deeper, truer, purer education than they could otherwise have obtained. while not strictly a beneficiary organization, it disburses several thousand dollars a year. it owns considerable property, including houses and libraries. the association has branches and , members in ten states and territories and a number of foreign countries. mrs. elmina shepard taylor has been president since . the national kindergarten union was organized in july, , to unite kindergarten interests; to promote the establishment of kindergartens, and to elevate the standard of their training and teaching. it has instituted more friendly relations between kindergartners, bringing together the conservative and radical elements upon a common platform. a broader conception of the principles of froebel and their relation to education in general has been promoted, thus enlarging the scope of the kindergarten idea and widening its influence. there are at present seventy branches with , members. the woman's prison association and isaac t. hopper home was organized by mr. hopper in in new york and incorporated in . it was afterwards sustained for many years by his daughter, mrs. abby hopper gibbons. its object is the amelioration of the condition of women prisoners, the improvement of prison discipline and the government of prisons in respect to women; also the support and encouragement of women convicts after their release. the association has secured in new york the searching of women prisoners by women; a law requiring police matrons; one providing a reformatory for women and girls, and others of like import. the home is in a large measure self-supporting. from this first organization a number of similar ones have been established and the condition of women prisoners has been much improved. the national household economic association was organized in march, , to promote a scientific knowledge of the care of children, and of the economic and hygienic value of food, fuel and clothing; to inculcate an intelligent knowledge of sanitary conditions in the home, and to urge the recognition of housekeeping as a business or trade which is worthy of highest thought and effort. this was the first organization to present household economics in a comprehensive form as an important and profound science. the existence of home departments in nearly every woman's club may be directly or indirectly traced to its influence. from maine to california women have received from it broader and better views of home and home life. it has vice-presidents in twenty-nine states. the national woman's keeley rescue league was organized sept. , , to restore the victim of inebriety and drugs to health and happiness and to aid the unfortunate inebriate to become a self-supporting citizen instead of an object of charity; to visit the families of inebriates and by every means possible aid them to a higher and better life. it has brought sunshine and happiness into more than one thousand desolate homes, and enabled the heads of these homes to become self-supporting. husbands and wives who have been driven asunder by the curse of drink have been re-united. thousands of children who would have been thrown upon the world or into charitable institutions have been saved and are now cared for in well-provided homes. many a family has been kept from becoming a charge upon charity, and the current of many a human life has been turned in wholesome channels. the league pays for a man's treatment at the time he enters a keeley institute, taking his note (properly secured by the indorsement of some friend, when possible), and requiring him to pay back in monthly installments or as his circumstances will permit. this creates a revolving fund to be used over and over again. it has its friendly visitors looking after the family while he is taking the treatment and endeavors to have employment for him upon his return. men who have been sent to the work-house repeatedly have been permanently reclaimed. the league has eighteen branches and members. the national federation of musical clubs was organized january, , to bring into communication the various musical societies that they may compare methods of work and become mutually helpful; and to arrange in different sections of the country biennial musical festivals. it works for the musical life of the nation by creating a musical atmosphere, studying composers and their works and bringing the best talent in various lines to interpret and illustrate these studies. large, strong clubs have been helpful in sending their members to those smaller in numbers and weaker financially. two musical festivals have been held, national in character, one in st. louis in may, , the other in cleveland in may, , with every possible artistic advantage of the highest talent. there are branches in thirty-two states and canada; clubs are federated with , members. the needlework guild of america was organized april, , to collect new garments and distribute them to hospitals, homes and other charities, and to extend its usefulness by the organization of branches. it has distributed to hospitals, homes and other charities in the united states about , , new garments. this includes the results of two or three special collections for national disasters. it has branches in this country. religious: the woman's foreign missionary society of the methodist episcopal church was organized march , . its object is to engage and unite the efforts of christian women in sending missionaries to the women in foreign mission fields of the church and in supporting them and the native christian teachers, and all forms of work carried on by the society. it has collected and disbursed $ , , ; sent to foreign fields missionaries, and established a great educational work for women throughout the orient. the first woman's college in asia, at lucknow, india, was founded by this society. it sent the first fully equipped medical woman to the mission fields of the east, and built the first hospitals for women in india, china and korea. nineteen hospitals and dispensaries are supported by the society, and missionaries in africa, burmah, bulgaria, china, india, italy, japan, korea, malaysia, mexico, south america and the philippines, while twenty-four medical women are now in the field. there are , girls and women in its various schools. the society has eleven branches, covering the whole united states, , auxiliaries, and , members. mrs. cyrus d. foss is president. the woman's home missionary society of the m. e. church was organized july , , to enlist and organize the efforts of christian women in behalf of the needy and destitute women and children of all sections of the united states, without distinction of race, and to co-operate with the other societies and agencies of the church in educational and missionary work. the total receipts from july, , to july, , were $ , , ; total value of property, $ , . this property consists of twenty industrial homes and schools, six mission homes, two immigrant homes, three children's homes, six centers of city mission work, five deaconess and missionary training schools, twenty-eight deaconess homes, four rest homes for deaconesses and missionaries. the society has eighty-nine conferences, , auxiliary societies, , adult members and , children. the deaconess department was established in . there are now ( ) , deaconesses with $ , , invested in real estate connected with their work. mrs. clinton d. fisk is president. the women's foreign missionary society of the methodist protestant church was organized feb. , , to bring the heathen to christ. it has established schools, built churches and done a valuable work especially among girls. it has twenty branches and about , members. mrs. f. a. brown of cardington, o., is serving her twenty-first year as president. the woman's baptist foreign missionary society was organized april , . the leading object is the christianization of women in foreign lands by furnishing support through the american baptist missionary union to christian women employed by said union as missionaries, native teachers or bible readers, together with the facilities needed for their work. its missionaries have been sent to burmah, assam, india, china, japan and africa. the home constituency is found in the baptist churches of the new england and middle atlantic states. the total number of american missionaries supported for a longer or shorter time is . of these seventy-eight are now connected with the society, native bible women employed as visitors in homes, and boarding and day schools with more than , pupils are maintained. many women who have been taught in these schools are exerting a strong influence as christian wives, mothers and teachers. the medical missionaries have cared for souls and bodies alike. one of these doctors reports , treatments at her dispensary during the last year. large sums of money have also been expended for mission work of various kinds under the care of the wives of missionaries. the total amount raised and expended in thirty years is over $ , , . there are numerous auxiliary circles, including about , women, besides , younger women organized in guilds. the woman's baptist foreign missionary society of the west was organized may , , for the elevation and christianization of the women of foreign lands by furnishing support to christian women employed as missionaries, to native teachers and to bible women, together with the facilities needed for their work. it supports schools, , pupils, teachers and bible women. in the medical department it has two hospitals, two dispensaries, twenty medical students and three helpers; patients were treated in the hospitals during the past year and , outside patients. the amount raised since organization is $ , , and missionaries have been sent out. there are , auxiliaries. the woman's baptist home mission society was organized feb. , , to aid in spreading the gospel and to christianize homes by means of house-to-house visitation and by missions and schools with special reference to exceptional populations in the united states, and among neighboring countries. the missionary training school was organized sept. , , and located at the headquarters of the society, now in chicago. the same year records the first issue of the monthly organ, _tidings_, which has grown from a four-page circular to a thirty-two-page magazine, with a monthly circulation of , copies. the training school has enrolled students. the society supports also two training schools for negro workers--shaw university, raleigh, n. c., and the caroline bishop school in dallas, texas. it has employed on its own fields missionaries among foreign populations in this country from europe, indians, negroes, chinese, syrians (from asia), mexicans, cubans, porto ricans and americans. the missionaries report, for the year, besides work along many other lines, , visits in homes. during the twenty-four years the visits reported aggregate , , , and from the headquarters of the society have gone , , pages of literature. the total cash receipts have been $ , , . besides providing for its own distinctive work, the society has aided the american baptist home missionary society from until to an extent represented by a total of $ , . figures have a certain value, but the best fruit is seen in the results of the work of the missionaries on the fields, through the visits in homes, women's meetings, children's meetings, industrial schools, parents' conferences, bible bands, fireside schools, training classes, and the circulation of pure, wholesome literature. through this womanly ministry uncounted lives have been transformed and a multitude of abodes have become christian homes. there are , auxiliaries and about , members. the woman's american baptist home mission society was organized nov. , , for the evangelization of the women among the freed people, the heathen, immigrants and the new settlements of the west, and for evangelizing and educating the women and children in any part of north america. the amount raised during the last year was $ , ; fifty-seven teachers, missionaries and bible women are supported among colored people, indians, mexicans, mormons, chinese, alaskans and french catholics. the free baptist woman's missionary society was organized june , , to conduct home and foreign missions. this is believed to be the only woman's missionary society (with possibly the exception of the christian and the friends') which from the beginning has been entirely independent and not an auxiliary organization. it has furnished eleven women missionaries for india, one of whom is a professor in the theological school and two are physicians, and supports a large number of schools, many native and bible women and extensive zenana work. besides this it aids all other women missionaries of its denominational conference board by annual appropriations for their local work among women and children at the various stations occupied by free baptists. the rhode island kindergarten hall, the widows' home and the sinclair orphanage, all located at benares, province of orissa, india, are the property of this society. its home missionary work is connected with storer college, harper's ferry, w. va., to which it has furnished thirteen teachers, besides contributing largely to the erection and equipment of two of the main buildings. its receipts have been about $ , . it has a permanent fund of about $ , . the society has twenty-five state organizations, others in canada and india, with between , and , members. the woman's presbyterian board of foreign missions of the southwest was organized at st. louis in april, ; originally to create and foster a practical and intelligent interest in the spiritual condition of women and children in our own land and in heathen lands. since the close of its fourteenth year its work has been for foreign missions only, being one of the seven woman's auxiliaries to the board of foreign missions of the presbyterian church in the united states of america. it has given to the cause of missions $ , , and has had missionaries, as teachers or physicians, in india, china, japan, korea, siam, persia and south america. the record of their work has been of a nature sufficiently encouraging to warrant continued and larger support. the board has branches or auxiliary societies and , members. the woman's board of home missions of the presbyterian church was organized in december, , to establish and maintain christian schools among those near home. it has eleven stations in alaska, eighteen among the indians, twenty-seven among the mexicans, thirty-one among the mormons, forty among the mountaineers, six among the foreigners in this country, five among the porto ricans, making a total of , with missionaries and teachers and , pupils. the board has secured to the presbyterian church $ , worth of property and has expended about $ , , since organization. two magazines are published, the _home mission monthly_, and _over sea and land_ for the young, the latter jointly with the foreign societies. it has about , auxiliary societies with about , members. the christian woman's board of missions was organized oct. , , to maintain preachers and teachers for religious instruction; to encourage and cultivate a missionary spirit and effort in the churches; to disseminate missionary intelligence and secure systematic contributions for such purposes; to establish and maintain schools for the education of both sexes. fields: the united states, jamaica, india, mexico and porto rico. work: university bible lectureships, michigan, virginia, kansas, calcutta, india; eighteen schools, four orphanage schools, two kindergartens, four orphanages with children, one chinese mission, one hospital, three dispensaries, one leper mission, thirty mission stations outside the united states; missionaries, besides native teachers, evangelists, bible women and other helpers; $ , raised during twenty-six years; income last year, $ , . its publications are _missionary tidings_, circulation , ; _junior builders_, same circulation; leaflets, calendars, manuals, song books, etc. property values: united states, $ , ; india, $ , ; jamaica, $ , ; porto rico, $ , ; total, $ , ; amount of endowment funds, $ , . this is purely a woman's organization; funds are raised and disbursed, fields entered and work outlined and managed without connection with any "parent board," although relations with other organizations of the church are most cordial. there are thirty-six state organizations, , auxiliaries, forty-five young ladies' circles, mission bands, , junior societies of christian endeavor, intermediate societies and , members of auxiliaries. the woman's state home missionary organization of the congregational church represents a slow but steady growth during the past thirty years. branches exist now in forty-two states and territories. the last report available, that of , showed $ , collected that year and disbursed for the usual home missionary purposes. the woman's centenary association of the universalist church was organized in to assist weak parishes, foster sunday-schools, help educate women students for the ministry, endow professorships in schools and colleges, relieve the wants of sick or disabled preachers, ministers' widows and orphans, distribute denominational literature, and do both home and foreign missionary work. since its organization it has raised and disbursed over $ , and has a permanent fund of $ , , the interest of which is annually expended for the purposes for which the association was organized. millions of pages of denominational literature have been distributed. the association has ten state societies and mission (local) circles. the national alliance of unitarian and other liberal christian women was organized in . its objects are primarily to quicken the religious life of unitarian churches and to bring the women into closer acquaintance, co-operation and fellowship; to promote local organizations of women for missionary and denominational work and to bring the same into association; to collect and disseminate information regarding all matters of interest to the church, viz.: needs of local societies, facilities for meeting them, work to be done, collection and distribution of money, etc. the alliance takes part in the missionary work of the denomination, assisting small churches and starting new ones; supports one or more students each year at the meadville theological school and maintains several circuit ministers. it has lending and traveling libraries and libraries for ministers, and has established and maintained three permanent ones in places where there was no free library. through its well-known post office mission it distributes annually about , sermons and tracts, and through its cheerful letter exchange an untold amount of miscellaneous literature. money is not disbursed from a central treasury, but is given by the branches which are independent in such matters, an executive board making recommendations. the expenditures of the past ten years have been $ , . the alliance has branches and nearly , members. the woman's missionary association of the united brethren in christ was organized oct. , , to engage and unite the efforts of women in sending missionaries into all the world; to support these and other laborers in mission fields, and to secure by gift, bequest and otherwise the funds necessary for these purposes. valuable missionary work is being done in west africa, china and the philippines. the association in the last twenty-five years has raised $ , . it has forty branches and , members. the woman's foreign union of friends was organized may, , to increase the efficiency for spreading the gospel of christ among the heathen, and to create an additional bond between the women of the american yearly meetings. it has been the instrumentality of greatly quickening the missionary zeal and activity in the denomination. it established missions in japan, china, india and in unoccupied parts of mexico, and rendered valuable assistance in planting missions in alaska, jamaica and palestine. it founded and has successfully managed the _friends' missionary advocate_. during the past ten years $ , have been raised and expended. it has ten branches and , members. the woman's home and foreign missionary society of the general synod of the evangelical lutheran church in the u. s. a. was organized in . its object is to cultivate a missionary spirit, to create a deeper interest in the spread of the gospel, to disseminate missionary intelligence, and to engage and unite the efforts of christian women in the lutheran church in supporting missions and missionaries on home and foreign fields, in co-operation with the boards of home and foreign missions and church extension. in the foreign field it is now supporting eight women missionaries in india, two of whom are physicians and one a trained nurse. the principal station is guntur, madras presidency. in africa it is supporting two women missionaries at muhlenberg, liberia. in the home field it has helped support eighteen missions and build churches for twelve of them. the amount contributed by the societies for the year ending march , , was $ , . the society has twenty-two synodical societies, auxiliaries and , members, active and honorary and cradle roll, besides life members. the woman's missionary society of the general synod of the reformed church was organized in , to aid in the advancement of the work of christian missions in home and foreign lands. individual societies had existed for ten years previous. the last report available is that of , when societies were reported and $ , collected during the year. one-third was expended for foreign and two-thirds for home missions. the society has published an official organ, the _woman's journal_, since . women also belong and contribute to the general missionary societies of the church. the international board of women's and young women's christian associations had its beginning in , when thirty of these associations affiliated for biennial conferences. later they organized as the international board which became incorporated. its object is to unite in one central organization these bodies of the united states, canada and other countries, and to promote the forming of similar ones, to advance the mental, moral, temporal and above all the spiritual welfare of young women. the ladies' christian union of new york, organized in , was the first work in this country for the welfare of young business women. a home was the imperative need of the friendless young women employed in cities then as it is now, since the small wages received make possible for them only the poorest quarters amid demoralizing conditions. these christian women opened a house and took into it as many as they could reach, giving clean rooms, wholesome food, cheap rent, pure moral atmosphere and religious influences. from this developed the young women's christian association. the federated associations now own property valued at over $ , , . in the evolution of this work the boarding homes, now accommodating over , at one time, have been supplemented as the need arose. the traveler's aid department seeks to reach the young, ignorant girls before the agents of evil who haunt the railroad stations and steamer landings. during over , were thus protected. the employment bureau during this year assisted over , applicants. the educational department, with day and evening classes, has , enrolled. there are recreation departments, vacation homes and many other important features. every phase of the life of a girl or woman is touched by the association. religion in its broad sense is its fundamental and guiding principle. twenty-three states are represented in sixty associations in the united states and canada, with over , voting and contributing members, over , associate members--self-supporting girls and women--and , junior members. the woman's national sabbath alliance was organized in , to educate the women of america to an intelligent appreciation of the relation of this one day in seven to the national life, and to emphasize woman's responsibility and influence, especially in the home and in society. the work is along educational lines--in creating public sentiment in favor of better sabbath observance. while placing a wedge in every tiny opening, its members have prayed, protested, proclaimed and practiced. through this organization christian women have become more fearless in standing for their convictions. the alliance has twenty-two branches and over , members. patriotic: the woman's relief corps, auxiliary to the grand army of the republic, was organized july , . its object is specially to aid and assist the grand army of the republic and to perpetuate the memory of its heroic dead; to assist such union veterans as need help and protection, and to extend needful aid to their widows and orphans; to cherish and emulate the deeds of army nurses and of all loyal women who rendered loving service to the country in her hour of peril; to maintain true allegiance to the united states of america; to inculcate lessons of patriotism and love of country among children and in the communities; to encourage the spread of universal liberty and equal rights to all. general legislation is enacted by the annual national convention, the supreme authority; states are governed by department conventions. the association has educated women in an exact system of reports and returns. there are no "benefits," as it is strictly philanthropic. it supports a national relief corps home for dependent army nurses and relatives of veterans; has secured pension legislation from the general government for destitute army nurses; has influenced state legislation in the founding of homes for union veterans and their dependent ones in colorado, michigan, illinois, missouri, wisconsin, indiana, california, new york and kansas; has led to the establishment of industrial education in the ohio orphans' home; has been foremost in financial aid in every national calamity; has unitedly furthered patriotic teaching in schools and the flag in school rooms; and has raised and expended for relief in the eighteen years of its existence, $ , , . the corps has thirty-five departments, , subordinate corps and , members. ladies of the grand army of the republic were organized jan. , , to assist the g. a. r., encourage them in their noble work of charity, extend needful aid to members in sickness and distress and look after the soldiers' homes and the homes of soldiers' widows and orphans; to obtain proper situations for the children when they leave the homes; to watch the schools and see that children are properly instructed in the history of our country and in patriotism; to honor the memory of those fallen and to perpetuate and keep forever sacred memorial day. its departments and circles have spent for relief $ , and given to the g. a. r. $ , ; to the soldiers' homes, $ ; soldiers' widows' homes, $ , ; soldiers' orphans' homes, $ . the organization has twenty-three departments and , members--mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, granddaughters and nieces of soldiers and sailors who served honorably in the civil war. the national alliance of the daughters of veterans of the u. s. a. was organized and chartered in , to perpetuate the memories of the fathers and brothers, their loyalty to the union and their unselfish sacrifices for its perpetuity; to aid them and their widows and orphans, when helpless and in distress; to inculcate a love of country and patriotism among women; to promote equal rights and universal liberty, and to acquire, by donation or otherwise, all necessary property and funds to carry out the aforesaid objects; to assist the g. a. r. to commemorate the deeds of their fallen comrades on the th of may. the alliance is composed of daughters and granddaughters of the northern soldiers who fought in the civil war, - , and has a sufficient membership to assure the soldiers that their memory will ever be preserved and their widows and orphans will not want. over $ , are spent yearly for relief. the value of donations other than money is nearly double that amount. it has assisted in obtaining pensions, erected monuments for unknown dead, furnished rooms in soldiers' and soldiers' widows' homes, furnished transportation for helpless soldiers, presented flags and banners, brightened sickrooms with flowers and cheerful faces. at present it is interested in the erection of lincoln memorial university at mason city, ia., where one building is to be known as the daughters of veterans' building. there are "tents" scattered all over the union and many state departments. the mount vernon ladies' association of the union was organized in . its purpose was the purchase and preservation of the home and tomb of general washington with acres of land. the sum of $ , was raised by voluntary contributions from the women of the united states. the regent is elected by the council and is a life officer. mrs. justine v. r. townsend of new york is serving at present. the regent appoints, and the council at its annual meeting ratifies by votes, one lady in each state as vice-regent to represent the state. the association is purely patriotic. the great annual increase of both home and foreign visitors is gratifying, and testifies to the loving veneration in which the memory of washington is held. the entrance fee of twenty-five cents is sufficient to keep the home and grounds in perfect colonial order. the national society of the daughters of the american revolution was organized aug. , , to perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and women who achieved american independence, by the acquisition and protection of historic spots and the erection of monuments; by the encouragement of historical research in relation to the revolution, and the publication of its results; by the preservation of documents and relics, and of the records of the individual services of revolutionary soldiers and patriots, and by the promotion of celebrations of all patriotic anniversaries; to carry out the injunction of washington in his farewell address to the american people, "to promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge;" to cherish, maintain and extend the institutions of american freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty. the society has carried out its desired objects; brought together the women of the north and south; caused many of them to study the constitution of their country and parliamentary law; rescued from oblivion the memory of many heroic women of the revolution; examined and certified to the , nurses sent by the surgeon general's office to the spanish-american war; raised $ , in money and sent , garments to the hospitals during that war; contributed $ , for a memorial hall in washington, d. c. it has organized children's societies and taught them love for the flag and all it means; made foreign-born children realize what it is to be american citizens; offered medals and scholarships for historical essays by pupils in schools and colleges; helped erect the monuments to lafayette and washington in paris. by requiring careful investigation of claims to membership the society has caused many families to become re-united who had been separated by immigration to remote parts of the country, and has stimulated a proper pride of birth--not descent from royalty and nobility but from men and women who did their duty in their generation and left their descendants the priceless heritage of pure homes and honest government. the society has chapters and over , members. the society of the daughters of the revolution was organized aug. , , to perpetuate the patriotic spirit of the men and women who achieved american independence; to commemorate prominent events connected with the war of the revolution; to collect, publish and preserve the rolls, records and historic documents relating to this period and to encourage the study of the country's history. through its state organizations it has marked with tablets historic places; promoted patriotism by gifts of historical pictures to public schools; helped to bring about an observance of flag day through the general society; given prizes to various women's colleges for essays on topics connected with the war of the revolution; raised $ , to erect a monument at valley forge in memory of washington's army. the present work is the establishment of a fund to be loaned in proper sums to girls trying to make their way through college. it has nineteen state societies and , members. the colonial dames of america were organized in new york city, may , , to honor the brave men who in any important service contributed to the achievement of american independence; to collect manuscripts, traditions and relics and to foster a true spirit of patriotism. a hereditary society was deemed the most effective for this purpose. it has made a collection of valuable manuscripts, pedigrees, photographs and books; effected restorations in the old swedes' church at wilmington, placed tablets in baltimore, to washington, and in kingston, n. y., to governor clinton. historic tableaux have been given in the city of new york, with readings of original papers and lectures by historians. the publication of the "letters to washington" from the original manuscripts in the department of state, has reached its fourth and last volume. for the sick and wounded in the spanish-american war the society raised about $ , , with a contribution of hundreds of garments and hospital appliances, and several of its members worked in hospitals and camps. the society also has its valued social side. it has five chapters in new york, philadelphia, baltimore, washington and paris (france), with about members. the national society of united states daughters of was organized jan. , . its object is to publish memoirs of famous women of the united states, especially those of the period included in the eligibility of this society; to urge the government, through an act of congress, to compile and publish authentic records of men in military and naval service in the war of , and of those in civil service during the period embraced by this society; to secure and preserve documents of the events for which each state was famous during this period; to promote the erection of a home where the descendants of the brave patriots of this war can be sheltered from the storms of life. the work done in the various states is as follows: two tablets, one marking new york city defenses during the war and one for "those who served," in the post chapel at west point; michigan, a monument to general mccomb in the heart of detroit; maryland, the restoration of fort mchenry (the inspiration of the star spangled banner); louisiana, a monument on the field of cholnette. massachusetts has received permission to restore the frigate constitution and is raising $ , for this purpose; pennsylvania is offering prizes in the public schools for historical work, and many other enterprises are under way. it has nineteen state societies with a membership of . the united daughters of the confederacy were organized sept. , . the objects of the society are educational, memorial, literary and benevolent; to collect and preserve material for a truthful history of the war between the states; to honor the memory of those who fought and those who fell in the service of the confederacy; to cherish the ties of friendship among the members of the society and to fulfil the duties of sacred charity to the survivors of the war and those dependent upon them. much aid has been given to aged and indigent confederate soldiers. there are homes for these soldiers in every southern state and monuments have been erected to the confederate dead in nearly every city. the orphans of confederate soldiers have been educated and cared for, and in a number of states the society has seen that correct and impartial histories are used in the public schools. it has branches and about , members. lodges: the supreme hive ladies of the maccabees of the world was organized oct. , , to extend the benefits of life protection to women; to unite fraternally the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of the knights of the maccabees, as well as other women who are acceptable; to educate its members socially, morally and intellectually. four hundred and twenty-five death claims were paid in , amounting to $ , ; and twenty-two disability claims, amounting to $ , . the total amount paid in claims from organization to jan. , , is $ , , . the organization is composed of one supreme body, three subordinate bodies, known as great hives, and , subordinate or local hives, with a membership of , , of whom , are social and , benefit members. the supreme temple rathbone sisters of the world was organized oct. , , for promoting the moral, mental and social conditions of its members; cultivating a spirit of fraternal love which shall permeate and control their daily lives; ministering in all ways to the wants of the sick and needy; watching at the bedside of the dying; paying the last sad tribute of love and respect to the dead, comforting and providing for the widow in her afflictions, and daily exemplifying in every possible way the golden rule. the supreme temple has general supervision of the order throughout the world and makes the general laws. the grand temples, or state organizations, supervise the local temples within their domain. the latter, besides carrying out the principles peculiar to a fraternal society, select some special work for the good of those outside their ranks. reading rooms have been established, funds donated for public improvements, charity, etc. in order to care for the orphans of rathbone sisters a home is soon to be erected, the fund being already set aside for this purpose. the local temples care for their own poor and sick. in such disasters as those at galveston and jacksonville, the temples send liberal donations to their members to relieve their financial losses. the supreme temple is composed of twenty-four state organizations and , local temples, with a membership of , . four insurance branches have just been established ( ). the order of the eastern star was organized in the latter part of the eighteenth century--the exact date is not known. its founders sought to create a social tie between the families of masons, but it early reached a higher standard of usefulness. among its objects are caring for the widow and orphan and assisting the masonic brother in all deeds of mercy and love. it has founded eastern star homes for widows and orphans of masons and has become a mighty impetus in the building and support of masonic homes. everywhere its members visit the sick, relieve the distressed and speak words of cheer to the despairing. it has been found helpful all over the land in carrying forward the underlying principles of masonry. it has taught woman to preside in public meetings and to make herself conversant in parliamentary law. masonry unites the heads of families, whereas the eastern star unites the entire families. its ritualistic teachings are designed to inculcate morals and to improve the social virtues. the order comprises , chapters with a membership of , . the daughters of rebekah were organized in as a side degree of the independent order of odd fellows, and chartered lodges were authorized in . the object is benevolent work. the order stands very high among charitable organizations and pays out thousands of dollars each year for the relief of widows and orphans. the report for the present year shows that , families were assisted at an expense of $ , ; and $ , were paid for the education of orphans. the indiana lodge erected a monument in indianapolis to vice-president of the united states schuyler colfax, the principal founder of the order. the daughters of rebekah usually exist wherever there is a lodge of the i. o. o. f. men may take the degree but the affairs of the lodges are entirely in the hands of women. there are , men and , women members. the grand international auxiliary to the brotherhood of locomotive engineers in the united states, canada, and mexico, was organized oct. , , to elevate the social standing of railroad people, to promote a fraternal feeling between families of engineers and to render assistance in time of trouble. the voluntary relief association, formed in , has paid to needy families of engineers over $ , . it has no home for dependents, but helps widows to keep a home and care for their own children. it secures homes for orphans and assists in their education out of a special standing fund. there are $ , in the general fund. the order is exclusively composed of women, who manufacture all supplies and from this source realize a considerable revenue. study clubs for intellectual culture are maintained in the various branches. there are subdivisions and about , members. it was founded by mrs. w. a. murdock, who has served continuously as president. the ladies' auxiliary to the order of railroad conductors of america was organized in . the idea originally was merely social, but so many objects claimed assistance that, in , the fraternal beneficiary association was added to help the widows and children of railway conductors. assessments were levied and in five years $ , had been thus applied. good speakers, parliamentarians and business women have been developed and its members have become broader and more enlightened in every direction. there are local divisions, with a membership of about , . miscellaneous: various organizations are in existence which are national in their aims and interests but scarcely have reached national proportions in the number of auxiliaries and membership. among these may be mentioned the sociological society of america, organized in new york in , to disseminate the principles of social and industrial co-operation; the national women's republican association, founded in ; the pro re nata, started in washington in , to perfect its members in the art of extemporaneous speaking; wimodaughsis, organized in washington in for the improvement of women along all educational lines; the association opposed to the further extension of suffrage to women; the national floral emblem society, formed at the columbian exposition in chicago, , to gain an expression from the people which shall lead to the adoption of a national flower and also the selection of state flowers, which have been chosen in nineteen states and the choice ratified by the legislature; the national society of new england women, founded in new york in , to promote acquaintance among new england women in various localities throughout the country for purposes of mutual helpfulness; the national league of american pen women, started in washington city in , to band together women journalists, authors and illustrators; the women's press association, organized earlier and with branches in various states; the george washington memorial association, incorporated in , to raise $ , toward an administration building to be a part of the university as set forth in the will of george washington--$ , of this amount being now on hand and as much more guaranteed; the woman's league of the george junior republic, formed in to promote interest in the national republic and establish branches; the national legislative league, founded in to obtain for women equality of legal, municipal and industrial rights through action by the national congress and the state legislatures; woman's educational and industrial union; various associations for improving cities and villages by means of parks, shade trees, good streets, sanitary appliances, etc.; and countless others of a social, educational or philanthropic nature. there are also a number of large national organizations composed of both men and women, with the latter very greatly predominating. of these the most prominent are the universal peace union, founded in and chartered in , with forty branches in the united states and sixty in europe; the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals; the national consumers' league; the christian endeavor society; the epworth league; the young people's union; the king's daughters and sons; the anti-vivisection society. the above list shows that women are organized for carrying forward practically every department of the world's work, and that their associations have been steadily increasing in number, size and scope during the past half century. in the early years the woman suffrage association not only stood alone in its advocacy of enfranchisement but was regarded with the most strenuous disapproval by all other organizations of women. in , the woman's christian temperance union, principally through the influence of its president, miss frances e. willard, established a department of franchise, but it was many years afterwards before the idea of the ballot was received with favor by any large number of its members. the sentiment is not now unanimous, but considered as a body there are no more active workers for woman suffrage. the national council of women has no platform, but its leaders and also those of the international council are prominent advocates of the franchise. these are now found in greater or less numbers in all the organizations but not one of them includes the suffrage among the specific objects for which it works. as these broaden the associations frequently find it necessary to appeal to legislative bodies, and the result is usually a significant lesson in the disadvantage of being without political influence. the federation of clubs, organized in , in its endeavor to secure the passage of bills for various purposes, has applied to more legislatures, during the past few years, than has the suffrage association. it is indeed a most interesting study to watch the evolution of the so-called women's clubs. formed at first merely for a superficial literary culture, they widened by degrees into a study of practical matters related to law and economics. from these it was but a step into civics, where they are to-day, struggling to improve municipal, and indirectly national conditions and gradually having revealed to them the narrow limitations of woman's power in public affairs. with the exception possibly of the church missionary societies and the various lodges, there is not one of these associations of women which does not depend in a greater or less measure on city councils, state legislatures or the national congress for assistance in securing its objects. no other means could be so effective in convincing women that politics, which they have heretofore believed did not directly concern them, in reality touches them at every point. they are learning that the mere personal influence which usually was sufficient to gain their ends in the household, society and the church--the three spheres of action to which they were confined in the past--must be supplemented by political influence now that they have entered the field of public work. women have been so long flattered by the power which they have possessed over men in social life that they are surprised and bewildered to discover that this is wholly ineffectual when brought to bear upon men in legislative assemblies. they find that it is not sufficient to have personal attractions or family position--not even to be a good wife, mother and worker in church and charities--they must be also constituents. this is a new word which was not in the lexicon of woman in past generations. they investigate and they see that whatever may be the private opinion of these legislators, their public acts are governed by their constituents, and women alone of all classes in the community are not constituents. this knowledge could come to the average woman only through experience, and that which as an individual she might not get in ages she is gaining rapidly through organization. a summary of the preceding list shows about , , women enrolled in the various associations. the number which may be duplicated by a membership in several, is probably balanced by the number in those which do not state the membership. this list includes only national associations and it is reasonable to assume that not more than one-half of the local societies are auxiliary to national bodies. this is known positively to be the case in the general federation of clubs, which includes less than half of those in the different states. it would be a decided underestimate to say that , , women in the united states are members of one or more organizations, and it is clearly evident that this number is increasing. the scope of these associations is constantly broadening as women themselves are emerging from their narrow environment and seeing the needs of the world in wider perspective. they are slowly but certainly learning to devote their time and energy to larger objects, and they are awakening to a perception, above all else, of the strength that lies in combination, a knowledge which was a sealed book to the isolated and undeveloped women of past generations. no other influence has been so powerful in enabling woman to discover herself and her possibilities. there will be no more important element to be reckoned with during the coming years of the new century than these great associations of women, constantly gaining strength and momentum, not alone by the increase of membership but also by its personnel, for now they are beginning to be composed of college graduates, of property owners, of women with business experience. more and more they are directing their attention to public questions, and when brains, wealth, executive ability, enthusiasm and a strong desire for an honest and moral government are thoroughly organized in the effort to obtain it, they must necessarily become a powerful factor in state and national affairs, and one which inevitably will refuse to be held in a disfranchised condition after it shall realize the supreme power which inheres in the suffrage. there is still another and a more important point of view from which this subject should be studied. here are more than , , women, about one-third of all in the country, banded into active, working organizations. the figures given above show that they are raising and expending millions of dollars and every dollar for some worthy object. the list demonstrates beyond question that every one of these great associations exists for the purpose of improving the conditions of society and helping and bettering humanity. they represent the highest form of effort for education, morality, temperance, religion, justice, patriotism and co-operation. are not these the very qualities most needed in our electorate? is not the nation suffering because of the lack of them since it has placed the ballot in the hands of ignorance, immorality, intemperance and lawlessness? does not an emergency exist for a political influence which shall counterbalance these and tip the scale the other way? can the government afford much longer to delay the summons for this great, well-organized, finely-equipped force--if it is to perfect and make permanent the institutions of the republic? footnotes: [ ] the national suffrage association is not included in the list, as twenty-one chapters of this volume are devoted to its work. it was the intention to give the name of the president of each organization, but as this officer is so frequently changed it seemed best to abandon this plan save in special instances. the figures given are for with but few exceptions. the church missionary societies not mentioned here, and some other national bodies, were appealed to several times for statistics without response. the list, however, includes all of any considerable size and importance. it did not seem that it would represent the true proportions of these associations if arranged alphabetically or according to date of organization, therefore the editors have used their individual judgment in placing them. appendix eminent advocates of woman suffrage. the following list is so incomplete as to make the advisability of using it a matter of grave doubt. no name is given except upon what is believed to be unimpeachable authority, but it is unavoidable that scores should be omitted which are entitled to a place. the list will indicate, however, the character of those who have espoused the cause of woman suffrage, and it is published with the request that readers will forward to the editors additional names which can be used, and mention any which should be omitted, in the second edition of this volume. there has been no attempt to give all in any profession, but only a few of those who may fairly be considered representative. the names, for instance, of clergymen alone who are in favor of the enfranchisement of women would fill many pages, while those of prominent lawyers in every community would require almost unlimited space, as it is a question which appeals especially to the sense of equity. the following list will indicate sufficiently that this is not a movement of ultra-radical and irresponsible extremists. the only president of the united states who declared himself publicly and unequivocally for woman suffrage was abraham lincoln, who said as early as , "i go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens--by no means excluding women," and later utterances indicated that he did not change his position. rutherford b. hayes never hesitated to express his approval in private conversation, and in he assisted materially in placing in the republican national platform the nearest approach to an indorsement which the movement ever has received from that party. james a. garfield said: "laugh as we may, put it aside as a jest if we will, keep it out of congress and political campaigns, still the woman question is rising on our horizon larger than a man's hand; and some solution ere long that question must find." theodore roosevelt, when a member of the new york legislature, voted for a woman suffrage bill, saying he had been converted by seeing how much the women accomplished with their school ballot at oyster bay, his home. when governor he said in his message to the legislature of : "i call your attention to the desirability of gradually enlarging the sphere in which the suffrage can be extended to women." there is reason to believe other presidents would have expressed themselves favorably had political exigencies permitted. the only vice-presidents on record as advocating and voting for woman suffrage are hannibal hamlin, schuyler colfax, henry wilson and william a. wheeler. such action is likely to mean the personal loss of votes and injury to one's party, with no compensation other than the consciousness of having done right, as women can give no reward. under these conditions it is surprising that so large a number in the congress and state legislatures have sustained the measures for the enfranchisement of women.[ ] chief justices of the u. s. supreme court. chase, salmon p. wake, morrison r. practically all of the state supreme court justices of colorado, idaho, utah and wyoming, where women have exercised the suffrage for a number of years, and of kansas where they have had a municipal vote for fifteen years, are strong advocates of woman suffrage. united states senators. allen, john b. wash. allison, william b. iowa. anthony, henry b. r. i. baker, edward d. ore. baker, lucien kas. banks, nathaniel p. mass. beveridge, albert j. ind. blair, henry w. n. h. bowen, thomas b. col. brice, calvin s. ohio. brown, b. gratz mo. bruce, blanche k. miss. burnside, ambrose r. i. burrows, julius c. mich. cameron, angus wis. cannon, frank j. utah. carey, joseph m. wy. carpenter, matthew h. mich. chace, jonathan r. i. chandler, zach. mich. cheney, p. c. n. h. clark, clarence d. wy. clark, william a. mont. conger, omar d. mich. conover, simon b. ( ) fla. cullom, shelby m. ills. davis, cushman k. minn. dawes, henry l. mass. depew, chauncey m. n. y. dillingham, william p. vt. dolliver, j. p. iowa. dolph, joseph n. ore. dubois, fred t. ida. farwell, charles b. ills. ferry, thomas w. mich. flanagan, j. w. ( ) texas. gallinger, jacob h. n. h. gamble, robert j. s. d. gilbert, abijah ( ) fla. hamlin, hannibal me. hansbrough, henry c. n. d. harvey, james m. kan. heitfield, henry ida. henderson, john b. mo. hoar, george f. mass. jones, john p. nev. kyle, james h. s. d. lapham, elbridge g. n. y. logan, john a. ills. manderson, charles f. neb. mason, william e. ills. matthews, stanley ohio mcdonald, joseph e. ind. mitchell, john h. ore. mitchell, john i. penn. morton, oliver p. ind. nye, james w. neb. paddock, algernon s. neb. palmer, john m. ills. palmer, thomas w. mich. patterson, john j. ( ) s. c. patterson, thomas m. col. peffer, william a. kas. perkins, george c. cal. pettigrew, richard f. s. d. platt, thomas c. n. y. plumb, p. b. kas. pomeroy, s. c. kas. pratt, daniel d. ind. quay, matthew s. penn. revels, hiram p. miss. roach, w. n. n. d. ross, jonathan vt. sanders, wilbur f. mont. sargent, aaron a. cal. minister to germany. sawyer, philetus s. wis. sherman, john ohio. shoup, george l. ida. sprague, william r. i. stanford, leland cal. stevens, thaddeus penn. stewart, william m. nev. summer, charles mass. teller, henry m. col. tipton, thomas w. neb. wade, benjamin f. ohio. warner, willard ( ) ala. warren, francis e. wy. west, j. rodman ( ) la. white, stephen m. cal. wilson, henry mass. wilson, james f. iowa. windom, william minn. sec'y of the treasury. yates, richard, sr. ills. speakers of the house of representatives. banks, nathaniel p. mass. henderson, david b. iowa. keifer, j. warren ohio. reed, thomas b. me. representatives in congress.[ ] allen, c. e. utah. baker, charles s. n. y. baker, william kas. barrows, samuel j. mass. belford, james b. col. bell, john c. col. blue, richard w. kas. broderick, case kas. broomall, john m. penn. browne, thomas m. ind. butler, benjamin f. mass. caine, john t. utah. cannon, george q. utah. caswell, lucien b. iowa. clapp, moses e. minn. coffeen, henry wy. crump, rousseau o. mich. cumback, william ind. curtis, charles kas. cutcheon, byron m. mich. davis, john kas. davis, thomas r. i. dingley, nelson me. douglas, william h. n. y. featherstone, l. p. ark. fergusson, h. b. n. m. fisher, spencer o. mich. fletcher, lorin minn. giddings, joshua r. ohio. glenn, thomas l. ida. greenleaf, halbert s. n. y. gunn, james ida. handy, l. g. del. haskins, kittridge vt. hepburn, w. p. iowa. hitt, robert r. ills. julian, george w. ind. kahn, julius cal. kasson, john a. iowa. minister to germany kelley, harrison b. kan. kelley, william d. penn. kerr, daniel iowa. king, william h. utah. loring, george b. mass. loughridge, william iowa. lucas, w. b. s. d. maguire, james g. cal. martin, e. w. s. d. mccall, samuel walker mass. mccoid, moses a. iowa. miers, robert w. ind. milnes, alfred mich. mondell, frank w. wy. morey, henry l. ohio. morse, elijah mass. mott, richard ohio. neville, william neb. northway, s. a. ohio. o'donnell, james mich. orth, godlove s. ind. payne, sereno e. n. y. peelle, stanton j. ind. judge of the u.s. court of claims. peirce, r. b. f. ind. pence, lafayette col. pickler, j. a. s. d. powers, henry h. vt. ranney, a. a. mass. ray, george w. n. y. riddle, albert g. ohio. shafroth, john f. col. simpson, jerry kas. smith, henry c. mich. smith, william alden mich. steele, george w. ind. struble, i. s. iowa. sulzer, william n. y. sutherland, george utah. taylor, ezra b. ohio. taylor, robert w. ohio. tongue, thomas h. ore. topp, robertson tenn. van voorhis, john n. y. walker, james a. va. walker, joseph h. mass. weadock, thomas a. e. mich. white, john d. ky. wilson, edgar ida. woods, s. d. cal. governors of states. (incomplete list.) governor adams, col. " altgeld, ills. " ames, mass. " andrews, conn. " barber, wy. " bates, mass. " begole, mich. " bliss, mich. " brackett, mass. " budd, cal. " burke, n. d. " butler, mass. " butler, neb. " campbell, wy. " carpenter, iowa. " chamberlain, ore. " claflin, mass. " clough, minn. " colcord, nev. " davis, r. i. " fifer, ills. " folger, n. y. sec'y of the treasury. " fuller, vt. " greenhalge, mass. " hale, wy. " hoyt, wy. " hughes, ariz. " humphrey, kas. governor hunt, col. " hunt, ida. " jewell, conn. u.s. postmaster general. " jones, nev. " knapp, alaska. " la follette, wis. " long, mass. sec'y of the navy. " lord, ore. " luce, mich. " mcdonald, ind. " mcintire, col. " mellette, s. d. " morrill, kas. " morton, ind. " murphy, ariz. " newell, wash. " odell, n. y. " osborn, wy. " pattison, penn. " pingree, mich. " porter, ind. " rich, mich. " richards, wy. " rickards, mont. " rogers, wash. " roosevelt, n. y. " routt, col. governor sadler, nev. " saunders, nev. " savage, nev. " semple, wash. " sprague, r. i. " squire, wash. " steunenberg, ida. " st. john, kas. " talbot, mass. " thayer, wy. " thomas, col. governor thomas, utah. " van sant, minn. " voorhees, n. j. " waite, col. " warren, wy. " washburn, mass. " wells, utah. " west, utah. " winans, mich. " yates, sr., ills. " young, utah. presidents of universities. (incomplete list.) andrews, e. benjamin brown and neb. aylesworth, barton o. pres. col. agr. coll. baker, james h. colorado. bascom, john wisconsin. bashford, j. w. ohio wesleyan. beardshear, wm. iowa agr. college. capen, elmer f. tuft's college. dickinson, frances e. harvey medical (chicago). evans, j. g. hedding (ills.). hale, horace m. colorado. hawley, j. h. willamette (ore.). gates, george a. iowa college. gunnison, almon st. lawrence. gunsaulus, frank w. armour institute. henderson, l. f. idaho. herrick, c. l. new mexico. hill, walter b. georgia. hurst, john f. american university, d. c. irvine, julia j. wellesley college. jordan, david starr leland stanford. kellogg, martin v. california. kingsbury, j. t. utah. knox, martin van buren red river valley, n. d. latimore, s. a. acting president rochester. lyons, s. r. monmouth (ills.). maclean, james idaho. marvin, james kansas. northrop, cyrus w. minnesota. palmer, alice freeman wellesley college. park, john r. utah. purnell, w. h. delaware college. rogers, henry wade northwestern. shafer, helen a. wellesley college. sharpless, isaac haverford college. slocum, w. f. colorado college. smiley, elmer e. wyoming. snow, f. h. kansas. stephens, d. s. kansas city. sutliff, phoebe i. rockford (ills.). swain, joseph indiana and swarthmore. thomas, martha carey bryn mawr college. thwing, charles f. western reserve. warren, william f. boston. washington, booker t. tuskeegee institute. wells, daniel h. utah. white, andrew d. cornell. whitney, orson f. utah. clergymen. archbishop ireland catholic. bishop bowman, thomas meth. epis. " brooks, phillips prot. epis. " hamilton, john wm. meth. epis. " haven, gilbert " " hurst, john f. " " huntington, fred'k d. prot. epis. " joyce, isaac w. meth. epis. " mcquaid of rochester catholic " moore, david h. meth. epis. " newman, john p. " bishop potter, henry c. prot. epis. " sessums, davis " " simpson, matthew meth. epis. " spalding of peoria catholic. " turner, henry mcn. meth. epis. " walters, a. " " warren, henry w. " ames, charles g. unit. beecher, henry ward cong'l. boardman, george w. bapt. bristol, frank m. meth. epis. chadwick, john w. unit. channing, william henry " cheever, george b. cong'l. clarke, james freeman unit. collyer, robert unit. conway, moncure d. " cook, joseph presb. dalton, w. j. catholic duryea, joseph t. cong'l. eaton, charles h. univ. eggleston, edward (author) meth. epis. foss, herbert " gannett, william c. unit. gladden, washington cong'l. gottheil, rabbi gustave. gregg, david presb. hall, frank o. univ. hillis, newell dwight cong'l. hinckley, frederick a. unit. jones, jenkyn lloyd " kent, alexander liberal. king, thomas starr unit. longfellow, samuel " lorimer, george c. bapt. may, samuel j. unit. mcglynn, edward cath. mills, b. fay evang. moody, dwight l. " newton, heber epis. parker, theodore unit. perin, george h. univ. pierpont, john unit. pullman, james m. univ. rainsford, m. s. epis. reed, myron w. liberal. savage, minot j. unit. scully, thomas cath. shippen, rush unit. swing, david liberal. thomas, hiram w. " tyng, stephen h. epis. women ministers. blackwell, antoinette brown unit. booth, maud ballington vols. of am. brown, olympia univ. buck, florence unit. chapin, augusta, d. d. univ. crane, caroline bartlett unit. crooker, florence kollock univ. deyo, amanda " eastman, annis f. cong'l. hanaford, phebe a. univ. hultin, ida c. unit. moore, henrietta g. univ. murdock, marian unit. safford, mary j. " shaw, anna howard prot. meth. spencer, anna garlin liberal. tucker, emma booth salv. army. whitney, mary traffern unit. wilkes, eliza tupper " woolley, celia p. " english clergymen. archbishop of canterbury . " " york " archdeacon of manchester. bishop of edinburgh . " " exeter " " " hereford " " " london " " " southwell " canon charles kingsley of westmin'r. " wilberforce " " archbishop cardinal vaughn cath. archbishop moran of australia archbishop nozaleda of the philippines cath. hugh price hughes. james martineau, d. d. most rev. gordon cowie, bishop of auckland and primate of new zealand. newman hall, ll. b., d. d. american men. alcott, a. bronson. atkinson, edward. bidwell, gen. john. bigelow, john, minister to france. birney, james g. blackwell, henry b. booth, judge henry, dean union col. of law, chicago. bowles, samuel. bradwell, judge james b. brooks, john graham, pres. national consumers' league. bryant, william cullen. burdette, robert j. cable, george w. childs, george w. clark, francis e., pres. national christian endeavor. clemens, samuel r. (mark twain). curtis, george william. debs, eugene v. dole, sanford b., governor of hawaii. donnelly, ignatius. douglass, frederick. dow, neal. emerson, ralph waldo field, eugene. fields, james t. fisk, clinton b. ford, paul leicester. forney, john w. foss, sam walter. foulke, william dudley. garrison, william lloyd, sr. and jr. gompers, samuel. griggs, edward howard. hale, gen. irving. harris, william t., u. s. commissioner of education. hattan, frank, u. s. postmaster-general. higginson, thomas wentworth. hooker, john. howe, dr. samuel g. howells, william dean. hurd, judge harvey b., dean northwestern univ. law col. husted, james w., speaker of new york legislature. hutchinson, john. ingersoll, robert g. jackson, francis. jackson, james c., dansville sanitorium. johnson, thomas l. jones, samuel m., mayor of toledo, o. longfellow, henry wadsworth. mcculloch, hugh, secretary of the treasury. miles, nelson a., lieutenant-general u. s. a. morton, j. sterling, secretary of agriculture. nye, edgar wilson (bill). owen, robert dale. phillips, wendell. pillsbury, parker. powderly, terence v. purvis, robert. quincy, josiah. ridpath, john clark. rogers, nathaniel p. sage, russell. sargent, frank p., com'r of immigration. saxton, gen. rufus. smith, gerrit. tilton, theodore. tourgeé, albion w. tyler, moses coit. ward, lester f., smithsonian institute. washington, booker t. whittier, john g. woolley, john g. wright, carroll d., pres. u. s. labor commission. american women. addams, jane, hull house, chicago. alcott, louisa m. alden, cynthia westover, pres. int'l sunshine society. anthony, susan b. avery, rachel foster, sec'y nat'l suff. ass'n, years. barrows, isabel c. barry (lake), leonora m., grand organizer knights of labor. barton, clara, pres. american red cross ass'n. blackwell, alice stone, editor of _the woman's journal_. blackwell, dr. elizabeth, blackwell, dr. emily, founders of woman's medical college of new york infirmary. blake, lillie devereux, pres. nat'l legislative league. booth, mary l., editor of _harper's bazar_. bradwell, myra, founder and editor of _legal news_. byrd, mary e., director smith coll. observatory. campbell, helen. carr, mary l., ex-president w. r. c. cary, alice. cary, phoebe. catt, carrie chapman, pres. nat'l wom. suff. ass'n. child, lydia maria. clay, laura, aud. nat'l wom. suff. ass'n. clemmer, mary. colby, clara b., editor of _the woman's tribune_. cooper, sarah b., pres. golden gate kinder. ass'n. crowe, martha foote, dean northwestern university. decker, sarah platt. demorest, mme. louise, editor _demorest's magazine_. diaz, abby morton. dickinson, anna e. dickinson, mary lowe, hon. pres. nat. council of women. diggs, annie l., state librarian, kansas. edson, susan a., physician to garfield. fairbanks, cornelia c., pres. gen. daughters am. rev. field, kate. field, martha r. (catherine cole), ex-pres. wom. int'l press ass'n. fletcher, alice, special indian agent (harv. univ.) foster, j. ellen, pres. nat'l wom. rep. ass'n. gage, matilda joslyn. gardiner, helen h. garrett, mary e. gibbons, abby hopper, pres. woman's prison ass'n. gougar, helen m. grannis, elizabeth b., pres. nat'l social purity league. guiney, louise imogen. hall, florence howe. harbert, elizabeth boynton. haskell, ella knowles, ass't att'y-gen. of montana. helmuth, mrs. william tod, pres. nat'l council of women. henrotin, ellen m., ex-pres. gen. fed. of clubs. holley, marietta, (josiah allen's wife). hollister, lillian m., sup. com. ladies of maccabees. hooker, isabella beecher. hosmer, harriet. howe, julia ward. jacobi, dr. mary putnam. kelley, florence, ex-chief state factory insp., ills. krout, mary h. leslie, mrs. frank. lippincott, sarah j., (grace greenwood). livermore, mary a. lockwood, mary s., editor _am. mag._ (d. a. r.). logan, olive. lowell, josephine shaw, pres. wom. munic. l., new york. lozier, dr. clemence, founder woman's homeopathic college, new york. marshall, dr. clara, dean wom. med. coll., phila. mcculloch, catharine waugh. mcgee, dr. anita newcomb, ass't surgeon u. s. a. in spanish-american war. miller, flo jamison, ex-pres. woman's relief corps. mitchell, maria. mussey, ellen spencer, dean woman's law college, washington, d. c. nathan, mrs. frederick, pres. n. y. consumers' league. palmer, bertha honoré, pres. board lady managers, world's fair. parton, mrs. james (fanny fern). patton, abby hutchinson. paul, a. emmagene, sup't of street cleaning dep't, st ward, chicago. peabody, elizabeth, educator and philanthropist. preston, dr. ann, dean of med. coll. and founder of wom. hosp., philadelphia. sewall, may wright, pres. int'l council of women. seymour, mary f., ed. of _business woman's journal_. smith, dr. julia holmes, dean nat'l med. coll., chicago. solomon, hannah g., pres. nat'l council of jewish wom. southworth, mrs. e. d. e. n. spofford, harriet prescott. stanford, jane lathrop (leland). stanton, elizabeth cady. stetson, charlotte perkins. stevens, lillian m. n., pres. national w. c. t. u. stevenson, dr. sarah hackett. stockham, dr. alice b. stone, lucinda hinsdale. stone, lucy. stowe, harriet beecher. taylor, elmina shepard, pres. young woman's nat'l improvement ass'n. terrill, mary church, pres. nat'l ass'n of col. wom. upton, harriet taylor, treas. nat'l wom. suff. ass'n. wallace, mrs. lew. wallace, zerelda g. ward, elizabeth stuart phelps. wells, emmeline b. wells, ida b. white, sallie joy, ex.-pres. n. e. wom. press ass'n. whiting, lilian. whitney, anne, sculptor. willard, frances e. willing, jennie fowler. winslow, dr. caroline b. winslow, helen m., editor of _club woman_. young, zina d. h., pres. nat'l woman's relief ass'n. zakrzewska, dr. marie e., founder new eng. hospital for women and children. great britain. aberdeen, countess of, vice-president-at-large international council of women. aberdeen, earl of, gov.-gen. of canada. anderson, mrs. garrett, m. d. balfour, a. j., prime minister. balfour, lady frances. battersea, lady. becker, lydia, editor _women's suffrage journal_. begg, faithfull, m. p. benson (archbishop of canterbury), mrs. besant, annie. besant, walter. biggs, caroline ashurst, blackburn, helen, editors _englishwoman's review_. blake, dr. sophia jex. blatch, harriet stanton. bright, mr. and mrs. jacob. browning, elizabeth barrett. butler, josephine e., pres. social purity league. carlisle, lady, pres. woman's liberal federation. chant, laura ormiston. cobbe, frances power. cobden, richard. coleridge, lord chief justice. courtney, leonard h., m. p. crawford, emily. davies, emily, mistress of girton. d'israeli, benjamin, prime minister. edwards, amelia b. fawcett, henry, m. p. and postmaster-general. fawcett, mrs. millicent garrett, pres. wom. suff. ass'n great brit. fry, elizabeth. glenesk, lord. grey, sir george, k. c. b. harberton, lady. haslem, anna maria. (ireland.) huxley, thomas h. lucas, margaret bright. martineau, harriet. mclaren, duncan, m. p. mclaren, mrs. priscilla bright. mill, john stuart, mr. and mrs. nightingale, florence. proctor, adelaide a. ritchie, anne thackeray. rollitt, sir albert, earl of selborne. salisbury, marquis of. prime minister. selborne, earl of. sidgwick, mrs. henry, princ. of newnham. somerset, lady henry, pres. world's w. c. t. u. somerville, mary, astronomer. stead, wm. t. tallon, daniel. lord mayor of dublin. taylor, peter a., m. p., and mrs. thomson (archbish. of york), mrs. todd, isabella m. s. (ireland). unwin, jane cobden. wigham, eliza. wollstonecraft, mary, author of rights of woman ( ). woodall, william, m. p. wyndham, hon. george. france. dumas, alexandre (fils). hugo, victor. australia. barton, edmund, premier. cockburn, sir john, k. c. w. g., kingston, hon. c. c., premier s. aus. lyne, sir william, premier n. s. w. onslow, lady. parkes, sir henry, premier n. s. w. reid, sir g. h., premier n. s. w. turner, sir george, premier victoria. windeyer, lady. new zealand. hall, sir john. seddon, h. j., premier. stout, sir robert, premier. vogel, sir julius, colonial treas. canada. hall, sir john, m. p. macdonald, sir john, premier. south africa. schreiner, olive. testimony from woman suffrage states.[ ] no attempt is made to give here the mass of testimony which is easily available from the states where women vote, but only enough is presented to show its nature and the character of those who offer it. in the four states where women have exercised the full franchise for from six to thirty-three years, not half a dozen reputable persons have said over their own names that any of the evils which were so freely predicted have come to pass or that its effect upon men, women or the community has been other than good. the small amount of criticism which has been openly made has been anonymous or from those whose word was entitled to no weight. there is not another public question on which the testimony is so uniformly one-sided, and similar evidence on any other would be accepted as sufficiently conclusive to demand a unanimous verdict in its favor. in amos r. wells, editor of the _christian endeavor world_, wrote to twenty-five ministers of several different denominations, choosing their names at random among his subscribers in the equal suffrage states, and asking them whether equal suffrage was working well, fairly well or badly. one answered that it worked badly, three that it worked fairly well, and the twenty-one others were all positive and explicit in saying that it worked well. one point upon which they laid stress was the increased intelligence and breadth of mind of the women, and the good influence of this upon their children. mr. wells said in summing up: "woman suffrage makes elections more expensive, but it is a grand school for the mothers of the republic." colorado. in , in answer to the continued misrepresentations of the eastern press, the friends of woman suffrage issued the following: we, citizens of the state of colorado, desire, as lovers of truth and justice, to give our testimony to the value of equal suffrage. we believe that the greatest good of the home, the state and the nation is advanced through the operation of equal suffrage. the evils predicted have not come to pass. the benefits claimed for it have been secured, or are in progress of development. a very large proportion of colorado women have conscientiously accepted their responsibility as citizens. in more than half the total vote for governor was cast by women. between and per cent. of the women of the state voted at that time. the exact vote of the last election has not yet been estimated, but there is reason to believe that the proportional vote of women was as large as in previous years. the vote of good women, like that of good men, is involved in the evils resulting from the abuse of our present political system; but the vote of women is noticeably more conscientious than that of men, and will be an important factor in bringing about a better order. this was signed by the governor, three ex-governors, both senators, both members of congress and ex-senators, the chief justice and two associate justices of the supreme court, three judges of the court of appeals, four judges of the district court, the secretary of state, the state treasurer, state auditor, attorney-general, the mayor of denver, the president of the state university, the president of colorado college, the representative of the general federation of women's clubs, the vice-regent of the mount vernon association, and the presidents of thirteen women's clubs. * * * * * i am confident that recognition of woman suffrage in the constitution of proposed states will not in any way hinder, delay or endanger their admission. that question is one belonging to the state and not to the general government, and the opponents of woman suffrage will not, i am sure, deny to the new states the right to settle that question for themselves. henry m. teller (rep.), _u. s. senator_. ( .) * * * * * instead of rough or vicious men, or even drunken men, treating women with disrespect, the presence of a single good woman at the polls seems to make the whole crowd of men as respectful and quiet as at the theater or church. for the credit of american men be it said that the presence of one woman or girl at the polls, the wife or daughter of the humblest mechanic, has as good an effect on the crowd as the presence of the grandest dame or the most fashionable belle. the american woman is clearly as much of a queen at the polls, in her own bearing and the deference paid her, as in the drawing-room or at the opera. i feel more pride than ever in american manhood and american womanhood since seeing these gatherings on tuesday, where men and women of all classes and conditions met in their own neighborhood to perform with duty and dignity the selection of their own rulers, and to give their approval to the principles to guide such officials when chosen. no woman was less in dignity and sweetness of womanhood after such participation in public duties, and i do not believe there is a man of sensibility in colorado to-day who does not love his wife, daughter, sister or mother the more for the womanly and gracious manner in which she helped so loyally and intelligently in this election. indeed, colorado in this election has left very little of good argument for its sincere opponents to urge against suffrage. so nearly all of everything having any good sense in it has been disproved here, that the opposition is left with very few weapons in its armory, and all of them weak. james s. clarkson (rep.), _u. s. ass't p. m. general_. ( .) * * * * * when the question was submitted in colorado, i supported and voted for the proposition as a matter of abstract right; as every fair man must admit, when the question comes to him, that a woman has the same right of suffrage as a man. in advocating suffrage you need no platform but right and justice; those who will not accept it upon that ground would not be persuaded though one rose from the dead. i will add, however, that even the most virulent enemy of woman suffrage can not prove that any harm has come from the experiment. the test in colorado is still too new to expect a unanimous verdict, yet all fair-minded observers are justified in predicting a higher standard of morals and of political life as a result of woman suffrage. alva adams (dem.), _governor_. ( .) * * * * * i supported the cause of woman suffrage, not because i thought it would work the political regeneration of the country, but because i believed it was a woman's due to vote, if she desired to do so. i have also said, and i reiterate, that the enfranchisement of colorado women has in many ways benefited the state, that it was a decided advance, and that i trusted that other states, in emulation of our example, would soon give the right to women throughout the land. charles s. thomas (dem.), _governor_. ( .) * * * * * there is not a political party in the state that will ever dare to insert in its platform an anti-suffrage plank; for it must not be forgotten that upon this question the voting power of the women would equal that of the men. it is no more likely that the women of colorado will ever be disfranchised than that the men will be. horace m. hale, _former president state university_. ( .) * * * * * few are so unjust or bold as to argue seriously against the abstract right of women to vote; and experience in colorado and other western states has done much to dispel the various theoretical and sentimental objections that have been raised against the extension of this manifest right. the largest majorities for woman suffrage were given in the most intelligent cities, and in the best precincts of each city, while the heavy majorities against it were in the precincts controlled by the debased and lawless classes, and the lowest grade of machine politicians, who rely on herding the depraved vote--showing that these elements dreaded the effect of woman suffrage, and realized the falsity of the argument that it would increase the immoral and controllable vote. so far as i have been able to judge by observation of elections and analysis of returns, more women vote in the better districts than in the slums, and the proportion of intelligent and refined voters to the ignorant and depraved is larger among women than among men. the average result, therefore, has been beneficial. no true, refined woman is any less womanly for studying questions of public interest and expressing her opinions thereon by means of the ballot.... the general effect has been decidedly beneficial. especially does it act as a governor on the political machines of all parties to regulate the character of nominees and platforms. woman suffrage is accepted as an established fact, and is very little discussed. i certainly have no reason to think that the general sentiment in its favor has decreased, or that the measure would fail to pass with as large or a larger majority than before, if again submitted to the vote of either the men or women of the state. i have no hesitation whatever in stating as my own positive conviction that woman suffrage is both right and beneficial, and that it should not and never will be repealed in colorado. irving hale (of col.), _general in the army of the philippines_. ( .) it is said that equal suffrage would make family discord. in colorado our divorce laws are rather easy, though stricter than in the neighboring states, but since , when suffrage was granted, i have never heard of a case where political differences were alleged as a cause for divorce or as the provoking cause of family discord. equal suffrage, in my judgment, broadens the minds of both men and women. it has certainly given us in colorado candidates of better character and a higher class of officials. it is very true that husband and wife frequently vote alike--as the magnet draws the needle they go to the polls together. but women are not coerced. if a man were known to coerce his wife's vote i believe he would be ridden out of town on a rail with a coat of tar and feathers. women's legal rights have been improved in colorado since they obtained the ballot, and there are now no civil distinctions. equal suffrage tends to make political affairs better, purer and more desirable for all who take part in them. thomas m. patterson (dem.), _u. s. senator_. ( .) * * * * * idaho. it gives me pleasure to say briefly that the extension of the franchise to the women of idaho has positively purified its politics. it has compelled not only state conventions, but, more particularly, county conventions, of both parties, to select the cleanest and best material for public office. many conventions have turned down their strongest local politicians for the simple reason that their moral habits were such that the women would unite against them, regardless of politics. it has also taken politics out of the saloon to a great extent, and has elevated local politics especially to a higher plane. every woman is interested in good government, in good officers, in the utmost economy of administration, and a low rate of taxation. frank w. hunt (dem.), _governor_. ( .) * * * * * woman suffrage has been in operation in idaho for over four years and there have been no alarming or disastrous results. i think most people in the state, looking over the past objections to the extension of the right of suffrage, are now somewhat surprised that any were ever made. as to advantages--it is, as in all matters of this kind, difficult to measure them exactly, because the benefit is largely indirect. i think, however, that it has exercised a good and considerable influence over conventions, resulting in the nomination of better men for office, and that it has been of considerable weight in securing the enactment of good laws. s. h. hays (fus.), _ex-attorney-general_. ( .) * * * * * the adoption of equal suffrage has resulted in much good in idaho. the system is working well, and the best result therefrom is the selection for public positions, state, county and municipal. our politics in the past has been manipulated by political adventurers, more or less, without regard to the best interests of the people, but principally in the interests of a small coterie of politicians of the different parties, who have depended upon the public treasury for subsistence. the participation of our women in the conventions of our various political parties and in elections has a tendency to relegate the professional politicians, at least the worst element, and bring forth in their stead a better class of people. this tendency is of vast importance to the state. it compels leaders of political parties to be more careful in the selection of candidates for different offices of trust and profit. ralph p. quarles, _justice of the supreme court_. ( .) * * * * * the chief justice and all the judges of the supreme court have published a statement saying in part: "woman suffrage in this state is a success; none of the evils predicted have come to pass, and it has gained much in popularity since its adoption by our people." * * * * * utah. the lawmakers seem to be afraid of enfranchising women because of the deteriorating effect which politics might have on womankind. if this be true let the experience of utah speak. for six years women in this state have had the right to vote and hold office. have the wheels of progress stopped? instead we have bounded forward with seven-league boots. have the fears and predictions of the local opponents of woman suffrage been verified? have women degenerated into low politicians, neglecting their homes and stifling the noblest emotions of womanhood? on the contrary women are respected quite as much as they were before statehood; loved as rapturously as ever, and are led to the altar with the same beatific strains of music and the same unspeakable joy that invested ceremonials before their enfranchisement. the plain facts are that in this state the influence of woman in politics has been distinctly elevating. in the primary, in the convention and at the polls her very presence inspires respect for law and order. few men are so base that they will not be gentlemen in the presence of ladies. experience has shown that women have voted their intelligent convictions. they understand the questions at issue and they vote conscientiously and fearlessly. while we do not claim to have the purest politics in the world in utah, it will be readily conceded that the woman-vote is a terror to evildoers, and our course is, therefore, upward and onward. one of the bugaboos of the opposition was that women would be compelled to sit on juries. not a single instance of the kind has happened in the state, for the reason that women are never summoned; the law simply exempts them, but does not exclude them. another favorite idiocy of the anti-suffragists is that if the women vote they ought to be compelled to fight. in the same manner the law exempts them from military service. for one i am proud of utah's record in dealing with her female citizens. i take the same pride in it that a good husband would who had treated his wife well, and i look forward with eager hope to the day when woman suffrage shall become universal. heber m. wells (rep.), _governor_. ( .) there is literally no end to the favorable testimony from utah, given by mormons and gentiles alike. * * * * * wyoming. gov. john a. campbell was in office when the woman suffrage law was passed. in he said in his message to the territorial legislature: there is upon our statute book "an act granting to the women of wyoming territory the right of suffrage," which has now been in force two years. it is simple justice to say that the women entering, for the first time in the history of the country, upon these new and untried duties, have conducted themselves in every respect with as much tact, sound judgment, and good sense, as men. in he said: "two years more of observation of the practical working of the system have only served to deepen my conviction that what we, in this territory, have done, has been well done; and that our system of impartial suffrage is an unqualified success." governor thayer, who succeeded campbell, said in his message: woman suffrage has now been in practical operation in our territory for six years, and has, during the time, increased in popularity and in the confidence of the people. in my judgment the results have been beneficial, and its influence favorable to the best interests of the community. governor hoyt, who succeeded thayer, said in : under woman suffrage we have better laws, better officers, better institutions, better morals, and a higher social condition in general, than could otherwise exist. not one of the predicted evils, such as loss of native delicacy and disturbance of home relations, has followed in its train. later he said in a public address: "the great body of our women, and the best of them, have accepted the elective franchise as a precious boon and exercise it as a patriotic duty--in a word, after many years of happy experience, woman suffrage is so thoroughly rooted and established in the minds and hearts of the people that, among them all, no voice is ever uplifted in protest against or in question of it." governor hale, who was next in this office, expressed himself repeatedly to the same effect. governor warren, who succeeded hale, said in a letter to horace g. wadlin, esq., of the massachusetts house of representatives, in : our women consider much more carefully than our men the character of candidates, and both political parties have found themselves obliged to nominate their best men in order to obtain the support of the women. as a business man, as a city, county, and territorial officer, and now as governor of wyoming territory, i have seen much of the workings of woman suffrage, but i have yet to hear of the first case of domestic discord growing out of it. our women nearly all vote, and since in wyoming as elsewhere the majority of women are good and not bad, the result is good and not evil. territorial governors are appointed, not elected. as u. s. senator, mr. warren has up to the present time ( ) repeatedly given similar testimony. in various chapters of the present volume may be found the strong approval of ex-u. s. senator joseph m. carey. most of these governors were republicans. hon. n. l. andrews (democrat), speaker of the wyoming house of representatives, said in : i came to this territory in the fall of , with the strongest prejudice possible against woman suffrage. the more i have seen of it, the less my objections have been realized, and the more it has commended itself to my judgment and good opinion. under all my observations it has worked well, and has been productive of much good. the women use the ballot with more independence and discrimination in regard to the qualifications of candidates than men do. if the ballot in the hand of woman compels political parties to place their best men in nomination, this, in and of itself, is a sufficient reason for sustaining woman suffrage. ex-chief justice fisher, of cheyenne, said in : i wish i could show the people who are so wonderfully exercised on the subject of female suffrage just how it works. the women watch the nominating conventions, and if the republicans put a bad man on their ticket and the democrats a good one, the republican women do not hesitate a moment in scratching off the bad and substituting the good. it is just so with the democratic women. i have seen the effects of female suffrage, and instead of being a means of encouragement to fraud and corruption, it tends greatly to purify elections and give better government. in attorney-general m. c. brown said in a public letter: my prejudices were formerly all against woman suffrage, but they have gradually given way since it became an established fact in wyoming. my observation, extending over a period of fifteen years, satisfies me of its entire justice and propriety. impartial observation has also satisfied me that in the use of the ballot women exercise fully as good judgment as men, and in some particulars are more discriminating, as, for instance, on questions of morals. at another time he said: i have been asked if women make good jurors, and i answer by saying, that so far as i have observed their conduct on juries, as a lawyer, i find but little fault with them.... they do not reason like men upon the evidence, but, being possessed of a higher quality of intellectuality, i. e., keen perceptions, they see the truth of the thing at a glance. their minds once settled, neither sophistry, logic, rhetoric, pleading nor tears will move them from their purpose. a guilty person never escapes a just punishment when tried by women juries. the effect of woman suffrage upon the people of wyoming has been good. it has been said by one man that open, flagrant acts of bribery are commonly practiced at the polls in wyoming, and this statement is made to show that the effect of woman suffrage has not been good. the statement is not true. in the last election there were in cheyenne large sums of money expended to influence the result, and votes were bought on the streets in an open and shameless manner. as u. s. attorney for the territory, it became my duty to investigate this matter before a grand jury composed of men. the revelations before the jury were astonishing and many cases of bribery were clearly proven; but while a majority of those composing the jury were men of the highest integrity, there were so many members who had probably taken part in the same unlawful transactions that no indictment could be obtained. the circumstances attending this election were phenomenal. it would be unjust to the women, however, if i should fail to add that, while it was clearly proven that many men sold their votes, it was strikingly apparent that few if any women, even of the vilest class, were guilty of the same misconduct. the hon. john w. kingman, for four years a judge of the u. s. supreme court of wyoming says: woman suffrage was inaugurated in without much discussion, and without any general movement of men or women in its favor. at that time few women voted. at each election since, they have voted in larger numbers, and now nearly all go to the polls. our women do not attend the caucuses in any considerable numbers, but they generally take an interest in the selection of candidates, and it is very common, in considering the availability of an aspirant for office, to ask, 'how does he stand with the ladies?' frequently the men set aside certain applicants for office, because their characters would not stand the criticism of women. the women manifest a great deal of independence in their preference for candidates, and have frequently defeated bad nominations. our best and most cultivated women vote, and vote understandingly and independently, and they can not be bought with whiskey or blinded by party prejudice. they are making themselves felt at the polls, as they do everywhere else in society, by a quiet but effectual discountenancing of the bad, and a helping hand for the good and the true. we have had no trouble from the presence of bad women at the polls. it has been said that the delicate and cultured women would shrink away, and the bold and indelicate come to the front in public affairs. this we feared; but nothing of the kind has happened. i do not believe that suffrage causes women to neglect their domestic affairs. certainly, such has not been the case in wyoming, and i never heard a man complain that his wife was less interested in domestic economy because she had the right to vote and took an interest in making the community respectable. the opposition to woman suffrage at first was pretty bitter. to-day i do not think you could get a dozen respectable men in any locality to oppose it. in u. s. senator clarence d. clark wrote as follows to the constitutional convention of utah which was considering a woman suffrage plank: so far as the operation of the law in this state is concerned, we were so well satisfied, with twenty years' experience under the territorial government, that it went into our constitution with but one dissenting vote, although many thought that such a section might result in its rejection by congress. if it does nothing else it fulfils the theory of a true representative government, and in this state, at least, has resulted in none of the evils prophesied. it has not been the fruitful source of family disagreements feared. it has not lowered womanhood. women do generally take advantage of the right to vote, and vote intelligently. it has been years since we have had trouble at the polls--quiet and order, in my opinion, being due to two causes, the presence of women and our efficient election laws. one important feature i might mention, and that is, in view of the woman vote, no party dare nominate notoriously immoral men, for fear of defeat by that vote. regarding the adoption of the system in other states i see no reason why its operation should not be generally the same elsewhere as it is with us. it is surely true that after many years' experience, wyoming would not be content to return to the old limits, as, in our opinion, the absence of ill results is conclusive proof of the wisdom of the proposition. in the hon. h. v. s. groesbeck, chief justice of the supreme court, thus summed up the results of twenty-seven years' experience: . woman suffrage has been weighed and not found wanting. adopted by a statute passed by the first legislative assembly of the territory, in , and approved by the governor, it has continued without interruption and with but one unsuccessful demand for the repeal of the law. the constitutional convention which assembled in adopted the equal suffrage provision and refused to submit the question to a separate vote by a large majority. the continuance of the measure for nearly a quarter of a century, and the determination to incorporate it in the fundamental law, even at the risk of failing to secure statehood, are the strongest arguments of its benefit and permanency. . it has tended to secure good nominations for the public offices. the women as a class will not knowingly vote for incompetent, immoral or inefficient candidates. . it has tended to make the women self-reliant and independent, and to turn their attention to the study of the science of government--an education that is needed by the mothers of the race. . it has made our elections quiet and orderly. no rudeness, brawling or disorder appears or would be tolerated at the polling booths. there is no more difficulty or indelicacy in depositing a ballot in the urn than in dropping a letter in the post office. . it has not marred domestic harmony. husband and wife frequently vote opposing tickets without disturbing the peace of the home. divorces are not as frequent here as in other communities, even taking into consideration our small population. many applicants for divorces are from those who have a husband or wife elsewhere, and the number of divorces granted for causes arising in this state are comparatively few. . it has not resulted in unsexing women. they have not been office-seekers. women are generally selected for county superintendents of the schools--offices for which they seem particularly adapted, but they have not been applicants for other positions. . equal suffrage brings together at the ballot-box the enlightened common sense of american manhood and the unselfish moral sentiment of american womanhood. both of these elements govern a well-regulated household, and both should sway the political destinies of the entire human family. particularly do we need in this new commonwealth the home influence at the primaries and at the polls. we believe with emerson that if all the vices are represented in our politics, some of the virtues should be. in justice corn, of the state supreme court, made the following public statement: women of all classes very generally vote. bad women do not obtrude their presence at the polls, and i do not now remember ever to have seen a distinctively bad woman casting her vote. woman suffrage has no injurious effect upon the home or the family that i have ever heard of during the twelve years i have resided in the state. it does not take so much of women's time as to interfere with their domestic duties, or with their church or charitable work. it does not impair their womanliness or make them less satisfactory as wives and mothers. they do not have less influence, or enjoy less respect and consideration socially. my impression is that they read the daily papers and inform themselves upon public questions much more generally than women elsewhere. woman suffrage has had the effect almost entirely to exclude notoriously bad or immoral men from public office in the state. parties refuse to nominate such men upon the distinct ground that they can not obtain the women's vote. the natural result of such conditions is to increase the respect in which women are held, and not to diminish it. they are a more important factor in affairs, and therefore more regarded. it is generally conceded, i think, that women have a higher standard of morality and right living than men. and, as they have a say in public matters, it has a tendency to make men respect their standard, and in some degree attempt to attain it themselves. i have never been an enthusiastic advocate of woman suffrage as a cure for all the ills that afflict society, but i give you in entire candor my impressions of it from my observations in this state. in , after women in wyoming had very generally exercised the full suffrage since , mrs. clara b. colby, editor of the _woman's tribune_, washington, d. c., compiled a report from the census statistics. those relating to crime, insanity and divorce were as follows: the population of the united states has increased in the last decade . per cent. that of wyoming has increased . per cent. but while the number of criminals in the whole united states has increased . --an alarming ratio far beyond the increase of population--notwithstanding the immense increase of population in wyoming, the number of criminals has not increased at all, but there has been a relative decrease, which shows a law-abiding community and a constantly improving condition of the public morals. in there were confined in the jails and prisons of wyoming criminals, men and women. the census of shows the same number of criminals, , as against an average number of criminals in the other western states of . this remarkable fact is made more interesting because the in are all men, and thus the scarecrow of the vicious women in politics disappears. wyoming being the only state in which the per cent. of criminal women has decreased, it is evident that the morals of the female part of the population improve with the exercise of the right of suffrage. there were , insane in the united states, but there were but three insane persons in wyoming in , all men. the preponderance of insanity among married women is usually attributed to the monotony of their lives, and since this is much relieved by their participation in politics we should naturally expect to find, as a physical effect, a decreased proportion of insane women where woman suffrage prevails. from to the rate of divorce increased in the united states . per cent., three times the ratio of the increase of population, and in the group of western states, omitting, wyoming, it increased . per cent., almost four times the average increase of population, while in wyoming the average increase in divorce was less than per cent. of that of the population. compare wyoming with a typical eastern state--connecticut--the latter has one insane person to every of the population, wyoming has one to every , . nor is this wholly a difference of east and west, for idaho, its neighbor, shows one insane to every , . especially would voting seem to increase the intelligence of women, for in connecticut there are over seven-tenths as many female idiots as there are male idiots, while in wyoming there are only four-tenths as many. woman suffrage may have played no part in these statistics, but if they had shown an _increase_ of crime, insanity and divorce, it certainly would have been held responsible by the world at large. * * * * * new york. the history is indebted to attorney-general john c. davies for most of the information on school suffrage contained in the new york chapter, and also for the opinion which follows herewith on the right of women in that state to hold office. by the consolidated school law it is provided, as regarding school commissioners, that "no person shall be deemed ineligible to such office by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications as herewith provided;" and regarding common school districts, it is provided that "every district officer must be a resident of his district and qualified to vote at its meetings." as certain women are qualified to vote in any common school district, such women are thus eligible to any _district_ office, including the offices of trustee, clerk, collector, treasurer or librarian. a similar provision in reference to union free schools, that "no person shall be eligible to hold any school district office in any union free school district unless he or she is a qualified voter in such district and is able to read and write," permits women to hold office as members of the board of education and other district offices. aside from chapter of the laws of , which has been held to be unconstitutional, i know of no provision of law extending school suffrage to women in _cities_, except that charters of certain third class cities have extended to women tax-payers the right to vote upon a proposition involving the raising of a tax. by the public officers' law, chap. of the laws of , section , it is provided that "no person shall be capable of holding a civil office who shall not, at the time he shall be chosen thereto, be of full age, a citizen of the united states, and resident of the state, and, if it be a local office, a resident of the political subdivision or municipal corporation of the state for which he shall be chosen, or within which the electors electing him reside, or within which his official functions are required to be exercised." in the case of findlay against thorn, in the city court of new york, where the question arose as to the right of a woman to exercise the office of notary public, chief justice mcadam refused to pass upon the question, holding that the right could be decided only in a direct proceeding brought for the purpose by the attorney-general, in which the notary might defend her title. and the court adds: "whether a female is capable of holding a public office has never been decided by the courts of this state and it is a question about which legal minds may well differ. the constitution regulates the right of suffrage and limits it to 'male' citizens. disabilities are not favored and are seldom extended by implication, from which it may be argued that if it required the insertion of the term 'male' to exclude female citizens of lawful age from the right of suffrage, a similar limitation would be required to disqualify them from holding office. citizenship is a condition or status and has no relation to age or sex. it may be contended that it was left to the good sense of the executive and to the electors to determine whether or not they would elect females to office and that the power being lodged in safe hands was beyond danger of abuse. "if on the other hand it be seriously contended that the constitution by necessary implication, disqualifies females from holding office, it must follow as a necessary consequence that the act of the legislature permitting females to serve as school officers (chap. , laws of ), and all other legislative enactments of like import, removing such disqualifications, are unconstitutional and void. in this same connection it may be argued that if the use of the personal pronoun 'he' in the constitution does not exclude females from public office, its use in the statute can have no greater effect. the statute, like the constitution, in prescribing qualifications for office omits the word 'male,' leaving the question whether female citizens of lawful age are included or excluded, one of construction. "i make these observations for the purpose of showing that the question whether females are eligible to public office in this state, is one not entirely free from doubt and should not therefore be decided where it arises, as it does here, incidentally and collaterally. when the law officers of the state see fit to test the question in direct proceedings for the purpose, it will be time enough to attempt to settle the contention. in such a proceeding, the case of robinson ( mass. , and that reported in mass. ), where it was held that a woman could not be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor at law in massachusetts, and those decided in other states that they can hold office, may be examined and considered." see also am. and eng. ency. of law, vol. , p. - . i might add that in this state there are many women who hold the office of notary public. * * * * * washington. the following account of the unconstitutional disfranchising of the women of washington territory in was carefully prepared by the editors of the _woman's journal_ (boston). when the editors of the present volume decided to incorporate it as a part of the history of woman suffrage it was submitted to judge orange j. jacobs of seattle for legal inspection. he returned it with the statement that it was correct in every particular. it constitutes one of the many judicial outrages which have been committed in the united states in the determination to prevent the enfranchisement of women: women voted in washington territory for the first time in , and were disfranchised by its supreme court in . equal suffrage was granted by the legislature in october, . the women at once began to distinguish themselves there, as in wyoming and elsewhere, by voting for the best man, irrespective of party. the old files of the washington newspapers bear ample evidence to this fact. the first chance they had to vote was at the municipal elections of july, . the seattle _mirror_ said: "the city election of last monday was for more reasons than one the most important ever held in seattle. the presence of women at the voting-places had the effect of preventing the disgraceful proceedings usually seen. it was the first election in the city where the women could vote, and the first where the gambling and liquor fraternity, which had so long controlled the municipal government to an enormous extent, suffered defeat." the _post-intelligencer_ said: "after the experience of the late election it will not do for any one here to say the women do not want to vote. they displayed as much interest as the men, and, if anything, more.... the result insures seattle a first-class municipal administration. it is a warning to that undesirable class of the community who subsist upon the weaknesses and vices of society that disregard of law and the decencies of civilization will not be tolerated." quotations might be multiplied from the papers of other towns, testifying to the independent voting of the women, the large size of their vote, the courtesy with which they were treated, and the greater quiet and order produced by their presence at the polls. next came the general election of november, . again the newspapers were practically unanimous as to the result. the olympia _transcript_, which was opposed to equal suffrage, said: "the result shows that all parties must put up good men if they expect to elect them. they can not do as they have in the past--nominate any candidates, and elect them by the force of the party lash." the _democratic state journal_ said: "no one could fail to see that hereafter more attention must be given at the primaries to select the purest of material, by both parties, if they would gain the female vote." charles j. woodbury visited washington about this time. in a letter to the n. y. _evening post_, he said: "whatever may be the vicissitudes of woman suffrage in washington territory in the future, it should now be put on record that at the election, nov. , , nine-tenths of its adult female population availed themselves of the right to vote with a hearty enthusiasm." he goes on to say that he arrived in seattle on sunday, and was surprised at the quiet and order he found prevailing, and at the general sunday closing of the places of business: "even the bars of the hotels were closed; and this was the worst town in the territory when i first saw it. now its uproarious theaters, dance-houses, squaw-brothels and sunday fights are things of the past. not a gambling house exists." women served on juries, and meted out the full penalty of the law to gamblers and keepers of disorderly houses. the chief justice of the territory was the hon. roger s. greene, a cousin of u. s. senator hoar, a man of high character and integrity, and a magistrate celebrated throughout the northwest for his resolute and courageous resistance to lynch law. in his charge to the grand jury at port townsend, august, , he said: "the opponents of woman suffrage in this territory are found allied with a solid phalanx of gamblers, prostitutes, pimps, and drunkard-makers--a phalanx composed of all in each of those classes who know the interest of the class and vote according to it." in his charge to another grand jury later, chief justice greene said: "twelve terms of court, ladies and gentlemen, i have now held, in which women have served as grand and petit jurors, and it is certainly a fact beyond dispute that no other twelve terms so salutary for restraint of crime have ever been held in this territory. for fifteen years i have been trying to do what a judge ought, but have never till the last six months felt underneath and around me, in the degree that every judge has a right to feel it, the upbuoying might of the people in the line of full and resolute enforcement of the law." naturally, the vicious elements disliked "the full and resolute enforcement of law." the baser sort of politicians also disliked the independent voting of the women. the republicans had a normal majority in the territory, but they nominated for a high office a man who was a hard drinker. the republican women would not vote for him, and he was defeated. next they nominated a man who had for years been openly living with an indian woman and had a family of half-breed children. again the republican women refused to vote for him, and he was defeated. this brought the enmity of the republican "machine" upon woman suffrage. the democratic women showed equal independence, and incurred the hostility of the democratic "machine." between and a change of administration at washington led to a change in the territorial supreme court. the newly appointed chief justice and a majority of the new judges of the supreme court [appointed by president cleveland] were opposed to equal suffrage, and were amenable, it is said, to the strong pressure brought to bear upon them by all the vicious elements to secure its repeal. a gambler who had been convicted by a jury composed in part of women contested the sentence on the ground that women were not legal voters, and the supreme court decided that the woman suffrage bill was unconstitutional, because it had been headed "an act to amend section so and so, chapter so and so of the code," instead of "an act to enfranchise women.".... when the legislature met in it re-enacted the woman suffrage bill, giving it a full heading, and strengthening it in every way possible. washington was about to be admitted as a state, and was preparing to hold a constitutional convention to frame a state constitution. there was no doubt that the majority of the women wanted to vote. chief justice greene estimated that four-fifths of them had voted at the last election before they were deprived of the right. two successive legislatures elected by men and women jointly had re-enacted woman suffrage (for its continuance had been made a test question in the choice of the first legislature for which the women voted, and that legislature had been careful to insert the words "he or she" in all bills relating to the election laws). it was admitted on all hands that if the women were allowed to vote for members of the constitutional convention, it would be impossible to elect one that would wipe out woman suffrage. it was therefore imperative to deprive the women of their votes before the members of the convention were chosen. a scheme was arranged for the purpose. on the ground that she was a woman, the election officers at a local election refused the vote of mrs. nevada bloomer, a saloon-keeper's wife, who was opposed to suffrage. _they accepted the votes of all the other women._ she made a test case by bringing suit against them. in the ordinary course of things, the case would not have come up till after the election of the constitutional convention. but cases for the restoration of personal rights may be advanced on the docket, and mrs. bloomer's ostensible object was the restoration of her personal rights, though her real object was to deprive all women of theirs. her case was put forward on the docket and hurried to a decision. the supreme court [george turner and wm. g. langford] this time pronounced the woman suffrage law unconstitutional on the ground that _it was beyond the power of a territorial legislature to enfranchise women_. the organic act of the territory said that at the first territorial election persons with certain qualifications should vote, and at subsequent elections _such persons as the territorial legislature might enfranchise_. but the court took the ground that in giving the legislature the right to regulate suffrage, congress did not at the time have it specifically in mind that they might enfranchise women, and that therefore they could not do so.(!) the suffragists wanted to have the case appealed to the supreme court of the united states, but mrs. bloomer refused. the women themselves being prevented from voting, their friends were not able to overcome the combined "machines" of both political parties, and the intense opposition of all the vicious and disorderly elements, at that time very large on the pacific coast. a convention opposed to equal suffrage was elected, and framed a constitution excluding women. a friend of the present writer talked with many of the members while the convention was in session. he says almost every lawyer in that body acknowledged, in private conversation, that the decision by which the women had been disfranchised was illegal. "but," they said, "the women had set the community by the ears on the temperance question, and we had to get rid of them." one politician said, frankly, "women are natural mugwumps, and i hate a mugwump." the convention, however, yielded to the pressure sufficiently to submit to the men a separate amendment proposing to strike out the word "male" from the suffrage clause of the new state constitution, but no woman was allowed to vote on it. in november, , this amendment was lost, the same elements that defeated it in the convention defeating it at the polls, with the addition of a great influx of foreign immigrants. national-american woman suffrage association. this is the most democratic of organizations. its sole object is to secure for women citizens protection in their right to vote. the general officers are nominated by an informal secret ballot, no one being put in nomination. the three persons receiving the highest number of votes are considered the nominees and the election is decided by secret ballot. those entitled to vote are three delegates-at-large for each auxiliary state society and one delegate in addition for every one hundred members of each state auxiliary; the state presidents and state members of the national executive committee; the general officers of the association; the chairmen of standing committees. the delegates present from each state cast the full vote to which that state is entitled. the vote is taken in the same way upon any other question whenever the delegates present from five states request it. in other cases each delegate has one vote. any state whose dues are unpaid on january loses its vote in the convention for that year. the two honorary presidents, president, vice-president-at-large, two secretaries, treasurer and two auditors constitute the business committee, which transacts the entire business of the association between the annual conventions. the executive committee is composed of the business committee, the president of each state, and one member from each state, together with the chairmen of standing committees; fifteen make a quorum for the transaction of business. the decisions reached by the executive committee, which meets during the convention week, are presented in the form of recommendations at the business sessions of the convention. the constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote at any annual meeting, after one day's notice in the convention, notice of the proposed amendment having been previously given to the business committee, and by them published in the suffrage papers not less than three months in advance. the association must hold an annual convention of regularly-elected delegates for the election of officers and the transaction of business. an annual meeting must be held in washington, d. c., during the first session of each congress. the committee on resolutions must consist of one person from each state, elected by its delegation. there are few changes in officers and the association is noted for the harmony of its meetings, although the delegates generally are of decided convictions and unusual force of character. men are eligible to membership and a number belong, but the affairs of the organization are wholly in the hands of women. auxiliary state and territorial associations exist in all but wyoming, idaho, utah, arkansas, nevada and texas. suffrage associations are not needed in the first three, as the women have the full franchise. officers for . honorary presidents, elizabeth cady stanton, new york city; susan b. anthony, rochester, n. y. president, carrie chapman catt, new york city. vice-president-at-large, rev. anna howard shaw, philadelphia. recording secretary, alice stone blackwell, boston. corresponding secretary, rachel foster avery, philadelphia. treasurer, harriet taylor upton, warren, ohio. auditors, laura clay, lexington, ky.; catharine waugh mcculloch, chicago. honorary vice-presidents--[prominent names mentioned in various states.] footnotes: [ ] for congressional action see history of woman suffrage, vol. ii, chaps. xvii, xxiv, xxv; vol. iii, chap. xxx; present volume, chaps. iii, v, vi, chapter on wyoming, and references in footnote of chap. i. [ ] this list is most incomplete, as members change so frequently and the house has not voted on the question since . most of the names given above are of those who have in some way openly advocated the measure. practically all of the members from the states where women have the full franchise are in favor, and there always has been a large number from kansas. in , in response to letters of inquiry, many announced themselves as ready to vote for a suffrage amendment. [ ] this is supplementary to matter contained in the state chapters. standing committees. programme--carrie chapman catt, n. y.; rachel foster avery, acting chairman, penn.; may dudley greeley, minn.; lucy hobart day, me.; kate m. gordon, la. congressional work--susan b. anthony, n. y.; carrie chapman catt, n.y.; harriet taylor upton, o.; helen m. warren, wy.; virginia morrison shafroth, col. press work--elnora m. babcock, n. y. enrollment--priscilla dudley hackstaff, n. y. and all state treasurers. federal suffrage--sallie clay bennett, ky.; martha e. root, mich. presidential suffrage--henry b. blackwell, mass, and state presidents. national committee on local arrangements--lucy e. anthony, penn. railroad rates--mary g. hay, n. y. special committees. industrial problems affecting women and children--clara bewick colby, d. c; martha e. root, mich.; annie l. diggs, kas.; margaret o. rhodes, okla.; annie english silliman, n. j.; mary c. c. bradford, col.; gail laughlin, n. y. legislation for civil rights--laura m. johns, kas. convention resolutions--susan b. anthony, n. y.; carrie chapman catt, n. y.; ida husted harper, d. c.; anna howard shaw, penn.; rachel foster avery, penn. political equality series--alice stone blackwell, mass.; ida husted harper, d. c. life members. ( .) _alabama_--adella hunt logan. _california_--mrs. a. r. faulkner, mary wood swift. _colorado_--mary c. c. bradford, emily a. brown, amy k. cornwall, louisa s. janvier, emily r. meredith. _connecticut_--h. j. lewis. _district of columbia_--julia l. langdon barber, lucia e. blount, mary foote henderson, margaret j. henry, hannah cassall mills, mary a. mcpherson, martha mcwirther, mary c. nason, julia t. ripley, sophronia c. snow, c. w. spofford, jane h. spofford, mary e. terry, helen rand tindall, eliza titus ward, nettie l. white. _georgia_--gertrude c. thomas. _illinois_--sarah o. coonley, climenia k. dennett, emily m. gross, ida s. noyes, dr. julia holmes smith, elmina springer, lydia a. coonley ward. _indiana_--ida husted harper, alice wheeler peirce, may wright sewall. _iowa_--martha c. callanan, nancy logan, mettie laub romans. _kansas_--mabel laporte diggs, sarah e. morrow. _kentucky_--susan look avery, sallie clay bennett, mary b. trimble, laura r. white. _louisiana_--caroline e. merrick. _maryland_--caroline hallowell miller. _massachusetts_--carrie anders, martha m. atkins, alice stone blackwell, henry b. blackwell, ellen wright garrison, ellen f. powers, caroline scott, pauline agassiz shaw, nellie s. smith. _michigan_--delos a. blodgett, daisy peck blodgett, olivia b. hall. _minnesota_--alice scott cash, elizabeth a. russell, sarah vail thompson. _missouri_--phoebe w. cousins, virginia l. minor, sarah e. turner. _nebraska_--clara bewick colby, mary smith hayward, mary h. williams. _new hampshire_--marilla m. ricker. _new jersey_--florence howe hall, laura lloyd heulings, cornelia c. hussey, dr. mary d. hussey, mrs. s. r. krom, susan w. lippincott, calista s. mayhew, dr. sarah c. spotteswoode, ellen hoxie squier, elizabeth m. vail. _new mexico_--alice paxson hadley. _new york_--susan b. anthony, mary s. anthony, victoria bradley, amelia cameron, cornelia h. cary, george w. catt, carrie chapman catt, ella hawley crossett, anna dormitzer, rebecca friedlander, fannie humphreys gaffney, matilda joslyn gage, priscilla dudley hackstaff, sarah v. hallock, mary h. hallowell, mary g. hay, belle s. holden, emily howland, hannah l. howland, dorcas hull, emma g. ivins, rhody j. kenyon, mary elizabeth lapham, semantha vail lapham, mrs. frank leslie, mary hillard loines, anne fitzhugh miller, elizabeth smith miller, martha fuller prather, euphemia c. purton, mary thayer sanford, james f. sargent, angelina m. sargent, elizabeth cady stanton, fanny garrison villard, julia willetts williams, sarah l. willis. _ohio_--caroline mccullough everhard, elizabeth j. hauser, sallie j. mccall, anna c. mott, alice e. peters, louisa southworth, susan m. sturges. _oklahoma_--rachel rees griffiths. _pennsylvania_--lucy e. anthony, mary schofield ash, rachel foster avery, emma j. bartol, lucretia l. blankenburg, ellen k. brazier, emma j. brazier, katherine j. campbell, kate w. dewald, julia t. foster, alvin t. james, helen mosher james, edith c. james, dr. agnes kemp, caroline lippincott, mary w. lippincott, hannah myers longshore, jacob reese, rev. anna howard shaw, nicolas m. shaw, m. j. stecker, m. adeline thomson. _rhode island_--sarah j. eddy, charlotte b. wilbour, sarah s. wilbour. _south carolina_--a. viola neblett, martha schofield. _utah_--emily s. richards, emmeline b. wells. _wisconsin_--rev. olympia brown. _persia_--susan van valkenburg hamilton (formerly of indiana). delegates to national conventions, - . at the national conventions those who occupy the platform and make the addresses naturally have the most conspicuous place, but those who come from the various localities, year after year, bringing the reports from their states and taking their necessary part in the proceedings, are equally valuable factors. their names, at least, should be preserved, and the following list, while by no means complete, is as nearly so as it has been possible to make it. those which are included in the national chapters are not repeated. many of the women recorded below receive their deserved mention in the state chapters. _alabama_: amelia m. dillard, minnie henderson. _arizona_: ex-gov. and mrs. l. c. hughes, pauline m. o'neill, mrs. g. h. oury. arkansas: mary a. davis, lizzie d. fyler, c. m. patterson. _california_: nellie holbrook blinn, amy g. bowen, emilie gibbons cohen, warren c. kimball, lucy wilson moore, julia schlesinger, mary simpson sperry, beda s. sperry, mary wood swift. _colorado_: theodosia g. ammons, dr. mary barker bates, margaret bowen, nettie e. caspar, hattie e. fox, h. jennie james, b. r. owens, katharine a. g. patterson, eliza f. routt, lucy e. ransom scott, mary jewett telford, harriet m. teller. _connecticut_: mrs. l. d. allen, rose i. blakeslee, sarah e. browne, caroline b. buell, mrs. e. c. champion, alta starr cressy, mrs. n. f. griswold, addie s. hale, howard j. hale, ellen b. kendrick, emily o. kimball, grace c. kimball, mary j. rogers, abby barker sheldon. _dakota territory_: marietta m. bones, linda b. slaughter. _delaware_: mary r. de vou, margaret w. houston, margaret e. kent, patience w. kent, emma lore, mary elizabeth milligan, adda g. quigley, mary h. thatcher, elizabeth bacon walling. _district of columbia_: frances b. andrews, l. l. bacon, mary l. bennett, bessie boone cheshire, anna gray de long, lucy s. doolittle, annie m. edgar, dr. susan edson, m. j. fowler, emma m. gillett, j. minnie holn, martha v. johnson, carrie e. kent, mrs. j. h. la fetra, mary s. lockwood, sarah j. messer, henrietta c. morrison, helen mitchell, hattie e. nash, mary v. noerr, ellen m. o'connor, mary a. ripley, mary l. talbot, cora de la matyr thomas, helen rand tindall, eliza titus ward, elizabeth wilson, theresa williams, dr. caroline b. winslow. mary h. williams. _florida_: ella c. chamberlain. georgia: d. m. allen, margaret chandler, julia iveson patton, gertrude c. thomas, adelaide wilson. _idaho_: mrs. milton kelley. _illinois_: julia k. barnes, mary i. barnes, emma j. bigelow, corinne s. brown, hannah j. coffee, c. h. crocker, angelina craver, climenina k. dennet, george h. dennet, sylvia doton, emmy c. evald, matilda s. garrigus, mary t. hager, mrs. frank l. hubbard, mary louise haworth, kate hughes, lizzie f. long, lena morrow, angie b. schweppe, eva munson smith, dr. alice b. stockham, adeline m. swain, nellie j. tweed, jessie waite, dr. lucy waite, margaret will. indiana: lizzie m. briant, mary g. hay, dr. m. a. jessup, etta mattox, alice wheeler peirce, bertha g. wade, alice g. waugh, iva g. wooden. iowa: alice ainsworth, eunice t. barnett, lucy busenbark, narcissa t. bemis, james callanan, martha c. callanan, margaret v. campbell, mary j. coggeshall, nettie sanford chapin, martha j. cass, elizabeth coughell, anna b. crawford, marietta farr cannell, ella g. cline, mary mason clark, victoria dewey, jane denby, c. holt flint, nellie c. flint, louise b. field, mrs. w. p. hepburn, jane hammond, julia clark hallam, harriet jenks, charles w. jacobs, rosina jacobs, mrs. m. lloyd kennedy, a. m. e. leffingwell, polly a. maulsby, florence m. maskrey, mary e. mcpherson, jane amy mckinney, ella moffatt, bessie murray, emily phillips, mary d. palmer, emeline b. richardson, mettie laub romans, rowena edson stevens, estelle smith, elmina springer, frances smith, rev. john ogilvie stevenson, ina light taylor, roma w. woods, frilla belle young. _kansas_: anna a. broderick, fannie m. broderick, jennie broderick, b. b. baird, c. h. cushing, mabel la porte diggs, caroline doster, martha powell davis, bertha h. ellsworth, nannie garrett, dr. eva harding, antoinette haskell, hetta p. mansfield, mrs. j. mcpatten, constant p. mcelroy, jennie robb maher, bina a. otis, josephine l. patton, carrie l. prentiss, althea b. stryker, sarah a. thurston, abbie a. welch, alonzo wardall, elizabeth m. wardall, anna c. wait. _kentucky_: laura s. bruce, mary c. cramer, s. m. hubbard, sarah g. humphries, mary k. jones, dr. sarah m. siewers, sarah h. sawyer, mrs. m. r. stockwell, amanthus shipp, mary wood, sallie b. wolcott, laura white. louisiana: florence huberwald, matilda p. hero, dr. harriet c. keating, caroline e. merrick, jr., katharine m. nobles, frances sladden. _maine_: rev. henry blanchard, m. s. carlisle, lucy hobart day, martha o. dyer, dr. abby m. fulton, martha w. fairfield, helen a. harriman, mary c. nason, mary e. a. osborne, sarah j. l. o'brien, abby a. c. peaslee, cordelia a. quimby, sophronia c. snow, lucy a. and lavinia snow, elizabeth p. smith. _maryland_: amanda m. best, juliet l. baldwin, emma madox funck, emma frinck, annie w. janney, annie r. lamb, mary e. moore, rebecca t. miller, martha s. townsend, mary j. williamson. _massachusetts_: annie t. auerbach, richard and carrie anders, martha atkins, mr. and mrs. oliver c. ashton, esther f. boland, catherine w. bascom, samuel j. barrows, martha sewall curtis, adelaide a. claflin, emma clapp, sophia a. forbes, ellen wright garrison, cora chapin godfrey, adeline howland, sarah hudson, mary e. hilton, mrs. arden hall, hannah hall, charlotte lobdell, eveleen l. mason, louisa a. morrison, martha a. p. neall, ellen f. powers, agnes g. parritt, maud wood park, john parker, cora v. smart, silvanus smith, judith w. smith, mary clarke smith, nellie s. smith, mrs. w. h. semple, jane a. stewart, dora bascom smith, addie e. tarbell, sarah e. wall, eliza webber, elizabeth h. webster, evelyn williams, dr. marion l. woodward, mr. and mrs. john l. whiting. _michigan_: charlotte goeway, mrs. c. d. hodges, de lisle p. holmes, sarah l. hazlett, margaret m. huckins, frances kinney, dr. clara w. mcnaughton, ida j. marsh, nettie mccloy, e. matilda moore, carrie w. miller, frances wright spearman, sarah e. smith, elizabeth a. willard. _minnesota_: nina t. cox, lydia r. eastwood, mayme jester, delilah c. reid, judge j. b. stearns, sarah burger stearns, martha adams thompson, sarah vail thompson. _mississippi_: harriet b. kells, nellie m. somerville, lily wilkinson thompson. _missouri_: alice blackburn, mary waldo calkins, ella harrison, virginia hedges, addie m. johnson, alice c. mulky, j. b. merwin, sarah e. turner, emaline a. templeton, mary u. vandwert, mrs. e. e. montague winch, victoria conkling whitney, isabella wightman, eliza t. wilson, william wilson, sarah wilson. _montana_: dr. maria m. dean, eva hirschberg, george w. jones, delia a. kellogg, marie l. mason, sarepta sanders, harriet p. sanders, dora d. wright. _nebraska_: maria c. arter, rachel brill, clara cross, nettie l. cronkhite, abby gay dustin, helen m. goff, ellen d. harn, ellen a. herdman, irene hernandez, lena mccormick, amanda j. marble, maud miller, anna l. spirk, sarah k. williams, esther l. warner. _nevada_: hannah r. clapp, mary e. rinkle, annie warren, frances a. williamson. _new hampshire_: mary a. p. filley, m. e. powell, marilla m. ricker, rev. h. b. smith. new jersey: emma l. blackwell, phoebe baily, katherine h. browning, hannah cairns, jennie d. dewitt, dr. florence de hart, rev. phoebe a. hanaford, mrs. a. j. jackson, jane bryant kellogg, susan w. lippincott, ellen miles, mary philbrook, amelia dickinson pope, aaron m. powell, louise downs quigley, theresa m. seabrook, minola graham sexton, charlotte c. r. smith, laura h. van cise, m. louise watts, phoebe c. wright. _new mexico_: fannie baca, i. m. bond, h. d. fergusson, ida morley jarrett, mayme e. marble, mrs. j. d. perkins, anna van schick. _new york_: mrs. e. andreas, mrs. wilkes angel, ruby abby, abigail a. allen, dr. augusta armstrong, rev. caroline a. bassett, victoria bradley, sarah f. blackall, frances benedict, mrs. r. g. beatty, helen m. cook, dr. harriet b. chapin, eveleen r. clark, cornelia h. cary, noah chapman, margaret livingston chanler, mrs. m. a. clinton, charlotte a. cleveland, ella hawley crossett, lucy hawley calkins, nora e. darling, marie frances driscoll, s. w. ellis, mrs. m. d. fenner, laura w. flower, dr. fales, catherine g. foote, theodosia c. goss, eliza c. gifford, dr. virginia l. glauner, elizabeth p. hall, mary h. hallowell, frances v. hallock, dorcas hull, etta e. hooker, emily howland, isabel howland, cornelia k. hood, belle s. holden, mary n. hubbard, margherita arlina hamm, ella s. hammond, priscilla d. hackstaff, mary bush hitchcook, elizabeth noyes hopkins, ada m. hall, marie r. jenney, julie r. jenney, frances c. lewis, jeannette r. leavitt, carrie s. lerch, mary hillard loines, mrs. p. a. moffett, pamela s. mccown, margaret morton, mrs. joshua g. munro, anne fitzhugh miller, sarah a. mcclees, deborah otis, martha f. prather, jessie post, j. mary pearson, lucy s. pierce, abby hutchinson patton, lucy boardman smith, marian h. skidmore, angeline m. sargent, james sargent, jessie j. cassidy saunders, mary b. sackett, jane m. slocum, mary thayer sanford, emma b. sweet, emma m. tucker, kate s. thompson, sarah l. willis, kate foster warner, anna willets, cerelle grandin weller. _north carolina_: lilla ripley barnwell, floride cunningham, miriam harris, helen morris lewis, margaret richardson. _north dakota_: helen de lendrecie, dr. cora smith (eaton), henrietta paulson haagensen, delia lee hyde, mary s. lounsberry, sara e. b. smith, mary whedon. _ohio_: ella m. bell, sarah s. bissell, w. o. brown, frances m. casement, katharine b. claypole, mary n. cunningham, elizabeth coit, martha p. dana, martha h. elwell, ellen sully fray, mary c. francis, jannette freer, elizabeth gilmer, prof. jennie gifford, mary l. geffs, clara giddings, eliza p. houk, emma c. hayes, margaret hackadorne, emma p. harley, eason holbrook, minnie c. hauser, elizabeth j. hauser, cecilia halloway, minnie stull harris, prof. mary jewett, josephine king, mary j. lawrence, mary folger lang, sallie j. mccall, rev. henrietta g. moore, mary j. mcmillan, anna c. mott, lydia a. d. northway, miss l. j. ormstead, addie m. porter, alice e. h. peters, o. g. peters, sarah m. perkins, annie laurie quinby, harriet b. rossa, florence richards, edythe e. root, mrs. n. coe stewart, abbie schumacher, helen r. smith, katherine dooris sharpe, hattie a. sachs, harriet brown stanton, dr. viola swift, lottie m. sackett, cornelia shaw, c. swezey, rosa l. segur. _oklahoma_: margaret rees, mrs. r. w. southard, celia z. titus. _oregon_: frances e. gottshall. _pennsylvania_: olive pond amies, agnes m. biddle, mrs. w. c. butterfield, mary patterson beaver, a. isabel bowers, emma j. bartol, katherine j. campbell, anna m. child, alice m. coates, elizabeth d. green, susanna m. gaskill, caroline gibbons, mrs. e. n. garrett, bertha w. howe, hetty y. hallowell, lidie c. w. koethen, mary f. kenderdine, mary s. kent, agnes kemp, mary b. luckie, alberta moorehouse, mrs. l. m. b. mitchell, dr. jane v. myers, esther a. pownall, anna c. pennock, elizabeth b. passmore, charlotte l. peirce, harriet purvis, jacob reese, jean b. stephenson, nicolas m. shaw, emily h. saxton, mary b. satterthwaite, margaret b. stone, mattie a. n. shaw, mrs. g. w. schofield, robert tilney, annie l. tilney. _rhode island_: mary o. arnold, emeline burlingame cheney, elizabeth buffum chace, ardelia c. dewing, jeannette s. french, charlotte b. wilbour. _south carolina_: mary p. gridley, jean b. lockwood, maude sindersine, claudia gordon tharin, may tharin. _south dakota_: irene g. adams, ida r. bailey, mrs. f. c. bidwell, emma cranmer, mrs. w. v. lucas, anna r. simmons, mrs. c. e. thorpe. _tennessee_: jennie bailett, l. graham crozier, mary mcleer. _texas_: rebecca henry hayes, l. r. perkins. _utah_: corinne m. allen, sarah a. boyer, phebe young beatie, charlotte ives cobb, marilla m. daniels, mary e. gilmer, annie godbe, sarah m. kimball, aurelia s. rodgers. _vermont_: mary n. chase, eliza s. eaton, mary hutchinson, alice clinton smith. virginia: elisan brown, nina cross, henderson dangerfield, elizabeth b. dodge, etta grymes farrar, georgia gibson, emma r. gilman, l. m. green, arabella b. howard, anna m. snowden, elizabeth van lew, mary b. wickersham. _washington_: mrs. francis w. cushman, mrs. l. c. kellogg, martha e. pike. _west virginia_: jessie g. manley, columbia a. morgan, florence m. post, clara reinhammer. _wisconsin_: louisa m. eastman, almeda b. gray, laura b. james, lucinda lake, jessie nelson luther, maybell park, dora putnam, ellen a. rose. _wyoming_: hon. m. c. brown, amalia b. post, mrs. francis e. warren. index of subjects. the famous bibliographer, william oldys, wrote early in the th century: "the labour and patience, the judgment and penetration, which are required to make a good index are only known to those who have gone through this most painful but least-praised part of a publication." lord campbell said, a century later, in his preface to the lives of chief justices: "i proposed to bring a bill into parliament to deprive an author, who publishes a book without an index, of the privilege of copyright." if an index were deemed so valuable in those periods of comparative leisure, one as complete as possible is surely an absolute necessity in these days when time is at the highest premium, but the maker is under obligation to study conciseness in order that the index may not be as long as the book. it has seemed practicable to reduce very greatly the length of this one without impairing its efficiency by asking the reader to bear in mind a few simple facts as to the arrangement of the history. chapters ii-xxi are devoted exclusively to the conventions of the national suffrage association and the consequent hearings, reports and discussions in congress; the story of each year is complete in its chapter and the date is in the running title on the right hand page. the work of the american association before the two societies united is complete in chapter xxii. these chapters contain the _argument_. chapters xxv-lxxii comprise the full history of the work in the states and territories, one chapter given to each and all alphabetically arranged with name in running title on the right hand page. each state is subdivided and the heads denoted by capital letters, as follows: organization, legislative action, laws, suffrage, office holding, occupation, education. the other chapters are clearly designated in the table of contents, and practically all the information which the book contains on each subject will be found in its respective chapter. the greatest problem has been the indexing of the many _speeches_ so as to convey an idea of their subject-matter, as a number of them cover a variety of topics, and it has been possible to indicate only the principal points. the editors trust, however, that the systematic arrangement of the volume and the full table of contents will enable the reader to obtain the desired information without difficulty. _age of protection_, , and in each state chapter under _legislative action and laws_, beginning . amendment campaigns for woman suffrage, xxi; ; in calif., ; in col., ; in s. d., - ; in ida., ; in kas., ; in n. j., ; in n. y., ; in ore., ; in r. i., ; in wash., . amendment to national constitution for woman suffrage, objection to amending, advantage in securing wom. suff., xx, xxi; th amend, and attempts of women to vote under it, et seq.; th amend., effect on wom. suff., ; effort to amend for federal suff. for women, ; nat'l. ass'n. begins work for th amend., ; res. for in ' , ; miss anthony on, ; same, ; argument for, ; sp. of sen. palmer, ; contrary to state's rights, ; first discussion of th amend. in senate, ; th amend., miss anthony on, ; ; senate com. recom. th in ' , ; th grants wom. suff., ; women appeal yrs. for th amend., ; efforts of nat'l ass'n. for, ; mrs. catt on why one is asked for, ; miss anthony's plea, ; american ass'n. declares for, , . amendments to state constitutions for woman suffrage, laws in different states, xvi; difficulty in minn and neb., failure of sch. suff. in n.j., xvi; same in s.d., xvii; submitted by ten states and results, xxi; obstacles to securing, xxiii; comparison of votes, xxix; votes on, ; adopted in col., ; in idaho, ; school and library in minn., ; law similar to amendment in wis., . american woman suffrage association, work of after ' , chap. xxii; ; founded, ; union with nat'l ass'n., . anecdotes, ; public money for "shes," ; in tenn., ; how men represent women, ; of miss willard, ; woman on throne, ; poll tax in tenn., ; women's voices, ; woman's product, ; from ala., ; miss anthony's right bower, ; early education, - ; women who have all the rights they want, ; miss anthony on "antis," ; of abigail adams, ; influence of liquor dealers, ; yon's vote in col., ; a mass. legislator, ; women's money builds state houses, ; suff. bill in wash., . anti-suffrage association, advantage of, xxix; same, ; they mean well, ; in ills., ; in mass., et al.; against mother's guardianship, ; in n. y., et al., ; in aus., . anti-suffragists, see remonstrants. australia, --south, chapter on, --west, " " --new south wales, " " --victoria, " " --queensland, " " --tasmania, " " enfranchises its women, xiv; first country to grant them munic. suff., ; eminent advocates of wom. suff., . bazar, nat'l. ass'n., in new york, ; amer. ass'n. in boston, descrip. of, mrs. howe's and mrs. stone's addresses, - . bible, wrong interpretation of, ; for wom. suff., ; not opp. to, ; ; men's interpretation of, ; purpose of creator, ; not alone respons. for subjection of woman, ; woman's bible, discussion of at nat'l. conv., . bill of rights, woman's, . bills, for wom. suff., how treated, xxviii; of nat'l. ass'n., w. c. t. u., fed. of clubs, etc., - , and under head of _legislative action_ in state chapters, beginning ; nat'l. ass'n. protests against edmunds-tucker bill, ; same, ; ; res. against, - ; committees on, . birthdays, miss anthony's th, ; her th, - ; her th, ; greetings on, ; her th, vi; same, ; et seq.; gifts on, et seq.; celebration of in lafayette opera house, wash't'n., - ; trib. of wm. lloyd garrison, , of mrs. coonley-ward, , of miss shaw, ; greeting from mrs. stanton, ; miss anthony's response, ; letters rec'd., ; recep. in corcoran art gallery, ; her portrait presented, ; her happiness, . --mrs. stanton's th, . --rev. anna howard shaw's, . boards, difficulty of getting women on, ; see each state chapter under _office holding_, beginning ; in great britain, , . --lady managers world's fair, indebted to miss anthony, ; same, ; act of congress creating, ; . california, xv; legis. refuses suff. amd't, xx; miss shaw's acc't. of visit of miss anthony and herself in ' , ; work for suff. amend., ; honor to miss anthony, ; gift to miss anthony, . see state chapter. calls, for nat'l. suff. conv. of ' , ; for first int'l. council, ; for conv. of ' , ; for conv. of ' , ; for conv. of ' , ; for first wom. rights conv., . campaigns, for wom. suff. amdts. see amendment campaigns. canada, dominion of, chapter on, . catholics, in politics, ; attitude of clergy, ; wom. suff. in summer sch. at detroit, ; coeducation, ; college for women, ; on boston sch. bd., . chivalry, specimens of, ; absurdity of, ; men and women need each other, , , , , ; miss willard on, ; chivalry of reform, mrs. howe on, ; injustice of, ; in kas., ; mistakes of, ; in south, ; fear of, ; . church, influence on wom. suff., xxiv; wom. suff. foundation of christianity, ; relation to it, ; prayer vs. votes, ; same, ; ; res. on creeds and dogmas, ; discussion by mrs. stanton, miss anthony and others, et seq.; influence of religion over woman, ; its connect. with wom. suff., ; woman's influence in church, ; for equality of rights, bishop newman, ; ; value of wom. suff. to, ; mrs. stanton's demand for its recog. of woman's equality, ; upholds man's headship, ; opp. to equality of woman, ; voice of god has soprano and bass, ; m. e. refuses to ordain women, ; women might vote at ch. elections, ; miss shaw on mission of, ; miss anthony's plea for relig. liberty, ; sympathy with wom. suff., ; woman's services to, ; woman's position in ; ; ; ; ; ; ; - ; ; missionary work of women, et seq. clubhouses, women's, wimodaughsis, , ; in grand rapids, - ; in calif., ; in indpls., ; in mich., ; in phila., ; . clubs, women's, _see_ last paragraph in various state chapters. in col., ; ; in mich., welcome nat'l suff. conv., ; political, ; in n. y., ; first women's clubs on record, - ; gen'l federation of, ; musical, nat'l. fed. of, . colleges. _see_ universities. colorado, xxi; xxix; appear. of delegates, ; gov. waite on wom. suff. in, ; women in legis., ; ; visit of miss anthony and miss shaw in ' , ; effect of wom. suff., ; same, ; distinguished testimony for, - , , ; legis. res. in favor of, ; mrs. welch at conv. of ' , ; wom. suff. in, ; gift and trib. to miss anthony on th birthday, . _see_ state chapter; also statistics and testimony. columbian exposition, lady managers, _see_ boards; invites suff. ass'n. to world's fair, ; ass'n. arranges for booth, , discusses res. to open gates on sunday, , to prohibit liquor selling, ; effect of the fair on women, ; ; congress of women all for suff., ; report of nat'l. suff. ass'n. com., ; . commercial schools, fed. of, adopts wom. suff. res. and petits., . commissions, of women demanded for philippines, - , ; u. s. labor, miss laughlin on, ; for paris expos., mrs. palmer on, . committees, of american suffrage association, on arrangements for convs., _see_ chapter xxii; executive of, ; on union with nat'l. ass'n., , . --of national suffrage association on int'l council, ; on union with am. ass'n., ; on columbian expos., . _see_ also - . on miss anthony's th birthday celebration, . --congressional, on wom. suff., . _see_ reports. congress, power to extend suff., et seq.; work of nat'l suff. ass'n. with, ; committee reports, discussions and speeches, ; house debate on wom. suff. com. ; wom. suff. sp. of sen. palmer, ; first discussion of th amend. in senate, ; other debates on wom. suff. in senate, ; blair's sp. in ' , et seq.; should submit amend., ; sp. of brown, et seq.; dolph favors wom. suff., ; discussion of women on juries, ; vest opposes wom. suff., ; hoar in favor, ; vote in senate, ; ; authority to enfranchise women, ; duty to submit suff. amend., ; favorable sentiment, ; way to manage a bill in, ; needs watching, ; work of nat'l. ass'n. for th amend., ; appeals to for th amend. to enfranch. women, ; for rights of women in new possessions, ; amusing debate on admis. of wy., et seq. _see_ amendments and debates. congresses of women, world's fair, , ; in san fr., , , ; atlanta expos., ; london in ' , - ; in los angeles, ; in ore., - . constitution, national, more rigid than in other countries, xv, gives women right to vote, chapter i; first appearance of "male," ; attempt of women to vote under th amend., et seq.; amend. for federal suff. for women, ; authority over suff., et seq.; provides for amending, ; vote on wom. suff. amend., ; rights of women under, ; mrs. stanton on its violation in case of women, ; fails to protect black men, ; mrs. blake's argument for wom. suff. under its provisions, - . constitutions, state, all framed by men; different peculiarities, xv et seq.; all barred women from suff., ; utah and wy. included wom. suff. in first, , . _see_ state chapters under _suffrage_. constitutional conventions. _see_ conventions. constitutional law. _see_ law. contracts. _see laws_ in each state chapter. conventions, american suff. assn., from ' to ' , - ; early convs. in phila., . --national suffrage ass'n., first one ever called, xiii; earliest ones, ; res. for int'l. suff. conv., ; changed attitude of press toward, ; first suff. meeting held in washt'n., ; conv. for ' , ; complimented by washt'n. _star_, ; convs. before the war, ; alternate ones taken out of washt'n., miss anthony's protest, ; the other side, ; descript. of ' , ; miss anthony's method of presiding, ; descript. of ' , ; of ' , . see chapters ii-xxi. conventions, work for wom. suff. in political and other conventions, chap. xxiii. _see_ state chapters. conventions, nat'l. political, first appeal of women for suff., ; appeals in , et seq. --republican, record of, - , ; for , - . --democratic, record of, , ; for , . --populist, record of, - , ; for , . --prohibition, record of, ; for , . --other parties, record of, xviii, - ; for , . _see_ also democrats, populists, republicans, parties and p. . women delegates to nat'l. convs., , - ; work of miss anthony and others, et seq.; no hope for disfranch. class, ; sentiment among delegates, - . for work in state political convs., _see_ various state chapters. conventions, state constitutional, attempts to secure wom. suff. amdts., - ; ; in ala., ; n. d., ; s. d., ; del., ; ky., ; la., ; mass., ; miss., ; mont., ; n. h., ; n. j., ; n. m., ; n. y., , ; utah, ; vt., ; wash., ; wy., . councils of women, national and international, first int'l., et seq.; permanent councils formed, , ; nat'l. in ' , ; miss shaw's report of london int'l., ; miss anthony's report of same, suff. pervaded all, amer. wom. showed effects of liberty, ; nat'l. council, trib. to miss anthony on th birthday, ; int'l., same, ; nat'l. council, founding and work, - ; int'l., same, - . creeds. _see_ church. criminals, at ballot box, xxvi, . cuba, nat'l. ass'n. demands rights for its women, , ; appeals to congress for same, . curtesy. _see laws_ in each state chapter. debates, in congress, on wom. suff. com., et seq.; those of former years, ; first and only debate on th amend, to enfranchise women, et seq.; on admission of wy., et seq. --in national suffrage conventions, on dogmas and creeds, et seq.; on taking wom. suff. into church, ; on migratory convs., ; on woman's bible, . decisions. _see_ supreme court. declaration of independence, applied to women, . delegates, ; nat'l. conv. made delegate body, ; foreign to int'l. council, ; dels. to th anniv., ; to conv. of , ; to paris expos., ; to polit. convs., , - ; in col., ; in kas., ; in mont., ; _see_ also utah chap.; to nat'l. suff. convs. from ' to , . --fraternal, to conv. of ' , ; to wom. press ass'n., ; to int'l. council of ' , ; to suff. conv. of ' , ; to suff. conv. of , . democracy, disbelief in, xxvi, , ; wom. suff. asked in name of, ; u. s. not a, . democrats, enfranch. workingmen, xvii; ; in calif., - ; in col., ; in s. dak., ; in ida., - ; in ills., - ; in ind., ; in kas., , - ; in mass., ; in mich., ; in n. y., - , ; in utah, et seq.; in wash., ; in congress on wy., . _see_ conventions. dentistry, women in, ; . disfranchisement, degradation of, miss anthony on, ; ; ; ; ; mrs. stanton on, ; ; ; great sp. of mrs. stanton on, ; ; ; mrs. merrick on, ; ; men wd. not endure, ; same, . --disadvantages of, ; ; ; ; ; ; - ; ; ; ; to women wage-earners, ; same, ; ; ; ; . district of columbia, gift and trib. to miss anthony on th birthday, . _see_ chapter on d. c. divorce, ; ; ; national law, women should have voice in, ; evolution of, ; in wyoming, ; in wy., s. d. and ok., . domestic, household demands on women, ; too much housekeeping, ; future domestic service, ; effect of domestic life on women, ; home life of woman suffragists, ; what home means, ; woman's position in the home, ; husbands do not support wives, , , ; home vs. factory work, ; college women and home, ; need of trained work, . _see_ also _domestic_ under suffrage. donors, to hist. of wom. suff., v, vii; to int'l. council of wom., ; mrs. southworth, ; miss anthony, ; in conn., ; in ga., ; mrs. avery, ; in n. y., . --women, for education, ; in calif., ; in la., ; in md., . dower. _see laws_ in each state chapter. dress, descrip. of delegates', ; of miss anthony at conv. of ' , ; on th birthday, - . education, higher education of women, résumé of, , and in each state chapter under head of _education_, beginning . --majority would never consent to, xxii; statistics of, xxx; same, ; , teachers in ind. ask for ballot, ; educated women will not stand subjection, ; educated women deprived of ballot, ; intellectual capacity of women, ; ; more than some senators, ; woman senior wrangler at cambridge, ; a century ago, ; training of girl of future, ; easily obtained, , ; mrs. sewall on govt. no right to educate women and refuse them representation, ; its effects shown in amer. women at int'l. council in london, ; woman's from beginning of century, obstacles, direful predictions, - ; health of women graduates, ; women on faculties, ; donations of women to, , ; must lead to suff., ; effect on domestic life, ; catholic, ; same, ; in gr. brit., . _see_ also donors, illiteracy, public schools, universities. electorate, character of, xxiii; elements needed, xxvi; what composed of, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ; in col., ; in s. d., ; in wash., . enrollment, nat'l., for wom. suff., ; . _see_ petitions. equal rights, association for, ; demand for by int'l. council, ; they belong to women, no thanks to men, ; crime of denying to women, mr. foulke on, . _see_ progress of. europe, wom. suff. in countries of. _see_ chapter on, . federal suffrage, argument for, et seq.; miss anthony on, ; ; sen. blair on, ; ; ; . federation of women's clubs, legis. work, . _see_ closing paragraph in various state chapters, beginning , and also page . flags, at conv. of ' , ; col. presents one to miss anthony, - ; at conv. of ' , ; flag not desecrated by four stars, ; golden flag presented to miss a., . foreigners. _see_ immigrants. foreign countries, wom. suff. in. _see_ chap. lxxiv. france, wom. suff. in, , ; eminent advocates, . georgia, curiosities in, ; nat'l. suff. conv. in atlanta, ; illiterate vote, . _see_ state chapter. goddess of liberty, in n. y. harbor, ; same, ; miss anthony's features, ; wy. represents, ; on nat'l. capitol, a mockery, . governors of states, position on wom. suff., ; list favoring wom. suff., ; of wy. testify for wom. suff., et seq. grand army of the republic, favors wom. suff., ; ; . granges, favor wom. suff., ; always recognized equality of woman, ; position of woman in, ; nat'l. adopts wom. suff. res. in , - . _see_ various state chapters. great britain, chap. lxxiii; efforts for parliamentary franchise, , ; primrose league and liberal federation, ; better laws, ; local gov't., ; office holding, ; education, ; colonial progress, et seq.; petits. for suff., , , . -- gives local franchise to women, xiv; more liberal than u. s. on socialistic questions, ; enfranch. workingmen, ; same, ; progress of wom. suff., ; mrs. blatch on women on boards and wom. suff. in, ; remonstrants in, ; eminent advocates of wom. suff. in, . guardianship, equal of children. _see_ laws. hawaii, nat'l. suff. ass'n. demands rights for its women, ; injustice to them, ; resolution against "male" in its constitn., ; petitions congress in behalf of its women, ; outrageous constitn. adopted by congress, ; hawaiian members object, ; miss anthony's work for its women, ; appeals to congress for rights of its women, . head of family. _see_ laws and pp. ; ; in va., . hearings before congressional committees in ' , , ; in ' , ; in ' , before senate com., et seq.; in ' , same, ; before house, ; in ' , before senate, , ; before house, ; in ' , before senate, mrs. stanton on solitude of self, ; before house, ; in ' , before senate and house, ; in ' , before senate and house, ; in ' , before senate, ; before house, ; in , before senate, , miss anthony's plea at , ; before house, ; first appearance of "antis," - . history of woman suffrage, how it was written and published. _see_ preface. idaho, adopts wom. suff. amend., xxi; welcomed by nat'l. conv., ; story of amend, camp'n., - ; gift to miss anthony, . _see_ state chapter, also statistics and testimony. illinois, great petits. for wom. suff., ; laws for women, . _see_ state chapter. illiteracy, percentage of, smaller among women than men, xxii, ; in ga., ; shut it out from electorate, - ; not the ignorant alone opp. wom. suff., , ; decides fate of women, ; in s. d., . immigrants, english view of, ; their enfranchisement, ; same, ; polit. danger of, - ; german view, ; in neb., ; ; welcome to, ; enfranchised, mrs. stanton on, ; political rule of, american women in majority, ; placed over women, ; preferred to amer. women, mrs. stanton's picture of, ; should be welcomed but not enfranch., , ; in mich., ; compared to amer. women, ; . india, effect on its women of english laws, . indians, preferred to women voters in s. d., , ; gov't. favors over women, ; vs. american women, ; effect on women of "land in severalty," ; gov't. grants privileges denied to white women, ; authority of their women, . indifference of women, xxii; same, xxiv; reasons for, xxv; same, xxix; causes of, ; men will decide the question, ; no means of knowing, ; all women should not be punished for, ; fear to speak, ; pity for, ; women put everything before suff., , ; is result of disfranchis., ; does not affect the right of suff., ; miss blackwell on, ; women too much flattered, ; dangers of, ; always existed, ; women do not think, ; miss blackwell gives examples, ; parable of good samaritan, ; natural conservatism, ; timidity and ignorance, ; selfishness, ; those who have all the rights they want, ; same in col., . indirect influence, needs responsibility, ; - ; suff. would destroy, ; ; . individuality of woman, suff. a guarantee of, ; should not be allowed to wives, ; mrs. stanton on right to, ; rev. anna howard shaw on, , ; mrs. spencer on, ; new civilization will recognize, ; . iowa, reasons for refusing suff. amd't., xxi; nat'l. conv. in des moines, ; noted speakers before legis., . _see_ state chapter. ireland, wom. suff. in, ; wom. on school and poor law bds., . _see_ chapter on great britain. isle of man, wom. suff. in, . journalism, xxv; wom. in, ; early women writers, ; women in at paris expos., ; first, . juries, women should serve on, ; ; ; in wy., ; men's obligations, ; senators discuss, , ; need of women on, ; women and jury duty in ida., ; in utah, , ; in wash., , , , ; in wy., . kansas, grants municipal suff. to women, xv; xxi; xxix; treatment of women, ; suff. work of nat'l. ass'n. in, ; descript. of nat'l. delegates, - ; first constit'n. recognizes rights of women, ; amer. ass'n. meets in topeka, ; early work in, , ; mrs. howe's plea for suff. in, . _see_ state chapter and statistics. labor, disabilities of women, ; relation of wom. suff. to, ; same, ; suff. has no influence on price of, ; wage-earning women should marry, ; need of ballot for working women, ; same, ; knights of labor indorse wom. suff., ; dignifies woman, ; immoral women come from domestic life, ; husband does not "support" wife, , , ; man's material achievements, ; not woman's curse, ; degradation of woman's labor, ; organizations favor wom. suff., ; indust. emancip. of women, by carroll d. wright, have not taken men's work, new economic factor, leads to suff., ; suff. demanded for working women, ; women stenographers, ; women wage-earners in fla., ; florence kelley on labor unions and working woman's need of ballot, ; disfranch. women an injury to labor unions, ; fed. of labor greets nat'l. suff. ass'n., let. from pres. gompers, equal pay for wom., ; ass'n. returns thanks, ; entrance of women into unions and effect on suff., ; appeal of nat'l. fed. for wom. suff. in ' , ; miss laughlin on statistics of wage-earning women, need of ballot, ; ancient opp. to, ; working woman's great disadvantage, ; wages of men and wom., ; ; nat'l. fed. petit. for wom. suff. in after appeal from miss anthony. nat'l. bldg. and trades council, same, int'l. bricklayers' and masons', same, ; organizations for wom. suff., ; k. of l. declare for, . _see_ statistics. labor organizations, for wom. suff. _see_ above, also in col., - ; in s. d., ; in ills., - ; ; in mass., - - ; in minn., ; in n. j., ; in n. y., ; in ore., ; in r. i., ; in wash., . law, first woman admitted to practice before u. s. sup. ct., ; second, ; contest of mrs. bradwell in ills. and u. s. sup. ct., ; contest in cal., ; in ind., ; in md., ; in mich. to be pros. atty., ; in n. j., ; in penn., ; woman's coll. of, ; first woman to apply to practice, ; first coll. to graduate a woman, . _see_ also state chapters under _occupations_. --women in, send trib. to miss anthony on th birthday, . --common, ; ; ; résumé of and changes made, - ; ; in n. y., . --constitutional, bar to wom. suff., xiv, xv; . laws for women, résumé of, - . --property, for women, secured by a few, xxiii; in ky., ; wife is moneyless, ; inevitably one-sided, ; nine-tenths relate to property, ; uncertain for women, ; in ills., ; women could secure good laws with suffrage, ; present status, far from just to women, - ; dower and curtesy, ; guardianship of children, and liability of "head of family" for support, ; divorce, and the various causes for, ; age of protection, . _see_ each state chapter under head of _legislative action and laws_. for great britain, . legacies, mrs. eddy's to miss anthony, v; to nat'l. ass'n., ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . legislatures, action on bills and resolutions for full and limited suffrage and other measures, under head of _legislative action_, in each state chapter, beginning ; power to grant limited suff., xv; have granted much to women, ; congress should submit wom. suff. amdt. to, , , ; work of women members in col., - ; work of women members in utah, et seq. letters, telegrams, greetings, etc., to american suff. convs., _see_ chap. xxii; to natn'l. suff. conv. of ' , et seq., from noted english, - , bishop simpson, ; of ' , ; of ' , ; of ' , from mrs. stanton, , u. s. treas. spinner et al., ; of ' , from mrs. stanton, ; of ' , ; of ' , last from lucy stone, , from bishop hurst, ; of ' , from gov. waite, mrs. sewall, ; of ' , ; of ' , from miss reed, ; of ' , from abigail bush, lucinda h. stone and others, - ; of ' , from samuel gompers, , mrs. stanton, , - ; of , , . --to int'l. council of ' , . --to miss anthony on th birthday, ; on th, . --to various conventions, . --to governors of states and territories, . --to members of congress, , , , , , . --to political delegates and conventions, et seq. --to state constitutional conventions, . life and work of susan b. anthony, iv; . liquor dealers, control in politics, xix; attitude toward wom. suff., xix; influence in iowa, xxi; in neb., ; allied with women remonstrants, ; opposed to wom. suff., ; at nat'l. brewers' convention, ; in calif., , , - , , ; in idaho, ; in ariz., ; in col., , ; in s. d., ; in kas., , ; in ok., . longevity and vitality of women, . louisiana, miss anthony on women taxpayers' suff., . _see_ state chapter. magazines. _see_ newspapers. majority, opposed to any reform, xxii; same, xxiii; same, xxvi; must ask for wom. suff. no argument, xxxi; xxxii; never asked for anything, ; miss anthony on, ; wom. suff. should not wait for, ; must demand wom. suff., ; never granted anything, ; oppose every advance, mrs. catt on, - . marriage, suff. has no relation to, ; sen. brown's idea of, et seq.; in wom. suff. states, ; sen. vest on, et seq.; position of woman in, regulations made by men, obstacles to happiness, mrs. colby on, ; meaning of, narrowness of wives a detriment to men, mrs. stanton on, ; interdependence of husband and wife, mrs. wallace on, ; mr. hinckley on, ; each supports the other, , , ; of mr. blackwell and lucy stone, ; wife need not give up name, ; individuality of wife, miss shaw on, ; what wives want, . _see_ domestic. massachusetts, sentiment for wom. suff. in, ; lucy stone on treatment of women by its legis., ; early education of women, ; women taxpayers, . _see_ state chapter. matriarchate, mrs. spencer on evolution of family life, et seq.; . medicine, early struggles of women to study, ; letter from dr. elizabeth blackwell, ; efforts of wom. in, , ; statistics of women physicians, , , ; first woman to graduate, ; ; ; first to practice, ; only woman dean of mixed college, ; johns hopkins medical, ; medical societies in n. j., ; first woman's med. coll., ; tribute of women in, on miss anthony's th birthday, . _see_ also state chapters under _occupations_, and for physicians in institutions under _office holding_. michigan, munic. suff. bill vetoed, xv; vote on suff. amend., ; nat'l. ass'n. meets, . see state chapter. military, argument against wom. suff., nearly obsolete, xxxi; sen. palmer on, ; military questions must give way to economic, ; ability to bear arms not a voting test, ; sen. blair on military service no connection with suff., ; same on women can fight, ; sen. brown on women and military service, , , ; woman's record, , ; nation's debt to her, ; brute force passing away, ; woman's part in war, - , ; fighting qualities necessary in women, ; women first to see advantage of peace, ; miss clay on the military argument before senate com., ; miss shaw on, ; how women would have managed span. am. war, . ministers, early women, , ; rev. anna howard shaw on women ministers, ; tribute from, on miss anthony's th birthday, ; ; ministers in favor of wom. suff., . _see_ sermons. minnesota, difficulty of carrying wom. suff. amend., xvi; amer. suff. ass'n. meets in minneapolis, . _see_ state chapter. motherhood, xxxi; needed in politics, ; not a limitation, ; mrs. stanton on ancient idea of, ; sen. blair on maternity and suff., ; sen. brown on, et seq.; sen. dolph on, ; sen. eustis on, ; sen. vest on, ; miss willard asks suff. for mothers, ; mothers should be honored equally with fathers, ; mothers should be exempt from wage-earning, ; child dearer than all else, ; mrs. stetson on, ; not broad enough, ; mrs. spencer on motherhood among primitive peoples, - ; suff. and, , - , ; fits women for suff., ; all wom. not fitted for, ; congress of mothers, . _see_ also testimony from wom. suff. states, beginning , and state chapters for colorado, idaho, utah and wyoming. municipal suffrage, in kas., xv; bill vetoed in mich., xv; ; effect in kas., ; australia first country to grant, ; cities need woman's vote, , , ; in ireland, ; how gained in kas., et seq.; in kas., , ; in great brit., , ; in new zealand, ; in australia, et seq.; in canada, et seq.; in other countries, et seq. national suffrage association, membership and finance, xxx; contests for right to vote under th amend., ; abandons attempt, ; same for federal suff., ; begins efforts for th amend., ; work in the states, ; work before congress, ; effect on the franchise, ; founded in ' , ; conventions held, ; work in washington, ; finances in ' , ; conv. of ' , ; finances in ' , ; union with american ass'n., ; miss anthony declares for free platform, ; finances in ' , ; last app. of mrs. stanton and lucy stone, ; at columb. expos., ; freedom of platform, ; mem. serv. for lucy stone, ; finances in ' , org. com. established, ; finances in ' , ; headqrs. established, ; welcomes utah, ; breadth of platf., ; finances of ' , miss anthony's contrib., ; reports on course of study and finance, ; demands equal rights for women in every depart., ; finances in ' , ; washt'n _post_ compliments, ; advantage of meeting in capital, ; finances in , ; holds bazar, ; rec'd by pres. mckinley in , mrs. mckinley sends flowers, ; miss anthony resigns presidency, action of conv., her speeches, etc., et seq.; her farewell, ; mrs. chapman catt elected pres., ; introd. by miss anthony, sp. of accept., ; notices of new pres., ; love for miss shaw, ; celebrates miss anthony's th birthday, et seq.; appeals to political convs. and delegates in , - ; nat'l and state work, ; work for rights of women in our new possessions, chap. xix; synopsis of constitn., officers, committees, life members and delegates, et seq. for general work, _see_ chaps. ii-xxii. nebraska, difficulty of carrying amend., xvi; suff. amend, campn., . _see_ state chapter. need, of man and woman in law and politics, ; in the home, everywhere, ; of each for other, ; same, ; of both in gov't, . negroes, how enfranch., xvii; why disfranch., xviii; placed above women, ; right to suff., ; nat'l. amend. necessary, ; women should not have suff., - ; ; deprived of suff. in south, compared to white women, ; women in smoking cars, ; if denied suff. should not be counted in basis of represent., ; trib. of wom. to miss anthony on th birthday, ; her sympathy for, ; nat'l. ass'n. of colored women, . new jersey, failure of sch. suff. amend., xvi; first state to grant wom. suff., ; account of same, . _see_ state chapter. new south wales, chapter on, . newspapers and magazines.[ ] _advertiser_ (new decatur, ala.), . _arena, the_, , - . _argonaut_ (san francisco), . _australian register_, . _australian woman's sphere_ (melbourne), . _boomerang_ (laramie, wyo.), . _bricklayer and mason_, . _bulletin_ (san francisco), . _call_ (san francisco), , , , . _chicago law times_, . _christian advocate_, . _colorado springs gazette_, . _commercial gazette_ (cin'ti), . _congressional record_, . _constitution_ (atlanta), , . _daily statesman_ (boise, ida.), , . _daily times_ (seattle), . _democrat_ (grand rapids), . _democratic state journal_ (wash.), . _englishwoman's review_, , , . _enquirer_ (cin'ti), . _evening news_ (washtn.), . _evening post_ (new york), . _examiner_ (san francisco), . _express_ (los angeles), . _fortnightly review_, - . _freemen's labor journal_ (spokane), . _harper's bazar_, . _harper's magazine_, . _herald_ (boston), . _leader_ (des moines), , . _legal news, the_ (chicago), , . _lily_ (amelia bloomer, ed.), , . _liquor dealer_ (los angeles), . massachusetts papers, . _mirror_ (seattle), . _nevada citizen_, . _new northwest_, . _nineteenth century_ (eng.), . _oregonian_ (portland), . _picayune_ (new orleans), , . _post_ (san francisco), . _post_ (washtn.), , , , , , , , , - , , , . _post-intelligencer_ (seattle), . _public ledger_ (phila.), . _record_ (san francisco), . _record-union_ (sacramento), . _remonstrance_ (boston), . _report_ (san francisco), . rhode island papers, - . _saturday review_ (atlanta), . _star_ (richmond, va.), . _star_ (san francisco), . _star_ (washtn.), , , , . _suffrage reveille_ (kas.), . _suffragist_ (ills.), . _sun_ (baltimore), . _sun_ (new york), , . _sunday world_ (los angeles), . _sunny south_ (atlanta), . _times_ (leavenworth, kas.), . _times_ (london, eng.), . _times_ (los angeles), , . _times_ (new york), . _town talk_ (los angeles), . _transcript_ (olympia), . _tribune_ (chicago), , . _una_ (paulina wright davis, ed.), . _wisconsin citizen_, , . _woman's chronicle_ (ark), - . _woman's column_ (boston), , , . _woman's exponent_ (utah), et al. _woman's forum_ (ills.), . _woman's journal_ (boston), , , , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , . _woman's standard_ (ia.), , . _woman's tribune_ (washtn.), , , , , , , , . _women's suffrage journal_ (eng.), , . _young woman's journal_, . _see_ press. new york, attempt to confer sch. suff. on women, xv; women demand represent. at centennial, ; women taxpayers, , , , ; report of const'l. conv. of ' , ; opinion of atty. gen. and other lawyers on sch. suff. and office-holding for women, . _see_ state chapter. new zealand, chapter on, ; eminent advocates of wom. suff., . occupations, résumé of women in, ; entrance of women, xxii, xxiii, xxv; statistics, xxx; advantage of ballot, ; progress of women in, ; women first in, ; mr. bok on women in business, ; danger of disfranch. women in, ; statistics of wages, ; business women send trib. to miss anthony on th birthday, . _see_ state chapters under head of _occupations_, beginning p. ; also labor and various professions, law, etc. office-holding by women, résumé of, , and in each state chapter under head of _office-holding_, beginning ; sen. vest on, ; sen. hoar on, ; in wy., ; women first employed in gov't dept., ; in nat'l. gov't. depts. at present, ; in gr. brit, ; in canada, _see_ chapter on, . officers, of amer. suff. ass'n. in ' , ; from ' to , ; of nat'l. suff. ass'n. in ' , ; from to , ; of nat'l.-amer. ass'n. in ' , ; in ' , ; in ' , ; in , . --of first nat'l. council of women, . --of state suff. assns., listed in each state chapter, beginning p. . opponents of wom. suff., _see_ church, congress, debates, electorate, indifference of women, liquor dealers, remonstrants, reports, etc. _see_ also for arguments of, p. et seq. and p. et seq. oregon, xxi; xxix; three classes of opponents, ; amer. suff. ass'n. aids, . _see_ state chapter. organization for wom. suff., plan of, ; inadequacy of, ; nat'l. com. established, ; mrs. catt's work, ; her report, ; work of utah women, ; necessity of, ; report of ' , obstacles to, ; report of ' , ; in various states, . _see_ also state chapters, beginning p. . organizations of women, national, chap. lxxv. --ass'n for adv'mt of wom., . --coll. alum., ass'n of, . --colonial dames of amer., . --col'd wom., nat'l ass'n of, . --council of women, int'l, . --council of women, nat'l, - . --daughters of amer. rev., . --daughters of the rev., . --daught. of vets., nat'l all., . --daught. of confed., united, . --daught. of , nat. soc, . --daughters of rebekah, . --eastern star, order of, . --fed. of clubs, general, . --g. a. r., ladies of, . --household econ., nat'l as., . --indian ass'n. wom. nat'l., . --jewish wom., nat. coun. of, . --keeley rescue league, . --kindergarten union, nat'l., . --loc. eng'rs, ladies' aux., . --maccabees of world, sup. hive, ladies of, . --missionary societies, - . --mothers, nat'l. cong. of, . --mt. vernon ladies' ass'n., . --music. clubs, nat'l. fed. of, . --needlework guild of am., . --prison ass'n., woman's, . --railroad cond., ladies' aux., . --rathbone sisters of world, sup. temple, . --red cross soc., am. nat'l., . --relief corps, woman's, . --relief soc., nat'l. wom., . --sabbath alliance, wom., . --social purity, christian league for, . --sunshine soc., internat'l., . --wom. chr. temp. union, . --women workers, nat'l., . --young ladies' mutual improvement ass'n., . --y'ng wom. chr. ass'n., . --miscellaneous, . --of men and women, . --in great britain, liberal federation, primrose league and nat'l. suff. society, - . --general comment on, majority would not have consented to, xxii; great power of, xxv; value of anti-suff., xxix; working toward suff., xxx; suff. organizations, rank first, ; vast increase, ; first on record and evolution of, - ; first temperance organ'zs., ; during civil war, ; dignity of convs., ; great scope of objects but few for suff., - ; all leading to it, ; value in develop, of women, ; number enrolled, ; future power, ; gov't. must have their help, . parties, _see_ alphabetical list and also conventions. so-called third, xviii; their general attitude, ; ; - ; ; ; ; - - ; - ; ; ; ; ; - ; ; ; ; - ; . peace, conf. at hague, nat'l. suff. ass'n. expresses sympathy, ; res. for peace services, ; . _see_ war. persecution, of early workers, xxviii; not ended, xxxii; of sex causes moral chaos, ; fate of reformers, . petition, woman's right to, ; have exercised it many years, ; congress must not deny, . petitions, for wom. suff., great number, ; for many years, ; in ills., ; in o., ; ; national enrollment, ; million signatures, ; size of, ; fed. of labor for wom. suff., ; in wy., ; in n. y., . _see_ chap. xxiii and state chapters under _legislative action_. in great brit., , , ; in n. z., ; in victoria, . --against wom. suff., ; in ills., ; in mass., , et al.; in n. y., ; in r. i., . philippines, nat'l. suff. ass'n. demands rights for their women, ; mrs. spencer on our duty to the women of our new possessions, et seq.; discussion, et seq.; no hope for their women, ; testimony in favor before senate com., . _see_ chap. xix for full statement. pharmacy, in ky., . physical ability, woman lacks, , , . _see_ military. pioneers, first work for wom. suff., xiii; early conditions of women, ; at int'l. council, ; in the west, ; struggles of, ; work of, ; appeal for their children, ; tributes to by miss anthony and fred. douglass, ; trib. of douglass to, ; in utah, ; gratitude to, ; young women should continue their work, ; mem. services for, ; at conv. of ' , - ; of ' , . plan of work, adopted by nat'l. suff. conv. of ' , , ; by conv. of ' , ; suggestions for suff. clubs, ; of amer. suff. ass'n. in ' , . police matrons, _see_ _office-holding_ in state chapters, beginning p. . politics, effect of women in, xix; crowding in, xxx; too hard for women, ; in ' , ; wom. suff. in polit. meetings, ; should advocates suff. take part in? et seq.; in utah, ; in n. y., ; anti-suffragists in, _see_ remonstrants. politicians, object to wom. suff., xix; xx; xxi; women as, . for politics and politicians, _see_ chapters for states where women vote and in which wom. suff. campaigns have been held; also parties, conventions, republicans, etc. populists, ; in calif., , - ; in col., xviii, , ' , ' , ' , ' , ' ; in ida., , ' , ' ; in kas., - , - , ; in mont., ; in wash., - . _see_ conventions and parties. porto rico, nat'l. ass'n. demands rights for women in, ; appeals to cong. for same, in , . postmasters, women, . prayers, mrs. mclaren on, ; mrs. gougar on, ; mrs. crooker on, ; miss shaw on, . _see_ church. presidents, of nat'l. suff. ass'n., mrs. stanton, in ' , ; of united assn's. in ' , ; resigns and made hon. pres., ; lucy stone made hon. pres., ; miss anthony elected pres. in ' , ; resigns in , ; mrs. chapman catt elected, ; miss a. made hon. pres., . --and vice-presidents of u. s. favoring wom. suff., . --of universities and colleges, same, . presidential suffrage, form of petition, ; bill in kas., . press, present attitude, xxviii; on dress of delegates, ; change in tone, ; miss anthony against starting paper, ; report of nat'l. press work for ' , ; for ' , ; for ' , ; early comment on wom. suff., ; wom. suff. dept. in n. y. _sun_, ; need of women on press, ; report to amer. conv. of ' , ; of ' , ; press in calif, campn., , . _see_ newspapers. prince of india, everlasting record, . progress of equal rights, reasons for, xiii; present status, xxv; hope for future, xxvi; more rapid in future, xxxiii; effect of civil war on, ; congress'l. com. report, ; sen. palmer on, ; ; ; ; miss anthony on, ; ; ; ; in public sentiment, ; in the south, ; ; social, educat'l, etc., mrs. catt on, ; as shown in treatment of miss anthony, , ; in position of advocates, ; ; in the laws, - . progress of woman suffrage, ; ; ears will be unstopped, ; ; appearances of advocates, ; ; members electoral coll., ; ; ; ; ; in england, , . professions, women in, _see_ law, medicine, etc., also occupations. property, lucy stone on laws in mass., ; owners are one-fourth women, nine-tenths of laws made for property, . résumé of laws, et seq. _see_ laws, also each state chapter under _legislative action and laws_. public schools, statistics of pupils, xxx; girls formerly not admitted in mass., ; ; high schools, in del., ; in phila., ; in providence, . _see_ each state chapter under head of _education_, beginning, p. . queensland, _see_ chapter on, . radicals, of each new age, xxxiii; , . receptions, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . _see_ various state chapters beginning . reformers, rev. anna howard shaw on, et seq. religion, _see_ church. reminiscences of elizabeth cady stanton, iv; . remonstrants, women against suff., xxix; in politics, ; called to account, ; mr. foulke on, ; mrs. howe on, ; ; three classes of, ; ; miss blackwell on, ; allied with liquor dealers, ; satire on, ; grace greenwood on, ; in england, take advantage of every gain, ; mrs. catt on, ; against education, property laws, etc., ; before sen. com. in , ; before house com., amusing occurrences, ; in different stages of evolution, ; in col., ; in s. d., ; in kansas, ; in mass., , - , et al.; in n. y., , - , ; in ok., ; in ore., ; in wash., ; in austr., . reports, of congress'l coms. on wom. suff., ; house judic., of ' , et seq., et seq.; of ' , et seq.; of ' , ; of ' , ; senate, of ' , ; _see_ also et seq; of ' , ; of ' , ; work of miss anthony and mrs. upton in securing, . --of nat'l. suff. conv. of ' , ; of intl. council of ' , ; on nat'l. enrollment, , , ; of nat'l. council of ' , ; of columbian expos. com., . --state, to nat'l. suff. convs., ; to american suff. convs., . --miss anthony's on work in conventions of , et seq. representation, basis of, federal constitution on, ; women should not be counted till enfranch., , . --indirect, of women by men, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; miss blackwell on, . representatives, u. s., favoring wom. suff., . _see_ state chapters under _legislative action_. republicans, enfranch. negro men, xvii; ; in calif., , , ; in col., , , - ; in s. d., ; in ida., - ; in ills., - ; in ind., ; in kas., - , - , ; in mass., , , ; in mich., ; in n. y., et seq., ; in utah, , et seq.; in wash., ; in congress on wy., ; nat'l. league of clubs, - . _see_ conventions. resolutions, at nat'l suff. conv. of ' , right of women to vote under th amend., ; at conv. of ' , ; on death of wendell phillips, ; for intl. council, ; on anna ella carroll, ; on creeds and dogmas., ; memorial of ' , ; on carrying wom. suff. into church, ; for th amend. to nat'l const'n., ; at conv. of ' , ; of thanks to men, ridiculed by mrs. stanton, ; at conv. of ' , ; on trial of susan b. anthony, ; on disfranch. of women in wash. ty., ; on represent. of wom. at n. y. centennial, ; by mrs. stanton on the church and divorce, ; memorial of ' , ; at conv. of ' , ; for sunday opening of world's fair, ; to prohibit sale of liquor at same, ; mem. of ' , to geo. w. curtis and others, et seq.; at conv. of ' , ; mem. of ' , ; of ' , ; of ' , ; against woman's bible, ; mem. of ' , ; at conv. of ' , ; mem. of ' , ; of fed. of labor for wom. suff. in ' , ; res. for peace services, ; at conv. of ' , ; mem. of ' , ; of fed. of labor in ' , ; mem. of , ; res. on wom. suff. in col., ; on miss anthony's resignation, ; of amer. suff. conv. in ' , ; mem. of frances d. gage and others, ; at amer. conv. of ' , ; of ' , ; for union of two suff. societies, ; of col. legis., ; of wy. legis., . _see_ also various state chapters beginning . revolution, will it be necessary for wom. suff.? ; women will cause, . right, suffrage a, proved by nat'l. constit'n, xxxii; guaranteed by it, , ; ; - ; rep. maybury denies, ; rep. poland, ; ; cong. com. report, ; miss eastman on, , ; cong. com. report, ; sen. blair on, , , ; sen. dolph on, - - ; sen. vest denies, ; mrs. gage on, ; sen. blair on, ; mr. foulke on, - ; mrs. howe on, ; mrs. wallace on, ; mrs. stanton on, ; lucy stone on, ; mrs. catt on, ; miss blackwell on, ; miss reed on, ; mr. garrison on, ; miss anthony on, ; mrs. blake on, - ; chancellor eliot on, ; - . school suffrage, bills vetoed in calif., xv; experience in n. y., xv; in wis., xv; in n. j., xvi; in s. d., xvi; men do not exercise, , ; ; in boston, ; legality in n. y., ; in great brit., ; in new zeal., ; in canada, et seq.; where possessed in u. s., . _see_ chapters for these states under _suffrage_. science and wom. suff., mrs. gage on, ; botanical objection, . self-government best means of self-development, mrs. stanton on, . senators, u. s., favoring wom. suff., . sermons, miss shaw on heavenly vision and progress of race, ; ; ; ; ; ; miss shaw on let no man take thy crown, ; minister in atlanta opp. wom. suff., ; at atlanta conv., - ; ; dean of chichester against wom. suff., ; at conv. of ' . ; at conv. of , miss shaw on rights of women, ; cardinal gibbons against wom. suff., . soldiers, women as, - ; wom. produce, ; efforts to enable to vote, ; women bear the arm-bearers, . _see_ military and war. solitude of self, address by mrs. stanton, . south, position of women, ; ; speakers, ; women orators of, ; ; its women want suff., ; illiterate vote in ga., ; tour of by nat'l. spkrs., ; ; ; mrs. young on progress in, ; ala. and miss. grant property rights to women, ; . south dakota, failure of sch. suff. amend., xvii; xxi; xxix; nat'l. ass'n. raises funds for campn., ; miss shaw describes, ; ; suff. bill vetoed, . _see_ state chapter. speakers, at int'l. council of ' , ; at miss anthony's th birthday recep., ; at th birthday recep., - ; at nat'l. suff. convs., _see_ respective chapters, beginning p. ; before congress'l. coms., _see_ chapters for even years; at amer. suff. convs., _see_ chap. xxiv. _see_ state chapters for state speakers. --of house of representatives favoring wom. suff., . state chapters, beginning . state's rights, to grant suff., ; same, ; ; ; . statistics, of women wage-earners, xxiii, xxx; of public schools, xxx; of foreign vote in wis., ; of women physicians, , ; health of women graduates, ; wages of women, , ; of woman vote in col., ; in ida., ; in kas., ; in mass., ; in ohio, ; in utah, ; in wash., , ; in wyo., ; in new zeal., ; in s. australia, ; vote on wom. suff. in kas., . suffrage, woman, --advantages of, , , , , , , , , , , , . --advocates, character of, xxxii, ; debt owed to, ; are not dreamers, ; list of, ; _see_ debates in congress, et seq., et seq., et seq.; also various chapters and p. et seq. --bible, for and against. _see_ bible. --bills for. _see_ bills. --campaigns for. _see_ amendment campaigns. --church, attitude of. _see_ church. --congressional action. _see_ congress. --constitutional phases of. _see_ constitutions. --conventions for. _see_ conventions. --debates on. _see_ congress. --decisions. _see_ supreme court decisions. --democracy of. _see_ democracy. --domestic, argument against wom. suff. losing force, xxxi; reagan, of texas, on this point, ; john quincy adams on, ; woman's sphere, ; would break up home ; proper sphere, ; position of woman in all countries, , ; fear of quarrels, ; sphere of two sexes, ; woman is queen, ; would disrupt family, ; harmony not disturbed, ; embrace of female politician, - - , ; woman's sphere narrowed, ; vote of husband and wife, ; wives of great men, ; wom. suff. and home, effect where women vote, ; evolution of family life, ; college wom. and home, - ; no relation between suff. and housekeeping, ; modern home happiest, ; domestic instincts eternal, ; effect of wom. suff. on domestic life in colorado, , , ; in idaho, ; in utah, , ; in wyoming, , , , , - . --economics of, ; woman as economic factor, ; household economics, ; basis of wom. suff., . --educated, constitutional to require it, ; argument against, ; argument for, , ; gov't. no right to educate women and refuse representation, ; mrs. stanton on, ; education must lead to suffrage, . _see_ education. --ethics of, , , , , , ; influence of woman, ; ; mrs. stanton on, ; mrs. wallace on, - ; - ; evolution of wom. suff., mrs. spencer on, . --expediency of, xxiv; ; sen. vest on, ; ; ; phillips on, . --federal. _see_ federal suffrage. --illiterate. _see_ illiteracy. --indifference of women. _see_ indifference. --justice of, , , , , , , , , , - , ; lucy stone on, ; , , , , , , , ; curtis and hoar on, . --labor and. _see_ labor. --legislative action on. _see_ legislatures. --liquor dealers and. _see_ liquor dealers. --majority of women opposed. _see_ majority. --military argument against. _see_ military. --motherhood and. _see_ motherhood. --ministers for and against. _see_ ministers, church and sermons. --morality through, xxvi; , , , , , , , , , . --municipal. _see_ municipal suffrage. --nature and, limitations of, ; mrs. stanton on balance of forces, ; nature opposes, ; can not reverse laws of, ; can be trusted, ; same, ; severe lessons of, . --need of, , , , ; mrs. wallace on, ; , ; to offset foreign vote, ; ; senate com. report, ; by wives and mothers, ; ; ; ; by city and state, ; by home, school and municipality, ; by the government, ; . --negroes and. _see_ negroes. --non-partisanship of demand, , , , , ; debate at nat'l. conv. of ' , ; ; . --opposition to. _see_ introduction; of church, state, home and society, mrs. stanton on, ; ignorance of, ; great obstacles, . _see_ also liquor dealers, remonstrants, congressional debates and reports. --organization for. _see_ organization. --petitions for. _see_ petitions. --philosophy of, mrs. colby on, . _see_ also ethics. --pioneers of. _see_ pioneers. --progress of. _see_ progress of wom. suff. and equal rights. --protection of, ; mrs. stanton on, ; - , , , , , , , , , , ; higginson on, ; ; . --qualifications for, sen. blair on, - ; physical, ; et seq. _see_ also military. --right of. _see_ right, suffrage a. --school. _see_ school suffrage. --science of, scientific aspect, by mrs. gage, . --sermons on. _see_ sermons. --south and. _see_ south. --state's rights and. _see_ state's rights. --taxation and. _see_ taxation and taxpayers' suffrage. --temperance through, xxvi; ; bishop simpson on, ; ; miss willard's plea, ; res. against liquor selling at world's fair, ; . --in territories. _see_ chapters on territories. --testimony for. _see_ testimony. --universal, approved, xxvii; cong. com. rep., ; same, ; mrs. hooker on, ; ; ; ; . --war and. _see_ war. suffrage, woman, miscellaneous, full résumé of, _see_ introduction. amount now possessed and how obtained, xxvii, , . _see_ also chapters of states and territories under head of _suffrage_. why denied to woman, xiv et seq.; effect on politics, xix; obstacles to, xx et seq.; future prospects, xxvi et seq.; where taken away, xxvii, , ; attempt of women to vote under th amend., et seq.; capacity for, ; evolution of, ; mrs. spencer on, ; scientific view of, , ; practical experience, _see_ testimony, chapters on states where women vote, also sen. palmer on, , sen. dolph on, ; dangers of, sen. brown on, et seq., sen. vest on, et seq., et seq.; danger of withholding, mrs. stanton on, , , mrs. wallace on, ; unequal struggle for, mrs. stanton on, , ; men's indifference to, ; peaceful effort for, , ; industrial emancip. leads to, carroll d. wright on, ; man improved by, ; immense work of a few for, . _see_ vote, and presidential, suffrage; also chapter on great britain and her colonies and chap. lxxiv. sunday observance, mrs. stanton on, ; ; . supreme court decisions, u. s., dred scott case defining citizens, , ; on virginia l. minor's attempt to vote, ; slaughter house cases, ; yarbrough on federal suff., ; on th amend., ; ; ; against right of women to practice law, ; on woman's right to vote, ; recognizing slavery, ; justices of, favoring wom. suff., . --state, on attempt of miss anthony, mrs. virginia l. minor and other wom. to vote, et seq.; on federal suffrage in kellar case (ills), ; on property rights of women in calif., ; on wom. suff. in calif., ; on wom. suff. amend. in ida., , ; on woman's right to vote, to practice law and to sell liquor in ind., - , ; on munic. suff. in mich., ; on sch. suff. in n. j., ; on sch. suff. in n. y., ; same in o., ; women's voting on constitn. in utah, ; on wom. suff. in wash., - , ; in wis., ; justices of, favoring wom. suff., del., ; ida., , ; kas., , ; wy., - - . tasmania, chapter on, . taxation, without representation, xxxi; in mass., ; ; ; ; ; ; of women in n. y., mass. and tenn., ; in ga., ; in n. y., , , ; of women helps pay legislators, ; women should be relieved of until enfranch., ; chicago teachers' fed. compels taxation of corporations, ; ; in phila., . taxpayers' suffrage, states where possessed by women, . _see_ chapters for those states under _suffrage_. --in la., ; in miss., ; in mont., ; in n. y., . _see_ also iowa, . teachers, _see_ education, public schools and universities. territories, demand for wom. suff. in, ; appeals to constit'l. convs. of dak., wash., mont. and idaho, ; mr. blackwell visits them in interest of wom. suff., ; have a right to control suff., . _see_ territorial chapters. testimony, in favor of wom. suff., from colorado, , , , - , , , ; kansas, ; utah, , ; u. s. sen. cannon on, ; st. sen. martha hughes cannon on, ; washington, u. s. sen. palmer on, ; u. s. sen. dolph on, , , - ; in wyoming, u. s. sen. palmer on, , u. s. sen. carey on, , , , debate on admission to statehood, et seq. _see_ statistics, also _testimony from wom. suff. states_, beginning p. , state chapters for colorado, idaho, kansas, utah and wyoming and pp. - . universities and colleges, large number of women in, xxii; women on faculties, ; emma willard's school, geometry in, ; mt. holyoke, latin in, ; first boston high school, ; president eliot on girls in boston latin school and radcliffe, ; johns hopkins medical, ; wellesley students for wom. suff., ; teachers for, ; same, ; smith, same, ; girton and newnham (eng.), same, ; woman suffrage in, ; radcliffe, , ; columbia, ; rochester, ; brown, - ; oberlin, ; antioch, ; state, closed to wom., ; open to women in gr. brit., ; in other countries, et seq.; presidents of, favoring wom. suff., . _see_ also education. utah, adopts wom. suff., xxi; ; visit of miss anthony and miss shaw in ' , ; welcomed by nat'l. ass'n., ; organiz'n for wom. suff., ; gift to miss anthony, . _see_ state chapter, also statistics and testimony. victoria, chapter on, . voices, of women, ; - . vote, woman's, political complexion of, xviii, not wanted by politicians and others, xix; best women would not vote, ; they would, ; they would not, ; women do vote, , , ; first voted in n. j., , ; future woman will be urged to vote, . _see_ statistics, suffrage, testimony, and chapters for colorado, idaho, kansas, utah, washington, wyoming, australia and new zealand. --of nat'l. conv. on carrying wom. suff. into church, ; on woman's bible, ; in u. s. senate on amend. for wom. suff., . wages, _see_ labor and statistics. wills, _see_ p. and laws. war, hated by women, xix, , ; man's part compared to woman's, ; woman's part in war, - ; first to see advantages of peace, ; pathetic war for suff., , ; war should have consent of women, ; women left to fight alone, ; badly needed in span. am., ; women and the south african, . _see_ military and soldiers. --civil, developed woman, ; results frittered away, ; woman's part in, . washington city, plan to beautify, xxxii; entertains nat'l. suff. convs. from ' , ; miss anthony's preference as a place for holding convs., , . _see_ accounts of nat'l. convs., chaps. ii-xxii, also chapter on district of columbia. washington territory, xxi; xxix; sen. dolph on enfranch. of its women, ; their disfranch. denounced, ; full account of this, - . _see_ state chapter, also statistics and testimony. wisconsin, sch. suff. in, xv; rule of foreigners, . _see_ state chapter. womanliness, ; ; ; ; ; mrs. stanton on, ; ; ; ; et seq. woman's christian temperance union, petition for suff., ; ; miss willard represents before sen. com. of ' , - ; wom. suff. in ' , ; at nat'l. conv. of ' , . for bills in legislatures _see_ pp. - , and various state chapters under head of _legislative action_; also canada, new zealand and tasmania; for founding and work, et seq.; attitude towards wom. suff., . woman's rights conventions, demands of first one nearly all granted, xiii; earliest ones held, ; th annivers., ; ; th anniv., ; descrip. of, - ; compared to bunker hill, etc., ; . workingmen, how enfranchised, xvii, same, ; in great brit., ; injured by disfranch. women, . _see_ labor. workingwomen, relation of wom. suff. to, ; nat'l. ass'n. demands suff. for, . _see_ labor and statistics. wyoming, adopts wom. suff., xxi; nat'l. ass'n. congratulates on admission, ; gavel from, ; ; visit of miss anthony and miss shaw, ; compared to switzerland, ; gift and trib. to miss anthony on th birthday, ; petits. cong. for th amend., ; debate in cong. on admission, et seq. _see_ state chapter, also statistics and testimony. footnotes: [ ] it has been impossible to index every paper named in the history, and only those are given of which special mention is made. index of proper names. in order that the following index may not be overburdened with names, it has seemed best not to include those of officers and workers in the various states unless they are listed in some capacity elsewhere. while this decision causes injustice in some cases, it will be approved when it is considered that in the massachusetts chapter, for instance, about different individuals are mentioned, some of them a score of times; in those of new york and california, over each, and in that of vermont, including only seven pages, nearly . with half-a-dozen exceptions the state chapters are very short and it will require only a few minutes for the reader to find any name desired. most of the prominent state workers are mentioned elsewhere and therefore are listed. even with this arrangement the index contains almost names. abbott, dr. lyman, . abbott, mrs. lyman, organizes anti-suff. soc., . abbott, merrie hoover, contest for office of pros. att'y., . aberdeen, ishbel, countess of, ; compliments amer. wom., ; . adams, abigail, on female education, ; courtship, . adams, gov. alva, ; talks suff. to fed. of clubs, ; ; on wom. suff. in col., . adams, judge francis g., ; statistics of wom. suff. in kas., . adams, pearl, . adams, samuel, on representation, . addams, jane, ; . adkinson, florence m., ; ; . adsit, mrs. allen c., . alabama, names for, chap. xxv. alcott, louisa m., in favor of wom. suff., ; ; . alden, cynthia westover, . alderson, mary long, writes mont. chap., . aldridge, george w., . alford, william h., . allen, c. e., m. c., ; on wom. suff. platform, ; . allen, mrs. c. e., . allen, u. s. sen. john b., ; favors wom. suff., ; reports in favor, . altgeld, gov. john p. (ills.), . ambrose, james clement, . ames, rev. charles g., ; in mass., et al., . ames, fanny b., . ames, gov. oliver (mass.), ; ; recom. wom. suff. in message, ; same, ; ; . amies, olive pond, . anderson, mrs. garrett, m. d., (eng.), . anderson, martha scott, ; . anderson, naomi, ; . anderson, st. rep. sarah a. (utah), . andrews, bishop e. g., . andrews, elisha benjamin, pres. brown univ., works for admis. of wom., . andrews, st. speaker n. l., wom. suff. in wy., . anneke, mathilde f., ; work in wis., . anthony, col. daniel reed, ; . anthony, gov. george t. (kas.), opp. wom. suff., . anthony, u. s. sen. henry b., ; rep. in favor of wom. suff., ; ; . anthony lucy e., ; ; in calif, camp'n., ;, ; . anthony, mary s., ; work in n. y., et al. anthony, susan b., prepares hist. of wom. suff., iii; rec. legacy for, v; purchases rights of mrs. stanton and mrs. gage and puts book in libraries, resigns presidency of nat'l. assn., vi; secures money for vol. iv and invites mrs. harper to write it, vii; demands on her for inform., ix; tries to prevent "male" in nat'l. constit., ; trial for voting, ; no faith in attempt for fed. suff., ; winter res. in washt'n., ; forms nat'l. ass'n., ; issues call for conv. of ' , ; ; arouses interest of eng. wom., ; disgrace of disfranchisement, ; never wrote addresses, ; writes to m. c.'s, ; ; pleads for th amend, before u. s. senate com., ; before house com., ; ; opp. relig. debate in wom. suff. conv., ; ; describes first suff. meet. in washt'n., ; ; ; on sup. ct. decisions, ; arrested under fed. law for voting, ; ; on congress'l action on wom. suff., ; ; world needed her, ; originates int'l council, ; issues call, ; edits report, ; opens council, ; ; ; elected vice-pres., ; before senate com. in ' , ; opens conv. of ' , ; ; describes efforts to vote under th amend., ; conv. res. on outrage of her trial, ; at com. hearings, ; wom. in war, ; th birthday, ; demands free platform, ; as presiding officer, ; elected vice-pres. of united ass'ns., ; puts int'l council report in libraries, ; opens conv. of ' , ; ; miss shaw tells treatment of in s. d. rep. conv., ; ; ; elected pres. nat'l. am. ass'n., ; winter home at riggs house, ; before house com., ; compliments sen. hoar, ; ; opens memorial service of ' , ; young wom. should apprec. pioneers, ; gains of forty years, ; world's fair bd. lady m'g'rs., ; on bd. m'g'rs. n. y. st. indust. sch., ; refused seat on w. c. t. u. platform in ' , ; on publishing paper, ; opp. to convs. outside of washt'n., ; flag present, by col. women, ; every inch of ground contested, ; suff. ass'n. knows no section, creed or party, ; spicy introductions, ; ; part in securing world's fair bd. lady m'g'rs., ; wom. never can vote under present constit'n., ; introd. kate field, ; ; rare qualities as presid. officer, ; examples of repartee, , , ; trib. in atlanta conv., ; young wom. know it all, ; announces nat'l. hdqrs., ; spks. in southern cities, ; forgets prayer at conv., ; miss shaw tells of their visit to western cities, ; miss a. jokes younger wom. on holding her bonnet, on getting crosswise with newspapers, ; ; spks. at mem. serv. of ' , ; birthday luncheon, ; sp. on woman's bible, ; ; before house com. of ' , ; ; at des moines conv. in ' , ; sp. at same, ; trib. of _leader_, ; on desecrating the flag, ; ; on partisanship, ; ; ; opens conv. of ' , ; birthday luncheon in ' , ; ; with mrs. hooker at conv. of ' , ; ; congrat. on th birthday, ; ; ; ; before house com. of ' , ; sp. at conv. of ' , on wom. in our new possessions, ; ; ; ; on wom. in hawaii, ; on women's voices, ; ; ; a criminal, ; all wom. can help, ; ; decides to resign presidency of nat'l. ass'n., ; vigor at, conv. of , ; appearance and opening remarks, miss shaw tells of her recep. in london, and relates funny story, ; rep. as delegate to int'l. council of ' , ; describes recep. by queen, value of representing something, ; introd. mr. blackwell, ; ; ; ; clears ass'n. of debt, need to watch congress, ; ; sp. before senate com. of ' , ; asks hearing for "antis," ; kindness repudiated, - ; courtesy of pres. and mrs. mckinley, ; urged not to resign presidency, ; insists upon doing so, res. passed by ass'n., her response, ; always in office, ; introd. her successor, ; elected hon. pres., and presented with birthday gifts, ; _post_ describes occasion, ; ; ; introd. her old board and makes farewell sp., description by _post_, ; th birthday celebration in lafayette opera house, gifts and tributes, her acknowledgment, - ; evening recep. in corcoran art gallery, description of miss anthony, hour of triumph, - ; ; first app. at nat'l. polit. conv., ; at nat'l. repub. conv. in ' , ; at nat'l. popu. conv. in ' , ; vast numb. of convs. attended, ; political work in , ; ; letters to convs., ; ad. labor convs., ; trib. of brewers' nat'l. conv., ; in ala., ; spks. in ark., ; at calif. wom. cong., ; ; ; in calif. camp'n., ; same, ; same, ; same, ; on mexicans in col., ; ; visits denver, ; in conn., ; ; plan of work to secure suff. amdt., ; lect. tour of s. d., ; ; in s. d. camp'n., ; russian voters oppose, goes before k. of l. and farmers' alliance, ; in ga., ; in ills., ; telegram to idaho, ; in ind., ; same, ; before ind. legis., ; in iowa, ; same, ; work in kas., ; tour of kas., ; in kas. camp'n., ; same, ; ; ; ; ; hears of munic. wom. suff. in kas., ; in new orleans, ; second visit, ; in maine, ; in baltimore, ; in boston, ; ; at adams, ; ; in mich., ; same, ; in ann arbor, ; before fed. of labor in detroit, ; before mich. legis., ; in minn., - ; in mo., ; welcome from children in st. louis and banq., - ; in neb., - ; in nev., - ; pioneer work in n. y., ; welcome home from s. d., ; defends pioneers, ; welcome home from calif., ; face carved in n. y. capitol, ; ; refused by n. y. repubs. as delegate, ; work in n. y. const'l. conv., ; same, ; early legis. work in n. y., ; work for equal guardianship, ; last ap. before n. y. legis. com., ; secures admis. of girls to roch. univ., ; in ore., ; in penn., ; in r. i., ; ; at pembroke hall, prov., ; in s. c., ; in tenn., ; in utah, ; welcomes utah wom., ; in omaha, ; teleg. to utah, ; same, ; in utah, ; utah ass'n. presents silk dress, ; in va., ; in wis., - ; same, ; ; hears deb. on wy., ; hears of its admis., ; requests celebration, ; visits wy., ; . arizona, names for, chap. xxvi. arkansas, names for, chap. xxvii. armstrong, st. sen. w. w., for wom. suff. in n. y. legis., - - . arthur, president chester a., receives delegates, ; . ashman, judge william n., in del., ; work in penn., ; . atchison, prof. rena michaels, . athey, eunice pond, ; writes idaho chap., ; in ore., . atkinson, gov. w. y. (ga.), ; . atkinson, mrs. w. y., . auckland, bishop of (n. z.), for wom. suff., . auclert, hubertine (france), ; . austin, dr. harriet n., . australia, et seq. avery, rachel foster, ; ; ; ; arranges for int'l. council of wom., ; issues call, ; ; arranges miss anthony's birthday celebr., ; elected secy. united ass'ns., ; rep. of council, ; ; advoc. movable convs., ; rep. on miss anthony's efforts for bd. of lady mgrs., ; opens headqrs., ; eulogy of mr. sewall, ; rep. of atlanta expos., ; ass'n. makes gift for yrs. as sec'y., ; ; ; ; in del., ; at ga. expos., ; work for world's fair wom. cong., ; in kas., - ; contrib. to kas. camp'n, ; in n. j., ; . avery, susan look, . b babcock, elnora monroe, press work, ; ; press rep., , ; press work in n. y., . bacon, elizabeth d., writes conn. chap., ; . bagby, fannie m., . bagley, frances, . bailey, hannah j., . baker, b. p., . baker, charles s., m. c., . balderston, william, ; writes idaho chapter, ; trib. to, . balfour, hon. a. j., premier of england, ; . balfour, lady frances (eng.), pres. suff. soc., . balgarnie, florence (eng.), ; ; ; . ballard, adelaide, ; ; work in iowa, ; . banker, george w. and henrietta m., . banks, rev. louis a., sp. at amer. conv. of ' , ; in r. i., ; in vt., . barber, gov. amos w., on wom. suff. in wy., . barrett, mrs. l. b., . barrows, anna, household professions for wom., . barrows, isabel c., miss anthony as philanthropist, ; . barrows, samuel j., m.c., ; ; . barry, james k., . barry, leonora m. (_see_ lake). barry, st. rep. dr. mary f. (col.), . bartlett, rev. caroline j. (_see_ crane). bartol, emma j., donat. to vol. iv hist, of wom. suff., vii; . barton, clara, at int'l council of wom., ; ; ; ; trib. to mrs. gage, ; for wom. suff., ; ; in boston, ; ; ; pres. red cross ass'n., . bascom, emma c., ; . bates, st. supt. pub. instruct., emma (n. d.), . bates, lieut. gov. john l. (mass.), for wom. suff., . bates, dr. mary h. barker, . bates, octavia w., on wom. in our new possessions, . battersea, lady (eng.), . beasley, marie wilson, . bebel, august (germany), . beck, u. s. senator james b., opp. wom, suff., . becker, lydia (eng.), ; ; . begg, faithfull, m. p. (eng.), work for wom. suff., ; . begole, gov. josiah w. (mich.), . belden, evelyn h., wom. and war, ; ; legis. work in iowa, ; ; . belford, james b., m. c., spks. for wom. suff., . bell, john c., m. c., on wom. suff. in col., ; . benjamin, mrs. a. s., . bennett, sallie clay, ; ; on bible for wom. suff., ; before u. s. sen. com., ; same, ; ; wom. suff. under const'n, ; ; ; work in ky., . benson (archbishop of canterbury) mrs., petit. for wom. suff., . besant, annie (eng.), ; . beveridge, u. s. sen. albert j., for wom. suff., . bieber-bohm, hanna (germany), . biggs, caroline ashurst (eng.), ; ; ; ; . bingham, chief justice edward f., (d. c.), . birney, mrs. theodore w., . bissell, emily p., fears chivalry of men, ; in ore., . bissell, mrs. m. r., . bittenbender, ada m., ; . blackburn, helen, ; ; writes chap. for great britain, . blackstone, commentaries, . blackwell, alice stone, ; - ; sp. before u. s. sen. com., ; ; rep. of conv. of ' , ; ; rep. of conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; at conv. of ' , ; ; before house com. of ' , ; ; answers "remonstrants" at com. hearings, ; chap. on amer. suff. ass'n., ; ; furnishes material for mass. chap., ; et al.; in n. h., ; in n. y., ; before n. y. legis. com., ; ; in vt., . blackwell, rev. antoinette brown, ; on first wom. rights conv., ; ; ; mem. res. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; in boston, ; work in n. j., et al.; in n. y., . blackwell, dr. elizabeth, ; ; ; in eng., . blackwell, dr. emily, . blackwell, henry b., at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; ; ; reads last let. of lucy stone to conv. of ' , ; ; ; reminis. of lucy stone, ; opp. fed. suff., ; ; wom. suff. and negro problem, ; ; ; ; at conv. of ' , ; on presidential suff., ; ; ; wom. suff. and home, ; on wom. in uncivilized nations, ; attraction of early convs., ; res. on miss anthony's resignation, ; ; reports res., ; ; ; ; ; value of woman's vote, ; at nat'l. repub. conv. of ' , ; work for ariz., ; in n. d., ; ; in s. d. camp'n., ; in ind., ; in iowa, - ; same, ; in kas., ; same, ; in maine, ; sec'y. n. e. and mass. ass'ns., ; work in mass., et al.; anniv. boston tea party, ; at nat'l. conv. rep. clubs in ' , ; same in ' , ; th birthday, ; ; legis. work in mass., ; in mich., ; ; in minn., ; in st. louis, ; in mont., ; in n. h., ; in n. j., ; in n. y., ; in penn., ; in r. i., ; same, ; in vt., - ; same, ; in wash., ; . blaine, u. s. sen. james g., . blair, u. s. sen. henry w., ; ; signs fav. rep. on wom. suff., ; great sp. in u. s. senate in favor of enfranch. wom., ; ; in senate debate, ; sp. on fed. suff. for wom., ; debt of wom. to, ; right of wom. to suff., , , in n. h., , . blake, lillie devereux, at conv. of ' , , before u. s. sen. com., , , plan of work, , rights of men, , , , , , , , trib. to lucy stone, , , , legislative rep., , , , , , , voting of soldiers, , legis. rep. at conv. of ' , , const'l argument before house com., , , withdraws as candidate for pres., , at nat'l repub. conv. of ' , , in calif., , , in n. d., , , in n. j., , assists on n. y. chap, work in n. y., et al., legis work in n. y., et al., pilgrim moth dinner, , in n. c., , , in s. c., . blanchard, henry d. d., , . blankenburg, lucretia longshore, , , , in n. j., , writes penn. chap., work in penn., et al., work for guardianship law, . blatch, harriot stanton (eng.), , at conv. of ' , , before u. s. senate com. of ' , wom. and economics, , wom. suff. in england, , wom. and war, , brings her mother's greeting on miss anthony's birthday, , in n. y., , same, . bleckley, chief justice logan e. (ga.), . blinn, nellie holbrook, , legislative work, , . bliss gov. aaron t. (mich.), . blodgett, mrs. delos a., . bloomer, amelia, ; . bloomer, nevada, case for wom. suff. in wash. , same, . blount, lucia e., . blue, richard w., m. c., , for wom. suff. in kas., , . bogelot, isabelle (france), . bok, edward w., . bolles, ellen m., , ; ; work in r. i., et al. bowditch, hon. william i, , , . bowles, rev. ada c., ; ; , , , in r. i., ; in vt., . boyd, annie caldwell, writes w. va. chap., work in w. va., et al. boyd, gov. james e. (neb), opp. wom. suff., . boyden, sarah j., . boyer, ida porter, ; press work in penn., . boyer, sarah a., . brackett, gov j. q. a. (mass.), . bradford, mary c. c., , at conv. of ' , , , effects of wom. suff. in col., , , in col., , in del., , in ida., , in la., , in md., , in miss., , in st. louis, , in n. j., , , in penn., , in utah, . bradford, atty. gen. s. b., , . bradley gov. william o. (ky.), . bradwell, myra b., contest for right of wom. to practice law, , , , . bray, olive p., , . breeden, rev. h. o., welcomes nat'l. conv. to des moines, . brehm, mane, . brent, margaret, , first wom. to ask suff., . bright, jacob, m. p., , , . bright, mrs. jacob, . bristol augusta cooper, . bristol, rev. frank m., . broderick, case, m. c., . broderick, jennie, . brooks, mrs. (neb.), . brooks, bishop phillips, ; for wom. suff., , . brotherton, alice williams, . brougham, lord, . brown, corinne s., . brown, mrs. f. a., . brown, gov. john young (ky.), . brown, u. s. senator joseph e., rep. against wom. suff., , , sp. in u. s. senate against wom. suff., , mrs. stanton's comment, , . brown, martha mcclellan, , , . brown, u. s. dist. atty. melville c., wom. suff. in wy., , , . brown, rev. olympia, , , , sp. on rule of foreigners, , ; , , , , in s. d. camp'n, , , in minn., , writes wis. chap., work in wis., et al. brown, mrs. william thayer, . browne, thomas m., m. c., rep. in favor of wom. suff., . brownell, dean louise, . bruce, u. s. sen. blanche k., for wom. suff., . bryan, william j., . buck, rev. florence, . buckley, james m., d. d., opp. to wom. in ministry, ; opp. wom. suff. at chautauqua, . buckley, dean julia, sch. work in n. j., . budd, gov james h. (cal.), ; , . buell, caroline b., . burns, frances e., . burr, frances ellen, rep. nat'l conv. of ' , ; ; in conn., . burrows, frances p. (mrs. julius c.), ; ; ; burt, mary t., work in n. y. camp'n., et al.; . bush, abigail, let. to conv. of ' , ; . butler, gov. benjamin f. (mass.), on right of wom. to vote, ; . butt, hala hammond, before house com. of , ; writes miss. chap., work in miss., et al. butters, lieut.-gov. archibald (mich.), favors wom. suff., . butterworth, hezekiah, . buxton, ida m., in mass., ; in vt., . c cabot, mrs. j. elliott, pres. anti-suff. ass'n., et al. caine, john t., m. c., . caine, margaret n., . california, names for, chap. xxvii. callanan, james c., . callanan, martha c., entertains nat'l suff. com., ; ; . campbell, helen, . campbell, jane, in n. j., ; same, ; work in penn., et al. campbell, gov. john a., ; wom. suff. in wy., . campbell, margaret w., ; don't class wom. with slaves, ; ; in iowa, et al. campbell, st. sen. r. b., . canada, names for, . candler, gov. allan c. (ga.), . cannon, u. s. sen. frank j., ; spks. for wom. suff., ; ; . cannon, mrs. frank j., . cannon, cong. del. george q., ; ; . cannon, st. sen. martha hughes, ; before house com. of ' , wom. suff. in utah, ; work in utah senate, . capen, elmer hewett, pres. tufts coll., for wom. suff., . carey, u. s. sen. joseph m., on wom. suff. in wyo., ; admission as state with wom. suff., ; ; ; ; ; ; ; before n.y. constit'l. conv., ; fight for admis. of wy., - ; ; testimony for wom. suff., ; . carey, mrs. joseph m., ; ; sends petit. from wy., ; entertains miss anthony, ; . carpenter, frank g., . carpenter, mrs. rathbone, . carroll, anna ella, services in civil war, ; efforts for, by nat'l ass'n., ; ; ; . carruth, prof. w. h., sp. at amer. conv. of ' , ; in kas., ; statistics of wom. suff. in kas., ; ; in boston, ; ; in vt., . carruth, mrs. w. h., . cary, alice, . cary, phoebe, ; . cassidy, jessie j. (_see_ saunders). castle, st. sen. miles b., ; ; . caswell, lucien b., m. c., rep. in favor of wom. suff., ; same, . catt, carrie chapman, first appearance on nat'l platform, ; ; before u. s. sen. com., ; ; presents flag to miss anthony, ; ; ; rep. to conv. of ' , ; ; ; to conv. of ' , ; ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; organiz'n. rep. to conv. of ' , ; to conv. of ' , ; ; to conv. of , ; before senate com. of , ; elected nat'l pres., ; introd. by miss anthony, sp. of acceptance, trib. to miss a., ; press notices, ; presents miss a. with birthday gifts, ; sp. on three i's, ; presides at birthday celebr., ; ; ; at dem. nat'l conv. of , ; ; in ala., ; work in ariz., : rep. of work in ariz., ; ; ; ; in colo. camp'n., ; visits denver, ; ; ; ; in s. d. camp'n., ; ; ; before del. constit'l. conv., ; in ga., ; in idaho camp'n., ; ; in ills., ; ; in iowa, et al.; in kas., ; same, ; ; ; ; in ky., ; before la. constit'l. conv., ; in maine, ; in md., ; ; ; in mich., ; same, ; ; in minn., ; ; in miss., ; ; in st. louis, ; same, ; in mont., ; same, ; in neb., ; in nev., ; in n. h., ; ; in n. j., ; same, ; same, ; in n. m., ; in n. y., ; in n. y. camp'n., ; in n. y., ; in o., ; same, ; in ok., ; rep. of legis. work in ok., ; in penn., ; in tenn., ; same, ; in utah, ; in vt., ; ; in wash., ; in w. va., ; same, . catt, george w., . caulfield, anna, . chace, elizabeth buffum, work in r.i., et al. chace, u. s. sen. jonathan, iii; rep. in favor of wom. suff., . chamberlain, ella c, ; . chanler, margaret livingston, work in n. y., et al. channing, dr. william ellery, . chant, laura ormiston (eng.), ; before u. s. sen. com., ; ; ; in col., ; in boston, , . chapin, augusta, d. d., . chapman, maria weston, . chapman, mariana w., ; ; before u. s. senate com. of ' , wom. as taxpayers, ; in n. j., ; assists on n. y. chap., ; work in n. y., et al. chase, chief justice salmon p., for wom. suff., . chase, florence adele, writes chapter for d. c, . chase, mary n., in n. h., ; in vt., . cheney, ednah d., in ky., ; work in mass., ; ; et al. chichester, dean of (eng.), . child, lydia maria, ; . childs, george w., ; trib. to, . choate, hon. joseph h., defeats wom. suff. in n. y. constit'l. conv., . christiansen, gen. c. t., . claflin, adelaide a., ; work in mass., et al.; in r. i., . chaflin, gov. william (mass.), for wom. suff., ; ; . clapp, eliza j., . clapp, atty.-gen. moses e. (minn.), ad. suff. conv., . clark, u. s. sen. clarence d., presents wom. suff. bill, ; wom. suff. in wy., . clark, george w., sings at conv., . clark, james g., ; ; ; . clark, u. s. sen. william a., . clarke, alice judah, assists on ind., chap., . clarke, prof. benjamin franklin, of brown univ., . clarke, dr. e. h., on education, . clarke, james freeman, d. d., ; ; ; ; petit. for wom. suff. in ' , . clarkson, u. s. ass't. p. m. gen. james s., wom. suff. in col., . clay, laura, ; ; ; trib. to lucy stone, ; non-partisans, ; ; before u. s. senate com. of ' , wom. suff. and physical develop., ; ; ; ; writes ky. chap., ; work in ky., et al.; in new orleans, ; in n. c., ; in s. c., ; in tenn., . clay, mary b., ; before house com., ; ; ; at amer. conv., ' , ; ; work in ky., ; . clemmer, mary, . cleveland, president grover, ; receives intl. council of wom., ; ; . cleveland, mrs. grover, rec. intl. council of wom., ; . clopton, virginia clay, ; in tenn., . clough, gov. d. m. (minn.), ad. suff. conv., . cobbe, frances power (eng.), ; . cobden, jane (_see_ unwin). cobden, richard, for wom. suff., . cockburn, sir john, premier s. austr., for wom. suff., . cockrell, u. s. sen. francis marion, rep. against worn, suff., ; ; ; ridiculed by mrs. stanton, . codman, mrs. james m., anti-suff., . coffeen, henry a., m. c., . coffin, charles carleton, . coggeshall, mary j., ; . cohen, elizabeth, polit. deleg., . coke, lord, . colby, clara bewick, ; res. against creeds and dogmas, ; sp. on same, ; plan of work, ; wom. suff. and labor question, ; on the church, ; describes campn. in neb., ; ; ; wom. trib. during intl. council, ; wom. in marriage, ; ; ; ; ; ; on wyoming, ; on fed. suff., ; ; ; ; ; ; ; mem. res. at conv. of ' , ; philos. of wom., suff., ; ; mem. res. at conv. of ' , - ; ; on wyoming, ; ; mem. res. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; mem. serv. at conv. of ' , ; ; work with congress, ; descript. of miss anthony's th birthday, ; in s. d. campn., ; ; in kas., ; ; ; in ky, ; in new orleans, ; ; in mich., ; ; ; work in neb., et al.; in utah, ; in wash., ; in wis., ; statistics from wy., . colcord, gov. roswell k. (nev.), recom. wom. suff. amdt, . colfax, vice president schuyler, founds daught. of rebekah, ; for wom., suff., . collins, emily p., in r. i., ; in mass., . collyer, rev. robert, for wom. suff., . colorado, names for, chap. xxix. conger, mrs. omar d., . conine, st. rep. martha a. b. (col.), ; before house com. of ' , ; elected, ; in ills., ; in iowa, ; in n. y., . connecticut, names for, chap. xxx. connor, eliza archard, . conway, mrs. moncure d., . conyers, bennett j., . cook, coralie franklin, brings greetings of colored women on miss anthony's birthday, ; . cook, rev. joseph, ad. suff. conv., ; before mass. legis., . coolbrith, ina d., . cooley, mrs. george eliot. (_see_ harper.) coonley, lydia a. (_see_ ward.) cooper, sarah b., ; ; ; pres. wom. cong., ; work in calif., et al.; in ore., . corbin, caroline f., . corey, rev. dr., . corn, assoc. justice, wom. suff. in wy., . cornwall, amy k., ; . corson, dr. hiram, . coudert, frederick, signs suff. petit., . courtney, leonard, m. p. (eng.), work for wom. suff., . couzins, phoebe w., ; res. on phillips and miss carroll, ; ; on goddess of liberty, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . craigie, mrs. c. o. h., . crane, rev. caroline bartlett, sermon at conv. of ' , ; . crane, gov. w. murray (mass.), . cranston, martha s., writes del. chap., ; et al. crawford, emily (eng.), petit, for wom. suff., . cressingham, st. rep. clara (col.), . crooker, rev. florence kollock, ethics of wom. suff., ; before house com., ; ; ; . cullom, u. s. sen. shelby m., . cunningham, catherine campbell, assists on ark. chapter, work in ark., . curtis, elizabeth burrill, ; before u. s. senate com. of ' , are wom. represented, ; in mass., ; work in n. y. , et al. curtis, george william, ; ; mem. serv., ; ; on wom. suff., . cutcheon, byron m., m. c, spks. for wom. suff., . cutler, hannah m. tracy, ; ; ; mem. to mrs. gage, ; ; ; in vt., . d dakota (north and south), names for, chap. xxxi. dall, caroline h., . dalton, father w. j., ; . dangerfield, henderson, ; . davies, emily, mistress of girton (eng.), petit, for wom. suff., . davies, atty.-gen. john c., right of wom. to office in n. y., . davis, u. s. sen. cushman k., for wom. suff., . davis, edward m., ; ; ; work in penn., . davis, john c., m. c., ; . davis, paulina wright, ; ; work in r. i., ; in va., . davis, thomas, . dawes, u. s. sen. henry l., ; . decker, sarah platt, et al. de garmo, rhoda, . delaware, names for, chap. xxxii. demorest, (mme.) louise, . dennison, ruth c., . depew, chauncey m., signs suff. petit., . desha, mary, . devoe, emma smith, at conv. of ' , ; ; in s. d., ; ; ; ; in iowa, ; ; in kas., ; in ky., ; in minn., ; in mont., ; in nev., ; in wis., . dexter, rev. morton, ed. _congregationalist_, opp. wom. suff.; . deyo, rev. amanda, ; . dickinson, dr. frances, ; ; ; . dickinson, mary lowe, ; . dietrick, ellen battelle, ; at conv. of ' , ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; res. on religious liberty, ; ; ; ; ; memorial service, ; ; in ky., ; ; work in mass., et al.; ; ; in s. c., . diggs, annie l., ; wom. suff. in kas., ; at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; ; ; at conv. of , ; in ind., ; writes kas. chap., ; ; work in kas. legis., ; app. st. librarian, ; in md., ; in n. j., ; in w. va., . dilke, mrs. ashton, ; . dingley, nelson w., m.c., . district of columbia, names for, chap. xxxiii. doane, bishop william croswell, opp. wom. suff., ; . dodge, mrs. arthur m., opposes wom. suff. before u. s. senate com. of , repudiates courtesy of miss anthony, ; begs com. not to be moved by consideration for her, ; before n. y. legis. com., ; same, . doe, chief justice charles (n. h.), wom. may practice law, . doe, mary l., at conv. of ' , ; writes mich, chap., ; work in mich., et al. doggett, kate newell, ; . dole, sanford b. (hawaii), . dolph, u. s. sen. joseph n., ; sp. for wom. suff., ; same, ; ; . donnelly, st. sen. ignatius, for wom. suff., - . dorsett, martha angle, ; work in minn., et al. dorsheimer, william, m. c., . doster, chief justice frank (kas.), for wom. suff., ; . douglass, frederick, ; at conv. of ' , ; reminiscences, ; early suffragists, ; mem. serv., ; ; ; ; in boston, , ; in r. i., . douglass, joseph, ; ; . dow, neal, . downs, h. margaret, . doyon, amelia e. h., . drake, gov. francis m. (iowa), . du bose, miriam howard, ; ; work in ga., ; . dunbar, mrs. (md.), . duniway, abigail scott, at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; ; ; ; at conv. of ' , ; of ' , ; of , ; in idaho, ; ; in minn., ; in n. y., ; writes ore. chap., work in ore., et al.; in wash., . duniway, clyde, . e eagle, gov. james b. (ark.), . earnhart, ida m., test case for sch. suff. in ohio, . eastman, rev. annis ford, ; work in n. y., . eastman, mary f., woman's right to suff., ; justice of it, ; ; ; work in mass., et al.; legis. work, ; in n. y., ; in r. i., ; same, ; . eaton, charles h., d. d., for wom. suff., . eaton, dr. cora smith, in n. d., ; ; assists on minn, chap., ; work in minn., et al. eddy, eliza jackson, legacy to miss anthony, v. edmunds, u. s. sen. george f., ; . edson, dr. susan a., ; . edwards, amelia b., petit. for wom. suff., . eisenhuth, st. supt. pub. instruct. laura j. (n. d.), . eliot, charles w., pres. harvard univ., ; on education of wom., ; protest against wom. suff., ; inherits prejudice, . eliot, chancellor wm. g. (st. louis), suff. a right, ; . elkins, u. s. sen. stephen b., opp. wom. suff. in w. va., . elliott, albert h., work in cal., et al. emerson, ralph waldo, ; . emerson, mrs. ralph waldo, . ernst, hon. george a. o., work in mass., et al. eskridge, gov. c. v. (kas.), opp. wom. suff., . estee, hon. morris m., . eustis, u. s. sen. james b., opp. wom. suff., . evald, mrs. emmy c., . everett, edward, . everhard, caroline mccullough, at conv. of ' , ; ; work in o., et al. f fair, u. s. sen. james g., opp. wom. suff., ; . fairbanks, mayor (quincy, mass.), . fairman, col. henry clay, ; . fall, anna christy (mrs. george h.), ; fall, st. rep. george h., work in mass., et al. farwell, u. s. sen. charles b., rep. for wom. suff., ; ; . fawcett, postmaster gen. henry, m. p. (eng.), for wom. suff., ; . fawcett, millicent garrett, ; ; wom. in india, ; suff. meet. in london, ; ; work in gr. britain, ; same, . fawcett, philippa, . faxon, henry h., et al. fergusson, cong. del. h. b., . fessenden, susan s., in col., ; in n. d., ; work in mass., et al.; in n. h., ; in penn., . field, kate, for wom. suff., ; . fish, sarah, . fisher, chief justice, wom. suff. in wy., . fisk, mrs. clinton d., . fleming, gov. francis p. (fla.), opp. to wom. suff., . flemming, william h., m. c., . fletcher, alice c., ; . flood, cora jane, endowment to univers., . florida, names for, chap. xxxiv. flower, gov. roswell p. (n. y.), ; ; recom. wom. delegates, ; . folger, gov. charles j. (n. y.), . folsom, mariana t., in texas, ; ; . foltz, clara s., in calif., et al. foss, mrs. cyrus d., . foster, abby kelly, . foster, judith ellen, ; at nat'l repub. conv. of ' , ; same, , ; in col., ; ; ; in ida., ; in kas., ; in mass., ; in r. i., ; in utah, . foster, julia (mrs. j. heron), ; . foster, julia t., ; ; ; . foster, rachel g. (see avery). foulke, hon. william dudley, sp. at suff. conv. of ' , ; ; ; trib. to lucy stone, ; ; ; ; at amer. conv. of ' , ; value of dreamers, ; independ. of politician, ; ; at amer. conv. of ' , ; ; in ind., ; in kas., ; in boston, ; in minn., . fox, hattie e., . francis, mary c., . franklin, benjamin, on suff., . fray, ellen sully, . frear, associate justice w. f. (hawaii), . fredericksen, kirstine (denm'k), . french, st. supt. pub. instruct. permeal (ida.), . friedland, sofja levovna (russia), . fuller, gov. levi k. (vt), . fyler, lizzie dorman, ; . g gaffney, fannie humphreys, . gage, frances dana, ; ; mem. serv., - ; trib. of clara barton, ; . gage, gov. henry t. (cal.), ; . gage, matilda joslyn, work on hist, of wom. suff., iii; sells rights in, vi; vii; ; feminine in science, ; ; wom. suff. under u. s. constn., ; ; ; ; ; mem. res., ; in dak., ; work in n. y., et al.; test case for sch. suff., ; in va., . gallé, margarethe, . gallinger, u. s. sen. jacob h., wom. suff. in n.h., . gamble, u. s. sen. robert j., for wom. suff., . gardiner, helen h., ; ; . garfield, president james a., ; on wom. suff., . garrett, mary e., endows johns hopkins med. coll., . garrison, ellen wright (mrs. wm. lloyd, jr.), . garrison, wm. lloyd, sr., ; first wom. rights petit., . garrison, wm. lloyd, jr., ; ; ; at conv. of ' , ; before u. s. senate com. in ' , ; poem to miss anthony, ; ; work in mass., et al.; ; in r. i., - . gates, george a., pres. iowa coll., ; for wom. suff., . gates, merrill e., pres. amherst coll., . gates, susa young, . george, mrs. a. j., opposes wom. suff., ; same, . george, u. s. sen. j.z., ; rep. against wom. suff., . georgia, names for, chap. xxxv. gibbons, abby hopper, ; ; work for police matrons, ; . gibbons, cardinal, opp. wom. suff., . giddings, joshua r., . giddings, mrs. w. d., . gifford, prof. jennie, . gillett, emma m., ; . gladstone, wm. ewart, . gleed, j. w., . glenesk, lord (eng.), for wom. suff., . goddard, mary catharine, early woman editor, . goggin, catharine, . goldstein, vida (australia), . gompers, samuel, ; letter approv. wom. suff., . goodnight, isaac h., m. c., . goodrich, sarah knox, work in cal., et al. gordon, anna, . gordon, kate m., ; writes la. chap., ; work in sewerage and drainage league, . gordon, laura de force, ; ; ; work in calif., et al. goss, josephine ahnafeldt, . gottheil, rabbi gustave, ; . gougar, helen m., wom. before the law, ; plan of work, ; before u. s. senate com., ; wom. suff. and bible, ; ; before house com., ; ; in col., ; in ills., ; work in ind., et al.; test case for suff., ; in iowa, ; in kas., et al.; in mass., ; in mich., ; in n. y., . gould, helen, . grannis, elizabeth b., . grant, president ulysses s., first to appoint wom. postmasters, . grant, mrs. ulysses s., ; . gray, almeda b., ; in cal., ; work in wis., et al. gray, st. rep. robert s., . great britain and colonies, names for, chap. lxxiii. greene, dr. cordelia, donation to hist. of wom. suff., vii. greene, chief justice roger s., ; ; ; work in wash., ; wom. on juries, . greenhalge, gov. frederick t. (mass.), ; on wom. suff. plat., ; recom. wom. suff. in message, ; ; again recom., . greenleaf, jean brooks, before u. s. sen. com., ; ; at conv. of ' , ; ; rep. at conv. of ' , ; assists on n. y. chap., ; work in n. y., et al.; . greenwood, grace (sara j. lippincott), ; ; . gregg, laura a., ; in s. d., ; in del., ; in iowa, ; in kas., ; in md., ; in minn., ; in neb., ; in o., ; in ok., - ; in penn., . grenfell, st. supt. pub. instruct. helen m. (col.), ; . grew, mary, ; ; ; ; ; work in penn., . griffin, frances a., evolut. of south. wom., ; at conv. of ' , ; in ala., - ; in ark., ; in ga., ; in la., ; in tenn., - . griffing, josephine s., . grimké, angelina (_see_ weld). gripenberg, baroness alexandra (finland), at int'l council, ; ; in mass., ; in n. y., . groesbeck, chief justice h. v. s., ; wom. suff. in wy., . gross, emily m., ; . groth, sophia magelsson (norway), . guild, mrs. charles e., anti-suff., . gullen. dr. augusta stowe (canada), . gustafson, zadel barnes (eng.), ; in n. y., . h hackney, chief justice leonard j. (ind.), decis. on wom. suff. and wom. lawyers, . haggart, mary e., at conv. of ' , ; before house com., ; ; ; ; work in ind., ; in kas., ; in wis., . hale, horace m., pres. state univ., wom. suff. in col., . hale, gen. irving, wom. suff. in col., . hale, gov. william, wom. suff. in wy., . haley, margaret a., . hall, florence howe, farce on wom, suff., ; in mass., ; writes n. j. chap., ; work in n. j., et al.; in r. i., . hall, sir john, m. p., bill for wom. suff. in n. z., ; . hall, olivia b., ; in mich., . hamilton, alexander, . hamilton, emerine j., . hamilton, bishop j. w., ; - . hamlin, vice-president hannibal, for wom. suff., . hammond, hon. henry c., . hanaford, rev. phebe a., at conv. of ' , ; ; at int'l council, ; in n. j., . haney, mrs. c. s. burnett, writes fla. chap., - . hansbrough, u. s. sen. henry c, for wom. suff., . harbert, elizabeth boynton, at conv. of ' , ; ; before u. s. sen. com., ; ; ; ; ; work in ills., ; for world's fair, ; in n. y., ; in wis., ; . harlan, st. sen. a. d., . harlan, associate justice john marshall, . harper, frances e. w., . harper, ida husted, miss anthony asks to write vol. iv, hist, of wom. suff., vii; preface, ix; author of life and work of susan b. anthony, ; resolutions at conv. of ' , ; ; dept. in n. y. _sun_, ; at conv. of , ; prepares congress'l. rep., ; ; ; ; work in calif, campn., ; work in ind., et al.; monograph on work of ind. wom., ; at adams, . harper, winnifred (cooley), . harrah, rev. c. c., . harrison, president benjamin, . harrison, mrs. benjamin, receives nat'l council of wom., . harrison, mayor carter, . harrison, ella, ; ; . haskell, asst. atty.-gen. ella knowles, at conv. of ' , ; ; in n. d., ; work in mont., et al. hatch, lavina allen, ; ; at conv. of ' , ; ; writes chap., for hist., ; work in mass., et al. havens, ruth c. d., girl of the future, ; in md., ; in va., . haviland, laura p., . hawthorne, rev. dr., . hay, mary g., ; ; in ariz., ; in cal., et al.; in col., ; in s. d., ; in del., ; in ills., ; in iowa, - ; in ky., ; in la., ; in miss., ; in neb., ; in n. m., ; in n. y., ; in o., ; in ok., ; in penn., ; in tenn., ; in utah, ; in wash., ; in w. va., . hayes, prof. ellen, . hayes, president rutherford b., favors wom. suff., . hayes, mrs. rutherford b., rec. utah delegates, . hays, atty.-gen. s. h., wom. suff. in idaho, . hayward, mary smith, writes neb. chap., ; work in neb., et al. hazlett, ida crouch, in cal., ; in neb., ; in ore., . hearst, phoebe a., ; endowment to cal. univers., . heartz, st. rep. evangeline (col.), ; ; work in legis., . hedenberg, j. w., . helmer, bessie bradwell, . hemiup, judge norton h., . hemphill, st. sen. robert r., at conv. of ' , ; in s. c. legis., . hemphill, mrs. w. a., . henderson, mary foote (mrs. john b.), ; presents portrait of miss anthony to corcoran gallery, ; . henderson, prof. l. f., on wom. suff. in idaho, . henrotin, ellen m., ; work at world's fair, . henry, josephine k., at conv. of ' , ; ; trib. to lucy stone, ; ; southern wom., wants ballot, ; legis. rep. ; on wom., and electricity, ; epigrams, ; work in ky., et al.; in tenn., . hepburn, w. p., m. c., . hereford, rev. brooke, ; opp. wom. suff., . herring, atty.-gen. william (ariz.), . hewitt, hon. abram s., opp. wom. suff., . higginson, col. thomas wentworth, sp. at amer. conv. of ' , ; in mass., et al.; ; on anti-suffragists, ; petit. for wom. suff. in ' , ; in r. i., . hildreth, ellen stephens, writes ala. chap., work in ala., et al. hill, u. s. sen. david b., ; recom. wom. delegates, . hill, eliza trask, et al. hinckley, rev. frederick a., ; ; husband and wife one, ; on divorce, ; in mass., ; same, ; work in r. i., et al. hindman, matilda, - ; ; in col., ; in s. d., ; in penn., ; in wash., . hirschler, diana, at conv. of , ; on miss anthony's birthday, ; in del., ; in me., ; in vt., . hitt, robert r., m.c., . hoar, u. s. sen. george r., ; ; spks. in sen. for wom. suff., ; ; report in favor, greeted by women, ; ; ; letter to conv. of ' , ; ; assists wom. suff. in mass., et al.; . hodges, rev. dean, . hoffman, clara c., in s. d., ; in kas., ; in la., ; work in mo., et al.; in n. j., . hooker, isabella beecher, const'l rights of wom., ; ; on n. y. centen., ; ; ; ; at conv. of ' , ; of ' , ; before u. s. sen. com. of ' , ; respect of children, ; at conv. of ' , ; ; in , ; work in conn., et al.; in boston, ; . holley, st. rep. carrie c., in col. legis., ; ; . hollister, lillian m., ; trib. to miss anthony, . holly, myron, - . holly, sally, - ; . holmes, mary e., writes ills., chap., work in ills., et al. holt, gov. thomas m. (n. c.), opp. wom. suff., . holt, judge william h., trib. to worn, in business, . holt, gov. thomas m., opp. wom. suff., . hopper, isaac t., ; . home, st. rep. alice merrill, work in utah legis., . horton, chief justice albert h. (kas.), . hosmer, harriet, ; . howard, h. augusta, ; ; entertains nat'l conv., ; ; work in ga., et al. howe, chief justice j. h. (wy.), wom. on juries, . howe, julia ward, ; sp. at int'l. council, ; chivalry of reform, , ; ; trib. to lucy stone, ; conv. of ' , ; ; at amer. conv. of ' , ; same, ; at conv. of ' , ; ; of ' , ; bazar in boston, ; conv. of ' , ; appeal to constit'l. convs., ; ; in kas., ; ; in maine, ; in baltimore, ; pres. n. e. and mass. ass'ns, ; work in mass., et al.; ; ; in minn., ; in n. j., ; in n. y., ; in r. i., et al.; in vt., ; in wis., . howell, mary seymour, at conv. of ' , ; before u. s. sen. com., ; wom. present and past, ; ; ; the woman's war, ; at conv. of ' , ; ; ; in s. d. campn., ; in kas., ; in boston, ; in mo., ; work in n. y., et al.; legis. work, . howells, william dean, signs suff. petit., . howland, emily, . howland, isabel, . hoyt, gov. john w, ; in n. y., ; wom. suff. in wy., . hoyt, mrs. john w., . hubbell, mr. and mrs. f. m., . hubner, major charles h., . hudson, major j. k., ; at amer. conv. of ' , . hughes, hon. james l., at conv. of ' , ; in mass., . hughes, gov. l. c., work in ariz., et al. hughes, mrs. l. c., assists on ariz, chap., work in ty., et al. hughes, thomas (eng.), . hultin, rev. ida c., at conv. of ' , ; ; ; of ' , ; ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; of , ; ; on miss anthony's birthday, ; in ills., ; in mich., ; in minn., ; in neb., . humphrey, st. sen. lester h., for wom. suff. in n. y. legis., - . humphrey, gov. lyman u. (kas.), ; ; . hunt, gov. frank w., wom. on juries, ; wom. suff. in idaho, . hunt, dr. harriot k., ; in ' , ; first wom. phys., . hunt, jane, . hunt, mary h., in ga., ; in n. y., ; on "age of consent," . hunt, assoc. justice ward, sentences miss anthony for voting, . hunting, rev. s. s., ; . huntington, arria s., . hurd, dr. ethel e., ; ; work in minn., et al. husted, st. sp'k'r. james w. (n. y.), favors wom. suff., et al. huston, sup. judge joseph w. (idaho), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., . hussey, cornelia collins, ; work for wom. suff., ; contributions, et al. hussey, dr. mary d., writes n. j. chap., ; work in n. j., et al.; forms wom. lawyers' club, . hutchinson, abby (see patton). hutchinson, john w., ; conv. of ' , ; sings at miss anthony's birthday, ; in mass., . i idaho, names for, chap. xxxvi. ide, u. s. com. henry c, . illinois, names for, chap. xxxvii. indiana, names for, chap. xxxviii. ingalls, u. s. sen. john j., opp. wom. suff., . ingersoll, robert j., signs suff. petit., . iowa, names for, chap. xxxix. j jackson, francis, . jackson, dr. james c., ; . jackson, lottie wilson, . jackson, dr. mary b., . jacobi, dr. mary putnam, in boston, ; in n. y. camp'n., et al. jacobs, judge orange j., in wash., ; ; . james, helen mosher, ; . jenkins, helen philleo, ; on wom. in philippines, ; work in mich., et al. jenkins, theresa a., ; in col., ; part in wy. celebration, - . jenney, julie r., . jennings, gov. william s. (fla.), . johns, laura m., ; ; ; ; on work in kas., ; at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; in idaho, ; conv. of , ; work in ariz., - ; ; in n. d., ; in s. d. camp'n., ; in idaho camp'n., ; in iowa, ; assists on kas. chap., ; work in kas., et al.; suggests yellow ribbon suff. badge, ; describes mrs. diggs' sp., ; legis. work, ; in boston, ; ; in minn., ; in mo., - ; in n. m., ; in ok., . johnson, addie m., ; writes mo. chap., ; work in mo., et al. johnson, adelaide, . johnson, martin n., m. c., ; . johnson, mrs. rossiter, opposes wom. suff., ; . jones, j. elizabeth, . jones, u. s. sen. james k., iii; opp. wom. suff., . jones, jenkyn lloyd, . jones, gov. john p. (nev.), recom. wom. suff. amd't, . jones, mrs. w. h., polit. del., . jordan, david starr, pres. stanford univ., ; for wom. suff., . julian, george w., m. c., ; for wom. suff., . julian, laura giddings, ; . k kansas, names for, chap. xl. kearney, belle, at conv. of ' , ; in miss., ; in n. c., . keating, martha a., . keefer, bessie starr (canada), ; . keifer, j. warren, m. c., ; sp. for wom. suff., . keith, mrs. william a., et al. kelley, florence, ; working wom. need ballot, ; secures factory inspec. law, ; . kelley, william d., m. c., spks. at suff. conv., ; . kellogg, atty.-gen. l. b. (kas.), ; ; . kelly, abby (_see_ foster). kelsey, mary atwater, . kelsey, st. rep. otto, for wom. suff. in n. y. legis., et seq. kent, rev. alexander, wom. and hebrew scriptures, . kentucky, names for, chap. xli. kepley, ada h., first wom. law grad., . ketcham, emily b., ; conv. of ' , - ; work in mich., et al. keyser, harriette a., ; . kilgore, carrie burnham, contest for right to prac. law in penn., . kimball, flora m., ; work in cal., . kimball, sarah m., . kimber, helen l., et al.; . king, henrietta, largest cattle owner, . king, william h., m. c., . kingman, judge john w., wom. suff. in wy., . kingsbury, elizabeth a., . klock, st. rep. frances s. (col.), knox, dr. janette hill, writes chap. for n. d., ; . knaggs, may stocking, at conv. of ' , ; of ' , ; writes mich. chap., ; work in mich., et al. kollock, rev. florence (_see_ crooker). korany, hanna (syria), ; . krog, gina (norway), . krout, mary h., . kyle, u. s. sen. james h., for wom. suff., . l lake, leonora m. barry, ; ; . lamar, gov. w. b. (fla.), . langford, sup. judge wm. g. (wash.), . langhorne, orra, old-time south. wom., ; ; work in va., . lapham, u. s. sen. elbridge g., ; ; rep. in favor of wom. suff., ; ; . laughlin, gail, wage-earning wom., ; ; . lauterbach, hon. edward, sp. for wom. suff., . lawrence, margaret stanton, . leach, antoinette d., suit to practice law in ind., . lease, mary e., ; . le barthe, st. rep. eurithe (utah), . lee, st. rep. frances s. (col.), . leedy, gov. john w. (kas.), . leggett, lucy a., . leonard, clara t., ; . leonard, emily j., . levanway, dr. charlotte, . lewelling, gov. l. d. (kas.), opp. wom. suff., ; . lewis, helen morris, ; ; in s. c., . lewis, hon. isaac c., . lincoln, president abraham, ; favors wom. suff., . lincoln, judge charles z., ; . lind, gov. john (minn.), . lindhagen, carl, . lindsay, u. s. sen. william, woman's property bill in ky., . lippincott, chancellor j. a., . lippincott, sara j. (_see_ greenwood). livermore, rev. danled p., et al. livermore, mary a., ; ; ; ; let. to amer. conv. of ' , ; ; ; appeal to constitl. convs., ; ; in maine, ; work in mass., et al.; ; golden wed., ; made ll. d., ; sanit. com., ; th birthday, ; ; on mock referendum, ; in n. j., ; in r. i., ; ; in vt., ; in wis., ; same, ; same, . locke, josephine e., . lockwood, belva a., ; admit, to sup. ct., ; ; wom. journalists, ; ; ; ; ; spks. for utah wom., . lockwood, mary s., wom. at columb. expos., ; ; ; . logan, mrs. john a., . logan, millie burtis, . long, secy, of the navy john d., ; assists suff. work in mass., et al.; . longfellow, rev. samuel g., . longley, margaret v., . longshore, dr. hannah myers, . longshore, dr. joseph s., work for wom. med. coll. in phila., . lord, gov. and mrs. william p. (ore.), on suff. platform, . lore, chief justice charles b. (del.), . lorimer, george g., d. d., . louisiana, names for, chap. xlii. love, alfred h., . low, mayor seth, . lowell, francis c., pres. anti-suff. ass'n., . lowell, josephine shaw, ; . lozier, dr. abram w., . lozier, dr. clemence s., ; ; ; work in n. y., et al. lucas, margaret bright (eng.), ; ; ; . lucas, w. b., m. c., . luce, gov. cyrus g. (mich.), . lusk, hon. hugh h. (n. z.), . lux, miranda, donat. to educat., . lyne, sir william, premier n. s. w., for wom. suff., . lynes, j. colton, . lyon, mary, ; . m macdonald, sir john, premier of canada, bill for wom. suff., . machen, august w., . macomber, mattie locke, . maddox, etta, obtains right for wom. to prac. law in md., . madison, pres. james, on fed. suff., ; same, ; a vote necessary, . maguire, james g., m. c., ; . maine, names for, chap. xliii. marble, ella m. s., ; ; ; in dak., ; in n. m., . marsh, annie mclean, . marshall, dean clara, m. d., ; . marshall, marie (paris), . martin, e. w., m. c., . martin, ellen a., ; ; . martin, gov. john a. (kas.), signs munic. wom. suff. bill, . martin, juliet n., . maryland, names for, chap. xliv. mason, evaleen l., . mason, prof. otis t., ; . massachusetts, names for, chap. xlv. massachusetts nat'l., names for, . maxwell, claudia howard, ; entertains nat'l. conv., ; ; . may, abby w., . may, rev. samuel j., ; . maybury, william c., m. c., rep. against wom. suff., . maynard, rev. mila tupper (_see_ tupper). mcadam, chief justice, right of wom. to hold office in n. y., . mcadow, clara l., ; work in mont., . mccall, samuel walker, m. c., . mcclintock, mary ann, . mccoid, moses a., m. c., rep. in favor of wom. suff., . mccomas, alice moore, ; in ore., ; writes s. calif, chap., ; ; . mcconnell, amanda, . mcconnelly, mary a., . mcculloch, catharine waugh, ; ; before house com. of , ; ; ; ; work in ills. legis., ; same, ; for trustees st. univ., , ; ; ; ; in wis., . mcculloch, sec. of the treasury hugh, . mcdiarmid, clara a., . mcdonald, eva (mrs. valesh), . mcglynn, dr. edward, spks. for wom. suff., . mckinley, president william, appoints wom. com'r. to paris expos., ; courtesy to suff. ass'n and miss anthony, ; ; . mckinley, mrs. william, . mclaren, priscilla bright, wom. suff. in eng. and america, ; for int'l. council, ; ; ; . mclean, mrs. john r., ; luncheon for miss anthony, . mclendon, mary l., welcomes nat'l. conv., ; writes ga. chap., ; . mcmillan, u. s. sen. james, ; . mcpherson, mary e., . mcquaid, bishop, for wom. suff., . mcsherry, justice c. j. (md.), denies right of wom. to prac. law, . mcvicar, mayor john, . mead, elizabeth storrs, pres. mt. holyoke coll., . mellette, gov. arthur c. (s. d.), . mendenhall, dinah, . meredith, ellis, ; ; writes colo. chap., ; et al.; in n. j., ; in utah, . meredith, emily r., writes colo. chap., . meriwether, elizabeth avery, ; ; . meriwether, lee, . meriwether, lida a., ; ; sp. before u. s. senate com., ; ; ; ; in mich., ; writes tenn. chap., work in tenn., et al. merrick, caroline e., ; ; ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; work in la., et al. merrick, chief justice edwin t. (la.), ; . merrill, estelle m. h., . merritt, dr. salome, ; . michigan, names for, chap. xlvi. mill, john stuart, ; . miller, annie jenness, ; . miller, caroline hallowell, sp. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; work in md., . miller, elizabeth smith, ; ; . mills, c. d. b., . mills, harriet may, ; ; sp. on educat'l freedom, ; in cal., ; in mich., ; work in n. y., et al.; in o., . minnesota, names for, chap. xlvii. minor, francis, wom. suff. under th amend., ; before u. s. sup. ct., ; on fed. suff., ; . minor, virginia l., vote, trial and decision, ; sup. ct. reference to same, ; ; right of women to vote under const'n., ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; work in mo., et al. mississippi, names for, chap. xlviii. missouri, names for, chap. xlix. mitchell, u. s. sen. john a., rep. for wom. suff., . mitchell, lucretia, . mitchell, maria, . montana, names for, chap. l. moore, rev. henrietta g., ; ; ; ; in o., ; in w. va., . moore, laura, writes vt. chap., work in vt., et al. moore, margaret (ireland), ; ; in n. y., . moore, rebecca (eng.), . morgan, u. s. sen. john t., ; advises wom. taxpayers' suff., ; opp. wom. suff. in wy., , ; favors taxpayers' suff. in ala., . morgan, sup. judge john t. (idaho), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., . morris, judge esther, first wom. justice of peace, ; presents flag to wy., . morris, gov. luzon b. (n. j.), . morris, hon. robert c., assists on wy. chap., . morrison, frank, . morrison, mrs. (l. a.), . morrow, lena, ; ; in ore., . morse, elijah, m. c., . mosher, prof. frances stewart, . mott, james, . mott, lucretia, ; ; ; truth for authority, ; ; ; ; ; . murdock, mrs. w. a., . murphy, claudia quigley, . murphy, eliza, . murphy, gov. n. o. (ariz.), recommends wom. suff., . mussey, dean ellen spencer, ; ; . n names of eminent persons in favor of wom. suff., beginning . nebraska, names for, chap. li. neblett, a. viola, ; . nelson, julia ballard, ; ; financial side of wom. suff., ; ; in s. d. campn., ; writes minn. chap., work in st., et al.; legis. work, ; in neb., ; in n. m., ; in ok., . nevada, names for, chap. lii. new hampshire, names for, chap. liii. new jersey, names for, chap. liv. new mexico, names for, chap. lv. new york, names for, chap. lvi. new south wales, names for, . new zealand, names for, . newcomb, josephine louise, endows college in la., . newell, gov. william a. (wash.), . newman, bishop john p., in fav. of wom. suff., opens conv., . newton, rev. heber, signs suff. petit., . neymann, clara, german and amer. independence, ; ; before house com., ; ; ; ; in md., ; in n. y., . nichol, elizabeth pease (scot.), . nichols, clarina i. howard, ; . nixon, st. spkr. f. s., n. y., ; ; . nordhoff, charles, . north carolina, names for, chap. lvii. nozaleda, archbishop, . nye, edgar wilson (bill nye), in favor of wom. suff., . o oates, william c., m. c., opp. wom. suff., . obenchain, lida calvert, . obermann, mr., pres. brewers' ass'n., . odell, gov. benjamin f. (n. y.), for wom. taxpayers' suff., ; . ohio, names for, chap. lviii. oklahoma, names for, chap. lix. oliver, rev. anna, ; trib. of miss shaw, ; . oregon, names for, chap. lx. osborne, eliza wright, ; ; . otis, james, , on virtual represent. otis, mrs. john g., . owen, robert dale, . owen, rosamond dale, . p palmer, bertha honoré, ; ; at paris expos., ; at columb. expos., . palmer, fanny purdy. ; ; . palmer, u. s. sen. thomas w., ; rep. in favor of wom. suff., ; senate sp. in favor, ; ; ; ; ; in mich., ; ; ad. mich. suff. conv., , . pardee, lillie, - . parker, frances stuart, . parker, margaret e. (eng.), for int'l. council, ; . parker, theodore, . parkes, sir henry, premier n. s. w., bill for wom. suff., ; . parkman, francis, ; opp. wom. suff., . parnell, delia stewart, in n. y., . parrott, lieut.-gov. (iowa), . passmore, elizabeth b., ; . patterson, katherine a. g. (mrs. thomas m.), et al. patterson, u. s. sen. thomas m., ; ; wom. suff. in col., . patton, abby hutchinson, . patton, st. supt. pub. instruct. grace espy (col.), . paul, a. emmagene, wom. in street-cleaning dept., ; . payne, u. s. sen. henry b., . peavy, st. supt. pub. instruct. antoinette j. (col.), . peelle, stanton j., m. c., . peet, mrs. b. sturtevant, . peffer, u. s. sen. william a., ; in fav. of wom. suff., . pellew, george, . penn, hannah, acting gov. of penn., . pennsylvania, names for, chap. lxi. pepys, samuel, why new gown for wife, . perkins, u. s. sen. george c., ; . perkins, sarah m., ; ; in n. j., . pettigrew, u. s. sen. richard f., ; . peabody, elizabeth, . pearson, mrs. (eng.), . pence, lafayette, m. c., . phelps, eliz. stuart (see ward). philbrook, mary, contest to practice law in n. j., . philleo, prudence crandall, . phillips, elizabeth mcclintock, . phillips, wendell, notifies miss anthony of legacy, v; ; ; memorial res., ; ; ; ; ; expediency, ; ; mem. serv. of mass, ass'n., ; ; petit. for wom. suff. in ' , ; same, . phillips, mrs. wendell, trib. to, . pickler, alice m. a. (mrs. j. a.), ; ; ; ; ; writes s. d. chap., ; . pickler, major j. a., m. c., ; ; ; ; ; on wom. suff. bill in s. d., ; ; efforts for wom. suff. in s. d., ; . pierce, gov. gilbert a., ; ; . pike, martha e., writes wash. chap., ; work in wash., et al. pillsbury, mayor george a., . pillsbury, parker, ; conv. mem. res., ; mrs. stanton's trib., ; wom. suff. in n. h., . pingree, gov. hazen s. (mich.), . platt, u. s. sen. orville h., on wom. suff., . platt, u. s. sen. thomas c., favors wom. suff., . plumb, u. s. sen. preston b., for wom. suff., . poland, luke p., m. c., report against wom. suff., ; . pond, cora scott, ; ; work in mass., et al.; in r. i., . porter, maria g., . post, amalia b., ; ; work in wy., ; . post, amy, ; . potter, bishop henry m., signs suff. petit., . powderly, terence v., ; . powell, aaron m., in n. j., ; mem. res., ; ; . preston, dr. ann, ; founds wom. hosp. in phila., . price, prof. ellen h. e., ; . pruyn, mrs. john v. l., organizes anti-suff. soc. . pugh, sarah, ; . purvis, robert. ; ; ; trib. of mrs. stanton, ; in penn., . putnam, rev. helen g., . q quarles, sup. judge ralph, decis. on wom. suff. in idaho, . queensland, names for, . quincy, st. rep. josiah, in mass. legis., . quinton, amelia stone, . r rainsford, rev. w. s., . ralph, julian, . ramabai, pundita, ; . ranney, a. a., m. c., rep. in favor of wom. suff., . rastall, fannie h., ; . reagan, u. s. sen. john h., sp. against wom. suff., ; . reed, charles wesley, . reed, kitty, . reed, speaker thomas b., rep. in favor of wom. suff., ; ; . reel, estelle, wom. suff. in wy., ; nat'l. supt. indian sch., . renkes, flora beadle, . rhode island, names for, chap. lxii. rhodes, margaret olive, writes ok. chap., work in ty., et al. rhone, leonard, . rich, gov. john t. (mich.), signs munic. suff. bill, . richards, gov. de forest (wy.), advocates wom. suff., . richards, emily s., ; ; ; assists on utah chap., work in utah, et al.; . richards, gov. and mrs. william a. (wy.), . richer, leon (france), . richey, clara m., writes iowa chap., ; . ricker, marilla m., in calif., ; in n. h., . riddle, judge albert g., sp. at conv. of ' , ; trib. to francis minor and b. f. butler, . ripley, dr. martha g., ; work in minn., et al. ritchie, anne thackeray (eng.), . roach, u. s. sen. w. n., . roberts, brigham h. (utah), opp. wom. suff., . robertson, j. m. (eng.), . robinson, emily, . robinson, gov. george d. (mass.), opp. wom. suff., . robinson, harriet h., ; ; . robinson, lelia j., ll. b., ; legis. work in mass., ; . rockefeller, john d., signs suff. petit., . roe, st. rep. alfred s., ; . rogers, caroline gilkey, ; before u. s. sen. com., ; ; ; work in n. y., et al. rogers, gov. john r. (wash.), . rollit, sir albert, m. p., work for wom. suff., . roosevelt, president theodore, recom. wom. suff. to n. y. legis., ; . root, martha snyder, ; ; ; work in mich., et al. root, melvin a., ; ; work in mich., et al.; . rose, ernestine l., ; ; ; ; . ross, hon. john, . routt, eliza f. (mrs. john l.), ; ; . routt, gov. john l., ; . russell, sarah a. (mrs. daniel l.), writes n. c. chap., . russell, thomas, ; opp. wom. suff. in mass. legis., . rutherford, annie o. (canada), . s sadler, gov. reinhold (nev.), recom. wom. suff. amdt., . sage, russell, signs suff. petit., . salisbury, marquis of, premier of england, for wom. suff., . sanborn, frank b., . sanders, u. s. sen. wilbur f., . sargent, u. s. sen. aaron a., ; . sargent, ellen clark (mrs. aaron a.), ; ; assists on calif. chap., ; ; ; in calif. camp'n., ; test case for suff., . sargent, dr. elizabeth c., ; ; . sargent, george c., . sartoris, nellie grant, . sather, jane krom, donat. to cal. univers., . saunders, charles r., sec'y. anti-suff. ass'n., ; . saunders, jessie cassidy, ; . savage, rev. minot j., . sawyer, u. s. sen. philetus, for wom. suff., . saxon, elizabeth lyle, sp. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; ; work in la., ; in neb., ; in tenn., ; in utah, ; in wash., ; in wis., . sayers, gov. joseph d. (texas), . scatcherd, alice (eng.), ; ; ; ; in n. y., . schenck, elizabeth t., . schofield, martha, . schreiner, olive, ; ; petit. for wom. suff., . scott, francis m., opp. wom. suff., . scott, mrs. francis m., organizes anti-suff. soc., . scully, rev. father thomas, ; . seddon, hon. h. j., premier n. z., for wom. suff., . seelye, l. clark, pres. smith coll., opp. wom. suff., . segur, rosa l., . selborne, earl of, for wom. suff., . semple, gov. eugene (wash.), signs wom. suff. bill, ; . severance, caroline m., . severance, sarah m., ; . sewall, harriet winslow, . sewall, may wright, call for conv. of ' , ; sp. at same, ; ; equality of sexes, ; ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; before house com., ; ; ex. com. rep., ; arranges for int'l. council, ; call for same, ; permanent council, ; wom. in camp'n. of ' , ; miss anthony's birthday, ; ; ; world's fair rep. and wom. suff., ; ; ; sp. before senate com. of ' , education and wom. suff., ; at conv. of ' , true civilization, peace conf., ; ; at conv. of , ; ; ; greetings from int'l. council of wom. on miss anthony's birthday, ; at world's fair wom. cong., ; ; work in ind., ; ; ; work for club-house in indpls., ; at cotton centennial, ; at adams, ; in mich., ; in omaha, ; in wis., ; pres. int'l. council, . sewall, judge samuel e., ; ; ; work in mass, for wom. suff., et al. sewall, theodore lovett, mem. service, . seymour, mary f., ; . shafer, helen a., pres. wellesley coll., . shafroth, john f., m. c., on wom. suff. in col., ; ; . shafroth, virginia morrison (mrs. john f.), trib. and gift on miss anthony's birthday, . shattuck, harriette robinson, ; at conv. of ' , ; before u. s. sen. com., ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; in n. y., . shaw, rev. anna howard, sermon on heavenly vision, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; on s. d. camp'n., ; ; ; ; ; before u. s. sen. com., ; trib. to mrs. r. w. emerson and rev. anna oliver, ; ; ; ; on wom. behind throne, ; sermon at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; logic and emotion of wom., ; sermon at conv. of ' , ; rep. of trip to pacific coast, ; miss anthony's comment on, ; trib. to mrs. dietrick, ; ; on pres. eliot, ; ; on miss anthony in calif., ; no millennium till wom. vote, ; ; ; ; ; ; at conv. of ' , pioneer women, men are women's product, ; ; ; closes conv. of ' , ; miss anthony and her right bower, ; rep. as delegate to int'l. council of ' , ; ; sermon at conv. of , ; ; closes hearing before house com. of , ; birthday present and response, ; trib. on miss anthony's th birthday, ; ; ; ; ; at nat'l. popu. conv. in ' , ; ; at calif. wom. cong., ; ; ; in calif, camp'n., ; ; visits denver, ; in s. d. camp'n., ; in del., ; in ills., ; in ind., ; in ia., ; ; tour of kas., ; ; in kas. camp'n., ; same, ; ; ; in ky., ; in maine, ; in md., ; in mass., et al.; in mich., ; same, ; in ann arbor, ; ; ; before mich. legis., ; in minn., ; in mo., ; ; in neb., ; in n. j., ; in nev., ; in n. y., ; debates wom. suff. with dr. buckley, ; in n. y. camp'n, ; in ohio, - ; in ore., ; in penn., ; in utah, ; in vt., ; in w. va., ; in wis., ; visits wy., . shaw, helen adelaide, ; et al. shaw, pauline agassiz (mrs. quincy a.), gives $ , to pub. vol. iv, hist. of wom. suff., vii. shaw, gov. leslie m. (iowa), . sheehan, lieut.-gov. william f. (n. y.), opp. wom. suff., ; ; . sheldon, ellen h., ; . sherman, u. s. sen. john, . shippen, rev. rush r., ; . shinn, harriet a., . shortridge, charles m., . shortridge, hon. samuel, . sidgwick, mrs. henry, principal newnham coll. (eng.), petit. for wom. suff., . simmons, anna r., ; . simpson, jerry, m. c., . simpson, bishop matthew, for wom. suff., ; ; . skidmore, marian, . sloss, judge m. c. (calif.), decis. on wom. suff., . smith, alice, . smith, mrs. clinton, . smith, elizabeth oakes, . smith, gerrit, ; . smith, hannah whitall, . smith, dr. julia holmes, at nat'l. dem. conv. of ' , ; ; . smith, rev. samuel g., . smith, sara winthrop, ; ; ; ; wom. suff. under const'n., . smith, mrs. william alden, . snow, eliza r., . solomon, hannah g., . somerset, lady henry, ; ; . south carolina, names for, chap. lxiii. southwick, sarah hussey, . southwick, thankful, . southworth, louisa, nat'l. enrollment, ; ; ; donat. for hdqrs. ; ; ; work in ohio, et al.; for w. c. t. u., . spaulding, bishop, for wom. suff., . spence, catherine (australia), ; ; . spencer, rev. anna garlin, ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; sp. before senate com. of ' , moral develop. and wom. suff., ; sp. at conv. of ' , wom. in our new possessions, ; in boston, ; same, , in n. y., ; writes r. i. chap., ; work in r. i., et al.; . sperry, mary s. (mrs. austin), work in cal., et al. spinner, u. s. treasurer f. e., . spofford, ainsworth r., . spofford, charles w., ; ; hospitality to miss anthony, . spofford, jane h. (mrs. charles w.), ; ; ; ; work for wom. suff., ; hospitality to miss anthony, ; ; in maine, . spreckles, claus, community property case, . springer, william m., m. c., opp. wom. suff., . squire, gov. watson c. (wash.), testimony for wom. suff., ; . st. john, gov. john p. (kas.), for wom. suff., . stafford, st. rep. wendell phillips, ; . stanford, jane lathrop (mrs. leland), ; endows univers., . stanford, u. s. sen. leland, trib. to, ; founds univers., ; . stanton, elizabeth cady, ten yrs. work on hist. of wom. suff., iii; sells rights in hist. to miss anthony, vi; mental vigor at , vii; tries to prevent "male" in nat'l. consti., ; organizes nat'l. ass'n., ; calls conv. of ' , ; ; ; self-gov't. best means of self-development, ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; rights of wom. in church, ; power of relig. over wom., ; ; res. on wom. suff. and church, ; ; ridicules rep. of brown and cockrell, ; part in int'l. council of wom., ; sp. at same, ; ; ; woman's constit'l. right to vote, ; objects to thanking men for justice, ; ; prophecy fulfilled, ; before u. s. sen. com. of ' , ; questioned by com., ; ; friendship for miss anthony, ; great. sp. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; degradation of disfranchm't, ; last appearance at nat'l. conv., ; solitude of self, ; ; trib. to dead, ; ; th birthday, ; woman's bible, ; miss anthony defends her, ; house com. in ' , ; ; sp. at conv. of ' , our defeats and our triumphs, ; ; ; before senate com. of ' , history of ballot, ; wom. are pariahs and fight their battles alone, ; ; trib. to pillsbury and purvis, ; ; ; appeal to house com. of , ; long in office, ; ; ; ; first app. at polit. conv., ; ; ; ; woman's work at centennial, ; ; in minn., ; in mo., ; in neb., ; pioneer work in n. y., ; ; ; ; early legis. work in n. y., ; work for equal guardianship, ; in utah, ; welcomes utah wom., ; in wis., ; ad. on wy., . stanton, marguerite berry (mrs. theodore), . stanton, theodore, ; . starrett, helen ekin, trib. to lucy stone, . stearns, judge j. b., . stearns, sarah burger, in calif., ; ; work in minn., et al. stebbins, catharine a. f., ; work in mich., . stebbins, giles b., in mich., . stetson, charlotte perkins, at conv. of ' , ; same, ; ; ballot and motherhood, ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; in boston, ; in penn., . steunenberg, gov. frank, on wom. suff. in idaho, . stevens, lillian m. n., ; . stevenson, j. o., . stevenson, katherine lente, ; in r. i., . stevenson, dr. sarah hackett, . stewart, john w., m. c., rep. against wom. suff., . stockham, dr. alice b., . stoddard, helen m., writes tex. chap., ; work for girls' indus. sch., . stone, lucinda hinsdale, on dr. stone's early belief in wom. suff., ; . stone, lucy, ; ; ; letter to conv. of ' , ; ; at nat'l council of ' , ; ; ; ; before u. s. sen. com., ; conv. of ' , her last message, ; ; mem. service, ; ; ; ; ; ; ; acc't of conv. of amer. ass'n. of ' , ; influence on kas. laws, ; rep. as ch. ex. com. of amer. ass'n., ' , ; ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; acc't. of amer. conv. of ' , ; ; ; at legislatures, ; rep. ch. ex. com., ' , ; on union of two ass'ns., ; spks. at bazar in ' , ; acc't of amer. conv. ' , ; appeal to constit'l. convs., ; work for ariz., ; ; ; ; ; ; ; in ills., ; in ind., ; in iowa, ; same, ; in kas., ; same, ; in maine, ; in baltimore, ; ; work in mass., et al.; last pub. ad., ; death and funeral, ; on boston tea party, ; ; first wom. suff. petit., yrs. in office, ; legis. work in mass., ; for equal guardianship, ; in mich., ; ; in minn., ; in n. j., ; mem. serv. in n. j., ; in r. i., ; in vt., ; on admis. of wy., . strong, lieut. gov. john (mich.), favors wom. suff., . stout, sir robert, premier n. z., for wom. suff., . stowe, harriet beecher, . sullivan, sup. judge isaac n. (ida.), decis. on wom. suff. amdt., . sulzer, william, m. c., . sweet, ada c., . swift, mary wood (mrs. john f.), work in calif., et al.; . swisshelm, jane gray, . t taft, hon. alphonso, . taft, judge w. h., . talbot, gov. thomas (mass.), . taney, chief justice roger b., . tanner, gov. john r. (ills.), ; . taylor, alberta c., ; . taylor, ezra b., m. c., rep. in favor wom. suff., ; same, ; same, ; ; ; assists in o., . taylor, peter a., m. p., ; . taylor, mrs. peter a., . telford, mary jewett, ; . teller, u. s. sen. henry m., ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; approves wom. suff., . tennessee, names for, chap. lxiv. terrell, mary church, ; sp. at conv. of , ; . texas, names for, chap. lxv. thayer, gov. john m., wom. suff. in wy., . thomann, gallus, . thomas, gov. charles s., ; ; ; wom. suff. in col., . thomas, dean m. carey, pres. bryn mawr coll., ; helps secure wom. med. coll. of johns hopkins, ; trustee cornell univ. ; . thomas, m. louise, . thomas, mary bentley, ; ; writes md. chap., ; . thomas, dr. mary f., ; ; ; ; ; ; letter to amer. conv. of ' , ; th birthday, ; ; ; ; ; . thomasson, john p., m. p., . thomasson, mrs. john p., . thompson, elizabeth, donation to pub. hist. of wom. suff., v. thompson, ellen powell, rep. on congress'l work, ; trib. and gift to miss anthony on birthday, ; work in d. c., et al. thompson, col. john, . thompson, martha j., ; . thomson (archbishop of york) mrs., petit. for wom. suff., . thomson, m. adeline, ; . thorpe, dr. juliet, . thurston, sarah a., ; et al. tillinghast, elizabeth sheldon, . tillman, u. s. sen. benj. r., . tod, isabella m. s. (ireland), ; . todd, mabel loomis, . tomlinson, william p., . townsend, justine v. r., . trimble, dr. john, . trygg, alli (finland), . tubman, harriet, ; . tupper, rev. mila (maynard), ; ; . turner, sup. judge george (wash.), . turner, sir george, premier victoria, bill for wom. suff., . tyler, louise m., ; work in r. i., . u uhl, asst. sec. of state edwin f., . unwin, jane cobden (eng.), ; . upton, harriet taylor, work in cong., ; ; ; ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; tells of financial help of miss anthony, ; rep. ' ; ; wom. on sch. bds., ; treas. rep., , ; secures congress'l. rep., ; ; ; writes ohio chap., ; work in o., et al.; work on sch. bd., . utah, names for, chap. lxvi. v vance, u. s. sen. zebulon b., ; ; questions mrs. stanton, ; rep. against wom. suff., . van cleve, charlotte o., . vermont, names for, chap. lxvii. vest, u. s. sen. george g., ; sp. against wom. suff., ; spks. against wom. suff. in wy., . victoria (aus.), names for, . victoria, queen, compared to amer. women, ; ; rec. int'l. council, ; trib. to, . villard, oswald garrison, . virginia, names for, chap. lxviii. vogel, sir julius, treasurer n. z., bill for wom. suff., . voorhees, gov. foster m. (n. j.), . w wait, anna c., ; welcomes conv. to kas. in ' , ; assists on kas. chap., . waite, catharine v., . waite, hon. charles b., . waite, gov. davis h., on wom. suff. in col., ; signs wom. suff. bill, ; ; . waite, dr. lucy, . waite, chief justice morrison r., u. s. has no voters, ; for wom. suff., . wall, sarah, . wallace, catherine p., writes n. m. chap., work in australia and new zeal., ; in n. m., et al. wallace, zerelda g., ; ; wom. suff. necessity for gov't., ; ; ; sp. on a whole humanity, ; ; in ills., ; ; ; legis. work in ind., ; in kas., , ; in ky., ; in boston, ; in r. i., ; in vt., . walworth, rev. clarence a., opp. wom. suff., . ward, eliza t., . ward, elizabeth stuart phelps, ; . ward, prof. lester f., . ward, lydia a. coonley, poem on miss anthony's eightieth birthday, ; ; . warren, u. s. sen. francis e., rep. in favor of wom. suff., ; ; ; ; testimony for wom. suff., ; wom. suff. in wy., . warren, helen m. (mrs. francis e.), trib. and gift on miss anthony's birthday, . washburn, gov. wm. b. (mass.), . washington, names for, chap. lxix. washington, booker t., ; . washington, mrs. booker t., . washington, joseph e., m. c., opp. wom. suff., . wattles, esther, . wattles, john o., . wattles, susan e., . waugh, alice, . way, mary heald, . webb, alfred, m. p., . webster, prof. helen, . welch, minerva c. (mrs. a. l.), ; wom. suff. in col., ; . weld, angelina grimké, . weld, theodore d., ; ; . wells, amos r., collects wom. suff. testimony, . wells, emmeline b., ; ; on wom. suff. in utah, at conv. of ' , ; writes utah chap., work in utah, et al.; . wells, gov. heber m., ; ; ; wom. suff. in utah, . wells, kate gannett, ; opp. wom. suff., ; . wellstood, jessie m. (scot.), . wendte, rev. c. w., ; et al. west, gov. caleb (utah), . west virginia, names for, chap. lxx. wheeler, vice-president william a., for wom. suff., . whelan, carrie a., assists on calif. chapter, ; . whipple, rev. a. b., . whipple, charles k., . white, armenia s., . white, john d., m. c., rep. in favor wom. suff., ; sp. for same, . white, u. s. sen. stephen m., . whiting, john l., ; . whitman, sarah helen, . whitney, adeline d. t., opp. wom. suff., ; ; . whitney, sarah ware, . whitney, victoria c., . whittier, john greenleaf, ; ; ; . whittle, dr. ewing (eng.), ; . widdrington, mrs. percy (eng.), in n. j., . wigham, eliza (scot), ; . wilbour, charlotte b., . wilbur, julia a., ; . wilbur, sarah, . willard, emma, . willard, frances e., ; at int'l. council, ; sp. before u. s. senate com., ; ; ; ; in denver, ; death, ; ; ; ; ; ; in boston, ; ; ; in mont., ; in n. c., ; ; work in w. c. t. u., ; ; estab. dept. franchise, . willcox, albert o., . willcox, hon. hamilton, ; . williams, mary h., . williamson, frances a., ; ; writes nev. chap., ; work in nev., et al. williamson, m. laura, . wilson, edgar, m. c., . wilson, vice-president henry, for wom. suff., . windeyer, miss (australia), . winship, dr. a. e., . winslow, dr. caroline b., ; ; . wisconsin, names for, chap. lxxi. wolcott, u. s. sen. edward o., ; ; . wolcott, lieut.-gov. roger (mass.), . wolf, john b., . wolf, simon, . wollstonecraft, mary, . wood, col. s. n., ; . wood, mrs. s. n., . woodall, william, m. p., work for wom. suff., . woodbridge, mary a., . woodbury, charles j., wom. suff. in wash., . woods, dr. frances, ; ; in o., ; same, . woods, mell c., ; on wom. suff. in ida., . wright, hon. carroll d., sp. on indust. emancip. of wom., . wright, frances, ; . wright, st. rep. harriet g. r. (col.), ; . wright, martha c., ; ; . wright, phoebe c., . wyndham, george, m. p., . wyoming, names for, chap. lxxii. y yarbrough, jasper, case of, . yates, elizabeth upham, ; sp. at conv. of ' , ; ; ; ; in calif, campn., ; ; ; ; ; in boston, ; in mass., ; ; in miss., ; in n. j., ; in n. c., ; in penn., ; in s. c., ; in va., . yates, gov. richard (ills.), . young, virginia durant, ; ; ; ; ; wom. suff. in south, ; ; writes s. c. chap., work in s. c., et al. young, zina d. h., ; . z zelophehad, daughters of, . * * * * * [transcriber's notes: the transcriber made the following changes to the text to correct obvious errors: . p. xxvi posession --> possession . p. parlimentary --> parliamentary . p. acomplished --> accomplished . p. disfranchisement:t: --> disfranchisement: . p. preceeding --> preceding . p. senaca falls; --> senaca falls, . p. "the bottoms,'" --> "the bottoms," . p. they want.'" --> they want." . p. unforgetable --> unforgettable . p. ptolomaic --> ptolemaic . p. plaform --> platform . p. northen --> northern . p. in $ . --> is $ . . p. mantained --> maintained . p. disabilites -->disabilities . p. committe --> committee . p. classess -->classes (footnote # ) . p. conspicious --> conspicuous . p. ocupying --> occupying . p. wald --> waldo . p. to higher plane. --> to a higher plane. . p. encouragment -->encouragement . p. atorney --> attorney . p. 'whatever may be --> "whatever may be end of transcriber's notes] proofreaders samantha among the brethren. by "josiah allen's wife" (marietta holley) part chapter vii. but along about the middle of the fifth week i see a change. lodema had been uncommon exasperatin', and i expected she would set josiah to goin', and i groaned in spirit, to think what a job wuz ahead of me, to part their two tongues--when all of a sudden i see a curius change come over my pardner's face. i remember jest the date that the change in his mean wuz visible, and made known to me--for it wuz the very mornin' that we got the invitation to old mr. and miss pressley's silver weddin'. and that wuz the fifteenth day of the month along about the middle of the forenoon. and it wuz not half an hour after elnathen pressley came to the door and give us the invitations, that i see the change in his mean. and when i asked him about it afterwards, what that strange and curius look meant, he never hung back a mite from tellin' me, but sez right out plain: "mebby, samantha, i hain't done exactly as i ort to by cousin lodema, and i have made up my mind to make her a happy surprise before she goes away." "wall," sez i, "so do." i thought he wuz goin' to get her a new dress. she had been a-hintin' to him dretful strong to that effect. she wanted a parmetty, or a balzereen, or a circassien, which wuz in voge in her young days. but i wuz in hopes he would get her a cashmere, and told him so, plain. but i couldn't get him to tell what the surprise wuz. he only sez, sez he: "i am goin' to make her a happy surprise." and the thought that he wuz a-goin' to branch out and make a change, wuz considerable of a comfort to me. and i needed comfort--yes, indeed i did--i needed it bad. for not one single thing did i do for her that i done right, though i tried my best to do well by her. but she found fault with my vittles from mornin' till night, though i am called a excellent cook all over jonesville, and all round the adjoining country, out as far as loontown, and zoar. it has come straight back to me by them that wouldn't lie. but it hain't made me vain. but i never cooked a thing that suited lodema, not a single thing. most of my vittles wuz too fresh, and then if i braced up and salted 'em extra so as to be sure to please her, why then they wuz briny, and hurt her mouth. why, if you'll believe it, i give her a shawl, made her a present of it; it had even checks black and white, jest as many threads in the black stripes as there wuz in the white, for i counted 'em. and she told me, after she had looked it all over and said it wuz kinder thin and slazy, and checkered shawls had gone out of fashion, and the black looked some as if it would fade with washin', and the white wuzn't over clear, and the colors wuzn't no ways becomin' to her complexion, and etcetery, etcetery. "but," sez she, after she had got all through with the rest of her complaints--"if the white stripes wuz where the black wuz, and the black where the white wuz, she should like it quite well." and there it wuz, even check, two and two. wall, that wuz a sample of her doin's. if anybody had a roman nose she wanted a greecy one. [illustration: "if the white stripes wuz where the black wuz."] and if the nose wuz greece, why then she wanted rome. why, josiah sez to me along about the third week, he said (to ourselves, in private), "that if lodema went to heaven she would be dissatisfied with it, and think it wuz livelier, and more goin' on down to the other place." and he said she would get the angels all stirred up a findin' fault with their feathers. i told him "i would not hear such talk." "wall," sez he, "don't you believe it?" and i kinder turned him off, and wouldn't tell, and told him it wuz wicked to talk so. "wall," sez josiah, "you dassent say she wouldn't." and i dassent, though i wouldn't own it up to him, i dassent. and if she kinder got out of other occupations for a minute durin' them first weeks she would be a quarrelin' with josiah allen about age. i s'pose she and josiah wuzn't far from the same age, for they wuz children together. but she wanted to make out she wuz young. and she would tell josiah that "he seemed jest like a father to her, and always had." and sometimes when she felt the most curius, she would call him "father," and "pa," and "papa." and it would mad josiah allen so that i would have all i could do to quell him down. now i didn't feel so, i didn't mind it so much. why, there would be days, when she felt the curiusest, that she would call me "mother," and "ma," and foller me round with foot-stools and things, when i went to set down, and would kinder worry over my fallin' off the back step, and would offer to help me up the suller stairs, and so forth, and watchin' over what i et, and tellin' me folks of my age ort to be careful, and not over-eat. and josiah asked me to ask her "how she felt about that time?" for she wuz from three to four years older than i wuz. but i wouldn't contend with her, and the footstools come kinder handy, i had jest as lieve have 'em under my feet as not, and ruther. and as for rich vittles not agreein' with me, and my not over-eatin', i broke that tip by fallin' right in with her, and not cookin' such good things--that quelled her down, and gaulded josiah too. but, as i said, it riled josiah the worst of anything to have lodema call him father, for he wants to make out that he is kinder young himself. and sez he to her one day, about the third week, when she was a-goin' on about how good and fatherly he looked, and how much he seemed like a parent to her, and always had, sez he: "i wonder if i seemed like a father to you when we wuz a-kickin' at each other in the same cradle?" sez he: "we both used to nuss out of the same bottle, any way, for i have heard my mother say so lots of times. there wuzn't ten days' difference in our ages. you wuz ten days the oldest as i have always made out." she screamed right out, "why, josiah allen, where is your conscience to talk in that way--and your heart?" "in here, where everybody's is," sez josiah, strikin' himself with his right hand--he meant to strike against his left breast, but struck too low, kinder on his stomach. and sez i, "that is what i have always thought, josiah allen. i have always had better luck reachin' your conscience through your stomach than in any other way. and now," sez i coldly, "do you go out and bring in a pail of water." i used to get beat out and sick of their scufflin's and disagreein's, and broke 'em up whenever i could. but oh! oh! how she did quarrel with josiah allen and that buzz saw scheme of his'n. how light she made of that enterprise, how she demeaned the buzz, and run the saws--till i felt that bad as i hated the enterprise myself, i felt that a variety of loud buzz saws would be a welcome relief from her tongue--from their two tongues; for as fur down as she would run them buzz saws, jest so fur would josiah allen praise 'em up. [illustration: lodema and josiah in youth.] she never agreed with josiah allen but in jest one thing while she was under his ruff. i happened to mention one day how extremely anxious i wuz to have females set on the conference; and then, wantin' to dispute me, and also bein' set on that side, she run down the project, and called it all to nort--and when too late she see that she had got over on josiah allen's side of the fence. but it had one good effect. when that man see she wuz there, he waded off, way out of sight of the project, and wouldn't mention it--it madded him so to be on the same side of the fence she wuz--so that it seemed to happen all for the best. why, i took her as a dispensation from the first, and drawed all sorts of morels from her, and sights of 'em--sights. but oh, it wuz tuff on me, fearful tuff. and when she calculated and laid out to make out her visit and go, wuz more than we could tell. chapter viii. for two weeks had passed away like a nite mair of the nite--and three weeks, and four weeks--and she didn't seem to be no nigher goin' than she did when she came. and i would not make a move towards gettin' rid of her, not if i had dropped down in my tracts, because she wuz one of the relatives on his side. but i wuz completely fagged out; it did seem, as i told tirzah ann one day in confidence, "that i never knew the meanin' of the word 'fag' before." and tirzah ann told me (she couldn't bear her) that if she wuz in my place, she would start her off. sez she: "she has plenty of brothers and sisters, and a home of her own, and why should she come here to torment you and father;" and sez she, "i'll talk to her, mother, i'd jest as leve as not." sez i, "tirzah ann, if you say a word to her, i'll--i'll never put confidence in you agin;" sez i, "life is full of tribulations, and we must expect to bear our crosses;" sez i, "the old martyrs went through more than lodema." sez tirzah ann, "i believe lodema would have wore out john rogers." and i don't know but she would, but i didn't encourage her by ownin' it up that she would; but i declare for't, i believe she would have been more tegus than the nine children, and the one at the breast, any way. wall, as i said, it wuz durin' the fifth week that josiah allen turned right round, and used her first rate. and when she would talk before folks about how much filial affection she had for him, and about his always havin' been jest like a parent to her, and everything of the kind--he never talked back a mite, but looked clever, and told me in confidence, "that he had turned over a new leaf, and he wuz goin' to surprise her--give her a happy surprise." and he seemed, instead of lovin' to rile her up, as he had, to jest put his hull mind on the idee of the joyful surprise. wall, i am always afraid (with reason) of josiah allen's enterprizes. but do all i could, he wouldn't tell me one word about what he wuz goin' to do, only he kep it up, kep a-sayin' that, "it wuz somethin' i couldn't help approvin' of, and it wuz somethin' that would happify me, and be a solid comfort to her, and a great gain and honor." so (though i trembled some for the result) i had to let it go on, for she wuz one of the relations on his own side, and i knew it wouldn't do for me to interfere too much, and meddle. why, he did come right out one day and give hints to me to that effect. sez i, "why do you go on and be so secret about it? why don't you tell your companion all about it, what you are a-goin' to do, and advise with her?" and he sez, "i guess i know what i am about. she is one of the relations on my side, and i guess i have got a few rights left, and a little spunk." "yes," sez i, sadly, "you have got the spunk." "wall," sez he, "i guess i can spunk up, and do somethin' for one of my own relations, without any interference or any advice from any of the smith family, or anybody else." sez i, "i don't want to stop your doin' all you can for lodema, but why not tell what you are a-goin' to do?" "it will be time enough when the time comes," sez he. "you will find it out in the course of next week." wall, it run along to the middle of the next week. and one day i had jest sot down to tie off a comforter. it wuz unbleached cheese cloth that i had bought and colored with tea leaves. it wuz a sort of a light mice color, a pretty soft gray, and i wuz goin' to tie it in with little balls of red zephyr woosted, and work it in buttonhole stitch round the edge with the same. it wuz fur our bed, josiah's and mine, and it wuz goin' to be soft and warm and very pretty, though i say it, that shouldn't. [illustration: "i had jest sot down to tie off a comforter."] it wuzn't quite so pretty as them that hain't colored. i had 'em for my spare beds, cream color tied with pale blue and pink, that wuz perfectly beautiful and very dressy; but i thought for everyday use a colored one would be better. wall, i had brought it out and wuz jest a-goin' to put it onto the frames (some new-fashioned ones i had borrowed from tirzah ann for the occasion). and cousin lodema had jest observed, "that the new-fashioned frames with legs wuzn't good for nothin', and she didn't like the color of gray, it looked too melancholy, and would be apt to depress our feelin's too much, and would be tryin' to our complexions." and i told her "that i didn't spoze there would be a very great congregation in our bedroom, as a general thing in the dead of night, to see whether it wuz becomin' to josiah and me or not. and, it bein' as dark as egypt, our complexions wouldn't make a very bad show any way." "wall," she said, "to tie it with red wuzn't at all appropriate, it wuz too dressy a color for folks of our age, josiah's and mine." "why," sez she, "even _i_, at _my_ age, would skurcely care to sleep under one so gay. and she wouldn't have a cheese cloth comforter any way." she sort o' stopped to ketch breath, and josiah sez: "oh, wall, lodema, a cheese cloth comforter is better than none, and i should think you would be jest the one to like any sort of a frame on legs." but i wunk at him, a real severe and warnin' wink, and he stopped short off, for all the world as if he had forgot bein' on his good behavior; he stopped short off, and went right to behavin', and sez he to me: "don't put on your comforter to-day, samantha, for tirzah ann and whitfield and the babe are a-comin' over here bimeby, and maggie is a-comin', and thomas jefferson." "wall," sez i, "that is a good reason why i should keep on with it; the girls can help me if i don't get it off before they get here." and then he sez, "miss minkley is a-comin', too, and the elder." "why'ee," sez i, "josiah allen, why didn't you tell me before, so i could have baked up somethin' nice? what a man you are to keep things; how long have you known it?" "oh, a week or so!" "a week!" sez i; "josiah allen, where is your conscience? if you have got a conscience." "in the same old place," sez he, kinder hittin' himself in the pit of his stomach. "wall, i should think as much," sez i. and lodema sez, sez she: "a man that won't tell things is of all creeters that walks the earth the most disagreeable. and i should think the girls, maggie and tirzah ann, would want to stay to home and clean house such a day as this is. and i should think a elder would want to stay to home so's to be on hand in case of anybody happenin' to be exercised in their minds, and wantin to talk to him on religious subjects. and if i wuz a elder's wife, i should stay to home with him; i should think it wuz my duty and my privilege. and if i wuz a married woman, i would have enough baked up in the house all the time, so's not to be afraid of company." but i didn't answer back. i jest sot away my frames, and went out and stirred up a cake; i had one kind by me, besides cookies and jell tarts. but i felt real worked up to think i hadn't heard. wall, i hadn't more'n got that cake fairly into the oven when the children come, and elder minkley and his wife. and i thought they looked queer, and i thought the elder begun to tell me somethin', and i thought i see josiah wink at him. but i wouldn't want to take my oath whether he wunk or not, but i _thought_ he wunk. i wuz jest a turnin' this over in my mind, and a carryin' away their things, when i glanced out of the settin' room winder, and lo, and behold! there wuz abi adsit a comin' up to the front door, and right behind her wuz her pa and ma adsit, and deacon henzy and his wife, and miss henn and metilda, and lute pitkins and his wife, and miss petengill, and deacon sypher and drusilly, and submit tewksbury--a hull string of 'em as long as a procession. sez i, and i spoke it right out before i thought--sez i-- "why'ee!" sez i. "for the land's sake!" sez i, "has there been a funeral, or anything? and are these the mourners?" sez i. "are they stoppin' here to warm?" for it wuz a cold day--and i repeated the words to myself mechanically as it wuz, as i see 'em file up the path. "they be mourners, hain't they?" "no," sez josiah, who had come in and wuz a standin' by the side of me, as i spoke out to myself unbeknown to me--sez he in a proud axent-- "no, they hain't mourners, they are happyfiers; they are highlariers; they have come to our party. we are givin' a party, samantha. we are havin' a diamond weddin' here for lodema." "a diamond weddin'!" i repeated mechanically. "yes, this is my happy surprise for lodema." i looked at lodema trumble. she looked strange. she had sunk back in her chair. i thought she wuz a-goin' to faint, and she told somebody the next day, "that she did almost lose her conscientiousness." "why," sez i, "she hain't married." [illustration: "we are givin' a party, samantha."] "wall, she ort to be, if she hain't," sez he. "i say it is high time for her to have some sort of a weddin'. everybody is a havin' 'em--tin, and silver and wooden, and basswood, and glass, and etc.--and i thought it wuz a perfect shame that lodema shouldn't have none of no kind--and i thought i'd lay to, and surprise her with one. every other man seemed to be a-holdin' off, not willin' seemin'ly that she should have one, and i jest thought i would happify her with one." "wall, why didn't you make her a silver one, or a tin?" sez i. "or a paper one!" screamed lodema, who had riz up out of her almost faintin' condition. "that would have been much more appropriate," sez she. "wall, i thought a diamond one would be more profitable to her. for i asked 'em all to bring diamonds, if they brought anything. and then i thought it would be more suitable to her age." "why!" she screamed out. "they have to be married seventy-five years before they can have one." "yes," sez he dreemily, "i thought that would be about the right figure." lodema wuz too mad to find fault or complain or anything. she jest marched up-stairs and didn't come down agin that night. and the young folks had a splendid good time, and the old ones, too. tirzah ann and maggie had brought some refreshments with 'em, and so had some of the other wimmen, and, with what i had, there wuz enough, and more than enough, to refresh ourselves with. wall, the very next mornin' lodema marched down like a grenideer, and ordered josiah to take her to the train. and she eat breakfast with her things on, and went away immegiately after, and hain't been back here sense. and i wuz truly glad to see her go, but wuz sorry she went in such a way, and i tell josiah he wuz to blame, but he acts as innocent as you pleese. and he goes all over the arguments agin every time i take him to do about it. he sez "she wuz old enough to have a weddin' of some kind." and of course i can't dispute that, when he faces me right down, and sez: "hain't she old enough?" and i'll say, kinder short-- "why, i spoze so!" "wall," sez he, "wouldn't it have been profitable to her if they had brought diamonds? wouldn't it have been both surprisin' and profitable?" and sez he, "i told 'em expressly to bring diamonds if they had more than they wanted. i charged old bobbet and lute pitkins specially on the subject. i didn't want 'em to scrimp themselves; but," sez i, "if you have got more diamonds than you want, lute, bring over a few to lodema." [illustration: "if you have got more diamonds than you want."] "yes," sez i, coldly, "he wuz dretful likely to have diamonds more then he wanted, workin' out by day's work to support his family. you know there wuzn't a soul you invited that owned a diamond." "how did i know what they owned? i never have prowled round into their bureau draws and things, tryin' to find out what they had; they might have had quarts of 'em, and i not know it." sez i, "you did it to make fun of lodema and get rid of her. and it only makes it worse to try to smooth it over." sez i, "i'd be honorable about it if i wuz in your place, and own up." "own up? what have i got to own up? i shall always say if my orders wuz carried out, it would have been a profitable affair for lodema, and it would--profitable and surprisin'." and that is all i can get him to say about it, from that day to this. chapter ix. but truly the labors that descended onto my shoulders immegiately after lodema's departure wuz hard enough to fill up my hull mind, and tax every one of my energies. yes, my labors and the labors of the other female jonesvillians wuz deep and arjuous in the extreme (of which more and anon bimeby). i had been the female appinted in a private and becomin' female way, to go to loontown to see the meetin' house there that we heard they had fixed over in a cheap but commojous way. and for reasons (of which more and anon) we wanted to inquire into the expense, the looks on't, etc., etc. so i persuaded josiah allen to take me over to loontown on this pressin' business, and he gin his consent to go on the condition that we should stop for a visit to cephas bodley'ses. josiah sets store by 'em. you see they are relations of ourn and have been for some time, entirely unbeknown to us, and they'd come more'n a year ago a huntin' of us up. they said they "thought relations ought to be hunted up and hanged together." they said "the idea of huntin' us up had come to 'em after readin' my books." they told me so, and i said, "wall!" i didn't add nor diminish to that one "wall," for i didn't want to act too backward, nor too forward. i jest kep' kinder neutral, and said, "wall!" you see cephas'ses father's sister-in-law wuz stepmother to my aunt's second cousin on my father's side. and cephas said that "he had felt more and more, as years went by, that it wuz a burnin' shame for relations to not know and love each other." he said "he felt that he loved josiah and me dearly." i didn't say right out whether it wuz reciprokated or not i kinder said, "wall!" agin. and i told josiah, in perfect confidence and the wood-house chamber, "that i had seen nearer relations than mr. bodley'ses folks wuz to us," [illustration: "cephas said it wuz a burnin' shame for relations to not know and love each other."] howsumever, i done well by 'em. josiah killed a fat turkey, and i baked it, and done other things for their comfort, and we had quite a good time. cephas wuz ruther flowery and enthusiastick, and his mouth and voice wuz ruther large, but he meant well, i should judge, and we had quite a good time. she wuz very freckled, and a second-day baptist by perswasion, and wuz piecin' up a crazy bedquilt. she went a-visitin' a good deal, and got pieces of the women's dresses where she visited for blocks. so it wuz quite a savin' bedquilt, and very good-lookin', considerin'. but to resoom and continue on. cephas'ses folks made us promise on our two sacred honors, josiah's honor and mine, that we would pay back the visit, for, as cephas said, "for relatives to live so clost to each other, and not to visit back and forth, wuz a burnin' shame and a disgrace." and josiah promised that we would go right away after sugerin'. we wouldn't promise on the new testament, as cephas wanted us to (he is dretful enthusiastick); but we gin good plain promises that we would go, and laid out to keep our two words. wall, we got there onexpected, as they had come onto us. and we found 'em plunged into trouble. their only child, a girl, who had married a young lawyer of loontown, had jest lost her husband with the typus, and they wuz a-makin' preparations for the funeral when we got there. she and her husband had come on a visit, and he wuz took down bed-sick there and died. i told 'em i felt like death to think i had descended down onto 'em at such a time. but cephas said he wuz jest dispatchin' a messenger for us when we arrove, for, he said, "in a time of trouble, then wuz the time, if ever, that a man wanted his near relations clost to him." and he said "we had took a load offen him by appearin' jest as we did, for there would have been some delay in gettin' us there, if the messenger had been dispatched." he said "that mornin' he had felt so bad that he wanted to die--it seemed as if there wuzn't nothin' left for him to live for; but now he felt that he had sunthin' to live for, now his relatives wuz gathered round him." josiah shed tears to hear cephas go on. i myself didn't weep none, but i wuz glad if we could be any comfort to 'em, and told 'em so. and i told sally ann, that wuz cephas'ses wife, that i would do anything i could to help 'em. and she said everything wuz a-bein' done that wuz necessary. she didn't know of but one thing that wuz likely to be overlooked and neglected, and that wuz the crazy bedquilt. she said "she would love to have that finished to throw over a lounge in the settin'-room, that wuz frayed out on the edges, and if i felt like it, it _would_ be a great relief to her to have me take it right offen her hands and finish it." so i took out my thimble and needle (i always carry such necessaries with me, in a huzzy made expressly for that purpose), and i sot down and went to piecin' up. there wuz seventeen blocks to piece up, each one crazy as a loon to look at, and it wuz all to set together. she had the pieces, for she had been off on a visitin' tower the week before, and collected of 'em. so i sot in quiet and the big chair in the settin'-room, and pieced up, and see the preparations goin' on round us. i found that cephas'ses folks lived in a house big and showy-lookin', but not so solid and firm as i had seen. it wuz one of the houses, outside and inside, where more pains had been took with the porticos and ornaments than with the underpinnin'. it had a showy and kind of a shaky look. and i found that that extended to cephas'ses business arrangements. amongst the other ornaments of his buildin's wuz mortgages, quite a lot of'em, and of almost every variety. he had gin his only child, s. annie (she wuz named after her mother, sally ann, but spelt it this way), he had gin s. annie a showy education, a showy weddin', and a showy settin'-out. but she had had the good luck to marry a sensible man, though poor. [illustration: "so i sot in quiet and the big chair."] he took s. annie and the brackets, the piano and hangin' lamps and baskets and crystal bead lambrequins, her father had gin her, moved 'em all into a good, sensible, small house, and went to work to get a practice and a livin'. he was a lawyer by perswasion. wall, he worked hard, day and night, for three little children come to 'em pretty fast, and s. annie consumed a good deal in trimmin's and cheap lace to ornament 'em; she wuz her father's own girl for ornament. but he worked so hard, and had so many irons in the fire, and kep' 'em all so hot, that he got a good livin' for 'em, and begun to lay up money towards buyin' 'em a house--a home. he talked a sight, so folks said that knew him well, about his consumin' desire and aim to get his wife and children into a little home of their own, into a safe little haven, where they could live if he wuz called away. they say that that wuz on his mind day and night, and wuz what nerved his hand so in the fray, and made him so successful. wall, he had laid up about nine hundred dollars towards a home, every dollar on it earned by hard work and consecrated by this deathless hope and affection. the house he had got his mind on only cost about a thousand dollars. loontown property is cheap. wall, he had laid up nine hundred, and wuz a-beginnin' to save on the last hundred, for he wouldn't run in debt a cent any way, when he wuz took voyalent sick there to cephas'ses; he and s. annie had come home for a visit of a day or two, and he bein' so run down, and weak with his hard day work and his night work, that he suckumbed to his sickness, and passed away the day before i got there. wall, s. annie wuz jest overcome with grief the day i got there, but the day follerin' she begun to take some interest and help her father in makin' preparations for the funeral. the body wuz embalmed, accordin' to cephas'ses and s. annie's wish, and the funeral wuz to be on the sunday follerin', and on that cephas and s. annie now bent their energies. to begin with, s. annie had a hull suit of clear crape made for herself, with a veil that touched the ground; she also had three other suits commenced, for more common wear, trimmed heavy with crape, one of which she ordered for sure the next week, for she said, "she couldn't stir out of the house in any other color but black." i knew jest how dear crape wuz, and i tackled her on the subject, and sez i-- "do you know, s. annie, these dresses of your'n will cost a sight?" "cost?" sez she, a-bustin' out a-cryin'. "what do i care about cost? i will do everything i can to respect his memory. i do it in remembrance of him." sez i, gently, "s. annie, you wouldn't forget him if you wuz dressed in white. and as for respect, such a life as his, from all i hear of it, don't need crape to throw respect on it; it commands respect, and gets it from everybody." "but," sez cephas, "it would look dretful odd to the neighbors if she didn't dress in black." sez he in a skairful tone, and in his intense way-- [illustration: "what is life worth when folks talk?"] "i would ruther resk my life than to have her fail in duty in this way; it would make talk. and." sez he, "what is life worth when folks talk?" i turned around the crazed block and tackled it in a new place (more luny than ever it seemed to me), and sez i, mekanickly-- "it is pretty hard work to keep folks from talkin'; to keep 'em from sayin' somethin'." but i see from their looks it wouldn't do to say anything more, so i had to set still and see it go on. at that time of year flowers wuz dretful high, but s. annie and cephas had made up their minds that they must have several flower-pieces from the city nighest to loontown. one wuz a-goin' to be a gate ajar, and one wuz to be a gate wide open, and one wuz to be a big book. cephas asked what book i thought would be preferable to represent. and i mentioned the bible. but cephas sez, "no, he didn't think he would have a bible; he didn't think it would be appropriate, seein' the deceased wuz a lawyer." he said "he hadn't quite made up his mind what book to have. but anyway it wuz to be in flowers--beautiful flowers." another piece wuz to be his name in white flowers on a purple background of pansies. his name wuz wellington napoleon bonaparte hardiman. and i sez to cephas--"to save expense, you will probable have the moneygram w.n.b.h.?" "oh, no," sez he. sez i, "hen the initials of his given names, and the last name in full." "oh, no," he said; "it wuz s. annie's wish, and hisen, that the hull name should be put on. they thought it would show more respect." i sez, "where wellington is now, that hain't a goin' to make any difference, and," sez i, "cephas, flowers are dretful high this time of year, and it is a long name." but cephas said agin that he didn't care for expense, so long as respect wuz done to the memory of the deceased. he said that he and s. annie both felt that it wuz their wish to have the funeral go ahead of any other that had ever took place in loontown or jonesville. he said that s. annie felt that it wuz all that wuz left her now in life, the memory of such a funeral as he deserved. sez i, "there is his children left for her to live for," sez i--"three little bits of his own life, for her to nourish, and cherish, and look out for." "yes," sez cephas, "and she will do that nobly, and i will help her. they are all goin' to the funeral, too, in deep-black dresses." he said "they wuz too little to realize it now, but in later and maturer years it would be a comfort to 'em to know they had took part in such a funeral as that wuz goin' to be, and wuz dressed in black." "wall," sez i (in a quiet, onassumin' way i would gin little hints of my mind on the subject), "i am afraid that will be about all the comforts of life the poor little children will ever have," sez i. "it will be if you buy many more flower-pieces and crape dresses." cephas said "it wouldn't take much crape for the children's dresses, they wuz so little, only the baby's; that would have to be long." sez i, "the baby would look better in white, and it will take sights of crape for a long baby dress." "yes, but s. annie can use it afterwards for veils. she is very economical; she takes it from me. and she feels jest as i do, that the baby must wear it in respect to her father's memory." sez i, "the baby don't know crape from a clothes-pin." "no," sez cephas, "but in after years the thought of the respect she showed will sustain her." "wall," sez i, "i guess she won't have much besides thoughts to live on, if things go on in this way." i would give little hints in this way, but they wuzn't took. things went right on as if i hadn't spoke. and i couldn't contend, for truly, as a bad little boy said once on a similar occasion, "it wuzn't my funeral," so i had to set and work on that insane bedquilt and see it go on. but i sithed constant and frequent, and when i wuz all alone in the room i indulged in a few low groans. chapter x. we dressmakers wuz in the house, to stay all the time till the dresses wuz done; and clerks would come around, anon, if not oftener, with packages of mournin' goods, and mournin' jewelry, and mournin' handkerchiefs, and mournin' stockings, and mournin' stockin'-supporters, and mournin' safety-pins, and etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. every one of 'em, i knew, a-wrenchin' boards offen the sides of that house that wellington had worked so hard to get for his wife and little ones. wall, the day of the funeral come. it wuz a wet, drizzly day, but cephas wuz up early, to see that everything wuz as he wanted it to be. as fur as i wuz concerned, i had done my duty, for the crazy bedquilt wuz done; and though brains might totter as they looked at it, i felt that it wuzn't my fault. sally ann spread it out with complacency over the lounge, and thanked me, with tears in her eyes, for my noble deed. along quite early in the mornin', before the show commenced, i went in to see wellington. he lay there calm and peaceful, with a look on his face as if he had got away at last from a atmosphere of show and sham, and had got into the great reality of life. it wuz a good face, and the worryment and care that folks told me had been on it for years had all faded away. but the look of determination, and resolve, and bravery,--that wuz ploughed too deep in his face to be smoothed out, even by the mighty hand that had lain on it. the resolved look, the brave look with which he had met the warfare of life, toiled for victory over want, toiled to place his dear and helpless ones in a position of safety,--that look wuz on his face yet, as if the deathless hope and endeavor had gone on into eternity with him. and by the side of him, on a table, wuz the big high flower-pieces, beginnin' already to wilt and decay. wall, it's bein' such an uncommon bad day, there wuzn't many to the funeral. but we rode to the meetin'-house in loontown in a state and splendor that i never expect to again. cephas had hired eleven mournin' coaches, and the day bein' so bad, and so few a-turnin' out to the funeral, that in order to occupy all the coaches--and cephas thought it would look better and more popular to have 'em all occupied--we divided up, and josiah went in one, alone, and lonesome as a dog, as he said afterwards to me. and i sot up straight and oncomfortable in another one on 'em, stark alone. cephas had one to himself, and his wife another one, and two old maids, sisters of cephas'ses who always made a point of attendin' funerals, they each one of 'em had one. s. annie and her children, of course, had the first one, and then the minister had one, and one of the trustees in the neighborhood had another; so we lengthened out into quite a crowd, all a-follerin' the shiny hearse, and the casket all covered with showy plated nails. i thought of it in jest that way, for wellington, i knew, the real wellington, wuzn't there. no, he wuz fur away--as fur as the real is from the unreal. wall, we filed into the loontown meetin'-house in pretty good shape. the same meetin'-house i had been sent to reconoiter. but cephas hadn't no black handkerchief, and he looked worried about it. he had shed tears a-tellin' me about it, what a oversight it wuz, while i wuz a fixin' on his mournin' weed. he took it into his head to have a deeper weed at the last minute, so i fixed it on. he had the weed come up to the top of his hat and lap over. i never see so tall a weed. but it suited cephas; he said "he thought it showed deep respect." "wall," sez i, "it is a deep weed, anyway--the deepest i ever see." and he said as i wuz a sewin' it on, he a-holdin' his hat for me, "that wellington deserved it; he deserved it all." but, as i say, he shed tears to think that his handkerchief wuzn't black-bordered. he said "it wuz a fearful oversight; it would probably make talk." "but," i sez, "mebby it won't be noticed." [illustration: "as a procession we wuz middlin' long, but ruther thin."] "yes, it will," sez he. "it will be noticed." and sez he, "i don't care about myself, but i am afraid it will reflect onto wellington. i am afraid they will think it shows a lack of respect for him. for wellington's sake i feel cut down about it." and i sez, "i guess where wellington is now, the color of a handkerchief border hain't a-goin' to make much difference to him either way." and i don't spoze it wuz noticed much, for there wuzn't more'n ten or a dozen folks there when we went in. we went in in injin file mostly by cephas'ses request, so's to make more show. and as a procession we wuz middlin' long, but ruther thin. the sermon wuz not so very good as to quality, but abundant as to quantity. it wuz, as nigh as i could calkerlate, about a hour and three-quarters long. josiah whispered to me along about the last that "we had been there over seven hours, and his legs wuz paralyzed." and i whispered back that "seven hours would take us into the night, and to stretch his feet out and pinch 'em," which he did. but it wuz long and tegus. my feet got to sleep twice, and i had hard work to wake 'em up agin. the sermon meant to be about wellington, i s'pose; he did talk a sight about him, and then he kinder branched off onto politics, and then the inter-state bill; he kinder favored it, i thought. wall, we all got drippin' wet a-goin' home, for cephas insisted on our gettin' out at the grave, for he had hired some uncommon high singers (high every way, in price and in notes) to sing at the grave. and so we disembarked in the drippin' rain, on the wet grass, and formed a procession agin. and cephas had a long exercise light there in the rain. but the singin' wuz kinder jerky and curius, and they had got their pay beforehand, so they hurried it through. and one man, the tenor, who wuz dretful afraid of takin' cold, hurried through his part and got through first, and started on a run for the carriage. the others stood their grounds till the piece wuz finished, but they put on some dretful curius quavers. i believe they had had chills; it sounded like it. take it altogether, i don't believe anybody got much satisfaction out of it, only cephas. s. annie sp'ilt her dress and bonnet entirely--they wuz wilted all down; and she ordered another suit jest like it before she slept. wall, the next mornin' early two men come with plans for monuments. cephas had telegrafted to 'em to come with plans and bid for the job of furnishin' the monument. and after a good deal of talk on both sides, cephas and s. annie selected one that wuz very high and p'inted. the men stayed to dinner, and i said to cephas out to one side-- "cephas, that monument is a-goin' to cost a sight." "wall," sez he, "we can't raise too high a one. wellington deserved it all." sez i, "won't that and all these funeral expenses take about all the money he left?" "oh, no!" sez he. "he had insured his life for a large amount, and it all goes to his wife and children. he deserves a monument if a man ever did." "but," sez i, "don't you believe that wellington would ruther have s. annie and the children settled down in a good little home with sumthin' left to take care of 'em, than to have all this money spent in perfectly useless things?" "_useless!_" sez cephas, turnin' red. "why," sez he, "if you wuzn't a near relation i should resent that speech bitterly." "wall," sez i, "what do all these flowers, and empty carriages, and silver-plated nails, and crape, and so forth--what does it all amount to?" "respect and honor to his memory," sez cephas, proudly. sez i, "such a life as wellington's had them; no body could take 'em away nor deminish 'em. such a brave, honest life is crowned with honor and respect any way. it don't need no crape, nor flowers, nor monuments to win 'em. and, at the same time," sez i dreamily, "if a man is mean, no amount of crape, or flower-pieces, or flowery sermons, or obituries, is a-goin' to cover up that meanness. a life has to be lived out-doors as it were; it can't be hid. a string of mournin' carriages, no matter how long, hain't a-goin' to carry a dishonorable life into honor, and no grave, no matter how low and humble it is, is a-goin' to cover up a honorable life. "such a life as wellington's don't need no monument to carry up the story of his virtues into the heavens; it is known there already. and them that mourn his loss don't need cold marble words to recall his goodness and faithfulness. the heart where the shadow of his eternal absence has fell don't need crape to make it darker. "wellington wouldn't be forgot if s. annie wore pure white from day today. no, nobody that knew wellington, from all i have hearn of him, needs crape to remind 'em that he wuz once here and now is gone. "howsomever, as fur as that is concerned, i always feel that mourners must do as they are a mind to about crape, with fear and tremblin'--that is, if they are well off, and _can_ do as they are a mind to; and the same with monuments, flowers, empty coaches, etc. but in this case, cephas bodley, i wouldn't be a doin' my duty if i didn't speak my mind. when i look at these little helpless souls that are left in a cold world with nothin' to stand between them and want but the small means their pa worked so hard for and left for the express purpose of takin' care of 'em, it seems to me a foolish thing, and a cruel thing, to spend all that money on what is entirely onnecessary." "onnecessary!" sez cephas, angrily. "agin i say, josiah allen's wife, that if it wuzn't for our close relationship i should turn on you. a worm will turn," sez he, "if it is too hardly trampled on." "i hain't trampled on you," sez i, "nor hain't had no idea on't. i wuz only statin' the solemn facts and truth of the matter. and you will see it some time, cephas bodley, if you don't now." sez cephas, "the worm has turned, josiah allen's wife! yes, i feel that i have got to look now to more distant relations for comfort. yes, the worm has been stomped on too heavy." he looked cold, cold as a iceickle almost. and i see that jest the few words i had spoke, jest the slight hints i had gin, hadn't been took as they should have been took. so i said no more. for agin the remark of that little bad boy came up in my mind and restrained me from sayin' any more. truly, as the young male child observed, "it wuzn't my funeral." we went home almost immegiately afterwards, my heart nearly a-bleedin' for the little children, poor little creeters, and cephas actin' cold and distant to the last and we hain't seen 'em sence. but news has come from them, and come straight. josiah heerd to jonesville all about it. and though it is hitchin' the democrat buggy on front of the mare--to tell the end of the funeral here--yet i may as well tell it now and be done with it. the miller at loontown wuz down to the jonesville mill to get the loan of some bags, and josiah happened to be there to mill that day, and heerd all about it. cephas had got the monument, and the ornaments on it cost fur more than he expected. there wuz a wreath a-runnin' round it clear from the bottom to the top, and verses a kinder runnin' up it at the same time. and it cost fearful. poetry a-runnin' up, they say, costs fur more than it duz on a level. any way, the two thousand dollars that wuz insured on wellington's life wuzn't quite enough to pay for it. but the sale of his law library and the best of the housen' stuff paid it. the nine hundred he left went, every mite of it, to pay the funeral expenses and mournin' for the family. [illustration: carried to the county poor house.] and as bad luck always follers on in a procession, them mortgages of cephas'ses all run out sort o' together. his creditors sold him out, and when his property wuz all disposed of it left him over fourteen hundred dollars in debt. the creditors acted perfectly greedy, so they say--took everything they could; and one of the meanest ones took that insane bedquilt that i finished. that _wuz_ mean. they say sally ann crumpled right down when that wuz took. some say that they got hold of that tall weed of cephas'ses, and some dispute it; some say that he wore it on the last ride he took in loontown. but, howsomever, cephas wuz took sick, sally ann wuzn't able to do anything for their support, s. annie wuz took down with the typhus, and so it happened the very day the monument wuz brought to the loontown cemetery, cephas bodley's folks wuz carried to the county house, s. annie, the children and all. and it happened dretful curius, but the town hired that very team that drawed the monument there, to take the family back. it wuz a good team. the monument wuzn't set up, for they lacked money to pay for the underpinnin'! (wuz n't it curius, cephas bodley never would think of the underpinnin' to anything?) but it lay there by the side of the road, a great white shape. and they say the children wuz skairt, and cried when they went by it--cried and wept. but i believe it wuz because they wuz cold and hungry that made 'em cry. i don't believe it wuz the monument. chapter xi. [illustration:] a few days follerin' on and ensuin' after this eppisode, submit tewksburv wuz a takin' supper with me. she had come home with me from the meetin' house where we had been to work all day. i had urged her to stay, for she lived a mile further on the road, and had got to walk home afoot. and she hain't any too well off, submit hain't--she has to work hard for every mite of food she eats, and clothes she wears, and fuel and lights, etc., etc. so i keep her to dinners and suppers all i can, specially when we are engaged in meetin' house work, for as poor as submit is, she will insist on doin' for the meetin' house jest as much as any other female woman in jonesville. she is quite small boneded, and middlin' good lookin' for a women of her years. she has got big dark eyes, very soft and mellow lookin' in expression--and a look deep down into 'em, as if she had been waitin' for something, for some time. her hair is gettin' quite gray now, but its original color was auburn, and she has got quite a lot of it--kinder crinkly round her forward. her complexion is pale. she is a very good lookin' woman yet, might marry any day of the week now, i hain't no doubt of it. she is a single woman, but is well thought on in jonesville, and the southern part of zoar, where she has relatives on her mother's side. [illustration: submit tewksbury.] she has had chances to my certain knowledge (widowers and such). but if all the men in the world should come and stand in rows in front of her gate with gilded crowns in their hands all ready to crown her, and septers all ready for her to grasp holt of, and wield over the world, she would refuse every one of 'em. she has had a disappointment, submit has. and she looked at the world so long through tears, that the world got to lookin' sort o' dim like and shadowy to her, and the whole men race looked to her fur off and misty, as folks will when you look at 'em through a rain. she couldn't marry one of them shadows of men, if she tried, and she hain't never tried. no, her heart always has been, and is now, fur away, a-travellin' through unknown regions, unknown, and yet more real to her than jonesville or zoar, a-follerin' the one man in the world who is a reality to her. submit wuz engaged to a young methodist minister by the name of samuel danker. i remember him well. a good lookin' young fellow at the time, with blue eyes and light hair, ruther long and curly, and kinder wavin' back from his forward, and a deep spiritual look in his eyes. in fact, his eyes looked right through the fashions and follys of the civilized world, into the depths of ignorance, rivers of ruin and despair, that wuz a-washin' over a human race, black jungles where naked sin and natural depravities crouched hungry for victims. samuel danker felt that he had got to go into heathen lands as a missionary. he wuz engaged to submit, and loved her dearly, and he urged her to go too. but submit had a invalid father on her hands, a bed rid grandfather, and three young brothers, too young to earn a thing, and they all on 'em together hadn't a cent of money to their names. they had twenty-five acres of middlin' poor land, and a old house. wall, submit felt that she couldn't leave these helpless ones and go to more foreign heathen lands. so, with a achin' heart, she let samuel danker go from her, for he felt a call, loud, and she couldn't counsel him to shet up his ears, or put cotton into 'em. submit tewksbury had always loved and worked for the methodist meetin' house (she jined it on probation when she wuz thirteen). but although she always had been extremely liberal in givin', and had made a practice of contributin' every cent she could spare to the meetin' house, it wuz spozed that samuel danker wuz the biggest offerin' she had ever give to it. fur it wuz known that he went to her the night before he sot sail, took supper with her, and told her she should decide the matter for him, whether he went or whether he staid. it wuz spozed his love for submit wuz so great that it made him waver when the time come that he must leave her to her lot of toil and sacrifice and loneliness. but submit loved the methodist meetin' house to that extent, she leaned so hard on the arm of duty, that she nerved up her courage anew, refused to accept the sacrifice of his renunciation, bid him go to his great work, and quit himself like a man--told him she would always love him, pray for him, be constant to him. and she felt that the master they both wanted to serve would some day bring him back to her. so he sailed away to his heathens--and submit stayed to home with her five helpless males and her achin' heart. and if i had to tell which made her the most trouble, i couldn't to save my life. she knew the secret of her achin' heart, and the long dark nights she kep awake with it. the neighbors couldn't understand that exactly, for there hain't no language been discovered yet that will give voice to the silent crys of a breakin' heart, a tender heart, a constant heart, cryin' out acrost the grayness of dreary days acrost the blackness of lonely nights. but we could see her troubles with the peevish paralasys of age, with the tremendus follys of undisciplined youth. but submit took care of the hull caboodle of 'em; worked out some by days' works, to get more necessaries for 'em than the poor little farm would bring in; nursed the sick on their sick-beds and on their death-beds, till she see 'em into heaven--or that is where we spoze they went to, bein' deservin' old males both on 'em, her father and her grandfather, and in full connectin with the methodist episcopel meetin' house. she took care of her young brothers, patient with 'em always, ready to mend bad rents in their clothin' and their behavior--tryin' to prop up their habits and their morals, givin' 'em all the schoolin' she could, givin' 'em all a good trade, all but the youngest, him she kep with her always till the lord took him (scarlet fever), took him to learn the mysterius trade of the immortals. submit had a hard fit of sickness after that. and when she got up agin, there wuz round her pale forward a good many white hairs that wuz orburn before the little boy went away from her. sense that, the other boys have married, and submit has lived alone in the old farm-house, lettin' the farm out on shares. it is all run down; she don't get much from it; it don't yield much but trouble and burdocks, but as little as she gets, she always will, as i say, do her full share, and more than her share, for the meetin' house. [illustration: "he took supper with her for the last time."] some think it is on account of her inherient goodness, and some think it is on account of samuel danker. we all spose she hain't forgot samuel. and they do say that every year when the day comes round, that he took supper with her for the last time, she puts a plate on for him--the very one he eat on last---a pink edged chiny plate, with gilt sprigs, the last one left of her mother's first set of chiny. that is what they _say_, i hain't never seen the plate. it is now about twenty years sense samuel danker went to heathen lands. and as it wuz a man-eatin' tribe he went to preach to, and as he hain't been heern of from that day to this, it is spozed that they eat him up some years ago. but it is thought that submit hain't gin up hope yet. we spoze so, but don't know, on account of her never sayin' anything on the subject. but we judge from the plate. wall, as i say (and i have episoded fearfully, fearfully), submit took supper with me that night. and after josiah had put out his horse (he had been to jonesville for the evenin' mail, and stopped for us at the meetin' house on his way back), he took the _world_ out of his pocket, and perused it for some time, and from that learned the great news that wimmen wuz jest about to be held up agin, to see if her strength wuz sufficient to set on the conference. and oh! how josiah allen went on about it to submit and me, all the while we wuz a eatin' supper--and for more'n a hour afterwuds. chapter xii. submit wuz very skairt to heern him go on (she felt more nervous on account of an extra hard day's work), and i myself wuz beat out, but i wuzn't afraid at all of him, though he did go on elegant, and dretful empressive and even skairful. he stood up on the same old ground that men have always stood up on, the ground of man's great strength and capability, and wimmen's utter weakness, helplessness, and incapacity. josiah enlarged almost wildly on the subject of how high, how inaccessibley lofty the conference wuz, and the utter impossibility of a weak, helpless, fragaile bein' like a women ever gettin' up on it, much less settin' on it. and then, oh how vividly he depictered it, how he and every other male methodist in the land loved wimmen too well, worshipped 'em too deeply to put such a wearin' job onto 'em. oh how josiah allen soared up in eloquence. submit shed tears, or, that is, i thought she did--i see her wipe her eyes any way. some think that about the time the samuel danker anniversary comes round, she is more nervous and deprested. it wuz very near now, and take that with her hard work that day, it accounts some for her extra depression--though, without any doubt, it wuz josiah's talk that started the tears. i couldn't bear to see submit look so mournful and deprested, and so, though i wuz that tired myself that i could hardly hold my head up, yet i did take my bits in my teeth, as you may say, and asked him-- what the awful hard job wuz that he and other men wuz so anxus to ward offen wimmen. and he sez, "why, a settin' on the conference." and i sez, "i don't believe that is such a awful hard job to tackle." "yes, indeed, it is," sez josiah in his most skairful axent, "yes, it is." and he shook his head meenin'ly and impressively, and looked at me and submit in as mysterius and strange a way, es i have ever been looked at in my life, and i have had dretful curius looks cast onto me, from first to last. and he sez in them deep impressive axents of hisen, "you jest try it once, and see--i have sot on it, and i know." josiah wuz sent once as a delegate to the methodist conference, so i spozed he did know. but i sez, "why you come home the second day when you sot as happy as a king, and you told me how you had rested off durin' the two days, and how you had visited round at uncle jenkins'es, and cousin henn's, and you said that you never had had such a good time in your hull life, as you did when you wuz a settin'. you looked as happy as a king, and acted so." josiah looked dumbfounded for most a quarter of a minute. for he knew my words wuz as true es anything ever sot down in matthew, mark, or luke, or any of the other old patriarks. he knew it wuz gospel truth, that he had boasted of his good times a settin', and as i say for nearly a quarter of a minute he showed plain signs of mortification. but almost imegietly he recovered himself, and went on with the doggy obstinacy of his sect: "oh, wall! men can tackle hard jobs, and get some enjoyment out of it too, when it is in the line of duty. one thing that boys em' up, and makes em' happy, is the thought that they are a keepin' trouble and care offen wimmen. that is a sweet thought to men, and always wuz. and there wuz great strains put onto our minds, us men that sot, that wimmen couldn't be expected to grapple with, and hadn't ort to try to. it wuz a great strain onto us." "what was the nater of the strain?" sez i. "i didn't know as you did a thing only sot still there and go to sleep. _you_ wuz fast asleep there most the hull of the time, for it come straight to me from them that know. and all that deacon bobbet did who went with you wuz to hold up his hand two or three times a votin'. i shouldn't think that wuz so awful wearin'." and agin i sez, "what wuz the strain?" but josiah didn't answer, for that very minute he remembered a pressin' engagement he had about borrowin' a plow. he said he had got to go up to joe charnick's to get his plow. (i don't believe he wanted a plow that time of night.) but he hurried away from the spot. and soon after submit went home lookin' more deprested and down-casted than ever. and josiah allen didn't get home till _late_ at night. i dare persume to say it wuz as late as a quarter to nine when that man got back to the bosom of his family. and i sot there all alone, and a-meditatin' on things, and a-wonderin' what under the sun he wuz a-traipsin up to joe charnick's for at that time of night, and a-worryin' some for fear he wuz a-keepin' miss charnick up, and a-spozin' in my mind what miss charnick would do, to get along with the meetin' house, and the conference question, if she wuz a member. (she is a _very_ sensible woman, jenette charnick is, _very_, and a great favorite with me, and others.) and i got to thinkin' how prosperus and happy she is now, and how much she had went through. and i declare the hull thing come back to me, all the strange and curius circumstances connected with her courtship and marriage, and i thought it all out agin, the hull story, from beginnin' to end. the way it begun wuz--and the way josiah allen and me come to have any connectin with the story wuz as follers: some time ago, and previus, we had a widder come to stay with us a spell, she that wuz tamer shelmadine, miss trueman pool that now is. her husband died several years ago, and left her not over and above well off. and so she goes round a-visitin', and has went ever sense his death. and finds sights of faults with things wherever she is, sights of it. trueman wuz josiah's cousin, on his own side, and i always made a practice of usin' her quite well. she used to live neighbor to me before i wuz married, and she come and stayed nine weeks. she is a tall spindlin' woman, a second adventist by perswasion, and weighs about ninety-nine pounds. wall, as i say, she means middlin' well, and would be quite agreeable if it wuzn't for a habit she has of thinkin' what she duz is a leetle better than anybody else can do, and wantin' to tell a leetle better story than anybody else can. now she thinks she looks better than i do. but josiah sez she can't begin with me for looks, and i don't spoze she can, though of course it hain't to be expected that i would want it told of that i said so. no, i wouldn't want it told of pro or con, especially con. but i know josiah allen has always been called a pretty good judge of wimmen's looks. [illustration: "she is a tall spindlin' woman."] and now she thinks she can set hens better than i can--and make better riz biscuit. she jest the same as told me so. any way, the first time i baked bread after she got here, she looked down on my loaves real haughty, yet with a pityin' look, and sez: "it is very good for yeast, but i always use milk emptin's." and she kinder tested her head, and sort o' swept out of the room, not with a broom, no, she would scorn to sweep out a room with a broom or help me in any way, but she sort o' swept it out with her mean. but i didn't care, i knew my bread wuz good. now if anybody is sick, she will always tell of times when she has been sicker. she boasts of layin' three nights and two days in a fit. but we don't believe it, josiah and me don't. that is, we don't believe she lay there so long, a-runnin'. we believe she come out of 'em occasionally. but you couldn't get her to give off a hour or a minute of the time. three nights and two days she lay there a-runnin', so she sez, and she has said it so long, that we spoze, josiah and me do, that she believes it herself now. from images provided by the million book project. images provided by: million book project. post-processing : wilelmina mallière. what eight million women want [illustration: convention of our women at hotel astor, new york] what eight million women want by rheta childe dorr . to the american representatives of the eight million-- the eight hundred thousand members of the general federation of women's clubs-- this volume is dedicated many of the chapters contained in this volume appeared as special articles in _hampton's magazine_, to the editor of which the author's thanks are due for permission to republish. contents chapter i introductory ii from culture clubs to social service iii european women and the salic law iv american women and the common law v woman's demands on the rulers of industry vi making over the factory from the inside vii breaking the great taboo viii woman's helping hand for the prodigal daughter ix the servant in her house x votes for women xi in conclusion index list of illustrations convention of club women at hotel astor, new york carpenter shop, vacation school, pittsburgh captain ball on girl's field, washington park, pittsburgh story hour at vacation playground, castelar school yard, los angeles, cal. mrs. sarah platt decker lady aberdeen a "women's rights" map of the united states miss emilie bullowa mrs. frederick nathan mrs. j. borden harriman miss elizabeth maloney a department store rest-room for women miss maude e. miner in the night court, new york miss sadie american a typical dance hall an unthought-of phase of the servant question another serious contribution to the social question the servant girl and the employment agency suffragettes in london advertising a meeting mrs. harriot stanton blatch meeting a released suffragette prisoner the women's trades procession to the albert hall meeting, april , helen hoy greeley suffragettes in madison square the "quiet walk" of the new york suffragists, whom the police would not permit to parade suffrage demonstration in union square, new york what eight million women want chapter i introductory for the audacity of the title of this book i offer no apology. i have had it pointed out, not altogether facetiously, that it is impossible to determine with accuracy what one woman, much less what any number of women, wants. i sympathize with the first half of the tradition. the desires, that is to say, the ideals, of an individual, man or woman, are not always easy to determine. the individual is complex and exceedingly prone to variation. the mass alone is consistent. the ideals of the mass of women are wrapped in mystery simply because no one has cared enough about them to inquire what they are. men, ardently, eternally, interested in woman--one woman at a time--are almost never even faintly interested in women. strangely, deliberately ignorant of women, they argue that their ignorance is justified by an innate unknowableness of the sex. i am persuaded that the time is at hand when this sentimental, half contemptuous attitude of half the population towards the other half will have to be abandoned. i believe that the time has arrived when self-interest, if other motive be lacking, will compel society to examine the ideals of women. in support of this opinion i ask you to consider three facts, each one of which is so patent that it requires no argument. the census of reported nearly six million women in the united states engaged in wage earning outside their homes. between and the number of women in industry increased faster than the number of men in industry. _it increased faster than the birth rate._ the number of women wage earners at the present date can only be estimated. nine million would be a conservative guess. nine million women who have forsaken the traditions of the hearth and are competing with men in the world of paid labor, means that women are rapidly passing from the domestic control of their fathers and their husbands. surely this is the most important economic fact in the world to-day. within the past twenty years no less than nine hundred and fifty-four thousand divorces have been granted in the united states. two thirds of these divorces were granted to aggrieved wives. in spite of the anathemas of the church, in the face of tradition and early precept, in defiance of social ostracism, accepting, in the vast majority of cases, the responsibility of self support, more than six hundred thousand women, in the short space of twenty years, repudiated the burden of uncongenial marriage. without any doubt this is the most important social fact we have had to face since the slavery question was settled. not only in the united states, but in every constitutional country in the world the movement towards admitting women to full political equality with men is gathering strength. in half a dozen countries women are already completely enfranchised. in england the opposition is seeking terms of surrender. in the united states the stoutest enemy of the movement acknowledges that woman suffrage is ultimately inevitable. the voting strength of the world is about to be doubled, and the new element is absolutely an unknown quantity. does any one question that this is the most important political fact the modern world has ever faced? i have asked you to consider three facts, but in reality they are but three manifestations of one fact, to my mind the most important human fact society has yet encountered. women have ceased to exist as a subsidiary class in the community. they are no longer wholly dependent, economically, intellectually, and spiritually, on a ruling class of men. they look on life with the eyes of reasoning adults, where once they regarded it as trusting children. women now form a new social group, separate, and to a degree homogeneous. already they have evolved a group opinion and a group ideal. and this brings me to my reason for believing that society will soon be compelled to make a serious survey of the opinions and ideals of women. as far as these have found collective expressions, it is evident that they differ very radically from accepted opinions and ideals of men. as a matter of fact, it is inevitable that this should be so. back of the differences between the masculine and the feminine ideal lie centuries of different habits, different duties, different ambitions, different opportunities, different rewards. i shall not here attempt to outline what the differences have been or why they have existed. charlotte perkins gilman, in _women and economics_, did this before me,--did it so well that it need never be done again. i merely wish to point out that different habits of action necessarily result, after long centuries, in different habits of thought. men, accustomed to habits of strife, pursuit of material gains, immediate and tangible rewards, have come to believe that strife is not only inevitable but desirable; that material gain and visible reward are alone worth coveting. in this commercial age strife means business competition, reward means money. man, in the aggregate, thinks in terms of money profit and money loss, and try as he will, he cannot yet think in any other terms. i have in mind a certain rich young man, who, when he is not superintending the work of his cotton mills in virginia, is giving his time to settlement work in the city of washington. the rich young man is devoted to the settlement. one day he confided to a guest of the house, a social worker of note, that he wished he might dedicate his entire life to philanthropy. "there is much about a commercial career that is depressing to a sympathetic nature," he declared. "for example, it constantly depresses me to observe the effect of the cotton mills on the girls in my employ. they come in from the country, fresh, blooming, and eager to work. within a few months perhaps they are pale, anaemic, listless. not infrequently a young girl contracts tuberculosis and dies before one realizes that she is ill. it wrings the heart to see it." "i suspect," said the visitor, "that there is something wrong with your mills. are you sure that they are sufficiently well ventilated?" "they are as well ventilated as we can have them," said the rich young man. "of course we cannot keep the windows open." "why not?" persisted the visitor. "because in our mills we spin both black and white yarn, and if the windows were kept open the lint from the black yarn would blow on the white yarn and ruin it." a quick vision rose before the visitor's consciousness, of a mill room, noisy with clacking machinery, reeking with the mingled odors of perspiration and warm oil, obscure with flying cotton flakes which covered the forms of the workers like snow and choked in their throats like desert sand. "but," she exclaimed, "you can have two rooms, one for the white yarn and the other for the black." the rich young man shook his head with the air of one who goes away exceedingly sorrowful. "no," he replied, "we can't. the business won't stand it." this story presents in miniature the social attitude of the majority of men. they cannot be held entirely responsible. their minds automatically function just that way. they have high and generous impulses, their hearts are susceptible to tenderest pity, they often possess the vision of brotherhood and human kinship, but habit, long habit, always intervenes in time to save the business from loss of a few dollars profit. three years ago chicago was on the eve of one of its periodical "vice crusades," of which more later. sensational stories had been published in several newspapers, to the effect that no fewer than five thousand jewish girls were leading lives of shame in the city, a statement which was received with horror by the jewish population of chicago. a meeting of wealthy and influential men and women was called in the law library of a well known jurist and philanthropist. representatives from various social settlements in jewish quarters of the town were invited, and it was as a guest of one of these settlements that i was privileged to be present. eloquent addresses were made and an elaborate plan for investigation and relief was outlined. finally it came to a point where ways and means had to be considered. the presiding officer put this phase of the matter to the conference with smiling frankness. "you must realize, ladies and gentlemen," he said, "that we have entered upon an extensive and, i am afraid, a very expensive campaign." at this a middle aged and notably dignified man arose and said with emotion trembling in his voice: "mr. chairman, and ladies and gentlemen of the conference, this surely is no time for us to think of economy of expenditure. if the daughters of israel are losing their ancient dower of purity, the sons of israel should be willing, nay, eager to ransom them at any cost. permit me, as a privileged honor which i value highly, to offer, as a contribution towards the preliminary expenses of this campaign, my check for ten thousand dollars." he sat down to that polite little murmur of applause which goes round the room, and i whispered to the head resident of the settlement of which i was a guest, an inquiry as to the identity of the generous donor. "that gentleman," she whispered in reply, "is one of the owners of a great mail order department store in chicago." she sighed deeply, as she added: "during the first week of the panic that store discharged, without warning, five hundred girls." these typical examples of the reasoning processes of men are offered without the slightest rancor. they had to be given in order that the woman's habit of thought might be explained with clearness. women, since society became an organized body, have been engaged in the rearing, as well as the bearing of children. they have made the home, they have cared for the sick, ministered to the aged, and given to the poor. the universal destiny of the mass of women trained them to feed and clothe, to invent, manufacture, build, repair, contrive, conserve, economize. they lived lives of constant service, within the narrow confines of a home. their labor was given to those they loved, and the reward they looked for was purely a spiritual reward. a thousand generations of service, unpaid, loving, intimate, must have left the strongest kind of a mental habit in its wake. women, when they emerged from the seclusion of their homes and began to mingle in the world procession, when they were thrown on their own financial responsibility, found themselves willy nilly in the ranks of the producers, the wage earners; when the enlightenment of education was no longer denied them, when their responsibilities ceased to be entirely domestic and became somewhat social, when, in a word, women began to _think_, they naturally thought in human terms. they couldn't have thought otherwise if they had tried. they might have learned, it is true. in certain circumstances women might have been persuaded to adopt the commercial habit of thought. but the circumstances were exactly propitious for the encouragement of the old-time woman habit of service. the modern thinking, planning, self-governing, educated woman came into a world which is losing faith in the commercial ideal, and is endeavoring to substitute in its place a social ideal. she came into a generation which is reaching passionate hands towards democracy. she became one with a nation which is weary of wars and hatreds, impatient with greed and privilege, sickened of poverty, disease, and social injustice. the modern, free-functioning woman accepted without the slightest difficulty these new ideals of democracy and social service. where men could do little more than theorize in these matters, women were able easily and effectively to act. i hope that i shall not be suspected of ascribing to women any ingrained or fundamental moral superiority to men. women are not better than men. the mantle of moral superiority forced upon them as a substitute for intellectual equality they accepted, because they could not help themselves. they dropped it as soon as the substitute was no longer necessary. that the mass of women are invariably found on the side of the new ideals is no evidence of their moral superiority to men; it is merely evidence of their intellectual youth. visitors from western cities and towns are often amazed, and vastly amused, to find in new york and other eastern cities little narrow-gauge street car lines, where gaunt horses haul the shabbiest of cars over the oldest and roughest of road beds. the westerner declares that nowhere in the east does he find surface cars that equal in comfort and elegance the cars recently installed in his michigan or nebraska or washington home town. "recently installed." there you have it. the eastern city retains its horse cars and its out-of-date electric rolling stock because it has them, and because there are all sorts of difficulties in the way of replacing them. old franchises have to expire or otherwise be got rid of; corporations have to be coaxed or coerced; greed and corruption often have to be overcome; huge sums of money have to be appropriated; a whole machinery of municipal government has to be set in motion before the old and established city can change its traction system. the new western town goes on foot until it attains to a certain size and a sufficient prosperity. then it installs electric railways, and of course it purchases the newest and most modern of the available models. new social ideals are difficult for men to acquire in a practical way because their minds are filled with old traditions, inherited memories, outworn theories of law, government, and social control. they cannot get rid of these at once. they have used them so long, have found them so convenient, so satisfactory, that even when you show them something admittedly better; they are able only partially to comprehend and to accept. women, on the other hand, have very few antiques to get rid of. until recently their minds, scantily furnished with a few personal preferences and personal prejudices, were entirely bare of community ideals or any social theory. when they found themselves in need of a social theory it was only natural that they should choose the most modern, the most progressive, the most idealistic. they made their choice unconsciously, and they began the application of their new-found theory almost automatically. the machinery they employed was the long derided, misconceived, and unappreciated women's club. chapter ii from culture clubs to social service unless you have lived in a live town in the middle west--say in michigan, or indiana, or nebraska--you cannot have a very adequate idea of how ugly, and dirty, and neglected, and disreputable a town can be when nobody loves it. the railway station is a long, low, rakish thing of boards, painted a muddy maroon color. around it is a stretch of bare ground strewn with ashes. beyond lies the main street, with some good business blocks,--a first national bank in imposing granite, and a masonic temple in pressed brick. the high school occupies a treeless, grassless, windswept block by itself. in the center of the residential section of the town is a big, unsightly, hummocky vacant place, vaguely known as the park--or the place where they are going to have a park, when the city gets around to it. at present it is a convenient spot wherein to dump tin cans, empty bottles, broken crockery, old shoes, and other residue. when the wind blows, in the spring and fall, a fine assortment of desiccated rubbish is wafted up and down, and into the neighbors' dooryards. everybody is busy in these live towns. everybody is prosperous, and patriotic, and law-abiding, and respectable. the business of "getting on" absorbs the entire time and attention of the men. they "get on" so well, for the most part, that their wives have plenty of leisure on their hands, and the latter occupy a portion of their leisure by belonging to a club, organized for the study of the art of the renaissance, chinese religions before confucius, or the mystery of browning. the club meets every second wednesday, and the members read papers, after which there is tea and a social hour. the papers vary in degree alone, as the writer happens to be a skimmer, a wader, or a deep-sea diver in standard editions of the encyclopedias. the social hour, however, occasionally develops in a direction quite away from the realms of pure culture. such a town, with such a woman's club, was lake city, minnesota, a few years ago. lake city had a busy and a prosperous male population, a woman's club bent on intellectual uplift, and a place where there was going to be a park. one windy second wednesday the club members arrived with their eyes full of dust, soot on their white gloves, and indignation in their hearts. when tea and the social hour came around culture went by the board and the conversation turned to the perfectly disgraceful way in which the town's street cleaning was conducted. "the streets are bad enough," said one member, "but, after all, one expects the streets to be dusty. what i object to is having a city dump-heap at my front door. have any of you crossed my corner of the park since the snow melted?" she drew a lively picture of a state of things gravely menacing to the health of her neighborhood, and that of all the people whose homes faced the neglected square. "why doesn't somebody complain to the authorities?" she concluded. "why don't we do something about it? the next time we meet we might at least adopt resolutions, or, better still, have a committee appointed. what do you think, madam president?" madam president tapped her teaspoon on the edge of her empty cup. "i think," she said, "that we will come to order and do it now. will you put what you have just suggested in the form of a motion?" at the next meeting of the club the committee to investigate the park made its report. the club members began a lively canvass among real estate owners and business men, and before long an astonished city council found itself on its feet, receiving a deputation from the woman's club. the women came armed with a donation of fifteen hundred dollars cash, and a polite, but firm, demand that the money be used to clean up and plant the park. the council replied that it had always intended to get around to that park, and would have done it long ago but for the fact that there was no park board in existence, and could not be one, because the solons who drew up the city charter had forgotten to put in a provision for such a board. the club held more meetings, and appointed more committees. one of these unearthed a state law which seemed to cover the case, and make a park board possible without the direct assistance of a city charter. the city attorney was visited, and somehow was coaxed, or argued, or bullied into giving a favorable opinion, after which the election of a park board followed as a matter of course. the town suddenly became interested in the park. the club women's fifteen hundred dollars was doubled by popular subscription, and the work of turning a town rubbish heap into a cool and shady garden spot was brief but durable. you wouldn't know the lake city of those years if you saw it to-day. they have an attractive railroad station, paved streets, cement sidewalks, public playgrounds for children, a high school set in a shaded square, and residence streets that look like parkways. and the woman's club was the parent of them all. there is a theory which expresses itself somewhat obviously in the phrase: "whatever all the women of the country want they will get." the theory is a convenient one, because it may be used to defer action on any suggested reform, and it is harmless because of the seeming impossibility of ascertaining what all the women of the country really want. the women of the united states and the women of all the world have discovered a means through which they may express their collective opinions and desires: organization, and more organization. lake city is but one instance in a thousand. when american women began, a generation ago, to form themselves into clubs, and later to join these clubs into state federations of clubs, and finally the state federations into a national body, they did not dream that they were going to express a collective opinion. indeed, at that time not very many had opinions worth expressing. the immediate need of women's souls at the beginning of the club movement was for education; the higher education they missed by not going to college, and they formed their clubs with the sole object of self-culture. the study period did not last very long. in fact it was doomed from the beginning, for it is not in the nature of women, or at least it is not in the habit of women, to do things for themselves alone. they have _served_ for so many generations that they have learned to like serving better than anything else in the world, and they add service to the pursuit of culture, just as some of them add the important postscript to the unimportant letter. thus dallas, texas, had a women's club of the culture caste. one spring day, after the star member had read a paper on the "lake poets," and another member had rendered a chopin _étude_ on the piano, they began to talk about the stegomyia mosquito, and what a pity it was that the annual danger of contagion and death from the bite of that insect had to be faced all over again. pools of water all over town, simply swarming with little wriggling things, soon to emerge as full-armed stegomyias, merely because the city authorities hadn't the money, or said they hadn't, to cover the pools with oil. "why, oil isn't very expensive," said one of the club women. "let's buy a whole lot of it and do the work ourselves." so the work of saving hundreds of lives every year was added to the study of "lake poets" and chopin by the women's club of dallas. the members mapped the city, laid it out in districts, organized their forces, bought oil and oil-cans and set forth. they visited the schools, got teachers and pupils interested, and secured their co-operation. the study of city sanitation was soon put into the school curriculum, and oiling pools of standing water in every quarter of the town is now a regular part of the school program in the upper grades. every year the club women renew the agitation, and every year the school children go out with their teachers and cover the pools with oil. that story could be paralleled in almost any city in the united states. clubs everywhere organized for the intellectual advancement of the members, for the culture of music, art, and crafts, soon added to the original object a department of philanthropy, a department of public school decoration, a department of child labor, a department of civics. the day a women's club adopts civics as a side line to literature, that day it ceases to be a private association and becomes a public institution--and the public sometimes finds this out before the club suspects it. an eastern woman was visiting in san francisco a short time before the fire. in the complication of three streets with names almost identical, she lost her way to the reception whither she was bound. the conductor on the last car she tried before going home was deeply sympathetic. "'tis a shame, ma'am, them streets," he declared. "i've always said there was no sense at all in havin' them named like that. a stranger is bound to go wrong. i'll tell you what you do, ma'am: you go straight to mrs. lovell white, she that bosses the women's clubs, you know, ma'am. you tell her about them streets, and she'll have 'em changed." the conductor's simple faith in the women's club of san francisco did not lack justification. in the intervals of studying browning and antique art, the club found time to discover to san francisco all sorts of things that the city wanted and needed without knowing that it did. "we ought to have a flower market," pronounced the club. "nonsense," said the city council. "besides, where is the money to come from?" "we'll establish the flower market and show you," returned the club. they did. they found a centrally located square, the place where people would be likely to go for an early morning sale of potted plants and cut flowers. prices are moderate in outdoor markets, and nothing else so stimulates in an entire community the gardening instinct, usually confined to a few individuals. the city authorities discovered that the flower market filled a long-felt want. so the city took the market over. these activities were more or less local. others, begun as local affairs, ultimately became national in scope. the movement which has resulted in a national program in favor of public playgrounds for children began as a women's club movement. for a dozen years before the playgrounds association of america came into existence, women's clubs all over the country had been establishing playgrounds, supporting them out of their club treasuries, and using every power of persuasion to educate boards of education and city councils in their favor. pittsburg affords a typical instance. in there was a civic club of allegheny county, composed of women of the twin steel cities of pittsburg and allegheny. at the head of its education department there was a woman, miss beulah kennard, who loved children; not beautifully clean, well behaved, curled and polished children, but just children. children attracted miss kennard to such a degree that she couldn't bear the sight of them wallowing in the grime and soot of pittsburg streets and alleys. often she stopped in her walks to watch them, dodging wagons and automobiles; throwing stones, tossing balls, fighting, and shooting craps; stealing apples from push-carts, getting arrested and being dragged through the farce of a trial at law for the crime of playing. "those children," miss kennard told her club, "have got to have a decent place to play this summer." and the club agreed with her. the treasury yielded for a beginning the modest sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and with this money the women fitted out one schoolyard, large enough for sixty children to play in. there was no trouble about getting the sixty together. they came, a noisy, joyous, turbulent, vacation set of children, and the anxious committee from the club looked at them in great trepidation of spirit and said to one another: "what on earth are we going to do with them, now that we've got them here?" with hardly a ghost of precedent to guide them, the club undertook the work, and as women have had considerable experience in taking care of children at home, they soon discovered ways of taking care of them successfully in the playground. the next summer the civic club invested six hundred dollars in playgrounds. two schoolyards were fitted up in pittsburg and two in allegheny. after that, every summer, the work was extended. more money each year was voted, and additional playgrounds were established. in the summer of , three years after the first experiment, pittsburg children had nine playgrounds and allegheny children had three, all gifts of the women. by another year the committee was handling thousands of dollars and managing an enterprise of considerable magnitude. also their work was attracting the admiration of other club women, who asked for an opportunity to co-operate. in practically all the clubs of the two cities united, and formed a joint committee of the women's clubs of pittsburg and vicinity to take charge of playgrounds. [illustration: carpenter shop, vacation school, pittsburgh. established by club women and for years supported by them.] all this time the work was entirely in the hands of the club women, who bought the apparatus, organized the games, employed the trained supervisors, and supplied from their own membership the volunteer workers, without whom the enterprise would have been a failure from the start. the board of education co-operated to the extent of lending schoolyards. finally the board of education decided to vote an annual contribution of money. in the city of pittsburg woke up and gave the women fifteen hundred dollars, with which they established one more playground and a recreation park. the original one hundred and twenty-five dollars had now expanded to nearly eight thousand dollars, and pittsburg and allegheny children were not only playing in a dozen schoolyards, but they were attending vacation schools, under expert instructors in manual training, cooking, sewing, art-crafts. several recreation centers, all-the-year-round playgrounds, have been added since then. for pittsburg has adopted the women's point of view in the matter of playgrounds. this year the city voted fifty thousand, three hundred and fifty dollars, and the board of education appropriated ten thousand dollars for the vacation schools. in detroit it was the twentieth century club that began the playground agitation. mrs. clara b. arthur, some ten years ago, read a paper before the department of philanthropy and reform, and following it the chairman of the meeting appointed a committee to consider the possibility of playgrounds for detroit children. the committee visited the board of education, explained the need of playgrounds, and asked that the board conduct one trial playground in a schoolyard, during the approaching vacation. the board declined. the boards of education in most cities declined at first. the club did not give up. it talked playgrounds to the other clubs, until all the organizations of women were interested. within a year or two detroit had a council of women, with a committee on playgrounds. the committee went to the common council this time and asked permission to erect a pavilion and establish a playground on a piece of city land. this was a great, bare, neglected spot, the site of an abandoned reservoir which had been of no use to anybody for twenty years. the place had the advantage of being in a very forlorn neighborhood where many children swarmed. the common council was mildly amused at the idea of putting public property to such an absurd, such an unheard-of use. a few of the men were indignant. one germanic alderman exploded wrathfully: "vot does vimmens know about poys' play?--no!" and that settled it. the committee went to the board of education once more, this time with better success. they received permission to open and conduct, during the long vacation, one playground in a large schoolyard. for two summers the women maintained that playground, holding their faith against the opposition of the janitors, the jeers of the newspapers, and the constant hostility of tax-payers, who protested against the "ruin of school property." after two years the board of education took over the work. the mayor became personally interested, and the common council gracefully surrendered. they have plenty of playgrounds in detroit now, the latest development being winter sports. if the germanic alderman who protested that "vimmins" did not know anything about boys' play was in office at the time, one wonders what his emotions were when the playgrounds committee first appeared before the council and asked to have vacant lots flooded to give children skating ponds in winter. of course the council refused. fire plugs were for water in case of fire, not for children's enjoyment. in fact there was a city ordinance forbidding the opening of a fire plug in winter, except to extinguish fire. it took two years of constant work on the part of the club women to remove that ordinance, but they did it, and the children of detroit have their winter as well as their summer playgrounds. [illustration: captain ball on girl's field, washington park, pittsburgh. out of the persistent work of club women more than three hundred playgrounds for children have been established.] in philadelphia are fourteen splendid playgrounds and vacation schools, established in the beginning and maintained for many years by a civic club of women, the largest women's civic club in the country. the process of educating public opinion in their favor was slow, for it is difficult to make men see that the children of a modern city have different needs from the country or village children of a generation ago. men remember their own boyhood, and scoff at the idea of organized and supervised play in a made playground. women have no memories of the old swimming-hole. they simply see the conditions before them, and they instinctively know what must be done to meet them. the process of educating the others is slow, but this year in philadelphia sixty public schoolyards were opened for public playgrounds, and the city appropriated five thousand dollars towards their maintenance. in a hundred cities east and west the women's clubs have been the original movers or have co-operated in the playground movement. out of this persistent work was born the playground association of america, an organization of men and women, which in the three years of its existence has established more than three hundred playgrounds for children. in massachusetts they have secured a referendum providing that all cities of over ten thousand inhabitants shall vote upon the question of providing adequate playgrounds. the act provides that every city and town in the commonwealth which accepts the act shall after july , , provide and maintain at least one public playground, and at least one other playground for every additional twenty thousand inhabitants. something like twenty-five cities in the state have accepted the playgrounds act. it is a good beginning. the slogan of the movement, "the boy without a playground is the father of the man without a job," has swept over the continent. [illustration: story hour at vacation playground, castelar school yard, los angeles, cal.] this surely is a not inconsiderable achievement for so humble an instrument as women's clubs. it is true that in most communities they have forgotten that the women's clubs ever had anything to do with the movement. the playgrounds association has not forgotten, however. its president, luther halsey gulick, of new york, declares that even now the work would languish if it lost the co-operation of the women's clubs. the scope of woman's work for civic betterment is wider than the interests that directly affect children. how much the women attempt, how difficult they find their task, how much opposition they encounter, and how certain their success in the end, is indicated in a modest report of the harrisburg, pennsylvania, women's civic club. that report says in part: "it is no longer necessary for us to continue, at our own cost, the practical experiment we began in street-cleaning, or to advocate the paving of a single principal street, as a test of the value of improved highways; nor is it necessary longer to strive for a pure water supply, a healthier sewerage system, or the construction of playgrounds. _this work is now being done by the city council, by the board of public works, and by the park commission._" not that the harrisburg women's civic club has gone out of business. it still keeps fairly busy with schoolhouse decoration, traveling libraries for factory employees, and inspecting the city dump. in birmingham, alabama, the women's work has been recognized officially. the club women have formed "block" clubs, composed of the women living in each block, and the mayor has invested them with powers of supervision, control of street cleaning, and disposal of waste and garbage. they really act as overseers, and can remove lazy and incompetent employees. carlisle, pennsylvania, has a ten-year-old civic club. the women have succeeded in getting objectionable billboards removed, public dumps removed from the town, in having all outside market stalls covered, and have secured ordinances forbidding spitting in public places, and against throwing litter into the streets. cranford, new jersey, is one of a dozen small cities where the women's clubs hold regular town house-cleanings. one large town in the middle west adopted a vigorous method of educating public opinion in favor of spring and fall municipal house-cleaning. the club women got a photographer and went the rounds of streets and alleys and private backyards. wherever bad or neglected conditions were found the club sent a note to the owner of the property asking him to co-operate with its members in cleaning up and beautifying the town. where no attention was paid to the notes, the photographs were posted conspicuously in the club's public exhibit. if the california women saved the big tree grove, the new jersey women, by years of persistent work, saved the palisades of the hudson from destruction and inaugurated the movement to turn them into a public park. as for the colorado club women, they saved the cliff dwellers' remains. you can no longer buy the pottery and other priceless relics of those prehistoric people in the curio-shops of denver. i am not attempting a catalogue; i am only giving a few crucial instances. the activities of women if they appeared only sporadically in lake city, dallas, san francisco, and a dozen other cities, would not necessarily carry much weight. they would possess an interest purely local. but the club women of lake city, dallas, san francisco, do not keep their interests local. once a year they travel, hundreds of them, to a chosen city in the state, and there they hold a convention which lasts a week. and every second year the club women of minnesota and texas and california, and every other state in the union, to say nothing of alaska, porto rico, and the canal zone, thousands of them, journey to a chosen center, and there they hold a convention which lasts a week. and at these state and national conventions the club women compare their work and criticise it, and confer on public questions, and decide which movements they shall promote. they summon experts in all lines of work to lecture and advise. increasingly their work is national in its scope. in round numbers, eight hundred thousand women are now enrolled in the clubs belonging to the general federation of women's clubs, holding in common certain definite opinions, and working harmoniously towards certain definite social ends. remember that these eight hundred thousand women are the educated, intelligent, socially powerful. long ago these eight hundred thousand women ceased to confine their studies to printed pages. they began to study life. leaders developed, women of intellect and experience, who could foresee the immense power an organized womanhood might some time wield, and who had courage to direct the forces under them towards vital objects. when, in , mrs. sarah platt decker, of denver, was elected president of the general federation, she found a number of old-fashioned clubs still devoting themselves to shakespeare and the classic writers. mrs. decker, a voter, a full citizen, and a public worker of prominence in her state, simply laughed the musty study clubs out of existence. "ladies," she said to the delegates at the biennial meeting of , "dante is dead. he died several centuries ago, and a great many things have happened since his time. let us drop the study of his 'inferno' and proceed in earnest to contemplate our own social order." [illustration: mrs. sarah platt decker] mostly they took her advice. a few clubs still devote themselves to the pursuit of pure culture, a few others exist with little motive beyond congenial association. the great majority of women's clubs are organized for social service. a glance at their national program shows the modernity, the liberal character of organized women's ideals. the general federation has twelve committees, among them being those on industrial conditions of women and children, civil service reform, forestry, pure food and public health, education, civics, legislation, arts and crafts, and household economics. every state federation has adopted, in the main, the same departments; and the individual clubs follow as many lines of the work as their strength warrants. the contribution of the women's clubs to education has been enormous. there is hardly a state in the union the public schools of which have not been beautified, inside and outside; hardly a state where kindergartens and manual training, domestic science, medical inspection, stamp savings banks, or other improvements have not been introduced by the clubs. in almost every case the clubs have purchased the equipment and paid the salaries until the boards of education and the school superintendents have been convinced of the value of the innovations. in the south, where opportunities for the higher education of women are restricted, the clubs support dozens of scholarships in colleges and institutes. many western state federations, notable among which is that of colorado, have strong committees on education which are active in the entire school system. thomas m. balliett, dean of pedagogy in the new york university, paid a deserved tribute to the massachusetts club women when he said: in massachusetts the various women's organizations have, within the past few years, made a study of schools and school conditions throughout the state with a thoroughness that has never been attempted before. dean balliett says of women's clubs in general that the most important reform movements in elementary education within the past twenty years have been due, in large measure, to the efforts of organized women. and he is right. the women's clubs have founded more libraries than mr. carnegie. early in the movement the women began the circulation among the clubs of traveling reference libraries. soon this work was extended, but the object of the libraries was diverted. instead of collections of books on special subjects to assist the club women in their studies, the traveling cases were arranged in miscellaneous groups, and were sent to schools, to factories, to lonely farms, mining camps, lumber camps, and to isolated towns and villages. iowa now has more than twelve thousand volumes, half of them reference books, in circulation. eighty-one permanent libraries have grown out of the traveling libraries in iowa alone. after the traveling cases have been coming to a town for a year or two, people wake up and agree that they want a permanent place in which to read and study. ohio has over a thousand libraries in circulation, having succeeded, a few years ago, in getting a substantial appropriation from the legislature to supplement their work. western states--colorado, wyoming, idaho--have supplied reading matter to ranches and mining camps for many years. one interesting special library is circulated in massachusetts and rhode island in behalf of the anti-tuberculosis movement. something like forty of the best books on health, and on the prevention and cure of tuberculosis, are included. this library, with a pretty complete tuberculosis exhibit, is sent around, and is shown by the local clubs of each town. usually the women try to have a mass-meeting, at which local health problems are discussed. the health department of the general federation is working to establish these health libraries and exhibits in every state. not only in the united states, but in every civilized country, have women associated themselves together with the object of reforming what seems to them social chaos. in practically every civilized country in the world to-day there exists a council of women, a central organization to which clubs and societies of women with all sorts of opinions and objects send delegates. in the united states the council is made up of the general federation of women's clubs, the woman's christian temperance union, and innumerable smaller organizations, like the national congress of mothers, and the daughters of the american revolution. more than a million and a half american women are affiliated. four hundred and twenty-six women's organizations belong to the council in great britain. in switzerland the council has sixty-four allied societies; in austria it has fifty; in the netherlands it has thirty-five. seventy-five thousand women belong to the french council. in all, the international council of women, to which all the councils send delegates, represents more than eight million women, in countries as far apart as australia, argentine, iceland, persia, south africa, and every country in europe. the council, indeed, has no formal organization in russia, because organizations of every kind are illegal in russia. but russian women attend every meeting of the international council. turkish women sent word to the last meeting that they hoped soon to ask for admission. the president of the international council of women is the countess of aberdeen. titled women in every european country belong to their councils. the queen of greece is president of the greek council. the object of this great world organization of women is to provide a common center for women of every country, race, creed, or party who are associating themselves together in altruistic work. once every five years the international council holds a great world congress of women. what eight million of the most intelligent, the most thoughtful, the most altruistic women in the world believe, what they think the world needs, what they wish and desire for the good of humanity, must be of interest. it must count. [illustration: lady aberdeen president of the international council of women.] the international council of women discusses every important question presented, but makes no decision until the opinion of the delegates is practically unanimous. it commits itself to no opinion, lends itself to no movement, until the movement has passed the controversial stage. those who cling to the old notion that women are perpetually at war with one another will learn with astonishment that eight million women of all nationalities, religions, and temperaments are agreed on at least four questions. in the course of its twenty years of existence the international council has agreed to support four movements: peace and arbitration, social purity, removing legal disabilities of women, woman suffrage. the american reader will be inclined to cavil at the last-mentioned object. woman suffrage, it will be claimed, has not passed the controversial stage, even with women themselves. that is true in the united states and in england. it is true, in a sense, in most countries of the world. but in european countries not _woman_ suffrage, but _universal_ suffrage is being struggled for. i had this explained to me in russia, in the course of a conversation with alexis aladyn, the brilliant leader of the social democratic party. i said to him that i had been informed that the conservative reformers, as well as the radicals, included woman suffrage in their programs. aladyn looked puzzled for a moment, and then he replied: "all parties desire universal suffrage. naturally that includes women." finland at that time, , had recently won its independence from the autocracy and was preparing for its first general election. talking with one of the nineteen women returned to parliament a few months later, i asked: "how did you finnish women persuade the makers of the new constitution to give you the franchise?" "persuade?" she repeated; "we did not have to persuade them. there was simply no opposition. one of the demands made on the russian government was for universal suffrage." the movement for universal suffrage, that is the movement for free government, with the consent of the governed, is considered by the international council of women to have passed the controversial stage. the whole club movement, as a matter of fact, is a part of the great democratic movement which is sweeping over the whole world. individual clubs may be exclusive, even aristocratic in their tendencies, but the large organization is absolutely democratic. if the president of the international council is an english peeress, one of the vice-presidents is the wife of a german music teacher, and one of the secretaries is a self-supporting woman. the general federation in the united states is made up of women of various stations in life, from millionaires' wives to factory girls. the democracy of women's organizations was shown at the meeting in london a year ago of the international woman suffrage alliance, where delegates from twenty-one countries assembled. one of the great features of the meeting was a wonderful pageant of women's trades and professions. an immense procession of women, bearing banners and emblems of their work, marched through streets lined with spectators to albert hall, where the entire orchestra of this largest auditorium in the world was reserved for them. a published account of the pageant, after describing the delegations of teachers, nurses, doctors, journalists, artists, authors, house workers, factory women, stenographers, and others well known here, says: then the ranks opened, and down the long aisle came the chain makers who work at the forge, and the pit-brow women from the mines,--women whose faces have been blackened by smoke and coal dust until they can never be washed white.... to these women, the hardest workers in the land, were given the seats of honor, while behind them, gladly taking a subordinate place, were many women wearing gowns with scarlet and purple hoods, indicating their university degrees. every public movement--reform, philanthropic, sanitary, educational--now asks the co-operation of women's organizations. the united states government asked the co-operation of the women's clubs to save the precarious panama situation. at a moment when social discontent threatened literally to stop the building of the canal, the department of commerce and labor employed miss helen varick boswell, of new york, to go to the isthmus and organize the wives and daughters of government employees into clubs. the department knew that the clubs, once organized, would do the rest. nor was it disappointed. the government asks the co-operation of women in its latest work of conserving natural resources. at the biennial of the federation of women's clubs in mr. enos mills delivered an address on forestry, a movement which was beginning to engage the attention of the clubs. within an hour after he left the platform mr. mills had been engaged by a dozen state presidents to lecture to clubs and federations. as soon as it reached the government that the women's clubs were paying fifty dollars a lecture to learn about forestry work, the government arranged that the clubs should have the best authorities in the nation to lecture on forestry free of all expense. but the government is not alone in recognizing the power of women's organizations. if the government approves their interest in public questions, vested interests are beginning to fear it. the president of the manufacturers' association, in his inaugural address, told his colleagues that their wives and daughters invited some very dangerous and revolutionary speakers to address their clubs. he warned them that the women were becoming too friendly toward reforms that the association frowned upon. this is indeed true, and women display, in their new-found enthusiasm, a singularly obstinate spirit. all the legislatures south of the mason and dixon line cannot make the southern women believe that southern prosperity is dependent upon young children laboring in mills. the women go on working for child labor and compulsory education laws, unconvinced by the arguments of the mill owners and the votes of the legislators. the highest court in the state of new york was powerless to persuade new york club women that the united states constitution stands in the way of a law prohibiting the night work of women. the court of appeals declared the law unconstitutional, and many women at present are toiling at night. but the club women immediately began fighting for a new law. the women of every state in the union are able to work harmoniously together because they are unhampered with traditions of what the founders of the republic intended,--the sacredness of state rights, or the protective paternalism of wall street. the gloriously illogical sincerity of women is concerned only about the thing itself. i have left for future consideration women who having definite social theories have organized themselves for definite objects. this chapter has purposely been confined to the activities of average women--good wives and mothers, the eight hundred thousand american women whose collective opinion is expressed through the general federation of women's clubs. for the most part they are mature in years, these club women. their children are grown. some are in college and some are married. i have heard more than one presiding officer at a state federation meeting proudly announce from the platform that she had become a grandmother since the last convention. the present president of the general federation, mrs. philip n. moore of st. louis, missouri, is a graduate of vassar college, and served for a time as president of the national society of collegiate alumnae. there are not wanting in the club movement many women who have taken college and university honors. club women taken the country over, however, are not college products. if they had been, the club movement might have taken on a more cultural and a less practical form. as it was, the women formed their groups with the direct object of educating themselves and, being practical women used to work, they readily turned their new knowledge to practical ends. as quickly as they found out, through education, what their local communities needed they were filled with a generous desire to supply those needs. in reality they simply learned from books and study how to apply their housekeeping lore to municipal government and the public school system. nine-tenths of the work they have undertaken relates to children, the school, and the home. some of it seemed radical in the beginning, but none of it has failed, in the long run, to win the warmest approval of the people. the eight million women who form the international council of women, and express the collective opinion of women the world over, are not exceptional types, although they may possess exceptional intelligence. they are merely good citizens, wives, and mothers. their program contains nothing especially radical. and yet, what a revolution would the world witness were that program carried out? peace and arbitration; social purity; public health; woman suffrage; removal of all legal disabilities of women. this last-named object is perhaps more revolutionary in its character than the others, because its fulfillment will disturb the basic theories on which the nations have established their different forms of government. chapter iii european women and the salic law several years ago a woman of wealth and social prominence in kentucky, after pondering some time on the inferior position of women in the united states, wrote a book. in this volume the united states was compared most unfavorably with the countries of europe, where the dignity and importance of women received some measure of recognition. women, this author protested, enjoy a larger measure of political power in england than in america. in england and throughout europe their social power is greater. if a man becomes lord mayor of an english city his wife becomes lady mayoress, and she shares all her husband's official honors. on the continent women are often made honorary colonels of regiments, and take part with the men in military reviews. women frequently hold high offices at court, acting as chamberlains, constables, and the like. the writer closed her last chapter with the announcement that she meant henceforth to make her home in england, where women had more than once occupied the throne as absolute monarch and constitutional ruler. it is true that in some particulars american women do seem to be at a disadvantage with european women. with what looks like a higher regard for women's intelligence, england has bestowed upon them every measure of suffrage except the parliamentary franchise. in england, throughout the middle ages, and even down to the present century, women held the office of sheriff of the county, clerk of the crown, high constable, chamberlain, and even champion at a coronation,--the champion being a picturesque figure who rides into the hall and flings his glove to the nobles, in defense of the king's crown. in the royal pageants of european history behold the powerful figures of maria theresa, catherine the great, mary tudor, elizabeth, mary of scotland, christina of sweden, rulers in fact as well as in name; to say nothing of the long line of women regents in whose hands the state intrusted its affairs, during the minority of its kings. in the united states a woman candidate for mayor of a small town would be considered a joke. these and other inconsistencies have puzzled many ardent upholders of american chivalry. in order to understand the position of women in the united states it is necessary to make a brief survey of the laws under which european women are governed, and the social theory on which their apparent advantages are based. in the first place, the statement that in european countries a woman may succeed to the throne must be qualified. in three countries only, england, spain, and portugal, are women counted in the line of succession on terms approaching equality with men. in these three countries when a monarch dies leaving no sons his eldest daughter becomes the sovereign. if the ruling monarch die, leaving no children at all, the oldest daughter--failing sons--of the man who was in his lifetime in direct line of succession is given preference to male heirs more remote. thus queen victoria succeeded william iv, she being the only child of the late king's deceased brother and heir, the duke of kent. similar laws govern the succession in portugal and spain, although dispute on this point has more than once caused civil war in spain. in holland, greece, russia, austria, and a few german states a woman may succeed to the throne, provided every single male heir to the crown is dead. queen wilhelmina became sovereign in holland only because the house of orange was extinct in the male line, and holland lost, on account of the accession of wilhelmina, the rich and important duchy of luxemburg. luxemburg, in common with the rest of europe, except the countries described, lives under what is known as the salic law, according to which a woman may not, in any circumstances, become sovereign. a word about this salic law is necessary, because the tradition of it permeates the whole atmosphere in which the women of europe live, move, and have their legal and social being. the salic law was the code of a barbarous people, so far extinct and forgotten that it is uncertain just what territory in ancient gaul they occupied at the time the code was formulated. later the salian franks, as the tribe was designated, built on the left bank of the seine rude fortresses and a collection of wattled huts which became the ancestor of the present-day city of paris. the salic law was a complete code. it governed all matters, civil and military. it prescribed rules of war; it fixed the salaries of officials; it designated the exact amount of blood money the family of a slain man might collect from the family of the slayer; it regu lated conditions under which individuals might travel from one village to another; it governed matters of property transfer and inheritance. the salian franks are dust; their might has perished, their annals are forgotten, their cities are leveled, their mightiest kings sleep in unmarked graves, their code has passed out of existence, almost indeed out of the memory of man,--all except one paragraph of one division of one law. the law related to inheritance of property; the special division distinguished between real and personal property, and the paragraph ruled that a woman might inherit movable property, but that she might not inherit land. there was not a syllable in the law relating to the inheritance of a throne. nevertheless, centuries after the last salian king was laid in his barbarous grave a french prince successfully contested with an english prince the crown of france, his claim resting on that obscure paragraph in the salic code. the hundred years' war was fought on this issue, and the final outcome of the war established the salic law permanently in france, and with more or less rigor in most of the european states. at the time of the french revolution, when the "rights of man" were being declared with so much fervor and enthusiasm, when the old laws were being revised in favor of greater freedom of the individual, the "rights of woman" were actually revised downward. up to this time the application of the salic law was based on tradition and precedent. now a special statute was enacted forever barring women from the sovereignty of france. "founded on the pride of the french, who could not bear to be ruled by their own women folk," as the records are careful to state. the interpretation of the salic law did more, a great deal more, than exclude women from the throne. it established the principle of the inherent inferiority of women. the system of laws erected on that principle were necessarily deeply tinged with contempt for women, and with fear lest their influence in any way might affect the conduct of state affairs. that explains why, at the present time, although in most european countries women are allowed to practice medicine, they are not allowed to practice law. medicine may be as learned a profession, but it affects only human beings. the law, on the other hand, affects the state. a woman advocate, you can readily imagine, might so influence a court of justice that the laws of the land might suffer feminization. from the european point of view this would be most undesirable. the apparently superior rights possessed by english women were also bestowed upon them by a vanished system of laws. they have descended from feudalism, in which social order the _person_ did not exist. the social order consisted of _property_ alone, and the claims of property, that is to say, land, were paramount over the claims of the individual. those historic women sheriffs of counties, clerks of crown, chamberlains, and high constables held their high offices because the offices were hereditary property in certain titled families, and they had to belong to the entail, even when a woman was in possession. the offices were purely titular. no english woman ever acted as high constable. no english woman ever attended a coronation as king's champion. the rights and duties of these offices were delegated to a male relative. every once in a while, during the middle ages, some strong-minded lady of title demanded the right to administer her office in person, but she was always sternly put down by a rebuking house of lords, sometimes even by the king's majesty himself. in the same way the voting powers of the women of england are a result of hereditary privilege. local affairs in england, until a very recent period, were administered through the parish, and the only persons qualified to vote were the property owners of the parish. it was really property interests and not people who voted. those women who owned property, or who were administering property for their minor children, were entitled to vote, to serve on boards of guardians, and to dispense the poor laws. out of their right of parish vote has grown their right of municipal franchise. it carries with it a property qualification, and the proposed parliamentary franchise, for which the women of england are making such a magnificent fight, will also have a property qualification. the real position, legal and social, which women in england and continental europe have for centuries occupied, may be gauged from an examination of the feminist movement in a very enlightened country, say germany. the laws of germany were founded on the corpus juris of the romans, a stern code which relegates women to the position of chattels. and chattels they have been in germany, until very recent years, when through the intelligent persistence of strong women the chains have somewhat been loosened. a generation ago, in , to be exact, a group of women in leipzig formed an association which they called the allgemeinen deutschen frauenbund, which may be anglicized into general association of german women. the stated objects of the association give a pretty clear idea of the position of women at that time. the women demanded as their rights, education, the right to work, free choice of profession. nothing more, but these three demands were so revolutionary that all masculine germany, and most of feminine germany, uttered horrified protests. needless to say nothing came of the women's demand. after the franco-prussian war the center of the women's revolt naturally moved to the capital of the new empire, berlin. from that city, during the years that followed, so much feminine unrest was radiated that in the german woman suffrage association was formed, with the demand for absolute equality with men. two remarkable women, minna cauer and anita augsberg, the latter unmarried and a doctor of laws, were the moving spirits in the first woman suffrage agitation, which has since extended throughout the empire until there is hardly a small town without its suffrage club. now the woman suffragist in germany differs from the american suffragist in that she is always a member of a political party. she is a silent member to be sure, but she adheres to her party, because, through tradition or conviction, she believes in its policies. usually the suffragist is a member of the social democratic party, allied to the international socialist party. she is a suffragist because she is a socialist, because woman suffrage, and, indeed, the full equalization of the laws governing men and women are a part of the socialist platform in every country in the world. the woman member of the social democratic party is not working primarily for woman suffrage. she is working for a complete overturning of the present economic system, and she advocates _universal adult suffrage_ as a means of bringing about the social and economic changes demanded by the socialists. these german socialist women are often very advanced spirits, who hold university degrees, who have entered the professions, and are generally emancipated from strictly conventional lives. others, in large numbers, belong to the intellectual proletarian classes. their american prototypes are to be found in the women's trade union league, described in a later chapter. the other german suffragists are members of the radical, the moderate (we should say conservative), and the clerical parties. these women are middle class, average, intelligent wives and mothers. they correspond fairly well with the women of the general federation of clubs in the united states, and like the american club women they are affiliated with the international council of women. locally they are working for the social reforms demanded by the first american suffrage convention, held in seneca falls, new york, in . they are demanding the higher education, married women's property rights, free speech, and the right to choose a trade or profession. they are demanding other rights, from lack of which the american woman never suffered. the right to attend a political meeting was until recently denied to german women. although they take a far keener and more intelligent interest in national and local politics than american women as a rule have ever taken, their presence at political meetings has but yesterday been sanctioned. the civil responsibility of the father and mother in many european countries is barbarously unequal. if a marriage exists between the parents the father is the only parent recognized. he is sole guardian and authority. when divorce dissolves a marriage the rights of the father are generally paramount, even when he is the party accused. on the other hand, if no marriage exists between the parents, if the child is what is called illegitimate, the mother is alone responsible for its maintenance. not only is the father free from all responsibility, his status as a father is denied by law. inquiry into the paternity of the child is in some countries forbidden. the unhappy mother may have documentary proof that she was betrayed under promise of marriage, but she is not allowed to produce her proof. under the french code, the substance of which governs all europe, it is distinctly a principle that the woman's honor is and ought to be of less value than a man's honor. napoleon personally insisted on this principle, and more than once emphasized his belief that no importance should be attached to men's share in illegitimacy. these and other degrading laws the european progressive women are trying to remove from the codes. they have their origin in the belief in "the imprudence, the frailty, and the imbecility" of women, to quote from this code napoleon. whatever women's legal disabilities in the united states, their laws were never based on the principle that women were imprudent, frail, or imbecile. they placed women at a distinct disadvantage, it is true, but it was the disadvantage of the minor child and not of the inferior, the chattel, the property of man, as in europe. laws in the united states were founded on the assumption that women stood in perpetual need of protection. the law makers carried this to the absurd extent of assuming that protection was all the right a woman needed or all she ought to claim. they even pretended that when a woman entered the complete protection of the married state she no longer stood in need of an identity apart from her husband. the working out of this theory in a democracy was far from ideal, as we shall see. chapter iv american women and the common law a little girl sat in a corner of her father's law library watching, with wide, serious eyes, a scene the like of which was common enough a generation or two ago. the weeping old woman told a halting story of a dissipated son, a shrewish daughter-in-law, and a state of servitude on her own part,--a story pitifully sordid in its details. the farm had come to her from her father's estate. for forty years she had toiled side by side with her husband, getting a simple, but comfortable, living from the soil. then the husband died. under the will the son inherited the farm, and everything on it,--house, furniture, barns, cattle, tools. even the money in the bank was his. a clause in the will provided that the son should give his mother a home during her lifetime. so here she was, after a life of hard work and loving service, shorn of everything; a pauper, an unpaid servant in the house of another woman,--her son's wife. was it true that the law took her home away from her,--the farm that descended to her from her father, the house she had lived in since childhood? could nothing, _nothing_ be done? the aged judge shook his head, sadly. "you see, mrs. grant," he explained, "the farm has never really been yours since your marriage, for then it became by law your husband's property, precisely as if he had bought it. he had a right to leave it to whom he would. no doubt he did what he thought was for your good. i wish i could help you, but i cannot. the law is inexorable in these matters." after the forlorn old woman had gone the lawyer's child went and stood by her father's chair. "why couldn't you help her?" she asked. "why do you let them take her home away from her?" judge cady opened the sheep-bound book at his elbow and showed the little girl a paragraph. turning the pages, he pointed out others for her to read. spelling through the ponderous legal phraseology the little girl learned that a married woman had no existence, in the eyes of the law, apart from her husband. she could own no property; she could neither buy nor sell; she could not receive a gift, even from her own husband. she was, in fact, her husband's chattel. if he beat her she had no means of punishing, or even restraining him, unless, indeed, she could prove that her life was endangered. if she ran away from him the law forced her to return. paragraph after paragraph the child read through, and, unseen by her father, marked faintly with a pencil. so far as she was aware, father, and father's library of sheep-bound books, were the beginning and the end of the law, and to her mind the way to get rid of measures which took women's homes away from them was perfectly simple. that night when the house was quiet she stole downstairs, scissors in hand, determined _to cut every one of those laws out of the book_. the young reformer was restrained, but only temporarily. as elizabeth cady stanton she lived to do her part toward revising many of the laws under which women, in her day, suffered, and her successors, the organized women of the united states, are busy with their scissors, revising the rest. not alone in russia, germany, france, and england do the laws governing men and women need equalizing. in america, paradise of women, the generally accepted theory that women have "all the rights they want" does not stand the test of impartial examination. in america some women have all the rights they want. your wife and the wives of the men you associate with every day usually have all the rights they want, sometimes a few that they do not need at all. is the house yours? the furniture yours? the motor yours? the income yours? are the children yours? if you are the average fond american husband, you will return the proud answer: "no, indeed, they are _ours_." this is quite as it should be, assuming that all wives are as tenderly cherished, and as well protected as the women who live on your block. for a whole big army of women there are often serious disadvantages connected with that word "ours." in boston there lived a family of mcewans,--a man, his wife, and several half-grown children. mcewan was not a very steady man. he drank sometimes, and his earning capacity was uncertain. mrs. mcewan was an energetic, capable, intelligent woman, tolerant of her husband's failings, ambitious for her children. she took a large house, furnished it on the installment plan, and filled it with boarders. the boarders gave the family an income larger than they had ever possessed before, and mcewan's contributions fell off. he became an unpaying guest himself. all his earnings, he explained, were going into investments. the man was, in fact, speculating in mining stocks. one day mcewan came home with a face of despair. his creditors, he told his wife, had descended on him, seized his business, and threatened to take possession of the boarding house. "but it is mine," protested the woman, with spirit. "i bought every bit of furniture with the money my boarders paid me. nobody can touch my property or my earnings to satisfy a claim on you. i am not liable for your debts." one of the boarders was a lawyer, and to him that night she took the case. "a woman's earnings are her own in massachusetts, are they not?" she demanded. "you are what the law calls a free trader," replied the lawyer, "and whatever you earn is yours, certainly. that is--of course you are recorded at the city clerk's office?" "why no. why should i be?" "the law requires it. otherwise this property, and even the money your boarders pay you, are liable to attachment for your husband's debts. unless you make a specific declaration that you are in business for yourself, the law assumes that the business is your husband's." "if i went to work for a salary, should i have to be recorded in order to keep my own money?" mrs. mcewan was growing angry. "no," replied the lawyer, "not if you were careful to keep your income and your husband's absolutely separate. if you both paid installments on a piano the piano would be your husband's, not yours. if you bought a house together, the house could be seized for his debts. everything you buy with your money is yours. everything you buy with money he gives you is his. everything you buy together is his. you could not protect such property from your husband's creditors, or from his heirs." mrs. mcewan's case is mild, her wrongs faint beside those of a woman in los angeles, california. her husband was a doctor, and she had been, before her marriage, a trained nurse. the young woman had saved several hundred dollars, and she put the money into a first payment on a pretty little cottage. during the first two or three years of the marriage the doctor's wife, from time to time, attended cases of illness, usually contributing her earnings toward the payment for the house or into furniture for the house. in all she paid about a thousand dollars, or something like one-third of the cost of the house. then children came, and her earning days were over. unfortunately the domestic affairs of this household became disturbed. the doctor contracted a drug habit. he became irregular in his conduct and ended by running away with a dissolute woman. after he had gone his wife found that the house she lived in, and which she had helped to buy, had been sold, without her knowledge or consent. the transaction was perfectly legal. community property, that is, property held jointly by husband and wife, is absolutely controlled by the husband in california. in that state community property may even be given away, without the wife's knowledge or consent. it happened not many years ago that one of the most powerful millionaires in california, in a moment of generosity, conveyed to one of his sons a very valuable property. some time afterwards the father and son quarreled, and the father attempted to get back his property. his plea in court was that his wife's consent to the transaction had never been sought; but the court ruled that since the property was owned in community, the wife's consent did not have to be obtained. this particular woman happened to be rich enough to stand the experience of having a large slice of property given away without her knowledge, but the same law would have applied to the case of a woman who could not afford it at all. it is in the case of women wage earners that these laws bear the peculiar asperity. down in the cotton-mill districts of the south are scores of men who never, from one year to the next, do a stroke of work. they are supposed to be "weakly." their wives and children work eleven hours a day (or night) and every pay day the men go to the mills and collect their wages. the money belongs to them under the law. even if the women had the spirit to protest, the protest would be useless. the right of a man to collect and to spend his wife's earnings is protected in many states in the chivalric south. in texas, for example, a husband is entitled to his wife's earnings even _though he has deserted her_. i do not know that this occurs very often in texas. probably not, unless among low-class negroes. in all likelihood if a texas woman should appeal to her employer, and tell him that her husband had abandoned her, he would refuse to give the man her wages. should the husband be in a position to invoke the law, he could claim his wife's earnings, nevertheless. the kentucky lady who chose england for her future home, had she known it, selected the country to which most american women owe their legal disabilities. american law, except in louisiana and florida, is founded on english common law, and english common law was developed at a period when men were of much greater importance in the state than women. the state was a military organization, and every man was a fighter, a king's defender. women were valuable only because defenders of kings had to have mothers. english common law provided that every married woman must be supported in as much comfort as her husband's estate warranted. the mothers of the nation must be fed, clothed, and sheltered. what more could they possibly ask? in return for permanent board and clothes, the woman was required to give her husband all of her property, real and personal. what use had she for property? did she need it to support herself? in case of war and pillage could she defend it? husband and wife were one--and that one was the man. he was so much the one that the woman had literally no existence in the eyes of the law. she not only did not possess any property; she could possess none. her husband could not give her any, because there could be no contract between a married pair. a contract implies at least two people, and husband and wife were one. the husband could, if he chose, establish a trusteeship, and thus give his wife the free use of her own. but you can easily imagine that he did not very often do it. a man could, also, devise property to his wife by will. often this was done, but too often the sons were made heirs, and the wife was left to what tender mercies they owned. if a man died intestate the wife merely shared with other heirs. she had no preference. under the old english common law, moreover, not only the property, but also the services of a married woman belonged to her husband. if he chose to rent out her services, or if she offered to work outside the home, it followed logically that her wages belonged to him. what use had she for wages? on the other hand, every man was held responsible for the support of his wife. he was responsible for her debts, as long as they were the necessities of life. he was also responsible for her conduct. being propertyless, she could not be held to account for wrongs committed. if she stole, or destroyed property, or injured the person of another, if she committed any kind of a misdemeanor in the presence of her husband, and that also meant if he were in her neighborhood at the time, the law held him responsible. he should have restrained her. this was supposed to be a decided advantage to the woman. whenever a rebellious woman or group of women voiced their objection to the system which robbed them of every shred of independence they were always reminded that the system at the same time relieved them of every shred of responsibility, even, to an extent, of moral responsibility. "so great a favorite," comments blackstone, "is the female sex under the laws of england." you may well imagine that, in these circumstances, husbands were interested that their wives should be very good. the law supported them by permitting "moderate correction." a married woman might be kept in what blackstone calls "reasonable restraint" by her husband. but only with a stick no larger than his thumb. the husbandly stick was never imported into the united states. even the dour puritans forbade its use. the very first modification of the english common law, in its application to american women, was made in , when the general court of massachusetts bay colony decreed that a husband beating his wife, or, for that matter, a wife beating her husband, should be fined ten pounds, or endure a public whipping. the pilgrim fathers and the other early colonists in america brought with them the system of english common law under which they and their ancestors had for centuries been governed. from time to time, as conditions made them necessary, new laws were enacted and put into force. in all cases not specifically covered by these new laws, the old english common law was applied. it did not occur to any one that women would ever need special laws. the pilgrim fathers and their successors, the puritans, simply assumed that here, as in the england they had left behind, woman's place was in the home, where she was protected, supported, and controlled. but in the new world woman's place in the home assumed an importance much greater than it had formerly possessed. labor was scarce, manufacturing and trading were undeveloped. woman's special activities were urgently needed. woman's hands helped to raise the roof-tree, her skill and industry, to a very large extent, furnished the house. she spun and wove, cured meat, dried corn, tanned skins, made shoes, dipped candles, and was, in a word, almost the only manufacturer in the country. but this did not raise her from her position as an inferior. woman owned neither her tools nor her raw materials. these her husband provided. in consequence, husband and wife being one, that one, in america, as in england, was the husband. this explanation is necessary in order to understand why the legal position of most american women to-day is that of inferiors, or, at best, of minor children. it is necessary also, in order to understand why, except in matters of law, american women are treated with such extraordinary consideration and indulgence. as long as pioneer conditions lasted women were valuable because of the need of their labor, their special activities. also, for a very long period, women were scarce, and they were highly prized not alone for their labor, but because their society was so desirable. in other words, pioneer conditions gave woman a better standing in the new world than she had in the old, and she was treated with an altogether new consideration and regard. in england no one thought very badly of a man who was moderately abusive of his wife. in america, violence against women was, from the first, an unbearable idea. laws protecting maid servants, dependent women, and, as we have seen, even wives, were very early enacted in new england. but although woman was more dearly prized in the new country than in the old, no new legislation was made for her benefit. her legal status, or rather her absence of legal status apart from her husband, remained exactly as it had been under the english common law. no legislature in the united states has deliberately made laws placing women at a disadvantage with men. whatever laws are unfair and oppressive to women have just happened--just grown up like weeds out of neglected soil. let me illustrate. no lawmaker in new mexico ever introduced a bill into the legislature making men liable for their wives' torts or petty misdemeanors. yet in new mexico, at this very minute, a wife is so completely her husband's property that he is responsible for her behavior. if she should rob her neighbor's clothesline, or wreck a chicken yard, her unfortunate husband would have to stand trial. simply because in new mexico married women are still living under laws that were evolved in another civilization, long before new mexico was dreamed of as a state. nowhere else in the united states are women allowed to shelter their weak moral natures behind the stern morality of their husbands, but in more than one state the husband's responsibility for his wife's acts is assumed. in massachusetts, for one state, if a woman owned a saloon and sold beer on sunday, she would be liable to arrest, and so also would her husband, provided he were in the house when the beer was sold. both would probably be fined. simply because it was once the law that a married woman had no separate existence apart from her husband, this absurd law, or others as absurd, remain on the statute books of almost every state in the union. the ascent of woman, which began with the abolishment of corporeal punishment of wives, proceeded very slowly. most american women married, and most american wives were kindly treated. at least public opinion demanded that they be treated with kindness. long before any other modification of her legal status was gained, a woman subjected to cruelty at the hands of her lawful spouse was at liberty to seek police protection. the reason why police protection was so seldom sought is plain enough. imagine a woman complaining of a husband who would be certain to beat her again for revenge, and to whom she was bound irrevocably by laws stronger even than the laws on the statute books. remember that the only right she had was the right to be supported, and if she left her husband's house she left her only means of living. she could hardly support herself, for few avenues of industry were open to women. she was literally a pauper, and when there is nowhere else to lay his head, even the most miserable pauper thinks twice before he runs away from the poorhouse. besides, the woman who left her husband had to give up her children. they too were the husband's property. there were some women who hesitated before they consented to pauperize themselves by marrying. widows were especially wary, if old stories are to be trusted. a story is told in the new york university law school of a woman in connecticut who took with her, as a part of her wedding outfit, a very handsome mahogany bureau, bequeathed her by her grandfather. after a few years of marriage the husband suddenly died, leaving no will. the home and all it contained were sold at auction. the widow was permitted to buy certain objects of furniture, and among them was her cherished bureau. where the poor woman found the money with which to buy is not revealed. in time this woman married again, and again her husband died without a will. again there was an auction, and again the widow purchased her beloved heirloom. it seems possible that this time she had saved money in anticipation of the necessity. a little later, for she was still young and attractive, a suitor appeared, offering his heart and "all his worldly goods." "no, i thank you," replied the sorely tried creature, "i prefer to keep my bureau." the first struggle made by women in their own behalf was against this condition of marital slavery. elizabeth cady stanton, lucretia mott, lydia maria child, and others of that brave band of rebellious women, were active for years, addressing legislative committees in new york and massachusetts, circulating petitions, writing to newspapers, agitating everywhere in favor of married women's property rights. finally it began to dawn on the minds of men that there might be a certain public advantage, as well as private justice, attaching to separate ownership by married women of their own property. in the massachusetts state legislature passed a cautious measure giving married women qualified property rights. it was not until that a really effective married women's property law was secured, by action of the new york state assembly. the law served as a model in many of the new western states just then framing their laws. these new york legislators, and the western legislators who first granted property rights to married women, were actuated less by a sense of justice towards women than by enlightened selfishness. the effect of so much freedom on women themselves was a matter for grave conjecture. it was not suggested by any of the american debaters, as it was later on the floors of the english parliament, that women, if they controlled their own property, would undoubtedly squander it on men whom they preferred to their husbands. but it was prophesied that women once in possession of money would desert their husbands by regiments,--which speaks none too flatteringly of the husbands of that day. men of property stood for the married women's property act, because they perceived plainly that their own wealth, devised to daughters who could not control it, might easily be gambled away, or wasted through improvidence, or diverted to the use of strangers. in other words, they knew that their property, when daughters inherited it, became the property of their sons-in-law. they had no guarantee that their own grandchildren would ever have the use of it, unless it was controlled by their mothers. it was the women's clubs and women's organizations in america, as it was the women's councils in europe, that actively began the agitation against women's legal disabilities. the national woman suffrage association, oldest of all women's organizations in the united states, has been calling attention to the unequal laws, and demanding their abolishment, for two generations. practically all of the state federations of women's clubs have legislative committees, and it is usually the business of these committees to codify the laws of their respective states which apply directly to women. in some cases a woman lawyer is made chairman, and the work is done under her direction. sometimes, as in texas, a well known and friendly man lawyer is retained for the task. almost invariably the report of the legislative committee contains disagreeable surprises. american women have been so accustomed to their privileges that they have taken their rights for granted, and are usually astonished when they find how limited their rights actually are. there are some states in the union where women are on terms of something like equality with men. there is one state to which all intelligent women look with a sort of envious, admiring, questioning curiosity, colorado, which is literally the woman's paradise. in colorado it would be difficult to find even the smallest inequality between men and women. they vote on equal terms, and if any woman deserves to go to the legislature, and succeeds in convincing a large enough public of the fact, nothing stands in the way of her election. one woman, mrs. alma lafferty, is a member of the present legislature, and she has had several predecessors. but colorado women have a larger influence still in legislative matters. to guard their interests they have a legislative committee of the state federation of women's clubs, consisting of thirty to forty carefully chosen women. this committee has permanent headquarters in denver during every session of the legislature, and every bill which directly affects women and children, before reaching the floor of either house, is submitted for approval to the committee. miss jane addams has declared, and miss addams is pretty good authority, that the laws governing women and children in colorado are superior to those of any other state. women receive equal pay for equal work in colorado. they are permitted to hold any office. they are co-guardians of their children, and the education of children has been placed almost entirely in the hands of women. this does not mean that colorado has weakened its schools by barring men from the teaching profession. it means that women are superintendents of schools in many counties, and that one woman was, for more than ten years, state superintendent of schools. contrast colorado with louisiana, possibly the last state in the union a well-informed woman would choose for a residence. the laws of louisiana were based, not on the english common law, but on the code napoleon, which regards women merely as a working, breeding, domestic animal. "there is one thing that is not _french_," thundered the great napoleon, closing a conference on his famous code, "and that is that a woman can do as she pleases." [illustration: a "women's rights" map of the united states] the framers of louisiana's laws were particular to guard against too great a freedom of action on the part of its women. toward the end of mrs. jefferson davis's life she added a codicil to her will, giving to a certain chapter of the daughters of the confederacy a number of very valuable relics of her husband, and of the short-lived confederate government. her action was made public, and it was then revealed that two women had signed the document as witnesses. instantly mrs. davis's attention was called to the fact that in louisiana, where she was then living, no woman may witness a document. women's signatures are worthless. in louisiana your disabilities actually begin when you become an engaged girl. from that happy moment on you are under the dominance of a man. your wedding presents are not yours, but his. if you felt like giving a duplicate pickle-fork to your mother, you could not legally do so, and after you were married, if your husband wanted that pickle-fork, he could get it. your clothing, your dowry, become community property as soon as the marriage ceremony is over, and community property in louisiana is controlled absolutely by the husband. every dollar a woman earns there is at her husband's disposal. without her husband's consent a louisiana woman may not go into a court of law, even though she may be in business for herself and the action sought is in defense of her business. nor does the louisiana woman fare any better as a mother. then, in fact, her position is nothing short of humiliating. during her husband's lifetime he is sole guardian of their children. at his death she may become their guardian, but if she marries a second time--and the law permits her to remarry, provided she waits ten months--she retains her children only by the formal consent of her first husband's family. if they dislike her, or disapprove of her second marriage, they may demand the custody of the children. it is true that many of these absurd laws in louisiana are not now often enforced. it is also true that in louisiana and other states few men are so unjust to their wives as to take advantage of unequal property rights. laws always lag behind the sense of justice which lives in man. but the point is that unequal laws still remain on our statute books, and they may be, and sometimes are, enforced. between these two extremes, colorado and louisiana, women have the other forty-six states to choose. none of them offers perfect equality. even in idaho, wyoming, and utah--the three states besides colorado where women vote--women are in such a minority that their votes are powerless to remove all their disabilities. very rarely have club women even so much felicity as the new york state federation, whose legislative chairman, miss emilie bullowa, reported that she was unable to find a single unimportant inequality in the new york laws governing the property rights of women. in most of the older states the property rights of married women are now fairly guaranteed, but the proud boast that in america no woman is the slave of her husband will have to be modified when it is known that in at least seventeen states these rights are still denied. the husband absolutely controls his wife's property and her earnings in texas, tennessee, louisiana, california, arizona, north dakota, and idaho. he has virtual control--that is to say, the wife's rights are merely provisional--in alabama, new mexico, and missouri. women to control their own business property must be registered as traders on their own account in these states: georgia, montana, nevada, massachusetts, north carolina, oregon, and virginia. nor are women everywhere permitted to work on equal terms with men. [illustration: miss emilie bullowa.] there is a current belief, often expressed, that in the united states every avenue of industry is open to women on equal terms with men. this is not quite true. in some states a married woman may not engage in any business without permission from the courts. in texas, louisiana, and georgia this is the case. in wyoming, where women vote, but where they are in such minority that their votes count for little, a married woman must satisfy the court that she is under the necessity of earning her living. if you are a woman, married or unmarried, and wish to practice law, you are barred from seven of the united states. the legal profession is closed to women in alabama, georgia, virginia, arkansas, delaware, tennessee, and south carolina. in some states they discourage women from aspiring to the learned professions by refusing them the advantages of higher education which they provide for their brothers. four state universities close their doors to women, in spite of the fact that women's taxes help support the universities. these states are georgia, virginia, louisiana, and north carolina. the last-named admits women to post-graduate courses. you can hold no kind of an elective office, you cannot be even a county superintendent of schools in alabama or arkansas, if you are a woman. in alabama, indeed, you may not be a minister of the gospel, a doctor of medicine, or a notary public. florida likewise will have nothing to do with a woman doctor. only a few women want to hold office or engage in professional work. every woman hopes to be a mother. what then is the legal status of the american mother? when the club women began the study of their position before the law they were amazed to find, in all but ten of the states and territories, that they had absolutely no control over the destinies of their own children. in ten states only, and in the district of columbia, are women co-guardians with their husbands of their children. in pennsylvania if a woman supports her children, or has money to contribute to their support, she has joint guardianship. under somewhat similar circumstances rhode island women have the same right. in all the other states and territories children belong to their fathers. they can be given away, or willed away, from the mother. that this almost never happens is due largely to the fact that, as a rule, no one except the mother of a child is especially keen to possess it. it is due also in large measure to the fact that courts of justice are growing reluctant to administer such archaic laws. the famous tillman case is an example. senator ben tillman of south carolina has one son,--a dissipated, ill-tempered, and altogether disreputable man, whose wife, after several miserable years of married life, left him, taking with her their two little girls. south carolina allows no divorce for any cause. the sanctity of the marriage tie is held so lightly in south carolina that the law permits it to be abused at will by the veriest brute or libertine. mrs. tillman could not divorce her husband, so she took her children and went to live quietly at her parent's home in the city of washington. one day the father of the children, young tillman, appeared at that home, and in a fit of drunken resentment against his wife, kidnapped the children. he could not care for the children, probably had no wish to have them near him, but he took them back to south carolina, and _gave_ them to his parents, made a present of a woman's flesh and blood and heart to people who hated her and whom she hated in return. under the laws of south carolina, under the printed statutes, young tillman had a perfect right to do this thing, and his father, a united states senator, upheld him in his act. young mrs. tillman, however, showed so little respect for the statutes that she sued her husband and his parents to recover her babies. the judge before whom the suit was brought was in a dilemma. there was the law--but also there was justice and common sense. to the everlasting honor of that south carolina judge, justice and common sense triumphed, and he ruled that _the law was unconstitutional._ there are other hardships in this law denying to mothers the right of co-guardianship of their children. two names signed to a child's working papers is a pretty good thing sometimes, for it often happens that selfish and lazy fathers are anxious to put their children to work, when the mothers know they are far too young. a woman in scranton, pennsylvania, told me, with tears filling her eyes, that her children had been taken by their father to the silk mills as soon as they were tall enough to suit a not too exacting foreman. "what could i say about it, when he went and got the papers?" she sighed. the father--not the mother--controls the services of his children. he can collect their wages, and he does. very, very often he squanders the money they earn, and no one may interfere. a family of girls in fall river, massachusetts, were met every pay day at the doors of the mill by their father, who exacted of each one her pay envelope, unopened. it was his regular day for getting drunk and indulging in an orgy of gambling. often more than half of the girls' wages would have vanished before night. twice the entire amount was wasted in an hour. this kept on until the girls passed their childhood and were mature enough to rebel successfully. it is the father and not the mother that may claim the potential services of a child. many times have these unjust laws been protested against. in every state in the union where they exist they have been protested against by organized groups of intelligent women. but their protests have been received with apathy, and, in some instances, with contempt by legislators. only last year a determined fight was made by the women of california for a law giving them equal guardianship of their children. the women's bill was lost in the california legislature, and lost by a large majority. what arguments did the california legislators use against the proposed measure? identically the same that were made in massachusetts and new york a quarter of a century ago. if women had the guardianship of their children, would anything prevent them from taking the children and leaving home? what would become of the sanctity of the home, with its lawful head shorn of his paternal dignity? in california a husband is head of the family in very fact, or at least a law of the state says so. at one time the law which made the husband the head of the home guaranteed to the family support by the husband. it does not do that now. there are laws on the statute books of many states obliging the wife to support her husband if he is disabled, and the children, if the husband defaults. there are no laws compelling the husband to support his wife. the husband is under an assumed obligation to support his family, but there exists no means of forcing him to do his duty. family desertion has become one of the commonest and one of the most baffling of modern social problems. everybody is appalled by its prevalence, but nobody seems to know what to do about it. the legal aid society of new york city reports about three new cases of family desertion for every day in the year. other agencies in other cities report a state of affairs quite as serious. laws have been passed in most states making family desertion a misdemeanor, and in new york a recent law has made it a felony. unfortunately there has been devised no machinery to enforce these laws, so they are practically non-existent. it is true that if the deserting husband is arrested he may be sent to jail or to the rock pile. but that does not cure him nor support his family. mostly he is not arrested. he has only to take himself out of the reach of the local authorities. in new york a deserting husband, though he is counted a felon, needs only to cross the river to new jersey to be reasonably safe. imagine the state of new york spending good money to chase a man whom it does not want as a citizen, and whom it can only punish by sending to jail for a short period. the state is better off without such a man. to bring him back would not even benefit his deserted family. women, far more law abiding than men, insist that a system which evolved out of feudal conditions, and has for its very basis the assumption of the weakness, ignorance, and dependence of women, has no place in twentieth century civilization. american women are no longer weak, ignorant, dependent. the present social order, in which military force is subordinated to industry and commerce, narrows the gulf between them, and places men and women physically on much the same plane. as for women's intellectual ability to decide their own legal status, they are, taken the country over, rather better educated than men. there are more girls than boys in the high schools of the united states; more girls than boys in the higher grammar grades. fewer women than men are numbered among illiterate. as for the great middle class of women, it is obvious that they are better read than their men. their specific knowledge of affairs may be less, but their general intelligence is not less than men's. increasingly women are ceasing to depend on men for physical support. increasingly even married women are beginning to think of themselves as independent human beings. their work of bearing and rearing children, of managing the household, begins to assume a new dignity, a real value, in their eyes. in new zealand at the present time statutes are proposed which shall determine exactly the share a wife may legally claim in her husband's income. american women may not need such a law, but they insist that they need something to take the place of that one which in eleven states makes it possible for a husband to claim all of his wife's income. chapter v women's demands on the rulers of industry the big elevator, crowded with shoppers to the point of actual discomfort, contained only one man. he wore a white-duck uniform, and recited rapidly and monotonously, as the car shot upward: "corsets, millinery, muslin underwear, shirt-waists, coats and suits, infants' wear, and ladies' shoes, second floor; no ma'am, carpets and rugs on the third floor; this car don't go to the restaurant; take the other side; groceries, harness, sporting goods, musical instruments, phonographs, men's shoes, trunks, traveling bags, and toys, fifth floor." buying and selling, serving and being served--women. on every floor, in every aisle, at every counter, women. in the vast restaurant, which covers several acres, women. waiting their turn at the long line of telephone booths, women. capably busy at the switch boards, women. down in the basement buying and selling bargains in marked-down summer frocks, women. up under the roof, posting ledgers, auditing accounts, attending to all the complex bookkeeping of a great metropolitan department store, women. behind most of the counters on all the floors between, women. at every cashier's desk, at the wrappers' desks, running back and forth with parcels and change, short-skirted women. filling the aisles, passing and repassing, a constantly arriving and departing throng of shoppers, women. simply a moving, seeking, hurrying mass of femininity, in the midst of which the occasional man shopper, man clerk, and man supervisor, looks lost and out of place. to you, perhaps, the statement that six million women in the united states are working outside of the home for wages is a simple, unanalyzed fact. you grasp it as an intellectual abstraction, without much appreciation of its human significance. the mere reading of statistics does not help you to realize the changed status of women, and of society. you need to see the thing with your own eyes. standing on the corner of the bowery and grand street, in new york, when the third avenue trains overhead are roaring their way uptown packed with homeward-bound humanity, or on the corner of state and madison streets, in chicago, or on the corner of front and lehigh streets, in philadelphia; pausing at the hour of six at the junction of any city's great industrial arteries, you get a full realization of the change. of the pushing, jostling, clamoring mob, which the sidewalks are much too narrow to contain, observe the preponderance of girls. from factory, office, and department store they come, thousands and tens of thousands of girls. above the roar of the elevated, the harsh clang of the electric cars, the clatter of drays and wagons, the shouting of hucksters, the laughter and oaths of men, their voices float, a shrill, triumphant treble in the orchestra of toil. you may get another vivid, yet subtle, realization of the interdependence of women and modern industry if you manage to penetrate into the operating-room of a telephone exchange. any hour will do. any day in the week. there are no nights, nor sundays, nor holidays in a telephone exchange. the city could not get along for one single minute in one single hour of the twenty-four without the telephone girl. her hands move quickly over the face of the switch board, picking up long, silk-wound wires, reaching high, plugging one after another the holes of the switch board. the wires cross and recross, until the switch board is like a spider web, and in the tangle of lines under the hands of the telephone girl are enmeshed the business affairs of a city. what would happen if this army of women was suddenly withdrawn from the telephone exchanges? men could not take their places. that experiment has been tried more than once, and it has always failed. having seen how well women serve industry, go back to the department store and see how they dominate it also. the department store apparently exists for women. the architect who designed the building studied her necessities. the makers of store furniture planned counters, shelves, and seats to suit her stature. buyers of goods know that their jobs are forfeit unless they can guess what her taste in gowns and hats is going to be six months hence. women's demand on industry woman dominates the department store for the plain reason that she supports it. whoever earns the income, and that point has been somewhat in question lately, there is no doubt at all as to who spends it. she does. hence, she is able to control the conditions under which this business is conducted. you can see for yourself that this is so. walk through any large department store and observe how much valuable space is devoted to making women customers comfortable. there is always a drawing-room with easy-chairs and couches; plenty of little desks with handsome stationery where the customer may write notes; here, and in the retiring-room adjoining, are uniformed maids to offer service. but these things are not all that the women who support industry demand of the men in power. they demand that industry be carried on under conditions favorable to the health and comfort of the workers. not until the development of the department store were women able to observe at close range the conduct of modern business. not unnaturally it was in the department store that they began one of the most ambitious of their present-day activities,--that of humanizing industry. it was just twenty years ago that new york city was treated to a huge joke. it was such a joke that even the miserable ones with whom it was concerned were obliged to smile. an obscure group of women, calling themselves the working women's society, came out with the announcement that they proposed to form the women clerks of the city into a labor union. these women said that the girls in the department stores were receiving wages lower than the sweat-shop standard. they said that a foreign woman in a downtown garment shop could earn seven dollars a week, whereas an american girl in a fashionable store received about four dollars and a half. they also charged that the city ordinance providing seats for saleswomen was habitually violated, and that the girls were forced to stand from ten to fourteen hours a day. they said that sanitary conditions in the cloak rooms and lunch rooms of some of the stores were such as to endanger health and life. they said that the whole situation was so bad that no clerk endured it for a longer period than five years. mostly they were used up in two years. they proposed a labor union of retail clerks as the only possible resource. their effort failed. the trades union idea at that time had not reached the girl behind the counter. as a matter of fact it has not reached her yet, and it probably never will. the department-store clerk considers herself a higher social being than the ordinary working-girl, and in a way she is justified. the exceptionally intelligent department-store clerk has one chance in a thousand of rising to the well-paid, semi-professional post of buyer. also the exceptionally attractive girl has possibly one chance in five thousand of marrying a millionaire. it is a long chance now, and it was a longer chance a dozen years ago, because there were fewer millionaires then than now, but it served well enough to cause the failure of the trades union plan. there is one thing that never fails, however, and that is a righteous protest. out of the protest of that little, obscure group of working women in new york city was born a movement which has spread beyond the atlantic ocean, which has effected legislation in many states of the union, which has even determined an extremely important legal decision in the supreme court of the united states. a group of rich and influential women, prominent in many philanthropic efforts, became interested in the working women's society. they investigated the charges brought against the department stores, and what they discovered made them resolve that conditions must be changed. in may, , the late mrs. josephine shaw lowell, mrs. frederick nathan, and others, called a large mass meeting in chickering hall. mrs. nathan had a constructive plan for raising the standard in shop conditions, especially those affecting women employees. if women would simply withdraw their patronage from the stores where, during the christmas season, women and children toiled long hours at night without any extra compensation, sooner or later the night work would cease. a few stores, said mrs. nathan, maintained a standard above the average. it was within the power of the women of new york to raise all the others to that standard, and afterwards it might be possible to go farther and establish a standard higher than the present highest. "we do not desire to blacklist any firm," declared mrs. nathan, "but we can _whitelist_ those firms which treat their employees humanely. we can make and publish a list of all the shops where employees receive fair treatment, and we can agree to patronize only those shops. by acting openly and publishing our white list we shall be able to create an immense public opinion in favor of just employers." thus was the consumers' league of new york ushered into existence. eight months after the chickering hall meeting the committee appointed to co-operate with the working women's society in preparing its list of fair firms had finished its work and made its report. the new league was formally organized on january , . [illustration: mrs. frederick nathan] the consumers' league "white list" the first white list issued in new york contained only eight firm names. the number was disappointingly small, even to those who knew the conditions. still more disappointing was the indifference of the other firms to their outcast position. far from evincing a desire to earn a place on the white list, they cast aspersions on a "parcel of women" who were trying to "undermine business credit," and scouted the very idea of an organized feminine conscience. "wait until the women want easter bonnets," sneered one merchant. "do you think they will pass up anything good because the store is not on their white list?" clearly something stronger than moral suasion was called for. even as far back as a few women had begun to doubt the efficacy of that indirect influence, supposed to be woman's strongest weapon. what was the astonishment of the merchants when the league framed, and caused to be introduced into the new york assembly, a bill known as the mercantile employers' bill, to regulate the employment of women and children in mercantile establishments, and to place retail stores, from the smallest to the largest, under the inspection of the state factory department. the bill was promptly strangled, but the next year, and the next, and still the next, it obstinately reappeared. finally, in , four years after it was first introduced, the bill struggled through the lower house. in spite of powerful commercial influences the bill was reported in the senate, and some of the senators became warmly interested in it. a commission was appointed to make an official investigation into conditions of working women in new york city. the findings of this rheinhard commission, published afterwards in two large volumes, were sensational enough. merchants reluctantly testified to employing grown women at a salary of _thirty-three cents a day_. they confessed to employing little girls of eleven and twelve years, in defiance of the child-labor law. they declared that pasteboard and wooden stock boxes were good enough seats for saleswomen; that they should not expect to sit down in business hours anyhow. they defended, on what they called economic grounds, their long hours and uncompensated overtime. they defended their systems of fines, which sometimes took away from a girl almost the entire amount of her weekly salary. they threatened, if a ten-hour law for women under twenty-one years old were passed, to employ older women. thus thousands of young and helpless girls would be thrown out of employment into the hands of charity. the senate heard the report of the rheinhard commission, and in spite of the merchants' protests the women's bill was passed without a dissenting vote. the most important provision of the bill was the ten-hour limit which it placed on the work of women under twenty-one. the overwhelming majority of department-store clerks are girls under twenty-one. the bill also provided seats for saleswomen, and specified the number of seats,--one to every three clerks. it forbade the employment of children, except those holding working certificates from the authorities. these, and other minor provisions, affected all retail stores, as far as the law was obeyed. as a matter of fact the consumers' league's bill carried a "joker" which made its full enforcement practically impossible. the matter of inspection of stores was given over to the local boards of health, supposedly experts in matters of health and sanitation, but, as it proved, ignorant of industrial conditions. in new york city, after a year of this inadequate inspection, political forces were brought to bear, and then there were no store inspectors. year after year, for twelve years, the consumers' league tried to persuade the legislature that department and other retail stores needed inspection by the state factory department. a little more than a year ago they succeeded. after the bill placing all retail stores under factory inspection was passed, a committee from the merchants' association went before governor hughes and appealed to him to veto what they declared was a vicious and wholly superfluous measure. governor hughes, however, signed the bill. in the first three months of its enforcement over twelve hundred infractions of the mercantile law were reported in greater new york. no less than nine hundred and twenty-three under-age children were taken out of their places as cash girls, stock girls, and wrappers, and were sent back to their homes or to school. the contention of the con sumers' league that retail stores needed regulation seems to have been justified. to the business man capital and labor are both abstractions. to women capital may be an abstraction, but labor is a purely human proposition, a thing of flesh and blood. the department-store owners who so bitterly fought the mercantile law, and for years afterwards fought its enforcement, were not monsters of cruelty. they were simply business men, with the business man's contracted vision. they could think only in terms of money profit and money loss. in spite of this radical difference in the point of view, women have succeeded, in a measure, in controlling the business policy of the stores supported by their patronage. the white list would be immensely larger if the consumers' league would concede the matter of uncompensated overtime at the christmas season. hundreds of stores fill every condition of the standard except this one. the league stands firm on the point, and up to the present so do the stores. only the long, slow process of public education will remove the custom whereby _thousands of young girls and women are compelled every holiday season to give their employers from thirty to forty hours of uncompensated labor_. no one has ever tried to compute the amount of unpaid overtime extorted in the business departments of nearly all city stores during three to five months of every winter. the customer, by declining to purchase after a certain hour, is able to release the weary saleswoman at six o'clock. she is not able to release the equally weary girls who toil in the bookkeeping and auditing departments. that, in these days of adding and tabulating machines, accounting in most stores is still done by cheap hand labor, is a statement which strains credulity. merely from the standpoint of business economy it seems absurd. but it is a fact easily verified. i tested it by obtaining employment in the auditing department of one of the largest and most respectable stores in new york. in this store, and, according to the best authorities, in most other stores, the accounting force is made up of girls not long out of grammar school, ignorant and incapable--but cheap. they work slowly, and as each day's sales are posted and audited before the close of the day following, the business force has to work until nine and ten o'clock several nights in the week. in some cases they work every night. only the enlightening power of education of employers, education of public opinion, can be expected to overcome this blight, and the consumers' league, realizing this, is preparing the way for education. the consumers' league began with a purely benevolent motive, and in this early philanthropic stage it gained immediate popularity. city after city, state after state, formed consumers' leagues, until, in , a national league, with branches in twenty-two states, was organized. the national league, far from being a philanthropic society, has be come a scientific association for the study of industrial economics. when the original consumers' league undertook its first piece of legislation in behalf of women workers the members knew that they were right, but they had very few reasons to offer in defense of their claim. the new york league and all of the others have been collecting reasons ever since. to-day they have a comprehensive and systematized collection of reasons why women should not work long hours; why they should not work at night; why manufacturing should not be carried on in tenements; why all home wage-earning should be forbidden; why the speed of machines should be regulated by law; why pure-food laws should be extended; why minimum wage rates should be established. in the headquarters of the national league in new york city a group of trained experts work constantly, collecting and recording a vast body of facts concerning the human side of industry. it is ammunition which tells. one single blast of it, fired in the direction of a laundry in portland, oregon, two years ago, performed the wonderful feat of blowing a large hole through the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the united states. there was a law in oregon which decreed that the working day of women in factories and laundries should be ten hours long. the law was constantly violated, especially in the steam laundries of portland. one night a factory inspector walked into the laundry of one curt muller, and found working there, long after closing time, one mrs. gotcher. the inspector promptly sent mrs. gotcher home and arrested mr. muller. the next day in court mr. muller was fined ten dollars. instead of paying the fine he appealed, backed up in his action by the other laundrymen of portland, on the ground that the ten-hour law for women workers was unconstitutional. the fourteenth amendment to the constitution guarantees to every adult member of the community the right freely to contract. a man or a woman may contract with an employer to work as many hours a day, or a night, for whatever wages, in whatever dangerous or unhealthful or menacing conditions, _unless_ "there is fair ground to say that there is material danger to the public health or safety, or to the health and safety of the employee, or to the general welfare...." this is the legal decision on which most protective legislation in the united states has been based. several years ago, in illinois, a law providing an eight-hour day for women was declared unconstitutional because nobody's health or safety was endangered; and on the same grounds the same fate met a new york law forbidding all-night employment of women. so mr. curt muller and the laundrymen of portland, oregon, had reason to believe that they could attack the oregon law. the case was appealed, and appealed again, by the laundrymen, and finally reached the supreme court of the united states. then the consumers' league took a hand. the brief for the state of oregon, "defendant in error," was prepared by louis d. brandeis, of boston, assisted by josephine goldmark, one of the most effective workers in the league's new york headquarters. this brief is probably one of the most remarkable legal documents in existence. it consists of one hundred and twelve printed pages, of which a few paragraphs were written by the attorney for the state. all the rest was contributed, under miss goldmark's direction, from the consumers' league's wonderful collection of reasons why women workers should be protected. the league's reply to the oregon laundrymen who asked leave to work their women employees far into the night was, "the world's experience upon which the legislation limiting the hours of labor for women is based." it is simply a mass of testimony taken from hearings before the english parliament, before state legislatures, state labor boards; from the reports of factory inspectors in many countries; from reports of industrial commissions in the united states and elsewhere; from medical books; from reports of boards of health. reasons for protecting women workers the brief included a short and interesting chapter, containing a number of things the league had collected on the subject of laundries. supreme court judges cannot be expected to know that laundry work is classed by experts among the dangerous trades. that washing clothes, from a simple home or backyard occupation, has been transformed into a highly-organized factory trade full of complicated and often extremely dangerous machinery; that the atmosphere of a steam laundry is more conducive to tuberculosis and the other occupational diseases than cotton mills; that the work in laundries, being irregular, is conducive to a general low state of morals; that, on the whole, women should not be required to spend more time than necessary in laundries; all this was set forth. medical testimony showed the physical differences between men and women; the lesser power of women to endure long hours of standing; the heightened susceptibility of women to industrial poisons--lead, naphtha, and the like. a long chapter of testimony on the effect of child-bearing in communities where the women had toiled long hours before marriage, or afterwards, was included. the testimony of factory inspectors, of industrial experts, of employers in england, germany, france, america, revealed the bad effect of long hours on women's safety, both physical and moral. it revealed the good effect, on the individual health, home life, and general welfare, of short hours of labor. nor was the business aspect of the case neglected. that people accomplish as much in an eight-hour day as in a twelve-hour day has actually been demonstrated. the brief stated, for one instance, the experience of a bicycle factory in massachusetts. in this place young women were employed to sort the ball bearings which went into the machines. they did this by touch, and no girl was of use to the firm unless her touch was very sensitive and very sure. the head of this firm became convinced that the work done late in the afternoon was of inferior quality, and he tried the experiment of cutting the hours from ten to nine. the work was done on piece wages, and the girls at first protested against the nine-hour day, fearing that their pay envelopes would suffer. to their astonishment they earned as much in nine hours as they had in ten. in time the employer cut the working day down to eight hours and a half, and in addition gave the girls ten-minute rests twice a day. still they earned their full wages, and they continued to earn full wages after the day became eight hours long. the employer testified before the united states industrial commission of that he believed he could successfully shorten the day to seven hours and a half and get the same amount of work accomplished. what can you do against testimony like that? the consumers' league convinced the supreme court of the united states, and the oregon ten-hour law was upheld. the importance of this decision cannot be overestimated. on it hangs the validity of nearly all the laws which have been passed in the united states for the protection of women workers. if the oregon law had been declared unconstitutional, laws in twenty states, or practically all the states where women work in factories, would have been in perpetual danger, and the united states might easily have sunk to a position occupied now by no leading country in europe. great britain has had protective legislation for women workers since . in the labor of women in english textile mills was limited to ten hours a day, the period we are now worrying about, as being possibly contrary to our constitution. france, within the past five years, has established a ten-hour day, broken by one hour of rest. switzerland, germany, holland, austria, italy, limit the hours of women's labor. in several countries there are special provisions giving extra time off to women who have household responsibilities. what would our constitution-bound law makers say to such a proposition, if any one had the hardihood to suggest it? if this law had not been upheld by the united states supreme court the women of no state could have hoped to secure further legislation for women workers. as it is, women in many states are preparing to establish what is now known as "the oregon standard," that is, a ten-hour day for all working women. nothing in connection with the woman movement is more significant, certainly nothing was more unexpected, than the voluntary abandonment, on the part of women, of class prejudice and class distinctions. where formerly the interest of the leisured woman in her wage-earning sisters was of a sentimental or philanthropic character, it has become practical and democratic. the young women's christian association has had an industrial department, which up to a recent period concerned itself merely with the spiritual welfare of working girls. prayer meetings in factories, clubs, and classes in the association headquarters, working-girls' boarding homes, and other philanthropic efforts were the limits of the association's activities. the entire policy has changed of late, and under the capable direction of miss annie marian maclean, of brooklyn, new york, the industrial department of the association is doing scientific investigation of labor conditions of women. in a cracker factory i once saw a paid worker in the young women's christian association pause above a young girl lying on the floor, crimson with fever, and apparently in the throes of a serious illness. with angelic pity on her face the association worker stooped and slipped a tract into the sick girl's hand. the kind of industrial secretary the association now employs would send for an ambulance and see that the girl had the best of hospital care. she would inquire whether the girl's illness was caused by the conditions under which she worked, and she would know if it were possible to have those conditions changed. women's clubs studying labor problems nearly every state federation of women's clubs has its industrial committee, and many large clubs have a corresponding department. it is these industrial sections of the women's clubs which are such a thorn in the flesh of mr. john kirby, jr., the new president of the national manufacturers' association. in his inaugural address mr. kirby warned his colleagues that women's clubs were not the ladylike, innocuous institutions that too-confiding man supposed them to be. in those clubs, he declared, their own wives and daughters were listening to addresses by the worst enemies of the manufacturers' association, the labor leaders. by which he meant that the club women were inviting trade-union men and women to present the worker's side of industrial subjects. "soon," exclaimed mr. kirby, "we shall have to fight the women as well as the unions." the richest and most aristocratic woman's club in the country is the colony club of new york. the colony club was organized by a number of women from the exclusive circles of new york society, after the manner of men's clubs. the women built a magnificent clubhouse on madison avenue, furnished it with every luxury, including a wonderful roof-garden. for a time the colony club appeared to be nothing more than a beautiful toy which its members played with. but soon it began to develop into a sort of a woman's forum, where all sorts of social topics were discussed. visiting women of distinction, artists, writers, lecturers, were entertained there. last year the club inaugurated a wednesday afternoon course in industrial economics. the women did not invite lecturers from columbia university to address them. they asked john mitchell and many lesser lights of the labor world. they wanted to learn, at first hand, the facts concerning conditions of industry. most of them are stockholders in mills, factories, mines, or business establishments. many own real estate on which factories stand. "it is not fair," they have openly declared, "that we should enjoy wealth and luxury at the cost of illness, suffering, and death. we do not want wealth on such terms." the colony club members, and the women who form the auxiliary to the national civic federation, have for their object improvement in the working and living conditions of wage earners in industries and in governmental institutions. a few conscientious employers have spent a part of their profits to make their employees comfortable. they have given them the best sanitary conditions, good air, strong light, and comfortable seats. they have provided rest rooms, lunch rooms, vacation houses, and the like. no one should belittle such efforts on the part of employers. equally, no one should regard them as a solution of the industrial problem. nor should they be used as a substitute for justice. too often this so-called welfare work has been clumsily managed, untactfully administered. too often it has been instituted, not to benefit the workers, but to advertise the business. too often its real object was a desire to play the philanthropist's role, to exact obsequience from the wage earner. [illustration: mrs. j. borden harriman president of the colony club, new york, the most exclusive women's club in the country] i know a corset factory which makes a feature in its advertising of the perfect sanitary condition of its works; when visitors are expected, the girls are required to stop work and clean the rooms. since they work on a piece-work scale, the "perfect sanitary conditions" exist at their expense. in a department store i know, employees are required to sign a printed expression of gratitude for overtime pay or an extra holiday. this kind of welfare work simply alienates employees from their employers. it always fails. it seems to the women who have studied these things that proper sanitary conditions, lunch rooms, comfortable seats, provision for rest, vacations with pay, and the like are no more than the wage earner's due. they are a part of the laborer's hire, and should be guaranteed by law, exactly as wages are guaranteed. an employer deserves gratitude for overtime pay no more than for fire escapes. testimony gathered from all sources by the consumers' league, women's clubs, and women's labor organizations has proved beyond doubt that good working conditions, reasonable hours of work, and living wages vastly increase the efficiency of the workers, and thus increase the profits of the employers. the new york telephone company does not set itself up to be a benevolent institution. its directors know that its profits depend on the excellence of its service. there is one exchange in the borough of brooklyn which handles a large part of the long island traffic. this traffic is very heavy in summer on account of the number of summer resorts along the coast. in the fall and winter the traffic is very light. six months in the year the operators at this exchange work only half the day, yet the company keeps them on full salary the year round. "we cannot afford to do anything else," explains the traffic manager. "we cannot afford operators who would be content with half wages." [illustration: miss elizabeth maloney] the old-time dry-goods merchant sincerely believed that his business would suffer if he provided seats for his saleswomen. he believed that he would go into bankruptcy if he allowed his women clerks human working conditions. then came the consumers' league and mercantile laws, and a new pressure of public opinion, and the dry-goods merchant found out that a clerk in good physical condition sells more goods than one that is exhausted and uncomfortable. the fact is that welfare work, carefully shorn of its name, has proved itself to be such good business policy that in future all intelligent employers will advocate it; public opinion will demand it; laws will provide for it. it used to be the invariable custom in stores--it is so still in a few--to lay off many clerks during the dull seasons. now the best stores find that they can better afford to give all their employees vacations with pay. a clerk coming home after a vacation can sell goods, even in dull times. more and more employers are coming to appreciate the money value of the saturday half-holiday in summer. hearn, in new york, closes his department store all day saturday during july and august. the store sells more goods in five days than it previously sold in six. the filene system of developing efficient workers there is one department store which has demonstrated that it is profitable to pay higher wages than its competitors, and that it pays to allow the employees to fix the terms of their own employment. this is the filene store in boston, which has developed within the past ten years from a conservative, old-fashioned dry-goods business into an extremely original and interesting experiment station in commercial economics. the entire policy of the filene management is bent on developing to the highest possible point the efficiency of each individual clerk. the best possible material is sought. no girl under sixteen is employed, and no girl of any age who has not graduated with credit from the grammar schools. there are a number of college-bred men and women in the filene employ. [illustration: a department store rest-room for women] good wages are paid, even to beginners, and experienced employees are rewarded, not according to a fixed rate of payment, but according to earning capacity. taken throughout the store, wages, plus commissions, which are allowed in all departments, average about two dollars a week higher than in other department stores in boston. no irresponsible, automatic employee can develop high efficiency. she does not want to become efficient; she wants merely to receive a pay envelope at the end of the week. in order to develop responsibility and initiative in their employees the filenes have put them on a self-governing basis. the workers do not literally make their own rules, but the vote of the majority can change any rule made by the firm. the firm furnishes its employees with a printed book of rules, in which the policy of the store is set forth. if the employees object to any of the rules, or any part of the policy, they can vote a change. the medium through which the clerks express their opinions and desires is the filene co-operative association, of which every clerk and every employee in the place is a member. no dues are exacted, as is the custom in the usual employees' association. the executive body, called the store council, and all other officers are elected by the members. all matters of grievance, all subjects of controversy, are referred to the store council, which, as often as occasion demands, calls a meeting of the entire association after business hours. for example: christmas happens on a friday. the firm decides to keep the store open on the following day--saturday. there is an expression of dissatisfaction from a number of clerks. a meeting of the association is called, and a vote taken as to whether the majority want the extra holiday or not; whether the majority are willing to lose the commissions on a day's sales, for, of course, salaries continue. the vote reveals that the majority want the holiday. the store council so reports to the firm, and the firm must grant the holiday. all matters of difficulty arising between employers and employed, in the filene store, are settled not by the firm, but by the arbitration board of employees, also elected by popular vote. all disagreements as to wages, position, promotion, all questions of personal issue between saleswomen and aislemen, or others in authority, are referred to the board of arbitration, and the board's decision is final. there is no tyranny of the buyer, no arbitrary authority of the head of a department. every clerk knows that her tenure is secure as long as she is an efficient saleswoman. surely it is not too much to hope that, in a future not too far distant, all women who earn their bread will serve a system of industry adjusted by law to human standards. in enlightened america the courts, presided over by men to whom manual labor is known only in theory, have persistently ruled that the _constitution forbade the state to make laws protecting women workers_. it has seemed to most of our courts and most of our judges that the state fulfilled its whole duty to its women citizens when it guaranteed them the right freely to contract--even though they consented, or their poverty consented, to contracts which involved irreparable harm to themselves, the community, and future generations. the women of this country have done nothing more important than to educate the judiciary of the united states out of and beyond this terrible delusion. chapter vi making over the factory from the inside the decision of the united states supreme court, establishing the legality of restricted hours of labor for oregon working women, was received with especial satisfaction in the state of illinois. the illinois working women, or that thriving minority of them organized in labor unions, had been waiting sixteen years for a favorable opportunity to get an eight-hour day for themselves. sixteen years ago the illinois state legislature gave the working women such a law, and two years later the illinois supreme court took it away from them, on the ground that it was unconstitutional. the action of the illinois supreme court was by no means without precedent. many similar decisions had been handed down in other states, until it had become almost a principle of american law that protective legislation for working women was invalid. the process of reasoning by which learned judges reach the conclusion that an eight-hour day for men may be decreed without depriving anybody of his constitutional rights, and at the same time rule that women would be outrageously wronged by having their working hours limited, may appear obscure. the explanation is, after all, simple. the learned judges are men, and they know something--not much, but still something--about the men of the working classes. they know, for example, something about the conditions under which coal miners work, and they can see that it is contrary to public interests that men should toil underground, at arduous labor, twelve hours a day. accidents result with painful frequency, and these are bad things,--bad for miners and mine owners alike. they are bad for the whole community. therefore the regulation of miners' hours of labor comes legitimately under the police powers of the law. the learned judges, i say this with all due respect, do not know anything about working women. their own words prove it. the texts of their decisions, denying the constitutionality of protective measures, are amazing in the ignorance they display,--ignorance of industrial conditions surrounding women; ignorance of the physical effects of certain kinds of labor on young girls; ignorance of the effect of women's arduous toil on the birth rate; ignorance of moral conditions in trades which involve night work; ignorance of the injury to the home resulting from the sweated labor of tenement women. in brief, the learned judges, when they write opinions involving the health, the happiness, the very lives of women workers, might be writing about the inhabitants of another planet, so little knowledge do they display of the real facts. we have seen how the women of the consumers' league taught the united states supreme court something about working women; showed them a few of the calamities resulting from the unrestricted labor of women and immature girls. the supreme court's decision forever abolished the old fallacy that the american constitution _forbids_ protective legislation for women workers. it remains for women's organizations in the various states to educate local courts up to the knowledge that community interest _demands_ protective legislation. following the decision of the supreme court in the oregon case, which flatly contradicted the decision of the illinois supreme court, the working women of illinois began their educational campaign. they had now, for the first time, a fighting chance to secure the restoration of their shortened work day. the women of fifteen organized trades in the city of chicago determined to take that chance. the women first appealed to the industrial commission, appointed early in by governor dineen, to investigate the need of protective legislation for workers, men and women alike. the women were given a courteous hearing, but were told frankly that limited hours of work for women was not one of protective measures to be recommended by the commission. the waitresses' union, local no. , of chicago, entered the lists, led by a remarkable young woman, elizabeth maloney, financial secretary of the union. miss maloney and her associates drafted and introduced into the illinois legislature a bill providing an eight-hour working day for every woman in the state, working in shop, factory, retail store, laundry, hotel, or restaurant, and providing also ample machinery for enforcing the measure. the "girls' bill," as it immediately became known, was the most hotly contested measure passed by the illinois legislature during the session. over five hundred manufacturers appeared at the public hearing on the bill to protest against it. one man brought a number of meek and tired women employees, who, he declared, were opposed to having their working day made shorter. another presented a petition signed by his women employees, appealing against being prevented from working eleven hours a day! nine working girls appeared in support of the bill, and after learned counsel for the manufacturers' association had argued against the measure, two of the girls were allowed to speak. the manufacturers' association presented the business aspect of the question, the girls confined themselves to the human side. agnes nestor, secretary of the glove makers' union of the united states and canada, was one of the two girls who spoke. miss nestor, whose eyes are blue, whose manners are gentle, and whose best weight is ninety-five pounds, had to stand on a chair that the law makers might see her when she made her plea: elizabeth maloney, of the waitresses' union, was the other speaker. they described details in the daily lives of working women not generally known except to the workers themselves. among these was the piece-work system, which too often means a system whereby the utmost possible speed is extorted from the toiler, in order that she may earn a living wage. the legislators were asked to imagine themselves operating a machine whose speed was gauged up to nine thousand stitches a minute; to consider how many stitches the operator's hand must guide in a week, a month, a year, in order to earn a living; working thus eleven, twelve hours a day, knowing that the end was nervous breakdown, and decrease of earning power. "i am a waitress," said miss maloney, "and i work ten hours a day. in that time a waitress who is tolerably busy _walks_ ten miles, and the dishes she carries back and forth aggregate in weight fifteen hundred to two thousand pounds. don't you think eight hours a day is enough for a girl to walk?" only one thing stood in the way of the passage of the bill after that day. the doubt of its constitutionality proved an obstacle too grave for the friends of the workers to overcome. it was decided to substitute a ten-hour bill, an exact duplicate of the "oregon standard" established by the supreme court of the united states. the principle of limitation upon the hours of women's work once established in illinois, the workers could proceed with their fight for an eight-hour day. the manufacturers lost their fight, and the ten-hour bill became a law of the state of illinois. the manufacturers' association, through the w.c. ritchie paper box manufactory, of chicago, immediately brought suit to test the constitutionality of the law. two ritchie employees, anna kusserow and dora windeguth, made appeal to the illinois courts. their appeal declared that they could not make enough paper boxes in ten hours to earn their bread, and that their constitutional rights freely to contract, as well as their human rights, had been taken away from them by the ten-hour law. there was a terrible confession, on the part of the employers, involved in this protest against the ten-hour day, a confession of the wretched state of women's wages in the state of illinois. if women of mature years--one of the petitioners had been an expert box maker for over thirty years--are unable, in a day of ten hours, to earn enough to keep body and soul together, is it not proved that women workers are in no position freely to contract? for who, of her own free will, would contract to work ten hours a day for less than the price of life? there was sitting in the circuit court of illinois at that time judge r.s. tuthill. when judge tuthill, in old age, reviews the events of his career, i think he will not remember with pride that he was blind to the real meaning of that petition of anna kusserow and dora windeguth. for judge tuthill issued an injunction against the state factory department, forbidding them to enforce the ten-hour law. immediately a number of women's organizations joined hands with the women's trade unions in the fight to save the bill. when it came up in the december term of the illinois supreme court, louis d. brandeis of boston, the same able jurist who had argued the oregon case, was on hand. this time his brief was a book of six hundred and ten printed pages, over which miss pauline goldmark, of the national consumers' league, and a large corps of trained investigators and students had toiled for many months. the world's experience against the illinois circuit court, this document might well have been called. it was simply a digest of the evidence of governmental commissions, laboratories, and bodies of scientific research, on the effects of overwork, and especially of overtime work, on girls and women, and through them on the succeeding generation. incidentally the brief contained three pages of law. the most striking part of the argument contained in the brief was the testimony of physicians on the toxin of fatigue. "medical science has demonstrated," says this most important paragraph, "that while fatigue is a normal phenomenon ... excessive fatigue or exhaustion is abnormal.... it has discovered that fatigue is due not only to actual poisoning, but to a specific poison or toxin of fatigue, entirely analogous in chemical and physical nature to other bacterial toxins, such as the diphtheria toxin. it has been shown that when artificially injected into animals in large amounts the fatigue toxin causes death. the fatigue toxin in normal quantities is said to be counteracted by an antidote or antitoxin, also generated in the body. but as soon as fatigue becomes abnormal the antitoxin is not produced fast enough to counteract the poison of the toxin." the supreme court of the state of illinois decided that the american constitution was never intended to shield manufacturers in their willingness to poison women under pretense of giving them work. the ten-hour law was sustained. that the "girls' bill" passed, or that it was even introduced, was due in large measure to an organization of women, more militant and more democratic than any other in the united states. this is the women's trade union league. formed in new york about seven years ago, the league consists of women members of labor unions, a few men in organized trades, and many women outside the ranks of wage earners. some of these latter are women of wealth, who are believers in the trade-union principle, but more are women who work in the professional ranks,--teachers, lawyers, physicians, writers, artists, settlement workers. these are the first professional workers, men or women, who ever asked for and were given affiliation with the american federation of labor. they are the first people, outside the ranks of wage earners, to appear in labor day parades. the object of the league, which now has branches in five cities,--new york, boston, chicago, st. louis, and cleveland,--is to educate women wage earners in the doctrine of trade unionism. the league trains and supports organizers among all classes of workers. as quickly as a group in any trade seems ready for organizing the league helps them. it raises funds to assist women in their trade struggles. it acts as arbitrator between employer and wage earners in case of shop disputes. the women's tracle union league reaches not only women in factory trades, but it has succeeded in organizing women who until lately believed themselves to be a grade above this social level. one hundred and fifty dressmakers in new york city belong to a union. seventy stenographers have organized in the same city. the teachers' federation of chicago is a labor union, and although it was formed before the women's trade union league came into existence, it is now affiliated. the women telegraphers all over the united states are well organized. the businesslike, resourceful, and fearless policy of the league was brilliantly demonstrated during the famous strike of the shirt-waist makers in new york and philadelphia in the winter of . the story of this strike will bear retelling. on the evening of november , , there was a great mass meeting of workers held at cooper union in new york. samuel gompers, president of the american federation of labor, presided, and the stage was well filled with members of the women's trade union league. the meeting had been called by the league in conjunction with shirt-waist makers' union, local , to consider the grievances of shirt-waist makers in general, and especially of the shirt-waist makers in the triangle factory, who had been, for more than two months, on strike. the story of the strike, the causes that led up to it, and the bitter injustice which followed it were rehearsed in a dozen speeches. it was shown that for four to five dollars a week the girl shirt-waist makers worked from eight in the morning until half-past five in the evening two days in the week; from eight in the morning until nine at night four days in the week; and from eight in the morning until noon one day in the week--sunday. the shirt-waist makers in the triangle factory, in hope of bettering their conditions, had formed a union, and had informed their employers of their action. the employers promptly locked them out of the shop, and the girls declared a strike. the strike was more than two months old when the cooper union meeting was held, and the employers showed no signs of giving in. it was agreed that a general strike of shirt-waist makers ought to be declared. but the union was weak, there were no funds, and most of the shirt-waist makers were women and unused to the idea of solidarity in action. could they stand together in an industrial struggle which promised to be long and bitter? president gompers was plainly fearful that they could not. suddenly a very small, very young, very intense jewish girl, known to her associates as clara lemlich, sprang to her feet, and, with the assistance of two young men, climbed to the high platform. flinging up her arms with a dramatic gesture she poured out a flood of speech, entirely unintelligible to the presiding gompers, and to the members of the women's trade union league. the yiddish-speaking majority in the audience understood, however, and the others quickly caught the spirit of her impassioned plea. the vast audience rose as one man, and a great roar arose. "yes, we will all strike!" "and will you keep the faith?" cried the girl on the platform. "will you swear by the old jewish oath of our fathers?" two thousand jewish hands were thrust in air, and two thousand jewish throats uttered the oath: "if i turn traitor to the cause i now pledge, may this hand wither and drop off from this arm i now raise." clara lemlich's part in the work was accomplished. within a few days forty thousand shirt-waist makers were on strike. the women's trade union league, under the direction of miss helen marot, secretary, at once took hold of the strike. there were two things to be done at once. the forty thousand had to be enrolled in the union, and those manufacturers who were willing to accept the terms of the strikers had to be "signed up." clinton hall, one of the largest buildings on the lower east side, was secured, and for several weeks the rooms and hallways of the building and the street outside were crowded almost to the limit of safety with men and women strikers, anxious and perspiring "bosses," and busy, active associates of the women's trade union league. the immediate business needs of the organization being satisfied the league members undertook the work of picketing the shops. picketing, if this activity has not been revealed to you, consists in patrolling the neighborhood of the factories during the hours when the strike breakers are going to and from their nefarious business, and importuning them to join the strike. peaceful picketing is legal. the law permits a striker to speak to the girl who has taken her place, permits her to present her cause in her most persuasive fashion, but if she lays her hand, ever so gently on the other's arm or shoulder, this constitutes technical violence. up to the time when the league began picketing there had been a little of this technical, and possibly an occasional act of real, violence. after the league took a hand there was none. each group of union girls who went forth to picket was accompanied by one or more league members. some of these amateur pickets were girls fresh from college, and among these were elsie cole, the brilliant daughter of albany's superintendent of schools, inez milholland, the beautiful and cherished daughter of a millionaire father, leader of her class, of , in vassar college, elizabeth dutcher and violet pike, both prominent in the association of collegiate alumnae. these young women went out day after day with girl strikers, endured the insults and threats of the police, suffered arrest on more than one occasion, and faced the scorn and indignation of magistrates who--well, who did not understand. the strike received an immense amount of publicity, and organizations of women other than the women's trade union league began to take an interest in it. they sent for miss marot, miss cole, miss gertrude barnum, and other women known to be familiar with the industrial world of women, and begged for enlightenment on the subject of the strike. they particularly asked to hear the story from the striking women in person. the exclusive colony club, to which only women of the highest social eminence are eligible, was called together by miss anne morgan and several others, including mrs. egerton winthrop, wife of the president of the new york board of education, to hear the story from the strikers' own lips. the colony club was swept into the shirt-waist strike. more than thirteen hundred dollars was collected in a few minutes. a dozen women promised influence and personal service in behalf of the strikers. a week later mrs. o.h.p. belmont, mother of the duchess of marlborough, leader of a large woman suffrage association, engaged the hippodrome, and packed it to the roof with ten thousand interested spectators. something like five thousand dollars was donated by this meeting. at the beginning of the strike fully five hundred waist houses were involved. many of these settled within a few days on the basis of increased pay, a fifty-two-hour working week, and recognition of the union. others settled later, and under the influence of the "uptown scum," as the employers' association gallantly termed the women's trade union league, the colony club, and the suffragists, still others reluctantly gave in. late in january all except about one hundred out of the five hundred had settled with the union, and only about three thousand of the workers were still out of work. women have been called the scabs of the labor world. that they would ever become trade unionists, ever evolve the class consciousness of the intelligent proletarian men, was deemed an impossible dream. above all, that their progress towards industrial emancipation would ever be helped along by the wives and daughters of the employing classes was unthinkable. that the releasing of one class of women from household labor by sending another class of women into the factory, there to perform their historic tasks of cooking, sewing, and laundry work, was to result in the humanizing of industry, no mind ever prophesied. yet these things are coming. the scabs of the labor world are becoming the co-workers instead of the competitors of men. the women of the leisure classes, almost as fast as their eyes are opened to the situation, espouse the cause of their working sisters. the woman in the factory is preparing to make over that factory or to close it. the history of a recent strike, in a carpet mill in roxbury, massachusetts, is a perfect history, in miniature, of the progress of the working women. that particular mill is very old and very well known. when it was established, more than a generation ago, the owner was a man who knew every one of his employees by name, was especially considerate of the women operatives, and was loved and respected by every one. hours of labor were long, but the work was done in a leisurely fashion, and wages were good enough to compensate for the long day's labor. the original owner died, and in time the new firm changed to a corporation. the manager knew only his office force and possibly a few floor superintendents and foremen. the rest of the force were "hands." the whole state of the industry was altered. new and complicated machinery was introduced. the shortened work day was a hundred times more fatiguing to the workers because of the increased speed and nerve-racking noise and jar of the machinery. other grievances developed. the quality of the yarn furnished the weavers was often so bad that they spent hours of unpaid labor mending a broken warp or manipulating a rotten shuttle full of yarn. wages, fixed according to the piece system, declined, it is said, at least one-fourth. women who had formerly earned thirteen dollars a week were reduced to seven and eight dollars. the women formed a union and struck. some of them had been in the mills as long as forty years, but they walked out with the girls. there you have the story of women's realization of themselves as a group. next you encounter the realization of the sisterhood of women. the boston branch of the women's trade union league, through its secretary, mabel gillespie, radcliffe graduate, joined the strikers. backed up by the boston central labor union, and the united textile workers of fall river, the strikers fought their fight during ten weeks of anxiety and deprivation. the employers were firm in their determination to go out of business before treating with the strikers as a group. a hand, mind you, exists as an individual, a very humble individual, but one to be received and conferred with. hands, considered collectively, have no just right to exist. an employers' association is a necessity of business life. a labor union is an insult to capital. this was the situation at the end of ten weeks. one day a motor car stopped in front of the offices of the mills and a lady emerged. mrs. glendower evans, conservative, cultured, one might say back bay personified, had come to roxbury to see the carpet manufacturer. her powers of persuasion, plus her social position and her commercial connections, were sufficient to wring consent from the firm to receive john golden, president of the united textile workers. john golden, intelligent, honest, a fine type of workingman, educated in the english school of unionism, held two conferences with the firm. he was able to make the employers see the whole situation in an entirely new light. they were men of probity; they wanted to be fair; and when they saw the human side of the struggle they surrendered. when they perceived the justice of the collective bargain, the advantages to both sides of a labor organization honestly conducted, they consented to recognize the union. and the women went back, their group unbroken. thus are women working, women of all classes, to humanize the factory. from the outside they are working to educate the legislatures and the judiciary. they are lending moral and financial support to the women of the toiling masses in their struggle to make over the factory from the inside. together they are impressing the men of the working world, law makers and judges, with the justice of protecting the mothers of the race. now that the greatest stumbling block to industrial protective legislation has been removed, we may hope to see a change in legal decisions handed down in our courts. the educational process is not yet complete. not every judge possesses the prophetic mind of the late justice brewer, who wrote the decision in the oregon case. not every court has learned that healthy men and women are infinitely more valuable to a nation than mere property. but in time they will learn. in distant new zealand, not long ago, there was a match factory in which a number of women worked for low wages. after fruitless appeals to the owner for better wages the workers resorted to force. they did not strike. in new zealand you do not have to strike, because in that country a substitute for the strike is provided by law. to this substitute, a court of arbitration, the women took their grievance. the employer in his answer declared, just as employers in this country might have done, that his business would not stand an increase in wages. he explained that the match industry was newly established in new zealand, and that, until it was on a secure basis, factory owners could not afford to pay high wages. the judge ordered an inquiry. in this country it would have been an inquiry into the state of the match industry. there it was an inquiry into the cost of living in the town where the match factory was located. and then the judge summoned the factory owner to the court of arbitration, and this is what he said to the man: "it is impossible for these girls to live decently or healthfully on the wages you are now paying. it is of the utmost importance that they should have wholesome and healthful conditions of life. the souls and bodies of the young women of new zealand are of more importance than your profits, and if you cannot pay living wages it will be better for the community for you to close your factory. _it would be better to send the whole match industry to the bottom of the ocean, and go back to flints and firesticks, than to drive young girls into the gutter._ my award is that you pay what they ask." does that sound like justice to you? it does to me; it does to the eight million women in the world who have learned to think in human terms. chapter vii breaking the great taboo at the threshold of that quarter of old new york called greenwich village stands jefferson market court. almost concealed behind the towering structure of the sixth avenue elevated, the building by day is rather inconspicuous. but when night falls, swallowing up the neighborhood of tangled streets and obscure alleyways, jefferson market assumes prominence. high up in the square brick tower an illuminated clock seems perpetually to be hurrying its pointing hands toward midnight. from many windows, barred for the most part, streams an intense white light. above an iron-guarded door at the side of the building floats a great globe of light, and beneath its glare, through the iron-guarded door, there passes, every week-day night in the year, a long procession of prodigals. the guarded door seldom admits any one as important, so to speak, as a criminal. the criminal's case waits for day. the night court in jefferson market sits in judgment only on the small fry caught in the dragnet of the police. tramps, vagrants, drunkards, brawlers, disturbers of the peace, speeding chauffeurs, licenseless peddlers, youths caught red-handed shooting craps or playing ball in the streets,--these are the men with whom the night court deals. but it is not the men we have come to see. [illustration: miss maude e. miner] the women of the night court. prodigal daughters! between december, , and december, , no less than five thousand of them passed through the guarded door, under the blaze of the electric lights. there is never an hour, from nine at night until three in the morning, when the prisoners' bench in jefferson market court is without its full quota of women. old--prematurely old, and young--pitifully young; white and brown; fair and faded; sad and cynical; starved and prosper ous; rag-draped and satin-bedecked; together they wait their turn at judgment. quietly moving back and forth before the prisoners' bench you see a woman, tall, graceful, black-gowned. she is the salaried probation officer, modern substitute for the old-time volunteer mission worker. the probation officer's serious blue eyes burn with no missionary zeal. there is no spark of sentimental pity in the keen gaze she turns on each new arrival. when the bench is full of women the judge turns to her to inquire: "anybody there you want, miss miner?" miss miner usually shakes her head. she diagnoses her cases like a physician, and she wastes no time on incurables. once in a while, perhaps several times in the course of a night, miss miner touches a girl on the arm. at once the girl rises and follows the probation officer into an adjoining room. if she is what she appears, young in evil, if she has a story which rings true, a story of poverty and misfortune, rather than of depravity, she goes not back to the prisoners' bench. when her turn at judgment comes miss miner stands beside her, and in a low voice meant only for the judge, she tells the facts. the girl weeps as she listens. to hear one's troubles told is sometimes more terrible than to endure them. court adjourns at three in the morning, and this girl, with the others--if others have been claimed by the probation officer--goes out into the empty street, under the light of the tall tower, whose clock has begun all over again its monotonous race toward midnight. no policeman accompanies the group. the girls are under no manner of duress. they have promised to go home with miss miner, and they go. the night's adventure, entered into with dread, with callous indifference, or with thoughtless mirth, ends in a quiet bedroom and a pillow wet with tears. [illustration: in the night court, new york.] waverley house, as miss miner's home is known, has sheltered, during the past year, over three hundred girls. out of that number one hundred and nineteen have returned to their homes, or are earning a living at useful work. one hundred and nineteen saved out of five thousand prodigals! in point of numbers this is a melancholy showing, but in comparison with other efforts at rescue work it is decidedly encouraging. nothing quite like waverley house has appeared in other american cities, but it is a type of detention home for girls which is developing logically out of the probation system. delinquent girls under sixteen are now considered, in all enlightened communities, subjects for the juvenile court. they are hardly ever associated with older delinquents. but a girl over sixteen is likely to be committed to prison, and may be locked in cells with criminal and abandoned women of the lowest order. waverley house is the first practical protest against this stupid and evil-encouraging policy. the house, which stands a few blocks distant from the night court, was established and is maintained by the probation association of new york, consisting of the probation officers in many of the city courts, and of men and women interested in philanthropy and social reform. the district attorney of new york county, charles s. whitman, is president of the association, maude e. miner is its secretary, mrs. russell sage, miss anne morgan, miss mary dreier, president of the new york women's trade union league, mrs. richard aldrich, formerly president of the women's municipal league, andrew carnegie, edward t. devine, head of new york's organized charities, homer folks, and fulton cutting are among the supporters of waverley house. miss stella miner is the capable and sympathetic superintendent of the house. the place is in no sense a reformatory. it is an experiment station, a laboratory where the gravest and most baffling of all the diseases which beset society is being studied. girls arrested for moral delinquency and paroled to probation officers are taken to waverley house, where they remain, under closest study and searching inquiry, until the best means of disposing of them is devised. some are sent to their homes, some to hospitals, some to institutions, some placed on long probation. maude e. miner, who declined a chair of mathematics in a woman's college to work in the night court, is one of an increasing number of women who are attempting a great task. they are trying to solve a problem which has baffled the minds of the wisest since civilization dawned. they have set themselves to combat an evil fate which every year overtakes countless thousands of young girls, dragging them down to misery, disease, and death. at the magnitude of the effort these women have undertaken one stands appalled. will they ever reach the heart of the problem? can they ever hope to do more than reclaim a few individuals? this much did the missionaries before them. "we could reclaim fully seventy-five per cent," declares miss miner, "if only we could find a way to begin nearer the beginning." to begin the reform of any evil at the beginning, or near the beginning, instead of near the end is now regarded as an economy of effort. that is what educators are trying to do with juvenile delinquency; what physicians are doing with disease; what philanthropists are beginning to do with poverty. hardly any one has suggested that the social evil might have a cause, and that it might be possible to attack it at its source. yet that any large number of girls enter upon such a horrible career, willingly, voluntarily, is unbelievable to one who knows anything of the facts. there must be strong forces at work on these girls, forces they find themselves entirely powerless to resist. miss miner and her fellow probation officers are the visible signs of a very important movement among women to discover what these forces are. meager, indeed, are the facts at hand. we have had, and we still have, in cities east and west, committees and societies and law and order leagues earnestly engaged in "stamping out" the evil. it is like trying to stamp out a fire constantly fed with inflammables and fanned by a strong gale. the protests of most of these leagues amount to little more than vain clamor against a thing which is not even distantly comprehended. the _personnel_ of these agencies organized to "stamp out" the evil differs little in the various cities. it is largely if not wholly masculine in character, and the evil is usually dealt with from the point of view of religion and morals. women, when they appear in the matter at all, figure as missionaries, "prison angels," and the like. as evangelists to sinners women have been permitted to associate with their fallen sisters without losing caste. likewise, when elderly enough, they have been allowed to serve on governing boards of "homes" and "refuges." their activities were limited to rescue work. they might extend a hand to a repentant magdalene. a phryne they must not even be aware of. in other words, this evil as a subject of investigation and intelligent discussion among women was absolutely prohibited. it has ever been their great taboo. nevertheless, when eight million women, in practically every civilized country in the world, organized themselves into an international council of women, and began their remarkable survey of the social order in which they live, one of their first acts was to break the great taboo. [illustration: miss sadie american] at early congresses of the international council miss sadie american, mrs. kate waller barrett, mrs. elizabeth grannis, among american delegates, miss elizabeth janes of england, miss elizabeth gad of denmark, dr. agnes bluhm of germany, and others interested in the moral welfare of girls, urged upon the council action against the "white slave" traffic. no extensive argument was required to convince the members of the council that the "white slave" traffic and the whole subject of the moral degradation of women was a social phenomenon too long neglected by women. these women declared with refreshing candor that it was about time that the social evil was dealt with intelligently, and if it was to be dealt with intelligently women must do the work. the fussy old gentlemen with white side whiskers and silk-stocking reformers and the other well meaning amateurs, who are engaged in "stamping out" the evil, deserve to be set aside. in their places the women propose to install social experts who shall deal scientifically with the problem. the double standard of morals, accepted in fact if not in principle, in every community, and so rigidly applied that good women are actually forbidden to have any knowledge of their fallen sisters, was for the first time repudiated by a body of organized women. the arguments on which the double standard of morals is based was, for the first time, seriously scrutinized by women of intelligence and social importance. the desirability of the descent of property in legal paternal line seemed to these women a good enough reason for applying a rigid standard of morals to women. but they found reasons infinitely greater why the same rigid standard should be applied to men. the international council of women and women's organizations in every country number among their members and delegates women physicians, and through these physicians they have been able to consider the social evil from an altogether new point of view. certain very ugly facts, which touch the home and which intimately concern motherhood and the welfare of children, were brought forth--facts concerning infantile blindness, almost one-third of which is caused by excesses on the part of the fathers; facts concerning certain forms of ill health in married women, and the increase of sterility due to the spread of specific diseases among men. the horrible results to innocent women and children of these maladies, and their frightful prevalence,--seventy-five per cent of city men, according to reliable authority, being affected,--aroused in the women a sentiment of indignation and revolt. the international council of women put itself on record as protesting against the responsibility laid upon women, the unassisted task of preserving the purity of the race. in the united states, women's clubs, women's societies, women's medical associations, special committees of women in many cities have courageously undertaken the study of this problem, intending by means of investigation and publicity to lay bare its sources and seek its remedy. the sources of the evil are about the only phase of the problem which has never been adequately examined. it is true that we have suspected that the unsteady and ill-adjusted economic position of women furnished some explanation for its existence, but even now our information is vague and unsatisfactory. a number of years ago, in to be exact, the massachusetts bureau of labor statistics made an interesting investigation. this was an effort to determine how far the entrance of women into the industrial world, usually under the disadvantage of low wages, was contributing to profligacy. the bureau gathered statistics of the previous occupations of nearly four thousand fallen women in twenty-eight american cities. of these unfortunates over eight hundred had worked in low-waged trades such as paper-box making, millinery, laundry work, rope and cordage making, cigar and cigarette making, candy packing, textile factory and shoe factory work. about five hundred women had been garment workers, dressmakers, and seamstresses, but how far these were skilled or unskilled was not stated. the department store, at that time little more than a sweat shop so far as wages and long hours of work were concerned, contributed one hundred and sixteen recruits to the list. on the whole, these groups were what the investigators had expected to find. there were two other large groups of prodigals, and these were entirely unexpected by the investigators. of the , girls examined , , or nearly thirty-two per cent, reported no previous occupation. the next largest group, , , or nearly thirty per cent, had been domestic servants. the largest group of all had gone straight from their homes into lives of evil. a group nearly as large had gone directly from that occupation which is constantly urged upon women as the safest and most suitable means of earning their living--housework. now you may, if you want to drop the thing out of your mind as something too disagreeable to think about, infer from this that at least sixty-two per cent of those , women deserved their fate. some of them were too lazy to work, and the rest preferred a life of soiled luxury to one of honest toil in somebody's nice kitchen. apparently this was the view taken by the massachusetts bureau of labor statistics, because it never carried the investigation any farther. it never tried to find out _why_ so many girls left their homes to enter evil lives. it never tried to find out _why_ housework was a trade dangerous to morals. fortunately it did occur to the women's organizations to examine the facts a little more carefully. in this article i am going to take you over some of the ground they have covered and show you where their investigations have led them. south chicago is a fairly good place to begin. its ugliness and forlornness can be matched in the factory section of almost any large city. south chicago is dominated by its steel mills,--enormous drab structures, whose every crevice leaks quivering heat and whose towering chimneys belch forth unceasingly a pall of ashes and black smoke. the steel workers and their families live as a rule in two and three family houses, built of wood, generally unpainted, and always dismally utilitarian as to architectural details. in south chicago, four years ago, there was not such a thing as a park, or a playground, or a recreation center. one lone social settlement was just seeking a home for itself. there were public schools, quite imposing buildings. but these were closed and locked and shuttered for the day as soon as the classes were dismissed. in a certain neighborhood of south chicago there lived a number of young girls, healthy, high-spirited, and full of that joy of life which always must be fed--if not with wholesome food, then husks. for parents these girls had fathers who worked twelve hours a day in the steel mills and came home at night half dead from lack of rest and sleep; and mothers who toiled equally long hours in the kitchen or over the washtub and were too weary to know or care what the girls did after school. for social opportunity the girls had "going downtown." perhaps you know what that means. it means trooping up and down the main street in lively groups, lingering near a saloon where a phonograph is bawling forth a cheerful air, visiting a nickel theater, or looking on at a street accident or a fight. about this time the panic of descended suddenly on south chicago and turned out of the steel mills hundreds of boys and men. some of these were mere lads, sixteen to eighteen years old. they, too, went "downtown." there was no other place for them to go. as a plain matter of cause and effect, what kind of a moral situation would you expect to evolve out of these materials? eventually a woman probation officer descended on the neighborhood. many of the girls whom she rescued from conditions not to be described in these pages were so young that their cases were tried in the juvenile court. most of them went to rescue homes, reformatories, or hospitals. some slipped away permanently, in all human probability to join the never-ceasing procession of prodigals. this is what "no previous occupation" really means in nine cases out of ten. it means that the girl lived in a home which was no home at all, according to the ideals of you who read these pages. sometimes it was a cellar where the family slept on rags. sometimes it was an attic where ten or twelve people herded in a space not large enough for four. some of these homes were never warm in winter. in some there was hardly any furniture. but we need not turn to these extreme cases in order to show that in many thousands of american homes virtue and innocence are lost because no facilities for preserving them are possible. annie donnelly's case will serve as further illustration. annie donnelly's father was a sober, decent man of forty, who drove a cab from twelve to fifteen hours every day in the year, sundays and holidays included. before the cab drivers' strike, a year or two ago, donnelly's wages were fifteen dollars a week, and the family lived in a four-room tenement, for which they paid $ . a week. you pay rent weekly to a tenement landlord. since the strike wages are fourteen dollars a week for cab drivers, and this fall the donnelly rent went up fifty cents a week. the donnelly tenement was a very desirable one, having but a single dark, windowless room, instead of two or three, like most new york tenements. there were three children younger than annie, who was fourteen. the family of five made a fairly tight fit in four rooms. nevertheless, when the rent went up to six dollars mrs. donnelly took a lodger. she had to or move and, remember, this was a desirable tenement because it had only one dark room. one day the lodger asked annie if she did not want to go to a dance. annie did want to, but she knew very well that her mother would not allow her to go. once a year the entire family, including the baby, attended the annual ball of the coachman's union, but that was another thing. annie was too young for dances her mother declared. the donnellys paid for and occupied three rooms, but they really lived in one room, the others being too filled with beds to be habitable except at night. the kitchen, the one living-room, was uncomfortably crowded at meal times. at no time was there any privacy. it was impossible for annie to receive her girl friends in her home. every bit of her social life had to be lived out of the house. when the weather was warm she often stayed in the street, walking about with the other girls or sitting on a friend's doorstep, until ten or even eleven o'clock at night. every one does the same in a crowded city neighborhood. there comes a time in a girl's life when this sort of thing becomes monotonous. the time came when annie found sitting on the doorstep and talking about nothing in particular entirely unbearable. so one balmy, inviting spring night she slipped away and went with the lodger to a dance. the dance hall occupied a big, low-ceiled basement room in a building which was a combination of saloon and tenement house. in one of the front windows of the basement room was hung a gaudy placard: "the johnny sullivan social club." the lodger paid no admission, but he deposited ten cents for a hat check, after which they went in. about thirty couples were swinging in a waltz, their forms indistinctly seen through the clouds of dust which followed them in broken swirls through air so thick that the electric lights were dimmed. somewhere in the obscurity a piano did its noisiest best with a popular waltz tune. in a few minutes annie forgot her timidity, forgot the dust and the heat and the odor of stale beer, and was conscious only that the music was piercing, sweet, and that she was swinging in blissful time to it. when the waltz tune came to an end at last the dancers stopped, gasping with the heat, and swaying with the giddiness of the dance. "come along," said the lodger, "and have a beer." when annie shook her head he exclaimed: "aw, yuh have to. the sullivans gets the room rent free, but the fellers upstairs has bar privileges, and yuh have to buy a beer off of 'em oncet in a while. they've gotta get something out of it." i do not know whether annie yielded then or later. but ultimately she learned to drink beer for the benefit of philanthropists who furnish dance halls rent free, and also to quench a thirst rendered unbearable by heat and dust. they seldom open the windows in these places. sometimes they even nail the windows down. a well-ventilated room means poor business at the bar. annie donnelly became a dance-hall _habitué_. not because she was viciously inclined; not because she was abnormal; but because she was decidedly normal in all her instincts and desires. besides, it is easy to get the dance-hall habit. at almost every dance invitations to other dances are distributed with a lavish hand. these invitations, on cheap printed cards, are scattered broadcast over chairs and benches, on the floors, and even on the bar itself. they are locally known as "throw-aways." here are a few specimens, from which you may form an idea of the quality of dance halls, and the kind of people--almost the only kind of people--who offer pleasure to the starved hearts of girls like annie donnelly. these are actual invitations picked up in an east side dance hall by the head worker of the new york college settlement: "_second annual reception and ball, given by jibo and jack, at new starlight hall, suffolk street, december . music by our favorite. gents ticket cents, ladies cents._" "_don't miss the ball given by joe the greaser, and sam rosenstock, at odd fellows' hall, january th._" "_see the devil dance at the reception and ball given by max pascal and little whity, at tutonia hall, tuesday evening, november th."_ _ "reception and ball given by two well known friends, max turk and sam lande, better known as mechuch, at appollo hall, chrystmas night. floor manager, young louis. ticket admit one cents._" in addition to these private affairs which are arranged purely for the profit of "jibo and jack" and their kind, men who make a living in this and in yet more unspeakable ways, there are hundreds of saloon dance halls, not only in new york, but in other cities. these are simply annexes to drinking places, and people are not welcome there unless they drink. no admission is charged. there are also numberless dancing academies. dancing lessons are given four nights in the week, as a rule, and the dancing public buys admission the other three nights and on sunday afternoons. some dancing academies, even in tenement house quarters, are reputable institutions, but to most of them the lowest of the low, both men and women, resort. there, as in the dance halls, the "white slaver" plies his trade, and the destroyer of womanliness lays his nets. annie donnelly soon learned the ways of all these places. she learned to "spiel." you spiel by holding hands with your partner at arms' length, and whirling round and round at the highest possible speed. the girl's skirts are blown immodestly high, which is a detail. the effect of the spiel is a species of drunkenness which creates an instant demand for liquor, and a temporary recklessness of the possible results of strong drink. annie also learned to dance what is known as the "half time," or the "part time" waltz. this is a dance accompanied by a swaying and contorting of the hips, most indecent in its suggestion. it is really a very primitive form of the dance, and probably goes back to the pagan harvest and bacchic festivals. you may see traces of it in certain crude peasant dances in out-of-the-way corners of europe. now they teach it to immigrant girls in new york dancing academies and dance halls, and tell the girls that it is the _american_ fashion of waltzing. annie donnelly's destruction was accomplished in less than a year. it was the more rapid because of the really superior character of her home. there was nothing the matter with that home except that it was too crowded for the family to stay in it. father and mother were respectable, hard-working people, and after annie's first real misadventure, into which she fell almost unwittingly, she was afraid to go home. the dance hall, as we have permitted it to exist, practically unregulated, has become a veritable forcing house of vice and crime in every city in the united states. it is a straight chute down which, every year, thousands of girls descend to the way of the prodigal. no one has counted their number. all we know of the unclassed is that they exist, apparently in ever-increasing masses. it was estimated in chicago, not long ago, that there were about six thousand unfortunate women known to the police, and something like twenty thousand who managed to avoid actual collision with the law. that is, the latter lived quietly and plied their trade on the street so unostentatiously that they were seldom arrested. how many of these unfortunates reached the streets through the dance hall is impossible to know--we only know that it constantly recruits the ranks of the unclassed. [illustration: a dance hall] the dance hall may be in the rear of a saloon, or over a saloon; it may occupy a vacant store building, or a large loft. somewhere in its immediate vicinity there is a saloon. a dance lasts about five minutes, and the interval between dances is from ten to twenty minutes. waiters circle among the dancers, importuning them to drink. the dance hall without a bar, or some source of liquid supply, does not often exist, except as it has been established by social workers to offset the influence of the commercial dance hall. some dance halls are small and wretchedly lighted. others are large and pretentious. some of them have direct connections with raines law hotels and their prototypes. of hardly a single dance hall can a good word be said. they are almost entirely in the hands of the element lowest in society, in business, and in politics. from the old-fashioned german family picnic park to coney island in new york, revere beach in boston, the white city in chicago, savin rock in new haven, and their like, is a far cry. some of these summer parks try to keep their amusements clean and decent, and some, notably euclid park, cleveland, succeed. but drink and often worse evils are characteristic of most of them. there are parts of coney island where no beer is sold, where the vaudeville and the moving pictures are clean and wholesome, where dancing is orderly. but the nearest side street has its "tough joint." the same thing is true of the big summer resorts of other cities. the dance hall, both winter and summer types, have had a deteriorating effect upon the old-fashioned dancing academy. formerly these were respectable establishments where people paid for dancing lessons. now they are a _mélange_ of dancing classes and public entertainments. the dancing masters, unable to compete with the dance hall proprietors, have been obliged to transfer many of the dance hall features to their establishments. oddly enough it is rather an unusual thing for a girl to be escorted to a dance in any kind of a dance hall. the girls go alone, with a friend, or with a group of girls. the exceptional girl, who is attended by a man, must dance with him, or if she accepts another part ner, she must ask his permission. an escort is deemed a somewhat doubtful advantage. those who go unattended are always sure of partners. often they meet "fellows" they know, or have seen on the streets. introductions are not necessary. even if a girl is unacquainted with any "fellows," if she possesses slight attractions, she is still sure of partners. the amount of money spent by working girls for dance-hall admissions is considerable. a girl receiving six or seven dollars a week in wages thinks nothing of reserving from fifty cents to a dollar for dancing. in going about among the dance halls one is struck with the number of black-gowned girls. the black gown might almost be called the mark of the dance-hall _habitué_, the girl who is dance mad and who spends all her evenings going from one resort to another. she wears black because light evening gowns soil too rapidly for a meager purse to renew. an indispensable feature of the dancing academy is the "spieler." this is a young man whose strongest recommendation is that he is a skilled and untiring dancer. the business of the spieler is to look after the wall-flowers. he seeks the girl who sits alone against the wall; he dances with her and brings other partners to her. it would not do for a place to get the reputation of slowness. the girls go back to those dance halls where they have had the best time. the spieler is not uncommonly a worthless fellow; sometimes he is a sinister creature, who lives on the earnings of unfortunate girls. the dance hall, and especially the dancing academy, because of the youth of many of its patrons, is a rich harvest field for men of this type. beginning with the saloon dance hall, unquestionably the most brutally evil type, and ending with the dancing academy, where some pretense of chaperonage is made, the dance hall is a vicious institution. it is vicious because it takes the most natural of all human instincts, the desire of men and women to associate together, and distorts that instinct into evil. the boy and girl of the tenement-dwelling classes, especially where the foreign element is strong, do not share their pleasures in the normal, healthy fashion of other young people. the position of the women of this class is not very high. men do not treat her as an equal. they woo her for a wife. in the same manner the boy does not play with the girl. the relations between young people very readily degenerate. the dance hall, with its curse of drink, its lack of chaperonage and of reasonable discipline, helps this along its downward course. sadie greenbaum, as i will call her, was an exceptionally attractive young jewish girl of fifteen when i first knew her. although not remarkably bright in school she was industrious, and aspired to be a stenographer. she was not destined to realize her ambition. as soon as she finished grammar school she was served, so to speak, with her working papers. the family needed additional income, not to meet actual living expenses, for the greenbaums were not acutely poor, but in order that the only son of the family might go to college. max was seventeen, a selfish, overbearing prig of a boy, fully persuaded of his superiority over his mother and sisters, and entirely willing that the family should toil unceasingly for his advancement. sadie accepted the situation meekly, and sought work in a muslin underwear factory. at eighteen she was earning seven dollars a week as a skilled operator on a tucking machine. she sat down to her work every morning at eight o'clock, and for four hours watched with straining eyes a tucking foot which carried eight needles and gathered long strips of muslin into eight fine tucks, at the rate of four thousand stitches a minute. the needles, mere flickering flashes of white light above the cloth, had to be watched incessantly lest a thread break and spoil the continuity of a tuck. when you are on piece wages you do not relish stopping the machine and doing over a yard or two of work. so sadie watched the needle assiduously, and ignored the fact that her head ached pretty regularly, and she was generally too weary when lunch time came to enjoy the black bread and pickles which, with a cup of strong tea, made her noon meal. after lunch she again sat down to her machine and watched the needles gallop over the cloth. at the end of each year sadie greenbaum had produced for the good of the community _four miles_ of tucked muslin. in return, the community had rendered her back something less than three hundred dollars, for the muslin underwear trade has its dull seasons, and you do not earn seven dollars every week in the year. each week sadie handed her pay envelope unopened to her mother. the mother bought all sadie's clothes and gave her food and shelter. consequently, sadie's unceasing vigil of the needle paid for her existence and purchased also the proud consciousness of an older brother who would one day own a doctor's buggy and a social position. the one joy of this girl's life, in fact all the real life she lived, was dancing. regularly every saturday night sadie and a girl friend, rosie by name, put on their best clothes and betook themselves to silver's casino, a huge dance hall with small rooms adjoining, where food and much drink were to be had. there was a good floor at silver's and a brass band to dance to. it was great! the girls never lacked partners, and they made some very agreeable acquaintances. in the dressing room, between dances, all the girls exchanged conversation, views on fashions, confidences about the young men and other gossip. some of the girls were nice and some, it must be admitted, were "tough." what was the difference? the tough girls, with their daring humor, their cigarettes, their easy manners, and their amazingly smart clothes, furnished a sort of spice to the affair. sadie and rosie sometimes discussed the tough girls, and the conversation nearly always ended with one remarking: "well, if they don't get anything else out of livin', look at the clothes they put on their backs." perhaps you can understand that longing for pretty gowns, perhaps you can even sympathize with it. of course, if you have a number of other resources, you can keep the dress hunger in its proper place. but if you have nothing in your existence but a machine--at which you toil for others' benefit; sadie and rosie continued to spend their saturday evenings and their sunday evenings at silver's casino. at first they went home together promptly at midnight. after midnight these casino dance halls change their character. often professional "pace makers" are introduced, men and women of the lowest class, who are paid to inspire the other dancers to lewd conduct. these wretched people are immodestly clothed, and they perform immodest or very tough dances. they are usually known as "twisters," a descriptive title. when they make their appearance the self-respecting dancers go home, and a much looser element comes in. the pace becomes a rapid one. manners are free, talk is coarse, laughter is incessant. the bar does a lively business. the dancing and the revels go on until daylight. the first time sadie and rosie allowed themselves to be persuaded to stay at silver's after midnight they were rather horrified by the abandoned character of the dancing, the reckless drinking, and the fighting which resulted in several men being thrown out. the second time they were not quite so horrified, but they decided not to stay so late another time. then came a great social event, the annual "mask and shadow dance" of a local political organization. sadie and rosie attended. a "mask and shadow dance" is as important a function to girls of sadie's and rosie's class as a cotillion is to girls of your class. such affairs are possible only in large dance halls, and to do them impressively costs the proprietor some money. the guests rent costumes and masks and appear in very gala fashion indeed. they dance in the rays of all kinds of colored lights thrown upon them from upper galleries. during part of a waltz the dancers are bathed in rose-colored lights, which change suddenly to purple, a blue, or a green. some very weird effects are made, the lights being so manipulated that the dancers' shadows are thrown, greatly magnified, on walls and floor. at intervals a rain of bright-colored confetti pours down from above. the scene becomes bacchanalian. color, light, music, confetti, the dance, together combine to produce an intense and voluptuous intoxication which the revelers deepen with drink. the events of the latter part of that night were very vague in sadie's memory when she awoke late the next morning. she remembered that she had tolerated familiarities which had been foreign to her experience heretofore, and that she had been led home by some friendly soul, at daylight, almost helpless from liquor. frightened, haunted by half-ashamed memories of that dance, sadie spoiled a good bit of her work on monday morning. the forewoman descended on her with a torrent of coarse abuse, whereupon sadie rose suddenly from her machine, and in a burst of hysterical profanity and tears rushed out of the factory, vowing never to return. there was only one course, she decided, for her to take, and she took it. "sadie, why did you do it?" wailed rosie the next time they met. "it's better than the factory," said sadie. tucking muslin underwear is dull work, but it is, in most ways, a more agreeable task than icing cakes in a st. louis biscuit factory. all day edna m---- stood over a tank filled with thick chocolate icing. the table beside edna's tank was kept constantly supplied with freshly baked "lady-fingers," and these in delicate handfuls edna seized and plunged into the hot ooze of the chocolate. her arms, up to the elbows, went into the black stuff, over and over again all day. at noon, over their lunch, the girls talked of their recreations, their clothes, their "fellows." edna had not very much to contribute to the girls' stories of gayety and adventure. she led a quieter existence than most of the other girls, although her leanings were toward lively pleasures. she was engaged to a young man who worked in a foundry and who was steady and perhaps rather too serious. he was very jealous of edna and exacted a stern degree of fidelity of her. before her engagement edna had gone to a decent dancing school and dearly loved the dance. now she was not permitted to dance with any one but her prospective husband. the bright talk at the noon hour made edna feel that she was a very poor sport. the young man's work in the foundry alternated weekly between day and night duty. it occurred to edna that her young man could not possibly know what she did with those evenings he remained in the foundry. if she chose to go with a group of girls to a dance hall, what harm? the long years of married life stretched themselves out somewhat drably to edna. she decided to have a good time beforehand. this girl from now on literally lived a double life. evenings of the weeks her young man was free from the foundry, she spent at home with him, placidly playing cards, reading aloud, or talking. on the other evenings she danced, madly, incessantly. her mother thought she spent the evenings with her girl friends. the dancing, plus the deceit, soon had its effect on edna. she began to visit livelier and livelier resorts, curious to see all phases of pleasure. suspicion entered into the mind of her affianced. he questioned her; she lied, and he was unconvinced. a night or two later the young man stayed away from the foundry and followed edna to a suburban resort. she went, as usual, with a group of girls, but their men were waiting for them near the door of the open-air dancing pavilion. standing just outside, the angry lover watched the girl "spiel" round and round with a man of doubtful respectability. soon she joined a noisy, beer-drinking group at one of the tables, and her behavior grew more and more reckless. finally, amid laughter, she and another girl performed a suggestive dance together. walking swiftly up to her, the outraged foundryman grasped her by the shoulder, called her a name she did not yet deserve, and threw her violently to the floor. a terrific fight followed, and the police soon cleared the place. edna did not dare go home. an over-rigid standard of morals, an over-repressive policy, an over-righteous judgment, plus a mother ignorant of the facts of life, plus a girl's longing for joy--the sum of these equaled ruin in edna's case. chapter viii woman's helping hand to the prodigal daughter annie, sadie, edna, thousands of girls like them, girls of whom almost identical stories might be told, help to swell the long procession of prodigals every succeeding year. they joined that procession ignorantly because they thirsted for pleasure. their days were without interest, their minds were unfurnished with any resources. at fourteen most of them left public school. reading and writing are about as much intellectual accomplishments as the school gives them, and the work waiting for them in factory, mill, or department store is rarely of a character to increase their intelligence. ask a girl, "why do you go to the dance hall? why don't you stay home evenings?" nine times in ten her answer will be: "what should i do with myself, sitting home and twirling my fingers?" if you suggest reading, she will reply: "you can't be reading all the time." in other words, there is no intellectual impulse, but instead an instinct for action. the crowded tenement, the city slum, an oppressive system of ill-paid labor, these are evils which a gradually developing social conscience must one day eliminate. their tenure will not be disturbed to-day, to-morrow, or next day. their evil influence can be offset, in some measure, by a recognition on the part of the community of a debt,--a debt to youth. the joy of life, inherent in every young creature, including the young human creature, seeks expression in play, in merriment, and will not be denied. the oldest, the most persistent, the most attractive, the most satisfying expression of the joy of life is the dance. other forms of recreation come in for brief periods, but their vogue is always transitory. the roller skating craze, for example, waxed, waned, and disappeared. moving pictures and the nickelodeon have had their day, and are now passing. the charm, the passion, the lure of the dance remains perennial. it never wholly disappears. it always returns. in new york city alone there are three hundred saloon dance halls. three hundred dens of evil where every night in the year gallons of liquid damnation are forced down the throats of unwilling drinkers! where the bodies and souls of thousands of girls are annually destroyed, because the young are irresistibly drawn toward joy, and because we, all of us, good people, busy people, indifferent people, unseeing people, have permitted joy to become commercialized, have turned it into a commodity to be used for money profit by the worst elements in society. could a more inverted scheme of things have been devised in a madhouse? new york is by no means unique. every city has its dance hall problem; every small town its girl and boy problem; every country-side its tragedy of the girl who, for relief from monotony, goes to the city and never returns. it is strange that nowhere, until lately, in city, town, or country, has it occurred to any one that the community owed anything to this insatiable thirst for joy. consider, for instance, the age-long indifference of the oldest of all guardians of virtue, the christian church. to the demand for joy the evangelical church has returned the stern reply: "to play cards, to go to the theater, above all, to dance, is wicked." the methodist church, for one, has this baleful theory written in its book of discipline, and persistent efforts on the part of enlightened clergy and lay members have utterly failed to expurgate it. the catholic, episcopalian, and lutheran churches utter no such strictures, but in effect they defend the theory that joy, if not in itself an evil, at least is no necessity of life. to meet the growing social discontent, the increasing indifference to old forms of religion, the open dissatisfaction with religious organizations which had degenerated into clubs for rich men, there was developed some years ago in america the "institutional church." this was an honest effort to give to church members, and to those likely to become church members, opportunity for social and intellectual diversion. parish houses and settlements were established, and these were furnished with splendid gymnasiums, club rooms, committee rooms, auditoriums for concerts and lectures, kitchens for cooking lessons, and provision besides for basketry, sewing, and embroidery classes. these are all good, and so are the numberless reading, debating, and study clubs good, as far as they go. but what a pitifully short way they go! they have built up congregations somewhat, but they have made not the slightest impression on the big social problem. the reason is plain. the appeal of the institutional church is too intellectual. it reaches only that portion of the masses who stand least in need of social opportunity. to this accusation the church, man instituted and man controlled since the beginning of the christian era, replies that it does all that can be done for the uplift of humanity. that the church seems to be losing its hold on the masses of people is attributed to a general drift of degenerate humanity towards atheism and unbelief. the people, the great world of people,--what a field for the church to work in, if it only chose! the great obstacle is that the church (leaving out the institutional church), on sunday a vital, living force, is content to exist all the other days in the week merely as a building. six days and more than half six evenings in the week the churches stand empty and deserted. simply from the point of view of material economy this waste in church property, reduced to dollars and cents, would appear deplorable. from the point of view of social economy, reduced to terms of humanity, the waste is heartbreaking. what would happen if something should loose those churches, or, at any rate, their big sunday-school rooms and their ample basements from this icy exclusiveness, this week-day aloofness from humanity? can you picture them at night, streaming with light, gay with music, filled with dancing crowds? not crowds from homes of wealth and comfort, but crowds from streets and byways; crowds for which, at present, the underworld spreads its nets? the great mass of the people, packed in dreary tenements, slaves of machinery by day, slaves of their own starved souls by night, must go somewhere for relaxation and forgetfulness. what would happen if the church should invite them, not to pray but to play? some of the results might be a decrease in vice, in drinking, gambling, and misery. at least we may infer as much from the success of the occasional experiments which have been tried. we have a few examples to prove that human nature is not the low, brutish thing it has too often been described. it does not invariably choose wrong ways, but, on the contrary, when a choice between right ways and wrong ways is presented, the right is almost always preferred. a year ago in chicago there was witnessed a spectacle which, for utter brutality and blindness of heart, i hope never to see duplicated. chicago had for some time been in the midst of a vigorous crusade against organized vice. too long neglected by the authorities and the public, the so-called levee districts of the city had fallen into the hands of grafting police officials, who, working with the lowest of degraded of men, had created an open and most brazen vice syndicate. without going into details, it is enough to say that conditions finally became so scandalous that all chicago rose in horror and rebellion. the police department was thoroughly overhauled, and a new chief appointed who undertook in all earnestness to suppress the worst features of the system. he had no new weapons it is true, and he probably had no notion that he could make any impression on the evil of prostitution. but he might have restored external decency and order, and he might possibly have prepared the way for some scientific examination of the problem. but a thing happened: one of those shocking blunders we too often let happen. the efforts of the chief of police were set back, because of that blunder, no one can tell how far. a new hysteria of vice and disorder dates from the hour the blunder was made. in october of "gypsy" smith, a noted evangelical preacher of the itinerant order, was holding revival meetings in an armory on the south side of chicago. with mistaken zeal this man announced that he was going down into the south side levee and with one effort would reclaim every one of the wretched inhabitants. he invited his immense congregation to follow him there, and assist in the greatest crusade against vice the world had ever seen. in chicago, as in other cities, no procession or parade is allowed to march without permission from police headquarters. to the sorrow of all those who believed that reform had really begun, chief of police steward issued a permit to "gypsy" smith. it is probable that the chief feared the effect of a refusal. to lift up the fallen has ever been one of the functions of religious bodies. before issuing the permit, it is said that he used all his powers of persuasion against the parade. by orders from headquarters every house in the district was closed, shuttered, and pitch dark on the night of the parade. every door was locked, and the most complete silence reigned within. it was into a city of silence that the procession of nearly five thousand men, women, and young people of both sexes marched on that october midnight. in the glare of red fire and flaming torches, to the confused blare of many salvation army brass bands, the quavering of hymn tunes, including the classic, "where is my wandering boy to-night," and the constant explosion of photographers' flashlights, the long procession stumbled and jostled its way through streets that gave back for answer darkness and silence. but afterwards! the affair had been widely advertised, and it drew a throng of spectators, not only from every quarter of the city, but from every suburb and surrounding country town. young men brought their sweethearts, their sisters, to see the "show." as "gypsy" smith's procession wound its noisy way out of the district, and back into the armory, this great mob of people surged into the streets pruriently eager to watch the awakening of the levee. it came. lights flashed up in almost every house. the women appeared at the windows and even in the street. saloon doors were flung open. the sound of pianos and phonographs rose above the clamor of the mob. pandemonium broke loose as the crowds flung themselves into the saloons and other resorts. the police had to beat people back from the doors with their clubs. a riot, an orgy, impossible to describe, impossible to forget, ensued. many of those who took part in it had never been in such a district before. this horrible scene somehow typified to my mind the whole blind, chaotic, senseless attitude which society has preserved toward the most baffling of all its problems. nothing done to prevent the evil, because no one knew what to do. after the evil was an established fact, after the hearts of the victims were thoroughly hardened, after the last hope of return had perished, then a "vice crusade"--led by a man! another scene witnessed about the same time seems to me to typify the new attitude which society--led by women--is assuming towards its problem. it was in the large kindergarten room of one of the oldest of chicago's social centers,--the ely bates settlement. a group of little italian girls, peasant clad in the red and green colors of their native land, swung around the room at a lively pace singing the familiar "santa lucia." as the song ended the children suddenly broke into the maddest of dances, a tarantella. led by a graceful young girl, one of the settlement workers, they danced with the joyous abandon of youthful spirits untrammeled, ending the dance with a chorus of happy laughter. this was only one group of many hundreds in every quarter of chicago,--in schools, settlements, kindergartens, and other centers,--who were rehearsing for the third of the annual play festivals given out of doors each year in chicago. the festivals are held in the most spacious of the seventeen wonderful public gardens and playgrounds established of late throughout the city. lasting all day, this annual carnival of play is shared by school children, working girls and boys, and young men and women. in the morning the children play and perform their costume dances. in the afternoon the fields are given up to athletic sports of older children, and in the evening young men and women, of all nationalities, many wearing their old-world peasant dresses, revive the plays and the dances of their native lands. tens of thousands view the beautiful spectacle, which each year excites more interest and assumes an added importance in the civic life of chicago. each of the large parks in chicago's system is provided with a municipal dance hall, spacious buildings with perfect floors, good light, and ventilation. any group of young people are at liberty to secure a hall, rent free, for dancing parties. the city imposes only one condition,--that the dances be chaperoned by park supervisors. beautifully decorated with growing plants from the park greenhouses these municipal dance halls are scenes of gayety almost every night in the year. park restaurants in connection with the halls furnish good food at low prices. of course no liquor is sold. nobody wants it. this is proved by the fact that saloon dance halls in the neighborhood of the parks have been deserted by their old patrons. women have recognized the debt to youth and the joy of life, and they are preparing to pay it. in this latest form of social service they have entered a battlefield where the powers of righteousness have ever fought a losing fight. men have grappled with the social evil without success. they have labored to discover a substitute for the saloon, and they have failed. they have tried to suppress the dance hall and they have failed. they have made laws against evil resorts, and they have sent agents of the police to enforce their laws, but to no effect. the failure of the men does not dishearten or discourage the women who have taken up the work. they believe that they have discovered an altogether new way in which to fight the social evil. they propose to turn against it its own most powerful weapons. the joy of life is to be fed with proper food instead of poison. girls and young men are to be offered a chance to escape the nets stretched for them by the underworld. in many cities women's clubs and women's societies are establishing on a small scale amusement and recreation centers for young people. in new york miss virginia potter, niece of the late bishop potter, and miss potter's colleagues in the association of working girls' clubs, have opened a public dance hall. the use of the large gymnasium of the manhattan trade school for girls was secured, and every saturday evening, from eight until eleven, young men and women come in and dance to excellent music, under the instruction, if they need it, of a skilled dancing-master. a small fee is charged, partly to defray expenses, and partly to attract a class of people who disdain philanthropy and settlements. the experiment is new, but it is undoubtedly successful. as many as two hundred couples have been admitted in an evening. in half a dozen cities women's clubs and women's committees are at work on this matter of establishing amusement and recreation centers for young people. in new york a committee on amusement and vacation resources of working girls has for its president a social worker of many years, mrs. charles m. israels. associated with the committee are many other well-known social economists,--women of wealth and influence who have given years to the service of working girls. the committee began its work by a scientific investigation into the dance halls of new york, the summer parks and picnic grounds in the outlying districts, and of the summer excursion boats which ply up and down the hudson river and long island sound. the revelations made by this investigation, carried on under the supervision of miss julia schoenfeld, were terrible enough. they were made to appear still more terrible when it was known that men of the highest social and commercial standing were profiting hugely from the most vicious forms of amusement. a state senator is one of the largest stockholders in coney island resorts of bad character. an ex-governor of the state controls a popular excursion boat, on which staterooms are rented by the hour, for immoral purposes no one can possibly doubt. the women of the committee submitted the findings of their investigators to the managers of these amusement places and to the directors of the steamboat lines, and in many instances reforms have been promised. the point is that a committee of women had to finance an investigation to show these business men the conditions which were adding to their wealth, and into which they had never even inquired. another investigation made by the committee revealed the meagerness of the provision made by churches, settlements, and business establishments for working girls' vacations. there are, in round numbers, four hundred thousand working women in greater new york. of these, something like three hundred thousand are unmarried girls between the ages of fourteen and thirty. in all, only , of these young toilers, who earn on an average six dollars a week, are provided with vacation outings. they are usually given vacations, with or without pay, but they spend the idle time at coney island, on excursion boats, or in the dance hall. of the , churches and synagogues of new york, only six report organized vacation work for girls and women. of the twenty or more large department stores, employing thousands of women, only three have vacation houses in the country. of the hundred or more social settlements in new york only fifteen provide summer homes. there are several vacation societies which do good work with limited resources, but they are able to care for comparatively few. we have heard much of fresh air work for children, and we can afford to hear more. but that the fresh air work for young girls and women who toil long hours in factory and shop must be extended, this committee's investigation definitely establishes. the first practical work of the committee, after the investigation of amusement and recreation places, was a bill introduced into the state legislature providing for the licensing and regulation of public dancing academies, prohibiting the sale of liquor in such establishments, and holding the proprietor responsible for indecent dancing and improper behavior. against the bitter opposition of the dancing academy proprietors the bill became a law and went into effect in september, . almost immediately it was challenged on constitutional grounds. the committee promptly introduced another bill, this one to regulate dance halls. this bill, which passed the legislature and is now a law, aims to wipe out the saloon dance hall absolutely, and so to regulate the sale of liquor in all dancing places that the drink evil will be cut down to a minimum. the license fee of fifty dollars a year will eliminate the lowest, cheapest resorts, and a rigid system of inspection will not only go far towards preserving good order, but will do away with the wretchedly dirty, ill-smelling, unsanitary fire traps in which many halls are located. the dance-hall proprietor who encourages or even tolerates "tough" dancing, or who admits to the floor "white slavers," procurers, or persons of open immorality, will be liable to forfeiture of his license. the committee has done more than try to reform existing dance halls. it has taken steps to establish, in neighborhoods where evil resorts abound, attractive dance halls, where a decent standard of conduct is combined with all the best features of the evil places--good floors, lively music, bright lights. two corporations have been organized for the maintenance, in various parts of the city, of model dance halls, and one hall has already been opened. the patrons of the model dance hall do not know that it is a social experiment paid for by a committee of women. it is run exactly like any public dancing place, only in an orderly fashion. every extension of use of public places, schools, parks, piers, as recreation places for young people between fifteen and twenty is encouraged and supported by the committee. already two public schools have organized dancing classes, and several settlements have thrown open their dances to the public where formerly they were attended only by settlement club members. by helping working girls to find cheap vacation homes in the country, and by establishing vacation banks to help the girls save for their summer outings, the committee hopes to discourage some of the haphazard picnic park dissipation. in summer many trades are slack, girls are idle, and out of sheer boredom they hang around the parks seeking amusement. it is only a theory, perhaps, but mrs. israels and the others on her committee believe that if many of these girls knew that a country vacation were within the possibilities, they would gladly save money towards it. at present the vacation facilities of working girls in large cities are small. in new york, where at least three hundred thousand girls and women earn their bread, only about six thousand are helped to summer vacations in the country. what these women are doing now on a small scale, experimentally, will soon be adopted, as their children's playgrounds, their kindergartens, their vacation schools, and other enterprises have been adopted, by the municipalities. their probation officers, long paid out of club treasuries, have already been transferred to many cities, east and west. soon municipal dance halls, municipal athletic grounds, municipal amusement and recreation centers for all ages and all classes will be provided. already new york is preparing for such a campaign. the newly-appointed parks commissioner, charles b. stover, looking over his office force, dismissed one secretary whose function seemed largely ornamental, and diverted his salary of four thousand dollars to recreation purposes for young people. commissioner stover desires the appointment of a city officer who shall be a supervisor of recreations, a man or a woman whose entire time shall be devoted to discovering where recreation parks, dancing pavilions, music, and other forms of pleasure are needed, and how they may be made to do the most good. a neighborhood that thirsts for concerts ought to have them. a community that desires to dance deserves a dance hall. in the long run, how infinitely better, how much more economical for the city to furnish these recreations, normally and decently conducted, than to bear the consequences of an order of things like the present one. the new order must come. it is the only way yet pointed out by which we may hope to close those other avenues, where the joy of youth is turned into a cup of trembling, and the dancing feet of girlhood are led into mires of shame. chapter ix the servant in her house according to the findings of the massachusetts state bureau of labor statistics, whose investigation into previous occupation of fallen women was described in a former chapter, domestic service is a dangerous trade. of the , unfortunates who came under the examination of the bureau's investigators, , , or nearly thirty per cent, had been in domestic service. no other single industry furnished anything like this proportion. from time to time reformatories and institutions dealing with delinquent women and girls examine the industrial status of their charges, always with results which agree with or even exceed the massachusetts statistics. bedford reformatory, one of the two new york state institutions for delinquent women, in an examination of a group of one thousand women, found four hundred and thirty general houseworkers, twenty-four chamber-maids, thirteen nursemaids, eight cooks, and thirty-six waitresses. as some of the waitresses may have been restaurant workers, we will eliminate them. even so, it will be seen that four hundred and seventy-five--nearly half of the bedford women--had been servants. in the albion house of refuge, new york, admitted one hundred and sixty-eight girls. of these ninety-two were domestics, one was a lady's maid, and nine were nursemaids. of one hundred and twenty-seven girls in the industrial school at rochester, new york, in , only fifty-one were wage earners. of that number twenty-nine had worked in private homes as domestics. bedford reformatory receives mostly city girls; albion and rochester are supplied from small cities and country towns. it appears that domestic service is a dangerous trade in small communities as well as in large ones. on the face of it, the facts are wonderfully puzzling. domestic service is constantly urged upon women as the safest, healthiest, most normal profession in which they can possibly engage. assuredly it seems to possess certain unique advantages. domestic service is the only field of industry where the demand for workers permanently exceeds the supply. the nature of the work is essentially suited, by habit, tradition, and long experiment, to women. it offers economic independence within the shelter of the home. lastly, housework pays extremely well. a girl totally ignorant of the art of cooking, of any household art, one whose function is to clean, scrub, and assist her employer to prepare meals, can readily command ten dollars a month, with board. the same efficiency, or lack of efficiency, in a factory or department store would be worth about ten dollars a month, without board. the wages of a competent houseworker, in any part of the country, average over eighteen dollars a month. add to this about thirty dollars a month represented by food, lodging, light, and fire, and you will see that the competent houseworker's yearly income amounts to five hundred and seventy-six dollars. this is a higher average than the school-teacher or the stenographer receives; it is almost double the average wage of the shop girl, or the factory girl. it is, in fact, about as high as the usual income of the american workingman. it is true that the social position of the domestic worker is lower than that of the teacher, stenographer, or factory worker. this undoubtedly affects the attractiveness of domestic service as a profession. but the lower social position is in itself no explanation of the high rate of immorality. at least there are no figures to prove that the rate of morality rises or falls with the social status of the individual. in the contemplation of what is known as the "servant problem," i think we have been less scientific and more superficial than in any other social or industrial problem. for the increasing dearth of domestic workers, for the lowered standard of efficiency, for the startling amount of immorality alleged to belong to the class, we have given every explanation except the right one. at the bottom of the "servant problem" lies the fact that it exists in the privacy of the home. now, we have reached a point of social consciousness where we allow that it is right to intrude some homes and ask questions for the good of the community. "how many children have you?" "are they all in school?" "does your husband drink?" we have not yet reached the point of sending agents to inquire: "how many servants do you keep; what are their hours of work, and what kind of sleeping accommodations do you furnish them?" some intelligent inquiry has been made into surface conditions. the sociological department of vassar college, under professor lucy maynard salmon, during the years and , made an exhaustive study of wages, hours of work, difficulties, advantages, and disadvantages of domestic service. professor salmon's book, "domestic service," giving the results of the inquiry, is a classic on the subject. it deals, however, almost entirely with the ethical side of the problem, the social relation between mistress and maid. the relation between the worker and the industry is hardly examined at all. a later inquiry into the servant problem was conducted in , in half a dozen cities, by organizations of women which associated themselves for the purpose, under the name of the intermunicipal committee on household research. the woman's municipal league of new york, the educational and industrial union of boston, the housekeepers' alliance, and the civic club of philadelphia were the moving elements in the investigation. co-operating with them were the college settlements association and the association of collegiate alumnae, which together established a scholar ship for the research. this research was most ably conducted by miss frances kellor, a vassar graduate, and nine assistant workers, all of whom were college women. the report of the investigation was published a year later in the volume "out of work."[ ] this investigation by organizations of educated and expert women was the first survey ever made of domestic service _as an industry_, the first scientific study of domestic workers _as an industrial group_. it was the first intelligent attempt to review housework as if it were a trade. the most important conclusion of the investigators was that housework, domestic service, although carried on as a trade, is really no trade at all. the domestic worker is no more a part of modern industry than the italian woman who finishes "pants" in a tenement, or the child who stays from school to fasten hooks and eyes on paper cards. do not let us make a mistake concerning the underlying cause of the servant problem. let us face the truth that we have two institutions which are back numbers in twentieth century civilization: two left-overs from a past-and-gone domestic system of industry. one of these is the tenement sweat shop, where women combine, or try to combine, manufacturing and housekeeping. the other is the private kitchen--the home--where the last stand of conservatism and tradition, the last lingering remnant of hand labor, continues to exist. no woman who is free enough, strong enough, intelligent enough to seek work in a factory or shop, is ever found in a sweat shop or seen carrying bundles of coats to finish at home. exactly for the same reason the average american working woman shuns housework as a means of livelihood. you will find in every community a few women of intelligence who are naturally so domestic in their tastes and inclinations that they shrink from any work outside the home. such women do adhere to domestic service, but, broadly speaking, you behold in the servant group merely the siftings of the real industrial class. in a tentative, halting sort of fashion we are learning to humanize the factory and shop. factory workers, mill hands, department store clerks, have been granted legislation in almost every state of the union, regulating hours of work, sanitary conditions, ventilation, and in some cases they have been given protection from dangerous machinery. in department stores they have been granted even certain special comforts, such as seats on which to rest while not actually working. of course, we have done no more than make a beginning in this matter of humanizing the factory and the shop. but we have made a beginning, and the movement toward securing better and juster and healthier conditions for workers in all the industries is bound to continue. so long as manufacturing was carried on in the home, no such protective legislation as workers now enjoy was dreamed of. we had to wait until the workers came together in large groups before we could see their conditions and understand their needs. housework, because it is performed in isolation, because it is purely individual labor, has never been classed among the industries. it has rather been looked upon as a normal feminine function, a form of healthy exercise. no one has ever suggested to legislators that sweeping and beating rugs might be included among the dusty trades; that bending over steaming washtubs, and almost immediately afterwards going out into frosty air to hang the clothes, might be harmful to throat and lungs; that remaining within doors days at a time, as houseworkers almost invariably do, reacts on nerves and the entire physical structure; that steady service, if not actual labor, from six in the morning until nine and ten at night makes excessive demands on mind and body. such conditions exist because the workers are too weak, too inefficient, too unintelligent to change them. yet the demand for servants so far exceeds the supply that they are in a position, theoretically, to dictate the terms of their own employment. if they elected to demand pianos and private baths they could get them; that is, if instead of remaining isolated individuals they could form themselves into an industrial class, like plumbers, or bricklayers, or carpenters. even as isolated individuals they are able to command a better money wage than more efficient workers, which proves how great is the need for their services. the housekeeper clings to her archaic kitchen, firmly believing that if she gave it up, tried to replace it by any form of co-operative living, the pillars of society would crumble and the home pass out of existence. yet so strong is her instinctive repugnance to the medieval system on which her household is conducted, that she shuns it, runs away from it whenever she can. housekeeping as a business is a dark mystery to her. the mass of women in the united states probably hold, almost as an article of religion, the theory that woman's place is in the home. but the woman who can organize and manage a home as her husband manages his business, systematically, profitably, professionally--well, how many such women do you know? it would seem as if in the newer generations, the average housekeeper is not in the professional class at all. usually she lacks professional training. if she was brought up in a well-to-do home where there were several servants, she knows literally nothing of cooking, or of any department of housekeeping. even when she has had some instruction in household tasks, she almost never connects cooking with chemistry, food with dietetics, cleanliness with sanitation, buying with bookkeeping. she is an amateur. and she takes into her household to do work she herself is incapable of doing, another amateur, a woman who might, in many cases, do well under a capable commander, but who is hopelessly at sea when expected to evolve a system of housekeeping all by herself. this irregular state of affairs in what should be a carefully studied, well-organized industry is reflected in the conditions commonly meted out to domestics. take housing conditions, for example. some housekeepers provide their servants with good beds; of course, not quite as good as other members of the household enjoy, but good enough. some set aside pleasant, warm, well-furnished rooms for the servants. but miss kellor's investigators reported that it was common to find the only unheated room in a house or apartment set aside for the servant. they found great numbers of servants' rooms in basements, having no sunlight or heat. at one home, where an investigator applied for a "place," the housekeeper complained that her last maid was untidy. then she showed the applicant to the servant's room. this was a little den partitioned off from the coal bin! in another place, the maid was required to sleep on an ironing board placed over the bathtub. in still another, the maid spent her night of rest on a mattress laid over the wash tubs in a basement. a bed for two servants, consisting of a thin mattress on the dining-room table, was also found. unventilated closets, rooms opening off from the kitchen, small and windowless, are very commonly provided in city flats. even in spacious country homes the servants' rooms are considered matters of little importance. "one woman," writes miss kellor, "planned her new three-story house with the attic windows so high that no one could see out of them. when the architect remonstrated she said: 'oh, those are for the maids; i don't expect them to spend their time looking out.'" i remember a young girl who waited on table at a woman's hotel where i made my home. one morning i sent this girl for more cream for my coffee. she was gone some time and i spoke to her a little impatiently when she returned. she was silent for a moment, then she said: "do you know that every time you send me to the pantry it means a walk of three and a half blocks? this dining-room and the kitchens and pantries are a block apart, and are separated by three flights of stairs. i have counted the distance there and back, and it is more than three blocks." "but, kittie," i said to her, "why do you work in a hotel, if it's like that? why don't you take a place in a private family?" "i've tried that," said the girl. "i had a place with the ----family," mentioning an historic name. "they had sickness in the family, and they stopped in town all summer. my room was up in the attic, with only a skylight for ventilation. during the day, except for the time i spent sitting on the area steps after nine o'clock, i was waiting on the cook in a hot kitchen. they let me out of the house once every two weeks. here i have some freedom, at least." i have told this story to dozens of domestics, many of them from homes of wealth, and they agree that it is a common case. it is very rare, these girls say, to find a mistress who is willing to allow her maids to leave the house except on their days out. they concede certain hours of rest, it is true, but those hours must be spent within doors. "why, if you went out i should be sure to need you," is the usual explanation. imagine a factory girl or a stenographer being required to remain after hours on the chance of being needed for extra work. there is an aspect to this phase of the servant question which is generally overlooked by employers. this is an isolation from human intercourse to be found in no other industry. when the household employs only one servant the isolation is absolute. the girl is marooned, within full sight of others' happy life. even when kindness is her portion she is an outsider from the family circle. important as her function is in the life of the household, she is socially the lowest unit in it. during the course of a great strike of mill operatives in fall river, massachusetts, a few years ago, a considerable group of weaver and spinner girls were induced, by members of the women's trade union league, to take up domestic service until the close of the strike. as the girls were in acute financial distress they agreed to try the experiment. these were mostly american or english girls, some of them above the average of intelligence and good sense. housework with its great variety of tasks made severe draughts on the strength of girls accustomed to using one set of muscles. the long hours and the confinement of domestic service affected nerves adjusted to a legal fifty-eight-hour week. but the girls' real objection to housework was its loneliness. hardly a single house in boston, or the surrounding suburbs, where the girls found places, was provided with a servants' sitting room. there was absolutely no provision made for callers. for a servant is supposed not to have friends except on her days out. on those occasions she is assumed to meet her friends on the street. in england people recognize the fact that they have a servant class. every house of any pretentions provides a servants' hall. in the united states a sitting room for servants, even in millionaires' homes, is a rarity. more than this, in many city households, especially in apartment households, the servants are prohibited from receiving their friends even in the kitchen. "are we allowed to receive men visitors in the house?" chorused a group of girls, questioned in a fashionable employment agency. "mostly our friends are not allowed to step inside the areaway while we are putting on our hats to go out." there is no escaping the conclusion that a large part of the social evil, or that branch of it recruited every year from domestic service, is traceable to american methods of dealing with servants. the domestic, belonging, as a rule, to a weak and inefficient class, is literally driven into paths where only strength and efficiency could possibly protect her from evil. servants share, in common with all other human beings, the necessity for human intercourse. they must have associates, friends, companions. if they cannot meet them in their homes they must seek them outside. walk through the large parks in any city, late in the evening, and observe the couples who occupy obscurely placed benches. you pity them for their immodest behavior in a public place. but most of them have no other place to meet. and it is not difficult to comprehend that clandestine appointments in dark corners as a rule do not conduce to proper behavior. most of the women you see on park benches are domestic servants. some of them, it is safe to assume, work in new york's fifth avenue, or in mansions on chicago's lake shore drive. [illustration: an unthought-of phase of the servant question] the social opportunity of the domestic worker is limited to the park bench, the cheap theater, the summer excursion boat, and the dance hall. hardly ever does a settlement club admit a domestic to membership; rarely does a working girls' society or a young women's christian association circle bid her welcome. the girls' friendly association of the protestant episcopal church is a notable exception to this rule. in a large new england city, not long ago, a member of the woman's club proposed to establish a club especially for domestics, since no other class of women seemed willing to associate with them. the proposal was voted down. "for," said the women, "if they had a clubroom they would be sure to invite men, and immorality might result." but there is no direct connection between a clubroom and immorality, whereas the park bench after dark and the dance hall and its almost invariable accompaniment of strong drink are positive dangers. the housekeeper simply does not realize that her domestics are _girls_, exactly like other girls. they need social intercourse, they need laughter and dancing and healthy pleasure just as other girls need them, as much as the young ladies of the household need them. perhaps they need them even more. the girl upstairs has mental resources which the girl downstairs lacks. the girl upstairs has the protection of family, friends, social position. the last is of greatest importance, because the woman without a social position has ever been regarded by a large class of men as fair game. the domestic worker sometimes finds this out within the shelter, the supposed shelter, of her employer's home. [illustration: another serious contribution to the social question] tolstoy's terrible story "resurrection" has for its central anecdote in the opening chapter a court-room scene in which a judge is called upon to sentence to prison a woman for whose downfall he had, years before, been responsible. a somewhat similar story in real life, with a happier ending, was told me by the head of a woman's reformatory. this official received a visit from a lawyer, who told her with much emotion that he had, several days before, been present when a young girl was sentenced to a term in a reformatory. "she lived in my home," said the man. "i believe that she was a good girl up to that time. my wife died, my home was given up, and of course i forgot that poor girl. she never made any claim on me. when i saw her there in court, among the dregs of humanity, her face showing what her life had become, i wanted to shoot myself. now she is here, with a chance to get back her health and a right state of mind. will you help me to make amends?" the head of the reformatory rather doubted the man's sincerity at first. she feared that his repentance was superficial. she refused to allow him to see or to communicate with the girl, but she wrote him regularly of her progress. several times in the course of the year the man visited the reformatory, and at the end of that period he was allowed to see the girl. this institution happens to be one of the few where a rational and a humane system of outdoor work is in vogue. the girl, who a year back had been almost a physical wreck from drugs and the life of the streets, was again strong, healthy, and sane. the two forgave each other and were married. if the position of the domestic, while living in the shelter of a family, is sometimes precarious, her situation, when out of a job, is often actually perilous. if a girl has a home she goes to that home, and regards her temporary period of unemployment as a pleasant vacation. but in most cases, in cities, at any rate, few girls have homes of which they can avail themselves. "in no city," says miss kellor's report, "are adequate provisions made for such homeless women, and their predicament is peculiarly acute, for their friends are often household workers who cannot extend the hospitality of their rooms." i think i hear a chorus of protesting voices: "we don't have anything to do with the servant class you are describing. our girls are respectable. they meet their friends at church. they come to us from reputable employment offices, which would not deal with them if they were not all right." are you sure you know this? what, after all, do you really know about your servants? what do you know about the employment office that sent her to you? what do you know of the world inhabited by servants and the people who deal in servants? can you not imagine that it might be different from the one you live in so safely and comfortably? are you willing to know the facts about the world, the underworld, from which the girl who cooks your food and takes care of your children is drawn? do you care to know how a domestic spends the time between places, how she gets to your kitchen or nursery, the kind of homes she may have been in before she came to you? make a little descent into that underworld with a girl whose experience is matched with those of many others. nellie b---- was an irish girl, strong, pretty of face, and joyful of temperament. the quiet indiana town where she earned her living as a cook offered nellie so little diversion that she determined to go to chicago to live. she gave up her place, and with a month's wages in her pocket went to the city. it was late in the afternoon when her train reached the station. nellie alighted, bewildered and lonely. she had the address of an employment agency, furnished her by an acquaintance. nellie slept that night, or rather tossed sleepless in the agency lodging house, on a dirty bed occupied by two women besides herself. in all her life she had never been inside such a filthy room, or heard such frightful conversation. therefore next morning she gladly paid her exorbitant bill of one dollar and seventy-five cents, besides a fee of two dollars and a half for obtaining employment, and accepted the first place offered her. the house she was taken to seemed to be conducted rather strangely. meals were at unusual hours, and the household consisted largely of young women who received many men callers. for about a week nellie did her work unmolested. at the end of the week her mistress presented her with a low-necked satin dress and asked her if she would not like to assist in entertaining the men. simple-minded nellie had to have the nature of the entertaining explained to her, and she had great difficulty in leaving the house after she had declined the offer. she had hardly any money left, and the woman refused to pay her for her week's work. nellie knew of no other employment agency, so she was obliged to return to the one she left. when she reproached the agent for sending her to a disreputable house he shrugged his shoulders and replied: "well, i send girls where they're wanted. if they don't like the place they can leave." the fact is, they cannot always leave when they want to. miss kellor's investigators found an office in chicago which sent girls to a resort in wisconsin which was represented as a summer hotel. this notorious place was surrounded by a high stockade which rendered escape impossible. the investigators found offices in other cities which operate disreputable houses in summer places. to these the proprietors send the handsomest of their applicants for honest work. three girls sent to a house of this kind found themselves prisoners. one girl made such a disturbance by screaming and crying that the proprietor literally kicked her out of the house. the investigators for the intermunicipal committee on household research saw this girl in a hospital, insane and dying from the treatment she had received. another of the three escaped from the place. she, too, was discovered in a state of dementia. the fate of the third girl is obscure. [illustration: the servant girl and the employment agency] not all employment agencies cater to this trade. not all would consent to be accessory to women's degradation. but the employment agency business, taken by and large, is disorganized, haphazard, out of date. it is operated on a system founded in lies and extortion. the offices want fees--fees from servants and fees from employers. they encourage servants to change their employment as often as possible. often a firm will send a girl to a place, and a week or two later will send her word that they have a better job for her. sometimes they arrange with her to leave her place after a certain period, promising her an easier position or a better wage. they favor the girl who changes often. "you're a nice kind of a customer!" jeered one proprietor to a girl who boasted that she had been in a family for five years. the girl was a _customer_ to him, and she was nothing more. to his profitable customer the agent is often very accommodating. if she lacks references he writes her flattering ones, or loans her a reference written by some woman of prominence. references, indeed, are often handed around like passports among russian revolutionists. many of these unpleasant facts were brought to light in the course of the investigation made by the intermunicipal committee on household research. the result of their report was a model employment agency law, passed by the new york state legislature, providing for a strict licensing system, rigid forms of contract, regulation of fees, and inspection by special officers of the bureau of licenses. the law applies only to cities of the first class, and unfortunately has never been very well enforced. perhaps it has not been possible to enforce it. in all the cities examined by the intermunicipal committee on household research the investigators found the majority of employment agencies in close connection with the homes of the agents. in new york, of three hundred and thirteen offices visited, one hundred and twenty were in tenements, one hundred and seven in apartment houses, thirty-nine in residences and only forty-nine in business buildings. in philadelphia, only three per cent of employment agencies were found in business buildings. chicago made a little better showing, with nineteen per cent in business houses. the difficulty of properly regulating a business which is carried on in the privacy of a home is apparent. when an agency is in a business building it usually has conspicuous signs, and often the rooms are well equipped with desks, comfortable chairs, and other office furnishings. but the majority of agencies are of another description. those dealing with immigrant girls are sometimes filthy rooms in some rear tenement, reached through a saloon or a barber shop facing the street. often the other tenants of the building are fortune tellers, palmists, "trance mediums," and like undesirables. a large number of these agencies operate lodging houses for their patrons. there is hardly a good word to say for most of these, except that they are absolutely necessary. dirty, unsanitary, miserable as they usually are, if they were closed by law, hundreds, perhaps thousands of domestics temporarily out of work, would be turned into the streets. many are unfamiliar with the cities they live in. many more are barred from hotels on account of small means. often a girl finding it impossible to bring herself to lie down on the wretched beds provided by these lodging houses, leaves her luggage and goes out, not to return until morning. she spends the night in dance halls and other resorts. according to miss kellor's report this description of employment agencies and lodging houses attached to them applies to about seventy-five per cent of all offices in the four cities examined. for greater accuracy the investigators made a brief survey of conditions in cities, such as st. louis, new haven, and columbus, ohio. the differences were slight, showing that the employment agency problem is much the same east and west. domestic servants have their industrial ups and downs like other workers. sometimes they are able to pay the fees required in a high-class employment office, while at other times they are obliged to have recourse to the cheaper places, where standards of honesty, and perhaps also, of propriety, are low. domestic workers are the nomads of industry. their lives are like their work,--impermanent, detached from others', unobserved. it is for the housekeepers of america to consider the plain facts concerning domestic service. some of the conditions they can change. others they cannot. no one can alter the economic status of the kitchen. like the sweat shop, it must ultimately disappear. what system of housekeeping will take the place of the present system cannot precisely be foretold. we know that the whole trend of things everywhere is toward co-operation. within the past ten years think how much cooking has gone into the factory, how much washing into the steam laundry, how much sewing into the shop. as the cost of living increases, more and more co-operation will be necessary, especially for those of moderate income. at the present time millions of city dwellers have given up living in their own houses, or even in rented houses. they cannot afford to maintain individual homes, but must live in apartment houses, where the expenses of heat, and other expenses, notably water, hall, and janitor service, are reduced to a minimum because shared by all the tenants. there may come a time when the private kitchen will be a luxury of the very rich. for a time, however, the private kitchen and the servant in the kitchen will remain. that is one servant problem. but the housekeeper still has another "servant problem," and i have tried to make it clear that this problem pretty closely involves the morals of the community. now this matter of community morals has begun to interest women profoundly. in many of their organizations women are studying and endeavoring to understand the causes of evil. they are securing the appointment of educated women as probation officers in the courts which deal with delinquent women and girls. sincerely they are working toward a better understanding of the problem of the prodigal daughter. since about one-third of all these prodigals are recruited from the ranks of domestic workers it is possible for the housekeepers of the country to play an important part in this work. every woman in the united states who employs one servant has a contribution to make to the movement. the power to humanize domestic service in her own household is in every woman's hand. loneliness, social isolation, the ban of social inferiority,--these cruel and unreasonable restrictions placed upon an entire class of working women are out of tune with democracy. the right of the domestic worker to regular hours of labor, to freedom after her work is done, to a place to receive her friends, must be recognized. the self-respect of the servant must in all ways be encouraged. above all, the right of the domestic worker to social opportunity must be admitted. it must be provided for. yonkers, new york, a large town on the hudson river, points out one way toward this end. in yonkers there has been established a women's institute for the exclusive use of domestics. it has an employment agency and supports classes in domestic science for those girls who wish to become more expert workers. there are club rooms and recreation parlors where the girls receive and meet their friends--including their men friends. a group of liberal-minded women established this unique institution, which is well patronized by the superior class of domestic workers in yonkers. the dues are small, and members are allowed to share club privileges with friends. it is not unusual for employers to present their domestics with membership cards. it cannot be said that the women's institute has solved the servant problem for yonkers, but many women testify to its happy effects on their own individual problems. the committee on amusements and vacation resources of working girls in new york is collecting a long list of farmhouses and village homes in the mountains and near the sea where working girls, and this includes domestics, may spend their vacations for very little money. every summer, as families leave the city for country and seaside, domestics are thrown out of employment. a department in the women's club can examine vacation possibilities for domestics. the clubs can also deal with the employment agency. some women's organizations have already taken hold of this department. the women's educational and industrial union of boston conducts a very large and flourishing employment agency. women's clubs can study the laws of their own community in regard to public employment agencies. they can investigate homes for immigrant girls and boarding-houses for working women. preventive work is better than reform measures, but both are necessary in dealing with this problem. women have still much work to do in securing reformatories for women. new york is the first state to establish such reformatories for adult women. private philanthropy has offered refuges and semipenal institutions. the state stands aloof. even in new york public officials are strangely skeptical of the possibilities of reform. last year the courts of new york city sent three thousand delinquent women to the workhouse on blackwell's island,--a place notorious for the low state of its _morale_. they sent only seventeen women to bedford reformatory, where a healthy routine of outdoor work, and a most effective system administered by a scientific penologist does wonders with its inmates. nothing but the will and the organized effort of women will ever solve the most terrible of all problems, or remove from society the reproach of ruined womanhood which blackens it now. notes: note : g.p. putnam's sons, . chapter x votes for women although woman suffrage has been for a number of years a part of the program of the international council of women, the american branch, represented by the general federation of women's clubs, at first displayed little interest in the subject. although many of the club women were strong suffragists, there were many others, notably women from the southern states, who were violently opposed to suffrage. early in the club movement it was agreed that suffrage, being a subject on which there was an apparently hopeless difference of opinion, was not a proper subject for club consideration. the position of the women in regard to suffrage was precisely that of the early labor unions toward politics. the unions, fearing that the labor leaders would use the men for their own political advancement, resolved that no question of politics should ever enter into their deliberations. in the same way the club women feared that even a discussion of woman suffrage in their state and national federation meetings would result in their movement becoming purely political. they wanted to keep it a non-partisan benevolent and social affair. [illustration: suffragettes in london advertising a meeting] somehow, in what mysterious manner no one can precisely tell, the reserve of the club women towards the suffrage question began some years ago to break down. at the st. louis biennial of part of a morning session was given up to the suffrage organizations. several remarkable speeches in favor of the suffrage were made, and there is no doubt that a very deep impression was made, even upon those women openly opposed to the movement. six years later, at the biennial meeting held in cincinnati, ohio, in june, , an entire evening was given up to an exhaustive discussion of both sides of the question. dating from that evening a stranger visiting the convention might almost have thought that the sole object of the gathering was a discussion of the right of women to the ballot. women floated through the corridors of the hotel talking suffrage. they talked suffrage in little groups in the dining-room, they discussed it in the street cars going to and from the convention. the local suffrage clubs had planned a banquet to the visiting suffragists and had calculated a maximum of one hundred and fifty applications for tickets. three days before the banquet they had had nearly three hundred applications, and when the hour for the banquet arrived every available seat, the room's limit of three hundred and seventy-five, was occupied. outside were women offering ten dollars a plate and clamoring for the privilege of merely listening to the after-dinner speakers. something must have happened in the course of those eight years to make such an astounding change in the attitude of the club women. the fact is that until the club women had been at work at practical things for a long period of years, they did not realize the social value of their own activities. they thought of their work as benevolent and philanthropic. that they were performing community service, _citizens_' service, they did not remotely dream. there is nothing surprising in their _naïveté_. it is a fact that in this country, although every one knows that women own property, pay taxes, successfully manage their own business affairs, and do an astonishing amount of community work as well, no one ever thinks of them as citizens. american men are accustomed to women in almost all trades and professions. it doesn't astonish a new yorker to see a hospital ambulance tearing down the street with a white-clad woman surgeon on the back seat. a woman lawyer, architect, editor, manufacturer, excites no particular notice. in the western states men are beginning to elect women county treasurers, county superintendents of schools, and in chicago, second largest city in the country, a board of education, overwhelmingly masculine, recently appointed a woman city superintendent of schools. yet to the vast majority of american men women do not look like citizens. as for the majority of american women they have always until recently thought of themselves as a class,--a favored and protected class. they cherished a sentimental kind of delusion that the american man was only too anxious to give them everything that their hearts desired. when they got out into the world of action, when they began to ask for something more substantial than bonbons, the club women found that the american man was not so very generous after all. a typical instance occurred down in georgia. a few years ago the women of georgia found a way to introduce into the legislature a child-labor law. it was really a very modest little bill and it protected only a fraction of the pitiful army of cotton-mill children, but still it was worth having. the women worked hard and they got some very powerful backing and a barrel or two of petitions. nevertheless, the bill was defeated. one legislative orator rose to explain his vote. "mr. speaker," he said eloquently, "i am devoted to the good women of my state. if i thought that the women of my state wanted this bill passed i would vote for it; but, sir, i have every reason to believe that the good women of my state are opposed to this bill, and therefore;" at this juncture another member handed to the orator a petition bearing the name of five thousand of the best known women in georgia. the orator stammered, turned red, felt for his handkerchief, mopped his brow, and continued: "mr. speaker, i deeply regret that i did not see this petition yesterday. as it is, my vote is pledged." incidents of this kind have occurred too frequently for the women of the united states to escape their meaning. they have learned that they cannot have everything they want merely by asking for it. also they have learned, or a large number of them have learned that the old theory of women being represented at the polls by their husbands is very largely a delusion. the entrance of women in large numbers into labor unions, and into membership in the women's trade union league is another factor in the increasing interest of american women in suffrage. after a decision of the new york court of appeals that the law prohibiting night work of women was unconstitutional, nearly one thousand women book-binders in new york city made a public announcement that they would thenceforth work for the ballot. they had been indifferent before, but this close application of politics to their industrial situation--bookbinding is one of the night trades--made them alive to their own helplessness. the shirt-waist strike and the garment workers' strike in new york and philadelphia, waged so bitterly in , brought great numbers of women into the suffrage ranks. not only were the women strikers convinced that the magistrates and the police treated them with more contempt than they did the voting men, but they perceived the need of securing better labor laws for themselves. the conviction that women of the wealthier classes would stand by them in securing favorable laws, as they stood by the strikers in the industrial struggle, was a strong lever to turn them towards the suffrage ranks. [illustration: mrs. harriot stanton blatch] the women's trade union league building, used as strike headquarters in all strikes involving women workers, is a veritable center of suffrage sentiment in new york! one floor houses the offices of the equality league of self supporting women, of which harriot stanton blatch is founder and president. this society, which is entirely made up of trade and professional workers, claims an approximate membership of twenty-two thousand. a number of unions belong to the league, and there is also a very large individual membership. in chicago the suffrage movement and the labor movement is more closely associated than in any other american city. in chicago, it will be remembered, the teachers' federation is a trade union and is allied to the central labor union. teachers, almost everywhere denied equal pay with men for equal work, are eager seekers for political power. when, as in chicago, they are associated with labor, they become convinced suffragists. organized labor has always been friendly to woman suffrage, but in chicago not only the union women but the union men are actively friendly towards the cause. the original moving spirit in the chicago organization was a remarkable young working girl, josephine casey. miss casey sold tickets at one of the stations of the chicago elevated, and she formed her first woman suffrage club among the women members of the union of street and elevated railway employees. later she organized on a larger scale the women's political equality union, with membership open to men and women alike. the interest shown in the union by workingmen, many of whom had never before given the matter a moment's thought, was, from the first, extraordinary. during the first winter of the society's existence, union after union called for woman suffrage speakers. addresses were made before fifty or more. some of the more popular speakers often made four addresses in an evening. mrs. raymond robins, president of the national women's trade union league, and miss alice henry, secretary of the chicago branch of the league, won many converts by their expositions of the exceedingly favorable labor laws of australia and new zealand, where women vote. [illustration: meeting a released suffragette prisoner.] unquestionably the mighty battle which is waging in england made a deep impression on american women of all classes. the visits made in this country by mrs. cobden sanderson, mrs. borrman wells, mrs. philip snowden, and, most of all, mrs. pankhurst, leader of the militant english suffragists, aroused tremendous enthusiasm from one end of the country to the other. never, until these women appeared, telling, with rare eloquence, their stories of struggle, of arrest and imprisonment, had the vote appeared such an incomparable treasure. never before, except among a few enthusiasts, had there existed any feeling that the suffrage was a thing to fight for, suffer for, even to die for. up to this time the suffrage was a theory, an academic question of right and justice. after the visits of the english women, american suffragists everywhere began to view their cause in the light of a political movement. they began to adopt political methods. instead of private meetings where suffrage was discussed before a select audience of the already convinced, the women began to mount soap boxes on street corners and to talk suffrage to the man in the street. the first suffrage demonstration was held in new york in february, . the members of a small but enthusiastic equal suffrage club announced their intention of having a parade. most of the women being wage earners they planned to have their parade on a sunday. when they applied at police headquarters for the necessary permit they found to their disgust that sunday parades were forbidden by law. "not unless you are a funeral procession," said the stern captain of the police. the woman replied that they were anything but a funeral procession, and threatened darkly to hold their parade in spite of police regulations. they got plenty of newspaper publicity in the succeeding days, and on the following sunday a huge crowd of men, a sprinkling of women, a generous number of plain clothes men, and new york's famous "camera squad" assembled in union square, where all incendiary things happen. the dauntless seven who made up the suffrage club were there, and at the psychological moment one of the women ran up the steps of a park pavilion and spoke in a ringing voice, yet so quietly that the police made no move to stop her. "friends," she said, "we are not allowed to have our parade, so we are going to hold a meeting of protest at no. east d street. we invite you to go over there with us." she and the others walked calmly out of the square, and the crowd followed. they turned into fifth avenue, and the crowd grew larger. before three blocks were passed there were literally thousands of people marching in the wake of ingenious suffragists. the sight aroused the indignation of many respectable citizens. "officer," exclaimed one of these, addressing an attendant policeman, "i thought you had orders that those females were not to parade." "that ain't no parade," said the policeman, serenely; "them folks is just takin' a quiet walk." the suffragists have taken more than one quiet walk since then. street speaking has become an almost daily occurrence. at first there was some rioting, or, rather, some display of rowdyism on the part of the spectators and some show of interference from the police. the crowds listen respectfully now, and the police are friendly. the most practical move the new york suffragists have made was the organization, early in , of the woman suffrage party, a fusion of nearly all the suffrage clubs in the greater city into an association exactly along the lines of a regular political party. at the head of the party as president is mrs. carrie chapman catt, president of the international woman suffrage association. each of the five boroughs of the city has a chairman, and each senatorial and assembly district is either organized or is in process of organization. [illustration: the women's trades procession to the albert hall meeting, april , ] absolutely democratic in its spirit and its organization, the party leaders are drawn from every rank of society. the chairman of the borough of manhattan is mrs. james lees laidlaw, wife of a prominent wall street banker. mrs. frederick nathan, president of the new york state consumers' league, is chairman of the assembly district in which she lives. mrs. melvil dewey, whose husband is head of a department at columbia university, is chairman of her own district. other chairmen are helen hoy greeley, lawyer; lavinia dock, trained nurse; anna mercy, an east side physician; maud flowerton, buyer in a department store; gertrude barnum, sociologist and writer. practically every trade and profession are represented in the party's ranks. the object of the woman suffrage party is organization for political work. last winter the party made the first aggressive move towards forcing the judiciary committee of the assembly to report on the bill to give women votes by constitutional amendment. they succeeded in getting a motion made for the discharge of the committee, sixteen legislators voting for the women. new york is the present center of the progressive suffrage movement, with chicago not very far behind. in rather amazing fashion are women in many american communities beginning to realize that politics are as much their business as men's. in salt lake city when a city council undertakes to give away a valuable water franchise, or extend gamblers' privileges, or otherwise follow the example of many another city council in bending before the god of greed, the women of salt lake send the word around. when the council meets the women are in the room. they don't say anything. they don't have to say anything. they can vote, these women. more than once the deep-laid plans of the most powerful politicians in salt lake city have been completely frustrated by a silent warning from the women. the city council has not dared to pass grafting measures with a roomful of women looking on. [illustration: helen hoy greeley] even the non-voting woman has discovered the power which attaches to her presence, in certain circumstances. in san francisco during the second ruef trial, when the decent element of the city was fighting to down one of the worst bosses that ever cursed a community, the women, under the leadership of mrs. elizabeth gerberding, performed this new kind of picket duty. the courtroom where the trial was held was, by order of the boss's attorney, packed with hired toughs whose duty it was to make a mockery of the prosecution. every point against the ruef side was received by these toughs with jeers and hootings. the district attorney was insulted, badgered, and openly threatened with violence. mrs. gerberding, whose husband is editor of a newspaper opposed to boss rule, attended several sessions, and induced a large number of women of social importance to attend with her. these women went daily to the courtroom, occupying seats to the exclusion of many of the tough characters, and by their presence doing much to preserve order and to assist the efforts of the district attorney. when the assassin's bullet was fired at the district attorney a number of the women were present. out of the horror and detestation of this crime was organized the women's league of justice, which soon had a membership of five hundred. the league fought stoutly for the reelection of heney as district attorney. heney was defeated, and the league became the women's civic club of san francisco, pledged to work for political betterment and a clean city government. in four states of the union, washington, oregon, south dakota, and oklahoma, the voters will this autumn vote for or against constitutional amendments giving women the right to vote. it is not very probable that the suffragists will win in any of these states, not because the voters are opposed to suffrage, but because they are, for the most part, uninformed. the suffrage advocates have not yet learned enough political wisdom to further their cause through education of the voters. although enormous sums of money have been spent in suffrage campaigns, in no one has enough money been available to do the work thoroughly. in the four states where the question is at present before the voters, complaint is made that there is not enough money in the treasuries properly to circulate literature. many of the wisest leaders in the national woman suffrage association, including dr. anna shaw, ida husted harper, and others, are advising an altogether new method of conducting the struggle for the ballot. they advocate selecting a state, possibly nebraska, where conditions seem uncommonly favorable, and concentrating the entire strength of the national organization, every dollar of money in the national treasury, all the speakers and organizers, all the literature, in a mighty effort to give the women of that one state the ballot. the vote won in nebraska, the national association should pass on to the next most favorable state and win a victory there. the moral effect of such campaigns would no doubt be very great. one of the principal reasons why men hesitate in this country to give the voting power to women is that they do not know, and they rather fear to guess, how far women would unite in forcing their own policies on the country. if an irish vote, or a german vote, or a catholic vote, or a hebrew vote is to be dreaded, say the men, how much more of a menace would a woman vote be. i heard a man, a delegate from an anti-suffrage association, solemnly warn the new york state legislature, at a suffrage hearing, against this danger of a woman vote. "when the majority of women and the minority of men vote together," he declared, "there will be no such thing as personal liberty left in the united states." [illustration: suffragettes in madison square.] under certain conditions a woman vote is not an unthinkable contingency. it has even occurred. for the edification of the possible reader who is entirely uninformed, it may be explained that women are not entirely disenfranchised in the united states. women vote on equal terms with men, in four states. they have voted in wyoming since ; in colorado since ; in utah and idaho since . they vote at school elections and on certain questions of taxation in twenty-eight states. while it is true that in the states which have a small measure of suffrage the women show little interest in voting, in the four so-called suffrage states, they vote conscientiously and in about the same proportion as men. but here is a notable thing. the women of the suffrage states differ so little from the women of other states, and women in general, that the chief concerns of their lives are the home, the school, and the baby,--the kaiser's "kirche, küche, und kinder" over again. they vote with enthusiasm on all questions which relate to domestic interests, that is, which directly relate to them and their children. aside from this, the woman vote has made a deep impression on the moral character of candidates and that is about all it has meant. in general politics women have counted scarcely more than have the women of other states. but the new interest in suffrage, the new realization of themselves as citizens that has been aroused all over the united states within the past two years have seriously affected the women voters of at least one suffrage state, colorado. the women of colorado, especially the women of denver, have for several years taken an active part in legislation directly affecting themselves and their children. the legislative committee of the colorado state federation of clubs has held regular meetings during the sessions of the state legislature, and it has been a regular custom to submit to that committee for approval all bills relating to women and children. this never seemed to the politicians to be anything very dangerous to their interests. it was, in a manner of speaking, a chivalric acknowledgment of women's virtue as wives and mothers. but lately the women of colorado have begun to wake up to the fact that not only special legislation, but all legislation, is of direct interest to them. it has lately dawned upon them that the matter of street railway franchise affects the home as directly as a proposition to erect a high school. also it has dawned on them that without organization, and more organization, the woman vote was more or less powerless. so, about a year ago they formed in denver an association of women which they called the public service league. nothing quite like it ever existed before. it is a political but non-partisan association of women, pledged to work for the civic betterment of denver, pledged to fight the corrupt politicians, determined that the city government shall be well administered even if the women have to take over the offices themselves. the league is, in effect, a secret society of women. it has an inflexible rule that its proceedings are to be kept inviolable. there is a perfect understanding that any woman who divulges one syllable of what occurs at a meeting of the league will be instantly dropped from membership. no woman has yet been dropped. it may well be understood that this secret society of women, this non-partisan league of voters, is a thing to strike terror into the heart of a ward boss. as a matter of fact, the corrupt politicians and the equally corrupt heads of corporations who had long held denver in bondage regard the public service league in mingled dread and detestation. equally as a matter of fact politicians of a better class are anxious to enlist the good will of the league. last summer a denver election involved a question of granting a twenty years' franchise to a street railway company. opposed to the granting of the franchise was a newly formed citizens' party. opposed also was the women's public service league. in gratitude for the co-operation of the league the citizens' party offered a place on the electoral ticket to any woman chosen by the league. it was the first time in the history of colorado that a municipal office had been offered to a woman, and the league promptly took advantage of it. they named as a candidate for election commissioner miss ellis meredith, one of the best known, best loved women in the state. as journalist and author and club woman miss meredith is known far beyond her own state, and her nomination created intense interest not only among the women of her own city and state, but among club women everywhere. on the evening of may , , there was a meeting held in the broadway theater, denver, the like of which no american city ever before witnessed. it was a women's political mass meeting to endorse the candidacy of a woman municipal official. the meeting was entirely in the hands of women. presiding over the immense throng was mrs. sarah platt decker, formerly president, and still leader of the general federation of women's clubs. beside her sat mrs. helen grenfell, for thirteen years county and state superintendent of schools, mrs. helen ring robinson, mrs. martha a.b. conine, and miss gail laughlin, all women of note in their community. the enthusiasm aroused by that meeting did not subside, and on the day of the election miss meredith ran so far ahead of her ticket that it seemed as if every woman in denver, as well as most of the men, had voted for her. she took her place in the board of election commissioners, and was promptly elected chairman of the board. there is nothing especially attractive about the office of election commissioner. in accepting the nomination miss meredith said frankly that she was influenced mainly by two things: first a desire to test the loyalty of the women voters, and second, because, while women had been held accountable for elections which have disgraced the city of denver, they have never before been given a chance to manage the elections. nothing is more certain that women, when they become enfranchised, will never, in any large numbers, appear as office seekers. it is probable that office will be thrust upon the ablest of them. mrs. sarah platt decker has been spoken of as a possible future mayor of denver, and it is certain that she could be elected to congress if she would allow herself to be placed in nomination. a few women have been elected to the legislatures in the suffrage states, and they have held high office in educational departments. in suffrage and nonsuffrage states they have been elected to many county offices. miss gertrude jordan is treasurer of cherry county, nebraska. in idaho, texas, louisiana, and several other states women have filled the same position. the state of kansas is a true believer in women office-holders, even though it refuses its women complete suffrage. women can vote in kansas only at municipal elections, but in forty counties men have elected women school superintendents. they are clerks of four counties, treasurers of three, and commissioners of one. in one county of kansas a woman is probate judge. the good and faithful work done by these women ought to go a long way towards educating men of their community to the idea of political association with women. the attitude of men towards suffrage has undergone an enormous change within the past two years. a large number of the thinking men of the country have openly enlisted in the suffrage ranks. it is said that almost every member of the faculty of columbia university signed the suffrage petition presented to the congress of . well-known professors of many western universities and colleges have spoken and written in favor of equal suffrage. in new york city a flourishing voters' league for equal suffrage has been formed, with a membership running into the hundreds. [illustration: the "quiet walk" of the new york suffragists, whom the police would not permit to parade] to the average unprejudiced man the old arguments against political equality have almost entirely lost weight. the theory that women should not vote because they cannot fight is now rarely argued. municipal governments certainly no longer rest on physical force. the same is true of state governments, and it is probably true of national governments. at all events we are sincerely trying to make it true. for the rest it would be extremely difficult to prove that women would make undesirable citizens. to the anxious inquiry, what will women do with their votes? the answer is simple. they will do with their votes precisely what they do, or try to do, without votes. this has been proven in every country in the world where they have received the franchise. in australia, new zealand, finland, and in the english municipalities the ideal of the common good has been reflected in the woman vote. social legislation alone interests women, and so far they have confined their efforts to matters of education, child labor, pure food, sanitation, control of liquor traffic, and public morals. the organized non-voting women of this country have devoted themselves for years to precisely these objects. without votes, without precedents, and without very much money they instituted the playground movement, and the juvenile court movement, two of the greatest reforms this country has contributed to civilization. they have instituted a dozen reforms in our educational system. they practically invented the town and village improvement idea. they have co-operated with every social reform advocated by men, and it is to be noted that wherever their judgment has been in error they have conscientiously erred in favor of a wider democracy, a more exalted social ideal. [illustration: suffrage demonstration in union square, new york] however long-deferred woman suffrage may prove to be, it is pretty generally conceded that women will inevitably vote some day. the evolution of society will bring them into political equality with men just as it has brought them into intellectual and industrial equality. the first woman who followed her spinning-wheel out of her home into the factory was the natural ancestress of the first woman who demanded the ballot. the application of steam to machinery took women's trades out of the home and placed them in the factory. the effect of this was that men were confronted with a singular dilemma. they had to choose between two courses; they had to support their women in idleness, or else they had to allow them to leave the home and go where their trades had gone. the first course involving the intolerable burden of doing their own and their women's work, they were obliged to choose the second. the jealously-guarded doors of the home were opened, and little by little, grudgingly, the men admitted women to full industrial freedom. women's housekeeping, or most of it, has gradually been withdrawn from the home and transferred to the municipality. there was a time when women could ensure their families pure food, good milk, clean ice, proper sanitation. they cannot do that now. the city hall governs all such matters. again the men find themselves facing the old dilemma. they must either support their women in idleness--do all their own as well as the women's housekeeping--or they must allow their women to leave the home and follow their housekeeping to the place where it is now being done,--the polls. women are beginning to understand the situation. they are even beginning to understand how badly the men are providing for the municipal family. they are demanding their old housekeeping tasks back again. to this point has the suffrage movement, begun in by a band of women called fanatics, arrived. chapter xi in conclusion i have tried to set down in these pages the collective opinion of women, as far as it has expressed itself through deeds. i have not succeeded if any reader lays down the book with the impression that he has merely been reading the story of the american club woman. i have not succeeded at all if my readers imagine that i have been writing only about a selected group of women. what i have meant to do is to show the instinctive bent of the universal woman mind in all ages, reflected in the actions of the freest group of women the world has ever seen. i might have reanimated ages of stone and of bronze; might have shown you women, through slow centuries, inventing the arts of spinning and weaving, and pottery molding; learning to build, to till the earth, to grind and to cook grains, to tan skins for clothing against the cold. no one taught them these things. out of their brains, as undeveloped and as primitive as the brains of men, they would never have conceived so much wisdom. the vague mind of the savage woman never sent her to the spider, the nesting bird, and the burrowing squirrel to learn to weave and to build and to store. when we find exactly what it was that taught primitive woman how to lay the first stones of civilization, we have a perfect philosophical understanding of all women. i chose to interpret the woman mind through the modern american woman, partly because she has learned the great lesson of organization, and has thus been able to work more effectively, and to impress her will on the community more strikingly than other women in other ages. what she has done is apparent and easy to prove. also, i chose the american club woman because she represents, not an unusually gifted type, but the average intelligent, well-educated, energetic, wife-and-mother type of woman. the club woman is not radical, or at least not consciously radical. she has not, like the progressive german and russian woman, theories of political regeneration or of family reconstruction. what she desires, what ideals she has formed, i think must fairly represent the desires and ideals of the great mass of women of the twentieth century. when we survey the activities the club women have engaged in, when we discover why they chose exactly these activities, we have a perfect philosophical understanding, not only of the modern woman mind, but of the cave woman mind and all the woman mind in between. the woman mind is the most unchangeable thing in the world. it has turned on identically the same pivot since the present race began. perhaps before. turn back and count over the club women's achievements, the things they have chosen to do, the things they want. observe first of all that they want very little for themselves. even their political liberty they want only because it will enable them to get other things--things needed, directly or indirectly, by children. most of the things are directly needed,--playgrounds, school gardens, child-labor laws, juvenile courts, kindergartens, pure food laws, and other visible tokens of child concern. many of the other things are indirectly needed by children,--ten-hour working days, seats for shop girls, protection from dangerous machinery, living wages, opportunities for safe and wholesome pleasures, peace and arbitration, social purity, legal equality with men, all objects which tend to conserve the future mothers of children. these are the things women want. in my introductory chapter i cited three extremely grave and significant facts which confront modern civilization. the first was the fact of women's growing economic freedom, their emancipation from domestic slavery. i believe that women would not wish to be economically free if their instinct gave them any warning that freedom for them meant danger to their children. but no observer of social conditions can have failed to observe the oceans of misery endured by women and children because of their economic dependence on the fortunes of husbands and fathers. whatever may be the solution of poverty, whatever be the future status of the family, it seems certain to me that some way will be devised whereby motherhood will cease to be a privately supported profession. in some way society will pay its own account. if producing citizens to the state be the greatest service a woman citizen can perform, the state will ultimately recognize the right of the woman citizen to protection during her time of service. the first step towards solving the problem is for women to learn to support themselves before the time comes for them to serve the state. through the educating process of productive labor the woman mind may devise a means of protecting the future mothers of the race. the second fact, the growing prevalence of divorce, on the face of it seems to menace the security of the home and of children. so deeply overlain with prejudice, conventionalities, and theological traditions is the average woman as well as the average man that it is difficult to argue in favor of a temporary tolerance of divorce that a permanent high standard of marriage may be established. but to my mind any state of affairs, even a reno state of affairs, looks more encouraging than the old conditions under which innocent girls married to rakes and drunkards were forbidden to escape their chains. it is not for the good of children to be born of disease and misery and hatred. it is not for their good to be brought up in an atmosphere of hopeless inharmony. what is happening in this country is not a weakening of the marriage bond, but a strengthening of it. for soon there will grow up in the american man's mind a desire for a marriage which will be at least as equitable as a business partnership; as fair to one party as to the other. he will cease to regard marriage as a state of bondage for the wife and a state of license for the husband. he will not venture to suggest to a bright woman that cooking in his kitchen is a more honorable career than teaching, or painting, or writing, or manufacturing. marriage will not mean extinction to any woman. it will mean to the well-to-do wife freedom to do community service. it will mean to the industrial woman an economic burden shared. when that time comes there will be no divorce problem. there will be no longer a class of women who avoid the risk of divorce by refusing to marry. the third fact, the increasing popularity of woman suffrage, i disposed of in the preceding chapter. nothing that the women who vote have ever done indicates, in the remotest degree, that they are not just as mindful of children's interests at the polls as other women are in their nurseries and kitchens. on the contrary, wherever women have left their kitchens and nurseries, whenever they have gone out into the world of action and of affairs, they have increased their effectiveness as mothers. i do not mean by this that the girl who enters a factory at fourteen and works there ten hours a day until she marries increases her effectiveness as a mother. industrial slavery unfits a woman for motherhood as certainly as intellectual and moral slavery unfits her. women who are free, who look on life through their own eyes, who think their own thoughts, who live in the real world of striving, struggling, suffering humanity, are the most effective mothers that ever lived. they know how to care for their own children, and more than that, they know how to care for the community's children. the child at his mother's knee, spelling out the words of a psalm, stands for the moral education of the race--or it used to. a group of chicago club women walking boldly into the city bridewell and the cook county jail and demanding that children of ten and twelve should no longer be locked up with criminals; these same women, after the children were segregated, establishing a school for them, and finally these same women achieving a juvenile court, is the modern edition of the old ideal. woman's place is in the home. this is a platitude which no woman will ever dissent from, provided two words are dropped out of it. woman's place is home. her task is homemaking. her talents, as a rule, are mainly for homemaking. but home is not contained within the four walls of an individual home. home is the community. the city full of people is the family. the public school is the real nursery. and badly do the home and the family and the nursery need their mother. i dream of a community where men and women divide the work of governing and administering, each according to his special capacities and natural abilities. the division of labor between them will be on natural and not conventional lines. no one will be rewarded according to sex, but according to work performed. the city will be like a great, well-ordered, comfortable, sanitary household. everything will be as clean as in a good home. every one, as in a family, will have enough to eat, clothes to wear, and a good bed to sleep on. there will be no slums, no sweat shops, no sad women and children toiling in tenement rooms. there will be no babies dying because of an impure milk supply. there will be no "lung blocks" poisoning human beings that landlords may pile up sordid profits. no painted girls, with hunger gnawing at their empty stomachs, will walk in the shadows. all the family will be taken care of, taught to take care of themselves, protected in their daily tasks, sheltered in their homes. the evil things in society are simply the result of half the human race, with only half the wisdom, and not even half the moral power contained in the race, trying to rule the world alone. men's government rests on force, on violence. everything evil, everything bad, everything selfish, is a form of violence. poverty itself is a form of violence. women will not tolerate violence. they loathe waste. they cannot bear to see illness and suffering and starvation. alone, they are no more capable of coping with these evils than men are. but they have the very resources that men lack. working with men they could accomplish miracles. note the inventiveness of women, most of which goes to waste because they lack the wonderful constructive ability of men. women invented spinning. they could never have harnessed the lightning to their wheels. women established the first public playgrounds. men extended the public playgrounds across the country. women established the juvenile court. men took it over and worked out a new system of criminal jurisprudence for children. women have cleaned up a hundred cities. men are rebuilding them. slowly men and women are learning to live and work together. reluctantly men are coming to accept women as their co-workers. woman's place is home, and she must not be forbidden to dwell there. who would be so selfish, so blind, so reactionary, as to forbid her her fullest freedom to do her work, must surrender opposition in the end. for woman's work is race preservation, race improvement, and who opposes her, or interferes with her, simply fights nature, and nature never loses her battles. index aberdeen, countess of, addams, jane, alabama, aladyn, alexis, albert hall, london, albion house of refuge, n.y., aldrich, mrs. richard, allegheny, pa., allgemeinen deutschen frauenbund, american, sadie, american federation of labor american women and common law arbitration, argentine, arizona, arkansas arthur, mrs. clara b., association of collegiate alumnae, association of working girls' clubs, augsberg, anita, australia, austria balliett, thomas m., barnum, gertrude barrett, mrs. kate waller, bedford reformatory, n.y., belmont, mrs. o.h.p., berlin, birmingham, ala., blackstone blackwell's island, blatch, harriot stanton, bluhm, agnes, boston, mass boston central labor union, boswell, helen v., brandeis, louis d. brewer, justice, brooklyn, n.y., bullowa, emilie, california carlisle, pa., carnegie, andrew, casey, josephine, catt, mrs. carrie chapman, cauer, minna, chicago child, lydia maria, church, the christian, its relation to social problems, civic club of allegheny county civic club of philadelphia, cleveland, o. cliff dwellers' remains, cobden sanderson, mrs., code napoleon cole, elsie college settlements association, colony club, colorado, colorado state federation of clubs, columbia university, columbus, ohio, common law, coney island conine, mrs. martha a.b., consumers' league of n.y., consumers' leagues conventions of women's clubs, corpus juris, cotton mills, women and girls in council of women cranford, n.j., cutting, fulton, dallas, tex., dance halls, daughters of the american revolution, daughters of the confederacy, davis, mrs. jefferson, decker, mrs. sarah platt, delaware, denver, colo., department stores, detroit, devine, edward t., dewey, mrs. melvil, dineen, governor, district of columbia, divorce dock, lavinia, domestic service, _domestic service_, professor salmon's, donnelly, annie, dreier, mary, dutcher, elizabeth, eight-hour day, ely bates settlement, employment agencies, england equality league of self-supporting women, europe, european women, evans, mrs. glendower, factories, fall river, mass. festivals, play, feudalism filene system, finland florida flowerton, maud, folks, homer, france, franks, salian french code, gad, elizabeth, general federation of women's clubs, georgia gerberding, mrs. elizabeth, german woman suffrage association, germany, gillespie, mabel, gilman, charlotte perkins, her _women and economics_, "girls' bill," girls' friendly association, golden, john, goldmark, josephine, goldmark, pauline, gompers, samuel grannis, mrs. elizabeth, greece, greece, queen of, greeley, helen hoy, greenbaum, sadie, grenfell, mrs. helen, gulick, luther h., harper, ida husted, harrisburg, pa., hearn, henry, alice, holland, housekeepers' alliance, hughes, governor, hundred years' war, iceland, idaho, illinois, inheritance, intermunicipal committee on household research, international council of women, international woman suffrage alliance iowa, israels, mrs. charles m. italy, janes, elizabeth, jefferson market court, jordan, gertrude, kansas kellor, frances, kennard, beulah, kirby, john, jr., kusserow, anna lafferty, mrs. alma, laidlaw, mrs. james lees, lake city, minn., laughlin, gail, laundries, law, american legal aid society of n.y. city, legal disabilities of women leipzig, lemlich, clara, libraries, los angeles, cal., louisiana lowell, mrs. josephine shaw, luxemburg, maclean, annie marian, maloney, elizabeth, marot, helen massachusetts massachusetts bureau of labor statistics mcewans, the, men, their attitude toward women mercantile employers' bill merchants' association of n.y., mercy, anna, meredith, ellis milholland, inez, mills, mills, enos, miner, maude e., miner, stella, missouri, mitchell, john, montana, moore, mrs. philip n., morgan, anne mott, lucretia, muller, curt napoleon, napoleon code nathan, mrs. frederick national civic federation, national congress of mothers, national manufacturers' association national society of collegiate alumnae, national woman suffrage association nebraska nestor, agnes, nevada, new england, new haven, conn. new jersey, new mexico, new york, new york, n.y., new york telephone co., new zealand, night court. see _jefferson market court_ night work of women, north carolina north dakota, ohio, oklahoma, orange, house of, oregon, oregon case, oregon standard,_out of work_, miss kellor's palisades of the hudson, panama canal, pankhurst, mrs., paris, peace pennsylvania, persia, philadelphia, pike, violet, pittsburg, playgrounds, playgrounds association of america portland, ore., portugal potter, virginia, probation association of n.y., property law, married women's, public service league of denver, colo. puritans _resurrection_, tolstoy's, revere beach, rheinhard commission, rhode island "rights of man," ritchie paper box manufactory, robins, mrs. raymond, robinson, mrs. helen ring, rochester, n.y., industrial school, roxbury, mass., carpet mill strike, russia, sage, mrs. russell, st. louis, mo. salic law, salmon, prof. lucy maynard salt lake city, san francisco, schoenfeld, julia, scranton, pa., seneca falls convention, servant problem. see _domestic service_ shaw, dr. anna, shirt-waist makers' strike, smith, "gypsy," snowden, mrs. philip, social evil, social purity socialist party south africa, south carolina, south chicago, south dakota, spain stanton, elizabeth cady stover, charles b., succession to throne by women, sweat shop, the switzerland teacher's federation of chicago ten-hour day, tennessee texas, tillman case, turkey, tuthill, judge r.s., twentieth century club of detroit, united states government united states industrial commission, united textile workers utah vassar college, victoria, queen, virginia, voters' league for equal suffrage, wage earning, women in, washington (state), waverley house, white, mrs. lovell, "white slave" traffic whitman, charles s., wilhelmina, queen, windeguth, dora winthrop, mrs. egerton, _woman and economics_, gilman's, woman suffrage, woman suffrage party woman's christian temperance union, woman's municipal league of n.y., women, their ideals, in europe, in america, in industry, their fight against the social evil, in domestic service, collective opinion of, women's civic club of san francisco, women's club, of lake city, minn., of dallas, tex., of san francisco, of pittsburg of detroit, of philadelphia, of harrisburg, pa., of birmingham, ala., of carlisle, pa., of cranford, n.j., women's clubs women's educational and industrial union of bostonwomen's league of justice, women's political equality union, women's property act, women's trade union league working women's society wyoming, yonkers, n.y., young women's christian association proofreaders a short history of women's rights from the days of augustus to the present time. with special reference to england and the united states by eugene a. hecker _second edition revised, with additions_ to my mother preface to the second edition in this edition a chapter has been added, bringing down to date the record of the contest for equal suffrage. the summary on pages - is now largely obsolete; but it has been retained as instructive evidence of the rapid progress made during the last four years. e.a.h. cambridge, mass. _august, _. preface while making some researches in the evolution of women's rights, i was impressed by the fact that no one had ever, as far as i could discover, attempted to give a succinct account of the matter for english-speaking nations. indeed, i do not believe that any writer in any country has essayed such a task except laboulaye; and his _recherches sur la condition civile et politique des femmes_, published in , leaves much to be desired to one who is interested in the subject to-day. i have, therefore, made an effort to fill a lack. this purpose has been strengthened as i have reflected on the great amount of confused information which is absorbed by those who have no time to make investigations for themselves. accordingly, in order to present an accurate historical review, i have cited my authorities for all statements regarding which any question could be raised. this is particularly so in the chapters which deal with the condition of women under roman law, under the early christian church, and under canon law. in all these instances i have gone directly to primary sources, have investigated them myself, and have admitted no secondhand evidence. in connection with women's rights in england and in the united states i have either consulted the statutes or studied the commentaries of jurists, like messrs. pollock and maitland, whose authority cannot be doubted. to such i have given the exact references whenever they have been used. in preparing the chapter on the progress of women's lights in the united states i derived great assistance from the very exhaustive _history of woman suffrage_, edited by miss susan b. anthony, mrs. ida h. harper, and others to whose unselfish labours we are for ever indebted. from their volumes i have drawn freely; but i have not given each specific reference. the tabulation of the laws of the several states which i have given naturally cannot be entirely adequate, because the laws are being changed constantly. it is often difficult to procure the latest revised statutes. however, these laws are recent enough to illustrate the evolution of women's rights. finally, this volume was written in no hope that all readers would agree with the author, who is zealous in his cause. his purpose will be gained if he induces the reader to reflect for himself on the problem in the light of its historical development. e.a.h. cambridge, mass., . contents chapter i women's rights under roman law, b.c.- a.d. originally women were always under guardianship--but under the empire the entire equality of the sexes was recognised--women in marriage--their power over their property--divorce--women engaged in all business pursuits--instances of women suing and pleading in law--partiality of the law towards women--rights of inheritance--rights to higher education fully allowed--provision made for poor children to be educated--the vestals--female slaves--remarkable growth of humanitarianism towards slaves under the empire--sources chapter ii women and the early christian church christ laid down ethical principles but not minute regulations--the apostles affected by jewish and oriental or greek conceptions of women--examples of these--st. paul and st. peter on the position of women--the church fathers elaborated these teachings--examples of their contempt for women--mingled with admiration for particular types of women--their views of marriage--their strictures on unbecoming dress--summary of their views and how the status of women was affected by them--sources chapter iii rights of women as modified by the christian emperors old roman law not abrogated suddenly--divorce--adultery--second marriages--engagements--donations between husband and wife--sundry enactments on marriage--inheritance--guardianship--bills of attainder of christian emperors merciless, in contrast to acts of pagan predecessors--sources chapter iv women among the germanic peoples a second world force to modify the status of women--accounts of caesar and tacitus on position of women among germanic peoples--the written laws of the barbarians--guardianship--marriage--power of the husband--divorce--adultery--the church indulgent to kings--remarriage--property rights--peculiarities of the criminal law--minutely-graded fines--compurgation and ordeals--innocence tested by the woman walking over red-hot ploughshares--women in slavery--comparison of position of women under roman and under germanic laws--influence of theology--sources chapter v digression on the later history of roman law explanation of the various social and political forces which affected the position of women in the middle ages chapter vi the canon law and the attitude of the roman catholic church canon law reaffirms the subjection of women--women and marriage--protection to women--divorce--cardinal gibbons on protection of injured wives by popes--catholic church has no divorce--but it allows fourteen reasons for declaring marriage null and void and leaving a husband or wife free to remarry--some of these explained--diriment impediments and dispensations--historical instances of the roman church's inconsistency--attitude towards women at present day--opinions of cardinals gibbon and moran, and rev. david barry and rev. william humphrey--sources chapter vii women's rights in england single women have always had private rights--but males preferred in inheritance--examples--power of parents--husband and wife--wife completely controlled by husband--he could beat her and own all her property--recent abrogation of the husband's power--divorce--jeremy taylor and others on duty of women to bear husband's sins with meekness--injustice of the present law of divorce--rape and the age of legal consent--progress of the rights to an education--women in the professions--woman suffrage--sources chapter viii women's rights in the united states examples of the early opposition to women's rights--age of consent--single women--history of agitation for women's rights--convention of --progress after the civil war--beginnings of higher education--first women in medicine--and in law, the ministry, journalism, and industry--status of women in all the states in --sources chapter ix general considerations the five arguments commonly used against equal suffrage--the theological--the physiological--the social or political--the intellectual--the moral--lecky on the nature of women--the old and the new conception--thomas on the power of custom--taboo--all evolution accompanied by some extravagance--macaulay on liberty--the double standard of morality--co-operation--the proper sphere for a human being--discrepancies of wages--legal evolution in the interpretation of labour laws--the alarmist view of divorce chapter x further considerations the rapid spread of suffrage throughout the world--table of suffrage gains from early times to present date--in national politics in the united states--attack on the suffrage parade and colloquy between mr. hobson and mr. mann on the subject--suffrage amendment defeated in the senate--mr. heflin's remarks in the house--mr. falconer replies--president wilson refuses to take a stand--amendment lost--mr. bryan on suffrage--examples of legislation to protect women passed recently--the tendency is to complete equality of the sexes--suffrage in england--a delayed reform in divorce--women's rights on the continent--especially in germany--schopenhauer's views of women--further remarks on the philosophy of suffrage--"woman's sphere"--ultimate results of women entering all businesses and professions--feminism--the home is not necessarily every woman's sphere and neither is motherhood nor is it her congenital duty to make herself attractive to men--unreasonableness of gratuitous advice to women and none to men--what we don't know--fallacy of the argument that the fall of the roman empire was due to the liberty given to woman--official organs of various suffrage societies index a short history of women's rights chapter i women's rights under roman law, from augustus to justinian-- b.c. to a.d. [sidenote: guardianship.] the age of legal capability for the roman woman was after the twelfth year, at which period she was permitted to make a will.[ ] however, she was by no means allowed to do so entirely on her own account, but only under supervision.[ ] this superintendence was vested in the father or, if he was dead, in a guardian[ ]; if the woman was married, the power belonged to the husband. the consent of such supervision, whether of father, husband, or guardian, was essential, as ulpian informs us,[ ] under these circumstances: if the woman entered into any legal action, obligation, or civil contract; if she wished her freedwoman to cohabit with another's slave; if she desired to free a slave; if she sold any things _mancipi_, that is, such as estates on italian soil, houses, rights of road or aqueduct, slaves, and beasts of burden. throughout her life a woman was supposed to remain absolutely under the power[ ] of father, husband, or guardian, and to do nothing without their consent. in ancient times, indeed, this authority was so great that the father and husband could, after calling a family council, put the woman to death without public trial.[ ] the reason that women were so subjected to guardianship was "on account of their unsteadiness of character,"[ ] "the weakness of the sex," and their "ignorance of legal matters."[ ] under certain circumstances, however, women became _sui iuris_ or entirely independent: i. by the birth of three children (a freedwoman by four)[ ]; ii. by becoming a vestal virgin, of whom there were but six[ ]; iii. by a formal emancipation, which took place rarely, and then often only with a view of transferring the power from one guardian to another.[ ] even when _sui iuris_ a woman could not acquire power over any one, not even over her own children[ ]; for these an agnate--a male relative on the father's side--was appointed guardian, and the mother was obliged to render him and her children an account of any property which she had managed for them.[ ] on the other hand, her children were bound to support her.[ ] [sidenote: digression on the growth of respect for women] so much for the laws on the subject. they seem rigorous enough, and in early times were doubtless executed with strictness. a marked feature, however, of the roman character, a peculiarity which at once strikes the student of their history as compared with that of the greeks, was their great respect for the home and the _materfamilias_. the stories of lucretia, cloelia, virginia, cornelia, arria, and the like, familiar to every roman schoolboy, must have raised greatly the esteem in which women were held. as rome became a world power, the romans likewise grew in breadth of view, in equity, and in tolerance. the political influence wielded by women[ ] was as great during the first three centuries after christ as it has ever been at any period of the world's history; and the powers of a livia, an agrippina, a plotina, did not fail to show pointedly what a woman could do. in the early days of the republic women who touched wine were severely punished and male relatives were accustomed solemnly to kiss them, if haply they might discover the odour of drink on their breath.[ ] valerius maximus tells us that egnatius mecenas, a roman knight, beat his wife to death for drinking wine.[ ] cato the censor ( - b.c.) dilated with joy on the fact that a woman could be condemned to death by her husband for adultery without a public trial, whereas men were allowed any number of infidelities without censure.[ ] the senator metellus ( b.c.) lamented that nature had made it necessary to have women.[ ] the boorish cynicism of a cato and a metellus--though it never expressed the real feelings of the majority of romans--gave way, however, under the empire to a generous expression of the equality of the sexes in the realms of morality and of intellect. "i know what you may say," writes seneca to marcia,[ ] "'you have forgotten that you are consoling a woman; you cite examples of fortitude on the part of men.' but who said that nature had acted scurvily with the characters of women and had contracted their virtues into a narrow sphere? equal force, believe me, is possessed by them; equal capability for what is honorable, if they so wish." the emperor marcus aurelius gratefully recalls that from his mother he learned piety and generosity, and to refrain not only from doing ill, but even from thinking it, and simplicity of life, far removed from the ostentatious display of wealth.[ ] the passionate attachment of men like quintilian and pliny to their wives exhibits an equality based on love that would do honour to the most christian households.[ ] all roman historians speak with great admiration of the many heroic deeds performed by women and are fond of citing conspicuous examples of conjugal affection.[ ] the masterly and sympathetic delineation of dido in the _aeneid_ shows how deeply a roman could appreciate the character of a noble woman. in the numerous provisions for the public education at the state's expense girls were given the same opportunities and privileges as boys; there were five thousand boys and girls educated by trajan alone.[ ] [sidenote: decay of the power or the guardian.] such are a few examples of the growth of respect for women; and we should naturally conclude that, as time progressed, the unjust laws of guardianship would no longer be executed to the letter, even though the hard statutes were not formally expunged. this was the case during the first three centuries after christ, as is patent from many sources. it is to be borne in mind that because a law is on the books, does not mean necessarily that it is enforced. a law is no stronger than public opinion. of this anomaly there are plenty of instances even to-day--the blue laws of massachusetts, for example. "that women of mature age should be under guardianship," writes the great jurist gaius[ ] in the second century, "seems to have no valid reason as foundation. for what is commonly believed, to the effect that on account of unsteadiness of character they are generally hoodwinked, and that, therefore, it is right for them to be governed by the authority of a guardian, seems rather specious than true. as a matter of fact, women of mature age do manage their own affairs, and in certain cases the guardian interposes his authority as a mere formality; frequently, indeed, he is forced by the supreme judge to lend his authority against his will." ulpian, too, hints at the really slight power of the guardian in his day, that is, the first three decades of the third century. "in the case of male and female wards under age, the guardians both manage their affairs and interpose their authority; but in the case of mature women they merely interpose their authority."[ ] the woman had, in practice, become free to manage her property as she wished; the function of the legal guardian was simply to see to it that no one should attempt a fraud against her. adequately to observe the decay of the vassalage of women, we must investigate the story of their rights in all its forms; and the position of women in marriage will next occupy our attention. [sidenote: women and marriage.] as in all southern countries where women mature early, the roman girl usually married young; twelve years were required by custom for her to reach the marriageable age.[ ] in the earlier period a woman was acquired as wife in three different ways: i. by _coemptio_--a mock sale to her husband[ ]; ii. by _confarreatio_--a solemn marriage with peculiar sacred rites to qualify men and women and their children for certain priesthoods[ ]; iii. by _usus_, or acquisition by prescription. a woman became a man's legal wife by _usus_ if he had lived with her one full year and if, during that time, she had not been absent from him for more than three successive nights.[ ] all these forms, however, had either been abolished by law or had fallen into desuetude during the second century of our era, as is evident from gaius.[ ] a man could marry even if not present personally; a woman could not.[ ] the woman's parents or guardians were accustomed to arrange a match for her,[ ] as they still do in many parts of europe. yet the power of the father to coerce his daughter was limited. her consent was important. "a marriage cannot exist," remarks paulus, "unless all parties consent."[ ] julianus writes also that the daughter must give her permission[ ]; yet the statement of ulpian which immediately follows in the digest shows that she had not complete free will in the matter: "it is understood that she who does not oppose the wishes of her father gives consent. but a daughter is allowed to object only in case her father chooses for her a man of unworthy or disgraceful character."[ ] the son had an advantage here, because he could never be forced into a marriage against his will.[ ] the consent of the father was always necessary for a valid marriage.[ ] he could not by will compel his daughter to marry a certain person.[ ] after she was married, he still retained power over her, unless she became independent by the birth of three children; but this was largely to protect her and represent her in court against her husband if necessity should arise.[ ] a father was not permitted to break up a harmonious[ ] marriage; he could not get back his daughter's dowry without her consent,[ ] nor force her to return to her husband after a divorce[ ]; and he was punished with loss of citizenship if he made a match for a widowed daughter before the legal time of mourning for her husband had expired.[ ] a daughter passed completely out of the power of her father only if she became _sui iuris_ by the birth of three children or if she became a vestal, or again if she married a special priest of jupiter (_flamen dialis_), in which case, however, she passed completely into the power of her husband. under all circumstances a daughter must not only show respect for her father, but also furnish him with the necessaries of life if he needed them.[ ] [sidenote: "breach of promise."] under the empire no such thing as a "breach of promise" suit was permitted, although in the days of the republic the party who broke a promise to marry had been liable to a suit for damages.[ ] but this had now disappeared, and either party could break off the betrothal at pleasure without prejudice.[ ] whatever gifts had been given might be demanded back.[ ] the engagement had to be formally broken off before either party could enter into marriage or betrothal with another; otherwise he or she lost civil status.[ ] while an engagement lasted, the man could bring an action for damages against any one who insulted or injured his fiancée.[ ] [sidenote: husband and wife.] the roman marriage was a purely civil contract based on consent.[ ] the definition given by the law was a noble one. "marriage is the union of a man and a woman and a partnership of all life; a mutual sharing of laws human and divine."[ ] the power of the husband over the wife was called _manus_; and the wife stood in the same position as a daughter.[ ] no husband was allowed to have a concubine.[ ] he was bound to support his wife adequately, look out for her interests,[ ] and strictly to avenge any insult or injury offered her[ ]; any abusive treatment of the wife by the husband was punished by an action for damages[ ]. a wife was compelled by law to go into solemn mourning for a space of ten months upon the death of a husband[ ]. during the period of mourning she was to abstain from social banquets, jewels, and crimson and white garments[ ]. if she did not do so, she lost civil status. the emperor gordian, in the year , remitted these laws so far as solemn clothing and other external signs of mourning above enumerated were concerned.[ ] but a husband was not compelled to do any legal mourning for the death of his wife.[ ] the wife was, as i have said, in the power of her husband. originally, no doubt, this power was absolute; the husband could even put his wife to death without a public trial. but the world was progressing, and that during the first three centuries after christ the power of the husband was reduced in practice to absolute nullity i shall make clear in the following pages. i shall, accordingly, first investigate the rights of the wife over her dowry, that is, the right of managing her own property. even from earliest times it is clear that the wife had complete control of her dowry. the henpecked husband who is afraid of offending his wealthy wife is a not uncommon figure in the comedies of plautus and terence; and cato the censor growled in his usual amiable manner at the fact that wives even in his day controlled completely their own property.[ ] the attitude of the roman law on the subject is clearly expressed. "it is for the good of the state that women have their dowries inviolate."[ ] "the dowry is always and everywhere a chief concern; for it is for the public good that dowries be retained for women, since it is highly necessary that they be dowered in order to bring forth offspring and replenish the state with children."[ ] "it is just that the income of the dowry belong to the husband; for inasmuch as it is he who stands the burdens of the married state, it is fair that he also acquire the interest."[ ] "nevertheless, the dowry belongs to the woman, even though it is in the goods of the husband."[ ] "a husband is not permitted to alienate his wife's estate against her will."[ ] a wife could use her dowry during marriage to support herself, if necessary, or her kindred, to buy a suitable estate, to help an exiled parent, or to assist a needy husband, brother, or sister. the numerous accounts in various authors of the first three centuries after christ confirm the statement that the woman's power over her dowry was absolute.[ ] then as now, a man might put his property in his wife's name to escape his creditors,[ ]--a useless proceeding, if she had not had complete control of her own property. when the woman died, her dowry, if it had been given by the father (_dos profecticia_) returned to the latter; but if any one else had given it (_dos adventicia_), the dowry remained with the husband, unless the donor had expressly stipulated that it was to be returned to himself at the woman's death (_dos recepticia_),[ ] in the case of a dowry of the first kind, the husband might retain what he had expended for his wife's funeral.[ ] the dowry was confiscated to the state if the woman was convicted of lèse majesté, violence against the state, or murder.[ ] if she suffered punishment involving loss of civil status under any other law which did not assess the penalty of confiscation, the husband acquired the dowry just as if she were dead. banishment operated as no impediment; if the woman wished to leave her husband under these circumstances, her father could recover the dowry.[ ] a further confirmation of the power of the wife over her property is the law that prohibited gifts between husband and wife; obviously, a woman could not be said to have the power of making a gift if she had no right of property of her own. the object of the law mentioned was to prevent the husband and wife from receiving any lasting damage to his or her property by giving of it under the impulse of conjugal affection.[ ] this statute acted powerfully to prevent a husband from wheedling a wife out of her goods; and in case the latter happened to be of a grasping disposition the law was a protection to the husband and hence to the children, his heirs, for whose interests the roman law constantly provided. gifts between husband and wife were nevertheless valid under certain conditions. it was permissible to make a present of clothing and to bestow various tokens of affection, such as ornaments. the husband could present his wife with enough money to rebuild a house of hers which had burned.[ ] the emperor marcus aurelius permitted a wife to give her husband the sum necessary to obtain public office or to become a senator or knight or to give public games.[ ] a gift was also legal if made by the husband in apprehension that death might soon overtake him; if, for instance, he was very sick or was setting out to war, or to exile, or on a dangerous journey.[ ] the point in all gifts was, that neither party should become richer by the donation.[ ] some further considerations of the relation of husband and wife will aid in setting forth the high opinion which roman law entertained of marriage and its constant effort to protect the wife as much as possible. a wife could not be held in a criminal action if she committed theft against her husband. the various statements of the jurists make the matter clear. thus paulus[ ]: "a special action for the recovery of property removed [_rerum amotarum iudicium_] has been introduced against her who was a wife, because it has been decided that it is not possible to bring a criminal action for theft against her [_quid non placuit cum ea furti agere posse_]. some--as nerva cassius--think she cannot even commit theft, on the ground that the partnership in life made her mistress, as it were. others--like sabinus and proculus--hold that the wife can commit theft, just as a daughter may against her father, but that there can be no criminal action by established law." "as a mark of respect to the married state, an action involving disgrace for the wife is refused."[ ] "therefore she will be held for theft if she touches the same things after being divorced. so, too, if her slave commits theft, we can sue her on the charge. but it is possible to bring an action for theft even against a wife, if she has stolen from him whose heirs we are or before she married us; nevertheless, as a mark of respect we say that in each case a formal claim for restitution alone is admissible, but not an action for theft."[ ] "if any one lends help or advice to a wife who is filching the property of her husband, he shall be held for theft. if he commits theft with her, he shall be held for theft, although the woman herself is not held."[ ] a husband who did not avenge the murder of his wife lost all claims to her dowry, which was then confiscated to the state; this by order of the emperor severus.[ ] the laws on adultery are rather more lenient to the woman than to the man. in the first place, the roman law insisted that it was unfair for a husband to demand chastity on the part of his wife if he himself was guilty of infidelity or did not set her an example of good conduct,[ ]--a maxim which present day lawyers may reflect upon with profit. a father was permitted to put to death his daughter and her paramour if she was still in his power and if he caught her in the act at his own house or that of his son-in-law; otherwise he could not.[ ] he must, however, put both man and woman to death at once, when caught in the act; to reserve punishment to a later date was unlawful. the husband was not permitted to kill his wife; he might kill her paramour if the latter was a man of low estate, such as an actor, slave, or freedman, or had been convicted on some criminal charge involving loss of citizenship.[ ] the reason that the father was given the power which was denied the husband was that the latter's resentment would be more likely to blind his power of judging dispassionately the merits of the case.[ ] if now the husband forgot himself and slew his wife, he was banished for life if of noble birth, and condemned to perpetual hard labour if of more humble rank.[ ] he must at once divorce a wife guilty of adultery; otherwise he was punished as a pander, and that meant loss of citizenship.[ ] women convicted of adultery were, when not put to death, punished by the loss of half their dowry, a third part of their other goods, and relegation to an island; guilty men suffered the loss of half of their possessions and similar relegation to an island; but the guilty parties were never confined in the same place.[ ] we have mention also in several writers of some curious and vicious punishments that might be inflicted on men guilty of adultery.[ ] now, all this seems rigorous enough; but, as i have already remarked, we must beware of imagining that a statute is enforced simply because it stands in the code. as a matter of fact, public sentiment had grown so humane in the first three centuries after christ that it did not for a moment tolerate that a father should kill his daughter, no matter how guilty she was; and in all our records of that period no instance occurs. as to husbands, we have repeated complaints in the literature of the day that they had grown so complaisant towards erring wives that they could not be induced to prosecute them.[ ] a typical instance is related by pliny.[ ] pliny was summoned by the emperor trajan to attend a council where, among other cases, that of a certain gallitta was discussed. she had married a military tribune and had committed adultery with a common captain (_centurio_). trajan sent the captain into exile. the husband took no measures against his wife, but went on living with her. only by coercion was he finally induced to prosecute. pliny informs us that the guilty woman had to be condemned, even against the will of her accuser. a woman guilty of incest received no punishment, but the guilty man was deported to an island.[ ] if the incest involved adultery, the woman was of course held on that charge. [sidenote: divorce] we come now to a matter where the growing freedom of women reached its highest point--the matter of divorce. here again we have to note the progress of toleration and humanitarianism. in the early days of the republic the family tie was rarely severed. valerius maximus tells us[ ] of a quaint custom of the olden days, to the effect that "whenever any quarrel arose between husband and wife, they would proceed to the chapel of the goddess viriplaca ["reconciler of husbands"], which is on the palatine, and there they would mutually express their feelings; then, laying aside their anger, they returned home reconciled." during these days a woman could never herself take the initiative in divorce; the husband was all-powerful. the first divorce of which we have any record took place in the year b.c., when spurius carvilius ruga put away his wife for sterility. public opinion censured him severely for it "because people thought that not even the desire for children ought to have been preferred to conjugal fidelity and affection."[ ] as the empire extended and rome became more worldly and corrupt, the reasons for divorce became more trivial. sempronius sophus divorced his wife because she had attended some public games without his knowledge.[ ] cicero, who was a lofty moralist--on paper,--put away his wife terentia in order to marry a rich young ward and get her money if he could. maecenas, the great prime-minister of augustus, sent away and took back his wife repeatedly at caprice--perhaps he believed that variety is the spice of life. but during all this time the husband alone could annul marriage.[ ] gradually, however, the status of women changed and they were given greater and greater liberty. inasmuch as roman marriage was a civil contract based on consent, strict justice had to allow that on this basis either party to the contract might annul the marriage at his or her pleasure. the result was that during the first three centuries after christ the wife had absolute freedom to take the initiative and send her husband a divorce whenever and for whatever reason she wished. the proof of this fact is positively established not only from the statements of the jurists, but also from numberless accounts in the other writers of the day.[ ] divorce became, at least among the higher strata of society, extraordinarily frequent. that a lady of the upper four hundred should have been content with only one husband was deemed worthy of special mention on her tomb; the word _univira_ (a woman of one husband) may still be read on certain inscriptions. the satirists are fond of dwelling on the license allowed to women in the case of divorce. martial, for instance,[ ] says that one theselina married ten husbands in one month. still, allowing for the natural exaggeration of satirists, we are yet reasonably sure that divorce had reached great heights in the upper classes. whether it was as bad among the middle classes is very improbable. there was one kind of marriage which, originally at least, did not admit of dissolution.[ ] this was the solemn marriage by _confarreatio_, already described, which qualified the husband and wife for the special priesthood of jupiter. women soon grew to value their freedom too highly to enter it; as early as a.d. the senate had to relax some of the rigour of the old laws on the matter as a special inducement for women to consent to enter this union.[ ] we may now observe what became of the wife's property after divorce and what her rights were under such circumstances. if it was the husband who had taken the initiative and had sent his wife a divorce, and if the divorce was not the fault of the woman, she at once had an action in law for complete recovery of her dowry; on her own responsibility if she was _sui iuris_, otherwise with the help of her father.[ ] but even the woman still under guardianship could act by herself if her father was too sick or infirm or if she had no other agent to act for her.[ ] for the offence of adultery a husband had to pay back the dowry at once; for lesser guilt he might return it in instalments at intervals of six months.[ ] if, now, the divorce was clearly the fault of the woman, her husband could retain certain parts of the dowry in these proportions: for adultery, a sixth part for each of the children up to one half of the whole; for lighter offences, an eighth part; if the husband had gone to expense or had incurred civil obligations for his wife's benefit or if she had removed any of his property, he could recover the amount.[ ] a year and six months must elapse after a divorce before the woman was allowed to marry again.[ ] if at the time of the divorce she was pregnant, her husband was obliged to support her offspring, provided that within thirty days after the separation she informed him of her condition.[ ] she could sue her former husband for damages if he insulted her.[ ] whether the children should stay with the mother or father was left to the discretion of the judge.[ ] [sidenote: property rights of widows and single women.] the married woman had, as i have shown, complete disposal of her own property. let us see next what rights those women had over their possessions who were widows or spinsters. roman law constantly strove to protect the children and laid it down as a maxim that the property of their parents belonged to them.[ ] a widow could not therefore, except by special permission from the emperor,[ ] be the legal guardian of her children, but must ask the court to appoint one upon the death of her husband.[ ] this was to prevent possible mismanagement and because "to undertake the legal defence of others is the office of men."[ ] but she was permitted to assume complete charge of her children's property during their minority and enjoy the usufruct; only she must render an account of the goods when the children arrived at maturity.[ ] we have many instances of women who managed their children's patrimony and did it exceedingly well. "you managed our patrimony in such wise," writes seneca to his mother,[ ] "that you exerted yourself as if it were yours and yet abstained from it as if it belonged to others."[ ] agricola, father-in-law of tacitus, had such confidence in his wife's business ability that he made her co-heir with his daughter and the emperor domitian.[ ] a mother could get an injunction to restrain extravagance on the part of her children.[ ] women could not adopt.[ ] married women, spinsters, and widows had as much freedom as men in disposing of property by will. if there were children, the roman law put certain limitations on the testator's powers, whether man or woman. by the falcidian law no one was allowed to divert more than three fourths of his estate from his (or her) natural heirs.[ ] but for any adequate cause a woman could disinherit her children completely; and there are many instances of this extant both in the law books and in the literature of the day.[ ] single women had grown absolutely unshackled and even their guardians had become a mere formality, as the words of gaius, already quoted (page ) prove. that they had complete disposal of their property is proved furthermore by the numerous complaints in roman authors about the sycophants who flattered and toadied the wealthy ladies with an eye to being remembered in their wills.[ ] for it is evident that if these women had not had the power freely to dispose of their own property, there would have been no point in paying them such assiduous court. the legal age of maturity was now twenty-five for both male and female. [sidenote: women engaged in business pursuits.] women engaged freely in all business pursuits. we find them in all kinds of retail trade and commerce,[ ] as members of guilds,[ ] in medicin[ ] innkeeping,[ ] in vaudevil[ ]; there were even female barbers[ ] and charioteer[ ]. examples of women who toiled for a living with their own hands are indeed very old, as the widow, described by homer, who worked for a scanty wage to support her fatherless children, or the wreathmaker, mentioned by aristophanes.[ ] but such was the case only with women of the lower classes; the lady of high birth acted through her agents.[ ] [sidenote: the right of women to sue.] when so many women were engaged in business, occasions for lawsuits would naturally arise; we shall see next what power the woman had to sue. it was a standing maxim of the law that a woman by herself could not conduct a case in court.[ ] she had to act through her agent, if she was independent, otherwise through her guardian. the supreme judge at rome and the governor in a province assigned an attorney to those who had no agent or guardian.[ ] but in this case again custom and the law were at variance. various considerations will make it clear that women who sued had, in practice, complete disposal of the matter. i.--a woman who was still under the power of her father must, according to law, sue with him as her agent or appoint an agent to act with him. nevertheless, a father could do nothing without the consent of his daughter.[ ] obviously, then, so far as the power of the father was concerned, a woman had practically the management of her suit. ii.--the husband had no power. if he tried to browbeat her as to what to do, she could send him a divorce, a privilege which she had at her beck and call, as we have seen; and then she could force him to give her any guardian she wanted.[ ] iii.--that the authority of other guardians was in practice a mere formality, i have already proved (pp. and ). from these considerations it is clear that the woman's wishes were supreme in the conduct of any suit. moreover, the law expressly states that women may appoint whatever attorneys or agents they desire, without asking the consent of their legal guardians[ ]; and thus they were at liberty to select a man who would manage things as they might direct. there were cases where even the strict letter of the law permitted women to lay an action on their own responsibility alone: if, when a suit for recovery of dowry was brought, the father was absent or hindered by infirmities[ ]; if the woman sued or was sued to get or render an account of property managed in trust[ ]; to avenge the death of a parent or children, or of patron or patroness and their children[ ]; to lay bare any matter pertaining to the public grain supply[ ]; and to disclose cases of treason.[ ] [sidenote: instances of women pleading in public and suing.] we read of many cases of women pleading publicly and bringing suit. indeed, according to juvenal--who is, however, a pessimist by profession--the ladies found legal proceedings so interesting that bringing suit became a passion with them as strong as it had once been among the athenians. thus juvenal[ ]: "there is almost no case in which a woman wouldn't bring suit. manilia prosecutes, when she isn't a defendant. they draw up briefs quite by themselves, and are ready to cite principles and authorities to celsus [a celebrated lawyer of that time]." of pleading in public one of the celebrated instances was that of hortensia, daughter of the great orator quintus hortensius, cicero's rival. on an occasion when matrons had been burdened with heavy taxes and none of their husbands would fight the measure, hortensia pleaded the case publicly with great success. all writers speak of her action and the eloquence of her speech with great admiration.[ ] we hear also of a certain gaia afrania, wife of a senator; she always conducted her case herself before the supreme judge, "not because there was any lack of lawyers," adds her respectable and scandalised historian,[ ] "but because she had more than enough of impudence." quintilian mentions several cases of women being sued[ ]; pliny tells how he acted as attorney for some[ ]; and the law books will supply any one curious in the matter with abundant examples.[ ] a quotation from pliny[ ] will give an idea of the kind of suit a woman might bring, and the great interest aroused thereby: "attia viriola, a woman of illustrious birth and married to a former supreme judge, was disinherited by her eighty-year-old father within eleven days after he had brought attia a stepmother. attia was trying to regain her share of her father's estate. one hundred and eighty jurors sat in judgment. the tribunal was crowded, and from the higher part of the court both men and women strained over the railings in their eagerness to hear (which was difficult), and to see (which was easy)." [sidenote: partiality of the law to women.] there were many legal qualifications designed to help women evade the strict letter of the law when this, if enforced absolutely, would work injustice. ignorance of the law, if there was no criminal offence involving good morals, was particularly accepted in the case of women "on account of the weakness of the sex."[ ] a typical instance of the growth of the desire to help women, protect them as much as possible, and stretch the laws in their favour, may be taken from the senatorial decree known as the senatus consultum velleianum.[ ] this was an order forbidding females to become sureties or defendants for any one in a contract. but at the end of the first century of our era the senate voted that the law be emended to help women and to give them special privileges in every class of contract. "we must praise the farsightedness of that illustrious order," comments the great jurist ulpian,[ ] "because it brought aid to women on account of the weakness of the sex, exposed, as it is, to many mishaps of this sort." [sidenote: rights of women to inherit.] the rights of women to inherit under roman law deserve some mention. here again we may note a steady growth of justice. some general examples will make this clearer, before i treat of the specific powers of inheritance. i.--in the year b.c. the tribune quintus voconius saxa had a law passed which restricted greatly the rights of women to inherit.[ ] according to dio[ ] no woman was, by this statute, permitted to receive more than , sesterces-- dollars. in the second century after christ, this law had fallen into complete desuetude.[ ] ii.--by the falcidian law, passed in the latter part of the first century b.c., no citizen was allowed to divert more than three fourths of his estate from his natural heirs.[ ] the romans felt strongly against any man who disinherited his children without very good reason; the will of such a parent was called _inofficiosum_, "made without a proper feeling of duty," and the disinherited children had an action at law to recover their proper share.[ ] a daughter was considered a natural heir no less than a son and had equal privileges in succession[ ]; and so women were bound to receive some inheritance at least. iii.--it is a sad commentary on christian rulers that for many ages they allowed the crimes of the father to be visited upon his children and by their bills of attainder confiscated to the state the goods of condemned offenders. now, the roman law stated positively that "the crime or punishment of a father can inflict no stigma on his child."[ ] so far as the goods of the father were concerned, the property of three kinds of criminals escheated to the crown: ( ) those who committed suicide while under indictment for some crime,[ ] ( ) forgers,[ ] ( ) those guilty of high treason[ ]. yet it seems reasonable to doubt whether these laws were very often carried out strictly to the letter. for example, the law did indeed hold that the estate of a party guilty of treason was confiscated to the state[ ]; but even here it was expressly ordained that the goods of the condemned man's freedmen be reserved for his children.[ ] moreover, in actual practice we can find few instances where the law was executed in its literal severity even under the worst tyrants. it was julius caesar who first set the splendid example of allowing to the children of his dead foes full enjoyment of their patrimonies.[ ] succeeding emperors followed the precedent.[ ] tyrants like tiberius and nero, strangely enough, in a majority of cases overruled the senate when it proposed to confiscate the goods of those condemned for treason, and allowed the children a large part or all of the paternal estate.[ ] hadrian gave the children of proscribed offenders the twelfth part of their father's goods.[ ] antoninus pius gave them all.[ ] there was a strong public feeling against bills of attainder and this sentiment is voiced by all writers of the empire. the law forbade wives to suffer any loss for any fault of their husbands.[ ] since we have now noticed that women could inherit any amount, that they were bound to receive something under their fathers' wills, and that the guilt of their kin could inflict no prejudice upon them in the way of bills of attainder involving physical injury or civil status and, in practice, little loss so far as inheriting property was concerned, we may pass to a contemplation of the specific legal rights of inheritance of women. if women were to be disinherited, it was sufficient to mention them in an aggregate; but males must be mentioned specifically.[ ] if, however, they were disinherited in an aggregate (_inter ceteros_), some legacy had to be left them that they might not seem to have been passed over through forgetfulness.[ ] i shall not concern myself particularly with testate succession, because here obviously the will of the testator could dispose as he wished, except in so far as he was limited by the falcidian law. the matter of intestate succession may well claim our attention; for therein we shall see what powers of inheritance were given the female sex. the general principles are explained by gaius (iii, - ); and these principles followed, in the main, the law as laid down in the twelve tables ( b.c.). according to these, the estates of those who died intestate belonged first of all to the children who were in the power of the deceased at the time of his death; there was no distinction of sex; the daughters were entitled to precisely the same amount as the sons.[ ] if the children of the testator had died, the grandson or granddaughter _through the son_ succeeded; or the great-grandson or great-granddaughter through the _grandson_. if a son a daughter were alive, as well as grandsons and granddaughters through the _son_, they were all equally called to the estate. the estate was not divided per capita, but among families as a whole; for example, if of two sons one only was alive, but the other had left children, the testator's surviving son received one half of the patrimony and his grandchildren through his other son the other half, to be divided among them severally. if, then, there were six grandchildren, each received one twelfth of the estate. here the powers of women to inherit stopped. beyond the tie of _consanguinitas_, that is, that of daughter to father, or granddaughter through a _son_, the female line must at once turn aside, and had no powers; the estate descended to the _agnati_, that is, male relatives on the father's side. hence a mother was shut out by a brother of the deceased or by that brother's children. if there were no _agnati_, the goods were given to the _gentiles_, male relatives of the clan bearing the same name. in fact, under this régime we may say that of the female line the daughter alone was sure of inheriting something. in the days of the empire some attempts were made to be more just. it was enacted[ ] that all the children should be called to the estate, whether they had been under the power of the testator at the time of his death or not; and female relatives were now allowed to come in for their share "in the third degree," that is, if there was neither a child or an agnate surviving. this was not much of an improvement; and the principle of agnate succession is the only point in which roman law failed to give to women those equal rights which it allowed them in other cases. [sidenote: protection of property of children.] there is no point on which roman law laid more stress than that the children, both male and female, were to be constantly protected and must receive their legal share of their father's or mother's goods. after a husband's divorce or death his wife could, indeed, enjoy possession of the property and the usufruct; but the principal had to be conserved intact for the children until they arrived at maturity. in the same way a father was obliged to keep untouched for the children whatever had been left them by the mother on her decease[ ]; and he must also leave them that part, at least, of his own property prescribed by the falcidian law. a case--and it was common enough in real life--such as that described by dickens in _david copperfield_, where, by the english law, a second husband acquired absolute right over his wife's property and shut out her son, would have been impossible under roman law. neither husband nor wife could succeed to one another's intestate estate absolutely unless there were no children, parents, or other relatives living.[ ] [sidenote: punishment of crimes against women.] rape of a woman was punished by death; accessories to the crime merited the same penalty.[ ] indecent exposure before a virgin met with punishment out of course.[ ] kidnapping was penalised by hard labour in the mines or by crucifixion in the case of those of humble birth, and by confiscation of half the goods and by perpetual exile in the case of a noble.[ ] temporary exile was visited upon those guilty of abortion themselves[ ]; if it was caused through the agency of another, the agent, even though he or she did so without evil intent, was punished by hard labour in the mines, if of humble birth, and by relegation to an island and confiscation of part of their goods, if of noble rank.[ ] if the victim died, the person who caused the abortion was put to death.[ ] [sidenote: rights of women to an education.] the rights of women to an education were not questioned. that sulpicia could publish amatory poems in honour of her husband and receive eulogies from writers like martial[ ] shows that she and ladies like her occupied somewhat the same position as olympia morata and tarquinia molza later in italy during the renaissance, or like some of the celebrated frenchwomen, such as madame de staël. seneca addresses a _dialogue on consolation_ to one marcia; such an idea would have made the hair of any athenian gentleman in the time of socrates stand on end. aspasia was obliged to be a courtesan in order to become educated and to frequent cultivated society[ ]; sulpicia was a noble matron in good standing. the world had not stood still since socrates had requested some one to take xanthippe home, lest he be burdened by her sympathy in his last moments. pains were taken that the roman girl of wealth should have special tutors.[ ] "pompeius saturninus recently read me some letters," writes pliny[ ] to one of his correspondents, "which he insisted had been written by his wife. i believed that plautus or terence was being read in prose. whether they are really his wife's, as he maintains; or his own, which he denies; he deserves equal honour, either because he composes them, or because he has made his wife, whom he married when a mere girl, so learned and polished." the enthusiasm of the ladies for literature is attested by persius.[ ] according to juvenal, who, as an orthodox satirist, was not fond of the weaker sex, women sometimes became over-educated. he growls as follows[ ]: "that woman is a worse nuisance than usual who, as soon as she goes to bed, praises vergil; makes excuses for doomed dido; pits bards against one another and compares them; and weighs homer and maro in the balance. teachers of literature give way, professors are vanquished, the whole mob is hushed, and no lawyer or auctioneer will speak, nor any other woman." the prospect of a learned wife filled the orthodox roman with peculiar horror.[ ] no roman woman ever became a public professor as did hypatia or, ages later, bitisia gozzadina, who, in the thirteenth century, became doctor of canon and civil law at the university of bologna. i have been speaking of women of the wealthier classes; but the poor were not neglected. as far back as the time of the twelve tables-- b.c.--parents of moderate means were accustomed to club together and hire a schoolroom and a teacher who would instruct the children, girls no less than boys, in at least the proverbial three r's. virginia was on her way to such a school when she encountered the passionate gaze of appius claudius. such grammar schools, which boys and girls attended together, flourished under the empire as they had under the republic.[ ] they were not connected with the state, being supported by the contributions of individual parents. to the end we cannot say that there was a definite scheme of public education for girls at the state's expense as there was for boys.[ ] still, the emperors did something. trajan, hadrian, antoninus pius, marcus aurelius, and alexander severus, for example, regularly supplied girls and boys with education at public expense[ ]; under trajan there were children so honoured. public-spirited citizens were also accustomed to contribute liberally to the same cause; pliny on one occasion[ ] gave the equivalent of $ , for the support and instruction of indigent boys and girls. [sidenote: the vestals.] it may not be out of place to speak briefly of the vestal virgins, the six priestesses of vesta, who are the only instances in pagan antiquity of anything like the nuns of the christians. the vestals took a vow of perpetual chastity.[ ] they passed completely out of the power of their parents and became entirely independent. they could not receive the inheritance of any person who died intestate, and no one could become heir to a vestal who died intestate. they were allowed to be witnesses in court in public trials, a privilege denied other women. peculiar honour was accorded them and they were regularly appointed the custodians of the wills of the emperors.[ ] [sidenote: female slaves.] the position of women in slavery merits some attention, in view of the huge multitudes that were held in bondage. roman law acknowledged no legal rights on the part of slaves[ ]. the master had absolute power of life and death.[ ] they were exposed to every whim of master or mistress without redress.[ ] if some one other than their owner harmed them they might obtain satisfaction through their master and for his benefit; but the penalty for the aggressor was only pecuniary.[ ] a slave's evidence was never admitted except under torture.[ ] if a master was killed, every slave of his household and even his freedmen and freedwomen were put to torture, although the culprit may already have been discovered, in order to ascertain the instigator of the plot and his remotest accessories.[ ] the earlier history of rome leaves no doubt that before the republic fell these laws were carried out with inhuman severity. with the growth of rome into a world power and the consequent rise of humanitarianism[ ] a strong public feeling against gratuitous cruelty towards slaves sprang up. this may be illustrated by an event which happened in the reign of nero, in the year , when a riot ensued out of sympathy for some slaves who had been condemned _en masse_ after their master had been assassinated by one of them.[ ] measures were gradually introduced for alleviating the hardships and cruelties of slavery. claudius ( - a.d.) ordained[ ] that since sick and infirm slaves were being exposed on an island in the tiber sacred to aesculapius, because their masters did not wish to bother about attending them, all those who were so exposed were to be set free if they recovered and never to be returned into the power of their masters; and if any owner preferred to put a slave to death rather than expose him, he was to be held for murder. gentlemen began to speak with contempt of a master or mistress who maltreated slaves.[ ] hadrian ( - a.d.) modified the old laws to a remarkable degree: he forbade slaves to be put to death by their masters and commanded them to be tried by regularly appointed judges; he brought it about that a slave, whether male or female, was not to be sold to a slave-dealer or trainer for public shows without due cause; he did away with _ergastula_ or workhouses, in which slaves guilty of offences were forced to work off their penalties in chains and were confined to filthy dungeons; and he modified the law previously existing to the extent that if a master was killed in his own house, the inquisition by torture could not be extended to the whole household, but to those only who, by proximity to the deed, could have noticed it.[ ] gaius observes[ ] that for slaves to be in complete subjection to masters who have power of life and death is an institution common to all nations, "but at this time," he continues, "it is permitted neither to roman citizens nor any other men who are under the sway of the roman people to vent their wrath against slaves beyond measure and without reason. in fact, by a decree of the sainted antoninus ( - a.d.) a master who without cause kills his slave is ordered to be held no less than he who kills another's slave.[ ] an excessive severity on the part of masters is also checked by a constitution of the same prince. on being consulted by certain governors about those slaves who rush for refuge to the shrines of the gods or the statues of emperors, he ordered that if the cruelty of masters seemed intolerable they should be compelled to sell their slaves." severus ordained that the city prefect should prevent slaves from being prostituted[ ]. aurelian gave his slaves who had transgressed to be heard according to the laws by public judges[ ]. tacitus procured a decree that slaves were not to be put to inquisitorial torture in a case affecting a master's life, not even if the charge was high treason[ ]. so much for the laws that mitigated slavery under the empire. they were not ideal; but they would in more respects than one compare favourably with the similar legislation that was in force, prior to the civil war, in the american slave states. sources i. iurisprudentiae anteiustinianae quae supersunt. ed. ph. eduardus huschke. lipsiae (teubner), (fifth edition). ii. codex iustinianus. recensuit paulus krueger. berolini apud weidmannos, . corpus iuris civilis: institutiones recognovit paulus krueger; digesta recognovit theodorus mommsen. berolini apud weidmannos, . novellae: corpus iuris civilis. volumen tertium recognovit rudolfus schoell; opus schoellii morte interceptum absolvit g. kroll. berolini apud weidmannos, . iii. the fragments of the perpetual edict of salvius julianus. edited by bryan walken cambridge university press. . iv. pomponii de origine iuris fragmentum: recognovit fridericus osannus. gissae, apud io. rickerum, . v. corpus inscriptionum latinarum, consilio et auctoritate academiae litterarum regiae borussicae editum. berolini apud georgium reimerum (begun in ). vi. valerii maximi factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri novem: cum iulii paridis et ianvarii nepotiani epitomis: iterum recensuit carolus kempf. lipsiae (teubner), . vii. cassii dionis cocceiani rerum romanarum libri octaginta: ab immanuele bekkero recogniti. lipsiae, apud weidmannos, . viii. c. suetoni tranquilli quae supersunt omnia: recensuit carolus l. roth. lipsiae (teubner), . ix. a. persii flacci, d. iunii iuvenalis, sulpiciae saturae; recognovit otto iahn. editio altera curam agente francisco buecheler. berolini, apud weidmannos, . x. eutropi breviarium ab urbe condita: recognovit franciscus ruehl. lipsiae (teubner), . xi. herodiani ab excessu divi marci libri octo: ab immanuele bekkero recogniti. lipsiae (teubner), . xii. a. gellii noctium atticarum libri xx: edidit carolus hosius. lipsiae (teubner), . xiii. petronii saturae et liber priapeorum: quartum edidit franciscus buecheler: adiectae sunt varronis et senecae saturae similesque reliquiae. berolini, apud weidmannos, . xiv. m. valerii martialis epigrammaton libri: recognovit walther gilbert. lipsiae (teubner), . xv. cornelii taciti libri qui supersunt: quartum recognovit carolus halm. lipsiae (teubner), . xvi. c. vellei paterculi ex historiae romanae libris duobus quae supersunt: edidit carolus halm. lipsiae (teubner), . xvii. l. annaei senecae opera quae supersunt: recognovit fridericus haase. lipsiae (teubner), . xviii. athenaei naucratitae deipnosophistaro libri xv: recensuit georgius kaibel. lipsiae (teubner), . xix. lucii apulei metamorphoseon libri xi. apologia et florida. recensuit j. van der vliet. lipsiae (teubner), . xx. c. plini caecili secundi epistularum libri novem. epistularum ad traianum liber. panegyricus. recognovit c.f.w. mueller. lipsiae (teubner), . xxi. scriptores historiae augustae: edidit hermannus peter. lipsiae (teubner), . xxii. m. fabii quintiliani institutionis oratoriae libri xii: recensuit eduardus bonnell. lipsiae (teubner), . xxiii. marci antonini commentariorum libri xii: iterum recensuit ioannes stich. lipsiae (teubner), . xxiv. c. plinii secundi naturalis historiae libri xxxvii: recognovit ludovicus ianus. lipsiae (teubner), . xxv. xii panegyrici latini: recensuit aemilius baehrens. lipsiae (teubner), . xxvi. plutarchi scripta moralia, graece et latine: parisiis, editore ambrosio f. didot, . plutarchi vitae parallelae: iterum recognovit carolus sintennis. lipsiae (teubner), . xxvii. ammiani marcellini rerum gestarum libri qui supersunt: recensuit v. gardthausen. lipsiae (teubner), . xxviii. poetae latini minores: recensuit aemilius baehrens. lipsiae (teubner), . notes: [ ] paulus, iii, _a_, . [ ] ulpian, tit., xx, . gaius, ii, . [ : male relatives on the father's side--agnati--were guardians in such cases; these failing, the judge of the supreme court (praetor) assigned one. see ulpian, tit., xi, , , and . gaius, i, , and iii, . libertae (freedwomen) took as guardians their former masters.] [ ] ulpian, tit., xi, . [ ] the power of the father was called _potestas_; that of the husband, _manus_. [ ] aulus gellius, x, . cf. suetonius, _tiberius_, . [ ] gaius, i, . [ ] ulpian, tit., xi, i. [ ] ulpian, tit., xi, a. gaius, i, . paulus, iv, , - . [ ] gaius, i, . ulpian, tit., x, . [ ] gaius, i, . for an example see pliny, _letters_, viii, . cf. spartianus. _didius iulianus_, : filiam suam, potitus imperio, dato patrimonio, emancipaverat. see also dio, , (xiphilin). if emancipated children insulted or injured their parents, they lost their independence--codex, , ( ), . [ ] ulpian, tit., viii, _a_. [ ] paulus, i, , ; mater, quae filiorum suorum rebus intervenit, actione negotiorum gestorum et ipsis et eorum tutoribus tenebitur. [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] for livia's great influence over augustus see seneca, _de clementia_, i, , . tacitus, _annals_, i, , , and , and ii, . dio, , - , and , . agrippina dominated claudius--tacitus, _annals_, xii, . dio, , . caenis, the concubine of vespasian, amassed great wealth and sold public offices right and left--dio, , . plotina, wife of trajan, engineered hadrian's succession--eutropius, viii, . dio, , i. a concubine formed the conspiracy which overthrew commodus--herodian, i, - . the plotting of maesa put heliogabalus on the throne--capitolinus, _macrinus_, - . alexander severus was ruled by his mother mammaea--lampridius, _alex. severus_, ; herodian, vi, i, i and . gallienus invited women to his cabinet meetings--trebellius pollio, gallienus, . the wives of governors took such a strenuous part in politics and army matters that it caused the senate grave concern--see examples in tacitus, annals, in, and , and iv, ; also i, , and ii, ; id. _hist_., iii, . vellcius paterculus, ii, (fulvia). of course, no woman ever had a right to vote; but neither did anybody else, since the roman government had become an absolute despotism. the first woman on the throne was pulcheria, who, in a.d., was proclaimed empress of the east, succeeding her brother, theodosius ii. but she soon took a husband and made him emperor. she had been practically sole ruler since . [ ] plutarch, _roman questions_, . aulus gellius, x, . athenaeus, x, . [ ] valerius maximus, vi, , . for this he was not even blamed, but rather received praise for the excellent example. [ ] aulus gellius, x, . a woman in the _menaechmi_ of plautus, iv, , , complains justly of this double standard of morality: nam si vir scortum duxit clam uxorem suam, id si rescivit uxor, impune est viro. uxor viro si clam domo egressa est foras, viro fit causa, exigitur matrimonio. utinam lex esset cadem quae uxori est viro! [ ] aulus gellius, i, . [ ] de consolatione ad marciam, xvi, . [ ] _commentaries_, a, [greek: gamma]. [ ] quintilian, _instit. orat_., vi, , . pliny, _letters_, vi, and , and vii, . [ ] great admiration expressed for paulina, wife of seneca, who opened her veins to accompany her husband in death--tacitus, _annals_, xv, , . story of arria and paetus--pliny, _letters_, iii, . martial, i, . the famous instance of epponina, under vespasian, and her attachment to her condemned husband--tacitus, _hist_., iv, . tacitus mentions that many ladies accompanied their husbands to exile and death--_annals_, xvi, , . numerous instances are related by pliny of tender and happy marriages, terminated only by death--see, e.g., _letters_, viii, . pliny the elder tells how m. lepidus died of regret for his wife after being divorced from her--_n.h._, vii, . valerius maximus devotes a whole chapter to conjugal love--iv, . but the best examples of deep affection are seen in tomb inscriptions--e.g., cil i, , viii, , ii, , v, , , v, , , x, , vi, , , , and . man and wife are often represented with arms thrown about one another's shoulders to signify that they were united in death as in life. the poet statius remarks that "to love a wife when she is living is pleasure; to love her when dead, a solemn duty" (silvae, in prooemio). yet some theologians would have us believe that conjugal love and fidelity is an invention of christianity. [ ] pliny, _panegyricus_, . for other instances see capitolinus, _anton. pius_, ; lampridius, _alex. severus_, ; spartianus, hadrian, , , ; capitolinus, _m. anton. phil_., . [ ] gaius, i, . [ ] ulpian, tit. xi, . cf. frag, iur rom. vatic. (huschke, ): divi diocletianus et constantius aureliae pontiae: actor rei forum sequi debet et mulier quoque facere procuratorem _sine tutoris auctoritate non prohibetur_. so papinian, lib. xv, responsorum (huschke, ). i shall discuss these matters at greater length when i treat of women and the management of their property. [ ] dio, , . pomponius in dig., , , . [ ] gaius, i, . [ ] ulpian, tit., ix, : farreo convenit uxor in manum certis verbis et testibus x praesentibus et sollemni sacrificio facto, in quo panis quoque farreus adhibetur. cf. gaius, i, . [ ] aulus gellius, iii, , . gaius, i, . [ ] gaius, i, and . [ ] paulus, ii, xix, . [ ] pliny, _letters_, i, , will furnish an example; cf. id. vi, , to servianus: gaudeo et gratulor, quod fusco salinatori filiam tuam destinasti. note the way in which julius caesar arranged a match for his daughter--suetonius, _divus julius_, . [ ] paulus in dig., , , : nuptiae consistere non possunt, nisi consentiunt omnes, id est, qui coeunt quorumque in potestate sunt. [ ] julianus in dig., , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] paulus in dig., , , . terentius clemens in dig., , , . [ ] paulus, ii, , . [ ] ulpian, , . [ ] cf. ulpian, tit., vi, : divortio facto, si quidem sui juris sit muller, ipsa habet rei uxoriae actionem, id est, dotis repetitionem; quodsi in potestate patris sit, pater adiuncta filiae persona habet actionem. the technical recognition of the father's power was still strong. cf. pliny, _panegyricus_, : tu quidem, caesar ... intuitus, opinor, vim legemque naturae, quae semper in dicione parentum esse liberos iussit. the same writer, on requesting trajan to give citizenship to the children of a certain freedman, is careful to add the specification that they are to remain in their father's power--see pliny to trajan, xi (vi). [ ] paulus, vi, . codex, v, , , and , . [ ] paulus, in dig., , , . codex, v, , , and , . [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] salvius julianus: frag. perp. ed.: pars prima, vii--under "de is qui notantur infamia." [ ] codex, , ( ), . [ ] aulus gellius, iv, . [ ] juvenal, vi, - . gaius in dig., , , . ulpian, ibid., , i, . codex, v, , , and v, i, i. [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] dig., , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] cf. alexander severus in codex, viii, , : libera matrimonia esse antiquitus placuit, etc. also codex, v, , and . [ ] modestinus in dig., xxiii, , . [ ] gaius, ii, . [ ] paulus, ii, xx, . [ ] note the rescript of alexander severus to a certain aquila (codex, ii, , ): quod in uxorem tuam aegram erogasti, non a socero repetere, sed adfectioni tuae debes expendere. [ ] see, e.g., dig., , , and ulpian, ibid., , , . [ ] cf. gaius, i, : in summa admonendi sumus, adversus eos, quos in mancipio habemus, nihil nobis contumeliose facere licere; alioquin iniuriarum (actione) tenebimur. [ ] paulus, i, , . [ ] paulus, i, , . [ ] codex, ii, , [ ] paulus in dig., iii, , . [ ] aulus gellius, xvii, , speech of cato: principio vobis mulier magnam dotem adtulit; tum magnam pecuniam recipit, quam in viri potestatem non committit, ean pecuniam viro mutuam dat; postea, ubi irata facta est, servum recepticum sectari atque flagitare virum iubet. [ ] paulus in dig., , , . [ ] pomponius in dig., , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] tryfoninus in dig., , , . [ ] gaius, ii, . paulus, ii, b. [ ] e.g. juvenal, vi, - . martial, viii, . [ ] apuleius _apologia_, : pleraque tamen rei familiaris in nomen uxoris callidissima fraude confert, etc.; id., , proves further the power of the wife: ea condicione factam conjunctionem, si nullis a me susceptis liberis vita demigrasset, ut dos omnis, etc.--evidently the woman was dictating the disposal of her dowry. [ ] ulpian, tit., vi, , , and . codex, v, , . [ ] ulpian in dig., xi, , ; ibid., papinian, ; ibid, julianus, . paulus, i, xxi, . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , : moribus apud nos receptum est, ne inter virum et uxorem donationes valerent, hoc autem receptum est, ne mutuo amore invicem spoliarentur, donationibus non temperantes, sed profusa erga se facilitate. [ ] paulus in dig., , , . [ ] gaius in dig., , , ; ibid., licinius rufus, ; ulpian, tit. vii, . martial, vii, --et post hoc dominae munere factus eques. [ ] paulus, ii, xxiii, . [ ] cf. paulus, ii, xxiii, . [ ] paulus in dig., , , . codex, v, , . [ ] gaius in dig., , , . [ ] paulus in dig., , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . the respect shown for family relations may be seen also from the fact that a son could _complain--de facto matris queri_--if he believed that his mother had brought in supposititious offspring to defraud him of some of his inheritance; but he was strictly forbidden to bring her into court with a public and criminal action--macer in dig., , , : _sed ream eam lege cornelia facere permissum ei non est_. [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , ( ): iudex adulterii ante oculos habere debet et inquirere, an maritus pudice vivens mulieri quoque bonos mores colendi auctor fuerit periniquum enim videtur esse, ut pudicitiam vir ab uxore exigat, quam ipse non exhibeat. cf. seneca, _ep_., : scis improbum esse qui ab uxore pudicitiam exigit, ipse alienarum corruptor uxorum. scis ut illi nil cum adultero, sic nihil tibi esse debere cum pellice. antoninus pius gave a husband a bill for adultery against his wife "provided it is established that by your life you give her an example of fidelity. it would be unjust that a husband should demand a fidelity which he does not himself keep"--quoted by st. augustine, de conj. adult., ii, ch. . in view of these explicit statements it is difficult to see what the church father lactantius meant by asserting (_de vero cultu_, ): non enim, sicut iuris publici ratio est, sola mulier adultera est, quae habet alium; maritus autem, etiamsi plures habeat, a crimine adulterii solutus est. perhaps this deliberate distortion of the truth was another one of the libels against pagan rome of which the pious fathers are so fond "for the good of the church." [ ] papinian in dig., , , ( ); ibid., ulpian, ( ). paulus, ii, xxvi. [ ] macer in dig., , , ( ). [ ] papinian in dig., , , ( ). [ ] papinian in dig., , , ( ); ibid., marcianus, , , . [ ] paulus, ii, xxvi. macer in dig., , , ( ), ibid., ulpian, , , ( ). [ ] paulus, ii, xxvi. [ ] juvenal, x. ; quosdam moechos et mugilis intrat. cf. catullus, , . [ ] see, e.g., capitolinus, _anton_. _pius_, . spartianus, _sept. severus_, , pliny, _panegyricus_, : multis illustribus dedecori fuit aut inconsultius uxor assumpta aut retenta patientius, etc. [ ] pliny, _letters_, vi, . [ ] paulus, ii, xxvi, . [ ] valerius maximus, ii, , . [ ] aulus gellius, xvii, , . valerius maximus, ii, , . plutarch, _roman questions_, . [ ] valerius maximus, vi, , . [ ] "if you should catch your wife in adultery, you would put her to death with impunity; she, on her part, would not dare to touch you with her finger; and it is not right that she should"--speech of cato the censor, quoted by aulus gellius, x, . [ ] e.g., marcellus in dig., , , : maevia titio repudium misit, etc.; ibid., africanus, , , : titia divortium a seio fecit, etc. martial, x, : mense novo lani veterem, proculeia, maritum deseris, atque iubes res sibi habere suas. apuleius, _apologia_, : utramvis habens culpam mulier, quae aut tam intolerabilis fuit ut repudiaretur aut tam insolens ut repudiaret. _novellae_, , : antiquitus quidem licebat sine periculo tales [i.e., those of incompatible temperament] ab invicem separari secundum communem voluntatem et consensum. [ ] martial, vi, . [ ] aulus gellius, x, : matrimonium flaminis nisi morte dirimi ius non est. [ ] tacitus, _annals_, iv, . [ ] ulpian, vi, ; id. in dig., , , . pauli fragmentam in boethii commentario ad topica, , , . [ ] paulus in dig. ii, , . [ ] ulpian, vi, . [ ] ulpian, vi, - , and vii, - . pauli frag, in boethii comm. ad top., ii, , . [ ] ulpian, xiv: feminis lex iulia a morte viri anni tribuit vacationem, a divortio sex mensum; lex autem papia a morte viri biennii, a repudio anni et sex mensum. [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . paulus, ii, xxiv, . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] codex, vi, , : res, quae ex matris successione fuerint ad filios devolutae, ita sint in parentum potestate, ut fruendi dumtaxat habeant facultatem, dominio videlicet carum ad liberos pertinente. [ ] neratius in dig., , , . [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] codex, ii, , : alienam suscipere defensionem virile officium est ... filio itaque tuo, si pupillus est, tutorem pete. [ ] ulpian, tit. viii, _a_. paulus, i, , . [ ] _ad helviam matrem de consol_., xiv, . [ ] other instances of women trustees will be found in apuleius, _apologia_ ; paulus in dig; iii, , ( ): avia nepotis sui negotia gessit, etc.; ibid., marcellus, , , : titia cum propter dotem bona mariti possideret, omnia pro domina egit, reditus exegit, etc. [ ] tacitus, _agricola_, . [ ] frag. iur. rom. vat., . [ ] ulpian, viii, a. [ ] gaius, ii, . digest, , . [ ] e.g. pliny, _letters_, v, . codex, iii, , ; id., iii, , . cf. codex, iii, , i, and , ; and paulus in dig., v, , . note the extreme anxiety of the son of prudentilla about her money as given by apuleius, _apologia_, . the estate of a mother who died intestate went to her children, not to her husband; the latter could only enjoy the interest until they arrived at maturity--codex, vi, , ; modestinus in dig., , , . [ ] e.g., juvenal, iv, - . pliny, _letters_, ii, . [ ] digest, xiv, and and --on the actio exercitoria and institoria. cf. codex, iv, , : et si a muliere magister navis praepositus fuerit, etc. [ ] cil, xiv, . [ ] martial, xi, . apuleius, _metam_., v, . soranus, i, , ch. and . galen, vii, (cf. xiii, ). [ ] e.g. suetonius, _nero_, . [ ] carmina priapea, and . ulpian, xiii, . the roman drama had now degenerated into mere vaudeville, mostly lascivious dancing. senators and their children were forbidden to marry any woman who had herself or whose father or mother had been on the stage. [ ] martial, ii, , . [ ] petronius, _sat_., : titus noster ... habet et mulierem essedariam. this would not be strange, when we reflect that under domitian noble ladies even fought in the arena. [ ] _thesmophoriazusae_, - . [ ] see cicero, _pro caecina_, , for an account of these business agents for women. [ ] paulus, ii, xi; id. in dig., , , ; aulus gellius, v, ; pomponius in dig., , , : non est permissum mulieri publico iudicio quemquam reum facere. [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . salvius julianus, pars prima, vi: si non habebunt advocatum, ego dabo. alexander severus ( - a.d.) gave pensions to those advocates in the provinces who pleaded free of charge--lampridius, _alex. severus_, . [ ] cf. paulus in dig., , , . codex, v, , , and , . ulpian in dig., iii, , . [ ] gaius, i, . [ ] frag. iur. rom. vat., ; id., (from papinian): mulieres quoque et sine tutoris auctoritate procuratorem facere posse. [ ] ulpian in dig., iii, , ; ibid., paulus, iii, , . [ ] ulpian in dig., iii, , . [ ] pomponius in dig., , , ; ibid., papinian, , , --who adds that she could also do so in a case regarding the will of a mother or father's freedman. [ ] marcianus in dig., , , . [ ] papinian in dig., , , . [ ] juvenal, vi, -- . [ ] valerius maximus, viii, , . appian, _b.c._, iv, ff. quintilian, i, , . [ ] valerius maximus, viii, , . [ ] quintilian, ix, , and . [ ] e.g., pliny _letters_, i, , and iv, . [ ] e.g., huschke, pp. , , , , , , , , . or instances such as that mentioned in digest, , , , where a sister brings an action to prove her brother's will a forgery. [ ] pliny, _letters_, vi, . [ ] paulus in dig., , , . [ ] fully treated in dig., , , and paulus, ii, xi. [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] aulus gellius, xvii, . st. augustine, de civit. dei, iii, : nam tunc, id est inter secundum et postremum bellum carthaginiense, lata est etiam illa lex voconis, ne quis heredem feminam faceret, nec unicam filiam. [ ] dio, , . [ ] aulus gellius, xx, , . according to dio, , , it was augustus who in the year a.d. gave women permission to inherit any amount. [ ] fully treated in dig., , . also in gaius, ii, , and paulus, iii, viii, - , and iv, , , and and . [ ] paulus, iv, tit. v, . cases in which "complaints of undutiful will" were the issue will be found, e.g., in codex, iii, , and and ; id., iii, , and . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , : suos heredes accipere debemus filios filias sive naturales sive adoptivos. instances of daughters being left heiresses of whole estates may be found, e.g., in dig., , , : cum quidam filiam ex asse heredem scripsisset filioque, quem in potestate habebat, decem legasset, etc. or the example mentioned by scaevola in dig., , , : duae filiae intestato patri heres exstiterunt, etc. [ ] callistratus in dig., , , : crimen vel poena paterna nullam maculam filio infligere potest. namque unusquisque ex suo admisso sorti subicitur nec alieni criminis successor constituitur; idque divi fratres hierapolitanis rescripserunt. "nothing is more unjust," writes seneca (de ira, ii, , ), "than that any one should become the heir of the odium excited by his father." [ ] paulus, v, xii, . [ ] paulus, v, xii, . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , . [ ] hermogenianus in dig., , , . [ ] sulla had not only deprived the children of the proscribed of all their estates, but had also debarred them from aspiring to any political office--see velleius paterculus, ii, . [ ] for examples of the clemency of augustus see suetonius, _div. aug._, and and ; seneca, _de ira_, iii, , ff., and , ; velleius paterculus, ii, , . [ ] for tiberius see, e.g., tacitus, _annals_, iv--case of silius; id., _annals_, iii, , --case of piso. for nero, note tacitus, _annals_, xiii, --case of publius suilius. clemency of claudius mentioned in dio, , , ; of vitellius in tacitus, _hist_., ii, . [ ] spartianus, _had._, . [ ] capitolinus, _anton. pius_, . see also the anecdote of aurelian in vopiscus, _aurelian_, . [ ] codex, iv, , , rescript of diocletian: ob maritorum culpam uxores inquietari leges vetant. proinde rationalis noster, si res quae a fisco occupatae sunt dominii tui esse probaveris, ius publicum sequetur. [ ] gaius, ii, and . [ ] gaius, ii, . [ ] codex, iii, , : inter filios ac filias bona intestatorum parentium pro virilibus portionibus aequo iure dividi oportere explorati iuris est. [ ] gaius, iii, - . [ ] see, e.g., codex, vi, , i: res, quae ex matris successione fuerint ad filios devolutae, ita sint in parentum potestate, ut fruendi dumtaxat habeant facultatem, dominio videlicet eorum ad liberos pertinente. [ ] for all this, see codex, v, , , and vi, , q. [ ] paulus, v, , , who adds that exile was the penalty if the crime had not been completely carried out. it would seem also that ravished women had the option of deciding whether their seducers should marry them or be put to death--see the _vitiatarum electiones_ as mentioned by tacitus, _dial. de orat_., . according to ruffus, , a soldier who did violence to a girl had his nostrils cut off, besides being forced to give the injured woman a third part of his goods: militi, qui puellae vim adtulerit et stupraverit, nares abscinduntur, data puellae tertia militis facultatum parte. [ ] paulus, v, , . [ ] by the lex fabia. paulus, v, b. digest, , ; , , . [ ] ulpian in dig., , , ; ibid., tryphoninus, , , . [ ] paulus, v, , ; id. in dig., , , . [ ] paulus, supra cit. [ ] martial, x, , and x, . [ ] sappho, telesilla, and corinna belong to an earlier period, when the oriental idea of seclusion for women had not yet become firmly fixed in greece. women like agallis of corcyra, who wrote on grammar (athenaeus, i, ) and lived in a much later age, doubtless belonged to the _hetaerae_ class. [ ] see, e.g., pliny, _letters_, v, . [ ] pliny, _letters_, i, . [ ] persius, i, - : ne mihi polydamas et troiades labeonem praetulerint? "are you afraid that polydamas and the trojan ladies will prefer labeo to me?" the _trojan ladies_, of course, stand for the aristocratic classes, colonial dames, so to speak, who were fond of tracing their descent back to troy just as americans like to discover that their ancestors came over in the _mayflower_. [ ] juvenal, vi, - . [ ] cf. martial, ii, : sit mihi verna satur, sit non doctissima coniunx. [ ] the famous verses of martial: quid tibi nobiscum, ludi scelerate magister? invisum pueris virginibusque caput! [ ] vespasian ( - a.d.) started free public education by appointing quintilian professor of rhetoric subsidised by the state. succeeding emperors enlarged upon it; but especially alexander severus ( - a.d.), who instituted salaries for teachers of rhetoric, literature, medicine, mechanics, and architecture in rome and the provinces, and had poor boys attend the lectures free of charge--see lampridius, _alex. severus_, . [ ] pliny, _paneg._, . spartianus, _hadrian_, , - . capitolinus, _anton. pius _; id. _m. anton. phil._ ii. lampridius, _alex_. _severus_, . [ ] pliny, _letters_, vii, . the sum was , sesterces. [ ] any infringement of this vow was punished by burial alive--for instances, see suetonius, _domitian_, ; herodian, iv, , : pliny, _letters_ iv, ; dio, , (xiphilin). their paramours were beaten to death. [ ] a full account of the vestals will be found in aulus gellius, i, . [ ] quintilian, vii, , : ad servum nulla lex pertinet. on the rare instances when a slave could inform against his master in a public court, see hermogenianus in dig., v, , . [ ] gaius, i, ff. [ ] gaius, iii, . cf. juvenal vi, - , and - . [ ] gaius, iii, . salvius julianus, pars secunda, xv. aulus gellius, xx, i. [ ] paulus, v, . [ ] paulus, iii, v, ff. pliny, _letters_, viii, . tacitus, _annals_ xiii, . [ ] valerius maximus, vi, , in a chapter entitled _de fide servorum_ speaks with great admiration of instances of fidelity on the part of slaves. seneca ate with his--_epist_. , . martial laments the death of a favourite slave girl--v, and . dio ( , --xiphilin) notes the heroic conduct of epicharis, a freedwoman, who was included in a conspiracy against nero; but she revealed none of its secrets, though tortured in every way by tigellinus. the pages of pliny are full of the spirit of kindliness to slaves. [ ] see tacitus, _annals_, xiv, ff. [ ] suetonius, _claudius_, . dio, , (xiphilin). [ ] sec, e.g., seneca, _de clem_., i, , and --especially the anecdote of vedius pollio (mentioned also by dio, , ). the interesting letter of pliny, viii, ; and cf. iii, , and v, . juvenai, vi, - . [ ] spartianus, _hadrian_, . [ ] gaius, i, ff. cf. ulpian in dig., , , and . [ ] the punishment for this was pecuniary damages equal to twice the highest value of a slave during the year in which he was killed. [ ] ulpian in dig., i., , : hoc quoque officium praefecto urbi a divo severo datum est, ut mancipia tueatur ne prostituantur. [ ] vopiscus, _aurelian_, [ ] vopiscus, _tacitus_, . chapter ii women and the early christian church meanwhile a new world force, destined to overthrow the old order of things, was growing slowly to maturity and spreading out its might until eventually it fought its way to preeminence. i have traced the rights of women under the regime of pagan rome; i shall inquire next into the position of women under christianity. we must first note the attitude of the early christians towards women in general; for that attitude will naturally be reflected in any laws made after the church has become supreme and is combined with and directs the state. that will demand a special chapter on canon law; but in the present chapter i propose to show how women were regarded by the christians in the centuries which were the formative period of the church. the direct words of christ so far as they relate to women and as we have them in the gospels concern themselves wholly to bring about purity in the relation of the sexes. "ye have heard that it was said, thou shalt not commit adultery; but i say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."[ ] his commands on the subject of divorce are positive and unequivocal: "it was said also, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement; but i say unto you, that every one that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, maketh her an adultress; and whosoever shall marry her when she is put away, committeth adultery."[ ] christ was content to lay down great ethical principles, not minute regulations. of any inferiority on the part of women he says nothing, nor does be concern himself with giving any directions about their social or legal rights. he blessed the marriage at cana; and to the woman taken in adultery he showed his usual clemency. for the rest, his relations with women have an atmosphere of rare sympathy, gentleness, and charm. but as soon as we leave the gospels and read the apostles we are in a different sphere. the apostles were for the most part men of humble position, and their whole lives were directed by inherited beliefs which were distinctly jewish and oriental or greek; not western. in the orient woman has from the dawn of history to the present day occupied a position exceedingly low. indeed, in mohammedan countries she is regarded merely as a tool for the man's sensual passions and she is not allowed to have even a soul. in greece women were confined to their houses, were uneducated, and had few public rights and less moral latitude; their husbands had unlimited license.[ ] the jewish ideal is by no means a lofty one and cannot for a moment compare with the honour accorded the roman matron under the empire. according to _genesis_ a woman is the cause of all the woes of mankind. _ecclesiasticus_ declares that the badness of men is better than the goodness of women.[ ] in _leviticus_[ ] we read that the period of purification customary after the birth of a child is to be twice as long in the case of a female as in a male. the inferiority of women was strongly felt; and this conception would be doubly operative on men of humble station who never travelled, who had received little education, and whose ideas were naturally bounded by the horizon of their native localities. we are to remember also that the east is the home of asceticism, a conviction alien to the western mind. there is no parallel in western europe to st. simeon stylites. we would, therefore, expect to find in the teachings of the apostles an expression of jewish, i.e., eastern ideals on the subject of women; and we do so find them. following the express commands of christ, they exhorted to sexual purity and reiterated his injunctions on the matter of divorce. they went much farther and began to legislate on more minute details. paul allows second marriages to women[ ]; but thinks it better for a widow to remain as she is.[ ] it is better to marry than to burn; yet would he prefer that men and women should remain in celibacy.[ ] the power of the father to arrange a marriage for his daughter was, under roman law, limited by her consent; but the words of paul make it clear that it was now to be a christian precept that a father could determine on his own responsibility whether his daughter should remain a virgin.[ ] wives are to be in subjection to their husbands, and "let the wife see that she fear her husband."[ ] woman is the weaker vessel[ ]; she is to be silent in church; if she desires to learn anything, she should ask her husband at home.[ ] furthermore: "i permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. for adam was first formed, then eve; and adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression; but she shall be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety."[ ] the apparel of women also evoked legislation from the apostles. women were to pray with their heads veiled "for the man is not of the woman, but the woman for the man."[ ] jewels, precious metal, and costly garments were unbecoming the modest woman.[ ] in this early stage of christianity we may already distinguish three conceptions that were quite foreign to the roman jurist: i. the inferiority and weakness of women was evident from the time of eve and it was an act of god that punished all womankind for eve's transgression. woman had been man's evil genius. ii. she was to be submissive to father or husband and not bring her will in opposition to theirs. iii. she must not be prominent in public, she must consider her conduct and apparel minutely, and she was exhorted to remain a virgin, as being thus in a more exalted position. at the same time insistence was placed on the fact that a virgin, wife, and widow must be given due honour and respect, must be provided for, and allowed her share in taking part in those interests of the community which were considered her sphere. if, now, we examine the writings of the church fathers, we shall see these ideas elaborated with all the vehemence of religious zeal. the general opinions of the fathers regarding women present a curious mixture. they are fond of descanting on the fact that woman is responsible for all the woes of mankind and that her very presence is dangerous. at the same time they pay glowing tribute to women in particular. st. jerome held that women were naturally weaker, physically and morally, than men.[ ] the same saint proves that all evils spring from women[ ]; and in another passage he opines that marriage is indeed a lottery and the vices of women are too great to make it worth while.[ ] "the sex is practiced in deceiving," observes st. maximus.[ ] st. augustine disputes subtly whether woman is the image of god as well as man. he says no, and proves it thus[ ]: the apostle commands that a man should not veil his head, because he is the image of god; but the woman must veil hers, according to the same apostle; therefore the woman is not the image of god. "for this reason, again," continues the saint, "the apostle says 'a woman is not permitted to teach, nor to have dominion over her husband.'" bishop marbodius calls woman a "pleasant evil, at once a honeycomb and a poison" and indicts the sex,[ ] something on the order of juvenal or jonathan swift, by citing the cases of eve, the daughters of lot, delilah, herodias, clytemnestra, and progne. the way in which women were regarded as at once a blessing and a curse is well illustrated also in a distich of sedulius: "a woman alone has been responsible for opening the gates of death; a woman alone has been the cause of a return to life."[ ] that women should be in subjection, in accordance with the dictum of paul, the church fathers assert emphatically. "how can it be said of a woman that she is the image of god," exclaims st. augustine,[ ] "when it is evident that she is subject to the rule of her husband and has no authority! why, she can not teach, nor be a witness, nor give security, nor act in court; how much the more can she not govern!" women are commanded again and again not to perform any of the functions of men and to yield a ready and unquestioning obedience to their husbands.[ ] the fathers also insist that marriage without a paternal parent's consent is fornication.[ ] marriage was looked upon as a necessary evil, permitted, indeed, as a concession to the weakness of mankind, but to be avoided if possible. "celibacy is to be preferred to marriage," says st. augustine.[ ] "celibacy is the life of the angels," remarks st. ambrose.[ ] "celibacy is a spiritual kind of marriage," according to st. optatus.[ ] "happy he," says tertullia[ ] "who lives like paul!" the same saint paints a lugubrious picture of marriage and the "bitter pleasure of children" (_liberorum amarissima voluptate_) who are burdens and just as likely as not will turn out criminals. "why did the lord cry woe unto those that are pregnant and give suck, unless it was to call attention to the fact that children will be a hindrance on the day of judgment?"[ ] when such views were entertained of marriage, it need not seem remarkable that tertullian and st. paul of nolan, like tolstoy to-day, discovered the blessings of a celibate life after they were married and ran away from their wives.[ ] jerome finds marriage useful chiefly because it produces virgins.[ ] as for second marriages, the montanist and the novatian sects condemned them absolutely, on the ground that if god has removed a wife or husband he has thereby signified his will to end the marrying of the parties; tertullian calls second marriage a species of prostitution.[ ]jerome expresses the more tolerant and orthodox view: "what then? do we condemn second marriages? not at all; but we praise single ones. do we cast the twice-married from the church? far from it; but we exhort the once-married to continence. in noah's ark there were not only clean, but also unclean animals."[ ] as the fathers were very well aware of the subtle influence of dress on the sexual passions, we have a vast number of minute regulations directing virgins, matrons, and widows to be clothed simply and without ornament; virgins were to be veiled.[ ] tertullian, with that keen logic of which the church has always been proud in her sons, argues that inasmuch as god has not made crimson or green sheep it does not behoove women to wear colours that he has not produced in animals naturally.[ ] st. augustine forbids nuns to bathe more than once a month, unless under extreme necessity.[ ] as soon as the church begins to exercise an influence upon law, we shall expect to see the legal position of women changed in accordance with certain general principles outlined above, viz: i. that inasmuch as adam was formed before eve and as women are the weaker vessels, they should confine themselves to those duties only which society has, from time immemorial, assigned them as their peculiar sphere. ii. they should be meek, and not oppose father or husband; and to these they should go for advice on all matters. iii. all license, such as the roman woman's right of taking the initiative in a divorce, must never be tolerated. iv. they should never transgress the bounds of strictest decorum in conduct and dress, lest they seduce men; and they must never be conspicuous in public or attempt to perform public functions. v. they are to be given due honour and are to be cared for properly. the legal rights of women would be affected, moreover, by a difference in the spirit of the law. the roman jurist derived his whole sanction from reason and never allowed religious considerations, as such, to influence him when legislating on women. he recognised that laws are not immutable, but must be changed to fit the growth of equity and tolerance. no previous authority was valid to him if reason suggested that the authority's dictum had outlived its usefulness and must be adapted to larger ideas. it never occurred to him to make the inferiority of woman an act of god. on the other hand, the church referred everything to one unchanging authoritative source, the gospels and the writings of the apostles; faith and authority took the place of reason; and any attempt to question the injunctions of the bible was regarded as an act of impiety, to be punished accordingly. and as the various regulations about women had now a divine sanction, the permanence of these convictions was doubly assured. sources i. the bible. ii. patrologia latina: edidit j.p. migne. parisiis. volumes (finished ). notes: [ ] _matthew_ , ff. [ ] _matthew_ , ff.; id. , ff. _mark_ , - . _luke_ , . [ ] plutarch lived in the second century a.d.; but he has inherited the greek point of view and advises a wife to bear with meekness the infidelities of the husband--see _praecep. coniug_., . his words are often curiously similar to those of the apostles, e.g., _coniug. praecep_., : "the husband shall rule the wife not as if master of a chattel, but as the soul does the body." id. : "wives who are sensible will be silent when their husbands are angry and vent their passion; when their husbands are silent, then let them speak to them and mollify them." however, like the apostles, he enjoins upon husbands to honour their wives; his essay on the "virtues of women"--[greek: gynaikôn aretai]--is an affectionate tribute to their worth. some of the respectable puritan gentlemen at rome also held that a wife be content to be a humble admirer of her husband (e.g., pliny, _paneg_., , hoc efficiebat, quod mariti minores erant ... nam uxori sufficit obsequii gloria, etc.). but roman law insisted that what was morally right for the man was equally so for the woman; just as it compelled a husband himself to observe chastity, if he expected it from his wife. [ ] _ecclesiasticus_ , . [ ] _leviticus_ xii, - . [ ] _romans_ , - . [ ] _corinthians_ i, , . [ ] _corinthians_ i, , ff. [ ] _corinthians_ i, , . [ ] _ephesians_ , and . [ ] _peter_ i, , . [ ] _corinthians_ i, , . [ ] _timothy_ i, , - . [ ] _corinthians_ i, ii, . [ ] _timothy_ i, , . _peter_ i, . [ ] abelard, ep., , in vol. , p. , of migne: beatus hieronymus ... tanto magis necessarium amorem huius studii (i.e. the scriptures) censuit, quanto eas naturaliter infirmiriores et carne debiliores esse conspexit. cf. st. paul of nolan, _letters_, , § --migne , p. : hi enim (i.e. evil spirits) petulantius infirmiora vasa pertentant, sicut non adam, sed evam coluber aggressus est. [ ] adversus iovianum, i, --migne, vol. , p. . [ ] adversus iovianum, i, --migne, vol. , pp. - : qui enim ducit uxorem, in ambiguo est, utrum odiosam an amabilem ducat. si odiosam duxerit, ferri non potest. si amabilem, amor illius inferno et arenti terrae et incendio comparatur. he quotes the old testament, especially _pr_. , , to support his views. [ ] s. maximi episcopi taurinensis--homilia , i--migne, vol. , p. . [ ] augustinus: _quaest. ex vet. test_., : an mulier imago dei sit ... unde et apostolus, vir quidem, inquit, non debet velare caput, cum sit imago et gloria dei; mulier autem, inquit, velet caput. quare? quia non est imago dei. unde denuo dicit apostolus: mulieri autem docere non permittitur, neque dominari in virum. migne, vol. , p. . [ ] migne, vol. , pp. - : femina dulce malum, pariter favus atque venenum, melle linens gladium cor confodit et sapientum. quis suasit primo vetitum gustare parenti? femina. quis patrem natas vitiare coegit? femina. quis fortem spoliatum crine peremit? femina. quis iusti sacrum caput ense recidit? femina.--etc., ad lib. however, in another poem he acknowledges that there is nothing more beautiful than a good woman: in cunctis quae dante deo concessa videntur usibus humanis, nil pulchrius esse putamus, nil melius muliere bona, etc. [ ] migne, vol. , p. . the sentiment is more fully developed in another poem--migne, vol. , p. : femina causa fuit humanae perditionis; qua reparatur homo, femina causa fuit. femina causa fuit cur homo ruit a paradiso; qua redit ad vitam, femina causa fuit. femina prima parens exosa, maligna, superba; femina virgo parens casta, benigna, pia. [ ] _quaest. ex vet. test_., ; migne, vol. , p. . [ ] e.g., tertullian, _de virg. vel_., . st. paul of nolan, letter , § --migne, , p. . id., letter , vol. , p. of migne. cf. augustine, letter , § --migne, , p. . [ ] basilius, _ad amphil_., c. : matrimonia sine iis, qui potestatem habent, fornicationes sunt. ambrose says: honorantur parentes rebeccae muneribus, consulitur puella non de sponsalibus, illa enim expectat iudicium parentum; non est enim virginalis pudoris eligere maritum. [ ] virginitas praeferenda coniugio--august., vol. , p. of migne. the council of trent, eleven centuries later, in its twenty-fourth session, re-echoed this sentiment and anathematised any one who should deny it. [ ] migne, vol. , p. . [ ] id., ii, p. . [ ] tertullian _ad uxorem_, i, . [ ] id. _ad uxorem_, i, . see also gregory of nyassa, _de virg_., iii, on the evils of matrimony. [ ] v. tertullian, _ad uxorem_. for paul of nolan, see migne, vol. , p. . [ ] laudo nuptias, laudo coniugium, sed quia mihi virgines generant. [ ] _ad uxorem_, i, and : non aliud dicendum erit secundum matrimonium quam species stupri. [ ] jerome, _epist_., . see also id., _epistola de viduitate servanda_, migne , p. , and the _epist. de monogamia_, migne, , p. . ambrose, _de viduis liber unus_, migne, , p. . cf. alanus de insulis in migne, vol. , p. : vidua ad secundas nuptias non transeat. [ ] see, e.g., st. cyprian, _de habitu virginum_. tertullian, _de virginibus velandis_ and _de cultu feminarum_. treatises on the way widows should dress were written, among others, by st. paul of nolan, _epist_. , §§ - --migne ; augustine, st. fulgentius rusp., st. paulinus aquil., and st. petrus damianus. [ ] _de cultu feminarum_, i, . [ ] lavacrum etiam corporum ususque balneorum non sit assiduus, sed eo quo solet intervallo temporis tribuatur, hoc est, semel in mense. nisi infirmitatis necessitas cogat, corpus saepius non lavandum--augustine, _de monialibus_, migne, vol. , page . chapter iii rights of women as modified by the christian emperors christianity became the state religion under constantine, who issued the edict of milan, giving toleration to the christians, in the year . the emperors from constantine through justinian ( - ) modified the various laws pertaining to the rights of women in various ways. to the enactments of justinian, who caused the whole body of the roman law to be collected, i intend to give special attention. we must not, as yet, expect to find the strict views of the church fathers carried out in any severe degree. on the contrary the old roman law was still so powerful that it was for the most part beyond the control of ecclesiasts. justinian was an ardent admirer of it and could not escape from its prevailing spirit. canon law had not yet developed. when the old roman civilisation in italy has succumbed completely to its barbarian conquerors; when the east has been definitely sundered from the west; when the church has risen supreme, has won temporal power, and has developed canon law into a force equal to the civil law,--then finally we shall expect to see the legal rights of women changed in accordance with two new world forces--the roman catholic church and the germanic nations. i shall now discuss legislation having to do with my subject under the christian emperors from constantine ( - ) through the reign of justinian ( - ). [sidenote: divorce: rescript of theodosius and valentian.] the power of husband and wife to divorce at will and for any cause, which we have seen obtained under the old roman law, was confined to certain causes only by theodosius and valentinian ( a.d.). these emperors asserted vigorously that[ ] the dissolution of the marriage tie should be made more difficult, especially out of regard to the children. pursuant to this idea the power of divorce was given for the following reasons alone: adultery, murder, treason, sacrilege, robbery; unchaste conduct of a husband with a woman not his wife and vice-versa; if a wife attended public games without her husband's permission; and extreme physical violence of either party. a woman who sent her husband a bill of divorce for any other reason forfeited her dowry and all ante-nuptial gifts and could not marry again for five years, under penalty of losing all civil rights. her property accrued to her husband to be kept in trust for the children. [sidenote: justinian on divorce] justinian made more minute regulations on the subject of divorce. to the valid causes for divorce as laid down by theodosius and valentinian he added impotence; if a separation was obtained on this ground, the husband might retain ante-nuptial gifts.[ ] abortion committed by the wife or bathing with other men than her husband or inveigling other men to be her paramours--these offences on the part of the wife gave her husband the right of divorce.[ ] captivity of either party for a prolonged period of time was always a valid reason. justinian added also[ ] that a man who dismissed his wife without any of the legal causes mentioned above existing or who was himself guilty of any of these offences must give to his wife one fourth of his property up to a sum not to exceed one hundred _librae_ of gold, if he owned property worth four hundred _librae_ or more; if he had less, one fourth of all he possessed was forfeit. the same penalties held for the wife who presumed to dismiss her husband without the offences legally recognised existing. the forfeited money was at the free disposal of the blameless party if there were no children; these being extant, the property must be preserved intact for their inheritance and merely the usufruct could be enjoyed by the trustees. a woman who secured a divorce through a fault of her husband had always to wait at least a year before marrying again _propter seminis confusionem_.[ ] [sidenote: justin revokes decrees of justinian.] justin, the nephew and successor of justinian, reaffirmed the right to divorce by mutual consent, thus abrogating the laws of his predecessors.[ ] justinian had ordained that if husband and wife separated by mutual consent, they were to be forced to spend the rest of their lives in a convent and forfeit to it one third of their goods.[ ] justin, then, made the pious efforts of his uncle naught. nothing can more clearly illustrate than his decree how small a power the church still possessed to mould the tenor of the law; for such a thing as divorce by mutual consent, without any necessary reason, was a serious misdemeanour in the eyes of the church fathers, who passed upon it their severest censures. [sidenote: adultery.] on the subject of adultery justinian enacted that if the husband was the guilty party, the dowry and marriage donations must be given his wife; but the rest of his property accrued to his relatives, both in ascending and descending lines, to the third degree; these failing, his goods were confiscated to the royal purse.[ ] a woman guilty of adultery was at once sent to a monastery. after a space of two years her husband could take her back again, if he so wished, without prejudice. if he did not so desire, or if he died, the woman was shorn and forced to spend the rest of her life in a nunnery; two thirds of her property were given to her relatives in descending line, the other third to the monastery; if there were no descendants, ascendants got one third and the monastery two thirds; relatives failing, the monastery took all; and in all cases goods inserted in the dowry contract were to be kept for the husband.[ ] [sidenote: second marriages.] [sidenote: strict laws of gratian, valentinian, and theodosius.] the legislation of the earlier christian emperors on second marriages reflects the various feelings of the church fathers on the subject. under the old law, people could marry as often as they wished without any penalties.[ ] but we have seen that among some of the churchmen second marriages were held in peculiar abhorrence, and third nuptials were regarded as a hideous sin; while the orthodox clergy, like st. augustine and st. jerome, permitted second and third marriages, but damned them with faint praise and urged christians to be content with one venture. public opinion, custom, and the influence of the old roman law were too powerful to allow christian monarchs to become fanatical on the subject[ ]; but certain stricter regulations were introduced by the pious gratian, valentinian, and theodosius, in the years , , and .[ ] as under the old laws any widow who married again before the legal time of mourning--a year--had expired, became infamous and lost both cast and all claims to the goods of her deceased husband. she was furthermore not permitted to give a second husband more than one third of her property nor leave him more than one third by will; and she could receive no intestate succession beyond the third degree. a woman who proceeded to a second marriage after the legal period of mourning, must make over at once to the children of the first marriage all the property which her former husband had given or left to her. as to her own personal property, she was allowed to possess it and enjoy the income while she lived, but not to alienate it or leave it by will to any one except the children of the first marriage. as i have before remarked, roman law constantly had the interest of the children at heart.[ ] if there was no issue of the first marriage, then the woman had free control. a mother acquired full right--as the old senatus consultum tertullianum had decreed--to the property of a son or daughter who died childless[ ]; but if she married a second time, and her son or daughter died without leaving children or grandchildren, she was expelled from all succession and distant relatives acquired the property.[ ] [sidenote: justinian moderates these laws to a great degree.] justinian changed these enactments to a pronounced degree. "we are not making laws that are too bitter against women who marry a second time," he remarks,[ ] "and we do not want to lead them, in consequence of such action, to the harsh necessity, unworthy of our age, of abstaining from a chaste second marriage and descending to illegitimate connections." he ordained, therefore, that the law mentioned above be annulled and that mothers should have absolutely unrestricted rights of inheritance to a deceased child's property along with the latter's brothers and sisters; and second marriage was never to create any prejudice.[ ] in the earlier part of his reign justinian also forbade husband or wife to leave one another property under the stipulation that the surviving partner must not marry again[ ]; but later, when his zeal for reform had become more pronounced and fanatical, he revoked this and gave the conditioned party the option either of enjoying the property by remaining unmarried or of forfeiting it by a second union.[ ] [sidenote: breaking of engagements.] constantine ordained,[ ] in the year , that if an engagement was broken by the death of one of the contracting parties and if the _osculum_[ ] had taken place, half of whatever donations had been given was to be handed over to the surviving party and half to the heirs of the deceased; but if the solemn _osculum_ had not yet taken place, all gifts went to the heirs of the deceased. there was also a law that if either party broke the engagement to enter monastic life, the man who did so lost all that he had given by way of earnest money for the marriage contract (_arrarum nomine_); if it was the woman who took the initiative, she was compelled to return twice the amount of any sums she had received. this was changed by justinian, who enacted that those who broke an engagement to enter monastic life should merely return or receive whatever donations had been made.[ ] constantine and his successors abrogated the old time julian laws, which had inflicted certain penalties--such as limited rights of inheritance--on men and women who did not marry.[ ] [sidenote: changes in the law of gifts.] i have already pointed out that gifts between husband and wife were illegal and i have explained the reasons. justinian allowed the husband to make donations to his wife, in such wise, however, that all chance of intent to defraud might be absent.[ ] he ordained also that if husband or wife left the married state to embrace a celibate life, each party was to keep his or her own property as per marriage contract or as each would legitimately in the case of the other's death.[ ] if any one, after vowing the monastic life, returned to the world, his or her goods were forfeit to the monastery which he or she had left.[ ] [sidenote: various enactments on marriage.] the consent of the father or, if he was dead, of near relatives was emphatically declared necessary by the christian emperors for a marriage and the woman had practically no will of her own although, if several suitors were proposed to her, she might be requested to name which one she preferred.[ ] marriage with a jew was treated as adultery.[ ] women who belonged to heretical sects were to have no privileges.[ ] justinus and justinian abrogated the old law which forbade senators to marry freedwomen or any woman who had herself or whose parents had followed the stage. actresses were now permitted, on giving up their profession, to claim all the rights of other free women; and a senator could marry such or even a freedwoman without prejudice.[ ] [sidenote: changes in the laws of inheritance.] under the old law, as we have seen, a son and a daughter had equal rights to intestate succession; but beyond the relationship of daughter to father or sister to brother women had no rights to intestate succession unless there were no agnates, that is, male relatives on the father's side. thus, an aunt would not be called to the estate of a nephew who died childless, but the uncle was regularly admitted. so, too, a nephew was admitted to the intestate succession of an uncle, who died without issue, but the niece was shut out. all this was changed by justinian, who gave women the same rights of inheritance as men under such conditions.[ ] if the children were unorthodox, they were to have absolutely no share of either parent's goods.[ ] [sidenote: women as guardians.] [sidenote: in suits.] the christian emperors permitted widows to be guardians over their children if they promised on oath not to marry again and gave security against fraud.[ ] justinian forbade women to act by themselves in any legal matters.[ ] [sidenote: bills of attainder.] arcadius and honorius ( a.d.) enacted some particularly savage bills of attainder, which were in painful contrast to the clemency of their pagan predecessors. those guilty of high treason were decapitated and their goods escheated to the crown. "to the sons of such a man [i.e., one condemned for high treason]," write these amiable christians,[ ] "we allow their lives out of special royal mercy--for they ought really to be put to death along with their fathers--but they are to receive no inheritances. let them be paupers forever; let the infamy of their father ever follow them; they may never aspire to office; in their lasting poverty let death be a relief and life a punishment. finally, any one who tries to intercede for these with us is also to be infamous."[ ] however, to the daughters of the condemned these emperors graciously granted one fourth of their mother's but not any of their father's goods. in the case of crimes other than high treason the children or grandchildren were allowed one half of the estate.[ ] constantine decreed that a wife's property was not to be affected by the condemnation of her husband.[ ] [sidenote: rape.] ravishers of women, even of slaves and freedwomen, were punished by justinian with death; but in the case of freeborn women only did the property of the guilty man and his abettors become forfeit to the outraged victim. a woman no longer had the privilege of demanding her assailant in marriage.[ ] sources roman law as cited in chapter i, especially the _novellae_ of justinian. notes: [ ] codex, v, , contains this rescript in full. [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] id. [ ] novellae, , . [ ] novellae, , : antiquitus quidem licebat sine periculo tales (i.e., those of incompatible temperament) ab invicem separari secundum communem voluntatem et consensum hoc agentes, sicut et plurimae tunc leges extarent hoc dicentes et _bona gratia_ sic procedentem solutionem nuptiarum patria vocitantes voce. postea vero divae memoriae nostro patri.... legem sancivit prohibens cum consensu coniugia solvi.... haec igitur aliena nostris iudicantes temporibus in praesenti sacram constituimus legem, per quam sancimus licere ut antiquitus consensu coniugum solutiones nuptiarum fieri. [ ] novellae, , . [ ] novellae, , . [ ] novellae, , . [ ] novellae, (praefatio): antiquitas equidem non satis aliquid de prioribus aut secundis perserutabatur nuptiis, sed licebat et patribus et matribus et ad plures venire nuptias et lucro nullo privari, et causa erat in simplicitate confusa. [ ] the language of some of them is pretty strong, however--matre iam secundis nuptiis _funestata_--codex, v, , (gratian, valentinian, theodosius). [ ] for these see codex, v, , and and . [ ] cf. codex, v, , . nos enim hac lege id praecipue custodiendum esse decrevimus, ut ex quocumque coniugio suscepti filii patrum suorum sponsalicias retineant facilitates. [ ] codex, vi, , . [ ] novellae, ii, : ex absurditate legis, licet praemoriantur filii omnes, non relinquentes filios aut nepotes, nihilominus supplicium manet, et non succedit eis mater, sed expellitur ab eorum inhumane successione ... sed succedunt quidem illis aliqui ex longa cognatione. [ ] novellae, ii, . [ ] novellae ii, . [ ] codex, vi, , and . [ ] novellae, , : unde sancimus, si quis prohibuerit ad aliud venire matrimonium, etc. [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] the _osculum_ was a sort of "donation on account of marriage" made on the day of the formal engagement. [ ] codex, i, , ( ). [ ] codex, viii, ( ), i and . cf. codex, viii, ( ), and . [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] codex, i, , ( ). gregory of tours informs us that according to the council of nicaea-- a.d.--a wife who left her husband, to whom she was happily married, to enter a nunnery incurred excommunication. he means probably: if she went without her husband's consent. greg. , : tunc ego accedens ad monasterium canonum nicaenorum decreta relegi, in quibus continetur: quia si quae reliquerit virum et thorum, in quo bene vexit, spreverit, dicens quia non sit ei portio in illa caelestis regni gloria qui fuerit coniugio copulatus, anathema sit. (note of editor: videtur esse canon concilii grangensis, quod concilium veteres nicaeno subiungere solebant; idque indicat titulus in veteribus scriptis.) [ ] codex, i, , ( ). [ ] codex, v, , , and , . [ ] codex, i, , . [ ] novellae, cix, . [ ] codex, v, , and . [ ] codex, vi, , . [ ] codex, i, , . [ ] codex, v, , and . [ ] codex, ii, , . [ ] codex, ix, , . [ ] this law was evidently lasting, for it is quoted with approval by pope innocent iii, in the year --see friedberg, _corpus iuris canonici_, vol. ii, p. . [ ] codex, ix, , . [ ] codex, v, , . [ ] for all these enactments see codex, i, , ( ), and ix, . chapter iv women among the germanic peoples a second world force had now come into its own. the new power was the germanic peoples, those wandering tribes who, after shattering the roman empire, were destined to form the modern nations of europe and to find in christianity the religion most admirably adapted to fill their spiritual needs and shape their ideals. in the year the barbarian odoacer ascended the throne of the caesars. he still pretended to govern by virtue of the authority delegated to him by zeno, emperor at constantinople; but the rupture between east and west was becoming final and after the reign of justinian ( - ) it was practically complete. henceforth the eastern empire had little or nothing to do with western europe and subsisted as an independent monarchy until constantinople was taken by the turks in . i shall not concern myself with it any longer. in western europe, then, new races with new ideals were forming the nations that to-day are england, germany, france, spain, italy, and austria. it is interesting to note what some of these barbarians thought about women and what place they assigned them. [sidenote: julius caesar's account.] our earliest authorities on the subject are julius caesar and tacitus. caesar informs us[ ] that among the gauls marriage was a well recognized institution. the husband contributed of his own goods the same amount that his wife brought by way of dowry; the combined property and its income were enjoyed on equal terms by husband and wife. if husband or wife died, all the property became the possession of the surviving partner. yet the husband had full power of life and death over his wife as over his children; and if, upon the decease of a noble, there were suspicions regarding the manner of his death, his wife was put to inquisitorial torture and was burnt at the stake when adjudged guilty of murder. among the germans women seem to have been held in somewhat greater respect. german matrons were esteemed as prophetesses and no battle was entered upon unless they had first consulted the lots and given assurance that the fight would be successful.[ ] as for the british, who were not a germanic people, caesar says that they practiced polygamy and near relatives were accustomed to have wives in common.[ ] [sidenote: the account of tacitus.] tacitus wrote a century and a half after julius caesar when the tribes had become better known the romans; hence we get from him more detailed information. from him we learn that both the sitones--a people of northern germany--and the british often bestowed the royal power on women, a circumstance which aroused the strong contempt of tacitus, who was in this respect of a conservative mind.[ ] the romans had, indeed, good reason to remember with sorrow the valiant boadicea, queen of the britons.[ ] regarding the germans tacitus wrote a whole book in which he idealises that nation as a contrast to the lax morality of civilised rome, much as rousseau in the eighteenth century extolled the virtues of savages in a state of nature. what tacitus says in regard to lofty morals we shall do well to take with a pinch of salt; but we may with more safety trust his accuracy when he depicts national customs. from tacitus we learn that the germans believed something divine resided in women[ ]; hence their respect for them as prophetesses.[ ] one velaeda by her soothsaying ruled the tribe of bructeri completely[ ] and was regarded as a goddess,[ ] as were many others.[ ] the german warrior fought his best that he might protect and please his wife.[ ] the standard of conjugal fidelity was strict[ ]; men were content with one wife, although high nobles were sometimes allowed several wives as an increase to the family prestige.[ ] the dowry was brought not by the wife to the husband, but to the wife by the husband--evidently a survival of the custom of wife purchase; but the wife was accustomed to present her husband with arms and the accoutrements of war.[ ] she was reminded that she took her husband for better and worse, to be a faithful partner in joy and sorrow until death.[ ] a woman guilty of adultery was shorn and her husband drove her naked through the village with blows.[ ] [sidenote: the written laws of the barbarians.] we see, then, that by no means all of these barbarian nations had the same standards in regard to women. of written laws there were none as yet. but contact with the civilisation of rome had its effect; and when goths, burgundians, franks, and lombards had founded new states on the ruins of the western roman empire, the national laws of the germanic tribes began to be collected and put into writing at the close of the fifth century. between the fifth and the ninth centuries we get the visigothic, burgundian, salic, ripuarian, alemannic, lombardian, bavarian, frisian, saxon, and thuringian law books. they are written in medieval latin and are not elaborated on a scientific basis. three distinct influences are to be seen in them: ( ) native race customs, ideals, and traditions; ( ) christianity; ( ) the roman civil law, which was felt more or less in all, but especially in the case of the visigoths; as was natural, since this people had been brought into closest touch with rome. inasmuch as the barbarians allowed all peoples conquered by them to be tried under their own laws, the old roman civil law was still potent in all its strength in cases affecting a roman. let us endeavour to glean what we can from the barbarian codes on the matter of women's rights. [sidenote: guardianship.] the woman was always to be under guardianship among the germanic peoples and could never be independent under any conditions. perhaps we should rather call the power (_mundium_) wielded by father, brother, husband, or other male relative a protectorate; for in those early days among rude peoples any legal action might involve fighting to prove the merits of one's case, and the woman would therefore constantly need a champion to assert her rights in the lists. thus the woman was under the perpetual guardianship of a male relative and must do nothing without his consent, under penalty of losing her property.[ ] her guardian arranged her marriage for her as he wished, provided only that he chose a free man for her husband[ ]; if the woman, whether virgin or widow, married without his consent, she lost all power to inherit the goods of her relatives[ ]; and her husband was forced to pay to her kin a recompense amounting to _solidi_ among the saxons, among the burgundians.[ ] [sidenote: marriage.] the feeling of caste was very strong; a woman must not marry below her station.[ ] by a law of the visigoths she who tried to marry her own slave was to be burned alive[ ]; if she attempted it with another's bondman, she merited one hundred lashes.[ ] the dowry was a fixed institution as among the romans; but the bridegroom regularly paid a large sum to the father or guardian of the woman. this _wittemon_ was regarded as the price paid for the parental authority (_mundium_) and amounted among the saxons to _solidi_.[ ] as a matter of fact this custom practically amounted to the intended husband giving the dowry to his future wife. the husband was also allowed to present his wife with a donation (_morgengabe_) on the morning after the wedding; the amount was limited by king liutprand to not more than one fourth of all his goods.[ ] breaking an engagement after the solemn betrothal had been entered into was a serious business. the visigoths refused to allow one party to break an engagement without the consent of the other; and if a woman, being already engaged, went over to another man without her parent's or fiancé's leave, both she and the man who took her were handed over as slaves to the original fiancé.[ ] the other barbarians were content to inflict a money fine for breach of promise.[ ] [sidenote: power of the husband.] the woman on marrying passed into the power of her husband "according to the sacred scriptures," and the husband thereupon acquired the lordship of all her property.[ ] the law still protected the wife in some ways. the visigoths gave the father the right of demanding and preserving for his daughter her dowry.[ ] the ripuarians ordained that whatever the husband had given his wife by written agreement must remain inviolate.[ ] king liutprand made the presence of two or three of the woman's male relatives necessary at any sale involving her goods, to see to it that her consent to the sale had not been forced.[ ] [sidenote: divorce.] on the subject of divorce the regulations of the several peoples are various; but the commands of the new testament are alike strongly felt in all; and we may expect to find divorce limited by severe restrictions.[ ] the burgundians allowed it only for adultery or grave crimes, such as violating tombs. if a wife presumed to dismiss her husband for any other cause, she was put to death (_necetur in luto_); to a husband who sent his wife a divorce without these specific reasons existing the law was more indulgent, allowing him to preserve his life by paying to his injured wife twice the amount that he had originally given her parents for her, and twelve _solidi_ in addition; and in case he attempted to prove her guilty of one of the charges mentioned above and she was adjudged innocent, he forfeited all his goods to her and was forced to leave his home.[ ] the visigoths were equally strict; the husband who dismissed his wife on insufficient legal grounds lost all power over her and must return all her goods; his own must be preserved for the children; if there were none, the wife acquired his property. a woman who married a divorced man while his first wife was living, was condemned for adultery and accordingly handed over to the first wife to be disposed of as the latter wished; exile, stripes, and slavery were the lot of a man who took another wife while his first partner was still alive.[ ] the alemanni and the bavarians, who were more remote from italy and hence from the church, were influenced more by their own customs and allowed a pecuniary recompense to take the place of the harsher enactments.[ ] [sidenote: adultery.] adultery was not only a legal cause for divorce, but also a grave crime. all the barbarian peoples are agreed in so regarding it, but their penalties vary according as they were more or less affected by proximity to italy, where the power of the church was naturally strongest. the ripuarians, the bavarians, and the alemanni preferred a money fine ranging from fifty to two hundred _solidi_.[ ] among the visigoths the guilty party was usually bound over in servitude to the injured person to be disposed of as the latter wished.[ ] sometimes the law was harsher to women than to men; thus, according to a decree of liutprand,[ ] a husband who told his wife to commit adultery or who did so himself paid a mulct of fifty _solidi_ to the wife's male relatives; but if the wife consented to or hid the deed, she was put to death. the laws all agree that the killing of adulterers taken in the act could not be regarded as murder. [sidenote: the church indulgent toward kings.] it is always to be remembered that although the statutes were severe enough, yet during this period, as indeed throughout all history, they were defied with impunity. charlemagne, for example, the most christian monarch, had a large number of concubines and divorced a wife who did not please him; yet his biographer einhard, pious monk as he was, has no word of censure for his monarch's irregularities[ ]; and policy prevented the church from thundering at a king who so valiantly crushed the heretics, her enemies. bishop gregory of tours tells us without a hint of being shocked that clothacharius, king of the franks, had many concubines.[ ] concubinage was, in fact, the regular thing.[ ] but neither in that age, nor later in the case of louis xiv, nor in our own day in the case of leopold of belgium has the church had a word of reproach for monarchs who broke with impunity moral laws on which she claims always to have insisted without compromise. [sidenote: remarriage.] in accordance with the commands of scripture neither the divorced man nor the divorced woman could marry again during the lifetime of the other party. to do so was to commit adultery, for which the usual penalties went into effect. [sidenote: property rights and powers.] a woman's property would consist of any or all of these: i. her share of the property of parents or brothers and sisters. ii. her dowry and whatever nuptial donations (_morgengabe_) her husband had given her, and whatever she had earned together with her husband. there could be no account of single women's property or disposal of what they earned, because in the half-civilised state of things which then obtained there was no such thing as women engaging in business; indeed, not even men of any pretension did so; war was their work. the unmarried woman was content to sit by the fire and spin under the guardianship and support of a male relative. often she would enter a convent. i shall first discuss the laws of inheritance as affecting women, in order to note what property she was allowed to acquire. in this connection it is well to bear in mind a difference between roman and germanic law. the former viewed an inheritance as consisting always of a totality of all goods, whether of money, land, movables, cattle, dress, or what not. but among the germanic peoples land, money, ornaments, and the like were regarded as so many distinct articles of inheritance, to some of which women might have legal claims of succession, but not necessarily to all. this is most emphatically shown in the case of land. of all the barbarian peoples, the ripuarians alone allowed women the right to succeed to land.[ ] among other nations a daughter or sister or mother, whoever happened to be the nearest heir, would get the money, slaves, etc., but the nearest _male_ kin would get the land.[ ] only if male kin were lacking to the fifth degree--an improbable contingency--did alodial inheritance "pass from the lance to the spindle."[ ] in respect to all other things a daughter was co-heir with a son to the estate of a father or mother. according to the salic and ripuarian law this would be one order of succession[ ]: i. children of the deceased. ii. these failing, surviving mother or father of deceased. iii. these failing, brother or sister of deceased. iv. these failing, sister of mother of deceased. v. these failing, sister of father of deceased. vi. these failing, male relatives on father's side. it will be observed that in such a succession these laws are more partial to women relatives than the roman law; an aunt, for example, is called before an uncle. an uncle would certainly exclude an aunt under the roman law; but most of the germanic codes allowed them an equal succession.[ ] nevertheless, when women did inherit under the former, they acquired the land also. moreover, the woman among the germanic nations must always be under guardianship; and whereas under the empire the power of the guardian was in practice reduced to nullity, as i have shown, among the barbarians it was extremely powerful, because to assert one's rights often involved fighting in the lists to determine the judgment of god. it was a settled conviction among the germanic peoples that god would give the victory to the rightful claimant. as women could not fight, a champion or guardian was a necessity. this was not true in roman courts, which preferred to settle litigation by juristic reasoning and believed, like napoleon, that god, when appealed to in a fight, was generally on the side of the party who had the better artillery. children inherited not only the estate but also the friendships and enmities of their fathers, which it was their duty to take up. hereditary feuds were a usual thing.[ ] king liutprand ordaine[ ] however, that if a daughter alone survived, the feud was to be brought to an end and an agreement effected. some of the nations seem to have provided that children must not be disinherited except for very strong reasons; for example, the law of the visigoths[ ] forbids more than one third of their estate being alienated by mother or father, grandmother or grandfather. the alemanni permitted a free man to leave all his property to the church and his heirs had no redress[ ]; but the bavarians compelled him before entering monastic life to distribute among his children their proportionate parts.[ ] [sidenote: property of the married woman.] we may pass now to the property rights of the married woman. the relation of her husband to the dowry i have already explained. the dowry was conceived as being ultimately for the children; only when there were no children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren did the woman have licence to dispose of the dowry as she wished: this was the law among the visigoths.[ ] the dowry, then, was to revert to the children or grandchildren at the death of the wife; if there were none such, to the parents or relatives who had given her in marriage; these failing, it escheated to the crown--so according to rotharis.[ ] by the laws of the visigoths[ ] when the wife died, her husband continued in charge of the property; but, as under the roman law, he had to preserve it entire for the children, though he might enjoy the usufruct. when a son or daughter married, their father must at once give them their share of their mother's goods, although he could still receive the income of one third of the portion. if son or daughter did not marry, they received one half their share on becoming twenty years of age; their father might claim the interest of the other half while he lived; but at his death he must leave it to them. when a woman left no children, her father or nearest male kin usually demanded the dowry back.[ ] when the husband died, his estate did not go to wife, but to his children or other relatives.[ ] if however, any property had been earned by the joint labour of husband and wife, the latter had a right to one half among the westfalians; to one third among the ripuarians; to nothing among the ostfalians.[ ] children remained in the power of their mother if she so desired and provided she remained a widow. a mother usually had the enjoyment of her dowry until her death, when she must leave it to her children or to the donor or nearest relative.[ ] if the husband died without issue, some nations allowed the wife a certain succession to her husband's goods, provided that she did not marry again. thus, the burgundians gave her under such conditions one third of her husband's estate to be left to his heirs, however, at her death.[ ] the bavarians, too, under the same conditions allowed her one half of her husband's goods[ ] and even if there was issue, granted her the right to the interest of as much as one child received.[ ] a widow who married again lost the privilege of guardianship over her children, who thereupon passed to a male relative of the first husband. as to the dowry of the prior union the woman must make it over at once to her children according to some laws or, according to others, might receive the usufruct during life and leave it to the children of the first marriage at her death. any right to the property of her first husband she of course lost.[ ] when there was no issue of the first marriage then the dowry and nuptial donations could usually follow her to a second union. [sidenote: criminal law pertaining to women.] criminal law among these half civilised nations could not but be a crude affair. their civilisation was in a state of flux, and immediate practical convenience was the only guide. they were content to fix the penalties for such outrages as murder, rape, insult, assault, and the like in money; the visigoths alone were more stringent in a case of rape, adding lashes and slavery to the ravisher of a free woman who had accomplished his purpose.[ ] some enactments which may well strike us as peculiar deserve notice. for example, among the saxons the theft of a horse or an ox or anything worth three _solidi_ merited death; but murder was atoned for by pecuniary damages.[ ] among the burgundians, if a man stole horses or cattle and his wife did not at once disclose the deed, she and her children who were over fourteen were bound over in slavery to the outraged party "because it hath often been ascertained, that these women are the confederates of their husbands in crime."[ ] the most minute regulations prevailed on the subject of injury to women. under the salic law[ ] for instance, if a free man struck a free women on the fingers or hand, he had to pay fifteen _solidi_; if he struck her arm, thirty _solidi_; if above her elbow, thirty-five _solidi_; if he hit her breast, forty-five _solidi_. the penalties for murdering a free woman were also elaborated on the basis of her value to the state as a bearer of children. by the same salic law[ ] injury to a pregnant woman resulting in her death merited a fine of seven hundred _solidi_; but two hundred was deemed sufficient for murder of one after her time for bearing children had passed. similarly, for killing a free woman after she had begun to have children the transgressor paid six hundred _solidi_; but for murdering an unmarried freeborn girl only two hundred. the murder of a free woman was punished usually by a fine (_wergeld_) equal to twice the amount demanded for a free man "because," as the law of the bavarians has it,[ ] "a woman can not defend herself with arms. but if, in the boldness of her heart (per audaciam cordis sui), she shall have resisted and fought like a man, there shall not be a double penalty, but only the recompense usual for a man [ _solidi_]." fines were not paid to the state, but to the injuried parties or, if these did not survive, to the nearest kin. if the fine could not be paid, then might death be meted to the guilty.[ ] another peculiar feature of the germanic law was the appeal to god to decide a moot point by various ordeals. for example, by the laws of the angles and werini, if a woman was accused of murdering her husband, she would ask a male relative to assert her innocence by a solemn oath[ ] or, if necessary, by fighting for her as her champion in the lists. god was supposed to give the victory to the champion who defended an innocent party. if she could find no champion, she was permitted to walk barefoot over nine red-hot ploughshares[ ]; and if she was innocent, god would not, of course, allow her to suffer any injury in the act. [sidenote: women in slavery.] perhaps a word on the status of women in slavery among the germanic nations will not be out of place. the new nations looked upon a slave as a chattel, much as the romans did. if a wrong was done a slave woman, her master received a recompense from the aggressor, but she did not, for to hold property was denied her. but we may well believe that the great value which the church put on chastity and conjugal fidelity rendered the slave woman less exposed to the brutal passions of her lord than had been the case under the empire. thus, by a law of king liutprand, a master who committed adultery with the wife of a slave was compelled to free both[ ]; and the visigot[ ] inflicted fifty lashes and a fine of twenty _solidi_ upon the man who used violence to another man's slave woman. on comparing the position of women under roman law and under the germanic nations, as we have observed them thus far, we should note first of all that under the latter women benefited chiefly by the insistence of the church on the value of chastity in both sexes. that in those days the passions of men were difficult to restrain in practice does not invalidate the real service done the world by the ideal that was insisted upon,[ ] an ideal which was certainly not held in pagan antiquity except by a few great minds. although the social position of woman was thus improved, the character of the age and the sentiments of the bible which i have already quoted made her status far inferior to her condition under roman law so far as her legal rights were concerned. in a period[ ] when the assertion of one's rights constantly demanded fighting, the woman was forced to rely on the male to champion her; the church, in accordance with the dicta of the apostles, encouraged and indeed commanded her to confine herself to the duties of the household, to leave legal matters to men, and to be guided by their advice; and thus she was prevented from asserting herself out of regard for the strong public opinion on the subject, which was quite alien to the sentiments of the old roman law. henceforward also we are to have law based on old customs and _theology_,[ ] not on practical convenience or scientific reasoning. sources i. corpus iuris germanici antiqui: edidit ferd. walter. berolini--impensis g. reimeri, . vols. ii. c. iulii caesaris commentarii de bello gallico: recognovit geo. long. novi eboraci apud harperos fratres. iii. cornelii taciti libri qui supersunt: quartum recognovit carolus halm. lipsiae (teubner), . iv. sancti georgii florentii gregorii, episcopi turonensis, historiae ecclesiasticae francorum libri decem: edidit j. guadet et n.r. taranne. parisiis, apud julium renouard et socios, . v. iordanis de origine actibusque getorum: edidit alfred holder. freiburg und tubingen; verlagsbuchhandlung von j. c.b. mohr. vi. widukindi rerum gestarum saxonicarum libri tres. accedit libellus de origine gentis suevorum. editio quarta: post georgium waitz recognovit karolus a. kehr. hannoverae et lipsiae impensis bibliopolii hahniani, . vii. procopii caesariensis opera omnia: recognovit jacobus haury. lipsiae. (teubner). . viii. einhardi vita karoli magni. editio quinta. post g.h. perte recensuit g. waitz. hannoverae et lipsiae, . ix. pauli historia langobardorum: edidit georg waitz. hannoverae, impensis bibliopolii hahniani, . notes: [ ] _de bell. gall_., vi, . [ ] id., i, . [ ] id., v, . [ ] _agricola_, . _germania_, : suionibus sitonum gentes continuantur. cetera similes, uno differunt, quod femina dominatur; in tantum non modo a libertate, sed etiam a servitute degenerant. no woman ever reigned alone as queen of the roman empire until a.d., when pulcheria, sister of theodosius ii, ascended the throne of the east; but she soon took the senator marcian in marriage and made him king. [ ] _agricola_, . [ ] _germania_, . [ ] procopius, _de bello vandalico_, ii, , observes the same thing among the maurousians, or moors, in northern africa: [greek: andra gar manteuesthai en tô ethnei toutô ou themis, alla gunaikes sphisi katochoi hek dê tinos lerourgias ginomenai prolegousi ta esomena, tôn palai chrêstêriôn oudenos êsson.] [ ] tacitus, _hist_., iv, , and v, . [ ] id., _germania_, . [ ] ibid., . [ ] ibid., . [ ] ibid., . [ ] ibid. [ ] ibid., . [ ] ibid., and . [ ] ibid., . [ ] liutprand, i, : si filiae aut sorores contra voluntatem patris aut fratris egerint, potestatem habet pater aut frater iudicandi res suas quomodo aut qualiter voluerit. [ ] leges liutprandi, vi, : si quis filiam suam aut sororem alii sponsare voluerit, habeat potestatem dandi cui voluerit, libero tamen homini. lex wisigothorum, iii, , and . [ ] leges liutprandi, vi, . lex angliorum et werinorum, x, : si libera femina sine voluntate patris aut tutoris cuilibet nupserit, perdat omnem substantiam quam habuit vel habere debuit. reply of a bishop quoted by gregory of tours, , : quia sine consilio parentum eam coniugio copulasti, non erit uxor tua. but the law of the visigoths (iii, i, , and , ) merely deprived her of succession to the estate of her parents. [ ] lex saxonum, vi, : si autem sine voluntate parentum, puella tamen consentiente, ducta fuerit (uxorem ducturus) bis ccc solidos parentibus eius componat. lex burgundionum: _add_., . cf. edictum rotharis, : si puella libera aut vidua sine voluntate parentum ad maritum ambulaverit, liberum tamen, tunc maritus, qui eam acceperit uxorem, componat pro anagrip solidos xx et propter faidam alios xx. [ ] by a law of the alemanni (_tit_., ), if two sisters were heiresses to a father's estate and one married a vassal (_colonus_) of the king or church and the other became the wife of a free man equal to her in rank, the latter only was allowed to hold her father's land, although the rest of the goods were divided equally. [ ] lex wisigothorum, iii, , . [ ] ibid., iii, , . [ ] lex saxonum, vi, i: uxorem ducturus ccc solidos det parentibus eius. see also the lex burgundionum, , i and and . in the case of a widow who married again the gift of the husband was called _reiphe_ or _reippus_ and very solemn ceremonies belonged to the giving of it according to the salic law, _tit_., : si, ut fieri adsolet, homo moriens viduam dimiserit et cam quis in coniugium voluerit accipere, antequam eam accipiat tunginus aut centenarius mallum indicent, et in ipso mallo scutum habere debet, et tres homines vel caussas mandare. et tunc ille, qui viduam accipere vult, cum tribus testibus qui adprobare debent, tres solidos aeque pensantes, et denarium habere debet, etc. [ ] leges liutprandi, ii, . [ ] lex wisigothorum, iii, , and , and iii, , . [ ] e.g., _solidi_ by the salic law, _tit_., . see also lex baiuvariorum, _tit_., vii, and and . lex alemannorum, , i; ; . [ ] lex burgundionum, _add. primum_, xiii: quaecumque mulier burgundia vel romana voluntate sua ad maritum ambulaverit, iubemus ut maritus ipse de facultate ipsius mulieris, sicut in eam habet potestatem, ita et de rebus suis habeat. lex wisigothorum, iv, , : vir qui uxorem suam secundum sacram scripturam habet in potestate, similiter et in servis suis potestatem habebit, et omnia quae cum servis uxoris suae vel suis in expeditione acquisivit, in sua potestate permaneant. [ ] lex wisigothorum, iii, tit. i, . [ ] lex ripuariorum, , . [ ] leges liutprandi, iv, . [ ] that is, for the common people. kings have always had a little way of doing as they pleased. see the anecdote of king cusupald in paulus' _hist. langobard_, i, : secunda autem (sc. filia wacchonis) dicta est walderada, quae sociata est cusupald, alio regi francorum, quam ipse odio habens uni ex suis, qui dicebatur garipald, in coniugium tradidit. [ ] for all this see lex burgundionum, , - . [ ] for all these, see lex wisigothorum, iii, , and . [ ] capitula addita ad legem alemannorum, . lex baiuvariorum, vii, . [ ] lex ripuariorum, _tit_., . lex baiuvariorum, vii. lex alemannorum, , . [ ] lex wisigothorum, iii, , and , and iii, , . [ ] leges liutprandi, vi, . [ ] einhard, _vita kar. mag_., : deinde cum matris hortatu filiam desiderii regis langobardorum duxisset uxorem, incertum qua de causa, post annum eam repudiavit et hildigardam de gente suaborum praecipuae nobilitatis feminam in matrimonium duxit ... habuit et alias tres filias ... duas de fastrada uxore ... tertiam de concubina quadam ... defuncta fastrada ... tres habuit concubinas. [ ] gregory of tours, , . [ ] the concubines of theodoric--jordanes, _de orig. acti busque get._, . huga, king of the franks, had a filium quem ex concubina genuit--widukind, _res gest. sax._, i, . [ ] lex ripuariorum, _til_., . lex angliorum et werinorum, vi--_de alodibus_, : hereditatem defuncti filius, non filia suscipiat. salic law, _tit_., : _de alodis_, : de terra vero salica in mulierem nulla portio hereditatis transit, sed hoc virilis sexus adquirat, hoc est, filii in ipsa hereditate succedunt. lex saxonum, vii, : pater aut mater defuncti filio, non filiae hereditatem relinquit. [ ] cf. lex angliorum et werinorum, vi: _de alodibus_. [ ] ibid., vi, : post quintam autem (sc. generationem) filia ex toto, sive de patris sive de matris parte, in hereditatem succedat, et tunc demum hereditas ad fusum a lancea transeat. [ ] lex salica, _tit._, . lex ripuariorum, _tit._, . [ ] cf. lex wisigothorum, iv, , and . [ ] tacitus, _germania_, . [ ] legis liutprandi, ii, . [ ] lex wisigothorum, iv, , i. [ ] lex alemannorum, _tit._, i. [ ] lex baiuvariorum, _tit._, i. [ ] lex wisigothorum, iv, , . [ ] edictum rotharis, i, . [ ] lex wisigothorum, iv, , . [ ] cf. capitula addita ad legem alemannorum, . lex saxonum, viii, . [ ] cf. lex wisigothorum, iv, , : maritus et uxor tunc sibi hereditario iure succedant, quando mulla affinitas usque ad septimum gradum de propinquis eorum vel parentibus inveniri poterit. see also lex burgundionum, , . [ ] lex saxonum, ix. lex ripuariorum, , . [ ] lex saxonum, viii. lex wisigothorum, iv, , . lex burgundionum , , and , . [ ] lex burgundionum, , ; , ; , . [ ] lex baiuvariorum, xiv, , . [ ] ibid., xiv, . [ ] for all this, see lex burgundionum, and and . lex wisigothorum, iv, tit. . lex baiuvariorum, . lex alemannorum, and . [ ] lex wisigothorum, iii, , . [ ] lex saxonum, iv. in the early days when the great west of the united states was just being opened up and when society there was in a very crude state, a horse thief was regularly hanged; but murder was hardly a fault. [ ] lex burgundionum, , and . the guilty man was put to death. [ ] lex salica, _tit._, . [ ] id, _tit._, . [ ] lex baiuvariorum, _tit._, xiii, . [ ] cf. lex salica, _tit._, --a very curious account of formalities to be observed in such a case. [ ] it was deemed sufficient for a male relative, say, the father, to assert the innocence of the woman under solemn oath: for it was thought that he would be unwilling to do this if he knew the woman was guilty and so incur eternal hell-fire as a punishment for perjury. an example of this solemn ceremony is told interestingly by gregory of tours, , . a woman at paris was charged by her husband's relatives with adultery and was demanded to be put to death. her father took a solemn oath that she was innocent. far from being content with this, the husband's kin began a fight and the matter ended in a wholesale butchery at the church of st. dionysius. [ ] lex angliorum et werinorum, xiv: aut si campionem non habuerit, ipsa ad novem vomeres ignitos examinanda mittatur. [ ] leges liutprandi, vi, . [ ] lex wisigothorum, iii, , . [ ] see the interesting story of the girl who slew duke amalo, as narrated by gregory of tours, , . [ ] the bloody nature of the times is depicted naïvely by gregory, bishop of tours, who wrote the history of the franks. see, e.g., the stories of ingeltrudis, rigunthis, waddo, amalo, etc., in book . gregory was born in . [ ] _corpus iuris canonici_ (friedberg), vol. i, p. , _distinctio prima_: ius naturae est quod in lege et _evangelio_ continetur. chapter v digression of the later history of roman law with charlemagne, who was crowned emperor by the pope in the year , began the definite union of church and state and the church's temporal power. henceforth for seven centuries, until the reformation, we shall have to reckon with canon law as a supreme force in determining the question of the position of women. a brief survey of the later history of the old roman law will not be out of place in order to note what influence, if any, it continued to exert down the ages. the body of the roman law, compiled by order of justinian ( - a.d.), was intended primarily for the eastern empire; but when, in the year , the emperor conquered the western goths, who then ruled italy, he ordered his laws taught in the school of jurisprudence at rome and practiced in the courts. i have already remarked that the barbarians who overran italy allowed the vanquished the right to be judged in most cases by their own code. but the splendid fabric of the roman law was too elaborate a system to win the attentive study of a rude people; the church had its own canons, the people their own ancestral customs; and until the twelfth century no development of the roman civil code took place. finally, during the twelfth century, the great school at bologna renewed the study with vigour, and italy at the present day derives the basic principles of its civil law from the corpus of justinian. practically the same story holds true of france,[ ] of spain, and of the netherlands, all of whom have been influenced particularly by the great jurists of the sixteenth century who were simply carrying further the torch that had been lit so enthusiastically at bologna in the twelfth century. as to germany,[ ] when that unhappy country had been separated from france and italy after the treaty of verdun in , carlovingian law and the ancient german law books fell into disuse. the law again rested on unwritten customs, on the decisions of the judges and their assessors, and on agreements of the interested parties (feudal services and tenures). not till the twelfth and thirteenth centuries was any record made of the rules of law which had arisen; many laws of cities on various matters and in various provinces were recorded by public authority; and thus originated the so-called law books of the middle ages, the private labours of experienced men, who set forth the legal principles which were recognised in all germany, or at least in certain parts of it. there were no law schools as yet, and scientific compilation of german law was not even thought of. after the university of bologna had revived the study of roman law in italy, the italian universities attracted the german youth, who on their return would labour to introduce what they had learned. their efforts were seconded by the clergy, through the close connection with canon law which was in force in germany. german emperors and territorial lords also favoured roman law because they saw how well suited it was to absolutism; they liked to engage jurists trained in italy, especially if they were doctors of both canon and roman law. nor did the german people object. from the fourteenth century many schools of jurisprudence were established on italian models. at present, the law of justinian has only such force as is received by usage or as it has acquired by recognition. i. the roman law forms in germany the principal law in some branches, that is, it is in so far its basis that the german law is only an addition or modification of it. in other branches it is only supplementary, that is, it is merely subsidiary to the german law. ii. only the glossed parts and passages of justinian's law collection have binding force in germany. iii. only those glossed passages are binding which contain the latest rule of law. consequently the historical materials contained in them, though always of great importance for discovering the latest law, have not binding force. iv. those precepts of the roman law which relate to roman manners and institutions unknown in germany are inapplicable here, though glossed. v. the roman law has but slight application to such objects and transactions as were unknown to the romans and are of purely germanic origin. vi. with the limitations above enumerated the roman law has been adopted as a whole and not in detached parts. in england roman law has had practically no effect. in the year a lombard jurist, vacarius, lectured on it at oxford; but there were no results. canon law is, of course, a force to be reckoned with in britain as on the continent. before we enter the question of women's rights during the middle ages, we must take a general survey of the character of that period; for obviously we cannot understand its legislation without some idea of the background of social, political, and intellectual life. in the first place, then, the church was everywhere triumphant and its ideals governed legislation completely on such matters as marriage. the civil law of rome, as drawn up first by the epitomisers and later studied more carefully at bologna, served to indicate general principles in cases to which canon law did not apply; but there was little jurisdiction in which the powers ecclesiastical could not contrive to take a hand. at the same time germanic ideals and customs continued a powerful force. for a long time after the partition of the vast empire of charlemagne government was in a state of chaos and transition from which eventually the various distinct states arose. a struggle between kings and nobles for supremacy dragged along for many generations; and as during that contest each feudal lord was master in his own domain, there was no consistent code of laws for all countries or, indeed, for the same country. yet the character of the age determined in a general way the spirit that dictated all laws. society rested on a military and aristocratic basis, and when the ability to wield arms is essential to maintain one's rights, the position of women will be affected by that fact. beginning with the twelfth century city life began to exert a political influence; and this, again, did not fail to have an effect on the status of women. of any participation of women in intellectual life there could be no question until the renaissance, although we do meet here and there with isolated exceptions, a few ladies of high degree like roswitha of gandersheim and hadwig, duchess of swabia, niece of otto the great, and heloise. the learning was exclusively scholastic, and from any share in that women were barred. when people are kept in ignorance, there is less inducement for them to believe that they have any rights or to assert them if they do think so. we shall do well to bear in mind, in noting the laws relative to women, that theory is one thing and practice quite another. hence, although the doctrines of the church on various matters touching the female sex were characterised by the greatest purity, we shall see that in practice they were not strictly executed. religion does in fact play a less considerable part in regulating the daily acts of men than theologians are inclined to believe. if anything proves this, it is the history of that foulest stain on christian nations--prostitution. we might expect that since the roman catholic church insists so on chastity the level of this virtue would certainly be higher in countries which are almost exclusively catholic, like spain and italy, than in protestant lands; but no one who has ever travelled in spain or italy fails to recognise that the conduct of men is as lamentably low in these as in england, germany, or the united states. with this brief introduction i shall proceed next to explain the position of women under the canon law, a code which affected all countries of europe equally until the reformation; and in connection with this i shall give some idea of the attitude of the roman catholic church towards women and women's rights at the present day. notes: [ ] french customary law began to be written in the thirteenth century and was greatly affected by the roman law. [ ] the succeeding paragraphs are a summary of the account by the learned professor mackeldey, who has investigated roman law with the most minute diligence. chapter vi the canon law and the attitude of the roman catholic church [sidenote: the canon law reaffirms the subjection of women.] the canon law reaffirms woman's subjection to man in no uncertain terms. the wife must be submissive and obedient to her husband.[ ] she must never, under penalty of excommunication, cut off her hair, because "god has given it to her as a veil and as a sign of her subjection."[ ] a woman who assumed men's garments was accursed[ ]; it will be remembered that the breaking of this law was one of the charges which brought joan of arc to the stake. however learned and holy, woman must never presume to teach men publicly.[ ] she was not allowed to bring a criminal action except in cases of high treason or to avenge the death of near relatives.[ ] parents could dedicate a daughter to god while she was yet an infant; and this parental vow bound her to the nunnery when she was mature, whether she was willing or not.[ ] virgins or widows who had once consecrated themselves to god might not marry under pain of excommunication.[ ] parents could not prevent a daughter from taking vows, if she so wished, after she had attained the age of twelve.[ ] [sidenote: woman and marriage under canon law.] the most important effect of the canon law was on marriage, which was now a sacrament and had its sanction not in the laws of men, but in the express decrees of god. hence even engagements acquired a sacred character unknown to the roman law; and when a betrothal had once been entered into, it could be broken only in case one or both of the contracting parties desired to enter a monastery.[ ] free consent of both man and woman was necessary for matrimony.[ ] there must also be a dowry and a public ceremony.[ ] the legitimate wife is thus defined[ ]: "a chaste virgin, betrothed in chastity, dowered according to law, given to her betrothed by her parents, and received from the hands of the bridesmaids (_a paranimphis accipienda_); she is to be taken according to the laws and the gospel and the marriage ceremony must be public; all the days of her life--unless by consent for brief periods to devote to worship--she is never to be separated from her husband; for the cause of adultery she is to be dismissed, but while she lives her husband may marry no other." the blessing of the priest was necessary. about every form connected with the marriage service the church threw its halo of mystery and symbol to emphasise the sacred character of the union. thus[ ]: "women are veiled during the marriage ceremony for this reason, that they may know they are lowly and in subjection to their husbands.... a ring is given by the bridegroom to his betrothed either as a sign of mutual love or rather that their hearts may be bound together by this pledge. for this reason, too, the ring is worn on the fourth finger, because there is a certain vein in that finger which they say reaches to the heart." [sidenote: clandestine marriages.] clandestine marriages were forbidden,[ ] but the church always presumed everything it could in favour of marriage and its indissolubility. thus, gratian remarks[ ]: "clandestine marriages are, to be sure, contrary to law; nevertheless, they can not be dissolved." the reason for forbidding them was perfectly reasonable: one party might change his or her mind and there would be no positive proof that a marriage had taken place, so that a grave injury might be inflicted on an innocent partner by an unscrupulous one who desired to dissolve the union.[ ] yet the marriage by consent alone without any of the ceremonies or the blessing of the priest was perfectly valid, though not "according to law" (_legitimum_), and could not be dissolved.[ ] not until the great council of trent in was this changed. at that time all marriages were declared invalid unless they had been contracted in the presence of a priest and two or three witnesses.[ ] [sidenote: protection to women.] the church is seen in its fairest light in its provisions to protect the wife from sexual brutality on the part of her husband, and it deserves high praise for its stand on such matters.[ ] various other laws show the same regard for the interests of women. a man who was entering priestly office could not cast off his wife and leave her destitute, but must provide living and raiment for her.[ ] neither husband nor wife could embrace the celibate life nor devote themselves to continence without the consent of the other.[ ] a man who cohabited with a woman as his concubine, even though she was of servile condition or questionable character, could not dismiss her and marry another saving for adultery.[ ] slaves were now allowed to contract marriages and masters were not permitted to dissolve them.[ ] [sidenote: divorce.] it has always been and still is the boast of the roman catholic church that it has been the supreme protector of women on account of its stand on divorce. says cardinal gibbons[ ]: "christian wives and mothers, what gratitude you owe to the catholic church for the honorable position you now hold in society! if you are no longer regarded as the slave, but the equal, of your husbands; if you are no longer the toy of his caprice, and liable to be discarded at any moment; but if you are recognised as the mistress and queen of your household, you owe your emancipation to the church. you are especially indebted for your liberty to the popes who rose up in all the majesty of their spiritual power to vindicate the rights of injured wives against the lustful tyranny of their husbands." in view of such a claim i may be justified in entering a somewhat more detailed account of this subject. on the subject of divorce the roman catholic church took the decided position which it continues to maintain at the present day. marriage when entered upon under all the conditions demanded by the church for a valid union is indissoluble.[ ] a separation "from bed and board" (_quoad thorum seu quoad cohabitationem_) is allowed for various causes, such as excessive cruelty, for a determinate or an indeterminate period; but there is no absolute divorce even for adultery. for this cause a separation may, indeed, take place, but the bond of matrimony is not dissolved thereby and neither the innocent nor the guilty party may marry again during the lifetime of the other partner. all this seems very rigorous. it is true that the roman catholic church does not permit "divorce." but it allows fourteen cases where a marriage can be declared absolutely null and void, as if it had never existed; and in these cases the man or woman may marry again. to say that the roman church does not allow divorce is, therefore, playing upon words. the instruments used to render its strict theory ineffective are "diriment impediments" and "dispensations." by the doctrine of "diriment impediments" the pope or a duly constituted representative can declare that a marriage has been null and void from the very beginning because of some impediment defined in the canon law. canon iv of the twenty-fourth session of the council of trent anathematises anyone who shall say that the church cannot constitute impediments dissolving marriage, or that she has erred in constituting them. the impediments which can annul marriage are described in the official catholic encyclopedia, vol. vii, pages - . among them are impuberty and impotency. then there is "disparity of worship," which renders void the marriage of a christian--that is, a roman catholic, with an infidel,--that is, one who is unbaptised. marriage of a roman catholic with a baptised non-catholic constitutes a "relative" impediment and needs a special dispensation and provisoes, such as a guarantee to bring up the children in the roman faith to give it validity. another impediment is based on the presumption of want of consent, "the nullity being caused by a defect of consent." "this defect," says the catholic encyclopedia, "may arise from the intellect or the will; hence we have two classes. arising from the intellect we have: insanity; and total ignorance, even if in confuso of what marriage is (this ignorance, however, is not presumed to exist after the age of puberty has been reached); and lastly error, where the consent is not given to what was not intended. arising from the will, a defect of consent may be caused through deceit or dissimulation, when one expresses exteriorly a consent that does not really exist; or from constraint imposed by an unjust external force, which causes the consent not to be free." consanguinity and affinity are diriment impediments. consanguinity "prohibits all marriages in the direct ascending or descending line in infinitum, and in the collateral line to the fourth degree or fourth generation." affinity "establishes a bond of relationship between each of the married parties and the blood relations of the other, and forbids marriage between them to the fourth degree. such is the case when the marriage springs from conjugal relations; but as canon law considers affinity to spring also from illicit intercourse, there is an illicit affinity which annuls marriage to the second degree only." then there is "spiritual relationship"; for example, the marriage of one who stood as sponsor in confirmation with a parent of the child is null and void. under the canon law, even more resources are open for the man who is tired of his wife; by the doctrine, namely, of "spiritual fornication." adultery is, of course, recognised as the cause that admits a separation. but the canon law remarks that idolatry and all harmful superstition--by which is meant any doctrine that does not agree with that of the church--is fornication; that avarice is also idolatry and hence fornication; that in fact no vice can be separated from idolatry and hence all vices can be classed as fornication; so that if a husband only tried a little bit, he could without much trouble find some "vice" in his wife that would entitle him to a separation.[ ] when all these fail, recourse can be had to a dispensation. the church reserves the right to give dispensations for all impediments. canon iii of the twenty-fourth session of trent says: "if anyone shall say, that only those degrees of consanguinity and affinity which are set down in _leviticus_ [xviii, ff.] can hinder matrimony from being contracted, and dissolve it when contracted; and that the church can not dispense in some of those degrees, or ordain that others may hinder and dissolve it; let him be anathema." [sidenote: inheritance] the minute and far-fetched subtleties which the roman church has employed in the interpretation of these relationships make escape from the marital tie feasible for the man who is eager to disencumber himself of his life's partner. the man of limited means will have a hard time of it. the great and wealthy have been able at all periods, by working one or more of these doctrines, to reduce the theory of the roman church to nullity in practice. napoleon had his marriage to josephine annulled on the ground that he had never intended to enter into a religious marriage with her, although the day before the ceremony he had had the union secretly blessed by cardinal fesch. on the basis of this avowed lack of intent, his marriage with josephine was declared null and void, and he was free to marry louisa. a plea along the same lines is being worked by the count de castellane now. louis xii, having fallen in love with anne of brittany, suddenly discovered that his wife was his fourth cousin, that she was deformed, and that her father had been his godfather; and for this the pope gave him a dispensation and his legitimate wife was sent away. the pope did not thunder against louis xiv for committing adultery with women like louise de la vallière and madame de montespan. it is certainly true that in the case of philip augustus of france and henry viii of england the pope did protect injured wives; but both these monarchs were questioning the vatican's autocracy. the matrimonial relations of john of england, philip's contemporary, were more corrupt than those of the french king; but, while the pope chastised john for his defiance of his political autonomy, he did not excommunicate him on any ground of morality. the statement of cardinal gibbons is not entirely in accordance with history; he does not take all facts into consideration, as is also true of his complacent assumption that outside of the roman church no economic forces and no individuals have had any effect in elevating the moral and economic status of women. questions such as those of inheritance belong properly to civil law; but the canon law claimed to be heard in any case into which any spiritual interest could be foisted. thus in the year innocent iii enacted that children of heretics be deprived of all their offending parents' goods "since in many cases even according to divine decree children are punished in this world on account of their parents."[ ] [sidenote: general attitude towards women at the present day] the attitude of the roman catholic church towards women's rights at the present day is practically the same as it has been for eighteen centuries. it still insists on the subjection of the woman to the man, and it is bitterly hostile to woman suffrage. this position is so well illustrated by an article of the rev. david barry in the roman catholic paper, the dublin _irish ecclesiastical review_, that i cannot do better than quote some of it. "it seems plain enough," he says, "that allowing women the right of suffrage is incompatible with the high catholic ideal of the unity of domestic life. even those who do not hold the high and rigid ideal of the unity of the family that the catholic church clings to must recognise some authority in the family, as in every other society. is this authority the conjoint privilege of husband and wife? if so, which of them is to yield, if a difference of opinion arises? surely the most uncompromising suffragette must admit that the wife ought to give way in such a case. that is to say, every one will admit that the wife's domestic authority is subordinate to that of her husband. but is she to be accorded an autonomy in outside affairs that is denied her in the home? her authority is subject to her husband's in domestic matters--her special sphere; is it to be considered co-ordinate with his in regulating the affairs of the state? furthermore, there is an argument that applies universally, even in the case of those women who are not subject to the care and protection of a husband, and even, i do not hesitate to say, where the matters to be decided on would come specially within their cognisance, and where their judgment would, therefore, be more reliable than that of men. it is this, that in the noise and turmoil of party politics, or in the narrow, but rancorous arena of local factions, it must needs fare ill with what may be called the passive virtues of humility, patience, meekness, forbearance, and self-repression. these are looked on by the church as the special prerogative and endowment of the female soul ... but these virtues would soon become sullied and tarnished in the dust and turmoil of a contested election; and their absence would soon be disagreeably in evidence in the character of women, who are, at the same time, almost constitutionally debarred from preeminence in the more robust virtues for which the soul of man is specially adapted." cardinal gibbons, in a letter to the national league for the civic education of women--an anti-suffrage organisation--said that "woman suffrage, if realised, would be the death-blow of domestic life and happiness" (nov. , ). rev. william humphrey, s.j., in his _christian marriage_, chap. , remarks that woman is "the subordinate equal of man"--whatever that means. a few roman catholic prelates, like cardinal moran, have advocated equal suffrage, but they are in the minority. the pope has not yet definitely stated the position of the church; individual catholics are free to take any side they wish, as it is not a matter of faith; but the tendency of roman catholicism is against votes for women. sources i. corpus iuris canonici: recognovit aemilius friedberg. lipsiae (tauchnitz) pars prior, . pars secunda, . ii. sacrosanctum concilium tridentinum, additis declarationibus cardinalium, concilii interpretum, ex ultima recognitione joannis gallemart, etc. coloniae agrippinae, apud franciscum metternich, bibliopolam. mdccxxvii. iii. the catholic encyclopedia. new york, robert appleton company. (published with the _imprimatur_ of archbishop parley.) iv. various articles by catholic prelates, due references to which are given as they occur. notes: [ ] augustine quoted by gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. , chapters - --friedberg, i, pp. , . ambrose and jerome on the same matter, ibid., _c_. and , friedberg, i, p. . gratian, _causa_ , _quaest_. , _c_. --friedberg, i, p. : feminae dum maritantur, ideo velantur, ut noverint se semper viris suis subditas esse et humiles. [ ] gratian, _distinctio_, , _c_. --friedberg, i, p. : quecumque mulier, religioni iudicans convenire, comam sibi amputaverit quam deus ad velamen eius et ad memoriam subiectionis illi dedit, tanquam resolvens ius subiectionis, anathema sit. cf. gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. --friedberg, i, p. . [ ] gratian, _dist_., , _c_. , friedberg, i, p. . see also _deuteronomy_ xxii, . [ ] gratian, _dist_., , _c_. --friedberg, i, p. : mulier, quamvis docta et sancta, viros in conventu docere non praesumat. [ ] id., _causa_, , _quaest_. --friedberg, i, p. . [ ] id., _causa_, , _quaest_. , _c_. --friedberg, i, pp. - , quoting gregory to augustine, the bishop of the angles: addidistis adhuc, quod si pater vel mater filium filiamve intra septa monasterii in infantiae annis sub regulari tradiderunt disciplina, utrum liceat eis, postquam ad pubertatis inoleverint annos, egredi, et matrimonio copulari. hoe omnino devitamus, quia nefas est ut oblatis a parentibus deo filiis voluptatis frena relaxentur. id., _c_. --fried., i, p. : quoting isidore--quicumque a parentibus propriis in monasterio fuerit delegatus, noverit se ibi perpetuo mansurum. nam anna samuel puerum suum natum et ablactatum deo pietate obtulit. id., _c_. --fried., i, pp. - . [ ] gratian, _dist_., , _c_. et , and _dist_., , _c_. --friedberg, i, pp. and . id., _causa_, , _quaest_. , _c_. and --friedberg, i, pp. and o . [ ] gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. , _c_. --friedberg, i, pp. - . [ ] cf. council of trent, session , "on the sacrament of matrimony," _canon_ : "if anyone shall say that matrimony contracted but not consummated is not dissolved by the solemn profession of religion by one of the parties married: let him be anathema." gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. ii, _c_. --fried., i, p. . id., _c_. , , , --fried., i, pp. , , . [ ] gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. --fried., i, p. : ubi non est consensus utriusque, non est coniugium. ergo qui pueris dant puellas in cunabulis et e converso, nihil faciunt, nisi uterque puerorum postquam venerit ad tempus discretionis consentiat, etiamsi pater et mater hoc fecerint et voluerint. id. _causa_, , _quaest_. --fried., i, - : sine libera voluntate nulla est copulanda alicui. [ ] gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. , _c_. --friedberg, i, p. : nullum sine dote fiat coniugium; iuxta possibilitatem fiat dos, nee sine publicis nuptiis quisquam nubere vel uxorem ducere praesumat. [ ] gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. , _c_. --friedberg, i, p. . [ ] gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. , _c_. --friedberg, i, p. . [ ] id., _c_. --friedberg, i, p. . [ ] id., _c_. --friedberg, i, p. . [ ] gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. , _c_. --friedberg, i, p. . [ ] gratian, _causa, , _quaest_. i, _c_. --friedberg, i, p. : illorum vero coniugia, qui contemptis omnibus illis solempnitatibus solo affectu aliquam sibi in coniugem copulant, huiuscemodi coniugium non legitimum, sed ratum tantummodo esse creditur. [ ] sessio xxiv, cap. i--de reformatione matrimonii. [ ] see gratian, _dist_., v, _c_. --friedberg, i, p. , e.g., ... ita ut morte lex sacra feriat, si quis vir ad menstruam mulierem accedat. [ ] gratian, _dist_., , _c_. --friedberg, i, p. . [ ] gratian, _causa_, , _quaest_. , _c_. - , and - --friedberg i, pp. - . [ ] gratian, _dist_., , c. --friedberg, i, p. . id., _causa_, , _quaest_. --friedberg, i, p. . id., _causa_, , _quaest_. , c. . [ ] id., _causa_, , _quaest_. , c. and . [ ] "divorce," by james cardinal gibbons, in the _century_, may, . [ ] for this and what immediately follows see _session_ of the council of trent "on the sacrament of matrimony" and also the catholic encyclopedia under "divorce." [ ] gratian, _causa_ , _quaest_. i, c. --friedberg, i, pp. - . licite dimittitur uxor que virum suum cogere querit ad malum. idolatria, quam secuntur infideles, et quelibet noxia superstitio fornicatio est. dominus autem permisit causa fornicationis uxorem dimitti. sed quia dimisit et non iussit, dedit apostolo locum monendi, ut qui voluerit non dimittat uxorem infidelem, quo sic fortassis possit fidelis fieri. si infidelitas fornicatio est, et idolatria infidelitas, et avaritia idolatria, non est dubitandum et avaritiam fornicationem esse. quis ergo iam quamlibet illicitam concupiscentiam potest recte a fornicationis genere separate, si avaritia fornicatio est? [ ] friedberg, ii, pp. and : quum enim secundum legitimas sanctiones, etc. lea, in his _history of confession and indulgences_, ii, p. , quotes zanchini, _tract. de haeret., cap. _, to the effect that goods of a heretic were confiscated and disabilities inflicted on two generations of descendants. chapter vii history of women's rights in england since i have now given a brief summary of the canon law, which until the reformation marked the general principles that guided the laws of all europe on the subject of women, i propose next to consider more particularly the history of women's rights in england; for the institutions of england, being the basis of our own, will necessarily be more pertinent to us than those of continental countries, to which i shall not devote more than a passing comment here and there. my inquiry will naturally fall into certain well-defined parts. the status of the unmarried woman is different from that of her married sister and will, accordingly, demand separate consideration. the rights of women, again, are to be viewed both from the legal and the social standpoint. their legal rights include those of a private nature, such as the disposal of property, and public rights, such as suffrage, sitting on a jury, or holding office. under social rights are included the right to an education, to earn a living, and the like. let us glance first at the history of the legal rights of single women. [sidenote: single women: pollock and maitland i, pp. - .] from very early times the law has continued to put the single woman of mature age on practically a par with men so far as private single rights are concerned. she could hold land, make a will or contract, could sue and be sued, all of her own initiative; she needed no guardian. she could herself, if a widow, be guardian of her own children. [sidenote: pollock and maitland, ii, - . blackstone, ii, ch. .] in the case of inheritance, however, women have to within extremely recent times been treated less generously than men. the male sex has been preferred in an inheritance; males excluded females of equal degree; or, in the words of blackstone: "in collateral inheritances the male stock shall be preferred to the female; that is, kindred derived from the blood of the male ancestors, however remote, shall be admitted before those from the blood of the female, however near; unless where the lands have, in fact, descended from a female. thus the relations on the father's side are admitted _in infinitum_ before those on the mother's side are admitted at all." blackstone justly remarks that this harsh enactment of the laws of england was quite unknown to the roman law "wherein brethren and sisters were allowed to succeed to equal portions of the inheritance." as an example, suppose we look for the heir of john stiles, deceased. the order of succession would be: i. the eldest son, matthew stiles, or his issue. ii. if his line is extinct, then gilbert stiles and the other sons, respectively, in order of birth, or their issue. iii. in default of these, all the daughters together, margarite and charlotte stiles, or their issue. iv. on the failure of the descendants of john stiles himself, the issue of geoffrey and lucy stiles, his parents, is called in, viz.: first, francis stiles, the eldest brother of the whole blood, or his issue. v. then oliver stiles, and the other whole brothers, respectively, in order of birth, or their issue. vi. then the sisters of the whole blood all together, bridget and alice stiles, or their issue. and so on. it will be noted that females of equal degree inherited together; and that a daughter excluded a brother of the dead man. men themselves, if younger sons, have suffered what seems to us a grave injustice in the prevalence of the right of primogeniture, whereby, if there are two or more males in equal degree, the eldest only can inherit. this law might work for the benefit of certain females; thus, the daughter, granddaughter, or great-granddaughter of an eldest son will succeed before the younger son. to public rights, such as sitting on a jury[ ] or holding offices of state, women never were admitted; that is a question that has become prominent only in the twentieth century and will demand consideration in its proper place. [sidenote: power of parents.] unlike the roman law, english law allows parents to disinherit children completely, if they so desire, without being under any compulsion to leave them a part of their goods. as to legal power over children, the mother, as such, is entitled to none, says blackstone,[ ] but only to reverence and respect. now, however, by the statute and vict., c. , commonly called _talfourd's act_, an order may be made on petition to the court of chancery giving mothers access to their children and, if such children are within the age of seven years, for delivery of them to their mother until they attain that age. but no woman who has been convicted of adultery is entitled to the benefit of the act. the father has legal power up to the time when his children come of age; then it ceases. until that time, his consent is necessary to a valid marriage; he may receive the profit of a child's estate, but only as guardian or trustee, and must render an account when the child attains his majority; and he may have the benefit of his children's labour while they live with him. [sidenote: husband and wife. pollock and maitland, ii, - . blackstone, i, ch . bryce, pp. - .] we are ready now to observe the status of women in marriage. the question of their legal rights in this relation offers the most illuminating insight into their conditions in the various epochs of history. matrimony is a state over which the church has always asserted special jurisdiction. by the middle of the twelfth century it was law in england that to it belonged this prerogative. the ecclesiastical court, for example, pronounced in a given case whether there had been a valid marriage or not; the temporal court took this decision as one of the bases for determining a matter of inheritance, whether a woman was entitled to dower, and the like. the general precepts laid down by canon law in the case of a wife have already been noted. these rules need now to be supplemented by an account of the position of women in marriage under the common law. under the older common law the husband was very much lord of all he surveyed and even more. an old enactment thus describes a husband's duty[ ]: "he shall treat and _govern_ the aforesaid a well and decently, and shall not inflict nor cause to be inflicted any injury upon the aforesaid a except in so far as he may lawfully and reasonably do so in accordance with _the right of a husband to correct and chastise his wife_." blackstone, who wrote in , has this to say on the husband's power to chastise his wife: "the husband also, by the old law, might give his wife moderate correction. for, as he is to answer for her misbehaviour, the law thought it reasonable to intrust him with this power of restraining her, by domestic chastisement, in the same moderation that a man is allowed to correct his apprentices or children, for whom the master or parent is also liable in some cases to answer. but this power of correction was confined within reasonable bounds, and the husband was prohibited from using any violence to his wife _aliter quam ad, virum, ex causa regiminis et castigationis uxoris suae, licite et rationabiliter pertinet_.[ ] the civil law gave the husband the same, or a larger, authority over his wife; allowing him for some misdemeanours _flagellis et fustibus acriter verberare uxorem_ [to give his wife a severe beating with whips and clubs]; for others, only _modicam castigationem adhibere_ [to apply moderate correction]. but with us in the politer reign of charles the second, this power of correction began to be doubted; and a wife may now have security of the peace against her husband, or, in return, a husband against his wife. yet the lower rank of people, who were always fond of the old common law, still claim and exert their ancient privilege; and the courts of law will still permit a husband to restrain a wife of her liberty, in case of any gross misbehaviour." doubtless what mr. weller, sr., describes as the "amiable weakness" of wife-beating was not necessarily confined to the "lower rank." for instance, some of the courtly gentlemen of the reign of queen anne were probably not averse to exercising their old-time prerogative. says sir richard steele (_spectator_, ): "i can not deny but there are perverse jades that fall to men's lots, with whom it requires more than common proficiency in philosophy to be able to live. when these are joined to men of warm spirits, without temper or learning, they are frequently corrected with stripes; but one of our famous lawyers is of opinion, that this ought to be used sparingly." the law was, indeed, even worse than might appear from the words of blackstone. the wife who feared unreasonable violence could, to be sure, bind her husband to keep the peace; but she had no action against him. a husband who killed his wife was guilty of murder, but the wife who slew her husband was adjudged guilty of petty treason; and whereas the man would be merely drawn and hanged, the woman, until the reign of george iii, was drawn and burnt alive.[ ] the right of a husband to restrain a wife's liberty may not be said to have become completely obsolete until the case of _reg. v. jackson in _.[ ] wife-beating is still a flagrantly common offence in england. [sidenote: wife's property in marriage.] turning now to the question of the wife's property in marriage, we shall be forced to believe that blackstone was an optimist of unusual magnitude when he wrote that the female sex was "so great a favourite of the laws of england." not to weary the reader by minute details, i cannot do better than give messrs. pollock and maitland's excellent summary of the final shape taken by the common law--a glaring piece of injustice, worthy of careful reading, and in complete accord with apostolic injunctions: "i. in the lands of which the wife is tenant in fee, whether they belonged to her at the date of the marriage or came to her during the marriage, the husband has an estate which will endure during the marriage, and this he can alienate without her concurrence. if a child is born of the marriage, thenceforth the husband as 'tenant by courtesy' has an estate which will endure for the whole of his life, and this he can alienate without the wife's concurrence. the husband by himself has no greater power of alienation than is here stated; he cannot confer an estate which will endure after the end of the marriage or (as the case may be) after his own death. the wife has during the marriage no power to alienate her land without her husband's concurrence. the only process by which the fee can be alienated is a _fine_ to which both husband and wife are parties and to which she gives her assent after a separate examination. "ii. a widow is entitled to enjoy for her life under the name of dower one third of any land of which the husband was seised in fee at any time during the marriage. the result of this is that during the marriage the husband cannot alienate his own land so as to bar his wife's right of dower, unless this is done with her concurrence, and her concurrence is ineffectual unless the conveyance is made by _fine_." [this inconvenience for an unscrupulous husband was evaded in modern conveyancy by a device of extreme ingenuity finally perfected only in the eighteenth century. professor james bryce remarks (p. ): "as this right (i.e., the right of dower) interfered with the husband's power of freely disposing of his own land, the lawyers at once set about to find means of evading it, and found these partly in legal processes by which the wife, her consent being ascertained by the courts, parted with her right, partly by an ingenious device whereby lands could be conveyed to a husband without the right of dower attaching to them, partly by giving the wife a so-called jointure which barred her claim."] "iii. our law institutes no community, even of movables, between husband and wife. whatever movables the wife has at the date of the marriage become the husband's, and the husband is entitled to take possession of and thereby to make his own whatever movables she becomes entitled to during the marriage, and without her concurrence he can sue for all debts that are due her. on his death, however, she becomes entitled to all movables and debts that are outstanding, or (as the phrase goes) have not been 'reduced into possession.' what the husband gets possession of is simply his; he can freely dispose of it _inter vivos_ or by will. in the main, for this purpose as for other purposes, a 'term of years' is treated as a chattel, but under an exceptional rule the husband, though he can alienate his wife's 'chattel real' _inter vivos_, cannot dispose of it by his will. if he has not alienated it _inter vivos_, it will be hers if she survives him. if he survives her, he is entitled to her 'chattels real' and is also entitled to be made the administrator of her estate. in that capacity he has a right to whatever movables or debts have not yet been 'reduced into possession' and, when the debts have been paid, he keeps these goods as his own. if she dies in his lifetime, she can have no other intestate successor. without his consent she can make no will, and any consent that he may have given is revocable at any time before the will is proved. "iv. our common law--but we have seen that this rule is not very old--assured no share of the husband's personality to the widow. he can, even by his will, give all of it away from her except her necessary clothes, and with that exception his creditors can take all of it. a further exception, of which there is not much to be read, is made of jewels, trinkets, and ornaments of the person, under the name of paraphernalia. the husband may sell or give these away in his lifetime, and even after his death they may be taken for his debts; but he cannot give them away by will. if the husband dies during the wife's life and dies intestate she is entitled to a third, or, if there be no living descendant of the husband, to one half of his personality [but see the note of bryce, above]. but this is a case of pure intestate succession; she only has a share of what is left after payment of her husband's debts. "v. during the marriage the husband is in effect liable to the whole extent of his property for debts incurred or wrongs committed by his wife before the marriage, also for wrongs committed during the marriage. the action is against him and her as co-defendants. if the marriage is dissolved by his death, she is liable, his estate is not. if the marriage is dissolved by her death, he is liable as her administrator, but only to the extent of the property which he takes in that character." [mr. ashton, in his very interesting book, p. , quotes a peculiar note from a parish register in the reign of queen anne to this effect: "john bridmore and anne sellwood, both of chiltern all saints, were married october , . the aforesaid anne sellwood was married in her smock, without any clothes or headgier on." "this is not uncommon," remarks mr. ashton, "the object being, according to a vulgar error, to exempt the husband from the payment of any debts his wife may have contracted in her ante-nuptial condition. this error seems to have been founded on a misconception of the law, as it is laid down 'the husband is liable for the wife's debts, because he acquires an absolute interest in the personal estate of his wife.' an unlearned person from this might conclude, and not unreasonably, that if his wife had no estate whatever he could not incur any liability."] "vi. during the marriage the wife cannot contract on her own behalf. she can contract as her husband's agent and has a certain power of pledging his credit in the purchase of necessaries. at the end of the middle ages it is very doubtful how far this power is to be explained by an 'implied agency.' the tendency of more recent times has been to allow her no power that cannot be thus explained, except in the exceptional case of desertion." a perusal of these laws shows that they are immensely inferior to the roman law, which not only gave the wife full control of her property, but protected her from coercion and bullying on the part of the husband. the amendment of these injustices has been very recent indeed. successive statutes in , , and [ ] finally abrogated the law which gave the husband full ownership of his wife's property by the mere act of marriage. beginning with the year , too, enlightenment in england had progressed to such a remarkable degree that certain acts were passed forbidding a husband to seize his wife's earnings and neglect her[ ]; and she was actually allowed to keep her own wages after the desertion of her lord. before that time he might desert his wife repeatedly, and return from time to time to take away her earnings and sell everything she had acquired. an act in (_ and vict., c. _) gave magistrates the power to order a husband to pay his wife a weekly sum, not exceeding two pounds, for her support and that of the children if it appeared to the magistrates that the deserting husband had the means of maintaining her, but was unwilling to do so. still, the husband can at any time terminate his desertion and force his wife to take him back on penalty of losing all rights to such maintenance. there was frantic opposition to all of these revolutionary enactments and many prophets arose crying woe; but the acts finally passed and england still lives. [sidenote: divorce. authorities as above; and howard, ii, - .] until the reformation divorce was regulated by the canon law in accordance with the principles which i have explained. after the reformation the matter at once assumed a different aspect because all protestants agreed in denying that marriage is a sacrament. scotland in this as in other respects has been more liberal than england; as early as desertion as well as adultery had become grounds for divorce. but in england the force of the canon law continued. in blackstone's day there were still, as under the canon law, only two kinds of separation. complete dissolution of the marriage tie (_a vinculo matrimonii_) took place only on a declaration of the ecclesiastical court that on account of some canonical impediment, like consanguinity, the marriage was null and void from the beginning. separation "from bed and board" (_a mensa et thoro_) simply gave the parties permission no longer to live together and was allowed for adultery or some other grave offences, like intolerable cruelty or a chronic disease. however, some time before blackstone's day it had become the habit to get a dissolution of marriage _a vinculo matrimonii_ for adultery by act of parliament; but the legal process was so tedious, minute, and expensive that only the very rich could afford the luxury.[ ] in the case of a separation _a mensa et thoro_ alimony was allowed the wife for her support out of her husband's estate at the discretion of the ecclesiastical judges. the initiative in divorce by act of parliament was usually taken by the husband; not until did a woman have the temerity so to assert her rights. the fact is, ever since the dawn of history society has, with its usual double standard of morality for men and women, insisted that while the husband must never tolerate infidelity on the part of the wife, the wife should bear with meekness the adulteries of her husband. plutarch in his _conjugal precepts_ so advises a wife; and this pious frame of mind has continued down the centuries to the present day. devout old jeremy taylor in his _holy living_--a book which is read by few, but praised by many--thus counsels the suffering wife[ ]: "but if, after all the fair deportments and innocent chaste compliances, the husband be morose and ungentle, let the wife discourse thus: 'if, while i do my duty, my husband neglects me, what will he do if i neglect him?' and if she thinks to be separated by reason of her husband's unchaste life, let her consider that the man will be incurably ruined, and her rivals could wish nothing more than that they might possess him alone." dr. samuel johnson ably seconded the holy jeremy's advice by declaring that there is a boundless difference between the infidelity of the man and that of the woman. in the husband's case "the man imposes no bastards upon his wife." therefore, "wise married women don't trouble themselves about infidelity in their husbands."[ ] until very recent times not only men but also women have been unanimous in counselling abject submission to and humble adoration of the husband. a single example out of hundreds will serve excellently as a pattern. in a "lady of distinction" writes to a "relation shortly after her marriage" as follows[ ]: "the most perfect and implicit faith in the superiority of a husband's judgment, and the most absolute obedience to his desires, is not only the conduct that will insure the greatest success, but will give the most entire satisfaction. it will take from you a thousand cares, which would have answered to no purpose; it will relieve you from a weight of thought that would be very painful, and in no way profitable.... it has its origin in reason, in justice, in nature, and in the law of god.... i have told you how you may, and how people who are married do, get a likeness of countenance; and in that i have done it. you will understand me, that by often looking at your husband's face, by smiling on the occasions on which he does, by frowning on those things which make him frown, and by viewing all things in the light in which you perceive he does, you will acquire that likeness of countenance which it is an honour to possess, because it is a testimony of love.... when your temper and your thoughts are formed upon those of your husband, according to the plan which i have laid down, you will perceive that you have no will, no pleasure, but what is also his. this is the character the wife of prudence would be apt to assume; she would make herself the mirror, to show, unaltered, and without aggravation, diminution, or distortion, the thoughts, the sentiments, and the resolutions of her husband. she would have no particular design, no opinion, no thought, no passion, no approbation, no dislike, but what should be conformable to his own judgment ... i would have her judgment seem the reflecting mirror to his determination; and her form the shadow of his body, conforming itself to his several positions, and following it in all its movements ... i would not have you silent; nay, when trifles are the subject, talk as much as any of them; but distinguish when the discourse turns upon things of importance." it is not strange, therefore, that no woman protested publicly against a husband's infidelity until . up to there were but three cases of a woman's taking the initiative in divorce, namely, in , , and ; and in each case the man's adultery was aggravated by other offences. in two other suits the lords rejected the petition of the wife, although the misconduct of the husband was clearly proved. but redress was still by the elaborate machinery of act of parliament and hence a luxury only for the wealthy until , when a special court for divorce and matrimonial causes was established.[ ] nevertheless, the law as it stands to-day is not of a character to excite admiration or to prove the existence of the proverbial "british fair play." a husband can obtain a divorce upon proof of his wife's infidelity; but the wife can get it only by proving, in addition to the husband's adultery, either that it was aggravated by bigamy or incest or that it was accompanied by cruelty or by two years' desertion. misconduct by the husband bars him from obtaining a divorce. the court is empowered to regulate at its discretion the property rights of divorced people and the custody of the children.[ ] all attempts have failed to make the law recognise that the misconduct of the husband shall be regarded equally as culpable as the wife's. [sidenote: rape and the age of legal consent.] we may pause a moment to glance at the provisions made by the criminal law for protecting women. the offence that most closely touches women is rape. the punishment of this in blackstone's day was death[ ]; but in the next century the death penalty was repealed and transportation for life substituted.[ ] the saddest blot on a presumably christian civilisation connected with this matter is the so-called "age of legal consent." under the older common law this was _ten_ or _twelve;_ in it was _thirteen_, at which period a girl was supposed to be at an age to know what she was doing. but in the year mr. stead told the london public very plainly those hideous truths about crimes against young girls which everybody knew very well had been going on for centuries, but which no one ever before had dared to assert. the result was that parliament raised the "age of legal consent" to sixteen, where it now stands.[ ] the idea that any girl of this age is sufficiently mature to know what she is doing by consenting to the lust of scoundrels is a fine commentary on the acuteness of the legal intellect and the high moral convictions of legislators. [sidenote: women's rights to an education.] the rights of women to a higher education is distinctly a movement of the last half of the nineteenth century. it is true that throughout history there are many examples of remarkably well-educated women--lady jane grey, for example, or queen elizabeth, or olympia morata, in italy, she who in the golden period of the renaissance became a professor at sixteen and wrote dialogues in greek after the manner of plato. but on looking closely into these instances we shall find first that these ladies were of noble rank and only thanks to their lofty position had access to knowledge; and secondly that they stand out as isolated cases--the great masses of women never dreamed beyond the traditional kleider, küche, kinder, and kirche. that an elementary education, consisting of reading, writing, and simple arithmetic, was offered them freely by hospital, monastery, and the like schools even as early as chaucer--this we know; nevertheless, beyond that they were not supposed to aspire. so very recently, indeed, have women secured the rights to a higher education that many thousands to-day can easily recall the intensely bitter attacks which were directed against colleges like wellesley and bryn mawr in their inception. until the middle of the nineteenth century the whole education--what there was of it--of a girl was arranged primarily with a view to capture a husband and, once having him secure, to be his loving slave, to dwell with adoring rapture on his superior learning, and to be humbly grateful if her liege deigned from time to time to throw his spouse some scraps of knowledge which might be safely administered without danger of making her think for herself. these facts no one can well deny; but a few instances of prevalent opinion, in addition to those which i have already quoted, will afford the amusement of concrete examples. mrs. chapone, in the eighteenth century, advised her niece to avoid the study of classics and science lest she "excite envy in one sex and jealousy in the other." lady mary wortley montagu laments thus: "there is hardly a creature in the world more despicable and more liable to universal ridicule than a learned woman," and "folly is reckoned so much our proper sphere, we are sooner pardoned any excesses of that than the least pretensions to reading and good sense." pursuant to the prevailing sentiment on the education of women, the subjects which they studied and the books which they were allowed to read were carefully regulated. as to their reading, it was confined to romantic tales whereof the exceeding insipidity could not awaken any symptom of intelligence. lyly dedicated his _euphues_ to the "ladies and gentlewomen of england" and sidney's _arcadia_ owed its vast success to its female readers. the subjects studied followed the orthodox views. beginning with the reign of queen anne boarding-schools for girls became very numerous. at these schools "young gentlewomen" were "soberly educated" and "taught all sorts of learning fit for young gentlewomen." the "learning fit for young gentlewomen" comprised "the needle, dancing, and the french tongue; a little music on the harpsichord or spinet, to read, write, and cast accounts in a small way." dancing was the all-important study, since this was the surest route to their promised land, matrimony. the study of french consisted in learning parrot-like a modicum of that language pronounced according to the fancy of the speaker. as, however, the young beau probably did not know any more himself, the end justified the means. studies like history, when pursued, were taken in homoeopathic doses from small compendiums; and it was adequate to know that charlemagne lived somewhere in europe about a thousand or so years ago. yet even this was rather advanced work and exposed the woman to be damned by the report that she was educated. ability to cook was not despised and pastry schools were not uncommon. thus in the time of queen anne appears this: "to all young ladies: at edw. kidder's pastry school in little lincoln's inn fields are taught all sorts of pastry and cookery, dutch hollow works, and butter works," etc. at last in the first decades of the nineteenth century the civilised world began slowly to take some thought of women's higher education and to wake up to the fact that because a certain system has been in vogue since created man does not necessarily mean that it is the right one; a very heretical and revolutionary idea, which has always been and still is ably opposed by that great host of people who have steadily maintained that when men and women once begin to think for themselves society must inevitably run to ruin. in there was established a certain governesses' benevolent institution. this was in its inception a society to afford relief to governesses, i.e., women engaged in tutoring, who might be temporarily in straits, and to raise annuities for those who were past doing work. obviously this would suggest the question of what a competent governess was; and this in turn led to the demand for a diploma as a warrant of efficiency. that called attention to the extreme ignorance of the members of the profession; and it was soon felt that classes of instruction were needed. a sum of money was accordingly collected in and given the institution for that purpose. some eminent professors of king's college volunteered to lecture; and so, on a small scale to be sure, began what is now queen's college, the first college for women in england, incorporated by royal charter in . in bedford college for women had been founded in london through the unselfish labours of mrs. reid; but it did not receive its charter until . within a decade cheltenham, girton, newnham, and other colleges for women had arisen. eight of the ten men's universities of great britain now allow examinations and degrees to women also; oxford and cambridge do not. [sidenote: women in the professions.] since then women's right to any higher education which they may wish to embrace has been permanently assured. as early as edinburgh opened its courses in pharmacy to women. in there were already duly qualified female physicians in great britain. in many schools they are allowed to study with men, as at the college of physicians and surgeons at edinburgh; there are four medical schools for women only. we find women now actively engaged in agriculture, apiculture, poultry-keeping, horticulture; in library work and indexing; in stenography; in all trades and professions. the year witnessed the first appointment of women as factory inspectors, two being chosen that year in london and in glasgow. nottingham had chosen women as sanitary inspectors in . thus in about two decades woman has advanced farther than in the combined ages which preceded. before these very modern movements we may say that the stage was the only profession which had offered them any opportunity of earning their living in a dignified way. it seems that a mrs. coleman, in , was the first female to act on the stage in england; before that, all female parts had been taken by boys or young men. a mrs. sanderson played desdemona in at the clare market theatre. in , as we may see from pepys' _diary_ (feb. , ), an actress was still a novelty; but within a few decades there were already many famous ones. [sidenote: woman suffrage in england] we have seen that now woman has obtained practically all rights on a par with men. there are still grave injustices, as in divorce; but the battle is substantially won. one right still remains for her to win, the right, namely, to vote, not merely on issues such as education--this privilege she has had for some time--but on all political questions; and connected with this is the right to hold political office. we may fittingly close this chapter by a review of the history of the agitation for woman suffrage. in the year charles fox remarked: "it has never been suggested in all the theories and projects of the most absurd speculation, that it would be advisable to extend the elective suffrage to the female sex." yet five years before mary wollstonecraft had published her _vindication of the rights of women_. presently the writings of harriet martineau upon political economy proved that women could really think on politics. we may say that the general public first began to think seriously on the matter after the epoch-making reform act of . this celebrated measure admitted £ householders to the right to vote and carefully excluded females; yet it marked a new era in the awakening of civic consciousness: women had taken active part in the attendant campaigns; and the very fact that "male persons" needed now to be so specifically designated in the bill, whereas hitherto "persons" and "freeholders" had been deemed sufficient, attests the recognition of a new factor in political life. in john stuart mill was elected to parliament. that able thinker had written on _the subjection of women_ and was ready to champion their rights. a petition was prepared under the direction of women like mrs. bodichon and miss davies; and in mill proposed in parliament that the word _man_ be omitted from the people's bill and _person_ substituted. the amendment was rejected, to . nevertheless, the agitation was continued. the next year constitutional lawyers like mr. chisholm anstey decided that women might be legally entitled to vote; and of them applied to be registered. in a test case brought before the court of common pleas the verdict was adverse, on the ground that it was contrary to usage for women to vote. the fight went on. mr. jacob bright in introduced a "bill to remove the electoral disabilities of women" and lost. in mr. william woodall tried again; he lost also, largely through the efforts of gladstone; and the same statesman was instrumental in killing another bill in , when mr. a.j. balfour urged its passage. at the present day women in england cannot vote on great questions of universal state policy nor can they hold great offices of state. yet their gains have been enormous, as i shall next demonstrate; and in this connection i shall also glance briefly at their vast strides in the colonies. in ontario gave all women school suffrage. in new south wales gave them municipal suffrage. in england granted municipal suffrage to single women and widows; victoria gave it to all women, married or single. in england in the education act, by which school boards were created, gave women the same rights as men, both as regards electing and being elected. in west australia gave them municipal suffrage; in new zealand gave school suffrage. in south australia gave municipal suffrage. in widows and single women obtained municipal suffrage in scotland and parliamentary suffrage on the isle of man. municipal suffrage was given by ontario and tasmania in and by new zealand and new brunswick in ; by nova scotia and manitoba in . in england gave women county suffrage and british columbia and the north-west territory gave them municipal suffrage. in county suffrage was given the women of scotland and municipal suffrage to single women and widows in the province of quebec. in new zealand gave full suffrage. in parish and district suffrage was given in england to women married and single, with power to elect and to be elected to parish and district councils. in south australia gave full state suffrage to all women. in the women of ireland were given the right to vote for all officers except members of parliament. in west australia granted full state suffrage to all. in full national suffrage was given all the women in federated australia and full state suffrage to those of new south wales. in tasmania gave full state suffrage; in queensland did the same; in victoria followed. in england made women eligible as mayors, aldermen, and county and town councillors. in london, for example, at the present time women can vote for the borough councils and boards of guardians of the london city council; they can also be themselves elected to these; be members of the central unemployed body or of the district committees, and can be co-opted to all other bodies, like the local pension committees. women can be aldermen of the council; and there is nothing to prevent one from holding even the office of chairman. at the present moment the cause of woman suffrage in england is being furthered chiefly by two organizations which differ in methods. the national union of women's suffrage societies has adopted the "constitutional" or peaceful policy; but the national women's social and political union is "militant" and coercive. sources i. the english statutes. published by authority during the various reigns. ii. studies in history and jurisprudence: by james bryce. oxford university press, . pages - on "marriage and divorce." iii. history of english law: by frederick pollock and frederic maitland. vols. cambridge university press, --second edition. iv. commentaries on the laws of england: by sir william blackstone. with notes selected from the editions of archbold, christian, coleridge, etc., and additional notes by george sharswood, of the university of pennsylvania. vols. philadelphia, --childs and peterson, arch street. v. a history of matrimonial institutions, chiefly in england and the united states: by george elliott howard. vols. the university of chicago press, . vi. social england: edited by h.d. traill. vols. g.p. putnam's sons, . vii. social life in the reign of queen anne, taken from original sources: by john ashton. london, chatto and windus, . viii. the renaissance of girls' education in england: by alice zimmern. london, a.d. innes and co., . ix. progress in women's education in the british empire: edited by the countess of warwick. being the report of the education section, victorian era exhibition, . longmans, green, & co., . x. current literature from the earliest times to the present day, references to which are noted as they occur. notes: [ ] if a woman sentenced to execution declared she was pregnant, a jury of twelve matrons could be appointed on a writ _de venire inspiciendo_ to determine the truth of the matter; for she could not be executed if the infant was alive in the womb. the same jury determined the case of a widow who feigned herself with child in order to exclude the next heir and when she was suspected of trying to palm off a supposititious birth. but from all other jury duties women have always been excluded "on account of the weakness of the sex"--_propter defectum sexus_. [ ] blackstone, i, ch. . [ ] reg. brev. orig., f. : quod ipse praefatam a bene et honeste tractabit et gubernabit, ac damnum vel malum aliquod eidem a de corpore suo, aliter quam ad virum suum ex causa regiminis et castigationis uxoris suae licite et rationabiliter pertinet, non faciet nec fieri procurabit. [ ] "except in so far as he may lawfully and reasonably do so in order to correct and chastise his wife." [ ] the learned commentator christian adds a few more cases where formerly the criminal law was harshly prejudiced against women. thus: "by the common law, all women were denied the benefit of clergy; and till the and _w. and m_., c. [william and mary] they received sentence of death and might have been executed for the first offence in simple larceny, bigamy, manslaughter, etc., however learned they were, merely because their sex precluded the possibility of their taking holy orders; though a man who could read was for the same crime subject only to burning in the hand and a few months' imprisonment." [ ] i q.b. p. --in the court of appeal. [ ] _married women's property act_, and v., c. --aug. , . [ ] note this incident, from the _westminister review_, october, : "a lady whose husband had been unsuccessful in business established herself as a milliner in manchester. after some years of toil she realised sufficient for the family to live upon comfortably, the husband having done nothing meanwhile. they lived for a time in easy circumstances after she gave up business and then the husband died, _bequeathing all his wife's earnings to his own illegitimate children_. at the age of she was compelled, in order to gain her bread, to return to business." [ ] for a full account of the elaborate machinery see chitty's note to blackstone, vol. i, p. , of sharswood's edition. [ ] _holy living, ch. , section i: rules for married persons._ [ ] boswell, vii, . perhaps if the venerable samuel had had the statistics of venereal disease given by adulterous husbands to wives and children he might not have been so sure of his contention. [ ] quoted by professor thomas in the _american magazine_, july, . [ ] see and v., c. --aug. . . [ ] see edw., c. --aug. , --matrimonial causes act, which also gives the court discretion in alimony. [ ] blackstone, iv, ch. . [ ] _and_ _v., c._ , _s._ . [ ] the criminal law amendment act, , _and_ _v. c._ , section : "any person who ( ) unlawfully and carnally knows or attempts to have unlawful carnal knowledge of any girl being of or above the age of thirteen years and under the age of sixteen, or ( ) unlawfully and carnally knows or attempts to have carnal knowledge of any female idiot or imbecile woman or girl under circumstances which do not amount to rape, but which prove that the offender knew at the time of the commission of the offence that the woman or girl was an idiot or imbecile, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof shall be liable at the discretion of the court to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour." section : "any one who unlawfully and carnally knows any girl under the age of thirteen shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be kept in penal servitude for life." any one who merely attempts it can be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour. chapter viii women's rights in the united states it has been my aim, in this short history of the growth of women's rights, to depict for the most part the strictly legal aspect of the matter; but from time to time i have interposed some typical illustration of public opinion, in order to bring into greater prominence the ferment that was going on or the misery which existed behind the scenes. a history of legal processes might otherwise, from the coldness of the laws, give few hints of the conflicts of human passion which combined to set those processes in motion. before i present the history of the progress of women's rights in the united states, i shall place before the reader some extracts which are typical and truly representative of the opposition which from the beginning of the agitation to the present day has voiced itself in all ranks of life. let the reader bear carefully in mind that from to the beginning of the twentieth century such abuse as that which i shall quote as typical was hurled from ten thousand throats of men and women unceasingly; that mrs. stanton, miss anthony, and mrs. gage were hissed, insulted, and offered physical violence by mobs in new york[ ] and boston to an extent inconceivable in this age; and that the marvellously unselfish labour of such women as these whom i have mentioned and of men like wendell phillips is alone responsible for the improvement in the legal status of women, which i propose to trace in detail. some expressions of the popular attitude follow: [sidenote: examples of opposition to women's rights.] from a speech of the rev. knox-little at the church of st. clements in philadelphia in : "god made himself to be born of a woman to sanctify the virtue of endurance; loving submission is an attribute of a woman; men are logical, but women, lacking this quality, have an intricacy of thought. there are those who think women can be taught logic; this is a mistake. they can never by any power of education arrive at the same mental status as that enjoyed by men, but they have a quickness of apprehension, which is usually called leaping at conclusions, that is astonishing. there, then, we have distinctive traits of a woman, namely, endurance, loving submission, and quickness of apprehension. wifehood is the crowning glory of a woman. in it she is bound for all time. to her husband she owes the duty of unqualified obedience. there is no crime which a man can commit which justifies his wife in leaving him or applying for that monstrous thing, divorce. it is her duty to subject herself to him always, and no crime that he can commit can justify her lack of obedience. if he be a bad or wicked man, she may gently remonstrate with him, but refuse him never. let divorce be anathema; curse it; curse this accursed thing, divorce; curse it, curse it! think of the blessedness of having children. i am the father of many children and there have been those who have ventured to pity me. 'keep your pity for yourself,' i have replied, 'they never cost me a single pang.' in this matter let woman exercise that endurance and loving submission which, with intricacy of thought, are their only characteristics." from the philadelphia _public ledger and daily transcript_, july , : "our philadelphia ladies not only possess beauty, but they are celebrated for discretion, modesty, and unfeigned diffidence, as well as wit, vivacity, and good nature. who ever heard of a philadelphia lady setting up for a reformer or standing out for woman's rights, or assisting to _man_ the election grounds [_sic_], raise a regiment, command a legion, or address a jury? our ladies glow with a higher ambition. they soar to rule the hearts of their worshippers, and secure obedience by the sceptre of affection.... but all women are not as reasonable as ours of philadelphia. the boston ladies contend for the rights of women. the new york girls aspire to mount the rostrum, to do all the voting, and, we suppose, all the fighting, too.... our philadelphia girls object to fighting and holding office. they prefer the baby-jumper to the study of coke and lyttleton, and the ball-room to the palo alto battle. they object to having a george sand for president of the united states; a corinna for governor; a fanny wright for mayor; or a mrs. partington for postmaster.... women have enough influence over human affairs without being politicians.... a woman is nobody. a wife is everything. a pretty girl is equal to ten thousand men, and a mother is, next to god, all powerful.... the ladies of philadelphia, therefore, under the influence of the most 'sober second thoughts' are resolved to maintain their rights as wives, belles, virgins, and mothers, and not as women." from the "editor's table" of _harper's new monthly magazine_, november, : "woman's rights, or the movement that goes under that name, may seem to some too trifling in itself and too much connected with ludicrous associations to be made the subject of serious arguments. if nothing else, however, should give it consequence, it would demand our earnest attention from its intimate connection with all the radical and infidel movements of the day. a strange affinity seems to bind them all together.... but not to dwell on this remarkable connection--the claim of 'woman's rights' presents not only the common radical notion which underlies the whole class, but also a peculiar enormity of its own; in some respects more boldly infidel, or defiant both of nature and revelation, than that which characterises any kindred measure. it is avowedly opposed to the most time-honoured proprieties of social life; it is opposed to nature; it is opposed to revelation.... this unblushing female socialism defies alike apostles and prophets. in this respect no kindred movement is so decidedly infidel, so rancorously and avowedly anti-biblical. "it is equally opposed to nature and the established order of society founded upon it. we do not intend to go into any physiological argument. there is one broad striking fact in the constitution of the human species which ought to set the question at rest for ever. this is the fact of maternity.... from this there arise, in the first place, physical impediments which, during the best part of the female life, are absolutely insurmountable, except at a sacrifice of almost everything that distinguishes the civilized human from the animal, or beastly, and savage state. as a secondary, yet inevitably resulting consequence, there come domestic and social hindrances which still more completely draw the line between the male and female duties.... every attempt to break through them, therefore, must be pronounced as unnatural as it is irreligious and profane.... the most serious importance of this modern 'woman's rights' doctrine is derived from its direct bearing upon the marriage institution. the blindest must see that such a change as is proposed in the relations and life of the sexes cannot leave either marriage or the family in their present state. it must vitally affect, and in time wholly sever, that oneness which has ever been at the foundation of the marriage idea, from the primitive declaration in genesis to the latest decision of the common law. this idea gone--and it is totally at war with the modern theory of 'woman's rights'--marriage is reduced to the nature of a contract simply.... that which has no higher sanction than the will of the contracting parties, must, of course, be at any time revocable by the same authority that first created it. that which makes no change in the personal relations, the personal rights, the personal duties, is not the holy marriage _union_, but the unholy _alliance_ of concubinage." in a speech of senator george g. vest, of missouri, in the united states senate, january , , these: "i now propose to read from a pamphlet sent to me by a lady.... she says to her own sex: 'after all, men work for women; or, if they think they do not, it would leave them but sorry satisfaction to abandon them to such existence as they could arrange without us.' "oh, how true that is, how true!" in a bill was introduced in the new york senate to lower the "age of consent"--the age at which a girl may legally consent to sexual intercourse--from to . it failed. in the brothel keepers tried again in the assembly. the bill was about to be carried by universal consent when the chairman of the judiciary committee, feeling the importance of the measure, called for the individual yeas and nays, in order that the constituents of the representatives might know how their legislators voted. the bill thereupon collapsed. in a motion was made in the kansas senate to lower the age of consent from to _ _. but the public heard of it; protests flowed in; and under the pressure of these the law was allowed to remain as it was. such are some typical examples of the warfare of the opposition to all that pertains to advancing the status of women. as i review the progress of their rights, let the reader recollect that this opposition was always present, violent, loud, and often scurrilous. in tracing the history of women's rights in the united states my plan will be this: i shall first give a general review of the various movements connected with the subject; and i shall then lay before the reader a series of tables, wherein may be seen at a glance the status of women to-day in the various states. [sidenote: single women.] [sidenote: history of agitation for women's rights.] in our country, as in england, single women have at all times had practically the same legal rights as men; but by no means the same political, social, educational, or professional privileges; as will appear more conclusively later on. we may say that the history of the agitation for women's rights began with the visit of frances wright to the united states in . frances wright was a scotchwoman, born at dundee in , and early exhibited a keen intellect on all the subjects which concern political and social reform. for several years after she resided here and strove to make men and women think anew on old traditional beliefs--more particularly on theology, slavery, and the social degradation of women. the venomous denunciations of press and pulpit attested the success of her efforts. in lydia maria child published her _history of woman_, a résumé of the status of women; and this was followed by numerous works and articles, such as margaret fuller's, _the great lawsuit, or man vs. woman: woman vs. man_, and eliza farnham's _woman and her era_. various women lectured; such as ernestine l. rose--a polish woman, banished for asserting her liberty. the question of women's rights received a powerful impetus at this period from the vast number of women who were engaged in the anti-slavery agitation. any research into the validity of slavery perforce led the investigators to inquire into the justice of the enforced status of women; and the two causes were early united. women like angelina and sarah grimké and lucretia mott were pioneers in numerous anti-slavery conventions. but as soon as they dared to address meetings in which men were present, a tempest was precipitated; and in , at the annual meeting of the anti-slavery association, the men refused to serve on any committee in which any woman had a part; although it had been largely the contributions of women which were sustaining the cause. affairs reached a climax in london, in , at the world's anti-slavery convention. delegates from all anti-slavery organisations were invited to take part; and several american societies sent women to represent them. these ladies were promptly denied any share in the proceedings by the english members, thanks mainly to the opposition of the clergy, who recollected with pious satisfaction that st. paul permitted not a woman to teach. thereupon lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton determined to hold a women's rights convention as soon as they returned to america; and thus a world's anti-slavery convention begat an issue equally large. accordingly, the first women's rights convention was held at seneca falls, new york, july - , . it was organised by _divorced wives, childless women, and sour old maids_, the gallant newspapers declared; that is, by mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, mrs. lucretia mott, mrs. mcclintock, and other fearless women, who not only lived the purest and most unselfish of domestic lives, but brought up many children besides. great crowds attended. a _declaration of sentiments_ was moved and adopted; and as this exhibits the temper of the convention and illustrates the then prevailing status of women very clearly, i shall quote it: declaration of sentiments "when, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to such a course. "we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. whenever any form of government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organising its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light or transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they were accustomed. but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled. "the history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. to prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. "he has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise. "he has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice. "he has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men--both natives and foreigners. "having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides. "he has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. "he has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns. "he has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many crimes with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband. in the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master--the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement. "he has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes, and, in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women--the law in all cases going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands. "after depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single, and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognises her only when her property can be made profitable to it. "he has monopolised nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow she receives but a scanty remuneration. he closes against her all the avenues of wealth and distinction which he considers most honourable to himself. as a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known. "he has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her. "he allows her in church, as well as state, but a subordinate position, claiming apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and, with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the church. "he has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society are not only tolerated, but deemed of little account in man. "he has usurped the prerogative of jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and to her god. "he has endeavoured, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life. "now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation; in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the united states. "in entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object. we shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the state and national legislatures, and endeavour to enlist the pulpit and press in our behalf. we hope this convention will be followed by a series of conventions embracing every part of the country." such was the defiance of the women's rights convention in ; other conventions were held, as at rochester, in , and at albany in ; the movement extended quickly to other states and touched the quick of public opinion. it bore its first good fruits in new york in , when the property bill was passed. this law, amended in , and entitled "an act concerning the rights and liabilities of husband and wife" (march , ), emancipated completely the wife, gave her full control of her own property, allowed her to engage in all civil contracts or business on her own responsibility, rendered her joint guardian of her children with her husband, and granted both husband and wife a one-third share of one another's property in case of the decease of either partner. thus new york became the pioneer. the movement spread, as i have mentioned, with amazing rapidity; but it was not so uniformly successful. conventions were held, for example, in ohio, at salem, april - , ; at akron, may - , ; at massillon on may , . nevertheless, in , the legislature of ohio passed a bill enacting that no married man should dispose of any personal property without having first obtained the consent of his wife; the wife was empowered, in case of a violation of this law, to commence a civil suit in her own name for the recovery of the property; and any married woman whose husband deserted her or neglected to provide for his family was to be entitled to his wages and to those of her minor children. a bill to extend suffrage to women was defeated, by a vote of to ; the petition praying for its enactment had received , signatures. the course of events as it has been described in new york and ohio, is practically the same in the case of the other states. the civil war relegated these issues to a secondary place; but during that momentous conflict the heroism of clara barton on the battlefield and of thousands of women like her paved the way for a reassertion of the rights of woman in the light of her unquestioned exertions and unselfish labours for her country in its crisis. after the war, attention began to be concentrated more on the right to _vote_. by the fourteenth amendment the franchise was at once given to negroes; but the insertion of the word _male_ effectually barred any national recognition of woman's right to vote. a vigorous effort was made by the suffrage leaders to have _male_ stricken from the amendment; but the effort was futile. legislators thought that the black man's vote ought to be secured first; as the _new york tribune_ (dec. , ) puts it snugly: "we want to see the ballot put in the hands of the black without one day's delay added to the long postponement of his just claim. when that is done, we shall be ready to take up the next question" (i.e., woman's rights). the first women's rights convention after the civil war had been held in new york city, may , , and had presented an address to congress. such was the dauntless courage of the leaders, that mrs. stanton offered herself as a candidate for congress at the november elections, in order to test the constitutional rights of a woman to run for office. she received twenty-four votes. six years later, on november i, , miss susan b. anthony did a far more audacious thing. she went to the polls and asked to be registered. the two republican members of the board were won over by her exposition of the fourteenth amendment and agreed to receive her name, against the advice of their democratic colleague and a united states supervisor. following miss anthony's example, some fifty other women of rochester registered. fourteen voted and were at once arrested under the enforcement act of congress of may , (_section_ ). the case of miss anthony was argued, ably by her attorney; but she was adjudged guilty. a _nolle prosequi_ was entered for the women who voted with her. immediately after the decision in her case, the inspectors who had registered the women were put on trial because they "did knowingly and willfully register as a voter of said district one susan b. anthony, she, said susan b. anthony, then and there not being entitled to be registered as a voter of said district in that she, said susan b. anthony, was then and there a person of the female sex, contrary to the form of the statute of the united states of america in such case made and provided, and against the peace of the united states of america and their dignity." the defendants were ordered to pay each a fine of twenty-five dollars and the costs of the prosecution; but the sentence was revoked and an unconditional pardon given them by president grant, in an order dated march , . miss anthony was forced to pay her fine, in spite of an appeal to congress. such were the stirring times when the agitation for women's rights was first brought to the fore as a national issue. within a few years, various states, like new york and kansas, put the question of equal suffrage for women before its voters; they in general rejected the measure. at present there are four states which give women complete suffrage and right to vote on all questions with the same privileges as men, viz., wyoming ( ), colorado ( ), utah ( ), and idaho ( ). in kentucky gave school suffrage to widows with children of school age; in kansas gave it to all women. school suffrage was granted all women in by michigan and minnesota, in by colorado, in by new hampshire and oregon, in by massachusetts, in by new york and vermont, in by nebraska, in by north and south dakota, montana, arizona, and new jersey. kansas gave municipal suffrage in ; and montana gave tax-paying women the right to vote upon all questions submitted to the tax-payers. in illinois granted school suffrage, as did connecticut in . iowa gave bond suffrage in . in minnesota gave women the right to vote for library trustees, delaware gave school suffrage to tax-paying women, and louisiana gave tax-paying women the right to vote upon all questions submitted to the tax-payers. wisconsin gave school suffrage in . in new york gave tax-paying women in all towns and villages of the state the right to vote on questions of local taxation; and the kansas legislature voted down almost unanimously a proposal to repeal municipal suffrage. in kansas gave bond suffrage; and in the new state of oklahoma continued school suffrage. in michigan gave all women who pay taxes the right to vote upon questions of local taxation and the granting of franchises. the history of the "age of legal consent" has an importance which through prudery and a wilful ignorance of facts the public has never fully realised. i shall have considerable to say of it later. it will suffice for the moment to remark that until the decade preceding the old common law period of ten, sometimes twelve, years was the basis of "age of consent" legislation in most states and in the territories under the jurisdiction of the national government. in the age in delaware was _seven_. [sidenote: age of legal consent.] [sidenote: the beginnings of higher education for women.] the puritans, burning with an unquenchable zeal for liberty, fled to america in order to build a land of freedom and strike off the shackles of despotism. after they were comfortably settled, they forthwith proceeded, with fine humour, to expel mistress anne hutchinson for venturing to speak in public, to hang superfluous old women for being witches, and to refuse women the right to an education. in , when a question arose about admitting girls to the hopkins school of new haven, it was decided that "all girls be excluded as improper and inconsistent with such a grammar school as ye law enjoins and as in the designs of this settlement." "but," remarks professor thomas, "certain small girls whose manners seem to have been neglected and who had the natural curiosity of their sex, sat on the schoolhouse steps and heard the boys recite, or learned to read and construe sentences from their brothers at home, and were occasionally admitted to school." in the course of the next century the world moved a little; and in , when the public school system was established in boston, girls were admitted from april to october; but until they were allowed to attend primary schools only. in gloucester voted that "two hours, or a proportional part of that time, be devoted to the instruction of females." in plymouth accorded girls one hour of instruction daily. the first female seminary in the united states was opened by the moravians in bethlehem, pennsylvania, in . it was unique. in , of academies or higher schools fitting for college in massachusetts, only three were for girls, although a few others admitted both boys and girls. the first instance of government aid for the systematic education of women occurred in new york, in . this was due to the influence of a remarkable woman. mrs. emma willard had begun teaching in connecticut and by extraordinary diligence mastered not only the usual subjects of the curriculum, but in addition botany, chemistry, mineralogy, astronomy, and the higher mathematics. she had, moreover, striven always to introduce new subjects and new methods into her school, and with such success that governor clinton, of new york, invited her to that state and procured her a government subsidy. her school was established first at watervliet, but soon moved to troy. this seminary was the first girls' school in which the higher mathematics formed a part of the course; and the first public examination of a girl in geometry, in , raised a storm of ridicule and indignation--the clergy, as usual, prophesying the speedy dissolution of all family bonds and therefore, as they continued with remorseless logic, of the state itself. but mrs. willard continued her ways in spite of clerical disapproval and by-and-by projected a system of normal schools for the higher education of teachers, and even suggested women as superintendents of public schools. new york survived and does not even remember the names of the patriots who fought a lonely woman so valiantly. the first female seminary to approach college rank was mt. holyoke, which was opened by mary lyon at south hadley, mass., in . vassar, the next, dates from ; and radcliffe, the much-abused "harvard annex," was instituted in . these were the first colleges exclusively for women. oberlin college had from its foundation, in , admitted men and women on equal terms; although it took pains to express its hearty disapproval of those women who, after graduation, had the temerity to advocate political rights for women--rights which that same oberlin insisted should be given the negro at once. in , when sarah burger and other women applied for admission to the university of michigan, their request was refused. [sidenote: first women in medicine.] it was hard enough for women to assert their rights to a higher education; to enter a profession was almost impossible. nevertheless, it was done. the pioneer in medicine was harriet k. hunt who practised in boston from to without a diploma; but in the woman's medical college of pennsylvania conferred upon her the degree of doctor of medicine. the first woman to receive a diploma from a college after completing the regular course was elizabeth blackwell, who attained that distinction at geneva, new york, in . the first adequate woman's medical institution was miss blackwell's new york infirmary, chartered in . in , dr. zakrzewska, in co-operation with lucy goddard and ednah d. cheney, established the new england hospital for women and children, which aimed to provide women the medical aid of competent physicians of their own sex, to assist educated women in the practical study of medicine, and to train nurses for the care of the sick.[ ] [sidenote: in law.] in law, it would seem that mistress brut practised in baltimore as early as ; but after her the first woman lawyer in the united states was arabella a. mansfield, of mt. pleasant, iowa. she was admitted to the bar in . by women were allowed to plead before the supreme court of the united states.[ ] [sidenote: in the ministry.] coming now to the consideration of the ministry, the first woman to attempt to assert a right to that profession was anne hutchinson, of boston, in . she was promptly banished. among the friends and the shakers women like lucretia mott and anne lee preached; and among the primitive methodists and similar bodies women were always permitted to exhort; but the first regularly ordained woman in the united states appears to have been rev. antoinette brown blackwell, of the congregational church who was ordained in . in rev. olympia brown settled as pastor of the parish at weymouth landing, in massachusetts; and the legislature acknowledged marriages solemnised by women as legal. phebe hanaford, mary h. graves, and lorenza haynes were the first massachusetts women to be ordained preachers of the gospel; the latter was at one time chaplain of the maine house of representatives. the best known woman in the ministry at the present day is rev. anna howard shaw, a methodist minister, president of the national american woman's suffrage association.[ ] [sidenote: as newspaper editors.] women have from very early times been exceedingly active in newspaper work. anna franklin printed the first newspaper in rhode island, in ; she was made official printer to the colony. when the founder of the _mercury_, of philadelphia, died in , his widow, mrs. cornelia bradford, carried it on for many years with great success, just as mrs. zenger continued the _new york weekly journal_--the second newspaper started in new york--for years after the death of her husband. anna k. greene established the _maryland gazette_, the first paper in that colony, in . penelope russell printed _the censor_ in boston, in . in fact, there was hardly a colony in which women were not actively engaged in printing. after the revolution they were still more active. mrs. anne royal edited _the huntress_ for a quarter of a century. margaret fuller ran _the dial_, in boston, in and numbered emerson and william channing among her contributors. from to the mill girls of lowell edited the _lowell offering_. these are but a few examples of what women have done in newspaper work. how very influential they are to-day every one knows who is familiar with the articles and editorial work appearing in newspapers and magazines; and that women are very zealous reporters many people can attest with considerable vigour.[ ] [sidenote: women in industry.] the enormous part which women now play in industry and in all economic production is a concomitant of the factory system, specialised industry, and all that makes a highly elaborated and complex society. before the introduction of machine industry, and in the simple society of the colonial days, women were no less a highly important factor in economic production; but not as wage earners. their importance lay in the fact that spinning, weaving, brewing, cheese and butter making, and the like were matters attended to by each household to supply its own wants; and this was considered the peculiar sphere of the housewife. in harriet martineau found only seven employments open to women in the united states, viz., teaching, needlework, keeping boarders, working in cotton mills and in book binderies, type-setting, and household service. i shall now present a series of fifty tables, by means of which the reader may see at a glance the status of women in all the states to-day. for convenience, i shall arrange the views alphabetically. tables showing the present status of women in the united states. the right of "dower," as used in these tables, refers to the widow's right, under the common law, to the possession, for her life-time, of one third of the real estate of which her husband was possessed in fee-simple during the marriage. "curtesy" is the right of the husband after his wife's death to the life use of his wife's real estate, sometimes dependent on the birth of children, sometimes not; and usually the absolute right to her whole personal estate. it must be remembered that the enforcement of certain laws, particularly in regard to child labour, is extremely lax in many states. it will be noted also that an unscrupulous employer could find loopholes in some of the statutes. the reader can observe these things for himself in his particular state. _alabama_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and has full control of own property; but she cannot mortgage her real and personal property or alienate it without husband's consent. married women may execute will without concurrence of husband and may bar latter's right of curtesy. husband may appoint guardian for children by will; but wife has custody of them until they are fourteen. if a wife commits a crime in partnership with her husband she cannot be punished (except for murder and treason). husband is not required by law to support the family. divorce: absolute divorce is granted for incurable impotence, adultery, desertion for two years, imprisonment for two years or more, crimes against nature, habitual drunkenness after marriage; in favour of husband if wife was pregnant at time of marriage without his knowledge or agency, in favour of wife for physical violence on part of husband endangering life or health, or when there is reasonable apprehension of such violence. limited divorce is granted for cruelty in either of the parties or any other cause which would justify absolute divorce, if the party desires only a divorce from bed and board. labour laws: women not allowed to work in mines. children under not permitted to work in any factory. all employers of women must provide seats and must allow women to rest when not actively engaged. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: there is no suffrage. women not eligible for any elective office; they may be notaries public. there are women in the ministry, journalists, dentist, lawyers, doctors, professors, bankers, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _arizona_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings. wife has control of property which she had before marriage. wife may contract debts for necessaries for herself and children upon credit of husband. she may sue and be sued and make contracts in her own name as regards her separate property, but must sue jointly with husband for personal injuries, and damages recovered are community property and in his control. father is legal guardian of minor children; at his death mother becomes guardian as long as she remains unmarried. divorce: absolute divorce for excesses, cruelty, or outrage, adultery, impotence, conviction for a felony, desertion for one year, neglect of husband to provide for one year, habitual intemperance; in favour of husband if wife was pregnant at time of marriage without his knowledge or agency. there is no limited divorce; but when the husband wilfully abandons his wife, she can maintain an action against him for permanent maintenance and support. labour laws: no woman or minor may work or give any exhibition in a saloon. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women years old or more who are mothers or guardians of a child of school age are eligible to the office of school trustee and may vote for such officers. there are women in the ministry, dentist, journalists, lawyers, doctors, saloon keepers, bankers, etc. _arkansas_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. dower exists, but not curtesy. wife may sell or transfer her separate real estate without husband's consent. father is legal guardian of children, but cannot apprentice them or create testamentary guardianship for them without wife's consent. at husband's death wife may be guardian of persons of children, but not of their property, unless derived from her. divorce: absolute or limited divorce for impotence, wilful desertion for a year, when husband or wife had a former wife or husband living at the time of the marriage sought to be set aside, conviction for felony or other infamous crime, habitual drunkenness for one year, intolerable indignities, and adultery subsequent to marriage. labour laws: labour contracts of married women, approved by their husbands, are legal and binding. no woman may work in a mine. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women are ministers, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, etc. _california_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. wife may dispose of separate property without husband's consent. in torts of a personal nature she must sue jointly with her husband. husband is guardian of minor children; wife becomes so at his death. husband must provide for family. if husband has no property or is disabled, wife must support him and the family out of her property or earnings. divorce: absolute divorce for adultery, extreme cruelty, wilful desertion for one year, wilful neglect for one year, habitual intemperance for one year, conviction for felony. there are no statutory provisions for limited divorce. but when the wife has any cause for action as provided in the code, she may, without applying for a divorce, maintain an action against her husband for permanent support and maintenance of herself or of herself and children. labour laws: sex shall be no disqualification for entering any business, vocation, or profession. children under may not be let out for acrobatic performances or any exhibition endangering life or morals. any one who sends a minor under the age of to a saloon, gambling house, or brothel, is guilty of a misdemeanour. one day of rest each week must be given all employees. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. may be elected school trustees. may be notaries public. there are women in the ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, etc. _colorado_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. no assignment of wages by a married man is valid without the consent of his wife. neither dower nor curtesy obtains. husband and wife have same rights in making wills. wife can sue and be sued as if unmarried. she is joint guardian of children with husband and has equal powers. husband must support family. divorce: absolute divorce for impotence, when husband or wife had a wife or husband living at time of marriage, adultery subsequent to marriage, wilful desertion for one year, cruelty (including the infliction of mental suffering as well as physical violence), neglect to provide for one year, habitual drunkenness for one year, conviction for felony. there is no limited divorce. labour laws: eight hours the usual day's work. children under may not work in mines; none under may exhibit in saloons, variety theatres, or any place endangering morals. no female help may be sent to any place of bad repute. children under may not be employed in mills or factories. no woman may work underground in a mine. all employers of women must provide seats. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: full suffrage. women are eligible to all offices; have served in the legislature. there are women in the ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, etc. _connecticut_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. no dower or curtesy. survivor gets one third of property. wife controls own property. wife and husband joint guardians of children with equal powers. husband must support family. divorce: absolute divorce for adultery, fraudulent contract, wilful desertion for three years with total neglect of duty, seven years' absence when absent party is not heard from during that period, habitual intemperance, intolerable cruelty, sentence to imprisonment for life, any infamous crime involving a violation of conjugal duty and punishable by imprisonment. there is no limited divorce. labour laws: no child under may give exhibition endangering limbs or morals. employers of females may not send them to any place of bad repute. eight hours is a day's work. women employees must have seats to rest. no woman shall be forced to labour more than ten hours a day. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have school suffrage and may be elected school trustees. there are women in the ministry, dentists, doctors, professor, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _delaware_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. if there is a child or lawful issue of a child living, widow has a life interest in one third of the real estate and one third absolutely of the personal property. if there is no child nor the descendant of a child living, widow has a life interest in one half of the real estate and one half absolutely of the personal estate. if there are neither descendants nor kin of husband, she gets the entire real estate for her life, and all the personal estate absolutely. father is legal guardian of children and he alone may appoint a guardian at his death. husband must support family. divorce: absolute divorce for adultery, desertion for three years, habitual drunkenness, impotence, extreme cruelty, conviction for felony, procurement of marriage by fraud for want of age, wilful neglect to provide for three years. limited divorce may be decreed, in the discretion of the court, for the last two causes mentioned. labour laws: all female employees must be provided with seats. sunday labour forbidden. no minor under may be let out for any gymnastic or other exhibition endangering body or morals. separate lunch, wash-rooms, etc., for all women employees; the rooms must be kept reasonably heated. using indecent or profane language towards a female employee is a misdemeanour. the governor must appoint a _female_ factory inspector who shall see that these laws are enforced. children under may not work in mills and factories; and no child under shall be forced to labour more than nine hours daily. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women in milford, townsend, wyoming, and newark who pay a property tax may vote for town commissioners. all such women in the state may vote for school trustees. there are women in the ministry, dentists, journalist, lawyer, doctors, saloon keepers, commercial traveller, carpenters, etc. _district of columbia_ age of legal consent; . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and property, may be sued and sue, carry on business, etc., as if unmarried. husband and wife are equal guardians of children. husband must furnish reasonable support if he have property. both dower and curtesy obtain. divorce: absolute divorce for bigamy, insanity at time of marriage, impotence, adultery habitual drunkenness for three years, cruel treatment endangering life or health. limited divorce for drunkenness, cruelty, and desertion. in case of absolute divorce, only the innocent party may remarry; but the divorced parties may marry each other again. labour laws: no child under may be let out for any public exhibition endangering body or morals. seats must be provided for women employees. employment agencies must not send applicants to places of bad repute. children under may not be employed in any factory, hotel, etc.; but judge of juvenile court may give dispensation to child between and . no girl under may be bootblack or sell papers or any other wares publicly. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women may be notaries public and members of board of education. women in the ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, saloon keepers, banker, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _florida_ age of legal consent: (but practically, as penalty above is insignificant). population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and owns separate estate; but cannot transfer her real or personal property without husband's consent. dower prevails, but not curtesy. wife may make a will as if unmarried. husband is legal guardian of children. husband must support family. divorce: absolute divorce for impotence, where the parties are within the degrees prohibited by the law, adultery, bigamy, extreme cruelty, habitual indulgence in violent and ungovernable temper, habitual intemperance, desertion for one year, if husband or wife has obtained a divorce elsewhere and if the applicant has been a citizen of florida for two years. there is no limited divorce. but the wife may claim alimony, without applying for a divorce, for any of these causes except bigamy. labour laws: ten hours legal day's work. employers of women must provide seats. no child under may be let out for any public exhibition endangering body or morals. sunday labour forbidden. no child under may be employed in any factory, or any place where intoxicating liquor is sold; and no child under may labour more than nine hours a day. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women may be notaries public. women in the ministry, dentist, journalists, lawyers, doctors, banker, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _georgia_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and own property. dower prevails, but not curtesy. husband is legal guardian of children and at his death may appoint a guardian to the exclusion of his wife. husband must support family. divorce: absolute divorce for intermarriage within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity and affinity, mental incapacity at time of marriage, impotence at time of marriage, force, menace, duress, or fraud in obtaining marriage, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband, adultery, wilful desertion for three years, conviction for an offence involving imprisonment for two years or longer. absolute or limited divorce for cruelty or habitual intoxication. limited divorce for any ground held sufficient in english courts prior to may , . labour laws: no boss or other superior in any factory shall inflict corporal punishment on minor labourers. seats must be provided for female employees. sunday labour forbidden. no minors may be employed in barrooms. to let out children for gymnastic exhibition or any indecent exhibition is a misdemeanour. children under may not work in factories. no child under may work between p.m. and a.m. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women in the ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _idaho_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings. wife can secure control of own property only by going into court and showing that her husband is mismanaging it. husband is legal guardian of the children. divorce: absolute divorce for adultery, extreme cruelty, wilful desertion for one year, wilful neglect for one year, habitual intemperance for one year, conviction of felony, permanent insanity. there is no limited divorce. labour laws: no sunday labour. children under may not work in mine, factory, hotel, or be messenger; no child under shall work more than nine hours per day; nor be let out for any exhibition or vocation which endangers health or morals; nor ever be sent to any immoral resort or serve or handle intoxicating liquors. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: full suffrage. women are eligible to all offices. women are in the ministry, journalists, lawyers, doctors, saloon keeper, commercial traveller, carpenter, etc. _illinois_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. dower prevails. wife has full disposal of property, can sue, etc., as if unmarried. wife and husband are equal guardians of children. wife is entitled to support suited to her condition in life; husband is entitled to same support out of her individual property. they are jointly liable for family expenses. divorce: absolute divorce for impotence, bigamy, adultery, wilful desertion for two years, habitual drunkenness for two years, attempt to murder, extreme and repeated cruelty, conviction for felony or other infamous crime. no limited divorce; but married women living separate through no fault of their own have an action in equity for reasonable maintenance, if they so desire. labour laws: no sunday labour. no minor shall be allowed to sell indecent literature, etc., nor be let out as acrobat or mendicant or for any immoral occupation. eight hours a legal day's work. no person shall be debarred from any occupation or profession on account of sex; but females shall not be required to work on streets or roads or serve on juries. no child under to be employed in any place where intoxicating liquors are sold or in factory or bowling alley; and shall not labour more than eight hours. no child under shall engage in occupations dangerous to life or morals; and no female under shall engage in any employment which requires her to stand constantly. seats must be provided for all female employees. no woman shall work more than ten hours a day in stores and factories. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have school suffrage and are eligible to all school offices and can be notaries public. there are women in the ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _indiana_ age of legal consent: . population: males , , ; females , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. no dower or curtesy. wife may sue in her own name for injuries, etc. neither husband nor wife can alienate their separate real estate without each other's consent. a wife can act as executor or administrator of an estate only with her husband's consent. no married woman can become a surety for any person. husband is guardian of children. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotency, desertion for two years, cruel and inhuman treatment, habitual drunkenness, neglect of husband to provide for two years, conviction of an infamous crime. limited divorce for adultery, desertion or neglect for six months, habitual cruelty or constant strife, gross and wanton neglect of conjugal duty for six months. labour laws: no child under may work in a mine. children under may not be let out for acrobatic or any immoral exhibition or to work in any place where liquor is sold. seats must be provided for female employees. eight hours a legal day's work. no female under may work more than ten hours a day in any factory, laundry, renovating works, bakery, or printing office; no woman shall be employed in any factory between p.m. and a.m. suitable dressing rooms must be provided and not less than sixty minutes given for the noonday meal. sweatshops under strict supervision of a state inspector. no woman may work in a mine. no sunday labour. suffrage, political condition, industrial professional status: no suffrage. women may be notaries public. women in the ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _indian territory_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings. dower is in force and curtesy. woman controls separate estate absolutely in practice; for though at common law any money or property given her husband for investment becomes his, by statute it does not. husband and wife are equal guardians of children. divorce: absolute or limited for impotence, wilful desertion for one year, bigamy, conviction for felony or other infamous crime, habitual drunkenness for one year, cruel treatment endangering life, intolerable indignities, adultery, incurable insanity subsequent to marriage. labour laws: no sunday labour. suffrage, political condition; industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women in ministry, dentist, journalists, doctors, professors, banker, etc. _iowa_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. any assignment of wages must have written consent of both husband and wife. no dower or curtesy; surviving husband or wife is entitled to one third in fee simple of both real and personal estate of other at his or her death. wife controls own property, can sue, etc., as if single. husband and wife are equal guardians of children. support and education of family is chargeable equally on husband's and wife's property. divorce: absolute for adultery, wilful desertion for two years, conviction of felony after marriage, habitual drunkenness, inhuman treatment endangering life, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage by another man, unless the husband have an illegitimate child living unknown to wife. no limited divorce. annulment for prohibited degrees, impotence, bigamy, insanity or idiocy at time of marriage. labour laws: no female may be employed in any place where intoxicating liquors are sold; seats must be provided for female employees. children under not to assist in operating dangerous machinery. no sunday labour. no person under may work in a factory, mine, laundry, slaughter-house, store where more than eight persons are employed; no child under shall be employed in any vocation endangering life or morals, nor shall work more than ten hours a day. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have bond suffrage and can vote on increase of taxes. they may serve as school trustees and superintendents. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _kansas_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. husband and wife are equal guardians of children. wife controls her separate property, can sue, etc., as if unmarried. neither husband nor wife can convey or encumber real estate without consent of other; nor dispose by will of more than one half of the separate property without other's consent. if there are no children, the surviving husband or wife takes all the property, real and personal; if there are children, one half. husband must support family. divorce: absolute for bigamy, desertion for one year, adultery, impotency, when wife at time of marriage was pregnant by another than her husband, extreme cruelty, fraudulent contract, habitual drunkenness, gross neglect of duty, conviction and imprisonment for felony subsequent to marriage. no limited divorce; but wife may obtain alimony without divorce for any causes above mentioned. labour laws: people employing children under in acrobatic or mendicant occupations are guilty of a misdemeanour. no sunday labour. seats must be provided for female employees. no child under may work in coal mine, nor in any factory or packing house. no child under may work at any occupation endangering body or morals. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have municipal, school, and bond suffrage. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _kentucky_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings. curtesy and dower are equalised. after the death of either husband or wife, the survivor is given a life interest in one third of the realty of the deceased and an absolute estate in one half of the personalty. wife controls her personal property, but cannot dispose of real estate without husband's consent; the husband can convey real estate without his wife's signature, but it is subject to her dower. husband is legal guardian of children. he must furnish support according to his condition, but if he has only his wages there is no law to punish him for non-support. divorce: absolute to both husband and wife for impotence or inability to copulate and for living apart for five consecutive years without any cohabitation. also to the party not in fault for desertion for one year, adultery, condemnation for felony, concealment of any loathsome disease at time of marriage or contracting it afterwards, force, duress, or fraud in obtaining marriage, uniting with any creed or religious society requiring a renunciation of the marriage covenant or forbidding husband and wife to cohabit. to the wife, when not in like fault, for confirmed drunkenness of husband leading to neglect to provide, habitual behaviour by husband for six months indicating aversion to wife and causing her unhappiness, physical injury or attempt at it. to the husband for wife's pregnancy at time of marriage unknown to him, adultery of wife, or such conduct as proves her to be unchaste without proof of adultery, and habitual drunkenness of wife. limited divorce for any of these causes or any other cause as the court may deem sufficient. labour laws: forbidden to let or employ any children under in any acrobatic or mendicant or immoral occupations. no sunday labour. no child under shall work in factory, mill, or mine unless said child shall have no other means of support. no child under shall work more than ten hours per day. seats and suitable dressing-rooms must be provided for female employees. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: in the country districts any widow having a child of school age and any widow or spinster having a ward of school age may vote for school trustees and school taxes. in louisville, five third-class, and twenty or more fourth-class cities no woman has any vote. women may be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _louisiana_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings. wife cannot appear in court without her husband's consent, and needs this consent in all matters connected with her separate estate. she may make her will without the authority of her husband. no woman can be a witness to a testament. no married woman can be executor without husband's consent. the dowry is given to the husband, for him to enjoy as long as the marriage shall last. husband is legal guardian of children. divorce: absolute or limited for adultery, condemnation to an infamous punishment, habitual and intolerable intemperance, insupportable excess or outrages, public defamation on the part of one of the married persons toward the other, desertion, attempted murder, proof of guilt of husband or wife who has fled from justice when charged with an infamous offence. labour laws: no female to be employed in any place where liquor is sold. no sunday labour. no child under to engage in any acrobatic or theatrical public exhibition. seats must be provided for female employees, who are also to have at least thirty minutes for lunch. no girl under may be employed in any mill or factory; and no woman shall be worked more than ten hours a day. seats, suitable dressing-rooms, and stairs must be provided. an inspector, male or female, is appointed. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: tax-paying women can vote on all questions of taxation. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _maine_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and has full control of separate property. wife and husband are equal guardians of children. if there is no will, the interest of the husband or wife in the real estate of the other is the same--one third absolutely, if there is issue living, one half if there is no issue, the whole if there is neither issue nor kindred. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotence, extreme cruelty, desertion for three years, gross and confirmed habits of intoxication whether from liquors or drugs, cruel and abusive treatment, wilful neglect to provide. no limited divorce. labour laws: ten hours a day the legal limit for female employees. no child under may work in a factory. no sunday labour. no child under may be employed in any acrobatic, mendicant, immoral, or dangerous occupation. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women can be justices of the peace, town clerks, and registers of probate. they cannot be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professor, bankers, carpenters, etc. _maryland_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. no assignment of wages to be made without consent of both husband and wife. wife controls separate property absolutely. inheritance of property is the same for widow and widower. husband is legal guardian of children and must support family. divorce: absolute for impotence, any cause which by the laws of the state renders a marriage null and void _ab initio_, adultery, desertion for three years, illicit sexual intercourse _of the woman before_ marriage unknown to husband (_but the wife cannot obtain a divorce from her husband if he has been guilty of such an offence_). limited divorce for cruelty, excessively vicious conduct, or desertion. in all cases where an absolute divorce is granted for adultery or abandonment, the court may decree that the guilty party shall not contract marriage with any other person during the lifetime of the other party. annulment is given for bigamy or marriage within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity and affinity. labour laws: seats must be provided for female employees. no sunday labour. no child under may be employed in any mendicant or acrobatic occupation. no child under may be employed in peddling. women may not be waitresses in any place where liquor is sold. children under may not be employed in any business except in the counties, from june to oct. , ten hours a legal day's work. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women serve as notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _massachusetts_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and has control of her separate property subject only to the husband's interests. she can be executor, make contracts, etc., as if unmarried. the husband is legal guardian of minor children; he may dispose of them and may appoint a guardian at his death. husband must support family. in distributing the estate, no distinction is made between real and personal property. the surviving husband or wife takes one third, if deceased leaves children or their descendants; dollars and one half of the remaining estate if the deceased leaves no issue; and the whole, if deceased leaves no kin. this is taken absolutely and not for life. curtesy and dower exist; but the old-time curtesy is cut down to a life-interest in one third, the same as dower; and in order to be entitled to dower or curtesy, the surviving husband or wife must elect to take it in preference to the above provisions. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotency, utter desertion for three years, gross and confirmed habits of intoxication, cruel and abusive treatment, wilful neglect to provide, sentence to imprisonment for five years. no limited divorce. labour laws: no sunday labour. ten hours a legal day's work. no woman to labour between p.m. and a.m. in any manufacturing establishment, nor between p.m. and a.m. in any textile works. no child under and no illiterate under and over may be employed in any factory or mercantile establishment. no child under may be employed between p.m. and a.m., or during the time when the public schools are in session. seats must be provided for females. no woman or young person shall be required to work more than six hours without thirty minutes for lunch. no child under may engage in any gymnastic or theatrical exhibition. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have school suffrage. they may be justices of the peace. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _michigan_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings. dower prevails, but not curtesy. when the wife has separate real estate, she controls it as if single. the husband cannot give full title to his real estate unless the wife joins so as to cut off her dower. father is guardian of the children. husband must support. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotence, imprisonment for three years, desertion for two years, habitual drunkenness, if husband or wife has obtained a divorce in another state. limited or absolute divorce at the discretion of the court for extreme cruelty, desertion for two years, neglect to provide. labour laws: no female may be employed in any place where liquor is sold. seats must be provided for female employees. ten hours a legal day's work. no sunday labour. no child under may take part in any acrobatic or mendicant or dangerous or immoral occupation, nor shall any minor be given obscene literature to sell. no female under may be employed in any occupation endangering life, health, or morals. at least forty-five minutes must be allowed for lunch. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: all women who pay taxes may vote upon questions of local taxation and the granting of franchises. parents and guardians have also school suffrage. women serve as notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _minnesota_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings, but cannot convey or encumber her separate real estate without husband's consent. no dower or curtesy. if either husband or wife die intestate, the survivor, if there is issue living, is entitled to the homestead for life and one third of the rest of the estate in fee simple. if there are no descendants, the entire estate goes absolutely to the survivor. husband is guardian of children and must support family. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotency, cruel and inhuman treatment, sentence to imprisonment after marriage, wilful desertion for one year, habitual drunkenness for one year. limited divorce--to wife only--for cruel and inhuman treatment, on part of husband, or such conduct as may make it unsafe and improper for her to cohabit with him, desertion and neglect to provide. labour laws: children between and must be sent to school during whole period schools are in session, except in cases of unusual poverty. ten hours a legal day's work. seats must be provided for female employees. no sunday labour. no child under may engage in any occupation between p.m. and a.m.; nor in any mendicant, acrobatic, immoral, or dangerous business. no child under may work in factory or mine. a _female_ factory inspector must be appointed. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have school suffrage and may vote for library trustees. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _mississippi_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings. he manages her separate property, but must give an account of it annually. no dower or curtesy. if husband or wife dies intestate, the entire estate goes to the survivor; if there is issue, surviving husband or wife has a child's share of the estate. each has equal rights in making a will. father is legal guardian of children, but cannot deprive mother of custody of their persons. husband must support. divorce: absolute for marriage within prohibited degrees, natural impotence, adultery, sentence to the penitentiary, wilful desertion for two years, habitual drunkenness or excessive use of drugs, habitually cruel treatment, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband, bigamy, insanity, or idiocy when party applying did not know of it. no limited divorce. the court may decree that the guilty party must not marry again. labour laws: no sunday labour. there are no other laws. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: a woman as a free-holder or lease-holder may vote at a county election to decide as to the adoption or non-adoption of a law permitting stock to run at large. if a widow and the head of a family, she may vote on leasing certain portions of land in the township which are set apart for school purposes. widows in country districts may also vote for school trustees. women cannot be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keeper, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _missouri_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. her separate property is liable for debts contracted by the husband for necessaries for the family. wife can sue and be sued, make contracts, etc., in her own name. she may hold real property under three different tenures: an equitable separate estate created by certain technical words in the conveyance, and this she can dispose of without husband's consent; a legal separate estate, which she cannot convey without his joinder; and a common law estate in fee, of which the husband is entitled to the rents and profits. dower and curtesy prevail. husband is guardian of children and must support. divorce: absolute for impotence, bigamy, adultery, desertion for one year, conviction for felony or infamous crime, habitual drunkenness for one year, cruel treatment endangering life or intolerable indignities, vagrancy of husband, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband. no limited divorce. labour laws: seats must be provided for female employees. no woman may be employed in any place where liquor is served except wife, daughter, mother, or sister of owner. no child under to engage in any acrobatic, mendicant, dangerous, or immoral occupation. no sunday labour. no female may work underground in a mine. children between and must go to school. no child under may work in any theatre, concert hall, factory; but this applies only to cities with , or more inhabitants, no female may labour more than hours a week. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women may be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _montana_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. there is dower, but not curtesy. wife controls separate property. husband is guardian of children and must furnish support; but wife must help, if necessary. her personal property is subject to debts incurred for family expenses. divorce: absolute for adultery, extreme cruelty, wilful desertion, wilful neglect, habitual intemperance, conviction of felony. no limited divorce; but wife may have an action for permanent maintenance, at discretion of court, even though absolute divorce is denied. labour laws: children under may not be employed in mines. children between and must go to school. no child under may take part in any acrobatic, mendicant, or wandering occupation. no sunday labour. no child under may work in mill, factory, railroad, in any place where machinery is operated, or in any messenger company. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women may vote for school trustees. those owning property may vote on all questions submitted to tax-payers. they cannot be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _nebraska_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and separate property. both dower and curtesy prevail; but wife can mortgage or sell her real estate without husband's consent and without regard for his right of curtesy. he can do the same with his separate property, but subject to her dower. husband and wife are equal guardians of the children. husband must provide; but wife's separate property can be levied on for necessaries furnished the family, if husband has no property. wife is not "next of kin" and cannot sue, for example, for damages to a minor child, even though she is divorced and has custody of children. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotence, imprisonment for three years, desertion for two years, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment for life, extreme cruelty, neglect to provide. limited divorce also for last three causes. annulment for bigamy, when one party is white and other has one fourth or more negro blood, insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, consanguinity, obtaining marriage by fraud or force, when there has been no subsequent cohabitation. labour laws: children must go to school between and . ten hours a legal day's labour. sunday labour forbidden. females to be employed between a.m. and p.m. seats must be provided. no child under may be employed in any place where liquor is sold, factory, hotel, laundry, messenger work. no child under may be employed at all during school term. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women who are mothers of children of school age or who are assessed on real or personal property have school suffrage; but they cannot vote for state or county superintendents or county supervisors. women act as notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _nevada_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. she may control her separate property, if a list of it is filed with the county recorder, but unless it is kept constantly inventoried and recorded, it becomes community property. the community property, both real and personal, is under absolute control of husband and at wife's death it all belongs to him. on death of the husband, wife is entitled to half of it. a wife's earnings are hers if her husband has allowed her to appropriate them to her own use, when they are regarded as a gift from him to her. husband is legal guardian of children. husband must provide; but there is no penalty if he does not. divorce: absolute for impotence, adultery since marriage remaining unforgiven, wilful desertion for one year, conviction for felony or infamous crime, habitual drunkenness which incapacitates party from contributing his or her share to support of family, extreme cruelty, wilful neglect to provide for one year. no limited divorce. labour laws: there are none dealing with women and children. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women cannot serve as notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalist, lawyer, doctors, saloon keepers. _new hampshire_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. dower and curtesy prevail. wife can sue and be sued and make contracts without husband's consent. husband is legal guardian of children, and must provide. divorce: absolute for impotence, adultery, extreme cruelty, imprisonment for one year, treatment seriously injuring health or endangering reason, absence for three years without being heard from, habitual drunkenness for three years, joining any religious sect which believes relation of husband and wife unlawful, desertion for three years with neglect to provide. no limited divorce. labour laws: no child under may be employed in any factory, nor any child under while schools are in session. nine hours and forty minutes the legal limit for female labour per day. no child under shall engage in any acrobatic exhibition or in the selling of obscene literature. no sunday labour. seats must be provided for female employees. no female may sell or serve liquor. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status. women have school suffrage. they may be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _new jersey_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. dower and curtesy prevail. she has full disposal of her personal property by will; but must get husband's consent to convey or encumber her separate estate. husband is guardian of children. husband must furnish support; but wife must contribute, if he is unable. divorce: absolute for bigamy, marriage within prohibited degrees, adultery, wilful desertion for two years, impotence. limited divorce for extreme cruelty. in case of desertion and neglect to provide, wife has an action for support. labour laws: seats must be provided for female employees. hours for labour must be from a.m. to m. and from p.m. to p.m., except in fruit canning and glass factories. sunday labour forbidden. no child under may engage in any acrobatic, immoral, or mendicant occupation. no child under may engage in any vocation unless he or she shall have attended school within twelve months immediately preceding. no child under may work in a factory. no female employee shall be sent to any place of bad repute. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women in villages and country districts have school suffrage. they may be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _new mexico_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. curtesy prevails. neither husband nor wife can convey real property without consent of other. husband is legal guardian of children, but is not required by law to support the family. divorce: absolute for adultery, cruel treatment, desertion, impotency, neglect to provide, habitual drunkenness, conviction for felony and imprisonment subsequent to marriage, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband. no limited divorce. but when husband and wife have permanently separated, wife has an action for support. labour laws: no sunday labour. there are no other laws relating to women and children. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women may be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, commercial traveller, carpenters, etc. _new york_ age of legal consent: . (trials may be held privately, and it is almost impossible to secure a conviction.) population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. dower and curtesy prevail. wife holds separate property free from control of husband. both husband and wife can make wills without knowledge or consent of other. wife can mortgage or convey her whole estate without husband's consent; he can do this with his personal property; but not with his real estate. husband and wife are equal guardians of the children. husband must provide. divorce: absolute for adultery only. limited for cruelty, conduct rendering cohabitation unsafe or improper, desertion, neglect to provide. court refuses to allow party guilty of adultery to marry again, but may modify this after five years if conduct of defendant has been uniformly good. adultery is now a crime in new york. labour laws: no child under may take part in any acrobatic, mendicant, theatrical, wandering, dangerous, or immoral occupation. children must attend school between and . no child under may be employed in any occupation during school term. eight hours a day's work. seats must be provided for female employees. no child under may work in a factory. female labour is confined between a.m. and p.m., and must not exceed hours. no girl under shall sell papers or periodicals in any public place. female employment agencies may not send applicant to any place of bad repute. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: tax-paying women in towns and villages may vote on questions of local taxation. parents and widows with children have school suffrage in towns and villages. women may be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, commercial travellers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, carpenters, etc. _north carolina_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. dower and curtesy prevail. wife controls separate property. wife is not bound by a contract unless husband joins in writing. in actions against her he must be served with the suit. wife cannot be sole trader without husband's written consent. husband is legal guardian of children, and must provide. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotence, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband. limited for desertion, turning partner maliciously out of doors, cruel treatment endangering life, intolerable indignities, habitual drunkenness. wife has an action for separate maintenance if husband neglects to provide or is a drunkard or spendthrift. labour laws: no sunday labour. no child under may be employed in factory, except oyster canning concerns which pay for opening oysters by the bushel. no person under shall be required to labour more than hours per week. no child under shall work in a mine. no boy or girl under shall work in a factory between p.m. and a.m. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women cannot be notaries public. women in ministry, journalists, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _north dakota_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and separate property absolutely. dower and curtesy do not prevail; if husband or wife dies intestate, survivor takes one half of the estate, if there is only one child living or the lawful issue of one child; if there are more, survivor gets one third. if husband is unable to support family, wife must maintain him and the children. husband is guardian of children. divorce: absolute for adultery, extreme cruelty, wilful desertion for one year, wilful neglect for one year, habitual intemperance for one year, conviction of felony. no limited divorce. labour laws: children under may not work in mines, factories, or workshops. children must go to school between and , unless they have already been taught adequately and poverty compels them to work. no sunday labour. no woman under shall labour more then ten hours per day. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have school suffrage and are eligible to all school offices. they may be notaries public. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professor, commercial traveller, carpenters, etc. _ohio_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings, but wife controls separate property. either husband or wife on the death of the other is entitled to one third of the real estate for life. husband is legal guardian of children, and must provide; but if he is unable, wife must assist. divorce: absolute for bigamy, desertion for three years, adultery, impotence, extreme cruelty, fraudulent contract, any gross neglect of duty, habitual drunkenness for three years, imprisonment in penitentiary, procurement of divorce in another state. no limited divorce; but wife has an action for alimony without divorce for adultery, any gross neglect of duty, desertion, separation on account of ill treatment by husband, habitual drunkenness, sentence and imprisonment in penitentiary. labour laws: no child under may work in a mine. children must go to school between and . seats and suitable toilet rooms must be provided for female employees. no child under may be employed in any establishment or take part in any acrobatic, mendicant, dangerous, or immoral vocation. hours for girls under confined between a.m. and p.m., nor may they work more than ten hours per day. no sunday labour. no labour agency shall send any female to an immoral resort. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women may vote for members of boards of education, but not for state commissioner nor on bonds and appropriations. they cannot be notaries. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _oklahoma_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and separate property absolutely. if husband or wife dies intestate, leaving one child or lawful issue of child, survivor receives one third of the estate; otherwise one half. if there are no kin, survivor takes all. husband is guardian of children, and is expected to provide; but law assigns no penalty if he does not. divorce: absolute for bigamy, desertion for one year, impotence, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage by other than husband, extreme cruelty, fraudulent contract, habitual drunkenness, gross neglect of duty, conviction and imprisonment for felony after marriage. wife may have an action for separate maintenance for any of these causes without applying for divorce. labour laws: no children under may be employed in any occupation injurious to body or morals. no sunday labour. ten hours per day legal labour for children under . suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women may vote for school trustees. they may be notaries public. women in ministry, dentist, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professor, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _oregon_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. by registering as a sole trader, she can carry on business in her own name. civil disabilities are same for husband and wife except as to voting and holding office. if husband or wife dies intestate, and there are no descendants living, survivor takes whole estate. if there is issue living, the widow receives one half of husband's real estate and one half of his personal property. the widower takes a life interest in all the wife's real estate, whether there are children or not and all her personal property absolutely if there are no descendants living; otherwise one half. husband and wife are equal guardians of children. husband must provide. divorce: absolute for impotency, adultery, conviction for felony, habitual drunkenness for one year, wilful desertion for one year, cruel treatment or indignities making life burdensome. no limited divorce. annulment if either party is one fourth negro or mongolian blood. labour laws: no sunday labour. no child under shall work in factory, mill, mine, telegraph, telephone, or public messenger service; and no child under shall be employed at all during school session. attendance at school compulsory between and . hours of work for children under to be confined between a.m. and p.m. seats must be provided for female employees. ten hours a day the legal limit for female labour. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women having property in school districts have school suffrage and may be elected school trustees. they may be notaries. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _pennsylvania_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. dower and curtesy prevail. wife cannot mortgage separate estate without husband's consent; cannot sue or be sued or contract without his consent; and in order to carry on business in her own name must secure special permission from the court. husband is legal guardian of children, and must provide. divorce: absolute for impotence, bigamy, adultery, desertion for two years, cruelty or intolerable indignities, marriage within prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity, fraud, conviction for felony for more than two years, lunacy for ten years. limited divorce for desertion, turning wife out of doors, cruelty, adultery. labour laws: seats must be provided for female employees. employment of females in mines forbidden. children under may not engage in any mendicant occupations; those under may not exhibit in any place where liquor is sold nor take part in any acrobatic or immoral vocation. sunday labour forbidden. no female may work in bakery or macaroni or other establishment more than twelve hours per day. children must go to school between and . no child under may work in any anthracite coal mine. no child under shall be employed in any establishment. one hour must be allowed for lunch. no employment bureau shall send any female to an immoral resort. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _rhode island_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and separate estate, subject to husband's right to curtesy. curtesy and dower both prevail. husband is legal guardian of children and must provide. divorce: absolute or limited for marriages originally void by law, conviction for crime involving loss of civil status, when either party may be presumed to be naturally dead from absence, etc., impotence, adultery, desertion for any time at discretion of court, continued drunkenness, neglect to provide, any gross misbehaviour. labour laws: no child under may be employed except during vacation. no child under may be employed unless he or she has school certificate. no child under to work in factory. hours of labour for children under confined between a.m. and p.m. seats must be provided for all female employees. no child under shall be employed in any acrobatic, mendicant, dangerous, or immoral occupation. hours for female labour confined to ten. sunday labour forbidden. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _south carolina_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and separate estate absolutely. dower prevails, but not curtesy. husband is legal guardian of children, and is required to provide, but law as it stands offers many loopholes. divorce: there are no divorce laws in south carolina. labour laws: seats must be provided for female employees. sunday labour forbidden. no child under to work in factory, mill, or textile establishment, except in cases of extreme poverty duly attested; all such labour to be confined between a.m. and p.m. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women cannot be notaries. women in ministry, dentist, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _south dakota_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and controls separate estate. joint real estate can be conveyed only by signature of both husband and wife, but husband can dispose of joint personal property without wife's consent. in order to control her separate property, wife must keep it recorded in the office of the county register. no dower and no curtesy. survivor gets one half of estate, if there is one child or issue of child; otherwise one third; unless there are neither children nor kin, when survivor takes all. on the death of an unmarried child, father inherits all its property. if he is dead and there are no other children, mother succeeds; but if there are brothers and sisters, she inherits a child's share. husband is guardian and must support; but if he is infirm, wife must do so. divorce: absolute for adultery, extreme cruelty, wilful desertion or neglect or habitual intemperance for one year, conviction of felony. no limited divorce. party guilty of adultery cannot marry any other, except the innocent party, until death of latter. labour laws: sunday labour forbidden. no woman under may labour more than ten hours a day. no child under may work in mine, hotel, laundry, factory, elevator, bowling alley, or any place where liquor is sold. no child under shall be employed at all while schools are in session. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women can vote for school trustees. they may be notaries. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, etc. _tennessee_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings, and wife can do nothing with her separate estate without his consent. dower and curtesy prevail. husband has right to all rents and profits of wife's estate. no law requires husband to provide. husband is guardian of children. divorce: absolute for impotence, bigamy, adultery, desertion for two years, conviction for felony, attempted murder, pregnancy of woman at time of marriage without knowledge of husband, habitual drunkenness. limited for wife only for cruel treatment by husband or intolerable indignities, and desertion or refusal to provide. party guilty of adultery cannot marry person with whom adultery has been committed during life of former partner. labour laws: no sunday labour. no child under may be employed in factory, workshop, or mine. seats must be provided for female employees. hours for labour of women confined to per week. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women in ministry, dentist, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _texas_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: husband controls wife's earnings and wife can do nothing with her separate property without his consent. no dower or curtesy. husband and wife succeed equally to each other's estate. husband is guardian of children and may be required to provide out of his wife's estate. divorce: absolute for excesses or outrages; in favour of husband when wife is taken in adultery or has deserted him for three years; in favour of wife, if husband has deserted her for three years or has abandoned her and lives in adultery with another woman. in favour of either husband or wife on conviction for felony. no limited divorce. labour laws: no sunday labour. no child under may be employed in any establishment using machinery. no females shall be employed in any place where liquor is sold except immediate members of owner's family. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women can be notaries. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _utah_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. no dower or curtesy. husband and wife succeed equally to each other's estate at death. woman controls separate estate absolutely. husband is legal guardian of children. there is no penalty for non-support. divorce: absolute for impotence, adultery, desertion for one year, neglect to provide, habitual drunkenness, conviction of felony, cruel treatment causing bodily injury or mental distress, permanent insanity. no limited divorce; but wife has an action for separate maintenance in case of desertion or neglect to provide on part of husband. labour laws: no females may work in mines. no sunday labour. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: full suffrage; therefore all offices are open to women. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyer, doctors, saloon keepers, banker, commercial travellers, carpenter, etc. _vermont_ age of legal consent: . population: males , ; females , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and controls separate property. no dower or curtesy. husband and wife have same powers of mutual inheritance, except that widower does not take his wife's personal property. husband is guardian of children and must support. divorce: absolute or limited for adultery, sentence to hard labour, intolerable severity, desertion for three years, neglect to provide, absence for seven years without being heard from. labour laws: no child under to be employed after p.m. no child under may work in mill, factory, railroad, quarry, or messenger service. no female shall be employed in barrooms. no sunday labour. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have school suffrage. they may be notaries. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, doctors, professor, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _virginia_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and separate property absolutely. dower and curtesy prevail. husband is guardian of children and must support. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotence, sentence to penitentiary, conviction of an infamous offence prior to marriage without knowledge of other party, desertion for three years, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage or previous prostitution without knowledge of husband. limited for cruelty, reasonable apprehension of bodily hurt, desertion. labour laws: seats must be provided for female employees. hours of female labour confined to ten. no child under may work in factory or mine; no child under shall work between p.m. and a.m. no child under shall be hired for any mendicant, acrobatic, dangerous, or immoral occupation. no sunday labour. suffrage, political condition, industrial, and professional status: no suffrage. women in ministry, dentist, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _washington_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and controls separate estate; but control of community property is vested absolutely in the husband; this includes everything acquired after marriage by the joint or separate efforts of either. husband and wife have equal rights of inheritance to one another's estate; but are not equal guardians of the children, as husband can exclude wife by will. support of the family is chargeable upon the property of both husband or wife, or either of them. no dower or curtesy. divorce: absolute for any cause deemed by court sufficient, when court is satisfied that parties can no longer live together, fraudulent contract, adultery, impotence, desertion for one year, cruel treatment, habitual drunkenness, neglect to provide, imprisonment. no limited divorce. labour laws: no female may be employed in a mine. every profession and occupation open to women, but they may not hold public office. no sunday labour. females shall not be employed in any place where liquor is sold. seats must be provided for female employees. hours limited to ten. no child under shall labour in factory, mill, or workshop except at discretion of juvenile judge. children must go to school between and . suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have school and bond suffrage, but cannot vote for state or county superintendents. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, banker, commercial travellers, etc. _west virginia_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings, but cannot sell or encumber her separate property without husband's consent. husband is legal guardian and must provide. dower and curtesy prevail. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotence, imprisonment in penitentiary, conviction of an infamous offence before marriage, desertion for three years, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage or prostitution before without knowledge of husband, in favour of wife when husband was notoriously a licentious person before marriage without her knowledge. limited for cruelty, reasonable apprehension of bodily hurt, desertion, habitual drunkenness. labour laws: no sunday labour. no child under may work in factory or mill and no child under shall be employed during school session. no child under may be employed in any mendicant, acrobatic, immoral, or dangerous occupation, nor in any place where liquor is sold. seats must be provided for female employees. no female may work in mine. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: no suffrage. women cannot be notaries. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _wisconsin_ age of legal consent: . population: male , , ; female , , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings. assignment of wages of husband must have wife's written consent. wife controls separate property absolutely. dower and curtesy prevail. husband is guardian of children and must provide. divorce: absolute for impotence, adultery, sentence to imprisonment for three years prior to marriage. limited or absolute for desertion for one year, cruelty, habitual drunkenness, neglect to provide, conduct of husband rendering it improper or unsafe for wife to live with him. labour laws: female labour confined to eight hours per day. no child under may work in factory, workshop, bowling alley, or mine. children between and must get permission from juvenile judge. no child under shall be employed on dangerous machinery. none under shall take part in theatrical or circus exhibition as musician unless accompanied on tours by parent or guardian. authorities shall in all cases determine whether occupation is dangerous or immoral for children under . no sunday labour. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: women have school suffrage. they may be notaries. women in ministry, dentists, journalists, lawyers, doctors, professors, saloon keepers, bankers, commercial travellers, carpenters, etc. _wyoming_ age of legal consent: . population: male , ; female , . husband and wife: wife controls own earnings and separate property absolutely. neither dower nor curtesy prevail. husband and wife have same rights of mutual inheritance. husband is legal guardian of children, but there is no penalty if he does not provide. divorce: absolute for adultery, impotence, conviction for felony, desertion for one year, habitual drunkenness, extreme cruelty, neglect to provide for one year, intolerable indignities, vagrancy of husband, conviction of felony prior to marriage unknown to other party, pregnancy of wife at time of marriage unknown to husband. no limited divorce. labour laws: no female shall work in mine. acrobatic, mendicant, dangerous, or immoral occupations forbidden to children under . no sunday labour. seats must be provided for female employees. suffrage, political condition, industrial and professional status: full suffrage. women are eligible for all offices. women in ministry, journalists, doctors, professor, no saloon keepers, lawyers, or dentists, carpenters, etc. in studying these tables, it should be remembered that new laws are being made constantly; and that the census of will give figures which as soon as they appear must supersede those of . sources i. the statutes of the several states, from earliest times to the present day. published by authority. ii. all newspapers and periodicals. iii. the census reports, especially the various separate reports such as that on "marriage and divorce"; and the reports of the commissioner of labour. iv. the history of woman suffrage: edited by elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, matilda joslyn gage, and ida husted harper, vols. [first two published by fowler and wells, new york, and ; last two by susan b. anthony, rochester, and .] v. the encyclopedia of social reforms: edited by william d.p. bliss, with the co-operation of many specialists. funk and wagnalls, new york and london, . notes: [ ] see, for example, the account in the _new york tribune_, sept. , , and , , of what happened at the women's rights convention at that time. [ ] in there were female physicians and surgeons in the united states, and female dentists. [ ] in there were women lawyers in the united states. the above statements are from bliss, _encyc_., p. . [ ] in there were women clergy in the united states. [ ] in there were women journalists in the united states. this does not, of course, include women reporters and the like. chapter ix general considerations it is twenty-three centuries since plato gave to the world his magnificent treatise on the state. the dream of the greek philosopher of equal rights for all intelligent citizens, among whom he includes women, has in large part been realised; but much is yet wanting to bring society to the standard of the ideal republic. in not a few states of the world the conditions affecting property rights are inequitable; in all but very few states woman is still barred from the field of politics and from the legitimate rights of citizenship; and the day seems far distant when the states possessing a representative government will be prepared to accept the woman citizen as eligible for administrative positions. it will, therefore, be my purpose in this chapter first to consider five of the most serious objections to the granting of equal suffrage, that is to say, to the concession to women of full citizens' rights under the law. it will be found that these objections are based on a presumed inferiority of women to men in various respects. i shall give consideration next in order to the question of the inferiority or superiority of one sex over the other. in view, furthermore, of the new ferment in thought in modern society, it will be useful to analyse certain habits of mind and to indicate the necessity for a readjustment of old beliefs in the light of recent evolution. i shall conclude my history with a suggestion for definite reforms which, i believe, must be brought about, whether equal suffrage is granted or not, before women can attain their maximum of efficiency. the opposition to the granting of equal suffrage is, as i have said, based mainly upon five classes of contentions: i. the theological. ii. the physiological. iii. the social or political. iv. the intellectual. v. the moral. a consideration and an analysis of these five classes of objections will constitute a summary of the relations of woman to the community, and may also serve as a guide or suggestion to the possibility of a legitimate development, in the near future, of her rights as a citizen. i. the theological argument is based upon the distinctly evil conception of woman, presented in _genesis_, as the cause of misery in this world and upon the subordinate position assigned to her by paul and peter. christ himself has left us no teachings on the subject. the hebrew and oriental creed of woman's sphere permeated the west as christianity expanded and forced to extinction the roman principle of equality. only within fifty years, has the female sex regained the rights enjoyed by women under the law of the empire seventeen centuries ago. the apostolic theory of complete subordination gained strength with each succeeding age. i have already cited instances of ecclesiastical vehemence. as a final example i may recall that when, early in the nineteenth century, chloroform was first used to help women in childbirth, a number of protestant divines denounced the practice as a sin against the creator, who had expressly commanded that woman should bring forth in sorrow and tribulation. yet times have so far changed within two decades that the theological argument is practically obsolete among protestants, although it is still influential in the roman catholic church, which holds fast to the doctrine laid down by the apostles. we may say, however, that of all the objections, the theological has, in practice, the least weight among the bulk of the population. the word _obey_ in the clerical formula _love, honour, and obey_ provokes a smile. ii. the physiological argument is more powerful. its supporters assert that the constitution of woman is too delicate, too finely wrought to compete with man in his chosen fields. the physiological argument makes its appearance most persistently in the statement that woman should have no vote because she could not defend her property or her country in time of war. in reply to this some partisans of equal suffrage have thought it necessary to prove that women are physically equal in all respects to men. but the issues between nations which in the centuries past it had been believed could be adjusted only by war, by being fought out (not, of course, to any logical conclusion, but to a result which showed simply that one party was stronger than the other), are now, in the great majority of cases, determined by the more reasonable, the more civilised, method of arbitration. as a matter of fact, the cause of woman's rights will suffer no harm by a frank admission that women are not, in general, the peers of men in brute force. the very nature of the female sex, subjected, as it is, to functional strains from which the male is free, is sufficient to invalidate such a claim. a refutation of the physiological objection to equal suffrage is, however, not hard to find. even in war, as it is practised to-day, physical force is of little significance compared with strategy which is a product of the intellect. in a naval battle for instance, ships no longer engage at close range, where it is possible for the crew of one to board the opposing ship and engage in hand to hand conflict with the enemy; machinery turns the guns and even loads them; the whole fight is simply a contest between trained gunners, who must depend for success on cool mathematical computation. nevertheless, it is true that under stress or the need of making a livelihood women in many instances do show physical endurance equal to that of men. women who are expert ballet dancers and those who are skilled acrobats can hardly be termed physiological weaklings. in berlin, you may see women staggering along with huge loads on their backs; in munich, women are street-cleaners and hod-carriers; on the island of capri, the trunk of the tourist is lifted by two men onto the shoulder of a woman, who carries it up the steep road to the village. in this country many women are forced to do hard bodily labour ten hours a day in sweat-shops. in all countries and in all ages there have been examples of women who, disguised as men, have fought side by side with the male and with equal efficiency. the case of joan of arc will at once occur to the reader; and those who are curious about this subject may, by consulting the records of our civil war, find exciting material in the story of "belle boyd," "frank miller," and "major cushman."[ ] doubtless women are stronger physically than they were a half-century ago, when it was considered unladylike to exercise. if you will read the novels of that time, you will find that the heroine faints on the slightest provocation or weeps copiously, like amelia in _vanity fair_, whenever the situation demands a grain of will-power or of common-sense. but to-day women seldom faint or weep in literature; they play tennis or row. when, in , pauline wright davis lectured on physiology before women in america and displayed the manikin, some of her auditors dropped their veils, some ran from the room, and some actually became unconscious, because their sense of delicacy was put to so sharp a test. it should be borne in mind, in connection with the contention that the privileges of a citizen ought to be accorded only to those persons who are physically capable of helping to defend the community by force, that no such principle is applied in fixing the existing qualifications for male citizenship. a large number of the voters of every community are, on the ground either of advanced years or of invalidism, physically disqualified for service as soldiers, sailors, or policemen. this group of citizens includes a very large proportion of the thinking power of the community. no intelligently directed state would, however, be prepared to deprive itself of the counsels, of the active political co-operation, and of the service from time to time in the responsibility of office, of men of the type of gladstone (at the age of seventy-five), of john stuart mill (always a physical weakling), of washington (serving as president after he was sixty), on the ground that these citizens were no longer capable of carrying muskets in the ranks. any classification of citizens, any privileges extended to voters, ought, of course, to be arrived at on a consistent and impartial principle. further, under the conditions obtaining in this twentieth century, governments, whether of nations, of states, or of cities, are carried on not by force but by opinion. in the earlier history of mankind, each family was called upon to maintain its existence by physical force. the families the members of which (female as well as male) were not strong enough to fight for their existence were crushed out. par into the later centuries, issues between individuals were adjusted by the decision of arms. up to within a very recent date, it may be admitted that issues between nations could be settled only by war. it is, however, at this time the accepted principle of representative government in all communities that matters of policy are determined by the expression of opinion, that is by means of the votes given by the majority of its citizens. it is by intelligence and not by brute force that the world is now being ruled, and with the growth of intelligence and a better understanding of the principles of government, it is in order not only on the grounds of justice but for the best interests of the state to widen the foundations of representative government, so as to make available for voting and for official responsibilities all the intelligence that is comprised within the community. this is in my judgment the most conclusive reply to the objection that the physical weakness of woman unfits her for citizenship. iii. according to the social or political argument, if woman is given equal rights with man, the basis of family life, and hence the foundation of the state itself, is undermined, as a house divided against itself cannot stand. it is said that ( ) there must be some one authority in a household and that this should be the man; ( ) woman will neglect the home if she is left free to enter politics or a profession; ( ) politics will degrade her; ( ) when independent and self-asserting she will lose her influence over man; and ( ) most women do not want to vote or to enter politics. it is astonishing with what vehemence men will base arguments on pure theory and speculation, while they wilfully close their eyes to any facts which may contradict their assumptions. it is inconceivable to a certain type of mind that a husband and wife can differ on political questions and may yet maintain an even harmony, while their love abates not one whit. in the four states where women vote--wyoming, colorado, utah, and idaho--there is no more divorce than in other states; and any one who has travelled in these communities can attest that no domestic unhappiness results from the suffrage. nor does it in new zealand. it is said that there must be some one supreme authority; but this depends on the view taken of marriage. under the old common law, the personality of the wife was merged completely in that of her husband; marriage was an absolute despotism. under the canon law, woman is man's obedient and unquestioning subject; marriage is a benevolent despotism. to-day people are more inclined to look upon matrimony as a partnership of equal duties, rights, and privileges. sophocles argued in one of his tragedies that children belong entirely to the father, that the mother can assert no valid claim for anything. lawyers have found this logic excellent; and the records are full of instances of children being taken from a hard-working mother in order to be handed over to a drunken father who wants their wages for his support. it is no longer so in most states. civilisation has advanced so far, that the pains of bringing forth and raising children are acknowledged to give the mother a right almost equal to that of the father to determine all that concerns the child. there is some reason, therefore, for believing that she should have a voice also in passing upon laws which may make or undo for ever the welfare of the boys and girls for whom she struggles during the years that they are growing to manhood and womanhood. men are for the greater part so engrossed in business that on certain questions they are far less competent to be "authorities" than women. against stupid pedagogy, against red-tape, against the policy that morality must never interfere with business principles, against civic dirtiness, against brothel and saloon, women are more active than men, because they see more clearly how vitally the interests of their children are affected by these evil conditions. wherever women vote, these questions are to the fore. closely connected with the "one authority" argument is the old contention, so often resorted to and relied upon, that women, if they are permitted to vote, will neglect the home, and that, if the professions are opened to them, they will find these too absorbingly attractive. much weight should, however, be given to the great power of the domestic instinct implanted in the nature of woman. in the states where women vote and are eligible for political offices, there are fewer unmarried women in proportion to the population than in states where they have no such rights. the great leaders of the woman suffrage movement from mrs. stanton to mrs. snowden have in their home circle led lives as beautiful and have raised families as large and as well equipped morally and intellectually as those who are content to sit by the fire and spin. thus far i have argued from the orthodox view, that matrimony ought to be the goal of every woman's ambition. but if a woman wishes to remain single and devote herself exclusively to the realisation of some ideal, it is hard to see why she should not. men who take this course are eulogised for their noble self-sacrifice in immolating themselves for the advancement of the cause of civilisation; women who do precisely the same thing are sometimes unthinkingly spoken of in terms of contempt or with that complacent pity which is far worse. it is difficult for us to realise adequately what talented women like rosa bonheur had to undergo because of this curious attitude of humanity. "the home is woman's sphere." this shibboleth is the logical result of the attitude mentioned. doubtless, the home is woman's sphere; but the home includes all that pertains to it--city, politics and taxes, laws relating to the protection of minors, municipal rottenness which may corrupt children, schools and playgrounds and museums which may educate them. few doctrines have been productive of more pain than the "woman's sphere" argument. it is this which has, for a thousand years, made the unmarried woman, the _old maid_, the butt of the contemptible jibes of christian society, whereof you will find no parallel in pagan antiquity. dramatic writers have held her up to ridicule on the stage on account of the peculiarities of character which are naturally acquired when a person is isolated from participation in the activities of life. it is the doctrine which has made women glad to marry drunkards and rakes, to bring forth children tainted with the sins of their fathers, and to suffer hell on earth rather than incur the ridicule of the christian gentleman who may, without incurring the protest of society, remain unmarried and sow an unlimited quantity of wild oats. it is this doctrine which was indirectly responsible for the hanging and burning of eccentric old women on the charge that they were witches. as men found a divine sanction for keeping women in subjection, so in those days of superstition did they blaspheme their creator by digging out of the old testament, as a justification for their brutality, the text, "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." "politics will degrade women"--this naïve confession that politics are rotten is a fairly strong argument that some good influence is needed to make them cleaner. generally speaking, it is difficult to imagine how politics could be made any worse. if a woman cannot go to the polls or hold office without being insulted by rowdies, her vote will be potent to elect officials who should be able to secure for the community a standard of reasonable civilisation. there is no case in which more sentimentality is wasted. lovely woman is urged not to allow her beauty, her gentleness, her tender submissiveness to become the butt of the lounger at the street corner; and in most instances lovely woman, like the celebrated maître corbeau, is cajoled effectively. meanwhile the brothel and the sweat-shop continue on their prosperous way. by a curious inconsistency, man will permit woman to help him out of a political dilemma and will then suavely remark that suffrage will degrade her. during the civil war, anna dickinson by her remarkable lecture entitled, "the national crisis" saved new hampshire and connecticut for the republicans; anna carroll not only gave such a crushing rejoinder to breckinridge's secession speech that the government printed and distributed it, but she also, as is now generally believed, planned the campaign which led to the fall of forts henry and donelson and opened the mississippi to vicksburg. how many men realise these facts? the theory that politics degrade women will not find much support in such states as colorado and wyoming. here, where equal suffrage obtains, women have been treated with uniform courtesy at the polls; they have even been elected to legislatures with no diminution of their womanliness; and the house of wyoming long ago made a special resolution of its approval of equal rights and attested the beneficial results that have followed the extension of the suffrage to women.[ ] judge lindsey of colorado has said that his election, and consequent power to work out his great reforms in juvenile delinquency, was due to the backing of women at a time when men, for "business reasons," were averse to extend their aid. "no one would dare to propose its repeal [i.e., the repeal of equal suffrage], and if left to the men of the state any proposition to revoke the rights bestowed on women would be overwhelmingly defeated." experience in colorado and elsewhere has shown that any important moral issue will bring out the women voters in great force; but after election they are content to resume their domestic duties; and they have shown no great desire for political office.[ ] before i leave the discussion as to whether politics degrade women, it will not be out of place to consider the question whether certain women may not, if they have a vote, degrade politics. of such women there are two classes--the immoral and the merely ignorant. as to the former, much fear has been expressed that they would be the very agents for unscrupulous politicians to use at the polls. exact data on this matter are not available. i shall content myself with quoting a statement by mrs. ida husted harper[ ]: "that 'immoral' class," said mrs. harper, "is a bogey that has never materialised in states where women have the suffrage. those women don't vote. indeed, denver's experience has been interesting in that respect. when equal suffrage was first granted, women of that class were compelled by the police to register. it was a question of doing as the police said, of course, or being arrested. the women did not want to vote. they don't go under their real names; they have no fixed residence, and so on. anyway, the last thing they wanted was to be registered voters. "but the corrupt political element needed their vote, and were after it, through the police. these women actually appealed to a large woman's political club to use its influence to keep the police from forcing them to register. a committee was appointed; it was found that the story was true; coercion was stopped, and the women's vote turned out the chief of police who attempted it. there is now no coercion, and this class simply pays no attention to politics at all." the doubling of the number of ignorant voters by giving all women alike the ballot would be a more serious affair. a remedy for that, however, lies in making an educational test a necessary qualification for all voters. in this connection the remarks of mr. g.h. putnam are suggestive[ ]: "if i were a citizen of massachusetts or of any state which, like massachusetts, possesses such educational qualification, i should be an active worker for the cause of equal suffrage. as a citizen of new york who has during the last fifty years done his share of work in the attempt to improve municipal conditions, i am forced to the conclusion that it will be wiser to endure for a further period the inconsistency, the stupidity, and the injustice of the disfranchisement of thousands of intelligent women voters rather than to accept the burden of an increase in the mass of unintelligent voters. the first step toward 'equal suffrage' will, in my judgment, be a fight for an educational qualification for all voters." those who maintain that when women are independent and self-asserting, they will lose their influence over men, assume that we view things to-day as they did a century ago and that the thoughts of men are not widened with the progress of the suns. the woman who can share the aspirations, the thoughts, the complete life of a man, who can understand his work thoroughly and support him with the sympathy born of perfect comprehension, will exert a far vaster influence over him than the milk-and-water ideal who was advised "to smile when her husband smiled, to frown when he frowned, and to be discreetly silent when the conversation turned on subjects of importance." it is a good thing for women to be self-asserting and independent. there is and always has been a class of men who, like mr. murdstone, are amenable to justice and reason only when they know that their proposed victim can at any time break the chains with which they would bind her. this brings us to the last of the social or political arguments, viz., "most women do not want to vote."[ ] precisely the same argument has been used by slave owners from time immemorial--the slaves do not wish to be free. as professor thomas writes[ ]: "certainly the negroes of virginia did not greatly desire freedom before the idea was developed by agitation from the outside, and many of them resented this outside interference. 'in general, in the whole western sahara desert, slaves are as much astonished to be told that their relation to their owners is wrong and that they ought to break it, as boys amongst us would be to be told that their relation to their fathers was wrong and ought to be broken.' and it is reported from eastern borneo that a white man could hire no natives for wages. 'they thought it degrading to work for wages, but if he would buy them, they would work for him.'" it is akin to the old contention of despots that when their subjects are fit for freedom, they will make them free; but nobody has ever seen such a time. reform of evil conditions does not come from below; leaders with visions of the future must point the way. i once heard of a very respectable lady of boston who exclaimed indignantly against certain proposed changes in child labour laws in north carolina, where she owned shares in a cotton mill. she maintained that the children who worked at the looms ten hours a day expressed no discontent; it kept them off the streets; and the operators, in the kindness of their hearts, had actually had the looms made especially to accommodate conveniently the diminutive size of the little workers. some people might, with great profit to themselves, read plato's superb allegory of the men in the cave. the fact that various women's associations have been instituted in opposition to the extension of woman suffrage--as in boston and new york--is no argument for depriving all women of the franchise. if the women who compose these societies do not care to vote, they do not need to; but they have no right to deprive of their rights those who do so desire. it is said that good women will not go to the polls; yet there are in every large city hundreds of respectable males who disdain to vote. a woman is more likely to have a sense of duty to vote than a man. it is the old cry, "don't disturb the old order of things. if you make us think for ourselves, we shall be so unhappy." so galileo was brought to trial, so anne hutchinson was banished; and so persecuted they the prophets before them. iv. another argument that is made much of is the intellectual inferiority of woman. for ages women were allowed nor higher education than reading, writing, and simple arithmetic, often not even these; yet elizabeth barrett browning, george sand, george eliot, harriet martineau, jane austen, and some scores of others did work which showed them to be the peers of any minds of their day. and if no woman can justly claim to have attained an eminence such as that of shakespeare in letters or of darwin in science, we may question whether shakespeare would have been shakespeare or darwin darwin if the society which surrounded them had insisted that it was a sin for them to use their minds and that they should not presume to meddle with knowledge. when a girl for the first time in america took a public examination in geometry, in , men wagged their heads gravely and prophesied the speedy dissolution of family and state. to the list of women whose service for their fellows would have been lost if the old-time barriers had been maintained, may be added the name of the late dr. mary putnam jacobi. mary putnam secured her preliminary medical education in the early ' 's, and found herself keenly troubled and dissatisfied at the inadequacy of the facilities extended to women for the study of medicine. she insisted that if women practitioners were to be, as she expressed it, "turned loose" upon the community with license to practise, they should, not only as a matter of justice to themselves but of protection for the women and children whose lives they would have in their hands, be properly qualified. at the time in question, the medical profession took the ground that women might enjoy the benefit of a little medical education but they were denied the facilities for any thorough training or for any research work. mary putnam secured her graduate degree from the great medical school of the university of paris, being the first woman who had been admitted to the school since the fourteenth century. returning after six years of thorough training, she did much during the remaining years of her life to secure and to maintain for women physicians the highest possible standard of training and of practice. it was natural that with this experience of the requirement of equal facilities for women in her own work, she should always have been a believer in the extension of equal facilities for any citizen's work for which, after experience, women might be found qualified. she was, therefore, an ardent advocate of equal suffrage. one needs but recall the admirable intellectual work of women to-day to wonder at the imbecility of those who assert that women are intellectually the inferiors of men. madame curie in science, miss tarbell in political and economic history, miss jane addams in sociological writings and practice, the rev. anna howard shaw in the ministry, mrs. hetty green in business, are a few examples of women whose mental ability ought to bring a blush to the old guard. mrs. harriman and mrs. sage, who manage properties of many millions, are denied the privilege of voting in regard to the expenditure of their taxes; but every ignorant immigrant can cast a vote, thanks to the doctrine that the political acumen of a man, however degraded, is superior to that of a woman, however great her genius--an admirable obedience to the saw in ecclesiasticus that the badness of men is better than the goodness of women. let me quote again from professor thomas: "the men have said that women are not intelligent enough to vote, but the women have replied that more of honesty than of intelligence is needed in politics at present, and that women certainly do not represent the most ignorant portion of the population. they claim that voting is a relatively simple matter anyway, that political freedom 'is nothing but the control of those who do make politics their business by those who do not,' and that they have enough intelligence 'to decide whether they are properly governed, and whom they will be governed by.' they point out also that already, without the ballot, they are instructing men how to vote and teaching them how to run a city; that women have to journey to the legislature at every session to instruct members and committees at legislative hearings, and that it is absurd that women who are capable of instructing men how to vote should not be allowed to vote themselves. to the suggestion that they would vote like their husbands and that so there would be no change in the political situation, women admit that they would sometimes vote like their husbands, because their husbands sometimes vote right; but ex-chief-justice fisher of wyoming says: 'when the republicans nominate a bad man and the democrats a good one, the republican women do not hesitate a moment to "scratch" the bad and substitute the good. it is just so with the democrats; hence we almost always have a mixture of office-holders. i have seen the effects of female suffrage, and, instead of being a means of encouragement to fraud and corruption, it tends greatly to purify elections and to promote better government.' now, 'scratching' is the most difficult feature of the art of voting, and if women have mastered this, they are doing very well. furthermore, the english suffragettes have completely outgeneralled the professional politicians. they discovered that no cause can get recognition in politics unless it is brought to the attention, and that john bull in particular will not begin to pay attention 'until, you stand on your head to talk to him.' they regretted to do this, but in doing it they secured the attention and interest of all england. they then followed a relentless policy of opposing the election of any candidate of the party in power. the liberal men had been playing with the liberal women, promising support and then laughing the matter off. but they are now reduced to an appeal to the maternal instinct of the women. they say it is unloving of them to oppose their own kind. politics is a poor game, but this is politics." v. the last objection i would call the _moral_. it embraces such arguments as, that woman is too impulsive, too easily swayed by her emotions to hold responsible positions, that the world is very evil and slippery, and that she must therefore constantly have man to protect her--a pious duty, which he avows solemnly it has ever been his special delight to perform. the preceding pages are a commentary on the manner in which man has discharged this duty. in delaware, for instance, the age of legal consent was until seven years. the institution of chivalry, to take another example, is usually praised for the high estimation and protection it secured for women; yet any one who has read its literature knows that, in practice, it did nothing of the sort. the noble lord who was so gallant to his lady love--who, by the way, was frequently the wife of another man--had very little scruple about seducing a maid of low degree. the same gallantry is conspicuous in the letters of lord chesterfield, beneath whose unctuous courtesy the beast of sensuality is always leering. in the past the main function of woman outside of the rearing of children has been to satisfy the carnal appetite of man, to prepare his food, to minister to his physical comfort; she was barred from participation in the intellectual. in order to hold her to these bonds a divine sanction was sought. the mohammedan found it in the koran; the christian, in the bible--just as slavery was justified repeatedly from the story of ham, just as the stuarts and the bourbons believed firmly that they were the special favourites of god. strangely enough, men who are so sensitive about the moral welfare of women will visit a dance hall where women are degraded nightly, and will allow their daughters to marry "reformed" rakes. men will not permit any mention of sexual matters in their homes, and will let their children get their information on the street; and all for the very simple reason that they are afraid the truth will hurt, will make people think. men have been remarkably sensitive about having women speak in public for their rights; but they watch with zest a woman screaming nonsense on the stage. it is quite possible that many women are swayed too easily by their emotions. we must recollect, however, that for some thousands of years woman has been carefully drilled to believe that she is an emotional creature. if a dozen people conspire to tell a man that he is looking badly, it is not unlikely that he will feel ill. certainly florence nightingale and clara barton exhibited no lack of firmness on the shambles of battlefields; and there are few men living who cannot recall instances of women who have, in the face of disaster and evil fortune, shown a steady perseverance and will-power in earning a living for themselves and their children that men have not surpassed. having in the preceding pages considered the five capital objections to the concession of equal suffrage, i shall now, in accordance with my plan, say something of the much-mooted question of the superiority or inferiority of one sex to the other. it might be concluded from the foregoing account that i see little difference in the aptitudes and powers of the sexes physically, morally, or intellectually. that does not necessarily follow. it is possible to conceive of each sex as the complement of the other; and between complements there can be no question either of superiority or of inferiority. the great historian of european morals has analysed the constitutional differences of the sexes as he conceived them; and i may quote his remarks as pertinent to my theme. lecky writes as follows[ ]: "physically, men have the indisputable superiority in strength, and women in beauty. intellectually, a certain inferiority of the female sex can hardly be denied when we remember how almost exclusively the foremost places in every department of science, literature, and art have been occupied by men, how infinitesimally small is the number of women who have shown in any form the very highest order of genius, how many of the greatest men have achieved their greatness in defiance of the most adverse circumstances, and how completely women have failed in obtaining the first position, even in music or painting, for the cultivation of which their circumstances would appear most propitious. it is as impossible to find a female raphael, or a female handel, as a female shakespeare or newton. women are intellectually more desultory and volatile than men; they are more occupied with particular instances than with general principles; they judge rather by intuitive perceptions than by deliberate reasoning or past experience. they are, however, usually superior to men in nimbleness and rapidity of thought, and in the gift of tact or the power of seizing speedily and faithfully the finer inflections of feeling, and they have therefore often attained very great eminence as conversationalists, as letter-writers, as actresses, and as novelists. "morally, the general superiority of women over men is, i think, unquestionable. if we take the somewhat coarse and inadequate criterion of police statistics, we find that, while the male and female populations are nearly the same in number, the crimes committed by men are usually rather more than five times as numerous as those committed by women; and although it may be justly observed that men, as the stronger sex, and the sex upon whom the burden of supporting the family is thrown, have more temptations than women, it must be remembered, on the other hand, that extreme poverty which verges upon starvation is most common among women, whose means of livelihood are most restricted, and whose earnings are smallest and most precarious. self-sacrifice is the most conspicuous element of a virtuous and religious character, and it is certainly far less common among men than among women, whose whole lives are usually spent in yielding to the will and consulting the pleasures of another. there are two great departments of virtue: the impulsive, or that which springs spontaneously from the emotions, and the deliberative, or that which is performed in obedience to the sense of duty; and in both of these i imagine women are superior to men. their sensibility is greater, they are more chaste both in thought and act, more tender to the erring, more compassionate to the suffering, more affectionate to all about them.... in active courage women are inferior to men. in the courage of endurance they are commonly their superiors.... in the ethic of intellect they are decidedly inferior. to repeat an expression i have already employed, women very rarely love truth, though they love passionately what they call 'the truth' or opinions they have received from others, and hate vehemently those who differ from them. they are little capable of impartiality or doubt; their thinking is chiefly a mode of feeling; though very generous in their acts, they are rarely generous in their opinions.... they are less capable than men of perceiving qualifying circumstances, of admitting the existence of elements of good in systems to which they are opposed, of distinguishing the personal character of an opponent from the opinions he maintains. men lean most to justice, and women to mercy. men are most addicted to intemperance and brutality, women to frivolity and jealousy. men excel in energy, self-reliance, perseverance, and magnanimity, women in humility, gentleness, modesty, and endurance.... their religious or devotional realisations are incontestably more vivid.... but though more intense, the sympathies of women are commonly less wide than those of men. their imaginations individualise more, their affections are, in consequence, concentrated rather on leaders than on causes.... in politics, their enthusiasm is more naturally loyalty than patriotism. in history, they are even more inclined than men to dwell exclusively upon biographical incidents or characteristics as distinguished from the march of general causes." experience, by which alone mankind has ever learned or can learn, will show how far the characteristics enumerated by lecky are innate and how far they have been acquired in the course of ages by certain habits of belief and education. the securing of citizens' rights for woman will of necessity depend on the attitude of society. there may be numerous laws for her relief on the statute books; but if society frowns on her appearance in court, it will be only in exceptional cases that she will appeal to the courts. to one who is familiar with the records of daily life a hundred years ago there is little doubt that conjugal infidelity on the part of the husband was more flagrant then than it is to-day; but there were infinitely fewer divorces. the reason for this is simply that public sentiment on the subject has changed. a century ago, a divorced woman could do nothing; the wife was exhorted to bear her husband's faults with meekness; and the expansion of industry had not yet opened to her that opportunity of making her own living which she now possesses in a hundred ways. women were entirely dependent on men; and the men knew it. to-day they are not so sure. the old conception of woman's position was subjection, based on mental and physical inferiority and supported by biblical arguments. the newer conception is that of a complement, in which neither inferiority nor superiority finds place. the old conception was based, like every institution of the times, on fear. men were warned against heresy by being reminded of the tortures of hell fire; against crime by appealing to their dread of the gallows. between the death of anne and the reign of george iii one hundred and eighty-eight capital offences were added to the penal code; and crime at once increased to an amazing degree. in a system that is founded on fear, when once that fear is removed--as it inevitably will be with the growth of enlightenment--there remains no basis of action, no incentive to good. it has been tried for centuries and has yielded only star chambers and spanish inquisitions. it is time that we try a new method. an appeal to the sense of _fair play_, an appeal to the sense of duty and of natural affection may yield immeasurably superior results. it has been my experience and personal observation that the standard of honour in our non-sectarian schools, where the _fair play_ spirit is most insisted on, is vastly greater than it was in the old sectarian institutions where boys were told morning, noon, and night that they would go to hell if they did not behave. the new spirit is not going to be accepted at once by society. there must first be some wailing and much gnashing of teeth; and the monster, custom, which all sense doth eat, will still for a time be antagonistic as it has been in the past. "in no society has life ever been completely controlled by the reason," remarks professor thomas, "but mainly by the instincts and the habits and the customs growing out of these. speaking in a general way, it may be said that all conduct both of men and animals tends to be right rather than wrong. they do not know why they behave in such and such ways, but their ancestors behaved in those ways and survival is the guaranty that the behaviour was good. we must admit that within the scope of their lives the animals behave with almost unerring propriety. their behaviour is simple and unvarying, but they make fewer mistakes than ourselves. the difficulty in their condition is, that having little power of changing their behaviour they have little chance of improvement. now, in human societies, and already among gregarious animals, one of the main conditions of survival was common sentiment and behaviour. so long as defence of life and preying on outsiders were main concerns of society, unanimity and conformity had the same value which still attaches to military discipline in warfare and to team work in our sports. morality therefore became identified with uniformity. it was actually better to work upon some system, however bad, than to work on none at all, and early society had no place for the dissenter. changes did take place, for man had the power of communicating his experiences through speech and the same power of imitation which we show in the adoption of fashions, but these changes took place with almost imperceptible slowness, or if they did not, those who proposed them were considered sinners and punished with death or obloquy. "and it has never made any difference how bad the existing order of things might be. those who attempted to reform it were always viewed with suspicion. consequently our practices usually run some decades or centuries behind our theories and history is even full of cases where the theory was thoroughly dead from the standpoint of reason before it began to do its work in society. a determined attitude of resistance to change may therefore be classed almost with the instincts, for it is not a response to the reason alone, but is very powerfully bound up with the emotions which have their seat in the spinal cord. "it is true that this adhesion to custom is more absolute and astonishing in the lower races and in the less educated classes, but it would be difficult to point out a single case in history where a new doctrine has not been met with bitter resistance. we justly regard learning and freedom of thought and investigation as precious, and we popularly think of luther and the reformation as standing at the beginning of the movement toward these, but luther himself had no faith in 'the light of reason' and he hated as heartily as any papal dogmatist the 'new learning' of erasmus and hutten.... we are even forced to realise that the law of habit continues to do its perfect work in a strangely resentful or apathetic manner even when there is no moral issue at stake.... up to the year , the best device for the application of electricity to telegraphy had involved a separate wire for each letter of the alphabet, but in that year francis ronalds constructed a successful line making use of a single wire. realising the importance of his invention, he attempted to get the british government to take it up, but was informed that 'telegraphs of any kind are now wholly unnecessary, and no other than the one in use will be adopted.'" the reader will doubtless be able to add from his own experience and observation examples which will support professor thomas's admirable account of the power of custom. among many barbarous tribes certain foods, like eggs, are _taboo_; no one knows why they should not be eaten; but tradition says their use produces bad results, and one who presumes to taste them is put to death. to-day, we believe ourselves rather highly civilised; but the least observation of society must compel us to acknowledge that _taboo_ is still a vital power in a multitude of matters. there is a still more forcible opposition to a recasting of the status of women by those men who have beheld no complete regeneration of society through the extension of the franchise in four of our states. curiously oblivious of the fact that partial regeneration through the instrumentality of women is something attained, they take this as a working argument for the uselessness of extending the suffrage. they point to other evils that have followed and tell you that if this is the result of the emancipation of women, they will have none of it. for example, there can be no doubt that one may see from time to time the pseudo-intellectual woman. she affects an interest in literature, attends lectures on browning and emerson, shows an academic interest in slum work, and presents, on the whole, a selfishness or an egotism which repels. there never has been a revolution in society, however beneficial eventually, which did not bring at least some evil in its train. i cannot do better in this connection than to quote lord macaulay's splendid words (from the essay on milton): "if it were possible that a people, brought up under an intolerant and arbitrary system, could subvert that system without acts of cruelty and folly, half the objections to despotic power would be removed. we should, in that case, be compelled to acknowledge that it at least produces no pernicious effects on the intellectual and moral character of a people. we deplore the outrages which accompany revolutions. but the more violent the outrages, the more assured we feel that a revolution was necessary. the violence of these outrages will always be proportioned to the ferocity and ignorance of the people; and the ferocity and ignorance of the people will be proportioned to the oppression and degradation under which they have been accustomed to live. thus it was in our civil war. the rulers in the church and state reaped only what they had sown. they had prohibited free discussion--they had done their best to keep the people unacquainted with their duties and their rights. the retribution was just and natural. if they suffered from popular ignorance, it was because they had themselves taken away the key to knowledge. if they were assailed with blind fury, it was because they had exacted an equally blind submission. "it is the character of such revolutions that we always see the worst of them at first. till men have been for some time free, they know not how to use their freedom. the natives of wine-countries are always sober. in climates where wine is a rarity, intemperance abounds. a newly-liberated people may be compared to a northern army encamped on the rhine or the xeres. it is said that when soldiers in such a situation first find themselves able to indulge without restraint in such a rare and expensive luxury, nothing is to be seen but intoxication. soon, however, plenty teaches discretion; and after wine has been for a few months their daily fare, they become more temperate than they had ever been in their own country. in the same manner, the final and permanent fruits of liberty are wisdom, moderation, and mercy. its immediate effects are often atrocious crimes, conflicting errors, skepticism on points the most clear, dogmatism on points the most mysterious. it is just at this crisis that its enemies love to exhibit it. they pull down the scaffolding from the half-finished edifice; they point to the flying dust, the falling bricks, the comfortless rooms, the frightful irregularity of the whole appearance; and then ask in scorn where the promised splendour and comfort are to be found? if such miserable sophisms were to prevail, there never would be a good house or a good government in the world.... there is only one cure for the evils which newly acquired freedom produces--and that cure is freedom. when a prisoner leaves his cell, he cannot bear the light of day--he is unable to discriminate colours or to recognise faces. but the remedy is not to remand him into his dungeon, but to accustom him to the rays of the sun. the blaze of truth and liberty may at first dazzle and bewilder nations which have become half-blind in the house of bondage. but let them gaze on, and they will soon be able to bear it. in a few years men learn to reason. the extreme violence of opinion subsides. hostile theories correct each other. the scattered elements of truth cease to conflict, and begin to coalesce. and at length a system of justice and order is educed out of the chaos. "many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. the maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into the water till he had learnt to swim. if men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait for ever." the speedy dissolution of family and state was prophesied by men when first a girl took a public examination in geometry; whenever women have been given complete control of their own property; when they have been received into the professions and industries; and now in like manner people dread the condition of things that they imagine might follow if women are given the right to vote and to hold office. we may well believe, with lecky, that there are "certain eternal moral landmarks which never can be removed." but no matter what our views may be of the destinies, characteristics, functions, or limitations of the sex, certain reforms are indispensable before woman and, through her, family life can reach their highest development. of these reforms i shall speak briefly and with them close my history. i. the double standard of morality for the sexes must gradually be abolished.[ ] of all the sad commentaries on christian nations none is so pathetic or so tragical as the fact that for nineteen centuries men have been tacitly and openly allowed, at least before marriage, unrestrained liberty to indulge in sexual vice and intemperance, while one false step on the part of the woman has condemned her to social obloquy and, frequently, to a life on the street. this strange system, a blasphemy against the christ who suffered death in order to purify the earth, has had its defenders not merely among the uneducated who do not think, but even among the most acute intellects. the philosopher hume justifies it by commenting on the vastly greater consequences attendant on vice in women than in men; divines like jeremy taylor have encouraged it by urging women meekly to bear the sins of their husbands. this subject is one of the great _taboos_ in modern society. let me exhort the reader to go to any physician and get from him the statistics of gonorrhea and syphilis which he has met in his practice; let him learn of the children born blind and of wives rendered invalid for life because their husbands once sowed a crop of wild oats with the sanction of society; let him read the report of the committee of fifteen in new york (g.p. putnam's sons, ) on _the social evil_, the records of the watch and ward society in boston, or the recent report of the special jury in new york which investigated the "white slave traffic."[ ] the plain facts are not pleasant. a system which has been in vogue from the beginning of history cannot be changed in a decade; but the desired state of things will be more speedily achieved and immediate good will be accomplished by three reforms which may be begun at once--have begun, in fact. in the first place, the "age of legal consent" should be uniformly twenty-one. in most states to-day it is fourteen or sixteen.[ ] to the ordinary mind it is a self-evident proposition that a girl of those ages, the slippery period of puberty, can but seldom realise what she is doing when she submits herself to the lust of scoundrels. but the minds of legislators pass understanding; and when, a few years ago, a woman in the legislature of colorado proposed to have the age of consent raised from sixteen to twenty-one, such a storm of protest came from her male colleagues that the measure had to be abandoned. in the second place the public should be made better acquainted with the facts of prostitution. when people once realise thoroughly what sickness and social ulcers result from the presence in the city of new york of , debauched women (and the estimate is conservative)--when they begin to reflect that their children must grow up in such surroundings, then perhaps they will question the expediency of the double standard of morality and will insist that what is wrong for a woman is wrong for a man. it is a fact, to be borne carefully in mind, that the vast majority of prostitutes begin their career below the age of _eighteen_ and usually at the instigation of adult _men_, who take advantage of their ignorance or of their poverty. if the miserable thaw trial did nothing else, it at least once more called public attention to conditions which every intelligent man knows have existed for years. something can also be done by statute. new york has made adultery a crime; and the state of washington requires a physical examination of the parties before marriage. in the third place, physicians should take more pains to educate men to the knowledge that a continent life is not a detriment to health--the contrary belief being more widely spread than is usually suspected. ii. in the training of women, care should be taken to impress upon them that they are not toys or spoiled children, but fellow-citizens, devoted to the common task of advancing the ideals of the nation to their goal. the woman's cause is man's; they rise or sink together, dwarf'd or godlike, bond or free: if she be small, slight-natured, miserable, how shall men grow? tennyson, _the princess_. a being breathing thoughtful breath, a traveller between life and death; the reason firm, the temperate will, endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; a perfect woman, nobly planned, to warn, to comfort, and command; and yet a spirit still, and bright with something of an angel light. wordsworth. towards a higher conception of their duties, women are steadily advancing. it often happens that the history of words will give a hint of the progress of civilisation. such a story is told by the use of _lady_ and _woman_. not many decades ago the use of the word _woman_ in referring to respectable members of the sex was interpreted as a lack of courtesy. to-day, women prefer to be called _women_. iii. women should be given the full right to enter any profession or business which they may desire. as john stuart mill says: "the proper sphere for any human being is the highest sphere that being is capable of attaining; and this cannot be ascertained without complete liberty of choice." "we are, as always, in a period of transition," remarks mr. björkman,[ ] "the old forms are falling away from us on every side. concerning the new ones we are still uncertain and divided. whether woman shall vote or not, is not the main issue. she will do so sooner or later if it suits her. no, the imperative question confronting us is this: what are we to do that her life once more may be full and useful as it used to be? that question cannot be answered by anybody but herself. furthermore, it can only be answered on the basis of actual experience. and urged onward by her never-failing power of intuition, woman has for once taken to experimenting. she has, if you please, become temporarily catabolic. but it means merely that she is seeking for new means to fulfil her nature, not for ways of violating it. and the best thing--nay, the only thing--man can do to help her is to stand aside and keep his faith, both in her and in life. whether it be the franchise, or the running of railroads, or public offices, that her eager hands and still more eager soul should happen to reach out for, he must give her free way. all she wants is to find herself, and for this purpose she must try everything that once was foreign to her being: the trial over, she will instinctively and unfailingly pick out the right new things to do, and will do them." the opening up of professions and industries to woman has been of incalculable benefit to her. of old the unmarried woman could do little except sit by the fire and spin or make clothing for the south sea islanders. her limited activities caused a corresponding influence on her character. people who have nothing to do will naturally find an outlet for their superfluous energy in gossip and all the petty things of life; if isolated from a share in what the world is doing, they will no less naturally develop eccentricities of character and will grow old prematurely. to-day, by being allowed a part in civic and national movements, women can "get out of themselves"--a powerful therapeutic agent. mrs. ella young, a woman of sixty, was last year made superintendent of the great public school system of chicago. fräulein anna heinrichsdorff is the first woman in germany to get an engineer's diploma, very recently bestowed upon her; an "excellent" mark was given fräulein heinrichsdorff in every part of her examination by the berlin polytechnic institute. miss jean gordon, the only factory inspector in louisiana, is at present waging a strong fight against the attempt to exempt "first-class" theatres from the child-labour law. mrs. nellie upham, of colorado, is president and general manager of the gold divide mining, milling, and tunnel company of colorado and directs workmen. these are a few examples out of some thousands of what woman is doing.[ ] and yet there are men who do not believe she should do anything but wash dishes and scrub. much more serious is the glaring discrepancy in the wages paid to men and to women. for doing precisely the same work as a man and often doing it better, woman receives a much lower wage. the reasons are several and specious. we are told that men have families to support, that women do not have such expensive tastes as men, that they are incapable of doing as much as men, that by granting them equal wages one of the inducements to marry is removed. these arguments are generally used with the greatest gravity by bachelors. if men have families to support, women by the hundreds support brothers and sisters and weak parents. that they are incapable of doing as much sounds unconvincing to one who has seen the work of sweat-shops. the argument that men have more expensive tastes to satisfy is too feeble to deserve attention. finally, when men argue that women should be forced to marry by giving them smaller wages, they are simply reverting to the time-honoured idea that the goal of every women's ambition should be fixed as matrimony. if the low wages of women produced no further consequence, one might dismiss the matter as not of essential importance; but inadequate pay has been found too frequently to be a direct cause of prostitution. no girl can well keep body and soul together on four dollars a week and some business managers have been known to inform their women employees with frankness that a "gentleman friend" is a necessary adjunct to a limited income. the women who suffer most from low wages are probably the teachers in our primary schools. they start usually on a salary of about three hundred and fifty dollars a year. for this each teacher performs all the minute labour and bears all the nervous strain of instructing sixty pupils six and a half hours a day and of correcting dozens of papers far into the night. and when crime increases or the pupils are not universally successful in business, the school teacher has the added pleasure of getting blamed for it, being told that she ought to have trained them better. these facts lend some colour to mark twain's sage reflection that god at first made idiots--that was for practice; then he made school boards. one of the most interesting examples of recent evolution in the industrial status of women is the decision of the supreme court of illinois in the so-called ritchie case. the last legislature of illinois passed a law limiting to ten hours the working day of women in factories and stores. now, as far back as , the legislature had passed a similar law limiting woman's labour to _eight_ hours; but the supreme court in declared it unconstitutional on the ground that it was an arbitrary and unreasonable interference with the right of women to contract for the sale of their labour. when, therefore, this year a ten-hour bill was tried, w.c. ritchie, who had secured the nullification of the act of , again protested. the decision of the court, rendered april , , is an excellent proof of the great advance made within two decades in the position of women. reversing completely its judgment of , the court left far behind it mere technicalities of law and found a sanction for its change of front in the experience of humanity and of common sense. these are its conclusions: "it is known to all men, and of what we know as men we cannot profess to be ignorant as judges: "that woman's physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a great disadvantage in the battle of life. "that while a man can work for more than ten hours a day without injury to himself, a woman, especially when the burdens of motherhood are upon her, cannot. "that while a man can work standing upon his feet for more than ten hours a day, day after day, without injury to himself, a woman cannot. "that to require a woman to stand upon her feet for more than ten hours in any one day and to perform severe manual labour while thus standing has the effect of impairing her health. "and as weakly and sickly women cannot be the mothers of vigorous children, it is of the greatest importance to the public that the state take such measures as may be necessary to protect its women from the consequences produced by long-continued manual labour in those occupations which tend to break them down physically. "it would seem obvious, therefore, that legislation which limits the number of hours which women shall be permitted to work to ten hours in a single day in such employments as are carried on in mechanical establishments, factories, and laundries would tend to preserve the health of women and assure the production of vigorous offspring by them and would conduce directly to the health, morals, and general welfare of the public, and that such legislation would fall clearly within the police powers of the state." iv. all phenomena that concern family life should be carefully studied and their bearing on the state ascertained as exactly as possible. there is no subject, for example, from which such wild conclusions are drawn as the matter of divorce. the average moralist, but more particularly the clergy, seeing the fairly astonishing increase in divorce during the last decade, jump to the conclusion that family life is decadent and immorality flagrantly on the increase. they point to the indubitable fact that a century ago divorces were insignificant in number; and they infer that morality was then on a much higher level than it is now. such alarmists neglect certain elementary facts. the flippant manner in which marriage is treated by the restoration dramatists and by novelists of the th century, the callous sexual morality revealed in diaries and in the conversations of men like johnson alone are sufficient to suggest the need of a readjustment of one's view regarding the standard of morality in the past. a century ago it was the duty of a gentleman to drink to excess; and it was presumed that a guest had not enjoyed his dinner unless he was at least comfortably the worse for liquor. this view of drunkenness is admirably depicted in dickens's _pickwick papers_, where intoxication is treated throughout as something merely humorous. there were just as many unhappy marriages formerly in proportion to the population as there are to-day; but the wife was held effectually from application for a divorce not only by rigid laws but by the sentiment of society, which ostracised a divorced woman, and furthermore by her lack of means and of opportunity for earning an independent livelihood. to-day women are not inclined to tolerate a husband who is brutal or debauched. alarmists make a mistake when they place too much emphasis on the seeming triviality of the reasons, justifying their course, which wives advance when applying for a separation. for example, the phrase "incompatibility of temperament" is in a great number of cases merely a euphemism for something much worse. the clergy will counsel a woman to bear with what they call christian resignation a husband addicted to drink or scarred by the diseases that are a consequence of sin. abstractly considered, this may conceivably be good advice. but viewed in a common-sense way it is the duty of a woman to reflect on the consequences of conceiving children from such a man; and the researches of physicians will furnish her with incontrovertible facts regarding the impaired health of the offspring of such a union. a law which would permit of no divorce under such conditions, instead of benefiting the state, would injure it in its most vital asset--healthy children, the coming citizens. doubtless the divorce laws in many states are too lax. but sweeping generalities based on theory will not remedy matters. divorce may simply be a symptom, not a disease; a revolt against unjust conditions; and the way to do away with divorce or reduce the frequency of it is to remedy the evil social conditions which, in a great many instances, are responsible. the fact is, the institution of marriage is going through a crisis. the old view that marriage is a complete merging of the wife in the husband and that the latter is absolute monarch of his home is being questioned. when a man with this idea and a woman with a far different one marry, there is likely to be a clash. marriage as a real partnership based on equality of goods and of interests finds an increasing number of advocates. there is great reason to believe that the issue will be only for the good and that from doubt and revolt a more enduring ideal will arise, based on a sure foundation of perfect understanding. notes: [ ] see an excellent article on "the american woman" by miss ida m. tarbell, in the _american magazine_ for april, . [ ] in . "be it resolved by the second legislature of the state of wyoming: "that the possession and exercise of suffrage by the women of wyoming for the past quarter of a century has wrought no harm and has done great good in many ways; that it has largely aided in banishing crime, pauperism, and vice from this state, and that without any violent and oppressive legislation," etc. [ ] women in colorado have been of greatest service in establishing the following laws: --establishing a state home for dependent children, three of the five members of the board to be women. --requiring that at least three of the six members of the county visitors shall be women. --making mothers joint guardians of their children with the fathers. --raising the age of protection for girls to years. --establishing a state industrial school for girls. there had long been one for boys, but the women could not get one for girls until they had the vote. --removing the emblems from the australian ballots. this is a little, indirect step toward educational qualifications for voting. --establishing the indeterminate sentence for prisoners. --requiring one physician on the board of the insane asylum to be a woman. --establishing truant schools. --making better provision for the care of the feeble-minded. --for tree preservation. --for the inspection of private eleemosynary institutions by the state board of charities. --various steps toward prevention of cruelty to animals. --providing that foreign life and accident insurance companies, when sued, must pay the costs. --establishing a juvenile court. --making education compulsory for all children between the ages of and , except those who are ill or those who are and have completed the eighth grade, or those whose parents need their help and support. --making the mother and father joint heirs of a deceased child. --providing for union high schools. --establishing a state travelling library commission. --providing that any person employing a child under in any mine, mill, or factory be punished by imprisonment in addition to a fine. --requiring the joint signature of the husband and wife to a mortgage of a homestead. --forbidding the insuring of the lives of children under . --forbidding children of or under to work more than six hours a day in any mill, factory, or other occupation that may be unhealthful. --making it a criminal offence to contribute to the delinquency of children--the parental responsibility act. --making it a misdemeanour to fail to support aged or infirm parents. --providing that no woman shall work more than eight hours a day at work requiring her to be on her feet. --restricting the time for shooting doves. --abolishing the binding out of girls committed to the industrial school until the age of . --a pure food law in harmony with the national law. [ ] in the _boston herald_ for june , . [ ] quoted in the _new york times_ of jan. , . [ ] see, for example, lyman abbott in the _outlook_ for feb. , . [ ] _american magazine_, july, . [ ] _history of european morals_, vol. ii, pp. and following. new york, d. appleton & co., . [ ] note, for example, that in maryland a man can get a divorce if his wife has had sexual intercourse before marriage; _but a wife cannot get a divorce from her husband if he has been guilty of the same thing_. in texas, adultery on the part of the wife entitles the husband to a divorce; but the wife can obtain divorce from her husband only if he has _abandoned_ her and _lived_ in adultery with another woman. [ ] on jan. , , a bill was introduced in the house of representatives to check the "white slave traffic" by providing a penalty of ten years' imprisonment and a fine of five thousand dollars for any one who engages in it. [ ] in some it is even lower; _ten_ in georgia and mississippi for example. [ ] in _collier's weekly_, feb. , . [ ] note what the officers of the chicago juvenile protective association, many of whom are women, accomplished in - . these women are fighting the agencies which make for juvenile crime mostly and each officer has a specified "beat" to patrol. last year their work amounted to the following: complaints of selling liquors to minors investigated complaints of selling tobacco to minors investigated complaints of selling obscene postcards investigated complaints of poolrooms investigated complaints of dance halls investigated five and ten cent theatres visited , penny arcades visited saloons visited relief visits cases referred to relief organisations legal aid cases referred referred to visiting nurses' association housing cases referred applications for work referred placed in hospitals sent to dispensaries children placed in homes slot machines removed work found for men work found for women work found for boys work found for girls visits to ice-cream parlors visits to candy stores visits to courts juvenile municipal , criminal county grand jury conferences with state or city officials , prosecutions cases of abandonment assault and battery contributing to delinquency and dependency of children crimes against children disorderly conduct immoral dancing intoxicating liquors juvenile court cases larceny tobacco sale of cocaine other cases total prosecutions results convictions settled out of court nolle pros, or nonsuit dismissed acquittals pending ----- total complaints received , chapter x further considerations in the four years intervening since this book was first written, the progress of equal rights for women has been so rapid that the summary on pages - is now largely obsolete; but it is useful for comparison. in the united states at present (august, ), wyoming, colorado, utah, idaho, washington, california, oregon, kansas, arizona, and alaska have granted full suffrage to women. in the following states the voters will pass upon the question in the autumn of : montana, nevada, north dakota, south dakota, missouri, nebraska, and ohio, the last three by initiative petition. in new jersey, pennsylvania, iowa, new york, and massachusetts a constitutional amendment for equal suffrage has passed one legislature and must pass another before being submitted to the people. the advance has been world-wide. thus, in the gaekwar of baroda in india allowed the women of his dominions a vote in municipal elections, and bosnia bestowed the parliamentary suffrage on women who owned a certain amount of real estate; norway in and iceland in were won to full suffrage. the following table presents a convenient historical summary of the progress in political rights: on july , , two days before the declaration of independence was signed, new jersey, in her first state constitution, en-franchised the women by changing the words of her provincial charter from "male freeholders worth £ " to "_all inhabitants_ worth £ ," and for years the women of that state voted. gains in equal suffrage eighty years ago women could not vote anywhere, except to a very limited extent in sweden and in a few other places in the old world. time place kind of suffrage kentucky school suffrage to widows with children of school age. ontario school suffrage, women married and single. kansas school suffrage. new south wales municipal suffrage. england municipal suffrage, single women and widows. victoria municipal suffrage, married and single women. wyoming full suffrage. west australia municipal suffrage. michigan school suffrage. minnesota do. colorado do. new zealand do. new hampshire do. oregon do. massachusetts do. new york do. vermont do. south australia municipal suffrage. scotland municipal suffrage to the single women and widows. isle of man parliamentary suffrage. nebraska school suffrage. ontario municipal suffrage. tasmania do. new zealand do. new brunswick do. kansas do. nova scotia do. manitoba do. north dakota school suffrage. south dakota do. time place kind of suffrage montana . . . . . . . school suffrage arizona . . . . . . . do. new jersey . . . . . do. montana . . . . . . . tax-paying suffrage. england . . . . . . . county suffrage. british columbia. . . municipal suffrage. northwest territory . do. scotland. . . . . . . county suffrage. province of quebec. . municipal suffrage, single women and widows. illinois. . . . . . . school suffrage. connecticut . . . . . do. colorado. . . . . . . full suffrage. new zealand . . . . . do. ohio. . . . . . . . . school suffrage. iowa. . . . . . . . . bond suffrage. england . . . . . . . parish and district suffrage, married and single women. south australia . . . full state suffrage. utah. . . . . . . . . full suffrage. idaho . . . . . . . . do. ireland . . . . . . . all offices except members of parliament. minnesota . . . . . . library trustees. delaware. . . . . . . school suffrage to tax-paying women. france. . . . . . . . women engaged in commerce can vote for judges of the tribunal of commerce. louisiana . . . . . . tax-paying suffrage. wisconsin . . . . . . school suffrage. west australia. . . . full state suffrage. new york. . . . . . . tax-paying suffrage; local taxation in all towns and villages of the state. norway. . . . . . . . municipal suffrage. australia . . . . . . full suffrage. new south wales . . . full state suffrage. kansas. . . . . . . . bond suffrage. tasmania. . . . . . . full state suffrage. queensland. . . . . . do. finland . . . . . . . full suffrage; eligible for all offices. norway. . . . . . . . full parliamentary suffrage to the , women who already had municipal suffrage. sweden. . . . . . . . eligible to municipal offices. denmark . . . . . . . can vote for members of boards of public charities and serve on such boards. england . . . . . . . eligible as mayors, aldermen, and county and town councilors. oklahoma. . . . . . . new state continued school suffrage for women. michigan. . . . . . . taxpayers to vote on question of local taxation and granting of franchises. denmark . . . . . . . women who are taxpayers or wives of taxpayers vote for all offices except members of parliament. victoria. . . . . . . full state suffrage. belgium . . . . . . . can vote for members of the conseils des prudhommes, and also eligible. province of voralberg single women and widows paying taxes (austrian tyrol) were given a vote. ginter park, va . . . tax-paying women, a vote on all municipal questions. washington. . . . . . full suffrage. new mexico. . . . . . school suffrage. time place kind of suffrage norway. . . . . . . . municipal suffrage made universal. three-fifths of the women had it before. bosnia. . . . . . . . parliamentary vote to women owning a certain amount of real estate. diet of the crown . . suffrage to the women of its capital city prince of krain laibach. (austria) india (gaekwar of . . women in his dominions vote in municipal baroda) elections. wurttemberg . . . . . women engaged in agriculture vote for kingdom of members of the chamber of agriculture; also eligible. new york. . . . . . . women in all towns, villages and third-class cities vote on bonding propositions. california. . . . . . full suffrage. honduras. . . . . . . municipal suffrage in capital city, belize. iceland . . . . . . . parliamentary suffrage for women over years. oregon. . . . . . . . full suffrage. arizona . . . . . . . do. kansas. . . . . . . . do. alaska. . . . . . . . do. norway. . . . . . . . do. illinois. . . . . . . suffrage for statutory officials (including presidential electors and municipal officers). iceland . . . . . . . full suffrage. in the united states the struggle for the franchise has entered national politics, a sure sign of its widening scope. the demand for equal suffrage was embodied in the platform of the progressive party in august, . this marks an advance over col. roosevelt's earlier view, expressed in the _outlook_ of february , , when he said: "i believe in woman's suffrage wherever the women want it. where they do not want it, the suffrage should not be forced upon them." when the new administration assumed office in march, , the friends of suffrage worked to secure a constitutional amendment which should make votes for women universal in the united states. the inauguration ceremonies were marred by an attack of hoodlums on the suffrage contingent of the parade. mr. hobson in the house denounced the outrage and mentioned the case of a young lady, the daughter of one of his friends, who was insulted by a ruffian who climbed upon the float where she was. mr. mann, the republican minority leader, remarked in reply that her daughter ought to have been at home. commenting on this dialogue, _collier's weekly_ of april , , recalled the boast inscribed by rameses iii of egypt on his monuments, twelve hundred years before christ: "to unprotected women there is freedom to wander through the whole country wheresoever they list without apprehending danger." if one works this out chronologically, said the editor, mr. mann belongs somewhere back in the stone age. in the senate an active committee on woman suffrage was formed under the chairmanship of mr. thomas, of colorado. the vote on the proposed new amendment was taken in the senate on march , , and it was rejected,[ ] to , two-thirds being necessary before the measure could be submitted to the states for ratification. in the house mr. underwood, democratic minority leader, took the stand that suffrage was purely a state issue. mr. heflin of alabama was particularly vigorous in denunciation of votes for women. he said[ ]: "i do not believe that there is a red-blooded man in the world who in his heart really believes in woman suffrage. i think that every man who favours it ought to be made to wear a dress. talk about taxation without representation! do you say that the young man who is of age does not represent his mother? do you say that the young man who pledges at the altar to love, cherish, and protect his wife, does not represent her and his children when he votes? when the christ of god came into this world to die for the sins of humanity, did he not die for all, males and females? what sort of foolish stuff are you trying to inject into this tariff debate?... there are trusts and monopolies of every kind, and these little feminine fellows are crawling around here talking about woman suffrage. i have seen them here in this capitol. the suffragette and a little henpecked fellow crawling along beside her; that is her husband. she is a suffragette, and he is a mortal suffering yet." mr. falconer of washington rose in reply. he remarked:[ ] "i want to observe that the mental operation of the average woman in the state of washington, as compared to the ossified brain operation of the gentleman from alabama, would make him look like a mangy kitten in a tiger fight. the average woman in the state of washington knows more about social economics and political economy in one minute than the gentleman from alabama has demonstrated to the members of this house that he knows in five minutes." on february , , a delegation of women called upon president wilson to ascertain his views. the president refused to commit himself. he was not at liberty, he said, to urge upon congress policies which had not the endorsement of his party's platform; and as the representative of his party he was under obligations not to promulgate or intimate his individual convictions. on february , , the democrats of the house in caucus, pursuant to a resolution of mr. heflin, refused to create a woman suffrage committee. so the constitutional amendment was quite lost. in the following july mr. bryan suddenly issued a strong appeal for equal suffrage in the _commoner_. among his arguments were these: "as man and woman are co-tenants of the earth and must work out their destiny together, the presumption is on the side of equality of treatment in all that pertains to their joint life and its opportunities. the burden of proof is on those who claim for one an advantage over the other in determining the conditions under which both shall live. this claim has not been established in the matter of suffrage. on the contrary, the objections raised to woman suffrage appear to me to be invalid, while the arguments advanced in support of the proposition are, in my judgment, convincing." "without minimising other arguments advanced in support of the extending of suffrage to woman, i place the emphasis upon the mother's right to a voice in molding the environment which shall surround her children--an environment which operates powerfully in determining whether her offspring will crown her latter years with joy or 'bring down her gray hairs in sorrow to the grave.' "for a time i was imprest by the suggestion that the question should be left to the women to decide--a majority to determine whether the franchise should be extended to woman; but i find myself less and less disposed to indorse this test.... why should any mother be denied the use of the franchise to safeguard the welfare of her child merely because another mother may not view her duty in the same light?" the change in the status of women has been significant not only in the political field, but also in every other direction. a brief survey of the legislation of various states in the past year, , reveals the manifold measures already adopted for the further protection of women and indicates the trend of laws in the near future. acts were passed in arkansas, kansas, missouri, new mexico, and ohio to punish the seduction of girls and women for commercialised vice, the laws being known as "white slave acts"; laws for the abatement of disorderly houses were passed in california, minnesota, oregon, pennsylvania, and washington; oregon decreed that male applicants for a marriage license must produce a physician's certificate showing freedom from certain diseases; and it authorised the sterilisation of habitual criminals and degenerates. the necessity of inculcating chastity in the newer generation, whether through the teaching of sex hygiene in the schools or in some other form, was widely discussed throughout the country. mothers' pensions were granted by fourteen states; minimum wage boards were established by three; and three passed laws for the punishment of family desertion, in such wise that the family of the offender should receive a certain daily sum from the state while he worked off his sentence. tennessee removed the disability of married women arising from coverture. ten states further limited the hours of labour for women in certain industries, the tendency being to fix the limit at fifty-four or fifty-eight hours a week with a maximum of nine or ten in any one day. the hours of labour of children and the age at which they are allowed to work were largely restricted. a national children's bureau, under the charge of miss julia lathrope, has been created at washington; and mrs. j. borden harriman was appointed to the industrial relations commission. the minuteness and thoroughness of modern legislation for the protection of women may be realised by noting that in alone new york passed laws that no girl under sixteen shall in any city of the first, second, or third class sell newspapers or magazines or shine shoes in any street or public place; that separate wash rooms and dressing rooms must be provided in factories where more than ten women are employed; that whenever an employer requires a physical examination, the employee, if a female, can demand a physician of her own sex; that the manufacture or repair for a factory of any article of food, dolls' clothing, and children's apparel in a tenement house be prohibited except by special permit of the labor commission; that the state industrial board be authorised to make special rules and regulations for dangerous employments; and that the employment of women in canning establishments be strictly limited according to prescribed hours. the unmistakable trend of legislation in the united states is towards complete equality of the sexes in all moral, social, industrial, professional, and political activities. in england the house of commons rejected parliamentary suffrage for women. incensed at the repeated chicanery of politicians who alternately made and evaded their promises, a group of suffragettes known as the "militants" resorted to open violence. when arrested for damaging property, they went on a "hunger strike," refusing all nourishment. this greatly embarrassed the government, which in devised the so-called "cat and mouse act," whereby those who are in desperate straits through their refusal to eat are released temporarily and conditionally, but can be rearrested summarily for failure to comply with the terms of their parole. the weakness in the attitude of the militant suffragettes is their senseless destruction of all kinds of property and the constant danger to which they subject innocent people by their outrages. if they would confine themselves to making life unpleasant for those who have so often broken their pledges, they could stand on surer ground. the english are commonly regarded as an orderly people, especially by themselves. nevertheless, it is true that hardly any great reform has been achieved in england without violence. the men of england did not secure the abolition of the "rotten-borough" system and extensive manhood suffrage until, in , they smashed the windows of the duke of wellington's house, burned the castle of the duke of newcastle, and destroyed the bishop's palace at bristol. in at newport twenty chartists were shot in an attempt to seize the town; they were attempting to secure reforms like the abolition of property qualifications for members of parliament. the english obtained the permanent tenure of their "immemorial rights" only by beheading one king and banishing another. in our own country, the boston tea party was a typical "militant outrage," generally regarded as a fine piece of patriotism. if the tradition of england is such that violence must be a preliminary to all final persuasion, perhaps censure of the militants can find some mitigation in that fact. some things move very slowly in england. in a commission was appointed to consider reform in divorce. under the english law a husband can secure a divorce for infidelity, but a woman must, in addition to adultery, prove aggravated cruelty. this is humorously called "british fair play." in november, , the majority of the commission recommended that this inequality be removed and that the sexes be placed on an equal footing; and that in addition to infidelity, now the only cause for divorce allowed, complete separation be also granted for desertion for three years, incurable insanity, and incurable habitual drunkenness. the majority, nine commissioners, found that the present stringent restrictions and costliness of divorce are productive of immorality and illicit relations, particularly among the poorer classes. the majority report was opposed by the three minority members, the archbishop of york, sir william anson, and sir lewis dibdin, representing the established church of england and the roman catholic church. thus far, parliament has not yet acted and the old law is still in force. on the continent, with the exception of a few places like finland, the movement for equal suffrage, while earnestly pressed by a few, is not yet concentrated. women have won their rights to higher education and are admitted to the universities. they can usually enter business and most of the professions. inequities of civil rights are gradually being swept away. for example, in germany a married woman has complete control of her property, but only if she specifically provided for it in the marriage contract; many german women are ignorant that they possess such a right. the germans may be divided into two classes: the caste which rules, largely prussian, militaristic, and bureaucratic; and that which, although desirous of more republican institutions and potentially capable of liberal views, is constrained to obey the first or ruling class. this upper class is not friendly to the modern women's-rights movement. perhaps it has read too much schopenhauer. this amiable philosopher, whose own mother could not endure living with him, has this to say of women[ ]: "a woman who is perfectly truthful and does not dissemble, is perhaps an impossibility. in a court of justice women are more often found guilty of perjury than men.... women are directly adapted to act as the nurses and educators of our early childhood, for the simple reason that they themselves are childish, foolish, and shortsighted.... women are and remain, taken altogether, the most thorough and incurable philistines; and because of the extremely absurd arrangement which allows them to share the position and title of their husbands they are a constant stimulus to his ignoble ambitions.... where are there any real monogamists? we all live, at any rate for a time, and the majority of us always, in polygamy.... it is men who make the money, and not women; therefore women are neither justified in having unconditional possession of it nor capable of administering it.... that woman is by nature intended to obey, is shown by the fact that every woman who is placed in the unnatural position of absolute independence at once attaches herself to some kind of man, by whom she is controlled and governed; that is because she requires a master. if she is young, the man is a lover; if she is old, a priest." essentially the opinion of schopenhauer is that of the prussian ruling class to-day. it is indisputable that in germany, as elsewhere on the continent, chastity in men outside of marriage is not expected, nor is the wife allowed to inquire into her husband's past. the bureaucratic german expects his wife to attend to his domestic comforts; he does not consult her in politics. the natural result when the masculine element has not counterchecks is bullying and coarseness. to find the coarseness, the reader can consult the stories in papers like the _berliner tageblatt_ and much of the current drama; to observe the bullying, he will have to see it for himself, if he doubts it. this is not an indictment of the whole german people; it is an indictment of the militaristic-bureaucratic ruling class, which, persuaded of its divine inspiration and intolerant of criticism,[ ] has plunged the country into a devastating war. it is not unlikely that the end of the conflict will mark also the overthrow of the hohenzollern dynasty. the spirit of the germans of , who labored unsuccessfully to make their country a republic, may awake again and realise its dreams. in concluding this chapter, i wish to enlarge somewhat upon the philosophy of suffrage as exhibited in the preceding chapter. the "woman's sphere" argument is still being worked overtime by anti-suffrage societies, whose members rather inconsistently leave their "sphere," the home, to harangue in public and buttonhole legislators to vote against the franchise for women. "a woman's place," says the sage hennessy, "is in th' home, darning her husband's childher. i mean----" "i know what ye mean," says mr. dooley. "'tis a favrite argument iv mine whin i can't think iv annything to say." a century ago, the home was the woman's sphere. to-day the man has deliberately dragged her out of it to work for him in factory and store because he can secure her labor more cheaply than that of men and is, besides, safer in abusing her when she has no direct voice in legislation. are the manufacturers willing to send their , , female employees back to their "sphere"? if they are not, but desire their labor, they ought in fairness to allow them the privileges of workmen--that is, of citizens, participating actively in the political, social, and economic development of the country. as women enter more largely into every profession and business, certain results will inevitably follow. we shall see first of all what pursuits are particularly adapted to them and which ones are not. it has already become apparent that as telephone and typewriter operators women, as a class, are better fitted than men. they have, in general, greater patience for details and quickness of perception in these fields. similarly, in architecture some have already achieved conspicuous success. one who has observed the insufficient closet space in modern apartments and kitchenettes with the icebox in front of the stove, is inclined to wish that male architects would consult their mothers or wives more freely. in law and medicine results are not yet clear. we shall presently possess more extensive data in all fields for surer conclusions. a second result may be, that many women, instead of leaving the home, will be forced back into it. this movement will be accelerated if the granting of equal pay for equal work and a universal application of the minimum wage take place. there are a great number of positions, especially those where personality is not a vital factor, where employers will prefer women when they can pay them less; but if they must give equal pay, they will choose men. hence the tendency of the movements mentioned is to throw certain classes of women back into the home. the home of the future, however, will have lost much of the drudgery and monotony once associated with it. the ingenious labor-saving devices, like the breadmixer, the fireless cooker, the vacuum cleaner, and the electric iron, the propagation of scientific knowledge in the rearing of children, and wider outlets for outside interests, will tend to make domestic life an exact science, a profession as important and attractive as any other. the home is not necessarily every woman's sphere and neither is motherhood. neither is it every woman's congenital duty to make herself attractive to men. the "woman's pages" of newspapers, filled with gratuitous advice on these subjects, never tell men that their duty is fatherhood or that they should make themselves attractive or that their sphere is also the home. until these one-sided points of view are adjusted to a more reasonable basis, we shall not reach an understanding. they are as unjust as the farmer who ploughs with a steam plow and lets his wife cart water from a distant well instead of providing convenient plumbing. women who are fitted for motherhood and have a talent for it can enter it with advantage. there is a talent for motherhood exactly as there is for other things. other women have genius which can be of greatest service to the community in other ways. they should have opportunity to find their sphere. if this is "feminism," it is also simple justice. one reason that we are at sea in some of the problems of the women's-rights movement, is that the history of women has been mainly written by men. the question of motherhood, the sexual life of women, and the position of women as it has been or is likely to be affected by their sexual characteristics, must be more exactly ascertained before definite conclusions can be reached. at present there is too much that we don't know. we need more scientific investigations of the type of mr. havelock ellis's admirable _studies in the psychology of sex_[ ] and less of pseudo-scientific lucubrations like otto weininger's _sex and character_. when human society has rid itself of the bogies and nightmares, superstitions and prejudices, which have borne upon it with crushing force, it will be in a better position to construct an ideal system of government. meanwhile experiments are and must be made. woman suffrage is not necessarily a reform; it is a necessary step in evolution. one venerable bogey i wish to dispose of before i close. it is that the roman empire was ruined and collapsed because the increasing liberty given to women and the equality granted the sexes under the empire produced immorality that destroyed the state. the trouble with rome was that it failed to grasp the fundamentals of economic law. slavery, the concentration of land in a few hands, and the theory that all taxation has for its end the enriching of a select few, were the fallacies which, in the last analysis, caused the collapse of the roman empire. the luxury, immorality, and race-suicide which are popularly conceived to have been the immediate causes of rome's decline and fall, were in reality the logical results, the inevitable attendant phenomena of a political system based on a false hypothesis. for when wealth was concentrated in a few hands, when there was no all-embracing popular education, all incentives to thrift, to private initiative, and hence to the development of the sturdy moral qualities which thrift and initiative cause and are the product of, were stifled. a nation can reach its maximum power only when, through the harmonious cooperation of all its parts, the initiative and talents of every individual have free scope, untrammeled by special privilege, to reach that sphere for which nature has designed him or her. note: the official organ of the national american woman suffrage association is _the woman's journal_, published weekly. the headquarters are at fifth avenue, new york city. england has two organisations which differ in methods. the national union of women's suffrage societies has adopted the constitutional or peaceful policy; it publishes _the common cause_, a weekly, at robert street, adelphi, w.c., london. the "militant" branch of suffragettes forms the national women's social and political union, and its weekly paper is _votes for women_, lincoln's inn house, kingsway, w.c. the international woman suffrage alliance issues the _jus suffragii_ monthly at kruiskade, rotterdam. a good source from which to obtain the present status of women in europe is the _englishwoman's year book and directory for _, published by adam and charles black. notes: [ ] twenty-six senators did not vote. the question of negro suffrage complicated the matter with southern senators. mr. williams of mississippi wished to limit the franchise to "white citizens"; but his amendment was voted down. the list of senators voting for and against the woman suffrage amendment appears on page of the congressional record, march , . the debate is contained in pages - . senator tillman of south carolina inserted a vicious attack on northern women by the late albert bledsoe, who advised them to "cut their hair short, and their petticoats, too, and enter a la bloomer the ring of political prizefighters." bledsoe's article will be found in the record, july , , - . [ ] record, may , , - . [ ] record, may , , . [ ] essays of schopenhauer. translated by mrs. rudolf dircks pages - . [ ] any criticism of the kaiser leads to arrest. the most vigorous checks to bourbon rule come from the socialists, who in polled , , votes. but as the kaiser, as king of prussia, controls a majority of votes in the bundesrath, or federal council, can dissolve the reichstag, or house of representatives, at any time with the consent of the bundesrath, has sole power to appoint the chancellor, and is lord supreme of the army and navy, anything like real popular government is far off. [ ] philadelphia, . the f.a. davis company. index a adultery, under roman law, laws modified by justinian, among germanic peoples, see also under various states. age of consent, under english law, in the united states, see also under various states. alabama, apostles, teachings about women, arizona, arkansas, attainder, bills of, in roman empire, laws of arcadius, honorius, and constantine, of pope innocent iii. b breach of promise, under roman law, modification by constantine, by justinian, business, woman in, under roman empire, in england, in the united states see also under each state c california, chastisement, right of husband to chastise wife under english law, christ, teachings about women, colorado, connecticut, consent of women to marriage, under roman law, opinions of church fathers, enactments of christian emperors, crimes against women, under roman law, among germanic peoples, under english law, curtesy, defined, under english law, see also under various states. custom, power of, d delaware, discrepancy in wages paid to women, district of columbia, divorce, under roman law; modified by theodosius and valentinian; by justinian; by justin; among germanic peoples; under canon law; under english law; general considerations; see also under various states. double standard of morality dower, defined; right of, in english law; see also under different states. dowry, under roman law; among ancient gauls; among germanic peoples e education, rights of women to an, under roman empire; in england; in the united states f fathers of the church, their commands concerning women florida g georgia gifts between husband and wife, under roman law; changes by justinian guardian, decay of power of, under roman law guardians, women as, under roman law; laws modified by justinian; see also under various states. guardianship under roman law; among germanic peoples, h husband and wife, under roman law; among germanic peoples; under canon law; under english law; see also under various states i idaho illinois; ritchie case, indian territory indiana inheritance rights of women, under roman law; modified by justinian; among germanic peoples; under english law intellectual inferiority of women, argument discussed iowa j jewish ideas about women k kansas kentucky l lecky, analysis of character of women louisiana m macaulay on the effects of freedom maine marriage, women in, under roman law; opinions of church fathers; among ancient gauls and germans; among germanic peoples; under canon law; under english law; modern changes in views of; see also under various states. maryland massachusetts michigan minnesota mississippi missouri montana moral argument against suffrage n nebraska nevada new hampshire new jersey new mexico new york north carolina north dakota o ohio oklahoma old maid, treatment of, by christians oregon p partiality of roman law to women pennsylvania physiological argument against suffrage political or social argument against suffrage power of father, under roman law; under early christians; among germanic peoples; under english law professions, women in, in england; in united states, and see under various states; need of opening all, to women property rights of married women, under roman law; among germanic peoples; under english law; of widows and single women, under roman law; among germanic peoples; under english law, in the united states, protection of property of children under roman law, r respect for women, among romans, among ancient germans, rhode island, ritchie case in illinois, roman catholic church, attitude to women, s second marriages, opinions of church fathers concerning, legislation of christian emperors, slaves, women, under roman law, among germanic peoples, under canon law, south carolina, south dakota, suffrage, woman, in england, in the united states, see also under various states. suits, women engaging in, under roman law, t tennessee, texas, theological argument against women's rights, training of women for higher ideals, u utah, v vermont, vestal virgins, virginia, w washington, west virginia, wisconsin, women: see under _divorce, dowry, marriage, husband and wife_, etc. wyoming, index to supplementary chapter a advance of equal suffrage, chronological tables, amendment, constitutional, for suffrage; rejected by senate; and by house b bryan, favours suffrage c cat and mouse act d divorce, proposals for reform defeated in england e europe, general status of women's rights in f falconer, congressman, reply to heflin feminism g germany, position of women in h heflin, congressman, speech on suffrage j journals, official, of various women's organisations l legislation, most recent examples of, for protection of women m mann, congressman, remarks on suffrage parade militant suffragettes r roman empire, assumption that its fall was due to liberty allowed women roosevelt, opinion on suffrage s schopenhauer, remarks on nature of women sphere, woman's sphere argument t tendencies and results of women's rights movement w wilson, president, position on suffrage the story of a pioneer by anna howard shaw, d.d., m.d. with the collaboration of elizabeth jordan to the women pioneers of america they cut a path through tangled underwood of old traditions, out to broader ways. they lived to here their work called brave and good, but oh! the thorns before the crown of bays. the world gives lashes to its pioneers until the goal is reached--then deafening cheers. adapted by anna howard shaw. contents i. first memories ii. in the wilderness iii. high-school and college days iv. the wolf at the door v. shepherd of a divided flock vi. cape cod memories vii. the great cause viii. drama in the lecture field ix. "aunt susan" x. the passing of "aunt susan" xi. the widening suffrage stream xii. building a home xiii. president of "the national" xiv. recent campaigns xv. convention incidents xvi. council episodes xvii. vale! illustrations reverend anna howard shaw in her pulpit robes loch-an-eilan castle dr shaw's mother, nicolas shaw, at seventeen alnwick castle dr. shaw at thirty-two dr. shaw at fifty dr. shaw and "her baby"--the daughter of rachel foster avery dr. shaw's mother at eighty dr. shaw's father at eighty dr. shaw's sister mary, who died in lucy e. anthony, dr. shaw s friend and "aunt susan's" favorite niece the wood road near dr. shaw's cape cod home, the haven dr. shaw's cottage, the haven, at wianno, cape cod--the first home she built gate entrance to dr. shaw's home at moylan the second house that dr. shaw built susan b. anthony miss mary garrett, the life-long friend of miss thomas miss m. carey thomas, president of bryn mawr college elizabeth cady stanton carrie chapman catt lucy stone mary a. livermore four pioneers in the suffrage movement fireplace in the living-room, showing aunt susan's" chair hallway in dr. shaw's home at moylan dr. shaw's home (alnwick lodge) and her two oaks the veranda at alnwick lodge saccawagea alnwick lodge, dr. shaw's home the rock-bordered brook which dr. shaw loves the story of a pioneer i. first memories my father's ancestors were the shaws of rothiemurchus, in scotland, and the ruins of their castle may still be seen on the island of loch-an-eilan, in the northern highlands. it was never the picturesque castle of song and story, this home of the fighting shaws, but an austere fortress, probably built in roman times; and even to-day the crumbling walls which alone are left of it show traces of the relentless assaults upon them. of these the last and the most successful were made in the seventeenth century by the grants and rob roy; and it was into the hands of the grants that the shaw fortress finally fell, about , after almost a hundred years of ceaseless warfare. it gives me no pleasure to read the grisly details of their struggles, but i confess to a certain satisfaction in the knowledge that my ancestors made a good showing in the defense of what was theirs. beyond doubt they were brave fighters and strong men. there were other sides to their natures, however, which the high lights of history throw up less appealingly. as an instance, we have in the family chronicles the blood-stained page of allen shaw, the oldest son of the last lady shaw who lived in the fortress. it appears that when the father of this young man died, about , his mother married again, to the intense disapproval of her son. for some time after the marriage he made no open revolt against the new-comer in the domestic circle; but finally, on the pretext that his dog had been attacked by his stepfather, he forced a quarrel with the older man and the two fought a duel with swords, after which the victorious allen showed a sad lack of chivalry. he not only killed his stepfather, but he cut off that gentleman's head and bore it to his mother in her bedchamber--an action which was considered, even in that tolerant age, to be carrying filial resentment too far. probably allen regretted it. certainly he paid a high penalty for it, and his clan suffered with him. he was outlawed and fled, only to be hunted down for months, and finally captured and executed by one of the grants, who, in further virtuous disapproval of allen's act, seized and held the shaw stronghold. the other shaws of the clan fought long and ably for its recovery, but though they were helped by their kinsmen, the mackintoshes, and though good scotch blood dyed the gray walls of the fortress for many generations, the castle never again came into the hands of the shaws. it still entails certain obligations for the grants, however, and one of these is to give the king of england a snowball whenever he visits loch-an-eilan! as the years passed the shaw clan scattered. many shaws are still to be found in the mackintosh country and throughout southern scotland. others went to england, and it was from this latter branch that my father sprang. his name was thomas shaw, and he was the younger son of a gentleman--a word which in those days seemed to define a man who devoted his time largely to gambling and horse-racing. my grandfather, like his father before him, was true to the traditions of his time and class. quite naturally and simply he squandered all he had, and died abruptly, leaving his wife and two sons penniless. they were not, however, a helpless band. they, too, had their traditions, handed down by the fighting shaws. peter, the older son, became a soldier, and died bravely in the crimean war. my father, through some outside influence, turned his attention to trade, learning to stain and emboss wallpaper by hand, and developing this work until he became the recognized expert in his field. indeed, he progressed until he himself checked his rise by inventing a machine that made his handwork unnecessary. his employer at once claimed and utilized this invention, to which, by the laws of those days, he was entitled, and thus the cornerstone on which my father had expected to build a fortune proved the rock on which his career was wrecked. but that was years later, in america, and many other things had happened first. for one, he had temporarily dropped his trade and gone into the flour-and-grain business; and, for another, he had married my mother. she was the daughter of a scotch couple who had come to england and settled in alnwick, in northumberland county. her father, james stott, was the driver of the royal-mail stage between alnwick and newcastle, and his accidental death while he was still a young man left my grandmother and her eight children almost destitute. she was immediately given a position in the castle of the duke of northumberland, and her sons were educated in the duke's school, while her daughters were entered in the school of the duchess. my thoughts dwell lovingly on this grandmother, nicolas grant stott, for she was a remarkable woman, with a dauntless soul and progressive ideas far in advance of her time. she was one of the first unitarians in england, and years before any thought of woman suffrage entered the minds of her country-women she refused to pay tithes to the support of the church of england--an action which precipitated a long-drawn-out conflict between her and the law. in those days it was customary to assess tithes on every pane of glass in a window, and a portion of the money thus collected went to the support of the church. year after year my intrepid grandmother refused to pay these assessments, and year after year she sat pensively upon her door-step, watching articles of her furniture being sold for money to pay her tithes. it must have been an impressive picture, and it was one with which the community became thoroughly familiar, as the determined old lady never won her fight and never abandoned it. she had at least the comfort of public sympathy, for she was by far the most popular woman in the countryside. her neighbors admired her courage; perhaps they appreciated still more what she did for them, for she spent all her leisure in the homes of the very poor, mending their clothing and teaching them to sew. also, she left behind her a path of cleanliness as definite as the line of foam that follows a ship; for it soon became known among her protegees that nicolas stott was as much opposed to dirt as she was to the payment of tithes. she kept her children in the schools of the duke and duchess until they had completed the entire course open to them. a hundred times, and among many new scenes and strange people, i have heard my mother describe her own experiences as a pupil. all the children of the dependents of the castle were expected to leave school at fourteen years of age. during their course they were not allowed to study geography, because, in the sage opinion of their elders, knowledge of foreign lands might make them discontented and inclined to wander. neither was composition encouraged--that might lead to the writing of love-notes! but they were permitted to absorb all the reading and arithmetic their little brains could hold, while the art of sewing was not only encouraged, but proficiency in it was stimulated by the award of prizes. my mother, being a rather precocious young person, graduated at thirteen and carried off the first prize. the garment she made was a linen chemise for the duchess, and the little needlewoman had embroidered on it, with her own hair, the august lady's coat of arms. the offering must have been appreciated, for my mother's story always ended with the same words, uttered with the same air of gentle pride, "and the duchess gave me with her own hands my bible and my mug of beer!" she never saw anything amusing in this association of gifts, and i always stood behind her when she told the incident, that she might not see the disrespectful mirth it aroused in me. my father and mother met in alnwick, and were married in february, . ten years after his marriage father was forced into bankruptcy by the passage of the corn law, and to meet the obligations attending his failure he and my mother sold practically everything they possessed--their home, even their furniture. their little sons, who were away at school, were brought home, and the family expenses were cut down to the barest margin; but all these sacrifices paid only part of the debts. my mother, finding that her early gift had a market value, took in sewing. father went to work on a small salary, and both my parents saved every penny they could lay aside, with the desperate determination to pay their remaining debts. it was a long struggle and a painful one, but they finally won it. before they had done so, however, and during their bleakest days, their baby died, and my mother, like her mother before her, paid the penalty of being outside the fold of the church of england. she, too, was a unitarian, and her baby, therefore, could not be laid in any consecrated burial-ground in her neighborhood. she had either to bury it in the potter's field, with criminals, suicides, and paupers, or to take it by stage-coach to alnwick, twenty miles away, and leave it in the little unitarian churchyard where, after her strenuous life, nicolas stott now lay in peace. she made the dreary journey alone, with the dear burden across her lap. in , my parents went to london. there they did not linger long, for the big, indifferent city had nothing to offer them. they moved to newcastle-on-tyne, and here i was born, on the fourteenth day of february, in . three boys and two girls had preceded me in the family circle, and when i was two years old my younger sister came. we were little better off in newcastle than in london, and now my father began to dream the great dream of those days. he would go to america. surely, he felt, in that land of infinite promise all would be well with him and his. he waited for the final payment of his debts and for my younger sister's birth. then he bade us good-by and sailed away to make an american home for us; and in the spring of my mother followed him with her six children, starting from liverpool in a sailing-vessel, the john jacob westervelt. i was then little more than four years old, and the first vivid memory i have is that of being on shipboard and having a mighty wave roll over me. i was lying on what seemed to be an enormous red box under a hatchway, and the water poured from above, almost drowning me. this was the beginning of a storm which raged for days, and i still have of it a confused memory, a sort of nightmare, in which strange horrors figure, and which to this day haunts me at intervals when i am on the sea. the thing that stands out most strongly during that period is the white face of my mother, ill in her berth. we were with five hundred emigrants on the lowest deck of the ship but one, and as the storm grew wilder an unreasoning terror filled our fellow-passengers. too ill to protect her helpless brood, my mother saw us carried away from her for hours at a time, on the crests of waves of panic that sometimes approached her and sometimes receded, as they swept through the black hole in which we found ourselves when the hatches were nailed down. no madhouse, i am sure, could throw more hideous pictures on the screen of life than those which met our childish eyes during the appalling three days of the storm. our one comfort was the knowledge that our mother was not afraid. she was desperately ill, but when we were able to reach her, to cling close to her for a blessed interval, she was still the sure refuge she had always been. on the second day the masts went down, and on the third day the disabled ship, which now had sprung a leak and was rolling helplessly in the trough of the sea, was rescued by another ship and towed back to queenstown, the nearest port. the passengers, relieved of their anxieties, went from their extreme of fear to an equal extreme of drunken celebration. they laughed, sang, and danced, but when we reached the shore many of them returned to the homes they had left, declaring that they had had enough of the ocean. we, however, remained on the ship until she was repaired, and then sailed on her again. we were too poor to return home; indeed, we had no home to which we could return. we were even too poor to live ashore. but we made some penny excursions in the little boats that plied back and forth, and to us children at least the weeks of waiting were not without interest. among other places we visited spike island, where the convicts were, and for hours we watched the dreary shuttle of labor swing back and forth as the convicts carried pails of water from one side of the island, only to empty them into the sea at the other side. it was merely "busy work," to keep them occupied at hard labor; but even then i must have felt some dim sense of the irony of it, for i have remembered it vividly all these years. our second voyage on the john jacob westervelt was a very different experience from the first. by day a glorious sun shone overhead; by night we had the moon and stars, as well as the racing waves we never wearied of watching. for some reason, probably because of my intense admiration for them, which i showed with unmaidenly frankness, i became the special pet of the sailors. they taught me to sing their songs as they hauled on their ropes, and i recall, as if i had learned it yesterday, one pleasing ditty: haul on the bow-line, kitty is my darling, haul on the bow-line, the bow-line--haul! when i sang "haul" all the sailors pulled their hardest, and i had an exhilarating sense of sharing in their labors. as a return for my service of song the men kept my little apron full of ship sugar--very black stuff and probably very bad for me; but i ate an astonishing amount of it during that voyage, and, so far as i remember, felt no ill effects. the next thing i recall is being seriously scalded. i was at the foot of a ladder up which a sailor was carrying a great pot of hot coffee. he slipped, and the boiling liquid poured down on me. i must have had some bad days after that, for i was terribly burned, but they are mercifully vague. my next vivid impression is of seeing land, which we sighted at sunset, and i remember very distinctly just how it looked. it has never looked the same since. the western sky was a mass of crimson and gold clouds, which took on the shapes of strange and beautiful things. to me it seemed that we were entering heaven. i remember also the doctors coming on board to examine us, and i can still see a line of big irishmen standing very straight and holding out their tongues for inspection. to a little girl only four years old their huge, open mouths looked appalling. on landing a grievous disappointment awaited us; my father did not meet us. he was in new bedford, massachusetts, nursing his grief and preparing to return to england, for he had been told that the john jacob westervelt had been lost at sea with every soul on board. one of the missionaries who met the ship took us under his wing and conducted us to a little hotel, where we remained until father had received his incredible news and rushed to new york. he could hardly believe that we were really restored to him; and even now, through the mists of more than half a century, i can still see the expression in his wet eyes as he picked me up and tossed me into the air. i can see, too, the toys he brought me--a little saw and a hatchet, which became the dearest treasures of my childish days. they were fatidical gifts, that saw and hatchet; in the years ahead of me i was to use tools as well as my brothers did, as i proved when i helped to build our frontier home. we went to new bedford with father, who had found work there at his old trade; and here i laid the foundations of my first childhood friendship, not with another child, but with my next-door neighbor, a ship-builder. morning after morning this man swung me on his big shoulder and took me to his shipyard, where my hatchet and saw had violent exercise as i imitated the workers around me. discovering that my tiny petticoats were in my way, my new friend had a little boy's suit made for me; and thus emancipated, at this tender age, i worked unwearyingly at his side all day long and day after day. no doubt it was due to him that i did not casually saw off a few of my toes and fingers. certainly i smashed them often enough with blows of my dull but active hatchet. i was very, very busy; and i have always maintained that i began to earn my share of the family's living at the age of five--for in return for the delights of my society, which seemed never to pall upon him, my new friend allowed my brothers to carry home from the shipyard all the wood my mother could use. we remained in new bedford less than a year, for in the spring of my father made another change, taking his family to lawrence, massachusetts, where we lived until . the years in lawrence were interesting and formative ones. at the tender age of nine and ten i became interested in the abolition movement. we were unitarians, and general oliver and many of the prominent citizens of lawrence belonged to the unitarian church. we knew robert shaw, who led the first negro regiment, and judge storrow, one of the leading new england judges of his time, as well as the cabots and george a. walton, who was the author of walton's arithmetic and head of the lawrence schools. outbursts of war talk thrilled me, and occasionally i had a little adventure of my own, as when one day, in visiting our cellar, i heard a noise in the coal-bin. i investigated and discovered a negro woman concealed there. i had been reading uncle tom's cabin, as well as listening to the conversation of my elders, so i was vastly stirred over the negro question. i raced up-stairs in a condition of awe-struck and quivering excitement, which my mother promptly suppressed by sending me to bed. no doubt she questioned my youthful discretion, for she almost convinced me that i had seen nothing at all--almost, but not quite; and she wisely kept me close to her for several days, until the escaped slave my father was hiding was safely out of the house and away. discovery of this serious offense might have borne grave results for him. it was in lawrence, too, that i received and spent my first twenty-five cents. i used an entire day in doing this, and the occasion was one of the most delightful and memorable of my life. it was the fourth of july, and i was dressed in white and rode in a procession. my sister mary, who also graced the procession, had also been given twenty-five cents; and during the parade, when, for obvious reasons, we were unable to break ranks and spend our wealth, the consciousness of it lay heavily upon us. when we finally began our shopping the first place we visited was a candy store, and i recall distinctly that we forced the weary proprietor to take down and show us every jar in the place before we spent one penny. the first banana i ever ate was purchased that day, and i hesitated over it a long time. its cost was five cents, and in view of that large expenditure, the eating of the fruit, i was afraid, would be too brief a joy. i bought it, however, and the experience developed into a tragedy, for, not knowing enough to peel the banana, i bit through skin and pulp alike, as if i were eating an apple, and then burst into ears of disappointment. the beautiful conduct of my sister mary shines down through the years. she, wise child, had taken no chances with the unknown; but now, moved by my despair, she bought half of my banana, and we divided the fruit, the loss, and the lesson. fate, moreover, had another turn of the screw for us, for, after mary had taken a bite of it, we gave what was left of the banana to a boy who stood near us and who knew how to eat it; and not even the large amount of candy in our sticky hands enabled us to regard with calmness the subsequent happiness of that little boy. another experience with fruit in lawrence illustrates the ideas of my mother and the character of the training she gave her children. our neighbors, the cabots, were one day giving a great garden party, and my sister was helping to pick strawberries for the occasion. when i was going home from school i passed the berry-patches and stopped to speak to my sister, who at once presented me with two strawberries. she said mrs. cabot had told her to eat all she wanted, but that she would eat two less than she wanted and give those two to me. to my mind, the suggestion was generous and proper; in my life strawberries were rare. i ate one berry, and then, overcome by an ambition to be generous also, took the other berry home to my mother, telling her how i had got it. to my chagrin, mother was deeply shocked. she told me that the transaction was all wrong, and she made me take back the berry and explain the matter to mrs. cabot. by the time i reached that generous lady the berry was the worse for its journey, and so was i. i was only nine years old and very sensitive. it was clear to me that i could hardly live through the humiliation of the confession, and it was indeed a bitter experience the worst, i think, in my young life, though mrs. cabot was both sympathetic and understanding. she kissed me, and sent a quart of strawberries to my mother; but for a long time afterward i could not meet her kind eyes, for i believed that in her heart she thought me a thief. my second friendship, and one which had a strong influence on my after-life, was formed in lawrence. i was not more than ten years old when i met this new friend, but the memory of her in after-years, and the impression she had made on my susceptible young mind, led me first into the ministry, next into medicine, and finally into suffrage-work. living next door to us, on prospect hill, was a beautiful and mysterious woman. all we children knew of her was that she was a vivid and romantic figure, who seemed to have no friends and of whom our elders spoke in whispers or not at all. to me she was a princess in a fairy-tale, for she rode a white horse and wore a blue velvet riding-habit with a blue velvet hat and a picturesquely drooping white plume. i soon learned at what hours she went forth to ride, and i used to hover around our gate for the joy of seeing her mount and gallop away. i realized that there was something unusual about her house, and i had an idea that the prince was waiting for her somewhere in the far distance, and that for the time at least she had escaped the ogre in the castle she left behind. i was wrong about the prince, but right about the ogre. it was only when my unhappy lady left her castle that she was free. very soon she noticed me. possibly she saw the adoration in my childish eyes. she began to nod and smile at me, and then to speak to me, but at first i was almost afraid to answer her. there were stories now among the children that the house was haunted, and that by night a ghost walked there and in the grounds. i felt an extraordinary interest in the ghost, and i spent hours peering through our picket fence, trying to catch a glimpse of it; but i hesitated to be on terms of neighborly intimacy with one who dwelt with ghosts. one day the mysterious lady bent and kissed me. then, straightening up, she looked at me queerly and said: "go and tell your mother i did that." there was something very compelling in her manner. i knew at once that i must tell my mother what she had done, and i ran into our house and did so. while my mother was considering the problem the situation presented, for she knew the character of the house next door, a note was handed in to her--a very pathetic little note from my mysterious lady, asking my mother to let me come and see her. long afterward mother showed it to me. it ended with the words: "she will see no one but me. no harm shall come to her. trust me." that night my parents talked the matter over and decided to let me go. probably they felt that the slave next door was as much to be pitied as the escaped-negro slaves they so often harbored in our home. i made my visit, which was the first of many, and a strange friendship began and developed between the woman of the town and the little girl she loved. some of those visits i remember as vividly as if i had made them yesterday. there was never the slightest suggestion during any of them of things i should not see or hear, for while i was with her my hostess became a child again, and we played together like children. she had wonderful toys for me, and pictures and books; but the thing i loved best of all and played with for hours was a little stuffed hen which she told me had been her dearest treasure when she was a child at home. she had also a stuffed puppy, and she once mentioned that those two things alone were left of her life as a little girl. besides the toys and books and pictures, she gave me ice-cream and cake, and told me fairy-tales. she had a wonderful understanding of what a child likes. there were half a dozen women in the house with her, but i saw none of them nor any of the men who came. once, when we had become very good friends indeed and my early shyness had departed, i found courage to ask her where the ghost was--the ghost that haunted her house. i can still see the look in her eyes as they met mine. she told me the ghost lived in her heart, and that she did not like to talk about it, and that we must not speak of it again. after that i never mentioned it, but i was more deeply interested than ever, for a ghost that lived in a heart was a new kind of ghost to me at that time, though i have met many of them since then. during all our intercourse my mother never entered the house next door, nor did my mysterious lady enter our home; but she constantly sent my mother secret gifts for the poor and the sick of the neighborhood, and she was always the first to offer help for those who were in trouble. many years afterward mother told me she was the most generous woman she had ever known, and that she had a rarely beautiful nature. our departure for michigan broke up the friendship, but i have never forgotten her; and whenever, in my later work as minister, physician, and suffragist, i have been able to help women of the class to which she belonged, i have mentally offered that help for credit in the tragic ledger of her life, in which the clean and the blotted pages were so strange a contrast. one more incident of lawrence i must describe before i leave that city behind me, as we left it for ever in . while we were still there a number of lawrence men decided to go west, and amid great public excitement they departed in a body for kansas, where they founded the town of lawrence in that state. i recall distinctly the public interest which attended their going, and the feeling every one seemed to have that they were passing forever out of the civilized world. their farewells to their friends were eternal; no one expected to see them again, and my small brain grew dizzy as i tried to imagine a place so remote as their destination. it was, i finally decided, at the uttermost ends of the earth, and it seemed quite possible that the brave adventurers who reached it might then drop off into space. fifty years later i was talking to a california girl who complained lightly of the monotony of a climate where the sun shone and the flowers bloomed all the year around. "but i had a delightful change last year," she added, with animation. "i went east for the winter." "to new york?" i asked. "no," corrected the california girl, easily, "to lawrence, kansas." nothing, i think, has ever made me feel quite so old as that remark. that in my life, not yet, to me at least, a long one, i should see such an arc described seemed actually oppressive until i realized that, after all, the arc was merely a rainbow of time showing how gloriously realized were the hopes of the lawrence pioneers. the move to michigan meant a complete upheaval in our lives. in lawrence we had around us the fine flower of new england civilization. we children went to school; our parents, though they were in very humble circumstances, were associated with the leading spirits and the big movements of the day. when we went to michigan we went to the wilderness, to the wild pioneer life of those times, and we were all old enough to keenly feel the change. my father was one of a number of englishmen who took up tracts in the northern forests of michigan, with the old dream of establishing a colony there. none of these men had the least practical knowledge of farming. they were city men or followers of trades which had no connection with farm life. they went straight into the thick timber-land, instead of going to the rich and waiting prairies, and they crowned this initial mistake by cutting down the splendid timber instead of letting it stand. thus bird's-eye maple and other beautiful woods were used as fire-wood and in the construction of rude cabins, and the greatest asset of the pioneers was ignored. father preceded us to the michigan woods, and there, with his oldest son, james, took up a claim. they cleared a space in the wilderness just large enough for a log cabin, and put up the bare walls of the cabin itself. then father returned to lawrence and his work, leaving james behind. a few months later (this was in ), my mother, my two sisters, eleanor and mary, my youngest brother, henry, eight years of age, and i, then twelve, went to michigan to work on and hold down the claim while father, for eighteen months longer, stayed on in lawrence, sending us such remittances as he could. his second and third sons, john and thomas, remained in the east with him. every detail of our journey through the wilderness is clear in my mind. at that time the railroad terminated at grand rapids, michigan, and we covered the remaining distance--about one hundred miles--by wagon, riding through a dense and often trackless forest. my brother james met us at grand rapids with what, in those days, was called a lumber-wagon, but which had a horrible resemblance to a vehicle from the health department. my sisters and i gave it one cold look and turned from it; we were so pained by its appearance that we refused to ride in it through the town. instead, we started off on foot, trying to look as if we had no association with it, and we climbed into the unwieldy vehicle only when the city streets were far behind us. every available inch of space in the wagon was filled with bedding and provisions. as yet we had no furniture; we were to make that for ourselves when we reached our cabin; and there was so little room for us to ride that we children walked by turns, while james, from the beginning of the journey to its end, seven days later, led our weary horses. to my mother, who was never strong, the whole experience must have been a nightmare of suffering and stoical endurance. for us children there were compensations. the expedition took on the character of a high adventure, in which we sometimes had shelter and sometimes failed to find it, sometimes were fed, but often went hungry. we forded innumerable streams, the wheels of the heavy wagon sinking so deeply into the stream-beds that we often had to empty our load before we could get them out again. fallen trees lay across our paths, rivers caused long detours, while again and again we lost our way or were turned aside by impenetrable forest tangles. our first day's journey covered less than eight miles, and that night we stopped at a farm-house which was the last bit of civilization we saw. early the next morning we were off again, making the slow progress due to the rough roads and our heavy load. at night we stopped at a place called thomas's inn, only to be told by the woman who kept it that there was nothing in the house to eat. her husband, she said, had gone "outside" (to grand rapids) to get some flour, and had not returned--but she added that we could spend the night, if we chose, and enjoy shelter, if not food. we had provisions in our wagon, so we wearily entered, after my brother had got out some of our pork and opened a barrel of flour. with this help the woman made some biscuits, which were so green that my poor mother could not eat them. she had admitted to us that the one thing she had in the house was saleratus, and she had used this ingredient with an unsparing hand. when the meal was eaten she broke the further news that there were no beds. "the old woman can sleep with me," she suggested, "and the girls can sleep on the floor. the boys will have to go to the barn." she and her bed were not especially attractive, and mother decided to lie on the floor with us. we had taken our bedding from the wagon, and we slept very well; but though she was usually superior to small annoyances, i think my mother resented being called an "old woman." she must have felt like one that night, but she was only about forty-eight years of age. at dawn the next morning we resumed our journey, and every day after that we were able to cover the distance demanded by the schedule arranged before we started. this meant that some sort of shelter usually awaited us at night. but one day we knew there would be no houses between the place we left in the morning and that where we were to sleep. the distance was about twenty miles, and when twilight fell we had not made it. in the back of the wagon my mother had a box of little pigs, and during the afternoon these had broken loose and escaped into the woods. we had lost much time in finding them, and we were so exhausted that when we came to a hut made of twigs and boughs we decided to camp in it for the night, though we knew nothing about it. my brother had unharnessed the horses, and my mother and sister were cooking dough-god--a mixture of flour, water, and soda, fried in a pan-when two men rode up on horseback and called my brother to one side. immediately after the talk which followed james harnessed his horses again and forced us to go on, though by that time darkness had fallen. he told mother, but did not tell us children until long afterward, that a man had been murdered in the hut only the night before. the murderer was still at large in the woods, and the new-comers were members of a posse who were searching for him. my brother needed no urging to put as many miles as he could between us and the sinister spot. in that fashion we made our way to our new home. the last day, like the first, we traveled only eight miles, but we spent the night in a house i shall never forget. it was beautifully clean, and for our evening meal its mistress brought out loaves of bread which were the largest we had ever seen. she cut great slices of this bread for us and spread maple sugar on them, and it seemed to us that never before had anything tasted so good. the next morning we made the last stage of our journey, our hearts filled with the joy of nearing our new home. we all had an idea that we were going to a farm, and we expected some resemblance at least to the prosperous farms we had seen in new england. my mother's mental picture was, naturally, of an english farm. possibly she had visions of red barns and deep meadows, sunny skies and daisies. what we found awaiting us were the four walls and the roof of a good-sized log-house, standing in a small cleared strip of the wilderness, its doors and windows represented by square holes, its floor also a thing of the future, its whole effect achingly forlorn and desolate. it was late in the afternoon when we drove up to the opening that was its front entrance, and i shall never forget the look my mother turned upon the place. without a word she crossed its threshold, and, standing very still, looked slowly around her. then something within her seemed to give way, and she sank upon the ground. she could not realize even then, i think, that this was really the place father had prepared for us, that here he expected us to live. when she finally took it in she buried her face in her hands, and in that way she sat for hours without moving or speaking. for the first time in her life she had forgotten us; and we, for our part, dared not speak to her. we stood around her in a frightened group, talking to one another in whispers. our little world had crumbled under our feet. never before had we seen our mother give way to despair. night began to fall. the woods became alive with night creatures, and the most harmless made the most noise. the owls began to hoot, and soon we heard the wildcat, whose cry--a screech like that of a lost and panic-stricken child--is one of the most appalling sounds of the forest. later the wolves added their howls to the uproar, but though darkness came and we children whimpered around her, our mother still sat in her strange lethargy. at last my brother brought the horses close to the cabin and built fires to protect them and us. he was only twenty, but he showed himself a man during those early pioneer days. while he was picketing the horses and building his protecting fires my mother came to herself, but her face when she raised it was worse than her silence had been. she seemed to have died and to have returned to us from the grave, and i am sure she felt that she had done so. from that moment she took up again the burden of her life, a burden she did not lay down until she passed away; but her face never lost the deep lines those first hours of her pioneer life had cut upon it. that night we slept on boughs spread on the earth inside the cabin walls, and we put blankets before the holes which represented our doors and windows, and kept our watch-fires burning. soon the other children fell asleep, but there was no sleep for me. i was only twelve years old, but my mind was full of fancies. behind our blankets, swaying in the night wind, i thought i saw the heads and pushing shoulders of animals and heard their padded footfalls. later years brought familiarity with wild things, and with worse things than they. but to-night that which i most feared was within, not outside of, the cabin. in some way which i did not understand the one sure refuge in our new world had been taken from us. i hardly knew the silent woman who lay near me, tossing from side to side and staring into the darkness; i felt that we had lost our mother. ii. in the wilderness like most men, my dear father should never have married. though his nature was one of the sweetest i have ever known, and though he would at any call give his time to or risk his life for others, in practical matters he remained to the end of his days as irresponsible as a child. if his mind turned to practical details at all, it was solely in their bearing toward great developments of the future. to him an acorn was not an acorn, but a forest of young oaks. thus, when he took up his claim of three hundred and sixty acres of land in the wilderness of northern michigan, and sent my mother and five young children to live there alone until he could join us eighteen months later, he gave no thought to the manner in which we were to make the struggle and survive the hardships before us. he had furnished us with land and the four walls of a log cabin. some day, he reasoned, the place would be a fine estate, which his sons would inherit and in the course of time pass on to their sons--always an englishman's most iridescent dream. that for the present we were one hundred miles from a railroad, forty miles from the nearest post-office, and half a dozen miles from any neighbors save indians, wolves, and wildcats; that we were wholly unlearned in the ways of the woods as well as in the most primitive methods of farming; that we lacked not only every comfort, but even the bare necessities of life; and that we must begin, single-handed and untaught, a struggle for existence in which some of the severest forces of nature would be arrayed against us--these facts had no weight in my father's mind. even if he had witnessed my mother's despair on the night of our arrival in our new home, he would not have understood it. from his viewpoint, he was doing a man's duty. he was working steadily in lawrence, and, incidentally, giving much time to the abolition cause and to other big public movements of his day which had his interest and sympathy. he wrote to us regularly and sent us occasional remittances, as well as a generous supply of improving literature for our minds. it remained for us to strengthen our bodies, to meet the conditions in which he had placed us, and to survive if we could. we faced our situation with clear and unalarmed eyes the morning after our arrival. the problem of food, we knew, was at least temporarily solved. we had brought with us enough coffee, pork, and flour to last for several weeks; and the one necessity father had put inside the cabin walls was a great fireplace, made of mud and stones, in which our food could be cooked. the problem of our water-supply was less simple, but my brother james solved it for the time by showing us a creek a long distance from the house; and for months we carried from this creek, in pails, every drop of water we used, save that which we caught in troughs when the rain fell. we held a family council after breakfast, and in this, though i was only twelve, i took an eager and determined part. i loved work--it has always been my favorite form of recreation--and my spirit rose to the opportunities of it which smiled on us from every side. obviously the first thing to do was to put doors and windows into the yawning holes father had left for them, and to lay a board flooring over the earth inside our cabin walls, and these duties we accomplished before we had occupied our new home a fortnight. there was a small saw-mill nine miles from our cabin, on the spot that is now big rapids, and there we bought our lumber. the labor we supplied ourselves, and though we put our hearts into it and the results at the time seemed beautiful to our partial eyes, i am forced to admit, in looking back upon them, that they halted this side of perfection. we began by making three windows and two doors; then, inspired by these achievements, we ambitiously constructed an attic and divided the ground floor with partitions, which gave us four rooms. the general effect was temperamental and sketchy. the boards which formed the floor were never even nailed down; they were fine, wide planks without a knot in them, and they looked so well that we merely fitted them together as closely as we could and lightheartedly let them go at that. neither did we properly chink the house. nothing is more comfortable than a log cabin which has been carefully built and finished; but for some reason--probably because there seemed always a more urgent duty calling to us around the corner--we never plastered our house at all. the result was that on many future winter mornings we awoke to find ourselves chastely blanketed by snow, while the only warm spot in our living-room was that directly in front of the fireplace, where great logs burned all day. even there our faces scorched while our spines slowly congealed, until we learned to revolve before the fire like a bird upon a spit. no doubt we would have worked more thoroughly if my brother james, who was twenty years old and our tower of strength, had remained with us; but when we had been in our new home only a few months he fell and was forced to go east for an operation. he was never able to return to us, and thus my mother, we three young girls, and my youngest brother--harry, who was only eight years old--made our fight alone until father came to us, more than a year later. mother was practically an invalid. she had a nervous affection which made it impossible for her to stand without the support of a chair. but she sewed with unusual skill, and it was due to her that our clothes, notwithstanding the strain to which we subjected them, were always in good condition. she sewed for hours every day, and she was able to move about the house, after a fashion, by pushing herself around on a stool which james made for her as soon as we arrived. he also built for her a more comfortable chair with a high back. the division of labor planned at the first council was that mother should do our sewing, and my older sisters, eleanor and mary, the housework, which was far from taxing, for of course we lived in the simplest manner. my brothers and i were to do the work out of doors, an arrangement that suited me very well, though at first, owing to our lack of experience, our activities were somewhat curtailed. it was too late in the season for plowing or planting, even if we had possessed anything with which to plow, and, moreover, our so-called "cleared" land was thick with sturdy tree-stumps. even during the second summer plowing was impossible; we could only plant potatoes and corn, and follow the most primitive method in doing even this. we took an ax, chopped up the sod, put the seed under it, and let the seed grow. the seed did grow, too--in the most gratifying and encouraging manner. our green corn and potatoes were the best i have ever eaten. but for the present we lacked these luxuries. we had, however, in their place, large quantities of wild fruit--gooseberries, raspberries, and plums--which harry and i gathered on the banks of our creek. harry also became an expert fisherman. we had no hooks or lines, but he took wires from our hoop-skirts and made snares at the ends of poles. my part of this work was to stand on a log and frighten the fish out of their holes by making horrible sounds, which i did with impassioned earnestness. when the fish hurried to the surface of the water to investigate the appalling noises they had heard, they were easily snared by our small boy, who was very proud of his ability to contribute in this way to the family table. during our first winter we lived largely on cornmeal, making a little journey of twenty miles to the nearest mill to buy it; but even at that we were better off than our neighbors, for i remember one family in our region who for an entire winter lived solely on coarse-grained yellow turnips, gratefully changing their diet to leeks when these came in the spring. such furniture as we had we made ourselves. in addition to my mother's two chairs and the bunks which took the place of beds, james made a settle for the living-room, as well as a table and several stools. at first we had our tree-cutting done for us, but we soon became expert in this gentle art, and i developed such skill that in later years, after father came, i used to stand with him and "heart" a log. on every side, and at every hour of the day, we came up against the relentless limitations of pioneer life. there was not a team of horses in our entire region. the team with which my brother had driven us through the wilderness had been hired at grand rapids for that occasion, and, of course, immediately returned. our lumber was delivered by ox-teams, and the absolutely essential purchases we made "outside" (at the nearest shops, forty miles away) were carried through the forest on the backs of men. our mail was delivered once a month by a carrier who made the journey in alternate stages of horseback riding and canoeing. but we had health, youth, enthusiasm, good appetites, and the wherewithal to satisfy them, and at night in our primitive bunks we sank into abysses of dreamless slumber such as i have never known since. indeed, looking back upon them, those first months seem to have been a long-drawn-out and glorious picnic, interrupted only by occasional hours of pain or panic, when we were hurt or frightened. naturally, our two greatest menaces were wild animals and indians, but as the days passed the first of these lost the early terrors with which we had associated them. we grew indifferent to the sounds that had made our first night a horror to us all--there was even a certain homeliness in them--while we regarded with accustomed, almost blase eyes the various furred creatures of which we caught distant glimpses as they slunk through the forest. their experience with other settlers had taught them caution; it soon became clear that they were as eager to avoid us as we were to shun them, and by common consent we gave each other ample elbow-room. but the indians were all around us, and every settler had a collection of hair-raising tales to tell of them. it was generally agreed that they were dangerous only when they were drunk; but as they were drunk whenever they could get whisky, and as whisky was constantly given them in exchange for pelts and game, there was a harrowing doubt in our minds whenever they approached us. in my first encounter with them i was alone in the woods at sunset with my small brother harry. we were hunting a cow james had bought, and our young eyes were peering eagerly among the trees, on the alert for any moving object. suddenly, at a little distance, and coming directly toward us, we saw a party of indians. there were five of them, all men, walking in single file, as noiselessly as ghosts, their moccasined feet causing not even a rustle among the dry leaves that carpeted the woods. all the horrible stories we had heard of indian cruelty flashed into our minds, and for a moment we were dumb with terror. then i remembered having been told that the one thing one must not do before them is to show fear. harry was carrying a rope with which we had expected to lead home our reluctant cow, and i seized one end of it and whispered to him that we would "play horse," pretending he was driving me. we pranced toward the indians on feet that felt like lead, and with eyes so glazed by terror that we could see nothing save a line of moving figures; but as we passed them they did not give to our little impersonation of care-free children even the tribute of a side-glance. they were, we realized, headed straight for our home; and after a few moments we doubled on our tracks and, keeping at a safe distance from them among the trees, ran back to warn our mother that they were coming. as it happened, james was away, and mother had to meet her unwelcome guests supported only by her young children. she at once prepared a meal, however, and when they arrived she welcomed them calmly and gave them the best she had. after they had eaten they began to point at and demand objects they fancied in the room--my brother's pipe, some tobacco, a bowl, and such trifles--and my mother, who was afraid to annoy them by refusal, gave them what they asked. they were quite sober, and though they left without expressing any appreciation of her hospitality, they made her a second visit a few months later, bringing a large quantity of venison and a bag of cranberries as a graceful return. these indians were ottawas; and later we became very friendly with them and their tribe, even to the degree of attending one of their dances, which i shall describe later. our second encounter with indians was a less agreeable experience. there were seven "marquette warriors" in the next group of callers, and they were all intoxicated. moreover, they had brought with them several jugs of bad whisky--the raw and craze-provoking product supplied them by the fur-dealers--and it was clear that our cabin was to be the scene of an orgy. fortunately, my brother james was at home on this occasion, and as the evening grew old and the indians, grouped together around the fire, became more and more irresponsible, he devised a plan for our safety. our attic was finished, and its sole entrance was by a ladder through a trap-door. at james's whispered command my sister eleanor slipped up into the attic, and from the back window let down a rope, to which he tied all the weapons we had--his gun and several axes. these eleanor drew up and concealed in one of the bunks. my brother then directed that as quietly as possible, and at long intervals, one member of the family after another was to slip up the ladder and into the attic, going quite casually, that the indians might not realize what we were doing. once there, with the ladder drawn up after us and the trap-door closed, we would be reasonably safe, unless our guests decided to burn the cabin. the evening seemed endless, and was certainly nerve-racking. the indians ate everything in the house, and from my seat in a dim corner i watched them while my sisters waited on them. i can still see the tableau they made in the firelit room and hear the unfamiliar accents of their speech as they talked together. occasionally one of them would pull a hair from his head, seize his scalping-knife; and cut the hair with it--a most unpleasant sight! when either of my sisters approached them some of the indians would make gestures, as if capturing and scalping her. through it all, however, the whisky held their close attention, and it was due to this that we succeeded in reaching the attic unobserved, james coming last of all and drawing the ladder after him. mother and the children were then put to bed; but through that interminable night james and eleanor lay flat upon the floor, watching through the cracks between the boards the revels of the drunken indians, which grew wilder with every hour that crawled toward sunrise. there was no knowing when they would miss us or how soon their mood might change. at any moment they might make an attack upon us or set fire to the cabin. by dawn, however, their whisky was all gone, and they were in so deep a stupor that, one after the other, the seven fell from their chairs to the floor, where they sprawled unconscious. when they awoke they left quietly and without trouble of any kind. they seemed a strangely subdued and chastened band; probably they were wretchedly ill after their debauch on the adulterated whisky the traders had given them. that autumn the ottawa tribe had a great corn celebration, to which we and the other settlers were invited. james and my older sisters attended it, and i went with them, by my own urgent invitation. it seemed to me that as i was sharing the work and the perils of our new environment, i might as well share its joys; and i finally succeeded in making my family see the logic of this position. the central feature of the festivity was a huge kettle, many feet in circumference, into which the indians dropped the most extraordinary variety of food we had ever seen combined. deer heads went into it whole, as well as every kind of meat and vegetable the members of the tribe could procure. we all ate some of this agreeable mixture, and later, with one another, and even with the indians, we danced gaily to the music of a tom-tom and a drum. the affair was extremely interesting until the whisky entered and did its unpleasant work. when our hosts began to fall over in the dance and slumber where they lay, and when the squaws began to show the same ill effects of their refreshments, we unostentatiously slipped away. during the winter life offered us few diversions and many hardships. our creek froze over, and the water problem became a serious one, which we met with increasing difficulty as the temperature steadily fell. we melted snow and ice, and existed through the frozen months, but with an amount of discomfort which made us unwilling to repeat at least that special phase of our experience. in the spring, therefore, i made a well. long before this, james had gone, and harry and i were now the only outdoor members of our working-force. harry was still too small to help with the well; but a young man, who had formed the neighborly habit of riding eighteen miles to call on us, gave me much friendly aid. we located the well with a switch, and when we had dug as far as we could reach with our spades, my assistant descended into the hole and threw the earth up to the edge, from which i in turn removed it. as the well grew deeper we made a half-way shelf, on which i stood, he throwing the earth on the shelf, and i shoveling it up from that point. later, as he descended still farther into the hole we were making, he shoveled the earth into buckets and passed them up to me, i passing them on to my sister, who was now pressed into service. when the excavation was deep enough we made the wall of slabs of wood, roughly joined together. i recall that well with calm content. it was not a thing of beauty, but it was a thoroughly practical well, and it remained the only one we had during the twelve years the family occupied the cabin. during our first year there was no school within ten miles of us, but this lack failed to sadden harry or me. we had brought with us from lawrence a box of books, in which, in winter months, when our outdoor work was restricted, we found much comfort. they were the only books in that part of the country, and we read them until we knew them all by heart. moreover, father sent us regularly the new york independent, and with this admirable literature, after reading it, we papered our walls. thus, on stormy days, we could lie on the settle or the floor and read the independent over again with increased interest and pleasure. occasionally father sent us the ledger, but here mother drew a definite line. she had a special dislike for that periodical, and her severest comment on any woman was that she was the type who would "keep a dog, make saleratus biscuit, and read the new york ledger in the daytime." our modest library also contained several histories of greece and rome, which must have been good ones, for years later, when i entered college, i passed my examination in ancient history with no other preparation than this reading. there were also a few arithmetics and algebras, a historical novel or two, and the inevitable copy of uncle tom's cabin, whose pages i had freely moistened with my tears. when the advantages of public education were finally extended to me, at thirteen, by the opening of a school three miles from our home, i accepted them with growing reluctance. the teacher was a spinster forty-four years of age and the only genuine "old maid" i have ever met who was not a married woman or a man. she was the real thing, and her name, prudence duncan, seemed the fitting label for her rigidly uncompromising personality. i graced prudence's school for three months, and then left it at her fervid request. i had walked six miles a day through trackless woods and western blizzards to get what she could give me, but she had little to offer my awakened and critical mind. my reading and my lawrence school-work had already taught me more than prudence knew--a fact we both inwardry--admitted and fiercely resented from our different viewpoints. beyond doubt i was a pert and trying young person. i lost no opportunity to lead prudence beyond her intellectual depth and leave her there, and prudence vented her chagrin not alone upon me, but upon my little brother. i became a thorn in her side, and one day, after an especially unpleasant episode in which harry also figured, she plucked me out, as it were, and cast me for ever from her. from that time i studied at home, where i was a much more valuable economic factor than i had been in school. the second spring after our arrival harry and i extended our operations by tapping the sugar-bushes, collecting all the sap, and carrying it home in pails slung from our yoke-laden shoulders. together we made one hundred and fifty pounds of sugar and a barrel of syrup, but here again, as always, we worked in primitive ways. to get the sap we chopped a gash in the tree and drove in a spile. then we dug out a trough to catch the sap. it was no light task to lift these troughs full of sap and empty the sap into buckets, but we did it successfully, and afterward built fires and boiled it down. by this time we had also cleared some of our ground, and during the spring we were able to plow, dividing the work in a way that seemed fair to us both. these were strenuous occupations for a boy of nine and a girl of thirteen, but, though we were not inordinately good children, we never complained; we found them very satisfactory substitutes for more normal bucolic joys. inevitably, we had our little tragedies. our cow died, and for an entire winter we went without milk. our coffee soon gave out, and as a substitute we made and used a mixture of browned peas and burnt rye. in the winter we were always cold, and the water problem, until we had built our well, was ever with us. father joined us at the end of eighteen months, but though his presence gave us pleasure and moral support, he was not an addition to our executive staff. he brought with him a rocking-chair for mother and a new supply of books, on which i fell as a starving man falls upon food. father read as eagerly as i, but much more steadily. his mind was always busy with problems, and if, while he was laboring in the field, a new problem presented itself to him, the imperishable curiosity that was in him made him scurry at once to the house to solve it. i have known him to spend a planting season in figuring on the production of a certain number of kernels of corn, instead of planting the corn and raising it. in the winter he was supposed to spend his time clearing land for orchards and the like, but instead he pored over his books and problems day after day and often half the night as well. it soon became known among our neighbors, who were rapidly increasing in number, that we had books and that father like to read aloud, and men walked ten miles or more to spend the night with us and listen to his reading. often, as his fame grew, ten or twelve men would arrive at our cabin on saturday and remain over sunday. when my mother once tried to check this influx of guests by mildly pointing out, among other things, the waste of candles represented by frequent all-night readings, every man humbly appeared again on the following saturday with a candle in each hand. they were not sensitive; and, as they had brought their candles, it seemed fitting to them and to father that we girls should cook for them and supply them with food. father's tolerance of idleness in others, however, did not extend to tolerance of idleness in us, and this led to my first rebellion, which occurred when i was fourteen. for once, i had been in the woods all day, buried in my books; and when i returned at night, still in the dream world these books had opened to me, father was awaiting my coming with a brow dark with disapproval. as it happened, mother had felt that day some special need of me, and father reproached me bitterly for being beyond reach--an idler who wasted time while mother labored. he ended a long arraignment by predicting gloomily that with such tendencies i would make nothing of my life. the injustice of the criticism cut deep; i knew i had done and was doing my share for the family, and already, too, i had begun to feel the call of my career. for some reason i wanted to preach--to talk to people, to tell them things. just why, just what, i did not yet know--but i had begun to preach in the silent woods, to stand up on stumps and address the unresponsive trees, to feel the stir of aspiration within me. when my father had finished all he wished to say, i looked at him and answered, quietly, "father, some day i am going to college." i can still see his slight, ironical smile. it drove me to a second prediction. i was young enough to measure success by material results, so i added, recklessly: "and before i die i shall be worth ten thousand dollars!" the amount staggered me even as it dropped from my lips. it was the largest fortune my imagination could conceive, and in my heart i believed that no woman ever had possessed or would possess so much. so far as i knew, too, no woman had gone to college. but now that i had put my secret hopes into words, i was desperately determined to make those hopes come true. after i became a wage-earner i lost my desire to make a fortune, but the college dream grew with the years; and though my college career seemed as remote as the most distant star, i hitched my little wagon to that star and never afterward wholly lost sight of its friendly gleam. when i was fifteen years old i was offered a situation as school-teacher. by this time the community was growing around us with the rapidity characteristic of these western settlements, and we had nearer neighbors whose children needed instruction. i passed an examination before a schoolboard consisting of three nervous and self-conscious men whose certificate i still hold, and i at once began my professional career on the modest salary of two dollars a week and my board. the school was four miles from my home, so i "boarded round" with the families of my pupils, staying two weeks in each place, and often walking from three to six miles a day to and from my little log school-house in every kind of weather. during the first year i had about fourteen pupils, of varying ages, sizes, and temperaments, and there was hardly a book in the school-room except those i owned. one little girl, i remember, read from an almanac, while a second used a hymn-book. in winter the school-house was heated by a woodstove, to which the teacher had to give close personal attention. i could not depend on my pupils to make the fires or carry in the fuel; and it was often necessary to fetch the wood myself, sometimes for long distances through the forest. again and again, after miles of walking through winter storms, i reached the school-house with my clothing wet through, and in these soaked garments i taught during the day. in "boarding round" i often found myself in one-room cabins, with bunks at the end and the sole partition a sheet or a blanket, behind which i slept with one or two of the children. it was the custom on these occasions for the man of the house to delicately retire to the barn while we women got to bed, and to disappear again in the morning while we dressed. in some places the meals were so badly cooked that i could not eat them, and often the only food my poor little pupils brought to school for their noonday meal was a piece of bread or a bit of raw pork. i earned my two dollars a week that year, but i had to wait for my wages until the dog tax was collected in the spring. when the money was thus raised, and the twenty-six dollars for my thirteen weeks of teaching were graciously put into my hands, i went "outside" to the nearest shop and joyously spent almost the entire amount for my first "party dress." the gown i bought was, i considered, a beautiful creation. in color it was a rich magenta, and the skirt was elaborately braided with black cable-cord. my admiration for it was justified, for it did all a young girl's eager heart could ask of any gown--it led to my first proposal. the youth who sought my hand was about twenty years old, and by an unhappy chance he was also the least attractive young person in the countryside--the laughing-stock of the neighbors, the butt of his associates. the night he came to offer me his heart there were already two young men at our home calling on my sisters, and we were all sitting around the fire in the living-room when my suitor appeared. his costume, like himself, left much to be desired. he wore a blue flannel shirt and a pair of trousers made of flour-bags. such trousers were not uncommon in our region, and the boy's mother, who had made them for him, had thoughtfully selected a nice clean pair of sacks. but on one leg was the name of the firm that made the flour--a. and g. w. green--and by a charming coincidence a. and g. w. green happened to be the two young men who were calling on my sisters! on the back of the bags, directly in the rear of the wearer, was the simple legend, " pounds"; and the striking effect of the young man's costume was completed by a bright yellow sash which held his trousers in place. the vision fascinated my sisters and their two guests. they gave it their entire attention, and when the new-comer signified with an eloquent gesture that he was calling on me, and beckoned me into an inner room, the quartet arose as one person and followed us to the door. then, as we inhospitably closed the door, they fastened their eyes to the cracks in the living-room wall, that they might miss none of the entertainment. when we were alone my guest and i sat down in facing chairs and in depressed silence. the young man was nervous, and i was both frightened and annoyed. i had heard suppressed giggles on the other side of the wall, and i realized, as my self-centered visitor failed to do, that we were not enjoying the privacy the situation seemed to demand. at last the youth informed me that his "dad" had just given him a cabin, a yoke of steers, a cow, and some hens. when this announcement had produced its full effect, he straightened up in his chair and asked, solemnly, "will ye have me?" an outburst of chortles from the other side of the wall greeted the proposal, but the ardent youth ignored it, if indeed he heard it. with eyes staring straight ahead, he sat rigid, waiting for my answer; and i, anxious only to get rid of him and to end the strain of the moment, said the first thing that came into my head. "i can't," i told him. "i'm sorry, but--but--i'm engaged." he rose quickly, with the effect of a half-closed jack-knife that is suddenly opened, and for an instant stood looking down upon me. he was six feet two inches tall, and extremely thin. i am very short, and, as i looked up, his flour-bag trousers seemed to join his yellow sash somewhere near the ceiling of the room. he put both hands into his pockets and slowly delivered his valedictory. "that's darned disappointing to a fellow," he said, and left the house. after a moment devoted to regaining my maidenly composure i returned to the living-room, where i had the privilege of observing the enjoyment of my sisters and their visitors. helpless with mirth and with tears of pleasure on their cheeks, the four rocked and shrieked as they recalled the picture my gallant had presented. for some time after that incident i felt a strong distaste for sentiment. clad royally in the new gown, i attended my first ball in november, going with a party of eight that included my two sisters, another girl, and four young men. the ball was at big rapids, which by this time had grown to be a thriving lumber town. it was impossible to get a team of horses or even a yoke of oxen for the journey, so we made a raft and went down the river on that, taking our party dresses with us in trunks. unfortunately, the raft "hung up" in the stream, and the four young men had to get out into the icy water and work a long time before they could detach it from the rocks. naturally, they were soaked and chilled through, but they all bore the experience with a gay philosophy. when we reached big rapids we dressed for the ball, and, as in those days it was customary to change one's gown again at midnight, i had an opportunity to burst on the assemblage in two costumes--the second made of bedroom chintz, with a low neck and short sleeves. we danced the "money musk," and the "virginia reel," "hoeing her down" (which means changing partners) in true pioneer style. i never missed a dance at this or any subsequent affair, and i was considered the gayest and the most tireless young person at our parties until i became a methodist minister and dropped such worldly vanities. the first time i preached in my home region all my former partners came to hear me, and listened with wide, understanding, reminiscent smiles which made it very hard for me to keep soberly to my text. in the near future i had reason to regret the extravagant expenditure of my first earnings. for my second year of teaching, in the same school, i was to receive five dollars a week and to pay my own board. i selected a place two miles and a half from the school-house, and was promptly asked by my host to pay my board in advance. this, he explained, was due to no lack of faith in me; the money would enable him to go "outside" to work, leaving his family well supplied with provisions. i allowed him to go to the school committee and collect my board in advance, at the rate of three dollars a week for the season. when i presented myself at my new boarding-place, however, two days later, i found the house nailed up and deserted; the man and his family had departed with my money, and i was left, as my committeemen sympathetically remarked, "high and dry." there were only two dollars a week coming to me after that, so i walked back and forth between my home and my school, almost four miles, twice a day; and during this enforced exercise there was ample opportunity to reflect on the fleeting joy of riches. in the mean time war had been declared. when the news came that fort sumter had been fired on, and that lincoln had called for troops, our men were threshing. there was only one threshing-machine in the region at that time, and it went from place to place, the farmers doing their threshing whenever they could get the machine. i remember seeing a man ride up on horseback, shouting out lincoln's demand for troops and explaining that a regiment was being formed at big rapids. before he had finished speaking the men on the machine had leaped to the ground and rushed off to enlist, my brother jack, who had recently joined us, among them. in ten minutes not one man was left in the field. a few months later my brother tom enlisted as a bugler--he was a mere boy at the time--and not long after that my father followed the example of his sons and served until the war was ended. he had entered on the twenty-ninth of august, , as an army steward; he came back to us with the rank of lieutenant and assistant surgeon of field and staff. between those years i was the principal support of our family, and life became a strenuous and tragic affair. for months at a time we had no news from the front. the work in our community, if it was done at all, was done by despairing women whose hearts were with their men. when care had become our constant guest, death entered our home as well. my sister eleanor had married, and died in childbirth, leaving her baby to me; and the blackest hours of those black years were the hours that saw her passing. i can see her still, lying in a stupor from which she roused herself at intervals to ask about her child. she insisted that our brother tom should name the baby, but tom was fighting for his country, unless he had already preceded eleanor through the wide portal that was opening before her. i could only tell her that i had written to him; but before the assurance was an hour old she would climb up from the gulf of unconsciousness with infinite effort to ask if we had received his reply. at last, to calm her, i told her it had come, and that tom had chosen for her little son the name of arthur. she smiled at this and drew a deep breath; then, still smiling, she passed away. her baby slipped into her vacant place and almost filled our heavy hearts, but only for a short time; for within a few months after his mother's death his father married again and took him from me, and it seemed that with his going we had lost all that made life worth while. the problem of living grew harder with everyday. we eked out our little income in every way we could, taking as boarders the workers in the logging-camps, making quilts, which we sold, and losing no chance to earn a penny in any legitimate manner. again my mother did such outside sewing as she could secure, yet with every month of our effort the gulf between our income and our expenses grew wider, and the price of the bare necessities of exisence{sic} climbed up and up. the largest amount i could earn at teaching was six dollars a week, and our school year included only two terms of thirteen weeks each. it was an incessant struggle to keep our land, to pay our taxes, and to live. calico was selling at fifty cents a yard. coffee was one dollar a pound. there were no men left to grind our corn, to get in our crops, or to care for our live stock; and all around us we saw our struggle reflected in the lives of our neighbors. at long intervals word came to us of battles in which my father's regiment--the tenth michigan cavalry volunteers--or those of my brothers were engaged, and then longer intervals followed in which we heard no news. after eleanor's death my brother tom was wounded, and for months we lived in terror of worse tidings, but he finally recovered. i was walking seven and eight miles a day, and doing extra work before and after school hours, and my health began to fail. those were years i do not like to look back upon--years in which life had degenerated into a treadmill whose monotony was broken only by the grim messages from the front. my sister mary married and went to big rapids to live. i had no time to dream my dream, but the star of my one purpose still glowed in my dark horizon. it seemed that nothing short of a miracle could lift my feet from their plodding way and set them on the wider path toward which my eyes were turned, but i never lost faith that in some manner the miracle would come to pass. as certainly as i have ever known anything, i knew that i was going to college! iii. high-school and college days the end of the civil war brought freedom to me, too. when peace was declared my father and brothers returned to the claim in the wilderness which we women of the family had labored so desperately to hold while they were gone. to us, as to others, the final years of the war had brought many changes. my sister eleanor's place was empty. mary, as i have said, had married and gone to live in big rapids, and my mother and i were alone with my brother harry, now a boy of fourteen. after the return of our men it was no longer necessary to devote every penny of my earnings to the maintenance of our home. for the first time i could begin to save a portion of my income toward the fulfilment of my college dream, but even yet there was a long, arid stretch ahead of me before the college doors came even distantly into sight. the largest salary i could earn by teaching in our northern woods was one hundred and fifty-six dollars a year, for two terms of thirteen weeks each; and from this, of course, i had to deduct the cost of my board and clothing--the sole expenditure i allowed myself. the dollars for an education accumulated very, very slowly, until at last, in desperation, weary of seeing the years of my youth rush past, bearing my hopes with them, i took a sudden and radical step. i gave up teaching, left our cabin in the woods, and went to big rapids to live with my sister mary, who had married a successful man and who generously offered me a home. there, i had decided, i would learn a trade of some kind, of any kind; it did not greatly matter what it was. the sole essential was that it should be a money-making trade, offering wages which would make it possible to add more rapidly to my savings. in those days, almost fifty years ago, and in a small pioneer town, the fields open to women were few and unfruitful. the needle at once presented itself, but at first i turned with loathing from it. i would have preferred the digging of ditches or the shoveling of coal; but the needle alone persistently pointed out my way, and i was finally forced to take it. fate, however, as if weary at last of seeing me between her paws, suddenly let me escape. before i had been working a month at my uncongenial trade big rapids was favored by a visit from a universalist woman minister, the reverend marianna thompson, who came there to preach. her sermon was delivered on sunday morning, and i was, i think, almost the earliest arrival of the great congregation which filled the church. it was a wonderful moment when i saw my first woman minister enter her pulpit; and as i listened to her sermon, thrilled to the soul, all my early aspirations to become a minister myself stirred in me with cumulative force. after the services i hung for a time on the fringe of the group that surrounded her, and at last, when she was alone and about to leave, i found courage to introduce myself and pour forth the tale of my ambition. her advice was as prompt as if she had studied my problem for years. "my child," she said, "give up your foolish idea of learning a trade, and go to school. you can't do anything until you have an education. get it, and get it now." her suggestion was much to my liking, and i paid her the compliment of acting on it promptly, for the next morning i entered the big rapids high school, which was also a preparatory school for college. there i would study, i determined, as long as my money held out, and with the optimism of youth i succeeded in confining my imagination to this side of that crisis. my home, thanks to mary, was assured; the wardrobe i had brought from the woods covered me sufficiently; to one who had walked five and six miles a day for years, walking to school held no discomfort; and as for pleasure, i found it, like a heroine of fiction, in my studies. for the first time life was smiling at me, and with all my young heart i smiled back. the preceptress of the high school was lucy foot, a college graduate and a remarkable woman. i had heard much of her sympathy and understanding; and on the evening following my first day in school i went to her and repeated the confidences i had reposed in the reverend marianna thompson. my trust in her was justified. she took an immediate interest in me, and proved it at once by putting me into the speaking and debating classes, where i was given every opportunity to hold forth to helpless classmates when the spirit of eloquence moved me. as an aid to public speaking i was taught to "elocute," and i remember in every mournful detail the occasion on which i gave my first recitation. we were having our monthly "public exhibition night," and the audience included not only my classmates, but their parents and friends as well. the selection i intended to recite was a poem entitled "no sects in heaven," but when i faced my audience i was so appalled by its size and by the sudden realization of my own temerity that i fainted during the delivery of the first verse. sympathetic classmates carried me into an anteroom and revived me, after which they naturally assumed that the entertainment i furnished was over for the evening. i, however, felt that if i let that failure stand against me i could never afterward speak in public; and within ten minutes, notwithstanding the protests of my friends, i was back in the hall and beginning my recitation a second time. the audience gave me its eager attention. possibly it hoped to see me topple off the platform again, but nothing of the sort occurred. i went through the recitation with self-possession and received some friendly applause at the end. strangely enough, those first sensations of "stage fright" have been experienced, in a lesser degree, in connection with each of the thousands of public speeches i have made since that time. i have never again gone so far as to faint in the presence of an audience; but i have invariably walked out on the platform feeling the sinking sensation at the pit of the stomach, the weakness of the knees, that i felt in the hour of my debut. now, however, the nervousness passes after a moment or two. from that night miss foot lost no opportunity of putting me into the foreground of our school affairs. i took part in all our debates, recited yards of poetry to any audience we could attract, and even shone mildly in our amateur theatricals. it was probably owing to all this activity that i attracted the interest of the presiding elder of our district--dr. peck, a man of progressive ideas. there was at that time a movement on foot to license women to preach in the methodist church, and dr. peck was ambitious to be the first presiding elder to have a woman ordained for the methodist ministry. he had urged miss foot to be this pioneer, but her ambitions did not turn in that direction. though she was a very devout methodist, she had no wish to be the shepherd of a religious flock. she loved her school-work, and asked nothing better than to remain in it. gently but persistently she directed the attention of dr. peck to me, and immediately things began to happen. without telling me to what it might lead, miss foot finally arranged a meeting at her home by inviting dr. peck and me to dinner. being unconscious of any significance in the occasion, i chatted light-heartedly about the large issues of life and probably settled most of them to my personal satisfaction. dr. peck drew me out and led me on, listened and smiled. when the evening was over and we rose to go, he turned to me with sudden seriousness: "my quarterly meeting will be held at ashton," he remarked, casually. "i would like you to preach the quarterly sermon." for a moment the earth seemed to slip away from my feet. i stared at him in utter stupefaction. then slowly i realized that, incredible as it seemed, the man was in earnest. "why," i stammered, "_i_ can't preach a sermon!" dr. peck smiled at me. "have you ever tried?" he asked. i started to assure him vehemently that i never had. then, as if time had thrown a picture on a screen before me, i saw myself as a little girl preaching alone in the forest, as i had so often preached to a congregation of listening trees. i qualified my answer. "never," i said, "to human beings." dr. peck smiled again. "well," he told me, "the door is open. enter or not, as you wish." he left the house, but i remained to discuss his overwhelming proposition with miss foot. a sudden sobering thought had come to me. "but," i exclaimed, "i've never been converted. how can i preach to any one?" we both had the old-time idea of conversion, which now seems so mistaken. we thought one had to struggle with sin and with the lord until at last the heart opened, doubts were dispersed, and the light poured in. miss foot could only advise me to put the matter before the lord, to wrestle and to pray; and thereafter, for hours at a time, she worked and prayed with me, alternately urging, pleading, instructing, and sending up petitions in my behalf. our last session was a dramatic one, which took up the entire night. long before it was over we were both worn out; but toward morning, either from exhaustion of body or exaltation of soul, i seemed to see the light, and it made me very happy. with all my heart i wanted to preach, and i believed that now at last i had my call. the following day we sent word to dr. peck that i would preach the sermon at ashton as he had asked, but we urged him to say nothing of the matter for the present, and miss foot and i also kept the secret locked in our breasts. i knew only too well what view my family and my friends would take of such a step and of me. to them it would mean nothing short of personal disgrace and a blotted page in the shaw record. i had six weeks in which to prepare my sermon, and i gave it most of my waking hours as well as those in which i should have been asleep. i took for my text: "and as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." it was not until three days before i preached the sermon that i found courage to confide my purpose to my sister mary, and if i had confessed my intention to commit a capital crime she could not have been more disturbed. we two had always been very close, and the death of eleanor, to whom we were both devoted, had drawn us even nearer to each other. now mary's tears and prayers wrung my heart and shook my resolution. but, after all, she was asking me to give up my whole future, to close my ears to my call, and i felt that i could not do it. my decision caused an estrangement between us which lasted for years. on the day preceding the delivery of my sermon i left for ashton on the afternoon train; and in the same car, but as far away from me as she could get, mary sat alone and wept throughout the journey. she was going to my mother, but she did not speak to me; and i, for my part, facing both alienation from her and the ordeal before me, found my one comfort in lucy foot's presence and understanding sympathy. there was no church in ashton, so i preached my sermon in its one little school-house, which was filled with a curious crowd, eager to look at and hear the girl who was defying all conventions by getting out of the pew and into the pulpit. there was much whispering and suppressed excitement before i began, but when i gave out my text silence fell upon the room, and from that moment until i had finished my hearers listened quietly. a kerosene-lamp stood on a stand at my elbow, and as i preached i trembled so violently that the oil shook in its glass globe; but i finished without breaking down, and at the end dr. peck, who had his own reasons for nervousness, handsomely assured me that my first sermon was better than his maiden effort had been. it was evidently not a failure, for the next day he invited me to follow him around in his circuit, which included thirty-six appointments; he wished me to preach in each of the thirty-six places, as it was desirable to let the various ministers hear and know me before i applied for my license as a local preacher. the sermon also had another result, less gratifying. it brought out, on the following morning, the first notice of me ever printed in a newspaper. this was instigated by my brother-in-law, and it was brief but pointed. it read: a young girl named anna shaw, seventeen years old, [ ] preached at ashton yesterday. her real friends deprecate the course she is pursuing. [footnote : a misstatement by the brother-in-law. dr. shaw was at this time twenty-three years old.--e. j.] the little notice had something of the effect of a lighted match applied to gunpowder. an explosion of public sentiment followed it, the entire community arose in consternation, and i became a bone of contention over which friends and strangers alike wrangled until they wore themselves out. the members of my family, meeting in solemn council, sent for me, and i responded. they had a proposition to make, and they lost no time in putting it before me. if i gave up my preaching they would send me to college and pay for my entire course. they suggested ann arbor, and ann arbor tempted me sorely; but to descend from the pulpit i had at last entered--the pulpit i had visualized in all my childish dreams--was not to be considered. we had a long evening together, and it was a very unhappy one. at the end of it i was given twenty-four hours in which to decide whether i would choose my people and college, or my pulpit and the arctic loneliness of a life that held no family-circle. it did not require twenty-four hours of reflection to convince me that i must go my solitary way. that year i preached thirty-six times, at each of the presiding elder's appointments; and the following spring, at the annual methodist conference of our district, held at big rapids, my name was presented to the assembled ministers as that of a candidate for a license to preach. there was unusual interest in the result, and my father was among those who came to the conference to see the vote taken. during these conferences a minister voted affirmatively on a question by holding up his hand, and negatively by failing to do so. when the question of my license came up the majority of the ministers voted by raising both hands, and in the pleasant excitement which followed my father slipped away. those who saw him told me he looked pleased; but he sent me no message showing a change of viewpoint, and the gulf between the family and its black sheep remained unbridged. though the warmth of mary's love for me had become a memory, the warmth of her hearthstone was still offered me. i accepted it, perforce, and we lived together like shadows of what we had been. two friends alone of all i had made stood by me without qualification--miss foot and clara osborn, the latter my "chum" at big rapids and a dweller in my heart to this day. in the mean time my preaching had not interfered with my studies. i was working day and night, but life was very difficult; for among my schoolmates, too, there were doubts and much head-shaking over this choice of a career. i needed the sound of friendly voices, for i was very lonely; and suddenly, when the pressure from all sides was strongest and i was going down physically under it, a voice was raised that i had never dared to dream would speak for me. mary a. livermore came to big rapids, and as she was then at the height of her career, the entire countryside poured in to hear her. far back in the crowded hall i sat alone and listened to her, thrilled by the lecture and tremulous with the hope of meeting the lecturer. when she had finished speaking i joined the throng that surged forward from the body of the hall, and as i reached her and felt the grasp of her friendly hand i had a sudden conviction that the meeting was an epoch in my life. i was right. some one in the circle around us told her that i wanted to preach, and that i was meeting tremendous opposition. she was interested at once. she looked at me with quickening sympathy, and then, suddenly putting an arm around me, drew me close to her side. "my dear," she said, quietly, "if you want to preach, go on and preach. don't let anybody stop you. no matter what people say, don't let them stop you!" for a moment i was too overcome to answer her. these were almost my first encouraging words, and the morning stars singing together could not have made sweeter music for my ears. before i could recover a woman within hearing spoke up. "oh, mrs. livermore," she exclaimed, "don't say that to her! we're all trying to stop her. her people are wretched over the whole thing. and don't you see how ill she is? she has one foot in the grave and the other almost there!" mrs. livermore turned upon me a long and deeply thoughtful look. "yes," she said at last, "i see she has. but it is better that she should die doing the thing she wants to do than that she should die because she can't do it." her words were a tonic which restored my voice. "so they think i'm going to die!" i cried. "well, i'm not! i'm going to live and preach!" i have always felt since then that without the inspiration of mrs. livermore's encouragement i might not have continued my fight. her sanction was a shield, however, from which the criticisms of the world fell back. fate's more friendly interest in my affairs that year was shown by the fact that she sent mrs. livermore into my life before i had met anna dickinson. miss dickinson came to us toward spring and lectured on joan of arc. never before or since have i been more deeply moved by a speaker. when she had finished her address i made my happy way to the front of the hall with the others who wished to meet the distinguished guest. it was our local manager who introduced me, and he said, "this is our anna shaw. she is going to be a lecturer, too." i looked up at the brilliant miss dickinson with the trustfulness of youth in my eyes. i remembered mrs. livermore and i thought all great women were like her, but i was now to experience a bitter disillusionment. miss dickinson barely touched the tips of my fingers as she looked indifferently past the side of my face. "ah," she said, icily, and turned away. in later years i learned how impossible it is for a public speaker to leave a gracious impression on every life that for a moment touches her own; but i have never ceased to be thankful that i met mrs. livermore before i met miss dickinson at the crisis in my career. in the autumn of i entered albion college, in albion, michigan. i was twenty-five years of age, but i looked much younger--probably not more than eighteen to the casual glance. though i had made every effort to save money, i had not been successful, for my expenses constantly outran my little income, and my position as preacher made it necessary for me to have a suitable wardrobe. when the time came to enter college i had exactly eighteen dollars in the world, and i started for albion with this amount in my purse and without the slightest notion of how i was to add to it. the money problem so pressed upon me, in fact, that when i reached my destination at midnight and discovered that it would cost fifty cents to ride from the station to the college, i saved that amount by walking the entire distance on the railroad tracks, while my imagination busied itself pleasantly with pictures of the engine that might be thundering upon me in the rear. i had chosen albion because miss foot had been educated there, and i was encouraged by an incident that happened the morning after my arrival. i was on the campus, walking toward the main building, when i saw a big copper penny lying on the ground, and, on picking it up, i discovered that it bore the year of my birth. that seemed a good omen, and it was emphatically underlined by the finding of two exactly similar pennies within a week. though there have been days since then when i was sorely tempted to spend them, i have those three pennies still, and i confess to a certain comfort in their possession! as i had not completed my high-school course, my first days at albion were spent in strenuous preparation for the entrance examinations; and one morning, as i was crossing the campus with a history of the united states tucked coyly under my arm, i met the president of the college, dr. josclyn. he stopped for a word of greeting, during which i betrayed the fact that i had never studied united states history. dr. josclyn at once invited me into his office with, i am quite sure, the purpose of explaining as kindly as he could that my preparation for college was insufficient. as an opening to the subject he began to talk of history, and we talked and talked on, while unheeded hours were born and died. we discussed the history of the united states, the governments of the world, the causes which led to the influence of one nation on another, the philosophical basis of the different national movements westward, and the like. it was the longest and by far the most interesting talk i have ever had with a highly educated man, and during it i could actually feel my brain expand. when i rose to go president josclyn stopped me. "i have something to give you," he said, and he wrote a few words on a slip of paper and handed the slip to me. when, on reaching the dormitory, i opened it, i found that the president had passed me in the history of the entire college course! this, moreover, was not the only pleasant result of our interview, for within a few weeks president and mrs. josclyn, whose daughter had recently died, invited me to board with them, and i made my home with them during my first year at albion. my triumph in history was followed by the swift and chastening discovery that i was behind my associates in several other branches. owing to my father's early help, i was well up in mathematics, but i had much to learn of philosophy and the languages, and to these i devoted many midnight candles. naturally, i soon plunged into speaking, and my first public speech at college was a defense of xantippe. i have always felt that the poor lady was greatly abused, and that socrates deserved all he received from her, and more. i was glad to put myself on record as her champion, and my fellow-students must soon have felt that my admiration for xantippe was based on similarities of temperament, for within a few months i was leading the first college revolt against the authority of the men students. albion was a coeducational institution, and the brightest jewels in its crown were its three literary societies--the first composed of men alone, the second of women alone, and the third of men and women together. each of the societies made friendly advances to new students, and for some time i hesitated on the brink of the new joys they offered, uncertain which to choose. a representative of the mixed society, who was putting its claims before me, unconsciously helped me to make up my mind. "women," he pompously assured me, "need to be associated with men, because they don't know how to manage meetings." on the instant the needle of decision swung around to the women's society and remained there, fixed. "if they don't," i told the pompous young man, "it's high time they learned. i shall join the women, and we'll master the art." i did join the women's society, and i had not been a member very long before i discovered that when there was an advantage of any kind to be secured the men invariably got it. while i was brooding somberly upon this wrong an opportunity came to make a formal and effective protest against the men's high-handed methods. the quinquennial reunion of all the societies was about to be held, and the special feature of this festivity was always an oration. the simple method of selecting the orator which had formerly prevailed had been for the young men to decide upon the speaker and then announce his name to the women, who humbly confirmed it. on this occasion, however, when the name came in to us, i sent a message to our brother society to the effect that we, too, intended to make a nomination and to send in a name. at such unprecedented behavior the entire student body arose in excitement, which, among the girls, was combined with equal parts of exhilaration and awe. the men refused to consider our nominee, and as a friendly compromise we suggested that we have a joint meeting of all the societies and elect the speaker at this gathering; but this plan also the men at first refused, giving in only after weeks of argument, during which no one had time for the calmer pleasures of study. when the joint meeting was finally held, nothing was accomplished; we girls had one more member than the boys had, and we promptly re-elected our candidate, who was as promptly declined by the boys. two of our girls were engaged to two of the boys, and it was secretly planned by our brother society that during a second joint meeting these two men should take the girls out for a drive and then slip back to vote, leaving the girls at some point sufficiently remote from college. we discovered the plot, however, in time to thwart it, and at last, when nothing but the unprecedented tie-up had been discussed for months, the boys suddenly gave up their candidate and nominated me for orator. this was not at all what i wanted, and i immediately declined to serve. we girls then nominated the young man who had been first choice of our brother society, but he haughtily refused to accept the compliment. the reunion was only a fortnight away, and the programme had not been printed, so now the president took the situation in hand and peremptorily ordered me to accept the nomination or be suspended. this was a wholly unexpected boomerang. i had wished to make a good fight for equal rights for the girls, and to impress the boys with the fact of our existence as a society; but i had not desired to set the entire student body by the ears nor to be forced to prepare and deliver an oration at the eleventh hour. moreover, i had no suitable gown to wear on so important an occasion. one of my classmates, however, secretly wrote to my sister, describing my blushing honors and explaining my need, and my family rallied to the call. my father bought the material, and my mother and mary paid for the making of the gown. it was a white alpaca creation, trimmed with satin, and the consciousness that it was extremely becoming sustained me greatly during the mental agony of preparing and delivering my oration. to my family that oration was the redeeming episode of my early career. for the moment it almost made them forget my crime of preaching. my original fund of eighteen dollars was now supplemented by the proceeds of a series of lectures i gave on temperance. the temperance women were not yet organized, but they had their speakers, and i was occasionally paid five dollars to hold forth for an hour or two in the little country school-houses of our region. as a licensed preacher i had no tuition fees to pay at college; but my board, in the home of the president and his wife, was costing me four dollars a week, and this was the limit of my expenses, as i did my own laundry-work. during my first college year the amount i paid for amusement was exactly fifty cents; that went for a lecture. the mental strain of the whole experience was rather severe, for i never knew how much i would be able to earn; and i was beginning to feel the effects of this when christmas came and brought with it a gift of ninety-two dollars, which miss foot had collected among my big rapids friends. that, with what i could earn, carried me through the year. the following spring our brother james, who was now living in st. johnsbury, vermont, invited my sister mary and me to spend the summer with him, and mary and i finally dug a grave for our little hatchet and went east together with something of our old-time joy in each other's society. we reached st. johnsbury one saturday, and within an hour of our arrival learned that my brother had arranged for me to preach in a local church the following day. that threatened to spoil the visit for mary and even to disinter the hatchet! at first she positively refused to go to hear me, but after a few hours of reflection she announced gloomily that if she did not go i would not have my hair arranged properly or get my hat on straight. moved by this conviction, she joined the family parade to the church, and later, in the sacristy, she pulled me about and pinned me up to her heart's content. then, reluctantly, she went into the church and heard me preach. she offered no tributes after our return to the house, but her protests ceased from that time, and we gave each other the love and understanding which had marked our girlhood days. the change made me very happy; for mary was the salt of the earth, and next only to my longing for my mother, i had longed for her in the years of our estrangement. every sunday that summer i preached in or near st. johnsbury, and toward autumn we had a big meeting which the ministers of all the surrounding churches attended. i was asked to preach the sermon--a high compliment--and i chose that important day to make a mistake in quoting a passage from scripture. i asked, "can the ethiopian change his spots or the leopard his skin?" i realized at once that i had transposed the words, and no doubt a look of horror dawned in my eyes; but i went on without correcting myself and without the slightest pause. later, one of the ministers congratulated me on this presence of mind. "if you had corrected yourself," he said, "all the young people would have been giggling yet over the spotted nigger. keep to your rule of going right ahead!" at the end of the summer the various churches in which i had preached gave me a beautiful gold watch and one hundred dollars in money, and with an exceedingly light heart i went back to college to begin my second year of work. from that time life was less complex. i had enough temperance-work and preaching in the country school-houses and churches to pay my college expenses, and, now that my financial anxieties were relieved, my health steadily improved. several times i preached to the indians, and these occasions were among the most interesting of my experiences. the squaws invariably brought their babies with them, but they had a simple and effective method of relieving themselves of the care of the infants as soon as they reached the church. the papooses, who were strapped to their boards, were hung like a garment on the back wall of the building by a hole in the top of the board, which projected above their heads. each papoose usually had a bit of fat pork tied to the end of a string fastened to its wrist, and with these sources of nourishment the infants occupied themselves pleasantly while the sermon was in progress. frequently the pork slipped down the throat of the papoose, but the struggle of the child and the jerking of its hands in the strangulation that followed pulled the piece safely out again. as i faced the congregation i also faced the papooses, to whom the indifferent backs of their mothers were presented; it seemed to me there was never a time when some papoose was not choking, but no matter how much excitement or discomfort was going on among the babies, not one squaw turned her head to look back at them. in that assemblage the emotions were not allowed to interrupt the calm intellectual enjoyment of the sermon. my most dramatic experience during this period occurred in the summer of , when i went to a northern lumber-camp to preach in the pulpit of a minister who was away on his honeymoon. the stage took me within twenty-two miles of my destination, to a place called seberwing. to my dismay, however, when i arrived at seberwing, saturday evening, i found that the rest of the journey lay through a dense woods, and that i could reach my pulpit in time the next morning only by having some one drive me through the woods that night. it was not a pleasant prospect, for i had heard appalling tales of the stockades in this region and of the women who were kept prisoners there. but to miss the engagement was not to be thought of, and when, after i had made several vain efforts to find a driver, a man appeared in a two-seated wagon and offered to take me to my destination, i felt that i had to go with him, though i did not like his appearance. he was a huge, muscular person, with a protruding jaw and a singularly evasive eye; but i reflected that his forbidding expression might be due, in part at least, to the prospect of the long night drive through the woods, to which possibly he objected as much as i did. it was already growing dark when we started, and within a few moments we were out of the little settlement and entering the woods. with me i had a revolver i had long since learned to use, but which i very rarely carried. i had hesitated to bring it now--had even left home without it; and then, impelled by some impulse i never afterward ceased to bless, had returned for it and dropped it into my hand-bag. i sat on the back seat of the wagon, directly behind the driver, and for a time, as we entered the darkening woods, his great shoulders blotted out all perspective as he drove on in stolid silence. then, little by little, they disappeared like a rapidly fading negative. the woods were filled with norway pines, hemlocks, spruce, and tamaracks-great, somber trees that must have shut out the light even on the brightest days. to-night the heavens held no lamps aloft to guide us, and soon the darkness folded around us like a garment. i could see neither the driver nor his horses. i could hear only the sibilant whisper of the trees and the creak of our slow wheels in the rough forest road. suddenly the driver began to talk, and at first i was glad to hear the reassuring human tones, for the experience had begun to seem like a bad dream. i replied readily, and at once regretted that i had done so, for the man's choice of topics was most unpleasant. he began to tell me stories of the stockades--grim stories with horrible details, repeated so fully and with such gusto that i soon realized he was deliberately affronting my ears. i checked him and told him i could not listen to such talk. he replied with a series of oaths and shocking vulgarities, stopping his horses that he might turn and fling the words into my face. he ended by snarling that i must think him a fool to imagine he did not know the kind of woman i was. what was i doing in that rough country, he demanded, and why was i alone with him in those black woods at night? though my heart missed a beat just then, i tried to answer him calmly. "you know perfectly well who i am," i reminded him. "and you understand that i am making this journey to-night because i am to preach to-morrow morning and there is no other way to keep my appointment." he uttered a laugh which was a most unpleasant sound. "well," he said, coolly, "i'm damned if i'll take you. i've got you here, and i'm going to keep you here!" i slipped my hand into the satchel in my lap, and it touched my revolver. no touch of human fingers ever brought such comfort. with a deep breath of thanksgiving i drew it out and cocked it, and as i did so he recognized the sudden click. "here! what have you got there?" he snapped. "i have a revolver," i replied, as steadily as i could. "and it is cocked and aimed straight at your back. now drive on. if you stop again, or speak, i'll shoot you." for an instant or two he blustered. "by god," he cried, "you wouldn't dare." "wouldn't i?" i asked. "try me by speaking just once more." even as i spoke i felt my hair rise on my scalp with the horror of the moment, which seemed worse than any nightmare a woman could experience. but the man was conquered by the knowledge of the waiting, willing weapon just behind him. he laid his whip savagely on the backs of his horses and they responded with a leap that almost knocked me out of the wagon. the rest of the night was a black terror i shall never forget. he did not speak again, nor stop, but i dared not relax my caution for an instant. hour after hour crawled toward day, and still i sat in the unpierced darkness, the revolver ready. i knew he was inwardly raging, and that at any instant he might make a sudden jump and try to get the revolver away from me. i decided that at his slightest movement i must shoot. but dawn came at last, and just as its bluish light touched the dark tips of the pines we drove up to the log hotel in the settlement that was our destination. here my driver spoke. "get down," he said, gruffly. "this is the place." i sat still. even yet i dared not trust him. moreover, i was so stiff after my vigil that i was not sure i could move. "you get down," i directed, "and wake up the landlord. bring him out here." he sullenly obeyed and aroused the hotel-owner, and when the latter appeared i climbed out of the wagon with some effort but without explanation. that morning i preached in my friend's pulpit as i had promised to do, and the rough building was packed to its doors with lumbermen who had come in from the neighboring camp. their appearance caused great surprise, as they had never attended a service before. they formed a most picturesque congregation, for they all wore brilliant lumber-camp clothing--blue or red shirts with yellow scarfs twisted around their waists, and gay-colored jackets and logging-caps. there were forty or fifty of them, and when we took up our collection they responded with much liberality and cheerful shouts to one another. "put in fifty cents!" they yelled across the church. "give her a dollar!" the collection was the largest that had been taken up in the history of the settlement, but i soon learned that it was not the spiritual comfort i offered which had appealed to the lumber-men. my driver of the night before, who was one of their number, had told his pals of his experience, and the whole camp had poured into town to see the woman minister who carried a revolver. "her sermon?" said one of them to my landlord, after the meeting. "huh! i dunno what she preached. but, say, don't make no mistake about one thing: the little preacher has sure got grit!" iv. the wolf at the door when i returned to albion college in the autumn of i brought with me a problem which tormented me during my waking hours and chattered on my pillow at night. should i devote two more years of my vanishing youth to the completion of my college course, or, instead, go at once to boston university, enter upon my theological studies, take my degree, and be about my father's business? i was now twenty-seven years old, and i had been a licensed preacher for three years. my reputation in the northwest was growing, and by sermons and lectures i could certainly earn enough to pay the expenses of the full college course. on the other hand, boston was a new world. there i would be alone and practically penniless, and the opportunities for work might be limited. quite possibly in my final two years at albion i could even save enough money to make the experience in boston less difficult, and the clear common sense i had inherited from my mother reminded me that in this course lay wisdom. possibly it was some inheritance from my visionary father which made me, at the end of three months, waive these sage reflections, pack my few possessions, and start for boston, where i entered the theological school of the university in february, . it was an instance of stepping off a solid plank and into space; and though there is exhilaration in the sensation, as i discovered then and at later crises in life when i did the same thing, there was also an amount of subsequent discomfort for which even my lively imagination had not prepared me. i went through some grim months in boston--months during which i learned what it was to go to bed cold and hungry, to wake up cold and hungry, and to have no knowledge of how long these conditions might continue. but not more than once or twice during the struggle there, and then only for an hour or two in the physical and mental depression attending malnutrition, did i regret coming. at that period of my life i believed that the lord had my small personal affairs very much on his mind. if i starved and froze it was his test of my worthiness for the ministry, and if he had really chosen me for one of his servants, he would see me through. the faith that sustained me then has still a place in my life, and existence without it would be an infinitely more dreary affair than it is. but i admit that i now call upon the lord less often and less imperatively than i did before the stern years taught me my unimportance in the great scheme of things. my class at the theological school was composed of forty-two young men and my unworthy self, and before i had been a member of it an hour i realized that women theologians paid heavily for the privilege of being women. the young men of my class who were licensed preachers were given free accommodations in the dormitory, and their board, at a club formed for their assistance, cost each of them only one dollar and twenty-five cents a week. for me no such kindly provision was made. i was not allowed a place in the dormitory, but instead was given two dollars a week to pay the rent of a room outside. neither was i admitted to the economical comforts of the club, but fed myself according to my income, a plan which worked admirably when there was an income, but left an obvious void when there was not. with characteristic optimism, however, i hired a little attic room on tremont street and established myself therein. in lieu of a window the room offered a pale skylight to the february storms, and there was neither heat in it nor running water; but its possession gave me a pleasant sense of proprietorship, and the whole experience seemed a high adventure. i at once sought opportunities to preach and lecture, but these were even rarer than firelight and food. in albion i had been practically the only licensed preacher available for substitute and special work. in boston university's three theological classes there were a hundred men, each snatching eagerly at the slightest possibility of employment; and when, despite this competition, i received and responded to an invitation to preach, i never knew whether i was to be paid for my services in cash or in compliments. if, by a happy chance, the compensation came in cash, the amount was rarely more than five dollars, and never more than ten. there was no help in sight from my family, whose early opposition to my career as a minister had hotly flamed forth again when i started east. i lived, therefore, on milk and crackers, and for weeks at a time my hunger was never wholly satisfied. in my home in the wilderness i had often heard the wolves prowling around our door at night. now, in boston, i heard them even at high noon. there is a special and almost indescribable depression attending such conditions. no one who has not experienced the combination of continued cold, hunger, and loneliness in a great, strange, indifferent city can realize how it undermines the victim's nerves and even tears at the moral fiber. the self-humiliation i experienced was also intense. i had worked my way in the northwest; why could i not work my way in boston? was there, perhaps, some lack in me and in my courage? again and again these questions rose in my mind and poisoned my self-confidence. the one comfort i had in those black days was the knowledge that no one suspected the depth of the abyss in which i dwelt. we were all struggling; to the indifferent glance--and all glances were indifferent--my struggle was no worse than that of my classmates whose rooms and frugal meals were given them. after a few months of this existence i was almost ready to believe that the lord's work for me lay outside of the ministry, and while this fear was gripping me a serious crisis came in my financial affairs. the day dawned when i had not a cent, nor any prospect of earning one. my stock of provisions consisted of a box of biscuit, and my courage was flowing from me like blood from an opened vein. then came one of the quick turns of the wheel of chance which make for optimism. late in the afternoon i was asked to do a week of revival work with a minister in a local church, and when i accepted his invitation i mentally resolved to let that week decide my fate. my shoes had burst open at the sides; for lack of car-fare i had to walk to and from the scene of my meetings, though i had barely strength for the effort. if my week of work brought me enough to buy a pair of cheap shoes and feed me for a few days i would, i decided, continue my theological course. if it did not, i would give up the fight. never have i worked harder or better than during those seven days, when i put into the effort not only my heart and soul, but the last flame of my dying vitality, we had a rousing revival--one of the good old-time affairs when the mourners' benches were constantly filled and the air resounded with alleluias. the excitement and our success, mildly aided by the box of biscuit, sustained me through the week, and not until the last night did i realize how much of me had gone into this final desperate charge of mine. then, the service over and the people departed, i sank, weak and trembling, into a chair, trying to pull myself together before hearing my fate in the good-night words of the minister i had assisted. when he came to me and began to compliment me on the work i had done, i could not rise. i sat still and listened with downcast eyes, afraid to lift them lest he read in them something of my need and panic in this moment when my whole future seemed at stake. at first his words rolled around the empty church as if they were trying to get away from me, but at last i began to catch them. i was, it seemed, a most desirable helper. it had been a privilege and a pleasure to be associated with me. beyond doubt, i would go far in my career. he heartily wished that he could reward me adequately. i deserved fifty dollars. my tired heart fluttered at this. probably my empty stomach fluttered, too; but in the next moment something seemed to catch my throat and stop my breath. for it appeared that, notwithstanding the enthusiasm and the spiritual uplift of the week, the collections had been very disappointing and the expenses unusually heavy. he could not give me fifty dollars. he could not give me anything at all. he thanked me warmly and wished me good night. i managed to answer him and to get to my feet, but that journey down the aisle from my chair to the church door was the longest journey i have ever made. during it i felt not only the heart-sick disappointment of the moment, but the cumulative unhappiness of the years to come. i was friendless, penniless, and starving, but it was not of these conditions that i thought then. the one overwhelming fact was that i had been weighed and found wanting. i was not worthy. i stumbled along, passing blindly a woman who stood on the street near the church entrance. she stopped me, timidly, and held out her hand. then suddenly she put her arms around me and wept. she was an old lady, and i did not know her, but it seemed fitting that she should cry just then, as it would have seemed fitting to me if at that black moment all the people on the earth had broken into sudden wailing. "oh, miss shaw," she said, "i'm the happiest woman in the world, and i owe my happiness to you. to-night you have converted my grandson. he's all i have left, but he has been a wild boy, and i've prayed over him for years. hereafter he is going to lead a different life. he has just given me his promise on his knees." her hand fumbled in her purse. "i am a poor woman," she went on, "but i have enough, and i want to make you a little present. i know how hard life is for you young students." she pressed a bill into my fingers. "it's very little," she said, humbly; "it is only five dollars." i laughed, and in that exultant moment i seemed to hear life laughing with me. with the passing of the bill from her hand to mine existence had become a new experience, wonderful and beautiful. "it's the biggest gift i have ever had," i told her. "this little bill is big enough to carry my future on its back!" i had a good meal that night, and i bought the shoes the next morning. infinitely more sustaining than the food, however, was the conviction that the lord was with me and had given me a sign of his approval. the experience was the turning-point of my theological career. when the money was gone i succeeded in obtaining more work from time to time--and though the grind was still cruelly hard, i never again lost hope. the theological school was on bromfield street, and we students climbed three flights of stairs to reach our class-rooms. through lack of proper food i had become too weak to ascend these stairs without sitting down once or twice to rest, and within a month after my experience with the appreciative grandmother i was discovered during one of these resting periods by mrs. barrett, the superintendent of the woman's foreign missionary society, which had offices in our building. she stopped, looked me over, and then invited me into her room, where she asked me if i felt ill. i assured her that i did not. she asked a great many additional questions and, little by little, under the womanly sympathy of them, my reserve broke down and she finally got at the truth, which until that hour i had succeeded in concealing. she let me leave without much comment, but the next day she again invited me into her office and came directly to the purpose of the interview. "miss shaw," she said, "i have been talking to a friend of mine about you, and she would like to make a bargain with you. she thinks you are working too hard. she will pay you three dollars and a half a week for the rest of this school year if you will promise to give up your preaching. she wants you to rest, study, and take care of your health." i asked the name of my unknown friend, but mrs. barrett said that was to remain a secret. she had been given a check for seventy-eight dollars, and from this, she explained, my allowance would be paid in weekly instalments. i took the money very gratefully, and a few years later i returned the amount to the missionary society; but i never learned the identity of my benefactor. her three dollars and a half a week, added to the weekly two dollars i was allowed for room rent, at once solved the problem of living; and now that meal-hours had a meaning in my life, my health improved and my horizon brightened. i spent most of my evenings in study, and my sundays in the churches of phillips brooks and james freeman clark, my favorite ministers. also, i joined the university's praying-band of students, and took part in the missionary-work among the women of the streets. i had never forgotten my early friend in lawrence, the beautiful "mysterious lady" who had loved me as a child, and, in memory of her, i set earnestly about the effort to help unfortunates of her class. i went into the homes of these women, followed them to the streets and the dance-halls, talked to them, prayed with them, and made friends among them. some of them i was able to help, but many were beyond help; and i soon learned that the effective work in that field is the work which is done for women before, not after, they have fallen. during my vacation in the summer of i went to cape cod and earned my expenses by substituting in local pulpits. here, at east dennis, i formed the friendship which brought me at once the greatest happiness and the deepest sorrow of that period of my life. my new friend was a widow whose name was persis addy, and she was also the daughter of captain prince crowell, then the most prominent man in the cape cod community--a bank president, a railroad director, and a citizen of wealth, as wealth was rated in those days. when i returned to the theological school in the autumn mrs. addy came to boston with me, and from that time until her death, two years later, we lived together. she was immensely interested in my work, and the friendly part she took in it diverted her mind from the bereavement over which she had brooded for years, while to me her coming opened windows into a new world. i was no longer lonely; and though in my life with her i paid my way to the extent of my small income, she gave me my first experience of an existence in which comfort and culture, recreation, and leisurely reading were cheerful commonplaces. for the first time i had some one to come home to, some one to confide in, some one to talk to, listen to, and love. we read together and went to concerts together; and it was during this winter that i attended my first theatrical performance. the star was mary anderson, in "pygmalion and galatea," and play and player charmed me so utterly that i saw them every night that week, sitting high in the gallery and enjoying to the utmost the unfolding of this new delight. it was so glowing a pleasure that i longed to make some return to the giver of it; but not until many years afterward, when i met madame navarro in london, was i able to tell her what the experience had been and to thank her for it. i did not long enjoy the glimpses into my new world, for soon, and most tragically, it was closed to me. in the spring following our first boston winter together mrs. addy and i went to hingham, massachusetts, where i had been appointed temporary pastor of the methodist church. there mrs. addy was taken ill, and as she grew steadily worse we returned to boston to live near the best available physicians, who for months theorized over her malady without being able to diagnose it. at last her father, captain crowell, sent to paris for dr. brown-sequard, then the most distinguished specialist of his day, and dr. brown-sequard, when he arrived and examined his patient, discovered that she had a tumor on the brain. she had had a great shock in her life--the tragic death of her husband at sea during their wedding tour around the world--and it was believed that her disease dated from that time. nothing could be done for her, and she failed daily during our second year together, and died in march, , just before i finished my theological course and while i was still temporary pastor of the church at hingham. every moment i could take from my parish and my studies i spent with her, and those were sorrowful months. in her poor, tortured brain the idea formed that i, not she, was the sick person in our family of two, and when we were at home together she insisted that i must lie down and let her nurse me; then for hours she brooded over me, trying to relieve the agony she believed i was experiencing. when at last she was at peace her father and i took her home to cape cod and laid her in the graveyard of the little church where we had met at the beginning of our brief and beautiful friendship; and the subsequent loneliness i felt was far greater than any i had ever suffered in the past, for now i had learned the meaning of companionship. three months after mrs. addy's death i graduated. she had planned to take me abroad, and during our first winter together we had spent countless hours talking and dreaming of our european wanderings. when she found that she must die she made her will and left me fifteen hundred dollars for the visit to europe, insisting that i must carry out the plan we had made; and during her conscious periods she constantly talked of this and made me promise that i would go. after her death it seemed to me that to go without her was impossible. everything of beauty i looked upon would hold memories of her, keeping fresh my sorrow and emphasizing my loneliness; but it was her last expressed desire that i should go, and i went. first, however, i had graduated--clad in a brandnew black silk gown, and with five dollars in my pocket, which i kept there during the graduation exercises. i felt a special satisfaction in the possession of that money, for, notwithstanding the handicap of being a woman, i was said to be the only member of my class who had worked during the entire course, graduated free from debt, and had a new outfit as well as a few dollars in cash. i graduated without any special honors. possibly i might have won some if i had made the effort, but my graduation year, as i have just explained, had been very difficult. as it was, i was merely a good average student, feeling my isolation as the only woman in my class, but certainly not spurring on my men associates by the display of any brilliant gifts. naturally, i missed a great deal of class fellowship and class support, and throughout my entire course i rarely entered my class-room without the abysmal conviction that i was not really wanted there. but some of the men were goodhumoredly cordial, and several of them are among my friends to-day. between myself and my family there still existed the breach i had created when i began to preach. with the exception of mary and james, my people openly regarded me, during my theological course, as a dweller in outer darkness, and even my mother's love was clouded by what she felt to be my deliberate and persistent flouting of her wishes. toward the end of my university experience, however, an incident occurred which apparently changed my mother's viewpoint. she was now living with my sister mary, in big rapids, michigan, and, on the occasion of one of my rare and brief visits to them i was invited to preach in the local church. here, for the first time, my mother heard me. dutifully escorted by one of my brothers, she attended church that morning in a state of shivering nervousness. i do not know what she expected me to do or say, but toward the end of the sermon it became clear that i had not justified her fears. the look of intense apprehension left her eyes, her features relaxed into placidity, and later in the day she paid me the highest compliment i had yet received from a member of my family. "i liked the sermon very much," she peacefully told my brother. "anna didn't say anything about hell, or about anything else!" when we laughed at this handsome tribute, she hastened to qualify it. "what i mean," she explained, "is that anna didn't say anything objectionable in the pulpit!" and with this recognition i was content. between the death of my friend and my departure for europe i buried myself in the work of the university and of my little church; and as if in answer to the call of my need, mary e. livermore, who had given me the first professional encouragement i had ever received, re-entered my life. her husband, like myself, was pastor of a church in hingham, and whenever his finances grew low, or there was need of a fund for some special purpose--conditions that usually exist in a small church--his brilliant wife came to his assistance and raised the money, while her husband retired modestly to the background and regarded her with adoring eyes. on one of these occasions, i remember, when she entered the pulpit to preach her sermon, she dropped her bonnet and coat on an unoccupied chair. a little later there was need of this chair, and mr. livermore, who sat under the pulpit, leaned forward, picked up the garments, and, without the least trace of selfconsciousness, held them in his lap throughout the sermon. one of the members of the church, who appeared to be irritated by the incident, later spoke of it to him and added, sardonically, "how does it feel to be merely 'mrs. livermore's husband'?" in reply mr. livermore flashed on him one of his charming smiles. "why, i'm very proud of it," he said, with the utmost cheerfulness. "you see, i'm the only man in the world who has that distinction." they were a charming couple, the livermores, and they deserved far more than they received from a world to which they gave so freely and so richly. to me, as to others, they were more than kind; and i never recall them without a deep feeling of gratitude and an equally deep sense of loss in their passing. it was during this period, also, that i met frances e. willard. there was a great moody revival in progress in boston, and miss willard was the righthand assistant of mr. moody. to her that revival must have been marked with a star, for during it she met for the first time miss anna gordon, who became her life-long friend and her biographer. the meetings also laid the foundation of our friendship, and for many years miss willard and i were closely associated in work and affection. on the second or third night of the revival, during one of the "mixed meetings," attended by both women and men, mr. moody invited those who were willing to talk to sinners to come to the front. i went down the aisle with others, and found a seat near miss willard, to whom i was then introduced by some one who knew us both. i wore my hair short in those days, and i had a little fur cap on my head. though i had been preaching for several years, i looked absurdly young--far too young, it soon became evident, to interest mr. moody. he was already moving about among the men and women who had responded to his invitation, and one by one he invited them to speak, passing me each time until at last i was left alone. then he took pity on me and came to my side to whisper kindly that i had misunderstood his invitation. he did not want young girls to talk to his people, he said, but mature women with worldly experience. he advised me to go home to my mother, adding, to soften the blow, that some time in the future when there were young girls at the meeting i could come and talk to them. i made no explanations to him, but started to leave, and miss willard, who saw me departing, followed and stopped me. she asked why i was going, and i told her that mr. moody had sent me home to grow. frances willard had a keen sense of humor, and she enjoyed the joke so thoroughly that she finally convinced me it was amusing, though at first the humor of it had escaped me. she took me back to mr. moody and explained the situation to him, and he apologized and put me to work. he said he had thought i was about sixteen. after that i occasionally helped him in the intervals of my other work. the time had come to follow mrs. addy's wishes and go to europe, and i sailed in the month of june following my graduation, and traveled for three months with a party of tourists under the direction of eben tourgee, of the boston conservatory of music. we landed in glasgow, and from there went to england, belgium, holland, germany, france, and last of all to italy. our company included many clergymen and a never-to-be-forgotten widow whose light-hearted attitude toward the memory of her departed spouse furnished the comedy of our first voyage. it became a pet diversion to ask her if her husband still lived, for she always answered the question in the same mournful words, and with the same manner of irrepressible gaiety. "oh no!" she would chirp. "my dear departed has been in our heavenly father's house for the past eight years!" at its best, the vacation without my friend was tragically incomplete, and only a few of its incidents stand out with clearness across the forty-six years that have passed since then. one morning, i remember, i preached an impromptu sermon in the castle of heidelberg before a large gathering; and a little later, in genoa, i preached a very different sermon to a wholly different congregation. there was a gospel-ship in the harbor, and one saturday the pastor of it came ashore to ask if some american clergyman in our party would preach on his ship the next morning. he was an old-time, orthodox presbyterian, and from the tips of his broad-soled shoes to the severe part in the hair above his sanctimonious brow he looked the type. i was not present when he called at our hotel, and my absence gave my fellow-clergymen an opportunity to play a joke on the gentleman from the gospel-ship. they assured him that "dr. shaw" would preach for him, and the pastor returned to his post greatly pleased. when they told me of his invitation, however, they did not add that they had neglected to tell him dr. shaw was a woman, and i was greatly elated by the compliment i thought had been paid me. our entire party of thirty went out to the gospelship the next morning, and when the pastor came to meet us, lank and forbidding, his austere lips vainly trying to curve into a smile of welcome, they introduced me to him as the minister who was to deliver the sermon. he had just taken my hand; he dropped it as if it had burned his own. for a moment he had no words to meet the crisis. then he stuttered something to the effect that the situation was impossible that his men would not listen to a woman, that they would mob her, that it would be blasphemous for a woman to preach. my associates, who had so light-heartedly let me in for this unpleasant experience, now realized that they must see me through it. they persuaded him to allow me to preach the sermon. with deep reluctance the pastor finally accepted me and the situation; but when the moment came to introduce me, he devoted most of his time to heartfelt apologies for my presence. he explained to the sailors that i was a woman, and fervidly assured them that he himself was not responsible for my appearance there. with every word he uttered he put a brick in the wall he was building between me and the crew, until at last i felt that i could never get past it. i was very unhappy, very lonely, very homesick; and suddenly the thought came to me that these men, notwithstanding their sullen eyes and forbidding faces, might be lonely and homesick, too. i decided to talk to them as a woman and not as a minister, and i came down from the pulpit and faced them on their own level, looking them over and mentally selecting the hardest specimens of the lot as the special objects of my appeal. one old fellow, who looked like a pirate with his red-rimmed eyes, weather-beaten skin, and fimbriated face, grinned up at me in such sardonic challenge that i walked directly in front of him and began to speak. i said: "my friends, i hope you will forget everything dr. blank has just said. it is true that i am a minister, and that i came here to preach. but now i do not intend to preach--only to have a friendly talk, on a text which is not in the bible. i am very far from home, and i feel as homesick as some of you men look. so my text is, 'blessed are the homesick, for they shall go home.'" in my summers at cape cod i had learned something about sailors. i knew that in the inprepossessing congregation before me there were many boys who had run away from home, and men who had left home because of family troubles. i talked to the young men first, to those who had forgotten their mothers and thought their mothers had forgotten them, and i told of my experiences with waiting, heavy-hearted mothers who had sons at sea. some heads went down at that, and here and there i saw a boy gulp, but the old fellow i was particularly anxious to move still grinned up at me like a malicious monkey. then i talked of the sailor's wife, and of her double burden of homemaking and anxiety, and soon i could pick out some of the husbands by their softened faces. but still my old man grinned and squinted. last of all i described the whalers who were absent from home for years, and who came back to find their children and their grandchildren waiting for them. i told how i had seen them, in our new england coast towns, covered, as a ship is covered with barnacles, by grandchildren who rode on their shoulders and sat astride of their necks as they walked down the village streets. and now at last the sneer left my old man's loose lips. he had grandchildren somewhere. he twisted uneasily in his seat, coughed, and finally took out a big red handkerchief and wiped his eyes. the episode encouraged me. "when i came here," i added, "i intended to preach a sermon on 'the heavenly vision.' now i want to give you a glimpse of that in addition to the vision we have had of home." i ended with a bit of the sermon and a prayer, and when i raised my head the old man of the sardonic grin was standing before me. "missus," he said in a husky whisper, "i'd like to shake your hand." i took his hard old fist, and then, seeing that many of the other sailors were beginning to move hospitably but shyly toward me, i said: "i would like to shake hands with every man here." at the words they surged forward, and the affair became a reception, during which i shook hands with every sailor of my congregation. the next day my hand was swollen out of shape, for the sailors had gripped it as if they were hauling on a hawser; but the experience was worth the discomfort. the best moment of the morning came, however, when the pastor of the ship faced me, goggle-eyed and marveling. "i wouldn't have believed it," was all he could say. "i thought the men would mob you." "why should they mob me?" i wanted to know. "why," he stammered, "because the thing is so--so--unnatural." "well," i said, "if it is unnatural for women to talk to men, we have been living in an unnatural world for a long time. moreover, if it is unnatural, why did jesus send a woman out as the first preacher?" he waived a discussion of that question by inviting us all to his cabin to drink wine with him--and as we were "total abstainers," it seemed as unnatural to us to have him offer us wine as a woman's preaching had seemed to him. the next european incident on which memory throws a high-light was our audience with pope leo xiii. as there were several distinguished americans in our party, a private audience was arranged for us, and for days before the time appointed we nervously rehearsed the etiquette of the occasion. when we reached the vatican we were marched between rows of swiss guards to the throne room, only to learn there that we were to be received in the tapestry room. here we found a very impressive assemblage of cardinals and vatican officials, and while we were still lost in the beauty of the picture they made against the room's superb background, the approach of the pope was announced. every one immediately knelt, except a few persons who tried to show their democracy by standing; but i am sure that even these individuals felt a thrill when the slight, exquisite figure appeared at the door and gave us a general benediction. then the pope passed slowly down the line, offering his hand to each of us, and radiating a charm so gracious and so human that few failed to respond to the appeal of his engaging personality. there was nothing fleshly about leo xiii. his body was so frail, so wraithlike, that one almost expected to see through it the magnificent tapestries on the walls. but from the moment he appeared every eye clung to him, every thought was concentrated upon him. this effect i think he would have produced even if he had come among us unrecognized, for through the thin shell that housed it shone the steady flame of a wonderful spirit. i had previously remarked to my friends that kissing the pope's ring after so many other lips had touched it did not appeal to me as hygienic, and that i intended to kiss his hand instead. when my opportunity came i kept my word; but after i had kissed the venerable hand i remained kneeling for an instant with bowed head, a little aghast at my daring. the gentle father thought, however, that i was waiting for a special blessing. he gave it to me gravely and passed on, and i devoted the next few hours to ungodly crowing over the associates who had received no such individual attention. in venice we attended the great fete celebrating the first visit of king humbert and queen margherita. it was also the first time venice had entertained a queen since the italian union, and the sea-queen of the adriatic outdid herself in the gorgeousness and the beauty of her preparations. the grand canal was like a flowing rainbow, reflecting the brilliant decorations on every side, and at night the moonlight, the music, the chiming church-bells, the colored lanterns, the gay voices, the lapping waters against the sides of countless gondolas made the experience seem like a dream of a new and unbelievably beautiful world. forty thousand persons were gathered in the square of st. mark and in front of the palace, and i recall a pretty incident in which the gracious queen and a little street urchin figured. the small, ragged boy had crept as close to the royal balcony as he dared, and then, unobserved, had climbed up one of its pillars. at the moment when a sudden hush had fallen on the crowd this infant, overcome by patriotism and a glimpse of the royal lady on the balcony above him, suddenly piped up shrilly in the silence. "long live the queen!" he cried. "long live the queen!" the gracious margherita heard the childish voice, and, amused and interested, leaned over the balcony to see where it came from. what she saw doubtless touched the mother-heart in her. she caught the eye of the tattered urchin clinging to the pillar, and radiantly smiled on him. then, probably thinking that the king was absorbing the attention of the great assemblage, she indulged in a little diversion. leaning far forward, she kissed the tip of her lace handkerchief and swept it caressingly across the boy's brown cheek, smiling down at him as unconsciously as if she and the enraptured youngster were alone together in the world. the next instant she had straightened up and flushed, for the watchful crowd had seen the episode and was wild with enthusiasm. for ten minutes the people cheered the queen without ceasing, and for the next few days they talked of little but the spontaneous, girlish action which had delighted them all. one more sentimental record, and i shall have reached another mile-stone. as i have said, my friend mrs. addy left me in her will fifteen hundred dollars for my visit to europe, and before i sailed her father, who was one of the best friends i have ever had, made a characteristically kind proposition in connection with the little fund. instead of giving me the money, he gave me two railroad bonds, one for one thousand dollars, the other for five hundred dollars, and each drawing seven per cent. interest. he suggested that i deposit these bonds in the bank of which he was president, and borrow from the bank the money to go abroad. then, when i returned and went into my new parish, i could use some of my salary every month toward repaying the loan. these monthly payments, he explained, could be as small as i wished, but each month the interest on the amount i paid would cease. i gladly took his advice and borrowed seven hundred dollars. after i returned from europe i repaid the loan in monthly instalments, and eventually got my bonds, which i still own. they will mature in . i have had one hundred and five dollars a year from them, in interest, ever since i received them in --more than twice as much interest as their face value--and every time i have gone abroad i have used this interest toward paying my passage. thus my friend has had a share in each of the many visits i have made to europe, and in all of them her memory has been vividly with me. with my return from europe my real career as a minister began. the year in the pulpit at hingham had been merely tentative, and though i had succeeded in building up the church membership to four times what it had been when i took charge, i was not reappointed. i had paid off a small church debt, and had had the building repaired, painted, and carpeted. now that it was out of its difficulties it offered some advantages to the occupant of its pulpit, and of these my successor, a man, received the benefit. i, however, had small ground for complaint, for i was at once offered and accepted the pastorate of a church at east dennis, cape cod. here i went in october, , and here i spent seven of the most interesting years of my life. v. shepherd of a divided flock on my return from europe, as i have said, i took up immediately and most buoyantly the work of my new parish. my previous occupation of various pulpits, whether long or short, had always been in the role of a substitute. now, for the first time, i had a church of my own, and was to stand or fall by the record made in it. the ink was barely dry on my diploma from the boston theological school, and, as it happened, the little church to which i was called was in the hands of two warring factions, whose battles furnished the most fervid interest of the cape cod community. but my inexperience disturbed me not at all, and i was blissfully ignorant of the division in the congregation. so i entered my new field as trustfully as a child enters a garden; and though i was in trouble from the beginning, and resigned three times in startling succession, i ended by remaining seven years. my appointment did not cause even a lull in the warfare among my parishioners. before i had crossed the threshold of my church i was made to realize that i was shepherd of a divided flock. exactly what had caused the original breach i never learned; but it had widened with time, until it seemed that no peacemaker could build a bridge large enough to span it. as soon as i arrived in east dennis each faction tried to pour into my ears its bitter criticisms of the other, but i made and consistently followed the safe rule of refusing to listen to either side, i announced publicly that i would hear no verbal charges whatever, but that if my two flocks would state their troubles in writing i would call a board meeting to discuss and pass upon them. this they both resolutely refused to do (it was apparently the first time they had ever agreed on any point); and as i steadily declined to listen to complaints, they devised an original method of putting them before me. during the regular thursday-night prayer-meeting, held about two weeks after my arrival, and at which, of course, i presided, they voiced their difficulties in public prayer, loudly and urgently calling upon the lord to pardon such and such a liar, mentioning the gentleman by name, and such and such a slanderer, whose name was also submitted. by the time the prayers were ended there were few untarnished reputations in the congregation, and i knew, perforce, what both sides had to say. the following thursday night they did the same thing, filling their prayers with intimate and surprising details of one another's history, and i endured the situation solely because i did not know how to meet it. i was still young, and my theological course had set no guide-posts on roads as new as these. to interfere with souls in their communion with god seemed impossible; to let them continue to utter personal attacks in church, under cover of prayer, was equally impossible. any course i could follow seemed to lead away from my new parish, yet both duty and pride made prompt action necessary. by the time we gathered for the third prayermeeting i had decided what to do, and before the services began i rose and addressed my erring children. i explained that the character of the prayers at our recent meetings was making us the laughingstock of the community, that unbelievers were ridiculing our religion, and that the discipline of the church was being wrecked; and i ended with these words, each of which i had carefully weighed: "now one of two things must happen. either you will stop this kind of praying, or you will remain away from our meetings. we will hold prayermeetings on another night, and i shall refuse admission to any among you who bring personal criticisms into your public prayers." as i had expected it to do, the announcement created an immediate uproar. both factions sprang to their feet, trying to talk at once. the storm raged until i dismissed the congregation, telling the members that their conduct was an insult to the lord, and that i would not listen to either their protests or their prayers. they went unwillingly, but they went; and the excitement the next day raised the sick from their beds to talk of it, and swept the length and breadth of cape cod. the following sunday the little church held the largest attendance in its history. seemingly, every man and woman in town had come to hear what more i would say about the trouble, but i ignored the whole matter. i preached the sermon i had prepared, the subject of which was as remote from church quarrels as our atmosphere was remote from peace, and my congregation dispersed with expressions of such artless disappointment that it was all i could do to preserve a dignified gravity. that night, however, the war was brought into my camp. at the evening meeting the leader of one of the factions rose to his feet with the obvious purpose of starting trouble. he was a retired sea-captain, of the ruthless type that knocks a man down with a belaying-pin, and he made his attack on me in a characteristically "straight from the shoulder" fashion. he began with the proposition that my morning sermon had been "entirely contrary to the scriptures," and for ten minutes he quoted and misquoted me, hammering in his points. i let him go on without interruption. then he added: "and this gal comes to this church and undertakes to tell us how we shall pray. that's a highhanded measure, and i, for one, ain't goin' to stand it. i want to say right here that i shall pray as i like, when i like, and where i like. i have prayed in this heavenly way for fifty years before that gal was born, and she can't dictate to me now!" by this time the whole congregation was aroused, and cries of "sit down!" "sit down!" came from every side of the church. it was a hard moment, but i was able to rise with some show of dignity. i was hurt through and through, but my fighting blood was stirring. "no," i said, "captain sears has the floor. let him say now all he wishes to say, for it is the last time he will ever speak at one of our meetings." captain sears, whose exertions had already made him apoplectic, turned a darker purple. "what's that?" he shouted. "what d'ye mean?" "i mean," i replied, "that i do not intend to allow you or anybody else to interfere with my meetings. you are a sea-captain. what would you do to me if i came on board your ship and started a mutiny in your crew, or tried to give you orders?" captain sears did not reply. he stood still, with his legs far apart and braced, as he always stood when talking, but his eyes shifted a little. i answered my own question. "you would put me ashore or in irons," i reminded him. "now, captain sears, i intend to put you ashore. i am the master of this ship. i have set my course, and i mean to follow it. if you rebel, either you will get out or i will. but until the board asks for my resignation, i am in command." as it happened, i had put my ultimatum in the one form the old man could understand. he sat down without a word and stared at me. we sang the doxology, and i dismissed the meeting. again we had omitted prayers. the next day captain sears sent me a letter recalling his subscription toward the support of the church; and for weeks he remained away from our services, returning under conditions i will mention later. even at the time, however, his attack helped rather than hurt me. at the regular meeting the following thursday night no personal criticisms were included in the prayers, and eventually we had peace. but many battles were lost and won before that happy day arrived. captain sears's vacant place among us was promptly taken by another captain in east dennis, whose name was also sears. a few days after my encounter with the first captain i met the second on the street. he had never come to church, and i stopped and invited him to do so. he replied with simple candor. "i ain't comin'," he told me. "there ain't no gal that can teach me nothin'." "perhaps you are wrong, captain sears," i replied. "i might teach you something." "what?" demanded the captain, with chilling distrust. "oh," i said, cheerfully, "let us say tolerance, for one thing." "humph!" muttered the old man. "the lord don't want none of your tolerance, and neither do i." i laughed. "he doesn't object to tolerance," i said. "come to church. you can talk, too; and the lord will listen to us both." to my surprise, the captain came the following sunday, and during the seven years i remained in the church he was one of my strongest supporters and friends. i needed friends, for my second battle was not slow in following my first. there was, indeed, barely time between in which to care for the wounded. we had in east dennis what was known as the "free religious group," and when some of the members of my congregation were not wrangling among themselves, they were usually locking horns with this group. for years, i was told, one of the prime diversions of the "free religious" faction was to have a dance in our town hall on the night when we were using it for our annual church fair. the rules of the church positively prohibited dancing, so the worldly group took peculiar pleasure in attending the fair, and during the evening in getting up a dance and whirling about among us, to the horror of our members. then they spent the remainder of the year boasting of the achievement. it came to my ears that they had decided to follow this pleasing programme at our christmas church celebration, so i called the church trustees together and put the situation to them. "we must either enforce our discipline," i said, "or give it up. personally i do not object to dancing, but, as the church has ruled against it, i intend to uphold the church. to allow these people to make us ridiculous year after year is impossible. let us either tell them that they may dance or that they may not dance; but whatever we tell them, let us make them obey our ruling." the trustees were shocked at the mere suggestion of letting them dance. "very well," i ended. "then they shall not dance. that is understood." captain crowell, the father of my dead friend mrs. addy, and himself my best man friend, was a strong supporter of the free religious group. when its members raced to him with the news that i had said they could not dance at the church's christmas party, captain crowell laughed goodhumoredly and told them to dance as much as they pleased, cheerfully adding that he would get them out of any trouble they got into. knowing my friendship for him, and that i even owed my church appointment to him, the free religious people were certain that i would never take issue with him on dancing or on any other point. they made all their preparations for the dance, therefore, with entire confidence, and boasted that the affair would be the gayest they had ever arranged. my people began to look at me with sympathy, and for a time i felt very sorry for myself. it seemed sufficiently clear that "the gal" was to have more trouble. on the night of the party things went badly from the first. there was an evident intention among the worst of the free religious group to embarrass us at every turn. we opened the exercises with the lord's prayer, which this element loudly applauded. a live kitten was hung high on the christmas tree, where it squalled mournfully beyond reach of rescue, and the young men of the outside group threw cake at one another across the hall. finally tiring of these innocent diversions, they began to prepare for their dance, and i protested. the spokesman of the group waved me to one side. "captain crowell said we could," he remarked, airily. "captain crowell," i replied, "has no authority whatever in this matter. the church trustees have decided that you cannot dance here, and i intend to enforce their ruling." it was interesting to observe how rapidly the men of my congregation disappeared from that hall. like shadows they crept along the walls and vanished through the doors. but the preparations for the dance went merrily on. i walked to the middle of the room and raised my voice. i was always listened to, for my hearers always had the hope, usually realized, that i was about to get into more trouble. "you are determined to dance," i began. "i cannot keep you from doing so. but i can and will make you regret that you have done so. the law of the state of massachusetts is very definite in regard to religious meetings and religious gatherings. this hall was engaged and paid for by the wesleyan methodist church, of which i am pastor, and we have full control of it to-night. every man and woman who interrupts our exercises by attempting to dance, or by creating a disturbance of any kind, will be arrested to-morrow morning." surprise at first, then consternation, swept through the ranks of the free religious group. they denied the existence of such a law as i had mentioned, and i promptly read it aloud to them. the leaders went off into a corner and consulted. by this time not one man in my parish was left in the hall. as a result of the consultation in the corner, a committee of the would-be dancers came to me and suggested a compromise. "will you agree to arrest the men only?" they wanted to know. "no," i declared. "on the contrary, i shall have the women arrested first! for the women ought to be standing with me now in the support of law and order, instead of siding with the hoodlum element you represent." that settled it. no girl or woman dared to go on the dancing-floor, and no man cared to revolve merrily by himself. a whisper went round, however, that the dance would begin when i had left. when the clock struck twelve, at which hour, according to the town rule, the hall had to be closed, i was the last person to leave it. then i locked the door myself, and carried the key away with me. there had been no free religious dance that night. on the following sunday morning the attendance at my church broke all previous records. every seat was occupied and every aisle was filled. men and women came from surrounding towns, and strange horses were tied to all the fences in east dennis. every person in that church was looking for excitement, and this time my congregation got what it expected. before i began my sermon i read my resignation, to take effect at the discretion of the trustees. then, as it was presumably my last chance to tell the people and the place what i thought of them, i spent an hour and a half in fervidly doing so. in my study of english i had acquired a fairly large vocabulary. i think i used it all that morning--certainly i tried to. if ever an erring congregation and community saw themselves as they really were, mine did on that occasion. i was heartsick, discouraged, and full of resentment and indignation, which until then had been pent up. under the arraignment my people writhed and squirmed. i ended: "what i am saying hurts you, but in your hearts you know you deserve every word of it. it is high time you saw yourselves as you are--a disgrace to the religion you profess and to the community you live in." i was not sure the congregation would let me finish, but it did. my hearers seemed torn by conflicting sentiments, in which anger and curiosity led opposing sides. many of them left the church in a white fury, but others--more than i had expected--remained to speak to me and assure me of their sympathy. once on the streets, different groups formed and mingled, and all day the little town rocked with arguments for and against "the gal." night brought another surprisingly large attendance. i expected more trouble, and i faced it with difficulty, for i was very tired. just as i took my place in the pulpit, captain sears entered the church and walked down the aisle--the captain sears who had left us at my invitation some weeks before and had not since attended a church service. i was sure he was there to make another attack on me while i was down, and, expecting the worst, i wearily gave him his opportunity. the big old fellow stood up, braced himself on legs far apart, as if he were standing on a slippery deck during a high sea, and gave the congregation its biggest surprise of the year. he said he had come to make a confession. he had been angry with "the gal" in the past, as they all knew. but he had heard about the sermon she had preached that morning, and this time she was right. it was high time quarreling and backbiting were stopped. they had been going on too long, and no good could come of them. moreover, in all the years he had been a member of that congregation he had never until now seen the pulpit occupied by a minister with enough backbone to uphold the discipline of the church. "i've come here to say i'm with the gal," he ended. "put me down for my original subscription and ten dollars extra!" so we had the old man back again. he was a tower of strength, and he stood by me faithfully until he died. the trustees would not accept my resignation (indeed, they refused to consider it at all), and the congregation, when it had thought things over, apparently decided that there might be worse things in the pulpit than "the gal." it was even known to brag of what it called my "spunk," and perhaps it was this quality, rather than any other, which i most needed in that particular parish at that time. as for me, when the fight was over i dropped it from my mind, and it had not entered my thoughts for years, until i began to summon these memories. at the end of my first six months in east dennis i was asked to take on, also, the temporary charge of the congregational church at dennis, two miles and a half away. i agreed to do this until a permanent pastor could be found, on condition that i should preach at dennis on sunday afternoons, using the same sermon i preached in my own pulpit in the morning. the arrangement worked so well that it lasted for six and a half years--until i resigned from my east dennis church. during that period, moreover, i not only carried the two churches on my shoulders, holding three meetings each sunday, but i entered upon and completed a course in the boston medical school, winning my m.d. in , and i also lectured several times a month during the winter seasons. these were, therefore, among the most strenuous as well as the most interesting years of my existence, and i mention the strain of them only to prove my life-long contention, that congenial work, no matter how much there is of it, has never yet killed any one! after my battle with the free religious group things moved much more smoothly in the parish. captain crowell, instead of resenting my defiance of his ruling, helped to reconcile the divided factions in the church; and though, as i have said, twice afterward i submitted my resignation, in each case the fight i was making was for a cause which i firmly believed in and eventually won. my second resignation was brought about by the unwillingness of the church to have me exchange pulpits with the one minister on cape cod broad-minded enough to invite me to preach in his pulpit. i had done so, and had then sent him a return invitation. he was a gentleman and a scholar, but he was also a unitarian; and though my people were willing to let me preach in his church, they were loath to let him preach in mine. after a surprising amount of discussion my resignation put a different aspect on the matter; it also led to the satisfactory ruling that i could exchange pulpits not only with this minister, but with any other in good standing in his own church. my third resignation went before the trustees in consequence of my protest from the pulpit against a small drinking and gambling saloon in east dennis; which was rapidly demoralizing our boys. theoretically, only "soft drinks" were sold, but the gambling was open, and the resort was constantly filled with boys of all ages. there were influences back of this place which tried to protect it, and its owner was very popular in the town. after my first sermon i was waited upon by a committee, that warmly advised me to "let east dennis alone" and confine my criticisms "to saloons in boston and other big towns." as i had nothing to do with boston, and much to do with east dennis, i preached on that place three sundays in succession, and feeling became so intense that i handed in my resignation and prepared to depart. then my friends rallied and the resort was suppressed. that was my last big struggle. during the remaining five years of my pastorate on cape cod the relations between my people and myself were wholly harmonious and beautiful. if i have seemed to dwell too much on these small victories, it must be remembered that i find in them such comfort as i can. i have not yet won the great and vital fight of my life, to which i have given myself, heart and soul, for the past thirty years--the campaign for woman suffrage. i have seen victories here and there, and shall see more. but when the ultimate triumph comes--when american women in every state cast their ballots as naturally as their husbands do--i may not be in this world to rejoice over it. it is interesting to remember that during the strenuous period of the first few months in east dennis, and notwithstanding the division in the congregation, we women of the church got together and repainted and refurnished the building, raising all the money and doing much of the work ourselves, as the expense of having it done was prohibitive. we painted the church, and even cut down and modernized the pulpit. the total cost of material and furniture was not half so great as the original estimate had indicated, and we had learned a valuable lesson. after this we spent very little money for labor, but did our own cleaning, carpet-laying, and the like; and our little church, if i may be allowed to say so, was a model of neatness and good taste. i have said that at the end of two years from the time of my appointment the long-continued warfare in the church was ended. i was not immediately allowed, however, to bask in an atmosphere of harmony, for in october, , the celebrated contest over my ordination took place at the methodist protestant conference in tarrytown, new york; and for three days i was a storm-center around which a large number of truly good and wholly sincere men fought the fight of their religious lives. many of them strongly believed that women were out of place in the ministry. i did not blame them for this conviction. but i was in the ministry, and i was greatly handicapped by the fact that, although i was a licensed preacher and a graduate of the boston theological school, i could not, until i had been regularly ordained, meet all the functions of my office. i could perform the marriage service, but i could not baptize. i could bury the dead, but i could not take members into my church. that had to be done by the presiding elder or by some other minister. i could not administer the sacraments. so at the new england spring conference of the methodist episcopal church, held in boston in , i formally applied for ordination. at the same time application was made by another woman--miss anna oliver--and as a preliminary step we were both examined by the conference board, and were formally reported by that board as fitted for ordination. our names were therefore presented at the conference, over which bishop andrews presided, and he immediately refused to accept them. miss oliver and i were sitting together in the gallery of the church when the bishop announced his decision, and, while it staggered us, it did not really surprise us. we had been warned of this gentleman's deep-seated prejudice against women in the ministry. after the services were over miss oliver and i called on him and asked him what we should do. he told us calmly that there was nothing for us to do but to get out of the church. we reminded him of our years of study and probation, and that i had been for two years in charge of two churches. he set his thin lips and replied that there was no place for women in the ministry, and, as he then evidently considered the interview ended, we left him with heavy hearts. while we were walking slowly away, miss oliver confided to me that she did not intend to leave the church. instead, she told me, she would stay in and fight the matter of her ordination to a finish. i, however, felt differently. i had done considerable fighting during the past two years, and my heart and soul were weary. i said: "i shall get out, i am no better and no stronger than a man, and it is all a man can do to fight the world, the flesh, and the devil, without fighting his church as well. i do not intend to fight my church. but i am called to preach the gospel; and if i cannot preach it in my own church, i will certainly preach it in some other church!" as if in response to this outburst, a young minister named mark trafton soon called to see me. he had been present at our conference, he had seen my church refuse to ordain me, and he had come to suggest that i apply for ordination in his church--the methodist protestant. to leave my church, even though urged to do so by its appointed spokesman, seemed a radical step. before taking this i appealed from the decision of the conference to the general conference of the methodist episcopal church, which held its session that year in cincinnati, ohio. miss oliver also appealed, and again we were both refused ordination, the general conference voting to sustain bishop andrews in his decision. not content with this achievement, the conference even took a backward step. it deprived us of the right to be licensed as local preachers. after this blow i recalled with gratitude the reverend mark trafton's excellent advice, and i immediately applied for ordination in the methodist protestant church. my name was presented at the conference held in tarrytown in october, , and the fight was on. during these conferences it is customary for each candidate to retire while the discussion of his individual fitness for ordination is in progress. when my name came up i was asked, as my predecessors had been, to leave the room for a few moments. i went into an anteroom and waited--a half-hour, an hour, all afternoon, all evening, and still the battle raged. i varied the monotony of sitting in the anteroom by strolls around tarrytown, and i think i learned to know its every stone and turn. the next day passed in the same way. at last, late on saturday night, it was suddenly announced by my opponents that i was not even a member of the church in which i had applied for ordination. the statement created consternation among my friends. none of us had thought of that! the bomb, timed to explode at the very end of the session, threatened to destroy all my hopes. of course, my opponents had reasoned, it would be too late for me to do anything, and my name would be dropped. but it was not too late. dr. lyman davis, the pastor of the methodist protestant church in tarrytown, was very friendly toward me and my ordination, and he proved his friendship in a singularly prompt and efficient fashion. late as it was, he immediately called together the trustees of his church, and they responded. to them i made my application for church membership, which they accepted within five minutes. i was now a member of the church, but it was too late to obtain any further action from the conference. the next day, sunday, all the men who had applied for ordination were ordained, and i was left out. on monday morning, however, when the conference met in its final business session, my case was reopened, and i was eventually called before the members to answer questions. some of these were extremely interesting, and several of the episodes that occurred were very amusing. one old gentleman i can see as i write. he was greatly excited, and he led the opposition by racing up and down the aisles, quoting from the scriptures to prove his case against women ministers. as he ran about he had a trick of putting his arms under the back of his coat, making his coat-tails stand out like wings and incidentally revealing two long white tapestrings belonging to a flannel undergarment. even in the painful stress of those hours i observed with interest how beautifully those tape-strings were ironed! i was there to answer any questions that were asked of me, and the questions came like hailstones in a sudden summer storm. "paul said, 'wives, obey your husbands,'" shouted my old man of the coat-tails. "suppose your husband should refuse to allow you to preach? what then?" "in the first place," i answered, "paul did not say so, according to the scriptures. but even if he did, it would not concern me, for i am a spinster." the old man looked me over. "you might marry some day," he predicted, cautiously. "possibly," i admitted. "wiser women than i am have married. but it is equally possible that i might marry a man who would command me to preach; and in that case i want to be all ready to obey him." at this another man, a bachelor, also began to draw from the scriptures. "an elder," he quoted, "shall be the husband of one wife." and he demanded, triumphantly, "how is it possible for you to be the husband of a wife?" in response to that i quoted a bit myself. "paul said, 'anathema unto him who addeth to or taketh from the scriptures,'" i reminded this gentleman; and added that a twisted interpretation of the scriptures was as bad as adding to or taking from them, and that no one doubted that paul was warning the elders against polygamy. then i went a bit further, for by this time the absurd character of the questions was getting on my nerves. "even if my good brother's interpretation is correct," i said, "he has overlooked two important points. though he is an elder, he is also a bachelor; so i am as much of a husband as he is!" a good deal of that sort of thing went on. the most satisfactory episode of the session, to me, was the downfall of three pert young men who in turn tried to make it appear that as the duty of the conference was to provide churches for all its pastors, i might become a burden to the church if it proved impossible to provide a pastorate for me. at that, one of my friends in the council rose to his feet. "i have had official occasion to examine into the matter of miss shaw's parish and salary," he said, "and i know what salaries the last three speakers are drawing. it may interest the conference to know that miss shaw's present salary equals the combined salaries of the three young men who are so afraid she will be a burden to the church. if, before being ordained, she can earn three times as much as they now earn after being ordained, it seems fairly clear that they will never have to support her. we can only hope that she will never have to support them." the three young ministers subsided into their seats with painful abruptness, and from that time my opponents were more careful in their remarks. still, many unpleasant things were said, and too much warmth was shown by both sides. we gained ground through the day, however, and at the end of the session the conference, by a large majority, voted to ordain me. the ordination service was fixed for the following evening, and even the gentlemen who had most vigorously opposed me were not averse to making the occasion a profitable one. the contention had already enormously advertised the conference, and the members now helped the good work along by sending forth widespread announcements of the result. they also decided that, as the attendance at the service would be very large, they would take up a collection for the support of superannuated ministers. the three young men who had feared i would become a burden were especially active in the matter of this collection; and, as they had no sense of humor, it did not seem incongruous to them to use my ordination as a means of raising money for men who had already become burdens to the church. when the great night came (on october , ), the expected crowd came also. and to the credit of my opponents i must add that, having lost their fight, they took their defeat in good part and gracefully assisted in the services. sitting in one of the front pews was mrs. stiles, the wife of dr. stiles, who was superintendent of the conference. she was a dear little old lady of seventy, with a big, maternal heart; and when she saw me rise to walk up the aisle alone, she immediately rose, too, came to my side, offered me her arm, and led me to the altar. the ordination service was very impressive and beautiful. its peace and dignity, following the battle that had raged for days, moved me so deeply that i was nearly overcome. indeed, i was on the verge of a breakdown when i was mercifully saved by the clause in the discipline calling for the pledge all ministers had to make--that i would not indulge in the use of tobacco. when this vow fell from my lips a perceptible ripple ran over the congregation. i was homesick for my cape cod parish, and i returned to east dennis immediately after my ordination, arriving there on saturday night. i knew by the suppressed excitement of my friends that some surprise awaited me, but i did not learn what it was until i entered my dear little church the following morning. there i found the communion-table set forth with a beautiful new communion-service. this had been purchased during my absence, that i might dedicate it that day and for the first time administer the sacrament to my people. vi. cape cod memories looking back now upon those days, i see my cape cod friends as clearly as if the intervening years had been wiped out and we were again together. among those i most loved were two widely differing types--captain doane, a retired sea-captain, and relief paine, an invalid chained to her couch, but whose beautiful influence permeated the community like an atmosphere. captain doane was one of the finest men i have ever known--highminded, tolerant, sympathetic, and full of understanding, he was not only my friend, but my church barometer. he occupied a front pew, close to the pulpit; and when i was preaching without making much appeal he sat looking me straight in the face, listening courteously, but without interest. when i got into my subject, he would lean forward--the angle at which he sat indicating the degree of attention i had aroused--and when i was strongly holding my congregation brother doane would bend toward me, following every word i uttered with corresponding motions of his lips. when i resigned we parted with deep regret, but it was not until i visited the church several years afterward that he overcame his reserve enough to tell me how much he had felt my going. "oh, did you?" i asked, greatly touched. "you're not saying that merely to please me?" the old man's hand fell on my shoulder. "i miss you," he said, simply. "i miss you all the time. you see, i love you." then, with precipitate selfconsciousness, he closed the door of his new england heart, and from some remote corner of it sent out his cautious after-thought. "i love you," he repeated, primly, "as a sister in the lord." relief paine lived in brewster. her name seemed prophetic, and she once told me that she had always considered it so. her brother-in-law was my sunday-school superintendent, and her family belonged to my church. very soon after my arrival in east dennis i went to see her, and found her, as she always was, dressed in white and lying on a tiny white bed covered with pansies, in a room whose windows overlooked the sea. i shall never forget the picture she made. over her shoulders was an exquisite white lace shawl brought from the other side of the world by some seafaring friend, and against her white pillow her hair seemed the blackest i had ever seen. when i entered she turned and looked toward me with wonderful dark eyes that were quite blind, and as she talked her hands played with the pansies around her. she loved pansies as she loved few human beings, and she knew their colors by touching them. she was then a little more than thirty years of age. at sixteen she had fallen downstairs in the dark, receiving an injury that paralyzed her, and for fifteen years she had lain on one side, perfectly still, the stella maris of the cape. all who came to her, and they were many, went away the better for the visit, and the mere mention of her name along the coast softened eyes that had looked too bitterly on life. relief and i became close friends. i was greatly drawn to her, and deeply moved by the tragedy of her situation, as well as by the beautiful spirit with which she bore it. during my first visit i regaled her with stories of the community and of my own experiences, and when i was leaving it occurred to me that possibly i had been rather frivolous. so i said: "i am coming to see you often, and when i come i want to do whatever will interest you most. shall i bring some books and read to you?" relief smiled--the gay, mischievous little smile i was soon to know so well, but which at first seemed out of place on the tragic mask of her face. "no, don't read to me," she decided. "there are enough ready to do that. talk to me. tell me about our life and our people here, as they strike you." and she added, slowly: "you are a queer minister. you have not offered to pray with me!" "i feel," i told her, "more like asking you to pray for me." relief continued her analysis. "you have not told me that my affliction was a visitation from god," she added; "that it was discipline and well for me i had it." "i don't believe it was from god," i said. "i don't believe god had anything to do with it. and i rejoice that you have not let it wreck your life." she pressed my hand. "thank you for saying that," she murmured. "if i thought god did it i could not love him, and if i did not love him i could not live. please come and see me very often--and tell me stories!" after that i collected stories for relief. one of those which most amused her, i remember, was about my horse, and this encourages me to repeat it here. in my life in east dennis i did not occupy the lonely little parsonage connected with my church, but instead boarded with a friend--a widow named crowell. (there seemed only two names in cape cod: sears and crowell.) to keep in touch with my two churches, which were almost three miles apart, it became necessary to have a horse. as mrs. crowell needed one, too, we decided to buy the animal in partnership, and miss crowell, the daughter of the widow, who knew no more about horses than i did, undertook to lend me the support of her presence and advice during the purchase. we did not care to have the entire community take a passionate interest in the matter, as it would certainly have done if it had heard of our intention; so my friend and i departed somewhat stealthily for a neighboring town, where, we had heard, a very good horse was offered for sale. we saw the animal and liked it; but before closing the bargain we cannily asked the owner if the horse was perfectly sound, and if it was gentle with women. he assured us that it was both sound and gentle with women, and to prove the latter point he had his wife harness it to the buggy and drive it around the stable-yard. the animal behaved beautifully. after it had gone through its paces, miss crowell and i leaned confidingly against its side, patting it and praising its beauty, and the horse seemed to enjoy our attentions. we bought it then and there, drove it home, and put it in our barn; and the next morning we hired a man in the neighborhood to come over and take care of it. he arrived. five minutes later a frightful racket broke out in the barn--sounds of stamping, kicking, and plunging, mingled with loud shouts. we ran to the scene of the trouble, and found our "hired man" rushing breathlessly toward the house. when he was able to speak he informed us that we had "a devil in there," pointing back to the barn, and that the new horse's legs were in the air, all four of them at once, the minute he went near her. we insisted that he must have frightened or hurt her, but, solemnly and with anxious looks behind, he protested that he had not. finally miss crowell and i went into the barn, and received a dignified welcome from the new horse, which seemed pleased by our visit. together we harnessed her and, without the least difficulty, drove her out into the yard. as soon as our man took the reins, however, she reared, kicked, and smashed our brand-new buggy. we changed the man and had the buggy repaired, but by the end of the week the animal had smashed the buggy again. then, with some natural resentment, we made a second visit to the man from whom we had bought her, and asked him why he had sold us such a horse. he said he had told us the exact truth. the horse was sound and she was extremely gentle with women, but--and this point he had seen no reason to mention, as we had not asked about it--she would not let a man come near her. he firmly refused to take her back, and we had to make the best of the bargain. as it was impossible to take care of her ourselves, i gave some thought to the problem she presented, and finally devised a plan which worked very well. i hired a neighbor who was a small, slight man to take care of her, and made him wear his wife's sunbonnet and waterproof cloak whenever he approached the horse. the picture he presented in these garments still stands out pleasantly against the background of my cape cod memories. the horse, however, did not share our appreciation of it. she was suspicious, and for a time she shied whenever the man and his sunbonnet and cloak appeared; but we stood by until she grew accustomed to them and him; and as he was both patient and gentle, she finally allowed him to harness and unharness her. but no man could drive her, and when i drove to church i was forced to hitch and unhitch her myself. no one else could do it, though many a gallant and subsequently resentful man attempted the feat. on one occasion a man i greatly disliked, and who i had reason to know disliked me, insisted that he could unhitch her, and started to do so, notwithstanding my protests and explanations. at his approach she rose on her hind-legs, and when he grasped her bridle she lifted him off his feet. his expression as he hung in mid-air was an extraordinary mixture of surprise and regret. the moment i touched her, however, she quieted down, and when i got into the buggy and gathered up the reins she walked off like a lamb, leaving the man staring after her with his eyes starting from his head. the previous owner had called the horse daisy, and we never changed the name, though it always seemed sadly inappropriate. time proved, however, that there were advantages in the ownership of daisy. no man would allow his wife or daughter to drive behind her, and no one wanted to borrow her. if she had been a different kind of animal she would have been used by the whole community, we kept daisy for seven years, and our acquaintance ripened into a pleasant friendship. another cape cod resident to whose memory i must offer tribute in these pages was polly ann sears--one of the dearest and best of my parishioners. she had six sons, and when five had gone to sea she insisted that the sixth must remain at home. in vain the boy begged her to let him follow his brothers. she stood firm. the sea, she said, should not swallow all her boys; she had given it five--she must keep one. as it happened, the son she kept at home was the only one who was drowned. he was caught in a fish-net and dragged under the waters of the bay near his home; and when i went to see his mother to offer such comfort as i could, she showed that she had learned the big lesson of the experience. "i tried to be a special providence," she moaned, "and the one boy i kept home was the only boy i lost. i ain't a-goin' to be a providence no more." the number of funerals on cape cod was tragically large. i was in great demand on these occasions, and went all over the cape, conducting funeral services--which seemed to be the one thing people thought i could do--and preaching funeral sermons. besides the victims of the sea, many of the residents who had drifted away were brought back to sleep their last sleep within sound of the waves. once i asked an old sea-captain why so many cape cod men and women who had been gone for years asked to be buried near their old homes, and his reply still lingers in my memory. he poked his toe in the sand for a moment and then said, slowly: "wal, i reckon it's because the cape has such warm, comfortable sand to lie down in." my friend mrs. addy lay in the crowell family lot, and during my pastorate at east dennis i preached the funeral sermon of her father, and later of her mother. long after i had left cape cod i was frequently called back to say the last words over the coffins of my old friends, and the saddest of those journeys was the one i made in response to a telegram from the mother of relief paine. when i had arrived and we stood together beside the exquisite figure that seemed hardly more quiet in death than in life, mrs. paine voiced in her few words the feeling of the whole community--"where shall we get our comfort and our inspiration, now that relief is gone?" the funeral which took all my courage from me, however, was that of my sister mary. in its suddenness, mary's death, in , was as a thunderbolt from the blue; for she had been in perfect health three days before she passed away. i was still in charge of my two parishes in cape cod, but, as it mercifully happened, before she was stricken i had started west to visit mary in her home at big rapids. when i arrived on the second day of her illness, knowing nothing of it until i reached her, i found her already past hope. her disease was pneumonia, but she was conscious to the end, and her greatest desire seemed to be to see me christen her little daughter and her husband before she left them. this could not be realized, for my brotherin-law was absent on business, and with all his haste in returning did not reach his wife's side until after her death. as his one thought then was to carry out her last wishes, i christened him and his little girl just before the funeral; and during the ceremony we all experienced a deep conviction that mary knew and was content. she had become a power in her community, and was so dearly loved that on the day her body was borne to its last resting-place all the business houses in big rapids were closed, and the streets were filled with men who stood with bent, uncovered heads as the funeral procession went by. my father and mother, also, to whom she had given a home after they left the log-cabin where they had lived so long, had made many friends in their new environment and were affectionately known throughout the whole region as "grandma and grandpa shaw." when i returned to east dennis i brought my mother and mary's three children with me, and they remained throughout the spring and summer. i had hoped that they would remain permanently, and had rented and furnished a home for them with that end in view; but, though they enjoyed their visit, the prospect of the bleak winters of cape cod disturbed my mother, and they all returned to big rapids late in the autumn. since entering upon my parish work it had been possible for me to help my father and mother financially; and from the time of mary's death i had the privilege, a very precious one, of seeing that they were well cared for and contented. they were always appreciative, and as time passed they became more reconciled to the career i had chosen, and which in former days had filled them with such dire forebodings. after i had been in east dennis four years i began to feel that i was getting into a rut. it seemed to me that all i could do in that particular field had been done. my people wished me to remain, however, and so, partly as an outlet for my surplus energy, but more especially because i realized the splendid work women could do as physicians, i began to study medicine. the trustees gave me permission to go to boston on certain days of each week, and we soon found that i could carry on my work as a medical student without in the least neglecting my duty toward my parish. i entered the boston medical school in , and obtained my diploma as a full-fledged physician in . during this period i also began to lecture for the massachusetts woman suffrage association, of which lucy stone was president. henry blackwell was associated with her, and together they developed in me a vital interest in the suffrage cause, which grew steadily from that time until it became the dominating influence in my life. i preached it in the pulpit, talked it to those i met outside of the church, lectured on it whenever i had an opportunity, and carried it into my medical work in the boston slums when i was trying my prentice hand on helpless pauper patients. here again, in my association with the women of the streets, i realized the limitations of my work in the ministry and in medicine. as minister to soul and body one could do little for these women. for such as them, one's efforts must begin at the very foundation of the social structure. laws for them must be made and enforced, and some of those laws could only be made and enforced by women. so many great avenues of life were opening up before me that my cape cod environment seemed almost a prison where i was held with tender force. i loved my people and they loved me--but the big outer world was calling, and i could not close my ears to its summons. the suffrage lectures helped to keep me contented, however, and i was certainly busy enough to find happiness in my work. i was in boston three nights a week, and during these nights subject to sick calls at any hour. my favorite associates were dr. caroline hastings, our professor of anatomy, and little dr. mary safford, a mite of a woman with an indomitable soul. dr. safford was especially prominent in philanthropic work in massachusetts, and it was said of her that at any hour of the day or night she could be found working in the slums of boston. i, too, could frequently be found there--often, no doubt, to the disadvantage of my patients. i was quite famous in three boston alleys--maiden's lane, fellows court, and andrews court. it most fortunately happened that i did not lose a case in those alleys, though i took all kinds, as i had to treat a certain number of surgical and obstetrical cases in my course. no doubt my patients and i had many narrow escapes of which we were blissfully ignorant, but i remember two which for a long time afterward continued to be features of my most troubled dreams. the first was that of a big irishman who had pneumonia. when i looked him over i was as much frightened as he was. i had got as far as pneumonia in my course, and i realized that here was a bad case of it. i knew what to do. the patient must be carefully packed in towels wrung out of cold water. when i called for towels i found that there was nothing in the place but a dish-towel, which i washed with portentous gravity. the man owned but one shirt, and, in deference to my visit, his wife had removed that to wash it. i packed the patient in the dish-towel, wrapped him in a piece of an old shawl, and left after instructing his wife to repeat the process. when i reached home i remembered that the patient must be packed "carefully," and i knew that his wife would do it carelessly. that meant great risk to the man's life. my impulse was to rush back to him at once, but this would never do. it would destroy all confidence in the doctor. i walked the floor for three hours, and then casually strolled in upon my patient, finding him, to my great relief, better than i had left him. as i was leaving, a child rushed into the room, begging me to come to an upper floor in the same building. "the baby's got the croup," she gasped, "an' he's chokin' to death." we had not reached croup in our course, and i had no idea what to do, but i valiantly accompanied the little girl. as we climbed the long flights of stairs to the top floor i remembered a conversation i had overheard between two medical students. one of them had said: "if the child is strangling when it inhales, as if it were breathing through a sponge, then give it spongia; but if it is strangling when it breathes out, give it aconite." when i reached the baby i listened, but could not tell which way it was strangling. however, i happened to have both medicines with me, so i called for two glasses and mixed the two remedies, each in its own glass. i gave them both to the mother, and told her to use them alternately, every fifteen minutes, until the baby was better. the baby got well; but whether its recovery was due to the spongia or to the aconite i never knew. in my senior year i fell in love with an infant of three, named patsy. he was one of nine children when i was called to deliver his mother of her tenth child. she was drunk when i reached her, and so were two men who lay on the floor in the same room. i had them carried out, and after the mother and baby had been attended to i noticed patsy. he was the most beautiful child i had ever seen--with eyes like italian skies and yellow hair in tight curls over his adorable little head; but he was covered with filthy rags. i borrowed him, took him home with me, and fed and bathed him, and the next day fitted him out with new clothes. every hour i had him tightened his hold on my heart-strings. i went to his mother and begged her to let me keep him, but she refused, and after a great deal of argument and entreaty i had to return him to her. when i went to see him a few days later i found him again in his horrible rags. his mother had pawned his new clothes for drink, and she was deeply under its influence. but no pressure i could exert then or later would make her part with patsy. finally, for my own peace of mind, i had to give up hope of getting him--but i have never ceased to regret the little adopted son i might have had. vii. the great cause there is a theory that every seven years each human being undergoes a complete physical reconstruction, with corresponding changes in his mental and spiritual make-up. possibly it was due to this reconstruction that, at the end of seven years on cape cod, my soul sent forth a sudden call to arms. i was, it reminded me, taking life too easily; i was in danger of settling into an agreeable routine. the work of my two churches made little drain on my superabundant vitality, and not even the winning of a medical degree and the increasing demands of my activities on the lecture platform wholly eased my conscience. i was happy, for i loved my people and they seemed to love me. it would have been pleasant to go on almost indefinitely, living the life of a country minister and telling myself that what i could give to my flock made such a life worth while. but all the time, deep in my heart, i realized the needs of the outside world, and heard its prayer for workers. my theological and medical courses in boston, with the experiences that accompanied them, had greatly widened my horizon. moreover, at my invitation, many of the noble women of the day were coming to east dennis to lecture, bringing with them the stirring atmosphere of the conflicts they were waging. one of the first of these was my friend mary a. livermore; and after her came julia ward howe, anna garlin spencer, lucy stone, mary f. eastman, and many others, each charged with inspiration for my people and with a special message for me, which she sent forth unknowingly and which i alone heard. they were fighting great battles, these women--for suffrage, for temperance, for social purity--and in every word they uttered i heard a rallying-cry. so it was that, in , i suddenly pulled myself up to a radical decision and sent my resignation to the trustees of the two churches whose pastor i had been since . the action caused a demonstration of regret which made it hard to keep to my resolution and leave these men and women whose friendship was among the dearest of my possessions. but when we had all talked things over, many of them saw the situation as i did. no doubt there were those, too, who felt that a change of ministry would be good for the churches. during the weeks that followed my resignation i received many odd tributes, and of these one of the most amusing came from a young girl in the parish, who broke into loud protests when she heard that i was going away. to comfort her i predicted that she would now have a man minister--doubtless a very nice man. but the young person continued to sniffle disconsolately. "i don't want a man," she wailed. "i don't like to see men in pulpits. they look so awkward." her grief culminated in a final outburst. "they're all arms and legs!" she sobbed. when my resignation was finally accepted, and the time of my departure drew near, the men of the community spent much of their leisure in discussing it and me. the social center of east dennis was a certain grocery, to which almost every man in town regularly wended his way, and from which all the gossip of the town emanated. here the men sat for hours, tilted back in their chairs, whittling the rungs until they nearly cut the chairs from under them, and telling one another all they knew or had heard about their fellow-townsmen. then, after each session, they would return home and repeat the gossip to their wives. i used to say that i would give a dollar to any woman in east dennis who could quote a bit of gossip which did not come from the men at that grocery. even my old friend captain doane, fine and high-minded citizen though he was, was not above enjoying the mild diversion of these social gatherings, and on one occasion at least he furnished the best part of the entertainment. the departing minister was, it seemed, the topic of the day's discussion, and, to tease captain doane one young man who knew the strength of his friendship for me suddenly began to speak, then pursed up his lips and looked eloquently mysterious. as he had expected, captain doane immediately pounced on him. "what's the matter with you?" demanded the old man. "hev you got anything agin miss shaw?" the young man sighed and murmured that if he wished he could repeat a charge never before made against a cape cod minister, but--and he shut his lips more obviously. the other men, who were in the plot, grinned, and this added the last touch to captain doane's indignation. he sprang to his feet. one of his peculiarities was a constant misuse of words, and now, in his excitement, he outdid himself. "you've made an incineration against miss shaw," he shouted. "do you hear--an incineration! take it back or take a lickin'!" the young man decided that the joke had gone far enough, so he answered, mildly: "well, it is said that all the women in town are in love with miss shaw. has that been charged against any other minister here?" the men roared with laughter, and captain doane sat down, looking sheepish. "all i got to say is this," he muttered: "that gal has been in this community for seven years, and she 'ain't done a thing during the hull seven years that any one kin lay a finger on!" the men shouted again at this back-handed tribute, and the old fellow left the grocery in a huff. later i was told of the "incineration" and his eloquent defense of me, and i thanked him for it. but i added: "i hear you said i haven't done a thing in seven years that any one can lay a finger on?" "i said it," declared the captain, "and i'll stand by it." "haven't i done any good?" i asked. "sartin you have," he assured me, heartily. "lots of good." "well," i said, "can't you put your finger on that?" the captain looked startled. "why--why--sister shaw," he stammered, "you know i didn't mean that! what i meant," he repeated, slowly and solemnly, "was that the hull time you been here you ain't done nothin' anybody could put a finger on!" captain doane apparently shared my girl parishioner's prejudice against men in the pulpit, for long afterward, on one of my visits to cape cod, he admitted that he now went to church very rarely. "when i heard you preach," he explained, "i gen'ally followed you through and i knowed where you was a-comin' out. but these young fellers that come from the theological school--why, sister shaw, the lord himself don't know where they're comin' out!" for a moment he pondered. then he uttered a valedictory which i have always been glad to recall as his last message, for i never saw him again. "when you fust come to us," he said, "you had a lot of crooked places, an' we had a lot of crooked places; and we kind of run into each other, all of us. but before you left, sister shaw, why, all the crooked places was wore off and everything was as smooth as silk." "yes," i agreed, "and that was the time to leave--when everything was running smoothly." all is changed on cape cod since those days, thirty years ago. the old families have died or moved away, and those who replaced them were of a different type. i am happy in having known and loved the cape as it was, and in having gathered there a store of delightful memories. in later strenuous years it has rested me merely to think of the place, and long afterward i showed my continued love of it by building a home there, which i still possess. but i had little time to rest in this or in my moylan home, of which i shall write later, for now i was back in boston, living my new life, and each crowded hour brought me more to do. we were entering upon a deeply significant period. for the first time women were going into industrial competition with men, and already men were intensely resenting their presence. around me i saw women overworked and underpaid, doing men's work at half men's wages, not because their work was inferior, but because they were women. again, too, i studied the obtrusive problems of the poor and of the women of the streets; and, looking at the whole social situation from every angle, i could find but one solution for women--the removal of the stigma of disfranchisement. as man's equal before the law, woman could demand her rights, asking favors from no one. with all my heart i joined in the crusade of the men and women who were fighting for her. my real work had begun. naturally, at this period, i frequently met the members of boston's most inspiring group--the emersons and john greenleaf whittier, james freeman clark, reverend minot savage, bronson alcott and his daughter louisa, wendell phillips, william lloyd garrison, stephen foster, theodore weld, and the rest. of them all, my favorite was whittier. he had been present at my graduation from the theological school, and now he often attended our suffrage meetings. he was already an old man, nearing the end of his life; and i recall him as singularly tall and thin, almost gaunt, bending forward as he talked, and wearing an expression of great serenity and benignity. i once told susan b. anthony that if i needed help in a crowd of strangers that included her, i would immediately turn to her, knowing from her face that, whatever i had done, she would understand and assist me. i could have offered the same tribute to whittier. at our meetings he was like a vesper-bell chiming above a battle-field. garrison always became excited during our discussions, and the others frequently did; but whittier, in whose big heart the love of his fellow-man burned as unquenchably as in any heart there, always preserved his exquisite tranquillity. once, i remember, stephen foster insisted on having the word "tyranny" put into a resolution, stating that women were deprived of suffrage by the tyranny of men. mr. garrison objected, and the debate that followed was the most exciting i have ever heard. the combatants actually had to adjourn before they could calm down sufficiently to go on with their meeting. knowing the stimulating atmosphere to which he had grown accustomed, i was not surprised to have theodore weld explain to me; long afterward, why he no longer attended suffrage meetings. "oh," he said, "why should i go? there hasn't been any one mobbed in twenty years!" the ralph waldo emersons occasionally attended our meetings, and mr. emerson, at first opposed to woman suffrage, became a convert to it during the last years of his life--a fact his son and daughter omitted to mention in his biography. after his death i gave two suffrage lectures in concord, and each time mrs. emerson paid for the hall. at these lectures louisa m. alcott graced the assembly with her splendid, wholesome presence, and on both occasions she was surrounded by a group of boys. she frankly cared much more for boys than for girls, and boys inevitably gravitated to her whenever she entered a place where they were. when women were given school suffrage in massachusetts, miss alcott was the first woman to vote in concord, and she went to the polls accompanied by a group of her boys, all ardently "for the cause." my general impression of her was that of a fresh breeze blowing over wide moors. she was as different as possible from exquisite little mrs. emerson, who, in her daintiness and quiet charm, suggested an old new england garden. of abby may and edna cheney i retain a general impression of "bagginess"--of loose jackets over loose waistbands, of escaping locks of hair, of bodies seemingly one size from the neck down. both women were utterly indifferent to the details of their appearance, but they were splendid workers and leading spirits in the new england woman's club. it was said to be the trouble between abby may and kate gannett wells, both of whom stood for the presidency of the club, that led to the beginning of the anti-suffrage movement in boston. abby may was elected president, and all the suffragists voted for her. subsequently kate gannett wells began her anti-suffrage campaign. mrs. wells was the first anti-suffragist i ever knew in this country. before her there had been mrs. dahlgren, wife of admiral dahlgren, and mrs. william tecumseh sherman. on one occasion elizabeth cady stanton challenged mrs. dahlgren to a debate on woman suffrage, and in the light of later events mrs. dahlgren's reply is amusing. she declined the challenge, explaining that for anti-suffragists to appear upon a public platform would be a direct violation of the principle for which they stood--which was the protection of female modesty! recalling this, and the present hectic activity of the anti-suffragists, one must feel that they have either abandoned their principle or widened their views. for julia ward howe i had an immense admiration; but, though from first to last i saw much of her, i never felt that i really knew her. she was a woman of the widest culture, interested in every progressive movement. with all her big heart she tried to be a democrat, but she was an aristocrat to the very core of her, and, despite her wonderful work for others, she lived in a splendid isolation. once when i called on her i found her resting her mind by reading greek, and she laughingly admitted that she was using a latin pony, adding that she was growing "rusty." she seemed a little embarrassed by being caught with the pony, but she must have been reassured by my cheerful confession that if _i_ tried to read either latin or greek i should need an english pony. of frances e. willard, who frequently came to boston, i saw a great deal, and we soon became closely associated in our work. early in our friendship, and at miss willard's suggestion, we made a compact that once a week each of us would point out to the other her most serious faults, and thereby help her to remedy them; but we were both too sane to do anything of the kind, and the project soon died a natural death. the nearest i ever came to carrying it out was in warning miss willard that she was constantly defying all the laws of personal hygiene. she never rested, rarely seemed to sleep, and had to be reminded at the table that she was there for the purpose of eating food. she was always absorbed in some great interest, and oblivious to anything else, i never knew a woman who could grip an audience and carry it with her as she could. she was intensely emotional, and swayed others by their emotions rather than by logic; yet she was the least conscious of her physical existence of any one i ever knew, with the exception of susan b. anthony. like "aunt susan," miss willard paid no heed to cold or heat or hunger, to privation or fatigue. in their relations to such trifles both women were disembodied spirits. another woman doing wonderful work at this time was mrs. quincy shaw, who had recently started her day nurseries for the care of tenement children whose mothers labored by the day. these nurseries were new in boston, as was the kindergarten system she also established. i saw the effect of her work in the lives of the people, and it strengthened my growing conviction that little could be done for the poor in a spiritual or educational way until they were given a certain amount of physical comfort, and until more time was devoted to the problem of prevention. indeed, the more i studied economic issues, the more strongly i felt that the position of most philanthropists is that of men who stand at the bottom of a precipice gathering up and trying to heal those who fall into it, instead of guarding the top and preventing them from going over. of course i had to earn my living; but, though i had taken my medical degree only a few months before leaving cape cod, i had no intention of practising medicine. i had merely wished to add a certain amount of medical knowledge to my mental equipment. the massachusetts woman suffrage association, of which lucy stone was president, had frequently employed me as a lecturer during the last two years of my pastorate. now it offered me a salary of one hundred dollars a month as a lecturer and organizer. though i may not have seemed so in these reminiscences, in which i have written as freely of my small victories as of my struggles and failures, i was a modest young person. the amount seemed too large, and i told mrs. stone as much, after which i humbly fixed my salary at fifty dollars a month. at the end of a year of work i felt that i had "made good"; then i asked for and received the one hundred dollars a month originally offered me. during my second year miss cora scott pond and i organized and carried through in boston a great suffrage bazaar, clearing six thousand dollars for the association--a large amount in those days. elated by my share in this success, i asked that my salary should be increased to one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month--but this was not done. instead, i received a valuable lesson. it was freely admitted that my work was worth one hundred and twenty-five dollars, but i was told that one hundred was the limit which could be paid, and i was reminded that this was a good salary for a woman. the time seemed to have come to make a practical stand in defense of my principles, and i did so by resigning and arranging an independent lecture tour. the first month after my resignation i earned three hundred dollars. later i frequently earned more than that, and very rarely less. eventually i lectured under the direction of the slaton lecture bureau of chicago, and later still for the redpath bureau of boston. my experience with the redpath people was especially gratifying. mrs. livermore, who was their only woman lecturer, was growing old and anxious to resign her work. she saw in me a possible successor, and asked them to take me on their list. they promptly refused, explaining that i must "make a reputation" before they could even consider me. a year later they wrote me, making a very good offer, which i accepted. it may be worth while to mention here that through my lecture-work at this period i earned all the money i have ever saved. i lectured night after night, week after week, month after month, in "chautauquas" in the summer, all over the country in the winter, earning a large income and putting aside at that time the small surplus i still hold in preparation for the "rainy day" every working-woman inwardly fears. i gave the public at least a fair equivalent for what it gave me, for i put into my lectures all my vitality, and i rarely missed an engagement, though again and again i risked my life to keep one. my special subjects, of course, were the two i had most at heart-suffrage and temperance. for frances willard, then president of the woman's christian temperance union, had persuaded me to head the franchise department of that organization, succeeding ziralda wallace, the mother of gen. lew wallace; and miss susan b. anthony, who was beginning to study me closely, soon swung me into active work with her, of which, later, i shall have much to say. but before taking up a subject as absorbing to me as my friendship for and association with the most wonderful woman i have ever known, it may be interesting to record a few of my pioneer experiences in the lecture-field. in those days--thirty years ago--the lecture bureaus were wholly regardless of the comfort of their lecturers. they arranged a schedule of engagements with exactly one idea in mind--to get the lecturer from one lecture-point to the next, utterly regardless of whether she had time between for rest or food or sleep. so it happened that all-night journeys in freight-cars, engines, and cabooses were casual commonplaces, while thirty and forty mile drives across the country in blizzards and bitter cold were equally inevitable. usually these things did not trouble me. they were high adventures which i enjoyed at the time and afterward loved to recall. but there was an occasional hiatus in my optimism. one night, for example, after lecturing in a town in ohio, it was necessary to drive eight miles across country to a tiny railroad station at which a train, passing about two o'clock in the morning, was to be flagged for me. when we reached the station it was closed, but my driver deposited me on the platform and drove away, leaving me alone. the night was cold and very dark. all day i had been feeling ill and in the evening had suffered so much pain that i had finished my lecture with great difficulty. now toward midnight, in this desolate spot, miles from any house, i grew alarmingly worse. i am not easily frightened, but that time i was sure i was going to die. off in the darkness, very far away, as it seemed, i saw a faint light, and with infinite effort i dragged myself toward it. to walk, even to stand, was impossible; i crawled along the railroad track, collapsing, resting, going on again, whipping my will power to the task of keeping my brain clear, until after a nightmare that seemed to last through centuries i lay across the door of the switch-tower in which the light was burning. the switchman stationed there heard the cry i was able to utter, and came to my assistance. he carried me up to his signal-room and laid me on the floor by the stove; he had nothing to give me except warmth and shelter; but these were now all i asked. i sank into a comatose condition shot through with pain. toward two o'clock in the morning he waked me and told me my train was coming, asking if i felt able to take it. i decided to make the effort. he dared not leave his post to help me, but he signaled to the train, and i began my progress back to the station. i never clearly remembered how i got there; but i arrived and was helped into a car by a brakeman. about four o'clock in the morning i had to change again, but this time i was left at the station of a town, and was there met by a man whose wife had offered me hospitality. he drove me to their home, and i was cared for. what i had, it developed, was a severe case of ptomaine poisoning, and i soon recovered; but even after all these years i do not like to recall that night. to be "snowed in" was a frequent experience. once, in minnesota, i was one of a dozen travelers who were driven in an omnibus from a country hotel to the nearest railroad station, about two miles away. it was snowing hard, and the driver left us on the station platform and departed. time passed, but the train we were waiting for did not come. a true western blizzard, growing wilder every moment, had set in, and we finally realized that the train was not coming, and that, moreover, it was now impossible to get back to the hotel. the only thing we could do was to spend the night in the railroad station. i was the only woman in the group, and my fellow-passengers were cattlemen who whiled away the hours by smoking, telling stories, and exchanging pocket flasks. the station had a telegraph operator who occupied a tiny box by himself, and he finally invited me to share the privacy of his microscopic quarters. i entered them very gratefully, and he laid a board on the floor, covered it with an overcoat made of buffalo-skins, and cheerfully invited me to go to bed. i went, and slept peacefully until morning. then we all returned to the hotel, the men going ahead and shoveling a path. again, one sunday, i was snowbound in a train near faribault, and this time also i was the only woman among a number of cattlemen. they were an odoriferous lot, who smoked diligently and played cards without ceasing, but in deference to my presence they swore only mildly and under their breath. at last they wearied of their game, and one of them rose and came to me. "i heard you lecture the other night," he said, awkwardly, "and i've bin tellin' the fellers about it. we'd like to have a lecture now." their card-playing had seemed to me a sinful thing (i was stricter in my views then than i am to-day), and i was glad to create a diversion. i agreed to give them a lecture, and they went through the train, which consisted of two day coaches, and brought in the remaining passengers. a few of them could sing, and we began with a moody and sankey hymn or two and the appealing ditty, "where is my wandering boy to-night?" in which they all joined with special zest. then i delivered the lecture, and they listened attentively. when i had finished they seemed to think that some slight return was in order, so they proceeded to make a bed for me. they took the bottoms out of two seats, arranged them crosswise, and one man folded his overcoat into a pillow. inspired by this, two others immediately donated their fur overcoats for upper and lower coverings. when the bed was ready they waved me toward it with a most hospitable air, and i crept in between the overcoats and slumbered sweetly until i was aroused the next morning by the welcome music of a snow-plow which had been sent from st. paul to our rescue. to drive fifty or sixty miles in a day to meet a lecture engagement was a frequent experience. i have been driven across the prairies in june when they were like a mammoth flower-bed, and in january when they seemed one huge snow-covered grave--my grave, i thought, at times. once during a thirty-mile drive, when the thermometer was twenty degrees below zero, i suddenly realized that my face was freezing. i opened my satchel, took out the tissue-paper that protected my best gown, and put the paper over my face as a veil, tucking it inside of my bonnet. when i reached my destination the tissue was a perfect mask, frozen stiff, and i had to be lifted from the sleigh. i was due on the lecture platform in half an hour, so i drank a huge bowl of boiling ginger tea and appeared on time. that night i went to bed expecting an attack of pneumonia as a result of the exposure, but i awoke next morning in superb condition. i possess what is called "an iron constitution," and in those days i needed it. that same winter, in kansas, i was chased by wolves, and though i had been more or less intimately associated with wolves in my pioneer life in the michigan woods, i found the occasion extremely unpleasant. during the long winters of my girlhood wolves had frequently slunk around our log cabin, and at times in the lumber-camps we had even heard them prowling on the roofs. but those were very different creatures from the two huge, starving, tireless animals that hour after hour loped behind the cutter in which i sat with another woman, who, throughout the whole experience, never lost her head nor her control of our frantic horses. they were mad with terror, for, try as they would, they could not outrun the grim things that trailed us, seemingly not trying to gain on us, but keeping always at the same distance, with a patience that was horrible. from time to time i turned to look at them, and the picture they made as they came on and on is one i shall never forget. they were so near that i could see their eyes and slavering jaws, and they were as noiseless as things in a dream. at last, little by little, they began to gain on us, and they were almost within striking distance of the whip, which was our only weapon, when we reached the welcome outskirts of a town and they fell back. some of the memories of those days have to do with personal encounters, brief but poignant. once when i was giving a series of chautauqua lectures, i spoke at the chautauqua in pontiac, illinois. the state reformatory for boys was situated in that town, and, after the lecture the superintendent of the reformatory invited me to visit it and say a few words to the inmates. i went and spoke for half an hour, carrying away a memory of the place and of the boys which haunted me for months. a year later, while i was waiting for a train in the station at shelbyville, a lad about sixteen years old passed me and hesitated, looking as if he knew me. i saw that he wanted to speak and dared not, so i nodded to him. "you think you know me, don't you?" i asked, when he came to my side. "yes'm, i do know you," he told me, eagerly. "you are miss shaw, and you talked to us boys at pontiac last year. i'm out on parole now, but i 'ain't forgot. us boys enjoyed you the best of any show we ever had!" i was touched by this artless compliment, and anxious to know how i had won it, so i asked, "what did i say that the boys liked?" the lad hesitated. then he said, slowly, "well, you didn't talk as if you thought we were all bad." "my boy," i told him, "i don't think you are all bad. i know better!" as if i had touched a spring in him, the lad dropped into the seat by my side; then, leaning toward me, he said, impulsively, but almost in a whisper: "say, miss shaw, some of us boys says our prayers!" rarely have i had a tribute that moved me more than that shy confidence; and often since then, in hours of discouragement or failure, i have reminded myself that at least there must have been something in me once to make a lad of that age so open up his heart. we had a long and intimate talk, from which grew the abiding interest i feel in boys today. naturally i was sometimes inconvenienced by slight misunderstandings between local committees and myself as to the subjects of my lectures, and the most extreme instance of this occurred in a town where i arrived to find myself widely advertised as "mrs. anna shaw, who whistled before queen victoria"! transfixed, i gaped before the billboards, and by reading their additional lettering discovered the gratifying fact that at least i was not expected to whistle now. instead, it appeared, i was to lecture on "the missing link." as usual, i had arrived in town only an hour or two before the time fixed for my lecture; there was the briefest interval in which to clear up these painful misunderstandings. i repeatedly tried to reach the chairman who was to preside at the entertainment, but failed. at last i went to the hall at the hour appointed, and found the local committee there, graciously waiting to receive me. without wasting precious minutes in preliminaries, i asked why they had advertised me as the woman who had "whistled before queen victoria." "why, didn't you whistle before her?" they exclaimed in grieved surprise. "i certainly did not," i explained. "moreover, i was never called 'the american nightingale,' and i have never lectured on 'the missing link.' where did you get that subject? it was not on the list i sent you." the members of the committee seemed dazed. they withdrew to a corner and consulted in whispers. then, with clearing brow, the spokesman returned. "why," he said, cheerfully, "it's simple enough! we mixed you up with a shaw lady that whistles; and we've been discussing the missing link in our debating society, so our citizens want to hear your views." "but i don't know anything about the missing link," i protested, "and i can't speak on it." "now, come," they begged. "why, you'll have to! we've sold all our tickets for that lecture. the whole town has turned out to hear it." then, as i maintained a depressed silence, one of them had a bright idea. "i'll tell you how to fix it!" he cried. "speak on any subject you please, but bring in something about the missing link every few minutes. that will satisfy 'em." "very well," i agreed, reluctantly. "open the meeting with a song. get the audience to sing 'america' or 'the star-spangled banner.' that will give me a few minutes to think, and i will see what can be done." led by a very nervous chairman, the big audience began to sing, and under the inspiration of the music the solution of our problem flashed into my mind. "it is easy," i told myself. "woman is the missing link in our government. i'll give them a suffrage speech along that line." when the song ended i began my part of the entertainment with a portion of my lecture on "the fate of republics," tracing their growth and decay, and pointing out that what our republic needed to give it a stable government was the missing link of woman suffrage. i got along admirably, for every five minutes i mentioned "the missing link," and the audience sat content and apparently interested, while the members of the committee burst into bloom on the platform. viii. drama in the lecture-field my most dramatic experience occurred in a city in michigan, where i was making a temperance campaign. it was an important lumber and shipping center, and it harbored much intemperance. the editor of the leading newspaper was with the temperance-workers in our fight there, and he had warned me that the liquor people threatened to "burn the building over my head" if i attempted to lecture. we were used to similar threats, so i proceeded with my preparations and held the meeting in the town skating-rink--a huge, bare, wooden structure. lectures were rare in that city, and rumors of some special excitement on this occasion had been circulated; every seat in the rink was filled, and several hundred persons stood in the aisles and at the back of the building. just opposite the speaker's platform was a small gallery, and above that, in the ceiling, was a trap-door. before i had been speaking ten minutes i saw a man drop through this trap-door to the balcony and climb from there to the main floor. as he reached the floor he shouted "fire!" and rushed out into the street. the next instant every person in the rink was up and a panic had started. i was very sure there was no fire, but i knew that many might be killed in the rush which was beginning. so i sprang on a chair and shouted to the people with the full strength of my lungs: "there is no fire! it's only a trick! sit down! sit down!" the cooler persons in the crowd at once began to help in this calming process. "sit down!" they repeated. "it's all right! there's no fire! sit down!" it looked as if we had the situation in hand, for the people hesitated, and most of them grew quiet; but just then a few words were hissed up to me that made my heart stop beating. a member of our local committee was standing beside my chair, speaking in a terrified whisper: "there is a fire, miss shaw," he said. "for god's sake get the people out--quickly!" the shock was so unexpected that my knees almost gave way. the people were still standing, wavering, looking uncertainly toward us. i raised my voice again, and if it sounded unnatural my hearers probably thought it was because i was speaking so loudly. "as we are already standing," i cried, "and are all nervous, a little exercise will do us good. so march out, singing. keep time to the music! later you can come back and take your seats!" the man who had whispered the warning jumped into the aisle and struck up "jesus, lover of my soul." then he led the march down to the door, while the big audience swung into line and followed him, joining in the song. i remained on the chair, beating time and talking to the people as they went; but when the last of them had left the building i almost collapsed; for the flames had begun to eat through the wooden walls and the clang of the fire-engines was heard outside. as soon as i was sure every one was safe, however, i experienced the most intense anger i had yet known. my indignation against the men who had risked hundreds of lives by setting fire to a crowded building made me "see red"; it was clear that they must be taught a lesson then and there. as soon as i was outside the rink i called a meeting, and the congregational minister, who was in the crowd, lent us his church and led the way to it. most of the audience followed us, and we had a wonderful meeting, during which we were able at last to make clear to the people of that town the character of the liquor interests we were fighting. that episode did the temperance cause more good than a hundred ordinary meetings. men who had been indifferent before became our friends and supporters, and at the following election we carried the town for prohibition by a big majority. there have been other occasions when our opponents have not fought us fairly. once, in an ohio town, a group of politicians, hearing that i was to lecture on temperance in the court-house on a certain night, took possession of the building early in the evening, on the pretense of holding a meeting, and held it against us. when, escorted by a committee of leading women, i reached the building and tried to enter, we found that the men had locked us out. our audience was gathering and filling the street, and we finally sent a courteous message to the men, assuming that they had forgotten us and reminding them of our position. the messenger reported that the men would leave "about eight," but that the room was "black with smoke and filthy with tobacco-juice." we waited patiently until eight o'clock, holding little outside meetings in groups, as our audience waited with us. at eight we again sent our messenger into the hall, and he brought back word that the men were "not through, didn't know when they would be through, and had told the women not to wait." naturally, the waiting townswomen were deeply chagrined by this. so were many men in the outside crowd. we asked if there was no other entrance to the hall except through the locked front doors, and were told that the judge's private room opened into it, and that one of our committee had the key, as she had planned to use this room as a dressing and retiring room for the speakers. after some discussion we decided to storm the hall and take possession. within five minutes all the women had formed in line and were crowding up the back stairs and into the judge's room. there we unlocked the door, again formed in line, and marched into the hall, singing "onward, christian soldiers!" there were hundreds of us, and we marched directly to the platform, where the astonished men got up to stare at us. more and more women entered, coming up the back stairs from the street and filling the hall; and when the men realized what it all meant, and recognized their wives, sisters, and women friends in the throng, they sheepishly unlocked the front doors and left us in possession, though we politely urged them to remain. we had a great meeting that night! another reminiscence may not be out of place. we were working for a prohibition amendment in the state of pennsylvania, and the night before election i reached coatesville. i had just completed six weeks of strenuous campaigning, and that day i had already conducted and spoken at two big outdoor meetings. when i entered the town hall of coatesville i found it filled with women. only a few men were there; the rest were celebrating and campaigning in the streets. so i arose and said: "i would like to ask how many men there are in the audience who intend to vote for the amendment to-morrow?" every man in the hall stood up. "i thought so," i said. "now i intend to ask your indulgence. as you are all in favor of the amendment, there is no use in my setting its claims before you; and, as i am utterly exhausted, i suggest that we sing the doxology and go home!" the audience saw the common sense of my position, so the people laughed and sang the doxology and departed. as we were leaving the hall one of coatesville's prominent citizens stopped me. "i wish you were a man," he said. "the town was to have a big outdoor meeting to-night, and the orator has failed us. there are thousands of men in the streets waiting for the speech, and the saloons are sending them free drinks to get them drunk and carry the town to-morrow." "why," i said, "i'll talk to them if you wish." "great scott!" he gasped. "i'd be afraid to let you. something might happen!" "if anything happens, it will be in a good cause," i reminded him. "let us go." down-town we found the streets so packed with men that the cars could not get through, and with the greatest difficulty we reached the stand which had been erected for the speaker. it was a gorgeous affair. there were flaring torches all around it, and a "bull's-eye," taken from the head of a locomotive, made an especially brilliant patch of light. the stand had been erected at a point where the city's four principal streets meet, and as far as i could see there were solid masses of citizens extending into these streets. a glee-club was doing its best to help things along, and the music of an organette, an instrument much used at the time in campaign rallies, swelled the joyful tumult. as i mounted the platform the crowd was singing "vote for betty and the baby," and i took that song for my text, speaking of the helplessness of women and children in the face of intemperance, and telling the crowd the only hope of the coatesville women lay in the vote cast by their men the next day. directly in front of me stood a huge and extraordinarily repellent-looking negro. a glance at him almost made one shudder, but before i had finished my first sentence he raised his right arm straight above him and shouted, in a deep and wonderfully rich bass voice, "hallelujah to the lamb!" from that point on he punctuated my speech every few moments with good, old-fashioned exclamations of salvation which helped to inspire the crowd. i spoke for almost an hour. three times in my life, and only three times, i have made speeches that have satisfied me to the degree, that is, of making me feel that at least i was giving the best that was in me. the speech at coatesville was one of those three. at the end of it the good-natured crowd cheered for ten minutes. the next day coatesville voted for prohibition, and, rightly or wrongly, i have always believed that i helped to win that victory. here, by the way, i may add that of the two other speeches which satisfied me one was made in chicago, during the world's fair, in , and the other in stockholm, sweden, in . the international council of women, it will be remembered, met in chicago during the fair, and i was invited to preach the sermon at the sunday-morning session. the occasion was a very important one, bringing together at least five thousand persons, including representative women from almost every country in europe, and a large number of women ministers. these made an impressive group, as they all wore their ministerial robes; and for the first time i preached in a ministerial robe, ordered especially for that day. it was made of black crepe de chine, with great double flowing sleeves, white silk undersleeves, and a wide white silk underfold down the front; and i may mention casually that it looked very much better than i felt, for i was very nervous. my father had come on to chicago especially to hear my sermon, and had been invited to sit on the platform. even yet he was not wholly reconciled to my public work, but he was beginning to take a deep interest in it. i greatly desired to please him and to satisfy miss anthony, who was extremely anxious that on that day of all days i should do my best. i gave an unusual amount of time and thought to that sermon, and at last evolved what i modestly believed to be a good one. i never write out a sermon in advance, but i did it this time, laboriously, and then memorized the effort. the night before the sermon was to be delivered miss anthony asked me about it, and when i realized how deeply interested she was i delivered it to her then and there as a rehearsal. it was very late, and i knew we would not be interrupted. as she listened her face grew longer and longer and her lips drooped at the corners. her disappointment was so obvious that i had difficulty in finishing my recitation; but i finally got through it, though rather weakly toward the end, and waited to hear what she would say, hoping against hope that she had liked it better than she seemed to. but susan b. anthony was the frankest as well as the kindest of women. resolutely she shook her head. "it's no good, anna," she said; firmly. "you'll have to do better. you've polished and repolished that sermon until there's no life left in it. it's dead. besides, i don't care for your text." "then give me a text," i demanded, gloomily. "i can't," said aunt susan. i was tired and bitterly disappointed, and both conditions showed in my reply. "well," i asked, somberly, "if you can't even supply a text, how do you suppose i'm going to deliver a brand-new sermon at ten o'clock to-morrow morning?" "oh," declared aunt susan, blithely, "you'll find a text." i suggested several, but she did not like them. at last i said, "i have it--'let no man take thy crown.'" "that's it!" exclaimed miss anthony. "give us a good sermon on that text." she went to her room to sleep the sleep of the just and the untroubled, but i tossed in my bed the rest of the night, planning the points of the new sermon. after i had delivered it the next morning i went to my father to assist him from the platform. he was trembling, and his eyes were full of tears. he seized my arm and pressed it. "now i am ready to die," was all he said. i was so tired that i felt ready to die, too; but his satisfaction and a glance at aunt susan's contented face gave me the tonic i needed. father died two years later, and as i was campaigning in california i was not with him at the end. it was a comfort to remember, however, that in the twilight of his life he had learned to understand his most difficult daughter, and to give her credit for earnestness of purpose, at least, in following the life that had led her away from him. after his death, and immediately upon my return from california, i visited my mother, and it was well indeed that i did, for within a few months she followed father into the other world for which all of her unselfish life had been a preparation. our last days together were perfect. her attitude was one of serene and cheerful expectancy, and i always think of her as sitting among the primroses and bluebells she loved, which seemed to bloom unceasingly in the windows of her room. i recall, too, with gratitude, a trifle which gave her a pleasure out of all proportion to what i had dreamed it would do. she had expressed a longing for some english heather, "not the hot-house variety, but the kind that blooms on the hills," and i had succeeded in getting a bunch for her by writing to an english friend. its possession filled her with joy, and from the time it came until the day her eyes closed in their last sleep it was rarely beyond reach of her hand. at her request, when she was buried we laid the heather on her heart--the heart of a true and loyal woman, who, though her children had not known it, must have longed without ceasing throughout her new world life for the old world of her youth. the scandinavian speech was an even more vital experience than the chicago one, for in stockholm i delivered the first sermon ever preached by a woman in the state church of sweden, and the event was preceded by an amount of political and journalistic opposition which gave it an international importance. i had also been invited by the norwegian women to preach in the state church of norway, but there we experienced obstacles. by the laws of norway women are permitted to hold all public offices except those in the army, navy, and church--a rather remarkable militant and spiritual combination. as a woman, therefore, i was denied the use of the church by the minister of church affairs. the decision created great excitement and much delving into the law. it then appeared that if the use of a state church is desired for a minister of a foreign country the government can give such permission. it was thought that i might slip in through this loophole, and application was made to the government. the reply came that permission could be received only from the entire cabinet; and while the cabinet gentlemen were feverishly discussing the important issue, the norwegian press became active, pointing out that the minister of church affairs had arrogantly assumed the right of the entire cabinet in denying the application. the charge was taken up by the party opposed to the government party in parliament, and the minister of church affairs swiftly turned the whole matter over to his conferees. the cabinet held a session, and by a vote of four to three decided not to allow a woman to preach in the state church. i am happy to add that of the three who voted favorably on the question one was the premier of norway. again the newspapers grasped their opportunity--especially the organs of the opposition party. my rooms were filled with reporters, while daily the excitement grew. the question was brought up in parliament, and i was invited to attend and hear the discussion there. by this time every newspaper in scandinavia was for or against me; and the result of the whole matter was that, though the state church of norway was not opened to me, a most unusual interest had been aroused in my sermon in the state church of sweden. when i arrived there to keep my engagement, not only was the wonderful structure packed to its walls, but the waiting crowds in the street were so large that the police had difficulty in opening a way for our party. i shall never forget my impression of the church itself when i entered it. it will always stand forth in my memory as one of the most beautiful churches i have ever visited. on every side were monuments of dead heroes and statesmen, and the high, vaulted blue dome seemed like the open sky above our heads. over us lay a light like a soft twilight, and the great congregation filled not only all the pews, but the aisles, the platform, and even the steps of the pulpit. the ushers were young women from the university of upsala, wearing white university caps with black vizors, and sashes in the university colors. the anthem was composed especially for the occasion by the first woman cathedral organist in sweden--the organist of the cathedral in gothenburg--and she had brought with her thirty members of her choir, all of them remarkable singers. the whole occasion was indescribably impressive, and i realized in every fiber the necessity of being worthy of it. also, i experienced a sensation such as i had never known before, and which i can only describe as a seeming complete separation of my physical self from my spiritual self. it was as if my body stood aside and watched my soul enter that pulpit. there was no uncertainty, no nervousness, though usually i am very nervous when i begin to speak; and when i had finished i knew that i had done my best. but all this is a long way from the early days i was discussing, when i was making my first diffident bows to lecture audiences and learning the lessons of the pioneer in the lecture-field. i was soon to learn more, for in miss anthony persuaded me to drop my temperance work and concentrate my energies on the suffrage cause. for a long time i hesitated. i was very happy in my connection with the woman's christian temperance union, and i knew that miss willard was depending on me to continue it. but miss anthony's arguments were irrefutable, and she was herself, as always, irresistible. "you can't win two causes at once," she reminded me. "you're merely scattering your energies. begin at the beginning. win suffrage for women, and the rest will follow." as an added argument, she took me with her on her kansas campaign, and after that no further arguments were needed. from then until her death, eighteen years later, miss anthony and i worked shoulder to shoulder. the most interesting lecture episode of our first kansas campaign was my debate with senator john j. ingalls. before this, however, on our arrival at atchison, mrs. ingalls gave a luncheon for miss anthony, and rachel foster avery and i were also invited. miss anthony sat at the right of senator ingalls, and i at his left, while mrs. ingalls, of course, adorned the opposite end of her table. mrs. avery and i had just been entertained for several days at the home of a vegetarian friend who did not know how to cook vegetables, and we were both half starved. when we were invited to the ingalls home we had uttered in unison a joyous cry, "now we shall have something to eat!" at the luncheon, however, senator ingalls kept miss anthony and me talking steadily. he was not in favor of suffrage for women, but he wished to know all sorts of things about the cause, and we were anxious to have him know them. the result was that i had time for only an occasional mouthful, while down at the end of the table mrs. avery ate and ate, pausing only to send me glances of heartfelt sympathy. also, whenever she had an especially toothsome morsel on the end of her fork she wickedly succeeded in catching my eye and thus adding the last sybaritic touch to her enjoyment. notwithstanding the wealth of knowledge we had bestowed upon him, or perhaps because of it, the following night senator ingalls made his famous speech against suffrage, and it fell to my lot to answer him. in the course of his remarks he asked this question: "would you like to add three million illiterate voters to the large body of illiterate voters we have in america to-day?" the audience applauded light-heartedly, but i was disturbed by the sophistry of the question. one of senator ingalls's most discussed personal peculiarities was the parting of his hair in the middle. cartoonists and newspaper writers always made much of this, so when i rose to reply i felt justified in mentioning it. "senator ingalls," i began, "parts his hair in the middle, as we all know, but he makes up for it by parting his figures on one side. last night he gave you the short side of his figures. at the present time there are in the united states about eighteen million women of voting age. when the senator asked whether you wanted three million additional illiterate women voters, he forgot to ask also if you didn't want fifteen million additional intelligent women voters! we will grant that it will take the votes of three million intelligent women to wipe out the votes of three million illiterate women. but don't forget that that would still leave us twelve million intelligent votes to the good!" the audience applauded as gaily as it had applauded senator ingalls when he spoke on the other side, and i continued: "now women have always been generous to men. so of our twelve million intelligent voters we will offer four million to offset the votes of the four million illiterate men in this country--and then we will still have eight million intelligent votes to add to the other intelligent votes which are cast." the audience seemed to enjoy this. "the anti-suffragists are fairly safe," i ended, "as long as they remain on the plane of prophecy. but as soon as they tackle mathematics they get into trouble!" miss anthony was much pleased by the wide publicity given to this debate, but senator ingalls failed to share her enthusiasm. it was shortly after this encounter that i had two traveling experiences which nearly cost me my life. one of them occurred in ohio at the time of a spring freshet. i know of no state that can cover itself with water as completely as ohio can, and for no apparent reason. on this occasion it was breaking its own record. we had driven twenty miles across country in a buggy which was barely out of the water, and behind horses that at times were almost forced to swim, and when we got near the town where i was to lecture, though still on the opposite side of the river from it, we discovered that the bridge was gone. we had a good view of the town, situated high and dry on a steep bank; but the river which rolled between us and that town was a roaring, boiling stream, and the only possible way to cross it, i found, was to walk over a railroad trestle, already trembling under the force of the water. there were hundreds of men on the river-bank watching the flood, and when they saw me start out on the empty trestle they set up a cheer that nearly threw me off. the river was wide and the ties far apart, and the roar of the stream below was far from reassuring; but in some way i reached the other side, and was there helped off the trestle by what the newspapers called "strong and willing hands." another time, in a desperate resolve to meet a lecture engagement, i walked across the railroad trestle at elmira, new york, and when i was halfway over i heard shouts of warning to turn back, as a train was coming. the trestle was very high at that point, and i realized that if i turned and faced an oncoming train i would undoubtedly lose my nerve and fall. so i kept on, as rapidly as i could, accompanied by the shrieks of those who objected to witnessing a violent death, and i reached the end of the trestle just as an express-train thundered on the beginning of it. the next instant a policeman had me by the shoulders and was shaking me as if i had been a bad child. "if you ever do such a thing again," he thundered, "i'll lock you up!" as soon as i could speak i assured him fervently that i never would; one such experience was all i desired. occasionally a flash of humor, conscious or unconscious, lit up the gloom of a trying situation. thus, in parkersburg, west virginia, the train i was on ran into a coal-car. i was sitting in a sleeper, leaning back comfortably with my feet on the seat in front of me, and the force of the collision lifted me up, turned me completely over, and deposited me, head first, two seats beyond. on every side i heard cries and the crash of human bodies against unyielding substances as my fellow-passengers flew through the air, while high and clear above the tumult rang the voice of the conductor: "keep your seats!" he yelled. "keep your seats!" nobody in our car was seriously hurt; but, so great is the power of vested authority, no one smiled over that order but me. many times my medical experience was useful. once i was on a train which ran into a buggy and killed the woman in it. her little daughter, who was with her, was badly hurt, and when the train had stopped the crew lifted the dead woman and the injured child on board, to take them to the next station. as i was the only doctor among the passengers, the child was turned over to me. i made up a bed on the seats and put the little patient there, but no woman in the car was able to assist me. the tragedy had made them hysterical, and on every side they were weeping and nerveless. the men were willing but inefficient, with the exception of one uncouth woodsman whose trousers were tucked into his boots and whose hands were phenomenally big and awkward. but they were also very gentle, as i realized when he began to help me. i knew at once that he was the man i needed, notwithstanding his unkempt hair, his general ungainliness, the hat he wore on the back of his head, and the pink carnation in his buttonhole, which, by its very incongruity, added the final accent to his unprepossessing appearance. together we worked over the child, making it as comfortable as we could. it was hardly necessary to tell my aide what i wanted done; he seemed to know and even to anticipate my efforts. when we reached the next station the dead woman was taken out and laid on the platform, and a nurse and doctor who had been telegraphed for were waiting to care for the little girl. she was conscious by this time, and with the most exquisite gentleness my rustic bayard lifted her in his arms to carry her off the train. quite unnecessarily i motioned to him not to let her see her dead mother. he was not the sort who needed that warning; he had already turned her face to his shoulder, and, with head bent low above her, was safely skirting the spot where the long, covered figure lay. evidently the station was his destination, too, for he remained there; but just as the train pulled out he came hurrying to my window, took the carnation from his buttonhole, and without a word handed it to me. and after the tragic hour in which i had learned to know him the crushed flower, from that man, seemed the best fee i had ever received. ix. "aunt susan" in the life of susan b. anthony it is mentioned that was a year of special recognition of our great leader's work, but that it was also the year in which many of her closest friends and strongest supporters were taken from her by death. a. bronson alcott was among these, and louisa m. alcott, as well as dr. lozier; and special stress is laid on miss anthony's sense of loss in the diminishing circle of her friends--a loss which new friends and workers came forward, eager to supply. "chief among these," adds the record, "was anna shaw, who, from the time of the international council in ' , gave her truest allegiance to miss anthony." it is true that from that year until miss anthony's death in we two were rarely separated; and i never read the paragraph i have just quoted without seeing, as in a vision, the figure of "aunt susan" as she slipped into my hotel room in chicago late one night after an evening meeting of the international council. i had gone to bed--indeed, i was almost asleep when she came, for the day had been as exhausting as it was interesting. but notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, "aunt susan," then nearing seventy, was still as fresh and as full of enthusiasm as a young girl. she had a great deal to say, she declared, and she proceeded to say it--sitting in a big easy-chair near the bed, with a rug around her knees, while i propped myself up with pillows and listened. hours passed and the dawn peered wanly through the windows, but still miss anthony talked of the cause always of the cause--and of what we two must do for it. the previous evening she had been too busy to eat any dinner, and i greatly doubt whether she had eaten any luncheon at noon. she had been on her feet for hours at a time, and she had held numerous discussions with other women she wished to inspire to special effort. yet, after it all, here she was laying out our campaigns for years ahead, foreseeing everything, forgetting nothing, and sweeping me with her in her flight toward our common goal, until i, who am not easily carried off my feet, experienced an almost dizzy sense of exhilaration. suddenly she stopped, looked at the gas-jets paling in the morning light that filled the room, and for a fleeting instant seemed surprised. in the next she had dismissed from her mind the realization that we had talked all night. why should we not talk all night? it was part of our work. she threw off the enveloping rug and rose. "i must dress now," she said, briskly. "i've called a committee meeting before the morning session." on her way to the door nature smote her with a rare reminder, but even then she did not realize that it was personal. "perhaps," she remarked, tentatively, "you ought to have a cup of coffee." that was "aunt susan." and in the eighteen years which followed i had daily illustrations of her superiority to purely human weaknesses. to her the hardships we underwent later, in our western campaigns for woman suffrage, were as the airiest trifles. like a true soldier, she could snatch a moment of sleep or a mouthful of food where she found it, and if either was not forthcoming she did not miss it. to me she was an unceasing inspiration--the torch that illumined my life. we went through some difficult years together--years when we fought hard for each inch of headway we gained--but i found full compensation for every effort in the glory of working with her for the cause that was first in both our hearts, and in the happiness of being her friend. later i shall describe in more detail the suffrage campaigns and the national and international councils in which we took part; now it is of her i wish to write--of her bigness, her many-sidedness, her humor, her courage, her quickness, her sympathy, her understanding, her force, her supreme common-sense, her selflessness; in short, of the rare beauty of her nature as i learned to know it. like most great leaders, she took one's best work for granted, and was chary with her praise; and even when praise was given it usually came by indirect routes. i recall with amusement that the highest compliment she ever paid me in public involved her in a tangle from which, later, only her quick wit extricated her. we were lecturing in an especially pious town which i shall call b----, and just before i went on the platform miss anthony remarked, peacefully: "these people have always claimed that i am irreligious. they will not accept the fact that i am a quaker--or, rather, they seem to think a quaker is an infidel. i am glad you are a methodist, for now they cannot claim that we are not orthodox." she was still enveloped in the comfort of this reflection when she introduced me to our audience, and to impress my qualifications upon my hearers she made her introduction in these words: "it is a pleasure to introduce miss shaw, who is a methodist minister. and she is not only orthodox of the orthodox, but she is also my right bower!" there was a gasp from the pious audience, and then a roar of laughter from irreverent men, in which, i must confess, i light-heartedly joined. for once in her life miss anthony lost her presence of mind; she did not know how to meet the situation, for she had no idea what had caused the laughter. it bubbled forth again and again during the evening, and each time miss anthony received the demonstration with the same air of puzzled surprise. when we had returned to our hotel rooms i explained the matter to her. i do not remember now where i had acquired my own sinful knowledge, but that night i faced "aunt susan" from the pedestal of a sophisticated worldling. "don't you know what a right bower is?" i demanded, sternly. "of course i do," insisted "aunt susan." "it's a right-hand man--the kind one can't do without." "it is a card," i told her, firmly--"a leading card in a game called euchre." "aunt susan" was dazed. "i didn't know it had anything to do with cards," she mused, mournfully. "what must they think of me?" what they thought became quite evident. the newspapers made countless jokes at our expense, and there were significant smiles on the faces in the audience that awaited us the next night. when miss anthony walked upon the platform she at once proceeded to clear herself of the tacit charge against her. "when i came to your town," she began, cheerfully, "i had been warned that you were a very religious lot of people. i wanted to impress upon you the fact that miss shaw and i are religious, too. but i admit that when i told you she was my right bower i did not know what a right bower was. i have learned that, since last night." she waited until the happy chortles of her hearers had subsided, and then went on. "it interests me very much, however," she concluded, "to realize that every one of you seemed to know all about a right bower, and that i had to come to your good, orthodox town to get the information." that time the joke was on the audience. miss anthony's home was in rochester, new york, and it was said by our friends that on the rare occasions when we were not together, and i was lecturing independently, "all return roads led through rochester." i invariably found some excuse to go there and report to her. together we must have worn out many rochester pavements, for "aunt susan's" pet recreation was walking, and she used to walk me round and round the city squares, far into the night, and at a pace that made policemen gape at us as we flew by. some disrespectful youth once remarked that on these occasions we suggested a race between a ruler and a rubber ball--for she was very tall and thin, while i am short and plump. to keep up with her i literally bounded at her side. a certain amount of independent lecturing was necessary for me, for i had to earn my living. the national american woman suffrage association has never paid salaries to its officers, so, when i became vice-president and eventually, in , president of the association, i continued to work gratuitously for the cause in these positions. even miss anthony received not one penny of salary for all her years of unceasing labor, and she was so poor that she did not have a home of her own until she was seventy-five. then it was a very simple one, and she lived with the utmost economy. i decided that i could earn my bare expenses by making one brief lecture tour each year, and i made an arrangement with the redpath bureau which left me fully two-thirds of my time for the suffrage work i loved. this was one result of my all-night talk with miss anthony in chicago, and it enabled me to carry out her plan that i should accompany her in most of the campaigns in which she sought to arouse the west to the need of suffrage for women. from that time on we traveled and lectured together so constantly that each of us developed an almost uncanny knowledge of the other's mental processes. at any point of either's lecture the other could pick it up and carry it on--a fortunate condition, as it sometimes became necessary to do this. miss anthony was subject to contractions of the throat, which for the moment caused a slight strangulation. on such occasions--of which there were several--she would turn to me and indicate her helplessness. then i would repeat her last sentence, complete her speech, and afterward make my own. the first time this happened we were in washington, and "aunt susan" stopped in the middle of a word. she could not speak; she merely motioned to me to continue for her, and left the stage. at the end of the evening a prominent washington man who had been in our audience remarked to me, confidentially: "that was a nice little play you and miss anthony made to-night--very effective indeed." for an instant i did not catch his meaning, nor the implication in his knowing smile. "very clever, that strangling bit, and your going on with the speech," he repeated. "it hit the audience hard." "surely," i protested, "you don't think it was a deliberate thing--that we planned or rehearsed it." he stared at me incredulously. "are you going to pretend," he demanded, "that it wasn't a put-up job?" i told him he had paid us a high compliment, and that we must really have done very well if we had conveyed that impression; and i finally convinced him that we not only had not rehearsed the episode, but that neither of us had known what the other meant to say. we never wrote out our speeches, but our subject was always suffrage or some ramification of suffrage, and, naturally, we had thoroughly digested each other's views. it is said by my friends that i write my speeches on the tips of my fingers--for i always make my points on my fingers and have my fingers named for points. when i plan a speech i decide how many points i wish to make and what those points shall be. my mental preparation follows. miss anthony's method was much the same; but very frequently both of us threw over all our plans at the last moment and spoke extemporaneously on some theme suggested by the atmosphere of the gathering or by the words of another speaker. from miss anthony, more than from any one else, i learned to keep cool in the face of interruptions and of the small annoyances and disasters inevitable in campaigning. often we were able to help each other out of embarrassing situations, and one incident of this kind occurred during our campaign in south dakota. we were holding a meeting on the hottest sunday of the hottest month in the year--august--and hundreds of the natives had driven twenty, thirty, and even forty miles across the country to hear us. we were to speak in a sod church, but it was discovered that the structure would not hold half the people who were trying to enter it, so we decided that miss anthony should speak from the door, in order that those both inside and outside might hear her. to elevate her above her audience, she was given an empty dry-goods box to stand on. this makeshift platform was not large, and men, women, and children were seated on the ground around it, pressing up against it, as close to the speaker as they could get. directly in front of miss anthony sat a woman with a child about two years old--a little boy; and this infant, like every one else in the packed throng, was dripping with perspiration and suffering acutely under the blazing sun. every woman present seemed to have brought children with her, doubtless because she could not leave them alone at home; and babies were crying and fretting on all sides. the infant nearest miss anthony fretted most strenuously; he was a sturdy little fellow with a fine pair of lungs, and he made it very difficult for her to lift her voice above his dismal clamor. suddenly, however, he discovered her feet on the drygoods box, about on a level with his head. they were clad in black stockings and low shoes; they moved about oddly; they fascinated him. with a yelp of interest he grabbed for them and began pinching them to see what they were. his howls ceased; he was happy. miss anthony was not. but it was a great relief to have the child quiet, so she bore the infliction of the pinching as long as she could. when endurance had found its limit she slipped back out of reach, and as his new plaything receded the boy uttered shrieks of disapproval. there was only one way to stop his noise; miss anthony brought her feet forward again, and he resumed the pinching of her ankles, while his yelps subsided to contented murmurs. the performance was repeated half a dozen times. each time the ankles retreated the baby yelled. finally, for once at the end of her patience, "aunt susan" leaned forward and addressed the mother, whose facial expression throughout had shown a complete mental detachment from the situation. "i think your little boy is hot and thirsty," she said, gently. "if you would take him out of the crowd and give him a drink of water and unfasten his clothes, i am sure he would be more comfortable." before she had finished speaking the woman had sprung to her feet and was facing her with fierce indignation. "this is the first time i have ever been insulted as a mother," she cried; "and by an old maid at that!" then she grasped the infant and left the scene, amid great confusion. the majority of those in the audience seemed to sympathize with her. they had not seen the episode of the feet, and they thought miss anthony was complaining of the child's crying. their children were crying, too, and they felt that they had all been criticized. other women rose and followed the irate mother, and many men gallantly followed them. it seemed clear that motherhood had been outraged. miss anthony was greatly depressed by the episode, and she was not comforted by a prediction one man made after the meeting. "you've lost at least twenty votes by that little affair," he told her. "aunt susan" sighed. "well," she said, "if those men knew how my ankles felt i would have won twenty votes by enduring the torture as long as i did." the next day we had a second meeting. miss anthony made her speech early in the evening, and by the time it was my turn to begin all the children in the audience--and there were many--were both tired and sleepy. at least half a dozen of them were crying, and i had to shout to make my voice heard above their uproar. miss anthony remarked afterward that there seemed to be a contest between me and the infants to see which of us could make more noise. the audience was plainly getting restless under the combined effect, and finally a man in the rear rose and added his voice to the tumult. "say, miss shaw," he yelled, "don't you want these children put out?" it was our chance to remove the sad impression of yesterday, and i grasped it. "no, indeed," i yelled back. "nothing inspires me like the voice of a child!" a handsome round of applause from mothers and fathers greeted this noble declaration, after which the blessed babies and i resumed our joint vocal efforts. when the speech was finished and we were alone together, miss anthony put her arm around my shoulder and drew me to her side. "well, anna," she said, gratefully, "you've certainly evened us up on motherhood this time." that south dakota campaign was one of the most difficult we ever made. it extended over nine months; and it is impossible to describe the poverty which prevailed throughout the whole rural community of the state. there had been three consecutive years of drought. the sand was like powder, so deep that the wheels of the wagons in which we rode "across country" sank half-way to the hubs; and in the midst of this dry powder lay withered tangles that had once been grass. every one had the forsaken, desperate look worn by the pioneer who has reached the limit of his endurance, and the great stretches of prairie roads showed innumerable canvas-covered wagons, drawn by starved horses, and followed by starved cows, on their way "back east." our talks with the despairing drivers of these wagons are among my most tragic memories. they had lost everything except what they had with them, and they were going east to leave "the woman" with her father and try to find work. usually, with a look of disgust at his wife, the man would say: "i wanted to leave two years ago, but the woman kept saying, 'hold on a little longer.'" both miss anthony and i gloried in the spirit of these pioneer women, and lost no opportunity to tell them so; for we realized what our nation owes to the patience and courage of such as they were. we often asked them what was the hardest thing to bear in their pioneer life, and we usually received the same reply: "to sit in our little adobe or sod houses at night and listen to the wolves howl over the graves of our babies. for the howl of the wolf is like the cry of a child from the grave." many days, and in all kinds of weather, we rode forty and fifty miles in uncovered wagons. many nights we shared a one-room cabin with all the members of the family. but the greatest hardship we suffered was the lack of water. there was very little good water in the state, and the purest water was so brackish that we could hardly drink it. the more we drank the thirstier we became, and when the water was made into tea it tasted worse than when it was clear. a bath was the rarest of luxuries. the only available fuel was buffalo manure, of which the odor permeated all our food. but despite these handicaps we were happy in our work, for we had some great meetings and many wonderful experiences. when we reached the black hills we had more of this genuine campaigning. we traveled over the mountains in wagons, behind teams of horses, visiting the mining-camps; and often the gullies were so deep that when our horses got into them it was almost impossible to get them out. i recall with special clearness one ride from hill city to custer city. it was only a matter of thirty miles, but it was thoroughly exhausting; and after our meeting that same night we had to drive forty miles farther over the mountains to get the early morning train from buffalo gap. the trail from custer city to buffalo gap was the one the animals had originally made in their journeys over the pass, and the drive in that wild region, throughout a cold, piercing october night, was an unforgetable experience. our host at custer city lent miss anthony his big buffalo overcoat, and his wife lent hers to me. they also heated blocks of wood for our feet, and with these protections we started. a full moon hung in the sky. the trees were covered with hoar-frost, and the cold, still air seemed to sparkle in the brilliant light. again miss anthony talked to me throughout the night--of the work, always of the work, and of what it would mean to the women who followed us; and again she fired my soul with the flame that burned so steadily in her own. it was daylight when we reached the little station at buffalo gap where we were to take the train. this was not due, however, for half an hour, and even then it did not come. the station was only large enough to hold the stove, the ticket-office, and the inevitable cuspidor. there was barely room in which to walk between these and the wall. miss anthony sat down on the floor. i had a few raisins in my bag, and we divided them for breakfast. an hour passed, and another, and still the train did not come. miss anthony, her back braced against the wall, buried her face in her hands and dropped into a peaceful abyss of slumber, while i walked restlessly up and down the platform. the train arrived four hours late, and when eventually we had reached our destination we learned that the ministers of the town had persuaded the women to give up the suffrage meeting scheduled for that night, as it was sunday. this disappointment, following our all-day and all-night drive to keep our appointment, aroused miss anthony's fighting spirit. she sent me out to rent the theater for the evening, and to have some hand-bills printed and distributed, announcing that we would speak. at three o'clock she made the concession to her seventy years of lying down for an hour's rest. i was young and vigorous, so i trotted around town to get somebody to preside, somebody to introduce us, somebody to take up the collection, and somebody who would provide music--in short, to make all our preparations for the night meeting. when evening came the crowd which had assembled was so great that men and women sat in the windows and on the stage, and stood in the flies. night attractions were rare in that dakota town, and here was something new. nobody went to church, so the churches were forced to close. we had a glorious meeting. both miss anthony and i were in excellent fighting trim, and miss anthony remarked that the only thing lacking to make me do my best was a sick headache. the collection we took up paid all our expenses, the church singers sang for us, the great audience was interested, and the whole occasion was an inspiring success. the meeting ended about half after ten o'clock, and i remember taking miss anthony to our hotel and escorting her to her room. i also remember that she followed me to the door and made some laughing remark as i left for my own room; but i recall nothing more until the next morning when she stood beside me telling me it was time for breakfast. she had found me lying on the cover of my bed, fully clothed even to my bonnet and shoes. i had fallen there, utterly exhausted, when i entered my room the night before, and i do not think i had even moved from that time until the moment--nine hours later--when i heard her voice and felt her hand on my shoulder. after all our work, we did not win dakota that year, but miss anthony bore the disappointment with the serenity she always showed. to her a failure was merely another opportunity, and i mention our experience here only to show of what she was capable in her gallant seventies. but i should misrepresent her if i did not show her human and sentimental side as well. with all her detachment from human needs she had emotional moments, and of these the most satisfying came when she was listening to music. she knew nothing whatever about music, but was deeply moved by it; and i remember vividly one occasion when nordica sang for her, at an afternoon reception given by a chicago friend in "aunt susan's" honor. as it happened, she had never heard nordica sing until that day; and before the music began the great artiste and the great leader met, and in the moment of meeting became friends. when nordica sang, half an hour later, she sang directly to miss anthony, looking into her eyes; and "aunt susan" listened with her own eyes full of tears. when the last notes had been sung she went to the singer and put both arms around her. the music had carried her back to her girlhood and to the sentiment of sixteen. "oh, nordica," she sighed, "i could die listening to such singing!" another example of her unquenchable youth has also a chicago setting. during the world's fair a certain clergyman made an especially violent stand in favor of closing the fair grounds on sunday. miss anthony took issue with him. "if i had charge of a young man in chicago at this time," she told the clergyman, "i would much rather have him locked inside the fair grounds on sunday or any other day than have him going about on the outside." the clergyman was horrified. "would you like to have a son of yours go to buffalo bill's wild west show on sunday?" he demanded. "of course i would," admitted miss anthony. "in fact, i think he would learn more there than from the sermons preached in some churches." later this remark was repeated to colonel cody ("buffalo bill"), who, of course, was delighted with it. he at once wrote to miss anthony, thanking her for the breadth of her views, and offering her a box for his "show." she had no strong desire to see the performance, but some of us urged her to accept the invitation and to take us with her. she was always ready to do anything that would give us pleasure, so she promised that we should go the next afternoon. others heard of the jaunt and begged to go also, and miss anthony blithely took every applicant under her wing, with the result that when we arrived at the box-office the next day there were twelve of us in the group. when she presented her note and asked for a box, the local manager looked doubtfully at the delegation. "a box only holds six," he objected, logically. miss anthony, who had given no thought to that slight detail, looked us over and smiled her seraphic smile. "why, in that case," she said, cheerfully, "you'll have to give us two boxes, won't you?" the amused manager decided that he would, and handed her the tickets; and she led her band to their places in triumph. when the performance began colonel cody, as was his custom, entered the arena from the far end of the building, riding his wonderful horse and bathed, of course, in the effulgence of his faithful spot-light. he rode directly to our boxes, reined his horse in front of miss anthony, rose in his stirrups, and with his characteristic gesture swept his slouch-hat to his saddle-bow in salutation. "aunt susan" immediately rose, bowed in her turn and, for the moment as enthusiastic as a girl, waved her handkerchief at him, while the big audience, catching the spirit of the scene, wildly applauded. it was a striking picture this meeting of the pioneer man and woman; and, poor as i am, i would give a hundred dollars for a snapshot of it. on many occasions i saw instances of miss anthony's prescience--and one of these was connected with the death of frances e. willard. "aunt susan" had called on miss willard, and, coming to me from the sick-room, had walked the floor, beating her hands together as she talked of the visit. "frances willard is dying," she exclaimed, passionately. "she is dying, and she doesn't know it, and no one around her realizes it. she is lying there, seeing into two worlds, and making more plans than a thousand women could carry out in ten years. her brain is wonderful. she has the most extraordinary clearness of vision. there should be a stenographer in that room, and every word she utters should be taken down, for every word is golden. but they don't understand. they can't realize that she is going. i told anna gordon the truth, but she won't believe it." miss willard died a few days later, with a suddenness which seemed to be a terrible shock to those around her. of "aunt susan's" really remarkable lack of selfconsciousness we who worked close to her had a thousand extraordinary examples. once, i remember, at the new orleans convention, she reached the hall a little late, and as she entered the great audience already assembled gave her a tremendous reception. the exercises of the day had not yet begun, and miss anthony stopped short and looked around for an explanation of the outburst. it never for a moment occurred to her that the tribute was to her. "what has happened, anna?" she asked at last. "you happened, aunt susan," i had to explain. again, on the great "college night" of the baltimore convention, when president m. carey thomas of bryn mawr college had finished her wonderful tribute to miss anthony, the audience, carried away by the speech and also by the presence of the venerable leader on the platform, broke into a whirlwind of applause. in this "aunt susan" artlessly joined, clapping her hands as hard as she could. "this is all for you, aunt susan," i whispered, "so it isn't your time to applaud." "aunt susan" continued to clap. "nonsense," she said, briskly. "it's not for me. it's for the cause--the cause!" miss anthony told me in that she regarded her reception in berlin, during the meeting of the international council of women that year, as the climax of her career. she said it after the unexpected and wonderful ovation she had received from the german people, and certainly throughout her inspiring life nothing had happened that moved her more deeply. for some time mrs. carrie chapman catt, of whose splendid work for the cause i shall later have more to say, had cherished the plan of forming an international suffrage alliance. she believed the time had come when the suffragists of the entire world could meet to their common benefit; and miss anthony, always mrs. catt's devoted friend and admirer, agreed with her. a committee was appointed to meet in berlin in , just before the meeting of the international council of women, and miss anthony was appointed chairman of the committee. at first the plan of the committee was not welcomed by the international council; there was even a suspicion that its purpose was to start a rival organization. but it met, a constitution was framed, and officers were elected, mrs. catt--the ideal choice for the place--being made president. as a climax to the organization, a great public mass-meeting had been arranged by the german suffragists, but at the special plea of the president of the international council miss anthony remained away from this meeting. it was represented to her that the interests of the council might suffer if she and other of its leading speakers were also leaders in the suffrage movement. in the interest of harmony, there fore, she followed the wishes of the council's president--to my great unhappiness and to that of other suffragists. when the meeting was opened the first words of the presiding officer were, "where is susan b. anthony?" and the demonstration that followed the question was the most unexpected and overwhelming incident of the gathering. the entire audience rose, men jumped on their chairs, and the cheering continued without a break for ten minutes. every second of that time i seemed to see miss anthony, alone in her hotel room, longing with all her big heart to be with us, as we longed to have her. i prayed that the loss of a tribute which would have meant so much might be made up to her, and it was. afterward, when we burst in upon her and told her of the great demonstration the mere mention of her name had caused, her lips quivered and her brave old eyes filled with tears. as we looked at her i think we all realized anew that what the world called stoicism in susan b. anthony throughout the years of her long struggle had been, instead, the splendid courage of an indomitable soul--while all the time the woman's heart had longed for affection and recognition. the next morning the leading berlin newspaper, in reporting the debate and describing the spontaneous tribute to miss anthony, closed with these sentences: "the americans call her 'aunt susan.' she is our 'aunt susan,' too!" throughout the remainder of miss anthony's visit she was the most honored figure at the international council. every time she entered the great convention-hall the entire audience rose and remained standing until she was seated; each mention of her name was punctuated by cheers; and the enthusiasm when she appeared on the platform to say a few words was beyond bounds. when the empress of germany gave her reception to the officers of the council, she crowned the hospitality of her people in a characteristically gracious way. as soon as miss anthony was presented to her the empress invited her to be seated, and to remain seated, although every one else, including the august lady herself, was standing. a little later, seeing the intrepid warrior of eighty-four on her feet with the other delegates, the empress sent one of her aides across the room with this message: "please tell my friend miss anthony that i especially wish her to be seated. we must not let her grow weary." in her turn, miss anthony was fascinated by the empress. she could not keep her eyes off that charming royal lady. probably the thing that most impressed her was the ability of her majesty as a linguist. receiving women from every civilized country on the globe, the empress seemed to address each in her own tongue-slipping from one language into the next as easily as from one topic to another. "and here i am," mourned "aunt susan," "speaking only one language, and that not very well." at this berlin quinquennial, by the way, i preached the council sermon, and the occasion gained a certain interest from the fact that i was the first ordained woman to preach in a church in germany. it then took on a tinge of humor from the additional fact that, according to the german law, as suddenly revealed to us by the police, no clergyman was permitted to preach unless clothed in clerical robes in the pulpit. it happened that i had not taken my clerical robes with me--i am constantly forgetting those clerical robes!--so the pastor of the church kindly offered me his robes. now the pastor was six feet tall and broad in proportion, and i, as i have already confessed, am very short. his robes transformed me into such an absurd caricature of a preacher that it was quite impossible for me to wear them. what, then, were we to do? lacking clerical robes, the police would not allow me to utter six words. it was finally decided that the clergyman should meet the letter of the law by entering the pulpit in his robes and standing by my side while i delivered my sermon. the law soberly accepted this solution of the problem, and we offered the congregation the extraordinary tableau of a pulpit combining a large and impressive pastor standing silently beside a small and inwardly convulsed woman who had all she could do to deliver her sermon with the solemnity the occasion required. at this same conference i made one of the few friendships i enjoy with a member of a european royal family, for i met the princess blank of italy, who overwhelmed me with attention during my visit, and from whom i still receive charming letters. she invited me to visit her in her castle in italy, and to accompany her to her mother's castle in austria, and she finally insisted on knowing exactly why i persistently refused both invitations. "because, my dear princess," i explained, "i am a working-woman." "nobody need know that," murmured the princess, calmly. "on the contrary," i assured her, "it is the first thing i should explain." "but why?" the princess wanted to know. i studied her in silence for a moment. she was a new and interesting type to me, and i was glad to exchange viewpoints with her. "you are proud of your family, are you not?" i asked. "you are proud of your great line?" the princess drew herself up. "assuredly," she said. "very well," i continued. "i am proud, too. what i have done i have done unaided, and, to be frank with you, i rather approve of it. my work is my patent of nobility, and i am not willing to associate with those from whom it would have to be concealed or with those who would look down upon it." the princess sighed. i was a new type to her, too, as new as she was to me; but i had the advantage of her, for i could understand her point of view, whereas she apparently could not follow mine. she was very gracious to me, however, showing me kindness and friendship in a dozen ways, giving me an immense amount of her time and taking rather more of my time than i could spare, but never forgetting for a moment that her blood was among the oldest in europe, and that all her traditions were in keeping with its honorable age. after the berlin meeting miss anthony and i were invited to spend a week-end at the home of mrs. jacob bright, that "aunt susan" might renew her acquaintance with annie besant. this visit is among my most vivid memories. originally "aunt susan" had greatly admired mrs. besant, and had openly lamented the latter's concentration on theosophical interests--when, as miss anthony put it, "there are so many live problems here in this world." now she could not conceal her disapproval of the "other-worldliness" of mrs. besant, mrs. bright, and her daughter. some remarkable and, to me, most amusing discussions took place among the three; but often, during mrs. besant's most sustained oratorical flights, miss anthony's interest would wander, and she would drop a remark that showed she had not heard a word. she had a great admiration for mrs. besant's intellect; but she disapproved of her flowing and picturesque white robes, of her bare feet, of her incessant cigarette-smoking; above all, of her views. at last, one day.{sic} the climax of the discussions came. "annie," demanded "aunt susan," "why don't you make that aura of yours do its gallivanting in this world, looking up the needs of the oppressed, and investigating the causes of present wrongs? then you could reveal to us workers just what we should do to put things right, and we could be about it." mrs. besant sighed and said that life was short and aeons were long, and that while every one would be perfected some time, it was useless to deal with individuals here. "but, annie!" exclaimed miss anthony, pathetically. "we are here! our business is here! it's our duty to do what we can here." mrs. besant seemed not to hear her. she was in a trance, gazing into the aeons. "i'd rather have one year of your ability, backed up with common sense, for the work of making this world better," cried the exasperated "aunt susan," "than a million aeons in the hereafter!" mrs. besant sighed again. it was plain that she could not bring herself back from the other world, so miss anthony, perforce, accompanied her to it. "when your aura goes visiting in the other world," she asked, curiously, "does it ever meet your old friend charles bradlaugh?" "oh yes," declared mrs. besant. "frequently." "wasn't he very much surprised," demanded miss anthony, with growing interest, "to discover that he was not dead?" mrs. besant did not seem to know what emotion mr. bradlaugh had experienced when that revelation came. "well," mused "aunt susan," "i should think he would have been surprised. he was so certain he was going to be dead that it must have been astounding to discover he wasn't. what was he doing in the other world?" mrs. besant heaved a deeper sigh. "i am very much discouraged over mr. bradlaugh," she admitted, wanly. "he is hovering too near this world. he cannot seem to get away from his mundane interests. he is as much concerned with parliamentary affairs now as when he was on this plane." "humph!" said miss anthony; "that's the most sensible thing i've heard yet about the other world. it encourages me. i've always felt sure that if i entered the other life before women were enfranchised nothing in the glories of heaven would interest me so much as the work for women's freedom on earth. now," she ended, "i shall be like mr. bradlaugh. i shall hover round and continue my work here." when mrs. besant had left the room mrs. bright felt that it was her duty to admonish "aunt susan" to be more careful in what she said. "you are making too light of her creed," she expostulated. "you do not realize the important position mrs. besant holds. why, in india, when she walks from her home to her school all those she meets prostrate themselves. even the learned men prostrate themselves and put their faces on the ground as she goes by." "aunt susan's" voice, when she replied, took on the tones of one who is sorely tried. "but why in heaven's name does any sensible englishwoman want a lot of heathen to prostrate themselves as she goes up the street?" she demanded, wearily. "it's the most foolish thing i ever heard." the effort to win miss anthony over to the theosophical doctrine was abandoned. that night, after we had gone to our rooms, "aunt susan" summed up her conclusions on the interview: "it's a good thing for the world," she declared, "that some of us don't know so much. and it's a better thing for this world that some of us think a little earthly common sense is more valuable than too much heavenly knowledge." x. the passing of "aunt susan" on one occasion miss anthony had the doubtful pleasure of reading her own obituary notices, and her interest in them was characteristically naive. she had made a speech at lakeside, ohio, during which, for the first time in her long experience, she fainted on the platform. i was not with her at the time, and in the excitement following her collapse it was rumored that she had died. immediately the news was telegraphed to the associated press of new york, and from there flashed over the country. at miss anthony's home in rochester a reporter rang the bell and abruptly informed her sister, miss mary anthony, who came to the door, that "aunt susan" was dead. fortunately miss mary had a cool head. "i think," she said, "that if my sister had died i would have heard about it. please have your editors telegraph to lakeside." the reporter departed, but came back an hour later to say that his newspaper had sent the telegram and the reply was that susan b. anthony was dead. "i have just received a better telegram than that," remarked mary anthony. "mine is from my sister; she tells me that she fainted to-night, but soon recovered and will be home to-morrow." nevertheless, the next morning the american newspapers gave much space to miss anthony's obituary notices, and "aunt susan" spent some interesting hours reading them. one that pleased her vastly was printed in the wichita eagle, whose editor, mr. murdock, had been almost her bitterest opponent. he had often exhausted his brilliant vocabulary in editorial denunciations of suffrage and suffragists, and miss anthony had been the special target of his scorn. but the news of her death seemed to be a bitter blow to him; and of all the tributes the american press gave to susan b. anthony dead, few equaled in beauty and appreciation the one penned by mr. murdock and published in the eagle. he must have been amused when, a few days later, he received a letter from "aunt susan" herself, thanking him warmly for his changed opinion of her and hoping that it meant the conversion of his soul to our cause. it did not, and mr. murdock, though never again quite as bitter as he had been, soon resumed the free editorial expression of his antisuffrage sentiments. times have changed, however, and to-day his son, now a member of congress, is one of our strongest supporters in that body. in it became plain that miss anthony's health was failing. her visits to germany and england the previous year, triumphant though they had been, had also proved a drain on her vitality; and soon after her return to america she entered upon a task which helped to exhaust her remaining strength. she had been deeply interested in securing a fund of $ , to enable women to enter rochester university, and, one morning, just after we had held a session of our executive committee in her rochester home, she read a newspaper announcement to the effect that at four o'clock that afternoon the opportunity to admit women to the university would expire, as the full fifty thousand dollars had not been raised. the sum of eight thousand dollars was still lacking. with characteristic energy, miss anthony undertook to save the situation by raising this amount within the time limit. rushing to the telephone, she called a cab and prepared to go forth on her difficult quest; but first, while she was putting on her hat and coat, she insisted that her sister, mary anthony, should start the fund by contributing one thousand dollars from her meager savings, and this miss mary did. "aunt susan" made every second count that day, and by half after three o'clock she had secured the necessary pledges. several of the trustees of the university, however, had not seemed especially anxious to have the fund raised, and at the last moment they objected to one pledge for a thousand dollars, on the ground that the man who had given it was very old and might die before the time set to pay it; then his family, they feared, might repudiate the obligation. without a word miss anthony seized the pledge and wrote her name across it as an indorsement. "i am good for it," she then said, quietly, "if the gentleman who signed it is not." that afternoon she returned home greatly fatigued. a few hours later the girl students who had been waiting admission to the university came to serenade her in recognition of her successful work for them, but she was too ill to see them. she was passing through the first stage of what proved to be her final breakdown. in , when the date of the annual convention of the national american woman suffrage association in baltimore was drawing near, she became convinced that it would be her last convention. she was right. she showed a passionate eagerness to make it one of the greatest conventions ever held in the history of the movement; and we, who loved her and saw that the flame of her life was burning low, also bent all our energies to the task of realizing her hopes. in november preceding the convention she visited me and her niece, miss lucy anthony, in our home in mount airy, philadelphia, and it was clear that her anxiety over the convention was weighing heavily upon her. she visibly lost strength from day to day. one morning she said abruptly, "anna, let's go and call on president m. carey thomas, of bryn mawr." i wrote a note to miss thomas, telling her of miss anthony's desire to see her, and received an immediate reply inviting us to luncheon the following day. we found miss thomas deep in the work connected with her new college buildings, over which she showed us with much pride. miss anthony, of course, gloried in the splendid results miss thomas had achieved, but she was, for her, strangely silent and preoccupied. at luncheon she said: "miss thomas, your buildings are beautiful; your new library is a marvel; but they are not the cause of our presence here." "no," miss thomas said; "i know you have something on your mind. i am waiting for you to tell me what it is." "we want your co-operation, and that of miss garrett," began miss anthony, promptly, "to make our baltimore convention a success. we want you to persuade the arundel club of baltimore, the most fashionable club in the city, to give a reception to the delegates; and we want you to arrange a college night on the programme--a great college night, with the best college speakers ever brought together." these were large commissions for two extremely busy women, but both miss thomas and miss garrett--realizing miss anthony's intense earnestness--promised to think over the suggestions and see what they could do. the next morning we received a telegram from them stating that miss thomas would arrange the college evening, and that miss garrett would reopen her baltimore home, which she had closed, during the convention. she also invited miss anthony and me to be her guests there, and added that she would try to arrange the reception by the arundel club. "aunt susan" was overjoyed. i have never seen her happier than she was over the receipt of that telegram. she knew that whatever miss thomas and miss garrett undertook would be accomplished, and she rightly regarded the success of the convention as already assured. her expectations were more than realized. the college evening was undoubtedly the most brilliant occasion of its kind ever arranged for a convention. president ira remsen of johns hopkins university presided, and addresses were made by president mary e. woolley of mount holyoke, professor lucy salmon of vassar, professor mary jordan of smith, president thomas herself, and many others. from beginning to end the convention was probably the most notable yet held in our history. julia ward howe and her daughter, florence howe hall, were also guests of miss garrett, who, moreover, entertained all the speakers of "college night." miss anthony, now eighty-six, arrived in baltimore quite ill, and mrs. howe, who was ninety, was taken ill soon after she reached there. the two great women made a dramatic exchange on the programme, for on the first night, when miss anthony was unable to speak, mrs. howe took her place, and on the second night, when mrs. howe had succumbed, miss anthony had recovered sufficiently to appear for her. clara barton was also an honored figure at the convention, and miss anthony's joy in the presence of all these old and dear friends was overflowing. with them, too, were the younger women, ready to take up and carry on the work the old leaders were laying down; and "aunt susan," as she surveyed them all, felt like a general whose superb army is passing in review before him. at the close of the college programme, when the final address had been made by miss thomas, miss anthony rose and in a few words expressed her feeling that her life-work was done, and her consciousness of the near approach of the end. after that night she was unable to appear, and was indeed so ill that she was confined to her bed in miss garrett's most hospitable home. nothing could have been more thoughtful or more beautiful than the care miss garrett and miss thomas bestowed on her. they engaged for her one of the best physicians in baltimore, who, in turn, consulted with the leading specialists of johns hopkins, and they also secured a trained nurse. this final attention required special tact, for miss anthony's fear of "giving trouble" was so great that she was not willing to have a nurse. the nurse, therefore, wore a housemaid's uniform, and "aunt susan" remained wholly unconscious that she was being cared for by one of the best nurses in the famous hospital. between sessions of the convention i used to sit by "aunt susan's" bed and tell her what was going on. she was triumphant over the immense success of the convention, but it was clear that she was still worrying over the details of future work. one day at luncheon miss thomas asked me, casually: "by the way, how do you raise the money to carry on your work?" when i told her the work was wholly dependent on voluntary contributions and on the services of those who were willing to give themselves gratuitously to it, miss thomas was greatly surprised. she and miss garrett asked a number of practical questions, and at the end of our talk they looked at each other. "i don't think," said miss thomas, "that we have quite done our duty in this matter." the next day they invited a number of us to dinner, to again discuss the situation; and they admitted that they had sat up throughout the previous night, talking the matter over and trying to find some way to help us. they had also discussed the situation with miss anthony, to her vast content, and had finally decided that they would try to raise a fund of $ , , to be paid in yearly instalments of $ , for five years--part of these annual instalments to be used as salaries for the active officers. the mere mention of so large a fund startled us all. we feared that it could not possibly be raised. but miss anthony plainly believed that now the last great wish of her life had been granted. she was convinced that miss thomas and miss garrett could accomplish anything--even the miracle of raising $ , for the suffrage cause--and they did, though "aunt susan" was not here to glory over the result when they had achieved it. on the th of february we left baltimore for washington, where miss anthony was to celebrate her eighty-sixth birthday. for many years the national american woman suffrage association had celebrated our birthdays together, as hers came on the th of the month and mine on the th. there had been an especially festive banquet when she was seventy-four and i was forty-seven, and our friends had decorated the table with floral " 's" and " 's"--the centerpiece representing " " during the first half of the banquet, and " " the latter half. this time "aunt susan" should not have attempted the washington celebration, for she was still ill and exhausted by the strain of the convention. but notwithstanding her sufferings and the warnings of her physicians, she insisted on being present; so miss garrett sent the trained nurse to washington with her, and we all tried to make the journey the least possible strain on the patient's vitality. on our arrival in washington we went to the shoreham, where, as always, the proprietor took pains to give miss anthony a room with a view of the washington monument, which she greatly admired. when i entered her room a little later i found her standing at a window, holding herself up with hands braced against the casement on either side, and so absorbed in the view that she did not hear my approach. when i spoke to her she answered without turning her head. "that," she said, softly, "is the most beautiful monument in the world." i stood by her side, and together we looked at it in silence i realizing with a sick heart that "aunt susan" knew she was seeing it for the last time. the birthday celebration that followed our executive meeting was an impressive one. it was held in the church of our father, whose pastor, the rev. john van schaick, had always been exceedingly kind to miss anthony. many prominent men spoke. president roosevelt and other statesmen sent most friendly letters, and william h. taft had promised to be present. he did not come, nor did he, then or later, send any excuse for not coming--an omission that greatly disappointed miss anthony, who had always admired him. i presided at the meeting, and though we all did our best to make it gay, a strange hush hung over the assemblage a solemn stillness, such as one feels in the presence of death. we became more and more conscious that miss anthony was suffering, and we hastened the exercises all we could. when i read president roosevelt's long tribute to her, miss anthony rose to comment on it. "one word from president roosevelt in his message to congress," she said, a little wearily, "would be worth a thousand eulogies of susan b. anthony. when will men learn that what we ask is not praise, but justice?" at the close of the meeting, realizing how weak she was, i begged her to let me speak for her. but she again rose, rested her hand on my shoulder, and, standing by my side, uttered the last words she ever spoke in public, pleading with women to consecrate themselves to the cause, assuring them that no power could prevent its ultimate success, but reminding them also that the time of its coming would depend wholly on their work and their loyalty. she ended with three words--very fitting words from her lips, expressing as they did the spirit of her life-work--"failure is impossible." the next morning she was taken to her home in rochester, and one month from that day we conducted her funeral services. the nurse who had accompanied her from baltimore remained with her until two others had been secured to take her place, and every care that love or medical science could suggest was lavished on the patient. but from the first it was plain that, as she herself had foretold, "aunt susan's" soul was merely waiting for the hour of its passing. one of her characteristic traits was a dislike to being seen, even by those nearest to her, when she was not well. during the first three weeks of her last illness, therefore, i did what she wished me to do--i continued our work, trying to do hers as well as my own. but all the time my heart was in her sick-room, and at last the day came when i could no longer remain away from her. i had awakened in the morning with a strong conviction that she needed me, and at the breakfast-table i announced to her niece, miss lucy anthony, the friend who for years has shared my home, that i was going at once to "aunt susan." "i shall not even wait to telegraph," i declared. "i am sure she has sent for me; i shall take the first train." the journey brought me very close to death. as we were approaching wilkes-barre our train ran into a wagon loaded with powder and dynamite, which had been left on the track. the horses attached to it had been unhitched by their driver, who had spent his time in this effort, when he saw the train coming, instead of in signaling to the engineer. i was on my way to the dining-car when the collision occurred, and, with every one else who happened to be standing, i was hurled to the floor by the impact; flash after flash of blinding light outside, accompanied by a terrific roar, added to the panic of the passengers. when the train stopped we learned how narrow had been our escape from an especially unpleasant form of death. the dynamite in the wagon was frozen, and therefore had not exploded; it was the explosion of the powder that had caused the flashes and the din. the dark-green cars were burned almost white, and as we stood staring at them, a silent, stunned group, our conductor said, quietly, "you will never be as near death again, and escape, as you have been to-day." the accident caused a long delay, and it was ten o'clock at night when i reached rochester and miss anthony's home. as i entered the house miss mary anthony rose in surprise to greet me. "how did you get here so soon?" she cried. and then: "we sent for you this afternoon. susan has been asking for you all day." when i reached my friend's bedside one glance at her face showed me the end was near; and from that time until it came, almost a week later, i remained with her; while again, as always, she talked of the cause, and of the life-work she must now lay down. the first thing she spoke of was her will, which she had made several years before, and in which she had left the small property she possessed to her sister mary, her niece lucy, and myself, with instructions as to the use we three were to make of it. now she told me we were to pay no attention to these instructions, but to give every dollar of her money to the $ , fund miss thomas and miss garrett were trying to raise. she was vitally interested in this fund, as its success meant that for five years the active officers of the national american woman suffrage association, including myself as president, would for the first time receive salaries for our work. when she had given her instructions on this point she still seemed depressed. "i wish i could live on," she said, wistfully. "but i cannot. my spirit is eager and my heart is as young as it ever was, but my poor old body is worn out. before i go i want you to give me a promise: promise me that you will keep the presidency of the association as long as you are well enough to do the work." "but how can i promise that?" i asked. "i can keep it only as long as others wish me to keep it." "promise to make them wish you to keep it," she urged. "just as i wish you to keep it." i would have promised her anything then. so, though i knew that to hold the presidency would tie me to a position that brought in no living income, and though for several years past i had already drawn alarmingly upon my small financial reserve, i promised her that i would hold the office as long as the majority of the women in the association wished me to do so. "but," i added, "if the time comes when i believe that some one else can do better work in the presidency than i, then let me feel at liberty to resign it." this did not satisfy her. "no, no," she objected. "you cannot be the judge of that. promise me you will remain until the friends you most trust tell you it is time to withdraw, or make you understand that it is time. promise me that." i made the promise. she seemed content, and again began to talk of the future. "you will not have an easy path," she warned me. "in some ways it will be harder for you than it has ever been for me. i was so much older than the rest of you, and i had been president so long, that you girls have all been willing to listen to me. it will be different with you. other women of your own age have been in the work almost as long as you have been; you do not stand out from them by age or length of service, as i did. there will be inevitable jealousies and misunderstandings; there will be all sorts of criticism and misrepresentation. my last word to you is this: no matter what is done or is not done, how you are criticized or misunderstood, or what efforts are made to block your path, remember that the only fear you need have is the fear of not standing by the thing you believe to be right. take your stand and hold it; then let come what will, and receive blows like a good soldier." i was too much overcome to answer her; and after a moment of silence she, in her turn, made me a promise. "i do not know anything about what comes to us after this life ends," she said. "but if there is a continuance of life beyond it, and if i have any conscious knowledge of this world and of what you are doing, i shall not be far away from you; and in times of need i will help you all i can. who knows? perhaps i may be able to do more for the cause after i am gone than while i am here." nine years have passed since then, and in each day of them all it seems to me, in looking back, i have had some occasion to recall her words. when they were uttered i did not fully comprehend all they meant, or the clearness of the vision that had suggested them. it seemed to me that no position i could hold would be of sufficient importance to attract jealousy or personal attacks. the years have brought more wisdom; i have learned that any one who assumes leadership, or who, like myself, has had leadership forced upon her, must expect to bear many things of which the world knows nothing. but with this knowledge, too, has come the memory of "aunt susan's" last promise, and again and yet again in hours of discouragement and despair i have been helped by the blessed conviction that she was keeping it. during the last forty-eight hours of her life she was unwilling that i should leave her side. so day and night i knelt by her bed, holding her hand and watching the flame of her wonderful spirit grow dim. at times, even then, it blazed up with startling suddenness. on the last afternoon of her life, when she had lain quiet for hours, she suddenly began to utter the names of the women who had worked with her, as if in a final roll-call. many of them had preceded her into the next world; others were still splendidly active in the work she was laying down. but young or old, living or dead, they all seemed to file past her dying eyes that day in an endless, shadowy review, and as they went by she spoke to each of them. not all the names she mentioned were known in suffrage ranks; some of these women lived only in the heart of susan b. anthony, and now, for the last time, she was thanking them for what they had done. here was one who, at a moment of special need, had given her small savings; here was another who had won valuable recruits to the cause; this one had written a strong editorial; that one had made a stirring speech. in these final hours it seemed that not a single sacrifice or service, however small, had been forgotten by the dying leader. last of all, she spoke to the women who had been on her board and had stood by her loyally so long--rachel foster avery, alice stone blackwell, carrie chapman catt, mrs. upton, laura clay, and others. then, after lying in silence for a long time with her cheek on my hand, she murmured: "they are still passing before me--face after face, hundreds and hundreds of them, representing all the efforts of fifty years. i know how hard they have worked i know the sacrifices they have made. but it has all been worth while!" just before she lapsed into unconsciousness she seemed restless and anxious to say something, searching my face with her dimming eyes. "do you want me to repeat my promise?" i asked, for she had already made me do so several times. she made a sign of assent, and i gave her the assurance she desired. as i did so she raised my hand to her lips and kissed it--her last conscious action. for more than thirty hours after that i knelt by her side, but though she clung to my hand until her own hand grew cold, she did not speak again. she had told me over and over how much our long friendship and association had meant to her, and the comfort i had given her. but whatever i may have been to her, it was as nothing compared with what she was to me. kneeling close to her as she passed away, i knew that i would have given her a dozen lives had i had them, and endured a thousand times more hardship than we had borne together, for the inspiration of her companionship and the joy of her affection. they were the greatest blessings i have had in all my life, and i cherish as my dearest treasure the volume of her history of woman suffrage on the fly-leaf of which she had written this inscription: reverend anna howard shaw: this huge volume iv i present to you with the love that a mother beareth, and i hope you will find in it the facts about women, for you will find them nowhere else. your part will be to see that the four volumes are duly placed in the libraries of the country, where every student of history may have access to them. with unbounded love and faith, susan b. anthony. that final line is still my greatest comfort. when i am misrepresented or misunderstood, when i am accused of personal ambition or of working for personal ends, i turn to it and to similar lines penned by the same hand, and tell myself that i should not allow anything to interfere with the serenity of my spirit or to disturb me in my work. at the end of eighteen years of the most intimate companionship, the leader of our cause, the greatest woman i have ever known, still felt for me "unbounded love and faith." having had that, i have had enough. for two days after "aunt susan's" death she lay in her own home, as if in restful slumber, her face wearing its most exquisite look of peaceful serenity; and here her special friends, the poor and the unfortunate of the city, came by hundreds to pay their last respects. on the third day there was a public funeral, held in the congregational church, and, though a wild blizzard was raging, every one in rochester seemed included in the great throng of mourners who came to her bier in reverence and left it in tears. the church services were conducted by the pastor, the rev. c. c. albertson, a lifelong friend of miss anthony's, assisted by the rev. william c. gannett. james g. potter, the mayor of the city, and dr. rush rhees, president of rochester university, occupied prominent places among the distinguished mourners, and mrs. jerome jeffries, the head of a colored school, spoke in behalf of the negro race and its recognition of miss anthony's services. college clubs, medical societies, and reform groups were represented by delegates sent from different states, and miss anna gordon had come on from illinois to represent the woman's national christian temperance union. mrs. catt delivered a eulogy in which she expressed the love and recognition of the organized suffrage women of the world for miss anthony, as the one to whom they had all looked as their leader. william lloyd garrison spoke of miss anthony's work with his father and other antislavery leaders, and mrs. jean brooks greenleaf spoke in behalf of the new york state suffrage association. then, as "aunt susan" had requested, i made the closing address. she had asked me to do this and to pronounce the benediction, as well as to say the final words at her grave. it was estimated that more than ten thousand persons were assembled in and around the church, and after the benediction those who had been patiently waiting out in the storm were permitted to pass inside in single file for a last look at their friend. they found the coffin covered by a large american flag, on which lay a wreath of laurel and palms; around it stood a guard of honor composed of girl students of rochester university in their college caps and gowns. all day students had mounted guard, relieving one another at intervals. on every side there were flowers and floral emblems sent by various organizations, and just over "aunt susan's" head floated the silk flag given to her by the women of colorado. it contained four gold stars, representing the four enfranchised states, while the other stars were in silver. on her breast was pinned the jeweled flag given to her on her eightieth birthday by the women of wyoming--the first place in the world where in the constitution of the state women were given equal political rights with men. here the four stars representing the enfranchised states were made of diamonds, the others of silver enamel. just before the lid was fastened on the coffin this flag was removed and handed to mary anthony, who presented it to me. from that day i have worn it on every occasion of importance to our cause, and each time a state is won for woman suffrage i have added a new diamond star. at the time i write this--in --there are twelve. as the funeral procession went through the streets of rochester it was seen that all the city flags were at half-mast, by order of the city council. many houses were draped in black, and the grief of the citizens manifested itself on every side. all the way to mount hope cemetery the snow whirled blindingly around us, while the masses that had fallen covered the earth as far as we could see a fitting winding-sheet for the one who had gone. under the fir-trees around her open grave i obeyed "aunt susan's" wish that i should utter the last words spoken over her body as she was laid to rest: "dear friend," i said, "thou hast tarried with us long. now thou hast gone to thy well-earned rest. we beseech the infinite spirit who has upheld thee to make us worthy to follow in thy steps and to carry on thy work. hail and farewell." xi. the widening suffrage stream in my chapters on miss anthony i bridged the twenty years between and , omitting many of the stirring suffrage events of that long period, in my desire to concentrate on those which most vitally concerned her. i must now retrace my steps along the widening suffrage stream and describe, consecutively at least, and as fully as these incomplete reminiscences will permit, other incidents that occurred on its banks. of these the most important was the union in of the two great suffrage societies--the american association, of which lucy stone was the president, and the national association, headed by susan b. anthony and elizabeth cady stanton. at a convention held in washington these societies were merged as the national american woman suffrage association--the name our association still bears--and mrs. stanton was elected president. she was then nearly eighty and past active work, but she made a wonderful presiding officer at our subsequent meetings, and she was as picturesque as she was efficient. miss anthony, who had an immense admiration for her and a great personal pride in her, always escorted her to the capital, and, having worked her utmost to make the meeting a success, invariably gave mrs. stanton credit for all that was accomplished. she often said that mrs. stanton was the brains of the new association, while she herself was merely its hands and feet; but in truth the two women worked marvelously together, for mrs. stanton was a master of words and could write and speak to perfection of the things susan b. anthony saw and felt but could not herself express. usually miss anthony went to mrs. stanton's house and took charge of it while she stimulated the venerable president to the writing of her annual address. then, at the subsequent convention, she would listen to the report with as much delight and pleasure as if each word of it had been new to her. even after mrs. stanton's resignation from the presidency--at the end, i think, of three years--and miss anthony's election as her successor, "aunt susan" still went to her old friend whenever an important resolution was to be written, and mrs. stanton loyally drafted it for her. mrs. stanton was the most brilliant conversationalist i have ever known; and the best talk i have heard anywhere was that to which i used to listen in the home of mrs. eliza wright osborne, in auburn, new york, when mrs. stanton, susan b. anthony, emily howland, elizabeth smith miller, ida husted harper, miss mills, and i were gathered there for our occasional week-end visits. mrs. osborne inherited her suffrage sympathies, for she was the daughter of martha wright, who, with mrs. stanton and lucretia mott, called the first suffrage convention in seneca falls, new york. i must add in passing that her son, thomas mott osborne, who is doing such admirable work in prison reform at sing sing, has shown himself worthy of the gifted and high-minded mother who gave him to the world. most of the conversation in mrs. osborne's home was contributed by mrs. stanton and miss anthony, while the rest of us sat, as it were, at their feet. many human and feminine touches brightened the lofty discussions that were constantly going on, and the varied characteristics of our leaders cropped up in amusing fashion. mrs. stanton, for example, was rarely accurate in giving figures or dates, while miss anthony was always very exact in such matters. she frequently corrected mrs. stanton's statements, and mrs. stanton usually took the interruption in the best possible spirit, promptly admitting that "aunt susan" knew best. on one occasion i recall, however, she held fast to her opinion that she was right as to the month in which a certain incident had occurred. "no, susan," she insisted, "you're wrong for once. i remember perfectly when that happened, for it was at the time i was beginning to wean harriet." aunt susan, though somewhat staggered by the force of this testimony, still maintained that mrs. stanton must be mistaken, whereupon the latter repeated, in exasperation, "i tell you it happened when i was weaning harriet." and she added, scornfully, "what event have you got to reckon from?" miss anthony meekly subsided. mrs. stanton had wonderful blue eyes, which held to the end of her life an expression of eternal youth. during our conventions she usually took a little nap in the afternoon, and when she awoke her blue eyes always had an expression of pleased and innocent surprise, as if she were gazing on the world for the first time--the round, unwinking, interested look a baby's eyes have when something attractive is held up before them. let me give in a paragraph, before i swing off into the bypaths that always allure me, the consecutive suffrage events of the past quarter of a century. having done this, i can dwell on each as casually as i choose, for it is possible to describe only a few incidents here and there; and i shall not be departing from the story of my life, for my life had become merged in the suffrage cause. of the preliminary suffrage campaigns in kansas, made in company with "aunt susan," i have already written, and it remains only to say that during the second kansas campaign yellow was adopted as the suffrage color. in , ' , and ' we again worked in kansas and in south dakota, with such indefatigable and brilliant speakers as mrs. catt (to whose efforts also were largely due the winning of colorado in ' ), mrs. laura johns of kansas, mrs. julia nelson, henry b. blackwell, dr. helen v. putnam of dakota, mrs. emma smith devoe, rev. olympia browne of wisconsin, and dr. mary seymour howell of new york. in ' , ' , and ' special efforts were devoted to idaho, utah, california, and washington, and from then on our campaigns were waged steadily in the western states. the colorado victory gave us two full suffrage states, for in the territory of wyoming had enfranchised women under very interesting conditions, not now generally remembered. the achievement was due to the influence of one woman, esther morris, a pioneer who was as good a neighbor as she was a suffragist. in those early days, in homes far from physicians and surgeons, the women cared for one another in sickness, and esther morris, as it happened, once took full and skilful charge of a neighbor during the difficult birth of the latter's child. she had done the same thing for many other women, but this woman's husband was especially grateful. he was also a member of the legislature, and he told mrs. morris that if there was any measure she wished put through for the women of the territory he would be glad to introduce it. she immediately took him at his word by asking him to introduce a bill enfranchising women, and he promptly did so. the legislature was democratic, and it pounced upon the measure as a huge joke. with the amiable purpose of embarrassing the governor of the territory, who was a republican and had been appointed by the president, the members passed the bill and put it up to him to veto. to their combined horror and amazement, the young governor did nothing of the kind. he had come, as it happened, from salem, ohio, one of the first towns in the united states in which a suffrage convention was held. there, as a boy, he had heard susan b. anthony make a speech, and he had carried into the years the impression it made upon him. he signed that bill; and, as the legislature could not get a two-thirds vote to kill it, the disgusted members had to make the best of the matter. the following year a democrat introduced a bill to repeal the measure, but already public sentiment had changed and he was laughed down. after that no further effort was ever made to take the ballot away from the women of wyoming. when the territory applied for statehood, it was feared that the woman-suffrage clause in the constitution might injure its chance of admission, and the women sent this telegram to joseph m. carey: "drop us if you must. we can trust the men of wyoming to enfranchise us after our territory becomes a state." mr. carey discussed this telegram with the other men who were urging upon congress the admission of their territory, and the following reply went back: "we may stay out of the union a hundred years, but we will come in with our women." there is great inspiration in those two messages--and a great lesson, as well. in we conducted a campaign in new york, when an effort was made to secure a clause to enfranchise women in the new state constitution; and for the first time in the history of the woman-suffrage movement many of the influential women in the state and city of new york took an active part in the work. miss anthony was, as always, our leader and greatest inspiration. mrs. john brooks greenleaf was state president, and miss mary anthony was the most active worker in the rochester headquarters. mrs. lily devereaux blake had charge of the campaign in new york city, and mrs. marianna chapman looked after the brooklyn section, while a most stimulating sign of the times was the organization of a committee of new york women of wealth and social influence, who established their headquarters at sherry's. among these were mrs. josephine shaw lowell, mrs. joseph h. choate, dr. mary putnam jacobi, mrs. j. warren goddard, and mrs. robert abbe. miss anthony, then in her seventy-fifth year, spoke in every county of the state sixty in all. i spoke in forty, and mrs. catt, as always, made a superb record. miss harriet may mills, a graduate of cornell, and miss mary g. hay, did admirable organization work in the different counties. our disappointment over the result was greatly soothed by the fact that only two years later both idaho and utah swung into line as full suffrage states, though california, in which we had labored with equal zeal, waited fifteen years longer. among these campaigns, and overlapping them, were our annual conventions--each of which i attended from on--and the national and international councils, to a number of which, also, i have given preliminary mention. when susan b. anthony died in , four american states had granted suffrage to woman. at the time i write-- --the result of the american women's work for suffrage may be briefly tabulated thus: suffrage status full suffrage for women number of state year won electoral votes wyoming colorado idaho utah washington california arizona kansas oregon alaska -- nevada montana presidential and municipal suffrage for women number of state year won electoral votes illinois states where amendment has passed one legislature and must pass another number goes to state house senate voters electoral votes iowa - - massachusetts - - new jersey - - new york - - north dakota - - pennsylvania - - to tabulate the wonderful work done by the conventions and councils is not possible, but a con secutive list of the meetings would run like this: first national convention, washington, d.c., . first international council of women, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . international council, chicago, . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, atlanta, ga., . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, des moines, iowa, . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, grand rapids, mich., . international council, london, england, . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, minneapolis, minn., . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . national suffrage convention, new orleans, la., . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . international council of women, berlin, germany, . formation of intern'l suffrage alliance, berlin, germany, . national suffrage convention, portland, oregon, . national suffrage convention, baltimore, md., . international suffrage alliance, copenhagen, denmark, . national suffrage convention, chicago, iii., . international suffrage alliance, amsterdam, holland, . national suffrage convention, buffalo, n. y., . new york headquarters established, . national suffrage convention, seattle, wash., . international suffrage alliance, london, england, . national suffrage convention, washington, d.c., . international council, genoa, italy, . national suffrage convention, louisville, ky., . international suffrage alliance, stockholm, sweden, . national suffrage convention, philadelphia, pa., . international council, the hague, holland, national suffrage convention, washington, d.c.; . international suffrage alliance, budapest, hungary, . national suffrage convention, nashville, tenn., . international council, rome, italy, . the winning of the suffrage states, the work in the states not yet won, the conventions, gatherings, and international councils in which women of every nation have come together, have all combined to make this quarter of a century the most brilliant period for women in the history of the world. i have set forth the record baldly and without comment, because the bare facts are far more eloquent than words. it must not be forgotten, too, that these great achievements of the progressive women of to-day have been accomplished against the opposition of a large number of their own sex--who, while they are out in the world's arena fighting against progress for their sisters, still shatter the ear-drum with their incongruous war-cry, "woman's place is in the home!" here: we were attending the republican state nominating convention at mitchell--miss anthony, mrs. catt, other leaders, and myself--having been told that it would be at once the largest and the most interesting gathering ever held in the state as it proved to be. all the leading politicians of the state were there, and in the wake of the white men had come tribes of indians with their camp outfits, their wives and their children--the groups forming a picturesque circle of tents and tepees around the town. it was a great occasion for them, an indian powwow, for by the law all indians who had lands in severalty were to be permitted to vote the following year. they were present, therefore, to study the ways of the white man, and an edifying exhibition of these was promptly offered them. the crowd was so great that it was only through the courtesy of major pickler, a member of congress and a devoted believer in suffrage, that miss anthony, mrs. catt, and the rest of us were able to secure passes to the convention, and when we reached the hall we were escorted to the last row of seats on the crowded platform. as the space between us and the speakers was filled by rows upon rows of men, as well as by the band and their instruments, we could see very little that took place. some of our friends pointed out this condition to the local committee and asked that we be given seats on the floor, but received the reply that there was "absolutely no room on the floor except for delegates and distinguished visitors." our persistent friends then suggested that at least a front seat should be given to miss anthony, who certainly came under the head of a "distinguished visitor"; but this was not done--probably because a large number of the best seats were filled by russian laborers wearing badges inscribed "against woman suffrage and susan b. anthony." we remained, perforce, in our rear seats, finding such interest as we could in the back view of hundreds of heads. just before the convention was called to order it was announced that a delegation of influential indians was waiting outside, and a motion to invite the red men into the hall was made and carried with great enthusiasm. a committee of leading citizens was appointed to act as escort, and these gentlemen filed out, returning a few moments later with a party of indian warriors in full war regalia, even to their gay blankets, their feathered head-dresses, and their paint. when they appeared the band struck up a stirring march of welcome, and the entire audience cheered while the indians, flanked by the admiring committee, stalked solemnly down the aisle and were given seats of honor directly in front of the platform. all we could see of them were the brilliant feathers of their war-bonnets, but we got the full effect of their reception in the music and the cheers. i dared not look at miss anthony during this remarkable scene, and she, craning her venerable neck to get a glimpse of the incident from her obscure corner, made no comment to me; but i knew what she was thinking. the following year these indians would have votes. courtesy, therefore, must be shown them. but the women did not matter, the politicians reasoned, for even if they were enfranchised they would never support the element represented at that convention. it was not surprising that, notwithstanding our hard work, we did not win the state, though all the conditions had seemed most favorable; for the state was new, the men and women were working side by side in the fields, and there was discontent in the ranks of the political parties. after the election, when we analyzed the vote county by county, we discovered that in every county whose residents were principally americans the amendment was carried, whereas in all counties populated largely by foreigners it was lost. in certain counties--those inhabited by russian jews--the vote was almost solidly against us, and this notwithstanding the fact that the wives of these russian voters were doing a man's work on their farms in addition to the usual women's work in their homes. the fact that our cause could be defeated by ignorant laborers newly come to our country was a humiliating one to accept; and we realized more forcibly than ever before the difficulty of the task we had assumed--a task far beyond any ever undertaken by a body of men in the history of democratic government throughout the world. we not only had to bring american men back to a belief in the fundamental principles of republican government, but we had also to educate ignorant immigrants, as well as our own indians, whose degree of civilization was indicated by their war-paint and the flaunting feathers of their head-dresses. the kansas campaign, which miss anthony, mrs. catt, mrs. johns, and i conducted in , held a special interest, due to the populist movement. there were so many problems before the people--prohibition, free silver, and the populist propaganda--that we found ourselves involved in the bitterest campaign ever fought out in the state. our desire, of course, was to get the indorsement of the different political parties and religious bodies, we succeeded in obtaining that of three out of four of the methodist episcopal conferences--the congregational, the epworth league, and the christian endeavor league--as well as that of the state teachers' association, the woman's christian temperance union, and various other religious and philanthropic societies. to obtain the indorsement of the political parties was much more difficult, and we were facing conditions in which partial success was worse than complete failure. it had long been an unwritten law before it became a written law in our national association that we must not take partisan action or line up with any one political party. it was highly important, therefore, that either all parties should support us or that none should. the populist convention was held in topeka before either the democratic or republican convention, and after two days of vigorous fighting, led by mrs. anna diggs and other prominent populist women, a suffrage plank was added to the platform. the populist party invited me, as a minister, to open the convention with prayer. this was an innovation, and served as a wedge for the admission of women representatives of the suffrage association to address the convention. we all did so, miss anthony speaking first, mrs. catt second, and i last; after which, for the first time in history, the doxology was sung at a political convention. at the democratic convention we made the same appeal, and were refused. instead of indorsing us, the democrats put an anti-suffrage plank in their platform--but this, as the party had little standing in kansas, probably did us more good than harm. trouble came thick and fast, however, when the republicans, the dominant party in the state, held their convention; and a mighty struggle began over the admission of a suffrage plank. there was a woman's republican club in kansas, which held its convention in topeka at the same time the republicans were holding theirs. there was also a mrs. judith ellen foster, who, by stirring up opposition in this republican club against the insertion of a suffrage plank, caused a serious split in the convention. miss anthony, mrs. catt, and i, of course, urged the republican women to stand by their sex, and to give their support to the republicans only on condition that the latter added suffrage to their platform. at no time, and in no field of work, have i ever seen a more bitter conflict in progress than that which raged for two days during this republican women's convention. liquor-dealers, joint-keepers, "boot-leggers," and all the lawless element of kansas swung into line at a special convention held under the auspices of the liquor league of kansas city, and cast their united weight against suffrage by threatening to deny their votes to any candidate or political party favoring our cause. the republican women's convention finally adjourned with nothing accomplished except the passing of a resolution mildly requesting the republican party to indorse woman suffrage. the result was, of course, that it was not indorsed by the republican convention, and that it was defeated at the following election. it was at the time of these campaigns that i was elected vice-president of the national association and lecturer at large, and the latter office brought in its train a glittering variety of experiences. on one occasion an episode occurred which "aunt susan" never afterward wearied of describing. there was a wreck somewhere on the road on which i was to travel to meet a lecture engagement, and the trains going my way were not running. looking up the track, however, i saw a train coming from the opposite direction. i at once grasped my hand-luggage and started for it. "wait! wait!" cried miss anthony. "that train's going the wrong way!" "at least it's going somewhere!" i replied, tersely, as the train stopped, and i climbed the steps. looking back when the train had started again, i saw "aunt susan" standing in the same spot on the platform and staring after it with incredulous eyes; but i was right, for i discovered that by going up into another state i could get a train which would take me to my destination in time for the lecture that night. it was a fine illustration of my pet theory that if one intends to get somewhere it is better to start, even in the wrong direction, than to stand still. again and again in our work we had occasion to marvel over men's lack of understanding of the views of women, even of those nearest and dearest to them; and we had an especially striking illustration of this at one of our hearings in washington. a certain distinguished gentleman (we will call him mr. h----) was chairman of the judiciary, and after we had said what we wished to say, he remarked: "your arguments are logical. your cause is just. the trouble is that women don't want suffrage. my wife doesn't want it. i don't know a single woman who does want it." as it happened for this unfortunate gentleman, his wife was present at the hearing and sitting beside miss anthony. she listened to his words with surprise, and then whispered to "aunt susan": "how can he say that? _i_ want suffrage, and i've told him so a hundred times in the last twenty years." "tell him again now," urged miss anthony. "here's your chance to impress it on his memory." "here!" gasped the wife. "oh, i wouldn't dare." "then may i tell him?" "why--yes! he can think what he pleases, but he has no right to publicly misrepresent me." the assent, hesitatingly begun, finished on a sudden note of firmness. miss anthony stood up. "it may interest mr. h----," she said, "to know that his wife does wish to vote, and that for twenty years she has wished to vote, and has often told him so, though he has evidently forgotten it. she is here beside me, and has just made this explanation." mr. h---- stammered and hesitated, and finally decided to laugh. but there was no mirth in the sound he made, and i am afraid his wife had a bad quarter of an hour when they met a little later in the privacy of their home. among other duties that fell to my lot at this period were numerous suffrage debates with prominent opponents of the cause. i have already referred to the debate in kansas with senator ingalls. equaling this in importance was a bout with dr. buckley, the distinguished methodist debater, which had been arranged for us at chautauqua by bishop vincent of the methodist church. the bishop was not a believer in suffrage, nor was he one of my admirers. i had once aroused his ire by replying to a sermon he had delivered on "god's women," and by proving, to my own satisfaction at least, that the women he thought were god's women had done very little, whereas the work of the world had been done by those he believed were not "god's women." there was considerable interest, therefore, in the buckley-shaw debate he had arranged; we all knew he expected dr. buckley to wipe out that old score, and i was determined to make it as difficult as possible for the distinguished gentleman to do so. we held the debate on two succeeding days, i speaking one afternoon and dr. buckley replying the following day. on the evening before i spoke, however, dr. buckley made an indiscreet remark, which, blown about chautauqua on the light breeze of gossip, was generally regarded as both unchivalrous and unfair. as the hall in which we were to speak was enormous, he declared that one of two things would certainly happen. either i would scream in order to be heard by my great audience, or i would be unable to make myself heard at all. if i screamed it would be a powerful argument against women as public speakers; if i could not be heard, it would be an even better argument. in either case, he summed up, i was doomed to failure. following out this theory, he posted men in the extreme rear of the great hall on the day of my lecture, to report to him whether my words reached them, while he himself graciously occupied a front seat. bishop vincent's antagonistic feeling was so strong, however, that though, as the presiding officer of the occasion, he introduced me to the audience, he did not wait to hear my speech, but immediately left the hall--and this little slight added to the public's interest in the debate. it was felt that the two gentlemen were not quite "playing fair," and the champions of the cause were especially enthusiastic in their efforts to make up for these failures in courtesy. my friends turned out in force to hear the lecture, and on the breast of every one of them flamed the yellow bow that stood for suffrage, giving to the vast hall something of the effect of a field of yellow tulips in full bloom. when dr. buckley rose to reply the next day these friends were again awaiting him with an equally jocund display of the suffrage color, and this did not add to his serenity. during his remarks he made the serious mistake of losing his temper; and, unfortunately for him, he directed his wrath toward a very old man who had thoughtlessly applauded by pounding on the floor with his cane when dr. buckley quoted a point i had made. the doctor leaned forward and shook his fist at him. "think she's right, do you?" he asked. "yes," admitted the venerable citizen, briskly, though a little startled by the manner of the question. "old man," shouted dr. buckley, "i'll make you take that back if you've got a grain of sense in your head!" the insult cost him his audience. when he realized this he lost all his self-possession, and, as the buffalo courier put it the next day, "went up and down the platform raving like a billingsgate fishwife." he lost the debate, and the supply of yellow ribbon left in the surrounding counties was purchased that night to be used in the suffrage celebration that followed. my friends still refer to the occasion as "the day we wiped up the earth with dr. buckley"; but i do not deserve the implied tribute, for dr. buckley would have lost his case without a word from me. what really gave me some satisfaction, however, was the respective degree of freshness with which he and i emerged from our combat. after my speech miss anthony and i were given a reception, and stood for hours shaking hands with hundreds of men and women. later in the evening we had a dinner and another reception, which, lasting, as they did, until midnight, kept us from our repose. dr. buckley, poor gentleman, had to be taken to his hotel immediately after his speech, given a hot bath, rubbed down, and put tenderly to bed; and not even the sympathetic heart of susan b. anthony yearned over him when she heard of his exhaustion. it was also at chautauqua, by the way, though a number of years earlier, that i had my much misquoted encounter with the minister who deplored the fashion i followed in those days of wearing my hair short. this young man, who was rather a pompous person, saw fit to take me to task at a table where a number of us were dining together. "miss shaw," he said, abruptly, "i have been asked very often why you wear your hair short, and i have not been able to explain. of course"--this kindly--"i know there is some good reason. i ventured to advance the theory that you have been ill and that your hair has fallen out. is that it?" "no," i told him. "there is a reason, as you suggest. but it is not that one." "then why--" he insisted. "i am rather sensitive about it," i explained. "i don't know that i care to discuss the subject." the young minister looked pained. "but among friends--" he protested. "true," i conceded. "well, then, among friends, i will admit frankly that it is a birthmark. i was born with short hair." that was the last time my short hair was criticized in my presence, but the young minister was right in his disapproval and i was wrong, as i subsequently realized. a few years later i let my hair grow long, for i had learned that no woman in public life can afford to make herself conspicuous by any eccentricity of dress or appearance. if she does so she suffers for it herself, which may not disturb her, and to a greater or less degree she injures the cause she represents, which should disturb her very much. xii. building a home it is not generally known that the meeting of the international council of women held in chicago during the world's fair was suggested by miss anthony, as was also the appointment of the exposition's "board of lady managers." "aunt susan" kept her name in the background, that she might not array against these projects the opposition of those prejudiced against woman suffrage. we both spoke at the meetings, however, as i have already explained, and one of our most chastening experiences occurred on "actress night." there was a great demand for tickets for this occasion, as every one seemed anxious to know what kind of speeches our leading women of the stage would make; and the programme offered such magic names as helena modjeska, julia marlowe, georgia cayvan, clara morris, and others of equal appeal. the hall was soon filled, and to keep out the increasing throng the doors were locked and the waiting crowd was directed to a second hall for an overflow meeting. as it happened, miss anthony and i were among the earliest arrivals at the main hall. it was the first evening we had been free to do exactly as we pleased, and we were both in high spirits, looking forward to the speeches, congratulating each other on the good seats we had been given on the platform, and rallying the speakers on their stage fright; for, much to our amusement, we had found them all in mortal terror of their audience. georgia cayvan, for example, was so nervous that she had to be strengthened with hot milk before she could speak, and julia marlowe admitted freely that her knees were giving way beneath her. they really had something of an ordeal before them, for it was decided that each actress must speak twice going immediately from the hall to the overflow meeting and repeating there the speech she had just made. but in the mean time some one had to hold the impatient audience in the second hall, and as it was a duty every one else promptly repudiated, a row of suddenly imploring faces turned toward miss anthony and me. i admit that we responded to the appeal with great reluctance. we were so comfortable where we were--and we were also deeply interested in the first intimate glimpse we were having of these stars in the dramatic sky. we saw our duty, however, and with deep sighs we rose and departed for the second hall, where a glance at the waiting throng did not add to our pleasure in the prospect before us. when i walked upon the stage i found myself facing an actually hostile audience. they had come to look at and listen to the actresses who had been promised them, and they thought they were being deprived of that privilege by an interloper. never before had i gazed out on a mass of such unresponsive faces or looked into so many angry eyes. they were exchanging views on their wrongs, and the general buzz of conversation continued when i appeared. for some moments i stood looking at them, my hands behind my back. if i had tried to speak they would undoubtedly have gone on talking; my silence attracted their attention and they began to wonder what i intended to do. when they had stopped whispering and moving about, i spoke to them with the frankness of an overburdened heart. "i think," i said, slowly and distinctly, "that you are the most disagreeable audience i ever faced in my life." they gasped and stared, almost open-mouthed in their surprise. "never," i went on, "have i seen a gathering of people turn such ugly looks upon a speaker who has sacrificed her own enjoyment to come and talk to them. do you think i want to talk to you?" i demanded, warming to my subject. "i certainly do not. neither does miss anthony want to talk to you, and the lady who spoke to you a few moments ago, and whom you treated so rudely, did not wish to be here. we would all much prefer to be in the other hall, listening to the speakers from our comfortable seats on the stage. to entertain you we gave up our places and came here simply because the committee begged us to do so. i have only one thing more to say. if you care to listen to me courteously i am willing to waste time on you; but don't imagine that i will stand here and wait while you criticize the management." by this time i felt as if i had a child across my knee to whom i was administering maternal chastisement, and the uneasiness of my audience underlined the impression. they listened rather sulkily at first; then a few of the best-natured among them laughed, and the laugh grew and developed into applause. the experience had done them good, and they were a chastened band when clara morris appeared, and i gladly yielded the floor to her. all the actresses who spoke that night delivered admirable addresses, but no one equaled madame modjeska, who delivered exquisitely a speech written, not by herself, but by a friend and countrywoman, on the condition of polish women under the regime of russia. we were all charmed as we listened, but none of us dreamed what that address would mean to modjeska. it resulted in her banishment from poland, her native land, which she was never again permitted to enter. but though she paid so heavy a price for the revelation, i do not think she ever really regretted having given to america the facts in that speech. during this same period i embarked upon a high adventure. i had always longed for a home, and my heart had always been loyal to cape cod. now i decided to have a home at wianno, across the cape from my old parish at east dennis. deep-seated as my home-making aspiration had been, it was realized largely as the result of chance. a special hobby of mine has always been auction sales. i dearly love to drop into auction-rooms while sales are in progress, and bid up to the danger-point, taking care to stop just in time to let some one else get the offered article. but of course i sometimes failed to stop at the psychological moment, and the result was a sudden realization that, in the course of the years, i had accumulated an extraordinary number of articles for which i had no shelter and no possible use. the crown jewel of the collection was a bedroom set i had picked up in philadelphia. usually, cautious friends accompanied me on my auction-room expeditions and restrained my ardor; but this time i got away alone and found myself bidding at the sale of a solid bog-wood bedroom set which had been exhibited as a show-piece at the world's fair, and was now, in the words of the auctioneer, "going for a song." i sang the song. i offered twenty dollars, thirty dollars, forty dollars, and other excited voices drowned mine with higher bids. it was very thrilling. i offered fifty dollars, and there was a horrible silence, broken at last by the auctioneer's final, "going, going, gone!" i was mistress of the bog-wood bedroom set--a set wholly out of harmony with everything else i possessed, and so huge and massive that two men were required to lift the head-board alone. like many of the previous treasures i had acquired, this was a white elephant; but, unlike some of them, it was worth more than i had paid for it. i was offered sixty dollars for one piece alone, but i coldly refused to sell it, though the tribute to my judgment warmed my heart. i had not the faintest idea what to do with the set, however, and at last i confided my dilemma to my friend, mrs. ellen dietrick, who sagely advised me to build a house for it. the idea intrigued me. the bog-wood furniture needed a home, and so did i. the result of our talk was that mrs. dietrick promised to select a lot for me at wianno, where she herself lived, and even promised to supervise the building of my cottage, and to attend to all the other details connected with it. thus put, the temptation was irresistible. besides mrs. dietrick, many other delightful friends lived at wianno--the garrisons, the chases of rhode island, the wymans, the wellingtons--a most charming community. i gave mrs. dietrick full authority to use her judgment in every detail connected with the undertaking, and the cottage was built. having put her hand to this plow of friendship, mrs. dietrick did the work with characteristic thoroughness. i did not even visit wianno to look at my land. she selected it, bought it, engaged a woman architect--lois howe of boston--and followed the latter's work from beginning to end. the only stipulation i made was that the cottage must be far up on the beach, out of sight of everybody--really in the woods; and this was easily met, for along that coast the trees came almost to the water's edge. the cottage was a great success, and for many years i spent my vacations there, filling the place with young people. from the time of my sister mary's death i had had the general oversight of her two daughters, lola and grace, as well as of nicolas and eleanor, the two motherless daughters of my brother john. they were all with me every summer in the new home, together with lucy anthony, her sister and brother, mrs. rachel foster avery, and other friends. we had special fishing costumes made, and wore them much of the time. my nieces wore knickerbockers, and i found vast contentment in short, heavy skirts over bloomers. we lived out of doors, boating, fishing, and clamming all day long, and, as in my early pioneer days in michigan, my part of the work was in the open. i chopped all the wood, kept the fires going, and looked after the grounds. rumors of our care-free and unconventional life began to circulate, and presently our eden was invaded by the only serpent i have ever found in the newspaper world--a girl reporter from boston. she telegraphed that she was coming to see us; and though, when she came, we had been warned of her propensities and received her in conventional attire, formally entertaining her with tea on the veranda, she went away and gave free play to a hectic fancy. she wrote a sensational full-page article for a sunday newspaper, illustrated with pictures showing us all in knickerbockers. in this striking work of art i carried a fish net and pole and wore a handkerchief tied over my head. the article, which was headed the adamless eden, was almost libelous, and i admit that for a long time it dimmed our enjoyment of our beloved retreat. then, gradually, my old friends died, mrs. dietrick among the first; others moved away; and the character of the entire region changed. it became fashionable, privacy was no longer to be found there, and we ceased to visit it. for five years i have not even seen the cottage. in i built the house i now occupy (in moylan, pennsylvania), which is the realization of a desire i have always had--to build on a tract which had a stream, a grove of trees, great boulders and rocks, and a hill site for the house with a broad outlook, and a railroad station conveniently near. the friend who finally found the place for me had begun his quest with the pessimistic remark that i would better wait for it until i got to paradise; but two years later he telegraphed me that he had discovered it on this planet, and he was right. i have only eight acres of land, but no one could ask a more ideal site for a cottage; and on the place is my beloved forest, including a grove of three hundred firs. from every country i have visited i have brought back a tiny tree for this little forest, and now it is as full of memories as of beauty. to the surprise of my neighbors, i built my house with its back toward the public road, facing the valley and the stream. "but you will never see anybody go by," they protested. i answered that the one person in the house who was necessarily interested in passers-by was my maid, and she could see them perfectly from the kitchen, which faced the road. i enjoy my views from the broad veranda that overlooks the valley, the stream, and the country for miles around. every suffragist i have ever met has been a lover of home; and only the conviction that she is fighting for her home, her children, for other women, or for all of these, has sustained her in her public work. looking back on many campaign experiences, i am forced to admit that it is not always the privations we endure which make us think most tenderly of home. often we are more overcome by the attentions of well-meaning friends. as an example of this i recall an incident of one oregon campaign. i was to speak in a small city in the southern part of the state, and on reaching the station, hot, tired, and covered with the grime of a midsummer journey, i found awaiting me a delegation of citizens, a brass-band, and a white carriage drawn by a pair of beautiful white horses. in this carriage, and devotedly escorted by the citizens and the band, the latter playing its hardest, i was driven to the city hall and there met by the mayor, who delivered an address, after which i was crowned with a laurel wreath. subsequently, with this wreath still resting upon my perspiring brow, i was again driven through the streets of the city; and if ever a woman felt that her place was in the home and longed to be in her place, i felt it that day. an almost equally trying occasion had san francisco for its setting. the city had arranged a fourth of july celebration, at which miss anthony and i were to speak. here we rode in a carriage decorated with flowers--yellow roses--while just in front of us was the mayor in a carriage gorgeously festooned with purple blossoms. behind us, for more than a mile, stretched a procession of uniformed policemen, soldiers, and citizens, while the sidewalks were lined with men and women whose enthusiastic greetings came to miss anthony from every side. she was enchanted over the whole experience, for to her it meant, as always, not a personal tribute, but a triumph of the cause. but i sat by her side acutely miserable; for across my shoulders and breast had been draped a huge sash with the word "orator" emblazoned on it, and this was further embellished by a striking rosette with streamers which hung nearly to the bottom of my gown. it is almost unnecessary to add that this remarkable decoration was furnished by a committee of men, and was also worn by all the men speakers of the day. possibly i was overheated by the sash, or by the emotions the sash aroused in me, for i was stricken with pneumonia the following day and experienced my first serious illness, from which, however, i soon recovered. on our way to california in miss anthony and i spent a day at cheyenne, wyoming, as the guests of senator and mrs. carey, who gave a dinner for us. at the table i asked senator carey what he considered the best result of the enfranchisement of wyoming women, and even after the lapse of twenty years i am able to give his reply almost word for word, for it impressed me deeply at the time and i have since quoted it again and again. "there have been many good results," he said, "but the one i consider above all the others is the great change for the better in the character of our candidates for office. consider this for a moment: since our women have voted there has never been an embezzlement of public funds, or a scandalous misuse of public funds, or a disgraceful condition of graft. i attribute the better character of our public officials almost entirely to the votes of the women." "those are inspiring facts," i conceded, "but let us be just. there are three men in wyoming to every woman, and no candidate for office could be elected unless the men voted for him, too. why, then, don't they deserve as much credit for his election as the women?" "because," explained senator carey, promptly, "women are politically an uncertain factor. we can go among men and learn beforehand how they are going to vote, but we can't do that with women; they keep us guessing. in the old days, when we went into the caucus we knew what resolutions put into our platforms would win the votes of the ranchmen, what would win the miners, what would win the men of different nationalities; but we did not know how to win the votes of the women until we began to nominate our candidates. then we immediately discovered that if the democrats nominated a man of immoral character for office, the women voted for his republican opponent, and we learned our first big lesson--that whatever a candidate's other qualifications for office may be, he must first of all have a clean record. in the old days, when we nominated a candidate we asked, 'can he hold the saloon vote?' now we ask, 'can he hold the women's vote?' instead of bidding down to the saloon, we bid up to the home." following the dinner there was a large public meeting, at which miss anthony and i were to speak. mrs. jenkins, who was president of the suffrage association of the state, presided and introduced us to the assemblage. then she added: "i have introduced you ladies to your audience. now i would like to introduce your audience to you." she began with the two senators and the member of congress, then introduced the governor, the lieutenant-governor, the state superintendent of education, and numerous city and state officials. as she went on miss anthony grew more and more excited, and when the introductions were over, she said: "this is the first time i have ever seen an audience assembled for woman suffrage made up of the public officials of a state. no one can ever persuade me now that men respect women without political power as much as they respect women who have it; for certainly in no other state in the union would it be possible to gather so many public officials under one roof to listen to the addresses of women." the following spring we again went west, with mrs. catt, lucy anthony, miss hay and miss sweet, her secretary, to carry on the pacific coast campaign of ' , arranged by mrs. cooper and her daughter harriet, of oakland--both women of remarkable executive ability. headquarters were secured in san francisco, and miss hay was put in charge, associated with a large group of california women. it was the second time in the history of campaigns--the first being in new york--that all the money to carry on the work was raised by the people of the state. the last days of the campaign were extremely interesting, and one of their important events was that the hon. thomas reed, then speaker of the house of representatives, for the first time came out publicly for suffrage. mr. reed had often expressed himself privately as in favor of the cause--but he had never made a public statement for us. at oakland, one day, the indefatigable and irresistible "aunt susan" caught him off his guard by persuading his daughter, kitty reed, who was his idol, to ask him to say just one word in favor of our amendment. when he arose we did not know whether he had promised what she asked, and as his speech progressed our hearts sank lower and lower, for all he said was remote from our cause. but he ended with these words: "there is an amendment of the constitution pending, granting suffrage to women. the women of california ought to have suffrage. the men of california ought to give it to them--and the next speaker, dr. shaw, will tell you why." the word was spoken. and though it was not a very strong word, it came from a strong man, and therefore helped us. election day, as usual, brought its surprises and revelations. mrs. cooper asked her chinese cook how the chinese were voting--i. e., the native-born chinamen who were entitled to vote--and he replied, blithely, "all chinamen vote for billy mckee and 'no' to women!" it is an interesting fact that every chinese vote was cast against us. all day we went from one to another of the polling-places, and i shall always remember the picture of miss anthony and the wife of senator sargent wandering around the polls arm in arm at eleven o'clock at night, their tired faces taking on lines of deeper depression with every minute; for the count was against us. however, we made a fairly good showing. when the final counts came in we found that we had won the state from the north down to oakland, and from the south up to san francisco; but there was not a sufficient majority to overcome the adverse votes of san francisco and oakland. with more than , votes cast, we were defeated by only , majority. in san francisco the saloon element and the most aristocratic section of the city made an equal showing against us, while the section occupied by the middle working-class was largely in favor of our amendment. i dwell especially on this campaign, partly because such splendid work was done by the women of california, and also because, during the same election, utah and idaho granted full suffrage to women. this gave us four suffrage states--wyoming, colorado, utah, and idaho--and we prepared for future struggles with very hopeful hearts. it was during this california campaign, by the way, that i unwittingly caused much embarrassment to a worthy young man. at a mass-meeting held in san francisco, rabbi vorsanger, who was not in favor of suffrage for women, advanced the heartening theory that in a thousand years more they might possibly be ready for it. after a thousand years of education for women, of physically developed women, of uncorseted women, he said, we might have the ideal woman, and could then begin to talk about freedom for her. when the rabbi sat down there was a shout from the audience for me to answer him, but all i said was that the ideal woman would be rather lonely, as it would certainly take another thousand years to develop an ideal man capable of being a mate for her. on the following night prof. howard griggs, of stanford university, made a speech on the modern woman--a speech so admirably thought out and delivered that we were all delighted with it. when he had finished the audience again called on me, and i rose and proceeded to make what my friends frankly called "the worst break" of my experience. rabbi vorsanger's ideal woman was still in my mind, and i had been rather hard on the men in my reply to the rabbi the night before; so now i hastened to give this clever young man his full due. i said that though the rabbi thought it would take a thousand years to make an ideal woman, i believed that, after all, it might not take as long to make the ideal man. we had something very near it in a speaker who could reveal such ability, such chivalry, and such breadth of view as professor griggs had just shown that he possessed. that night i slept the sleep of the just and the well-meaning, and it was fortunate i did, for the morning newspapers had a surprise for me that called for steady nerves and a sense of humor. across the front page of every one of them ran startling head-lines to this effect: dr. shaw has found her ideal man the prospects are that she will remain in california professor griggs was young enough to be my son, and he was already married and the father of two beautiful children; but these facts were not permitted to interfere with the free play of fancy in journalistic minds. for a week the newspapers were filled with all sorts of articles, caricatures, and editorials on my ideal man, which caused me much annoyance and some amusement, while they plunged professor griggs into an abysmal gloom. in the end, however, the experience proved an excellent one for him, for the publicity attending his speech made him decide to take up lecturing as a profession, which he eventually did with great success. but neither of us has yet heard the last of the ideal man episode. only a few years ago, on his return to california after a long absence, one of the leading sunday newspapers of the state heralded professor griggs's arrival by publishing a full-page article bearing his photograph and mine and this flamboyant heading: she made him and dr. shaw's ideal man became the idol of american women and earns $ , a year we had other unusual experiences in california, and the display of affluence on every side was not the least impressive of them. in one town, after a heavy rain, i remember seeing a number of little boys scraping the dirt from the gutters, washing it, and finding tiny nuggets of gold. we learned that these boys sometimes made two or three dollars a day in this way, and that the streets of the town--i think it was marysville--contained so much gold that a syndicate offered to level the whole town and repave the streets in return for the right to wash out the gold. this sounds like the kind of thing americans tell to trustful visitors from foreign lands, but it is quite true. nuggets, indeed, were so numerous that at one of our meetings, when we were taking up a collection, i cheerfully suggested that our audience drop a few into the box, as we had not had a nugget since we reached the state. there were no nuggets in the subsequent collection, but there was a note which read: "if dr. shaw will accept a gold nugget, i will see that she does not leave town without one." i read this aloud, and added, "i have never refused a gold nugget in my life." the following day brought me a pin made of a very beautiful gold nugget, and a few days later another californian produced a cluster of smaller nuggets which he had washed out of a panful of earth and insisted on my accepting half of them. i was not accustomed to this sort of generosity, but it was characteristic of the spirit of the state. nowhere else, during our campaign experiences, were we so royally treated in every way. as a single example among many, i may mention that mrs. leland stanford once happened to be on a train with us and to meet miss anthony. as a result of this chance encounter she gave our whole party passes on all the lines of the southern pacific railroad, for use during the entire campaign. similar generosity was shown us on every side, and the question of finance did not burden us from the beginning to the end of the california work. in our utah and idaho campaigns we had also our full share of new experiences, and of these perhaps the most memorable to me was the sermon i preached in the mormon tabernacle at salt lake city. before i left new york the mormon women had sent me the invitation to preach this sermon, and when i reached salt lake city and the so-called "gentile" women heard of the plan, they at once invited me to preach to the "gentiles" on the evening of the same sunday, in the salt lake city opera house. on the morning of the sermon i approached the mormon tabernacle with much more trepidation than i usually experienced before entering a pulpit. i was not sure what particular kind of trouble i would get into, but i had an abysmal suspicion that trouble of some sort lay in wait for me, and i shivered in the anticipation of it. fortunately, my anxiety was not long drawn out. i arrived only a few moments before the hour fixed for the sermon, and found the congregation already assembled and the tabernacle filled with the beautiful music of the great organ. on the platform, to which i was escorted by several leading dignitaries of the church, was the characteristic mormon arrangement of seats. the first row was occupied by the deacons, and in the center of these was the pulpit from which the deacons preach. above these seats was a second row, occupied by ordained elders, and there they too had their own pulpit. the third row was occupied by, the bishops and the highest dignitaries of the church, with the pulpit from which the bishops preach; and behind them all, an effective human frieze, was the really wonderful mormon choir. as i am an ordained elder in my church, i occupied the pulpit in the middle row of seats, with the deacons below me and the bishops just behind. scattered among the congregation were hundreds of "gentiles" ready to leap mentally upon any concession i might make to the mormon faith; while the mormons were equally on the alert for any implied criticism of them and their church. the problem of preaching a sermon which should offer some appeal to both classes, without offending either, was a perplexing one, and i solved it to the best of my ability by delivering a sermon i had once given in my own church to my own people. when i had finished i was wholly uncertain of its effect, but at the end of the services one of the bishops leaned toward me from his place in the rear, and, to my mingled horror and amusement, offered me this tribute, "that is one of the best mormon sermons ever preached in this tabernacle." i thanked him, but inwardly i was aghast. what had i said to give him such an impression? i racked my brain, but could recall nothing that justified it. i passed the day in a state of nervous apprehension, fully expecting some frank criticism from the "gentiles" on the score of having delivered a mormon sermon to ingratiate myself into the favor of the mormons and secure their votes for the constitutional amendment. but nothing of the kind was said. that evening, after the sermon to the "gentiles," a reception was given to our party, and i drew my first deep breath when the wife of a well-known clergyman came to me and introduced herself in these words: "my husband could not come here to-night, but he heard your sermon this morning. he asked me to tell you how glad he was that under such unusual conditions you held so firmly to the teachings of christ." the next day i was still more reassured. a reception was given us at the home of one of brigham young's daughters, and the receiving-line was graced by the presiding elder of the methodist episcopal church. he was a bluff and jovial gentleman, and when he took my hand he said, warmly, "well, sister shaw, you certainly gave our mormon friends the biggest dose of methodism yesterday that they ever got in their lives." after this experience i reminded myself again that what frances willard so frequently said is true; all truth is our truth when it has reached our hearts; we merely rechristen it according to our individual creeds. during the visit i had an interesting conversation with a number of the younger mormon women. i was to leave the city on a midnight train, and about twenty of them, including four daughters of brigham young, came to my hotel to remain with me until it was time to go to the station. they filled the room, sitting around in school-girl fashion on the floor and even on the bed. it was an unusual opportunity to learn some things i wished to know, and i could not resist it. "there are some questions i would like to ask you," i began, "and one or two of them may seem impertinent. but they won't be asked in that spirit--and please don't answer any that embarrass you." they exchanged glances, and then told me to ask as many questions as i wished. "first of all," i said, "i would like to know the real attitude toward polygamy of the present generation of mormon women. do you all believe in it?" they assured me that they did. "how many of you," i then asked, "are polygamous wives?" there was not one in the group. "but," i insisted, "if you really believe in polygamy, why is it that some of your husbands have not taken more than one wife?" there was a moment of silence, while each woman looked around as if waiting for another to answer. at last one of them said, slowly: "in my case, i alone was to blame. for years i could not force myself to consent to my husband's taking another wife, though i tried hard. by the time i had overcome my objection the law was passed prohibiting polygamy." a second member of the group hastened to tell her story. she had had a similar spiritual struggle, and just as she reached the point where she was willing to have her husband take another wife, he died. and now the room was filled with eager voices. four or five women were telling at once that they, too, had been reluctant in the beginning, and that when they had reached the point of consent this, that, or another cause had kept the husbands from marrying again. they were all so passionately in earnest that they stared at me in puzzled wonder when i broke into the sudden laughter i could not restrain. "what fortunate women you all were!" i exclaimed, teasingly. "not one of you arrived at the point of consenting to the presence of a second wife in your home until it was impossible for your husband to take her." they flushed a little at that, and then laughed with me; but they did not defend themselves against the tacit charge, and i turned the conversation into less personal channels. i learned that many of the mormon young men were marrying girls outside of the church, and that two sons of a leading mormon elder had married and were living very happily with catholic girls. at this time the mormon candidate for congress (a man named roberts) was a bitter opponent of woman suffrage. the mormon women begged me to challenge him to a debate on the subject, which i did, but mr. roberts declined the challenge. the ground of his refusal, which he made public through the newspapers, was chastening to my spirit. he explained that he would not debate with me because he was not willing to lower himself to the intellectual plane of a woman. xiii. president of "the national" in miss anthony, then over eighty, decided that she must resign the presidency of our national association, and the question of the successor she would choose became an important one. it was conceded that there were only two candidates in her mind--mrs. carrie chapman catt and myself--and for several months we gave the suffrage world the unusual spectacle of rivals vigorously pushing each other's claims. miss anthony was devoted to us both, and i think the choice was a hard one for her to make. on the one hand, i had been vice-president at large and her almost constant companion for twelve years, and she had grown accustomed to think of me as her successor. on the other hand, mrs. catt had been chairman of the organization committee, and through her splendid executive ability had built up our organization in many states. from miss anthony down, we all recognized her steadily growing powers; she had, moreover, abundant means, which i had not. in my mind there was no question of her superior qualification for the presidency. she seemed to me the logical and indeed the only possible successor to miss anthony; and i told "aunt susan" so with all the eloquence i could command, while simultaneously mrs. catt was pouring into miss anthony's other ear a series of impassioned tributes to me. it was an unusual situation and a very pleasant one, and it had two excellent results: it simplified "aunt susan's" problem by eliminating the element of personal ambition, and it led to her eventual choice of mrs. catt as her successor. i will admit here for the first time that in urging mrs. catt's fitness for the office i made the greatest sacrifice of my life. my highest ambition had been to succeed miss anthony, for no one who knew her as i did could underestimate the honor of being chosen by her to carry on her work. at the convention in washington that year she formally refused the nomination for re-election, as we had all expected, and then, on being urged to choose her own successor, she stepped forward to do so. it was a difficult hour, for her fiery soul resented the limitations imposed by her worn-out body, and to such a worker the most poignant experience in life is to be forced to lay down one's work at the command of old age. on this she touched briefly, but in a trembling voice; and then, in furtherance of the understanding between the three of us, she presented the name of mrs. catt to the convention with all the pride and hope a mother could feel in the presentation of a daughter. her faith was fully justified. mrs. catt made an admirable president, and during every moment of the four years she held the office she had miss anthony's whole-hearted and enthusiastic support, while i, too, in my continued office of vice-president, did my utmost to help her in every way. in , however, mrs. catt was elected president of the international suffrage alliance, as i have mentioned before, and that same year she resigned the presidency of our national association, as her health was not equal to the strain of carrying the two offices. miss anthony immediately urged me to accept the presidency of the national association, which i was now most unwilling to do; i had lost my ambition to be president, and there were other reasons, into which i need not go again, why i felt that i could not accept the post. at last, however, miss anthony actually commanded me to take the place, and there was nothing to do but obey her. she was then eighty-four, and, as it proved, within two years of her death. it was no time for me to rebel against her wishes; but i yielded with the heaviest heart i have ever carried, and after my election to the presidency at the national convention in washington i left the stage, went into a dark corner of the wings, and for the first time since my girlhood "cried myself sick." in the work i now took up i found myself much alone. mrs. catt was really ill, and the strength of "aunt susan" must be saved in every way. neither could give me much help, though each did all she should have done, and more. mrs. catt, whose husband had recently died, was in a deeply despondent frame of mind, and seemed to feel that the future was hopelessly dark. my own panacea for grief is work, and it seemed to me that both physically and mentally she would be helped by a wise combination of travel and effort. during my lifetime i have cherished two ambitions, and only two: the first, as i have already confessed, had been to succeed miss anthony as president of our association; the second was to go around the world, carrying the woman-suffrage ideal to every country, and starting in each a suffrage society. long before the inception of the international suffrage alliance i had dreamed this dream; and, though it had receded as i followed it through life, i had never wholly lost sight of it. now i realized that for me it could never be more than a dream. i could never hope to have enough money at my disposal to carry it out, and it occurred to me that if mrs. catt undertook it as president of the international suffrage alliance the results would be of the greatest benefit to the cause and to her. in my first visit to her after her husband's death i suggested this plan, but she replied that it was impossible for her to consider it. i did not lose thought of it, however, and at the next international conference, held in copenhagen in , i suggested to some of the delegates that we introduce the matter as a resolution, asking mrs. catt to go around the world in behalf of woman suffrage. they approved the suggestion so heartily that i followed it up with a speech setting forth the whole plan and mrs. catt's peculiar fitness for the work. several months later mrs. catt and dr. aletta jacobs, president of the holland suffrage association, started on their world tour; and not until after they had gone did i fully realize that the two great personal ambitions of my life had been realized, not by me, but by another, and in each case with my enthusiastic co-operation. in , following my election to the presidency, a strong appeal came from the board of managers of the exposition to be held in portland, oregon, urging us to hold our next annual convention there during the exposition. it was the first time an important body of men had recognized us in this manner, and we gladly responded. so strong a political factor did the men of oregon recognize us to be that every political party in the state asked to be represented on our platform; and one entire evening of the convention was given over to the representatives chosen by the various parties to indorse the suffrage movement. thus we began in oregon the good work we continued in , and of which we reaped the harvest in . next to "suffrage night," the most interesting feature of the exposition to us was the unveiling of the statue of saccawagea, the young indian girl who led the lewis and clark expedition through the dangerous passes of the mountain ranges of the northwest until they reached the pacific coast. this statue, presented to the exposition by the women of oregon, is the belated tribute of the state to its most dauntless pioneer; and no one can look upon the noble face of the young squaw, whose outstretched hand points to the ocean, without marveling over the ingratitude of the nation that ignored her supreme service. to saccawagea is due the opening up of the entire western country. there was no one to guide lewis and clark except this indian, who alone knew the way; and she led the whole party, carrying her papoose on her back. she was only sixteen, but she brought every man safely through an experience of almost unparalleled hardship and danger, nursing them in sickness and setting them an example of unfaltering courage and endurance, until she stood at last on the pacific coast, where her statue stands now, pointing to the wide sweep of the columbia river as it flows into the sea. this recognition by women is the only recognition she ever received. both lewis and clark were sincerely grateful to her and warmly recommended her to the government for reward; but the government allowed her absolutely nothing, though each man in the party she had led was given a large tract of land. tradition says that she was bitterly disappointed, as well she might have been, and her indian brain must have been sadly puzzled. but she was treated little worse than thousands of the white pioneer women who have followed her; and standing: there to-day on the bank of her river, she still seems sorrowfully reflective over the strange ways of the nation she so nobly served. the oregon campaign of was the carrying out of one of miss anthony's dearest wishes, and we who loved her set about this work soon after her death. in the autumn preceding her passing, headquarters had been established in oregon, and miss laura gregg had been placed in charge, with miss gale laughlin as her associate. as the money for this effort was raised by the national association, it was decided, after some discussion, to let the national association develop the work in oregon, which was admittedly a hard state to carry and full of possible difficulties which soon became actual ones. as a beginning, the legislature had failed to submit an amendment; but as the initiative and referendum was the law in oregon, the amendment was submitted through initiative patent. the task of securing the necessary signatures was not an easy one, but at last a sufficient number of signatures were secured and verified, and the authorities issued the necessary proclamation for the vote, which was to take place at a special election held on the th of june. our campaign work had been carried on as extensively as possible, but the distances were great and the workers few, and as a result of the strain upon her miss gregg's health soon failed alarmingly. all this was happening during miss anthony's last illness, and it added greatly to our anxieties. she instructed me to go to oregon immediately after her death and to take her sister mary and her niece lucy with me, and we followed these orders within a week of her funeral, arriving in portland on the third day of april. i had attempted too much, however, and i proved it by fainting as i got off the train, to the horror of the friendly delegation waiting to receive us. the portland women took very tender care of me, and in a few days i was ready for work, but we found conditions even worse than we had expected. miss gregg had collapsed utterly and was unable to give us any information as to what had been done or planned, and we had to make a new foundation. miss laura clay, who had been in the portland work for a few weeks, proved a tower of strength, and we were soon aided further by ida porter boyer, who came on to take charge of the publicity department. during the final six weeks of the campaign alice stone blackwell, of boston, was also with us, while kate gordon took under her special charge the organization of the city of portland and the parlor-meeting work. miss clay went into the state, where emma smith devoe and other speakers were also working, and i spent my time between the office headquarters and "the road," often working at my desk until it was time to rush off and take a train for some town where i was to hold a night meeting. miss mary and miss lucy anthony confined themselves to office-work in the portland headquarters, where they gave us very valuable assistance. i have always believed that we would have carried oregon that year if the disaster of the california earthquake had not occurred to divert the minds of western men from interest in anything save that great catastrophe. on election day it seemed as if the heavens had opened to pour floods upon us. never before or since have i seen such incessant, relentless rain. nevertheless, the women of portland turned out in force, led by mrs. sarah evans, president of the oregon state federation of women's clubs, while all day long dr. pohl took me in her automobile from one polling-place to another. at each we found representative women patiently enduring the drenching rain while they tried to persuade men to vote for us. we distributed sandwiches, courage, and inspiration among them, and tried to cheer in the same way the women watchers, whose appointment we had secured that year for the first time. two women had been admitted to every polling-place--but the way in which we had been able to secure their presence throws a high-light on the difficulties we were meeting. we had to persuade men candidates to select these women as watchers; and the only men who allowed themselves to be persuaded were those running on minority tickets and hopeless of election--the prohibitionists, the socialists, and the candidates of the labor party. the result of the election taught us several things. we had been told that all the prohibitionists and socialists would vote for us. instead, we discovered that the percentage of votes for woman suffrage was about the same in every party, and that whenever the voter had cast a straight vote, without independence enough to "scratch" his ticket, that vote was usually against us. on the other hand, when the ticket was "scratched" the vote was usually in our favor, whatever political party the man belonged to. another interesting discovery was that the early morning vote was favorable to our cause the vote cast by working-men on their way to their employment. during the middle of the forenoon and afternoon, when the idle class was at the polls, the vote ran against us. the late vote, cast as men were returning from their work, was again largely in our favor--and we drew some conclusions from this. also, for the first time in the history of any campaign, the anti-suffragists had organized against us. portland held a small body of women with antisuffrage sentiments, and there were others in the state who formed themselves into an anti-suffrage society and carried on a more or less active warfare. in this campaign, for the first time, obscene cards directed against the suffragists were circulated at the polls; and while i certainly do not accuse the oregon anti-suffragists of circulating them, it is a fact that the cards were distributed as coming from the anti-suffragists--undoubtedly by some vicious element among the men which had its own good reason for opposing us. the "antis" also suffered in this campaign from the "pernicious activity" of their spokesman--a lawyer with an unenviable reputation. after the campaign was over this man declared that it had cost the opponents of our measure $ , . in mrs. o. h. p. belmont began to show an interest in suffrage work, and through the influence of several leaders in the movement, notably that of mrs. ida husted harper, she decided to assist in the establishment of national headquarters in the state of new york. for a long time the association's headquarters had been in warren, ohio, the home of mrs. harriet taylor upton, then national treasurer, and it was felt that their removal to a larger city would have a great influence in developing the work. in mrs. belmont attended as a delegate the meeting of the international suffrage alliance in london, and her interest in the cause deepened. she became convinced that the headquarters of the association should be in new york city, and at our seattle convention that same year i presented to the delegates her generous offer to pay the rent and maintain a press department for two years, on condition that our national headquarters were established in new york. this proposition was most gratefully accepted, and we promptly secured headquarters in one of the most desirable buildings on fifth avenue. the wisdom of the change was demonstrated at once by the extraordinary growth of the work. during our last year in warren, for example, the proceeds from the sale of our literature were between $ , and $ , . during the first year in new york our returns from such sales were between $ , and $ , , and an equal growth was evident in our other departments. at the end of two years mrs. belmont ceased to support the press department or to pay the rent, but her timely aid had put us on our feet, and we were able to continue our splendid progress and to meet our expenses. the special event of was the successful completion of the fund president m. carey thomas of bryn mawr and miss mary garrett had promised in to raise for the cause. for some time after miss anthony's death nothing more was said of this, but i knew those two indefatigable friends were not idle, and "aunt susan" had died in the blessed conviction that their success was certain. in i received a letter from miss thomas telling me that the project was progressing; and later she sent an outline of her plan, which was to ask a certain number of wealthy persons to give five hundred dollars a year each for a term of years. in all, a fund of $ , was to be raised, of which we were to have $ , a year for five years; $ , of the $ , was to be paid in salaries to three active officers, and the remaining $ , was to go toward the work of the association. the entire fund was to be raised by may , , she added, or the plan would be dropped. i was on a lecture tour in ohio in april, , when one night, as i was starting for the hall where the lecture was to be given, my telephone bell rang. "long distance wants you," the operator said, and the next minute a voice i recognized as that of miss thomas was offering congratulations. "the last dollar of the $ , ," she added, "was pledged at four o'clock this afternoon." i was so overcome by the news that i dropped the receiver and shook in a violent nervous attack, and this trembling continued throughout my lecture. it had not seemed possible that such a burden could be lifted from my shoulders; $ , a year would greatly aid our work, and $ , a year, even though divided among three officers, would be a most welcome help to each. as subsequently arranged, the salaries did not come to us through the national association treasury; they were paid directly by miss thomas and miss garrett as custodians of the fund. so it is quite correct to say that no salaries have ever been paid by the national association to its officers. three years later, in , another glorious surprise came to me in a very innocent-looking letter. it was one of many in a heavy mail, and i opened it absent-mindedly, for the day had been problem-filled. the writer stated very simply that she wished to put a large amount into my hands to invest, to draw on, and to use for the cause as i saw fit. the matter was to be a secret between us, and she wished no subsequent accounting, as she had entire faith in my ability to put the money to the best possible use. the proposition rather dazed me, but i rallied my forces and replied that i was infinitely grateful, but that the amount she mentioned was a large one and i would much prefer to share the responsibility of disbursing it. could she not select one more person, at least, to share the secret and act with me? she replied, telling me to make the selection, if i insisted on having a confidante, and i sent her the names of miss thomas and miss garrett, suggesting that as miss thomas had done so much of the work in connection with the $ , fund, miss garrett might be willing to accept the detail work of this fund. my friend replied that either of these ladies would be perfectly satisfactory to her. she knew them both, she said, and i was to arrange the matter as i chose, as it rested wholly in my hands. i used this money in subsequent state campaigns, and i am very sure that to it was largely due the winning of arizona, kansas, and oregon in , and of montana and nevada in . it enabled us for the first time to establish headquarters, secure an office force, and engage campaign speakers. i also spent some of it in the states we lost then but will win later--ohio, wisconsin, and michigan--using in all more than fifteen thousand dollars. in september, , i received another check from the same friend, showing that she at least was satisfied with the results we had achieved. "it goes to you with my love," she wrote, "and my earnest hopes for further success--not the least of this a crowning of your faithful, earnest, splendid work for our beloved cause. how blessed it is that you are our president and leader!" i had talked to this woman only twice in my life, and i had not seen her for years when her first check came; so her confidence in me was an even greater gift than her royal donation toward our cause. xiv. recent campaigns the interval between the winning of idaho and utah in and that of washington in seemed very long to lovers of the cause. we were working as hard as ever--harder, indeed, for the opposition against us was growing stronger as our opponents realized what triumphant woman suffrage would mean to the underworld, the grafters, and the whited sepulchers in public office. but in we were cheered by our washington victory, followed the next year by the winning of california. then, with our splendid banner year of came the winning of three states--arizona, kansas, and oregon--preceded by a campaign so full of vim and interest that it must have its brief chronicle here. to begin, we conducted in the largest number of campaigns we had ever undertaken, working in six states in which constitutional amendments were pending--ohio, michigan, wisconsin, oregon, arizona, and kansas. personally, i began my work in ohio in august, with the modest aspiration of speaking in each of the principal towns in every one of these states. in michigan i had the invaluable assistance of mrs. lawrence lewis, of philadelphia, and i visited at this time the region of my old home, greatly changed since the days of my girlhood, and talked to the old friends and neighbors who had turned out in force to welcome me. they showed their further interest in the most satisfactory way, by carrying the amendment in their part of the state. at least four and five speeches a day were expected, and as usual we traveled in every sort of conveyance, from freight-cars to eighty horse-power french automobiles. in eau clair, wisconsin, i spoke at the races immediately after the passing of a procession of cattle. at the end of the procession rode a woman in an ox-cart, to represent pioneer days. she wore a calico gown and a sunbonnet, and drove her ox-team with genuine skill; and the last touch to the picture she made was furnished by the presence of a beautiful biplane which whirred lightly in the air above her. the obvious comparison was too good to ignore, so i told my hearers that their women to-day were still riding in ox-teams while the men soared in the air, and that women's work in the world's service could be properly done only when they too were allowed to fly. in oregon we were joined by miss lucy anthony. there, at pendleton, i spoke during the great "round up," holding the meeting at night on the street, in which thousands of horsemen--cowboys, indians, and ranchmen--were riding up and down, blowing horns, shouting, and singing. it seemed impossible to interest an audience under such conditions, but evidently the men liked variety, for when we began to speak they quieted down and closed around us until we had an audience that filled the streets in every direction and as far as our voices could reach. never have we had more courteous or enthusiastic listeners than those wild and happy horsemen. best of all, they not only cheered our sentiments, but they followed up their cheers with their votes. i spoke from an automobile, and when i had finished one of the cowboys rode close to me and asked for my new york address. "you will hear from me later," he said, when he had made a note of it. in time i received a great linen banner, on which he had made a superb pen-and-ink sketch of himself and his horse, and in every corner sketches of scenes in the different states where women voted, together with drawings of all the details of cowboy equipment. over these were drawn the words: woman suffrage--we are all for it. the banner hangs to-day in the national headquarters. in california mr. edwards presented me with the money to purchase the diamond in miss anthony's flag pin representing the victory of his state the preceding year; and in arizona one of the highlights of the campaign was the splendid effort of mrs. frances munds, the state president, and mrs. alice park, of palo alto, california, who were carrying on the work in their headquarters with tremendous courage, and, as it seemed to me, almost unaided. mrs. park's specialty was the distribution of suffrage literature, which she circulated with remarkable judgment. the governor of arizona was in favor of our cause, but there were so few active workers available that to me, at least, the winning of the state was a happy surprise. in kansas we stole some of the prestige of champ clark, who was making political speeches in the same region. at one station a brass-band and a great gathering were waiting for mr. clark's train just as our train drew in; so the local suffragists persuaded the band to play for us, too, and i made a speech to the inspiring accompaniment of "hail to the chief." the passengers on our train were greatly impressed, thinking it was all for us; the crowd at the station were glad to be amused until the great man came, and i was glad of the opportunity to talk to so many representative men--so we were all happy. in the soldiers' home at leavenworth i told the old men of the days when my father and brothers left us in the wilderness, and my mother and i cared for the home while they fought at the front--and i have always believed that much of the large vote we received at leavenworth was cast by those old soldiers. no one who knows the conditions doubts that we really won michigan that year as well as the three other states, but strange things were done in the count. for example, in one precinct in detroit forty more votes were counted against our amendment than there were voters in the district. in other districts there were seven or eight more votes than voters. under these conditions it is not surprising that, after the vigorous recounting following the first wide-spread reports of our success, michigan was declared lost to us. the campaign of , in which we won montana and nevada, deserves special mention here. i must express also my regret that as this book will be on the presses before the campaign of is ended, i cannot include in these reminiscences the results of our work in new york and other states. as a beginning of the campaign i spent a day in chicago, on the way to south dakota, to take my part in a moving-picture suffrage play. it was my first experience as an actress, and i found it a taxing one. as a modest beginning i was ordered to make a speech in thirty-three seconds--something of a task, as my usual time allowance for a speech is one hour. the manager assured me, however, that a speech of thirty-three seconds made twenty-seven feet of film--enough, he thought, to convert even a lieutenant-governor! the dakota campaigns, as usual, resolved themselves largely into feats of physical endurance, in which i was inspired by the fine example of the state presidents--mrs. john pyle of south dakota and mrs. clara v. darrow of north dakota. every day we made speeches from the rear platform of the trains on which we were traveling--sometimes only two or three, sometimes half a dozen. one day i rode one hundred miles in an automobile and spoke in five different towns. another day i had to make a journey in a freight-car. it was, with a few exceptions, the roughest traveling i had yet known, and it took me six hours to reach my destination. while i was gathering up hair-pins and pulling myself together to leave the car at the end of the ride i asked the conductor how far we had traveled. "forty miles," said he, tersely. "that means forty miles ahead," i murmured. "how far up and down?" "oh, a hundred miles up and down," grinned the conductor, and the exchange of persiflage cheered us both. though we did not win, i have very pleasant memories of north dakota, for mrs. darrow accompanied me during the entire campaign, and took every burden from my shoulders so efficiently that i had nothing to do but make speeches. in montana our most interesting day was that of the state fair, which ended with a suffrage parade that i was invited to lead. on this occasion the suffragists wished me to wear my cap and gown and my doctor's hood, but as i had not brought those garments with me, we borrowed and i proudly wore the cap and gown of the unitarian minister. it was a small but really beautiful parade, and all the costumes for it were designed by the state president, miss jeannette rankin, to whose fine work, by the way, combined with the work of her friends, the winning of montana was largely due. in butte the big strike was on, and the town was under martial law. a large banquet was given us there, and when we drove up to the club-house where this festivity was to be held we were stopped by two armed guards who confronted us with stern faces and fixed bayonets. the situation seemed so absurd that i burst into happy laughter, and thus deeply offended the earnest young guards who were grasping the fixed bayonets. this sad memory was wiped out, however, by the interest of the banquet--a very delightful affair, attended by the mayor of butte and other local dignitaries. in nevada the most interesting feature of the campaign was the splendid work of the women. in each of the little towns there was the same spirit of ceaseless activity and determination. the president of the state association, miss anne martin, who was at the head of the campaign work, accompanied me one sunday when we drove seventy miles in a motor and spoke four times, and she was also my companion in a wonderful journey over the mountains. miss martin was a tireless and worthy leader of the fine workers in her state. in missouri, under the direction of mrs. walter mcnabb miller, and in nebraska, where mrs. e. draper smith was managing the campaign, we had some inspiring meetings. at lincoln mrs. william jennings bryan introduced me to the biggest audience of the year, and the programme took on a special interest from the fact that it included mrs. bryan's debut as a speaker for suffrage. she is a tall and attractive woman with an extremely pleasant voice, and she made an admirable speech--clear, terse, and much to the point, putting herself on record as a strong supporter of the woman-suffrage movement. there was also an amusing aftermath of this occasion, which secretary bryan himself confided to me several months later when i met him in atlantic city. he assured me, with the deep sincerity he assumes so well, that for five nights after my speech in lincoln his wife had kept him awake listening to her report of it--and he added, solemnly, that he now knew it "by heart." a less pleasing memory of nebraska is that i lost my voice there and my activities were sadly interrupted. but i was taken to the home of mr. and mrs. francis a. brogan, of omaha, and supplied with a trained nurse, a throat specialist, and such care and comfort that i really enjoyed the enforced rest--knowing, too, that the campaign committee was carrying on our work with great enthusiasm. in missouri one of our most significant meetings was in bowling green, the home of champ clark, speaker of the house. mrs. clark gave a reception, made a speech, and introduced me at the meeting, as mrs. bryan had done in lincoln. she is one of the brightest memories of my missouri experience, for, with few exceptions, she is the most entertaining woman i have ever met. subsequently we had an all-day motor journey together, during which mrs. clark rarely stopped talking and i even more rarely stopped laughing. xv. convention incidents from to we had a suffrage convention every year, and i attended each of them. in preceding chapters i have mentioned various convention episodes of more or less importance. now, looking back over them all as i near the end of these reminiscences, i recall a few additional incidents which had a bearing on later events. there was, for example, the much-discussed attack on suffrage during the atlanta convention of , by a prominent clergyman of that city whose name i mercifully withhold. on the sunday preceding our arrival this gentleman preached a sermon warning every one to keep away from our meetings, as our effort was not to secure the franchise for women, but to encourage the intermarriage of the black and white races. incidentally he declared that the suffragists were trying to break up the homes of america and degrade the morals of women, and that we were all infidels and blasphemers. he ended with a personal attack on me, saying that on the previous sunday i had preached in the epworth memorial methodist church of cleveland, ohio, a sermon which was of so blasphemous a nature that nothing could purify the church after it except to burn it down. as usual at our conventions, i had been announced to preach the sermon at our sunday conference, and i need hardly point out that the reverend gentleman's charge created a deep public interest in this effort. i had already selected a text, but i immediately changed my plans and announced that i would repeat the sermon i had delivered in cleveland and which the atlanta minister considered so blasphemous. the announcement brought out an audience which filled the opera house and called for a squad of police officers to keep in order the street crowd that could not secure entrance. the assemblage had naturally expected that i would make some reply to the clergyman's attack, but i made no reference whatever to him. i merely repeated, with emphasis, the sermon i had delivered in cleveland. at the conclusion of the service one of the trustees of my reverend critic's church came and apologized for his pastor. he had a high regard for him, the trustee said, but in this instance there could be no doubt in the mind of any one who had heard both sermons that of the two mine was the tolerant, the reverent, and the christian one. the attack made many friends for us, first because of its injustice, and next because of the good-humored tolerance with which the suffragists accepted it. the atlanta convention, by the way, was arranged and largely financed by the misses howard--three sisters living in columbus, georgia, and each an officer of the georgia woman suffrage association. it is a remarkable fact that in many of our southern states the suffrage movement has been led by three sisters. in kentucky the three clay sisters were for many years leaders in the work. in texas the three finnegan sisters did splendid work; in louisiana the gordon sisters were our stanchest allies, while in virginia we had the invaluable aid of mary johnston, the novelist, and her two sisters. we used to say, laughingly, if there was a failure to organize any state in the south, that it must be due to the fact that no family there had three sisters to start the movement. from the atlanta convention we went directly to washington to attend the convention of the national council of women, and on the first day of this council frederick douglass came to the meeting. mr. douglass had a special place in the hearts of suffragists, for the reason that at the first convention ever held for woman suffrage in the united states (at seneca falls, new york) he was the only person present who stood by elizabeth cady stanton when she presented her resolution in favor of votes for women. even lucretia mott was startled by this radical step, and privately breathed into the ear of her friend, "elizabeth, thee is making us ridiculous!" frederick douglass, however, took the floor in defense of mrs. stanton's motion, a service we suffragists never forgot. therefore, when the presiding officer of the council, mrs. may wright sewall, saw mr. douglass enter the convention hall in washington on this particular morning, she appointed susan b. anthony and me a committee to escort him to a seat on the platform, which we gladly did. mr. douglass made a short speech and then left the building, going directly to his home. there, on entering his hall, he had an attack of heart failure and dropped dead as he was removing his overcoat. his death cast a gloom over the convention, and his funeral, which took place three days later, was attended by many prominent men and women who were among the delegates. miss anthony and i were invited to take part in the funeral services, and she made a short address, while i offered a prayer. the event had an aftermath in atlanta, for it led our clerical enemy to repeat his charges against us, and to offer the funeral of frederick douglass as proof that we were hand in glove with the negro race. under the gracious direction of miss kate gordon and the louisiana woman suffrage association, we held an especially inspiring convention in new orleans in . in no previous convention were arrangements more perfect, and certainly nowhere else did the men of a community co-operate more generously with the women in entertaining us. a club of men paid the rent of our hall, chartered a steamboat and gave us a ride on the mississippi, and in many other ways helped to make the occasion a success. miss gordon, who was chairman of the programme committee, introduced the innovation of putting me before the audience for twenty minutes every evening, at the close of the regular session, as a target for questions. those present were privileged to ask any questions they pleased, and i answered them--if i could. we were all conscious of the dangers attending a discussion of the negro question, and it was understood among the northern women that we must take every precaution to avoid being led into such discussion. it had not been easy to persuade miss anthony of the wisdom of this course; her way was to face issues squarely and out in the open. but she agreed that we must respect the convictions of the southern men and women who were entertaining us so hospitably. on the opening night, as i took my place to answer questions, almost the first slip passed up bore these words: what is your purpose in bringing your convention to the south? is it the desire of suffragists to force upon us the social equality of black and white women? political equality lays the foundation for social equality. if you give the ballot to women, won't you make the black and white woman equal politically and therefore lay the foundation for a future claim of social equality? i laid the paper on one side and did not answer the question. the second night it came to me again, put in the same words, and again i ignored it. the third night it came with this addition: evidently you do not dare to answer this question. therefore our conclusion is that this is your purpose. when i had read this i went to the front of the platform. "here," i said, "is a question which has been asked me on three successive nights. i have not answered it because we northern women had decided not to enter into any discussion of the race question. but now i am told by the writer of this note that we dare not answer it. i wish to say that we dare to answer it if you dare to have it answered--and i leave it to you to decide whether i shall answer it or not." i read the question aloud. then the audience called for the answer, and i gave it in these words, quoted as accurately as i can remember them: "if political equality is the basis of social equality, and if by granting political equality you lay the foundation for a claim of social equality, i can only answer that you have already laid that claim. you did not wait for woman suffrage, but disfranchised both your black and your white women, thus making them politically equal. but you have done more than that. you have put the ballot into the hands of your black men, thus making them the political superiors of your white women. never before in the history of the world have men made former slaves the political masters of their former mistresses!" the point went home and it went deep. i drove it in a little further. "the women of the south are not alone," i said, "in their humiliation. all the women of america share it with them. there is no other nation in the world in which women hold the position of political degradation our american women hold to-day. german women are governed by german men; french women are governed by french men. but in these united states american women are governed by every race of men under the light of the sun. there is not a color from white to black, from red to yellow, there is not a nation from pole to pole, that does not send its contingent to govern american women. if american men are willing to leave their women in a position as degrading as this they need not be surprised when american women resolve to lift themselves out of it." for a full moment after i had finished there was absolute silence in the audience. we did not know what would happen. then, suddenly, as the truth of the statement struck them, the men began to applaud--and the danger of that situation was over. another episode had its part in driving the suffrage lesson home to southern women. the legislature had passed a bill permitting tax-paying women to vote at any election where special taxes were to be imposed for improvements, and the first election following the passage of this bill was one in new orleans, in which the question of better drainage for the city was before the public. miss gordon and the suffrage association known as the era club entered enthusiastically into the fight for good drainage. according to the law women could vote by proxy if they preferred, instead of in person, so miss gordon drove to the homes of the old conservative creole families and other families whose women were unwilling to vote in public, and she collected their proxies while incidentally she showed them what position they held under the law. with each proxy it was necessary to have the signature of a witness, but according to the louisiana law no woman could witness a legal document. miss gordon was driven from place to place by her colored coachman, and after she had secured the proxy of her temporary hostess it was usually discovered that there was no man around the place to act as a witness. this was miss gordon's opportunity. with a smile of great sweetness she would say, "i will have sam come in and help us out"; and the colored coachman would get down from his box, and by scrawling his signature on the proxy of the aristocratic lady he would give it the legal value it lacked. in this way miss gordon secured three hundred proxies, and three hundred very conservative women had an opportunity to compare their legal standing with sam's. the drainage bill was carried and interest in woman suffrage developed steadily. the special incident of the buffalo convention of was the receipt of a note which was passed up to me as i sat on the platform. when i opened it a check dropped out--a check so large that i was sure it had been sent by mistake. however, after asking one or two friends on the platform if i had read it correctly, i announced to the audience that if a certain amount were subscribed immediately i would reveal a secret--a very interesting secret. audiences are as curious as individuals. the amount was at once subscribed. then i held up a check for $ , , given for our campaign work by mrs. george howard lewis, in memory of susan b. anthony, and i read to the audience the charming letter that accompanied it. the money was used during the campaigns of the following year--part of it in washington, where an amendment was already submitted. in a previous chapter i have described the establishment of our new york headquarters as a result of the generous offer of mrs. o. h. p. belmont at the seattle convention in . during our first year in these beautiful fifth avenue rooms mrs. pankhurst made her first visit to america, and we gave her a reception there. this, however, was before the adoption of the destructive methods which have since marked the activities of the band of militant suffragists of which mrs. pankhurst is president. there has never been any sympathy among american suffragists for the militant suffrage movement in england, and personally i am wholly opposed to it. i do not believe in war in any form; and if violence on the part of men is undesirable in achieving their ends, it is much more so on the part of women; for women never appear to less advantage than in physical combats with men. as for militancy in america, no generation that attempted it could win. no victory could come to us in any state where militant methods were tried. they are undignified, unworthy--in other words, un-american. the washington convention of was graced by the presence of president taft, who, at the invitation of mrs. rachel foster avery, made an address. it was understood, of course, that he was to come out strongly for woman suffrage; but, to our great disappointment, the president, a most charming and likable gentleman, seemed unable to grasp the significance of the occasion. he began his address with fulsome praise of women, which was accepted in respectful silence. then he got round to woman suffrage, floundered helplessly, became confused, and ended with the most unfortunately chosen words he could have uttered: "i am opposed," he said, "to the extension of suffrage to women not fitted to vote. you would hardly expect to put the ballot into the hands of barbarians or savages in the jungle!" the dropping of these remarkable words into a suffrage convention was naturally followed by an oppressive silence, which mr. taft, now wholly bereft of his self-possession, broke by saying that the best women would not vote and the worst women would. in his audience were many women from suffrage states--high-minded women, wives and mothers, who had voted for mr. taft. the remarks to which they had just listened must have seemed to them a poor return. some one hissed--some man, some woman--no one knows which except the culprit--and a demonstration started which i immediately silenced. then the president finished his address. he was very gracious to us when he left, shaking hands with many of us, and being especially cordial to senator owens's aged mother, who had come to the convention to hear him make his maiden speech on woman suffrage. i have often wondered what he thought of that speech as he drove back to the white house. probably he regretted as earnestly as we did that he had made it. in , at an official board meeting at bryn mawr, mrs. stanley mccormack was appointed to fill a vacancy on the national board. subsequently she contributed $ , toward the payment of debts incident to our temporary connection with the woman's journal of boston, and did much efficient work for us, to me, personally, the entrance of mrs. stanley mccormack into our work has been a source of the deepest gratification and comfort. i can truly say of her what susan b. anthony said of me, "she is my right bower." at nashville, in , she was elected first vice-president, and to a remarkable degree she has since relieved me of the burden of the technical work of the presidency, including the oversight of the work at headquarters. to this she gives all her time, aided by an executive secretary who takes charge of the routine work of the association. she has thus made it possible for me to give the greater part of my time to the field in which such inspiring opportunities still confront us--campaign work in the various states. to mrs. medill mccormack also we are indebted for most admirable work and enthusiastic support. at the washington (d.c.) convention in she was made the chairman of the congressional committee, with mrs. antoinette funk, mrs. helen gardner of washington, and mrs. booth of chicago as her assistants. the results they achieved were so brilliant that they were unanimously re-elected to the same positions this year, with the addition of miss jeannette rankin, whose energy and service had helped to win for us the state of montana. it was largely due to the work of this congressional committee, supported by the large number of states which had been won for suffrage, that we secured such an excellent vote in the lower house of congress on the bill to amend the national constitution granting suffrage to the women of the united states. this measure, known as the susan b. anthony bill, had been introduced into every congress for forty-three years by the national woman suffrage association. in , for the first time, it was brought out of committee, debated, and voted upon in the lower house. we received votes in favor of it to against it. the previous spring, in the same congress, the same bill passed the senate by votes for it to votes against it. the most interesting features of the washington convention of were the labor mass-meetings led by jane addams and the hearing before the rules committee of the lower house of congress--the latter the first hearing ever held before this committee for the purpose of securing a committee on suffrage in the lower house to correspond with a similar committee in the senate. for many years we had had hearings before the judiciary committee of the lower house, which was such a busy committee that it had neither time nor interest to give to our measure. we therefore considered it necessary to have a special committee of our own. the hearing began on the morning of wednesday, the third of december, and lasted for two hours. then the anti-suffragists were given time, and their hearing began the following day, continued throughout that day and during the morning of the next day, when our national association was given an opportunity for rebuttal argument in the afternoon. it was the longest hearing in the history of the suffrage movement, and one of the most important. during the session of congress in another strenuous effort was made to secure the appointment of a special suffrage committee in the lower house. but when success began to loom large before us the democrats were called in caucus by the minority leader, mr. underwood, of alabama, and they downed our measure by a vote of against it to for it. this was evidently done by the democrats because of the fear that the united votes of republican and progressive members, with those of certain democratic members, would carry the measure; whereas if this caucus were called, and an unfavorable vote taken, "the gentlemen's agreement" which controls democratic party action in congress would force democrats in favor of suffrage to vote against the appointment of the committee, which of course would insure its defeat. the caucus blocked the appointment of the committee, but it gave great encouragement to the suffragists of the country, for they knew it to be a tacit admission that the measure would receive a favorable vote if it came before congress unhampered. another feature of the convention was the new method of electing officers, by which a primary vote was taken on nominations, and afterward a regular ballot was cast; one officer was added to the members of the official board, making nine instead of eight, the former number. the new officers elected were mrs. breckenridge of kentucky, the great-granddaughter of henry clay, and mrs. catherine ruutz-rees of greenwich, connecticut. the old officers were re-elected--miss jane addams as first vice-president, mrs. breckenridge and mrs. ruutz-rees as second and third vice-presidents, mrs. mary ware dennett as corresponding secretary, mrs. susan fitzgerald as recording secretary, mrs. stanley mccormack as treasurer, mrs. joseph bowen of chicago and mrs. james lees laidlaw of new york city as auditors. it would be difficult to secure a group of women of more marked ability, or better-known workers in various lines of philanthropic and educational work, than the members composing this admirable board. at the convention of , held in nashville, several of them resigned, and at present (in ) the "national's" affairs are in the hands of this inspiring group, again headed by the much-criticized and chastened writer of these reminiscences: mrs. stanley mccormack, first vice-president. mrs. desha breckenridge, second vice-president. dr. katharine b. davis, third vice-president. mrs. henry wade rogers, treasurer. mrs. john clark, corresponding secretary. mrs. susan walker fitzgerald, recording secretary. mrs. medill mccormack, } } auditors mrs. walter mcnabb miller, of missouri } in a book of this size, and covering the details of my own life as well as the development of the great cause, it is, of course, impossible to mention by name each woman who has worked for us--though, indeed, i would like to make a roll of honor and give them all their due. in looking back i am surprised to see how little i have said about many women with whom i have worked most closely--rachel foster avery, for example, with whom i lived happily for several years; ida husted harper, the historian of the suffrage movement and the biographer of miss anthony, with whom i made many delightful voyages to europe; alice stone blackwell, rev. mary saffard, jane addams, katharine waugh mccullough, ella stewart, mrs. mary wood swift, mrs. mary s. sperry, mary cogshall, florence kelly, mrs. ogden mills reid and mrs. norman whitehouse (to mention only two of the younger "live wires" in our new york work), sophonisba breckenridge, mrs. clara b. arthur, rev. caroline bartlett crane, mrs. james lees laidlaw, mrs. raymond brown, the splendidly executive president of our new york state suffrage association, and my benefactress, mrs. george howard lewis of buffalo. to all of them, and to thousands of others, i make my grateful acknowledgment of indebtedness for friendship and for help. xvi. council episodes i have said much of the interest attending the international meetings held in chicago, london, berlin, and stockholm. that i have said less about those in copenhagen, geneva, the hague, budapest, and other cities does not mean that these were less important, and certainly the wonderful women leaders of europe who made them so brilliant must not be passed over in silence. first, however, the difference between the suffrage alliance meetings and the international council meetings should be explained. the council meetings are made up of societies from the various nations which are auxiliary to the international council--these societies representing all lines of women's activities, whether educational, industrial, or social, while the membership, including more than eleven million women, represents probably the largest organization of women in the world. the international suffrage alliance represents the suffrage interest primarily, whereas the international council has only a suffrage department. so popular did this international alliance become after its formation in berlin by mrs. catt, in , that at the copenhagen meeting, only three years later, more than sixteen different nations were represented by regular delegates. it was unfortunate, therefore, that i chose this occasion to make a spectacular personal failure in the pulpit. i had been invited to preach the convention sermon, and for the first time in my life i had an interpreter. few experiences, i believe, can be more unpleasant than to stand up in a pulpit, utter a remark, and then wait patiently while it is repeated in a tongue one does not understand, by a man who is putting its gist in his own words and quite possibly giving it his own interpretative twist. i was very unhappy, and i fear i showed it, for i felt, as i looked at the faces of those friends who understood danish, that they were not getting what i was giving them. nor were they, for i afterward learned that the interpreter, a good orthodox brother, had given the sermon an ultra-orthodox bias which those who knew my creed certainly did not recognize. the whole experience greatly disheartened me, but no doubt it was good for my soul. during the copenhagen meeting we were given a banquet by the city council, and in the course of his speech of welcome one of the city fathers airily remarked that he hoped on our next visit to copenhagen there would be women members in the council to receive us. at the time this seemed merely a pleasant jest, but two years from that day a bill was enacted by parliament granting municipal suffrage to the women of denmark, and seven women were elected to the city council of copenhagen. so rapidly does the woman suffrage movement grow in these inspiring days! recalling the international council of in london, one of my most vivid pictures has queen victoria for its central figure. the english court was in mourning at the time and no public audiences were being held; but we were invited to windsor with the understanding that, although the queen could not formally receive us, she would pass through our lines, receiving lady aberdeen and giving the rest of us an opportunity to courtesy and obtain her majesty's recognition of the cause. the queen arranged with her chamberlain that we should be given tea and a collation; but before this refreshment was served, indeed immediately after our arrival, she entered her familiar little pony-cart and was driven slowly along lines of bowing women who must have looked like a wheat-field in a high wind. among us was a group of indian women, and these, dressed in their native costumes, contributed a picturesque bit of brilliant color to the scene as they deeply salaamed. they arrested the eye of the queen, who stopped and spoke a few cordial words to them. this gave the rest of us an excellent opportunity to observe her closely, and i admit that my english blood stirred in me suddenly and loyally as i studied the plump little figure. she was dressed entirely and very simply in black, with a quaint flat black hat and a black cape. the only bit of color about her was a black-and-white parasol with a gold handle. it was, however, her face which held me, for it gave me a wholly different impression of the queen from those i had received from her photographs. her pictured eyes were always rather cold, and her pictured face rather haughty; but there was a very sweet and winning softness in the eyes she turned upon the indian women, and her whole expression was unexpectedly gentle and benignant. behind her, as a personal attendant, strode an enormous east-indian in full native costume, and closely surrounding her were gentlemen of her household, each in uniform. by this time my thoughts were on my courtesy, which i desired to make conventional if not graceful; but nature has not made it easy for me to double to the earth as lady aberdeen and the indian women were doing, and i fear i accomplished little save an exhibition of good intentions. the queen, however, was getting into the spirit of the occasion. she stopped to speak to a canadian representative, and she would, i think, have ended by talking to many others; but, just at the psychological moment, a woman rushed out of the line, seized her majesty's hand and kissed it--and victoria, startled and possibly fearing a general onslaught, hurriedly passed on. another picture i recall was made by the duchess of sutherland, the countess of aberdeen, and the countess of warwick standing together to receive us at the foot of the marble stairway in sutherland house. all of them literally blazed with jewels, and the countess of aberdeen wore the famous aberdeen emerald. at lady battersea's reception i had my first memorial meeting with mary anderson navarro, and was able to thank her for the pleasure she had given me in boston so long ago. then i reproached her mildly for taking herself away from us, pointing out that a great gift had been given her which she should have continued to share with the world. "come and see my baby," laughed madame navarro. "that's the best argument i can offer to refute yours." at the same reception i had an interesting talk with james bryce. he had recently written his american commonwealth, and i had just read it. it was, therefore, the first subject i introduced in our conversation. mr. bryce's comment amused me. he told me he had quite changed his opinion toward the suffrage aspirations of women, because so many women had read his book that he really believed they were intelligent, and he had come to feel much more kindly toward them. these were not his exact words, but his meaning was unmistakable and his mental attitude artlessly sincere. and, on reflection, i agree with him that the american commonwealth is something of an intellectual hurdle for the average human mind. in the international council was held in geneva, and here, for the first time, we were shown, as entertainment, the dances of a country--the scene being an especially brilliant one, as all the dancers wore their native costumes. also, for the first time in the history of geneva, the buildings of parliament were opened to women and a woman's organization was given the key to the city. at that time the swiss women were making their fight for a vote in church matters, and we helped their cause as much as we could. to-day many swiss women are permitted to exercise this right--the first political privilege free switzerland has given them. the international alliance meeting in amsterdam in was the largest held up to that time, and much of its success was due to dr. aletta jacobs, the president of the national suffrage association of holland. dr. jacobs had some wonderful helpers among the women of her country, and she herself was an ideal leader--patient, enthusiastic, and tireless. that year the governments of australia, norway, and finland paid the expenses of the delegates from those countries--a heartening innovation. one of the interesting features of the meeting was a cantata composed for the occasion and given by the queen's royal band, under the direction of a woman--catharine van rennes, one of the most distinguished composers and teachers in holland. she wrote both words and music of her cantata and directed it admirably; and the musicians of the queen's band entered fully into its spirit and played like men inspired. that night we had more music, as well as a never-to-be-forgotten exhibition of folk-dancing. the same year, in june, we held the meeting of the international council in toronto, and, as canada has never been eagerly interested in suffrage, an unsuccessful effort was made to exclude this subject from the programme. i was asked to preside at the suffrage meetings on the artless and obvious theory that i would thus be kept too busy to say much. i had hoped that the countess of aberdeen, who was the president of the international council, would take the chair; but she declined to do this, or even to speak, as the earl of aberdeen had recently been appointed viceroy of ireland, and she desired to spare him any embarrassment which might be caused by her public activities. we recognized the wisdom of her decision, but, of course, regretted it; and i was therefore especially pleased when, on suffrage night, the countess, accompanied by her aides in their brilliant uniforms, entered the hall. we had not been sure that she would be with us, but she entered in her usual charming and gracious manner, took a seat beside me on the platform, and showed a deep interest in the programme and the great gathering before us. as the meeting went on i saw that she was growing more and more enthusiastic, and toward the end of the evening i quietly asked her if she did not wish to say a few words. she said she would say a very few. i had put myself at the end of the programme, intending to talk about twenty minutes; but before beginning my speech i introduced the countess, and by this time she was so enthusiastic that, to my great delight, she used up my twenty minutes in a capital speech in which she came out vigorously for woman suffrage. it gave us the best and timeliest help we could have had, and was a great impetus to the movement. in london, at the alliance council of , we were entertained for the first time by a suffrage organization of men, and by the organized actresses of the nation, as well as by the authors. in stockholm, the following year, we listened to several of the most interesting women speakers in the world--selma lagerlof, who had just received the nobel prize, rosica schwimmer of hungary, dr. augsburg of munich, and mrs. philip snowden of england. miss schwimmer and mrs. snowden have since become familiar to american audiences, but until that time i had not heard either of them, and i was immensely impressed by their ability and their different methods--miss schwimmer being all force and fire, alive from her feet to her finger-tips, mrs. snowden all quiet reserve and dignity. dr. augsburg wore her hair short and dressed in a most eccentric manner; but we forgot her appearance as we listened to her, for she was an inspired speaker. selma lagerlof's speech made the great audience weep. men as well as women openly wiped their eyes as she described the sacrifice and suffering of swedish women whose men had gone to america to make a home there, and who, when they were left behind, struggled alone, waiting and hoping for the message to join their husbands, which too often never came. the speech made so great an impression that we had it translated and distributed among the swedes of the united states wherever we held meetings in swedish localities. miss lagerlof interested me extremely, and i was delighted by an invitation to breakfast with her one morning. at our first meeting she had seemed rather cold and shy--a little "difficult," as we say; but when we began to talk i found her frank, cordial, and full of magnetism. she is self-conscious about her english, but really speaks our language very well. her great interest at the time was in improving the condition of the peasants near her home. she talked of this work and of her books and of the council programme with such friendly intimacy that when we parted i felt that i had always known her. at the hague council in i was the guest of mrs. richard halter, to whom i am also indebted for a beautiful and wonderful motor journey from end to end of holland, bringing up finally in amsterdam at the home of dr. aletta jacobs. here we met two young holland women, miss boissevain and rosa manus, both wealthy, both anxious to help their countrywomen, but still a little uncertain as to the direction of their efforts. they came to mrs. catt and me and asked our advice as to what they should do, with the result that later they organized and put through, largely unaided, a national exposition showing the development of women's work from to . the suffrage-room at this exposition showed the progress of suffrage in all parts of the world; but when the queen of holland visited the building she expressed a wish not to be detained in this room, as she was not interested in suffrage. the prince consort, however, spent much time in it, and wanted the whole suffrage movement explained to him, which was done cheerfully and thoroughly by miss boissevain and miss manus. the following winter, when the queen read her address from the throne, she expressed an interest in so changing the constitution of holland that suffrage might possibly be extended to women. we felt that this change of heart was due to the suffrage-room arranged by our two young friends--aided, probably, by a few words from the prince consort! immediately after these days at amsterdam we started for budapest to attend the international alliance convention there, and incidentally we indulged in a series of two-day conventions en route--one at berlin, one at dresden, one at prague, and one at vienna. at prague i disgraced myself by being in my hotel room in a sleep of utter exhaustion at the hour when i was supposed to be responding to an address of welcome by the mayor; and the high-light of the evening session in that city falls on the intellectual brow of a bohemian lady who insisted on making her address in the czech language, which she poured forth for exactly one hour and fifteen minutes. i began my address at a quarter of twelve and left the hall at midnight. later i learned that the last speaker began her remarks at a quarter past one in the morning. it may be in order to add here that vienna did for me what berlin had done for susan b. anthony--it gave me the ovation of my life. at the conclusion of my speech the great audience rose and, still standing, cheered for many minutes. i was immensely surprised and deeply touched by the unexpected tribute; but any undue elation i might have experienced was checked by the memory of the skeptical snort with which one of my auditors had received me. he was very german, and very, very frank. after one pained look at me he rose to leave the hall. "that old woman!" he exclaimed. "she cannot make herself heard." he was half-way down the aisle when the opening words of my address caught up with him and stopped him. whatever their meaning may have been, it was at least carried to the far ends of that great hall, for the old fellow had piqued me a bit and i had given my voice its fullest volume. he crowded into an already over-occupied pew and stared at me with goggling eyes. "mein gott!" he gasped. "mein gott, she could be heard anywhere." the meeting at budapest was a great personal triumph for mrs. catt. no one, i am sure, but the almost adored president of the international suffrage alliance could have controlled a convention made up of women of so many different nationalities, with so many different viewpoints, while the confusion of languages made a general understanding seem almost hopeless. but it was a great success in every way--and a delightful feature of it was the hospitality of the city officials and, indeed, of the whole hungarian people. after the convention i spent a week with the contessa iska teleki in her chateau in the tatra mountains, and a friendship was there formed which ever since has been a joy to me. together we walked miles over the mountains and along the banks of wonderful streams, while the countess, who knows all the folk-lore of her land, told me stories and answered my innumerable questions. when i left for vienna i took with me a basket of tiny fir-trees from the tops of the tatras; and after carrying the basket to and around vienna, florence, and genoa, i finally got the trees home in good condition and proudly added them to the "forest of arden" on my place at moylan. xvii. vale! in looking back over the ten years of my administration as president of the national american woman suffrage association, there can be no feeling but gratitude and elation over the growth of the work. our membership has grown from , women to more than , , and the number of auxiliary societies has increased in proportion. instead of the old-time experience of one campaign in ten years, we now have from five to ten campaigns each year. from an original yearly expenditure of $ , or $ , in our campaign work, we now expend from $ , to $ , . in new york, in , we have already received pledges of $ , for the new york state campaign alone, while pennsylvania, massachusetts, and new jersey have made pledges in proportion. in full suffrage prevailed in four states; we now have it in twelve. our movement has advanced from its academic stage until it has become a vital political factor; no reform in the country is more heralded by the press or receives more attention from the public. it has become an issue which engages the attention of the entire nation--and toward this result every woman working for the cause has contributed to an inspiring degree. splendid team-work, and that alone, has made our present success possible and our eventual triumph in every state inevitable. every officer in our organization, every leader in our campaigns, every speaker, every worker in the ranks, however humble, has done her share. i do not claim anything so fantastic and utopian as universal harmony among us. we have had our troubles and our differences. i have had mine. at every annual convention since the one at washington in there has been an effort to depose me from the presidency. there have been some splendid fighters among my opponents--fine and high-minded women who sincerely believe that at sixty-eight i am getting too old for my big job. possibly i am. certainly i shall resign it with alacrity when the majority of women in the organization wish me to do so. at present a large majority proves annually that it still has faith in my leadership, and with this assurance i am content to work on. looking back over the period covered by these reminiscences, i realize that there is truth in the grave charge that i am no longer young; and this truth was once voiced by one of my little nieces in a way that brought it strongly home to me. she and her small sister of six had declared themselves suffragettes, and as the first result of their conversion to the cause both had been laughed at by their schoolmates. the younger child came home after this tragic experience, weeping bitterly and declaring that she did not wish to be a suffragette any more--an exhibition of apostasy for which her wise sister of eight took her roundly to task. "aren't you ashamed of yourself," she demanded, "to stop just because you have been laughed at once? look at aunt anna! she has been laughed at for hundreds of years!" i sometimes feel that it has indeed been hundreds of years since my work began; and then again it seems so brief a time that, by listening for a moment, i fancy i can hear the echo of my childish-voice preaching to the trees in the michigan woods. but long or short, the one sure thing is that, taking it all in all, the struggles, the discouragements, the failures, and the little victories, the fight has been, as susan b. anthony said in her last hours, "worth while." nothing bigger can come to a human being than to love a great cause more than life itself, and to have the privilege throughout life of working for that cause. as for life's other gifts, i have had some of them, too. i have made many friendships; i have looked upon the beauty of many lands; i have the assurance of the respect and affection of thousands of men and women i have never even met. though i have given all i had, i have received a thousand times more than i have given. neither the world nor my cause is indebted to me but from the depths of a full and very grateful heart i acknowledge my lasting indebtedness to them both. the end [illustration: "and i wonder if there is a woman in the land that can blame serepta for wantin' her rights."] samantha on the woman question by marietta holley "josiah allen's wife" author of "samantha at saratoga," "my opinions" and "betsey bobbet's," etc. contents i. "she wanted her rights" ii. "they can't blame her" iii. "polly's eyes growed tender" iv. "strivin' with the emissary" v. "he wuz dretful polite" vi. "concerning moth-millers and minny fish" vii. "no hamperin' hitchin' straps" viii. "old mom nater listenin'" ix. the women's parade x. "the creation searchin' society" illustrations "and i wonder if there's a woman in the land that can blame serepta for wantin' her rights" (p. ). frontispiece "i wanted to visit the capitol of our country.... so we laid out to go" "he'd entered political life where the bible wuzn't popular; he'd never read further than gulliver's epistle to the liliputians" "sez josiah, 'does that thing know enough to vote?'" i "she wanted her rights" lorinda cagwin invited josiah and me to a reunion of the allen family at her home nigh washington, d.c., the birthplace of the first allen we knowed anything about, and josiah said: "bein' one of the best lookin' and influential allens on earth now, it would be expected on him to attend to it." and i fell in with the idee, partly to be done as i would be done by if it wuz the relation on my side, and partly because by goin' i could hit two birds with one stun, as the poet sez. indeed, i could hit four on 'em. my own cousin, diantha trimble, lived in a city nigh lorinda's and i had promised to visit her if i wuz ever nigh her, and help bear her burdens for a spell, of which burden more anon and bom-by. diantha wuz one bird, the reunion another, and the third bird i had in my mind's eye wuz the big outdoor meeting of the suffragists that wuz to be held in the city where diantha lived, only a little ways from lorinda's. and the fourth bird and the biggest one i wuz aimin' to hit from this tower of ourn wuz washington, d.c. i wanted to visit the capitol of our country, the center of our great civilization that stands like the sun in the solar system, sendin' out beams of power and wisdom and law and order, and justice and injustice, and money and oratory, and talk and talk, and wind and everything, to the uttermost points of our vast possessions, and from them clear to the ends of the earth. i wanted to see it, i wanted to like a dog. so we laid out to go. [illustration: "i wanted to visit the capitol of our country.... so we laid out to go."] lorinda lived on the old allen place, and i always sot store by her, and her girl, polly, wuz, as thomas j. said, a peach. she had spent one of her college vacations with us, and a sweeter, prettier, brighter girl i don't want to see. her name is pauline, but everybody calls her polly. the cagwins are rich, and polly had every advantage money could give, and old mom nater gin her a lot of advantages money couldn't buy, beauty and intellect, a big generous heart and charm. and you know the cagwins couldn't bought that at no price. charm in a girl is like the perfume in a rose, and can't be bought or sold. and you can't handle or describe either on 'em exactly. but what a influence they have; how they lay holt of your heart and fancy. royal gray, the young man who wuz payin' attention to her, stopped once for a day or two in jonesville with polly and her ma on their way to the cagwins' camp in the adirondacks. and we all liked him so well that we agreed in givin' him this extraordinary praise, we said he wuz worthy of polly, we knowed of course that wuz the highest enconium possible for us to give. good lookin', smart as a whip, and deep, you could see that by lookin' into his eyes, half laughin' and half serious eyes and kinder sad lookin' too under the fun, as eyes must be in this world of ourn if they look back fur, or ahead much of any. a queer world this is, and kinder sad and mysterious, behind all the good and glory on't. he wuz jest out of harvard school and as full of life and sperits as a colt let loose in a clover field. he went out in the hay field, he and polly, and rode home on top of a load of hay jest as nateral and easy and bare-headed as if he wuz workin' for wages, and he the only son of a millionaire--we all took to him. well, when the news got out that i wuz goin' to visit washington, d.c., all the neighbors wanted to send errents by me. betsy bobbet slimpsey wanted a dozen patent office books for scrap books for her poetry. uncle nate gowdey wanted me to go to the agricultural buro and git him a paper of lettuce seed. and solomon sypher wanted me to git him a new kind of string beans and some cowcumber seeds. uncle jarvis bentley, who wuz goin' to paint his house, wanted me to ask the president what kind of paint he used on the white house. he thought it ort to be a extra kind to stand the sharp glare that wuz beatin' down on it constant, and to ask him if he didn't think the paint would last longer and the glare be mollified some if they used pure white and clear ile in it, and left off whitewash and karseen. ardelia rumsey, who is goin' to be married, wanted me, if i see any new kinds of bedquilt patterns at the white house or the senator's housen, to git patterns for 'em. she said she wuz sick of sun flowers and blazin' stars. she thought mebby they'd have sunthin' new, spread eagle style. she said her feller wuz goin' to be connected with the govermunt and she thought it would be appropriate. and i asked her how. and she said he wuz goin' to git a patent on a new kind of jack knife. i told her that if she wanted a govermunt quilt and wanted it appropriate she ort to have a crazy quilt. and she said she had jest finished a crazy quilt with seven thousand pieces of silk in it, and each piece trimmed with seven hundred stitches of feather stitchin'--she'd counted 'em. and then i remembered seein' it. there wuz a petition fer wimmen's rights and i remember ardelia couldn't sign it for lack of time. she wanted to, but she hadn't got the quilt more than half done. it took the biggest heft of two years to do it. and so less important things had to be put aside. and ardelia's mother wanted to sign it, but she couldn't owin' to a bed-spread she wuz makin'. she wuz quiltin' in noah's ark and all the animals on a turkey red quilt. i remember she wuz quiltin' the camel that day and couldn't be disturbed, so we didn't git the names. it took the old lady three years, and when it wuz done it wuz a sight to behold, though i wouldn't want to sleep under so many animals. but folks went from fur and near to see it, and i enjoyed lookin' at it that day. zebulin coon wanted me to carry a new hen coop of hisen to git patented. and i thought to myself i wonder if they will ask me to carry a cow. and sure enough elnathan purdy wanted me to dicker for a calf from mount vernon, swop one of his yearlin's for it. but the errents serepta pester sent wuz fur more hefty and momentous than all the rest put together, calves, hen coop, cow and all. and when she told 'em over to me, and i meditated on her reasons for sendin' 'em and her need of havin' 'em done, i felt that i would do the errents for her if a breath wuz left in my body. she come for a all day's visit; and though she is a vegetable widow and humbly, i wuz middlin' glad to see her. but thinkses i as i carried her things into my bedroom, "she'll want to send some errent by me"; and i wondered what it would be. and so it didn't surprise me when she asked me if i would lobby a little for her in washington. i spozed it wuz some new kind of tattin' or fancy work. i told her i shouldn't have much time but would try to git her some if i could. and she said she wanted me to lobby myself. and then i thought mebby it wuz a new kind of dance and told her, "i wuz too old to lobby, i hadn't lobbied a step since i wuz married." and then she explained she wanted me to canvas some of the senators. and i hung back and asked her in a cautious tone, "how many she wanted canvassed, and how much canvas it would take?" i had a good many things to buy for my tower, and though i wanted to obleege serepta, i didn't feel like runnin' into any great expense for canvas. and then she broke off from that subject, and said she wanted her rights and wanted the whiskey ring broke up. and she talked a sight about her children, and how bad she felt to be parted from 'em, and how she used to worship her husband and how her hull life wuz ruined and the whiskey ring had done it, that and wimmen's helpless condition under the law and she cried and wep' and i did. and right while i wuz cryin' onto that gingham apron, she made me promise to carry them two errents of hern to the president and git 'em done for her if i possibly could. she wanted the whiskey ring destroyed and her rights, and she wanted 'em both inside of two weeks. i told her i didn't believe she could git 'em done inside that length of time, but i would tell the president about it, and i thought more'n likely as not he would want to do right by her. "and," sez i, "if he sets out to, he can haul them babies of yourn out of that ring pretty sudden." and then to git her mind offen her sufferin's, i asked how her sister azuba wuz gittin' along? i hadn't heard from her for years. she married phileman clapsaddle, and serepty spoke out as bitter as a bitter walnut, and sez she: "she's in the poor-house." "why, serepta pester!" sez i, "what do you mean?" "i mean what i say, my sister, azuba clapsaddle, is in the poor-house." "why, where is their property gone?" sez i. "they wuz well off. azuba had five thousand dollars of her own when she married him." "i know it," sez she, "and i can tell you, josiah alien's wife, where their property has gone, it has gone down phileman clapsaddle's throat. look down that man's throat and you will see acres of land, a good house and barn, twenty sheep and forty head of cattle." "why-ee!" sez i. "yes, and you'll see four mules, a span of horses, two buggies, a double sleigh, and three buffalo robes. he's drinked 'em all up, and two horse rakes, a cultivator, and a thrashin' machine." "why-ee!" sez i agin. "and where are the children?" "the boys have inherited their father's habits and drink as bad as he duz and the oldest girl has gone to the bad." "oh dear! oh dear me!" sez i, and we both sot silent for a spell. and then thinkin' i must say sunthin' and wantin' to strike a safe subject and a good lookin' one, i sez: "where is your aunt cassandra's girl? that pretty girl i see to your house once?" "that girl is in the lunatick asylum." "serepta pester," sez i, "be you tellin' the truth?" "yes, i be, the livin' truth. she went to new york to buy millinery goods for her mother's store. it wuz quite cool when she left home and she hadn't took off her winter clothes, and it come on brilin' hot in the city, and in goin' about from store to store the heat and hard work overcome her and she fell down in a sort of faintin' fit and wuz called drunk and dragged off to a police court by a man who wuz a animal in human shape. and he misused her in such a way that she never got over the horror of what befell her when she come to to find herself at the mercy of a brute in a man's shape. she went into a melancholy madness and wuz sent to the asylum." i sithed a long and mournful sithe and sot silent agin for quite a spell. but thinkin' i must be sociable i sez: "your aunt cassandra is well, i spoze?" "she is moulderin' in jail," sez she. "in jail? cassandra in jail!" "yes, in jail." and serepta's tone wuz now like worm-wood and gall. "you know she owns a big property in tenement houses and other buildings where she lives. of course her taxes wuz awful high, and she didn't expect to have any voice in tellin' how that money, a part of her own property that she earned herself in a store, should be used. but she had been taxed high for new sidewalks in front of some of her buildin's. and then another man come into power in that ward, and he naterally wanted to make some money out of her, so he ordered her to build new sidewalks. and she wouldn't tear up a good sidewalk to please him or anybody else, so she wuz put to jail for refusin' to comply with the law." thinkses i, i don't believe the law would have been so hard on her if she hadn't been so humbly. the pesters are a humbly lot. but i didn't think it out loud, and didn't ophold the law for feelin' so. i sez in pityin' tones, for i wuz truly sorry for cassandra keeler: "how did it end?" "it hain't ended," sez she, "it only took place a month ago and she has got her grit up and won't pay; and no knowin' how it will end; she lays there amoulderin'." i don't believe cassanda wuz mouldy, but that is serepta's way of talkin', very flowery. "well," sez i, "do you think the weather is goin' to moderate?" i truly felt that i dassent speak to her about any human bein' under the sun, not knowin' what turn she would give to the talk, bein' so embittered. but i felt that the weather wuz safe, and cotton stockin's, and hens, and factory cloth, and i kep' her down on them for more'n two hours. but good land! i can't blame her for bein' embittered agin men and the laws they've made, for it seems as if i never see a human creeter so afflicted as serepta pester has been all her life. why, her sufferin's date back before she wuz born, and that's goin' pretty fur back. her father and mother had some difficulty and he wuz took down with billerous colick, voylent four weeks before serepta wuz born. and some think it wuz the hardness between 'em and some think it wuz the gripin' of the colick when he made his will, anyway he willed serepta away, boy or girl whichever it wuz, to his brother up on the canada line. so when serepta wuz born (and born a girl ontirely onbeknown to her) she wuz took right away from her mother and gin to this brother. her mother couldn't help herself, he had the law on his side. but it killed her. she drooped away and died before the baby wuz a year old. she wuz a affectionate, tenderhearted woman and her husband wuz overbearin' and stern always. but it wuz this last move of hisen that killed her, for it is pretty tough on a mother to have her baby, a part of her own life, took right out of her own arms and gin to a stranger. for this uncle of hern wuz a entire stranger to serepta, and almost like a stranger to her father, for he hadn't seen him since he wuz a boy, but knew he hadn't any children and spozed that he wuz rich and respectable. but the truth wuz he had been runnin' down every way, had lost his property and his character, wuz dissipated and mean. but the will wuz made and the law stood. men are ashamed now to think that the law wuz ever in voge, but it wuz, and is now in some of the states, and the poor young mother couldn't help herself. it has always been the boast of our american law that it takes care of wimmen. it took care of her. it held her in its strong protectin' grasp so tight that the only way she could slip out of it wuz to drop into the grave, which she did in a few months. then it leggo. but it kep' holt of serepta, it bound her tight to her uncle while he run through with what property she had, while he sunk lower and lower until at last he needed the very necessaries of life and then he bound her out to work to a woman who kep' a drinkin' den and the lowest hant of vice. twice serepta run away, bein' virtuous but humbly, but them strong protectin' arms of the law that had held her mother so tight reached out and dragged her back agin. upheld by them her uncle could compel her to give her service wherever he wanted her to work, and he wuz owin' this woman and she wanted serepta's work, so she had to submit. but the third time she made a effort so voyalent that she got away. a good woman, who bein' nothin' but a woman couldn't do anything towards onclinchin' them powerful arms that wuz protectin' her, helped her to slip through 'em. and serepta come to jonesville to live with a sister of that good woman; changed her name so's it wouldn't be so easy to find her; grew up to be a nice industrious girl. and when the woman she wuz took by died she left serepta quite a handsome property. and finally she married lank burpee, and did considerable well it wuz spozed. her property, put with what little he had, made 'em a comfortable home and they had two pretty children, a boy and a girl. but when the little girl wuz a baby he took to drinkin', neglected his bizness, got mixed up with a whiskey ring, whipped serepta--not so very hard. he went accordin' to law, and the law of the united states don't approve of a man's whippin' his wife enough to endanger her life, it sez it don't. he made every move of hisen lawful and felt that serepta hadn't ort to complain and feel hurt. but a good whippin' will make anybody feel hurt, law or no law. and then he parted with her and got her property and her two little children. why, it seemed as if everything under the sun and moon, that could happen to a woman, had happened to serepta, painful things and gauldin'. jest before lank parted with her, she fell on a broken sidewalk: some think he tripped her up, but it never wuz proved. but anyway serepta fell and broke her hip hone; and her husband sued the corporation and got ten thousand dollars for it. of course the law give the money to him and she never got a cent of it. but she wouldn't have made any fuss over that, knowin' that the law of the united states wuz such. but what made it so awful mortifyin' to her wuz, that while she wuz layin' there achin' in splints, he took that very money and used it to court up another woman with. gin her presents, jewelry, bunnets, head-dresses, artificial flowers out of serepta's own hip money. and i don't know as anything could be much more gauldin' to a woman than that--while she lay there groanin' in splints, to have her husband take the money for her own broken bones and dress up another woman like a doll with it. but the law gin it to him, and he wuz only availin' himself of the glorious liberty of our free republic, and doin' as he wuz a mind to. and it wuz spozed that that very hip money wuz what made the match. for before she wuz fairly out of splints he got a divorce from her and married agin. and by the help of serepta's hip money and the whiskey ring he got her two little children away from her. ii "they can't blame her" and i wonder if there is a woman in the land that can blame serepta for gittin' mad and wantin' her rights and wantin' the whiskey ring broke up, when they think how she's been fooled round with by men; willed away, and whipped, and parted with, and stole from. why, they can't blame her for feelin' fairly savage about 'em, as she duz. for as she sez to me once, when we wuz talkin' it over, how everything had happened to her. "yes," sez she, with a axent like bone-set and vinegar, "and what few things hain't happened to me has happened to my folks." and sure enough i couldn't dispute her. trouble and wrongs and sufferin's seemed to be epidemic in the race of pester wimmen. why, one of her aunts on her father's side, huldah pester, married for her first husband, eliphelet perkins. he wuz a minister, rode on a circuit, and he took huldah on it too, and she rode round with him on it a good deal of the time. but she never loved to, she wuz a woman that loved to be still, and kinder settled down at home. but she loved eliphelet so well that she would do anything to please him, so she rode round with him on that circuit till she wuz perfectly fagged out. he wuz a dretful good man to her, but he wuz kinder poor and they had hard times to git along. but what property they had wuzn't taxed, so that helped some, and huldah would make one dollar go a good ways. no, their property wuzn't taxed till eliphelet died. then the supervisor taxed it the very minute the breath left his body; run his horse, so it wuz said, so's to be sure to git it onto the tax list, and comply with the law. you see eliphelet's salary stopped when his breath did. and i spoze the law thought, seein' she wuz havin' trouble, she might jest as well have a little more; so it taxed all the property it never had taxed a cent for before. but she had this to console her that the law didn't forgit her in her widowhood. no; the law is quite thoughtful of wimmen by spells. it sez it protects wimmen. and i spoze that in some mysterious way, too deep for wimmen to understand, it wuz protectin' her now. well, she suffered along and finally married agin. i wondered why she did. but she wuz such a quiet, home-lovin' woman that it wuz spozed she wanted to settle down and be kinder still and sot. but of all the bad luck she had. she married on short acquaintance, and he proved to be a perfect wanderer. he couldn't keep still, it wuz spozed to be a mark. he moved huldah thirteen times in two years, and at last he took her into a cart, a sort of covered wagon, and traveled right through the western states with her. he wanted to see the country and loved to live in the wagon, it wuz his make. and, of course, the law give him control of her body, and she had to go where he moved it, or else part with him. and i spoze the law thought it wuz guardin' and nourishin' her when it wuz joltin' her over them prairies and mountains and abysses. but it jest kep' her shook up the hull of the time. it wuz the regular pester luck. and then another of her aunts, drusilly pester, married a industrious, hard-workin' man, one that never drinked, wuz sound on the doctrines, and give good measure to his customers, he wuz a groceryman. and a master hand for wantin' to foller the laws of his country as tight as laws could be follered. and so knowin' that the law approved of moderate correction for wimmen, and that "a man might whip his wife, but not enough to endanger her life"; he bein' such a master hand for wantin' to do everything faithful and do his very best for his customers, it wuz spozed he wanted to do the best for the law, and so when he got to whippin' drusilly, he would whip her too severe, he would be too faithful to it. you see what made him whip her at all wuz she wuz cross to him. they had nine little children, she thought two or three children would be about all one woman could bring up well by hand, when that hand wuz so stiff and sore with hard work. but he had read some scareful talk from high quarters about race suicide. some men do git real wrought up about it and want everybody to have all the children they can, jest as fast as they can, though wimmen don't all feel so. aunt hetty sidman said, "if men had to born 'em and nuss 'em themselves, she didn't spoze they would be so enthusiastick about it after they had had a few, 'specially if they done their own housework themselves," and aunt hetty said that some of the men who wuz exhortin' wimmen to have big families, had better spend some of their strength and wind in tryin' to make this world a safer place for children to be born into. she said they'd be better off in nonentity than here in this world with saloons on every corner, and war-dogs howlin' at 'em. i don't know exactly what she meant by nonentity, but guess she meant the world we all stay in, before we are born into this one. aunt hetty has lost five boys, two by battle and three by licensed saloons, that makes her talk real bitter, but to resoom. i told josiah that men needn't worry about race suicide, for you might as well try to stop a hen from makin' a nest, as to stop wimmen from wantin' a baby to love and hold on her heart. but sez i, "folks ort to be moderate and mejum in babies as well as in everything else." but drusilly's husband wanted twelve boys he said, to be law-abidin' citizens as their pa wuz, and a protection to the govermunt, and to be ready to man the new warships, if a war broke out. but her babies wuz real pretty and cunning, and she wuz so weak-minded she couldn't enjoy the thought that if our male statesmen got to scrappin' with some other nation's male law-makers and made another war, of havin' her grown-up babies face the cannons. i spoze it wuz when she wuz so awful tired she felt so. you see she had to do every mite of her housework, and milk cows, and make butter and cheese, and cook and wash and scour, and take all the care of the children day and night in sickness and health, and make their clothes and keep 'em clean. and when there wuz so many of 'em and she enjoyin' real poor health, i spoze she sometimes thought more of her own achin' back than she did of the good of the govermunt--and she would git kinder discouraged sometimes and be cross to him. and knowin' his own motives wuz so high and loyal, he felt that he ort to whip her, so he did. and what shows that drusilly wuzn't so bad after all and did have her good streaks and a deep reverence for the law is, that she stood his whippin's first-rate, and never whipped him. now she wuz fur bigger than he wuz, weighed eighty pounds the most, and might have whipped him if the law had been such. but they wuz both law-abidin' and wanted to keep every preamble, so she stood it to be whipped, and never once whipped him in all the seventeen years they lived together. she died when her twelfth child wuz born. there wuz jest ten months difference between that and the one next older. and they said she often spoke out in her last sickness, and said, "thank fortune, i've always kep' the law!" and they said the same thought wuz a great comfort to him in his last moments. he died about a year after she did, leavin' his second wife with twins and a good property. then there wuz abagail pester. she married a sort of a high-headed man, though one that paid his debts, wuz truthful, good lookin', and played well on the fiddle. why, it seemed as if he had almost every qualification for makin' a woman happy, only he had this one little eccentricity, he would lock up abagail's clothes every time he got mad at her. of course the law give her clothes to him, and knowin' that it wuz the law in the state where they lived, she wouldn't have complained only when they had company. but it wuz mortifyin', nobody could dispute it, to have company come and have nothin' to put on. several times she had to withdraw into the woodhouse, and stay most all day there shiverin', and under the suller stairs and round in clothes presses. but he boasted in prayer meetin's and on boxes before grocery stores that he wuz a law-abidin' citizen, and he wuz. eben flanders wouldn't lie for anybody. but i'll bet abagail flanders beat our old revolutionary four-mothers in thinkin' out new laws, when she lay round under stairs and behind barrels in her night-gown. when a man hides his wife's stockin's and petticoats it is governin' without the consent of the governed. if you don't believe it you'd ort to peeked round them barrels and seen abagail's eyes, they had hull reams of by-laws in 'em and preambles, and declarations of independence, so i've been told. but it beat everything i ever hearn on, the lawful sufferin's of them wimmen. for there wuzn't nothin' illegal about one single trouble of theirn. they suffered accordin' to law, every one on 'em. but it wuz tuff for 'em, very tuff. and their bein' so dretful humbly wuz another drawback to 'em, though that too wuz perfectly lawful, as everybody knows. and serepta looked as bad agin as she would otherwise on account of her teeth. it wuz after lank had begun to git after this other woman, and wuz indifferent to his wife's looks that serepta had a new set of teeth on her upper jaw. and they sot out and made her look so bad it fairly made her ache to look at herself in the glass. and they hurt her gooms too, and she carried 'em back to the dentist and wanted him to make her another set, but he acted mean and wouldn't take 'em back, and sued lank for the pay. and they had a law-suit. and the law bein' such that a woman can't testify in court, in any matter that is of mutual interest to husband and wife, and lank wantin' to act mean, said that they wuz good sound teeth. and there serepta sot right in front of 'em with her gooms achin' and her face all swelled out, and lookin' like furiation, and couldn't say a word. but she had to give in to the law. and ruther than go toothless she wears 'em to this day, and i believe it is the raspin' of them teeth aginst her gooms and her discouraged, mad feelin's every time she looks in the glass that helps embitter her towards men, and the laws men have made, so's a woman can't have control of her own teeth and her own bones. serepta went home about p.m., i promisin' sacred to do her errents for her. and i gin a deep, happy sithe after i shot the door behind her, and i sez to josiah i do hope that's the very last errent we will have to carry to washington, d.c., for the jonesvillians. "yes," says he, "an' i guess i will get a fresh pail of water and hang on the tea kettle for you." "and," i says, "it's pretty early for supper, but i'll start it, for i do feel kinder gone to the stomach. sympathy is real exhaustin'. sometimes i think it tires me more'n hard work. and heaven knows i sympathized with serepta. i felt for her full as much as if she was one of the relations on _his_ side." but if you'll believe it, i had hardly got the words out of my mouth and josiah had jest laid holt of the water pail, when in comes philander dagget, the president of the jonesville creation searchin' society and, of course, he had a job for us to do on our tower. this society was started by the leadin' men of jonesville, for the purpose of searchin' out and criticizin' the affairs of the world, an' so far as possible advisin' and correctin' the meanderin's an' wrong-doin's of the universe. this society, which we call the c.s.s. for short, has been ruther quiet for years. but sence woman's suffrage has got to be such a prominent question, they bein' so bitterly opposed to it, have reorganized and meet every once in a while, to sneer at the suffragettes and poke fun at 'em and show in every way they can their hitter antipathy to the cause. philander told me if i see anything new and strikin' in the way of society badges and regalia, to let him know about it, for he said the c.s.s. was goin' to take a decided stand and show their colors. they wuz goin' to help protect his women endangered sect, an' he wanted sunthin' showy and suggestive. i thought of a number of badges and mottoes that i felt would be suitable for this society, but dassent tell 'em to him, for his idees and mine on this subject are as fur apart as the two poles. he talked awful bitter to me once about it, and i sez to him: "philander, the world is full of good men, and there are also bad men in the world, and, sez i, did you ever in your born days see a bad man that wuzn't opposed to woman's suffrage? all the men who trade in, and profit by, the weakness and sin of men and women, they every one of 'em, to a man, fight agin it. and would they do this if they didn't think that their vile trades would suffer if women had the right to vote? it is the great-hearted, generous, noble man who wants women to become a real citizen with himself--which she is not now--she is only a citizen just enough to be taxed equally with man, or more exhorbitantly, and be punished and executed by the law she has no hand in makin'." philander sed, "i have always found it don't pay to talk with women on matters they don't understand." an' he got up and started for the door, an' josiah sed, "no, it don't pay, not a cent; i've always said so." but i told philander i'd let him know if i see anything appropriate to the c.s.s. holdin' back with a almost herculaneum effort the mottoes and badges that run through my mind as bein' appropriate to their society; knowin' it would make him so mad if i told him of 'em--he never would neighbor with us again. and in three days' time we sot sail. we got to the depo about an hour too early, but i wuz glad we wuz on time, for it would have worked josiah up dretfully ef we hadn't been, for he had spent most of the latter part of the night in gittin' up and walkin' out to the clock seein' if it wuz train time. jest before we started, who should come runnin' down to the depo but sam nugent wantin' to send a errent by me to washington. he wunk me out to one side of the waitin' room, and ast "if i'd try to git him a license to steal horses." it kinder runs in the blood of the nugents to love to steal, and he owned up it did, but he said he wanted the profit of it. but i told him i wouldn't do any sech thing, an' i looked at him in such a witherin' way that i should most probable withered him, only he is blind in one side, and i wuz on the blind side, but he argued with me, and said that it wuz no worse than to give licenses for other kinds of meanness. he said they give licenses now to steal--steal folkses senses away, and then they could steal everything else, and murder and tear round into every kind of wickedness. but he didn't ask that. he wanted things done fair and square: he jest wanted to steal horses. he wuz goin' west, and he thought he could do a good bizness, and lay up somethin'. if he had a license he shouldn't be afraid of bein' shet up or shot. but i refused the job with scorn; and jest as i wuz refusin', the cars snorted, and i wuz glad they did. they seemed to express in that wild snort something of the indignation i felt. the idee! iii "polly's eyes crowed tender" lorinda wuz dretful glad to see us and so wuz her husband and polly. but the reunion had to be put off on account of a spell her husband wuz havin'. lorinda said she could not face such a big company as she'd invited while hiram wuz havin' a spell, and i agreed with her. sez i, "never, never, would i have invited company whilst josiah wuz sufferin' with one of his cricks." men hain't patient under pain, and outsiders hain't no bizness to hear things they say and tell on 'em. so polly had to write to the relations puttin' off the reunion for one week. but lorinda kep' on cookin' fruit cake and such that would keep, she had plenty of help, but loved to do her company cookin' herself. and seein' the reunion wuz postponed and lorinda had time on her hands, i proposed she should go with me to the big out-door meetin' of the suffragists, which wuz held in a nigh-by city. "good land!" sez she, "nothin' would tempt me to patronize anything so brazen and onwomanly as a out-door meetin' of wimmen, and so onhealthy and immodest." i see she looked reproachfully at polly as she said it. polly wuz arrangin' some posies in a vase, and looked as sweet as the posies did, but considerable firm too, and i see from lorinda's looks that polly wuz one who had to leave father and mother for principle's sake. but i sez, "you're cookin' this minute, lorinda, for a out-door meetin'" (she wuz makin' angel cake). "and why is this meetin' any more onwomanly or immodest than the camp-meetin' where you wuz converted, and baptized the next sunday in the creek?" "oh, them wuz religious meetin's," sez she. "well," sez i, "mebby these wimmen think their meetin' is religious. you know the bible sez, 'faith and works should go together,' and some of the leaders of this movement have showed by their works as religious a sperit and wielded aginst injustice to young workin' wimmen as powerful a weepon as that axe of the 'postles the bible tells about. and you said you went every day to the hudson-fulton doin's and hearn every out-door lecture; you writ me that there wuz probable a million wimmen attendin' them out-door meetin's, and that wuz curosity and pleasure huntin' that took them, and this is a meetin' of justice and right." "oh, shaw!" sez lorinda agin, with her eye on polly. "wimmen have all the rights they want or need." lorinda's husband bein' rich and lettin' her have her way she is real foot loose, and don't feel the need of any more rights for herself, but i told her then and there some of the wrongs and sufferin's of serepta pester, and bein' good-hearted (but obstinate and bigoted) she gin in that the errents wuz hefty, and that serepta wuz to be pitied, but she insisted that wimmen's votin' wouldn't help matters. but euphrasia pottle, a poor relation from troy, spoke up. "after my husband died one of my girls went into a factory and gits about half what the men git for the same work, and my oldest girl who teaches in the public school don't git half as much for the same work as men do, and her school rooms are dark, stuffy, onhealthy, and crowded so the children are half-choked for air, and the light so poor they're havin' their eyesight spilte for life, and new school books not needed at all, are demanded constantly, so some-one can make money." "yes," sez i, "do you spoze, lorinda, if intelligent mothers helped control such things they would let their children be made sick and blind and the money that should be used for food for poor hungry children be squandered on _on_-necessary books they are too faint with hunger to study." "but wimmen's votin' wouldn't help in such things," sez lorinda, as she stirred her angel cake vigorously. but euphrasia sez, "my niece, ellen, teaches in a state where wimmen vote and she gits the same wages men git for the same work, and her school rooms are bright and pleasant and sanitary, and the pupils, of course, are well and happy. and if you don't think wimmen can help in such public matters just go to seattle and see how quick a bad man wuz yanked out of his public office and a good man put in his place, mostly by wimmen's efforts and votes." "yes," sez i, "it is a proved fact that wimmen's votes do help in these matters. and do you think, lorinda, that if educated, motherly, thoughtful wimmen helped make the laws so many little children would be allowed to toil in factories and mines, their tender shoulders bearin' the burden of constant labor that wears out the iron muscles of men?" polly's eyes growed tender and wistful, and her little white hands lingered over her posies, and i knowed the hard lot of the poor, the wrongs of wimmen and children, the woes of humanity, wuz pressin' down on her generous young heart. and i could see in her sweet face the brave determination to do and to dare, to try to help ondo the wrongs, and try to lift the burdens from weak and achin' shoulders. but lorinda kep' on with the same old moth-eaten argument so broke down and feeble it ort to be allowed to die in peace. "woman's suffrage would make women neglect their homes and housework and let their children run loose into ruin." i knowed she said it partly on polly's account, but i sez in surprise, "why, lorinda, it must be you hain't read up on the subject or you would know wherever wimmen has voted they have looked out first of all for the children's welfare. they have raised the age of consent, have closed saloons and other places of licensed evil, and in every way it has been their first care to help 'em to safer and more moral surroundin's, for who has the interest of children more at heart than the mothers who bore them, children who are the light of their eyes and the hope of the future." lorinda admitted that the state of the children in the homes of the poor and ignorant wuz pitiful. "but," sez she, "the bible sez 'ye shall always have the poor with you,' and i spoze we always shall, with all their sufferin's and wants. but," sez she, "in well-to-do homes the children are safe and well off, and don't need any help from woman legislation." "why, lorinda," sez i, "did you ever think on't how such mothers may watch over and be the end of the law to their children with the father's full consent during infancy when they're wrastlin' with teethin', whoopin'-cough, mumps, etc., can be queen of the nursery, dispensor of pure air, sunshine, sanitary, and safe surroundin's in every way, and then in a few years see 'em go from her into dark, overcrowded, unsanitary, carelessly guarded places, to spend the precious hours when they are the most receptive to influence and pass man-made pitfalls on their way to and fro, must stand helpless until in too many cases the innocent healthy child that went from her care returns to her half-blind, a physical and moral wreck. the mother who went down to death's door for 'em, and had most to do in mouldin' their destiny during infancy should have at least equal rights with the father in controllin' their surroundin's during their entire youth, and to do this she must have equal legal power or her best efforts are wasted. that this is just and right is as plain to me as the nose on my face and folks will see it bom-bye and wonder they didn't before. "and wimmen who suffer most by the lack on't, will be most interested in openin' schools to teach the fine art of domestic service, teachin' young girls how to keep healthy comfortable homes and fit themselves to be capable wives and mothers. i don't say or expect that wimmen's votin' will make black white, or wash all the stains from the legislative body at once, but i say that jest the effort to git wimmen's suffrage has opened hundreds of bolted doors and full suffrage will open hundreds more. and i'm goin' to that woman's suffrage meetin' if i walk afoot." but here josiah spoke up, i thought he wuz asleep, he wuz layin' on the lounge with a paper over his face. but truly the word, "woman's suffrage," rousts him up as quick as a mouse duz a drowsy cat, so, sez he, "i can't let you go, samantha, into any such dangerous and onwomanly affair." "let?" sez i in a dry voice; "that's a queer word from one old pardner to another." "i'm responsible for your safety, samantha, and if anybody goes to that dangerous and onseemly meetin' i will. mebby polly would like to go with me." as stated, polly is as pretty as a pink posy, and no matter how old a man is, nor how interestin' and noble his pardner is, he needs girl blinders, yes, he needs 'em from the cradle to the grave. but few, indeed, are the female pardners who can git him to wear 'em. he added, "you know i represent you legally, samantha; what i do is jest the same as though you did it." sez i, "mebby that is law, but whether it is gospel is another question. but if you represent me, josiah, you will have to carry out my plans; i writ to diantha smith trimble that if i went to the city i'd take care of aunt susan a night or two, and rest her a spell; you know diantha is a widder and too poor to hire a nurse. but seein' you represent me you can set up with her ma a night or two; she's bed-rid and you'll have to lift her round some, and give her her medicine and take care of diantha's twins, and let her git a good sleep." "well, as it were--samantha--you know--men hain't expected to represent wimmen in everything, it is mostly votin' and tendin' big meetin's and such." "oh, i see," sez i; "men represent wimmen when they want to, and when they don't wimmen have got to represent themselves." "well, yes, samantha, sunthin' like that." he didn't say anything more about representin' me, and polly said she wuz goin' to ride in the parade with some other college girls. lorinda's linement looked dark and forbiddin' as polly stated in her gentle, but firm way this ultimatum. lorinda hated the idee of polly's jinin' in what she called onwomanly and immodest doin's, but i looked beamin'ly at her and gloried in her principles. after she went out lorinda said to me in a complainin' way, "i should think that a girl that had every comfort and luxury would be contented and thankful, and be willin' to stay to home and act like a lady." sez i, "nothin' could keep polly from actin' like a lady, and mebby it is because she is so well off herself that makes her sorry for other young girls that have nothin' but poverty and privation." "oh, nonsense!" sez lorinda. but i knowed jest how it wuz. polly bein' surrounded by all the good things money could give, and bein' so tender-hearted her heart ached for other young girls, who had to spend the springtime of their lives in the hard work of earnin' bread for themselves and dear ones, and she longed to help 'em to livin' wages, so they could exist without the wages of sin, and too many on 'em had to choose between them black wages and starvation. she wanted to help 'em to better surroundin's and she knowed the best weepon she could put into their hands to fight the wolves of want and temptation, wuz the ballot. polly hain't a mite like her ma, she favors the smiths more, her grand-ma on her pa's side wuz a smith and a woman of brains and principle. durin' my conversation with lorinda, i inquired about royal gray, for as stated, he wuz a great favorite of ourn, and i found out (and i could see it gaulded her) that when polly united with the suffragists he shied off some, and went to payin' attention to another girl. whether it wuz to make polly jealous and bring her round to his way of thinkin', i didn't know, but mistrusted, for i could have took my oath that he loved polly deeply and truly. to be sure he hadn't confided in me, but there is a language of the eyes, when the soul speaks through 'em, and as i'd seen him look at polly my own soul had hearn and understood that silent language and translated it, that polly wuz the light of his eyes, and the one woman in the world for him. and i couldn't think his heart had changed so sudden. but knowin' as i did the elastic nature of manly affection, i felt dubersome. this other girl, maud vincent, always said to her men friends, it wuz onwomanly to try to vote. she wuz one of the girls who always gloried in bein' a runnin' vine when there wuz any masculine trees round to lean on and twine about. one who always jined in with all the idees they promulgated, from neckties to the tariff, who declared cigar smoke wuz so agreeable and welcome; it did really make her deathly sick, but she would choke herself cheerfully and willin'ly if by so chokin' she could gain manly favor and admiration. she said she didn't believe in helpin' poor girls, they wuz well enough off as it wuz, she wuz sure they didn't feel hunger and cold as rich girls did, their skin wuz thicker and their stomachs different and stronger, and constant labor didn't harm them, and working girls didn't need recreation as rich girls did, and woman's suffrage wouldn't help them any; in her opinion it would harm them, and anyway the poor wuz on-grateful. she had the usual arguments on the tip of her tongue, for old miss vincent, the aunt she lived with, wuz a ardent she aunty and very prominent in the public meetin's the she auntys have to try to compel the suffragists not to have public meetin's. they talk a good deal in public how onwomanly and immodest it is for wimmen to talk in public. and she wuz one of the foremost ones in tryin' to git up a school to teach wimmen civics, to prove that they mustn't ever have anything to do with civics. yes, old miss vincent wuz a real active, ardent she aunty, and maud genevieve takes after her. royal gray, his handsome attractive personality, and his millions, had long been the goal of maud's ambition. and how ardently did she hail the coolness growing between him and polly, the little rift in the lute, and how zealously did she labor to make it larger. polly and royal had had many an argument on the subject, that is, he would begin by makin' fun of the suffragists and their militant doin's, which if he'd thought on't wuz sunthin' like what his old revolutionary forbears went through for the same reasons, bein' taxed without representation, and bein' burdened and punished by the law they had no voice in making, only the suffragettes are not nearly so severe with their opposers, they haven't drawed any blood yet. why, them old patriots we revere so, would consider their efforts for freedom exceedingly gentle and tame compared to their own bloody battles. and royal would make light of the efforts of college girls to help workin' girls, and the encouragement and aid they'd gin 'em when they wuz strikin' for less death-dealin' hours of labor, and livin' wages, and so forth. i don't see how such a really noble young man as royal ever come to argy that way, but spoze it wuz the dead hand of some rough onreasonable old ancestor reachin' up out of the shadows of the past and pushin' him on in the wrong direction. so when he begun to ridicule what polly's heart wuz sot on, when she felt that he wuz fightin' agin right and justice, before they knowed it both pairs of bright eyes would git to flashin' out angry sparks, and hash words would be said on both sides. that old long-buried tory ancestor of hisen eggin' him on, so i spoze, and polly's generous sperit rebellin' aginst the injustice and selfishness, and mebby some warlike ancestor of hern pushin' her on to say hash things. 'tennyrate he had grown less attentive to her, and wuz bestowin' his time and attentions elsewhere. and when she told him she wuz goin' to ride in the automobile parade of the suffragists, but really ridin' she felt towards truth and justice to half the citizens of the u.s., he wuz mad as a wet hen, a male wet hen, and wuz bound she shouldn't go. some men, and mebby it is love that makes 'em feel so (they say it is), and mebby it is selfishness (though they won't own up to it), but they want the women they love to belong to them alone, want to rule absolutely over their hearts, their souls, their bodies, and all their thoughts and aims, desires, and fancies. they don't really say they want 'em to wear veils, and be shet in behind lattice-windowed harems, but i believe they would enjoy it. they want to be foot loose and heart loose themselves, but always after ulysses is tired of world wandering, he wants to come back and open the barred doors of home with his own private latch-key, and find penelope knitting stockings for him with her veil on, waitin' for him. that sperit is i spoze inherited from the days when our ancestor, the cave man, would knock down the woman he fancied, with a club, and carry her off into his cave and keep her there shet up. but little by little men are forgettin' their ancestral traits, and men and wimmen are gradually comin' out of their dark caverns into the sunshine (for women too have inherited queer traits and disagreeable ones, but that is another story). well, as i said, royal wuz mad and told polly that he guessed that the day of the parade he would take maud vincent out in the country in his motor, to gather may-flowers. polly told him she hoped they would have a good time, and then, after he had gone, drivin' his car lickety-split, harem skarum, owin' to his madness i spoze, polly went upstairs and cried, for i hearn her, her room wuz next to ourn. and i deeply respected her for her principles, for he had asked her first to go may-flowering with him the day of the suffrage meeting. but she refused, havin' in her mind, i spoze, the girls that couldn't hunt flowers, but had to handle weeds and thistles with bare hands (metaforically) and wanted to help them and all workin' wimmen to happier and more prosperous lives. iv "strivin' with the emissary" but i am hitchin' the horse behind the wagon and to resoom backwards. the reunion wuz put off a week and the suffrage meetin' wuz two days away, so i told lorinda i didn't believe i would have a better time to carry serepta pester's errents to washington, d.c. josiah said he guessed he would stay and help wait on hiram cagwin, and i approved on't, for lorinda wuz gittin' wore out. and then josiah made so light of them errents i felt that he would be a drawback instead of a help, for how could i keep a calm and noble frame of mind befittin' them lofty errents, and how could i carry 'em stiddy with a pardner by my side pokin' fun at 'em, and at me for carryin' 'em, jarrin' my sperit with his scorfin' and onbelievin' talk? and as i sot off alone in the trolley i thought of how they must have felt in old times a-carryin' the urim and thumim. and though i hadn't no idee what them wuz, yet i always felt that the carriers of 'em must have felt solemn and high-strung. yes, my feelin's wuz such as i felt of the heft and importance of them errents not alone to serepta pester, but to the hull race of wimmen that it kep' my mental head rained up so high that i couldn't half see and enjoy the sight of the most beautiful city in the world, and still i spoze its grandeur and glory sort o' filtered down through my conscientiousness, as cloth grows white under the sun's rays onbeknown to it. anon i left the trolley and walked some ways afoot. it wuz a lovely day, the sun shone down in golden splendor upon the splendor beneath it. broad, beautiful clean streets, little fresh green parks, everywhere you could turn about, and big ones full of flowers and fountains, and trees and statutes. and anon or oftener i passed noble big stun buildings, where everything is made for the nation's good and profit. money and fish and wisdom and all sorts of patented things and garden seeds and tariffs and resolutions and treaties and laws of every shape and size, good ones and queer ones and reputations and rates and rebates, etc., etc. but it would devour too much time to even name over all that is made and onmade there, even if i knowed by name the innumerable things that are flowin' constant out of that great reservoir of the nation, with its vast crowd of law-makers settin' on the lid, regulatin' its flow and spreadin' it abroad over the country, thick and thin. but on i went past the capitol, the handsomest buildin' on the globe, standin' in its own eden of beauty. by the public library as long as from our house to grout hozleton's, and i guess longer, and every foot on't more beautifler ornamented than tongue can tell. but i didn't dally tryin' to pace off the size on't, though it wuz enormous, for the thought of what i wuz carryin' bore me on almost regardless of my matchless surroundin's and the twinges of rumatiz. and anon i arrived at the white house, where my hopes and the hopes of my sect and serepta pester wuz sot. i will pass over my efforts to git into the presence, merely sayin' that they were arjous and extreme, and i wouldn't probably have got in at all had not the presence appeared with a hat on jest goin' out for a walk, and see me as i wuz strivin' with the emissary for entrance. i spoze my noble mean, made more noble fur by the magnitude of what i wuz carryin', impressed him, for suffice it to say inside of five minutes the presence wuz back in his augience room, and i wuz layin' out them errents of serepta's in front of him. he wuz very hefty, a good-lookin' smilin' man, a politer demeanored gentlemanly appearner man i don't want to see. but his linement which had looked so pleasant and cheerful growed gloomy and deprested as i spread them errents before him and sez in conclusion: "serepta pester sent these errents to you, she wanted intemperance done away with, the whiskey ring broke up and destroyed, she wanted you to have nothin' stronger than root beer when you had company to dinner, she offerin' to send you some burdock and dandeline roots and some emptins to start it with, and she wanted her rights, and wanted 'em all by week after next without fail." he sithed hard, and i never see a linement fall furder than hisen fell, and kep' a-fallin'. i pitied him, i see it wuz a hard stent for him to do it in the time she had sot, and he so fleshy too. but knowin' how much wuz at the stake, and how the fate of serepta and wimmen wuz tremblin' in the balances, i spread them errents out before him. and bein' truthful and above board, i told him that serepta wuz middlin' disagreeable and very humbly, but she needed her rights jest as much as though she wuz a wax-doll. and i went on and told him how she and her relations had suffered from want of rights, and how dretfully she had suffered from the ring till i declare talkin' about them little children of hern, and her agony, i got about as fierce actin' as serepta herself, and entirely onbeknown to myself i talked powerful on intemperance and rings, and such. when i got down agin onto my feet i see he had a still more worried and anxious look on his good-natured face, and he sez: "the laws of the united states are such that i can't do them errands, i can't interfere." "then," sez i, "why don't you make the united states do right?" he said sunthin' about the might of the majority, and the powerful corporations and rings, and that sot me off agin. and i talked very powerful and allegored about allowin' a ring to be put round the united states and let a lot of whiskey dealers and corporations lead her round, a pitiful sight for men and angels. sez i, "how duz it look before the nations to see columbia led round half-tipsy by a ring?" he seemed to think it looked bad, i knew by his looks. sez i, "intemperance is bad for serepta and bad for the nation." he murmured sunthin' about the revenue the liquor trade brought the govermunt. but i sez, "every penny is money right out of the people's pockets; every dollar the people pay into the liquor traffic that gives a few cents into the treasury, is costin' the people ten times that dollar in the loss intemperance entails, loss of labor, by the inability of drunken men to do anything but wobble and stagger, loss of wealth by the enormous losses of property and taxation, of alms-houses, mad-houses, jails, police forces, paupers' coffins, and the diggin' of thousands and thousands of graves that are filled yearly by them that reel into 'em." sez i, "wouldn't it be better for the people to pay that dollar in the first place into the treasury than to let it filter through the dram-seller's hands, a few cents of it fallin' into the national purse at last, putrid and heavy with all these losses and curses and crimes and shames and despairs and agonies?" he seemed to think it would, i see by the looks of his linement he did. every honorable man feels so in his heart, and yet they let the liquor ring control 'em and lead 'em round. "it is queer, queer as a dog." sez i, "the intellectual and moral power of the united states are rolled up and thrust into that whiskey ring and bein' drove by the whiskey dealers jest where they want to drive 'em." sez i, "it controls new york village and nobody denies it, and the piety and philanthropy and culture and philosophy of that village has to be drawed along by that ring." and sez i, in low but startlin' tones of principle: "where, where is it a-drawin' 'em to? where is it drawin' the hull nation to? is it drawin' 'em down into a slavery ten times more abject and soul-destroyin' than african slavery ever wuz? tell me," sez i firmly, "tell me!" he did not try to frame a reply, he could not find a frame. he knowed it wuz a conundrum boundless as truth and god's justice, and as solemnly deep in its sure consequences of evil as eternity, and as sure to come as that is. oh, how solemn he looked, and how sorry i felt for him, for i knowed worse wuz to come, i knowed the sharpest arrow serepta pester had sent wuz yet to pierce his sperit. but i sort o' blunted the edge on't what i could conscientiously. sez i, "i think myself serepta is a little onreasonable, i myself am willin' to wait three or four weeks. but she's suffered dretful from intemperance from the rings and from the want of rights, and her sufferin's have made her more voylent in her demands and impatienter," and then i fairly groaned as i did the rest of the errent, and let the sharpest arrow fly from the bo. "serepta told me to tell you if you didn't do these errents you should not be president next year." he trembled like a popple leaf, and i felt that serepta wuz threatenin' him too hard. sez he, "i do not wish to be president again, i shall refuse to be nominated. at the same time i _do_ wish to be president and shall work hard for the nomination if you can understand the paradox." "yes," sez i, "i understand them paradoxes. i've lived with 'em as you may say, all through my married life." a clock struck in the next room and i knowed time wuz passin' swift. sez the president, "i would be glad to do serepta's errents, i think she is justified in askin' for her rights, and to have the ring destroyed, but i am not the one to do them." sez i, "who is the man or men?" he looked all round the room and up and down as if in hopes he could see someone layin' round on the floor, or danglin' from the ceilin', that would take the responsibility offen him, and in the very nick of time the door opened after a quick rap, and the president jumped up with a relieved look on his linement, and sez: "here is the very man to do the errents." and he hastened to introduce me to the senator who entered. and then he bid me a hasty adoo, but cordial and polite, and withdrew himself. v "he wuz dretful polite" i felt glad to have this senator do serepta's errents, but i didn't like his looks. my land! talk about serepta pester bein' disagreeable, he wuz as disagreeable as she any day. he wuz kinder tall and looked out of his eyes and wore a vest. he wuz some bald-headed, and wore a large smile all the while, it looked like a boughten one that didn't fit him, but i won't say it wuz. i presoom he'll be known by this description. but his baldness didn't look to me like josiah allen's baldness, and he didn't have the noble linement of the president, no indeed. he wuz dretful polite, good land! politeness is no name for it, but i don't like to see anybody too good. he drawed a chair up for me and himself and asked me: if he should have the inexpressible honor and delightful joy of aiding me in any way, if so to command him to do it or words to that effect. i can't put down his second-hand smiles and genteel looks and don't want to if i could. but tacklin' hard jobs as i always tackle 'em, i sot down calm in front of him with my umbrell on my lap and told him all of serepta's errents, and how i had brought 'em from jonesville on my tower. i told over all her sufferin's and wrongs from the rings and from not havin' her rights, and all her sister's azuba clapsaddle's, and her aunt cassandra keeler's, and hulda and drusilly's and abagail flanderses injustices and sufferin's. i did her errents as honorable as i'd love to have one done for me, i told him all the petickulars, and as i finished i said firmly: "now can you do serepta pesterses errents and will you?" he leaned forward with that disagreeable boughten smile of hisen and took up one corner of my mantilly, it wuz cut tab fashion, and he took up the tab and said in a low insinuatin' voice, lookin' clost at the edge of the tab: "am i mistaken, or is this beautiful creation pipein' or can it be kensington tattin'?" i drawed the tab back coldly and never dained a reply; agin he sez, in a tone of amiable anxiety, "have i not heard a rumor that bangs are going out of style? i see you do not wear your lovely hair bang-like or a-pompadouris? ah, women are lovely creatures, lovely beings, every one of 'em." and he sithed, "you are very beautiful," and he sithed agin, a sort of a deceitful lovesick sithe. i sot demute as the spinks, and a chippin' bird tappin' his wing aginst her stuny breast would move it jest as much as he moved me by his talk or his sithes. but he kep' on, puttin' on a sort of a sad injured look as if my coldness wuz ondoin' of him. "my dear madam, it is my misfortune that the topics i introduce, however carefully selected by me, do not seem to be congenial to you. have you a leanin' toward natural history, madam? have you ever studied into the habits and traits of our american wad?" "what?" sez i. for truly a woman's curosity, however parlyzed by just indignation, can stand only just so much strain. "the what?" "the wad. the animal from which is obtained the valuable fur that tailors make so much use of." sez i, "do you mean waddin' eight cents a sheet?" "eight cents a pelt--yes, the skins are plentiful and cheap, owing to the hardy habits of the animal." sez i, "cease instantly. i will hear no more." truly, i had heard much of the flattery and little talk statesmen will use to wimmen, and i'd hearn of their lies, etc.; but truly i felt that the half had not been told. and then i thought out-loud and sez: "i've hearn how laws of eternal right and justice are sot one side in washington, d.c., as bein' too triflin' to attend to, while the legislators pondered over and passed laws regardin' hen's eggs and bird's nests. but this is goin' too fur--too fur. but," sez i firmly, "i shall do serepta's errents, and do 'em to the best of my ability, and you can't draw off my attention from her wrongs and sufferin's by talkin' about wads." "i would love to obleege serepta," sez he, "because she belongs to such a lovely sect. wimmen are the loveliest, most angelic creatures that ever walked the earth; they are perfect, flawless, like snow and roses." sez i firmly, "they hain't no such thing; they are disagreeable creeters a good deal of the time. they hain't no better than men, but they ort to have their rights all the same. now serepta is disagreeable and kinder fierce actin', and jest as humbly as they make wimmen, but that hain't no sign she ort to be imposed upon; josiah sez she hadn't ort to have rights she is so humbly, but i don't feel so." "who is josiah?" sez he. sez i, "my husband." "ah, your husband! yes, wimmen should have husbands instead of rights. they do not need rights; they need freedom from all cares and sufferin'. sweet lovely beings! let them have husbands to lift them above all earthly cares and trials! oh! angels of our homes!" sez he, liftin' his eyes to the heavens and kinder shettin' 'em, some as if he wuz goin' into a spazzum. "fly around, ye angels, in your native hants; mingle not with rings and vile laws, flee away, flee above them!" and he kinder waved his hand back and forth in a floatin' fashion up in the air, as if it wuz a woman flyin' up there smooth and serene. it would have impressed some folks dretful, but it didn't me. i sez reasonably: "serepta would have been glad to flew above 'em, but the ring and the vile laws lay holt of her onbeknown to her and dragged her down. and there she is all bruised and broken-hearted by 'em. she didn't meddle with the political ring, but the ring meddled with her. how can she fly when the weight of this infamous traffic is holdin' her down?" "ahem!" sez he. "ahem, as it were. as i was saying, my dear madam, these angelic angels of our homes are too ethereal, too dainty to mingle with rude crowds. we political men would fain keep them as they are now; we are willing to stand the rude buffetin' of--of--voting, in order to guard these sweet delicate creatures from any hardships. sweet tender beings, we would fain guard thee--ah, yes, ah, yes." sez i, "cease instantly, or my sickness will increase, for such talk is like thoroughwort or lobelia to my moral and mental stomach. you know and i know that these angelic tender bein's, half-clothed, fill our streets on icy midnights, huntin' up drunken husbands and fathers and sons. they are driven to death and to moral ruin by the miserable want liquor drinkin' entails. they are starved, they are froze, they are beaten, they are made childless and hopeless by drunken husbands killin' their own flesh and blood. they go down into the cold waves and are drowned by drunken captains; they are cast from railways into death by drunken engineers; they go up on the scaffold and die for crimes committed by the direct aid of this agent of hell. "wimmen had ruther be flyin' round than to do all this, but they can't. if men really believed all they say about wimmen, and i think some on 'em do in a dreamy sentimental way--if wimmen are angels, give 'em the rights of angels. who ever hearn of a angel foldin' up her wings and goin' to a poor-house or jail through the fault of somebody else? who ever hearn of a angel bein' dragged off to police court for fightin' to defend her children and herself from a drunken husband that had broke her wings and blacked her eyes, got the angel into the fight and then she got throwed into the streets and imprisoned by it? who ever hearn of a angel havin' to take in washin' to support a drunken son or father or husband? who ever hearn of a angel goin' out as wet-nurse to git money to pay taxes on her home to a govermunt that in theory idolizes her, and practically despises her, and uses that money in ways abominable to that angel. if you want to be consistent, if you're bound to make angels of wimmen, you ort to furnish a free safe place for 'em to soar in. you ort to keep the angels from bein' tormented and bruised and killed, etc." "ahem," sez he, "as it were, ahem." but i kep' right on, for i begun to feel noble and by the side of myself: "this talk about wimmen bein' outside and above all participation in the laws of her country, is jest as pretty as anything i ever hearn, and jest as simple. why, you might jest as well throw a lot of snowflakes into the street, and say, 'some of 'em are female flakes and mustn't be trompled on.' the great march of life tromples on 'em all alike; they fall from one common sky, and are trodden down into one common ground. "men and wimmen are made with divine impulses and desires, and human needs and weaknesses, needin' the same heavenly light, and the same human aids and helps. the law should mete out to them the same rewards and punishments. "serepta sez you call wimmen angels, and you don't give 'em the rights of the lowest beasts that crawl on the earth. and serepta told me to tell you that she didn't ask the rights of a angel; she would be perfectly contented and proud, if you would give her the rights of a dog--the assured political rights of a yeller dog.' she said yeller and i'm bound on doin' her 'errent jest as she wanted it done, word for word. "a dog, serepta sez, don't have to be hung if it breaks the laws it is not allowed any hand in making; a dog don't have to pay taxes on its bone to a govermunt that withholds every right of citizenship from it; a dog hain't called undogly if it is industrious and hunts quietly round for its bone to the best of its ability, and tries to git its share of the crumbs that falls from that table bills are laid on. "a dog hain't preached to about its duty to keep home sweet and sacred, and then see that home turned into a place of danger and torment under laws that these very preachers have made legal and respectable. a dog don't have to see its property taxed to advance laws it believes ruinous, and that breaks its own heart and the heart of other dear dogs. a dog don't have to listen to soul-sickening speeches from them that deny it freedom and justice, about its bein' a damask rose and a seraph, when it knows it hain't; it knows, if it knows anything, that it is jest a plain dog. "you see serepta has been embittered by the trials that politics, corrupt legislation have brought right onto her. she didn't want nothin' to do with 'em, but they come onto her onexpected and onbeknown, and she feels that she must do everything she can to alter matters. she wants to help make the laws that have such a overpowerin' influence over her. she believes they can't be much worse than they are now, and may be a little better." "ah," interrupted the senator, "if serepta wishes to change political affairs, let her influence her children, her boys, and they will carry her benign and noble influence forward into the centuries." "but the law took her boy, her little boy and girl, away from her. through the influence of the whiskey ring, of which her husband wuz a shinin' member, he got possession of her boy. and so the law has made it perfectly impossible for her to mould it indirectly through him, what serepta duz she must do herself." "ah! my dear woman. a sad thing for serepta; i trust _you_ have no grievance of this kind, i trust that your estimable husband is, as it were, estimable." "yes, josiah allen is a good man, as good as men can be. you know men or wimmen can't be only jest about so good anyway. but he's my choice, and he don't drink a drop." "pardon me, madam, but if you are happy in your married relations, and your husband is a temperate good man, why do you feel so upon this subject?" "why, good land! if you understood the nature of a woman you would know my love for him, my happiness, the content and safety i feel about him and our boy, makes me realize the sufferin's of serepta in havin' her husband and boy lost to her; makes me realize the depth of a wife's and mother's agony when she sees the one she loves goin' down, down so low she can't reach him; makes me feel how she must yearn to help him in some safe sure way. "high trees cast long shadows. the happier and more blessed a woman's life is, the more duz she feel for them that are less blessed than she. highest love goes lowest, like that love that left heaven and descended to earth, and into it that he might lift up the lowly. the pityin' words of him who went about pleasin' not himself, hants me and inspires me; i'm sorry for serepta, sorry for the hull wimmen race of the nation, and for the men too. lots of 'em are good creeters, better than wimmen, some on 'em. they want to do right, but don't exactly see the way to do it. in the old slavery times some of the masters wuz more to be pitied than the slaves. they could see the injustice, feel the wrong they wuz doin', but old chains of custom bound 'em, social customs and idees had hardened into habits of thought. "they realized the size and heft of the evil, but didn't know how to grapple with it, and throw it. so now, many men see the evils of this time, want to help, but don't know the best way to lay holt of 'em. life is a curious conundrum anyway, and hard to guess. but we can try to git the right answer to it as fur as we can. serepta feels that one of the answers to the conundrum is in gittin' her rights. i myself have got all the rights i need or want, as fur as my own happiness is concerned. my home is my castle (a story and a half wooden one, but dear). my towers elevate me, the companionship of my friends give social happiness, our children are prosperous and happy. we have property enough for all the comforts of life. and above all other things my josiah is my love and my theme." "ah, yes!" sez he, "love is a woman's empire, and in that she should find her full content--her entire happiness and thought. a womanly woman will not look outside that lovely and safe and beautious empire." sez i firmly, "if she hain't a idiot she can't help it. love is the most beautiful thing on earth, the most holy and satisfyin'. but i do not ask you as a politician, but as a human bein', which would you like best, the love of a strong, earnest tender nature, for in man or woman 'the strongest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring,' which would you like best, the love and respect of such a nature full of wit, of tenderness, of infinite variety, or the love of a fool? "a fool's love is wearin', it is insipid at best, and it turns to vinegar. why, sweetened water must turn to vinegar, it is its nater. and if a woman is bright and true-hearted, she can't help seein' through an injustice. she may be happy in her own home. domestic affection, social enjoyments, the delights of a cultured home and society, and the companionship of the man she loves and who loves her, will, if she is a true woman, satisfy her own personal needs and desires, and she would far ruther for her own selfish happiness rest quietly in that love, that most blessed home. "but the bright quick intellect that delights you can't help seein' an injustice, can't help seein' through shams of all kinds, sham sentiment, sham compliments, sham justice. the tender lovin' nature that blesses your life can't help feelin' pity for them less blessed than herself. she looks down through the love-guarded lattice of her home from which your care would fain bar out all sights of woe and squaler, she looks down and sees the weary toilers below, the hopeless, the wretched. she sees the steep hills they have to climb, carryin' their crosses, she sees 'em go down into the mire, dragged there by the love that should lift 'em up. she would not be the woman you love if she could restrain her hand from liftin' up the fallen, wipin' tears from weepin' eyes, speakin' brave words for them that can't speak for themselves. the very strength of her affection that would hold you up if you were in trouble or disgrace yearns to help all sorrowin' hearts. "down in your heart you can't help admirin' her for this, we can't help respectin' the one that advocates the right, the true, even if they are our conquerors. wimmen hain't angels; now to be candid, you know they hain't. they hain't any better than men. men are considerable likely; and it seems curious to me that they should act so in this one thing. for men ort to be more honest and open than wimmen. they hain't had to cajole and wheedle and use little trickeries and deceits and indirect ways as wimmen have. why, cramp a tree limb and see if it will grow as straight and vigorous as it would in full freedom and sunshine. "men ort to be nobler than women, sincerer, braver. and they ort to be ashamed of this one trick of theirn, for they know they hain't honest in it, they hain't generous. give wimmen two or three generations of moral and legal freedom and see if men will laugh at 'em for their little deceits and affectations. no, men will be gentler, and wimmen nobler, and they will both come nearer bein' angels, though most probable they won't be any too good then, i hain't a mite afraid of it." vi "concerning moth-millers and minny fish" the senator kinder sithed, and that sithe sort o' brought me down onto my feet agin as it were, and a sense of my duty, and i spoke out agin: "can you and will you do serepta's errents?" he evaded a direct answer by sayin', "as you alluded to the little indirect ways of women, dearest madam, you will pardon me for saying that it is my belief that the soft gentle brains of females are unfitted for the deep hard problems men have to grapple with. they are too doll-like, too angelically and sweetly frivolous." "no doubt," sez i, "some wimmen are frivolous and some men foolish, for as mrs. poyser said, 'god made women to match the men,' but these few hadn't ort to disfranchise the hull race of men and wimmen. and as to soft brains, maria mitchell discovered planets hid from masculine eyes from the beginnin' of time, and do you think that wimmen can't see the black spots on the body politic, that darkens the life of her and her children? "madame curie discovered the light that looks through solid wood and iron, and you think wimmen can't see through unjust laws and practices, the rampant evils of to-day, and see what is on the other side, see a remedy for 'em. florence nightingale could mother and help cure an army, and why hain't men willin' to let wimmen help cure a sick legislation, kinder mother it, and encourage it to do better? she might much better be doin' that, than playin' bridge-whist, or rastlin' with hobble skirts, and it wouldn't devour any more time." he sot demute for a few minutes and then he sez, "while on the subject of women's achievements, dearest madam, allow me to ask you, if they have reached the importance you claim for them, why is it that so few women are made immortal by bein' represented in the hall of fame? and why are the four or five females represented there put away by themselves in a remote unadorned corner with no roof to protect them from the rough winds and storms that beat upon them?" sez i, "that's a good illustration of what i've been sayin'. it wuz owin' to a woman's gift that america has a hall of fame, and it would seem that common courtesy would give wimmen an equally desirable place amongst the immortals. do you spoze that if women formed half the committee of selection--which they should since it wuz a woman's gift that made such a place possible--do you spoze that if she had an equal voice with men, the names of noble wimmen would be tucked away in a remote unroofed corner? "edgar allan poe's genius wuz worthy a place among the immortals, no doubt; his poems and stories excite wonder and admiration. but do they move the soul like mrs. stowe's immortal story that thrilled the world and helped free a race?--yes, two races--for the curse of slavery held the white race in bondage, too. yet she and her three or four woman companions face the stormy winds in an out-of-the-way corner, while poe occupies his honorable sightly place among his fifty or more male companions. "wimmen have always been admonished to not strive for right and justice but to lean on men's generosity and chivalry. here wuz a place where that chivalry would have shone, but it didn't seem to materialize, and if wimmen had leaned on it, it would have proved a weak staff, indeed. "such things as this are constantly occurring and show plain that wimmen needs the ballot to protect her from all sorts of wrongs and indignities. men take wimmen's money, as they did here, and use it to uplift themselves, and lower her, like taxin' her heavily and often unjustly and usin' this money to help forward unjust laws which she abominates. and so it goes on, and will, until women are men's equals legally and politically." "ahem--you present things in a new light. i never looked at this matter with your eyes." "no, you looked at 'em through a man's eyes; such things are so customary that men do 'em without thinkin', from habit and custom, like hushin' up children's talk, when they interrupt grown-ups." agin he sot demute for a short space, and then said, "i feel that natural human instinct is aginst the change. in savage races that knew nothin' of civilization, male force and strength always ruled." "why," sez i, "history tells us of savage races where wimmen always rule, though i don't think they ort to--ability and goodness ort to rule." "nature is aginst it," sez he. but i sez firmly, "bees and lots of other insects and animals always have a female for queen and ruler. they rule blindly and entirely, right on through the centuries, but we are enlightened and should not encourage it. in my opinion the male bee has just as good a right to be monarch as his female pardner has, if he is as good and knows as much. i never believed in the female workin' ones killin' off the male drones to save winterin' 'em; they might give 'em some light chores to do round the hive to pay for their board. i love justice and that would be _my_ way." agin he sithed. "modern history don't seem to favor the scheme--" but his axent wuz as weak as a cat and his boughten smile seemed crackin' and wearin' out; he knowed better. sez i, "we won't argy long on that p'int, for i might overwhelm you if i approved of overwhelmin', but, will merely ask you to cast one eye on england. was the rain of victoria the good less peaceful and prosperous than that of the male rulers who preceded her? and you can then throw your other eye over to holland: is their sweet queen less worthy and beloved to-day than other european monarchs? and is her throne more shaky and tottlin' than theirn?" he didn't try to dispute me and bowed his head on his breast in a almost meachin' way. he knowed he wuz beat on every side, and almost to the end of his chain of rusty, broken old arguments. but anon he brightened up agin and sez, ketchin' holt of the last shackly link of his argument: "you seem to place a great deal of dependence on the bible. the bible is aginst the idee. the bible teaches man's supremacy, man's absolute power and might and authority." "why, how you talk," sez i. "in the very first chapter the bible tells how man wuz turned right round by a woman, tells how she not only turned man round to do as she wanted him to, but turned the hull world over. "that hain't nothin' i approve of; i don't speak of it because i like the idee. that wuzn't done in a open honorable manner as things should be done. no, eve ruled by indirect influence, the gently influencing men way, that politicians are so fond of. and she brought ruin and destruction onto the hull world by it. "a few years later when men and wimmen grew wiser, when we hear of wimmen rulin' israel openly and honestly, like miriam, deborah and other likely old four mothers, things went on better. they didn't act meachin' and tempt, and act indirect." he sithed powerful and sot round oneasy in his chair. and sez he, "i thought wimmen wuz taught by the bible to serve and love their homes." "so they be. and every true woman loves to serve. home is my supreme happiness and delight, and my best happiness is found in servin' them i love. but i must tell the truth, in the house or outdoors." sez he faintly, "the old testament may teach that women have some strength and power. but in the new testament in every great undertaken' and plan men have been chosen by god to carry them through." "why-ee!" sez i, "how you talk! have you ever read the bible?" he said evasively, his grandmother owned one, and he had seen it in early youth. and then he went on in a sort of apologizin' way. he had always meant to read it, but he had entered political life at an early age where the bible wuzn't popular, and he believed that he had never read further than the epistles of gulliver to the liliputians. sez i, "that hain't bible, there hain't no gulliver in it, and you mean galatians." well, he said, that might be it, it wuz some man he knew, and he had always heard and believed that man wuz the only worker that god had chosen. "why," sez i, "the one great theme of the new testament--the salvation of the world through the birth of christ--no man had anything to do with. our divine lord wuz born of god and woman. heavenly plan of redemption for fallen humanity. god himself called woman into that work, the divine work of saving a world, and why shouldn't she continue in it? god called her. mary had no dream of publicity, no desire of a world's work of suffering and renunciation. the soft air of galilee wropped her about in its sweet content, as she dreamed her quiet dreams in maiden peace--dreamed, perhaps, of domestic love and happiness. "from that sweetest silence, the restful peace of happy innocent girlhood, god called her to her divine work of helpin' redeem a world from sin. and did not this woman's love and willin' obedience, and sufferin' set her apart, baptize her for this work of liftin' up the fallen, helpin' the weak? [illustration: "he'd entered political life where the bible wuzn't popular; he'd never read further than gulliver's epistle to the liliputians."] "is it not a part of woman's life that she gave at the birth and crucifixion? her faith, her hope, her sufferin', her glow of divine pity and joyful martyrdom. these, mingled with the divine, the pure heavenly, have they not for nineteen hundred years been blessin' the world? the god in christ would awe us too much; we would shield our eyes from the too blindin' glory of the pure god-like. but the tender christ who wept over a sinful city, and the grave of his friend, who stopped dyin' on the cross to comfort his mother's heart, provide for her future--it is this womanly element in our lord's nature that makes us dare to approach him, dare to kneel at his feet? "and since woman wuz so blessed as to be counted worthy to be co-worker with god in the beginnin' of the world's redemption; since he called her from the quiet obscurity of womanly rest and peace into the blessed martyrdom of renunciation and toil and sufferin', all to help a world that cared nothin' for her, that cried out shame upon her. "he will help her carry on the work of helpin' a sinful world. he will protect her in it, she cannot be harmed or hindered, for the cause she loves of helpin' men and wimmen, is god's cause too, and god will take care of his own. herods full of greed and frightened selfishness may try to break her heart by efforts to kill the child she loves, but she will hold it so clost to her bosom he can't destroy it; and the light of the divine will go before her, showin' the way through the desert and wilderness mebby, but she shall bear it into safety." "you spoke of herod," sez he dreamily, "the name sounds familiar to me. was not mr. herod once in the united states senate?" "not that one," sez i. "he died some time ago, but i guess he has relatives there now, judgin' from laws made there. you ask who herod wuz, and as it all seems a new story to you, i will tell you. when the saviour of the world wuz born in bethlehem, and a woman wuz tryin' to save his life, a man by the name of herod wuz tryin' his best out of selfishness and greed to murder him." "ah! that was not right in herod." "no, it hain't been called so. and what wuzn't right in him hain't right in his relations who are tryin' to do the same thing to-day. sellin' for money the right to destroy the child the mother carries on her heart. surroundin' him with temptations so murderous, yet so enticin' to youthful spirits, that the mother feels that as the laws are now, the grave is the only place of safety that god himself can find for her boy. but because herod wuz so mean it hain't no sign that all men are mean. joseph wuz as likely as he could be." "joseph?" sez he pensively. "do you allude to our venerable speaker, joe cannon?" "no," sez i. "i'm talkin' bible--i'm talkin' about joseph; jest plain joseph." "ah! i see. i am not fully familiar with that work. being so engrossed in politics, and political literature, i don't git any time to devote to less important publications." sez i candidly, "i knew you hadn't read it the minute you mentioned the book of liliputians. but as i wuz sayin', joseph wuz a likely man. he had the strength to lead the way, overcome obstacles, keep dangers from mary, protect her tenderer form with the mantilly of his generous devotion. "_but she carried the child on her bosom_; ponderin' high things in her heart that joseph never dreamed of. that is what is wanted now, and in the future. the man and the woman walkin' side by side. he a little ahead, mebby, to keep off dangers by his greater strength and courage. she a-carryin' the infant christ of love, bearin' the baby peace in her bosom, carryin' it into safety from them that seek to destroy it. "and as i said before, if god called woman into this work, he will enable her to carry it through. he will protect her from her own weaknesses, and the misapprehensions and hard judgments and injustices of a gain-sayin' world. "yes, the star of hope is risin' in the sky brighter and brighter, and wise men are even now comin' to the mother of the new redeemer, led by the star." he sot demute. silence rained for some time; and finally i spoke out solemnly through the rain: "will you do serepta's errents? will you give her her rights? and will you break the whiskey ring?" he said he would love to do the errents, i had convinced him that it would be just and right to do 'em, but the constitution of the united states stood up firm aginst 'em. as the laws of the united states wuz, he could not make any move toward doin' either of the errents. sez i, "can't the laws be changed?" "be changed? change the laws of the united states? tamper with the glorious constitution that our fore-fathers left us--an immortal sacred legacy." he jumped up on his feet and his second-hand smile fell off. he kinder shook as if he wuz skairt most to death and tremblin' with horrow. he did it to skair me, i knew, but i knowed i meant well towards the constitution and our old forefathers; and my principles stiddied me and held me firm and serene. and when he asked me agin in tones full of awe and horrow: "can it be that i heard my ear aright? or did you speak of changin' the unalterable laws of the united states--tampering with the constitution?" "yes, that is what i said. hain't they never been changed?" he dropped that skairful look and put on a firm judicial one. he see that he could not skair me to death; an' sez he, "oh, yes, they've been changed in cases of necessity." sez i, "for instance durin' the oncivil war it wuz changed to make northern men cheap bloodhounds and hunters." "yes," he said, "it seemed to be a case of necessity and economy." "i know it," sez i; "men wuz cheaper than any other breed of bloodhounds the slave-holders could employ to hunt men and wimmen with, and more faithful." "yes," he said, "it wuz a case of clear economy." and sez i: "the laws have been changed to benefit liquor dealers." "well, yes," he said, "it had been changed to enable whiskey dealers to utilize the surplus liquor they import." sez he, gittin' kinder animated, for he wuz on a congenial and familar theme, "nobody, the best calculators in drunkards, can exactly calculate how much whiskey will be drunk in a year; and so, ruther than have the whiskey dealers suffer loss, the law had to be changed. and then," sez he, growin' still more candid in his excitement, "we are makin' a powerful effort to change the laws now so as to take the tax off of whiskey, so it can be sold cheaper, and obtained in greater quantities by the masses. any such great laws would justify a change in the constitution and the laws; but for any frivolous cause, any trivial cause, madam, we male custodians of the sacred constitution stand as walls of iron before it, guarding it from any shadow of change. faithful we will be, faithful unto death." sez i, "as it has been changed, it can be agin. and you jest said i had convinced you that serepta's errents wuz errents of truth and justice, and you would love to do 'em." "well, yes, yes--i would love to--as it were--. but, my dear madam, much as i would like to oblige you, i have not the time to devote to the cause of right and justice. i don't think you realize the constant pressure of hard work that is ageing us and wearing us out, before our day. "as i said, we have to watch the liquor interest constantly to see that the liquor dealers suffer no loss--we have to do that, of course." and he continued dreamily, as if losin' sight of me and talkin' to himself: "the wealthy corporations and trusts, we have to condemn them loudly to please the common people, and help 'em secretly to please ourselves, or our richest perkisits are lost. the canal ring, the indian agency, the land grabbers, the political bosses. in fact, we are surrounded by a host of bandits that we have to appease and profit by; oh, how these matters wear into the gray matter of our brains!" "gray matter!" sez i, with my nose uplifted to its extremest height, "i should call it black matter!" "well, the name is immaterial, but these labors, though pocket filling, are brain wearing. and of late i and the rest of our loyal henchmen have been worn out in our labors in tariff revision. you know how we claim to help the common people by the revision; you've probable read about it in the papers." "yes," sez i coldly, "i've hearn _talk_." "yes," sez he, "but if we do succeed, after the most strenious efforts in getting the duty off champagne, green turtle, olives, etc., and put on to sugar, tea, cotton cloth and such like, with all this brain fag and brain labor--" "and tongue labor!" sez i in a icy axent. "yes, after all this ceaseless toil the common people will not show any gratitude; we statesmen labor oft with aching hearts." and he leaned his forward on his hand and sithed. but my looks wuz like ice-suckles on the north side of a barn. and i stopped his complaints and his sithes by askin' in a voice that demanded a reply: "can you and will you do serepta's errents? errents full of truth and justice and eternal right?" he said he knew they wuz jest runnin' over with them qualities, but happy as it would make him to do 'em, he had to refuse owin' to the fur more important matters he had named, and the many, many other laws and preambles that he hadn't time to name over to me. "mebby you have heard," sez he, "that we are now engaged in making most important laws concerning moth-millers, and minny fish, and hog cholera. and take it with these important bills and the constant strain on our minds in tryin' to pass laws to increase our own salaries, you can see jest how cramped we are for time. and though we would love to pass some laws of truth and righteousness--we fairly ache to--yet not havin' the requisite time we are forced to lay 'em on the table or under it." "well," sez i, "i guess i may as well be a-goin'." and i bid him a cool goodbye and started for the door. but jest as my hand wuz on the nub he jumped up and opened the door, wearin' that boughten second-hand smile agin on his linement, and sez he: "dear madam, perhaps senator b. will do the errents for you." sez i, "where is senator b.?" and he said i would find him at his post of duty at the capitol. "well," i said, "i will hunt up the post," and did. a grand enough place for a emperor or a zar is the capitol of our great nation where i found him, a good natured lookin' boy in buttons showin' me the post. vii "no hamperin' hitchin' straps" well, senator b. wanted to do the errents but said it wuz not his place, and sent me to senator c., and he almost cried, he wanted to do 'em so bad, but stern duty tied him to his post, he said, and he sent me to senator d., and he _did_ cry onto his handkerchief, he wanted to do the errents so bad, and said it would be such a good thing to have 'em done. he bust right into tears as he said he had to refuse to do 'em. whether they wuz wet tears or dry ones i couldn't tell, his handkerchief wuz so big, but i hearn his sithes, and they wuz deep and powerful ones. but as i sez to him, "wet tears, nor dry ones, nor windy sithes didn't help do the errents." so i went on his sobbin' advice to senator e., and he wuz huffy and didn't want to do 'em and said so. and said his wife had thirteen children, and wimmen instead of votin' ort to go and do likewise. and i told him it wouldn't look well in onmarried wimmen and widders, and if they should foller her example folks would talk. and he said, "they ort to marry." and i said, "as the fashion is now, wimmen had to wait for some man to ask 'em, and if they didn't come up to the mark and ask 'em, who wuz to blame?" he wouldn't answer, and looked sulky, but honest, and wouldn't tell me who to go to to git the errents done. but jest outside his door i met the senator i had left sobbin' over the errents. he looked real hilarious, but drawed his face down when he ketched my eye, and sithed several times, and sent me to senator f. and he sent me to senator g. and suffice it to say i wuz sent round, and talked to, and cried at, and sulked to, and smiled at and scowled at, and encouraged and discouraged, 'till my head swum and my knees wobbled under me. and with all my efforts and outlay of oratory and shue leather not one of serepta pester's errents could i git done, and no hopes held out of their ever bein' done. and about the middle of the afternoon i gin up, there wuz no use in tryin' any longer and i turned my weary tracks towards the outside door. but as bad as i felt, i couldn't help my sperit bein' lifted up some by the grandeur about me. oh, my land! to stand in the immense hall and look up, and up, and see all the colors of the rain-bow and see what wonderful pictures there wuz up there in the sky above me as it were. why, it seemed curiouser than any northern lights i ever see in my life, and they stream up dretful curious sometimes. and as i walked through that lofty and most beautiful place and realized the size and majestic proportions of the buildin' i wondered to myself that a small law, a little unjust law could ever be passed in such grand and magnificent surroundin's. and i sez to myself, it can't be the fault of the place anyway; the law-makers have a chance for their souls to soar if they want to, here is room and to spare to pass laws big as elephants and camels, and i wondered that they should ever try to pass laws as small as muskeeters and nats. thinkses i, i wonder them little laws don't git to strollin' round and git lost in them magnificent corridors. but i consoled myself, thinkin' it wouldn't be no great loss if they did. but right here, as i wuz thinkin' on these deep and lofty subjects, i met the good natured young chap that had showed me round and he sez: "you look fatigued, mom." (soarin' even to yourself is tuckerin'.) "you look very fatigued; won't you take something?" i looked at him with a curious silent sort of a look; for i didn't know what he meant. agin he looked clost at me and sort o' pityin'; and sez he, "you look tired out, mom. won't you take something? let me treat you to something; what will you take, mom?" i thought he wuz actin' dretful liberal, but i knew they had strange ways in washington anyway. and i didn't know but it wuz their way to make some present to every woman that comes there, and i didn't want to act awkward and out of style, so i sez: "i don't want to take anything, and don't see any reason why you should insist on't. but if i have got to take sunthin' i had jest as soon have a few yards of factory cloth as anything. that always comes handy." i thought that if he wuz determined to treat me to show his good feelin's towards me, i would git sunthin' useful and that would do me some good, else what wuz the good of bein' treated? and i thought that if i had got to take a present from a strange man, i would make a shirt for josiah out of it. i thought that would save jealousy and make it right so fur as goodness went. "but," sez he, "i mean beer or wine or liquor of some kind." i riz right up in my shues and dignity, and glared at him. sez he, "there is a saloon right here handy in the buildin'." sez i in awful axents, "it is very appropriate to have it here handy!" sez i, "liquor duz more towards makin' the laws of the united states from caucus to convention than anything else duz, and it is highly proper to have it here so they can soak the laws in it right off before they lay 'em onto the table or under 'em, or pass 'em onto the people. it is highly appropriate," sez i. "yes," sez he. "it is very handy for the senators and congressmen, and let me get you a glass." "no, you won't!" sez i firmly. "the nation suffers enough from that room now without havin' josiah allen's wife let in." sez he, "if you have any feeling of delicacy in goin' in there, let me make some wine here. i will get a glass of water and make you some pure grape wine, or french brandy, or corn or rye whiskey. i have all the drugs right here." and he took a little box out of his pocket. "my father is a importer of rare old wines, and i know just how it is done. i have 'em all here, capsicum, coculus indicus, alum, copperas, strychnine; i will make some of the choicest, oldest, and purest imported liquors we have in the country, in five minutes if you say so." "no!" sez i firmly, "when i want to foller cleopatra's fashion and commit suicide, i will hire a rattlesnake and take my pizen as she did, on the outside." well, i got back to hiram cagwin's tired as a dog, and serepta's errents ondone. but my conscience opholded me and told me i had done my very best, and man or woman can do no more. well, the next day but one wuz the big outdoor suffrage meetin'. and we sot off in good season, hiram feelin' well enough to be left with the hired help. polly started before we did with some of her college mates, lookin' pretty as a pink with a red rose pinned over a achin' heart, so i spoze, for she loved the young man who wuz out with another girl may-flowering. burnin' zeal and lofty principle can't take the place in a woman's heart of love and domestic happiness, and men needn't be afraid it will. there is no more danger on't than there is of a settin' hen wantin' to leave her nest to be a commercial traveler. nature has made laws for wimmen and hens that no ballot, male or female, can upset. josiah and lorinda and i went in the trolley in good season, so's to git a sightly place, lorinda protestin' all the time aginst the indelicacy and impropriety of wimmen's appearin' in outdoor meetin's, forgittin', i spose, the dense procession of wimmen that fills the avenues every day, follerin' fashion and display. as nigh as i could make out the impropriety consisted in wimmen's follerin' after justice and right. josiah's face looked dubersome. i guess he wuz worryin' over his offer to represent me, and thinkin' of aunt susan and the twins. but as it turned out i met diantha while josiah wuz in a shop buyin' some peppermint lozengers, and she said her niece had come from the west, and they got along all right. so that lifted my burden. but i thought best not to tell josiah, as he wuz so bound to represent me. i thought it wouldn't do any hurt to let him think it over about the job a man took on himself when he sot out to represent a woman. they wouldn't like it in lots of ways, as willin' as they seem to be in print. wimmen go through lots of things calm and patient that would make a man flinch and shy off like a balky horse, and visey versey. i wouldn't want to represent josiah lots of times, breakin' colts, ploughin' greensward, cuttin' cord-wood etc., etc. men and wimmen want equal legal rights to represent themselves and their own sex which are different, and always must be, and both sexes don't want to be hampered and sot down on by the other one. that is gauldin' to human nater, male or female. we got a good place nigh the speakers' stand, and we hadn't stood there long before the parade hove in sight, the yeller banners streamin' out like sunshine on a rainy day, police outriders, music, etc. more than a hundred automobiles led the parade and five times as many wimmen walkin' afoot. a big grand-stand with the lady speakers and their friends on it, all dressed pretty as pinks. for the old idee that suffragists don't care for attractive dress and domestic life wuz exploded long ago, and many other old superstitions went up in the blaze. those of us who have gray hair can remember when if a man spoke favorably of women's rights the sarcastic question was asked him: "how old is susan b. anthony?" and this fine wit and cuttin' ridicule would silence argument and quench the spirit of the upholder. but the world moves. susan's memory is beloved and revered, and the contemptious ridicule of the onthinkin' and ignorant only nourished the laurels the world lays on her tomb. at that time accordin' to popular opinion a suffragist wuz a slatternly woman with uncombed locks, dangling shoe strings, and bloomers, stridin' through an unswept house onmindful of dirty children or hungry husband, but the world moves onward and public opinion with it. suffragists are the best mothers, the best housekeepers, the best dressers of any wimmen in the land. search the records and you'll find it so, and why? because they know sunthin', it takes common sense to make a gooseberry pie as it ort to be. and the more a woman knows and the more justice she demands, the better for her husband. the same sperit that rebels at tyranny and injustice rebels at dirt, disorder, discomfort, and all unpleasant conditions. i looked ahead with my mind's eye and see them pretty college girls settled down in pleasant homes of their own, where sanitary laws prevailed, where the babies wuzn't fed pickles and cabbage, and kep' in air-tight enclosures. where the husbands did not have to go outside their own homes to find cheer and comfort, and intelligent conversation, and where love and common sense walked hand in hand toward happiness and contentment, justice, with her blinders offen her eyes, goin' ahead on 'em. i never liked the idee of justice wearin' them bandages over her eyes. she ort to have both eyes open; if anybody ever needed good eyesight she duz, to choose the straight and narrer road, lookin' backward to see the mistakes she has made in the past, so's to shun 'em in the future, and lookin' all round her in the present to see where she can help matters, and lookin' fur off in the future to the bright dawn of a tomorrow. to the shinin' mount of equal rights and full liberty. where she sees men and wimmen standin' side by side with no halters or hamperin' hitchin' straps on either on 'em. he more gentle and considerate, and she less cowardly and emotional. good land! what could justice do blind in one eye and wimmen on the blind side? but good sensible wimmen are reachin' up and pullin' the bandages offen her eyes. she's in a fair way to git her eyesight. but i'm eppisodin', and to resoom forward. viii "old mom nater listenin'" there wuz some pleasant talkin' and jokin' between bystanders and suffragettes, and then some good natured but keen and sensible speeches. and one pretty speaker told about the doin's at albany and washington. how women's respectful pleas for justice are treated there. how the law-makers, born and nussed by wimmen and dependent on 'em for comfort and happiness, use the wimmen's tax money to help make laws makin' her of no legal importance only as helpless figgers to hang taxation and punishment on. old mom nater had been listenin' clost, her sky-blue eyes shinin' with joy to see her own sect present such a noble appearance in the parade. but when these insults and indignities wuz brung up to her mind agin and she realized afresh how wimmen couldn't git no more rights accorded to her than a dog or a hen, and worse. for a hen or a dog wouldn't be taxed to raise money for turkle soup and shampain to nourish the law-makers whilst they made the laws agin 'em--mom nater's eyes clouded over with indignation and resentment, and she boo-hooed right out a-cryin'. helpless tears, of no more account than other females have shed, and will, as they set on their hard benches with idiots, lunaticks, and criminals. of course she wiped up her tears pretty soon, not willin' to lose any of the wimmen's bright speeches. but when her tear-drops fell fast, josiah sez to me, "you'll see them wimmen run like hikers now, wimmen always thought more of shiffon and fol-de-rols than they did of principle." but i sez, "wait and see," (we wuz under a awnin' and protected). but the young and pretty speaker who wore a light silk dress and exquisite bunnet, kep' right on talkin' jest as calmly as if she didn't know her pretty dress wuz bein' spilte and her bunnet gittin' wet as sop, and i sez to josiah: "when wimmen are so in earnest, and want anything so much they can stand soakin' in their best dresses, and let their sunday bunnets be spilte on their heads, not noticin' 'em seemin'ly, but keep right on pleadin' for right and justice, they are in a fair way of gittin' what they are after." he looked kinder meachin' but didn't dispute me. the speeches wuz beautiful and convincin', and pretty soon old mom nater stopped cryin' to hear 'em, and she and i both listened full of joy and happiness to see with what eloquence and justice our sect wuz pleadin' our cause. their arguments wuz so reasonable and convincin' that i said to myself, i don't see how anybody can help bein' converted to this righteous cause, the liftin' up of wimmen from her uncomfortable crouchin' poster with criminals and idiots, up to the place she should occupy by the side of other good citizens of the united states, with all the legal and moral rights that go with that noble title. and right whilst i wuz thinkin' this, sunthin' wuz happenin' that proved i wuz right in my eppisodin', and somebody awful sot agin it wuz bein' converted then and there (but of this more anon and bom-bye). we stayed till we heard the last word of the last speech, i happy and proud in sperit, lorinda partly converted, she couldn't help it, though she wouldn't own up to it at that juncter. and josiah lookin' real deprested, the thought of representin' me wuz worryin' him i knew, for i hearn him say (soty vosy), "represent wimmen or not, i hain't goin' to set up all night with no old woman, and lift her round, nor dry nuss no twins." and thinkin' his sperit wuz pierced to a sufficient depth by his apprehension, so reason could be planted and take root, and he wouldn't be so anxious in the future to represent a woman, i told him what diantha said and we all went home in good sperits. the sun shone clear, the rain had washed the face of the earth till it shone, and everything looked gay and joyous. when we got to lorinda's we see a auto standin' in front of the door full of flowery branches in front and the pink posies lookin' no more bright and rosy than the faces of the two young folks settin' there. it wuz polly and royal. it seemed that when he and maud got back from the country (and they didn't stay long, royal wuz so restless and oneasy) maud insisted on his takin' her to the suffrage meetin' jest to make fun on't, so i spoze. she thought she had rubbed out polly's image and made a impression herself on royal's heart that only needed stompin' in a little deeper, and she thought ridicule would be the stomper she needed. but when they got to the meetin' and he see polly settin' like a lily amongst flowers, and read in her lovely face the earnest desire to lift the burden from the heavy laden, comfort the sorrowful, right the wrong, and do what she could in her day and generation-- i spoze his eyes could only see her sweet face. but he couldn't help his ears from hearin' the reasonable, eloquent words of earnest and womanly wimmen, so full of good sense and truth and justice that no reasonable person could dispute 'em, and when he contrasted all this with the sneerin' face, the sarcastic egotistic prattle of maud, the veil dropped from his eyes, and he see with the new vision. you know how it wuz with saul the scoffer who went breathin' out vengeance, and eternal right stopped him on his way with its great light. well, i spoze it wuz a bright ray from that same light that shone down into royal's heart and made him see. he wuz always good hearted and generous--men have always been better than the laws they have made. he left maud at her home not fur away and hastened back, way-laid polly, and bore her home in triumph and a thirty-horse-power car. it don't make much difference i spoze how or where anybody is converted. the bible speaks of some bein' ketched out of the fire, and i spoze it is about the same if they are ketched out of the rain. 'tennyrate the same rain that washed some of the color off maud's cheeks, seemed to wash away the blindin' mist of prejudice and antagonism from royal's mental vision, leavin' his sperit ready for the great white light of truth and justice to strike in. and that very day and hour he come round to polly's way of thinkin', and bein' smart as a whip and so rich, i suppose he will be a great accusation to the cause. well, the next day but one the allens met in a pleasant grove on the river shore and we had a good growin' time. royal bein' as you may say one of the family, took us all to the grove in his big tourin' car, and the fourth trip he took polly alone, and wuzn't it queer that, though the load wuz fur lighter, it took him three times as long as the other three trips together? why, they never got there till dinner wuz on the table, and then they didn't seem to care a mite about the extra good food. but i made allowances, for as i looked into their glowin' faces i knowed they wuz partakin' of fruit from the full branches of first love, true love. rich fruit that gives the divinest satisfaction of any this old earth affords. food that never changes through the centuries, though fashion often changes, and riotous plenty or food famine may exalt or depress the sperit of the householder. nothin' but time has any power over this divine fruitage. he gradually, as the light of the honeymoon wanes, whets his old scythe and mows down some of the luxuriant branches, either cuttin' a full swath, or one at a time, and the blessed consumers have to come down to the ordinary food of mortals. but this wuz still fur away from them. and i knowed too that the ordinary food of ordinary mortals partook of under the full harvest moon of domestic comfort and contentment wuz not to be despised, though fur different. and the light fur different from the glow and the glamour that wropped them two together and all the rest of the world away from 'em. but i'm eppisodin' too much, and to resoom forward. as i said, we had a happy growin' time at the reunion, josiah bein' in fine feather to see the relation on his side presentin' such a noble appearance. and like a good wife i sympathized with him in his pride and happiness, though i told him they didn't present any better appearance than the same number of smiths would. and their cookin', though excellent, wuz no better than the smiths could cook if they sot out to. he bein' so good natered didn't dispute me outright, but said he thought the allens made better nut-cakes than the smiths. but they don't, no such thing. in fact i think the smith nut-cakes are lighter and have a more artistic twist to 'em and don't devour so much fat a-fryin'. but i'd hate to set josiah down to any better vittles. i d'no as i would dast let him loose at the table at a smith reunion, for he eat fur too much as it wuz. i had to give him five pepsin lozengers and some pepper tea. and then i looked out all night for night mairs to ride on his chist. but he come through it alive though with considerable pain. we stayed two or three days longer with lorinda, and then she and hiram went part way with us as we visited our way home. we've got relations livin' all along the river that we owed visits to. and we went to see a number of 'em and enjoyed our four selves first rate. these things all took place more than a year ago and another man sets in the high chair, before which i laid serepta's errents, a man not so hefty mebby weighed by common steelyards, but one of noble weight judged by mental and moral scales. i d'no whether i'd had any better luck if i'd presented serepta's errents to him. sometimes when i look in the kind eyes of his picter, and read his noble and eloquent words that i believe come from his very soul, i think mebby i'd been more lucky if he'd sot in the chair that day. but then i d'no, there are so many influences and hendrances planted like thorns in the cushion of that chair that a man, no matter how earnest he strives to do jest right, can't help bein' pricked by 'em and held back. and i know he could never done them errents in the time she sot, but i'm in hopes he'll throw his powerful influence jest as fur as he can on the side of right, and justice to all the citizens of the u.s., wimmen as well as men. 'tennyrate, he has showed more heroism now than many soldiers who risk life on the battle field. for the worst foe to fight and conquer is ridicule; and he and others in high places have attackted fashion so entrenched in the solid armour of habit that most public men wouldn't have dasted to take arms agin it. and the long waves of time must swash up agin the shores of eternity, before the good it has done can be estimated. how fur the influence has extended. how many weak wills been strengthened. how many broken hearts healed. how many young lives inspired to nobler and saner living. but to resoom forward, i can't nor won't carry them errents of serepta's there again. it is too wearin' for one of my age and my rheumatiz. what a tedious time i did put in there. it wuz a day long to be remembered by me. ix the women's parade josiah come home from jonesville one day, all wrought up. he'd took off a big crate of eggs and got returns from several crates he'd sent to new york, an' he sez to me: "that consarned middleman is cheatin' me the worst kind. i know the yaller plymouth rock eggs ort to bring mor'n the white leghorns; they're bigger and it stands to reason they're worth more, and he don't give nigh so much. i believe he eats 'em himself and that's why he wants to git 'em cheaper." "no middleman," sez i, "could eat fifty dozen a week." "he could if he eat enough at one time. 'tennyrate, i'm goin' to new york to see about it." "when are you goin'?" sez i. "i'm goin' to-morrow mornin'. i'm goin' in onexpected and i lay out to catch him devourin' them big eggs himself." "oh, shaw!" sez i. "the idee!" "well, i say the trusts and middlemen are dishonest as the old harry. don't you remember what one on 'em writ to uncle sime bentley and what he writ back? he'd sent a great load of potatoes to him and he didn't get hardly anything for 'em, only their big bill for sellin' 'em. they charged him for freightage, carage, storage, porterage, weightage, and to make their bill longer, they put in _ratage_ and _satage_. "uncle sime writ back 'you infarnel thief, you, put in "stealage" and keep the whole on't.'" but i sez, "they're not all dishonest. there are good men among 'em as well as bad." "well, i lay out to see to it myself, and if they ever charge me for 'ratage' and 'satage' i'm goin' to see what they are, and how they look." "well," sez i, "if you're bound to go, i'll get up and get a good breakfast and go with you." it was the day of the woman's suffrage parade and i wanted to see it. i wanted to like a dog, and had ever since i hearn of it. though some of the jonesvillians felt different. the creation searchin' society wuz dretful exercised about it. the president's stepma is a strong she aunty and has always ruled philander with an iron hand. i've always noticed that women who didn't want any rights always took the right to have their own way. but 'tennyrate philander come up a very strong he aunty. and he felt that the creation searchers ort to go to new york that day to assist the aunties in sneerin' at the marchers, writin' up the parade, and helpin' count 'em. philander wuz always good at figures, specially at subtraction, and he and his step ma thought he ort to be there to help. i told josiah i guessed the she aunties didn't need no help at that. but philander called a meetin' of the creation searchers to make arrangements to go. and i spoze the speech he made at the meetin' wuz a powerful effort. and the members most all on 'em believin' as he did--they said it wuz a dretful interestin' meetin'. sunthin' like a love feast, only more wrought up and excitin'. the editor of the _auger_ printed the whole thing in his paper, and said it give a staggerin' blow agin woman's suffrage, and he didn't know but it wuz a death blow--he hoped it wuz. "a woman's parade," sez philander, "is the most abominable sight ever seen on our planetary system. onprotected woman dressed up in fine clothes standin' up on her feet, and paradin' herself before strange men. oh! how bold! oh! how onwomanly! no wonder," says he, "the she aunties are shocked at the sight, and say they marched to attract the attention of men. why can't women stay to home and set down and knit? and then men would love 'em. but if they keep on with these bold, forward actions, men won't love 'em, and they will find out so. and it has always been, and is now, man's greatest desire and chiefest aim he has aimed at, to protect women, to throw the shinin' mantilly of his constant devotion about her delikit form and shield her and guard her like the very apples in his eyes. "woman is too sweet and tender a flower to have any such hardship put upon her, and it almost crazes a man, and makes him temporarily out of his head, to see women do anything to hazard that inheriant delicacy of hern, that always appealed so to the male man. "let us go forth, clad in our principles (and ordinary clothing, of course), and show just where we stand on the woman question, and do all we can to assist the gentle feminine she aunties. lovely, retirin' females whose pictures we so often see gracin' the sensational newspapers. their white womanly neck and shoulders, glitterin' with jewels, no brighter than their eyes. they don't appear there for sex appeal, or to win admiration. no indeed! no doubt they shrink from the publicity. and also shrink from making speeches in the senate chambers or the halls of justice, but will do so, angelic martyrs that they are, to hold their erring suffrage sisters back from their brazen efforts at publicity and public speakin'." they said his speech wuz cheered wildly, give out for publication, and entered into the moments of the society. but after all, it happened real curious the day of the parade every leadin' creation searcher had some impediment in his way, and couldn't go, and of course, the society didn't want to go without its leaders. mis' philander daggett, the president's wife, wuz paperin' her settin' room and parlor overhead. she wuz expectin' company and couldn't put it off. and bein' jest married, and thinkin' the world of her, philander said he dassent leave home for fear she'd fall offen the barrel and break her neck. she had a board laid acrost two barrels to stand up on. and every day philander would leave his outside work and come into the house, and set round and watch her--he thought so much of her. i suppose he wanted to catch her if she fell. but i didn't think she would fall. she is young and tuff, and she papered it real good, though it wuz dretful hard on her arm sockets and back. and the secretary's wife wuz puttin' in a piece of onions. she thought she would make considerable by it, and she will, if onions keep up. but it is turrible hard on a woman's back to weed 'em. but she is ambitious; she raised a flock of fifty-six turkeys last year besides doin' her house work, and makin' seventy-five yards of rag carpet. and she thought onions wouldn't be so wearin' on her as turkeys, for onions, she said, will stay where they are put, but turkeys are born wanderers and hikers. and they led her through sun and rain, swamp and swale, uphill and downhill, a-chasin' 'em up, but she made well by 'em. well, in puttin' in her onion seed, she overworked herself and got a crick in her back, so she couldn't stir hand nor foot for two days. and bein' only just them two, her husband had to stay home to see to things. and the treasurer's wife is canvassin' for the life of william j. bryan. and wantin' to make all she could, she took a longer tramp than common, and didn't hear of the parade or meetin' of the c.s.s. at all. she writ home a day or two before the meetin', that she wuz goin' as long as her legs held out, and they needn't write to her, for she didn't know where she would be. well, of course, the creation searchers didn't want to go without their officers. they said they couldn't make no show if they did. so they give up goin'. but i spoze they made fun of the woman's parade amongst theirselves, and mourned over their indelikit onwomanly actions, and worried about it bein' too hard for 'em, and sneered at 'em considerable. well, josiah always loves to have me with him, an' though he'd made light of the parade, he didn't object to my goin'. and suffice it to say that we arrove at that middleman's safe and sound, though why we didn't git lost in that grand immense depo and wander 'round there all day like babes in the woods, is more'n i can tell. the middleman wuzn't dishonest: he convinced josiah on it. he had shipped the colored eggs somewhere, and of course he couldn't pay as much, and he never had hearn of _ratage_ or _satage_. he wuz a real pleasant middleman, and hearing me say how much i wanted to see the woman's parade, he invited us to go upstairs and set by a winder, where there was a good view on't. we'd eat our lunch on the train and we accepted his invitation, and sot down by a winder then and there, though it wuz a hour or so before the time sot for the parade. and i should have taken solid comfort watchin' the endless procession of men and women and vehicles of all sorts and descriptions, but josiah made so many slightin' remarks on the dress of the females passin' below on the sidewalk, that it made me feel bad. and to tell the truth, though i didn't think best to own up to it to him, i _did_ blush for my sect to see the way some on 'em rigged themselves out. "see that thing!" josiah sez, as a woman passed by with her hat drawed down over one eye, and a long quill standin' out straight behind more'n a foot, an' her dress puckered in so 'round the bottom, she couldn't have took a long step if a mad dog wuz chasin' her--to say nothin' of bein' perched up on such high heels, that she fairly tottled when she walked. sez josiah: "does that _thing_ know enough to vote?" "no," sez i, reasonably, "she don't. but most probable if she had bigger things to think about she'd loosen the puckerin' strings 'round her ankles, push her hat back out of her eyes, an' get down on her feet again." "why, samantha," says he, "if you had on one of them skirts tied 'round your ankles, if i wuz a-dyin' on the upper shelf in the buttery, you couldn't step up on a chair to get to me to save your life, an' i'd have to die there alone." "why should you be dyin' on the buttery shelf, josiah?" sez i. "oh, that wuz jest a figger of speech, samantha." "but folks ort to be mejum in figgers of speech, josiah, and not go too fur." "do you think, samantha, that anybody can go too fur in describin' them fool skirts, and them slit skirts, and the immodesty and indecensy of some of them dresses?" [illustration: "sez josiah, 'does that thing know enough to vote?'"] "i don't know as they can," sez i, sadly. "jest look at that thing," sez he again. and as i looked, the hot blush of shame mantillied my cheeks, for i felt that my sect was disgraced by the sight. she wuz real pretty, but she didn't have much of any clothes on, and what she did wear wuzn't in the right place; not at all. sez josiah, "that girl would look much more modest and decent if she wuz naked, for then she might be took for a statute." and i sez, "i don't blame the good priest for sendin' them away from the lord's table, sayin', 'i will give no communion to a jezabel.' and the pity of it is," sez i, "lots of them girls are innocent and don't realize what construction will be put on the dress they blindly copy from some furrin fashion plate." then quite an old woman passed by, also robed or disrobed in the prevailin' fashion, and josiah sez, soty vosy, "i should think she wuz old enough to know sunthin'. who wants to see her old bones?" and he sez to me, real uppish, "do you think them things know enough to vote?" but jest then a young man went by dressed fashionably, but if he hadn't had the arm of a companion, he couldn't have walked a step; his face wuz red and swollen, and dissipated, and what expression wuz left in his face wuz a fool expression, and both had cigarettes in their mouths, and i sez, "does _that_ thing know enough to vote?" and jest behind them come a lot of furrin laborers, rough and rowdy-lookin', with no more expression in their faces than a mule or any other animal. "do _they_ know enough to vote?" sez i. "as for the fitness for votin' it is pretty even on both sides. good intelligent men ortn't to lose the right of suffrage for the vice and ignorance of some of their sect, and that argument is jest as strong for the other sect." but before josiah could reply, we hearn the sound of gay music, and the parade began to march on before us. first a beautiful stately figure seated fearlessly on a dancin' horse, that tossted his head as if proud of the burden he wuz carryin'. she managed the prancin' steed with one hand, and with the other held aloft the flag of our country. jest as women ort to, and have to. they have got to manage wayward pardners, children and domestics who, no matter how good they are, will take their bits in their mouths, and go sideways some of the time, but can be managed by a sensible, affectionate hand, and with her other hand at the same time she can carry her principles aloft, wavin' in every domestic breeze, frigid or torrid, plain to be seen by everybody. then come the wives and relations of senators and congressmen, showin' that bein' right on the spot they knowed what wimmen needed. then the wimmen voters from free suffrage states, showin' by their noble looks that votin' hadn't hurt 'em any. they carried the most gorgeous banner in the whole parade. then the wimmen's political union, showin' plain in their faces that understandin' the laws that govern her ain't goin' to keep woman from looking beautiful and attractive. on and on they come, gray-headed women and curly-headed children from every station in life: the millionairess by the working woman, and the fashionable society woman by the business one. two women on horseback, and one blowin' a bugle, led the way for the carriage of madam antoinette blackwell. i wonder if she ever dreamed when she wuz tryin' to climb the hill of knowledge through the thorny path of sex persecution, that she would ever have a bugle blowed in front of her, to honor her for her efforts, and form a part of such a glorious parade of the sect she give her youth and strength to free. how they swept on, borne by the waves of music, heralded by wavin' banners of purple and white and gold, bearin' upliftin' and noble mottoes. physicians, lawyers, nurses, authors, journalists, artists, social workers, dressmakers, milliners, women from furrin countries dressed in their quaint costumes, laundresses, clerks, shop girls, college girls, all bearin' the pennants and banners of their different colleges: vassar, wellesley, smith, etc., etc. high-school pupils, woman's suffrage league, woman's social league, and all along the brilliant line each division dressed in beautiful costumes and carryin' their own gorgeous banners. and anon or oftener all along the long, long procession bands of music pealin' out high and sweet, as if the spirit of music, who is always depictered as a woman, was glad and proud to do honor to her own sect. and all through the parade you could see every little while men on foot and on horseback, not a great many, but jest enough to show that the really noble men wuz on their side. for, as i've said more formally, that is one of the most convincin' arguments for woman's suffrage. in fact, it don't need any other. that bad men fight against women's suffrage with all their might. down by the big marble library, the grand-stand wuz filled with men seated to see their wives march by on their road to victory. i hearn and believe, they wuz a noble-lookin' set of men. they had seen their wives in the past chasin' fashion and amusement, and why shouldn't they enjoy seein' them follow principle and justice? well, i might talk all day and not begin to tell of the beauty and splendor of the woman's parade. and the most impressive sight to me wuz to see how the leaven of individual right and justice had entered into all these different classes of society, and how their enthusiasm and earnestness must affect every beholder. and in my mind i drawed pictures of the different modes of our american women and our english sisters, each workin' for the same cause, but in what a different manner. of course, our english sisters may have more reason for their militant doin's; more unjust laws regarding marriage--divorce, and care of children, and i can't blame them married females for wantin' to control their own money, specially if they earnt it by scrubbin' floors and washin'. i can't blame 'em for not wantin' their husbands to take that money from them and their children, specially if they're loafers and drunkards. and, of course, there are no men so noble and generous as our american men. but jest lookin' at the matter from the outside and comparin' the two, i wuz proud indeed of our suffragists. while our english sisters feel it their duty to rip and tear, burn and pillage, to draw attention to their cause, and reach the gole (which i believe they have sot back for years) through the smoke and fire of carnage, our american suffragettes employ the gentle, convincin' arts of beauty and reason. some as the quiet golden sunshine draws out the flowers and fruit from the cold bosom of the earth. mindin' their own business, antagonizin' and troublin' no one, they march along and show to every beholder jest how earnest they be. they quietly and efficiently answer that argument of the she auntys, that women don't want to vote, by a parade two hours in length, of twenty thousand. they answer the argument that the ballot would render women careless in dress and reckless, by organizin' and carryin' on a parade so beautiful, so harmonious in color and design that it drew out enthusiastic praise from even the enemies of suffrage. they quietly and without argument answered the old story that women was onbusiness-like and never on time, by startin' the parade the very minute it was announced, which you can't always say of men's parades. it wuz a burnin' hot day, and many who'd always argued that women hadn't strength enough to lift a paper ballot, had prophesied that woman wuz too delicately organized, too "fraguile," as betsy bobbet would say, to endure the strain of the long march in the torrid atmosphere. but i told josiah that women had walked daily over the burning plow shares of duty and domestic tribulation, till their feet had got calloused, and could stand more'n you'd think for. and he said he didn't know as females had any more burnin' plow shares to tread on than men had. and i sez, "i didn't say they had, josiah. i never wanted women to get more praise or justice than men. i simply want 'em to get as much--just an even amount; for," sez i, solemnly, "'male and female created he them.'" josiah is a deacon, and when i quote scripture, he has to listen respectful, and i went on: "i guess it wuz a surprise even to the marchers that of all the ambulances that kept alongside the parade to pick up faint and swoonin' females, the only one occupied wuz by a man." josiah denied it, but i sez, "i see his boots stickin' out of the ambulance myself." josiah couldn't dispute that, for he knows i am truthful. but he sez, sunthin' in the sperit of two little children i hearn disputin'. sez one: "it wuzn't so; you've told a lie." "well," sez the other, "you broke a piece of china and laid it to me." sez josiah, "you may have seen a pair of men's boots a-stickin' out of the ambulance, but i'll bet they didn't have heels on 'em a inch broad, and five or six inches high." "no, josiah," sez i, "you're right. men think too much of their comfort and health to hist themselves up on such little high tottlin' things, and you didn't see many on 'em in the parade." but he went on drivin' the arrow of higher criticism still deeper into my onwillin' breast. "i'll bet you didn't see his legs tied together at the ankles, or his trouses slit up the sides to show gauze stockin's and anklets and diamond buckles. and you didn't see my sect who honored the parade by marchin' in it, have a goose quill half a yard long, standin' up straight in the air from a coal-scuttle hat, or out sideways, a hejus sight, and threatenin' the eyes of friend and foe." "and you didn't see many on 'em in the parade," sez i agin. "women, as they march along to victory, have got to drop some of these senseless things. in fact, they are droppin' em. you don't see waists now the size of a hour glass. it is gettin' fashionable to breathe now, and women on their way to their gole will drop by the way their high heels; it will git fashionable to walk comfortable, and as they've got to take some pretty long steps to reach the ballot in , it stands to reason they've got to have a skirt wide enough at the bottom to step up on the gole of victory. it is a high step, josiah, but women are goin' to take it. they've always tended to cleanin' their own house, and makin' it comfortable and hygenic for its members, big and little. and when they turn their minds onto the best way to clean the national house both sects have to live in to make it clean and comfortable and safe for the weak and helpless as well as for the strong--it stands to reason they won't have time or inclination to stand up on stilts with tied-in ankles, quilled out like savages." "well," said josiah, with a dark, forebodin' look on his linement, "_we shall see_." "yes," sez i, with a real radiant look into the future. "_we shall see_, josiah." but he didn't have no idea of the beautiful prophetic vision i beheld with the eyes of my sperit. good men and good women, each fillin' their different spears in life, but banded together for the overthrow of evil, the uplift of the race. x "the creation searchin' society" it was only a few days after we got home from new york that josiah come into the house dretful excited. he'd had a invitation to attend a meetin' of the creation searchin' society. "why," sez i, "did they invite you? you are not a member?" "no," sez he, "but they want me to help 'em be indignant. it is a indignation meetin'." "indignant about what?" i sez. "fur be it from me, samantha, to muddle up your head and hurt your feelin's by tellin' you what it's fur." and he went out quick and shet the door. but i got a splendid dinner and afterwards he told me of his own accord. i am not a member, of course, for the president, philander daggett, said it would lower the prestige of the society in the eyes of the world to have even one female member. this meetin' wuz called last week for the purpose of bein' indignant over the militant doin's of the english suffragettes. josiah and several others in jonesville wuz invited to be present at this meetin' as sort of honorary members, as they wuz competent to be jest as indignant as any other male men over the tribulations of their sect. josiah said so much about the meetin', and his honorary indignation, that he got me curious, and wantin' to go myself, to see how it wuz carried on. but i didn't have no hopes on't till philander daggett's new young wife come to visit me and i told her how much i wanted to go, and she bein' real good-natered said she would make philander let me in. he objected, of course, but she is pretty and young, and his nater bein' kinder softened and sweetened by the honey of the honeymoon, she got round him. and he said that if we would set up in a corner of the gallery behind the melodeon, and keep our veils on, he would let her and me in. but we must keep it secret as the grave, for he would lose all the influence he had with the other members and be turned out of the presidential chair if it wuz knowed that he had lifted wimmen up to such a hite, and gin 'em such a opportunity to feel as if they wuz equal to men. well, we went early and josiah left me to philander's and went on to do some errents. he thought i wuz to spend the evenin' with her in becomin' seclusion, a-knittin' on his blue and white socks, as a woman should. but after visitin' a spell, jest after it got duskish, we went out the back door and went cross lots, and got there ensconced in the dark corner without anybody seein' us and before the meetin' begun. philander opened the meetin' by readin' the moments of the last meetin', which wuz one of sympathy with the police of washington for their noble efforts to break up the woman's parade, and after their almost herculaneum labor to teach wimmen her proper place, and all the help they got from the hoodlum and slum elements, they had failed in a measure, and the wimmen, though stunned, insulted, spit on, struck, broken boneded, maimed, and tore to pieces, had succeeded in their disgustin' onwomanly undertakin'. but it wuz motioned and carried that a vote of thanks be sent 'em and recorded in the moments that the creation searchers had no blame but only sympathy and admiration for the hard worked policemen for they had done all they could to protect wimmen's delicacy and retirin' modesty, and put her in her place, and no man in washington or jonesville could do more. he read these moments, in a real tender sympathizin' voice, and i spoze the members sympathized with him, or i judged so from their linements as i went forward, still as a mouse, and peeked down on 'em. he then stopped a minute and took a drink of water; i spoze his sympathetic emotions had het him up, and kinder dried his mouth, some. and then he went on to state that this meetin' wuz called to show to the world, abroad and nigh by, the burnin' indignation this body felt, as a society, at the turrible sufferin's and insults bein' heaped onto their male brethren in england by the indecent and disgraceful doin's of the militant suffragettes, and to devise, if possible, some way to help their male brethren acrost the sea. "for," sez he, "pizen will spread. how do we know how soon them very wimmen who had to be spit on and struck and tore to pieces in washington to try to make 'em keep their place, the sacred and tender place they have always held enthroned as angels in a man's heart--" here he stopped and took out his bandanna handkerchief, and wiped his eyes, and kinder choked. but i knew it wuz all a orator's art, and it didn't affect me, though i see a number of the members wipe their eyes, for this talk appealed to the inheriant chivalry of men, and their desire to protect wimmen, we have always hearn so much about. "how do we know," he continued, "how soon they may turn aginst their best friends, them who actuated by the loftiest and tenderest emotions, and determination to protect the weaker sect at any cost, took their valuable time to try to keep wimmen down where they ort to be, _angels of the home_, who knows but they may turn and throw stuns at the capitol an' badger an' torment our noble lawmakers, a-tryin' to make 'em listen to their silly petitions for justice?" in conclusion, he entreated 'em to remember that the eye of the world wuz on 'em, expectin' 'em to be loyal to the badgered and woman endangered sect abroad, and try to suggest some way to stop them woman's disgraceful doin's. cyrenus presly always loves to talk, and he always looks on the dark side of things, and he riz up and said "he didn't believe nothin' could be done, for by all he'd read about 'em, the men had tried everything possible to keep wimmen down where they ort to be, they had turned deaf ears to their complaints, wouldn't hear one word they said, they had tried drivin' and draggin' and insults of all kinds, and breakin' their bones, and imprisonment, and stuffin' 'em with rubber tubes, thrust through their nose down into their throats. and he couldn't think of a thing more that could be done by men, and keep the position men always had held as wimmen's gardeens and protectors, and he said he thought men might jest as well keep still and let 'em go on and bring the world to ruin, for that was what they wuz bound to do, and they couldn't be stopped unless they wuz killed off." phileman huffstater is a old bachelder, and hates wimmen. he had been on a drunk and looked dretful, tobacco juice runnin' down his face, his red hair all towsled up, and his clothes stiff with dirt. he wuzn't invited, but had come of his own accord. he had to hang onto the seat in front of him as he riz up and said: "he believed that wuz the best and only way out on't, for men to rise up and kill off the weaker sect, for their wuzn't never no trouble of any name or nater, but what wimmen wuz to the bottom on't, and the world would be better off without 'em." but philander scorfed at him and reminded him that such hullsale doin's would put an end to the world's bein' populated at all. but phileman said in a hicuppin', maudlin way that "the world had better stop, if there had got to be such doin's, wimmen risin' up on every side, and pretendin' to be equal with men." here his knee jints kinder gin out under him, and he slid down onto the seat and went to sleep. i guess the members wuz kinder shamed of phileman, for lime peedick jumped up quick as scat and said, "it seemed the englishmen had tried most everything else, and he wondered how it would work if them militant wimmen could be ketched and a dose of sunthin' bitter and sickenin' poured down 'em. every time they broached that loathsome doctrine of equal rights, and tried to make lawmakers listen to their petitions, jest ketch 'em and pour down 'em a big dose of wormwood or sunthin' else bitter and sickenin', and he guessed they would git tired on't." but here josiah jumped up quick and said, "he objected," he said, "that would endanger the right wimmen always had, and ort to have of cookin' good vittles for men and doin' their housework, and bearin' and bringin' up their children, and makin' and mendin' and waitin' on 'em. he said nothin' short of a gatlin gun could keep samantha from speakin' her mind about such things, and he wuzn't willin' to have her made sick to the stomach, and incapacitated from cookin' by any such proceedin's." the members argued quite awhile on this pint, but finally come round to josiah's idees, and the meetin' for a few minutes seemed to come to a standstill, till old cornelius snyder got up slowly and feebly. he has spazzums and can't hardly wobble. his wife has to support him, wash and dress him, and take care on him like a baby. but he has the use of his tongue, and he got some man to bring him there, and he leaned heavy on his cane, and kinder stiddied himself on it and offered this suggestion: "how would it do to tie females up when they got to thinkin' they wuz equal to men, halter 'em, rope 'em, and let 'em see if they wuz?" but this idee wuz objected to for the same reason josiah had advanced, as philander well said, "wimmen had got to go foot loose in order to do the housework and cookin'." uncle sime bentley, who wuz awful indignant, said, "i motion that men shall take away all the rights that wimmen have now, turn 'em out of the meetin' house, and grange." but before he'd hardly got the words out of his mouth, seven of the members riz up and as many as five spoke out to once with different exclamations: "that won't do! we can't do that! who'll do all the work! who'll git up grange banquets and rummage sales, and paper and paint and put down carpets in the meetin' house, and git up socials and entertainments to help pay the minister's salary, and carry on the sunday school? and tend to its picnics and suppers, and take care of the children? we can't do this, much as we'd love to." one horsey, sporty member, also under the influence of liquor, riz up, and made a feeble motion, "spozin' we give wimmen liberty enough to work, leave 'em hand and foot loose, and sort o' muzzle 'em so they can't talk." this seemed to be very favorably received, 'specially by the married members, and the secretary wuz jest about to record it in the moments as a scheme worth tryin', when old doctor nugent got up, and sez in a firm, decided way: "wimmen cannot be kept from talking without endangerin' her life; as a medical expert i object to this motion." "how would you put the objection?" sez the secretary. "on the ground of cruelty to animals," sez the doctor. a fat englishman who had took the widder shelmadine's farm on shares, says, "i 'old with brother josiah hallen's hargument. as the father of nine young children and thirty cows to milk with my wife's 'elp, i 'old she musn't be kep' from work, but h'i propose if we can't do anything else that a card of sympathy be sent to hold hengland from the creation searchin' society of america, tellin' 'em 'ow our 'earts bleeds for the men's sufferin' and 'ardships in 'avin' to leave their hoccupations to beat and 'aul round and drive females to jails, and feed 'em with rubber hose through their noses to keep 'em from starvin' to death for what they call their principles." this motion wuz carried unanimously. but here an old man, who had jest dropped in and who wuz kinder deef and slow-witted, asked, "what it is about anyway? what do the wimmen ask for when they are pounded and jailed and starved?" hank yerden, whose wife is a suffragist, and who is mistrusted to have a leanin' that way himself, answered him, "oh, they wanted the lawmakers to read their petitions asking for the rights of ordinary citizens. they said as long as their property wuz taxed they had the right of representation. and as long as the law punished wimmen equally with men, they had a right to help make that law, and as long as men claimed wimmen's place wuz home, they wanted the right to guard that home. and as long as they brought children into the world they wanted the right to protect 'em. and when the lawmakers wouldn't hear a word they said, and beat 'em and drove 'em round and jailed 'em, they got mad as hens, and are actin' like furiation and wild cats. but claim that civil rights wuz never give to any class without warfare." "heavens! what doin's!" sez old zephaniah beezum, "what is the world comin' to!" "angle worms will be risin' up next and demandin' to not be trod on." sez he, "i have studied the subject on every side, and i claim the best way to deal with them militant females is to banish 'em to some barren wilderness, some foreign desert where they can meditate on their crimes, and not bother men." this idee wuz received favorably by most of the members, but others differed and showed the weak p'ints in it, and it wuz gin up. well, at ten p.m., the creation searchers gin up after arguin' pro and con, con and pro, that they could not see any way out of the matter, they could not tell what to do with the wimmen without danger and trouble to the male sect. they looked dretful dejected and onhappy as they come to this conclusion, my pardner looked as if he wuz most ready to bust out cryin'. and as i looked on his beloved linement i forgot everything else and onbeknown to me i leaned over the railin' and sez: "here is sunthin' that no one has seemed to think on at home or abroad. how would it work to stop the trouble by givin' the wimmen the rights they ask for, the rights of any other citizen?" i don't spoze there will ever be such another commotion and upheaval in jonesville till michael blows his last trump as follered my speech. knowin' wimmen wuz kep' from the meetin', some on 'em thought it wuz a voice from another spear. them wuz the skairt and horrow struck ones, and them that thought it wuz a earthly woman's voice wuz so mad that they wuz by the side of themselves and carried on fearful. but when they searched the gallery for wimmen or ghosts, nothin' wuz found, for philander's wife and i had scooted acrost lots and wuz to home a-knittin' before the men got there. and i d'no as anybody but philander to this day knows what, or who it wuz. and i d'no as my idee will be follered, but i believe it is the best way out on't for men and wimmen both, and would stop the mad doin's of the english suffragettes, which i don't approve of, no indeed! much as i sympathize with the justice of their cause. woman in the nineteenth century, and kindred papers relating to the sphere, condition and duties, of woman. by margaret fuller ossoli. edited by her brother, arthur b. fuller. with an introduction by horace greeley. preface. * * * * * it has been thought desirable that such papers of margaret fuller ossoli as pertained to the condition, sphere and duties of woman, should be collected and published together. the present volume contains, not only her "woman in the nineteenth century,"--which has been before published, but for some years out of print, and inaccessible to readers who have sought it,--but also several other papers, which have appeared at various times in the _tribune_ and elsewhere, and yet more which have never till now been published. my free access to her private manuscripts has given to me many papers, relating to woman, never intended for publication, which yet seem needful to this volume, in order to present a complete and harmonious view of her thoughts on this important theme. i have preferred to publish them without alteration, as most just to her views and to the reader; though, doubtless, she would have varied their expression and form before giving them to the press. it seems right here to remark, in order to avoid any misapprehension, that margaret ossoli's thoughts wore not directed so exclusively to the subject of the present volume as have been the minds of some others. as to the movement for the emancipation of woman from the unjust burdens and disabilities to which she has been subject oven in our own land, my sister could neither remain indifferent nor silent; yet she preferred, as in respect to every other reform, to act independently and to speak independently from her own stand-point, and never to merge her individuality in any existing organization. this she did, not as condemning such organizations, nor yet as judging them wholly unwise or uncalled for, but because she believed she could herself accomplish more for their true and high objects, unfettered by such organizations, than if a member of them. the opinions avowed throughout this volume, and wherever expressed, will, then, be found, whether consonant with the reader's or no, in all cases honestly and heartily her own,--the result of her own thought and faith. she never speaks, never did speak, for any clique or sect, but as her individual judgment, her reason and conscience, her observation and experience, taught her to speak. i could have wished that some one other than a brother should have spoken a few fitting words of margaret fuller, as a woman, to form a brief but proper accompaniment to this volume, which may reach some who have never read her "memoirs," recently published, or have never known her in personal life. this seemed the more desirable, because the strictest verity in speaking of her must seem, to such as knew her not, to be eulogy. but, after several disappointments as to the editorship of the volume, the duty, at last, has seemed to devolve upon me; and i have no reason to shrink from it but a sense of inadequacy. it is often supposed that literary women, and those who are active and earnest in promoting great intellectual, philanthropic, or religious movements, must of necessity neglect the domestic concerns of life. it may be that this is sometimes so, nor can such neglect be too severely reprehended; yet this is by no means a necessary result. some of the most devoted mothers the world has ever known, and whose homes were the abode of every domestic virtue, themselves the embodiment of all these, have been women whose minds were highly cultured, who loved and devoted both thought and time to literature, and were active in philanthropic and diffusive efforts for the welfare of the race. the letter to m., which is published on page , is inserted chiefly as showing the integrity and wisdom with which margaret advised her friends; the frankness with which she pointed out to every young woman who asked counsel any deficiencies of character, and the duties of life; and that among these latter she gave due place to the humblest which serve to make home attractive and happy. it is but simple justice for me to bear, in conjunction with many others, my tribute to her domestic virtues and fidelity to all home duties. that her mind found chief delight in the lowest forms of these duties may not be true, and it would be sad if it were; but it is strictly true that none, however humble, were either slighted or shunned. in common with a younger sister and brother, i shared her care in my early instruction, and found over one of the truest counsellors in a sister who scorned not the youngest mind nor the simplest intellectual wants in her love for communion, through converse or the silent page, with the minds of the greatest and most gifted. during a lingering illness, in childhood, well do i remember her as the angel of the sick-chamber, reading much to me from books useful and appropriate, and telling many a narrative not only fitted to wile away the pain of disease and the weariness of long confinement, but to elevate the mind and heart, and to direct them to all things noble and holy; over ready to watch while i slept, and to perform every gentle and kindly office. but her care of the sick--that she did not neglect, but was eminent in that sphere of womanly duty, even when no tie of kindred claimed this of her, mr. cass's letter abundantly shows; and also that this gentleness was united to a heroism which most call manly, but which, i believe, may as justly be called truly womanly. mr. cass's letter is inserted because it arrived too late to find a place in her "memoirs," and yet more because it bears much on margaret ossoli's characteristics as a woman. a few also of her private letters and papers, not bearing, save, indirectly, on the subject of this volume, are yet inserted in it, as further illustrative of her thought, feeling and action, in life's various relations. it is believed that nothing which exhibits a true woman, especially in her relations to others as friend, sister, daughter, wife, or mother, can fail to interest and be of value to her sex, indeed to all who are interested in human welfare and advancement, since these latter so much depend on the fidelity of woman. nor will anything pertaining to the education and care of children be deemed irrelevant, especially by mothers, upon whom these duties must always largely devolve. of the intellectual gifts and wide culture of margaret fuller there is no need that i should speak, nor is it wise that one standing in my relation to her should. those who knew her personally feel that no words ever flowed from her pen equalling the eloquent utterances of her lips; yet her works, though not always a clear oppression of her thoughts, are the evidences to which the world will look as proof of her mental greatness. on one point, however, i do wish to bear testimony--not needed with those who knew her well, but interesting, perhaps, to some readers into whose bands this volume may fall. it is on a subject which one who knew her from his childhood up--at _home_, where best the _heart_ and _soul_ can be known,--in the unrestrained hours of domestic life,--in various scenes, and not for a few days, nor under any peculiar circumstances--can speak with confidence, because he speaks what he "doth know, and testifieth what he hath seen." it relates to her christian faith and hope. "with all her intellectual gifts, with all her high, moral, and noble characteristics," there are some who will ask, "was her intellectual power sanctified by christian faith as its basis? were her moral qualities, her beneficent life, the results of a renewed heart?" i feel no hesitation here, nor would think it worth while to answer such questions at all, were her life to be read and known by all who read this volume, and were i not influenced also, in some degree, by the tone which has characterized a few sectarian reviews of her works, chiefly in foreign periodicals. surely, if the saviour's test, "by their fruits ye shall know them," be the true one, margaret ossoli was preeminently a christian. if a life of constant self-sacrifice,--if devotion to the welfare of kindred and the race,--if conformity to what she believed god's law, so that her life seemed ever the truest form of prayer, active obedience to the deity,--in fine, if carrying christianity into all the departments of action, so far as human infirmity allows,--if these be the proofs of a christian, then whoever has read her "memoirs" thoughtfully, and without sectarian prejudice or the use of sectarian standards of judgment, must feel her to have been a christian. but not alone in outward life, in mind and heart, too, was she a christian. the being brought into frequent and intimate contact with religious persons has been one of the chief privileges of my vocation, but never yet have i met with any person whose reverence for holy things was deeper than hers. abhorring, as all honest minds must, every species of cant, she respected true religious thought and feeling, by whomsoever cherished. god seemed nearer to her than to any person i have over known. in the influences of his holy spirit upon the heart she fully believed, and in experience realized them. jesus, the friend of man, can never have been more truly loved and honored than she loved and honored him. i am aware that this is strong language, but strength of language cannot equal the strength of my conviction on a point where i have had the best opportunities of judgment. rich as is the religion of jesus in its list of holy confessors, yet it can spare and would exclude none who in heart, mind and life, confessed and reverenced him as did she. among my earliest recollections, is her devoting much time to a thorough examination of the evidences of christianity, and ultimately declaring that to her, better than all arguments or usual processes of proof, was the soul's want of a divine religion, and the voice within that soul which declared the teachings of christ to be true and from god; and one of my most cherished possessions is that bible which she so diligently and thoughtfully read, and which bears, in her own handwriting, so many proofs of discriminating and prayerful perusal. as in regard to reformatory movements so here, she joined no organized body of believers, sympathizing with all of them whose views were noble and christian; deploring and bearing faithful testimony against anything she deemed narrowness or perversion in theology or life. this volume from her hand is now before the reader. the fact that a large share of it was never written or revised by its authoress for publication will be kept in view, as explaining any inaccuracy of expression or repetition of thought, should such occur in its pages. nor will it be deemed surprising, if, in papers written by so progressive a person, at so various periods of life, and under widely-varied circumstances, there should not always be found perfect union as to every expressed opinion. it is probable that this will soon be followed by another volume, containing a republication of "summer on the lakes," and also the "letters from europe," by the same hand. in the preparation of this volume much valuable assistance has been afforded by mr. greeley, of the new york _tribune_, who has been earnest in his desire and efforts for the diffusion of what margaret has written. a. b. f. boston, _may th_, . introduction. * * * * * the problem of woman's position, or "sphere,"--of her duties, responsibilities, rights and immunities as woman,--fitly attracts a large and still-increasing measure of attention from the thinkers and agitators of our time, the legislators, so called,--those who ultimately enact into statutes what the really governing class (to wit, the thinkers) have originated, matured and gradually commended to the popular comprehension and acceptance,--are not as yet much occupied with this problem, only fitfully worried and more or less consciously puzzled by it. more commonly they merely echo the mob's shallow retort to the petition of any strong-minded daughter or sister, who demands that she be allowed a voice in disposing of the money wrenched from her hard earnings by inexorable taxation, or in shaping the laws by which she is ruled, judged, and is liable to be sentenced to prison or to death, "it is a woman's business to obey her husband, keep his home tidy, and nourish and train his children." but when she rejoins to this, "very true; but suppose i choose not to have a husband, or am not chosen for a wife--what then? i am still subject to your laws. why am i not entitled, as a rational human being, to a voice in shaping them? i have physical needs, and must somehow earn a living. why should i not be at liberty to earn it in any honest and useful calling?"--the mob's flout is hushed, and the legislator is struck dumb also. they were already at the end of their scanty resources of logic, and it would be cruel for woman to ask further: "suppose me a wife, and my husband a drunken prodigal--what am i to do then? may i not earn food for my babes without being exposed to have it snatched from their mouths to replenish the rumseller's till, and aggravate my husband's madness? if some sympathizing relative sees fit to leave me a bequest wherewith to keep my little ones together, why may i not be legally enabled to secure this to their use and benefit? in short, why am i not regarded by the law as a _soul_, responsible for my acts to god and humanity, and not as a mere body, devoted to the unreasoning service of my husband?" the state gives no answer, and the champions of her policy evince wisdom in imitating her silence. the writer of the following pages was one of the earliest as well as ablest among american women, to demand for her sex equality before the law with her titular lord and master, her writings on this subject have the force which springs from the ripening of profound reflection into assured conviction. she wrote as one who had observed, and who deeply felt what she deliberately uttered. others have since spoken more fluently, more variously, with a greater affluence of illustration; but none, it is believed, more earnestly or more forcibly. it is due to her memory, as well as to the great and living cause of which she was so eminent and so fearless an advocate, that what she thought and said with regard to the position of her sex and its limitations, should be fully and fairly placed before the public. for several years past her principal essay on "woman," here given, has not been purchasable at any price, and has only with great difficulty been accessible to the general reader. to place it within the reach of those who need and require it, is the main impulse to the publication of this volume; but the accompanying essays and papers will be found equally worthy of thoughtful consideration. h. greeley. contents. * * * * * part i. woman in the nineteenth century * * * * * part ii miscellanies aulauron and laurie wrongs and duties of american woman george sand the same subject consuelo jenny lind, the "consuelo" of george sand caroline ever-growing lives household nobleness "glumdalclitches" "ellen; or, forgive and forget," "coubrier des etats unis," the same subject books of travel review of mrs. jameson's essays woman's influence over the insane review of browning's poems christmas children's books woman in poverty the irish character the same subject educate men and women as souls * * * * * part iii. extracts from journal and letters * * * * * appendix preface to woman in the nineteenth century. * * * * * the following essay is a reproduction, modified and expanded, of an article published in "the dial, boston, july, ," under the title of "the great lawsuit.--man _versus_ men; woman _versus_ women." this article excited a good deal of sympathy, add still more interest. it is in compliance with wishes expressed from many quarters that it is prepared for publication in its present form. objections having been made to the former title, as not sufficiently easy to be understood, the present has been substituted as expressive of the main purpose of the essay; though, by myself, the other is preferred, partly for the reason others do not like it,--that is, that it requires some thought to see what it means, and might thus prepare the reader to meet me on my own ground. besides, it offers a larger scope, and is, in that way, more just to my desire. i meant by that title to intimate the fact that, while it is the destiny of man, in the course of the ages, to ascertain and fulfil the law of his being, so that his life shall be seen, as a whole, to be that of an angel or messenger, the action of prejudices and passions which attend, in the day, the growth of the individual, is continually obstructing the holy work that is to make the earth a part of heaven. by man i mean both man and woman; these are the two halves of one thought. i lay no especial stress on the welfare of either. i believe that the development of the one cannot be effected without that of the other. my highest wish is that this truth should be distinctly and rationally apprehended, and the conditions of life and freedom recognized as the same for the daughters and the sons of time; twin exponents of a divine thought. i solicit a sincere and patient attention from those who open the following pages at all. i solicit of women that they will lay it to heart to ascertain what is for them the liberty of law. it is for this, and not for any, the largest, extension of partial privileges that i seek. i ask them, if interested by these suggestions, to search their own experience and intuitions for better, and fill up with fit materials the trenches that hedge them in. from men i ask a noble and earnest attention to anything that can be offered on this great and still obscure subject, such as i have met from many with whom i stand in private relations. and may truth, unpolluted by prejudice, vanity or selfishness, be granted daily more and more as the due of inheritance, and only valuable conquest for us all! _november_, . woman in the nineteenth century. * * * * * "frailty, thy name is woman." "the earth waits for her queen." the connection between these quotations may not be obvious, but it is strict. yet would any contradict us, if we made them applicable to the other side, and began also, frailty, thy name is man. the earth waits for its king? yet man, if not yet fully installed in his powers, has given much earnest of his claims. frail he is indeed,--how frail! how impure! yet often has the vein of gold displayed itself amid the baser ores, and man has appeared before us in princely promise worthy of his future. if, oftentimes, we see the prodigal son feeding on the husks in the fair field no more his own, anon we raise the eyelids, heavy from bitter tears, to behold in him the radiant apparition of genius and love, demanding not less than the all of goodness, power and beauty. we see that in him the largest claim finds a due foundation. that claim is for no partial sway, no exclusive possession. he cannot be satisfied with any one gift of life, any one department of knowledge or telescopic peep at the heavens. he feels himself called to understand and aid nature, that she may, through his intelligence, be raised and interpreted; to be a student of, and servant to, the universe-spirit; and king of his planet, that, as an angelic minister he may bring it into conscious harmony with the law of that spirit. in clear, triumphant moments, many times, has rung through the spheres the prophecy of his jubilee; and those moments, though past in time, have been translated into eternity by thought; the bright signs they left hang in the heavens, as single stars or constellations, and, already, a thickly sown radiance consoles the wanderer in the darkest night. other heroes since hercules have fulfilled the zodiac of beneficent labors, and then given up their mortal part to the fire without a murmur; while no god dared deny that they should have their reward, siquis tamen, hercule, siquis forte deo doliturus erit, daia praemia nollet, sed meruise dari sciet, invitus que probabit, assensere dei sages and lawgivers have bent their whole nature to the search for truth, and thought themselves happy if they could buy, with the sacrifice of all temporal ease and pleasure, one seed for the future eden. poets and priests have strung the lyre with the heart-strings, poured out their best blood upon the altar, which, reared anew from age to age, shall at last sustain the flame pure enough to rise to highest heaven. shall we not name with as deep a benediction those who, if not so immediately, or so consciously, in connection with the eternal truth, yet, led and fashioned by a divine instinct, serve no less to develop and interpret the open secret of love passing into life, energy creating for the purpose of happiness; the artist whose hand, drawn by a preexistent harmony to a certain medium, moulds it to forms of life more highly and completely organized than are seen elsewhere, and, by carrying out the intention of nature, reveals her meaning to those who are not yet wise enough to divine it; the philosopher who listens steadily for laws and causes, and from those obvious infers those yet unknown; the historian who, in faith that all events must have their reason and their aim, records them, and thus fills archives from which the youth of prophets may be fed; the man of science dissecting the statements, testing the facts and demonstrating order, even where he cannot its purpose? lives, too, which bear none of these names, have yielded tones of no less significance. the candlestick set in a low place has given light as faithfully, where it was needed, as that upon the hill, in close alleys, in dismal nooks, the word has been read as distinctly, as when shown by angels to holy men in the dark prison. those who till a spot of earth scarcely larger than is wanted for a grave, have deserved that the sun should shine upon its sod till violets answer. so great has been, from time to time, the promise, that, in all ages, men have said the gods themselves came down to dwell with them; that the all-creating wandered on the earth to taste, in a limited nature, the sweetness of virtue; that the all-sustaining incarnated himself to guard, in space and time, the destinies of this world; that heavenly genius dwelt among the shepherds, to sing to them and teach them how to sing. indeed, "der stets den hirten gnadig sich bewies." "he has constantly shown himself favorable to shepherds." and the dwellers in green pastures and natural students of the stars were selected to hail, first among men, the holy child, whose life and death were to present the type of excellence, which has sustained the heart of so large a portion of mankind in these later generations. such marks have been made by the footsteps of _man_ (still, alas! to be spoken of as the _ideal_ man), wherever he has passed through the wilderness of _men_, and whenever the pigmies stepped in one of those, they felt dilate within the breast somewhat that promised nobler stature and purer blood. they were impelled to forsake their evil ways of decrepit scepticism and covetousness of corruptible possessions. convictions flowed in upon them. they, too, raised the cry: god is living, now, to-day; and all beings are brothers, for they are his children. simple words enough, yet which only angelic natures can use or hear in their full, free sense. these were the triumphant moments; but soon the lower nature took its turn, and the era of a truly human life was postponed. thus is man still a stranger to his inheritance, still a pleader, still a pilgrim. yet his happiness is secure in the end. and now, no more a glimmering consciousness, but assurance begins to be felt and spoken, that the highest ideal man can form of his own powers is that which he is destined to attain. whatever the soul knows how to seek, it cannot fail to obtain. this is the law and the prophets. knock and it shall be opened; seek and ye shall find. it is demonstrated; it is a maxim. man no longer paints his proper nature in some form, and says, "prometheus had it; it is god-like;" but "man must have it; it is human." however disputed by many, however ignorantly used, or falsified by those who do receive it, the fact of an universal, unceasing revelation has been too clearly stated in words to be lost sight of in thought; and sermons preached from the text, "be ye perfect," are the only sermons of a pervasive and deep-searching influence. but, among those who meditate upon this text, there is a great difference of view as to the way in which perfection shall be sought. "through the intellect," say some. "gather from every growth of life its seed of thought; look behind every symbol for its law; if thou canst _see_ clearly, the rest will follow." "through the life," say others. "do the best thou knowest today. shrink not from frequent error in this gradual, fragmentary state. follow thy light for as much as it will show thee; be faithful as far as thou canst, in hope that faith presently will lead to sight. help others, without blaming their need of thy help. love much, and be forgiven." "it needs not intellect, needs not experience," says a third. "if you took the true way, your destiny would be accomplished, in a purer and more natural order. you would not learn through facts of thought or action, but express through them the certainties of wisdom. in quietness yield thy soul to the causal soul. do not disturb thy apprenticeship by premature effort; neither check the tide of instruction by methods of thy own. be still; seek not, but wait in obedience. thy commission will be given." could we indeed say what we want, could we give a description of the child that is lost, he would be found. as soon as the soul can affirm clearly that a certain demonstration is wanted, it is at hand. when the jewish prophet described the lamb, as the expression of what was required by the coming era, the time drew nigh. but we say not, see not as yet, clearly, what we would. those who call for a more triumphant expression of love, a love that cannot be crucified, show not a perfect sense of what has already been given. love has already been expressed, that made all things new, that gave the worm its place and ministry as well as the eagle; a love to which it was alike to descend into the depths of hell, or to sit at the right hand of the father. yet, no doubt, a new manifestation is at hand, a new hour in the day of man. we cannot expect to see any one sample of completed being, when the mass of men still lie engaged in the sod, or use the freedom of their limbs only with wolfish energy. the tree cannot come to flower till its root be free from the cankering worm, and its whole growth open to air and light. while any one is base, none can be entirely free and noble. yet something new shall presently be shown of the life of man, for hearts crave, if minds do not know how to ask it. among the strains of prophecy, the following, by an earnest mind of a foreign land, written some thirty years ago, is not yet outgrown; and it has the merit of being a positive appeal from the heart, instead of a critical declaration what man should _not_ do. "the ministry of man implies that he must be filled from the divine fountains which are being engendered through all eternity, so that, at the mere name of his master, he may be able to cast all his enemies into the abyss; that he may deliver all parts of nature from the barriers that imprison them; that he may purge the terrestrial atmosphere from the poisons that infect it; that he may preserve the bodies of men from the corrupt influences that surround, and the maladies that afflict them; still more, that he may keep their souls pure from the malignant insinuations which pollute, and the gloomy images that obscure them; that he may restore its serenity to the word, which false words of men fill with mourning and sadness; that he may satisfy the desires of the angels, who await from him the development of the marvels of nature; that, in fine, his world may be filled with god, as eternity is." [footnote: st. martin] another attempt we will give, by an obscure observer of our own day and country, to draw some lines of the desired image. it was suggested by seeing the design of crawford's orpheus, and connecting with the circumstance of the american, in his garret at rome, making choice of this subject, that of americans here at home showing such ambition to represent the character, by calling their prose and verse "orphic sayings"--"orphics." we wish we could add that they have shown that musical apprehension of the progress of nature through her ascending gradations which entitled them so to do, but their attempts are frigid, though sometimes grand; in their strain we are not warmed by the fire which fertilized the soil of greece. orpheus was a lawgiver by theocratic commission. he understood nature, and made her forms move to his music. he told her secrets in the form of hymns, nature as seen in the mind of god. his soul went forth toward all beings, yet could remain sternly faithful to a chosen type of excellence. seeking what he loved, he feared not death nor hell; neither could any shape of dread daunt his faith in the power of the celestial harmony that filled his soul. it seemed significant of the state of things in this country, that the sculptor should have represented the seer at the moment when he was obliged with his hand to shade his eyes. each orpheus must to the depths descend; for only thus the poet can be wise; must make the sad persephone his friend, and buried love to second life arise; again his love must lose through too much love, must lose his life by living life too true, for what he sought below is passed above, already done is all that he would do must tune all being with his single lyre, must melt all rooks free from their primal pain, must search all nature with his one soul's fire, must bind anew all forms in heavenly chain. if he already sees what he must do, well may he shade his eyes from the far-shining view. a better comment could not be made on what is required to perfect man, and place him in that superior position for which he was designed, than by the interpretation of bacon upon the legends of the syren coast "when the wise ulysses passed," says he, "he caused his mariners to stop their ears, with wax, knowing there was in them no power to resist the lure of that voluptuous song. but he, the much experienced man, who wished to be experienced in all, and use all to the service of wisdom, desired to hear the song that he might understand its meaning. yet, distrusting his own power to be firm in his better purpose, he caused himself to be bound to the mast, that he might be kept secure against his own weakness. but orpheus passed unfettered, so absorbed in singing hymns to the gods that he could not even hear those sounds of degrading enchantment." meanwhile, not a few believe, and men themselves have expressed the opinion, that the time is come when eurydice is to call for an orpheus, rather than orpheus for eurydice; that the idea of man, however imperfectly brought out, has been far more so than that of woman; that she, the other half of the same thought, the other chamber of the heart of life, needs now take her turn in the full pulsation, and that improvement in the daughters will best aid in the reformation of the sons of this age. it should be remarked that, as the principle of liberty is better understood, and more nobly interpreted, a broader protest is made in behalf of woman. as men become aware that few men have had a fair chance, they are inclined to say that no women have had a fair chance. the french revolution, that strangely disguised angel, bore witness in favor of woman, but interpreted her claims no less ignorantly than those of man. its idea of happiness did not rise beyond outward enjoyment, unobstructed by the tyranny of others. the title it gave was "citoyen," "citoyenne;" and it is not unimportant to woman that even this species of equality was awarded her. before, she could be condemned to perish on the scaffold for treason, not as a citizen, but as a subject. the right with which this title then invested a human being was that of bloodshed and license. the goddess of liberty was impure. as we read the poem addressed to her, not long since, by beranger, we can scarcely refrain from tears as painful as the tears of blood that flowed when "such crimes were committed in her name." yes! man, born to purify and animate the unintelligent and the cold, can, in his madness, degrade and pollute no less the fair and the chaste. yet truth was prophesied in the ravings of that hideous fever, caused by long ignorance and abuse. europe is conning a valued lesson from the blood-stained page. the same tendencies, further unfolded, will bear good fruit in this country. yet, by men in this country, as by the jews, when moses was leading them to the promised land, everything has been done that inherited depravity could do, to hinder the promise of heaven from its fulfilment. the cross, here as elsewhere, has been planted only to be blasphemed by cruelty and fraud. the name of the prince of peace has been profaned by all kinds of injustice toward the gentile whom he said he came to save. but i need not speak of what has been done towards the red man, the black man. those deeds are the scoff of the world; and they have been accompanied by such pious words that the gentlest would not dare to intercede with "father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." here, as elsewhere, the gain of creation consists always in the growth of individual minds, which live and aspire, as flowers bloom and birds sing, in the midst of morasses; and in the continual development of that thought, the thought of human destiny, which is given to eternity adequately to express, and which ages of failure only seemingly impede. only seemingly; and whatever seems to the contrary, this country is as surely destined to elucidate a great moral law, as europe was to promote the mental culture of man. though the national independence be blurred by the servility of individuals; though freedom and equality have been proclaimed only to leave room for a monstrous display of slave-dealing and slave-keeping; though the free american so often feels himself free, like the roman, only to pamper his appetites end his indolence through the misery of his fellow-beings; still it is not in vain that the verbal statement has been made, "all men are born free and equal." there it stands, a golden certainty wherewith to encourage the good, to shame the bad. the new world may be called clearly to perceive that it incurs the utmost penalty if it reject or oppress the sorrowful brother. and, if men are deaf, the angels hear. but men cannot be deaf. it is inevitable that an external freedom, an independence of the encroachments of other men, such as has been achieved for the nation, should be so also for every member of it. that which has once been clearly conceived in the intelligence cannot fail, sooner or later, to be acted out. it has become a law as irrevocable as that of the medes in their ancient dominion; men will privately sin against it, but the law, as expressed by a leading mind of the age, "tutti fatti a semblanza d'un solo, figli tutti d'un solo riscatto, in qual'ora, in qual parte del suolo trascorriamo quest' aura vital, siam fratelli, siam stretti ad un patto: maladetto colui che lo infrange, che s'innalza sul finoco che piange che contrista uno spirto immortal." [footnote: manzoni] "all made in the likeness of the one. all children of one ransom, in whatever hour, in whatever part of the soil, we draw this vital air, we are brothers; we must be bound by one compact; accursed he who infringes it, who raises himself upon the weak who weep, who saddens an immortal spirit." this law cannot fail of universal recognition. accursed be he who willingly saddens an immortal spirit--doomed to infamy in later, wiser ages, doomed in future stages of his own being to deadly penance, only short of death. accursed be he who sins in ignorance, if that ignorance be caused by sloth. we sicken no less at the pomp than the strife of words. we feel that never were lungs so puffed with the wind of declamation, on moral and religious subjects, as now. we are tempted to implore these "word-heroes," these word-catos, word-christs, to beware of cant [footnote: dr. johnson's one piece of advice should be written on every door: "clear your mind of cant." but byron, to whom it was so acceptable, in clearing away the noxious vine, shook down the building. sterling's emendation is worthy of honor: "realize your cant, not cast it off."] above all things; to remember that hypocrisy is the most hopeless as well as the meanest of crimes, and that those must surely be polluted by it, who do not reserve a part of their morality and religion for private use. landor says that he cannot have a great deal of mind who cannot afford to let the larger part of it lie fallow; and what is true of genius is not less so of virtue. the tongue is a valuable member, but should appropriate but a small part of the vital juices that are needful all over the body. we feel that the mind may "grow black and rancid in the smoke" even "of altars." we start up from the harangue to go into our closet and shut the door. there inquires the spirit, "is this rhetoric the bloom of healthy blood, or a false pigment artfully laid on?" and yet again we know where is so much smoke, must be some fire; with so much talk about virtue and freedom, must be mingled some desire for them; that it cannot be in vain that such have become the common topics of conversation among men, rather than schemes for tyranny and plunder, that the very newspapers see it best to proclaim themselves "pilgrims," "puritans," "heralds of holiness." the king that maintains so costly a retinue cannot be a mere boast, or carabbas fiction. we have waited here long in the dust; we are tired and hungry; but the triumphal procession must appear at last. of all its banners, none has been more steadily upheld, and under none have more valor and willingness for real sacrifices been shown, than that of the champions of the enslaved african. and this band it is, which, partly from a natural following out of principles, partly because many women have been prominent in that cause, makes, just now, the warmest appeal in behalf of woman. though there has been a growing liberality on this subject, yet society at large is not so prepared for the demands of this party, but that its members are, and will be for some time, coldly regarded as the jacobins of their day. "is it not enough," cries the irritated trader, "that you have done all you could to break up the national union, and thus destroy the prosperity of our country, but now you must be trying to break up family union, to take my wife away from the cradle and the kitchen-hearth to vote at polls, and preach from a pulpit? of course, if she does such things, she cannot attend to those of her own sphere. she is happy enough as she is. she has more leisure than i have,--every means of improvement, every indulgence." "have you asked her whether she was satisfied with these _indulgences_?" "no, but i know she is. she is too amiable to desire what would make me unhappy, and too judicious to wish to step beyond the sphere of her sex. i will never consent to have our peace disturbed by any such discussions." "'consent--you?' it is not consent from you that is in question--it is assent from your wife." "am not i the head of my house?" "you are not the head of your wife. god has given her a mind of her own. "i am the head, and she the heart." "god grant you play true to one another, then! i suppose i am to be grateful that you did not say she was only the hand. if the head represses no natural pulse of the heart, there can be no question as to your giving your consent. both will be of one accord, and there needs but to present any question to get a full and true answer. there is no need of precaution, of indulgence, nor consent. but our doubt is whether the heart _does_ consent with the head, or only obeys its decrees with a passiveness that precludes the exercise of its natural powers, or a repugnance that turns sweet qualities to bitter, or a doubt that lays waste the fair occasions of life. it is to ascertain the truth that we propose some liberating measures." thus vaguely are these questions proposed and discussed at present. but their being proposed at all implies much thought, and suggests more. many women are considering within themselves what they need that they have not, and what they can have if they find they need it. many men are considering whether women are capable of being and having more than they are and have, _and_ whether, if so, it will be best to consent to improvement in their condition. this morning, i open the boston "daily mail," and find in its "poet's corner" a translation of schiller's "dignity of woman." in the advertisement of a book on america, i see in the table of contents this sequence, "republican institutions. american slavery. american ladies." i open the "_deutsche schnellpost_" published in new york, and find at the head of a column, _juden und frauenemancipation in ungarn_--"emancipation of jews and women in hungary." the past year has seen action in the rhode island legislature, to secure married women rights over their own property, where men showed that a very little examination of the subject could teach them much; an article in the democratic review on the same subject more largely considered, written by a woman, impelled, it is said, by glaring wrong to a distinguished friend, having shown the defects in the existing laws, and the state of opinion from which they spring; and on answer from the revered old man, j. q. adams, in some respects the phocion of his time, to an address made him by some ladies. to this last i shall again advert in another place. these symptoms of the times have come under my view quite accidentally: one who seeks, may, each month or week, collect more. the numerous party, whose opinions are already labeled and adjusted too much to their mind to admit of any new light, strive, by lectures on some model-woman of bride-like beauty and gentleness, by writing and lending little treatises, intended to mark out with precision the limits of woman's sphere, and woman's mission, to prevent other than the rightful shepherd from climbing the wall, or the flock from using any chance to go astray. without enrolling ourselves at once on either side, let us look upon the subject from the best point of view which to-day offers; no better, it is to be feared, than a high house-top. a high hill-top, or at least a cathedral-spire, would be desirable. it may well be an anti-slavery party that pleads for woman, if we consider merely that she does not hold property on equal terms with men; so that, if a husband dies without making a will, the wife, instead of taking at once his place as head of the family, inherits only a part of his fortune, often brought him by herself, as if she were a child, or ward only, not an equal partner. we will not speak of the innumerable instances in which profligate and idle men live upon the earnings of industrious wives; or if the wives leave them, and take with them the children, to perform the double duty of mother and father, follow from place to place, and threaten to rob them of the children, if deprived of the rights of a husband, as they call them, planting themselves in their poor lodgings, frightening them into paying tribute by taking from them the children, running into debt at the expense of these otherwise so overtasked helots. such instances count up by scores within my own memory. i have seen the husband who had stained himself by a long course of low vice, till his wife was wearied from her heroic forgiveness, by finding that his treachery made it useless, and that if she would provide bread for herself and her children, she must be separate from his ill fame--i have known this man come to install himself in the chamber of a woman who loathed him, and say she should never take food without his company. i have known these men steal their children, whom they knew they had no means to maintain, take them into dissolute company, expose them to bodily danger, to frighten the poor woman, to whom, it seems, the fact that she alone had borne the pangs of their birth, and nourished their infancy, does not give an equal right to them. i do believe that this mode of kidnapping--and it is frequent enough in all classes of society--will be by the next age viewed as it is by heaven now, and that the man who avails himself of the shelter of men's laws to steal from a mother her own children, or arrogate any superior right in them, save that of superior virtue, will bear the stigma he deserves, in common with him who steals grown men from their mother-land, their hopes, and their homes. i said, we will not speak of this now; yet i _have_ spoken, for the subject makes me feel too much. i could give instances that would startle the most vulgar and callous; but i will not, for the public opinion of their own sex is already against such men, and where cases of extreme tyranny are made known, there is private action in the wife's favor. but she ought not to need this, nor, i think, can she long. men must soon see that as, on their own ground, woman is the weaker party, she ought to have legal protection, which would make such oppression impossible. but i would not deal with "atrocious instances," except in the way of illustration, neither demand from men a partial redress in some one matter, but go to the root of the whole. if principles could be established, particulars would adjust themselves aright. ascertain the true destiny of woman; give her legitimate hopes, and a standard within herself; marriage and all other relations would by degrees be harmonized with these. but to return to the historical progress of this matter. knowing that there exists in the minds of men a tone of feeling toward women as toward slaves, such as is expressed in the common phrase, "tell that to women and children;" that the infinite soul can only work through them in already ascertained limits; that the gift of reason, man's highest prerogative, is allotted to them in much lower degree; that they must be kept from mischief and melancholy by being constantly engaged in active labor, which is to be furnished and directed by those better able to think, &c., &c.,--we need not multiply instances, for who can review the experience of last week without recalling words which imply, whether in jest or earnest, these views, or views like these,--knowing this, can we wonder that many reformers think that measures are not likely to be taken in behalf of women, unless their wishes could be publicly represented by women? "that can never be necessary," cry the other side. "all men are privately influenced by women; each has his wife, sister, or female friends, and is too much biased by these relations to fail of representing their interests; and, if this is not enough, let them propose and enforce their wishes with the pen. the beauty of home would be destroyed, the delicacy of the sex be violated, the dignity of halls of legislation degraded, by an attempt to introduce them there. such duties are inconsistent with those of a mother;" and then we have ludicrous pictures of ladies in hysterics at the polls, and senate-chambers filled with cradles. but if, in reply, we admit as truth that woman seems destined by nature rather for the inner circle, we must add that the arrangements of civilized life have not been, as yet, such as to secure it to her. her circle, if the duller, is not the quieter. if kept from "excitement," she is not from drudgery. not only the indian squaw carries the burdens of the camp, but the favorites of louis xiv. accompany him in his journeys, and the washerwoman stands at her tub, and carries home her work at all seasons, and in all states of health. those who think the physical circumstances of woman would make a part in the affairs of national government unsuitable, are by no means those who think it impossible for negresses to endure field-work, even during pregnancy, or for sempstresses to go through their killing labors. as to the use of the pen, there was quite as much opposition to woman's possessing herself of that help to free agency as there is now to her seizing on the rostrum or the desk; and she is likely to draw, from a permission to plead her cause that way, opposite inferences to what might be wished by those who now grant it. as to the possibility of her filling with grace and dignity any such position, we should think those who had seen the great actresses, and heard the quaker preachers of modern times, would not doubt that woman can express publicly the fulness of thought and creation, without losing any of the peculiar beauty of her sex. what can pollute and tarnish is to act thus from any motive except that something needs to be said or done. woman could take part in the processions, the songs, the dances of old religion; no one fancied her delicacy was impaired by appearing in public for such a cause. as to her home, she is not likely to leave it more than she now does for balls, theatres, meetings for promoting missions, revival meetings, and others to which she flies, in hope of an animation for her existence commensurate with what she sees enjoyed by men. governors of ladies'-fairs are no less engrossed by such a charge, than the governor of a state by his; presidents of washingtonian societies no less away from home than presidents of conventions. if men look straitly to it, they will find that, unless their lives are domestic, those of the women will not be. a house is no home unless it contain food and fire for the mind as well as for the body. the female greek, of our day, is as much in the street as the male to cry, "what news?" we doubt not it was the same in athens of old. the women, shut out from the market-place, made up for it at the religious festivals. for human beings are not so constituted that they can live without expansion. if they do not get it in one way, they must in another, or perish. as to men's representing women fairly at present, while we hear from men who owe to their wives not only all that is comfortable or graceful, but all that is wise, in the arrangement of their lives, the frequent remark, "you cannot reason with a woman,"--when from those of delicacy, nobleness, and poetic culture, falls the contemptuous phrase "women and children," and that in no light sally of the hour, but in works intended to give a permanent statement of the best experiences,--when not one man, in the million, shall i say? no, not in the hundred million, can rise above the belief that woman was made _for man_,--when such traits as these are daily forced upon the attention, can we feel that man will always do justice to the interests of woman? can we think that he takes a sufficiently discerning and religious view of her office and destiny _ever_ to do her justice, except when prompted by sentiment,--accidentally or transiently, that is, for the sentiment will vary according to the relations in which he is placed? the lover, the poet, the artist, are likely to view her nobly. the father and the philosopher have some chance of liberality; the man of the world, the legislator for expediency, none. under these circumstances, without attaching importance, in themselves, to the changes demanded by the champions of woman, we hail them as signs of the times. we would have every arbitrary barrier thrown down. we would have every path laid open to woman as freely as to man. were this done, and a slight temporary fermentation allowed to subside, we should see crystallizations more pure and of more various beauty. we believe the divine energy would pervade nature to a degree unknown in the history of former ages, and that no discordant collision, but a ravishing harmony of the spheres, would ensue. yet, then and only then will mankind be ripe for this, when inward and outward freedom for woman as much as for man shall be acknowledged as a _right_, not yielded as a concession. as the friend of the negro assumes that one man cannot by right hold another in bondage, so should the friend of woman assume that man cannot by right lay even well-meant restrictions on woman. if the negro be a soul, if the woman be a soul, apparelled in flesh, to one master only are they accountable. there is but one law for souls, and, if there is to be an interpreter of it, he must come not as man, or son of man, but as son of god. were thought and feeling once so far elevated that man should esteem himself the brother and friend, but nowise the lord and tutor, of woman,--were he really bound with her in equal worship,--arrangements as to function and employment would be of no consequence. what woman needs is not as a woman to act or rule, but as a nature to grow, as an intellect to discern, as a soul to live freely and unimpeded, to unfold such powers as were given her when we left our common home. if fewer talents were given her, yet if allowed the free and full employment of these, so that she may render back to the giver his own with usury, she will not complain; nay, i dare to say she will bless and rejoice in her earthly birth-place, her earthly lot. let us consider what obstructions impede this good era, and what signs give reason to hope that it draws near. i was talking on this subject with miranda, a woman, who, if any in the world could, might speak without heat and bitterness of the position of her sex. her father was a man who cherished no sentimental reverence for woman, but a firm belief in the equality of the sexes. she was his eldest child, and came to him at an age when he needed a companion. from the time she could speak and go alone, he addressed her not as a plaything, but as a living mind. among the few verses he ever wrote was a copy addressed to this child, when the first locks were cut from her head; and the reverence expressed on this occasion for that cherished head, he never belied. it was to him the temple of immortal intellect. he respected his child, however, too much to be an indulgent parent. he called on her for clear judgment, for courage, for honor and fidelity; in short, for such virtues as he knew. in so far as he possessed the keys to the wonders of this universe, he allowed free use of them to her, and, by the incentive of a high expectation, he forbade, so far as possible, that she should let the privilege lie idle. thus this child was early led to feel herself a child of the spirit. she took her place easily, not only in the world of organized being, but in the world of mind. a dignified sense of self-dependence was given as all her portion, and she found it a sure anchor. herself securely anchored, her relations with others were established with equal security. she was fortunate in a total absence of those charms which might have drawn to her bewildering flatteries, and in a strong electric nature, which repelled those who did not belong to her, and attracted those who did. with men and women her relations were noble,--affectionate without passion, intellectual without coldness. the world was free to her, and she lived freely in it. outward adversity came, and inward conflict; but that faith and self-respect had early been awakened which must always lead, at last, to an outward serenity and an inward peace. of miranda i had always thought as an example, that the restraints upon the sex were insuperable only to those who think them so, or who noisily strive to break them. she had taken a course of her own, and no man stood in her way. many of her acts had been unusual, but excited no uproar. few helped, but none checked her; and the many men who knew her mind and her life, showed to her confidence as to a brother, gentleness as to a sister. and not only refined, but very coarse men approved and aided one in whom they saw resolution and clearness of design. her mind was often the leading one, always effective. when i talked with her upon these matters, and had said very much what i have written, she smilingly replied; "and yet we must admit that i have been fortunate, and this should not be. my good father's early trust gave the first bias, and the rest followed, of course. it is true that i have had less outward aid, in after years, than most women; but that is of little consequence. religion was early awakened in my soul,--a sense that what the soul is capable to ask it must attain, and that, though i might be aided and instructed by others, i must depend on myself as the only constant friend. this self-dependence, which was honored in me, is deprecated as a fault in most women. they are taught to learn their rule from without, not to unfold it from within. "this is the fault of man, who is still vain, and wishes to be more important to woman than, by right, he should be." "men have not shown this disposition toward you," i said. "no; because the position i early was enabled to take was one of self-reliance. and were all women as sure of their wants as i was, the result would be the same. but they are so overloaded with precepts by guardians, who think that nothing is so much to be dreaded for a woman as originality of thought or character, that their minds are impeded by doubts till they lose their chance of fair, free proportions. the difficulty is to got them to the point from which they shall naturally develop self-respect, and learn self-help. "once i thought that men would help to forward this state of things more than i do now. i saw so many of them wretched in the connections they had formed in weakness and vanity. they seemed so glad to esteem women whenever they could. "'the soft arms of affection,' said one of the most discerning spirits, 'will not suffice for me, unless on them i see the steel bracelets of strength.' "but early i perceived that men never, in any extreme of despair, wished to be women. on the contrary, they were ever ready to taunt one another, at any sign of weakness, with, "'art thou not like the women, who,'-- the passage ends various ways, according to the occasion and rhetoric of the speaker. when they admired any woman, they were inclined to speak of her as 'above her sex.' silently i observed this, and feared it argued a rooted scepticism, which for ages had been fastening on the heart, and which only an age of miracles could eradicate. ever i have been treated with great sincerity; and i look upon it as a signal instance of this, that an intimate friend of the other sex said, in a fervent moment, that i 'deserved in some star to be a man.' he was much surprised when i disclosed my view of my position and hopes, when i declared my faith that the feminine side, the side of love, of beauty, of holiness, was now to have its full chance, and that, if either were better, it was better now to be a woman; for even the slightest achievement of good was furthering an especial work of our time. he smiled incredulously. 'she makes the best she can of it,' thought he. 'let jews believe the pride of jewry, but i am of the better sort, and know better.' "another used as highest praise, in speaking of a character in literature, the words 'a manly woman.' "so in the noble passage of ben jonson: 'i meant the day-star should not brighter ride, nor shed like influence, from its lucent seat; i meant she should be courteous, facile, sweet, free from that solemn vice of greatness, pride; i meant each softest virtue there should meet, fit in that softer bosom to abide, only a learned and a _manly_ soul i purposed her, that should with even powers the rock, the spindle, and the shears control of destiny, and spin her own free hours.'" "me thinks," said i, "you are too fastidious in objecting to this. jonson, in using the word 'manly,' only meant to heighten the picture of this, the true, the intelligent fate, with one of the deeper colors." "and yet," said she, "so invariable is the use of this word where a heroic quality is to be described, and i feel so sure that persistence and courage are the most womanly no less than the most manly qualities, that i would exchange these words for others of a larger sense, at the risk of marring the fine tissue of the verse. read, 'a heavenward and instructed soul,' and i should be satisfied. let it not be said, wherever there is energy or creative genius, 'she has a masculine mind.'" * * * * * this by no means argues a willing want of generosity toward woman. man is as generous towards her as he knows how to be. wherever she has herself arisen in national or private history, and nobly shone forth in any form of excellence, men have received her, not only willingly, but with triumph. their encomiums, indeed, are always, in some sense, mortifying; they show too much surprise. "can this be you?" he cries to the transfigured cinderella; "well, i should never have thought it, but i am very glad. we will tell every one that you have '_surpassed your sex_.'" in every-day life, the feelings of the many are stained with vanity. each wishes to be lord in a little world, to be superior at least over one; and he does not feel strong enough to retain a life-long ascendency over a strong nature. only a theseus could conquer before he wed the amazonian queen. hercules wished rather to rest with dejanira, and received the poisoned robe as a fit guerdon. the tale should be interpreted to all those who seek repose with the weak. but not only is man vain and fond of power, but the same want of development, which thus affects him morally, prevents his intellectually discerning the destiny of woman: the boy wants no woman, but only a girl to play ball with him, and mark his pocket handkerchief. thus, in schiller's dignity of woman, beautiful as the poem is, there is no "grave and perfect man," but only a great boy to be softened and restrained by the influence of girls. poets--the elder brothers of their race--have usually seen further; but what can you expect of every-day men, if schiller was not more prophetic as to what women must be? even with richter, one foremost thought about a wife was that she would "cook him something good." but as this is a delicate subject, and we are in constant danger of being accused of slighting what are called "the functions," let me say, in behalf of miranda and myself, that we have high respect for those who "cook something good," who create and preserve fair order in houses, and prepare therein the shining raiment for worthy inmates, worthy guests. only these "functions" must not be a drudgery, or enforced necessity, but a part of life. let ulysses drive the beeves home, while penelope there piles up the fragrant loaves; they are both well employed if these be done in thought and love, willingly. but penelope is no more meant for a baker or weaver solely, than ulysses for a cattle-herd. the sexes should not only correspond to and appreciate, but prophesy to one another. in individual instances this happens. two persons love in one another the future good which they aid one another to unfold. this is imperfectly or rarely done in the general life. man has gone but little way; now he is waiting to see whether woman can keep step with him; but, instead of calling but, like a good brother, "you can do it, if you only think so," or impersonally, "any one can do what he tries to do;" he often discourages with school-boy brag: "girls can't do that; girls can't play ball." but let any one defy their taunts, break through and be brave and secure, they rend the air with shouts. this fluctuation was obvious in a narrative i have lately seen, the story of the life of countess emily plater, the heroine of the last revolution in poland. the dignity, the purity, the concentrated resolve, the calm, deep enthusiasm, which yet could, when occasion called, sparkle up a holy, an indignant fire, make of this young maiden the figure i want for my frontispiece. her portrait is to be seen in the book, a gentle shadow of her soul. short was the career. like the maid of orleans, she only did enough to verify her credentials, and then passed from a scene on which she was, probably, a premature apparition. when the young girl joined the army, where the report of her exploits had preceded her, she was received in a manner that marks the usual state of feeling. some of the officers were disappointed at her quiet manners; that she had not the air and tone of a stage-heroine. they thought she could not have acted heroically unless in buskins; had no idea that such deeds only showed the habit of her mind. others talked of the delicacy of her sex, advised her to withdraw from perils and dangers, and had no comprehension of the feelings within her breast that made this impossible. the gentle irony of her reply to these self-constituted tutors (not one of whom showed himself her equal in conduct or reason), is as good as her indignant reproof at a later period to the general, whose perfidy ruined all. but though, to the mass of these men, she was an embarrassment and a puzzle, the nobler sort viewed her with a tender enthusiasm worthy of her. "her name," said her biographer, "is known throughout europe. i paint her character that she may be as widely loved." with pride, he shows her freedom from all personal affections; that, though tender and gentle in an uncommon degree, there was no room for a private love in her consecrated life. she inspired those who knew her with a simple energy of feeling like her own. "we have seen," they felt, "a woman worthy the name, capable of all sweet affections, capable of stern virtue." it is a fact worthy of remark, that all these revolutions in favor of liberty have produced female champions that share the same traits, but emily alone has found a biographer. only a near friend could have performed for her this task, for the flower was reared in feminine seclusion, and the few and simple traits of her history before her appearance in the field could only have been known to the domestic circle. her biographer has gathered them up with a brotherly devotion. no! man is not willingly ungenerous. he wants faith and love, because he is not yet himself an elevated being. he cries, with sneering scepticism, "give us a sign." but if the sign appears, his eyes glisten, and he offers not merely approval, but homage. the severe nation which taught that the happiness of the race was forfeited through the fault of a woman, and showed its thought of what sort of regard man owed her, by making him accuse her on the first question to his god,--who gave her to the patriarch as a handmaid, and, by the mosaical law, bound her to allegiance like a serf,--even they greeted, with solemn rapture, all great and holy women as heroines, prophetesses, judges in israel; and, if they made eve listen to the serpent, gave mary as a bride to the holy spirit. in other nations it has been the same down to our day. to the woman who could conquer a triumph was awarded. and not only those whose strength was recommended to the heart by association with goodness and beauty, but those who were bad, if they were steadfast and strong, had their claims allowed. in any age a semiramis, an elizabeth of england, a catharine of russia, makes her place good, whether in a large or small circle. how has a little wit, a little genius, been celebrated in a woman! what an intellectual triumph was that of the lonely aspasia, and how heartily acknowledged! she, indeed, met a pericles. but what annalist, the rudest of men, the most plebeian of husbands, will spare from his page one of the few anecdotes of roman women--sappho! eloisa! the names are of threadbare celebrity. indeed, they were not more suitably met in their own time than the countess colonel plater on her first joining the army. they had much to mourn, and their great impulses did not find due scope. but with time enough, space enough, their kindred appear on the scene. across the ages, forms lean, trying to touch the hem of their retreating robes. the youth here by my side cannot be weary of the fragments from the life of sappho. he will not believe they are not addressed to himself, or that he to whom they were addressed could be ungrateful. a recluse of high powers devotes himself to understand and explain the thought of eloisa; he asserts her vast superiority in soul and genius to her master; he curses the fate that casts his lot in another age than hers. he could have understood her; he would have been to her a friend, such as abelard never could. and this one woman he could have loved and reverenced, and she, alas! lay cold in her grave hundreds of years ago. his sorrow is truly pathetic. these responses, that come too late to give joy, are as tragic as anything we know, and yet the tears of later ages glitter as they fall on tasso's prison bars. and we know how elevating to the captive is the security that somewhere an intelligence must answer to his. the man habitually most narrow towards woman will be flushed, as by the worst assault on christianity, if you say it has made no improvement in her condition. indeed, those most opposed to new acts in her favor, are jealous of the reputation of those which have been done. we will not speak of the enthusiasm excited by actresses, improvisatrici, female singers,--for here mingles the charm of beauty and grace,--but female authors, even learned women, if not insufferably ugly and slovenly, from the italian professor's daughter who taught behind the curtain, down to mrs. carter and madame dacier, are sure of an admiring audience, and, what is far better, chance to use what they have learned, and to learn more, if they can once get a platform on which to stand. but how to get this platform, or how to make it of reasonably easy access, is the difficulty. plants of great vigor will almost always struggle into blossom, despite impediments. but there should be encouragement, and a free genial atmosphere for those of move timid sort, fair play for each in its own kind. some are like the little, delicate flowers which love to hide in the dripping mosses, by the sides of mountain torrents, or in the shade of tall trees. but others require an open field, a rich and loosened soil, or they never show their proper hues. it may be said that man does not have his fair play either; his energies are repressed and distorted by the interposition of artificial obstacles. ay, but he himself has put them there; they have grown out of his own imperfections. if there _is_ a misfortune in woman's lot, it is in obstacles being interposed by men, which do _not_ mark her state; and, if they express her past ignorance, do not her present needs. as every man is of woman born, she has slow but sure means of redress; yet the sooner a general justness of thought makes smooth the path, the better. man is of woman born, and her face bends over him in infancy with an expression he can never quite forget. eminent men have delighted to pay tribute to this image, and it is an hackneyed observation, that most men of genius boast some remarkable development in the mother. the rudest tar brushes off a tear with his coat-sleeve at the hallowed name. the other day, i met a decrepit old man of seventy, on a journey, who challenged the stage company to guess where he was going. they guessed aright, "to see your mother." "yes," said he, "she is ninety-two, but has good eyesight still, they say. i have not seen her these forty years, and i thought i could not die in peace without." i should have liked his picture painted as a companion-piece to that of a boisterous little boy, whom i saw attempt to declaim at a school exhibition-- "o that those lips had language! life has passed with me but roughly since i heard thee last." he got but very little way before sudden tears shamed him from the stage. some gleams of the same expression which shone down upon his infancy, angelically pure and benign, visit man again with hopes of pure love, of a holy marriage. or, if not before, in the eyes of the mother of his child they again are seen, and dim fancies pass before his mind, that woman may not have been born for him alone, but have come from heaven, a commissioned soul, a messenger of truth and love; that she can only make for him a home in which he may lawfully repose, in so far as she is "true to the kindred points of heaven and home." in gleams, in dim fancies, this thought visits the mind of common men. it is soon obscured by the mists of sensuality, the dust of routine, and he thinks it was only some meteor or ignis fatuus that shone. but, as a rosicrucian lamp, it burns unwearied, though condemned to the solitude of tombs; and to its permanent life, as to every truth, each age has in some form borne witness. for the truths, which visit the minds of careless men only in fitful gleams, shine with radiant clearness into those of the poet, the priest, and the artist. whatever may have been the domestic manners of the ancients, the idea of woman was nobly manifested in their mythologies and poems, whore she appears as site in the ramayana, a form of tender purity; as the egyptian isis, [footnote: for an adequate description of the isis, see appendix a.] of divine wisdom never yet surpassed. in egypt, too, the sphynx, walking the earth with lion tread, looked out upon its marvels in the calm, inscrutable beauty of a virgin's face, and the greek could only add wings to the great emblem. in greece, ceres and proserpine, significantly termed "the great goddesses," were seen seated side by side. they needed not to rise for any worshipper or any change; they were prepared for all things, as those initiated to their mysteries knew. more obvious is the meaning of these three forms, the diana, minerva, and vesta. unlike in the expression of their beauty, but alike in this,--that each was self-sufficing. other forms were only accessories and illustrations, none the complement to one like these. another might, indeed, be the companion, and the apollo and diana set off one another's beauty. of the vesta, it is to be observed, that not only deep-eyed, deep-discerning greece, but ruder rome, who represents the only form of good man (the always busy warrior) that could be indifferent to woman, confided the permanence of its glory to a tutelary goddess, and her wisest legislator spoke of meditation as a nymph. perhaps in rome the neglect of woman was a reaction on the manners of etruria, where the priestess queen, warrior queen, would seem to have been so usual a character. an instance of the noble roman marriage, where the stern and calm nobleness of the nation was common to both, we see in the historic page through the little that is told us of brutus and portia. shakspeare has seized on the relation in its native lineaments, harmonizing the particular with the universal; and, while it is conjugal love, and no other, making it unlike the same relation as seen in cymbeline, or othello, even as one star differeth from another in glory. "by that great vow which did incorporate and make us one, unfold to me, yourself, your other half, why you are heavy. ... dwell i but in the suburbs of your good pleasure? if it be no more, portia is brutus' harlot, not his wife." mark the sad majesty of his tone in answer. who would not have lent a life-long credence to that voice of honor? "you are my true and honorable wife; as dear to me as are the ruddy drops that visit this sad heart." it is the same voice that tells the moral of his life in the last words-- "countrymen, my heart doth joy, that, yet in all my life, i found no man but he was true to me." it was not wonderful that it should be so. shakspeare, however, was not content to let portia rest her plea for confidence on the essential nature of the marriage bond: "i grant i am a woman; but withal, a woman that lord brutus took to wife. i grant i am a woman; but withal, a woman well reputed--cato's daughter. think you i am _no stronger than my sex_, being so fathered and so husbanded?" and afterward in the very scene where brutus is suffering under that "insupportable and touching loss," the death of his wife, cassius pleads-- "have you not love enough to bear with me, when that rash humor which my mother gave me makes me forgetful? _brutus_.--yes, cassius, and henceforth, when you are over-earnest with your brutus, he'll think your mother chides, and leaves you so." as indeed it was a frequent belief among the ancients, as with our indians, that the _body_ was inherited from the mother, the _soul_ from the father. as in that noble passage of ovid, already quoted, where jupiter, as his divine synod are looking down on the funeral pyre of hercules, thus triumphs-- "neo nisi _materna_ vulcanum parte potentem, sentiet. aeternum est, a me quod traxit, et expers atque immune neois, nullaque domabile flamma idque ego defunctum terra coelestibus oris accipiam, cunctisque meum laetabile factum dis fore confido. "the part alone of gross _maternal_ flame fire shall devour; while that from me he drew shall live immortal and its force renew; that, when he's dead, i'll raise to realms above; let all the powers the righteous act approve." it is indeed a god speaking of his union with an earthly woman, but it expresses the common roman thought as to marriage,--the same which permitted a man to lend his wife to a friend, as if she were a chattel "she dwelt but in the suburbs of his good pleasure." yet the same city, as i have said, leaned on the worship of vesta, the preserver, and in later times was devoted to that of isis. in sparta, thought, in this respect as in all others, was expressed in the characters of real life, and the women of sparta were as much spartans as the men. the "citoyen, citoyenne" of france was here actualized. was not the calm equality they enjoyed as honorable as the devotion of chivalry? they intelligently shared the ideal life of their nation. like the men they felt: "honor gone, all's gone: better never have been born." they were the true friends of men. the spartan, surely, would not think that he received only his body from his mother. the sage, had he lived in that community, could not have thought the souls of "vain and foppish men will be degraded after death to the forms of women; and, if they do not then make great efforts to retrieve themselves, will become birds." (by the way, it is very expressive of the hard intellectuality of the merely _mannish_ mind, to speak thus of birds, chosen always by the _feminine_ poet as the symbols of his fairest thoughts.) we are told of the greek nations in general, that woman occupied there an infinitely lower place than man. it is difficult to believe this, when we see such range and dignity of thought on the subject in the mythologies, and find the poets producing such ideals as cassandra, iphigenia, antigone, macaria; where sibylline priestesses told the oracle of the highest god, and he could not be content to reign with a, court of fewer than nine muses. even victory wore a female form. but, whatever were the facts of daily life, i cannot complain of the age and nation which represents its thought by such a symbol as i see before me at this moment. it is a zodiac of the busts of gods and goddesses, arranged in pairs. the circle breathes the music of a heavenly order. male and female heads are distinct in expression, but equal in beauty, strength and calmness. each male head is that of a brother and a king,--each female of a sister and a queen. could the thought thus expressed be lived out, there would be nothing more to be desired. there would be unison in variety, congeniality in difference. coming nearer our own time, we find religion and poetry no less true in their revelations. the rude man, just disengaged from the sod, the adam, accuses woman to his god, and records her disgrace to their posterity. he is not ashamed to write that he could be drawn from heaven by one beneath him,--one made, he says, from but a small part of himself. but in the same nation, educated by time, instructed by a succession of prophets, we find woman in as high a position as she has ever occupied, no figure that has ever arisen to greet our eyes has been received with more fervent reverence than that of the madonna. heine calls her the _dame du comptoir_ of the catholic church, and this jeer well expresses a serious truth. and not only this holy and significant image was worshipped by the pilgrim, and the favorite subject of the artist, but it exercised an immediate influence on the destiny of the sex. the empresses who embraced the cross converted sons and husbands. whole calendars of female saints, heroic dames of chivalry, binding the emblem of faith on the heart of the best-beloved, and wasting the bloom of youth in separation and loneliness, for the sake of duties they thought it religion to assume, with innumerable forms of poesy, trace their lineage to this one. nor, however imperfect may be the action, in our day, of the faith thus expressed, and though we can scarcely think it nearer this ideal than that of india or greece was near their ideal, is it in vain that the truth has been recognized, that woman is not only a part of man, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, born that men might not be lonely--but that women are in themselves possessors of and possessed by immortal souls. this truth undoubtedly received a greater outward stability from the belief of the church that the earthly parent of the saviour of souls was a woman. the assumption of the virgin, as painted by sublime artists, as also petrarch's hymn to the madonna, [footnote: appendix b.] cannot have spoken to the world wholly without result, yet oftentimes those who had ears heard not. see upon the nations the influence of this powerful example. in spain look only at the ballads. woman in these is "very woman;" she is the betrothed, the bride, the spouse of man; there is on her no hue of the philosopher, the heroine, the savante, but she looks great and noble. why? because she is also, through her deep devotion, the betrothed of heaven. her upturned eyes have drawn down the light that casts a radiance round her. see only such a ballad as that of "lady teresa's bridal," where the infanta, given to the moorish bridegroom, calls down the vengeance of heaven on his unhallowed passion, and thinks it not too much to expiate by a life in the cloister the involuntary stain upon her princely youth. [footnote: appendix c.] it was this constant sense of claims above those of earthly love or happiness that made the spanish lady who shared this spirit a guerdon to be won by toils and blood and constant purity, rather than a chattel to be bought for pleasure and service. germany did hot need to _learn_ a high view of woman; it was inborn in that race. woman was to the teuton warrior his priestess, his friend, his sister,--in truth, a wife. and the christian statues of noble pairs, as they lie above their graves in stone, expressing the meaning of all the by-gone pilgrimage by hands folded in mutual prayer, yield not a nobler sense of the place and powers of woman than belonged to the _altvater_ day. the holy love of christ which summoned them, also, to choose "the better part--that which could not be taken from them," refined and hallowed in this nation a native faith; thus showing that it was not the warlike spirit alone that left the latins so barbarous in this respect. but the germans, taking so kindly to this thought, did it the more justice. the idea of woman in their literature is expressed both to a greater height and depth than elsewhere. i will give as instances the themes of three ballads: one is upon a knight who had always the name of the virgin on his lips. this protected him all his life through, in various and beautiful modes, both from sin and other dangers; and, when he died, a plant sprang from his grave, which so gently whispered the ave maria that none could pass it by with an unpurified heart. another is one of the legends of the famous drachenfels. a maiden, one of the earliest converts to christianity, was carried by the enraged populace to this dread haunt of "the dragon's fabled brood," to be their prey. she was left alone, but undismayed, for she knew in whom she trusted. so, when the dragons came rushing towards her, she showed them a crucifix and they crouched reverently at her feet. next day the people came, and, seeing these wonders, were all turned to the faith which exalts the lowly. the third i have in mind is another of the rhine legends. a youth is sitting with the maid he loves on the shore of an isle, her fairy kingdom, then perfumed by the blossoming grape-vines which draped its bowers. they are happy; all blossoms with them, and life promises its richest vine. a boat approaches on the tide; it pauses at their foot. it brings, perhaps, some joyous message, fresh dew for their flowers, fresh light on the wave. no! it is the usual check on such great happiness. the father of the count departs for the crusade; will his son join him, or remain to rule their domain, and wed her he loves? neither of the affianced pair hesitates a moment. "i must go with my father,"--"thou must go with thy father." it was one thought, one word. "i will be here again," he said, "when these blossoms have turned to purple grapes." "i hope so," she sighed, while the prophetic sense said "no." and there she waited, and the grapes ripened, and were gathered into the vintage, and he came not. year after year passed thus, and no tidings; yet still she waited. he, meanwhile, was in a moslem prison. long he languished there without hope, till, at last, his patron saint appeared in vision and announced his release, but only on condition of his joining the monastic order for the service of the saint. and so his release was effected, and a safe voyage home given. and once more he sets sail upon the rhine. the maiden, still watching beneath the vines, sees at last the object of all this patient love approach--approach, but not to touch the strand to which she, with outstretched arms, has rushed. he dares not trust himself to land, but in low, heart-broken tones, tells her of heaven's will; and that he, in obedience to his vow, is now on his way to a convent on the river-bank, there to pass the rest of his earthly life in the service of the shrine. and then he turns his boat, and floats away from her and hope of any happiness in this world, but urged, as he believes, by the breath of heaven. the maiden stands appalled, but she dares not murmur, and cannot hesitate long. she also bids them prepare her boat. she follows her lost love to the convent gate, requests an interview with the abbot, and devotes her elysian isle, where vines had ripened their ruby fruit in vain for her, to the service of the monastery where her love was to serve. then, passing over to the nunnery opposite, she takes the veil, and meets her betrothed at the altar; and for a life-long union, if not the one they had hoped in earlier years. is not this sorrowful story of a lofty beauty? does it not show a sufficiently high view of woman, of marriage? this is commonly the chivalric, still more the german view. yet, wherever there was a balance in the mind of man, of sentiment with intellect, such a result was sure. the greek xenophon has not only painted us a sweet picture of the domestic woman, in his economics, but in the cyropedia has given, in the picture of panthea, a view of woman which no german picture can surpass, whether lonely and quiet with veiled lids, the temple of a vestal loveliness, or with eyes flashing, and hair flowing to the free wind, cheering on the hero to fight for his god, his country, or whatever name his duty might bear at the time. this picture i shall copy by and by. yet xenophon grew up in the same age with him who makes iphigenia say to achilles, "better a thousand women should perish than one man cease to see the light." this was the vulgar greek sentiment. xenophon, aiming at the ideal man, caught glimpses of the ideal woman also. from the figure of a cyrus the pantheas stand not afar. they do not in thought; they would not in life. i could swell the catalogue of instances far beyond the reader's patience. but enough have been brought forward to show that, though there has been great disparity betwixt the nations as between individuals in their culture on this point, yet the idea of woman has always cast some rays and often been forcibly represented. far less has woman to complain that she has not had her share of power. this, in all ranks of society, except the lowest, has been hers to the extent that vanity would crave, far beyond what wisdom would accept. in the very lowest, where man, pressed by poverty, sees in woman only the partner of toils and cares, and cannot hope, scarcely has an idea of, a comfortable home, he often maltreats her, and is less influenced by her. in all ranks, those who are gentle and uncomplaining, too candid to intrigue, too delicate to encroach, suffer much. they suffer long, and are kind; verily, they have their reward. but wherever man is sufficiently raised above extreme poverty, or brutal stupidity, to care for the comforts of the fireside, or the bloom and ornament of life, woman has always power enough, if she choose to exert it, and is usually disposed to do so, in proportion to her ignorance and childish vanity. unacquainted with the importance of life and its purposes, trained to a selfish coquetry and love of petty power, she does not look beyond the pleasure of making herself felt at the moment, and governments are shaken and commerce broken up to gratify the pique of a female favorite. the english shopkeeper's wife does not vote, but it is for her interest that the politician canvasses by the coarsest flattery. france suffers no woman on her throne, but her proud nobles kiss the dust at the feet of pompadour and dubarry; for such flare in the lighted foreground where a roland would modestly aid in the closet. spain (that same spain which sang of ximena and the lady teresa) shuts up her women in the care of duennas, and allows them no book but the breviary; but the ruin follows only the more surely from the worthless favorite of a worthless queen. relying on mean precautions, men indeed cry peace, peace, where there is no peace. it is not the transient breath of poetic incense that women want; each can receive that from a lover. it is not life-long sway; it needs but to become a coquette, a shrew, or a good cook, to be sure of that. it is not money, nor notoriety, nor the badges of authority which men have appropriated to themselves. if demands, made in their behalf, lay stress on any of these particulars, those who make them have not searched deeply into the need. the want is for that which at once includes these and precludes them; which would not be forbidden power, lest there be temptation to steal and misuse it; which would not have the mind perverted by flattery from a worthiness of esteem; it is for that which is the birthright of every being capable of receiving it,--the freedom, the religious, the intelligent freedom of the universe to use its means, to learn its secret, as far as nature has enabled them, with god alone for their guide and their judge. ye cannot believe it, men; but the only reason why women over assume what is more appropriate to you, is because you prevent them from finding out what is fit for themselves. were they free, were they wise fully to develop the strength and beauty of woman; they would never wish to be men, or man-like. the well-instructed moon flies not from her orbit to seize on the glories of her partner. no; for she knows that one law rules, one heaven contains, one universe replies to them alike. it is with women as with the slave: "vor dem sklaven, wenn er die kette bricht, vor dem frelen menschen erzittert nicht." tremble not before the free man, but before the slave who has chains to break. in slavery, acknowledged slavery, women are on a par with men. each is a work-tool, an article of property, no more! in perfect freedom, such as is painted in olympus, in swedenborg's angelic state, in the heaven where there is no marrying nor giving in marriage, each is a purified intelligence, an enfranchised soul,--no less. "jene himmlische gestalten sie fragen nicht nach mann und welb, und keine kielder, keine falten umgeben den verklarten leib." the child who song this was a prophetic form, expressive of the longing for a state of perfect freedom, pure love. she could not remain here, but was translated to another air. and it may be that the air of this earth will never be so tempered that such can bear it long. but, while they stay, they must bear testimony to the truth they are constituted to demand. that an era approaches which shall approximate nearer to such a temper than any has yet done, there are many tokens; indeed, so many that only a few of the most prominent can here be enumerated. the reigns of elizabeth of england and isabella of castile foreboded this era. they expressed the beginning of the new state; while they forwarded its progress. these were strong characters, and in harmony with the wants of their time. one showed that this strength did not unfit a woman for the duties of a wife and a mother; the other, that it could enable her to live and die alone, a wide energetic life, a courageous death. elizabeth is certainly no pleasing example. in rising above the weakness, she did not lay aside the foibles ascribed to her sex; but her strength must be respected now, as it was in her own time. mary stuart and elizabeth seem types, moulded by the spirit of the time, and placed upon an elevated platform, to show to the coming ages woman such as the conduct and wishes of man in general is likely to make her. the first shows woman lovely even to allurement; quick in apprehension and weak in judgment; with grace and dignity of sentiment, but no principle; credulous and indiscreet, yet artful; capable of sudden greatness or of crime, but not of a steadfast wisdom, nor self-restraining virtue. the second reveals woman half-emancipated and jealous of her freedom, such as she has figured before or since in many a combative attitude, mannish, not equally manly; strong and prudent more than great or wise; able to control vanity, and the wish to rule through coquetry and passion, but not to resign these dear deceits from the very foundation, as unworthy a being capable of truth and nobleness. elizabeth, taught by adversity, put on her virtues as armor, more than produced them in a natural order from her soul. the time and her position called on her to act the wise sovereign, and she was proud that she could do so, but her tastes and inclinations would have led her to act the weak woman. she was without magnanimity of any kind. we may accept as an omen for ourselves that it was isabella who furnished columbus with the means of coming hither. this land must pay back its debt to woman, without whose aid it would not have been brought into alliance with the civilized world. a graceful and meaning figure is that introduced to us by mr. prescott, in the conquest of mexico, in the indian girl marina, who accompanied cortez, and was his interpreter in all the various difficulties of his career. she stood at his side, on the walls of the besieged palace, to plead with her enraged countrymen. by her name he was known in new spain, and, after the conquest, her gentle intercession was often of avail to the conquered. the poem of the future may be read in some features of the story of "malinche." the influence of elizabeth on literature was real, though, by sympathy with its finer productions, she was no more entitled to give name to an era than queen anne. it was simply that the fact of having a female sovereign on the throne affected the course of a writer's thoughts. in this sense, the presence of a woman on the throne always makes its mark. life is lived before the eyes of men, by which their imaginations are stimulated as to the possibilities of woman. "we will die for our king, maria, theresa," cry the wild warriors, clashing their swords; and the sounds vibrate through the poems of that generation. the range of female character in spenser alone might content us for one period. britomart and belphoebe have as much room on the canvas as florimel; and, where this is the case, the haughtiest amazon will not murmur that una should be felt to be the fairest type. unlike as was the english queen to a fairy queen, we may yet conceive that it was the image of a queen before the poet's mind that called up this splendid court of women. shakspeare's range is also great; but he has left out the heroic characters, such as the macaria of greece, the britomart of spenser. ford and massinger have, in this respect, soared to a higher flight of feeling than he. it was the holy and heroic woman they most loved, and if they could not paint an imogen, a desdemona, a rosalind, yet, in those of a stronger mould, they showed a higher ideal, though with so much less poetic power to embody it, than we see in portia or isabella, the simple truth of cordelia, indeed, is of this sort. the beauty of cordelia is neither male nor female; it is the beauty of virtue. the ideal of love and marriage rose high in the mind of all the christian nations who were capable of grave and deep feeling. we may take as examples of its english aspect the lines, "i could not love thee, dear, so much, loved i not honor more." or the address of the commonwealth's man to his wife, as she looked out from the tower window to see him, for the last time, on his way to the scaffold. he stood up in the cart, waved his hat, and cried, "to heaven, my love, to heaven, and leave you in the storm!" such was the love of faith and honor,--a love which stopped, like colonel hutchinson's, "on this side idolatry," because it was religious. the meeting of two such souls donne describes as giving birth to an "abler soul." lord herbert wrote to his love, "were not our souls immortal made, our equal loves can make them such." in the "broken heart," of ford, penthea, a character which engages my admiration even more deeply than the famous one of calanthe, is made to present to the mind the most beautiful picture of what these relations should be in their purity. her life cannot sustain the violation of what she so clearly feels. shakspeare, too, saw that, in true love, as in fire, the utmost ardor is coincident with the utmost purity. it is a true lover that exclaims in the agony of othello, "if thou art false, o then heaven mocks itself!" the son, framed, like hamlet, to appreciate truth in all the beauty of relations, sinks into deep melancholy when he finds his natural expectations disappointed. he has no other. she to whom he gave the name, disgraces from his heart's shrine all the sex. "frailty, thy name is woman." it is because a hamlet could find cause to say so, that i have put the line, whose stigma has never been removed, at the head of my work. but, as a lover, surely hamlet would not have so far mistaken, as to have finished with such a conviction. he would have felt the faith of othello, and that faith could not, in his more dispassionate mind, have been disturbed by calumny. in spain, this thought is arrayed in a sublimity which belongs to the sombre and passionate genius of the nation. calderon's justina resists all the temptation of the demon, and raises her lover, with her, above the sweet lures of mere temporal happiness. their marriage is vowed at the stake; their goals are liberated together by the martyr flame into "a purer state of sensation and existence." in italy, the great poets wove into their lives an ideal love which answered to the highest wants. it included those of the intellect and the affections, for it was a love of spirit for spirit. it was not ascetic, or superhuman, but, interpreting all things, gave their proper beauty to details of the common life, the common day. the poet spoke of his love, not as a flower to place in his bosom, or hold carelessly in his hand, but as a light toward which he must find wings to fly, or "a stair to heaven." he delighted to speak of her, not only as the bride of his heart, but the mother of his soul; for he saw that, in cases where the right direction had been taken, the greater delicacy of her frame and stillness of her life left her more open than is man to spiritual influx. so he did not look upon her as betwixt him and earth, to serve his temporal needs, but, rather, betwixt him and heaven, to purify his affections and lead him to wisdom through love. he sought, in her, not so much the eve as the madonna. in these minds the thought, which gleams through all the legends of chivalry, shines in broad intellectual effulgence, not to be misinterpreted; and their thought is reverenced by the world, though it lies far from the practice of the world as yet,--so far that it seems as though a gulf of death yawned between. even with such men the practice was, often, widely different from the mental faith. i say mental; for if the heart were thoroughly alive with it, the practice could not be dissonant. lord herbert's was a marriage of convention, made for him at fifteen; he was not discontented with it, but looked only to the advantages it brought of perpetuating his family on the basis of a great fortune. he paid, in act, what he considered a dutiful attention to the bond; his thoughts travelled elsewhere; and while forming a high ideal of the companionship of minds in marriage, he seems never to have doubted that its realization must be postponed to some other state of being. dante, almost immediately after the death of beatrice, married a lady chosen for him by his friends, and boccaccio, in describing the miseries that attended, in this case, "the form of an union where union is none," speaks as if these were inevitable to the connection, and as if the scholar and poet, especially, could expect nothing but misery and obstruction in a domestic partnership with woman. centuries have passed since, but civilized europe is still in a transition state about marriage; not only in practice but in thought. it is idle to speak with contempt of the nations where polygamy is an institution, or seraglios a custom, while practices far more debasing haunt, well-nigh fill, every city and every town, and so far as union of one with one is believed to be the only pure form of marriage, a great majority of societies and individuals are still doubtful whether the earthly bond must be a meeting of souls, or only supposes a contract of convenience and utility. were woman established in the rights of an immortal being, this could not be. she would not, in some countries, be given away by her father, with scarcely more respect for her feelings than is shown by the indian chief, who sells his daughter for a horse, and beats her if she runs away from her new home. nor, in societies where her choice is left free, would she be perverted, by the current of opinion that seizes her, into the belief that she must marry, if it be only to find a protector, and a home of her own. neither would man, if he thought the connection of permanent importance, form it so lightly. he would not deem it a trifle, that he was to enter into the closest relations with another soul, which, if not eternal in themselves, must eternally affect his growth. neither, did he believe woman capable of friendship, [footnote: see appendix d, spinoza's view] would he, by rash haste, lose the chance of finding a friend in the person who might, probably, live half a century by his side. did love, to his mind, stretch forth into infinity, he would not miss his chance of its revelations, that he might the sooner rest from his weariness by a bright fireside, and secure a sweet and graceful attendant "devoted to him alone." were he a step higher, he would not carelessly enter into a relation where he might not be able to do the duty of a friend, as well as a protector from external ill, to the other party, and have a being in his power pining for sympathy, intelligence and aid, that he could not give. what deep communion, what real intercourse is implied in sharing the joys and cares of parentage, when any degree of equality is admitted between the parties! it is true that, in a majority of instances, the man looks upon his wife as an adopted child, and places her to the other children in the relation of nurse or governess, rather than that of parent. her influence with them is sure; but she misses the education which should enlighten that influence, by being thus treated. it is the order of nature that children should complete the education, moral and mental, of parents, by making them think what is needed for the best culture of human beings, and conquer all faults and impulses that interfere with their giving this to these dear objects, who represent the world to them. father and mother should assist one another to learn what is required for this sublime priesthood of nature. but, for this, a religious recognition of equality is required. where this thought of equality begins to diffuse itself, it is shown in four ways. first;--the household partnership. in our country, the woman looks for a "smart but kind" husband; the man for a "capable, sweet-tempered" wife. the man furnishes the house; the woman regulates it. their relation is one of mutual esteem, mutual dependence. their talk is of business; their affection shows itself by practical kindness. they know that life goes more smoothly and cheerfully to each for the other's aid; they are grateful and content. the wife praises her husband as a "good provider;" the husband, in return, compliments her as a "capital housekeeper." this relation is good so far as it goes. next comes a closer tie, which takes the form either of mutual idolatry or of intellectual companionship. the first, we suppose, is to no one a pleasing subject of contemplation. the parties weaken and narrow one another; they lock the gate against all the glories of the universe, that they may live in a cell together. to themselves they seem the only wise; to all others, steeped in infatuation; the gods smile as they look forward to the crisis of cure; to men, the woman seems an unlovely syren; to women, the man an effeminate boy. the other form, of intellectual companionship, has become more and more frequent. men engaged in public life, literary men, and artists, have often found in their wives companions and confidants in thought no less than in feeling. and, as the intellectual development of woman has spread wider and risen higher, they have, not unfrequently, shared the same employment; as in the case of roland and his wife, who were friends in the household and in the nation's councils, read, regulated home affairs, or prepared public documents together, indifferently. it is very pleasant, in letters begun by roland and finished by his wife, to see the harmony of mind, and the difference of nature; one thought, but various ways of treating it. this is one of the best instances of a marriage of friendship. it was only friendship, whose basis was esteem; probably neither party knew love, except by name. roland was a good man, worthy to esteem, and be esteemed; his wife as deserving of admiration as able to do without it. madame roland is the fairest specimen we yet have of her class; as clear to discern her aim, as valiant to pursue it, as spenser's britomart; austerely set apart from all that did not belong to her, whether as woman or as mind. she is an antetype of a class to which the coming time will afford a field--the spartan matron, brought by the culture of the age of books to intellectual consciousness and expansion. self-sufficingness, strength, and clearsightedness were, in her, combined with a power of deep and calm affection. she, too, would have given a son or husband the device for his shield, "return with it or upon it;" and this, not because she loved little, but much. the page of her life is one of unsullied dignity. her appeal to posterity is one against the injustice of those who committed such crimes in the name of liberty. she makes it in behalf of herself and her husband. i would put beside it, on the shelf, a little volume, containing a similar appeal from the verdict of contemporaries to that of mankind, made by godwin in behalf of his wife, the celebrated, the by most men detested, mary wolstonecraft. in his view, it was an appeal from the injustice of those who did such wrong in the name of virtue. were this little book interesting for no other cause, it would be so for the generous affection evinced under the peculiar circumstances. this man had courage to love and honor this woman in the face of the world's sentence, and of all that was repulsive in her own past history. he believed he saw of what soul she was, and that the impulses she had struggled to act out were noble, though the opinions to which they had led might not be thoroughly weighed. he loved her, and he defended her for the meaning and tendency of her inner life. it was a good fact. mary wolstonecraft, like madame dudevant (commonly known as george sand) in our day, was a woman whose existence better proved the need of some new interpretation of woman's rights than anything she wrote. such beings as these, rich in genius, of most tender sympathies, capable of high virtue and a chastened harmony, ought not to find themselves, by birth, in a place so narrow, that, in breaking bonds, they become outlaws. were there as much room in the world for such, as in spenser's poem for britomart, they would not run their heads so wildly against the walls, but prize their shelter rather. they find their way, at last, to light and air, but the world will not take off the brand it has set upon them. the champion of the rights of woman found, in godwin, one who would plead that cause like a brother. he who delineated with such purity of traits the form of woman in the marguerite, of whom the weak st. leon could never learn to be worthy,--a pearl indeed whose price was above rubies,--was not false in life to the faith by which he had hallowed his romance. he acted, as he wrote, like a brother. this form of appeal rarely fails to touch the basest man:--"are you acting toward other women in the way you would have men act towards your sister?" george sand smokes, wears male attire, wishes to be addressed as "mon frere;"--perhaps, if she found those who were as brothers indeed, she would not care whether she were brother or sister. [footnote: a note appended by my sister in this place, in the first edition, is here omitted, because it is incorporated in another article in this volume, treating of george sand more at length.--[ed.]] we rejoice to see that she, who expresses such a painful contempt for men in most of her works, as shows she must have known great wrong from them, depicts, in "la roche mauprat," a man raised by the workings of love from the depths of savage sensualism to a moral and intellectual life. it was love for a pure object, for a steadfast woman, one of those who, the italian said, could make the "stair to heaven." this author, beginning like the many in assault upon bad institutions, and external ills, yet deepening the experience through comparative freedom, sees at last that the only efficient remedy must come from individual character. these bad institutions, indeed, it may always be replied, prevent individuals from forming good character, therefore we must remove them. agreed; yet keep steadily the higher aim in view. could you clear away all the bad forms of society, it is vain, unless the individual begin to be ready for better. there must be a parallel movement in these two branches of life. and all the rules left by moses availed less to further the best life than the living example of one messiah. still the mind of the age struggles confusedly with these problems, better discerning as yet the ill it can no longer bear, than the good by which it may supersede it. but women like sand will speak now and cannot be silenced; their characters and their eloquence alike foretell an era when such as they shall easier learn to lead true lives. but though such forebode, not such shall be parents of it. [footnote: appendix e.] those who would reform the world must show that they do not speak in the heat of wild impulse; their lives must be unstained by passionate error; they must be severe lawgivers to themselves. they must be religious students of the divine purpose with regard to man, if they would not confound the fancies of a day with the requisitions of eternal good. their liberty must be the liberty of law and knowledge. but as to the transgressions against custom which have caused such outcry against those of noble intention, it may be observed that the resolve of eloisa to be only the mistress of abelard, was that of one who saw in practice around her the contract of marriage made the seal of degradation. shelley feared not to be fettered, unless so to be was to be false. wherever abuses are seen, the timid will suffer; the bold will protest. but society has a right to outlaw them till she has revised her law; and this she must be taught to do, by one who speaks with authority, not in anger or haste. if godwin's choice of the calumniated authoress of the "rights of woman," for his honored wife, be a sign of a new era, no less so is an article to which i have alluded some pages back, published five or six years ago in one of the english reviews, where the writer, in doing fall justice to eloisa, shows his bitter regret that she lives not now to love him, who might have known bettor how to prize her love than did the egotistical abelard. these marriages, these characters, with all their imperfections, express an onward tendency. they speak of aspiration of soul, of energy of mind, seeking clearness and freedom. of a like promise are the tracts lately published by goodwyn barmby (the european pariah, as he calls himself) and his wife catharine. whatever we may think of their measures, we see in them wedlock; the two minds are wed by the only contract that can permanently avail, that of a common faith and a common purpose. we might mention instances, nearer home, of minds, partners in work and in life, sharing together, on equal terms, public and private interests, and which wear not, on any side, the aspect of offence shown by those last-named: persons who steer straight onward, yet, in our comparatively free life, have not been obliged to run their heads against any wall. but the principles which guide them might, under petrified and oppressive institutions, have made them warlike, paradoxical, and, in some sense, pariahs. the phenomena are different, the law is the same, in all these cases. men and women have been obliged to build up their house anew from the very foundation. if they found stone ready in the quarry, they took it peaceably; otherwise they alarmed the country by pulling down old towers to get materials. these are all instances of marriage as intellectual companionship. the parties meet mind to mind, and a mutual trust is produced, which can buckler them against a million. they work together for a common, purpose, and, in all these instances, with the same implement,--the pen. the pen and the writing-desk furnish forth as naturally the retirement of woman as of man. a pleasing expression, in this kind, is afforded by the union in the names of the howitts. william and mary howitt we heard named together for years, supposing them to be brother and sister; the equality of labors and reputation, even so, was auspicious; more so, now we find them man and wife. in his late work on germany, howitt mentions his wife, with pride, as one among the constellation of distinguished english-women, and in a graceful, simple manner. and still we contemplate with pleasure the partnership in literature and affection between the howitts,--the congenial pursuits and productions--the pedestrian tours wherein the married pair showed that marriage, on a wide enough basis, does not destroy the "inexhaustible" entertainment which lovers find in one another's company. in naming these instances, i do not mean to imply that community of employment is essential to the union of husband and wife, more than to the union of friends. harmony exists in difference, no less than in likeness, if only the same key-note govern both parts. woman the poem, man the poet! woman the heart, man the head! such divisions are only important when they are never to be transcended. if nature is never bound down, nor the voice of inspiration stifled, that is enough. we are pleased that women should write and speak, if they feel need of it, from having something to tell; but silence for ages would be no misfortune, if that silence be from divine command, and not from man's tradition. while goetz von berlichingen rides to battle, his wife is busy in the kitchen; but difference of occupation does not prevent that community of inward life, that perfect esteem, with which he says, "whom god loves, to him gives he such a wife." manzoni thus dedicates his "adelchi." "to his beloved and venerated wife, enrichetta luigia blondel, who, with conjugal affection and maternal wisdom, has preserved a virgin mind, the author dedicates this 'adelchi,' grieving that he could not, by a more splendid and more durable monument, honor the dear name, and the memory of so many virtues." the relation could not be fairer, nor more equal, if she, too, had written poems. yet the position of the parties might have been the reverse as well; the woman might have sung the deeds, given voice to the life of the man, and beauty would have been the result; as we see, in pictures of arcadia, the nymph singing to the shepherds, or the shepherd, with his pipe, alluring the nymphs; either makes a good picture. the sounding lyre requires not muscular strength, but energy of soul to animate the hand which would control it. nature seems to delight in varying the arrangements, as if to show that she will be fettered by no rule; and we must admit the same varieties that she admits. the fourth and highest grade of marriage union is the religious, which may be expressed as pilgrimage toward a common shrine. this includes the others: home sympathies and household wisdom, for these pilgrims must know how to assist each other along the dusty way; intellectual communion, for how sad it would be on such a journey to have a companion to whom you could not communicate your thoughts and aspirations as they sprang to life; who would have no feeling for the prospects that open, more and more glorious as we advance; who would never see the flowers that may be gathered by the most industrious traveller! it must include all these. such a fellow-pilgrim count zinzendorf seems to have found in his countess, of whom he thus writes: "twenty-five years' experience has shown me that just the help-meet whom i have is the only one that could suit my vocation. who else could have so carried through my family affairs? who lived so spotlessly before the world? who so wisely aided me in my rejection of a dry morality? who so clearly set aside the pharisaism which, as years passed, threatened to creep in among us? who so deeply discerned as to the spirits of delusion which sought to bewilder us? who would have governed my whole economy so wisely, richly and hospitably, when circumstances commanded? who have taken indifferently the part of servant or mistress, without, on the one side, affecting an especial spirituality; on the other, being sullied by any worldly pride? who, in a community where all ranks are eager to be on a level, would, from wise and real causes, have known how to maintain inward and outward distinctions? who, without a murmur, have seen her husband encounter such dangers by land and sea? who undertaken with him, and _sustained_, such astonishing pilgrimages? who, amid such difficulties, would have always held up her head and supported me? who found such vast sums of money, and acquitted them on her own credit? and, finally, who, of all human beings, could so well understand and interpret to others my inner and outer being as this one, of such nobleness in her way of thinking, such great intellectual capacity, and so free from the theological perplexities that enveloped me!" let any one peruse, with all intentness, the lineaments of this portrait, and see if the husband had not reason, with this air of solemn rapture and conviction, to challenge comparison? we are reminded of the majestic cadence of the line whose feet stop in the just proportion of humanity, "daughter of god and mati, accomplished eve!" an observer [footnote: spangenberg] adds this testimony: "we may, in many marriages, regard it as the best arrangement, if the man has so much advantage over his wife, that she can, without much thought of her own, be led and directed by him as by a father. but it was not so with the count and his consort. she was not made to be a copy; she was an original; and, while she loved and honored him, she thought for herself, on all subjects, with so much intelligence, that he could and did look on her as a sister and friend also." compare with this refined specimen of a religiously civilized life the following imperfect sketch of a north american indian, and we shall see that the same causes will always produce the same results, the flying pigeon (ratchewaine) was the wife of a barbarous chief, who had six others; but she was his only true wife, because the only one of a strong and pure character, and, having this, inspired a veneration, as like as the mind of the man permitted to that inspired by the countess zinzendorf. she died when her son was only four years old, yet left on his mind a feeling of reverent love worthy the thought of christian chivalry. grown to manhood, he shed tears on seeing her portrait. the flying pigeon. "ratchewaine was chaste, mild, gentle in her disposition, kind, generous, and devoted to her husband. a harsh word was never known to proceed from her mouth; nor was she ever known to be in a passion. mabaskah used to say of her, after her death, that her hand was shut when those who did not want came into her presence; but when the really poor came in, it was like a strainer full of holes, letting all she held in it pass through. in the exercise of generous feeling she was uniform, it was not indebted for its exercise to whim, nor caprice, nor partiality. no matter of what nation the applicant for her bounty was, or whether at war or peace with her nation; if he were hungry, she fed him; if naked, she clothed him; and, if houseless, she gave him shelter. the continued exercise of this generous feeling kept her poor. and she has been known to give away her last blanket--all the honey that was in the lodge, the last bladder of bear's oil, and the last piece of dried meat. "she was scrupulously exact in the observance of all the religious rites which her faith imposed upon her. her conscience is represented to have been extremely tender. she often feared that her acts were displeasing to the great spirit, when she would blacken her face, and retire to some lone place, and fast and pray." to these traits should be added, but for want of room, anecdotes which show the quick decision and vivacity of her mind. her face was in harmony with this combination. her brow is as ideal and the eyes and lids as devout and modest as the italian picture of the madonna, while the lower part of the face has the simplicity and childish strength of the indian race. her picture presents the finest specimen of indian beauty we have ever seen. such a woman is the sister and friend of all beings, as the worthy man is their brother and helper. with like pleasure we survey the pairs wedded on the eve of missionary effort they, indeed, are fellow-pilgrims on the well-made road, and whether or no they accomplish all they hope for the sad hindoo, or the nearer savage, we feel that in the burning waste their love is like to be a healing dew, in the forlorn jungle a tent of solace to one another. they meet, as children of one father, to read together one book of instruction. we must insert in this connection the most beautiful picture presented by ancient literature of wedded love under this noble form. it is from the romance in which xenophon, the chivalrous greek, presents his ideal of what human nature should be. the generals of cyrus had taken captive a princess, a woman of unequalled beauty, and hastened to present her to the prince as that part of the spoil he would think most worthy of his acceptance. cyrus visits the lady, and is filled with immediate admiration by the modesty and majesty with which she receives him. he finds her name is panthea, and that she is the wife of abradatus, a young king whom she entirely loves. he protects her as a sister, in his camp, till he can restore her to her husband. after the first transports of joy at this reunion, the heart of panthea is bent on showing her love and gratitude to her magnanimous and delicate protector. and as she has nothing so precious to give as the aid of abradatus, that is what she most wishes to offer. her husband is of one soul with her in this, as in all things. the description of her grief and self-destruction, after the death which ensued upon this devotion, i have seen quoted, but never that of their parting when she sends him forth to battle. i shall copy both. if they have been read by any of my readers, they may be so again with profit in this connection, for never were the heroism of a true woman, and the purity of love in a true marriage, painted in colors more delicate and more lively. "the chariot of abradatus, that had four perches and eight horses, was completely adorned for him; and when he was going to put on his linen corslet, which was a sort of armor used by those of his country, panthea brought him a golden helmet, and arm-pieces, broad bracelets for his wrists, a purple habit that reached down to his feet, and hung in folds at the bottom, and a crest dyed of a violet color. these things she had made, unknown to her husband, and by taking the measure of his armor. he wondered when he saw them, and inquired thus of panthea: 'and have you made me these arms, woman, by destroying your own ornaments?' 'no, by jove!' said panthea, 'not what is the most valuable of them; for it is you, if you appear to others to be what i think you, that will be my greatest ornament.' and, saying that, she put on him the armor, and, though she endeavored to conceal it, the tears poured down her checks. when abradatus, who was before a man of fine appearance, was set out in those arms, he appeared the most beautiful and noble of all, especially being likewise so by nature. then, taking the reins from the driver, he was just preparing to mount the chariot, when panthea, after she had desired all that were there to retire, thus said: "'o abradatus! if ever there was a woman who had a greater regard to her husband than to her own soul, i believe you know that i am such an one; what need i therefore speak of things in particular? for i reckon that my actions have convinced you more than any words i can now use. and yet, though i stand thus affected toward you, as you know i do, i swear, by this friendship of mine and yours, that i certainly would rather choose to be put under ground jointly with you, approving yourself a brave man, than to live with you in disgrace and shame; so much do i think you and myself worthy of the noblest things. then i think that we both lie under great obligations to cyrus, that, when i was a captive, and chosen out for himself, he thought fit to treat me neither as a slave, nor, indeed, as a woman of mean account, but he took and kept me for you, as if i were his brother's wife. besides, when araspes, who was my guard, went away from him, i promised him, that, if he would allow me to send for you, you would come to him, and approve yourself a much better and move faithful friend than araspes.' "thus she spoke; and abradatus, being struck with admiration at her discourse, laying, his hand gently on her head, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, made this prayer: 'do thou, o greatest jove! i grant me to appear a husband worthy of panthea, and a friend worthy of cyrus, who has done us so much honor!' "having said this, he mounted the chariot by the door of the driver's seat; and, after he had got up, when the driver shut the door, panthea, who had now no other way to salute him, kissed the seat of the chariot. the chariot then moved, and she, unknown to him, followed, till abradatus turning about, and seeing her, said: 'take courage, panthea! fare you happily and well, and now go your ways.' on this her women and servants carried her to her conveyance, and, laying her down, concealed her by throwing the covering of a tent over her. the people, though abradatus and his chariot made a noble spectacle, were not able to look at him till panthea was gone." after the battle-- "cyrus calling to some of his servants, 'tell me, said he, 'has any one seen abradatus? for i admire that he now does not appear.' one replied, 'my sovereign, it is because he is not living, but died in the battle as he broke in with his chariot on the egyptians. all the rest, except his particular companions, they say, turned off when they saw the egyptians' compact body. his wife is now said to have taken up his dead body, to have placed it in the carriage that she herself was conveyed in, and to have brought it hither to some place on the river pactolus, and her servants are digging a grave on a certain elevation. they say that his wife, after setting him out with all the ornaments she has, is sitting on the ground with his head on her knees.' cyrus, hearing this, gave himself a blow on the thigh, mounted his horse at a leap, and, taking with him a thousand horse, rode away to this scene of affliction; but gave orders to gadatas and gobryas to take with them all the rich ornaments proper for a friend and an excellent man deceased, and to follow after him; and whoever had herds of cattle with him, he ordered them to take both oxen, and horses, and sheep in good number, and to bring them away to the place where, by inquiry, they should find him to be, that he might sacrifice these to abradatus. "as soon as he saw the woman sitting on the ground, and the dead body there lying, he shed tears at the afflicting sight, and said: 'alas! thou brave and faithful soul, hast thou left us, and art thou gone?' at the same time he took him by the right hand, and the hand of the deceased came away, for it had been cut off with a sword by the egyptians. he, at the sight of this, became yet much more concerned than before. the woman shrieked out in a lamentable manner, and, taking the hand from cyrus, kissed it, fitted it to its proper place again, as well as she could, and said: 'the rest, cyrus, is in the same condition, but what need you see it? and i know that i was not one of the least concerned in these his sufferings, and, perhaps, you were not less so; for i, fool that i was! frequently exhorted him to behave in such a manner as to appear a friend to you, worthy of notice; and i know he never thought of what he himself should suffer, but of what he should do to please you. he is dead, therefore,' said she, 'without reproach, and i, who urged him on, sit here alive.' cyrus, shedding tears for some time in silence, then spoke:--'he has died, woman, the noblest death; for he has died victorious! do you adorn him with these things that i furnish you with.' (gobryas and gadatas were then come up, and had brought rich ornaments in great abundance with them.) 'then,' said he, 'be assured that he shall not want respect and honor in all other things; but, over and above, multitudes shall concur in raising him a monument that shall be worthy of us, and all the sacrifices shall be made him that are proper to be made in honor of a brave man. you shall not be left destitute, but, for the sake of your modesty and every other virtue, i will pay you all other honors, as well as place those about you who will conduct you wherever you please. do you but make it known to me where it is that you desire to be conveyed to.' and panthea replied: 'be confident, cyrus, i will not conceal from you to whom it is that i desire to go.' "he, having said this, went away with great pity for her that she should have lost such a husband, and for the man that he should have left such a wife behind him, never to see her more. panthea then gave orders for her servants to retire, 'till such time,' said she, 'as i shall have lamented my husband as i please.' her nurse she bid to stay, and gave orders that, when she was dead, she would wrap her and her husband up in one mantle together. the nurse, after having repeatedly begged her not to do this, and meeting with no success, but observing her to grow angry, sat herself down, breaking out into tears. she, being beforehand provided with a sword, killed herself, and, laying her head down on her husband's breast, she died. the nurse set up a lamentable cry, and covered them both, as panthea had directed. "cyrus, as soon as he was informed of what the woman had done, being struck with it, went to help her if he could. the servants, three in number, seeing what had been done, drew their swords and killed themselves, as they stood at the place where she bad ordered them. and the monument is now said to have been raised by continuing the mound on to the servants; and on a pillar above, they say, the names of the man and woman were written in syriac letters. "below were three pillars, and they were inscribed thus, 'of the servants.' cyrus, when he came to this melancholy scene, was struck with admiration of the woman, and, having lamented over her, went away. he took care, as was proper, that all the funeral rites should be paid them in the noblest manner, and the monument, they say, was raised up to a very great size." * * * * * these be the ancients, who, so many assert, had no idea of the dignity of woman, or of marriage. such love xenophon could paint as subsisting between those who after death "would see one another never more." thousands of years have passed since, and with the reception of the cross, the nations assume the belief that those who part thus may meet again and forever, if spiritually fitted to one another, as abradatus and panthea were, and yet do we see such marriages among them? if at all, how often? i must quote two more short passages from xenophon, for he is a writer who pleases me well. cyrus, receiving the armenians whom he had conquered-- "'tigranes,' said he, 'at what rate would you purchase the regaining of your wife?' now tigranes happened to be _but lately married_, and had a very great love for his wife." (that clause perhaps sounds _modern_.) "'cyrus,' said he, 'i would ransom her at the expense of my life.' "'take then your own to yourself,' said he. ... "when they came home, one talked of cyrus' wisdom, another of his patience and resolution, another of his mildness. one spoke of his beauty and smallness of his person, and, on that, tigranes asked his wife, 'and do you, armenian dame, think cyrus handsome?' 'truly,' said she, 'i did not look at him.' 'at whom, then, _did_ you look?' said tigranes. 'at him who said that, to save me from servitude, he would ransom me at the expense of his own life.'" from the banquet.-- "socrates, who observed her with pleasure, said, 'this young girl has confirmed me in the opinion i have had, for a long time, that the female sex are nothing inferior to ours, excepting only in strength of body, or, perhaps, his steadiness of judgment.'" * * * * * in the economics, the manner in which the husband gives counsel to his young wife presents the model of politeness and refinement. xenophon is thoroughly the gentleman; gentle in breeding and in soul. all the men he describes are so, while the shades of manner are distinctly marked. there is the serene dignity of socrates, with gleams of playfulness thrown across its cool, religious shades, the princely mildness of cyrus, and the more domestic elegance of the husband in the economics. there is no way that men sin more against refinement, as well as discretion, than in their conduct toward their wives. let them look at the men of xenophon. such would know how to give counsel, for they would know how to receive it. they would feel that the most intimate relations claimed most, not least, of refined courtesy. they would not suppose that confidence justified carelessness, nor the reality of affection want of delicacy in the expression of it. such men would be too wise to hide their affairs from the wife, and then expect her to act as if she knew them. they would know that, if she is expected to face calamity with courage, she must be instructed and trusted in prosperity, or, if they had failed in wise confidence, such as the husband shows in the economics, they would be ashamed of anger or querulous surprise at the results that naturally follow. such men would not be exposed to the bad influence of bad wives; for all wives, bad or good, loved or unloved, inevitably influence their husbands, from the power their position not merely gives, but necessitates, of coloring evidence and infusing feelings in hours when the--patient, shall i call him?--is off his guard. those who understand the wife's mind, and think it worth while to respect her springs of action, know bettor where they are. but to the bad or thoughtless man, who lives carelessly and irreverently so near another mind, the wrong he does daily back upon himself recoils. a cyrus, an abradatus, knows where he stands. * * * * * but to return to the thread of my subject. another sign of the times is furnished by the triumphs of female authorship. these have been great, and are constantly increasing. women have taken possession of so many provinces for which men had pronounced them unfit, that, though these still declare there are some inaccessible to them, it is difficult to say just _where_ they must stop. the shining names of famous women have cast light upon the path of the sex, and many obstructions have been removed. when a montague could learn better than her brother, and use her lore afterwards to such purpose as an observer, it seemed amiss to hinder women from preparing themselves to see, or from seeing all they could, when prepared. since somerville has achieved so much, will any young girl be prevented from seeking a knowledge of the physical sciences, if she wishes it? de stael's name was not so clear of offence; she could not forget the woman in the thought; while she was instructing you as a mind, she wished to be admired as a woman; sentimental tears often dimmed the eagle glance. her intellect, too, with all its splendor, trained in a drawing-room, fed on flattery, was tainted and flawed; yet its beams make the obscurest school-house in new england warmer and lighter to the little rugged girls who are gathered together on its wooden bench. they may never through life hear her name, but she is not the less their benefactress. the influence has been such, that the aim certainly is, now, in arranging school instruction for girls, to give them as fair a field as boys. as yet, indeed, these arrangements are made with little judgment or reflection; just as the tutors of lady jane grey, and other distinguished women of her time, taught them latin and greek, because they knew nothing else themselves, so now the improvement in the education of girls is to be made by giving them young men as teachers, who only teach what has been taught themselves at college, while methods and topics need revision for these new subjects, which could better be made by those who had experienced the same wants. women are, often, at the head of these institutions; but they have, as yet, seldom been thinking women, capable of organizing a new whole for the wants of the time, and choosing persons to officiate in the departments. and when some portion of instruction of a good sort is got from the school, the far greater proportion which is infused from the general atmosphere of society contradicts its purport. yet books and a little elementary instruction are not furnished in vain. women are better aware how great and rich the universe is, not so easily blinded by narrowness or partial views of a home circle. "her mother did so before her" is no longer a sufficient excuse. indeed, it was never received as an excuse to mitigate the severity of censure, but was adduced as a reason, rather, why there should be no effort made for reformation. whether much or little has been done, or will be done,--whether women will add to the talent of narration the power of systematizing,--whether they will carve marble, as well as draw and paint,--is not important. but that it should be acknowledged that they have intellect which needs developing--that they should not be considered complete, if beings of affection and habit alone--is important. yet even this acknowledgment, rather conquered by woman than proffered by man, has been sullied by the usual selfishness. too much is said of women being better educated, that they may become better companions and mothers _for_ men. they should be fit for such companionship, and we have mentioned, with satisfaction, instances where it has been established. earth knows no fairer, holier relation than that of a mother. it is one which, rightly understood, must both promote and require the highest attainments. but a being of infinite scope must not be treated with an exclusive view to any one relation. give the soul free course, let the organization, both of body and mind, be freely developed, and the being will be fit for any and every relation to which it may be called. the intellect, no more than the sense of hearing, is to be cultivated merely that woman may be a more valuable companion to man, but because the power who gave a power, by its mere existence signifies that it must be brought out toward perfection. in this regard of self-dependence, and a greater simplicity and fulness of being, we must hail as a preliminary the increase of the class contemptuously designated as "old maids." we cannot wonder at the aversion with which old bachelors and old maids have been regarded. marriage is the natural means of forming a sphere, of taking root in the earth; it requires more strength to do this without such an opening; very many have failed, and their imperfections have been in every one's way. they have been more partial, more harsh, more officious and impertinent, than those compelled by severer friction to render themselves endurable. those who have a more full experience of the instincts have a distrust as to whether the unmarried can be thoroughly human and humane, such as is hinted in the saying, "old-maids' and bachelors' children are well cared for," which derides at once their ignorance and their presumption. yet the business of society has become so complex, that it could now scarcely be carried on without the presence of these despised auxiliaries; and detachments from the army of aunts and uncles are wanted to stop gaps in every hedge. they rove about, mental and moral ishmaelites, pitching their tents amid the fixed and ornamented homes of men. in a striking variety of forms, genius of late, both at home and abroad, has paid its tribute to the character of the aunt and the uncle, recognizing in these personages the spiritual parents, who have supplied defects in the treatment of the busy or careless actual parents. they also gain a wider, if not so deep experience. those who are not intimately and permanently linked with others, are thrown upon themselves; and, if they do not there find peace and incessant life, there is none to flatter them that they are not very poor, and very mean. a position which so constantly admonishes, may be of inestimable benefit. the person may gain, undistracted by other relationships, a closer communion with the one. such a use is made of it by saints and sibyls. or she may be one of the lay sisters of charity, a canoness, bound by an inward vow,--or the useful drudge of all men, the martha, much sought, little prized,--or the intellectual interpreter of the varied life she sees; the urania of a half-formed world's twilight. or she may combine all these. not needing to care that she may please a husband, a frail and limited being, her thoughts may turn to the centre, and she may, by steadfast contemplation entering into the secret of truth and love, use it for the good of all men, instead of a chosen few, and interpret through it all the forms of life. it is possible, perhaps, to be at once a priestly servant and a loving muse. saints and geniuses have often chosen a lonely position, in the faith that if, undisturbed by the pressure of near ties, they would give themselves up to the inspiring spirit, it would enable them to understand and reproduce life better than actual experience could. how many "old maids" take this high stand we cannot say: it is an unhappy fact that too many who have come before the eye are gossips rather, and not always good-natured gossips. but if these abuse, and none make the best of their vocation, yet it has not failed to produce some good results. it has been seen by others, if not by themselves, that beings, likely to be left alone, need to be fortified and furnished within themselves; and education and thought have tended more and more to regard these beings as related to absolute being, as well as to others. it has been seen that, as the breaking of no bond ought to destroy a man, so ought the missing of none to hinder him from growing. and thus a circumstance of the time, which springs rather from its luxury than its purity, has helped to place women on the true platform. perhaps the next generation, looking deeper into this matter, will find that contempt is put upon old maids, or old women, at all, merely because they do not use the elixir which would keep them always young. under its influence, a gem brightens yearly which is only seen to more advantage through the fissures time makes in the casket. [footnote: appendix f.] no one thinks of michael angelo's persican sibyl, or st. theresa, or tasso's leonora, or the greek electra, as an old maid, more than of michael angelo or canova as old bachelors, though all had reached the period in life's course appointed to take that degree. see a common woman at forty; scarcely has she the remains of beauty, of any soft poetic grace which gave her attraction as woman, which kindled the hearts of those who looked on her to sparkling thoughts, or diffused round her a roseate air of gentle love. see her, who was, indeed, a lovely girl, in the coarse, full-blown dahlia flower of what is commonly matron-beauty, "fat, fair, and forty," showily dressed, and with manners as broad and full as her frill or satin cloak. people observe, "how well she is preserved!" "she is a fine woman still," they say. this woman, whether as a duchess in diamonds, or one of our city dames in mosaics, charms the poet's heart no more, and would look much out of place kneeling before the madonna. she "does well the honors of her house,"--"leads society,"--is, in short, always spoken and thought of upholstery-wise. or see that care-worn face, from which every soft line is blotted,--those faded eyes, from which lonely tears have driven the flashes of fancy, the mild white beam of a tender enthusiasm. this woman is not so ornamental to a tea-party; yet she would please better, in picture. yet surely she, no more than the other, looks as a human being should at the end of forty years. forty years! have they bound those brows with no garland? shed in the lamp no drop of ambrosial oil? not so looked the iphigenia in aulis. her forty years had seen her in anguish, in sacrifice, in utter loneliness. but those pains were borne for her father and her country; the sacrifice she had made pure for herself and those around her. wandering alone at night in the vestal solitude of her imprisoning grove, she has looked up through its "living summits" to the stars, which shed down into her aspect their own lofty melody. at forty she would not misbecome the marble. not so looks the persica. she is withered; she is faded; the drapery that enfolds her has in its dignity an angularity, too, that tells of age, of sorrow, of a stern resignation to the _must_. but her eye, that torch of the soul, is untamed, and, in the intensity of her reading, we see a soul invincibly young in faith and hope. her age is her charm, for it is the night of the past that gives this beacon-fire leave to shine. wither more and more, black chrysalid! thou dost but give the winged beauty time to mature its splendors! not so looked victoria colonna, after her life of a great hope, and of true conjugal fidelity. she had been, not merely a bride, but a wife, and each hour had helped to plume the noble bird. a coronet of pearls will not shame her brow; it is white and ample, a worthy altar for love and thought. even among the north american indians, a race of men as completely engaged in mere instinctive life as almost any in the world, and where each chief, keeping many wives as useful servants, of course looks with no kind eye on celibacy in woman, it was excused in the following instance mentioned by mrs. jameson. a woman dreamt in youth that she was betrothed to the sun. she built her a wigwam apart, filled it with emblems of her alliance, and means of on independent life. there she passed her days, sustained by her own exertions, and true to her supposed engagement. in any tribe, we believe, a woman, who lived as if she was betrothed to the sun, would be tolerated, and the rays which made her youth blossom sweetly, would crown her with a halo in age. there is, on this subject, a nobler view than heretofore, if not the noblest, and improvement here must coincide with that in the view taken of marriage. "we must have units before we can have union," says one of the ripe thinkers of the times. if larger intellectual resources begin to be deemed needful to woman, still more is a spiritual dignity in her, or even the mere assumption of it, looked upon with respect. joanna southcote and mother anne lee are sure of a band of disciples; ecstatica, dolorosa, of enraptured believers who will visit them in their lowly huts, and wait for days to revere them in their trances. the foreign noble traverses land and sea to hear a few words from the lips of the lowly peasant girl, whom he believes especially visited by the most high. very beautiful, in this way, was the influence of the invalid of st. petersburg, as described by de maistre. mysticism, which may be defined as the brooding soul of the world, cannot fail of its oracular promise as to woman. "the mothers," "the mother of all things," are expressions of thought which lead the mind towards this side of universal growth. whenever a mystical whisper was heard, from behmen down to st. simon, sprang up the thought, that, if it be true, as the legend says, that humanity withers through a fault committed by and a curse laid upon woman, through her pure child, or influence, shall the new adam, the redemption, arise. innocence is to be replaced by virtue, dependence by a willing submission, in the heart of the virgin-mother of the new race. the spiritual tendency is toward the elevation of woman, but the intellectual by itself is not so. plato sometimes seems penetrated by that high idea of love, which considers man and woman as the two-fold expression of one thought. this the angel of swedenborg, the angel of the coming age, cannot surpass, but only explain more fully. but then again plato, the man of intellect, treats woman in the republic as property, and, in the timaeus, says that man, if he misuse the privileges of one life, shall be degraded into the form of woman; and then, if ho do not redeem himself, into that of a bird. this, as i said above, expresses most happily how antipoetical is this state of mind. for the poet, contemplating the world of things, selects various birds as the symbols of his most gracious and ethereal thoughts, just as he calls upon his genius as muse rather than as god. but the intellect, cold, is ever more masculine than feminine; warmed by emotion, it rushes toward mother-earth, and puts on the forms of beauty. the electrical, the magnetic element in woman has not been fairly brought out at any period. everything might be expected from it; she has far more of it than man. this is commonly expressed by saying that her intuitions are more rapid and more correct. you will often see men of high intellect absolutely stupid in regard to the atmospheric changes, the fine invisible links which connect the forms of life around them, while common women, if pure and modest, so that a vulgar self do not overshadow the mental eye, will seize and delineate these with unerring discrimination. women who combine this organization with creative genius are very commonly unhappy at present. they see too much to act in conformity with those around them, and their quick impulses seem folly to those who do not discern the motives. this is an usual effect of the apparition of genius, whether in man or woman, but is more frequent with regard to the latter, because a harmony, an obvious order and self-restraining decorum, is most expected from her. then women of genius, even more than men, are likely to be enslaved by an impassioned sensibility. the world repels them more rudely, and they are of weaker bodily frame. those who seem overladen with electricity frighten those around them. "when she merely enters the room, i am what the french call _herisse_," said a man of petty feelings and worldly character of such a woman, whose depth of eye and powerful motion announced the conductor of the mysterious fluid. woe to such a woman who finds herself linked to such a man in bonds too close! it is the crudest of errors. he will detest her with all the bitterness of wounded self-love. he will take the whole prejudice of manhood upon himself, and, to the utmost of his power, imprison and torture her by its imperious rigors. yet, allow room enough, and the electric fluid will be found to invigorate and embellish, not destroy life. such women are the great actresses, the songsters. such traits we read in a late searching, though too french, analysis of the character of mademoiselle rachel, by a modern, la rochefeucault. the greeks thus represent the muses; they have not the golden serenity of apollo; they are overflowed with thought; there is something tragic in their air. such are the sibyls of gueroino; the eye is overfull of expression, dilated and lustrous; it seems to have drawn the whole being into it. sickness is the frequent result of this overcharged existence. to this region, however misunderstood, or interpreted with presumptuous carelessness, belong the phenomena of magnetism, or mesmerism, as it is now often called, where the trance of the ecstatica purports to be produced by the agency of one human being on another, instead of, as in her case, direct from the spirit. the worldling has his sneer at this as at the services of religion. "the churches can always be filled with women"--"show me a man in one of your magnetic states, and i will believe." women are, indeed, the easy victims both of priestcraft and self-delusion; but this would not be, if the intellect was developed in proportion to the other powers. they would then have a regulator, and be more in equipoise, yet must retain the same nervous susceptibility while their physical structure is such as it is. it is with just that hope that we welcome everything that tends to strengthen the fibre and develop the nature on more sides. when the intellect and affections are in harmony; when intellectual consciousness is calm and deep; inspiration will not be confounded with fancy. then, "she who advances with rapturous, lyrical glances, singing the song of the earth, singing its hymn to the gods," will not be pitied as a mad-woman, nor shrunk from as unnatural. the greeks, who saw everything in forms, which we are trying to ascertain as law, and classify as cause, embodied all this in the form of cassandra. cassandra was only unfortunate in receiving her gift too soon. the remarks, however, that the world still makes in such cases, are well expressed by the greek dramatist. in the trojan dames there are fine touches of nature with regard to cassandra. hecuba shows that mixture of shame and reverence that prosaic kindred always do toward the inspired child, the poet, the elected sufferer for the race. when the herald announces that cassandra is chosen to be the mistress of agamemnon, hecuba answers, with indignation, betraying the pride and faith she involuntarily felt in this daughter. "_hec_. the maiden of phoebus, to whom the golden-haired gave as a privilege a virgin life! _tal_. love of the inspired maiden hath pierced him. _hec_. then cast away, my child, the sacred keys, and from thy person the consecrated garlands which thou wearest." yet, when, a moment after, cassandra appears, singing, wildly, her inspired song, hecuba calls her, "my _frantic_ child." yet how graceful she is in her tragic _raptus_, the chorus shows. "_chorus_. how sweetly at thy house's ills thou smil'st, chanting what, haply, thou wilt not show true." if hecuba dares not trust her highest instinct about her daughter, still less can the vulgar mind of the herald talthybius, a man not without feeling, but with no princely, no poetic blood, abide the wild, prophetic mood which insults all his prejudices. "_tal_. the venerable, and that accounted wise, is nothing better than that of no repute; for the greatest king of all the greeks, the dear son of atreus, a possessed with the love of this mad-woman. i, indeed, am poor; yet i would not receive her to my bed." the royal agamemnon could see the beauty of cassandra; _he_ was not afraid of her prophetic gifts. the best topic for a chapter on this subject, in the present day, would be the history of the seeress of prevorst, the best observed subject of magnetism in our present times, and who, like her ancestresses of delphos, was roused to ecstasy or phrensy by the touch of the laurel. i observe in her case, and in one known to me here, that what might have been a gradual and gentle disclosure of remarkable powers was broken and jarred into disease by an unsuitable marriage. both these persons were unfortunate in not understanding what was involved in this relation, but acted ignorantly, as their friends desired. they thought that this was the inevitable destiny of woman. but when engaged in the false position, it was impossible for them to endure its dissonances, as those of less delicate perceptions can; and the fine flow of life was checked and sullied. they grew sick; but, even so, learned and disclosed more than those in health are wont to do. in such cases, worldlings sneer; but reverent men learn wondrous news, either from the person observed, or by thoughts caused in themselves by the observation. fenelon learns from guyon, kerner from his seeress, what we fain would know. but to appreciate such disclosures one must be a child; and here the phrase, "women and children," may, perhaps, be interpreted aright, that only little children shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. all these motions of the time, tides that betoken a waxing moon, overflow upon our land. the world at large is readier to let woman learn and manifest the capacities of her nature than it ever was before, and here is a less encumbered field and freer air than anywhere else. and it ought to be so; we ought to pay for isabella's jewels. the names of nations are feminine--religion, virtue and victory are feminine. to those who have a superstition, as to outward reigns, it is not without significance that the name of the queen of our motherland should at this crisis be victoria,--victoria the first. perhaps to us it may be given to disclose the era thus outwardly presaged. another isabella too at this time ascends the throne. might she open a new world to her sex! but, probably, these poor little women are, least of any, educated to serve as examples or inspirers for the rest. the spanish queen is younger; we know of her that she sprained her foot the other day, dancing in her private apartments; of victoria, that she reads aloud, in a distinct voice and agreeable manner, her addresses to parliament on certain solemn days, and, yearly, that she presents to the nation some new prop of royalty. these ladies have, very likely, been trained more completely to the puppet life than any other. the queens, who have been queens indeed, were trained by adverse circumstances to know the world around them and their own powers. it is moving, while amusing, to read of the scottish peasant measuring the print left by the queen's foot as she walks, and priding himself on its beauty. it is so natural to wish to find what is fair and precious in high places,--so astonishing to find the bourbon a glutton, or the guelph a dullard or gossip. in our own country, women are, in many respects, better situated than men. good books are allowed, with more time to read them. they are not so early forced into the bustle of life, nor so weighed down by demands for outward success. the perpetual changes, incident to our society, make the blood circulate freely through the body politic, and, if not favorable at present to the grace and bloom of life, they are so to activity, resource, and would be to reflection, but for a low materialist tendency, from which the women are generally exempt in themselves, though its existence, among the men, has a tendency to repress their impulses and make them doubt their instincts, thus often paralyzing their action during the best years. but they have time to think, and no traditions chain them, and few conventionalities, compared with what must be met in other nations. there is no reason why they should not discover that the secrets of nature are open, the revelations of the spirit waiting, for whoever will seek them. when the mind is once awakened to this consciousness, it will not be restrained by the habits of the past, but fly to seek the seeds of a heavenly future. their employments are more favorable to meditation than those of men. woman is not addressed religiously here more than elsewhere. she is told that she should be worthy to be the mother of a washington, or the companion of some good man.' but in many, many instances, she has already learned that all bribes have the same flaw; that truth and good are to be sought solely for their own sakes. and, already, an ideal sweetness floats over many forms, shines in many eyes. already deep questions are put by young girls on the great theme: what shall i do to enter upon the eternal life? men are very courteous to them. they praise them often, check them seldom. there is chivalry in the feeling toward "the ladies," which gives them the best seats in the stage-coach, frequent admission, not only to lectures of all sorts, but to courts of justice, halls of legislature, reform conventions. the newspaper editor "would be better pleased that the lady's book should be filled up exclusively by ladies. it would then, indeed, be a true gem, worthy, to be presented by young men to the, mistress of their affections." can gallantry go further? in this country is venerated, wherever seen, the character which goethe spoke of as an ideal, which he saw actualized in his friend and patroness, the grand duchess amelia: "the excellent woman is she, who, if the husband dies, can be a father to the children." and this, if read aright, tells a great deal. women who speak in public, if they have a moral power, such as has been felt from angelina grimke and abby kelly,--that is, if they speak for conscience' sake, to serve a cause which they hold sacred,--invariably subdue the prejudices of their hearers, and excite an interest proportionate to the aversion with which it had been the purpose to regard them. a passage in a private letter so happily illustrates this, that it must be inserted here. abby kelly in the town-house of ----. "the scene was not unheroic--to see that woman, true to humanity and her own nature, a centre of rude eyes and tongues, even gentlemen feeling licensed to make part of a species of mob around a female out of her sphere. as she took her seat in the desk amid the great noise, and in the throng, full, like a wave, of something to ensue, i saw her humanity in a gentleness and unpretension, tenderly open to the sphere around her, and, had she not been supported by the power of the will of genuineness and principle, she would have failed. it led her to prayer, which, in woman especially, is childlike; sensibility and will going to the side of god and looking up to him; and humanity was poured out in aspiration. "she acted like a gentle hero, with her mild decision and womanly calmness. all heroism is mild, and quiet, and gentle, for it is life and possession; and combativeness and firmness show a want of actualness. she is as earnest, fresh and simple, as when she first entered the crusade. i think she did much good, more than the men in her place could do, for woman feels more as being and reproducing--this brings the subject more into home relations. men speak through, and mostly from intellect, and this addresses itself to that in others which is combative." not easily shall we find elsewhere, or before this time, any written observations on the same subject, so delicate and profound. the late dr. channing, whose enlarged and tender and religious nature shared every onward impulse of his tune, though his thoughts followed his wishes with a deliberative caution which belonged to his habits and temperament, was greatly interested in these expectations for women. his own treatment of them was absolutely and thoroughly religious. he regarded them as souls, each of which had a destiny of its own, incalculable to other minds, and whose leading it must follow, guided by the light of a private conscience. he had sentiment, delicacy, kindness, taste; but they were all pervaded and ruled by this one thought, that all beings had souls, and must vindicate their own inheritance. thus all beings were treated by him with an equal, and sweet, though solemn, courtesy. the young and unknown, the woman and the child, all felt themselves regarded with an infinite expectation, from which there was no reaction to vulgar prejudice. he demanded of all he met, to use his favorite phrase, "great truths." his memory, every way dear and reverend, is, by many, especially cherished for this intercourse of unbroken respect. at one time, when the progress of harriet martineau through this country, angelina grimke's appearance in public, and the visit of mrs. jameson, had turned his thoughts to this subject, he expressed high hopes as to what the coming era would bring to woman. he had been much pleased with the dignified courage of mrs. jameson in taking up the defence of her sex in from which women usually shrink, because, if they express themselves on such subjects with sufficient force and clearness to do any good, they are exposed to assaults whose vulgarity makes them painful. in intercourse with such a woman, he had shared her indignation at the base injustice, in many respects, and in many regions, done to the sex; and been led to think of it far more than ever before. he seemed to think that he might some time write upon the subject. that his aid is withdrawn from the cause is a subject of great regret; for, on this question as on others, he would have known how to sum up the evidence, and take, in the noblest spirit, middle ground. he always furnished a platform on which opposing parties could stand and look at one another under the influence of his mildness and enlightened candor. two younger thinkers, men both, have uttered noble prophecies, auspicious for woman. kinmont, all whose thoughts tended towards the establishment of the reign of love and peace, thought that the inevitable means of this would be an increased predominance given to the idea of woman. had he lived longer, to see the growth of the peace party, the reforms in life and medical practice which seek to substitute water for wine and drugs, pulse for animal food, he would have been confirmed in his view of the way in which the desired changes are to be effected. in this connection i must mention shelley, who, like all men of genius, shared the feminine development, and, unlike many, knew it. his life was one of the first pulse-beats in the present reform-growth. he, too, abhorred blood and heat, and, by his system and his song, tended to reinstate a plant-like gentleness in the development of energy. in harmony with this, his ideas of marriage were lofty, and, of course, no less so of woman, her nature, and destiny. for woman, if, by a sympathy as to outward condition, she is led to aid the enfranchisement of the slave, must be no less so, by inward tendency, to favor measures which promise to bring the world more thoroughly and deeply into harmony with her nature. when the lamb takes place of the lion as the emblem of nations, both women and men will be as children of one spirit, perpetual learners of the word and doers thereof, not hearers only. a writer in the new york pathfinder, in two articles headed "femality," has uttered a still more pregnant word than any we have named. he views woman truly from the soul, and not from society, and the depth and leading of his thoughts are proportionably remarkable. he views the feminine nature as a harmonizer of the vehement elements, and this has often been hinted elsewhere; but what he expresses most forcibly is the lyrical, the inspiring and inspired apprehensiveness of her being. this view being identical with what i have before attempted to indicate, as to her superior susceptibility to magnetic or electric influence, i will now try to express myself more fully. there are two aspects of woman's nature, represented by the ancients as muse and minerva. it is the former to which the writer in the pathfinder looks. it is the latter which wordsworth has in mind, when he says, "with a placid brow, which woman ne'er should forfeit, keep thy vow." the especial genius of woman i believe to be electrical in movement, intuitive in function, spiritual in tendency. she excels not so easily in classification, or recreation, as in an instinctive seizure of causes, and a simple breathing out of what she receives, that has the singleness of life, rather than the selecting and energizing of art. more native is it to her to be the living model of the artist than to set apart from herself any one form in objective reality; more native to inspire and receive the poem, than to create it. in so far as soul is in her completely developed, all soul is the same, but in so far as it is modified in her as woman, it flows, it breathes, it sings, rather than deposits soil, or finishes work; and that which is especially feminine flushes, in blossom, the face of earth, and pervades, like air and water, all this seeming solid globe, daily renewing and purifying its life. such may be the especially feminine element spoken of as femality. but it is no more the order of nature that it should be incarnated pure in any form, than that the masculine energy should exist unmingled with it in any form. male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. but, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. there is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman. history jeers at the attempts of physiologists to bind great original laws by the forms which flow from them. they make a rule; they say from observation what can and cannot be. in vain! nature provides exceptions to every rule. she sends women to battle, and sets hercules spinning; she enables women to bear immense burdens, cold, and frost; she enables the man, who feels maternal love, to nourish his infant like a mother. of late she plays still gayer pranks. not only she deprives organizations, but organs, of a necessary end. she enables people to read with the top of the head, and see with the pit of the stomach. presently she will make a female newton, and a male syren. man partakes of the feminine in the apollo, woman of the masculine as minerva. what i mean by the muse is that unimpeded clearness of the intuitive powers, which a perfectly truthful adherence to every admonition of the higher instincts would bring to a finely organized human being. it may appear as prophecy or as poesy. it enabled cassandra to foresee the results of actions passing round her; the seeress to behold the true character of the person through the mask of his customary life. (sometimes she saw a feminine form behind the man, sometimes the reverse.) it enabled the daughter of linnaeus to see the soul of the flower exhaling from the flower. [footnote: the daughter of linnaeus states, that, while looking steadfastly at the red lily, she saw its spirit hovering above it, as a red flame. it is true, this, like many fair spirit-stories, may be explained away as an optical illusion, but its poetic beauty and meaning would, even then, make it valuable, as an illustration of the spiritual fact.] it gave a man, but a poet-man, the power of which he thus speaks: "often in my contemplation of nature, radiant intimations, and as it were sheaves of light, appear before me as to the facts of cosmogony, in which my mind has, perhaps, taken especial part." he wisely adds, "but it is necessary with earnestness to verify the knowledge we gain by these flashes of light." and none should forget this. sight must be verified by light before it can deserve the honors of piety and genius. yet sight comes first, and of this sight of the world of causes, this approximation to the region of primitive motions, women i hold to be especially capable. even without equal freedom with the other sex, they have already shown themselves so; and should these faculties have free play, i believe they will open new, deeper and purer sources of joyous inspiration than have as yet refreshed the earth. let us be wise, and not impede the soul. let her work as she will. let us have one creative energy, one incessant revelation. let it take what form it will, and let us not bind it by the past to man or woman, black or white. jove sprang from rhea, pallas from jove. so let it be. if it has been the tendency of these remarks to call woman rather to the minerva side,--if i, unlike the more generous writer, have spoken from society no less than the soul,--let it be pardoned! it is love that has caused this,--love for many incarcerated souls, that might be freed, could the idea of religious self-dependence be established in them, could the weakening habit of dependence on others be broken up. proclus teaches that every life has, in its sphere, a totality or wholeness of the animating powers of the other spheres; having only, as its own characteristic, a predominance of some one power. thus jupiter comprises, within himself, the other twelve powers, which stand thus: the first triad is _demiurgic or fabricative_, that is, jupiter, neptune, vulcan; the second, _defensive_, vesta, minerva, mars; the third, _vivific_, ceres, juno, diana; and the fourth, mercury, venus, apollo, _elevating and harmonic_. in the sphere of jupiter, energy is predominant--with venus, beauty; but each comprehends and apprehends all the others. when the same community of life and consciousness of mind begin among men, humanity will have, positively and finally, subjugated its brute elements and titanic childhood; criticism will have perished; arbitrary limits and ignorant censure be impossible; all will have entered upon the liberty of law, and the harmony of common growth. then apollo will sing to his lyre what vulcan forges on the anvil, and the muse weave anew the tapestries of minerva. it is, therefore, only in the present crisis that the preference is given to minerva. the power of continence must establish the legitimacy of freedom, the power of self-poise the perfection of motion. every relation, every gradation of nature is incalculably precious, but only to the soul which is poised upon itself, and to whom no loss, no change, can bring dull discord, for it is in harmony with the central soul. if any individual live too much in relations, so that he becomes a stranger to the resources of his own nature, he falls, after a while, into a distraction, or imbecility, from which he can only be cured by a time of isolation, which gives the renovating fountains time to rise up. with a society it is the same. many minds, deprived of the traditionary or instinctive means of passing a cheerful existence, must find help in self-impulse, or perish. it is therefore that, while any elevation, in the view of union, is to be hailed with joy, we shall not decline celibacy as the great fact of the time. it is one from which no vow, no arrangement, can at present save a thinking mind. for now the rowers are pausing on their oars; they wait a change before they can pull together. all tends to illustrate the thought of a wise cotemporary. union is only possible to those who are units. to be fit for relations in time, souls, whether of man or woman, must be able to do without them in the spirit. it is therefore that i would have woman lay aside all thought, such as she habitually cherishes, of being taught and led by men. i would have her, like the indian girl, dedicate herself to the sun, the sun of truth, and go nowhere if his beams did not make clear the path. i would have her free from compromise, from complaisance, from helplessness, because i would have her good enough and strong enough to love one and all beings, from the fulness, not the poverty of being. men, as at present instructed, will not help this work, because they also are under the slavery of habit. i have seen with delight their poetic impulses. a sister is the fairest ideal, and how nobly wordsworth, and even byron, have written of a sister! there is no sweeter sight than to see a father with his little daughter. very vulgar men become refined to the eye when leading a little girl by the hand. at that moment, the right relation between the sexes seems established, and you feel as if the man would aid in the noblest purpose, if you ask him in behalf of his little daughter. once, two fine figures stood before me, thus. the father of very intellectual aspect, his falcon eye softened by affection as he looked down on his fair child; she the image of himself, only more graceful and brilliant in expression. i was reminded of southey's kehama; when, lo, the dream was rudely broken! they were talking of education, and he said, "i shall not have maria brought too forward. if she knows too much, she will never find a husband; superior women hardly ever can." "surely," said his wife, with a blush, "you wish maria to be as good and wise as she can, whether it will help her to marriage or not." "no," he persisted, "i want her to have a sphere and a home, and some one to protect her when i am gone." it was a trifling incident, but made a deep impression. i felt that the holiest relations fail to instruct the unprepared and perverted mind. if this man, indeed, could have looked at it on the other side, he was the last that would have been willing to have been taken himself for the home and protection he could give, but would have been much more likely to repeat the tale of alcibiades with his phials. but men do _not_ look at both sides, and women must leave off asking them and being influenced by them, but retire within themselves, and explore the ground-work of life till they find their peculiar secret. then, when they come forth again, renovated and baptized, they will know how to turn all dross to gold, and will be rich and free though they live in a hut, tranquil if in a crowd. then their sweet singing shall not be from passionate impulse, but the lyrical overflow of a divine rapture, and a new music shall be evolved from this many-chorded world. grant her, then, for a while, the armor and the javelin. let her put from her the press of other minds, and meditate in virgin loneliness. the same idea shall reappear in due time as muse, or ceres, the all-kindly, patient earth-spirit. among the throng of symptoms which denote the present tendency to a crisis in the life of woman,--which resembles the change from girlhood, with its beautiful instincts, but unharmonized thoughts, its blind pupilage and restless seeking, to self-possessed, wise and graceful womanhood,--i have attempted to select a few. one of prominent interest is the unison upon the subject of three male minds, which, for width of culture, power of self-concentration and dignity of aim, take rank as the prophets of the coming age, while their histories and labors are rooted in the past. swedenborg came, he tells us, to interpret the past revelation and unfold a new. he announces the new church that is to prepare the way for the new jerusalem, a city built of precious stones, hardened and purified by secret processes in the veins of earth through the ages. swedenborg approximated to that harmony between the scientific and poetic lives of mind, which we hope from the perfected man. the links that bind together the realms of nature, the mysteries that accompany her births and growths, were unusually plain to him. he seems a man to whom insight was given at a period when the mental frame was sufficiently matured to retain and express its gifts. his views of woman are, in the main, satisfactory. in some details we my object to them, as, in all his system, there are still remains of what is arbitrary and seemingly groundless--fancies that show the marks of old habits, and a nature as yet not thoroughly leavened with the spiritual leaven. at least, so it seems to me now. i speak reverently, for i find such reason to venerate swedenborg, from an imperfect knowledge of his mind, that i feel one more perfect might explain to me much that does not now secure my sympathy. his idea of woman is sufficiently large and noble to interpose no obstacle to her progress. his idea of marriage is consequently sufficient. man and woman share an angelic ministry; the union is of one with one, permanent and pure. as the new church extends its ranks, the needs of woman must be more considered. quakerism also establishes woman on a sufficient equality with man. but, though the original thought of quakerism is pure, its scope is too narrow, and its influence, having established a certain amount of good and made clear some truth, must, by degrees, be merged in one of wider range. [footnote: in worship at stated periods, in daily expression, whether by word or deed, the quakers have placed woman on the same platform with man. can any one assert that they have reason to repent this?] the mind of swedenborg appeals to the various nature of man, and allows room for aesthetic culture and the free expression of energy. as apostle of the new order, of the social fabric that is to rise from love, and supersede the old that was based on strife, charles fourier comes next, expressing, in an outward order, many facts of which swedenborg saw the secret springs. the mind of fourier, though grand and clear, was, in some respects, superficial. he was a stranger to the highest experiences. his eye was fixed on the outward more than the inward needs of man. yet he, too, was a seer of the divine order, in its musical expression, if not in its poetic soul. he has filled one department of instruction for the new era, and the harmony in action, and freedom for individual growth, he hopes, shall exist; and, if the methods he proposes should not prove the true ones, yet his fair propositions shall give many hints, and make room for the inspiration needed for such. he, too, places woman on an entire equality with man, and wishes to give to one as to the other that independence which must result from intellectual and practical development. those who will consult him for no other reason, might do so to see how the energies of woman may be made available in the pecuniary way. the object of fourier was to give her the needed means of self-help, that she might dignify and unfold her life for her own happiness, and that of society. the many, now, who see their daughters liable to destitution, or vice to escape from it, may be interested to examine the means, if they have not yet soul enough to appreciate the ends he proposes. on the opposite side of the advancing army leads the great apostle of individual culture, goethe. swedenborg makes organization and union the necessary results of solitary thought. fourier, whose nature was, above all, constructive, looked to them too exclusively. better institutions, he thought, will make better men. goethe expressed, in every way, the other side. if one man could present better forms, the rest could not use them till ripe for them. fourier says, as the institutions, so the men! all follies are excusable and natural under bad institutions. goethe thinks, as the man, so the institutions! there is no excuse for ignorance and folly. a man can grow in any place, if he will. ay! but, goethe, bad institutions are prison-walls and impure air, that make him stupid, so that he does not will. and thou, fourier, do not expect to change mankind at once, or even "in three generations," by arrangement of groups and series, or flourish of trumpets for attractive industry. if these attempts are made by unready men, they will fail. yet we prize the theory of fourier no less than the profound suggestion of goethe. both are educating the age to a clearer consciousness of what man needs, what man can be; and better life must ensue. goethe, proceeding on his own track, elevating the human being, in the most imperfect states of society, by continual efforts at self-culture, takes as good care of women as of men. his mother, the bold, gay frau aja, with such playful freedom of nature; the wise and gentle maiden, known in his youth, over whose sickly solitude "the holy ghost brooded as a dove;" his sister, the intellectual woman _par excellence_; the duchess amelia; lili, who combined the character of the woman of the world with the lyrical sweetness of the shepherdess, on whose chaste and noble breast flowers and gems were equally at home; all these had supplied abundant suggestions to his mind, as to the wants and the possible excellences of woman. and from his poetic soul grew up forms new and more admirable than life has yet produced, for whom his clear eye marked out paths in the future. in faust margaret represents the redeeming power, which, at present, upholds woman, while waiting for a better day. the lovely little girl, pure in instinct, ignorant in mind, is misled and profaned by man abusing her confidence.[footnote: as faust says, her only fault was a "kindly delusion,"--"ein guter wahn."] to the mater _dolorosa_ she appeals for aid. it is given to the soul, if not against outward sorrow; and the maiden, enlightened by her sufferings, refusing to receive temporal salvation by the aid of an evil power, obtains the eternal in its stead. in the second part, the intellectual man, after all his manifold strivings, owes to the interposition of her whom he had betrayed _his_ salvation. she intercedes, this time, herself a glorified spirit, with the mater _gloriosa_. leonora, too, is woman, as we see her now, pure, thoughtful, refined by much acquaintance with grief. iphigenia he speaks of in his journals as his "daughter," and she is the daughter [footnote: goethe was as false to his ideas, in practice, as lord herbert. and his punishment was the just and usual one of connections formed beneath the standard of right, from the impulses of the baser self. iphigenia was the worthy daughter of his mind; but the son, child of his degrading connection in actual life, corresponded with that connection. this son, on whom goethe vainly lavished so much thought and care, was like his mother, and like goethe's attachment for his mother. "this young man," says a late well-informed writer (m. henri blaze), "wieland, with good reason, called the son of the servant, _der sohn der magd_. he inherited from his father only his name and his _physique_."] whom a man will wish, even if he has chosen his wife from very mean motives. she is the virgin, steadfast, soul, to whom falsehood is more dreadful than any other death. but it is to wilhelm meister's apprenticeship and wandering years that i would especially refer, as these volumes contain the sum of the sage's observations during a long life, as to what man should do, under present circumstances, to obtain mastery over outward, through an initiation into inward life, and severe discipline of faculty. as wilhelm advances into the upward path, he becomes acquainted with better forms of woman, by knowing how to seek, and how to prize them when found. for the weak and immature man will, often, admire a superior woman, but he will not be able to abide by a feeling which is too severe a tax on his habitual existence. but, with wilhelm, the gradation is natural, and expresses ascent in the scale of being. at first, he finds charm in mariana and philina, very common forms of feminine character, not without redeeming traits, no less than charms, but without wisdom or purity. soon he is attended by mignon, the finest expression ever yet given to what i have called the lyrical element in woman. she is a child, but too full-grown for this man; he loves, but cannot follow her; yet is the association not without an enduring influence. poesy has been domesticated in his life; and, though he strives to bind down her heavenward impulse, as art or apothegm, these are only the tents, beneath which he may sojourn for a while, but which may be easily struck, and carried on limitless wanderings. advancing into the region of thought, he encounters a wise philanthropy in natalia (instructed, let us observe, by an _uncle_); practical judgment and the outward economy of life in theresa; pure devotion in the fair saint. further, and last, he comes to the house of macaria, the soul of a star; that is, a pure and perfected intelligence embodied in feminine form, and the centre of a world whose members revolve harmoniously around her. she instructs him in the archives of a rich human history, and introduces him to the contemplation of the heavens. from the hours passed by the side of mariana to these with macaria, is a wide distance for human feet to traverse. nor has wilhelm travelled so far, seen and suffered so much, in vain, he now begins to study how he may aid the next generation; he sees objects in harmonious arrangement, and from his observations deduces precepts by which to guide his course as a teacher and a master, "help-full, comfort-full." in all these expressions of woman, the aim of goethe is satisfactory to me. he aims at a pure self-subsistence, and a free development of any powers with which they may be gifted by nature as much for them as for men. they are units, addressed as souls. accordingly, the meeting between man and woman, as represented by him, is equal and noble; and, if he does not depict marriage, he makes it possible. in the macaria, bound with the heavenly bodies in fixed revolutions, the centre of all relations, herself unrelated, he expresses the minerva side of feminine nature. it was not by chance that goethe gave her this name. macaria, the daughter of hercules, who offered herself as a victim for the good of her country, was canonized by the greeks, and worshipped as the goddess of true felicity. goethe has embodied this felicity as the serenity that arises from wisdom, a wisdom such as the jewish wise man venerated, alike instructed in the designs of heaven, and the methods necessary to carry them into effect upon earth. mignon is the electrical, inspired, lyrical nature. and wherever it appears we echo in our aspirations that of the child, "so let me seem until i be:-- take not the _white robe_ away." * * * * * "though i lived without care and toil, yet felt i sharp pain enough to make me again forever young." all these women, though we see them in relations, we can think of as unrelated. they all are very individual, yet seem nowhere restrained. they satisfy for the present, yet arouse an infinite expectation. the economist theresa, the benevolent natalia, the fair saint, have chosen a path, but their thoughts are not narrowed to it. the functions of life to them are not ends, but suggestions. thus, to them, all things are important, because none is necessary. their different characters have fair play, and each is beautiful in its minute indications, for nothing is enforced or conventional; but everything, however slight, grows from the essential life of the being. mignon and theresa wear male attire when they like, and it is graceful for them to do so, while macaria is confined to her arm-chair behind the green curtain, and the fair saint could not bear a speck of dust on her robe. all things are in their places in this little world, because all is natural and free, just as "there is room for everything out of doors." yet all is rounded in by natural harmony, which will always arise where truth and love are sought in the light of freedom. goethe's book bodes an era of freedom like its own of "extraordinary, generous seeking," and new revelations. new individualities shall be developed in the actual world, which shall advance upon it as gently as the figures come out upon his canvas. i have indicated on this point the coincidence between his hopes and those of fourier, though his are directed by an infinitely higher and deeper knowledge of human nature. but, for our present purpose, it is sufficient to show how surely these different paths have conducted to the same end two earnest thinkers. in some other place i wish to point out similar coincidences between goethe's model school and the plans of fourier, which may cast light upon the page of prophecy. * * * * * many women have observed that the time drew nigh for a better care of the sex, and have thrown out hints that may be useful. among these may be mentioned-- miss edgeworth, who, although restrained by the habits of her age and country, and belonging more to the eighteenth than the nineteenth century, has done excellently as far as she goes. she had a horror of sentimentalism, and of the love of notoriety, and saw how likely women, in the early stages of culture, were to aim at these. therefore she bent her efforts to recommending domestic life. but the methods she recommends are such as will fit a character for any position to which it may be called. she taught a contempt of falsehood, no less in its most graceful, than in its meanest apparitions; the cultivation of a clear, independent judgment, and adherence to its dictates; habits of various and liberal study and employment, and a capacity for friendship. her standard of character is the same for both sexes,--truth, honor, enlightened benevolence, and aspiration after knowledge. of poetry, she knows nothing, and her religion consists in honor and loyalty to obligations once assumed--in short, in "the great idea of duty which holds us upright." her whole tendency is practical. mrs. jameson is a sentimentalist, and, therefore, suits us ill in some respects, but she is full of talent, has a just and refined perception of the beautiful, and a genuine courage when she finds it necessary. she does not appear to have thought out, thoroughly, the subject on which we are engaged, and her opinions, expressed as opinions, are sometimes inconsistent with one another. but from the refined perception of character, admirable suggestions are given in her "women of shakspeare," and "loves of the poets." but that for which i most respect her is the decision with which she speaks on a subject which refined women are usually afraid to approach, for fear of the insult and scurrile jest they may encounter; but on which she neither can nor will restrain the indignation of a full heart. i refer to the degradation of a large portion of women into the sold and polluted slaves of men, and the daring with which the legislator and man of the world lifts his head beneath the heavens, and says, "this must be; it cannot be helped; it is a necessary accompaniment of _civilization_." so speaks the _citizen_. man born of woman, the father of daughters, declares that he will and must buy the comforts and commercial advantages of his london, vienna, paris, new york, by conniving at the moral death, the damnation, so far as the action of society can insure it, of thousands of women for each splendid metropolis. o men! i speak not to you. it is true that your wickedness (for you must not deny that at least nine thousand out of the ten fall through the vanity you have systematically flattered, or the promises you have treacherously broken); yes, it is true that your wickedness is its own punishment. your forms degraded and your eyes clouded by secret sin; natural harmony broken and fineness of perception destroyed in your mental and bodily organization; god and love shut out from your hearts by the foul visitants you have permitted there; incapable of pure marriage; incapable of pure parentage; incapable of worship; o wretched men, your sin is its own punishment! you have lost the world in losing yourselves. who ruins another has admitted the worm to the root of his own tree, and the fuller ye fill the cup of evil, the deeper must be your own bitter draught. but i speak not to you--you need to teach and warn one another. and more than one voice rises in earnestness. and all that _women_ say to the heart that has once chosen the evil path is considered prudery, or ignorance, or perhaps a feebleness of nature which exempts from similar temptations. but to you, women, american women, a few words may not be addressed in vain. one here and there may listen. you know how it was in the oriental clime, one man, if wealth permitted, had several wives and many handmaidens. the chastity and equality of genuine marriage, with "the thousand decencies that flow" from its communion, the precious virtues that gradually may be matured within its enclosure, were unknown. but this man did not wrong according to his light. what he did, he might publish to god and man; it was not a wicked secret that hid in vile lurking-places and dens, like the banquets of beasts of prey. those women were not lost, not polluted in their own eyes, nor those of others. if they were not in a state of knowledge and virtue, they were at least in one of comparative innocence. you know how it was with the natives of this continent. a chief had many wives, whom he maintained and who did his household work; those women were but servants, still they enjoyed the respect of others and their own. they lived together, in peace. they knew that a sin against what was in their nation esteemed virtue, would be as strictly punished in man as in woman. now pass to the countries where marriage is between one and one. i will not speak of the pagan nations, but come to those which own the christian rule. we all know what that enjoins; there is a standard to appeal to. see, now, not the mass of the people, for we all know that it is a proverb and a bitter jest to speak of the "down-trodden million." we know that, down to our own time, a principle never had so fair a chance to pervade the mass of the people, but that we must solicit its illustration from select examples. take the paladin, take the poet. did _they_ believe purity more impossible to man than to woman? did they wish woman to believe that man was less amenable to higher motives,--that pure aspirations would not guard him against bad passions,--that honorable employments and temperate habits would not keep him free from slavery to the body? o no! love was to them a part of heaven, and they could not even wish to receive its happiness, unless assured of being worthy of it. its highest happiness to them was that it made them wish to be worthy. they courted probation. they wished not the title of knight till the banner had been upheld in the heats of battle, amid the rout of cowards. i ask of you, young girls--i do not mean _you_ whose heart is that of an old coxcomb, though your looks have not yet lost their sunny tinge. not of you whose whole character is tainted with vanity, inherited or taught, who have early learned the love of coquettish excitement, and whose eyes rove restlessly in search of a "conquest" or a "beau;" you who are ashamed _not_ to be seen by others the mark of the most contemptuous flattery or injurious desire. to such i do not speak. but to thee, maiden, who, if not so fair, art yet of that unpolluted nature which milton saw when he dreamed of comus and the paradise. thou, child of an unprofaned wedlock, brought up amid the teachings of the woods and fields, kept fancy-free by useful employment and a free flight into the heaven of thought, loving to please only those whom thou wouldst not be ashamed to love; i ask of thee, whose cheek has not forgotten its blush nor thy heart its lark-like hopes, if he whom thou mayest hope the father will send thee, as the companion of life's toils and joys, is not to thy thought pure? is not manliness to thy thought purity, not lawlessness? can his lips speak falsely? can he do, in secret, what he could not avow to the mother that bore him? o say, dost thou not look for a heart free, open as thine own, all whose thoughts may be avowed, incapable of wronging the innocent, or still further degrading the fallen--a man, in short, in whom brute nature is entirely subject to the impulses of his better self? yes! it was thus that thou didst hope; for i have many, many times seen the image of a future life, of a destined spouse, painted on the tablets of a virgin heart. it might be that she was not true to these hopes. she was taken into what is called "the world," froth and scum as it mostly is on the social caldron. there, she saw fair woman carried in the waltz close to the heart of a being who appeared to her a satyr. being warned by a male friend that he was in fact of that class, and not fit for such familiar nearness to a chaste being, the advised replied that "women should know nothing about such things." she saw one fairer given in wedlock to a man of the same class. "papa and mamma said that 'all men were faulty at some time in their lives; they had a great many temptations.' frederick would be so happy at home; he would not want to do wrong." she turned to the married women; they, o tenfold horror! laughed at her supposing "men were like women." sometimes, i say, she was not true, and either sadly accommodated herself to "woman's lot," or acquired a taste for satyr-society, like some of the nymphs, and all the bacchanals of old. but to those who could not and would not accept a mess of pottage, or a circe cup, in lieu of their birthright, and to these others who have yet their choice to make, i say, courage! i have some words of cheer for you. a man, himself of unbroken purity, reported to me the words of a foreign artist, that "the world would never be better till men subjected themselves to the same laws they had imposed on women;" that artist, he added, was true to the thought. the same was true of canova, the same of beethoven. "like each other demi-god, they kept themselves free from stain;" and michael angelo, looking over here from the loneliness of his century, might meet some eyes that need not shun his glance. in private life, i am assured by men who are not so sustained and occupied by the worship of pure beauty, that a similar consecration is possible, is practised; that many men feel that no temptation can be too strong for the will of man, if he invokes the aid of the spirit instead of seeking extenuation from the brute alliances of his nature. in short, what the child fancies is really true, though almost the whole world declares it a lie. man is a child of god; and if he seeks his guidance to keep the heart with diligence, it will be so given that all the issues of life may be pure. life will then be a temple. the temple round spread green the pleasant ground; the fair colonnade be of pure marble pillars made; strong to sustain the roof, time and tempest proof; yet, amidst which, the lightest breeze can play as it please; the audience hall be free to all who revere the power worshipped here, sole guide of youth, unswerving truth. in the inmost shrine stands the image divine, only seen by those whose deeds have worthy been-- priestlike clean. those, who initiated are, declare, as the hours usher in varying hopes and powers; it changes its face, it changes its age, now a young, beaming grace, now nestorian sage; but, to the pure in heart, this shape of primal art in age is fair, in youth seems wise, beyond compare, above surprise; what it teaches native seems, its new lore our ancient dreams; incense rises from the ground; music flows around; firm rest the feet below, clear gaze the eyes above, when truth, to point the way through life, assumes the wand of love; but, if she cast aside the robe of green, winter's silver sheen, white, pure as light, makes gentle shroud as worthy weed as bridal robe had been. [footnote: as described by the historians:-- "the temple of juno is like what the character of woman should be. columns! graceful decorums, attractive yet sheltering. porch! noble, inviting aspect of the life. kaos! receives the worshippers. see here the statue of the divinity. ophistodpmos! sanctuary where the most precious possessions were kept safe from the hand of the spoiler and the eye of the world."] we are now in a transition state, and but few steps have yet been taken. from polygamy, europe passed to the marriage _de convenance_. this was scarcely an improvement an attempt was then made to substitute genuine marriage (the mutual choice of souls inducing a permanent union), as yet baffled on every side by the haste, the ignorance, or the impurity of man. where man assumes a high principle to which he is not yet ripened, it will happen, for a long time, that the few will be nobler than before; the many, worse. thus now. in the country of sidney and milton, the metropolis is a den of wickedness, and a sty of sensuality; in the country of lady russell, the custom of english peeresses, of selling their daughters to the highest bidder, is made the theme and jest of fashionable novels by unthinking children who would stare at the idea of sending them to a turkish slave-dealer, though the circumstances of the bargain are there less degrading, as the will and thoughts of the person sold are not so degraded by it, and it is not done in defiance of an acknowledged law of right in the land and the age. i must here add that i do not believe there ever was put upon record more depravation of man, and more despicable frivolity of thought and aim in woman; than in the novels which purport to give the picture of english fashionable life, which are read with such favor in our drawing-rooms, and give the tone to the manners of some circles. compared with the cold, hard-hearted folly there described, crime is hopeful; for it, at least, shows some power remaining in the mental constitution. to return:--attention has been awakened among men to the stains of celibacy, and the profanations of marriage. they begin to write about it and lecture about it. it is the tendency now to endeavor to help the erring by showing them the physical law. this is wise and excellent; but forget not the better half. cold bathing and exercise will not suffice to keep a life pure, without an inward baptism, and noble, exhilarating employment for the thoughts and the passions. early marriages are desirable, but if (and the world is now so out of joint that there are a hundred thousand chances to one against it) a man does not early, or at all, find the person to whom he can be united in the marriage of souls, will you give him in the marriage _de convenance_? or, if not married, can you find no way for him to lead a virtuous and happy life? think of it well, ye who think yourselves better than pagans, for many of _them_ knew this sure way. [footnote: the persian sacred books, the desatir, describe the great and holy prince ky khosrou, as being "an angel, and the son of an angel," one to whom the supreme says, "thou art not absent from before me for one twinkling of an eye. i am never out of thy heart. and i am contained in nothing but in thy heart, and in a heart like thy heart. and i am nearer unto thee than thou art to thyself." this prince had in his golden seraglio three ladies of surpassing beauty, and all four, in this royal monastery, passed their lives, and left the world as virgins. the persian people had no scepticism when the history of such a mind was narrated.] to you, women of america, it is more especially my business to address myself on this subject, and my advice may be classed under three heads: clear your souls from the taint of vanity. do not rejoice in conquests, either that your power to allure may be seen by other women, or for the pleasure of rousing passionate feelings that gratify your love of excitement. it must happen, no doubt, that frank and generous women will excite love they do not reciprocate, but, in nine cases out of ten, the woman has, half consciously, done much to excite. in this case, she shall not be held guiltless, either as to the unhappiness or injury of the lover. pure love, inspired by a worthy object, must ennoble and bless, whether mutual or not; but that which is excited by coquettish attraction of any grade of refinement, must cause bitterness and doubt, as to the reality of human goodness, so soon as the flush of passion is over. and, that you may avoid all taste for these false pleasures, "steep the soul in one pure love, and it will lost thee long." the love of truth, the love of excellence, whether you clothe them in the person of a special object or not, will have power to save you from following duessa, and lead you in the green glades where una's feet have trod. it was on this one subject that a venerable champion of good, the last representative of the spirit which sanctified the revolution, and gave our country such a sunlight of hope in the eyes of the nations, the same who lately, in boston, offered anew to the young men the pledge taken by the young men of his day, offered, also, his counsel, on being addressed by the principal of a girl's school, thus:-- reply of mr. adams. mr. adams was so deeply affected by the address of miss foster, as to be for some time inaudible. when heard, he spoke as follows: "this is the first instance in which a lady has thus addressed me personally; and i trust that all the ladies present will be able sufficiently to enter into my feelings to know that i am more affected by this honor than by any other i could hare received, "you have been pleased, madam, to allude to the character of my father, and the history of my family, and their services to the country. it is indeed true that, from the existence of the republic as an independent nation, my father and myself have been in the public service of the country, almost without interruption. i came into the world, as a person having personal responsibilities, with the declaration of independence, which constituted us a nation. i was a child at that time, and had then perhaps the greatest of blessings that can be bestowed on man--a mother who was anxious and capable to form her children to be what they ought to be. from that mother i derived whatever instruction--religious especially and moral--has pervaded a long life; i will not say perfectly, and as it ought to be; but i will say, because it is justice only to the memory of her whom i revere, that if, in the course of my life, there has been any imperfection, or deviation from what she taught me, the fault is mine, and not hers. "with such a mother, and such other relations with the sex, of sister, wife, and daughter, it has been the perpetual instruction of my life to love and revere the female sex. and in order to carry that sentiment of love and reverence to its highest degree of perfection, i know of nothing that exists in human society better adapted to produce that result, than institutions of the character that i have now the honor to address. "i have been taught, as i have said, through the course of my life, to love and to revere the female sex; but i have been taught, also--and that lesson has perhaps impressed itself on my mind even more strongly, it may be, than the other--i have been taught not to flatter them. it is not unusual, in the intercourse of man with the other sex--and especially for young men--to think that the way to win the hearts of ladies is by flattery. to love and to revere the sex, is what i think the duty of man; _but not to flatter them;_ and this i would say to the young ladies here--and if they, and others present, will allow me, with all the authority which nearly four score years may have with those who have not yet attained one score--i would say to them what i have no doubt they say to themselves, and are taught here, not to take the flattery of men as proof of perfection. "i am now, however, i fear, assuming too much of a character that does not exactly belong to me. i therefore conclude, by assuring you, madam, that your reception of me has affected me, as you perceive, more than i can express in words; and that i shall offer my best prayers, till my latest hour, to the creator of us all, that this institution especially, and all others of a similar kind, designed to form the female mind to wisdom and virtue, may prosper to the end of time." it will be interesting to add here the character of mr. adams' mother, as drawn by her husband, the first john adams, in a family letter [footnote: journal and correspondence of miss adams, vol. i., p. .] written just before his death. "i have reserved for the last the life of lady russell. this i have not yet read, because i read it more than forty years ago. on this hangs a tale which you ought to know and communicate it to your children. i bought the life and letters of lady russell in the year , and sent it to your grandmother, with an express intent and desire that she should consider it a mirror in which to contemplate herself; for, at that time, i thought it extremely probable, from the daring and dangerous career i was determined to run, that she would one day find herself in the situation of lady russell, her husband without a head. this lady was more beautiful than lady russell, had a brighter genius, more information, a more refined taste, and, at least, her equal in the virtues of the heart; equal fortitude and firmness of character, equal resignation to the will of heaven, equal in all the virtues and graces of the christian life. like lady russell, she never, by word or look, discouraged me from running all hazards for the salvation of my country's liberties; she was willing to share with me, and that her children should share with us both, in all the dangerous consequences we had to hazard." will a woman who loves flattery or an aimless excitement, who wastes the flower of her mind on transitory sentiments, ever be loved with a love like that, when fifty years' trial have entitled to the privileges of "the golden marriage?" such was the love of the iron-handed warrior for her, not his hand-maid, but his help-meet: "whom god loves, to him gives he such a wife." i find the whole of what i want in this relation, in the two epithets by which milton makes adam address _his_ wife. in the intercourse of every day he begins: "daughter of god and man, _accomplished_ eve." [footnote: see appendix h.] in a moment of stronger feeling, "daughter of god and man, immortal eve." what majesty in the cadence of the line; what dignity, what reverence in the attitude both of giver and receiver! the woman who permits, in her life, the alloy of vanity; the woman who lives upon flattery, coarse or fine, shall never be thus addressed, she is _not_ immortal so far as her will is concerned, and every woman who does so creates miasma, whose spread is indefinite. the hand which casts into the waters of life a stone of offence knows not how far the circles thus caused may spread their agitations. a little while since i was at one of the most fashionable places of public resort. i saw there many women, dressed without regard to the season or the demands of the place, in apery, or, as it looked, in mockery, of european fashions. i saw their eyes restlessly courting attention. i saw the way in which it was paid; the style of devotion, almost an open sneer, which it pleased those ladies to receive from men whose expression marked their own low position in the moral and intellectual world. those women went to their pillows with their heads full of folly, their hearts of jealousy, or gratified vanity; those men, with the low opinion they already entertained of woman confirmed. these were american _ladies;_ that is, they were of that class who have wealth and leisure to make full use of the day, and confer benefits on others. they were of that class whom the possession of external advantages makes of pernicious example to many, if these advantages be misused. soon after, i met a circle of women, stamped by society as among the most degraded of their sex. "how," it was asked of them, "did you come here?" for by the society that i saw in the former place they were shut up in a prison. the causes were not difficult to trace: love of dress, love of flattery, love of excitement. they had not dresses like the other ladies, so they stole them; they could not pay for flattery by distinctions, and the dower of a worldly marriage, so they paid by the profanation of their persons. in excitement, more and more madly sought from day to day, they drowned the voice of conscience. now i ask you, my sisters, if the women at the fashionable house be not answerable for those women being in the prison? as to position in the world of souls, we may suppose the women of the prison stood fairest, both because they had misused less light, and because loneliness and sorrow had brought some of them to feel the need of better life, nearer truth and good. this was no merit in them, being an effect of circumstance, but it was hopeful. but you, my friends (and some of you i have already met), consecrate yourselves without waiting for reproof, in free love and unbroken energy, to win and to diffuse a better life. offer beauty, talents, riches, on the altar; thus shall you keep spotless your own hearts, and be visibly or invisibly the angels to others. i would urge upon those women who have not yet considered this subject, to do so. do not forget the unfortunates who dare not cross your guarded way. if it do not suit you to act with those who have organized measures of reform, then hold not yourself excused from acting in private. seek out these degraded women, give them tender sympathy, counsel, employment. take the place of mothers, such as might have saved them originally. if you can do little for those already under the ban of the world,--and the best-considered efforts have often failed, from a want of strength in those unhappy ones to bear up against the sting of shame and the prejudices of the world, which makes them seek oblivion again in their old excitements,--you will at least leave a sense of love and justice in their hearts, that will prevent their becoming utterly embittered and corrupt. and you may learn the means of prevention for those yet uninjured. these will be found in a diffusion of mental culture, simple tastes, best taught by your example, a genuine self-respect, and, above all, what the influence of man tends to hide from woman, the love and fear of a divine, in preference to a human tribunal. but suppose you save many who would have lost their bodily innocence (for as to mental, the loss of that is incalculably more general), through mere vanity and folly; there still remain many, the prey and spoil of the brute passions of man; for the stories frequent in our newspapers outshame antiquity, and vie with the horrors of war. as to this, it must be considered that, as the vanity and proneness to seduction of the imprisoned women represented a general degradation in their sex; so do these acts a still more general and worse in the male. where so many are weak, it is natural there should be many lost; where legislators admit that ten thousand prostitutes are a fair proportion to one city, and husbands tell their wives that it is folly to expect chastity from men, it is inevitable that there should be many monsters of vice. i must in this place mention, with respect and gratitude, the conduct of mrs. child in the case of amelia norman. the action and speech of this lady was of straightforward nobleness, undeterred by custom or cavil from duty toward an injured sister. she showed the case and the arguments the counsel against the prisoner had the assurance to use in their true light to the public. she put the case on the only ground of religion and equity. she was successful in arresting the attention of many who had before shrugged their shoulders, and let sin pass as necessarily a part of the company of men. they begin to ask whether virtue is not possible, perhaps necessary, to man as well as to woman. they begin to fear that the perdition of a woman must involve that of a man. this is a crisis. the results of this case will be important. in this connection i must mention eugene sue, the french novelist, several of whose works have been lately translated among us, as having the true spirit of reform as to women. like every other french writer, he is still tainted with the transmissions of the old _regime_. still, falsehood may be permitted for the sake of advancing truth, evil as the way to good. even george sand, who would trample on every graceful decorum, and every human law, for the sake of a sincere life, does not see that she violates it by making her heroines able to tell falsehoods in a good cause. these french writers need ever to be confronted by the clear perception of the english and german mind, that the only good man, consequently the only good reformer, is he "who bases good on good alone, and owes to virtue every triumph that he knows." still, sue has the heart of a reformer, and especially towards women; he sees what they need, and what causes are injuring them. from the histories of fleur de marie and la louve, from the lovely and independent character of rigolette, from the distortion given to matilda's mind, by the present views of marriage, and from the truly noble and immortal character of the "hump-backed sempstress" in the "wandering jew," may be gathered much that shall elucidate doubt and direct inquiry on this subject. in reform, as in philosophy, the french are the interpreters to the civilized world. their own attainments are not great, but they make clear the post, and break down barriers to the future. observe that the good man of sue is as pure as sir charles grandison. apropos to sir charles. women are accustomed to be told by men that the reform is to come _from them_. "you," say the men, "must frown upon vice; you must decline the attentions of the corrupt; you must not submit to the will of your husband when it seems to you unworthy, but give the laws in marriage, and redeem it from its present sensual and mental pollutions." this seems to us hard. men have, indeed, been, for more than a hundred years, rating women for countenancing vice. but, at the same time, they have carefully hid from them its nature, so that the preference often shown by women for bad men arises rather from a confused idea that they are bold and adventurous, acquainted with regions which women are forbidden to explore, and the curiosity that ensues, than a corrupt heart in the woman. as to marriage, it has been inculcated on women, for centuries, that men have not only stronger passions than they, but of a sort that it would be shameful for them to share or even understand; that, therefore, they must "confide in their husbands," that is, submit implicitly to their will; that the least appearance of coldness or withdrawal, from whatever cause, in the wife is wicked, because liable to turn her husband's thoughts to illicit indulgence; for a man is so constituted that he must indulge his passions or die! accordingly, a great part of women look upon men as a kind of wild beasts, but "suppose they are all alike;" the unmarried are assured by the married that, "if they knew men as they do," that is, by being married to them, "they would not expect continence or self-government from them." i might accumulate illustrations on this theme, drawn from acquaintance with the histories of women, which would startle and grieve all thinking men, but i forbear. let sir charles grandison preach to his own sex; or if none there be who feels himself able to speak with authority from a life unspotted in will or deed, let those who are convinced of the practicability and need of a pure life, as the foreign artist was, advise the others, and warn them by their own example, if need be. the following passage, from a female writer, on female affairs, expresses a prevalent way of thinking on this subject: "it may be that a young woman, exempt from all motives of vanity, determines to take for a husband a man who does not inspire her with a very decided inclination. imperious circumstances, the evident interest of her family, or the danger of suffering celibacy, may explain such a resolution. if, however, she were to endeavor to surmount a personal repugnance, we should look upon this as _injudicious_. such a rebellion of nature marks the limit that the influence of parents, or the self-sacrifice of the young girl, should never pass. _we shall be told that this repugnance is an affair of the imagination_. it may be so; but imagination is a power which it is temerity to brave; and its antipathy is more difficult to conquer than its preference." [footnote: madame necker de saussure.] among ourselves, the exhibition of such a repugnance from a woman who had been given in marriage "by advice of friends," was treated by an eminent physician as sufficient proof of insanity. if he had said sufficient cause for it, he would have been nearer right. it has been suggested by men who were pained by seeing bad men admitted, freely, to the society of modest women,--thereby encouraged to vice by impunity, and corrupting the atmosphere of homes,--that there should be a senate of the matrons in each city and town, who should decide what candidates were fit for admission to their houses and the society of their daughters. [footnote: see goethe's tasso. "a synod of good women should decide,"--if the golden age is to be restored.] such a plan might have excellent results; but it argues a moral dignity and decision which does not yet exist, and needs to be induced by knowledge and reflection. it has been the tone to keep women ignorant on these subjects, or, when they were not, to command that they should seem so. "it is indelicate," says the father or husband, "to inquire into the private character of such an one. it is sufficient that i do not think him unfit to visit you." and so, this man, who would not tolerate these pages in his house, "unfit for family reading," because they speak plainly, introduces there a man whose shame is written on his brow, as well as the open secret of the whole town, and, presently, if _respectable_ still, and rich enough, gives him his daughter to wife. the mother affects ignorance, "supposing he is no worse than most men." the daughter _is_ ignorant; something in the mind of the new spouse seems strange to her, but she supposes it is "woman's lot" not to be perfectly happy in her affections; she has always heard, "men could not understand women," so she weeps alone, or takes to dress and the duties of the house. the husband, of course, makes no avowal, and dreams of no redemption. "in the heart of every young woman," says the female writer above quoted, addressing herself to the husband, "depend upon it, there is a fund of exalted ideas; she conceals, represses, without succeeding in smothering them. _so long as these ideas in your wife are directed to you, they are, no doubt, innocent_, but take care that they be not accompanied with _too much_ pain. in other respects, also, spare her delicacy. let all the antecedent parts of your life, if there are such, which would give her pain, be concealed from her; _her happiness and her respect for you would suffer from this misplaced confidence._ allow her to retain that flower of purity, _which should distinguish her, in your eyes, from every other woman_." we should think so, truly, under this canon. such a man must esteem purity an exotic that could only be preserved by the greatest care. of the degree of mental intimacy possible, in such a marriage, let every one judge for himself! on this subject, let every woman, who has once begun to think, examine herself; see whether she does not suppose virtue possible and necessary to man, and whether she would not desire for her son a virtue which aimed at a fitness for a divine life, and involved, if not asceticism, that degree of power over the lower self, which shall "not exterminate the passions, but keep them chained at the feet of reason." the passions, like fire, are a bad muster; but confine them to the hearth and the altar, and they give life to the social economy, and make each sacrifice meet for heaven. when many women have thought upon this subject, some will be fit for the senate, and one such senate in operation would affect the morals of the civilized world. at present i look to the young. as preparatory to the senate, i should like to see a society of novices, such as the world has never yet seen, bound by no oath, wearing no badge, in place of an oath, they should have a religious faith in the capacity of man for virtue; instead of a badge, should wear in the heart a firm resolve not to stop short of the destiny promised him as a son of god. their service should be action and conservatism, not of old habits, but of a better nature, enlightened by hopes that daily grow brighter. if sin was to remain in the world, it should not be by their connivance at its stay, or one moment's concession to its claims. they should succor the oppressed, and pay to the upright the reverence due in hero-worship by seeking to emulate them. they would not denounce the willingly bad, but they could not be with them, for the two classes could not breathe the same atmosphere. they would heed no detention from the time-serving, the worldly and the timid. they could love no pleasures that were not innocent and capable of good fruit, i saw, in a foreign paper, the title now given to a party abroad, "los exaltados." such would be the title now given these children by the world: los exaltados, las exaltadas; but the world would not sneer always, for from them would issue a virtue by which it would, at last, be exalted too. i have in my eye a youth and a maiden whom i look to as the nucleus of such a class. they are both in early youth; both as yet uncontaminated; both aspiring, without rashness; both thoughtful; both capable of deep affection; both of strong nature and sweet feelings; both capable of large mental development. they reside in different regions of earth, but their place in the soul is the same. to them i look, as, perhaps, the harbingers and leaders of a new era, for never yet have i known minds so truly virgin, without narrowness or ignorance. when men call upon women to redeem them, they mean such maidens. but such are not easily formed under the present influences of society. as there are more such young men to help give a different tone, there will be more such maidens. the english, novelist, d'israeli, has, in his novel of "the young duke," made a man of the most depraved stock be redeemed by a woman who despises him when he has only the brilliant mask of fortune and beauty to cover the poverty of his heart and brain, but knows how to encourage him when he enters on a better course. but this woman was educated by a father who valued character in women. still, there will come now and then one who will, as i hope of my young exaltada, be example and instruction for the rest. it was not the opinion of woman current among jewish men that formed the character of the mother of jesus. since the sliding and backsliding men of the world, no less than the mystics, declare that, as through woman man was lost, so through woman must man be redeemed, the time must be at hand. when she knows herself indeed as "accomplished," still more as "immortal eve," this may be. as an immortal, she may also know and inspire immortal love, a happiness not to be dreamed of under the circumstances advised in the last quotation. where love is based on concealment, it must, of course, disappear when the soul enters the scene of clear vision! and, without this hope, how worthless every plan, every bond, every power! "the giants," said the scandinavian saga, "had induced loke (the spirit that hovers between good and ill) to steal for them iduna (goddess of immortality) and her apples of pure gold. he lured her out, by promising to show, on a marvellous tree he had discovered, apples beautiful as her own, if she would only take them with her for a comparison. thus having lured her beyond the heavenly domain, she was seized and carried away captive by the powers of misrule. "as now the gods could not find their friend iduna, they were confused with grief; indeed, they began visibly to grow old and gray. discords arose, and love grew cold. indeed, odur, spouse of the goddess of love and beauty, wandered away, and returned no more. at last, however, the gods, discovering the treachery of loke, obliged him to win back iduna from the prison in which she sat mourning. he changed himself into a falcon, and brought her back as a swallow, fiercely pursued by the giant king, in the form of an eagle. so she strives to return among us, light and small as a swallow. we must welcome her form as the speck on the sky that assures the glad blue of summer. yet one swallow does not make a summer. let us solicit them in flights and flocks!" * * * * * returning from the future to the present, let us see what forms iduna takes, as she moves along the declivity of centuries to the valley where the lily flower may concentrate all its fragrance. it would seem as if this time were not very near to one fresh from books, such as i have of late been--no: _not_ reading, but sighing over. a crowd of books having been sent me since my friends knew me to be engaged in this way, on woman's "sphere,", woman's "mission," and woman's "destiny," i believe that almost all that is extant of formal precept has come under my eye. among these i read with refreshment a little one called "the whole duty of woman," "indited by a noble lady at the request of a noble lord," and which has this much of nobleness, that the view it takes is a religious one. it aims to fit woman for heaven; the main bent of most of the others is to fit her to please, or, at least, not to disturb, a husband. among these i select, as a favorable specimen, the book i have already quoted, "the study [footnote: this title seems to be incorrectly translated from the french. i have not seen the original] of the life of woman, by madame necker de saussure, of geneva, translated from the french." this book was published at philadelphia, and has been read with much favor here. madame necker is the cousin of madame de stael, and has taken from her works the motto prefixed to this. "cette vie n'a quelque prix que si elle sert a' l'education morale do notre coeur." mde. necker is, by nature, capable of entire consistency in the application of this motto, and, therefore, the qualifications she makes, in the instructions given to her own sex, show forcibly the weight which still paralyzes and distorts the energies of that sex. the book is rich in passages marked by feeling and good suggestions; but, taken in the whole, the impression it leaves is this: woman is, and _shall remain_, inferior to man and subject to his will, and, in endeavoring to aid her, we must anxiously avoid anything that can be misconstrued into expression of the contrary opinion, else the men will be alarmed, and combine to defeat our efforts. the present is a good time for these efforts, for men are less occupied about women than formerly. let us, then, seize upon the occasion, and do what we can to make our lot tolerable. but we must sedulously avoid encroaching on the territory of man. if we study natural history, our observations may be made useful, by some male naturalist; if we draw well, we may make our services acceptable to the artists. but our names must not be known; and, to bring these labors to any result, we must take some man for our head, and be his hands. the lot of woman is sad. she is constituted to expect and need a happiness that cannot exist on earth. she must stifle such aspirations within her secret heart, and fit herself, as well as she can, for a life of resignations and consolations. she will be very lonely while living with her husband. she must not expect to open her heart to him fully, or that, after marriage, he will be capable of the refined service of love. the man is not born for the woman, only the woman for the man. "men cannot understand the hearts of women." the life of woman must be outwardly a well-intentioned, cheerful dissimulation of her real life. naturally, the feelings of the mother, at the birth of a female child, resemble those of the paraguay woman, described by southey as lamenting in such heart-breaking tones that her mother did not kill her the hour she was born,--"her mother, who knew what this life of a woman must be;"--or of those women seen at the north by sir a. mackenzie, who performed this pious duty towards female infants whenever they had an opportunity. "after the first delight, the young mother experiences feelings a little different, according as the birth of a son or a daughter has been announced. "is it a son? a sort of glory swells at this thought the heart of the mother; she seems to feel that she is entitled to gratitude. she has given a citizen, a defender, to her country; to her husband an heir of his name; to herself a protector. and yet the contrast of all these fine titles with this being, so humble, soon strikes her. at the aspect of this frail treasure, opposite feelings agitate her heart; she seems to recognise in him _a nature superior to her own_, but subjected to a low condition, and she honors a future greatness in the object of extreme compassion. somewhat of that respect and adoration for a feeble child, of which some fine pictures offer the expression in the features of the happy mary, seem reproduced with the young mother who has given birth to a son. "is it a daughter? there is usually a slight degree of regret; so deeply rooted is the idea of the superiority of man in happiness and dignity; and yet, as she looks upon this child, she is more and more _softened_ towards it. a deep sympathy--a sentiment of identity with this delicate being--takes possession of her; an extreme pity for so much weakness, a more pressing need of prayer, stirs her heart. whatever sorrows she may have felt, she dreads for her daughter; but she will guide her to become much wiser, much better than herself. and then the gayety, the frivolity of the young woman have their turn. this little creature is a flower to cultivate, a doll to decorate." similar sadness at the birth of a daughter i have heard mothers express not unfrequently. as to this living so entirely for men, i should think when it was proposed to women they would feel, at least, some spark of the old spirit of races allied to our own. "if he is to be my bridegroom _and lord_" cries brunhilda, [footnote: see the nibelungen lays.] "he must first be able to pass through fire and water." "i will serve at the banquet," says the walkyrie, "but only him who, in the trial of deadly combat, has shown himself a hero." if women are to be bond-maids, let it be to men superior to women in fortitude, in aspiration, in moral power, in refined sense of beauty. you who give yourselves "to be supported," or because "one must love something," are they who make the lot of the sex such that mothers are sad when daughters are born. it marks the state of feeling on this subject that it was mentioned, as a bitter censure on a woman who had influence over those younger than herself,--"she makes those girls want to see heroes?" "and will that hurt them?" "certainly; how _can_ you ask? they will find none, and so they will never be married." "_get_ married" is the usual phrase, and the one that correctly indicates the thought; but the speakers, on this occasion, were persons too outwardly refined to use it. they were ashamed of the word, but not of the thing. madame necker, however, sees good possible in celibacy. indeed, i know not how the subject could be better illustrated, than by separating the wheat from the chaff in madame necker's book; place them in two heaps, and then summon the reader to choose; giving him first a near-sighted glass to examine the two;--it might be a christian, an astronomical, or an artistic glass,--any kind of good glass to obviate acquired defects in the eye. i would lay any wager on the result. but time permits not here a prolonged analysis. i have given the clues for fault-finding. as a specimen of the good take the following passage, on the phenomena of what i have spoken of, as the lyrical or electric element in woman. "women have been seen to show themselves poets in the most pathetic pantomimic scenes, where all the passions were depicted full of beauty; and these poets used a language unknown to themselves, and, the performance once over, their inspiration was a forgotten dream. without doubt there is an interior development to beings so gifted; but their sole mode of communication with us is their talent. they are, ill all besides, the inhabitants of another planet." similar observations have been made by those who have seen the women at irish wakes, or the funeral ceremonies of modern greece or brittany, at times when excitement gave the impulse to genius; but, apparently, without a thought that these rare powers belonged to no other planet, but were a high development of the growth of this, and might, by wise and reverent treatment, be made to inform and embellish the scenes of every day. but, when woman has her fair chance, she will do so, and the poem of the hour will vie with that of the ages. i come now with satisfaction to my own country, and to a writer, a female writer, whom i have selected as the clearest, wisest, and kindliest, who has, as yet, used pen here on these subjects. this is miss sedgwick. miss sedgwick, though she inclines to the private path, and wishes that, by the cultivation of character, might should vindicate right, sets limits nowhere, and her objects and inducements are pure. they are the free and careful cultivation of the powers that have been given, with an aim at moral and intellectual perfection. her speech is moderate and sane, but never palsied by fear or sceptical caution. herself a fine example of the independent and beneficent existence that intellect and character can give to woman, no less than man, if she know how to seek and prize it,--also, that the intellect need not absorb or weaken, but rather will refine and invigorate, the affections,--the teachings of her practical good sense come with great force, and cannot fail to avail much. every way her writings please me both as to the means and the ends. i am pleased at the stress she lays on observance of the physical laws, because the true reason is given. only in a strong and clean body can the soul do its message fitly. she shows the meaning of the respect paid to personal neatness, both in the indispensable form of cleanliness, and of that love of order and arrangement, that must issue from a true harmony of feeling. the praises of cold water seem to me an excellent sign in the age. they denote a tendency to the true life. we are now to have, as a remedy for ills, not orvietan, or opium, or any quack medicine, but plenty of air and water, with due attention to warmth and freedom in dress, and simplicity of diet. every day we observe signs that the natural feelings on these subjects are about to be reinstated, and the body to claim care as the abode and organ of the soul; not as the tool of servile labor, or the object of voluptuous indulgence. a poor woman, who had passed through the lowest grades of ignominy, seemed to think she had never been wholly lost, "for," said she, "i would always have good under-clothes;" and, indeed, who could doubt that this denoted the remains of private self-respect in the mind? a woman of excellent sense said, "it might seem childish, but to her one of the most favorable signs of the times was that the ladies had been persuaded to give up corsets." yes! let us give up all artificial means of distortion. let life be healthy, pure, all of a piece. miss sedgwick, in teaching that domestics must have the means of bathing us much as their mistresses, and time, too, to bathe, has symbolized one of the most important of human rights. another interesting sign of the time is the influence exercised by two women, miss martineau and miss barrett, from their sick-rooms. the lamp of life which, if it had been fed only by the affections, depended on precarious human relations, would scarce have been able to maintain a feeble glare in the lonely prison, now shines far and wide over the nations, cheering fellow-sufferers and hallowing the joy of the healthful. these persons need not health or youth, or the charms of personal presence, to make their thoughts available. a few more such, and "old woman" [footnote: an apposite passage is quoted in appendix f.] shall not be the synonyme for imbecility, nor "old maid" a term of contempt, nor woman be spoken of as a reed shaken by the wind. it is time, indeed, that men and women both should cease to grow old in any other way than as the tree does, full of grace and honor. the hair of the artist turns white, but his eye shines clearer than ever, and we feel that age brings him maturity, not decay. so would it be with all, were the springs of immortal refreshment but unsealed within the soul; then, like these women, they would see, from the lonely chamber window, the glories of the universe; or, shut in darkness, be visited by angels. i now touch on my own place and day, and, as i write, events are occurring that threaten the fair fabric approached by so long an avenue. week before last, the gentile was requested to aid the jew to return to palestine; for the millennium, the reign of the son of mary was near. just now, at high and solemn mass, thanks were returned to the virgin for having delivered o'connell from unjust imprisonment, in requital of his having consecrated to her the league formed in behalf of liberty on tara's hill. but last week brought news which threatens that a cause identical with the enfranchisement of jews, irish, women, ay, and of americans in general, too, is in danger, for the choice of the people threatens to rivet the chains of slavery and the leprosy of sin permanently on this nation, through the annexation of texas! ah! if this should take place, who will dare again to feel the throb of heavenly hope, as to the destiny of this country? the noble thought that gave unity to all our knowledge, harmony to all our designs,--the thought that the progress of history had brought on the era, the tissue of prophecies pointed out the spot, where humanity was, at last, to have a fair chance to know itself, and all men be born free and equal for the eagle's flight,--flutters as if about to leave the breast, which, deprived of it, will have no more a nation, no more a home on earth. women of my country!--exaltadas! if such there be,--women of english, old english nobleness, who understand the courage of boadicea, the sacrifice of godiva, the power of queen emma to tread the red-hot iron unharmed,--women who share the nature of mrs. hutchinson, lady russell, and the mothers of our own revolution,--have you nothing to do with this? you see the men, how they are willing to sell shamelessly the happiness of countless generations of fellow-creatures, the honor of their country, and their immortal souls, for a money market and political power. do you not feel within you that which can reprove them, which can check, which can convince them? you would not speak in vain; whether each in her own home, or banded in unison. tell these men that you will not accept the glittering baubles, spacious dwellings, and plentiful service, they mean to offer you through those means. tell them that the heart of woman demands nobleness and honor in man, and that, if they have not purity, have not mercy, they are no longer fathers, lovers, husbands, sons of yours. this cause is your own, for, as i have before said, there is a reason why the foes of african slavery seek more freedom for women; but put it not upon that ground, but on the ground of right. if you have a power, it is a moral power. the films of interest are not so close around you as around the men. if you will but think, you cannot fail to wish to save the country from this disgrace. let not slip the occasion, but do something to lift off the curse incurred by eve. you have heard the women engaged in the abolition movement accused of boldness, because they lifted the voice in public, and lifted the latch of the stranger. but were these acts, whether performed judiciously or no, _so_ bold as to dare before god and man to partake the fruits of such offence as this? you hear much of the modesty of your sex. preserve it by filling the mind with noble desires that shall ward off the corruptions of vanity and idleness. a profligate woman, who left her accustomed haunts and took service in a new york boarding-house, said "she had never heard talk so vile at the five points, as from the ladies at the boarding-house." and why? because they were idle; because, having nothing worthy to engage them, they dwelt, with unnatural curiosity, on the ill they dared not go to see. it will not so much injure your modesty to have your name, by the unthinking, coupled with idle blame, as to have upon your soul the weight of not trying to save a whole race of women from the scorn that is put upon _their_ modesty. think of this well! i entreat, i conjure you, before it is too late. it is my belief that something effectual might be done by women, if they would only consider the subject, and enter upon it in the true spirit,--a spirit gentle, but firm, and which feared the offence of none, save one who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. and now i have designated in outline, if not in fulness, the stream which is ever flowing from the heights of my thought. in the earlier tract i was told i did not make my meaning sufficiently clear. in this i have consequently tried to illustrate it in various ways, and may have been guilty of much repetition. yet, as i am anxious to leave no room for doubt, i shall venture to retrace, once more, the scope of my design in points, as wad done in old-fashioned sermons. man is a being of two-fold relations, to nature beneath, and intelligences above him. the earth is his school, if not his birth-place; god his object; life and thought his means of interpreting nature, and aspiring to god. only a fraction of this purpose is accomplished in the life of any one man. its entire accomplishment is to be hoped only from the sum of the lives of men, or man considered as a whole. as this whole has one soul and one body, any injury or obstruction to a part, or to the meanest member, affects the whole. man can never be perfectly happy or virtuous, till all men are so. to address man wisely, you must not forget that his life is partly animal, subject to the same laws with nature. but you cannot address him wisely unless you consider him still more as soul, and appreciate the conditions and destiny of soul. the growth of man is two-fold, masculine and feminine. so far as these two methods can be distinguished, they are so as energy and harmony; power and beauty; intellect and love; or by some such rude classification; for we have not language primitive and pure enough to express such ideas with precision. these two sides are supposed to be expressed in man and woman, that is, as the more and the less, for the faculties have not been given pure to either, but only in preponderance. there are also exceptions in great number, such as men of far more beauty than power, and the reverse. but, as a general rule, it seems to have been the intention to give a preponderance on the one side, that is called masculine, and on the other, one that is called feminine. there cannot be a doubt that, if these two developments were in perfect harmony, they would correspond to and fulfil one another, like hemispheres, or the tenor and bass in music. but there is no perfect harmony in human nature; and the two parts answer one another only now and then; or, if there be a persistent consonance, it can only be traced at long intervals, instead of discoursing an obvious melody. what is the cause of this? man, in the order of time, was developed first; as energy comes before harmony; power before beauty. woman was therefore under his care as an elder. he might have been her guardian and teacher. but, as human nature goes not straight forward, but by excessive action and then reaction in an undulated course, he misunderstood and abused his advantages, and became her temporal master instead of her spiritual sire. on himself came the punishment. he educated woman more as a servant than a daughter, and found himself a king without a queen. the children of this unequal union showed unequal natures, and, more and more, men seemed sons of the handmaid, rather than princess. at last, there were so many ishmaelites that the rest grew frightened and indignant. they laid the blame on hagar, and drove her forth into the wilderness. but there were none the fewer ishmaelites for that. at last men became a little wiser, and saw that the infant moses was, in every case, saved by the pure instincts of woman's breast. for, as too much adversity is better for the moral nature than too much prosperity, woman, in this respect, dwindled less than man, though in other respects still a child in leading-strings. so man did her more and more justice, and grew more and more kind. but yet--his habits and his will corrupted by the past--he did not clearly see that woman was half himself; that her interests were identical with his; and that, by the law of their common being, he could never reach his true proportions while she remained in any wise shorn of hers. and so it has gone on to our day; both ideas developing, but more slowly than they would under a clearer recognition of truth and justice, which would have permitted the sexes their due influence on one another, and mutual improvement from more dignified relations. wherever there was pure love, the natural influences were, for the time, restored. wherever the poet or artist gave free course to his genius, he saw the truth, and expressed it in worthy forms, for these men especially share and need the feminine principle. the divine birds need to be brooded into life and song by mothers. wherever religion (i mean the thirst for truth and good, not the love of sect and dogma) had its course, the original design was apprehended in its simplicity, and the dove presaged sweetly from dodona's oak. i have aimed to show that no age was left entirely without a witness of the equality of the sexes in function, duty and hope. also that, when there was unwillingness or ignorance, which prevented this being acted upon, women had not the less power for their want of light and noble freedom. but it was power which hurt alike them and those against whom they made use of the arms of the servile,--cunning, blandishment, and unreasonable emotion. that now the time has come when a clearer vision and better action are possible--when man and woman may regard one another, as brother and sister, the pillars of one porch, the priests of one worship. i have believed and intimated that this hope would receive an ampler fruition, than ever before, in our own land. and it will do so if this land carry out the principles from which sprang our national life. i believe that, at present, women are the best helpers of one another. let them think; let them act; till they know what they need. we only ask of men to remove arbitrary barriers. some would like to do more. but i believe it needs that woman show herself in her native dignity, to teach them how to aid her; their minds are so encumbered by tradition. when lord edward fitzgerald travelled with the indians, his manly heart obliged him at once to take the packs from the squaws and carry them. but we do not read that the red men followed his example, though they are ready enough to carry the pack of the white woman, because she seems to them a superior being. let woman appear in the mild majesty of ceres, and rudest churls will be willing to learn from her. you ask, what use will she make of liberty, when she has so long been sustained and restrained? i answer; in the first place, this will not be suddenly given. i read yesterday a debate of this year on the subject of enlarging women's rights over property. it was a leaf from the class-book that is preparing for the needed instruction. the men learned visibly as they spoke. the champions of woman saw the fallacy of arguments on the opposite side, and were startled by their own convictions. with their wives at home, and the readers of the paper, it was the same. and so the stream flows on; thought urging action, and action leading to the evolution of still better thought. but, were this freedom to come suddenly, i have no fear of the consequences. individuals might commit excesses, but there is not only in the sex a reverence for decorums and limits inherited and enhanced from generation to generation, which many years of other life could not efface, but a native love, in woman as woman, of proportion, of "the simple art of not too much,"--a greek moderation, which would create immediately a restraining party, the natural legislators and instructors of the rest, and would gradually establish such rules as are needed to guard, without impeding, life. the graces would lead the choral dance, and teach the rest to regulate their steps to the measure of beauty. but if you ask me what offices they may fill, i reply--any. i do not care what case you put; let them be sea-captains, if you will. i do not doubt there are women well fitted for such an office, and, if so, i should be as glad to see them in it, as to welcome the maid of saragossa, or the maid of missolonghi, or the suliote heroine, or emily plater. i think women need, especially at this juncture, a much greater range of occupation than they have, to rouse their latent powers. a party of travellers lately visited a lonely hut on a mountain. there they found an old woman, who told them she and her husband had lived there forty years. "why," they said, "did you choose so barren a spot?" she "did not know; _it was the man's notion."_ and, during forty years, she had been content to act, without knowing why, upon "the man's notion." i would not have it so. in families that i know, some little girls like to saw wood, others to use carpenters' tools. where these tastes are indulged, cheerfulness and good-humor are promoted. where they are forbidden, because "such things are not proper for girls," they grow sullen and mischievous. fourier had observed these wants of women, as no one can fail to do who watches the desires of little girls, or knows the ennui that haunts grown women, except where they make to themselves a serene little world by art of some kind. he, therefore, in proposing a great variety of employments, in manufactures or the care of plants and animals, allows for one third of women as likely to have a taste for masculine pursuits, one third of men for feminine. who does not observe the immediate glow and serenity that is diffused over the life of women, before restless or fretful, by engaging in gardening, building, or the lowest department of art? here is something that is not routine, something that draws forth life towards the infinite. i have no doubt, however, that a large proportion of women would give themselves to the same employments as now, because there are circumstances that must lead them. mothers will delight to make the nest soft and warm. nature would take care of that; no need to clip the wings of any bird that wants to soar and sing, or finds in itself the strength of pinion for a migratory flight unusual to its kind. the difference would be that _all_ need not be constrained to employments for which _some_ are unfit. i have urged upon the sex self-subsistence in its two forms of self-reliance and self-impulse, because i believe them to be the needed means of the present juncture. i have urged on woman independence of man, not that i do not think the sexes mutually needed by one another, but because in woman this fact has led to an excessive devotion, which has cooled love, degraded marriage, and prevented either sex from being what it should be to itself or the other. i wish woman to live, _first_ for god's sake. then she will not make an imperfect man her god, and thus sink to idolatry. then she will not take what is not fit for her from a sense of weakness and poverty. then, if she finds what she needs in man embodied, she will know how to love, and be worthy of being loved. by being more a soul, she will not be less woman, for nature is perfected through spirit. now there is no woman, only an overgrown child. that her hand may be given with dignity, she must be able to stand alone. i wish to see men and women capable of such relations as are depicted by landor in his pericles and aspasia, where grace is the natural garb of strength, and the affections are calm, because deep. the softness is that of a firm tissue, as when "the gods approve the depth, but not the tumult of the soul, a fervent, not ungovernable love." a profound thinker has said, "no married woman can represent the female world, for she belongs to her husband. the idea of woman must be represented by a virgin." but that is the very fault of marriage, and of the present relation between the sexes, that the woman does belong to the man, instead of forming a whole with him. were it otherwise, there would be no such limitation to the thought. woman, self-centred, would never be absorbed by any relation; it would be only an experience to her as to man. it is a vulgar error that love, _a_ love, to woman is her whole existence; she also is born for truth and love in their universal energy. would she but assume her inheritance, mary would not be the only virgin mother. not manzoni alone would celebrate in his wife the virgin mind with the maternal wisdom and conjugal affections. the soul is ever young, ever virgin. and will not she soon appear?--the woman who shall vindicate their birthright for all women; who shall teach them what to claim, and how to use what they obtain? shall not her name be for her era victoria, for her country and life virginia? yet predictions are rash; she herself must teach us to give her the fitting name. an idea not unknown to ancient times has of late been revived, that, in the metamorphoses of life, the soul assumes the form, first of man, then of woman, and takes the chances, and reaps the benefits of either lot. why then, say some, lay such emphasis on the rights or needs of woman? what she wins not as woman will come to her as man. that makes no difference. it is not woman, but the law of right, the law of growth, that speaks in us, and demands the perfection of each being in its kind--apple as apple, woman as woman. without adopting your theory, i know that i, a daughter, live through the life of man; but what concerns me now is, that my life be a beautiful, powerful, in a word, a complete life in its kind. had i but one more moment to live i must wish the same. suppose, at the end of your cycle, your great world-year, all will be completed, whether i exert myself or not (and the supposition is _false_,--but suppose it true), am i to be indifferent about it? not so! i must beat my own pulse true in the heart of the world; for _that_ is virtue, excellence, health. thou, lord of day! didst leave us to-night so calmly glorious, not dismayed that cold winter is coming, not postponing thy beneficence to the fruitful summer! thou didst smile on thy day's work when it was done, and adorn thy down-going as thy up-rising, for thou art loyal, and it is thy nature to give life, if thou canst, and shine at all events! i stand in the sunny noon of life. objects no longer glitter in the dews of morning, neither are yet softened by the shadows of evening. every spot is seen, every chasm revealed. climbing the dusty hill, some fair effigies that once stood for symbols of human destiny have been broken; those i still have with me show defects in this broad light. yet enough is left, even by experience, to point distinctly to the glories of that destiny; faint, but not to be mistaken streaks of the future day. i can say with the bard, "though many have suffered shipwreck, still beat noble hearts." always the soul says to us all, cherish your best hopes as a faith, and abide by them in action. such shall be the effectual fervent means to their fulfilment; for the power to whom we bow has given its pledge that, if not now, they of pure and steadfast mind, by faith exalted, truth refined, _shall_ hear all music loud and clear, whose first notes they ventured here. then fear not thou to wind the horn, though elf and gnome thy courage scorn; ask for the castle's king and queen; though rabble rout may rush between, beat thee senseless to the ground, in the dark beset thee round; persist to ask, and it will come; seek not for rest in humbler home; so shalt thou see, what few have seen, the palace home of king and queen. _th november_, . part ii. * * * * * miscellanies. aglauron and laurie. a drive through the country near boston. aglauron and laurie are two of the pleasantest men i know. laurie combines, with the external advantages of a beautiful person and easy address, all the charm which quick perceptions and intelligent sympathy give to the intercourse of daily life. he has an extensive, though not a deep, knowledge of men and books,--his naturally fine taste has been more refined by observation, both at home and abroad, than is usual in this busy country; and, though not himself a thinker, he follows with care and delight the flights of a rapid and inventive mind. he is one of those rare persons who, without being servile or vacillating, present on no side any barrier to the free action of another mind. yes, he is really an agreeable companion. i do not remember ever to have been wearied or chilled in his company. aglauron is a person of far greater depth and force than his friend and cousin, but by no means as agreeable. his mind is ardent and powerful, rather than brilliant and ready,--neither does he with ease adapt himself to the course of another. but, when he is once kindled, the blaze of light casts every object on which it falls into a bold relief, and gives every scene a lustre unknown before. he is not, perhaps, strictly original in his thoughts; but the severe truth of his character, and the searching force of his attention, give the charm of originality to what he says. accordingly, another cannot, by repetition, do it justice. i have never any doubt when i write down or tell what laurie says, but aglauron must write for himself. yet i almost always take notes of what has passed, for the amusement of a distant friend, who is learning, amidst the western prairies, patience, and an appreciation of the poor benefits of our imperfectly civilized state. and those i took this day, seemed not unworthy of a more general circulation. the sparkle of talk, the free breeze that swelled its current, are always fled when you write it down; but there is a gentle flow, and truth to the moment, rarely attained in more elaborate compositions. my two friends called to ask if i would drive with them into the country, and i gladly consented. it was a beautiful afternoon of the last week in may. nature seemed most desirous to make up for the time she had lost, in an uncommonly cold and wet spring. the leaves were bursting from their sheaths with such rapidity that the trees seemed actually to greet you as you passed along. the vestal choirs of snow-drops and violets were chanting their gentle hopes from every bank, the orchards were white with blossoms, and the birds singing in almost tumultuous glee. we drove for some time in silence, perhaps fearful to disturb the universal song by less melodious accents, when aglauron said: "how entirely are we new-born today! how are all the post cold skies and hostile breezes vanished before this single breath of sweetness! how consoling is the truth thus indicated!" _laurie_. it is indeed the dearest fact of our consciousness, that, in every moment of joy, pain is annihilated. there is no past, and the future is only the sunlight streaming into the far valley. _aglauron._ yet it was the night that taught us to prize the day. _laurie._ even so. and i, you know, object to none of the "dark masters." _aglauron_. nor i,--because i am sure that whatever is, is good; and to find out the _why_ is all our employment here. but one feels so at home in such a day as this! _laurie._ as this, indeed! i never heard so many birds, nor saw so many flowers. do you not like these yellow flowers? _aglauron._ they gleam upon the fields as if to express the bridal kiss of the sun. he seems most happy, if not most wealthy, when first he is wed to the earth. _laurie._ i believe i have some such feeling about these golden flowers. when i did not know what was the asphodel, so celebrated by the poets, i thought it was a golden flower; yet this yellow is so ridiculed as vulgar. _aglauron_. it is because our vulgar luxury depreciates objects not fitted to adorn our dwellings. these yellow flowers will not bear being token out of their places and brought home to the centre-table. but, when enamelling the ground, the cowslip, the king-cup,--nay, the marigold and dandelion even,--are resplendently beautiful. _laurie_. they are the poor man's gold. see that dark, unpointed house, with its lilac shrubbery. as it stands, undivided from the road to which the green bank slopes down from the door, is not the effect of that enamel of gold dandelions beautiful? _aglauron_. it seems as if a stream of peace had flowed from the door-step down to the very dust, in waves of light, to greet the passer-by. that is, indeed, a quiet house. it looks as if somebody's grandfather lived there still. _laurie_. it is most refreshing to see the dark boards amid those houses of staring white. strange that, in the extreme heat of summer, aching eyes don't teach the people better. _aglauron_. we are still, in fact, uncivilized, for all our knowledge of what is done "in foreign parts" cannot make us otherwise. civilization must be homogeneous,--must be a natural growth. this glistening white paint was long preferred because the most expensive; just as in the west, i understand, they paint houses red to make them resemble the hideous red brick. and the eye, thus spoiled by excitement, prefers red or white to the stone-color, or the browns, which would harmonize with other hues. _laurie_. i should think the eye could never be spoiled so far as to like these white palings. these bars of glare amid the foliage are unbearable. _myself_. what color should they be? _laurie_. an invisible green, as in all civilized parts of the globe. then your eye would rest on the shrubbery undisturbed. _myself_. your vaunted italy has its palaces of white stucco and buildings of brick. _laurie_. ay,--but the stucco is by the atmosphere soon mellowed into cream-color, the brick into rich brown. _myself_. i have heard a connoisseur admire our own red brick in the afternoon sun, above all other colors. _laurie_. there are some who delight too much in the stimulus of color to be judges of harmony of coloring. it is so, often, with the italians. no color is too keen for the eye of the neapolitan. he thinks, with little riding-hood, there is no color like red. i have seen one of the most beautiful new palaces paved with tiles of a brilliant red. but this, too, is barbarism. _myself_. you are pleased to call it so, because you make the english your arbiters in point of taste; but i do not think they, on your own principle, are our proper models. with their ever-weeping skies, and seven-piled velvet of verdure, they are no rule for us, whose eyes are accustomed to the keen blue and brilliant clouds of our own realm, and who see the earth wholly green scarce two months in the year. no white is more glistening than our january snows; no house here hurts my eye more than the fields of white-weed will, a fortnight hence. _laurie._ true refinement of taste would bid the eye seek repose the more. but, even admitting what you say, there is no harmony. the architecture is borrowed from england; why not the rest? _aglauron._ but, my friend, surely these piazzas and pipe-stem pillars are all american. _laurie._ but the cottage to which they belong is english. the inhabitants, suffocating in small rooms, and beneath sloping roofs, because the house is too low to admit any circulation of air, are in need, we must admit, of the piazza, for elsewhere they must suffer all the torments of mons. chaubert in his first experience of the oven. but i do not assail the piazzas, at any rate; they are most desirable, in these hot summers of ours, were they but in proportion with the house, and their pillars with one another. but i do object to houses which are desirable neither as summer nor winter residences here. the shingle palaces, celebrated by irving's wit, were far more appropriate, for they, at least, gave free course to the winds of heaven, when the thermometer stood at ninety-five degrees in the shade. _aglauron._ pity that american wit nipped in the bud those early attempts at an american architecture. here in the east, alas! the case is become hopeless. but in the west the log-cabin still promises a proper basis. _laurie._ you laugh at me. but so it is. i am not so silly as to insist upon american architecture, american art, in the th of july style, merely for the gratification of national vanity. but a building, to be beautiful, should harmonize exactly with the uses to which it is to be put, and be an index to the climate and habits of the people. there is no objection to borrowing good thoughts from other nations, if we adopt the new style because we find it will serve our convenience, and not merely because it looks pretty outside. _aglauron._ i agree with you that here, as well as in manners and in literature, there is too ready access to the old stock, and, though i said it in jest, my hope is, in truth, the log-cabin. this the settler will enlarge, as his riches and his family increase; he will beautify as his character refines, and as his eye becomes accustomed to observe objects around him for their loveliness as well as for their utility. he will borrow from nature the forms and coloring most in harmony with the scene in which his dwelling is placed. might growth here be but slow enough! might not a greediness for gain and show cheat men of all the real advantages of their experience! (here a carriage passed.) _laurie._ who is that beautiful lady to whom you bowed? _aglauron._ beautiful do you think her? at this distance, and with the freshness which the open air gives to her complexion, she certainly does look so, and was so still, five years ago, when i knew her abroad. it is mrs. v----. _laurie._ i remember with what interest you mentioned her in your letters. and you promised to tell me her true story. _aglauron._ i was much interested, then, both in her and her story, but, last winter, when i met her at the south, she had altered, and seemed so much less attractive than before, that the bright colors of the picture are well-nigh effaced. _laurie._ the pleasure of telling the story will revive them again. let us fasten our horses and go into this little wood. there is a seat near the lake which is pretty enough to tell a story upon. _aglauron._ in all the idyls i ever read, they were told in caves, or beside a trickling fountain. _laurie._ that was in the last century. we will innovate. let us begin that american originality we were talking about, and make the bank of a lake answer our purpose. * * * * * we dismounted accordingly, but, on reaching the spot, aglauron at first insisted on lying on the grass, and gazing up at the clouds in a most uncitizen-like fashion, and it was some time before we could get the promised story. at last,-- * * * * * i first saw mrs. v---- at the opera in vienna. abroad, i scarcely cared for anything in comparison with music. in many respects the old world disappointed my hopes; society was, in essentials, no better, nor worse, than at home, and i too easily saw through the varnish of conventional refinement. lions, seen near, were scarcely more interesting than tamer cattle, and much more annoying in their gambols and caprices. parks and ornamental grounds pleased me less than the native forests and wide-rolling rivers of my own land. but in the arts, and most of all in music, i found all my wishes more than realized. i found the soul of man uttering itself with the swiftness, the freedom and the beauty, for which i had always pined. i easily conceived how foreigners, once acquainted with this diverse language, pass their lives without a wish for pleasure or employment beyond hearing the great works of the masters. it seemed to me that here was wealth to feed the thoughts for ages. this lady fixed my attention by the rapturous devotion with which she listened. i saw that she too had here found her proper home. every shade of thought and feeling expressed in the music was mirrored in her beautiful countenance. her rapture of attention, during some passages, was enough of itself to make you hold your breath; and a sudden stroke of genius lit her face into a very heaven with its lightning. it seemed to me that in her i should find one who would truly sympathize with me, one who looked on the art not as a connoisseur, but a votary. i took the speediest opportunity of being introduced to her at her own house by a common friend. but what a difference! at home i scarcely knew her. still she was beautiful; but the sweetness, the elevated expression, which the satisfaction of an hour had given her, were entirely fled. her eye was restless, her cheek pale and thin, her whole expression perturbed and sorrowful. every gesture spoke the sickliness of a spirit long an outcast from its natural home, bereft of happiness, and hopeless of good. i perceived, at first sight of her every-day face, that it was not unknown to me. three or four years earlier, staying in the country-house of one of her friends, i had seen her picture. the house was very dull,--as dull as placid content with the mere material enjoyments of life, and an inert gentleness of nature, could make its inhabitants. they were people to be loved, but loved without a thought. their wings had never grown, nor their eyes coveted a wider prospect than could be seen from the parent nest. the friendly visitant could not discompose them by a remark indicating any expansion of mind or life. much as i enjoyed the beauty of the country around, when out in the free air, my hours within the house would have been dull enough but for the contemplation of this picture. while the round of common-place songs was going on, and the whist-players were at their work, i used to sit and wonder how this being, so sovereign in the fire of her nature, so proud in her untamed loveliness, could ever have come of their blood. her eye, from the canvas, even, seemed to annihilate all things low or little, and able to command all creation in search of the object of its desires. she had not found it, though; i felt this on seeing her now. she, the queenly woman, the boadicea of a forlorn hope, as she seemed born to be, the only woman whose face, to my eye, had ever given promise of a prodigality of nature sufficient for the entertainment of a poet's soul, was--i saw it at a glance--a captive in her life, and a beggar in her affections. _laurie._ a dangerous object to the traveller's eye, methinks! _aglauron._ not to mine! the picture had been so; but, seeing her now, i felt that the glorious promise of her youthful prime had failed. she had missed her course; and the beauty, whose charm to the imagination had been that it seemed invincible, was now subdued and mixed with earth. _laurie._ i can never comprehend the cruelty in your way of viewing human beings, aglauron. to err, to suffer, is their lot; all who have feeling and energy of character must share it; and i could not endure a woman who at six-and-twenty bore no trace of the past. _aglauron._ such women and such men are the companions of everyday life. but the angels of our thoughts are those moulds of pure beauty which must break with a fall. the common air must not touch them, for they make their own atmosphere. i admit that such are not for the tenderness of daily life; their influence must be high, distant, starlike, to be pure. such was this woman to me before i knew her; one whose splendid beauty drew on my thoughts to their future home. in knowing her, i lost the happiness i had enjoyed in knowing what she should have been. at first the disappointment was severe, but i have learnt to pardon her, as others who get mutilated or worn in life, and show the royal impress only in their virgin courage. but this subject would detain me too long. let me rather tell you of mrs. v----'s sad history. a friend of mine has said that beautiful persons seem rarely born to their proper family, but amidst persons so rough and uncongenial that _their_ presence commands like that of a reproving angel, or pains like that of some poor prince changed at nurse, and bound for life to the society of churls. so it was with emily. her father was sordid, her mother weak; persons of great wealth and greater selfishness. she was the youngest by many years, and left alone in her father's house. notwithstanding the want of intelligent sympathy while she was growing up, and the want of all intelligent culture, she was not an unhappy child. the unbounded and foolish indulgence with which she was treated did not have an obviously bad effect upon her then; it did not make her selfish, sensual, or vain. her character was too powerful to dwell upon such boons as those nearest her could bestow. she negligently received them all as her due. it was later that the pernicious effects of the absence of all discipline showed themselves; but in early years she was happy in her lavish feelings, and in beautiful nature, on which she could pour them, and in her own pursuits. music was her passion; in it she found food, and an answer for feelings destined to become so fatal to her peace, but which then glowed so sweetly in her youthful form as to enchant the most ordinary observer. when she was not more than fifteen, and expanding like a flower in each sunny day, it was her misfortune that her first husband saw and loved her. emily, though pleased by his handsome person and gay manners, never bestowed a serious thought on him. if she had, it would have been the first ever disengaged from her life of pleasurable sensation. but when he did plead his cause with all the ardor of youth, and the flourishes which have been by usage set apart for such occasions, she listened with delight; for all his talk of boundless love, undying faith, etc., seemed her native tongue. it was like the most glowing sunset sky. it swelled upon the ear like music. it was the only way she ever wished to be addressed, and she now saw plainly why all talk of everyday people had fallen unheeded on her ear. she could have listened all day. but when, emboldened by the beaming eye and ready smile with which she heard, he pressed his suit more seriously, and talked of marriage, she drew back astonished. marry yet?--impossible! she had never thought of it; and as she thought now of marriages, such as she had seen them, there was nothing in marriage to attract. but l---- was not so easily repelled; he made her every promise of pleasure, as one would to a child. he would take her away to journey through scenes more beautiful than she had ever dreamed of; he would take her to a city where, in the fairest home, she should hear the finest music, and he himself, in every scene, would be her devoted slave, too happy if for every now pleasure he received one of those smiles which had become his life. he saw her yielding, and hastened to secure her. her father was delighted, as fathers are strangely wont to be, that he was likely to be deprived of his child, his pet, his pride. the mother was threefold delighted that she would have a daughter married so _young_,--at least three years younger than any of her elder sisters were married. both lent their influence; and emily, accustomed to rely on them against all peril, and annoyance, till she scarcely knew there was pain or evil in the world, gave her consent, as she would have given it to a pleasure-party for a day or a week. the marriage was hurried on; l---- intent on gaining his object, as men of strong will and no sentiment are wont to be, the parents thinking of the eclat of the match. emily was amused by the preparations for the festivity, and full of excitement about the new chapter which was to be opened in her life. yet so little idea had she of the true business of life, and the importance of its ties, that perhaps there was no figure in the future that occupied her less than that of her bridegroom, a handsome man, with a sweet voice, her captive, her adorer. she neither thought nor saw further, lulled by the pictures of bliss and adventure which were floating before her fancy, the more enchanting because so vague. it was at this time that the picture that so charmed me was taken. the exquisite rose had not yet opened its leaves so as to show its heart; but its fragrance and blushful pride were there in perfection. poor emily! she had the promised journeys, the splendid home. amid the former her mind, opened by new scenes, already learned that something she seemed to possess was wanting in the too constant companion of her days. in the splendid home she received not only musicians, but other visitants, who taught her strange things. four little months after her leaving home, her parents were astonished by receiving a letter in which she told them they had parted with her too soon; that she was not happy with mr. l----, as he had promised she should be, and that she wished to have her marriage broken. she urged her father to make haste about it, as she had particular reasons for impatience. you may easily conceive of the astonishment of the good folks at home. her mother wondered and cried. her father immediately ordered his horses, and went to her. he was received with rapturous delight, and almost at the first moment thanked for his speedy compliance with her request. but when she found that he opposed her desire of having her marriage broken, and when she urged him with vehemence and those marks of caressing fondness she had been used to find all-powerful, and he told her at last it could not be done, she gave way to a paroxysm of passion; she declared that she could not and would not live with mr. l----; that, so soon as she saw anything of the world, she saw many men that she infinitely preferred to him; and that, since her father and mother, instead of guarding her, so mere a child as she was, so entirely inexperienced, against a hasty choice, had persuaded and urged her to it, it was their duty to break the match when they found it did not make her happy. "my child, you are entirely unreasonable." "it is not a time to be patient; and i was too yielding before. i am not seventeen. is the happiness of my whole life to be sacrificed?" "emily, you terrify me! do you love anybody else?" "not yet; but i am sure shall find some one to love, now i know what it is. i have seen already many whom i prefer to mr. l----." "is he not kind to you?" "kind! yes; but he is perfectly uninteresting. i hate to be with him. i do not wish his kindness, nor to remain in his house." in vain her father argued; she insisted that she could never be happy as she was; that it was impossible the law could be so cruel as to bind her to a vow she had taken when so mere a child; that she would go home with her father now, and they would see what could be done. she added that she had already told her husband her resolution. "and how did he bear it?" "he was very angry; but it is better for him to be angry once than unhappy always, as i should certainly make him did i remain here." after long and fruitless attempts to reason her into a different state of mind, the father went in search of the husband. he found him irritated and mortified. he loved his wife, in his way, for her personal beauty. he was very proud of her; he was piqued to the last degree by her frankness. he could not but acknowledge the truth of what she said, that she had been persuaded into the match when but a child; for she seemed a very infant now, in wilfulness and ignorance of the world. but i believe neither he nor her father had one compunctious misgiving as to their having profaned the holiness of marriage by such an union. their minds had never been opened to the true meaning of life, and, though they thought themselves so much wiser, they were in truth much less so than the poor, passionate emily,--for her heart, at least, spoke clearly, if her mind lay in darkness. they could do nothing with her, and her father was at length compelled to take her home, hoping that her mother might be able to induce her to see things in a different light. but father, mother, uncles, brothers, all reasoned with her in vain. totally unused to disappointment, she could not for a long time believe that she was forever bound by a bond that sat uneasily on her untamed spirit. when at last convinced of the truth, her despair was terrible. "am i his? his forever? must i never then love? never marry one whom i could really love? mother! it is too cruel. i cannot, will not believe it. you always wished me to belong to him. you do not now wish to aid me, or you are afraid! o, you would not be so, could you but know what i feel!" at last convinced, she then declared that if she could not be legally separated from l----, but must consent to bear his name, and never give herself to another, she would at least live with him no more. she would not again leave her father's house. here she was deaf to all argument, and only force could have driven her away. her indifference to l---- had become hatred, in the course of these thoughts and conversations. she regarded herself as his victim, and him as her betrayer, since, she said, he was old enough to know the importance of the step to which he led her. her mind, naturally noble, though now in this wild state, refused to admit his love as an excuse. "had he loved me," she said, "he would have wished to teach me to love him, before securing me as his property. he is as selfish as he is dull and uninteresting. no! i will drag on my miserable years here alone, but i will not pretend to love him nor gratify him by the sight of his slave!" a year and more passed, and found the unhappy emily inflexible. her husband at last sought employment abroad, to hide his mortification. after his departure, emily relaxed once from the severe coldness she had shown since her return home. she had passed her time there with her music, in reading poetry, in solitary walks. but as the person who had been, however unintentionally, the means of making her so miserable, was further removed from her, she showed willingness to mingle again with the family, and see one or two young friends. one of these, almeria, effected what all the armament of praying and threatening friends had been unable to do. she devoted herself to emily. she shared her employments and her walks; she sympathized with all her feelings, even the morbid ones which she saw to be sincerity, tenderness and delicacy gone astray,--perverted and soured by the foolish indulgence of her education, and the severity of her destiny made known suddenly to a mind quite unprepared. at last, having won the confidence and esteem of emily, by the wise and gentle cheek her justice and clear perceptions gave to all extravagance, almeria ventured on representing to emily her conduct as the world saw it. to this she found her quite insensible. "what is the world to me?" she said. "i am forbidden to seek there all it can offer of value to woman--sympathy and a home." "it is full of beauty still," said almeria, looking out into the golden and perfumed glories of a june day. "not to the prisoner and the slave," said emily. "all are such, whom god hath not made free;" and almeria gently ventured to explain the hopes of larger span which enable the soul that can soar upon their wings to disregard the limitations of seventy years. emily listened with profound attention. the words were familiar to her, but the tone was not; it was that which rises from the depths of a purified spirit,--purified by pain, softened into peace. "have you made any use of these thoughts in your life, almeria?" the lovely preacher hesitated not to reveal a tale before unknown except to her own heart, of woe, renunciation, and repeated blows from a hostile fate. emily heard it in silence, but she understood. the great illusions of youth vanished. she did not suffer alone; her lot was not peculiar. another, perhaps many, were forbidden the bliss of sympathy and a congenial environment. and what had almeria done? revenged herself? tormented all around her? clung with wild passion to a selfish resolve? not at all. she had made the best of a wreck of life, and deserved a blessing on a new voyage. she had sought consolation in disinterested tenderness for her fellow-sufferers, and she deserved to cease to suffer. the lesson was taken home, and gradually leavened the whole being of this spoiled but naturally noble child. a few weeks afterwards, she asked her father when mr. l---- was expected to return. "in about three months," he replied, much surprised. "i should like to have you write to him for me." "what now absurdity?" said the father, who, long mortified and harassed, had ceased to be a fond father to his once adored emily. "say that my views are unchanged as to his soliciting a marriage with me when too childish to know my own mind on that or any other subject; but i have now seen enough of the world to know that he meant no ill, if no good, and was no more heedless in this great matter than many others are. he is not born to know what one constituted like me must feel, in a home where i found no rest for my heart. i have now read, seen and thought, what has made me a woman. i can be what you call reasonable, though not perhaps in your way. i see that my misfortune is irreparable. i heed not the world's opinion, and would, for myself, rather remain here, and keep up no semblance of a connection which my matured mind disclaims. but that scandalizes you and my mother, and makes your house a scene of pain and mortification in your old age. i know you, too, did not neglect the charge of me, in your own eyes. i owe you gratitude for your affectionate intentions at least. "l---- too is as miserable as mortification can make one like him. write, and ask him if he wishes my presence in his house on my own terms. he must not expect from me the affection, or marks of affection, of a wife. i should never have been his wife had i waited till i understood life or myself. but i will be his attentive and friendly companion, the mistress of his house, if he pleases. to the world it will seem enough,--he will be more comfortable there,--and what he wished of me was, in a great measure, to show me to the world. i saw that, as soon as we were in it, i could not give him happiness if i would, for we have not a thought nor employment in common. but if we can agree on the way, we may live together without any one being very miserable except myself, and i have made up my mind." the astonishment of the father may be conceived, and his cavils; l----'s also. to cut the story short, it was settled in emily's way, for she was one of the sultana kind, dread and dangerous. l---- hardly wished her to love him now, for he half hated her for all she had done; yet he was glad to have her back, as she had judged, for the sake of appearances. all was smoothed over by a plausible story. people, indeed, knew the truth as to the fair one's outrageous conduct perfectly, but mr. l---- was rich, his wife beautiful, and gave good parties; so society, as such, bowed and smiled, while individuals scandalized the pair. they had been living on this footing for several years, when i saw emily at the opera. she was a much altered being. debarred of happiness in her affections, she had turned for solace to the intellectual life, and her naturally powerful and brilliant mind had matured into a splendor which had never been dreamed of by those who had seen her amid the freaks end day-dreams of her early youth. yet, as i said before, she was not captivating to me, as her picture had been. she was, in a different way, as beautiful in feature and coloring as in her spring-time. her beauty, all moulded and mellowed by feeling, was far more eloquent; but it had none of the virgin magnificence, the untouched tropical luxuriance, which had fired my fancy. the false position in which she lived had shaded her expression with a painful restlessness; and her eye proclaimed that the conflicts of her mind had strengthened, had deepened, but had not yet hallowed, her character. she was, however, interesting, deeply so; one of those rare beings who fill your eye in every mood. her passion for music, and the great excellence she had attained as a performer, drew us together. i was her daily visitor; but, if my admiration ever softened into tenderness, it was the tenderness of pity for her unsatisfied heart, and cold, false life. but there was one who saw with very different eyes. v---- had been intimate with emily some time before my arrival, and every day saw him more deeply enamored. _laurie._ and pray where was the husband all this time? _aglauron._ l---- had sought consolation in ambition. he was a man of much practical dexterity, but of little thought, and less heart. he had at first been jealous of emily for his honor's sake,--not for any reality,--for she treated him with great attention as to the comforts of daily life; but otherwise, with polite, steady coldness. finding that she received the court, which many were disposed to pay her, with grace and affability, but at heart with imperial indifference, he ceased to disturb himself; for, as she rightly thought, he was incapable of understanding her. a coquette he could have interpreted; but a romantic character like hers, born for a grand passion, or no love at all, he could not. nor did he see that v---- was likely to be more to her than any of her admirers. _laurie._ i am afraid i should have shamed his obtuseness. v---- has nothing to recommend him that i know of, except his beauty, and that is the beauty of a _petit-maitre_--effeminate, without character, and very unlikely, i should judge, to attract such a woman as you give me the idea of. _aglauron._ you speak like a man, laurie; but have you never heard tales of youthful minstrels and pages being preferred by princesses, in the land of chivalry, to stalwart knights, who were riding all over the land, doing their devoirs maugre scars and starvation? and why? one want of a woman's heart is to admire and be protected; but another is to be understood in all her delicate feelings, and have an object who shall know how to receive all the marks of her inventive and bounteous affection. v---- is such an one; a being of infinite grace and tenderness, and an equal capacity for prizing the same in another. effeminate, say you? lovely, rather, and lovable. he was not, indeed, made to grow old; but i never saw a fairer spring-time than shone in his eye when life, and thought, and love, opened on him all together. he was to emily like the soft breathing of a flute in some solitary valley; indeed, the delicacy of his nature made a solitude around him in the world. so delicate was he, and emily for a long time so unconscious, that nobody except myself divined how strong was the attraction which, as it drew them nearer together, invested both with a lustre and a sweetness which charmed all around them. but i see the sun is declining, and warns me to cut short a tale which would keep us here till dawn if i were to detail it as i should like to do in my own memories. the progress of this affair interested me deeply; for, like all persons whose perceptions are more lively than their hopes, i delight to live from day to day in the more ardent experiments of others. i looked on with curiosity, with sympathy, with fear. how could it end? what would become of them, unhappy lovers? one too noble, the other too delicate, ever to find happiness in an unsanctioned tie. i had, however, no right to interfere, and did not, even by a look, until one evening, when the occasion was forced upon me. there was a summer fete given at l----'s. i had mingled for a while with the guests in the brilliant apartments; but the heat oppressed, the conversation failed to interest me. an open window tempted me to the garden, whose flowers and tufted lawns lay bathed in moonlight. i went out alone; but the music of a superb band followed my steps, and gave impulse to my thoughts. a dreaming state, pensive though not absolutely sorrowful, came upon me,--one of those gentle moods when thoughts flow through the mind amber-clear and soft, noiseless, because unimpeded. i sat down in an arbor to enjoy it, and probably stayed much longer than i could have imagined; for when i reentered the large saloon it was deserted. the lights, however, were not extinguished, and, hearing voices in the inner room, i supposed some guests still remained; and, as i had not spoken with emily that evening, i ventured in to bid her good-night. i started, repentant, on finding her alone with v----, and in a situation that announced their feelings to be no longer concealed from each other. she, leaning back on the sofa, was weeping bitterly, while v----, seated at her feet, holding her hands within his own, was pouring forth his passionate words with a fervency which prevented him from perceiving my entrance. but emily perceived me at once, and starting up, motioned me not to go, as i had intended. i obeyed, and sat down. a pause ensued, awkward for me and for v----, who sat with his eyes cast down and blushing like a young girl detected in a burst of feeling long kept secret. emily sat buried in thought, the tears yet undried upon her cheeks. she was pale, but nobly beautiful, as i had never yet seen her. after a few moments i broke the silence, and attempted to tell why i had returned so late. she interrupted me: "no matter, aglauron, how it happened; whatever the chance, it promises to give both v---- and myself, what we greatly need, a calm friend and adviser. you are the only person among these crowds of men whom i could consult; for i have read friendship in your eye, and i know you have truth and honor. v---- thinks of you as i do, and he too is, or should be, glad to have some counsellor beside his own wishes." v---- did not raise his eyes; neither did he contradict her. after a moment he said, "i believe aglauron to be as free from prejudice as any man, and most true and honorable; yet who can judge in this matter but ourselves?" "no one shall judge," said emily; "but i want counsel. god help me! i feel there is a right and wrong; but how can my mind, which has never been trained to discern between them, be confident of its power at this important moment? aglauron, what remains to me of happiness,--if anything do remain; perhaps the hope of heaven, if, indeed, there be a heaven,--is at stake! father and brother have failed their trust. i have no friend able to understand, wise enough to counsel me. the only one whose words ever came true to my thoughts, and of whom you have often reminded me, is distant. will you, this hour, take her place?" "to the best of my ability," i replied without hesitation, struck by the dignity of her manner. "you know," she said, "all my past history; all do so here, though they do not talk loudly of it. you and all others have probably blamed me. you know not, you cannot guess, the anguish, the struggles of my childish mind when it first opened to the meaning of those words, love, marriage, life. when i was bound to mr. l----, by a vow which from my heedless lips was mockery of all thought, all holiness, i had never known a duty, i had never felt the pressure of a tie. life had been, so far, a sweet, voluptuous dream, and i thought of this seemingly so kind and amiable person as a new and devoted ministrant to me of its pleasures. but i was scarcely in his power when i awoke. i perceived the unfitness of the tie; its closeness revolted me. "i had no timidity; i had always been accustomed to indulge my feelings, and i displayed them now. l----, irritated, averted his mastery; this drove me wild; i soon hated him, and despised too his insensibility to all which i thought most beautiful. from all his faults, and the imperfection of our relation, grew up in my mind the knowledge of what the true might be to me. it is astonishing how the thought grow upon me day by day. i had not been married more than three months before i knew what it would be to love, and i longed to be free to do so. i had never known what it was to be resisted, and the thought never came to me that i could now, and for all my life, be bound by so early a mistake. i thought only of expressing my resolve to be free. "how i was repulsed, how disappointed, you know, or could divine if you did not know; for all but me have been trained to bear the burden from their youth up, and accustomed to have the individual will fettered for the advantage of society. for the same reason, you cannot guess the silent fury that filled my mind when i at last found that i had struggled in vain, and that i must remain in the bondage that i had ignorantly put on. "my affections were totally alienated from my family, for i felt they had known what i had not, and had neither put me on my guard, nor warned me against precipitation whose consequences must be fatal. i saw, indeed, that they did not look on life as i did, and could be content without being happy; but this observation was far from making me love them more. i felt alone, bitterly, contemptuously alone. i hated men who had made the laws that bound me. i did not believe in god; for why had he permitted the dart to enter so unprepared a breast? i determined never to submit, though i disdained to struggle, since struggle was in vain. in passive, lonely wretchedness i would pass my days. i would not feign what i did not feel, nor take the hand which had poisoned for me the cup of life before i had sipped the first drops. "a friend--the only one i have ever known--taught me other thoughts. she taught me that others, perhaps all others, were victims, as much as myself. she taught me that if all the wrecked submitted to be drowned, the world would be a desert. she taught me to pity others, even those i myself was paining; for she showed me that they had sinned in ignorance, and that i had no right to make them suffer so long as i myself did, merely because they were the authors of my suffering. "she showed me, by her own pure example, what were duty and benevolence and employment to the soul, even when baffled and sickened in its dearest wishes. that example was not wholly lost: i freed my parents, at least, from their pain, and, without falsehood, became less cruel and more calm. "yet the kindness, the calmness, have never gone deep. i have been forced to live out of myself; and life, busy or idle, is still most bitter to the homeless heart. i cannot be like almeria; i am more ardent; and, aglauron, you see now i might be happy," she looked towards v----. i followed her eye, and was well-nigh melted too by the beauty of his gaze. "the question in my mind is," she resumed, "have i not a right to fly? to leave this vacant life, and a tie which, but for worldly circumstances, presses as heavily on l---- as on myself. i shall mortify him; but that is a trifle compared with actual misery. i shall grieve my parents; but, were they truly such, would they not grieve still more that i must reject the life of mutual love? i have already sacrificed enough; shall i sacrifice the happiness of one i could really bless for those who do not know one native heart-beat of my life?" v---- kissed her hand. "and yet," said she, sighing, "it does not always look so. we must, in that case, leave the world; it will not tolerate us. can i make v---- happy in solitude? and what would almeria think? often it seems that she would feel that now i do love, and could make a green spot in the desert of life over which she mourned, she would rejoice to have me do so. then, again, something whispers she might have objections to make; and i wish--o, i long to know them! for i feel that this is the great crisis of my life, and that if i do not act wisely, now that i have thought and felt, it will be unpardonable. in my first error i was ignorant what i wished, but now i know, and ought not to be weak or deluded." i said, "have you no religious scruples? do you never think of your vow as sacred?" "never!" she replied, with flashing eyes. "shall the woman be bound by the folly of the child? no!--have never once considered myself as l----'s wife. if i have lived in his house, it was to make the best of what was left, as almeria advised. but what i feel he knows perfectly. i have never deceived him. but o! i hazard all! all! and should i be again ignorant, again deceived"---- v---- here poured forth all that can be imagined. i rose: "emily, this case seems to me so extraordinary that i must have time to think. you shall hear from me. i shall certainly give you my best advice, and i trust you will not over-value it." "i am sure," she said, "it will be of use to me, and will enable me to decide what i shall do. v----, now go away with aglauron; it is too late for you to stay here." i do not know if i have made obvious, in this account, what struck me most in the interview,--a certain savage force in the character of this beautiful woman, quite independent of the reasoning power. i saw that, as she could give no account of the past, except that she saw it was fit, or saw it was not, so she must be dealt with now by a strong instalment made by another from his own point of view, which she would accept or not, as suited her. there are some such characters, which, like plants, stretch upwards to the light; they accept what nourishes, they reject what injures them. they die if wounded,--blossom if fortunate; but never learn to analyze all this, or find its reasons; but, if they tell their story, it is in emily's way;--"it was so;" "i found it so." i talked with v----, and found him, as i expected, not the peer of her he loved, except in love. his passion was at its height. better acquainted with the world than emily,--not because he had seen it more, but because he had the elements of the citizen in him,--he had been at first equally emboldened and surprised by the ease with which he won her to listen to his suit. but he was soon still more surprised to find that she would only listen. she had no regard for her position in society as a married woman,--none for her vow. she frankly confessed her love, so far as it went, but doubted as to whether it was _her whole love_, and doubted still more her right to leave l----, since she had returned to him, and could not break the bond so entirely as to give them firm foot-hold in the world. "i may make you unhappy," she said, "and then be unhappy myself; these laws, this society, are so strange, i can make nothing of them. in music i am at home. why is not all life music? we instantly know when we are going wrong there. convince me it is for the best, and i will go with you at once. but now it seems wrong, unwise, scarcely better than to stay as we are. we must go secretly, must live obscurely in a corner. that i cannot bear,--all is wrong yet. why am i not at liberty to declare unblushingly to all men that i will leave the man whom i _do not_ love, and go with him i _do_ love? that is the only way that would suit me,--i cannot see clearly to take any other course." i found v---- had no scruples of conscience, any more than herself. he was wholly absorbed in his passion, and his only wish was to persuade her to elope, that a divorce might follow, and she be all his own. i took my part. i wrote next day to emily. i told her that my view must differ from hers in this: that i had, from early impressions, a feeling of the sanctity of the marriage vow. it was not to me a measure intended merely to insure the happiness of two individuals, but a solemn obligation, which, whether it led to happiness or not, was a means of bringing home to the mind the great idea of duty, the understanding of which, and not happiness, seemed to be the end of life. life looked not clear to me otherwise. i entreated her to separate herself from v---- for a year, before doing anything decisive; she could then look at the subject from other points of view, and see the bearing on mankind as well as on herself alone. if she still found that happiness and v---- were her chief objects, she might be more sure of herself after such a trial. i was careful not to add one word of persuasion or exhortation, except that i recommended her to the enlightening love of the father of our spirits. _laurie_. with or without persuasion, your advice had small chance, i fear, of being followed. _aglauron_. you err. next day v---- departed. emily, with a calm brow and earnest eyes, devoted herself to thought, and such reading as i suggested. _laurie_. and the result? _aglauron_. i grieve not to be able to point my tale with the expected moral, though perhaps the true denouement may lead to one as valuable. l---- died within the year, and she married v----. _laurie_. and the result? _aglauron_. is for the present utter disappointment in him. she was infinitely blest, for a time, in his devotion, but presently her strong nature found him too much hers, and too little his own. he satisfied her as little as l---- had done, though always lovely and dear. she saw with keen anguish, though this time without bitterness, that we are never wise enough to be sure any measure will fulfil our expectations. but--i know not how it is--emily does not yet command the changes of destiny which she feels so keenly and faces so boldly. born to be happy only in the clear light of religious thought, she still seeks happiness elsewhere. she is now a mother, and all other thoughts are merged in that. but she will not long be permitted to abide there. one more pang, and i look to see her find her central point, from which all the paths she has taken lead. she loves truth so ardently, though as yet only in detail, that she will yet know truth as a whole. she will see that she does not live for emily, or for v----, or for her child, but as one link in a divine purpose. her large nature must at last serve knowingly. _myself_. i cannot understand you, aglauron; i do not guess the scope of your story, nor sympathize with your feeling about this lady. she is a strange, and, i think, very unattractive person. i think her beauty must have fascinated you. her character seems very inconsistent. _aglauron_. because i have drawn from life. _myself_. but, surely, there should be a harmony somewhere. _aglauron_. could we but get the right point of view. _laurie_. and where is that? he pointed to the sun, just sinking behind the pine grove. we mounted and rode home without a word more. but i do not understand aglauron yet, nor what he expects from this emily. yet her character, though almost featureless at first, gains distinctness as i think of it more. perhaps in this life i shall find its key. the wrongs of american women. the duty of american women. the same day brought us a copy of mr. burdett's little book,--in which the sufferings and difficulties that beset the large class of women who must earn their subsistence in a city like new york, are delineated with so much simplicity, feeling, and exact adherence to the facts,--and a printed circular, containing proposals for immediate practical adoption of the plan wore fully described in a book published some weeks since, under the title, "the duty of american women to their country," which was ascribed alternately to mrs. stowe and miss catharine beecher. the two matters seemed linked to one another by natural parity. full acquaintance with the wrong must call forth all manner of inventions for its redress. the circular, in showing the vast want that already exists of good means for instructing the children of this nation, especially in the west, states also the belief that among women, as being less immersed in other cares and toils, from the preparation it gives for their task as mothers, and from the necessity in which a great proportion stand of earning a subsistence somehow, at least during the years which precede marriage, if they _do_ marry, must the number of teachers wanted be found, which is estimated already at _sixty thousand_. we cordially sympathize with these views. much has been written about woman's keeping within her sphere, which is defined as the domestic sphere. as a little girl she is to learn the lighter family duties, while she acquires that limited acquaintance with the realm of literature and science that will enable her to superintend the instruction of children in their earliest years. it is not generally proposed that she should be sufficiently instructed and developed to understand the pursuits or aims of her future husband; she is not to be a help-meet to him in the way of companionship and counsel, except in the care of his house and children. her youth is to be passed partly in learning to keep house and the use of the needle, partly in the social circle, where her manners may be formed, ornamental accomplishments perfected and displayed, and the husband found who shall give her the domestic sphere for which she is exclusively to be prepared. were the destiny of woman thus exactly marked out; did she invariably retain the shelter of a parent's or guardian's roof till she married; did marriage give her a sure home and protector; were she never liable to remain a widow, or, if so, sure of finding immediate protection from a brother or new husband, so that she might never be forced to stand alone one moment; and were her mind given for this world only, with no faculties capable of eternal growth and infinite improvement; we would still demand for her a for wider and more generous culture, than is proposed by those who so anxiously define her sphere. we would demand it that she might not ignorantly or frivolously thwart the designs of her husband; that she might be the respected friend of her sons, not less than of her daughters; that she might give more refinement, elevation and attraction, to the society which is needed to give the characters of _men_ polish and plasticity,--no less so than to save them from vicious and sensual habits. but the most fastidious critic on the departure of woman from her sphere can scarcely fail to see, at present, that a vast proportion of the sex, if not the better half, do not, _cannot_ have this domestic sphere. thousands and scores of thousands in this country, no less than in europe, are obliged to maintain themselves alone. far greater numbers divide with their husbands the care of earning a support for the family. in england, now, the progress of society has reached so admirable a pitch, that the position of the sexes is frequently reversed, and the husband is obliged to stay at home and "mind the house and bairns," while the wife goes forth to the employment she alone can secure. we readily admit that the picture of this is most painful;--that nature made an entirely opposite distribution of functions between the sexes. we believe the natural order to be the best, and that, if it could be followed in an enlightened spirit, it would bring to woman all she wants, no less for her immortal than her mortal destiny. we are not surprised that men who do not look deeply and carefully at causes and tendencies, should be led, by disgust at the hardened, hackneyed characters which the present state of things too often produces in women, to such conclusions as they are. we, no more than they, delight in the picture of the poor woman digging in the mines in her husband's clothes. we, no more than they, delight to hear their voices shrilly raised in the market-place, whether of apples, or of celebrity. but we see that at present they must do as they do for bread. hundreds and thousands must step out of that hallowed domestic sphere, with no choice but to work or steal, or belong to men, not as wives, but as the wretched slaves of sensuality. and this transition state, with all its revolting features, indicates, we do believe, an approach of a nobler era than the world has yet known. we trust that by the stress and emergencies of the present and coming time the minds of women will be formed to more reflection and higher purposes than heretofore; their latent powers developed, their characters strengthened and eventually beautified and harmonized. should the state of society then be such that each may remain, as nature seems to have intended, woman the tutelary genius of home, while man manages the outdoor business of life, both may be done with a wisdom, a mutual understanding and respect, unknown at present. men will be no less gainers by this than women, finding in pure and more religious marriages the joys of friendship and love combined,--in their mothers and daughters better instruction, sweeter and nobler companionship, and in society at large, an excitement to their finer powers and feelings unknown at present, except in the region of the fine arts. blest be the generous, the wise, who seek to forward hopes like these, instead of struggling, against the fiat of providence and the march of fate, to bind down rushing life to the standard of the past! such efforts are vain, but those who make them are unhappy and unwise. it is not, however, to such that we address ourselves, but to those who seek to make the best of things as they are, while they also strive to make them better. such persons will have seen enough of the state of things in london, paris, new york, and manufacturing regions everywhere, to feel that there is an imperative necessity for opening more avenues of employment to women, and fitting them better to enter them, rather than keeping them back. women have invaded many of the trades and some of the professions. sewing, to the present killing extent, they cannot long bear. factories seem likely to afford them permanent employment. in the culture of fruit, flowers, and vegetables, even in the sale of them, we rejoice to see them engaged. in domestic service they will be aided, but can never be supplanted, by machinery. as much room as there is here for woman's mind and woman's labor, will always be filled. a few have usurped the martial province, but these must always be few; the nature of woman is opposed to war. it is natural enough to see "female physicians," and we believe that the lace cap and work-bag are as much at home here as the wig and gold-headed cane. in the priesthood, they have, from all time, shared more or less--in many eras more than at the present. we believe there has been no female lawyer, and probably will be none. the pen, many of the fine arts, they have made their own; and in the more refined countries of the world, as writers, as musicians, as painters, as actors, women occupy as advantageous ground as men. writing and music may be esteemed professions for them more than any other. but there are two others--where the demand must invariably be immense, and for which they are naturally better fitted than men--for which we should like to see them better prepared and better rewarded than they are. these are the professions of nurse to the sick, and of the teacher. the first of these professions we have warmly desired to see dignified. it is a noble one, now most unjustly regarded in the light of menial service. it is one which no menial, no servile nature can fitly occupy. we were rejoiced when an intelligent lady of massachusetts made the refined heroine of a little romance select this calling. this lady (mrs. george lee) has looked on society with unusual largeness of spirit and healthiness of temper. she is well acquainted with the world of conventions, but sees beneath it the world of nature. she is a generous writer, and unpretending as the generous are wont to be. we do not recall the name of the tale, but the circumstance above mentioned marks its temper. we hope to see the time when the refined and cultivated will choose this profession, and learn it, not only through experience and under the direction of the doctor, but by acquainting themselves with the laws of matter and of mind, so that all they do shall be intelligently done, and afford them the means of developing intelligence, as well as the nobler, tenderer feelings of humanity; for even this last part of the benefit they cannot receive if their work be done in a selfish or mercenary spirit. the other profession is that of teacher, for which women are peculiarly adapted by their nature, superiority in tact, quickness of sympathy, gentleness, patience, and a clear and animated manner in narration or description. to form a good teacher, should be added to this, sincere modesty combined with firmness, liberal views, with a power and will to liberalize them still further, a good method, and habits of exact and thorough investigation. in the two last requisites women are generally deficient, but there are now many shining examples to prove that if they are immethodical and superficial as teachers, it is because it is the custom so to teach them, and that when aware of these faults, they can and will correct them. the profession is of itself an excellent one for the improvement of the teacher during that interim between youth and maturity when the mind needs testing, tempering, and to review and rearrange the knowledge it has acquired. the natural method of doing this for one's self, is to attempt teaching others; those years also are the best of the practical teacher. the teacher should be near the pupil, both in years and feelings; no oracle, but the eldest brother or sister of the pupil. more experience and years form the lecturer and director of studies, but injure the powers as to familiar teaching. these are just the years of leisure in the lives even of those women who are to enter the domestic sphere, and this calling most of all compatible with a constant progress as to qualifications for that. viewing the matter thus, it may well be seen that we should hail with joy the assurance that sixty thousand _female_ teachers are wanted, and more likely to be, and that a plan is projected which looks wise, liberal and generous, to afford the means, to those whose hearts answer to this high calling, of obeying their dictates. the plan is to have cincinnati as a central point, where teachers shall be for a short time received, examined, and prepared for their duties. by mutual agreement and cooperation of the various sects, funds are to be raised, and teachers provided, according to the wants and tendencies of the various locations now destitute. what is to be done for them centrally, is for suitable persons to examine into the various kinds of fitness, communicate some general views whose value has been tested, and counsel adapted to the difficulties and advantages of their new positions. the central committee are to have the charge of raising funds, and finding teachers, and places where teachers are wanted. the passage of thoughts, teachers and funds, will be from east to west--the course of sunlight upon this earth. the plan is offered as the most extensive and pliant means of doing a good and preventing ill to this nation, by means of a national education; whose normal school shall have an invariable object in the search after truth, and the diffusion of the means of knowledge, while its form shall be plastic according to the wants of the time. this normal school promises to have good effects, for it proposes worthy aims through simple means, and the motive for its formation and support seems to be disinterested philanthropy. it promises to eschew the bitter spirit of sectarianism and proselytism, else we, for one party, could have nothing to do with it. men, no doubt, have oftentimes been kept from absolute famine by the wheat with which such tares are mingled; but we believe the time is come when a purer and more generous food is to be offered to the people at large. we believe the aim of all education to be to rouse the mind to action, show it the means of discipline and of information; then leave it free, with god, conscience, and the love of truth, for its guardians and teachers. woe be to those who sacrifice these aims of universal and eternal value to the propagation of a set of opinions! we can accept such doctrine as is offered by rev. colvin e. stowe, one of the committee, in the following passage: "in judicious practice, i am persuaded there will seldom be any very great difficulty, especially if there be excited in the community anything like a whole-hearted and enlightened sincerity in the cause of public instruction. "it is all right for people to suit their own taste and convictions in respect to sect; and by fair means, and at proper times, to teach their children and those under their influence to prefer the denominations which they prefer; but further than this no one has any right to go. it is all wrong to hazard the well-being of the soul, to jeopardize great public interests for the sake of advancing the interests of a sect. people must learn to practise some self-denial, on christian principles, in respect to their denominational prejudices as well as in respect to other things, before pure religion can ever gain a complete victory over every form of human selfishness." the persons who propose themselves to the examination and instruction of the teachers at cincinnati, till the plan shall be sufficiently under way to provide regularly for the office, are mrs. stowe and miss catharine beecher, ladies well known to fame, as possessing unusual qualifications for the task. as to finding abundance of teachers, who that reads this little book of mr. burdett's, or the account of the compensation of female labor in new york, and the hopeless, comfortless, useless, pernicious lives of those who have even the advantage of getting work must lead, with the sufferings and almost inevitable degradation to which those who cannot are exposed, but must long to snatch such as are capable of this better profession (and among the multitude there must be many who are or could be made so) from their present toils, and make them free, and the means of freedom and growth in others? to many books on such subjects--among others to "woman in the nineteenth century"--the objection has been made, that they exhibit ills without specifying any practical means for their remedy. the writer of the last-named essay does indeed think that it contains one great rule which, if laid to heart, would prove a practical remedy for many ills, and of such daily and hourly efficacy in the conduct of life, that any extensive observance of it for a single year would perceptibly raise the tone of thought, feeling and conduct, throughout the civilized world. but to those who ask not only such a principle, but an external method for immediate use, we say that here is one proposed which looks noble and promising; the proposers offer themselves to the work with heart and hand, with time and purse. go ye and do likewise. george sand. when i first knew george sand, i thought to have found tried the experiment i wanted. i did not value bettine so much. she had not pride enough for me. only now, when i am sure of myself, can i pour out my soul at the feet of another. in the assured soul it is kingly prodigality; in one which cannot forbear it is mere babyhood. i love "abandon" only when natures are capable of the extreme reverse. i know bettine would end in nothing; when i read her book i knew she could not outlive her love. but in _"les sept cordes de la lyre,"_ which i read first, i saw the knowledge of the passions and of social institutions, with the celestial choice which rose above them. i loved helene, who could hear so well the terrene voices, yet keep her eye fixed on the stars. that would be my wish also,--to know all, and then choose. i even revered her, for i was not sure that i could have resisted the call of the _now_; could have left the spirit and gone to god; and at a more ambitious age i could not have refused the philosopher. but i hoped much from her steadfastness, and i thought i heard the last tones of a purified life. gretchen, in the golden cloud, is raised above all past delusions, worthy to redeem and upbear the wise man who stumbled into the pit of error while searching for truth. still, in "andre" and "jacques," i trace the same high morality of one who had tried the liberty of circumstance only to learn to appreciate the liberty of law;--to know that license is the foe of freedom; and, though the sophistry of passion in these books disgusted me, flowers of purest hue seemed to grow upon the dark and dirty ground. i thought she had cast aside the slough of her past life, and begun a new existence beneath the sun of a new ideal. but here, in the _"lettres d'un voyageur,"_ what do i see? an unfortunate, wailing her loneliness, wailing her mistakes, _writing for money!_ she has genius, and a manly grasp of mind, but not a manly heart. will there never be a being to combine a man's mind and a woman's heart, and who yet finds life too rich to weep over? never? when i read in _"leon leoni"_ the account of the jeweller's daughter's life with her mother, passed in dressing, and learning to be looked at when dressed, _"avec un front impassible,"_ it reminded me of ---- and her mother. what a heroine she would be for sand! she has the same fearless softness with juliet, and a sportive _naivete_ a mixture of bird and kitten, unknown to the dupe of leoni. if i were a man, and wished a wife, as many do, merely as an ornament, a silken toy, i would take ---- as soon as any i know. her fantastic, impassioned and mutable nature would yield an inexhaustible amusement. she is capable of the most romantic actions,--wild as the falcon, voluptuous as the tuberose; yet she has not in her the elements of romance, like a deeper or less susceptible nature. my cold and reasoning ----, with her one love lying, perhaps never to be unfolded, beneath such sheaths of pride and reserve, would make a far better heroine. ---- and her mother differ from juliet and _her_ mother by the impulse a single strong character gave them. even at this distance of time there is a light but perceptible taste of iron in the water. george sand disappoints me, as almost all beings do, especially since i have been brought close to her person by the _"lettres d'un voyageur."_ her remarks on lavater seem really shallow, _a la mode du genre feminin._ no self-ruling aspasia she, but a frail woman, mourning over her lot. any peculiarity in her destiny seems accidental; she is forced to this and to that to earn her bread, forsooth! yet her style--with what a deeply smouldering fire it burns! not vehement, but intense, like jean jacques. from a notice of george sand. it is probably known to a great proportion of readers that this writer is a woman, who writes under the name, and frequently assumes the dress and manners, of a man. it is also known that she has not only broken the marriage-bond, and, since that, formed other connections, independent of the civil and ecclesiastical sanction, but that she first rose into notice through works which systematically assailed the present institution of marriage, and the social bonds which are connected with it. no facts are more adapted to startle every feeling of our community; but, since the works of sand are read here, notwithstanding, and cannot fail to be so while they exert so important an influence abroad, it would be well they should be read intelligently, as to the circumstances of their birth and their tendency. george sand we esteem to be a person of strong passions, but of original nobleness and a love of right sufficient to guide them all to the service of worthy aims. but she fell upon evil times. she was given in marriage, according to the fashion of the old regime; she was taken from a convent, where she had heard a great deal about the law of god and the example of jesus, into a society where no vice was proscribed, if it would only wear the cloak of hypocrisy. she found herself impatient of deception, and loudly appealed to by passion; she yielded, but she could not do so, as others did, sinning against what she owned to be the rule of right and the will of heaven. she protested, she examined, she "hacked into the roots of things," and the bold sound of her axe called around her every foe that finds a home amid the growths of civilization. still she persisted. "if it be real," thought she, "it cannot be destroyed; as to what is false, the sooner it goes the better; and i, for one, would rather perish by its fall, than wither in its shade." schiller puts into the mouth of mary stuart these words, as her only plea: "the world knows the worst of me, and i may boast that, though i have erred, i am better than my reputation." sand may say the same. all is open, noble; the free descriptions, the sophistry of passion, are, at least, redeemed by a desire for truth as strong as ever beat in any heart. to the weak or unthinking, the reading of such books may not be desirable, for only those who take exercise as men can digest strong meat. but to any one able to understand the position and circumstances, we believe this reading cannot fail of bringing good impulses, valuable suggestions; and it is quite free from that subtle miasma which taints so large a portion of french literature, not less since the revolution than before. this we say to the foreign reader. to her own country, sand is a boon precious and prized, both as a warning and a leader, for which none there can be ungrateful. she has dared to probe its festering wounds; and if they be not past all surgery, she is one who, most of any, helps towards a cure. would, indeed, the surgeon had come with quite clean hands! a woman of sand's genius--as free, as bold, and pure from even the suspicion of error--might have filled an apostolic station among her people with what force had come her cry, "if it be false, give it up; but if it be true, keep to it,-- one or the other!" but we have read all we wish to say upon this subject lately uttered just from the quarter we could wish. it is such a woman, so unblemished in character, so high in aim, so pure in soul, that should address this other, as noble in nature, but clouded by error, and struggling with circumstances. it is such women that will do such others justice. they are not afraid to look for virtue, and reply to aspiration, among those who have _not_ dwelt "in decencies forever." it is a source of pride and happiness to read this address from the heart of elizabeth barrett:-- to george sand. a desire. thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man, self-called george sand! whose soul amid the lions of thy tumultuous senses moans defiance, and answers roar for roar, as spirits can,-- i would some wild, miraculous thunder ran above the applauding circus, in appliance of thine own nobler nature's strength and science, drawing two pinions, white as wings of swan, from the strong shoulders, to amaze the place with holier light! that thou, to woman's claim, and man's, might join, beside, the angel's grace of a pure genius, sanctified from blame, till child and maiden pressed to thine embrace, to kiss upon thy lips a stainless fame! * * * * * to the same. a recognition. true genius, but true woman! dost deny thy woman's nature with a manly scorn, and break away the gauds and armlets worn by weaker woman in captivity? ah, vain denial! that revolted cry is sobbed in by a woman's voice forlorn:-- thy woman's hair, my sister! all unshorn, floats back dishevelled strength in agony, disproving thy man's name; and while before the world thou burnest in a poet-fire, we see thy woman-heart beat evermore through the large flame. beat purer, heart! and higher, till god unsex thee on the spirit-shore, to which, alone unsexing, purely aspire! * * * * * this last sonnet seems to have been written after seeing the picture of sand, which represents her in a man's dress, but with long, loose hair, and an eye whose mournful fire is impressive, even in the caricatures. for some years sand has quitted her post of assailant. she has seen that it is better to seek some form of life worthy to supersede the old, than rudely to destroy it, heedless of the future. her force is bending towards philanthropic measures. she does not appear to possess much of the constructive faculty; and, though her writings command a great pecuniary compensation, and have a wide sway, it is rather for their tendency than for their thought. she has reached no commanding point of view from which she may give orders to the advanced corps. she is still at work with others in the breach, though she works with more force than almost any. in power, indeed, sand bears the palm above all other french novelists. she is vigorous in conception, often great in the apprehension and the contrast of characters. she knows passion, as has been hinted, at a _white_ heat, when all the lower particles are remoulded by its power. her descriptive talent is very great, and her poetic feeling exquisite. she wants but little of being a poet, but that little is indispensable. yet she keeps us always hovering on the borders of enchanted fields. she has, to a signal degree, that power of exact transcript from her own mind, in which almost all writers fail. there is no veil, no half-plastic integument between us and the thought; we vibrate perfectly with it. this is her chief charm, and next to it is one in which we know no french writer that resembles her, except rousseau, though he, indeed, is vastly her superior in it; that is, of concentrated glow. her nature glows beneath the words, like fire beneath ashes,--deep, deep! her best works are unequal; in many parts written hastily, or carelessly, or with flagging spirits. they all promise far more than they can perform; the work is not done masterly; she has not reached that point where a writer sits at the helm of his own genius. sometimes she plies the oar,--sometimes she drifts. but what greatness she has is genuine; there is no tinsel of any kind, no drapery carefully adjusted, no chosen gesture about her. may heaven lead her, at last, to the full possession of her best self, in harmony with the higher laws of life! we are not acquainted with all her works, but among those we know, mention "_la roche maupart_," "_andre_," "_jacques_," "_les sept cordes de la lyre_," and "_les maitres mosaistes_," as representing her higher inspirations, her sincerity in expression, and her dramatic powers. they are full of faults; still they show her scope and aim with some fairness, which such of her readers as chance first on such of her books as "_leone leoni_" may fail to find; or even such as "_simon_," and "_spiridion_," though into the imperfect web of these are woven threads of pure gold. such is the first impression made by the girl fiamma, so noble, as she appears before us with the words "_e l'onore_;" such the thought in _spiridion_ of making the apparition the reward of virtue. the work she is now publishing, "_consuelo_" with its sequel, "_baroness de rudolstadt_," exhibits her genius poised on a firmer pedestal, breathing a serener air. still it is faulty in conduct, and shows some obliquity of vision. she has not reached the interpreter's house yet. but when she does, she will have clues to guide many a pilgrim, whom one less tried, less tempted than herself could not help on the way. from a criticism on "consuelo." * * * * *. the work itself cannot fail of innumerable readers, and a great influence, for it counts many of the most significant pulse-beats of the tune. apart from its range of character and fine descriptions, it records some of the mystical apparitions, and attempts to solve some of the problems of the time. how to combine the benefits of the religious life with those of the artist-life in an existence more simple, more full, more human in short, than either of the two hitherto known by these names has been,--this problem is but poorly solved in the "countess of rudolstadt," the sequel to consuelo. it is true, as the english reviewer says, that george sand is a far better poet than philosopher, and that the chief use she can be of in these matters is, by her great range of observation and fine intuitions, to help to develop the thoughts of the time a little way further. but the sincerity, the reality of all he can obtain from this writer will be highly valued by the earnest man. in one respect the book is entirely successful--in showing how inward purity and honor may preserve a woman from bewilderment and danger, and secure her a genuine independence. whoever aims at this is still considered, by unthinking or prejudiced minds, as wishing to despoil the female character of its natural and peculiar loveliness. it is supposed that delicacy must imply weakness, and that only an amazon can stand upright, and have sufficient command of her faculties to confront the shock of adversity, or resist the allurements of tenderness. miss bremer, dumas, and the northern novelist, andersen, make women who have a tendency to the intellectual life of an artist fail, and suffer the penalties of arrogant presumption, in the very first steps of a career to which an inward vocation called them in preference to the usual home duties. yet nothing is more obvious than that the circumstances of the time do, more and more frequently, call women to such lives, and that, if guardianship is absolutely necessary to women, many must perish for want of it. there is, then, reason to hope that god may be a sufficient guardian to those who dare rely on him; and if the heroines of the novelists we have named ended as they did, it was for the want of the purity of ambition and simplicity of character which do not permit such as consuelo to be either unseated and depraved, or unresisting victims and breaking reeds, if left alone in the storm and crowd of life. to many women this picture will prove a true consuelo (consolation), and we think even very prejudiced men will not read it without being charmed with the expansion, sweetness and genuine force, of a female character, such as they have not met, but must, when painted, recognize as possible, and may be led to review their opinions, and perhaps to elevate and enlarge their hopes, as to "woman's sphere" and "woman's mission." if such insist on what they have heard of the private life of this writer, and refuse to believe that any good thing can come out of nazareth, we reply that we do not know the true facts as to the history of george sand. there has been no memoir or notice of her published on which any one can rely, and we have seen too much of life to accept the monsters of gossip in reference to any one. but we know, through her works, that, whatever the stains on her life and reputation may have been, there is in her a soul so capable of goodness and honor as to depict them most successfully in her ideal forms. it is her works, and not her private life, that we are considering. of her works we have means of judging; of herself, not. but among those who have passed unblamed through the walks of life, we have not often found a nobleness of purpose and feeling, a sincere religious hope, to be compared with the spirit that breathes through the pages of consuelo. the experiences of the artist-life, the grand and penetrating remarks upon music, make the book a precious acquisition to all whose hearts are fashioned to understand such things. we suppose that we receive here not only the mind of the writer, but of liszt, with whom she has publicly corresponded in the "_lettres d'un voyageur_." none could more avail us, for "in him also is a spark of the divine fire," as beethoven said of ichubert. we may thus consider that we have in this book the benefit of the most electric nature, the finest sensibility, and the boldest spirit of investigation combined, expressing themselves in a little world of beautiful or picturesque forms. although there are grave problems discussed, and sad and searching experiences described in this work, yet its spirit is, in the main, hopeful, serene, almost glad. it is the spirit inspired from a near acquaintance with the higher life of art. seeing there something really achieved and completed, corresponding with the soul's desires, faith is enlivened as to the eventual fulfilment of those desires, and we feel a certainty that the existence which looks at present so marred and fragmentary shall yet end in harmony. the shuttle is at work, and the threads are gradually added that shall bring out the pattern, and prove that what seems at present confusion is really the way and means to order and beauty. jenny lind, the "consuelo" of george sand. jenny lind, the prima donna of stockholm, is among the most distinguished of those geniuses who have been invited to welcome the queen to germany. her name has been unknown among us, as she is still young, and has not wandered much from the scene of her first triumphs; but many may have seen, last winter, in the foreign papers, an account of her entrance into stockholm after an absence of some length. the people received her with loud cries of homage, took the horses from her carriage and drew her home; a tribute of respect often paid to conquerors and statesmen, but seldom, or, as far as we know, never to the priesthood of the muses, who have conferred the higher benefit of raising, refining and exhilarating, the popular mind. an accomplished swede, now in this country, communicated to a friend particulars of jenny lind's career, which suggested the thought that she might have given the hint for the principal figure in sand's late famous novel, "consuelo." this work is at present in process of translation in "the harbinger," a periodical published at brook farm, mass.; but, as this translation has proceeded but a little way, and the book in its native tongue is not generally, though it has been extensively, circulated here, we will give a slight sketch of its plan. it has been a work of deepest interest to those who have looked upon sand for some years back, as one of the best exponents of the difficulties, the errors, the aspirations, the weaknesses, and the regenerative powers of the present epoch. the struggle in her mind and the experiments of her life have been laid bare to the eyes of her fellow-creatures with fearless openness--fearless, not shameless. let no man confound the bold unreserve of sand with that of those who have lost the feeling of beauty and the love of good. with a bleeding heart and bewildered feet she sought the truth, and if she lost the way, returned as soon as convinced she had done so; but she would never hide the fact that she had lost it. "what god knows, i dare avow to man," seems to be her motto. it is impossible not to see in her, not only the distress and doubts of the intellect, but the temptations of a sensual nature; but we see too the courage of a hero and a deep capacity for religion. this mixed nature, too, fits her peculiarly to speak to men so diseased as men are at present. they feel she knows their ailment, and if she find a cure, it will really be by a specific remedy. an upward tendency and growing light are observable in all her works for several years past, till now, in the present, she has expressed such conclusions as forty years of the most varied experience have brought to one who had shrunk from no kind of discipline, yet still cried to god amid it all; one who, whatever you may say against her, you must feel has never accepted a word for a thing, or worn one moment the veil of hypocrisy; and this person one of the most powerful nature, both as to passion and action, and of an ardent, glowing genius. these conclusions are sadly incomplete. there is an amazing alloy in the last product of her crucible, but there is also so much of pure gold that the book is truly a cordial, as its name of consuelo (consolation) promises. the young consuelo lives as a child the life of a beggar. her youth is passed in the lowest circumstances of the streets of venice. she brings the more pertinacious fire of spanish blood to be fostered by the cheerful airs of italy. a vague sense of the benefits to be derived, from such mingling of various influences, in the formation of a character, is to be discerned in several works of art now, when men are really wishing to become citizens of the world, though old habits still interfere on every side with so noble a development. nothing can be more charming than the first volume, which describes the young girl amid the common life of venice. it is sunny, open, and romantic as the place. the beauty of her voice, when a little singing-girl in the streets, arrested the attention of a really great and severe master, porpora, who educated her to music. in this she finds the vent and the echo for her higher self. her affections are fixed on a young companion, an unworthy object, but she does not know him to be so. she judges from her own candid soul, that all must be good, and derives from the tie, for a while, the fostering influences which love alone has for genius. clear perception follows quickly upon her first triumphs in art. they have given her a rival, and a mean rival, in her betrothed, whose talent, though great, is of an inferior grade to hers; who is vain, every way impure. her master, porpora, tries to avail himself of this disappointment to convince her that the artist ought to devote himself to art alone; that private ties must interfere with his perfection and his glory. but the nature of consuelo revolts against this doctrine, as it would against the seclusion of a convent. she feels that genius requires manifold experience for its development, and that the mind, concentrated on a single object, is likely to pay by a loss of vital energy for the economy of thoughts and time. driven by these circumstances into germany, she is brought into contact with the old noblesse, a very different, but far less charming, atmosphere than that of the gondoliers of venice. but here, too, the strong, simple character of our consuelo is unconstrained, if not at home, and when her heart swells and needs expansion, she can sing. here the count de rudolstadt, albert, loves consuelo, which seems, in the conduct of the relation, a type of a religious democracy in love with the spirit of art. we do not mean that any such cold abstraction is consciously intended, but all that is said means this. it shadows forth one of the greatest desires which convulse our age. a most noble meaning is couched in the history of albert, and though the writer breaks down under such great attempts, and the religion and philosophy of the book are clumsily embodied compared with its poesy and rhetoric, yet great and still growing thoughts are expressed with sufficient force to make the book a companion of rare value to one in the same phase of mind. albert is the aristocratic democrat, such as alfieri was; one who, in his keen perception of beauty, shares the good of that culture which ages have bestowed on the more fortunate classes, but in his large heart loves and longs for the good of all men, as if he had himself suffered in the lowest pits of human misery. he is all this and more in his transmigration, real or fancied, of soul, through many forms of heroic effort and bloody error; in his incompetency to act at the present time, his need of long silences, of the company of the dead and of fools, and eventually of a separation from all habitual ties, is expressed a great idea, which is still only in the throes of birth, yet the nature of whose life we begin to prognosticate with some clearness. consuelo's escape from the castle, and even from albert, her admiration of him, and her incapacity to love him till her own character be more advanced, are told with great naturalness. her travels with joseph haydn, are again as charmingly told as the venetian life. here the author speaks from her habitual existence, and far more masterly than of those deep places of thought where she is less at home. she has lived much, discerned much, felt great need of great thoughts, but not been able to think a great way for herself. she fearlessly accompanies the spirit of the age, but she never surpasses it; _that_ is the office of the great thinker. at vienna consuelo is brought fully into connection with the great world as an artist. she finds that its realities, so far from being less, are even more harsh and sordid for the artist than for any other; and that with avarice, envy and falsehood, she must prepare for the fearful combat which awaits noble souls in any kind of arena, with the pain of disgust when they cannot raise themselves to patience--with the almost equal pain, when they can, of pity for those who know not what they do. albert is on the verge of the grave; and consuelo, who, not being able to feel for him sufficient love to find in it compensation for the loss of that artist-life to which she feels nature has destined her, had hitherto resisted the entreaties of his aged father, and the pleadings of her own reverential and tender sympathy with the wants of his soul, becomes his wife just before he dies. the sequel, therefore, of this history is given under the title of countess of rudolstadt. consuelo is still on the stage; she is at the prussian court. the well-known features of this society, as given in the memoirs of the time, are put together with much grace and wit. the sketch of frederic is excellent. the rest of the book is devoted to expression of the author's ideas on the subject of reform, and especially of association as a means thereto. as her thoughts are yet in a very crude state, the execution of this part is equally bungling and clumsy. worse: she falsifies the characters of both consuelo and albert,--who is revived again by subterfuge of trance,--and stains her best arrangements by the mixture of falsehood and intrigue. yet she proceeds towards, if she walks not by, the light of a great idea; and sincere democracy, universal religion, scatter from afar many seeds upon the page for a future time. the book should be, and will be, universally read. those especially who have witnessed all sand's doubts and sorrows on the subject of marriage, will rejoice in the clearer, purer ray which dawns upon her now. the most natural and deep part of the book, though not her main object, is what relates to the struggle between the claims of art and life, as to whether it be better for the world and one's self to develop to perfection a talent which heaven seemed to have assigned as a special gift and vocation, or sacrifice it whenever the character seems to require this for its general development. the character of consuelo is, throughout the first part, strong, delicate, simple, bold, and pure. the fair lines of this picture are a good deal broken in the second part; but we must remain true to the impression originally made upon us by this charming and noble creation of the soul of sand. it is in reference to _our_ consuelo that a correspondent [footnote: we do not know how accurate is this correspondent's statement of facts. the narrative is certainly interesting.--_ed_.] writes, as to jenny lind; and we are rejoiced to find that so many hints were, or might have been, furnished for the picture from real life. if jenny lind did not suggest it, yet she must also be, in her own sphere, a consuelo. "jenny lind must have been born about or . when a young child, she was observed, playing about and singing in the streets of stockholm, by mr. berg, master of singing for the royal opera. pleased and astonished at the purity and suavity of her voice, he inquired instantly for her family, and found her father, a poor innkeeper, willing and glad to give up his daughter to his care, on the promise to protect her and give her an excellent musical education. he was always very careful of her, never permitting her to sing except in his presence, and never letting her appear on the stage, unless as a mute figure in some ballet, such, for instance, as cupid and the graces, till she was sixteen, when she at once executed her part in 'der freyschutz,' to the full satisfaction and surprise of the public of stockholm. from that time she gradually became the favorite of every one. without beauty, she seems, from her innocent and gracious manners, beautiful on the stage and charming in society. she is one of the few actresses whom no evil tongue can ever injure, and is respected and welcomed in any and all societies. "the circumstances that reminded me of consuelo were these: that she was a poor child, taken up by this singing-master, and educated thoroughly and severely by him; that she loved his son, who was a good-for-nothing fellow, like anzoleto, and at last discarded him; that she refused the son of an english earl, and, when he fell sick, his father condescended to entreat for him, just as the count of rudolstadt did for his son; that, though plain and low in stature, when singing her best parts she appears beautiful, and awakens enthusiastic admiration; that she is rigidly correct in her demeanor towards her numerous admirers, having even returned a present sent her by the crown-prince, oscar, in a manner that she deemed equivocal. this last circumstance being noised abroad, the next time she appeared on the stage she was greeted with more enthusiastic plaudits than ever, and thicker showers of flowers fell upon her from the hands of her true friends, the public. she was more fortunate than consuelo in not being compelled to sing to a public of prussian corporals." indeed, the picture of frederic's opera-audience, with the pit full of his tall grenadiers with their wives on their shoulders, never daring to applaud except when he gave the order, as if by tap of drum, opposed to the tender and expansive nature of the artist, is one of the best tragicomedies extant. in russia, too, all is military; as soon as a new musician arrives, he is invested with a rank in the army. even in the church nicholas has lately done the same. it seems as if he could not believe a man to be alive, except in the army; could not believe the human heart could beat, except by beat of drum. but we believe in russia there is at least a mask of gayety thrown over the chilling truth. the great frederic wished no disguise; everywhere he was chief corporal, and trampled with his everlasting boots the fair flowers of poesy into the dust. the north has been generous to us of late; she has sent us _ole bull_. she is about to send _frederika bremer_. may she add jenny lind! caroline. the other evening i heard a gentle voice reading aloud the story of maurice, a boy who, deprived of the use of his limbs by paralysis, was sustained in comfort, and almost in cheerfulness, by the exertions of his twin sister. left with him in orphanage, her affections were centred upon him, and, amid the difficulties his misfortunes brought upon them, grew to a fire intense and pure enough to animate her with angelic impulses and powers. as he could not move about, she drew him everywhere in a little cart; and when at last they heard that sea-bathing might accomplish his cure, conveyed him, in this way, hundreds of miles to the sea-shore. her pious devotion and faith were rewarded by his cure, and (a french story would be entirely incomplete otherwise) with money, plaudits and garlands, from the by-standers. though the story ends in this vulgar manner, it is, in its conduct, extremely sweet and touching, not only as to the beautiful qualities developed by these trials in the brother and sister, but in the purifying and softening influence exerted, by the sight of his helplessness and her goodness, on all around them. those who are the victims of some natural blight often fulfil this important office, and bless those within their sphere more, by awakening feelings of holy tenderness and compassion, than a man healthy and strong can do by the utmost exertion of his good-will and energies. thus, in the east, men hold sacred those in whom they find a distortion or alienation of mind which makes them unable to provide for themselves. the well and sane feel themselves the ministers of providence to carry out a mysterious purpose, while taking care of those who are thus left incapable of taking care of themselves; and, while fulfilling this ministry, find themselves refined and made better. the swiss have similar feelings as to those of their families whom cretinism has reduced to idiocy. they are attended to, fed, dressed clean, and provided with a pleasant place for the day, before doing anything else, even by very busy and poor people. we have seen a similar instance, in this country, of voluntary care of an idiot, and the mental benefits that ensued. this idiot, like most that are called so, was not without a glimmer of mind. his teacher was able to give him some notions, both of spiritual and mental facts; at least she thought she had given him the idea of god, and though it appeared by his gestures that to him the moon was the representative of that idea, yet he certainly did conceive of something above him, and which inspired him with reverence and delight. he knew the names of two or three persons who had done him kindness, and when they were mentioned, would point upward, as he did to the moon, showing himself susceptible, in his degree, of mr. carlyle's grand method of education, hero-worship. she had awakened in him a love of music, so that he could be soothed in his most violent moods by her gentle singing. it was a most touching sight to see him sitting opposite to her at such tunes, his wondering and lack-lustre eyes filled with childish pleasure, while in hers gleamed the same pure joy that we may suppose to animate the looks of an angel appointed by heaven to restore a ruined world. we know another instance, in which a young girl became to her village a far more valuable influence than any patron saint who looks down from his stone niche, while his votaries recall the legend of his goodness in days long past. caroline lived in a little, quiet country village--quiet as no village can now remain, since the railroad strikes its spear through the peace of country life. she lived alone with a widowed mother, for whom, as well as for herself, her needle won bread, while the mother's strength, and skill sufficed to the simple duties of their household. they lived content and hopeful, till, whether from sitting still too much, or some other cause, caroline became ill, and soon the physician pronounced her spine to be affected, and to such a degree that she was incurable. this news was a thunder-bolt to the poor little cottage. the mother, who had lost her elasticity of mind, wept in despair; but the young girl, who found so early all the hopes and joys of life taken from her, and that she was seemingly left without any shelter from the storm, had even at first the faith and strength to bow her head in gentleness, and say, "god will provide." she sustained and cheered her mother. and god did provide. with simultaneous vibration the hearts of all their circle acknowledged the divine obligation of love and mutual aid between human beings. food, clothing, medicine, service, were all offered freely to the widow and her daughter. caroline grew worse, and was at last in such a state that she could only be moved upon a sheet, and by the aid of two persons. in this toilsome service, and every other that she required for years, her mother never needed to ask assistance. the neighbors took turns in doing all that was required, and the young girls, as they were growing up, counted it among their regular employments to work for or read to caroline. not without immediate reward was their service of love. the mind of the girl, originally bright and pure, was quickened and wrought up to the finest susceptibility by the nervous exaltation that often ensues upon affection of the spine. the soul, which had taken an upward impulse from its first act of resignation, grew daily more and more into communion with the higher regions of life, permanent and pure. perhaps she was instructed by spirits which, having passed through a similar trial of pain and loneliness, had risen to see the reason why. however that may be, she grew in nobleness of view and purity of sentiment, and, as she received more instruction from books also than any other person in her circle, had from many visitors abundant information as to the events which were passing around her, and leisure to reflect on them with a disinterested desire for truth, she became so much wiser than her companions as to be at last their preceptress and best friend, and her brief, gentle comments and counsels were listened to as oracles from one enfranchised from the films which selfishness and passion cast over the eyes of the multitude. the twofold blessing conferred by her presence, both in awakening none but good feelings in the hearts of others, and in the instruction she became able to confer, was such, that, at the end of five years, no member of that society would have been so generally lamented as caroline, had death called her away. but the messenger, who so often seems capricious in his summons, took first the aged mother, and the poor girl found that life had yet the power to bring her grief, unexpected and severe. and now the neighbors met in council. caroline could not be left quite alone in the house. should they take turns, and stay with her by night as well as by day? "not so," said the blacksmith's wife; "the house will never seem like home to her now, poor thing! and 't would be kind of dreary for her to change about her _nusses_ so. i'll tell you what; all my children but one are married and gone off; we have property enough; i will have a good room fixed for her, and she shall live with us. my husband wants her to, as much as me." the council acquiesced in this truly humane arrangement, and caroline lives there still; and we are assured that none of her friends dread her departure so much as the blacksmith's wife. "'ta'n't no trouble at all to have her," she says, "and if it was, i shouldn't care; she is so good and still, and talks so pretty! it's as good bein' with her as goin' to meetin'!" de maistre relates some similar passages as to a sick girl in st. petersburgh, though his mind dwelt more on the spiritual beauty evinced in her remarks, than on the good she had done to those around her. indeed, none bless more than those who "only stand and wait." even if their passivity be enforced by fate, it will become a spiritual activity, if accepted in a faith higher above fate than the greek gods were supposed to sit enthroned above misfortune. ever-growing lives. "age could not wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety." so was one person described by the pen which has made a clearer mark than any other on the history of man. but is it not surprising that such a description should apply to so few? of two or three women we read histories that correspond with the hint given in these lines. they were women in whom there was intellect enough to temper and enrich, heart enough to soften and enliven the entire being. there was soul enough to keep the body beautiful through the term of earthly existence; for while the roundness, the pure, delicate lineaments, the flowery bloom of youth were passing, the marks left in the course of those years were not merely of time and care, but also of exquisite emotions and noble thoughts. with such chisels time works upon his statues, tracery and fretwork, well worth the loss of the first virgin beauty of the alabaster; while the fire within, growing constantly brighter and brighter, shows all these changes in the material, as rich and varied ornaments. the vase, at last, becomes a lamp of beauty, fit to animate the councils of the great, or the solitude of the altar. two or three women there have been, who have thus grown even more beautiful with age. we know of many more men of whom this is true. these have been heroes, or still more frequently poets and artists; with whom the habitual life tended to expand the soul, deepen and vary the experience, refine the perceptions, and immortalize the hopes and dreams of youth. they were persons who never lost their originality of character, nor spontaneity of action. their impulses proceeded from a fulness and certainty of character, that made it impossible they should doubt or repent, whatever the results of their actions might be. they could not repent, in matters little or great, because they felt that their notions were a sincere exposition of the wants of their souls. their impulsiveness was not the restless fever of one who must change his place somehow or some-whither, but the waves of a tide, which might be swelled to vehemence by the action of the winds or the influence of an attractive orb, but was none the less subject to fixed laws. a character which does not lose its freedom of motion and impulse by contact with the world, grows with its years more richly creative, more freshly individual. it is a character governed by a principle of its own, and not by rules taken from other men's experience; and therefore it is that "age cannot wither them, nor custom stale their infinite variety." like violins, they gain by age, and the spirit of him who discourseth through them most excellent music, "like wine well kept and long, heady, nor harsh, nor strong, with each succeeding year is quaffed a richer, purer, mellower draught." our french neighbors have been the object of humorous satire for their new coinage of terms to describe the heroes of their modern romance. a hero is no hero unless he has "ravaged brows," is "blase" or "brise" or "fatigue." his eyes must be languid, and his cheeks hollow. youth, health and strength, charm no more; only the tree broken by the gust of passion is beautiful, only the lamp that has burnt out the better part of its oil precious, in their eyes. this, with them, assumes the air of caricature and grimace, yet it indicates a real want of this time--a feeling that the human being ought to grow more rather than less attractive with the passage of time, and that the decrease in physical charms would, in a fair and full life, be more than compensated by an increase of those which appeal to the imagination and higher feelings. a friend complains that, while most men are like music-boxes, which you can wind up to play their set of tunes, and then they stop, in our society the set consists of only two or three tunes at most that is because no new melodies are added after five-and-twenty at farthest. it is the topic of jest and amazement with foreigners that what is called society is 'given up so much into the hands of boys and girls. accordingly it wants spirit, variety and depth of tone, and we find there no historical presences, none of the charms, infinite in variety, of cleopatra, no heads of julius caesar, overflowing with meanings, as the sun with light. sometimes we hear an educated voice that shows us how these things might be altered. it has lost the fresh tone of youth, but it has gained unspeakably in depth, brilliancy, and power of expression. how exquisite its modulations, so finely shaded, showing that all the intervals are filled up with little keys of fairy delicacy and in perfect tune! its deeper tones sound the depth of the past; its more thrilling notes express an awakening to the infinite, and ask a thousand questions of the spirits that are to unfold our destinies, too far-reaching to be clothed in words. who does not feel the sway of such a voice? it makes the whole range of our capacities resound and tremble, and, when there is positiveness enough to give an answer, calls forth most melodious echoes. the human eye gains, in like manner, by tune and experience. its substance fades, but it is only the more filled with an ethereal lustre which penetrates the gazer till he feels as if "that eye were in itself a soul," and realizes the range of its power "to rouse, to win, to fascinate, to melt, and by its spell of undefined control magnetic draw the secrets of the soul." the eye that shone beneath the white locks of thorwaldsen was such an one,--the eye of immortal youth, the indicator of the man's whole aspect in a future sphere. we have scanned such eyes closely; when near, we saw that the lids were red, the corners defaced with ominous marks, the orb looked faded and tear-stained; but when we retreated far enough for its ray to reach us, it seemed far younger than the clear and limpid gaze of infancy, more radiant than the sweetest beam in that of early youth. the future and the past met in that glance, o for more such eyes! the vouchers of free, of full and ever-growing lives! household nobleness, "mistress of herself, though china fell." women, in general, are indignant that the satirist should have made this the climax to his praise of a woman. and yet, we fear, he saw only too truly. what unexpected failures have we seen, literally, in this respect! how often did the martha blur the mary out of the face of a lovely woman at the sound of a crash amid glass and porcelain! what sad littleness in all the department thus represented! obtrusion of the mop and duster on the tranquil meditation of a husband and brother. impatience if the carpet be defaced by the feet even of cherished friends. there is a beautiful side, and a good reason here; but why must the beauty degenerate, and give place to meanness? to woman the care of home is confided. it is the sanctuary, of which she should be the guardian angel. to all elements that are introduced there she should be the "ordering mind." she represents the spirit of beauty, and her influence should be spring-like, clothing all objects within her sphere with lively, fresh and tender hues. she represents purity, and all that appertains to her should be kept delicately pure. she is modesty, and draperies should soften all rude lineaments, and exclude glare and dust. she is harmony, and all objects should be in their places ready for, and matched to, their uses. we all know that there is substantial reason for the offence we feel at defect in any of these ways. a woman who wants purity, modesty and harmony, in her dress and manners, is insufferable; one who wants them in the arrangements of her house, disagreeable to everybody. she neglects the most obvious ways of expressing what we desire to see in her, and the inference is ready, that the inward sense is wanting. it is with no merely gross and selfish feeling that all men commend the good housekeeper, the good nurse. neither is it slight praise to say of a woman that she does well the honors of her house in the way of hospitality. the wisdom that can maintain serenity, cheerfulness and order, in a little world of ten or twelve persons, and keep ready the resources that are needed for their sustenance and recovery in sickness and sorrow, is the same that holds the stars in their places, and patiently prepares the precious metals in the most secret chambers of the earth. the art of exercising a refined hospitality is a fine art, and the music thus produced only differs from that of the orchestra in this, that in the former case the overture or sonata cannot be played twice in the same manner. it requires that the hostess shall combine true self-respect and repose, "the simple art of _not too much_," with refined perception of individual traits and moods in character, with variety and vivacity, an ease, grace and gentleness, that diffuse their sweetness insensibly through every nook of an assembly, and call out reciprocal sweetness wherever there is any to be found. the only danger in all this is the same that besets us in every walk of life; to wit, that of preferring the outward sign to the inward spirit whenever there is cause to hesitate between the two. "i admire," says goethe, "the chinese novels; they express so happily ease, peace and a finish unknown to other nations in the interior arrangements of their homes. "in one of them i came upon the line, 'i heard the lovely maidens laughing, and found my way to the garden, where they were seated in their light cane-chairs,' to me this brings an immediate animation, by the images it suggests of lightness, brightness and elegance." this is most true, but it is also most true that the garden-house would not seem thus charming unless its light cane-chairs had lovely, laughing maidens seated in them. and the lady who values her porcelain, that most exquisite product of the peace and thorough-breeding of china, so highly, should take the hint, and remember that unless the fragrant herb of wit, sweetened by kindness, and softened by the cream of affability, also crown her board, the prettiest tea-cups in the world might as well lie in fragments in the gutter, as adorn her social show. the show loses its beauty when it ceases to represent a substance. here, as elsewhere, it is only vanity, narrowness and self-seeking, that spoil a good thing. women would never be too good housekeepers for their own peace and that of others, if they considered housekeeping only as a means to an end. if their object were really the peace and joy of all concerned, they could bear to have their cups and saucers broken more easily than their tempers, and to have curtains and carpets soiled, rather than their hearts by mean and small feelings. but they are brought up to think it is a disgrace to be a bad housekeeper, not because they must, by such a defect, be a cause of suffering and loss of time to all within their sphere, but because all other women will laugh at them if they are so. here is the vice,--for want of a high motive there can be no truly good action. we have seen a woman, otherwise noble and magnanimous in a high degree, so insane on this point as to weep bitterly because she found a little dust on her picture-frames, and torment her guests all dinner-time with excuses for the way in which the dinner was cooked. we have known others to join with their servants to backbite the best and noblest friends for trifling derelictions against the accustomed order of the house. the broom swept out the memory of much sweet counsel and loving-kindness, and spots on the table-cloth were more regarded than those they made on their own loyalty and honor in the most intimate relations. "the worst of furies is a woman scorned," and the sex, so lively, mobile, impassioned, when passion is aroused at all, are in danger of frightful error, under great temptation. the angel can give place to a more subtle and treacherous demon, though one, generally, of less tantalizing influence, than in the breast of man. in great crises, woman needs the highest reason to restrain her; but her besetting sin is that of littleness. just because nature and society unite to call on her for such fineness and finish, she can be so petty, so fretful, so vain, envious and base! o, women, see your danger! see how much you need a great object in all your little actions. you cannot be fair, nor can your homes be fair, unless you are holy and noble. will you sweep and garnish the house, only that it may be ready for a legion of evil spirits to enter in--for imps and demons of gossip, frivolity, detraction, and a restless fever about small ills? what is the house for, if good spirits cannot peacefully abide there? lo! they are asking for the bill in more than one well-garnished mansion. they sought a home and found a work-house. martha! it was thy fault! "glumdalclitches." this title was wittily given by an editor of this city to the ideal woman demanded in "woman in the nineteenth century." we do not object to it, thinking it is really desirable that women should grow beyond the average size which has been prescribed for them. we find in the last news from paris these anecdotes of two who "tower" an inch or more "above their sex," if not yet of glumdalclitch stature. "_bravissima!_--the th of may, at paris, a young girl, who was washing linen, fell into the canal st. martin. those around called out for help, but none ventured to give it. just then a young lady elegantly dressed came up and saw the case; in the twinkling of an eye she threw off her hat and shawl, threw herself in, and succeeded in dragging the young girl to the brink, after having sought for her in vain several times under the water. this lady was mlle. adele chevalier, an actress. she was carried, with the girl she had saved, into a neighboring house, which she left, after having received the necessary cares, in a fiacre, and amid the plaudits of the crowd." the second anecdote is of a different kind, but displays a kind of magnanimity still more unusual in this poor servile world: "one of our (french) most distinguished painters of sea-subjects, gudin, has married a rich young english lady, belonging to a family of high rank, and related to the duke of wellington. m. gudin was lately at berlin at the same time with k----, inspector of pictures to the king of holland. the king of prussia desired that both artists should be presented to him, and received gudin in a very flattering manner; his genius being his only letter of recommendation. "monsieur k---- has not the same advantage; but, to make up for it, he has a wife who enjoys in holland a great reputation for her beauty. the king of prussia is a cavalier, who cares more for pretty ladies than for genius. so monsieur and madame k---- were invited to the royal table--an honor which was not accorded to monsieur and madame gudin. "humble representations were made to the monarch, advising him not to make such a marked distinction between the french artist and the dutch amateur. these failing, the wise counsellors went to madame gudin, and, intimating that they did so with the good-will of the king, said that she might be received as cousin to the duke of wellington, as daughter of an english general, and of a family which dates back to the thirteenth century. she could, if she wished, avail herself of her rights of birth to obtain the same honors with madame k----. to sit at the table of the king, she need only cease for a moment to be madame gudin, and become once more lady l----." does not all this sound like a history of the seventeenth century? surely etiquette was never maintained in a more arrogant manner at the court of louis xiv. but madame gudin replied that her highest pride lay in the celebrated name which she bears at present; that she did not wish to rely on any other to obtain so futile a distinction, and that, in her eyes, the most noble escutcheon was the palette of her husband. i need not say that this dignified feeling was not comprehended. madame gudin was not received at the table, but she had shown the nobleness of her character. for the rest, madame k----, on arriving at paris, had the bad taste to boast of having been distinguished above madame gudin, and the story reaching the tuileries, where monsieur and madame gudin are highly favored, excited no little mirth in the circle there. "ellen: or, forgive and forget." we notice this coarsely-written little fiction because it is one of a class which we see growing with pleasure. we see it with pleasure, because, in its way, it is genuine. it is a transcript of the crimes, calumnies, excitements, half-blind love of right, and honest indignation at the sort of wrong which it can discern, to be found in the class from which it emanates. that class is a large one in our country villages, and these books reflect its thoughts and manners as half-penny ballads do the life of the streets of london. the ballads are not more true to the facts; but they give us, in a coarser form, far more of the spirit than we get from the same facts reflected in the intellect of a dickens, for instance, or of any writer far enough above the scene to be properly its artist. so, in this book, we find what cooper, miss sedgwick and mrs. kirkland, might see, as the writer did, but could hardly believe in enough to speak of it with such fidelity. it is a current superstition that country people are more pure and healthy in mind and body than those who live in cities. it may be so in countries of old-established habits, where a genuine peasantry have inherited some of the practical wisdom and loyalty of the past, with most of its errors. we have our doubts, though, from the stamp upon literature, always the nearest evidence of truth we can get, whether, even there, the difference between town and country life is as much in favor of the latter as is generally supposed. but in our land, where the country is at present filled with a mixed population, who come seeking to be purified by a better life and culture from all the ills and diseases of the worst forms of civilization, things often _look_ worse than in the city; perhaps because men have more time and room to let their faults grow and offend the light of day. there are exceptions, and not a few; but, in a very great proportion of country villages, the habits of the people, as to food, air, and even exercise, are ignorant and unhealthy to the last degree. their want of all pure faith, and appetite for coarse excitement, is shown by continued intrigues, calumnies, and crimes. we have lived in a beautiful village, where, more favorably placed than any other person in it, both as to withdrawal from bad associations and nearness to good, we heard inevitably, from domestics, work-people, and school-children, more ill of human nature than we could possibly sift were we to elect such a task from all the newspapers of this city, in the same space of time. we believe the amount of ill circulated by means of anonymous letters, as described in this book, to be as great as can be imported in all the french novels (and that is a bold word). we know ourselves of two or three cases of morbid wickedness, displayed by means of anonymous letters, that may vie with what puzzled the best wits of france in a famous law-suit not long since. it is true, there is, to balance all this, a healthy rebound,--a surprise and a shame; and there are heartily good people, such as are described in this book, who, having taken a direction upward, keep it, and cannot be bent downward nor aside. but, then, the reverse of the picture is of a blackness that would appall one who came to it with any idyllic ideas of the purity and peaceful loveliness of agricultural life. but what does this prove? only the need of a dissemination of all that is best, intellectually and morally, through the whole people. our groves and fields have no good fairies or genii who teach, by legend or gentle apparition, the truths, the principles, that can alone preserve the village, as the city, from the possession of the fiend. their place must be taken by the school-master, and he must be one who knows not only "readin', writin', and 'rithmetic," but the service of god and the destiny of man. our people require a thoroughly-diffused intellectual life, a religious aim, such as no people at large ever possessed before; else they must sink till they become dregs, rather than rise to become the cream of creation, which they are too apt to flatter themselves with the fancy of being already. the most interesting fiction we have ever read in this coarse, homely, but genuine class, is one called "metallek." it may be in circulation in this city; but we bought it in a country nook, and from a pedlar; and it seemed to belong to the country. had we met with it in any other way, it would probably have been to throw it aside again directly, for the author does not know how to write english, and the first chapters give no idea of his power of apprehending the poetry of life. but happening to read on, we became fixed and charmed, and have retained from its perusal the sweetest picture of life lived in this land, ever afforded us, out of the pale of personal observation. that such things are, private observation has made us sure; but the writers of books rarely seem to have seen them; rarely to have walked alone in an untrodden path long enough to hold commune with the spirit of the scene. in this book you find the very life; the most vulgar prose, and the most exquisite poetry. you follow the hunter in his path, walking through the noblest and fairest scenes only to shoot the poor animals that were happy there, winning from the pure atmosphere little benefit except to good appetite, sleeping at night in the dirty hovels, with people who burrow in them to lead a life but little above that of the squirrels end foxes. there is throughout that air of room enough, and free if low forms of human nature, which, at such times, makes bearable all that would otherwise be so repulsive. but when we come to the girl who is the presiding deity, or rather the tutelary angel of the scene, how are all discords harmonized; how all its latent music poured forth! it is a portrait from the life--it has the mystic charm of fulfilled reality, how far beyond the fairest ideals ever born of thought! pure, and brilliantly blooming as the flower of the wilderness, she, in like manner, shares while she sublimes its nature. she plays round the most vulgar and rude beings, gentle and caressing, yet unsullied; in her wildness there is nothing cold or savage; her elevation is soft and warm. never have we seen natural religion more beautifully expressed; never so well discerned the influence of the natural nun, who needs no veil or cloister to guard from profanation the beauty she has dedicated to god, and which only attracts human love to hallow it into the divine. the lonely life of the girl after the death of her parents,--her fearlessness, her gay and sweet enjoyment of nature, her intercourse with the old people of the neighborhood, her sisterly conduct towards her "suitors,"--all seem painted from the life; but the death-bed scene seems borrowed from some sermon, and is not in harmony with the rest. in this connection we must try to make amends for the stupidity of an earlier notice of the novel, called "margaret, or the real and ideal," &c. at the time of that notice we had only looked into it here and there, and did no justice to a work full of genius, profound in its meaning, and of admirable fidelity to nature in its details. since then we have really read it, and appreciated the sight and representation of soul-realities; and we have lamented the long delay of so true a pleasure. a fine critic said, "this is a yankee novel; or rather let it be called _the_ yankee novel, as nowhere else are the thought and dialect of our villages really represented." another discovered that it must have been written in maine, by the perfection with which peculiar features of scenery there are described. a young girl could not sufficiently express her delight at the simple nature with which scenes of childhood are given, and especially at margaret's first going to meeting. she had never elsewhere found written down what she had felt. a mature reader, one of the most spiritualized and harmonious minds we have ever met, admires the depth and fulness in which the workings of the spirit through the maiden's life are seen by the author, and shown to us; but laments the great apparatus with which the consummation of the whole is brought about, and the formation of a new church and state, before the time is yet ripe, under the banner of mons. christi. but all these voices, among those most worthy to be heard, find in the book a _real presence_, and draw from it auspicious omens that an american literature is possible even in our day, because there are already in the mind here existent developments worthy to see the light, gold-fishes amid the moss in the still waters. for ourselves, we have been most charmed with the way the real and ideal are made to weave and shoot rays through one another, in which margaret bestows on external nature what she receives through books, and wins back like gifts in turn, till the pond and the mythology are alternate sections of the same chapter. we delight in the teachings she receives through chilion and his violin, till on the grave of "one who tried to love his fellow-men" grows up the full white rose-flower of her life. the ease with which she assimilates the city life when in it, making it a part of her imaginative tapestry, is a sign of the power to which she has grown. we have much more to think and to say of the book, as a whole, and in parts; and should the mood and summer leisure ever permit a familiar and intimate acquaintance with it, we trust they will be both thought and said. for the present, we will only add that it exhibits the same state of things, and strives to point out such remedies as we have hinted at in speaking of the little book which heads this notice; itself a rude charcoal sketch, but if read as hieroglyphics are, pointing to important meanings and results. "courrier des etats unis." no other nation can hope to vie with the french in the talent of communicating information with ease, vivacity and consciousness. they must always be the best narrators and the best interpreters, so far as presenting a clear statement of outlines goes. thus they are excellent in conversation, lectures, and journalizing. after we know all the news of the day, it is still pleasant to read the bulletin of the _"courrier des etats unis."_ we rarely agree with the view taken; but as a summary it is so excellently well done, every topic put in its best place, with such a light and vigorous hand, that we have the same pleasure we have felt in fairy tales, when some person under trial is helped by a kind fairy to sort the silks and feathers to their different places, till the glittering confusion assumes the order,--of a kaleidoscope. then, what excellent correspondents they have in paris! what a humorous and yet clear account we have before us, now, of the thiers game! we have traced guizot through every day with the utmost distinctness, and see him perfectly in the sick-room. now, here is thiers, playing with his chess-men, jesuits, &c. a hundred clumsy english or american papers could not make the present crisis in paris so clear as we see it in the glass of these nimble frenchmen. certainly it is with newspaper-writing as with food; the english and americans have as good appetites, but do not, and never will, know so well how to cook as the french. the parisian correspondent of the _"schnellpost"_ also makes himself merry with the play of m. thiers. both speak with some feeling of the impressive utterance of lamartine in the late debates. the jesuits stand their ground, but there is a wave advancing which will not fail to wash away what ought to go,--nor are its roarings, however much in advance of the wave itself, to be misinterpreted by intelligent ears. the world is raising its sleepy lids, and soon no organization can exist which from its very nature interferes in any way with the good of the whole. in germany the terrors of the authorities are more and more directed against the communists. they are very anxious to know what communism really is, or means. they have almost forgotten, says the correspondent, the repression of the jews, and like objects, in this new terror. meanwhile, the russian emperor has issued an edict, commanding the polish jews, both men and women, to lay aside their national garb. he hopes thus to mingle them with the rest of the mass he moves. it will be seen whether such work can be done by beginning upon the outward man. the paris correspondent of the _"courrier,"_ who gives an account of amusements, has always many sprightly passages illustrative of the temper of the times. horse-races are now the fashion, in which he rejoices, as being likely to give to france good horses of her own. a famous lottery is on the point of coming off,--to give an organ to the church of st. eustache,--on which it does not require a very high tone of morals to be severe. a public exhibition has been made of the splendid array of prizes, including every article of luxury, from jewels and cashmere shawls down to artificial flowers. a nobleman, president of the horticultural society, had given an entertainment, in which the part of the different flowers was acted by beautiful women, that of fruit and vegetables by distinguished men. such an amusement would admit of much light grace and wit, which may still be found in france, if anywhere in the world. there is also an amusing story of the stir caused among the french political leaders by the visit of a nobleman of one of the great english families, to paris. "he had had several audiences, previous to his departure from london, of queen victoria; he received a despatch daily from the english court. but in reply to all overtures made to induce him to open his mission, he preserved a gloomy silence. all attentions, all signs of willing confidence, are lavished on him in vain. france is troubled. 'has england,' thought she, 'a secret from us, while we have none from her?' she was on the point of inventing one, when, lo! the secret mission turns out to be the preparation of a ball-dress, with whose elegance, fresh from parisian genius, her britannic majesty wished to dazzle and surprise her native realm." 't is a pity americans cannot learn the grace which decks these trifling jests with so much prettiness. till we can import something of that, we have no right to rejoice in french fashions and french wines. such a nervous, driving nation as we are, ought to learn to fly along gracefully, on the light, fantastic toe. can we not learn something of the english beside the knife and fork conventionalities which, with them, express a certain solidity of fortune and resolve? can we not get from the french something beside their worst novels? "courrier des etats unis." our protegee, queen victoria. the _courrier_ laughs, though with features somewhat too disturbed for a graceful laugh, at a notice, published a few days since in the _tribune_, of one of its jests which scandalized the american editor. it does not content itself with a slight notice, but puts forth a manifesto, in formidably large type, in reply. with regard to the jest itself, we must remark that mr. greeley saw this only in a translation, where it had lost whatever of light and graceful in its manner excused a piece of raillery very coarse in its substance. we will admit that, had he seen it as it originally stood, connected with other items in the playful chronicle of pierre durand, it would have impressed him differently. but the cause of irritation in the _courrier_, and of the sharp repartees of its manifesto, is, probably, what was said of the influence among us of "french literature and french morals," to which the "organ of the french-american population" felt called on to make a spirited reply, and has done so with less of wit and courtesy than could have been expected from the organ of a people who, whatever may be their faults, are at least acknowledged in wit and courtesy preeminent. we hope that the french who come to us will not become, in these respects, americanized, and substitute the easy sneer, and use of such terms as "ridiculous," "virtuous misanthropy," &c., for the graceful and poignant raillery of their native land, which tickles even where it wounds. we may say, in reply to the _courrier_, that if fourierism "recoils towards a state of nature," it arises largely from the fact that its author lived in a country where the natural relations are, if not more cruelly, at least more lightly violated, than in any other of the civilized world. the marriage of convention has done its natural office in sapping the morals of france, till breach of the marriage vow has become one of the chief topics of its daily wit, one of the acknowledged traits of its manners, and a favorite--in these modern times we might say the favorite--subject of its works of fiction. from the time of moliere, himself an agonized sufferer behind his comic mask from the infidelities of a wife he was not able to cease to love, through memoirs, novels, dramas, and the volleyed squibs of the press, one fact stares us in the face as one of so common occurrence, that men, if they have not ceased to suffer in heart and morals from its poisonous action, have yet learned to bear with a shrug and a careless laugh that marks its frequency. understand, we do not say that the french are the most deeply stained with vice of all nations. we do not think them so. there are others where there is as much, but there is none where it is so openly acknowledged in literature, and therefore there is none whose literature alone is so likely to deprave inexperienced minds, by familiarizing them with wickedness before they have known the lure and the shock of passion. and we believe that this is the very worst way for youth to be misled, since the miasma thus pervades the whole man, and he is corrupted in head and heart at once, without one strengthening effort at resistance. were it necessary, we might substantiate what we say by quoting from the _courrier_ within the last fortnight, jokes and stories such as are not to be found so _frequently_ in the prints of any other nation. there is the story of the girl adelaide, which, at another time, we mean to quote, for its terrible pathos. there is a man on trial for the murder of his wife, of whom the witnesses say, "he was so fond of her you would never have known she was his wife!" here is one, only yesterday, where a man kills a woman to whom he was married by his relatives at eighteen, she being much older, and disagreeable to him, but their properties matching. after twelve years' marriage, he can no longer support the yoke, and kills both her and her father, and "his only regret is that he cannot kill all who had anything to do with the match." either infidelity or such crimes are the natural result of marriages made as they are in france, by agreement between the friends, without choice of the parties. it is this horrible system, and not a native incapacity for pure and permanent relations, that leads to such results. we must observe, _en passant_, that this man was the father of five children by this hated woman--a wickedness not peculiar to france or any nation, and which cannot foil to do its work of filling the world with sickly, weak, or depraved beings, who have reason to curse their brutal father that he does not murder them as well as their wretched mother,--who, more unhappy than the victim of seduction, is made the slave of sense in the name of religion and law. the last steamer brings us news of the disgrace of victor hugo, one of the most celebrated of the literary men of france, and but lately created one of her peers. the affair, however, is to be publicly "hushed up." but we need not cite many instances to prove, what is known to the whole world, that these wrongs are, if not more frequent, at least more lightly treated by the french, in literature and discourse, than by any nation of europe. this being the case, can an american, anxious that his country should receive, as her only safeguard from endless temptations, good moral instruction and mental food, be otherwise than grieved at the promiscuous introduction among us of their writings? we know that there are in france good men, pure books, true wit. but there is an immensity that is bad, and more hurtful to our farmers, clerks and country milliners, than to those to whose tastes it was originally addressed,--as the small-pox is most fatal among the wild men of the woods,--and this, from the unprincipled cupidity of publishers, is broad-cast recklessly over all the land we had hoped would become a healthy asylum for those before crippled and tainted by hereditary abuses. this cannot be prevented; we can only make head against it, and show that there is really another way of thinking and living,--ay, and another voice for it in the world. we are naturally on the alert, and if we sometimes start too quickly, that is better than to play "_le noir faineant_"--(the black sluggard). we are displeased at the unfeeling manner in which the _courrier_ speaks of those whom he calls _our models_. he did not misunderstand us, and some things he says on this subject deserve and suggest a retort that would be bitter. but we forbear, because it would injure the innocent with the guilty. the _courrier_ ranks the editor of the _tribune_ among "the men who have undertaken an ineffectual struggle against the perversities of this lower world." by _ineffectual_ we presume he means that it has never succeeded in exiling evil from this lower world. we are proud to be ranked among the band of those who at least, in the ever-memorable words of scripture, have "done what they could" for this purpose. to this band belong all good men of all countries, and france has contributed no small contingent of those whose purpose was noble, whose lives were healthy, and whose minds, even in their lightest moods, pure. we are better pleased to act as sutler or pursuivant of this band, whose strife the _courrier_ thinks so _impuissante_, than to reap the rewards of efficiency on the other side. there is not too much of this salt, in proportion to the whole mass that needs to be salted, nor are "occasional accesses of virtuous misanthropy" the worst of maladies in a world that affords such abundant occasion for it. in fine, we disclaim all prejudice against the french nation. we feel assured that all, or almost all, impartial minds will acquiese in what we say as to the tone of lax morality, in reference to marriage, so common in their literature. we do not like it, in joke or in earnest; neither are we of those to whom vice "loses most of its deformity by losing all its grossness." if there be a deep and ulcerated wound, we think the more "the richly-embroidered veil" is torn away the better. such a deep social wound exists in france; we wish its cure, as we wish the health of all nations and of all men; so far indeed would we "recoil towards a state of nature." we believe that nature wills marriage and parentage to be kept sacred. the fact of their not being so is to us not a pleasant subject of jest; and we should really pity the first lady of england for injury here, though she be a queen; while the ladies of the french court, or of parisian society, if they willingly lend themselves to be the subject of this style of jest, or find it agreeable when made, must be to us the cause both of pity, and disgust. we are not unaware of the great and beautiful qualities native to the french--of their chivalry, their sweetness of temper, their rapid, brilliant and abundant genius. we would wish to see these qualities restored to their native lustre, and not receive the base alloy which has long stained the virginity of the gold. on books of travel. [footnote: it need not be said, probably, that margaret fuller did not think the fact that books of travel by women have generally been piquant and lively rather than discriminating and instructive, a result of their nature, and therefore unavoidable; on the contrary, she regarded woman as naturally more penetrating than man, and the fact that in journeying she would see more of home-life than he, would give her a great advantage,--but she did believe woman needed a wider culture, and then she would not fail to _excel_ in writing books of travels. the merits now in such works she considered striking and due to woman's natural quickness and availing herself of all her facilities, and any deficiencies simply proved the need of a broader education.--[edit.]] among those we have, the best, as to observation of particulars and lively expression, are by women. they are generally ill prepared as regards previous culture, and their scope is necessarily narrower than that of men, but their tact and quickness help them a great deal. you can see their minds grow by what they feed on, when they travel. there are many books of travel, by women, that are, at least, entertaining, and contain some penetrating and just observations. there has, however, been none since lady mary wortley montague, with as much talent, liveliness, and preparation to observe in various ways, as she had. a good article appeared lately in one of the english periodicals, headed by a long list of travels by women. it was easy to observe that the personality of the writer was the most obvious thing in each and all of these books, and that, even in the best of them, you travelled with the writer as a charming or amusing companion, rather than as an accomplished or instructed guide. review of "memoirs and essays, by mrs. jameson." mrs. jameson appears to be growing more and more desperately modest, if we may judge from the motto: "what if the little rain should say, 'so small a drop as i can ne'er refresh the thirsty plain,-- i'll tarry in the sky'" and other superstitious doubts and disclaimers proffered in the course of the volume. we thought the time had gone by when it was necessary to plead "request of friends" for printing, and that it was understood now-a-days that, from the facility of getting thoughts into print, literature has become not merely an archive for the preservation of great thoughts, but a means of general communication between all classes of minds, and all grades of culture. if writers write much that is good, and write it well, they are read much and long; if the reverse, people simply pass them by, and go in search of what is more interesting. there needs be no great fuss about publishing or not publishing. those who forbear may rather be considered the vain ones, who wish to be distinguished among the crowd. especially this extreme modesty looks superfluous in a person who knows her thoughts have been received with interest for ten or twelve years back. we do not like this from mrs. jameson, because we think she would be amazed if others spoke of her as this little humble flower, doubtful whether it ought to raise its head to the light. she should leave such affectations to her aunts; they were the fashion in their day. it is very true, however, that she should _not_ have published the very first paragraph in her book, which presents an inaccuracy and shallowness of thought quite amazing in a person of her fine perceptions, talent and culture. we allude to the contrast she attempts to establish between raphael and titian, in placing mind in contradistinction to beauty, as if beauty were merely physical. of course she means no such thing; but the passage means this or nothing, and, as an opening to a paper on art, is indeed reprehensible and fallacious. the rest of this paper, called the house of titian, is full of pleasant chat, though some of the judgments--that passed on canaletti's pictures, for instance--are opposed to those of persons of the purest taste; and in other respects, such as in speaking of the railroad to venice, mrs. jameson is much less wise than those over whom she assumes superiority. the railroad will destroy venice; the two things cannot coexist; and those who do not look upon that wondrous dream in this age, will, probably, find only vestiges of its existence. the picture of adelaide kemble is very pretty, though there is an attempt of a sort too common with mrs. jameson to make more of the subject than it deserves. adelaide kemble was not the true artist, or she could not so soon or so lightly have stept into another sphere. it is enough to paint her as a lovely woman, and a woman-genius. the true artist cannot forswear his vocation; heaven does not permit it; the attempt makes him too unhappy, nor will he form ties with those who can consent to such sacrilege. adelaide kemble loved art, but was not truly an artist. the "xanthian marbles," and "washington allston," are very pleasing papers. the most interesting part, however, are the sentences copied from mr. allston. these have his chaste, superior tone. we copy some of them. "what _light_ is in the natural world, such is _fame_ in the intellectual,--both requiring an _atmosphere_ in order to become perceptible. hence the fame of michel angelo is to some minds a nonentity; even as the sun itself would be invisible _in vacuo_" (a very pregnant statement, containing the true reason why "no man is a hero to his valet de chambre.") "fame does not depend on the will of any man; but reputation may be given and taken away; for fame is the sympathy of kindred intellects, and sympathy is not a subject of _willing_; while reputation, having its source in the popular voice, is a sentence which may be altered or suppressed at pleasure. reputation, being essentially contemporaneous, is always at the mercy of the envious and ignorant. but fame, whose very birth is posthumous, and which is only known to exist by the echoes of its footsteps through congenial minds, can neither be increased nor diminished by any degree of wilfulness." "an original mind is rarely understood until it has been _reflected_ from some half-dozen congenial with it; so averse are men to admitting the true in an unusual form; while any novelty, however fantastic, however false, is greedily swallowed. nor is this to be wondered at, for all truth demands a response, and few people care to _think_, yet they must have something to supply the place of thought. every mind would appear original if every man had the power of projecting his own into the minds of others." "all effort at originality must end either in the quaint or monstrous; for no man knows himself as on original; he can only believe it on the report of others to whom he is made known, as he is by the projecting power before spoken of." "there is an essential meanness in wishing to get the better of any one. the only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself." "reverence is an ennobling sentiment; it is felt to be degrading only by the vulgar mind, which would escape the sense of its own littleness by elevating itself into the antagonist of what is above it." "he that has no pleasure in looking up is not fit to look down; of such minds are the mannerists in art, and in the world--the tyrants of all sorts." "make no man your idol; for the best man must have faults, and his faults will naturally become yours, in addition to your own. this is as true in art as in morals." "the devil's heartiest laugh is at a detracting witticism. hence the phrase 'devilish good' has sometimes a literal meaning." "woman's mission and woman's position" is an excellent paper, in which plain truths ere spoken with an honorable straight-forwardness, and a great deal of good feeling. we despise the woman who, knowing such facts, is afraid to speak of them; yet we honor one, too, who does the plain right thing, for she exposes herself to the assaults of vulgarity, in a way painful to a person who has not strength to find shelter and repose in her motives. we recommend this paper to the consideration of all those, the unthinking, wilfully unseeing million, who are in the habit of talking of "woman's sphere," as if it really were, at present, for the majority, one of protection, and the gentle offices of home. the rhetorical gentlemen and silken dames, who, quite forgetting their washerwomen, their seamstresses, and the poor hirelings for the sensual pleasures of man, that jostle them daily in the streets, talk as if women need be fitted for no other chance than that of growing like cherished flowers in the garden of domestic love, are requested to look at this paper, in which the state of women, both in the manufacturing and agricultural districts of england, is exposed with eloquence, and just inferences drawn. "this, then, is what i mean when i speak of the anomalous condition of women in these days. i would point out, as a primary source of incalculable mischief, the contradiction between her assumed and her real position; between what is called her proper sphere by the laws of god and nature, and what has become her real sphere by the laws of necessity, and through the complex relations of artificial existence. in the strong language of carlyle, i would say that 'here is a lie standing up in the midst of society.' i would say 'down with it, even to the ground;' for while this perplexing and barbarous anomaly exists, fretting like an ulcer at the very heart of society, all new specifics and palliatives are in vain. the question must be settled one way or another; either let the man in all the relations of life be held the natural guardian of the woman, constrained to fulfil that trust, responsible in society for her well-being and her maintenance; or, if she be liable to be thrust from the sanctuary of home, to provide for herself through the exercise of such faculties as god has given her, let her at least have fair play; let it not be avowed, in the same breath that protection is necessary to her, and that it is refused her; and while we send her forth into the desert, and bind the burthen on her back, and put the staff in her hand, let not her steps be beset, her limbs fettered, and her eyes blindfolded." amen. the sixth and last of these papers, on the relative social position of "mothers and governesses," exhibits in true and full colors a state of things in england, beside which the custom in some parts of china of drowning female infants looks mild, generous, and refined;--an accursed state of things, beneath whose influence nothing can, and nothing ought to thrive. though this paper, of which we have not patience to speak further at this moment, is valuable from putting the facts into due relief, it is very inferior to the other, and shows the want of thoroughness and depth in mrs. jameson's intellect. she has taste, feeling and knowledge, but she cannot think out a subject thoroughly, and is unconsciously tainted and hampered by conventionalities. her advice to the governesses reads like a piece of irony, but we believe it was not meant as such. advise them to be burnt at the stake at once, rather than submit to this slow process of petrifaction. she is as bad as the reports of the "society for the relief of distressed and dilapidated governesses." we have no more patience. we must go to england ourselves, and see these victims under the water torture. till then, a dieu! woman's influence over the insane. in reference to what is said of entrusting an infant to the insane, we must relate a little tale which touched the heart in childhood from the eloquent lips of the mother. the minister of the village had a son of such uncommon powers that the slender means on which the large family lived were strained to the utmost to send him to college. the boy prized the means of study as only those under such circumstances know how to prize them; indeed, far beyond their real worth; since, by excessive study, prolonged often at the expense of sleep, he made himself insane. all may conceive the feelings of the family when their star returned to them again, shorn of its beams; their pride, their hard-earned hope, sunk to a thing so hopeless, so helpless, that there could be none so poor to do him reverence. but they loved him, and did what the ignorance of the time permitted. there was little provision then for the treatment of such cases, and what there was was of a kind that they shrunk from resorting to, if it could be avoided. they kept him at home, giving him, during the first months, the freedom of the house; but on his making an attempt to kill his father, and confessing afterwards that his old veneration had, as is so often the case in these affections, reacted morbidly to its opposite, so that he never saw a once-loved parent turn his back without thinking how he could rush upon him and do him an injury, they felt obliged to use harsher measures, and chained him to a post in one room of the house. there, so restrained, without exercise or proper medicine, the fever of insanity came upon him in its wildest form. he raved, shrieked, struck about him, and tore off all the raiment that was put upon him. one of his sisters, named lucy, whom he had most loved when well, had now power to soothe him. he would listen to her voice, and give way to a milder mood when she talked or sang. but this favorite sister married, went to her new home, and the maniac became wilder, more violent than ever. after two or three years, she returned, bringing with her on infant. she went into the room where the naked, blaspheming, raging object was confined. he knew her instantly, and felt joy at seeing her. "but, lucy," said he, suddenly, "is that your baby you have in your arms? give it to me, i want to hold it!" a pang of dread and suspicion shot through the young mother's heart,--she turned pale and faint. her brother was not at that moment so mad that he could not understand her fears. "lucy," said he, "do you suppose i would hurt _your_ child?" his sister had strength of mind and of heart; she could not resist the appeal, and hastily placed the child in his arms. poor fellow! he held it awhile, stroked its little face, and melted into tears, the first he had shed since his insanity. for some time after that he was better, and probably, had he been under such intelligent care as may be had at present, the crisis might have been followed up, and a favorable direction given to his disease. but the subject was not understood then, and, having once fallen mad, he was doomed to live and die a madman. from a criticism on browning's poems. * * * * "the return of the druses," a "blot in the 'scutcheon," and "colombo's birthday," all have the same originality of conception, delicate penetration into the mysteries of human feeling, atmospheric individuality, and skill in picturesque detail. all three exhibit very high and pure ideas of woman, and a knowledge, very rare in man, of the ways in which what is peculiar in her office and nature works. her loftiest elevation does not, in his eyes, lift her out of nature. she becomes, not a mere saint, but the goddess-queen of nature. her purity is not cold, like marble, but the healthy, gentle energy of the flower, instinctively rejecting what is not fit for it, with no need of disdain to dig a gulf between it and the lower forms of creation. her office to man is that of the muse, inspiring him to all good thoughts and deeds. the passions that sometimes agitate these maidens of his verso are the surprises of noble hearts unprepared for evil; and even their mistakes cannot cost bitter tears to their attendant angels. the girl in the "return of the druses" is the sort of nature byron tried to paint in myrrha. but byron could only paint women as they were to him. browning can show what they are in themselves. in "a blot in the 'scutcheon," we see a lily, storm-struck, half-broken, but still a lily. in "colombe's birthday," a queenly rose-bud, which expands into the full-glowing rose before our eyes. it is marvellous in this drama how the characters are unfolded to us by the crisis, which not only exhibits, but calls to life, the higher passions and the thoughts which were latent within them. we bless the poet for these pictures of women, which, however the common tone of society, by the grossness and levity of the remarks bandied from tongue to tongue, would seem to say to the contrary, declare there is still in the breasts of men a capacity for pure and exalting passion,--for immortal tenderness. of browning's delicate sheaths of meaning within meaning, which must be opened slowly, petal by petal, as we seek the heart of a flower, and the spirit-like, distant breathings of his lute, familiar with the secrets of shores distant and enchanted, a sense can only be gained by reading him a great deal; and we wish "bells and pomegranates" might be brought within the reach of all who have time and soul to wait and listen for such! christmas. our festivals come rather too near together, since we have so few of them;--thanksgiving, christmas-day, new-years'-day, and then none again till july. we know not but these four, with the addition of a "day set apart for fasting and prayer," might answer the purposes of rest and edification as well as a calendar full of saints' days, if they were observed in a better spirit. but, thanksgiving is devoted to good dinners; christmas and new-years' days to making presents and compliments; fast-day to playing at cricket and other games, and the fourth of july to boasting of the past, rather than to plans how to deserve its benefits and secure its fruits. we value means of marking time by appointed days, because man, on one side of his nature so ardent and aspiring, is on the other so indolent and slippery a being, that he needs incessant admonitions to redeem the time. time flows on steadily, whether _he_ regards it or not; yet, unless _he keep time_, there is no music in that flow. the sands drop with inevitable speed; yet each waits long enough to receive, if it be ready, the intellectual touch that should turn it to a sand of gold. time, says the grecian fable, is the parent of power, power is the father of genius and wisdom. time, then, is grandfather of the noblest of the human family; and we must respect the aged sire whom we see on the frontispiece of the almanacs, and believe his scythe was meant to mow down harvests ripened for an immortal use. yet the best provision made by the mind of society at large for these admonitions soon loses its efficacy, and requires that individual earnestness, individual piety, should continually reinforce the most beautiful form. the world has never seen arrangements which might more naturally offer good suggestions than those of the church of rome. the founders of that church stood very near a history radiant at every page with divine light. all their rites and ceremonial days illustrate facts of an universal interest. but the life with which piety first, and afterwards the genius of great artists, invested these symbols, waned at last, except to a thoughtful few. reverence was forgotten in the multitude of genuflexions; the rosary became a string of beads rather than a series of religious meditations; and the "glorious company of saints and martyrs" were not regarded so much as the teachers of heavenly truth, as intercessors to obtain for their votaries the temporal gifts they craved. yet we regret that some of those symbols had not been more reverenced by protestants, as the possible occasion of good thoughts, and, among others, we regret that the day set apart to commemorate the birth of jesus should have been stript, even by those who observe it, of many impressive and touching accessories. if ever there was an occasion on which the arts could become all but omnipotent in the service of a holy thought, it is this of the birth of the child jesus. in the palmy days of the catholic religion they may be said to have wrought miracles in its behalf; and in our colder time, when we rather reflect that light from a different point of view than transport ourselves into it, who, that has an eye and ear faithful to the soul, is not conscious of inexhaustible benefits from some of the works by which sublime geniuses have expressed their ideas?--in the adorations of the magi and the shepherds, in the virgin with the infant jesus, or that work which expresses what christendom at large has not begun to realize,--that work which makes us conscious, as we listen, why the soul of man was thought worthy and able to upbear a cross of such dreadful weight,--the messiah of handel. christmas would seem to be the day peculiarly sacred to children; and something of this feeling is beginning to show itself among us, though rather from german influence than of native growth. the ever-green tree is often reared for the children on christmas evening, and its branches cluster with little tokens that may, at least, give them a sense that the world is rich, and that there are some in it who care to bless them. it is a charming sight to see their glistening eyes, and well worth much trouble in preparing the christmas-tree. yet, on this occasion, as on all others, we should like to see pleasure offered to them in a form less selfish than it is. when shall we read of banquets prepared for the halt, the lame, and the blind, on the day that is said to have brought _their_ friend into the world? when will children be taught to ask all the cold and ragged little ones whom they have seen during the day wistfully gazing at the shop-windows, to share the joys of christmas-eve? we borrow the christmas-tree from germany; might we but borrow with it that feeling which pervades all their stories, about the influence of the christ-child, and has, i doubt not (for the spirit of literature is always, though refined, the essence of popular life), pervaded the conduct of children there. we will mention two of these as happily expressive of different sides of the desirable character. one is a legend of the saint hermann joseph. the legend runs that this saint, when a little boy, passed daily by a niche where was an image of the virgin and child, and delighted there to pay his devotions. his heart was so drawn towards the holy child that one day, having received what seemed to him a gift truly precious, a beautiful red and yellow apple, he ventured to offer it, with his prayer. to his unspeakable delight the child put forth his hand and took the apple. after that day, never was a gift bestowed upon the little hermann, that was not carried to the same place. he needed nothing for himself, but dedicated all his childish goods to the altar. after a while he was in trouble. his father, who was a poor man, found it necessary to take him from school, and bind him to a trade. he communicated his woes to his friends of the niche, and the virgin comforted him like a mother, and bestowed on him money, by means of which he rose to be a learned and tender shepherd of men. another still more touching story is that of the holy rupert. rupert was the only child of a princely house, and had something to give besides apples. but his generosity and human love were such that, as a child, he could never see poor children suffering without despoiling himself of all he had with him in their behalf. his mother was, at first, displeased with this; but when he replied, "they are thy children too," her reproofs yielded to tears. one time, when he had given away his coat to a poor child, he got wearied and belated on his homeward way. he lay down a while and fell asleep. then he dreamed that he was on a river-shore, and saw a mild and noble old man bathing many children. after he had plunged them into the water, he would place them on a beautiful island, where they looked white and glorious as little angels. rupert was seized with a strong desire to join them, and begged the old man to bathe him also in the stream. but he was answered, "it is not yet time." just then a rainbow spanned the island, and in its arch was enthroned the child jesus, dressed in a coat that rupert knew to be his own. and the child said to the others, "see this coat; it is one which my brother rupert has just sent to me. he has given us many gifts from his love; shall we not ask him to join us here?" and they shouted a musical "yes!" and rupert started out of his dream. but he had lain too long on the damp bank of the river without his coat, and cold and fever soon sent him to join the band of his brothers in their home. these are legends, superstitious, you will say. but, in casting aside the shell, have we retained the kernel? the image of the child jesus is not seen in the open street. does his heart find other means to express itself there? protestantism does not mean, we suppose, to deaden the spirit in excluding the form. the thought of jesus, as a child, has great weight with children who have learned to think of him at all. in thinking of him they form an image of all that the morning of a pure and fervent life should be and bring. in former days i knew a boy-artist whose genius, at that time, showed high promise. he was not more than fourteen years old--a pale, slight boy, with a beaming eye. the hopes and sympathy of friends, gained by his talent, had furnished him with a studio and orders for some pictures. he had picked up from the streets a boy, still younger and poorer than himself, to take care of the room and prepare his colors, and the two boys were as content in their relation as michael angelo with his urbino. if you went there, you found exposed to view many pretty pictures--"a girl with a dove," "the guitar-player," and such subjects as are commonly supposed to interest at his age. but, hid in a corner, and never shown, unless to the beggar-page or some most confidential friend, was the real object of his love and pride, the slowly-growing work of secret hours. the subject of this picture was christ teaching the doctors. and in those doctors he had expressed all he had already observed of the pedantry and shallow conceit of those in whom mature years have not unfolded the soul: and in the child, all he felt that early youth should be and seek, though, alas! his own feet failed him on the difficult road. this one record of the youth of jesus, had, at least, been much to his mind. in earlier days the little saints thought they best imitated the emanuel by giving apples and cents; but we know not why, in our age, that esteems itself so much enlightened, they should not become also the givers of spiritual gifts. we see in them, continually, impulses that only require a good direction to effect infinite good. see the little girls at work for foreign missions; that is not useless; they devote the time to a purpose that is not selfish; the horizon of their thoughts is extended. but they are perfectly capable of becoming home-missionaries as well. the principle of stewardship would make them so. i have seen a little girl of thirteen, who had much service, too, to do for a hard-working mother, in the midst of a circle of poor children whom she gathered daily to a morning school. she took them from the door-steps and the gutters; she washed their faces and hands; she taught them to read and sew, and told them stories that had delighted her own infancy. in her face, though in feature and complexion plain, was something already of a madonna sweetness, and it had no way eclipsed the gayety of childhood. i have seen a boy, scarce older, brought up for some time with the sons of laborers, who, so soon as he found himself possessed of superior advantages, thought not of surpassing others, but of excelling that he might be able to impart; and he was able to do it. if the other boys had less leisure, and could pay for less instruction, they did not suffer by it. he could not be happy unless they also could enjoy milton, and pass from nature to natural philosophy. he performed, though in a childish way, and in no grecian garb, the part of apollo amidst the herdsmen of admetus. the cause of education would be indefinitely furthered if, in addition to formal means, there were but this principle awakened in the hearts of the young, that what they have they must bestow. all are not natural instructors, but a large proportion are; and those who do possess such a talent are the best possible teachers to those a little younger than themselves. many have more patience with the difficulties they have lately left behind, and enjoy their power of assisting more than those further removed in age and knowledge do. then the intercourse may be far more congenial and profitable than where the teacher receives for hire all sorts of pupils as they are sent him by their guardians. here be need only choose those who have a predisposition for what he is best able to teach; and, as i would have the so-called higher instruction as much diffused in this way as the lower, there would be a chance of awakening all the power that now lies latent. if a girl, for instance, who has only a passable talent for music, but who, from the advantage of social position, has been able to gain thorough instruction, felt it her duty to teach whomsoever she know that had a talent without money to cultivate it, the good is obvious. those who are learning, receive an immediate benefit by the effort to rearrange and interpret what they learn; so the use of this justice would be two-fold. some efforts are made here and there; nay, sometimes there are those who can say they have returned usury for every gift of fate; and would others make the same experiments, they might find utopia not so far off as the children of this world, wise in securing their own selfish ease, would persuade us it must always be. we have hinted what sort of christmas-box we would wish for the children; it must be one as full, as that of the christ-child must be, of the pieces of silver that were lost and are found. but christmas with its peculiar associations has deep interest for men and women no less. at that time thus celebrated, a pure woman saw in her child what the son of man should be as a child of god. she anticipated fur him a life of glory to god, peace and good-will towards men. in any young mother's heart, who has any purity of heart, the same feelings arise. but most of these mothers carelessly let them go without obeying their instructions. if they did not, we should see other children, other men than now throng our streets. the boy could not invariably disappoint the mother, the man the wife, who steadily demanded of him such a career. and man looks upon woman, in this relation, always as he should. does he see in her a holy mother, worthy to guard the infancy of an immortal soul? then she assumes in his eyes those traits which the romish church loved to revere in mary. frivolity, base appetite, contempt, are exorcised, and man and woman appear again, in unprofaned connection, as brother and sister, children and servants of one divine love, and pilgrims to a common aim. were all this right in the private sphere, the public would soon right itself also, and the nations of christendom might join in a celebration such as "kings and prophets waited for," and so many martyrs died to achieve, of christ-mass. children's books. there is no branch of literature that better deserves cultivation, and none that so little obtains it from worthy hands, as this of children's books. it requires a peculiar development of the genius and sympathies, rare among men of factitious life, who are not men enough to revive with force and beauty the thoughts and scenes of childhood. it is all idle to talk baby-talk, and give shallow accounts of deep things, thinking thereby to interest the child. he does not like to be too much puzzled; but it is simplicity be wants, not silliness. we fancy their angels, who are always waiting in the courts of our father, smile somewhat sadly on the ignorance of those who would feed them on milk and water too long, and think it would be quite as well to give them a stone. there is too much amongst us of the french way of palming off false accounts of things on children, "to do them good," and showing nature to them in a magic lantern "purified for the use of childhood," and telling stories of sweet little girls and brave little boys,--o, all so good, or so bad! and above all, so _little_, and everything about them so little! children accustomed to move in full-sized apartments, and converse with full-grown men and women, do not need so much of this baby-house style in their literature. they like, or would like if they could get them, better things much more. they like the _arabian nights_, and _pilgrim's progress_, and _bunyan's emblems_, and _shakspeare_, and the _iliad_ and _odyssey_,--at least, they used to like them; and if they do not now, it is because their taste has been injured by so many sugar-plums. the books that were written in the childhood of nations suit an uncorrupted childhood now. they are simple, picturesque, robust. their moral is not forced, nor is the truth veiled with a well-meant but sure-to-fail hypocrisy. sometimes they are not moral at all,--only free plays of the fancy and intellect. these, also, the child needs, just as the infant needs to stretch its limbs, and grasp at objects it cannot hold. we have become so fond of the moral, that we forget the nature in which it must find its root; so fond of instruction, that we forget development. where ballads, legends, fairy-tales, are moral, the morality is heart-felt; if instructive, it is from the healthy common sense of mankind, and not for the convenience of nursery rule, nor the "peace of schools and families." o, that winter, freezing, snow-laden winter, which ushered in our eighth birthday! there, in the lonely farm-house, the day's work done, and the bright woodfire all in a glow, we were permitted to slide back the panel of the cupboard in the wall,--most fascinating object still in our eyes, with which no stateliest alcoved library can vie,--and there saw, neatly ranged on its two shelves, not--praised be our natal star!--_peter parley_, nor a history of the good little boy who never took anything that did not belong to him; but the _spectator_, _telemachus_, _goldsmith's animated nature_, and the _iliad_. forms of gods and heroes more distinctly seen, and with eyes of nearer love then than now!--our true uncle, sir roger de coverley, and ye, fair realms of nature's history, whose pictures we tormented all grown persons to illustrate with more knowledge, still more,--how we bless the chance that gave to us your great realities, which life has daily helped us, helps us still, to interpret, instead of thin and baseless fictions that would all this time have hampered us, though with only cobwebs! children need some childish talk, some childish play, some childish books. but they also need, and need more, difficulties to overcome, and a sense of the vast mysteries which the progress of their intelligence shall aid them to unravel. this sense is naturally their delight, as it is their religion, and it must not be dulled by premature explanations or subterfuges of any kind. there has been too much of this lately. miss edgeworth is an excellent writer for children. she is a child herself, as she writes, nursed anew by her own genius. it is not by imitating, but by reproducing childhood, that the writer becomes its companion. then, indeed, we have something especially good, for, "like wine, well-kept and long, heady, nor harsh, nor strong, with each succeeding year is quaffed, a richer, purer, mellower draught." miss edgeworth's grown people live naturally with the children; they do not talk to them continually about angels or flowers, but about the things that interest themselves. they do not force them forward, nor keep them back. the relations are simple and honorable; all ages in the family seem at home under one roof and sheltered by one care. the _juvenile miscellany_, formerly published by mrs. child, was much and deservedly esteemed by children. it was a healthy, cheerful, natural and entertaining companion to them. we should censure too monotonously tender a manner in what is written for children, and too constant an attention to moral influence. we should prefer a larger proportion of the facts of natural or human history, and that they should speak for themselves. woman in poverty. woman, even less than man, is what she should be as a whole. she is not that self-centred being, full of profound intuitions, angelic love, and flowing poesy, that she should be. yet there are circumstances in which the native force and purity of her being teach her how to conquer where the restless impatience of man brings defeat, and leaves him crushed and bleeding on the field. images rise to mind of calm strength, of gentle wisdom learning from every turn of adverse fate,--of youthful tenderness and faith undimmed to the close of life, which redeem humanity and make the heart glow with fresh courage as we write. they are mostly from obscure corners and very private walks. there was nothing shining, nothing of an obvious and sounding heroism to make their conduct doubtful, by tainting their motives with vanity. unknown they lived, untrumpeted they died. many hearts were warmed and fed by them, but perhaps no mind but our own ever consciously took account of their virtues. had art but the power adequately to tell their simple virtues, and to cast upon them the light which, shining through those marked and faded faces, foretold the glories of a second spring! the tears of holy emotion which fell from those eyes have seemed to us pearls beyond all price; or rather, whose price will be paid only when, beyond the grave, they enter those better spheres in whose faith they felt and acted here. from this private gallery we will, for the present, bring forth but one picture. that of a black nun was wont to fetter the eyes of visitors in the royal galleries of france, and my sister of mercy, too, is of that complexion. the old woman was recommended as a laundress by my friend, who had long prized her. i was immediately struck with the dignity and propriety of her manner. in the depth of winter she brought herself the heavy baskets through the slippery streets; and, when i asked her why she did not employ some younger person to do what was so entirely disproportioned to her strength, simply said, "she lived alone, and could not afford to hire an errand-boy." "it was hard for her?" "no, she was fortunate in being able to get work at her age, when others could do it better. her friends were very good to procure it for her." "had she a comfortable home?" "tolerably so,--she should not need one long." "was that a thought of joy to her?" "yes, for she hoped to see again the husband and children from whom she had long been separated." thus much in answer to the questions, but at other times the little she said was on general topics. it was not from her that i learnt how the great idea of duty had held her upright through a life of incessant toil, sorrow, bereavement; and that not only she had remained upright, but that her character had been constantly progressive. her latest act had been to take home a poor sick girl who had no home of her own, and could not bear the idea of dying in a hospital, and maintain and nurse her through the last weeks of her life. "her eye-sight was failing, and she should not be able to work much longer,--but, then, god would provide. _somebody_ ought to see to the poor, motherless girl." it was not merely the greatness of the act, for one in such circumstances, but the quiet matter-of-course way in which it was done, that showed the habitual tone of the mind, and made us feel that life could hardly do more for a human being than to make him or her the _somebody_ that is daily so deeply needed, to represent the right, to do the plain right thing. "god will provide." yes, it is the poor who feel themselves near to the god of love. though he slay them, still do they trust him. "i hope," said i to a poor apple-woman, who had been drawn on to disclose a tale of distress that, almost in the mere hearing, made me weary of life, "i hope i may yet see you in a happier condition." "with god's help," she replied, with a smile that raphael would have delighted to transfer to his canvas; a mozart, to strains of angelic sweetness. all her life she had seemed an outcast child; still she leaned upon a father's love. the dignity of a state like this may vary its form in, more or less richness and beauty of detail, but here is the focus of what makes life valuable. it is this spirit which makes poverty the best servant to the ideal of human nature. i am content with this type, and will only quote, in addition, a ballad i found in a foreign periodical, translated from chamisso, and which forcibly recalled my own laundress as an equally admirable sample of the same class, the ideal poor, which we need for our consolation, so long as there must be real poverty. "the old washerwoman. "among yon lines her hands have laden, a laundress with white hair appears, alert as many a youthful maiden, spite of her five-and-seventy years; bravely she won those white hairs, still eating the bread hard toll obtained her, and laboring truly to fulfil the duties to which god ordained her. "once she was young and full of gladness, she loved and hoped,--was wooed and won; then came the matron's cares,--the sadness no loving heart on earth may shun. three babes she bore her mate; she prayed beside his sick-bed,--he was taken; she saw him in the church-yard laid, yet kept her faith and hope unshaken. "the task her little ones of feeding she met unfaltering from that hour; she taught them thrift and honest breeding, her virtues were their worldly dower. to seek employment, one by one, forth with her blessing they departed, and she was in the world alone-- alone and old, but still high-hearted. "with frugal forethought; self-denying, she gathered coin, and flax she bought, and many a night her spindle plying, good store of fine-spun thread she wrought. the thread was fashioned in the loom; she brought it home, and calmly seated to work, with not a thought of gloom, her decent grave-clothes she completed. "she looks on them with fond elation; they are her wealth, her treasure rare, her age's pride and consolation, hoarded with all a miser's care. she dons the sark each sabbath day, to hear the word that falleth never! well-pleased she lays it then away till she shall sleep in it forever! "would that my spirit witness bore me. that, like this woman, i had done the work my master put before me duly from morn till set of sun! would that life's cup had been by me quaffed in such wise and happy measure, and that i too might finally look on my shroud with such meek pleasure!" such are the noble of the earth. they do not repine, they do not chafe, even in the inmost heart. they feel that, whatever else may be denied or withdrawn, there remains the better part, which cannot be taken from them. this line exactly expresses the woman i knew:-- "alone and old, but still high-hearted." will any, poor or rich, fail to feel that the children of such a parent were rich when "her virtues were their worldly dower"? will any fail to bow the heart in assent to the aspiration, "would that my spirit witness bore me that, like this woman, i had done the work my maker put before me duly from morn till set of sun"? may not that suffice to any man's ambition? [perhaps one of the most perplexing problems which beset woman in her domestic sphere relates to the proper care and influence which she should exert over the domestic aids she employs. as these are, and long must be, taken chiefly from one nation, the following pages treating of the irish character, and the true relation between employer and employed, can hardly fail to be of interest. they contain, too, some considerations which woman as well as man is too much in danger of overlooking, and which seem, even more than when first urged, to be timely in this reactionary to-day.--ed.] the irish character. in one of the eloquent passages quoted in the "_tribune_" of wednesday, under the head, "spirit of the irish press," we find these words: "domestic love, almost morbid from external suffering, prevents him (the irishman) from becoming a fanatic and a misanthrope, and reconciles him to life." this recalled to our mind the many touching instances known to us of such traits among the irish we have seen here. we have known instances of morbidness like this. a girl sent "home," after she was well established herself, for a young brother, of whom she was particularly fond. he came, and shortly after died. she was so overcome by his loss that she took poison. the great poet of serious england says, and we believe it to be his serious thought though laughingly said, "men have died, and worms have eaten them, but not for love." whether or not death may follow from the loss of a lover or child, we believe that among no people but the irish would it be upon the loss of a young brother. another poor young woman, in the flower of her youth, denied herself, not only every pleasure, but almost the necessaries of life to save the sum she thought ought to be hers before sending to ireland for a widowed mother. just as she was on the point of doing so she heard that her mother had died fifteen months before. the keenness and persistence of her grief defy description. with a delicacy of feeling which showed the native poetry of the irish mind, she dwelt, most of all, upon the thought that while she was working, and pinching, and dreaming of happiness with her mother, it was indeed but a dream, and that cherished parent lay still and cold beneath the ground. she felt fully the cruel cheat of fate. "och! and she was dead all those times i was thinking of her!" was the deepest note of her lament. they are able, however, to make the sacrifice of even these intense family affections in a worthy cause. we knew a woman who postponed sending for her only child, whom she had left in ireland, for years, while she maintained a sick friend who had no one else to help her. the poetry of which i have spoken shows itself even here, where they are separated from old romantic associations, and begin the new life in the new world by doing all its drudgery. we know flights of poetry repeated to us by those present at their wakes,--passages of natural eloquence, from the lamentations for the dead, more beautiful than those recorded in the annals of brittany or roumelia. it is the same genius, so exquisitely mournful, tender, and glowing, too, with the finest enthusiasm, that makes their national music, in these respects, the finest in the world. it is the music of the harp; its tones are deep and thrilling. it is the harp so beautifully described in "the harp of tara's halls," a song whose simple pathos is unsurpassed. a feeling was never more adequately embodied. it is the genius which will enable emmet's appeal to draw tears from the remotest generations, however much they may be strangers to the circumstances which called it forth, it is the genius which beamed in chivalrous loveliness through each act of lord edward fitzgerald,--the genius which, ripened by english culture, favored by suitable occasions, has shed such glory on the land which has done all it could to quench it on the parent hearth. when we consider all the fire which glows so untamably in irish veins, the character of her people, considering the circumstances, almost miraculous in its goodness, we cannot forbear, notwithstanding all the temporary ills they aid in here, to give them a welcome to our shores. those ills we need not enumerate; they are known to all, and we rank among them, what others would not, that by their ready service to do all the hard work, they make it easier for the rest of the population to grow effeminate, and help the country to grow too fast. but that is her destiny, to grow too fast: there is no use talking against it. their extreme ignorance, their blind devotion to their priesthood, their pliancy in the hands of demagogues, threaten continuance of these ills; yet, on the other hand, we must regard them as most valuable elements in the new race. they are looked upon with contempt for their wont of aptitude in learning new things; their ready and ingenious lying; their eye-service. these are the faults of an oppressed race, which must require the aid of better circumstances through two or three generations to eradicate. their virtues are their own; they are many, genuine, and deeply-rooted. can an impartial observer fail to admire their truth to domestic ties, their power of generous bounty, and more generous gratitude, their indefatigable good-humor (for ages of wrong which have driven them to so many acts of desperation, could never sour their blood at its source), their ready wit, their elasticity of nature? they are fundamentally one of the best nations of the world. would they were welcomed here, not to work merely, but to intelligent sympathy, and efforts, both patient and ardent, for the education of their children! no sympathy could be better deserved, no efforts wiselier timed. future burkes and currans would know how to give thanks for them, and fitzgeralds rise upon the soil--which boasts the magnolia with its kingly stature and majestical white blossoms,--to the same lofty and pure beauty. will you not believe it, merely because that bog-bred youth you placed in the mud-hole tells you lies, and drinks to cheer himself in those endless diggings? you are short-sighted, my friend; you do not look to the future; you will not turn your head to see what may have been the influences of the past. you have not examined your own breast to see whether the monitor there has not commanded you to do your part to counteract these influences; and yet the irishman appeals to you, eye to eye. he is very personal himself,--he expects a personal interest from you. nothing has been able to destroy this hope, which was the fruit of his nature. we were much touched by o'connell's direct appeal to the queen, as "lady!" but she did not listen,--and we fear few ladies and gentlemen will till the progress of destiny compels them. the irish character. since the publication of a short notice under this head in the "_tribune_," several persons have expressed to us that their feelings were awakened on the subject, especially as to their intercourse with the lower irish. most persons have an opportunity of becoming acquainted, if they will, with the lower classes of irish, as they are so much employed among us in domestic service, and other kinds of labor. we feel, say these persons, the justice of what has been said as to the duty and importance of improving these people. we have sometimes tried; but the want of real gratitude which, in them, is associated with such warm and wordy expressions of regard, with their incorrigible habits of falsehood and evasion, have baffled and discouraged us. you say their children ought to be educated; but how can this be effected when the all but omnipotent sway of the catholic religion and the example of parents are both opposed to the formation of such views and habits as we think desirable to the citizen of the new world? we answer first with regard to those who have grown up in another land, and who, soon after arriving here, are engaged in our service. first, as to ingratitude. we cannot but sadly smile on the remarks we hear so often on this subject. just heaven!--and to us how liberal! which has given those who speak thus an unfettered existence, free from religious or political oppression; which has given them the education of intellectual and refined intercourse with men to develop those talents which make them rich in thoughts and enjoyment, perhaps in money, too, certainly rich in comparison with the poor immigrants they employ,--what is thought in thy clear light of those who expect in exchange for a few shillings spent in presents or medicines, a few kind words, a little casual thought or care, such a mighty payment of gratitude? gratitude! under the weight of old feudalism their minds were padlocked by habit against the light; they might be grateful then, for they thought their lords were as gods, of another frame and spirit than theirs, and that they had no right to have the same hopes and wants, scarcely to suffer from the same maladies, with those creatures of silk, and velvet, and cloth of gold. then, the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table might be received with gratitude, and, if any but the dogs came to tend the beggar's sores, such might be received as angels. but the institutions which sustained such ideas have fallen to pieces. it is understood, even in europe, that "the rank is but the guinea's stamp, the man's the gowd for a' that, a man's a man for a' that." and being such, has a claim on this earth for something better than the nettles of which the french peasantry made their soup, and with which the persecuted irish, "under hiding," turned to green the lips white before with famine. and if this begins to be understood in europe, can you suppose it is not by those who, hearing that america opens a mother's arms with the cry, "all men are born free and equal," rush to her bosom to be consoled for centuries of woe, for their ignorance, their hereditary degradation, their long memories of black bread and stripes? however little else they may understand, believe they understand well _this much_. such inequalities of privilege, among men all born of one blood, should not exist. they darkly feel that those to whom much has been given owe to the master an account of stewardship. they know now that your gift is but a small portion of their right. and you, o giver! how did you give? with religious joy, as one who knows that he who loves god cannot fail to love his neighbor as himself? with joy and freedom, as one who feels that it is the highest happiness of gift to us that we have something to give again? didst thou put thyself into the position of the poor man, and do for him what thou wouldst have had one who was able to do for thee? or, with affability and condescending sweetness, made easy by internal delight at thine own wondrous virtue, didst thou give five dollars to balance five hundred spent on thyself? did you say, "james, i shall expect you to do right in everything, and to attend to my concerns as i should myself; and, at the end of the quarter, i will give you my old clothes and a new pocket-handkerchief, besides seeing that your mother is provided with fuel against christmas?" line upon line, and precept upon precept, the tender parent expects from the teacher to whom he confides his child; vigilance unwearied, day and night, through long years. but he expects the raw irish girl or boy to correct, at a single exhortation, the habit of deceiving those above them, which the expectation of being tyrannized over has rooted in their race for ages. if we look fairly into the history of their people, and the circumstances under which their own youth was trained, we cannot expect that anything short of the most steadfast patience and love can enlighten them as to the beauty and value of implicit truth, and, having done so, fortify and refine them in the practice of it. this we admit at the outset: first, you must be prepared for a religious and patient treatment of these people, not merely _un_educated, but _ill_-educated; a treatment far more religious and patient than is demanded by your own children, if they were born and bred under circumstances at all favorable. second, dismiss from your minds all thought of gratitude. do what you do for them for god's sake, and as a debt to humanity--interest to the common creditor upon principal left in your care. then insensibility, forgetfulness, or relapse, will not discourage you, and you will welcome proofs of genuine attachment to yourself chiefly as tokens that your charge has risen into a higher state of thought and feeling, so as to be enabled to value the benefits conferred through you. could we begin so, there would be hope of our really becoming the instructors and guardians of this swarm of souls which come from their regions of torment to us, hoping, at least, the benefits of purgatory. the influence of the catholic priesthood must continue very great till there is a complete transfusion of character in the minds of their charge. but as the irishman, or any other foreigner, becomes americanized, he will demand a new form of religion to suit his new wants. the priest, too, will have to learn the duties of an american citizen; he will live less and less for the church, and more for the people, till at last, if there be catholicism still, it will be under protestant influences, as begins to be the case in germany. it will be, not roman, but american catholicism; a form of worship which relies much, perhaps, on external means and the authority of the clergy,--for such will always be the case with religion while there are crowds of men still living an external life, and who have not learned to make full use of their own faculties,--but where a belief in the benefits of confession and the power of the church, as church, to bind and loose, atone for or decide upon sin, with similar corruptions, must vanish in the free and searching air of a new era. * * * * * between employer and employed there is not sufficient pains taken on the part of the former to establish a mutual understanding. people meet, in the relations of master and servant, who have lived in two different worlds. in this respect we are much worse situated than the same parties have been in europe. there is less previous acquaintance between the upper and lower classes. (we must, though unwillingly, use these terms to designate the state of things as at present existing.) meals are taken separately; work is seldom shared; there is very little to bring the parties together, except sometimes the farmer works with his hired irish laborer in the fields, or the mother keeps the nurse-maid of her baby in the room with her. in this state of things the chances for instruction, which come every day of themselves where parties share a common life instead of its results merely, do not occur. neither is there opportunity to administer instruction in the best manner, nor to understand when and where it is needed. the farmer who works with his men in the field, the farmer's wife who attends with her women to the churn and the oven, may, with ease, be true father and mother to all who are in their employ, and enjoy health of conscience in the relation, secure that, if they find cause for blame, it is not from faults induced by their own negligence. the merchant who is from home all day, the lady receiving visitors or working slippers in her nicely-furnished parlor, cannot be quite so sure that their demands, or the duties involved in them, are clearly understood, nor estimate the temptations to prevarication. it is shocking to think to what falsehoods human beings like ourselves will resort, to excuse a love of amusement, to hide ill-health, while they see us indulging freely in the one, yielding lightly to the other; and yet we have, or ought to have, far more resources in either temptation than they. for us it is hard to resist, to give up going to the places where we should meet our most interesting companions, or do our work with an aching brow. but we have not people over us whose careless, hasty anger drives us to seek excuses for our failures; if so, perhaps,--perhaps; who knows?--we, the better-educated, rigidly, immaculately true as we are at present, _might_ tell falsehoods. perhaps we might, if things were given us to do which we had never seen done, if we were surrounded by new arrangements in the nature of which no one instructed us. all this we must think of before we can be of much use. we have spoken of the nursery-maid as _the_ hired domestic with whom her mistress, or even the master, is likely to become acquainted. but, only a day or two since, we saw, what we see so often, a nursery-maid with the family to which she belonged, in a public conveyance. they were having a pleasant time; but in it she had no part, except to hold a hot, heavy baby, and receive frequent admonitions to keep _it_ comfortable. no inquiry was made as to _her_ comfort; no entertaining remark, no information of interest as to the places we passed, was addressed to her. had she been in that way with that family ten years she might have known _them_ well enough, for their characters lay only too bare to a careless scrutiny; but her joys, her sorrows, her few thoughts, her almost buried capacities, would have been as unknown to them, and they as little likely to benefit her, as the emperor of china. let the employer place the employed first in good physical circumstances, so as to promote the formation of different habits from those of the irish hovel, or illicit still-house. having thus induced feelings of self-respect, he has opened the door for a new set of notions. then let him become acquainted with the family circumstances and history of his new pupil. he has now got some ground on which to stand for intercourse. let instruction follow for the mind, not merely by having the youngest daughter set, now and then, copies in the writing-book, or by hearing read aloud a few verses in the bible, but by putting good books in their way, if able to read, and by intelligent conversation when there is a chance,--the master with the man who is driving him, the lady with the woman who is making her bed. explain to them the relations of objects around them; teach them to compare the old with the new life. if you show a better way than theirs of doing work, teach them, too, _why_ it is better. thus will the mind be prepared by development for a moral reformation; there will be some soil fitted to receive the seed. when the time is come,--and will you think a poor, uneducated person, in whose mind the sense of right and wrong is confused, the sense of honor blunted, easier of access than one refined and thoughtful? surely you will not, if you yourself are refined and thoughtful, but rather that the case requires far more care in the choice of a favorable opportunity,--when, then, the good time is come, perhaps it will be best to do what you do in a way that will make a permanent impression. show the irishman that a vice not indigenous to his nation--for the rich and noble who are not so tempted are chivalrous to an uncommon degree in their openness, bold sincerity, and adherence to their word--has crept over and become deeply rooted in the poorer people from the long oppressions they have undergone. show them what efforts and care will be needed to wash out the taint. offer your aid, as a faithful friend, to watch their lapses, and refine their sense of truth. you will not speak in vain. if they never mend, if habit is too powerful, still, their nobler nature will not have been addressed in vain. they will not forget the counsels they have not strength to follow, and the benefits will be seen in their children or children's children. many say, "well, suppose we do all this; what then? they are so fond of change, they will leave us." what then? why, let them go and carry the good seed elsewhere. will you be as selfish and short-sighted as those who never plant trees to shade a hired house, lest some one else should be blest by their shade? it is a simple duty we ask you to engage in; it is, also, a great patriotic work. you are asked to engage in the great work of mutual education, which must be for this country the system of mutual insurance. we have some hints upon this subject, drawn from the experience of the wise and good, some encouragement to offer from that experience, that the fruits of a wise planting sometimes ripen sooner than we could dare to expect. but this must be for another day. one word as to this love of change. we hear people blaming it in their servants, who can and do go to niagara, to the south, to the springs, to europe, to the seaside; in short, who are always on the move whenever they feel the need of variety to reanimate mind, health, or spirits. change of place, as to family employment, is the only way domestics have of "seeing life"--the only way immigrants have of getting thoroughly acquainted with the new society into which they have entered. how natural that they should incline to it! once more; put yourself in their places, and then judge them gently from your own, if you would be just to them, if you would be of any use. educate men and women as souls. had christendom but been true to its standard, while accommodating its modes of operation to the calls of successive times, woman would now have not only equal _power_ with man,--for of that omnipotent nature will never suffer her to be defrauded,--but a _chartered_ power, too fully recognized to be abused. indeed, all that is wanting is, that man should prove his own freedom by making her free. let him abandon conventional restriction, as a vestige of that oriental barbarity which confined woman to a seraglio. let him trust her entirely, and give her every privilege already acquired for himself,--elective franchise, tenure of property, liberty to speak in public assemblies, &c. nature has pointed out her ordinary sphere by the circumstances of her physical existence. she cannot wander far. if here and there the gods send their missives through women as through men, let them speak without remonstrance. in no age have men been able wholly to hinder them. a deborah must always be a spiritual mother in israel. a corinna may be excluded from the olympic games, yet all men will hear her song, and a pindar sit at her feet. it is man's fault that there ever were aspasias and ninons. these exquisite forms were intended for the shrines of virtue. neither need men fear to lose their domestic deities. woman is born for love, and it is impossible to turn her from seeking it. men should deserve her love as an inheritance, rather than seize and guard it like a prey. were they noble, they would strive rather not to be loved too much, and to turn her from idolatry to the true, the only love. then, children of one father, they could not err nor misconceive one another. society is now so complex, that it is no longer possible to educate woman merely as woman; the tasks which come to her hand are so various, and so large a proportion of women are thrown entirely upon their own resources. i admit that this is not their state of perfect development; but it seems as if heaven, having so long issued its edict in poetry and religion without securing intelligent obedience, now commanded the world in prose to take a high and rational view. the lesson reads to me thus:-- sex, like rank, wealth, beauty, or talent, is but an accident of birth. as you would not educate a soul to be an aristocrat, so do not to be a woman. a general regard to her usual sphere is dictated in the economy of nature. you need never enforce these provisions rigorously. achilles had long plied the distaff as a princess; yet, at first sight of a sword, he seized it. so with woman; one hour of love would teach her more of her proper relations than all your formulas and conventions. express your views, men, of what you _seek_ in women; thus best do you give them laws. learn, women, what you should _demand_ of men; thus only can they become themselves. turn both from the contemplation of what is merely phenomenal in your existence, to your permanent life as souls. man, do not prescribe how the divine shall display itself in woman. woman, do not expect to see all of god in man. fellow-pilgrims and helpmeets are ye, apollo and diana, twins of one heavenly birth, both beneficent, and both armed. man, fear not to yield to woman's hand both the quiver and the lyre; for if her urn be filled with light, she will use both to the glory of god. there is but one doctrine for ye both, and that is the doctrine of the soul. part iii. extracts from journals and letters. [the following extract from margaret's journal will be read with a degree of melancholy interest when connected with the eventful end of her eventful life. it was written many years before her journey to europe, and rings in our ears now almost with the tones of prophecy.--ed.] i like to listen to the soliloquies of a bright child. in this microcosm the philosophical observer may trace the natural progression of the mind of mankind. i often silently observe l---, with this view. he is generally imitative and dramatic; the day-school, the singing-school or the evening party, are acted out with admirable variety in the humors of the scene, end great discrimination of character in its broader features. what is chiefly remarkable is his unconsciousness of his mental processes, and how thoughts it would be impossible for him to recall spring up in his mind like flowers and weeds in the soil. but to-night he was truly in a state of lyrical inspiration, his eyes flashing, his face glowing, and his whole composition chanted out in an almost metrical form. he began by mourning the death of a certain harriet whom he had let go to foreign parts, and who had died at sea. he described her as having "blue, sparkling eyes, and a sweet smile," and lamented that he could never kiss her cold lips again. this part, which he continued for some time, was in prolonged cadences, and a low, mournful tone, with a frequently recurring burden of "o, my harriet, shall i never see thee more!" * * * * * extract from journal. * * * * * it is so true that a woman may be in love with a woman, and a man with a man. it is pleasant to be sure of it, because it is undoubtedly the same love that we shall feel when we are angels, when we ascend to the only fit place for the mignons, where "sie fragen nicht nach mann und welb." it is regulated by the same law as that of love between persons of different sexes, only it is purely intellectual and spiritual, unprefaced by any mixture of lower instincts, undisturbed by any need of consulting temporal interests; its law is the desire of the spirit to realize a whole, which makes it seek in another being that which it finds not in itself. thus the beautiful seek the strong; the mute seek the eloquent; the butterfly settles on the dark flower. why did socrates so love alcibiades? why did korner so love schneider? how natural is the love of wallenstein for max, that of madame de stael for de recamier, mine for -----! i loved ---- for a time with as much passion as i was then strong enough to feel. her face was always gleaming before me; her voice was echoing in my ear; all poetic thoughts clustered round the dear image. this love was for me a key which unlocked many a treasure which i still possess; it was the carbuncle (emblematic gem!) which cast light into many of the darkest corners of human nature. she loved me, too, though not so much, because her nature was "less high, less grave, less large, less deep;" but she loved more tenderly, less passionately. she loved me, for i well remember her suffering when she first could feel my faults, and knew one part of the exquisite veil rent away--how she wished to stay apart and weep the whole day. these thoughts were suggested by a large engraving representing madame recamier in her boudoir. i have so often thought over the intimacy between her and madame de stael. madame recamier is half-reclining on a sofa; she is clad in white drapery, which clings very gracefully to her round, but elegantly-slender form; her beautiful neck and arms are bare; her hair knotted up so as to show the contour of her truly-feminine head to great advantage. a book lies carelessly on her lap; one hand yet holds it at the place where she left off reading; her lovely face is turned towards us; she appears to muse on what she has been reading. when we see a woman in a picture with a book, she seems to be doing precisely that for which she was born; the book gives such an expression of purity to the female figure. a large window, partially veiled by a white curtain, gives a view of a city at some little distance. on one side stand the harp and piano; there are just books enough for a lady's boudoir. there is no picture, except one of de recamier herself, as corinne. this is absurd; but the absurdity is interesting, as recalling the connection. you imagine her to have been reading one of de stael's books, and to be now pondering what those brilliant words of her gifted friend can mean. everything in the room is in keeping. nothing appears to have been put there because other people have it; but there is nothing which shows a taste more noble and refined than you would expect from the fair frenchwoman. all is elegant, modern, in harmony with the delicate habits and superficial culture which you would look for in its occupant. * * * * * to her mother. _sept_. , . * * * * * if i stay in providence, and more money is wanting than can otherwise be furnished, i will take a private class, which is ready for me, and by which, even if i reduced my terms to suit the place, i can earn the four hundred dollars that ---- will need. if i do not stay, i will let her have my portion of our income, with her own, or even capital which i have a right to take up, and come into this or some other economical place, and live at the cheapest rate. it will not be even a sacrifice to me to do so, for i am weary of society, and long for the opportunity for solitary concentration of thought. i know what i say; if i live, you may rely upon me. god be with you, my dear mother! i am sure he will prosper the doings of so excellent a woman if you will only keep your mind calm and be firm. trust your daughter too. i feel increasing trust in mine own good mind. we will take good care of the children and of one another. never fear to trouble me with your perplexities. i can never be so situated that i do not earnestly wish to know them. besides, things do not trouble me as they did, for i feel within myself the power to aid, to serve. most affectionately, your daughter, m. * * * * * part of letter to m. _providence_, oct. , . * * * for yourself, dear ------, you have attained an important age. no plan is desirable for you which is to be pursued with precision. the world, the events of every day, which no one can predict, are to be your teachers, and you must, in some degree, give yourself up, and submit to be led captive, if you would learn from them. principle must be at the helm, but thought must shift its direction with the winds and waves. happy as you are thus far in worthy friends, you are not in much danger of rash intimacies or great errors. i think, upon the whole, quite highly of your judgment about people and conduct; for, though your first feelings are often extravagant, they are soon balanced. i do not know other faults in you beside that want of retirement of mind which i have before spoken of. if m------ and a------ want too much seclusion, and are too severe in their views of life and man, i think you are too little so. there is nothing so fatal to the finer faculties as too ready or too extended a publicity. there is some danger lest there be no real religion in the heart which craves too much of daily sympathy. through your mind the stream of life has coursed with such rapidity that it has often swept away the seed or loosened the roots of the young plants before they had ripened any fruit. i should think writing would be very good for you. a journal of your life, and analyses of your thoughts, would teach you how to generalize, and give firmness to your conclusions. do not write down merely that things are beautiful, or the reverse; but _what_ they are, and _why_ they are beautiful or otherwise; and show these papers, at least at present, to nobody. be your own judge and your own helper. do not go too soon to any one with your difficulties, but try to clear them up for yourself. i think the course of reading you have fallen upon, of late, will be better for you than such books as you formerly read, addressed rather to the taste and imagination than the judgment. the love of beauty has rather an undue development in your mind. see now what it is, and what it has been. leave for a time the ideal, and return to the real. i should think two or three hours a day would be quite enough, at present, for you to give to books. now learn buying and selling, keeping the house, directing the servants; all that will bring you worlds of wisdom if you keep it subordinate to the one grand aim of perfecting the whole being. and let your self-respect forbid you to do imperfectly anything that you do at all. i always feel ashamed when i write with this air of wisdom; but you will see, by my hints, what i mean. your mind wants depth and precision; your character condensation. keep your high aim steadily in view; life will open the path to reach it. i think ----, even if she be in excess, is an excellent friend for you; her character seems to have what yours wants, whether she has or has not found the right way. * * * * * to her brother, a. b. f. _providence, feb_. , my dear a.: * * * * * i wish you could see the journals of two dear little girls, eleven years old, in my school. they love one another like bessie bell and mary gray in the ballad. they are just of a size, both lively as birds, affectionate, gentle, ambitious in good works and knowledge. they encourage one another constantly to do right; they are rivals, but never jealous of one another. one has the quicker intellect, the other is the prettier. i have never had occasion to find fault with either, and the forwardness of their minds has induced me to take both into my reading-class, where they are associated with girls many years their elders. particular pains do they take with their journals. these are written daily, in a beautiful, fair, round hand, well-composed, showing attention, and memory well-trained, with many pleasing sallies of playfulness, and some very interesting thoughts. * * * * * to the same. _jamaica plain, dec_. , . * * * * about your school i do not think i could give you much advice which would be of value, unless i could know your position more in detail. the most important rule is, in all relations with our fellow-creatures, never forget that, if they are imperfect persons, they are immortal souls, and treat them as you would wish to be treated by the light of that thought. as to the application of means, abstain from punishment as much as possible, and use encouragement as far as you can _without flattery_. but be even more careful as to strict truth in this regard, towards children, than to persons of your own age; for, to the child, the parent or teacher is the representative of _justice;_ and as that of life is severe, an education which, in any degree, excites vanity, is the very worst preparation for that general and crowded school. i doubt not you will teach grammar well, as i saw you aimed at principles in your practice. in geography, try to make pictures of the scenes, that they may be present to their imaginations, and the nobler faculties be brought into action, as well as memory. in history, try to study and paint the characters of _great men_; they best interpret the leadings of events amid the nations. i am pleased with your way of speaking of both people and pupils; your view seems from the right point. yet beware of over great pleasure in being popular, or even beloved. as far as an amiable disposition and powers of entertainment make you so, it is a happiness; but if there is one grain of plausibility, it is poison. but i will not play mentor too much, lest i make you averse to write to your very affectionate sister, m. * * * * * to her brother, r. i entirely agree in what you say of _tuition_ and _intuition;_ the two must act and react upon one another, to make a man, to form a mind. drudgery is as necessary, to call out the treasures of the mind, as harrowing and planting those of the earth. and besides, the growths of literature and art are as much nature as the trees in concord woods; but nature idealized and perfected. * * * * * to the same. . i take great pleasure in that feeling of the living presence of beauty in nature which your letters show. but you, who have now lived long enough to see some of my prophecies fulfilled, will not deny, though you may not yet believe the truth of my words when i say you go to an extreme in your denunciations of cities and the social institutions. _these_ are a growth also, and, as well as the diseases which come upon them, under the control of the one spirit as much as the great tree on which the insects prey, and in whose bark the busy bird has made many a wound. when we get the proper perspective of these things we shall find man, however artificial, still a part of nature. meanwhile, let us trust; and while it is the soul's duty ever to bear witness to the best it knows, let us not be hasty to conclude that in what suits us not there can be no good. let us be sure there _must_ be eventual good, could we but see far enough to discern it. in maintaining perfect truth to ourselves and choosing that mode of being which suits us, we had best leave others alone as much as may be. you prefer the country, and i doubt not it is on the whole a better condition of life to live there; but at the country party you have mentioned you saw that no circumstances will keep people from being frivolous. one may be gossipping, and vulgar, and idle in the country,--earnest, noble and wise, in the city. nature cannot be kept from us while there is a sky above, with so much as one star to remind us of prayer in the silent night. as i walked home this evening at sunset, over the mill-dam, towards the city, i saw very distinctly that the city also is a bed in god's garden. more of this some other time. * * * * * to a young friend. _concord, may _ , . my dear: i am passing happy here, except that i am not well,--so unwell that i fear i must go home and ask my good mother to let me rest and vegetate beneath her sunny kindness for a while. the excitement of conversation prevents my sleeping. the drive here with mr. e------ was delightful. dear nature and time, so often calumniated, will take excellent care of us if we will let them. the wisdom lies in schooling the heart not to expect too much. i did that good thing when i came here, and i am rich. on sunday i drove to watertown with the author of "nature." the trees were still bare, but the little birds care not for that; they revel, and carol, and wildly tell their hopes, while the gentle, "voluble" south wind plays with the dry leaves, and the pine-trees sigh with their soul-like sounds for june. it was beauteous; and care and routine fled away, and i was as if they had never been, except that i vaguely whispered to myself that all had been well with me. * * * * * the baby here is beautiful. he looks like his father, and smiles so sweetly on all hearty, good people. i play with him a good deal, and he comes so _natural,_ after dante and other poets. ever faithfully your friend. * * * * * to the same. . my beloved child: i was very glad to get your note. do not think you must only write to your friends when you can tell them you are happy; they will not misunderstand you in the dark hour, nor think you _forsaken_, if cast down. though your letter of wednesday was very sweet to me, yet i knew it could not last as it was then. these hours of heavenly, heroic strength leave us, but they come again: their memory is with us amid after-trials, and gives us a foretaste of that era when the steadfast soul shall be the only reality. my dearest, you must suffer, but you will always be growing stronger, and with every trial nobly met, you will feel a growing assurance that nobleness is not a mere _sentiment_ with you. i sympathize deeply in your anxiety about your mother; yet i cannot but remember the bootless fear and agitation about my mother, and how strangely our destinies were guided. take refuge in prayer when you are most troubled; the door of the sanctuary will never be shut against you. i send you a paper which is very sacred to me. bless heaven that your heart is awakened to sacred duties before any kind of gentle ministering has become impossible, before any relation has been broken. [footnote: it has always been my desire to find appropriate time and place to correct an erroneous impression which has gained currency in regard to my father, and which does injustice to his memory. that impression is that he was exceedingly stern and exacting in the parental relation, and especially in regard to my sister; that he forbid or frowned upon her sports;--excluded her from intercourse with other children when she, a child, needed such companionship, and required her to bend almost unceasingly over her books. this impression has, certainly in part, arisen from an autobiographical sketch, never written for publication nor intended for a literal or complete statement of her father's educational method, or the relation which existed between them, which was most loving and true on both sides. while the narrative is true, it is not the all she would have said, and, therefore, taken alone, conveys an impression which misleads those who did not know our father well. perhaps no better opportunity or place than this may ever arise to correct this impression so for us it is wrong. it is true that my father had a very high standard of scholarship, and did expect conformity to it in his children. he was not stern toward them. it is doubtless true, also, that he did not perfectly comprehend the rare mind of his daughter, or see for some years that she required no stimulating to intellectual effort, as do most children, but rather the reverse. but how many fathers are there who would have understood at once such a child as margaret fuller was, or would have done even as wisely as he? and how long is it since a wiser era has dawned upon the world (its light not yet fully welcomed), in which attention first to physical development to the exclusion of the mental, is an axiom in education! was it so deemed forty years ago? nor has it been considered that so gifted a child would naturally, as she did, _seek_ the companionship of those older than herself, and not of children who had little in unison with her. she needed, doubtless, to be _urged_ into the usual sports of children, and the company of those of her own age; if _not_ urged to enter these she was never excluded from either. she needed to be kept from books for a period, or to be led to those of a lighter cost than such as she read, and which usually task the thoughts of mature men. this simply was not done, and the error arose from no lack of tenderness, or consideration, from no lack of the wisdom of those times, but from the simple fact that the laws of physiology as connected with those of mind were not understood then as now, nor was attention so much directed to physical culture as of the primary importance it is now regarded. our father was indeed exact and strict with himself and others; but none has ever been more devoted to his children than he, or more painstaking with their education, nor more fondly loved them; and in later life they have ever been more and more impressed with the conviction of his fidelity and wisdom. that margaret venerated her father, and that his love was returned, is abundantly evidenced in her poem which accompanies this letter. this, too, was not written for the public eye, but it is too noble a tribute, too honorable both to father and daughter, to be suppressed. i trust that none, passing from one extreme to the other, will infer from the natural self-reproach and upbraiding because of short-comings, felt by every true mind when an honored and loved parent departs, that she lacked fidelity in the relation of daughter. she agreed not always with his views and methods, but this diversity of mind never affected their mutual respect and love.--[ed.]] lines written in march, . "i will not leave you comfortless." o, friend divine! this promise dear falls sweetly on the weary ear! often, in hours of sickening pain, it soothes me to thy rest again. might i a true disciple be, following thy footsteps faithfully, then should i still the succor prove of him who gave his life for love. when this fond heart would vainly beat for bliss that ne'er on earth we meet, for perfect sympathy of soul, from those such heavy laws control; when, roused from passion's ecstasy, i see the dreams that filled it fly, amid my bitter tears and sighs those gentle words before me rise. with aching brows and feverish brain the founts of intellect i drain, and con with over-anxious thought what poets sung and heroes wrought. enchanted with their deeds and lays, i with like gems would deck my days; no fires creative in me burn, and, humbled, i to thee return; when blackest clouds around me rolled of scepticism drear and cold, when love, and hope, and joy and pride, forsook a spirit deeply tried; my reason wavered in that hour, prayer, too impatient, lost its power; from thy benignity a ray, i caught, and found the perfect day. a head revered in dust was laid; for the first time i watched my dead; the widow's sobs were checked in vain, and childhood's tears poured down like rain. in awe i gaze on that dear face, in sorrow, years gone by retrace, when, nearest duties most forgot, i might have blessed, and did it not! ignorant, his wisdom i reproved, heedless, passed by what most he loved, knew not a life like his to prize, of ceaseless toil and sacrifice. no tears can now that hushed heart move, no cares display a daughter's love, the fair occasion lost, no more can thoughts more just to thee restore. what can i do? and how atone for all i've done, and left undone? tearful i search the parting words which the beloved john records. "not comfortless!" i dry my eyes, my duties clear before me rise,-- before thou think'st of taste or pride, see home-affections satisfied! be not with generous _thoughts_ content, but on well-doing constant bent; when self seems dear, self-seeking fair; remember this sad hour in prayer! though all thou wishest fly thy touch, much can one do who loveth much. more of thy spirit, jesus give, not comfortless, though sad, to live. and yet not sad, if i can know to copy him who here below sought but to do his father's will, though from such sweet composure still my heart be far. wilt thou not aid one whose best hopes on thee are stayed? breathe into me thy perfect love, and guide me to thy rest above! * * * * * to her brother, r----. * * * mr. keats, emma's father, is dead. to me this brings unusual sorrow, though i have never yet seen him; but i thought of him as one of the very few persons known to me by reputation, whose acquaintance might enrich me. his character was a sufficient answer to the doubt, whether a merchant can be a man of honor. he was, like your father, a man all whose virtues had stood the test. he was no word-hero. * * * * * to a young friend. _providence, june , _. my dear ------: i pray you, amid all your duties, to keep some hours to yourself. do not let my example lead you into excessive exertions. i pay dear for extravagance of this sort; five years ago i had no idea of the languor and want of animal spirits which torment me now. animal spirits are not to be despised. an earnest mind and seeking heart will not often be troubled by despondency; but unless the blood can dance at proper times, the lighter passages of life lose all their refreshment and suggestion. i wish you and ------- had been here last saturday. our school-house was dedicated, and mr. emerson made the address; it was a noble appeal in behalf of the best interests of culture, and seemingly here was fit occasion. the building was beautiful, and furnished with an even elegant propriety. i am at perfect liberty to do what i please, and there are apparently the best dispositions, if not the best preparation, on the part of the hundred and fifty young minds with whom i am to be brought in contact. i sigh for the country; trees, birds and flowers, assure me that june is here, but i must walk through streets many and long, to get sight of any expanse of green. i had no fine weather while at home, though the quiet and rest were delightful to me; the sun did not shine once really warmly, nor did the apple-trees put on their blossoms until the very day i came away. * * * * * sonnet. to the same. although the sweet, still watches of the night find me all lonely now, yet the delight hath not quite gone, which from thy presence flows. the love, the joy that in thy bosom glows, lingers to cheer thy friend. from thy fresh dawn some golden exhalations have i drawn to make less dim my dusty noon. thy tones are with me still; some plaintive as the moans of dryads, when their native groves must fall, some wildly wailing, like the clarion-call on battle-field, strewn with the noble dead. some in soft romance, like the echoes bred in the most secret groves of arcady; yet all, wild, sad, or soft, how steeped in poesy! _providence, april_, . * * * * * to the same. _providence, oct_. , . * * * * i am reminded by what you say, of an era in my own existence; it is seven years bygone. for bitter months a heavy weight had been pressing on me,--the weight of deceived friendship. i could not be much alone,--a great burden of family cares pressed upon me; i was in the midst of society, and obliged to act my part there as well as i could. at that time i took up the study of german, and my progress was like the rebound of a string pressed almost to bursting. my mind being then in the highest state of action, heightened, by intellectual appreciation, every pang; and imagination, by prophetic power, gave to the painful present all the weight of as painful a future. at this time i never had any consolation, except in long solitary walks, and my meditations then were so far aloof from common life, that on my return my fall was like that of the eagle, which the sportsman's hand calls bleeding from his lofty flight, to stain the earth with his blood. in such hours we feel so noble, so full of love and bounty, that we cannot conceive how any pain should have been needed to teach us. it then seems we are so born for good, that such means of leading us to it were wholly unnecessary. but i have lived to know that the secret of all things is pain, and that nature travaileth most painfully with her noblest product. i was not without hours of deep spiritual insight, and consciousness of the inheritance of vast powers. i touched the secret of the universe, and by that touch was invested with talismanic power which has never left me, though it sometimes lies dormant for a long time. one day lives always in my memory; one chastest, heavenliest day of communion with the soul of things. it was thanksgiving-day. i was free to be alone; in the meditative woods, by the choked-up fountain, i passed its hours, each of which contained ages of thought and emotion. i saw, then, how idle were my griefs; that i had acquired _the thought_ of each object which had been taken from me; that more extended personal relations would only have given me pleasures which then seemed not worth my care, and which would surely have dimmed my sense of the spiritual meaning of all which had passed. i felt how true it was that nothing in any being which was fit for me, could long be kept from me; and that, if separation could be, real intimacy had never been. all the films seemed to drop from my existence, and i was sure that i should never starve in this desert world, but that manna would drop from heaven, if i would but rise with every rising sun to gather it. in the evening i went to the church-yard; the moon sailed above the rosy clouds,--the crescent moon rose above the heavenward-pointing spire. at that hour a vision came upon my soul, whose final scene last month interpreted. the rosy clouds of illusion are all vanished; the moon has waxed to full. may my life be a church, full of devout thoughts end solemn music. i pray thus, my dearest child! "our father! let not the heaviest shower be spared; let not the gardener forbear his knife till the fair, hopeful tree of existence be brought to its fullest blossom and fruit!" * * * * * to the same. _jamaica plain, june_, . * * * i have had a pleasant visit at nahant, but was no sooner there than the air braced me so violently as to drive all the blood to my head. i had headache two of the three days we were there, and yet i enjoyed my stay very much. we had the rocks and piazzas to ourselves, and were on sufficiently good terms not to destroy, if we could not enhance, one another's pleasure. the first night we had a storm, and the wind roared and wailed round the house that ossianic poetry of which you hear so many strains. next day was clear and brilliant, with a high north-west wind. i went out about six o'clock, and had a two hours' scramble before breakfast. i do not like to sit still in this air, which exasperates all my nervous feelings; but when i can exhaust myself in climbing, i feel delightfully,--the eye is so sharpened, and the mind so full of thought. the outlines of all objects, the rocks, the distant sails, even the rippling of the ocean, were so sharp that they seemed to press themselves into the brain. when i see a natural scene by such a light it stays in my memory always as a picture; on milder days it influences me more in the way of reverie. after breakfast, we walked on the beaches. it was quite low tide, no waves, and the fine sand eddying wildly about. i came home with that frenzied headache which you are so unlucky as to know, covered my head with wet towels, and went to bed. after dinner i was better, and we went to the spouting-horn. c---- was perched close to the fissure, far above me, and, in a pale green dress, she looked like the nymph of the place. i lay down on a rock, low in the water, where i could hear the twin harmonies of the sucking of the water into the spout, and the washing of the surge on the foot of the rock. i never passed a more delightful afternoon. clouds of pearl and amber were slowly drifting across the sky, or resting a while to dream, like me, near the water. opposite me, at considerable distance, was a line of rock, along which the billows of the advancing tide chased one another, and leaped up exultingly as they were about to break. that night we had a sunset of the gorgeous, autumnal kind, and in the evening very brilliant moonlight; but the air was so cold i could enjoy it but a few minutes. next day, which was warm and soft, i was out on the rocks all day. in the afternoon i was out alone, and had an admirable place, a cleft between two vast towers of rock with turret-shaped tops. i got on a ledge of rock at their foot, where i could lie and let the waves wash up around me, and look up at the proud turrets rising into the prismatic light. this evening was very fine; all the sky covered with crowding clouds, profound, but not sullen of mood, the moon wading, the stars peeping, the wind sighing very softly. we lay on the high rocks and listened to the plashing of the waves. the next day was good, but the keen light was too much for my eyes and brain; and, though i am glad to have been there, i am as glad to get back to our garlanded rocks, and richly-green fields and groves. i wish you could come to me now; we have such wealth of roses. * * * * * to the same. _jamaica plain, aug., _. * * * * i returned home well, full of earnestness; yet, i know not why, with the sullen, boding sky came a mood of sadness, nay, of gloom, black as hades, which i have vainly striven to fend off by work, by exercise, by high memories. very glad was i of a painful piece of intelligence, which came the same day with your letter, to bring me on excuse for tears. that was a black friday, both above and within. what demon resists our good angel, and seems at such times to have the mastery? only _seems_, i say to myself; it is but the sickness of the immortal soul, and shall by-and-by be cast aside like a film. i think this is the great step of our life,--to change the _nature_ of our self-reliance. we find that the will cannot conquer circumstances, and that our temporal nature must vary its hue here with the food that is given it. only out of mulberry leaves will the silk-worm spin its thread fine and durable. the mode of our existence is not in our own power; but behind it is the immutable essence that cannot be tarnished; and to hold fast to this conviction, to live as far as possible by its light, cannot be denied us if we elect this kind of self-trust. yet is sickness wearisome; and i rejoice to say that my demon seems to have been frightened away by this day's sun. but, conscious of these diseases of the mind, believe that i can sympathize with a friend when subject to the same. do not fail to go and stay with ---------; few live so penetrating and yet so kind, so true, so sensitive. she is the spirit of love as well as of intellect. * * * * * * * * * to the same. my beloved child: i confess i was much disappointed when i first received your letter this evening. i have been quite ill for two or three days, and looked forward to your presence as a restorative. but think not i would have had you act differently; far better is it for me to have my child faithful to duty than even to have her with me. such was the lesson i taught her in a better hour. i am abashed to think how often lately i have found excuses for indolence in the weakness of my body; while now, after solitary communion with my better nature, i feel it was weakness of mind, weak fear of depression and conflict. but the father of our spirits will not long permit a heart fit for worship "--------- to seek from weak recoils, exemptions weak, after false gods to go astray, deck altars vile with garlands gay," etc. his voice has reached me; and i trust the postponement of your visit will give me space to nerve myself to what strength i should, so that, when we do meet, i shall rejoice that you did not come to help or soothe me; for i shall have helped and soothed myself. indeed, i would not so willingly that you should see my short-comings as know that they exist. pray that i may never lose sight of my vocation; that i may not make ill-health a plea for sloth and cowardice; pray that, whenever i do, i may be punished more swiftly than this time, by a sadness as deep as now. * * * * * to her brother, r. _cambridge, august_ , . my dear r.: i want to hear how you enjoyed your journey, and what you think of the world as surveyed from mountain-tops. i enjoy exceedingly staying among the mountains. i am satisfied with reading these bolder lines in the manuscript of nature. merely gentle and winning scenes are not enough for me. i wish my lot had been cast amid the sources of the streams, where the voice of the hidden torrent is heard by night, where the eagle soars, and the thunder resounds in long peals from side to side; where the grasp of a more powerful emotion has rent asunder the rocks, and the long purple shadows fall like a broad wing upon the valley. all places, like all persons, i know, have beauty; but only in some scenes, and with some people, can i expand and feel myself at home. i feel all this the more for having passed my earlier life in such a place as cambridgeport. there i had nothing except the little flower-garden behind the house, and the elms before the door. i used to long and sigh for beautiful places such as i read of. there was not one walk for me, except over the bridge. i liked that very much,--the river, and the city glittering in sunset, and the lively undulating line all round, and the light smokes, seen in some weather. * * * * * letter to the same. _milwaukie, july _ , . dear r.: * * * daily i thought of you during my visit to the rock-river territory. it is only five years since the poor indians have been dispossessed of this region of sumptuous loveliness, such as can hardly be paralleled in the world. no wonder they poured out their blood freely before they would go. on one island, belonging to a mr. h., with whom we stayed, are still to be found their "caches" for secreting provisions,--the wooden troughs in which they pounded their corn, the marks of their tomahawks upon felled trees. when he first came, he found the body of an indian woman, in a canoe, elevated on high poles, with all her ornaments on. this island is a spot, where nature seems to have exhausted her invention in crowding it with all kinds of growths, from the richest trees down to the most delicate plants. it divides the river which there sweeps along in clear and glittering current, between noble parks, richest green lawns, pictured rocks crowned with old hemlocks, or smooth bluffs, three hundred feet high, the most beautiful of all. two of these,--the eagle's nest, and the deer's walk, still the resort of the grand and beautiful creature from which they are named,--were the scene of some of the happiest hours of my life. i had no idea, from verbal description, of the beauty of these bluffs, nor can i hope to give any to others. they lie so magnificently bathed in sunlight, they touch the heavens with so sharp and fair a line. this is one of the finest parts of the river; but it seems beautiful enough to fill any heart and eye all along its course, nowhere broken or injured by the hand of man. and there, i thought, if we two could live, and you could have a farm which would not cost a twentieth part the labor of a new england farm, and would pay twenty times as much for the labor, and have our books and, our pens and a little boat on the river, how happy we might be for four or five years,--at least, _as_ happy as fate permits mortals to be. for we, i think, are congenial, and if i could hope permanent peace on the earth, i might hope it with you. you will be glad to hear that i feel overpaid for coming here. much is my life enriched by the images of the great niagara, of the vast lakes, of the heavenly sweetness of the prairie scenes, and, above all, by the heavenly region where i would so gladly have lived. my health, too, is materially benefited. i hope to come back better fitted for toil and care, as well as with beauteous memories to sustain me in them. affectionately always, &c. * * * * * to miss r. _chicago_, _august_ , . i have hoped from time to time, dear ----, that i should receive a few lines from you, apprizing me how you are this summer, but a letter from mrs. f---- lately comes to tell me that you are not better, but, at least when at saratoga, worse. so writing is of course fatiguing, and i must not expect letters any more. to that i could make up my mind if i could hear that you were well again. i fear, if your malady disturbs you as much as it did, it must wear on your strength very much, and it seems in itself dangerous. however, it is good to think that your composure is such that disease can only do its legitimate work, and not undermine two ways,--the body with its pains, and the body through the mind with thoughts and fears of pains. i should have written to you long ago except that i find little to communicate this summer, and little inclination to communicate that little; so what letters i have sent, have been chiefly to beg some from my friends. i have had home-sickness sometimes here, as do children for the home where they are even little indulged, in the boarding-school where they are only tolerated. this has been in the town, where i have felt the want of companionship, because the dissipation of fatigue, or expecting soon to move again, has prevented my employing myself for myself; and yet there was nothing well worth looking at without. when in the country i have enjoyed myself highly, and my health has improved day by day. the characters of persons are brought out by the little wants and adventures of country life as you see it in this region; so that each one awakens a healthy interest; and the same persons who, if i saw them at these hotels, would not have a word to say that could fix the attention, become most pleasing companions; their topics are before them, and they take the hint. you feel so grateful, too, for the hospitality of the log-cabin; such gratitude as the hospitality of the rich, however generous, cannot inspire; for these wait on you with their domestics and money, and give of their superfluity only; but here the master gives you his bed, his horse, his lamp, his grain from the field, his all, in short; and you see that he enjoys doing so thoroughly, and takes no thought for the morrow; so that you seem in fields full of lilies perfumed with pure kindness; and feel, verily, that solomon in all his glory could not have entertained you so much to the purpose. travelling, too, through the wide green woods and prairies, gives a feeling both of luxury and repose that the sight of highly-cultivated country never can. there seems to be room enough for labor to pause and man to fold his arms and gaze, forgetting poverty, and care, and the thousand walls and fences that in the cultivated region must be built and daily repaired both for mind and body. nature seems to have poured forth her riches so without calculation, merely to mark the fulness of her joy; to swell in larger strains the hymn, "the one spirit doeth all things veil, for its life is love." i will not ask you to write to me now, as i shall so soon be at home. probably, too, i shall reserve a visit to b---- for another summer; i have been so much a rover that when once on the road i shall wish to hasten home. ever yours, m. * * * * * to the same. _cambridge, january_ , . my dear ------: i am anxious to get a letter, telling me how you fare this winter in the cottage. your neighbors who come this way do not give very favorable accounts of your looks; and, if you are well enough, i should like to see a few of those firm, well-shaped characters from your own hand. is there no chance of your coming to boston all this winter? i had hoped to see you for a few hours at least. i wrote you one letter while at the west; i know not if it was ever received; it was sent by a private opportunity, one of those "traps to catch the unwary," as they have been called. it was no great loss, if lost. i did not feel like writing letters while travelling. it took all my strength of mind to keep moving and to receive so many new impressions. surely i never had so clear an idea before of the capacity to bless, of mere _earth_, when fresh from the original breath of the creative spirit. to have this impression, one must see large tracts of wild country, where the traces of man's inventions are too few and slight to break the harmony of the first design. it will not be so, long, even where i have been now; in three or four years those vast flowery plains will be broken up for tillage,--those shapely groves converted into logs and boards. i wished i could have kept on now, for two or three years, while yet the first spell rested on the scene. i feel much refreshed, even by this brief intimacy with nature in an aspect of large and unbroken lineaments. i came home with a treasure of bright pictures and suggestions, and seemingly well. but my strength, which had been sustained by a free, careless life in the open air, has yielded to the chills of winter, and a very little work, with an ease that is not encouraging. however, i have had the influenza, and that has been about as bad as fever to everybody. _now_ i am pretty well, but much writing does not agree with me. * * * i wish you were near enough for me to go in and see you now and then. i know that, sick or well, you are always serene, and sufficient to yourself; but now you are so much shut up, it might animate existence agreeably to hear some things i might have to tell. * * * * * * * * to the same. * * * . just as i was beginning to visit the institutions here, of a remedial and benevolent kind, i was stopped by influenza. so soon as i am quite well i shall resume the survey. i do not expect to do much, practically, for the suffering, but having such an organ of expression as the _tribune_, any suggestions that are well grounded may be of use. i have always felt great interest for those women who are trampled in the mud to gratify the brute appetites of men, and i wished i might be brought, naturally, into contact with them. now i am so, and i think i shall have much that is interesting to tell you when we meet. i go on very moderately, for my strength is not great; but i am now connected with a person who is anxious i should not overtask it. i hope to do more for the paper by-and-by. at present, besides the time i spend in looking round and examining my new field, i am publishing a volume, of which you will receive a copy, called "woman in the nineteenth century." a part of my available time is spent in attending to it as it goes through the press; for, really, the work seems but half done when your book is _written_. i like being here; the streams of life flow free, and i learn much. i feel so far satisfied as to have laid my plans to stay a year and a half, if not longer, and to have told mr. g---- that i probably shall do so. that is long enough for a mortal to look forward, and not too long, as i must look forward in order to get what i want from europe. mr. greeley is a man of genuine excellence, honorable, benevolent, of an uncorrupted disposition, and of great, abilities. in modes of life and manners he is the man of the people, and of the _american_ people. * * * i rejoice to hear that your situation is improved. i hope to pass a day or two with you next summer, if you can receive me when i can come. i want to hear from you now and then, if it be only a line to let me know the state of your health. love to miss g----, and tell her i have the cologne-bottle on my mantle-piece now. i sent home for all the little gifts i had from friends, that my room might look more homelike. my window commands a most beautiful view, for we are quite out of the town, in a lovely place on the east river. i like this, as i can be in town when i will, and here have much retirement. you were right in supposing my signature is the star. ever affectionately yours. * * * * * to her brother, r. _fishkill-landing, nov , ._ dear r.: * * * * * the seven weeks of proposed abode here draw to a close, and have brought what is rarest,--fruition, of the sort proposed from them. i have been here all the time, except that three weeks since i went down to new york, and with ---- visited the prison at sing-sing. on saturday we went up to sing-sing in a little way-boat, thus seeing that side of the river to much greater advantage than we can in the mammoth boats. we arrived in resplendent moonlight, by which we might have supposed the prisons palaces, if we had not known too well what was within. on sunday ---- addressed the male convicts in a strain of most noble and pathetic eloquence. they listened with earnest attention; many were moved to tears,--some, i doubt not, to a better life. i never felt such sympathy with an audience;--as i looked over that sea of faces marked with the traces of every ill, i felt that at least heavenly truth would not be kept out by self-complacency and a dependence on good appearances. i talked with a circle of women, and they showed the natural aptitude of the sex for refinement. these women--some black, and all from the lowest haunts of vice--showed a sensibility and a sense of propriety which would not have disgraced any place. returning, we had a fine storm on the river, clearing up with strong winds. * * * * * to her brother, a. b. f. _rome, jan._ , . my dear a.: your letter and mother's gave me the first account of your illness. some letters were lost during the summer, i do not know how. it did seem very hard upon you to have that illness just after your settlement; but it is to be hoped we shall some time know a good reason for all that seems so strange. i trust you are now becoming fortified in your health, and if this could only be, feel as if things would go well with you in this difficult world. i trust you are on the threshold of an honorable and sometimes happy career. from many pains, many dark hours, let none of the progeny of eve hope to escape! * * * * meantime, i hope to find you in your home, and make you a good visit there. your invitation is sweet in its tone, and rouses a vision of summer woods and new england sunday-morning bells. it seems to me that mother is at last truly in her sphere, living with one of her children. watch over her carefully, and don't let her do too much. her spirit is only all too willing,--but the flesh is weak, and her life so precious to us all! * * * * * * * * * to mazzini. "al cittadino reppresentante del popolo romano." _rome, march_ , . dear mazzini: though knowing you occupied by the most important affairs, i again feel impelled to write a few lines. what emboldens me is the persuasion that the best friends, in point of sympathy and intelligence,--the only friends of a man of ideas and of marked character,--must be women. you have your mother; no doubt you have others, perhaps many. of that i know nothing; only i like to offer also my tribute of affection. when i think that only two years ago you thought of coming into italy with us in disguise, it seems very glorious that you are about to enter republican rome as a roman citizen. it seems almost the most sublime and poetical fact of history. yet, even in the first thrill of joy, i felt "he will think his work but beginning, now." when i read from your hand these words, "ii lungo esilio teste ricominciato, la vita non confortata, fuorche d'affetti lontani e contesi, e la speranza lungamente protrata, e il desiderio che comincia a farmi si supremo, di dormire finalmente in pace, da che non ho potuto, vivere in terra mia,"--when i read these words they made me weep bitterly, and i thought of them always with a great pang at the heart. but it is not so, dear mazzini,--you do not return to sleep under the sod of italy, but to see your thought springing up all over the soil. the gardeners seem to me, in point of instinctive wisdom or deep thought, mostly incompetent to the care of the garden; but on idea like this will be able to make use of any implements. the necessity, it is to be hoped, will educate the men, by making them work. it is not this, i believe, which still keeps your heart so melancholy; for i seem to read the same melancholy in your answer to the roman assembly, you speak of "few and late years," but some full ones still remain. a century is not needed, nor should the same man, in the same form of thought, work too long on an age. he would mould and bind it too much to himself. better for him to die and return incarnated to give the same truth on yet another side. jesus of nazareth died young; but had he not spoken and acted as much truth as the world could bear in his time? a frailty, a perpetual short-coming, motion in a curve-line, seems the destiny of this earth. the excuse awaits us elsewhere; there must be one,--for it is true, as said goethe, "care is taken that the tree grow not up into the heavens." men like you, appointed ministers, must not be less earnest in their work; yet to the greatest, the day, the moment is all their kingdom, god takes care of the increase. farewell! for your sake i could wish at this moment to be an italian and a man of action; but though i am an _american_, i am not even _a woman of action_; so the best i can do is to pray with the whole heart, "heaven bless dear mazzini!--cheer his heart, and give him worthy helpers to carry out his holy purposes." * * * * * to mr. and mrs. spring. _florence, dec._ , . dear m. and r.: * * * your letter, dear r, was written in your noblest and most womanly spirit. i thank you warmly for your sympathy about my little boy. what he is to me, even you can hardly dream; you that have three, in whom the natural thirst of the heart was earlier satisfied, can scarcely know what my one ewe-lamb is to me. that he may live, that i may find bread for him, that i may not spoil him by overweening love, that i may grow daily better for his sake, are the ever-recurring thoughts,--say prayers,--that give their hue to all the current of my life. but, in answer to what you say, that it is still better to give the world a living soul than a portion of my life in a printed book, it is true; and yet, of my book i could know whether it would be of some worth or not; of my child, i must wait to see what his worth will be. i play with him, my ever-growing mystery! but from the solemnity of the thoughts he brings is refuge only in god. was i worthy to be parent of a soul, with its eternal, immense capacity for weal and woe? "god be merciful to me a sinner!" comes so naturally to a mother's heart! * * * * * what you say about the peace way is deeply true; if any one see clearly how to work in that way, let him, in god's name! only, if he abstain from fighting against giant wrongs, let him be sure he is really and ardently at work undermining them, or, better still, sustaining the rights that are to supplant them. meanwhile, i am not sure that i can keep my hands free from blood. cobden is good; but if he had stood in kossuth's place, would he not have drawn his sword against the austrian? you, could you let a croat insult your wife, carry off your son to be an austrian serf, and leave your daughter bleeding in the dust? yet it is true that while moses slew the egyptian, christ stood still to be spit upon; and it is true that death to man could do him no harm. you have the truth, you have the right, but could you act up to it in all circumstances? stifled under the roman priesthood, would you not have thrown it off with all your force? would you have waited unknown centuries, hoping for the moment when you could see another method? yet the agonies of that baptism of blood i feel, o how deeply! in the golden june days of rome. consistent no way, i felt i should have shrunk back,--i could not have had it shed. christ did not have to see his dear ones pass the dark river; he could go alone, however, in prophetic spirit. no doubt he foresaw the crusades. in answer to what you say of ----, i wish the little effort i made for him had been wiselier applied. yet these are not the things one regrets. it does not do to calculate too closely with the affectionate human impulse. we must be content to make many mistakes, or we should move too slowly to help our brothers much. * * * * * to her brother, r. _florence, jan._ , . my dear r.: * * * * the way in which you speak of my marriage is such as i expected from you. now that we have once exchanged words on these important changes in our lives, it matters little to write letters, so much has happened, and the changes are too great to be made clear in writing. it would not be worth while to keep the family thinking of me. i cannot fix precisely the period of my return, though at present it seems to me probable we may make the voyage in may or june. at first we should wish to go and make a little visit to mother. i should take counsel with various friends before fixing myself in any place; see what openings there are for me, &c. i cannot judge at all before i am personally in the united states, and wish to engage myself no way. should i finally decide on the neighborhood of new york, i should see you all, often. i wish, however, to live with mother, if possible. we will discuss it on all sides when i come. climate is one thing i must think of. the change from the roman winter to that of new england might be very trying for ossoli. in new york he would see italians often, hear his native tongue, and feel less exiled. if we had our affairs in new york and lived in the neighboring country, we could find places as quiet as c------, more beautiful, and from which access to a city would be as easy by means of steam. on the other hand, my family and most cherished friends are in new england. i shall weigh all advantages at the time, and choose as may then seem best. i feel also the great responsibility about a child, and the mixture of solemn feeling with the joy its sweet ways and caresses give; yet this is only different in degree, not in kind, from what we should feel in other relations. we may more or less impede or brighten the destiny of all with whom we come in contact. much as the child lies in our power, still god and nature are there, furnishing a thousand masters to correct our erroneous, and fill up our imperfect, teachings. i feel impelled to try for good, for the sake of my child, most powerfully; but if i fail, i trust help will be tendered to him from some other quarter. i do not wish to trouble myself more than is inevitable, or lose the simple, innocent pleasure of watching his growth from day to day, by thinking of his future. at present my care of him is to keep him pure, in body and mind, to give for body and mind simple nutriment when he requires it, and to play with him. now he learns, playing, as we all shall when we enter a higher existence. with him my intercourse thus far has been precious, and if i do not well for _him_, he at least has taught _me_ a great deal. i may say of ossoli, it would be difficult to help liking him, so sweet is his disposition, so disinterested without effort, so simply wise his daily conduct, so harmonious his whole nature. and he is a perfectly unconscious character, and never dreams that he does well. he is studying english, but makes little progress. for a good while you may not be able to talk freely with him, but you will like showing him your favorite haunts,--he is so happy in nature, so sweet in tranquil places. * * * * * to ------. what a difference it makes to come home to a child! how it fills up all the gaps of life just in the way that is most consoling, most refreshing! formerly i used to feel sad at that hour; the day had not been nobly spent,--i had not done my duty to myself or others, and i felt so lonely! now i never feel lonely; for, even if my little boy dies, our souls will remain eternally united. and i feel _infinite_ hope for him,--hope that he will serve god and man more loyally than i have done; and seeing how full he is of life, how much he can afford to throw away, i feel the inexhaustibleness of nature, and console myself for my own incapacities. madame arconati is near me. we have had some hours of great content together, but in the last weeks her only child has been dangerously ill. i have no other acquaintance except in the american circle, and should not care to make any unless singularly desirable; for i want all my time for the care of my child, for my walks, and visits to objects of art, in which again i can find pleasure, end in the evening for study and writing. ossoli is forming some taste for books; he is also studying english; he learns of horace sumner, to whom he teaches italian in turn. * * * * * to mr. and mrs. s. _florence_, feb. , . my dear m. and r.: you have no doubt ere this received a letter written, i think, in december, but i must suddenly write again to thank you for the new year's letter. it was a sweet impulse that led you all to write together, and had its full reward in the pleasure you gave! i have said as little as possible about ossoli and our relation, wishing my old friends to form their own impressions naturally, when they see us together. i have faith that all who ever knew me will feel that i have become somewhat milder, kinder, and more worthy to serve all who need, for my new relations. i have expected that those who have cared for me chiefly for my activity of intellect, would not care for him; but that those in whom the moral nature predominates would gradually learn to love and admire him, and see what a treasure his affection must be to me. but even that would be only gradually; for it is by acts, not by words, that one so simple, true, delicate and retiring, can be known. for me, while some of my friends have thought me exacting, i may say ossoli has always outgone my expectations in the disinterestedness, the uncompromising bounty, of his every act. he was the same to his father as to me. his affections are few, but profound, and thoroughly acted out. his permanent affections are few, but his heart is always open to the humble, suffering, heavy-laden. his mind has little habitual action, except in a simple, natural poetry, that one not very intimate with him would never know anything about. but once opened to a great impulse, as it was to the hope of freeing his country, it rises to the height of the occasion, and stays there. his enthusiasm is quiet, but unsleeping. he is very unlike most italians, but very unlike most americans, too. i do not expect all who cared for me to care for him, nor is it of importance to him that they should. he is wholly without vanity. he is too truly the gentleman not to be respected by all persons of refinement. for the rest, if my life is free, and not too much troubled, if he can enjoy his domestic affections, and fulfil his duties in his own way, he will be content. can we find this much for ourselves in bustling america the next three or four years? i know not, but think we shall come and try. i wish much to see you all, and exchange the kiss of peace. there will, i trust, be peace within, if not without. i thank you most warmly for your gift. be assured it will turn to great profit. i have learned to be a great adept in economy, by looking at my little boy. i cannot bear to spend a cent for fear he may come to want. i understand now how the family-men get so mean, and shall have to begin soon to pray against that danger. my little nino, as we call him for house and pet name, is in perfect health. i wash, and dress, and sew for him; and think i see a great deal of promise in his little ways, and shall know him better for doing all for him, though it is fatiguing and inconvenient at times. he is very gay and laughing, sometimes violent,--for he is come to the age when he wants everything in his own hands,--but, on the whole, sweet as yet, and very fond of me. he often calls me to kiss him. he says, "kiss," in preference to the italian word bacio. i do not cherish sanguine visions about him, but try to do my best by him, and enjoy the present moment. it was a nice account you gave of miss bremer. she found some "neighbors" as good as her own. you say she was much pleased by ----; could she know her, she might enrich the world with a portrait as full of little delicate traits as any in her gallery, and of a higher class than any in which she has been successful. i would give much that a competent person should paint ----. it is a shame she should die and leave the world no copy. * * * * * to mr. cass, charge d'affaires des etats unis d'amerique. _florence, may_ , . dear mr. cass: i shall most probably leave florence and italy the th or th of this month, and am not willing to depart without saying adieu to yourself. i wanted to write the th of april, but a succession of petty interruptions prevented. that was the day i saw you first, and the day the french first assailed rome. what a crowded day that was! i had been to visit ossoli in the morning, in the garden of the vatican. just after my return you entered. i then went to the hospital, and there passed the eight amid the groans of many suffering and some dying men. what a strange first of may it was, as i walked the streets of rome by the early sunlight of the nest day! those were to me grand and impassioned hours. deep sorrow followed,--many embarrassments, many pains! let me once more, at parting, thank you for the sympathy you showed me amid many of these. a thousand years might pass, and you would find it unforgotten by me. i leave italy with profound regret, and with only a vague hope of returning. i could have lived here always, full of bright visions, and expanding in my faculties, had destiny permitted. may you be happy who remain here! it would be well worth while to be happy in italy! i had hoped to enjoy some of the last days, but the weather has been steadily bad since you left florence. since the th of april we have not had a fine day, and all our little plans for visits to favorite spots and beautiful objects, from which we have long been separated, have been marred! i sail in the barque elizabeth for new york. she is laden with marble and rags--a very appropriate companionship for wares of italy! she carries powers' statue of calhoun. adieu! remember that we look to you to keep up the dignity of our country. many important occasions are now likely to offer for the american (i wish i could write the columbian) man to advocate,--more, to _represent_ the cause of truth and freedom in the face of their foes. remember me as their lover, and your friend, m. o. * * * * * to ------. _florence_, _april_ , . * * * there is a bark at leghorn, highly spoken of, which sails at the end of this month, and we shall very likely take that. i find it imperatively necessary to go to the united states to make arrangements that may free me from care. shall i be more fortunate if i go in person? i do not know. i am ill adapted to push my claims and pretensions; but, at least, it will not be such slow work as passing from disappointment to disappointment here, where i wait upon the post-office, and must wait two or three months, to know the fate of any proposition. i go home prepared to expect all that is painful and difficult. it will be a consolation to see my dear mother; and my dear brother e., whom i have not seen for ten years, is coming to new england this summer. on that account i wish to go _this_ year. * * * * * _may_ .--my head is full of boxes, bundles, phials of medicine, and pots of jelly. i never thought much about a journey for myself, except to try and return all the things, books especially, which i had been borrowing; but about my child i feel anxious lest i should not take what is necessary for his health and comfort on so long a voyage, where omissions are irreparable. the unpropitious, rainy weather delays us now from day to day, as our ship; the elizabeth,--(look out for news of shipwreck!) cannot finish taking in her cargo till come one or two good days. i leave italy with most sad and unsatisfied heart,--hoping, indeed, to return, but fearing that may not be permitted in my "cross-biased" life, till strength of feeling and keenness of perception be less than during these bygone rich, if troubled, years! i can say least to those whom i prize most. i am so sad and weary, leaving italy, that i seem paralyzed. * * * * * to the same. _ship elizabeth, off gibraltar, june_ , . my dear m----: you will, i trust, long ere receiving this, have read my letter from florence, enclosing one to my mother, informing her under what circumstances i had drawn on you through ----, and mentioning how i wished the bill to be met in case of any accident to me on my homeward course. that course, as respects weather, has been thus far not unpleasant; but the disaster that has befallen us is such as i never dreamed of. i had taken passage with captain hasty--one who seemed to me one of the best and most high-minded of our american men. he showed the kindest interest in us. his wife, an excellent woman, was with him. i thought, during the voyage, if safe and my child well, to have as much respite from care and pain as sea-sickness would permit. but scarcely was that enemy in some measure quelled, when the captain fell sick. at first his disease presented the appearance of nervous fever. i was with him a great deal; indeed, whenever i could relieve his wife from a ministry softened by great love and the courage of womanly heroism: the last days were truly terrible with disgusts and fatigues; for he died, we suppose,--no physician has been allowed to come on board to see the body,--of confluent small-pox. i have seen, since we parted, great suffering, but nothing physical to be compared to this, where the once fair and expressive mould of man is thus lost in corruption before life has fled. he died yesterday morning, and was buried in deep water, the american consul's barge towing out one from this ship which bore the body, about six o'clock. it was sunday. a divinely calm, glowing afternoon had succeeded a morning of bleak, cold wind. you cannot think how beautiful the whole thing was:--the decent array and sad reverence of the sailors; the many ships with their banners flying; the stern pillar of hercules all bathed in roseate vapor; the little white sails diving into the blue depths with that solemn spoil of the good man, so still, when he had been so agonized and gasping as the last sun stooped. yes, it was beautiful; but how dear a price we pay for the poems of this world! we shall now be in quarantine a week; no person permitted to come on board until it be seen whether disease break out in other cases. i have no good reason to think it will _not_; yet i do not feel afraid. ossoli has had it; so he is safe. the baby is, of course, subject to injury. in the earlier days, before i suspected small-pox, i carried him twice into the sick-room, at the request of the captain, who was becoming fond of him. he laughed and pointed; he did not discern danger, but only thought it odd to see the old friend there in bed. it is vain by prudence to seek to evade the stern assaults of destiny. i submit. should all end well, we shall be in new york later than i expected; but keep a look-out. should we arrive safely, i should like to see a friendly face. commend me to my dear friends; and, with most affectionate wishes that joy and peace may continue to dwell in your house, adieu, and love as you can, your friend, margaret. * * * * * letter from hon. lewis cass, jr., united states charge d'affaires at rome, to mrs. e. k. channing. _legation des etats unis d'amerique, rome, may_ , . madame: i beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the ---- ult., and to express my regret that the weak state of my eyesight has prevented me from giving it an earlier reply. in compliance with your request, i have the honor to state, succinctly, the circumstances connected with my acquaintance with the late madame ossoli, your deceased sister, during her residence in rome. in the month of april, , rome, as you are no doubt aware, was placed in a state of siege by the approach of the french army. it was filled at that time with exiles and fugitives who had been contending for years, from milan in the north to palermo in the south, for the republican cause; and when the gates were closed, it was computed that there were, of italians alone, thirteen thousand refugees within the walls of the city, all of whom had been expelled from adjacent states, till rome became their last rallying-point, and, to many, their final resting-place. among these was to be seen every variety of age, sentiment, and condition,--striplings and blanched heads; wild, visionary enthusiasts; grave, heroic men, who, in the struggle for freedom, had ventured all, and lost all; nobles and beggars; bandits, felons and brigands. great excitement naturally existed; and, in the general apprehension which pervaded all classes, that acts of personal violence and outrage would soon be committed, the foreign residents, especially, found themselves placed in an alarming situation. on the th of april the first engagement took place between the french and roman troops, and in a few days subsequently i visited several of my countrymen, at their request, to concert measures for their safety. hearing, on that occasion, and for the first time, of miss fuller's presence in rome, and of her solitary mode of life, i ventured to call upon her, and offer my services in any manner that might conduce to her comfort and security. she received me with much kindness, and thus an acquaintance commenced. her residence on the piazzi barberini being considered an insecure abode, she removed to the casa dies, which was occupied by several american families. in the engagements which succeeded between the roman and french troops, the wounded of the former were brought into the city, and disposed throughout the different hospitals, which were under the superintendence of several ladies of high rank, who had formed themselves into associations, the better to ensure care and attention to those unfortunate men. miss fuller took an active part in this noble work; and the greater portion of her time, during the entire siege, was passed in the hospital of the trinity of the pilgrims, which was placed under her direction, in attendance upon its inmates. the weather was intensely hot; her health was feeble and delicate; the dead and dying were around her in every stage of pain and horror; but she never shrank from the duty she had assumed. her heart and soul were in the cause for which those men had fought, and all was done that woman could do to comfort them in their sufferings. i have seen the eyes of the dying, as she moved among them, extended on opposite beds, meet in commendation of her universal kindness; and the friends of those who then passed away may derive consolation from the assurance that nothing of tenderness and attention was wanting to soothe their last moments. and i have heard many of those who recovered speak with all the passionate fervor of the italian nature, of her whose sympathy and compassion, throughout their long illness, fulfilled all the offices of love and affection. mazzini, the chief of the triumvirate, who, better than any man in rome, knew her worth, often expressed to me his admiration of her high character; and the princess belgiojoso. to whom was assigned the charge of the papal palace, on the quirinal, which was converted on this occasion into a hospital, was enthusiastic in her praise. and in a letter which i received not long since from this lady, who was gaining the bread of an exile by teaching languages in constantinople, she alludes with much feeling to the support afforded by miss fuller to the republican party in italy. here, in rome, she is still spoken of in terms of regard and endearment, and the announcement of her death was received with a degree of sorrow not often bestowed upon a foreigner, especially one of a different faith. on the th of june, the bombardment from the french camp was very heavy, shells and grenades falling in every part of the city. in the afternoon of the th, i received a brief note from miss fuller, requesting me to call at her residence. i did so without delay, and found her lying on a sofa, pale and trembling, evidently much exhausted. she informed me that she had sent for me to place in my hand a packet of important papers, which she wished me to keep for the present, and, in the event of her death, to transmit it to her friends in the united states. she then stated that she was married to marquis ossoli, who was in command of a battery on the pincian hill,--that being the highest and most exposed position in rome, and directly in the line of bombs from the french camp. it was not to be expected, she said, that he could escape the dangers of another night, such as the last; and therefore it was her intention to remain with him, and share his fate. at the ave maria, she added, he would come for her, and they would proceed together to his post. the packet which she placed in my possession, contained, she said, the certificates of her marriage, and of the birth and baptism of her child. after a few words more, i took my departure, the hour she named having nearly arrived. at the porter's lodge i met the marquis ossoli, and a few moments afterward i saw them walking toward the pincian hill. happily, the cannonading was not renewed that night, and at dawn of day she returned to her apartments, with her husband by her side. on that day the french army entered rome, and, the gates being opened, madame ossoli, accompanied by the marquis, immediately proceeded to rieti, where she had left her child in the charge of a confidential nurse, formerly in the service of the ossoli family. she remained, as you are no doubt aware, some months at rieti, whence she removed to florence, where she resided until her ill-fated departure for the united states. during this period i received several letters from her, all of which, though reluctant to part with them, i enclose to your address in compliance with your request. i am, madame, very respectfully, your obedient servant, lewis cass, jr. appendix. a. apparition of the goddess isis to her votary, from apulelus. "scarcely had i closed my eyes, when, behold (i saw in a dream), a divine form emerging from the middle of the sea, and raising a countenance venerable even to the gods themselves. afterward, the whole of the most splendid image seemed to stand before me, having gradually shaken off the sea. i will endeavor to explain to you its admirable form, if the poverty of human language will but afford me the power of an appropriate narration; or if the divinity itself, of the most luminous form, will supply me with a liberal abundance of fluent diction. in the first place, then, her most copious and long hairs, being gradually intorted, and promiscuously scattered on her divine neck, were softly defluous. a multiform crown, consisting of various flowers, bound the sublime summit of her head. and in the middle of the crown, just on her forehead, there was a smooth orb, resembling a mirror, or rather a white refulgent light, which indicated that she was the moon. vipers, rising up after the manner of furrows, environed the crown on the right hand and on the left, and cerealian ears of corn were also extended from above. her garment was of many colors, and woven from the finest flax, and was at one time lucid with a white splendor, at another yellow, from the flower of crocus, and at another flaming with a rosy redness. but that which most excessively dazzled my sight, was a very black robe, fulgid with a dark splendor, and which, spreading round and passing under her right side, and ascending to her left shoulder, there rose protuberant, like the centre of a shield, the dependent part of her robe falling in many folds, and having small knots of fringe, gracefully flowing in its extremities. glittering stars were dispersed through the embroidered border of the robe, and through the whole of its surface, and the full moon, shining in the middle of the stars, breathed forth flaming fires. a crown, wholly consisting of flowers and fruits of every kind, adhered with indivisible connection to the border of conspicuous robe, in all its undulating motions. "what she carried in her hands also consisted of things of a very different nature. her right hand bore a brazen rattle, through the narrow lamina of which, bent like a belt, certain rods passing, produced a sharp triple sound through the vibrating motion of her arm. an oblong vessel, in the shape of a boat, depended from her left hand, on the handle of which, in that part which was conspicuous, an asp raised its erect head and largely swelling neck. and shoes, woven from the leaves of the victorious palm-tree, covered her immortal feet. such, and so great a goddess, breathing the fragrant odor of the shores of arabia the happy, deigned thus to address me." the foreign english of the translator, thomas taylor, gives this description the air of being itself a part of the mysteries. but its majestic beauty requires no formal initiation to be enjoyed. * * * * * b. i give this in the original, as it does not bear translation. those who read italian will judge whether it is not a perfect description of a perfect woman. lodi e preghiere a maria. vergine bella che di sol vestita, coronata di stelle, al sommo sole piacesti si, che'n te sua luce ascose; amor mi spinge a dir di te parole; ma non so 'ncominciar senza tu' alta, e di coiul che amando in te si pose. invoco lei che ben sempre rispose, chi la chiamo con fede. vergine, s'a mercede miseria extrema dell' smane cose giammal tivoise, al mio prego t'inohina; soccorri alla mia guerra; bench' l' sia terra, e tu del oiel regina. vergine saggia, e del bel numero una delle beata vergini prudenti; anzi la prima, e con piu chiara lampa; o saldo scudo dell' afflitte gente contra colpi di morte e di fortuna, sotto' l' quai si trionfu, non pur scampa: o refrigerio alcieco ardor ch' avvampa qui fra mortali schiocchi, vergine, que' begli occhi che vider tristi la spietata stampa ne' dolci membri del tuo caro figlio, volgi ai mio dubbio stato; che sconsigliato a te vien per consiglio. vergine pura, d'ognti parte intera, del tuo parto gentil figlluola e madre; che allumi questa vita, e t'altra adorni; per te il tuo figlio e quel del sommo padre, o finestra del ciel lucente altera, venne a salvarne in su gli estremi giorni, e fra tutt' i terreni altri soggiorni sola tu fusti eletta, vergine benedetta; che 'l pianto d' eva in allegrezza torni'; fammi; che puoi; della sua grazia degno, senza fine o beata, gla coronata nel superno regno. vergine santa d'ogni grazia piena; che per vera e altissima umiltate. salisti al ciel, onde miel preghi ascolti; tu partoristi il fonte di pietate, e di giustizia il sol, che rasserena il secol pien d'errori oscuri et tolti; tre dolci et cari nomi ha' in te raccolti, madre, figliuola e sposa: vergine gloriosa, donna del re che nostri lacci a sciolti e fatto 'l mondo libero et felice, nelle cui sante piaghe prego ch'appaghe il cor, vera beatrice. vergine sola al mondo senza exempio che 'l ciel di tue bellezze innamorasti, cui ne prima fu simil ne seconda, santi penseri, atti pietosi et casti al vero dio sacrato et vivo tempio fecero in tua verginita feconda. per te po la mia vita esser ioconda, sa' tuoi preghi, o maria, vergine dolce et pia, ove 'l fallo abondo, la gratia abonda. con le ginocchia de la mente inchine, prego che sia mia scorta, e la mia torta via drizzi a buon fine. vergine chiara et stabile in eterno, di questo tempestoso mare stella, d'ogni fedel nocchier fidata guida, pon' mente in che terribile procella i' mi ritrovo sol, senza governo, et o gia da vicin l'ultime strida. ma pur in te l'anima mia si fida, peccatrice, i' nol nego, vergine; ma ti prego che 'l tuo nemico del mio mal non rida: ricorditi che fece il peccar nostro prender dio, per scamparne, umana carne al tuo virginal chiostro. vergine, quante lagrime ho gia sparte, quante lusinghe et quanti preghi indarno, pur per mia pena et per mio grave danno! da poi ch'i nacqui in su la riva d'arno; cercando or questa ed or quell altra parte, non e stata mia vita altro ch'affanno. mortal bellezza, atti, o parole m' hanno tutta ingombrata l'alma, vergine sacra, ed alma, non tardar; ch' i' non forse all' ultim 'ann, i di miel piu correnti che saetta, fra mierie e peccati sonsen andati, e sol morte n'aspetta. vergine, tale e terra, e posto ha in doglia lo mio cor; che vivendo in pianto il tenne; e di mille miel mali un non sapea; e per saperlo, pur quel che n'avvenne, fora avvento: ch' ogni altra sua voglia era a me morte, ed a lei fama rea or tu, donna del ciel, tu nostra dea, se dir lice, e convicusi; vergine d'alti sensi, tu vedi il tutto; e quel che non potea far oltri, e nulla a e la tua gran virtute; pon fine al mio dolore; ch'a te onore ed a mo fia salute. vergine, in cui ho tutta mia speranza che possi e vogli al gran bisogno altarme; non mi lasciare in su l'estremo passo; non guardar me, ma chi degno crearme; no'l mio valor, ma l'alta sua sembianza; che in me ti mova a curar d'uorm si basso. medusa, e l'error mio lo han fatto un sasso d'umor vano stillante; vergine, tu di sante lagrime, e pie adempi 'l mio cor lasso; ch' almen l'ultlmo pianto sia divoto, senza terrestro limo; come fu'l primo non d'insania voto. vergine umana, e nemica d'orgoglio, del comune principio amor t'induca; miserere d'un cor contrito umile; che se poca mortal terra caduca amar con si mirabil fede soglio; che devro far di te cosa gentile? se dal mio stato assai misero, e vile per le tue man resurgo, vergine; e sacro, e purgo al tuo nome e pensieri e'ngegno, o stile; la lingua, o'l cor, le lagrime, e i sospiri, scorgimi al migilor guado; e prendi in grado i cangiati desiri. il di s'appressa, e non pote esser lunge; si corre il tempo, e vola, vergine unica, e sola; e'l cor' or conscienza, or morte punge. raccommandami al tuo figiluol, verace uomo, e veraco dio; ch'accolga i mio spirto ultimo in pace. as the scandinavian represented frigga the earth, or world-mother, knowing all things, yet never herself revealing them, though ready to be called to counsel by the gods, it represents her in action, decked with jewels and gorgeously attended. but, says the mythes, when she ascended the throne of odin, her consort (heaven), she left with mortals her friend, the goddess of sympathy, to protect them in her absence. since, sympathy goes about to do good. especially she devotes herself to the most valiant and the most oppressed. she consoles the gods in some degree even for the death of their darling baldur. among the heavenly powers she has no consort. * * * * * c. the wedding of the lady theresa. from lockhart's spanish ballads. 'twas when the fifth alphonso in leon held his sway, king abdulla of toledo an embassy did send; he asked his sister for a wife, and in an evil day alphonso sent her, for he feared abdalla to offend; he feared to move his anger, for many times before he had received in danger much succor from the moor. sad heart had fair theresa, when she their paction knew; with streaming tears she heard them tell she 'mong the moors must go; that she, a christian damsel, a christian firm and true, must wed a moorish husband, it well might cause her woe; but all her tears and all her prayers they are of small avail; at length she for her fate prepares, a victim sad and pale. the king hath sent his sister to fair toledo town, where then the moor abdalla his royal state did keep; when she drew near, the moslem from his golden throne came down, and courteously received her, and bade her cease to weep; with loving words he pressed her to come his bower within; with kisses he caressed her, but still she feared the sin. "sir king, sir king, i pray thee,"--'twas thus theresa spake,-- "i pray thee, have compassion, and do to me no wrong; for sleep with thee i may not, unless the vows i break, whereby i to the holy church of christ my lord belong; for thou hast sworn to serve mahoun, and if this thing should be, the curse of god it must bring down upon thy realm and thee. "the angel of christ jesu, to whom my heavenly lord hath given my soul in keeping, is ever by my side; if thou dost me dishonor, he will unsheathe his sword, and smite thy body fiercely, at the crying of thy bride; invisible he standeth; his sword like fiery flame will penetrate thy bosom the hour that sees my shame." the moslem heard her with a smile; the earnest words she said he took for bashful maiden's wile, and drew her to his bower: in vain theresa prayed and strove,--she pressed abdalla's bed, perforce received his kiss of love, and lost her maiden flower. a woeful woman there she lay, a loving lord beside, and earnestly to god did pray her succor to provide. the angel of christ jesu her sore complaint did hear, and plucked his heavenly weapon from out his sheath unseen: he waved the brand in his right hand, and to the king came near, and drew the point o'er limb and joint, beside the weeping queen: a mortal weakness from the stroke upon the king did fall; he could not stand when daylight broke, but on his knees must crawl. abdalla shuddered inly, when he this sickness felt, and called upon his barons, his pillow to come nigh; "rise up," he said, "my liegemen," as round his bed they knelt, "and take this christian lady, else certainly i die; let gold be in your girdles, and precious stones beside, and swiftly ride to leon, and render up my bride." when they were come to leon theresa would not go into her brother's dwelling, where her maiden years were spent; but o'er her downcast visage a white veil she did throw, and to the ancient nunnery of las huelgas went. there, long, from worldly eyes retired, a holy life she led; there she, an aged saint, expired; there sleeps she with the dead. * * * * * d. the following extract from spinoza is worthy of attention, as expressing the view which a man of the largest intellectual scope may take of woman, if that part of his life to which her influence appeals has been left unawakened. he was a man of the largest intellect, of unsurpassed reasoning powers; yet he makes a statement false to history, for we well know how often men and women have ruled together without difficulty, and one in which very few men even at the present day--i mean men who are thinkers, like him--would acquiesce. i have put in contrast with it three expressions of the latest literature. first, from the poems of w. e. channing, a poem called "reverence," equally remarkable for the deep wisdom of its thought and the beauty of its utterance, and containing as fine a description of one class of women as exists in literature. in contrast with this picture of woman, the happy goddess of beauty, the wife, the friend, "the summer queen," i add one by the author of "festus," of a woman of the muse, the sybil kind, which seems painted from living experience. and, thirdly, i subjoin eugene sue's description of a wicked but able woman of the practical sort, and appeal to all readers whether a species that admits of three such varieties is so easily to be classed away, or kept within prescribed limits, as spinoza, and those who think like him, believe. spinoza. tractatus politici de democratia. caput xi. perhaps some one will here ask, whether the supremacy of man over woman is attributable to nature or custom? since, if it be human institutions alone to which this fact is owing, there is no reason why we should exclude women from a share in government. experience most plainly teaches that it is woman's weakness which places her under the authority of man. it has nowhere happened that men and women ruled together; but wherever men and women are found, the world over, there we see the men ruling and the women ruled, and in this order of things men and women live together in peace and harmony. the amazons, it is true, are reputed formerly to have held the reins of government, but they drove men from their dominions; the male of their offspring they invariably destroyed, permitting their daughters alone to live. now, if women were by nature upon an equality with men, if they equalled men in fortitude, in genius (qualities which give to men might, and consequently right), it surely would be the case, that, among the numerous and diverse nations of the earth, some would be found where both sexes ruled conjointly, and others where the men were ruled by the women, and so educated as to be mentally inferior; and since this state of things nowhere exists, it is perfectly fair to infer that the rights of women are not equal to those of men; but that women must be subordinate, and therefore cannot have an equal, far less a superior place in the government. if, too, we consider the passions of men--how the love men feel towards women is seldom anything but lust and impulse, and much less a reverence for qualities of soul than an admiration of physical beauty; observing, too, the jealousy of lovers, and other things of the same character--we shall see at a glance that it would be, in the highest degree, detrimental to peace and harmony, for men and women to possess on equal share in government. reverence. as an ancestral heritage revere all learning, and all thought. the painter's fame is thine, whate'er thy lot, who honorest grace. and need enough in this low time, when they, who seek to captivate the fleeting notes of heaven's sweet beauty, must despair almost, so heavy and obdurate show the hearts of their companions. honor kindly then those who bear up in their so generous arms the beautiful ideas of matchless forms; for were these not portrayed, our human fate,-- which is to be all high, majestical, to grow to goodness with each coming age, till virtue leap and sing for joy to see so noble, virtuous men,--would brief decay; and the green, festering slime, oblivious, haunt about our common fate. o, honor them! but what to all true eyes has chiefest charm, and what to every breast where beats a heart framed to one beautiful emotion,--to one sweet and natural feeling, lends a grace to all the tedious walks of common life, this is fair woman,--woman, whose applause each poet sings,--woman the beautiful. not that her fairest brow, or gentlest form, charm us to tears; not that the smoothest cheek, wherever rosy tints have made their home, so rivet us on her; but that she is the subtle, delicate grace,--the inward grace, for words too excellent; the noble, true, the majesty of earth; the summer queen; in whose conceptions nothing but what's great has any right. and, o! her love for him, who does but his small part in honoring her; discharging a sweet office, sweeter none, mother and child, friend, counsel and repose; naught matches with her, naught has leave with her to highest human praise. farewell to him who reverences not with an excess of faith the beauteous sex; all barren he shall live a living death of mockery. ah! had but words the power, what could we say of woman! we, rude men of violent phrase, harsh action, even in repose inwardly harsh; whose lives walk blustering on high stilts, removed from all the purely gracious influence of mother earth. to single from the host of angel forms one only, and to her devote our deepest heart and deepest mind, seems almost contradiction. unto her we owe our greatest blessings, hours of cheer, gay smiles, and sudden tears, and more than these a sure perpetual love. regard her as she walks along the vast still earth; and see! before her flies a laughing troop of joys, and by her side treads old experience, with never-failing voice admonitory; the gentle, though infallible, kind advice, the watchful care, the fine regardfulness, whatever mates with what we hope to find, all consummate in her--the summer queen. to call past ages better than what now man is enacting on life's crowded stage, cannot improve our worth; and for the world blue is the sky as ever, and the stars kindle their crystal flames at soft fallen eve with the same purest lustre that the east worshipped. the river gently flows through fields where the broad-leaved corn spreads out, and loads its ear as when the indian tilled the soil. the dark green pine,--green in the winter's cold,-- still whispers meaning emblems, as of old; the cricket chirps, and the sweet eager birds in the sad woods crowd their thick melodies; but yet, to common eyes, life's poetry something has faded, and the cause of this may be that man, no longer at the shrine of woman, kneeling with true reverence, in spite of field, wood, river, stars and sea, goes most disconsolate. a babble now, a huge and wind-swelled babble, fills the place of that great adoration which of old man had for woman. in these days no more is love the pith and marrow of man's fate. thou who in early years feelest awake to finest impulses from nature's breath, and in thy walk hearest such sounds of truth as on the common ear strike without heed, beware of men around thee! men are foul with avarice, ambition and deceit; the worst of all, ambition. this is life, spent in a feverish chase for selfish ends, which has no virtue to redeem its toil, but one long, stagnant hope to raise the self. the miser's life to this seems sweet and fair; better to pile the glittering coin, than seek to overtop our brothers and our loves. merit in this? where lies it, though thy name ring over distant lands, meeting the wind even on the extremest verge of the wide world? merit in this? better be hurled abroad on the vast whirling tide, than, in thyself concentred, feed upon thy own applause. thee shall the good man yield no reverence; but, while the idle, dissolute crowd are loud in voice to send thee flattery, shall rejoice that he has 'scaped thy fatal doom, and known how humble faith in the good soul of things provides amplest enjoyment. o, my brother if the past's counsel any honor claim from thee, go read the history of those who a like path have trod, and see a fate wretched with fears, changing like leaves at noon, when the new wind sings in the white birch wood. learn from the simple child the rule of life, and from the movements of the unconscious tribes of animal nature, those that bend the wing or cleave the azure tide, content to be, what the great frame provides,--freedom and grace. thee, simple child, do the swift winds obey, and the white waterfalls with their bold leaps follow thy movements. tenderly the light thee watches, girding with a zone of radiance, and all the swinging herbs love thy soft steps. description of angela, from "festus." i loved her for that she was beautiful, and that to me she seemed to be all nature and all varieties of things in one; would set at night in clouds of tears, and rise all light and laughter in the morning; fear no petty customs nor appearances, but think what others only dreamed about; and say what others did but think; and do what others would but say; and glory in what others dared but do; it was these which won me; and that she never schooled within her breast one thought or feeling, but gave holiday to all; that she told me all her woes, and wrongs, and ills; and so she made them mine in the communion of love; and we grew like each other, for we loved each other; she, mild and generous as the sun in spring; and i, like earth, all budding out with love. * * * * * the beautiful are never desolate; for some one alway loves them; god or man; if man abandons, god himself takes them; and thus it was. she whom i once loved died; the lightning loathes its cloud; the soul its clay. can i forget the hand i took in mine, pale as pale violets; that eye, where mind and matter met alike divine?--ah, no! may god that moment judge me when i do! o! she was fair; her nature once all spring and deadly beauty, like a maiden sword, startlingly beautiful. i see her now! wherever thou art thy soul is in my mind; thy shadow hourly lengthens o'er my brain and peoples all its pictures with thyself; gone, not forgotten; passed, not lost; thou wilt shine in heaven like a bright spot in the sun! she said she wished to die, and so she died, for, cloudlike, she poured out her love, which was her life, to freshen this parched heart. it was thus; i said we were to part, but she said nothing; there was no discord; it was music ceased, life's thrilling, bursting, bounding joy. she sate, like a house-god, her hands fixed on her knee, and her dark hair lay loose and long behind her, through which her wild bright eye flashed like a flint; she spake not, moved not, but she looked the more, as if her eye were action, speech, and feeling. i felt it all, and came and knelt beside her, the electric touch solved both our souls together; then came the feeling which unmakes, undoes; which tears the sea-like soul up by the roots, and lashes it in scorn against the skies. * * * * * it is the saddest and the sorest sight, one's own love weeping. but why call on god? but that the feeling of the boundless bounds all feeling; as the welkin does the world; it is this which ones us with the whole and god. then first we wept; then closed and clung together; and my heart shook this building of my breast like a live engine booming up and down; she fell upon me like a snow-wreath thawing. never were bliss and beauty, love and woe, ravelled and twined together into madness, as in that one wild hour to which all else the past is but a picture. that alone is real, and forever there in front. * * * * * * * * after that i left her, and only saw her once again alive. "mother saint perpetua, the superior of the convent, was a tall woman, of about forty years, dressed in dark gray serge, with a long rosary hanging at her girdle. a white mob-cap, with a long black veil, surrounded her thin, wan face with its narrow, hooded border. a great number of deep, transverse wrinkles ploughed her brow, which resembled yellowish ivory in color and substance. her keen and prominent nose was curved like the hooked beak of a bird of prey; her black eye was piercing and sagacious; her face was at once intelligent, firm, and cold. "for comprehending and managing the material interests of the society, mother saint perpetua could have vied with the shrewdest and most wily lawyer. when women are possessed of what is called _business talent_, and when they apply thereto the sharpness of perception, the indefatigable perseverance, the prudent dissimulation, and, above all, the correctness and rapidity of judgment at first sight, which are peculiar to them, they arrive at prodigious results. "to mother saint perpetua, a woman of a strong and solid head, the vast moneyed business of the society was but child's play. none better than she understood how to buy depreciated properties, to raise them to their original value, and sell them to advantage; the average purchase of rents, the fluctuations of exchange, and the current prices of shares in all the leading speculations, were perfectly familiar to her. never had she directed her agents to make a single false speculation, when it had been the question how to invest funds, with which good souls were constantly endowing the society of saint mary. she had established in the house a degree of order, of discipline, and, above all, of economy, that were indeed remarkable; the constant aim of all her exertions being, not to enrich herself, but the community over which she presided; for the spirit of association, when it is directed to an object of _collective selfishness_, gives to corporations all the faults and vices of individuals." * * * * * e. the following is an extract from a letter addressed to me by one of the monks of the nineteenth century. a part i have omitted, because it does not express my own view, unless with qualifications which i could not make, except by full discussion of the subject. "woman in the nineteenth century should be a pure, chaste, holy being. "this state of being in woman is no more attained by the expansion of her intellectual capacity, than by the augmentation of her physical force. "neither is it attained by the increase or refinement of her love for man, or for any object whatever, or for all objects collectively; but "this state of being is attained by the reference of all her powers and all her actions to the source of universal love, whose constant requisition is a pure, chaste and holy life. "so long as woman looks to man (or to society) for that which she needs, she will remain in an indigent state, for he himself is indigent of it, and as much needs it as she does. "so long as this indigence continues, all unions or relations constructed between man and woman are constructed in indigence, and can produce only indigent results or unhappy consequences. "the unions now constructing, as well as those in which the parties constructing them were generated, being based on self-delight, or lust, can lead to no more happiness in the twentieth than is found in the nineteenth century. "it is not amended institutions, it is not improved education, it is not another selection of individuals for union, that can meliorate the said result, but the _basis_ of the union must be changed. "if in the natural order woman and man would adhere strictly to physiological or natural laws, in physical chastity, a most beautiful amendment of the human race, and human condition, would in a few generations adorn the world. "still, it belongs to woman in the spiritual order, to devote herself wholly to her eternal husband, and become the free bride of the one who alone can elevate her to her true position, and reconstruct her a pure, chaste, and holy being." f. i have mislaid an extract from "the memoirs of an american lady," which i wished to use on this subject, but its import is, briefly, this: observing of how little consequence the indian women are in youth, and how much in age, because in that trying life, good counsel and sagacity are more prized than charms, mrs. grant expresses a wish that reformers would take a hint from observation of this circumstance. in another place she says: "the misfortune of our sex is, that young women are not regarded as the material from which old women must be made." i quote from memory, but believe the weight of the remark is retained. * * * * * g. euripides. sophocles. as many allusions are made in the foregoing pages to characters of women drawn by the greek dramatists, which may not be familiar to the majority of readers, i have borrowed from the papers of miranda some notes upon them. i trust the girlish tone of apostrophising rapture may be excused. miranda was very young at the time of writing, compared with her present mental age. _now_, she would express the same feelings, but in a worthier garb--if she expressed them at all. iphigenia! antigone! you were worthy to live! _we_ are fallen on evil times, my sisters; our feelings have been checked; our thoughts questioned; our forms dwarfed and defaced by a bad nurture. yet hearts like yours are in our breasts, living, if unawakened; and our minds are capable of the same resolves. you we understand at once; those who stare upon us pertly in the street, we cannot--could never understand. you knew heroes, maidens, and your fathers were kings of men. you believed in your country and the gods of your country. a great occasion was given to each, whereby to test her character. you did not love on earth; for the poets wished to show us the force of woman's nature, virgin and unbiased. you were women; not wives, or lovers, or mothers. those are great names, but we are glad to see _you_ in untouched flower. were brothers so dear, then, antigone? we have no brothers. we see no men into whose lives we dare look steadfastly, or to whose destinies we look forward confidently. we care not for their urns; what inscription could we put upon them? they live for petty successes, or to win daily the bread of the day. no spark of kingly fire flashes from their eyes. none! are there _none_? it is a base speech to say it. yes! there are some such; we have sometimes caught their glances. but rarely have they been rocked in the same cradle as we, and they do not look upon us much; for the time is not yet come. thou art so grand and simple! we need not follow thee; thou dost not need our love. but, sweetest iphigenia! who knew _thee_, as to me thou art known? i was not born in vain, if only for the heavenly tears i have shed with thee. she will be grateful for them. i have understood her wholly, as a friend should; better than she understood herself. with what artless art the narrative rises to the crisis! the conflicts in agamemnon's mind, and the imputations of menelaus, give us, at once, the full image of him, strong in will and pride, weak in virtue, weak in the noble powers of the mind that depend on imagination. he suffers, yet it requires the presence of his daughter to make him feel the full horror of what he is to do. "ah me! that breast, those cheeks, those golden tresses!" it is her beauty, not her misery, that makes the pathos. this is noble. and then, too, the injustice of the gods, that she, this creature of unblemished loveliness, must perish for the sake of a worthless woman. even menelaus feels it the moment he recovers from his wrath. "what hath she to do, the virgin daughter, with my helena! * * its former reasonings now my soul foregoes. * * * * for it is not just that thou shouldst groan, while my affairs go pleasantly, that those of thy house should die, and mine see the light." indeed, the overwhelmed aspect of the king of men might well move him. "_men_. brother, give me to take thy right hand. _aga_. i give it, _for_ the victory is thine, and i am wretched. i am, indeed, ashamed to drop the tear, and not to drop the tear i am ashamed." how beautifully is iphigenia introduced; beaming more and more softly on us with every touch of description! after clytemnestra has given orestes (then an infant) out of the chariot, she says: "ye females, in your arms receive her, for she is of tender age. sit here by my feet, my child, by thy mother, iphigenia, and show these strangers how i am blessed in thee, and here address thee to thy father. _iphi_. o, mother! should i run, wouldst thou be angry? and embrace my father heart to heart?" with the same sweet, timid trust she prefers the request to himself, and, as he holds her in his arms, he seems as noble as guido's archangel; as if he never could sink below the trust of such a being! the achilles, in the first scene, is fine. a true greek hero; not too good; all flushed with the pride of youth, but capable of godlike impulses. at first, he thinks only of his own wounded pride (when he finds iphigenia has been decoyed to aulis under the pretest of becoming his wife); but the grief of the queen soon makes him superior to his arrogant chafings. how well he says, "_far as a young man may_, i will repress so great a wrong!" by seeing him here, we understand why he, not hector, was the hero of the iliad. the beautiful moral nature of hector was early developed by close domestic ties, and the cause of his country. except in a purer simplicity of speech and manner, he might be a modern and a christian. but achilles is cast in the largest and most vigorous mould of the earlier day. his nature is one of the richest capabilities, and therefore less quickly unfolds its meaning. the impression it makes at the early period is only of power and pride; running as fleetly with his armor on as with it off; but sparks of pure lustre are struck, at moments, from the mass of ore. of this sort is his refusal to see the beautiful virgin he has promised to protect. none of the grecians must have the right to doubt his motives, how wise and prudent, too, the advice he gives as to the queen's conduct! he will cot show himself unless needed. his pride is the farthest possible remote from vanity. his thoughts are as free as any in our own time. "the prophet? what is he? a man who speaks, 'mong many falsehoods, but few truths, whene'er chance leads him to speak true; when false, the prophet is no more." had agamemnon possessed like clearness of sight, the virgin would not have perished, but greece would have had no religion and no national existence. when, in the interview with agamemnon, the queen begins her speech, in the true matrimonial style, dignified though her gesture be, and true all she says, we feel that truth, thus sauced with taunts, will not touch his heart, nor turn him from his purpose. but when iphigenia, begins her exquisite speech, as with the breathings of a lute,-- "had i, my father, the persuasive voice of orpheus, &c. compel me not what is beneath to view. i was the first to call thee father; me thou first didst call thy child. i was the first that on thy knees fondly caressed thee, and from thee received the fond caress. this was thy speech to me:-- 'shall i, my child, e'er see thee in some house of splendor, happy in thy husband, live and flourish, as becomes my dignity?' my speech to thee was, leaning 'gainst thy cheek, (which with my hand i now caress): 'and what shall i then do for thee? shall i receive my father when grown old, and in my house cheer him with each fond office, to repay the careful nurture which he gave my youth?' these words are in my memory deep impressed; thou hast forgot them, and will kill thy child." then she adjures him by all the sacred ties, and dwells pathetically on the circumstance which had struck even menelaus. "if paris be enamored of his bride, his helen,--what concerns it me? and how comes he to my destruction? look upon me; give me a smile, give me a kiss, my father; that, if my words persuade thee not, in death i may have this memorial of thy love." never have the names of father and daughter been uttered with a holier tenderness than by euripides, as in this most lovely passage, or in the "supplicants," after the voluntary death of evadne. iphis says: "what shall this wretch now do? should i return to my own house?--sad desolation there i shall behold, to sink my soul with grief. or go i to the house of capaneus? that was delightful to me, when i found my daughter there; but she is there no more. oft would she kiss my check, with fond caress oft soothe me. to a father, waxing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter! sons have spirits of higher pitch, but less inclined to sweet, endearing fondness. lead me then, instantly lead me to my house; consign my wretched age to darkness, there to pine and waste away. old age, struggling with many griefs, o, how i hate thee!" but to return to iphigenia,--how infinitely melting is her appeal to orestes, whom she holds in her robe! "my brother, small assistance canst thou give thy friends; yet for thy sister with thy tears implore thy father that she may not die. even infants have a sense of ills; and see, my father! silent though he be, he sues to thee. be gentle to me; on my life have pity. thy two children by this beard entreat thee, thy dear children; one is yet an infant, one to riper years arrived." the mention of orestes, then an infant, though slight, is of a domestic charm that prepares the mind to feel the tragedy of his after lot. when the queen says, "dost thou sleep, my son? the rolling chariot hath subdued thee; wake to thy sister's marriage happily." we understand the horror of the doom which makes this cherished child a parricide. and so, when iphigenia takes leave of him after her fate is by herself accepted,-- "_iphi_. to manhood train orestes. _cly_. embrace him, for thou ne'er shalt see him more. _iphi_. (_to orestes_.) far as thou couldst, thou didst assist thy friends,"-- we know not how to blame the guilt of the maddened wife and mother. in her last meeting with agamemnon, as in her previous expostulations and anguish, we see that a straw may turn the balance, and make her his deadliest foe. just then, came the suit of aegisthus,--then, when every feeling was uprooted or lacerated in her heart. iphigenia's moving address has no further effect than to make her father turn at bay and brave this terrible crisis. he goes out, firm in resolve; and she and her mother abandon themselves to a natural grief. hitherto nothing has been seen in iphigenia, except the young girl, weak, delicate, full of feeling, and beautiful as a sunbeam on the full, green tree. but, in the next scene, the first impulse of that passion which makes and unmakes us, though unconfessed even to herself, though hopeless and unreturned, raises her at once into the heroic woman, worthy of the goddess who demands her. achilles appears to defend her, whom all others clamorously seek to deliver to the murderous knife. she sees him, and, fired with thoughts unknown before, devotes herself at once for the country which has given birth to such a man. "to be too fond of life becomes not me; nor for myself alone, but to all greece, a blessing didst thou bear me. shall thousands, when their country's injured, lift their shields? shall thousands grasp the oar and dare, advancing bravely 'gainst the foe, to die for greece? and shall my life, my single life, obstruct all this? would this be just? what word can we reply? nay more, it is not right that he with all the grecians should contest in fight, should die, _and for a woman_. no! more than a thousand women is one man worthy to see the light of day. * * * for greece i give my life. slay me! demolish troy! for these shall be long time my monuments, my children these, my nuptials and my glory." this sentiment marks woman, when she loves enough to feel what a creature of glory and beauty a true _man_ would be, as much in our own time as that of euripides. cooper makes the weak hetty say to her beautiful sister: "of course, i don't compare you with harry. a handsome man is always far handsomer than any woman." true, it was the sentiment of the age, but it was the first time iphigenia had felt it. in agamemnon she saw _her father_; to him she could prefer her claim. in achilles she saw a _man_, the crown of creation, enough to fill the world with his presence, were all other beings blotted from its spaces. [footnote: men do not often reciprocate this pure love. "her prentice han' she tried on man, and then she made the lasses o'," is a fancy, not a feeling, in their more frequently passionate and strong than noble or tender natures.] the reply of achilles is as noble. here is his bride; he feels it now, and all his vain vaunting are hushed. "daughter of agamemnon, highly blest some god would make me, if i might attain thy nuptials. greece in thee i happy deem, and thee in greece. * * * in thy thought revolve this well; death is a dreadful thing." how sweet it her reply,--and then the tender modesty with which she addresses him here and elsewhere as "_stranger_" "reflecting not on any, thus i speak: enough of wars and slaughters from the charms of helen rise; but die not thou for me, o stranger, nor distain thy sword with blood, but let me save my country if i may. _achilles_. o glorious spirit! naught have i 'gainst this to urge, since such thy will, for what thou sayst is generous. why should not the truth be spoken?" but feeling that human weakness may conquer yet, he goes to wait at the alter, resolved to keep his promise of protection thoroughly. in the next beautiful scene she shows that a few tears might overwhelm her in his absence. she raises her mother beyond weeping them, yet her soft purity she cannot impart. "_iphi_. my father, and my husband do not hate; _cly_. for thy dear sake fierce contest must he bear. _iphi_. for greece reluctant me to death he yields; _cly_. basely, with guile unworthy atreus' son." this is truth incapable of an answer, and iphigenia attempts none. she begins the hymn which is to sustain her: "lead me; mine the glorious fate, to o'erturn the phrygian state." after the sublime flow of lyric heroism, she suddenly sinks back into the tenderer feeling of her dreadful fate. "o my country, where these eyes opened on pelasgic skies! o ye virgins, once my pride, in mycenae who abide! chorus. why of perseus, name the town, which cyclopean ramparts crown? iphigenia me you reared a beam of light, freely now i sink in night." _freely_; as the messenger afterwards recounts it. * * * * * "imperial agamemnon, when he saw his daughter, as a victim to the grave, advancing, groaned, and, bursting into tears, turned from the sight his head, before his eyes, holding his robe. the virgin near him stood, and thus addressed him: 'father, i to thee am present; for my country, and for all the land of greece, i freely give myself a victim: to the altar let them lead me, since such the oracle. if aught on me depends, be happy, and obtain the prize of glorious conquest, and revisit safe your country. of the grecians, for this cause, let no one touch me; with intrepid spirit silent will i present my neck.' she spoke, and all that heard revered the noble soul and virtue of the virgin." how quickly had the fair bud bloomed up into its perfection! had she lived a thousand years, she could not have surpassed this. goethe's iphigenia, the mature woman, with its myriad delicate traits, never surpasses, scarcely equals, what we know of her in euripides. can i appreciate this work in a translation? i think so, impossible as it may seem to one who can enjoy the thousand melodies, and words in exactly the right place, and cadence of the original. they say you can see the apollo belvidere in a plaster cast, and i cannot doubt it, so great the benefit conferred on my mind by a transcript thus imperfect. and so with these translations from the greek. i can divine the original through this veil, as i can see the movements of a spirited horse by those of his coarse grasscloth muffler. besides, every translator who feels his subject is inspired, and the divine aura informs even his stammering lips. iphigenia is more like one of the women shakspeare loved than the others; she is a tender virgin, ennobled and strengthened by sentiment more than intellect; what they call a woman _par excellence_. macaria is more like one of massinger's women. she advances boldly, though with the decorum of her sex and nation: "_macaria_. impute not boldness to me that i come before you, strangers; this my first request i urge; for silence and a chaste reserve is woman's genuine praise, and to remain quiet within the house. but i come forth, hearing thy lamentations, iolaus; though charged with no commission, yet perhaps i may be useful." * * her speech when she offers herself as the victim is reasonable, as one might speak to-day. she counts the cost all through. iphigenia is too timid and delicate to dwell upon the loss of earthly bliss and the due experience of life, even as much as jephtha'a daughter did; but macaria is explicit, as well befits the daughter of hercules. "should _these_ die, myself preserved, of prosperous future could i form one cheerful hope? a poor forsaken virgin who would deign to take in marriage? who would wish for sons from one so wretched? better then to die, than bear such undeserved miseries; one less illustrious this might more beseem. * * * * * i have a soul that unreluctantly presents itself, and i proclaim aloud that for my brothers and myself i die. i am not fond of life, but think i gain an honorable prize to die with glory." still nobler when iolaus proposes rather that she shall draw lots with her sisters. "by _lot_ i will not die, for to such death no thanks are due, or glory--name it not. if you accept me, if my offered life be grateful to you, willingly i give it for these; but by constraint i will not die." very fine are her parting advice and injunctions to them all: "farewell! revered old man, farewell! and teach these youths in all things to be wise, like thee, naught will avail them more." macaria has the clear minerva eye; antigone's is deeper and more capable of emotion, but calm; iphigenia's glistening, gleaming with angel truth, or dewy as a hidden violet. i am sorry that tennyson, who spoke with such fitness of all the others in his "dream of fair women," has not of iphigenia. of her alone he has not made a fit picture, but only of the circumstances of the sacrifice. he can never have taken to heart this work of euripides, yet he was so worthy to feel it. of jephtha's daughter he has spoken as he would of iphigenia, both in her beautiful song, and when "i heard him, for he spake, and grief became a solemn scorn of ills. it comforts me in this one thought to dwell-- that i subdued me to my father's will; because the kiss he gave me, ere i fell, sweetens the spirit still. moreover it is written, that my race hewed ammon, hip and thigh, from arroer or arnon unto minneth. here her face glowed as i looked on her. she looked her lips; she left me where i stood; 'glory to god,' she sang, and past afar, thridding the sombre boskage of the woods, toward the morning-star." in the "trojan dames" there are fine touches of nature with regard to cassandra. hecuba shows that mixture of shame and reverence that prose kindred always do, towards the inspired child, the poet, the elected sufferer for the race. when the herald announces that she is chosen to be the mistress of agamemnon, hecuba answers indignant, and betraying the involuntary pride and faith she felt in this daughter. "the virgin of apollo, whom the god, radiant with golden looks, allowed to live. in her pure vow of maiden chastity? _tal_. with love the raptured virgin smote his heart. _hec_. cast from thee, o my daughter, cast away thy sacred wand; rend off the honored wreaths, the splendid ornaments that grace thy brows." but the moment cassandra appears, singing wildly her inspired song, hecuba, calls her "my _frantic_ child." yet how graceful she is in her tragic phrenzy, the chorus shows-- "how sweetly at thy house's ills thou smilest, chanting what haply thou wilt not show true!" but if hecuba dares not trust her highest instinct about her daughter, still less can the vulgar mind of the herald (a man not without tenderness of heart, but with no princely, no poetic blood) abide the wild, prophetic mood which insults his prejudices both as to country and decorums of the sex. yet agamemnon, though not a noble man, is of large mould, and could admire this strange beauty which excited distaste in common minds. "_tal_. what commands respect, and is held high as wise, is nothing better than the mean of no repute; for this most potent king of all the grecians, the much-honored son of atreus, is enamored with his prize, this frantic raver. i am a poor man, yet would i not receive her to my bed." cassandra answers, with a careless disdain, "this is a busy slave." with all the lofty decorum of manners among the ancients, how free was their intercourse, man to man, how full the mutual understanding between prince and "busy slave!" not here in adversity only, but in the pomp of power it was so. kings were approached with ceremonious obeisance, but not hedged round with etiquette; they could see and know their fellows. the andromache here is just as lovely as that of the iliad. to her child whom they are about to murder, the same that was frightened at the "glittering plume," she says, "dost thou weep, my son? hast thou a sense of thy ill fate? why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why hold my robes, and shelter thee beneath my wings, like a young bird? no more my hector comes, returning from the tomb; he grasps no more his glittering spear, bringing protection to thee." * * * * * * * "o, soft embrace, and to thy mother dear. o, fragrant breath! in vain i swathed thy infant limbs, in vain i gave thee nurture at this breast, and tolled, wasted with care. _if ever_, now embrace, now clasp thy mother; throw thine arms around my neck, and join thy cheek, thy lips to mine." as i look up, i meet the eyes of beatrice cenci, beautiful one! these woes, even, were less than thine, yet thou seemest to understand them all. thy clear, melancholy gaze says, they, at least, had known moments of bliss, and the tender relations of nature had not been broken and polluted from the very first. yes! the gradations of woe are all but infinite: only good can be infinite. certainly the greeks knew more of real home intercourse and more of woman than the americans. it is in vain to tell me of outward observances. the poets, the sculptors, always tell the truth. in proportion as a nation is refined, women _must_ have an ascendency. it is the law of nature. beatrice! thou wert not "fond of life," either, more than those princesses. thou wert able to cut it down in the full flower of beauty, as an offering to _the best_ known to thee. thou wert not so happy as to die for thy country or thy brethren, but thou wert worthy of such an occasion. in the days of chivalry, woman was habitually viewed more as an ideal; but i do not know that she inspired a deeper and more home-felt reverence than iphigenia in the breast of achilles, or macarla in that of her old guardian, iolaus. we may, with satisfaction, add to these notes the words to which haydn has adapted his magnificent music in "the creation." "in native worth and honor clad, with beauty, courage, strength adorned, erect to heaven, and tall, he stands, a man!--the lord and king of all! the large and arched front sublime of wisdom deep declares the seat, and in his eyes with brightness shines the soul, the breath and image of his god. with fondness leans upon his breast the partner for him formed,--a woman fair, and graceful spouse. her softly smiling virgin looks, of flowery spring the mirror, bespeak him love, and joy and bliss." whoever has heard this music must have a mental standard as to what man and woman should be. such was marriage in eden when "erect to heaven _he_ stood;" but since, like other institutions, this must be not only reformed, but revived, the following lines may be offered as a picture of something intermediate,--the seed of the future growth:-- h. the sacred marriage. and has another's life as large a scope? it may give due fulfilment to thy hope, and every portal to the unknown may ope. if, near this other life, thy inmost feeling trembles with fateful prescience of revealing the future deity, time is still concealing; if thou feel thy whole force drawn more and more to launch that other bark on seas without a shore; and no still secret must be kept in store; if meannesses that dim each temporal deed, the dull decay that mars the fleshly weed, and flower of love that seems to fall and leave no seed-- hide never the full presence from thy sight of mutual aims and tasks, ideals bright, which feed their roots to-day on all this seeming blight. twin stars that mutual circle in the heaven, two parts for spiritual concord given, twin sabbaths that inlock the sacred seven; still looking to the centre for the cause, mutual light giving to draw out the powers, and learning all the other groups by cognizance of one another's laws. the parent love the wedded love includes; the one permits the two their mutual moods; the two each other know, 'mid myriad multitudes; with child-like intellect discerning love, and mutual action energising love, in myriad forms affiliating love. a world whose seasons bloom from pole to pole, a force which knows both starting-point and goal, a home in heaven,--the union in the soul. women." this hastened results. the shop assistants of both sexes organized themselves conjointly in amsterdam in . there are two organizations of domestic servants. the dutch woman's rights advocates proved by investigation that for the same work the workingwomen--because they were women--were paid per cent less than men. the "workingwomen's information bureau," which was made into a permanent institution as a result of the exhibition of , has been concerning itself with the protection of workingwomen and with their organization. the women organizers belong to the middle class. the socialist party in the netherlands has been organizing workingwomen into trade-unions. in this the party has encountered the same difficulties as exist elsewhere; to the present time it can point only to small successes. two of the socialist woman's rights advocates are henrietta roland and roosje vos. henrietta roland is of middle-class parentage, being the daughter of a lawyer; she is the wife of an artist of repute. roosje vos, on the contrary, comes from the lower classes. both of these women played an important part in the strike of . they organized the "united garment workers' union." in spite of the fact that a woman can be ruler of the netherlands, the dutch women possess only an insignificant right of suffrage. in the dike associations they have a right to vote if they are taxpayers or own property adjoining the dikes. in june, , the lutheran synod gave women the same right to vote in church affairs as the men possess. the evangelical synod, on the other hand, rejected a similar measure as well as one providing for the ordaining of women preachers. an attempt to secure municipal suffrage for women failed, and resulted in the enactment of reactionary laws. in dr. aletta jacobs (the first woman doctor in the netherlands), acting on the advice of the well-known jurist--and later minister--van houten, requested an amsterdam magistrate to enter her name on the list of municipal electors. as a taxpayer she was entitled to this right. at the same time she requested parliament to grant her the suffrage in national elections. both requests were summarily refused. in order to make such requests impossible in the future, parliament inserted the word "male" in the election law.[ ] these occurrences aroused in the dutch women an interest in political affairs; and in they organized a "woman's suffrage society," which soon spread to all parts of the country. the liberals, radicals, liberal democrats, and socialists admitted women members to their political clubs and frequently consulted the women concerning the selection of candidates. the clubs of the conservative and clerical parties have refused to admit women. at the general meeting in a part of the members of the "woman's suffrage society" separated from the organization and formed the "woman's suffrage league" (the _bond voor vrouwenkiesrecht_,--the older organization was called _vereeniging voor vrouenkiesrecht_). both carry on an energetic propaganda in the entire country, the older organization being the more radical. in the older organization made all necessary preparations for the amsterdam congress of the woman's suffrage alliance, which resulted in a large increase in its membership (from to ), and resulted, furthermore, in the founding of a men's league for woman's suffrage (modeled after the english organization). the question of woman's suffrage has aroused a lively interest throughout the netherlands; even the _bond_ increased its membership during the winter of and from to . in september, , there were two great demonstrations in the hague in favor of _universal_ suffrage for both men and women. the right to vote in holland is based on the payment of a property tax or ground rent; therefore numerous proposals in favor of widening the suffrage had been made previously. when a liberal ministry came into power in , it undertook a reform of the suffrage laws; in the committee on the constitution, by a vote of six out of seven, recommended that parliament grant active and passive suffrage to men and women. but with the fall of the liberal ministry fell the hope of having this measure enacted, for there is nothing to be expected from the present government, composed of catholic and protestant conservatives. as has already been stated, propaganda is in the meantime being carried on with increasing vigor, and in java a woman's suffrage society has also been organized. a noted jurist, who is a member of the dutch _bond voor vrouwenkiesrecht_, has just issued a pamphlet in which he proves the necessity of granting woman's suffrage: "man makes the laws. wherever the interests of the unmarried or the married woman are in conflict with the interests of man, the rights of the woman will be set aside. this is injurious to man, woman, and child, and it blocks progress. the remedy is to be found only in woman's suffrage. the granting of woman's suffrage is an urgent demand of justice." switzerland[ ] total population: , , . women: about , , . men: about , , . federation of swiss women's clubs. woman's suffrage league. switzerland's existence and welfare depend on the harmony of the german, the french, and the italian elements of the population. switzerland is accustomed to considering three racial elements; out of three different demands it produces one acceptable compromise. naturally the swiss woman's rights movement has steadily developed in the most peaceful manner. no literary manifesto, no declaration of principles of freedom is at the root of this movement. it is supported by public opinion, which is gradually being educated to the level of the demands of the movement. the woman's rights movement began in switzerland as late as ; in the swiss woman's club movement was started. the federation of women's clubs is made up of cantonal women's clubs in zurich, berne, geneva, st. gallen, basel, lausanne, neuchâtel, and in other cities, as well as of intercantonal clubs, such as the "swiss public utility woman's club" (_schweizer gemeinnütziger verein_), "la fraternité," the "intercantonal committee of federated women," etc. recently a catholic woman's league was formed. since per cent of the swiss women remain unmarried, the woman's rights movement is a social necessity. in the field of education the authorities have been favorable to women in every way. in nine cantons the elementary schools are coeducational. there are public institutions for higher learning for girls in all cities. in german switzerland (zurich, winterthur, st. gallen, berne) girls are admitted to the higher institutions of learning for boys, or they can prepare themselves in the girls' schools for the examination required for entrance to the universities (_matura_). there are seminaries that admit girls only; the seminaries in küssnacht, rorschach, and croie are coeducational. women teachers are not appointed in the elementary schools of the cantons of glarus and appenzell-outer-rhodes. on the other hand in the cantons of geneva, neuchâtel, and ticino to per cent of the teachers in the elementary schools are women. they are given lower salaries than the men. the canton of zurich pays (by law) equal wages to its men and women teachers, but the additional salary paid by the municipalities and rural districts to the men teachers is greater than that paid to the women. in its elementary schools the canton of vaud employs women teachers, some of whom are married. the swiss universities have been open to women since the early sixties of the nineteenth century. as in france, the native women use this right far less than foreign women, especially russians and germans. the total number of women studying in the swiss universities is about . most of the swiss women that have studied in the universities enter the teaching profession. women are frequently employed as teachers in high schools, as clerks, and as librarians. sometimes these positions are filled by foreign women. the first woman lecturer in a university in which german is the language used has been employed in berne since . she is dr. anna tumarkin, a native russian, having the right to teach in universities æsthetics and the history of modern philosophy. in she was appointed professor. in each of the universities of zurich, berne, and geneva, a woman has been appointed as university lecturer. women doctors practice in all of the larger cities. there are twelve in zurich. the city council of zurich has decided to furnish free assistance to women during confinement, and to establish a municipal maternity hospital. in zurich there has been established for women a hospital entirely under the control of women; the chief physician is frau dr. heim. the practice of law has been open to women in the canton of zurich since , and in the canton of geneva since . miss anna mackenroth, _dr. jur._, a native german, was the first swiss woman lawyer. miss nelly favre was the second. miss dr. brüstlein was refused admission to the bar in berne. miss favre was the first woman to plead before the federal court in berne, the capital. as yet there are no women preachers in switzerland. in lausanne there is a woman engineer. in the field of technical schools for swiss women, much remains to be done. the commercial education of women is also neglected by the state, while the professional training of men is everywhere promoted. women are employed in the postal and telegraph service. the swiss hotel system offers remunerative positions and thoroughly respectable callings to women of good family. in the number of women laborers was , ; they are engaged chiefly in the textile and ready-made clothing industries, in lacemaking, cabinetmaking, and the manufacture of food products, pottery, perfumes, watches and clocks, jewelry, embroidery, and brushes.[ ] owing to french influence, laws for the protection of women laborers are opposed, especially in geneva. the inspection of factories is largely in the hands of men. home industry is a blessing in certain regions, a curse in others. this depends on the intensity of the work and on the degree of industrialism. the trade-union movement is still very weak among women laborers. according to the canton the movement has a purely economic or a socialist-political character. only a few organizations of workingwomen belong to the swiss federation of women's clubs. since the men's trade-unions have admitted women. the first women factory inspectors were appointed in . according to the census of august , , , persons in switzerland are engaged in home industry; this number is . per cent of the total number of persons ( , ) engaged in these industries. the foremost of the home industries is the manufacture of embroidery, engaging a total of , persons, of whom . per cent work at home. the next important home industries are silk-cloth weaving, engaging , persons ( per cent of the total employed); watch making, engaging , persons in home industry (or . per cent of the total); silk-ribbon weaving, engaging persons (or . per cent of the total). the highest percentage of home workers is found among the straw plaiters ( . per cent); then follow the military uniform tailors ( . per cent), the embroidery makers ( . per cent), the wood carvers and ivory carvers ( per cent), the silk-ribbon weavers ( . per cent), and the ready-made clothing workers ( . per cent). the international association for labor legislation, as everybody knows, is trying to ascertain whether an international regulation of labor conditions is possible in the embroidery-making industry. the statistics just given indicate the importance of this investigation for switzerland. the statistics of the home industries of switzerland will be found in the ninth issue of the second volume of the swiss statistical review (_zeitschrift für schweizerische statistik_). the new swiss law for the protection of women laborers has produced a number of genuine improvements for the workingwomen. a maximum working day of hours and a working week of hours have been established. women can work overtime not more than days a year; they are then paid at least per cent extra. the most significant innovation is the legal regulation of _vacations_. every laborer that is not doing piecework or being paid by the hour must, after one year of continuous service for the same firm, be granted six consecutive days of vacation with full pay; after two years of continuous service for the same firm the laborer must be given eight days; after three years of service ten days; and after the fourth year twelve days annually. a violation of this law renders the offending employer liable to a fine of to francs ($ to $ ). in a new civil code will come into force. its composition has been influenced by the german civil code. the government, however, regarded the "swiss federation of women's clubs" as the representative of the women, and charged a member of the code commission to put himself into communication with the executive committee of the federation and to express the wishes of the federation at the deliberations of the committee. this is better than nothing, but still insufficient. when the civil code had been adopted, every male elector was given a copy; the women's clubs secured copies only after prolonged effort. the property laws in the new swiss civil code provide for joint property holding,--not separation of property rights. however, even with joint property holding the wife's earnings and savings belong to her (a provision which the german cantons opposed). on the other hand, affiliation cases are admissible (the french cantons opposed them). the wife has the full status of a legal person before the law and full civil ability, and _shares parental authority with the father_. french switzerland (through the influence of the code napoleon) opposes the pecuniary responsibility of the illegal father toward the mother and child. official regulation of prostitution has been abolished in all the cantons except geneva; several years ago a measure to introduce it again was rejected by the people of the canton zurich by a vote of , to , . geneva is the headquarters of the international federation for the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution. in the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution was again demanded in the city council. by a vote of the people the canton vaud accepted a measure prohibiting the manufacture, storage, and sale of absinthe. recently the swiss women have presented a petition requesting that an illicit mother be granted the right to call herself "frau" and use this designation (mrs.) before her name. the benevolent purpose of this movement is self-evident. through this measure the illicit mother is placed in a position enabling her openly to devote herself to the rearing of her child. with this purpose in view, not less than , women have signed a petition to the swiss federal council, requesting that a law be enacted compelling registrars to use the title "frau" (mrs.) when requested to do so by the person concerned. thirty-four women's clubs have collectively declared in favor of this petition. women exercise the right of municipal suffrage only in those localities whose male population is absent at work during a large part of the year (as in russia). women can be elected as members of school boards and as poor-law administrators in the canton zurich; as members of school boards in the canton neuchâtel. the question of granting women the right to vote in church affairs has long been advocated in the canton geneva by the reverend thomas müller, a member of the consistory of the national protestant church, and by herr locher, chief of the department of public instruction of the canton zurich. in the canton geneva, where there is separation of church and state, agitation in favor of the reform is being carried on. the women in the canton vaud have exercised the right to vote in the _Église libre_ since , and in the _Église nationale_ since . since , women have exercised the right to vote in the _Église évangélique libre_ of geneva. the woman's suffrage movement was really started by the renowned professor hilty, of berne, who declared himself (in the swiss year book of ) in _favor_ of woman's suffrage. the first society concerning itself exclusively with woman's suffrage originated in geneva (_association pour le suffrage feminin_). later other organizations were formed in lausanne, chaux de fonds, neuenburg, and olten. the woman's reading circle of berne had, since , demanded political rights for women, and the zurich society for the reform of education for girls had worked in favor of woman's suffrage. on may , , these seven societies organized themselves into the national woman's suffrage league, and in june affiliated with the international woman's suffrage alliance. the report of the international woman's suffrage congress, amsterdam, , explains in a very lucid manner the political backwardness of the swiss women: switzerland regards itself as the model democracy; time has been required to make it clear that politically the women of this model state still have everything to achieve. the meeting of the committee of the international council of women in geneva (september, ) accomplished much for the movement. the swiss woman's public utility association, which had refused to join the swiss federation of women's clubs because the federation concerned itself with political affairs (the public utility association wishing to restrict itself to public utilities only), was given this instructive answer by professor hilty: "public utility and politics are not mutually exclusive; an educated woman that wishes to make a living without troubling herself about politics is incomprehensible to me. the women ought to take carlyle's words to heart: 'we are not here to submit to everything, but also to oppose, carefully to watch, and to win.'" germany total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . german federation of women's clubs. woman's suffrage league. in no european country has the woman's rights movement been confronted with more unfavorable conditions; nowhere has it been more persistently opposed. in recent times the women of no other country have lived through conditions of war such as the german women underwent during the thirty years' war and from to . such violence leaves a deep imprint on the character of a nation. moreover, it has been the fate of no other civilized nation to owe its political existence to a war triumphantly fought out in less than one generation. every war, every accentuation and promotion of militarism is a weakening of the forces of civilization and of woman's influence. "german masculinity is still so young," i once heard somebody say. a reinforcement of the woman's rights movement by a large liberal majority in the national assemblies, such as we find in england, france, and italy, is not to be thought of in germany. the theories of the rights of man and of citizens were never applied by german liberalism to woman in a broad sense, and the socialist party is not yet in the majority. the political training of the german man has in many respects not yet been extended to include the principles of the american declaration of independence or the french declaration of the rights of man; his respect for individual liberty has not yet been developed as in england; therefore he is much harder to win over to the cause of "woman's rights." hence the struggle against the official regulation of prostitution has been left chiefly to the german women; whereas in england and in france the physicians, lawyers, and members of parliament have been the chief supporters of abolition. i am reminded also of the inexpressibly long and difficult struggle that we women had to carry on in order to secure the admission of women to the universities; the establishment of high schools for girls; and the improvement of the opportunities given to women teachers. in no other country were women teachers for girls wronged to such an extent as in germany. the results of the last industrial census ( ) give to the demands of the woman's rights movement an invaluable support: _germany has nine and a half million married women, i.e._ only one half of all adult women (over years of age) are married. in germany, too, marriage is not a lifelong "means of support" for woman, or a "means of support" for the whole number of women. therefore the demands of woman for a complete professional and industrial training and freedom to choose her calling appear in the history of our time with a tremendous weight, a weight that the founders of the movement hardly anticipated. the german woman's rights movement originated during the troublous times immediately preceding the revolution of . the founders--augusta schmidt, louise otto-peters, henrietta goldschmidt, ottilie v. steyber, lina morgenstern--were "forty-eighters"; they believed in the right of woman to an education, to work, and to choose her calling, and as a citizen to participate directly in public life. only the first three of these demands are contained in the programme of the "german general woman's club" (founded in by four of these women, natives of leipzig, on the anniversary of the battle of leipzig). at that time woman's right to vote was put aside as something utopian. the founders of the woman's rights movement, however, from the very first included in their programme the question of women industrial laborers, and attacked the question in a practical way by organizing a society for the education of workingwomen. the energies of the middle-class women were at this time very naturally absorbed by their own affairs. they suffered want, material as well as intellectual. therefore it was a matter of securing a livelihood for middle-class women no longer provided for at home. this was the first duty of a woman's rights movement originating with the middle class. of special service in the field of education and the liberal professions[ ] were the efforts of augusta schmidt, henrietta goldschmidt, marie loeper-housselle, helena lang, maria lischnewska, and mrs. kettler. kindergartens were established; also courses for the instruction of adult women, for women principals of high schools, for women in the _gymnasiums_ and _realgymnasiums_. moreover, the admission of women to the universities was secured; the general association of german women teachers was founded, also the prussian association of women public school teachers, and high schools for girls. the prussian law of for the reform of girls' high schools (providing for the education of girls over years,--_realgymnasiums_ or _gymnasiums_ for girls from to years, women's colleges for women from to years) was enacted under pressure from the german woman's rights movement. both the state and city must now do more for the education of girls. the academically trained women teachers in the high schools are given consideration when the appointments of principals and teachers for the advanced classes are made. the women teachers have organized themselves and are demanding salaries equal to those of the men teachers. at the present time girls are admitted to the boys' schools (_gymnasiums_, _realgymnasiums_, etc.) in baden, hessen, the imperial provinces of alsace and lorraine, oldenburg, and wurttemberg. the german federation of women's clubs and the convention of the delegates of the rhenish cities and towns have made the same demands for prussia. the prussian association of women public school teachers is demanding that women teachers be appointed as principals, and is resisting with all its power the threatened injustice to women in the adjustment of salaries. the universities in baden and wurttemberg were the first to admit women; then followed the universities in hessen, bavaria, saxony, the imperial provinces, and finally,--in ,--prussia. the number of women enrolled in berlin university is . about women doctors are practicing in germany; as yet there are no women preachers, but there are women lawyers, one of whom in pleaded the case of an indicted youth before the altona juvenile court. although there are only a few women lawyers in germany, women are now permitted to act as counsel for the defendant, there being such women counselors in bavaria. recently ( ) even bavaria refused women admission to the civil service. in the autumn there was appointed the first woman lecturer in a higher institution of learning,--this taking place in the mannheim school of commerce. within the last five years many new callings have been opened to women: they are librarians (of municipal, club, and private libraries) and have organized themselves into the association of women librarians; they are assistants in laboratories, clinics, and hospitals; they make scientific drawings, and some have specialized in microscopic drawing; during the season for the manufacture of beet sugar, women are employed as chemists in the sugar factories; there is a woman architect in berlin, and a woman engineer in hamburg. women factory inspectors have performed satisfactory service in all the states of the empire. but the future field of work for the german women is the sociological field. state, municipal, and private aid is demanded by the prevailing destitution. at the present time women work in the sociological field without pay. in the future much of this work must be performed by the _professional_ sociological women workers. in about cities women are guardians of the poor. there are women superintendents of orphan asylums; women are sought by the authorities as guardians. women's coöperation as members of school committees and deputations promotes the organized woman's rights movement. the first woman inspector of dwellings has been appointed in hessen. nurses are demanding that state examinations be made requisite for those wishing to become nurses; some cities of germany have appointed women as nurses for infant children. in hessen and ostmark [the eastern part of prussia], women are district administrators. there is an especially great demand for women to care for dependent children and to work in the juvenile courts; this will lead to the appointment of paid probation officers. in southern germany, women police matrons are employed; in prussia there are women doctors employed in the police courts. there are also women school physicians. since , trained women have entered the midwives' profession. when the german general woman's club was formed in , there was no german empire; berlin had not yet become the capital of the empire. but since berlin has become the seat of the imperial parliament, berlin very naturally has become the center of the woman's rights movement. this occurred through the establishment of the magazine _frauenwohl_ [_woman's welfare_] in , by mrs. cauer. in this manner the younger and more radical woman's rights movement was begun. the women that organized the movement had interested themselves in the educational field. the radicals now entered the sociological and political fields. women making radical demands allied themselves with mrs. cauer; they befriended her, and coöperated with her. this is an undisputed fact, though some of these women later left mrs. cauer and allied themselves with either the "conservatives" or the "socialists." in the organization of trade-unions for women not exclusively of the middle class, minna cauer led the way. in , with the aid of mr. julius meyer and mr. silberstein, she organized the "commercial and industrial benevolent society for women employees." the society has now , members. state insurance for private employees is now ( ) a question of the day. jeannette schwerin founded the information bureau of the ethical culture society, which furnished girls and women assistants for social work. at the same time jeannette schwerin demanded that women be permitted to act as poor-law guardians. the agitation in public meetings and legislative assemblies against the civil code was instituted by dr. anita augsburg and mrs. stritt. the opposition to state regulation of prostitution was begun by the "radical" hanna bieber-böhm and anna pappritz. lily v. gikycki was the first to speak publicly concerning the civic duty of women. the woman's suffrage society was organized in by mrs. cauer, dr. augsburg, miss heymann, and dr. schirmacher. in the radical section of the "german federation of women's clubs" proposed that women's trade-unions be admitted to the federation. this radical section had often given offense to the "conservatives"--in the federation, for instance--by the proposal of this measure; but the radicals in this way have stimulated the movement. as early as the berlin congress of the international council of women had shown that the federation, being composed chiefly of conservative elements, should adopt in its programme all the demands of the radicals, including woman's suffrage. the differences between the radicals and the conservatives are differences of personality rather than of principles. the radicals move to the time of _allegro_; the conservatives to the time of _andante_. in all public movements there is usually the same antagonism; it occurred also in the english and the american woman's rights movements. in no other country (with the exception of belgium and hungary) is the schism between the woman's rights movement of the middle class and the woman's rights movement of the socialists so marked as in germany. at the international woman's congress of (which was held through the influence of mrs. lina morgenstern and mrs. cauer) two social democrats, lily braun and clara zetkin, declared that they never would coöperate with the middle-class women. this attitude of the social democrats is the result of historical circumstances. the law against the german socialists has increased their antagonism to the middle class. nevertheless, this harsh statement by lily braun and clara zetkin was unnecessary. it has just been stated that the founders of the german woman's rights movement had included the demands of the workingwomen in their programme, and that the radicals (by whom the congress of had been called, and who for years had been engaged in politics and in the organization of trade-unions) had in demanded the admission of women's labor organizations to the federation of women's clubs. hence an alignment of the two movements would have been exceedingly fortunate. however, a part of the socialists, laying stress on ultimate aims, regard "class hatred" as their chief means of agitation, and are therefore on principle opposed to any peaceful coöperation with the middle class. a part of the women socialist leaders are devoting themselves to the organization of workingwomen,--a task that is as difficult in germany as elsewhere. almost everywhere in germany women laborers are paid less than men laborers. the average daily wage is marks ( cents), but there are many workingwomen that receive less. in the ready-made clothing industry there are weekly wages of to marks ($ . to $ . ). at the last congress of home workers, held at berlin, further evidence of starvation in the home industries was educed. but for these wages the german woman's rights movement is not to be held responsible. in the social-political field the woman's rights advocates hold many advanced views. almost without exception they are advocating legislation for the protection of the workingwomen; they have stimulated the organization of the "home-workers' association" in berlin; they urged the workingwomen to seek admission to the hirsch-duncker trades unions (the german national association of trade-unions); they have established a magazine for workingwomen, and have organized a league for the consideration of the interests of workingwomen. in germany had , organized workingwomen and female domestic servants.[ ] most of these belong to the socialistic trade-unions. the maximum workday for women is fixed at ten hours. the protection of maternity is promoted by the state as well as by women's clubs. peculiar to germany is the denominational schism in the woman's rights movement. the precedent for this was established by the "german evangelical woman's league," founded in , with paula müller, of hanover, as president. the organization of the league was due to the feeling that "it is a sin to witness with indifference how women that wish to know nothing of biblical christianity represent all the german women." the organization opposes equality of rights between man and woman; but in it joined the federation of women's clubs. in a "catholic woman's league" was formed, but it has not joined the federation. there has also been formed a "society of jewish women." we representatives of the interdenominational woman's rights movement deplore this denominational disunion. these organizations are important because they make accessible groups of people that otherwise could not be reached by us. another characteristic of the german woman's rights movement is its extensive and thorough organization. the smallest cities are to-day visited by women speakers. our "unity of spirit,"--praised so frequently, and now and then ridiculed,--is our chief power in the midst of specially difficult conditions in which we must work. with tenacity and patience we have slowly overcome unusual difficulties,--to the present without any help worth mentioning from the men. in the civil code of the most important demands of the women were not given just consideration. to be sure, woman is legally competent, but the property laws make joint property holding legal (wives control their earnings and savings), and the mother has no parental authority. relative to the impending revision of the criminal law, the women made their demands as early as in a general meeting of the federation of women's clubs, when a three days' discussion took place. since the women have progressed considerably in their knowledge of law. the german women strongly advocate the establishment of juvenile courts such as the united states are now introducing. the federation also demands that women be permitted to act as magistrates, jurors, lawyers, and judges. in the struggle against official regulation of prostitution the women were supported in the prussian landtag by deputy münsterberg, of dantzig. prussia established a more humane regulation of prostitution, but as yet has not appointed the extraparliamentary commission for the study of the control of prostitution, a measure that was demanded by the women. the most significant recent event is the admission of women to political organizations and meetings by the imperial law of may , . thereby the german women were admitted to political life. the woman's suffrage society--founded in , and in converted into a league--was able previous to to expand only in the south german states (excluding bavaria). by this imperial law the northern states of the empire were opened, and a national woman's suffrage society was formed in prussia, in bavaria, and in mecklenburg. as early as , after the dissolution of the reichstag, the women took an active part in the campaign, a right granted them by the _vereinsrecht_ (law of association). in prussia, saxony, and oldenburg the women worked for universal suffrage for women in landtag elections. since the political woman's rights movement has been of first importance in germany. as the women taxpayers in a number of states can exercise municipal suffrage by proxy, and the women owners of large estates in saxony and prussia can exercise the suffrage in elections for the diet of the circle (_kreistag_) by proxy, an effort is being made to attract these women to the cause of woman's suffrage. in the protestant women of the imperial provinces (alsace and lorraine) were granted the right to vote in church elections, a right that had been granted to the women of the german congregations in paris as early as [ ]. luxemburg total population: , . women: , . men: , . no federation of women's clubs. no woman's suffrage league. the woman's rights movement in luxemburg originated in december, , with the organization of the "society for women's interests" (_verein für fraueninteressen_), which has worked admirably. the society has members, and is in good financial condition. throughout the country it is now carrying on successful propaganda in the interest of higher education for girls and in the interest of women in the industries. in luxemburg, after girls have graduated from a convent, they have no further educational facilities. the society has established a department for legal protection, and an employment agency; it has published an inquiry into the living conditions in the capital. in the capital city there is a woman member of the poor-law commission; ten women are guardians of the poor; one woman is a school commissioner; and there is a woman inspector of the municipal hospital. the society is well supported by the liberal elements of the government and the public. its chief object must be the establishment of a secular school that will prepare women for entrance to the universities. german austria total population: about , , . women: about , , . men: about , , . federation of austrian women's clubs. no woman's suffrage league. the austrian woman's rights movement is based primarily on economic conditions. more than per cent of the women in austria are engaged in non-domestic callings. this percentage is a strong argument against the theory that woman's sphere is merely domestic. unfortunately this non-domestic service of the austrian women is seldom very remunerative. austria itself is a country of low wages. this condition is due to a continuous influx of slavic workers, to large agricultural provinces, to the tenacious survivals of feudalism, etc. therefore women's wages and salaries are lower than in western europe, and low living expenses do not prevail everywhere (vienna is one of the most expensive cities to live in). the "women's industrial school society," founded in , attempted to raise the industrial ability of the girls of the middle class. in accordance with the views of the time, needlework was taught. free schools for the instruction of adults were established in vienna. the economic misery following the war of led to the organization of the "woman's industrial society," which enlarged woman's sphere of activity as did the lette-society in berlin. since the woman's rights movement has secured adherents from the best educated middle-class women,--namely, women teachers. in that year the catholic women teachers organized a "catholic women teachers' society." in was organized the interdenominational "austrian women teachers' society." this society has performed excellent service. the women teachers, who since had been given positions in the public schools, were paid less than the men teachers having the same training and doing the same work. therefore the women teachers presented themselves to the provincial legislatures, demanded an increase in salary, and, in spite of the opposition of the male teachers, secured the increase by the law of . in a society devoted its efforts to the improvement of the girls' high schools, which had been greatly neglected. in the women writers and the women artists organized, their male colleagues having refused to admit women to the existing professional societies. in the women music teachers likewise organized themselves. at the same time the question of higher education for women was agitated. in vienna a "lyceum" class--the first of its kind--was opened to prepare girls for entrance to the universities (_abiturientenexamen_). admission to the boys' high schools was refused to girls in vienna, but was granted in the provinces (troppau, and mährisch-schönberg). girls were at all times admitted as outsiders (_extraneae_) to the examinations held on leaving college (_abiturientenexamen_). in this way many girls passed the "leaving" examination before they began their studies in switzerland. until the austrian universities remained closed to women. the law faculties do not as yet admit women. the women's clubs are striving to secure this reform. those women that had studied medicine in switzerland previous to , and wished to practice in austria, required special imperial permission, which was never withheld from them in their noble struggle. in this way dr. kerschbaumer began her practice as an oculist in salzburg. however, the countess possanner, m.d., after passing the swiss state examination, also took the austrian examination. she is now practicing in vienna. as the austrian doctors have active and passive suffrage in the election to the board of physicians (_Ärztekammer_)[ ] dr. possanner also requested this right. her request was refused by the magistrate in vienna because, _as a woman_, she did not have the suffrage in municipal elections, and the suffrage for the board of physicians could be exercised only by those doctors that were municipal electors.[ ] thereupon dr. possanner appealed her case to the government, to the minister of the interior, and finally to the administrative court. the court decided in favor of the petition. it must be emphasized, however, that the board of physicians favored the request from the beginning. women preachers and women lawyers are as yet unknown in austria. as in former times, the teaching profession is still the chief sphere of activity for the middle-class women of german austria. according to the law of they can be appointed not only as teachers in the elementary schools for girls, but also as teachers of the lower classes in the boys' schools. their not being municipal voters has two results: if the municipality is seeking votes, it appoints men teachers that are "favorably disposed"; if the municipality is politically opposed to the male teachers, it appoints women teachers in preference. but to be the plaything of political whims is not a very worthy condition to be in. if women teachers marry, they need not withdraw from the service (except in the province of styria). more than per cent of the women teachers in the whole of austria are married, more than per cent are widows. the women comprise about one fourth of the total number of elementary school teachers, of whom there are . their annual salaries vary from to guldens ($ . to $ . ). the ordinary salary of guldens is so insufficient that many elementary school teachers actually starve. the competition of the nuns is feared by the whole body of secular school teachers. in tyrol instruction in the elementary schools is still almost wholly in the hands of the religious orders. the sisters work for little pay; they have a community life and consume the resources of the dead hand. of the secondary schools for girls some are ecclesiastic, some are municipal, and some private. the lyceums give a very good education (mathematics is obligatory), but as yet there are no ordinary secondary schools whose leaving examinations are equivalent to the _abiturientenexamen_ of the _gymnasiums_. the "academic woman's club" in vienna is demanding this reform, and the federation of austrian women's clubs is demanding the development of the municipal girls' schools into _realschulen_. the state subsidizes various institutions. the girls' _gymnasiums_ were privately founded. dr. cecilia wendt, upon whom the degree of doctor of philosophy was conferred by vienna university, and who took the state examination for secondary school teachers in mathematics, physics, and german, was the first woman appointed as teacher in a _gymnasium_, being appointed in the vienna _gymnasium_ for girls. since , women have been appointed in the postal and telegraph service. like most of the subordinate state officials, they receive poor pay, and dare not marry. the women telegraph operators in the central office in vienna are paid guldens ($ . ) a month. "the woman telegraph operator can lay no claims to the pleasures of existence." "these girls starve spiritually as well as physically."[ ] during the past twenty-eight years salaries have not been increased. every two years a two-week vacation is granted. since there has existed a relief society for women postal and telegraph employees. the woman stenographer, to-day so much sought after in business offices, was in _absolutely excluded_ from the courses in gabelsberger stenography[ ] by the ministry of public instruction. in the courts of chancery (_advokatenkanzleien_) women stenographers are paid to guldens ($ . to $ . ) a month. they are given the same pay in the stores and offices where they are expected to use typewriters. they are regarded as subordinates, though frequently they are thorough specialists and masters of languages. in the governmental service the women subordinates that work by the day ( . guldens,-- cents) have no hope for advancement or pension. the first woman chief of a government office has been appointed to the sanitary department of the ministry of the labor department, in which there is also a woman librarian. it is not easy to imagine the deplorable condition of workingwomen when women public school teachers and women office clerks are expected to live on a monthly salary of $ . to $ . . the vienna inquiry into the condition of workingwomen in disclosed frightfully miserable conditions among workingwomen. since then, especially through the efforts of the socialists, the conditions have been somewhat improved. in vienna, efforts to organize women into trade-unions have been made,--especially among the bookbinders, hat makers, and tailors. outside vienna, organization has been effected chiefly among the women textile workers in silesia, as well as among the women employees of the state tobacco factories. the most thorough organization of women laborers is found in northern and western bohemia among the glassworkers and bead makers. in styria, salzburg, tyrol, and carinthia the organization of women is found only in isolated cases. everywhere the organization of women is made difficult by domestic misery, which consumes the energy, time, and interest of the women. the organized social-democratic women laborers of german austria have a permanent representation in the "women's imperial committee." of the , women organized in trade-unions, belong to the social-democratic party. the _magazine for workingwomen_ (_arbeiterinnenzeitung_) has , subscribers. women industrial inspectors have proved themselves efficient. it is to be expected as a result of the wretched economic conditions of the workingwomen that prostitution with its incidental earnings should be widespread in german austria. vienna is the refuge of those seeking work and seclusion (_verschwiegenheit_). the number of illicit births in vienna is, as in paris, one third of the total number of births. for these and other reasons the "general woman's club of austria" (_allgemeine Österreiche frauenverein_), founded in under the leadership of miss augusta fickert, has frequently concerned itself with the question of prostitution, of woman's wages, and of the official regulation of prostitution,--always being opposed to the last. the international federation for the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution (_internationale abolinistische föderation_) was, however, not represented in german austria before ; the austrian branch of this organization being established in in vienna. the middle-class women are doing much as leaders of the charitable, industrial, educational, and woman's suffrage societies to raise the status of woman in austria. the most prominent members of these societies are: augusta fickert, marianne hainisch, mrs. v. sprung, miss herzfelder, v. wolfring, mrs. v. listrow, rosa maireder, maria lang (editor of the excellent _dokumente der frauen_, which, unfortunately, were discontinued in ), mrs. schwietland, elsie federn (the superintendent of the settlement in the laborers' district in north vienna), mrs. jella hertzka, (mrs.) dr. goldmann, superintendent of the cottage lyceum, and others. these women frequently coöperate with the leaders of the socialistic woman's rights movement, mrs. schlesinger, mrs. popp, and others. the disunion of the two forces of the movement is much less marked in austria than in germany, the circumstances much more resembling those in italy. in these lands it is expected that the woman's rights movement will profit greatly through the growth of socialism. this is explained by the fact that the austrian liberals are not equal to the assaults of the conservatives. universal equal suffrage, which does not as yet exist in austria, has its most enthusiastic advocates among the socialists. with the austrian socialists, universal suffrage means woman's suffrage also.[ ] during the liberal era two rights were granted to the austrian women: since the women taxpayers vote by proxy in municipal elections, and since for the local legislatures (_provinciallandtagen_).[ ] in lower austria the _landtag_ in deprived them of this right, and in an attempt was made to deprive them of their municipal suffrage. but the women concerned successfully petitioned that they be left in possession of their active municipal suffrage. since the austrian women owners of large estates vote also for the imperial parliament through proxy. the austrian women, supported by the socialist deputies, pernerstorfer, kronawetter, adler, and others, have on several occasions demanded the passive suffrage in the election of school boards and poor-law guardians; they have also demanded a reform of the law of organization, so that women can be admitted to political organizations. to the present these efforts have been fruitless. when universal suffrage was granted in (creating the fifth class of voters), the women were disregarded. in the previous year a woman's suffrage committee had been established with headquarters in vienna. it is endeavoring especially to secure the repeal of paragraph of the law regulating organizations and public meetings. this law (like that of prussia and bavaria previous to ) excludes women from political organization, thus making the forming of a woman's suffrage society impossible. for this reason austria cannot join the international woman's suffrage alliance. during the consideration of the new municipal election laws in troppau (austrian silesia), it was proposed to withdraw the right of suffrage from the women taxpayers. they resisted the proposal energetically. at present the matter is before the supreme court. in voralberg the unmarried women taxpayers were also given the right to vote in elections of the _landtag_. the legal status of the austrian woman is similar to that of the french woman: the wife is under the guardianship of her husband; the property law provides for the amalgamation of property (not joint property holding, as in france). but the wife does not have control of her earnings and savings, as in germany under the civil code. the father alone has legal authority over the children. here the names of two women must be mentioned: bertha v. suttner, one of the founders of the peace movement, and marie v. ebner-eschenbach, the greatest living woman writer in the german language. both are austrians; and their country may well be proud of them. in austria the authorities are more favorably disposed toward the woman's rights movement than in germany, for example. hungary[ ] total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . federation of hungarian women's clubs. woman's suffrage league. at first the hungarian woman's rights movement was restricted to the advancement of girls' education. the attainment of national independence gave the women greater ambition; since they have striven for the establishment of higher institutions of learning for girls. in mrs. v. veres with twenty-two other women founded the "society for the advancement of girls' education." in , the first class in a high school for girls was formed in budapest. an esteemed scholar, p. gyulai, undertook the superintendence of the institution. similar schools were founded in the provinces. in the budapest model school was completed; in it was turned over to a woman superintendent, mrs. v. janisch. a seminary for women teachers was established, a special building being erected for the purpose. then the admission of women to the university was agitated. a special committee for this purpose was formed with dr. coloman v. csicky as chairman. in the meantime the "society" gave domestic economy courses and courses of instruction to adults (in its girls' high school). the minister of public instruction, v. wlassics, secured the imperial decree of november , , by which women were admitted to the universities of klausenburg and budapest (to the philosophical and medical faculties). it was now necessary to prepare women for the entrance examinations (_abiturientenexamen_). this was undertaken by the "general hungarian woman's club" (_allgemeine ungarische frauenverein_). with the aid of dr. béothy, a lecturer at the university of budapest, the club formulated a programme that was accepted by the minister of public instruction. by the rescript of july , , he authorized the establishment of a girls' gymnasium in budapest. it is evident that such reforms, when in the hands of _intelligent_ authorities, are put into working order as easily as a letter passes through the mails. in the professional callings we find women druggists, women doctors, and one woman architect. erica paulus, who has chosen the calling of architect (which elsewhere in europe has hardly been opened to women), is a transylvanian. among other things she has been given the supervision of the masonry, the glasswork, the roofing, and the interior decoration of the buildings of the evangelical-reformed college in klausenburg. a second woman architect, trained in the budapest technical school, is a builder in besztercze. higher education of women was promoted in the cities, the home industries of the hungarian rural districts were fostered. this was taken up by the "rural woman's industry society" (_landes-frauenindustrieverein_). aprons, carpets, textile fabrics, slippers, tobacco pouches, whip handles, and ornamental chests are made artistically according to antique models (this movement is analogous to that in scandinavia). large expositions aroused the interest of the public in favor of the national products, for the disposal of which the women of the society have labored with enthusiasm. these home industries give employment to about , women (and , men). hungary is preëminently an agricultural country and its wages are low. the promotion of home industry therefore had a great economic importance, for hungary is a center of traffic in girls. a great number of these poor ignorant country girls, reared in oriental stupor, congregate in budapest from all parts of hungary and the balkan states, to be bartered to the brothels of south america as "madjarli and hungara."[ ] an address that miss coote of the "international vigilance society" delivered in budapest resulted in the founding of the "society for combating the white slave trade." the committee was composed of countess czaky, baroness wenckheim, dr. ludwig gruber (royal public prosecutor), professor vambéry, and others. the recent draconic regulation of prostitution in pest ( ) caused the federation of hungarian women's clubs to oppose the official regulation of prostitution, and to form a department of morals, which is to be regarded as the hungarian branch of the international federation for the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution. since then, public opinion concerning the question has been aroused; the laws against the white slave traffic have been made more stringent and are being more rigidly enforced. a new development in hungary is the woman's suffrage movement (since ), represented in the "feminist society" (_feministenverein_). during the past five years the society has carried on a vigorous propaganda in budapest and various cities in the provinces (in budapest also with the aid of foreign women speakers); recently the society has also roused the countrywomen in favor of the movement. woman's suffrage is opposed by the clericals and the _social-democrats_, who favor only male suffrage in the impending introduction of universal suffrage[ ]. on march , , a delegation of woman's suffrage advocates went to the parliament. during the suffrage debates the women held public meetings. from the work of a. v. maclay, _le droit des femmes au travail_, i take the following statements: according to the industrial statistics of there were , , women in hungary engaged in agriculture. industry, mining, and transportation engaged , ; state and municipal service, and the liberal callings engaged , women. there were , women day laborers; , domestic servants; , women pursued undefined or unknown callings; , women lived on incomes from their property. since the number of women engaged in all the callings has increased more rapidly than the number of men ( . to . per cent being the average increase of the women engaged in gainful pursuits). in the women formed per cent of the industrial population. they were engaged chiefly in the manufacture of pottery ( per cent), bent-wood furniture ( per cent), matches ( per cent), clothing ( per cent), textiles ( per cent). in paper making and bookbinding per cent of the laborers are women. in the state mints per cent of the employees are women; the state tobacco factories employ , women, these being per cent of the total number of employees. of those engaged in commerce per cent are women. the number of women engaged in the civil service (as private secretaries) and in the liberal callings has increased even more than the number of women engaged in industry. the women engaged in office work have organized. in the number of women public school teachers was (there being , men), _i.e._ . per cent were women. in the best public schools there are more women teachers than men, the proportion being to ; in the girls' high schools there are women teachers to men teachers. in the railroads employed women; in the postal service employed women; in the telephone system employed women (and men). these women employees, unlike those of austria, are permitted to marry. chapter ii the romance countries in the romance countries the woman's rights movement is hampered by romance customs and by the catholic religion. the number of women in these countries is in many cases smaller than the number of men. in general, the girls are married at an early age, almost always through the negotiations of the parents. the education of women is in some respects very deficient. france total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . federation of french women's clubs. woman's suffrage league. the european woman's rights movement was born in france; it is a child of the revolution of . when a whole country enjoys freedom, equality, and fraternity, woman can no longer remain in bondage. the declaration of the rights of man apply to woman also. the european woman's rights movement is based on purely logical principles; not, as in the united states, on the practical exercise of woman's right to vote. this purely theoretical origin is not denied by the advocates of the woman's rights movement in france. it ought to be mentioned that the principles of the woman's rights movement were brought from france to england by mary wollstonecraft, and were stated in her pamphlet, _a vindication of the rights of women_. but enthusiastic mary wollstonecraft did not form a school in england, and the organized english woman's rights movement did not cast its lot with this revolutionist. what mary wollstonecraft did for england, olympe de gouges did for france in ; at that time she dedicated to the queen her little book, _the declaration of the rights of women_ (_la declaration des droits des femmes_). it happened that the declaration of the rights of man (_la declaration des droits de l'homme_) of referred only to the men. the national assembly recognized only male voters, and refused the petition of october , , in which a number of parisian women demanded universal suffrage in the election of national representatives. nothing is more peculiar than the attitude of the men advocates of liberty toward the women advocates of liberty. at that time woman's struggle for liberty had representatives in all social groups. in the aristocratic circles there was madame de stael, who as a republican (her father was swiss) never doubted the equality of the sexes; but by her actions showed her belief in woman's right to secure the highest culture and to have political influence. madame de stael's social position and her wealth enabled her to spread these views of woman's rights; she was never dependent on the men advocates of freedom. madame roland was typical of the educated republican bourgeoisie. she participated in the revolutionary drama and was a "political woman." on the basis of historical documents it can be asserted that the men advocates of freedom have not forgiven her. the intelligent people of the lower classes are represented by olympe de gouges and théroigne de mericourt. both played a political rôle; both were woman's rights advocates; of both it was said that they had forgotten the virtues of their sex,--modesty and submissiveness. the men of freedom still thought that the home offered their wives all the freedom they needed. the populace finally made demonstrations through woman's clubs. these clubs were closed in by the committee of public safety because the clubs disturbed "public peace." the public peace of ! what an idyl! in short, the régime of liberty, equality, and fraternity regarded woman as unfree, unequal, and treated her very unfraternally. what harmony between theory and practice! in fact, the revolution even withdrew rights that the women formerly possessed. for example, the old régime gave a noblewoman, as a landowner, all the rights of a feudal lord. she levied troops, raised taxes, and administered justice. during the old régime in france there were women peers; women were now and then active in diplomacy. the abbesses exercised the same feudal power as the abbots; they had unlimited power over their convents. the women owners of large feudal lands met with the _provincial estates_,--for instance, madame de sévigné in the _estates general_ of brittany, where there was autonomy in the provincial administration. in the gilds the women masters exercised their professional right as voters. all of these rights ended with the old régime; beside the politically free man stood the politically unfree woman. napoleon confirmed this lack of freedom in the civil and criminal codes. napoleon's attitude toward all women (excepting his mother, _madame mère_) was such as we still find among the men in southern italy, in spain, and in the orient. his sisters and josephine beauharnais, the creole, could not give him a more just opinion of women. his fierce hatred for madame de stael indicates his attitude toward the woman's rights representatives. the great napoleon did not like intellectual women. the code napoleon places the wife completely under the guardianship of the husband. without him she can undertake no legal transaction. the property law requires joint property holding, excepting real estate (but most of the women are neither landowners nor owners of houses). the married woman has had independent control of her earnings and savings only since the enactment of the law of july , . only the husband has legal authority over the children. such a legal status of woman is found in other codes. but the following provisions are peculiar to the code napoleon: if a husband kills his wife for committing adultery, the murder is "excusable." an illicit mother cannot file a paternity suit. in practice, however, the courts in a roundabout way give the illicit mother an opportunity to file an action for damages. no other code, above all no other germanic or slavic code,[ ] has been disgraced by such paragraphs. in the first of the designated paragraphs we hear the corsican, a cousin of the moor of venice; in the second we hear the military emperor, and general of an unbridled, undisciplined troop of soldiers. no one will be astonished to learn that this same lawgiver in supplemented the code with a despotic state regulation of prostitution. what became of the woman's rights movement during this arbitrary military régime? full of fear and anxiety, the woman's rights advocates concealed their views. the restoration was scarcely a better time for advocating woman's rights. the philosopher of the epoch, de bonald, spoke very pompously against the equality of the sexes, "man and woman are not and never will be equal." it was not until the july revolution of and the february revolution of that the question of woman's rights could gain a favorable hearing. the saint simonians, the fourierists, and george sand preached the rights of man and the rights of woman. during the february revolution the women were found, just as in , in the front ranks of the socialists. the french woman's rights movement is closely connected with both political movements. every time a sacrifice of republicans and democrats was demanded, women were among the banished and deported: jeanne deroin in , louise michel, in and . marie deraismes, belonging to the wealthy parisian middle class, appeared in the sixties as a public speaker. she was a woman's rights advocate. however, in a still greater degree she was a tribune of the people, a republican and a politician. marie deraismes and her excellent political adherent, léon richer, were the founders of the organized french woman's rights movement. as early as they organized the "society for the amelioration of the condition of woman and for demanding woman's rights"; in they called the first french woman's rights congress. the following features characterize the modern french woman's rights movement: it is largely restricted to paris; in the provinces there are only weak and isolated beginnings; even the parisian woman's rights organizations are not numerous, the greatest having members. thanks to the republican and socialist movements, which for thirty years have controlled france, the woman's rights movement is for political reasons supported by the men to a degree not noticeable in any other country. the republican majority in the chamber of deputies, the republican press, and republican literature effectively promote the woman's rights movement. the federation of french women's clubs, founded in , and reputed to have , members, is at present promoting the movement by the systematic organization of provincial divisions. less kindly disposed--sometimes indifferent and hostile--are the church, the catholic circles, the nobility, society, and the "liberal" capitalistic bourgeoisie. a sharp division between the woman's rights movements of the middle class and the movement of the socialists, such as exists, for example, in germany, does not exist in france. a large part of the bourgeoisie (not the great capitalists) are socialistically inclined. on the basis of principle the republicans and socialists cannot deny the justice of the woman's rights movement. hence everything now depends on the _opportuneness_ of the demands of the women. the french woman has still much to demand. however enlightened, however advanced the frenchman may regard himself, he has not yet reached the point where he will favor woman's suffrage; what the national assembly denied in , the republic of has also withheld. nevertheless conditions have improved, in so far as measures in favor of woman's suffrage and the reform of the civil rights of woman have since been repeatedly introduced and supported by petitions.[ ] as for the civil rights of woman,--the principles of the code napoleon, the minority of the wife, and the husband's authority over her are still unchanged. however, a few minor concessions have been made: to-day a woman can be a witness to a civil transaction, _e.g._ a marriage contract. a married woman can open a savings bank account in her maiden name; and, as in belgium, her husband can make it impossible for her to withdraw the money! a wife's earnings now belong to her. the severe law concerning adultery by the wife still exists, and affiliation cases are still prohibited. that is not exactly liberal. attempts to secure reforms of the civil law are being made by various women's clubs, the group of women students (_le groupe d'études féministes_) (madame oddo deflou), and by the committee on legal matters of the federation of french women's clubs (madame d'abbadie). in both the legal and the political fields the french women have hitherto (in spite of the republic) achieved very little. in educational matters, however, the republican government has decidedly favored the women. here the wishes of the women harmonized with the republican hatred for the priests. what was done perhaps not for the women, was done to spite the church. elementary education has been obligatory since . in - there were , , girls in the elementary schools, and , , boys. state high schools, or _lycées_, for girls have existed since . the programme of these schools is not that of the german _gymnasiums_, but that of a german high school for girls (foreign languages, however, are elective). in the last two years (in which the ages of the girls are to years) the curriculum is that of a seminary for women teachers. in - these institutions were attended by , girls, as compared with , boys. the french woman's rights movement has as yet not succeeded in establishing _gymnasiums_ for girls; at present, efforts are being made to introduce _gymnasium_ courses in the girls' _lycées_. the admission of girls to the boys' _lycées_, which has occurred in germany and in italy, has not even been suggested in france. to the present, the preparation of girls for the universities has been carried on privately. the right to study in the universities has never been withheld from women. from the beginning, women could take the _abiturientenexamen_ (the university entrance examinations) with the young men before an examination commission. all departments are open to women. the number of women university students in france is ; the male students number , . women school teachers control the whole public school system for girls. in the french schools for girls most of the teachers are women; the superintendents are also women. the ecclesiastical educational system,--which still exists in secular guise,--is naturally, so far as the education of girls is concerned, entirely in the hands of women. the salaries of the secular women teachers in the first three classes of the elementary schools are equal to those of the men. the women teachers in the _lycées_ (_agrégées_) are trained in the seminary of sèvres and in the universities. their salaries are lower than those of the men. in the first woman teacher in the french higher institutions of learning was appointed,--madame curie, who holds the chair of physics in the sorbonne, in paris. in the provincial universities women are lecturers on modern languages. there are no women preachers in france. _dr. jur._ jeanne chauvin was the first woman lawyer, being admitted to the bar in . to-day women lawyers are practicing in paris and in toulouse. in the government service there are women postal clerks, telegraph clerks, and telephone clerks,--with an average daily wage of francs ( cents). only the subordinate positions are open to women. the same is true of the women employed in the railroad offices. women have been admitted as clerks in some of the administrative departments of the government and in the public poor-law administration. women are employed as inspectors of schools, as factory inspectors, and as poor-law administrators. there is a woman member of each of the following councils: the superior council of education, the superior council of labor, and the superior council of public assistance (_conseil superior d'education_, _conseil superior du travail_, _conseil superior de l'assistance publique_). the first woman court interpreter was appointed in the parisian court of appeals in . the french woman is an excellent business woman. however, the women employed in commercial establishments, being organized as yet to a small extent, earn no more than women laborers,-- to francs ($ to $ ) a month. in general, greater demands are made of them in regard to personal appearance and dress. there is a law requiring that chairs be furnished during working hours. there is a consumers' league in paris which probably will effect reforms in the laboring conditions of women. the women in the industries, of whom there are about , , have an average wage of francs ( cents) a day. hardly , are organized into trade-unions; all women tobacco workers are organized. as elsewhere, the french ready-made clothing industry is the most wretched home industry. a part of the french middle-class women oppose legislation for the protection of women workers on the ground of "equality of rights for the sexes."[ ] this attitude has been occasioned by the contrast between the typographers and the women typesetters; the men being aided in the struggle by the prohibition of night work for women. it is easy to explain the rash and unjustifiable generalization made on the basis of this exceptional case. the women that made the generalization and oppose legislation for the protection of women laborers belong to the bourgeois class. there are about , , women engaged in agriculture, the average wage being franc (about cents). many of these women earn franc to franc ( to cents) a day. in paris, women have been cab drivers and chauffeurs since . in women formed per cent of the population engaged in the professions and the industries ( , , women; , , men: total, , , ). there are three parties in the french woman's rights movement. the catholic (_le féminisme chrétien_), the moderate (predominantly protestant), and the radical (almost entirely socialistic). the catholic party works entirely independently; the two others often coöperate, and are represented in the national council of women (_conseil national des femmes_), while the _féminisme chrétien_ is not represented. the views of the catholic party are as follows: "no one denies that man is stronger than woman. but this means merely a physical superiority. on the basis of this superiority man dare not despise woman and regard her as morally inferior to him. but from the christian point of view god gave man authority over woman. this does not signify any intellectual superiority, but is simply a fact of hierarchy."[ ] the _féminisme chrétien_ advocates: a thorough education for girls according to catholic principles; a reform of the marriage law (the wife should control her earnings, separate property holding should be established); the same moral standard for both sexes (abolition of the official regulation of prostitution); the same penalty for adultery for both sexes (however, there should be no divorce); the authority of the mother (_autorité maritale_) should be maintained, for only in this way can peace prevail in the family. "a high-minded woman will never wish to rule. it is her wish to sacrifice herself, to admire, to lean on the arm of a strong man that protects her."[ ] in the moderate group (president, miss sara monod), these ideas have few advocates. protestantism, which is strongly represented in this party, has a natural inclination toward the development of individuality. this party is more concerned with the woman that does not find the arm of the "strong man" to lean on, or who detected him leaning upon her. this party is entirely opposed to the husband's authority over the wife and to the dogma of obligatory admiration and sacrifice. the leaders of the party are madame bonnevial, madame auclert, and others. during the five years' leadership of madame marguerite durand, the "fronde" was the meeting place of the party. the radicals demand: absolute coeducation; anti-military instruction in history; schools that prepare girls for motherhood; the admission of women to government positions; equal pay for both sexes; official regulation of the work of domestic servants; the abolition of the husband's authority; municipal and national suffrage for women. a member of the radical party presented herself in as a candidate in the parisian elections. in november, , women were granted passive suffrage for the arbitration courts for trade disputes (they already possessed active suffrage). the founding of the national council of french women (_conseil national des femmes française_) has aided the woman's rights movement considerably. stimulated by the progress made in other countries, the french women have systematically begun their work. they have organized two sections in the provinces (touraine and normandy); they have promoted the organization of women into trade-unions; they have studied the marriage laws; and have organized a woman's suffrage department. since the woman's magazine, _la française_, published weekly, has done effective work for the cause. the place of publication ( rue laffite, paris) is also a public meeting place for the leaders of the woman's rights movements. _la française_ arouses interest in the cause of woman's rights among women teachers and office clerks in the provinces. recently the management of the magazine has been converted to the cause of woman's suffrage. in the spring of the french woman's suffrage society (_union française pour le souffrage des femmes_) was organized under the presidency of madame schmall (a native of england). madame schmall is also to be regarded as the originator of the law of july , , which pertains to the earnings of the wife. the _union_ has joined the international woman's suffrage alliance. in the house of deputies there is a group in favor of woman's rights. the french woman's rights movement seems to be spreading rapidly. Émile de morsier organized the french movement favoring the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution. through this movement an extraparliamentary commission ( - ) was induced to recognize the evil of the existing official regulation of prostitution. this is the first step toward abolition. belgium total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . federation of belgian women's clubs. woman's suffrage league. it is very difficult for the woman's rights movement to thrive in belgium. not that the movement is unnecessary there; on the contrary, the legal status of woman is regulated by the code napoleon, hence there is decided need for reform. the number of women exceeds that of the men; hence part of the girls cannot marry. industry is highly developed. the question of wages is a vital question for women laborers. accordingly there are reasons enough for instituting an organized woman's rights movement in belgium. but every agitation for this purpose is hampered by the following social factors: catholicism (belgium is per cent catholic), clericalism in parliament, and the indifference of the rich bourgeoisie. the woman's rights movement has very few adherents in the third estate, and it is exactly the women of this estate that ought to be the natural supporters of the movement. in the fourth estate, in which there are a great many socialists, the woman's rights movement is identical with socialism. since the legal status of woman is determined by the code napoleon, we need not comment upon it here. by a law of , the wife is empowered to deposit money in a savings bank without the consent of her husband; the limit of her deposit being francs ($ ). the wife also controls her earnings. if, however, _she draws more than francs_ (_$ _) _a month from the savings bank, the husband may protest_. women are now admitted to family councils; they can act as guardians; they can act as witnesses to a marriage. affiliation cases were made legal in . on december , , women were given active and passive suffrage in arbitration courts for labor disputes. the belgium secondary school system is exceptional because the government has established a rather large number of girls' high schools. however, these schools do not prepare for the university entrance examinations (_abiturientenexamen_). women contemplating entering the university, must prepare for these examinations privately. this was done by miss marie popelin, of brussels, who wished to study law. the universities of brussels, ghent, and liège have been open to women since . hence miss popelin could execute her plans; in she received the degree of doctor of laws. she made an attempt in - to secure admission to the bar as a practicing lawyer, but the brussels court of appeals decided the case against her.[ ] miss marie popelin is the leader of the middle-class woman's rights movement in belgium. she is in charge of the woman's rights league (_ligue du droit des femmes_), founded in . with the support of mrs. denis, mrs. parent, and mrs. fontaine, miss popelin organized, in , an international woman's congress in brussels. many representatives of foreign countries attended. one of the german representatives, mrs. anna simpson, was astonished by the indifference of the people of brussels. in her report she says: "where were the women of brussels during the days of the congress? they did not attend, for the middle class is not much interested in our cause. it was especially for this class that the congress was held." dr. popelin is also president of the league that has since taken up the struggle against the official regulation of prostitution. the schools and convents are the chief fields of activity for the middle-class belgian women engaged in non-domestic callings. as yet there are only a few women doctors. one of these, mrs. derscheid-delcour, has been appointed as chief physician at the brussels orphans' home. mrs. delcour graduated in at the university of berlin _summa cum laude_; in she was awarded the gold medal in the surgical sciences in a prize contest for the students of the belgian universities. in belgium , women are engaged in the industries. the socialist party has recognized the organizations of these women; it was instrumental in organizing , women into trade-unions. elsewhere this would be impossible.[ ] madame vandervelde, the wife of the socialist member of parliament, and madame gatti de gammond, the publisher of the _cahiers feministes_, were the leaders of the socialist woman's rights movement, which is organized throughout the country in committees, councils, and societies. madame gatti de gammond died in , and her publication, the _cahiers feministes_, was discontinued. the secretary of the federation of socialist women (_fédération de femmes socialistes_) is madame tilmans. vooruit, of ghent, publishes a woman's magazine: _de stem der vrouw_. the women are demanding the right to vote. the belgian women possessed municipal suffrage till . they were deprived of this right by the constitution of . a measure favoring universal suffrage (for men and women) was introduced into parliament in . this bill, however, provided also for plural voting, by which the property-owning and the educated classes were given one or two additional votes. the socialists opposed this, and demanded that each person have one vote (_un homme, un vote_). the clerical majority then replied that it would not bring the bill to a vote. in this way the clericals remained assured of a majority. for tactical purposes the socialists adopted the expression--_un homme, un vote_. it harmonized with their principles and ideals. at a meeting of the party in which the matter was discussed, it was shown that universal suffrage would be detrimental to the party's interests; for the socialists were convinced that woman's suffrage would certainly insure a majority for the clericals. hence, in meeting, the women were persuaded to withdraw their demand for woman's suffrage on the grounds of opportuneness, and _in the meantime to work for the inauguration of universal male suffrage without the plural vote_.[ ] in the _fronde_, audrée téry summarized the situation in the following dialogue:-- _the man._ emancipate yourself and i will enfranchise you. _the woman._ give me the franchise and i shall emancipate myself. _the man._ be free, and you shall have freedom. in this manner, concludes audrée téry, this dialogue can be continued indefinitely. recently the middle-class women have begun to show an interest in woman's suffrage. a woman's suffrage organization was formed in brussels in ; one in ghent, in . together they have organized the woman's suffrage league, which has affiliated with the international woman's suffrage alliance. woman's lack of rights and her powerlessness in public life are shown by the fact that in antwerp, in , public aid to the unemployed was granted only to men,--to unmarried as well as to married men. as for the unmarried women, they were left to shift for themselves. italy total population: , , . women: about , , . men: about , , . federation of italian women's clubs. woman's suffrage league. national unification raised italy to the rank of a great power. italy's political position as a great power, her modern parliamentary life, and the liberal and socialist majority in her parliament give italy a position that spain, for example, does not possess in any way. catholicism, clericalism, and roman custom are no match for these modern liberal powers, and are therefore unable to hinder the woman's rights movement in the same degree as do these influences in spain. however, the italian woman in general is still entirely dependent on the man (see the discussion in alaremo's _una donna_), and in the unenlightened classes woman's feeling of inferiority is impressed upon her by the church, the law, the family, and by custom. naturally the woman attempts, as in spain, to take revenge in the sexual field. in italy there is no strict morality among married men. moreover, the opposition to divorce in italy comes largely from the women, who, accustomed to being deceived in matrimony, fear that if they are divorced they _will be left without means of support_. "boys make love to girls,--to mere unguided children without any will of their own,--and when these boys marry, be they ever so young, they have already had a wealth of experience that has taught them to regard woman disdainfully--with a sort of cynical authority. even love and respect for the innocent young wife is unable to eradicate from the young husband the impressions of immorality and bad examples. the wife suffers from a hardly perceptible, but unceasing depression of mind. innocently, without suspicion, uninformed as to her husband's past, the wife persists in her belief in his manly superiority until this belief has become a fixed habit of thought, and then even a cruel revelation cannot take him from her."[ ] in southern italy,--especially in sicily,--arabian oriental conceptions of woman still prevail. during her whole life woman is a grown-up child. no woman, not even the most insignificant woman laborer, can be on the street without an escort. on the other hand, the boys are emancipated very early. with pity and arrogance the sons look down on the mother, who must be accompanied in the street by her sons. "close intellectual relations between man and woman cannot as yet be developed, owing to the generally low education of woman, to her subordination, and to her intellectual bondage. while still in the schools the boy is trained for political life. the average italian woman participates in politics even less than the german woman; her influence is purely moral. if the italian woman wishes to accept any office in a society, she must have the consent of her husband attested by a notary. just as in ancient times, the non-professional interests of the husband are, in great part, elsewhere than at home. the opportunity daily to discuss political and other current questions with men companions is found by the german man in the smaller cities while taking his evening pint of beer. the italian man finds this opportunity sometimes in the café, sometimes in the public places, where every evening the men congregate for hours. so the educated man in italy (even more than in germany) has no need of the intellectual qualities of his wife. moreover, his need for an educated wife is the less because his misguided precocity prevents him from acquiring anything but an essentially general education. the restricted intellectual relationship between husband and wife is explained partly by the fact that the _cicisbeo_[ ] still exists. this relation ought to be, and generally is, platonic and publicly known. the wife permits her friend (the _cicisbeo_) to escort her to the theater and elsewhere in a carriage; the husband also escorts a woman friend. so husband and wife share the inwardly moral unsoundness of the medieval service of love (_minnedienst_). at any rate this custom reveals the fact that after the honeymoon the husband and wife do not have overmuch to say to each other. in this way there takes place, to a certain extent, an open relinquishment of the postulate that, in accordance with the external indissolubility of married life, there ought to be permanent intellectual bonds between man and wife,--a postulate that is the source of the most serious conscience struggles, but which has caused the great moral development of the northern woman."[ ] naturally, under such circumstances, the woman's rights movement has done practically nothing for the masses. in the circles of the nobility the movement, with the consent of the clergy, has until recently confined itself to philanthropy (the forming of associations and insurance societies, the founding of homes, asylums, etc.) and to the higher education of girls.[ ] in a private audience the pope has expressed himself in _favor_ of women's engaging in university studies (except theology), but he was _opposed_ to woman's suffrage. the daughters of the educated, liberal (but often poor) bourgeoisie are driven by want and conviction to acquire a higher education and to engage in academic callings. the material difficulties are not great. as in france, the government has during the past thirty-five years promoted all educational measures that would take from the clergy its power over youth. elementary education is public and obligatory. the laws are enforced rather strictly. coeducation nowhere exists. the number of women teachers is , . the secondary school system is still largely in the hands of the catholic religious orders. there are about , girls and nuns enrolled in these church schools; only , girls are in the secondary state and private schools (other than the catholic schools), which cannot give instruction as _cheaply_ as the religious schools. the efforts of the state in this field are not to be criticized: it has given women every educational opportunity. girls wishing to study in the universities are admitted to the boys' classical schools (_ginnasii_) and to the boys' technical schools. this experiment in coeducation during the plastic age of youth has not even been undertaken by france. to be sure, at present the girls sit together on the front seats, and when entering and leaving class they have the school porter as bodyguard. in spite of all fears to the contrary, coeducation has been a success in northern italy (milan), as well as in southern italy (naples). the universities have never been closed to women. in recent years women have attended the universities and have graduated. during the renaissance there were many women teachers in italy. this tradition has been revived; at present there are women university teachers. _dr. jur._ therese labriola (whose mother is a german) is a lecturer in the philosophy of law at rome. _dr. med._ rina monti is a university lecturer in anatomy at pavia. there are many practicing women doctors in italy. _dr. med._ maria montessori (a delegate to the international congress of women in berlin in ) is a physician in the roman hospitals. the minister of public instruction has authorized her to deliver a course of lectures on the treatment of imbecile children to a class of women teachers in the elementary schools. the legal profession still remains closed to women, although _dr. jur._ laidi poët has succeeded in being admitted to the bar in turin. in government service (in ) there were women telephone employees, women telegraph clerks, and women office clerks. these positions are much sought after by men. the number of women employed in commerce is , ; the total number of persons employed in commerce being , . recently women have been appointed as factory inspectors. the beginnings of the modern woman's rights movement coincide with the political upheavals that occurred between and . when the kingdom of italy had been established, jessie white mario demanded a reform of the legal, political, and economic status of woman. whatever legal concessions have been made to women are due, as in france, to the liberal parliamentary majority. since , women have been able to act as witnesses in civil suits. women (even married women) can be guardians. the property laws provide for separation of property. even in cases of joint property holding, the wife controls her earnings and savings. the husband can give her a general authorization (_allgemeinautorisation_), thus giving her the full status of a legal person before the law. these laws are the most radical reforms to which the code napoleon has ever been subjected,--reforms which the french did not venture to enact. the liberal majority made an attempt in to emancipate the women politically. but the attempt failed. bills providing for municipal woman's suffrage were introduced and rejected in , , and . however, since , women have been eligible as poor-law guardians. the élite among the italian men loyally supported the women in their struggle for emancipation. since the women have organized clubs. at first these were unsuccessful. free and courageous women were in the minority. in rome the woman's rights movement was at first exclusively benevolent. in milan and turin, on the other hand, there were woman's rights advocates (under the leadership of _dr. med._ paoline schiff and emilia mariani). the leadership of the national movement fell to the more active, more educated, and economically stronger northern italy. here also the movement of the workingwomen had progressed to the stage of organization, as, for example, in the case of the lombard women workers in the rice fields. there are , , women laborers in italy. their condition is wretched. in agriculture, as well as in the industries, they are given the rough, _poorly paid_ work to do. they are exploited to the extreme. women straw plaiters have been offered centimes, even as little as centimes ( to cents), for twelve hours' work. the average daily wage for women is centimes to franc ( to cents). the maximum is franc centimes ( cents). the law has fixed the maximum working day for women at twelve hours, and prohibits women under twenty years of age from engaging in work that is dangerous and injurious to health. there are maternity funds for women in confinement, financial aid being given them for four weeks after the birth of the child. under all these circumstances the organization of women is exceedingly difficult. even the socialists have neglected the organization of workingwomen. socialist propaganda among women agricultural laborers was begun in . in bologna, in the autumn of , there was held a meeting of the representatives of agricultural organizations (having a total membership of , men and women agricultural laborers). the constitution of the society is characteristic; many of its clauses are primitive and pathetic. this society is intended to be an educational and moral organization. women members are exhorted "to live rightly, and to be virtuous and kind-hearted mothers, women, and daughters."[ ] it is to be hoped that the task of the women will be made easier through the efforts of the society's male members to make themselves virtuous and kind-hearted fathers, husbands, and sons. or are moral duties, in this case also, meant only for woman? the movement favoring the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution was introduced into italy by mrs. butler. a congress in favor of abolition was held in in genoa. recently, thanks to the efforts of dr. agnes maclaren and miss buchner, the movement has been revived, and urged upon the catholic clergy. the italian branch of the international federation for the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution was founded in . in the same year was held in rome the successful congress of the federation of women's clubs. this congress, representing the nobility, the middle class, and workingwomen, brought the woman's suffrage question to the attention of the public. a number of woman's suffrage societies had been organized previously, in rome as well as in the provinces. they formed the national woman's suffrage league, which, in , joined the international woman's suffrage alliance. through the discussions in the women's clubs, woman's suffrage became a topic of public interest. the amsterdam report [of the congress of the international woman's suffrage alliance] says: "the women of the aristocracy wish to vote because they are intelligent; they feel humiliated because their coachman or chauffeur is able to vote. the workingwomen demand the right to vote, that they may improve their conditions of labor and be able to support their children better." a parliamentary commission for the consideration of woman's suffrage was established in . in the meantime the existence of this commission enables the president of the ministry to dispose of the various proposed measures with the explanation that such matters will not be considered _until the commission has expressed itself on the whole question_. women have active and passive suffrage for the arbitration courts for labor disputes. spain[ ] total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . no federation of women's clubs. no woman's suffrage league. whoever has traveled in spain knows that it is a country still living, as it were, in the seventeenth century,--nay in the middle ages. the fact has manifold consequences for woman. in all cases progress is hindered. woman is under the yoke of the priesthood, and of a catholicism generally bigoted. the church teaches woman that she is regarded as the cause of carnal desire and of the fall of man. by law, woman is under the guardianship of man. custom forbids the "respectable" woman to walk on the street without a man escort. the spanish woman regards herself as a person of the second order, a necessary adjunct to man. such a fundamental humiliation and subordination is opposed to human nature. as the spanish woman has no power of open opposition, she resorts to cunning. by instinct she is conscious of the power of her sex; this she uses and abuses. a woman's rights advocate is filled with horror, quite as much as with pity, when she sees this mixture of bigotry, coquetry, submissiveness, cunning, and hate that is engendered in woman by such tyranny and lack of progress. the spanish woman of the lower classes receives no training for any special calling; she is a mediocre laborer. she acts as beast of burden, carries heavy burdens on her shoulders, carries water, tills the fields, and splits wood. she is employed as an industrial laborer chiefly in the manufacture of cigars and lace. "the wages of women," says professor posada,[ ] "are incredibly low," being but cents a day. as tailors, women make a scanty living, for many of the spanish women do their own tailoring. the mantilla makes the work of milliners in general superfluous. in commercial callings women are still novices. recently there has been talk of beginning the organization of women into trade-unions. women are employed in large numbers as teachers; teaching being their sole non-domestic calling. elementary instruction has been obligatory since , however, only in theory. in per cent of the women were illiterate. in many cases the girls of the lower classes do not attend school at all. when they do attend, they learn very little; for owing to the lack of seminaries the training of women teachers is generally quite inadequate. a reform of the central seminary of women teachers, in madrid, took place in ; this reform was also a model for the seminaries in the provinces. the secondary schools for girls are convent schools. in france there are complaints that these schools are inadequate. what, then, can be expected of the spanish schools! the curriculum includes only french, singing, dancing, drawing, and needlework. but the "society for female education" is striving to secure a reform of the education for girls. preparation for entrance to the university must be secured privately. the number of women seeking entrance to universities is small. most of them, so far as i know, are medical students. however, the spanish women have a brilliant past in the field of higher education. donna galinda was the latin professor of queen isabella. isabella losa and sigea aloisia of toledo were renowned for their knowledge of latin, greek, and hebrew; sigea aloisia corresponded with the pope in arabic and syriac. isabel de rosores even preached in the cathedral of barcelona. in the literature of the present time spanish women are renowned. of first rank is emilia pardo bazan, who is called the "spanish zola." she is a countess and an only daughter, two circumstances that facilitated her emancipation and, together with her talent, assured her success. she characterizes herself as "a mixture of mysticism and liberalism." at the age of seven she wrote her first verses. her best book portrayed a "liberal monk," father fequë. _pascual loper_, a novel, was a great success. she then went to paris to study naturalism. here she became acquainted with zola, goncourt, daudet, and others. a study of francis of assisi led her again to the study of mysticism. in her recent novels liberalism is mingled with idealism. emilia pardo bazan is by conviction a woman's rights advocate. in the madrid atheneum she filled with great success the position of professor of french literature. at the pedagogical congress in madrid, in , she gave a report on _woman, her education, and her rights_. in spain there are a number of well-known women journalists, authors, and poets. dr. posada enumerates a number of woman's rights publications on pages - of his book, _el feminismo_. concepcion arenal was a prominent spanish woman and woman's rights advocate. she devoted herself to work among prisoners, and wrote a valuable handbook dealing with her work. she felt the oppression of her sex very keenly. concerning woman's status, which man has forced upon her, concepcion arenal expressed herself as follows: "man despises all women that do not belong to his family; he oppresses every woman that he does not love or protect. as a laborer, he takes from her the best paid positions; as a thinker, he forbids the mental training of woman; as a lover, he can be faithless to her without being punished by law; as a husband, he can leave her without being guilty before the law." the wife is legally under the guardianship of her husband; she has no authority over her children. the property laws provide for joint property holding. in spite of these conditions concepcion arenal did not give up all hope. "women," said she, "are beginning to take interest in education, and have organized a society for the higher education of girls." the pedagogical congresses in madrid ( and ) promoted the intellectual emancipation of women. catalina d'alcala, delegate to the international congress of women in chicago in , closed her report with the words, "we are emerging from the period of darkness." however, he who has wandered through spanish cathedrals knows that this darkness is still very dense! nevertheless, the woman's suffrage movement has begun: the women laborers are agitating in favor of a new law of association. a number of women teachers and women authors have petitioned for the right to vote. in march, , during the discussion of a new law concerning municipal administration, an amendment in favor of woman's suffrage was introduced, but was rejected by a vote of to . the senate is said to be more favorable to woman's suffrage than is the chamber of deputies. the fact that women of the aristocracy have opposed divorce, and that women of all classes have opposed the enactment of laws restricting religious orders, is made to operate against the political emancipation of women. a deputy in the cortez, senor pi y arsuaga, who introduced the measure in favor of the right of women taxpayers to vote in municipal elections, argued that the suffrage of a woman who is the head of a family seems more reasonable to him than the suffrage of a young man, twenty-five years old, who represents no corresponding interests. portugal total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . no federation of women's clubs. no woman's suffrage league. portugal is smaller than spain; its finances are in better condition; therefore the compulsory education law (introduced in ) is better enforced. as yet there are no public high schools for girls; but there are a number of private schools that prepare girls for the university entrance examinations (_abiturientenexamen_). the universities admit women. women doctors practice in the larger cities. the women laborers are engaged chiefly in the textile industry; their wages are about two thirds of those of the men. the latin-american republics of central and south america mexico and central america[ ] the condition prevailing in mexico and central america is one of patriarchal family life, the husband being the "master" of the wife. there are large families of ten or twelve children. the life of most of the women without property consists of "endless routine and domestic tyranny"; the life of the property-owning women is one of frivolous coquetry and indolence. there is no higher education for women; there are no high ideals. the education of girls is generally regarded as unnecessary. there are public elementary schools for girls,--with women teachers. the higher education of girls is carried on by convent schools, and comprises domestic science, sewing, dancing, and singing. in the mexican public high schools for girls, modern subjects and literature are taught; the work is chiefly memorizing. technical schools for girls are unknown. women do not attend the universities. women teachers in mexico are paid good salaries,-- francs ($ ) a month. women are engaged in commerce only in their own business establishments; and then in small retail businesses. the rest of the workingwomen are engaged in agriculture, domestic service, washing, and sewing. their wages are from to per cent lower than those of men. the legal status of women is similar to that of the french women. in mexico only does the wife control her earnings. divorce is not recognized by law, though separation is. by means of foreign teachers the initiative of the people has been slightly aroused. it will take long for this stimulus to reach the majority of the people. south america[ ] in south america there are the same "patriarchal" forms of family life, the same external restrictions for woman. she must have an escort on the streets, even though the escort be only a small boy. just as in central america, the occupations of the women of the lower and middle class are agriculture, domestic service, washing, sewing, and retail business. but woman's educational opportunities in south america are greater, although through public opinion everything possible is done to prevent women from desiring an education and admission to a liberal calling. elementary education is compulsory (often in coeducational schools). secondary education is in the hands of convents. in brazil, chili, venezuela, argentine republic, paraguay, and colombia, the universities have been opened to women. as yet there are no women preachers or lawyers, although several women have studied law. women practice as physicians, obstetrics still being their special field. the beginnings of a woman's rights movement exist in chili. the chilean women learn readily and willingly. they have proved their worth in business and in the liberal callings. they have competed successfully for government positions; they have founded trade-unions and coöperative societies; many women are tramway conductors, etc. in all the south american republics women have distinguished themselves as poets and authors. in the argentine republic there is a federation of woman's clubs, which, in , joined the international council of women. chapter iii the slavic and balkan states in the slavic countries there is a lack of an ancient, deeply rooted culture like that of western europe. everywhere the oriental viewpoint has had its effect on the status of woman. in general the standards of life are low; therefore, the wages of the women are especially wretched. political conditions are in part very unstable,--in some cases wholly antique. all of these circumstances greatly impede the progress of the woman's rights movement. russia total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . federation of russian women's clubs.[ ] national woman's suffrage league. the russian woman's rights movement is forced by circumstances to concern itself chiefly with educational and industrial problems. all efforts beyond these limits are, as a matter of course, regarded as revolutionary. such efforts are a part of the forbidden "political movement"; therefore they are dangerous and practically hopeless. some peculiarities of the russian woman's rights movement are: its individuality, its independence of the momentary tendencies of the government, and the companionable coöperation of men and women. all three characteristics are accounted for by the absolute government that prevails in russia, in spite of its duma. under this régime the organization of societies and the holding of meetings are made exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. individual initiative therefore works in solitude; discussion or the expression of opinions is not very feasible. when individual initiative ceases, progress usually ceases also. corporate activity, such as educates women adherents, did not exist formerly in russia. the lack of united action wastes much force, time, and money. unconsciously people compete with each other. without wishing to do so, people neglect important fields. the absolute régime regards all striving for an education as revolutionary. the educational institutions for women are wholly in the hands of the government. these institutions are tolerated; but a mere frown from above puts an end to their existence. it is the absolute régime that makes comrades of men and women struggling for emancipation. the oppression endured by both sexes is in fact the same. the government has not always been an enemy of enlightenment, as it is to-day. the first steps of the woman's rights movement were made through the influence of the rulers. although polygamy did not exist in russia, the country could not free itself from certain oriental influences. hence the women of the property-owning class formerly lived in the harem (called _terem_). the women were shut off from the world; they had no education, often no rearing whatever; they were the victims of deadly ennui, ecstatic piety, lingering diseases, and drunkenness. with a strong hand peter the great reformed the condition of russian women. the _terem_ was abolished; the russian woman was permitted to see the world. in rough, uncivilized surroundings, in the midst of a brutal, sensuous people, woman's release was not in all cases a gain for morality. it is impossible to become a woman of western europe upon demand. catherine ii saw that there must be a preparation for this emancipation. she created the _institute de demoiselles_ for girls of the upper classes. the instruction, borrowed from france, remained superficial enough; the women acquired a knowledge of french, a few _accomplishments_, polished manners, and an aristocratic bearing. for all that, it was then an achievement to educate young russian women according to the standards of western europe. the superficiality of the _institutka_ was recognized in the middle of the nineteenth century. alexander ii, the tsarina, and her aunt, helene pavlovna, favored reforms. the emancipator of the serfs could also liberate women from their intellectual bondage. thus with the protection of the highest power, the first public lyceum for girls was established in in russia. this was a day school for girls of _all_ classes. what an innovation! to-day there are of these lyceums, having over , women students. the curriculums resemble those of the german high schools for girls. none of these lyceums (except the humanistic lyceum for girls in moscow), are equivalent to the german _gymnasiums_ or _realgymnasiums_, nor even to the _oberrealschulen_ or _realschulen_. this explains and justifies the refusal of the german universities to regard the leaving certificates of the russian lyceums as equivalent to the _abiturienten_ certificate of the german schools. the compulsory studies in the girls' lyceums are: russian, french, religion, history, geography, geometry, algebra, a few natural sciences, dancing, and singing. the optional studies are german, english, latin, music, and sewing. the lyceums of the large cities make foreign languages compulsory also; but these institutions are in the minority. in the natural sciences and in mathematics "much depends on the teacher." a russian woman wishing to study in the university must pass an entrance examination in latin. the first efforts to secure the higher education of women were made by a number of professors of the university of st. petersburg in . they opened courses for the instruction of adult women in the town hall. simultaneously the minister of war admitted a number of women to the st. petersburg school of medicine, this school being under his control. however, the reaction began already in . instruction in the school of medicine, as well as in the town hall, was discontinued. then began the first exodus of russian women students to germany and switzerland. but in st. petersburg, in , there was formed a society, under the presidency of mrs. conradi, to secure the reopening of the course for adult women. the society appealed to the first congress of russian naturalists and physicians. this congress sent a petition, with the signatures of influential men, to the minister of public instruction. in two years mrs. conradi was informed that the minister would grant a two-year course for men and women in russian literature and the natural sciences. the society accepted what was offered. it was little enough. moreover, the society had to defray the cost of instruction; but it was denied the right to give examinations and confer degrees. all the teachers, however, taught without pay. in the society erected its own building in which to give its courses. the instruction was again discontinued in . once more the russian women flocked to foreign countries. in the courses were again opened (swiss influence on russian youth was feared). the number of those enrolled in the courses was limited to (of these only per cent could be unorthodox, _i.e._ jewish). these courses are still given in st. petersburg. recently the council of ministers empowered the minister of public instruction to forbid women to attend university lectures; but those who have already been admitted, and find it impossible to attend other higher institutions of learning for girls, have been allowed to complete their course in the university. the present number of women hearers in russian universities is . a russian woman doctor was admitted as a lecturer by the university of moscow, but her appointment was not confirmed by the minister of public instruction. she appealed thereupon to the senate, declaring that the russian laws nowhere prohibited women from acting as teachers in the universities; moreover, her medical degree gave her full power to do so. the decision of the senate is still pending. a recent law opens to women the calling of architect and of engineer. the work done on the trans-siberian railroad by the woman engineer has given better satisfaction than any of the other work. a bill providing for the admission of women to the legal profession has been introduced but has not yet become law. the russian women medical students shared the vicissitudes of russian university life for women. after they studied in switzerland, where miss suslowa, in , was the first woman to be given the doctor's degree in zurich. however, since the lack of doctors is very marked on the vast russian plains, the government in opened special courses for women medical students in st. petersburg. (in another institution courses were given for midwives and for women regimental surgeons.) the women completing the courses in st. petersburg were not granted the doctor's degree, however. the russian women earned the doctor's degree in the russo-turkish war ( - ); for ten years after this war women graduates of the st. petersburg medical courses were granted degrees. then these courses were closed in . they were opened again in . under these difficult circumstances the russian women secured their higher education. in the elementary schools, for every women inhabitants there are only . women public school teachers. of the , , public school children, only , are girls. the number of illiterates in russia varies from to per cent. the elementary school course in the country is only three years (it is five years in the cities). the number of women public school teachers is , (as compared with , men teachers). an attempt has been made by the women village school teachers to arouse the women agricultural laborers from their stupor. organization of women laborers has been attempted in the cities. for the present the task seems superhuman.[ ] when graduating from the lyceum the young girl is given her _teaching diploma_, which permits her to teach in the four lower classes in the girls' lyceums. those wishing to teach in the higher classes must take a special examination in a university. the higher classes in the girls' lyceums are taught chiefly by men teachers. when a russian woman teacher marries she need not relinquish her position. in russia the women doctors have a vast field of work. for every , inhabitants there is only one doctor! however, in st. petersburg there is one doctor for every , inhabitants. according to the most recent statistics there are women doctors in russia. of these, have ceased to practice, have official positions, and have a private practice. of the women doctors in st. petersburg, are employed in hospitals, in the sanitary department of the city; are school physicians, are assistants in clinics and laboratories, are superintendents of maternity hospitals, have charge of foundling asylums, have private hospitals, and the rest engage in private practice. of the women doctors not in st. petersburg, have official positions, the others have a private practice. the local governments (_zemstvos_) have appointed women doctors in the larger cities, in the smaller, and in the rural districts. there are women doctors employed in private hospitals on country estates, in hospitals for mohammedan women, in schools, in factories, are employed by railroads, by the red cross society, etc. the practice of the woman doctor in the country is naturally the most difficult and the least remunerative. therefore, it is willingly given over to the women. thanks to individual ability, the russian woman doctor is highly respected. there are women druggists in russia. their training for the calling is received by practical work (this is true of the men druggists also). according to the last statistics ( ), there were , women engaged in the liberal professions. there are a number of women professors in the state universities. women engage in commercial callings. the schools of commerce for women were favored by witte in his capacity of minister of finance. they have since been placed under the control of the minister of instruction and religion. this will restrict the freedom of instruction. instruction in agriculture for women has not yet been established. commerce engages , women; agriculture and fisheries, , , . women have been appointed as factory inspectors since . the ministry of justice and the ministry of communication employ women in limited numbers, without entitling them to pensions. the government of the province of moscow has appointed women to municipal offices, and has appointed them as fire insurance agents. the _zemstvo_ of kiew had done this previously; but suddenly it discharged them from the municipal offices. for the past nine years an institution founded by the princes liwin has trained women as managers of prisons.[ ] the names of two prominent russian women must be mentioned: sonja kowalewska, the winner of a contest in mathematics, and madame sklodowska-curie, the discoverer of radium. both prove that women can excel in scientific work. it must be emphasized that the woman student in russia must often struggle against terrible want. whoever has studied in swiss, german, or french universities knows the russian-polish students who in many cases must get along for the whole year with a couple of ten ruble bills (about ten dollars). they are wonderfully unassuming; they possess inexhaustible enthusiasm. many russian women begin their university careers poorly prepared. to unfortunate, divorced, widowed, or destitute women the "university" appears to be a golden goal, a promised land. of the privations that these women endure the people of western europe have no conception. in russia the facts are better known. wealthy women endow all educational institutions for girls with relief funds and with loan and stipend funds. restaurants and homes for university women have been established. the "society for the support of university women" in moscow has done its utmost to relieve the misery of the women students.[ ] the economic misery of the industrial and agricultural women (who are almost wholly unorganized) is somewhat worse than that of the university women. the statements concerning women's wages in vienna might give some idea of the misery of the russian women. in bialystock, which has the best socialistic organization of women, the women textile workers earn about cents a day; under favorable circumstances $ . to $ . a week. a skillful woman tobacco worker will earn - / cents a day. the average daily wages for russian women laborers are to cents. hence it is not astonishing that in the south american houses of ill-fame there are so many russian girls. the agents in the white slave trade need not make very extravagant promises of "good wages" to find willing followers.[ ] a workingwomen's club has existed since in st. petersburg. there are , women engaged in industry and mining; , , in domestic service (there being , , men domestic servants). of the women domestic servants , are illiterate (of the men only !). in the women formed per cent of the laboring population; in the number had increased to per cent. of the total number of criminals in russia per cent are women. the legal status of the russian woman is favorable in so far as the property law provides for property rights. the russian married woman controls not only her property, but also her earnings and her savings. as survival of village communism and the feudal system, the right to vote is restricted to taxpayers and to landowners. in the rural districts the wife votes as "head of the family," if her husband is absent or dead. then she is also given her share of the village land. she votes in person. in the cities the women that own houses and pay taxes vote by proxy. the women owners of large estates (as in austria) vote also for the provincial assemblies. although constitutional liberties have a precarious existence in russia, they have now and then been beneficial to women. with great effort, and in the face of great dangers, woman's suffrage societies were formed in various parts of the empire. they united into a national woman's suffrage league. the brave russian delegates were present in copenhagen and in amsterdam. they belonged to all ranks of society and were adherents to the progressive political parties. since the dissolution of the first duma (june , ) the work of the woman's suffrage advocates has been made very difficult; in the rural districts especially all initiative has been crippled. in moscow and st. petersburg the work is continued by organizations having about members; , pamphlets have been distributed, lectures have been held, a newspaper has been established, and a committee has been organized which maintains a continuous communication with the duma. the best established center of the russian woman's rights movement is the woman's club in st. petersburg. through the tenacious efforts of the leading women of the club,--mrs. v. philosophow, (mrs.) _dr. med._ schabanoff, and others,--the government granted them, in the latter part of december, , the right to hold the first national congress of women. (the stipulation was made that foreign women should not participate, and that a federation of women's clubs should not be formed.) the discussions concerned education, labor problems, and politics. publicity was much restricted; police surveillance was rigid; addresses on the foreign woman's suffrage movement were prohibited. nevertheless, this progressive declaration was made: only the right to vote can secure for the russian women a thorough education and the right to work. moreover, the congress favored: better marriage laws (a wife cannot secure a passport without the consent of her husband), the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution, the abolition of the death penalty, the struggle against drunkenness, etc. the congress was opened by the lord mayor of st. petersburg and was held in the st. petersburg town hall. this was done in a sense of obligation to the women school teachers of st. petersburg and to those women who had endeared themselves to the people through their activity in hospitals and asylums. the lord mayor stated that these activities were appreciated by the municipal officers and by all municipal institutions. although the congress was opened with praise for the women, it ended with an intentional insult to the highly talented and deserving leader, mrs. v. philosophow. mr. purischkewitch, the reactionary deputy of the duma, wrote a letter in which he expressed his pleasure at the adjournment of her "congress of prostitutes" (_bordellkongress_). mrs. v. philosophow surrendered this letter and another to the courts, which sentenced the offender to a month's imprisonment, against which he appealed. after this congress has worked over the whole field of the woman's rights movement, a special congress on the education of women will be held in the autumn of .[ ] since the revolution of the women of the provinces have been astir. it has been reported that the mohammedan women of the caucasus are discarding their veils, that the russian women in the rural districts are petitioning for greater privileges, etc. an organized woman's rights movement has originated in the baltic provinces; its organ is the _baltic women's review_ (_baltische frauenrundschau_), the publisher being a woman, e. schütze, riga. czechish bohemia and moravia total population: about , , . the women predominate numerically. no federation of women's clubs. no woman's suffrage league. the woman's rights movement is strongly supported among the czechs. woman is the best apostle of nationalism; the educated woman is the most valuable ally. in the national propaganda woman takes her place beside the man. the names of the czechish women patriots are on the lips of everybody. had the liberals of german austria known equally well how to inspire their women with liberalism and germanism, their cause would to-day be more firmly rooted. in inexpensive but well-organized boarding schools the czechish girls (especially country girls, the daughters of landowners and tenants) are being educated along national lines. an institute such as the "_wesna_"[ ] in brünn is a center of national propaganda. prague, like brünn, has a czechish _gymnasium_ for girls as well as the german _gymnasium_. there is also a czechish university besides the german university. the first woman to be given the degree of doctor of philosophy at the czechish university was fräulein babor. the industrial conditions in czechish bohemia and in moravia differ very little from those in galicia. the lot of the workingwomen, especially in the coal mining districts, is wretched. according to a local club doctor (_kassenarzt_),[ ] life is made up of hunger, whiskey, and lashes. although paragraph , of the austrian law of association (_vereinsgesetz_) prevents the czechish women from forming political associations, the women of bohemia, especially of prague, show the most active political interest. the women owners of large estates in bohemia voted until for members of the imperial parliament. when universal suffrage was granted to the austrian men, the voting rights of this privileged minority were withdrawn. the government's resolution, providing for an early introduction of a woman's suffrage measure, has not yet been carried out. the suffrage conditions for the bohemian _landtag_ (provincial legislature) are different. taxpayers, office-holders, doctors, and teachers vote for this body; the women, of course, voting by proxy. the same is true in the bohemian municipal elections. in prague only are the women deprived of the suffrage. the prague woman's suffrage committee, organized in , has proved irrefutably that the women in prague are legally entitled to the suffrage for the bohemian _landtag_. in the _landtag_ election of the women presented a candidate, miss tumova, who received a considerable number of votes, but was defeated by the most prominent candidate (the mayor). however, this campaign aroused an active interest in woman's suffrage. in miss tumova was again a candidate. the proposed reform of the election laws for the bohemian _landtag_ ( ) (which provides for universal suffrage, although not equal suffrage) would disfranchise the women outside prague. the women are opposing the law by indignation meetings and deputations. galicia[ ] total population: about , , . poles: about , , . ruthenians: about , , . the women predominate numerically. no federation of women's clubs. no woman's suffrage league. the conditions prevailing in galicia are unspeakably pathetic,--medieval, oriental, and atrocious. whoever has read emil franzo's works is familiar with these conditions. the vienna official inquiry into the industrial conditions of women led to a similar inquiry in lemberg. this showed that most of the women _cannot_ live on their earnings. the lowest wages are those of the women engaged in the ready-made clothing industry,-- to - / guldens ($. to $ . ) a _month_ as beginners; to guldens ($ . to $ . ) later. the wages (including board and room) of servant girls living with their employers are to cents a day. the skilled seamstress that sews linen garments can earn cents a day if she works sixteen hours. as a beginner, a milliner earns to guldens ($. to $ . ) a _month_, later guldens ($ . ). in the mitten industry (a home industry) a week's hard work brings to guldens ($ . to $ . ). in laundries women working hours earn kreuzer ( cents) a day without board. in printing works and in bookbinderies women are employed as assistants; for - / hours' work a day they are paid a _monthly_ wage of from to and guldens ($. to $ . ). in the bookbinderies women sometimes receive guldens ($ . ) a month. in lemberg, as in vienna, women are employed as brickmakers and as bricklayers' assistants, working to hours a day; their wages are to kreuzer ( to cents) a day. no attempt to improve these conditions through organizations has yet been made. the official inquiry thus far has confined itself to the christian women laborers. what miseries might not be concealed in the ghettos! an industrial women's movement in galicia is not to be thought of as yet. there is a migration of the women from the flat rural districts to the cities; _i.e._ into the nets of the white slave agents. women earning , , or cents a day are easily lured by promises of higher wages. the ignorance of the lower classes (ruthenians and poles) is, according to the ideas of western europe, immeasurable. in , children between six and twelve years (in a total of about , ) had _never attended school_. of men teachers, had no qualifications whatever! of the women teachers had no qualifications! the minimum salary is kronen ($ . ). the women teachers in demanded that they be regarded on an equality with the men teachers by the provincial school board. there are _gymnasiums_ for girls in cracow, lemberg, and przemysl. women are admitted to the universities of cracow and lemberg. in one of the universities (mrs.) dr. dazynska is a lecturer on political economy. in cracow there is a woman's club. propaganda is being organized throughout the land. a society to oppose the official regulation of prostitution and to improve moral conditions was organized in . the galician woman taxpayer votes in municipal affairs; the women owners of large estates vote for members of the _landtag_. (mrs.) dr. dazynska and mrs. kutschalska-reinschmidt of cracow are champions of the woman's rights movement in galicia. mrs. kutschalska lives during parts of the year in warsaw. she publishes the magazine _ster_. in russian poland her activities are more restricted because the forming of organizations is made difficult. in spite of this the "equal rights society of polish women" has organized local societies in kiew, radom, lublin, and other cities. the formation of a federation of polish women's clubs has been planned. in warsaw the polish branch of the international federation for the abolition of prostitution was organized in . an asylum for women teachers, a loan-fund for women teachers, and a commission for industrial women are the external evidences of the activities of the polish woman's rights movement in warsaw. the field of labor for the educated woman is especially limited in poland. excluded from government service, many educated polish women flock into the teaching profession; there they have restricted advantages. the university of warsaw has been opened to women. the slovene woman's rights movement[ ] total population: , , . the women preponderate numerically. the slovene woman's rights movement is still incipient; it was stimulated by zofka kveder's "the mystery of woman" (_mysterium der frau_). zofka kveder's motto is: "to see, to know, to understand.--woman is a human being." zofka kveder hopes to transform the magazine _slovenka_ into a woman's rights review. a south slavic social-democratic movement is attempting to organize trade-unions among the women. the women lace makers have been organized. seventy per cent of all women laborers cannot live on their earnings. in agricultural work they earn hellers ( cents) a day. in the ready-made clothing industry they are paid hellers ( cents) for making buttonholes, krone hellers ( cents) for making one dozen shirts. servia total population: , , . the number of women is somewhat greater than that of the men. servian federation of women's clubs. servia has been free from turkish control hardly forty-five years. among the people the oriental conception of woman prevails along with patriarchal family conditions. the woman's rights movement is well organized; it is predominantly national, philanthropic, and educational. elementary education is obligatory, and is supported by the "national society for public education" (_nationalen verein für volksbildung_). the girls and women of the lower classes are engaged chiefly with domestic duties; in addition they work in the fields or work at excellent home industries. these home industries were developed as a means of livelihood by the efforts of mrs. e. subotisch, the organizer of the servian woman's rights movement. the servian women are rarely domestic servants (under turkish rule they were not permitted to serve the enemy); most of the domestic servants are hungarians and austrians. all educational opportunities are open to the women of the middle class. in all of the more important cities there are public as well as private high schools for girls. the boys' _gymnasiums_ admit girls. the university has been open to women for twenty-one years; women are enrolled in all departments; recently law has attracted many. for medical training the women, like the men, go to foreign countries (france, switzerland). servia has women teachers in the elementary schools (the salary being to francs--$ to $ --a year, with lodging); there are women teachers in the secondary schools (the salary being to francs,--$ to $ ). to the present no woman has been appointed as a university professor. there are six women doctors, the first having entered the profession years ago; there are two women dentists; but as yet there are no women druggists. there are no women lawyers. there is a woman engineer in the service of the government. in the liberal arts there are three well-known women artists, seven women authors, and ten women poets. there are many women engaged in commercial callings, as office clerks, cashiers, bookkeepers, and saleswomen. women are also employed by banks and insurance companies. "a woman merchant is given extensive credit," is stated in the report of the secretary of the federation. in the postal and telegraph service women are employed (the salaries varying from to francs,--$ to $ ). there are women in the telephone service (the salaries varying from to francs,--$ to $ ). servia is just establishing large factories; the number of women laborers is still small; are organized. prostitution is officially regulated in servia; its recruits are chiefly foreign women. each vaudeville singer, barmaid, etc., is _ex officio_ placed under control. the oldest woman's club is the "belgrade woman's club," founded in ; it has branches. it maintains a school for poor girls, a school for weavers in pirot, and a students' kitchen (_studentenküche_). the "society of servian sisters" and the "society of queen lubitza" are patriotic societies for maintaining and strengthening the servian element in turkey, old servia, and macedonia. the "society of mothers" takes care of abandoned children. the "housekeeping society" trains domestic servants. the servian women's clubs within the kingdom have members; in the servian colonies without the kingdom they have , members. the property laws provide for joint property holding. the wife controls her earnings and savings only when this is stipulated in the marriage contract. in , the federation of servian women's clubs inserted woman's suffrage in its programme, and joined the international woman's suffrage alliance. in the struggle for national existence the servian woman demonstrated her worth, and effected a recognition of her right to an education. bulgaria total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . federation of bulgarian women's clubs. like servia, bulgaria was freed from turkish control about forty years ago. the liberation caused very little change in the life of the peasant women. but it opened new educational opportunities for the middle classes. the elementary schools naturally provide for the girls also. (in - there were men teachers and women teachers in the villages; in the cities men and women.) high schools for girls have been established, but not all of them prepare for the _abiturientenexamen_. the first women entered the university of sofia in . there are now about women students. since , through the work of a reactionary ministry, the university has excluded women; married women teachers have been discharged. women attend the schools of commerce, the technical schools, and the agricultural schools. women are active as doctors (there being ), midwives, journalists, and authors. the men and women teachers are organized jointly. women are employed by the state in the postal and telegraph service. the wages of these women, like those of the women laborers, are lower than those of the men. there is a factory law that protects women laborers and children working in the factories. the trade-unions are socialistic and have men and women members. the laws regulating the legal status of woman have been influenced by german laws. the wife controls her earnings. politically the bulgarian woman has no rights. the federation of bulgarian women's clubs was organized in ; in it joined the international council of women. woman's suffrage occupies the first place on the programme of the federation; in it joined the international woman's suffrage affiance. the bulgarian women, too, have recognized woman's suffrage as the key to all other woman's rights. to the present time their demands have been supported by radicals and democrats (who are not very influential). a meeting of the federation in demanded: . active and passive suffrage for women in school administration and municipal councils. . the reopening of the university to women. (this has been granted.) . the increase of the salaries of women teachers. (they are paid per cent less than the men teachers.) . the same curriculums for the boys' and girls' schools. . an enlargement of woman's field of labor. . better protection to women and children working in factories. the president of the federation is the wife of the president of the ministry, malinoff. because the federation, led by mrs. malinoff, did not oppose the reactionary measures of the ministry (of stambolavitch), mrs. anna carima, who had been president of the federation to , organized the "league of progressive women." this league demands equal rights for the sexes. it admits only confirmed woman's rights advocates (men and women). it will request the political emancipation of women in a petition which it intends to present to the national parliament, which must be called after bulgaria has been converted into a kingdom. in july ( ) the progressive league will hold a meeting to draft its constitution. rumania total population: , , . no federation of women's clubs. no woman's suffrage league. the status of the rumanian women is similar to that of the servian and bulgarian women; but the legal profession has been opened to the bulgarian women. a discussion of rumania must be omitted, since my efforts to secure reliable information have been unsuccessful. greece[ ] total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . federation of greek women. no woman's suffrage league. the greek woman's rights movement concerns itself for the time being with philanthropy and education. its guiding spirit is madame kallirhoe parren (who acted as delegate in chicago in , and in paris in ). madame parren succeeded in in organizing a federation of greek women, which has belonged to the international council of women since . the presidency of the federation was accepted by queen olga. the federation has five sections: . the national section. this acts as a patriotic woman's club. in it rendered invaluable assistance in the turco-greek war, erecting four hospitals on the border and one in athens. the nurses belonged to the best families; the work was superintended by _dr. med._ marie kalapothaki and _dr. med._ bassiliades. . the educational section. this section establishes kindergartens; it has opened a seminary for kindergartners, and courses for women teachers of gymnastics.[ ] . the section for the establishment of domestic economy schools and continuation schools. this section is attempting to enlarge the non-domestic field of women and at the same time to prepare women better for their domestic calling. the efforts of this section are quite in harmony with the spirit of the times. the greek woman's struggle for existence is exceedingly difficult; she must face a backwardness of public opinion such as was overcome in northern europe long ago. this section has also founded a home for workingwomen. . the hygiene section. under the leadership of dr. kalapothaki this section has organized an orthopedic and gynecological clinic. the section also gives courses on the care of children, and provides for the care of women in confinement. . the philanthropic section. this provides respectable but needy girls with trousseaus (_austeuern_). mrs. parren has for eighteen years been editor of a woman's magazine in athens. (miss) _dr. med._ panajotatu has since been a lecturer in bacteriology at athens university. at her inaugural lecture the students made a hostile demonstration. miss bassiliades acts as physician in the women's penitentiary. miss lascaridis and miss ionidis are respected artists; mrs. v. kapnist represents woman in literature, especially in poetry. mrs. parren has written several dramatic works (some advocating woman's rights), which have been presented in athens, smyrna, constantinople, and alexandria. mrs. parren is a director of the society of dramatists. government positions are still closed to women. as late as , after great difficulties, the first women telephone clerks were appointed. chapter iv the orient and the far east in the orient and the far east woman is almost without exception a plaything or a beast of burden; and to a degree that would incense us europeans. in the uncivilized countries, and in the countries of non-european civilization, the majority of the women are insufficiently nourished; in all cases more poorly than the men. early marriages enervate the women. they are old at thirty; this is especially true of the lower classes. among us, to be sure, such cases occur also; unfortunately without sufficient censure being given when necessary. but we have abolished polygamy and the harem. both still exist almost undisturbed in the orient and the far east. turkey and egypt total population: , , . a federation of women's clubs has just been founded in each country. in all the mohammedan countries the wealthy woman lives in the harem with her slaves. the woman of the lower classes, however, is guarded or restricted no more than with us. apparently the turkish and the arabian women of the lower classes have an unrestrained existence. but because they are subject to the absolute authority of their husbands, their life is in most cases that of a beast of burden. they work hard and incessantly. for the mohammedan of the lower classes polygamy is economically a useful institution: four women are four laborers that earn more than they consume. domestic service offers workingwomen in the orient the broadest field of labor. the women slaves in the harems[ ] are usually well treated, and they have sufficient to live on. they associate with women shopkeepers, women dancers, midwives, hairdressers, manicurists, pedicures, etc. these are in the pay of the wives of the wealthy. thanks to this army of spies, a turkish woman is informed, without leaving her harem, of every step of her husband. the oppression that all women must endure, and the general fear of the infidelity of husbands, have created among oriental women an _esprit de corps_ that is unknown to european women. among the upper classes polygamy is being abolished because the country is impoverished and the large estates have been squandered; moreover, each wife is now demanding her own household, whereas formerly the wives all lived together. through the influence of the european women educators, an emancipation movement has been started among the younger generation of women in constantinople. many fathers, often through vanity, have given their daughters a european education. elementary schools, secondary schools, and technical schools have existed in turkey and egypt since . the women graduates of these schools are now opposing oriental marriage and life in the harem. at present this is causing tragic conflicts.[ ] to the present, two turkish women have spoken publicly at international congresses of women. selma riza, sister of the "young turkish" general, ahmed riza, spoke in paris in , and mrs. haïrie ben-aid spoke in berlin in . the mohammedan women have a legal supporter of their demands in kassim amin bey, counselor of the court of appeals in cairo. in his pamphlet on the woman's rights question he proposes the following programme:-- legal prohibition of polygamy. woman's right to file a divorce suit. (hitherto a woman is divorced if her husband, even without cause, says thee times consecutively "you are divorced.") woman's freedom to choose her husband. the training of women in independent thought and action. a thorough education for woman. in a congress of mohammedan women will be held in cairo. i may add that the koran, the mohammedan code of laws, gives a married woman the full status of a legal person before the law, and full civil ability. it recognizes separation of property as legal, and grants the wife the right to control and to dispose of her property. hence the koran is more liberal than the code napoleon or the german civil code. whether the restrictions of the harem make the exercise of these rights impossible in practice, i am unable to say. european schools, as well as the newly founded _universités populaires_, are in turkey and in egypt the centers of enlightenment among the mohammedans. the european women doctors in constantinople, alexandria, and cairo are all disseminators of modern culture. a woman lawyer practices in the cairo court, and has been admitted to the lawyers' society. the young turk movement and the reform of turkey on a constitutional basis found hearty support among the women. they expressed themselves orally and in writing in favor of the liberal ideas; they spoke in public and held public meetings; they attempted to appear in public without veils, and to attend the theater in order to see a patriotic play; they sent a delegation to the young turk committee requesting the right to occupy the spectators' gallery in parliament; and, finally, they organized the women's progress society, which comprises women of all nationalities but concerns itself only with philanthropy and education. as a consequence, the government is said to have resolved to erect a humanistic _gymnasium_ for girls in constantinople. the leader of the young turks, the present president of the chamber of deputies, is, as a result of his long stay in paris, naturally convinced of the superiority of harem life and legal polygamy (when compared with occidental practices).[ ] the freedom of action of the mohammedan women, especially in the provinces, might be much hampered by traditional obstacles. nevertheless, the restrictions placed on the mohammedan woman have been abolished, as is proved by the following:-- in constantinople there has been founded a "young turkish woman's league" that proposes to bring about the same great revolutionary changes in the intellectual life of woman that have already been introduced into the political life of man. knowledge and its benefits must in the future be made accessible to the turkish women. this is to be done openly. formerly all strivings of the turkish women were carried on in secret. the women revolutionists were anxiously guarded; as far as possible, information concerning their movements was secured before they left their homes. the turkish women wish to prove that they, as well as the women of other countries, have human rights. when the constitution of the "young turkish woman's league" was being drawn up, enver bey was present. he was thoroughly in favor of the demands of the new woman's rights movement. the "young turkish woman's league" is under the protection of princess refià sultana, daughter of the sultan. princess refià, a young woman of twenty-one years of age, has striven since her eighteenth year to acquire a knowledge of the sciences. she speaks several languages. the enthusiasm of the young turkish women is great. many of them appear on the streets without veils,--a thing that no prominent turkish woman could do formerly. women of all classes have joined the league. the committee daily receives requests for admission to membership. bosnia and herzegovina total population: , , . the men preponderate numerically. bosnia and herzegovina, being mohammedan countries, have harems and the restricted views of harem life. naturally, a woman's rights movement is not to be thought of. polygamy and patriarchal life are characteristic. into this mohammedan country the austrian government has sent women disseminators of the culture of western europe,[ ]--the bosnian district women doctors. the first of these was dr. feodora krajevska in dolna tuszla, now in serajewo. now she has several women colleagues. the women doctors wear uniforms,--a black coat, a black overcoat with crimson facings and with two stars on the collar. persia total population: about , , . in persia hardly a beginning of the woman's rights movement exists. the report[ ] that i have before me closes thus: "the persian woman lives, as it were, a negative life, but does not seem to strive for a change in her condition." certainly not. like the turkish and the arabian woman, she is bound by the koran. her educational opportunities are even less (there are very few european schools, governesses, and women doctors in persia). her field of activity is restricted to agriculture, domestic service, tailoring, and occasionally, teaching. however, she is said to be quite skillful in the management of her financial affairs. as far as i know, the persian woman took no part in the constitutional struggle of - . india total population: , , . the indian woman's rights movement originated through the efforts of the english. the movement is as necessary and as difficult as the movement in china. the indian religions teach that woman should be despised. "a cow is worth more than a thousand women." the birth of a girl is a misfortune: "may the tree grow in the forest, but may no daughter be born to me."[ ] formerly it was permissible to drown newborn girls; the english government had to abolish this barbarity (as it abolished the suttee). the indian woman lives in her apartment, the zenana; here the mother-in-law wields the scepter over the daughters-in-law, the grandchildren, and the women servants. the small girl learns to cook and to embroider; anything beyond that is iniquitous: woman has no brain. the girls that are educated in england must upon their return again don the veil and adjust themselves to native conditions. at the age of five or six the little girls are engaged, sometimes to young men of ten or twelve years, sometimes to men of forty or fifty. the marriage takes place several years later. sometimes a man has more than one wife. the wife waits on her husband while he is eating; she eats what remains. if the wife bears a son, she is reinstated. if she is widowed, she must fast and constantly offer apologies for existing. the widows and orphans were the first natives to become interested in the higher education of women. this was due to economic and social conditions. india was the cradle of mankind. even the highest civilizations still bear indelible marks of the dreadful barbarities that have just been mentioned. the indian woman has rebelled against her miserable condition. the english women considered it possible to bring health, hope, and legal aid to the women of the zenana, through women doctors, women missionaries, and women lawyers. hence in zenana missions were organized by english women doctors and missionaries. native women were soon studying medicine in order to bring an end to the superstitions of the zenana. dr. clara swain came to india in as the first woman medical missionary. as early as - the first hospital for women was founded; in , through the work of lady dufferin, there originated the indian national league for giving medical aid to women (_nationalverband für ärztliche frauenhilfe in indien_). native women have studied law in order to represent their sex in the courts. their chief motive was to secure an opportunity of conferring with the women in the zenana, a privilege not granted the male lawyer. the first indian woman lawyer, cornelia sorabija, was admitted to the bar in poona. even in england the women have not yet been granted this privilege. this is easily explained. the indian women cannot be clients of men lawyers; what men lawyers cannot take, they generously leave to the women lawyers. india has , , people; hence these meager beginnings of a woman's rights movement are infinitesimal when compared with the vast work that remains undone.[ ] the educated indian woman is participating in the nationalist movement that is now being directed against english rule. brahmanism hinders the indian woman in making use of the educational opportunities offered by the english government. brahmanism and its priests nourish in woman a feeling of humility and the fear that she will lose her caste through contact with europeans and infidels. the parsee women and the mohammedan women do not have this fear. the parsee women (pundita ramabai, for example) have played a leading part in the emancipation of their sex in india. but the mohammedan women of india are reached by the movement only with difficulty. by the hindoo of the old régime, woman is kept in great ignorance and superstition; her education is limited to a small stock of aphorisms and rules of etiquette; her life in the zenana is largely one of idleness. "ennui almost causes them to lose their minds" is a statement based on the reports of missionaries. there are modern schools for girls in all large cities (calcutta, madras, bombay, etc.). the status of the native woman has been europeanized to the greatest extent in bengal. the best educated of the native women of all classes are the dancing girls (_bayadères_); unfortunately they are not "virtuous women" (_honnêtes femmes_), hence education among women has been in ill repute. a congress of women was held in calcutta in with a woman as chairman; this congress discussed the condition of indian women. at the medical congress of , in bombay, hindoo women doctors spoke effectively. the women doctors have formed the association of medical women in india. in madras there is published the _indian ladies' magazine_.[ ] china[ ] total population: , , . the chinese woman of the lower classes has the same status as the mohammedan woman,--ostensible freedom of movement, and hard work. the women of the property owning classes, however, must remain in the house; here, entertaining one another, they live and eat, apart from the men. as woman is not considered in the chinese worship of ancestors, her birth is as unwished for as that of the indian woman. among the poor the birth of a daughter is an economic misfortune. who will provide for her? hence in the three most densely populated provinces the murder of girl babies is quite common. in many cases mothers kill their little girls to deliver them from the misery of later life. the father, husband, and the mother-in-law are the masters of the chinese woman. she can possess property only when she is a widow (see the much more liberal provisions of the koran). the earnings of the chinese wife belong to her husband. but in case of a dispute in this matter, no court would decide in the husband's favor, for he is supposed to be "the bread winner" of the family. polygamy is customary; but the chinese may have only _one_ legitimate wife (while the mohammedan may have four). the concubine has the status of a _hetaera_; she travels with the man, keeps his accounts, etc. the chinese woman of the property owning class lives, in contrast to the hindoo woman, a life filled with domestic duties. she makes all the clothes for the family; even the most wealthy women embroider. frequently the wife succeeds in becoming the adviser of the husband. a widow is not despised; she can remarry. the women of the lower classes engage in agriculture, domestic service, the retail business, all kinds of agencies and commission businesses, factory work (to a small extent), medical science (practiced in a purely experimental way), and midwifery; they carry burdens and assist in the loading and unloading of ships. women's wages are one half or three fourths of those of the men. the lives of the chinese women, especially among the lower classes, are so wretched that mothers believe they are doing a good deed when they strangle their little girls, or place them on the doorstep where they will be gathered up by the wagon that collects the corpses of children. many married women commit suicide. "the suffering of the women in this dark land is indescribable," says an american woman missionary. those chinese women that believe in the transmigration of souls hope "in the next world to be anything but a woman." foreign women doctors, like the women missionaries, are bringing a little cheer into these sad places. most of these women are english or american. the beginning of a real woman's rights movement is the work of the anti-foot-binding societies, which are opposing the binding of women's feet. this reform is securing supporters among men and women. for seventeen years there has existed a school for chinese women. this was founded by kang you wei, the first chinese to demand that both sexes should have the same rights. the women that have devoted themselves during these seventeen years to the emancipation of their sex must often face martyrdom. tsin king, the founder of a semimonthly magazine for women, and of a modern school for girls, met death on the scaffold in during a political persecution directed against all progressive elements. another woman's rights advocate, miss sin peng sie, donated , taëls (a taël is equivalent to . cents) for the erection of a _gymnasium_ for girls in her native city, , taëls to endow a pedagogical magazine, and , taëls for the support of minor schools for girls. still another woman's rights advocate, wu fang lan, resisted every attempt to bind her feet in the traditional manner. there exists a woman's league, through whose efforts the government, in , prohibited the binding of the feet of little girls. in recent years the _women's magazines_ have increased in number. four large publications, devoted solely to women's interests, are published in canton; five are published in shanghai, and about as many in every other large city. the new system of education (adopted in ) grants women freedom. girls' schools have been opened everywhere; in the large cities there are girls' secondary schools in which the chinese classics, foreign languages, and other cultural subjects are taught. in tien tsin there is a seminary for women teachers. sie tou fa, a prominent chinese administrative official (who is also a governor and a lawyer), recently delivered a lecture in paris on the status of the chinese woman. this lecture contradicts the statements made above. among other things he declared that china has produced too many distinguished women (in the political as well as in other fields) for law and public opinion to restrict the freedom of woman. "the chinese admits superiority, with all its consequences, as soon as he sees it; and this, whether it is shown by man or woman."[ ] according to him there can be no woman's rights movement in china, because man does not oppress woman! he declares that the progress of women in china since is a manifestation of patriotism, not of feminism. according to our experiences the opinions of sie tou fa are attributable to a peculiarly masculine way of observing things. japan and korea[ ] total population: , , . women: , , . men: , , . previous to the thirteenth century the japanese woman, when compared with the other women of the far east, occupied a specially favored position,--as wife and mother, as scholar, author, and counselor in business and political affairs. all these rights were lost during the civil wars waged in the period between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. war and militarism are the sworn enemies of woman's rights. a further cause of the japanese woman's loss of rights was the strong influence of chinese civilization, embodied in the teachings of confucius. the japanese woman was expected to be obedient; her virtues became passive and negative. in the seaports and chief cities, european influence has during the last fifty years caused changes in the dress, general bearing, and social customs of the japanese. during the past thirty years these changes have been furthered by the government. while japan was rising to the rank of a great world power, she was also providing an excellent educational system for women. the movement began with the erection of girls' schools. the empress is the patroness of an "imperial educational society," a "secondary school for girls," and "educational institute for the daughters of nobles," and of a "seminary for women teachers." all of these institutions are in tokio. women formed in per cent of the total number of teachers. japanese women of wealth and women of the nobility support these educational efforts; they also support the "charity bazaar society," the orphans' home, and the red cross society. the red cross society trained an excellent corps of nurses, as the russo-japanese war demonstrated. women are employed as government officials in the railroad offices; they are also employed in banks. japanese women study medicine, pharmacy, and midwifery in special institutions,[ ] which have hundreds of women enrolled. many women attend commercial and technical schools. women are engaged in industry,--at very low wages, to be sure; but this fact enables japan to compete successfully for markets. the number of women in industry exceeds that of the men; in there were , women and , men industrially engaged. in the textile industry per cent of the laborers are women. women also outnumber the men in home industries. women's average daily wages are - / cents. women remain active in commerce and industry, for the workers are recruited from the lower classes, and they have been better able to withstand chinese influence. chinese law (based on the teachings of confucius) still prevails with all its harshness for the japanese woman. the taxpaying japanese becomes a voter at the age of twenty-five. the japanese woman has no political rights. hence a petition has been presented to parliament requesting that women be granted the right to form organizations and to hold meetings. parliament favored the measure. but the government is still hesitating, hence a new petition has been sent to parliament. the modern woman's rights movement in japan is supported by the following organizations: two societies favoring woman's education, the associations for hygiene, and the society favoring dress reform. the _women's union_ and the _league of women_ can be regarded as political organizations. there are japanese women authors and journalists. since korea has belonged to japan, changes have begun there also. the korean women have neither a first name nor a family name. according to circumstances they are called daughter of a. b., wife of a., etc. it is a sign of the time and also of the awakening of woman's self-reliance that the government of korea has been presented with a petition, signed by many women, requesting that these conditions be abolished and that women be granted the right to have their own names. * * * * * we have completed our journey round the world,--from japan to the united states is only a short distance, and the intellectual relations between the two countries are quite intimate. few oriental people seem more susceptible to european culture than the japanese. but whatever woman's rights movement there is in non-european countries, it owes its origin almost without exception to the activity of educated occidentals,--to the men and women teachers, educators, doctors, and missionaries. here is an excellent field for our activities; here is a duty that we dare not forget in the midst of our own struggles. for we cannot estimate the noble work and uplifting power that the world loses in those countries where women are merely playthings and beasts of burden. conclusion in the greater part of the world woman is a slave and a beast of burden. in these countries she rules only in exceptional cases--and then through cunning. equality of rights is not recognized; neither is the right of woman to act on her own responsibility. even in most countries of european civilization woman is not free or of age. in these countries, too, she exists merely as a sexual being. woman is free and is regarded as a human being only in a very small part of the civilized world. even in these places we see daily tenacious survivals of the old barbarity and tyranny. hence it is not true that woman is the "weaker," the "protected," the "loved," and the "revered" sex. in most cases she is the overworked, exploited, and (even when living in luxury) the oppressed sex. these circumstances dwarf woman's humanity, and limit the development of her individuality, her freedom, and her responsibility. these conditions are opposed by the woman's rights movement. the movement hopes to secure the happiness of woman, of man, of the child, and of the world by establishing the equal rights of the sexes. these rights are based on the recognition of equality of merit; they provide for responsibility of action. most men do not understand this ideal; they oppose it with unconscious egotism. this book has given an accurate account of the _means_ by which men oppose woman's rights: scoffing, ridicule, insinuation; and finally, when prejudice, stubbornness, and selfishness can no longer resist the force of truth, the argument that they do not wish to grant us our rights. there is little encouragement in this; but it shall not perplex us. man, by opposing woman, caused the struggle between the sexes. only equality of rights can bring peace. _woman_ is already certain of her equality. _man_ will learn by experience that renunciation can be "manly," that business can be "feminine," and that all "privilege" is obnoxious. the emancipation of woman is synonymous with the education of man. educating is always a slow process; but it inspires limitless hope. when "ideas" have once seized the masses, these ideas become an irresistible force. this is irrefutably proved by the strong growth of our movement since in all countries of european civilization, and by the awakening of women even in the depths of oriental civilization. the events of the past five years justify us in entertaining great hopes. footnotes: [ ] i have discussed the theoretical side in a pamphlet of "the german public utility association" (_deutscher gemeinnütziger verein_), prague, palackykai. [ ] the presiding officers of the international council to the present time were: mrs. wright sewall and lady aberdeen. this year, june, , lady aberdeen was reëlected. [ ] the report of the international woman's suffrage congress, london, may, , had not yet appeared, and the reader is therefore referred to it. [ ] their inferiority in numbers (in australia and in the western states of the united states) has, however, often served their cause in just the same way. [ ] "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." [ ] composed of the house of representatives and the senate. [ ] in many states by two consecutive legislatures. [ ] on november , , an amendment providing for woman's suffrage was adopted by the voters of washington. [tr.] [ ] on november , , both south dakota and oregon rejected amendments providing for woman's suffrage. [tr.] [ ] in october, , california adopted woman's suffrage by popular vote. [tr.] [ ] this "conference on the care of dependent children" was called by president roosevelt, and met, january and , , in the white house. two hundred and twenty men and women,--experts in the care of children, from every state in the union,--met, and proposed, among other things, the establishment of a federal child's bureau. thus far congress has done nothing to carry out the proposal. (_charities and the commons_, vol. xxi, , ; - ; - .) [tr.] [ ] the "mothers" hold special congresses in the united states to discuss educational and public questions. (mothers' congresses.) [ ] here universal male suffrage is meant. [tr.] [ ] in november, , an amendment in favor of woman's suffrage was defeated by a referendum vote in oklahoma. [tr.] [ ] the amendment passed the senate and was adopted in november, , by popular vote. [tr.] [ ] in november, , a woman's suffrage amendment was again defeated, as was the amendment prohibiting the sale of liquor. [tr.] [ ] in november, , four women were elected to the house of representatives of the colorado legislature. [tr.] [ ] mrs. ida husted harper, in collaboration with susan b. anthony, has written a _history of woman's suffrage_ which deals with the subject so far as the united states are concerned. [tr.] [ ] equal pay has been established by law in the states having woman's suffrage. [ ] it is worth mentioning that in the spanish-american war miss mcgee filled the position of assistant surgeon in the medical department, doing so with distinction. [ ] a. v. máday, _le droit des femmes au travail_, paris, giardet et briere. [ ] in her book, _l'ouvrière aux États-unis_, paris, juven, . [ ] those who cannot pay an annual tax of two dollars. [ ] in _l'ouvrière aux États-unis_. [ ] the organ of the national american woman's suffrage association is _progress_ and is published in warren, ohio. there, one can also secure _perhaps_ and _do you know_, two valuable propaganda pamphlets written by mrs. carrie chapman catt. other literature on woman's suffrage can be obtained from the same source. [ ] although new zealand is not politically a part of the australian federation, it will for convenience be treated here as such. [ ] the theological degrees are granted only in england. [ ] report of the international woman's suffrage conference, washington, . [ ] report of the national council of women, . [ ] _woman suffrage in australia_, by vida goldstein. [ ] both published in rotterdam, kruiskade, international woman's suffrage alliance. [ ] consult helen blackburn, _history of woman's suffrage in england_. [ ] see the excellent little work of mrs. c. c. stopes, "the sphere of 'man' in the british constitution," _votes for women_, london, clement's inn. [ ] in the irish sea, between ireland and scotland, having a population of , women and , men. [ ] clement's inn, strand, london, w.c. [ ] see e. robin's novel, _the convert_. [ ] by lawrence housman, feb. , , and , . [ ] see e. c. wolstenholme elmy, _women's franchise, the need of the hour_. [ ] wolstenholme elmy, _ibid._ [ ] this right is possessed by women in scotland and ireland also. [ ] this is in direct conflict with the statute ( vict., c. , sec. ) providing that women enjoy all those rights from which they are not expressly excluded. [ ] london, like other capital cities, is regulated by a separate set of laws. [ ] applying to england and wales. [ ] the right to vote is a condition necessary for the holding of office. [ ] see the married women's property acts of and . [ ] see the article by mr. pethick lawrence in _votes for women_, march , . [ ] london, s.w., victoria street. [ ] valuable information concerning women in the industries is given in the programme of april , , of the london congress of the international woman's suffrage alliance. [ ] ansiaux, _la réglementation du travail des femmes_. [ ] see mrs. pethick lawrence, "women and administration," _votes for women_, march , . [ ] see the article of alice salmon, _zentralblatt_. [ ] for a survey of english conditions affecting women we recommend _the women's charter of rights and liberties_, by lady mclaren, , london. [ ] in canada there are municipal elections, provincial parliamentary elections, and elections for the dominion parliament. [ ] see the report of the woman's suffrage alliance congress, amsterdam, . [ ] see the report of the international women's suffrage alliance, amsterdam, . [ ] the last two arguments are easily refuted. [ ] woman never reaches her majority; she must always have a male representative. [ ] the husband still remains the guardian of the wife. to-day the wife controls her personal earnings, but merely as long as they are in cash; whatever she _buys_ with them falls into the control of the husband. [ ] see the report of the international woman's suffrage alliance congress, amsterdam, . [ ] see the supplement, "opposed to alcoholism," in _one people, one school_, for april, . [ ] a _realschule_ teaches no classics, but is a scientific school emphasizing manual training. a _gymnasium_ prepares for the university, making the classics an essential part of the curriculum. [tr.] [ ] by vera hillt, _statistics of labor_, vi, helsingfors, . [ ] see the complete list of measures in _jus suffragi_, september , . this is the organ of the international woman's suffrage alliance. [ ] in women were declared eligible by an official ordinance to hold university offices. [ ] it might be well to mention _dansk kvindesamfund, politisk kvindeforening, landsforbund, valgretsforeningen of _ (a christian association of men and women). [ ] compare similar proceedings in the united states and england. [ ] since switzerland contains a preponderance of the germanic element, it will be considered with the germanic countries. [ ] in geneva and lausanne the men exerted every effort to exclude women from the typographical trade. the prohibition of night work made this easy. the same result will follow in the railroad and postal service. therefore in the swiss woman's rights movement there are some that are opposed to laws for the protection of women laborers. [ ] industrial training was promoted chiefly by the "lette-house," founded in berlin in by president lette and his wife. [ ] in germany there are one million domestic servants. [ ] for information concerning the german woman's rights movement we recommend _the memorandum-book of the woman's rights movement_ (_das merkbuch der frauenbewegung_), b. g. teubner, leipzig. [ ] a body having advisory powers in matters relating to the medical profession and to sanitary measures. [tr.] [ ] the question was decided by the administrative court in _one_ special case. compare the case of jacobs, amsterdam. [ ] see _dokumente der frauen_ (_documents concerning women_); november , . [ ] the german system of stenography. [tr.] [ ] see the resolutions of the party sessions in graz, ; in vienna, ; and of the first, second, and third conferences of the international woman's suffrage alliance, in , , and . [ ] except in illyria, carinthia, and lower austria. [ ] for political and practical reasons hungary will be discussed at this point. [ ] _dokumente der frauen_, june , . [ ] the proposed law grants the suffrage even to male illiterates. [ ] later the code napoleon infected other countries, but such horrors originated spontaneously nowhere else. [ ] in the years , , , , , . [ ] see the resolutions of the two women's congresses, paris, . [ ] _le mouvement féministe_, countess marie de villermont. [ ] _le féminisme_, emile ollivier. [ ] miss chauvin made a similar request of the french chamber of deputies; as we have seen, her request was granted. dr. popelin did not make her request of the belgian chamber of deputies, which had not a republican majority. dr. popelin may have considered such a step hopeless. [ ] since special socialistic workingwomen's congresses have been held. [ ] see the action of the socialists in sweden and in hungary. [ ] else hasse, _neue bahnen_. [ ] the recognized gallant of a married woman. [tr.] [ ] marianne weber, _zentralblatt_. [ ] but only the enlightened clergy--those living in rome--consent to the higher education of girls. [ ] _dokumente der frauen_, june , . [ ] see stanton, _the woman's rights movement in europe_. [ ] _el feminismo_, . [ ] see the report of the international suffrage congress, washington, . [ ] see the report of the international suffrage congress, washington, . [ ] this has just been organized. [ ] the following statistics are significant: between january and july , , russia showed an increase in the consumption of alcoholic liquors. the total amount of spirits consumed was , , _vedros_ ( _vedro_ is . gallons), which is an increase of , _vedros_ over the amount consumed during the same months of the preceding year. these figures correspond also to the government's income from its monopoly on spirits; this was , , rubles (a ruble is worth . cents), an increase of , , rubles over the same months of the preceding year. [ ] see the very interesting article _frauenbewegung_ (_the woman's rights movement_), by berta kes, moscow. [ ] see berta kes, _frauenbewegung_. [ ] see _documents concerning women_ (_dokumente der frauen_), april , . [ ] i am indebted to mrs. eudokimoff, of st. petersburg, for an english translation of the resolutions, the address of the lord mayor, and the proceedings against the deputy of the duma; also for a biography of mrs. v. philosophow. [ ] springtime. [ ] a doctor employed by a workingmen's association. [tr.] [ ] dr. schirmacher treats russian poland here with galicia, which is austrian poland. [tr.] [ ] _dokumente der frauen_, november, , . [ ] greek conditions are analogous to conditions prevailing in slavic countries; hence greece will be treated here. greece was liberated from turkish control in . [ ] there are elementary schools for boys and girls. the secondary schools for girls are private. the first of these was founded by dr. hill and his wife, who were americans. preparation for entrance to the university is optional and is carried on privately. athens university has admitted women since . [ ] the english have abolished slavery in egypt. [ ] see _conseil des femmes_, october, , for the romantic "désenchantées" of p. loti, and hussein rachimi's "verliebter bey." [ ] compare _la crise de l'orient_, by ahmed riza. [ ] see the analogous action of the english in india. [ ] report of the international suffrage congress, washington, . [ ] _mag der baum wohl wachsen in dem walde, aber keine tochter mir geboren werden._ [ ] india still retains the official regulation of prostitution (which was abolished in england in ). here again, militarism is playing a decisive part in blocking this reform. [ ] in bangkok, in farther india (siam), there is a woman's club with the siamese princess as president. [ ] report of the international suffrage conference, washington, . [ ] "_le chinois admet la supériorité, avec toutes ses conséquences, dès qu'il la constate, qu'elle se révèle chez un homme ou chez une femme._" [ ] report of the international suffrage conference, washington, . [ ] the university of tokio is still closed to women. women attend the woman's university, founded in by n. naruse. index abbans, count jouffroy d', . aberdeen, lady, xi, note , . actresses' franchise league, . adams, mr. alva, , . adler, . adlersparre, baroness of, . age of consent, in woman's suffrage states of the united states, . in australia, , . agricultural association for women, . agriculturists, women, in the united states, . in great britain, - . in sweden, . in france, . in italy, , . alcala, catalina d', . alexander ii, . alexandra house, . aloisia, sigea, . amberly, lady, . american commission, report on european prostitution, . american federation of labor, favors woman's suffrage, . forms organizations of workingwomen, . american woman's suffrage association, . american women, activities of, at constitutional convention ( ), - . means of agitation used by, , . and political life, . and the protection of youth, and note . and state legislative offices, , and note . members of city councils, . in the colorado legislature, , and note . and education, - . excluded by certain universities, . and the teaching profession, . students in higher institutions of learning, . suffrage of, in school affairs, . increase of women students, . admitted to technical schools, . legal status of, , . and sports, , . amsterdam, xiii. ancketill, mr., . ancketill, mrs., . anstie, dr., . anthony, susan b., the napoleon of the woman's suffrage movement, . various facts concerning, , . joint author of a _history of woman's suffrage_, , note . anti-foot-binding societies, . anti-slavery congress, , . arenal, concepcion, , . argentine republic, . arsuaga, pi y, . artists' suffrage league, . asquith, mr., . association opposed to woman's suffrage (in the united states), . auclert, madame, . augsburg, dr. anita, . australia, member of the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, and ff. australian universities, , . australian women's political association, . austria, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii; _see also_ german austria. austrian women teachers' society, . bajer, . _baltic women's review_, . bassiliades, dr., , . _bayadères_, . bazan, emilia pardo, , . beauharnais, josephine, . becker, . belgium, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, , . ben-aid, mrs. haïrie, . béothy, dr., . beresford-hope, mrs., . bey, kassim amin, . bieber-böhm, hanna, . biggs, . birmingham, . björnson, , , . blackburn, helen, , note . blackwell, elizabeth, , . blackwell, emily, . blake, jex, . boer war, . bohemia, conditions in, - . boise, idaho, . bonald, de, . bonnevial, madame, . bosnia, conditions in, . boston, , , . brabanzon house, . brahmanism, . brandes, george, . braun, lily, . bremer, frederika, ; _see also_ fredericka bremer league. bristol, . brüstlein, miss dr., . buchner, miss, . bulgaria, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, - . butler, mrs. josephine, , . cabinet, british, and woman's suffrage, , . _cahiers feministes_, . california, woman's suffrage amendment adopted by, , note . efforts of women of, to secure the suffrage, . cambridge university, , . canada, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. woman's rights movement in, and ff. carima, mrs., . carinthia, _see_ slovene woman's rights movement. carniola, _see_ slovene woman's rights movement. catharine ii, . catholic woman's league, . catholic women teachers' society, . catt, mrs. carrie chapman, xiii, . cauer, mrs., , , . cave, miss, . central america, conditions in, , . central committee for woman's suffrage (england), . central states (of the united states), . chauvin, jeanne, . chicago, . child labor, in united states, . children, "conference on the care of dependent children," and note . national child labor committee, . laws protecting, in australia, . _see also_ laws protecting women and children. children, authority over, in colorado, , . in thirty-eight of the united states, . in australia, , . in england, . in finland, . in german austria, . in switzerland, . in france, . in spain, . chili, . china, conditions in, - . cincinnati, , . clergy, english, . cleveland, president, . clough, anne, . cobden, mrs., . code napoleon, absence of, in australia, . in the netherlands, . in france, , . in belgium, . in italy, . coeducation, in the united states, , . in australia, , . in scotland, . in sweden, . in the netherlands, . in switzerland, , . in germany, . in italy, . college equal suffrage league, . collett, clara, . colorado, woman's suffrage in, . activities and rights of women in, , . vote of immoral women in, , . women in legislature of, , and note . conditions of women and children in, , . columbia university, . "conference on the care of dependent children," and note . confucius, . conradi, mrs., . conservative and unionist women's franchise association, . _convert, the_ (novel), , note . coote, miss, . copenhagen, xiii. court of appeals, . craigen, . creighton, mrs. louise, . curie, madame, , . czaky, . davies, emily, . dazynska, dr., . _de stem der vrouw_, . declaration of independence, woman's, , , . "the declaration of the rights of women," . deflou, madame oddo, . denison, mrs. macdonald, . denmark, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, - . dennis, mrs., . denver, colorado, , . deraismes, marie, . deroin, jeanne, . derscheid-delcour, mrs., . despard, mrs., . disraeli, . divorce laws, in woman's suffrage states, . in australia, , , . in england, . in mexico and central america, . in turkey and egypt, . dobson, mrs., . doctors, women, in the united states, , . in australia, . in great britain, . in sweden, , . in finland, . in norway, . in the netherlands, , , . in switzerland, . in germany, . in german austria, , . in hungary, . in belgium, . in italy, . in portugal, . in russia, , , , . in servia, . in bulgaria, . in rumania, . in bosnia, . in persia, . in india, . _dokumente der frauen_, . donohue, mrs. m., . _do you know?_ (pamphlet), . drummond, mrs., . dufferin, lady, . durand, madame marguerite, . ebner-eschenbach, marie v., . education, women and, in the united states, - , . in australia, , . in great britain, and ff. in canada, . in sweden, , , . in finland, . in norway, - . in denmark, . in the netherlands, , . in switzerland, - . in germany, - . in luxemburg, , . in german austria, , , - . in hungary, - . in france, , . in belgium, - . in italy, - . in spain, , . in portugal, . in mexico and central america, . in south america, . in russia, - , . in czechish bohemia and moravia, . in servia, , . in bulgaria, . in greece, . in turkey and egypt, , . in india, . in china, . in japan, . education act, . egypt, conditions in, - . _el feminismo_, . elmy, e. c. wolstenholme, , notes and . _encyclopedia britannica_, . england, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xii; _see_ great britain. english constitution, . enrooth, adelaide, . eudokimoff, mrs., , note . factory inspectors, women, in the netherlands, , . in switzerland, . in germany, . in france, . in italy, . in russia, . far east, conditions in the, - . favre, miss nellie, . fawcett, , . february revolution ( ), . federal child's bureau, proposed in the united states, and note . federation of french women's clubs, , . federation of labor, . federn, elsie, . _féminisme chrétien, le_, . "feminist society," . fibiger, matilda, . fickert, augusta, . fifteenth amendment, women and the, . finland, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, - . fontaine, mrs., . fourierists, . france, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii; conditions in, and ff. _frauenwohl_ (magazine), . "frederika bremer league," . french revolution, and the woman's rights movement, - . french woman's suffrage society, the, . fries, ellen, . "fronde," the, . galicia, conditions in, - . galinda, donna, . gammond, madame gatti de, . garfield, president, . garrison, william lloyd, . geneva, university of, . german austria, conditions in, and ff. german evangelical woman's league, . germanic countries, modern woman's rights movement in, - . germany, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, - . gikycki, lily v., . girton college, . goldmann, (mrs.) dr., . goldschmidt, henrietta, , . goldstein, vida, , note , , . gore-langton, lady anne, . gouges, olympe de, , . great britain, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, and ff. greece, conditions in, - . grimke, angelina, . group of women students, the, in france, , . gruber, dr. ludwig, . gyulai, p., . hainisch, marianne, . hansteen, aasta, . harem, . harper, ida husted, , note . harvard university, . hayden, sophia, . hayes, president, . hein, frau dr., . helenius, trigg, . hertzka, mrs. jella, . herzegovina, conditions in, . herzfelder, miss, . heymann, miss, . hickel, rosina, . higinbotham, george, . hill, octavia, . hirsch-duncker trades union, . _history of woman's suffrage_, by harper and anthony, , note . referred to, . holloway college, , . house of commons, attitude toward woman's suffrage, . housmann, lawrence, . hungarian woman's club, . hungary, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, and ff. hutchins, mrs. b. l., . ibsen, , , . iceland, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. idaho, woman's suffrage in, . activities and influence of women in, , . establishes lectureship in domestic science, . condition of women and children in, , . illinois, and woman's suffrage, , . women jurors in, . india, conditions in, - . _indian ladies' magazine_, . inspectors of schools, _see_ school inspectors (women). institute de demoiselles, . international council of women, x-xii. international federation for the abolition of the official regulation of prostitution, headquarters of, . austrian branch of, . hungarian branch of, . italian branch of, , . polish branch of, . international vigilance society, . international woman's suffrage alliance, the, various facts concerning, x, xii, xiii. ionades, miss, . iowa, . ireland, ; _see_ great britain. isle of man, . italy, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, - . jackson, miss, . jacobs, dr. aletta, . japan, conditions in, - . java, woman's suffrage society in, . johns hopkins university, . jones, miss, , . journalists, women, in the united states, . in great britain, . in spain, . in bulgaria, . july revolution ( ), . juvenile courts, in australia, . advocated in germany, . kalapothaki, marie, . kang you wei, . kansas, municipal woman's suffrage in, , . efforts of women of, to secure full suffrage rights, . kapnist, mrs. v., . keller, helen, . kelly, abby, , . kenney, annie, . kerschbaumer, dr., , . kettler, mrs., . key, ellen, , . kingsley, . koran, , . korea, conditions in, , . kowalewska, sonja, , . krajevska, feodora, . kronauwetter, . kutschalska-reinschmidt, mrs., , . kveder, zofka, , . labriola, therese, . _la française_, . lang, helena, . lang, maria, . lascaridis, miss, . lawrence, mr. pethick, , , note , , note . lawrence, mrs., pethick, . laws protecting women and children, in the united states, , . in australia, , - . in great britain, , . in finland, . in norway, , . in switzerland, , , . in germany, . lack of, in france, . lawyers, women, in the united states, . in australia, . absence of, in great britain, . in canada, . in sweden, . in finland, . in norway, . in switzerland, . in germany, . in german austria, . in france, . in belgium, . in india, , . league for freedom of labor defense, . lee, mrs. mary, . lincoln, abraham, . lindsey, judge, . lischnewska, maria, . listrow, mrs. v., . local self-government act for england and wales, . loeper-houselle, marie, . london, xiii, , . london, university of, . london college for workingwomen, , . _london girls' club union magazine_, . lords, house of, . losa, isabella, . luxemburg, conditions in, . mccullock, mrs. c. waugh, . mcgee, miss, , note . mackenroth, miss anna, . maclaren, agnes, . maclaren, , , note . maclay, a. v., . _madame mère_, . mahrenholtz-bülow, countess, . maine, . maireder, rosa, . malinoff, mrs., . manchester, , . mariani, emilia, . mario, jessie white, . massachusetts, . meath, countess of, . men's league for woman's suffrage, . men's league opposing woman's suffrage, . mericourt, théroigne de, . mexico, conditions in, , . meyer, mr. julius, . michel, louise, . mill, john stuart, , , . miller, paula, . minnesota, . mohammedan countries, _see_ turkey, egypt, persia, bosnia, and herzegovina. monod, miss sara, . montessori, maria, . monti, rina, . moravia, conditions in, - . morgenstern, lina, , . morsier, emile de, . mothers, school for, , . mothers' congresses, in the united states, , note . mott, lucretia, , . münsterberg, deputy, . _mystery of woman, the_, . napoleon, , . napoleonic code, _see_ code napoleon. national american woman's suffrage association, , , note . national anti-slavery society, . national child labor committee, . national council, xi, xii. national council of french women, . national council of women (in australia), , note . national trades union league, . national union of woman's suffrage societies, . national woman's antisuffrage association, . national woman's social and political union, . nebraska, , . netherlands, the, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, . new hampshire, . newnham college, . new york, . new zealand, , note ; _see_ australia. nightingale, florence, . night labor, of women, in the united states, . north america, the cradle of the woman's rights movement, . northern states (of the united states), . oberlin college, . ohio, . oklahoma, , and note . olga, queen of greece, . oregon, outlook for woman's suffrage in, . woman's suffrage amendment ( ) defeated in, , note ; , note . opposition to woman's suffrage in, . failure of woman's suffrage campaign ( ) in, . orient, the, conditions in, - . otto-peters, louise, . oxford university, , . panajuta, miss, . pankhurst, miss, . pankhurst, mrs., . pappritz, anna, . parent, mrs., . parental authority, _see_ children, authority over. parliament, act of, bearing on woman's suffrage, . obligation of members of, to the woman's suffrage movement, . women deputations and, , . parren, madame killirhoe, , . parsee women, . patents, taken out by women in the united states, . paterson, mrs., . paulus, erica, . pavlovna, helene, . pease, elizabeth, , . pennsylvania, , . _perhaps_ (pamphlet), . pernerstorfer, . persia, conditions in, , . peter the great, . petzold, miss v., . philosophow, mrs. v., , . "physical force fallacy, the," . poët, laidi, . police matrons, in the united states, . political equality league, in australia, . political equality league (chicago), . "political equality series," , . popelin, miss marie, . popp, mrs., . pornography, prohibited in woman's suffrage states of the united states, . suppressed in australia, . portland, . portugal, conditions in, , . posada, professor, , . possauer, dr., . poster, f. laurie, . preachers, women, in the united states, . in australia, . in great britain, . in canada, . in sweden, , . in the netherlands, . in german austria, . in france, . "primrose league," . prohibition movement, in sweden, , . in finland, . _progress_, . prostitution, laws concerning, in the united states, . in woman's suffrage states, . in england, . in finland, , . in norway, . in denmark, . in switzerland, . in germany, , , . in german austria, , . in hungary, . in france, . in italy, , . in galicia, . in servia, . in india, , note . purischkewitch, mr., . putnam, mary, . quakers, in the united states, . qualification of women act, . qvam, mrs., . ramabai, pundita, . red cross society, , . refia, princess, . rhode island, . richer, leon, . riza, selma, . robin, e., , note . roland, henrietta, . roland, madame, . romance countries, conditions in, . rookwood pottery, . roosevelt, theodore, and woman's suffrage, . calls "conference on the care of dependent children," , note . involved in conflict with american women, . rose, ernestine, . rosores, isabel de, . rumania, conditions in, - . runeburg, frederika, . rural woman's industrial society, . russia, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, and ff. saint simonians, . salaries, women's compared with men's, in the united states, and note , . in woman's suffrage states, . in australia, , , . in great britain, - , . in canada, . in sweden, , , . in norway, , . in the netherlands, . in switzerland, . in germany, . in german austria, . in france, . in portugal, . in bulgaria, . salic law, absence of, in australia, . in england, . salt lake city, utah, . sand, george, . sandhurst, lady, . scandinavian countries, conditions in, , . schabanoff, mrs., . schiff, paoline, . schirmacher, dr., . schlesinger, mrs., . schmall, madame, . schmidt, augusta, , . school inspectors, women, appointment of, agitated in the united states, . in great britain, . in france, . schütze, e., . schwerin, jeanette, . schwietland, mrs., . scotland, ; _see also_ great britain. seddon, mrs., , . servia, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, , . sévigné, madame de, . sewall, mrs. wright, xi, note . sex, the sexes, relationship of the sexes, xiv. woman's use of her sex, as a weapon, - . shaw, rev. anna howard, challenges mrs. humphrey ward, . denver elections investigated by, . president of the national woman's suffrage association, . a woman's rights advocate with theological training, . on the legal status of woman, , . sheldon, mrs. french, . siam, , note . sie, tou fa, . silberstein, mr., . simcox, miss, . simpson, mrs. anna, . sin, miss peng sie, . slavic countries, conditions in, and ff. sloane garden houses, . slovene woman's rights movement, , . _slovenka_, . "social purity league," , . social secretaries, . society for jewish women, . society for the amelioration of the condition of woman and for demanding woman's rights, . soho club and home for working girls, . somersville hall, . sorabija, cornelia, . south africa, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, , . south america, conditions in, , . south dakota, and note , . southern states, conditions in, . spain, conditions in, , . sprung, mrs. v., . stael, madame de, , . stanley, hon. maude, . stanton, elizabeth cady, refused admission to anti-slavery congress, , . introduces woman's suffrage resolution, . steyber, ottilie v., . stone, lucy, , . stopes, mrs. c. c., , note . strindberg, . stritt, mrs., . styria, _see_ slovene woman's rights movement. suffragettes, english, influence of, in the united states, . importance of, . tactics, influence, and activities of, - . support given to, . suslowa, miss, . suttner, bertha v., . swain, dr. clara, . sweden, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, - . switzerland, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xiii. conditions in, - . tasmania, _see_ australia. teachers, women, in the united states, . in australia, , . in great britain, , . in sweden, , , . in finland, . in norway, , . in denmark, . in the netherlands, . in switzerland, . in germany, . in german austria, , . in hungary, . in france, . in italy, , . in spain, , . in mexico and central america, , . in russia, , . in galicia, . in servia, . in bulgaria, . in persia, , . _terem_, . téry, audrée, . tessel benefit society (_schadeverein_), . thorbecke, minister, . tilmans, madame, . tod, . trade-unions, women in, in the united states, , . in great britain, - . in sweden, . in finland, . in norway, . in the netherlands, , . in switzerland, . in germany, , , . in german austria, , , , . in france, , . in belgium, . in italy, , . in russia, , . in the slovene countries, . in bulgaria, . trinity college, . troy seminary, . tsin king, . tumova, miss, . turkey, conditions in, - . turmarkin, dr. anna, , . tuszla, dolna, . united states, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xii, xiii. conditions in, - . _see also_ american women. united states, constitution of, leaves suffrage matters to the various states, . not opposed to woman's suffrage, . preamble to, . united states, women in, leaders in modern woman's rights movement, x. oppose slavery, . attitude toward negro suffrage, . methods of obtaining the franchise, - . universities, state, in the united states, . utah, woman's suffrage in, . work of women in, . condition of women and children in, , . vambéry, professor, . vandervelde, madame, . vassar college, . veres, mrs. v., . victoria, represented in the international woman's suffrage alliance, xii; _see also_ australia. vooruit, . vorst, mrs. v., her book referred to, , . vos, roosje, . _votes for women_, english woman's suffrage organ, referred to, , note , , . wachtmeister, countess, . wales, _see_ great britain. wallis, professor, . war of independence ( - ), relation of, to woman's rights movement, . ward, mrs. humphry, opposed to woman's suffrage, . in debate, . warren, ohio, . warwick, lady, . washington, state of, woman's suffrage secured in, , note , , , and note . webb, mrs. sidney, . wenckheim, baroness, . wendt, dr, cecilia, . west australia, _see_ australia. white slave trade, in australia, . in hungary, . _why does the working-woman need the right to vote?_ (pamphlet), . willard, frances e., . wisconsin, . wolfring, v., . wollstonecraft, mary, . woman's coöperative gild, , . woman's equal suffrage league (natal), . woman's freedom league, . woman's industrial society, . woman's institute, . _woman's journal_, , . woman's rights movement, the modern, definition, leadership in, origins, ix, x. international organization of, xi, xii. chief demands of, xiii, xiv. characteristics, in germanic and romance countries compared, , . in germanic-protestant countries, , . the cradle of, . and american war of independence, . character of, in the united states, and ff. in australia, and ff. in great britain, and ff. in canada, and ff. in south africa, and ff. in the scandinavian countries, and ff. in the netherlands, and ff. in switzerland, and ff. in germany, and ff. in german austria, and ff. in europe, . in france, and ff. in belgium, and ff. in italy, and ff. in spain, , . in south america, . in russia, and ff. in bohemia, - . in servia, - . in bulgaria, - . in turkey and egypt, - . in persia, . in india, - . in china, - . in japan, . in korea, . _see also_ woman's suffrage movement. woman's rights movement (periodical), , . woman's suffrage alliance, _see_ international woman's suffrage alliance. _woman's suffrage in australia_ (pamphlet), . _woman's suffrage in new zealand_, (pamphlet), . woman's suffrage movement, organized internationally, xii, xiii. in the united states, - . in australia, - . in england, - . in canada, , . in south africa, , . in sweden, , , . in finland, - . in norway, - . in denmark, , . in iceland, . in the netherlands, - . in switzerland, - . in germany, - . in german austria, - . in hungary, , . in france, and ff. in belgium, , . in italy, and ff. in russia, - . in czechish bohemia and moravia, , . in japan, . woman's suffrage states (united states), and educational matters, . women jurors in, . laws concerning women and children in, , . women, _see also_ agriculturists, american women, coeducation, divorce laws, doctors, children (authority over), education, factory inspectors, journalists, laws protecting women and children, lawyers, patents, preachers, salaries, sex, teachers, trade-unions, working-day. women in the professions and the industries, in the united states, - . in australia, - . in great britain, - . in canada, . in sweden, - . in finland, - . in norway, - . in denmark, - . in the netherlands, - . in switzerland, - . in germany, - . in luxemburg, , . in hungary, - . in france, - . in belgium, . in italy, - . in portugal, . in mexico and central america, , . in south america, . in russia, - . in czechish bohemia and moravia, , . in galicia, , , . in the slovene countries, . in servia, , . in greece, , . in persia, , . in japan, , . women, legal status of, in the united states, , . in australia, . in england, , . in canada, , . in sweden, , . in finland, . in denmark, , , . in the netherlands, , . in switzerland, . in germany, . in german austria, , . in france, , , . in belgium, . in italy, . in spain, . in mexico and central america, . in russia, , . in servia, . in bulgaria, . according to the koran, . in china, , . women's charter of rights and liberties, the, , note . women's clubs, _see under_ the woman's rights movement of the various countries. women's colleges, in the united states, . in great britain, - . women's enfranchisement league (in cape colony), . _women's franchise, the need of the hour_, , note . women's liberal federation, . working-day for women, in the united states, . in woman's suffrage states, . in australia, . in switzerland, . in germany, . in italy, . workingwoman's movement, not antagonistic to woman's rights movement, x. world's woman's christian temperance union, formation of, x. facts concerning, . advocates woman's suffrage, . worm, pauline, . writers' league, . wu, fang lan, . wyoming, woman's suffrage in, . elections in, . legal status of women in, , . yale university, . young turkish woman's league, , . young turk movement, women and, , . zenana, , . zetkin, clara, . the following pages contain advertisements of macmillan books of related interest. by miss jane addams, hull-house, chicago the newer ideals of peace _ mo, cloth, leather back, $ . net; 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by mail, $ . _ "a work the immediate need of which is felt everywhere. it treats of the american woman's economic condition and of women workers in various fields. it can be recommended to every one who is interested in the grave problems involved by the new and untoward conditions of women's work."--_n. y. evening sun._ the macmillan company publishers - fifth avenue new york transcriber's notes: passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. punctuation has been corrected without note. the following misprints have been corrected: "cubs" corrected to "clubs" (page ) "classses" corrected to "classes" (page ) "admisson" corrected to "admission" (page ) " " corrected to " " (page ) other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original. half a century. by jane grey swisshelm. * * * * * "god so willed: mankind is ignorant! a man am i: call ignorance my sorrow, not my sin!" "o, still as ever friends are they who, in the interest of outraged truth deprecate such rough handling of a lie!" robert browning. . preface. it has been assumed, and is generally believed, that the anti-slavery struggle, which, culminated in the emancipation proclamation of , originated in infidelity, and was a triumph of skepticism over christianity. in no way can this error be so well corrected as by the personal history of those who took part in that struggle; and as most of them have passed from earth without leaving any record of the education and motives which underlay their action, the duty they neglected becomes doubly incumbent on the few who remain. to supply one quota of the inside history of the great abolition war, is the primary object of this work; but scarcely secondary to this object is that of recording incidents characteristic of the peculiar institution overthrown in that struggle. another object, and one which struggles for precedence, is to give an inside history of the hospitals during the war of the rebellion, that the american people may not forget the cost of that government so often imperiled through their indifference. a third object, is to give an analysis of the ground which produced the woman's rights agitation, and the causes which limited its influence. a fourth is, to illustrate the force of education and the mutability of human character, by a personal narrative of one who, in , would have broken an engagement rather than permit her name to appear in print, even in the announcement of marriage; and who, in , had as much newspaper notoriety as any man of that time, and was singularly indifferent to the praise or blame of the press;--of one who, in , could not break the seal of silence set upon her lips by "inspiration," even so far as to pray with a man dying of intemperance, and who yet, in , addressed the minnesota senate in session, and as many others as could be packed in the hall, with no more embarrassment than though talking with a friend in a chimney corner. j.g.s. contents chapter i. i find life ii. progress in calvinism, hunt ghosts, see la fayette iii. father's death iv. go to boarding school v. lose my brother vi. join church, and make new endeavors to keep sabbath vii. deliverer of the dark night viii. fitting myself into my sphere ix. habitations of horrid cruelty x. kentucky contempt for labor xi. rebellion xii. the valley of the shadow of death xiii. "labor--service or act" xiv. swissvale xv. willows by the water-courses xvi. the waters grow deep xvii. my name appears in print xviii. mexican war letters xix. training school xx. rights of married women xxi. pittsburg saturday visiter xxii. reception of the visiter xxiii. my crooked telescope xxiv. mint, cummin and annis xxv. free soil party xxvi. visit washington xxvii. daniel webster xxviii. fugitive slave law--the two riddles xxix. bloomers and woman's rights conventions xxx. many matters xxxi. the mother church xxxii. politics and printers xxxiii. sumner, burlingame and cassius m. clay xxxiv. finance and desertion xxxv. my hermitage xxxvi. the minnesota dictator xxxvii. another visiter xxxviii. border ruffianism xxxix. speak in public xl. a famous victory xli. state and national politics xlii. religious controversies xliii. frontier life xliv. printers xlv. the rebellion xlvi. platforms xlvii. out into the world and home again xlviii. the aristocracy of the west xlix. the indian massacre of ' l. a missive and a mission li. no use for me among the wounded lii. find work liii. hospital gangrene liv. get permission to work lv. find a name lvi. drop my alias lvii. hospital dress lviii. special work lix. heroic and anti-heroic treatment lx. cost of order lxi. learn to control pyaemia lxii. first case of growing a new bone lxiii. a heroic mother lxiv. two kinds of appreciation lxv. life and death lxvi. meet miss dix and go to fredericksburg lxvii. the old theater lxviii. am placed in authority lxix. visitors lxx. wounded officers lxxi. "now i lay me down to sleep" lxxii. more victims and a change of base lxxiii. prayers enough and to spare lxxiv. get out of the old theater lxxv. take boat and see a social party lxxvi. take final leave of fredericksburg lxxvii. try to get up a society and get sick lxxviii. an efficient nurse lxxix. two fredericksburg patients lxxx. am enlightened conclusion half a century. chapter i. i find life. those soft pink circles which fell upon my face and hands, caught in my hair, danced around my feet, and frolicked over the billowy waves of bright, green grass--did i know they were apple blossoms? did i know it was an apple tree through which i looked up to the blue sky, over which white clouds scudded away toward the great hills? had i slept and been awakened by the wind to find myself in the world? it is probable that i had for some time been familiar with that tree, and all my surroundings, for i had been breathing two and a half years, and had made some progress in the art of reading and sewing, saying catechism and prayers. i knew the gray kitten which walked away; knew that the girl who brought it back and reproved me for not holding it was adaline, my nurse; knew that the young lady who stood near was cousin sarah alexander, and that the girl to whom she gave directions about putting bread into a brick oven was big jane; that i was little jane, and that the white house across the common was squire horner's. there was no surprise in anything save the loveliness of blossom and tree; of the grass beneath and the sky above; and this first indelible imprint on my memory seems to have found this inner something i call me, as capable of reasoning as it has ever been. while i sat and wondered, father came, took me in his loving arms and carried me to mother's room, where she lay in a tent-bed, with blue foliage and blue birds outlined on the white ground of the curtains, like the apple-boughs on the blue and white sky. the cover was turned down, and i was permitted to kiss a baby-sister, and warned to be good, lest mrs. dampster, who had brought the baby, should come and take it away. this autocrat was pointed out, as she sat in a gray dress, white 'kerchief and cap, and no other potentate has ever inspired me with such reverential awe. my second memory is of a "great awakening" to a sense of sin, and of my lost and undone condition. on a warm summer day, while walking alone on the common which lay between home and squire horner's house, i was struck motionless by the thought that i had forgotten god. it seemed probable, considering the total depravity of my nature, that i had been thinking bad thoughts, and these i labored to recall, that i might repent and plead with divine mercy for forgiveness. but alas! i could remember nothing save the crowning crime--forgetfulness of god. i seemed to stand outside, and see myself a mere mite, in a pink sun-bonnet and white bib, the very chief of sinners, for the probability was i had been thinking of that bonnet and bib. it was quite certain that god knew my sin; and ah, the crushing horror that i could, by no possibility conceal aught from the all-seeing eye, while it was equally impossible to win its approval. the divine law was so perfect that i could not hope to meet its requirements--the divine law-giver so alert that no sin could escape detection. under that cloud of doom the sunshine grew dark, and i did not dare to move until a cheery voice called out something about my pretty bonnet, and gave me a sense of companionship in this dreadful, dreadful world. rose, a large native african, had spoken to me from her place in squire horner's kitchen, and i went home full of solemn resolves and sad forebodings. this is probably what evangelists would call my conversion, and it came in my third summer. there was a fire in the grate when mother showed dr. robt. wilson, our family physician, a pair of wristbands and collar i had stitched for father, and when they spoke of me as not being three years old--but then i had in my mind the marks of that "great awakening." to me, no childhood was possible under the training this indicates, yet in giving that training, my parents were loving and gentle as they were faithful. believing in the danger of eternal death, they could but guard me from it, by the only means of which they had any knowledge. before the completion of that momentous third year of life, i had learned to read the new testament readily, and was deeply grieved that our pastor played "patty cake" with my hands, instead of hearing me recite my catechism, and talking of original sin. during that winter i went regularly to school, where i was kept at the head of a spelling-class, in which were young men and women. one of these, wilkins mcnair, used to carry me home, much amused, no doubt, by my supremacy. his father, col. dunning mcnair, was proprietor of the village, and had been ridiculed for predicting that, in the course of human events, there would be a graded, mcadamized road, all the way from philadelphia to pittsburg, and that if he did not live to see it his children would. he was a neighbor and friend of wm. wilkins, afterwards judge, secretary of war, and minister to russia, and had named his son for him. when his prediction was fulfilled and the road made, it ran through his land, and on it he laid out the village and called it wilkinsburg. mr. mcnair lived south of it in a rough stone house--the manor of the neighborhood--with half a dozen slave huts ranged before the kitchen door, and the gateway between his grounds and the village, as seen from the upper windows of our house, was, to me, the boundary between the known and the unknown, the dread portal through which came adam, the poor old ragged slave, with whom my nurse threatened me when i did not do as she wished. he was a wretched creature, who made and sold hickory brooms, as he dragged his rheumatic limbs on the down grade of life, until he found rest by freezing to death in the woods, where he had gone for saplings. i was born on the th of december, , in pittsburg, on the bank of the monongahela, near its confluence with the allegheny. my father was thomas cannon, and my mother mary scott. they were both scotch-irish and descended from the scotch reformers. on my mother's side were several men and women who signed the "solemn league and covenant," and defended it to the loss of livings, lauds and life. her mother, jane grey, was of that family which was allied to royalty, and gave to england her nine day's queen. this grandmother i remember as a stately old lady, quaintly and plainly dressed, reading a large bible or answering questions by quotations from its pages. she was unsuspicious as an infant, always doubtful about "actual transgressions" of any, while believing in the total depravity of all. educated in ireland as an heiress, she had not been taught to write, lest she should marry without the consent of her elder brother guardian. she felt that we owed her undying gratitude for bestowing her hand and fortune on our grandfather, who was but a yoeman, even if "he did have a good leasehold, ride a high horse, wear spurs, and have hamilton blood in his veins." she made us familiar with the battle of the boyne and the sufferings in londonderry, in both of which her great-grandfather had shared, but was incapable of that sectarian rancor, which marks so many descendents of the men who met on those fields of blood and fought for their convictions. in april, , father moved from pittsburg out to the new village of wilkinsburg; took with him a large stock of goods, bought property, built the house in which i first remember him, and planted the apple tree which imprinted the first picture on my memory. but the crash which followed the last war with england brought general bankruptcy; the mortgages on col. mcnair's estate made the titles valueless, and this, with the fall of his real estate in pittsburg, reduced father to poverty, from which he never recovered. chapter ii. progress in calvinism--hunt ghosts--see la fayette.--age, - . my parents were members of the covenanter congregation, of which dr. john black was pastor for forty-five years. he was a man of power, a profound logician, with great facility in conveying ideas. to his pulpit ministrations i am largely indebted for whatever ability i have to discriminate between truth and falsehood; but the church was in pittsburg, and our home seven miles away, so we seldom went to meeting. the rules of the denomination forbade "occasional hearing." father and mother had once been "sessioned" for stopping on their way home to hear the conclusion of a communion service in dr. brace's church, which was seceder. so our sabbaths were usually spent in religious services at home. these i enjoyed, as it aided my life-work of loving and thinking about god, who seemed, to my mind, to have some special need of my attention. nothing was done on that day which could have been done the day before, or could be postponed till the day after. coffee grinding was not thought of, and once, when we had no flour for saturday's baking, and the buckwheat cakes were baked the evening before and warmed on sabbath morning, we were all troubled about the violation of the day. there was a presbyterian "meeting-house" two miles east of wilkinsburg, where a large, wealthy congregation worshipped. rev. james graham was pastor, and unlike other presbyterians, they never "profaned the sanctuary" by singing "human compositions," but confined themselves to rouse's version of david's psalms, as did our own denomination. this aided that laxness of discipline which permitted big jane, adaline and brother william to attend sometimes, under care of neighbors. once i was allowed to accompany them. i was the proud possessor of a pair of red shoes, which i carried rolled up in my 'kerchief while we walked the two miles. we stopped in the woods; my feet were denuded of their commonplace attire and arrayed in white hose, beautifully clocked, and those precious slices, and my poor conscience tortured about my vanity. the girls also exchanged theirs for morocco slippers. we concealed our walking shoes under a mossy log and proceeded to the meeting-house. it was built in the form of a t, of hewn logs, and the whole structure, both inside and out, was a combination of those soft grays and browns with which nature colors wood, and in its close setting of primeval forest, made a harmonious picture. atone side lay a graveyard; birds sang in the surrounding trees, some of which reached out their giant arms and touched the log walls. swallows had built nests under the eaves outside, and some on the rough projections inside, and joined their twitter to the songs of other birds and the rich organ accompaniment of wind and trees. there were two sermons, and in the intermission, a church sociable, in fact if not in name. friends who lived twenty miles apart, met here, exchanged greetings and news, gave notices and invitations, and obeyed the higher law of kindness under protest of their calvinistic consciences. in this breathing-time we ate our lunch, went to the nearest house and had a drink from the spring which ran through the stone milk-house. it was a day full of sight-seeing and of solemn, grand impressions. of the two sermons i remember but one, and this from the text "many are called but few are chosen," and the comments were calvinism of the most rigid school. on our way home, my brother william--three years older than i--was very silent and thoughtful for some time, then spoke of the sermon, of which i entirely approved, but he stoutly declared that he did not believe it; did not believe god called people to come to him while he did not choose to have them come. it would not be fair, indeed, he thought it would be mean. that evening, when we were saying the shorter catechism, the question, "what are the decrees of god?" came to me, and after repeating the answer, i asked father to explain it--not that i needed any explanation, but that william might be enlightened; for i was anxious about his soul, on account of his skepticism. enlightened he could not be, and even to father expressed his doubts and disapprobation. we renewed the discussion when alone, and during all his life i labored with him; but soon found the common refuge of orthodox minds, in feeling that those especially loved by them will be made exceptions in the general distribution of wrath due to unbelief. one day i went with him to hunt the cow. we came to a wood just north of the village, where the wind roared and shook the trees so that i was quite awe-stricken; but he held my hand and assured me there was no danger, until he suddenly drew me back, exclaiming: "oh see!" as a great tree came crashing down across the path before us, and so near that it must have fallen on us if he had not seen it and stepped back. even then he refused to go home without the cow, and taking up a daddy-long-legs, he inquired of it where she was, and started in the direction indicated, when we were arrested by the voice of big jane, who had come to search for us. on reaching home, we found a new baby-sister, elizabeth. soon after her birth, in april, , father moved back to pittsburg, and lived on sixth street, opposite trinity church, on property belonging to my maternal grandfather. there was no church there at that time, but a thickly peopled graveyard, which adjoined that of the first presbyterian church, on the corner of sixth and wood. these were above the level of the street, and were protected by a worm-fence that ran along the top of a green bank on which we played and gathered flowers. grandmother took me sometimes to walk in these graveyards at night, and there talked to me about god and heaven and the angels. i was sufficiently interested in these, but especially longed to see the ghosts, and often went to look for them. we had a bachelor uncle who delighted in telling us tales of the supernatural, and he peopled these graveyards with ghosts, in which i believed as implicitly as in the revelations made to john on the isle of patmos, which were my favorite literature. when the congregation concluded to abandon the "round church," which stood on the triangle between liberty, wood and sixth streets, and began to dig for a foundation for trinity, where it now stands, there was great desecration of graves. one day a thrill of excitement and stream of talk ran through the neighborhood, about a mrs. cooper, whose body had been buried three years, and was found in a wonderful state of preservation, when the coffin was laid open by the diggers. it was left that the friends might remove it, and that night i felt would be the time for ghosts. so i went over alone, and while i crouched by the open grave, peering in, a cloud passed, and the moon poured down a flood of light, by which i could see the quiet sleeper, with folded hands, taking her last, long rest. it was inexpressibly grand, solemn and sad. there were no gaslights, no paved street near, no one stirring. earth was far away and heaven near at hand, but no ghost came, and i went home disappointed. afterwards i had a still more disheartening adventure. i had gone an errand to cousin alexander's, on fifth street, stayed late, and coming home, found wood street deserted. the moon shone brightly, but on the graveyard side were heavy shadows, except in the open space opposite the church. i was on the other side, and there was the office of the democratic paper, and over the door the motto "our country, right or wrong." this had long appeared to be an uncanny spot, owing to the wickedness of this sentiment, and i was thinking of the possibility of seeing auld nick guarding his property, when my attention was attracted to a tall, white figure in the bright moonlight, outside the graveyard fence. i stopped an instant, in great surprise, and listened for footsteps, but no sound accompanied the motion. it did not walk, but glided, and must have risen out of the ground, for only a moment before there was nothing visible. i clasped my hands in mute wonder, but my ghost was getting away, and to make its acquaintance i must hurry. crossing the street i ran after and gained on it. it passed into the shadow of the engine house, on across sixth street, into the moonlight, then into the shadow, before i overtook it, when lo! it was a mortal woman, barefoot, in a dress which was probably a faded print. most prints faded then, and this was white, long and scant, making a very ghostly robe, while on her head she carried a bundle tied up in a sheet. she had, of course, come out of virgin alley, where many laundresses lived, and had just passed out of the shadow when i saw her. we exchanged salutations, and i went home to lie and brood over the unreliable nature of ghosts. i was trying to get into a proper frame of mind for saying my prayers, but i doubt if they were said that night, as we were soon aroused by the cries of fire. henry clay was being burned, in effigy, on the corner of sixth and wood streets, to show somebody's disapproval of his course in the election of john quincy adams. the democratic editor, mcfarland, was tried and found guilty of the offense, and took revenge in ridiculing his opponents. charles glenn, a fussy old gentleman, member of our church, was an important witness for the prosecution, and in the long, rhyming account published by the defendant, he was thus remembered: "then in came glenn, that man of peace, and swore to facts as sleek as grease; by all his uncle aleck's geese, mcfarland burnt the tar-barrel." it was before this time that lafayette revisited pittsburg, and people went wild to do him honor. the schools paraded for his inspection, and ours was ranged along the pavement in front of the first presbyterian church, the boys next the curb, the girls next the fence, all in holiday attire, and wearing blue badges. the distinguished visitor passed up between them, leaning on the arm of another gentleman, bowing and smiling as he went. when he came to where i stood, he stepped aside, laid his hand on my head, turned up my face and spoke to me. i was too happy to know what he said, and in all the years since that day, that hand has lain on my brow as a consecration. chapter iii. father's death.--age, - . in the city we went regularly to meeting, and dr. black seemed always to talk to _me_, and i had no more difficulty in understanding his sermons, than in mastering the details of the most simple duty. the first of which i preserve the memory was about peter, who was made to illustrate the growth of crime. he began with boasting; then came its natural fruit, cowardice, in following his master afar off; next falsehood, and from this he proceeded to perjury. it did seem that a disciple of christ could go no further; but for falsehood and perjury there might be excuse in the hope of reward, and peter found a lower deep, for "he began to curse and to swear." a profane swearer is without temptation, and serves the devil for the pure love of the service. what more could peter do to prove that he knew not jesus? in the communion service is a ceremony called "fencing the tables," which consists of an appeal to the consciences of intended communicants. dr. black began with the first commandment and forbade those living in its violation to come to the table, and so proceeded through the decalogue. when he came to the eighth, he straightened himself, placed his hands behind him, and with thrilling emphasis said, "i debar from this holy table of the lord, all slave-holders and horse-thieves, and other dishonest persons," and without another word passed to the ninth commandment. soon after we returned to the city, sister mary died of consumption, and father's health began to fail. i have preserved the spinning wheel on which mother converted flax yarn into thread, which she sold to aid in the support of the family, but soon the entire burden fell on her, for father's illness developed into consumption, from which he died in march, . in spite of all the testamentary precautions he could take, whatever of his estate might have been available for present support, was in the hands of lawyers, and mother was left with her children and the debts. there were the contents of his shop and warehouse, some valuable real estate in pittsburg, which had passed out of his possession on a claim of ground-rent, and a village home minus a title. william was a mechanical genius, so mother set him to making little chairs, which he readily sold, but he liked better to construct fire engines, which were quite wonderful but brought no money. he had a splendid physique, was honorable and faithful, and if mother had been guided by natural instinct in governing him, all would have been well; but he never met the requirements of the elders of the church, who felt it their duty to manage our family affairs. so he was often in trouble, and i, who gloried in him, contrived to shield him from many a storm. at this time there was a fashionable _furor_ for lace work. mother sent me to learn it, and then procured me pupils, whom i taught, usually sitting on their knee. but lace work soon gave way to painting on velvet. this, too, i learned, and found profit in selling pictures. ah, what pictures i did make. i reached the culminating glory of artist life, when judge braden, of butler, gave me a new crisp five dollar bill for a goddess of liberty. indeed, he wanted me to be educated for an artist, and was far-seeing and generous enough to have been my permanent patron, had an artistic education, or any other education, been possible for a western pennsylvania girl in that dark age--the first half of the nineteenth century. mother made a discovery in the art of coloring leghorn and straw bonnets, which brought her plenty of work, so we never lacked comforts of life, although grandfather's executors made us pay rent for the house we occupied. chapter iv. go to boarding-school.--age, . during my childhood there were no public schools in pennsylvania. the state was pretty well supplied with colleges for boys, while girls were permitted to go to subscription schools. to these we were sent part of the time, and in one of them joseph caldwell, afterwards a prominent missionary to india, was a schoolmate. but we had dr. black's sermons, full of grand morals, science and history. in lieu of colleges for girls, there were boarding-schools, and edgeworth was esteemed one of the best in the state. it was at braddock's field, and mrs. olever, an english woman of high culture, was its founder and principal. to it my cousin, mary alexander, was sent, but returned homesick, and refused to go back unless i went with her. it was arranged that i should go for a few weeks, as i was greatly in need of country air; and, highly delighted, i was at the rendezvous at the hour, one o'clock, with my box, ready for this excursion into the world of polite literature. mary was also there, and a new scholar, but father olever did not come for us until four o'clock. he was a small, nervous gentleman, and lamps were already lighted in the smoky city when we started to drive twelve miles through spring mud, on a cloudy, cheerless afternoon. we knew he had no confidence in his power to manage those horses, though we also knew he would do his best to save us from harm; but as darkness closed around us, i think we felt like babes in the woods, and shuddered with vague fear as much as with cold and damp. when we reached the "bullock pens," half a mile west of wilkinsburg, there were many lights and much bustle in and around the old yellow tavern, where teamsters were attending to their weary horses. here we turned off to the old mud road, and came to a place of which i had no previous knowledge--a place of outer darkness and chattering teeth. we met no more teams, saw no more lights, but seemed to be in an utterly uninhabited country. then, after an hour of wearisome jolting and plunging, we discovered that the darkness had not been total, for the line of the horizon had been visible, but now it was swallowed up. we knew we were in a wood, by the rush of the wind amid the dried white oak leaves--knew that the road grew rougher at every step--that our driver became more nervous as he applied the brake, and we went down, down. still the descent grew steeper. we stopped, and father olever felt for the bank with his whip to be sure we were on the road. then we heard the sound of rushing, angry waters, mingled with the roar of the wind, and he seemed to hesitate about going on, but we could not very well stay there, and he once more put his horses in motion, while we held fast and prayed silently to the great deliverer. after stopping again and feeling for the bank, lest we should go over the precipitous hillside, which he knew was there, he proceeded until, with a great plunge, we were in the angry waters, which arose to the wagon-bed, and roared and surged all around us. the horses tried to go on, when something gave way, and our guardian concluded further progress was impossible, and began to hallo at the top of his voice. for a long time there was no response; then came an answering call from a long distance. next a light appeared, and that, too, was far away, but came toward us. when it reached the brink of the water, and two men with it, we felt safe. the light-bearer held it up so that we saw him quite well, and his peculiar appearance suited his surroundings. he was more an overgrown boy than a man, beardless, with a long swarthy face, black hair and keen black eyes. he wore heavy boots outside his pantaloons, a blouse and slouch hat, spoke to his companion as one having authority, and with a laugh said to our small gentleman: "is this where you are?" but gave no heed to the answer as he waded in and threw off the check lines, saying: "i wonder you did not drown your horses." he next examined the wagon, paying no more attention to father olever's explanations than to the water in which he seemed quite at home, and when he had finished his inspection he said: "they must go to the house," and handing the light to the driver he took us up one by one and carried us to the wet bank as easily as a child carries her doll. he gave some directions to his companion, took the light and said to us: "come on," and we walked after him out into the limitless blackness, nothing doubting. we went what seemed a long way, following this brigand-looking stranger, without seeing any sign of life or hearing any sound save the roar of wind and water, but on turning a fence corner, we came in sight of a large two-story house, with a bright light streaming out through many windows, and a wide open door. there was a large stone barn on the other side of the road, and to this our conductor turned, saying to us: "go on to the house." this we did, and were met at the open door by a middle-aged woman, shading with one hand the candle held in the other. this threw a strong light on her face, which instantly reminded me of an eagle. she wore a double-bordered white cap over her black hair, and looked suspiciously at us through her small keen, black eyes, but kindly bade us come in to a low wainscoted hall, with broad stairway and many open doors. through one of these and a second door we saw a great fire of logs, and i should have liked to sit by it, but she led us into a square wainscoted room on the opposite side, in which blazed a coal fire almost as large as the log heap in the kitchen. she gave us seats, and a white-haired man who sat in the corner, spoke to us, and made me feel comfortable. up to this time all the surroundings had had an air of enchanted castles, brigands, ghosts, witches. the alert woman with the eagle face, in spite of her kindness, made me feel myself an object of doubtful character, but this old man set me quite at ease. we were no more than well warmed when the wagon drove to the door, and the boy-man with the lantern appeared, saying, "come on." we followed him again, and he lifted us into the wagon, while the mistress of the house stood on the large flag-stone door-step, shading her candle-flame, and giving directions about our wraps. "coming events cast their shadows before," when they are between us and the light; but that night the light must have been between them and me; for i bade good-bye to our hostess without any premonition we should ever again meet, or that i should sit alone, as i do to-night, over half a century later, in that same old wainscoted room, listening to the roar of those same angry waters and the rush of the wind wrestling with the groaning trees, in the dense darkness of this low valley. when we had been carefully bestowed in the wagon, our deliverer took up his lantern, saying to father olever: "drive on." he was obeyed, and led the way over a bridge across another noisy stream, and along a road where there was the sound of a waterfall very near, then up a steep, rocky way until he stopped, saying, "i guess you can get along now." to father olever's thanks he only replied by a low, contemptuous but good-humored laugh, as he turned to retrace his steps. all comfort and strength and hope seemed to go with him. we were abandoned to our fate, babes in the woods again, with only god for our reliance. but after a while we could see the horizon, and arrived at our destination several minutes before midnight, to find the great mansion full of glancing lights and busy, expectant life. the large family had waited up for father olever's return, for he and his wagon were the connecting link between that establishment and the outside world. he appeared to great advantage surrounded by a bevy of girls clamoring for letters and messages. to me the scene was fairy-land. i had never before seen anything so grand as the great hall with its polished stairway. we had supper in the housekeeper's room, and i was taken up this stairway, and then up and up a corkscrew cousin until we reached the attic, which stretched over the whole house, one great dormitory called the "bee-hive." here i was to sleep with helen semple, a pittsburg girl, of about my own age, a frail blonde, who quite won my heart at our first meeting. next day was sabbath, and i was greatly surprised to see pupils walk on the lawn. this was such a desecration of the day, but i made no remark. i was too solemnly impressed by the grandeur of being at braddock's field to have hinted that anything could be wrong. but for my own share in the violation i was painfully penitent. this was not new, for there were a long series of years in which the principal business of six days of every week, was repentance for the very poor use made of the seventh, and from this dreary treadmill of sin and sorrow, no faith ever could or did free me. i never could see salvation in christ apart from salvation from sin, and while the sin remained the salvation was doubtful and the sorrow certain. on the afternoon of that first sabbath, a number of young lady pupils came to the bee-hive for a visit, and as i afterwards learned to inspect and name the two new girls, when i was promptly and unanimously dubbed "wax doll." after a time, one remarked that they must go and study their "ancient history lesson." i caught greedily at the words, ancient history. ah, if i could only be permitted to study such a lesson! no such progress or promotion seemed open to me; but the thought interfered with my prayers, and followed me into the realm of sleep. so when that class was called next forenoon, i was alert, and what was my surprise, to hear those privileged girls stumbling over the story of sampson? could it be possible that was ancient history? how did it come to pass that every one did not know all about sampson, the man who had laid his lead on delilah's wicked lap, to be shorn of his strength. if there is any thing in that account, or any lesson to be drawn from it, with which i was not then familiar, it is something i have never learned. indeed, i seemed to have completed my theological education before i did my twelfth year. one morning, mrs. olever sent for me, and told me she had learned my mother was not able to send me to school, but if i would take charge of the lessons of the little girls, she would furnish me board and tuition. this most generous offer quite took my breath away, and was most gladly accepted; but it was easy work, and i wondered my own studies were so light. i was allowed to amuse myself drawing flowers, which were quite a surprise, and pronounced better than anything the drawing master could do--to recite poetry, for the benefit of the larger girls, and to play in the orchard with my pupils. with the other girls, i became interested in hair-dressing. i had read "the children of the abbey," and amanda's romantic adventures enchanted me; but she was quite outside my life. now i made a nearer acquaintance with her. she changed her residence; so had i. she had brown ringlets; i too should have them. so one friday night, my hair was put up in papers, and next morning, i let loose an amazing shower of curls. the next thing to do was to go off alone, and sit reading in a romantic spot. of course i did not expect to meet lord mortimer! miss fitzallen never had any such expectations. i was simply going out to read and admire the beauties of nature. when i had seated myself, in proper attitude, on the gnarled root of an old tree, overhanging a lovely ravine, i proceeded to the reading part of the play, and must of course be too much absorbed to hear the approaching footsteps, to which i listened with bated breath. so i did not look up when they stopped at my side, or until a pleasant voice said: "why you look quite romantic, my dear." then i saw miss olever, the head teacher, familiarly called "sissy jane." in that real and beautiful presence miss fitzallen retired to her old place, and oh, the mortification she left behind her! i looked up, a detected criminal, into the face of her who had brought to me this humiliation, and took _her_ for a model. my folly did not prevent our being sincere friends during all her earnest and beautiful life. she passed on, and i got back to the bee-hive, when i disposed of my curls, and never again played heroine. chapter v. lose my brother.--age, - . measured by the calendar, my boarding-school life was six weeks; but measured by its pleasant memories, it was as many years. mother wrote for me to come home; and in going i saw, by sunlight, the scene of our adventure that dark night going out. it was a lovely valley, walled in by steep, wooded hills. two ravines joined, bringing each its contribution of running water, and pouring it into the larger stream of the larger valley--a veritable "meeting of the waters"--in all of nature's work, beautiful exceedingly. the house, which stood in the center of a large, green meadow, through which the road ran, was built in two parts, of hewn logs, with one great stone chimney on the outside, protected by an overshot in the roof, but that one in which the log-heap burned that night was inside. one end had been an indian fort when gen. braddock tried to reach fort pitt by that road. the other end and stone barn had been built by its present proprietor. a log mill, the oldest in allegheny county, stood below the barn, and to it the french soldiers had come for meal from fort duquesne. the stream crossed by the bridge was the mill-race, and the waterfall made by the waste-gate. it was the homestead of a soldier of the revolution, one of washington's lieutenants--the old man we had seen. the woman was his second wife. they had a numerous family, and an unpronounceable name. at home i learned that, on account of a cough, i had been the object of a generous conspiracy between mother and mrs. olever, and had been brought home because i was worse. our doctors said i was in the first stage of consumption, that elizabeth was to reach that point early in life, and that our only hope lay in plenty of calomel. mother had lost her husband and four vigorous children; there had been no lack of calomel, and now, when death again threatened, she resolved to conduct the defense on some new plan. she had gained legal possession of our village home, and moved to it. our lot was large and well supplied with choice fruit, and the place seemed a paradise after our starved lives in the smoky city. my apple tree still grew at the east end of the house. there was a willow tree mother had planted, which now swept the ground with its long, graceful branches. there were quantities of rose and lilac bushes, a walled spring of delicious water in the cellar, and a whole world of wealth; but the potato lot looked up in despair--a patch of yellow clay. mother put a twelve years' accumulation of coal ashes on it, and thus proved them valuable both as a fertilizer and a preventive of potato-rot, though at first her project met general opposition. william did the heavy work and was proud of it. he was in splendid health, for his insubordination had, from a very early age, saved him from drugging either mental or physical. the lighter gardening became part of my treatment for consumption. by having me each day lie on the floor on my back without a pillow, and gentle use of dumb-bells, mother straightened my spine and developed my chest--my clothes being carefully adapted to its expansion. dancing was strictly forbidden by our church, but mother was educated in ireland and danced beautifully. she had a class of girls and taught us, and with plenty of fresh air, milk and eggs, effectually disposed of hereditary consumption in her family. but while attending to us, she must also make a living, so she bought a stock of goods on credit, opened a store, and soon had a paying business. in this i was her special assistant. but the work supplied to william did not satisfy the holy men of the church, who furnished us advice. he still made fire engines, and a brook in a meadow presented irresistible temptation to water-wheels and machinery. one of his tilt-hammers made a very good ghost, haunting the meadow and keeping off trespassers. he had a foundry, where he cast miniature cannon, kettles and curious things, and his rifle-practice was a neighborhood wonder. he brought water from the cellar, and did other chores which pennsylvania rules assigned to women, and when boys ridiculed him, he flogged them, and did it quite as effectually as he rendered them the same service when they were rude to a girl. he was a universal favorite, even if he did hate catechism and love cake. so mother's conscience was worked upon until she bound him to a cabinet maker in the city. to him, the restraint was unendurable, and he ran away. he came after dark to bid me good-bye, left love for mother and elizabeth, and next morning left pittsburg on a steamboat, going to that eldorado of pittsburg boys--"down the river." for some time letters came regularly from him, and he was happy and prosperous. then they ceased, and after two years of agonizing suspense, we heard that he had died of yellow fever in new orleans. to us, this was dreadful, irreparable, and was wholly due to that iron-bedstead piety which permits no natural growth, but sets down all human loves and longings as of satanic origin. soon after our removal to the village, grandfather's estate was advertised for sheriff's sale. mother had the proceedings stayed, the executors dismissed, and took out letters of administration, which made it necessary for her to spend some portion of every month in the city. this threw the entire charge of house and store on me. as soon, therefore, as possible, she sent me to the city to school, where i realized my aspiration of studying ancient history and the piano, and devoured the contents of the text-book of natural philosophy with an avidity i had never known for a novel. in april, , i began to teach school, the only one in wilkinsburg, and had plenty of pupils, young men and women, boys and girls, at two dollars and one dollar and a half a term. taught seven hours a day, and saturday forenoon, which was devoted to bible reading and catechism. i was the first, i believe, in allegheny co., to teach children without beating them. i abolished corporeal punishment entirely, and was so successful that boys, ungovernable at home, were altogether tractable. this life was perfectly congenial, and i followed it for nearly six years. mother started a sabbath school, the only one in the village, and this, too, we continued for years. one of the pupils was a girl of thirteen, daughter of a well-to-do farmer, who lived within a mile of the village. her father had been converted at a camp-meeting and was a devout methodist. the first day she attended, i asked her the question: "how many gods are there?" she thought a moment, and then said, with an air of satisfaction: "five." i was shocked, and answered in the language of the catechism: "o margaret! 'there is but one only living and true god.'" she hung her head, then nodded it, and with the emphasis of a judge who had weighed all the evidence, said: "i am sure i ha' hearn tell o' more nur one of em." a young theological student came sometimes to stay over sabbath and assist in the school. he led in family worship, and had quite a nice time, until one evening he read a chapter from the song of songs which was solomon's, when i bethought me that he was very much afraid of toads. i began to cultivate those bright-eyed creatures, so that it always seemed probable i had one in my pocket or sleeve. the path of that good young man became thorny until it diverged from mine. i was almost fifteen, when i overheard a young lady say i was growing pretty. i went to my mirror and spent some moments in unalloyed happiness and triumph. then i thought, "pretty face, the worms will eat you. all the prettiest girls i know are silly, but you shall never make a fool of me. helen's beauty ruined troy. cleopatra was a wretch. so if you are pretty, _i_ will be master, remember that." chapter vi. join church and make new endeavors to keep sabbath.--age, . in the year , the covenanter church of this country said in her synod: "slavery and christianity are incompatible," and never relaxed her discipline which forbade fellowship with slave-holders--so i was brought up an abolitionist. i was still a child when i went through wilkins' township collecting names to a petition for the abolition of slavery in the district of columbia. here, in a strictly orthodox presbyterian community, i was everywhere met by the objections: "niggers have no souls," "the jews held slaves," "noah cursed canaan," and these points i argued from house to house, occasionally for three years, and made that acquaintance which led to my being sent for in cases of sickness and death, before i had completed my sixteenth year. in this, i in some measure took the place long filled by mother, who was often a substitute for doctor and preacher. looking back at her life, i think how little those know of calvinists who regard them merely as a class of autocrats, conscious of their own election to glory, and rejoicing in the reprobation of all others; for i have never known such humble, self-distrustful people as i have found in that faith. mother, whose life was full of wisdom and good works, doubted, even to the last, her own acceptance with god. she and i believed that "a jealous god," who can brook no rivals, had taken away our loving husband and father; our strong and brave son and brother, because we loved them too much, and i was brought up to think it a great presumption to assume that such a worm of the dust as i, could be aught to the creator but a subject of punishment. during the spring of , mother said to me: "sabbath week is our communion, and i thought you might wish to join the church." i was startled and without looking up, said: "am i old enough?" "if you feel that the dying command of the savior, 'do this in remembrance of me' was addressed to you, you are old enough to obey it." not another word was said and the subject was never again broached between us, but here a great conflict began. that command was given to me, but how could i obey it without eating and drinking damnation to myself? was mine a saving faith, or did i, like the devils, believe and tremble? i had been believing as long as i could remember, but did not seem to grow in the image of god. the conflict lasted several days. sleep left me. the heavens were iron and the earth brass. i turned to erskine to learn the signs of saving faith, but found only reason to suspect self-deception. i could not submit to god's will--could not be willing that william should be lost--nay, i was not willing that any one should be lost. i could not stay in heaven, and know that any one was enduring endless torments in some other place! i must leave and go to their relief. it was dreadful that abraham did not even try to go to poor dives, or to send some one. my whole soul flew into open revolt; then oh! the total depravity which could question "the ways of god to man." i hated milton. i despised his devils; had a supreme contempt for the "prince of the power of the air;" did not remember a time when i was afraid of him. god was "my refuge and my shield, in straits a present aid." if he took care of me, no one else could hurt me; if he did not, no one else could; and to be accepted by him was all there was or could be worth caring for; but how should i find this acceptance with my heart full of rebellion? one afternoon i became unable to think, but a white mist settled down over hell. even those contemptible devils were having their tongues cooled with blessed drops of water. the fires grew dim, and it seemed as if there was to be a rain of grace and mercy in that region of despair. then i preferred my petition, that god would write his name upon my forehead, and give me that "new name" which should mark me as his; that he would bring william into the fold, and do with me as he would. i would be content to spend my whole life in any labor he should appoint, without a sign of the approval of god or man, if, in the end, i and mine should be found among those "who had washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the lamb." i fell asleep--slept hours--and when the sun was setting, woke in perfect peace. my proposition had been accepted, and wonderful grace, which had given what i had not dared to ask, assurance of present acceptance. i should have all the work and privation for which i had bargained--should be a thistle-digger in the vineyard; should be set to tasks from which other laborers shrank, but in no trial could i ever be alone, and should at last hear the welcome "well done." i arose as one from a grave to a joyous resurrection; but kept all these things in my heart. personal experiences being altogether between god and the soul, were not considered fit subjects for conversation, and when i came before the session applying for church, membership, no mention was made of them, except as a general confession of faith. rev. andrew black addressed the table at which i sat in my first communion, and said: "the lord's supper has been named the eucharist, after the oath taken by a roman soldier, never to turn his back upon his leader. you, in partaking of these emblems, do solemnly vow that you will never turn your back upon christ, but that you will follow him whithersoever he goeth. let others do as they will, you are to follow the lamb, through good and through evil report, to a palace or to a prison; follow him, even if he should lead you out of the church." this was in perfect harmony with my private agreement, and no other act of my life has been so solemn or far-reaching in its consequences, as that ratification of my vow, and it is one i have least cause to repent. however, it brought a new phase to an old trouble. how should i follow christ? i could not do as he had done. i could not go to meeting every sabbath, and society every friday; and if i did, was that following christ who never built a meeting-house, or conducted any service resembling those now held? i read the life of jonathan edwards, and settled back into the old sabbath-keeping rut. resolving to do my best, i prayed all week, for grace to keep the next sabbath. i rose early that trial-morning, prayed as soon as my eyes were open, read a chapter, looked out into the beautiful morning, thought about god and prayed--spent so much time praying, that elizabeth had breakfast ready when i went down stairs. while i ate it, i held my thoughts to the work of the day, worshiping god; but many facts and fancies forced themselves in and disturbed my pious meditations. after breakfast, i went back to my room to continue my labor; but mother soon came and said: "do you intend to let elizabeth do all the work?" i dropped my roll of saintship, and went and washed the dishes. had i been taught that he who does any honest work serves god and follows christ, what a world of woe would have been spared me. chapter vii. the deliverer of the dark night.--age, - . quiltings furnished the principal amusement, and at these i was in requisition, both for my expertness with the needle, and my skill in laying out work; but as i had no brother to come for me, i usually went home before the evening frolic, which consisted of plays. male and female partners went through the common quadrille figures, keeping time to the music of their own voices, and making a denouement every few moments by some man kissing some woman, perhaps in a dark hall, or some woman kissing some man, or some man kissing all the women, or _vice versa_. elders and preachers often looked on in pious approbation, and the church covered these sports with the mantle of her approval, but was ready to excommunicate any one who should dance. promiscuous dancing was the fiery dragon which the church went out to slay. only its death could save her from a fit of choler which might be fatal, unless, indeed, the dancing were sanctified by promiscuous kissing. if men and women danced together without kissing, they were in immediate danger of eternal damnation; but with plenty of kissing, and rude wrestling to overcome the delicacy of women who objected to such desecration, the church gave her blessing to the quadrille. my protest against these plays had given offense, and i chose to avoid them; but one evening the host begged me to remain, saying he would see that i was not annoyed, and would himself take me home. the frolic was only begun, when he came and asked permission to introduce a gentleman, saying: "if you do not treat him well, i will never forgive you." there was no need of this caution, for he presented a man whose presence made me feel that i was a very little girl and should have been at home. he was over six feet tall, well formed and strongly built, with black hair and eyes, a long face, and heavy black whiskers. he was handsomely dressed, and his manner that of a grave and reverend seignior. a russian count in a new york drawing room, then, when counts were few, could not have seemed more foreign than this man in that village parlor, less than two miles from the place of his birth. he was the son of the old revolutionary soldier, with the unpronouncable name, who lived in the beautiful valley. this i knew at once, but did not, for some time, realize that it was he who rescued us from the black waters on that dark night, carried us to safety and light, and left us again in darkness. this incident, so much to me, he never could distinguish among the many times he had "helped olever and his seminary girls out of scrapes," and he never spoke of these adventures without that same laugh which i noticed when father olever thanked him. he had elected me as his wife some years before this evening, and had not kept it secret; had been assured his choice was presumptuous, but came and took possession of his prospective property with the air of a man who understood his business. i next saw him on horseback, and this man of giant strength in full suit of black, riding a large spirited black horse, became my "black knight." my sister hated him, and my mother doubted him, or rather doubted the propriety of my receiving visits from him. his family were the leading methodists of the township; his father had donated land and built a meeting-house, which took his name, and his house was the headquarters of traveling preachers. there was a camp-meeting ground on the farm; his mother "lived without sin," prayed aloud and shouted in meeting, while the income and energy of the family were expended in propagating a faith which we believed false. a marriage with him would be incongruous and bring misery to both. these objections he overruled, by saying he was not a member of any church, would never interfere with my rights of conscience, would take or send me to my meeting when possible, and expect me to go sometimes with him. he proposed going up the allegheny to establish saw-mills, and if i would go into the woods with him, there should be no trouble about religion. so there seemed no valid objection, and two years after our introduction we were married, on the th of november, . then all was changed. i offended him the day after by shedding tears when i left home to go for a visit to his father's house, and his sister had told him that i cried while dressing to be married. these offenses he never forgave, and concluded that since i cared so little for him, he would not leave his friends and go up the allegheny with me. his services were indispensable at home, since his brother samuel had gone into business for himself, and the next brother william was not seventeen, and could not take charge of the farm and mills. his mother was ready to take me into the family,--although the house was not large enough to accommodate us comfortably--the old shop in the yard could be fitted up for a school-room. i could teach and he could manage the estate. in this change, he but followed that impulse which led the men of england, centuries ago, to enact, that "marriage annuls all previous contracts between the parties," and which now leads men in all civilized countries to preserve such statutes. it is an old adage, "all is fair in love as in war," but i thought not of general laws, and only felt a private grievance. by a further change of plan, i was to get religion and preach. wesley made the great innovation of calling women to the pulpit, and although it had afterwards been closed to them generally, there were still women who did preach, while all were urged to take part in public worship. my husband had been converted after our engagement and shortly before our marriage, and was quite zealous. he thought me wonderfully wise, and that i might bring souls to christ if i only would. i quoted paul: "let women keep silence in churches, and learn of their husbands at home." he replied, "wives, obey your husbands." he laughed at the thought of my learning from him and said: "what shall i teach you? will you come to the mill and let me show you how to put a log on the carriage?" it was a very earnest discussion, and the bible was on both sides; but i followed the lead of my church, which taught me to be silent. he quoted his preachers, who were in league with him, to get me to give myself to the lord, help them save souls, by calling on men everywhere to repent; but i was obstinate. i would not get religion, would not preach, would not live in the house with his mother, and stayed with my own. his younger brothers came regularly to me for lessons with my sister, and i added two idiotic children bound to his sister's husband, to whose darkened minds i found the key hidden from other teachers. his brothers i adopted from the first, in place of the one i had lost, and they repaid my love in kind; but books soon appeared as an entering wedge between their souls and religion, which formed the entire mental pabulum of the family. i believe there was not at that time a member of the pittsburg conference who was a college graduate, few who had even a good, common school education, while two of those who preached in our meetinghouse and were frequent guests in the family, were unable to read. my husband's father was old and feeble, and had devised his property to his wife, to be divided at her death between her sons. my husband, as her agent, would come into possession of the whole, and they thought i might object to the "prophet's chamber;" but it required no worldly motive to stimulate these fiery zealots to save a sinner from the toils of calvinism. it is probable many of them would have laid down his life for his religion, and when they got on the track of a sinner, they pursued him as eagerly as ever an english parson did a fox, but it was to save, not to kill. in these hot pursuits, they did not stand on ceremony, and in my case, found a subject that would not run. my kith and kin had died at the stake, bearing testimony against popery and prelacy; had fought on those fields where scotchmen charged in solid columns, singing psalms; and though i was wax at all other points, i was granite on "the solemn league and covenant." with the convictions of others i did not interfere, but when attacked would "render a reason." my assailants denounced theological seminaries as "preacher-factories"--informed me that "neither dr. black nor any of his congregation ever had religion," and that only by getting it could any one be saved. my husband became proud of my defense, and the boys grew disrespectful to their religious guides. their mother became anxious about their souls, so the efforts for my conversion were redoubled. from the first the preachers disapproved of my being permitted to go to my meeting, and especially to my husband accompanying me. he refused to go, on the ground that he had not been invited to commune, and as i sank in the deep waters of affliction, i did so need the pulpit teachings of my old pastor, which seemed to lift me and set my feet upon a rock. one day i walked the seven miles and back, when the family carriage went to take two preachers to an appointment; three horses stood in the old stone barn, and my husband at home with his mother. this gave great offense as the advertisement of a grievance, and was never repeated. during all my childhood and youth, i had been spoiled by much love, if love can spoil. i was non-resistant by nature, and on principle, believed in the power of good. forbearance, generosity, helpful service, would, should, must, win my new friends to love me. getting me into the house with my mother-in-law, was so important a part of the plan of salvation, that to effect it, i was left without support or compensation for my services as teacher, tailor, dress-maker, for my husband's family. he visited me once or twice a week, and ignored my mother's presence, while she felt that in this, as in any church-joining conflict, only god could help me, and stood aloof. to me the sun was darkened, and the moon refused her light. i knew "that jealous god" who claimed the supreme love of his creatures, was scourging me for making an idol and bowing down before it--for loving my husband. i knew it was all just and clung to the almighty arm, with the old cry, "though he slay me, yet will i trust in him." to my husband i clung with like tenacity, and could not admit that my suffering was through any fault of his. the summer after my marriage, mother went for a long visit to butler, and left us in possession of her house. my husband bought a village property, including a wagon-maker's shop, employed a workman and sent him to board with me. he also made some additions to a dwelling on it, that we might go there to live, and the workmen boarded with me, while my mother-in-law furnished provisions and came or sent a daughter to see that i did not waste them. her reproofs were in the form of suggestions, and she sought to please me by saying she had "allowed james" to get certain things for me; but he did not visit me any oftener than when mother was at home, and when she returned in the autumn, the potatoes were frozen in the ground, the apples on the trees, and the cow stood starving at the stable door. then i learned that i had been expected to secure the fall crops on mother's lot, and this was not unreasonable, for i had married a pennsylvania farmer, and their wives and sisters and daughters did such work often, while the "men folks" pitched horseshoes to work off their surplus vitality. lack of strength was no reason why a woman should fail in her duty, for when one fell at her post, there was always another to take her place. up to this time mother had left me to settle my troubles, but now, she told me i must turn and demand justice; that generosity was more than thrown away; that i never could live with my husband and bear his neglect and unkindness and that of his family. i must leave him, defend myself, or die. that i should have been expected to gather apples and dig potatoes, filled her with indignation. she advised me to stay with her and refuse to see him, but i shuddered to think it had come to this in one short year, and felt that all would yet be well. so i went to live in the house he provided for me, his mother furnished my supplies, and he came once a week to see me. here let me say, that in my twenty years of married life, my conflicts were all spiritual; that there never was a time when my husband's strong right arm would not be tempered to infantile gentleness to tend me in illness, or when he hesitated to throw himself between me and danger. over streams and other places impassible to me, he carried me, but could not understand how so frail a thing could be so obstinate. chapter viii. fitting myself into my sphere.--age, , . during all my girlhood i saw no pictures, no art gallery, no studio, but had learned to feel great contempt for my own efforts at picture-making. a traveling artist stopped in wilkinsburg and painted some portraits; we visited his studio, and a new world opened to me. up to that time portrait painting had seemed as inaccessible as the moon--a sublimity i no more thought of reaching than a star; but when i saw a portrait on the easel, a palette of paints and some brushes, i was at home in a new world, at the head of a long vista of faces which i must paint; but the new aspiration was another secret to keep. bard, the wagon-maker, made me a stretcher, and with a yard of unbleached muslin, some tacks and white lead, i made a canvas. in the shop were white lead, lampblack, king's yellow and red lead, with oil and turpentine. i watched bard mix paints, and concluded i wanted brown. years before, i heard of brown umber, so i got umber and some brushes and begun my husband's portrait. i hid it when he was there or i heard any one coming, and once blistered it badly trying to dry it before the fire, so that it was a very rough work; but it was a portrait, a daub, a likeness, and the hand was his hand and no other. the figure was correct, and the position in the chair, and, from the moment i began it, i felt i had found my vocation. what did i care for preachers and theological arguments? what matter who sent me my bread, or whether i had any? what matter for anything, so long as i had a canvas and some paints, with that long perspective of faces and figures crowding up and begging to be painted. the face of every one i knew was there, with every line and varying expression, and in each i seemed to read the inner life in the outer form. oh, how they plead with me! what graceful lines and gorgeous colors floated around me! i forgot god, and did not know it; forgot philosophy, and did not care to remember it; but alas! i forgot to get bard's dinner, and, although i forgot to be hungry, i had no reason to suppose he did. he would willingly have gone hungry, rather than give any one trouble; but i had neglected a duty. not only once did i do this, but again and again, the fire went out or the bread ran over in the pans, while i painted and dreamed. my conscience began to trouble me. housekeeping was "woman's sphere," although i had never then heard the words, for no woman had gotten out of it, to be hounded back; but i knew my place, and scorned to leave it. i tried to think i could paint without neglect of duty. it did not occur to me that painting was a duty for a married woman! had the passion seized me before marriage, no other love could have come between me and art; but i felt that it was too late, as my life was already devoted to another object--housekeeping. it was a hard struggle. i tried to compromise, but experience soon deprived me of that hope, for to paint was to be oblivious of all other things. in my doubt, i met one of those newspaper paragraphs with which men are wont to pelt women into subjection: "a man does not marry an artist, but a housekeeper." this fitted my case, and my doom was sealed. i put away my brushes; resolutely crucified my divine gift, and while it hung writhing on the cross, spent my best years and powers cooking cabbage. "a servant of servants shall she be," must have been spoken of women, not negroes. friends have tried to comfort me by the assurance that my life-work has been better done by the pen, than it could have been with the pencil, but this cannot be. i have never cared for literary fame; have avoided, rather than sought it; have enjoyed the abuse of the press more than its praise; have held my pen with a feeling of contempt for its feebleness, and never could be so occupied with it as to forget a domestic duty, while i have never visited a picture gallery, but i have bowed in deep repentance for the betrayal of a trust. where are the pictures i should have given to the world? where my record of the wrongs and outrages of my age; of the sorrows and joys; the trials and triumphs, that should have been written amid autumn and sunset glories in the eloquent faces and speaking forms which have everywhere presented themselves, begging to be interpreted? why have i never put on canvas one pair of those pleading eyes, in which are garnered the woes of centuries? is that christianity which has so long said to one-half of the race, "thou shalt not use any gift of the creator, if it be not approved by thy brother; and unto man, not god, thou shalt ever turn and ask, 'what wilt thou have me to do?'" it was not only my art-love which must be sacrificed to my duty as a wife, but my literary tastes must go with it. "the husband is the head of the wife." to be head, he must be superior. an uncultivated husband could not be the superior of a cultivated wife. i knew from the first that his education had been limited, but thought the defect would be easily remedied as he had good abilities, but i discovered he had no love for books. his spiritual guides derided human learning and depended on inspiration. my knowledge stood in the way of my salvation, and i must be that odious thing--a superior wife--or stop my progress, for to be and appear were the same thing. i must be the mate of the man i had chosen; and if he would not come to my level, i must go to his. so i gave up study, and for years did not read one page in any book save the bible. my religions convictions i could not change, but all other differences should disappear. mother moved to the city in the spring of , and my health was rapidly failing. i had rebelled against my mother-in-law, returned her supplies, and refused to receive anything from her. this brought on a fearful crisis, in which my husband threatened suicide; but i was firm, and he concluded to rent the mills and take me away. this he did. his father lived but a few months, and died on the second anniversary of our marriage. he lies buried in the ground he donated as "god's acre," with only this inscription at his head: "john swisshelm, aged ." no sign that he was one of the world's heroes--yet, when our revolution broke out, his parents had but two children. the oldest enlisted and was killed, when john caught up his rifle, took his place, and kept it until the close of the war. he spent the winter in valley forge, and once, in the darkest time, discovered washington on his knees in a lonely thicket, praying aloud for his country. this gave him hope, when hope was well-nigh dead, and he followed his commander across the jerseys, one of the two thousand who wrote in blood, from their shoeless feet, their protest against british rule on the soil they thus consecrated to freedom. chapter ix. habitations of horrid cruelty.--age, , . on the th of june, , the white frost lay on the west side of pittsburg roofs as we steamed away from her wharf, bound for louisville, where my husband proposed going into a business already established by his brother samuel. on the boat, all the way down the river, the general topic of conversation was the contrast between the desolate slave-cursed shores of kentucky, and the smiling plenty of the opposite bank; but louisville was largely settled by northern people, and was to prove an oasis in the desert of slavery. it lay at the head of the falls of the ohio, and the general government had lately expended large sums in building a canal around them. henry clay was in the zenith of his power, slavery held possession of the national resources, louisville might count on favors, and she was to be queen city of the west. there was an aspiring little place which fancied itself a rival, a little boat-landing, without natural advantages, called cincinnati, where they killed hogs; but it was quite absurd to think of her competing with the great metropolis at the head of the canal. i was quite surprised to find there were a good many houses and folks in cincinnati; but our boat did not stop long, and we soon reached our eldorado. before we effected a landing at the crowded wharf, i fell to wondering if a pittsburg drayman could take a louisville dray, its load, its three horses and ragged driver, pile them on his dray, and with his one horse take them to their destination--and i thought he could. samuel met us, and as we went in a hack to the boarding place he had engaged. i wondered what had happened that so many men were off work in the middle of the forenoon. who or what could they be, those fellows in shining black broadcloth, each with a stove-pipe hat on the side of his head, his thumbs in the armholes of a satin vest, displaying a wonderful glimmer of gold chain and diamond stud, balancing himself first on his heels and then on his toes, as he rolled a cigar from one side of his mouth to the other? how did they come to be standing around on corners and doorsteps by the hundred, like crows on a cornfield fence? it was some time before i learned that this was the advance guard of a great army of woman-whippers, which stretched away back to the atlantic, and around the shores of the gulf of mexico, and that they were out on duty as a staring brigade, whose business it was to insult every woman who ventured on the street without a male protector, by a stare so lascivious as could not be imagined on american free soil. i learned that they all lived, in whole or in part, by the sale of their own children, and the labor of the mothers extorted by the lash. i came to know one hoary-haired veteran, whose entire support came from the natural increase and wages of nineteen women, one of whom, a girl of eighteen, lived with him in a fashionable boarding-house, waited on him at table, slept in his room, and of whose yearly wages one hundred and seventy-five dollars were credited on his board bill. i learned that none of the shapely hands displayed on the black vests, had ever used other implement of toil than a pistol, bowie-knife or slave-whip; that any other tool would ruin the reputation of the owner of the taper digits; but they did not lose caste by horsewhipping the old mammys from whose bosoms they had drawn life in infancy. our boarding-house was on walnut street, one block west of the theatre, and looked toward the river. on the opposite side of the street stood a two-story brick house, always closed except when a negress opened and dusted the rooms. i never saw sadness or sorrow until i saw that face; and it did not appear except about her work, or when she emerged from a side gate to call in two mulatto children, who sometimes came out on the pavement. this house belonged to a northern "mudsill," who kept a grocery, and owned the woman, who was the mother of five children, of whom he was the father. the older two he had sold, one at a time, as they became saleable or got in his way. on the sale of the first, the mother "took on so that he was obliged to flog her almost to death before she gave up." but he had made her understand that their children were to be sold, at his convenience, and that he "would not have more than three little niggers about the house at one time." after that first lesson she had been "reasonable." our hostess, a kentucky lady, used to lament the loss of two boys--"two of the beautifulest boys!" they were the sons of her bachelor uncle, who had had a passion for liza, one of his father's slaves, a tall, handsome quadroon, who rejected his suit and was in love with jo, a fellow slave. to punish both, the young master had jo tied up and lashed until he fainted, while liza was held so that she must witness the torture, until insensibility came to her relief. this was done three times, when jo was sold, and liza herself bound to the whipping-post, and lashed until she yielded, and became the mother of those two beautiful boys. "but," added her biographer, "she never smiled after jo was sold, took consumption and died when her youngest boy was two months old. they were the beautifulest boys i ever laid eyes on, and uncle sot great store by them. he couldn't bear to have them out of his sight, and always said he would give them to me. he would have done it, i know, if he had made a will; but he took sick sudden, raving crazy, and never got his senses for one minute. it often took three men to hold him on the bed. he thought he saw jo and liza, and died cursing and raving." she paused to wipe away a tear, and added: "the boys were sold down south. maybe your way, up north, is best, after all. i never knew a cruel master die happy. they are sure to be killed, or die dreadful!" she had an old, rheumatic cook, martha, who seldom left her basement kitchen, except when she went to her baptist meeting, but for hours and hours she crooned heart-breaking melodies of that hope within her, of a better and a happier world. she had a severe attack of acute inflammation of the eyelids, which forcibly closed her eyes, and kept them closed; then she refused to work. her wages, one hundred and seventy-five dollars a year, were paid to her owner, a woman, and these went on; so her employer sent for her owner, and i, as an abolitionist, was summoned to the conference, that i might learn to pity the sorrows of mistresses, and understand the deceitfulness of slaves. the injured owner sat in the shaded parlor, in a blue-black satin dress, that might almost have stood upright without assistance from the flesh or bones inside; with the dress was combined a mass of lace and jewelry that represented a large amount of money, and the mass as it sat there, and as i recall it, has made costly attire odious. this bedizzoned martyr, this costumer's advertisement, sat and fanned as she recounted her grievances. her entire allowance for personal expenses, was the wages of nine women, and her husband would not give her another dollar. they, knowing her necessities, were so ungrateful!--nobody could think how ungrateful; but in all her sorrows, martha was her crowning grief. she had had two husbands, and had behaved so badly when the first was sold. then, every time one of her thirteen children were disposed of, she "did take on so;" nobody could imagine "how she took on!" once, the gentle mistress had been compelled to send her to the workhouse and have her whipped by the constable; and that cost fifty cents; but really, this martyr and her husband had grown weary of flogging martha. one hated so to send a servant to the public whipping-post; it looked like cruelty--did cruelty lacerate the feelings of refined people, and it was so ungrateful in martha, and all the rest of them, to torture this fine lady in this rough way. as to martha's ingratitude, there could be no doubt; for, to this, our hostess testified, and called me to witness, that she had sent her a cup of tea every day since she had complained of being sick; yes, "a cup of tea with sugar in it," and yet the old wretch had not gone to work. when they had finished the recital of their grievances they came down to business. the owner would remit two week's wages; after that it was the business of the employer to pay them, and see that they were earned. if it were necessary now to send martha to the whipping-post, the lady in satin would pay the fifty cents; but for any future flogging, the lady in lawn must be responsible to the city of louisville. we adjourned to the kitchen where old martha stood before her judge, clutching the table with her hard hands, trembling in every limb, her eyelids swollen out like puff-balls, and offensive from neglect, her white curls making a border to her red turban, receiving her sentence without a word. as a sheep before her shearers she was dumb, opening not her mouth. those wrinkled, old lips, from which i had heard few sounds, save those of prayer and praise, were closed by a cruelty perfectly incomprehensible in its unconscious debasement. our hostess was a leading member of the fourth st. m.e. church, the other feminine fiend a presbyterian. i promised the lord then and there, that for life, it should be my work to bring "deliverance to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound," but all i could do for martha, was to give her such medical treatment as would restore her sight and save her from the whipping-post, and this i did. while i lived on that dark and bloody ground, a man was beaten to death in an open shed, on the corner of two public streets, where the sound of the blows, the curses of his two tormentors, and his shrieks and unavailing prayers for mercy were continued a whole forenoon, and sent the complaining air shuddering to the ears of thousands, not one of whom offered any help. a brown-haired girl, maria, the educated, refined daughter of a kentucky farmer, was lashed by her brutal purchaser, once, and again and again for chastity, where hundreds who heard the blows and shrieks knew the cause. from that house she was taken to the work-house and scourged by the public executioner, backed by the whole force of the united states government. oh! god! can this nation ever, ever be forgiven for the blood of her innocent children? passing a crowded church on a sabbath afternoon, i stepped in, when the preacher was descanting on the power of religion, and, in illustration, he told of two wicked young men in that state, who were drinking and gambling on sunday morning, when one said: "i can lick the religion out of any nigger." the other would bet one hundred dollars that he had a nigger out of whom the religion could not be licked. the bet was taken and they adjourned to a yard. this unique nigger was summoned, and proved to be a poor old man. his master informed him he had a bet on him, and the other party commanded him to "curse jesus?" on pain of being flogged until he did. the old saint dropped on his knees before his master, and plead for mercy, saying: "massa! massa! i cannot curse jesus! jesus die for me! he die for you, massa. i no curse him; i no curse jesus!" the master began to repent. in babyhood he had ridden on those old bowed shoulders, then stalwart and firm, and he proposed to draw the bet, but the other wanted sport and would win the money. oh! the horrible details that that preacher gave of that day's sport, of the lashings, and faintings, and revivals, with washes of strong brine, the prayers for mercy, and the recurring moan! "i no curse jesus, massa! i no curse jesus; jesus die for me, massa; i die for jesus?" as the sun went down jesus took him, and his merciful master had sold a worthless nigger for one hundred dollars. but, the only point which the preacher made, was that one in favor of religion. when it could so support a nigger, what might it not do for one of the superior race? for months i saw every day a boy who could not have been more than ten years old, but who seemed to be eight, and who wore an iron collar with four projections, and a hoop or bail up over his head. this had been put on him for the crime of running away; and was kept on to prevent a repetition of that crime. the master, who thus secured his property, was an elder in the second presbyterian church, and led the choir. the principal baptist preacher owned and hired out one hundred slaves; took them himself to the public mart, and acted as auctioneer in disposing of their services. the time at which this was done, was in the christmas holidays, or rather the last day of the year, when the slaves' annual week of respite ended. a female member of the fourth st. methodist church was threatened with discipline, for nailing her cook to the fence by the ear with a ten-penny nail. the preacher in charge witnessed the punishment from a back window of his residence. hundreds of others witnessed it, called by the shrieks of the victim; and his reverence protested, on the ground that such scenes were calculated to injure the church. chapter x. kentucky contempt for labor.--age, , . to a white woman in louisville, work was a dire disgrace, and one sabbath four of us sat suffering from thirst, with the pump across the street, when i learned that for me to go for a pitcher of water, would be so great a disgrace to the house as to demand my instant expulsion. i grew tired doing nothing. my husband's business did not prosper, and i went to a dressmaker and asked for work. she was a new england woman, and after some shrewd questions, exclaimed: "my dear child, go home to your mother! what does your husband mean? does he not know you would be insulted at every step if you work for a living? go home--go home to your mother!" i was homesick, and the kindness of the voice and eyes made me cry. i told her i could not leave my husband. "then let him support you, or send you home until he can! i have seen too many like you go to destruction here. go home." i said that i could never go to destruction, but she interrupted me: "you know nothing about it. you are a mere baby. they all thought as you do. go home to your mother!" "but i never can go to destruction! no evil can befall me, for he that keepeth israel slumbers not nor sleeps." she concluded to give me work, but said: "i will send it by a servant. don't you come here." i never thrust my anti-slavery opinions on any one, but every southerner inquired concerning them, and i gave true answers. there were many boarders in the house, and one evening when there were eighteen men in the parlor, these questions brought on a warm discussion, when one said: "you had better take care how you talk, or we will give you a coat of tar and feathers." i agreed to accept such gratuitous suit, and a mississippi planter, who seemed to realize the situation, said gently: "indeed, madam, it is not safe for you to talk as you do." "when reminded of constitutional guarantees for freedom of speech, and his enjoyment of it in my native state, he replied: "there is no danger in pennsylvania from freedom of speech, but if people were allowed to talk as you do here, it would overthrow our institutions." there were mobs in the air. the mayor closed a sunday-school, on the ground that in it slaves were taught to read. the teacher, a new england woman, denied the charge, and claimed that only free children had been taught, while slaves were orally instructed to obey their masters, as good presbyterians, who hoped to escape the worm that never dies. her defense failed, but seemed to establish the right of free colored people to a knowledge of the alphabet, but there was no school for them, and i thought to establish one. jerry wade, the gault house barber, was a mulatto, who had bought himself and family, and acquired considerable real estate. in the back of one of his houses, lived his son with a wife and little daughter. we rented the front, and mother sent me furniture. this was highly genteel, for it gave us the appearance of owning slaves, and olivia, young wade's wife, represented herself as my slave, to bring her and her child security. as a free negro, she labored under many disadvantages, so begged me to claim her. in this house i started my school, and there were no lack of pupils whose parents were able and willing to pay for their tuition, but ruffians stood before the house and hooted at the "nigger school." threatening letters were sent me, and wade was notified that his house would be burned or sacked, if he permitted its use for such purpose. in one day my pupils were all withdrawn. after this, i began to make corsets. it was a joy to fit the superb forms of kentucky women, and my art-love found employment in it, but my husband did not succeed, and went down the river. a man came to see if i could give work to his half-sister, for whose support he could not fully provide. she was a fitzhugh,--a first virginia family. her father had died, leaving a bankrupt estate. she had learned dressmaking, and had come with him to louisville to find work, but she was young and beautiful, and he dare not put her into a shop, but thought i might protect her, so she came to live with me. one evening an old and wealthy citizen called about work i was doing for his wife, became interested in me, as a stranger who had seen little of louisville, and tendered the use of his theatre-box and carriage to the young lady and myself. i declined, with thanks. when he had taken leave, miss fitzhugh sprang to her feet, and with burning cheeks and flashing eyes, demanded to know if i knew that that man had insulted us both. i did not know, but she did, and would tell edward, who should cowhide him publicly. i told her that if edward attempted that, he would probably lose his life, and we would certainly be dragged into a police court. even if we had been insulted, it only proved that the old man thought we were like himself--that we were told in the psalms that wicked men thought god was like themselves, and did approve their sin, and he did not have them cowhided. after a moment's reflection she sat down, exclaiming: "well, you are the strangest woman i ever did see!" we never again saw the man, and i hope the incident helped the honest edward in his loving task of protecting the fiery fitzhugh. my husband's trip down the river was a failure, and he went back home. remembering he had heard me say i could do so much better at corset-making if i could buy goods at wholesale, he sold his wilkinsburg property and turned the proceeds into dry goods. to me this seemed very unwise, but i tried to make the best of it, and we took a business house on fourth street. i cut and fitted dresses, and with a tape-line could take a measure from which i could make a perfect fit without trying on. i soon had more work than i could do, and took two new girls, but the goods were dead stock. my husband was out of employment, and tried to assist in my business. he was out most of the day, and in the evening wanted to retire early. i was busy all day, and could not go out alone after dark, so came to be a prisoner. one warm evening i was walking back and forth in front of our house, though i knew it a great risk, when a man overtook me, cleared his throat as if to speak, and passed on to the lamp-post, which had made one limit of my walk. i did not shorten my path, and when i came up to the post he again cleared his throat as if to speak, and next time stepped out, lifted his hat, and remarked: "a very pleasant evening, miss." i stopped, looked at him, and said: "it is a very pleasant evening; had you not better walk on and enjoy it?" he bowed low, and answered: "i beg your pardon, madam. i was mistaken." "pardon for what, sir? it _is_ a very pleasant evening; please to pass on." he did, and i walked till i was tired, thinking of all the sacrifices i had made to be my husband's housekeeper and keep myself in woman's sphere, and here was the outcome! i was degrading him from his position of bread-winner. if it was my duty to keep his house, it must be his to find me a house to keep, and this life must end. i would go with him to the poorest cabin, but he must be the head of the matrimonial firm. he should not be my business assistant. i would not be captain with him for lieutenant. how to extricate myself i did not see, but extricated i would be. we needed a servant. a kentucky "gentleman," full six feet three, with broad shoulders and heavy black whiskers, came to say: "i have a woman i can let you have! a good cook, good washah and ionah, fust rate housekeepah! i'll let you have ah for two hundred dollahs a yeah; but i'll tell you honest, you'll have to hosswhipah youahself about twice a week, for that wife of youahs could nevah do anything with ah." while he talked i looked. his suit was of the finest black broadcloth, satin vest, a pompous display of chain, seals, studs and rings, his beaver on the back of his head, his thumbs in the arms of his vest, and feet spread like the collossus of rhodes. this new use for pennsylvania muscle seemed to strike my husband as infinitely amusing, for he burst out laughing, and informed the "gentleman" that he did not follow the profession of whipping women, and must decline his offer. but i wanted to be back on free soil, out of an atmosphere which killed all manhood, and furnished women-whippers as a substitute for men. chapter xi. rebellion.--age, . during the late spring and early summer, my letters from home spoke often of mother's failing health, and in july one came from her saying her disease had been pronounced cancer, and bidding me come to her. the same mail brought a letter from dr. joseph gazzam, telling me she was certainly on her death-bed, and adding: "let nothing prevent your coming to your mother at once." i was hurt by this call. was i such a monster that this old family friend thought it necessary to urge me to go to my dying mother? stunned and stupified with grief, i packed my trunk. my husband came in at noon, and i handed him the letters. he read them and expressed surprise and sorrow, and i told him to hurry to the wharf and see when the first boat started. he thought i should not go until i heard again. it might not be so bad. then, after reflecting, said, why go at all, if there was no hope? of what use could i be? if there was hope, he would agree to my going, but as there was none, he must object. in fact, he did not see how i could think of leaving him with those goods on his hands. how could i be so ready to drop all and not think of the consequences, for what could he do with that stock of dry goods. my mother pretended to be a christian, but would take me away from my duty. i, too, read the bible, but paid little heed to its teachings. he brought that book and read all of paul's directions to wives, but rested his case on ephesians, v, : "wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the lord. for the husband is head of the wife even as christ is head of the church; therefore, as the church is subject unto christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." while he continued his comments, i buried my head in pillows, saying, "lord what wilt thou have me to do?" milton epitomized paul when he made eve say to adam, "be god thy law, thou mine;" but was that the mind and will of god? had he transferred his claim to the obedience of half the human family? was every husband god to his wife? would wives appear in the general judgment at all, or if they did, would they hand in a schedule of marital commands? if the passage meant anything it meant this: one might as well try to be, and not to be, at the same time, as own allegiance to god and the same allegiance to man. i was either god's subject or i was not. if i was not, i owed him no obedience. christ as head of the church was her absolute lawgiver, and thus saith the lord, was all she dare demand. was i to obey my husband in that way? if so, i had no business with the moral law or any other law, save his commands. christian england had taken this view, and enacted that a wife should not be punished for any crime committed by command, or in presence of her husband, "because, being altogether subject to him, she had no will of her own;" but this position was soon abandoned, and this passage stamped as spurious. every christian church had so stamped it, for all encouraged wives to join their communion with or without the consent of their husbands. thousands of female martyrs had sealed their testimony with their blood, opposing the authority of their husbands, and had been honored by the church. as for me, i must take that passage alone for my bible, or expunge it. then and there i cast it from me forever, as being no part of divine law, and thus unconsciously took the first step in breaking through a faith in plenary inspiration. i next turned to the book in general for guidance: "wives, obey your husbands;" "children obey your parents;" "honor thy father and thy mother." what a labyrinth of irreconcilable contradictions! god, in nature, spoke with no uncertain sound, "go home to your mother," and my choice was made while my husband talked. i said that if he did not see about a boat i would. when he told me that he had a legal right to detain me, and would exercise it, i assured him the attempt would be as dangerous as useless, for i was going to pittsburg. he went out, promising to engage my passage, but staid so long that i went to the wharf, where respectable women were not seen alone, saw a boat with a flag out for pittsburg, engaged a berth, and so left louisville. chapter xii. the valley of the shadow of death.--age, , . mother was suffering when i reached her, as i had not dreamed of. after a consultation, drs. gazzam and fahnestock thought she could not live more than four weeks; but spear said she might linger three months. this blanched the cheek of each one. three months of such unremitting pain, steadily on the increase, was appalling; but mother faced the prospect without a murmur, willing to bear by god's grace what he should inflict, and to wait his good time for deliverance. i was filled with self-reproach, for i should have been with her months before. in a few days my mother-in-law and one of her daughters came to see how long i proposed to stay, why i had left james with the goods, and when i would go and take charge of them. they had had a letter from him, and he was in great trouble. she was gentle and grave--inquired minutely about our nursing, but thought it expensive--dwelt at length on the folly of spending time and money in caring for the sick when recovery was impossible. mother could not see them, and they were offended, for they proposed helping to take care of her, that i might return to my duty. some time after the visit of my mother-in-law, her son-in-law--who was a class-leader and a man of prominence in the community--came with solemn aspect, took my hand, sighed, and said: "i heard you had left james with the goods." here he sighed again, wagged his head, and added: "but i couldn't believe it!" and without another word turned and walked away. they chose to regard mother's illness as a personal grievance. "the way of the transgressor is hard;" and she, having sinned against the saints, must bear her iniquity, and thus suffer the just reward of her deeds. i had frequent letters from my husband, and he was waiting on the wharf, watching every boat for my appearance. i told him before leaving louisville, that i never would return--never again would try to live in a slave state, and advised him to sell the goods at auction, and with the money start a sawmill up the allegheny river, and i would go to him. this advice he resented. at length he grew tired waiting, and came for me. it is neither possible nor necessary here to describe the trouble which ensued, but i would not nor did not leave mother, and she at last remembered the protection to which she was entitled by the city government. with all mother's courage, her moans were heartbreaking. no opiate then known could bring one half-hour of any sleep in which they ceased, and in her waking hours the burden of her woe found vent in a low refrain: "my father! is it not enough?" our principal care was to guard her from noise. the click of a knife or spoon on a plate or cup in the adjoining room, sent a thrill of pain to her nerve centres. only two friends were gentle enough to aid elizabeth and me in nursing her, as she murmured, constantly: "if my husband were only here!" she could bear no voice in reading save gabriel adams' and my own. i read to her comforting passages of scripture, and said prayers which carried her soul up to the throne, and fell back on mine in showers of dust and ashes. a great black atheism had fallen on me. there was no justice on earth, no mercy in heaven. her house was in pittsburg, on sixth street, a little cottage built for her father and mother when they were alone. it stood back in a yard, and rough men in passing stepped lightly--children went elsewhere with their sports--friends tapped on the gate, and we went out to answer inquiries and receive supplies--prayers were offered for her in churches, societies and families. the house was a shrine consecrated by suffering and sorrow. the third month passed, and still she lingered. for seven weeks she took no nourishment but half a cup of milk, two parts water, per day. then her appetite returned and her agony increased, but still with no lament save: "my father! is it not enough?" in the sixth month, january th, , relief came. as i knelt for her last words, she said: "elizabeth?" i replied, "she is here, dear mother, what of her?" summoning strength she said: "let no one separate you!" then looked up and said, "it is enough," and breathed no more. as her spirit rose, it broke the cloud, and the divine presence fell upon me. the room, the world was full of peace. she had been caught up out of the storm; and "he who endureth unto the end shall be saved." by her request, i and a dear friend, martha campbell, prepared her body for burial, and we wrapped her in a linen winding-sheet, as the body of christ was buried--no flowers, no decorations; only stern, solemn death. on the last day of father's life he had said to her, "mary you are human, and must have faults, but whatever they are i never have seen them." she had been his widow seventeen years, and by her desire we opened his grave and laid her body to mingle its dust with his, who had been her only love in the life that now is, and with whom she expected to spend an eternity. chapter xiii. "labor--service or act."--age, . mother's will left everything to trustees, for the use of elizabeth and myself. she had wished my husband to join her in a suit for the recovery of father's city property, and he refused, but signed a deed with me conveying my interest to her. this claim she also willed to her trustees for my use. he felt himself wronged and became angry, but had one remedy. being the owner of my person and services, he had a right to wages for the time spent in nursing mother, and would file his claim against her executors. i do not know why i should have been so utterly overwhelmed by this proposal to execute a law passed by christian legislators for the government of christian people--a law which had never been questioned by any nation, or state, or church, and was in full force all over the world. why should the discovery of its existence curdle my blood, stop my heart-beats, and send a rush of burning shame from forehead to finger-tip? why should i have blushed that my husband was a law-abiding citizen of the freest country in the world? why blame him for acting in harmony with the canons of every christian church--aye, of that one of which i was a member, and proud of its history as a bulwark of civil liberty? was it any fault of his that "all that she (the wife) can acquire by her labor-service or act during coverture, belongs to her husband?" certainly not. yet that law made me shrink and think of mother's warning, given so long ago. but marriage was a life-contract, and god required me to keep it to the end, and said, "when thou passeth through the fire i will be with thee, and the floods shall not overflow thee." i could not bear to have a bill sent to mother's executors for my wages, but i could compromise, and i did. he returned to louisville, sold the goods, went on a trading-boat, and joined samuel in little rock. while he was there samuel died--died a presbyterian, and left this message for me: "tell sister jane i will meet her in heaven." this my husband transmitted to me, and was deeply grieved and much softened by his brother's death. rev. isaiah niblock, of butler, pa., a distant relative and very near friend, asked me to take charge of the butler seminary and become his guest. my salary would be twenty-five dollars a month, and this was munificent. elizabeth went to pittsburg to school, and i to butler, where my success was complete and i very happy. among my pupils were two daughters of my old patron, judge braden. one of these, little nannie, was full of pleasant surprises, and "brought down the house" during examination, by reciting a country girl's account of her presentation at court, in which occurs this stanza: "and there the king and i were standing face and face together; i said, 'how is your majesty? it's mighty pleasant weather!'" by nannie's way of giving the lines, they were so fixed on my memory as to be often mingled with solemn reveries in after years. petitions were presented in the pennsylvania legislature for the abolition of capital punishment. senator sullivan, chairman of the committee to which they were referred, wrote to mr. niblock for the scripture view. he was ill and requested me to answer, which i did, and mr. sullivan drew liberally from my arguments in his report against granting the petitions. the report was attacked, and i defended it in several letters published in a butler paper--anonymously--and this was my first appearance in print, except a short letter published by george d. prentiss, in the louisville _journal_, of which i remember nothing, save the strangeness of seeing my thoughts in print. chapter xiv. swissvale.--age, , . in april, , my husband took possession of the old home in the valley, and we went there to live. there were large possibilities in the old house, and we soon had a pleasant residence. i had the furniture mother left me, and a small income from her estate. the farm i named "swissvale," and such is the name thereof. when the pennsylvania railroad was built it ran through it, but not in sight of the house, and the station was called for the homestead. in the summer of ' i began to write stories and rhymes, under the _nom de plume_ of "jennie deans," for _the dollar newspaper_ and _neal's saturday gazette_, both of philadelphia. reece c. fleeson published an anti-slavery weekly in pittsburg, _the spirit of liberty_, and for this i wrote abolition articles and essays on woman's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. my productions were praised, and my husband was provoked that i did not use my own name. if i were not ashamed of my articles, why not sign them? he had not given up the idea that i should preach. indeed, he held me accountable for most of the evils in the world, on the ground that i could overthrow them if i would. elizabeth was married in june, and went to ohio. in the autumn, my husband's mother and the boys came to live with us, to which i made no objection, for "honor thy father and mother" was spoken as much to him as to me. maybe i had some spiritual pride in seeing that she turned from her converted daughters, who were wealthy and lived near, to make a home with unregenerate me. she liked my housekeeping, and "grandmother," as i always called her, with her white 'kerchiefs and caps, sitting by the fireplace plying her knitting-needles, became my special pride. my husband had converted the louisville goods into one panther, one deer, two bears, and a roll of "wildcat" money. it was not very good stock with which to begin life on a farm, but the monotony was relieved by a hooking, kicking cow, and a horse which broke wagons to splinters. tom, the panther, was domiciled in the corner made by the old stone chimney and the log wall of the house, close to the path which led to the garden. the bears were chained in the meadow behind the house and billy, the deer, ranged at will. tom and the bears ate pigs and poultry so fast that we gave up trying to raise any, while billy's visits to the garden did not improve the vegetables. i tried to establish some control over tom, as a substitute for the fear he felt for his master, who was not always within call, and who insisted that tom could be tamed so as to serve the place of a watchdog. tom had been quite obedient for tom, and my terror for him had abated. i was interested in the heathen of india, and was president of a society which met in pittsburg. coming home from a meeting, i was thrown out of a buggy and so badly hurt that i was kept in bed six weeks. when i began to go out on crutches, i started to go to the garden, and forgot tom until i heard him growl. he lay flat, with his nose on his paws, his tail on the ground straight as a ramrod, save a few inches at the tip, which wagged slowly, his eyes green and fiery, and i not three feet from his head, and just in reach, even if his chain held; but i had seen it break in one of those springs which he was now preparing to make. there was no help near! he would spring for my head and shoulders. if these were out of his way, he could not hold me by my dress which, was a thin muslin wrapper. he was not likely to leap until something moved, and might lie there sometime. i had heard that a panther will not jump under the gaze of a human eye, so i looked steadily into his, while i talked to him. "tom! tom! down sir," and so tried to recall his knowledge of me. fortunately my feet were a little in advance of my crutches, and while i looked and talked, holding my body motionless, i was planting my crutches and throwing my weight on my well foot. i heard the girl coming out of the house and knew the time had come. with all my strength i swung myself backward as he made the leap. his hot breath rushed into my face, his fiery eyes glared close to mine, but his chain was too short. then i knew i had no mission for taming panthers. from the first i had feared that he would kill some child, and it was impossible to prevent them trooping to see him. after my own narrow escape i protested so strongly against keeping him, that my husband consented to sell him to a menagerie; but those which came were supplied with panthers, and, although he was a splendid specimen, full nine feet long, no sale was found for him. that adventure supplied memory with a picture, which for long years breathed and never was absent. if it was not before me it was in some corner, and i knew tom was crouched to spring on me; his fiery eyes glared, the tip of his tail wagged, and he was waiting, only waiting for me to move. often when i woke at night, he was on my bed or in a corner of the room. he was hidden in fence corners and behind bushes on the roadside, and mary's little lamb was never half so faithful as my phantom panther. my husband could not understand the fear i felt, nor realize the danger of keeping him. he enjoyed his own mastery over him, and with a box on the side of the head he made tom whine and crouch like a spaniel. i have often wondered that in all the accounts i have ever read of lights with wild animals, no one ever planted a good fist-blow under the ear of his four-legged antagonist, and so stretch it out stiff to await his leisure in disposing of it. chapter xv. willows by the water-courses.--age, . pennsylvania customs made it unmanly for a man or boy to aid any woman, even mother or wife, in any hard work with which farms abounded at that time. dairy work, candle and sausage making were done by women, and any innovation was met with sneers. i stubbornly refused to yield altogether to a time-honored code, which required women to perform outdoor drudgery, often while men sat in the house, and soon had the sympathy of our own boys; for it was often impossible to obtain any domestic help, though pittsburg "charitable" people supported hundreds of women in idleness who might have had homes and wages in farmhouses. much of the natural beauty of swissvale had been destroyed by pioneer improvements, which i sought in some degree to replace. i loved the woods, and with my little grubbing-hoe transplanted many wild and beautiful things. this my mother-in-law did not approve, as her love for the beautiful was satisfied by a flower border in the garden. one day she said: "james, i would not have that willow in that corner. the roots will get into the race. it is the real basket willow, and if you cut it into stubs and stick them in the swamp, you can sell enough willow to buy all your baskets." i replied: "grandmother, you forget that is my tree; i want it to drape that bare knoll. the roots will run below the bed of the race. the boys can get plenty of stubs at flemming's." she only replied by a "humph!" and next day i discovered my tree had been sawed into pieces and planted in the swamp. words would not restore it, and i wasted none; but next morning rose early, and, hatchet in hand, went to the parent tree, climbed on a fence and cut off a limb, which i dragged home, feeling glad that anything had brought me a walk on such a glorious morning. i planted the main stock in that corner, then put about a hundred twigs in the swamp for basket willow. in a few days my second tree disappeared, and i brought another, for a tree there was indispensable, and i hoped to make my husband see as i did, and thought i had won his consent to willows. so i went up and down the race and runs, putting in twigs, and thinking of the "willows by the watercourses," and israel's lament: "by babel's streams we sat and wept when zion we thought on, in midst thereof we hanged our harps the willow trees upon." i was banished from my zion, never permitted to hear the teachings of my old pastor, for which my soul panted as the thirsty hart for the water brooks, and in my babylon i wanted willows. some of my plantings were permitted to remain, and swissvale is now noted for its magnificent willows; but that main tree was chopped up and burned. in its stead i planted a young chestnut, where it still stands, a thing of beauty and joy to the boys. chapter xvi. the waters grow deep.--age, . the plans for my conversion seemed to be aided by our coming to the farm, as i fitted up the "prophet's chamber" to entertain my husband's friends in his house. there were two preachers in the circuit. the eldest, a plain, blunt man, began on his first visit to pelt me with problems about "man-made ministers" and calvinism. i replied by citing the election of abraham, jacob, and the entire jewish nation, and by quoting the th chapter of romans, until he seemed to despair and came no more, for they could not accept my hospitality while i refused their religion. the other circuit rider was young, handsome and zealous, and was doing a great work in converting young girls. on his first visit i thought him rude. on his second, he inquired at table: "is this the place where they put onions into everything?" i replied that we used none in tea or coffee. when i joined him and my husband in the parlor, he waved his hand around the room to point out its decorations and said: "brother james tells me that this is all your work. it is quite wonderful, and now, sister, what a pity it is that you will not turn your attention to religion. you seem to do everything so well." he motioned as if to lay his hand on my shoulder. i drew back and said: "excuse me, sir, but i am not your sister; and as for your religion you remind me with it of doctor jaynes and his hair tonic." "how so, sister?" "again pardon, but i am not your sister. doctor jaynes uses a large part of his column to persuade us that it is good to have good hair. no one disputes that, and he should prove that his tonic will bring good hair. so you talk of the importance of religion. no one disputes this, and it is your business to prove that the nostrum you peddle is religion. i say it is not. it is a system of will worship. religion is obedience to god's law. you teach people that they can, and do, obey this law perfectly, while they do not know it. your church has no bibles in her pews, few in her families, and these unread. preachers and all, not one in twenty can repeat the ten commandments. you are blind leaders of the blind, and must all fall into the ditch, destroyed for lack of knowledge!" that week he proposed to abandon the swissvale meeting-house, and build one in wilkinsburg, giving as a reason the impossibility of keeping up a congregation with me on the farm. next conference sent rev. henderson as presiding elder, who brought in a new era. he slept in the "prophet's chamber," admired my pretty rooms, and said nothing about my getting religion. the circuit preacher was of the same mind, an earnest, modest, young man, wrestling with english grammar, who on his first visit sought my help about adverbs, while my mother-in-law looked on in evident displeasure. to her this was the dawn of that new day, in which the methodist church rivals all others in her institutions of learning. the good time of inspiration was slipping away. what wonder that she clutched it as jacob did his angel? there in that house she had for long years been an oracle to inspired men, and now to see god's spirit displaced by kirkham's grammar was rank infidelity. the wilkinsburg meeting-house was being built, and that one which had been to her all that the temple ever was to solomon, would be left to the owls and bats--her zion desolate. those walls, made sacred by visions of glory and shouts of triumph, would crumble to ruin in the clinging silence. how could she but think that the influence was evil which could bring such result? the new building was consecrated with much ceremony. the two hendersons staid with, us, and on sabbath morning consulted me as to the best way of taking up subscriptions. mother-in-law looked on till she could bear it no longer, and said: "brother henderson, if you mean to be in time for love feast, you must not stay fooling there." both men sprang to their feet, hurried away and never returned. general conference at its session in baltimore, in , passed the "black gag" law, which forbade colored members of the church to give testimony in church-trials against white members, in any state where they were forbidden to testily in courts. four members of the pittsburg conference voted for it, and when my husband returned from the dedication, i learned that three of them had figured prominently in the exercises, and he had refused to commune on account of their ministrations. everything went smoothly for ten days, when my husband came to our room, where i sat writing, threw himself on the bed and poured out such a torrent of accusations as i had not dreamed possible, and of which i refrain from giving any adequate description. i looked up and saw that he was livid with rage. his words appeared the ravings of a mad man, yet there was method in them, and no crime in the calendar with which they did not charge me. butter money was not accounted for, pickles and preserves missing, things about the house were going to destruction, the country was full of falsehoods and i had told them all. it was all a blur of sound and fury, but in it stood out these words: "you ruined samuel, and now you are trying to ruin the boys and those two fool preachers. people know it, too, and i am ashamed to show my face for the talk." when he seemed to have finished, i asked: "how long since you learned my real character?" this spurred him to new wrath, and he exclaimed: "there now, that's the next of it. you will go and tell that i've abused you. it's not me. i never suspected your honesty, but my mother, yes, my poor old mother. i would not care, if you could only behave yourself before my mother!" i sat leaning my elbows on my table with my head in my hands, and the words "ruined samuel" became a refrain. i thought of the danger out of which i had plucked him while in louisville, of the force with which i had grappled him with hooks of steel, as he hung on the outer edge of that precipice of dissipation, while i clung to the almighty arm for help. i thought of the tears and solemnity with which this man had given to me the dying message of that rescued brother. earth seemed to be passing away, and to leave no standing room. i was teaching school in the abandoned meeting-house. it was noon recess and i must hurry or be late. i passed into the hall and out of the house, with the thought "i cross his threshold now for the last time;" but i must remain near and finish my school, when i would be present to meet those monstrous charges before the world. my reveries did not interfere with my school duties, and when they were over i sat in the old meeting-house or walked its one aisle, with the quiet dead lying all around me, thinking of that good fight which i should fight, ere i finished my course, and lay down to rest as they did. but the sun went down, the long twilight drew on the coming night, and i was homeless. where should i go? i thought of the burkhammers, whose little son lay among the dead beside me. i had tended him in his last illness and prepared his body for burial. they were german tenants of judge wilkins and to reach their house i must pass through the dark valley over which now lay a new pall. there were lights in the house as i passed, and tom rattled his chain and gave forth one of those shrieks which pierced the air for a mile. i was glad to know that he was not loose, and that it was only my phantom which crouched in every available place, ready to spring. the bears bellowed a response to his shriek, but i did not hasten. the stream, so loud and angry on that night of my first entrance into this vale of tears, was now low, and sang a lullaby of angelic music as i crossed it on stepping stones. on the hillside it was almost as dark as that night when father olever stopped and felt for the bank with his whip. the burkhammers asked no questions, and i went to sleep without giving any account of my strange visit, but about midnight i awoke myself and the whole family by my sobs. they gathered around my bed, and i must tell. what i said i do not know, but the old man interrupted me with: "oh tamm jim. you stay here mit us. my old woman und me, we has blenty. we dakes care of you. nopody never said nodding bad about you. everypody likes you, caus you is bleasant mit everypody." as he talked he drew his sleeve across his eyes, while his wife and daughter comforted me. i would board there and finish my school, then go to butler and take the seminary, or a place in the common school. i saw no one as i passed my late home next morning. in school the first exercise was bible, reading verse about with the pupils. the xxv ( ) chapter of matthew came in order, and while reading its account of the final judgment, i saw as by a revelation why this trouble had been sent to me, and a great flood of light seemed thrown across my path before me. christ's little ones were sick and in prison, and i had not visited them! old martha, standing before her judges, rose up to upbraid me! i was to have followed the lamb, and had been making butter to add to an estate larger now than the owner could use. no wonder she thought i stole the money. i, who had failed to rebuke man-stealing, might steal anything. that meeting-house which i had been helping to build by entertaining its builders and aiding them about subscriptions, it and they were a part of a great man-thieving machine. i had been false to every principle of justice; had been decorating parlors when i should have been tearing down prisons! _i_, helping black gagites build a church! "when thou a thief didst see thou join'st with him in sin."' thinking, reaching out for the path to that bastile which i must attack, i went on with my school duties until my husband walked in and asked why i had not been at home. i was worn with intense strain, and at the word home, burst into a passion of tears. i told the pupils to take their books, and leave, there would be no more school, and i could hear them go around on tip-toe and whisper. twice a pair of little arms were thrown around me, and the sound of the retreating footsteps died away when my husband laid his hand all trembling on my head. i threw it off and begged him to go away, his presence would kill me. he would not go, and i went out into the woods. he followed, and said he had never charged me with an evil thought, much less an action, was the most loving of husbands and the most injured in that i had thought he had found fault with me. he might have spoken a hasty word, but was it right to lay it up against him? i still begged him to leave--that i should die if he did not. he went, and i crossed the fields to the house of thomas dickson, thinking that from it i could get to the city by the river road and fly any where. mrs. dickson made me go to bed, as i was able to go no where else, and here my husband's brother-in-law found me. he had come as peace-maker, and could not think what it all meant; some angry words of james about his mother, who would now go back to live with him. the dicksons joined him with entreaties. if my husband had injured me, he was very, very sorry, was quite overwhelmed with grief for the pain he had cost me. then they brought down the lever of scripture and conscience: "if thy brother offend thee seventy times seven," and i yielded. my husband came and i went home with him that evening, expecting that my mother-in-law was installed in her new home on the hill; but she met and kissed me at the door, and i did not care. nothing could add to the shudder of going into the house, and she seemed so grieved and frightened that my heart was touched, and i was sorry for her that we had ever met. chapter xvii. my name appears in print.--age, . it was the third morning after my return, that my head would not leave the pillow. dr. carothers came and blistered me from head to feet, and for three weeks i saw no one but my attendants and my phantom panther. he never left me. there was one corner of the room in which he stayed most, and sometimes there was not room for his tail to wag, and then he moved forward where i could not see his head. this troubled me, for then i could not hold him with my eyes. at night they were two balls of green fire; but they had always been, only when i was well i could turn my head away, now i could not move it. i knew most of the time it was a shadow from my brain, but was glad to hear tom's chain rattle and feel sure it was not his very self. they nursed me carefully, and i lay thinking of the "little ones sick and in prison." old martha came and plead with me. i saw liza and maria under the lash for the crime of chastity, and myself the accomplice of their brutal masters. i pictured one of them a member of the m.e. church, appealing to that church for redress and spurned under the "black gag," and i? why i had been helping men who voted for it to build a meeting-house! what was peter's denial compared to mine? the case arranged itself in my mind. i had writing materials brought, and there, with my head fast on the pillow, i wrote a hexameter rhyme half a column long, arraigning by name those black gag preachers, painting the scene, and holding them responsible. i signed my initials, and sent it to mr. fleeson, with a note telling him to give my name if it was inquired for. our "spirit" did not come that week; but soon my husband came to my room with a copy of "the pittsburg gazette," in which was an editorial and letter full of pious horror and denunciation of that article, and giving my name as the author; so that we knew mr. fleeson had published the name in full. this was my first appearance in print over my own signature, and while i was shocked, my husband was delighted, even though he knew a libel suit was threatened. i soon went to pittsburg, saw william elder and john a. wills, the only anti-slavery lawyers in the city. they said the article was actionable, for it had brought those men into contempt. elder added: "they are badly hurt, or they would not cry out so loud." both tendered their gratuitous services for my defense. in a civil suit we could prove the truth of the charge, and they could get nothing, for my husband owned no property--everything belonged to his mother--and my trustees could not be held for my misdeeds. their action would doubtless be criminal, and i would probably be imprisoned. i went home and wrote a reply to the _gazette_, which it refused to publish, but it appeared in the _spirit_. i reiterated, urged and intensified my charges against these false priests, until they were dumb about their injuries and libel suit, but of that original article i never could get a copy. every one had been sold and resold, and read to rags, before i knew it was in print. i continued to write for the "spirit," but still there did not seem to be anything i could do for the slave. as soon as i was able to be about the house, i fell into my old round of drudgery, but with hope and pride shut out of it. once my burden pressed so that i could not sleep, and rose at early dawn, and sat looking over the meadow, seeing nothing but a dense, white fog. i leaned back, closed my eyes and thought how like it was to my own life. when i looked again, oh, the vision of glory which, met my sight! the rising sun had sent, through an opening in the woods, a shaft of light, which centred on a hickory tree that stood alone in the meadow, and was then in the perfection of its golden autumn glory. it dripped with moisture, blazed and shimmered. the high lights were diamond tipped, and between them and the deepest shadow was every tint of orange and yellow, mingled and blended in those inimitable lines of natural foliage. over it, through it, and around it, rolled the white fog, in great masses, caressing the earth and hanging from the zenith, like the veil of the temple of the most high. all around lay the dark woods, framing in the vision like serried ranks encompassing a throne, to which great clouds rolled, then lifted and scudded away, like couriers coming for orders and hastening to obey them. john's new jerusalem never was so grand! no square corners and forbidding walls. the gates were not made of several solid pearls, but of millions of pearletts, strung on threads of love, offering no barriers through which any soul might not pass. my patmos had been visited and i could dwell in it, work and wait; but i would live in it, not lie in a tomb, and once more i took hold of life. i organized a society at which we read, had refreshments and danced--yea, broke church rules and practiced promiscuous dancing minus promiscuous kissing. of course this was wicked. i roamed the woods, brought wild flowers and planted them, set out berry bushes, and collected a large variety of roses and lilies. chapter xviii. mexican war.--age, - . james g. birney was the presidential candidate of the "liberty party" in , as he had been in ' . during the campaign i wrote under my initials for _the spirit of liberty_, and exposing the weak part of an argument soon came to be my recognized forte. for using my initials i had two reasons--my dislike and dread of publicity and the fear of embarrassing the liberty party with the sex question. abolitionists were men of sharp angles. organizing them was like binding crooked sticks in a bundle, and one of the questions which divided them was the right of women to take any prominent part in public affairs. in that campaign, the great whig argument against the election of polk was, that it would bring on a war with mexico for the extension of slavery, and when the war came, whigs and liberty party men vied with each other in their cry of "our country, right or wrong!" and rushed into the army over every barrier set up by their late arguments. the nation was seized by a military madness, and in the furore, the cause of the slave went to the wall, and _the spirit of liberty_ was discontinued. its predecessor, _the christian witness_, had failed under the successive management of william burleigh, dr. elder, and rev. edward smith, three giants in those days, and there seemed no hope that any anti-slavery paper could be supported in pittsburg, while all anti-slavery matter was carefully excluded from both religious and secular press. it was a dark day for the slave, and it was difficult to see hope for a brighter. to me, it seemed that all was lost, unless some one were especially called to speak that truth, which alone could make the people free, but certainly i could not be the messenger. for years there had ran through my head the words, "open thy mouth for the dumb, plead the cause of the poor and needy." the streams sang them, the winds shrieked them, and now a trumpet sounded them, but the words could not mean more than talking in private. i would not, could not, believe they meant more, for the bible in which i read them bid me be silent. my husband wanted me to lecture as did abbey kelley, but i thought this would surely be wrong. the church had silenced me so effectuately, that even now all my sense of the great need of words could not induce me to attempt it; but if i could "plead the cause" through the press, i must write. even this was dreadful, as i must use my own name, for my articles would certainly be libelous. if i wrote at all, i must throw myself headlong into the great political maelstrom, and would of course be swallowed up like a fishing-boat in the great norway horror which decorated our school geographies; for no woman had ever done such a thing, and i could never again hold up my head under the burden of shame and disgrace which would be heaped upon me. but what matter? i had no children to dishonor; all save one who had ever loved me were dead, and she no longer needed me, and if the lord wanted some one to throw into that gulf, no one could be better spared than i. _the pittsburg commercial journal_ was the leading whig paper of western pennsylvania, robert m. riddle, its editor and proprietor. his mother was a member of our church, and i thought somewhere in his veins must stir anti-slavery blood. so i wrote a letter to the _journal_, which appeared with an editorial disclaimer, "but the fair writer should have a hearing." this letter was followed by another, and they continued to appear once or twice a week during several months. i do not remember whom i attacked first, but from first to last my articles were as direct and personal as nathan's reproof to david. of slavery in the abstract i knew nothing. there was no abstraction in tying martha to a whipping-post and scourging her for mourning the loss of her children. the old kentucky saint who bore the torture of lash and brine all that bright sabbath day, rather than "curse jesus," knew nothing of the abstraction of slavery, or the finespun theories of politeness which covered the most revolting crimes with pretty words. this great nation was engaged in the pusillanimous work of beating poor little mexico--a giant whipping a cripple. every man who went to the war, or induced others to go, i held as the principal in the whole list of crimes of which slavery was the synonym. each one seemed to stand before me, his innermost soul laid bare, and his idiosyncrasy i was sure to strike with sarcasm, ridicule solemn denunciations, old truths from bible and history and the opinions of good men. i had a reckless abandon, for had i not thrown myself into the breach to die there, and would i not sell my life at its full value? my style i caught from my crude, rural surroundings, and was familiar to the unlearned, and i was not surprised to find the letters eagerly read. the _journal_ announced them the day before publication, the newsboys cried them, and papers called attention to them, some by daring to indorse, but more by abusing mr. riddle for publishing such unpatriotic and "incendiary rant." in quoting the strong points, a venal press was constrained to "scatter the living coals of truth." the name was held to be a _nom de plume_, for in print it looked so unlike the common pronunciation of that of one of the oldest families in the county that it was not recognized. moreover, it must be a disguise adopted by some man. wiseacres, said one of the county judges. no western pennsylvania woman had ever broken out of woman's sphere. all lived in the very centre of that sacred enclosure, making fires by which, husbands, brothers and sons sat reading the news; each one knowing that she had a soul, because the preacher who made his bread and butter by saving it had been careful to inform her of its existence as preliminary to her knowledge of the indispensable nature of his services. but the men whom i ridiculed and attacked knew the hand which, held the mirror up to nature, and also knew they had a legal remedy, and that to their fines and imprisonment i was as indifferent as to their opinions. one of these, hon. gabriel adams, had taken me by the hand at father's funeral, led me to a stranger and introduced me as: "the child i told you of, but eight years old, her father's nurse and comforter." he had smoothed my hair and told me not to cry; god would bless me for being a good child. he was a member of the session when i joined church; his voice in prayer had soothed mother's hard journey through the dark valley; and now, as mayor of the city, had ordered its illumination in honor of the battle of buena vista, and this, too, on saturday evening, when the unholy glorification extended into the sabbath. measured by the standards of his profession as an elder in the church, whose highest judicatory had pronounced slavery and christianity incompatible; no one was more valuable than he, and of none was i so unsparing, yet as i wrote, the letter was blistered with tears; but his oft repeated comment was: "jane is right," and he went out of his way to take my hand and say, "you were right." samuel black, a son of my pastor, dropped his place as leader of the pittsburg bar and rushed to the war. my comments were thought severe, even for me, yet the first intimation i had that i had not been cast aside as a monster, came from his sister, who sent me a message that her father, her husband and herself, approved my criticism. samuel returned with a colonel's commission, and one day i was about to pass him without recognition, where he stood on the pavement talking to two other lawyers, when he stepped before me and held out his hand. i drew back, and he said: "is it possible you will not take my hand?" i looked at it, then into his manly, handsome face, and answered: "there is blood on it; the blood of women and children slain at their own altars, on their own hearthstones, that you might spread the glorious american institution of woman-whipping and baby-stealing." "oh," he exclaimed, "this is too bad! i swear to you i never killed a woman or a child." "then you did not fight in mexico, did not help to bombard buena vista." his friends joined him, and insisted that i did the colonel great wrong, when he looked squarely into my face and, holding out his hand, said: "for sake of the old church, for sake of the old man, for sake of the old times, give me your hand." i laid it in his, and hurried away, unable to speak, for he was the most eloquent man in pennsylvania. he fell at last at the head of his regiment, while fighting in the battle of fair oaks, for that freedom he had betrayed in mexico. when kossuth was on his starring tour in this country, he used to create wild enthusiasm by "your own late glorious struggle with mexico;" but when he reached that climax in his pittsburg speech a dead silence fell upon the vast, cheering audience. the social ostracism i had expected when i stepped into the political arena, proved to be bunyan lions. instead of shame there came such a crop of glory that i thought of pulling down my barns and building greater, that i might have where to store my new goods. among the press notices copied by the _journal_ was this: "the _pittsburg commercial journal_ has a new contributor who signs her name 'jane g. swisshelm,' dips her pen in liquid gold, and sands her paper with the down from butterflies' wings." this troubled me, because it seemed as though i had been working for praise; still the pretty compliment gratified me. chapter xix. training school. paul fought with beasts at ephesus, as a part of his training for that "good fight" with principalities and powers and iniquity in high places, and i think that tom and the bears helped to prepare me for a long conflict with the southern tiger. i had early come to think that tom would kill some of the children who trooped to see him, and that i should be responsible as i alone saw the danger. this danger i sought to avert, but how to dispose of the beautiful creature i could not conjecture. there was usually a loaded gun in the house, but i was almost as much afraid of it as of tom. all our neighbors were delighted with him and loath to have him killed. i had once tried to poison a cat but failed, and i would not torture tom. i wanted dr. palmer to give me a dose for him, but he declined. i tried in vain to get some one to shoot him. then i thought of striking the great beast on the head with a hatchet, while he had hold of some domestic animal. the plan seemed feasible, but i kept my own council and my hatchet, and practiced with it until i could hit a mark, and thought i could bury the sharp blade in tom's skull. one day, all the men were in the meadow making hay, and i alone getting dinner. john mckelvey came with his great dog, watch. he went up into the meadow, and watch staid in the kitchen. i started to go to the garden for parsley, and found tom crouched to spring on a cow. he made the leap, came short of the cow, which ran away bellowing with terror, and tom had but touched the ground when watch sprang upon him. it was a sight for an amphitheatre. the two great creatures rolled in a struggle, which i knew must be fatal to watch, but thought he could engage tom's attention until i got my hatchet. i ran back for it, took the dinner-horn and blew a blast that would bring one man, and i did not want a thousand. then i ran back to the scene of conflict, horn in one hand, hatchet in the other, and lo! no conflict was there. no tom! no dog! nothing but the torn and bloody ground. horror of horrors, there was a broken chain! tom loose! tom free! now some one would be murdered. i turned to look, and there on a log not a rod from me, he stood with head erect and tail drooping, his white throat, jaws and broken chain dripping with blood, and with my first thankfulness that he had not escaped, came admiration for the splendid sight: the bold, sweeping curves and graceful motion as he turned his head to listen. then i learned panthers went by sound, not scent. i blew another blast on the horn and went toward him, for i must not lose sight of him. if he attacked me, could i defend myself with the hatchet? when they found me i would be horrible to look upon, and it would kill elizabeth. will my peas burn? the flies will get into that pitcher of cream. if i am killed, they will forget to put parsley in the soup. tom changed his weight from one fore-claw to the other, and gnashed his teeth. "here, the king and i are standing face and face together; king tom, how is your majesty, it's mighty pleasant weather." so ran my thoughts in the intense strain of that waiting. it must be full ten minutes before tom's master could get to the house after that first blast, and if he did not hear that, must be too late; but tom kept his place and my husband rushed by me, carrying the pitchfork with which he had been at work, and i saw no more until tom was in his cage. watch had dragged himself to his master's feet to die, and i went into the house and finished getting dinner, more than ever afraid of tom and more than ever at a loss to know how to get rid of him. yet he still lived and rattled his chain by the garden path, but it was a year before our next adventure. one summer morning at sunrise i was shocked out of sleep by shrieks and shouts and scurrying feet. i sprang out of bed and rushed into the hall in time to see tom dash out of it into the dining-room, mother-in-law and the girl disappearing up stairs and the two hired men through the barn door. my husband soon followed tom, who had taken refuge under a large heavy falling-leaf table, and seemed inclined to stay there. this time his collar was broken and feeling the advantage he paid no heed to the hand or voice of his quandom master. he would not move, but growled defiance, and the table protected him from a blow under the ear, so his late master became utterly nonplussed. if the cage were there, the great beast would probably go into it, but how get it there? the wealth of india would not have induced one of those men to come out of that barn, or one of those women to come down those stairs. something must be done, and i proposed to hold tom while my husband brought the cage. he hesitated. i was not in good fighting trim, for my hair which was long and heavy had fallen loose, but preparation could avail nothing. the only hope lay in perfect coolness and a steady gaze. i knelt and took hold of tom by the back of the neck, talked to him and thought that cage was long in coming. he shifted his weight and seemed about to get up. this meant escape, and i held him hard, commanding him to "lie down, sir." he blinked at me, seemed quite indifferent and altogether comfortable. by and by, the man who had ceased to be master returned without the cage, utterly demoralized; and was here without a weapon, without a plan. i resigned my place and told him i would bring a rope. this i intended to do, and also my hatchet. i had but gotten half way to the front door when there was a scuffle, the loud voice of my husband, shrieks up stairs, rattling of furniture and crashing of glass, and when i got back to the room i saw the tip of tom's tail disappearing. he had gone through the window and taken the sash with him. he ran into his cage, and that was his last taste of liberty; but he lived a year after, chained in a corn crib. every evening in the gloaming he would pace back and forth, raise his kingly head, utter his piercing shriek, then stop and hark for a response; walk again, shriek and listen, while the bears would bellow an answer. the bears, too, were often exciting and interesting. once i rescued a toddling child when running towards "big bear," and not more than two feet from where he stood waiting with hungry eyes. at another time, they both broke loose, on a bitter cold day when i was alone in the house. i defended myself with fire, meeting them at every door and window with a hickory brand. i wondered as they went round and round the house, if they would stop in the chimney corner, and make the acquaintance of tom; but they took no notice of him, and after they had eaten several buckets of porridge, they concluded there was nothing in the house they wanted, so became good natured and went and climbed a tree. such schoolmasters must have imparted a flavor of savagery to my mexican war letters, which attracted readers as they did visitors. chapter xx. rights of married women. after mother's death, i prosecuted to a successful issue a suit for the recovery of the house in which i was born. it stood on water street, near market, and our lawyer, walter lowrie, afterwards supreme judge, was to have given us possession of the property on the st of july, , which would add eight hundred dollars a year to the income of my sister and myself. but on the th of april, the great fire swept away the building and left a lot bearing ground rent. property rose and we had a good offer for the lease. every one was willing to sell, but the purchasers concluded that both our husbands must sign the deed. to this no objection was made, and we met, in william shinn's office, when my husband refused to sign unless my share of the purchase money were paid to him. mother's will was sacred to me. the money he proposed to put in improvements on the swissvale mills. these, in case of his death before his mother, would go to his brothers. i had not even a dower right in the estate, and already the proceeds of my labor and income from my separate estate were put upon it. i refused to give him the money, and on my way alone from the lawyer's office it occurred to me that all the advances made by humanity had been through the pressure of injustice, and that the screws had been turned on me that i might do something to right the great wrong which forbade a married woman to own property. so, instead of spending my strength quarreling with the hand, i would strike for the heart of that great tyranny. i borrowed books from judge wilkins, took legal advice from colonel black, studied the laws under which i lived, and began a series of letters in the _journal_ on the subject of a married woman's right to hold property. i said nothing of my own affairs and confined myself to general principles, until a man in east liberty furnished me an illustration, and with it i made the cheeks of men burn with anger and shame. the case was that of a young german merchant who married the daughter of a wealthy farmer. her father gave her a handsome outfit in clothes and furniture. she became ill soon after marriage, her sister took her place as housekeeper and nursed her till she died, after bequeathing the clothes and furniture to the sister; but the sorrowing husband held fast to the property and proposed to turn it into money. the father wanted it as souvenirs of his lost child, and tried to purchase of him, but the husband raised the price until purchase was impossible, when he advertised the goods for sale at vendue. the father was an old citizen, highly respected, and so great contempt and indignation was felt, that at the vendue no one would bid against him, so the husband's father came forward and ran up the price of the articles. when her riding dress, hat and whip were held up, there was a general cry of shame. the incident came just in time for my purpose, so i turned every man's scorn against himself, said to them: "gentlemen, these are your laws! your english ancestors made them! your fathers brought them across the water and planted them here, where they flourish like a green bay tree. you robbed that wife of her right to devise her own property--that husband is simply your agent." lucretia mott and mary a. grew, of philadelphia, labored assiduously for the same object, and in the session of ' and ' , the legislature of pennsylvania secured to married women the right to hold property. soon after the passage of the bill, william a. stokes said to me: "we hold you responsible for that law, and i tell you now, you will live to rue the day when you opened such a pandora's box in your native state, and cast such an apple of discord into every family in it." his standing as a lawyer entitled his opinion to respect, and as he went on to explain the impossibility of reconciling that statute with, the general tenor of law and precedent, i was gravely apprehensive. the public mind was not prepared for so great a change; there had been no general demand for it; lawyers did not know what to do with it, and judges shook their heads. indeed, there was so much doubt and opposition that i feared a repeal, until some months after col. kane came to me and said: "there is a young lawyer from steubenville named stanton who would like to be introduced to you." i was in a gracious mood and consented to receive the young lawyer named stanton. as he came into the room and advanced toward me, immediately i felt myself in the presence of a master mind, of a soul born to command. when introduced he gravely took my hand, and said: "i called to congratulate you upon the passage of your bill. it is a change i have long desired to see." we sat and talked on the subject some time, and my fears vanished into thin air. if this man had taken that law into favor it would surely stand, and as he predicted be "improved and enlarged." i have never been so forcibly impressed by any stranger. his compactness of body and soul, the clear outlines of face and figure, the terseness of his sentences, and firmness yet tenderness of his voice, were most striking; and as he passed down the long room after taking leave my thought was: "mr. stanton you have started for some definite point in life, some high goal, and you will reach it." this was prophetic, for he walked into the war department of this nation at a time when it is probable no other man in it, could have done the work there which freedom demanded in her hour of peril, for this young man was none other than edwin m. stanton, the ajax of the great rebellion. chapter xi. the pittsburg saturday visiter. after the war, abolitionists began to gather their scattered forces and wanted a liberty party organ. to meet this want, charles p. shiras started the _albatross_ in the fall of ' . he was the "iron city poet," author of "dimes and dollars" and "owe no man a dollar." he was of an old and influential family, had considerable private fortune, was courted and flattered, but laid himself and gifts on the altar of liberty. his paper was devoted to the cause of the slave and of the free laborer, and started with bright prospects. he and mr. fleeson urged me to become a regular contributor, but mr. riddle objected, and the _journal_ had five hundred readers for every one the _albatross_ could hope. in the one i reached the ninety and nine unconverted, while in the other i must talk principally to those who were rooted and grounded in the faith. so i continued my connection with the _journal_ until i met james mcmasters, a prominent abolitionist, who said sorrowfully: "well, the last number of the _albatross_ will be issued on thursday." "is it possible?" "possible and true! that is the end of its first quarter, and shiras gives it up. in fact we all do. no use trying to support an abolition paper here." while he spoke a thought struck me like a lightning flash, and he had but finished speaking, when i replied: "i have a great notion to start a paper myself." he was surprised, but caught at the idea, and said: "i wish you would. you can make it go if anybody can, and we'll do all we can to help you." i did not wait to reply, but hurried after my husband, who had passed on, soon overtook and told him the fate of the _albatross_. for this he was sorry, for he always voted a straight abolition ticket. i repeated to him what i had said to mr. mcmasters, when he said: "nonsense!" then reflected a little, and added, "well, i do not know after all but it would be a good idea. riddle makes lots of money out of your letters." when we had talked about five minutes, he turned to attend to business and i went to the _journal_ office. i found mr. riddle in his sanctum, and told him the _albatross_ was dead; the liberty party without an organ, and that i was going to start the _pittsburg saturday visitor;_ the first copy must be issued saturday week, so that abolitionists would not have time to be discouraged, and that i wanted him to print my paper. he had pushed his chair back from his desk, and sat regarding me in utter amazement while i stated the case, then said: "what do you mean? are you insane? what does your husband say?" i said my husband approved, the matter was all arranged, i would use my own estate, and if i lost it, it was nobody's affair. he begged me to take time to think, to send my husband to him, to consult my friends. told me my project was ruinous, that i would lose every dollar i put into it, and begged, entreated me to take time; but all to no purpose, when a bright idea came to him. "you would have to furnish a desk for yourself, you see there is but one in this room, and there is no other place for you. you could not conduct a paper and stay at home, but must spend a good deal of time here!" then i suddenly saw the appalling prospect thus politely presented. i had never heard of any woman save mary kingston working in an office. her father, a prominent lawyer, had employed her as his clerk, when his office was in their dwelling, and the situation was remarkable and very painful; and here was i, looking not more than twenty, proposing to come into the office of the handsome stranger who sat bending over his desk that he might not see me blush for the unwomanly intent. mr. riddle was esteemed one of the most elegant and polished gentlemen in the city, with fine physique and fascinating manners. he was a man of the world, and his prominence had caused his name to become the target for many an evil report in the bitter personal conflicts of political life. i looked the facts squarely in the face and thought: "i have been publicly asserting the right of woman to earn a living as book-keepers, clerks, sales-women, and now shall i shrink for fear of a danger any one must meet in doing as i advised? this is my red sea. it can be no more terrible than the one which confronted israel. duty lies on the other side, and i am going over! 'speak unto the children of israel that they go forward.' the crimson waves of scandal, the white foam of gossip, shall part before me and heap themselves up as walls on either hand." so rapidly did this reflection pass through my mind, or so absorbed was i with it, that there had been no awkward pause when i replied: "i will get a desk, shall be sorry to be in your way, but there is plenty of room and i can be quiet." he seemed greatly relieved, and said cheerfully: "oh yes, there is plenty of room, i can have my desk moved forward and take down the shutters, when there will be plenty of light. heretofore you have been jove thundering from a cloud, but if you will come down to dwell with mortals we must make a place for you." taking down the shutters meant exposing the whole interior of the room to view, from a very public street; and after he had exhausted every plea for time to get ready, he engaged to have the first copy of the _visiter_ printed on the day i had set. he objected to my way of spelling the word, but finding i had johnson for authority, would arrange the heading to suit. i was in a state of exaltation all forenoon, and when i met my husband at dinner, the reaction had set in, and i proposed to countermand the order, when he said emphatically: "you will do no such thing. the campaign is coming, you have said you will start a paper, and now if you do not, i will." the coming advent was announced, but i had no arrangements for securing either advertisements or subscribers. josiah king, now proprietor of the _pittsburg gazette_ and james h. mcclelland called at the _journal_ office and subscribed, and with these two supporters, the _pittsburg saturday visiter_, entered life. the mechanical difficulty of getting out the first number proved to be so great that the forms were not on the press at p.m. by five the streets were so blocked by a waiting crowd, that vehicles went around by other ways, and it was six o'clock, jan. th, , when the first copy was sold at the counter. i was in the editorial room all afternoon, correcting proof to the last moment, and when there was nothing more i could do, was detained by the crowd around the doors until it was after eleven. editors and reporters were gathered in the sanctum, and mr. riddle stood by his desk pointing out errors to some one who should have prevented them, when i had my wraps on ready to start. mr. fleeson, then a clerk on the _journal_, stepped out, hat in hand, and bowing to the proprietor, said: "mr. riddle, it is your privilege to see mrs. swisshelm to her lodgings, but as you seem to decline, i hope you will commission me." mr. fleeson was a small man and mr. riddle had drawn himself to his full height and stood looking down at him, saying: "i want it distinctly understood that mrs. swisshelm's relations in this office are purely those of business. if she requires anything of any man in it, she will command him and her orders shall be obeyed. she has not ordered my attendance, but has kept her servant here all the evening to see her to her friend's house, and this should be sufficient notice to any gentleman that she does not want him." during the ten years we used the same editorial-room. mr. riddle was often absent on the days i must be there, and always secured plenty of light by setting away the shutters when i entered. he generally made it necessary for me to go to his house and settle accounts, and never found it convenient to offer his escort to any place unless accompanied by his wife. the _visiter_ was three years old when he turned one day, examined me critically, and exclaimed: "why do you wear those hideous caps? you seem to have good hair. mrs. riddle says she knows you have, and she and some ladies were wondering only yesterday, why you do make yourself such a fright." the offending cap was a net scarf tied under the chin, and i said, "you know i am subject to quinsy, and this cap protects my tonsils." he turned away with a sigh, and did not suspect that my tonsils had no such protection outside the office, where i must meet a great many gentlemen and make it apparent that what i wanted of them was votes! votes!! votes for the women sold on the auction block, scourged for chastity, robbed of their children, and that admiration was no part of my object. any attempt to aid business by any feminine attraction was to my mind revolting in the extreme, and certain to bring final defeat. in nothing has the church of rome shown more wisdom than in the costume of her female missionaries. when a woman starts out in the world on a mission, secular or religious, she should leave her feminine charms at home. had i made capital of my prettiness, i should have closed the doors of public employment to women for many a year, by the very means which now makes them weak, underpaid competitors in the great workshop of the world. one day mr. riddle said: "i wish you had been here yesterday. robert watson called. he wanted to congratulate us on the relations we have for so long maintained. we have never spoken of it, but you must have known the risk of coming here. he has seen it, says he has watched you closely, and you are an exception to all known law, or the harbinger of a new era in human progress." robert watson was a retired lawyer of large wealth, who watched the world from his study, and philosophized about its doings; and when mr. riddle had given me this conclusion, the subject was never again referred to in our years of bargaining, buying and selling, paying and receipting. chapter xxii. reception of the visiter. while preparing matter for the first number of the _visiter_, i had time to think that so far as any organization was concerned, i stood alone. i could not work with garrison on the ground that the constitution was pro-slavery, for i had abandoned that in , when our church split on it and i went with the new school, who held that it was then anti-slavery. the covenanters, before it was adopted, denounced it as a "covenant with death and an agreement with hell." i had long ago become familiar with the arguments on that side, and i concluded they were fallacious, and could not go back to them even for a welcome into the abolition ranks. the political action wing of the anti-slavery party had given formal notice that no woman need apply for a place among them. true, there was a large minority who dissented from this action, but there was division enough, without my furnishing a cause for contention. so i took pains to make it understood that i belonged to no party. i was fighting slavery on the frontier plan of indian warfare, where every man is captain-lieutenants, all the corporals and privates of his company. i was like the israelites in the days when there was no king, and "every man did that which, was right in his own eyes." it seemed good unto me to support james g. birney, for president, and to promulgate the principles of the platform on which he stood in the last election. this i would do, and no man had the right or power to stop me. my paper was a six column weekly, with a small roman letter head, my motto, "speak unto the children of israel that they go forward," the names of my candidates at the head of the editorial column and the platform inserted as standing matter. it was quite an insignificant looking sheet, but no sooner did the american eagle catch sight of it, than he swooned and fell off his perch. democratic roosters straightened out their necks and ran screaming with terror. whig coons scampered up trees and barked furiously. the world was falling and every one had "heard it, saw it, and felt it." it appeared that on some inauspicious morning each one of three-fourths of the secular editors from maine to georgia had gone to his office suspecting nothing, when from some corner of his exchange list there sprang upon him such a horror as he had little thought to see. a woman had started a political paper! a woman! could he believe his eyes? a woman! instantly he sprang to his feet and clutched his pantaloons, shouted to the assistant editor, when he, too, read and grasped frantically at his cassimeres, called to the reporters and pressmen and typos and devils, who all rushed in, heard the news, seized their nether garments and joined the general chorus, "my breeches! oh, my breeches!" here was a woman resolved to steal their pantaloons, their trousers, and when these were gone they might cry "ye have taken away my gods, and what have i more?" the imminence of the peril called for prompt action, and with one accord they shouted, "on to the breach, in defense of our breeches! repel the invader or fill the trenches with our noble dead." "that woman shall not have _my_ pantaloons," cried the editor of the big city daily; "nor my pantaloons" said the editor of the dignified weekly; "nor my pantaloons," said he who issued manifestos but once a month; "nor mine," "nor mine," "nor mine," chimed in the small fry of the country towns. even the religious press could not get past the tailor shop, and "pantaloons" was the watchword all along the line. george d. prentiss took up the cry, and gave the world a two-third column leader on it, stating explicitly, "she is a man all but the pantaloons." i wrote to him asking a copy of the article, but received no answer, when i replied in rhyme to suit his case: perhaps you have been busy horsewhipping sal or lizzie, stealing some poor man's baby, selling its mother, may-be. you say--and you are witty-- that i--and, tis a pity-- of manhood lack but dress; but you lack manliness, a body clean and new, a soul within it, too. nature must change her plan ere you can be a man. this turned the tide of battle. one editor said, "brother george, beware of sister jane." another, "prentiss has found his match." he made no reply, and it was not long until i thought the pantaloon argument was dropped forever. there was, however, a bright side to the reception of the _visiter_. horace greeley gave it respectful recognition, so did n.p. willis and gen. morris in the _home journal_. henry peterson's _saturday evening post, godey's lady's book_, graham's and sargeant's magazines, and the anti-slavery papers, one and all, gave it pleasant greeting, while there were other editors who did not, in view of this innovation, forget that they were american gentlemen. there were some saucy notices from "john smith," editor of _the great west_, a large literary sheet published in cincinnati. after john and i had pelted each other with paragraphs, a private letter told me that she, who had then won a large reputation as john smith, was celia, who afterwards became my very dear friend until the end of her lovely life, and who died the widow of another dear friend, wm. h. burleigh. in the second number of the _visiter_, james h. mcclelland, as secretary of the county convention, published its report and contributed an able article, thus recognizing it as the much needed county organ of the liberty party. chapter xxiii. my crooked telescope. in the autumn of , dr. robert mitchell, of indiana, pa., was tried in pittsburg, in the united states court, before judge grier, for the crime of harboring fugitive slaves. in an old cabin ten miles from indiana, on one of the doctor's farms, some colored men had taken refuge and worked as harvest hands in the neighborhood. to it came the sheriff at midnight with a posse, and after as desperate a resistance as unarmed men could make, two were captured. on one of these was found a note: "kill a sheep and give jerry the half. rob't mitchell." the name of the man who had the note was jerry. it was addressed to a farmer who kept sheep for the doctor, so it was conclusive evidence of the act charged, and the only defense possible was want of knowledge. there was no proof that dr. mitchell knew jerry to be a slave, none, surely, that he knew him to be the property of plaintiff, who was bound to give notice of ownership before he could be entitled to damages from defendant. this defense judge grier overruled, by deciding that no notice was required, the law presumed a guilty knowledge on the part of defendant. under this ruling dr. mitchell was fined $ , and the costs, which were $ , additional. his homestead and a magnificent tract of pine land lying on the northern slope of the alleghenies, were sold by the sheriff of indiana county to pay the penalty of this act of christian charity; but the dr. said earnestly, "i'll do it again, if they take every dollar i have." this ruling was alarming, for under it, it was unsafe either to sell or give food or lodging to a stranger. the alarm was general, and even pro-slavery men regretted that this necessary act of justice should fall so heavily on so good and gentle a man. there was much unfavorable comment, but all in private, for the pittsburg press quailed before judge grier, and libel laws were the weapon with which he most loved to defend the dignity of the bench. one editor he had kept in jail three months and ruined his business. col. hiram kane was a brilliant writer, a poet and pungent paragraphist, and had at one time criticised some of judge grier's decisions, when by a libel suit the judge had broken up his business and kept him in jail eighteen months. public sentiment was on kane's side, and he had an ovation on his release, when he became city editor of the _journal_. there was disappointment that i had not criticised judge grier's course in the first number of the _visiter_, but this was part of my plan. in the second number i stated that there had been for a long time a great legal luminary visible in the pennsylvania heavens, which had suddenly disappeared. i had been searching for him for several weeks with the best telescopes in the city, and had about given him up as a lost star, when i bethought me of paddy, who had heated his gun-barrel and bent it around a tree so that he might be able to shoot around corners. paddy's idea was so excellent that i had adopted it and made a crooked telescope, by which i had found that luminary almost sixty degrees below our moral horizon. from this i proceeded to the merits of the case. judge grier and dr. mitchell were both elders in the presbyterian church. the judge administered to men the eucharist oath to follow christ, then usurped the law-making power of the united states to punish them for obeying one of the plainest precepts of the master. the article seemed to throw him into a furious passion. he threatened to sue mr. riddle for having the _visiter_ printed and sold in his office, and, as for me, i was to suffer all the pains and penalties which law and public scorn could inflict. he demanded a satisfactory retraction and apology as the least atonement he could accept for the insult. these mr. riddle promised in my name, and i did not hesitate to make the promise good. my next article was headed "an apology," and in it i stated the circumstances which had called it out, and the pleasant prospect of my being sent to mount airy (our county jail) in case this, my apology, was not satisfactory. i should of course do my best to satisfy his honor, but in case of failure, should take comfort in the fact that the mount would make a good observatory. from that height i should be able to use my telescope much better than in my present valley of humiliation. indeed, the mere prospect had so improved my glass, that i had caught a new view of our sunken star, and to-day, this dispenser of justice, this gentleman with the high sense of honor, was a criminal under sentence of death by the divine law. "he who stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." judge grier had helped a gang of thieves to steal jerry, whose ancestors had been stolen in africa. the original thief sold all he could sell--the title of a thief--and as the stream cannot rise above the fountain, jerry's master held the same title to him that any man would to judge grier's horse, provided he had stolen it. the purchaser of a stolen horse acquired no title in him, and the purchaser of a stolen man acquired no title in him. the man who helped another steal a horse, was a horse thief, and the man who helped another steal a man, was a man thief, condemned to death by divine law. jerry, after having been once stolen, had recovered possession of himself, and his master and other thieves had re-stolen him! judge grier, with full knowledge of this fact, had prostituted law for the benefit of the thieves. nothing more was heard of a libel suit. two years after, james mcmasters was sued for harboring a fugitive; was to be tried before grier, and spoke to his lawyer about summoning the editor of the _visiter_. the attorney exclaimed: "oh bring her, by all means! no matter what she knows, or whether she knows anything; bring her into court, and i'll win the case for you. grier is more afraid of her than of the devil." the editor was summoned, gave testimony, and found judge grier a most courteous and considerate gentleman, with no signs of fear. the case hung on the question of notice. the judge reversed his former decision, and those who were apt to feed beggars, breathed more freely. a case was tried for the remanding of a slave, and lawyer snowden appeared for the master. the _visiter_ sketched the lawyer as his client's dog, towser; a dog of the blood-hound breed, with a brand new brass collar, running with his nose to the ground, while his owner clapped his hands and shouted: "seek him, seek him towser!" this caught the fancy of the street boys, who called him, "towser, where's your collar?" "seek him, towser." he was the last pittsburg lawyer who took a case against a slave, and public sentiment had so advanced that there never afterwards was a fugitive taken out of the county. chapter xxiv. mint, cummin and annis. while the bench and bar were thus demanding the attention of the _visiter_, the pulpit was examining its morals with a microscope, and defending the sum of all villainies as a bible institution. the american churches, with three exceptions, not only neglected "the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy," but were the main defense of the grossest injustice, the most revolting cruelty; and, to maintain an appearance of sanctity, were particularly devout and searching in the investigation of small sins. a religions contemporary discovered that the _visiter_ did actually advertise "jayne's expectorant," and such an expectoration of pious reprehension as this did call forth! the _visiter_ denied that the advertisement was immoral, and carried the war into africa--that old man-stealing africa--and there took the ground that chattel slavery never did exist among the jews; that what we now charge upon them as such was a system of bonded servitude; that the contract was originally between master and servant; the consideration of the labor paid to the servant; that in all cases of transfer, the master sold to another that portion of the time and labor of the servant, which were still due; that there was no hint of any man selling a free man into slavery for the benefit of the seller; that the servants bought from "the heathen around about," were bought from themselves, or in part at least, for their benefit, to bring them under general law and into the church; that nothing like american slavery was ever known in the days of moses, or any other day than that of this great republic, since our slavery was "the vilest that ever saw the sun," john wesley being witness. the _visiter_ cited the purchase by joseph of the people of egypt, and leviticus xxv, xxxix: "if thy brother be waxen poor and sell himself unto thee." the bible had not then been changed to suit the exigencies of slavery. in later editions, "sell himself" is converted into "be sold," but as the passage then stood it was a sledge-hammer with which one might beat the whole pro-slavery bible argument into atoms, and while the _visiter_ used it with all the force it could command, it took the ground that if the bible did sanction slavery, the bible must be wrong, since nothing could make slavery right. chapter xxv. free soil party. the free soil or barnburner party was organized in ' , and nominated martin van buren for president. the _visiter_ dropped its birney flag and raised the van buren standard. in supporting him the editor of the _visiter_ was charged with being false to the cause of the slave, and of playing into the hands of the whigs. all the editor had ever said about that pro-slavery ex-president was cast into its teeth by democratic, liberty party and garrisonian papers, which, one and all, held that van buren was a cunning old fox, as pro-slavery as in those days when, as president of the u.s. senate, he gave his casting vote for the bill which authorized every southern post-master to open all the mail which came to his office, search for and destroy any matter that he might think dangerous to southern institutions. in his present hostility to slavery, he was actuated by personal hatred of louis cass, the democratic candidate, and sought to draw off enough. democratic votes to defeat him. the object of the _visiter_ in supporting van buren was to smash one of the great pro-slavery parties of the nation, or gain an anti-slavery balance of power to counteract the slavery vote for which both contended. a few thousand reliable votes would compel one party to take anti-slavery ground. the van buren movement was almost certain to defeat the democrats, and force the whigs to seek our alliance. true, the free soil platform did not suit liberty party men, who said it simply proposed to confine slavery to its present limits, and not destroy it where it already existed. to all of which, and much more, the little _visiter_ replied, that with van buren's motives it had nothing to do. his present attitude was one of hostility to the spread of slavery, and this being a long step in advance of other parties, was a position desirable to gain and hold. to decline aiding those who proposed to circumscribe slavery because they did not propose its destruction, was as if a soldier should refuse to storm an outpost on the ground that it was not the citadel. checking the advance of an enemy was one step toward driving him off the field, and a rusty cannon might be worth several bright-barreled muskets in holding him at bay. the lord punished israel by the hand of jehu and hazael, both wicked men. slavery was bursting her bounds, coming over on us like the sea on holland. one very dirty shovel might be worth a hundred silver teaspoons in keeping back the waters, and this free soil party could do more to check its advance than a hundred of the little liberty party with that pure patriot, gerrit smith, at its head. in doing right, take all the help you can get, even from satan. let him assist to carry your burden as long as he will travel your road, and only be careful not to turn off with him when he takes his own. the _visitor_ had thousands of readers scattered over every state and territory in the nation, in england and the canadas. it was quoted more perhaps than any other paper in the country, and whether for blame or praise, its sentiments were circulated, and men of good judgment thought it made thousands of votes for the free soil party. chapter xxvi. visit washington.--age, . when slavery thought to reap the fruits of the war into which she had plunged the nation with mexico, lo! there was a lion in her path, and not a bunyan lion either, for this kingly beast wore no collar, no chain held him. the roused north had laid her great labor paw on the california gold fields and stood showing her teeth while the serpent with raised crest was coiled to strike, and the world waited and wondered. henry clay, the synonym for compromise, was still in the united states senate, and, with his cat-like tread, stepped in between the belligerents with a cunning device--a device similar to that by which the boys disposed of the knife they found jointly--one was to own, the other to carry and use it. so by this plan the lion was to own california, and the snake was to occupy it as a hunting-ground; nay, not it alone, but every state and territory in the union must be given up to its slimy purposes. in other words, california was to be admitted as a free state, upon condition of the passage of the fugitive slave bill, which authorized the slave-hunter to follow the fugitive into every home, every spot of this broad land; to tear him from any altar, and demand the services of every "good citizen" in his hellish work. men by thousands, once counted friends of freedom, bowed abjectly to this infamous decision. daniel webster, the leading whig statesman, made a set speech in favor of thus giving up the whole country to the dominion of the slave power. it was another great bid for the next presidential nomination, which must be controlled by the south. the danger was imminent, the crisis alarming, and the excitement very great. i longed to be in washington, so i wrote to horace greeley, who answered that he would pay me five dollars a column for letters. it was said that this was the first time a woman had been engaged in that capacity. i went to washington in the early part of ' , going by canal to the western foot of the alleghenies, and then by rail to the foot of the inclined plane, where our cars were wound up and let down by huge windlasses. i was in a whirl of wonder and excitement by this, my first acquaintance with the iron-horse, but had to stay all night in baltimore because the daily train for washington had left before ours came. i had letters to the proprietor of the irving house, where i took board. had others to col. benton, henry clay, and other great men, but he who most interested me was dr. gamaliel bailey, editor of the _national era_. the great want of an anti-slavery paper at the capitol had been supplied by five-dollar subscriptions to a publication fund, and dr. bailey called from cincinnati to take charge of it, and few men have kept a charge with more care and skill. he and the _era_ had just passed the ordeal of a frightful mob, in which he was conciliatory, unyielding and victorious; and he was just then gravely anxious about the great crisis, but most of all anxious that the _era_ should do yeoman service to the cause which had called it into life. the _era_ had a large circulation, and high literary standing, but dr. bailey was troubled about the difficulty or impossibility of procuring anti-slavery tales. mrs. southworth was writing serials for it, and he had hoped that she, a southern woman with northern principles, could weave into her stories pictures of slavery which would call damaging attention to it, but in this she had failed. anti-slavery tales, anti-slavery tales, was what the good doctor wanted. temperance had its story writer in arthur. if only abolition had a good writer of fiction, one who could interest and educate the young. he knew of but one pen able to write what he wanted, and alas, the finances of the _era_ could not command it. if only he could engage mrs. stowe. i had not heard of her, and he explained that she was a daughter of lyman beecher. i was surprised and exclaimed: "a daughter of lyman beecher write abolition stories! saul among the prophets!" i reminded the doctor that president beecher and prof. stowe had broken up the theological department of lane seminary by suppressing the anti-slavery agitation raised by theodore weld, a kentucky student, and threw their influence against disturbing the congregational churches with the new fanaticism; that edward beecher invented the "organic sin," devil, behind which churches and individuals took refuge when called upon to "come up to the help of the lord against the mighty." but dr. bailey said he knew them personally, and that despite their public record, they were at heart anti-slavery, and that prudence alone dictated their course. mrs. stowe was a graphic story-teller, had been in kentucky, taken in the situation and could describe the peculiar institution as no one else could. if he could only enlist her, the whole family would most likely follow into the abolition ranks; but the bounty money, alas, where could he raise it? where there is the will there is a way, and it was but a few months after that conversation when dr. bailey forwarded one hundred dollars to mrs. stowe as a retaining fee for her services in the cause of the slave, and lo! the result, "uncle tom's cabin." as it progressed he sent her another, and then another hundred dollars. was ever money so well expended? that grand old lion, joshua r. giddings, had also passed through the mob, and as i went with him to be presented to president taylor, a woman in the crowd stepped back, drew away her skirts, and with a snarl exclaimed, "a pair of abolitionists!" the whole air of freedom's capital thrilled and palpitated with hatred of her and her cause. on the question of the pending fugitive slave bill, the feeling was intense and bitterly partisan, although not a party measure. mr. taylor, the whig president, had pronounced the bill an insult to the north, and stated his determination to veto it. fillmore, the vice-president, was in favor of it. so, freedom looked to a man owning three hundred slaves, while slavery relied on "a northern man with southern principles." president taylor was hated by the south, was denounced as a traitor to his section, while southern men and women fawned upon and flattered fillmore. webster, the great whig statesman of the north, had bowed the knee to baal, while col. benton, of missouri, was on the side of freedom. the third, or anti-slavery party, represented by chase and hale in the senate, was beginning to make itself felt, and must be crushed and stamped out at all hazards--the infant must be strangled in its cradle. while abolition was scoffed at by hypocritical priests as opening a door to amalgamation, here, in the nation's capital, lived some of our most prominent statesmen in open concubinage with negresses, adding to their income by the sale of their own children, while one could neither go out nor stay in without meeting indisputable testimony of the truth of thomas jefferson's statement: "the best blood of virginia runs in the veins of her slaves." but the case which interested me most was a family of eight mulattoes, bearing the image and superscription of the great new england statesman, who paid the rent and grocery bills of their mother as regularly as he did those of his wife. pigs were the scavengers, mud and garbage the rule, while men literally wallowed in the mire of licentiousness and strong drink. in congress they sat and loafed with the soles of their boots turned up for the inspection of the ladies in the galleries. their language and gestures as they expectorated hither and thither were often as coarse as their positions, while they ranted about the "laws and constitution," and cracked their slave-whips over the heads of the dough-faces sent from the northern states. washington was a great slave mart, and her slave-pen was one of the most infamous in the whole land. one woman, who had escaped from it, was pursued in her flight across the long bridge, and was gaining on the four men who followed her, when they shouted to some on the virginia shore, who ran and intercepted her. seeing her way blocked, and all hope of escape gone, with one wild cry she clasped her hands above her head, sprang into the potomac, and was swept into that land beyond the river death, where alone was hope for the american slave. another woman with her two children was captured on the steps of the capitol building, whither she had fled for protection, and this, too, while the stars and stripes floated over it. one of president tyler's daughters ran away with the man she loved, in order that they might be married, but for this they must reach foreign soil. a young lady of the white house could not marry the man of her choice in the united states. the lovers were captured, and she was brought to his excellency, her father, who sold her to a slave-trader. from that washington slave-pen she was taken to new orleans by a man who expected to get twenty-five hundred dollars for her on account of her great beauty. my letters to the new york _tribune_, soon attracted so much attention that is was unpleasant for me to live in a hotel, and i became the guest of my friend mrs. emma d.e.n. southworth. it was pleasant to look into her great, dreamy grey eyes, with their heavy lashes, at the broad forehead and the clustering brown curls, and have her sit and look into the fire and talk as she wrote of the strange fancies which peopled her busy brain. among the legislative absurdities which early attracted my attention was that of bringing every claim against the government before congress. if a man thought government owed him ten dollars, the only way was to have the bill pass both houses. in my _tribune_ letters, i ventilated that thoroughly, and suggested a court, in which brother jonathan could appear by attorney. mr. greeley seconded the suggestion warmly, and this, i think, was the origin of the court of claims. there was yet one innovation i wanted to make, although my stay in washington would necessarily be short. no woman had ever had a place in the congressional reporter's gallery. this door i wanted to open to them, called on vice-president fillmore and asked him to assign me a seat in the senate gallery. he was much surprised and tried to dissuade me. the place would be very unpleasant for a lady, would attract attention, i would not like it; but he gave me the seat. i occupied it one day, greatly to the surprise of the senators, the reporters, and others on the floor and in the galleries; but felt that the novelty would soon wear off, and that women would work there and win bread without annoyance. but the senate had another sensation that day, for foot, in a speech alluded to "the gentleman from missouri." benton sprang to his feet, and started toward him, but a dozen members rushed up to hold him, and he roared: "stand off, gentlemen! unhand me! let me reach the scoundrel!" everyone stamped, and ran, and shouted "order!" the speaker pounded with his mallet, and foot ran down the aisle to the chair, drawing out a great horse-pistol and cocking it, cried: "let him come on, gentlemen! let him come on!" while he increased the distance between them as fast as time and space would permit. after the hubbub had subsided, foot explained: "mr. speaker, i saw the gentleman coming, and i advanced toward the chair." i have never seen a well-whipped rooster run from his foe, without thinking of foot's advance. chapter xxvii. daniel webster. darkest of the dark omens for the slave, in that dark day, was the defalcation of daniel webster. he whose eloquence had secured in name the great northwest to freedom, and who had so long been dreaded by the slave-power, had laid his crown in the dust; had counseled the people of the north to conquer their prejudices against catching slaves, and by his vote would open every sanctuary to the bloodhound. the prestige of his great name and the power of his great intellect were turned over to slavery, and the friends of freedom deplored and trembled for the result. there was some general knowledge through the country of the immorality of southern men in our national capital. serious charges had been made by abolitionists against henry clay, but webster was supposed to be a moral as well as an intellectual giant. brought up in puritan new england, he was accredited with all the new england virtues; and when a southern woman said to me, in answer to my strictures on southern men: "oh, you need not say anything! look at your own daniel webster!" i wondered and began to look at and inquire about him, and soon discovered that his whole panoply of moral power was a shell--that his life was full of rottenness. then i knew why i had come to washington. i gathered the principal facts of his life at the capitol, stated them to dr. snodgrass, a prominent washington correspondent, whose anti-slavery paper had been suppressed in baltimore by a mob, to joshua r. giddings and gamaliel bailey. they assured me of the truth of what had been told me, but advised me to keep quiet, as other people had done. i took the whole question into careful consideration; wrote a paragraph in a letter to the _visiter_, stating the facts briefly, strongly; and went to read it to my friend, mrs. george w. julian. i found her and her husband together, and read the letter to them. they sat dumb for a moment, then he exclaimed: "you must not publish that!" "is it true?" "oh, yes! it is true! but none the less you must not publish it!" "can i prove it?" "no one will dare deny it. we have all known that for years, but no one would dare to make it public. no good can come of its publication; it would ruin you, ruin your influence, ruin your work. you would lose your _tribune_ engagement, by which you are now doing so much good. we all feel the help you are to the good cause. do not throw away your influence!" "does not the cause of the slave hang on the issue in congress?" "i think it does." "is not mr. webster's influence all against it?" "yes, of course!" "would not that influence be very much less if the public knew just what he is?" "of course it would, but you cannot afford to tell them. you have no idea what his friends would say, what they would do. they would ruin you." i thought a moment, and said: "i will publish it, and let god take care of the consequences." "good!" exclaimed mrs. julian, clapping her hands. "i would if i were in your place." but when i went to post the letter, i hesitated, walked back and forth on the street, and almost concluded to leave out that paragraph. i shuddered lest mr. julian's prediction should prove true. i was gratified by my position on the _tribune_--the social distinction it gave me and courtesy which had been shown me. grave senators went out of their way to be polite, and even pro-slavery men treated me with distinguished consideration. my washington life had been eminently agreeable, and i dreaded changing popularity for public denunciation. but i remembered my red sea, and my motto--"speak unto the children of israel that they go forward." the duty of destroying that pro-slavery influence was plain. all the objections were for fear of the consequences to me. i had said god should take care of these, and mailed the letter, but i must leave washington. mr. greeley should not discharge me. i left the capitol the day after taking my seat in the reporter's gallery, feeling that that door was open to other women. the surprise with which the webster statement was received was fully equalled by the storm of denunciation it drew down upon me. the new york _tribune_ regretted and condemned. other secular papers made dignified protests. the religious press was shocked at my indelicacy, and fellows of the baser sort improved their opportunity to the utmost. i have never seen, in the history of the press, such widespread abuse of any one person as that with which i was favored; but, by a strange fatality, the paragraph was copied and copied. it was so short and pointed that in no other way could its wickedness be so well depicted as by making it a witness against itself. i had nothing to do but keep quiet. the accusation was made. i knew where to find the proof if it should be legally called for, and until it was i should volunteer no evidence, and my witnesses could not be attacked or discredited in advance. by and by people began to ask for the contradiction of this "vile slander." it was so circumstantial as to call for a denial. it could not be set aside as unworthy of attention. what did it mean? mr. webster was a prominent candidate for president. would his friends permit this story to pass without a word of denial? mr. julian was right; no one would dare deny the charge. he was, however, wrong in saying it would ruin me. my motive was too apparent, and the revelations too important, for any lasting disgrace to attach to it. on all hands it was assured that the disclosure had had a telling effect in disposing of a formidable power which had been arrayed against the slave, as mr. webster failed to secure the nomination. some one started a conundrum: "why is daniel webster like sisera? because he was killed by a woman," and this had almost as great a run as the original accusation. when the national convention met in pittsburg, in , to form the free democratic party, there was an executive and popular branch held in separate halls. i attended the executive. very few women were present, and i the only one near the platform. the temporary chairman left the chair, came to me to be introduced, saying: "i want to take the hand that killed daniel webster." henry wilson was permanent chairman of that convention, and he came, too, with similar address. even mr. greeley continued to be my friend, and i wrote for the _tribune_ often after that time. chapter xxviii. fugitive slave law. when it became certain that the fugitive slave bill could pass congress, but could not command a two-thirds vote to carry it over the assured veto of president taylor, he ate a plate of strawberries, just as president harrison had done when he stood in the way of southern policy, and like his great predecessor taylor, died opportunely, when mr. fillmore became president, and signed the bill. when it was the law of the land, there was a rush of popular sentiment in favor of obedience, and a rush of slave-catchers to take advantage of its provisions. thousands of slaves were returned to bondage. whigs and democrats were still bidding for the southern vote, and now vied with each other as to who should show most willingness to aid their southern brethren in the recovery of their lost property. the church also rushed to the front to show its christian zeal for the wrongs of those brethren, who, by the escape of their slaves, lost the means of building churches and buying communion services, and there was no end of homilies on the dishonesty of helping men to regain possession of their own bodies. all manner of charges were rung about onesimus, and paul became the patron saint of slave-catchers. among the many devices brought to bear on the consciences of pittsburgers, was a sermon preached, as per announcement, by rev. riddle, pastor of the third presbyterian church. it was received with great favor, by his large wealthy congregation, was printed in pamphlet form, distributed by thousands and made a profound impression, for pittsburg is a presbyterian city, and a sermon by its leading pastor was convincing. the sermon was an out and out plea for the bill and obedience to its requirements. did not paul return onesimus to his master? were not servants told to obey their masters? running away was gross disobedience, etc., etc. robt. m. riddle, in a careful leader in _the journal_, deprecated the existence of the law, but since it did exist, counseled obedience. he was a polished and forcible writer and his arguments had great weight. the _visiter_ published an article on "the two riddles," in which was drawn a picture of a scantily clad woman, with bruised and bleeding feet, clasping an infant to her bosom, panting before her pursuers up third street. the master called on all good citizens for help. the cry reached the ears of the tall editor of the _journal_ seated at his desk. he dropped his pen, hastily donned his new brass collar and started in hot pursuit of this wicked woman, who was feloniously appropriating the property of her master. the other riddle--the presbyterian pastor--planted himself by the lamp post on the corner of third and market streets, and with spectacles on nose and raised hands, loudly implored divine blessing on the labors of his tall namesake. the _visiter_ concluded by advising masters who had slaves to catch, to apply to these gentlemen, who would attend to business from purely pious and patriotic motives. i did not see mr. riddle for two weeks after the publication of the sketch, and then we met on the street. he had never before been angry or vexed with me, but now he was both, and said: "how could you do me such an injustice?" "why is it an injustice?" "oh you know it is! you know i would cut off my right hand, before i would aid in capturing a fugitive." "then why do you counsel others to do it?" "oh you know better! and rev. riddle, he and his friends are distressed about it. you do not know what you have done! i have already had three letters from the south, asking me to aid in returning fugitives, and he, too, has had similar applications. oh it is too humiliating, too bad. you must set it right!" i agreed to do so, and the _visiter_ explained that it had been mistaken in saying that both or either of the two riddles would aid in returning fugitives. they both scorned the business, and robt. m., would cut off his right hand, rather than engage in it. he only meant that other people should do what would degrade him. he was not a good citizen, and did not intend to be. as for his reverence, he would shirk his christian duties; would not pray by that lamppost, or any other lamp-post, for the success of slave-catchers. he had turned his back upon paul, and had fallen from grace since preaching his famous sermon. the gentlemen had been accredited with a patriotism and piety of which they were incapable, and a retraction was necessary; but if any other more patriotic politician or divine, further advanced in sanctification would send their names to the _visiter_, it would notify the south. in answering bible arguments, as to the righteousness of the fugitive slave bill, the main dependence of _the visiter_ was deuteronomy xxiii: and : "thou shalt not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. "he shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place where he shall choose, in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best, thou shalt not oppress him." that old bible, in spite of pro-slavery interpreters, proved to be the great bulwark of human liberty. in , slavery and democracy formed that alliance to which we owe the great rebellion. the south became solid, and whigs had no longer any motive for catching slaves. chapter xxix. bloomers and woman's rights conventions. the appearance of _the visiter_ was the signal for an outbreak, for which i was wholly unprepared, and one which proved the existence of an eating cancer of discontent in the body politic. under the smooth surface of society lay a mass of moral disease, which suddenly broke out into an eruption of complaints, from those who felt themselves oppressed by the old saxon and ecclesiastical laws under which one-half the people of the republic still lived. in the laws governing the interests peculiar to men, and those affecting their interests in common with woman, great advance had been made during the past six centuries, but those regarding the exclusive interests of women, had remained in _statu quo_, since king alfred the great and the knights of his round table fell asleep. the anti-negro slavery object of my paper seemed to be lost sight of, both by friends and foes of human progress, in the surprise at the innovation of a woman entering the political arena, to argue publicly on great questions of national policy, and while men were defending their pantaloons, they created and spread the idea, that masculine supremacy lay in the form of their garments, and that a woman dressed like a man would be as potent as he. strange as it may now seem, they succeeded in giving such efficacy to the idea, that no less a person than mrs. elizabeth cady stanton was led astray by it, so that she set her cool, wise head to work and invented a costume, which she believed would emancipate woman from thraldom. her invention was adopted by her friend mrs. bloomer, editor and proprietor of the _lily_, a small paper then in infancy in syracuse, n.y., and from her, the dress took its name--"the bloomer." both women believed in their dress, and staunchly advocated it as the sovereignest remedy for all the ills that woman's flesh is heir to. i made a suit and wore it at home parts of two days, long enough to feel assured that it must be a failure; and so opposed it earnestly, but nothing i could say or do could make it apparent that pantaloons were not the real objective point, at which all discontented woman aimed. i had once been tried on a charge of purloining pantaloons, and been acquitted for lack of evidence; but now, here was the proof! the women themselves, leaders of the malcontents, promulgated and pressed their claim to bifurcated garments, and the whole tide of popular discussion was turned into that ridiculous channel. the _visiter_ had a large list of subscribers in salem, ohio, and in the summer of ' a letter from a lady came to me saying, that the _visiter_ had stirred up so much interest in women's rights that a meeting had been held and a committee appointed to get up a woman's rights convention, and she, as chairman of that committee, invited me to preside. i felt on reading this as if i had had a douche bath; then, as a lawyer might have felt who had carried a case for a corporation through the lower court, and when expecting it up before the supreme bench, had learned that all his clients were coming in to address the court on the merits of the case. by the pecks of letters i had been receiving, i had learned that there were thousands of women with grievances, and no power to state them or to discriminate between those which could be reached by law and those purely personal; and that the love of privacy with which the whole sex was accredited was a mistake, since most of my correspondents literally agonized to get before the public. publicity! publicity! was the persistent demand. to meet the demand, small papers, owned and edited by women, sprang up all over the land, and like jonah's gourd, perished in a night. ruskin says to be noble is to be known, and at that period there was a great demand on the part of women for their full allowance of nobility; but not one in a hundred thought of merit as a means of reaching it. no use waiting to learn to put two consecutive sentences together in any connected form, or for an idea or the power of expressing it. one woman was printing her productions, and why should not all the rest do likewise? they had so long followed some leader like a flock of sheep, that now they would rush through the first gap into newspaperdom. i declined the presidential honors tendered me, on the ground of inability to fill the place; and earnestly entreated the movers to reconsider and give up the convention, saying: "it will open a door through which fools and fanatics will pour in, and make the cause ridiculous." the answer was that it was too late to recede. the convention was held, and justified my worst fears. when i criticised it, the reply was: "if you had come and presided, as we wished you to do, the result would have been different. you started the movement and now refuse to lead it, but cannot stop it." the next summer a convention was held in akron, ohio, and i attended, hoping to modify the madness, but failed utterly, by all protests i could make, to prevent the introduction by the committee on resolutions of this: "_resolved_, that the difference in sex is one of education." a man stood behind the president to prompt her, but she could not catch his meaning, and when confusion came, she rose and made a little speech, in which she stated that she knew nothing of parliamentary rules, and when consenting to preside had resolved, if there were trouble, to say to the convention as she did to her boys at home: "quit behaving yourselves!" this brought down the house, but brought no order, and she sat down, smiling, a perfect picture of self-complaisance. people thought the press unmerciful in its ridicule of that convention, but i felt in it all there was much forbearance. no words could have done justice to the occasion. it was so much more ridiculous than ridicule, so much more absurd than absurdity. the women on whom that ridicule was heaped were utterly incapable of self-defense, or unconscious of its need. the mass of nobility seekers seemed content to get before the public by any means, and to wear its most stinging sarcasms as they would a new dress cap. in those days i reserved all my hard words for men, and in my notice of the convention mildly suggested that it would have been better had mrs. oliver johnson been made president, as she had great executive ability and a good knowledge of parliamentary rules. this suggestion was received by the president as an insult never to be forgiven, and in the _visiter_ defended herself against it. i replied, and in the discussion which followed she argued that the affairs of each family should be so arranged that the husband and wife would be breadwinner and housekeeper by turns, day or oven half day about. he should go to business in the forenoon, then in the afternoon take care of baby and permit her to go to the office, shop or warehouse from which came the family supplies. i took the ground that baby would be apt to object, and that in our family the rule would not work, since i could not put a log on the mill-carriage, and the water would be running to waste all my day or half-day as bread-winner. about the same time, mrs. stanton published a series of articles in mrs. bloomer's paper, the _lily_, in which she taught that it was right for a mother to make baby comfortable, lay him in his crib, come out, lock the door, and leave him to develop his lungs by crying or cooing, as he might decide, while mamma improved her mind and attended to her public and social duties. against such head winds, it was hard for my poor little craft to make progress in asserting the right of women to influence great public questions. for something over twenty years, after that akron meeting, i did not see a woman's rights convention, and in all have seen but five. up to there had been no material improvement in them, if those i saw were a fair specimen. their holders have always seemed to me like a woman who should undertake at a state fair to run a sewing machine, under pretense of advertising it, while she had never spent an hour in learning its use. however, those conventions have probably saved the republic. from the readiness with which pennsylvania legislators responded to the petition of three of four women, acting without concert, in the matter of property rights, it is probable that in a fit of generosity the men of the united states would have enfranchised its women _en masse;_ and the government now staggering under the ballots of ignorant, irresponsible men, must have gone down under the additional burden of the votes which would have been thrown upon it, by millions of ignorant, irresponsible women. before that time, the unanswerable argument of judge hurlbut had been published, and had made a deep impression on the minds of thinking men. had this been followed by the earnest, thrilling appeals of susan b. anthony, free from all alliance with cant and vanity, we should no doubt have had a voting population to-day, under which no government could exist ten years; but those conventions raised the danger signal, and men took heed to the warning. chapter xxx. many matters. the period of the _visiter_ was one of great mental activity--a period of hobbies--and it, having assumed the reform roll, was expected to assume all the reforms. turkish trowsers, fourierism, spiritualism, vegetarianism, phonetics, pneumonics, the eight hour law, criminal caudling, magdaleneism, and other devices for teaching pyramids to stand on their apex was pressed upon the _visiter_, and it held by the disciples of each as "false to all its professions," when declining to devote itself to its advocacy. there were a thousand men and women, who knew exactly what it ought to do; but seldom two of them agreed, and none ever thought of furnishing funds for the doing of it. reformers insisted that it should advocate their plan of hurrying up the millenium, furnish the white paper and pay the printers. pond parents came with their young geniuses to have them baptized in type from the _visiter_ font. male editors were far away folks, but the _visiter_ would sympathize with family hopes. ah, the crop of miltons, shakespeares, and drydens which was growing up in this land, full forty years ago. what has ever become of them? here conscience gives a twinge, for that wicked _visiter_ did advise that parents should treat young genius as scientists do wood, which they wish to convert into pure carbon, _i.e._, cover it up with neglect and discouragement, and pat these down with wholesome discipline, solid study and useful work, and so let the fire smoulder out of sight. the policy of the _visiter_ in regard to woman's rights, was to "go easy," except in the case of those slave-women, who had no rights. for others, gain an advance when you could. educate girls with boys, develop their brains, and take away legal disabilities little by little, as experience should show was wise; but never dream of their doing the world's hard work, either mental or physical; and heaven defend them from going into all the trades. the human teeth proved that we should eat flesh, and the human form proved that men should take the ore out of the mines, subdue the inertia of matter and the ferocity of animals; that they should raise the grain, build the houses, roads and heavy machinery; and that women should do the lighter work. as this work was as important as the heavier, and as it fell principally on wives and mothers, they in these relations should receive equal compensation with the husband and father. by this plan, the estate acquired by a matrimonial firm, would belong equally to both parties, and each could devise his or her share, so that a woman would know that her accumulations would go to her heirs, not to her successor. consequently, every wife would have an incentive to industry and economy, instead of being stimulated to idleness and extravagance as by existing laws. women should not weaken their cause by impracticable demands. make no claim which could not be won in a reasonable time. take one step at a time, get a good foothold in it and advance carefully. suffrage in municipal elections for property holders who could read, and had never been connected with crime, was the place to strike for the ballot. say nothing about suffrage elsewhere until it proved successful here. intemperance was then under treatment by washingtonianism. by this philosophy it was held that each man consists of about thirty pounds of solid matter, wet up with several buckets of water; that in youth his mother and sweetheart, kneads, rolls, pats and keeps him in shape, until his wife takes charge of him and makes him into large loaves or little cakes, according to family requirements; but must not stop kneading, rolling, patting, on pain of having him all flatten out. the diagnosis of drunkenness was that it was a disease for which the patient was in no way responsible, that it was created by existing saloons, and non-existing bright hearths, smiling wives, pretty caps and aprons. the cure was the patent nostrum of pledge-signing, a lying-made-easy invention, which like calomel, seldom had any permanent effect on the disease for which it was given, and never failed to produce another and a worse. here the cure created an epidemic of forgery, falsehood and perjury. napoleon selected his generals for their large noses. dr. washingtonian chose his leaders for their great vices. the honors bestowed upon his followers were measured by their crimes, and that man who could boast the largest accumulation was the hero of the hour. a decent, sober man was a mean-spirited fellow; while he who had brought the grey hair of parents in sorrow to the grave, wasted his patrimony and murdered his wife and children, was "king o' men for a' that." the heroines were those women who had smilingly endured every wrong, every indignity that brutality could inflict; had endured them not alone for themselves but for their children; and she who had caressed the father of her child while he dashed its brains out, headed the list in saintship; for love was the kneading trough, and obedience the rolling pin, in and with which that precious mess called a man was to be made into an angel. the _visiter_ held that the law-giver of mount sinai knew what was in man, and had not given any such account of him; that the commands, "thou shalt," and "thou shalt not," were addressed to each individual; that the disease of opening one's mouth and pouring whisky into it was under the control of the mouth-opener; that drunkenness was a crime for which the criminal should be punished by such terms of imprisonment as would effectually protect society and prevent its confirmation. it told women that that dough ought to be baked in the furnace of affliction; that the coil of an anaconda was preferable to the embraces of a drunken man; that it is a crime for a woman to become the mother of a drunkard's child; that she who fails to protect her child from the drunken fury of any man, even to the extent of taking his life on the spot, if possible, is a coward and a traitor to the highest impulses of humanity. these sentiments made a stir in temperance ranks, and there was much defense of the dear fellows. the organization, seemed to be principally occupied in teaching, that among men, only rumsellers are free moral agents, and that they and the women are to bear the iniquity of us all. one philadelphia woman, engaged in scattering rose-leaf remedies over the great cancer of the land, concluded that the editor of the _visiter_ horsewhipped the unfortunate man she called husband, once a day, with great regularity. much sympathy was expressed for that much-abused man; and this was amusing to those who knew he could have tied four such tyrants in a sheaf, and carried them off like a bundle of sticks. but people had found a monster, a giantess, with flaming black eyes, square jaws and big fists, who lived at the top of a very high bean-pole, and ate nothing but the uncooked flesh of men. however, the man-eating idea came to be useful, and proved that a bad name is better than none. in ' , the _visiter_ began a weekly series of "letters to country girls," which were seized upon as a new feature in journalism, were very extensively copied, and won golden opinions from all sorts of men. in ' they were collected in book form, and "mine ancient enemy," george d. prentiss, gave them kindly notice. chapter xxxi. the mother church. when the _visiter_ entered life, it was still doubtful which side of the slavery question the roman church would take. o'connell was in the zenith of his power and popularity, was decidedly anti-slavery, and members of catholic churches chose sides according to personal feeling, as did those of other churches. it was not until , that abolitionists began to feel the alliance between romanism and slavery; but from that time, to be a member of the roman church was to be a friend of "southern interests." in pittsburg there was great harmony between catholics and protestants, for the protestant-irish, by which western pennsylvania was so largely settled, were generally refugees driven from ireland for their connection with the union, or robert emmet rebellion. our pastor, rev. john black, escaped in the night, and he and the only catholic priest in pittsburg, father mcguire, were intimate friends. the bishop of the diocese, r.r. o'conner, was, i think, a priest of the capponsacchi order, one of those men by whose existence the creator renders a reason for the continuance of the race. after the days of which i write, there was an excitement in pittsburg about miss tiernan, a beautiful, accomplished girl, who became a nun, and was said to have mysteriously disappeared. when the bishop resigned his office and became a member of an austere order of monks, there were not lacking those who charged the act to remorse for his connection with her unexplained death; but i doubt not, that whatever that connection was, it did honor to his manhood, however it may have affected his priesthood. in the days of his episcopal honors, he was a favorite with all sorts and conditions of men, and when he published a letter condemning our infant-system of public schools, and demanding a division of the school fund, he produced a profound sensation. i think this letter appeared in ' . it was the morning of one of the days of the week i spent regularly at the office. i found mr. riddle waiting to ask what i proposed to do about it. i stated, without hesitation, that i would oppose it to the best of my ability, when he replied: "i took it for granted that you would have consulted mr. white (conductor of the _gazette_), and we feel that we cannot afford to lose our catholic patronage by taking issue with the bishop, and that it will not be necessary. you, as a pupil of dr. black, ought to be able to answer bishop o'conner's arguments, and we will leave him to you. the religious press will, of course, be a unit against him, and the secular press need not fear to leave the case in your hands." the two papers for which he spoke, were the two great whig dailies of the western part of the state. the other daily was the _democratic post_, conducted by a catholic, and virtually the bishop's organ; and to meet this attack on the very foundations of civil liberty, the _visitor_, a weekly, was the only representative of the secular press. the whig papers might have taken a different course, had it been known at first that bishop o'conner's letter was only a part of a concerted attack, and that all over the union the bishops had published similar letters. but this was before the days of telegraphy, and we were weeks learning the length and breadth of the movement. bishop o'conner replied very courteously to my strictures on his letter, and we maintained the controversy for some length of time. having all the right on my side, i must have been a dolt not to make it apparent; and the friends of the bishop must have felt that he gained nothing, else they would not have been so angry; but he was courteous until he dropped the subject. my catholic patrons gradually withdrew their advertisements and subscriptions. thousands of protestants were rejoiced at what they called my triumph, and borrowed the _visiter_ to read my articles. very many bought copies, but i think i did not gain one subscriber or advertiser by that labor in defense of a common cause. nay, i lost protestant as well as catholic support, for business men did not care to be known to catholic customers as a patron of a paper which had strenuously opposed the policy of the church. that experience and a close observation for many years have taught me that the secular papers of the united states, with a few exceptions, are almost as much under the control of the pontiff as the press of austria. nor is it the secular press alone which is thus controlled. there are religions papers who throw "sops to cerebus," as an offset to teachings demanded by protestant readers. these "sops" are paid for indirectly by patronage, which would be withdrawn whenever the bishop took alarm at an article in that same paper. protestants do not carry their religion either into political or business relations, and so there is no offset to the religious, political and business concentration of romanism. there was no other outbreak between me and my catholic neighbors until the dedication of the pittsburg cathedral, when my report gave serious offense, and caused bishop o'conner to make a very bitter personal attack on me. he did not know how truly the offensive features of my report were the result of ignorance; but thought me irreverent, blasphemous. i had never before been inside a catholic church; never seen a catholic ceremonial; did not know the name of a single vestment; was overwhelmed with astonishment, and thought my readers as ignorant as i; so tried to give a description which would enable them to see what i had seen, hear what i had heard. every bishop and priest and member of any religions brotherhood in this country and canada was said to be present. some of the things they wore looked like long night-gowns, some short ones; some like cradle quilts, some like larger quilts. there were many kinds of patch-work and embroidery; some of the men wore skirts and looked very funny. quite a number wore something on their heads which looked like three pieces of pasteboard, the shape of a large flat-iron, and fastened together at the right angles and points. they formed into procession and started around the outside of the building. i thought of going "around and about" jerusalem, and the movement had a meaning; but they walked into a fence corner, swung a censor, turned and walked into another corner, and then back into the house, without compassing the building. i said there was nothing to prevent bad spirits coming in at that side. i copied the bishop's angry reply, plead my ignorance and that of protestants in general for all that seemed irreverent, and called upon him for explanations. what did it all mean? what was the spiritual significance of those externals? i ignored his evident anger; had no reason to be other than personally respectful to him, yet my second article irritated him more than the first. i had stated that the men in the procession were the most villainous-looking set i had ever seen; that every head and face save those of the bishops of orleans and pittsburg, were more or less stamped by sensuality and low cunning. in bishop o'conner's reply, he said i had gone to look for handsome men. i answered that i had, and that it was right to do so. the church, in her works of art, had labored to represent christ and his apostles as perfectly-formed men--men with spiritual faces. she had never represented any of her saints as a wine-bibber, a gross beef-eater, or a narrow-headed, crafty, cringing creature. these living men could not be the rightful successors of those whose statues and pictures adorned that cathedral. archbishop hughes, in his sermon on that occasion, had argued that all the forms of the church had a holy significance. what was that significance? moreover, in the days of john there were seven churches. whatever had the church of rome done with the other six owned on the isle of patmos by him who stood in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks? for two months every issue of the _visiter_ copied and replied to one of the bishop's articles, but never could bring him to the point of explaining any portion of that great mystery. but the discussion marked me as the subject of a hatred i had not deemed possible, and i have seldom, if ever, met a catholic so obscure that he did not recognize my name as that of an enemy. so bitter was the feeling, that when my only baby came great fears were felt lest she should be abducted; but this i knew never could be done with bishop o'conner's consent. chapter xxxii. politics and printers. when the pittsburg national convention, which formed the free democratic party, had finished its labors, a committee waited on the _visiter_, to bespeak that support which had already been resolved upon, and soon after a state convention in harrisburg indorsed it by formal resolution as a party organ. it did its best to spread the principles of the party, and its services called out commendations, as well as the higher compliments of stalwart opposition, from the foes of those principles. allegheny county was overwhelmingly whig. the _visiter_ worked against the party, and the cry from the whig press became: "why attack our party? it is better than the democratic. if you were honest, you would devote yourself to its destruction, not to that of the whig." to this, the answer was: "the whig party is a gold-bearing quartz rock, and we mean to pound it into the smallest possible pieces, in order to get out the gold. the democratic party is an old red sandstone, and there is plenty of sand lying all around about." in the summer of the editor visited the world's fair, held in new york, and on her return found the office machinery at a stand-still. she had a contract with two printers, who, in making it, had given no notice that they were the irresponsible agents of a union, and therefore had no right to dispose of their own labor. they professed to be entirely satisfied with their work and wages, and loath to leave them; but mars' union had cracked his whip, and disobedience was ruin, if not death. for these poor pennsylvania self-made slaves the _visiter_ had no pity, although they plead for it. it advertised for women to take their places, stating that its editor was in its composing-room. other, if not all other city papers, did likewise, and there was a rush of women to the printing offices; but ninety out of a hundred had not passed that stage of development in which women live by wheedling men. those who wheedled most winningly got the places, and the result in less than two months was such a mess of scandal, as drove them, like whipped curs, back to their kennels; but the editor of the _visiter_ took a good look at each of the hundred applicants, and from them selected three, who had heads, not hat pins, on their shoulders. mr. riddle was a partner in the _visiter_, and engaged a woman. the editor refused to give her a case, when he indignantly said: "women have no mercy on each other. there is that poor woman who has been trying to make a living at her trade making vests, and is now on the point of starvation. i have mercy on her, but you have none." the answer was: "a woman who cannot make a living at one good trade already learned, will not mend matters by learning another. i do not propose to turn this office into an eleemosynary establishment. i want the women whom the work wants, not those who want the work. how long could that weak woman maintain her respectability among all these men? would it be any kindness to put her in a place she is incapable of filling, and where she must inflict incalculable injury on herself, and the general cause of woman's right to labor? do not let your generosity run away with your judgment." my three typos came to be the main stay of the _journal_, as well as the only typos of the _visiter_, for they were the nucleus of an efficient corps of female type-setters, who held their places until mr. riddle's last illness broke down his establishment. soon after the opening of the pa.c.r.r., there was a bad accident, one train running into another in a deep cut, at night; commenting on it the _visiter_ suggested a red light on the rear of every train. the suggestion was accepted immediately, and this is the origin of the red light signal. chapter xxxiii. sumner, burlingame and cassius m. clay. the republican party was organized in pittsburg, and when it became national through the philadelphia convention in the summer of ' , and nominated fremont, it seemed that it might injure rather than aid the party to have a woman take a prominent place in it. the nurseling--political abolition--was out of its cradle, had grown to man's estate, and with bearded lip had gone forth to battle, a man among men. there were honors and emoluments to be won in the cause of the slave, and no doubt of its final triumph. the _visiter_ had been sold to mr. riddle and united with his weekly, thus extending its circulation, and cutting off the ruinous expense of its publication. the _journal_ was thoroughly republican, and would be ably conducted. no further need of a page devoted to freedom, when every page was consecrated to the overthrow of slavery. before taking action, it was best to consult an old subscriber, charles sumner, then on the allegheny mountains, recovering from the brook's assault. i took baby and went to see him. he was domiciled in the family of dr. jackson, pennsylvania state geologist, and seemed to be one of it. in the sitting-room were his desk and lounge, where he wrote or lay and talked, principally with dr. furness, of philadelphia, who was with him, devoting an ever-growing store of information to the amusement of his friend. dr. jackson was full of instruction, and no man more ready than sumner to learn. he held that all knowledge was useful in adding to one's resources--inquired minutely about the shoeing of the horse he rode; and over a watermelon at dessert the doctor gave a lecture on amputation, which became a large capital to one at least of his hearers, and was of intense interest to sumner. the children loved him, loved to be near him, and never seemed to be in his way. once when a toddling wee thing crept to his side while he was absorbed in writing, took hold of his clothes, drew herself to his feet and laid her head against his knee, he placed a weight to hold his paper, laid his hand on her head and went on with his work. when some one would have removed her, he looked up and said: "oh, let the little one alone!" he spoke with profound admiration of mrs. purviance, wife of the member of congress from butler, pa. said he was sorry never to have met her. her influence in washington society had been so ennobling that the friends of freedom owed her a lasting debt of gratitude. she boarded with her husband at the national where her wealth, independence and sparkling social qualities made her a recognized leader, while all her influence was cast upon the right side. he thought the success of the north in the famous struggle which elected banks speaker of the house, was largely due to mrs. purviance. he was oppressed with anxiety about burlingame, who had gone to canada to fight a duel, and there was great rejoicing, when he suddenly appeared one evening after the sun had hidden behind the pine trees. he and sumner met and greeted each other with the abandon of boys. no duel had been fought, since brooks, the challenger, had refused to pass through pennsylvania to clifton, the place of meeting, for fear of mob violence. even the offer of a safe conduct of troops by the governor, failed to reassure him, and burlingame had hurried on to set his friend's mind at rest. after the general rejoicing, the two sat facing each other, when sumner leaned forward, placed a hand on each of burlingame's shoulders, and said: "tell me, anson, you did not mean to shoot that man, did you?" burlingame's head dropped an instant, then raising it, he said, slowly: "i intended to take the best aim i could." here he drew back his right arm, and took the position of holding a gun, "at the broadest part of him, his breast; wait for the word, and then--fire!" sumner dropped back in his chair, let his hands fall on his knees and exclaimed, sorrowfully: "oh, anson! i did not believe it." burlingame's eyes filled with tears, and he said: "charles, i saw you lying bleeding and insensible on the senate floor, when i did not expect ever again to hear you speak; and i intended then to kill him. i tell you, charles, we have got to meet those fellows with guns, some day, and the sooner we begin, the better." on being consulted, both these champions of the right said the _visiter_ must not desert the cause. sumner added solemnly: "the slave never had more need of it; never had more need of you." so that editor went on with her work, feeling such an opinion as almost a divine call. in talking with mr. sumner during that visit, i learned that the same doctor attended both president harrison and president taylor in their last illness, and used his professional authority to prevent their friends seeing them until the fatal termination of their illness was certain. also, that it was that same doctor who was within call when brooks made his assault on sumner, took charge of the case, and made an official statement that the injury was very slight, gave it a superficial dressing, and sought to exclude every one from the room of his patient. said sumner: "i shuddered when i recovered consciousness, and found this man beside me." he dismissed him promptly, and did not hesitate to say that he believed he would not have recovered under his treatment. when the south seceded, this useful man left washington and joined the confederacy. the campaign of was very spirited. a large mass meeting was held in pittsburg, and cassius m. clay was the orator of the occasion. he was at the heighth of a great national popularity, and seemed as if any honor might be open to him. he dined that evening with robert palmer, of allegheny, and a small party of friends. the house was brilliantly lighted, and at the table, while clay was talking, and every one in gala day spirits, the light suddenly went out, and what a strange sensation fell on one guest--a feeling of coming evil. there was no re-lighting. the gas had failed, prophetic of the going out of that brilliant career, and its slow ending in the glimmer of a single candle. chapter xxxiv. finance and desertion. the _pittsburg saturday visiter_ began life with two subscribers, and in the second year reached six thousand, but was always a heavy drain on my income. my domestic duties made it impossible i could give any attention to the business department, and i was glad, at the close of the first year, to transfer a half interest to mr. riddle, who became equal partner and co-editor. at the end of the second year he proposed to buy my interest, unite the _visiter_ with his weekly, and pay me a salary for editing a page. had the proposal been made directly to me, i should have accepted at once, but it was made through my brother-in-law, william swisshelm, who had been clerk and business manager of the _visiter_ for eighteen months. he advised me not to accept; said the paper was netting fifteen hundred a year, and that if i would retain my interest he would purchase mr. riddle's, get type, have all the work done in a separate establishment, and make it a decided success. i was afraid of this arrangement, but was anxious to keep up the paper as a separate publication, and agreed on condition that he would assume the entire financial responsibility, keep my interest at mr. riddle's valuation, and leave me no further risk than my services. if there were profits, we would share them; if none, i got no pay, as usual, but sunk no money. to make the changes he desired, i loaned him money until i had most of my small estate invested, and supposed the paper was prospering until suddenly informed that the sheriff was about to sell it. we transferred it to mr. riddle, with my services two years in advance, to pay the debts, and i wrote for the new york _tribune_, at five dollars a column, to meet my personal expenses, as my income from my property was gone. i forget at what time the _visiter_ was united to the weekly _journal;_ but very soon after the presidential campaign of ' , i learned that my late partner had endorsed several notes which were not likely to be paid by the persons who gave them, and that one of these was already entered as a lien against his interest in the family estate. we had had no settlement, so i went to my lawyer, william m. shinn, who said that the entire interest of my debtor in his father's will was worth less than my claim since his death, without heirs, before his mother transferred his share to the other heirs. he advised me, if possible, to get a deed of that share as the only security for which i could hope. i directed him to prepare it, went immediately to the office, saw my late partner, and told him that if he did not execute that deed, i would sue him for a settlement before i left the city. he did, and i took it home early in the afternoon. in march ' , i resigned my place on the _family journal and visiter_, feeling that my public work was over, and that no life save one of absolute solitude was possible for me. i had lived over twenty years without the legal right to be alone one hour--to have the exclusive use of one foot of space--to receive an unopened letter, or to preserve a line of manuscript "from sharp and sly inspection." in the latter half of the nineteenth century, a pennsylvania court decided that a husband had a right to open and read any communication addressed to his wife. living as i did, under this law i had burned the private journal kept in girlhood, and the letters received from my brother, mother, sister and other friends, to preserve their contents from the comments of the farm laborers and female help, who, by common custom, must eat at our table and take part in our conversation. at the office i had received, read and burned, without answer, letters from some of the most prominent men and women of the era; letters which would be valuable history to-day; have, therefore, no private papers, and write this history, except a few public dates, entirely from memory. into the mists some rays of light penetrated, and by them i saw that the marriage contract by which i was bound, was that one which i had made and which secured my liberty of conscience and voice in choosing a home. the fraud by which church, and state substituted that bond made for saxon swine-herds, who ate boar's heads, lived in unchinked houses and wore brass collars, in the days when alfred the great was king, was such as would vitiate any other contract, and must annul even that of marriage; but, granting that it was binding, it must bind both parties, and had been broken by the party of the other part through failure to comply with its requirements. our marriage had been a mistake, productive of mutual injury; but for one, it was not too late to repair the wrong. he, a man in the prime of life, with unspotted reputation, living without labor, on the income of a patrimonial estate, to which he had made large additions, could easily find a help-mate for him; one who could pad matrimonial fetters with those devices by which husbands are managed. my desertion would leave him free to make a new choice, and i could more easily earn a living alone. the much-coveted and long-delayed birth of a living child appeared to have barred my appeal to this last resort, but the mother's right to the custody of her infant is one i would defend to the taking of life. my husband would consent to no separation, and we had a struggle for my separate, personal property or its equivalent; a struggle in which wm. m. shinn was my lawyer, and judge mellon his, and in which i secured my piano by replevin, dr. john scott being my bondsman, and learned that i might not call a porter into the house to remove my trunk. i therefore got my clothing, some books, china and bedding by stealth, and the assistance of half a dozen families of neighbors. a test suit as to my right to support was decided in , and in it a judge in my native city, charged the jury that: "if a wife have no dress and her husband refuse to provide one, she may purchase one--a plain dress--not silk, or lace, or any extravagance; if she have no shoes, she may get a pair; if she be sick and he refuse to employ a physician, she may send for one, and get the medicine he may prescribe; and for these necessaries the husband is liable, but here his liability ceases." the suit was about goods i had purchased by my lawyer's advice--two black silk dresses, a thirty dollar shawl, a dozen pairs black kid gloves, stockings, flannel, linen, half dozen yards white brussels lace, any one of which would have outlawed the bill, even if i had gone in an eden costume to make the purchase; but being clothed when i made my appearance at the counter, the merchant could not plead that i "had no dress," and lost his case. in a subsequent suit carried up to the supreme court and decided in ' , it was proved that my husband had forbidden our merchant to credit me on his account, and the merchant's books presented in court showed that for twelve years he had kept two separate accounts, one against my husband and one against me. on his were charged clothing for himself, mother, brothers and employes, common groceries, etc.; while on mine were entered all my clothing, all high-priced tea, white sugar, etc., all tableware, fine cutlery, table linen, bedding, curtains and towels; on his were, credits for farm products; on mine, only cash; and he was credited with butter and eggs on the same day that i was charged with bed-ticking and towels. my personal expenses from nov. , ' , the date of our marriage, until nov. , ' , twenty years, averaged less than fifty dollars a year. all my husband's labor for all his life, and mine for twenty years, with a large part of my separate property, had gone to swell his mother's estate, on the proceeds of which she kept her carriage and servants until she died, aged ninety-four, while i earned a living for myself and his only child. i left pittsburg with my baby about the th of may, ' , and went by boat to st. paul. before leaving, i went to settle with mr. riddle and say goodbye, and found him much troubled. he said: "why is it i have known nothing of all this? i did not dream there was anything wrong in your domestic relations, and may have been selfish and inconsiderate." my husband, mine no more, came upon the boat while she lay at the wharf, held baby on his knee and wept over her; when the last bell rang, he bade me good-bye; carried her to the gangway, held her to the last moment, then placed her in my arms, sprang ashore and hurried up the wharf. he would, i think, have carried her off, but that he knew she would break his heart crying for mother before i could get to her. he had once taken her away in a fit of anger and walked the floor with her most of the night, seriously alarmed for her life, and could not venture on that experiment again. he loved her most tenderly, and his love was as tenderly returned. since, as a duty to her, i was careful to teach her to "honor thy father" on earth as well as in heaven. had he and i gone into the pine woods, as he proposed, upon marriage; had we been married under an equitable law or had he emigrated to minnesota, as he proposed, before i thought of going, there would have been no separation; but after fifteen years in his mother's house i must run away or die, and leave my child to a step-mother. so i ran away. he thought i would return; enlarged and improved the house, wrote and waited for us; could make no deed without my signature; i would sign none, and after three years he got a divorce for desertion. in ' he married again, and i having, voluntarily, assumed the legal guilt of breaking my marriage contract, do cheerfully accept the legal penalty--a life of celibacy--bringing no charge against him who was my husband, save that he was not much better than the average man. knew his rights, and knowing sought to maintain them against me; while, in some respects, he was to me incalculably more than just. years after i left him, he said to our neighbor, miss hawkins, when speaking of me: "i believe she is the best woman god ever made, and we would have had no trouble but for her friends." my sister had removed with her husband to st. cloud, minnesota, and through him i had secured forty acres of land on the shore of one of a nest of lovely lakes, lying on the east side of the mississippi, twelve miles from st. cloud. on this little farm i would build a cabin of tamarac logs, with the bark on and the ends sticking out at the corners criss-cross. my cabin would have one room and a loft, each with a floor of broad rough boards well jointed, and a ladder to go from one to the other. it would have an open fire-place, a rough flag hearth, and a rustic porch, draped with hop vines and wild roses. i would have a boat, catch fish and raise poultry. no sound of strife should ever come into my cabin but those of waves, winds, birds and insects. ah, what a paradise it would be! i had not yet learned that every human soul is a shunamite, "a company of two armies," and wherever there is one, there is strife. to live is to contend, and life is finished when contentions end. at st. paul i took a stage, and night came on when we were still twenty miles from st. cloud. the wolves stood and looked at the stage, and i knew they were between me and my hermitage; but they were only prairie wolves, and all day my cabin had been growing more and more beautiful. the lakes, the flowers, the level prairies and distant knolls, but most of all the oak openings were enchanting, and in one of these my cabin would stand. the passengers talked politics and i talked too, and one man said to me: "did you say you were going to st. cloud? "yes." "well, i tell you, madam, them sentiments of yours won't go down there. gen. lowrie don't allow no abolition in these parts and he lives in st. cloud." i had had many surprises, but few to equal this; had heard of gen. lowrie as a man of immense wealth and influence, but no one had hinted at this view of his character. i had thought of him as the friend of my friends; but as the other passengers were confirming this account and i watching the wolves, there flashed across my mind the thought: "this is a broad country; but if this be true, there is not room in it for gen. lowrie and me." chapter xxxv. my hermitage. it was midnight before we reached east st. cloud, and the ferry-boat had stopped running, so that it was a bright morning the th of june when i found myself in half a dozen pairs of loving arms. in a few days we made an excursion to the site of my cabin. it was more beautiful than i had thought. on the opposite side of the lake lived captain briggs, with a head full of sea-stories, and a new england wife. my hermitage would be greatly improved by such neighbors only one mile distant, and as the captain had lately killed two large bears between his house and the site of mine, there would soon be no more bears. but i must have the loft of my cabin large enough for several beds, as the children insisted on spending their summers with me. brother harry bespoke a second room, for he would want a place to stay all night when out hunting with his friends, and my hermitage began to grow into a hotel. i had commenced arrangements with workmen, when harry said to me: "sis, elizabeth and i have talked this matter over, and if you persist, we will take out a writ of lunacy. there is not a man in this territory who would not say on oath, that you are insane to think of going where the bears would eat you if the indians did not kill you. the troops are ordered away from the forts; you'll get frontier life enough with us, for we are going to have music with the indians." next day the troops from fort ripley marched past, on their way to kansas, to put down the free state party. bleeding kansas was called on for more blood, and united states soldiers were to sacrifice the friends of freedom on the altar of slavery. the people of minnesota were left without protection from savages, that the people of kansas might be given over to the tender mercies of men no less barbarous than the sioux. i had run away from the irrepressible conflict, feeling that my work was done; had fled to the great northwest--forever consecrated to freedom by solemn act and deed of the nation--thinking i should see no more of our national curse, when here it confronted me as it had never done before. my cabin perished in a night, like jonah's gourd--perished that liberty might be crushed in kansas; for without a garrison at fort ripley, my project was utterly insane. chapter xxxvi. the minnesota dictator. every day, from my arrival in st. cloud, evidence had been accumulating of the truth of that stage-whisper about gen. lowrie, who lived in a semi-barbaric splendor, in an imposing house on the bank of the mississippi, where he kept slaves, bringing them from and returning them to his tennessee estate, at his convenience, and no man saying him nay. he owned immense tracts of land; had and disposed of all the government contracts he pleased; traveled over europe with his salaried physician; said to this man "go," and he went, to that "come," and he came, and to a third "do this," and it was done. but of all his commands "go" was most potent; for, as president of a claim club, his orders to pre-emptors were enforced by judge lynch. he never condescended to go to congress, but sent an agent; furnished all the democratic votes that could possibly be wanted in any emergency, and nobody wondered when a good list came from a precinct in which no one lived. republicans on their arrival in his dominion, were converted to the democratic faith, fast as sinners to christianity in a maffitt meeting, and those on whom the spirit fell not, kept very quiet. people had gone there to make homes, not to fight the southern tiger, and any attempt against such overwhelming odds seemed madness, for lowrie's dominion was largely legitimate. he was one of those who are born to command--of splendid physique and dignified bearing, superior intellect and mesmeric fascination. his natural advantages had been increased by a liberal education; he had been brought up among slaves, lived among indians as agent and interpreter, felt his own superiority, and asserted it with the full force of honest conviction. on all hands he was spoken of as dictator, and there was both love and respect mingled with the fear by which he governed. his father was a presbyterian minister, who taught that slavery was divine, and both were generous and lenient masters. he was the embodiment of the slave power. all its brute force, pious pretenses, plausibility, chivalry, all the good and bad of the southern character; all the weapons of the army of despotism were concentrated in this man, the friend of my friends, the man who stood ready to set me on the pinnacle of social distinction by his recognition. across the body of the prostrate slave lay the road to wealth, and many good men had shut their eyes and stepped over. the territorial government under buchanan was a mere tool of slavery. every federal officer was a southerner, or a northern man with southern principles. government gold flowed freely in that channel, and to the eagles gen. lowrie had but to say, as to his other servants, "come," and they flew into his exchequer. so thoroughly was minnesota under the feet of slavery, that in september, ' --after we thought the state redeemed--the house of william d. babbitt, in minneapolis, was surrounded from midnight until morning by a howling mob, stoning it, firing guns and pistols, attempting to force doors and windows, and only prevented gaining entrance by the solidity of the building and the bravery of its defense. it was thus besieged because its owner and occupant had dared interfere to execute the common law in favor of freedom. minneapolis and its twin-city st. anthony each had a large first-class hotel, to which southern people resorted in summer, bringing their slaves, holding them often for months, and taking them back to the south, no one daring to make objection; until one woman, eliza winston, appealed to mr. babbitt, who took her into court, where judge vanderbilt decreed her freedom, on the ground that her claimant had forfeited his title by bringing her into a free state. at the rendering of this decree, rev. knickerbocker, rector of the only protestant episcopal church in the city, arose in open court, and charged the judge with giving an unrighteous judgment. he condemned the law as at war with scripture and the rights of the master, and its enforcement as injurious to the best interests of the community. it was the old story of demetrius; and the people, already keenly alive to the profit of boarding southern families with their servants, were glad to have a mantle of piety thrown over their love of gain. the court room was packed, and under the eloquent appeal of the reverend gentleman, it soon became evident the populace would make a rush, take the woman out of the hands of the law, and deliver her to the master. she and her friends had about lost hope, when an unlooked for diversion called attention from them. the red head of "bill king," afterwards post-master of the u.s. house of representatives, arose, like the burning bush at the foot of mount horeb, and his stentorian voice poured forth such a torrent of denunciation on priest-craft, such a flood of solid swearing against the insolence and tyranny of ecclesiasticism, that people were surprised into inactivity, until mr. babbitt got the woman in his carriage and drove off with her. there could no longer be a question of her legal right to her own body and soul; but her friends knew that the law of freedom had lain too long dormant to be enforced now without further serious opposition, and mr. babbitt brought into use his old training on the underground railroad to throw the blood-hounds off the scent, so secreted the woman in the house of prof. stone, and prepared his own strong residence to bear a siege. for that siege preparations were made by the clerical party during the afternoon and evening, without any effort at concealment, and to brute force the besieging party added brute cunning. it was known that in my lecturing tours, i was often mr. babbitt's guest, and might arrive at any hour. so, shortly after midnight, the doorbell was rung, when mr. babbitt inquired: "who is there?" "mrs. swisshelm.' "it is not mrs. swisshelm's voice?" "william griffin (a colored porter) is with her." "it is not william griffin's voice." then, for the first time, there were signs of a multitude on the porch, and with an oath the speaker replied: "we want that slave." "you cannot have her." a rush was made to burst in the door, but it was of solid walnut and would not yield, when the assailants brought fenceposts to batter it in, and were driven back by a shot from a revolver in the hall. the mob retired to a safer distance, and the leader--mine host of a first-class hotel--mounted the carriage-block and harangued his followers on the sacred duty of securing the financial prosperity of the two cities by restoring eliza winston to her owners, and made this distinct declaration of principles: "i came to this state with five thousand dollars; have but five hundred left, but will spend the last cent to see 'bill' babbitt's heart's blood." after which heroic utterance a fresh volley of stones and shots were fired, and fresh rush made for doors and windows. the sidelights of the front door had been shattered, and one burly ruffian thrust himself halfway in, but stuck, when a defender leveled a revolver at his head, and said to mrs. babbitt, who was then in command of the hall, while her husband defended the parlor windows: "shall i shoot him?" "yes, shoot him like a dog." but mrs. edward messer, her sister, who knew mr. babbitt's dread of taking life, knocked the pistol up and struck the ruffian's head with a stick, when it was withdrawn, and again the mob fell back and resorted to stones and sticks and oaths and howlings and gunshots, and threats of firing the house. mrs. babbitt thought that personal appeals might bring citizens to the rescue, and in an interval of black darkness between lightning flashes, escaped through a back cellar way, and had almost reached the shelter of a cornfield adjoining the garden, when the lightning revealed her and three men started in pursuit. it was two months before the birth of one of her children, and mr. elliott, a neighbor who was hastening to the rescue, saw her danger and ran to engage her pursuers. stumbling through the corn, he encountered one and cudgeled him, but all were separated by the darkness. mrs. babbitt, however, succeeded in reaching the more thickly settled portion of the city, and the first man she called upon for help, replied: "you have made your bed--lie in it!" the sheriff came, with two or three men, and talked to the mob, which dispersed before daylight, with open threats to "have babbitt's heart's blood," and for months his family lived in momentary apprehension of his murder. for months he was hooted at in the streets of minneapolis as "nigger thief," and called "eliza." no arrests were made, and he has always felt it fortunate that mrs. messer prevented the shooting of the man in the side-light, as he thinks to this day that in the state of public sentiment, the man firing the shot would have been hanged for murder by any hennepin county jury, and his home razed to the ground or burned. eliza winston was sent by underground railroad to canada, because minnesota, in the year of grace, , could not or would not defend the freedom of one declared free by decision of her own courts. when such events were actual facts in ' , near the center of the state, under a republican administration, what was the condition of public sentiment in the northern portion of the territory in ' , when there was scarce a pretense of law or order, and the southern democracy held absolute sway? i soon understood the situation; had known for years that the southern threats, which northern men laughed at as "tin kettle thunder," were the desperate utterances of lawless men, in firm alliance with the "hierarchy of rome for the overthrow of this republic." chapter xxxvii. another visiter. george brott was proprietor of lower st. cloud and had started a paper, _the advertiser_, to invite immigration. there were two practical printers in town, both property-owners, both interested in its growth, and when the resources of _the advertiser_ had been consumed and they had had union rates for work done on it, they fell back on their dignity and did nothing. they had enlisted in the wrong army, did not belong with this band of pioneers, making its way against savage beasts and men. they were soldiers of a union whose interests were all opposed to those of st. cloud, so they were looking on, waiting to see if the great need of a paper would not compel their neighbors to pay tribute to their union. mr. brott asked me if i would take charge of a paper and take town lots for a salary. i told him i was an abolitionist. he laughed, and said: "a lady has a right to be of whatever politics she pleases," and went on to say, that if i could recommend minnesota to emigrants, and st. cloud as a town site, he cared nothing for my opinions on other points. he thought we might unite all the town proprietors, and so raise money to pay the printers, so i wrote to each one, asking his support to the st. cloud _visiter_, as an advertising medium. all, save gen. lowrie, were prompt in making favorable response; but from him i had not heard, when there had been three issues of the paper. mr. brott was in the office, and i said: "there is one thing more. i feel that some day i will attack gen. lowrie, who is your friend. he will set shepley on me; i will make short work of him. then we will have a general melee, and i will clear out that clique. shepley is your lawyer, and i do not want to use your press in that way without your consent." while i spoke, his jaw dropped and he sat staring at me in literal open-mouthed wonder, then threw back his head, laughed heartily and said: "oh, go ahead! i bake no bread in any of their ovens!" very soon i had a letter from gen. lowrie, saying: "i myself will give the st. cloud _visiter_ a support second to that of no paper in the territory, if it will support buchanan's administration. otherwise i can do nothing." i had not finished reading, when the thought came: "now i have you." yet still i knew it looked like, ah, very like a man catching a whale with a fish hook secured to his own person, when there were a hundred chances to one that the whale had caught him. i replied that the st. cloud _visiter_ would support mr. buchanan's administration, since it could not live without gen. lowrie's assistance, and such was his ultimatum. on the second day after that contract was made, brother harry came, all trembling with rage, and said: "lowrie is telling all over town that he has bought you, and that the _visiter_ is to support buchanan!" "it is true," was the astounding answer, when he said bad words, rushed from the room and slammed the door. then followed ten days, the only ones since he became my brother when he would not call me "sis." elizabeth said: "i would have seen lowrie and his money in the bottom of the sea, first! what would mother say?" the next issue of the _visiter_ made no allusion to its change of base, and there was plenty of time to discuss the question. those who knew my record refused to believe i had sold out, and took bets on it. however, the next number contained an editorial which relieved the minds of friends, but which created the gravest apprehension. it stated that the _visiter_ would, in future, support buchanan's administration, and went on to state the objects of that administration as being the entire subversion of freedom and the planting of slavery in every state and territory, so that toombs could realize his boast, and call the roll of his slaves at the foot of bunker hill. it reminded its readers that john randolph had said in the united states senate when speaking to northern men: "we have driven you to the wall, and will drive you there again, and next time we will keep you there and nail you to the counter like base money." mr. buchanan, a northern man, had fulfilled the prediction. henry clay had said that northern workingmen were "mudsills, greasy mechanics and small-fisted farmers." these mudsills had been talking of voting themselves farms; but it would be much more appropriate if they would vote themselves masters. southern laborers were blessed with kind masters, and mr. buchanan and the st. cloud _visiter_ were most anxious that northern laborers should be equally well provided for. when the paper was read, there was a cry of "sold! sold! lowrie had sold himself instead of buying the _visiter_." at first there was a laugh, then a dead stillness of dread, and men looked at me as one doomed. chapter xxxviii. border ruffianism. in lowrie's first ebulition of wrath, he vowed vengeance, but an intimate friend of his, who had been a democrat in pittsburg, begged him to do nothing and said: "let her alone, for god's sake! let her alone, or she will kill you. i know her, and you do not. she has killed every man she ever touched. let her alone!" but lowrie knew it was too late for letting alone, and sent me a verbal message, by one he knew i would believe, that i must stop or the consequences would be fatal. stopping was no part of my plan, and so i told his messenger. the second number of buchanan's organ explained how it was that i became a supporter of a policy i had so long opposed. gen. lowrie owned northern minnesota, land and inhabitants, bought folks up as fast as they came to it, and had bought me. he was going to support the _visiter_ great power and glory, if it gave satisfaction as a democratic organ. i would work hard for the money, and it would be odd if any one gave mr. buchanan a more enthusiastic support than i. indeed, i was his only honest supporter. all the others pretended he was going to do something quite foreign to his purpose, while i was in his confidence. the one sole object of his administration was the perpetuation and spread of slavery, and this object the _visiter_ would support with the best arguments in its power. this was vitriol dressing on a raw wound, and the suppression of the _visiter_ was expected by judge lynch. brave men held their breath to see me beard the lion in his den, not knowing my armor as i did. then came an announcement with a great flourish of trumpets of a lecture on "woman," by the hon. shepley, the great legal light and democratic orator of minnesota. the lecture was delivered in due time to a densely packed house, and was as insulting as possible. the lecture divided women into four classes--coquettes, flirts, totally depraved, and strong-minded. he painted each class and found some redeeming trait in all save the last. the speaker might as well have named me as the object of his attack, and his charges thus publicly made were not to be misunderstood. at every point there were rounds and shouts of applause by clacquers, and brother harry once rose in a towering rage, but i dragged him down and begged him to keep quiet. in my review of the lecture, i praised it, commended its eloquence and points, but suggested that the learned gentleman had not included all women in his classification. for instance, he had left out the frontier belle who sat up all night playing cards with gentlemen; could beat any man at a game of poker, and laugh loud enough to be heard above the roaring of a river. in this i struck at gambling as a social amusement, which was then rapidly coming into fashion in our little city, and which to me was new and alarming. mr. shepley pretended to think that the picture resembled his wife, and this idea was seized upon as drowning men catch at straws. behind this they sought to conceal the whole significance of the quarrel. gen. lowrie cared not for my attacks on himself. oh, no, indeed! he was suddenly seized by a fit of chivalry, and would defend to the death, a lady whom he had never seen. an effort was made to dispose of me by mob, as a means of clearing the moral atmosphere of the city. it was being discussed in a grocery while "tom" alden lay on the counter. he rose, brought down his big fist, and with a preface of oaths, said: "now, boys, i tell you what it is. we're democrats. this is a fight between her and lowrie, and we're going to see fair play. if she licks him, let him take it. no woman is going to be mobbed in this city! so there!" gen. lowrie hid an uncle who lived with him, a very eccentric, single-minded man, who was greatly distressed about the affair, and who became a messenger bent on making peace. he begged me to desist for lowrie's sake, that i might not drive him to cover himself with shame, and bring lasting regret. he insisted that i knew nothing of the dangers which environed me; i would be secretly murdered, with personal indignities; would be tied to a log and set afloat on the mississippi. i had no wish to court danger--shrank from the thought of brute force; but if i let this man escape, his power, now tottering, would be re-established; slavery triumphant in the great northwest; minnesota confirmed a democratic strong-hold, sending delegates of dough-faces to congress to aid in the great conspiracy against the nation's life. so i told the messenger that i would continue to support buchanan's administration, that i would pile my support upon it until it broke down under the weight and sunk into everlasting infamy. the night after i had sent this, as my final answer to the offer of leniency, the _visiter_ was visited by three men in the "wee sma' hours, anent the twal," the press broken, some of the type thrown into the river, some scattered on the road, and this note left on the table: "if you ever again attempt to publish a paper in st. cloud, you yourself will be as summarily dealt with as your office has been.----vigilance." the morning brought intense excitement and the hush of a great fear. men walked down to the bank of the great mississippi, looked at the little wrecked office standing amid the old primeval forest, as if it were a great battle-ground, and the poor little type were the bodies of the valiant dead. they only spoke in whispers, and stood as if in expectation of some great event, until judge gregory arrived, and said, calmly: "gentlemen, this is an outrage which must be resented. the freedom of the press must be established if we do not want our city to become the center of a gang of rowdies who will drive all decent people away and cut off immigration. i move that we call a public meeting at the stearns house this evening, to express the sentiments of the people at st. cloud." this motion was carried unanimously, but very quietly, and i said: "gentlemen, i will attend that meeting and give a history of this affair." chapter xxxix. speak in public. at length the time had come when i could no longer skulk behind a printing press. that bulwark had been torn down, and now i must literally open my mouth for the dumb, or be one of those dogs spoken of in scripture who would not bark. the resolve to speak at that meeting had come in an instant as a command not to be questioned, and i began to prepare. james mckelvey, a lawyer, and nephew of my husband, drew my will and i executed it, settled my business and wrote a statement of the _visiter_ trouble that it might live if i ceased to do so, then went to bed, sent for miles brown to come to my room, and saw him alone. he was a pennsylvanian, who had the reputation of being a dead shot, and had a pair of fine revolvers. he pledged himself solemnly to go with me and keep near me, and shoot me square through the brain, if there was no other way of preventing me falling alive into the hands of the mob. my mind was then at ease, and i slept until my mail was brought. in it was a letter from william m. shinn, saying that without his knowledge, my husband had succeeded in having my one-third interest in the swissvale estate sold at sheriff's sale, and had become the purchaser. mr. shinn added his opinion that the sale was fraudulent, and proposed entering suit to have it set aside; but i could attend to no suit and lost all hope of saving anything from my separate estate. surely the hand of the lord lay heavily upon me that day, but i never doubted that it was his hand. the good shepherd would lead me and feed me and i should know no want. when it was time to go to the meeting, i was dressed by other hands than my own. i knew harry and my brother-in-law, henry swisshelm, had organized for defense, and asked no questions, but went with them. elizabeth carried her camphor bottle as coolly as if mobs and public meetings were things of every day life, while mrs. hyke, a new england woman, held my arm, saying: "we'll have a nice time in the river together, for i am going in with you. they can't separate us." as we approached the stearns house, the crowd thickened and pressed upon us. harry stopped and said: "gentlemen, stand back, if you please!" the guard closed around me, every man with his hand on his revolver. there were oaths and growls, but the mob gave way, and made no further opposition to our entrance. the meeting was called to order by thomas stearns, the owner of the house and for whom the county had been named, who with his brave wife had made every possible arrangement for the meeting. the large parlors were packed with women, and every other foot of space downstairs and even up, were filled with men, while around the house was a crowd. it was a wonder where all the people could have come from. a rostrum had been erected at the end of the parlor next the hall, but i had no sooner taken it than there was an ominous murmur outside, and it was discovered that my head made a tempting target for a shot through the front door, so the rostrum was moved out of range. there was not much excitement until i named gen. lowrie and two other men as the persons who had destroyed the _visiter_ office. then there was a perfect howl of oaths and cat-calls. gen. lowrie was on the ground himself, loading his forces outside. a rush was made, stones hurled against the house, pistols fired, and every woman sprang to her feet, but it was to hear and see, not shriek. harry held the doorway into the hall; henry that into the dining room. brown had joined harry, and i said in a low, concentrated voice: "brown." he turned and pressed up to the rostrum. "don't fail me! don't leave me! remember!" "i remember! don't be afraid! i'll do it! but i'm going to do some other shooting first." "save two bullets for me!" i plead, "and shoot so that i can see you." "i will, i will," but all the time he was looking to the door; mrs. hyke was clinging to me sobbing: "we'll go together; no one can part us." the mob were pressed back and comparative quiet restored, and when i finished the reading of my address i began to extemporize. what i said seemed to be the right words at the right time. a hushed attention fell upon the audience, inside and out. then there was applause inside, which called forth howls from the outside, and when i stepped from the platform, i was overwhelmed with congratulations, and more astonished than any one, to learn that i could speak in public. t.h. barrett, a young civil engineer, was chairman of the committee on resolutions, and brought in a set which thrilled the audience. they were a most indignant denunciation of the destruction of the office, an enthusiastic endorsement of the course of the _visiter_, and a determination to re-establish it, under the sole control of its editor. they were passed singly by acclamation until the last, when i protested that they should take time to think--should consider if it were not better to get another editor. there could be no peace with me in the editorial chair, for i was an abolitionist and would light slavery and woman-whippers to the death, and after it. there was a universal response of "good! good! give it to 'em, and we'll stand by you." this was the beginning of the final triumph of free speech, but the end was yet in the dim distance, and this i knew then as well as afterwards. t.h. barrett, who carried that meeting, is the man who fought the last battle of the rebellion at the head of his negro troops away down in texas, ten days after lee's surrender, and before that news had reached him, brown was charged with cowardice, in having kept back among the women, and i had to explain on his account. chapter xl. a famous victory. the day after the stearns house meeting, i was thought to be dying. all that medical skill and loving hands could do was done to draw me from the dark valley into which i seemed to have passed; while those men who had planted themselves and their rifles between me and death by violence, came on tip-toe to know if i yet lived. when i was able to be out it was not thought safe for me to do so--not even to cross the street and sit on the high green bank which overlooked the river. harry was constantly armed and on guard, and a pistol shot from his house, night or day, would have brought a score of armed men in a very short time. a printing company had been formed to re-establish the _visiter_. in it were forty good men and true, and they sent an agent to chicago to buy press and type. the st. cloud _visiter_ was to begin a new life as the mouthpiece of the republican party, and i was no longer a scout, conducting a war on the only rational plan of indian warfare. i begged my friends to stand abide and leave lowrie and me to settle the trouble, saying to them: "i cannot fight behind ramparts of friends. i must take the risks myself, must have an open field. protect me from brute force and give me moral aid, but stand aside." but they were full of enthusiasm, and would bear the brunt of battle. there were open threats of the destruction of the new press, and it was no time to quit the field. of the first number of the resurrected _visiter_, the st. cloud printing co. was publisher, and i sole editor. i prepared the contents very carefully, that they might not give unnecessary offense, dropped the role of supporting buchanan, and tried to make a strong republican paper of the abolition type, and in the leader gave a history of the destruction of my office. the paper gave great satisfaction to the publishers, who had not thought i could be so calm; but lowrie threatened a libel suit for my history of that outrage, and i said to the printing company: "you must get out of my way or i will withdraw." at once they gave me a bill of sale for the press and material, and of the second number i was sole editor and proprietor, but it was too late. the libel suit was brought, damages laid at $ , , and every lawyer in that upper country retained for the prosecution. this was in the spring of ' . the two years previous the country had been devastated by grasshoppers, and no green thing had escaped. there was no old grain, the mass of people had been speculating in town lots, and such had been the demand for city charters, that a wag moved in legislature to reserve one-tenth of the land of minnesota for agricultural purposes. the territorial had just been exchanged for a state government, which was not yet in working order. the capital of every man in the printing company was buried in corner lots, or lots which were not on a corner. the wolves and bears cared nothing for surveyor's stakes, and held possession of most of the cities, howling defiance at the march of civilization. the troops were still in kansas establishing slavery, and we lived in a constant state of alarm. the men were organized for defense against indians, and must do picket duty. all the money was in the hands of the enemy. citizens had everything to buy and nothing to buy it with. provisions were brought up from st. paul by wagon, except when a boat could come from st. anthony. those men of the company who were especially marked, were men of families, and it is hard to starve children for the freedom of the press. the nearest court was st. anthony. any defense of that suit must be ruinous to those men, and i advised them to compromise. a committee was appointed to meet six lawyers, and were in despair when they learned the ultimatum of the great dictator. with the terms demanded, they had no inclination to comply, but sent j. fowler to me with the contract they were required to sign. this bound the company in a bond of $ , actual payment, that the _st. cloud visiter_ should publish in its columns a card from mr. shepley, of which a copy was appended, and which stated that the destruction of the office was not for any political cause, but was solely on account of an attack made by its editor on the reputation of a lady. also, that said _visiter_ should never again discuss or refer to the destruction of its office. fowler burned with indignation, and was much surprised when i returned the paper, saying that i would comply with these demands. he protested that i should not--that they had set out to defend the freedom of the press. "which you cannot do," i remarked. "you sign that paper just as you would hand your money to a robber who held a pistol to your head and demanded it. there is a point at which the bravest must yield, where resistance is madness, and you have reached this point. the press is mine, leave its freedom to me. defend me from brute force and do your duty to your families." he returned to the consultation room, where every one was surprised at my compliance. they had all given me credit for more pluck, but since i surrendered, the case was lost. the contract was signed, the bond executed, and everything made tight and fast as law could make it. the friends of free press were indignant, but bided their time. stephen miller, a nephew of my mother-in-law, and afterwards governor of minnesota, was on a visit to harrisburg during all this trouble, and when he returned, he flew into a towering rage over what he termed the cowardly backdown of the printing company, and published a card in the st. paul papers, washing his hands of it. but to the victors belong the spoils and glory, and now they made much of them. ladies got out their silks, their jewels and their laces. there were sounds of revelry by night, where fair women and gallant men drew around the social board, on which sparkled the wine-cup and glimmered the yellow gold, to be taken up by the winner. champagne was drunk in honor of the famous victory, hands were shaken over it, stray sheep were brought back into the true democratic fold, and late opinions about presses and types were forgotten. though, among all the rejoicings, the bar had the best of it. for once its members had not been like the blades of a pair of scissors; had not even seemed to cut each other, while only cutting that which came between. for once its members were a band of brothers, concentrated into one sharp, keen dagger, with which they had stabbed freedom to the heart. that triumphant bar stroked its bearded chin, and parted its silky mustache; hem'd its wisest hem; haw'd its most impressive haw. "if gen. lowrie had ah, but ah, taken legal advice ah, in the first instance ah, all would have been well ah!" they were the generals who had won this famous victory, and wore their laurels with a jaunty air, while a learned and distinguished divine from the center of the state, in a sermon, congratulated the lord on having succeeded in "restoring peace to this community, lately torn by dissensions,"--and all was quiet on the mississippi. on its bank sat poor little i, looking out on its solemn march to the sea, thinking of minnesota; sending a wail upon its bosom to meet and mingle with that borne by the missouri from kansas; thinking of a sad-faced slave, who landed with her babe in her arms here, just in front of my unfinished loft, performed the labor of a slave in this free northern land, and embarked from this same landing to go to a tennessee auction block, nobody saying to the master, "why do ye this?" against the power which thus trampled constitutional guarantees, congressional enactments and state rights in the dust, i seemed to stand alone, with my hands tied--stood in a body weighing just one hundred pounds, and kept in it by the most assiduous care. i was learning to set type, and as i picked the bits of lead from the labeled boxes, there ran the old tune of st. thomas, carrying through my brain these words: "yea, though i walk in death's dark vale, yet will i fear none ill." why did the heathen rage and kings vex themselves? god, even our god, should dash them together like potsherds. what an uneven fight it was--god and i against that little clique--against a world! i rented the office to the boys, who at once gave me notice that i was no longer wanted in it. they issued a half-sheet _visiter_, with "the devil" as editor and proprietor. his salutatory informed his readers, that he was in full possession and was going to have a good time; had taught the _visiter_ to lie, and was going to tunnel the mississippi. those were bright boys, and they had a jolly week. mr. shepley's card appeared, as per agreement, and thus far the terms of release for the printing company complied with, and the contract with the _dictator_ filled. but what next? had i actually given up the publication? of course i had. its finances were desperate, and what else could i do? what motive could i have for attempting to go on with it? oh, what a famous victory. the next publication day passed and no _visiter_. there was a dress parade of triumphant troops, and that most famous victory was bearing fruit. next day the _st. cloud democrat_ made its appearance, and i was sole editor and proprietor. into the first editorial column i copied verbatim, with a prominent heading, the article from the _visiter_ on which the libel suit was founded, and gave notice that i alone was pecuniarily responsible for all the injury that could possibly be done to the characters of all the men who might feel themselves aggrieved thereby. of the late _visiter_ i had an obituary; gave a short sketch of its stormy life; how it was insulted, overborne, enslaved; that it could not live a slave, and died in its new chains. it seems strange that those lawyers should have been so stupid, or should have accredited me with such amazing stupidity when they drew up that bond; but so it was, and the tables were completely turned. to sue me for libel was folly, for in st. paul or st. anthony i should have had the gratuitous services of the best legal talent in the state, and they and their case would have been ground into very small and dirty dust. no famous victory was ever before turned into a more total rout by a more simple ambush, and by it i won the clear field necessary to the continuance of my work. i still had protection from physical violence, but had no fear of legal molestation, and after the next fall election, border ruffianism fell into such disrepute in st. cloud that loaded guns seemed no longer necessary to sustain the freedom of the press. chapter xli. state and national politics. when _the st. cloud democrat_ began its career as the organ of the republican party in northern minnesota, the central and southern portions of the state were fairly supplied with republican papers, the conductors all being more or less skillful in the art of plowing and sowing the political field; but with no very bright prospect of harvesting a victory. under the lowrie dictatorship of the north, it is difficult to see how the success of a republican could have been made possible, any more than giving the electoral vote of southern republican states to the republican candidate in . to overthrow that dictatorship was the work i had volunteered to do, and in doing it, my plan was to "plow deep," subsoil to the beam. preachers held men accountable to god for their sunday services, but it was my aim to urge the divine claim to obedience, all the rest of the week. i held that election day was of all others, the lord's day. he instituted the first republic. all the training which moses gave the jews was to fit them for self-government, and at his death the choice of their rulers was left with them and they were commanded to "choose men, fearing god and hating covetousness, and set them to rule over you." for no creed, no form of worship, no act of his life, is a man more directly responsible to god, than for casting his vote or the non-fulfillment of that duty. when the nominations were made for the second state election in , gen. lowrie had lost ground so fast that he needed the indorsement of his party. this was given in his nomination for lieut. governor. the republicans nominated ignatius donnelly, a fiery young orator, who took the stump, and was not deterred by any super-refinement from making the most of his opponent's reputation as the stealthy destroyer of a printing office, because he had made a bad bargain in buying its editor. he and the party which had made his methods its own by nominating him, were held up to the most unmerciful ridicule. the canvass seemed to turn on the indorsement or repudiation of border-ruffianism, press-breaking, woman-mobbing. my _personnel_ had then become familiar to the people of the state, and the large man who instituted a mob to suppress a woman of my size, and then failed, was not a suitable leader for american men, even if they were democrats. the death-knell of democratic rule in minnesota was rung in that election. the whole republican state ticket was elected, with gov. ramsey at its head, and he was the first governor to tender troops to president lincoln for the suppression of the rebellion. the result was gratifying, although our own county, stearns, was overwhelmingly democratic, and must remain so, since the great mass of the people were catholics. however, the election of the state ticket was largely due to the personal popularity of gov. ramsey, and this could not be depended upon for a lasting arrangement, so i spent the winter following lecturing through the state, sowing seed for the coming presidential campaign. i never spoke in public during an election excitement, never advocated on the platform the claims of any particular man, but urged general principles. stephen miller was our st. cloud delegate to the chicago convention which nominated mr. lincoln, led the canvass in the state, as the most efficient speaker and was chairman of the electoral college. his prominent position in the border ruffian war added largely to his popularity in the state, and once more that little printing office under the grand old trees was plunged into politics; this time into an election on which hung the destinies of the nation. how that election was carried on in other states i know not, but in minnesota the banner of republicanism and human freedom was borne aloft over a well fought field. there was not much surface work. men struggled for the right against the old despotism of might, and planted their cause on foundations more enduring than minnesota granite itself. yet, even then, the opposition of the garrisonians was most persistent. there was a large anti-slavery element among the original settlers of minnesota, but it was mostly of the garrisonian or non-voting type, and had lain dormant under pro-slavery rule. to utilize this element at the polls was my special desire. the ground occupied by them was the one i had abandoned, _i.e._, the ground made by the covenanters when the constitution first appeared. they pronounced it "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell," and would not vote or hold office under it; would not take an oath to support it. so firmly had garrison planted himself on the old covenanter platform, that it is doubtful whether he labored harder for the overthrow of slavery or political anti-slavery; whether he more fiercely denounced slave-holders or men who voted against slave-holding. once after a "flaming" denunciation of political abolitionists, some one said to him: "mr. garrison, i am surprised at the ground you take! do you not think james g. birney and gerrit smith are anti-slavery?" he hesitated, and replied: "they have anti-slavery tendencies, i admit." now, james g. birney, when a young man, fell heir to the third of an alabama estate, and arranged with the other heirs to take the slaves as his portion. he took them all into a free state, emancipated them, and left himself without a dollar, but went to work and became the leader of political abolitionists, while gerrit smith devoted his splendid talents and immense wealth to the cause of the slave. when their mode of action was so reprehensible to mr. garrison, we may judge the strength of his opposition to that plan of action which resulted in the overthrow of slavery. his non-resistance covered ballots as well as bullets, and slavery, the creation of brute force and ballots, must not be attacked by any weapon, save moral suasion. so it was, that garrisonianism, off the line of the underground railroad, was a rather harmless foe to slavery, and was often used by it to prevent the casting of votes which would endanger its power. from the action of the slave power, it must by that time have been apparent to all, that adverse votes was what it most dreaded; but old-side covenanters, quakers, and garrisonians could not cast these without soiling their hands by touching that bad constitution. but that moral _dilettanteism_, which thinks first of its own hands, was not confined to non-voting abolitionists; for the "thorough goers" of the old liberty party, could not come down from their perch on platforms which embraced all the moralities, to work on one which only said to slavery "not another foot of territory." both these parties attacked me. the one argued that i, of necessity, endorsed slavery every where by recognizing the constitution; the other that i must favor its existence where it then was, by working with the republican party, which was only pledged to prevent its extension. to me, these positions seemed utterly untenable, their arguments preposterous, and i did my best to make this appear. i claimed the constitution as anti-slavery, and taught the duty of overthrowing slavery by and through it, but no argument which i used did half the service of an illustration which came to me: i had a little garden in which the weeds did grow, and little bobbie miller had a little broken hoe. when i went into my garden to cut the weeds away, i took up bobbie's little hoe to help me in the fray. if that little hoe were wanting, i'd take a spoon or fork, or any other implement, but always keep at work. if any one would send me a broader, sharper hoe, i'd use it on those ugly weeds and cut more with one blow; but till i got a better hoe, i'd work away with bobbie's. i'd ride one steady-going nag, and not a dozen hobbies; help any man or boy, or fiend to do what needed doing, and only stop when work came up which done would call for ruing. this conceit struck popular fancy as plain argument could not have done, and the republican party came to be called "robbie miller's hoe "--an imperfect means of reaching a great end, and one that any one might use without becoming responsible for its imperfections. during the heat of that lincoln campaign, galusha a. grow, then speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, came to st. cloud to speak, and found me ill with quinsy; but i went to the meeting. it was held in wilson's hall, which was on the second floor of a frame building, and was so packed that before he began fears were felt lest the floors should give way. but the speaker told the audience that the floor would "hold still" if they did; and any one who felt uneasy had better leave now. no one left, and for two hours and a half he held that packed assembly in close and silent attention. he was very popular on the frontier on account of his homestead bill, yet the hall was surrounded all the time he spoke by a howling democratic mob, who hurled stones against the house, fired guns, shouted and yelled, trying to drown his voice. to make it more interesting and try to draw out the audience, they made a huge bonfire and burned me in effigy as-- "the mother of the republican party." the result of that campaign is known, for in it minnesota was made so thoroughly republican that the party must needs split, in order to got rid of its supremacy. chapter xlii. religious controversies. the _st. cloud democrat_ found in orthodoxy a foe almost as powerful and persistent as slavery itself. in a local controversy about dancing, i recommended that amusement as the only substitute for lascivious plays, and this was eagerly seized upon by those who saw nothing wrong in wholesale concubinage of the south. a fierce attack was made on _the democrat_ by a zealous baptist minister; to which i replied, when it was announced and proclaimed that on a certain sabbath, at a.m., this minister would answer _the democrat_. at the appointed hour the house overflowed, and people crowded around the doors and windows, while gen. lowrie occupied a prominent seat in the audience. it surely was an odd sight to see that preacher mount the stand, carrying an open copy of _the democrat_, lay it down beside the bible, and read verse about from the two documents. the sermon was as odd as the text. it disposed of me by the summary mode of denunciation, but also disposed of david, solomon and miriam at the same time. when i gave the discourse a careful scriptural criticism, i carried the community, and was strengthened by the controversy. but another, more serious and general dispute was at hand. when theodore parker died, the orthodox press from maine to georgia, handed him over to satan to be tormented; and then my reputation for heresy reached its flood-tide. rev. john renwick, one of our covenanter martyrs, was my ideal of a christian, and when he lay in the edinburg prison under sentence of death, his weeping friends begged him to conform and save his life. they said to him: "dinna ye think that we, who ha' conformit may be saved?" "aye, aye. god forbid that i should limit his grace." "an' dinna ye think, ye too could be saved and conform?" "oh, aye aye. the blood of christ cleanseth fra all sin." "weel, what mair do ye want, than the salvation o' yer saul?" "mair, mickle mair! i want to honor my master, and bear witness to the truth." to satisfy this want, he died a felon's death. the central idea of that old hero-making westminster theology was, that man's chief end is to glorify god first, and enjoy him forever when that is done. in all the religious training of my youth, i had never heard the term "seek salvation." we were to seek the privilege of serving god; yet i was willing to be dead-headed into heaven, with the rest of the presbyterians. a protestant episcopal convention had pointedly refused to advise members of that church to respect the marriage relation among their slaves, and so had dimmed the elizabethian glory of a church which once stood for freedom so nobly that the winds and waves became her allies, and crowned her with victory. the general assembly had laid the honor of its martyrs in the dust by endorsing human slavery; and i must be false to every conviction if i did not protest against calling that christianity which held out crowns of glory to man-thieves and their abettors, and everlasting torments to those who had spent their lives glorifying god and bearing witness to the truth. my defense of parker and unwillingness to have all unitarians sent to the other side of the great gulf, won for me a prominent place among those whom the churches pronounced "infidels." but there came a time when "providence" seemed to be on the side of the slave. rev. j. calhoun was a highly-cultured gentleman, a presbyterian clergyman, and one of those urbane men who add force and dignity to any opinion. his wife was gen. lowrie's only sister. he preached gratuitously in st. cloud, and border ruffianism and slavery gained respectability through their connection, when he and his wife made that fatal plunge off the bridge in st. cloud--a plunge which sent a thrill of horror through the land. i accompanied my sympathetic, respectful obituary notice, with the statement that the costly cutter wrecked, and the valuable horse instantly killed, were both purchased with money obtained by the sale of a woman and her child, who had been held as slaves in minnesota, in defiance of her law, and been taken by this popular divine to a tennessee auction block. the accident was entirely owing to the unprecedented and unaccountable behavior of that horse, and people shuddered with a new horror on being reminded of the price which had been paid for him--bodies and souls of two citizens and the honor of that free state. chapter xliii. frontier life. the culture which the pale faces introduced into that land of the dakotas was sometimes curious. the first sermon i heard there was preached in rockville--a town-site on the sauk, twelve miles from its confluence with the mississippi--in a store-room of which the roof was not yet shingled. the only table in the town served as a pulpit; the red blankets from one wagon were converted into cushions for the front pews, which consisted of rough boards laid on trussles. there was only one hymn book, and after reading the hymn, the preacher tendered the book to any one who would lead the singing, but no one volunteered. my scruples about psalms seemed to vanish, so i went forward, took the book, lined out the hymn, and started a tune, which was readily taken up and sung by all present. we were well satisfied with what the day brought us, as we rode home past those wonderful granite rocks which spring up out of the prairie, looking like old hay-ricks in a meadow. there were people in our frontier town who would have graced any society, and with the elasticity of true culture adapted themselves to all circumstances. at my residence, which adjoined the _democrat_ office, i held fortnightly receptions, at which dancing was the amusement, and coffee and sandwiches the refreshments. at one of these, i had the honor to entertain gov. ramsey, lieut.-gov. donnelly, state treas. shaeffer, and a large delegation from st. paul; but not having plates for seventy people, i substituted squares of white printing paper. when gov. ramsey received his, he turned it over, and said: "what am i to do with this?" "that is the ticket you are to vote," was the answer. in our social life there was often a weird mingling of civilization and barbarism. upon one occasion, a concert was given, in which the audience were in full dress, and all evening in the principal streets of st. cloud a lot of chippewas played foot-ball with the heads of some sioux, with whom they had been at war that day. in those days, brains and culture were found in shanties. the leaders of progress did not shrink from association with the rude forces of savages and mother nature. st. cloud was the advance post of that march of civilization by which the northern pacific railroad has since sought to reach the sascatchewan, a territory yet to be made into five wheat-growing states as large as illinois. all the hudson bay goods from europe passed our doors, in wagons or on sleds, under the care of the burbanks, the great mail carriers and express men of minnesota, and once they brought a young lady who had come by express from glasgow, scotland, and been placed under the charge of their agent at new york, and whom they handed over to the officer she had come to marry on the shores of hudson bay. but their teams usually came east with little freight, as the furs sent to europe came down in carts, not one of which had so much iron as a nail in them, and which came in long, creaking trains, drawn by oxen or indian ponies. in each train there was generally one gorgeous equipage--a cart painted blue, with a canvas cover, drawn by one large white ox in raw-hide harness. in this coach of state rode the lady of the train--who was generally a half-breed--on her way to do her shopping in st. paul. once the lady was a full-blooded indian, and had her baby with her, neatly dressed and strapped to a board. a bandage across the forehead held the head in place, and every portion of the body was as secure as board and bandages could make them, except the arms from the elbow down, but no danger of the little fellow sucking his thumb. his lady mamma did not have to hold him, for he was stood up in a corner like a cane or umbrella, and seemed quite comfortable as well as content. she had traveled seven weeks, had come seventeen hundred miles to purchase some dresses and trinkets, and would no doubt be a profitable customer to st. paul merchants, for the lady of the train was a person of wealth and authority, always the wife of the commander-in-chief, and her sentence of death might have been fatal to any man in it. in these trains were always found indians filling positions as useful laborers, for the english government never gave premiums for idleness and vagabondism among indians, by feeding and clothing them without effort on their own part. their dexterity in turning griddle cakes, by shaking the pan and giving it a jerk which sent the cake up into the air and brought it down square into the pan other side up, would have made biddy's head whirl to see. the "gov. ramsey" was the first steamboat which ran above the falls of st. anthony, and in the spring of ' she was steamed and hawsered up the sauk rapids, and ran two hundred miles, until the falls of pokegamy offered insurmountable barriers to further progress. it was thought impossible to get her down again, there was no business for her, and she lay useless until, the next winter, anson northup took out her machinery and drew it across on sleds to the red river of the north, where it was built into the first steamboat which ever ran on that river. before starting on his expedition, mr. northup came to the _democrat_ office to leave an advertisement and ask me to appeal to the public for aid in provisions and feed to be furnished along the route. he was in a buffalo suit, from his ears to his feet, and looked like a bale of furs. on his head he wore a fox skin cap with the nose lying on the two paws of the animal just between his eyes, the tail hanging down between his shoulders. he was a brave, strong man, and carried out his project, which to most people was wild. nothing seemed more important than the cultivation of health for the people, and to this i gave much earnest attention, often expressed in the form of badinage. there were so many young housekeepers that there was much need of teachers. i tried to get the new england women to stop feeding their families on dough--especially hot soda dough--and to substitute well-baked bread as a steady article of diet. in trying to wean them from cake, i told of a time when chaos reigned on earth, long before the days of the mastodons, but even then, new england women were up making cake, and would certainly be found at that business when the last trump sounded. but they bore with my "crotchets" very patiently, and even seemed to enjoy them. chapter xliv. printers. the printer's case used to be one of the highways to editorial and congressional honors; but the little fellows of the craft invented a machine which goes over it like a "header" over a wheat-field and leaves a dead level of stalks, all minus the heads, so that no tall fellows are left to shame them by passing on from the "stick" to the tripod or speaker's mallet. their great union rolling-pin flattens them all out like pie-crust, and tramps are not overshadowed by the superiority of industrious men. but the leveling process makes impassable mountains and gorges in other walks of life--makes it necessary that a publisher with one hundred readers must pay as much for type-setting as he with a hundred thousand. the salary of editors and contributors may vary from nothing to ten thousand a year; but through all mutations of this life, the printer's wages must remain in _statu quo_. so the union kills small papers, prevents competition in the newspaper business, builds up monster establishments, and keeps typos at the case forever and a day. i knew when the _visiter_ started that it could not live and pay for type-setting the same price as paid by the new york _tribune_, and the day the office became mine, i stated that fact to the printers, who took their hats and left. in ' , i had spent some part of every day for two weeks in a composing room, and with the knowledge then acquired, i, in ' started the business of practical printer. i took a proof of my first stick, and lo, it read from right to left. i distributed that, but had to mark the stick that i might remember. the first day i took two boys as apprentices. first, wesley miller, who had spent two months in a harrisburg office, and knew something of the art, but did not like anything about it except working the press. second, my nephew, william b. mitchell, who was thirteen, knew nothing of types, but was a model of patient industry. our magnanimous printers hung around hotels, laughing at the absurdity of this amateur office. we might set type, but when it came to making and locking up a form, ha, ha, wouldn't there be sport? that handsome new type would all be a mess of pi, then somebody would be obliged to come to their terms or st. cloud would be without a paper. it was their great opportunity to display their interest in the general welfare, and they embraced it to the full; but of the little i had learned in that short apprenticeship six years ago, i retained a clear conception of the principles of justification by works. i brought these to bear on those forms, made them up, locked them, and sent for stephen miller to carry them to the press, when each one lifted like a paving stone; but alas, alas, the columns read from right to left. i unlocked them, put the matter back in the galleys, made them up new, and we had the paper off on time. from that time until the first of january, ' , i carried on the business of practical printer, issued a paper every week, did a large amount of job work, was city and county printer for half a dozen counties, did all the legal advertising, published the tax lists, and issued extras during the indian massacres. chapter xlv. the rebellion. when, after mr. lincoln's election, the south made the north understand that her threats of disunion meant something more than "tin kettle thunder," there was little spirit of compromise among the republicans and douglas democrats of minnesota, who generally looked with impatience on the abject servility with which northern men in congress begged their southern masters not to leave them, with no slaves to catch, no peculiar institution to guard. i was in favor of not only permitting the southern states to leave the union, but of driving them out of it as we would drive tramps out of a drawing room. _put_ them out! and open every avenue for the escape of their slaves. but from that spirit of conciliation with which the north first met, secession, the change was sudden. the fire on sumter lit an actual flame of freedom, and the people were ready then to wipe slavery from the whole face of the land. when gen. fremont issued his famous order confiscating the slaves of rebels in arms, i was in receipt of a large exchange list, and have never seen such unanimity on any subject. i think there were but two papers which offered an objection; but this land was not worthy to do a generous deed. so, president lincoln rescinded that order, and the great rushing stream of popular enthusiasm was dammed, turned back to flow into the dismal swamp of constitutional quibbles and statutory inventions. there it lay, and bred reptiles and miasmas to sting and poison the guilty inhabitants of this great land; and never since have we been permitted to reach an enthusiasm in favor of any great principle; for history has no record of a great act so thoroughly divested of all greatness by the meanness of the motive, as is our "act of emancipation." long after the war was in progress, the old habit of yielding precedence to the south manifested itself so strongly as to sour and disgust the staunchest republicans. the only two important military appointments given by mr. lincoln's administration to st. cloud were given to two southern democrats, officeholders under buchanan and supporters of breckinridge, the southern candidate for president in ' . in the autumn of ' , i asked a farmer to take out and post bills for a meeting to send delegates to the county convention. he had been an active worker in the campaign of ' , had never sought an office, and i was surprised when he declined so small a service, but his explanation was this: "if the democrats win the election, the democrats will get the offices. if the republicans win the election, the democrats will get the offices, and i don't see but we may as well let them win the election." when i explained that the more false others were to a party or principle, the more need there was for him to be true, he took the bills and managed the meeting; but running a republican ticket under a republican administration was not so easy as running the same ticket under buchanan. then men had hope and enthusiasm, but this was killed by a victory through which the enemy was made to triumph. as gov. ramsey was the first to tender troops to president lincoln for the suppression of the rebellion, so the men of minnesota were among the first to organize and drill. stephen miller raised a company in st. cloud, with it joined the first regiment at ft. snelling, and was appointed lieut. col. we went to ft. snelling to see our first regiment embark. it was a grand sight to see the men in red shirts and white havelocks march down that rocky, winding way, going to their southern graves, for very few of them ever returned. more troops were called for, and two companies formed in st. cloud. while they waited under marching orders, they and the citizens were aroused at two o'clock one morning by the cry from the east side of the river of, "indians, indians." a boat was sent over and brought a white-lipped messenger, with the news of the sioux massacre at ft. ridgley. chapter xlvi. platforms. my first public speech was the revelation of a talent hidden in a napkin, and i set about putting it to usury. i wrote a lecture--"women and politics"--as a reason for my anomalous position and a justification of those men who had endorsed my right to be a political leader, and gave sketches of women in sacred and profane history who had been so endorsed by brave and wise men. the lecture gave an account of the wrongs heaped upon women by slavery, as a reason why women were then called upon for special activity, and i never failed to "bring down the house" by describing the scene in which the tall kentuckian proposed to the tall pennsylvanian that he should horsewhip an old woman one hundred and two times, to compel her to earn two hundred dollars with which his mightiness might purchase havana cigars, gold chains, etc., or to elicit signs of shame by relating the fact of the united states government proposing to withdraw diplomatic relations with austria for whipping hungarian women for political offenses, while woman-whipping was the principal industry of our american chivalry. i stated that men had sought to divide this world into two fields--religion and politics. in the first, they were content that their mothers and wives should dwell with them, but in the second, no kid slipper was ever to be set. horace mann had warned women to stand back, saying: "politics is a stygian pool." i insisted that politics had reached this condition through the permit given to satan to turn all the waste water of his mills into that pool; that this grant must be rescinded and the pool drained at all hazards. indeed the emergency was such that even women might handle shovels. chicago had once been in a swamp, but the city fathers had lifted it six feet. politicians must "raise the grade," must lift their politics the height of a man, and make them a habitation for men, not reptiles. at this an audience would burst into uproarous applause. as for the grand division, no surveyor could find the line; for no line was possible between religion and politics. the attempt to divide them is an assumption that there is some part of the universe in which the lord is not law-giver. the fathers of the republic had explored and found a country they thought was outside the divine jurisdiction, and called it politics. because old world government had bowed to popes and prelates, they would ignore deity, and say to omnipotence what canute did to the sea: "thus far shalt thou go but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." but god laughed them to scorn, and would certainly dash them to pieces. the government which they had set up like the golden image of nebuchadnezzer, and demanded that all should bow before it, this same government was bound to sustain men in scourging women for chastity. every man who voted a democratic ticket voted to put down as insurrection any attempt to stand between the cradle and its robber. i never spoke of the st. cloud trouble--there was too much else to talk about. i was seldom interrupted by anything but applause; but in stillwater i was hissed for denouncing buchanan's administration. i waited a moment, then lowered my voice, and said i had raised a good many goslings, and thought i had left them all in pennsylvania, but found some had followed me, and was sorry to have no corn for them. there was no further interruption. i was at that time the guest of a son of my pittsburg friend, judge mcmillan, who led the singing in our church, and with whom i expect to sing "st. thomas" in heaven. my host of that evening afterwards became u.s. senator from minnesota. a considerable portion of three winters i traveled in minnesota and lectured, one day riding thirty miles in an open cutter when the mercury was frozen and the wind blew almost a gale. have crossed houseless prairies between midnight and morning, with only a stage driver, and i never encountered a neglect or a rudeness: but found gentlemen in red flannel shirts and their trowsers stuffed into the tops of their boots, who had no knowledge of grammar, and who would, i think, have sold their lives dearly in my defense. late in ' or early in ' , i lectured in mantorville, and was the guest of mr. bancroft, editor of the _express_, when he handed me a copy of the new york _tribune_, pointed to an item, and turned away. it was a four line announcement that he who had been my husband had obtained a divorce on the ground of desertion. i laid down the paper, looked at my hands, and thought: "once more you are mine. true, the proceeds of your twenty years of brick-making are back there in egypt with your lost patrimony, but we are over the red sea, out in the free desert; no pursuit is possible, and if bread fails, god will send manna." while i sat, mrs. bancroft came to me, caressed me, and said: "old things have passed away, and all things have become new." chapter xlvii. out into the world and home again. in my first lecturing winter i spoke in the hall of representatives, st. paul, to a large audience, and succeeded past all my hopes. i spoke there again in the winter of ' and ' , on the anti-slavery question, and in a public hall on "woman's legal disabilities." both were very successful, and i was invited to give the latter lecture before the senate, which i did. the hall was packed and the lecture received with profound attention, interrupted by hearty applause. the senate was in session, and gen. lowrie occupied his seat as a member. it was a great fall for him to tumble from his dictatorship to so small an honor. he sat and looked at me like one in a dream, and i could not but see that he was breaking. i hoped he would come up with others when they began to crowd around me, but he did not. i had come to be the looked-at of all lookers; the talked-of of all talkers; was the guest of geo. a. nurse, the u.s. attorney, dined with the governor, and was praised by the press. i was dubbed the "fanny kemble of america," and reminded critics of the then greatest shylock of the stage. a judge from ohio said there was "not a man in the state who could have presented that case (woman's legal disabilities) so well." indeed, i was almost as popular as if i were about to be hanged! a responsible eastern lecture-agent offered me one hundred dollars each for three lectures, one in milwaukee, one in chicago and one in cleveland. i wanted to accept, but was overruled by friends, who thought me too feeble to travel alone, and that i would make more by employing an agent. they selected a pious gentleman, whose name i have forgotten, and we left st. paul at four o'clock one winter morning, in a prairie schooner on bob-sleds, to ride to la crosse. one of the passengers was a pompous southerner, who kept boasting of the "buck niggers" he had sold and the "niggers" he had caught, and his delight in that sort of work. his talk was aimed at me, but he did not address me, and for hours i took no notice; then, after an unusual explosion, i said quietly: "can you remember, sir, just exactly how many niggers you have killed and eaten in your day?" he looked out on the river and seemed to begin a calculation, but must have found the lists of his exploits too long for utterance, for he had spoken not another word when we reached la crosse, where we took cars for madison, wisconsin. we reached that beautiful city of lakes in time to meet news of the ft. donelson fatal victory; that victory made so much worse than a hundred defeats by the return to their masters of the slaves who remained in the fort and claimed the protection of our flag--the victory which converted the great loyal army of the north into a gang of slave-catchers. alas, my native land! all hope for the preservation of the government died out in my heart. what could a just god want with such a people? what could he do but destroy them? that victory was celebrated in madison with appropriate ceremonies. men got drunk and cursed "niggers and abolitionists," sat up all night in noisy orgies drinking health and success to him who was the synonym of american glory. the excitement and sudden revulsion against abolitionists with the total incompetence of my agent, caused a financial failure of my lecture, but i made pleasant friendships with gov. harvey, prof. carr and their wives. i started along the route we had come, and everywhere, in cars, hotels, men were hurrahing for grant and cursing "niggers and abolitionists." the hero had healed the breach between the loving brothers of the north and south, who were to rush into each others arms across the prostrate form of liberty. thank god for the madness of the south; for that sublime universal government which maketh "the wrath of man to praise him." even in that hour of triumph for despotism, i did not doubt but freedom would march on until no slave contaminated the earth; but before that march this degraded government must share the fate of that other babylon, which once dealt "in slaves and souls of men." my first small town lecture was another financial failure, and in the hall i paid and dismissed that highly respectable incubus--my agent. that night i slept in a hotel, and going to a bed which had not been properly ventilated, wondered if it could be my duty to breast that storm of popular frenzy. could i at any time be required to drink tea out of a coarse delf cup and sleep in such a bed? luxuries i wanted none; but a china cup, silver spoon and soft blankets were necessaries of life. as i lay, uncertain always whether i slept, i seemed to sit on a projecting rock on the side of a precipice draped with poisonous vines. there was no spot on which i could place my feet, while out of holes, snakes hissed at me, and on ledges panthers glared at me with their green fiery eyes, and the tips of their tails wagging. far below lay a lovely green valley, walled on both sides by these haunted precipitous banks, but stretching up and down until lost in vista. i knew that to the right was north--the direction of home; and to the left, south--the way out into the great unknown. if i could only reach that lovely valley and the clear stream which ran through it; but this was a vain longing, until there appeared in it a young man in a grey suit and soft broad-brimmed black felt hat. he came up the precipice toward me, and a way made itself before him, until he held up his hand, and said: "come down!" i saw his face, and knew it was christ. after seeing that face, all the conceptions of all the artists are an offense. moreover, the christ of to-day, in the person of his follower, has often come to me in the garb of a working man, but never in priestly robes. he led me down the precipice without a word, pointed northward and said: "walk in the valley and you will be safe." he was gone, and i became conscious that i had been seeking popularity, money, and these were not for me; i must go home, but first i would try to repair the loss incurred by that agent. i lectured in a small town, a nucleus of a seven day baptist settlement, and was the guest of the proprietor, who had built a great many concrete walls. coming out into a heavy wind, i took acute inflammation of the lungs. my hostess gave me every attention; but i must go home for my symptoms were alarming, so took the train the next morning, with my chest in wet compresses, a viol of aconite in my pocket, and was better when by rail and schooner i reached the house of the good samaritan, judge wilson, of winona. here i was made whole, lectured in winona and other towns, and got back to st. paul with more money than when i left. i started for home one morning in a schooner. at one the next morning our craft settled down and refused to go farther. the snow was three feet deep; it had been raining steadily for twelve hours, and when the men got out to pry out the runners, they went down, down, far over their knees. the driver and express agent were booted for such occasions, but the two germans were not. myself, "these four and no more," were down in the book of fate for a struggle with inertia. it was muscle and mind against matter. to the muscle i contributed nothing, but might add something to the common stock of mind. the agent, and driver concluded that he should take a horse and go to the nearest house, two miles back, to get shovels to dig us out. i asked if there were fresh horses and men at the house. "no." "how far is it to st. cloud?" "six miles." "are there fresh horses and men there?" "oh, plenty." "if you dig us out here, how long will it be before we go in again?" this they did not know. "then had not the driver better go to st. cloud with both horses? the horse left here would be ruined standing in that slush." "but, madam," said the agent, "if we do that we will have to leave you here all night." "well," i said, "i do not see how you are going to get rid of me." so the driver started with the two horses on that dreadful journey; had i known how dreadful, i should have tried to keep him till morning. as he left, i made the germans draw off their boots and pour out the water, rub their chilled feet and roll them up in a buffalo robe. the agent lay on his box, i cuddled in a corner, and we all went to sleep to the music of the patter of the soft rain on our canvas cover. at sunrise we were waked by a little army of men and horses and another schooner, into which we passed by bridge. we reached st. cloud in time for breakfast, and were greeted by the news that general lowrie had been sent home insane. he was confined in his own house, and his much envied young wife, with her two babies, had become an object of pity. chapter xlviii. the aristocracy of the west. before going to minnesota, i had the common cooper idea of the dignity and glory of the noble red man of the forest; and was especially impressed by his unexampled faithfulness to those pale-faces who had ever been so fortunate as to eat salt with him. in planning my hermitage, i had pictured the most amicable relations with those unsophisticated children of nature, who should never want for salt while there was a spoonful in my barrel. i should win them to friendships as i had done railroad laborers, by caring for their sick children, and aiding their wives. indeed, i think the indians formed a large part of the attractions of my cabin by the lakes; and it required considerable time and experience to bring me to any true knowledge of the situation, which was, and is, this: between the indian and white settler, rages the world-old, world-wide war of hereditary land-ownership against those who beg their brother man for leave to live and toil. william penn disclaimed the right of conquest as a land title, while he himself held an english estate based on that title, and while every acre of land on the globe was held by it. he could not recognize that title in english hands, but did in the hands of indians, and while pretending to purchase of them a conquest title, perpetrated one of the greatest swindles on record since that by which jacob won the birthright of his starving brother. this penn swindle has been so carefully cloaked that it has become the basis of our whole indian policy, the legitimate parent of a system never equalled on earth for crime committed with the best intentions. it intends to be especially just, by holding that the creator made north america for the exclusive use of savages, and that civilization can only exist here by sufferance of the proprietors. this sufferance it tries to purchase by engaging to support these proprietors in absolute idleness, from the proceeds of the toil they license, even as kings and other landed aristocrats are supported by the labor of their subjects and tenants. as the successors of the tent-maker of tarsus have for thirteen centuries been found on the side of aristocrats in every contest with plebians, so the piety of the east, controlled by men who live without labor, was and is on the side of the royal red man, who has a most royal contempt for plows, hoes and all other degrading implements. the same community of interests which arrayed the mass of the clergy on the side of southern slaveholders, arrayed that same clergy on the side of the western slave holder, and against the men who seek, with plows and hoes, to get a living out of the ground. under this arrangement we have the spectacle of a christian people arrayed in open hostility to those who plant christian churches, schools and libraries on the lair of the wolf; and in alliance with the savage who coolly unjoints the feet and hands of little children, puts them in his hunting pouch as evidence of his valor, and leaves the victim to die at leisure; of those who thrust christian babies into ovens, and deliberately roast them to death; of those who bind infants, two by two, by one wrist, and throw them across a fence to die; of those who collect little children in groups and lock them up in a room, to wail out their little lives; of those who commit outrages on innocent men and women who the pen must forever refuse to record. the apology with which piety converts the crimes of its pets into virtues, is that its own agents have failed to carry out its own contract with its own friends. the men and women who take their lives in their hands to lead the westward march of civilization, are held as foes by the main body of the army, who conspire with the enemy, and hand them over as scapegoats whose tortures and death are to appease divine wrath for the crimes which this same main body say it has itself committed against indians. no one pretends that western settlers have injured indians, but eastern philanthropists, through the government they control, have, according to their own showing, been guilty of no end of frauds; and as they do not, and cannot, stop the stealing, they pay their debts to the noble red man by licensing him to outrage women, torture infants and burn homes. when gold is scarce in the east, they substitute scalps and furnish indians with scalping-knives by the thousand, that they may collect their dues at their own convenience. this may seem to-day a bitter partisan accusation, but it must be the calm verdict of history when this comes to be written by impartial pens. under the pretense that america belonged, in fee simple, and by special divine right, to that particular hoard of savages, who, by killing off some other hoard of savages, were in possession when columbus first saw the great west, the eastern states, which had already secured their land by conquest, have become more implacable foes to civilization than the savages themselves. the quaker would form no alliance with southern slave-holders. he recoiled from the sale of women and children in south carolina, but covered with his gray mantle of charity the slave trade in minnesota. when a settler refused to exchange his wife or daughter with an indian for a pony, and that indian massacred the whole family to repair his wrongs, his quaker lawyer justified the act on the score of extreme provocation, and won triumphal acquittal from the jury of the world. when the sioux, after the bull run disaster, arose as the allies of the south, and butchered one thousand men, women and children in minnesota, the quakers and other good people flew to arms in their defense, and carried public sentiment in their favor. the agents of the eastern people had delayed the payment of annuity three weeks, and then insulted mr. lo by tendering him one-half his money in government bonds, and for this great wrong the peaceable quaker, the humanitarian unitarian, the orthodox congregationalist and presbyterian, the enthusiastic methodist and staid baptist, felt it but right mr. lo should have his revenge. most eastern christians are opposed to polygamy in utah, and fourierism in france, but in minnesota among indians these institutions are sacred. they demanded that england should by law prohibit widow-burning and other heathen customs in india, but nothing so rude as statutes must interfere with the royal privileges of these western landlords. if by gentle means mr. lo can be persuaded to stop taking all the wives he can get, extorting their labor by the cudgel, and selling them and their children at will, all well and good! millions are expended on the persuading business, and prayer poured out like the rains in noah's flood, without any perceptible effect; but still they keep on paying and praying, and carefully abstain from all means at all likely to accomplish the desired result. all the property of every tribe must be held in common, so that there can possibly be no incentive to industry and economy; but if the indian refuse to be civilized on that plan, he must go on taking scalps and being excused, until extermination solve the problem. long before i saw an indian on his native soil, the u.s. government had spent millions in carrying out this penn policy. for long years, indians had sat like crows, watching the white farmers and artisans sent to teach them industry, and had grunted their honest contempt. they watched the potato planting, that they might pick out the seed for present use. they pulled down fences, and turned their ponies into the growing crops, used the rails for fire wood, burned mills and houses built for them, rolled barrels of flour up steep acclivities, started them down and shouted to see them leap and the flour spurt through the staves; knocked the heads out of other barrels, and let the ponies eat the flour; poured bags of corn on the ground when they wanted the bag, and in every way showed their contempt for the government, whose policy they believed to be the result of cowardice. thousands of dollars' worth of agricultural machinery lay "rotting in the sun" while the noble red aristocrat played poker in the shade; his original contempt for labor intensified by his power to extract a living from laborers, through their fear of his scalping knife. hole-in-the-day, the chippewa chief, had been educated by baptist missionaries, and was a good english scholar, but would not condescend to speak to the government except through an interpreter. for him six hundred acres of land had been fenced, and a large frame cottage built and painted white. in this he lived with six wives, and a united states salary of two thousand a year and his traveling expenses. he dressed like a white man, dined with state officers in st. paul, went to church with a lady on his arm, sat in a front pew, and was a highly distinguished gentleman of the scalping school. chapter xlix. the indian massacre of ' . the indians had been ugly from the first outbreak of the rebellion, and commissioner dole, with senator wilkinson, had come out to pacify them. the party passed through st. cloud, and had camped several miles west, when in the night there came up one of those sudden storms peculiar to this land. their tents were whisked away like autumn leaves, and they left clinging to such productions of mother nature as were at hand, well rooted in her bosom, to avoid a witches' dance in the air. but it grew worse when the rain had covered the level ground six inches deep in water, and they must keep their heads above the surface. they returned to st. cloud in the morning in sorry plight, and the delay was one of the injuries to the poor indians, and counted as sufficient justification for the subsequent massacre. the delay, however, saved their lives. the messenger who aroused the people of st. cloud in the small hours was traveling post after this dole commission, for whose safety there was much anxiety, but none for st. cloud, since the indians would not attack us while there were two companies of soldiers in town. true, they were unarmed, but surely arms would be sent and their marching orders rescinded. the outbreak was mysterious. it was of course in the interests of the south, and meant to prevent the troops leaving the state; but why had not the tribes struck together? the answer was that after the massacre had been arranged in council, two sioux visited a white family in which they had often been entertained, were drunk, and could not resist the impulse to butcher their entertainers. this precipitated the attack, for so soon as the news reached the tribe, they went to work to execute their bloody purpose. johnson, a converted chippewa, hurried to inform us that his tribe with hole-in-the-day in council had resolved to join the sioux and were to have made st. cloud their base of operations, but the sioux had broken out before the arms and ammunition came, and these they were hourly expecting. on the same day a formal message came from hole-in-the-day that commissioner dole must come to the reservation to confer with his young braves, who would await his arrival ten days, after which time their great chief declined to be responsible for them. a runner arrived from ft. abercrombie, who had escaped by crawling through the grass, and reported the fort besieged by a thousand savages, and quite unprepared for defense. there were several st. cloud people in the fort, and so far from expecting aid from it it must be relieved. the garrison at ft. ripley had not a man to spare for outside defense. people began to pour into st. cloud with tales of horror to freeze the blood, and the worst reports were more than confirmed. the victorious sioux had undisputed possession of the whole country west, southwest and northwest of us, up to within twelve miles of the city, and had left few people to tell tales. our troops spent their time teaching women and children the use of firearms, and hoping for arms and orders to go to the relief of abercrombie. there was no telegraph, and the last mail left no alternative but to start for fort snelling, with such short time to get there that every available man and horse must go to hurry them forward. they left in the afternoon, and that was a dreadful night. many of the more timid women had gone east, but of those that remained some paced the streets, wringing their hands and sobbing out their fear and despair and sorrow for the husbands and brothers and sons taken from them at such a crisis. when the troops left, we thought there were no more men in st. cloud, but next morning found a dozen, counting the boys, who were organized to go out west to the rescue of settlers, and still there were some guards and pickets, and some who did nothing but find fault with everything any one else did. men and women spoke with stiffened lips and blanched faces. families in the outskirts gathered to more central places, and there were forty-two women and children in my house the night after the troops left, and for every night for weeks. we kept large kettles of boiling water as one means of defense. i always had the watchword, and often at midnight i would go out to see that the pickets were on duty, and report to the women that all was well. brother harry was appointed general of state troops, succeeding gen. lowrie, and arms were sent to him for distribution, while women kept muskets by them and practiced daily. the office of my democratic contemporary was closed, and he fled to new england, while his assistant went with my only male assistant to rescue settlers. i had two young ladies in the office, one a graduate of a new york high school, and through all the excitement they kept at work as coolly as at any other time. we got out the paper regularly, and published many extras. the history of the horrors and heroisms which reached us during the six weeks in which ft. abercrombie held out until relief came, would make a volume, and cannot he written here. the unimaginable tortures and indecencies inflicted on brave men and good women, are something for which the christian supporters and excusers of the sioux must yet account at the bar where sentimental sympathy with criminals is itself a crime; and where the wail of tortured infants will not be hushed by reckoning of bad beef and a deficiency in beans. while the sioux sat in council to determine that butchery, some objected, on the ground that such crimes would be punished, but little crow, leader of the war party, quieted their fears by saying: "white man no like indian! indian catch white man, roast him, kill him! white man catch indian, feed him, give him blankets," and on this assurance they acted. one thing was clearly proven by that outbreak, viz.: that services to, and friendship for, indians, are the best means of incurring their revenge. those families who had been on most intimate terms with them, were those who were massacred first and with the greatest atrocities. the more frequently they had eaten salt with a pale-face, the more insatiable was their desire for vengeance. the missionaries were generally spared, as the source through which they expected pardon and supplies. the indian was much too cunning to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. the tribe do not object to the conversion of individuals. saying prayers does not interfere with their ideas of their own importance. preachers do not labor with their hands, and indians can join the clerical order or get religion, without losing caste, for labor to them is pollution. two wagon loads of arms and ammunition _en route_ for hole-in-the-day, were intercepted during the massacre, and for want of them he was induced to keep quiet. for being such a good indian, he had a triumphal trip to washington at government expense, got ten thousand dollars, and a seventh wife. chapter l. a missive and a mission. soon after the people had returned to such homes as were left them, i received a letter from general lowrie, who was then in an insane asylum in cincinnati. i caught his humor and answered as carefully as if he had been a sick brother, gave an extract in the _democrat_, accompanied by a notice, and sent him a copy; after which he wrote frequently, and i tried earnestly to soothe him. in one of his letters was this passage: "your quarrel and mine was all wrong. there was no one in that upper country capable of understanding you but me, no one capable of understanding me, but you. we should have been friends, and would have been, if we had not each had a self which we were all too anxious to defend." after the sioux had finished their work of horror, minnesota men, aided by volunteers from iowa and wisconsin, pursued and captured the murderers of one thousand men, women and children; tried them, found them guilty, and proposed to hang them just as if they had been white murderers. but when the general government interfered and took the prisoners out of the hands of the state authorities, and when it became evident that eastern people endorsed the massacre and condemned the victims as sinners who deserved their fate, one of the state officers proposed that i should go east, try to counteract the vicious public sentiment, and aid our congressional delegation in their effort to induce the administration either to hang the sioux murderers, or hold them as hostages during the war. to me this was a providential call, for i had been planning to make a home in the east, that our daughter, then old enough to live without me, might spend a portion of her time with her father. with letters from all our state officers, i left my minnesota home at four o'clock a.m., january nd, ' , leaving the _democrat_ in charge of my first apprentice, william b. mitchell. in washington, the minnesota delegation secured the use of dr. sutherland's church, and a packed audience for my lecture on indians. it was enthusiastically applauded, and for a time i did hope for some security for women and children on the frontier; but the secretary of the interior assured me it was not worth while to see the president, for "mr. lincoln will hang nobody!" and our minnesota delegation agreed with him. indeed, there was such a _furor_ of pious pity for the poor injured sioux, such admiration for their long suffering patience under wrong, and final heroic resistance, that i might about as well have tried to row myself from the head of goat island up the rapids of niagara, as stem that current. the ring which makes money by caudling indians, had the ear of both president and people, and the bureau had a paying contract in proving little crow's sagacity. the sioux never were so well supplied with blankets and butcher-knives, as when they received their reward for that massacre; never had so many prayers said and hymns sung over them, and their steamboat ride down the minnesota and mississippi and up the missouri, to a point within two days' walk of the scene of their exploits, furnished them an excursion of about two thousand miles, and left them well prepared for future operations. they appreciated their good fortune, have been a terror to united states troops and western settlers ever since, and have enjoyed their triumph to the full. one morning senator wilkinson and i went to see the president, and in the vestibule of the white house met two gentlemen whom he introduced as sec. stanton and gen. fremont. the first said he needed no introduction, and i said i had asked senator wilkinson to see him on my account. he replied: "do not ask any one to see me! if you want anything from me, come yourself. no one can have more influence." gen. fremont inquired where i was staying, and said he would call on me. this frightened me, and i felt like running away. but they were so kind and cordial that our short chat is a pleasant memory; but mr. wilkinson and i failed to see mr. lincoln. next day sec. stanton gave me an appointment in the quarter master general's office, but there was no place for me to go to work. gen. fremont called at the houses of two friends where i was visiting, but both times i was absent. in i had also missed the calls of his wife and sister, and so i seemed destined never to meet the people i admired above all others. my friends wished me to attend a presidential reception; but it was useless to see mr. lincoln on the business which brought me to washington, and i did not care to see him on any other. he had proved an obstructionist instead of an abolitionist, and i felt no respect for him; while his wife was every where spoken of as a southern woman with southern sympathies--a conspirator against the union. i wanted nothing to do with the occupants of the white house, but was told i could go and see the spectacle without being presented. so i went in my broadcloth traveling dress, and lest there should be trouble about my early leave-taking, would not trust my cloak to the servants, but walked through the hall with it over my arm. i watched the president and mrs. lincoln receive. his sad, earnest, honest face was irresistible in its plea for confidence, and mrs. lincoln's manner was so simple and motherly, so unlike that of all southern women i had seen, that i doubted the tales i had heard. her head was not that of a conspirator. she would be incapable of a successful deceit, and whatever her purposes were, they must be known to all who knew her. mr. lincoln stood going through one of those, dreadful ordeals of hand-shaking, working like a man pumping for life on a sinking vessel, and i was filled with indignation for the selfish people who made this useless drain on his nervous force. i wanted to stand between him and them, and say, "stand back, and let him live and do his work." but i could not resist going to him with the rest of the crowd, and when he took my hand i said: "may the lord have mercy on you, poor man, for the people have none." he laughed heartily, and the men around him, joined in his merriment. when i came to mrs. lincoln, she did not catch the name at first, and asked to hear it again, then repeated it, and a sudden glow of pleasure lit her face, as she held out her hand and said how very glad she was to see me. i objected to giving her my hand because my black glove would soil her white one; but she said: "then i shall preserve the glove to remember a great pleasure, for i have long wished to see you." my escort was more surprised than i by her unusual cordiality, and said afterwards: "it was no polite affectation. i cannot understand it from her." i understood at once that i had met one with whom i was in sympathy. no politeness could have summoned that sudden flash of pleasure. her manner was too simple and natural to have any art in it; and why should she have pretended a friendship she did not feel? abolitionists were at a discount. they had gone like the front ranks of the french cavalry at waterloo, into the sunken way, to make a bridge, over which moderate men were rushing to honors and emoluments. gideon's army had done its work, and given place to the camp followers, who gathered up the spoils of victory. none wore so poor that they need do them reverence, and i recognized mrs. lincoln as a loyal, liberty-loving woman, more staunch even than her husband in opposition to the rebellion and its cause, and as my very dear friend for life. chapter li. no use for me among the wounded. i had not thought, even after deciding to remain in washington, of doing any hospital work--knew nothing about it; and in strength was more like a patient than a nurse; but while i waited for a summons to go to the duties of my clerkship, i met some ladies interested in hospitals. one of these, mrs. thayer, had an ambulance at her command, and took me for a day's visiting among the forts, on a day when it was known that our armies in virginia were engaged with the enemy. the roads were almost impassable, and as a skillful driver and two good horses used their best efforts to take us from place to place, i felt like a thief; that ambulance ought to be at the front, and us with it, or on our knees pleading for the men whose breasts were a living wall between us and danger, between liberty and her deadly foes. the men in the forts had no special need of us, and sometimes their thanks for the tracts we brought them, gave an impulse to strike them square in the face, but mrs. thayer was happy in her work, and thought me uncivil to her friends. we reached the last fort on our round before i saw anything interesting; and here a sorrowful woman drew me aside to tell me of the two weeks she had spent with her husband, now in the last stage of camp-fever, and of her fruitless efforts to get sufficient straw for his bed, while the bones were cutting through the skin as he lay on the slats of his cot. she wrung her hands in a strange, suppressed agony, and exclaimed "oh! if they had only let me take him home when i came first; but say nothing here, or they will not let me stay." i verified her statement of her husband's condition, so that i could speak from observation without compromising her, and spoke to the surgeon, who politely regretted the scarcity of straw, and hoped to get some soon. i returned to the sufferer, who was from new hampshire, and a very intelligent man; and after talking with him and his wife, concluded to look up the commander of that fort, and put some powder and a lighted match into his ear; but first consulted mrs. thayer, who begged me to take no notice, else she would no longer be permitted to visit the fort. she had introduced me to two fashionably dressed ladies, officers' wifes, resident there; and when i must say or do nothing about this man, lest i should destroy mrs. thayer's opportunity for doing good, i concluded we had discovered a new variety of savage, and came away thinking i could do something in the city. next morning i stated the case to miss dix, who was neither shocked nor surprised. i had never before seen her, but her tall, angular person, very red face, and totally unsympathetic manner, chilled me. the best ambulance in the service was exclusively devoted to her use, and i thought she would surely go or send a bed to that man before noon; but she proposed to do nothing of the kind, had engagements for the day, which seemed to me of small import compared to that of placing that man on a comfortable bed; but she could do nothing that day, by reason of these engagements, and nothing next day, it being sunday, on which day she attended to no business. we spoke of the great battle then in progress, and i tendered my services, could take no regular appointment, would want no pay, could not work long; but might be of use in an emergency! emergencies were things of which she had no conception. everything in her world moved by rule, and her arrangements were complete. she had sent eight nurses to the front, and more could only be in the way. i inquired about hospital supplies, and she grew almost enthusiastic in explaining the uselessness, nay, absurdity, of sending any. government furnished everything that could possibly be wanted. the sanitary and christian commissioners were all a mistake; soldiers' aid societies a delusion and a snare. she was burdened with stores sent to her for which there was no use; and she hoped i would use my influence to stop the business of sending supplies. from her i went direct to the sanitary commission, and found a large house full of salaried clerks and porters, and boxes, and bails, although this was not their storehouse. here again i stated the case of the man without a bed, and found listeners neither surprised nor shocked. every one seemed quite familiar with trifles of that nature, and by and by, i, too, would look upon them with, indifference. i do not remember whether it was saturday engagements, or sunday sanctity, or lack of jurisdiction, which barred the commission from interference; but think they must wait until the fort surgeon sent a requisition. i inquired here about hospital stores, and found there was great demand for everything, especially money. they declined my services in every capacity save that of inducing the public to hurry forward funds and supplies. i told them of miss dix's opinion on that subject, and they agreed that it was quite useless to send anything to her, since she used nothing she received, and would not permit any one else to use stores. late in the next week mrs. thayer came, in great tribulation, to know how i ever could have done so foolish and useless a thing as report that case to miss dix! oh dear! oh dear! it was so unwise! miss dix had gone to the fort on monday, taken the surgeon to task about that bed, gave me as her authority, and for me mrs. thayer was responsible, and would be excluded from that fort on account of my indiscretion. there was another standing quarrel between the directress of nurses and the surgeons. the bitterness engendered would all be visited upon the patients, and it was so deplorable to think i had been so imprudent. her distress was so real, and she was so real in her desire to do good, that i felt myself quite a culprit, especially as the man got no bed, and died on his slats. i was so lectured and warned about the sin of this, my first offense, in telling that which "folk wad secret keep" in hospital management, that i was afraid to go to another, lest i should get some one into trouble; so stayed at home while the washington hospitals were being filled with wounded from the battle of chancellorville. i think it was the afternoon of the second sabbath that i went with mrs. kelsey to visit campbell, to get material for a letter, and tendered my services, but their arrangements were complete. passing through the wards it did indeed seem as if nothing was wanting. as a matter of form, i asked james bride, of wisconsin, if there was anything i could do for him, was surprised to see him hesitate, and astounded to have him answer: "well, nothing particular, unless"--he stopped and picked at the coverlid--"unless you could get us something to quench thirst." "something to quench thirst? why, i have been told you have everything you can possibly require!" "well, they are very good to us, and do all they can; but it gets very hot in here in the afternoons, we cannot go out into the shade, and get so thirsty. drinking so much water makes us sick, and if we had something a little sour!" "but, would they let me bring you anything?" "o yes! i see ladies bring things every day." "then i shall be glad to bring you something tomorrow." chapter lii. find work. that morning i wrote to the new york _tribune,_ relating the incident of the man asking for cooling drinks, and saying that if people furnished the material, i would devote my time to distributing their gifts. next morning i got two dozen lemons, pressed the juice into a jar, put in sugar, took a glass and spoon and, so soon as visitors were admitted, began giving lemonade to those men who seemed to have most need. going to the water tank for every glass of water made it slow work, but i improved my walks by talking to the men, hearing their wants and adding to their stock of hope and cheerfulness, and was glad to see that the nurses did not seem to object to my presence, even though campbell was the one only hospital in the city from which female nurses were rigorously excluded. so noted had it become for the masculine pride of its management, that i had been warned not to stay past the length of an ordinary visit, lest i should be roughly told to go away; and my surprise was equal to my pleasure, when a man came and said: "would it not be easier for you if you had a pitcher?" i said it would, but that i lived too far away to bring one. "oh! i will bring you a pitcher! why did you not ask for one?" "i did not want to trouble you, for they told me you did not like to have women here." he laughed, and said: "i guess we'll all be glad enough to have you! not many of your sort. first thing they all do is to begin to make trouble, and it always takes two men to wait on one of them." he brought the pitcher, and i felt that i was getting on in the world. still i was very humble and careful to win the favor of "the king's chamberlain"--those potencies, the nurses, who might report me to that royal woman-hater, dr. baxter, surgeon in charge, whose name was a terror to women who intruded themselves into military hospitals. as i passed, with my pitcher, i saw one man delerious, and expectorating, profusely, a matter green as grass could be--knew this was hospital gangrene, and remembered all dr. palmer had told me years before, of his experience in paris hospitals, and the antidotes to that and scurvey poison. indeed, the results of many conversations with first-class physicians, and of some reading on the subject of camp diseases, came to me; and i knew just what was wanted here, but saw no sign that the want was likely to be supplied. for this man it was too late, but i could not see that anything was being done to prevent the spread of this fearful scourge. passing from that ward into the one adjoining, i came suddenly upon two nurses dressing a thigh stump, while the patient filled the air with half-suppressed shrieks and groans. i had never before seen a stump, but remembered dr. jackson's lecture over the watermellon at desert, on amputation, for the benefit of charles sumner; and electricity never brought light quicker than there came to me the memory of all he had said about the proper arrangement of the muscles over the end of the bone; and added to this, came a perfect knowledge of the relations of those mangled muscles to the general form of the body. i saw that the nurse who held the stump tortured the man by disregarding natural law, and setting down pitcher and glass on the floor, i stepped up, knelt, slipped my hands under the remains of that strong thigh, and said to the man who held it: "now, slip out your hands! easy! easy! there!" the instant it rested on my hands the groans ceased, and i said: "is that better?" "oh, my god! yes!" "well, then, i will always hold it when it is dressed!" "but you will not be here!" "i will come!" "that would be too much trouble!" "i have nothing else to do, and will think it no trouble!" the nurse, who did the dressing, was very gentle, and there was no more pain; but i saw that the other leg was amputated below the knee, and this was a double reason why he should be tenderly cared for. so i took the nurse aside, and asked when the wounds were to be dressed again. he said in the morning, and promised to wait until i came to help. next morning i was so much afraid of being late that i would not wait for the street cars to begin running, but walked. the guard objected to admitting me, as it was not time for visitors, but i explained and he let me pass. i must not go through the wards at that hour, so went around and came in by the door near which he lay. what was my surprise to find that not only were his wounds dressed, but that all his clothing and bed had been changed, and everything about him made as white and neat and square as if he were a corpse, which he more resembled than a living man. oh, what a tribute of agony he had paid to the demon of appearance! we all pay heavy taxes to other people's eyes; but on none is the levy quite so onerous as on the patients of a model hospital! i saw that he breathed and slept, and knew his time was short; but sought the head nurse, and asked why he had not waited for me; he hesitated, stammered, blushed and said: "why, the fact is, sister, he has another wound that it would not be pleasant for you to see." "do you mean that that man has a groin wound in addition to all else?" "yes, sister! yes! and i thought--" "no matter what you thought, you have tortured him to save your mock-modesty and mine. you could have dressed that other wound, covered him, and let me hold the stump. you saw what relief it gave him yesterday. how could you--how dare you torture him?" "well, sister, i have been in hospitals with sisters a great deal, and they never help to dress wounds. i thought you would not get leave to come. would not like to." "i am not a sister, i am a mother; and that man had suffered enough. oh, how dared you? how dared you to do such a thing?" i wrung my hands, and he trembled like a leaf, and said. "it was wrong, but i did not know. i never saw a sister before--" "i tell you i am no sister, and i cannot think whatever your sisters are good for." he promised to let me help him whenever it would save pain, and i returned to the dying man. the sun shone and birds sang. he stirred, opened his eyes, smiled to see me, and said. "it is a lovely morning, and i will soon be gone." i said, "yes; the winter of your life is past; for you the reign of sorrow is over and gone; the spring time appears on the earth, and the time for the singing of birds has come; your immortal summer is close at hand; christ, who loveth us, and has suffered for us, has prepared mansions of rest, for those who love him, and you are going soon." "oh, yes; i know he will take me home, and provide for my wife and children when i am gone." "then all is well with you!" he told me his name and residence, in pittsburg, and i remembered that his parents lived our near neighbors when i was a child. so, more than ever, i regretted that i could not have made his passage through the dark valley one of less pain; but it was a comfort to his wife to know i had been with him. when he slept again, i got a slightly wounded man to sit by him and keep away the flies, while i went to distribute some delicacies brought to him by visitors, and which he would never need. at the door of ward three, a large man stood, and seemed to be an officer. i asked him if there were any patients in that ward who would need wine penado. he looked down at me, pleasantly, and said: "i think it very likely, madam, for it is a very bad ward." it was indeed a very bad ward, for a settled gloom lay upon the faces of the occupants, who suffered because the ward-master and entire set of nurses had recently been discharged, and new, incompetent men appointed in their places. as i passed down, turning from right to left, to give to such men as needed it the mild stimulant i had brought, i saw how sad and hopeless they were; only one man seemed inclined to talk, and he sat near the centre of the ward, while some one dressed his shoulder from which the arm had been carried away by a cannon ball. a group of men stood around him, talking of that strange amputation, and he was full of chat and cheerfulness. they called him charlie; but my attention was quickly drawn to a young man, on a cot, close by, who was suffering torture from the awkwardness of a nurse who was dressing a large, flesh-wound on the outside of his right thigh. i set my bowl on the floor, caught the nurse's wrist, lifted his hand away, and said: "oh, stop! you are hurting that man! let me do that!" he replied, pleasantly, "i'll be very glad to, for i'm a green hand!" i took his place; saw the wounded flesh creep at the touch of cold water, and said: "cold water hurts you!" "yes ma'am; a little!" "then we must have some warm!" but nurse said there was none. "no warm water?" i exclaimed, as i drew back and looked at him, in blank astonishment. "no, ma'am! there's no warm water!" "how many wounded men have you in this hospital?" "well, about seven hundred, i believe." "about seven hundred wounded men, and no warm water! so none of them get anything to eat!" "oh, yes! they get plenty to eat." "and how do you cook without warm water?" "why, there's plenty of hot water in the kitchen, but we're not allowed to go there, and we have none in the wards." "where is the kitchen?" he directed me. i covered the wound--told the patient to wait and i would get warm water. in the kitchen a dozen cooks stopped to stare at me, but one gave me what i came for, and on returning to the ward i said to charlie: "now you can have some warm water, if you want it." "but i do not want it! i like cold water best!" "then it is best for you, but it is not best for this man!" i had never before seen any such wound as the one i was dressing, but i could think of but one way--clean it thoroughly, put on clean lint and rags and bandages, without hurting the patient, and this was very easy to do; but while i did this, i wanted to do something more, viz.: dispel the gloom which hung over that ward. i knew that sick folks should have their minds occupied by pleasant thoughts, and never addressed an audience with more care than i talked to that one man, in appearance, while really talking to all those who lay before me and some to whom my back was turned. i could modulate my voice so as to be heard at quite a distance, and yet cause no jar to very sensitive nerves close at hand; and when i told my patient that i proposed to punish him now, while he was in my power, all heard and wondered; then every one was stimulated to learn that it was to keep him humble, because, having received such a wound in the charge on marie's hill, he would be so proud by and by that common folks would be afraid to speak to him. i should be quite thrown into the shade by his laurels, and should probably take my revenge in advance by sticking pins in him now, when he could not help himself. this idea proved to be quite amusing, and before i had secured that bandage, the men seemed to have forgotten their wounds, except as a source of future pride, and were firing jokes at each other as rapidly as they had done bullets at the enemy. when, therefore, i proposed sticking pins into any one else who desired such punishment, there was quite a demand for my services, and with my basin of tepid water i started to wet the hard, dry dressings, and leave them to soften before being removed. before night i discovered that lint is an instrument of incalculable torture, and should never be used, as either blood or pus quickly converts some portion of it into splints, as irritating as a pine shaving. chapter liii. hospital gangrene. about nine o'clock i returned to the man i had come to help, and found that he still slept. i hoped he might rouse and have some further message for his wife, before death had finished his work, and so remained with him, although i was much needed in the "very bad ward." i had sat by him but a few moments when i noticed a green shade on his face. it darkened, and his breathing grew labored--then ceased. i think it was not more than twenty minutes from the time i observed the green tinge until he was gone. i called the nurse, who brought the large man i had seen at the door of the bad ward, and now i knew he was a surgeon, knew also, by the sudden shadow on his face when he saw the corpse, that he was alarmed; and when he had given minute directions for the removal of the bed and its contents, the washing of the floor and sprinkling with chloride of lime, i went close to his side, and said in a low voice: "doctor, is not this hospital gangrene?" he looked down at me, seemed to take my measure, and answered: "i am very sorry to say, madam, that it is." "then you want lemons!" "we would be glad to have them!" "glad to have them?" i repeated, in profound astonishment, "why, you _must_ have them!" he seemed surprised at my earnestness, and set about explaining: "we sent to the sanitary commission last week, and got half a box." "sanitary commission, and half a box of lemons? how many wounded have you?" "seven hundred and fifty." "seven hundred and fifty wounded men! hospital gangrene, and half a box of lemons!" "well, that was all we could get; government provides none; but our chaplain is from boston--his wife has written to friends there and expects a box next week!" "to boston for a box of lemons!" i went to the head nurse whom i had scolded in the morning, who now gave me writing materials, and i wrote a short note to the _new york tribune_: "hospital gangrene has broken out in washington, and we want lemons! _lemons!_ lemons! ~lemons!~ no man or woman in health, has a right to a glass of lemonade until these men have all they need; send us lemons!" i signed my name and mailed it immediately, and it appeared next morning. that day schuyler colfax sent a box to my lodgings, and five dollars in a note, bidding me send to him if more were wanting; but that day lemons began to pour into washington, and soon, i think, into every hospital in the land. gov. andrews sent two hundred boxes to the surgeon general. i received so many, that at one time there were twenty ladies, several of them with ambulances, distributing those which came to my address, and if there was any more hospital gangrene that season i neither saw nor heard of it. the officers in campbell knew of the letter, and were glad of the supplies it brought, but some time passed before they identified the writer as the little sister in the bad ward, who had won the reputation of being the "best wound-dresser in washington." chapter liv. get permission to work. rules required me to leave campbell at five o'clock, but the sun was going down, and i lay on a cot, in the bad ward, feeling that going home, or anywhere else, was impossible, when that large doctor came, felt my pulse, laid his hand on my brow, and said: "you must not work so hard or we will lose you! i have been hunting for you to ask if you would like to remain with us?" "like to remain with you? well, you will have to send a file of soldiers with fixed bayonets to drive me away." he laughed quite heartily, and said: "we do not want you to go away. i am executive officer; surgeon kelley and dr. baxter, surgeon in charge, has commissioned me to say that if you wish to stay, he will have a room prepared for you. he hunted for you to say so in person, but is gone; now i await your decision. shall i order you a room?" "surgeon baxter! why--what does he know about me?" "oh, surgeon baxter, two medical inspectors, and the surgeon of this ward were present this morning when you came in and took possession." his black eyes twinkled, and he shook with laughter when i sat up, clasped my hands, and said: "oh, dear? were they the men who were standing around charlie? why i had not dreamed of them being surgeons!" "did you not know by their shoulders traps?" "shoulderstraps? do surgeons have shoulderstraps? i thought only officers wore them!" "well, surgeons are officers, and you can know by my shoulderstraps that i am a surgeon." "oh, i do not mind you; but dr. baxter! how i did behave before him! what must he have thought? and he does not allow women to come here!" "well. you passed inspection; and as you propose to stay with us, i will have a room prepared for you." he then went on to state that the reason doctor baxter would not have female nurses, was that he would not submit to miss dix's interference, did not like the women she chose, and army regulations did not permit him to employ any other. "but," he continued, "no one can object to his entertaining a guest, and as his guest you can employ your time as you wish." ah! what a glorious boon it was, this privilege of work, and my little barrack-room, just twice the width of my iron cot. i would not have exchanged for any suite in windsor palace. chapter lv. find a name. nothing was more needed in the bad ward, than an antidote for homesickness, and, to furnish this, i used my talking talent to the utmost, but no subject was so interesting as myself. i was the mystery of the hour. charlie was commissioned to make discoveries, and the second day came, with a long face, and said: "do you know what they say about you?" "no indeed! and suspect i should never guess." "well, they say you're an old maid!" i stopped work, rose from my knees, confronted him and exclaimed, with an injured air: "an old maid! why charlie! is it possible you let them talk in that manner about me, after the nice pickles i gave you?" the pickles had made him sick, and now there was a general laugh at his expense, but he stuck to his purpose and said: "well, ain't you on old maid?" "an old maid, charlie? did any one ever see such a saucy boy?" "oh, but tell us, good earnest, ain't you an old maid?" "well then, good earnest, charlie, i expect i shall be one, if i live to be old enough." "live to be old enough! how old do you call yourself?" i set down my basin, counted on my fingers, thought it over and replied: "well, if i live two months and five days longer, i shall be sixteen." then there was a shout at charlie's expense, and i resumed my work, grave as an owl. that furnished amusement until it grew stale, when charlie came to ask me my name, and i told him it was mrs. snooks. "mrs. snooks?" repeated a dozen men, who looked sadly disappointed, and charlie most of all, as i added: "yes; mrs. timothy snooks, of snooksville, minnesota." this was worse and worse. it was evident no one liked the name, but all, save one, were too polite to say so, and he roared out: "i don't believe a word of it!" i sat at some distance with my back to him, dressing a wound; and, without turning, said, "why? what is the matter with you?" "i don't believe that such a looking woman as you are ever married a fellow by the name of snooks:" "that is because you are not acquainted with the snooks' family: brother peter's wife is a much better looking woman than i am!" "good lookin'!" he sneered; "call yourself good lookin', do you?" "well, i think you intimated as much, did he not boys?" they all said he had, and the laugh was turned on him; but he exclaimed doggedly, "i don't care! i'm not goin' to call you snooks!" "and what do you propose to call me?" "i'll call you mary." "but mary is not my name." "i don't care! it's the name of all the nice girls i know!" "very good! i too shall probably be a nice girl if i live to grow up, but just now it seems as if i should die in infancy--am too good to live." "you're the greatest torment ever any man saw." the last pin was in that bandage; i arose, turned, and the thought flashed through my brain, "a tiger." his eyes literally blazed, and i went to him, looking straight into them, just as i had done into tom's more than once. a minnie rifle ball had passed through his right ankle, and when i saw him first the flesh around the wound was purple and the entire limb swollen almost to bursting. the ward master told me he had been given up three days before, and was only waiting his turn to be carried to the dead house. next morning the surgeon confirmed the account, said he had been on the amputation table and sent away in hope the foot might be saved, adding: "i think we were influenced by the splendor of the man's form. it seemed sacrilege to mangle such a leg then, before we knew it was too late." i thought the inflammation might be removed. he said if that were done they could amputate and save him, and the conversation ended in the surgeon giving the man to me to experiment on my theory. this seemed to be generally known, and the case was watched with great interest. no one interfered with my treatment of him, and nurses designated him to me as "your man." he was a cross between a hercules and apollo--grey-eyed, brown-haired, the finest specimen of physical manhood i have ever seen, and now his frail hold on life was endangered by the rage into which i had unwittingly thrown him. so i sat bathing and soothing him, looking ever and anon steadily into his eyes, and said: "you had better call me mother." "mother!" he snarled, "you my mother!" "why not?" "why, you're not old enough!" "i am twice as old as you are! "no, you 're not; and another thing, you're not big enough!" he raised his head, surveyed me leisurely and contemptuously, his dark silky moustache went up against his handsome nose as he sank back and said slowly: "why, you-'re-not-much-bigger-'an-a-bean!" "still, i am large enough to take care of you and send you back to your regiment if you are reasonable: but no one can do anything for you if you fly into a rage in this way!" "yes! and you know that, and you put me in a rage going after them other fellows. you know i've got the best right to you. i claimed you soon as you come in the door, and called you afore you got half down the ward. you said you'd take care of me and now you don't do it. the surgeon give me to you too. you know i can't live if you don't save me, and you don't care if i die!" i was penitent and conciliatory, and promised to be good, when he said doggedly: "yes! and i'll call you mary!" "very well, mary is a good name--it was my mother's, and i shall no doubt come to like it." "i guess it is a good name! it was my mother's name too, and any woman might be glad to be called mary. but i never did see a woman 'at had any sense!" he soon growled himself to sleep, and from that time i called him "ursa major;" but he only slept about half an hour, when a nurse in great fright summoned me. they had lifted him and he had fainted. i helped to put him back into bed, and bathed him until consciousness returned, when he grasped my wrist with a vice-like hold and groaned. "oh god! oh mother! is this death?" i heard no more of miss mary, or nice girls; but god and mother and death were often on his lips. to the great surprise of every one i quelled the inflammation and fever, banished the swelling, and got him into good condition, when the foot was amputated and shown to me. the ankle joint was ground into small pieces, and these were mingled with bits of leather and woolen sock. no wonder the inflammation had been frightful; but it was some time after that before i knew the foot might have been saved by making a sufficient opening from the outside, withdrawing the loose irritating matter, and keeping an opening through which nature could have disposed of her waste. i do not know if surgery have yet discovered this plain, common-sense rule, but tens of thousands of men have died, and tens of thousands of others have lost limbs because it was not known and acted upon. all those men who died of gun-shot flesh wounds were victims to surgical stupidity. i nursed the cross man until he went about on crutches, and his faith in me was equal in perfection to his form, for he always held that i could "stop this pain" if i would, and rated me soundly if i was "off in ward ten" when he wanted me. one day he scolded worse than usual, and soon after an irishman said, in an aside: "schure mum, an' ye mustn't be afther blamin' de rist av us fur that fellow's impidence. schure, an' there's some av us that 'ud kick him out av the ward, if we could, for the way he talks to ye afther all that you have done for 'im an' fur all av us." "why! why! how can you feel so? what difference is it to me how he talks? it does him good to scold, and what is the use of a man having a mother if he cannot scold her when he is in pain? i wish you would all scold me! it would do you ever so much good. you quite break my heart with your patience. do, please be as cross as bears, all of you, whenever you feel like it, and i will get you well in half the time." "schure mum, an' nobody iver saw the likes of ye!" a man was brought from a field hospital, and laid in our ward, and one evening his stump was giving him great pain, when the cross man advised him to send for me, and exclaimed: "there's mother, now; send for her." "oh!" groaned the sufferer, "what can she do?" "i don't know what she can do; an' she don't know what she can do; but just you send for her! she'll come, and go to fussin' an' hummin' about just like an old bumble-bee, an' furst thing you know you won't know nothin', for the pain'll be gone an' you'll be asleep." chapter lvi. drop my alias. the second or third day of my hospital work, mrs. gaylord, the chaplain's wife, came and inquired to what order i belonged, saying that the officers of the hospital were anxious to know. i laughed, and told her i belonged exclusively to myself, and did not know of any order which would care to own me. then she very politely inquired my name, and i told her it was mrs. jeremiah snooks, when she went away, apparently doubting my statement. i had been in campbell almost a week, when dr. kelly came and said: "madam, i have been commissioned by the officers of this hospital to ascertain your name. none of us know how to address you, and it is very awkward either in speaking to you, or of you, not to be able to name you." "doctor, will not mrs. snooks do for a name, for all the time i shall be here?" "no, madam, it will not do." i was very unwilling to give my name, which was prominently before the public, on account of my indian lecture and _tribune_ letters, but i seemed to have at least a month's work to do in campbell. hospital stores were pouring in to my city address, and being sent to me at a rate which created much wonder, and the men who had given me their confidence had a right to know who i was. so i gave my name, and must repeat it before the doctor could realize the astounding fact; even then he took off his cap and said: "it is not possible you are _the_ mrs. ----, the lady who lectured in doctor sunderland's church!" so i was proclaimed, with a great flourish of trumpets. for two hours my patients seemed afraid of me, and it did seem too bad to merge that giantess of the bean-pole and the press and the tall woman of the platform both in poor little insignificant me! it was like blotting out the big bear and the middle-sized bear from the old bear story, and leaving only the one poor little bear to growl over his pot of porridge. in ward five was one man who had been laid on his left side, and never could be moved while he lived. his right arm suffered for lack of support, and when i knelt to give him nourishment from a spoon, and pray with him that the deliverer would soon come, he always laid that arm over my shoulders. the first time i knelt there after i was known, he said: "ah, you are such a great lady, and do not mind a poor soldier laying his arm over you!" "christ, the great captain of our salvation," i replied, "gathers you in his arms and pillows your head upon his bosom. am i greater than he? your good right arm has fought for liberty, and it is an honor to support it, when you are no longer able." but nothing else i could ever say to him, was so much comfort as the old cry of the sufferer by the wayside, "jesus, thou son of david, have mercy on me." over and over again we said that prayer in concert, while he waited in agony for the only relief possible--that of death; and from our last interview i returned to the bad ward, so sad that i felt the shadow of my face fall upon every man in it. i could not drive away death's gloom; but i could work and talk, and both work and talk were needed. i sat down between two young irishmen, both with wounded heads, and began to bathe them, and comfort them, and said: "if you are not better in the morning, i shall amputate both those heads; they shall not plague you in this manner another day." maybe my sad face made this funny, for their sense of the ridiculous was so touched that they clasped their sore heads and shrieked with laughter. every man in the ward caught the infection, and i was called upon for explanations of the art of amputating heads, and inquiries as to surgeon baxter's capacity of performing the operation. this grotesque idea proved a fruitful subject of conversation, and aided in leading sufferers away from useless sorrow, toward hope and health; and bad as the ward was we lost but two men in it. chapter lvii. hospital dress. in that sad ward one superior, intelligent young man, who was thought to be doing well, suddenly burst an artery, and ropes were put up to warn visitors and others not to come in, and we who were in, moved with bated breath lest some motion should start the life-current. while his last hope was on a stillness which forbade him to move a finger, two lady visitors came to the door, were forbidden to enter, but seeing me inside, must follow the sheep instinct of the sex, and go where any other woman had gone. so, with pert words, they forced their way in, made a general flutter, and, oh horror! one of them caught her hoops on the iron cot of the dying man. he was only saved from a severe jerk by the prompt intervention of the special nurse. they were led out as quietly as possible, but the man had received a slight jerk and a serious shock. the hemorrhage would probably have returned if they had not come in, but it did return, and the young, strong life ebbed steadily away in a crimson current which spread over the floor. from that day until the end of my hospital work, one fact forced itself upon my attention, and this is, that with all the patriotism of the american women, during that war, and all their gush of sympathy for the soldier, a vast majority were much more willing to "kiss him for his mother" than render him any solid service, and that not one in a hundred of the women who succeeded in getting into hospitals would dress so as not to be an object of terror to men whose life depended on quiet. women were capable of any heroism save wearing a dress suitable for hospital work. the very, very few who laid aside their hoops, those instruments of dread and torture, generally donned bloomers, and gave offense by airs of independence. good women would come long distances to see dying husbands, brothers and sons, and fill the wards with alarm by their hoops. when any one was hurt by them they were very sorry, but never gave up the cause of offense, while their desire to look well, and the finery and fixings they donned to improve their appearance, was a very broad and painful burlesque. women were seldom permitted to stay in a hospital over night, even with a dying friend, and the inhabitants were generally glad when they started for home. it was the dress nuisance which caused nuns to have the preference in so many cases; but i could not see or hear that they ever did anything but make converts to the church and take care of clothing and jellies. one thing is certain, _i.e._, that women never can do efficient and general service in hospitals until their dress is prescribed by laws inexorable as those of the medes and persians. then, that dress should be entirely destitute of steel, starch, whale-bone, flounces, and ornaments of all descriptions; should rest on the shoulders, have a skirt from the waist to the ankle, and a waist which leaves room for breathing. i never could have done my hospital work but for the dress which led most people to mistake me for a nun. chapter lviii. special work. in the wilderness of work i must choose, and began to select men who had been given up by the surgeons, and whom i thought might be saved by special care. surgeon kelly soon entered into my plan, and made his ward my headquarters. to it my special patients were brought, until there was no more room for them. that intuitive perception of the natural position of muscles, and the importance of keeping them in it, which came to me on first seeing a wound dressed, gave me such control over pain that i used to go through the wards between midnight and morning and put amputation cases to sleep at the rate of one in fifteen minutes. in these morning walks i saw that the nurses were on duty and had substantial refreshments, saw those changes for the worse, sure to come, if they came at all, in those chill hours. seeing them soon was important to meeting them successfully, and i succeeded in breaking up many a chill before it did serious damage, which must have proved fatal if left until the morning visit of the surgeon. also, in those walks i chose special cases; have more than once sat down by a man and calculated in this way: "you may have twenty, forty years of useful life, if i can save you; i shall certainly die one year sooner for the labor i expend on you, but there will be a large gain in the average of life and usefulness; and when you risked all of your life for the country as much mine as yours, it is but just that i should give a small part of mine to save you." every man lived whom i elected to life, and dr. kelly, who knew more than any one else about my plans, and on whom i most counted for aid, has said that i saved enough to the government in bounty money, by returning men to duty who would otherwise have died, to warrant it in supporting me the balance of my life; but his statements could not always be relied upon, for he insisted that i never slept, had not been asleep during the seven weeks spent in campbell, was a witch and would float like a cork, if thrown from the long bridge into the potomac. in selecting a man in desperate case to be saved, i always took his temperament and previous life into consideration. a man of pure life and sanguine temperament was hard to kill. give him the excuse of good nursing and he would live through injuries which must be fatal to a bilious, suspicious man, or one who had been guilty of any excess. a tobacco chewer or smoker died on small provocation. a drunkard or debauchee was killed by a scratch. there were two ward surgeons who disapproved of the innovation of a woman in campbell, and especially of one held amenable to no rules. they were both in favor of heroic treatment, which i did not care to witness, and i spent little time in their wards. one of them kept a man, with two bricks tied to his foot and hanging over the foot of the bed, until he died, after ten days of a sleepless agony such as could not well have been excelled in an inquisition; while his wife tried to comfort him under a torture she begged in vain to have remitted. the night after she started home with his body, i was passing through the ward, when i came upon a young philadelphia zouave in a perfect paroxysm of anguish. three nurses stood around him, and to my inquiry "what _is_ the matter?" replied by dumb show that coming death was the matter, and that soon all would be over; while in words they told me he had not slept for forty-eight hours. i had one place a chair for me, sat down, and with my long, thin hands grasped the thigh stump, which was making all the trouble, drew and pressed the muscle into a natural, easy position, cooed and talked and comforted the sufferer, as i should have done a sick baby, and in ten minutes he was asleep. then i whispered the nurses to bring cotton and oakum, and little cushions; made them put the cotton and oakum, in small tufts, to my index fingers; and while i crooned my directions in a sing-song lullaby air, i worked in this support, gradually and imperceptibly withdrawing my hands, until i could substitute the little cushions for the force by which they held the muscle in proper position. this done, my boy-soldier slept as sweetly as ever he had done in his crib. next morning a nurse came running for me to hurry to him. he had slept six hours, waked, had his breakfast, and had his wound dressed, and now the pain was back bad as ever. i went, fixed the mangled muscle with reference to his change of position, made a half-mould to hold it there, and before i had finished he began an eight-hour sleep. ten days after he was sent home to his mother, and i saw or heard of him no more. chapter lix. heroic and anti-heroic treatment. the other ward in which i was not welcome, adjoined that one in which my room was situated, and to reach it i must go out of doors or pass through one-half the length of that ward. in these passages i had an opportunity for studying piemia and its ordinary treatment, and could give the men lemonade when they wanted it. in this ward lay a young german with a wounded ankle. he had a broad, square forehead, skin white as wax, large blue eyes and yellow hair, inclined to curl. his whole appearance indicated high culture, and an organization peculiarly sensitive to pleasure or pain; but no one seemed to understand that he suffered more than others from a like cause. surgeon and nurses scoffed at his moans, and thought it babyish, for a muscular man over six feet to show so many signs of pain. i think that from some cause, the surgeon felt vindictive toward him, and that his subordinates took their cue from him. when i went to give him lemonade, he would clutch my hand or dress, look up in my face, and plead: "oh, mutter! mutter!" but if i sat down to soothe and comfort him, a nurse always came to remind me of the surgeon's orders, and i used to go around on the outside, that he might not see and call me. when he was in the amputation room i heard his shrieks and groans, and carried a glass of wine to the door for him. he heard my voice, and called "mutter! mutter!" i pushed past the orderly, ran to him, and his pleading eyes seemed to devour me as he fastened his gaze on my face. i cannot think to this day why be should have been nude for the amputation of a foot; but he was, and some one threw a towel across his loins as i approached. dr. baxter said: "no sympathy! no sympathy!" so i stood by him, placed a hand on each side of his corrugated brow, steadied my voice and said: "be a man and a soldier!" he had asked me for bread; i gave him a stone, and no wonder he dashed it back in my face. with a fierce cry he said: "i hev been a man and a sojer long enough!" ah! verily had he, and much too long. days before that he should have been "a boy again;" aye, a baby, a very infant--should have been soothed and softened and comforted with all the tenderness of mother-love; but even now, in this cruel extremity, every sign of sympathy was denied him. some one put a hand gently but firmly on each of my shoulders, turned my back to him, took me out of the room, and i hurried away, while the air shuddered with his shrieks and groans. after he had been brought back to his place in the ward i could often hear him as i passed to and from my room, and even while i occupied it. once he saw me through the open door, and called, "mutter! mutter!" i went, knelt by him, took his hands, which were stretched appealingly to me, and spoke comforting words, while his blue eyes seemed ready to start from their sockets, as he clung to my hands with the old familiar cry: "oh, mutter! mutter!" he was strapped down to his iron cot, about as closely as he had been to the amputation table, and the cot fastened to the floor. i had not been five minutes at his side when his special nurse hurried up and warned me to leave, saying: "it's surgeon's orders. he's not going to have any babyin'!" i drew my hands from the frantic grasp, took away that last hold on human sympathy, and hurried oat, while his cry of "oh, mutter! mutter!" rung in my ears as i turned and looked on his pure high brow for the last time. next morning i heard he had lock-jaw, and that the surgeon was to leave. the night after that victim of some frightful, fiendish experiment had been carried to the dead-house, i was passing through the ward, when attracted by sounds of convulsive weeping, and i found a young man in an agony of grief, in one of those sobbing fits sure to come to the bravest. he was in a high fever, and while i bathed his face and hands, i asked the cause of his outbreak, and he sobbed: "oh, the pain in my wound! this is the third night i have not slept, and my god! i can bear it no longer!" it was a flesh-wound in the thigh, such an one as usually proved fatal, and while i set him to talking i began patching scraps of observation into a theory. he was from pennsylvania, and bitterly charged his state with having done nothing for her wounded, and when i asked why he had not sent for me, he said: "oh, i thought you were from massachusetts, like all the rest of them; and if my own state would do nothing for me, i would not beg. people come here every day looking for massachusetts soldiers. since i have been frantic here, ladies have come and stood and looked at me, and said 'poor fellow!' as if i had been a dog. i was as well raised as any of them, even if i am a common soldier." i thought his recovery very doubtful, and talked to draw his thoughts to the better land. to his charges against his native land, i said: "i am a pennsylvanian; and more than that, the governor of pennsylvania sent me to you; bade me come to-night, that you might know he had not forgotten you." "he did? why, how did he know anything about it?" "he just knows all about it, and has been caring for you all this time. i do not mean andy curtin. he is nothing but a subaltern; but the dear lord, our father in heaven, who never forgets us, though he often afflicts us. he sent me to you now, that you might know he loves you. it was he who made me love you and care to help you. all the love and care that come to you are a part of his love." "he wept afresh but less bitterly, and said: "oh you will think i am a baby!" "well! that is just what you ought to be. your past life is sufficient certificate of manhood; and now has come your time to be a baby, while i am mother. you have been lying here like an engine, under a high pressure of steam, and the safety-value fastened down with a billet of wood, until there has been almost an explosion. now just take away that stick of wood--your manhood and pride, and let out all the groans and tears you have pent in your heart. cry all you can! this is your time for crying!" when i had talked him into a mood to let me feel if his feet were warm, i found that wounded limb dreadfully swollen, cold almost as death, stretched out as he lay on his back, and a cushion right under the heel. had there been no wound the position must have been unendurable. without letting him know, i drew that cushion up until it filled the hollow between the heel and calf of the leg, and supported the strained muscle, tucked a handful of oakum under the knee, moved the toes, brushed and rubbed the foot, until circulation started, sponged it, rolled it in flannel, of which i had a supply in my basket, washed the well foot, and put a warm woolen sock on it, arranged the cover so that it would not rest on the toes of the sore leg; told him to get the new surgeon next morning to make a large opening on the lower side of his thigh, where the bullet had gone out--to ask him to cut lengthwise of the muscle; get out everything he could, that ought not to be in there; keep that opening open with a roll of bandage, so that old mother nature should have a trap-door through which she could throw her chips out of that work-shop in his thigh; to be sure and not hint to the surgeon that i had said anything about it, and not fail to have it done. i left him asleep, and the next day he told me the surgeon had taken a quart of pus and several pieces of woolen cloth out of his wound, and his recovery was rapid. chapter lx. cost of order. in making molds and rests for mangled limbs, i had large demands for little cushions, and without economy could not get enough. when one just fitted a place i wanted to keep it, and to do this, must have it aired, perhaps washed. to avoid lint dressings, i hunted pieces of soft, table linen, gave to patients pieces to suit, and as the supply was short they would get nurses and surgeons to leave their pieces of linen, after dressing their wounds until i should take charge, and have them cleansed for next time. to do all this, i must use the grass-plats and railings for airing and drying cushions and rags. these plats and railings were for ornament, and there was soon a protest against putting them to "such vile uses." i had gone into the hospital with the stupid notion that its primary object was the care and comfort of the sick and wounded. it was long after that i learned that a vast majority of all benevolent institutions are gotten up to gratify the asthetic tastes of the public; exhibit the wealth and generosity of the founders, and furnish places for officers. the beneficiaries of the institutions are simply an apology for their existence, and having furnished that apology, the less said about them the better. the surgeons of campbell did really want its patients to be happy and get well; but it was a model institution, with a reputation to sustain; was part of a system under general laws, which might not be broken with impunity. there was no law against a man dying for want of sleep from pain caused by misplaced muscle; but the statutes against litter were inexorable as those of the medes and persians. the campbell surgeons winked at my litter, until one regular inspection day, when my cushions and rags, clean and unclean, those marked john smith, and those labeled tom brown, were all huddled up and stuffed _en masse_ into the pantry closet. i used to wonder if the creator had invented a new variety of idiot, and made a lot in order to supply the army with medical inspectors, or, if by some cunning military device, the surgeon-general had been able to select all those conglomerations of official dignity and asinine stupidity, from the open donkey-market of the world. inspecting a hospital was just like investigating an indian fraud. the man whose work was to be inspected or investigated, met the inspector or investigator at the door, showed him all he wished him to see and examine witnesses wholly in his power--when the inspected and inspector, the investigated and investigator exchanged compliments, and the public were gratified to learn that all was in a most gratifying condition of perfect order. one day we had a particularly searching inspection, and next day nurse told me of some four new cases which had been brought in a week before, one of whom the inspectors said was past hope. i found his feet and legs with, a crust on them like the shell of a snail; had a piece of rubber cloth laid under them, and with tepid water, a good crash towel, and plenty of rubbing, got down to the skin, which i rubbed well with lard. then with fresh towels and water at hand, i drew away the sheet in which the patient had rolled his head, and while i washed his head and arms and breast, i talked, and he tried to answer; but it was some time before he could steady his tongue and lips so as to articulate, and when he did, his first words were: "are you the woman that's been a-washin' my feet?" "that is exactly what i have been doing, and much need they had of it. do you not think you are a pretty fellow to have me come all the way from minnesota to wash your feet?" it was with much effort he could fix his dazed eyes on my face, and he made several pitiful attempts before he succeeded in saying: "i think ye'r the best woman that ever i saw!" "ah, that is because you never saw much, away out there in venango county, pennsylvania, where you live. there are thousands of better women than i, running around hunting work, in this part of the country." "is there?" "yes, indeed; and nothing for them to do!" "i never saw none uv 'em!" "that is because you have had your head rolled up in that sheet. just keep your head uncovered, so you can breathe this nice, fresh air; open your eyes every little while, and you will see a whole row of those women, all hunting work!" he seemed quite interested, and when i had done washing and given directions to a nurse to cleanse the balance of his person, i asked if there was anything more i could do for him, when he stammered: "not unless you could get me a cup of tea--a cup of good green tea, 'thout any milk or sugar in it. if you do, i'll pay you for it." "pay me for it, will you? and how much will you give me--three cents?" "oh, i'll give you twenty-five cents." "twenty-five cents for a cup of good green tea, without any milk or sugar in it!" i called the ward to witness the bargain, said i should grow rich at that rate, and hurried off for the tea. i had a little silver tray and tea-set, with two china cups. mrs. gangewer, of the ohio aid society, had sent me a tin tea-kettle and spirit-lamp; folks at a distance had sent plenty of the best tea; and that little tea-tray had become a prominent feature of campbell long before this poor fellow specified his want. i made the tray unusually attractive that day, and fed him his tea from a spoon, while he admired the tiny pot, out of which, with the aid of the kettle, i could furnish twenty cups of good tea. when i had served all in that ward who wanted tea, the first one took a second cup, and while taking it his skin grew moist, and i knew he was saved from that death of misplaced matter vulgarly called "dirt," to which well-paid medical inspectors had consigned him, while giving their invaluable scientific attention to floor-scrubbing and bed-making, to whitewashing and laundry-work. i doubt if there were a medical inspector in the army who was not a first rate judge of the art of folding and ironing a sheet or pillow-slip; of the particular tuck which brought out the outlines of the corners of a mattress, as seen through a counterpane; and of the art and mystery of cleaning a floor. it did seem as if they had all reached office through their great proficiency as cabin-boys. next day i went to that ward with my tea-tray; and after learning that that man had been washed once more, asked him if he wanted another cup of tea. "i'd like to have one," he stammered; "but i didn't pay you for the last one, and i can't find my wallet!" i saw the debt troubled him, and took this as one more evidence that somewhere there were people who sold hospital stores to sick soldiers. so i took pains to explain that he owed me nothing; that the tea was his--ladies had sent it to me to give to him--and all the pay they wanted was for him to get well, and go home to his mother. the idea that some one was thinking for him seemed to do him almost as much good as the tea. i left campbell next day, but on my first visit found him convalescing, and on the second visit he ran down the ward holding his sides and laughing, and i saw or heard of him no more. chapter lxi. learn to control piemia. about ten days after i went to campbell, i was called at midnight to a death-bed. it was a case of flesh-wound in the thigh, and the whole limb was swollen almost to bursting, so cold as to startle by the touch, and almost as transparent as glass. i knew this was piemia and that for it medical science had no cure; but i wanted to warm that cold limb, to call circulation back to that inert mass. the first thought was warm, wet compresses, hot bricks, hot flannel; but the kitchen was locked, and it was little i could do without fire, except to receive and write down his dying messages to parents, and the girl who was waiting to be his wife. when the surgeon's morning hour came he still lived; and at my suggestion the warm compresses were applied. he said, "they feel so good," and was quite comforted by them, but died about ten o'clock. i was greatly grieved to think he had suffered from cold the last night of life, but how avoid any number of similar occurrences? there was no artificial heat in any of the wards. a basin of warm water was only to be obtained by special favor of the cooks; but they had been very courteous. the third day of my appearance among them, one looked up over the edge of the tub over which he bent, washing potatoes, and said, as i stood waiting for hot water, "do you know what you look like going around here among us fellows?" "no! but nothing dreadful i hope." "you just look like an angel, and that's what we all think; we're ever so much better since you came." the memory of this speech gave me courage to go and lay my trouble before the cooks, who gathered to hear me tell the story of that death, the messages left for the friends who should see him no more, and of my sorrow that i could not drive away the cold on that last, sad night. they all wiped their eyes on their aprons; head cook went to a cupboard, brought a key and handed it to me, saying: "there, mother, is a key of this kitchen; come in here whenever you please. we will always find room on the ranges for your bricks, and i'll have something nice in the cupboard every night for you and the nurses." this proved to be the key to the situation, and after i received that bit of metal from cook, there was not one death from piemia in any ward where i was free to work, although i have had as many, i think, as sixty men struck with the premonitary chill, in one night. i concluded that "piemia" was french for neglect, and that the antidote was warmth, nourishing food, stimulants, friction, fresh air and cheerfulness, and did not hesitate to say that if death wanted to get a man out of my hands, he must send some other agent than piemia. i do not believe in the medical theory concerning it; do not believe pus ever gets into the veins, or that there is any poison about it, except that of ignorance and indifference on the part of doctors and nurses. chapter lxii. first case of growing a new bone. i had searched for minnesota men in campbell, found none, and had been there a week, when mrs. kelsey told me there was one in ward ten, credited to a wisconsin regiment; and from him i learned that he was a friend and neighbor of my friends, mr. and mrs. bancroft, of mantorville, and my conscience reproached me for not sooner finding him; but the second day mrs. gaylord came, as a messenger from the surgeons, to tell me i need not spend time and strength on him, as he could not be saved. his was a thigh wound. they had thought to amputate, but found the bone shattered from joint to joint--had, with a chain saw, cut it off above the knee, and picked out the bone in pieces. there was a splinter attached to the upper joint, but that was all the bone left in the thigh, and the injury was one from which recovery was impossible. his father, a doctor, was visiting him, and knew he must die. i went to the patient, who said: "dr. true, the ward surgeon has just been here, and tells me i must die!" i sat by him fitting the measure i had been taking for two days to this new aspect of the case, and talking of death, and the preparation for it, until i thought i understood the case, when i said: "be ready for death, as every one of any sense should always be; but i do not intend to let you die." "i guess you cannot help it! all the surgeons and father agree that there is no hope for me." "but they are all liable to be mistaken, and none of them have taken into the account your courage and recuperative force; your good life and good conscience; your muscle, like a pine log; your pure breath; your clear skin and good blood. i do not care what they say, you will live; i will not let you die!" i found dr. baxter, and said: "i want you to save corporal kendall!" "corporal kendall! who is he?" "the man out of whose thigh you took the bone last week." his face grew sad, but he said: "oh, we mean to save them all if we can." "doctor, that is no answer. i am interested in this man, know his friends and want to understand his case. if i can keep his stomach in good working order and well supplied with blood-making food, keep away chills and keep down pain, so that he can sleep, will he not get well?" he laughed and replied: "well, i really never heard of a man dying under such circumstances." "i can do that, doctor." "if you can you will save him, of course, and we will give him to you." "but, doctor, you must do all the surgery. i must not give him pain; cannot see that wound." "oh, certainly, we will do everything in our power; but he is yours, for we have no hope of saving him." "another thing, doctor; you will have him brought to ward four." he gave the order at once, adding: "put him to the right of howard"--a young philadelphian with a thigh stump, who was likely to die of hemorrhage, and whose jerking nerves i could soothe and quiet better than any one else. by this arrangement the man minus a thigh bone was placed in the center of my field of labor, and under the care of dr. kelly; but full ten days after this arrangement was made, he came with a rueful face and said: "we have consulted the surgeon-general, medical inspector, and a dozen other surgeons outside the hospital, and they all agree that there is no hope for kendall. the surgeons here have commissioned me to tell you, for we think you ought to know. we all appreciate what you are doing, and think you will save all your other men if you live, but you cannot stand this strain long. you do not know it; but there is a limit to your powers of endurance, and you are breaking. you certainly will die if you keep on as you have been going, and it is not worth your while to kill yourself for kendall, for you cannot save him." "what is the reason he cannot be saved?" "well, there are several reasons. first, i performed the operation, and did not do it as thoroughly as i wished. he was coming out from under the influence of the chloroform, and they hurried me. the case was hopeless, and no use to give him pain, so there are several pieces of bone which i failed to find. these are driven into the flesh, and nature in trying to get rid of them will get up such excessive suppuration that he must die of exhaustion. then there is the thigh without a bone, and there is nothing in the books to warrant a hope that it could heal in that condition. we could not, in any case, hope for the formation of a new bone. there are re-sections of two inches, but this is the longest new formation of which we know anything, and in this case there can be no hope, because the periosteum is destroyed." "periosteum, doctor. what is that, again?" "it is the bone-feeder; the strong membrane which incloses the bone, and through which it is made. in this case it is absolutely destroyed, removed, torn to shreds--gone. so there are several reasons why he cannot be saved." "doctor kelly, do you intend to let him lie there and die?" "oh no! oh no! i will do all in my power for him. i am paid for that; it is my duty; but it is not your duty to sacrifice your own life in a vain effort to save another." "doctor kelly, he _shall_ not die; i will not let him. i know nothing about your books and bones; but he can live with one bone wanting, and i tell you he shall not die, and i will not die either." it was a week or more after this conversation i found my patient, one morning, with blue lips and a pinched nose, and said to him: "what is this?" "well, i had a chill last night." "a chill and did not send for me?" "you were here until after midnight, and must have some rest." "corporal kendall, how _dare_ you talk to me in that manner? you promised to send for me if there were any change for the worse; and after this i cannot trust you. now i must stay here. do you think i am going to lose my investment in you? do you suppose i would work over you as i have been doing, and then drop you for fear of a little more work?" as i passed to the kitchen i found that blue lips and pinched noses had suddenly come into fashion; that there were more of them than i had time to count; but did not, for a moment, dream of letting a man get into the graveyard by that gate. the merry, young irishman who had volunteered as my orderly, had a period of active service; and no more willing pair of hands and feet ever were interposed between men and death. hot bricks, hot blankets, bottles of hot water, hot whisky punch and green tea were the order of the forenoon, and of a good many hours of night and day after it; for that victory was won by a long struggle. for ten nights i never lay down in my room; but slept, all i did sleep, lying on a cot about the center of ward four, and two cots from the man minus a bone. i could drop asleep in an instant, and sleep during ordinary movements; but a change in a voice brought me to my post in a moment. i could command anything in the dispensary or store-rooms at any hour of the day or night, and carried many a man through the crisis of a night attack, when if he had been left until discovered in the morning, there would have been little hope for him; and when a surgeon could have done nothing without a key to the kitchen which none of them had. i kept no secrets from any of them: told each one just what i had done in his ward; thankfully received his approval and directions, asked about things i did not understand, and was careful that my nursing was in harmony with his surgery. during that trial-time there was one night that death seemed to be gaining the victory in corporal kendall's case. pain defied my utmost efforts and held the citadel. sleep fled; the circulation grew sluggish, and both he and i knew that the result hung on the hour. it was two o'clock a.m., and from midnight i had been trying to bring rest. the injured limb was suspended in a zinc trough. i had raised, lowered it by imperceptible motions; cut bandage where it seemed to bind, tucked in bits of cotton or oakum, kept the toes in motion, irritated the surface wherever i could get the point of a finger in through the bandages; kept up the heat of the body, and the hope of the soul; and sat down to hold his hands and try mesmeric passes and sounds, when he turned his head on the pillow, and said: "even if i should get well, i'll never be fit for infantry service again." "no, you never will." "i might walk with that machine you talk of; but never could march and carry a knapsack! but i have been thinking. i am a pretty good engineer. you know secretary stanton? you might get me transferred to the navy, and i could run an engine on a gunboat." "that is it, exactly! you will get over this! i will have you transferred to a gunboat, and next time you will go into the rebellion prow foremost. you ought to be at work, in time to help take charleston." i continued to talk, in a sing-song croone, to stroke his head, and hold his hand, until he slept, which was but a few moments after settling that transfer, and the last time i saw him, which was in ' , he got over the ground and up and down stairs, as fast as most people, his new bone being quite as good as any of the old ones, except being a little short and decidedly crooked, although the crook did not effect its usefulness or general appearance. chapter lxiii. a heroic mother. james bride, who drew me to campbell, by asking for "something to quench thirst," was one of the thousands who died of flesh-wounds, for want of surgical trap doors, through which nature might throw out her chips. his wound was in the hip, and no opening ever was made to the center of the injury, except that made by the bullet which had gone in and staid there. his mother came three days before he died, and being minus hoops and finery, the ward surgeon was anxious she should remain with her son, and we arranged that she should sleep in my room. there was just space between the cot and wall for the breadth of a mattress, and when the door was shut, that space was long enough, for me to lie between the door and the stand. i have never entertained a guest more cheerfully, or one by whose presence i felt more honored; yet the traveling costume was a short calico dress, strong leather shoes and blue woolen stockings, visible below the dress, a gingham sunbonnet and double-bordered cap tied under her chin. several richly dressed ladies came from eastern cities to see dying relatives, but to none of them were the surgeons so thoroughly respectful, as to this plain, strong, clean, high-souled country-woman, who staid with her son, and was hailed with joy by all the men in his ward, to every one of whom she was sympathetic and helpful. her case was hard. she and her husband, who was old and feeble, had just three sons, two strong and vigorous, one a cripple. their two vigorous sons enlisted together, and fell in the charge on marie's hill, within ten feet and ten minutes of each other. william was buried on the battle-field, and she had come to see james die in hospital. when all was over and her boy was carried to the dead house, they brought her to me, and i have never heard such pathetic, eloquent expressions of grief as those she poured forth in that little, rough, barrack-room. "oh, william! william!" she sobbed, "you are lying, to-night, in your bloody grave, and your mother will never know where it is! and you, james! you were my first-born, but i cannot go to you now, where you lie in the darkness among the dead! oh, but it is a sad story i must carry to your old father, to bring his gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. who can we lean upon, in our old age? who will take care of johnny when we are gone? oh, it is a hard, hard lot." she wrung her hands, bowed over her knees, in a paroxysm of tears, then raised herself, threw back her head, and exclaimed. "but oh! boys dear, wouldn't i rather you were where you are this night, than that you had thrown down your guns and run!" chapter lxiv. two kinds of appreciation. looking down the long vista of memory, to the many faces turned to me from beds of pain, i find few to which i can attach a name, and one i seem never to have looked upon but once. it is a long, sallow face, surmounted by bushy, yellow hair; it has a clear, oval outline, and straight nose, brown eyes and a down of young manhood on the wasted, trembling lips; i knew it then, as the face of a fever patient, but not one to whom i had rendered any special service, and felt surprised when the trembling lips said, in a pitiful, pleading way. "we boys has been a talkin' about you!" "have you, my dear--and what have you boys been saying about me?" "we've jist been a sayin' that good many ladies has been kind to us, but none uv 'em ever loved us but you!" "well, my dear, i do not know how it is with the other ladies, but i am sure i do love you very, very dearly! you do not know half how much i love you." "oh, yes, we do! yes, we do! we know 'at you don't take care uv us 'cause it's your juty! you jist do it 'cause you love to!" "that is it exactly--just because i love to, and because i want you to get well and go to your mothers." "yes! but the boys says you don't care about 'em when they get well." "they do not need to have me care for them when they are well." "oh, yes, they do! yes, they do! an' if that's the way you're a goin' to serve me, i'll stay sick a long time." when hospital stores came to me so fast that there was great trouble in getting them wisely distributed, campbell lent me an ambulance to go around, see where they were needed, and supply as many as i could. i had a letter from an old pittsburg neighbor, asking me to see his brother in douglas hospital, and went in an ambulance well supplied with jellies and fruit. douglas hospital was an institution of which the city was proud. it had much finer buildings than any other in the city, occupied the finest residence block in the city, and had a wide reputation for grandeur and beauty and superb management. i found the halls and rooms quite as elegant as i had any reason to expect, but was surprised to find that elegance undisturbed by the presence of sick or wounded men. in one back room a wounded officer looked lonely, and they said there were other rooms used for sick soldiers, but all i saw were parlors, reception rooms, offices and sleeping apartments for surgeons, and the lady abbess, with her attendant sisters of mercy or charity. after we had strolled through several sumptuous apartments, we were taken out into the adjoining square, where there were large barracks as white as lime and brushes could make them, and making a pretty picture among the trees. inside, the walls were white as on the outside, and the pictures already up, as well as those just being put up, were bright as bright could be. indeed. i do not know how pictures could have been greener or bluer or yellower or redder, and when the show-off man called my attention to them, as calculated to make the place cheerful; i recognized their merit, but suggested that some paper blinds might be desirable to keep the sun from shining into the faces of the men who lay on the cots. the roof or walls did not seem well calculated to keep out wind or rain, but paper blinds would ward off sunshine. from the condition of the floor, it was evident that the demon of the scrubbing brush, which has possession of all model institutions, had full sway in douglas barracks. pine boards could not well have been made whiter. no laundry man need have feared to own to the doing up of the bed linen and counterpanes, and science had not discovered any mode of making a bed look more like a packing box, than those in that model hospital. what an impertinence a sick or wounded man was, in one of those nice, square beds. he was almost certain to muss and toss it, and this must have been a crowning calamity. after the showman had shown all he cared to have me see. i sat talking with the man i had come to visit, and he said, in a whisper: "are there lice in all the hospitals?" "lice? why, certainly not." "well, there are plenty of them here, and they tell us they cannot be helped--that they have them in all the hospitals. look here!" he turned down the nice counterpane, and there, in the blanket, the disgusting creatures swarmed. i was shocked, and half rose, in the impulse to make an outcry, but he warned me not to let any one know he had told me, or it would be bad for him. i asked why he did not tell the surgeon. "he knows all about them, and says they cannot be helped." "you have sisters of charity here; tell them." "oh, they never do anything in the ward but walk around and talk nice, and pray with men who are going to die. they must know about them." i walked around alone, and the show-man did not seem to like it, but i talked with the men in the cots, put my hand under the cover, found feet encrusted with the exudations of fever, until they were hard and dry as a bit of kindling wood; hair full of dust from the battle-field, and not one man who had been washed since being carried away from it; while there were vermin in every bed. the ward-master objected to my leaving a jar of jelly with my friend. it would spoil the good order of the ward, and all delicacies were to be given into the care of the sisters. i found one of them who was quite willing to take charge of anything i wished to leave, but was powerless in the matter of vermin. it was the ward master's business to attend to that. it was the business of the sisters to look after the clothing when it came from the laundry, put it in order, and give it out when wanted. my failure to get a bed for the man in the fort by applying to those in authority, made me feel that it would be useless to try that plan about the vermin; and, in my perplexity, i turned to my old friend and confidant, the public. to reach it, i wrote to the _new york tribune_, giving a very mild statement of the case. two days after surgeon baxter came, with a copy of that letter, and told me he had been ordered to discharge me on account of it. i spoke of the men who must die if i left, and he was sorry but had no option. then he bethought him that maybe i might get the surgeon-general to permit me to remain, at least until the cases of my special patients were settled; otherwise i must leave the hospital that day. he was sorry i had dated the letter from campbell, had it not been for this, he could use his influence to sustain me; but professional etiquette forbade him to harbor or countenance one who spoke unfavorably of a brother-surgeon. in other words, by living in a hospital i became one of a ring, bound to keep hospital secrets, and use only words of commendation in speaking or writing of anything i saw. i took a street car and proceeded to the office of the surgeon-general--saw the man who held the lives of my patients in his hands, ate the only piece of humble pie that over crossed my lips, by apologizing for telling the truth, and got permission to go back to the men who looked to me for life. i have felt that i made a great mistake--felt that if i had then and there made war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt, against the whole system of fraud and cruelty embodied in the hospital service, i should have saved many more lives in the end. even while i talked to the head of that nest of corruption, and listened to his inane platitudes about my duty as an inmate of a hospital to report abuses to him, and "the regular way of proceeding," i did want to hurl the gauntlet of an irregular defiance into his plausible face, but the pleading eyes in campbell held me; i could not let those men die, and die they must if i must leave them. nobody denied the truth of my statements about douglas hospital, and i never learned that any one objected to the facts or their continuance. it was only their exposure which gave offense. this letter made me an object of dread. folks never knew what i might see or say next; and there soon arose another trouble about my living in campbell; for miss dix objected, claimed that it was an infringement on her authority. then again, there were others who could not see why there should be but one female nurse in campbell. dr. baxter, by admitting me, had abandoned his ground, acknowledged that men alone could not manage a first-class hospital; and having discovered his mistake, was bound to rectify it by admitting a corps of lady nurses. he was bombarded by miss dix's official power, pestered by the persistant appeals of volunteers; sneered and scoffed at and worried, until he fell back on his old position, and promptly dismissed me so soon as my patients were out of danger. he was always courteous to me as a visiter, and has my lasting gratitude and respect for breaking his rules and bearing the persecution he did, that i might do the work i did, and could not have done without his effective and generous co-operation. the proportion of thigh stumps saved, was the test of a hospital's success; and the summer i was in campbell, we saved nineteen out of twenty; next summer chaplain gaylord told me they lost nineteen in twenty, and added: "piemia has literally swept our wards." chapter lxv. life and death. when released from the hospital, i had neither money nor clothes, and this is all the account i can render to the generous people who sent me hospital stores. i could not answer their letters. some of them i never read. i could only give up my life to distributing their bounty, and knew that neither their money nor my own had remained in my hands when it was necessary for me to borrow two dollars to get a dress. my cloth traveling suit was no longer fit for use, and my platform suit too good. these were all i had brought to washington; but the best men never refused me audience because i wore a shaker bonnet, a black lawn skirt and gray linen sack. some thought i dressed in that way to be odd, but it was all i could afford. the quarter-master-general had canceled my appointment, because i had not reported for duty, but secretary stanton reinstated me, and i went to work on the largest salary i had ever received--fifty dollars a month. after some time it was raised to sixty, and i was more than independent; but my health was so broken that half a dozen doctors commanded me to lie on my back for a month, and i spent every moment i could in that position. i had grown hysterical, and twice while at work in the office, broke out into passionate weeping, while thinking of something in my hospital experience, something i had borne, when it occurred, without a tear, or even without feeling a desire to weep. in september i had twenty days' leave of absence to go to st. cloud, settle my business and bring my household gods. there were still no railroads in minnesota, and i was six days going, must have six to return, and one to visit friends at pittsburg, yet in the time left, sold _the democrat_, closed my home, and met gen. lowrie for the first and last time. he called and we spent an hour talking, principally of the war, which he thought would result in two separate governments. his reason seemed to be entirely restored; but his prestige, power, wealth and health were gone. i tried to avoid all personal matters, as well as reference to our quarrel, but he broke into the conversation to say: "i am the only person who ever understood you. people now think you go into hospitals from a sense of duty; from benevolence, like those good people who expect to get to heaven by doing disagreeable things on earth; but i know you go because you must; go for your own pleasure; you do not care for heaven or anything else, but yourself." he stopped, looked down, traced the pattern of the carpet with the point of his cane, then raised his head and continued: "you take care of the sick and wounded, go into all those dreadful places just as i used to drink brandy--for sake of the exhilaration it brings you." we shook hands on parting, and from our inmost hearts, i am sure, wished each other well. i was more than ever impressed by the genuine greatness of the man, who had been degraded by the use of irresponsible power. we reached washington in good time, and i soon realized the great advantage of rest. six hours of office work came so near nothing to do, that had i been in usual health i should probably have raised some disturbance from sheer idleness; but i learned by and by that the close attention demanded to avoid mistakes, could not well have been continued longer. several ladies continued distributing hospital stores for me all that fall and winter, and next spring i still had some to send out. when able i went myself, and in carver found a man who had been wounded in a cavalry charge, said to have been as desperate as that of "the light brigade;" and who refused to take anything from me, because he had "seen enough of these people who go around hospitals pretending to take care of wounded soldiers." i convinced him it was his duty to take the jelly in order to prevent my stealing it. also, that it was for my interest to save his life, that i might not have to pay my share of the cost of burying him and getting a man in his place. nay, that it was my duty to get him back into the saddle as fast as possible, that my government need not pay him for lying abed. he liked this view of the case, and not only took what i offered him, but next time i went asked for jefferson-tie shoes to support his foot, and when i brought them said he would be ready for duty in a week. in judiciary square, a surgeon asked me to give a jar of currant jelly to a man in ward six, who was fatally wounded. i found the man, those in the neighboring cots and the nurse, all very sad, talked to him a few moments, and said: "you think you are going to die!" "that is what they all say i must do!" "well, i say you are not going to do anything of the kind!" "oh! i guess i am!" "not unless you have made up your mind to it, and are quite determined. those hip wounds kill a great many men, because folks do not know how to manage them, and because the men are easy to kill; but it takes a good deal to kill a young man with a good conscience, who has never drank liquor or used tobacco; who has muscle like yours, a red beard and blue gray eyes." i summoned both his day and night nurse, told all three together of the surgical trap-door that old mother nature wanted made and kept open, clear up to the center of that wound. the surgeon would always make one if the patient wanted it. i told them about the warmth and nourishment and care needed, and left him and them full of hope and resolution. next time i was in judiciary, a young man on crutches accosted me, saying: "were not you in ward six, about six weeks ago?" "yes!" "do you remember a man there, that every one said was going to die, and you said he wouldn't?" "yes." "well, i'm the fellow." i looked at him inquiringly, and said: "well, did you die?" he burst into uproarious laughter, and replied: "no, but i'm blamed if i wouldn't, if you hadn't come along." i passed on, left him leaning against the wall finishing his laugh, and saw or heard of him no more. it was but a few days after he passed out of my knowledge that news came of the death of gen. lowrie. it was the old story, "the great man down," for he died in poverty and neglect, but with his better self in the ascendent. his body lies in an unmarked grave, in that land where once his word was law. pondering on his death, i thought of that country boy going to his father's house, with the life restored by one he knew not, even by name, and the going home of that mature man, who thought he knew my inmost soul, and with whose political death i was charged. only the wisdom of eternity can determine which, if either, i served or injured. to the one, life may lack blessing, to the other, death be all gain. chapter lxvi. meet miss dix and go to fredericksburg. i sat down stairs, for the first time after a two weeks' illness, when georgie willets, of jersey city, came in, saying: "here is a pass for you and one for me, to go to fredericksburg! a boat leaves in two hours, and we must hurry!" for several days the air had shuddered with accounts of the terrible suffering of our men, wounded in the battle of the wilderness; and a pall of uncertainty and gloom hung over the city. i made a tuck in a queen's-cloth dress, donned it, selected a light satchel, put into one side a bottle of whiskey and one of sherry, half a pound of green tea, two rolls of bandage and as much old table-linen as packed them close; put some clothing for myself in the other side, and a cake of black castile soap, for cleansing wounds; took a pair of good scissors, with one sharp point, and a small rubber syringe, as surgical instruments; put these in my pocket, with strings attaching them to my belt; got on my shaker bonnet, and with a large blanket shawl and tin cup, was on board with georgie, an hour before the boat left. it had brought a load of wounded from belle plain; some were still on board, and suffering intensely from thirst, and hard, dry dressings. it was a hot day, and we both went to work giving drinks of water, wetting wounds, and bathing hot heads and hands. as georgie passed the foot of the cabin stairs, miss dix was coming down, and called to her, saying: "what are you doing here?" she made no reply, but passed on to her work, when the irate lady turned to where i was drawing water from a cooler, and asked, in a tone of high displeasure: "who is that young girl?" "miss georgie willets, of jersey city," i replied. "and where is she going?" "to fredericksburg." "by whose authority?" she demanded. "by authority of the surgeon-general," i replied. "the surgeon-general has no authority to send a young girl down there alone." "she is not going alone." "who is going with her?" she asked, tartly. "i am." "who are you?" i told her, and she ceased to be insulting long enough to expostulate on the great impropriety of the proceeding, as well as to explain the total lack of any need of help in fredericksburg. she had just returned from that city, where she had arranged everything in the most satisfactory manner. hospitals had been established, with surgeons and nurses. there was therefore not the slightest occasion for our going further; but she was about to organize relief for the men while waiting at the washington wharf to be taken to hospitals. here i might be useful, and here she would be glad to have me work; but as for that handsome young girl, she wondered at me for bringing her into such a place. georgie was not merely handsome. she was grand, queenly; and i told miss dix that i differed with her about the kind of women who should go into such places. we wanted young, vigorous women--women whose self-respect and social position would command the respect of those to whom they ministered. she grew angry again, and said: "she shall not go to fredericksburg; i will have her arrested!" i was kneeling beside a man whose wounds i was bathing; for i had not suspended my work to talk with her, who stood, straight as a telegraph pole, holding a bottle which she ever and anon applied to her nose; but when she reached this climax, i raised my head, looked into her face, and said: "i shall not be sorry miss dix, if you do; for then i shall apply to my friends, mrs. abraham lincoln and secretary stanton, and have your authority tested." i went on with my work; she growled something and left the boat, but did not disturb us further. going down the river i grew worse, and thought i might be obliged to return with the boat, and stay at home; but consulted a surgeon on his way to the front, who talked with another, and said: "there is no immediate danger in your case. it is only secondary hemorrhage; and with care you may go on, but must not attempt to do anything. you can, however, be of incalculable service, simply by being in fredericksburg; can sit down and see that people do their duty. what our wounded need most, is people who have an interest in their welfare--friends. you can do a great deal toward supplying this want, this great need; but be careful and do not try to work." after some time this surgeon brought, and introduced col. chamberlain, of maine, evidently an invalid, and a man of the purely intellectual type. two other surgeons were with him, and all three endeavored to persuade him to return to washington, as his lack of health made it very dangerous, if not quite useless, for him to go to the front. i thought the surgeons right; and told him i feared he was throwing away his life, in an effort to do the impossible. he explained that he was in command of a brigade of eight regiments; that in them were hundreds of his neighbors and pupils, for he had resigned a professorship in a college to enlist. said he knew his own constitution better than any one else could know it; knew he would be stronger when he reached his post, and that the danger would be in any attempt to keep out of danger--the danger which his men must face. turning to me he said: "if you had eight children down there, you would go to them, if you could!" we arranged that if he should be wounded so as to suffer a thigh amputation, he should let me know, that i might nurse him through. at belle plaine, georgie went to look for transportation, and i to the sanitary commission boat, where i was introduced to mrs. gen. barlow and miss hancock, both busy furnishing hot coffee to those being embarked for washington. mrs. barlow was a tall, superbly formed woman, very handsome, and full of health and spirits. she looked down on me compassionately, and said: "oh, you poor little thing! what ever brought you here? we have sick folks enough now! do sit down until i get you a cup of tea!" while i drank the tea, she stood looking at me, and said meditatively: "oh, you queer little thing," and hurried off to her work. soon a colonel with a badly wounded head came on board, leaned against, a post and groaned. i found a basin of water and a towel, and began bathing his head, wetting those torturing dressings and making him comparatively comfortable, when she stopped in her hurried walk, looked on an instant, and exclaimed: "oh, you nice little thing! now i see what you are good for! i could not do that; but you will take care of their wounds and i will feed them! that will be grand!" soon georgie came to say there was no transportation to be had, but she had found a campbell surgeon in charge of a hospital tent, and he wanted me; said he was worn out, and had plenty of work for both of us. the doctor had a large tent, filled with wounded lying on loose hay. his patients seemed to want for nothing, but he must needs give so much time to receiving and forwarding those pouring in from the front, that he needed us. he had a little tent put up for us, and that was the only night i have ever slept in a tent. next morning while we were attending to a colonel, and lieutenant colonel, both of the same regiment, and both badly wounded and just brought in, one said to the other: "my god, if our men in fredericksburg could have a little of this care!" "why?" said i, "i have heard that everything possible was being done for them?" "everything possible!" exclaimed one, and both together began the most terrible recital of the neglect and abuse of the wounded in that horrible place--men dying of thirst, and women spitting in their faces, kicking and spurning them. we set down our basins; georgie started in one direction and i in another, to find transportation. the surgeon in command of the station stood superintending the loading of oats while he looked at my pass, and said he could not possibly send us, adding: "fredericksburg is no place for a lady. it is impossible to describe the condition of things there." "but, doctor, i am not a lady! i am a hospital nurse. the place where men are suffering must be the place for me. i do not look strong, but you cannot think how much i can do. "but, madam, you forget that our army is cut off from its base of supplies, and must be furnished with subsistence, and that we have not half the transportations we need." "doctor, you are sending bags of oats in ambulances! i do not weigh much more than one, and will be worth six when you get me there." he promised to send me that afternoon, but i doubted him; went to the christian commission tent, found a man who knew me by reputation, and told him they had better send me to fredericksburg, or put me under arrest, for i was in a mood to be dangerous. he feigned fright, caught up his hat, and said: "we'll get you out of this in the shortest possible space of time." an hour after i was on the way, and georgie a few moments in advance. i had seen bad roads in northern and western pennsylvania, but this was my first ride over no road. we met a steady stream of such wounded as were able to walk, but comparatively few were brought in ambulances. it was raining when we reached fredericksburg, at four o'clock on sabbath, and i went to the surgeon in command, reported, and asked him to send me to the worst place--the place where there was most need. "then i had better send you to the old theater, for i can get no one to stay there." he gave me my appointment, and i went to a corps surgeon, who signed it, and advised me not to go to the theater--i could do nothing, as the place was in such dreadful condition, while i could be useful in many other places. chapter lxvii. the old theater. this building was on princess ann street. the basement floor was level with the sidewalk, but the ground sloped upward at the back; so that the yard was higher than the floor. across the front was a vestibule, with two flights of stairs leading up to the auditorium; behind the vestibule a large, low room, with two rows of pillars supporting the upper floor; and behind this three small rooms, and a square hall with a side entrance. the fence was down between the theater and catholic church, next door. i stopped in the church to see georgie, who was already at work there, came and left by the back door, and entered the theater by the side hall. the mud was running in from the yard. opposite the door, in a small room, was a pile of knapsacks and blankets; and on them lay two men smoking. to get into the large room, i must step out of the hall mud over one man, and be careful not to step on another. i think it was six rows of men that lay close on the floor, with just room to pass between the feet of each row; they so close in the rows that in most places i must slide one foot before the other to get to their heads. the floor was very muddy and strewn with _debris_, principally of crackers. there was one hundred and eighty-two men in the building, all desperately wounded. they had been there a week. there were two leather water-buckets, two tin basins, and about every third man had saved his tin-cup or canteen; but no other vessel of any sort, size or description on the premises--no sink or cess-pool or drain. the nurses were not to be found; the men were growing reckless and despairing, but seemed to catch hope as i began to thread my way among them and talk. no other memory of life is more sacred than that of the candor with which they took me into their confidence, as if i had been of their own sex, yet ever sought to avoid wounding the delicacy they ascribed to mine. i found some of the nurses--cowards who had run away from battle, and now ran from duty--galvanized them into activity, invented substitutes for things that were wanting--making good use of an old knapsack and pocket-knife--and had tears of gratitude for pay. one man lay near the front door, in a scant flannel shirt and cotton drawers, his left thigh cut off in the middle and the stump supported on the only pillow in the house. it was six by ten inches, stuffed with straw. his head was supported by two bits of board and a pair of very muddy boots. he called me, clutched my dress, and plead: "mother, can't you get me a blanket, i'm so cold; i could live if i could get any care!" i went to the room where the men lay smoking on the blankets; but one of them wearing a surgeon's shoulderstraps, and speaking in a german accent, claimed them as his private property, and positively refused to yield one. the other man was his orderly, and words were useless--they kept their blankets. going into a room behind that, i found a man slightly wounded sitting on the floor, supporting another who had been shot across the face, and was totally blind. he called, and when i came and talked with them, said: "won't you stay with us?" "stay with you?" i replied, "well, i rather think i will, indeed; i came to stay, and am one of the folks it is hard to drive away!" "oh! thank god; everybody leaves us; they come and promise, and then go off, but i know you will stay; you will do something for us!" it was so pitiful, that for an instant my courage failed, and i said: "i will certainly stay with you; but fear it is little i can do for you." "oh, you can speak to us; you do not know how good your voice sounds. i have not seen a woman in three months; what is your name?" "my name is mother." "mother; oh my god! i have not seen my mother for two years. let me feel your hand?" i took between both of mine his hand, covered with mud and blood and smoke of battle, and told him i was not only going to stay with them, but was going to send him back to his regiment, with a lot more who were lying around here doing nothing, when there was so much fighting to be done; i had come on purpose to make them well, and they might make up their minds to it. my own courage had revived, and i must revive theirs; i could surely keep them alive until help should come. by softening the torturing bandages on his face, i made him more comfortable; and in an adjoining room found another man with a thigh stump, who had been served by field-surgeons, as the thieves served the man going from jerusalem to jericho: i.e., "stripped him, left him naked and half dead." those men surely did not go into battle without clothes; and why they should have been sent out of the surgeon's hands without enough of even underclothing to cover them, is the question i have never yet had answered. common decency led to his being placed in the back room alone, but i shall never blush for going to him and doing the little i could for his comfort. after i returned to the large room, i took notice about clothing, and found that most of the men had on their ordinary uniform; some had two blankets, more had one; but full one-third were without any. there was no shadow or pretense of a bed or pillow, not even a handful of straw or hay! there was no broom, no hoe, or shovel, or spade to sweep or scrape the floor; and the horrors were falling upon me when the man of the blankets came, and said: "mattam, iv you are goin' to do any ding for tese men, you petter git dem someding to eat." "something to eat?" "yaas! mine cot, someding to eat! de government petter leave dem to tie on de pattle field, nur do pring tem here to starve." i looked at him in much surprise, and said: "who are you?" "vy, i am de surgeon. tey send me here; put mine cot, i cannot do notting. tere ish notting to do mit!" i called out: "men, what have you had to eat?" "hard tack, and something they call coffee," was the response. "have you had no meat?" "meat? we have forgotten what it tastes like!" in one corner, near the front door, was a little counter and desk, with a stationary bench in front. to this desk the surgeon gave me a key. i found writing material, and sent a note of four lines to the corps surgeon. half an hour after, an irate little man stormed in and stamped around among those prostrate men, flourishing a scrap of paper and calling for the writer. his air was that of the champion who wanted to see "the man who struck billy patterson," and his fierceness quite alarmed me, lest he should step on some of the men. so i hurried to him, and was no little surprised to find that the offending missive was my note. i told him i had written it, and could have had no thought of "reporting" him, since i knew nothing about him. after considerable talk i learned that he had charge of the meat, and that none had been issued to that place, because no "requisition" had been sent. i had never written a requisition, but found blanks in that desk, filled one, signed it and gave it to the meat man, who engaged that the beef should be there next morning. it grew dark, and we had two tallow candles lighted! may none of my readers ever see such darkness made visible--such rows of haggard faces looking at them from out such cavernous gloom! i talked hopefully, worked and walked, while mentally exclaiming: "oh, god! what shall i do?" about nine o'clock dr. porter, division surgeon, came with georgie, to take us to our quarters. these were but half a block away, on the same side of the street, but on the opposite side, and corner of the next cross-street, in a nice two-story brick house, with a small yard in front. an old lady answered his summons, but refused to admit us: when he insisted and i interposed, saying the lady was afraid of soldiers, but would admit us. we would bid him good night, and soon our lodgings would be all right. she was relieved, took us in, cooked our rations for herself and us, gave us a comfortable bed, and was uniformly kind all the time we staid, and seemed sorry to have us leave. i spoke the first night to dr. porter about blankets and straw, or hay for beds, but was assured that none were to be had. supplies could not reach them since being cut off from their base, and the provost marshal, gen. patrick, would not permit anything to be taken out of the houses, though many of them were unoccupied, and well supplied with bedding and other necessaries. i thought we ought to get two blankets for those two naked men, if the government should pay their weight in gold for them; and suggested that the surgeons take what was necessary for the comfort of the men, and give vouchers to the owners. i knew such claims would be honored; would see that they should be; but he said the matter had been settled by the provost, and nothing more could be done. it seems to me now that i must have been benumbed, or i could have done something to provide covering for those men. i did think of giving one of them my shawl, but i must have died without it. i remembered my douglas hospital letter, and knew that gen. patrick could order me out of fredericksburg, and leave these men to rot in the old theater. already their wounds were infested by worms, which gnawed and tormented them; some of those wounds were turning black, many were green; the vitality of the men was sinking for want of food and warmth. i could not forsake them to look after reform; would not fail to do what i could, in an effort to do what i could not or might not accomplish. in the morning i saw that the men had something they called coffee, and found canned milk for it, which was nourishment; but a new difficulty arose. the men who brought the coffee would distribute it to those who had cups or canteens, and the others would get none. i had some trouble to induce them to leave their cans, until, with the two tin cups i could borrow, i could give about one-third the whole number the coffee they could not otherwise have. our cooking was done in the churchyard, with that of the church patients. a shed had been put up; but our cooking was an "uncovenanted mercy," and when our beef came there was a question as to how it could be cooked--how that additional work could be done. i wrote to the provost-marshal, stating our trouble, and the extremity of one hundred and eighty-two men. asked that we might take a cook-stove out of a vacant house near; promised to take good care of it and have it returned; and he wrote, for answer: "i am not a thief! if you want a stove send to the sanitary commission!" he must have known that the commission was as pressed as the government to conform its arrangements to the movements of an army cut off from its base of supplies, and that it had no stoves, so the plain english of his answer was: "let your wounded die of hunger, in welcome! i am here to guard the property of the citizens of fredericksburg!" i had already written to the commission for blankets and a broom, but there were none to be had. it soon however sent a man, who cut branches off trees, and with them swept the floors. chapter lxviii. am placed in authority. on monday morning i sent for dr. porter, and stated the trouble about nurses shirking. he had them all summoned in the front end of the large room, and in presence of the patients, said to them: "you see this lady? well, you are to report to her for duty; and if she has any fault to find with you she will report you to the provost-marshal!" i have never seen a set of men look more thoroughly subdued. there were eleven of them, and they all gave me the military salute. the doctor went off, and i set them to work. one middle-aged irishman had had some experience as a nurse; could dress wounds--slowly, but very well--was faithful and kind; and him i made head-nurse up stairs, where there were fifty-four patients, and gave him three assistants, for whom he was to be responsible. after patrick's note, i calculated my resources, and got ready for a close siege. as i sat on that little stationary bench, making an inventory, i heard shrieks, groans and curses, at the far end of the room; ran to the place, and got there in time to see the surgeon of the blankets tearing the dry dressings off a thigh stump! coming up behind him, i caught him by both ears, and had my hands full, ordered him to stop, and said: "you had better go back to your room and smoke." again i sent for surgeon porter, and in less than two hours that little wretch, with his orderly, packed up his blankets and i saw him or them no more. i had never dressed a thigh stump, but must dress a good many now; i rolled that one in a wet cloth, and covered it carefully, to let the man get time to rest, while i got rid of his horrid tormentor. when there was so much to be done, i would do the most needful thing first, and this was ridding the wounds of worms and gangrene, supporting the strength of the men by proper food, and keeping the air as pure as possible. i got our beef into the way of being boiled, and would have some good substantial broth made around it. i went on a foraging expedition--found a coal-scuttle which would do for a slop-pail, and confiscated it, got two bits of board, by which it could be converted into a stool, and so bring the great rest of a change of position to such men as could sit up; had a little drain made with a bit of board for a shovel, and so kept the mud from running in at the side door; melted the tops off some tin cans, and made them into drinking cups; had two of my men confiscate a large tub from a brewery, set it in the vestibule to wash rags for outside covers to wounds, to keep off chill, and had others bring bricks and rubbish mortar from a ruin across the street, to make substitutes for pillows. i dressed wounds! dressed wounds, and made thorough work of it. in the church was a dispensary where i could get any washes or medicines i wished, and i do not think i left a worm. some of them were over half an inch long, with black heads and many feet, but most were maggots. they were often deeply seated, but my syringe would drive them out, and twice a day i followed them up. the black and green places grew smaller and better colored with every dressing. the men grew stronger with plenty of beef and broth and canned milk. i put citric acid and sugar in their apple sauce as a substitute for lemons. i forget how many thigh stumps i had, but i think as many as twelve. one of them was very short and in a very bad condition. one morning when i was kneeling and dressing it, the man burst into tears, and said: "you do not seem to mind this, but i know you would not do it for anything but the love of god, and none but he can ever reward you; but if i live to see my wife and children, it will be through what you have done for me, and i will teach them to bless your name!" he quite took me by surprise, for i seemed to have forgotten any other life than that i was then living; and dressing the most frightful wounds was as natural as eating. i felt no disgust, no shrinking, and mere conventional delicacy is withdrawn when the angel of death breathes upon it. the man we stepped over at the back door, proved to be a student from the pennsylvania agricultural college, shot through the alimentary canal, near the base of the spine. for him there was no hope, but i did what i could to make him less uncomfortable, and once he said: "this is strange work for a lady." "you forget," i said, "that i am surgeon in charge, that you and i were made of the same kind of clay, in much the same fashion, and will soon turn into just the same kind of dust." how my heart was wrung for him, with his refined face, dying for a country which sent its bayonets to stand between him and the armful of straw, with which i might have raised him above that muddy floor. he had no knapsack to serve as a pillow, no blanket, no cup, and his position across the doorway was cold and uncomfortable; but even after i had made a better place for him, he objected to leaving two companions, who lay next to him, and i could not find room for all three together, even on that dirty floor. he himself always dressed the wound where the bullet entered, and was most grateful for the means of doing so. i cared for that one through which death's messenger made its exit, and although he knew its condition, he did not know the certainty of a fatal result, and resented any intimation that he should not recover. chapter lxix. visiters. the second morning of my work in the old theater, miss hancock came to see how i got along. she was thoroughly practical, and a most efficient laborer in the hospital field, and soon thought of something to better the condition of the man minus clothes, who lay quite near my desk and the front door, and caught my dress whenever he could, to plead for a blanket. she could get no blanket; but was stationed in the methodist church, where there was a surgeon in charge, and everything running in regular order. in a tent adjoining, this man could be laid out of the draught and chill of that basement, and she would do her best to get some clothing for him. she sent two men with a stretcher, who took him to the church tent, where i fear he was not much better provided for than in the place he left. after some days, mrs. gen. barlow came to see the men who all belonged to her husband's division, and were rejoiced to see her; and to express a general fear for my life. i was to die of overwork and want of sleep, "and then," she exclaimed, "what will become of these men? no one but you ever could or would have done anything for them. do you know there were three surgeons detailed for duty here, before you came, and none of them would stay? now if you die, they will. do take some rest!" i listened and looked at her flushed face, while she talked, and said: "mrs. barlow, i am not going to die--am in no danger whatever, and will hold out until help comes. this cannot last; government will come to the rescue, and my men will be here when it comes. after all is over, i will fall to pieces like an old stage coach when the king-bolt drops out; will lie around as lumber for a while, then some one will put me together again, and i will be good as new. it is you who are killing yourself. you must change your arrangements or you will take typhoid fever, and after such a strain, recovery will be hopeless. i take nobody's disease--am too repellant; but you will catch contagion very readily. keep away from fever cases and rest; you are in imminent peril." she hurried away, laughing at the idea of one in her perfect health being injured by hard work; but my heart was full of evil omen. i had talked with mrs. senator pomeroy, on her way from her last visit to the contraband camp, where she gave her life in labor for the friendless and poor, and she had looked very much as mrs. barlow did that day. soon after this, i was made glad by the sight of my friend, mrs. judge ingersol. people say her daughter, mrs. gov. chamberlain, is a beauty, but she is not old enough ever to have been as beautiful as her mother, that day, in her plain widow's dress, walking among the wounded, with her calm face so full of strength and gentleness. she and mrs. barlow had hatched a rebellion. in the city was a barn containing straw, for want of which our men were dying. it was guarded by one of gen. barlow's men. mrs. barlow took two others, went with them, placed herself in front of the guard, told them to break open the barn and carry out the straw, and him to fire, if he thought it is duty; but he must reach them through her. the man's orders were to guard the barn; with the straw out of it he had nothing to do. the men moved side and side, going in and out, and she kept in range to cover them until the last armful had been removed. it was taken away and was to be distributed; but there was still so little compared to the need, that there must be consultation about the manner of using it. mrs. ingersol thought it should be made into small pillows, and volunteered to undertake that work; as the commission could furnish muslin, i thought this best. she found a loft, and engaged several fredericksburg women to work for pay. they worked one day, but did not return on the second. there were a good many union women there by this time, who should have helped, but few could confine themselves to obscure work in a loft, when there was so much excitement on the streets. there was no authority to hold any one to steady employment; and so about two-thirds the helpers who reached fredericksburg, spent a large part of their time in an aimless wandering and wondering, and finding so much to be done, could do nothing. so, most of the time mrs. ingersol was in her loft alone, except the orderlies who stuffed her slips, sewed up the ends and carried them off to the places she designated; but she had nimble fingers, and sleight-of-hand, and turned out a surprising number of small straw pillows. as my allowance came, the question was what to do with them. they were too precious for use. what should i do with those scraps of white on that field of grime? our gaunt horror became grotesque, in view of such unwonted luxuries. what! a whole dozen or two little straw pillows among one hundred and sixty men! who should elect the aristocrats to be cradled in such luxury amid that world of want? when my aristocrat was elected, how should his luxury be applied? would i put it under his head or mangled limb? i think i never realized our destitution until those little pillows came to remind me that sometimes wounded men had beds! oh, god! would relief never come? like the scotch girl in the besieged fortress of india, i felt like laying my ear to the ground, to harken for the sound of the bagpipes, the tramp of the campbells coming. it did seem that, without surgical aid or comforts of any kind, my men must soon be all past hope; but a surgeon came, and i hailed him with joy, thinking him the advance guard of the army of relief. half an hour after his appearance i missed him, and saw him no more; and this was the fourth which left those men, after being regularly detailed to duty among them--left them to die or live, as they could. soon after this we had an official visit from one of those laundry critics, called "medical inspectors." as there were no sheets or counterpanes to look after, he turned his attention to a heap of dry rubbish in the vestibule, which gave the place an untidy appearance, as seen from the street. to remove this eyesore he had one of my nurses hunt up a wheel-barrow, and two shovels--shovels were accessible by this time--and ordered him and another to wheel that rubbish out into the street. the wheel-barrow coming in the door called my attention, when i learned that we were going to be made respectable. i sent the wheel-barrow home, gave the shovels to two men to dig a sink hole back in the yard, and forbade any disturbance of the dry, harmless rubbish in the vestibule. i would not have my men choked with dust by its removal, and set about getting up false appearances. no medical inspector should white that sepulchre until he cleared the dead men's bones out of it. he had not looked at a wound; did not know if the men had had any dinner. a man did not need a medical diploma to clear up after stage carpenters. if the government wanted that kind of work done, it had better send a man and cart with its donkey. chapter lxx. wounded officers. in washington, i had done nothing for any wounded officer, except a captain who was brought to our ward when all the others were taken away, and in fredericksburg i began on that principle. i found twenty in the old theater, and had them removed to private houses, to make room for the men, and that they might be better cared for. officers could be quartered in private houses, and have beds, most of those taken out of the theater were put into houses between it and our quarters, so that i could see them on my way to and from meals. among them was the blind man, who still craved to hear me speak and feel my hand, and i kept his face in a wet compress until a surgeon was dressing it and found the inflammation so gone that he drew the lid of one back, and the man cried out in delight: "i can see! i can see! now let me see mother." i stood in his range of vision, until the surgeon closed the lids, when he said: "now, mother, i shall always remember just how you look." i found in my visit to those men that some orderlies needed some one to keep them in order, and that a helpless man is not always sure his servant will serve him. often the orderlies themselves were powerless, and those men would have suffered if i had not cared for them. more than once some of them said: "i wish, mother, we were back with you in the old theater?" there was a captain whose stump i must fix every night before he could sleep, and when his wife came i tried to teach her, but she was so much afraid of hurting him she could do nothing. i learned in time that officers quartered in private houses, even with the greater comforts they had, often suffered more than the men in all their privations. mrs. barlow came for me to see one given up to die, and i found him in a large handsome room, on the first floor of an elegant residence, absolutely hopeless, but for years have not been able to recall the trouble in his case. it must have been easy to set right, for he began at once to recover, and i felt that people had been very stupid, and that there was an unreasonable amount of wonder and gratitude over whatever it was i did. it was often so easy to save a life, where there were the means of living, that a little courage or common sense seemed like a miraculous gift to people whose mental powers had been turned in other directions. but i found another side to looking after officers in private quarters. one evening after dark, georgia called to tell me of a dreadful case of suffering which a surgeon wished her to see. he was there to accompany her, but she declined going without me, and i went along, walking close behind them, as the pavement was narrow. he did not seem to notice that i was there, was troubled with the weight of his diploma and shoulderstraps, and talked very patronizingly to the lady at his side, until she turned, and said to me: "do you hear that?" "oh, yes," i replied, "and feel very grateful to the young man for his permission to do the work he is paid for doing, but if he had reserved his patronage until some one had asked for it, it would have had more weight." "your friend is sarcastic," was his reply to her; and i said no more until we reached the case of great distress, which was on the second floor of a vacant house, and proved to be a colonel in uniform, seated in an easy chair, smoking, while his orderly sat in another chair, oil the other side of the room. georgie stood looking from one man to the other in speechless surprise; but i spoke to the man in the chair, saying: "how is it, sir, that you, an officer, in need of nothing, have trespassed upon our time and strength, when you know that men are dying by hundreds for want of care?" he began to apologize and explain, but i said to georgie: "come, miss willets, we are not needed here." as we passed from the room, the surgeon took his cap to accompany us, when i stopped, made a gesture, and said: "young man! stay where you are! your friend must be too ill to do without you. i will see the young lady to her quarters. the vidette is on the corner, and we do not need you!" we came away filled with wonder, but we did not for some time realize the danger. we came to know that miss dix's caution was not altogether unwise; that women had been led into traps of this kind, when it would have been well for them had they died there, and when duty to themselves and the public required them to get one or more doctors ready for dissection. after that lesson, however, i did not fear to leave georgie, who remained with the army, doing grand work, until richmond fell, but laying the foundation of that consumption, of which she died. of all the lives which the rebellion cost us, none was more pure, more noble, than that of this beautiful, refined, strong, gentle girl. chapter lxxi. "now i lay me down to sleep." the sanitary commission soon got a supply of clothing, and sent two men to wash and dress my patients. these, with the one sweeping floors with branches, were an incalculable help and comfort; but these two did their work and passed on to other places. one of the men they had dressed grew weak, and i was at a loss to account for his symptoms, until by close questioning, i drew from him the answer, "it is my other wound!" these words sounded like a death-knell, but i insisted on seeing the other wound, and found four bullet holes under his new clothes. from the one wound, for which i had been caring, he might easily recover; but with four more so distributed that he must lie on one, and no surgeon to make trap doors, no bed--there was no hope. he was so bright, so good, so intelligent, so courageous, it was hard to give him up. ah, if i had him in campbell, with dr. kelly to use the knife! how my heart clung to him! he lay near the center of the room, with his head close to a column; and one night as i knelt giving him drink, and arranging his knapsack and brick pillow, making the most of his two blankets, and thinking of his mother at home, i was suddenly impressed by the beauty and grandeur of his face;--his broad, white brow shaded by bushy, chestnut hair, half curling; the delicate oval of his cheeks; the large, expressive grey eyes; the straight nose and firm chin and lips!--he could not have been more than twenty-two, almost six feet high, with a frame full of vigor. how many such men were there in this land? how many could we afford to sacrifice in order to preserve a country for the use of cowards and traitors, and other inferior types of the race? the feeble light of my candle threw this picture into strong relief against the surrounding gloom, and it was harder than ever to give him up, but this must be done; and i wanted to extract from that bitter cup one drop of sweetness for his mother; so i said to him: "now, george, do you think you can sleep?" he said he could, and i added: "will you pray before you sleep?" he said he would. "do you always pray before going to sleep?" he nodded, and i continued: "let us pray together, to-night, just the little prayer your mother taught you first." he clasped his hands, and together we repeated "now i lay me down to sleep," to the end; when i said: "do you mean that, george? do you mean to ask god to keep your soul, for christ's sake, while you are here; and, for his sake, to take it to himself when you go hence, whenever that may be?" the tears were running over his cheeks, and he said, solemnly: "i do." "then it is all well with you, and you can rest in him who giveth his beloved sleep." there was no time for long prayers, and i must go to another sufferer. a kind, strong man, from the michigan aid society, came and worked two days among my men, and said: "if i only had them in a tent, on the ground; but this floor is dreadful!" up stairs were some wounds i must dress, while a corpse lay close beside one of the men, so that i must kneel touching it, while i worked. it lay twelve hours before i could get it taken to its shallow, coffinless grave; and while i knelt there, the man whose wound i was dressing, said: "never mind; we'll make you up a good purse for this!" he had no sooner spoken than a murmur of contemptuous disapproval came from the other men, and one said: "a purse for her! she's got more money than all of us, i bet!" another called out: "no, we won't! won't do anything of the kind! we're your boys; ain't we, mother? you're not working for money!" "why," persisted the generous man, "we made up a purse of eighty dollars for a woman t' other time i was hurt, and she hadn't done half as much for us!" "eighty dollars!" called out the man who thought me rich; "eighty dollars for her! why i tell you she could give every one of us eighty dollars, and would not miss it!" another said: "she isn't one of the sort that are 'round after purses!" why any of them should have thought me rich i cannot imagine except for the respect with which officers treated me. to veil the iron hand i held over my nurses, i made a jest of my authority, pinned a bit of bandage on my shoulder, and played commander-in-chief. officers and guards would salute when we passed, as an innocent joke, but the men came to regard me as a person of rank. citizens of fredericksburg, who at first insulted me on the street, as they did other yankee nurses, heard that i was a person of great influence, and began to solicit my good offices on behalf of friends arrested by order of secretary stanton, and held as hostages, for our sixty wounded who were made prisoners while trying to pass through the city, before we took possession. so i was decked in plumes of fictitious greatness, and might have played princess in disguise if i had had time; but i had only two deaths in the old theater--this man up stairs, and the man without clothes, who lay alone in that back room, and after the amputation of his thigh, had no covering until government gave him one of virginia clay. chapter lxxii. more victims and a change of base. one day at noon, the air thrilled with martial music and the earth shook under the tramp of men as seven thousand splendid troops marched up princess ann street on their way to reinforce our army, whose rear was about eight miles from us. they were in superb order, and the forts around washington had been stripped of their garrisons, and most of their guns, to furnish them; but the generalship which cut our army off from its base of supplies, and blundered into the battle of the wilderness, like a blind horse into a briar patch, without shelling or burning the dry chapperal in which our dead and wounded were consumed together, after the battle, had made no arrangements for the safe arrival of its reinforcements. so they were ambushed soon after passing through fredericksburg; and that night, before ten o'clock, all the places i had succeeded in making vacant were filled with the wounded from this reinforcement. how many of them were brought to fredericksburg i do not know; but it must have been a good many, when some were sent to my den of horrors. one evening, after dark, i went to the dispensary, and found a surgeon just in from the front for supplies. while they were being put up, he told us of the horrible carnage at spottsylvania that day, when the troops had been hurled, again and again, against impregnable fortifications, under a rain of rifle balls, which cut down a solid white oak tree, eighteen inches in diameter. the battle had ceased for the night, and it was not known whether it would be renewed in the morning. "but if it is," said the speaker, "it will be the bloodiest day of the war, and we must be whipped, routed. the rebels are behind breastworks which cannot be carried. any man but grant would have known that this morning, but he is to fight it out on this line, and it is generally thought he will try it again in the morning. if he does, it will be a worse rout than bull run." no one was present but the surgeon in charge of the church, the dispensary clerk, and myself; so he was no alarmist, for when he had done speaking, he took his package, mounted his horse and left. people had said, through the day, that the roar of guns was heard in the higher portions of the city, but no news of the battle seemed to have reached it during all the next day. i spent it in preparing for the worst, warned georgie and tightened the reins on my nurses. i had had no reason to complain of any, and felt that i should hold them to duty, even through a rout. it also seemed well to know where our wounded were located, in that part of the city, so that if an attempt were made to remove them, in a hurry, there might not be any overlooked. at half-past eleven that night i had heard nothing from the front, and went to sleep, with heavy forebodings. at two o'clock i was aroused by the sounds of a moving multitude, rose and looked out to see, under the starlight, a black stream pouring down the side street, on the corner of which our quarters were situated, and turning down princess ann, toward the river landing. to me, it was the nation going to her doom, passing through the little period of starlight, on into the darkness and the unknown. in louisville, i had learned to believe that the eternal verities demanded the destruction of our government. true, the south had beaten the north in her bloody struggle for the privilege of holding her slaves while she flogged them; but i could see, in this, no reason why that north should be chosen as freedom's standard-bearer! our ignoble emancipation proclamation had furnished no rock of moral principle on which to plant her feet while she struggled in that bloody surf. god was blotting out our name from among the nations, that he might plant here a government worthy of such a country. i calculated there was a rear guard that would hold the enemy back until morning, and did not wake georgie, who needed sleep; but i must be with my men, who would be alarmed by the unusual sounds; must see that those nurses did not run away. to get to my post, i must cross that stream, and as i stood waiting on the bank, could see that it was not composed of men in martial array. it met exactly all my previous conceptions of a disorderly flight. there were men in and out of uniform, men rolled in blankets, men on horseback and men on foot, cannon, caisons, baggage wagons, beef cattle, ambulances and nondescripts, all mixed and mingled, filling the street from wall to wall; no one speaking a word, and all intent on getting forward as fast as possible. so thickly were they packed that i waited in vain, as much as twenty minutes, for some opening through which i might work my way to the other side, and at last called the vidette, who came and helped me over. reaching the theater, i found many of the men awake and listening; went among them and whispered, as i did something for each, that there was some movement on the street i did not understand, but should probably know about in the morning. during the suspense of those dark hours, and all the next day i was constantly reminded of the bible metaphor of "a nail fastened in a sure place." the absolute confidence which those men reposed in me, the comfort and strength i could give them, were so out of proportion to my strength that it was a study. i was a very small nail, but so securely fastened in the source of all strength, that they could hold by me and hope, even when there seemed nothing to hope for. as for me, all the armies of the world, and the world itself might melt or blow away, but i should be safe with god, and know that for every creature he was working out some noble destiny. all the pain, and sorrow, and defeat, were rough places--briars in an upward path to something we should all rejoice to see. all day that dark stream surged around that corner, and i took heart that the flight was not disorderly, since i heard of none coming by any other street. all day the work went on as usual at the old theater, and i made short excursions to other places. up that street in one end of an engine house, up a narrow, winding stair, i found a room full of men deserted, and in most pitiable condition. they were all supposed to be fever cases, but one young man had an ankle wound, in which inflammation had appeared. i hurried to the surgeons, stationed in the far end of the building, and reported the case. they sent immediately for the man, and i knew in two hours that the amputation had been successful, and barely in time. as i went on that errand, i met two christian commission men walking leisurely, admiring the light of the rising sun on the old buildings, and told them of the urgent demand for help, and chicken broth or beef broth and water up in that room. they were polite, and promised to go as soon as possible to the relief of that distress; but when i returned and up to the last knowledge i had of the case, they had not been there. i secured a can of cooked turkey, the only one i ever saw, and a pitcher of hot water, and with these made a substitute for chicken broth; gave them all drinks of water, bathed their faces, found one of their absent nurses, made him promise to stay, and went back to the main building to have some one see that he kept his word. here was a large floor almost covered with wounded, and among them a woman stumbled about weeping, wailing, boo-hooing and wringing her hands; i caught her wrist, and said: "what _is_ the matter?" "oh! oh! oh! boo-hoo! boo-hoo! the poor fellow is goin' to die an' wants me to write to his mother." "well, write to her and keep quiet! you need not kill all the rest of them because he is going to die." "oh! boo-hoo! some people has no feelin's; but i have got feelin's!" i led her to the surgeon in charge, who sent her and her "feelin's" to her quarters, and told her not to come back. she was the only one of the dix' nurses i saw in fredericksburg, and her large, flat, flabby face was almost hideous with its lack of eye-brows and lashes; but this hideousness must have been her recommendation, as she could not have been more than twenty years old. from the engine house i went to the methodist church. miss hancock had been detailed to the general hospital, just being established, and i found a house full of men in a sad condition. nine o'clock, on a hot morning, and no wounds dressed; bandages dry and hard, men thirsty and feverish, nurses out watching that stream pouring through the city, and patients helpless and despondent. i got a basin of water and a clean rag, never cared for sponges, and went from one to another, dripping water in behind those bandages to ease the torment of lint splints, brought drinks and talked to call their attention from the indefinite dread which filled the air, and got up considerable interest in--i do not remember what--but something which set them to talking. some wounds i dressed, and while engaged on one, a man called from the other side of the house to know what the fun was all about, when the man whose wound i was attending placed a hand on each of his sides, screamed with laughter, and replied: "oh, jim! do get her to dress your wound, for i swear, she'd make a dead man laugh!" i found some of the nurses; a surgeon came in who would, i thought, attend to them, and i went back to my post to find every man on duty. it was near sundown when we heard that this backward movement was a "change of base;" but to me it seemed more like looking for a base, as there had been none to change. the stream thickened toward nightfall, and continued until two o'clock next morning; so that our army was twenty-four hours passing through fredericksburg; and in that time i do not think a man strayed off on to any other street! all poured down that side street, turned that corner, and went on down princess ann. chapter lxxiii. prayers enough and to spare. the next evening, after hearing of the battle of spottsylvania, and while waiting to know if it had been renewed, i sat after sundown on the door-step of our quarters, when an orderly hurried up and inquired for the christian commission. a lieutenant was dying, and wanted to see a preacher. i directed the messenger, but doubted if he would find a preacher, as i had seen nothing of any save a catholic priest, with whom i had formed an alliance; and i went to stay with the dying man, who was alone. i found him nervous and tired, with nothing to hinder his return to his regiment inside of a month. he had been converted, was a member of the methodist church, and seemed an humble christian man. i told him he was getting well, had seen too much company, and must go to sleep, which he proceeded to do in a very short time after being assured that that motion was in order. he had slept perhaps five minutes when the messenger returned, followed by six preachers! i made a sign that he slept and should not be disturbed, but they gathered around the bed with so much noise they waked him. there seemed to be a struggle for precedence among his visitors, but one gained the victory. they all wanted to shake hands with the man in the bed, but his left arm was off, and i objected; whereupon the head spokesman groaned a good solid groan, to which the others groaned a response. he stood at the foot of the bed, spread his chest, and inquired: "well, brother, how is your soul in this solemn hour?" the answer was such as a good christian might make; and i told the gentleman that the lieutenant had been unnecessarily alarmed; that he had seen too much company, was weary and excited, needed rest, and was rapidly recovering; that he ought to go to sleep; but they all knelt around the bed, and the first prayed a good, long, loud prayer; talked about "the lake that burneth," and other pleasant things, while i held the patient's hand, and felt his nerves jerk. i thought it would soon be over; but no sooner had this one finished than the next fell to, and gave us a prayer with more of those sobs made by hard inhalation than his predecessor, and a good deal more brimstone. no sooner had he relieved his mind than a third threw back his head to begin, and i spoke, quietly as possible; begged they would let the lieutenant sleep; told them that down in the old theater was a man in a back room, alone and dying. i had tried to get some one to sit with him and pray with him, and hoped one or two of them would go to him at once, as every moment might make it too late. a man was also dying in the engine-house, who ought to have some christian friend with him as he crossed the dark valley. they listened impatiently; then the man whose turn it was to ventilate his eloquence, pushed his sleeves up to the elbows, rubbed his hands as if about to lift some heavy weight, and exclaimed: "yes, sister! yes. we'll attend to them; but, first, let us get through with this case!" then he went to work and ladled out groans, sobs and blue blazes. the other three followed suit, and when they had all had a good time on their knees, each one gave a short oration, and when they got through i reminded them again of the two dying men; but like the undutiful son, they said, "i go! and went not!" it was two of the six whom i met next morning, and asked to go to the relief of those poor patients, who promised and went not. chapter lxxiv. get out of the old theater. i do not know how long i was in charge of the old theater, but remember talking to some one of having been there ten days, and things looking as usual. it was after the change of base, that one afternoon i got eight hopeful cases sent to the general hospital, where they would have beds. that night about ten o'clock the vidette halted a man, who explained that he was surgeon in charge of that institution, and when he got leave to go on, i caught him by the lapel of his coat, and said: "if you are surgeon--what is the reason that the eight men i sent you this afternoon had had no supper at nine o'clock?" he promised to attend to them before he slept, and on that we parted. soon after this, dr. childs, of philadelphia, and a regular army surgeon, came to the old theater, hung their coats and official dignity, if they had any, on the wall--never said a word about the rubbish in the hall, but fastened up their sleeves and went to work. when they came, i felt as if i could not take another step, went to my room and lay down, thinking of raphael's useless angels leaning their baby arms on a cloud. my angels wore beards, and had their sleeves turned up like farm laborers, as they lifted men out of the depths of despair into the light and warmth of human help and human sympathy. in sending the men away, they sent the amputation cases and george to the church, and sent for me to go to them there. georgie had gone to the general hospital, and there was no surgeon in charge at the church when i went to it. so, once more, i set about doing that which was right in my own eyes. i could have a bale of hay, whipped out my needle and thread, and for several bad cases who had two blankets converted one into a bed tick, had it filled with hay, and a man placed on it; but three were sadly in need of beds, and had no blankets; and to them i alloted the balance of my precious bale, had it placed under them loose, and rejoiced in their joy over so great a luxury. my theater men had been laid in a row close to the wall, next to the late scene of their suffering; and about midnight of the first night there, a nurse asked me to go to a man who was dying. i found him in front of the altar. the doors and front panels of the pews had been fastened v shape to the floor, and he lay with one arm over this, and his head hanging forward. he had been shot through the chest, was breathing loud and in gasps, worn out for want of support, and to lay him down was to put out his lamp of life instantly. what he needed was a high-backed chair, but general patrick's sense of duty to the citizens of fredericksburg left no hope of such a support. as the only substitute in my reach, i sat on the edge of the pew door and its panel, drew his arm across my knee, raised his head to my shoulder, and held it there by laying mine against it. in this way i could talk in a low monotone to him, and the hopes to which the soul turns when about to leave the tenement of clay. he gasped acquiescence in these hopes, and his words led several men near to draw their sleeves across their eyes; but they all knew he was dying, and a little sympathy and sadness would not injure them. he reached toward the floor, and, the man next handed up a daguerreotype case, which he tried to open. i took and opened it; found the picture of a young, handsome woman, and held it and a candle, so that he could see it. his tears fell on it, as he looked, and he gasped, "i shall never be where that has been." i said: "is it your wife?" and he replied, "no! but she would have been." i always tried to avoid bringing sadness to the living on account of death; but it must have been hard for men to sleep in sound of his labored breathing; and to soften it i began singing "shining shore." he took it up at once, in a whisper tone, keeping time, as if used to singing. soon one, then another and another joined, until all over the church these prostrate men were singing that soft, sad melody. on the altar burned a row of candles before a life-sized picture of the virgin and child. the cocks crew the turn of the night outside, and when we had sung the hymn through, some of the men began again, and we had sung it a second time when i heard george call me. i knew that he, too, was dying, and would probably not hear the next crowing of the cock. i must go to him! how could i leave this head unsupported? oh, death where is thy sting? i think it was with me that night; but i went to george, and when the sun arose it looked upon two corpses, the remains of two who had gone from my arms in one night, full of hope in the great hereafter. chapter lxxv. take boat and see a social party. next morning a new surgeon took charge, and ordered that hay to be removed. the men clung to their beds and sent for me; i plead a respite, in hopes of getting muslin to make ticks; but was soon detected in the act of taking a bowl of broth to one of my patients. this the surgeon forbade on the ground that it was not regular meal time. i said the man was asleep at meal time. this he would not permit, men must be fed at regular hours, or not at all, and the new authority informed me that "more wounded soldiers had been killed by women stuffing them than by anything else." he had just come from massachusetts, and this was his first day among the wounded. i set my bowl down before the altar, found a surgeon who ranked him, and stated the case, when the higher authority said: "give every man an ox, every day, if he will take it in beef tea." "but, doctor, there is nothing in beef tea. i give broth." "very good, give them whatever you please and whenever you please--we can trust you." the new surgeon was promptly dismissed, and when next i saw him he was on his way back to massachusetts. that night a nurse came for me to go to the theater which had been vacated, and once more almost filled with men who lay in total darkness, without having any provision made for them. i got them lights, nurses and food, but could not go back for another siege in that building--could not leave my present post, but the city was being evacuated. both theater and church were emptied, and i went to the tobacco warehouse, where mrs. ingersol was perplexed about a man with a large bullet in his brain. when i had seen him and assured her that another ounce of lead in a skull of that kind was of no consequence, she redoubled her care, and i have no doubt he is living yet. but there was one man in whom i felt a deep interest and for whom i saw little hope. he had a chest wound, and had seemed to be doing well when there was a hemorrhage, and he lay white and still almost as death. he must not attempt to speak, and i was a godsend to him, for i knew what he needed without being told, and gave him the best care i could. he was of a western state, and his name dutton, and when i left him i thought he must die in being moved, as he must be soon; but i must go with a boat-load of wounded. this boat was a mere transport, and its precious freight was laid on the decks as close as they could well be packed, the cabin floor being given up to the wounded officers. there were several surgeons on board who may have been attending to the men, but cannot remember seeing any but one engaged in any work of that kind. there were also seven lady nurses, all i think volunteers, all handsomely if not elegantly dressed. of course they could do nothing there, and i cannot see how they could have done anything among the wounded in any place where there were no bedsteads to protect the men from their hoops. they had probably been engaged in preparing food, taking charge of, and distributing supplies and other important work, for personal attendance on the men was but a part of the work to be done. surgeons could do little without soiling their uniforms, but my dress had long been past soiling or spoiling; my old kid slippers without heels, could be slid, with the feet in them, quite under a man, and as i stepped sideways across them, they took care that my soft dress did not catch on their buttons. when i sat on one heel to bathe a hot face, give a drink or dress a wound, some man took hold of me with his well hand and steadied me, while another held my basin. i had half of an old knapsack to put under a wound, keep the floor dry and catch the worms when i drove them out--and no twenty early birds ever captured so many in the same length of time. i became so eager in the pursuit that i kept it up by candle-light, until late midnight, when i started to go to my stateroom. entering the cabin, i came upon a social party, the like of which i trust no one else will ever see. on the sofas sat those seven lady nurses, each with the arm of an officer around her waist, in full view of the wounded men on the floor, some of whom must go from that low bed, to one still lower--even down under the daisies. i stopped, uttered some exclamation, then stood in speechless surprise. three surgeons released the ladies they were holding, came forward and inquired if there was anything wanted. i might have replied that men and women were wanted, but think i said nothing. when i reached my room i found in the berth a woman who raised up and said: "the stewardess told me this was your room; will you let me stay with you?" she was another georgie--young, calm, strong, refined, was miss gray of columbia hospital, and staid with me through a long hard trial, in which she proved that her price was above rubies. next morning i found on one of the guards, young johnson, the son of an old wilkinsburg schoolmate. hoped i had so checked the decay and final destroyers which had already taken hold of him, that he might live. wrote to his people, and saw him at noon transferred with the other patients, the surgeons and stylish lady nurses, to a large hospital boat; when miss gray and i returned in the transport to fredericksburg. chapter lxxvi. take final leave of fredericksburg. i cannot remember if our boat lay at the fredericksburg wharf one day or two; but she might start any moment, and those who went ashore took the risk of being left, as this was the last boat. the evacuation was almost complete, and we waited the result of expeditions to gather up our wounded from field hospitals at the front. we were liable to attack at any moment, and were protected by a gunboat which lay close along side. there was plenty to do on board, but in doing it i must see the piles of stores on the wharf brought there too late to be of service to our wounded, and now to be abandoned to the rebels. there were certainly one hundred bales of hay, which would have more than replaced all that was withheld by united states bayonets from our own men in their extremity. i soon learned after entering fredericksburg, that our commissaries were issuing stores without stint to the citizens; went and saw them carry off loads of everything there was to give; and when those one hundred and eighty-two union soldiers were literally starving in the old theater, union soldiers were dealing out delicacies to rebels, while others guarded the meanest article of their property, and kept it from our men, even when it was necessary to save life. i consulted several old sanitary commission men, who told me it was always so when grant was at the front; that he was then in absolute command; that patrick, the provost marshal, was his friend, and would be sustained; and that we must be quiet or we would be ordered out of fredericksburg. gen. grant may have been loyal to the union cause, but it has always seemed to me that in fighting its battles, he was moved by the pure love of fighting, and took that side which could furnish him the most means to gratify his passion for war. his generalship was certainly of a kind that would soon have proved fatal to our cause in the war of the revolution, and only succeeded in the war of the rebellion, because the resources at his command were limitless, as compared with those of the enemy. it was late in the afternoon when our boat shoved off, and as we steamed away we saw the citizens rush down and take possession of the stores left on the wharf. during the evening and night we were fired into several times from the shores, but these attacks were returned from the gun-boat, which kept our assailants at such distance that their shots were harmless. we must have no lights that night, and the fires were put out or concealed, that they might not make us a target. so i slept, as there was nothing to be done, but in the morning was out early in search of worms, and was having good success, when two richly, fashionably dressed ladies came to tell me there was to be nothing to eat, save for those who took board at the captain's table. they had gone to the kitchen to make a cup of tea for a wounded officer, and were ignominiously driven off by the cook. what was to be done? we might be ten days getting to washington. i went in search of a surgeon in charge, and found one in bed, sick; waited at his door until he joined me, when together we saw the captain of the boat. there were two new cook-stoves on board, but to put one up would be to forfeit the insurance. there were plenty of commissary stores. the surgeon went with me, ordered the commissary to give me anything i wanted, and went back to bed. our stores consisted of crackers, coffee, dried-apples, essence of beef, and salt pork in abundance, a little loaf bread, and about half a pound of citric acid. of these only the crackers and bread could be eaten without being cooked. there were four hundred and fifty wounded men--all bad cases, all exhausted from privation. how many of them would live to reach washington on a diet of crackers and water? i went to the cook, a large, sensible colored woman, and stated the case as well as i could. after hearing it she said: "i see how it is; but you see all these officers and ladies are agoin to board with the captain, an' i'll have a sight o' cooking to do. i can't have none of those fine ladies comin' a botherin' around me, carryin' off my things or upsettin' 'em. but i'll tell you what i'll do; i'll hurry up my work and clare off my things; then you can have the kitchen, you an' that young lady that's with you; but them women, with their hoops an' their flounces, must stay out o' here!" it was hard to see how two of them would get into that small domain, a kitchen about ten feet square, half filled by a cook-stove, shelves, and the steep, narrow, open stairs which led to the upper deck; but what a kingdom that little kitchen was to me! all the utensils leaked, but cook helped me draw rags through the holes in the three largest which i was to have, and which covered the top of the stove. there were plenty of new wooden buckets and tin dippers on board as freight, some contraband women, and an active little man, who had once been a cook's assistant. he and the women were glad to work for food. he was to help me in the kitchen. they worked outside, and must not get in the way of the crew. they washed dried apples and put them to soak in buckets, pounded crackers in bags and put the crumbs into buckets, making each one a third full and covering them with cold water. i put a large piece of salt pork into my largest boiler, added water and beef essence enough to almost fill the boiler, seasoned it, and as soon as it reached boiling point had it ladled into the buckets with the cracker-crumbs, and sent for distribution. the second boiler was kept busy cooking dried apples, into which i put citric acid and sugar, for gangrene prevailed among the wounds. in the third boiler i made coffee; i kept it a-soak, and as soon as it boiled i put it strong into buckets, one-third full of cold water. i kept vessels in the oven and on the small spaces on top of the stove. my little man fired up like a fire-king, another man laid plenty of wood at hand; and i think that was the only cook-stove that was ever "run" to its full capacity for a week. by so running it, i could give every man a pint of warm soup and one of warm coffee every twenty-four hours. to do this, everything must "come to time." when one piece of pork was cooked, it was cut into small pieces and distributed, and another put into the boiler. during our cooking times i usually sat on the stairs, where i could direct and be out of the way; and to improve the time, often had a plate and cup from which i ate and drank. cook always saved me something nice, and i made tea for myself. i was running my body as i did the cook stove, making it do quadruple duty, and did not spare the fuel in either case. around each foot, below the instep, i had a broad, firm bandage, one above each ankle and one below each knee. if soldiers on the march had adopted this precaution, they would have escaped the swollen limbs so often distressing. i also had each knee covered by several layers of red flannel, to protect them while i knelt on damp places. soon after going into campbell, i discovered that muscles around the bone will do double service if held firmly in place, and so was enabled in all my hospital work, to do what seemed miraculous to the most experienced surgeons. i rested every moment i could, never stood when i might sit, made no useless motions, spent no strength in sorrow, had no sentiment, was simply the engineer of a machine--my own body; could fall asleep soon as i lay down, and wake any moment with my senses all alert, outlived my prejudice about china cups, and drank tea from brown earthen mugs used for soup, and never washed save in cold water; often ate from a tin plate with my left hand, while my right held a stump to prevent that jerking of the nerves which is so agonizing to the patient, many a time eating from the same tin plate with my patient, and making merry over it; and think i must have outstanding engagements to dance cotillions with one hundred one-legged men. one day while i sat eating and watching, that just enough cans of beef were put into each boiler of broth, and no time wasted by letting it stand after reaching boiling point, a surgeon asked to see me at the kitchen door. he informed me that up on the forecastle, some men had had soup twice while those in some other place had had none. he evidently wished to be lenient, but felt that i had been guilty of great neglect. i heard his grievance, and said: "doctor, how many of you surgeons are on this boat?" after some consideration he answered: "four!" "four surgeons!" i repeated, "beside the surgeon in charge, who is sick! we have four hundred and fifty wounded men! i draw all the rations, find a way to cook them, have them cooked and put into the buckets, ready for distribution. do you not think that you four could organize a force to see that they are honestly distributed--or do you expect me to be in the kitchen, up in the forecastle, and at the stern on the boiler deck, at one and the same time? doctor, could you not take turns in amusing those ladies? could they not spare two of you for duty?" i heard no more complaints, but left miss grey more in charge of the kitchen, and did enough medical inspecting to know that i had been unjust. some of the surgeons had been on duty, and the men were not so much neglected as i had feared. as for the ladies, i do not know how many there were of them, but they were of good social position--quite as good as the average of those whose main object in life is to look as much better than their neighbors as circumstances will admit. there was on board one of those folks for whose existence christianity is responsible, and which sensible hindoos reduce to their original elements, viz.: a widow who gets a living by being pious, and is respectable through sheer force of cheap finery; one who estimates herself by her surroundings, and whose every word and look and motion is an apology for her existence. she was a dix, or paid nurse. the ladies snubbed her; we had no room for her hoops; and she spent her time in odd corners, taking care of them and her hair, and turning up her eyes, like a duck in a thunder-storm, under the impression that it looked devotional. if i had killed all the folks i have felt like killing, she would have gone from that boat to her final rest. one night about eleven o'clock a strange surgeon, who had just come aboard with twenty wounded, came to the kitchen door, and handed in a requisition for tea and custard and chicken for his men. the man told him he could have nothing but cracker-broth or coffee. he was very indignant, and proceeded to get up a scene; but the man said, firmly: "can't help it, surgeon! that's the orders!" "orders! whose orders?" i got down from my porch on the stairs, came forward and said: "it is my orders, sir, and i am sorry, but this is really all we can do for you. if your men have tin cups, each one can have a cup of warm soup--it will not be very hot--or a cup of warm coffee. those who get soup will get no coffee, and those who get coffee can have no soup. you can get tin cups from the commissary, and should have them ready, so that the food will not cool." while i made this statement he stood regarding me with ineffable disdain, and when i was through inquired: "who are you?" "i am the cook!" "the cook!" he repeated, contemptuously. "i will report your insolence when we reach washington!" "that may be your duty; but i will send up the coffee and soup, and do you get the tin cups." he stamped off in dudgeon, and others who heard him were highly indignant; but i was greatly pleased to find a surgeon who would get angry and raise a disturbance on behalf of his patients. i never knew his name, but if this should meet his eye i trust he will accept my thanks for his faithfulness to his charge. on the lower deck, behind the boilers, lay twenty wounded prisoners, who at first looked sulky; but as i was stepping over and among them, one caught my dress, looked up pleadingly, and said: "mother, can't you get me some soft bread? i can't eat this hard-tack." he was young, scarce more than a boy; had large, dark eyes, a good head--tokens of gentle nurture--and alas! a thigh stump. he told me he was of a mississippi regiment, and his name willie gibbs. i bathed his hot face, and said i would see about the bread; then went to another part of the deck, where our men were very closely packed, and stated the case to them. there was very little soft bread--it was theirs by right; what should i do? i think they all spoke at once, and all said the same words: "oh, mother! give the johnnies the soft bread! we can eat hard-tack!" i think i was impartial, but there was a temptation to give willie gibbs a little more than his share of attention. his face was so sad, and there was so little hope that he would ever again see those who loved him, that i think i did more for him than for any other one on board. his companions came to call me "mother," and i hope felt their captivity softened by my care; and often rebel hands supported me while i crouched at work. when we approached washington, i proposed rewarding the cook for the incalculable service she had rendered, but she replied: "no, ma'am, i will not take anything from you 'cept that apron! when we get to washington, you will not want it any more, an' i'll keep it all my life to remember you, and leave it to my children! lord! there isn't another lady in the world could 'a done what you've done; an' i know you're a lady! them women with the fine clothes is trying to pass for ladies, but, lord! i know no lady 'u'd dress up that way in a place like this, an' men know it, too--just look at you, an' how you do make them fellers in shoulderstraps stand 'round!" her observation showed her southern culture, for whatever supremacy the north may have over the south, southern ladies are far in advance of those of the north in the art of dress. a southern lady seldom commits an incongruity, or fails to dress according to age, weather, and the occasion. i do not think any one of any social standing would have gone among wounded men, with the idea of rendering any assistance, tricked out in finery, as hundreds, if not thousands, of respectable northern women did. the apron which i gave to my friend the cook, was brown gingham, had seen hard service, and cost, originally, ten cents, and half an hour's hand-sewing; but if it aids her to remember me as pleasantly as i do her, it is part of a bond of genuine friendship. chapter lxxvii. try to get up a society and get sick. after two days in bed at home, i was so much better, that when mrs. ingersol came with a plan for organizing a society to furnish the army with female nurses, i went to see mrs. lincoln about it. she was willing to cooperate, and i went to secretary stanton, who heard me, and replied: "you must know that mrs. barlow and mrs. ingersol and you are not fair representatives of your sex," and went on to explain the embarrassment of the surgeon-general from the thousands of women pressing their services upon the government, and the various political influences brought to bear on behalf of applicants, and of the well grounded opposition of surgeons to the presence of women in hospitals, on account of their general unfitness. gen. scott, as a personal friend of miss dix, had appointed her to the place she held, and it was so convenient and respectful to refer people to her, that the war department would not interfere with the arrangement. in other words, she was a break-water against which feminine sympathies could dash and splash without submerging the hospital service. after what i had seen among the women who had succeeded in getting in, i had not much to say. a society might prescribe a dress, but might be no more successful than miss dix in making selections of those who should wear it. i asked the secretary how it came that no better provision had been made for our wounded after the battle of the wilderness, and tears sprang to his eyes as he replied: "we did not know where they were. we had made every arrangement at the points designated by gen. grant, but he changed his plans and did not notify us. the whole army was cut off from its base of supplies and must be sustained. as soon as we knew the emergency, we did everything in our power; but all our preparations were lost. everything had to be done over again. you cannot regret the suffering more than i, but it was impossible for me to prevent it." i never saw him so earnest, so sorrowful, so deeply moved. that effort seemed to be the straw which broke the camel's back, and i was so ill as to demand medical attendance. for this i sent to campbell. dr. kelly came, but his forte was surgery, and my case was left with dr. true, who had had longer practice in medicine. they both decided that i had been inoculated with gangrene while dressing wounds, and for some weeks i continued to sink. i began to think my illness fatal, and asked the doctor, who said: "i have been thinking i ought to tell you that if you have any unsettled business you should attend to it." i had a feeling of being generally distributed over the bed, of being a mass of pulp without any central force, but i had had a letter that day from my daughter, who was with her father and grandmother in swissvale, and wanted to come to me, and the thought came: "does god mean to make my child an orphan, that others may receive their children by my death?" then i had a strange sensation of a muster, a gathering of scattered life-force, and when it all came together it made a protest; i signed to the doctor, who put his ear to my lips, and i said: "doctor true, i shall live to be an hundred and twenty years old!" he took up the lamp, threw the light on my face, and peered anxiously into it, and i looked straight into his eyes, and said: "i will!" he laughed and set down the lamp, saying: "then you must get over this!" "you must get me over it. bring dr. kelly!" next morning, i had them carry me into a larger room, where the morning sun shone on me, and ten days after, started for pennsylvania, where i spent three weeks with my old swissvale neighbors, col. hawkins and wm. s. haven. when i returned to washington, i found an official document, a recommendation from the quarter-master general, of my dismissal for absence without leave. it was addressed to secretary stanton, who had written on the outside: "respectfully referred to mrs. swisshelm, by edwin m. stanton." i went back to work, and learned that mrs. gen. barlow had died of typhoid fever, in washington. no man died more directly for the government. thousands who fell on the battle-field, exhibited less courage and devotion to that service, and did less to secure its success. i know not where her body lies, but wherever it does, no decoration-day should pass in which her memory is not crowned with immortelles. she died at a time when my life was despaired of, and when mrs. ingersol wrote to a maine paper of my illness, adding: "i hope the lord will not take her away, until he has made another like her." she told me afterwards that just then she held the world at a grudge; but it must have been relieved of my presence long ere this, if i had not found in homoepathy relief from pain, which for eight months made life a burden, and for which the best old-school physicians proposed no cure. chapter lxxviii. an efficient nurse. to show the capabilities of some of the women who thought they had a mission for saving the country by acting as hospital nurses, i give the history of one. while i lay ill, a friend came and told of a most excellent woman who had come from afar, and tendered her services to the government, who had exerted much influence and spent much effort to get into a hospital as nurse, but had failed. hearing of my illness, her desire to be useful led her to tender her services, so that if she could not nurse wounded soldiers she could nurse one who had. the generous offer was accepted, and i was left an afternoon in her care. i wanted a cup of tea. she went to the kitchen to make it, and one hour after came up with a cup of tea, only this and nothing more, save a saucer. to taste the tea. i must have a spoon, and to get one she must go along a hall, down a long flight of stairs, through another hall and the kitchen, to the pantry. when she had made the trip the tea was so much too strong that a spoonful would have made a cup. she went down again for hot water, and after she had got to the kitchen remembered that she had thrown it out, thinking it would not be wanted. the fire had gone out, and she came up to inquire if she should make a new one, and if so, where she should find kindling? she had spent almost two hours running to and fro, was all in perspiration and a fluster, had done me a great deal of harm and nobody any good, had wasted all the kindlings for the evening fire, enough tea to have served a large family for a meal, and fairly illustrated a large part of the hospital service rendered by women oppressed with the nursing mission. my sense of relief was inexpressible when mrs. george b. lincoln returned from her visit to the white house, sent my tea-maker away and took charge of me once more. chapter lxxix. two fredericksburg patients. some months after leaving fredericksburg, i was walking on pennsylvania avenue, when the setting sun shone in my face, and a man in uniform stopped me, saying: "excuse me! you do not know me, but i know you!" i turned, looked at him carefully, and said: "i do not know you!" "oh, no! but the last time you saw me, you cut off my beard with your scissors and fed me with a teaspoon. when you left me you did not think you would ever see me again." "oh!" i exclaimed joyfully, "you are dutton." he laughed, and replied, "that's me. i have just got a furlough and am going home." he was very pale and thin, but i was so glad to see him and shake hands, and wish him safely home with his friends. during the great review after the war, i had a seat near the president's stand. there was a jam, and a man behind me called my attention to a captain, at a short distance, who had something to say to me, and passed along the words: "you took care of me on the boat coming from fredericksburg." looking across, i could see him quite well, but even when his hat was off could not recognize him; and this is all i have ever heard from or of the men with whose lives mine was so knit during that terrible time. i fear that not many survived, and doubt if a dozen of them ever knew me by any other name than that of "mother." chapter lxxx. am enlightened. when early appeared before washington, we all knew there was nothing to prevent his coming in and taking possession. the forts were stripped. there were no soldiers either in or around the city. the original inhabitants were ready to welcome him with open arms. the departments were closed, that the clerks might go out in military array, to oppose; but of course few soldiers were sitting at desks at that stage of the war. the news at the quartermaster's office one morning was that the foreign ministers had been notified, and that the city would be shelled that afternoon. we lived on the north side of the city; and when i went home, thousands of people were on the streets, listening to the sound of guns at fort reno. so far as i knew, there was a universal expectation that the city would be occupied by rebel troops that night. as this was in harmony with the general tenor of my anticipations for a quarter of a century, i readily shared in the popular opinion, and for once was with the majority. among the groups who stood in the streets were many contrabands, and their faces were pitiful to see. one scantily-clad woman, holding a ragged infant, and with two frightened, ragged children clinging to her skirts, stood literally quaking. her black face had turned gray with terror, and she came to me and asked: "oh! missus! does ye tink dey will get in?" suddenly my eyes were opened, like those of the prophet's servant when he saw the horses and chariots of fire, and i replied: "no! never! they will come no nearer than they now are! you can go home and rest in peace, for you are just as safe from them as if you were in heaven!" she was greatly comforted; but a gentleman said, as she moved away: "i wish i could share your opinion; but what is to hinder their coming in?" "god is to hinder! he has appointed us to rescue these people. they are collected here in thousands, and the prayers of centuries are to be answered now!" i myself went home feeling all the confidence i spoke, and wondering i could have been so stupid as to doubt. our government and people were very imperfect, but had developed a sublime patriotism--made an almost miraculous growth in good. ten righteous men would have saved sodom. we had ten thousand; and i must think there are few histories of supernatural interference in the affairs of the jews more difficult to account for, on merely natural grounds, than the preservation of washington in that crisis. conclusion. december th, , the fiftieth anniversary of my birth, found me in washington, at work in the quarter-master's office, on a salary of sixty dollars a month, without any provision for support in old age; and so great a sufferer as never to have a night of rest unbroken by severe pain, but with my interest in a country rescued from the odium of southern slavery, and a faint light breaking of the day which is yet to abolish that of the west. in the summer of ' , dr. king, of pittsburg, came to know what i would take for my interest in ten acres of the swissvale estate, which he had purchased. my deed had presented a barrier to the sale of a portion of it, and he was in trouble: i consulted secretary stanton, who said: "your title to that property is good against the world!" it had become valuable and the idea of its ownership was alarming! i had made up my mind to poverty, had been discharged from the quarter-master's office by special order of president johnson, "for speaking disrespectfully of the president of the united states!"--_washington star_--was the first person dismissed by mr. johnson; was without visible means of support, could not suddenly adjust my thought to anything so foreign to all my plans as coming into possession of a valuable estate, and said: "oh, secretary stanton, how shall i ever undertake such a stewardship at my time of life?" he looked sternly at me, and replied: "mrs. swisshelm, don't be a fool! take care of yourself! it is time you would begin. the property is yours now. you are morally responsible for it, and can surely make some better use of it than giving it away to rich men around pittsburg. go at once and attend to your interests." this was our last interview. i instituted the suit he advised, and he would have plead my cause before the supreme court, but when it came up he was holding possession of the war department to defeat president johnson's policy of making the south triumphant. however, the decree of the court was in my favor, and through it i have been able to rescue the old log block house from the tooth of decay, and to sit in it and recall those passages of life with which it is so intimately connected. the end. proofreaders autobiographical sketches. by annie besant . autobiographical sketches. i am so often asked for references to some pamphlet or journal in which may be found some outline of my life, and the enquiries are so often couched in terms of such real kindness, that i have resolved to pen a few brief autobiographical sketches, which may avail to satisfy friendly questioners, and to serve, in some measure, as defence against unfair attack. i. on october st, , i made my appearance in this "vale of tears", "little pheasantina", as i was irreverently called by a giddy aunt, a pet sister of my mother's. just at that time my father and mother were staying within the boundaries of the city of london, so that i was born well "within the sound of bow bells". though born in london, however, full three quarters of my blood are irish. my dear mother was a morris--the spelling of the name having been changed from maurice some five generations back--and i have often heard her tell a quaint story, illustrative of that family pride which is so common a feature of a decayed irish family. she was one of a large family, and her father and mother, gay, handsome, and extravagant, had wasted merrily what remained to them of patrimony. i can remember her father well, for i was fourteen years of age when he died. a bent old man, with hair like driven snow, splendidly handsome in his old age, hot-tempered to passion at the lightest provocation, loving and wrath in quick succession. as the family grew larger and the moans grew smaller, many a pinch came on the household, and the parents were glad to accept the offer of a relative to take charge of emily, the second daughter. a very proud old lady was this maiden aunt, and over the mantel-piece of her drawing-room ever hung a great diagram, a family tree, which mightily impressed the warm imagination of the delicate child she had taken in charge. it was a lengthy and well-grown family tree, tracing back the morris family to the days of charlemagne, and branching out from a stock of "the seven kings of france". was there ever yet a decayed. irish family that did not trace itself back to some "kings"? and these "milesian kings"--who had been expelled from france, doubtless for good reasons, and who had sailed across the sea and landed in fair erin, and there had settled and robbed and fought--did more good years after their death than they did, i expect, during their ill-spent lives, if they proved a source of gentle harmless pride to the old maiden lady who admired their names over her mantel-piece in the earlier half of the present century. and, indeed, they acted as a kind of moral thermometer, in a fashion that would much have astonished their ill-doing and barbarous selves. for my mother has told me how when she would commit some piece of childish naughtiness, her aunt would say, looking gravely over her spectacles at the small culprit: "emily, your conduct is unworthy of the descendant of the seven kings of france." and emily, with her sweet grey irish eyes, and her curling masses of raven-black hair, would cry in penitent shame over her unworthiness, with some vague idea that those royal, and to her very real ancestors, would despise her small sweet rosebud self, as wholly unworthy of their disreputable majesties. but that same maiden aunt trained the child right well, and i keep ever grateful memory of her, though i never knew her, for her share in forming the tenderest, sweetest, proudest, purest, noblest woman i have ever known. i have never met a woman more selflessly devoted to those she loved, more passionately contemptuous of all that was mean or base, more keenly sensitive on every question of honor, more iron in will, more sweet in tenderness, than the mother who made my girlhood sunny as dreamland, who guarded me until my marriage from every touch of pain that she could ward off, or could bear for me, who suffered more in every trouble that touched me in later life than i did myself, and who died in the little house i had taken for our new home in norwood, worn out ere old age touched her, by sorrow, poverty and pain, in may, . of my father my memory is less vivid, for he died when i was but five years old. he was of mixed race, english on his father's side, irish on his mother's, and was born in galway, and educated in ireland; he took his degree at dublin university, and walked the hospitals as a medical student. but after he had qualified as a medical man a good appointment was offered him by a relative in the city of london, and he never practised regularly as a doctor. in the city his prospects were naturally promising; the elder branch of the wood family, to which he belonged, had for many generations been settled in devonshire, farming their own land. when the eldest son william, my father, came of age, he joined with his father to cut off the entail, and the old acres were sold. meanwhile members of other branches had entered commercial life, and had therein prospered exceedingly. one of them had become lord mayor of london, had vigorously supported the unhappy queen caroline, had paid the debts of the duke of kent, in order that that reputable individual might return to england with his duchess, so that the future heir to the throne might be born on english soil; he had been rewarded with a baronetcy as a cheap method of paying his services. another, my father's first cousin once removed, a young barrister, had successfully pleaded a suit in which was concerned the huge fortune of a miserly relative, and had thus laid the foundations of a great success; he won for himself a vice-chancellorship and a knighthood, and then the lord chancellorship of england, with the barony of hatherley. a third, a brother of the last, western wood, was doing good service in the house of commons. a fourth, a cousin of the last two, had thrown himself with such spirit and energy into mining work, that he had accumulated a fortune. in fact all the scattered branches had made their several ways in the world, save that elder one to which my father belonged. that had vegetated on down in the country, and had grown poorer while the others grew richer. my father's brothers had somewhat of a fight for life. one has prospered and is comfortable and well-to-do. the other led for years a rough and wandering life, and "came to grief" generally. some years ago i heard of him as a store-keeper in portsmouth dock-yard, occasionally boasting in feeble fashion that his cousin was lord chancellor of england, and not many months since i heard from him in south africa, where he has secured some appointment in the commissariat department, not, i fear, of a very lucrative character. let us come back to pheasantina, who, i am told, was a delicate and somewhat fractious infant, giving to both father and mother considerable cause for anxiety. her first attempts at rising in the world were attended with disaster, for as she was lying in a cradle, with carved iron canopy, and was for a moment left by her nurse in full faith that she could not rise from the recumbent position, miss pheasantina determined to show that she was capable of unexpected independence, and made a vigorous struggle to assume that upright position which is the proud prerogative of man. in another moment the recumbent position was re-assumed, and the nurse returning found the baby's face covered with blood, streaming from a severe wound on the forehead, the iron fretwork having proved harder than the baby's head. the scar remains down to the present time, and gives me the valuable peculiarity of only wrinkling up one side of my forehead when i raise my eyebrows, a feat that i defy any of my readers to emulate. the heavy cut has, i suppose, so injured the muscles in that spot that they have lost the normal power of contraction. my earliest personal recollections are of a house and garden that we lived in when i was three and four years of age, situated in grove road, st. john's wood. i can remember my mother hovering round the dinner-table to see that all was bright for the home-coming husband; my brother--two years older than myself--and i watching "for papa"; the loving welcome, the game of romps that always preceded the dinner of the elder folks. i can remember on the first of october, , jumping up in my little cot, and shouting out triumphantly: "papa! mamma! i am four years old!" and the grave demand of my brother, conscious of superior age, at dinner-time: "may not annie have a knife to-day, as she is four years old?" it was a sore grievance during that same year , that i was not judged old enough to go to the great exhibition, and i have a faint memory of my brother consolingly bringing me home one of those folding pictured strips that are sold in the streets, on which were imaged glories that i longed only the more to see. far-away, dusky, trivial memories, these. what a pity it is that a baby cannot notice, cannot observe, cannot remember, and so throw light on the fashion of the dawning of the external world on the human consciousness. if only we could remember how things looked when they were first imaged on the retinae; what we felt when first we became conscious of the outer world; what the feeling was as faces of father and mother grew out of the surrounding chaos and became familiar things, greeted with a smile, lost with a cry; if only memory would not become a mist when in later years we strive to throw our glances backward into the darkness of our infancy, what lessons we might learn to help our stumbling psychology, how many questions might be solved whose answers we are groping for in vain. ii. the next scene that stands out clearly against the background of the past is that of my father's death-bed. the events which led to his death i know from my dear mother. he had never lost his fondness for the profession for which he had been trained, and having many medical friends, he would now and then accompany them on their hospital rounds, or share with them the labors of the dissecting room. it chanced that during the dissection of the body of a person who had died of rapid consumption, my father cut his finger against the edge of the breast-bone. the cut did not heal easily, and the finger became swollen and inflamed. "i would have that finger off, wood, if i were you," said one of the surgeons, a day or two afterwards, on seeing the state of the wound. but the others laughed at the suggestion, and my father, at first inclined to submit to the amputation, was persuaded to "leave nature alone". about the middle of august, , he got wet through, riding on the top of an omnibus, and the wetting resulted in a severe cold, which "settled on his chest". one of the most eminent doctors of the day, as able as he was rough in manner, was called to see him. he examined him carefully, sounded his lungs, and left the room followed by my mother. "well?" she asked, scarcely anxious as to the answer, save as it might worry her husband to be kept idly at home. "you must keep up his spirits", was the thoughtless answer. "he is in a galloping consumption; you will not have him with you six weeks longer." the wife staggered back, and fell like a stone on the floor. but love triumphed over agony, and half an hour later she was again at her husband's side, never to leave it again for ten minutes at a time, night or day, till he was lying with closed eyes asleep in death. i was lifted on to the bed to "say good-bye to dear papa" on the day before his death, and i remember being frightened at his eyes which looked so large, and his voice which sounded so strange, as he made me promise always to be "a very good girl to darling mamma, as papa was going right away". i remember insisting that "papa should kiss cherry", a doll given me on my birthday, three days before, by his direction, and being removed, crying and struggling, from the room. he died on the following day, october th, and i do not think that my elder brother and i--who were staying at our maternal grandfather's--went to the house again until the day of the funeral. with the death, my mother broke down, and when all was over they carried her senseless from the room. i remember hearing afterwards how, when she recovered her senses, she passionately insisted on being left alone, and locked herself into her room for the night; and how on the following morning her mother, at last persuading her to open the door, started back at the face she saw with the cry: "good god! emily! your hair is white!" it was even so; her hair, black, glossy and abundant, which, contrasting with her large grey eyes, had made her face so strangely attractive, had turned grey in that night of agony, and to me my mother's face is ever framed in exquisite silver bands of hair as white as the driven unsullied snow. i have heard that the love between my father and mother was a very beautiful thing, and it most certainly stamped her character for life. he was keenly intellectual, and splendidly educated; a mathematician and a good classical scholar, thoroughly master of french, german, italian, spanish, and portuguese, with a smattering of hebrew and gaelic, the treasures of ancient and of modern literature were his daily household delight. nothing pleased him so well as to sit with his wife, reading aloud to her while she worked; now translating from some foreign poet, now rolling forth melodiously the exquisite cadences of queen mab. student of philosophy as he was, he was deeply and steadily sceptical; and a very religious relative has told me that he often drove her from the room by his light playful mockery of the tenets of the christian faith. his mother and sister were strict roman catholics, and near the end forced a priest into his room, but the priest was promptly ejected by the wrath of the dying man, and by the almost fierce resolve of the wife that no messenger of the creed he detested should trouble her darling at the last. this scepticism of his was not wholly shared by his wife, who held to the notion that women should be "religious," while men might philosophise as they would; but it so deeply influenced her own intellectual life that she utterly rejected the most irrational dogmas of christianity, such as eternal punishment, the vicarious atonement of christ, the doctrine that faith is necessary to salvation, the equality of christ with god, the infallibility of the bible; she made morality of life, not orthodoxy of belief, her measure of "religion"; she was "a christian", in her own view of the matter, but it was a christian of the school of jowett, of colenso, and of stanley. the latter writer had for her, in after years, the very strongest fascination, and i am not sure that his "variegated use of words", so fiercely condemned by dr. pusey, did not exactly suit her own turn of mind, which shrank back intellectually from the crude dogmas of orthodox christianity, but clung poetically to the artistic side of religion, to its art and to its music, to the grandeur of its glorious fanes, and the solemnity of its stately ritual. she detested the meretricious show, the tinsel gaudiness, the bowing and genuflecting, the candles and the draperies, of romanism, and of its pinchbeck imitator ritualism; but i doubt whether she knew any keener pleasure than to sit in one of the carved stalls of westminster abbey, listening to the polished sweetness of dean stanley's exquisite eloquence; or to the thunder of the organ mingled with the voices of the white-robed choristers, as the music rose and fell, as it pealed up to the arched roof and lost itself in the carven fretwork, or died away softly among the echoes of the chapels in which kings and saints and sages lay sleeping, enshrining in themselves the glories and the sorrows of the past. to return to october, . on the day of the funeral my elder brother and i were taken back to the house where my father lay dead, and while my brother went as chief mourner, poor little boy swamped in crape and miserable exceedingly, i sat in an upstairs room with my mother and her sisters; and still comes back to me her figure, seated on a sofa, with fixed white face and dull vacant eyes, counting the minutes till the funeral procession would have reached kensal green, and then following in mechanical fashion, prayer-book in hand, the service, stage by stage, until to my unspeakable terror, with the words, dully spoken, "it is all over", she fell back fainting. and here comes a curious psychological problem which has often puzzled me. some weeks later she resolved to go and see her husband's grave. a relative who had been present at the funeral volunteered to guide her to the spot, but lost his way in that wilderness of graves. another of the small party went off to find one of the officials and to enquire, and my mother said: "if you will take me to the chapel where the first part of the service was read, i will find the grave". to humor her whim, he led her thither, and, looking round for a moment or two, she started from the chapel, followed the path along which the corpse had been borne, and was standing by the newly-made grave when the official arrived to point it out. her own explanation was that she had seen all the service; what is certain is, that she had never been to kensal green before, and that she walked steadily to the grave from the chapel. whether the spot had been carefully described to her, whether she had heard others talking of its position or not, we could never ascertain; she had no remembrance of any such description, and the matter always remained to us a problem. but after the lapse of years a hundred little things may have been forgotten which unconsciously served as guides at the time. she must have been, of course, at that time, in a state of abnormal nervous excitation, a state of which another proof was shortly afterwards given. the youngest of our little family was a boy about three years younger than myself, a very beautiful child, blue-eyed and golden haired--i have still a lock of his hair, of exquisite pale golden hue--and the little lad was passionately devoted to his father. he was always a delicate boy, and had i suppose, therefore, been specially petted, and he fretted continually for "papa". it is probable that the consumptive taint had touched him, for he pined steadily away, with no marked disease, during the winter months. one morning my mother calmly stated: "alf is going to die". it was in vain that it was urged on her that with the spring strength would return to the child. "no", she persisted. "he was lying asleep in my arms last night, and william came to me and said that he wanted alf with him, but that i might keep the other two." she had in her a strong strain of celtic superstition, and thoroughly believed that this "vision"--a most natural dream under the circumstances--was a direct "warning", and that her husband had come to her to tell her of her approaching loss. this belief was, in her eyes, thoroughly justified by the little fellow's death in the following march, calling to the end for "papa! papa!" my brother and i were allowed to see him just before he was placed in his coffin; i can see him still, so white and beautiful, with a black spot in the middle of the fair waxen forehead, and i remember the deadly cold which startled me when i was told to kiss my little brother. it was the first time that i had touched death. that black spot made a curious impression on me, and long afterwards, asking what had caused it, i was told that at the moment after his death my mother had passionately kissed the baby brow. pathetic thought, that the mother's kiss of farewell should have been marked by the first sign of corruption on the child's face. and now began my mother's time of struggle and of anxiety. hitherto, since her marriage, she had known no money troubles, for her husband was earning a good income; he was apparently vigorous and well: no thought of anxiety clouded their future. when he died, he believed that he left his wife and children safe, at least, from pecuniary distress. it was not so. i know nothing of the details, but the outcome of all was that nothing was left for the widow and children, save a trifle of ready money. the resolve to which, my mother came was characteristic. two of her husband's relatives, western and sir william wood, offered to educate her son at a good city school, and to start him in commercial life, using their great city influence to push him forward. but the young lad's father and mother had talked of a different future for their eldest boy; he was to go to a public school, and then to the university, and was to enter one of the "learned professions"--to take orders, the mother wished; to go to the bar, the father hoped. on his death-bed there was nothing more earnestly urged by my father than that harry should receive the best possible education, and the widow was resolute to fulfil that last wish. in her eyes, a city school was not "the best possible education", and the irish pride rebelled against the idea of her son not being "a university man". many were the lectures poured out on the young widow's head about her "foolish pride", especially by the female members of the wood family; and her persistence in her own way caused a considerable alienation between herself and them. but western and william, though half-disapproving, remained her friends, and lent many a helping hand to her in her first difficult struggles. after much cogitation, she resolved that the boy should be educated at harrow, where the fees are comparatively low to lads living in the town, and that he should go thence to cambridge or to oxford, as his tastes should direct. a bold scheme for a penniless widow, but carried out to the letter; for never dwelt in a delicate body a more resolute mind and will than that of my dear mother. in a few months' time--during which we lived, poorly enough, in richmond terrace, clapham, close to her father and mother--to harrow, then, she betook herself, into lodgings over a grocer's shop, and set herself to look for a house. this grocer was a very pompous man, fond of long words, and patronised the young widow exceedingly, and one day my mother related with much amusement how he had told her that she was sure to get on if she worked hard. "look at me!" he said swelling visibly with importance; "i was once a poor boy, without a penny of my own, and now i am a comfortable man, and have my submarine villa to go to every evening". that "submarine villa" was an object of amusement when we passed it in our walks for many a long day. "there is mr. ----'s submarine villa", some one would say, laughing: and i, too, used to laugh merrily, because my elders did, though my understanding of the difference between suburban and submarine was on a par with that of the honest grocer. my mother had fortunately found a boy, whose parents were glad to place him in her charge, of about the age of her own son, to educate with him; and by this means she was able to pay for a tutor, to prepare the two boys for school. the tutor had a cork leg, which was a source of serious trouble to me, for it stuck out straight behind when we knelt down to family prayers--conduct which struck me as irreverent and unbecoming, but which i always felt a desire to imitate. after about a year, my mother found a house which she thought would suit her scheme, namely, to obtain permission from dr. vaughan, the then head master of harrow, to take some boys into her house, and so gain means of education for her own son. dr. vaughan, who must have been won by the gentle, strong, little woman, from that time forth became her earnest friend and helper; and to the counsel and active assistance both of himself and of his wife, was due much of the success that crowned her toil. he made only one condition in granting the permission she asked, and that was, that she should also have in her house one of the masters of the school, so that the boys should not suffer from the want of a house-tutor. this condition, of course, she readily accepted, and the arrangement lasted for ten years, until after her son had left school for cambridge. the house she took is now, i am sorry to say, pulled down, and replaced by a hideous red-brick structure. it was very old and rambling, rose-covered in front, ivy-covered behind; it stood on the top of harrow hill, between the church and the school, and had once been the vicarage of the parish, but the vicar had left it because it was so far removed from the part of the village where all his work lay. the drawing-room opened by an old-fashioned half-window, half-door--which proved a constant source of grief to me, for whenever i had on a new frock i always tore it on the bolt as i flew through it--into a large garden which sloped down one side of the hill, and was filled with the most delightful old trees, fir and laurel, may, mulberry, hazel, apple, pear, and damson, not to mention currant and gooseberry bushes innumerable, and large strawberry beds spreading down the sunny slopes. there was not a tree there that i did not climb, and one, a widespreading portugal laurel, was my private country house. i had there my bedroom and my sitting-rooms, my study, and my larder. the larder was supplied by the fruit-trees, from which i was free to pick as i would, and in the study i would sit for hours with some favorite book--milton's "paradise lost" the chief favorite of all. the birds must often have felt startled, when from the small swinging form perching on a branch, came out in childish tones the "thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers", of milton's stately and sonorous verse. i liked to personify satan, and to declaim the grand speeches of the hero-rebel, and many a happy hour did i pass in milton's heaven and hell, with for companions satan and "the son", gabriel and abdiel. then there was a terrace running by the side of the churchyard, always dry in the wettest weather, and bordered by an old wooden fence, over which clambered roses of every shade; never was such a garden for roses as that of the old vicarage. at the end of the terrace was a little summer-house, and in this a trap-door in the fence, which swung open and displayed one of the fairest views in england. sheer from your feet downwards went the hill, and then far below stretched the wooded country till your eye reached the towers of windsor castle, far away on the horizon. it was the view at which byron was never tired of gazing, as he lay on the flat tombstone close by--byron's tomb, as it is still called--of which he wrote: "again i behold where for hours i have pondered, as reclining, at eve, on yon tombstone i lay, or round the steep brow of the churchyard i wandered, to catch the last gleam of the sun's setting ray." reader mine, if ever you go to harrow, ask permission to enter the old garden, and try the effect of that sudden burst of beauty, as you swing back the small trap-door at the terrace end. into this house we moved on my eighth birthday, and for eleven years it was "home" to me, left always with regret, returned to always with joy. almost immediately afterwards i left my mother for the first time; for one day, visiting a family who lived close by, i found a stranger sitting in the drawing-room, a lame lady with, a strong face, which softened marvellously as she smiled at the child who came dancing in; she called me to her presently, and took me on her lap and talked to me, and on the following day our friend came to see my mother, to ask if she would let me go away and be educated with this lady's niece, coming home for the holidays regularly, but leaving my education in her hands. at first my mother would not hear of it, for she and i scarcely ever left each other; my love for her was an idolatry, hers for me a devotion. [a foolish little story, about which i was unmercifully teased for years, marked that absolute idolatry of her, which has not yet faded from my heart. in tenderest rallying one day of the child who trotted after her everywhere, content to sit, or stand, or wait, if only she might touch hand or dress of "mamma," she said: "little one (the name by which she always called me), if you cling to mamma in this way, i must really get a string and tie you to my apron, and how will you like that?" "o mamma darling," came the fervent answer, "do let it be in a knot." and, indeed, the tie of love between us was so tightly knotted that nothing ever loosened it till the sword of death cut that which pain and trouble never availed to slacken in the slightest degree.] but it was urged upon her that the advantages of education offered were such as no money could purchase for me; that it would be a disadvantage for me to grow up in a houseful of boys--and, in truth, i was as good a cricketer and climber as the best of them--that my mother would soon be obliged to send me to school, unless she accepted an offer which gave me every advantage of school without its disadvantages. at last she yielded, and it was decided that miss marryat, on returning home, should take me with her. miss marryat--the favorite sister of captain marryat, the famous novelist--was a maiden lady of large means. she had nursed her brother through the illness that ended in his death, and had been living with her mother at wimbledon park. on her mother's death she looked round for work which would make her useful in the world, and finding that one of her brothers had a large family of girls, she offered to take charge of one of them, and to educate her thoroughly. chancing to come to harrow, my good fortune threw me in her way, and she took a fancy to me and thought she would like to teach two little girls rather than one. hence her offer to my mother. miss marryat had a perfect genius for teaching, and took in it the greatest delight. from time to time she added another child to our party, sometimes a boy, sometimes a girl. at first, with amy marryat and myself, there was a little boy, walter powys, son of a clergyman with a large family, and him she trained for some years, and then sent him on to school admirably prepared. she chose "her children"--as she loved to call us--in very definite fashion. each must be gently born and gently trained, but in such position that the education freely given should be a relief and aid to a slender parental purse. it was her delight to seek out and aid those on whom poverty presses most heavily, when the need for education for the children weighs on the proud and the poor. "auntie" we all called her, for she thought "miss marryat" seemed too cold and stiff. she taught us everything herself except music, and for this she had a master, practising us in composition, in recitation, in reading aloud english and french, and later, german, devoting herself to training us in the soundest, most thorough fashion. no words of mine can tell how much i owe her, not only of knowledge, bit of that love of knowledge which has remained with me ever since as a constant spur to study. her method of teaching may be of interest to some, who desire to train children with the least pain, and the most enjoyment to the little ones themselves. first, we never used a spelling-book--that torment of the small child--nor an english grammar. but we wrote letters, telling of the things we had seen in our walks, or told again some story we had read; these childish compositions she would read over with us, correcting all faults of spelling, of grammar, of style, of cadence; a clumsy sentence would be read aloud, that we might hear how unmusical it sounded; an error in observation or expression pointed out. then, as the letters recorded what we had seen the day before, the faculty of observation was drawn out and trained. "oh, dear! i have nothing to say!" would come from a small child, hanging over a slate. "did you not go out for a walk yesterday?" auntie would question. "yes", would be sighed out; "but there's nothing to say about it". "nothing to say! and you walked in the lanes for an hour and saw nothing, little no-eyes? you must use your eyes better to-day." then there was a very favorite "lesson", which proved an excellent way of teaching spelling. we used to write out lists of all the words we could think of, which sounded the same but were differently spelt. thus: "key, quay," "knight, night," and so on; and great was the glory of the child who found the largest number. our french lessons--as the german later--included reading from the very first. on the day on which we began german we began reading schiller's "wilhelm tell," and the verbs given to us to copy out were those that had occurred in the reading. we learned much by heart, but always things that in themselves were worthy to be learned. we were never given the dry questions and answers which lazy teachers so much affect. we were taught history by one reading aloud while the others worked--the boys as well as the girls learning the use of the needle. "it's like a girl to sew," said a little fellow, indignantly, one day. "it is like a baby to have to run after a girl if you want a button sewn on," quoth auntie. geography was learned by painting skeleton maps--an exercise much delighted in by small fingers--and by putting together puzzle maps, in which countries in the map of a continent, or counties in the map of a country, were always cut out in their proper shapes. i liked big empires in those days; there was a solid satisfaction in putting down russia, and seeing what a large part of the map was filled up thereby. the only grammar that we ever learned as grammar was the latin, and that not until composition had made us familiar with the use of the rules therein given. auntie had a great horror of children learning by rote things they did not understand, and then fancying they knew them. "what do you mean by that expression, annie?" she would ask me. after feeble attempts to explain, i would answer: "indeed, auntie, i know in my own head, but i can't explain". "then, indeed, annie, you do not know in your own head, or you could explain, so that i might know in my own head." and so a healthy habit was fostered of clearness of thought and of expression. the latin grammar was used because it was more perfect than the modern grammars, and served as a solid foundation for modern languages. miss marryat took a beautiful place, fern hill, near charmouth, in dorsetshire, on the borders of devon, and there she lived for some five years, a centre of beneficence in the district. she started a sunday-school, and a bible-class after a while for the lads too old for the school, who clamored for admission to her class in it. she visited the poor, taking help wherever she went, and sending food from her own table to the sick. it was characteristic of her that she would never give "scraps" to the poor, but would have a basin brought in at dinner, and would cut the best slice to tempt the invalid appetite. money she rarely, if ever, gave, but she would find a day's work, or busy herself to seek permanent employment for anyone asking aid. stern in rectitude herself, and iron to the fawning or the dishonest, her influence, whether she was feared or loved, was always for good. of the strictest sect of the evangelicals, she was an evangelical. on the sunday no books were allowed save the bible or the "sunday at home"; but she would try to make the day bright by various little devices; by a walk with her in the garden; by the singing of hymns, always attractive to children; by telling us wonderful missionary stories of moffat and livingstone, whose adventures with savages and wild beasts were as exciting as any tale of mayne reid's. we used to learn passages from the bible and hymns for repetition; a favorite amusement was a "bible puzzle", such as a description of some bible scene, which was to be recognised by the description. then we taught in the sunday-school, for auntie would tell us that it was useless for us to learn if we did not try to help those who had no one to teach them. the sunday-school lessons had to be carefully prepared on the saturday, for we were always taught that work given to the poor should be work that cost something to the giver. this principle, regarded by her as an illustration of the text, "shall i give unto the lord my god that which has cost me nothing?" ran through all her precept and her practice. when in some public distress we children went to her crying, and asking whether we could not help the little children who were starving, her prompt reply was: "what will you give up for them?" and then she said that if we liked to give up the use of sugar, we might thus each save d. a week to give away. i doubt if a healthier lesson can be given to children than that of personal self-denial for the good of others. daily, when our lessons were over, we had plenty of fun; long walks and rides, rides on a lively pony, who found small children most amusing, and on which the coachman taught us to stick firmly, whatever his eccentricities of the moment; delightful all-day picnics in the lovely country round charmouth, auntie our merriest playfellow. never was a healthier home, physically and mentally, made for young things than in that quiet village. and then the delight of the holidays! the pride of my mother at the good report of her darling's progress, and the renewal of acquaintance with every nook and corner in the dear old house and garden. iii. the strong and intense evangelicalism of miss marryat colored the whole of my early religious thought. i was naturally enthusiastic and fanciful, and was apt to throw myself strongly into the current of the emotional life around me, and hence i easily reflected the stern and narrow creed which ruled over my daily life. it was to me a matter of the most intense regret that christians did not go about as in the "pilgrim's progress", armed to do battle with apollyon and giant despair, or fight through a whole long day against thronging foes, until night brought victory and release. it would have been so easy, i used to think, to do tangible battle of that sort, so much easier than to learn lessons, and keep one's temper, and mend one's stockings. quick to learn, my lessons of bible and prayer book gave me no trouble, and i repeated page after page with little labor and much credit. i remember being praised for my love of the bible, because i had learned by heart all the epistle of st. james's, while, as a matter of fact, the desire to distinguish myself was a far more impelling motive than any love of "the holy book;" the dignified cadences pleased my ear, and were swiftly caught and reproduced, and i was proud of the easy fashion in which i mastered and recited page after page. another source of "carnal pride"--little suspected, i fear, by my dear instructress--was found in the often-recurring prayer meetings. in these the children were called on to take a part, and we were bidden pray aloud; this proceeding was naturally a sore trial, and being endued with an inordinate amount of "false pride"--the fear of appearing ridiculous, _i.e._, with self conceit--it was a great trouble when the summons came: "annie dear, will you speak to our lord". but the plunge once made, and the trembling voice steadied, enthusiasm and facility for cadenced speech always swallowed up the nervous "fear of breaking down", and i fear me that the prevailing thought was more often that god must think i prayed very nicely, than that i was a "miserable sinner", asking "pardon for the sake of jesus christ". the sense of sin, the contrition for man's fallen state, which are required by evangelicalism, can never be truly felt by any child; but whenever a sensitive, dreamy, and enthusiastic child comes under strong evangelistic influence, it is sure to manifest "signs of saving grace". as far as i can judge now, the total effect of the calvinistic training was to make me somewhat morbid, but this tendency was counteracted by the healthier tone of my mother's thought, and the natural gay buoyancy of my nature rose swiftly whenever the pressure of the teaching that i was "a child of sin", and could "not naturally please god", was removed. in the spring of , miss marryat announced her intention of going abroad, and asked my dear mother to let me accompany her. a little nephew whom she had adopted was suffering from cataract, and she desired to place him under the care of the famous düsseldorf oculist. amy marryat had been recalled home soon after the death of her mother, who had died in giving birth to the child adopted by miss marryat, and named at her desire after her favorite brother frederick (captain marryat). her place had been taken by a girl a few months older than myself, emma mann, one of the daughters of a clergyman who had married a miss stanley, closely related, indeed if i remember rightly, a sister of the miss mary stanley who did such noble work in nursing in the crimea. for some months we had been diligently studying german, for miss marryat thought it wise that we should know a language fairly well before we visited the country of which it was the native tongue. we had been trained also to talk french daily during dinner, so we were not quite "helpless foreigners" when we steamed away from st. catherine's docks, and found ourselves on the following day in antwerp, amid what seemed to us a very babel of conflicting tongues. alas for our carefully spoken french, articulated laboriously. we were lost in that swirl of disputing luggage-porters, and could not understand a word! but miss marryat was quite equal to the occasion, being by no means new to travelling, and her french stood the test triumphantly, and steered us safely to a hotel. on the morrow we started again through aix-la-chapelle to bonn, the town which lies on the borders of the exquisite scenery of which the siebengebirge and rolandseck serve as the magic portal. our experiences in bonn were not wholly satisfactory. dear auntie was a maiden lady, looking on all young men as wolves to be kept far from her growing lambs. bonn was a university town, and there was a mania just then prevailing there for all things english. emma was a plump, rosy, fair-haired typical english maiden, full of frolic and harmless fun; i a very slight, pale, black-haired girl, alternating between wild fun and extreme pensiveness. in the boarding-house to which we went at first--the "château du rhin", a beautiful place overhanging the broad blue rhine--there chanced to be staying the two sons of the late duke of hamilton, the marquis of douglas and lord charles, with their tutor. they had the whole drawing-room floor: we a sitting-room on the ground floor and bedrooms above. the lads discovered that miss marryat did not like her "children" to be on speaking terms with any of the "male sect". here was a fine source of amusement. they would make their horses caracole on the gravel in front of our window; they would be just starting for their ride as we went for walk or drive, and would salute us with doffed hat and low bow; they would waylay us on our way downstairs with demure "good morning"; they would go to church and post themselves so that they could survey our pew, and lord charles--who possessed the power of moving at will the whole skin of the scalp--would wriggle his hair up and down till we were choking with laughter, to our own imminent risk. after a month of this, auntie was literally driven out of the pretty _château_, and took refuge in a girls' school, much to our disgust, but still she was not allowed to be at rest. mischievous students would pursue us wherever we went; sentimental germans, with gashed cheeks, would whisper complimentary phrases as we passed; mere boyish nonsense of most harmless kind, but the rather stern english lady thought it "not proper", and after three months of bonn we were sent home for the holidays, somewhat in disgrace. but we had some lovely excursions during those months; such clambering up mountains, such rows on the swift-flowing rhine, such wanderings in exquisite valleys. i have a long picture-gallery to retire into when i want to think of something fair, in recalling the moon as it silvered the rhine at the foot of drachenfels, or the soft mist-veiled island where dwelt the lady who is consecrated for ever by roland's love. a couple of months later we rejoined miss marryat in paris, where we spent seven happy workful months. on wednesdays and saturdays we were free from lessons, and many a long afternoon was passed in the galleries of the louvre, till we became familiar with the masterpieces of art gathered there from all lands. i doubt if there was a beautiful church in paris that we did not visit during those weekly wanderings; that of st. germain de l'auxerrois was my favorite--the church whose bell gave the signal for the massacre of st. bartholomew--for it contained such marvellous stained glass, deepest purest glory of color that i had ever seen. the solemn beauty of notre dame, the somewhat gaudy magnificence of la sainte chapelle, the stateliness of la madeleine, the impressive gloom of st. roch, were all familiar to us. other delights were found in mingling with the bright crowds which passed along the champs elysées and sauntered in the bois de boulogne, in strolling in the garden of the tuileries, in climbing to the top of every monument whence view of paris could be gained. the empire was then in its heyday of glitter, and we much enjoyed seeing the brilliant escort of the imperial carriage, with plumes and gold and silver dancing and glistening in the sunlight, while in the carriage sat the exquisitely lovely empress with the little boy beside her, touching his cap shyly, but with something of her own grace, in answer to a greeting--the boy who was thought to be born to an imperial crown, but whose brief career was to find an ending from the spears of savages in a quarrel in which he had no concern. in the spring of it chanced that the bishop of ohio visited paris, and mr. forbes, then english chaplain at the church of the rue d'aguesseau, arranged to have a confirmation. as said above, i was under deep "religious impressions", and, in fact, with the exception of that little aberration in germany, i was decidedly a pious girl. i looked on theatres (never having been to one) as traps set by satan for the destruction of foolish souls; i was quite determined never to go to a ball, and was prepared to "suffer for conscience sake"--little prig that i was--if i was desired to go to one. i was consequently quite prepared to take upon myself the vows made in my name at my baptism, and to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil, with a heartiness and sincerity only equalled by my profound ignorance of the things i so readily resigned. that confirmation was to me a very solemn matter; the careful preparation, the prolonged prayers, the wondering awe as to the "sevenfold gifts of the spirit", which were to be given by "the laying on of hands", all tended to excitement. i could scarcely control myself as i knelt at the altar rails, and felt as though the gentle touch of the aged bishop, which fluttered for an instant on my bowed head, were the very touch of the wing of that "holy spirit, heavenly dove", whose presence had been so earnestly invoked. is there anything easier, i wonder, than to make a young and sensitive girl "intensely religious". my mother came over for the confirmation and for the "first communion" on easter sunday, and we had a delightful fortnight together, returning home after we had wandered hand-in-hand over all my favorite haunts. the summer of was spent with miss marryat at sidmouth, and, wise woman that she was, she now carefully directed our studies with a view to our coming enfranchisement from the "school-room." more and more were we trained to work alone; our leading-strings were slackened, so that we never felt them save when we blundered; and i remember that when i once complained, in loving fashion, that she was "teaching me so little", she told me that i was getting old enough to be trusted to work by myself, and that i must not expect to "have auntie for a crutch all through life". and i venture to say that this gentle withdrawal of constant supervision and teaching was one of the wisest and kindest things that this noble-hearted woman ever did for us. it is the usual custom to keep girls in the school-room until they "come out"; then, suddenly, they are left to their own devices, and, bewildered by their unaccustomed freedom, they waste time that might be priceless for their intellectual growth. lately, the opening of universities to women has removed this danger for the more ambitious; but at the time of which i am writing no one dreamed of the changes soon to be made in the direction of the "higher education of women". during the winter of - miss marryat was in london, and for a few months i remained there with her, attending the admirable french classes of m. roche. in the spring i returned home to harrow, going up each week to the classes; and when these were over, auntie told me that she thought all she could usefully do was done, and that it was time that i should try my wings alone. so well, however, had she succeeded in her aims, that my emancipation from the school-room was but the starting-point of more eager study, though now the study turned into the lines of thought towards which my personal tendencies most attracted me. german i continued to read with a master, and music, under the marvellously able teaching of mr. john farmer, musical director of harrow school, took up much of my time. my dear mother had a passion for music, and beethoven and bach were her favorite composers. there was scarcely a sonata of beethoven's that i did not learn, scarcely a fugue of bach's that i did not master. mendelssohn's "lieder" gave a lighter recreation, and many a happy evening did we spend, my mother and i, over the stately strains of the blind titan, and the sweet melodies of the german wordless orator. musical "at homes", too, were favorite amusements at harrow, and at these my facile fingers made me a welcome guest. a very pleasant place was harrow to a light-hearted serious-brained girl. the picked men of the schools of oxford and cambridge came there as junior masters, so that one's partners at ball and croquet and archery could talk as well as flirt. never girl had, i venture to say, a brighter girlhood than mine. every morning and much of the afternoon spent in eager earnest study: evenings in merry party or quiet home-life, one as delightful as the other. archery and croquet had in me a most devoted disciple, and the "pomps and vanities" of the ballroom found the happiest of votaries. my darling mother certainly "spoiled" me, so far as were concerned all the small roughnesses of life. she never allowed a trouble of any kind to touch me, and cared only that all worries should fall on her, all joys on me. i know now what i never dreamed then, that her life was one of serious anxiety. the heavy burden of my brother's school and college-life pressed on her constantly, and her need of money was often serious. a lawyer whom she trusted absolutely cheated her systematically, using for his own purposes the remittances she made for payment of liabilities, thus keeping upon her a constant drain. yet for me all that was wanted was ever there. was it a ball to which we were going? i need never think of what i would wear till the time for dressing arrived, and there laid out ready for me was all i wanted, every detail complete from top to toe. no hand but hers must dress my hair, which, loosed, fell in dense curly masses nearly to my knees; no hand but hers must fasten dress and deck with flowers, and if i sometimes would coaxingly ask if i might not help by sewing in laces, or by doing some trifle in aid, she would kiss me and bid me run to my books or my play, telling me that her only pleasure in life was caring for her "treasure". alas! how lightly we take the self-denying labor that makes life so easy, ere yet we have known what life means when the protecting mother-wing is withdrawn. so guarded and shielded had been my childhood and youth from every touch of pain and anxiety that love could bear for me, that i never dreamed that life might be a heavy burden, save as i saw it in the poor i was sent to help; all the joy of those happy years i took, not ungratefully i hope, but certainly with as glad unconsciousness of anything rare in it as i took the sunlight. passionate love, indeed, i gave to my darling, but i never knew all i owed her till i passed out of her tender guardianship, till i left my mother's home. is such training wise? i am not sure. it makes the ordinary roughnesses of life come with so stunning a shock, when one goes out into the world, that one is apt to question whether some earlier initiation into life's sterner mysteries would not be wiser for the young. yet it is a fair thing to have that joyous youth to look back upon, and at least it is a treasury of memory that no thief can steal in the struggles of later life. during those happy years my brain was given plenty of exercise. i used to keep a list of the books i read, so that i might not neglect my work; and finding a "library of the fathers" on the shelves, i selected that for one _piéce de résistance_. soon those strange mystic writers won over me a great fascination, and i threw myself ardently into a study of the question: "where is now the catholic church?". i read pusey, and liddon, and keble, with many another of that school, and many of the seventeenth century english divines. i began to fast--to the intense disapproval of my mother, who cared for my health far more than for all the fathers the church could boast of--to use the sign of the cross, to go to weekly communion. indeed, the contrast i found between my early evangelical training and the doctrines of the primitive christian church would have driven me over to rome, had it not been for the proofs afforded by pusey and his co-workers, that the english church might be catholic although non-roman. but for them i should most certainly have joined the papal communion; for if the church of the early centuries be compared with rome and with geneva, there is no doubt that rome shows marks of primitive christianity of which geneva is entirely devoid. i became content when i found that the practices and doctrines of the anglican church could be knitted on to those of the martyrs and confessors of the early church, for it had not yet struck me that the early church might itself be challenged. to me, at that time, the authority of jesus was supreme and unassailable; his apostles were his infallible messengers; clement of rome, polycarp, and barnabas, these were the very pupils of the apostles themselves. i never dreamed of forgeries, of pious frauds, of writings falsely ascribed to venerated names. nor do i now regret that so it was; for, without belief, the study of the early fathers would be an intolerable weariness; and that old reading of mine has served me well in many of my later controversies with christians, who knew the literature of their church less well than i. to this ecclesiastical reading was added some study of stray scientific works, but the number of these that came in my way was very limited. the atmosphere surrounding me was literary rather than scientific. i remember reading a translation of plato that gave me great delight, and being rather annoyed by the insatiable questionings of socrates. lord derby's translation of the iliad also charmed me with its stateliness and melody, and dante was another favorite study. wordsworth and cowper i much disliked, and into the same category went all the th and th century "poets," though i read them conscientiously through. southey fascinated me with his wealth of oriental fancies, while spencer was a favorite book, put beside milton and dante. my novel reading was extremely limited; indeed the "three volume novel" was a forbidden fruit. my mother regarded these ordinary love-stories as unhealthy reading for a young girl, and gave me scott and kingsley, but not miss braddon or mrs. henry wood. nor would she take me to the theatre, though we went to really good concerts. she had a horror of sentimentality in girls, and loved to see them bright and gay, and above all things absolutely ignorant of all evil things and of premature love-dreams. happy, healthy and workful were those too brief years. iv. my grandfather's house, no. , albert square, clapham road, was a second home from my earliest childhood. that house, with its little strip of garden at the back, will always remain dear and sacred to me. i can see now the two almond trees, so rich in blossom every spring, so barren in fruit every autumn; the large spreading tufts of true irish shamrock, brought from ireland, and lovingly planted in the new grey london house, amid the smoke; the little nooks at the far end, wherein i would sit cosily out of sight reading a favorite book. inside it was but a commonplace london house, only one room, perhaps, differing from any one that might have been found in any other house in the square. that was my grandfather's "work-room", where he had a lathe fitted up, for he had a passion and a genius for inventive work in machinery. he took out patents for all sorts of ingenious contrivances, but always lost money. his favorite invention was of a "railway chair", for joining the ends of rails together, and in the ultimate success of this he believed to his death. it was (and is) used on several lines, and was found to answer splendidly, but the old man never derived any profit from his invention. the fact was he had no money, and those who had took it up and utilised it, and kept all the profit for themselves. there were several cases in which his patents dropped, and then others took up his inventions, and made a commercial success thereof. a strange man altogether was that grandfather of mine, whom i can only remember as a grand-looking old man, with snow-white hair and piercing hawk's eyes. the merriest of wild irishmen was he in his youth, and i have often wished that his biography had been written, if only as a picture of dublin society at the time. he had an exquisite voice, and one night he and some of his wild comrades went out singing through the streets as beggars. pennies, sixpences, shillings, and even half-crowns came showering down in recompense of street music of such unusual excellence; then the young scamps, ashamed of their gains, poured them all into the hat of a cripple they met, who must have thought that all the blessed saints were out that night in the irish capital. on another occasion he went to the wake of an old woman who had been bent nearly double by rheumatism, and had been duly "laid out", and tied down firmly, so as to keep the body straight in the recumbent position. he hid under the bed, and when the whisky was flowing freely, and the orgie was at its height, he cut the ropes with a sharp knife, and the old woman suddenly sat up in bed, frightening the revellers out of their wits, and, luckily for my grandfather, out of the room. many such tales would he tell, with quaint irish humor, in his later days. he died, from a third stroke of paralysis, in . the morrises were a very "clannish" family, and my grandfather's house was the london centre. all the family gathered there on each christmastide, and on christmas day was always held high festival. for long my brother and i were the only grandchildren within reach, and were naturally made much of. the two sons were out in india, married, with young families. the youngest daughter was much away from home, and a second was living in constantinople, but three others lived with their father and mother. bessie, the eldest of the whole family, was a woman of rigid honor and conscientiousness, but poverty and the struggle to keep out of debt had soured her, and "aunt bessie" was an object of dread, not of love. one story of her early life will best tell her character. she was engaged to a young clergyman, and one day when bessie was at church he preached a sermon taken without acknowledgment from some old divine. the girl's keen sense of honor was shocked at the deception, and she broke off her engagement, but remained unmarried for the rest of her life. "careful and troubled about many things" was poor aunt bessie, and i remember being rather shocked one day at hearing her express her sympathy with martha, when her sister left her to serve alone, and at her saying: "i doubt very much whether jesus would have liked it if martha had been lying about on the floor as well as mary, and there had been no supper. but there! it's always those who do the work who are scolded, because they have not time to be as sweet and nice as those who do nothing." nor could she ever approve of the treatment of the laborers in the parable, when those who "had borne the burden and heat of the day" received but the same wage as those that had worked but one hour. "it was not just", she would say doggedly. a sad life was hers, for she repelled all sympathy, and yet later i had reason to believe that she half broke her heart because none loved her well. she was ever gloomy, unsympathising, carping, but she worked herself to death for those whose love she chillily repulsed. she worked till, denying herself every comfort, she literally dropped. one morning, when she got out of bed, she fell, and crawling into bed again, quietly said she could do no more; lay there for some months, suffering horribly with unvarying patience; and died, rejoicing that at last she would have "rest". two other "aunties" were my playfellows, and i their pet. minnie, a brilliant pianiste, earned a precarious livelihood by teaching music. the long fasts, the facing of all weathers, the weary rides in omnibuses with soaked feet, broke down at last a splendid constitution, and after some three years of torture, commencing with a sharp attack of english cholera, she died the year before my marriage. but during my girlhood she was the gayest and merriest of my friends, her natural buoyancy re-asserting itself whenever she could escape from her musical tread-mill. great was my delight when she joined my mother and myself for our spring or summer trips, and when at my favorite st. leonards--at the far unfashionable end, right away from the gay watering-place folk--we settled down for four or five happy weeks of sea and country, and when minnie and i scampered over the country on horseback, merry as children set free from school. my other favorite auntie was of a quieter type, a soft pretty loving little woman. "co" we called her, for she was "such a cosy little thing", her father used to say. she was my mother's favorite sister, her "child", she would name her, because "co" was so much her junior, and when she was a young girl the little child had been her charge. "always take care of little co", was one of my mother's dying charges to me, and fortunately "little co" has--though the only one of my relatives who has done so--clung to me through change of faith, and through social ostracism. her love for me, and her full belief that, however she differed from me, i meant right, have never varied, have never been shaken. she is intensely religious--as will be seen in the later story, wherein her life was much woven with mine--but however much "darling annie's" views or actions might shock her, it is "darling annie" through it all; "you are so good" she said to me the last time i saw her, looking up at me with all her heart in her eyes; "anyone so good as you must come to our dear lord at last!" as though any, save a brute, could be aught but good to "little co". on the christmas following my eighteenth birthday, a little mission church in which minnie was much interested, was opened near albert square. my high church enthusiasm was in full bloom, and the services in this little mission church were "high", whereas those in all the neighboring churches were "low". a mr. hoare, an intensely earnest man, was working there in most devoted fashion, and was glad to welcome any aid; we decorated his church, worked ornaments for it, and thought we were serving god when we were really amusing ourselves in a small place where our help was over-estimated, and where the clergy, very likely unconsciously, flattered us for our devotion. among those who helped to carry on the services there, was a young undermaster of stockwell grammar school, the rev. frank besant, a cambridge man, who had passed as th wrangler in his year, and who had just taken orders. at easter we were again at albert square, and devoted much time to the little church, decking it on easter eve with soft yellow tufts of primrose blossom, and taking much delight in the unbounded admiration bestowed on the dainty spring blossoms by the poor who crowded in. i made a lovely white cross for the super-altar with camelias and azaleas and white geraniums, but after all it was not really as spring-like, as suitable for a "resurrection", as the simple sweet wild flowers, still dewy from their nests in field and glade and lane. that easter was memorable to me for another cause. it saw waked and smothered my first doubt. that some people did doubt the historical accuracy of the bible i knew, for one or two of the harrow masters were friends of colenso, the heretic bishop of natal, but fresh from my patristic studies, i looked on heretics with blind horror, possibly the stronger from its very vagueness, and its ignorance of what it feared. my mother objected to my reading controversial books which dealt with the points at issue between christianity and freethought, and i did not care for her favorite stanley, who might have widened my views, regarding him (on the word of pusey) as "unsound in the faith once delivered to the saints". i had read pusey's book on "daniel the prophet", and, knowing nothing of the criticisms he attacked, i felt triumphant at his convincing demonstrations of their error, and felt sure that none but the wilfully blind could fail to see how weak were the arguments of the heretic writers. that stately preface of his was one of my favorite pieces of reading, and his dignified defence against all novelties of "that which must be old because it is eternal, and must be unchangeable because it is true", at once charmed and satisfied me. the delightful vagueness of stanley, which just suited my mother's broad views, because it _was_ vague and beautiful, was denounced by pusey--not unwarrantably-- as that "variegated use of words which destroys all definiteness of meaning". when she would bid me not be uncharitable to those with whom i differed in matters of religion, i would answer in his words, that "charity to error is treason to truth", and that to speak out the truth unwaveringly as it was revealed, was alone "loyalty to god and charity to the souls of men". judge, then, of my terror at my own results when i found myself betrayed into writing down some contradictions from the bible. with that poetic dreaming which is one of the charms of catholicism, whether english or roman, i threw myself back into the time of the first century as the "holy week" of approached. in order to facilitate the realisation of those last sacred days of god incarnate on earth, working out man's salvation, i resolved to write a brief history of that week, compiled from the four gospels, meaning then to try and realise each day the occurrences that had happened on the corresponding date in a.d. , and so to follow those "blessed feet" step by step, till they were "... nailed for our advantage to the bitter cross." with the fearlessness which springs from ignorance i sat down to my task. my method was as follows: matthew. | mark. | luke. | john. | | | palm sunday. | palm sunday. | palm sunday. | palm sunday. | | | rode into | rode into | rode into | rode into jerusalem. | jerusalem. | jerusalem. | jerusalem. spoke purified the | returned to | purified the | in the temple. temple. returned | bethany. | temple. note: | to bethany. | | "taught daily | | | in the temple". | | | | monday. | monday. | monday. | monday. | | | cursed the fig | cursed the fig | like matthew. | tree. taught in | tree. purified | | the temple, and | the temple. | | spake many | went out of | | parables. no | city. | | breaks shown, | | | but the fig tree | | | (xxi., ) did | | | not wither till | | | tuesday (see | | | mark). | | | | | | tuesday. | tuesday. | tuesday. | tuesday. | | | all chaps, xxi., | saw fig tree | discourses. no | , xxii.-xxv., | withered up. | date shown. | spoken on tues- | then discourses.| | day, for xxvi., | | | gives passover as | | | "after two days". | | | | | | wednesday. | wednesday. | wednesday. | wednesday. | | | blank. | | | (possibly remained in bethany; the alabaster box of ointment.) | | | thursday. | thursday. | thursday. | thursday. | | | preparation of | same as matt. | same as matt. | discourses with passover. eating | | | disciples, but of passover, | | | _before_ the and institution | | | passover. washes of the holy eu- | | | the disciples' charist. gesthse- | | | feet. nothing said mane. betrayal | | | of holy eucharist, by judas. led | | | nor of agony in captive to caia- | | | gethsemane. phas. denied by | | | malchus' ear. st. peter. | | | led captive to | | | annas first. then | | | to caiaphas. denied | | | by st. peter. | | | friday. | friday. | friday. | friday. | | | led to pilate. | as matthew, | led to pilate. | taken to pilate. judas hangs | but hour of | sent to herod. | jews would not himself. tried. | crucifixion | sent back to | enter, that they condemned to | given, a.m. | pilate. rest as | might eat the death. scourged | | in matthew; but | passover. and mocked. | | _one_ male- | scourged by pi- led to cruci- | | factor repents. | late before con- fixion. darkness | | | demnation, and from to . | | | mocked. shown by died at . | | | pilate to jews | | | at . at this point i broke down. i had been getting more and more uneasy and distressed as i went on, but when i found that the jews would not go into the judgment hall lest they should be defiled, because they desired to eat the passover, having previously seen that jesus had actually eaten the passover with his disciples the evening before; when after writing down that he was crucified at a.m., and that there was darkness over all the land from to p.m., i found that three hours after he was crucified he was standing in the judgment hall, and that at the very hour at which the miraculous darkness covered the earth; when i saw that i was writing a discord instead of a harmony, i threw down my pen and shut up my bible. the shock of doubt was, however only momentary. i quickly recognised it as a temptation of the devil, and i shrank back horror-stricken and penitent for the momentary lapse of faith. i saw that these apparent contradictions were really a test of faith, and that there would be no credit in believing a thing in which there were no difficulties. _credo quia impossibile_; i repeated tertullian's words at first doggedly, at last triumphantly. i fasted as penance for my involuntary sin of unbelief. i remembered that the bible must not be carelessly read, and that st. peter had warned us that there were in it "some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest unto their own destruction". i shuddered at the "destruction" to the edge of which my unlucky "harmony" had drawn me, and resolved that i would never again venture on a task for which i was so evidently unfitted. thus the first doubt was caused, and though swiftly trampled down, it had none the less raised its head. it was stifled, not answered, for all my religious training had led me to regard a doubt as a sin to be repented of, not examined. and it left in my mind the dangerous feeling that there were some things into which it was safer not to enquire too closely; things which must be accepted on faith, and not too narrowly scrutinised. the awful threat: "he that believeth not shall be damned," sounded in my ears, and, like the angel with the flaming sword, barred the path of all too curious enquiry. v. the spring ripened into summer in uneventful fashion, so far as i was concerned, the smooth current of my life flowing on untroubled, hard reading and merry play filling the happy days. i learned later that two or three offers of marriage reached my mother for me; but she answered to each: "she is too young. i will not have her troubled." of love-dreams i had absolutely none, partly, i expect, from the absence of fiery novels from my reading, partly because my whole dream-tendencies were absorbed by religion, and all my fancies ran towards a "religious life". i longed to spend my time in worshipping jesus, and was, as far as my inner life was concerned, absorbed in that passionate love of "the savior" which, among emotional catholics, really is the human passion of love transferred to an ideal--for women to jesus, for men to the virgin mary. in order to show that i am not here exaggerating, i subjoin a few of the prayers in which i found daily delight, and i do this in order to show how an emotional girl may be attracted by these so-called devotional exercises. "o crucified love, raise in me fresh ardors of love and consolation, that it may henceforth be the greatest torment i can endure ever to offend thee; that it may be my greatest delight to please thee." "let the remembrance of thy death, o lord jesu, make me to desire and pant after thee, that i may delight in thy gracious presence." "o most sweet jesu christ, i, unworthy sinner, yet redeemed by thy precious blood.... thine i am and will be, in life and in death." "o jesu, beloved, fairer than the sons of men, draw me after thee with the cords of thy love." "blessed are thou, o most merciful god, who didst vouchsafe to espouse me to the heavenly bridegroom in the waters of baptism, and hast imparted thy body and blood as a new gift of espousal and the meet consummation of thy love." "o most sweet lord jesu, transfix the affections of my inmost soul with that most joyous and most healthful wound of thy love, with true, serene, most holy, apostolic charity; that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for thee. let it desire thee and faint for thy courts; long to be dissolved and be with thee." "oh, that i could embrace thee with that most burning love of angels." "let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for thy love is better than wine. draw me, we will run after thee. the king hath brought me into his chambers.... let my soul, o lord, feel the sweetness of thy presence. may it taste how sweet thou art.... may the sweet and burning power of thy love, i beseech thee, absorb my soul." to my dear mother this type of religious thought was revolting. but then, she was a woman who had been a wife and a devoted one, while i was a child awaking into womanhood, with emotions and passions dawning and not understood, emotions and passions which craved satisfaction, and found it in this "ideal man". thousands of girls in england are to-day in exactly this mental phase, and it is a phase full of danger. in america it is avoided by a frank, open, unsentimental companionship between boys and girls, between young men and young women. in england, where this wisely free comradeship is regarded as "improper", the perfectly harmless and natural sexual feeling is either dwarfed or forced, and so we have "prudishness" and "fastness". the sweeter and more loving natures become prudes; the more shallow as well as the more high-spirited and merry natures become flirts. often, as in my own case, the merry side finds its satisfaction in amusements that demand active physical exercise, while the loving side finds its joy in religious expansion, in which the idealised figure of jesus becomes the object of passion, and the life of the nun becomes the ideal life, as being dedicated to that one devotion. to the girl, of course, this devotion is all that is most holy, most noble, most pure. but analysing it now, after it has long been a thing of the past, i cannot but regard it as a mere natural outlet for the dawning feelings of womanhood, certain to be the more intense and earnest as the nature is deep and loving. one very practical and mischievous result of this religious feeling is the idealisation of all clergymen, as being the special messengers of, and the special means of communication with, the "most high". the priest is surrounded by the halo of deity. the power that holds the keys of heaven and of hell becomes the object of reverence and of awe. far more lofty than any title bestowed by earthly monarch is that patent of nobility straight from the hand of the "king of kings", which seems to give to the mortal something of the authority of the immortal, to crown the head of the priest with the diadem which belongs to those who are "kings and priests unto god". swayed by these feelings, the position of a clergyman's wife seems second only to that of the nun, and has therefore a wonderful attractiveness, an attractiveness in which the particular clergyman affected plays a very subordinate part; it is the "sacred office", the nearness to "holy things", the consecration involved, which seem to make the wife a nearer worshipper than those who do not partake in the immediate "services of the altar"--it is all these that shed a glamor over the clerical life which attracts most those who are most apt to self-devotion, most swayed by imagination. i know how incomprehensible this will seem to many of my readers, but it is a fact none the less, and the saddest pity of it is that the glamor is most over those whose brains are quick and responsive to all forms of noble emotions, all suggestions of personal self-sacrifice; and if such later rise to the higher emotions whose shadows have attracted them, and to that higher self-sacrifice whose whispers reached them in their early youth, then the false prophet's veil is raised, and the life is either wrecked, or through storm-wind and surge of battling billows, with loss of mast and sail, is steered by firm hand into the port of a higher creed. my mother, minnie, and i passed the summer holidays at st. leonards, and many a merry gallop had we over our favorite fields, i on a favorite black mare, gipsy queen, as full of life and spirits as i was myself, who danced gaily over ditch and hedge, thinking little of my weight, for i rode barely eight stone. at the end of those, our last free summer holidays, we returned as usual to harrow, and shortly afterwards i went to switzerland with some dear friends of ours named roberts. everyone about manchester will remember mr. roberts, the solicitor, the "poor man's lawyer". close friend of ernest jones, and hand-in-hand with him through all his struggles, mr. roberts was always ready to fight a poor man's battle for him without fee, and to champion any worker unfairly dealt with. he worked hard in the agitation which saved women from working in the mines, and i have heard him tell how he had seen them toiling, naked to the waist, with short petticoats barely reaching to their knees, rough, foul-tongued, brutalised out of all womanly decency and grace; and how he had seen little children working there too, babies of three and four set to watch a door, and falling asleep at their work to be roused by curse and kick to the unfair toil. the old man's eye would begin to flash and his voice to rise as he told of these horrors, and then his face would soften as he added that, after it was all over and the slavery was put an end to, as he went through a coal-district the women standing at their doors would lift up their children to see "lawyer roberts" go by, and would bid "god bless him" for what he had done. this dear old man was my first tutor in radicalism, and i was an apt pupil. i had taken no interest in politics, but had unconsciously reflected more or less the decorous whiggism which had always surrounded me. i regarded "the poor" as folk to be educated, looked after, charitably dealt with, and always treated with most perfect courtesy, the courtesy being due from me, as a lady, to all equally, whether they were rich or poor. but to mr. roberts "the poor" were the working-bees, the wealth producers, with a right to self-rule, not to looking after, with a right to justice, not to charity, and he preached his doctrines to me, in season and out of season. "what do you think of john bright?" he demanded of me one day. "i have never thought of him at all," i answered lightly. "isn't he a rather rough sort of man, who goes about making rows?" "there, i thought so," he broke out fiercely. "that's just what they say. i believe some of you fine ladies would not go to heaven if you had to rub shoulders with john bright, the noblest man god ever gave to the cause of the poor." and then he launched out into stories of john bright's work and john bright's eloquence, and showed me the changes that work and eloquence had made in the daily lives of the people. with mr. roberts, his wife, and two daughters, i went to switzerland as the autumn drew near. it would be of little interest to tell how we went to chamounix and worshipped mont blanc, how we crossed the mer de glace and the mauvais pas, how we visited the monastery of st. bernard (i losing my heart to the beautiful dogs), how we went by steamer down the lake of thun, how we gazed at the jungfrau and saw the exquisite staubbach, how we visited lausanne, and berne, and geneva, how we stood beside the wounded lion, and shuddered in the dungeon of chillon, how we walked distances we never should have attempted in england, how we younger ones lost ourselves on a sunday afternoon, after ascending a mountain, and returned footsore and weary, to meet a party going out to seek us with lanterns and ropes. all these things have been so often described that i will not add one more description to the list, nor dwell on that strange feeling of awe, of wonder, of delight, that everyone must have felt, when the glory of the peaks clad in "everlasting snow" is for the first time seen against the azure sky on the horizon, and you whisper to yourself, half breathless: "the alps! the alps!" during that autumn i became engaged to the rev. frank besant, giving up with a sigh of regret my dreams of the "religious life", and substituting for them the work which would have to be done as the wife of a priest, laboring ever in the church and among the poor. a queer view, some people may think, for a girl to take of married life, but it was the natural result of my living the life of the early church, of my enthusiasm for religious work. to me a priest was a half-angelic creature, whose whole life was consecrated to heaven; all that was deepest and truest in my nature chafed against my useless days, longed for work, yearned to devote itself, as i had read women saints had done, to the service of the church and the poor, to the battling against sin and misery. "you will have more opportunity for doing good as a clergyman's wife than as anything else," was one of the pleas urged on my reluctance. my ignorance of all that marriage meant was as profound as though i had been a child of four, and my knowledge of the world was absolutely _nil_. my darling mother meant all that was happiest for me when she shielded me from all knowledge of sorrow and of sin, when she guarded me from the smallest idea of the marriage relation, keeping me ignorant as a baby till i left her home a wife. but looking back now on all, i deliberately say that no more fatal blunder can be made than to train a girl to womanhood in ignorance of all life's duties and burdens, and then to let her face them for the first time away from all the old associations, the old helps, the old refuge on the mother's breast. that "perfect innocence" maybe very beautiful, but it is a perilous possession, and eve should have the knowledge of good and of evil ere she wanders forth from the paradise of a mother's love. when a word is never spoken to a girl that is not a caress; when necessary rebuke comes in tone of tenderest reproach; when "you have grieved me" has been the heaviest penalty for a youthful fault; when no anxiety has ever been allowed to trouble the young heart--then, when the hothouse flower is transplanted, and rough winds blow on it, it droops and fades. the spring and summer of passed over with little of incident, save one. we quitted harrow, and the wrench was great. my brother had left school, and had gone to cambridge; the master, who had lived with us for so long, had married and had gone to a house of his own; my mother thought that as she was growing older, the burden of management was becoming too heavy, and she desired to seek an easier life. she had saved money enough to pay for my brother's college career, and she determined to invest the rest of her savings in a house in st. leonard's, where she might live for part of the year, letting the house during the season. she accordingly took and furnished a house in warrior square, and we moved thither, saying farewell to the dear old vicarage, and the friends loved for so many happy years. at the end of the summer, my mother and i went down to manchester, to pay a long visit to the roberts's; a very pleasant time we passed there, a large part of mine being spent on horseback, either leaping over a bar in the meadow, or scouring the country far and wide. a grave break, however, came in our mirth. the fenian troubles were then at their height. on september th, colonel kelly and captain deasy, two fenian leaders, were arrested in manchester, and the irish population was at once thrown into a terrible ferment. on the th, the police van containing them was returning from the court to the county gaol at salford, and as it reached the railway arch which crosses the hyde road at bellevue, a man sprang out, shot one of the horses, and thus stopped the van. in a moment it was surrounded by a small band, armed with revolvers and with crowbars, and the crowbars were wrenching at the locked door. a reinforcement of police was approaching, and there was no time to be lost. the rescuers called to brett, a sergeant of police who was in charge inside the van, to pass the keys out, and, on his refusal, there was a cry: "blow off the lock!". the muzzle of a revolver was placed against the lock, and the revolver was discharged. unhappily, poor brett had stooped down to try and see through the keyhole what was going on outside, and the bullet, fired to blow open the lock, entered his head, and he fell dying on the floor. the rescuers rushed in, and one allen, a lad of seventeen, opened the doors of the compartments in which were kelly and deasy, and hurriedly pulled them out. two or three of the band, gathering round them, carried them off across the fields to a place of safety, while the rest gallantly threw themselves between their rescued friends and the strong body of police which charged down after the fugitives. with their revolvers pointed, they kept back the police, until they saw that the two fenian leaders were beyond all chance of capture, and then they scattered, flying in all directions. young william allen, whose one thought had been for his chiefs, was the earliest victim. as he fled, he raised his hand and fired his revolver straight in the air; he had been ready to use it in defence of others, he would not shed blood for himself. disarmed by his own act, he was set upon by the police, brutally struck down, kicked and stoned by his pursuers, and then, bruised and bleeding, he was dragged off to gaol, to meet there some of his comrades in much the same plight. the whole city of manchester went mad over the story, and the fiercest race-passions at once blazed out into flame; it became dangerous for an irish workman to be alone in a group of englishmen, for an englishman to venture into the irish quarter of the city. the friends of the arrested irishmen went straight to "lawyer roberts", and begged his aid, and he threw himself heart and soul into their defence. he soon found that the man who had fired the fatal shot was safe out of the way, having left manchester at once, and he trusted that it would at least be possible to save his clients from the death-penalty. a special commission was issued, with mr. justice blackburn at its head. "they are going to send that hanging judge," groaned mr. roberts when he heard it, and we felt there was small chance of escape for the prisoners. he struggled hard to have the _venue_ of the trial changed, protesting that in the state of excitement in which manchester was, there was no chance of obtaining an impartial jury. but the cry for blood and for revenge was ringing through the air, and of fairness and impartiality there was no chance. on the th of october, the prisoners were actually brought up before the magistrates _in irons_, and mr. ernest jones, the counsel briefed to defend them, after a vain protest against the monstrous outrage, threw down his brief and quitted the court. the trial was hurried on, and on october th, allen, larkin, gould (o'brien), maguire, and condon, stood before their judges. we drove up to the court; the streets were barricaded; soldiers were under arms; every approach was crowded by surging throngs. at last, our carriage was stopped in the midst of excited irishmen, and fists were shaken in the window, curses levelled at the "d----d english who were going to see the boys murdered". for a moment things were uncomfortable, for we were five women of helpless type. then i bethought myself that we were unknown, and, like the saucy girl i was, i leant forward and touched the nearest fist. "friends, these are mr. roberts' wife and daughters." "roberts! lawyer roberts! god bless roberts. let his carriage through." and all the scowling faces became smile-wreathen, and cheers sounded out for curses, and a road was cleared for us to the steps. very sad was that trial. on the first day mr. roberts got himself into trouble which threatened to be serious. he had briefed mr. digby seymour, q.c. as leader, with mr. ernest jones, for the defence, and he did not think that the jurymen proposed were challenged as they should be. we knew that many whose names were called were men who had proclaimed their hostility to the irish, and despite the wrath of judge blackburn, mr. roberts would jump up and challenge them. in vain he threatened to commit the sturdy solicitor. "these men's lives are at stake, my lord," he said indignantly. at last the officers of the court were sharply told: "remove that man," but as they advanced reluctantly--for all poor men loved and honored him--judge blackburn changed his mind and let him remain. at last the jury was empanelled, containing one man who had loudly proclaimed that he "didn't care what the evidence was, he would hang every d----d irishman of the lot". in fact, the verdict was a foregone conclusion. the most disreputable evidence was admitted; the suppositions of women of lowest character were accepted as conclusive; the _alibi_ for maguire-- clearly proved, and afterwards accepted by the crown, a free pardon being issued on the strength of it--was rejected with dogged obstinacy; how premeditated was the result may be guessed from the fact that i saw--with what shuddering horror may be estimated--some official in the room behind the judges' chairs, quietly preparing the black caps before the verdict had been given. the verdict of "guilty" was repeated in each of the five cases, and the prisoners were asked by the presiding judge if they had anything to say why sentence should not be passed on them. allen spoke briefly and bravely; he had not fired a shot, but he had helped to free kelly and deasy; he was willing to die for ireland. the others followed in turn, maguire protesting his innocence, and condon declaring also that he was not present (he also was reprieved). then the sentence of death was passed, and "god save ireland"! rang out in five clear voices in answer from the dock. we had a sad scene that night; the young girl to whom poor allen was engaged was heartbroken at her lover's doom, and bitter were her cries to "save my william!". no protests, no pleas, however, availed to mitigate the doom, and on november rd, allen, larkin, and o'brien were hanged outside salford gaol. had they striven for freedom in italy, england would have honored them as heroes; here she buried them as common murderers in quicklime in the prison yard. i have found, with a keen sense of pleasure, that mr. bradlaugh and myself were in to some extent co-workers, although we knew not of each other's existence, and although he was doing much, and i only giving such poor sympathy as a young girl might, who was only just awakening to the duty of political work. i read in the _national reformer_ for november , , that in the preceding week, he was pleading on clerkenwell green for these men's lives: "according to the evidence at the trial, deasy and kelly were illegally arrested. they had been arrested for vagrancy of which no evidence was given, and apparently remanded for felony without a shadow of justification. he had yet to learn that in england the same state of things existed as in ireland; he had yet to learn that an illegal arrest was sufficient ground to detain any of the citizens of any country in the prisons of this one. if he were illegally held, he was justified in using enough force to procure his release. wearing a policeman's coat gave no authority when the officer exceeded his jurisdiction. he had argued this before lord chief justice erle in the court of common pleas, and that learned judge did not venture to contradict the argument which he submitted. there was another reason why they should spare these men, although he hardly expected the government to listen, because the government sent down one of the judges who was predetermined to convict the prisoners; it was that the offence was purely a political one. the death of brett was a sad mischance, but no one who read the evidence could regard the killing of brett as an intentional murder. legally, it was murder; morally, it was homicide in the rescue of a political captive. if it were a question of the rescue of the political captives of varignano, or of political captives in bourbon, in naples, or in poland, or in paris, even earls might be found so to argue. wherein is our sister ireland less than these? in executing these men, they would throw down the gauntlet for terrible reprisals. it was a grave and solemn question. it had been said by a previous speaker that they were prepared to go to any lengths to save these irishmen. they were not. he wished they were. if they were, if the men of england, from one end to the other, were prepared to say, "these men shall not be executed," they would not be. he was afraid they had not pluck enough for that. their moral courage was not equal to their physical strength. therefore he would not say that they were prepared to do so. they must plead _ad misericordiam_. he appealed to the press, which represented the power of england; to that press which in its panic-stricken moments had done much harm, and which ought now to save these four doomed men. if the press demanded it, no government would be mad enough to resist. the memory of the blood which was shed in rose up like a bloody ghost against them to-day. he only feared that what they said upon the subject might do the poor men more harm than good. if it were not so, he would coin words that should speak in words of fire. as it was, he could only say to the government: you are strong to-day; you hold these men's lives in your hands; but if you want to reconcile their country to you, if you want to win back ireland, if you want to make her children love you--then do not embitter their hearts still more by taking the lives of these men. temper your strength with mercy; do not use the sword of justice like one of vengeance; for the day may come when it shall be broken in your hands, and you yourselves brained by the hilt of the weapon you have so wickedly wielded." in october he had printed a plea for ireland, strong and earnest, asking:-- "where is our boasted english freedom when you cross to kingstown pier? where has it been for near two years? the habeas corpus act suspended, the gaols crowded, the steamers searched, spies listening at shebeen shops for sedition, and the end of it a fenian panic in england. oh, before it be too late, before more blood shall stain the pages of our present history, before we exasperate and arouse bitter animosities, let us try and do justice to our sister land. abolish once and for all the land laws, which in their iniquitous operation have ruined her peasantry. sweep away the leech-like church which has sucked her vitality, and has given her back no word even of comfort in her degradation. turn her barracks into flax mills, encourage a spirit of independence in her citizens, restore to her people the protection of the law, so that they may speak without fear of arrest, and beg them to plainly and boldly state their grievances. let a commission of the best and wisest amongst irishmen, with some of our highest english judges added, sit solemnly to hear all complaints, and then let us honestly legislate, not for the punishment of the discontented, but to remove the causes of the discontent. it is not the fenians who have depopulated ireland's strength and increased her misery. it is not the fenians who have evicted tenants by the score. it is not the fenians who have checked cultivation. those who have caused the wrong at least should frame the remedy." vi. in december, , i was married at st. leonards, and after a brief trip to paris and southsea, we went to cheltenham where mr. besant had obtained a mastership. we lived at first in lodgings, and as i was very much alone, my love for reading had full swing. quietly to myself i fretted intensely for my mother, and for the daily sympathy and comradeship that had made my life so fair. in a strange town, among strangers, with a number of ladies visiting me who talked only of servants and babies--troubles of which i knew nothing--who were profoundly uninterested in everything that had formed my previous life, in theology, in politics, in questions of social reform, and who looked on me as "strange" because i cared more for the great struggles outside than for the discussions of a housemaid's young man, or the amount of "butter when dripping would have done perfectly well, my dear," used by the cook--under such circumstances it will not seem marvellous that i felt somewhat forlorn. i found refuge, however, in books, and energetically carried on my favorite studies; next, i thought i would try writing, and took up two very different lines of composition; i wrote some short stories of a very flimsy type, and also a work of a much more ambitious character, "the lives of the black letter saints". for the sake of the unecclesiastically trained it may be well to mention that in the calendar of the church of england there are a number of saints' days; some of these are printed in red, and are red letter days, for which services are appointed by the church; others are printed in black, and are black letter days, and have no special services fixed for them. it seemed to me that it would be interesting to take each of these days and write a sketch of the life of the saint belonging to it, and accordingly i set to work to do so, and gathered various books of history and legend wherefrom to collect my "facts". i don't in the least know what became of that valuable book; i tried macmillans with it, and it was sent on by them to someone who was preparing a series of church books for the young; later i had a letter from a church brotherhood offering to publish it, if i would give it as an "act of piety" to their order; its ultimate fate is to me unknown. the short stories were more fortunate. i sent the first to the _family herald_, and some weeks afterwards received a letter from which dropped a cheque as i opened it. dear me! i have earned a good deal of money since by my pen, but never any that gave me the intense delight of that first thirty shillings. it was the first money i had ever earned, and the pride of the earning was added to the pride of authorship. in my childish delight and practical religion, i went down on my knees and thanked god for sending it to me, and i saw myself earning heaps of golden guineas, and becoming quite a support of the household. besides, it was "my very own", i thought, and a delightful sense of independence came over me. i had not then realised the beauty of the english law, and the dignified position in which it placed the married woman; i did not understand that all a married woman earned by law belonged to her owner, and that she could have nothing that belonged to her of right.[ ] i did not want the money: i was only so glad to have something of my own to give, and it was rather a shock to learn that it was not really mine at all. [footnote : this odious law has now been altered, and a married woman is a person, not a chattel.] from time to time after that, i earned a few pounds for stories in the same journal; and the _family herald,_ let me say, has one peculiarity which should render it beloved by poor authors; it pays its contributor when it accepts the paper, whether it prints it immediately or not; thus my first story was not printed for some weeks after i received the cheque, and it was the same with all others accepted by the same journal. encouraged by these small successes, i began writing a novel! it took a long time to do, but was at last finished, and sent off to the _family herald._ the poor thing came back, but with a kind note, telling me that it was too political for their pages, but that if i would write one of "purely domestic interest", and up to the same level, it would probably be accepted. but by that time i was in the full struggle of theological doubt, and that novel of "purely domestic interest" never got itself written. i contributed further to the literature of my country a theological pamphlet, of which i forget the exact title, but it dealt with the duty of fasting incumbent on all faithful christians, and was very patristic in its tone. in january, , my little son was born, and as i was very ill for some months before,--and was far too much interested in the tiny creature afterwards, to devote myself to pen and paper, my literary career was checked for a while. the baby gave a new interest and a new pleasure to life, and as we could not afford a nurse i had plenty to do in looking after his small majesty. my energy in reading became less feverish when it was done by the side of the baby's cradle, and the little one's presence almost healed the abiding pain of my mother's loss. i may pass very quickly over the next two years. in august, , a little sister was born to my son, and the recovery was slow and tedious, for my general health had been failing for some time. i was, among other things, fretting much about my mother, who was in sore trouble. a lawyer in whom she had had the most perfect confidence betrayed it; for years she had paid all her large accounts through him, and she had placed her money in his hands. suddenly he was discovered by his partners to have been behaving unfairly; the crash came, and my mother found that all the money given by her for discharge of liabilities had vanished, while the accounts were unpaid, and that she was involved in debt to a very serious extent. the shock was a very terrible one to her, for she was too old to begin the world afresh. she sold off all she had, and used the money, as far as it would go, to pay the debts she believed to have been long ago discharged, and she was thus left penniless after thinking she had made a little competence for her old age. lord hatherley's influence obtained for my brother the post of undersecretary to the society of arts, and also some work from the patent office, and my mother went to live with him. but the dependence was intolerable to her, though she never let anyone but myself know she suffered, and even i, until her last illness, never knew how great her suffering had been. the feeling of debt weighed on her, and broke her heart; all day long while my brother was at his office, through the bitter winter weather, she would sit without a fire, lighting it only a little before his home-coming, so that she might save all the expense she could; often and often she would go out about half-past twelve, saying that she was going out to lunch, and would walk about till late in the afternoon, so as to avoid the lunch-hour at home. i have always felt that the winter of - killed her, though she lived on for three years longer; it made her an old broken woman, and crushed her brave spirit. how often i have thought since: "if only i had not left her! i should have seen she was suffering, and should have saved her." one little chance help i gave her, on a brief visit to town. she was looking very ill, and i coaxed out of her that her back was always aching, and that she never had a moment free from pain. luckily i had that morning received a letter containing £ s. from my liberal _family herald_ editor, and as, glancing round the room, i saw there were only ordinary chairs, i disregarded all questions as to the legal ownership of the money, and marched out without saying a word, and bought for £ s. a nice cushiony chair, just like one she used to have at harrow, and had it sent home to her. for a moment she was distressed, but i told her i had earned the money, and so she was satisfied. "oh, the rest!" she said softly once or twice during the evening. i have that chair still, and mean to keep it as long as i live. in the spring of both my children were taken ill with hooping-cough. the boy, digby, vigorous and merry, fought his way through it with no danger, and with comparatively little suffering; mabel, the baby, had been delicate since her birth; there had been some little difficulty in getting her to breathe after she was born, and a slight tendency afterwards to lung-delicacy. she was very young for so trying a disease as hooping-cough, and after a while bronchitis set in, and was followed by congestion of the lungs. for weeks she lay in hourly peril of death; we arranged a screen round the fire like a tent, and kept it full of steam to ease the panting breath, and there i sat all through those weary weeks with her on my lap, day and night. the doctor said that recovery was impossible, and that in one of the fits of coughing she must die; the most distressing thing was that at last the giving of a drop or two of milk brought on the terrible convulsive choking, and it seemed cruel to torture the apparently dying child. at length, one morning when the doctor was there, he said that she could not last through the day; i had sent for him hurriedly, for her body had swollen up rapidly, and i did not know what had happened; the pleura of one lung had become perforated, and the air escaping into the cavity of the chest had caused the swelling; while he was there, one of the fits of coughing came on, and it seemed as though it would be the last; the doctor took a small bottle of chloroform out of his pocket, and putting a drop on a handkerchief, held it near the child's face, till the drug soothed the convulsive struggle. "it can't do any harm at this stage," he said, "and it checks the suffering." he went away, saying that he would return in the afternoon, but he feared he would never see the child alive again. one of the kindest friends i had in my married life was that same doctor, mr. lauriston winterbotham; he was as good as he was clever, and, like so many of his noble, profession, he had the merits of discretion and of silence. that chance thought of his about the chloroform, verily, i believe, saved the child's life. whenever one of the convulsive fits was coming on i used it, and so not only prevented to a great extent the violence of the attacks, but also the profound exhaustion that followed them, when of breath at the top of the throat showing that she still lived. at last, though more than once we had thought her dead, a change took place for the better, and the child began slowly to mend. for years, however, that struggle for life left its traces on her, not only in serious lung-delicacy but also in a form of epileptic fits. in her play she would suddenly stop, and become fixed for about a minute, and then go on again as though nothing had occurred. on her mother a more permanent trace was left. not unnaturally, when the child was out of danger, i collapsed from sheer exhaustion, and i lay in bed for a week. but an important change of mind dated from those silent weeks with a dying child on my knees. there had grown up in my mind a feeling of angry resentment against the god who had been for weeks, as i thought, torturing my helpless baby. for some months a stubborn antagonism to the providence who ordained the sufferings of life had been steadily increasing in me, and this sullen challenge, "is god good?" found voice in my heart during those silent nights and days. my mother's sufferings, and much personal unhappiness, had been, intensifying the feeling, and as i watched my baby in its agony, and felt so helpless to relieve, more than once the indignant cry broke from my lips: "how canst thou torture a baby so? what has she done that she should suffer so? why dost thou not kill her at once, and let her be at peace?" more than once i cried aloud: "o god, take the child, but do not torment her." all my personal belief in god, all my intense faith in his constant direction of affairs, all my habit of continual prayer and of realisation of his presence, were against me now. to me he was not an abstract idea, but a living reality, and all my mother-heart rose up in rebellion against this person in whom i believed, and whose individual finger i saw in my baby's agony. at this time i met a clergyman--i do not give his name lest i should injure him--whose wider and more liberal views of christianity exercised much influence over me during the months of struggle that followed. mr. besant had brought him to me while the child was at her worst, and i suppose something of the "why is it?" had, unconsciously to me, shown itself to his keen eyes. on the day after his visit, i received from him the following letter, in which unbeliever as well as believer may recognise the deep human sympathy and noble nature of the writer:-- "april st, . "my dear mrs. besant,--i am painfully conscious that i gave you but little help in your trouble yesterday. it is needless to say that it was not from want of sympathy. perhaps it would be nearer the truth to say that it was from excess of sympathy. i shrink intensely from meddling with the sorrow of anyone whom i feel to be of a sensitive nature. 'the heart hath its own bitterness, and the stranger meddleth not therewith.' it is to me a positively fearful thought that i might await a reflection as 'and common was the common place, and vacant chaff well meant for grain'. conventional consolations, conventional verses out of the bible and conventional prayers are, it seems to me, an intolerable aggravation of suffering. and so i acted on a principle that i mentioned to your husband, that 'there is no power so great as that of one human faith looking upon another human faith'. the promises of god, the love of christ for little children, and all that has been given to us of hope and comfort, are as deeply planted in your heart as in mine, and i did not care to quote them. but when i talk face to face with one who is in sore need of them, my faith in them suddenly becomes so vast and heart-stirring that i think i must help most by talking naturally, and letting the faith find its own way from soul to soul. indeed i could not find words for it if i tried. and yet i am compelled, as a messenger of the glad tidings of god, to solemnly assure you that all is well. we have no key to the 'mystery of pain', excepting the cross of christ. but there is another and a deeper solution in the hands of our father. and it will be ours when we can understand it. there is--in the place to which we travel--some blessed explanation of your baby's pain and your grief, which will fill with light the darkest heart. now you must believe without having seen; that is true faith. you must 'reach a hand through time to catch the far-oft interest of tears'. that you may have strength so to do is part of your share in the prayers of yours very faithfully, w. d----." during the summer months i saw much of this clergyman, mr. d---- and his wife. we grew into closer intimacy in consequence of the dangerous illness of their only child, a beautiful boy a few months old. i had gained quite a name in cheltenham as a nurse--my praises having been sung by the doctor--and mrs. d---- felt she could trust me even with her darling boy while she snatched a night's sorely needed rest. my questionings were not shirked by mr. d----, nor discouraged; he was neither horrified nor sanctimoniously rebuking, but met them all with a wide comprehension inexpressibly soothing to one writhing in the first agony of real doubt. the thought of hell was torturing me; somehow out of the baby's pain through those seemingly endless hours had grown a dim realisation of what hell might be, full of the sufferings of the beloved, and my whole brain and heart revolted from the unutterable cruelty of a creating and destroying god. mr. d---- lent me maurice and robertson, and strove to lead me into their wider hope for man, their more trustful faith in god. everyone who has doubted after believing knows how, after the first admitted and recognised doubt, others rush in like a flood, and how doctrine after doctrine starts up in new and lurid light, looking so different in aspect from the fair faint outlines in which it had shone forth in the soft mists of faith. the presence of evil and pain in the world made by a "good god", and the pain falling on the innocent, as on my seven months' old babe; the pain here reaching on into eternity unhealed; these, while i yet believed, drove me desperate, and i believed and hated, instead of like the devils, "believed and trembled". next, i challenged the righteousness of the doctrine of the atonement, and while i worshipped and clung to the suffering christ, i hated the god who required the death sacrifice at his hands. and so for months the turmoil went on, the struggle being all the more terrible for the very desperation with which i strove to cling to some planks of the wrecked ship of faith on the tossing sea of doubt. after mr. d---- left cheltenham, as he did in the early autumn of , he still aided me in my mental struggles. he had advised me to read mcleod campbell's work on the atonement, as one that would meet many of the difficulties that lay on the surface of the orthodox view, and in answer to a letter dealing with this really remarkable work, he wrote (nov. , ): "( ) the two passages on pp. and you doubtless interpret quite rightly. in your third reference to pp. , , you forget one great principle--that god is impassive; cannot suffer. christ, quâ _god_, did not suffer, but as son of _man_ and in his _humanity_. still, it may be correctly stated that he felt to sin and sinners 'as god eternally feels'--_i.e., abhorrence of sin and love of the sinner_. but to infer from that that the father in his godhead feels the sufferings which christ experienced solely in humanity, and because incarnate, is, i think, wrong. "( ) i felt strongly inclined to blow you up for the last part of your letter. you assume, i think quite gratuitously, that god condemns the major part of his children to objectless future suffering. you say that if he does not, he places a book in their hands which threatens what he does not mean to inflict. but how utterly this seems to me opposed to the gospel of christ. all christ's reference to eternal punishment may be resolved into reference to the valley of hinnom, by way of imagery; with the exception of the dives parable, where is distinctly inferred a moral amendment beyond the grave. i speak of the unselfish desire of dives to save his brothers. the more i see of the controversy the more baseless does the eternal punishment theory appear. it seems, then, to me, that instead of feeling aggrieved and shaken, you ought to feel encouraged and thankful that god is so much better than you were taught to believe him. you will have discovered by this time, in maurice's 'what is revelation' (i suppose you have the 'sequel' too?) that god's truth _is_ our truth, and his love is our love, only more perfect and full. there is no position more utterly defeated in modern philosophy and theology, than dean mansel's attempt to show that god's justice, love, etc., are different in kind from ours. mill and maurice, from totally alien points of view, have shown up the preposterous nature of the notion. "( ) a good deal of what you have thought is, i fancy, based on a strange forgetfulness of your former experience. if you have known christ (whom to know is eternal life)--and that you have known him i am certain--can you really say that a few intellectual difficulties, nay, a few moral difficulties if you will, are able at once to obliterate the testimony of that higher state of being? "why, the keynote of all my theology is that christ is loveable because, and _just_ because, he is the perfection of all that i know to be noble and generous, and loving, and tender, and true. if an angel from heaven brought me a gospel which contained doctrines that would not stand the test of such perfect loveableness--doctrines hard, or cruel, or unjust--i should reject him and his trumpery gospel with scorn, knowing that neither could be christ's. "know christ and judge religions by him; don't judge him by religions, and then complain because you find yourself looking at him through a blood-colored glass.... "i am saturating myself with maurice, who is the antidote given by god to this age against all dreary doubtings and temptings of the devil to despair." on these lines weary strife went on for months, until at last brain and health gave way completely, and for weeks i lay prostrate and helpless, in terrible ceaseless head-pain, unable to find relief in sleep. the doctor tried every form of relief in vain; he covered my head with ice, he gave me opium--which only drove me mad--he used every means his skill could dictate to remove the pain, but all failed. at last he gave up the attempt to cure physically, and tried mental diversion; he brought me up books on anatomy and persuaded me to study them; i have still an analysis made by me at that time of luther holden's "human osteology ". he was wise enough to see that if i were to be brought back to reasonable life, it could only be by diverting thought from the currents in which it had been running to a dangerous extent. no one who has not felt it knows the fearful agony caused by doubt to the earnestly religious mind. there is in this life no other pain so horrible. the doubt seems to shipwreck everything, to destroy the one steady gleam of happiness "on the other side" that no earthly storm could obscure; to make all life gloomy with a horror of despair, a darkness that may verily be felt. fools talk of atheism as the outcome of foul life and vicious thought. they, in their shallow heartlessness, their brainless stupidity, cannot even dimly imagine the anguish of the mere penumbra of the eclipse of faith, much less the horror of that great darkness in which the orphaned soul cries out into the infinite emptiness: "is it a devil who has made this world? are we the sentient toys of an almighty power, who sports with our agony, and whose peals of awful mocking laughter echo the wailings of our despair?" vii. on recovering from that prostrating physical pain, i came to a very definite decision. i resolved that, whatever might be the result, i would take each dogma of the christian religion, and carefully and thoroughly examine it, so that i should never again say "i believe" where i had not proved. so, patiently and steadily, i set to work. four problems chiefly at this time pressed for solution. i. the eternity of punishment after death. ii. the meaning of "goodness" and "love" as applied to a god who had made this world with all its evil and its misery. iii. the nature of the atonement of christ, and the "justice" of god in accepting a vicarious suffering from christ, and a vicarious righteousness from the sinner. iv. the meaning of "inspiration" as applied to the bible, and the reconciliation of the perfection of the author with the blunders and the immoralities of the work. maurice's writings now came in for very careful study, and i read also those of robertson, of brighton, and of stopford brooke, striving to find in these some solid ground whereon i might build up a new edifice of faith. that ground, however, i failed to find; there were poetry, beauty, enthusiasm, devotion; but there was no rock on which i might take my stand. mansel's bampton lectures on "the limits of religious thought" deepened and intensified my doubts. his arguments seemed to make certainty impossible, and i could not suddenly turn round and believe to order, as he seemed to recommend, because proof was beyond reach. i could not, and would not, adore in god as the highest righteousness that which, in man was condemned as harsh, as cruel, and as unjust. in the midst of this long mental struggle, a change occurred in the outward circumstances of my life. i wrote to lord hatherley and asked him if he could give mr. besant a crown living, and he offered us first one in northumberland, near alnwick castle, and then one in lincolnshire, the village of sibsey, with a vicarage house, and an income of £ per annum. we decided to accept the latter. the village was scattered over a considerable amount of ground, but the work was not heavy. the church was one of the fine edifices for which the fen country is so famous, and the vicarage was a comfortable house, with large and very beautiful gardens and paddock, and with outlying fields. the people were farmers and laborers, with a sprinkling of shopkeepers; the only "society" was that of the neighboring clergy, tory and prim to an appalling extent. there was here plenty of time for study, and of that time i vigorously availed myself. but no satisfactory light came to me, and the suggestions and arguments of my friend mr. d---- failed to bring conviction to my mind. it appeared clear to me that the doctrine of eternal punishment was taught in the bible, and the explanations given of the word "eternal" by men like maurice and stanley, did not recommend themselves to me as anything more than skilful special pleading-- evasions, not clearings up, of a moral difficulty. for the problem was: given a good god, how can he have created mankind, knowing beforehand that the vast majority of those whom he had created were to be tortured for evermore? given a just god, how can he punish people for being sinful, when they have inherited a sinful nature without their own choice and of necessity? given a righteous god, how can he allow sin to exist for ever, so that evil shall be as eternal as good, and satan shall reign in hell, as long as christ in heaven? the answer of the broad church school was, that the word "eternal" applied only to god and to life which was one with his; that "everlasting" only meant "lasting for an age", and that while the punishment of the wicked might endure for ages it was purifying, not destroying, and at last all should be saved, and "god should be all in all". these explanations had (for a time) satisfied mr. d----, and i find him writing to me in answer to a letter of mine dated march th, : "on the subject of eternal punishment i have now not the remotest doubt. it is impossible to handle the subject exhaustively in a letter, with a sermon to finish before night. but you _must_ get hold of a few valuable books that would solve all kinds of difficulties for you. for most points read stopford brooke's sermons--they are simply magnificent, and are called ( ) christian modern life, ( ) freedom in the church of england, ( ) and (least helpful) 'sermons'. then again there is an appendix to llewellyn davies' 'manifestation of the son of god', which treats of forgiveness in a future state as related to christ and bible. as to that special passage about the blasphemy against the holy ghost (to which you refer), i will write you my notions on it in a future letter." a little later, according, he wrote: "with regard to your passage of difficulty about the unpardonable sin, i would say: ( ) if that sin is not to be forgiven in the world to come, it is implied that all other sins _are forgiven in the world to come_. ( ) you must remember that our lord's parables and teachings mainly concerned contemporary events and people. i mean, for instance, that in his great prophecy of _judgment_ he simply was speaking of the destruction of the jewish polity and nation. the _principles_ involved apply through all time, but he did not apply them except to the jewish nation. he was speaking then, not of 'the end of the _world_, (as is wrongly translated), but of 'the end of the _age_'. (every age is wound up with a judgment. french revolutions, reformations, etc., are all ends of ages and judgments.) [greek aion] does not, cannot, will not, and never did mean _world_, but _age_. well, then, he has been speaking of the jewish people. and he says that all words spoken against the son of man will be forgiven. but there is a blasphemy against the holy spirit of god--there is a confusion of good with evil, of light with darkness--which goes deeper down than this. when a nation has lost the faculty of distinguishing love from hatred, the spirit of falsehood and hypocrisy from the spirit of truth, god from the devil--_then its doom is pronounced_--the decree is gone forth against it. as the doom of judaism, guilty of this sin, _was then_ pronounced. as the _decree against it had already gone forth. it is a national warning, not an individual one. it applies to two ages of this world, and not to two worlds_. all its teaching was primarily _national_, and is only thus to be rightly read-- if not all, rather _most of it_. if you would be sure of this and understand it, see the parables, etc., explained in maurice's 'gospel of the kingdom of heaven' (a commentary on s. luke). i can only indicate briefly in a letter the line to be taken on this question. "with regard to the [greek: elui, elui, lama sabbachthani]. i don't believe that the father even momentarily hid his face from him. the life of sonship was unbroken. remark: ( ) it is a quotation from a psalm. ( ) it rises naturally to a suffering man's lips as expressive of agony, though not exactly framed for _his_ individual _agony_. ( ) the spirit of the psalm is one of trust, and hope, and full faith, notwithstanding the st verse. ( ) our lord's agony was very extreme, not merely of body but of _soul_. he spoke out of the desolation of one forsaken, not by his divine father but by his human brothers. i have heard sick and dying men use the words of beloved psalms in just such a manner. "the impassibility of god ( ) with regard to the incarnation, this presents no difficulty. christ suffered simply and entirely as man, was too truly a man not to do so. ( ) with regard to the father, the key of it is here. 'god _is_ love.' he does not need suffering to train into sympathy, because his nature is sympathy. he can afford to dispense with hysterics, because he sees ahead that his plan is working to the perfect result. i am not quite sure whether i have hit upon your difficulty here, as i have destroyed your last letter but one. but the 'gospel of the kingdom' is a wonderful 'eye-opener'." worst of all the puzzles, perhaps, was that of the existence of evil and of misery, and the racking doubt whether god _could_ be good, and yet look on the evil and the misery of the world unmoved and untouched. it seemed so impossible to believe that a creator could be either cruel enough to be indifferent to the misery, or weak enough to be unable to stop it: the old dilemma faced me unceasingly. "if he can prevent it, and does not, he is not good; if he wishes to prevent it, and cannot, he is not almighty;" and out of this i could find no way of escape. not yet had any doubt of the existence of god crossed my mind. in august, mr. d---- tried to meet this difficulty. he wrote: "with regard to the impassibility of god, i think there is a stone wrong among your foundations which causes your difficulty. another wrong stone is, i think, your view of the nature of the _sin_ and _error_ which is supposed to grieve god. i take it that sin is an absolutely necessary factor in the production of the perfect man. it was foreseen and allowed as a means to an end--as in fact an _education_. "the view of all the sin and misery in the world cannot grieve god, any more than it can grieve you to see digby fail in his first attempt to build a card-castle or a rabbit-hutch. all is part of the training. god looks at the ideal man to which all tends. the popular idea of the fall is to me a very absurd one. there was never an ideal state in the past, but there will be in the future. the genesis allegory simply typifies the first awakening of consciousness of good and evil--of two _wills_ in a mind hitherto only animal-psychic. "well then--there being no occasion for grief in watching the progress of his own perfect and unfailing plans--your difficulty in god's impassibility vanishes. christ, _quâ_ god, was, of course, impassible too. it seems to me that your position implies that god's 'designs' have partially (at least) failed, and hence the grief of perfect benevolence. now i stoutly deny that any jot or tittle of god's plans can fail. i believe in the ordering of all for the best. i think that the pain consequent on broken law is only an inevitable necessity, over which we shall some day rejoice. "the indifference shown to god's love cannot pain him. why? because it is simply a sign of defectiveness in the creature which the ages will rectify. the being who is indifferent is not yet educated up to the point of love. but he _will be_. the pure and holy suffering of christ was (pardon me) _wholly_ the consequence of his human nature. true it was because of the _perfection_ of his humanity. but his divinity had nothing to do with it. it was his _human heart_ that broke. it was because he entered a world of broken laws and of incomplete education that he became involved in suffering with the rest of his race..... "no, mrs. besant; i never feel at all inclined to give up the search, or to suppose that the other side may be right. i claim no merit for it, but i have an invincible faith in the morality of god and the moral order of the world. i have no more doubt about the falsehood of the popular theology than i have about the unreality of six robbers who attacked me three nights ago in a horrid dream. i exult and rejoice in the grandeur and freedom of the little bit of truth it has been given me to see. i am told that 'present-day papers', by bishop ewing (edited) are a wonderful help, many of them, to puzzled people: i mean to get them. but i am sure you will find that the truth will (even so little as we may be able to find out) grow on you, make you free, light your path, and dispel, at no distant time, your _painful_ difficulties and doubts. i should say on no account give up your reading. i think with you that you could not do without it. it will be a wonderful source of help and peace to you. for there are struggles far more fearful than those of intellectual doubt. i am keenly alive to the gathered-up sadness of which your last two pages are an expression. i was sorrier than i can say to read them. they reminded me of a long and very dark time in my own life, when i thought the light never would come. thank god it came, or i think i could not have held out much longer. but you have evidently strength to bear it now. the more dangerous time, i should fancy, has passed. you will have to mind that the fermentation leaves clear spiritual wine, and not (as too often) vinegar. "i wish i could write something more helpful to you in this great matter. but as i sit in front of my large bay window, and see the shadows on the grass and the sunlight on the leaves, and the soft glimmer of the rosebuds left by the storms, i cannot but believe that all will be very well. 'trust in the lord; wait patiently for him'--they are trite words. but he made the grass, the leaves, the rosebuds, and the sunshine, and he is the father of our lord jesus christ. and now the trite words have swelled into a mighty argument." despite reading and argument, my scepticism grew only deeper and deeper. the study of w.r. greg's "creed of christendom", of matthew arnold's "literature and dogma", helped to widen the mental horizon, while making a return to the old faith more and more impossible. the church services were a weekly torture, but feeling as i did that i was only a doubter, i spoke to none of my doubts. it was possible, i felt, that all my difficulties might be cleared up, and i had no right to shake the faith of others while in uncertainty myself. others had doubted and had afterwards believed; for the doubter silence was a duty; the blinded had better keep their misery to themselves. i found some practical relief in parish work of a non-doctrinal kind, in nursing the sick, in trying to brighten a little the lot of the poor of the village. but here, again, i was out of sympathy with most of those around me. the movement among the agricultural laborers, due to the energy and devotion of joseph arch, was beginning to be talked of in the fens, and bitter were the comments of the farmers on it, while i sympathised with the other side. one typical case, which happened some months later, may stand as example of all. there was a young man, married, with two young children, who was wicked enough to go into a neighboring county to a "union meeting", and who was, further, wicked enough to talk about it when he returned. he became a marked man; no farmer would employ him. he tramped about vainly, looking for work, grew reckless, and took to drink. visiting his cottage one day i found his wife ill, a dead child in the bed, a sick child in her arms; yes, she "was pining; there was no work to be had". "why did she leave the dead child on the bed? because there was no other place to put it." the cottage consisted of one room and a "lean-to", and husband and wife, the child dead of fever and the younger child sickening with it, were all obliged to lie on the one bed. in another cottage i found four generations sleeping in one room, the great-grandfather and his wife, the grandmother (unmarried), the mother (unmarried), and the little child, while three men-lodgers completed the tale of eight human beings crowded into that narrow, ill-ventilated garret. other cottages were hovels, through the broken roofs of which poured the rain, and wherein rheumatism and ague lived with the dwellers. how could i do aught but sympathise with any combination that aimed at the raising of these poor? but to sympathise with joseph arch was a crime in the eyes of the farmers, who knew that his agitation meant an increased drain on their pockets. for it never struck them that, if they paid less in rent to the absent landlord, they might pay more in wage to the laborers who helped to make their wealth, and they had only civil words for the burden that crushed them, and harsh ones for the builders-up of their ricks and the mowers of their harvests. they made common cause with their enemy, instead of with their friend, and instead of leaguing themselves with the laborers, as forming together the true agricultural interest, they leagued themselves with the landlords against the laborers, and so made fratricidal strife instead of easy victory over the common foe. in the summer and autumn of , i was a good deal in london with my mother.--my health had much broken down, and after a severe attack of congestion of the lungs, my recovery was very slow. one sunday in london, i wandered into st. george's hall, in which mr. charles voysey was preaching, and there i bought some of his sermons. to my delight i found that someone else had passed through the same difficulties as i about hell and the bible and the atonement and the character of god, and had given up all these old dogmas, while still clinging to belief in god. i went to st. george's hall again on the following sunday, and in the little ante-room, after the service, i found myself in a stream of people, who were passing by mr. and mrs. voysey, some evidently known to him, some strangers, many of the latter thanking him for his morning's work. as i passed in my turn i said: "i must thank you for very great help in what you have said this morning", for indeed the possibility opened of a god who was really "loving unto every man", and in whose care each was safe for ever, had come like a gleam of light across the stormy sea of doubt and distress on which i had been tossing for nearly twelve months. on the following sunday, i saw them again, and was cordially invited down to their dulwich home, where they gave welcome to all in doubt. i soon found that the theism they professed was free from the defects which revolted me in christianity. it left me god as a supreme goodness, while rejecting all the barbarous dogmas of the christian faith. i now read theodore parker's "discourse on religion", francis newman's "hebrew monarchy", and other works, many of the essays of miss frances power cobbe and of other theistic writers, and i no longer believed in the old dogmas and hated while i believed; i no longer doubted whether they were true or not; i shook them off, once for all, with all their pain, and horror, and darkness, and felt, with relief and joy inexpressible, that they were all but the dreams of ignorant and semi-savage minds, not the revelation of a god. the last remnant of christianity followed swiftly these cast-off creeds, though, in parting with this, one last pang was felt. it was the doctrine of the deity of christ. the whole teaching of the broad church school tends, of course, to emphasise the humanity at the expense of the deity of christ, and when the eternal punishment and the substitutionary atonement had vanished, there seemed to be no sufficient reason left for so stupendous a miracle as the incarnation of the deity. i saw that the idea of incarnation was common to all eastern creeds, not peculiar to christianity; the doctrine of the unity of god repelled the doctrine of the incarnation of a portion of the godhead. but the doctrine was dear from association; there was something at once soothing and ennobling in the idea of a union between man and god, between a perfect man and divine supremacy, between a human heart and an almighty strength. jesus as god was interwoven with all art, with all beauty in religion; to break with the deity of jesus was to break with music, with painting, with literature; the divine child in his mother's arms, the divine man in his passion and in his triumph, the human friend encircled with the majesty of the godhead--did inexorable truth demand that this ideal figure, with all its pathos, its beauty, its human love, should pass into the pantheon of the dead gods of the past? viii. the struggle was a sharp one ere i could decide that intellectual honesty demanded that the question of the deity of christ should be analysed as strictly as all else, and that the conclusions come to from an impartial study of facts should be faced as steadily as though they dealt with some unimportant question. i was bound to recognise, however, that more than intellectual honesty would be here required, for if the result of the study were--as i dimly felt it would be--to establish disbelief in the supernatural claims of christ, i could not but feel that such disbelief would necessarily entail most unpleasant external results. i might give up belief in all save this, and yet remain a member of the church of england: views on inspiration, on eternal torture, on the vicarious atonement, however heterodox, might be held within the pale of the church; many broad church clergymen rejected these as decidedly as i did myself, and yet remained members of the establishment; the judgment on "essays and reviews" gave this wide liberty to heresy within the church, and a laywoman might well claim the freedom of thought legally bestowed on divines. the name "christian" might well be worn while christ was worshipped as god, and obeyed as the "revealer of the father's will", the "well-beloved son", the "savior and lord of men". but once challenge that unique position, once throw off that supreme sovereignty, and then it seemed to me that the name "christian" became a hypocrisy, and its renouncement a duty incumbent on an upright mind. but i was a clergyman's wife; my position made my participation in the holy communion a necessity, and my withdrawal therefrom would be an act marked and commented upon by all. yet if i lost my faith in christ, how could i honestly approach "the lord's table", where christ was the central figure and the recipient of the homage paid there by every worshipper to "god made man"? hitherto mental pain alone had been the price demanded inexorably from the searcher after truth; now to the inner would be added the outer warfare, and how could i tell how far this might carry me? one night only i spent in this struggle over the question: "shall i examine the claims to deity of jesus of nazareth?". when morning broke the answer was clearly formulated: "truth is greater than peace or position. if jesus be god, challenge will not shake his deity; if he be man, it is blasphemy to worship him." i re-read liddon's "bampton lectures" on this controversy and renan's "vie de jesus". i studied the gospels, and tried to represent to myself the life there outlined; i tested the conduct there given as i should have tested the conduct of any ordinary historical character; i noted that in the synoptics no claim to deity was made by jesus himself, nor suggested by his disciples; i weighed his own answer to an enquirer, with its plain disavowal of godhood: "why callest thou me good? there is none good save one, that is god" (matt, xix., ); i conned over his prayers to "my father", his rest on divine protection, his trust in a power greater than his own; i noted his repudiation of divine knowledge: "of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, _neither the son_, but the father" (mark xiii., ); i studied the meaning of his prayer of anguished submission: "o my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me! nevertheless, not as i will, but as thou wilt" (matt, xxvi., ); i dwelt on his bitter cry in his dying agony: "my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" (matt, xxvii., ); i asked the meaning of the final words of rest: "father, into thy hands i commend my spirit" (luke xxiii., ). and i saw that, if there were any truth in the gospels at all, they told the story of a struggling, suffering, sinning, praying man, and not of a god at all and the dogma of the deity of christ followed the rest of the christian doctrines into the limbo of past beliefs. yet one other effort i made to save myself from the difficulties i foresaw in connexion with this final breach with christianity. there was one man who had in former days wielded over me a great influence, one whose writings had guided and taught me for many years--dr. pusey, the venerable leader of the catholic party in the church, the learned patristic scholar, full of the wisdom of antiquity. he believed in christ as god; what if i put my difficulties to him? if he resolved them for me i should escape the struggle i foresaw; if he could not resolve them, then no answer to them was to be hoped for. my decision was quickly made; being with my mother, i could write to him unnoticed, and i sat down and put my questions clearly and fully, stating my difficulties and asking him whether, out of his wider knowledge and deeper reading, he could resolve them for me. i wish i could here print his answer, together with two or three other letters i received from him, but the packet was unfortunately stolen from my desk and i have never recovered it. dr. pusey advised me to read liddon's "bampton lectures", referred me to various passages, chiefly from the fourth gospel, if i remember rightly, and invited me to go down to oxford and talk over my difficulties. liddon's "bampton lectures" i had thoroughly studied, and the fourth gospel had no weight with me, the arguments in favor of its alexandrian origin being familiar to me, but i determined to accept his invitation to a personal interview, regarding it as the last chance of remaining in the church. to oxford, accordingly, i took the train, and made my way to the famous doctor's rooms. i was shown in, and saw a short, stout gentleman, dressed in a cassock, and looking like a comfortable monk; but the keen eyes, steadfastly gazing straight into mine, told me of the power and subtlety hidden by the unprepossessing form. the head was fine and impressive, the voice low, penetrating, drilled into a somewhat monotonous and artificially subdued tone. i quickly found that no sort of enlightenment could possibly result from our interview. he treated me as a penitent going to confession, seeking the advice of a director, not as an enquirer struggling after truth, and resolute to obtain some firm standing-ground in the sea of doubt, whether on the shores of orthodoxy or of heresy. he would not deal with the question of the deity of jesus as a question for argument; he reminded me: "you are speaking of your judge," when i pressed some question. the mere suggestion of an imperfection in jesus' character made him shudder in positive pain, and he checked me with raised hand, and the rebuke: "you are blaspheming; the very thought is a terrible sin". i asked him if he could recommend to me any books which would throw light on the subject: "no, no, you have read too much already. you must pray; you must pray." then, as i said that i could not believe without proof, i was told: "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed," and my further questioning was checked by the murmur: "o my child, how undisciplined! how impatient!". truly, he must have found in me--hot, eager, passionate in my determination to know, resolute not to profess belief while belief was absent--but very little of that meek, chastened, submissive spirit to which he was accustomed in the penitents wont to seek his counsel as their spiritual guide. in vain did he bid me pray as though i believed; in vain did he urge the duty of blind submission to the authority of the church, of yielding, unreasoning faith, which received but questioned not. he had no conception of the feelings of the sceptical spirit; his own faith was solid as a rock-- firm, satisfied, unshakeable; he would as soon have committed suicide as have doubted of the infallibility of the "universal church". "it is not your duty to ascertain the truth," he told me sternly. "it is your duty to accept and to believe the truth as laid down by the church; at your peril you reject it; the responsibility is not yours so long as you dutifully accept that which the church has laid down for your acceptance. did not the lord promise that the presence of the spirit should be ever with his church, to guide her into all truth?" "but the fact of the promise and its value are the very points on which i am doubtful," i answered. he shuddered. "pray, pray," he said. "father, forgive her, for she knows not what she says." it was in vain i urged that i had everything to gain and nothing to lose by following his directions, but that it seemed to me that fidelity to truth forbade a pretended acceptance of that which was not believed. "everything to lose? yes, indeed. you will be lost for time and lost for eternity." "lost or not," i rejoined, "i must and will try to find out what is true, and i will not believe till i am sure." "you have no right to make terms with god," he answered, "as to what you will believe and what you will not believe. you are full of intellectual pride." i sighed hopelessly. little feeling of pride was there in me just then, and i felt that in this rigid unyielding dogmatism there was no comprehension of my difficulties, no help for me in my strugglings. i rose and, thanking him for his courtesy, said that i would not waste his time further, that i must go home and just face the difficulties out, openly leaving the church and taking the consequences. then for the first time his serenity was ruffled. "i forbid you to speak of your disbelief," he cried. "i forbid you to lead into your own lost state the souls for whom christ died." slowly and sadly i took my way back to the station, knowing that my last chance of escape had failed me. i recognised in this famous divine the spirit of the priest, which could be tender and pitiful to the sinner, repentant, humble, submissive, craving only for pardon and for guidance, but which was iron to the doubter, to the heretic, and would crush out all questionings of "revealed truth", silencing by force, not by argument, all challenge of the traditions of the church. out of such men were made the inquisitors of the middle ages, perfectly conscientious, perfectly rigid, perfectly merciless to the heretic. to them heretics were and are centres of infectious disease, and charity to them "the worst cruelty to the souls of men". certain that they hold "by no merit of our own, but by the mercy of our god the one truth which he hath revealed", they can permit no questionings, they can accept nought but the most complete submission. but while man aspires after truth, while his brain yearns after knowledge, while his intellect soars upward into the heaven of speculation and "beats the air with tireless wing", so long shall those who demand faith be met by challenge for proof, and those who would blind him shall be defeated by his determination to gaze unblenching on the face of truth, even though her eyes should turn him into stone. during this same visit to london i saw mr. and mrs. thomas scott for the first time. i had gone down to dulwich to see mr. and mrs. voysey, and after dinner we went over to upper norwood, and i was introduced to one of the most remarkable men i have ever met. at that time mr. scott was an old man, with beautiful white hair, and eyes like those of a hawk gleaming from under shaggy eyebrows; he had been a man of magnificent physique, and though his frame was then enfeebled, the splendid lion-like head kept its impressive strength and beauty, and told of a unique personality. of scotch descent and wellborn, thomas scott had, as a boy, been a page at the french court; his manhood was spent in many lands, for he "was a mighty hunter", though not "before the lord". he had lived for months among the north american indians, sharing the hardships of their wild life; he had hunted and fished all over the world. at last, he came home, married, and ultimately settled down at ramsgate, where he made his home a centre of heretical thought. he issued an enormous number of tracts and pamphlets, and each month he sent out a small packet to hundreds of subscribers and friends. this monthly issue of heretical literature soon made itself a power in the world of thought; the tracts were of various shades of opinion, but were all heretical: some moderate, some extreme; all were well-written, cultured and polished in tone--this was a rule to which mr. scott made no exceptions; his writers might say what they liked, but they must have something real to say, and they must say that something in good english. the little white packets found their way into many a quiet country parsonage, into many a fashionable home. his correspondence was world-wide and came from all classes--now a letter from a prime minister, now one from a blacksmith. all were equally welcome, and all were answered with equal courtesy. at his house met people of the most varying opinions. colenso, bishop of natal, edward maitland, e. vansittart neale, charles bray, sara hennell, w.j. birch, r. suffield, and hundreds more, clerics and laymen, scholars and thinkers, all gathered in this one home, to which the right of _entrée_ was gained only by love of truth and desire to spread freedom among men. mr. scott devoted his fortune to this great work. he would never let publishers have his pamphlets in the ordinary way of trade, but issued them all himself and distributed them gratuitously. if anyone desired to subscribe, well and good, they might help in the work, but make it a matter of business he would not. if anyone sent money for some tracts, he would send out double the worth of the money enclosed, and thus for years he carried on this splendid propagandist work. in all he was nobly seconded by his wife, his "right hand" as he well named her, a sweet, strong, gentle, noble woman, worthy of her husband, and than that no higher praise can be spoken. of both i shall have more to say hereafter, but at present we are at the time of my first visit to them at upper norwood, whither they had removed from ramsgate. kindly greeting was given by both, and on mr. voysey suggesting that judging by one essay of mine that he had seen--an essay which was later expanded into the one on "inspiration", in the scott series--my pen would be useful for propagandist work, mr. scott bade me try what i could do, and send him for criticism anything i thought good enough for publication; he did not, of course, promise to accept an essay, but he promised to read it. a question arose as to the name to be attached to the essay, in case of publication, and i told him that my name was not my own to use, and that i did not suppose that mr. besant could possibly, in his position, give me permission to attach it to a heretical essay; we agreed that any essays i might write should for the present be published anonymously, and that i should try my hand to begin with on the subject of the "deity of jesus of nazareth". and so i parted from those who were to be such good friends to me in the coming time of struggle. ix. my resolve was now made, and henceforth there was at least no more doubt so far as my position towards the church was concerned. i made up my mind to leave it, but was willing to make the leaving as little obtrusive as possible. on my return to sibsey i stated clearly the ground on which i stood. i was ready to attend the church services, joining in such parts as were addressed to "the supreme being", for i was still heartily theistic; "the father", shorn of all the horrible accessories hung round him by christianity, was still to me an object of adoration, and i could still believe in and worship one who was "righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works", although the moloch to whom was sacrificed the well-beloved son had passed away for ever from my creed. christian i was not, though theist i was, and i felt that the wider and more generous faith would permit me to bow to the common god with my christian brethren, if only i was not compelled to pay homage to that "son of man" whom christians believed divine, homage which to me had become idolatry, insulting to the "one god", to him of whom jesus himself had spoken as of "my god and your god". simply enough was the difficulty arranged for the moment. it was agreed that i should withdraw myself from the "holy communion"--for in that service, full of the recognition of jesus as deity, i could not join without hypocrisy. the ordinary services i would attend, merely remaining silent during those portions of them in which i could not honestly take part, and while i knew that these changes in a clergyman's wife could not pass unnoticed in a country village, i yet felt that nothing less than this was consistent with barest duty. while i had merely doubted, i had kept silence, and no act of mine had suggested doubt to others. now that i had no doubt that christianity was a delusion, i would no longer act as though i believed that to be of god which heart and intellect rejected as untrue. for awhile all went smoothly. i daresay the parishioners gossipped about the absence of their vicar's wife from the sacrament, and indeed i remember the pain and trembling wherewith, on the first "sacrament sunday" after my return, i rose from my seat and walked quietly from the church, leaving the white-spread altar. that the vicar's wife should "communicate" was as much a matter of course as that the vicar should "administer"; i had never in my life taken public part in anything that made me noticeable in any way among strangers, and still i can recall the feeling of deadly sickness that well nigh overcame me, as rising to go out i felt that every eye in the church was on me, and that my exit would be the cause of unending comment. as a matter of fact, everyone thought that i was taken suddenly ill, and many were the calls and enquiries on the following day. to any direct question, i answered quietly that i was unable to take part in the profession of faith required from an honest communicant, but the statement was rarely necessary, for the idea of heresy in a vicar's wife did not readily suggest itself to the ordinary bucolic mind, and i did not proffer information when it was unasked for. it happened that, shortly after that (to me) memorable christmas of , a sharp epidemic of typhoid fever broke out in the village of sibsey. the drainage there was of the most primitive type, and the contagion spread rapidly. naturally fond of nursing, i found in this epidemic work just fitted to my hand, and i was fortunate enough to be able to lend personal help that made me welcome in the homes of the stricken poor. the mothers who slept exhausted while i watched beside their darlings' bedsides will never, i like to fancy, think over harshly of the heretic whose hand was as tender and often more skilful than their own. i think mother nature meant me for a nurse, for i take a sheer delight in nursing anyone, provided only that there is peril in the sickness, so that there is the strange and solemn feeling of the struggle between the human skill one wields and the supreme enemy, death. there is a strange fascination in fighting death, step by step, and this is of course felt to the full where one fights for life as life, and not for a life one loves. when the patient is beloved, the struggle is touched with agony, but where one fights with death over the body of a stranger, there is a weird enchantment in the contest without personal pain, and as one forces back the hated foe there is a curious triumph in the feeling which marks the death-grip yielding up its prey, as one snatches back to earth the life which had well-nigh perished. meanwhile, the promise to mr. scott was not forgotten, and i penned the essay on "the deity of jesus of nazareth" which stands first in the collection of essays published later under the title, "my path to atheism". the only condition annexed to my sending it to mr. scott was the perfectly fair one that if published it should appear without my name. mr. scott was well pleased with the essay, and before long it was printed as one of the "scott series", to my great delight. but unfortunately a copy sent to a relative of mr. besant's brought about a storm. that gentlemen did not disagree with it--indeed he admitted that all educated persons must hold the views put forward--but what would society say? what would "the county families" think if one of the clerical party was known to be a heretic. this dreadful little paper bore the inscription "by the wife of a beneficed clergyman"; what would happen if the "wife of the beneficed clergyman" were identified with mrs. besant of sibsey? after some thought i made a compromise. alter or hide my faith i would not, but yield personal feelings i would. i gave up my correspondence with mr. and mrs. voysey, which might, it was alleged, he noticed in the village and so give rise to mischievous gossip. in this mr. and mrs. voysey most generously helped me, bidding me rest assured of their cordial friendship while counselling me for awhile to cease the correspondence which was one of the few pleasures of my life, but was not part of my duty to the higher and freer faith which we had all embraced. with keen regret i bade them for awhile farewell, and went back to my lonely life. in that spring of , i delivered my first lecture. it was delivered to no one, queer as that may sound to my readers. and indeed, it was queer altogether. i was learning to play the organ, and was in the habit of practising in the church by myself, without a blower. one day, being securely locked in, i thought i would like to try how "it felt" to speak from the pulpit. some vague fancies were stirring in me, that i could speak if i had the chance; very vague they were, for the notion that i might ever speak on the platform had never dawned on me; only the longing to find outlet in words was in me; the feeling that i had something to say, and the yearning to say it. so, queer as it may seem? i ascended the pulpit in the big, empty, lonely church, and there and then i delivered my first lecture! i shall never forget the feeling of power and of delight which came upon me as my voice rolled down the aisles, and the passion in me broke into balanced sentences, and never paused for rhythmical expression, while i felt that all i wanted was to see the church full of upturned faces, instead of the emptiness of the silent pews. and as though in a dream the solitude became peopled, and i saw the listening faces and the eager eyes, and as the sentences came unbidden from my lips, and my own tones echoed back to me from the pillars of the ancient church, i knew of a verity that the gift of speech was mine, and that if ever--and it seemed then so impossible--if ever the chance came to me of public work, that at least this power of melodious utterance should win hearing for any message i had to bring. but that knowledge remained a secret all to my own self for many a long month, for i quickly felt ashamed of that foolish speechifying in an empty church, and i only recall it now because, in trying to trace out one's mental growth, it is only fair to notice the first silly striving after that expression in spoken words, which, later, has become to me one of the deepest delights of life. and indeed none can know save they who have felt it what joy there is in the full rush of language which, moves and sways; to feel a crowd respond to the lightest touch; to see the faces brighten or graven at your bidding; to know that the sources of human passion and human emotion gush at the word of the speaker, as the stream from the riven rock; to feel that the thought that thrills through a thousand hearers has its impulse from you and throbs back to you the fuller from a thousand heart-beats; is there any joy in life more brilliant than this, fuller of passionate triumph, and of the very essence of intellectual delight? my pen was busy, and a second pamphlet, dealing with the johannine gospel, was written and sent up to mr. scott under the same conditions of anonymity as before, for it was seen that my authorship could in nowise be suspected, and mr. scott paid me for my work. i had also made a collection of theistic, but non-christian, hymns, with a view of meeting a want felt by mr. voysey's congregation at st. george's hall, and this was lying idle, while it might be utilised. so it was suggested that i should take up again my correspondence with mr. and mrs. voysey, and glad enough was i to do so. during this time my health was rapidly failing, and in the summer of it broke down completely. at last i went up to london to consult a physician, and was told i was suffering from general nervous exhaustion, which, was accompanied by much disturbance of the functions of the heart. "there is no organic disease yet," said dr. sibson, "but there soon will be, unless you can completely change your manner of life." such a change was not possible, and i grew rapidly worse. the same bad adviser who had before raised the difficulty of "what will society say?" again interfered, and urged that pressure should be put on me to compel me at least to conform to the outward ceremonies of the church, and to attend the holy communion. this i was resolved not to do, whatever might be the result of my "obstinacy ", and the result was not long in coming. i had been with the children to southsea, to see if the change would restore my shattered health, and stayed in town with my mother on my return under dr. sibson's care. very skilful and very good to me was dr. sibson, giving me for almost nothing all the wealthiest could have bought with their gold, but he could not remove all then in my life which made the re-acquiring of health impossible. what the doctor could not do, however, others did. it was resolved that i should either resume attendance at the communion, or should not return home; hypocrisy or expulsion--such was the alternative; i chose the latter. a bitterly sad time followed; my dear mother was heartbroken; to her, with her wide and vague form of christianity, loosely held, the intensity of my feeling that where i did not believe i would not pretend belief, was incomprehensible. she recognised far more fully than i all that a separation from my home meant for me, and the difficulties which would surround a young woman not yet six-and-twenty, living alone. she knew how brutally the world judges, and how the mere fact that a woman is young and alone justifies any coarseness of slander. then, i did not guess how cruel men and women could be, but knowing it from eleven years' experience, i deliberately say that i would rather go through it all again with my eyes wide open from the first, than have passed those eleven years "in society" under the burden of an acted lie. but the struggle was hard when she prayed me for her sake to give way; against harshness i had been rigid as steel, but to remain steadfast when my darling mother, whom i loved as i loved nothing else on earth, begged me on her knees to yield, was indeed hard. i felt as though it must be a crime to refuse submission when she urged it, but still--to live a lie? not even for her was that possible. then there were the children, the two little ones who worshipped me, i who was to them mother, nurse, and playfellow. were these also to be resigned? for awhile, at least, this complete loss was spared me, for facts (which i have not touched on in this record) came accidentally to my brother's knowledge, and he resolved that i should have the protection of legal separation, and should not be turned wholly penniless and alone into the world. so, when everything was arranged, i found myself possessed of my little girl, of complete personal freedom, and of a small monthly income sufficient for respectable starvation. x. the "world was all before us where to choose", but circumstances narrowed the choice down to hobson's. i had no ready money beyond the first month's payment of my annuity; furnished lodgings were beyond my means, and i had nothing wherewith to buy furniture. my brother offered me a home, on condition that i should give up my "heretical friends" and keep quiet; but, being freed from one bondage, nothing was further from my thoughts than to enter another. besides, i did not choose to be a burden on anyone, and i resolved to "get something to do", to rent a tiny house, and to make a nest where my mother, my little girl, and i could live happily together. the difficulty was the "something"; i spent various shillings in agencies, with a quite wonderful unanimity of failures. i tried to get some fancy needlework, advertised as an infallible source of income to "ladies in reduced circumstances"; i fitted the advertisement admirably, for i was a lady, and my circumstances were decidedly reduced, but i only earned s. d. by weeks of stitching, and the materials cost nearly as much as the finished work. i experimented with a birmingham firm, who generously offered everyone an opportunity of adding to their incomes, and received in answer to the small fee demanded a pencil-case, with an explanation that i was to sell little articles of that description--going as far as cruet-stands--to my friends; i did not feel equal to springing pencil-cases and cruet-stands casually on my acquaintances, so did not start in that business. it would be idle to relate all the things i tried, and failed in, until i began to think that the "something to do" was not so easy to find as i had expected. i made up my mind to settle at upper norwood, near mr. and mrs. scott, who were more than good to me in my trouble; and i fixed on a very little house in colby road, gipsy hill, to be taken from the ensuing easter. then came the question of furniture; a friend of mr. scott's gave me an introduction to a manufacturer, who agreed to let me have furniture for a bedroom and sitting-room, and to let me pay him by monthly instalments. the next thing was to save a few months' annuity, and so have a little money in hand, wherewith to buy necessaries on starting, and to this end i decided to accept a loving invitation to folkestone, where my grandmother was living with two of my aunts, and there to seek some employment, no matter what, provided it gave me food and lodging, and enabled me to put aside my few pounds a month. relieved from the constant strain of fear and anxiety, my health was quickly improving, and the improvement became more rapid after i went down with my mother to folkestone. the hearty welcome offered to me there was extended with equal warmth to little mabel, who soon arrived, a most forlorn little maiden. she was only three years old, and she had not seen me for some weeks; her passion of delight was pitiful; she clung to me, in literal fashion, for weeks afterwards, and screamed if she lost sight of me for a moment; it was long before she got over the separation and the terror of her lonely journey from sibsey and london in charge only of the guard. but she was a "winsome wee thing", and danced into everyone's heart; after "mamma", "granny" was the prime favorite, and my dear mother worshipped her first grand-daughter; never was prettier picture than the red-golden hair nestled against the white, the baby-grace contrasting with the worn stateliness of her tender nurse. from that time forward-- with the exception of a few weeks of which i shall speak presently and of the yearly stay of a month with her father--little mabel was my constant companion, until sir george jessel's brutality robbed me of my child. she would play contentedly while i was working, a word now and again enough to make her happy; when i had to go out without her she would run to the door with me, and the "good-bye" came from down-curved lips, and she was ever watching at the window for my return, and the sunny face was always the first to welcome me home. many and many a time have i been coming home, weary and heart-sick, and the glimpse of the little face watching has reminded me that i must not carry in a grave face to sadden my darling, and the effort to throw off the dreariness for her sake shook it off altogether, and brought back the sunshine. i have never forgiven sir george jessel, and i never shall, though his death has left me only his memory to hate. at folkestone, i continued my search for "something to do", and for some weeks sought for pupils, thinking i might thus turn my heresy to account. but pupils are not readily attainable by a heretic woman, away from her natural home, and with a young child as "encumbrance". it chanced, however, that the vicar of folkestone, mr. woodward, was then without a governess, and his wife was in very delicate health. my people knew him well, and as i had plenty of spare time, i offered to teach the children for a few hours a day. the offer was gladly accepted, and i soon arranged to go and stay at the house for awhile, until he could find a regular governess. i thought that at least i could save my small income while i was there, and mabel and i were to be boarded and lodged in exchange for my work. this work was fairly heavy, but i did not mind that; it soon became heavier. some serious fault on the part of one or both servants led to their sudden retirement, and i became head cook as well as governess and nurse. on the whole, i think i shall not try to live by cooking, if other trades fail; i don't mind boiling and frying, and making pie-crust is rather pleasant, but i do object to lifting saucepans and blistering my hands over heavy kettles. there is a certain charm in making a stew, especially to the unaccustomed cook, because of the excitement of wondering what the result of such various ingredients will be, and whether any flavor save that of onions will survive the competition in the mixture. on the whole my services as cook were voted very successful; i did my cooking better than i did my sweeping: the latter was a failure from sheer want of muscular strength. this curious episode came to an end abruptly. one of my little pupils fell ill with diptheria, and i was transformed from cook into sick-nurse. i sent my mabel off promptly to her dear grandmother's care, and gave myself up to my old delight in nursing. but it is a horrible disease, diptheria, and the suffering of the patient is frightful to witness. i shall never forget the poor little girl's black parched lips and gasping breath. scarcely was she convalescent, when the youngest boy, a fine, strong, healthy little fellow, sickened with scarlet fever. we elders held a consultation, and decided to isolate the top floor from the rest of the house, and to nurse the little lad there; it seemed almost hopeless to prevent such a disease from spreading through a family of children, but our vigorous measures were successful, and none other suffered. i was voted to the post of nurse, and installed myself promptly, taking up the carpets, turning out the curtains, and across the door ways hanging sheets which i kept always wet with chloride of lime. my meals were brought upstairs and put on the landing outside; my patient and i remained completely isolated, until the disease had run its course; and when all risk was over, i proudly handed over my charge, the disease touching no other member of the flock. it was a strange time, those weeks of the autumn and early winter in mr. woodward's house. he was a remarkably good man, very religious and to a very remarkable extent not "of this world". a "priest" to the tips of his finger-nails, and looking on his priestly office as the highest a man could fill, he yet held it always as one which put him at the service of the poorest who needed help. he was very good to me, and, while deeply lamenting my "perversion", held, by some strange unpriestlike charity, that my "unbelief" was but a passing cloud, sent as trial by "the lord", and soon to vanish again, leaving me in the "sunshine of faith". he marvelled much, i learned afterwards, where i gained my readiness to work heartily for others, and to remain serenely content amid the roughnesses of my toiling life. to my great amusement i heard later that his elder daughters, trained in strictest observance of all church ceremonies, had much discussed my non-attendance at the sacrament, and had finally arrived at the conclusion that i had committed some deadly sin, for which the humble work which i undertook at their house was the appointed penance, and that i was excluded from "the blessed sacrament" until the penance was completed! very shortly after the illness above-mentioned, my mother went up to town, whither i was soon to follow her, for now the spring had arrived, and it was time to prepare our new home. how eagerly we had looked forward to taking possession; how we had talked over our life together and knitted on the new one we anticipated to the old one we remembered; how we had planned out mabel's training and arranged the duties that should fall to the share of each! day-dreams, that never were to be realised! but a brief space had passed since my mother's arrival in town, when i received a telegram from my brother, stating that she was dangerously ill, and summoning me at once to her bedside. as swiftly as express train could carry me to london i was there, and found my darling in bed, prostrate, the doctor only giving her three days to live. one moment's sight i caught of her face, drawn and haggard; then as she saw me it all changed into delight; "at last! now i can rest." the brave spirit had at length broken down, never again to rise; the action of her heart had failed, the valves no longer performed their duty, and the bluish shade of forehead and neck told that the blood was no longer sent pure and vivifying through the arteries. but her death was not as near as the doctor had feared; "i do not think she can live four-and-twenty hours," he said to me, after i had been with her for two days. i told her his verdict, but it moved her little; "i do not feel that i am going to die just yet," she said resolutely, and she was right. there was an attack of fearful prostration, a very wrestling with death, and then the grim shadow drew backwards, and she struggled back to life. soon, as is usual in cases of such disease, dropsy intervened, with all its weariness of discomfort, and for week after week her long martyrdom dragged on. i nursed her night and day, with a very desperation of tenderness, for now fate had touched the thing that was dearest to me in life. a second horrible crisis came, and for the second time her tenacity and my love beat back the death-stroke. she did not wish to die--the love of life was strong in her; i would not let her die; between us we kept the foe at bay. at this period, after eighteen months of abstention, and for the last time, i took the sacrament. this statement will seem strange to my readers, but the matter happened in this wise: my dear mother had an intense longing to take it, but absolutely refused to do so unless i partook of it with her. "if it be necessary to salvation," she persisted doggedly, "i will not take it if darling annie is to be shut out. i would rather be lost with her than saved without her." in vain i urged that i could not take it without telling the officiating clergyman of my heresy, and that under such circumstances the clergyman would be sure to refuse to administer to me. she insisted that she could not die happy if she did not take it with me. i went to a clergyman i knew well, and laid the case before him; as i expected, he refused to allow me to communicate. i tried a second; the result was the same. i was in despair; to me the service was foolish and superstitious, but i would have done a great deal more for my mother than eat bread and drink wine, provided that the eating and drinking did not, by pretence of faith on my part, soil my honesty. at last a thought struck me; there was dean stanley, my mother's favorite, a man known to be of the broadest school within the church of england; suppose i asked him? i did not know him, though as a young child i had known his sister as my mother's friend, and i felt the request would be something of an impertinence. yet there was just the chance that he might consent, and then my darling's death-bed would be the easier. i told no one, but set out resolutely for the deanery, westminster, timidly asked for the dean, and followed the servant upstairs with a very sinking heart. i was left for a moment alone in the library, and then the dean came in. i don't think i ever in my life felt more intensely uncomfortable than i did in that minute's interval, as he stood waiting for me to speak, his clear, grave, piercing eyes gazing right into mine. very falteringly i preferred my request, stating baldly that i was not a believer in christ, that my mother was dying, that she was fretting to take the sacrament, that she would not take it unless i took it with her, that two clergymen had refused to allow me to take part in the service, that i had come to him in despair, feeling how great was the intrusion, but--she was dying. "you were quite right to come to me," he said as i concluded, in that soft musical voice of his, his keen gaze having changed into one no less direct, but marvellously gentle: "of course, i will go and see your mother, and i have little doubt that if you will not mind talking over your position with me, we may see our way clear to doing as your mother wishes." i could barely speak my thanks, so much did the kindly sympathy move me; the revulsion from the anxiety and fear of rebuff was strong enough to be almost pain. but dean stanley did more than i asked. he suggested that he should call that afternoon, and have a quiet chat with my mother, and then come again on the following day to administer the sacrament. "a stranger's presence is always trying to a sick person," he said, with rare delicacy of thought; "and joined to the excitement of the service it might be too much for your dear mother. if i spend half-an-hour with her to-day, and administer the sacrament to-morrow, it will, i think, be better for her." so dean stanley came that afternoon, and remained talking with my mother for about half-an-hour, and then set himself to understand my own position. he finally told me that conduct was far more important than theory, and that he regarded all as "christians" who recognised and tried to follow the moral law. on the question of the absolute deity of jesus he laid but little stress; jesus was, "in a special sense", the "son of god", but it was folly to jangle about words with only human meanings when dealing with the mysteries of divine existence, and above all it was folly to make such words into dividing lines between earnest souls. the one important matter was the recognition of "duty to god and man", and all who were one in that recognition might rightfully join in an act of worship, the essence of which was not acceptance of dogma, but love of god and self-sacrifice for man. "the holy communion", he said, in his soft tones, "was never meant to divide from each other hearts that are searching after the one true god; it was meant by its founder as a symbol of unity, not of strife". on the following day he came again, and celebrated the "holy communion" by the bedside of my dear mother. well was i repaid for the struggle it had cost me to ask so great a kindness from a stranger, when i saw the comfort that gentle noble heart had given to my mother. he soothed away all her anxiety about my heresy with tactful wisdom, bidding her have no fear of differences of opinion where the heart was set on truth. "remember", she told me he had said to her, "remember that our god is the god of truth, and that therefore the honest search for truth can never be displeasing in his eyes". once again after that he came, and after his visit to my mother we had another long talk. i ventured to ask him, the conversation having turned that way, how, with views so broad as his own, he found it possible to remain in communion with the church of england. "i think", he said gently, "that i am of more service to true religion by remaining in the church and striving to widen its boundaries from within, than if i left it and worked from without". and he went on to explain how, as dean of westminster, he was in a rarely independent position, and could make the abbey of a wider national service than would otherwise be possible. in all he said on this his love for and his pride in the glorious abbey were manifest, and it was easy to see that old historical associations, love of music, of painting, and of stately architecture, were the bonds that held him bound to the "old historic church of england". his emotions, not his intellect, kept him churchman, and he shrunk with the over-sensitiveness of the cultured scholar from the idea of allowing the old traditions, to be handled roughly by inartistic hands. naturally of a refined and delicate nature, he had been rendered yet more sensitive by the training of the college and the court; the exquisite courtesy of his manners was but the high polish of a naturally gentle and artistic spirit, a spirit whose gentleness sometimes veiled its strength. i have often heard dean stanley harshly spoken of, i have heard his honesty roughly challenged, but never in my presence has he been attacked that i have not uttered my protest against the injustice done him, and thus striven to repay some small fraction of that great debt of gratitude which i shall owe to his memory as long as i live. as the spring grew warmer, my mother rallied wonderfully, and we began to dare to hope. at last it was decided to move her down to norwood; she was wearying for change, and it was thought that the purer air of the country might aid the system to recover tone and strength. the furniture was waiting for me to send for it, and it was soon, conveyed to colby road; it only furnished two rooms, but i could easily sleep on the floor, and i made the two rooms on the ground floor into bedroom and sitting-room for my dear invalid. one little servant-maid was all our slender resources could afford, and a very charming one was found for me by mrs. scott. through the months of hard work and poor living that followed, mary was the most thoughtful and most generous of comrades. and, indeed, i have been very fortunate in my servants, always finding in them willingness to help, and freely-rendered, ungrudging kindness. i have just said that i could only furnish two rooms, but on my next visit to complete all the arrangements for my mother's reception, i found the bedroom that was to be mine neatly and prettily furnished. the good fairy was mrs. scott, who, learning the "nakedness of the land" from mary, had determined that i should not be as uncomfortable as i had expected. it was the beginning of may, and the air was soft and bright and warm. we hired an invalid carriage and drove slowly down to norwood. my mother seemed to enjoy the drive, and when we lifted her into the bright cosy room prepared for her, she was delighted with the change. on the following morning the improvement was continued, but in the evening she was taken suddenly worse, and we lifted her into bed and telegraphed for the doctor. but now the end had come; her strength completely failed, and she felt that death was upon her; but selfless to the last, her only fear was for me. "i am leaving you alone," she would sigh from time to time, and truly i felt, with an anguish i dared not realise, that when she died i should indeed be alone on earth. for two days longer she was with me, and, miser with my last few hours, i never left her side for five minutes. at last on the th of may the weakness passed into delirium, but even then the faithful eyes followed me about the room, until at length they closed for ever, and as the sun sank low in the heavens, the breath came slower and slower, till the silence of death came down upon us and she was gone. all that followed was like a dream. i would have none touch my dead save myself and her favorite sister, who was with us at the last; she wept over her, but i could not, not even when they hid her beneath the coffin-lid, nor all that weary way to kensal green, whither we took her to lay her with her husband and her baby-son. i could not believe that our day-dream was dead and buried, and the home destroyed ere it was fairly made. my "house was left unto" me "desolate", and the rooms filled with sunshine, but unlighted by her presence, seemed to reiterate to me: "you are all alone ". xi. the two months after my mother's death were the dreariest my life has known, and they were months of tolerably hard struggle. the little house in colby road taxed my slender resources heavily, and the search for work was not yet successful. i do not know how i should have managed but for the help, ever at hand, of mr. and mrs. thomas scott. during this time i wrote for mr. scott pamphlets on inspiration, atonement, mediation and salvation, eternal torture, religious education of children, natural _v._ revealed religion, and the few guineas thus earned were very valuable. their house, too, was always open to me, and this was no small help, for often in those days the little money i had was enough to buy food for two but not enough to buy it for three, and i would go out and study all day at the british museum, so as to "have my dinner in town", the said dinner being conspicuous by its absence. if i was away for two evenings running from the hospitable house in the terrace, mrs. scott would come down to see what had happened, and many a time the supper there was of real physical value to me. well might i write, in , when thomas scott lay dead: "it was thomas scott whose house was open to me when my need was sorest, and he never knew, this generous noble heart, how sometimes, when i went in, weary and overdone, from a long day's study in the british museum, with scarce food to struggle through the day--he never knew how his genial 'well, little lady', in welcoming tone, cheered the then utter loneliness of my life. to no living man or woman--save one--do i owe the debt of gratitude that i owe to thomas scott." the small amount of jewellery i possessed, and all my superfluous clothes, were turned into more necessary articles, and the child, at least, never suffered a solitary touch of want. mary was a wonderful contriver, and kept house on the very slenderest funds that could be put into a servant's hands, and she also made the little place so bright and fresh-looking that it was always a pleasure to go into it. recalling those days of "hard living", i can now look on them without regret. more, i am glad to have passed through them, for they have taught me how to sympathise with those who are struggling as i struggled then, and i never can hear the words fall from pale lips: "i am hungry", without remembering how painful a thing hunger is, and without curing that pain, at least for the moment. but i turn from this to the brighter side of my life, the intellectual and social side, where i found a delight unknown in the old days of bondage. first, there was the joy of freedom, the joy of speaking out frankly and honestly each thought. truly, i had the right to say: "with a great price obtained i this freedom," and having paid the price, i revelled in the liberty i had bought. mr. scott's valuable library was at my service; his keen brain challenged my opinions, probed my assertions, and suggested phases of thought hitherto untouched. i studied harder than ever, and the study now was unchecked by any fear of possible consequences. i had nothing left of the old faith save belief in "a god", and that began slowly to melt away. the theistic axiom: "if there be a god at all he must be at least as good as his highest creature", began with an "if", and to that "if" i turned my attention. "of all impossible things", writes miss frances power cobbe, "the most impossible must surely be that a man should dream something of the good and the noble, and that it should prove at last that his creator was less good and less noble than he had dreamed." but, i questioned, are we sure that there is a creator? granted that, if there is, he must be above his highest creature, but--is there such a being? "the ground", says the rev. charles voysey, "on which our belief in god rests is man. man, parent of bibles and churches, inspirer of all good thoughts and good deeds. man, the master-piece of god's thought on earth. man, the text-book of all spiritual knowledge. neither miraculous nor infallible, man is nevertheless the only trustworthy record of the divine mind in things perhaps pertaining to god. man's reason, conscience, and affections are the only true revelation of his maker." but what if god were only man's own image reflected in the mirror of man's mind? what if man were the creator, not the revelation of his god? it was inevitable that such thoughts should arise after the more palpably indefensible doctrines of christianity had been discarded. once encourage the human mind to think, and bounds to the thinking can never again be set by authority. once challenge traditional beliefs, and the challenge will ring on every shield which is hanging in the intellectual arena. around me was the atmosphere of conflict, and, freed from its long repression, my mind leapt up to share in the strife with a joy in the intellectual tumult, the intellectual strain. at this time i found my way to south place chapel, to which mr. moncure d. conway was attracting many a seeker after truth. i was fortunate enough to be introduced to this remarkable religious leader, and to his charming wife, one of the sweetest and steadiest natures which it has been my lot to meet. it was from. mrs. conway that i first heard of mr. bradlaugh as a speaker that everyone should hear. she asked me one day if i had been to the hall of science, and i said, with the stupid, ignorant reflexion of other people's prejudices which is but too common: "no, i have never been. mr. bradlaugh is rather a rough sort of speaker, is he not?" "he is the finest speaker of saxon english that i have ever heard," mrs. conway answered, "except, perhaps, john bright, and his power over a crowd is something marvellous. whether you agree with him or not, you should hear him." i replied that i really did not know what his views were, beyond having a vague notion that he was an atheist of a rather pronounced type, but that i would go and hear him when i had an opportunity. mr. conway had passed beyond the emotional theism of mr. voysey, and talk with him did something towards widening my views on the question of a divine existence. i re-read carefully mansel's bampton lectures, and found in them much to provoke doubt, nothing to induce faith. take the following phrases, and think whither they carry us. dean mansel is speaking of god as infinite, and he says: "that a man can be conscious of the infinite is, then, a supposition which, in the very terms in which it is expressed, annihilates itself.... the infinite, if it is to be conceived at all, must be conceived as potentially everything and actually nothing; for if there is anything in general which it cannot become, it is thereby limited; and if there is anything in particular which it actually is, it is thereby excluded from being any other thing. but again, it must also be conceived as actually everything and potentially nothing: for an unrealised potentiality is likewise a limitation. if the infinite can be that which it is not, it is by that very possibility marked out as incomplete and capable of a higher perfection. if it is actually everything, it possesses no characteristic feature by which it can be distinguished from anything else and discerned as an object of consciousness." could any argument more thoroughly atheistic be put before a mind which dared to think out to the logical end any train of thought? such reasoning can lead but to one of two ends: despair of truth and consequent acceptance of the incomprehensible as divine, or else the resolute refusal to profess belief where reason is helpless, and where faith is but the credulity of ignorance. in my case, it had the latter effect. at the same time i re-read mill's "examination of sir w. hamilton's philosophy", and also went through a pretty severe study of comte's _philosophic positive_. i had entirely given up the use of prayer, not because i was an atheist but because i was still a theist. it seemed to me to be absurd to pray, if i believed in a god who was wiser and better than myself. an all-wise god did not need my suggestions: an all-good god would do all that was best without my prompting. prayer appeared to me to be a blasphemous impertinence, and for a considerable time i had discontinued its use. but god fades gradually out of the daily life of those who never pray; a god who is not a providence is a superfluity; when from the heaven does not smile a listening father, it soon becomes an empty space whence resounds no echo of man's cry. at last i said to mr. scott: "mr. scott, may i write a tract on the nature and existence of god?" he glanced at me keenly: "ah, little lady; you are facing then that problem at last? i thought it must come. write away." the thought that had been driving me forward found its expression in the opening words of the essay (published a few months later, with one or two additions that were made after i had read two of mr. bradlaugh's essays, his "plea for atheism", and "is there a god?"): "it is impossible for those who study the deeper religious problems of our time to stave off much longer the question which lies at the root of them all, 'what do you believe in regard to god?' we may controvert christian doctrines one after another; point by point we may be driven from the various beliefs of our churches; reason may force us to see contradictions where we had imagined harmony, and may open our eyes to flaws where we had dreamed of perfection; we resign all idea of a revelation; we seek for god in nature only: we renounce for ever the hope (which glorified our former creed into such alluring beauty) that at some future time we should verily 'see' god; that 'our eyes should behold the king in his beauty', in that fairy 'land which is very far off'. but every step we take onwards towards a more reasonable faith and a surer light of truth, leads us nearer and nearer to the problem of problems: 'what is that which men call god?". i sketched out the plan of my essay and had written most of it when on returning one day from the british museum i stopped at the shop of mr. edward truelove, high holborn. i had been working at some comtist literature, and had found a reference to mr. truelove's shop as one at which comtist publications might be bought. lying on the counter was a copy of the _national reformer_, and attracted by the title i bought it. i had never before heard of nor seen the paper, and i read it placidly in the omnibus; looking up, i was at first puzzled and then amused to see an old gentleman gazing at me with indignation and horror printed on his countenance; i realised that my paper had disturbed his peace of mind, and that the sight of a young woman, respectably dressed in crape, reading an atheistic journal in an omnibus was a shock too great to be endured by the ordinary philistine without sign of discomposure. he looked so hard at the paper that i was inclined to offer it to him for his perusal, but repressed the mischievous inclination, and read on demurely. this first copy of the paper with which i was to be so closely connected bore date july th, , and contained two long letters from a mr. arnold of northampton, attacking mr. bradlaugh, and a brief and singularly self-restrained answer from the latter. there was also an article on the national secular society, which made me aware that there was an organisation devoted to the propagandism of free thought. i felt that if such a society existed, i ought to belong to it, and i consequently wrote a short note to the editor of the _national reformer_, asking whether it was necessary for a person to profess atheism before being admitted to the society. the answer appeared in the _national reformer_:-- "s.e.--to be a member of the national secular society it is only necessary to be able honestly to accept the four principles, as given in the _national reformer_ of june th. this any person may do without being required to avow himself an atheist. candidly, we can see no logical resting-place between the entire acceptance of authority, as in the roman catholic church, and the most extreme nationalism. if, on again looking to the principles of the society, you can accept them, we repeat to you our invitation." i sent my name in as an active member, and find it recorded in the _national reformer_ of august th. having received an intimation that londoners could receive their certificates at the hall of science from mr. bradlaugh on any sunday evening, i betook myself thither, and it was on the nd august, , that i first set foot in a freethought hall. as i sat, much crushed, surveying the crowded audience with much interest and longing to know which were members of the brotherhood i had entered, a sudden roar of cheering startled me. i saw a tall figure passing swiftly along and mounting the stairs, and the roar deepened and swelled as he made a slight acknowledgment of the greeting and sat down. i remember well my sensations as i looked at charles bradlaugh for the first time. the grave, quiet, _strong_ look, as he sat facing the crowd, impressed me strangely, and most of all was i surprised at the breadth of forehead, the massive head, of the man i had heard described as a mere ignorant demagogue. the lecture was on "the ancestry and birth of jesus", and was largely devoted to tracing the resemblance between the christ and krishna myths. as this ground was well-known to me, i was able to judge of the lecturer's accuracy, and quickly found that his knowledge was as sound as his language was splendid. i had never before heard eloquence, sarcasm, fire, and passion brought to bear on the christian superstition, nor had i ever before felt the sway of the orator, nor the power that dwells in spoken words. after the lecture, mr. bradlaugh came down the hall with some certificates of membership of the national secular society in his hand, and glancing round for their claimants caught, i suppose, some look of expectancy in my face, for he paused and handed me mine, with a questioning, "mrs. besant?". then he said that if i had any doubt at all on the subject of atheism, he would willingly discuss it with me, if i would write making an appointment for that purpose. i made up my mind to take advantage of the opportunity, and a day or two later saw me walking down commercial road, looking for turner street. my first conversation with mr. bradlaugh was brief, direct, and satisfactory. we found that there was little real difference between our theological views, and my dislike of the name "atheist" arose from my sharing in the vulgar error that the atheist asserted, "there is no god". this error i corrected in the draft of my essay, by inserting a few passages from pamphlets written by acknowledged atheists, to which mr. bradlaugh drew my attention; with this exception the essay remained as it was sketched, being described by mr. bradlaugh as "a very good atheistic essay", a criticism which ended with the smiling comment: "you have thought yourself into atheism without knowing it." very wise were some of the suggestions made: "you should never say you have an opinion on a subject until you have tried to study the strongest things said against the view to which you are inclined". "you must not think you know a subject until you are acquainted with all that the best minds have said about it." "no steady work can be done in public unless the worker study at home far more than he talks outside." and let me say here that among the many things for which i have to thank mr. bradlaugh, there is none for which i owe him more gratitude than for the fashion in which he has constantly urged the duty of all who stand forward as teachers to study deeply every subject they touch, and the impetus he has given to my own love of knowledge by the constant spur of criticism and of challenge, criticism of every weak statement, challenge of every hastily-expressed view. it will be a good thing for the world when a friendship between a man and a woman no longer means protective condescension on one side and helpless dependence on the other, but when they meet on equal ground of intellectual sympathy, discussing, criticising, studying, and so aiding the evolution of stronger and clearer thought-ability in each. a few days after our first discussion, mr. bradlaugh offered me a place on the staff of the _national reformer_ at a small weekly salary; and my first contribution appeared in the number for august th, over the signature of "ajax"; i was obliged to use a _nom de guerre_ at first, for the work i was doing for mr. scott would have been injured had my name appeared in the columns of the terrible _national reformer_, and until the work commenced and paid for was concluded i did not feel at liberty to use my own name. later, i signed my _national reformer_ articles, and the tracts written for mr. scott appeared anonymously. the name was suggested by the famous statue of "ajax crying for light", a cast of which stands in the centre walk of the crystal palace. the cry through the darkness for light, even if light brought destruction, was one that awoke the keenest sympathy of response from my heart: "if our fate be death, give light, and let us die!" to see, to know, to understand, even though the seeing blind, though the knowledge sadden, though the understanding shatter the dearest hopes, such has ever been the craving of the upward-striving mind of man. some regard it as a weakness, as a folly, but i am sure that it exists most strongly in some of the noblest of our race; that from the lips of those who have done most in lifting the burden of ignorance from the overstrained and bowed shoulders of a stumbling world has gone out most often into the empty darkness the pleading, impassioned cry :-- "give light." xii. my first lecture was delivered at the co-operative society's hall, , castle street, on august , . twice before this, i had ventured to raise my voice in discussion, once at a garden-party at which i was invited to join in a brief informal debate, and discovered that words came readily and smoothly, and the second time at the liberal social union, in a discussion on a paper read by a member--i forget by whom-- dealing with the opening of museums and art galleries on sunday. my membership of that same "liberal" social union was not, by the way, of very long duration. a discussion arose, one night, on the admissibility of atheists to the society. dr. zerffi declared that he would not remain a member if avowed atheists were admitted. i declared that i was an atheist, and that the basis of the union was liberty. the result was that i found myself coldshouldered, and those who had been warmly cordial to me as a theist looked askance at me after i had avowed that my scepticism had advanced beyond their "limits of religious thought". the liberal social union knew me no more, but in the wider field of work open before me the narrowmindedness of this petty clique troubled me not at all. to return from this digression to my first essay in lecturing work. an invitation to read a paper before the co-operative society came to me from mr. greenwood, who was, i believe, the secretary, and as the subject was left to my own choice, i determined that my first public attempt at speech should be on behalf of my own sex, and selected for it, "the political status of women". with much fear and trembling was that paper written, and it was a very nervous person who presented herself at the co-operative hall. when a visit to the dentist is made, and one stands on the steps outside, desiring to run away ere the neat little boy in buttons opens the door and beams on one with a smile of compassionate contempt and implike triumph, then the world seems dark and life is as a huge blunder. but all such feelings are poor and weak when compared with the sinking of the heart, and the trembling of the knees, which, seize upon the unhappy lecturer as he advances towards his first audience, and as before his eyes rises a ghastly vision of a tongue-tied would-be speaker facing rows of listening faces, listening to--silence. all this miserable feeling, however, disappeared the moment i rose to my feet and looked at the faces before me. no tremor of nervousness touched me from the first word to the last. and a similar experience has been mine ever since. i am still always nervous before a lecture, and feel miserable and ill-assured, but, once on my feet, i am at my ease, and not once on the platform after the lecture has commenced have i experienced the painful feeling of hesitancy and "fear of the sound of my own voice" of which i have often heard people speak. the death of mr. charles gilpin in september left vacant one of the seats for northampton, and mr. bradlaugh at once announced his intention of again presenting himself to the constituency as a candidate. he had at first stood for the borough in , and had received votes; on february th, , he received votes, and of these were plumpers; the other candidates were messrs. merewether, phipps, gilpin, and lord henley; mr. merewether had plumpers; mr. phipps, ; mr. gilpin, ; lord henley, . thus signs were already seen of the compact and personally loyal following which was to win the seat for its chief in , after twelve years of steady struggle. in , mr. john stuart mill had strongly supported mr. bradlaugh's candidature, and had sent a donation to his election fund. mr. mill wrote in his autobiography (pp. , ): "he had the support of the working classes; having heard him speak i knew him to be a man of ability, and he had proved that he was the reverse of a demagogue by placing himself in strong opposition to the prevailing opinion of the democratic party on two such important subjects as malthusianism. and personal representation. men of this sort, who, while sharing the democratic feelings of the working classes, judge political questions for themselves, and have courage to assert their individual convictions against popular opposition, were needed, as it seemed to me, in parliament; and i did not think that mr. bradlaugh's anti-religious opinions (even though he had been intemperate in the expression of them) ought to exclude him." when the election was over, and after mr. mill had himself been beaten at westminster, he wrote, referring to his donation: "it was the right thing to do, and if the election were yet to take place, i would do it again". the election in february, took place while mr. bradlaugh was away in america, and this second one in the same year took place on the eve of his departure on another american lecturing tour. i went down to northampton to report electioneering incidents for the _national reformer_, and spent some days there in the whirl of the struggle. the whig party was more bitter against mr. bradlaugh than was the tory, and every weapon that could be forged out of slander and falsehood was used against him by "liberals", who employed their christianity as an electioneering dodge to injure a man whose sturdy radicalism they feared. over and over again mr. bradlaugh was told that he was an "impossible candidate", and gibe and sneer and scoff were flung at the man who had neither ancestors nor wealth to recommend him, who fought his battle with his brain and his tongue, and whose election expenses were paid by hundreds of contributions from poor men and women in every part of the land. strenuous efforts were made to procure a "liberal" candidate, who should be able at least to prevent mr. bradlaugh's return by obtaining the votes of the liberal as against the radical party. messrs. bell and james and dr. pearce came on the scene only to disappear. mr. jacob bright and mr. arthur arnold were suggested. mr. ayrton's name was whispered. major lumley was recommended by mr. bernal osborne. dr. kenealy proclaimed himself ready to rescue the liberal party in their dire strait. mr. tillet of norwich, mr. cox of belper, were invited, but neither of these would consent to oppose a sound radical, who had fought two elections at northampton and who had been before the constituency for six years. at last mr. william fowler, a banker, was invited, and accepted the task of handing over the representation of a radical borough to a tory. october th was fixed as the election day, and at . on that day mr. merewether, the tory, was declared elected with , votes. mr. bradlaugh polled , , having added another voters to those who had polled for him in the previous february. the violent abuse levelled against mr. bradlaugh by the whigs, and the foul and wicked slanders circulated against him, had angered almost to madness those who knew and loved him, and when it was found that the unscrupulous whig devices had succeeded in turning the election against him, the fury broke out into open violence. as mr. bradlaugh was sitting well-nigh exhausted in the hotel, the landlord rushed in, crying to him to go out and try to stop the people, or there would be murder done at the "palmerston", mr. fowler's head-quarters; the crowd was charging the door, and the windows were being broken, with showers of stones. weary as he was, mr. bradlaugh sprang to his feet and swiftly made his way to the rescue of those who had defeated him. flinging himself before the door, he drove the crowd back, scolded them into quietness and dispersed them. but at nine o'clock he had to leave the town to catch the mail for queenstown, where he was to join the steamer for america, and after he had left, the riot he had quelled broke out afresh. the soldiers were called out, the riot act was read, stones flew freely, heads and windows were broken, but no very serious harm was done. the "palmerston" and the printing office of the _mercury_, the whig organ, were the principal sufferers, windows and doors vanishing somewhat completely. in this same month of october i find i noted in the _national reformer_ that it was rumored "that on hearing that the prince of wales had succeeded the earl of ripon as grand master of the grand lodge of england, mr. bradlaugh immediately sent in his resignation". "the report", i added demurely, "seems likely to be a true one". i had not much doubt of the fact, having seen the cancelled certificate. my second lecture was delivered on september th, during the election struggle, at mr. moncure d. conway's chapel in st. paul's road, camden town, and was on "the true basis of morality.". the lecture was re-delivered a few weeks later at a unitarian chapel, where the minister was the rev. peter dean, and gave, i was afterwards told, great offence to some of the congregation, especially to miss frances power cobbe, who declared that she would have left the chapel had not the speaker been a woman. the ground of complaint was that the suggested "basis" was utilitarian and human instead of intuitional and theistic. published as a pamphlet, the lecture has reached its seventh thousand. in october i had a severe attack of congestion of the lungs, and soon after my recovery i left norwood to settle in london. i found that my work required that i should be nearer head-quarters, and i arranged to rent part of a house-- , westbourne park terrace, bayswater--two lady friends taking the remainder. the arrangement proved a very comfortable one, and it continued until my improved means enabled me, in , to take a house of my own. in january, , i made up my mind to lecture regularly, and in the _national reformer_ for january th i find the announcement that "mrs. annie besant (ajax) will lecture at south place chapel, finsbury, on 'civil and religious liberty'", mr. conway took the chair at this first identification of "ajax" with myself, and sent a very kindly notice of the lecture to the _cincinnati commercial_. mr. charles watts wrote a report in the _national reformer_ of january th. dr. maurice davies also wrote a very favorable article in a london journal, but unfortunately he knew mr. walter besant, who persuaded him to suppress my name, so that although the notice appeared it did me no service. my struggle to gain my livelihood was for some time rendered considerably more difficult by this kind of ungenerous and underhand antagonism. a woman's road to the earning of her own living, especially when she is weighted with the care of a young child, is always fairly thorny at the outset, and does not need to be rendered yet more difficult by secret attempts to injure, on the part of those who trust that suffering and poverty may avail to bend pride to submission. my next lecture was given in the theatre royal, northampton, and in the _national reformer_ of february th appears for the first time my list of lecturing engagements, so that in february next i shall complete my first decade of lecturing for the freethought and republican cause. never, since first i stood on the freethought platform, have i felt one hour's regret for the resolution taken in solitude in january, , to devote to that sacred cause every power of brain and tongue that i possessed. not lightly was that resolution taken, for i know no task of weightier responsibility than that of standing forth as teacher, and swaying thousands of hearers year after year. but i pledged my word then to the cause i loved that no effort on my part should be wanting to render myself worthy of the privilege of service which i took; that i would read, and study, and would train every faculty that i had; that i would polish my language, discipline my thought, widen my knowledge; and this, at least, i may say, that if i have written and spoken much i have studied and thought more, and that at least i have not given to my mistress, liberty, that "which hath cost me nothing". a queer incident occurred on february th. i had been invited by the dialectical society to read a paper, and selected for subject "the existence of god". the dialectical society had for some years held their meetings in a room in adam street rented from the social science association. when the members gathered as usual on this th february, the door was found closed, and they were informed that ajax's paper had been too much for the social science nerves, and that entrance to the ordinary meeting-place was henceforth denied. we found refuge in the charing cross hotel, where we speculated merrily on the eccentricities of religious charity. on february th, i started on my first lecturing tour in the provinces. after lecturing at birkenhead on the evening of that day, i started by the night mail for glasgow. some races--dog races, i think--had been going on, and very unpleasant were many of the passengers waiting on the platform. some birkenhead friends had secured me a compartment, and watched over me till the train began to move. then, after we had fairly started, the door was flung open by a porter and a man was thrust in who half tumbled on to the seat. as he slowly recovered, he stood up, and as his money rolled out of his hand on to the floor and he gazed vaguely at it, i saw, to my horror, that he was drunk. the position was pleasant, for the train was an express and was not timed to stop for a considerable time. my odious fellow-passenger spent some time on the floor hunting for his scattered coins. then he slowly gathered himself up, and presently became conscious of my presence. he studied me for some time and then proposed to shut the window. i assented quietly, not wanting to discuss a trifle, and feeling in deadly terror. alone at night in an express, with a man not drunk enough to be helpless but too drunk to be controlled. never, before or since, have i felt so thoroughly frightened, but i sat there quiet and unmoved, only grasping a penknife in my pocket, with a desperate resolve to use my feeble weapon as soon as the need arose. the man had risen again to his feet and had come over to me, when a jarring noise was heard and the train began to slacken. "what is that?" stammered my drunken companion. "they are putting on the brakes to stop the train," i said very slowly and distinctly, though a very passion of relief made it hard to say quietly the measured words. the man sat down stupidly, staring at me, and in a minute or two more the train pulled up at a station. it had been stopped by signal. in a moment i was at the window, calling the guard. i rapidly explained to him that i was travelling alone, that a half-drunken man was with me, and i begged him to put me into another carriage. with the usual kindliness of a railway official, the guard at once moved my baggage and myself into an empty compartment, into which he locked me, and he kept a friendly watch over me at every station at which we stopped until he landed me safely at glasgow. at glasgow a room had been taken for me at a temperance hotel, and it seemed to me a new and lonely sort of thing to be "on my own account" in a strange city in a strange hotel. by the way, why are temperance hotels so often lacking in cleanliness? surely abstinence from wine and superfluity of "matter in the wrong place" need not necessarily be correlated in hotel-life, and yet my experience leads me to look for the twain together. here and there i have been to temperance hotels in which water is used for other purposes than that of drinking, but these are, i regret to say, the exceptions to a melancholy rule. from glasgow i went north to aberdeen, and from aberdeen home again to london. a long weary journey that was, in a third-class carriage in the cold month of february, but the labor had in it a joy that outpaid all physical discomfort, and the feeling that i had found my work in the world gave a new happiness to my life. i reported my doings to the chief of our party in america, and found them only half approved. "you should have waited till i returned, and at least i could have saved you some discomforts," he wrote; but the discomforts troubled me little, and i think i rather preferred the independent launch out into lecturing work, trusting only to my own courage and ability to win my way. so far as health was concerned, the lecturing acted as a tonic. my chest had always been a little delicate, and when i consulted a doctor on the possibility of my lecturing he answered: "it will either kill you or cure you". it has entirely cured the lung weakness, and i have grown strong and vigorous instead of being frail and delicate as of old. on february th i delivered my first lecture at the hall of science, london, and was received with that warmth of greeting which freethinkers are ever willing to extend to one who sacrifices aught to join their ranks. from that day to this that hearty welcome at our central london hall has never failed me, and the love and courage wherewith freethinkers have ever stood by me have overpaid a thousandfold any poor services i have been fortunate enough to render to the common cause. it would be wearisome to go step by step over the ten years' journeys and lectures; i will only select, here and there, incidents illustrative of the whole. some folk say that the lives of freethought lecturers are easy, and that their lecturing tours are lucrative in the extreme. on one occasion i spent eight days in the north lecturing daily, with three lectures on the two sundays, and made a deficit of s. on the journey! i do not pretend that such a thing would happen now, but i fancy that every freethought lecturer could tell of a similar experience in the early days of "winning his way". there is no better field for freethought and radical work than northumberland and durham; the miners there are as a rule shrewd and hard-headed men, and very cordial is the greeting given by them to those whom they have reason to trust. at seghill and at bedlington i have slept in their cottages and have been welcomed to their tables, and i remember one evening at seghill, after a lecture, that my host invited about a dozen miners to supper to meet me; the talk ran on politics, and i soon found that my companions knew more of english politics and had a far shrewder notion of political methods than i had found among the ordinary "diners-out" in "society". they were of the "uneducated" class despised by "gentlemen" and had not the vote, but politically they were far better educated than their social superiors, and were far better fitted to discharge the duties of citizenship. on may th i attended, for the first time, the annual conference called by the national secular society. it was held at manchester, in the society's rooms in grosvenor street, and it is interesting and encouraging to note how the society has grown and strengthened since that small meeting held nearly ten years ago. mr. bradlaugh was elected president; messrs. a. trevelyan, t. slater, c. watts, c.c. cattell, r.a. cooper, p.a.v. le lubez, n. ridgway, g.w. foote, g.h. reddalls, and mrs. besant vice presidents. messrs. watts and standring were elected as secretary and assistant-secretary--both offices were then honorary, for the society was too poor to pay the holders--and mr. le lubez treasurer. the result of the conference was soon seen in the energy infused into the freethought propaganda, and from that time to this the society has increased in numbers and in influence, until that which was scarcely more than a skeleton has become a living power in the land on the side of all social and political reforms. the council for consisted of but thirty-nine members, including president, vice-presidents, and secretary, and of these only nine were available as a central executive. let freethinkers compare this meagre list with the present, and then let them "thank" man "and take courage". lecturing at leicester in june, i came for the first time across a falsehood of which i have since heard plenty. an irate christian declared that i was responsible for a book entitled the "elements of social science", which was, he averred, the "bible of secularists". i had never heard of the book, but as he insisted that it was in favor of the abolition of marriage, and that mr. bradlaugh agreed with it, i promptly contradicted him, knowing that mr. bradlaugh's views on marriage were conservative rather than revolutionary. on enquiry afterwards i found that the book in question had been written some years before by a doctor of medicine, and had been sent for review by its publisher to the _national reformer_ among other papers. i found further that it consisted of three parts; the first dealt with the sexual relation, and advocated, from the standpoint of an experienced medical man, what is roughly known as "free love"; the second was entirely medical, dealing with diseases; the third consisted of a very clear and able exposition of the law of population as laid down by malthus, and insisted--as john stuart mill had done--that it was the duty of married persons to voluntarily limit their families within their means of subsistence. mr. bradlaugh, in the _national reformer_, in reviewing the book, stated that it was written "with honest and pure intent and purpose", and recommended to working men the exposition of the law of population. because he did this christians and tories who desire to injure him still insist that he shares the author's views on sexual relations, and despite his reiterated contradictions, they quote detached pieces of the work, speaking against marriage, as containing his views. anything more meanly vile and dishonest than this it would be difficult to imagine, yet such are the weapons used against atheists in a christian country. unable to find in mr. bradlaugh's own writings anything to serve their purpose, they take isolated passages from a book he neither wrote nor published, but once reviewed with a recommendation of a part of it which says nothing against marriage. that the book is a remarkable one and deserves to be read has been acknowledged on all hands. personally, i cordially dislike a large part of it, and dissent utterly from its views on the marital relation, but none the less i feel sure that the writer is an honest, good, and right meaning man. in the _reasoner_, edited by mr. george jacob holyoake, i find warmer praise of it than in the _national reformer_; in the review the following passage appears:-- "in some respects all books of this class are evils: but it would be weakness and criminal prudery--a prudery as criminal as vice itself--not to say that such a book as the one in question is not only a far lesser evil than the one that it combats, but in one sense a book which it is a mercy to issue and courage to publish." the _examiner_, reviewing the same book, declared it to be "a very valuable, though rather heterogeneous book.... this is, we believe, the only book that has fully, honestly, and in a scientific spirit recognised all the elements in the problem--how are mankind to triumph over poverty, with its train of attendant evils?--and fearlessly endeavored to find a practical solution." the _british journal of homæopathy_ wrote: "though quite out of the province of our journal, we cannot refrain from stating that this work is unquestionably the most remarkable one, in many respects, we have ever met with. though we differ _toto coelo_ from the author in his views of religion and morality, and hold some of his remedies to tend rather to a dissolution than a reconstruction of society, yet we are bound to admit the benevolence and philanthropy of his motives. the scope of the work is nothing less than the whole field of political economy." ernest jones and others wrote yet more strongly, but out of all these charles bradlaugh alone has been selected for reproach, and has had the peculiar views of the anonymous author fathered on himself. why? the reason is not far to seek. none of the other writers are active radical politicians, dangerous to the luxurious idleness of the non-producing but all-consuming "upper classes" of society. these know how easy it is to raise social prejudice against a man by setting afloat the idea that he desires to "abolish marriage and the home". it is the most convenient poniard and the one most certain to wound. therefore those whose profligacy is notorious, who welcome into their society the blandfords, aylesburys, and st. leonards, rave against a man as a "destroyer of marriage" whose life is pure, and whose theories on this, as it happens, are "orthodox", merely because his honest atheism shames their hypocritical professions, and his sturdy republicanism menaces their corrupt and rotting society. xiii. sometimes my lecturing experiences were not of the smoothest. in june, , i visited darwen in lancashire, and found that stone-throwing was considered a fair argument to be addressed to "the atheist lecturer". on my last visit to that place in may, , large and enthusiastic audiences attended the lectures, and not a sign of hostility was to be seen outside the hall. at swansea, in march, , the fear of violence was so great that no local friend had the courage to take the chair for me (a guarantee against damage to the hall had been exacted by the proprietor). i had to march on to the platform in solitary state, introduce myself, and proceed with my lecture. if violence had been intended, none was offered: it would have needed much brutality to charge on to a platform occupied by a solitary woman. (by the way, those who fancy that a lecturer's life is a luxurious one may note that the swansea lecture spoken of was one of a series of ten, delivered within eight days at wednesbury, bilston, kidderminster, swansea, and bristol, most of the travelling being performed through storm, rain, and snow.) on september, th, , i had rather a lively time at hoyland, a village near barnsley. a mr. hebblethwaite, a primitive methodist minister, "prepared the way of the" atheist by pouring out virulent abuse on atheism in general, and this atheist in particular; two protestant missionaries aided him vigorously, exhorting the pious christians to "sweep secularists out". the result was a very fair row; i got through the lecture, despite many interruptions, but when it was over a regular riot ensued; the enraged christians shook their fists at me, swore at me, and finally took to kicking as i passed out to the cab; only one kick, however, reached me, and the attempts to overturn the cab were foiled by the driver, who put his horse at a gallop. a somewhat barbarous village, that same village of hoyland. congleton proved even livelier on september th and th. mr. bradlaugh lectured there on september th to an accompaniment of broken windows; i was sitting with mrs. wolstenholme elmy in front of the platform, and received a rather heavy blow at the back of the head from a stone thrown by someone in the room. we had a mile and a half to walk from the hall to mrs. elmy's house, and this was done in the company of a mud-throwing crowd, who yelled curses, hymns, and foul words with delightful impartiality. on the following evening i was to lecture, and we were escorted to the hall by a stone-throwing crowd; while i was lecturing a man shouted "put her out!" and a well-known wrestler of the neighborhood, named burbery, who had come to the hall with seven friends, stood up in the front row and loudly interrupted. mr. bradlaugh, who was in the chair, told him to sit down, and as he persisted in making a noise, informed him that he must either be quiet or go out. "put me out!" said burbery, striking an attitude. mr. bradlaugh left the platform and walked up to the noisy swashbuckler, who at once grappled with him and tried to throw him; but mr. burbery had not reckoned on his opponent's strength, and when the "throw" was complete mr. burbery was underneath. amid much excitement mr. burbery was propelled to the door, where he was handed over to the police, and the chairman resumed his seat and said "go on", whereupon on i went and finished the lecture. there was plenty more stone-throwing outside, and mrs. elmy received a cut on the temple, but no serious harm was done-- except to christianity. in the summer of a strong protest was made by the working classes against the grant of £ , for the prince of wales visit to india, and on sunday, july th, i saw for the first time one of the famous "hyde park demonstrations". mr. bradlaugh called a meeting to support messrs. taylor, macdonald, wilfrid lawson, burt, and the other fourteen members of the house of commons who voted in opposition to the grant, and to protest against burdening the workers to provide for the amusement of a spendthrift prince. i did not go into the meeting, but, with mr. bradlaugh's two daughters, hovered on the outskirts. a woman is considerably in the way in such a gathering, unless the speakers reach the platform in carriages, for she is physically unfitted to push her way through the dense mass of people, and has therefore to be looked after and saved from the crushing pressure of the crowd. i have always thought that a man responsible for the order of such huge gatherings ought not to be burdened in addition with the responsibility of protecting his female friends, and have therefore preferred to take care of myself outside the meetings both at hyde park and in trafalgar square. the method of organisation by which the london radicals have succeeded in holding perfectly orderly meetings of enormous size is simple but effective. a large number of "marshals" volunteer, and each of these hands in to mr. bradlaugh a list of the "stewards" he is prepared to bring; the "marshals" and "stewards" alike are members of the radical and secular associations of the metropolis. these officials all wear badges, a rosette of the northampton election colors; directions are given to the marshals by mr. bradlaugh himself, and each marshal, with his stewards, turns up at the appointed place at the appointed time, and does the share of the work allotted to him. a ring two or three deep is formed round the place whence the speakers are to address the meeting, and those who form the ring stand linked arm-in-arm, making a living barrier round this empty spot. there a platform, brought thither in pieces, is screwed together, and into this enclosure only the chosen speakers and newspaper reporters are admitted. the marshals and stewards who are not told off for guarding the platform are distributed over the ground which the meeting is to occupy, and act as guardians of order. the hyde park meeting against the royal grant was a thoroughly successful one, and a large number of protests came up from all parts of the country. being from the poorer classes, they were of course disregarded, but none the less was a strong agitation against royal grants carried on throughout the autumn and winter months. the national secular society determined to gather signatures to a "monster petition against royal grants", and the superintendence of this was placed in my hands. the petition was drafted by mr. bradlaugh, and ran as follows:-- "to the honorable the commons of great britain and ireland, in parliament assembled. "the humble petition of the undersigned, "prays,--that no further grant or allowance may be made to any member of the royal family until an account shall have been laid before your honorable house, showing the total real and personal estates and incomes of each and every member of the said royal family who shall be in receipt of any pension or allowance, and also showing all posts and places of profit severally held by members of the said royal family, and also showing all pensions, if any, formerly charged on any estates now enjoyed by any member or members of the said royal family, and in case any such pensions shall have been transferred, showing how and at what date such transfer took place." day after day, week after week, month after month, the postman delivered rolls of paper, little and big, each roll containing names and addresses of men and woman who protested against the waste of public money on our greedy and never-satisfied royal house. the sheets often bore the marks of the places to which they had been carried; from a mining district some would come coal-dust-blackened, which had been signed in the mines by workers who grudged to idleness the fruits of toil; from an agricultural district the sheets bore often far too many "crosses", the "marks" of those whom church and landlord had left in ignorance, regarding them only as machines for sowing and reaping. from september, , to march, , they came in steady stream, and each was added to the ever-lengthening roll which lay in one corner of my sitting-room and which assumed ever larger and larger proportions. at last the work was over, and on june th, , the "monster"--rolled on a mahogany pole presented by a london friend, and encased in american cloth--was placed in a carriage to be conveyed to the house of commons; the heading ran: "the petition of the undersigned charles bradlaugh, annie besant, charles watts, and , others". unrolled, it was nearly a mile in length, and a very happy time we had in rolling the last few hundred yards. when we arrived at the house, mr. bradlaugh and mr. watts carried the petition up westminster hall, each holding one end of the mahogany pole. messrs. burt and macdonald took charge of the "monster" at the door of the house, and, carrying it in, presented it in due form. the presentation caused considerable excitement both in the house and in the press, and the _newcastle daily chronicle_ said some kindly words of the "labor and enthusiasm" bestowed on the petition by myself. at the beginning of august, , the first attempt to deprive me of my little daughter, mabel, was made, but fortunately proved unsuccessful. the story of the trick played is told in the _national reformer_ of august nd, and i quote it just as it appeared there :-- "personal.--mrs. annie besant, as some of our readers are aware, was the wife of a church of england clergyman, the rev. frank besant, vicar of sibsey, near boston, in lincolnshire. there is no need, _at present_, to say anything about the earlier portion of her married life; but when mrs. besant's opinions on religious matters became liberal, the conduct of her husband rendered a separation absolutely necessary, and in a formal deed of separation was drawn up, and duly executed. under this deed mrs. besant is entitled to the sole custody and control of her infant daughter mabel until the child becomes of age, with the proviso that the little girl is to visit her father for one month in each year. having recently obtained possession of the person of the little child under cover of the annual visit, the rev. mr. besant sought to deprive mrs. besant entirely of her daughter, on the ground of mrs. besant's atheism. vigorous steps were at once taken by messrs. lewis and lewis (to whom our readers will remember we entrusted the case of mr. lennard against mr. woolrych), by whose advice mrs. besant at once went down herself to sibsey to demand the child; the little girl had been hidden, and was not at the vicarage, but we are glad to report that mrs. besant has, after some little difficulty, recovered the custody of her daughter. it was decided against percy bysshe shelley that an atheist father could not be the guardian of his own children. if this law be appealed to, and anyone dares to enforce it, we shall contest it step by step; and while we are out of england, we know that in case of any attempt to retake the child by force we may safely leave our new advocate to the protection of the stout arms of our friends, who will see that no injustice of this kind is done her. so far as the law courts are concerned, we have the most complete confidence in mr. george henry lewis, and we shall fight the case to house of lords if need be. charles bradlaugh." the attempt to take the child from me by force indeed failed, but later the theft was successfully carried out by due process of law. it is always a blunder from a tactical point of view for a christian to use methods of illegal violence in persecuting an atheist in this christian land; legal violence is a far safer weapon, for courage can checkmate the first, while it is helpless before the second. all christians who adopt the sound old principle that "no faith need be kept with the heretic" should remember that they can always guard themselves against unpleasant consequences by breaking faith under cover of the laws against heresy, which still remain on our statute book _ad majorem dei gloriam_. in september, , mr. bradlaugh again sailed for america, leaving plenty of work to be done by his colleagues before he returned. the executive of the national secular society had determined to issue a "secular song book", and the task of selection and of editing was confided to me. the little book was duly issued, and ran through two editions; then, feeling that it was marred by many sins both of commission and omission, i set my face against the publication of a third edition, hoping that a compilation more worthy of free thought might be made. i am half inclined to take the matter up again, and set to work at a fresh collection. the delivery and publication of a course of six lectures on the early part of the french revolution was another portion of that autumn's work; they involved a large amount of labor, as i had determined to tell the story from the people's point of view, and was therefore compelled to read a large amount of the current literature of the time, as well as the great standard histories of louis blanc, michelet, and others. fortunately for me, mr. bradlaugh had a splendid collection of works on the subject, and before he left england he brought to me two cabs full of books, french and english, from all points of view, aristocratic, ecclesiastical, democratic, and i studied these diligently and impartially until the french revolution became to me as a drama in which i had myself taken part, and the actors therein became personal friends and foes. in this, again, as in so much of my public work, i have to thank mr. bradlaugh for the influence which led me to read fully all sides of a question, and to read most carefully those from which i differed most, ere i judged myself competent to write or to speak thereon. the late autumn was clouded by the news of mr. bradlaugh's serious illness in america. after struggling for some time against ill-health he was struck down by an attack of pleurisy, to which soon was added typhoid fever, and for a time lay at the brink of the grave. dr. otis, his able physician, finding that it was impossible to give him the necessary attendance at the fifth avenue hotel, put him into his own carriage and drove him to the hospital of st. luke's, where he confided him to the care of dr. leaming, himself also visiting him daily. of this illness the _baltimore advertiser_ wrote: "mr. charles bradlaugh, the famous english radical lecturer, has been so very dangerously ill that his life has almost been despaired of. he was taken ill at the fifth avenue hotel, and partially recovered; but on the day upon which a lecture had been arranged from him before the liberal club he was taken down a second time with a relapse, which has been very near proving fatal. the cause was overwork and complete nervous prostration which brought on low fever. his physician has allowed one friend only to see him daily for five minutes, and removed him to st. luke's hospital for the sake of the absolute quiet, comfort, and intelligent attendance he could secure there, and for which he was glad to pay munificently. this long and severe illness has disappointed the hopes and retarded the object for which he came to this country; but he is gentleness and patience itself in his sickness in this strange land, and has endeared himself greatly to his physicians and attendants by his gratitude and appreciation of the slightest attention." there is no doubt that the care so willingly lavished on the english stranger saved his life, and those who in england honor charles bradlaugh as chief and love him as friend must always keep in grateful memory those who in his sorest need served him so nobly well. those who think that an atheist cannot calmly face the prospect of death might well learn a lesson from the fortitude and courage shown by an atheist as he lay at the point of death, far from home and from all he loved best. the rev. mr. frothingham bore public and admiring testimony in his own church to mr. bradlaugh's perfect serenity, at once fearless and unpretending, and, himself a theist, gave willing witness to the atheist's calm strength. mr. bradlaugh returned to england at the end of december, worn to a shadow and terribly weak, and for many a long month he bore the traces of his wrestle with death. indeed, he felt the effect of the illness for years, for typhoid fever is a foe whose weapons leave scars even after the healing of the wounds it inflicts. the first work done by mr. bradlaugh on resuming the editorial chair of the _national reformer_, was to indite a vigorous protest against the investment of national capital in the suez canal shares. he exposed the financial condition of egypt, gave detail after detail of the khedive's indebtedness, unveiled the rottenness of the egyptian government, warned the people of the danger of taking the first steps in a path which must lead to continual interference in egyptian finance, denounced the shameful job perpetrated by mr. disraeli in borrowing the money for the purchase from the rothschilds at enormous interest. his protest was, of course, useless, but its justice has been proved by the course of events. the bombarding of alexandria, the shameful repression of the national movement in egypt, the wholesale and useless slaughter in the soudan, the waste of english lives and english money, the new burden of debt and of responsibility now assumed by the government, all these are the results of the fatal purchase of shares in the suez canal by mr. disraeli; yet against the chorus of praise which resounded from every side when the purchase was announced, but one voice of disapproval and of warning was raised at first; others soon caught the warning and saw the dangers it pointed out, but for awhile charles bradlaugh stood alone in his opposition, and to him belongs the credit of at once seeing the peril which lay under the purchase. the conference of the national secular society held at leeds showed the growing power of the organisation, and was made notable by a very pleasant incident--the presentation to a miner, william washington, of a silver tea-pot and some books, in recognition of a very noble act of self-devotion. an explosion had occurred on december th, , at swaithe main pit, in which miners were killed; a miner belonging to a neighboring pit, named william washington, an atheist, when every one was hanging back, sprang into the cage to descend into the pit in forlorn hope of rescue, when to descend seemed almost certain death. others swiftly followed the gallant volunteer, but he had set the example, and it was felt by the executive of the national secular society that his heroism deserved recognition, william washington set his face against any gift to himself, so the subscription to a testimonial was limited to d., and a silver teapot was presented to him for his wife and some books for his children. at this same conference a committee was appointed, consisting of messrs. charles bradlaugh, g.j. holyoake, c. watts, r.a. cooper,--gimson, t. slater, and mrs. besant, to draw up a fresh statement of the principles and objects of the national secular society; it was decided that this statement should be submitted to the ensuing conference, that the deliberation on the report of the committee should "be open to all freethinkers, but that only those will be entitled to vote on the ratification who declare their determination to enter the society on the basis of the ratified constitution". it was hoped that by this means various scattered and independent societies might be brought into union, and that the national secular society might he thereby strengthened. the committee held a very large number of meetings and finally decided on the following statement, which was approved of at the conference held at nottingham in , and stands now as the "principles and object of the national secular society":-- "the national secular society has been formed to maintain the principles and rights of freethought, and to direct their application to the secular improvement of this life. "by the principle of freethought is meant the exercise of the understanding upon relevant facts, and independently of penal or priestly intimidation. "by the rights of freethought are meant the liberty of free criticism for the security of truth, and the liberty of free publicity for the extension of truth. "secularism relates to the present existence of man, and to actions the issue of which can be tested by experience. "it declares that the promotion of human improvement and happiness is the highest duty, and that morality is to be tested by utility. "that in order to promote effectually the improvement and happiness of mankind, every individual of the human family ought to be well placed and well instructed, and that all who are of a suitable age ought to be usefully employed for their own and the general good. "that human improvement and happiness cannot be effectually promoted without civil and religious liberty; and that, therefore, it is the duty of every individual to actively attack all barriers to equal freedom of thought and utterance for all, upon political, theological, and social subjects. "a secularist is one who deduces his moral duties from considerations which pertain to this life, and who, practically recognising the above duties, devotes himself to the promotion of the general good. "the object of the national secular society is to disseminate the above principles by every legitimate means in its power." at this same conference of leeds was inaugurated the subscription to the statue to be erected in rome to the memory of giordano bruno, burned in that city for atheism in ; this resulted in the collection of £ . the executive appointed by the leeds conference made great efforts to induce the freethinkers of the country to work for the repeal of the blasphemy laws, and in october they issued a copy of a petition against those evil laws to every one of the forty branches of the society. the effort proved, however, of little avail. the laws had not been put in force for a long time, and were regarded with apathy as being obsolete, and it has needed the cruel imprisonments inflicted by mr. justice north on messrs. foote, ramsey, and kemp, to arouse the freethought party to a sense of their duty in the matter. the year had scarcely opened ere we found ourselves with a serious fight on our hands. a pamphlet written early in the present century by charles knowlton, m.d., entitled "the fruits of philosophy", which had been sold unchallenged in england for nearly forty years, was suddenly seized at bristol as an obscene publication. the book had been supplied in the ordinary course of business by mr. charles watts, but the bristol bookseller had altered its price, had inserted some indecent pictures in it, and had sold it among literature to which the word obscene was fairly applied. in itself, dr. knowlton's work was merely a physiological treatise, and it advocated conjugal prudence and parental responsibility; it argued in favor of early marriage, but as over-large families among persons of limited incomes imply either pauperism, or lack of necessary food, clothing, education, and fair start in life for the children, dr. knowlton advocated the restriction of the number of the family within the means of existence, and stated the means by which this restriction should be carried out. on hearing of the prosecution, mr. watts went down to bristol, and frankly announced himself as the publisher of the book. soon after his return to london he was arrested on the charge of having published an obscene book, and was duly liberated on bail. mr. and mrs. watts, mr. bradlaugh and myself met to arrange our plan of united action on friday, january th, and it was decided that mr. watts should defend the book, that a fund should at once be raised for his legal expenses, and that once more the right of publication of useful knowledge in a cheap form should be defended by the leaders of the freethought party. after long and friendly discussion we separated with the plan of the campaign arranged, and it was decided that i should claim the sympathy and help of the plymouth friends, whom i was to address on the following sunday, january th. i went down to plymouth on january th, and there received a telegram from mr. watts, saying that a change of plan had been decided on. i was puzzled, but none the less i appealed for help as i had promised to do, and a collection of £ s. d. for mr. watts' defence fund was made after my evening lecture. to my horror, on returning to london, i found that mr. watts had given way before the peril of imprisonment, and had decided to plead guilty to the charge of publishing an obscene book, and to throw himself on the mercy of the court, relying on his previous good character and on an alleged ignorance of the contents of the incriminated work. the latter plea we knew to be false, for mr. watts before going down to bristol to declare himself responsible for the pamphlet had carefully read it and had marked all the passages which, being physiological, might be attacked as "obscene". this marked copy he had sent to the bristol bookseller, before he himself went to bristol to attend the trial, and under these circumstances any pretence of ignorance of the contents of the book was transparently inaccurate. mr. watts' surrender, of course, upset all the arrangements we had agreed on; mr. bradlaugh and myself were prepared to stand by him in battle, but not in surrender. i at once returned to the secretary of the plymouth branch the money collected for defence, not for capitulation, and mr. bradlaugh published the following brief statement in the _national reformer_ for january st: "prosecution of mr. charles watts.--mr. charles watts, as most of our readers will have already learned, has been committed for trial at the central criminal court for february th, for misdemeanor, for publication of a work on the population question, entitled "fruits of philosophy", by charles knowlton, m.d. this book has been openly published in england and america for more than thirty years. it was sold in england by james watson, who always bore the highest repute. on james watson's retirement from business it was sold by holyoake & co., at fleet street house, and was afterwards sold by mr. austin holyoake until the time of his death; and a separate edition was, up till last week, still sold by mr. brooks, of , strand, w.c. when mr. james watson died, mr. charles watts bought from james watson's widow a large quantity of stereotype plates, including this work. if this book is to be condemned as obscene, so also in my opinion must be many published by messrs. w.h. smith & son, and other publishers, against whose respectability no imputation has been made. such books as darwin's 'origin of species' and 'descent of man' must immediately be branded as obscene, while no medical work must be permitted publication; and all theological works, like those of dulaure, inman, etc., dealing with ancient creeds, must at once be suppressed. the bulk of the publications of the society for the repeal of the contagious diseases acts, together with its monthly organ, the _shield_, would be equally liable. the issue of the greater part of classic authors, and of lemprière, shakspere, sterne, fielding, richardson, rabelais, etc., must be stopped: while the bible--containing obscene passages omitted from the lectionary--must no longer be permitted circulation. all these contain obscenity which is either inserted to amuse or to instruct, and the medical work now assailed deals with physiological points purely to instruct, and to increase the happiness of men and women. "if the pamphlet now prosecuted had been brought to me for publication, i should probably have declined to publish it, not because of the subject-matter, but because i do not like its style. if i had once published it, i should defend it until the very last. here mr. watts and myself disagree in opinion; and as he is the person chiefly concerned, it is, of course, right that his decision should determine what is done. he tells me that he thinks the pamphlet indefensible, and that he was misled in publishing it without examination as part of james watson's stock. i think it ought to be fought right through. under these circumstances i can only leave mr. watts to speak for himself, as we so utterly differ in opinion on this case that i cease to be his proper interpreter. i have, therefore, already offered mr. watts the columns of the _national reformer_, that he may put before the party his view of the case, which he does in another column."--c. bradlaugh. xiv. up to this time (january, ) mr. watts had acted as sub-editor of the _national reformer_, and printer and publisher of the books and pamphlets issued by mr. bradlaugh and myself. the continuance of this common work obviously became impossible after mr. watts had determined to surrender one of his publications under threat of prosecution. we felt that for two main reasons we could no longer publicly associate ourselves with him: ( ) we could not retain on our publications the name of a man who had pleaded guilty to the publication of an obscene work; ( ) many of our writings were liable to prosecution for blasphemy, and it was necessary that we should have a publisher who could be relied on to stand firm in time of peril; we felt that if mr. watts surrendered one thing he would be likely to surrender others. this feeling on my part was strengthened by the remembrance of a request of his made a few months before, that i would print my own name instead of his as publisher of a political song i had issued, on the ground that it might come within the law of seditious libel. i had readily acceded at the time, but when absolute surrender under attack followed on timid precaution against attack, i felt that a bolder publisher was necessary to me. no particular blame should be laid on persons who are constitutionally timid; they have their own line of usefulness, and are often pleasant and agreeable folk enough; but they are out of place in the front rank of a fighting movement, for their desertion in face of the enemy means added danger for those left to carry on the fight. we therefore decided to sever ourselves from mr. watts; and mr. bradlaugh, in the _national reformer_ of january th, inserted the following statement: "the divergence of opinion between myself and mr. charles watts is so complete on the knowlton case, that he has already ceased to be sub-editor of this journal, and i have given him notice determining our connexion on and from march th. my reasons for this course are as follows. the knowlton pamphlet is either decent or indecent. if decent it ought to be defended; if indecent it should never have been published. to judge it indecent is to condemn, with the most severe condemnation, james watson whom i respected, and austin holyoake with whom i worked. i hold the work to be defensible, and i deny the right of any one to interfere with the full and free discussion of social questions affecting the happiness of the nation. the struggle for a free press has been one of the marks of the freethought party throughout its history, and as long as the party permits me to hold its flag, i will never voluntarily lower it. i have no right and no power to dictate to mr. watts the course he should pursue, but i have the right and duty to refuse to associate my name with a submission which is utterly repugnant to my nature, and inconsistent with my whole career." after a long discussion, mr. bradlaugh and i made up our minds as to the course we would pursue. we decided that we would never again place ourselves at a publisher's mercy, but would ensure the defence of all we published by publishing everything ourselves; we resolved to become printers and publishers, and to take any small place we could find and open it as a freethought shop. i undertook the sub-editorship of the _national reformer_, and the weekly summary of news, which had hitherto been done by mr. watts, was placed in the hands of mr. bradlaugh's daughters. the next thing to do was to find a publishing office. somewhere within reach of fleet street the office must be; small it must be, as we had no funds and the risk of starting a business of which we knew nothing was great. still "all things are possible to" those who are resolute; we discovered a tumble-down little place in stonecutter street and secured it by the good offices of our friend, mr. charles herbert; we borrowed a few hundred pounds from personal friends, and made our new tenement habitable; we drew up a deed of partnership, founding the "freethought publishing company", mr. bradlaugh and myself being the only partners; we engaged mr. w.j. ramsey as manager of the business; and in the _national reformer_ of february th we were able to announce: "the publishing office of the _national reformer_ and of all the works of charles bradlaugh and annie besant is now at , stonecutter street, e.c., three doors from farringdon street, where the manager, mr. w.j. ramsey, will be glad to receive orders for the supply of any freethought literature". a week later we issued the following address: "address from the freethought publishing company to the readers of the 'national reformer'. "when the prospectus of the _national reformer_ was issued by the founder, charles bradlaugh, in , he described its policy as 'atheistic in theology, republican in politics, and malthusian in social economy', and a free platform was promised and has been maintained for the discussion of each of these topics. in ventilating the population question the stand taken by mr. bradlaugh, both here and on the platform, is well known to our old readers, and many works bearing on this vital subject have been advertised and reviewed in these columns. in this the _national reformer_ has followed the course pursued by mr. george jacob holyoake, who in published a 'freethought directory', giving a list of the various books supplied from the 'fleet street house', and which list contained amongst others: "'anti-marcus on the population question.' "fowler's tracts on physiology, etc. "dr. c. knowlton's 'fruits of philosophy'. "'moral physiology: a plain treatise on the population question.' "in this directory mr. g.j. holyoake says: "'no. fleet street is a central secular book depot, where all works extant in the english language on the side of freethought in religion, politics, morals, and culture are kept in stock, or are procured at short notice.' "we shall try to do at stonecutter street that which mr. holyoake's directory promised for fleet street house. "the partners in the freethought publishing company are annie besant and charles bradlaugh, who have entered into a legal partnership for the purpose of sharing the legal responsibility of the works they publish. "we intend to publish nothing that we do not think we can morally defend. all that we do publish we shall defend. we do not mean that we shall agree with all we publish, but we shall, so far as we can, try to keep the possibility of free utterance of earnest, honest opinion. "it may not be out of place here to remind new readers of this journal of that which old readers well know, that no articles are editorial except those which are unsigned or bear the name of the editor, or that of the sub-editor; for each and every other article the author is allowed to say his own say in his own way; the editor only furnishes the means to address our readers, leaving to him or to her the right and responsibility of divergent thought. "annie besant "charles bradlaugh." thus we found ourselves suddenly launched on a new undertaking, and with some amusement and much trepidation i realised that i was "in business", with business knowledge amounting to _nil_. i had, however, fair ability and plenty of goodwill, and i determined to learn my work, feeling proud that i had become one of the list of "freethought publishers", who published for love of the cause of freedom, and risked all for the triumph of a principle ere it wore "silver slippers and walked in the sunshine with applause". on february th mr. watts was tried at the old bailey. he withdrew his plea of "not guilty", and pleaded "guilty". his counsel urged that he was a man of good character, that mr. george jacob holyoake had sold the incriminated pamphlet, that mr. watts had bought the stereo-plates of it in the stock of the late mr. austin holyoake, which he had taken over bodily, and that he had never read the book until after the bristol investigation. "mr. watts pledges himself to me", the counsel stated, "that he was entirely ignorant of the contents of this pamphlet until he heard passages read from it in the prosecution at bristol". the counsel for the prosecution pointed out that this statement was inaccurate, and read passages from mr. watts' deposition made on the first occasion at bristol, in which mr. watts stated that he had perused the book, and was prepared to justify it as a medical work. he, however, did not wish to press the case, if the plates and stock were destroyed, and mr. watts was accordingly discharged on his own recognisances in £ to come up for judgment when called on. while this struggle was raging, an old friend of mr. bradlaugh's, mr. george odger, was slowly passing away; the good old man lay dying in his poor lodgings in high street, oxford street, and i find recorded in the _national reformer_ of march th, that on february th we had been to see him, and that "he is very feeble and is, apparently, sinking fast; but he is as brave and bright, facing his last enemy, as he has ever been facing his former ones". he died on march th, and was buried in brompton cemetery on the th of the same month. a grave question now lay before us for decision. the knowlton pamphlet had been surrendered; was that surrender to stand as the last word of the freethought party on a book which had been sold by the most prominent men in its ranks for forty years? to our minds such surrender, left unchallenged, would be a stain on all who submitted to it, and we decided that faulty as the book was in many respects it had yet become the symbol of a great principle, of the right to circulate physiological knowledge among the poor in pamphlets published at a price they could afford to pay. deliberately counting the risk, recognising that by our action we should subject ourselves to the vilest slander, knowing that christian malice would misrepresent and ignorance would echo the misrepresentation --we yet resolved that the sacrifice must be made, and made by us in virtue of our position in the freethought party. if the leaders flinched how could the followers be expected to fight? the greatest sacrifice had to be made by mr. bradlaugh. how would an indictment for publishing an obscene book affect his candidature for northampton? what a new weapon for his foes, what a new difficulty for his friends! i may say here that our worst forebodings were realised by the event; we have been assailed as "vendors of obscene literature", as "writers of obscene books", as "living by the circulation of filthy books". and it is because such accusations have been widely made that i here place on permanent record the facts of the case, for thus, at least, some honest opponents will learn the truth and will cease to circulate the slanders they may have repeated in ignorance. on february th our determination to republish the knowlton pamphlet was announced by mr. bradlaugh in an address delivered by him at the hall of science on "the right of publication". extracts from a brief report, published in the _national reformer_ of march th, will show the drift of his statement: "mr. bradlaugh was most warmly welcomed to the platform, and reiterated cheers greeted him as he rose to make his speech. few who heard him that evening will forget the passion and the pathos with which he spoke. the defence of the right to publish was put as strongly and as firmly as words could put it, and the determination to maintain that right, in dock and in jail as on the platform, rang out with no uncertain sound. truly, as the orator said: 'the bold words i have spoken from this place would be nothing but the emptiest brag and the coward's boast, if i flinched now in the day of battle'. every word of praise of the fighters of old would fall in disgrace on the head of him who spoke it, if when the time came to share in their peril he shrunk back from the danger of the strife.... mr. bradlaugh drew a graphic picture of the earlier struggles for a free press, and then dealt with the present state of the law; from that he passed on to the pamphlet which is the test-question of the hour; he pointed out how some parts of it were foolish, such as the 'philosophical proem', but remarked that he knew no right in law to forbid the publication of all save wisdom; he then showed how, had he originally been asked to publish the pamphlet, he should have raised some objections to its style, but that was a very different matter from permitting the authorities to stop its sale; the style of many books might be faulty without the books being therefore obscene. he contended the book was a perfectly moral medical work, and was no more indecent than every other medical work dealing with the same subject. the knowledge it gave was useful knowledge; many a young man might be saved from disease by such a knowledge as was contained in the book; if it was argued that such books should not be sold at so cheap a rate, he replied that it was among the masses that such physiological knowledge was needed, 'and if there is one subject above all others', he exclaimed, 'for which a man might gladly sacrifice his hopes and his life, surely it is for that which would relieve his fellow-men from poverty, the mother of crimes, and would make happy homes where now only want and suffering reign'. he had fully counted the cost; he knew all he might lose; but carlile before him had been imprisoned for teaching the same doctrine, 'and what carlile did for his day, i, while health and strength remain, will do for mine'." the position we took up in republishing the pamphlet was clearly stated in the preface which we wrote for it, and which i here reprint, as it gives plainly and briefly the facts of the case: "publishers' preface to dr. knowlton's 'fruits of philosophy'. "the pamphlet which we now present to the public is one which has been lately prosecuted under lord campbell's act, and which we now republish in order to test the right of publication. it was originally written by charles knowlton, m.d., an american physician, whose degree entitles him to be heard with respect on a medical question. it is openly sold and widely circulated in america at the present time. it was first published in england, about forty years ago, by james watson, the gallant radical who came to london and took up richard carlile's work when carlile was in jail. he sold it unchallenged for many years, approved it, and recommended it. it was printed and published by messrs. holyoake and co., and found its place, with other works of a similar character, in their 'freethought directory' of , and was thus identified with freethought literature at the then leading freethought _depôt_ . mr. austin holyoake, working in conjunction with mr. bradlaugh at the _national reformer_ office, johnson's court, printed and published it in his turn, and this well-known freethought advocate, in his 'large or small families'. selected this pamphlet, together with r.d. owen's 'moral physiology' and the 'elements of social science', for special recommendation. mr. charles watts, succeeding to mr. austin holyoake's business, continued the sale, and when mr. watson died in , he bought the plates of the work (with others) from mrs. watson, and continued to advertise and to sell it until december rd, . for the last forty years the book has thus been identified with freethought, advertised by leading freethinkers, published under the sanction of their names, and sold in the head-quarters of freethought literature. if during this long period the party has thus--without one word of protest--circulated an indecent work, the less we talk about freethought morality the better; the work has been largely sold, and if leading freethinkers have sold it--profiting by the sale--in mere carelessness, few words could be strong enough to brand the indifference which thus scattered obscenity broadcast over the land. the pamphlet has been withdrawn from circulation in consequence of the prosecution instituted against mr. charles watts, but the question of its legality or illegality has not been tried; a plea of 'guilty' was put in by the publisher, and the book, therefore, was not examined, nor was any judgment passed upon it; no jury registered a verdict, and the judge stated that he had not read the work. "we republish this pamphlet, honestly believing that on all questions affecting the happiness of the people, whether they be theological, political, or social, fullest right of free discussion ought to be maintained at all hazards. we do not personally endorse all that dr. knowlton says: his 'philosophical proem' seems to us full of philosophical mistakes, and--as we are neither of us doctors--we are not prepared to endorse his medical views; but since progress can only be made through discussion, and no discussion is possible where differing opinions are suppressed, we claim the right to publish all opinions, so that the public, enabled to see all sides of a question, may have the materials for forming a sound judgment. "the alterations made are very slight; the book was badly printed, and errors of spelling and a few clumsy grammatical expressions have been corrected; the sub-title has been changed, and in one case four lines have been omitted, because they are repeated word for word further on. we have, however, made some additions to the pamphlet, which are in all cases kept distinct from the original text. physiology has made great strides during the past forty years, and not considering it right to circulate erroneous physiology, we submitted the pamphlet to a doctor in whose accurate knowledge we have the fullest confidence, and who is widely known in all parts of the world as the author of the "elements of social science"; the notes signed "g.r." are written by this gentleman. references to other works are given in foot notes for the assistance of the reader, if he desires to study the subject further. "old radicals will remember that richard carlile published a work entitled 'every woman's book', which deals with the same subject, and advocates the same object, as dr. knowlton's pamphlet. e.d. owen objected to the 'style and tone' of carlile's 'every woman's book' as not being 'in good taste', and he wrote his 'moral physiology', to do in america what carlile's work was intended to do in england. this work of carlile's was stigmatised as 'indecent' and 'immoral' because it advocated, as does dr. knowlton's, the use of preventive checks to population. in striving to carry on carlile's work, we cannot expect to escape carlile's reproach, but whether applauded or condemned we mean to carry it on, socially as well as politically and theologically. "we believe, with the rev. mr. malthus, that population has a tendency to increase faster than the means of existence, and that _some_ checks must therefore exercise control over population; the checks now exercised are semi-starvation and preventible disease; the enormous mortality among the infants of the poor is one of the checks which now keeps down the population. the checks that ought to control population are scientific, and it is these which we advocate. we think it more moral to prevent the conception of children, than, after they are born, to murder them by want of food, air, and clothing. we advocate scientific checks to population, because, so long as poor men have large families, pauperism is a necessity, and from pauperism grow crime and disease. the wage which would support the parents and two or three children in comfort and decency is utterly insufficient to maintain a family of twelve or fourteen, and we consider it a crime to bring into the world human beings doomed to misery or to premature death. it is not only the hand-working classes which are concerned in this question. the poor curate, the struggling man of business, the young professional man, are often made wretched for life by their inordinately large families, and their years are passed in one long battle to live; meanwhile the woman's health is sacrificed and her life embittered from the same cause. to all of these, we point the way of relief and of happiness; for the sake of these we publish what others fear to issue, and we do it, confident that if we fail the first time, we shall succeed at last, and that the english public will not permit the authorities to stifle a discussion of the most important social question which can influence a nation's welfare. "charles bradlaugh. "annie besant." we advertised the sale of the pamphlet in the _national reformer_ of march th (published march nd) in the following words: fruits of philosophy. by charles knowlton, m.d. price sixpence. this pamphlet will be republished on saturday, march th, _in extenso_, with some additional medical notes by a london doctor of medicine. it will be on sale at , stonecutter street, e.g., after p.m. until close of shop. no one need apply before this time, as none will be on sale. mr. charles bradlaugh and mrs. annie besant will be in attendance from that hour, and will sell personally the first hundred copies. freethought publishing company, , stonecutter street, e.c. in addition to this we ourselves delivered copies on march rd to mr. martin, the chief clerk of the magistrates at guildhall, to the officer in charge at the city police office in old jewry, and to the solicitor for the city of london. with each pamphlet we handed in a notice that we should attend personally to sell the book on march th, at stonecutter street, from to p.m. these precautions were taken in order to force the authorities to prosecute us, and not any of our subordinates, if they prosecuted at all. the account of the first sale will interest many: "on saturday we went down to stonecutter street, accompanied by the misses bradlaugh and mr. and mrs. touzeau parris; we arrived at no. at three minutes to four, and found a crowd awaiting us. we promptly filled the window with copies of the pamphlet, as a kind of general notice of the sale within, and then opened the door. the shop was filled immediately, and in twenty minutes over copies were sold. no one sold save mr. bradlaugh and myself, but miss bradlaugh sorted dozens with a skill that seemed to stamp her as intended by nature for the business, while her sister supplied change with a rapidity worthy of a bank clerk. several detectives favored us with a visit, and one amused us by coming in and buying two copies from mr. bradlaugh, and then retiring gracefully; after an interval of perhaps a quarter of an hour he reappeared, and purchased one from me. two policemen outside made themselves useful; one patrolled the street calmly, and the other very kindly aided norrish, mr. eamsey's co-worker, in his efforts to keep the stream flowing quietly, without too much pressure. mr. bradlaugh's voice was heard warningly from time to time, bidding customers not to crowd, and everything went well and smoothly, save that i occasionally got into fearful muddles in the intricacies of 'trade price'; i disgusted one customer, who muttered roughly 'ritchie', and who, when i gave him two copies, and put his shilling in the till, growled: 'i shan't take them'. i was fairly puzzled, till mr. bradlaugh enlightened me as to the difficulty, 'ritchie' to me being unknown; it appeared that 'ritchie', muttered by the buyer, meant that the copies were wanted by a bookseller of that name, and his messenger was irate at being charged full price. friends from various parts appeared to give a kindly word; a number of the members of the dialectical society came in, and many were the congratulations and promises of aid in case of need. several who came in offered to come forward as bail, and their names were taken by mr. parris. the buyer that most raised my curiosity was one of mr. watts' sons, who came in and bought seven copies, putting down only trade-price on the counter; no one is supplied at trade-price unless he buys to sell again, and we have all been wondering why mr. watts should intend to sell the knowlton pamphlet, after he has proclaimed it to be obscene and indecent. at six o'clock the shutters were put up, and we gave up our amateur shop-keeping; our general time for closing on saturday is p.m., but we kept the shop open on saturday for the special purpose of selling the knowlton pamphlet. we sold about copies, besides sending out a large number of country parcels, so that if the police now amuse themselves in seizing the work, they will entirely have failed in stopping its circulation. the pamphlet, during the present week, will have been sold over england and scotland, and the only effect of the foolish police interference will be to have sold a large edition. we must add one word of thanks to them for the kindly aid given us by their gratuitous advertisement." [i may note here, in passing, that we printed our edition verbatim from that issued by james watson, not knowing that various editions were in circulation. it was thereupon stated by mr. watts that we had not reprinted the pamphlet for which he was prosecuted, so we at once issued another edition, printed from his own version.] the help that flowed in to us from all sides was startling both in quantity and quality; a defence committee was quickly formed, consisting of the following persons: "c.r. drysdale, m.d., miss vickery, h.r.s. dalton, b.a., w.j. birch, m.a., j. swaagman, mrs. swaagman, p.a.v. le lubez, mdme. le lubez, miss bradlaugh, miss h. bradlaugh, mrs. parris, t. allsop, e. truelove, mark e. marsden, f.a. ford, mrs. fenwick miller, g.n. strawbridge, w.w. wright, mrs. rennick, mrs. lowe, w. bell, thomas slater, g. f. forster, j. scott, g. priestley, j.w. white, j. hart, h. brooksbank, mrs. brooksbank, g. middleton, j. child, ben. w. elmy, elizabeth wolstenholme elmy, touzeau parris (hon. sec.), captain r.h. dyas, thomas roy (president of the scottish secular union), r.a. cooper, robert forder, william wayham, mrs. elizabeth wayham, professor emile acollas (ancien professeur de droit français à l'université de berne), w. reynolds, c. herbert, j.f. haines, h. rogers (president of the trunk and portmanteau makers' trade society), yves guyot (redacteur en chef du _radical_ et du _bien public),_ w.j. ramsey, j. wilks, mrs. wilks, j.e. symes, e. martin, w.e. adams, mrs. adams, john bryson (president of the northumberland miners' mutual confident association), ralph young, j. grout, mrs. grout, general cluseret, a. talandier (member of the chamber of deputies), j. baxter langley, ll.d., m.r.c.s., f.l.s." mrs. fenwick miller's letter of adhesion is worthy republication; it puts so tersely the real position: " , francis terrace. victoria park. "march st. "my dear mrs. besant,--i feel myself privileged in having the opportunity of expressing both to you and to the public, by giving you my small aid to your defence, how much i admire the noble position taken up by mr. bradlaugh and yourself upon this attempt to suppress free discussion, and to keep the people in enforced ignorance upon the most important of subjects. it is shameful that you should have to do it through the cowardice of the less important person who might have made himself a hero by doing as you now do, but was too weak for his opportunities. since you have had to do it, however, accept the assurance of my warm sympathy, and my readiness to aid in any way within my power in your fight. please add my name to your committee. you will find a little cheque within: i wish i had fifty times as much to give. "under other circumstances, the pamphlet might well have been withdrawn from circulation, since its physiology its obsolete, and consequently its practical deductions to some extent unsound. but it must be everywhere comprehended that _this is not the point_. the book would have been equally attacked had its physiology been new and sound; the prosecution is against the right to issue a work upon the special subject, and against the freedom of the press and individual liberty.--believe me, yours very faithfully, r. fenwick miller." among the many received were letters of encouragement from general garibaldi, m. talandier, professor emile acollas, and the rev. s.d. headlam. as we did not care to be hunted about london by the police, we offered to be at stonecutter street daily from to a.m. until we were arrested, and our offer was readily accepted. friends who were ready to act as bail came forward in large numbers, and we arranged with some of them that they should be within easy access in case of need. there was a little delay in issuing the warrants for our arrest. a deputation from the christian evidence society waited on mr. (now sir richard) cross, to ask that the government should prosecute us, and he acceded to their request. the warrants were issued on april rd, and were executed on april th. the story of the arrest i take from my own article in the _national reformer,_ premising that we had been told that "the warrants were in the hands of simmons". "thursday morning found us again on our way to stonecutter street, and as we turned into it we were aware of three gentlemen regarding us affectionately from beneath the shelter of a ladder on the off-side of farringdon street. 'that's simmons,' quoth mr. bradlaugh, as we went in, and i shook my head solemnly, regarding 'simmons' as the unsubstantial shadow of a dream. but as the two misses bradlaugh and myself reached the room above the shop, a gay--'i told you so', from mr. bradlaugh downstairs, announced a visit, and in another moment mr. bradlaugh came up, followed by the three unknown. 'you know what we have come for,' said the one in front; and no one disputed his assertion. detective-sergeant r. outram was the head officer, and he produced his warrant at mr. bradlaugh's request; he was accompanied by two detective officers, messrs. simmons and williams. he was armed also with a search warrant, a most useful document, seeing that the last copy of the edition (of , copies) had been sold on the morning of the previous day, and a high pile of orders was accumulating downstairs, orders which we were unable to fulfil. mr. bradlaugh told him, with a twinkle in his eye, that he was too late, but offered him every facility for searching. a large packet of 'text books'--left for that purpose by norrish, if the truth were known-- whose covers were the same color as those of the 'fruits', attracted mr. outram's attention, and he took off some of the brown paper wrapper, but found the goods unseizable. he took one copy of the 'cause of woman', by ben elmy, and wandered up and down the house seeking for goods to devour, but found nothing to reward him for his energy. meanwhile we wrote a few telegrams and a note or two, and after about half-an-hour's delay, we started for the police-station in bridewell place, arriving there at . . the officers, who showed us every courtesy and kindness consistent with the due execution of their duty, allowed mr. bradlaugh and myself to walk on in front, and they followed us across the roar of fleet street, down past ludgate hill station, to the police office. here we passed into a fair-sized room, and were requested to go into a funny iron-barred place; it was a large oval railed in, with a brightly polished iron bar running round it, the door closing with a snap. here we stood while two officers in uniform got out their books; one of these reminded mr. bradlaugh of his late visits there, remarking that he supposed the 'gentleman you were so kind to will do you the same good turn now'. mr. bradlaugh dryly replied that he didn't think so, accepting service and giving it were two very different things. our examination then began; names, ages, abodes, birth-places, number of children, color of hair and eyes, were all duly enrolled; then we were measured, and our heights put down; next we delivered up watches, purses, letters, keys--in fact emptied our pockets; then i was walked off by the housekeeper into a neighboring cell and searched--a surely most needless proceeding; it strikes me this is an unnecessary indignity to which to subject an uncondemned prisoner, except in cases of theft, where stolen property might be concealed about the person. it is extremely unpleasant to be handled, and on such a charge as that against myself a search was an absurdity. the woman was as civil as she could be, but, as she fairly enough said, she had no option in the matter. after this, i went back to the room and rejoined my fellow prisoner and we chatted peaceably with our guardians; they quite recognised our object in our proceedings, and one gave it as his opinion that we ought to have been summoned, and not taken by warrant. taken, however, we clearly were, and we presently drove on to guildhall, mr. outram in the cab with us, and mr. williams on the box. "at guildhall, we passed straight into the court, through the dock, and down the stairs. here mr. outram delivered us over to the gaoler, and the most uncomfortable part of our experiences began. below the court are a number of cells, stone floored and whitewashed walled; instead of doors there are heavy iron gates, covered with thick close grating; the passages are divided here and there with similar strong iron gates, only some of which are grated. the rules of the place of course divided the sexes, so mr. bradlaugh and myself were not allowed to occupy the same cell; the gaoler, however, did the best he could for us, by allowing me to remain in a section of the passage which separated the men's from the women's cells, and by putting mr. bradlaugh into the first of the men's. then, by opening a little window in the thick wall, a grating was discovered, through which we could dimly see each other. mr. bradlaugh's face, as seen from my side, scored all over with the little oblong holes in the grating reflected by the dull glimmer of the gas in the passage, was curious rather than handsome; mine was, probably, not more attractive. in this charming place we passed two hours-and-a-half, and it was very dull and very cold. we solaced ourselves, at first, by reading the _secular review_, mr. bradlaugh tearing it into pages, and passing them one by one through the grating. by pushing on his side and pulling on mine, we managed to get them through the narrow holes. our position when we read them was a strange satire on one article (which i read with great pain), which expressed the writer's opinion that the book was so altered as not to be worth prosecuting. neither the police nor the magistrate recognised any difference between the two editions. as i knew the second edition, taken from mr. watts', was almost ready for delivery as i read, i could not help smiling at the idea that no one 'had the courage' to reprint it. "mr. bradlaugh paced up and down his limited kingdom, and after i had finished correcting an _n.r._, i sometimes walked and sometimes sat, and we chatted over future proceedings, and growled at our long detention, and listened to names of prisoners being called, until we were at last summoned to 'go up higher', and we joyfully obeyed. it was a strange sort of place to stand in, the dock of a police-court the position struck one as really funny, and everyone who looked at us seemed to feel the same incongruity: officials, chief clerk, magistrate, all were equally polite, and mr. bradlaugh seemed to get his own way from the dock as much as everywhere else. the sitting magistrate was alderman figgins, a nice, kindly old gentleman, robed in marvellous, but not uncomely, garments of black velvet, purple, and dark fur. below the magistrate, on either hand, sat a gentleman writing, one of whom was mr. martin, the chief clerk, who took the purely formal evidence required to justify the arrest. the reporters all sat at the right, and mr. touzeau parris shared their bench, sitting on the corner nearest us. just behind him mr. outram had kindly found seats for the two misses bradlaugh, who surveyed us placidly, and would, i am sure, had their duty called them to do so, have gladly and willingly changed places with us. the back of the court was filled with kindly faces, and many bright smiles greeted us; among the people were those who so readily volunteered their aid, those described by an official as 'a regular waggon-load of bail'. their presence there was a most useful little demonstration of support, and the telegrams that kept dropping in also had their effect. 'another of your friends, mr. bradlaugh,' quoth the chief clerk, as the fourth was handed to him, and i hear that the little buff envelopes continued to arrive all the afternoon. i need not here detail what happened in the court, as a full report by a shorthand writer appears in another part of the paper, and i only relate odds and ends. it amused me to see the broad grin which ran round when the detective was asked whether he had executed the seizure warrant, and he answered sadly that there was 'nothing to seize'. when bail was called for, dr. drysdale, messrs. swaagman, truelove, and bell were the first summoned, and no objections being raised to them, nor further securities asked for, these four gentlemen were all that were needed. we were then solemnly and severally informed that we were bound over in our own recognizances of £ each to appear on tuesday, april th, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, to answer, etc., etc., etc., to which adjuration i only replied by a polite little bow. after all this we passed into a small room at one side, and there waited till divers papers were delivered unto us, and we were told to depart in peace. a number of people had gathered outside and cheered us warmly as we came out, one voice calling: 'bravo! there's some of the old english spirit left yet'. being very hungry (it was nearly three o'clock), we went off to luncheon, very glad that the warrant was no longer hanging over our heads, and on our way home we bought a paper announcing our arrest. the evening papers all contained reports of the proceedings, as did also the papers of the following morning. i have seen the _globe, standard, daily news, times, echo, daily telegraph_, and they all give perfectly fair reports of what took place. it is pleasant that they all seem to recognise that our reason for acting as we have done is a fair and honorable desire to test the right of publication." xv. the preliminary investigation before the magistrates at guildhall duly came on upon april th, the prosecution being conducted by mr. douglas straight and mr. f. mead. the case was put by mr. straight with extreme care and courtesy, the learned counsel stating, "i cannot conceal from myself, or from those who instruct me, that everything has been done in accordance with fairness and _bona fides_ on the part of mr. bradlaugh and the lady sitting by the side of him". mr. straight contended that the good intentions of a publisher could not be taken as proving that a book was not indictable, and laid stress on the cheapness of the work, "the price charged is so little as sixpence". mr. bradlaugh proved that there was no physiological statement in knowlton, which was not given in far fuller detail in standard works on physiology, quoting carpenter, dalton, acton, and others; he showed that malthus, professor fawcett, mrs. fawcett, and others, advocated voluntary limitation of the family, establishing his positions by innumerable quotations. a number of eminent men were in court, subpoenaed to prove their own works, and i find on them the following note, written by myself at the time:-- "we necessarily put some of our medical and publishing witnesses to great inconvenience in summoning them into court, but those who were really most injured were the most courteous. mr. trübner, although suffering from a painful illness, and although, we had expressed our willingness to accept in his stead some member of his staff, was present, kindly and pleasant as usual. dr. power, a most courteous gentleman, called away from an examination of some young men, never thought of asking that he should be relieved from the citizen's duty, but only privately asked to be released as soon as possible. dr. parker was equally worthy of the noble profession to which he belonged, and said he did not want to stay longer than he need, but would be willing to return whenever wanted. needless to say that dr. drysdale was there, ready to do his duty. dr. w.b. carpenter was a strange contrast to these; he was rough and discourteous in manner, and rudely said that he was not responsible for 'human physiology, by dr. carpenter', as his responsibility had ceased with the fifth edition. it seems a strange thing that a man of eminence, presumably a man of honor, should disavow all responsibility for a book which bears his name as author on the title-page. clearly, if the 'human physiology' is not dr. carpenter's, the public is grossly deceived by the pretence that it is, and if, as dr. carpenter says, the whole responsibility rests on dr. power, then that gentleman should have the whole credit of that very useful book. it is not right that dr. carpenter should have all the glory and dr. power all the annoyance resulting from the work." among all the men we came into contact with during the trial, dr. carpenter and professor fawcett were the only two who shrank from endorsing their own written statements. the presiding magistrate, mr. alderman figgins, devoted himself gallantly to the unwonted task of wading through physiological text books, the poor old gentleman's hair sometimes standing nearly on end, and his composure being sadly ruffled when he found that dr. carpenter's florid treatise, with numerous illustrations of a, to him, startling character, was given to young boys and girls as a prize in government examinations. he compared knowlton with the work of dr. acton's submitted to him, and said despondingly that one was just the same as the other. at the end of the day the effect made on him by the defence was shown by his letting us go free without bail. mr. bradlaugh finished his defence at the next hearing of the case on april th, and his concluding remarks, showing the position we took, may well find their place here: "the object of this book is to circulate amongst the masses of the poor and wretched (as far as my power will circulate it), and to seek to produce in their minds such prudential views on the subject of population as shall at least hinder some of the horrors to be witnessed amongst the starving. i have not put you to the trouble of hearing proof--even if i were, in this court, permitted to do so--of facts on the population question, because the learned counsel for the prosecution, with the frankness which characterises this prosecution, admitted there was the tendency on the part of animated nature to increase until checked by the absence or deficiency of the means of subsistence. this being so, some checks must step in; these checks must be either positive or preventive and prudential. what are positive checks? the learned counsel has told you what they are. they are war, disease, misery, starvation. they are in china--to take a striking instance--accompanied by habits so revolting that i cannot now allude to them. see the numbers of miserable starving children in the great cities and centres of population. is it right to go to these people and say, 'bring into the world children who cannot live', who all their lives are prevented by the poverty-smitten frames of their parents, and by their own squalid surroundings, from enjoying almost every benefit of the life thrust on them! who inherit the diseases and adopt the crimes which poverty and misery have provided for them? the very medical works i have put in in this case show how true this is in too many cases, and if you read the words of dr. acton, crime is sometimes involved of a terrible nature which the human tongue governed by training shrinks from describing. we justly or erroneously believe that we are doing our duty in putting this information in the hands of the people, and we contest this case with no kind of bravado; the penalty we already have to pay is severe enough, for even while we are defending this, some portion of the public press is using words of terrorism against the witnesses to be called, and is describing myself and my co-defendant in a fashion that i feel sure will find no sanction here, and that i hope will never occur again. we contest this because the advocacy of such views on population has been familiar to me for many years. the _public journal of health_, edited by dr. hardwicke, the coroner for central middlesex, will show you that in i was known, in relation to this question, to men high in position in the land as original thinkers and political economists; that the late john stuart mill has left behind him, in his autobiography, testimony concerning me on this subject, according unqualified praise to me for the views thereon which i had labored to disseminate; and that lord amberley thanked me, in a society of which we were then both associates, for having achieved what i had in bringing these principles to the knowledge of the poorer classes of the people. with taxation on every hand extending, with the cost of living increasing, and with wages declining--and, as to the last element, i am reminded that recently i was called upon to arbitrate in a wages' dispute in the north of england for a number of poor men, and, having minutely scrutinised every side of the situation, was compelled to reduce their wages by per cent., there having been already a reduction of per cent, in the short space of some twenty months previously--i say, with wages declining, with the necessaries of life growing dearer and still dearer, and with the burden of rent and taxation ever increasing-- if, in the presence of such a condition of life among the vast industrial and impoverished masses of this land, i am not to be allowed to tell them how best to prevent or to ameliorate the wretchedness of their lot--if, with all this, i may not speak to them of the true remedy, but the law is to step in and say to me, 'your mouth is closed'; then, i ask you, what remedy is there remaining by which i am to deal with this awful misery?" the worthy magistrate duly committed us for trial, accepting our own recognizances in £ each to appear at the central criminal court on may th. to the central criminal court, however, we had not the smallest intention of going, if we could possibly avoid it, so mr. bradlaugh immediately took steps to obtain a writ of _certiorari_ to remove the indictment to the court of queen's bench. on april th mr. bradlaugh moved for the writ before lord chief justice cockburn and mr. justice mellor, and soon after he began his argument the judge stopped him, saying that he would grant the writ if, "upon, looking at it we think its object is the legitimate one of promoting knowledge on a matter of human interest, then, lest there should be any miscarriage resulting from any undue prejudice, we might think it is a case for trial by a judge and a special jury. i do not say it is so, mark, but only put it so, that if, on the other hand, science and philosophy are merely made the pretence of publishing a book which is calculated to arouse the passions of those who peruse it, then it follows that we must not allow the pretence to prevail, and treat the case otherwise than as one which may come before anybody to try. if we really think it is a fair question as to whether it is a scientific work or not, and its object is a just one, then we should be disposed to accede to your application, and allow it to be tried by a judge and special jury, and for that purpose allow the proceedings to be removed into this court. but, before we decide that, we must look into the book and form our own judgment as to the real object of the work." two copies of the book were at once handed up to the bench, and on april th the court granted the writ, the lord chief justice saying: "we have looked at the book which is the subject-matter of the indictment, and we think it really raises a fair question as to whether it is a scientific production for legitimate purposes, or whether it is what the indictment alleged it to be, an obscene publication." further, the court accepted mr. bradlaugh's recognisances for £ for the costs of the prosecution. some, who have never read the knowlton pamphlet, glibly denounce it as a filthy and obscene publication. the lord chief justice of england and mr. justice mellor, after reading it, decided to grant a writ which they had determined not to grant if the book had merely a veneer of science and was "calculated to arouse the passions". christian bigotry has ever since striven to confound our action with the action of men who sell filth for gain, but only the shameless can persist in so doing when their falsehoods are plainly exposed, as they are exposed here. the most touching letters from the poor came to us from all parts of the kingdom. one woman, who described herself as "very poor", and who had had thirteen children and was expecting another, wrote saying, "if you want money we will manage to send you my husband's pay one week". an army officer wrote thanking us, saying he had "a wife, seven children, and three servants to keep on s. d. a day; d. per head per diem keeps life in us. the rest for education and raiment." a physician wrote of his hospital experience, saying that it taught him that "less dangerous preventive checks to large families [than over-lactation] should be taught to the lower classes". many clergymen wrote of their experience among the poor, and their joy that some attempt was being made to teach them how to avoid over-large families, and letter after letter came to me from poor curates' wives, thanking me for daring to publish information of such vital importance. in many places the poor people taxed themselves so much a week for the cost of the defence, because they could not afford any large sum at once. as soon as we were committed for trial, we resigned our posts on the executive of the national secular society, feeling that we had no right to entangle the society in a fight which it had not authorised us to carry on. we stated that we did not desire to relinquish our positions, "but we do desire that the members of the executive shall feel free to act as they think wisest for the interest of freethought". the letter was sent to the branches of the society, and of the thirty-three who answered all, except burnley and nottingham, refused to accept our resignation. on the executive a very clever attempt was made to place us in a difficult position by stating that the resignations were not accepted, but that, as we had resigned, and as the council had no power to renew appointments made by the conference, it could not invite us to resume our offices. this ingenious proposal was made by mr. george jacob holyoake, who all through the trial did his best to injure us, apparently because he had himself sold the book long before we had done so, and was anxious to shield himself from condemnation by attacking us. his resolution was carried by five votes to two. mr. haines and mr. ramsey, detecting its maliciousness, voted against it. the votes of the branches, of course, decided the question overwhelmingly in our favor, but we declined to sit on the executive with such a resolution standing, and it was then carried--mr. holyoake and mr. watts only voting against--that "this council acknowledge the consideration shown by mr. bradlaugh and mrs. besant for the public repute of the national secular society by tendering their resignations, and whilst disclaiming all responsibility for the book, 'fruits of philosophy', decline to accept such resignations". so thoroughly did we agree that the society ought not to be held responsible for our action, that we published the statement: "the freethought party is no more the endorser of our malthusianism than it is of our republicanism, or of our advocacy of woman suffrage, or of our support of the north in america, or of the part we take in french politics". i may add that at the nottingham conference mr. bradlaugh was re-elected president with only four dissentients, the party being practically unanimous in its determination to uphold a free press. the next stage of the prosecution was the seizure of our book packets and letters in the post-office by the tory government. the "freethinker's text book", the _national reformer_, and various pamphlets were seized, as well as the "fruits of philosophy", and sealed letters were opened. many meetings were held denouncing the revival of a system of government _espionage_ which, it was supposed, had died out in england, and so great was the commotion raised that a stop was soon put to this form of government theft, and we recovered the stolen property. on may th mr. edward truelove was attacked for the publication of robert dale owen's "moral physiology", and of a pamphlet entitled "individual, family, and national poverty", and as both were pamphlets dealing with the population question, mr. truelove's case was included in the general defence. among the witnesses we desired to subpoena was charles darwin, as we needed to use passages from his works; he wrote back a most interesting letter, telling us that he disagreed with preventive checks to population on the ground that over-multiplication was useful, since it caused a struggle for existence in which only the strongest and the ablest survived, and that he doubted whether it was possible for preventive checks to serve as well as positive. he asked us to avoid calling him if we could: "i have been for many years much out of health, and have been forced to give up all society or public meetings, and it would be great suffering to me to be a witness in court.... if it is not asking too great a favor, i should be greatly obliged if you would inform me what you decide, as apprehension of the coming exertion would prevent the rest which i require doing me much good." needless to add that i at once wrote to mr. darwin that we would not call him, but his gentle courtesy has always remained a pleasant memory to me. another kind act was that of the famous publisher, mr. h.g. bohn, who volunteered himself as a witness, and drew attention to the fact that every publisher of serious literature was imperilled by the attempt to establish a police censorship. the trial commenced on june th, in the court of queen's bench at westminster, before the lord chief justice of england and a special jury. sir hardinge giffard, the solicitor-general of the tory government, mr. douglas straight, and mr. mead, were the prosecuting counsel. the special jury consisted of the following: alfred upward, augustus voelcker, captain alfred henry waldy, thomas richard walker, robert wallace, edmund waller, arthur walter, charles alfred walter, john ward, arthur warre; the two talesmen, who were afterwards added to make up the number, were george skinner and charles wilson. the solicitor-general made a bitter and violent speech, full of party hate and malice, endeavoring to prejudice the jury against the work by picking out bits of medical detail and making profuse apologies for reading them, and shuddering and casting up his eyes with all the skill of a finished actor. for a man accustomed to old bailey practice he was really marvellously easily shocked; a simple physiological fact brought him to the verge of tears, while the statement that people often had too large families covered him with such modest confusion that he found it hard to continue his address. it fell to my lot to open the defence, and to put the general line of argument by which we justified the publication; mr. bradlaugh dealt with the defence of the book as a medical work--until the lord chief justice suggested that there was no "redundancy of details, or anything more than it is necessary for a medical man to know"--and strongly urged that the knowledge given by the pamphlet was absolutely necessary for the poor. we called as witnesses for the defence miss alice vickery--the first lady who passed the examination of the pharmaceutical society of great britain, and who has since passed the examinations qualifying her to act as a physician--dr. charles drysdale, and mr. h.g. bohn. dr. drysdale bore witness to the medical value of the pamphlet, stating that "considering it was written forty years ago ... the writer must have been a profound student of physiology, and far advanced in the medical science of his time". "i have always considered it an excellent treatise, and i have found among my professional brethren that they have had nothing to say against it." mr. bohn bore witness that he had published books which "entirely covered your book, and gave a great deal more." mr. bradlaugh and myself then severally summed up our case, and the solicitor-general made a speech for the prosecution very much of the character of his first one, doing all he could to inflame the minds of the jury against us. the lord chief justice, to quote a morning paper, "summed up strongly for an acquittal". he said that "a more ill-advised and more injudicious proceeding in the way of a prosecution was probably never brought into a court of justice". he described us as "two enthusiasts, who have been actuated by the desire to do good in a particular department of society". he bade the jury be careful "not to abridge the full and free right of public discussion, and the expression of public and private opinion on matters which are interesting to all, and materially affect the welfare of society." then came an admirable statement of the law of population, and of his own view of the scope of the book which i present in full as our best justification. "the author, doctor knowlton, professes to deal with the subject of population. now, a century ago a great and important question of political economy was brought to the attention of the scientific and thinking world by a man whose name everybody is acquainted with, namely, malthus. he started for the first time a theory which astonished the world, though it is now accepted as an irrefragable truth, and has since been adopted by economist after economist. it is that population has a strong and marked tendency to increase faster than the means of subsistence afforded by the earth, or that the skill and industry of man can produce for the support of life. the consequence is that the population of a country necessarily includes a vast number of persons upon whom poverty presses with a heavy and sad hand. it is true that the effects of over-population are checked to a certain extent by those powerful agencies which have been at work since the beginning of the world. great pestilences, famines, and wars have constantly swept away thousands from the face of the earth, who otherwise must have contributed to swell the numbers of mankind. the effect, however, of this tendency to increase faster than the means of subsistence, leads to still more serious evils amongst the poorer classes of society. it necessarily lowers the price of labor by reason of the supply exceeding the demand. it increases the dearth of provisions by making the demand greater than the supply, and produces direful consequences to a large class of persons who labor under the evils, physical and moral, of poverty. you find it, as described by a witness called yesterday, in the overcrowding of our cities and country villages, and the necessarily demoralising effects resulting from that over-crowding. you have heard of the way in which women--i mean child-bearing women--are destroyed by being obliged to submit to the necessities of their position before they are fully restored from the effects of child-birth, and the effects thus produced upon the children by disease and early death. that these are evils--evils which, if they could be prevented, it would be the first business of human charity to prevent--there cannot be any doubt. that the evils of over-population are real, and not imaginary, no one acquainted with the state of society in the present day can possibly deny. malthus suggested, years ago, and his suggestion has been supported by economists since his time, that the only possible way of keeping down population was by retarding marriage to as late a period as possible, the argument being that the fewer the marriages the fewer would be the people. but another class of theorists say that that remedy is bad, and possibly worse than the disease, because, although you might delay marriage, you cannot restrain those instincts which are implanted in human nature, and people will have the gratification and satisfaction of passions powerfully implanted, if not in one way, in some other way. so you have the evils of prostitution substituted for the evils of over-population. now, what says dr. knowlton? there being this choice of evils--there being this unquestioned evil of over-population which exists in a great part of the civilised world--is the remedy proposed by malthus so doubtful that probably it would lead to greater evils than the one which it is intended to remedy? dr. knowlton suggests--and here we come to the critical point of this inquiry--he suggests that, instead of marriage being postponed, it shall be hastened. he suggests that marriage shall take place in the hey-day of life, when the passions are at their highest, and that the evils of over-population shall be remedied by persons, after they have married, having recourse to artificial means to prevent the procreation of a numerous offspring, and the consequent evils, especially to the poorer classes, which the production of a too numerous offspring is certain to bring about. now, gentlemen, that is the scope of the book. with a view to make those to whom these remedies are suggested understand, appreciate, and be capable of applying them, he enters into details as to the physiological circumstances connected with the procreation of the species. the solicitor-general says--and that was the first proposition with which he started--that the whole of this is a delusion and a sham. when knowlton says that he wishes that marriage should take place as early as possible--marriage being the most sacred and holy of all human relations--he means nothing of the kind, but means and suggests, in the sacred name of marriage, illicit intercourse between the sexes, or a kind of prostitution. now, gentlemen, whatever may be your opinion about the propositions contained in this work, when you come to weigh carefully the views of this undoubted physician and would-be philosopher, i think you will agree with me that to say that he meant to depreciate marriage for the sake of prostitution, and that all he says about marriage is only a disguise, and intended to impress upon the mind sentiments of an entirely different character for the gratification of passion, otherwise than by marriage, is a most unjust accusation. (applause in court.) i must say that i believe that every word he says about marriage being a desirable institution, and every word he says with reference to the enjoyments and happiness it engenders, is said as honestly and truly as anything probably ever uttered by any man. i can only believe that when the solicitor-general made that statement he had not half studied the book. but i pass that by. i come to the plain issue before you. knowlton goes into physiological details connected with the functions of the generation and procreation of children. the principles of this pamphlet, with its details, are to be found in greater abundance and distinctness in numerous works to which your attention has been directed, and, having these details before you, you must judge for yourselves whether there is anything in them which is calculated to excite the passions of man and debase the public morals. if so, every medical work is open to the same imputation." the lord chief justice then dealt with the question whether conjugal prudence was in itself immoral, and pointed out to the jury that the decision of this very serious question was in their hands: "a man and woman may say, 'we have more children than we can supply with the common necessaries of life: what are we to do? let us have recourse to this contrivance.' then, gentlemen, you should consider whether that particular course of proceeding is inconsistent with morality, whether it would have a tendency to degrade and deprave the man or woman. the solicitor-general, while doubtless admitting the evils and mischiefs of excessive population, argues that the checks proposed are demoralising in their effects, and that it is better to bear the ills we have than have recourse to remedies having such demoralising results. these are questions for you, twelve thinking men, probably husbands and fathers of families, to consider and determine. that the defendants honestly believe that the evils that this work would remedy, arising from over-population and poverty, are so great that these checks may be resorted to as a remedy for the evils, and as bettering the condition of humanity, although there might be things to be avoided, if it were possible to avoid them, and yet remedy the evils which they are to prevent--that such is the honest opinion of the defendants, we, who have read the book, and who have heard what they have said, must do them the justice of believing. i agree with the solicitor-general if, with a view to what is admitted to be a great good, they propose something to the world, and circulate it especially among the poorer classes, if they propose something inconsistent with public morals, and tending to destroy the domestic purity of women, that it is not because they do not see the evils of the latter, while they see the evils of the former, that they must escape; if so, they must abide the consequences of their actions, whatever may have been their motive. they say, 'we are entitled to submit to the consideration of the thinking portion of mankind the remedies which we propose for these evils. we have come forward to challenge the inquiry whether this is a book which we are entitled to publish.' they do it fairly, i must say, and in a very straightforward manner they come to demand the judgment of the proper tribunal. you must decide that with a due regard and reference to the law, and with an honest and determined desire to maintain the morals of mankind. but, on the other hand, you must carefully consider what is due to public discussion, and with an anxious desire not, from any prejudiced view of this subject, to stifle what may be a subject of legitimate inquiry. but there is another view of this subject, that knowlton intended to reconcile with marriage the prevention of over-population. upon the perusal of this work, i cannot bring myself to doubt that he honestly believed that the remedies he proposed were less evils than even celibacy or over-population on the one hand, or the prevention of marriage on the other hand--in that honesty of intention i entirely concur. but whether, in his desire to reconcile marriage with a check on over-population, he did not overlook one very important consideration connected with that part of society which should abuse it, is another and a very serious consideration." when the jury retired there was but one opinion in court, namely, that we had won our case. but they were absent for an hour and thirty-five minutes, and we learned afterwards that several were anxious to convict, not so much because of the book as because we were freethinkers. at last they agreed to a compromise, and the verdict delivered was: "we are unanimously of opinion that the book in question is calculated to deprave public morals, but at the same time we entirely exonerate the defendants from any corrupt motives in publishing it." the lord chief justice looked troubled, and said gravely that he would have to direct them to return a verdict of guilty on such a finding. the foreman, who was bitterly hostile, jumped at the chance without consulting his colleagues, some of whom had turned to leave the box, and thus snatched a technical verdict of "guilty" against us. mr. george skinner, of , great chapel gate, westminster, wrote to me on the following day to say that six of the jurymen did not consent to the verdict of "guilty", and that they had agreed that if the judge would not accept the verdict as handed in they would then retire again, and that they would never have given a verdict of guilty; but the stupid men had not the sense to speak out at the right time, and their foreman had his way. the lord chief justice at once set us free to come up for judgment on that day week, june th--the trial had lasted till the st--and we went away on the same recognizances given before by mr. bradlaugh, an absolutely unprecedented courtesy to two technically "convicted prisoners".[ ] [footnote : a report of the trial can be obtained from the freethought publishing company, price s. it contains an exact report of all that was said and done.] xvi. the week which intervened between the verdict of the jury and the day on which we were ordered to appear in court to receive sentence was spent by us in arranging all our affairs, and putting everything in train for our anticipated absence. one serious question had to be settled, but it did not need long consideration. what were we to do about the knowlton pamphlet? we promptly decided to ignore the verdict and to continue the sale. recognising that the fact of this continued sale would be brought up against us in court and would probably seriously increase our sentence, we none the less considered that as we had commenced the fight we were bound to maintain it, and we went on with the sale as before. on june th we attended the court of queen's bench to receive judgment, the lord chief justice and mr. justice mellor being on the bench. we moved to quash the indictment, on arrest of judgment, and for a new trial, the first on the ground that the indictment did not set out the words complained of. the judges were against us on this, but it is interesting to note that the lord chief justice remarked that "the language of the book is not open to any particular objection". i argued that the jury, having exonerated us from any corrupt motive, could not be regarded as having found us guilty on an indictment which charged us with a corrupt motive: the lord chief justice held that "in the unnecessary and superfluous part of the indictment, there is no judgment against you", and refused to believe that anyone would be found afterwards so base as to accuse us of evil intent, because of the formal words of the indictment, the jury having acquitted us of any corrupt intention. the judge unfortunately imputed to others his own uprightness, and we have found many--among them sir w.t. charley, the present common sergeant-- vile enough to declare what he thought impossible, that we were found guilty of wilfully corrupting the morals of the people. the judges decided against us on all the points raised, but it is due to them to say that in refusing to quash the indictment, as mr. bradlaugh asked, they were misled by the misrepresentation of an american case by sir hardinge giffard, and, to quote the words of the lord chief justice, they sheltered themselves "under the decisions of the american courts, and left this matter to be carefully gone into by the court of error". the question of sentence then arose, and two affidavits were put in, one by a reporter of the _morning advertiser_, named lysaght. this individual published in the _advertiser_ a very garbled report of a meeting at the hall of science on the previous sunday, evidently written to anger the lord chief justice, and used by sir hardinge giffard with the same object. in one thing, however, it was accurate, and that was in stating that we announced our intention to continue the sale of the book. on this arose an argument with the lord chief justice; he pointed out that we did not deny that the circulation of the book was going on, and we assented that it was so. it was almost pathetic to see the judge, angry at our resolution, unwilling to sentence us, but determined to vindicate the law he administered. "the question is," he urged, "what is to be the future course of your conduct? the jury have acquitted you of any intention to deliberately violate the law; and that, although you did publish this book, which was a book that ought not to have been published, you were not conscious of the effect it might have, and had no intention to violate the law. that would induce the court, if it saw a ready submission on your part, to deal with the case in a very lenient way. the jury having found that it was a violation of the law, but with a good motive or through ignorance, the court, in awarding punishment upon such a state of things, would, of course, be disposed to take a most indulgent view of the matter. but if the law has been openly set at defiance, the matter assumes a very different aspect, and it must be dealt with as a very grave and aggravated case." we could not, however, pledge ourselves to do anything more than stop the sale pending the appeal on the writ of error which we had resolved to go for. "have you anything to say in mitigation?" was the judge's last appeal; but mr. bradlaugh answered: "i respectfully submit myself to the sentence of the court"; and i: "i have nothing to say in mitigation of punishment". the sentence and the reason for its heavy character have been so misrepresented, that i print here, from the shorthand report taken at the time, the account of what passed:-- "the lord chief justice, after having conferred for some minutes with mr. justice mellor, said: the case has now assumed a character of very, very grave importance. we were prepared, if the defendants had announced openly in this court that having acted in error as the jury found--of which finding i think they are entitled to the benefit--but still having been, after a fair and impartial trial, found by the jury guilty of doing of that which was an offence against the law, they were ready to submit to the law and to do everything in their power to prevent the further publication and circulation of a work which has been declared by the jury to be a work calculated to deprave public morals, we should have been prepared to discharge them on their own recognizances to be of good behavior in the future. but we cannot help seeing in what has been said and done pending this trial, and since the verdict of the jury was pronounced, that the defendants, instead of submitting themselves to the law, have set it at defiance by continuing to circulate this book. that being so i must say that that which before was an offence of a comparatively slight character--looking to what the jury have found in reference to the contention of the defendants--now assumes the form of a most grave and aggravated offence, and as such we must deal with it. the sentence is that you, charles bradlaugh, and you, annie besant, be imprisoned for the term of six calendar months; that you each pay a fine of £ to the queen; and that you enter further into your own recognizances in a sum of £ each to be of good behavior for the term of two years; and i tell you at the same time that you will not be of 'good behavior' and will be liable to forfeit that sum if you continue to publish this book. no persuasion or conviction on your part that you are doing that which is morally justifiable can possibly warrant you in violating the law or excuse you in doing so. no one is above the law; all owe obedience to the law from the highest to the lowest, and if you choose to set yourself at defiance against the law--to break it and defy it--you must expect to be dealt with accordingly. i am very sorry indeed that such should be the result, but it is owing to your being thus contumacious, notwithstanding that you have had a fair trial, and the verdict of a competent jury, which ought to have satisfied you that you ought to abstain from doing what has been clearly demonstrated and shown to be wrong. "mr. bradlaugh: would your lordship entertain an application to stay execution of the sentence? "the lord chief justice: certainly not. on consideration, if you will pledge yourselves unreservedly that there shall be no repetition of the publication of the book, at all events, until the court of appeal shall have decided contrary to the verdict of the jury and our judgment; if we can have that positive pledge, and you will enter into your recognizances that you will not avail yourselves of the liberty we extend to continue the publication of this book, which it is our bounden duty to suppress, or do our utmost to suppress, we may stay execution; but we can show no indulgence without such a pledge. "mr. bradlaugh: my lord, i meant to offer that pledge in the fullest and most unreserved sense, because, although i have my own view as to what is right, i also recognise that the law having pronounced sentence, that is quite another matter so far as i, as a citizen, am concerned. i do not wish to ask your lordship for a favor without yielding to the court during the time that i take advantage of its indulgence. "the lord chief justice: i wish you had taken this position sooner. "mr. bradlaugh: if the sentence goes against us, it is another matter; but if you should consent to give us time for the argument of this writ of error, we would bind ourselves during that time. i should not like your lordship to be induced to grant this request on the understanding that in the event of the ultimate decision being against me i should feel bound by that pledge. "the lord chief justice: i must do you the justice to say that throughout the whole of this battle our conduct has been straightforward since you took it up. "mr. bradlaugh: i would not like your lordship to think that, in the event of the ultimate decision being against us, there was any sort of pledge. i simply meant that the law having pronounced against us, if your lordship gives us the indulgence of fighting it in the higher court, no sort of direct or indirect advantage shall be taken of the indulgence. "the lord chief justice: you will not continue the publication? "mr. bradlaugh: not only will i stop the circulation of the book myself, but i will do all in my power to prevent other people circulating it. "the lord chief justice: then you can be discharged on your own recognizances for £ , 'to be of good behavior,' which you will understand to mean, that you will desist from the publication of this work until your appeal shall have been heard, and will engage to prosecute the appeal without delay. "mr. bradlaugh: certainly; until the present, i have undoubtedly circulated the book. although there is a blunder in the affidavits i do not disguise the matter of fact. i shall immediately put the thing under my own control, and i will at once lock up every copy in existence, and will not circulate another copy until the appeal is decided. "mr. justice mellor: it must be that you will really, to the best of your ability, prevent the circulation of this book until this matter has been determined. "the lord chief justice: and what mr. bradlaugh says, i understand that you, mrs. besant, also assent to? "mrs. besant: yes: that is my pledge until the writ of error has been decided. i do not want to give a pledge which you may think was not given honestly. i will give my pledge, but it must be understood that the promise goes no further than that decision. "mr. justice mellor: you will abstain yourself from circulating the book, and, so far as you can, suppress its circulation? "mr. bradlaugh: every copy that is unsold shall be at once put under lock and key until the decision of the case. "the solicitor-general: my lord, i think there should be no misunderstanding upon this; i understand that the defendants have undertaken that during the pendency of the appeal this book shall not be circulated at all. but if the decision should be against them they are under no pledge not to publish. "mr. bradlaugh: i hope your lordship will not ask us what we shall do in future. "the lord chief justice: we have meted out the amount of punishment upon the assumption--there being no assertion to the contrary, but rather an admission--that they do intend to set the law at defiance. if we had understood that they were prepared to submit themselves to the law, we should have been disposed to deal with them in the most indulgent manner; but as we understood that they did not intend this, we have meted out to them such a punishment as we hope, when undergone, will have a deterrent effect upon them, and may prevent other people offending in like manner. we have nothing to do with what may happen after the defendants obtain a judgment in their favor, if they do so, or after the sentence is carried out, if they do not. our sentence is passed, and it will stand, subject only to this, that we stay execution until a writ of error may be disposed of, the defendants giving the most unqualified and unreserved pledge that they will not allow another copy of the book to be sold. "mr. bradlaugh: quite so, my lord; quite so." we were then taken into custody, and went down to the crown office to get the form for the recognizances, the amount of which, £ , after such a sentence, was a fair proof of the view of the court as to our good faith in the whole matter. as a married woman, i was unable to give recognizances, being only a chattel, not a person cognisable by law; the court mercifully ignored this--or i should have had to go to prison--and accepted mr. bradlaugh's sole recognizance as covering us both. it further inserted in the sentence that we were "to be placed in the first class of misdemeanants", but as the sentence was never executed, we did not profit by this alleviation. the rest of the story of the knowlton pamphlet is soon told. we appeared in the court of appeal on january th, th, and st, . mr. bradlaugh argued the case, i only making a brief speech, and on february th the court, composed of lords justices bramwell, brett, and cotton, gave judgment in our favor and quashed the indictment. thus we triumphed all along the line; the jury acquitted us of all evil motive, and left us morally unstained; the court of appeal quashed the indictment, and set us legally free. none the less have the ignorant, the malicious, and the brutal, used this trial and sentence against us as a proof of moral obliquity, and have branded us as "vendors of obscene books" on this sole ground. with the decision of the court of appeal our pledge not to sell the knowlton pamphlet came to an end, and we at once recommenced the sale. the determination we came to was announced in the _national reformer_ of march rd, and i reprint here the statement i wrote at the time in mr. bradlaugh's name as well as my own. "the plan of the campaign. "the first pitched battle of the new campaign for the liberty of the press has, as all our readers know, ended in the entire defeat of the attacking army, and in the recapture of the position originally lost. there is no conviction--of ours--registered against the knowlton pamphlet, the whole of the proceedings having been swept away; and the prosecutors are left with a large sum out of pocket, and no one any the worse for all their efforts. the banker's account of the unknown prosecutor shows a long and melancholy catalogue of expenses, and there is no glory and no success to balance them on the other side of the ledger. on the contrary, our prosecutors have advertised the attacked pamphlet, and circulated it by thousands and by hundreds of thousands; they have caused it to be reprinted in holland and in america, and have spread it over india, australia, new zealand, and the whole continent of europe; they have caused the population question to be discussed, both at home and abroad, in the press and in the public meeting; they have crammed the largest halls in england and scotland to listen to the preaching of malthusianism; they have induced the publication of a modern pamphlet on the question which is selling by thousands; they have enormously increased the popularity of the defendants, and made new friends for them in every class of society; in the end, knowlton is being circulated as vigorously as ever, and since the case was decided more copies have been sold than would have been disposed of in ten years at the old rate of sale. truly, our prosecutors must feel delighted at the results of their labors. "so much for the past: what as to the future? some, fancying we should act as they themselves would do under the like circumstances, dream that we shall now give way. we have not the smallest intention of doing anything of the kind. we said, nearly a year ago, that so long as knowlton was prosecuted we should persist in selling him; we repeated the same determination in court, and received for it a heavy sentence; we repeat the same to-day, in spite of the injudicious threat of lord justice brett. before we went up for judgment in the court of appeal we had made all preparations for the renewal of the struggle; parcels were ready to be forwarded to friends who had volunteered to sell in various towns; if we had gone to jail from the court these would at once have been sent; as we won our case, they were sent just the same. on the following day orders were given to tell any wholesale agents who inquired that the book was again on sale, and the bills at , stonecutter street, announcing the suspension, of the sale, were taken down; from that day forward all orders received have been punctually attended to, and the sale has been both rapid and steady. there is, however, one difference between the sale of knowlton and that of our other literature: knowlton is not sold across the counter at stonecutter street. when we were arrested in april , we stopped the sale across counter, and we do not, at present, intend to recommence it. our reason is very simple. the sale across counter does not, in any fashion, cause us any additional risk; the danger of it falls entirely on mr. ramsey and on mr. and mrs. norrish; we fail to see that there is any courage in running other people into danger, and we prefer, therefore, to take the risk on ourselves. we do not intend to go down again and personally sell behind the counter; we thought it right to challenge a prosecution once, but, having done so, we intend now to go quietly on our ordinary way of business, and wait for any attack that may come. "meanwhile, we are not only selling the 'fruits of philosophy', but we also are striving to gain the legal right to do so. in the appeal from mr. vaughan's decision mr. bradlaugh again raises all the disputed questions, and that appeal will be argued as persistently as was the one just decided in our favor. we are also making efforts to obtain an alteration of the law of libel, and we hope soon to be able to announce the exact terms of the proposed bill. "my own pamphlet, on 'the law of population', is another effort in the same direction. at our trial the lord chief justice said, that it was the advocacy of the preventive checks which was the assailable part of knowlton; that advocacy is strongly and clearly to be found in the new pamphlet, together with facts useful to mothers, as to the physical injury caused by over-rapid child-bearing, which knowlton did not give. the pamphlet has the advantage of being written fifty years later than the 'fruits of philosophy', and is more suitable, therefore, for circulation at the present day. we hope that it may gradually replace knowlton as a manual for the poor. while we shall continue to print and sell knowlton as long as any attempt is made to suppress it, we hope that the more modern pamphlet may gradually supersede the old one. "if another prosecution should be instituted against us, our prosecutors would have a far harder task before them than they had last time. in the first place, they would be compelled to state, clearly and definitely, what it is to which they object; and we should, therefore, be able to bring our whole strength to bear on the assailed point. in the second place, they would have to find a jury who would be ready to convict, and after the full discussion of the question which has taken place the finding of such a jury would be by no means an easy thing to do. lastly, they must be quite sure not to make any legal blunders, for they may be sure that such sins will find them out. perhaps, on the whole, they had better leave us alone. "i believe that our readers will be glad to have this statement of our action, and this assurance that we feel as certain of winning the battle of a free press as when we began it a year ago, and that our determination is as unwavering as when serjeant outram arrested us in the spring of last year.--annie besant." several purchases were made from us by detectives, and we were more than once threatened with prosecution. at last evidence for a new prosecution was laid before the home office, and the government declined to institute fresh proceedings or to have anything more to do with the matter. the battle was won. as soon as we were informed of this decision, we decided to sell only the copies we had in stock, and not to further reprint the pamphlet. out-of-date as was much of its physiology, it was defended as a symbol, not for its intrinsic worth. we issued a circular stating that-- "the knowlton pamphlet is now entirely out of print, and, , having been printed, the freethought publishing company do not intend to continue the publication, which has never at any time been advertised by them except on the original issue to test the question. 'the law of population', price d., post free d., has been specially written by mrs. besant to supersede the knowlton pamphlet." thus ended a prolonged resistance to an unfair attempt to stifle discussion, and, much as i have suffered in consequence of the part i took in that fight, i have never once regretted that battle for the saving of the poor. in july, , a side-quarrel on the pamphlet begun which lasted until december rd, , and was fought through court after court right out to a successful issue. we had avoided a seizure warrant by removing all our stock from , stonecutter street, but of the pamphlets had been seized at mr. truelove's, in holborn, and that gentleman was also proceeded against for selling the work. the summons for selling was withdrawn, and mr. bradlaugh succeeded in having his name and mine inserted as owners of the books in the summons for their destruction. the books remained in the custody of the magistrate until after the decision of the court of queen's bench, and on february th, , mr. bradlaugh appeared before mr. vaughan at bow street, and claimed that the books should be restored to him. mr. collette, of the vice society, argued on the other hand that the books were obscene, and ought therefore to be destroyed. mr. vaughan reserved his decision, and asked for the lord chief justice's summing-up in the queen _v._ bradlaugh and besant. on february th he made an order for the destruction of the pamphlets, against which mr. bradlaugh appealed to the general sessions on the following grounds: " st. that the said book is not an obscene book within the meaning of the th and st victoria, cap. . nd. that the said book is a scientific treatise on the law of population and its connexion with poverty, and that there is nothing in the book which is not necessary and legitimate in the description of the question. rd. that the advocacy of non-life-destroying checks to population is not an offence either at common law or by statute, and that the manner in which that advocacy is raised in the said book, 'the fruits of philosophy', is not such as makes it an indictable offence. th. that the discussion and recommendation of checks to over-population after marriage is perfectly lawful, and that there is in the advocacy and recommendations contained in the book 'fruits of philosophy' nothing that is prurient or calculated to inflame the passions. th. that the physiological information in the said book is such as is absolutely necessary for understanding the subjects treated, and such information is more fully given in carpenter's treatises on physiology, and kirke's 'handbook of physiology', which later works are used for the instruction of the young under government sanction. th. that the whole of the physiological information contained in the said book, 'the fruits of philosophy', has been published uninterruptedly for fifty years, and still is published in dear books, and that the publication of such information in a cheap form cannot constitute an offence." after a long argument before mr. edlin and a number of other middlesex magistrates, the bench affirmed mr. vaughan's order, whereupon mr. bradlaugh promptly obtained from the lord chief justice and mr. justice mellor a writ of _certiorari_, removing their order to the queen's bench division of the high court of justice with a view to quashing it. the matter was not argued until the following november, on the th of which month it came on before mr. justice mellor and mr. justice field. the court decided in mr. bradlaugh's favor and granted a rule quashing mr. vaughan's order, and with this fell the order of the middlesex magistrates. the next thing was to recover the pamphlets thus rescued from destruction, and on december rd mr. bradlaugh appeared before mr. vaughan at bow street in support of a summons against mr. henry wood, a police inspector, for detaining copies of the "fruits of philosophy". after a long argument mr. vaughan ordered the pamphlets to be given up to him, and he carried them off in triumph, there and then, on a cab. we labelled the rescued pamphlets and sold every one of them, in mocking defiance of the vice society. the circulation of literature advocating prudential checks to population was not stopped during the temporary suspension of the sale of the knowlton pamphlet between june, , and february, . in october, , i commenced in the _national reformer_ the publication of a pamphlet entitled: "the law of population, its consequences, and its bearing upon human conduct and morals". this little book included a statement of the law, evidence of the serious suffering among the poor caused by over-large families, and a clear statement of the checks proposed, with arguments in their favor. the medical parts were omitted in the _national reformer_ articles, and the pamphlet was published complete early in november, at the price of sixpence--the same as knowlton's--the first edition consisting of , copies. a second edition of , was issued in december, but all the succeeding editions were of , copies each. the pamphlet is now in its ninetieth thousand, and has gone all over the civilised world. it has been translated into swedish, danish, dutch, french, german, and italian, and , copies have been sold of an american reprint. on the whole, the prosecution of did not do much in stopping the circulation of literature on the population question. the "law" has been several times threatened with prosecution, and the initial steps have been taken, but the stage of issuing a warrant for its seizure has never yet been reached. twice i have had the stock removed to avoid seizure, but on each occasion the heart of the prosecutors has failed them, and the little book has carried its message of mercy unspeeded by the advertisement of prosecution. the struggle on the right to discuss the prudential restraint of population did not, however, conclude without a martyr. mr. edward truelove, alluded to above, was prosecuted for selling a treatise by robert dale owen on "moral physiology", and a pamphlet entitled, "individual, family, and national poverty". he was tried on february st, , before the lord chief justice in the court of queen's bench, and was most ably defended by professor w.a. hunter. the jury spent two hours in considering their verdict, and then returned into court and stated that they were unable to agree. the majority of the jury were ready to convict, if they felt sure that mr. truelove would not be punished, but one of them boldly declared in court: "as to the book, it is written in plain language for plain people, and i think that many more persons ought to know what the contents of the book are". the jury was discharged, in consequence of this one man's courage, but mr. truelove's persecutors-- the wretched vice society--were determined not to let their victim free. they proceeded to trial a second time, and wisely endeavored to secure a special jury, feeling that as prudential restraint would raise wages by limiting the supply of labor, they would be more likely to obtain a verdict from a jury of "gentlemen" than from one composed of workers. this attempt was circumvented by mr. truelove's legal advisers, who let a _procedendo_ go which sent back the trial to the old bailey. the second trial was held on may th at the central criminal court before baron pollock and a common jury, professor hunter and mr. j.m. davidson appearing for the defence. the jury convicted, and the brave old man, sixty-eight years of age, was condemned to four months' imprisonment and £ fine for selling a pamphlet which had been sold unchallenged, during a period of forty-five years, by james watson, george jacob holyoake, austin holyoake, and charles watts. mr. grain, the counsel employed by the vice society, most unfairly used against mr. truelove my "law of population", a pamphlet which contained, baron pollock said, "the head and front of the offence in the other [the knowlton] case". i find an indignant protest against this odious unfairness in the _national reformer_ for may th: "'my law of population' was used against mr. truelove as an aggravation of his offence; passing over the utter meanness--worthy only of collette--of using against a prisoner a book whose author has never been attacked for writing it--does mr. collette, or do the authorities, imagine that the severity shown to mr. truelove will in any fashion deter me from continuing the malthusian propaganda? let me here assure them, one and all, that it will do nothing of the kind; i shall continue to sell the 'law of population' and to advocate scientific checks to population, just as though mr. collette and his vice society were all dead and buried. in commonest justice they are bound to prosecute me, and if they get, and keep, a verdict against me, and succeed in sending me to prison, they will only make people more anxious to read my book, and make me more personally powerful as a teacher of the views which they attack." a persistent attempt was made to obtain a writ of error in mr. truelove's case, but the tory attorney-general, sir john holker, refused it, although the ground on which it was asked was one of the grounds on which a similar writ had been granted to mr. bradlaugh and myself. mr. truelove was therefore compelled to suffer his sentence, but memorials, signed by , persons, asking for his release, were sent to the home secretary from every part of the country, and a crowded meeting in st. james' hall, london, demanded his liberation with only six dissentients. the whole agitation did not shorten mr. truelove's sentence by a single day, and he was not released from coldbath fields' prison until september th. on the th of the same month the hall of science was crowded with enthusiastic friends, who assembled to do him honor, and he was presented with a beautifully-illuminated address and a purse containing £ (subsequent subscriptions raised the amount to £ s. d.). it is scarcely necessary to say that one of the results of the prosecution was a great agitation throughout the country, and a wide popularisation of malthusian views. some huge demonstrations were held in favor of free discussion; on one occasion the free trade hall, manchester, was crowded to the doors; on another the star music hall, bradford, was crammed in every corner; on another the town hall, birmingham, had not a seat or a bit of standing-room unoccupied. wherever we went, separately or together, it was the same story, and not only were malthusian lectures eagerly attended, and malthusian literature eagerly bought, but curiosity brought many to listen to our radical and freethought lectures, and thousands heard for the first time what secularism really meant. the press, both london and provincial, agreed in branding the prosecution as foolish, and it was widely remarked that it resulted only in the wider circulation of the indicted book, and the increased popularity of those who had stood for the right of publication. the furious attacks since made upon us have been made chiefly by those who differ from us in theological creed, and who have found a misrepresentation of our prosecution served them as a convenient weapon of attack. during the last few years public opinion has been gradually coming round to our side, in consequence of the pressure of poverty resulting from widespread depression of trade, and during the sensation caused in by "the bitter cry of outcast london", many writers in the _daily news_--notably mr. g.r. sims--boldly alleged that the distress was to a great extent due to the large families of the poor, and mentioned that we had been prosecuted for giving the very knowledge which would bring salvation to the sufferers in our great cities. among the useful results of the prosecution was the establishment of the malthusian league, "to agitate for the abolition of all penalties on the public discussion of the population question", and "to spread among the people, by all practicable means, a knowledge of the law of population, of its consequences, and of its bearing upon human conduct and morals". the first general meeting of the league was held at the hall of science on july th, , and a council of twenty persons was elected, and this council on august nd elected dr. c.r. drysdale, m.d. president, mr. swaagman treasurer, mrs. besant secretary, mr. shearer assistant secretary, and mr. hember financial secretary. since the league, under the same indefatigable president, has worked hard to carry out its objects; it has issued a large number of leaflets and tracts; it supports a monthly journal, the _malthusian_; numerous lectures have been delivered under its auspices in all parts of the country; and it has now a medical branch, into which none but duly qualified medical men and women are admitted, with members in all european countries. another result of the prosecution was the accession of "d." to the staff of the _national reformer_. this able and thoughtful writer came forward and joined our ranks as soon as he heard of the attack on us, and he further volunteered to conduct the journal during our imprisonment. from that time to this--a period of eight years--articles from his pen have appeared in our columns week by week, and during all that time not one solitary difficulty has arisen between editors and contributor. in public a trustworthy colleague, in private a warm and sincere friend, "d." has proved an unmixed benefit bestowed upon us by the prosecution. nor was "d." the only friend brought to us by our foes. i cannot ever think of that time without remembering that the prosecution brought me first into close intimacy with mrs. annie parris--the wife of mr. touzeau parris, the secretary of the defence committee throughout all the fight-- a lady who, during that long struggle, and during the, for me, far worse struggle that succeeded it, over the custody of my daughter, proved to me the most loving and sisterly of friends. one or two other friendships which will, i hope, last my life, date from that same time of strife and anxiety. the amount of money subscribed by the public during the knowlton and succeeding prosecutions gives some idea of the interest felt in the struggle. the defence fund committee in march, , presented a balance-sheet, showing subscriptions amounting to £ , s. d., and total expenditure in the queen _v._ bradlaugh and besant, the queen _v._ truelove, and the appeal against mr. vaughan's order (the last two up to date) of £ , s. this account was then closed and the balance of £ s. d. passed on to a new fund for the defence of mr. truelove, the carrying on of the appeal against the destruction of the knowlton pamphlet, and the bearing of the costs incident on the petition lodged against myself. in july this new fund had reached £ s. d., and after paying the remainder of the costs in mr. truelove case, a balance of £ s. d. was carried on. this again rose to £ s. - / d., and the fund bore the expenses of mr. bradlaugh's successful appeal on the knowlton pamphlet, the petition and subsequent proceedings in which i was concerned in the court of chancery, and an appeal on mr. truelove's behalf, unfortunately unsuccessful, against an order for the destruction of the dale owen pamphlet. this last decision was given on february st, , and on this the defence fund was closed. on mr. truelove's release, as mentioned above, a testimonial to the amount of £ s. d. was presented to him, and after the close of the struggle some anonymous friend sent to me personally £ as "thanks for the courage and ability shown". in addition to all this, the malthusian league received no less than £ s. d. during the first year of its life, and started on its second year with a balance in hand of £ s. d. the propaganda of freethought was not forgotten while this malthusian quarrel was raging, and in august the freethought publishing company issued the first english edition of lectures by colonel robert ingersoll, the eminent freethought advocate of the united states. since that time various other publishers have circulated thousands of his lectures, but it has always been to me a matter of satisfaction that we were the first to popularise the eloquent american in england. the ruling of the lord chief justice that a book written with pure intention and meant to convey useful knowledge might yet be obscene, drew from me a pamphlet entitled, "is the bible indictable?", in which i showed that the bible came clearly within the judge's ruling. this turning of the tables on our persecutors caused considerable sensation at the time, and the pamphlet had, and still has, a very wide circulation. it is needless to add that the sunday freethought lectures were carried on despite the legal toils of the week, and, as said above, the large audiences attracted by the prosecution gave a splendid field for the inculcation of freethought views. the national secular society consequently increased largely in membership, and a general impulse towards freethought was manifest throughout the land. the year , so far as lecturing work was concerned, was largely taken up with a crusade against the beaconsfield government and in favor of peace. lord beaconsfield's hired roughs broke up several peace meetings during the winter, and on february th mr. bradlaugh and mr. auberon herbert, at the request of a meeting of working-class delegates, held in hyde park a "demonstration in favor of peace". the war party attacked the meeting and some sharp fighting took place, but a resolution "that this meeting declares in favor of peace" was carried despite them. a second meeting was called by the working men's committee for march th, and a large force of medical students, roughs, militia-men, and "gentlemen", armed with loaded bludgeons, heavy pieces of iron, sticks with metal twisted round them, and various sharp-cutting weapons, went to hyde park to make a riot. the meeting was held and the resolution carried, but after it had dissolved there was some furious fighting. we learned afterwards that a large money reward had been offered to a band of roughs if they would disable mr. bradlaugh, and a violent organised attack was made on him. the stewards of the meeting carried short policemen's truncheons to defend themselves, and a number of these gathered round their chief and saved his life. he and his friends had to fight their way out of the park; a man, armed with some sharp instrument, struck at mr. bradlaugh from behind, and cut one side of his hat from top to brim; his truncheon was dinted with the jagged iron used as weapon; and his left arm, with which he guarded his head, was one mass of bruises from wrist to elbow. lord beaconsfield's friends very nearly succeeded in their attempt at murder, after all, for a dangerous attack of erysipelas set in, in the injured arm, and confined mr. bradlaugh to his room for sixteen days. the provinces were far more strongly against war than was the capital, and in them we held many large and enthusiastic meetings in favor of peace. at huddersfield the great drill hall was crammed for a lecture by me against war, and throughout yorkshire and lancashire scarcely a voice was ever raised in crowded meetings in defence of the beaconsfieldian policy. a leaflet of mine, entitled "rushing into war", was reprinted in various parts of the country, and was circulated in tens of thousands, and each freethought leader worked with tongue and pen, on platform and in press, to turn the public feeling against war. the freethought party may well take credit to itself for having been first in the field against the tory policy, and for having successfully begun the work later carried on by mr. gladstone in his midlothian campaign. they did more than any other party in the country to create that force of public opinion which overthrew the tory government in . xvii. the year was a dark one for me; it saw me deprived of my little daughter, despite the deed of separation by which the custody of the child had been assigned to me. the first notice that an application was to be made to the high court of chancery to deprive me of this custody reached me in january, , while the decision on the knowlton case was still pending, but the petition was not filed till april. the time was ill-chosen; mabel had caught scarlet fever at a day-school she was attending, and for some days was dangerously ill. the fact of her illness was communicated to her father, and while the child was lying ill in bed, and i had cancelled all engagements so that i might not leave her side, i received a copy of the petition to deprive me of her custody. this document alleged as grounds for taking away the child: "the said annie besant is, by addresses, lectures, and writings, endeavoring to propagate the principles of atheism, and has published a book intituled: 'the gospel of atheism'. she has also associated herself with an infidel lecturer and author, named charles bradlaugh, in giving lectures and in publishing books and pamphlets, whereby the truth of the christian religion is impeached, and disbelief in all religion is inculcated. "the said annie besant has also, in conjunction with the said charles bradlaugh, published an indecent and obscene pamphlet called 'the fruits of philosophy'. "the said pamphlet has recently been the subject of legal proceedings, in the course of which the said annie besant publicly justified its contents and publication, and stated, or inferred, that in her belief it would be right to teach young children the physiological facts contained in the said pamphlet. [this was a deliberate falsehood: i had never stated or inferred anything of the kind.] the said annie besant has also edited and published a pamphlet intituled 'the law of population; its consequences, and its bearing upon human conduct and morals', to which book or pamphlet your petitioners crave leave to refer." the petition was unfortunately heard before the master of the rolls, sir george jessel, a man animated by the old spirit of hebrew bigotry, and who had superadded to this the coarse time-serving morality of "a man of the world", sceptical of all sincerity, and contemptuous of all self-devotion to a cause that did not pay, as of a weakness by which he was himself singularly unassailable. the treatment i received at his hands on my first appearance in court told me what i had to expect. after my previous experience of the courtesy of english judges, i was startled to hear a harsh, loud voice exclaim, in answer to a statement from mr. ince. q.c., that i appeared in person: "appear in person? a lady appear in person? never heard of such a thing! does the lady really appear in person?" after a variety of similar remarks, delivered in the most grating tones and with the roughest manner, sir george jessel tried to attain his object by browbeating me directly. "is this the lady?" "i am the respondent to the petition, my lord--mrs. besant." "then i advise you, mrs. besant, to employ counsel to represent you, if you can afford it, and i suppose you can." "with all submission to your lordship, i am afraid i must claim my right of arguing my case in person." "you will do so if you please, of course, but i think you had much better appear by counsel. i give you notice that, if you do not, you must not expect to be shown any consideration. you will not be heard by me at any greater length than the case requires, nor allowed to go into irrelevant matter, as persons who argue their own cases generally do." "i trust i shall not do so, my lord; but in any case i shall be arguing under your lordship's complete control." this encouraging beginning may be taken as a sample of the case. mr. ince, the counsel on the other side, was constantly practising in the rolls' court, knew all the judge's peculiarities, how to flatter and humor him on the one hand, and how to irritate him against his opponent on the other. nor was mr. ince above using his influence with the master of the rolls to obtain an unfair advantage, knowing that whatever he said would be believed against any contradiction of mine: thus he tried to obtain costs against me on the ground that the public helped me, whereas his client received no subscriptions in aid of his suit; yet as a matter of fact subscriptions had been collected for his client, and the bishop of lincoln, and many of the principal clergy and churchmen of the diocese had contributed liberally towards the persecution of the atheist. mr. ince and mr. bardswell argued that my atheism and malthusianism made me an unfit guardian for my child; mr. ince declared that mabel, educated by me, would "be helpless for good in this world", and "hopeless for good hereafter"; outcast in this life and damned in the next; mr. bardswell implored the judge to consider that my custody of her "would be detrimental to the future prospects of the child in society, to say nothing of her eternal prospects". i could have laughed, had not the matter been so terribly serious, at the mixture of mrs. grundy, marriage-establishment, and hell, presented as an argument for robbing a mother of her child. once only did judge and counsel fall out; mr. bardswell had carelessly forgotten that sir george jessel was a jew, and lifting eyes to heaven said: "your lordship, i think, will scarcely credit it, but mrs. besant says in a later affidavit that she took away the testament from the child, because it contained coarse passages unfit for a child to read." to his horror, sir george jessel considered there were "some passages which a child had better not read in the new testament", and went on: "it is not true to say there are no passages that are unfit for a child's reading, because i think there are a great many. "mr. bardswell: i do not know of any passages that could fairly be called coarse. "sir g. jessel: i cannot quite assent to that." with the exception of this little outburst of religious feeling against the book written by apostate jews, jewish judge and christian counsel were united in their hatred of the atheist. my argument fell on deaf ears; i distinctly admitted that i was an atheist, that i had withdrawn the child from religious instruction at school, that i was the author of the "gospel of atheism", "the fruits of christianity", "the freethinkers' text book, part ii.", and "the law of population", produced against me: i claimed her custody on the ground that it was given me by the deed of separation executed by the father who was trying to set it aside, and that no pretence was made that the child was neglected, the admission being, on the contrary, that she was admirably cared for: i offered lastly, if she were taken from me, to devote £ a-year to her maintenance and education, provided that she were placed in the hands of a third person, not of her father. sir george jessel decided against me, as he had clearly intended to do from the very outset, and as the part of his judgment affecting freethinkers as parents is of continued interest i reprint it here. "i am glad to say that, so far as i can see, mrs. besant has been kind and affectionate in her conduct and behavior towards the child, and has taken the greatest possible care of her so far as regards her physical welfare. i have no doubt she entertains that sincere affection for the child which a mother should always feel, and which no merely speculative opinions can materially affect. but, unfortunately, since her separation from her husband, mrs. besant has taken upon herself not merely to ignore religion, not merely to believe in no religion, but to publish and avow that non-belief--to become the publisher of pamphlets written by herself, and to deliver lectures composed by herself, stating her disbelief in religion altogether, and stating that she has no belief in the existence of a providence or a god. she has endeavored to convince others, by her lectures and by her pamphlets, that the denial of all religion is a right and proper thing to recommend to mankind at large. it is not necessary for me to express any opinion as to the religious convictions of any one, or even as to their non-religious convictions. but i must, as a man of the world, consider what effect on a woman's position this course of conduct must lead to. i know, and must know as a man of the world, that her course of conduct must quite cut her off, practically, not merely from the sympathy of, but from social intercourse with, the great majority of her sex. i do not believe a single clergyman's wife in england living with her husband would approve of such conduct, or associate with mrs. besant; and i must take that into consideration in considering what effect it would have upon the child if brought up by a woman of such reputation. but the matter does not stop there. not only does mrs. besant entertain those opinions which are reprobated by the great mass of mankind--whether rightly or wrongly i have no business to say, though i, of course, think rightly--but she carries those speculative opinions into practice as regards the education of the child, and from the moment she does that she brings herself within the lines of the decisions of lord chancellors and eminent judges with reference to the custody of children by persons holding speculative opinions, and in those cases it has been held that before giving the custody of a child to those who entertain such speculative opinions the court must consider what effect infusing those opinions as part of its practical education would have upon the child. that is undoubtedly a matter of the greatest importance. upon this point there is no conflict of testimony whatever. mrs. besant herself says that she prohibited the governess from giving any religious education to the child, and has prevented the child from obtaining any religious education at all. when the child went to school-- a day school, as i understand--mrs. besant prohibited the governess of that school from imparting any religious education, in the same way that she had prohibited the former governess, who was a home governess, from giving any religious education, and mrs. besant gave none herself. it is, therefore, not only the entertaining and publishing these opinions, but she considers it her duty so to educate the child as to prevent her having any religious opinions whatever until she attains a proper age. i have no doubt that mrs. besant is conscientious in her opinions upon all these matters, but i also have a conscientious opinion, and i am bound to give effect to it. i think such a course of education not only reprehensible but detestable, and likely to work utter ruin to the child, and i certainly should upon this ground alone decide that this child ought not to remain another day under the care of her mother." as to the publication of the knowlton pamphlet, sir george jessel decided that that also was a good ground for separating mother and child. he committed himself to the shameful statement, so strongly condemned by the lord chief justice, that dr. knowlton was in favor of "promiscuous intercourse without marriage", and then uttered the gross falsehood that his view "was exactly the same as was entertained by the lord chief justice of england". after this odious misrepresentation, i was not surprised to hear from him words of brutal insult to myself. i print here an article on him written at the time, not one word of which i now regret, and which i am glad to place on record in permanent form, now that only his memory remains for me to hate. "sir george jessel. "during the long struggle which began in march, , no word has escaped me against the respective judges before whom i have had to plead. some have been harsh, but, at least, they have been fairly just, and even if a sign of prejudice appeared, it was yet not sufficient to be a scandal to the bench. of sir george jessel, however, i cannot speak in terms even of respect, for in his conduct towards myself he has been rough, coarse, and unfair, to an extent that i never expected to see in any english judge. sir george jessel is subtle and acute, but he is rude, overbearing, and coarse; he has the sneer of a mephistopheles, mingled with a curious monkeyish pleasure in inflicting pain. sir george jessel prides himself on being 'a man of the world', and he expresses the low morality common to that class when the phrase is taken in its worst sense; he holds, like the 'men of the world', who 'see life' in leicester square and the haymarket, that women are kept chaste only through fear and from lack of opportunity; that men may be loose in morals if they will, and that women are divided into two classes for their use--one to be the victims and the toys of the moment, the others to be kept ignorant and strictly guarded, so as to be worthy of being selected as wives. sir george jessel considers that a woman becomes an outcast from society because she thinks that women would be happier, healthier, safer, if they had some slight acquaintance with physiology, and were not condemned, through ignorance, to give birth to human lives foredoomed to misery, to disease, and to starvation. sir george jessel says that no 'modest woman' will associate with one who spreads among her sex the knowledge which will enable her sisters to limit their families within their means. the old brutal jewish spirit, regarding women as the mere slaves of men, breaks out in the coarse language which disgraced himself rather than the woman at whom it was aimed. sir george jessel might have been surprised, had he been in the free trade hall, manchester, on the following day, and had seen it filled with men and women, quiet looking, well dressed, and respectable, and had heard the cries of 'shame on him!' which rang round the hall, when his brutal remark was quoted. such language only causes a re-action towards the insulted person even among those who would otherwise be antagonistic, and sir george jessel has ranged on my side many a woman who, but for him, would have held aloof. "sir george jessel is a jew; he thinks that a parent should be deprived of a child if he or she withholds from it religious training. two hundred years ago, sir george jessel's children might have been taken from him because he did not bring them up as christians; sir george jessel and his race have been relieved from disabilities, and he now joins the persecuting majority, and deals out to the atheist the same measure dealt to his forefathers by the christians. the master of the rolls pretended that by depriving me of my child he was inflicting no punishment on me! if the master of the rolls have any children, he must be as hard-hearted in the home as he is on the bench, if he would not feel that any penalty was inflicted on him if his little ones were torn from him and handed over to a christian priest, who would teach them to despise him as a jew, and hate him as a denier of christ. even now, jews are under many social disabilities, and even when richly gilt, christian society looks upon them with thinly-concealed dislike. the old wicked prejudice still survives against them, and it is with shame and with disgust that liberals see a jew trying to curry favor with christian society by reviving the obsolete penalties once inflicted on his own people. "sir george jessel was not only brutally harsh; he was also utterly unfair. he quoted the lord chief justice as agreeing with him in his judgment on knowlton, on points where the chief had distinctly expressed the contrary opinion, and he did this not through ignorance, but with the eloquent words of sir alexander cockburn lying in front of him, and after i had pointed out to him, and he had deliberately read, or professed to read, the passages which contained the exact contrary of that which he put into the chief's mouth. "of one thing sir george jessel and his christian friends may be sure: that neither prosecution nor penalty will prevent me from teaching both atheism and malthusianism to all who will listen to me, and since christianity is still so bigoted as to take the child from the mother because of a difference of creed, i will strain every nerve to convert the men and women around me, and more especially the young, to a creed more worthy of humanity. "sir george jessel pretended to have the child's interests at heart: in reality he utterly ignored them. i offered to settle £ a year on the child if she was placed in the charge of some trustworthy and respectable person, but the master did not even notice the offer. he takes away the child from plenty and comfort, and throws her into comparative poverty; he takes her away from most tender and watchful care, and places her under the guardianship of a man so reckless of her health, that he chose the moment of her serious illness to ask for her removal; he takes her away from cultured and thoughtful society to place her among half-educated farmers. nay, he goes further: dr. drysdale's affidavit stated that it was absolutely necessary at present that she should have her mother's care; and sir george jessel disregards this, and, in her still weak state, drags her from her home and from all she cares for, and throws her into the hands of strangers. if any serious results follow, sir george jessel will be morally, though not legally, responsible for them. in her new home she can have no gentle womanly attendance. no christian lady of high character will risk the misconstruction to which she would be exposed by living alone at sibsey vicarage with a young clergyman who is neither a bachelor nor a widower; the child will be condemned either to solitary neglect at home, or to the cold strictness of a boarding-school. she is bright, gay, intelligent, merry now. what will she be at a year's end? my worst wish for sir george jessel is that the measure he has meted out to me may, before he dies, be measured out to him or his." there is little to add to the story. i gave the child up, as i was compelled to do, and gave notice of appeal to the court of appeal against the order of the master of the rolls. meanwhile, as all access to the children was denied me by the father, i gave him notice that unless access were given i would sue for a restitution of conjugal rights, merely for the sake of seeing my children. as the deed of separation had been broken by his action, i supposed that the courts would not permit it to be broken for his advantage while holding it binding on me. unhappily, at this critical point, my health gave way; the loneliness and silence of the house, of which my darling had always been the sunshine and the music, weighed on me like an evil dream: at night i could not sleep, missing in the darkness the soft breathing of the little child; her cries as she clung to me and was forcibly carried away rang ever in my ears; at last, on july th, i was suddenly struck down with fever, and had the rest of pain and delirium instead of the agony of conscious loss. while i was lying there prostrate an order was served on me from the master of the rolls, granted on mr. besant's application, to restrain me from bringing any suit against him. as soon as i recovered, i took steps for contesting this order, but no definite action could be taken until after the long vacation. the case came on for hearing first in november, , and then in january, . all access to the children had been denied me, and the money due to me had been withheld. by this my opponent had put himself so completely in the wrong that even the master of the rolls uttered words of severe condemnation of the way in which i had been treated. then a curious interlude took place. the master of the rolls advised me to file a counter-claim for divorce or for judicial separation, and i gladly agreed to do so, feeling very doubtful as to the master of the rolls' power to do anything of the kind, but very glad that he should think he had the authority. while the claim was being prepared, i obtained access to the children under an interim order, as well as the money owing to me, and at the end of march the case again came before the master of the rolls. the claim filed alleged distinct acts of cruelty, and i brought witnesses to support the claim, among them the doctor who had attended me during my married life. mr. ince filed an answer of general denial, adding that the acts of cruelty, if any, were "done in the heat of the moment". he did not, however, venture to contest the case, although i tendered myself for cross-examination, but pleaded the deed of separation as a bar to further proceedings on my part; i argued on the other hand that as the deed had been broken by the plaintiff's act, all my original rights revived. sir george jessel held that the deed of separation condoned all that had gone before it, if it was raised as a bar to further proceedings, and expressed his regret that he had not known there would be "any objection on the other side", when he advised a claim for a judicial separation. on the final hearing of the case in april in the rolls' court sir george jessel decided that the deed of separation was good as protecting mr. besant from any suit on my part to obtain a decree for the restitution of conjugal rights, although it had been set aside on the one matter of value to me--the custody of my child. the net result of the proceedings was that had i gone to the divorce court in , i might at least have obtained a divorce _a mensa e thoro_; that in my desire to avoid publicity, and content in what i believed to be secure possession of my child, i had agreed to a deed which fully protected mr. besant against any action on my part, but which could be set aside by him for the purpose of robbing me of my child. the argument in the court of appeal came on during april, and was, as i expected, decided against me, the absolute right of the father being declared, and a married mother held to have no sort of claim over her own children. the worst stigma affixed to marriage by the law of england is this ignoring of any right of the married mother to her child; the law protects the unmarried, but insults the married, mother, and places in the hands of the legal husband an instrument of torture whose power to agonise depends on the tenderness and strength of the motherliness of the wife. in fact the law says to every woman: "choose which of these two positions you will have: if you are legally your husband's wife you can have no legal claim to your children; if legally you are your husband's mistress, then your rights as mother are secure". but one thing i gained in the court of appeal. the court expressed a strong view as to my right of access, and directed me to apply to sir george jessel for it, stating that it could not doubt that he would give it. i made the application and obtained an order of access to the children, seeing them alone, once a month; of a visit of the children to london twice a year, with their governess, for a week each time; of a week at the seaside in similar fashion once a year; of a weekly letter from each of them with the right of reply. this order, obtained after such long struggle, has proved useless. the monthly visit so upset my poor little daughter, and made her fret so constantly after me, that in mercy to her i felt compelled to relinquish it; on the first visit to the seaside, i was saddled with the cost of maintaining the rev. mr. and mrs. child, who were placed as guardians of the children, and who treated me in their presence as though i were a dangerous animal from whom they were to be protected. to give but an instance of the sort of treatment i received, i wished mabel to have the benefit of sea-bathing, and was told that she could not be allowed to bathe with me, and this with a suggestiveness that sorely taxed my self-control. i could not apply to the court against the ingenious forms of petty insult employed, while i felt that they must inevitably estrange the children from me if practised always in their presence. after a vain appeal that some sort of consideration should be shown to me, an appeal answered by a mocking suggestion that i should complain to the master of the rolls, i made up my mind as to my future course. i resolved neither to see nor to write to my children until they were old enough to understand and to judge for themselves, and i know that i shall win my daughter back in her womanhood, though i have been robbed of her childhood. by effacing myself then, i saved her from a constant and painful struggle unfitted for childhood's passionate feelings, and left her only a memory that she loves, undefaced by painful remembrances of her mother insulted in her presence. unhappily sir george jessel has terribly handicapped her future; left to me she would have had the highest education now open to girls; left to her present guardian she receives only fifth-rate teaching, utterly unfitted for the present day. twice i have offered to bear the whole expense of her education in the high school at cheltenham, or in some london college, without in any way appearing in the matter, but each time my offer has been roughly and insultingly refused, and the influence that marred the mother's life is undermining the future happiness of the child's. but i am not without hope that i may be able to obtain from the court of chancery an order for the benefit of its ward, and i trust before very long that i shall be able to insure to my child an education which will fit her to play her part worthily when she reaches womanhood. i had hoped to save her from the pain of rejecting a superstitious faith, but that is now impossible, and she must fight her way out of darkness into light as her mother did before her. but in order that she may do so, education now is of vital importance, and that i am striving to obtain for her. i live in the hope that in her womanhood she may return to the home she was torn from in her childhood, and that, in faithful work and noble endeavor, she may wear in future years in the freethought ranks a name not wholly unloved or unhonored therein, for the sake of the woman who has borne it in the van through eleven years of strife. the end. female suffrage by susan fenimore cooper (this e-text has been prepared from the original two-part magazine article, "female suffrage: a letter to the christian women of america," by susan fenimore cooper, which appeared in harper's new weekly magazine, vol. xli (june-november, ), pp. - , - . the author is identified only in the table of contents, p. v, where she is listed as "susan f. cooper." transcribed by hugh c. macdougall jfcooper@wpe.com {because "vanilla text" does not permit of accents or italics, accents have been ignored, and both all-capital and italicized words transcribed as all capitals. paragraphs are separated by a blank line, but not indented. footnotes by susan fenimore cooper are inserted as paragraphs (duly identified) as indicated by her asterisks. all insertions by the transcriber are enclosed in {brackets}. for readers wishing to know the exact location of specific passages, the page breaks from harper's are identified by a blank line at the end of each page, followed by the original page number at the beginning of the next. {a brief introduction to susan fenimore cooper's article: {the question of "female suffrage" has long been resolved in the united states, and--though sometimes more recently--in other democratic societies as well. for most people, certainly in the so-called western world, the right of women to vote on a basis of equality with men seems obvious. a century ago this was not the case, even in america, and it required a long, arduous, and sometimes painful struggle before the nineteenth amendment to the united states constitution was ratified on august , . {why then, take steps to make available through the gutenberg project an article arguing against the right of women to vote--an article written by a woman? {there are two reasons for doing so. the first is that susan fenimore cooper ( - ) was no ordinary woman. she was educated in europe and extremely well read; she was the daughter and literary assistant of james fenimore cooper, america's first internationally recognized novelist; and she was a naturalist and essayist of great talent whose "nature diary" of her home village at cooperstown, published as "rural hours" in , has become a classic of early american environmental literature. {yet susan fenimore cooper argued eloquently, bringing to her task not only her deep religious feelings but also her very considerable knowledge of world history and of american society, that women should not be given the vote! hers was not a simple defense of male dominion; her case is combined with equally eloquent arguments in favor of higher education for women, and for equal wages for equal work. "female suffrage," is thus of considerable biographic importance, throwing important light on her views of god, of society, and of american culture. {at the same time, "female suffrage" demonstrates that no social argument--however popular or politically correct today--can be considered as self-evident. those who favor full legal and social equality of the sexes at the ballot box and elsewhere (as i believe i do), should be prepared to examine and answer susan fenimore cooper's arguments to the contrary. many of those arguments are still heard daily in the press and on tv talk shows--not indeed to end women's right to vote, but as arguments against further steps towards gender equality. unlike many modern commentators, susan fenimore cooper examines these arguments in detail, both as to their roots and their possible effects, rather than expressing them as simplistic sound-bites. she asks her readers to examine whether gender equality is compatible with christian teachings; whether universal suffrage can ever resolve social problems; whether the "political" sphere is as significant to human life as politicians believe. one need not agree with her answers, but one can only be grateful that she forces us to ask questions. {hugh c. macdougall, secretary, james fenimore cooper society--august } female suffrage. a letter to the christian women of america. part i. {publisher's note} [note.--we have printed this letter, which will be continued in our next number, not as an expression of our own views, but simply as the plea of an earnest and thoughtful christian woman addressed to her fellow-countrywomen.--editor of harper.] the natural position of woman is clearly, to a limited degree, a subordinate one. such it has always been throughout the world, in all ages, and in many widely different conditions of society. there are three conclusive reasons why we should expect it to continue so for the future. first. woman in natural physical strength is so greatly inferior to man that she is entirely in his power, quite incapable of self-defense, trusting to his generosity for protection. in savage life this great superiority of physical strength makes man the absolute master, woman the abject slave. and, although every successive step in civilisation lessens the distance between the sexes, and renders the situation of woman safer and easier, still, in no state of society, however highly cultivated, has perfect equality yet existed. this difference in physical strength must, in itself, always prevent such perfect equality, since woman is compelled every day of her life to appeal to man for protection, and for support. secondly. woman is also, though in a very much less degree, inferior to man in intellect. the difference in this particular may very probably be only a consequence of greater physical strength, giving greater power of endurance and increase of force to the intellectual faculty connected with it. in many cases, as between the best individual minds of both sexes, the difference is no doubt very slight. there have been women of a very high order of genius; there have been very many women of great talent; and, as regards what is commonly called cleverness, a general quickness and clearness of mind within limited bounds, the number of clever women may possibly have been even larger than that of clever men. but, taking the one infallible rule for our guide, judging of the tree by its fruits, we are met by the fact that the greatest achievements of the race in every field of intellectual culture have been the work of man. it is true that the advantages of intellectual education have been, until recently, very generally on the side of man; had those advantages been always equal, women would no doubt have had much more of success to record. but this same fact of inferiority of education becomes in itself one proof of the existence of a certain degree of mental inequality. what has been the cause of this inferiority of education? why has not woman educated herself in past ages, as man has done? is it the opposition of man, and the power which physical strength gives him, which have been the impediments? had these been the only obstacles, and had that general and entire equality of intellect existed between the sexes, which we find proclaimed to-day by some writers, and by many talkers, the genius of women would have opened a road through these and all other difficulties much more frequently than it has yet done. at this very hour, instead of defending the intellect of women, just half our writing and talking would be required to defend the intellect of men. but, so long as woman, as a sex, has not provided for herself the same advanced intellectual education to the same extent as men, and so long as inferiority of intellect in man has never yet in thousands of years been gravely discussed, while the inferiority of intellect in woman has been during the same period generally admitted, we are compelled to believe there is some foundation for this last opinion. the extent of this difference, the interval that exists between the sexes, the precise degree of inferiority on the part of women, will probably never be satisfactorily proved. believing then in the greater physical powers of man, and in his superiority, to a limited extent, in intellect also, as two sufficient reasons for the natural subordination of woman as a sex, we have yet a third reason for this subordination. christianity can be proved to be the safest and highest ally of man's nature, physical, moral, and intellectual, that the world has yet known. it protects his physical nature at every point by plain, stringent rules of general temperance and moderation. to his moral nature it gives the pervading strength of healthful purity. to his intellectual nature, while on one hand it enjoins full development and vigorous action, holding out to the spirit the highest conceivable aspirations, on the other it teaches the invaluable lessons of a wise humility. this grand and holy religion, whose whole action is healthful, whose restraints are all blessings--this gracious religion, whose chief precepts are the love of god and the love of man--this same christianity confirms the subordinate position of woman, by allotting to man the headship in plain language and by positive precept. no system of philosophy has ever yet worked out in behalf of woman the practical results for good which christianity has conferred on her. christianity has raised woman from slavery and made her the thoughtful companion of man; finds her the mere toy, or the victim of his passions, and it places her by his side, his truest friend, his most faithful counselor, his helpmeet in every worthy and honorable task. it protects her far more effectually than any other system. it cultivates, strengthens, elevates, purifies all her highest endowments, and holds out to her aspirations the most sublime for that future state of existence, where precious rewards are promised to every faithful discharge of duty, even the most humble. but, while conferring on her these priceless blessings, it also enjoins the submission of the wife to the husband, and allots a subordinate position to the whole sex while here on earth. no woman calling herself a christian, acknowledging her duties as such, can, therefore, consistently deny the obligation of a limited subordination laid upon her by her lord and his church. from these three chief considerations--the great inferiority of physical strength, a very much less and undefined degree of inferiority in intellect, and the salutary teachings of the christian faith--it follows that, to a limited degree, varying with circumstances, and always to be marked out by sound reason and good feeling, the subordination of woman, as a sex, is inevitable. this subordination once established, a difference of position, and a consequent difference of duties, follow as a matter of course. there must, of necessity, in such a state of things, be certain duties inalienably connected with the position of man, others inalienably connected with the position of woman. for the one to assume the duties of the other becomes, first, an act of desertion, next, an act of usurpation. for the man to discharge worthily the duties of his own position becomes his highest merit. for the woman to discharge worthily the duties of her own position becomes her highest merit. to be noble the man must be manly. to be noble the woman must be womanly. independently of the virtues required equally of both sexes, such as truth, uprightness, candor, fidelity, honor, we look in man for somewhat more of wisdom, of vigor, of courage, from natural endowment, combined with enlarged action and experience. in woman we look more especially for greater purity, modesty, patience, grace, sweetness, tenderness, refinement, as the consequences of a finer organization, in a protected and sheltered position. that state of society will always be the most rational, the soundest, the happiest, where each sex conscientiously discharges its own duties, without intruding on those of the other. it is true that the world has often seen individual women called by the manifest will of providence to positions of the highest authority, to the thrones of rulers and sovereigns. and many of these women have discharged those duties with great intellectual ability and great success. it is rather the fashion now among literary men to depreciate queen elizabeth and her government. but it is clear that, whatever may have been her errors--and no doubt they were grave--she still appears in the roll of history as one of the best sovereigns not only of her own house, but of all the dynasties of england. certainly she was in every way a better and a more successful ruler than her own father or her own brother-in-law, and better also than the stuarts who filled her throne at a later day. catherine of russia, though most unworthy as a woman, had a force of intellectual ability quite beyond dispute, and which made itself felt in every department of her government. isabella i. of spain gave proof of legislative and executive ability of the very highest order; she was not only one of the purest and noblest, but also, considering the age to which she belonged, and the obstacles in her way, one of the most skillful sovereigns the world has ever seen. her nature was full of clear intelligence, with the highest moral and physical courage. she was in every way a better ruler than her own husband, to whom she proved nevertheless an admirable wife, acting independently only where clear principle was at stake. the two greet errors of her reign, the introduction of the inquisition and the banishment of the jews, must be charged to the confessor rather than to the queen, and these were errors in which her husband was as closely involved as herself. on the other hand, some of the best reforms of her reign originated in her own mind, and were practically carried out under her own close personal supervision. many other skillful female rulers might be named. and it is not only in civilized life and in christendom that woman has shown herself wise in governing; even among the wildest savage tribes they have appeared, occasionally, as leaders and rulers. this is a singular fact. it may be proved from the history of this continent, and not only from the early records of mexico and cuba and hayti, but also from the reports of the earliest navigators on our own coast, who here and there make mention incidentally of this or that female chief or sachem. but a fact far more impressive and truly elevating to the sex also appears on authority entirely indisputable. while women are enjoined by the word of god to refrain from public teaching in the church, there have been individual women included among the prophets, speaking under the direct influence of the most holy spirit of god, the highest dignity to which human nature can attain. but all these individual cases, whether political or religious, have been exceptional. the lesson to be learned from them is plain. we gather naturally from these facts, what may be learned also from other sources, that, while the positions of the two sexes are as such distinct, the one a degree superior, the other a degree inferior, the difference between them is limited--it is not impassable in individual cases. the two make up but one species, one body politic and religious. there are many senses besides marriage in which the two are one. it is the right hand and the left, both belonging to one body, moved by common feeling, guided by common reason. the left hand may at times be required to do the work of the right, the right to act as the left. even in this world there are occasions when the last are first, the first last, without disturbing the general order of things. these exceptional cases temper the general rule, but they can not abrogate that rule as regards the entire sex. man learns from them not to exaggerate his superiority--a lesson very often needed. and woman learns from them to connect self-respect and dignity with true humility, and never, under any circumstances, to sink into the mere tool and toy of man--a lesson equally important. such until the present day has been the general teaching and practice of christendom, where, under a mild form, and to a limited point, the subordination of woman has been a fact clearly established. but this teaching we are now called upon to forget, this practice we are required to abandon. we have arrived at the days foretold by the prophet, when "knowledge shall be increased, and many shall run to and fro." the intellectual progress of the race during the last half century has indeed been great. but admiration is not the only feeling of the thoughtful mind when observing this striking advance in intellectual acquirement. we see that man has not yet fully mastered the knowledge he has acquired. he runs to and fro. he rushes from one extreme to the other. how many chapters of modern history, both political and religious, are full of the records of this mental vacillation of our race, of this illogical and absurd tendency to pass from one extreme to the point farthest from it! an adventurous party among us, weary of the old paths, is now eagerly proclaiming theories and doctrines entirely novel on this important subject. the emancipation of woman is the name chosen by its advocates for this movement. they reject the idea of all subordination, even in the mildest form, with utter scorn. they claim for woman absolute social and political equality with man. and they seek to secure these points by conferring on the whole sex the right of the elective franchise, female suffrage being the first step in the unwieldy revolutions they aim at bringing about. these views are no longer confined to a small sect. they challenge our attention at every turn. we meet them in society; we read them in the public prints; we hear of them in grave legislative assemblies, in the congress of the republic, in the imperial parliament of great britain. the time has come when it is necessary that all sensible and conscientious men and women should make up their minds clearly on a subject bearing upon the future condition of the entire race. there is generally more than one influence at work in all public movements of importance. the motive power in such cases is very seldom simple. so it has been with the question of female suffrage. the abuses inflicted on woman by legislation, the want of sufficient protection for her interests when confided to man, are generally asserted by the advocates of female suffrage as the chief motives for a change in the laws which withhold from her the power of voting. but it is also considered by the friend of the new movement that to withhold the suffrage from half the race is an inconsistency in american politics; that suffrage is an inalienable right, universal in its application; that women are consequently deprived of a great natural right when denied the power of voting. a third reason is also given for this proposed change in our political constitution. it is asserted that the entire sex would be greatly elevated in intellectual and moral dignity by such a course; and that the effect on the whole race would therefore be most advantageous, as the increased influence of woman in public affairs would purify politics, and elevate the whole tone of political life. here we have the reason for this movement as advanced by its advocates. these are the points on which they lay the most stress: first. the abuse of legislative power in man, by oppressing the sex. secondly. the inalienable natural right of woman to vote; and imperatively so in a country where universal suffrage is a great political principle. thirdly. the elevation of the sex, and the purification of politics through their influence. let us consider each of these points separately. first. the abuse of legislative power by man in the oppression of women. in some countries of europe much of wrong is still done to woman, at the present day, by old laws owing their existence to a past state of things, and which have not yet been repealed or modified to suit existing circumstances. but we are writing now to american women, and, instead of the evils existing in the other hemisphere, we are looking at a very different state of society. let us confine ourselves, therefore, to the subject as it affects ourselves. to go into all the details which might be drawn together from the statute books of the different states of the union bearing on this point, and to do them full justice, would require volumes. such a course is not necessary. the question can be decided with truth and justice on general principles--on generally admitted facts. we admit, then, that in some states--perhaps in all--there may be laws in which the natural and acquired rights of woman have not been fairly considered; that in some cases she has needed more legal protection and more privileges than she has yet received. but while this admission is made, attention is at the same time demanded for a fact inseparably connected with it; namely, the marked and generous liberality which american men have thus far shown in the considerate care and protection they have, as a general rule, given to the interests of women. in no country, whether of ancient or modern times, have women had less to complain of in their treatment by man than in america. this is no rhetorical declamation; it is the simple statement of an undeniable fact. it is a matter of social history. since the days of early colonial life to the present hour--or, in other words, during the last two hundred and fifty years--such has been the general course of things in this country. the hardest tasks have been taken by man, and a generous tenderness has been shown to women in many of the details of social life, pervading all classes of society, to a degree beyond what is customary even in the most civilized countries of europe. taking these two facts together--that certain abuses still exist, that certain laws and regulations need changing and that, as a general rule, american women have thus far been treated by their countrymen with especial consideration, in a legal and in a social sense--the inference becomes perfectly plain. a formidable and very dangerous social revolution is not needed to correct remaining abuses. any revolution aiming at upsetting the existing relations of the sexes--relations going back to the earliest records and traditions of the race--can not be called less than formidable and dangerous. let women make full use of the influences already at their command, and all really needed changes may be effected by means both sure and safe--means already thoroughly tried. let them use all the good sense, all the information, all the eloquence, and, if they please, all the wit, at their command when talking over these abuses in society. let them state their views, their needs, their demands, in conscientiously written papers. let them appeal for aid to the best, the wisest, the most respected men of the country, and the result is certain. choose any one real, existing abuse as a test of the honesty and the liberality of american men toward the women of the country, and we all know before-hand what shall be the result.[ ] {footnote by sfc} [ ] there is an injustice in the present law of guardianship in the state of new york, which may be named as one of those abuses which need reformation. a woman can not now, in the state of new york, appoint a guardian for her child, even though its father be dead. the authority for appointing a guardian otherwise than by the courts is derived from the revised statutes, p. , title , chapter , part , and that passage gives the power to the father only. the mother is not named. it has been decided in the courts that a mother can not make this appointment-- howard's practical reports, . this is certainly very unjust and very unwise. but let any dozen women of respectability take the matter in hand, and, by the means already at their command, from their own chimney-corners, they can readily procure the insertion of the needful clause. and so with any other real abuse. men are now ready to listen, and ready to act, when additional legislation is prudently and sensibly asked for by their wives and mothers. how they may act when women stand before them, armed cap-a-pie, and prepared to demand legislation at the point of the bayonet, can not yet be known. {end footnote} if husbands, fathers, brothers, are ready any day to shed their heart's blood for our personal defense in the hour of peril, we may feel perfectly assured that they will also protect us, when appealed to, by legislation. when they lay down their arms and refuse to fight for us, it will then be time to ask them to give up legislation also. but until that evil hour arrives let men make the laws, and let women be content to fill worthily, to the very best of their abilities, the noble position which the heavenly father has already marked out for them. there is work to be done in that position reaching much higher, going much farther, and penetrating far deeper, than any mere temporary legislation can do. of that work we shall speak more fully a moment later. secondly. the inalienable natural right of woman to vote; and imperatively so in a country where universal suffrage is a great political principle. this second proposition of the advocates of female suffrage is of a general character. it does not point to particular abuses, it claims the right of woman to vote as one which she should demand, whether practically needed or not. it is asserted that to disqualify half the race from voting is an abuse entirely inconsistent with the first principles of american politics. the answer to this is plain. the elective franchise is not an end; it is only a means. a good government is indeed an inalienable right. just so far as the elective franchise will conduce to this great end, to that point it becomes also a right, but no farther. a male suffrage wisely free, including all capable of justly appreciating its importance, and honestly discharging its responsibilities, becomes a great advantage to a nation. but universal suffrage, pushed to its extreme limits, including all men, all women, all minors beyond the years of childhood, would inevitably be fraught with evil. there have been limits to the suffrage of the freest nations. such limits have been found necessary by all past political experience. in this country, at the present hour, there are restrictions upon the suffrage in every state. those restrictions vary in character. they are either national, relating to color, political, mental, educational, connected with a property qualification, connected with sex, connected with minority of years, or they are moral in their nature.[ ] (footnote by sfc} [ ] in connection with this point of moral qualification we venture to ask a question. why not enlarge the criminal classes from whom the suffrage is now withheld? why not exclude every man convicted of any degrading legal crime, even petty larceny? and why not exclude from the suffrage all habitual drunkards judicially so declared? these are changes which would do vastly more of good than admitting women to vote. {end footnote} this restriction connected with sex is, in fact, but one of many other restrictions, considered more or less necessary even in a democracy. manhood suffrage is a very favorite term of the day. but, taken in the plain meaning of those words, such fullness of suffrage has at the present hour no actual existence in any independent nation, or in any extensive province. it does not exist, as we have just seen, even among the men of america. and, owing to the conditions of human life, we may well believe that unrestricted fullness of manhood suffrage never can exist in any great nation for any length of time. in those states of the american union which approach nearest to a practical manhood suffrage, unnaturalized foreigners, minors, and certain classes of criminals, are excluded from voting. and why so? what is the cause of this exclusion? here are men by tens of thousands--men of widely different classes and conditions--peremptorily deprived of a privilege asserted to be a positive inalienable right universal in its application. there is manifestly some reason for this apparently contradictory state of things. we know that reason to be the good of society. it is for the good of society that the suffrage is withheld from those classes of men. a certain fitness for the right use of the suffrage is therefore deemed necessary before granting it. a criminal, an unnaturalized foreigner, a minor, have not that fitness; consequently the suffrage is withheld from them. the worthy use of the vote is, then, a qualification not yet entirely overlooked by our legislators. the state has had, thus far, no scruples in withholding the suffrage even from men, whenever it has believed that the grant would prove injurious to the nation. here we have the whole question clearly defined. the good of society is the true object of all human government. to this principle suffrage itself is subordinate. it can never be more than a means looking to the attainment of good government, and not necessarily its corner-stone. just so far is it wise and right. move one step beyond that point, and instead of a benefit the suffrage may become a cruel injury. the governing power of our own country--the most free of all great nations--practically proclaims that it has no right to bestow the suffrage wherever its effects are likely to become injurious to the whole nation, by allotting different restrictions to the suffrage in every state of the union. the right of suffrage is, therefore, most clearly not an absolutely inalienable right universal in its application. it has its limits. these limits are marked out by plain justice and common-sense. women have thus far been excluded from the suffrage precisely on the same principles--from the conviction that to grant them this particular privilege would, in different ways, and especially by withdrawing them from higher and more urgent duties, and allotting to them other duties for which they are not so well fitted, become injurious to the nation, and, we add, ultimately injurious to themselves, also, as part of the nation. if it can be proved that this conviction is sound and just, founded on truth, the assumed inalienable right of suffrage, of which we have been hearing so much lately, vanishes into the "baseless fabric of a vision." if the right were indeed inalienable, it should be granted, without regard to consequences, as an act of abstract justice. but, happily for us, none but the very wildest theorists are prepared to take this view of the question of suffrage. the advocates of female suffrage must, therefore, abandon the claim of inalienable right. such a claim can not logically be maintained for one moment in the face of existing facts. we proceed to the third point. thirdly. the elevation of the entire sex, the general purification of politics through the influence of women, and the consequent advance of the whole race. such, we are told, must be the inevitable results of what is called the emancipation of woman, the entire independence of woman through the suffrage. here we find ourselves in a peculiar position. while considering the previous points of this question we have been guided by positive facts, clearly indisputable in their character. actual, practical experience, with the manifold teachings at her command, has come to our aid. but we are now called upon, by the advocates of this novel doctrine, to change our course entirely. we are under orders to sail out into unknown seas, beneath skies unfamiliar, with small light from the stars, without chart, without pilot, the port to which we are bound being one as yet unvisited by mortal man--or woman! heavy mist, and dark cloud, and threatening storm appear to us brooding over that doubtful sea. but something of prophetic vision is required of us. we are told that all perils which seem to threaten the first stages of our course are entirely illusive--that they will vanish as we approach--that we shall soon arrive in halcyon waters, and regions where wisdom, peace, and purity reign supreme. if we cautiously inquire after some assurance of such results, we are told that to those sailing under the flag of progress triumph is inevitable, failure is impossible; and that many of the direst evils hitherto known on earth must vanish at the touch of the talisman in the hand of woman--and that talisman is the vote. now, to speak frankly--and being as yet untrammeled by political aspirations, we fearlessly do so--as regards this flag of progress, we know it to be a very popular bit of bunting; but to the eye of common-sense it is grievously lacking in consistency. the flag of our country means something positive. we all love it; we all honor it. it represents to us the grand ideas by which the nation lives. it is the symbol of constitutional government, of law and order, of union, of a liberty which is not license. it is to us the symbol of all that may be great and good and noble in the christian republic. but this vaunted flag of progress, so alluring to many restless minds, is vague in its colors, unstable, too often illusive, in web and woof. many of its most prominent standard-bearers are clad in the motley garb of theorists. their flag may be seen wandering to and fro, hither and thither, up and down, swayed by every breath of popular caprice; so it move to the mere cry of "progress!" its followers are content. to-day, in the hands of the skeptical philosopher, it assaults the heavens. tomorrow it may: float over the mire of mormonism, or depths still more vile. it was under the flag of progress that, in the legislative halls of france, the name of the holy lord god of hosts, "who inhabiteth eternity," was legally blasphemed. it was under the flag of progress that, on the th of november, , therese momoro, goddess of reason, and wife of the printer momoro, was borne in triumph, by throngs of worshipers, through the streets of paris, and enthroned in the house of god. beyond all doubt, there is now, as there ever has been, an onward progress toward truth on earth. but that true progress is seldom rapid, excepting perhaps in the final stages of some particular movement. it is, indeed, often so slow, so gradual, as to be imperceptible at the moment to common observation. it is often silent, wonderful, mysterious, sublime. it is the grand movement toward the divine will, working out all things for eventual good. in looking back, there are for every generation way-marks by which the course of that progress may be traced. in looking forward no mortal eye can foresee its immediate course. the ultimate end we know, but the next step we can not foretell. the mere temporary cry of progress from human lips has often been raised in direct opposition to the true course of that grand, mysterious movement. it is like the roar of the rapids in the midst of the majestic stream, which, in the end, shall yield their own foaming waters to the calm current moving onward to the sea. we ask, then, for something higher, safer, more sure, to guide us than the mere popular cry of "progress!" we dare not blindly follow that cry, nor yield thoughtless allegiance to every flag it upholds. then, again, as regards that talisman, the vote, we have but one answer to make. we do not believe in magic. we have a very firm and unchangeable faith in free institutions, founded on just principles. we entirely believe that a republican form of government in a christian country may be the highest, the noblest, and the happiest that the world has yet seen. still, we do not believe in magic. and we do not believe in idolatry. we americans are just as much given to idolatry as any other people. our idols may differ from those of other nations; but they are, none the less, still idols. and it strikes the writer that the ballot-box is rapidly becoming an object of idolatry with us. is it not so? from the vote alone we expect all things good. from the vote alone we expect protection against all things evil. of the vote americans can never have too much--of the vote they can never have enough. the vote is expected by its very touch, suddenly and instantaneously, to produce miraculous changes; it is expected to make the foolish wise, the ignorant knowing, the weak strong, the fraudulent honest. it is expected to turn dross into gold. it is held to be the great educator, not only as regards races, and under the influence of time, which is in a measure true, but as regards individuals and classes of men, and that in the twinkling of an eye, with magical rapidity. were this theory practically sound, the vote would really prove a talisman. in that case we should give ourselves no rest until the vote were instantly placed in the hands of every chinaman landing in california, and of every indian roving over the plains. but, in opposition to this theory, what is the testimony of positive facts known to us all? are all voters wise? are all voters honest? are all voters enlightened? are all voters true to their high responsibilities? are all voters faithful servants of their country? is it entirely true that the vote has necessarily and really these inherent magical powers of rapid education for individuals and for classes of men, fitting them, in default of other qualifications, for the high responsibilities of suffrage? alas! we know only too well that when a man is not already honest and just and wise and enlightened, the vote he holds can not make him so. we know that if he is dishonest, he will sell his vote; if he is dull and ignorant, he is misled, for selfish purposes of their own, by designing men. as regards man, at least, the vote can be too easily proved to be no talisman. it is very clear that for man the ballot-box needs to be closely guarded on one side by common-sense, on the other by honesty. a man must be endowed with a certain amount of education and of principle, before he receives the vote, to fit him for a worthy use of it. and if the vote be really no infallible talisman for man, why should we expect it to work magical wonders in the hands of woman? but let us drop the play of metaphor, appropriate though it be when facing the visions of political theorists. let us look earnestly and clearly at the positive facts before us. we are gravely told that to grant the suffrage to woman would be a step inevitably beneficial and elevating to the whole sex, and, through their influence, to the entire race, and that, on this ground alone, the proposed change in the constitution should be made. here, so far at least as the concluding proposition goes, we must all agree. if it can be clearly proved that this particular change in our institutions is one so fraught with blessings, we are bound to make it at every cost. the true elevation of the whole race: that is what we are all longing for, praying for. and is it indeed true that this grand work can effectually be brought about by the one step we are now urged to take? what says actual experience on this point? the whole history of mankind shows clearly that, as yet, no one legislative act has ever accomplished half of what is claimed by the advocates of woman's suffrage as the inevitable result of the change they propose. no one legislative act has ever been so widely comprehensive in its results for good as they declare that this act shall be. no one legislative act has ever raised the entire race even within sight of the point of elevation predicted by the champions of what is called the emancipation of woman. hear them speak for themselves: "it is hardly possible, with our present experience, to raise our imaginations to the conception of so great a change for the better as would be made by its removal"--the removal of the principle of the subordination of the wife to the husband, and the establishment of the entire independence of women, to be obtained by female suffrage. these are not the words of some excited woman making a speech at a public meeting. the quotation is from the writings of mr. stuart mill. the subordination of the wife to the husband is declared by mr. mill to be "the citadel of the enemy." storm the citadel, proclaim the entire independence of the wife, and our feeble imaginations, we are told, are utterly incapable of conceiving the glorious future of the race consequent upon this one step. this is a very daring assertion. it is so bold, indeed, as to require something of positive proof ere we can yield to it our implicit belief. the citadel we are urged to storm was built by the hand of god. the flag waving over that citadel is the flag of the cross. when the creator made one entire sex so much more feeble in physical powers than the other, a degree of subordination on the part of the weaker sex became inevitable, unless it were counteracted by increase of mental ability, strengthened by special precept. but the mental ability, so far as there is a difference, and the precept, are both on the side of the stronger sex. the whole past history of the race coincides so clearly with these facts that we should suppose that even those who are little under the influence of christian faith might pause era they attacked that citadel. common-sense might teach them something of caution, something of humility, when running counter to the whole past experience of the race. as for those who have a living belief in the doctrines of christianity, when they find that revealed religion, from the first of the prophets to the last of the apostles, allots a subordinate position to the wife, they are compelled to believe moses and st. paul in the right, and the philosophers of the present day, whether male or female, in the wrong. to speak frankly, the excessive boldness of these new theories, the incalculable and inconceivable benefits promised us from this revolution from the natural condition of things in christendom--and throughout the world indeed--would lead us to suspicion. guides who appeal to the imagination when discussing practical questions are not generally considered the safest. and the champions of female suffrage are necessarily compelled to take this course. they have no positive foundation to rest on. mr. stuart mill has said in parliament, in connection with this subject, that "the tyranny of established custom has entirely passed away." nothing can be more true than this assertion. as a rule, the past is now looked upon with doubt, with suspicion, often with a certain sort of contempt, very far from being always consistent with sound reason. the tyranny of the present day--and it may be just as much a tyranny as the other--is radically opposite in character. it is the tyranny of novelty to which we are most exposed at present. the dangers lie chiefly in that direction. there will be little to fear from the old until the hour of reaction arrives, as it inevitably must, if the human mind be strained too far in a new direction. at present the more startling an assertion, the farther it wanders from all past experience, the greater are its chances of attracting attention, of gaining adherents, of achieving at least a partial and temporary success. in the age and in the country which has seen the development of mormonism as a successful religious, social, and political system, nothing should surprise us. such is the restlessness of human nature that it will often, from mere weak hankering after change, hug to its bosom the wildest theories, and yield them a temporary allegiance. let us suppose that to-day the proposed revolution were effected; all women, without restriction, even the most vile, would be summoned to vote in accordance with their favorite theory of inalienable right. that class of women, and other degraded classes of the ignorant and unprincipled, will always be ready to sell their votes many times over--to either party, to both parties, to the highest bidder, in short. they will sell their vote much more readily than the lowest classes of men now do. they will hold it with greater levity. they will trifle with it. they will sell their vote any day for a yard of ribbon or a tinsel brooch--unless they are offered two yards of ribbon or two brooches. they will vote over again every hour of every election day, by cunning disguises and trickery. and thus, so far as women are concerned, the most degraded element in society will, in fact, represent the whole sex. nay, they will probably not unfrequently command the elections, as three colored women are said once to have done in new jersey. a hundred honest and intelligent women can have but one vote each, and at least fifty of these will generally stay at home. if, which god forbid, it actually comes to female voting, a very small proportion of the sex will, at common elections, appear at the polls. avocations more urgent, more natural to them, and in which they are more deeply interested, will keep them away. the degraded women will be there by the scores, as tools of men, enjoying both the importance of the hour, the fun, and the pay. fifty women, known to be thieves and prostitutes, will hold, at a moderate calculation, say two hundred votes. and, as women form the majority of the resident population in some states, that wretched element of society will, in fact, govern those states, or those who bribe them will do so. massachusetts, very favorable to female suffrage now, will probably come round to the opinion of new jersey in former days. great will be the consumption of cheap ribbons, and laces, and artificial flowers, and feathers, and tinsel jewelry, in every town and village about election time, after emancipation is achieved. we are compelled to believe so, judging from our knowledge of human nature, and of the use already made of bribery at many elections. the demagogues will be more powerful than ever. their work will be made easy for them. it seems, indeed, probable that under the new era our great elections shall become a sort of grand national gift concerns, of which the most active demagogues of all parties will be the managers. not that women are more mercenary, or more unprincipled than men. god forbid! that would be saying too much. we entirely believe the reverse to be true. but the great mass of women can never be made to take a deep, a sincere, a discriminating, a lasting interest in the thousand political questions ever arising to be settled by the vote. they very soon weary of such questions. on great occasions they can work themselves up to a state of frenzied excitement over some one political question. at such times they can parade a degree of unreasoning prejudice, of passionate hatred, of blind fury, even beyond what man can boast of. but, in their natural condition, in everyday life, they do not take instinctively to politics as men do. men are born politicians; just as they are born masons, and carpenters, and soldiers, and sailors. not so women. their thoughts and feelings are given to other matters. the current of their chosen avocations runs in another channel than that of politics--a channel generally quite out of sight of politics; it is an effort for them to turn from one to the other. with men, on the contrary, politics, either directly or indirectly, are closely, palpably, inevitably blended with their regular work in life. they give their attention unconsciously, spontaneously; to politics. look at a family of children, half boys, half girls; the boys take instinctively to whips and guns and balls and bats and horses, to fighting and wrestling and riding; the girls fondle their dolls, beg for a needle and thread, play at housekeeping, at giving tea-parties, at nursing the sick baby, at teaching school. that difference lasts through life. give your son, as he grows up, a gun and a vote; he will delight in both. give your daughter, as she grows up, a gun and a vote, and, unless she be an exceptional woman, she will make a really good use of neither. your son may be dull; but he will make a good soldier, and a very tolerable voter. your daughter may be very clever; but she would certainly run away on the battle-held, and very probably draw a caricature on the election ticket. there is the making of an admirable wife and mother, and a valuable member of society, in that clever young woman. she is highly intelligent, thoroughly well educated, reads greek and latin, and has a wider range of knowledge and thought than ninety-nine in a hundred of the voters in the same district; but there is nothing of the politician in her nature. she would rather any day read a fine poem than the best political speech of the hour. what she does know of politics reaches her through that dull but worthy brother of hers. it is only occasionally that we meet women with an inherent bias for politics; and those are not, as a rule, the highest type of the sex--it is only occasionally that they are so. the interest most women feel in politics is secondary, factitious, engrafted on them by the men nearest to them. women are not abortive men; they are a distinct creation. the eye and the ear, though both belonging to the same body, are each, in a certain sense, a distinct creation. a body endowed with four ears might hear remarkably well; but without eyes it would be of little use in the world. a body with four eyes would have a fourfold power of vision, and would consequently become nearly as sharp-sighted as a spider; but without hearing its powers of sight would avail little. in both cases, half the functions of the human being, whether physical or mental, would be very imperfectly performed. thus it is with men and women; each has a distinct position to fill in the great social body, and is especially qualified for it. these distinct positions are each highly important. and it is reasonable to believe that, by filling their own peculiar position thoroughly well, women can best serve their creator, their fellow-creatures, and themselves. no doubt you may, if you choose, by especial education from childhood upward, make your girls very respectable politicians, as much so as the majority of your sons. but in that case you must give up your womanly daughters--you must be content with manly daughters. this essential difference between the sexes is a very striking fact; yet the advocates of female suffrage constantly lose sight of it; they talk and write as if it had no existence. it is not lack of intellect on the part of women, but difference of intellect, or rather a difference of organization and affinities giving a different bias to the intellect, which is the cause of their distinct mental character as a sex. and, owing to this essential difference, the great majority of women are naturally disinclined to politics, and partially unfitted for action in that field. female suffrage. a letter to the christian women of america. part ii. let us now look for a moment at the actual condition of women in america, in connection with the predicted elevation. we are told they are to be elevated by the suffrage--and that by hanging on to the election tickets in the hands of their wives, the men are to be elevated with them. what, therefore, is the ground women now occupy, and from whence they are to soar upward on the paper wings of the ballot? the principal facts connected with that position are self-evident; there is nothing vague or uncertain here; we have but to look about us and the question is answered. we already know, for instance, from daily observation and actual experience, that, as a general rule, the kindness and consideration of american men have been great, both in public and in private life. we know that in american society women have been respected, they have been favored, they have been protected, they have been beloved. there has been a readiness to listen to their requests, to redress grievances, to make changes whenever these have become necessary or advisable. such, until very recently, has been the general current of public feeling, the general tendency of public action, in america. if there appear to-day occasional symptoms of a change in the tone of men on this point, it is to be attributed to the agitation of the very question we are now discussing. whenever women make ill-judged, unnatural, extravagant demands, they must prepare to lose ground. yes, even where the particular points in dispute are conceded to their reiterated importunity, they must still eventually lower their general standing and consideration by every false step. there are occasions where victory is more really perilous than a timely defeat; a temporary triumph may lead to ground which the victors can not permanently hold to their own true and lasting advantage. on the other hand, every just and judicious demand women may now make with the certainty of successful results. this is, indeed, the great fact which especially contributes to render the birthright of american women a favorable one. if the men of the country are already disposed to redress existing grievances, where women are concerned, as we know them to be, and if they are also ready, as we know them to be, to forward all needful future development of true womanly action, what more, pray, can we reasonably ask of them? where lies this dim necessity of thrusting upon women the burdens of the suffrage? and why should the entire nation be thrown into the perilous convulsions of a revolution more truly formidable than any yet attempted on earth? bear in mind that this is a revolution which, if successful in all its aims, can scarcely fail to sunder the family roof-tree, and to uproot the family hearth-stone. it is the avowed determination of many of its champions that it shall do so; while with another class of its leaders, to weaken and undermine the authority of the christian faith in the household is an object if not frankly avowed yet scarcely concealed. the great majority of the women enlisted in this movement--many of them, it is needless to say, very worthy persons as individuals--are little aware of all the perils into which some of their most zealous male allies would lead them. degradation for the sex, and not true and lasting elevation, appear to most of us likely to be the end to which this movement must necessarily tend, unless it be checked by the latent good sense, the true wisdom, and the religious principle of women themselves, aroused, at length, to protest, to resist. if we are called upon for proof of the assertion, that american men are already prepared to redress actual grievances, we find that proof in their course at the present moment. observe the patience with which our legislative bodies are now considering the petitions of a clamorous minority demanding the redress of a fictitious grievance--a minority demanding a political position which the majority of their sex still utterly reject--a position repugnant to the habits, the feelings, the tastes, and the principles of that majority. if men are willing to give their attention to these querulous demands of a small minority of our sex, how much more surely may we rely on their sympathy, and their efficient support, when some measure in which the interests of the whole sex are clearly involved shall be brought before them by all their wives and mothers? and again: they are not only already prepared to redress grievances, but also to forward all needed development of true womanly action. take, in proof of this, assertion, the subject of education. this is, beyond all doubt the vital question of the age, embracing within its limits all others. education is of far more importance than the suffrage, which is eventually subject to it, controlled by it. this is, indeed, a question altogether too grave, too comprehensive, and too complicated in some of its bearings to be more than briefly alluded to here. but let us consider education for a moment as the mere acquirement of intellectual knowledge. this is but one of its phases, and that one not the most important; but such is the popular, though very inadequate, idea of the subject in america. observe how much has already been done in this sense for the instruction of the woman of our country. in the common district schools, and even in the high schools of the larger towns, the same facilities are generally offered to both sexes; in the public schools brother and sister have, as a rule, the same books and the same teachers. and we may go much further and say that every woman in the country may already--if she is determined to do so--obtain very much the same intellectual instruction which her own brother receives. if that education is a highly advanced one she will, no doubt, have some special difficulties to contend against; but those difficulties are not insurmountable. the doors of most colleges and universities are closed, it is true, against women, and we can not doubt that this course is taken for sound reasons, pointed out by good sense and true sagacity. it is impossible not to believe that between the ages of fifteen and five-and-twenty young men and young women will carry on their intellectual training far more thoroughly and successfully apart than thrown into the same classes. at that age of vivid impressions and awakening passions, the two sexes are sufficiently thrown together in family life and in general society for all purposes of mutual influence and improvement. let them chat, walk, sing, dance together, at that period of their lives; but if you wish to make them good scholars, let them study apart. let their loves and jealousies be carried on elsewhere than in the college halls. but already female colleges, exclusively adapted to young women, are talked of--nay, here and there one or two such colleges now exist. there is nothing in which american men more delight, nothing more congenial to their usual modes of thought and action, than to advance the intellectual instruction of the whole nation, daughters as well as sons. we may rest assured that they will not fail to grant all needful development in this direction. one female college, of the very highest intellectual standard, would probably be found sufficient for a population of some millions. the number of women desiring a full college education will always, for many different reasons, be much smaller than the number of male students. but there is no good reason why such colleges, when found desirable, should not enter into our future american civilization. individual american women may yet, by these means, make high progress in science, and render good service to the country and the race. every branch of study which may be carried on thoroughly and successfully, without impairing womanly modesty of mind and manner, should be so far opened to the sex as to allow those individuals to whom providence has given the ability for deep research to carry them to the farthest point needed. but as regards those studies which are intended to open the way to professions essentially bold and masculine in character, we do not see how it is within the bounds of possibility for young women to move onward in that direction without losing some of their most precious womanly prerogatives--without, in short, unsexing themselves. the really critical point with regard to the present position of women in america is the question of work and wages. here the pocket of man is touched. and the pocket is the most sensitive point with many men, not only in america, but all the world over. there can be no doubt whatever that women are now driven away from certain occupations, to which they are well adapted, by the selfishness of some men. and in many departments where they are day-laborers for commercial firms they are inadequately paid, and compelled to provide food, lodging, fuel, and light out of scanty wages. yes, we have here one of the few real grievances of which american women have a just right to complain. but even here--even where the pocket is directly touched, we still believe that women may obtain full justice in the end, by pursuing the right course. only let the reality of the grievance be clearly proved, and redress will follow, ere long. providence has the power of bringing good out of evil; and therefore we believe that the movement now going on will here, at least, show some lasting results for good. the "song of the shirt" shall, we trust, ere long become an obsolete lay in our country. our women, twenty years hence, shall be better paid in some of their old fields of labor; and new openings, appropriate to their abilities, mental and physical, shall also be made for them. and here they are much more likely to succeed without the suffrage than with it. it is not by general law-making that they can better themselves in these particulars. individual fitness for this or that branch of work is what is required for success. and if, by thorough preparation, women can discharge this or that task, not essentially masculine in its requirements, as well as men, they may rest assured that in the end their wages will be the same as those of their fathers and brothers in the same field of work. and how is it with our homes--how fares it with american women in the family circle? to all right-minded women the duties connected with home are most imperative, most precious, most blessed of all, partaking as they do of the spirit of religious duty. to women this class of duties is by choice, and by necessity, much more absorbing than it is to men. it is the especial field of activity to which providence has called them; for which their maker has qualified them by peculiar adaptation of body and mind. to the great majority of american women these duties are especially absorbing, owing to the difficulty of procuring paid subordinates, well qualified for the tasks they undertake. the task of positive labor, and the task of close supervision, are both particularly burdensome to american wives and mothers. thus far, or at least until very recently, those duties of wife and mother have been generally performed conscientiously. the heart of every worthy american woman is in her home. that home, with its manifold interests, is especially under her government. the good order, the convenience, the comfort, the pleasantness, the whole economy of the house, in short, depend in a very great measure on her. the food of the family is prepared by her, either directly or by close supervision. the clothing of the family passes through her hands or under her eye. the health of the family is included within the same tender, watchful, loving oversight. the education of the children is chiefly directed by her--in many families almost exclusively so. whether for evil or for good, by careless neglect or by patient, thoughtful, prayerful guidance, she marks out their future course. this is even too much the case. american fathers love their children fondly; no fathers more affectionate than they are; they pet their children; they toil ceaselessly for them; but their education they leave almost entirely to the mother. it may be said, with perfect truth, that in the great majority of american families the educational influences come chiefly from the mother; they are tacitly made over to her as a matter of course. the father has too often very little to do with them. his work lies abroad, in the world of business or politics, where all his time and attention are fully absorbed. in this way the american mother rules the very heart of her family. if at all worthy she has great influence with her husband; she has great influence over her daughters; and as regards her sons, there are too many cases in which hers is the only influence for good to which they yield. is there so little of true elevation and dignity in this position that american women should be in such hot haste to abandon it for a position as yet wholly untried, entirely theoretical and visionary? it will be said that all women are not married, that all wives are not mothers, that there are childless widows and many single women in the country. quite true, but in a rapid sketch one looks at the chief features only; and home life, with its varied duties, is, of course, the principal point in every christian country. the picture is essentially correct, without touching on lesser details. we pause here to observe also that almost every single woman has a home somewhere. she makes a home for herself, or she is ingrafted on the home of others, and wherever she may be--even in that wretched kind of existence, boarding-house life--she may, if she choose, carry something of the home spirit with her. in fact, every true woman instinctively does so, whatever be the roof that covers her head. she thinks for others, she plans for others, she serves others, she loves and cherishes others, she unconsciously throws something of the web of home feeling and home action over those near her, and over the dwelling she inhabits. she carries the spirit of home and its duties into the niche allotted to her--a niche with which she is generally far more contented than the world at large believes--a niche which is never so narrow but that it provides abundant material for varied work--often very pleasant work too. let it be understood, once for all, that the champions of widows and single women are very much given to talking and writing absurdly on this point. their premises are often wholly false. they often fancy discontent and disappointment and inaction where those elements have no existence. certainly it is not in the least worth while to risk a tremendous social revolution in behalf of this minority of the sex. every widow and single woman can, if she choose, already find abundance of the most noble occupation for heart, mind, body, and soul. carry the vote into her niche, she certainly will be none the happier or more truly respectable for that bit of paper. it is also an error to suppose that among the claimants for suffrage single women are the most numerous or the most clamorous. the great majority of the leaders in this movement appear to be married women. a word more on the subject of home life, as one in which the interests of the whole sex are most closely involved. it is clear that those interests are manifold, highly important to the welfare of the race, unceasing in their recurrence, urgent and imperative in their nature, requiring for their successful development such devotion of time, labor, strength, thought, feeling, that they must necessarily leave but little leisure to the person who faithfully discharges them. the comfort, health, peace, temper, recreation, general welfare, intellectual, moral, and religious training of a family make up, indeed, a charge of the very highest dignity, and one which must tax to the utmost every faculty of the individual to whom it is intrusted. the commander of a regiment at the head of his men, the member of congress in his seat, the judge on his bench, scarcely holds a position so important, so truly honorable, as that of the intelligent, devoted, faithful american wife and mother, wisely governing her household. and what are the interests of the merchant, the manufacturer, the banker, the broker, the speculator, the selfish politician, when compared with those confided to the christian wife and mother? they are too often simply contemptible--a wretched, feverish, maddening struggle to pile up lucre, which is any thing but clean. where is the superior merit of such a life, that we should hanker after it, when placed beside that of the loving, unselfish, christian wife and mother--the wife, standing at her husband's side, to cheer, to aid, to strengthen, to console, to counsel, amidst the trials of life; the mother, patiently, painfully, and prayerfully cultivating every higher faculty of her children for worthy action through time and eternity? which of these positions has the most of true elevation connected with it? and then, again, let as look at the present position of american women in society. in its best aspects social life may be said to be the natural outgrowth of the christian home. it is something far better than the world, than vanity fair, than the court of mammon, where all selfish passions meet and parade in deceptive masquerade. it is the selfish element in human nature which pervades what we call the world; self-indulgence, enjoyment, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life, receive, in that arena, their full development. society, on the contrary, in its highest meaning, becomes the practical development of the second great commandment, loving and serving our neighbor. in every christian country there are many individuals, especially among women, to whom social life practically bears that meaning. public worship itself is a social act, the highest of all, blending in one the spirit of the two great commandments--the love of god and the love of man. and whatever of social action or social enjoyment is not inconsistent with those two great commandments becomes the christian's heritage, makes a part, more or less important, of his education, enters into the great stream of the better civilization. and it is here that we reach what may be called the more public duties of woman. from all duties entirely public she is now, or she may be if she choose, relieved by man. these more public duties of hers are still but the outgrowth of her home life, and more or less closely interwoven with it. they are very important, never to be neglected with impunity. the really unsocial woman is in great danger of becoming also un-christian. every friend crossing the threshold brings social life into the home. the genial smile, the kindly greeting, the cheering word, all these and a thousand other gracious impulses, are, of course, but the first instinctive movements of the social feeling. and from these we move onward over a vast field of action, to the very farthest point reached by the higher charities of christianity. there can be no doubt that the charm, the grace, and the happy cheerfulness of society are chiefly due to women; and it is also true that the whole unwritten common-law of society is, in a great measure, under their control. the world is constantly encroaching here, enervating and corrupting social life. to oppose wisely, skillfully, and effectually these treacherous encroachments, these alluring temptations, is one of the most difficult tasks possible. to contribute her full share toward purifying and brightening the social atmosphere about her, in accordance with the spirit of true christian civilization, such is one great and essential part of woman's work in life. it is a work more especially her own. man, without his helpmeet, can do but little here. his faculties are absorbed by other tasks, not more important, but more engrossing and essentially different. the finer tact, the more graceful manner, the quicker wit, the more tender conscience, are all needed here. every woman in the country has her own share of this work to do. each individual woman is responsible for the right use of all her own social influences, whether for good or for evil. to keep up the standard of female purity becomes emphatically one of the most stringent duties of every christian woman. for her own sake, for the sake of all she loves, for the sake of her country, for the service of christ and his church, she is bound to uphold this standard at a high point--a point entirely above suspicion. this task is of importance incalculable. but, owing to the frivolity of some women, and the very loose ideas of many men, it is no easy task. undoubtedly, the very great majority of women are born modest at heart. their nature is by many degrees less coarse than that of man. and their conscience is more tender. but there is one temptation to which they too often yield. with them the great dangers are vanity and the thirst for admiration, which often become a sort of diseased excitement--what drinking or gambling is to men. here is the weak point. yielding chiefly to this temptation, scores of women are falling every day. vanity leads them to wear the extravagant, the flashy, the immodest, the unhealthy dress, to dance the immodest dance, to adopt the alluring manner, to carry flirting to extremes. vanity leads them, in short, to forget true self-respect, to enjoy the very doubtful compliment of a miserably cheap admiration. they become impatient of the least appearance of neglect or indifference, they become eager in pursuit of attention, while men always attribute that pursuit to motives of the coarsest kind. it is generally vanity alone which leads a married woman to receive the first disgraceful flattery of dissolute men. probably nine out of ten of those american women who have trifled with honor and reputation, whose names are spoken with the sneer of contempt, have been led on, step by step, in the path of sin by vanity as the chief motive. where one woman falls from low and coarse passions, a hundred fall from sheer levity and the love of admiration. to counteract this fatal influence young women must be taught to respect themselves, to be on their guard against vanity and its enticements, to cherish personal modesty in every way. the married woman who is quietly working by example or by precept among the young girls nearest to her, seeking to cherish and foster among them this vital principle of pure personal modesty in dress, in language, in reading, in tone of voice, in countenance, in manner--the natural outward expression of true modesty of heart--is doing far more for her country than if she were to mount the rostrum to-morrow and make a political speech eloquent as any of webster's. sensible women may always have a good measure of political influence of the right sort, if they choose. and it is in one sense a duty on their part to claim this influence, and to exert it, but always in the true womanly way. the influence of good sense, of a sound judgment, of good feeling may always he theirs. let us see that we preserve this influence, and that we use it wisely. but let us cherish our happy immunities as women by keeping aloof from all public personal action in the political field. there is much higher work for us to do. our time, our thoughts, our efforts may be given to labors far more important than any mere temporary electing, or law-making, passed today, annulled to-morrow, in obedience to the fickle spirit of party politics. that work is to promote by all worthy means the moral civilization of the country. toward this work legislation, the mere enacting of laws, can do but little. we have all heard of the shrewd mind who considered the songs of a people as more important than their laws. the moral condition of a nation is subject to many different influences--of these the statute book is but one, and that not the most important. no mere skeleton of political constitution can, of itself, produce moral health and strength. it is the living heart within which does the work. and over that heart women have very great influence. the home is the cradle of the nation. a sound home education is the most important of all moral influences. in the very powerful influences which affection gives them over the home, by teaching childhood, by guiding youth, over the men of their family, women have noble means for working good, not only to their own households, not only to the social circle about them, but to the nation at large. all these influences they can bring into action far more effectually by adhering closely to that position which is not only natural to them, but also plainly allotted to them by the revealed word of god. in no position of their own devising can they do that work half so well. political and social corruption are clearly the great evils to be dreaded for our country. we have already gone far enough in the path of universal manhood suffrage to feel convinced that no mere enlargement of the suffrage has power to save us from those evils. during half a century we have been moving nearer and nearer to a suffrage all but universal, and we have, during the same period, been growing more corrupt. the undisguised frauds at elections, the open accusations of bribery in legislative assemblies, the accusations of corruption connected with still higher offices--of these we read daily in the public prints. and these accusations are not disproved. they are generally believed. it is clear, therefore, that something more effectual than universal manhood suffrage is needed to stem the torrent. and it is simply ridiculous to suppose that womanhood suffrage can effect the same task. who can believe that where men, in their own natural field, have partially failed to preserve a healthful political atmosphere, an honest political practice, that women, so much less experienced, physically so much more feeble, so excitable, so liable to be misled by fancy, by feeling, are likely, in a position foreign to their nature, not only to stand upright themselves, but, like atlas of old, to bear the weight of the whole political world on their shoulders--like hercules, to cleanse the augean stables of the political coursers--to do, in short, all that man has failed to do? no; it is, alas! only too clear that something more than the ballot-box, whether in male or female hands, is needed here. and it is the same in social life. the public prints, under a free press, must always hold up a tolerably faithful mirror to the society about them. the picture it displays is no better in social life than in political life. we say the mirror is tolerably faithful, since there are heights of virtue and depths of sin alike unreflected by the daily press. the very purest and the very foulest elements of earthly existence are left out of the picture. but the general view can scarcely fail to be tolerably correct. take, then, the sketch of social life as it appears in some half dozen of the most popular prints from week to week. you will be sure to find the better features grievously blended with others fearfully distorted by evil. there are blots black as pitch in that picture. there are forms, more fiend-like than human, photographed on those sheets of paper. crimes of worse than brutal violence, savage cruelty, crimes of treachery and cowardly cunning and conspiracy, breach of trust, tyrannical extortion, groveling intemperance, sensuality gross and shameless--the heart sickens at the record of a week's crime! it is a record from which the christian woman often turns aside appalled. human nature can read no lessons of humility more powerful than those contained in the newspapers of the day. they preach what may be called home truths with most tremendous force. from this record of daily crime it is only too clear that universal suffrage has had no power to purify the society in which we live. if no worse, we can not claim to be better than other nations, under a different political rule. this admission becomes the more painful when we reflect that in america this full freedom of fundamental institutions, this relief from all needless shackles, is combined with a well-developed system of intellectual education. we are an absolutely free nation. we are, on the whole, and to a certain point, intellectually, an educated nation. yet vice and crime exist among us to an extent that is utterly disgraceful. it is evident, therefore, that universal manhood suffrage, even when combined with general education, is still insufficient for the task of purifying either social or political life. the theoretical infidel philosopher may wonder at this fact. not so the christian. great intellectual activity, and the abuse of that power for evil purposes, are a spectacle only too common in this world. look at the present condition of the most civilized nations. of all generations that have lived on earth, our own is assuredly the most enlightened, in an intellectual sense; mental culture has never been so generally diffused as it is to-day, nor has it ever achieved so many conquests as within the last half century; and yet mark how comparatively little has this wonderful intellectual progress accomplished in the noble work of improving the moral condition of the most enlightened countries. to the mind humbled by christian doctrine, living in the light of a holy faith, these facts, though unspeakably painful, can not cause surprise. we are prepared for them. we have already learned that no mere legislative enactment and no mere intellectual training can suffice to purify the human heart thoroughly. an element much more powerful than mental culture is needed for that great work. for this work light from on high is sent. a thorough moral education is required, and the highest form of that education can be reached in one way only--by walking in the plain path of obedience to the will of the creator, as revealed in holy scripture. we must turn, not to plato and aristotle, but to inspired prophet and apostle. we must open our hearts to the spirit of the decalogue and the sermon on the mount. we must go to sinai and to calvary, and humbly, on bended knee, receive the sublime lessons to be learned there. we should never have expected moral progress as an inevitable consequence of free institutions and mere intellectual education, had it not been that, like other nations, we indulge in idolatries, and among our "gods many" are the suffrage and mental activity. we are gravely told by philosophers that, with the vote in the hands of woman, the moral elevation of the race is secured forever! "great is diana of the ephesians!" the feeling is common in america that to doubt the omnipotence of universal suffrage in its extreme development is not only treason, but a sort of blasphemy. and this feeling is now leading many minds, unconsciously, perhaps, to shrink from opposing the present movement in favor of womanhood suffrage. they bow the knee to the common idol. they dare not believe it possible for the suffrage to be carried too far. for ourselves we have no sympathies whatever with idolatry. we fearlessly declare our opinion, therefore, that no political institutions whatever, neither despotic, nor monarchical, nor aristocratic, nor yet the most free, are capable, in themselves, of achieving moral education for a people. neither do we believe it more possible for abstract intellectual culture to gain this most important of all ends. institutions wisely free are a very great blessing. let us be fervently thankful for them. intellectual education is equally important and desirable. these are both noble and admirable means to work with, provided we still look above and beyond them for a further development of the race--for fullness of moral civilization. in fact, if we wish for a vigorous, healthful, lasting development of republican institutions, we must necessarily unite with these not only intellectual teaching, but also a sound moral education. this is a fact to which men, in the whirl of their political or commercial struggles, too often willfully shut their eyes. they are quite ready to acknowledge the truth of the assertion in a general way, but they choose to forget its vast importance in political or commercial practice. they recklessly lower the moral standard themselves, whenever that standard is at a height inconvenient for the attaining of some particular object toward which they are aiming. they are lacking in faith. unlike women, who carry faith with them in private life, men act as if faith were not needed in everyday public life. at least the great majority of men, nominal christians, fail to carry christian principle with them into common business or politics. faith, in the heart of women, is connected with love; consequently it is less easily stifled. they more frequently carry this principle with them in daily practice--not to the extent that they should do, but far more so than most men do. and here, christian women, is your great advantage. it is the lord's work to which we would urge you. the work of true faith, however lowly, is sure of a blessing. with faith unfeigned in your hearts, giving purity to your lives, you have it in your power to render most effectual service to the nation in your own natural sphere, far beyond what you could possibly accomplish by the path of common politics. you have never, as yet, done full justice to the advantages of your own actual position in this respect. you have overlooked the great work immediately before you. we have no magic talisman to offer you in carrying out that work. we shall not flatter you with the promise of unlimited success; we shall not attempt to gratify any personal ambition of public honors. we have no novel theories or brilliant illusions with which to dazzle your imagination. fidelity to plain moral duties--this is the one great principle to which we would most earnestly call your attention. there is absolutely no principle so sorely needed in the civilized world to-day as this. we live in an age of false and inflated ambitions. simple moral truths fare badly in our time. imposing theories, brilliant novelties, subtle sophistries, exaggerated development, arrogant pretensions--these too often crowd simple moral truths out of sight, out of mind. and yet, without that class of duties in healthful action, corruption more or less general is inevitable. truth of word, honesty of action, integrity of character, temperance, chastity, moderation, sincerity, subordination to just authority, conjugal fidelity, filial love and honor--these duties, and others closely connected with them, bear old and homely names. but, christian women, you can not ask for a task more noble, more truly elevating, for yourselves and your country, than to uphold these plain moral principles, first by your own personal example, and then by all pure influences in your homes and in the society to which you belong. in no other mode can you so well forward the great work of christian civilization as by devoting yourselves to the daily personal practice, and to the social cultivation, by example and influence, of these plain moral duties. your present domestic position is especially favorable to this task. you have more time for thought on these subjects; you have more frequent opportunities for influence over the young nearest to you; you have more leisure for prayer, for invoking a blessing on your efforts, however humble they may he. it is not enough to set a decent example yourselves. you must go to the very root of the matter. you must carry about with you hearts and minds very deeply impressed with the incalculable importance of a sound morality; you must be clearly convinced of the misery, the shame, the perils of all immorality. in this nineteenth century the civilization of a country must necessarily prove either heathen or christian in its spirit. there is no neutral ground lying between these boundaries. faith or infidelity, such is the choice we must all make, whether as individuals or as nations. thanks be to god we are not only in name, but also partially in character, a christian nation. faith is not entirely wanting. we all in a measure feel its good effects. even the avowed infidel living in our midst is far more under its influences, though indirectly so, than he is aware of. and where there is life, there we have hope of growth, of higher development. to cherish that growth, to further that higher development by all gracious and loving and generous influences, is a work for which women are especially adapted. they work from within outwardly. men work chiefly by mental and physical pressure from without. men work by external authority; women work by influences. men seek to control the head. women always aim at touching the heart. and we have the highest of all authority for believing that this last is the most efficient mode of working. "out of the heart are the issues of life." this, therefore, christian women, is your especial task. use all the happy womanly influences in your power to forward the moral education, the christian civilization, of the country to which you belong. be watchful, with the unfeigned humility of the christian, over your own personal course, and the example connected with it. aim at keeping up, on all occasions, a high practical standard of sound morality at all points. cultivate every germ of true moral principle in your own homes, and in the social circle about you. let the holy light of truth, honor, fidelity, honesty, purity, piety, and love brighten the atmosphere of your homes. what heathen civilization means we know from many sources, more especially from the records of rome under the empire, in the days of st. paul, when it had reached its highest development. what christian civilization means we learn from the apostle: "let him that nameth the name of christ depart from iniquity." "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report--think on these things." transcriber's note. minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently repaired. a list of other changes made, can be found at the end of the book. mark up: _italics_ votes for women a play in three acts by elizabeth robins mills & boon, limited whitcomb street london w. c. court theatre playbill votes for women! a dramatic tract in three acts by elizabeth robins lord john wynnstay mr. athol forde the hon. geoffrey stonor mr. aubrey smith mr. st. john greatorex mr. e. holman clark mr. richard farnborough mr. p. clayton greene mr. freddy tunbridge mr. percy marmont mr. allen trent mr. lewis casson [ ]mr. walker mr. edmund gwenn lady john wynnstay miss maud milton mrs. heriot miss frances ivor miss vida levering miss wynne-matthison [ ]miss beatrice dunbarton miss jean mackinlay mrs. freddy tunbridge miss gertrude burnett miss ernestine blunt miss dorothy minto a working woman miss agnes thomas act i. wynnstay house in hertfordshire. act ii. trafalgar square, london. act iii. eaton square, london. the entire action of the play takes place between sunday noon and six o'clock in the evening of the same day. [ ] in the text these characters have been altered to mr. pilcher and miss jean dunbarton. cast lord john wynnstay lady john wynnstay _his wife_ mrs. heriot _sister of lady john_ miss jean dunbarton _niece to lady john and mrs. heriot_ the hon. geoffrey stonor _unionist m.p. affianced to jean dunbarton_ mr. st. john greatorex _liberal m.p._ the hon. richard farnborough mr. freddy tunbridge mrs. freddy tunbridge mr. allen trent miss ernestine blunt _a suffragette_ mr. pilcher _a working man_ a working woman _and_ miss vida levering persons in the crowd: servants in the two houses. act i wynnstay house in hertfordshire act ii trafalgar square, london act iii eaton square (_entire action of play takes place between sunday noon and six o'clock in the evening of the same day._) act i. the hall of wynnstay house. [illustration: stage setting.] _twelve o'clock sunday morning at end of june._ _action takes place between twelve and six same day._ votes for women act i hall of wynnstay house. _twelve o'clock, sunday morning, end of june. with the rising of the curtain, enter the_ butler. _as he is going, with majestic port, to answer the door_ l., _enter briskly from the garden, by lower french window_, lady john wynnstay, _flushed, and flapping a garden hat to fan herself. she is a pink-cheeked woman of fifty-four, who has plainly been a beauty, keeps her complexion, but is "gone to fat."_ lady john. has miss levering come down yet? butler (_pausing_ c.). i haven't seen her, m'lady. lady john (_almost sharply as_ butler _turns_ l.). i won't have her disturbed if she's resting. (_to herself as she goes to writing-table._) she certainly needs it. butler. yes, m'lady. lady john (_sitting at writing-table, her back to front door_). but i want her to know the moment she comes down that the new plans arrived by the morning post. butler (_pausing nearly at the door_). plans, m'la---- lady john. she'll understand. there they are. (_glancing at the clock._) it's very important she should have them in time to look over before she goes---- (butler _opens the door_ l.) (_over her shoulder._) is that miss levering? butler. no, m'lady. mr. farnborough. [_exit_ butler. (_enter the_ hon. r. farnborough. _he is twenty-six; reddish hair, high-coloured, sanguine, self-important._) farnborough. i'm afraid i'm scandalously early. it didn't take me nearly as long to motor over as lord john said. lady john (_shaking hands_). i'm afraid my husband is no authority on motoring--and he's not home yet from church. farn. it's the greatest luck finding _you_. i thought miss levering was the only person under this roof who was ever allowed to observe sunday as a real day of rest. lady john. if you've come to see miss levering---- farn. is she here? i give you my word i didn't know it. lady john (_unconvinced_). oh? farn. does she come every week-end? lady john. whenever we can get her to. but we've only known her a couple of months. farn. and i have only known her three weeks! lady john, i've come to ask you to help me. lady john (_quickly_). with miss levering? i can't do it! farn. no, no--all that's no good. she only laughs. lady john (_relieved_). ah!--she looks upon you as a boy. farn (_firing up_). such rot! what do you think she said to me in london the other day? lady john. that she was four years older than you? farn. oh, i knew that. no. she said she knew she was all the charming things i'd been saying, but there was only one way to prove it--and that was to marry some one young enough to be her son. she'd noticed that was what the _most_ attractive women did--and she named names. lady john (_laughing_). _you_ were too old! farn. (_nods_). her future husband, she said, was probably just entering eton. lady john. just like her! farn. (_waving the subject away_). no. i wanted to see you about the secretaryship. lady john. you didn't get it, then? farn. no. it's the grief of my life. lady john. oh, if you don't get one you'll get another. farn. but there _is_ only one. lady john. only one vacancy? farn. only one man i'd give my ears to work for. lady john (_smiling_). i remember. farn. (_quickly_). do i always talk about stonor? well, it's a habit people have got into. lady john. i forget, do you know mr. stonor personally, or (_smiling_) are you just dazzled from afar? farn. oh, i know him. the trouble is he doesn't know me. if he did he'd realise he can't be sure of winning his election without my valuable services. lady john. geoffrey stonor's re-election is always a foregone conclusion. farn. that the great man shares that opinion is precisely his weak point. (_smiling._) his only one. lady john. you think because the liberals swept the country the last time---- farn. how can we be sure any conservative seat is safe after---- (_as_ lady john _smiles and turns to her papers._) forgive me, i know you're not interested in politics _qua_ politics. but this concerns geoffrey stonor. lady john. and you count on my being interested in him like all the rest of my sex. farn. (_leans forward_). lady john, i've heard the news. lady john. what news? farn. that your little niece--the scotch heiress--is going to become mrs. geoffrey stonor. lady john. who told you that? farn. please don't mind my knowing. lady john (_visibly perturbed_). she had set her heart upon having a few days with just her family in the secret, before the flood of congratulations breaks loose. farn. oh, that's all right. i always hear things before other people. lady john. well, i must ask you to be good enough to be very circumspect. i wouldn't have my niece think that i---- farn. oh, of course not. lady john. she will be here in an hour. farn. (_jumping up delighted_). what? to-day? the future mrs. stonor! lady john (_harassed_). yes. unfortunately we had one or two people already asked for the week-end---- farn. and i go and invite myself to luncheon! lady john, you can buy me off. i'll promise to remove myself in five minutes if you'll---- lady john. no, the penalty is you shall stay and keep the others amused between church and luncheon, and so leave me free. (_takes up the plan._) only _remember_---- farn. wild horses won't get a hint out of me! i only mentioned it to you because--since we've come back to live in this part of the world you've been so awfully kind--i thought, i hoped maybe you--you'd put in a word for me. lady john. with----? farn. with your nephew that is to be. though i'm _not_ the slavish satellite people make out, you can't doubt---- lady john. oh, i don't doubt. but you know mr. stonor inspires a similar enthusiasm in a good many young---- farn. they haven't studied the situation as i have. they don't know what's at stake. they don't go to that hole dutfield as i did just to hear his friday speech. lady john. ah! but you were rewarded. jean--my niece--wrote me it was "glorious." farn. (_judicially_). well, you know, _i_ was disappointed. he's too content just to criticise, just to make his delicate pungent fun of the men who are grappling--very inadequately, of course--still _grappling_ with the big questions. there's a carrying power (_gets up and faces an imaginary audience_)--some of stonor's friends ought to point it out--there's a driving power in the poorest constructive policy that makes the most brilliant criticism look barren. lady john (_with good-humoured malice_). who told you that? farn. you think there's nothing in it because _i_ say it. but now that he's coming into the family, lord john or somebody really ought to point out--stonor's overdoing his rôle of magnificent security! lady john. i don't see even lord john offering to instruct mr. stonor. farn. believe me, that's just stonor's danger! nobody saying a word, everybody hoping he's on the point of adopting some definite line, something strong and original that's going to fire the public imagination and bring the tories back into power. lady john. so he will. farn. (_hotly_). not if he disappoints meetings--goes calmly up to town--and leaves the field to the liberals. lady john. when did he do anything like that? farn. yesterday! (_with a harassed air._) and now that he's got this other preoccupation---- lady john. you mean---- farn. yes, your niece--that spoilt child of fortune. of course! (_stopping suddenly._) she kept him from the meeting last night. well! (_sits down_) if that's the effect she's going to have it's pretty serious! lady john (_smiling_). _you_ are! farn. i can assure you the election agent's more so. he's simply tearing his hair. lady john (_more gravely and coming nearer_). how do you know? farn. he told me so himself--yesterday. i scraped acquaintance with the agent just to see if--if---- lady john. it's not only here that you manoeuvre for that secretaryship! farn. (_confidentially_). you can never tell when your chance might come! that election chap's promised to keep me posted. (_the door flies open and_ jean dunbarton _rushes in._) jean. aunt ellen--here i---- lady john (_astonished_). my dear child! (_they embrace. enter_ lord john _from the garden--a benevolent, silver-haired despot of sixty-two._) lord john. i thought that was you running up the avenue. (jean _greets her uncle warmly, but all the time she and her aunt talk together. "how did you get here so early?" "i knew you'd be surprised--wasn't it clever of me to manage it? i don't deserve all the credit." "but there isn't any train between----" "yes, wait till i tell you." "you walked in the broiling sun----" "no, no." "you must be dead. why didn't you telegraph? i ordered the carriage to meet the . . didn't you say the . ? yes, i'm sure you did--here's your letter."_) lord j. (_has shaken hands with_ farnborough _and speaks through the torrent_). now they'll tell each other for ten minutes that she's an hour earlier than we expected. (lord john _leads_ farnborough _towards the garden._) farn. the freddy tunbridges said _they_ were coming to you this week. lord j. yes, they're dawdling through the park with the church brigade. farn. oh! (_with a glance back at_ jean.) i'll go and meet them. [_exit_ farnborough. lord j. (_as he turns back_). that discreet young man will get on. lady john (_to_ jean). but _how_ did you get here? jean (_breathless_). "he" motored me down. lady john. geoffrey stonor? (jean _nods_.) why, where is he, then? jean. he dropped me at the end of the avenue and went on to see a supporter about something. lord j. you let him go off like that without---- lady john (_taking_ jean's _two hands_). just tell me, my child, is it all right? jean. my engagement? (_radiantly._) yes, absolutely. lady john. geoffrey stonor isn't going to be--a little too old for you? jean (_laughing_). bless me, am i such a chicken? lady john. twenty-four used not to be so young--but it's become so. jean. yes, we don't grow up so quick. (_gaily._) but on the other hand we _stay_ up longer. lord j. you've got what's vulgarly called "looks," my dear, and that will help to _keep_ you up! jean (_smiling_). i know what uncle john's thinking. but i'm not the only girl who's been left "what's vulgarly called" money. lord j. you're the only one of our immediate circle who's been left so beautifully much. jean. ah, but remember geoffrey could--everybody _knows_ he could have married any one in england. lady john (_faintly ironic_). i'm afraid everybody does know it--not excepting mr. stonor. lord j. well, how spoilt is the great man? jean. not the least little bit in the world. you'll see! he so wants to know my best-beloved relations better. (_another embrace._) an orphan has so few belongings, she has to make the most of them. lord j. (_smiling_). let us hope he'll approve of us on more intimate acquaintance. jean (_firmly_). he will. he's an angel. why, he gets on with my grandfather! lady john. _does_ he? (_teasing._) you mean to say mr. geoffrey stonor isn't just a tiny bit--"superior" about dissenters. jean (_stoutly_). not half as much as uncle john and all the rest of you! my grandfather's been ill again, you know, and rather difficult--bless him! (_radiantly._) but geoffrey---- (_clasps her hands._) lady john. he must have powers of persuasion!--to get that old covenanter to let you come in an abhorred motor-car--on sunday, too! jean (_half whispering_). grandfather didn't know! lady john. didn't know? jean. i honestly meant to come by train. geoffrey met me on my way to the station. we had the most glorious run. oh, aunt ellen, we're so happy! (_embracing her._) i've so looked forward to having you to myself the whole day just to talk to you about---- lord j. (_turning away with affected displeasure_). oh, very well---- jean (_catches him affectionately by the arm_). _you'd_ find it dreffly dull to hear me talk about geoffrey the whole blessed day! lady john. well, till luncheon, my dear, you mustn't mind if i---- (_to_ lord john, _as she goes to writing-table._) miss levering wasn't only tired last night, she was ill. lord j. i thought she looked very white. jean. who is miss---- you don't mean to say there are other people? lady john. one or two. your uncle's responsible for asking that old cynic, st. john greatorex, and i---- jean (_gravely_). mr. greatorex--he's a radical, isn't he? lord j. (_laughing_). _jean!_ beginning to "think in parties"! lady john. it's very natural now that she should---- jean. i only meant it was odd he should be here. naturally at my grandfather's---- lord j. it's all right, my child. of course we expect now that you'll begin to think like geoffrey stonor, and to feel like geoffrey stonor, and to talk like geoffrey stonor. and quite proper too. jean (_smiling_). well, if i do think with my husband and feel with him--as, of course, i shall--it will surprise me if i ever find myself talking a tenth as well---- (_following her uncle to the french window._) you should have heard him at dutfield----(_stopping short, delighted._) oh! the freddy tunbridges. what? not aunt lydia! oh-h! (_looking back reproachfully at_ lady john, _who makes a discreet motion "i couldn't help it."_) (_enter the_ tunbridges. mr. freddy, _of no profession and of independent means. well-groomed, pleasant-looking; of few words. a "nice man" who likes "nice women" and has married one of them._ mrs. freddy _is thirty. an attractive figure, delicate face, intelligent grey eyes, over-sensitive mouth, and naturally curling dust-coloured hair._) mrs. freddy. what a delightful surprise! jean (_shaking hands warmly_). i'm so glad. how d'ye do, mr. freddy? (_enter_ lady john's _sister_, mrs. heriot--_smart, pompous, fifty--followed by_ farnborough.) mrs. heriot. my dear jean! my darling child! jean. how do you do, aunt? mrs. h. (_sotto voce_). _i_ wasn't surprised. i always prophesied---- jean. sh! _please!_ farn. we haven't met since you were in short skirts. i'm dick farnborough. jean. oh, i remember. (_they shake hands._) mrs. f. (_looking round_). not down yet--the elusive one? jean. who is the elusive one? mrs. f. lady john's new friend. lord j. (_to_ jean). oh, i forgot you hadn't seen miss levering; such a nice creature! (_to_ mrs. freddy.)--don't you think? mrs. f. of course i do. you're lucky to get her to come so often. she won't go to other people. lady john. she knows she can rest here. freddy (_who has joined_ lady john _near the writing-table_). what does she do to tire her? lady john. she's been helping my sister and me with a scheme of ours. mrs. h. she certainly knows how to inveigle money out of the men. lady john. it would sound less equivocal, lydia, if you added that the money is to build baths in our shelter for homeless women. mrs. f. homeless women? lady john. yes, in the most insanitary part of soho. freddy. oh--a--really. farn. it doesn't sound quite in miss levering's line! lady john. my dear boy, you know as little about what's in a woman's line as most men. freddy (_laughing_). oh, i say! lord j. (_indulgently to_ mr. freddy _and_ farnborough). philanthropy in a woman like miss levering is a form of restlessness. but she's a _nice_ creature; all she needs is to get some "nice" fella to marry her. mrs. f. (_laughing as she hangs on her husband's arm_). yes, a woman needs a balance wheel--if only to keep her from flying back to town on a hot day like this. lord j. who's proposing anything so---- mrs. f. the elusive one. lord j. not miss---- mrs. f. yes, before luncheon! [_exit_ farnborough _to garden._ lady john. she must be in london by this afternoon, she says. lord j. what for in the name of---- lady john. well, _that_ i didn't ask her. but (_consults watch_) i think i'll just go up and see if she's changed her plans. [_exit_ lady john. lord j. oh, she must be _made_ to. such a nice creature! all she needs---- (_voices outside. enter fussily, talking and gesticulating_, st. john greatorex, _followed by_ miss levering _and_ farnborough. greatorex _is sixty, wealthy, a county magnate, and liberal m.p. he is square, thick-set, square-bearded. his shining bald pate has two strands of coal-black hair trained across his crown from left ear to right and securely pasted there. he has small, twinkling eyes and a reputation for telling good stories after dinner when ladies have left the room. he is carrying a little book for_ miss levering. _she (parasol over shoulder), an attractive, essentially feminine, and rather "smart" woman of thirty-two, with a somewhat foreign grace; the kind of whom men and women alike say, "what's her story? why doesn't she marry?"_) greatorex. i protest! good lord! what are the women of this country coming to? i _protest_ against miss levering being carried off to discuss anything so revolting. bless my soul! what can a woman like you _know_ about it? miss levering (_smiling_). little enough. good morning. great. (_relieved_). i should think so indeed! lord j. (_aside_). you aren't serious about going---- great. (_waggishly breaking in_). we were so happy out there in the summer-house, weren't we? miss l. ideally. great. and to be haled out to talk about public _sanitation_ forsooth! (_hurries after_ miss levering _as she advances to speak to the_ freddys, _&c._) why, god bless my soul, do you realise that's _drains_? miss l. i'm dreadfully afraid it is! (_holds out her hand for the small book_ greatorex _is carrying._) (greatorex _returns_ miss levering's _book open; he has been keeping the place with his finger. she opens it and shuts her handkerchief in._) great. and we in the act of discussing italian literature! perhaps you'll tell me that isn't a more savoury topic for a lady. miss l. but for the tramp population less conducive to savouriness, don't you think, than--baths? great. no, i can't understand this morbid interest in vagrants. _you're_ much too--leave it to the others. jean. what others? great. (_with smiling impertinence_). oh, the sort of woman who smells of indiarubber. the typical english spinster. (_to_ miss levering.) _you_ know--italy's full of her. she never goes anywhere without a mackintosh and a collapsible bath--rubber. when you look at her, it's borne in upon you that she doesn't only smell of rubber. _she's_ rubber too. lord j. (_laughing_). this is my niece, miss jean dunbarton, miss levering. jean. how do you do? (_they shake hands._) great. (_to_ jean). i'm sure _you_ agree with me. jean. about miss levering being too---- great. for that sort of thing--_much_ too---- miss l. what a pity you've exhausted the more eloquent adjectives. great. but i haven't! miss l. well, you can't say to me as you did to mrs. freddy: "you're too young and too happily married--and too----" (_glances round smiling at_ mrs. freddy, _who, oblivious, is laughing and talking to her husband and_ mrs. heriot.) jean. for what was mrs. freddy too happily married and all the rest? miss l. (_lightly_). mr. greatorex was repudiating the horrid rumour that mrs. freddy had been speaking in public; about women's trade unions--wasn't that what you said, mrs. heriot? lord j. (_chuckling_). yes, it isn't made up as carefully as your aunt's parties usually are. here we've got greatorex (_takes his arm_) who hates political women, and we've got in that mild and inoffensive-looking little lady---- (_motion over his shoulder towards_ mrs. freddy.) great. (_shrinking down stage in comic terror_). you don't mean she's _really_---- jean (_simultaneously and gaily rising_). oh, and you've got me! lord j. (_with genial affection_). my dear child, he doesn't hate the charming wives and sweethearts who help to win seats. (jean _makes her uncle a discreet little signal of warning._) miss l. mr. greatorex objects only to the unsexed creatures who--a---- lord j. (_hastily to cover up his slip_). yes, yes, who want to act independently of men. miss l. vote, and do silly things of that sort. lord j. (_with enthusiasm_). exactly. mrs. h. it will be a long time before we hear any more of _that_ nonsense. jean. you mean that rowdy scene in the house of commons? mrs. h. yes. no decent woman will be able to say "suffrage" without blushing for another generation, thank heaven! miss l. (_smiling_). oh? i understood that so little i almost imagined people were more stirred up about it than they'd ever been before. great. (_with a quizzical affectation of gallantry_). not people like you. miss l. (_teasingly_). how do you know? great. (_with a start_). god bless my soul! lord j. she's saying that only to get a rise out of you. great. ah, yes, your frocks aren't serious enough. miss l. i'm told it's an exploded notion that the suffrage women are all dowdy and dull. great. don't you believe it! miss l. well, of course we know you've been an authority on the subject for--let's see, how many years is it you've kept the house in roars whenever woman's rights are mentioned? great. (_flattered but not entirely comfortable_). oh, as long as i've known anything about politics there have been a few discontented old maids and hungry widows---- miss l. "a few!" that's really rather forbearing of you, mr. greatorex. i'm afraid the number of the discontented and the hungry was , --among the mill operatives alone. (_hastily._) at least the papers said so, didn't they? great. oh, don't ask me; that kind of woman doesn't interest me, i'm afraid. only i am able to point out to the people who lose their heads and seem inclined to treat the phenomenon seriously that there's absolutely nothing new in it. there have been women for the last forty years who haven't had anything more pressing to do than petition parliament. miss l. (_reflectively_). and that's as far as they've got. lord j. (_turning on his heel_). it's as far as they'll ever get. (_meets the group up_ r. _coming down._) miss l. (_chaffing_ greatorex). let me see, wasn't a deputation sent to you not long ago? (_sits_ c.) great. h'm! (_irritably._) yes, yes. miss l. (_as though she has just recalled the circumstances_). oh, yes, i remember. i thought at the time, in my modest way, it was nothing short of heroic of them to go asking audience of their arch opponent. great. (_stoutly_). it didn't come off. miss l. (_innocently_). oh! i thought they insisted on bearding the lion in his den. great. of course i wasn't going to be bothered with a lot of---- miss l. you don't mean you refused to go out and face them! great. (_with a comic look of terror_). i wouldn't have done it for worlds. but a friend of mine went and had a look at 'em. miss l. (_smiling_). well, did he get back alive? great. yes, but he advised me not to go. "you're quite right," he said. "don't you think of bothering," he said. "i've looked over the lot," he said, "and there isn't a week-ender among 'em." jean (_gaily precipitates herself into the conversation_). you remember mrs. freddy's friend who came to tea here in the winter? (_to_ greatorex.) he was a member of parliament too--quite a little young one--he said women would never be respected till they had the vote! (greatorex _snorts, the other men smile and all the women except_ mrs. heriot.) mrs. h. (_sniffing_). i remember telling him that he was too young to know what he was talking about. lord j. yes, i'm afraid you all sat on the poor gentleman. lady john (_entering_). oh, _there_ you are! (_greets_ miss levering.) jean. it was such fun. he was flat as a pancake when we'd done with him. aunt ellen told him with her most distinguished air she didn't want to be "respected." mrs. f. (_with a little laugh of remonstrance_). my _dear_ lady john! farn. quite right! awful idea to think you're _respected_! miss l. (_smiling_). simply revolting. lady john (_at writing-table_). now, you frivolous people, go away. we've only got a few minutes to talk over the terms of the late mr. soper's munificence before the carriage comes for miss levering---- mrs. f. (_to_ farnborough). did you know she'd got that old horror to give lady john £ , for her charity before he died? mrs. f. who got him to? lady john. miss levering. he wouldn't do it for me, but she brought him round. freddy. yes. bah-ee jove! i expect so. mrs. f. (_turning enthusiastically to her husband_). isn't she wonderful? lord j. (_aside_). nice creature. all she needs is---- (mr. _and_ mrs. freddy _and_ farnborough _stroll off to the garden._ lady john _on far side of the writing-table._ mrs. heriot _at the top._ jean _and_ lord john, l.) great. (_on divan_ c., _aside to_ miss levering). too "wonderful" to waste your time on the wrong people. miss l. i shall waste less of my time after this. great. i'm relieved to hear it. i can't see you wheedling money for shelters and rot of that sort out of retired grocers. miss l. you see, you call it rot. we couldn't have got £ , out of _you_. great. (_very low_). i'm not sure. (miss levering _looks at him._) great. if i gave you that much--for your little projects--what would you give me? miss l. (_speaking quietly_). soper didn't ask that. great. (_horrified_). soper! i should think not! lord j. (_turning to_ miss levering). soper? you two still talking soper? how flattered the old beggar'd be! lord j. (_lower_). did you hear what mrs. heriot said about him? "so kind; so munificent--so _vulgar_, poor soul, we couldn't know him in london--_but we shall meet him in heaven_." (greatorex _and_ lord john _go off laughing._) lady john (_to miss levering_). sit over there, my dear. (_indicating chair in front of writing-table._) you needn't stay, jean. this won't interest you. miss l. (_in the tone of one agreeing_). it's only an effort to meet the greatest evil in the world? jean (_pausing as she's following the others_). what do you call the greatest evil in the world? (_looks pass between_ mrs. heriot _and_ lady john.) miss l. (_without emphasis_). the helplessness of women. (jean _stands still._) lady john (_rising and putting her arm about the girl's shoulder_). jean, darling, i know you can think of nothing but (_aside_) _him_--so just go and---- jean (_brightly_). indeed, indeed, i can think of everything better than i ever did before. he has lit up everything for me--made everything vivider, more--more significant. miss l. (_turning round_). who has? jean. oh, yes, i don't care about other things less but a thousand times more. lady john. you _are_ in love. miss l. oh, that's it! (_smiling at_ jean.) i congratulate you. lady john (_returning to the outspread plan_). well--_this_, you see, obviates the difficulty you raised. miss l. yes, quite. mrs. h. but it's going to cost a great deal more. miss l. it's worth it. mrs. h. we'll have nothing left for the organ at st. pilgrim's. lady john. my dear lydia, we're putting the organ aside. mrs. h. (_with asperity_). we can't afford to "put aside" the elevating effect of music. lady john. what we must make for, first, is the cheap and humanely conducted lodging-house. mrs. h. there are several of those already, but poor st. pilgrim's---- miss l. there are none for the poorest women. lady john. no, even the excellent soper was for multiplying rowton houses. you can never get men to realise--you can't always get women---- miss l. it's the work least able to wait. mrs. h. i don't agree with you, and i happen to have spent a great deal of my life in works of charity. miss l. ah, then you'll be interested in the girl i saw dying in a tramp ward a little while ago. _glad_ her cough was worse--only she mustn't die before her father. two reasons. nobody but her to keep the old man out of the workhouse--and "father is so proud." if she died first, he would starve; worst of all he might hear what had happened up in london to his girl. mrs. h. she didn't say, i suppose, how she happened to fall so low. miss l. yes, she had been in service. she lost the train back one sunday night and was too terrified of her employer to dare ring him up after hours. the wrong person found her crying on the platform. mrs. h. she should have gone to one of the friendly societies. miss l. at eleven at night? mrs. h. and there are the rescue leagues. i myself have been connected with one for twenty years---- miss l. (_reflectively_). "twenty years!" always arriving "after the train's gone"--after the girl and the wrong person have got to the journey's end. (mrs. heriot's _eyes flash._) jean. where is she now? lady john. never mind. miss l. two nights ago she was waiting at a street corner in the rain. mrs. h. near a public-house, i suppose. miss l. yes, a sort of "public-house." she was plainly dying--she was told she shouldn't be out in the rain. "i mustn't go in yet," she said. "_this_ is what he gave me," and she began to cry. in her hand were two pennies silvered over to look like half-crowns. mrs. h. i don't believe that story. it's just the sort of thing some sensation-monger trumps up--now, who tells you such---- miss l. several credible people. i didn't believe them till---- jean. till----? miss l. till last week i saw for myself. lady john. _saw?_ where? miss l. in a low lodging-house not a hundred yards from the church you want a new organ for. mrs. h. how did _you_ happen to be there? miss l. i was on a pilgrimage. jean. a pilgrimage? miss l. into the underworld. lady john. _you_ went? jean. how _could_ you? miss l. i put on an old gown and a tawdry hat---- (_turns to_ lady john.) you'll never know how many things are hidden from a woman in good clothes. the bold, free look of a man at a woman he believes to be destitute--you must _feel_ that look on you before you can understand--a good half of history. mrs. h. (_rises_). jean!---- jean. but where did you go--dressed like that? miss l. down among the homeless women--on a wet night looking for shelter. lady john (_hastily_). no wonder you've been ill. jean (_under breath_). and it's like that? miss l. no. jean. no? miss l. it's so much worse i dare not tell about it--even if you weren't here i couldn't. mrs. h. (_to_ jean). you needn't suppose, darling, that those wretched creatures feel it as we would. miss l. the girls who need shelter and work aren't all serving-maids. mrs. h. (_with an involuntary flash_). we know that all the women who--_make mistakes_ aren't. miss l. (_steadily_). that is why every woman ought to take an interest in this--every girl too. jean yes--oh, yes! (_simultaneously_) lady john no. this is a matter for us older---- mrs. h. (_with an air of sly challenge_). or for a person who has some special knowledge. (_significantly._) _we_ can't pretend to have access to such sources of information as miss levering. miss l. (_meeting_ mrs. heriot's _eye steadily_). yes, for i can give you access. as you seem to think, i have some first-hand knowledge about homeless girls. lady john (_cheerfully turning it aside_). well, my dear, it will all come in convenient. (_tapping the plan._) miss l. it once happened to me to take offence at an ugly thing that was going on under my father's roof. oh, _years_ ago! i was an impulsive girl. i turned my back on my father's house---- lady john (_for_ jean's _benefit_). that was ill-advised. mrs. h. of course, if a girl does _that_---- miss l. that was what all my relations said (_with a glance at_ jean), and i couldn't explain. jean. not to your mother? miss l. she was dead. i went to london to a small hotel and tried to find employment. i wandered about all day and every day from agency to agency. i was supposed to be educated. i'd been brought up partly in paris; i could play several instruments, and sing little songs in four different tongues. (_slight pause._) jean. did nobody want you to teach french or sing the little songs? miss l. the heads of schools thought me too young. there were people ready to listen to my singing, but the terms--they were too hard. soon my money was gone. i began to pawn my trinkets. _they_ went. jean. and still no work? miss l. no; but by that time i had some real education--an unpaid hotel bill, and not a shilling in the world. (_slight pause._) some girls think it hardship to have to earn their living. the horror is not to be allowed to---- jean. (_bending forward_). what happened? lady john (_rises_). my dear (_to_ miss levering), have your things been sent down? are you quite ready? miss l. yes, all but my hat. jean. well? miss l. well, by chance i met a friend of my family. jean. that was lucky. miss l. i thought so. he was nearly ten years older than i. he said he wanted to help me. (_pause._) jean. and didn't he? (lady john _lays her hand on_ miss levering's _shoulder._) miss l. perhaps after all he did. (_with sudden change of tone._) why do i waste time over myself? i belonged to the little class of armed women. my body wasn't born weak, and my spirit wasn't broken by the _habit_ of slavery. but, as mrs. heriot was kind enough to hint, i do know something about the possible fate of homeless girls. i found there were pleasant parks, museums, free libraries in our great rich london--and not one single place where destitute women can be sure of work that isn't killing or food that isn't worse than prison fare. that's why women ought not to sleep o' nights till this shelter stands spreading out wide arms. jean. no, no---- mrs. h. (_gathering up her gloves, fan, prayer-book, &c._). even when it's built--you'll see! many of those creatures will prefer the life they lead. they _like_ it. miss l. a woman told me--one of the sort that knows--told me many of them "like it" so much that they are indifferent to the risk of being sent to prison. "_it gives them a rest_," she said. lady john. a rest! (miss levering _glances at the clock as she rises to go upstairs._) (lady john _and_ mrs. heriot _bend their heads over the plan, covertly talking._) jean (_intercepting_ miss levering). i want to begin to understand something of--i'm horribly ignorant. miss l. (_looks at her searchingly_). i'm a rather busy person---- jean. (_interrupting_). i have a quite special reason for wanting _not_ to be ignorant. (_impulsively_). i'll go to town to-morrow, if you'll come and lunch with me. miss l. thank you--i (_catches_ mrs. heriot's _eye_)--i must go and put my hat on. [_exit upstairs._ mrs. h. (_aside_). how little she minds all these horrors! lady john. they turn me cold. ugh! (_rising, harassed._) i wonder if she's signed the visitors' book! mrs. h. for all her shelter schemes, she's a hard woman. jean. miss levering is? mrs. h. oh, of course _you_ won't think so. she has angled very adroitly for your sympathy. jean. she doesn't look hard. lady john (_glancing at_ jean _and taking alarm_). i'm not sure but what she does. her mouth--always like this ... as if she were holding back something by main force! mrs. h. (_half under her breath_). well, so she is. [_exit_ lady john _into the lobby to look at the visitors' book._ jean. why haven't i seen her before? mrs. h. oh, she's lived abroad. (_debating with herself._) you don't know about her, i suppose? jean. i don't know how aunt ellen came to know her. mrs. h. that was my doing. but i didn't bargain for her being introduced to you. jean. she seems to go everywhere. and why shouldn't she? mrs. h. (_quickly_). you mustn't ask her to eaton square. jean. i have. mrs. h. then you'll have to get out of it. jean (_with a stubborn look_). i must have a reason. and a very good reason. mrs. h. well, it's not a thing i should have preferred to tell you, but i know how difficult you are to guide ... so i suppose you'll have to know. (_lowering her voice._) it was ten or twelve years ago. i found her horribly ill in a lonely welsh farmhouse. we had taken the manor for that august. the farmer's wife was frightened, and begged me to go and see what i thought. i soon saw how it was--i thought she was dying. jean. _dying!_ what was the---- mrs. h. i got no more out of her than the farmer's wife did. she had had no letters. there had been no one to see her except a man down from london, a shady-looking doctor--nameless, of course. and then this result. the farmer and his wife, highly respectable people, were incensed. they were for turning the girl out. jean. _oh!_ but---- mrs. h. yes. pitiless some of these people are! i insisted they should treat the girl humanely, and we became friends ... that is, "sort of." in spite of all i did for her---- jean. what did you do? mrs. h. i--i've told you, and i lent her money. no small sum either. jean. has she never paid it back? mrs. h. oh, yes, after a time. but i _always_ kept her secret--as much as i knew of it. jean. but you've been telling me! mrs. h. that was my duty--and i _never_ had her full confidence. jean. wasn't it natural she---- mrs. h. well, all things considered, she might have wanted to tell me who was responsible. jean. oh! aunt lydia! mrs. h. all she ever said was that she was ashamed--(_losing her temper and her fine feeling for the innocence of her auditor_)--ashamed that she "hadn't had the courage to resist"--not the original temptation but the pressure brought to bear on her "not to go through with it," as she said. jean (_wrinkling her brows_). you are being so delicate--i'm not sure i understand. mrs. h. (_irritably_). the only thing you need understand is that she's not a desirable companion for a young girl. (_pause._) jean. when did you see her after--after---- mrs. h. (_with a slight grimace_). i met her last winter at the bishop's. (_hurriedly._) she's a connection of his wife's. they'd got her to help with some of their work. then she took hold of ours. your aunt and uncle are quite foolish about her, and i'm debarred from taking any steps, at least till the shelter is out of hand. jean. i do rather wonder she can bring herself to talk about--the unfortunate women of the world. mrs. h. the effrontery of it! jean. or ... the courage! (_puts her hand up to her throat as if the sentence had caught there._) mrs. h. even presumes to set _me_ right! of course i don't _mind_ in the least, poor soul ... but i feel i owe it to your dead mother to tell you about her, especially as you're old enough now to know something about life---- jean (_slowly_).--and since a girl needn't be very old to suffer for her ignorance. (_moves a little away._) i _felt_ she was rather wonderful. mrs. h. _wonderful!_ jean (_pausing_). ... to have lived through _that_ when she was ... how old? mrs. h. (_rising_). oh, nineteen or thereabouts. jean. five years younger than i. to be abandoned and to come out of it like this! mrs. h. (_laying her hand on the girl's shoulder_). it was too bad to have to tell you such a sordid story to-day of all days. jean. it is a very terrible story, but this wasn't a bad time. i feel very sorry to-day for women who aren't happy. (_motor horn heard faintly._) (_jumping up._) that's geoffrey! mrs. h. mr. stonor! what makes you think...? jean. yes, yes. i'm sure, i'm sure---- (_checks herself as she is flying off. turns and sees_ lord john _entering from the garden._) (_motor horn louder._) lord j. who do you think is motoring up the drive? jean (_catching hold of him_). oh, dear! how am i ever going to be able to behave like a girl who isn't engaged to the only man in the world worth marrying? mrs. h. you were expecting mr. stonor all the time! jean. he promised he'd come to luncheon if it was humanly possible; but i was afraid to tell you for fear he'd be prevented. lord j. (_laughing as he crosses to the lobby_). you felt we couldn't have borne the disappointment. jean. i felt i couldn't. (_the lobby door opens._ lady john _appears radiant, followed by a tall figure in a dust-coat, &c., no goggles. he has straight, firm features, a little blunt; fair skin, high-coloured; fine, straight hair, very fair; grey eyes, set somewhat prominently and heavy when not interested; lips full, but firmly moulded._ geoffrey stonor _is heavier than a man of forty should be, but otherwise in the pink of physical condition. the_ footman _stands waiting to help him off with his motor coat._) lady john. here's an agreeable surprise! (jean _has gone forward only a step, and stands smiling at the approaching figure._) lord j. how do you do? (_as he comes between them and briskly shakes hands with_ stonor.) (farnborough _appears at the french window_.) farn. yes, by jove! (_turning to the others clustered round the window._) what gigantic luck! (_those outside crane and glance, and then elaborately turn their backs and pretend to be talking among themselves, but betray as far as manners permit the enormous sensation the arrival has created._) stonor. how do you do? (_shakes hands with_ mrs. heriot, _who has rushed up to him with both hers outstretched. he crosses to_ jean, _who meets him half way; they shake hands, smiling into each other's eyes._) jean. such a long time since we met! lord j. (_to_ stonor). you're growing very enterprising. i could hardly believe my ears when i heard you'd motored all the way from town to see a supporter on sunday. stonor. i don't know how we covered the ground in the old days. (_to_ lady john.) it's no use to stand for your borough any more. the american, you know, he "runs" for congress. by and by we shall all be flying after the thing we want. (_smiles at_ jean.) jean. sh! (_smiles and then glances over her shoulder and speaks low._) all sorts of irrelevant people here. farn. (_unable to resist the temptation, comes forward_). how do you do, mr. stonor? stonor. oh--how d'you do. farn. some of them were arguing in the smoking-room last night whether it didn't hurt a man's chances going about in a motor. lord j. yes, we've been hearing a lot of stories about the unpopularity of motor-cars--among the class that hasn't got 'em, of course. what do you say? lady john. i'm sure you gain more votes by being able to reach so many more of your constituency than we used---- stonor. well, i don't know--i've sometimes wondered whether the charm of our presence wasn't counterbalanced by the way we tear about smothering our fellow-beings in dust and running down their pigs and chickens, not to speak of their children. lord j. (_anxiously_). what on the whole are the prospects? (farnborough _cranes forward_.) stonor (_gravely_). we shall have to work harder than we realised. farn. ah! (_retires towards group._) jean (_in a half-aside as she slips her arm in her uncle's and smiles at_ geoffrey). he says he believes i'll be able to make a real difference to his chances. isn't it angelic of him? stonor (_in a jocular tone_). angelic? macchiavelian. i pin all my hopes on your being able to counteract the pernicious influence of my opponent's glib wife. jean. you want me to have a _real_ share in it all, don't you, geoffrey? stonor (_smiling into her eyes_). of course i do. (farnborough _drops down again on pretence of talking to_ mrs. heriot.) lord j. i don't gather you're altogether sanguine. any complication? (jean _and_ lady john _stand close together_ (c.), _the girl radiant, following_ stonor _with her eyes and whispering to the sympathetic elder woman._) stonor. well (_taking sunday paper out of pocket_), there's this agitation about the woman question. oddly enough, it seems likely to affect the issue. lord j. why should it? can't you do what the other four hundred have done? stonor (_laughs_). easily. but, you see, the mere fact that four hundred and twenty members have been worried into promising support--and then once in the house have let the matter severely alone---- lord j. (_to_ stonor). let it alone! bless my soul, i should think so indeed. stonor. of course. only it's a device that's somewhat worn. (_enter_ miss levering, _with hat on; gloves and veil in her hand._) lord j. still if they think they're getting a future cabinet minister on their side---- stonor. ... it will be sufficiently embarrassing for the cabinet minister. (stonor _turns to speak to_ jean. _stops dead seeing_ miss levering.) jean (_smiling_). you know one another? miss l. (_looking at_ stonor _with intentness but quite calmly_). everybody in this part of the world knows mr. stonor, but he doesn't know me. lord j. miss levering. (_they bow._) (_enter_ greatorex, _sidling in with an air of giving_ mrs. freddy _a wide berth._) jean (_to_ miss levering _with artless enthusiasm_). oh, have you been hearing him speak? miss l. yes, i was visiting some relations near dutfield. they took me to hear you. stonor. oh--the night the suffragettes made their customary row. miss l. the night they asked you---- stonor (_flying at the first chance of distraction, shakes hands with_ mrs. freddy). well, mrs. freddy, what do you think of your friends now? mrs. f. my friends? stonor (_offering her the sunday paper_). yes, the disorderly women. mrs. f. (_with dignity_). they are not my friends, but i don't think you must call them---- stonor. why not? (_laughs._) i can forgive them for worrying the late government. but they _are_ disorderly. miss l. (_quietly_). isn't the phrase consecrated to a different class? great. (_who has got hold of the sunday paper_). he's perfectly right. how do you do? disorderly women! that's what they are! farn. (_reading over his shoulder_). ought to be locked up! every one of 'em. great. (_assenting angrily_). public nuisances! going about with dog whips and spitting in policemen's faces. mrs. f. (_with a harassed air_). i wonder if they did spit? great. (_exulting_). of _course_ they did. mrs. f. (_turns on him_). you're no authority on what they do. _you_ run away. great. (_trying to turn the laugh_). run away? yes. (_backing a few paces._) and if ever i muster up courage to come back, it will be to vote for better manners in public life, not worse than we have already. mrs. f. (_meekly_). so should i. don't think that _i_ defend the suffragette methods. jean. (_with cheerful curiosity_). still, you _are_ an advocate of the suffrage, aren't you? mrs. f. _here?_ (_shrugs._) i don't beat the air. great. (_mocking_). only policemen. mrs. f. (_plaintively_). if you cared to know the attitude of the real workers in the reform, you might have noticed in any paper last week we lost no time in dissociating ourselves from the little group of hysterical---- (_catches her husband's eye, and instantly checks her flow of words._) mrs. h. they have lowered the whole sex in the eyes of the entire world. jean (_joining_ geoffrey stonor). i can't quite see what they want--those suffragettes. great. notoriety. farn. what they want? a good thrashin'--that's what i'd give 'em. miss l. (_murmurs_). spirited fellow! lord j. well, there's one sure thing--they've dished their goose. (greatorex _chuckles, still reading the account._) i believe these silly scenes are a pure joy to you. great. final death-blow to the whole silly business! jean (_mystified, looking from one to the other_). the suffragettes don't seem to _know_ they're dead. great. they still keep up a sort of death-rattle. but they've done for themselves. jean (_clasping her hands with fervour_). oh, i hope they'll last till the election's over. farn. (_stares_). why? jean. oh, we want them to get the working man to--(_stumbling and a little confused_)--to vote for ... the conservative candidate. isn't that so? (_looking round for help. general laughter._) lord j. fancy, jean----! great. the working man's a good deal of an ass, but even he won't listen to---- jean (_again appealing to the silent_ stonor). but he _does_ listen like anything! i asked why there were so few at the long mitcham meeting, and i was told, "oh, they've all gone to hear miss----" stonor. just for a lark, that was. lord j. it has no real effect on the vote. great. not the smallest. jean (_wide-eyed, to_ stonor). why, i thought you said---- stonor (_hastily, rubbing his hand over the lower part of his face and speaking quickly_). i've a notion a little soap and water wouldn't do me any harm. lord j. i'll take you up. you know freddy tunbridge. (stonor _pauses to shake hands. exeunt all three._) jean (_perplexed, as_ stonor _turns away, says to_ greatorex). well, if women are of no importance in politics, it isn't for the reason you gave. there is now and then a week-ender among them. great. (_shuffles about uneasily_). hm--hm. (_finds himself near_ mrs. freddy.) lord! the perils that beset the feet of man! (_with an air of comic caution, moves away_, l.) jean (_to_ farnborough, _aside, laughing_). why does he behave like that? farn. his moral sense is shocked. jean. why, i saw him and mrs. freddy together at the french play the other night--as thick as thieves. miss l. ah, that was before he knew her revolting views. jean. what revolting views? great. sh! sunday. (_as_ greatorex _sidles cautiously further away._) jean (_laughing in spite of herself_). i can't believe women are so helpless when i see men so afraid of them. great. the great mistake was in teaching them to read and write. jean (_over_ miss levering's _shoulder, whispers_). _say_ something. miss l. (_to_ greatorex, _smiling_). oh no, that wasn't the worst mistake. great. yes, it was. miss l. no. believe me. the mistake was in letting women learn to talk. great. _ah!_ (_wheels about with sudden rapture._) i see now what's to be the next great reform. miss l. (_holding up the little volume_). when women are all dumb, no more discussions of the "paradiso." great. (_with a gesture of mock rapture_). the thing itself! (_aside._) that's a great deal better than talking about it, as i'm sure _you_ know. miss l. why do you think i know? great. only the plain women are in any doubt. (jean _joins_ miss levering.) great. wait for me, farnborough. i cannot go about unprotected. [_exeunt_ farnborough _and_ greatorex. mrs. f. it's true what that old cynic says. the scene in the house has put back the reform a generation. jean. i wish 'd been there. mrs. f. i _was_. jean. oh, was it like the papers said? mrs. f. worse. i've never been so moved in public. no tragedy, no great opera ever gripped an audience as the situation in the house did that night. there we all sat breathless--with everything more favourable to us than it had been within the memory of women. another five minutes and the resolution would have passed. then ... all in a moment---- lady john (_to_ mrs. heriot). listen--they're talking about the female hooligans. mrs. h. no, thank you! (_sits apart with the "church times."_) mrs. f. (_excitedly_). all in a moment a horrible dingy little flag was poked through the grille of the woman's gallery--cries--insults--scuffling--the police--the ignominious turning out of the women--_us_ as well as the---- oh, i can't _think_ of it without---- (_jumps up and walks to and fro._) (_pauses._) then the next morning! the people gloating. our friends antagonised--people who were wavering--nearly won over--all thrown back--heart breaking! even my husband! freddy's been an angel about letting me take my share when i felt i must--but of course i've always known he doesn't really like it. it makes him shy. i'm sure it gives him a horrid twist inside when he sees my name among the speakers on the placards. but he's always been an angel about it before this. after the disgraceful scene he said, "it just shows how unfit women are for any sort of coherent thinking or concerted action." jean. to think that it should be women who've given the cause the worst blow it ever had! mrs. f. the work of forty years destroyed in five minutes! jean. they must have felt pretty sick when they woke up the next morning--the suffragettes. mrs. f. i don't waste any sympathy on _them_. i'm thinking of the penalty _all_ women have to pay because a handful of hysterical---- jean. still i think i'm sorry for them. it must be dreadful to find you've done such a lot of harm to the thing you care most about in the world. miss l. do you picture the suffragettes sitting in sackcloth? mrs. f. well, they can't help realising _now_ what they've done. miss l. (_quietly_). isn't it just possible they realise they've waked up interest in the woman question so that it's advertised in every paper and discussed in every house from land's end to john o'groats? don't you think _they_ know there's been more said and written about it in these ten days since the scene, than in the ten years before it? mrs. f. you aren't saying you think it was a good way to get what they wanted? miss l. (_shrugs_). i'm only pointing out that it seems not such a bad way to get it known they _do_ want something--and (_smiling_) "want it bad." jean (_getting up_). didn't mr. greatorex say women had been politely petitioning parliament for forty years? miss l. and men have only laughed. jean. but they'd come round. (_she looks from one to the other._) mrs. tunbridge says, before that horrid scene, everything was favourable at last. miss l. at last? hadn't it been just as "favourable" before? mrs. f. no. we'd never had so many members pledged to our side. miss l. i thought i'd heard somebody say the bill had got as far as that, time and time again. jean. oh no. surely not---- mrs. f. (_reluctantly_). y-yes. this was only a resolution. the bill passed a second reading thirty-seven years ago. jean (_with wide eyes_). and what difference did it make? miss l. the men laughed rather louder. mrs. f. oh, it's got as far as a second reading several times--but we never had so many friends in the house before---- miss l. (_with a faint smile_). "friends!" jean. why do you say it like that? miss l. perhaps because i was thinking of a funny story--he said it was funny--a liberal whip told me the other day. a radical member went out of the house after his speech in favour of the woman's bill, and as he came back half an hour later, he heard some members talking in the lobby about the astonishing number who were going to vote for the measure. and the friend of woman dropped his jaw and clutched the man next him: "my god!" he said, "you don't mean to say they're going to give it to them!" jean. oh! mrs. f. you don't think all men in parliament are like that! miss l. i don't think all men are burglars, but i lock my doors. jean (_below her breath_). you think that night of the scene--you think the men didn't _mean_ to play fair? miss l. (_her coolness in contrast to the excitement of the others_). didn't the women sit quiet till ten minutes to closing time? jean. ten minutes to settle a question like that! miss l. (_quietly to_ mrs. freddy). couldn't you see the men were at their old game? lady john (_coming forward_). you think they were just putting off the issue till it was too late? miss l. (_in a detached tone_). _i_ wasn't there, but i haven't heard anybody deny that the women waited till ten minutes to eleven. then they discovered the policeman who'd been sent up at the psychological moment to the back of the gallery. then, i'm told, when the women saw they were betrayed once more, they utilised the few minutes left, to impress on the country at large the fact of their demands--did it in the only way left them. (_sits leaning forward reflectively smiling, chin in hand._) it does rather look to the outsider as if the well-behaved women had worked for forty years and made less impression on the world then those fiery young women made in five minutes. mrs. f. oh, come, be fair! miss l. well, you must admit that, next day, every newspaper reader in europe and america knew there were women in england in such dead earnest about the suffrage that the men had stopped laughing at last, and turned them out of the house. men even advertised how little they appreciated the fun by sending the women to gaol in pretty sober earnest. and all the world was talking about it. (mrs. heriot _lays down the "church times" and joins the others._) lady john. i have noticed, whenever the men aren't there, the women sit and discuss that scene. jean (_cheerfully_). _i_ shan't have to wait till the men are gone. (_leans over_ lady john's _shoulder and says half aside_) he's in sympathy. lady john. how do you know? jean. he told the interrupting women so. (mrs. freddy _looks mystified. the others smile._) lady john. oh! (mr. freddy _and_ lord john _appear by the door they went out of. they stop to talk._) mrs. f. here's freddy! (_lower, hastily to_ miss levering.) you're judging from the outside. those of us who have been working for years ... we all realise it was a perfectly lunatic proceeding. why, _think_! the only chance of our getting what we want is by _winning over_ the men. (_her watchful eye, leaving her husband for a moment, catches_ miss levering's _little involuntary gesture._) what's the matter? miss l. "winning over the men" has been the woman's way for centuries. do you think the result should make us proud of our policy? yes? then go and walk in piccadilly at midnight. (_the older women glance at_ jean.) no, i forgot---- mrs. h. (_with majesty_). yes, it's not the first time you've forgotten. miss l. i forgot the magistrate's ruling. he said no decent woman had any business to be in london's main thoroughfare at night unless she has _a man with her_. i heard that in nine elms, too. "you're obliged to take up with a chap!" was what the woman said. mrs. h. (_rising_). jean! come! (_she takes_ jean _by her arm and draws her to the window, where she signals_ greatorex _and_ farnborough. mrs. freddy _joins her husband and_ lord john.) lady john (_kindly, aside to_ miss levering). my dear, i think lydia heriot's right. we oughtn't to do anything or _say_ anything to encourage this ferment of feminism, and i'll tell you why: it's likely to bring a very terrible thing in its train. miss l. what terrible thing? lady john. sex antagonism. miss l. (_rising_). it's here. lady john (_very gravely_). don't say that. (jean _has quietly disengaged herself from_ mrs. heriot, _and the group at the window returns and stands behind_ lady john, _looking up into_ miss leverings's _face._) miss l. (_to_ lady john). you're so conscious it's here, you're afraid to have it mentioned. lady john (_turning and seeing_ jean. _rising hastily_). if it's here, it is the fault of those women agitators. miss l. (_gently_). no woman _begins_ that way. (_leans forward with clasped hands looking into vacancy._) every woman's in a state of natural subjection (_smiles at_ jean)--no, i'd rather say allegiance to her idea of romance and her hope of motherhood. they're embodied for her in man. they're the strongest things in life--till man kills them. (_rousing herself and looking into_ lady john's _face._) let's be fair. each woman knows why that allegiance died. (lady john _turns hastily, sees_ lord john _coming down with_ mr. freddy _and meets them at the foot of the stairs._ miss levering _has turned to the table looking for her gloves, &c., among the papers; unconsciously drops the handkerchief she had in her little book._) jean (_in a low voice to_ miss levering). all this talk against the wicked suffragettes--it makes me want to go and hear what they've got to say for themselves. miss l. (_smiling with a non-committal air as she finds the veil she's been searching for_). well, they're holding a meeting in trafalgar square at three o'clock. jean. this afternoon? but that's no use to people out of town---- unless i could invent some excuse.... lord j. (_benevolently_). still talking over the shelter plans? miss l. no. we left the shelter some time ago. lord j. (_to_ jean). then what's all the chatterment about? (jean, _a little confused, looks at_ miss levering.) miss l. the latest thing in veils. (_ties hers round her hat._) great. the invincible frivolity of woman! lord j. (_genially_). don't scold them. it's a very proper topic. miss l. (_whimsically_). oh, i was afraid you'd despise us for it. both men (_with condescension_). not at all--not at all. jean (_to_ miss levering _as_ footman _appears_). oh, they're coming for you. don't forget your book. (footman _holds out a salver with a telegram on it for_ jean.) why, it's for me! miss l. but it's time i was---- (_crosses to table._) jean (_opening the telegram_). may i? (_reads, and glances over the paper at_ miss levering.) i've got your book. (_crosses to_ miss levering, _and, looking at the back of the volume_) dante! whereabouts are you? (_opening at the marker._) oh, the "inferno." miss l. no; i'm in a worse place. jean. i didn't know there was a worse. miss l. yes; it's worse with the vigliacchi. jean. i forget. were they guelf or ghibelline? miss l. (_smiling_). they weren't either, and that was why dante couldn't stand them. (_more gravely._) he said there was no place in heaven nor in purgatory--not even a corner in hell--for the souls who had stood aloof from strife. (_looking steadily into the girl's eyes._) he called them "wretches who never lived," dante did, because they'd never felt the pangs of partizanship. and so they wander homeless on the skirts of limbo among the abortions and off-scourings of creation. jean (_a long breath after a long look. when_ miss levering _has turned away to make her leisurely adieux_ jean's _eyes fall on the open telegram_). aunt ellen, i've got to go to london. (stonor, _re-entering, hears this, but pretends to talk to_ mr. freddy, _&c._) lady john. my dear child! mrs. h. nonsense! is your grandfather worse? jean (_folding the telegram_). no-o. i don't think so. but it's necessary i should go, all the same. mrs. h. go away when mr. stonor---- jean. he said he'd have to leave directly after luncheon. lady john. i'll just see miss levering off, and then i'll come back and talk about it. lord j. (_to_ miss levering). why are you saying goodbye as if you were never coming back? miss l. (_smiling_). one never knows. maybe i shan't come back. (_to_ stonor.) goodbye. (stonor _bows ceremoniously. the others go up laughing._ stonor _comes down_.) jean (_impulsively_). there mayn't be another train! miss levering---- stonor (_standing in front of her_). what if there isn't? i'll take you back in the motor. jean (_rapturously_). _will_ you? (_inadvertently drops the telegram._) i must be there by three! stonor (_picks up the telegram and a handkerchief lying near, glances at the message_). why, it's only an invitation to dine--wednesday! jean. sh! (_takes the telegram and puts it in her pocket._) stonor. oh, i see! (_lower, smiling._) it's rather dear of you to arrange our going off like that. you _are_ a clever little girl! jean. it's not that i was arranging. i want to hear those women in trafalgar square--the suffragettes. stonor (_incredulous, but smiling_). how perfectly absurd! (_looking after_ lady john.) besides, i expect she wouldn't like my carrying you off like that. jean. then she'll have to make an excuse and come too. stonor. ah, it wouldn't be quite the same---- jean (_rapidly thinking it out_). we could get back here in time for dinner. (geoffrey stonor _glances down at the handkerchief still in his hand, and turns it half mechanically from corner to corner._) jean (_absent-mindedly_). mine? stonor (_hastily, without reflection_). no. (_hands it to_ miss levering _as she passes._) yours. (miss levering, _on her way to the lobby with_ lord john _seems not to notice._) jean (_takes the handkerchief to give to her, glancing down at the embroidered corner; stops_). but that's not an l! it's vi----! (geoffrey stonor _suddenly turns his back and takes up the newspaper._) lady john (_from the lobby_). come, vida, since you will go. miss l. yes; i'm coming. [_exit_ miss levering. jean. _i_ didn't know her name was vida; how did you? (stonor _stares silently over the top of his paper_.) curtain. act ii scene: _the north side of the nelson column in trafalgar square. the curtain rises on an uproar. the crowd, which momentarily increases, is composed chiefly of weedy youths and wastrel old men. there are a few decent artisans; three or four "beery" out-o'-works; three or four young women of the domestic servant or strand restaurant cashier class; one aged woman in rusty black peering with faded, wondering eyes, consulting the faces of the men and laughing nervously and apologetically from time to time; one or two quiet-looking, business-like women, thirty to forty; two middle-class men, who stare and whisper and smile. a quiet old man with a lot of unsold sunday papers under one arm stands in an attitude of rapt attention, with the free hand round his deaf ear. a brisk-looking woman of forty-five or so, wearing pince-nez, goes round with a pile of propagandist literature on her arm. many of the men smoking cigarettes--the old ones pipes. on the outskirts of this crowd, of several hundred, a couple of smart men in tall shining hats hover a few moments, single eyeglass up, and then saunter off. against the middle of the column, where it rises above the stone platform, is a great red banner, one supporting pole upheld by a grimy sandwichman, the other by a small, dirty boy of eight. if practicable only the lower portion of the banner need be seen, bearing the final words of the legend_-- "votes for women!" _in immense white letters. it will be well to get, to the full, the effect of the height above the crowd of the straggling group of speakers on the pedestal platform. these are, as the curtain rises, a working-class woman who is waving her arms and talking very earnestly, her voice for the moment blurred in the uproar. she is dressed in brown serge and looks pinched and sallow. at her side is the_ chairman _urging that she be given a fair hearing._ allen trent _is a tall, slim, brown-haired man of twenty-eight, with a slight stoop, an agreeable aspect, well-bred voice, and the gleaming brown eye of the visionary. behind these two, looking on or talking among themselves, are several other carelessly dressed women; one, better turned out than the rest, is quite young, very slight and gracefully built, with round, very pink cheeks, full, scarlet lips, naturally waving brown hair, and an air of childish gravity. she looks at the unruly mob with imperturbable calm. the_ chairman's _voice is drowned._ working woman (_with lean, brown finger out and voice raised shriller now above the tumult_). i've got boys o' me own and we laugh at all sorts o' things, but i should be ashymed and so would they if ever they was to be'yve as you're doin' to-d'y. (_in laughter the noise dies._) people 'ave been sayin' this is a middle-class woman's movement. it's a libel. i'm a workin' woman myself, the wife of a working man. (_voice_: "pore devil!") i'm a poor law guardian and a---- noisy young man. think of that, now--gracious me! (_laughter and interruption._) old newsvendor (_to the noisy young man near him_). oh, shut up, cawn't yer? noisy young man. not fur _you_! voice. go'ome and darn yer old man's stockens! voice. just clean yer _own_ doorstep! working woman. it's a pore sort of 'ousekeeper that leaves 'er doorstep till sunday afternoon. maybe that's when you would do _your_ doorstep. i do mine in the mornin' before you men are awake. old newsvendor. it's true, wot she says!--every word. working woman. you say we women 'ave got no business servin' on boards and thinkin' about politics. wot's _politics_? (_a derisive roar._) it's just 'ousekeepin' on a big scyle. 'oo among you workin' men 'as the most comfortable 'omes? those of you that gives yer wives yer wyges. (_loud laughter and jeers._) { that's it! voices. { wantin' our money. { lord 'igh 'ousekeeper of england. working woman. if it wus only to use fur _our_ comfort, d'ye think many o' you workin' men would be found turnin' over their wyges to their wives? no! wot's the reason thousands do--and the best and the soberest? because the workin' man knows that wot's a pound to _'im_ is twenty shillin's to 'is wife. and she'll myke every penny in every one o' them shillin's _tell_. she gets more fur _'im_ out of 'is wyges than wot 'e can! some o' you know wot the 'omes is like w'ere the men don't let the women manage. well, the poor laws and the 'ole government is just in the syme muddle because the men 'ave tried to do the national 'ousekeepin' without the women. (_roars._) but, like i told you before, it's a libel to say it's only the well-off women wot's wantin' the vote. wot about the , textile workers? wot about the yorkshire tailoresses? i can tell you wot plenty o' the poor women think about it. i'm one of them, and i can tell you we see there's reforms needed. _we ought to 'ave the vote_ (_jeers_), and we know 'ow to appreciate the other women 'oo go to prison fur tryin' to get it fur us! (_with a little final bob of emphasis and a glance over shoulder at the old woman and the young one behind her, she seems about to retire, but pauses as the murmur in the crowd grows into distinct phrases._ "they get their 'air cut free." "naow they don't, that's only us!" "silly suffragettes!" "stop at 'ome!" "'inderin' policemen--mykin' rows in the streets!") voice (_louder than the others_). they sees yer ain't fit t'ave---- other voices. "ha, ha!" "shut up!" "keep quiet, cawn't yer?" (_general uproar._) chairman. you evidently don't know what had to be done by _men_ before the extension of the suffrage in ' . if it hadn't been for demonstrations of violence---- (_his voice is drowned._) working woman (_coming forward again, her shrill note rising clear_). you s'y woman's plyce is 'ome! don't you know there's a third of the women o' this country can't afford the luxury of stayin' in their 'omes? they _got_ to go out and 'elp make money to p'y the rent and keep the 'ome from bein' sold up. then there's all the women that 'aven't got even miseerable 'omes. they 'aven't got any 'omes _at all_. noisy young man. you said _you_ got one. w'y don't you stop in it? working woman. yes, that's like a man. if one o' you is all right, he thinks the rest don't matter. we women---- noisy young man. the lydies! god bless 'em! (_voices drown her and the_ chairman.) old newsvendor (_to_ noisy young man). oh, take that extra 'alf pint 'ome and _sleep it off_! working woman. p'r'aps _your_ 'omes are all right. p'r'aps you aren't livin', old and young, married and single, in one room. i come from a plyce where many fam'lies 'ave to live like that if they're to go on livin' _at all_. if you don't believe me, come and let me show you! (_she spreads out her lean arms._) come with me to canning town!--come with me to bromley--come to poplar and to bow! no. you won't even _think_ about the overworked women and the underfed children and the 'ovels they live in. and you want that we shouldn't think neither---- a vagrant. we'll do the thinkin'. you go 'ome and nuss the byby. working woman. i do nurse my byby! i've nursed seven. what 'ave you done for yours? p'r'aps your children never goes 'ungry, and maybe you're satisfied--though i must say i wouldn't a' thought it from the _look_ o' you. voice. oh, i s'y! working woman. but we women are not satisfied. we don't only want better things for our own children. we want better things for all. _every_ child is our child. we know in our 'earts we oughtn't to rest till we've mothered 'em every one. voice. "women"--"children"--wot about the _men_? are _they_ all 'appy? (_derisive laughter and_ "no! no!" "not precisely." "'appy? lord!") working woman. no, there's lots o' you men i'm sorry for (_shrill voice_: "thanks awfully!"), an' we'll 'elp you if you let us. voice. 'elp us? you tyke the bread out of our mouths. you women are black-leggin' the men! working woman. _w'y_ does any woman tyke less wyges than a man for the same work? only because we can't get anything better. that's part the reason w'y we're yere to-d'y. do you reely think we tyke them there low wyges because we got a _lykin'_ for low wyges? no. we're just like you. we want as much as ever we can get. ("'ear! 'ear!" _and laughter_.) we got a gryte deal to do with our wyges, we women has. we got the children to think about. and w'en we get our rights, a woman's flesh and blood won't be so much cheaper than a man's that employers can get rich on keepin' you out o' work, and sweatin' us. if you men only could see it, we got the _syme_ cause, and if you 'elped us you'd be 'elpin yerselves. voices. "rot!" "drivel." old newsvendor. true as gospel! (_she retires against the banner with the others. there is some applause._) a man (_patronisingly_). well, now, that wusn't so bad--fur a woman. another. n-naw. _not fur a woman._ chairman (_speaking through this last_). miss ernestine blunt will now address you. (_applause, chiefly ironic, laughter, a general moving closer and knitting up of attention._ ernestine blunt _is about twenty-four, but looks younger. she is very downright, not to say pugnacious--the something amusing and attractive about her is there, as it were, against her will, and the more fetching for that. she has no conventional gestures, and none of any sort at first. as she warms to her work she uses her slim hands to enforce her emphasis, but as though unconsciously. her manner of speech is less monotonous than that of the average woman-speaker, but she, too, has a fashion of leaning all her weight on the end of the sentence. she brings out the final word or two with an effort of underscoring, and makes a forward motion of the slim body as if the better to drive the last nail in. she evidently means to be immensely practical--the kind who is pleased to think she hasn't a grain of sentimentality in her composition, and whose feeling, when it does all but master her, communicates itself magnetically to others._ ) miss ernestine blunt. perhaps i'd better begin by explaining a little about our "tactics." (_cries of_ "tactics! we know!" "mykin' trouble!" "public scandal!") to make you understand what we've done, i must remind you of what others have done. perhaps you don't know that women first petitioned parliament for the franchise as long ago as . voice. how do _you_ know? (_she pauses a moment, taken off her guard by the suddenness of the attack._) voice. you wasn't there! voice. that was the trouble. haw! haw! miss e. b. and the petition was presented---- voice. give 'er a 'earin' now she 'as got out of 'er crydle. miss e. b.--presented to the house of commons by that great liberal, john stuart mill. (_voice_: "mill? who is he when he's at home?") bills or resolutions have been before the house on and off for the last thirty-six years. that, roughly, is our history. we found ourselves, towards the close of the year , with no assurance that if we went on in the same way any girl born into the world in this generation would live to exercise the rights of citizenship, though she lived to be a hundred. so we said all this has been in vain. we must try some other way. how did the working man get the suffrage, we asked ourselves? well, we turned up the records, and we _saw_---- voices. "not by scratching people's faces!" ... "disraeli give it 'em!" "dizzy? get out!" "cahnty cahncil scholarships!" "oh, lord, this education!" "chartist riots, she's thinkin' of!" (_noise in the crowd._) miss e. b. but we don't _want_ to follow such a violent example. we would much rather _not_--but if that's the only way we can make the country see we're in earnest, we are prepared to show them. voice. an' they'll show you!--give you another month 'ard. miss e. b. don't think that going to prison has any fears for us. we'd go _for life_ if by doing that we could get freedom for the rest of the women. voices. "hear, hear!" "rot!" "w'y don't the men 'elp ye to get your rights?" miss e. b. here's some one asking why the men don't help. it's partly they don't understand yet--they _will_ before we've done! (_laughter._) partly they don't understand yet what's at stake---- respectable old man (_chuckling_). lord, they're a 'educatin' of us! voice. wot next? miss e. b.--and partly that the bravest man is afraid of ridicule. oh, yes; we've heard a great deal all our lives about the timidity and the sensitiveness of women. and it's true. we _are_ sensitive. but i tell you, ridicule crumples a man up. it steels a woman. we've come to know the value of ridicule. we've educated ourselves so that we welcome ridicule. we owe our sincerest thanks to the comic writers. the cartoonist is our unconscious friend. who cartoons people who are of no importance? what advertisement is so sure of being remembered? poetic young man. i admit that. miss e. b. if we didn't know it by any other sign, the comic papers would tell us _we've arrived_! but our greatest debt of gratitude we owe, to the man who called us female hooligans. (_the crowd bursts into laughter._) we aren't hooligans, but we hope the fact will be overlooked. if everybody said we were nice, well-behaved women, who'd come to hear us? _not the men._ (_roars._) men tell us it isn't womanly for us to care about politics. how do they know what's womanly? it's for women to decide that. let the men attend to being manly. it will take them all their time. voice. are we down-'earted? oh no! miss e. b. and they say it would be dreadful if we got the vote, because then we'd be pitted against men in the economic struggle. but that's come about already. do you know that out of every hundred women in this country eighty-two are wage-earning women? it used to be thought unfeminine for women to be students and to aspire to the arts--that bring fame and fortune. but nobody has ever said it was unfeminine for women to do the heavy drudgery that's badly paid. that kind of work had to be done by _some_body--and the men didn't hanker after it. oh, no. (_laughter and interruption._) a man on the outer fringe. she can _talk_--the little one can. another. oh, they can all "talk." a beery, dirty fellow of fifty. i wouldn't like to be 'er 'usban'. think o' comin' 'ome to _that_! his pal. i'd soon learn 'er! miss e. b. (_speaking through the noise_). oh, no! _let_ the women scrub and cook and wash. that's all right! but if they want to try their hand at the better paid work of the liberal professions--oh, very unfeminine indeed! then there's another thing. now i want you to listen to this, because it's _very_ important. men say if we persist in competing with them for the bigger prizes, they're dreadfully afraid we'd lose the beautiful protecting chivalry that---- yes, i don't wonder you laugh. _we_ laugh. (_bending forward with lit eyes._) but the women i found at the ferry tin works working for five shillings a week--i didn't see them laughing. the beautiful chivalry of the employers of women doesn't prevent them from paying women tenpence a day for sorting coal and loading and unloading carts--doesn't prevent them from forcing women to earn bread in ways worse still. so we won't talk about chivalry. it's being over-sarcastic. we'll just let this poor ghost of chivalry go--in exchange for a little plain justice. voice. if the house of commons won't give you justice, why don't you go to the house of lords? miss e. b. what? voice. better 'urry up. case of early closin'. (_laughter. a man at the back asks the speaker something._) miss e. b. (_unable to hear_). you'll be allowed to ask any question you like at the end of the meeting. new-comer (_boy of eighteen_). oh, is it question time? i s'y, miss, 'oo killed cock robin? (_she is about to resume, but above the general noise the voice of a man at the back reaches her indistinct but insistent. she leans forward trying to catch what he says. while the indistinguishable murmur has been going on_ geoffrey stonor _has appeared on the edge of the crowd, followed by_ jean _and_ lady john _in motor veils._) jean (_pressing forward eagerly and raising her veil_). is she one of them? that little thing! stonor (_doubtfully_). i--i suppose so. jean. oh, ask some one, geoffrey. i'm so disappointed. i did so hope we'd hear one of the--the worst. miss e. b. (_to the interrupter--on the other side_). what? what do you say? (_she screws up her eyes with the effort to hear, and puts a hand up to her ear. a few indistinguishable words between her and the man._) lady john (_who has been studying the figures on the platform through her lorgnon, turns to a working man beside her_). can you tell me, my man, which are the ones that--a--that make the disturbances? working man. the one that's doing the talking--she's the disturbingest o' the lot. jean (_craning to listen_). not that nice little---- working man. don't you be took in, miss. miss e. b. oh, yes--i see. there's a man over here asking---- a young man. _i've_ got a question, too. are--you--married? another (_sniggering_). quick! there's yer chawnce. 'e's a bachelor. (_laughter._) miss e. b. (_goes straight on as if she had not heard_)--man asking: if the women get full citizenship, and a war is declared, will the women fight? poetic young man. no, really--no, really, now! (_the crowd_: "haw! haw!" "yes!" "yes, how about _that?_") miss e. b. (_smiling_). well, you know, some people say the whole trouble about us is that we _do_ fight. but it is only hard necessity makes us do that. we don't _want_ to fight--as men seem to--just for fighting's sake. women are for peace. voice. hear, hear. miss e. b. and when we have a share in public affairs there'll be less likelihood of war. but that's not to say women can't fight. the boer women did. the russian women face conflicts worse than any battlefield can show. (_her voice shakes a little, and the eyes fill, but she controls her emotion gallantly, and dashes on._) but we women know all that is evil, and we're for peace. our part--we're proud to remember it--our part has been to go about after you men in war-time, and--_pick up the pieces_! (_a great shout._) yes--seems funny, doesn't it? you men blow them to bits, and then we come along and put them together again. if you know anything about military nursing, you know a good deal of our work has been done in the face of danger--_but it's always been done_. old newsvendor. that's so. that's so. miss e. b. you complain that more and more we're taking away from you men the work that's always been yours. you can't any longer keep women out of the industries. the only question is upon what terms shall she continue to be in? as long as she's in on bad terms, she's not only hurting herself--she's hurting you. but if you're feeling discouraged about our competing with you, we're willing to leave you your trade in war. _let_ the men take life! we _give_ life! (_her voice is once more moved and proud._) no one will pretend ours isn't one of the dangerous trades either. i won't say any more to you now, because we've got others to speak to you, and a new woman-helper that i want you to hear. (_she retires to the sound of clapping. there's a hurried consultation between her and the_ chairman. _voices in the crowd_: "the little 'un's all right" "ernestine's a corker," &c.) jean (_looking at_ stonor _to see how he's taken it_). well? stonor (_smiling down at her_). well---- jean. nothing reprehensible in what _she_ said, was there? stonor (_shrugs_). oh, reprehensible! jean. it makes me rather miserable all the same. stonor (_draws her hand protectingly through his arm_). you mustn't take it as much to heart as all that. jean. i can't help it--i can't indeed, geoffrey. i shall _never_ be able to make a speech like that! stonor (_taken aback_). i hope not, indeed. jean. why, i thought you said you wanted me----? stonor (_smiling_). to make nice little speeches with composure--so i did! so i---- (_seems to lose his thread as he looks at her._) jean (_with a little frown_). you _said_---- stonor. that you have very pink cheeks? well, i stick to that. jean (_smiling_). sh! don't tell everybody. stonor. and you're the only female creature i ever saw who didn't look a fright in motor things. jean (_melted and smiling_). i'm glad you don't think me a fright. chairman. i will now ask (_name indistinguishable_) to address the meeting. jean (_as she sees_ lady john _moving to one side_). oh, don't go yet, aunt ellen! lady john. go? certainly not. i want to hear another. (_craning her neck._) i can't believe, you know, she was really one of the worst. (_a big, sallow cockney has come forward. his scanty hair grows in wisps on a great bony skull._) voice. that's pilcher. another. 'oo's pilcher? another. if you can't afford a bottle of tatcho, w'y don't you get yer 'air cut. mr. p. (_not in the least discomposed_). i've been addressin' a big meetin' at 'ammersmith this morning, and w'en i told 'em i wus comin' 'ere this awfternoon to speak fur the women--well--then the usual thing began! (_an appreciative roar from the crowd._) in these times if you want peace and quiet at a public meetin'---- (_the crowd fills in the hiatus with laughter._) there was a man at 'ammersmith, too, talkin' about women's sphere bein' 'ome. _'ome_ do you call it? you've got a kennel w'ere you can munch your tommy. you've got a corner w'ere you can curl up fur a few hours till you go out to work again. no, my man, there's too many of you ain't able to _give_ the women 'omes--fit to live in, too many of you in that fix fur you to go on jawin' at those o' the women 'oo want to myke the 'omes a little decenter. voice. if the vote ain't done us any good, 'ow'll it do the women any good? mr. p. look 'ere! any men here belongin' to the labour party? (_shouts and applause._) well, i don't need to tell these men the vote 'as done us _some_ good. they know it. and it'll do us a lot more good w'en you know 'ow to use the power you got in your 'and. voice. power! it's those fellers at the bottom o' the street that's got the power. mr. p. it's you, and men like you, that gave it to 'em. you carried the liberals into parliament street on your own shoulders. (_complacent applause._) you believed all their fine words. you never asked yourselves, "_wot's a liberal, anyw'y?_" a voice. he's a jolly good fellow. (_cheers and booing._) mr. p. no, 'e ain't, or if 'e is jolly, it's only because 'e thinks you're such silly codfish you'll go swellin' his majority again. (_laughter, in which_ stonor _joins._) it's enough to make any liberal jolly to see sheep like you lookin' on, proud and 'appy, while you see liberal leaders desertin' liberal principles. (_voices in agreement and protest._) you show me a liberal, and i'll show you a mr. fycing-both-w'ys. yuss. (stonor _moves closer with an amused look._) 'e sheds the light of 'is warm and 'andsome smile on the working man, and round on the other side 'e's tippin' a wink to the great land-owners. that's to let 'em know 'e's standin' between them and the socialists. huh! socialists. yuss, _socialists_! (_general laughter, in which_ stonor _joins._) the liberal, e's the judicial sort o' chap that sits in the middle---- voice. on the fence! mr. p. tories one side--socialists the other. well it ain't always so comfortable in the middle. you're like to get squeezed. now, i s'y to the women, the conservatives don't promise you much but what they promise they _do_! stonor (_to_ jean). this fellow isn't half bad. mr. p. the liberals--they'll promise you the earth, and give yer ... the whole o' nothing. (_roars of approval._) jean. _isn't_ it fun? now, aren't you glad i brought you? stonor (_laughing_). this chap's rather amusing! mr. p. we men 'ave seen it 'appen over and over. but the women can tyke a 'int quicker'n what we can. they won't stand the nonsense men do. only they 'aven't got a fair chawnce even to agitate fur their rights. as i wus comin' up 'ere i 'eard a man sayin', "look at this big crowd. w'y, we're all _men_! if the women want the vote w'y ain't they 'ere to s'y so?" well, i'll tell you w'y. it's because they've 'ad to get the dinner fur you and me, and now they're washin' up the dishes. a voice. d'you think _we_ ought to st'y 'ome and wash the dishes? mr. p. (_laughs good-naturedly_). if they'd leave it to us once or twice per'aps we'd understand a little more about the woman question. i know w'y _my_ wife isn't here. it's because she _knows_ i ain't much use round the 'ouse, and she's 'opin' i can talk to some purpose. maybe she's mistaken. any'ow, here i am to vote for her and all the other women. ("_hear! hear!_" "_oh-h!_") and to tell you men what improvements you can expect to see when women 'as the share in public affairs they _ought_ to 'ave! voice. what do you know about it? you can't even talk grammar. mr. p. (_is dashed a fraction of a moment, for the first and only time_). i'm not 'ere to talk grammar but to talk reform. i ain't defendin' my grammar--but i'll say in pawssing that if my mother 'ad 'ad 'er rights, maybe my grammar would have been better. (stonor _and_ jean _exchange smiles. he takes her arm again and bends his head to whisper something in her ear. she listens with lowered eyes and happy face. the discreet love-making goes on during the next few sentences. interruption. one voice insistent but not clear. the speaker waits only a second and then resumes. "yes, if the women" but he cannot instantly make himself heard. the boyish_ chairman _looks harassed and anxious._ miss ernestine blunt _alert, watchful._) mr. p. wait a bit--'arf a minute, my man! voice. 'oo yer talkin' to? i ain't your man. mr. p. lucky for me! there seems to be a _gentleman_ 'ere who doesn't think women ought to 'ave the vote. voice. _one?_ oh-h! (_laughter._) mr. p. per'aps 'e doesn't know much about women? (_indistinguishable repartee._) oh, the gentleman says 'e's married. well, then, fur the syke of 'is wife we musn't be too sorry 'e's 'ere. no doubt she's s'ying: "'eaven by prysed those women are mykin' a demonstrytion in trafalgar square, and i'll 'ave a little peace and quiet at 'ome for one sunday in my life." (_the crowd laughs and there are jeers for the interrupter--and at the speaker._) (_pointing._) why, _you're_ like the man at 'ammersmith this morning. 'e was awskin' me: "'ow would you like men to st'y at 'ome and do the fam'ly washin'?" (_laughter._) i told 'im i wouldn't advise it. i 'ave too much respect fur--me clo'es. vagrant. it's their place--the women ought to do the washin'. mr. p. i'm not sure you ain't right. for a good many o' you fellas, from the look o' you--you cawn't even wash yerselves. (_laughter._) voice (_threatening_). 'oo are you talkin' to? (_chairman more anxious than before--movement in the crowd._) threatening voice. which of us d'you mean? mr. p. (_coolly looking down_). well, it takes about ten of your sort to myke a man, so you may take it i mean the lot of you. (_angry indistinguishable retorts and the crowd sways._ miss ernestine blunt, _who has been watching the fray with serious face, turns suddenly, catching sight of some one just arrived at the end of the platform._ miss blunt _goes_ r. _with alacrity, saying audibly to_ pilcher _as she passes, "here she is," and proceeds to offer her hand helping some one to get up the improvised steps. laughter and interruption in the crowd._) lady john. now, there's another woman going to speak. jean. oh, is she? who? which? i do hope she'll be one of the wild ones. mr. p. (_speaking through this last. glancing at the new arrival whose hat appears above the platform_ r.). that's all right, then. (_turns to the left._) when i've attended to this microbe that's vitiating the air on my right---- (_laughter and interruptions from the crowd._) stonor (_staring_ r., _one dazed instant, at the face of the new arrival, his own changes_). (jean _withdraws her arm from his and quite suddenly presses a shade nearer the platform._ stonor _moves forward and takes her by the arm._) we're going now. jean. not yet--oh, please not yet. (_breathless, looking back._) why i--i do believe---- stonor (_to_ lady john, _with decision_). i'm going to take jean out of this mob. will you come? lady john. what? oh yes, if you think---- (_another look through her glasses._) but isn't that--_surely_ its----!!! (vida levering _comes forward_ r. _she wears a long, plain, dark green dust-cloak. stands talking to_ ernestine blunt _and glancing a little apprehensively at the crowd._) jean. geoffrey! stonor (_trying to draw_ jean _away_). lady john's tired---- jean. but you don't see who it is, geoffrey----! (_looks into his face, and is arrested by the look she finds there._) (lady john _has pushed in front of them amazed, transfixed, with glass up._ geoffrey stonor _restrains a gesture of annoyance, and withdraws behind two big policemen._ jean _from time to time turns to look at him with a face of perplexity._) mr. p. (_resuming through a fire of indistinct interruption_). i'll come down and attend to that microbe while a lady will say a few words to you (_raises his voice_)--if she can myke 'erself 'eard. (pilcher _retires in the midst of booing and cheers._) chairman (_harassed and trying to create a diversion_). some one suggests--and it's such a good idea i'd like you to listen to it-- (_noise dies down._) that a clause shall be inserted in the next suffrage bill that shall expressly reserve to each cabinet minister, and to any respectable man, the power to prevent the franchise being given to the female members of his family on his public declaration of their lack of sufficient intelligence to entitle them to vote. voices. oh! oh! chairman. now, i ask you to listen, as quietly as you can, to a lady who is not accustomed to speaking--a--in trafalgar square--or a ... as a matter of fact, at all. voices. "a dumb lady." "hooray!" "three cheers for the dumb lady!" chairman. a lady who, as i've said, will tell you, if you'll behave yourselves, her impressions of the administration of police-court justice in this country. (jean _looks wondering at_ stonor's _sphinx-like face as_ vida levering _comes to the edge of the platform._) miss l. mr. chairman, men and women---- voices (_off_). speak up. (_she flushes, comes quite to the edge of the platform and raises her voice a little._) miss l. i just wanted to tell you that i was--i was--present in the police-court when the women were charged for creating a disturbance. voice. y' oughtn't t' get mixed up in wot didn't concern you. miss l. i--i---- (_stumbles and stops._) (_talking and laughing increases._ "wot's 'er name?" "mrs. or miss?" "ain't seen this one before.") chairman (_anxiously_). now, see here, men; don't interrupt---- a girl (_shrilly_). i like this one's _'at_. ye can see she ain't one of 'em. miss l. (_trying to recommence_). i---- voice. they're a disgrace--them women be'ind yer. a man with a fatherly air. it's the w'y they goes on as mykes the government keep ye from gettin' yer rights. chairman (_losing his temper_). it's the way _you_ go on that---- (_noise increases._ chairman _drowned, waves his arms and moves his lips._ miss levering _discouraged, turns and looks at_ ernestine blunt _and pantomimes "it's no good. i can't go on."_ ernestine blunt _comes forward, says a word to the_ chairman, _who ceases gyrating, and nods._) miss e. b. (_facing the crowd_). look here. if the government withhold the vote because they don't like the way some of us ask for it--_let them give it to the quiet ones_. does the government want to punish _all_ women because they don't like the manners of a handful? perhaps that's you men's notion of justice. it isn't women's. voices. haw! haw! miss l. yes. th-this is the first time i've ever "gone on," as you call it, but they never gave me a vote. miss e. b. (_with energy_). no! and there are one--two--three--four women on this platform. now, we all want the vote, as you know. well, we'd agree to be disfranchised all our lives, if they'd give the vote to all the other women. voice. look here, you made one speech, give the lady a chawnce. miss e. b. (_retires smiling_). that's _just_ what i wanted _you_ to do! miss l. perhaps you--you don't know--you don't know---- voice (_sarcastic_). 'ow 're we goin' to know if you can't tell us? miss l. (_flushing and smiling_). thank you for that. we couldn't have a better motto. how _are_ you to know if we can't somehow manage to tell you? (_with a visible effort she goes on._) well, i certainly didn't know before that the sergeants and policemen are instructed to deceive the people as to the time such cases are heard. you ask, and you're sent to marlborough police court instead of to marylebone. voice. they ought ter sent yer to 'olloway--do y' good. old newsvendor. you go on, miss, don't mind 'im. voice. wot d'you expect from a pig but a grunt? miss l. you're told the case will be at two o'clock, and it's really called for eleven. well, i took a great deal of trouble, and i didn't believe what i was told-- (_warming a little to her task._) yes, that's almost the first thing we have to learn--to get over our touching faith that, because a man tells us something, it's true. i got to the right court, and i was so anxious not to be late, i was too early. the case before the women's was just coming on. i heard a noise. at the door i saw the helmets of two policemen, and i said to myself: "what sort of crime shall i have to sit and hear about? is this a burglar coming along between the two big policemen, or will it be a murderer? what sort of felon is to stand in the dock before the women whose crime is they ask for the vote?" but, try as i would, i couldn't see the prisoner. my heart misgave me. is it a woman, i wondered? then the policemen got nearer, and i saw--(_she waits an instant_)--a little, thin, half-starved boy. what do you think he was charged with? stealing. what had he been stealing--that small criminal? _milk._ it seemed to me as i sat there looking on, that the men who had the affairs of the world in their hands from the beginning, and who've made so poor a business of it---- voices. oh! oh! pore benighted man! are we down-'earted? _oh_, no! miss l.--so poor a business of it as to have the poor and the unemployed in the condition they're in to-day--when your only remedy for a starving child is to hale him off to the police-court--because he had managed to get a little milk--well, i _did_ wonder that the men refuse to be helped with a problem they've so notoriously failed at. i began to say to myself: "isn't it time the women lent a hand?" a voice. would you have women magistrates? (_she is stumped by the suddenness of the demand._) voices. haw! haw! magistrates! another. women! let 'em prove first they deserve---- a shabby art student (_his hair longish, soft hat, and flowing tie_). they study music by thousands; where's their beethoven? where's their plato? where's the woman shakespeare? another. yes--what 'a' they ever _done_? (_the speaker clenches her hands, and is recovering her presence of mind, so that by the time the_ chairman _can make himself heard with, "now men, give this lady a fair hearing--don't interrupt"--she, with the slightest of gestures, waves him aside with a low "it's all right."_) miss l. (_steadying and raising her voice_). these questions are quite proper! they are often asked elsewhere; and i would like to ask in return: since when was human society held to exist for its handful of geniuses? how many platos are there here in this crowd? a voice (_very loud and shrill_). divil a wan! (_laughter._) miss l. not one. yet that doesn't keep you men off the register. how many shakespeares are there in all england to-day? not one. yet the state doesn't tumble to pieces. railroads and ships are built--homes are kept going, and babies are born. the world goes on! (_bending over the crowd_) it goes on _by virtue of its common people_. voices (_subdued_). hear! hear! miss l. i am not concerned that you should think we women can paint great pictures, or compose immortal music, or write good books. i am content that we should be classed with the common people--who keep the world going. but (_straightening up and taking a fresh start_), i'd like the world to go a great deal better. we were talking about justice. i have been inquiring into the kind of lodging the poorest class of homeless women can get in this town of london. i find that only the men of that class are provided for. some measure to establish rowton houses for women has been before the london county council. they looked into the question "very carefully," so their apologists say. and what did they decide? they decided that _they could do nothing_. lady john (_having forced her way to_ stonor's _side_). is that true? stonor (_speaking through_ miss levering's _next words_). i don't know. miss l. why could that great, all-powerful body do nothing? because, if these cheap and decent houses were opened, they said, the homeless women in the streets would make use of them! you'll think i'm not in earnest. but that was actually the decision and the reason given for it. women that the bitter struggle for existence has forced into a life of horror---- stonor (_sternly to_ lady john). you think this is the kind of thing---- (_a motion of the head towards_ jean.) miss l.--the outcast women might take advantage of the shelter these decent, cheap places offered. but the _men_, i said! are all who avail themselves of lord rowton's hostels, are _they_ all angels? or does wrong-doing in a man not matter? yet women are recommended to depend on the chivalry of men. (_the two policemen, who at first had been strolling about, have stood during this scene in front of_ geoffrey stonor. _they turn now and walk away, leaving_ stonor _exposed. he, embarrassed, moves uneasily, and_ vida levering's _eye falls upon his big figure. he still has the collar of his motor coat turned up to his ears. a change passes over her face, and her nerve fails her an instant._) miss l. justice and chivalry!! (_she steadies her voice and hurries on_)--they both remind me of what those of you who read the police-court news--(i have begun only lately to do that)--but you've seen the accounts of the girl who's been tried in manchester lately for the murder of her child. not pleasant reading. even if we'd noticed it, we wouldn't speak of it in my world. a few months ago i should have turned away my eyes and forgotten even the headline as quickly as i could. but since that morning in the police-court, i read these things. this, as you'll remember, was about a little working girl--an orphan of eighteen--who crawled with the dead body of her new-born child to her master's back-door, and left the baby there. she dragged herself a little way off and fainted. a few days later she found herself in court, being tried for the murder of her child. her master--a married man--had of course reported the "find" at his back-door to the police, and he had been summoned to give evidence. the girl cried out to him in the open court, "you are the father!" he couldn't deny it. the coroner at the jury's request censured the man, and regretted that the law didn't make him responsible. but he went scot-free. and that girl is now serving her sentence in strangeways gaol. (_murmuring and scraps of indistinguishable comment in the crowd, through which only_ jean's _voice is clear._) jean (_who has wormed her way to_ stonor's _side_). why do you dislike her so? stonor. i? why should you think---- jean (_with a vaguely frightened air_). i never saw you look as you did--as you do. chairman. order, please--give the lady a fair---- miss l. (_signing to him "it's all right"_). men make boast that an english citizen is tried by his peers. what woman is tried by hers? (_a sombre passion strengthens her voice and hurries her on._) a woman is arrested by a man, brought before a man judge, tried by a jury of men, condemned by men, taken to prison by a man, and by a man she's hanged! where in all this were _her_ "peers"? why did men so long ago insist on trial by "a jury of their peers"? so that justice shouldn't miscarry--wasn't it? a man's peers would best understand his circumstances, his temptation, the degree of his guilt. yet there's no such unlikeness between different classes of men as exists between man and woman. what man has the knowledge that makes him a fit judge of woman's deeds at that time of anguish--that hour--(_lowers her voice and bends over the crowd_)--that hour that some woman struggled through to put each man here into the world. i noticed when a previous speaker quoted the labour party you applauded. some of you here--i gather--call yourselves labour men. every woman who has borne a child is a labour woman. no man among you can judge what she goes through in her hour of darkness---- jean (_with frightened eyes on her lover's set, white face, whispers_). geoffrey---- miss l. (_catching her fluttering breath, goes on very low_.)--in that great agony when, even under the best conditions that money and devotion can buy, many a woman falls into temporary mania, and not a few go down to death. in the case of this poor little abandoned working girl, what man can be the fit judge of her deeds in that awful moment of half-crazed temptation? women know of these things as those know burning who have walked through fire. (stonor _makes a motion towards_ jean _and she turns away fronting the audience. her hands go up to her throat as though she suffered a choking sensation. it is in her face that she "knows."_ miss levering _leans over the platform and speaks with a low and thrilling earnestness._) i would say in conclusion to the women here, it's not enough to be sorry for these our unfortunate sisters. we must get the conditions of life made fairer. we women must organise. we must learn to work together. we have all (rich and poor, happy and unhappy) worked so long and so exclusively for _men_, we hardly know how to work for one another. but we must learn. those who can, may give money---- voices (_grumbling_). oh, yes--money! money! miss l. those who haven't pennies to give--even those people aren't so poor they can't give some part of their labour--some share of their sympathy and support. (_turns to hear something the_ chairman _is whispering to her._) jean (_low to_ lady john). oh, i'm glad i've got power! lady john (_bewildered_). power!--_you?_ jean. yes, all that money---- (lady john _tries to make her way to_ stonor.) miss l. (_suddenly turning from the_ chairman _to the crowd_). oh, yes, i hope you'll all join the union. come up after the meeting and give your names. loud voice. you won't get many men. miss l. (_with fire_). then it's to the women i appeal! (_she is about to retire when, with a sudden gleam in her lit eyes, she turns for the last time to the crowd, silencing the general murmur and holding the people by the sudden concentration of passion in her face._) i don't mean to say it wouldn't be better if men and women did this work together--shoulder to shoulder. but the mass of men won't have it so. i only hope they'll realise in time the good they've renounced and the spirit they've aroused. for i know as well as any man could tell me, it would be a bad day for england if all women felt about all men _as i do_. (_she retires in a tumult. the others on the platform close about her. the_ chairman _tries in vain to get a hearing from the excited crowd._) (jean _tries to make her way through the knot of people surging round her._) stonor (_calls_). here!--follow me! jean. no--no--i---- stonor. you're going the wrong way. jean. _this_ is the way i must go. stonor. you can get out quicker on this side. jean. i don't _want_ to get out. stonor. what! where are you going? jean. to ask that woman to let me have the honour of working with her. (_she disappears in the crowd._) curtain. act iii scene: _the drawing-room at old_ mr. dunbarton's _house in eaton square. six o'clock the same evening. as the curtain rises the door_ (l.) _opens and_ jean _appears on the threshold. she looks back into her own sitting-room, then crosses the drawing-room, treading softly on the parquet spaces between the rugs. she goes to the window and is in the act of parting the lace curtains when the folding doors_ (c.) _are opened by the_ butler. jean (_to the servant_). sh! (_she goes softly back to the door she has left open and closes it carefully. when she turns, the_ butler _has stepped aside to admit_ geoffrey stonor, _and departed, shutting the folding doors._ stonor _comes rapidly forward._) (_before he gets a word out._) speak low, please. stonor (_angrily_). i waited about a whole hour for you to come back. (jean _turns away as though vaguely looking for the nearest chair._) if you didn't mind leaving _me_ like that, you might have considered lady john. jean (_pausing_). is she here with you? stonor. no. my place was nearer than this, and she was very tired. i left her to get some tea. we couldn't tell whether you'd be here, or _what_ had become of you. jean. mr. trent got us a hansom. stonor. trent? jean. the chairman of the meeting. stonor. "got us----"? jean. miss levering and me. stonor (_incensed_). miss l---- butler (_opens the door and announces_). mr. farnborough. (_enter_ mr. richard farnborough--_more flurried than ever._) farn. (_seeing_ stonor). at last! you'll forgive this incursion, miss dunbarton, when you hear---- (_turns abruptly back to_ stonor.) they've been telegraphing you all over london. in despair they set me on your track. stonor. who did? what's up? farn. (_lays down his hat and fumbles agitatedly in his breast-pocket_). there was the devil to pay at dutfield last night. the liberal chap tore down from london and took over your meeting! stonor. oh?--nothing about it in the sunday paper _i_ saw. farn. wait till you see the press to-morrow morning! there was a great rally and the beggar made a rousing speech. stonor. what about? farn. abolition of the upper house---- stonor. they were at that when i was at eton! farn. yes. but this new man has got a way of putting things!--the people went mad. (_pompously._) the liberal platform as defined at dutfield is going to make a big difference. stonor (_drily_). you think so. farn. well, your agent says as much. (_opens telegram._) stonor. my---- (_taking telegram._) "try find stonor"--hm! hm! farn. (_pointing_).--"tremendous effect of last night's liberal manifesto ought to be counteracted in to-morrow's papers." (_very earnestly._) you see, mr. stonor, it's a battle-cry we want. stonor (_turns on his heel_). claptrap! farn. (_a little dashed_). well, they've been saying we have nothing to offer but personal popularity. no practical reform. no---- stonor. no truckling to the masses, i suppose. (_walks impatiently away._) farn. (_snubbed_). well, in these democratic days---- (_turns to_ jean _for countenance._) i hope you'll forgive my bursting in like this. (_struck by her face._) but i can see you realise the gravity---- (_lowering his voice with an air of speaking for her ear alone._) it isn't as if he were going to be a mere private member. everybody knows he'll be in the cabinet. stonor (_drily_). it may be a liberal cabinet. farn. nobody thought so up to last night. why, even your brother--but i am afraid i'm seeming officious. (_takes up his hat._) stonor (_coldly_). what about my brother? farn. i met lord windlesham as i rushed out of the carlton. stonor. did he say anything? farn. i told him the dutfield news. stonor (_impatiently_). well? farn. he said it only confirmed his fears. stonor (_half under his breath_). said that, did he? farn. yes. defeat is inevitable, he thinks, unless---- (_pause._) (geoffrey stonor, _who has been pacing the floor, stops but doesn't raise his eyes._) unless you can "manufacture some political dynamite within the next few hours." those were his words. stonor (_resumes his walking to and fro, raises his head and catches sight of_ jean's _white, drawn face. stops short_). you are very tired. jean. no. no. stonor (_to_ farnborough). i'm obliged to you for taking so much trouble. (_shakes hands by way of dismissing farnborough._) i'll see what can be done. farn. (_offering the reply-paid form_). if you'd like to wire i'll take it. stonor (_faintly amused_). you don't understand, my young friend. moves of this kind are not rushed at by responsible politicians. i must have time for consideration. farn. (_disappointed_). oh, well, i only hope someone else won't jump into the breach before you--(_watch in hand_) i tell you. (_to_ jean.) i'll find out what time the newspapers go to press on sunday. goodbye. (_to_ stonor.) i'll be at the club just _in case_ i can be of any use. stonor (_firmly_). no, don't do that. if i should have anything new to say---- farn. (_feverishly_). b-b-but with our party, as your brother said--"heading straight for a vast electoral disaster----" stonor. if i decide on a counterblast i shall simply telegraph to headquarters. goodbye. farn. oh--a--g-goodbye. (_a gesture of "the country's going to the dogs."_) (jean _rings the bell. exit_ farnborough.) stonor (_studying the carpet_). "political dynamite," eh? (_pause._) after all ... women are much more conservative than men--aren't they? (jean _looks straight in front of her, making no attempt to reply._) especially the women the property qualification would bring in. (_he glances at_ jean _as though for the first time conscious of her silence._) you see now (_he throws himself into the chair by the table_) one reason why i've encouraged you to take an interest in public affairs. because people like us don't go screaming about it, is no sign we don't (some of us) see what's on the way. however little they want to, women of our class will have to come into line. all the best things in the world--everything that civilisation has won will be in danger if--when this change comes--the only women who have practical political training are the women of the lower classes. women of the lower classes, and (_his brows knit heavily_)--women inoculated by the socialist virus. jean. geoffrey. stonor (_draws the telegraph form towards him_). let us see, how we shall put it--when the time comes--shall we? (_he detaches a pencil from his watch chain and bends over the paper, writing._) (jean _opens her lips to speak, moves a shade nearer the table and then falls back upon her silent, half-incredulous misery._) stonor (_holds the paper off, smiling_). enough dynamite in that! rather too much, isn't there, little girl? jean. geoffrey, i know her story. stonor. whose story? jean. miss levering's. stonor. _whose?_ jean. vida levering's. (stonor _stares speechless. slight pause._) (_the words escaping from her in a miserable cry_) why did you desert her? stonor (_staggered_). i? _i?_ jean. oh, why did you do it? stonor (_bewildered_). what in the name of---- what has she been saying to you? jean. some one else told me part. then the way you looked when you saw her at aunt ellen's--miss levering's saying you didn't know her--then your letting out that you knew even the curious name on the handkerchief---- oh, i pieced it together---- stonor (_with recovered self-possession_). your ingenuity is undeniable! jean.--and then, when she said that at the meeting about "the dark hour" and i looked at your face--it flashed over me---- oh, _why_ did you desert her? stonor. i _didn't_ desert her. jean. ah-h! (_puts her hands before her eyes._) (stonor _makes a passionate motion towards her, is checked by her muffled voice saying_) i'm glad--i'm glad! (_he stares bewildered._ jean _drops her hands in her lap and steadies her voice._) she went away from you, then? stonor. you don't expect me to enter into---- jean. she went away from you? stonor (_with a look of almost uncontrollable anger_). yes! jean. was that because you wouldn't marry her? stonor. i couldn't marry her--and she knew it. jean. did you want to? stonor (_an instant's angry scrutiny and then turning away his eyes_). i thought i did--_then_. it's a long time ago. jean. and why "couldn't" you? stonor (_a movement of strong irritation cut short_). why are you catechising me? it's a matter that concerns another woman. jean. if you're saying that it doesn't concern me, you're saying--(_her lip trembles_)--that _you_ don't concern me. stonor (_commanding his temper with difficulty_). in those days i--i was absolutely dependent on my father. jean. why, you must have been thirty, geoffrey. stonor (_slight pause_). what? oh--thereabouts. jean. and everybody says you're so clever. stonor. well, everybody's mistaken. jean (_drawing nearer_). it must have been terribly hard---- (stonor _turns towards her._) for you both-- (_he arrests his movement and stands stonily._) that a man like you shouldn't have had the freedom that even the lowest seem to have. stonor. freedom? jean. to marry the woman they choose. stonor. she didn't break off our relations because i couldn't marry her. jean. why was it, then? stonor. you're too young to discuss such a story. (_half turns away._) jean. i'm not so young as she was when---- stonor (_wheeling upon her_). very well, then, if you will have it! the truth is, it didn't seem to weigh upon her, as it seems to on you, that i wasn't able to marry her. jean. why are you so sure of that? stonor. because she didn't so much as hint such a thing when she wrote that she meant to break off the--the---- jean. what made her write like that? stonor (_with suppressed rage_). why _will_ you go on talking of what's so long over and ended? jean. what reason did she give? stonor. if your curiosity has so got the upper hand--_ask her_. jean (_her eyes upon him_). you're afraid to tell me. stonor (_putting pressure on himself to answer quietly_). i still hoped--at _that_ time--to win my father over. she blamed me because (_goes to window and looks blindly out and speaks in a low tone_) if the child had lived it wouldn't have been possible to get my father to--to overlook it. jean (_faintly_). you wanted it _overlooked_? i don't underst---- stonor (_turning passionately back to her_). of course you don't. (_he seizes her hand and tries to draw her to him._) if you did, you wouldn't be the beautiful, tender, innocent child you are---- jean (_has withdrawn her hand and shrunk from him with an impulse--slight as is its expression--so tragically eloquent, that fear for the first time catches hold of him_). i am glad you didn't mean to desert her, geoffrey. it wasn't your fault after all--only some misunderstanding that can be cleared up. stonor. _cleared up?_ jean. yes. cleared up. stonor (_aghast_). you aren't thinking that this miserable old affair i'd as good as forgotten---- jean (_in a horror-struck whisper, with a glance at the door which he doesn't see_). _forgotten!_ stonor. no, no. i don't mean exactly forgotten. but you're torturing me so i don't know what i'm saying. (_he goes closer._) you aren't--jean! you--you aren't going to let it come between you and me! jean (_presses her handkerchief to her lips, and then, taking it away, answers steadily_). i can't make or unmake what's past. but i'm glad, at least, that you didn't _mean_ to desert her in her trouble. you'll remind her of that first of all, won't you? (_moves to the door_, l.) stonor. where are you going? (_raising his voice._) why should i remind anybody of what i want only to forget? jean (_finger on lip_). sh! stonor (_with eyes on the door_). you don't mean that _she's_---- jean. yes. i left her to get a little rest. (_he recoils in an access of uncontrollable rage. she follows him. speechless, he goes down_ r. _to get his hat._) geoffrey, don't go before you hear me. i don't know if what i think matters to you now--but i hope it does. (_with tears._) you can still make me think of you without shrinking--if you will. stonor (_fixes her a moment with his eyes. then sternly_). what is it you are asking of me? jean. to make amends, geoffrey. stonor (_with an outburst_). you poor little innocent! jean. i'm poor enough. but (_locking her hands together_) i'm not so innocent but what i know you must right that old wrong now, if you're ever to right it. stonor. you aren't insane enough to think i would turn round in these few hours and go back to something that ten years ago was ended for ever! why, it's stark, staring madness! jean. no. (_catching on his arm._) what you did ten years ago--_that_ was mad. this is paying a debt. stonor. look here, jean, you're dreadfully wrought up and excited--tired too---- jean. no, not tired--though i've travelled so far to-day. i know you smile at sudden conversions. you think they're hysterical--worse--vulgar. but people must get their revelation how they can. and, geoffrey, if i can't make you see this one of mine--i shall know your love could never mean strength to me. only weakness. and i shall be afraid. so afraid i'll never dare to give you the _chance_ of making me loathe myself. i shall never see you again. stonor. how right _i_ was to be afraid of that vein of fanaticism in you. (_moves towards the door._) jean. certainly you couldn't make a greater mistake than to go away now and think it any good ever to come back. (_he turns._) even if i came to feel different, i couldn't _do_ anything different. i should know all this couldn't be forgotten. i should know that it would poison my life in the end. yours too. stonor (_with suppressed fury_). she has made good use of her time! (_with a sudden thought._) what has changed her? has _she_ been seeing visions too? jean. what do you mean? stonor. why is she intriguing to get hold of a man that, ten years ago, she flatly refused to see, or hold any communication with? jean. "intriguing to get hold of?" she hasn't mentioned you! stonor. _what!_ then how in the name of heaven do you know--that she wants--what you ask? jean (_firmly_). there can't be any doubt about that. stonor (_with immense relief_). you absurd, ridiculous child! then all this is just your own unaided invention. well--i could thank god! (_falls into the nearest chair and passes his handkerchief over his face._) jean (_perplexed, uneasy_). for what are you thanking god? stonor (_trying to think out his plan of action_). suppose--(i'm not going to risk it)--but suppose--(_he looks up and at the sight of_ jean's _face a new tenderness comes into his own. he rises suddenly._) whether i deserve to suffer or not--it's quite certain _you_ don't. don't cry, dear one. it never was the real thing. i had to wait till i knew you before i understood. jean (_lifts her eyes brimming_). oh, is that true? (_checks her movement towards him._) loving you has made things clear to me i didn't dream of before. if i could think that because of me you were able to do this---- stonor (_seizes her by the shoulders and says hoarsely_). look here! do you seriously ask me to give up the girl i love--to go and offer to marry a woman that even to think of---- jean. you cared for her once. you'll care about her again. she is beautiful and brilliant--everything. i've heard she could win any man she set herself to---- stonor (_pushing_ jean _from him_). she's bewitched you! jean. geoffrey, geoffrey, you aren't going away like that. this isn't _the end_! stonor (_darkly--hesitating_). i suppose even if she refused me, you'd---- jean. she won't refuse you. stonor. she did once. jean. she didn't refuse to _marry_ you---- (jean _is going to the door_ l.) stonor (_catches her by the arm_). wait!--a---- (_hunting for some means of gaining time._) lady john is waiting all this while for the car to go back with a message. jean. _that's_ not a matter of life and death---- stonor. all the same--i'll go down and give the order. jean (_stopping quite still on a sudden_). very well. (_sits_ c.) you'll come back if you're the man i pray you are. (_breaks into a flood of silent tears, her elbows on the table_ (c.) _her face in her hands._) stonor (_returns, bends over her, about to take her in his arms_). dearest of all the world---- (_door_ l. _opens softly and_ vida levering _appears. she is arrested at sight of_ stonor, _and is in the act of drawing back when, upon the slight noise_, stonor _looks round. his face darkens, he stands staring at her and then with a look of speechless anger goes silently out_ c. jean, _hearing him shut the door, drops her head on the table with a sob._ vida levering _crosses slowly to her and stands a moment silent at the girl's side._) miss l. what is the matter? jean (_lifting her head and drying her eyes_). i--i've been seeing geoffrey. miss l. (_with an attempt at lightness_). is this the effect seeing geoffrey has? jean. you see, i know now (_as_ miss levering _looks quite uncomprehending_)--how he (_drops her eyes_)--how he spoiled some one else's life. miss l. (_quickly_). who tells you that? jean. several people have told me. miss l. well, you should be very careful how you believe what you hear. jean (_passionately_). you _know_ it's true. miss l. i know that it's possible to be mistaken. jean. i see! you're trying to shield him---- miss l. why should i--what is it to me? jean (_with tears_). oh--h, how you must love him! miss l. listen to me---- jean (_rising_). what's the use of your going on denying it? (miss levering, _about to break in, is silenced._) _geoffrey doesn't._ (jean, _struggling to command her feelings, goes to window._ vida levering _relinquishes an impulse to follow, and sits left centre._ jean _comes slowly back with her eyes bent on the floor, does not lift them till she is quite near_ vida. _then the girl's self-absorbed face changes._) oh, don't look like that! i shall bring him back to you! (_drops on her knees beside the other's chair._) miss l. you would be impertinent (_softening_) if you weren't a romantic child. you can't bring him back. jean. yes, he---- miss l. but there's something you _can_ do---- jean. what? miss l. bring him to the point where he recognises that he's in our debt. jean. in _our_ debt? miss l. in debt to women. he can't repay the one he robbed---- jean (_wincing and rising from her knees_). yes, yes. miss l. (_sternly_). no, he can't repay the dead. but there are the living. there are the thousands with hope still in their hearts and youth in their blood. let him help _them_. let him be a friend to women. jean (_rising on a wave of enthusiasm_). yes, yes--i understand. that too! (_the door opens. as_ stonor _enters with_ lady john, _he makes a slight gesture towards the two as much as to say, "you see."_) jean (_catching sight of him_). thank you! lady john (_in a clear, commonplace tone to_ jean). well, you rather gave us the slip. vida, i believe mr. stonor wants to see you for a few minutes (_glances at watch_)--but i'd like a word with you first, as i must get back. (_to_ stonor.) do you think the car--your man said something about re-charging. stonor (_hastily_). oh, did he?--i'll see about it. (_as_ stonor _is going out he encounters the_ butler. _exit_ stonor.) butler. mr. trent has called, miss, to take miss levering to the meeting. jean. bring mr. trent into my sitting-room. i'll tell him--you can't go to-night. [_exeunt_ butler c., jean l. lady john (_hurriedly_). i know, my dear, _you're_ not aware of what that impulsive girl wants to insist on. miss l. yes, i am aware of it. lady john. but it isn't with your sanction, surely, that she goes on making this extraordinary demand. miss l. (_slowly_). i didn't sanction it at first, but i've been thinking it over. lady john. then all i can say is i am greatly disappointed in you. you threw this man over years ago for reasons--whatever they were--that seemed to you good and sufficient. and now you come between him and a younger woman--just to play nemesis, so far as i can make out! miss l. is that what he says? lady john. he says nothing that isn't fair and considerate. miss l. i can see he's changed. lady john. and you're unchanged--is that it? miss l. i've changed even more than he. lady john. but (_pity and annoyance blended in her tone_)--you care about him still, vida? miss l. no. lady john. i see. it's just that you wish to marry somebody---- miss l. oh, lady john, there are no men listening. lady john (_surprised_). no, i didn't suppose there were. miss l. then why keep up that old pretence? lady john. what pre---- miss l. that to marry _at all costs_ is every woman's dearest ambition till the grave closes over her. you and i _know_ it isn't true. lady john. well, but---- oh! it was just the unexpected sight of him bringing it back---- _that_ was what fired you this afternoon! (_with an honest attempt at sympathetic understanding._) of course. the memory of a thing like that can never die--can never even be dimmed--_for the woman_. miss l. i mean her to think so. lady john (_bewildered_). jean! (miss levering _nods._) lady john. and it _isn't_ so? miss l. you don't seriously believe a woman with anything else to think about, comes to the end of ten years still _absorbed_ in a memory of that sort? lady john (_astonished_). you've got over it, then! miss l. if the newspapers didn't remind me i shouldn't remember once a twelvemonth that there was ever such a person as geoffrey stonor in the world. lady john (_with unconscious rapture_). oh, i'm _so_ glad! miss l. (_smiles grimly_). yes, i'm glad too. lady john. and if geoffrey stonor offered you--what's called "reparation"--you'd refuse it? miss l. (_smiles a little contemptuously_). geoffrey stonor! for me he's simply one of the far-back links in a chain of evidence. it's certain i think a hundred times of other women's present unhappiness, to once that i remember that old unhappiness of mine that's past. i think of the nail and chain makers of cradley heath. the sweated girls of the slums. i think of the army of ill-used women whose very existence i mustn't mention---- lady john (_interrupting hurriedly_). then why in heaven's name do you let poor jean imagine---- miss l. (_bending forward_). look--i'll trust you, lady john. i don't suffer from that old wrong as jean thinks i do, but i shall coin her sympathy into gold for a greater cause than mine. lady john. i don't understand you. miss l. jean isn't old enough to be able to care as much about a principle as about a person. but if my half-forgotten pain can turn her generosity into the common treasury---- lady john. what do you propose she shall do, poor child? miss l. use her hold over geoffrey stonor to make him help us! lady john. help you? miss l. the man who served one woman--god knows how many more--very ill, shall serve hundreds of thousands well. geoffrey stonor shall make it harder for his son, harder still for his grandson, to treat any woman as he treated me. lady john. how will he do that? miss l. by putting an end to the helplessness of women. lady john (_ironically_). you must think he has a great deal of power---- miss l. power? yes, men have too much over penniless and frightened women. lady john (_impatiently_). what nonsense! you talk as though the women hadn't their share of human nature. _we_ aren't made of ice any more than the men. miss l. no, but all the same we have more self-control. lady john. than men? miss l. you know we have. lady john (_shrewdly_). i know we mustn't admit it. miss l. for fear they'd call us fishes! lady john (_evasively_). they talk of our lack of self-control--but it's the last thing they _want_ women to have. miss l. oh, we know what they want us to have. so we make shift to have it. if we don't, we go without hope--sometimes we go without bread. lady john (_shocked_). vida--do you mean to say that you---- miss l. i mean to say that men's vanity won't let them see it, but the thing's largely a question of economics. lady john (_shocked_). you _never_ loved him, then! miss l. oh, yes, i loved him--_once_. it was my helplessness turned the best thing life can bring, into a curse for both of us. lady john. i don't understand you---- miss l. oh, being "understood!"--that's too much to expect. when people come to know i've joined the union---- lady john. but you won't---- miss l.--who is there who will resist the temptation to say, "poor vida levering! what a pity she hasn't got a husband and a baby to keep her quiet"? the few who know about me, they'll be equally sure that it's not the larger view of life i've gained--my own poor little story is responsible for my new departure. (_leans forward and looks into_ lady john's _face._) my best friend, she will be surest of all, that it's a private sense of loss, or, lower yet, a grudge----! but i tell you the only difference between me and thousands of women with husbands and babies is that i'm free to say what i think. _they aren't._ lady john (_rising and looking at her watch_). i must get back--my poor ill-used guests. miss l. (_rising_). i won't ring. i think you'll find mr. stonor downstairs waiting for you. lady john (_embarrassed_). oh--a--he will have left word about the car in any case. (miss levering _has opened the door_ (c.). allen trent _is in the act of saying goodbye to_ jean _in the hall._) miss l. well, mr. trent, i didn't expect to see you this evening. trent (_comes and stands in the doorway_). why not? have i ever failed? miss l. lady john, this is one of our allies. he is good enough to squire me through the rabble from time to time. lady john. well, i think it's very handsome of you, after what she said to-day about men. (_shakes hands._) trent. i've no great opinion of most men myself. i might add--or of most women. lady john. oh! well, at any rate i shall go away relieved to think that miss levering's plain speaking hasn't alienated _all_ masculine regard. trent. why should it? lady john. that's right, mr. trent! don't believe all she says in the heat of propaganda. trent. i do believe all she says. but i'm not cast down. lady john (_smiling_). not when she says---- trent (_interrupting_). was there never a mysogynist of my sex who ended by deciding to make an exception? lady john (_smiling significantly_). oh, if _that's_ what you build on! trent. well, why shouldn't a man-hater on your side prove equally open to reason? miss l. that part of the question doesn't concern me. i've come to a place where i realise that the first battles of this new campaign must be fought by women alone. the only effective help men could give--amendment of the law--they refuse. the rest is nothing. lady john. don't be ungrateful, vida. here's mr. trent ready to face criticism in publicly championing you. miss l. it's an illusion that i as an individual need mr. trent. i am quite safe in the crowd. please don't wait for me, and don't come for me again. trent (_flushes_). of course if you'd rather---- miss l. and that reminds me. i was asked to thank you and to tell you, too, that they--the women of the union--they won't need your chairmanship any more--though that, i beg you to believe, has nothing to do with any feeling of mine. trent (_hurt_). of course, i know there must be other men ready--better known men---- miss l. it isn't that. it's simply that they find a man can't keep a rowdy meeting in order as well as a woman. (_he stares._) lady john. you aren't serious? miss l. (_to_ trent). haven't you noticed that all their worst disturbances come when men are in charge? trent. well--a--(_laughs a little ruefully as he moves to the door_) i hadn't connected the two ideas. goodbye. miss l. goodbye. (jean _takes him downstairs, right centre._) lady john (_as_ trent _disappears_). that nice boy's in love with you. (miss levering _simply looks at her._) lady john. goodbye. (_they shake hands._) i wish you hadn't been so unkind to that nice boy! miss l. do you? lady john. yes, for then i would be more certain of your telling geoffrey stonor that intelligent women don't nurse their wrongs and lie in wait to punish them. miss l. you are _not_ certain? lady john (_goes close up to_ vida). are you? (vida _stands with her eyes on the ground, silent, motionless._ lady john, _with a nervous glance at her watch and a gesture of extreme perturbation, goes hurriedly out._ vida _shuts the door. she comes slowly back, sits down and covers her face with her hands. she rises and begins to walk up and down, obviously trying to master her agitation. enter_ geoffrey stonor.) miss l. well, have they primed you? have you got your lesson (_with a little broken laugh_) _by heart_ at last? stonor (_looking at her from immeasurable distance_). i am not sure i understand you. (_pause._) however unpropitious your mood may be--i shall discharge my errand. (_pause. her silence irritates him._) i have promised to offer you what i believe is called "amends." miss l. (_quickly_). you've come to realise, then--after all these years--that you owed me something? stonor (_on the brink of protest, checks himself_). i am not here to deny it. miss l. (_fiercely_). pay, then--_pay_. stonor (_a moment's dread as he looks at her, his lips set. then stonily_). i have promised that, if you exact it, i will. miss l. ah! if i insist you'll "make it all good"! (_quite low._) then don't you know you must pay me in kind? stonor. what do you mean? miss l. give me back what you took from me: my old faith. give me that. stonor. oh, if you mean to make phrases---- (_a gesture of scant patience._) miss l. (_going closer_). or give me back mere kindness--or even tolerance. oh, i don't mean _your_ tolerance! give me back the power to think fairly of my brothers--not as mockers--thieves. stonor. i have not mocked you. and i have asked you---- miss l. something you knew i should refuse! or (_her eyes blaze_) did you dare to be afraid i wouldn't? stonor. i suppose, if we set our teeth, we could---- miss l. i couldn't--not even if i set my teeth. and you wouldn't dream of asking me, if you thought there was the smallest chance. stonor. i can do no more than make you an offer of such reparation as is in my power. if you don't accept it---- (_he turns with an air of "that's done."_) miss l. accept it? no!... go away and live in debt! pay and pay and pay--and find yourself still in debt!--for a thing you'll never be able to give me back. (_lower._) and when you come to die, say to yourself, "i paid all creditors but one." stonor. i'm rather tired, you know, of this talk of debt. if i hear that you persist in it i shall have to---- miss l. what? (_she faces him._) stonor. no. i'll keep to my resolution. (_turning to the door._) miss l. (_intercepting him_). what resolution? stonor. i came here, under considerable pressure, to speak of the future--not to re-open the past. miss l. the future and the past are one. stonor. you talk as if that old madness was mine alone. it is the woman's way. miss l. i know. and it's not fair. men suffer as well as we by the woman's starting wrong. we are taught to think the man a sort of demigod. if he tells her: "go down into hell"--down into hell she goes. stonor. make no mistake. not the woman alone. _they go down together._ miss l. yes, they go down together, but the man comes up alone. as a rule. it is more convenient so--for him. and for the other woman. (_the eyes of both go to_ jean's _door._) stonor (_angrily_). my conscience is clear. i know--and so do you--that most men in my position wouldn't have troubled themselves. i gave myself endless trouble. miss l. (_with wondering eyes_). so you've gone about all these years feeling that you'd discharged every obligation. stonor. not only that. i stood by you with a fidelity that was nothing short of quixotic. if, woman like, you _must_ recall the past--i insist on your recalling it correctly. miss l. (_very low_). you think i don't recall it correctly? stonor. not when you make--other people believe that i deserted you. (_with gathering wrath._) it's a curious enough charge when you stop to consider---- (_checks himself, and with a gesture of impatience sweeps the whole thing out of his way._) miss l. well, when we _do_--just for five minutes out of ten years--when we do stop to consider---- stonor. we remember it was _you_ who did the deserting! since you had to rake the story up, you might have had the fairness to tell the facts. miss l. you think "the facts" would have excused you! (_she sits._) stonor. no doubt you've forgotten them, since lady john tells me you wouldn't remember my existence once a year if the newspapers didn't---- miss l. ah, you minded that! stonor (_with manly spirit_). i minded your giving false impressions. (_she is about to speak, he advances on her._) do you deny that you returned my letters unopened? miss l. (_quietly_). no. stonor. do you deny that you refused to see me--and that, when i persisted, you vanished? miss l. i don't deny any of those things. stonor. why, i had no trace of you for years! miss l. i suppose not. stonor. very well, then. what _could_ i do? miss l. nothing. it was too late to do anything. stonor. it wasn't too late! you knew--since you "read the papers"--that my father died that same year. there was no longer any barrier between us. miss l. oh yes, there was a barrier. stonor. of your own making, then. miss l. i had my guilty share in it--but the barrier (_her voice trembles_)--the barrier was your invention. stonor. it was no "invention." if you had ever known my father---- miss l. oh, the echoes! the echoes! how often you used to say, if i "knew your father!" but you said, too (_lower_)--you called the greatest barrier by another name. stonor. what name? miss l. (_very low_). the child that was to come. stonor (_hastily_). that was before my father died. while i still hoped to get his consent. miss l. (_nods_). how the thought of that all-powerful personage used to terrorise me! what chance had a little unborn child against "the last of the great feudal lords," as you called him. stonor. you _know_ the child would have stood between you and me! miss l. i know the child _did_ stand between you and me! stonor (_with vague uneasiness_). it _did_ stand---- miss l. happy mothers teach their children. mine had to teach me. stonor. you talk as if---- miss l.--teach me that a woman may do a thing for love's sake that shall kill love. (_a silence._) stonor (_fearing and putting from him fuller comprehension, rises with an air of finality_). you certainly made it plain you had no love left for me. miss l. i had need of it all for the child. stonor (_stares--comes closer, speaks hurriedly and very low_). do you mean then that, after all--it lived? miss l. no; i mean that it was sacrificed. but it showed me no barrier is so impassable as the one a little child can raise. stonor (_a light dawning_). was that why you ... was _that_ why? miss l. (_nods, speechless a moment_). day and night there it was!--between my thought of you and me. (_he sits again, staring at her._) when i was most unhappy i would wake, thinking i heard it cry. it was my own crying i heard, but i seemed to have it in my arms. i suppose i was mad. i used to lie there in that lonely farmhouse pretending to hush it. it was so i hushed myself. stonor. i never knew---- miss l. i didn't blame you. you couldn't risk being with me. stonor. you agreed that for both our sakes---- miss l. yes, you had to be very circumspect. you were so well known. your autocratic father--your brilliant political future---- stonor. be fair. _our_ future--as i saw it then. miss l. yes, it all hung on concealment. it must have looked quite simple to you. you didn't know that the ghost of a child that had never seen the light, the frail thing you meant to sweep aside and forget--_have_ swept aside and forgotten--you didn't know it was strong enough to push you out of my life. (_lower with an added intensity._) it can do more. (_leans over him and whispers._) it can push that girl out. (stonor's _face changes._) it can do more still. stonor. are you threatening me? miss l. no, i am preparing you. stonor. for what? miss l. for the work that must be done. either with _your help_--or _that girl's_. (stonor _lifts his eyes a moment._) miss l. one of two things. either her life, and all she has, given to this new service--or a ransom, if i give her up to you. stonor. i see. a price. well----? miss l. (_looks searchingly in his face, hesitates and shakes her head_). even if i could trust you to pay--no, it would be a poor bargain to give her up for anything you could do. stonor (_rising_). in spite of your assumption--she may not be your tool. miss l. you are horribly afraid she is! but you are wrong. don't think it's merely i that have got hold of jean dunbarton. stonor (_angrily_). who else? miss l. the new spirit that's abroad. (stonor _turns away with an exclamation and begins to pace, sentinel-like, up and down before_ jean's _door._) miss l. how else should that inexperienced girl have felt the new loyalty and responded as she did? stonor (_under his breath_). "new" indeed--however little loyal. miss l. loyal above all. but no newer than electricity was when it first lit up the world. it had been there since the world began--waiting to do away with the dark. _so has the thing you're fighting._ stonor (_his voice held down to its lowest register_). the thing i'm fighting is nothing more than one person's hold on a highly sensitive imagination. i consented to this interview with the hope---- (_a gesture of impotence._) it only remains for me to show her your true motive is revenge. miss l. once say that to her and you are lost! (stonor _motionless; his look is the look of a man who sees happiness slipping away._) miss l. i know what it is that men fear. it even seems as if it must be through fear that your enlightenment will come. that is why i see a value in jean dunbarton far beyond her fortune. (stonor _lifts his eyes dully and fixes them on_ vida's _face._) miss l. more than any girl i know--if i keep her from you--that gentle, inflexible creature could rouse in men the old half-superstitious fear---- stonor. "fear?" i believe you are mad. miss l. "mad." "unsexed." these are the words to-day. in the middle ages men cried out "witch!" and burnt her--the woman who served no man's bed or board. stonor. you want to make that poor child believe---- miss l. she sees for herself we've come to a place where we find there's a value in women apart from the value men see in them. you teach us not to look to you for some of the things we need most. if women must be freed by women, we have need of such as--(_her eyes go to_ jean's _door_)--who knows? she may be the new joan of arc. stonor (_aghast_). that _she_ should be the sacrifice! miss l. you have taught us to look very calmly on the sacrifice of women. men tell us in every tongue it's "a necessary evil." (stonor _stands rooted, staring at the ground._) miss l. one girl's happiness--against a thing nobler than happiness for thousands--who can hesitate?--_not jean._ stonor. good god! can't you see that this crazed campaign you'd start her on--even if it's successful, it can only be so through the help of men? what excuse shall you make your own soul for not going straight to the goal? miss l. you think we wouldn't be glad to go straight to the goal? stonor. i do. i see you'd much rather punish me and see her revel in a morbid self-sacrifice. miss l. you say i want to punish you only because, like most men, you won't take the trouble to understand what we do want--or how determined we are to have it. you can't kill this new spirit among women. (_going nearer._) and you couldn't make a greater mistake than to think it finds a home only in the exceptional, or the unhappy. it's so strange, geoffrey, to see a man like you as much deluded as the hyde park loafers who say to ernestine blunt, "who's hurt _your_ feelings?" why not realise (_going quite close to him_) this is a thing that goes deeper than personal experience? and yet (_lowering her voice and glancing at the door_), if you take only the narrowest personal view, a good deal depends on what you and i agree upon in the next five minutes. stonor (_bringing her farther away from the door_). you recommend my realising the larger issues. but in your ambition to attach that girl to the chariot wheels of "progress," you quite ignore the fact that people fitter for such work--the men you look to enlist in the end--are ready waiting to give the thing a chance. miss l. men are ready! what men? stonor (_avoiding her eyes, picking his words_). women have themselves to blame that the question has grown so delicate that responsible people shrink--for the moment--from being implicated in it. miss l. we have seen the "shrinking." stonor. without quoting any one else, i might point out that the new antagonism seems to have blinded you to the small fact that i, for one, am not an opponent. miss l. the phrase _has_ a familiar ring. we have heard it from four hundred and twenty others. stonor. i spoke, if i may say so, of some one who would count. some one who can carry his party along with him--or risk a seat in the cabinet. miss l. (_quickly_). did you mean you are ready to do that? stonor. an hour ago i was. miss l. ah!... an hour ago. stonor. exactly. you don't understand men. they can be led. they can't be driven. ten minutes before you came into the room i was ready to say i would throw in my political lot with this reform. miss l. and now...? stonor. now you block my way by an attempt at coercion. by forcing my hand you give my adherence an air of bargain-driving for a personal end. exactly the mistake of the ignorant agitators of your "union," as you call it. you have a great deal to learn. this movement will go forward, not because of the agitation, but in spite of it. there are men in parliament who would have been actively serving the reform to-day ... as actively as so vast a constitutional change---- miss l. (_smiles faintly_). and they haven't done it because---- stonor. because it would have put a premium on breaches of decent behaviour. (_he takes a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket._) look here! miss l. (_flushes with excitement as she reads the telegram_). this is very good. i see only one objection. stonor. objection! miss l. you haven't sent it. stonor. _that_ is your fault. miss l. when did you write this? stonor. just before you came in--when----(_he glances at the door._) miss l. ah! it must have pleased jean--that message. (_offers him back the paper._) (stonor _astonished at her yielding it up so lightly, and remembering_ jean _had not so much as read it. he throws himself heavily into a chair and drops his head in his hands._) miss l. i could drive a hard-and-fast bargain with you, but i think i won't. if _both_ love and ambition urge you on, perhaps----(_she gazes at the slack, hopeless figure with its sudden look of age--goes over silently and stands by his side._) after all, life hasn't been quite fair to you---- (_he raises his heavy eyes._) you fall out of one ardent woman's dreams into another's. stonor. you may as well tell me--do you mean to----? miss l. to keep you and her apart? no. stonor (_for the first time tears come into his eyes. after a moment he holds out his hand_). what can i do for you? (miss levering _shakes her head--speechless._) stonor. for the real you. not the reformer, or the would-be politician--for the woman i so unwillingly hurt. (_as she turns away, struggling with her feeling, he lays a detaining hand on her arm._) you may not believe it, but now that i understand, there is almost nothing i wouldn't do to right that old wrong. miss l. there's nothing to be done. you can never give me back my child. stonor (_at the anguish in_ vida's _face his own has changed_). will that ghost give you no rest? miss l. yes, oh, yes. i see life is nobler than i knew. there is work to do. stonor (_stopping her as she goes towards the folding doors_). why should you think that it's only you, these ten years have taught something to? why not give even a man credit for a willingness to learn something of life, and for being sorry--profoundly sorry--for the pain his instruction has cost others? you seem to think i've taken it all quite lightly. that's not fair. all my life, ever since you disappeared, the thought of you has hurt. i would give anything i possess to know you--were happy again. miss l. oh, happiness! stonor (_significantly_). why shouldn't you find it still. miss l. (_stares an instant_). i see! she couldn't help telling about allen trent--lady john couldn't. stonor. you're one of the people the years have not taken from, but given more to. you are more than ever.... you haven't lost your beauty. miss l. the gods saw it was so little effectual, it wasn't worth taking away. (_she stands looking out into the void._) one woman's mishap?--what is that? a thing as trivial to the great world as it's sordid in most eyes. but the time has come when a woman may look about her, and say, "what general significance has my secret pain? does it 'join on' to anything?" and i find it does. i'm no longer merely a woman who has stumbled on the way. i'm one (_she controls with difficulty the shake in her voice_) who has got up bruised and bleeding, wiped the dust from her hands and the tears from her face, and said to herself not merely, "here's one luckless woman! but--here is a stone of stumbling to many. let's see if it can't be moved out of other women's way." and she calls people to come and help. no mortal man, let alone a woman, _by herself_, can move that rock of offence. but (_with a sudden sombre flame of enthusiasm_) if many help, geoffrey, the thing can be done. stonor (_looks at her with wondering pity_). lord! how you care! miss l. (_touched by his moved face_). don't be so sad. shall i tell you a secret? jean's ardent dreams needn't frighten you, if she has a child. _that_--from the beginning, it was not the strong arm--it was the weakest--the little, little arms that subdued the fiercest of us. (stonor _puts out a pitying hand uncertainly towards her. she does not take it, but speaks with great gentleness._) you will have other children, geoffrey--for me there was to be only one. well, well--(_she brushes her tears away_)--since men alone have tried and failed to make a decent world for the little children to live in--it's as well some of us are childless. (_quietly taking up her hat and cloak._) yes, _we_ are the ones who have no excuse for standing aloof from the fight. stonor. vida! miss l. what? stonor. you've forgotten something. (_as she looks back he is signing the message._) _this._ (_she goes out silently with the "political dynamite" in her hand._) curtain. the gresham press, unwin brothers, limited, woking and london. corrections. the first line indicates the original, the second the correction. p. : we all realise it was a perfectiy lunatic proceeding we all realise it was a perfectly lunatic proceeding p. : the unemployed in the condition they' e the unemployed in the condition they're p. : you aren't going away lik that. you aren't going away like that. +-------------------------------------------------+ |transcriber's note: | | | |obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ mary wollstonecraft and the beginnings of female emancipation in france and england [illustration: logo] j. bouten mary wollstonecraft and the beginnings of female emancipation in france and england academisch proefschrift ter verkrijging van den graad van doctor in de letteren en wijsbegeerte aan de universiteit van amsterdam op gezag van den rector-magnificus dr p. zeeman, hoogleeraar in de faculteit der wis- en natuurkunde, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de aula der universiteit op vrijdag nov. des namiddags te uur door jacob bouten, geboren te dordrecht h. j. paris v h firma a. h. kruyt amsterdam to my wife preface. there is something particularly fascinating about the study of the literature and philosophy of the eighteenth century, with its gradual evolution of lofty social ideals which the revolution failed to realise. when the altered circumstances brought promotion within my reach, it completely brought me under its sway, and ultimately came to determine my choice of a subject for an inaugural dissertation. it was while engaged upon tracing the influence of rousseau's hopebringing theories on his english disciple william godwin, that the less boldly assertive, but all the more humanly attractive personality of the latter's first wife, mary wollstonecraft, attracted my attention. my admiration of her husband's intellect paled before my sympathy for her more modest, but at the same time more emotional character. where the indebtedness of godwin to rousseau and the encyclopedians has been manifested so clearly in different works, the absence of any direct attempt to prove and determine the extent of the relations between mary wollstonecraft and the early french philosophers struck me as an omission for which i found it difficult to account, and made me turn to a subject to which i am fully aware that a book of the size of the present little volume does but scant justice. i wish to avail myself of this opportunity to thankfully acknowledge the valuable help and friendly encouragement received from _professor dr. a. e. h. swaen_, of the university of amsterdam, whose unceasing kindness and ever-ready interest in the preparation of this treatise i shall never forget. _mr. k. r. gallas_, lecturer on french literature in the same university, has likewise a claim to my heartfelt gratitude for giving me the benefit of his extensive knowledge in making various suggestions with regard to the chapters dealing with the literature of france. my best thanks are also due to _mr. m. g. van neck_ and _dr. p. fijn van draat_ for guiding my reading for the b.-examination, and particularly to my first teacher of english, _mr. l. p. h. eijkman_, for giving me that interest in england and her language and literature which has determined my subsequent career. _amsterdam_, november . contents chap. page i. the main theories regarding the position of women ii. the beginnings of a feminist movement in france iii. the position of french women in eighteenth century society iv. feminist and anti-feminist tendencies among the english augustans v. qualified feminism: the bluestockings vi. radical feminism: mary wollstonecraft bibliography introductory chapter. _the main theories regarding the position of women._ the history of the emancipation of women is the long and varied record of their slow and gradual liberation from that utter subjection to man in which various circumstances beyond their control--among which the physical superiority of the latter, a form of male supremacy which has seldom been called into question, was probably the most prominent--had combined to place them. it relates how in the course of centuries--either with the support of a certain portion of the opposite sex or relying upon their own resources--they strove to cast off the shackles which bound and degraded them, and to acquire that degree of physical, intellectual and moral freedom to which they felt themselves entitled. that the movement towards complete enfranchisement met with a varied reception and was hampered and retarded by men and often by women themselves was due chiefly to the fact that in the question of female possibilities there was much diversity of opinions at different times and among different nations. the worst enemies to evolution of this kind were those women who, holding the empire of love and gallantry to be their exclusive domain, in which their sway was not likely to be ever disputed, turned deliberately against those of their own sex who in trying to wrench from the hands of men the sceptre of social power, were willing to forego the privileges of sex. that women were thus divided among themselves from the first, was the natural outcome of those differences in personal attractions and in personal intelligence which have always constituted the great danger of too sweeping conclusions with regard to the inclinations and capabilities of the female sex. individual members of the same sex may yet be radically different, and he who would prescribe for all will always find himself confronted by the bewildering problem of the disparity of individuals. the champions of the cause of woman have had to overcome a great deal of stubborn opposition, nor can it be said that even at the present moment the emancipation of women is complete. even now that the ideal of perfect equality in everything seems almost within reach, and the domestic woman has largely given way to the social worker and political agitator, it may be a matter of speculation whether the full realisation of the long wished-for end, throwing open to women all those occupations from which centuries of injustice rigorously excluded them, would mean a blessing to society and to women in particular, or a mixture of gain and loss. those who regard women from the all-human standpoint, holding the functions of sex to be only a passing incident in the great scheme of life, will be inclined to take the former view; those, on the other hand, who believe that a woman's life derives its colour from considerations of sex which refuse to be ignored, may well wonder where a rigorous application of perfect equality will land us in the end. in one respect however, there has been great and undeniable progress. the modern tendency to overlook sexual differences ensures to individual women the necessary freedom to judge for themselves whether a life of domestic or one of social duties will be more compatible with their personal inclinations; and no woman whose hopes of domestic bliss are rudely blunted, need--as was the case in former times--despair of succeeding in life; any talents she may happen to possess, will find full scope. if we contrast with this the truly pitiable condition of unmarried women in earlier ages, who were too often treated contemptuously for failing to perform what was considered the only duty of womanhood--the propagation of the species--we cannot but feel grateful to the champions of emancipation, whose restless ardour and unceasing devotion has entailed such glorious results. the feminist programme includes a number of points, on some of which something will have to be said. there is, in the first place, that physical enfranchisement which makes the woman cease to be the willess, and therefore irresponsible and soulless, slave to the caprices of a brutal master. there is, in the second place, the intellectual emancipation of women, admitting the female sex to the participation of reason and granting them that education of the mind which is to place them on a par with the other half of humanity; and there is that moral emancipation which recognises woman as a being endowed with a soul, equal to that of man, with consequent moral duties and responsibilities, partly dictated by considerations of sex. as a direct consequence of these, there is finally, social emancipation, constituting principles of perfect equality between the sexes, also in matters of social and political interest. they are all of them largely dependent on the growth of civilisation. it has even been said that the degree of civilisation in a nation is determined by the position of its women in the life of the community. in the early stages of history--in that savage state which some authors persist in preferring to the social state of an imperfect civilisation--only the physical condition of women was considered, and, where even some of the most fervent advocates of the female excellence are forced to acknowledge the physical inferiority of the sex, it is but natural that the women of prehistoric times were kept in utter subjection, being regarded exclusively as a means of gratifying the animal instincts. but with the growth of civilisation came the development of the mind, and it has always been one of the bitterest grievances of feminists against man, that he, taking advantage of his usurped authority, deliberately withheld from woman the means of proving that the supposed inferiority only concerned her physical capacities, and not those of the mind. even as late as the th century the complaint is repeatedly uttered (and this is one of the points where two women of such widely different views as mary wollstonecraft and hannah more fully agree) that men keep from women all opportunities of that cultivation of the understanding which infallibly leads to virtue, and by a singular want of logic hold them responsible for the moral deficiency which is the inevitable consequence. in the introduction to her "_strictures on the modern system of female education_" hannah more calls it "a singular injustice which is often exercised towards women, first to give them a very defective education and then to expect from them the most undeviating purity of conduct; to train them in such a manner as shall lay them open to the most dangerous faults and then to censure them for not proving faultless"[ ], and the argument seems indeed unanswerable. hence the cry for female education which plato was among the first to raise. the physical inequality between the sexes was apparent and therefore remained, upon the whole, uncontested, but the problem of the possibilities of the female understanding was less easy to solve and admitted of different opinions; hence it was in the first stage of the growth of the human mind that the great question was first broached the solution of which was to occupy so many minds in so many successive centuries. while making every possible allowance for deviations due to individual opinion, which mostly had its roots either in a particular form of creed or in some special system of philosophy, it may be stated that there were throughout the centuries two directly opposing lines of thought, each leading to certain clearly marked conclusions. of these, the first and oldest is based upon considerations of practice rather than theory, which makes it less rigid and more adaptable to the exigencies of practical life. it was adopted on the whole by churchmen and religious moralists rather than by abstract philosophers, and had the full support of the unquestioned doctrines of christianity, of which support its adherents never failed to make the best use. it determined the attitude of the early christian church towards women in taking for granted the existence of a sexual character, from which it draws inferences. the difference between the sexes is essential and not restricted to physical differentiations. they were intended for different functions and have widely different duties to fulfil. man's chief duty is the support of the family he has reared--for which obviously his strength of muscle was intended,--his is the struggle for life against a hostile society in which egoism reigns supreme and the interests of individuals constantly clash. woman's special province is the home; hers is the difficult and important task of regulating the domestic life and bringing up the children she has borne. so far this theory receives support from observations of the animal world. but that faculty which marks the essential difference between the human and the animal kingdom became the apple of discord among many later generations. for reason was held to be the prerogative of man only, in which woman had no share. his world is the world of the intellect, the world of action, in which sex is only an episode; hers is the world of sentiment and of contemplation, in which sex is the dominant factor. to think is the prerogative of man, to feel that of woman. that there is also an intellectual side to the quiet undisturbed contemplation of confinement at home was demonstrated by shakespeare when creating the character of lady macbeth, nor was the monopoly of thought greatly abused by the mediaeval lords of creation, the only scholars of that period being those who had resigned their sex. but apart from those who lived in convents and whose reading was exclusively religious, women were self-taught or rather taught by experience, and the use of books was confined to some monasteries. starting from the above principle, any claim to intellectual equality would have seemed an encroachment upon the male kingdom. love and maternity, and the daily routine of the household ought to be the only considerations in a woman's existence and whatever is outside these is the domain of man. to woman was allotted the task of managing the home, to man the more comprehensive one of managing society. that in reality the former is quite as important as the latter, which must always largely depend on it, since woman is the mother of man, and the guide of his first steps, did not find full recognition until the th century, when fénelon and some of his contemporaries made this consideration a basis on which to build their demands for a female education. early christianity, drawing the necessary conclusions from certain biblical allusions to the position of woman and guided by st. paul's teachings, adopted the hebraic notions of female inferiority and dependence, which long met with no resistance whatever. the early churchmen, in strict obedience to the teaching of their faith, tacitly accepted the inferiority of women and their subjection to men. about these little need be said here. they were partly responsible for the misery of women in the early middle ages, the time of their greatest debasement and degradation, and will be remembered only among the adversaries of feminism. however, the fact must here be emphasized, that even the full acceptance of a sexual character does not necessitate, and in practice did not always lead to, insistence upon the female inferiority. there are those who, while assigning to woman a place in society differing essentially from that held by man, do not infer that woman is necessarily inferior to man. they purposely refrain from comparing that which by its very nature defies comparison: "for woman is not undeveloped man, but diverse." they insist instead on the division of functions which makes the sexes supplement each other. the majority are moralists, churchmen of a later age, and to them the problem is that of sexual duties, with the promise of eternity in the background, which is intended for both sexes, female as well as male. the pursuit of christian virtue, which to them is the essential thing, is regardless of sex and leads to self-abnegation which renders the sexual problem of secondary importance. the very orthodoxy of her faith prevented hannah more from becoming a feminist in the full sense of the word, and as mary wollstonecraft's feminism came to absorb her mind more fully, her religious convictions retired into the background. to the christian moralist the place of woman in the social structure must of necessity be an important one; but it is made so only by the domestic duties which devolve upon her. she is expected to bring up her children to be good christians, good citizens, and good fathers and mothers, in the moral interest of society, and this duty obviously involves the necessity for women to receive the benefit of a moral education. in this lies the gist of the moralist's arguments in favour of a partial female emancipation. to be a good educator of the young it is indispensable that the mother herself should be liberally instructed, for what is to become of her influence, should her male offspring come to regard her as intellectually inferior? in this argument the feminist and the moralist join hands. fénelon and his contemporaries were philosophers and for the rigid, inflexible interpretation of scripture by the early churchmen they substituted the structure of moral philosophy, which thus indirectly promoted the growth of feminist ideas. in their eyes an education is the very first requisite to enable a woman to discharge the duties imposed by motherhood. the second line of thought, in direct opposition to the assumption of a sexual character, takes for its starting-point the theory of _equality_ in everything except what is physical, arriving at the conclusion that there is nothing which woman--if given the benefit of the same education--is not capable of performing equally well as man. in view of the impossibility of furnishing conclusive rational evidence--women are not educated and therefore no opportunity is given them to vindicate their powers--the adherents of this theory, who mostly belong to the rational school of philosophy, point to the example of some individual women, who in spite of a defective education obtained great results, thereby laying themselves open to the criticism that what may apply to certain individuals, need not hold good for the entire sex, which argument they try to refute by insisting on the experiment being made. this ultra-feminist way of thinking equally originated in france, where mlle de gournay and françois poullain de la barre built up their theories more than a century before mary wollstonecraft voiced their claims in the english language. apart from certain physical differences which even she could not deny, although she held with truth that they were often exaggerated, nay, purposely augmented, woman possesses the same capabilities as man and the existing difference in intellectual development may be entirely removed by means of an education which does not regard sex. this process of reasoning naturally leads to a denial of sexual character. the mental inferiority of women is merely the consequence of ages of neglect which urgently demands reparation. the soul, they agreed with the moralists, has no sex--an assertion which some of the early christian leaders might have felt inclined to call into question--and since the development of the moral sense depends largely upon the condition of the mind, it is the _right_ of women to be educated. the claim for education as a natural right was first made in its full purport by mary wollstonecraft, to whom belongs the undivided honour of having been the first woman in europe to apply rousseau's famous theory of the rights of man to her own sex by taking her stand upon the principle of equality of the sexes. the extreme adherents of equality among the philosophers of the french revolution founded their claims upon an absolute denial of all innate character, holding the character of every individual to be the resultant of different influences to which it has been exposed. among french philosophers helvétius had been the first to profess this theory in his "_traité de l'homme_." diderot had written an energetic reply, vindicating the theory of innateness and heredity, and the topic had remained a theme of frequent dispute. the partisans of helvétius, among whom were both godwin and mary wollstonecraft, continuing his line of argument, were naturally led to the most optimistic forecasts for a happy future. it only remained to find a way to perfect education and to extend it from a few privileged ones to the multitude, and all evil would of necessity disappear, and society would be rebuilt upon a more solid foundation. the consequence was an overwhelming number of educational treatises, mainly in the french language, most of which, however, sadly overlooked the pressing needs of woman. it was again mary wollstonecraft who extended this implicit faith in the perfectibility of humanity to the case of woman. all that women needed was to be given a good education, and the rest would follow. so convinced were these idealists of the incontestability of their arguments that they refused to make any concessions, however slight, to those who held different views. this very inflexibility became the means of ruining their best intentions. they did not stop at intellectual and moral enfranchisement, their daring schemes comprised complete social and political emancipation. in the period with which we shall be chiefly concerned, their efforts were doomed to failure by the circumstance that their aims were physically incapable of realisation while society remained in the state in which it found itself at the time of the outbreak of the french revolution. those more or less unconscious feminists, the bluestockings, were responsible for far more direct improvement through the very moderation of their suggestions than mary wollstonecraft, whose lonely voice in the wilderness of british conventionality heralded the great and successful movement of a later century. when the inevitable reaction set in, the entire feminist movement, which mary had identified with the cause of liberty, as advocated by the french, was regarded as anti-national and seditious, and first ridiculed and reviled, to be soon after consigned to a temporary oblivion. when called upon to decide which of the two lines of argument referred to above deserves most sympathy, the unbiased onlooker may find himself sadly perplexed. in choosing between the advocates of dignified domesticity and those of perfect equality, one might be inclined to decide in favour of the former; yet the fact remains that, if especially the last decades have brought considerable progress, it is chiefly the latter we have to thank for it. for the pathway of the pioneer is rough and beset with difficulties, and she may seem "no painful inch to gain", and yet the amount of progress, when measured after the lapse of ages may be found to be considerable. but the fatal tendencies to generalise and to exaggerate are everywhere, and invariably spoil the best arguments. to the advocates of equality _à outrance_ might be held up the warning example of the "masculine woman", who has succeeded in getting herself abominated both by man and by the wise members of her own sex; who has voluntarily, for the prospect of mostly imaginary gains, unsexed herself, forgetful alike of her task of propagation and education and of the fact that even outside the home-circle there are the sick to be ministered to, and the suffering to be comforted, occupations that demand the loving gentleness and unselfish devotion of which the womanly woman is made more capable by nature than her brother man. she scornfully resigns the chivalrous worship of the opposite sex, mixing in political and other debates with a want of moderation and often with a narrowness of views which prove all too clearly that the average woman's qualities fit her for the domestic rather than the social task. on the other hand, those moralists who exhort women to be content to take their place in society as "wives and mothers", not inferior to man, but different, forget to provide for those women, whom circumstances beyond their control have destined for celibacy, debarring them from the privileges of their own sex, while not allowing them to share those of the male. for such women it was indeed a blessed day when the word that was to deliver them from bondage and to open to them paths of public usefulness was first spoken by the pioneers of feminism, throwing open to the female sex the many professions for which they are as fit, or even fitter--in spite of the equality theory--than men! whatever may be the absolute truth,--which probably no moralist or feminist has ever held, although some may have held a considerable portion of it,--both may be credited with a firm and unshakable belief in the creative force of a good education for women, of whatever description their chief duties in life may be. and, after all, the question of perfect equality and of rivalry between the sexes leading to a struggle for pre-eminence will chiefly attract women who, being more gifted than their sisters, and filled with a laudable desire to devote their talents to their cause, make the error of identifying their own individual plight with that of their sex, imagining women in general to be thwarted in their aims and ambitions, and ascribing to them aspirations which the majority of women never cherished and probably never will cherish. they turn their weapons against "man, the usurper", goading him to opposition and forgetting hannah more's wise remark that "cooperation, and not competition is indeed the clear principle we wish to see reciprocally adopted by those higher minds in each sex which really approximate the nearest to each other"[ ]. this remark, however much it may hold good for the times in which we live, would have elicited from mary wollstonecraft the reply that between master and slave there can be no cooperation until the latter's individuality has been fully recognised by emancipation. if, moreover, we consider how she was always thinking of duties before considering the question of female rights, claiming the latter only that with their help women might be better enabled to perform the former, it is difficult to withhold from either woman that sympathy to which the purity of her motives and the extreme earnestness of her endeavour justly entitles her. the history of female emancipation, therefore, is so closely bound up with that of female education that it often becomes impossible to separate them. education, to follow the feminist line of rational thought, forms the mind; and a well-formed mind shows a natural inclination towards that perfect virtue which ought to be the ruling power in the universe and the attainment of which is the sole aim of humanity. the feminist problem will not be fully settled until all men and women are equal partakers of the best education which it is in our power to bestow. it is impossible to record the earliest beginnings of feminism in england without first glancing at that country whence came the powerful wave of philosophical thought which, stimulated by the fathers of british philosophy, in its turn stung the latent feminist energy of a mary wollstonecraft to life and was also--although in a less degree--indirectly responsible for the more qualified feminism in the tendencies of the bluestocking circles and their literature, which it will be our business to describe. after one or two abortive attempts of a directly feminist nature a movement of indirect feminism, which was fostered and nursed by the french _salons_ of the th century began at a time when in england the condition of women was rapidly sinking to the lowest ebb since the dark ages of mediaevalism. all through the th and the greater portion of the th century female influence and importance grew and intensified without calling forth anything like a parallel movement in the great rival nation beyond the channel. those who, like mary astell and daniel defoe, caught the spirit of emancipation were indeed pioneers, and to them all english women owe a never-to-be-forgotten debt. from the beginning of the religious revival in england in the early part of the th century to the outbreak of the french revolution a strong and determined reaction against french manners was noticeable in england. this reaction found its root in national prejudices, which held whatever came from france to be tainted with the utter corruption and depravity of french society and as a natural consequence disqualified public opinion from appreciating the glorious edifice of philosophical thought which was being erected at the same time. it derived greater emphasis from the vicious excesses of the french aristocracy and afterwards from the unparalleled horrors of the revolution. the english nation has never been remarkable for any special love of imitation, and the menace of french revolutionism turned great britain into the very bulwark of the most rigid conservatism. so general did the feeling of hatred of the french revolutionary spirit become, that even mary wollstonecraft's determined attempt remained unsupported and was predoomed to failure merely because it was identified with the hated principles of the french revolution. footnotes: [ ] edition t. cadell, strand, ; p. ix. [ ] _strictures on the modern system of female education_, p. . chapter ii. _the beginnings of a feminist movement in france._ the two main feminist tendencies of the preceding chapter may be found illustrated among the ancients by the respective theories of plato and plutarch regarding women. the history of ancient greece records the earliest traces of what might be termed a feminist movement. there was a period when the position of the women of greece, who had long been kept in submission, excluded from political influence and treated contemptuously in literature, began to awaken some interest. the views of plato were of an advancedly feminist tendency. his _republic_, of which the fifth book deals with the position of women in the ideal state, ascribed their inferior power of reasoning to an education which was based upon the assumption of a sexual character. plato was the first to assert the moral and intellectual equality of women and to claim for them an equal share in the public duties. his writings foreshadow the constant alternative of later centuries. the woman who is regarded as essentially a citizen will find the consequent responsibilities crowding upon her, which she will be expected to share with her male partners, a bar to the exclusively feminine duties of motherhood and the education of her own progeny. no theories and social movements of the past or of any future time have altered or will alter the axiom that every individual woman will sooner or later find herself at a parting of roads, one of which will lead her to devote her energies to the progress of human society at large, the other to the more exclusive happiness and welfare of the domestic circle. so completely does plato disregard the feminine instinct, that the children in his commonwealth were to be entrusted to professional nurses, and that the mothers were to be allowed only to suckle the infants promiscuously and without even recognising them, out of bare necessity. the maternal instinct in plato's state was ignored, and the existence of a sexual character emphatically denied. another feminist among the ancients, although his views differed widely from plato's, was plutarch, whose ideas represent the opposite extreme of the ideal set up for women. woman's chief duty he held to be, not to the state, but to her own family. she should try to be her husband's associate not merely in material things, but also in the fulfilment of more delicate tasks, prominent among which is that of educating the young, for which purpose she herself requires to be instructed. in direct opposition to plato, plutarch insists on the essentially feminine qualities of tenderness, gentleness, grace and sensibility. in preference to a national education, he wishes for a home-education, based upon the natural affections between parent and child. the theories of plato and plutarch contain the germ of one of the main points of dispute among later feminists and anti-feminists: that of a sexual character. on the attitude taken by later writers on the woman question towards this all-important problem depends the course into which they are directed. those who, like plato, either deny or ignore the existence of a specially feminine character and specially feminine proclivities, are naturally driven to assert the equality of the sexes, and to claim for the female sex an equal share in both the rights and the responsibilities of social life. on the other hand, those who, like plutarch, lay stress on the domestic and educational duties of womanhood, counterbalancing the public duties of man, duties which take their origin in the innate propensities of the female character, may yet become defenders of the cause of woman, but their demands will be more qualified, and while including in their programme a liberal female education to make women fitting companions to their husbands and wise mothers to their children, will regard the political emancipation of the sex as a hindrance to the discharge of more important duties, and therefore as undesirable. although the problem regarding the social status of women was a matter of some speculation and discussion in the early days of antiquity, no female writers arose to take part in them, and the position of the female sex was exclusively determined by male opinion. this circumstance in itself proves conclusively that the prevailing opinion was that woman in her then state was an inferior creature. women were not even appealed to to make known their own wishes on a subject so vitally concerning them. their participation in the movement belongs to later times. upon the whole, the educationalists of rome took little notice of the problem of female education and instruction. quintilian, the chief among them, completely ignores the point, and roman literature affords no contribution of any real importance. the first statements of the cause thus remained without any direct results. such traces as had been left were completely swept up in the years of turmoil that followed, causing early civilisation to fall back into barbarism. the centuries that elapsed between the fall of the latin empire and the renaissance may be called the dark age of feminism. mr. mc. cabe in his "_woman in political evolution_" states that the decline of the comparative esteem in which women were held among the romans set in even before the great empire began to totter on its foundations, and was largely due to the judaic spirit which prevailed in the early days of christianity, demanding the implicit obedience of women to the stronger sex, a point of view which was found endorsed in many places in both the old and the new testament. the earliest christian leaders had been taught to regard woman as the agent of man's downfall, and readily observed the law that rendered her dependent. they were for the most part zealots, who did not believe in any literature that was not devotional. even the most enlightened among them, st. jerome, who had to answer the charge of occupying himself preferably with the instruction of women--which accusation he met with the complaint that the men were displaying an absolute indifference to instruction of any kind--wanted to make narrow religious asceticism the basis of his education of women. being exempt from social and political duties, they seemed naturally fitted for a life of devotion and contempt of the world, directing their energies and hopes towards a life to come. in the strict retirement of the cloisters they filled their time with prayer and sacred literature. thus, in the dark age, the ideal of womanhood became the virgin, who lived her life of devotion far from the temptations of a wicked world with which she had nothing in common. those women--and they were the majority--who did not pursue so lofty an ideal, sank lower and lower, and came to be regarded as mere sexual instruments, without any claim to consideration, by men whose only interest was war, and among whom learning was regarded with contempt. before the great renaissance came with its revival of learning in which some women had a share, bringing improvement to some privileged ones, but leaving the bulk of them in the pool of ignorance and slavery into which they had sunk, two minor renaissances call for mention. the first, of the late eighth and early ninth century, centres round the names of charlemagne, emperor of the franks, and alcuin. they saw, indeed, the necessity for better instruction and founded a great many schools, but in their scheme women as a class were unfortunately overlooked. the second revival, that of abélard, which took place in the twelfth century, marks the beginning of a more rational education, subjecting various theological problems to the test of reason and logic. unfortunately, this second revival soon degenerated, and gave rise to a class of pedants who neither understood the aims, nor even the principles of education and against whose severity and arrogance the great reformers of the renaissance as rabelais, montaigne and roger ascham directed their shafts. neither of these revivals, therefore, exercised any considerable influence on the position of women. it was also in the twelfth century that the influence of the conquest of england by the normans began to make itself felt in latin europe. the early traditions of england regarding women offer a striking contrast to those which lived on the continent. when in the days of julius caesar the romans first set foot on british soil, they found a well-balanced society, in which prevailed a state of comparative equality between the sexes, and a correspondingly high code of morality. the british women were consulted whenever an important resolution had to be taken, and tacitus, and in later days selden, were lavish in their praise of the dignity and bravery of boadicea, whose history has furnished even modern authors with a fitting subject. about the middle of the fifth century there began those invasions of anglo-saxons which led to a partial blending of the two races. the newcomers also reverenced their women; history even records the names of some "queens regnant" among them, and ladies of birth and quality sat in their witenagemot. the church boasted among its abbesses some fine specimens of intellectual womanhood (st. hilda, st. modivenna), and in general the position of women among the anglo-saxons points to a spirit of generous chivalry. william the conqueror and his men, who overran and subjected the country in the eleventh century, came from a land where the principles of the salic law were recognised. seen from a feminist point of view, this invasion was a most fatal occurrence. under norman influence a rapid decline set in. but if the normans latinised the manners and customs of the nations subjected to their rule, the latter influenced their conquerors in a more subtle way through their literature. it was especially the literature of celtic england that hit the taste of mediaeval france. the arthurian cycle found its way to the continent. it breathes a spirit of chivalry, and depicts a blending of the sexes on terms of homage to the fair and weaker which came like a revelation. and although the chivalrous element soon degenerated--mr. mc. cabe deliberately leaves early romanticism out of account, calling it "a cult of pretty faces and rounded limbs, leading to a general laxity in morals"--yet it opened the eyes of the stronger sex to the possibility of women playing some slight part in society. in this connection it is rather amusing--and also enlightening as illustrating the general estimate of women--to read about a proposal made by one pierre du bois to king edward the first to make christian women marry saracen husbands, that they might have a chance of converting them. the first social mission of women, if du bois had been given his way, would thus have been that of utilising their charms to make religious converts. at the same time, he deemed it advisable to fit them for this task by giving them a rather liberal education and instruction. there was, however, one important result of the new tendencies. the education of girls in the early middle ages,--such as it was--was a monastic one, practised within the walls of a convent. but in feudal society it became more and more customary to have the daughters of aristocratic families brought up at home, either by a tutor, or by some member of the family whose parts fitted him for the task. this first secularisation of female education among the higher classes was mainly responsible for the awakening interest of some women in literature of a secular kind. the traditions of the church had demanded the teaching of latin long after it had fallen into disuse in the outside world. the secular education, which comprised little actual instruction, next to music and dancing, came to include a good deal of physical exercise. religion was not neglected, but relegated to a less commanding position, and secular literature in the vernacular became a favourite pastime, so much so, that (about ) gerson thought it necessary to protest against the reading of the _roman de la rose_ by young ladies, from motives of delicacy. in spite of many backslidings, the position of women was now very slowly beginning to improve, and in the argument between the partisans and the opponents of female instruction the latter were beginning to have the worst of it. in the fifteenth century one or two forerunners of the renaissance-women swelled the ranks of the advocates of the cause. there was in france christine de pisan, who in her "_cité des dames_" protested against the conventional statement, that the spreading of learning among women had had a disastrous influence upon their morals. in illustration of her plea she quoted the example of jehan andry, "solennel canoniste à boulogne", who, when prevented by circumstances from giving his lessons of divine wisdom, sent his daughter novelle in his place. in order that the beauty of her appearance might not awaken illicit thoughts among her male scholars "elle avait une petite courtine devant son visage." christine de pisan was one of the first women who made a living by their pen, and is said to have lived a life of irreproachable virtue, besides being possessed of great erudition. the country where the most considerable gain was recorded was italy. not only did many italian women share in the enthusiasm aroused by the renaissance, but their doings were no longer regarded as unworthy of interest. in boccaccio's writings, for instance, women occupy a very prominent place, and chaucer was among those who followed his example. although a great many writers of the period make the failings of women the object of their satirical remarks, yet there is in their very criticism the wish for something better and nobler, and better still, the conviction that women are capable of improvement. the renaissance, with its revival of ancient culture, contained a strong educational element, which, although like the earlier revivals it busied itself only very indirectly with the female half of society, was not without importance to the movement of female emancipation. for in the first place man was the usurper of all authority, and it was only by educating him and widening his horizon that he could be made to recognise the absurdity of the relations between the sexes; and in the second place it was the philosophical spirit of the renaissance that built its educational speculations upon a solid foundation of thought and method. the educationalists of the renaissance were not churchmen, but philosophers. the tendency among them--when at all interested in women--is to condemn both the monastic education, which forms devotees instead of mothers, and that secular education which creates literary ladies instead of housewives, and to return to the ancient ideal of womanhood in making them essentially wives and mothers, assuming without discussion the female inferiority. the most striking exception to this rule was the german cornelius agrippa, of nettesheim, who was the first to state the cause and pronounce upon it in a sense so favourable to female instruction that it entitles him to the name of "father of feminism". his treatise "_de nobilitate et praecellentia feminini sexus_" (first published in ), though naturally crude and immature, and hesitatingly put forward, has that enthusiasm of firm convictions which touches the reader's heart. the rudiments of later contentions are to be found in his plea. the tyranny of men, he says, has deprived woman of her birthright of liberty. iniquitous laws have prevented her from enjoying it, usage and custom have neglected it, and finally an exclusively sexual education has quite extinguished it. in her youth she is kept a close prisoner at home, as though she were utterly incapable of any more dignified occupation than the performance of domestic duties like a kind of superior servant, and using the needle. thus she is prepared for the matrimonial yoke which is laid upon her the moment she has attained maturity, that she may quickly serve her chief purpose of propagating the species. she is then delivered up to the oppression of a husband whose inordinate jealousy and fits of temper reduce her to a deplorable condition. or she is kept all her life in the even more rigorous confinement of a convent, a retreat of so-called virgins and vestals, where she is left to a thousand agonies, the worst among which is a gnawing regret for lost happiness which finishes her. in a supplementary treatise agrippa exhorts the husband to regard and to treat his wife as a companion, and not as a servant. he seems almost afraid of the consequences of his audacity when he tries to weaken its effects by acknowledging the natural dominion of the male sex. "however", he adds, "let their rule be all grace and reverence. although woman be inferior, let her be given a place by the husband's side, that she may be his faithful helpmate and counsellor. not a slave, but the mistress of the house; not the first among the servants, but the mother of the fine children who are to inherit her husband's property, succeed to his business, and transmit his name to posterity." erasmus in his _dialogues_ depicts women as eager to rise out of their conditions of servitude. however much he tempers the force of his argument by continual jokes and pleasantries, yet he seems to sympathise with the female complaint that woman herself has abandoned her cause, leaving the husband to decide all matters of importance and voluntarily resigning all liberty, consigning herself to a life of religious devotion and household duties. the consequence is that men regard them as mere playthings and even deny them the name of human beings. the woman who voices this complaint enumerates the various occupations for which her sex would be fit, and winds up by saying that "there is nothing in what she has said which does not deserve serious and mature consideration." in "_abbates et eruditiae_" erasmus anticipates the problem of female education as it would present itself in later ages. he foresees that there will come a time when women, dissatisfied with the state of bondage, will seek improvement by demanding an education. the innate masculine egoism, however, will realise that learning will make women less submissive to male authority, and they will resist any innovations by which their supremacy may be endangered. the coming struggle is thus foreshadowed by one of the most prominent among the philosophers of the renaissance, and his sympathies are, upon the whole, with the female sex. he is the first to see the close connexion between the moral worthlessness of females and their need of an education. to remedy the frivolity of women he demanded that girls should be taught some useful occupation, so as to keep them from idleness and its concomitant vices. he also wished for a more liberal intellectual education to be supplied in the family, and, should that be impossible, by the husband. in full accordance with the above is the main drift of the third of the great humanist's works which show a tendency favourable to women: his "_christian marriage_", which made its appearance in . it resolutely prefers the state of matrimony to that of religious celibacy and makes the possibilities of conjugal happiness dependent on the cultivation of the female soul. works like the above could not fail to draw to the problem the attention of the reading public, and to make it a favourite topic of controversy. france especially proved an extremely fruitful soil, and the french nation became interested in a regular "querelle des femmes" which inspired a great many pens, and culminated in the third book of rabelais' _pantagruel_. the habit of reviling the female character and satirising the female weaknesses was of mediaeval growth, and may be found illustrated among many other examples in that portion of the "_roman de la rose_" which is the work of jean de meung, in the "_lamentations de matheolus_", of which the late professor van hamel issued a new edition in , and in a great many "_fabliaux_". it also prevailed in england with great persistence for several centuries.[ ] but the somewhat puerile invective became a controversy in france when about the middle of the th century the female sex found some staunch defenders among the male french authors. martin le franc's "_champion des dames_", composed between and , aroused a great deal of hostile criticism, mostly in the prevailing satirical form and culminating in the "_grand blason des faulces amours_" by guillaume-alexis, and some sympathy, as in the "_chevalier aux dames_", an allegorical poem; while some authors, like robert de herlin in his "_acort des mesdisans et biendisans_" tried to reconcile the two parties. after the growth of the renaissance spirit soon caused the controversy to enter into a new phase. the interest it commanded remained undiminished and towards the middle of the century it even increased to immense proportions, without, however, leading to any pronounced tangible results. the progress of learning caused the argument to become intensified into a more serious, philosophical cast. one of the champions of the female sex, at the time when the "quarrel" had reached its acute stage, françois du billon, who also made use of the allegorical device to level his threats at the heads of the revilers of women in his "_fort inexpugnable de l'honneur fëminin_", narrates how three of the worst sinners are taken prisoner by the gallant defenders of the fortress. they are boccaccio, gratien dupont, seigneur de drusac, whose "_controverses_", written in , are full of the fiercest invective against women, and jean nevizan, author of a latin treatise, published in , of which the very lengthy title may be advantageously condensed into "_sylva nuptialis_". nevizan's work shows the renaissance spirit of enquiry into the stores of antiquity in its mention of a great many sources from christ to plato and itself became a source of inspiration to rabelais. in the years that followed the champions of feminism became identified with the platonic idealists who were bent upon spiritualising love[ ], whilst its adversaries tried to uphold the ancient "gaulois" traditions with their lower estimate of womanhood. the publication (in ) of antoine héroët's "_parfaicte amye_", with its platonic notions, heralded a new phase in the history of the "querelle des femmes". in its metaphysical tendencies this brief treatise contains a delicate analysis of the emotions attendant upon the pure passion, the chief inspirer of virtue which brings us nearer to god. it ushered in the acute stage, during which not one of the great authors remained silent on a question which occupied so many minds. the different contributions to the problem under discussion were soon combined in one volume under the name of "_opuscules d'amour_". the poets and poetesses of the "école lyonnaise", maurice scève, pernette du guillet, louise labé, and others, ranged themselves among those who tried to introduce a purified love-ideal and also marguerite, queen of navarre[ ] joined the controversialists in her poetry. so general did the interest taken in the issue become, that rabelais interrupted the narrative of his _pantagruel_ to contribute his reflections on the subject in the third book (about ). he took his cue from nevizan's "_sylva nuptialis_" in introducing the problem as a consequence of speculations regarding the marriage of panurge. rabelais proved himself on the whole an anti-feminist, and we have du billon's authority for the fact that the name "pantagruéliste" was considered equivalent to that of enemy to the cause of woman.[ ] if we except christine de pisan, marie de jars de gournay, and "la belle cordière," the lyons poetess louise labé, the number of french female authors was not greatly increased by the renaissance movement. but the number of women of the higher classes who took part in the great intellectual movement grew all over europe, particularly in france, england and spain. one of the most erudite frenchwomen of the time was marguerite de valois, queen of navarre, ( - ), sister to francis the first, who welcomed to her court the greatest scholars of the day, and who was herself no mean poetess. it would not be difficult to extend this list with more names of high-placed women who owed their intellectual development to the instruction of special preceptors. education of this kind became the privilege of the female aristocracy. the schools for the most part refused to admit women; in the convent learning was discouraged because a spirit of free inquiry mostly led to heresy, and for the women of the lower classes nothing at all was done. their more fortunate sisters learned to speak and write latin, greek and italian, and after also spanish, and the abuse by women of italian words while pretending to speak their own language called forth a strong reaction in , the year which saw euphues, and the beginning of its influence at the elizabethan court. the tendencies of the reformation pointed in the same direction; they encouraged a spirit of free inquiry and were directly opposed to those of the monastic education. under luther's influence a number of lay-schools for girls arose in germany and the early reformation thus tried to fill up the gap in female education which the renaissance had left. unfortunately the political condition of france in the late th century was most unfavourable to educational reform owing to the violence of the religious wars, and it was not until after the edict of nantes that a number of huguenot schools arose. the outlook in the opening years of the th century was far from bright; great misery prevailed everywhere, in addition to which the internal wars had brought about a general decay of morals which threatened to become the country's ruin. it was at this critical stage in the history of france that woman had become sufficiently confident of her powers to claim a beneficial share in all matters of social importance.[ ] for the first time in history the woman question reached an acute stage. the seventeenth century, which witnessed the deepest abasement of english women, will always be remembered in the history of france as the time of the first self-conscious vindication of female rights. this vindication--except in one or two isolated instances--did not take the form of a direct appeal; it adopted the persuasive method of furnishing convincing evidence of woman's capacity to hold her own both intellectually and morally and even to supply certain elements which were lacking among the opposite sex, for the benefit of french society. we have seen that in the late sixteenth century the problem came to be a much-discussed one in french literature, which it remained all through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. m. ascoli, in the "_revue de synthèse historique_" (tome xiii) has published an extensive bibliography of no fewer than ninety-seven works of a feminist or anti-feminist tendency written between and , which proves conclusively that the intellectual condition of women remained a subject of contemplation. the thirst for knowledge, as we have seen, had imparted itself to a small category of women whose circumstances enabled them to share the literary pursuits of their menfolks. but even the boldest of these earliest champions in their wildest dreams did not go beyond that enfranchisement of the mind which--however important in itself--is only the indispensable first step in female emancipation. until quite late in the th century no women had entered the field as the avowed champions of their sex against the arrogant assertions of male supremacy. the alleged inferiority of women was a theme of frequent discussion only in the works of male authors, who further degraded the sex by the bantering, often insolently satirical tone of their contentions. but no woman had come forward to test the evidence on both sides, far less to enter into competition with men on behalf of her sex. the growing taste for literature had done little or nothing to improve the social position of women; it unfortunately limited itself to a few privileged women, leaving the rest of womanhood in the obscurity of hopeless ignorance. thus matters stood when in the first quarter of the seventeenth century two events of great importance in the history of feminism took place, of which the first, abortive though it was, and therefore predoomed to barrenness, represents a deliberate attempt by a woman to constitute herself the champion of her sex; the second being something in the nature of a social experiment, which, without aiming definitely at the attainment of an exclusively feminist ideal, did more to improve the condition of women than any more direct endeavour. i refer to the work of marie de jars de gournay, and to the establishment of the first _salon_ by catherine de rambouillet. the former struck a bold and defiant note, resolutely claiming for her sex equality with men. this audacious assertion stamps her as the pioneer of modern feminism. the remarkable thing about her theories is that without the help of anything like a clearly defined philosophy she strikes the keynote of whatever claim was put forward on behalf of women in later times as a consequence of more than a century of philosophical speculation, the practice of which entailed the all-absorbing consequences of the great revolution of . when the cause of woman was taken up in england by mary wollstonecraft, and grafted upon the larger cause of humanity as its logical consequence, the arguments of her plea were directly derived from that philosophy of liberty, equality and fraternity which may be traced to its origin in locke, descartes and bacon. yet here was a lady, at a time when descartes was a mere boy, boldly asserting that nature is opposed to all inequality. "la pluspart de ceux qui prennent la cause des femmes contre cette orgueilleuse preferance que les hommes s'attribuent, leur rendent le change entier: r'envoyans la preferance vers elles. moy qui fuys toutes extremitez, je me contente de les esgaler aux hommes: la nature s'opposant pour ce regard autant à la supériorité qu'à l'infériorité." she thus sets about vindicating the equality of her sex in everything except physical strength, going beyond the most daring speculation of any previous author, with the exception of those who, blinded by hate, had put forth theories of female pre-eminence in which in sober moments they themselves hardly believed. marie de gournay ascribed the state of inequality to the circumstance that woman is purposely denied an education by man, who owes his usurped authority to abuse of physical force, which she holds in utter contempt. "les forces corporelles sont vertus si basses, que la beste en tient plus pardessus l'homme, que l'homme pardessus la femme." woman is man's inferior in bodily strength only "par la nécessité de port et la nourriture des enfants", compensating her lack of brute force by her delicate mission of propagation. but mlle de gournay emphatically asserts the perfectibility of the female mind. to understand and partly justify the extreme vehemence of the lady's attack upon the opposite sex, whose unmerited contempt of the feminine intellect had deeply injured her feelings, it is necessary to take into account the circumstances of her life, which explain her acerbity. she was a studious woman,--a forerunner of the hannah mores and elizabeth carters as well as of the mary astells and mary wollstonecrafts of a later period--whom her exceptional intellectual gifts betrayed into that error so common among the extreme female champions--that of substituting herself for her sex and claiming for all what no one with any discernment would think of refusing her personally. her mother's attempts to turn her away from literature only irritated her. she had no personal beauty and her entire life was a protracted struggle against indifference, opposition and ridicule, which embittered her beyond measure against that sex which valued the gift of a pleasing appearance above that of a comprehensive mind. born in or about , she must have been a mere girl when first brought into contact with montaigne's _essays_. she expressed her admiration of them in a letter to the author, couched in terms so enthusiastic that the philosopher came to see her, thus laying the foundation of a friendship which was only disturbed by his death in . she became his spiritual daughter,--his "fille d'alliance"--and took an active part in the publication of the later editions of the _essays_. she rather conceitedly accounted for the close affection which bound them together as "the sympathy from genius to genius". when montaigne died, his "fille d'alliance" was in a fair way to become a prominent figure in the literary world, having under his influence written some pedagogical essays, which were favourably received. with the philosopher her chief guide passed away, and subsequent experience seems to have soured her and made her spiteful and old-maidish before her time. those whose object was to ridicule her represent her with three cats, following her about wherever she went. she met with little sympathy beyond that expressed from chiefly intellectual motives in the correspondence of the learned dutchwoman anna maria schuurman, and of the renowned louvain professor juste lipse--whose praise of montaigne's _essays_ had won her instant recognition. but she deserves respect for the courage of her opinions, regardless of the prejudices of her contemporaries, and for standing her ground firmly, often turning ridicule into esteem. such was the pioneer whose ideas regarding the position of women are embodied chiefly in a treatise entitled: "_de l'egalité des hommes et des femmes_" and in the "_grief des dames_", and further alluded to in her preface to the edition of montaigne's _essays_ and in a prose "_apology_", intended to disarm her ridiculers, in which she protests against being disregarded merely on account of her womanhood. here, indeed, we are confronted by a sense of personal injury. concerning "_de l'egalité_" she says in one of her later writings: "il faut le soubmettre à la touche par ce que peuvent valoir ses raisons et ses pensées, fortes ou feibles qu'elles soient, et puis apres, par la consideration de son dessein. sçavoir si ce nouveau biais qu'elle prend, et qui la rend originale, est bon pour relever le lustre et pour verifier les privileges des dames, opprimez par la tyrannie des hommes." the treatise "_de l'egalité_" consists of two parts. in the first, the right of women to equal consideration with men is vindicated by means of evidence derived from the writings of men; in the second the authority of god himself as contained in the bible is referred to and expounded in a manner wholly favourable to the doctrine of equality. regarding the first point, the author derives comfort from the reflexion that the chief revilers of women are to be found among the worst specimens of the male sex, who merely repeat the opinions of others, "n'ayans pas appris que la première qualité d'un mal habill' homme, c'est de cautionner les choses soubs la foy populaire et par ouyr dire," in doing which, "d'une seule parolle ils desfont la moitié du monde." their sole aim is to rise at the expense of the female sex. but fortunately there is the testimony of truly great men to prove the mental and moral capacity of women. here follows a list of the male partisans of some degree of feminism among the philosophers of antiquity and of the renaissance: plato, socrates, plutarch, seneca, aristotle, erasmus, politian, agrippa. montaigne is introduced as "le tiers chef du triumvirat de la sagesse humaine et morale" (with plutarch and seneca), for having written that "il se trouve rarement des femmes dignes de commander aux hommes," which she twists into an implication that he holds woman to be the equal of man. to counterbalance the principles of the salic law, constructed entirely upon considerations of war, tacitus' account of the position of women among the germanic tribes is quoted, together with the example of the spartans, who in the discussion of their public affairs consulted female opinion. marie de gournay held that the two sexes have equal souls given them; the institution of a sexual difference having been made exclusively with regard to the propagation of the species. to illustrate which, the author, whom nobody would dream of accusing of levity, bashfully craves permission to quote a popular saying. "et s'il est permis de rire en passant, le quolibet ne sera pas hors de saison, nous apprenant: qu'il n'est rien plus semblable au chat sur une fenestre, que la chatte." after passing in review the principal secular authorities with feminist tendencies, mlle de gournay tries the more difficult task of reconciling her feminist views to those of the early christians, taking what she calls "la route des tesmoignages saincts", quoting st. basil and st. jerome, and finding herself for the first time somewhat perplexed at the teachings of st. paul, who forbids preaching by women and enjoins silence, "not because he despises the female sex, but merely lest their beauty and grace, displayed to advantage in a public office, should become a source of temptation to men." that women have always excelled in religious devotion is demonstrated by means of a reference to the championship of judith and the martyrdom of joan of arc. the mention of the former brings us to direct scriptural evidence, which the author finds an even harder subject to tackle. here, indeed she is sometimes led by her zeal into the most palpable absurdities: "et si les hommes se vantent, que jesus-christ soit nay de leur sexe, on respond qu'il le falloit par nécessaire biensceance, ne se pouvant pas sans scandale, mesler jeune et à toutes les heures du jour et de la nuict parmy les presses, aux fins de convertir, secourir et sauver le genre humain, s'il eust esté du sexe des femmes: notamment en face de la malignité des juifs." the entire treatise is mere theorising, and being produced at a time when the public mind on the subject was one mass of inveterate prejudice, brushing aside any speculations of the kind it contained as ridiculous and "paradoxical", it is not astonishing that marie de gournay spoke to the winds, and that the practical results of her labour were nihil. one gets the impression that the author herself was fully convinced of the hopelessness of even obtaining a hearing, and wrote chiefly to relieve herself of the burden of her glowing indignation. to this circumstance it may be attributed that she refrains from formulating any practical claims, or drawing up a scheme of an ideal society in which women were given their due. but her zeal and devotion to the cause she believed to be just were above suspicion, and she has a claim to the gratitude of her sex for having asserted the female equivalence. if mlle de gournay combined in her person some of the elements of the social reformer, there certainly is nothing sensational about her personality and way of expressing her views, and she must be described as revolutionary in a limited sense. apart from her extreme feminism, her social and political views were quite conventional, and in her preface to "_de l'egalité_" she even seeks the patronage of queen anne, as the most prominent and influential member of her sex. françois poullain de la barre, however, who half a century later became heir to her spiritual legacy, was an out-and-out revolutionist, whose theories of female equality proceeded from generally revolutionary tendencies. like mlle de gournay, he was a theorist, but he differed from her in being above all a philosopher of the school of descartes, and the first to apply the doctrine of cartesianism to social problems. this consideration renders him important not merely as the direct advocate of the cause of woman, in which capacity his efforts met with no success whatever, but as the forerunner of j. j. rousseau in his theory of human rights, which in its turn became the basis of the feminist movement in england in the last years of the next century, inaugurated by mary wollstonecraft. as m. piéron puts it, "le chemin réel ira de descartes au féminisme par la révolution, et non de descartes à la révolution par le féminisme." m. rousselot, in drawing attention to poullain de la barre, refers to his works as "now almost forgotten."[ ] the utter obscurity in which this author remained buried for two centuries is probably due to his life of retirement,--as m. henri grappin has pointed out in opposition to m. piéron's opinion, who, basing himself upon evidence of style and language, adjudged him to be a frequent visitor to salons--to his complete indifference to worldly fame, and to this freedom from worldly ambitions. his work, like that of mlle de gournay, was received with a mixture of scorn and ridicule, and soon forgotten. a century later, some of the works of the encyclopedians, which developed the same social ideas--with a striking difference in the matter of female education,--were burnt by the common hangman by order of the authorities, who could not, however, prevent the new ideas from taking root and bearing fruit. in striking contrast, poullain, whose revolutionism found few sympathisers and was consequently adjudged harmless, was left at peace, and brought out his revolutionary treatises "avec privilege du roy", and "avec permission signée de la reynie", for which he paid with disregard and oblivion. both mary wollstonecraft and poullain should have been born in the nineteenth century, but whereas the former was the embodiment of that indomitable spirit of rebellion which had taken almost a century to mature, poullain stands revealed to the modern reader, a living anachronism. there is something in his "fanaticism of ideas" which anticipates the intellectual "tours de force" of william godwin, whose eccentric genius, however, was made subservient to the larger cause of mankind. born at paris in , it seems that poullain chiefly studied theology at the university of his native city, until the discontent which was roused in him by the system of education followed there, made him yield to the intellectual allurements of cartesianism. descartes had been dead some dozen years when the great vogue of his philosophy began. poullain became a fervent cartesian and after some years turned protestant, which religion he felt to be better suited to his philosophical ideas. he lived mostly at paris and at geneva, and died at the latter place in . although poullain seems to shrink from openly confessing himself influenced by descartes, his works show the rationalist tendencies of pronounced cartesianism, to which we shall often have occasion to refer in coming chapters. he may be called one of the forerunners of the encyclopedians, anticipating their imperturbable rationalism, their contempt of tradition and custom,--which, by a somewhat sophistic turn of reasoning, they call superstition and prejudice,--their habit of referring to original principles, and above all their absolute faith in the perfectibility of mankind through the education of the mind and in the certainty of unlimited human progress. no theory had ever been put forward which contained brighter promises for the future of the human race, and the enthusiasm which it awakened was not damped by the fatal experience of the failure of former experiments. to this circumstance must be ascribed the boundless optimism of the partisans of the new philosophy and their radicalism. the three feminist treatises, in the order of their publication, were: . "_de l'egalité des deux sexes, discours physique et moral ou l'on voit l'importance de se défaire des préjugés._" ( ); . "_de l'education des dames, pour la conduite de l'esprit dans les sciences et dans les moeurs._" ( ); . "_de l'excellence des hommes, contre l'egalité des sexes, avec une dissertation qui sert de réponse aux objections tirées de l'ecriture sainte contre le sentiment de l'egalité._" ( ). of these, the second may be dismissed in a few words, as containing nothing very striking beyond the author's dissatisfaction with the spirit prevailing at the universities. the first, on the other hand, contains the gist of poullain's contentions. we are exhorted to judge only from evidence, without regarding the opinions of others, and are brought face to face with what the author holds to be the unvarnished truth, unaffected by that spirit of misplaced gallantry which he feels to be particularly offensive. if, therefore, anybody is shocked at the crudeness of some statements, he expects him to blame truth, and not poullain de la barre. conventionalism is what the author holds to be the chief source of the prevailing inequality. in conformity with the tenets of the christian faith, people are taught to regard the submission of women as the will of god, whereas reason shows it to be merely the consequence of inferior strength. to maintain this usurped supremacy men have purposely kept women from being instructed. in many respects the capabilities of women are superior to those of men: it is their special province to study medecine and by its aid to restore health to the sick and ailing. there is, in fact, nothing for which he pronounces women to be unfit: "il faut reconnaître que les femmes sont propres à tout." he would make them judges, preachers and even generals. the faults of women, which even this fanaticist of reason cannot overlook in the face of the distressing state of female manners and morals, are due to the defective education which is given them. they are taught to feel an interest only in balls, theatres and the fashions, with the result that vanity is their predominant characteristic. so far we might be listening to some english moralist of the eighteenth century. their only literature is of a devotional kind, "avec ce qui est dans la cassette," poullain meaningly adds. for a girl to display any knowledge she may have acquired is thought a shame, and makes her a "précieuse" in the eyes of everybody. the only state of dependence which finds favour in poullain's eyes is that of children on their parents. here again, we have the purely rational view which was also mary wollstonecraft's. the reason of a child is undeveloped, and therefore requires the support of full-grown reason. but this dependence naturally comes to an end as soon as that age is reached when the faculty is sufficiently developed to enable the child to judge for himself, when advice may take the place of command. pierre bayle informs us that poullain fully expected to be taken to task for this daring vindication of the right of woman to be educated. however, as two years passed without bringing the looked-for refutation of his arguments, he himself anticipated his opponents by writing the third treatise. its title is rather misleading. as a matter of fact, the pamphlet itself presents the usual arguments in favour of the theory of male excellence with which the arsenal of anti-feminists was stocked, whilst the "remarques nécessaires" by which it is followed, demonstrating the author's opinions, contain the entire feminist theory. the spirit that was to conduct straight to the revolution breaks out when the author confidently states that as yet feminism is only a matter of theoretical speculation, and not ripe for social or political action. he next enters upon a diatribe against civilisation, which has failed to bring humanity any nearer to absolute truth, and extols the never-failing power of reason. however interesting treatises like the above may be in the evidence they contain of what was secretly going on, of the mental processes which occupied individuals when conventionalism was at its height, processes which contained in them the germs of the great upheaval of a later century, yet it cannot be sufficiently insisted on that they were only abortive eruptions, showing that the social volcano was very far from being extinct; mere puffs of smoke which the slightest breath of wind dispersed. of far greater direct importance to the growth of opinions was that social movement which began in the early seventeenth century, of which woman was herself the originator, and by means of which she almost leapt into the seat of social influence: the movement of the _salons_. we have seen that it was in the sixteenth century that woman made her triumphal entry into society and began to dominate the world of conversation and of literature. the chivalrous worship of earlier centuries had degenerated without doing anything permanent to increase the esteem in which women stood. but in the sixteenth century a new form of courtship was introduced from italy and spain, which was utilised by clever women as a means of gaining the ascendancy over men. the love theory evolved by plato, with its metaphysical conception of the passion, which in the greek philosopher's days had fallen on deaf ears, was carried into practice two thousand years later under the auspices of the great renaissance. in accordance with the views of plato's circle, love came to be recognised as the chief inspirer of virtue and of noble deeds. the platonic ideal thus was from the beginning a refining influence, a corrective to coarseness and materialism, and an incentive to the purest idealism. the theory of spiritualised love recognised the love of physical beauty only as the first step on the ladder of beauty connecting earth with heaven; at each new step, however, the ideal becomes transfigured and purified, until everything earthly sinks into nothingness, the soul becomes paramount and everything else falls away. this view was adopted by the intellectual leaders of the italian renaissance, dante and petrarch, and also by the leading churchmen, in whose speculations the highest and purest form of passion became the love of god. the spirit of platonism thus became mingled with that of religious mysticism, which even surpassed plato in its condemnation of that earthly love which the latter had recognised. the florentine academy, however, adopted the platonic view, making human love one of the steps leading to the ideal of eternal beauty; and refining upon it until it became the chaste passion of the sacrifice of self to the loved object, of which the passion of michel angelo and vittoria colonna furnishes an example. the italian wars of the late fifteenth century had brought lewis the twelfth and his retinue to genoa. one of the highly-cultured ladies of that city, tommassina spinola, made a deep impression upon the king. she was married and virtuous, and so the royal lover had to control his passion and to be content with that platonic friendship which made of the lady "la dame de ses pensées", and entitled him to nothing beyond the purest and most disinterested friendship. a great many parallel cases occurred among the king's followers, and the women found their influence upon their platonic lovers far greater and more lasting than that exercised over the husband in matrimony. there was in this new form of courtship,--which in literature often took a pastoral form,--an element of idealism which placed the weaker sex on a pedestal in putting the adored one far beyond the reach of the lover, who only aspired the more faithfully for not having his passion gratified. in this lay the dormant power of womanhood, which might be successfully turned into a means of improving their position in society; and as soon as women came to realise this they made the most of their opportunity. the "platonic friendship craze" spread to france, where the sentimental passion of these "jansenists of love" found a fruitful soil. before this new form of worship all class-distinctions fell away; not unfrequently the lady was so high above the lover's reach as to exclude all possibility of gratification, which only added an additional zest to the adventure. unfortunately the morals of the french court were not such as to encourage the hope of a permanent improvement in the relations between the sexes. the antithesis between the platonic ideals and the brutal coarseness of sexual desire, ill-concealed under a varnish of hypocritical gallantry, was indeed very marked. at the court of francis physical beauty was considered far above virtue. the years following the introduction of the female element and the rise of female influence at court witnessed a long and bitter struggle between the coarse manners which the long years of warfare had engendered, regarding women as the playthings of men, to be trifled with and to be lightly thrown away when used, and the newly-introduced "galanterie" which implied patient and disinterested worship of an object, superior in the possession of that beauty of feature which was regarded as the reflection of a beautiful soul. women had become conscious of their growing influence, and of the means of increasing it. this struggle for recognition found expression in literature in the "_contes de la reine de navarre_", written by marguerite after her marriage, and modelled upon boccacio's _decamerone_, the evident purpose of which was to correct french manners and morals, and to glorify that form of love which is a mixture of the worship of chivalry and the platonic passion. the _contes_ themselves show a certain looseness of morals which is rather a concession to the general taste of the times, but the prologues and epilogues are of a far more refined character, and breathe a spirit of platonic idealism. in their celebration of virtue and the pure, idealistic passion it inspires, the _contes_ are a precursor of mlle de scudéry's later romances. instead of the deceitful, hypocritical homage of feudal times, the demand was for women to be respected and to be recognised as the social equals of men. the first serious attempt made by the ladies of the french court to better their position ended disastrously. their influence was more than discounted by the demoralising effects of the wars and by the gross libertinism of the male leaders of society. the more determined among the women, finding the task of reforming the morals of a dissolute court beyond their strength, resolved to cultivate in their own private circles that refinement of manners and higher civilisation which the court refused to adopt. thus arose the famous _salons_ of the seventeenth century, in which the struggle for the emancipation of the female mind was combined with that for the improvement of contemporary morals, the refinement of contemporary taste, and the purification of the french language and literature. "depuis le salon de madame de rambouillet jusqu'au salon de madame récamier", says m. ferdinand brunetière, "l'histoire de la littérature française pourrait se faire par l'histoire des salons." this statement by an eminent critic implies a magnificent eulogy of women and testifies to the magnitude of their literary influence during the whole of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, for the history of the _salons_ is the history of indirect feminism. nor was their influence restricted to literature; in nearly every department of social life french women rose to ascendancy; and this, too, at a time when the subjugation of their sex in the other countries of europe, and notably in england, was most complete. after the great triumphs of the first half-century of their existence, the _salons_ shared in the general decline, to be revived with a fair amount of success,--although of a somewhat different kind--in the eighteenth century. woman thus became a social influence to be reckoned with. the question may be put whether upon the whole this remarkable event was favourable to the cause of feminism? for, however much the movement of "preciosity" did to make women realise their independence, and assert their individuality, its original tendencies were not towards any appreciable increase of female instruction. the leaders of the movement: mme de rambouillet and her daughters, and afterwards mme de sévigné and mme de la fayette, detested the "femme savante" quite as much as they hated ignorance. the only aim of the education they recommended was to make women fit for the society in which they were expected to move; manners, taste and wit were cultivated at the expense of those qualities which are indispensable to rouse a spirit of pure feminism. the "précieuses" were bent upon cultivating sentiment rather than intellect, and--apart from the fact that sentiment is rather apt to run riot and that many women have a natural surplus which does not require cultivation--it is by a well-regulated intellect that the cause of feminism will be best served. as it was, the essentially feminine qualities were cultivated by the _salons_, and the sexual difference emphasized. it must therefore be admitted that the _salons_ only very indirectly furthered the feminist movement and that the interest evinced by the "précieuses" in the equality problem and its levelling tendencies was naturally slight. but it stands to their credit that they compelled men to recognise the importance of sex in other matters than those which are purely sexual. if the cause of feminism in the days of the _salons_ had been in a more advanced state, the ladies who frequented them might have turned anti-feminist in their horror of social changes which threatened to rob them of the empire which their essentially feminine qualities had so easily secured over men. the better "précieuse" was not an intellectual; she was expected to conceal such knowledge as she might possess and to cherish that "pudeur sur la science" which makes mme de lambert refer to her secret "débauches d'esprit", and which became the prevailing sentiment also among her bluestocking sisters of the eighteenth century. the history of the french _salons_ and of the "précieuses" who peopled them begins in the year , when catherine, marquise de rambouillet invited to her town residence all those who, like herself, felt disgusted at the camp-manners prevailing at the court and at the licentiousness of the language and literature practised there. the rambouillet-assemblies, in their original intention a reaction against the "esprit gaulois", accomplished far more than they aimed at in securing for women a prominent place in french society. they became a powerful factor in that thorough reform of manners and of language which became the glory of the century and which, whatever excesses may have followed in its train, did away for good and all with coarseness and brutality. of the very questionable society at court it might be said that "force prevailed, while grace was wanting"; the latter essentially feminine quality was abundantly supplied at the hôtel de rambouillet, where the feminine element found its way into literature; and conversation, which hitherto had been masculine, became the means of introducing a new language for new manners. in opposition to the scant respect with which women were treated in court-circles, an ideal of love was set up which was more in accordance with the platonic sentiment. once again the virginal state became an object of glorification. the state of matrimony, on account of its coarser foundation, was relegated to an inferior position. to the crude, almost offensive lovemaking of the courtier was opposed the modest, unselfish worship of platonic love of a pastoral kind; and the representative poetry of the period, some of which was the work of women, exalted the platonic passion which was to revolutionize the relations of the sexes. the warrior-lover of the feudal past, who was only a tyrant under the mask of chivalrous adulation, gave way to the "honnête homme", or knight without an armour, of whom it could be said that he possessed "la justesse de l'esprit et l'équité du coeur", safe-guarding him against error of judgment and excess of passion, and making him the devoted and constant lover of his mistress. the following enumeration is given of his duties: "aimer le monde, aimer les lettres sans affectations; mais surtout être amoureux et rechercher la conversation des femmes". anybody wishing to be admitted to polite society had to conform to these rules. the tone of conversation was characterised by a spirit of "galanterie", a kind of chivalry of words and actions, which was to inspire men to noble feelings and to corresponding deeds. mme de rambouillet attracted to her salon not only men and women of the aristocracy, but also a great many men-of-letters, who were valued according to their literary merit, regardless of fortune and importance. this close alliance between the female sex and the men of culture was in some respects the best education the former could have chosen. they were bent on proving once for all, as fléchier puts it, that "l'esprit est de tout sexe" and that nothing was wanting to make women the intellectual equals of men, but the habit of being instructed and the liberty of acquiring useful knowledge. women became the unchallenged arbitresses of morals, taste, language, literature and wit, in all of which they themselves set the example. in a contemporary work we find the earliest salon described as "l'école de madame de rambouillet, qui a renouvelé en partie les moeurs, où l'on mettait sa gloire dans une conduite irréprochable." not only was the language purified by removing its overgrowth of obscenity and indelicacy, but it was divested of a number of superfluous and affected foreign words. the female influence upon the literary taste was equally all-embracing. a number of new words owed their existence to feminine initiative, and although the writers of the very first class were on the whole unfavourably disposed towards what came to be called "préciosité", and were consequently inclined to satirise its excesses, a great deal of respectable second class talent was lavished upon the frequenters of the salons. the literature produced by the "habitués" of mme de rambouillet's salon was mostly of an occasional nature, and composed in homage to the female sex, comprising sonnets, madrigals, epistolary prose, and plays. the literature of the scudéry circle, besides the products of a growing pedantry, also included many occasional pieces of a lighter kind, among which were so-called sonnets-énigmes, vers-échos and the like, which, if contributing to the enjoyment of an idle moment, had no permanence whatever as literature. to this kind of poetry the ladies themselves were important contributors. in m. victor du bled's "_la société française_" we read about a "journée des madrigaux" at mlle de scudéry's, occasioned by a present of a "cachet de cristal" made to the hostess on one of her famous saturdays, calling forth poetical ebullitions from the most widely different authors. there were the famous "portrait" series, composed by the ladies of the duchess of montpensier's circle; the written "conversations",--those by mlle de scudéry herself were judged by mme de maintenon to contain "useful hints to young females" and therefore introduced at st. cyr--and a very extensive literature in the epistolary style, which was to become the current form of the richardsonian novel. the topics of the day also formed a subject of animated discussion at the assemblies. among them the social position of women and their treatment by the male sex occasionally found a place. dissertations on literary subjects alternated with discussions of intellectual problems, one of the themes at mlle de scudéry's being: "de quelle liberté les femmes doivent-elles jouir dans la société?" although the salons of the seventeenth century were not so revolutionary in their tendencies as some of the next, inasmuch as they were strictly private and did not either directly or indirectly aim at subverting the existing government or promoting seditious theories, yet political subjects were not shunned, and even philosophy and science--the craze of the salons of the early eighteenth century--found a number of devotees and sympathisers. about the middle of the seventeenth century, cartesianism became the fashionable philosophy in spite of the opposition of the universities. mme de sévigné's letters prove that many women were interested in its propagation. the "précieuses" felt attracted by the speculations of descartes, to follow which the cultivation of a sound sense of logic is more indispensable than any great erudition. the consequence of the philosophical movement was a widening interest in knowledge, an awakening curiosity about science, and a corresponding contempt of tradition, resulting from that self-reliance which is the natural outcome of the theory of human perfectibility. the two principal salons, those of the marquise de rambouillet and of mlle de scudéry, although of the same general tendencies, differed somewhat in their particulars. the glory of the former and earlier was never equalled by any subsequent one. the marquise herself was in every respect an ornament of her sex. born and bred in italy, she married the marquis de rambouillet before she had reached the age of thirteen. after some turbulent years at court she retired to the privacy of her residence in the rue saint-thomas-du-louvre and became the centre of a brilliant circle of aristocratic people and celebrated men-of-letters. although some of the greatest wits of the age frequented her salon--malherbe, and afterwards corneille and balzac were among her occasional visitors--there never was question of a domination of literary men: the hostess remained enthroned in full and undisputed authority, receiving the verbal and written homage which they paid to her virtues. the entire house was reconstructed after her own ideas, so as to afford more room for the reception of guests. in one of the apartments which opened into each other, the marquise was in the habit of keeping her state, receiving her visitors while reclining upon a luxurious couch. the blue room, which, by the way, changed its aspect with each succeeding fashion, was a marvel of refined taste. nor did the marquise confine her receptions to her town-residence; assemblies were held at rambouillet in summer and garden-parties introduced plenty of variety. great praise has been lavished on her kindness of character, and rising authors in particular found in her a warm-hearted patroness, always ready to applaud and encourage. one of her daughters, julie d'angennes, equalled her in popularity and had her beauty and virtue celebrated in a collection of laudatory verse entitled "_la guirlande de julie_", to which different poets made contributions, the principal being the young marquis de montausier, who afterwards became her husband. among her closest intimates were two men of a very much inferior social station: voiture, the chief poet and chronicler, and chapelain, the chief oracle and critic of the hôtel de rambouillet. she had made these two her own; they basked in the serenity of her smile, shared in her joys as in her troubles, and were the most perfect male satellites to female beauty and brilliance. the years between and were the crowning years of glory in the history of the hôtel de rambouillet. after julie's marriage, however, there came a decline. there were some sudden deaths, including that of the marquise's only son, and the fronde began, in which some of the marquise's intimates followed the fortunes of the rebels, entailing fresh partings. in she sustained a further loss through the death of her husband. bowed down with sorrow, she retired to rambouillet to seek comfort in the intimacy of julie's family. the influence of the hôtel de rambouillet passed on to the circle presided over by madeleine de scudéry, whose "saturdays" were much sought after. her visitors were rather more given to affectations of manners and speech than those of her aristocratic predecessor and the transfer therefore marks the first step in the decadence which set in. in her "ruelle" the third estate was largely represented; in fact, as the "bourgeois" element gained in strength, the decadence became more marked, for its representatives were more easily led into excesses than the female members of the aristocracy. this explains how the name of mlle de scudéry--rather unjustly--came to be identified with that false preciosity which did the female cause such harm. and yet she was herself an ardent feminist, not only in the qualified sense of her predecessor, but in the full sense of the word. her two principal romances: "_artamène, ou le grand cyrus_" and "_clélie_", derive an interest--which their longwindedness greatly endangers--from their marked feminist tendencies. in the former, mlle de scudéry, whose views are expressed by sapho, pleads for mental occupation as the only means of promoting female virtue. she rebukes the vanity of ignorance so common among those of her sex who imagine that "elles ne doivent jamais rien savoir, si ce n'est qu'elles sont belles, et ne doivent jamais rien apprendre qu'à se bien coiffer". she is also one of the first to accuse the male sex of inconsistency, refusing their womenfolk an education, yet finding fault with them for lacking those qualities which are the fruit of education only. "sérieusement, y a-t-il rien de plus bizarre que de voir comment on agit pour l'ordinaire en l'éducation des femmes? on ne veut pas qu'elles soient coquettes ni galantes, et on leur permet pourtant d'apprendre soigneusement tout ce qui est propre à la galanterie, sans leur permettre de savoir rien qui puisse fortifier leur vertu, ni occuper leur esprit". but the "femme savante" equally inspires her with profound disgust, and this some of her critics have failed to recognize. the damophile of the _grand cyrus_ is an exact reproduction of the philaminte of molière's "_femmes savantes_", pretending to an erudition which is only imaginary and prevents her from attending to her household duties. there is nothing more objectionable in mlle de scudéry's opinion than for a woman to make parade of her knowledge, which may be useful chiefly in enabling her to listen with appreciation when men were talking. the theory of perfect equality, proposed about the same time by poullain de la barre, did not find an adherent in mlle de scudéry. the "honnête homme" of her dreams has more power of diverting and amusing than the most erudite of her own sex. of all the leading ladies of seventeenth century french society there were none whose qualifications would have fitted them so perfectly to be the rivals of mrs. montagu in presiding over bluestocking assemblies as mlle de scudéry! her second great romance, "_clélie_", marks the culminating point of the usual seventeenth century feminism in expressing the rather one-sided ideal to which the ladies of the salons aspired, that of commanding the love of gallantry and of ruling the world through it. the entire romance is nothing but an elaborate code of gallantry by which all love is to be regulated. in some passages, however, the social position of women becomes the theme, regardless of the rather too obtrusive love-theories. after protesting indignantly against female bondage, mlle de scudéry proves that the doctrine of gallantry has not impaired her judgment. she demands that man shall be "neither the tyrant nor the slave of woman", and that the rights and duties of matrimony shall be equally shared between the two partners. nor has the glitter of the platonic love-arsenal blinded her to the blessings of the virginal state. far superior to matrimony she holds the condition of the wise and (of course!) beautiful woman who, although much courted, remains indifferent; who has many friends, but no lovers; who lives and moves in a world which to her is without peril, unswayed by the passions which rule others, always free and always virtuous--and, we may add, always sublimely conscious of her own superiority--an ideal embodied in the person of plotine. the attempt at "regulating the passions", i. e. keeping the affections under perfect control, no doubt led to a great deal of absurdity which supplied the many antagonists with weapons against "la préciosité." some of the worst sinners in this respect were ladies of the scudéry circle. there was a certain mlle dupré, given to philosophy, and surnamed "la cartésienne" whose glory was to consider herself incapable of tenderness; and, worse still, there was the example of her friend mlle de la vigne, whose infatuation went so far as to make her reject even the comforts of platonic worship. mlle de scudéry herself was more moderate in her ideas, and proved capable of cherishing some "tendresse" for the poet pellisson whom she rescued from the bastille. her verdict that "la vraie mesure du mérite doit se prendre sur la capacité qu'on a d'aimer" even suggests that she was capable of undergoing the real passion. gradually, however, the excesses in false "préciosité" began to multiply. the original signification of the term had been a taste for whatever is refined and delicate; noble, grand and sublime. the affectation and pedantry which came to be substituted for this, gave rise to the worst excesses of language. in their admiration of the fine phrasing of the literary masterpieces the "précieuses" took to substituting their periphrases and metaphors for the simple mode of expression which daily conversation requires[ ], making themselves ridiculous and objectionable in the eyes of soberminded people and calling forth some malignant attacks even by people who could not be accused of misogynist leanings. to make matters worse, some very inferior imitations of the aristocratic salons had sprung up among the "bourgeoisie" both at paris and in the provinces, where prudery was substituted for purity, affectation for elegance and pedantry for charm and taste. the moral tone prevailing at these meetings also compared very unfavourably with the atmosphere of culture and good breeding which had reigned at the hôtel de rambouillet. scandal became a favourite topic of conversation, and literary men of a usurped reputation, to whom the better circles remained closed, laid down the law and constituted themselves the arbiters of literary taste. the decline, which had been slow and partial in the salons of mlle de scudéry and afterwards of mme deshoulières, became rapid and complete in those of the so-called "bourgeoisie de qualité". m. brunetière has pointed out that the "esprit précieux" of the salons, aiming at polish and refinement--for which in later years it came to substitute narrowness and affectation--was directly opposed to the "esprit gaulois" which had the upper hand in court circles and whose satire of the salons often degenerated into cynicism and coarseness. the great authors found themselves occupying an intermediate position, trying to reconcile what was recommendable in either and ridiculing what was objectionable. the fact that they drew their inspiration from nature and from the lessons taught by antiquity brought them into conflict with the précieuses who lived in an artificial present, and eagerly welcomed whatever was new. in the ancient and modern controversy, which was started in the seventeenth century and revived in the early eighteenth, the female element, with a very few exceptions, unhesitatingly took the side of the moderns. how powerful a factor they had become in determining what was to be the public opinion appears from the share they had in the ultimate victory of the moderns, and more still from the utter futility of the repeated efforts made by men of the first genius to crush their power by means of ridicule. molière opened the campaign in his "_précieuses ridicules_" ( ). although very successful as a play, and warmly applauded by the rambouillet-circle, it missed its aim in utterly failing to crush false "préciosité". when after molière's death boileau continued the campaign, he met with no better success. no sooner had he retired from the field than the monster he had set out to kill reared its head again, enjoying undisputed possession until mme de lambert and her friends made an endeavour to return to the old ideals; in doing which, however, they did not forget to march with the times and to observe the signs of impending change which were beginning to manifest themselves. while the "précieuse" society of the salons in its anxiety to strengthen the female element was occupying itself with the cultivation of polished manners, taste and wit in the members of the sex, and came to neglect female morals and instruction, the problem of a moral education was introduced and discussed by a philosopher among churchmen, the great fénelon. the civil wars in france were followed by a religious renaissance, representing a supreme effort made by catholicism to recover the ground which had been lost to the combined classical renaissance and reformation. the religious order of the jesuits, founded in the middle of the sixteenth century, saw in a strictly religious education the means of strengthening the position of the roman catholic church. before the end of the century they had their colleges in different parts of france and became the educators of the roman catholic youth of that country. from the first their aim was the attainment of political influence for the church by means of religious propaganda. to this end they tried to suppress all spontaneity and individuality in their pupils, a system which in that age of awakening individualism and philosophical enquiry could not long remain without protest. a reaction set in which aimed at combining a certain amount of personal freedom and patriotic sense with religious sentiment, and at reconciling the tenets of catholicism with the theories of the new philosophy. such was the general character of the first great rival of jesuitism, the "oratoire". neither society, however, took any notice of female education. the omission was repaired by the jansenists, the implacable enemies of the jesuits, be it in a manner in which some sound common sense was mingled with a good deal of narrow dogmatism. for a number of years they maintained a somewhat precarious footing in france, during which time they proved themselves zealous educators, to whom the moral interests of their pupils, and not the worldly ones of their society, were paramount. their chief educational establishment at port royal, founded in , was in many ways superior to contemporary institutions, and some of their methods have found imitation in france to this very day. it is true that the jansenist system of education was, upon the whole, a monastic one, and as such could not be a very great improvement. but its practice was distinguished by a few characteristics which made it superior to all parallel schemes of education. nowhere do we find that perfect purity of motives, that eagerness on the part of the educator to keep his charges from temptation and evil. this circumstance found its origin in the tenets of jansenism, asserting that a tendency to sin and evil is inherent in the infant soul. to the jansenists, education meant the unrelaxing struggle of the educator, aided by divine grace, against this natural bias, for the purpose of saving the soul. that this constant watchfulness on the teacher's part involved the total disappearance of the last frail spark of liberty left to the child, is only natural. on the other hand, it strengthened the affections. the jansenist "religieuses" were filled with a most laudable sense of responsibility and loved their charges with the most unselfish tenderness and devotion. their individual kindness tempered the severity of the rules laid down in jacqueline pascal's "_règlement pour les enfants_". ( ). the discipline was of the strictest, and the entire system directed towards forming pious christian women and docile wives, rich in virtue rather than in knowledge. the final decision was left to the girls themselves; they either became nuns or re-entered the world after some years of close sequestration, "selon qu'il plaisait à dieu d'en disposer", but it is to be feared that some moral pressure was often brought to bear upon them. the rules for daily observance implied early rising, strict silence, very limited ablutions and the greatest simplicity in dress; the hours of daylight being divided among prayers, devotional literature, manual labour and the elements of practical knowledge. the above will be sufficient to show that port royal was a convent rather than a school and that its spirit was directly opposed to both the renaissance spirit and the philosophical spirit of the later generations. in the annals of female education the "petites ecoles" of port royal will therefore not be remembered as a milestone in the march of woman towards the ideal of perfect enfranchisement. they derive their importance from the fact that they were among the very first institutions in which great stress was laid on a moral education and in which some attention was paid to psychology. the convents of other religious orders also participated in the educational movement and tried to recover lost influence. the seclusion of convent-life in those days was not nearly so strict as it had been in the days of early christianity, and this concession gained for them many pupils who had no intention of taking the veil, but were merely obeying the increasing call for female instruction. some of these religious orders, as for instance the ursulines, did good service, although they aimed at the pursuit of the moral virtues rather than intellectual accomplishments. what constitutes their chief merit, however, is the fact that by the side of the existing boarding-schools for paying resident pupils they established dayschools for the benefit of the poorer classes, in which all instruction was gratuitous. the number of secular schools for girls was so small, that we may safely regard the above as a first attempt to bring education within the reach of the untaught female multitude. unfortunately, the convent-schools became involved in the general decline which marks the latter half of the century. all sorts of abuses found their way into them. a great deal too much regard was paid to the social standing of pupils, the nuns were often unfit for their educational task, for which they lacked preparation, and many convents became havens of refuge to worldly ladies with a damaged reputation, who paid well, but in return introduced lazy morals and a loose conversational tone. add to this the intense and general misery which both the fronde and the later foreign wars had engendered, and it need not astonish anybody that the efforts of the religious orders were of too partial and desultory a nature to bring about a lasting improvement in female education. although the actual progress recorded was slight, yet something had been gained. the necessity for some degree of female instruction--thanks largely to the indirect influence of the salons--was now universally granted, although opinions varied regarding the extent and the means to be employed. it had to a certain extent become a topic in france, and as such began to attract a good deal of notice among moral philosophers. there arose the philosophy of education, making the subject a basis for philosophical speculation and applying to the systems then in vogue the severe test of reason. in this way some glaring abuses were revealed which urgently demanded correction. the entire monastic system, based upon conventional grounds, was full of faults and the reverse of practical, showing an utter disregard of the demands of life. thus began the gradual emancipation of education from the shackles of monasticism, the urgent necessity of which was recognised even by some of the leading churchmen, whose works breathe the more liberal spirit of the new philosophy. the theorisings of fénelon mark a new departure in moral education, and his ideas became the prevailing ones of the eighteenth century which he heralded. he did not fall into the error made by his predecessors of overlooking the female half of society, but placed himself on the standpoint that the education of women is as important a social problem as that of men. at the time of the composition of his treatise "_de l'education des filles_" (published in ) he was director of the "nouvelles catholiques", a parisian institution in which female converts from protestantism were educated. its direct claims on behalf of woman--apart from absolute insistence on the right of a moral education--are rather modest, but its originality consists in the introduction of the problems of feminine psychology, lifting the subject into the sphere of moral philosophy. unmoved by the passion which swayed some of the later feminists--there is a wide gulf between his ideal of morality and theirs of equality--the moderation of his views and the soundness of his logic gained him a hearing and procured him some staunch supporters among the better précieuses, who justly admired his insight into the female character. madame de maintenon was very much taken with his ideas and even procured him an appointment to the archbishopric of cambrai. while insisting on the fundamental difference between the male and the female character, fénelon never hesitates to put woman on the same level as man, without troubling to decide the theoretical question of superiority. the all-important promise of eternity he believed to apply with perfect equality to both sexes, and as regards earthly life he held that man and woman are too fundamentally different to allow of comparison in the sense of competition. however, he recognised that while the chief duties of man were concerned with social life, those of woman lay within a smaller circle: that of the home, upon the management of which depend both the happiness of every individual and the prosperity of the state; thus granting to woman a sphere of interest and activity in no wise inferior to, though different from, that of man, and exhorting her to fulfil those sacred duties to the very best of her ability. the domestic duties of womanhood are first regarded by fénelon as an important social function, for which the monastic education was the worst preparation that could be imagined. there are not only children to be educated, but servants to be managed. the more deeply we enter into the spirit and full purport of fénelon's contentions, the more it strikes us how he anticipates all the points of discussion which were to keep the philosophical moralists of the next century busy. a woman may excel in the art of being served; she may show in her treatment of her inferiors that she realises the great truth that all human beings in their widely different social stations are equal before god, and that any amount of authority involves an equal amount of responsibility. ideas like the above seem to belong to the eighteenth century rather than to the seventeenth. fénelon was in the full sense of the word: a pioneer. we have said that the jansenist educators held that "la composition du coeur de l'homme est mauvaise dès son enfance", directing their efforts towards reclamation from innate evil. fénelon's views are more optimistic. to him, there is no original tendency towards either good or evil. everything depends upon guidance; give a child a good education and all its possibilities for good will be developed and bear fruit. the sole aim of education is not social influence or intellectual culture, but merely what he calls "l'amour de la vertu". and who can be fitter for such a task than the girl's own mother? "a good mother", says fénelon, "is infinitely preferable to the best convent". only she can prepare her daughter for the domestic circle over which it will one day be her task to preside, and only she has enough natural affection for her to impress upon her receptive mind lessons of moral wisdom. boys, who are brought up to be citizens, require a public education, but for girls there is no place of education like the home, watched over by a loving mother. a few of the points introduced may here be passed in rapid review. great stress is laid on tenderness in education. unless the pupil feels real affection for the teacher, unless the task of learning lessons is made a pleasant, and not a wearisome one, the results will be disappointing. gentle reasoning and persuasion ought therefore as a rule to take the place of severity. also in matters of religion an appeal should be made to the child's budding reason. the religious principles should be instilled in a subtle, slightly philosophical manner, and cleverly arranged questions--often in the form of metaphors or similes--should suggest to the pupil the expected replies. here we have an anticipation of that "mise en scène" which becomes a striking feature in rousseau. a close study of the characters of women implies an insight into the essentially feminine failings, which may render them unfit for their task, and therefore ought to be first exposed and then carefully eradicated. fénelon's list of female shortcomings and their remedies proves that there was no great difference in the matter of inclinations between the female youth of france and that of england. their worst vices are said to proceed from the misdirection of two characteristically feminine qualities: imagination and sensibility. want of purpose renders the former over-active and turns it towards dangerous objects. a careful watch should be kept over the literature put into the hands of young females, for of the amorous romances then in vogue which were so eagerly devoured by the sex, the majority were far too stimulating to an imagination which in the close seclusion of home- or convent-life was but too apt to run riot. by living in an imaginary society of "précieux et précieuses" the girls became dissatisfied with everyday life and were made unfit for it. another dangerous consequence of inoccupation is that thirst for amusement which is the leading motive in female society. it creates egoists, bent upon indulging every wanton caprice. this, coupled with physical weakness, makes women resort to cunning and dissimulation as a means of attaining their end, to the detriment of their moral characters. vanity, which is another inherent portion of the female character, is responsible for that inordinate desire to please which in leading to an all-absorbing passion for clothes and fashion threatens to ruin domestic life and to deprave the female morals. fénelon had no patience with the "précieuses" of the decline, who tried to appear "savantes" without being even "instruites". to him, the value of knowledge depends entirely on its practical use as a means of edifying the mind and soul. woman was not meant for science, and what fénelon has seen of the "femme savante" is not calculated to make him enthusiastic. girls should feel "une pudeur sur la science presque aussi délicate que celle qu'inspire l'horreur du vice." his programme of subjects of female study is correspondingly small. reading and writing, spelling, arithmetic and grammar are the principal. in addition, music, painting, history, latin and literature are conditionally recommended, for the individual talents have to be taken into consideration. fénelon's picture of contemporary womanhood is far from alluring. its chief interest lies in the circumstance that it is the first instance in french literature of a systematic estimate of female manners based upon the feminine psychology, anticipating the current opinion among the writers of the next century regarding the foibles of the sex. fénelon was among the first to realise--what mary wollstonecraft a century later stated with that characteristic frankness which almost entirely robbed her of female sympathy--that the worst enemy of female emancipation is, and always has been, woman herself. as long as the majority of women make considerations of sex the foundation of all their actions, it will prove impossible for the champions of equality to accomplish their full aims. although a churchman and a moralist, fénelon was in open revolt against the spirit of monasticism which regarded only eternity and failed to see its relation to everyday life, with its many exigencies. the best preparation for eternity, according to him, is a daily attention to the nearest duties of life. not science, but the domestic circle was the proper domain of woman. more necessary than theoretical knowledge was that practical instruction in the little household ways which turn a young woman into a good housekeeper. what fénelon did not sufficiently realise, was the indispensable connection between a moral and an intellectual education. the theory that perfect virtue arises out of the intellect and derives its chief value from a rational source, was a further step in the same direction which it was left to his successors to take. but he was instrumental in preparing the enfranchisement of the female education from the narrow principles of that church to which he belonged heart and soul. his precepts were almost immediately put in practice. making some allowance for personal inclinations and circumstances which forbade their full application, we may call madame de maintenon the foremost pupil of fénelon's school. this remarkable woman's educational views present two entirely different aspects. she was a pietist of the roman catholic faith, but with certain leanings towards liberalism which smacked of heresy, the origin of which may be found in the influence of the philosophical creeds with which her early career as a précieuse had brought her into contact. on the other hand, her experience of society--after her marriage to the poet scarron she had for some years kept a salon in paris--had given her a taste for literature and made her a believer in "l'art de dire et d'écrire" as one of the necessary elements of female education. she thus combined in her person two of the principal tendencies of the century: a strong religious spirit and an intense interest in literature, and both became important factors in her educational system, in which she aimed at reconciling the exigencies of the world with the demands of piety in forming society women who were devout christians. she was a woman of practical common sense, actuated by the most unselfish motives, and devoted to the exercise of that reason which she held ought to be the constant regulator of piety and the governing motive of all human actions. nothing could be more directly opposed to the monastic spirit. her principles therefore stamped her as a reactionary of fénelon's school, save for the fact that "the world was too much with her", which made her always keep in view that polite society whose morals she had set out to improve, and the allurements of which constantly clashed with the rigidity of her religious devotion. at the same time the charms of domesticity appealed to her as strongly as to fénelon. reason, she argued, forbids the education of women to any station except that for which providence originally intended them, and providence never meant them to pass their lives in a convent, but rather in the domestic circle as devoted wives and loving mothers. she felt the monastic education to be a violation of the destination of womanhood, and her educational writings were a plea for emancipation from the compulsion of conventional religiosity with its disregard of practical life. the equality-claim has no place in her programme. the very spirit of christianity condemns it. "dieu a soumis notre sexe au moment qu'il l'a créé, la faiblesse de notre esprit et de notre corps a besoin d'être conduite, soutenue et protégée; notre ignorance nous rend incapable de décision, et nous ne pouvons dans l'ordre de dieu, gouverner que dépendamment des hommes." no further steps towards intellectual, social or political enfranchisement are to be expected from madame de maintenon. although woman can only "govern dependently", yet her rule of the home--and here again she fully agrees with fénelon--is of the utmost importance, not only to her own small circle, but to society, or rather to that portion of it which alone had her full regard and affection: the kingdom of france. woman was meant for marriage and her education should be relative to her position in society. plutarch's line of thought, which we had almost lost sight of, re-enters the stage with the appearance of fénelon and madame de maintenon. no motives of false delicacy should withhold from young women such information as may be useful to them in their struggle against the temptations of the outside world. the right place to prepare them for their natural place in society is not the convent, but the college, where the educational taste is entrusted to capable teachers, of whom it may be said that "le monde n'est étranger qu'à leur coeur". the optimistic faith in the capability of her sex of being perfected, which links her to helvétius and the other encyclopedians gave her the necessary courage to attempt an experiment which she confidently trusted might lead to a general reform in female morals. the words of racine's _esther_: ici, loin du tumulte, aux devoirs les plus saints tout un peuple naissant est formé par mes mains, are a faithful reflection of her hope for the future. and so madame de maintenon declared war against convention and tradition and went the way she had marked out for herself. her influence with the king enabled her to carry out her scheme to the minutest details and became the means of placing the vast establishment of st. cyr at her disposal. the time had come to realise her dream of education. two hundred and fifty girls of aristocratic families whom the endless wars had ruined, were entrusted to the care of a headmistress, mme de brinon, and her staff, under madame de maintenon's personal superintendance. it was her wish that they should constitute a large family and that the relation between teacher and pupil should be as nearly as possible that of mother to child, so as to make the reality differ as little as possible from what fénelon's theory had considered the ideal form. the secular character of the establishment--on which the king had also insisted, holding that there were already more nuns than was strictly compatible with the interests of his kingdom--appeared from the fact that the teachers--"les dames de saint louis"--were called "madame" instead of "soeur" and wore dresses which, although simple, were different from those worn in the convent. they were not at first expected to take the vow for life, but their patroness expressed a distinct wish that they should always regard their pupils' interests before their own and show the greatest possible devotion to this task. in respect of this insistence upon the most absolute self-abnegation--involving a most unyielding sternness in taking what seemed the right moral course and a most complete subjection on the part of the pupil--mme de maintenon's ideas came dangerously near those of the jansenists against whose severe methods she professed to be in revolt. the rules of discipline at st. cyr were in some respects as strict as those practised at port royal and in both the motive was to shield the pupil against contamination. realising the danger of influence from abroad at an age when the character was not sufficiently formed, and apt to take impressions too easily, mme de maintenon determined that all parental authority should cease. the girls were kept in the establishment until they were well out of their teens, and supposed to be morally strong enough to resist temptation and to exercise influence on their surroundings instead of undergoing it. there were no holidays and the "demoiselles" were allowed to see their parents only four times a year for half an hour or so under the watchful eye of one of the mistresses. even their correspondence with them was limited, and the tone of the letters had to be strictly formal, in fact they were mere exercises of style. apart from these restrictions, the girls were treated with great kindness, if with little outward show of affection. mme de maintenon was too much devoted to reason to approve of such demonstrations, and wished the emotions to be kept under strict control. on the other hand, punishments were few, the teacher took a liberal share in all recreations and amusements, and the necessary instruction was made as attractive and imparted in as unobtrusive a manner as possible, in accordance with fénelon's precepts. the sudden change in mme de maintenon's system of discipline which took place in the third year of st. cyr and which narrowed down the comparative liberty which had been a fundamental principle to the absolute subjection described above, was a frank avowal of the failure of her original methods and at the same time a proof of the sincerity of her endeavour. it was due to a most unexpected development. in the first years of st. cyr--the establishment was opened in --the study of literature had occupied an important place among the subjects of the curriculum. the girls were made to act little domestic scenes written by the headmistress. at the patroness's instigation an experiment was made with racine's "_andromaque_", which, in her opinion, "succeeded too well", for the girls so entered into the spirit of the play, and developed such histrionic talents, that their monitress, realising the danger, asked racine to write another play specially for them. in accordance with this request the great dramatist wrote "_esther_", which was performed several times before the king and a select audience with signal success, and results disastrous to the spirit prevailing among the girls of st. cyr. never before had the discipline of the institution been in greater jeopardy. the girls' heads were turned, and their vanity and conceit knew no bounds. mme de maintenon saw that energetic measures were urgently called for, and did not hesitate to adopt them. with an earnestness and resolution greatly to her credit she undertook the necessary reform with the effect of radically removing whatever was liberal and reactionary in her system, and reducing st. cyr to a slightly modified form of a convent, thus granting to her opponents the satisfaction of a great moral victory, which the latter deserved no more than mme de maintenon deserved her defeat. one of the unfortunate consequences was that the instruction which the girls received, and which had never been abundant, was reduced to almost a minimum. "il n'est point question de leur orner l'esprit", said mme de maintenon. the horrors of exaggerated preciosity were ever since before her eyes. too much learning, she feared, might turn the girls into précieuses, and manual labour was introduced as an effective antidote. fortunately the years tended to soften the severity which had prevailed immediately after the catastrophe, and upon the whole the institution, which enjoyed special protection and undiminished popularity until its suppression by the convention in , could boast excellent results, and turned out some real "ornaments of their sex". it seems a pity that in mme de maintenon's schemes so secondary a place should have been given to that education of the mind which is so essential to lasting improvement. she inevitably suffers by comparison with her contemporary mme de sévigné, whose correspondence with her daughter mme de grignan contains a most enlightened scheme for the education of her granddaughter pauline de simiane. she recognises that it is by literature that the mind is fed, and since to the pure everything is pure, there is little to be feared even of the otherwise pernicious reading of novels, for a sound mind will not easily go astray. an optimistic view of education, taking its root in considerations of philosophy, for mme de sévigné, like her daughter, was a cartesian. in comparing her contribution to the educational problem with that of mme de maintenon, it should be remembered, however, that an individual education within the family circle offers better opportunities for freedom and less danger of contamination than the collective system of st. cyr. mme de sévigné's ideas, contained in private correspondence, intended only for her daughter's use and entirely without the militant spirit, exercised little influence and were of little direct value to the cause of feminism. footnotes: [ ] cf. the two articles in "_a cambridge history of english literature_", by prof. f. m. padelford (vol. p. ) and by prof. h. v. routh (vol. p. ). [ ] cf. p. . [ ] see also page . [ ] a very interesting article on "_le tiers livre du pantagruel et la querelle des femmes_" by m. abel lefranc, containing an extensive list of contributions to the feminist and the anti-feminist literature of the time, may be found in the "revue des etudes rabelaisiennes", (tome ii, ). [ ] heinrich morf, in his "_geschichte der französischen literatur im zeitalter der renaissance_" relates that a number of ladies took to frequenting the _académie de poésie et de musique_ founded by baïf under the auspices of charles ix; especially after his successor henry iii had transferred its seat to an apartment in the louvre, whence it came to be called "_académie du palais_". [ ] p. rousselot. _histoire de l'education des femmes en france._ poullain de la barre owes his revival to an article by m. henri piéron in the "_revue de synthèse historique_" of . the latter's judgment is based upon two works: "_de l'egalité des sexes_" and "_de l'education des dames_", which he found in the bibliothèque nationale. in the "_revue d'histoire littéraire de la france_" contained an article by m. henri grappin, pointing out that some of poullain's works had been overlooked, supplying a full list of his literary productions and fully discussing one, entitled: "_de l'excellence des hommes, contre l'egalité des sexes_." the above-named three are the only treatises by poullain which bear upon the position of women. [ ] cf. livet, _précieux et précieuses_, p. xxv. chapter iii. _the position of french women in eighteenth century society._ in the earlier half of the eighteenth century, at a time when the inferiority of english women was so generally recognised as to leave no room at all for controversy, the woman question was attracting a good deal of notice in france, and scarcely a year passed without some kind of contribution to its literature.[ ] it was by this time an acknowledged problem, and theoretically speaking it may be said that by the middle of the century feminism in france had carried the day, thanks mainly to the influence of modern philosophy, which the salons helped in propagating. the instruction-problem was also settled in theory in a manner satisfactory to feminists, and only that of female occupations remained as yet unbroached. the position of women in society not only became a favourite topic of conversation and controversy, but came to command a number of able pens in periodical literature and in the drama. in the latter branch of literature a number of pieces were written on the subject, some of which were hostile and sought the aid of ridicule, but of which the majority were of a more sympathetic tendency, showing that molière's attack had failed. all the important theatres paid their tribute of attention to the cause of feminism. one of the earliest was montchenay's "_cause des femmes_", a comedy performed at the théâtre italien as early as , while a more elaborate dramatic statement of the cause, entitled "_l'ile des amazones_" was composed in by lesage and d'orneval, and suggested the machinery of the "_amazones modernes_" of legrand ( ), performed at the théâtre français. this brings us to the field of utopian literature _à la_ mrs. manley, whose "_new atlantis_" had appeared a few years previously. the amazons, who had founded their own community in a remote island, having forsworn the society of men, made their return conditional on the acceptance of the following terms: stly, there was to be no subordination of the wife to the husband; ndly, the women were to be allowed to study, and to have their own universities; rdly, they were to be eligible to the highest positions in the army as in jurisdiction and finance; and finally it was to be considered as shameful an act on the part of a man to break the conjugal faith as on that of a woman, so that men might no longer boast of that which in a woman was deemed criminal. that the last was among the most rankling sores will be seen later on, when the "dual standard of morality" aroused the indignation of true "blues" like mrs. chapone, and equally of radical feminists like mary wollstonecraft. but the piece in which the question was best and most conclusively treated was a comedy, entitled "_la colonie_", which marivaux wrote about the middle of the century, and which, possibly owing to lack of success, was not included in the different editions of his works, so that it is at present accessible only in the _mercure de france_ of [ ]. it was on the whole sympathetic to women, in spite of the failure of their effort--described in the play--to establish a feminine republic, and the pleasantries of which men and women alike are the object. both the weak points of the female character, as vanity, coquetry, garrulity and frivolity, and those of the men, as envy and vainglory, are made the object of ridicule. but the feminist tendency of the whole appears from the fact that the speeches of the female leaders are more reasonable than those of the males who are worsted by them. the women of the island-state, bent upon vindicating their rights, and inflamed by the speeches of arthenice and madame sorbin,--whose respective lover and husband occupy responsible positions on the male side--contemplate a final breach between the sexes. they experience their first disappointment when the young and pretty women refuse to give up their empire of coquetry, especially when told to make themselves ugly! an ultimatum is duly sent to the male leaders, demanding the admission of women to different occupations and equality between the sexes in matrimonial affairs, a refusal of which will mean instant dissolution of the social state. when the men, driven to despair, are on the point of surrendering, a philosopher's stratagem brings relief. rumours are spread of a hostile attack upon the island, and the women, by virtue of the proposed compact, are called upon to swell the ranks of the defending army. this proves too much for the majority, who find that they prefer the worries of the daily household routine to the hardships of war, causing peace to be restored. the periodical essay was also made subservient to the propagation of feminist ideas when in , while in london, mme leprince de beaumont started the "_nouveau magasin français_", in which the rights of women were vindicated with great fervour. nine years later, a second, even more pronounced attempt to adapt the periodical to the female interests was made in the "_bibliothèque des femmes_", which after a short run, was continued in the "_journal des dames_". this paper, which enjoyed great success, was continued for twenty years, during which it served the female interests and contained a number of articles written by women. the original intention of having only female contributors proved incapable of realisation. the paper sang the praises of women in different keys, as an antidote to the daily revilings in other periodicals, and the original idea of promoting the female interests by stimulating the female intellect was gradually lost sight of. but the greatest friends of woman and her cause, who fought and won her battles for her, and were willing to recognise her empire, were the philosophers of the encyclopedia, with the emphatic exception of that most inconsistent of all geniuses: j. j. rousseau. the encyclopedian spirit is best reflected by d'alembert's "_lettre à j. j. rousseau_", written in reply to the "_lettre sur les spectacles_" in the famous controversy on the drama. he protests against the latter's cynical views of womanhood. the human race would be indeed in a pitiable condition, he says, if the worthiest object of the male homage were indeed so rare an occurrence as rousseau chooses to intimate. but supposing he should be right, to what cause would such a deplorable state of things be attributable? "l'esclavage et l'espèce d'avilissement où nous avons mis les femmes; les entraves que nous donnons à leur esprit et à leur âme, le jargon futile et humiliant pour elles et nous; auquel nous avons réduit notre commerce avec elles, comme si elles n'avaient pas une raison à cultiver, ou n'en étaient pas dignes; enfin, l'éducation funeste, je dirai presque meurtrière, que nous leur prescrivons, sans leur permettre d'en avoir d'autre; éducation ou elles apprennent presque uniquement à se contrefaire sans cesse, à n'avoir pas un sentiment qu'elles n'étouffent, une opinion qu'elles ne cachent, une pensée qu'elles ne déguisent. nous traitons la nature en elles comme dans nos jardins, nous cherchons à l'orner en l'étouffant." and d'alembert makes an appeal to the philosophers of the age to destroy so pernicious a prejudice, to shake off the barbarous yoke of custom and to set the example by giving their daughters the same education as their sons, that they may be saved from idleness and the evils that follow inevitably in its train. and the cause of woman thus became incorporated in the great scheme of liberty and equality which was slowly maturing in the master minds of the nation. the gulf that yawned between the two opposing parties was widening every instant. on one side were those in possession of power and authority, leaning upon custom and tradition, drawing what inspiration animated them from the source of the ancients and stubbornly opposing any change which might tend to undermine their position. ranged on the other was the intellect of the nation, the devotees of a philosophy which held the promise of the millennium to be almost within immediate reach, firing the mind with their daring schemes for improvement and asserting the coming triumph of modernism. nothing could be more natural than that woman should throw in her lot with the latter and that her cause should become a subdivision of the great problem of humanity. the great sphere of activity, next to the wide field of literature, was the more modest compass of the eighteenth century salon. madame de lambert herself draws a parallel somewhere between the salons of the seventeenth and those of the eighteenth century, more especially with regard to the prevailing codes of morality. her conclusions, like those of m. brunetière nearly two centuries later, are overwhelmingly in favour of mme de rambouillet and her contemporaries. she complains that the delicate intellectual amusements of the seventeenth century assemblies have been largely superseded by the grosser delights of the card-table and of a declining stage. the merest semblance of knowledge is regarded with disapproval,--this in consequence of molière's furious onslaught in his _femmes savantes_--and as a natural consequence of ignorance, the female morals have sadly decayed. being thus deprived of the means of improving the mind, women are naturally driven to a life of pleasure-seeking. and she doubts whether society has derived any benefit from the change. "les femmes ont mis la débauche à la place du savoir, le précieux qu'on leur a tant reproché, elles l'ont changé en indécence." in other words, mme de lambert wanted to return to the earlier preciosity, granting women the right to be instructed, and trying to steer clear of those excesses which had called forth the attacks of molière and boileau. she emphatically protests against the pernicious habit of making a pleasing appearance the sole aim of female education, and claims for her sex the blessings of an education which in cultivating the mind will improve the female morals. it would be impossible to deny that the moral standard was considerably lower than it had been half a century earlier. the consequences entailed by the revocation of the edict of nantes and by the suppression of port royal had been equally disastrous. the chief bulwarks of protestant and catholic orthodox faith had been removed, leaving a free field to both libertinage and disbelief. the coarseness of manners which it had been the aim of the rambouillet societies to suppress reasserted itself on the one hand, while on the other the rising spirit of philosophical inquiry and scientific research had degenerated into a scepticism which was no longer counteracted by that spirit of religious mysticism which had been a weapon of orthodoxy against unbelief. the encyclopedian spirit often spelt deism and atheism, both of which flourished in the salons. the very fact that their society was no longer exclusive, but freely admitted people of all class and opinions, and from different parts of the world, accounts for the enormous influence exercised by these "bureaux d'esprit" upon public opinion in the eighteenth century. moreover, the monarchical power was declining, and the king, in establishing a barrier between himself and the society of the salons, was himself instrumental in raising opinions which more and more became the prevailing ones, and upon which he had no influence whatever. rationalism began to gain ground rapidly and became a basis for speculations which soon came to include politics and economics. m. brunetière, whose judgment on the salons of the eighteenth century is very severe, complains that the lofty artistic and moral ideals of the preceding generation had given way to scepticism and to cynicism of a kind which made madame de tencin refer to her guests as "ses bêtes". this statement, which no doubt is mainly correct, seems strange in consideration of the fact that it was by the new philosophy which the same salons helped in spreading, that the great problems of the future of the human race were put forward, which in broader minds gave rise to much idealism in what m. du bled so finely calls: "le souci de la modernité." but eighteenth century society regarded philosophy as an intellectual pastime rather than as bringing the hope of relief to the oppressed millions, and if it occasionally dabbled in social problems, the misery of the multitude did not touch the majority of those who lived lives of comfort and luxury, and were utterly unacquainted with suffering, very deeply. no direct attempt at improvement, therefore, was to be expected from them, they were talking in theory about things of the practice of which they knew nothing. brunetière calls the eighteenth century salon "le triomphe de l'universelle incompétence", with which its seventeenth century predecessor, with its more limited programme, compares favourably. it became habitual "to talk wittily of serious problems, while seriously discussing trifling subjects". it needed, indeed, the fiery imagination and fervent enthusiasm of a rousseau to inspire the philosophical theories with the life of his genius. and yet, if the social problems of the time were not directly solved by eighteenth century society, they were at least formulated by it in such a manner as to make them the catchword of the period and to draw to them the attention of those who were better able to do them justice. the very fact that the salons were ruled over by women and independent of court-influence made them the place where opinions were most freely uttered and most readily listened to. literature, which had been the chief occupation of the early salons, now found a powerful rival in science. the poetry of the eighteenth century "ruelles" became of an even lighter and more insipid kind. on the other hand, the latter half of the previous century had witnessed a growing interest in anatomy and surgery, and after the introduction (by fontenelle) of astronomy as a fashionable science, newton became the rage, and ladies of quality like the marquise du châtelet were among his worshippers. the domination of the salons thus became extended to philosophy, science, economics and politics. when the ancient and modern controversy was re-introduced in the opening years of the century, nearly all the female philosophers were fervent partisans of the moderns, believing in a future in which all human beings would be guided by the light of reason. of this eighteenth century modernism, feminism is, in fact, only a subdivision. this appears from the work of poullain de la barre, and still more from the great defence of the cause of woman (when threatened by boileau in satire x "_sur les femmes_") by the great champion of modernism perrault in his "_apologie des femmes_." the moderns, indeed, saw in the prejudice against women a remnant of the servility of antiquity which was in flagrant contradiction with the dictates of reason. hence the close connection between feminist literature in the eighteenth century and life in the salons, of which the authors were mostly among the regular frequenters. the marquise de lambert laid down her ideas of feminism in her "_réflexions sur les femmes_", and we have seen that both d'alembert and marivaux were among the staunch defenders of the right of the sex to equal consideration. boileau's death had left the "précieuses" in the undisputed possession of the field of light literature, to which now became added that of science. this new form of preciosity, "la préciosité scientifique", which made its appearance in the salon of mme de lambert, where it found an ardent worshipper in fontenelle, grew so powerful that even voltaire's efforts to crush it with ridicule were unavailing. so strong had the female dictatorship become, that three of the most influential men-of-letters in the kingdom had vainly tried to get the better of it. but unfortunately the platonic ideal to which the women of the preceding century had owed their ascendancy had degenerated, and in consequence of the altered circumstances women often had to buy with physical submission and degradation that worship of their beauty and deference to their opinion which made them at the same time the rulers and the slaves of men, and against which the moralists of the century, with the glaring exception of rousseau, made it their business to protest loudly, but in vain. mme de lambert merely wanted to restore the right sort of preciosity to its throne as an antidote to the evils of ignorance, in which she set herself the ideals of the hôtel de rambouillet, and advocated moderation in everything. her salon thus became as much a protest against exaggeration and affectation as against the prevailing opinion that the education of women should only aim at teaching them how to please the opposite sex. an occasional frequenter calls it "l'hôtel de rambouillet présidé par fontenelle, et où les précieuses corrigées se souvenaient de molière." being left a widow at a comparatively early age, mme de lambert opened her salon in the palais mazarin in the rue colbert about . she was at that time rather more than fifty, and reigned supreme over her circle of visitors for more than thirty years. she set herself to prove that it was possible to have a lively entertainment without the help of the card-table, relying chiefly on conversation and literature. her tuesdays and wednesdays soon became famous, and attracted both the aristocracy and the literati. among her regular visitors were fontenelle, marivaux, mlle de launay (mme de staal) and de la motte, champion of the moderns, whilst mme dacier undertook the defence of the opposite cause. mme de lambert herself was the ruling spirit of the académie, of which the way towards membership lay through her favour, and the chief literary productions previous to being published--if published they were--were read and criticised in her circle. if mme de lambert deserves mention for having kept a salon which formed a link between the seventeenth and the eighteenth century, and exercised a beneficial influence on the tone of conversation, she is even more entitled to attention on account of the part played by her in the development of feminism. she was a moralist rather than educator, and followed in the steps of fénelon. she had the cartesian belief in the infallibility of reason, with two exceptions, which do honour to the qualities of her heart, and saved her from the inevitable conclusions of logic _à outrance_: religion and honour. "il y a deux préjugés auxquels il faut obéir: la religion et l'honneur", and a little further: "en fait de religion, il faut céder aux autorités. sur tout autre sujet, il ne faut recevoir que celle de la raison et de l'évidence", excluding even honour. but her actions show that she realised the danger which lies in obeying the duties of reason while totally excluding the admonitions of the heart. stronger than her love of logic was that exquisite form of sensibility which made her at least a real champion of the less fortunately situated. there is real concern for the welfare of her inferiors in the precept that "servants should be treated as unhappy friends", and a true love of humanity in the statement that "humanity suffers in consequence of the inequality which fortune has introduced among men". words which come from the heart and entitle her to sympathy and admiration. her ideas concerning female education are contained in the "_avis d'une mère à sa fille_". she insists on the importance of cultivating the female mind to render woman an agreeable companion to her husband, who will then honour her and give her her due. and she places herself on the standpoint which mary wollstonecraft took after her, in basing upon this foundation her vindication of women's _right_ to be instructed. she complains of the tyranny of men, who condemn to ignorance the partners of their wedded lives, disregarding the pernicious consequences entailed thereby. for ignorance leads to vice, and the mind should be kept employed, were it only as a means of avoiding mischief. to mme de lambert the muses were "l'asyle des moeurs". her educational scheme contains more instruction than fénelon's, as it includes philosophy, which is to reclaim women to virtue through the medium of reason. of all the french female authors on the woman question it is mme de lambert whose ideas show the nearest approach to mary wollstonecraft. the essential difference between the two--the former's indifference to political emancipation--was due to a difference in social circumstances, which made her a ruler whose influence over men no political enfranchisement could have increased, and also to the condition of things in france, where the first steps towards the political equality of the stronger sex were yet to be taken. she believed the domestic circle to be the proper sphere of women, and her "metaphysics" of love--if less fantastic than the ideals of her th century predecessors, which, however, found some adherents among the regulars of her own circle in de la motte and the duchesse du maine--were certainly more conducive to real happiness in the high moral principles out of which they arose. it was the marquis d'argenson who said of her writings that they were "un résumé complet de la morale du monde et du temps présent la plus parfaite", and there seems no reason to doubt the truth of his judgment. unfortunately the good example set by the marquise de lambert was not followed in other circles, where the increasing influence of the feminine element, instead of purifying the morals of the male sex, depraved them yet further. the great catastrophe of the end of the century was hastened by the vicious excesses of many females. goncourt says that the eighteenth century lady of quality represented the principle that governed society, the reason which directed it and the voice which commanded it; she was, in fact, "la cause universelle et fatale, l'origine des événements, la source des choses," and nothing could be achieved without her concurrence. rousseau, when first arriving in paris, was advised by a jesuit to cultivate the acquaintance of women, "for nothing ever happened in paris except through them". the bulk of female influence upon the morals of the century was disastrous. the gross materialism amongst society-women found expression in a well-known utterance of the marquise du châtelet: "we are here merely to procure ourselves the greatest possible variety of agreeable sensations." the most perverse code of morality came to reign in some of the most-frequented salons. one of the leading hostesses of paris boasted that one of her reception-days was reserved for "gentlemen of a damaged reputation", the so-called "jour des coquins". of the englishmen who frequented these circles of appalling vice, horace walpole--who in a space of forty years paid six successive visits to paris, and who was very far indeed from being a sentimentalist,--refers to the utter absence of any sense of decency among people whose chief occupation was the demolition of all authority, whether temporal or spiritual, including the divine authority itself. one of the worst examples of the epicurian spirit was furnished by the salon of the notorious mme de tencin. she disdained even to keep up the appearance of quasi-platonic courtship and lived in open and shameless debauch. her entire life was made up of political intrigues and adventures of gallantry, in which she turned the latter to account to promote the former. she possessed plenty of literary talent, and her two novels "_le comte de comminges_" and "_le siège_ _de calais_" rank among the best female productions of the century--but even fontenelle thought her heartless. after a childhood spent in the very imperfect seclusion of a convent which was notorious for its nocturnal orgies, "la religieuse tencin" came to paris in to begin her siege of male hearts, directing her first attack against no less a person than the regent himself, and ultimately contenting herself with one of his ministers, which gallant adventure was followed by many more. she gave birth to a child, whom she deposited on the steps of a church, to be found and brought up by strangers. this child afterwards became the famous d'alembert. in order to be able to pursue her political schemes she filled her salon on different days of the week with people of various occupations and interests; keeping philosophers and académiciens, politicians and ecclesiastics carefully separated, making herself their confidante, and possessing herself of their secrets, managing them all so cleverly that they became her tools without being aware of it, secretly despising her "bêtes" while openly flattering them. the visitors to her two weekly dinners were nearly all men, bolingbroke and matthew prior being among her "habitués". apart from mme geoffrin, who became her successor, and of whom she said that "she only came to see if there was anything among her inventory that she might have a use for", there were hardly any women, for mme de tencin would brook no possible rivals. such was her degradation that she wrote a most indecent "_chronique scandaleuse_" for the special delectation of the regent. as mme de lambert's salon represents eighteenth century society at its best, so mme de tencin's foreshadowed some of the worst instances of female intriguing that were to follow. a totally different salon was that kept by mme geoffrin. mme de tencin--whose own birth was not above suspicion--had all the pride of class, and looked down upon the third estate; mme geoffrin on the contrary was the daughter of a court-valet and consequently remained all her life a "bourgeoise", without any pretence to "préciosité" or anything but a kind and warm heart, a most remarkable wit, sound common sense and a natural delicacy which made her an ideal hostess. for mme de tencin's lofty disdain she substituted an almost maternal solicitude for the welfare of her "children", who, with the exception of mlle de lespinasse, were of the male sex. besides d'alembert, diderot, morellet and grimm there were the ubiquitous horace walpole, david hume the philosopher and wraxall; the first-named of whom in his correspondence declared her to be "a most extraordinary woman with more common sense than he had ever encountered in one of her sex." the principles of the salon in the rue st. honoré were much the same as at mme de tencin's, but a milder spirit prevailed, and the demon of intrigue was absent. mme geoffrin kept fixed reception-days, her mondays being devoted to artists, and her wednesdays to men-of-letters and philosophers, while her intimates were made welcome on both days. the hostess presided over the assemblies without in any way obtruding her personal opinions or bringing her private interests into play, exercising an absolute authority which never became tyranny, and keeping peace among the more excitable of her guests[ ]. she was much appreciated by them all, not least by the future king of poland, stanislas augustus, her devoted "son", causing walpole to refer to her as "the queen-mother of poland". her apotheosis came when in her sixty-eighth year she visited warsaw, where she met with a royal reception. after her return her mental powers declined rapidly, and her daughter--fearing the influence of scepticism upon her mother--kept her favourite philosophers at a distance, eliciting from her the remark that she was, like godfrey of bouillon, "protecting her tomb against the infidels." the third of the "muses of the philosophical decameron", whose salon was much in vogue, was julie de lespinasse, whose attractive personality and brilliant conversational and epistolary powers account for her success. she combined the warmth of heart of mme geoffrin with the ardent temperament of mme de tencin, but without the latter's brazen-facedness. she possessed a degree of sensibility which made her succumb to different lovers "for each of whom she cherished a passion which it was beyond her power to resist." her youth had been fed with richardson, "_clarissa harlowe_" being her favourite. she had entered the employ of the famous marquise du deffand, herself a prominent hostess, in the capacity of reader. her wit and the natural buoyancy of her character soon made her more popular than her mistress, whose guests took to visiting her in her room, while her mistress was still asleep. mme du deffand in her jealousy accused her of "skimming off the cream of her visitors' conversation"; a breach followed, and julie was enabled by some supporters to set up a small salon in the rue st. dominique, which flourished from till the year of her death in . she could not afford sumptuous dinners, but her guests were sure of a warm welcome and of some interesting conversation, which she conducted so tactfully, effacing herself completely and making her guests feel at home by always appearing interested, that her lack of personal beauty was quite forgotten in the charm of her manner. politics were a frequent topic, and mlle de lespinasse was among the professed admirers of the british constitution. d'alembert, condorcet, turgot and also mme geoffrin belonged to her circle, and that walpole knew her also, appears from the correspondence between him and mme du deffand, who at julie's death complained that the rupture with her had robbed her of the friendship of d'alembert. while the women of society were celebrating their triumphs in the salons, philosophy was trying to do something for the female multitude. we have seen that it was fénelon who caused education to be included among the subjects of moral philosophy, but it was the diffusive power of rousseau's writings that made it one of the most frequently discussed themes of the century. his "_emile, ou de l'education_", which appeared in --curiously enough, the year of the suppression of jesuitism in france--marked a new era in the history of education, if not in that of feminism. of rousseau it might have been reasonably expected as the champion of liberty and equality to carry to their full extent the philosophical venturings of fénelon and thus to usher in a new era of female emancipation. however, with an inconsistency which is one of his chief characteristics, rousseau not only deliberately left the female half of mankind out of his scheme for political enfranchisement, but ranged himself among the anti-feminists by the great emphasis he laid on the consideration of a sexual character, which he construed into evidence of female inferiority, by arguing that it makes the subjection of woman a natural law, which is to be respected according to the theory that "whatever is in nature, must be right." owing to the contradictory nature of his views, however, while directly opposing the movement, he indirectly furthered it in two ways. in the first place, his social theories were adopted without reserve and without restrictions by some of his followers, who thus repaired the omission which had left woman out of the scheme; and secondly it was rousseau who once for all broke the back of the monastic system of education by continuing the campaign which fénelon in theory, and mme de maintenon in practice, had entered upon before him, and bringing it to a happy conclusion. the reduction and ultimate abolition of the education of religion, which was one of the great victories of the philosophical school, became manifest in the latter half of the century. it was a signal success, achieved over an unwilling government and crowned by the expulsion of the jesuits, who had formed one of the chief bulwarks against the growing revolutionary spirit. the cartesian principles, which had been a beacon-light to seventeenth century philosophy, were supplemented in the next by a new element: that of _utility_. in john locke's "_treatises of government_" and also in "_some thoughts concerning education_", he let himself be guided chiefly by considerations of usefulness, thus becoming the founder of that doctrine of utilitarianism which, after influencing the french encyclopedians, was to return to england a century later and to find a fervent champion in william godwin. in deciding upon a course of action, the inevitable question was: "what is the use?" and this guiding principle became paramount also in matters of education. to locke, who was a man of practical sense and not a mere theorist, the problem was how to make people understand their real interests, and to make them act in accordance with them, which must necessarily lead to happiness. his educational system, therefore, is based upon the communication of such useful knowledge as will most contribute to the total amount of happiness to be found on this globe[ ]. locke insisted on the necessity for a physical education which increases the mental and moral capacity by rendering the body less subject to fatigue. simplicity and effectiveness in dress and food, and plenty of outdoor exercise are recommended, and in this important matter, as indeed in a great many others, locke may be said to have struck the keynote of the philosophical tendencies of the eighteenth century, anticipating the famous nature-theory of rousseau. many important questions were mooted by him. he introduced the ethical problem of reward and punishment, and discussed the advisability of reasoning with a child and of making him learn a trade, which became a part of the educational programme of the next generations. the french philosophers became locke's immediate heirs, and afterwards repaid their debt to england with interest. where locke gave his "young gentleman" a tutor, his views were adopted by the opponents of the monastic education. it could hardly be expected of locke, who lived in a time when the female fortunes in his own country were at a very low ebb, to have paid much attention to the possibility of making women share in the obvious advantages of the new system. however, if he did little or nothing for british women, his theories were turned to account for the benefit of their french sisters, whose position in the lower walks of life was not very much better than theirs. his french disciples, carrying the theory of utility to its fullest extent, included the female sex in their reflections. the first in point of time was the abbé de st. pierre, of whom rousseau contemptuously said that he was "a man of great schemes and narrow views". seen from a feminist standpoint this judgment is cruelly unjust. for, even granting that the abbé's schemes were too utopian to be capable of full realisation--a circumstance he himself sadly recognised--the fact remains that he was responsible for the first project of female education _on a national basis_, making wholesale education a state-concern and thus wanting to extend the benefit of instruction to many who would otherwise be deprived of it. he stands at the beginning of the lane that leads via bernardin de st. pierre and talleyrand to the great condorcet. the abbé de st. pierre was willing to grant women _as a class_ that equality which the better-class women had actually attained, and he believed in their instruction, holding that on the instruction given to the young, whether male or female, depended the happiness of the coming race. but he believed still more in the necessity for a moral education, for his utilitarianism is not of this earth, but of eternity. with him the ever recurring question is: "what will it profit the soul?", and the fear of punishment in hell is rather stronger with him than the sense of moral duty. he thus laid himself open to attack from the notorious mme de puysieux, who believed in reputation and the preservation of appearances, informing him that it was silly to let the fear of hell withhold people from seeking happiness by cultivating the good opinion of others, _whether deserved or not_! the final clause sums up what moralists found most objectionable in the inclinations of a depraved age. the real aim of women, according to the abbé, should be to please god, and not men, so as to gain eternal life. he has no ambition for women beyond that of making them devout christians and good housekeepers, and his educational efforts are accordingly directed towards these two accomplishments. girls are to dress simply, to eschew cards--that curse of the age--and to learn useful needlework, the keeping of accounts and in general such things as will be of the greatest use to them in the performance of their domestic duties. but he very unaccountably refuses their youth the advantages and innocent enjoyments of home-life, wishing them to be brought up in colleges, in which they are to be kept immured until such time as their education will be completed, when they will be ready for matrimony! at college girls may learn to be good citizenesses, but they will scarcely gain the necessary experience for managing a home of their own. the comprehensiveness of his scheme, however, and his recognition of the female equality entitles him to a place in the history of feminism above rousseau. the latter's attitude towards the feminist movement is so complicated as to demand careful analysis. where women were concerned the strong individuality of the female genius would not allow him to side fully either with "those who wished to condemn them to a life of household-drudgery, making of them a sort of superior slaves, or those who, not satisfied to vindicate woman's rights, made her usurp those of the stronger sex", for the former have too low a notion of the duties of womanhood, whilst the latter overlook the considerations of a sexual character by which, according to rousseau, the relations between the sexes are exclusively determined. rousseau's opinion of the depth to which women had sunk appears from his "_lettre à d'alembert sur les spectacles_," which contains a fierce onslaught upon their moral perversity, which has caused the drama, too feeble to rise to worthier themes, to fall back upon erotics of a most despicable kind. rousseau judged women capable of becoming something better than what eighteenth century society had made of them, but in his demands for them and in his schemes for perfecting their moral education he was extremely modest. next to the salons he held the education of the convents, "ces véritables écoles de coquetterie", to be chiefly responsible for the degradation of the female character. the young women who, on leaving them, enter society, carry into instant practice the lessons of vanity and coquetry which the convents have supplied. for convent and salon rousseau wanted to substitute the blessings of true domesticity--painted in glowing colours in the pages of the "_nouvelle héloise_." his sympathies went out, not to that college-life of which the abbé de st. pierre had such sanguine expectations, but to the intimacies of the family-circle, presided over by loving parents, an ideal which he reintroduced in the fifth book of his treatise on education, where, circumstances rendering it advisable to provide the finished male product with a suitable partner for life, the principles of sophie's education are elaborately described[ ]. where he recommends making the duties of life as pleasant as possible to the young pupil, protesting against that austere conception which allowed her no other diversion than studies and prayers, rousseau sides with fénelon. in his opinion girls enjoy too little freedom, whilst grown-up women are left too much liberty. let the young girls have an opportunity to enjoy life, he says, or they will take it when they are older. nor does the notion of making them at an early age acquainted with the world inspire him with terror, for he trusts with mme de sévigné that the sight of noisy gatherings will only fill them with disgust instead of tempting them to imitation. so far there is nothing anti-feminist in rousseau's ideas. but unfortunately we have come to the end of what is positive and his further utterances rather advocate woman's subjection than her enfranchisement. the habit of reverting to first principles which is so dominant a characteristic of his nature-theory makes him draw a parallel between the sexes upon the foundation of those innate qualities which constitute the sexual character. men and women are the same in whatever is independent of sex, and radically different, almost diametrically opposed, in all that pertains to it. thus all disputes regarding equality are vain, for "in what the sexes have in common they are naturally equal, and in that in which they differ no comparison is possible". and woman is to be congratulated upon this diversity, for in it lies the great secret of her subtle power. where woman asserts the natural rights which arise from this difference she is superior to man; where she tries to usurp the natural rights of the opposite sex she remains hopelessly below their level. the two sexes have different spheres of activity, and each sex can do well only in its own sharply-defined sphere. reason itself demands this stress laid on the contrast between the sexes. for, says rousseau, once women are brought up to be as like men as possible, their authority and influence, _which are rooted_ _in their being essentially different_, will be lost without a substitute. this remark is one of great wisdom and psychological insight. rousseau saw what many extreme feminists are so apt to forget, that those who wish to develop in women those qualities which naturally belong to man, and to suppress in them what is proper to their own sex, are in reality doing them irreparable harm. there are, according to rousseau, a male empire and a female one. the former rests upon a foundation of superior physical strength and mental superiority; but although the stronger sex are masters in appearance, they in reality depend on the weaker. for the female empire, _established by nature herself_, derives its strength from those delicate feminine charms which command the worship of that gallantry which nature again has instilled into the hearts of men. in giving this interpretation of female power and influence rousseau exposed himself to attack. the platonic worship, we have seen, had sadly degenerated, and what remained was a worthless, hypocritical imitation which was felt by well-meaning women as an insult rather than a compliment. but what called down a storm of feminist indignation upon his head was the sweeping conclusion he drew from the natural law that man, having physical strength on his side, must always play the active part in the intercourse between people of different sexes, while woman has to be always content with the passive rôle. "the sole object of women," says rousseau, "ought consequently to be _to please_ men, on whom their relative weakness has made them dependent", and goes on to assert that all female education should as a natural consequence be "relative to men". there is in the above passage, which shows that on the subject of feminism rousseau, instead of a revolutionary, was rather a conservative, nothing to suggest the bold and daring vindication of female rights that was so soon to resound in the philosophical world like a mighty trumpet-blast. his ideas about the position of woman are characteristic of his want of equilibrium in presenting a bewildering chaos of judicious observations and unaccountable oversights. it is not so much that some of his statements are untrue, as that they are incomplete. in drawing sweeping conclusions from the physical inferiority of the sex he deliberately closes his eyes to their moral and mental possibilities. it is true that he insists upon a moral education for women, but whatever of merit may be contained in this claim is instantly neutralised by its only object: making women more acceptable companions to their husbands, contributing to the happiness of the latter by unwearying devotion and unalterable constancy. there are undoubtedly many women to whom the above would seem the most acceptable task, as there are others whose consciousness of their talents would make them indignantly reject so subordinate a part. as long as women are not cut after the same pattern, allowance will have to be made for individual propensities and any theory, however cleverly put together, will succeed with some types of womanhood and hopelessly fail with others. st. marc girardin indignantly remarks that the condition of the women in rousseau's nature-scheme suggests the oriental seraglio. this is an exaggeration, for the "relative education" is qualified by rousseau to such an extent that the harem-picture which it may at first conjure up is considerably modified. he wished the term "made to please men" to be understood in a far wider meaning than the merely sensual, for no one realised better than he that in the absence of a spiritual element no love based upon the grosser passions can possibly endure. where the female weaknesses and vanities are concerned rousseau's discernment even surpasses that of fénelon. the task of woman being to please, nature has made her regard above all things the opinion of the opposite sex. and the moralist who teaches men to ignore the opinion of others as destructive of individuality, goes so far as to prescribe for women an unlimited deference to opinion and reputation. "opinion, which is the grave of virtue among men, ought to be among women its high throne". the utilitarian question: "a quoi cela est-il bon?", which is to be the guiding principle in emile's case, changes its character where sophie is concerned, and becomes: "quel effet cela fera-t-il?" the question what impression a thing will produce naturally leads to putting the shadow before the substance, and appearance before reality, and as such may have a most disastrous effect. sophie's love of needlework is accounted for not so much by considerations of usefulness as by the reflection that this delicate occupation will make her appear to advantage to her admirer. the same train of thoughts makes her abominate the useful occupation of cooking, by which her hands might become soiled. did rousseau actually imagine that his much-recommended simplicity in dress would hold out against the innate love of finery which was to help in the accomplishment of what he considered the chief aim of womanhood? rousseau certainly did not mean to imply that woman must of necessity be morally inferior to man, but simply that nature had ordained that she shall be subjected to his superior strength, to his cooler judgment and to his superior common sense. he was certainly capable of imagining an ideal female, and of worshipping in her the essentially sexual qualities which make her differ from man. that portion of the fifth book of _emile_ which deals with the first meeting between the lovers leaves little doubt as to how he pictured to himself his ideal of womanhood. the philosophical treatise is more than once in danger of becoming a romance, embodying the slightly sobered ideals of courtship of the author of "_julie_". it cannot be denied that sophie has charm and that her subjection to emile is not oppressive. but to form a correct notion of rousseau's ideas regarding the social position of women we must strip the story of its lyrical element and glance at the purely philosophical portion of the treatise. it is there that we must look for an answer to the question: "did rousseau look upon women as partakers of the faculty of reason?" and he gives his reply in the following words: "l'art de penser n'est pas étranger aux femmes, mais elles ne doivent faire qu'effleurer les sciences de raisonnement." he would not even object to a system by which the functions of women were strictly limited to the performance of sexual duties, if it were not that utter ignorance would make them fall a too easy prey to rascally adventurers! the subsequent statement that, after all, it being the task of woman to get herself esteemed, _so as to justify her husband's choice_, a little knowledge would not come amiss, does not mend matters in its re-introduction of the relativity-principle. here indeed, rousseau "pitches the pipe too low". woman's special domain is that of sentiment. but the very "sensibility" which renders her more alluring by contrast, prevents her from forming a sound judgment. this appreciation of women appears clearly in the passages of _emile_ in which the choice of a religion is discussed. emile is not allowed to decide until he has completed his eighteenth year, when he is made to judge for himself, uninfluenced by his tutor. sophie's religious notions, on the contrary, are carefully instilled by her parents at an early age, it being silently taken for granted that she will never arrive at a degree of understanding which will enable her to form her own convictions. "the female reason is of a practical nature, which renders them very quick to find the means of arriving at a fixed conclusion, but _does not enable them_ _to form that conclusion independently of others_". again that utter dependence, that total lack of individuality which characterises rousseau's female ideal. "my daughter", says sophie's father, "knowledge does not belong to your age; when the time has come, your husband will instruct you." the amount of actual instruction in rousseau's scheme is reduced to a minimum. there is no knowing what damage may be done to the unstable female imagination by the dangerous literature of the time. here we recognise the author of the dijon prize-essay with its crushing conclusion. rousseau frankly hated the "femme bel esprit". sophie's mind is to be formed by observation and reflection, and not by books. but how can sophie be supposed to reflect, one might ask, unless she had certain fundamental truths pointed out to her, the instilment of which is not the work of every parent, however well-intentioned? it is rousseau's fatal mistake that he cannot bring himself to realise that moral culture simply cannot exist without a certain amount of intellectual culture. he wanted to have both granted to men, and his conclusions tended to withhold both from women. the march of humanity finds him in the first rank of those who were pioneers; the feminist movement, while recognising his cleverness, looks upon him as a dangerous, and sometimes does him the injustice of calling him an hypocritical enemy. the charge of insincerity has, indeed, been often brought against him, although he has found some defenders also. however, he is condemned by most women. mrs. fawcett, in her introduction to mary wollstonecraft's _vindication_, opines that a man who made so light of his duties towards his own children, and whose married life was so full of blame has no right to pronounce on problems which require the disinterestedness and self-abnegation of the pure idealist. where rousseau points out the shortcomings of the women, of his time and regrets them, he is with mary wollstonecraft; where he fails to show the way by which improvement may be attained, he remains hopelessly behind one who, with considerably less genius, had a great deal more moral courage and a far wider conception of the ideals of woman. of the disciples and opponents of rousseau, some of whom, like mme de staël, mme de genlis, and mme de necker de saussure were of the female sex, little need be said here, as their writings either did not throw any new light on the problem under consideration, or belong to a period following that of mary wollstonecraft. when the revolution came, bringing with it an increased demand for a public education, some of its theorists, who like condorcet, showed an interest in the female part of the problem, will call for mention. footnotes: [ ] the "_revue d'histoire littéraire de la france_" (tome xxiii, xxiv and xxv) contains a contribution by m. raymond toinet entitled: "les ecrivains moralistes au ième siècle"; being an alphabetical nomenclature of moral writings published during the age of louis the fourteenth ( - ). in this list works of a feminist or an anti-feminist nature figure so largely that little doubt can be entertained as to the interest taken in the topic under discussion. they may be conveniently classified as follows: _ ._ _assertions of female superiority_, including a. o. two french translations of agrippa, three pieces entitled: "_le triomphe des dames_", and one by mlle. jacquette guillaume, entitled: "_les dames illustres_". they were frequently combined with attacks on the male half of humanity, as in the case of regnard's "_satire contre les maris_". _ ._ _apologies for the female sex_, including perrault's "_apologie des femmes_", poullain de la barre's "_egalité des deux sexes_", and a latin translation of anna maria schuurman. some were meant as a refutation of some male attack. to this class belong ninon de l'enclos' "_coquette vengee_" and a number of replies to boileau's satire. _ ._ _attacks on the female sex_, which are gradually diminishing in number, or rather changing from the direct invective to the moral essay with a didactic purpose, busying itself with the female morals and the female character. a collection of pieces dealing with the problem of sexual preference was published in by de vertron under the name of "_la nouvelle pandore, ou les femmes illustres du siècle de louis le grand_". _ ._ _rules of female conduct_, for the use of young ladies "about to enter the world", insisting chiefly on the feminine duty of preserving the reputation. a translation of lord halifax's "_advice_" (see page ), "_etrennes ou conseils d'un homme de qualité à sa fille_" seems to have attracted some notice. _ ._ _pieces dealing with the relations between the sexes in daily intercourse_, including the subjects of love and gallantry, and of marriage. some are directly favourable to the state of matrimony, pointing to the reciprocal duties of the partners in the contract, and instructing them in the readiest way to happiness; others, frequently deriving their inspiration from boileau, arguing about marriage as a social institution and enumerating its advantages and its drawbacks. to the period under discussion belongs a translation of erasmus' "_christian marriage_". _ ._ _treatises of female education_, containing a plea for the development of the female intellect. they are, as yet, remarkably few. beyond the contributions by poullain de la barre and fénelon there are some half-dozen pieces dealing with the education of girls on a religious basis, and a few in which the question of the pursuit of science and philosophy by women is stated and answered favourably. there was an "_apologie de la science des dames, par cléante_", ( ); a treatise entitled: "_avantages que les femmes peuvent recevoir de la philosophie et principalement de la morale_", ( ); another by rené bary bearing the somewhat questionable title of "_la fine philosophie accommodée à l'intelligence des dames_", and, in conclusion, one by guillaume colletet, headed: "_question célèbre, s'il est nécessaire ou non que les filles soient savantes, agitée de part et d'autre par mlle anne marie de schurmann, hollandoise, et andré rivet, poictevin, le tout mis en françois par le sieur colletet_" ( ) [ ] "_la nouvelle colonie, ou la ligue des femmes_", first presented in the théâtre italien on the th of april , a three-act comedy, afterwards reduced to one single act to be performed in the "théâtres de société", and published in this form in the _mercure_. (cf. larroumet; _marivaux, sa vie et ses oeuvres_, paris ). [ ] such, at least, is the description of mme geoffrin's character in m. e. pilon's "_portraits français_". m. g. lanson, in his "_lettres du dix-huitième siècle_", accuses her of vanity and consequent despotic leanings. "elle aimait à conseiller ses amis, et les régentait en mère un peu despotique; elle n'aimait pas les indépendants, les âmes indociles et fières qui ne se laissent pas protéger, et veulent être consultés dans le bien qu'on leur fait". [ ] that a great many of the utilitarian ideas of john locke may be traced to their origin in the works of montaigne has been demonstrated by m. pierre villey in his "_l'influence de montaigne sur les idées pédagogiques de locke et de rousseau_", who thus claims for the literature of his own country an honour which was commonly granted to that of england. [ ] the education recommended for emile is not domestic. he was to be kept carefully isolated from the world, so as to escape its taint, until such time as his character would be fully matured, placing him above the reach of disastrous influences. a similar principle had prevailed at mme de maintenon's establishment of st. cyr. chapter iv. _feminist and anti-feminist tendencies among the english augustans._ in studying the march of feminism among the two rival nations on either side the channel, one cannot help being struck by the remarkable lateness of anything resembling a feminist movement in england. that the women of mediaeval england were looked down upon, not only on account of their inferior muscular strength, but also on the score of their supposed want of mental and moral stability, appears but too plainly from the numerous scornful references to the weaker sex in the literature of those days. the song-collections of the transition period clearly betray the "esprit gaulois" in their brutal estimate of woman and in the tone of undisguised contempt and ridicule which prevails whenever women are the theme. the often-repeated story of the henpecked husband and the shrewish wife contains a warning against marriage which, although couched in the form of banter, evidently has its foundation in the general conviction of female depravity. the early plays with their brawling scenes and stock female characters were also most unfavourable to women. nor did the early renaissance bring any marked improvement either in the female morals or in the male appreciation of them, for the satires against women continued with hardly a refutation. the improvement which resulted in ascham's days from the awakening female interest in learning and in the caroline period from the introduction into poetry of the platonic love ideal, was too partial and too qualified to be permanent, and in later years the puritanic ideal of womanhood was an abomination to feminists of the wollstonecraft type. but the general estimate of women in england had never been lower than in the notorious days that followed the restoration. in the middle ages all influence had been denied them on the score of their supposed inferiority of understanding and inequality of temper; the men of the reign of charles ii regarded them merely as fair dissemblers and utter strangers to the nobler motives, in which opinion the ladies of the age did all they could to confirm them. the higher the society in which they moved, the less likely they were to escape the many vices which prevailed in that age of depravity and libertinism. there were, of course, the puritans, who were forced by circumstances to lead lives of retirement, regarding the vicious excesses of whitehall with disgust and jealously guarding their women against degrading influences. the puritan ideal of womanhood was thus preserved; but there was no promise for the future in the state of close confinement and complete submission which the judaic notions of puritanism demanded. in those days, when night was darkest, a faint glimmer of a coming dawn was seen. it consisted in some women beginning to take a modest share in literary pursuits. when late in the seventeenth and early in the th century the modern novel was passing through its preparatory stage, mrs. aphra behn, mrs. manley, mrs. haywood and some other women realised that here was a new domain of literature in which woman was qualified by her fertile imagination and quick power of observation to excel. even before the restoration, the birth of a new social problem dealing with the relative positions of the sexes was heralded in the works of margaret cavendish, duchess of newcastle[ ]. however, public opinion stamped any such efforts--whether conscious or no--as immature, and therefore doomed to failure. all through the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century women were regarded from a purely sexual point of view; they were, as mr. lyon blease calls it "enveloped in an atmosphere of sex". their being judged exclusively by a sexual standard entailed as a necessary consequence the scornful neglect of those among them who were disqualified by age or lack of physical attractions. if the lot of the married women was often a sad one, considering the habitual inconstancy of husbands, the condition of those who had drawn a blank in the matrimonial lottery was even more pitiable. hence that desperate hunting for husbands which it is among the most creditable performances of modern feminism to have lessened. it is easy to understand that it is among forsaken married women and especially among the more pronounced spinsters that we must look for such elements of female wisdom and virtue as the barren age affords. the middle-aged mother of a family was sometimes possessed of a certain hard-acquired dignity; and to the often bitter experiences of spinsterhood we owe women of the type of mary astell. but contemporary literature, while on the whole inclined to be lenient towards married women who became "stricken in years" was almost uniformly severe in dealing with the "old maid of fiction", and the unmarried female had to await the broader days of humanitarianism to have her troubles understood and her wrongs righted. but even the more privileged among the female sex, those who in their personal attractions possessed some kind of coin, the value of which masculine opinion was not slow to recognise, were not much better off than their plain sisters. the prevailing views regarding the place of women in social life were the direct outcome of the general tendencies of egoism and materialism by which the age was characterised. woman was regarded only in her relations to the male sex, and, what was worse, woman herself had not yet learned to rebel against the shackles of a convention of centuries, unquestioningly adopted the male verdict and tried her hardest to become what the opposite sex wanted her to be. they found it easy to relinquish all individuality, and live up to the ideal set up by a degenerated manhood, and readily assumed the vices which their lack of any sense of moral responsibility prevented them from recognising as such. this total absence of moral purpose is a characteristic of the age which was not restricted to women only. the moral standard had sunk very low indeed, existence among the better situated seemed exclusively devoted to the pursuit of pleasure with all its attendant vices. from the male standpoint this view of life determined the esteem in which the female sex was held. the eighteenth century "beau" regarded woman only as an instrument of animal passion, which hypocrisy tried very successfully to gild over with a varnish of mock gallantry that was a remnant of better times of platonic chivalry, and aroused the indignation of moralists. this gallantry tried to make up in extravagance for what it lacked in sincerity. the pursuit of the object of his passion led the libertine to the most absurd excesses which were very far removed from a devout worship[ ]. love had become a grossly sensual passion, and women were treated with exaggerated ceremony, but with little respect. men held with pope that "every woman is at heart a rake", and treated them accordingly. they laid a mock siege to what was conventionally called "the female heart" and when that fortress in an unguarded moment surrendered or was taken by storm, the conqueror, after enjoying the spoils of his victory, left the poor victim to pay the penalty of social excommunication and flaunted his conquest in the face of a society which maintained a double standard of morality, and in which seduction and adultery on the part of the male were held to be titles of honour. to fully understand the eighteenth century interpretation of the passion of love we have only to scan the pages of that new form of fiction, the novel, which has supplied us with a truthful and lifelike picture of the morals and manners of the time. in many of them the heroine is made the object of libertine attempts which to the twentieth century reader are absolutely revolting. it is true that she does not submit to the outrage, but defends her honour as well as she is able--strange to say, the eighteenth century heroine, apart from a few females of the picaresque kind, is generally represented as virtuous and chaste, rather a picture of womanhood as the author liked to imagine than a faithful one, a circumstance for which the presence of a moral purpose may account--but the secondary female characters are often of a frailty which contrasts strongly with it. the "_memoirs of a lady of quality_" in _peregrine pickle_, for instance, are a frank confession of the most shameless female profligacy, and the outrages upon decorum and good taste described in them are corroborated by numerous descriptions of female indecency and wantonness displayed either in the baths of the fashionable watering-places or at the masquerades which were in great vogue, giving the female sex ample opportunity for displaying their charms with an utter want of delicacy. nor were the "bucks", "beaux" or "maccaronies" at all inclined to be particular with regard to the language they used in the presence of ladies. the obscenity of their conversation aroused the indignation of swift's stella, but upon the whole women were too much accustomed to the coarseness of male conversation to think of protesting, nor did their parents or husbands think it necessary to interfere. besides which, the dialogue of those novels which constituted their daily amusement was of much the same kind, and even the works of an aphra behn or a mrs. manley were read freely in the presence of young girls without being considered in the least offensive to feminine delicacy. the improvement which the latter half of the century witnessed in this respect was, as we shall see, in no small measure due to female influence. the bluestocking circles were largely instrumental in bringing about this purifying of conversational and literary taste. the female novelists of the next generation, while following in the steps of richardson and fielding, and imitating their choice of incidents, do not imitate their revolting coarseness. the stories of libertinage and violence occur in a much modified form, and the treatment is less offensive and not unfrequently humorous, taking the edge off the indelicacy of many a doubtful situation. the chief literary exponents of female depravity, satirising women for what they were and hardly allowing an exception to the general rule, forgetting the part of men in their degraded state, and regarding the prospect of improvement with a degree of scepticism which has made them the abomination of feminists, were alexander pope and lord chesterfield. pope's estimate of the sex, contained in the second of the "_moral essays_", and confirmed by numerous allusions in his other works, ranks him among those who jeer at women in general. their two prevailing passions according to him, are "love of pleasure", and "love of sway": "men, some to bus'ness, some to pleasure take, but every woman is at heart a rake: men, some to quiet, some to public strife, but every lady would be queen for life." the former he is rather inclined to excuse, for "where the lesson taught is but to please, can pleasure be a fault?" but the latter contains in it the germs of unavoidable wretchedness to the woman who outlives the power and influence which beauty grants her and whose punishment consists in finding herself in later years friendless and neglected, and without the redeeming blessing of a cultivated intellect and a sensitive heart, which "... shall grow, while what fatigues the ring flaunts and goes down, an unregarded thing." the many inconsistencies in the female character are passed in review and scourged with the whip of a satirist who does not care to rack his brains for means of improvement, but whose egoism revels in the intellectual delight of scathing ridicule. women make their very changeability a means of attracting suitors, they are "like variegated tulips," showing many colours and attracting chiefly by variety: "yet ne'er so sure our passion to create as when she touched the brink of all we hate." it was no doubt pope's intention to run down the entire female sex, but while uttering the above insinuation, he seems fatally blind to the very questionable light the successful application of certain female devices reflected on the contemporary male character! from a purely feminist point of view, the name of "cold-hearted rascal", by which mary wollstonecraft distinguished the earl of chesterfield, although not altogether deserved--for where his son was concerned he was anything but "cold-hearted"--may be easily accounted for. whenever woman is the subject, his contentions as well as his tone of uttering them betray a callous, contemptuous cynicism which marks the man of fashion who "knows the season, when to take occasion by the hand", and has been taught by the intricacies of diplomacy to regard women from a purely egoistical standpoint as political weathercocks, whose undeniable influence may be turned to account, but upon whom otherwise no judgment can be too severe. there is in his writings no trace of interest whatever in women for their own sake; despising them for their weaknesses, he regards them merely as possible instruments by which his personal ends may be furthered. the morality preached in the famous "_letters to his son_" (written between the years and , representing the dawn of the bluestocking movement) has been severely and deservedly criticised. their worst defect as well as their greatest danger is that while containing a number of maxims which are absolutely repugnant in their cynicism, they were written for an educational purpose and pretended to instil the ways of conscious virtue "which is the only solid foundation of all happiness."[ ] another objection is that he insisted far too much on "the graces" (i. e. deportment), while almost forgetting to recommend the more solid acquirements of the character. mrs. chapone complained that he substituted appearances for the real excellences which she considered more important, and mrs. delany wrote that his letters were generally considered ingenious and useful as to polish of manners, but very hurtful in a moral sense. "les grâces", she added, "are the sum total of his religion." this, and the fact that he made a point of discussing moral questions of the greatest importance with a child not yet ten years old and incapable of grasping their full purport, afterwards made mary wollstonecraft turn upon him with her accustomed vehemence. no doubt she found this education of deliberate cynicism more difficult to forgive than even his cold contempt of the female sex. chesterfield wanted to perfect his son in what he considered the most important of arts, to be recommended to both sexes with equal emphasis: that of pleasing. no man held more by opinion as a means of reaching aims than he. to read his correspondence one might think the chief aim of life to be a perfect mastery of the art of "wriggling oneself into favour", with all its attendant insincerity and duplicity. such was the man whose advice the bishop of waterford asked in respect to the kind of reading to be permitted to his daughters[ ]. when women are the topic, lord chesterfield invariably appears at his worst. nowhere in literature do we find a lower estimate of the sex and a more sneeringly insolent ridicule of their foibles. little is known about the marriage of young philip stanhope, who even forgot to inform his father of the circumstance, and who died too soon after to test the truth of his father's teaching that "husband and wife are commonly clogs upon each other." however, with such a mentor his chances of happiness in the matrimonial state would have been slight in any case. in the first place lord chesterfield regards women as intellectually inferior and beneath notice. they are to him only "children of a larger growth"[ ] who seldom reason or act consistently; their best resolutions being swayed by their inordinate passions, which their reason is to weak to keep under constant control. even the so-called "femme forte",--of which type catherine the second was a prominent representative--was in his eyes only another proof of this statement; for at bottom all women are machiavelians and they cannot do anything with moderation, sentiment always getting the better of reason[ ]. they do not appreciate or even understand the language of common sense, and the proper tone to be adopted in their presence is "the polite jargon of good company"[ ]. his opinion of female morals is not more flattering. women are capable of, and ruled by two passions: vanity and love, of which the latter is made dependent upon the former. "he who flatters them most pleases them best; and they are most in love with him who they think is the most in love with them"[ ]. they value their beauty--real or imaginary--above everything, and in this respect "scarce any flattery is too gross for them to follow". the above, if true, might be a reason for a man to rather avoid female company than court it. however, says chesterfield, low as they are, we cannot afford to ignore them, for it is not to be denied that they are a social power. "as women are a considerable, or at least a pretty numerous part of company; and as their suffrages go a long way towards establishing a man's character in the fashionable part of the world (which is of great importance to the fortune and figure he proposes to make in it), it is necessary _to please_ them". the sole use of women in chesterfield's eyes is that they may be turned into a ladder for social advancement: "here women may be put to some use"; and he who has discovered the right way of humouring them may serve his own interest by cultivating their acquaintance and fooling them to the top of their bent with judicious and cleverly administered flattery. of all chesterfield's insinuations this is certainly the worst. but how is woman to be pleased? the scheme for social promotion involves an effort to please on an even more general scale. women feel a contempt for men who pass their time in "ruelles", making themselves their voluntary slaves; they value those most who are held in the highest esteem among their fellowmen; for this will render their conquest by a woman worth her while. however, to please men, and gain influence among them, the concurrence of women is indispensable, and so forth, ad nauseam. practical hints are not wanting either. the best stepping-stones to fortune are "a sort of veteran women of condition" who, besides having great experience, feel flattered by the least attention from a young fellow and in return render him excellent services by pointing out to him those manners and attentions which pleased and engaged them when they were in the pride of their first youth and beauty, and are therefore the most likely to prove effective. in conclusion, two instances may here be quoted of the excellent father's recommendable advice to his son in regard to the exploitation of female sympathies. the first regards that mme du bocage whose name will be mentioned again in connection with her relations to the bluestocking circles in england. when young stanhope was residing in paris and frequenting some salons, lord chesterfield advised his son to make the french lady his confidante and confess to her his eagerness "to please", asking her in true hypocritical fashion to teach him her secret of pleasing everybody. offered under different circumstances this might have been a pretty compliment, coming as it did from the pen of such a cynic and confirmed womanhater it was about the worst insult that could be offered to a lady of "esprit" and dignity. but the second passage is even worse. the exemplary father here suggests a full scheme for political advancement through the intermediacy of a lady of unsullied reputation, who was to be courted and inveigled into granting her concurrence in a manner so beyond words that we must let the letter speak for itself. "a propos, on m'assure que mme de blot, sans avoir des traits, est joli comme un coeur, et que nonobstant cela, elle s'en est tenu jusqu'ici scrupuleusement à son mari, quoiqu'il ait déja plus qu'un an qu'elle est mariée. elle n'y pense pas; il faut décrotter cette femme-là. décrottez vous done tous les deux réciproquement. force, assiduités, attentions, regards tendres, et déclarations passionnées de votre côté produiront au moins quelque velléité du sien. et quand une fois la velléité y est, les oeuvres ne sont pas loin." social life in the eighteenth century had indeed sunk to the appalling depth which such letters as chesterfield's reveal, through an utter lack of purpose. the time was entirely void of social interest. at a time when the french philosophy which had been so largely stimulated by british example found its way into the assemblies of paris, awakening a vivid intellectual interest in thousands of minds and giving birth to a national thought-life which laid the theoretical foundations not only of the coming changes in the social order, but also of that glorious edifice of science of which the nineteenth century was to witness the rapid growth--english society was content to let things remain as they were and did not at once respond to the call that came from beyond the channel. if england, too, contained a number of social abuses that were rank and appealed to the justice of heaven, they did not heed them. the self-sufficiency thus revealed remained characteristic of the better classes in england, and was in the majority of cases increased rather than lessened by the outbreak of the revolution, when most englishmen felt secure in the conviction that in england there were no great wrongs to be righted. it had its origin in gross selfishness and coarse materialism, which did not leave the bulk of the nation an opportunity to realise the miserable condition of the poorer classes in ireland,--in england itself there was comparatively little pauperism in the beginning--or the gross injustice of the prevailing system of parliamentary representation, or the cruelty of punishments, or the abominable condition of the jails in which thousands of small offenders were abandoned to the horrors of slow and gradual extinction, or the shame of the execrable system of slavery prevailing in the colonies. it was not until the second half of the century that the great humanitarian movement began to make rapid progress; before that great dawn british society remained undisturbed while pursuing their round of pleasure which was interrupted only by death. of the heralds of a better time, who acted according to their lights, and of whom some were doomed to failure, while others were to see their efforts crowned with ultimate success, it is gratifying to think that a fair percentage were women. if the education of men was sadly inadequate, that of women was so hopelessly neglected that ladies of quality could hardly sign their own name. they were, upon the whole, quite content to remain in ignorance. their horror of the "femme savante" was such, that all appearance of even the slightest degree of learning was carefully avoided. the result was disastrous. dean swift can hardly be said to rank among the defenders of the sex, and yet even he recognised the absurdity of this utter ignorance. in a letter, dated october th , occurring in mrs. delany's correspondence, and addressed to her, he says: "i speak for the public good of this country; because a pernicious heresy prevails here among the men, that it is the duty of your sex to be fools in every article except what is merely domestic; and to do the ladies justice, there are very few of them without a good share of that heresy, except upon one article, that they have as little regard for family business as for the improvement of their minds." he proposes to "carry mrs. delany about among his adversaries", and (i will) "dare them to produce one instance where your _want of ignorance_ makes you affected, pretending, conceited, disdainful, endeavouring to speak like a scholar, with twenty more faults objected by themselves, their lovers or their husbands. but i fear your case is desperate, for i know you never laugh at a jest before you understand it, and i must question whether you understand a fan, or have so good a fancy at silks as others; and your way of spelling would not be intelligible." only those qualities were considered worth developing which were calculated to excite desire in the opposite sex. women were skilled in the commonplace conversation of the gaming-table, and were taught to dance and to play the spinet, or the harpsichord, and to say ballads, regardless of talent. household duties and needlework were held in less repute, and the qualities of the mind were utterly disregarded. all feminine education was deliberately discouraged.[ ] in marriage the wife was completely subjected to the husband's authority. if he proved inconstant--which was the rule--and transferred his attentions to other women, it was considered most unwise in the wife to object, the approved course being to pretend ignorance of the fact, lest the husband should be displeased at being taken to task by his inferior. about lord halifax's "_advice to a daughter_" was published; and being the reflections of a man of recognised social abilities, became a standard-work not only in england, but also on the other side the channel, where it was translated into french and repeatedly quoted with great deference. viewed in the light of the conditions then prevailing it must be unreservedly admitted that the advice is absolutely the best that could be given under the circumstances. mr. lyon blease's indignation in quoting it, seems due rather to very natural disgust at the social conditions that necessitated it, than to the nature of the advice in itself. lord halifax exhorts his daughter to consider that she "lives in a time which hath rendered some kind of frailties so habitual that they lay claim to large grains of allowance." this reasoning would seem faulty to a moralist, but there is more. "this being so, remember that next to the danger of committing the fault yourself, _the greatest is that_ _of seeing it in your husband_. do not seem to look or hear that way, if he is a man of sense he will reclaim himself; the folly of it is of itself sufficient to cure him; if he is not so, he will be provoked, but not reformed." in other words he advises her to "eat her half loaf and be happy", rather than disturb her share of happiness by aiming higher than is compatible with the character and morality of the average male. halifax further observes that a benign indulgence on the wife's part for the husband's wanderings will "make him more yielding in other things", i. e. he admonishes his daughter to make a compromise, enabling her to acquire certain advantages by conniving at her husband's faithlessness! this is certainly pretty bad; but there seems no room for any doubt that halifax indeed struck the key-note of eighteenth century opinion. so far we have looked at the purely negative side of the picture, which presents no features that can be called redeeming. before passing to the brighter side to examine the utterances of those who aimed at the moral improvement of the female sex, or at an amelioration of their social position, or both, we shall have to make some mention of the views expressed by swift in his "_letter to a young lady on her marriage_". the general tone is certainly not encouraging. it holds the male sex to be absolutely superior in matters physical, intellectual and moral. while criticising with his habitual sarcasm the errors, fopperies and vices of the female sex, swift does not even trouble to consider what has made them so depraved. the nearest suggestion of possible blame to the male sex in regard to their treatment of women is to be found in a passage in the "_hints towards an essay on conversation_". there are certain signs of a coming dawn in this passage. after complaining of the degeneracy of conversation, "with the pernicious consequences thereof upon our humours and dispositions," swift suggests that it may be partly owing to "the custom arisen for some time past of excluding women from any share in our society, farther than in parties at play, or dancing, or in the pursuit of an amour." in this respect he readily admits the superiority of the more peaceable part of charles the first's reign, "the highest period of politeness in england," when the example set by france, and the love-ideals prevailing among french society found english followers, "and although we are apt to ridicule the sublime platonic notions they had, or personated, in love and friendship; i conceive their refinements were grounded upon reason, and that a little grain of the romance is no ill ingredient to preserve and exalt the dignity of human nature, without which it is apt to degenerate into everything that is sordid, vicious and low." this astonishing avowal on the part of one so inclined to cynicism throws a most unfavourable light upon the relations between the sexes in the early years of the eighteenth century. however, if it could not be denied that manners and morals had decayed, swift never doubted that the female sex were chiefly responsible. in his advice to the young bride their depravity is contrasted with the sound wisdom and the more dignified conduct(!) of their lords and masters. swift satirises the worthlessness of the females who spend their afternoon visiting their neighbours to indulge in talking scandal, and whose evenings are devoted to the gambling-table. his opinion of the sex in general is such as to make him emphatically warn his young _protégée_ against the dangers of female conversation. "your only safe way of conversing with them is, by a firm resolution to proceed in your practice and behaviour directly contrary to whatever they say or do." the fondness of the sex for finery disgusts him to such an extent, that he "cannot conceive them to be human creatures, but a certain sort of species hardly a degree above a monkey." such was the verdict swift passed upon the women of his time, whose moral ideals, he was willing to grant, might be and ought to be the same as those of men, always excepting "a certain reservedness, which however, as they manage it, is nothing but affection and hypocrisy." man being superior to woman in every respect, also morally, it follows that her chief aim should be to render herself more worthy of him. swift here introduces that pernicious theory of "relativity" which in rousseau's "_emile_" was to arouse the indignation of mary wollstonecraft. an effort is to be made to raise women out of that pool of iniquity into which they have sunk, not so much for the sake of their precious souls, as to render them more acceptable companions to men. whatever in swift seems to favour a certain degree of emancipation owes its origin to this consideration. he does not believe in what he calls "the exalted passion of a french romance". by the time his first passion is spent, the husband will want a companion to amuse and cheer his leisure hours. some provision should be made for the years to come when, beauty having disappeared forever, it will be necessary to fall back upon the accomplishments of the mind as a substitute, by means of which the husband's esteem may be gained. thus, by a process differing materially from that of the feminists, swift arrives at the same conclusion; viz. that the first step towards improvement is the institution of some kind of mental education for women. at the same time he has little confidence in the mental capacities of the female sex, so that his claims are in truth modest enough. books of history and travel represent the limit of what he deems them capable of grasping; and he even recommends the making extracts from them, should the fair reader's memory happen to be a little weak! for the rest the task of instructing woman will necessarily devolve upon man; i. e. upon the husband and upon those of his friends whom he judges best calculated to enrich her mind by their advice and conversation, and to set her right should her imagination tend to lead her judgment astray! "learned women," in the full sense of the term, were an abomination to swift, who believed the average female intellect to be so deficient that "they could never arrive in point of learning to the perfection of a schoolboy." there can be no doubt that swift's estimate of female capabilities was the general one, which makes it all the more astonishing to find that as early as a deliberate attempt was made to "raise women to the dignity and usefulness which distinguished their ancestresses", by giving them an education which included a rather considerable amount of knowledge. a school for girls was founded in that year by a certain mrs. makin, who explained her purpose in "_an essay to revive the ancient education of gentlewomen in religion, manners, arts, and tongues; with an answer to the objection against this way of education_", dedicated to mary, daughter of james, duke of york. the author protests against "the barbarous custom to breed women low", which arises from the general belief that women are not endowed with the same reason as man. learning, and even virtue, in a woman are "scorned and neglected as pedantic things, fit only for the vulgar", and the creation of schools seems the only way to restore women to the place they once held. mrs. makin wisely refrains from asking too much, and therefore will not "as some have wittily done, plead for female pre-eminence. to ask too much, is the way to be denied all". a plea, therefore, for female education as a means of improving female morals. curiously enough, one of her pupils, elizabeth drake, was destined to become mrs. robinson, and the mother of that elizabeth robinson who as mrs. montagu became the recognised queen of the bluestockings. to strengthen her argument mrs. makin points to a number of women who were proficient in knowledge among the ancients, after which she refers to some englishwomen of great erudition, as: lady jane grey, queen elizabeth, the duchess of newcastle, "who overtops many grave gownsmen", and the princess elizabeth, daughter of charles the first, whose tutoress mrs. makin had been. her school for gentlewomen was situated at tottenham high cross, then within four miles of london, on the road to ware, "where by the blessing of god, gentlewomen may be instructed in the principles of religion and in all manner of sober and virtuous education: more particularly in alle things ordinarily taught in other schools." half the time available for study, according to the sort of prospectus with which the essay closes, was to be devoted to foreign languages, particularly latin and french, and those who wanted further instruction could be served with "greek, hebrew, italian, and spanish, in all which this gentlewoman hath a competent knowledge." as a linguist, therefore, mrs. makin here constitutes herself the rival of the famous translator of epictetus, mrs. carter. but she realised that the gift of languages is not granted everybody. "those who think one language enough for a woman may forbear the languages and learn only (!) experimental philosophy." that the lady herself regarded the undertaking more or less as an experiment appears from the fact that the terms were made dependent on the success achieved. the minimum was twenty pounds per annum, but in case of very marked improvement "something more would be expected", it being left to the happy parents to judge how much more was due to the preceptress. a discourse on the "practicability of the scheme" was to be delivered by a proxy "every tuesday at mrs. mason's coffee house in cornhill, near the royal exchange; and thursdays at the 'bolt and tun' in fleet street, between the hours of three and six in the afternoon." that in mrs. robinson's case, at least, mrs. makin's efforts had not been wholly in vain, is demonstrated by the fact that her children called their mother "mrs. speaker", probably in connection with her easy flow of language in the miniature contests of wit that used to be held among them, which were no doubt an excellent preparation for the later mrs. montagu's social task. if we consider that both port royal and st. cyr aimed far more at instilling moral principles than imparting useful knowledge and that neither in france nor in england had so sweeping an assertion ever been put forward, it seems only giving mrs. makin her due to allow her a prominent place among the pioneers of female education in europe. the history of feminism is as much that of the indirect influences fostering the movement while slowly and almost imperceptibly leavening the whole of society, as that of the direct and embittered struggle for enfranchisement. the earlier half of the eighteenth century cannot boast any direct champions of the cause beyond that mary astell of whom it will be our business to speak presently, no martyrs out of whose sacrifice arose the hopes of better things to come, but there are some instances of men--and even of women--of letters who, while aiming at a less ambitious or even a different object, indirectly contributed to the growth of new opinions regarding the social status of women. among them must be reckoned the essayists, whose aim was (as the general advertisement of the _tatler_ has it) "to teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties, to regulate the practice of daily conversation, to correct those depravities which are rather ridiculous than criminal, and remove those grievances which, if they produce no lasting calamities, impress hourly vexation." life is chiefly made up of such seeming trifles, and the men who by pointing out the shortcomings of humanity bring about an improvement in the general morals may claim to be mentioned among the benefactors of mankind. where the correction of the slighter errors was avowedly the object in view, the essayists were naturally drawn to consider the relations between the sexes, to criticise women freely, and to point out the ready way towards improvement. that the success they undeniably achieved was not--at least in its direct consequences--in proportion to the talent lavished on the essays, nor to the eagerness with which these literary efforts were devoured by the reading public, was due mainly to two causes. in the first place, considering probably that the times were not ripe for that more direct form of attack upon the stronghold of conventional manners and customs which in arousing opposition and resistance results in war to the knife and ends in the complete overthrow of one of the combatants, they chose to inculcate their moral lessons almost imperceptibly, assuming a light and bantering tone of ridicule which was not likely to give serious offence and might cause the reader to laugh at her own expense and perhaps make her consider how much of truth there lay in a criticism so jovially offered. no doubt this plan was the wisest course under the circumstances then prevailing, but it is not the way in which thorough reforms arise. moreover, the moral lessons were introduced so much at random, and with such utter lack of system; and the improvements suggested were so vague, that in stating that the periodical essay of the days of addison and steele helped in some measure to prepare the way for the more emphatic assertions of the later feminists, we have done the essayists full justice. their feminism is indeed extremely qualified, and stamps them as the forerunners of the moralists among the bluestockings, while leaving a very wide gulf between them and mary wollstonecraft. the thought of making anything like a definite claim never entered their minds; the time for suggesting extensive social and political improvements was yet far off, and addison and steele were content to recommend in a general way the cultivation of the female mind as the readiest way to overcome the prevailing worthlessness and irresponsibility, thus continuing a line of thought which others had held before them, and bringing it under the public notice. this involves the supposition that the female mind is improveable to an eminent degree, and here addison and steele fully agree. in no. of the _guardian_ the latter, in giving an extract from a poem "in praise of the invention of writing, written by a lady", delivers himself of the sentiment that "the fair sex are as capable as men of the liberal sciences; and indeed there is no very good argument against the frequent instruction of females of condition this way, _but that they are too powerful without that advantage_." addison in another number ( ) of the same periodical says that "he has often wondered that learning is not thought a proper ingredient in the education of a woman of quality or fortune. since they have the same improveable minds as the male part of the species, why should they not be cultivated by the same method? why should reason be left to itself in one of the sexes, and be disciplined with so much care in the other?" an assertion, therefore, of the faculty of reason in woman, and a denial of that much-professed sexual character upon which eighteenth century society was almost exclusively founded, and which steele held to be the main cause of contemporary female inferiority. he complained (_tatler_ no. ) that the fact that the eighteenth century woman valued herself only on her beauty, caused her to be regarded by men on no other consideration as "a mere woman" from a purely sexual point of view; it being his opinion that the rule for pleasing long (which, with a want of logic in matters of sex characteristic of his time, he held to be woman's chief consideration) was "to obtain such qualifications as would make them so, were they not women," and therefore without any reference to sex. the superiority of the accomplishments of the mind over mere physical beauty is a favourite theme with steele, and may be found illustrated in the usual way in no. of the _spectator_ in the character of the two sisters laetitia and daphne. the suitor whom the former's charms have captivated is not long in discovering that her pleasing appearance but ill conceals the insipidity of her character, and promptly transfers his affections to the less handsome but more cultured and therefore far more agreeable daphne. and so steele wants it to be realised that we commit a gross blunder when "in our daughters we take care of their persons and neglect their minds", whereas "in our sons we are so intent upon adorning their minds that we wholly neglect their bodies" (_spectator_ no. ). strangely enough in a moralist, the ethical side of the question is here left out of discussion. the conclusions drawn by both steele and addison from this neglect of the education of the mind are characteristic of the difference between the two. steele observes that the unavoidable loss of her beauty through the ravages of time causes a woman in the prime of her years to be out of fashion and neglected, and he pleads earnestly for an education to be given to women, that they may have better chances of happiness in the later years of matrimony; whilst addison with his habitual irony weakens the impression produced by his assertion of the perfectibility of the female mind, by ridiculing the much-discussed "femmes savantes" in his picture of lady lizard and her daughters reading fontenelle's "_pluralité des mondes_" while "busy preserving several fruits of the season, dividing their speculation between jellies and stars, and making a sudden transition from the sun to an apricot, or from the copernican system to the figure of a cheese-cake." his treatment of the question is throughout tinged with sarcasm. "if the female tongue will be in motion", he says, after complaining of their _copia verborum_, "why should it not be set to go right?" thus science might be made into an antidote to scandal and intrigue. the most directly feminist among the authors of the late seventeenth and the early eighteenth century was mary astell, the author of "_a serious proposal to the ladies_", written in . her personality and ideas remind us strongly of mlle de gournay, who lived nearly a century earlier. the conviction that all contact with the world and its wickedness would infallibly end in moral ruin had made mary astell the warm advocate of education in a nunnery, far from the madding crowd, where women might be brought up to lives of christian virtue. the very fact, however, that she was not a worldly woman, made her overlook the circumstance that her scheme, however promising in theory, could never hope to stand the test of practice. it was to be expected that the first practical hint for an educational establishment for women--a hint which, however, was not more regarded than mary astell's had been--would come from one whose close contact with the outside world enabled him to do something more than brood over schemes that were incapable of realisation. mary astell in her religious zeal had entirely forgotten to take into account the innate proclivities of the female character. daniel defoe knew how to reconcile the demands of life and of womanhood with those of a moral educational establishment, and he suggested a scheme which was certainly more capable of being put into practice than mary astell's. but even he was firmly convinced that his proposal would meet with almost universal disapprobation and therefore recommended it to the consideration of a later generation. defoe was a man of great inventiveness and sound common sense, and many undeniable improvements were suggested in his "_essay upon projects_" ( ). he had certainly heard of, and very probably read (although he misquotes the title) mrs. astell's "_serious proposal_", and it redounds to his credit that he is one of the very few contemporaries of that eccentric lady to do justice to her motives in seriously considering her ideal of a nunnery, instead of making it the object of obscene insinuations like those of which dr. swift was guilty in the pages of the _tatler_. his estimate of the possibilities of women was very considerably in advance of his time, and places him among the most advanced of woman's male advocates. unlike the essayists, his tone is serious throughout, and the proposal well worth considering, although even defoe has so far become tainted with the prevailing opinion regarding women as to assume certain sexual propensities which he fears will be in the way of their moral improvement. "i doubt a method proposed by an ingenious lady in a little book called "_advice to the ladies_" would be found practicable," he says. "for, saving my respect for the sex, _the levity which is perhaps a little peculiar to them_, at least in their youth, will not bear the restraint, and i am satisfied nothing but the height of bigotry can keep a nunnery." here we have the voice of worldly experience and psychological insight protesting against utopianism. for in women who for ages have lacked the moulding influence of education nature cannot fail to assert herself, and will ruin the scheme. on the other hand, his confidence in the improvability of the sex is such as to make him claim for them the right to an education which will bring out their dormant qualities. "i have often thought of it as one of the most barbarous customs in the world, considering us as a civilised and a christian country, that we deny the advantage of learning to our women. we reproach the sex every day with folly and impertinence, which i am confident, had they the advantage of education equal to us, _they would be guilty of less than ourselves_." that the pioneer should occasionally somewhat overstep the bounds of moderation is surely pardonable. defoe in his zeal holds the capacities of women to be greater and their senses quicker than those of men. nor does he fail to recognise the advantage that will accrue to the female soul from an education which will "polish the rough diamond", and without which its lustre might never appear. the academy for women which he proposes, therefore, shall be "different from all sort of religious confinements," and above all, there shall be no vows of celibacy. the ascetic view of finding fault with every innocent enjoyment seems to him as objectionable as the perpetual pursuit of pleasure upon which it was a reaction. the academy was to be a sort of public school, supplying women with the advantages of learning "suitable to their genius", without requiring any monastic vows which were sure to be broken. defoe is inclined to try his women "by the principles of honour and strict virtue", being convinced that the measure of keeping the men effectually away from the college will put an end to all intriguing. according to him, temptation comes with the suggestion of opportunity and all modesty takes its root in custom, "for this alone, when inclinations reign, tho' virtue's fled, will act of vice restrain". "if their desires are strong, and nature free, keep from her man and opportunity, else 'twill be vain to curb her by restraint; but keep the question off, you keep the saint." everything should be done to render intriguing dangerous, if not impossible. the building should be of three plain fronts, "that the eye might at a glance see from one coin to the other, the gardens walled in the same triangular figure, with a large moat and but one entrance." but the restraint would be only relative, for only those were to be admitted into the seclusion of the college who were willing to live there, and even they were not to be confined a moment longer than the same voluntary choice inclined them. defoe realised that upon an absolute separation from the opposite sex depended the success of his undertaking. we seem to be listening to lilia in tennyson's _princess_ saying: "but i would make it death for any male thing but to peep at us", when defoe pleads the advisability of an act of parliament making it "felony for any man to enter by force or fraud into the house, or to solicit any woman though it were to marry, while she was in the house." any woman willing to receive the advances of a suitor, might leave the establishment, whilst those anxious to "discharge themselves of impertinent addresses" would be sure at any time to find a refuge in it. the plan of instruction is made relative to the natural inclinations of the sex. an important place is to be given to music and dancing, "because they are their darlings", and to foreign languages, particularly french and italian, "and i would venture the injury of giving a woman more tongues than one." books are recommended, especially on historical subjects, to make them understand the world, nor are "the graces of speech", and "the necessary air of conversation" forgotten, in which the usual education was so defective. in the solution he proposes to the problem of female erudition, defoe was equally effective. he recognises that it will not do to fit all women into a universal harness. allowance must be made for individuality. "to such whose genius would lead them to it" he would deny no sort of learning. he is even roused to an ecstatic pitch of enthusiasm by the contemplation of the ideal female which his imagination conjures up before his mind's eye. "without partiality; a woman of sense and manners is the finest and most delicate part of god's creation, the glory of her maker, and the great instance of his singular regard to man, his darling creature, to whom he gave the best gift either god could bestow or man receive", to which he adds that education may make of any woman "a creature without comparison, whose society is the emblem of sublime enjoyments." god has given to all mankind souls equally capable, and the entire difference between the sexes proceeds "either from accidental differences in the make of their bodies, or from the foolish difference of education." and defoe winds up with the bold assertion that all the world are mistaken in their practice about women, "for i cannot think that god almighty ever made them such delicate and glorious creatures, and furnished them with such charms, so agreeable and so delightful to mankind, with souls capable of the same accomplishments with men, and only to be stewards of our houses, cooks and slaves." in direct opposition to the opinion of the dean of st. patrick's, holding women to be the main cause of their own depravity and endowing them with a very limited share of intelligence rendering them forever inferior to men, stand out the views of at least one individual member of the sex. while fully sharing swift's disapproval of the actual condition of women, she felt more inclined to follow defoe in blaming the other half of mankind for refusing them every opportunity to show their possibilities. the tyranny of the male sex aroused the burning indignation of lady mary wortley montagu, whose feelings found vent both in her voluminous correspondence and in her, mostly occasional, poetry. she was most vehement in her denunciation of the treatment of married women by their husbands, which she made an argument against matrimony, and in favour of the virginal state, which at least ensured to women a certain amount of freedom and leisure. "wife and servant are the same, but only differ in the name", and accordingly women are exhorted to "shun that wretched state, and all the fawning flatt'rers hate."[ ] she did not, like swift, believe in the moral superiority of man, and called marriage "a lottery, where there is (at the lowest computation) ten thousand blanks to a prize." being all her life a furious reader, she had in her earliest years imbibed the romantic notions of d'urfé's _astrée_ and of de scudéry's long-winded romances of _cyrus_ and _clélie_, causing her to deeply regret the utter loss of that platonic ideal of gallantry with its tendency to elevate the mind and to instil honourable sentiments which had so charmed her hours of meditation. in spite of the fact that her passion for literature met with little or no encouragement, and that her own education had been, according to her own statement[ ] "one of the worst in the world"--being an exact parallel to that of which the unfortunate clarissa harlowe became the much-lamented victim--her erudition was such, that pope--previous to their quarrel, when he said some very nasty things about her--playfully wondered what punishment might be in store for one who, not content, like eve, with a single apple, "had robbed the whole tree". her own marriage to mr. edward wortley montagu was hardly a success. his diplomatic career, however, gave his wife the much wished-for opportunity to cultivate her understanding by means of foreign travel. as a result of her experiences at constantinople she was enabled on the one hand to furnish the medical science with the means of successfully combating that most destructive disease: the smallpox, and on the other to enrich literature with a correspondence which bespeaks a profound knowledge of the world, combined with great sagacity and a wonderful discriminating power, and cannot fail to charm even the modern reader with the freshness and variety of its descriptions. both style and descriptive manner show a pronounced resemblance to mary wollstonecraft's "_letters from sweden_", written nearly eighty years later. a preface to lady mary's letters, which were not published until her death, was written in by mrs. astell, who certainly did not deserve the description given of her by the first editor of the letters as "the fair and elegant prefacer", being "a pious, exemplary woman, and a profound scholar, but as far from fair and elegant as any old schoolmaster of her time."[ ] her friendship for lady mary found its origin in the circumstance that she saw in the latter's talents the conclusive evidence of that mental equality of the sexes which she made it her business to demonstrate. "i confess i am malicious enough to desire that the world should see to how much better purpose the ladies travel than their lords; and that, whilst it is surfeited with male travels all in the same tone, and stuffed with the same trifles, a lady has the skill to strike out a new path and to embellish a worn-out subject with variety of fresh and elegant entertainment." that this praise is--at least partly--due to considerations of feminism, appears from the following verses: "let the male authors with an envious eye praise coldly, that they may the more decry; women (at least i speak the sense of some) this little spirit of rivalship o'ercome. i read with transport, and with joy i greet a genius so sublime, and so complete, and gladly lay my laurels at her feet." lady mary on her part wrote an "_ode to friendship_", addressed to mrs. mary astell. she also sympathised with the latter's scheme for the establishment of a convent. she thought that a safe retreat might be preferable to a show of public life. her friend lady stafford once said of her that her true vocation was a monastery, and we have lady mary's own evidence where, approving of a project of an english monastery in "_sir charles grandison_", she confesses that it was one of the favourite schemes of her early youth to get herself elected lady-abbess. this intellectual propensity--for what appealed to her most in the scheme was the indefinite leisure to be devoted to studies--pervades all her writings, and throws further light upon her disinclination to the matrimonial state and her recluse habits. lady mary's social career came to a sudden close when in her declining health made it advisable for her to leave england for the sunny skies of northern italy, where she remained till the year before her death. to this period belong her chief contributions to the woman question, contained in her correspondence with her daughter the countess of bute, and giving her views of the position of women, elicited by certain remarks on the education of her little granddaughter. the circumstances under which this correspondence was carried on bear a close resemblance to mme de sévigné's when writing to her daughter mme de grignan her excellent advice regarding the education of little pauline de simiane. from what has already been said it may be readily concluded that the principal of lady mary's grievances against the existing system was not that women were not allowed their share of political and social power,--for she felt no difficulty in entrusting the male sex with those duties which would have kept her from her favourite pursuit--but rather that they should be purposely and systematically debarred from studies and kept in ignorance. but she was wise in avoiding all generalisation and recommending the consideration of each individual case by itself and for its own sake, since what might suit one woman might prove a source of misery to another. when her own daughter had been young, the fact that she was likely to attract the highest offers had made it necessary that she should learn to live in the world, for which very few intellectual qualifications were then needed. but her granddaughter's chances of a brilliant match were considerably less, and so she ought to be taught how to be perfectly easy out of the world, in that retirement which lady mary herself preferred to the social state. thus, a new element is added to the arguments in favour of liberal instruction, which is to be a pleasure rather than a task, with no more important background than the providing of a substitute for social intercourse to those whose circumstances prevent them from occupying a place in social circles. and it is clearly the mother's task to talk over with her daughter what the latter may have read, that she may not "mistake pert folly for wit and humour, or rhyme for poetry, which are the common errors of young people, and have a train of ill consequences." the moral education which she recommends for her granddaughter is rather slight, and based chiefly on the negative principle--which we have also found in fénelon and other french moralists--of keeping the mind occupied as a means of preventing idleness, which is the mother of mischief. learning,--which modesty would have them carefully conceal, for ignorance is bold, and true knowledge reserved--will tend to make women less deceitful instead of more so, and as the same lessons will form the same characters, there is no reason to "place women in an inferior rank to men." lady mary thus declared her belief in the equality of the sexes, but she has not enough of the social leaven in her to make any definite claim for her sex. she is rather an isolated specimen of womanhood, serving as a proof of the capacities of some exceptional women, than a fighter for female rights. her intellectual and literary powers were of a critical and satirical rather than a creative nature. that she was among the very first women to possess the critical faculty in an eminent degree, appears from the clever criticism of contemporary fiction with which her correspondence abounds, and which makes her the forerunner of her husband's relative of bluestocking fame. she was sufficiently independent in her judgment to disagree with the general opinion of richardson's novels, without being able to remain uninfluenced by his pathos. "i heartily despise him, and eagerly read him, nay, sob over his works in a most scandalous manner." this merely because of the parallel some of the heroine's circumstances afforded to those of her own youth, for neither miss howe nor even clarissa herself found favour in her eyes. she was one of the very few readers of richardson who saw the faultiness of the moral of both _pamela_ and _clarissa harlowe_, considering them "to be two books that will do more general mischief than the works of lord rochester." her sound common sense made her heartily despise any excess of that sensibility which richardson's works fostered. her verdict of _sir charles grandison_ was even more crushing. "his conduct (towards clementina) puts me in mind of some ladies i have known who could never find out a man to be in love with them, let him do or say what he would, till he made a direct attempt, and then they were so surprised, i warrant you! nor do i approve sir charles's offered compromise (as he calls it). there must be a great indifference to religion on both sides, to make so strict a union as marriage tolerable between people of such distinct persuasions. he seems to think women have no souls, by agreeing so easily that his daughters should be educated in bigotry and idolatry." in her love of learning, and more still in her keen literary judgment lady mary foreshadowed the coming of the bluestockings, whom her total lack of sociability would have forever prevented her from joining. footnotes: [ ] "_the world's olio_" ( ) contains an essay on "_the inferiority of woman, morally and physically_". [ ] see forsyth, _novels and novelists of the eighteenth century_, pp. - . [ ] letter . [ ] letter . [ ] letter . [ ] letter . [ ] letter . [ ] letter . [ ] the above statement may at first sight seem rather too sweeping. but it is supported by the authority of mary astell (cf. page ), who in her "_serious proposal to the ladies_" remarks that it was generally considered quite unnecessary to waste money on the education of daughters. most parents, she says, "_took as much pains to beat girls away from knowledge as to beat boys towards it_". she was quite aware that her scheme for the establishment of a nunnery in which the daughters of the aristocracy were to be saved from neglect must be shocking to the parents of her generation, who feared that such an education might in all probability corrupt their morals(!) and would certainly _prevent them from marrying_. in this lies the gist of all deliberate discouragement of female learning. the only object in a girl's life being to make a suitable match,--meaning a wealthy one,--it followed that everything was subordinated to this consideration. and it unfortunately happened that the men of the century preferred their partners in wedlock silly and ignorant, and consequently easy-going and submissive. at one time mary astell's scheme came very near to realisation. the devout, intellectual and wealthy lady elizabeth hastings became interested in it and declared herself willing to supply the necessary funds. but it so happened that bishop burnet heard of the plan and of the promised donation. a scheme for a rational education for girls struck this conservative churchman as so absurd that in his anglican hatred of catholicism he rather irrelevantly referred to it as "a popish project", using all his influence to divert lady elizabeth's charity, in which effort he was completely successful. [ ] _a caveat to the fair sex._ [ ] _letter_ to the countess of bute, march , . [ ] "_introductory anecdotes_" to lord wharncliffe's edition of the letters and works of lady mary wortley montagu (paris, ). chapter v. _qualified feminism: the bluestockings._ "feminism", says m. ascoli, in an article in the "_revue de synthèse historique_", "is the mental attitude of those who refuse to admit a natural and necessary inequality between the faculties of the sexes, and, in consequence of this, between their respective rights; who believe that--within certain limits clearly defined by nature--women are capable of the same occupations as men, in which they will succeed equally well when, prepared for their task by an adequate education, they will be no longer opposed by the ill-will and the hostile jealousy of the opposite sex; of those who, eager for the birth of a more extensive liberty and a more liberal justice, hope for the realisation of an ideal which will bring the greatest boon not only to women, but to all humanity." if the above is a correct and exhaustive definition of feminism, the bluestockings certainly cannot be called feminists, for they none of them believed that the future of the human race was in any way dependent on a recognised equality between the sexes. this, however, should not be understood as implying that they did nothing to promote the march of feminism, or rather to prepare the national mind for the first symptoms of a more directly feminine movement which were to manifest themselves before the more or less artificial conversations of the bluestocking côteries had retired into insignificance before the looming spectre of revolution, filling the mind with speculations of more direct importance, and arousing the hereditary conservatism which slumbers at the bottom of every true british heart in a common effort to uphold the laws of the country against the revolutionary element, sown broadcast at home, and prevailing with most disastrous consequences abroad. but the contribution of the english salons to feminism in its narrower sense, however important in its consequences, must be described as largely unintentional, and extremely qualified. the very mention of mary wollstonecraft's name was enough to arouse indignation and disgust in the bosom of every true "blue" except miss seward, on the joint score of her being considered an extreme feminist, a revolutionary and most of all: an atheist. the charge of atheism is of the many accusations brought against the author of "_a vindication of the rights of women_" beyond any doubt the most absurd, and where there was so little mutual understanding, it is not astonishing that there should be an utter lack of appreciation between such women as hannah more and mary wollstonecraft, both of whom were actuated by the noblest motives and whom a closer acquaintance could not have failed to bring nearer together. of the main contentions in the former's "_strictures_" a very considerable majority, stripped of their dogmatic spirit of orthodox christianity, and worded in such a manner as to make them sound as a vindication of inalienable rights and corresponding duties rather than an exhortation to a life of moral virtue, are an exact repetition of the notions put forward in the "_rights of women_"; with the contents of which hannah more was unacquainted. horace walpole, the tone of whose letters to "saint hannah" is so completely different from his usual scoffing as to suggest a conflict in the writer's mind between irony and genuine admiration, in referring to the paris massacres, expresses his disgust of "the philosophing serpent", and is pleased to find that his friend has not read her works; to which hannah replies that she has been "much pestered" to read the "_rights of women_", which she evidently never did. mary's feminism was of the most comprehensive description. although very far from atheism, her religious notions, shaken by bitter experience, were not sufficiently strong to support her in what was to her the very cruel struggle for life, the facts of which were, from her earliest infancy, so hideous as to leave her no leisure for the gradual development of social ideas under the regulating influence of a riper mind, but put her through the hard school of suffering. the problem with which she found herself confronted was an urgent one, calling for immediate solution. considerations of a future existence certainly did come at different times to comfort her, but they were to her a remnant of convention and called forth in times of pressure rather than an inherent part of her being. in proportion as the more tangible ideals of the revolution came to absorb her interest, the hope of salvation became a secondary consideration, which was not to be allowed to interfere with the necessity for correcting present evils and relieving present wants. to her, the problem of the female cause was stern reality which was well worth the devotion of a lifetime. her energetic mind took in the subject in its entirety and thought it out to the minutest details, suggesting radical changes without stopping to consider their feasibility, and impressing us with the almost masculine width of its range. how insipid and uninteresting compared to her radicalism are the attempts at a partial reform of a hannah more, the very limitations of which bring out more clearly the utter want of breadth, the narrow conventionality which hampered the growth of the ideal! to her and to her associates the woman question had a much narrower range, and remained limited to the problem of moral improvement. hannah more, indeed, had no cause to complain of scornful treatment at the hands of men, and in her circle, next to one or two of the greatest men of the day, women were the ruling influence. of the lower classes and their struggles her early youth had taught her little or nothing, and her sympathy with the poor and humble was awakened in the course of the long and bitter struggle of conventionalism against radicalism, in which, viewing the matter broadly, she ranged herself among the defenders of a doubtful cause. it gave her a better insight into the social conditions of england, and no doubt she grew to realise that the great problem of humanity had reached an acute stage, and that even in her own cherished country there were many wrongs to be righted. from that time she became more and more of a social reformer, but the pressing need of the case was forever mitigated by considerations of eternity. to her, who pinned her faith on the promise of life everlasting, the most glaring pictures of human misery faded before the beacon-light of faith and trust. she never found it difficult to be reconciled to the preponderance of evil, for she looked upon it "as making part of the dispensations of god", who in his supreme wisdom meant this world for a scene of discipline, not of remuneration. hence the utter incompatibility of the orthodox view with the doctrine of perfectibility, and the hostile attitude of the bluestocking ladies towards those of the new faith, by which this world was looked upon as all-in-all, and in which want and misery were considered as evils arising solely from the defects of human governments. "whatever is, is right", was hannah more's guiding principle, and to remove that inequality which in her eyes was a portion of god's great scheme seemed to her rebelling against god's own decree. she relieved human misery where she could, from a sense of christian duty and propriety, and by establishing schools tried to rouse the poor to a sense of moral duty, teaching them to be satisfied in the position in which it had pleased god to place them and to live in the hope of eternity. the practice of that humility which is among the first duties of a christian forbade any attempt at rising in the social scale. likewise, in the case of woman, there was to her only one great and leading circumstance that raised her importance, and might to a certain extent establish her equality: "christianity had exalted them to true and undisputed dignity; in christ jezus, as there is neither rich nor poor, bond nor free, so there is neither male nor female. in the view of that immortality which is brought to light by the gospel, she has no superior. women, to borrow the idea of an excellent prelate, make up one half of the human race, equally with men redeemed by the blood of christ." all other forms of equality do not seen to her worth fighting for. this view of hannah more's was fully shared by those among the bluestockings who took a more direct interest in social questions: mrs. montagu, mrs. chapone and mrs. carter. in their opinions about social inequality they were guided by the conservatism of dogmatic faith, as their views of the position of women derived colour from notions of propriety. they rejoiced with the rest of the nation at the news of the fall of the bastille, which to every true john bull had become the symbol of french slavery and which served as an opportunity to assert his own superiority and praise that perfect liberty which he imagined to be the privilege of every individual briton--and no doubt thought themselves extremely enlightened in doing so. but at the first reports of bloodshed and lawlessness propriety suggested that they had suffered themselves by their all-embracing love of humanity to be betrayed into feelings which might be thought distinctly improper, or be translated into a want of patriotic feeling. they chose to be englishwomen rather than cosmopolitans. this choice was made the easier for them as they had come to regard france as the chief bulwark of irreligion. hannah more complains ( ) that "that cold compound of irony, irreligion, selfishness and sneer, which make up what the french (_from whom we borrow the thing as well as the word_) so well express by the term _persiflage_, has of late years made an incredible progress in blasting the opening buds of piety in young persons of fashion."[ ] when the immediate danger of revolution in england was over, some bluestockings--in particular mrs. montagu, hannah more and mrs. carter--responded to the appeal of suffering humanity, in a narrow compass, to the best of their ability, and in the case of the second with highly creditable zeal and devotion, but they did not, like mary wollstonecraft, rise to the occasion, forego public praise and suffer martyrdom for the cause of humanity. the bluestockings, therefore, cannot be ranked as militant feminists. they were content with the position of dependence which the authority of the bible assigns to women. it is true that even from among their circle an occasional protest was heard against the deliberate subjection of the female sex. the learned mrs. carter once complained to her friend archbishop seeker of the partiality of the male translator of the bible, who in rendering the first epistle of st. paul to the corinthians had translated the same verb in different ways so as to bring out what he thought ought to be the relations between husband and wife, writing that he was not to "put away" his wife, and that she was not to "leave" him; and the archbishop, who began by contradicting her, on referring to the bible was forced to acknowledge that she was right. on the whole, however, the literary remains of the bluestockings demonstrate pretty clearly that their confidence in female equivalence was not great. mrs. chapone, in her letters, mostly adheres to the creed of male superiority. she tries, however, to effect a compromise. man, the appointed ruler and head, is undoubtedly woman's superior, but a woman "should choose for her husband one whom she can heartily and willingly acknowledge her superior, and whose understanding and judgment she can prefer to her own". this sounds most revolutionary at a time when women, as a rule, were not allowed to choose their own husbands. it is interesting to note that miss hester mulso did, and made a love-match with mr. chapone, whom she soon after lost through death. she goes on to say that the husband should have "such an opinion of his wife's understanding, principles and integrity of heart, as will induce him to exalt her to the rank of his first and dearest friend", and concludes: "i believe it necessary that all such inequality and subjection as must check and refrain that unbounded confidence and frankness which are the essence of friendship, be laid aside or suffered to sleep". a qualified superiority, therefore, upon which the lord and master is supposed not to presume. among the correspondence of mrs. montagu, the "queen of the blues", published "by her great-great niece" miss e. j. climenson, is a letter to her devoted friend and admirer the earl of bath on the subject of her archenemy voltaire's tragedy of "_tancred_", in which she finds fault with the character of aménaide for not following virtue as by law established, but despising forms and following sentiment, "a dangerous guide". this is what we should expect from a bluestocking leader. she continues: "_designed by nature to act but a second part_, it is a woman's duty to obey rules; she is not to make or redress them". hannah more also admits the male superiority in a chapter on conversation in her "_strictures_", where she follows swift and mrs. barbauld in suggesting that men shall concur in the education of the female sex by allowing them the humble part of interested listeners to their superior conversation. "it is to be regretted", she says, "that many men, even of distinguished sense and learning, are too apt to consider the society of ladies as a scene in which they are rather to rest their understandings than to exercise them; while ladies, in return, are too much addicted to make their court by lending themselves to this spirit of trifling: they often avoid making use of what abilities they have, and affect to talk below their natural and acquired powers of mind, considering it as a tacit and welcome flattery to the understanding of men to renounce the exercise of their own"[ ]. the last part of this statement strikes a higher note in its denunciation of the pernicious system of "relativity". mrs. carter also refers somewhere in her correspondence to the indignity of ladies and gentlemen at various assemblies being kept separated, as if the former were disqualified by the shortcomings of their sex from listening to the improving conversation of the latter. in conclusion it may be stated that the bluestocking assemblies in all probability arose from an ardent wish on the part of some intellectual ladies to intermingle with the conversation of the members of dr. johnson's club the charms of their own. one of the literary clubbists informs us that a certain lady, whom he does not name, but describes as distinguished by her beauty and taste for literature, used to invite them to dinner and share in the conversation. he may have meant miss reynolds, sir joshua's sister, who wrote a much praised "_essay on taste_", and whose salon was among the first where wits and bluestockings learnt to appreciate each other's society. boswell, in his "_life of johnson_" says: "it was much the fashion for several ladies to have evening assemblies, where the fair sex might participate in conversation with literary and ingenious men, _animated by a desire to please_". although the duty of receiving the guests and so placing them as to ensure animated discussions fell to the share of the women, yet few of them were bold enough to let themselves be heard in the presence of the literary dictator, whose oracular speeches were delivered with pompous assurance and listened to and taken in with becoming deference and humility. dr. johnson made and marred the literary and conversational reputations of his bevy of female admirers; fanny burney owed her success as a bluestocking principally to his praise of "_evelina_", as hannah did hers--next to the kind protection of garrick--to his unstinted eulogy of her "_bas bleu_" poem. johnson had said that "there was no name in poetry that might not be glad to own it." but after johnson's death there came a radical change, and in the absence of a male dictator to occupy the vacant throne, the female element predominated more and more. especially mrs. montagu "queened it" over her satellites, both male and female, and of all the bluestocking hostesses who vied for supremacy she came nearest to justifying the charge of pedantry. the question whether the bluestocking societies were either directly or indirectly an imitation of the older french salons must be answered with some degree of circumspection. that the influence of the latter was considerable may be taken for granted, and the direct points of contact were numerous. horace walpole in particular was an intimate of both, david hume frequented several paris salons and mme du bocage, mme de genlis and mme de staël--the last two in the year of their exile from france--were repeatedly seen in blue society. it is to the pen of the first that we owe one of the most vivid descriptions of mrs. montagu's convivial meetings. if we moreover consider that french interest in england which is a prominent feature of th century society and the close relations between the two countries, we do not wonder that a parallel movement to that of the french salon should have sprung up. and yet the bluestocking assemblies had a distinct individuality of their own; inferior to their french rivals in some respects, they were superior to them in others. most critics of the time agree in asserting their inferiority, which is a natural circumstance in view of the fact that they considered them as a literary and conversational movement, in which the chief aim was literary taste and polished, witty conversation. their estimate never went beyond these limits to consider the influence exercised by these côteries upon society in general. and it is when throwing into the scale the moral improvement, especially among women, which was the result of the efforts of the bluestocking ladies, that we realise that although different, they were not necessarily inferior to their french rivals. wraxall in his "_historical memoirs_" opines that "neither in the period of its duration, nor in the number, merit or intellectual eminence of the principal members, could the english society be held upon any parity with that of france." he might have added with equal truth that the average frenchwoman of the cultivated class is distinguished from her english sister by greater keenness of wit and by a greater brilliance of conversation. the chief talents of the french are of the mind, "de l'esprit", and are shown off to the best advantage, those of the english are rather of the heart and are not flaunted in public. english society, in the matter of outside splendour and brilliance, has always been completely overshadowed by the greater expansiveness of the french. the bluestocking hostesses were upon the whole less brilliant specimens of female magnificence, but they were undoubtedly far better women. for the light-hearted gallantry practised in the french salons they substituted warm and generous friendship, which considerations of envy only very rarely disturbed. the bluestocking atmosphere was purer, allowing one to breathe more comfortably than in some french salon where intrigue ruled the hour. the women were like the men, lacking in that "finesse" in which the french excelled, but kind and considerate, and upon the whole quicker to praise than to find fault. hannah more realised this when singing the praises of the blues in her "_bas bleu_" poem. she describes the members of the french assemblies as brilliant and witty, but lacking common sense and simplicity. her verdict would have been more correct if for the hôtel de rambouillet, against which her disapprobation is directed, she had substituted the later salons of the decline, where indeed a mistaken "préciosité" prevailed and "where point, and turn, and équivoque distorted every word they spoke". for indeed the parallelism with the salon of the th century is far more marked than with that of the th. the evolution of both french and english polite literary society furnishes a strong argument in favour of rousseau's theory that "everything degenerates in the hands of man"--by which he meant "humanity"--for after a short spell of glory both degenerated sadly. in both pedantry supplanted wit, and molière's "_femmes savantes_" might have found its counterpart--though probably not its equivalent--in fanny burney's play of "_the witlings_", which the unfavourable criticism of her friends induced her to destroy. the history of bluestocking pedantry is a repetition of what took place in french society with the exception that to the bluestocking society of england no second blossoming was granted by the chilling blasts of revolution. pedantry, that archenemy of wit, robbed it of all its charm, leaving naked learning, than which nothing can be less sociable. fanny burney signalled its approach, warned against it, and ended by joining in the general homage. there can be no doubt that the french salons occupy the more important place in the history of th century thought. no daring philosophical schemes were hatched under the auspices of the bluestockings, and if their conversation showed the influence of the rationalist spirit, their rationalism was not made subservient to projects of a revolutionary nature, but made to support with its evidence the long-established truth of orthodox religion. mrs. chapone in her "_letters on the improvement of the mind_" warns her niece that reason, which may help us to discover some of the great laws of morality, is yet liable to error. the sending of god's son therefore is to be looked upon as a demonstration or revelation of the evidences of the christian religion, by which we become convinced _on rational grounds_ of its divine authority. here, as in the matter of sexual preeminence, mrs. chapone loved a compromise between the head and the heart. the company at mrs. vesey's is described as a good "rational society" by hannah more, who herself rather affected a "comfortable, rational day". where politics are discussed, the door is opened wide to intrigue, and party-feelings will prevail. politics had been the ruin of many a periodical attempt and their exclusion at the bluestocking assemblies left the field to literary conversation. philanthropy, or active benevolence, was practised instead, and the light moralising tendencies of the _spectator_ enlistened the same sympathy among the bluestockings which the sterner moral code of port royal awakened in the heart of the more serious hannah. upon the whole the bluestockings were not, like their french rivals, recruited from the aristocracy. they belonged to the middle-class, to whom the th century was a time of great financial prosperity. mrs. montagu's wealth was considerable, and she made a liberal use of it not only in philanthropy, but also in encouraging needy authors, which made hannah more refer to her as "the female maecenas of hill street"[ ]. they were mostly the daughters of clergymen and schoolmasters, who in early youth acquired that taste for learning which their fathers or near relations were able to gratify, and that serious cast of mind which never forsook some of them and fitted them to be religious moralists. the tone of their conversation and writings was a distinct improvement upon that of the ladies of the preceding generation, of whom it was said that those who--like mrs. aphra behn and mrs. de la rivière manley--excelled in wit, failed signally in chastity. the love of scandal which had been their chief characteristic, and which sheridan justly satirised, was an object of scorn to the bluestockings, who were as careful to preserve the reputation of others as they were of their own. that some of them occasionally went too far in constituting themselves the mentors of others who were fully able to take care of themselves, is an "amiable weakness" which may be readily forgiven. thus, for instance, mrs. thrale's second marriage with the italian vocalist signor piozzi aroused a good deal of unfavourable comment, brought about an indirect rupture with fanny burney and partly caused her withdrawal from the bluestocking circles. the same exaggerated notions, arising partly from hatred of the encyclopedian spirit of revolutionism embodied in the much-reviled rousseau, occur in mrs. delany's "_essay on propriety_" and in her extremely voluminous correspondence. mrs. chapone's _letters_ insist on a proper regard to reputation as one of the most desirable qualities in a friend. she emphatically distinguished between love of reputation, which is nothing but discretion, and undue regard of opinion, which is only vanity. here her views coincided with mary wollstonecraft's, who had pointed out the error of wanting to make opinion "the high throne of virtue" to women in rousseau's _emile_, but who did not make mrs. chapone's distinction. in the behaviour of young women towards gentlemen, the latter says, great delicacy is required, "yet women oftener err from too great a consciousness of the supposed views of men, than from inattention to those views, or want of caution against them." she therefore agreed that the "desire to please" should be kept under a certain amount of restriction. all the bluestockings' actions arose from a strong sense of duty, which the majority of french hostesses--with the emphatic exception of mme de lambert--sadly lacked. one of their deliberate aims was the substitution of conversation "à la française" for cards. the first determined attack upon the greatest social curse of the age was made by mrs. chapone,--then miss mulso--in collaboration with johnson in no. of the _rambler_ in the year . she wrote to johnson in his capacity of censor of manners, informing him that she, "lady racket", intended to have "cards at her house every sunday". she, of course, intended that johnson should seize the opportunity to attack gambling and thus range himself openly on the side of the intellectual ladies who were in open revolt against the practice. johnson replied that even at the most brilliant of card-tables he had always thought his visit lost, "for i could know nothing of the company but their clothes and their faces." their complete absorption in the vicissitudes of the game, their exulting triumph when successful, and their flush of rage at defeat or at "the unskilful or unlucky play of a partner" so disgusted him that he soon retired. "they were too trifling for me when i was grave, and too dull when i was cheerful". mrs. carter, who did not object to taking an occasional hand at whist or quadrille, was vehement in her condemnation of faro, which she hoped horace walpole on getting into the house would succeed in putting down. hannah more's "_bas bleu_" further endorses the statement that the substitution of conversation for cards was one of the objects of bluestockingism. the introduction states its origin and character. the ladies at mrs. vesey's, mrs. montagu's and mrs. boscawen's, to mention the three hostesses to whom according to their chronicler hannah more "the triple crown divided fell", although in the opinion of others mrs. thrale and mrs. ord were candidates for mrs. boscawen's place--assembled "for the sole purpose of conversation, and were different in no respect from other parties, but that the company did _not_ play at cards." it was there that hannah more found the rambouillet-ideal realised of learning without pedantry, good taste without affectation, and conversation without calumny, levity or any censurable error. the attacks directed against whist, "that desolating hun", and quadrille, "that vandal of colloquial wit", were made not so much on the score of their devastating influence on the moral character as of their exclusion of conversation. it should be remembered, however, that hannah more wrote her "_bas bleu_" in the years before the desire to effect moral reforms got the better of the natural vanity of displaying her considerable intellectual talents. conversation thus became in itself a pursuit, almost a cult, the purpose of which was to "mend the taste and form the mind". the record of what was said by the most prominent male and female wits at the bluestocking gatherings was kept with a minuteness which is characteristic of the time in the endless memoirs and the voluminous correspondence in which every literary lady indulged, and upon which she lavished her talents as an author. immeasurably the best is fanny burney's diary, with its clever and vivid sidelights upon gatherings in which she herself as the successful author of _evelina_, and the protégée of johnson, was lionised, although she never became a bluestocking in the full sense of the word, her temperament being far too sprightly and volatile, and the language of her pen too gushing to suit the notions of propriety of some ladies, whom she further offended by her marriage to a french refugee and by the freedom with which she published details that were not meant for the general ear. the constellation in the bluestocking circles differed somewhat from french society, where the hostess received in her drawing-room a number of prominent men-of-letters, scientists, diplomatists, artists and philosophers, the female element being represented by herself, and only a very few privileged friends. at the english assemblies the majority were ladies, and although some members of the literary club, johnson's satellites, were regular frequenters, the female element predominated. boswell, johnson's biographer, the painter sir joshua reynolds, the politicians fox and burke--before the stirring political events that drew them apart,--the historian gibbon, the poet goldsmith, the actor garrick and the author lyttleton--mrs. montagu's friend and collaborator in the "_dialogues of the_ _dead_"--alike delighted in bluestocking society and by their conversation helped in that diffusion of high principles which to mrs. chapone in her "_essay on conversation_" seemed more important than the french object of sharpening the wit. in her "_letters on the improvement of the mind_" she says that conversation must be cultivated "by the mutual communication of whatever may conduce to the improvement or innocent entertainment of each other." the literature which was the direct outcome of bluestockingism is far slighter in bulk than the poetical effusions called forth by the spirit of gallantry which dominated the early french salons. there was between the ladies and gentlemen of the english circles rather less love-making and rather more mutual esteem. there was hardly any of that complimentary occasional poetry of the lighter kind in which the love-sick french swains of the montausier type had found relief. one of the rare instances of verse-making at an assembly occurred in mrs.--afterwards lady--miller's provincial drawing-room at batheaston, where, in imitation of a french custom, each of the assembled guests deposited his or her poetry in an antique vase, to be read aloud and judged. that this "puppet-show parnassus[ ]" called forth the ridicule of walpole and johnson proves sufficiently that emulation of this kind was not regarded with sympathy among bluestockings and their wellwishers. it is difficult to say whether the bluestockings' contribution to the increase of female importance and influence rivalled that of the french societies, but we undeniably find, that in the latter half of the th century the popular verdict regarding women is undergoing a distinct change. instead of the scornful blame to which pope, swift and chesterfield have made us accustomed we actually find women recognised as an influence in literature by no less a critic than the great doctor himself. madame d'arblay's _diary_ relates how--in --johnson once talked to mrs. thrale and sir philip jennings about "the amazing progress made of late years in literature by the women." he said he himself was astonished at it, and told them he well remembered when a woman who could spell a common letter was regarded as all-accomplished; but now they vied with the men in everything. the same _diary_ makes mention (in ) of the verses published by the author's father--dr. burney--in the _herald_, making women the object of praise instead of blame and ridicule. the composition was entitled "_advice to the herald_", published anonymously, and ascribed to sir w. w. pepys, until in a m. s. copy was found among dr. burney's papers. they exhort the paper not only to proclaim the shame of woman, but to also "record in story such as shine their sex's glory". hannah more's "pathetic pen", mrs. carter's "piety and learning", fanny burney's "quick discerning" are praised; and special places are retained for mrs. chapone, "high-bred, elegant mrs. boscawen"; lady lucan, mrs. leveson gower, mrs. greville, lady crewe and "fertile-minded" mrs. montagu. david garrick, hannah more's faithful friend and supporter, in referring to the success of her ballad entitled "_sir eldred of the bower_", followed by another poem called "_the bleeding rock_", playfully represents the male sex as mortified by female success and makes apollo the author. and in hoole's "_aurelia, or the contest_", likewise referred to in fanny burney's _diary_, the example of "the wiser females" is glanced at to counterbalance female folly. all which examples tend to show that public opinion regarding women was undergoing a slow process of change. now that women themselves had taken their moral improvement in hand, the male authors felt that they could again indulge in some measure of praise. on the other hand, women had become sufficiently conscious of the moral shortcomings of the opposite sex, to take an occasional share in their reclamation and point out the error of their ways. when, after long circulating in manuscript, the "_bas bleu_" poem was at last published, it was accompanied by another entitled "_florio_", describing the fopperies and the utter worthlessness of a typical "maccaroni" or young man of fashion, a criticism which none of us would think of calling undeserved. the department of literature in which women were qualified to shine _par excellence_ was the novel. richardson's novels had succeeded marvellously in awakening interest in the workings of the female heart, and analysis of the female character to its minutest details was what the reading public had grown to expect. this was a field in which women have since abundantly proved themselves in many ways the equals of men, and the story of the universal praise with which "_evelina_" was welcomed, and the author's mingled pride in her achievement and bashfulness, arising out of the fear that she might be thought lacking in modesty, is among the most amusing parts of her diary. unfortunately, for all her keenness of perception and fine sense of humour, there was about her character a certain want of depth, which became more apparent as she grew older. but she certainly paved the way for the later female novelists, and particularly for jane austen. not the least among the bluestockings' merits was the fact that by the example some of them gave they accustomed the british public to seeing females engaged in different occupations which before had been the exclusive work of men. where ladies of such a strong sense of propriety did not shrink from appearing before the public as authors, and even pseudonyms were often thought unnecessary, the domain of literature ceased to be the exclusive property of men. strangely enough, the notion that female knowledge should be carefully concealed, originating in molière's _femmes savantes_ and prevailing all through the th and th centuries in both literatures until mary wollstonecraft openly disregarded it, was implicitly obeyed by the bluestockings. not all the bluestocking ladies were authors; mrs. vesey for instance, probably the most loveable among the hostesses, who understood better than any of her rivals the art of making her guests comfortable, has left us no literary legacy. of the others, mrs. delany and mrs. boscawen concentrated their literary energies chiefly upon their correspondence, while mrs. carter's clever translation of epictetus which elicited the unstinted praise of mr. long, a later translator, who repeatedly, when in doubt, consulted her text, is of no importance to her sex. the principal literary contributions to the subject of feminism were made by three bluestockings: mrs. montagu, mrs. chapone and mrs. hannah more, the nature of whose contributions corresponds closely with their respective characters. the natural bias of elizabeth robinson's character was strengthened by the circumstances of her education. in her early youth she was often at cambridge, where her grandmother's second husband, dr. conyers middleton, took great delight in her keenness of understanding, and often kept her in the room while he was conversing with his visitors, among whom were the greatest philosophers and scholars of the day. her father was also amused at the child's precocity and they used to have frequent "brain cudgellings", until he became painfully aware that he was no longer a match for his clever daughter. she was a furious letter-writer, which occupation, if it sharpened her wit, also developed in her that insatiable intellectual vanity which afterwards became her ruling passion, distinguished her as a bluestocking from her more modest rivals and prevented her from being as universally liked as a mrs. vesey. her biographer mr. huchon says that "she was all mind, if not all soul", and was more respected than loved. sentimentality was not among her weaknesses, her sound practical sense dictated both to herself and to others. she strongly opposed the love-match which her ward miss dorothea gregory--one of the daughters to whom the well-known physician of that name addressed his legacy of advice--asked her permission to make, and the ubiquitous fanny burney writes that mrs. montagu once asked her, "if she should write a play, to let her know of it", which vexed fanny's "second daddy", mr. crisp, as it "implied interference". her own marriage ( ) was purely a "marriage de raison", the husband being considerably older, and a man of great wealth. mrs. chapone afterwards called her with reason "an ignoramus in love", which did not in this case prevent the marriage from being fairly happy. neither was mrs. montagu free from affectation. much-praised simplicity and humility were not among her virtues, and no flattery seems to have been too gross for her to accept. lady louisa stuart--lady mary wortley montagu's granddaughter, to whom we are indebted for some humorous pictures of bluestocking society--describes her as thoroughly satisfied with herself. her speech is described as affected, although ready wit can scarcely be denied her. her reply on being informed that voltaire, shakespeare's translator, had boasted of having been the first frenchman to find "quelques perles dans son fumier": "c'est donc un fumier qui a fertilisé une terre bien ingrate" is a good specimen both of her proficiency in the french language and of her quickness of repartee. however, she often descended from the heights of rhetoric, and her affectation of speech seems to have been a weakness into which she was occasionally betrayed by a momentary lapse of her fine judgment. speaking of mr. gray she once said: "i think he is the first poet of my age; but if he comes to my fireside, i will teach him not only to speak prose, but to talk nonsense, if occasion be." she loved to make a display of her learning, and johnson said of her that "she diffused more knowledge in her conversation than any women he knew." at the same time she criticised others freely, which procured her many enemies. mr. crisp thought her "a vain, empty, conceited pretender, and little else"; wraxall judged that "there was nothing feminine about her"; and an essay by cumberland in the _observer_ of describes the "feast of reason" at mrs. montagu's house in portman square, where the lady herself is satirised under the name of "vanessa". it describes her as stimulated to charity, affability and hospitality exclusively by the dictates of inordinate vanity, and even accuses her of bribing her critics: "authors were fee'd for dedications, and players patronised on benefit nights". her charity was, indeed, of a condescending kind. thus her annual feast to the chimney-sweeps on may day rather smacks of the doctrine of good works pointing the way to salvation, and to the working people in her coal-mines she was a dutiful but immeasurably superior patroness. in a few isolated cases, however, there were flashes of real kindness. she gave unstinted financial support to mrs. williams, the blind poetess whose lot had aroused johnson's compassion, and her letter of condolence to mrs. delany on the occasion of the death of their mutual friend the duchess of portland has the genuine ring of grief and sympathy. it tries to find solace in considerations of eternity. mrs. montagu's religious views were strict, and religious worship was a serious matter with her. however, her strong individuality would not suffer her to bow her intellect before that of any man. beyond the admitted fact that "god is the loving father of all", she has only hope, but no definite knowledge of the certainty of a future state. such was the character of the lady whom johnson called "queen of the blues", and fanny burney "our sex's glory". the incident which had a determining influence on her further life was the death of her only child. grief of that kind may be to some extent drowned in religion or in social intercourse, and mrs. montagu tried both. she emphatically believed in the social state as productive of good through the friction of minds. thus it came about that in the middle of the century--the exact date is nowhere given, which makes it difficult to decide whether mrs. montagu, or mrs. vesey, or miss frances reynolds had the right to consider herself the first bluestocking hostess,--mrs. montagu opened her salon in hill street, where she entertained a great number of guests of the most widely different description, her rooms being often filled from eleven in the morning till eleven at night. the best descriptions of mrs. montagu's parties are to be found in hannah more's correspondence and in mme du bocage's "_letters on england, holland and italy_." the latter visited england at a time when mrs. montagu's breakfasts were all the fashion, served "in a closet lined with painted paper of pekin and furnished with the choicest movables of china", the so-called chinese room, recalling the splendours of the "chambre bleue" of the marquise de rambouillet. it was probably at mrs. montagu's and at mrs. thrale's that dr. johnson chiefly indulged in his tea-orgies, and mme du bocage describes his hostess as pouring out her delicious tea, attired in a white apron and a large straw hat. on the whole the english ladies paid more attention to gastric delights than their french sisters, and in mrs. montagu's case her well-provided table often relieved her from the wearisome duty of keeping up the flow of conversation. in this lay the characteristic difference between mrs. montagu and mrs. vesey. the latter wanted her guests to forget her and to consult their own inclinations in the forming of groups of conversation, contenting herself with listening to her literary lions; mrs. montagu on the other hand, to quote fanny burney, "cared not a fig, as long as she spoke herself". that her intellectual queenship involved the duty of maintaining conversation at a high pitch seems to have considerably worried her upon occasions. the bluestocking hostesses kept a great variety of hours. in the last decades of the century late teas were in vogue, but the usual entertainments were breakfasts and dinners, in which there was a great variety. we read of mrs. garrick's dinner parties to a select company of eight chosen friends, among whom hannah more was proud to find herself, and according to horace walpole mrs. montagu's breakfasts at her house in portman square sometimes included seven hundred guests, from royalty downwards. to this magnificent abode she removed in , six years after the death of her husband. she spared no cost in fitting it up in the most gorgeous fashion, and although walpole thought her decorations in good taste, one cannot help feeling doubts as to the room with the feather hangings of which cowper wrote in that "the birds put off their every hue, to dress a room for montagu." the famous "room of the cupidons" made her a little ridiculous in the eyes of the more sober-minded ladies, one of whom (mrs. delany) in a letter refers somewhat spitefully to "her age". there are no references to any of mrs. montagu's parties taking place out of doors, but some of the minor hostesses would sometimes send out invitations to tea, followed by a walk in the park or fields. this custom was perhaps an imitation of the habits prevailing among rambouillet-circles. neither do we find anywhere mention of stated days, such as were kept by the french hostesses, although sundays were objected to by some of the more orthodox. the greater artificiality of arrangement at the bluestocking assemblies appears from the pains taken by the hostess to so place her guests as to ensure a free flow of wit. in connection with mrs. montagu, reports are contradictory. hannah more's correspondence informs us that the company used to split up into little groups of five or six; fanny burney on the contrary relates how the guests were seated in a semi-circle round the fire. here again, mrs. vesey followed her individual inclinations, for the bas-bleu poem tells us how her "potent ward the circle broke", insisting on an easy informality in the grouping of her guests. mrs. ord seems to have preferred the later method of drawing chairs round a table in the centre. mrs. montagu's early correspondence is full of wit and humour, and displays so much discrimination that we feel surprised the writer did not make her mark later in life as a novelist. the critical faculty she possessed in so eminent a degree fitted her for satire, the object being naturally contemporary society. in a letter, written when she was twenty, she gives a vivid description of fashionable life at bath, ridiculing the emptiness of daily conversation and signalising the general depravity of morals. "how d'ye do?" prevails in the morning, and "what's trumps?" at night; the ladies' only topic is diseases, and the men are all bad. "there is not one good, no not one." she likewise freely vented her ridicule of overdone fashions, and descriptions like the following are by no means rare. "lady p. and her two daughters make a very remarkable figure, and will ruin the poor mad woman of tunbridge by out-doing her in dress. such hats, capuchins, and short sacks as were never seen! one of the ladies looked like a state-bed running upon castors. she had robbed the valance and tester of a bed for a trimming." although her satire is chiefly directed against her own sex, she strongly protested against the opinion that women were morally inferior to men, whose insincere flattery was largely responsible for female frivolity. one of her most constant friends and platonic admirers was mr. (afterwards lord) lyttleton, her vindication of whose memory against dr. johnson in later years led to the most famous of bluestocking quarrels. in , lyttleton published his "_dialogues of the dead_"--referred to rather unkindly by walpole as the "dead dialogues". the preface says that after the dialogues of lucan, fénelon and fontenelle, english literature can boast only the learned dialogues of one mr. hurde, who takes living persons for his characters. the author proposes to take his cue from the history of all times and nations, opposing them to or comparing them with each other, "which is, perhaps, one of the most agreeable methods that can be employed of conveying to the mind any critical, moral or political observations". needless to say, the dead are supposed to know all that has taken place since their decease. mr. lyttelton goes on to say that the last three dialogues are by a different hand. "if the friend who favoured me with them should write any more, i shall think the public owes me a great obligation, for having excited a genius so capable of uniting delight with instruction, and giving to knowledge and virtue those graces which the wit of the age has too often employed all its skill to bestow upon folly and vice." the above sufficiently denotes the character of the dialogues in which mrs. montagu--for the "different hand" was hers--had every opportunity to display her satirical vein. the numbers and , of which the former satirises fashionable conduct and the latter the literature of gallantry, are illustrative of her opinions of contemporary female character. the characters of no. are mercury and a modern fine lady, whose name is mrs. modish. the god comes to fetch her to the nether world, but she begs to be excused: "i am engaged, absolutely engaged". mercury thinks she is referring to her duties to her husband and children, but he is quickly disillusioned. "look on my chimneypiece, and you will see i was engaged to the play on mondays, balls on tuesdays, the opera on saturdays, and to card-assemblies the rest of the week, for two months to come; and it would be the rudest thing in the world not to keep my appointments. if you will stay with me till the summer season, i will wait on you with all my heart. perhaps the elysian fields may be less detestable than the country in our world. pray have you a fine vauxhall and ranelagh? i think i should not dislike drinking the lethe waters when you have a full season." when mercury objects that she has made pleasure the only object in her life, she replies that she has indeed made diversion her chief business, but has got no real pleasure out of it. for late hours and fatigue have given her the vapours and spoiled the natural cheerfulness of her temper. her ambition to be thought "du bon ton" (which mrs. montagu explains in a note is french cant for the fashionable air of conversation and manners) has ruled her conduct. when asked by mercury to define the term, mrs. modish is somewhat perplexed. "it is--i can never tell you what it is; but i will try to tell you what it is not. in conversation it is not wit, in manners it is not politeness, in behaviour it is not address; but it is a little like them all. it can only belong to people of a certain rank; who live in a certain manner, with certain persons, who have not certain virtues, and who have certain vices, and who inhabit a certain part of the town. like a place by courtesy, it gets a higher rank than the person can claim, but which those who have a legal title to precedency dare not dispute for fear of being thought not to understand the rules of politeness." mercury finds fault with her for sacrificing all her real interests and duties to so arbitrary a thing as "bon ton". she asks him what he would have had her do? to which mercury replies that her real business consisted in promoting her husband's happiness and devoting herself to the education of her children. it appears that their religion, sentiments and manners were to be learnt from a dancing-master, a music-master and a french governess. the result will be "wives without conjugal affection and mothers without maternal care." mercury's final advice to the lady is to "remain on this side the styx", and to wander about without end or aim, to look into the elysian fields, but never attempt to enter them, lest minos should push her into tartarus, "for duties neglected may bring on a sentence not much less severe than crimes committed." the characters of the next dialogue are plutarch, charon and a modern bookseller. it contains a pointed satire on literary taste. it appears that the works of plutarch do not command any sale whatever except to "a few pedants," but "_the lives of highwaymen_" have brought our bookseller a competent fortune, and the enormous sale of "the lives of men that never lived" (by which the novel is meant) have set him up for life. this latest modern improvement in writing enables a man to "read all his life and have no knowledge at all." modern books not only dispose to gallantry and coquetry, but give rules for them. caesar's commentaries and the account of xenophon's expedition are not more studied by military commanders than our novels are by the fair; to a different purpose indeed, for their military maxims teach to conquer, ours to yield; those inflame the vain and idle love of glory, these inculcate a noble contempt of reputation. if the women had not the friendly assistance of modern fiction, the bookseller fears they might long remain "in an insipid purity of mind; with a discouraging reserve of behaviour." plutarch is shocked at so much degeneracy of taste and wishes that for the sake of the good example he had expatiated more on the character of lucretia and some other heroines. it grieves him to hear that chastity is no longer valued, and that crime and immorality, far from meeting with the punishment they deserve, are universally applauded. and yet it is not more than a century since a frenchman wrote a much admired life of cyrus under the name of artamenes[ ], in which he ascribed to him far greater actions than those recorded of him by xenophon and herodotus. he goes on to praise the gallant days of chivalry, when authors made it their business to incite men to virtue by holding up as an example the deeds of fabulous heroes, whereas it seems to be the custom of a later age to incite them to vice by the history of fabulous scoundrels. "men of fine imagination have soared into the regions of fancy to bring back astrea: you go thither in search of pandora, oh disgrace to letters! oh shame to the muses!" the bookseller's feeble remonstrance that authors have to comply with the manners and disposition of those who are to read them, is met with the indignant remark that they should first of all correct the vices and follies of their age. to give examples of domestic virtue would surely be more useful to women than to inflame their minds with the deeds of great heroines. "true female praise arises not from the pursuit of public fame, but from an equal progress in the path marked out for them by their great creator." thus we find that even plutarch is pressed into service to inculcate a religious moral. the bluestocking ladies were sufficiently enlightened to recognise the deep wisdom of the ancients, which is of all ages and independent of religious doctrines. mrs. carter, the translator of epictetus, was a woman of profound piety. the bookseller now remarks that some authors have indeed tried to instil virtuous notions. in _clarissa harlowe_ "one finds the dignity of heroism tempered by the meekness and humility of religion, a perfect purity of mind and sanctity of manners", and _sir charles grandison_ is "a noble pattern of every private virtue, with sentiments so exalted as to render him equal to every public duty." next to richardson, fielding and marivaux are remarkable for their fine moral touches, and some comfort is to be derived from the reflection that when there is wit and elegance enough in a book to make it sell, it is not the worse for good morals. here charon appears to conduct our bookseller to his future abode, but deeming him after all "too frivolous an animal to present to wise minos", proposes to constitute him _friseur_ to tisiphone, and make him "curl up her locks with satires and libels". the above pieces derive their chief interest from the fact that they are among the very first instances of female satire of a kind which in being more pointed and more direct than that of the spectator, and less bitter and exaggerated than that of swift, written by a member of the sex who was herself a recognised leader of society, was more calculated than anything else to impress the female mind with the necessity of thorough reform. strange to say, mrs. montagu's claims for female instruction other than moral are very modest. it is a subject she seldom refers to, although there is a letter dated to her sister-in-law mrs. robinson, containing a reference to the education of her little niece, in which she certainly does not aim very high. a boarding-school is recommended in spite of the fact that what girls learn there is most trifling, "but they unlearn what would be of great disservice--a provincial dialect which is extremely ungenteel, and other tricks that they learn in the nursery." french lessons she deems unnecessary, "unless for persons in very high life", and she expects a great deal of benefit from a good air and a good dancing-master. mrs. montagu here presents that curious mixture of good sense and narrow conventionality which proves the extreme difficulty of getting away from influences and forming an independent judgment. in the "_essay on shakespeare_" ( ) mrs. montagu appears as a literary critic. she felt offended at voltaire's disparagement of the great english author and also at the frenchman's haughty arrogance. the essay was favourably criticised in the _critical review_, and cowper praised it in a letter to lady hesketh in the following words: "i no longer wonder that mrs. montagu stands at the head of all that is called learned, and that every critic veils his bonnet to her superior judgment.... the learning, the good sense, the sound judgment, and the wit displayed in it fully justify not only my compliment, but all compliments that either have been already paid to her talents or shall be paid hereafter." but johnson spoke scornfully of it. he said he had "taken up the end of the web, and finding it packthread, had thought it useless to go further in search of embroidery," but had to grant afterwards that it was conclusive against voltaire. it procured mrs. montagu a great many friends in france, where such wit as hers was sure to find full appreciation. when, seven years later, she visited paris, voltaire wrote another furious article against shakespeare, which was read at the académie in her presence. "i think madam," said one of the members when the reading was over, "you must be rather sorry at what you have just heard." mrs. montagu shrugged her shoulders. "i, sir! not at all! i am not one of m. voltaire's friends!" of quite a different cast of character was mrs. chapone, whose "_letters on the improvement of the mind_" were dedicated to mrs. montagu. she was plain and uninteresting, and when the romance of her life had taken an untimely ending, it is to be feared her conversation became too much like sermonizing to suit vivacious young ladies like fanny burney, who thought her assemblies "very dull". but whatever she wrote bears the stamp of sincerity. she was evidently deeply concerned about the moral welfare of the niece she addressed in her letters--the example set by mme de sévigné and imitated by lady mary wortley montagu had found followers--and she honestly tried to reconcile what was noble and proper in her eyes with the demands of convention. above all she tried to inculcate that sense of responsibility for our actions which she held to be the basis of true christianity. all our strivings should have the same purpose; that of bringing us nearer to god. her niece is told to render herself more useful and pleasing to her fellow-creatures (a concession to prevailing opinions), "_and consequently more acceptable to god_". this last addition completely subverts the meaning of what precedes. without it, the sense would be: "please others and you will please your own vanity," which now becomes: "please others and try to make them happy, and you will please god." mrs. chapone thought pride and vanity the worst vices. men were particularly addicted to the former, since to be proud is to admire oneself; and women to the latter, for vain is she who desires to be admired by others. it is the vice of little minds, chiefly conversant with trifling subjects, and brings affectation in its train. the vain woman turns exaggerated weakness to account to ensure her empire over the stronger sex. thus arises that false sensibility which will weep for a fly and leads to a thousand excesses. a well-directed reason will keep the feelings under control and spur us to actions of christian charity. those who relieve the sufferer are of more benefit to him than those who lament over his misfortunes. sensibility is, indeed, one of the catchwords of the century. originally a laudable compassion and sympathy with the sufferings of others and a reaction against "the faithless coldness of the times", richardson's novels show how soon it began to degenerate into sickly sentimentality which, when indulging in the luxury of woe, forgot to relieve the suffering which called forth the tears of sentiment. one of the most serious charges brought against j. j. rousseau was that in his "_nouvelle héloise_" and in his "_confessions_" he makes his lovers wallow to a sickening extent in the ecstasy of grief, inducing others by the magic of his personality to imitate him. this false sensibility was as much the abomination of the bluestocking ladies as a well-regulated fellow-feeling was thought commendable, and here at least mary wollstonecraft heartily agreed with them. the usual reproach that the revolutionary leaders, those "friends of humanity", in fighting for the interest of the human race neglected the immediate wants of the individual--of which argument especially the anti-jacobin made ample use--was, therefore, in her case at least, utterly undeserved. hannah more made "_sensibility_" the subject of a poem dedicated to mrs. boscawen, and in her "_strictures_" devoted an entire chapter to it. in both the conclusion runs that sensibility has received its true direction when it is supremely turned to the love of god: "but if religious bias rule the soul, then sensibility exalts the whole." there is, of course, in mrs. chapone's letters the usual warning against the danger of fiction, especially of the sentimental kind, the chief nurse of false sensibility, and also an element arising from the wish to reconcile christian charity with the "necessary inequality" among individuals: the question of the treatment of inferiors. since the chief duties of woman are of a domestic nature, it follows that the management of servants will be her task, and the christian in mrs. chapone would see them treated with kind civility, while the lady of quality in her warns against the danger of too close intimacy with people of low birth and education. the idea of raising them by slow degrees to a higher social level probably never suggested itself to her. her ideal of female instruction must be likewise described as in the main conventional, with a few useful hints to mark a partial advance. dancing and french are "so universal that they cannot be dispensed with", but music and drawing she wanted to be taught only to those who were qualified by possessing talent. the study of history is recommended as giving a liberal and comprehensive view of human nature, and supplying materials for conversation, and the reading of poetry will improve the female imagination, which only wants regulating to be superior to that of men. shakespeare, milton, and mrs. montagu's _essay_ ought to be the object of diligent study, and even heathen mythology and greek philosophy may be recommended as containing a strong moral element. the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake clearly did not appeal to mrs. chapone at all. the most pronounced character among the bluestockings, as well as the most privileged among them in literary gifts was beyond any doubt mrs. hannah more.[ ] it will be interesting, in continuation of the more general appreciation of respective tendencies in the introduction to this chapter, to contrast her with mary wollstonecraft with a view to establishing the chief causes from which the difference in their ideas arose, and arriving at a vindication of the laudable intentions of both. if mary wollstonecraft was turned into a social reformer chiefly through the influence of the outward circumstances which dominated her youth, hannah more's career was largely the consequence of certain innate qualities, which predestined her to become a moralist. she may have inherited her preaching propensities from her father, who had himself been designed for the church before circumstances interfered to turn him into a schoolmaster. her mother, a farmer's daughter, devoted herself entirely to the children's education. in her earliest youth, little hannah's favourite pastime--as her biographer and admirer mr. w. roberts tells us in his memoirs--was the writing of long exhortative letters "to depraved characters", and when in later years she lived at mrs. garrick's we find her referred to as the latter's "domestic chaplain". and yet she could be witty enough when she chose and was not without a sense of humour. at the time of the writing of her "_bas bleu_" she sent her friend mrs. pepys a pair of stockings for one of her children, accompanied by a letter, "_the bas blanc_", in which she treats the subject as if it were an epic, "so far of a moral cast that its chief end is utility,"--hoping the child will be able "to run through it with pleasure". she goes on to say that "the exordium is the natural introduction by which you are led into the whole work. the middle, i trust, is free from any unnatural humour or inflation, and the end from any disproportionate littleness. i have avoided bringing about the catastrophe too suddenly, as i know that would hurt him at whose feet i lay it", and so on in the same strain. mary wollstonecraft would have been utterly incapable of such playfulness. a further determining factor in the difference in the lives of both was the treatment received at the hands of the influential. mary was first treated with indifference and coldness, and afterwards reviled for her opinions, whereas hannah more was courted and flattered in a way which might have turned the head of any more volatile girl. to the struggle for life of which mary bore the marks till her dying-day, hannah was a total stranger, having had a comfortable annuity settled on her by a mr. turner, who once made her an offer of marriage. thus secured against penury, that constant dread of rising authors, hannah could go to london and give herself up to social amusements and to literature. her meeting with garrick ensured her a hearty welcome in bluestocking circles, and his support smoothed her brief dramatic career and contributed to the warm reception of her first poetic attempts. they represent her contribution to romanticism, and gained the approval of no less a critic than dr. johnson himself. hannah more thus became a universal favourite, and her "vers de société" became very popular. however, her career as a dramatist came to an end with garrick's death, and after the success of "_bas bleu_" and "_sensibility_" she more and more directed her energies towards social and moral reform. the bluestocking assemblies, much as they appealed to her love of witty conversation, afforded no outlet for that pent-up energy which made her long for some worthy object on which to concentrate herself for the benefit of society. it may be said that from the decade which saw the outbreak of the french revolution dates the participation of english women in the discussion of the great social problems by which the times were stirred. it was as natural that hannah more should openly declare herself in favour of a strict maintenance of the existing social order as that mary wollstonecraft should become the champion of radical social and political reform. thus, each of the contending parties numbered among the warmest advocates of their cause a member of the female sex. and yet, previous to the great social upheaval in france, hannah more at one time seemed likely to range herself among the partisans of moderate social reform. her first social object was found in the struggle for the abolition of the slave-trade which in held the attention of parliament. mr. wilberforce became her "red cross knight", and hannah wrote a poem entitled "_the black slave trade_", in which her attitude towards the revolution is foreshadowed. the lines: shall britain, _where the soul of freedom reigns_, forge chains for others she herself disdains? forbid it, heaven! o let the nation know, the liberty she tastes she will bestow; are sufficient to show that she consented to be the champion of liberty in other countries only while they regarded england as the natural home of freedom. burke had no more faithful follower among his conservative friends than the reformer hannah more. after the outbreak of the revolution she soon altered her opinion that, although the capture of the bastille had been undertaken by "lawless rabble" yet "some good" might be expected from it. price's sermon filled her with horror, and burke's _reflections_ had her undivided sympathy. while engaged upon religious tracts and plans for instructing the children of the poor came the news of dupont's speech in the national assembly, attacking all religion and calling nature and reason the gods of men. indignation made hannah take up her pen in reply, and refute the atheistic arguments in a pamphlet. the success of this effort caused her to be solicited from all sides to undertake the refutation of thomas paine's _rights of man_. her humorous treatment of the subject in this second tract, entitled "_village politics, by will chip_", appealed to the class for whom it was chiefly intended and was a distinct success, as were her doggerel ballads on the subject, some of which were to popular tunes, preaching submission to the existing social order, for, as "will chip" puts it in his "true rights of man": that some must be poorer, this truth will i sing, _is the law of my maker_, and not of my king; and the true rights of man, and the life of his cause, is not equal possessions; but equal, just laws. hannah's sympathy went out to patient joe, the newcastle collier, who held that "all things which happened were best", and to the ploughman who felt safe in his cottage with the british laws for his guard: "if the squire should oppress, i get instant redress"; a view which the author of _caleb williams_ emphatically did not share, and which makes the modern reader feel as if hannah more were "laying it on a little too thick." hannah more and mary wollstonecraft--who, as will be seen in the next chapter, ranged herself among the opponents of burke--thus took opposite sides in the great struggle, defending diametrically opposed principles, yet collaborating in gradually weaning the reading public from the conventional notion that the domain of literature was taboo to women and in accustoming them to the unwonted spectacle of women participating in a social struggle. mary wollstonecraft's claims for a complete emancipation impressed hannah more as directed straight against the divine authority. the state of inequality, we have seen, was looked upon by her as god's will, and to rebel against it was to oppose the decrees of the almighty. the right way to benefit her sex seemed to her to insist on a better moral education. on this subject at least the two political adversaries were agreed. "in those countries in which fondness for the mere persons of women is carried to the highest excess, they are slaves; their moral and intellectual degradation increases in direct proportion to the adoration which is paid to their charms" is one of the many statements in hannah more's "_strictures on female education_"[ ] which mary wollstonecraft might have written, and both saw in a liberal moral education the only remedy. at this point, however, the two paths become separated. to mary wollstonecraft female education was merely one of the milestones in the march towards perfection; to hannah more it seemed that women might be made instrumental "to raise the depressed tone of public morals and to awaken the drowsy spirit of religious principle", and also that they might be called upon "to come forward and contribute their full and fair proportion towards the saving of their country." with hannah more, high morality and patriotism necessarily went hand in hand. her ideal was to see all english women join in a thorough reform of manners and morals, that her country might become not only the bulwark of tradition against the mania for innovation, but also that of the religion she held sacred against the onslaughts of atheism coming from across the channel. if she had a less fervent temperament than mary, she compensated for this lack through her practical insight, which told her that sudden radical changes are apt to destroy the edifice of ages, without offering anything solid as a substitute. she felt the guardian of her sex against the attacks of infidelity which in her eyes were principally directed against the female heart. "conscious of the influence of women in civil society, _conscious of the effect which female infidelity produced in france_, they attribute the ill success of their attempts in this country to their having been hitherto chiefly addressed to the male sex. they are now sedulously labouring to destroy the religious principles of women, and in too many instances have fatally succeeded. for this purpose not only novels and romances have been made the vehicles of vice and infidelity, but the same allurement has been held out to the women of our country which was employed in the garden of eden by the first philosophist to the first sinner,--knowledge"[ ]. the above lines determine hannah more's attitude towards female learning, which she regarded as the devil's own bait. as an example of the corrupting tendencies of foreign literature she makes a few remarks on the much-admired german plays of "_the robbers_" and "_the stranger_", the second of which presents the character of an adulteress in the most pleasing and fascinating colours. "to make matters worse, the german example has found a follower in a woman, a professed admirer and imitator of the german suicide werter. the female werter, as she is styled by her biographer, asserts in a work entitled, "_the wrongs of women_" that adultery is justifiable, and that the restrictions placed on it by the laws of england, constitute one of the wrongs of women".[ ] to come to a correct understanding of this passage, it is necessary to remember that the "_strictures_" were written in , when the remembrance of mary wollstonecraft's attempt at suicide was still fresh, and when her unexpected death had drawn attention to godwin's edition of her works, the only one containing "_maria, or the wrongs of woman_". in their ideas of marriage, as indeed in all their applications of religious precepts, the gulf between hannah more and mary wollstonecraft becomes immeasurably wide. but wherever the sense of moral duty, unhampered by convention or by a rigid philosophical harness, was free to assert itself, it is curious to note the close affinity between the ideas of two women who occupied such widely different positions in the social life of their time, yet were both so extremely conscious of the moral responsibility of their sex. it remains for us to consider the interesting--if somewhat eccentric--personality of the woman who had brought down upon herself so many charges of gross immorality. footnotes: [ ] _strictures on the modern system of female education, p. ._ [ ] _strictures on the modern system of female education, p. ._ [ ] see w. roberts, _memoirs of the life and correspondence of mrs. hannah more_, p. . [ ] walpole. [ ] there seems to have been a good deal of uncertainty as to the authorship of the works of the famous brother and sister. contemporary opinion unanimously assigns that of "_le grand cyrus_" to madeleine de scudéry, and not to her brother george. [ ] like mary wollstonecraft, hannah more took brevet-rank as a matron by virtue of her literary publications. [ ] p. . [ ] _strictures_, p. . [ ] _strictures_, p. . chapter vi. _radical feminism: mary wollstonecraft._ around the name of mary wollstonecraft a storm of adverse criticism raged for years after her death, prompting godwin to the publication of his "_memoirs of the author of a vindication of the rights of woman_", and calling forth the somewhat half-hearted defence of her actions and writings by an anonymous author in . both failed to attract any degree of notice. shelley, whose meetings with young mary godwin over her mother's grave in st. pancras cemetery are described in mrs. marshall's biography, offered her the sincere tribute of his verse in "_the revolt of islam_", where the heroine resembles her in her character. the champion of the cause of woman was herself an essentially loveable, thoroughly feminine representative of her sex, whose many troubles arose from an extremely sensitive heart, a pure, refined sensibility, without any of the alloy which she was the first to regret in so many other women, and from the circumstance that, being born a century before her time, her striving was only moderately successful and brought her the ill-will of many who were unable to appreciate the sincerity of her motives. nothing could be more undeserved, or bespeak a more glaring ignorance of the character it reviled than horace walpole's mention of mary wollstonecraft in his letter to miss hannah more--in her rigid respectability the direct opposite of the author of the "_vindication_"--as "a hyena in petticoats, whose books were excommunicated from the pale of his library". few books and their authors have been the object of such unsparing censure as the _rights of women_ and mary wollstonecraft, and it may be added that seldom was the imputation of meddling spitefulness and even of gross immorality more utterly undeserved. there speaks from the entire work a spirit of absolute sincerity, of disinterested eagerness for necessary reforms and of that fervent enthusiasm in the pursuit of aims which will not shrink at martyrdom, which endear the author to the unbiased reader, and which only the narrowest conservatism could overlook. nor would it have met with the bitter antagonism it encountered had not the public mind, harassed by the constant menace of the french revolution, been overmuch inclined to cry down all works of reform. as it was, mary wollstonecraft's reputation passed through three distinctly marked phases; in the first, the work and its author were violently attacked by the many, and enthusiastically defended by the few; in the second, they were consigned to temporary oblivion; in the third, mr. kegan paul in , and after him miss mathilde blind in "_the new quarterly review_", miss h. zimmern in the "_deutsche rundschau_", and e. r. pennell in the "_eminent women series_" tried with a fair amount of success to awaken a new interest in both and to vindicate the author's memory by clearing her personal character from the monstrous imputations of immorality. the fact has now been definitely established that she was prompted by the noblest love of humanity, and is entitled to rank among those champions of the new faith who suffered martyrdom for the cause. she was one of those predestined by that innate character she was so fain to deny to a life of the bitterest anguish, brightened by spells of almost perfect happiness. both the joys and the sorrows of humanity were abundantly hers. with her, character was indeed fate, and the outward circumstances of her life only emphasized the convictions to which a woman of her stamp was bound to come in the world of inequality and cruel injustice in which she moved. she combined in her person the rarest gifts of both head and heart; as a quick perception, enabling her to grasp a situation very rapidly; a never-flinching determination to use the divine gift of reason in the pursuit of useful knowledge, and a boundless devotion to what she considered the obvious task of her life. once she had discovered her vocation she flung herself into her work with indomitable zeal, trying to do herself violence in asserting the superiority of reason over sentiment, and to put a restraint on the passions that threatened to overpower her. in this attempt she did not always succeed, and while it makes her appear to us thoroughly human, yet her imperfect self-control was not without influence on her works of reform, leading her to exaggeration and wearisome reiterations. in the chapter of the _vindication_ which deals with national education she insists that only that man makes a good citizen, who has in his youth "exercised the affections of a son and a brother," for public affections grow out of private, and it is in youth that the fondest friendships are formed. this sounds like a confession, for if mary wollstonecraft had not been in earlier years such a devoted friend to her dear ones as to utterly disregard her own comfort in her desire to befriend them, she could never have loved humanity with such intensity. it is difficult to say what would have become of the wollstonecraft household if mary had not strained every faculty to assist them. when her drunken father beat his wife, the latter used to appeal to mary for protection. when at last the poor soul felt death approach, it was again mary who without a second's hesitation flung up her situation as a lady's companion at bath to return to her mother's sickbed and to ease her last moments. not only her sisters everina and eliza, but also her younger brothers charles and james received from her both moral and financial support, to be able to give which she cramped herself to such an extent that the room in george street in which she wrote was furnished only with the barest necessaries, and her gowns were so extremely shabby that knowles in his "_life of fuseli_" describes her as "a philosophical sloven". in thus reducing her wants, however, she was merely acting in accordance with the view--held by all the friends of reform and derived from rousseau--that only he can be happy whose desires are so few that he can afford to gratify them, an offshoot of the famous nature-theory. nevertheless, the description of mary as a "sloven" seems exaggerated, judging from the two portraits by opie which have been preserved, of which the one may be spurious, but the other, now in the national portrait gallery, is beyond any doubt genuine. it shows the face ("physiognomy" mary wollstonecraft herself would have preferred to call it) of a strikingly pretty, refined-looking woman, with a profusion of auburn hair, a clear complexion and a pleading look in her brown eyes which reminded mr. kegan paul of beatrice cenci. the grim realities of mary's youth left little space for the development of any sense of humour, but they bred in her a fighting spirit which afterwards stood her in good stead. her next championship was that of fanny blood, whom she shielded from domestic misery very much like that she had herself experienced, and whose brother george, who became involved in a nasty scandal[ ], also experienced mary's all-embracing kindness of heart. from her correspondence with him in the years of his forced absence from england it indeed appears that she was not by any means a "fair-weather friend". the extremely serious cast of her character--which circumstances afterwards developed into melancholy--also found expression in a strong sense of duty. unlike those champions of humanity who clamour for the rights of man without reference to the corresponding obligations, mary wollstonecraft in later years always insisted not only that every right of necessity involves a duty, but also that we should insist upon those rights chiefly to be enabled to perform the moral duties which life imposes. add to this an absolute "incapability of disguise", as her friend and publisher johnson expressed it, and a frankness which made her "fling whate'er she felt, not fearing, into words"--often uncovering the worst sores of society in all their hideousness with a determination bordering upon indelicacy--and the portrait of mary's character, as far as elementary traits go, is complete. the strong natural bent of her character was further emphasized by incidents which presented to her mind the problem of the subjugation of women urgently demanding a champion. on three different occasions did she see the lives of women ruined by cruel, dissipated husbands. the third of these was by far the worst. it concerned the marriage of her sister eliza ("poor bess", as mary calls her in her correspondence with everina and fanny), to a mr. bishop, who, although he was probably a clergyman, appears to have been a most hypocritically sensual brute. no doubt the wife also was to blame; indeed, all the wollstonecraft girls were inclined to be suspicious, irritable, and over-ready to take offence. shortly after the birth of a child matters came to a crisis, and mary, having come over to nurse her sister, who after her confinement had had an attack of insanity, proposed that they should leave mr. bishop's house together, a plan actually carried into execution, after which mary, eliza and fanny blood started teaching as a profession. the daily bickerings of the bishop household impressed upon mary's mind the state of utter defencelessness and abject slavery in which many women were kept. it afterwards made her decide to supplement her "_rights of women_" with a novel, dealing with the wrongs of women, in which some of the incidents she had witnessed found a place. the work was unfortunately interrupted by her unexpected death, and in its unfinished state was included by godwin in the posthumous edition of some of mary wollstonecraft's works in . thus death claimed her while making a last effort to succour the oppressed. with the sisters' flight from mr. bishop's house began the long struggle against adverse circumstances in which mary did most of the fighting. one wonders what would have become of eliza and the boys--who had soon left their father's home--but for mary's resourcefulness. everina found a home with edward, the eldest brother, who obviously thought that in sheltering her he had done all that could be expected of him. the girls met with little or no sympathy from friends, the general opinion finding fault with eliza's conduct and judging that "women should accept without a murmur whatever it suits their husbands to give them, whether it be kindness or blows". this represents the general belief of those days with regard to the position of married women. the possibility of girls of the better middle class having at any time of their lives to earn their own living had never been seriously considered, and the sisters were indeed in great distress. again mary had the utter incapacity of even the bravest of her sex to support themselves brought home to her in a way that left no doubt. and yet the two or three years of the little boarding-school at newington green were not wholly devoid of enjoyment. mary made the acquaintance of the famous dr. price, the dissenting preacher who was soon to rouse the fire of burke's indignation, and who strongly influenced her religious views. it seems the right place here to say something of mary's attitude towards religion. in a life like hers, bringing her face to face with the evils of existing society, and with her degree of sensitiveness it is but natural that religious feelings should have played a prominent part. her mother had bred her in the principles of the church of england, but mary was far too independent to allow her mother any real influence. but at least the circumstances of her youth saved her from sophistic teachings, which may form hypocrites or awaken an altogether disproportionate hatred of whatever smacks of christianity, under the impression that christianity and the dogmatism of narrow-minded orthodoxy are at bottom one and the same thing. such was godwin's case, and it proved a deathblow to his faith. mary, however, was a great deal left to herself and, as godwin informs us in the _memoirs_, her religion was mostly of her own creation, and little allied to any system of forms. the many biblical quotations in her works suggest diligent reading of the bible and point to a state of mind very far removed from indifference or antipathy. she rather felt a natural leaning towards religion, a craving for mental peace to be satisfied only by firm religious convictions. as godwin puts it, the tenets of her system were the growth of her own moral taste, and her religion therefore was always a gratification, never a terror to her. the same almost feminine yearning for the moral support of a religion that warms the heart, distinguished rousseau from the robust and self-reliant philosophers of the rational school, and possibly caused mary wollstonecraft to feel attracted towards him and at the same time to pity him, when first reading his "_emile_"[ ]. up to the time of her first meeting with dr. price her attitude had been that of simple faith, with constant appeals to the divine interference. she had been a regular church-goer, and it is quite possible that the public and regular routine of sermons and prayers and the implicit subjection it demands, had already begun to pall upon her, and predisposed her for the adoption of the less dogmatic views of deism. it may also be safely assumed that her experiences in ireland as a governess and the subsequent period of close intimacy with some of the leading revolutionists lessened her interest in religion, which points to the future, and proportionately increased that in man, who is the present. as the years advanced, the rapid growth of her considerable intellectual powers, the tendencies of the times in which she lived, and the society which she frequented made her drift unconsciously towards rationalism. then it was that a conflict arose between sentiment and intellect. she set about "repressing her natural ardour and granting a more considerable influence to the dictates of reason", or, as professor dowden puts it, "she set her brain as a sentinel over her heart, trying to put a curb on her natural impulsiveness"[ ]. this change in her views of life, dating from her intimacy with price, was hastened by circumstances. the death of her friend fanny--who died in her arms at lisbon,--and the want of success of her first educational efforts--due chiefly to mrs. bishop's mismanagement of the school in mary's absence--had made her feel low-spirited and ill. it was only the sale of the manuscript of the "_thoughts on_ _the education of daughters_" to mr. johnson, the publisher of fleet street, for ten guineas--part of which sum she sent to the bloods whose straits were worse than her own--that staved off utter ruin. she relinquished her work as a schoolmistress, and through her friend mr. prior, assistant master at eton, obtained the situation of governess to the children of lord kingsborough at a salary of forty pounds a year. before leaving for mitchelstown in ireland, she spent some time with the priors at eton, where she had an opportunity to study the life in an english public-school. it did not impress her favourably and gave rise to some severe criticism in the _rights of women_ on the subject of false religion and undue attachment to outward things. "i could not live the life they lead at eton", she says in a letter to her sister everina, "nothing but dress and ridicule going forward, and i really believe their fondness for ridicule tends to make them affected, the women in their manners, and the men in their conversation, for witlings abound and puns fly about like crackers, though you would scarcely guess they had any meaning in them, if you did not hear the noise they create". this was her first glimpse of society. in the same letter she finds comfort in the reflection that the time will come when "the god of love will wipe away all tears from our eyes, and neither death nor accidents of any kind will interpose to separate us from those we love". no wonder she was horrified at the boy who only consented to receive the sacrament of the lord's supper to avoid forfeiting half a guinea! she was now, indeed, entering upon a new phase of her life. she had witnessed the horrors of a domestic life in which drunkenness and other moral vices reigned supreme; she was now to behold the utter worthlessness of the pleasure-seeking, irresponsible upper classes, whose religion was all sham, and who tried to make up in dogmatic narrowness what they lacked in true piety. it was the conduct of her own sex that most of all disgusted her. it taught her that the absurd distinctions of rank corrupted not merely the oppressed dependents, but also their tyrants, whose only claim to respectability was in the titles they held. in short, it turned her from a mere educator into a social reformer, and from a devout christian into a deist. what struck her most forcibly about the women of the kingsborough household was their unfitness for their chief task in life: that of educating their own children. they represented a varied catalogue of female errors. lady kingsborough was too much occupied with her dogs to care for her children, whom she left to the care of their governess. when afterwards that governess came to stand first in the children's affections, she promptly dismissed her. mary wollstonecraft's revilers have tried to substantiate the charge of irreligiousness against her by pointing out that her favourite pupil margaret--afterwards lady mount cashel--was not wholly without blame in her later life; thus ignoring the degrading influence of a mother like lady kingsborough, and overlooking the fact that mary's stay in ireland lasted only one year. in her correspondence with mrs. bishop there is a description of lady kingsborough's stepmother and her three daughters, "fine girls, just going to market, as their brother says". this short sentence shows the state of revolt she was in against the frivolity of women in making a wealthy marriage the sole aim of life. if, therefore, her religious principles were of a sternness hardly suited to the practice of those days, it need not necessarily be the former that were at fault. the imputation of insincerity, however, merits absolute contempt. here, indeed, "to doubt her goodness were to want a heart". it is impossible to read any portion of her works without being struck by the earnest tone of sincere piety which pervades them all. it was a great pity that what she saw of christianity prevented her from going to the source of that religion, which might have given her that peace "which passeth understanding" for which her heart yearned and which the vagueness of her deistic views, although better suited to satisfy her reason, could not supply. while at bristol hot wells in the summer of she wrote a little book entitled "_mary, a fiction_", relating the incidents of her friendship with fanny blood. but it is not the incidents that make the charm of this composition. godwin, who could admire in another those qualities which he knew he himself lacked, says that in it "the feelings are of the truest and most exquisite class; every circumstance is adorned with that species of imagination which enlists itself under the banners of delicacy and sentiment"[ ]. mary's dismissal as a governess fortunately did not leave her unprovided for. the generous mr. johnson found her lodgings in george street, near blackfriar's bridge, and made her his reader. she criticised the manuscripts sent to him, and the kindness and sincerity of her criticisms brought her a few real friends, among whom was miss hayes, who afterwards became the means of bringing her and godwin together. mr. johnson had just started the _analytical review_, in which mary took a considerable share. the many translations she did at this period were suggested by johnson, and as such throw no light on her personal taste, but in the case of salzmann's "_moralisches elementarbuch_" he certainly gave her a congenial subject. she had by this time read rousseau's _emile_, with the main tendencies of which she agreed as far as the boy emile was concerned, but whose ideal of womanhood, embodied in sophie, was very far removed from her own, and also thomas day's "_sandford and merton_," in which the influence of rousseau is very marked. the ideas expressed by day, corroborated and added to by her own experience and by salzmann's theories, form the basis of her "_original stories from real life, with conversations calculated to regulate the affections and form the mind to truth and goodness_". ( ). the idea of a private tutor (or preceptor) had been rousseau's, and day makes a kind-hearted clergyman, mr. barlow, who had attained excellent results in the training of young harry sandford, a farmer's son, undertake the instruction of tommy merton, the son of a rich planter of jamaica. day obviously cannot refrain from introducing the theme of class-distinctions, making the farmer's child appear to great advantage by the side of the gentleman's son, who has been utterly spoiled by an over-indulgent mother and has had the whole catalogue of prejudices of birth and station inculcated into him. the story consists of a string of incidents, partly arising from natural causes and partly due to mr. barlow's "coups de théâtre pédagogiques", in which rousseau also was fond of indulging. they all contribute towards the formation of tommy's mind and heart, in conjunction with a number of stories, told at the psychological moment by their preceptor, which it appears do not fail to produce their effect, for tommy is promptly changed from an insufferable little despot into a paragon of virtue. nor is he slow himself to adopt the oracular tone of self-sufficiency which harry exhibits from the first. where day's book differs from rousseau,--which is only in two respects,--the deviation is due to the fact that rousseau was essentially a theorist, whose aim was to provide an educational scheme, whilst day in combination with mr. edgeworth meant to, and did carry his theories into practice, in doing which he had to make a good many concessions to outward circumstances. rousseau seldom indulges in story-telling, in his scheme the work of instructing the child under twelve (tommy and harry are only six) is left to nature, and the preceptor keeps his precepts to himself and merely mounts the most jealous guard over his pupil to ward off undesirable influences and to leave nature undisturbed in accomplishing her task. thus rousseau advises the negative education for young children. in day, however, the preceptor takes a decidedly active part, and both by precept and example directs his pupils' thoughts towards certain conclusions they are meant to draw. a natural consequence of rousseau's radical nature-scheme is that the pleasure of reading books--beyond a few of great practical value to the man of nature, such as defoe's robinson crusoe--is withheld from the young pupil, who is only taught to read at his own request, and at a much later age. instead, he should be content to read the book of nature, which is in a language every human creature can understand. here again the more practical day disagrees, and in _sandford and merton_ books play a prominent part. again, rousseau wants to separate his pupil not only from the family to which he belongs, but from all other children, thus overlooking the important factor of inter-education. day educates the two boys together and occasionally brings them in contact with other children also, mostly of the peasant-class. for the rest, however, there is a close parallelism between the two systems. stress is laid on simplicity being the mother of all virtues, the boys are taught to regard manual labour as an honest occupation of which no so-called "gentleman" need be ashamed, and which may stand him in good stead should circumstances make it necessary for him to earn his own living. they have their physical strength developed by manly exercise, and the advantages accruing from a life in accordance with the dictates of nature are pointed out to them in a most suggestive way. they learn to regard class-privileges with scorn; to them a "man" is a being superior to a "gentleman"; are taught that the only property a man is entitled to is the result of his own labour; and acquire some knowledge of botany, zoology, cosmography, geography and in general of such subjects as may render the child more fit for a life in accordance with nature such as day himself practised. it need hardly be said that mary wollstonecraft's educational ideas did not go the entire length of day's somewhat eccentric radicalism. she sympathised with rousseau's nature-scheme only inasmuch as it asserted the advantages of country-life and did away with conventionality. although accustomed to the most rigid simplicity, she never approached the utter disregard of appearances which day professed to feel. she utterly disagreed with rousseau where he asserted the necessity of giving girls an education "relative to men", it being one of the chief aims of her later works to show that there should be no difference of principles in the education of the two sexes; but she applied a great many of rousseau's suggestions, which he intended for boys, to her own sex. far from wishing to furnish a complete scheme for the education of young girls upon a basis of abstract reasoning, she follows day in attacking the defects most common to childhood and in trying to establish a standard of virtue which may be attained by following reason. she entirely relies upon the force of a moral lesson contained in a well-told story, or, better still, illustrated by personal example. in one point of difference the contrast in character between her and rousseau becomes most obvious. the latter's lack of moral firmness makes him, while shielding his pupil from the evil influence of his surroundings, rather unaccountably overlook the necessity of inculcating a sense of duty. his scheme has no ethical background. in mary wollstonecraft, however, this ethical background is the essential thing. her parting advice to her pupils (voiced by mrs. mason) is: "recollect, that from religion your chief comfort must spring, and never neglect the duty of prayer. learn from experience the comfort that arises from making known your wants and sorrows to the wisest and best of beings not only of this life, but of that which is to come." rousseau's pupil was not likely to become a "striver", mary wollstonecraft's had had high ethical principles instilled into her. the lack of incentives to virtue which characterises rousseau's scheme may be the consequence of his theory of original innocence. he does not believe in the existence of evil in connection with the divine will, but holds that evil is merely the consequence of wrong opinions. here he was godwin's teacher. a radical change in individual opinion will cause evil to disappear. how original sin and evil could find their way into the world, mankind being in a state of perfect innocence, he does not explain. godwin, and with him mary wollstonecraft, were of opinion that there is in mankind no natural bias towards either good or evil, and that everything depends on the forming of the mind, hence the all-importance of education. religion, therefore, is an essential part of mary wollstonecraft's educational plan. it is true that the child cannot grasp the fundamental truths, its power of reasoning being as yet limited, and should not for this reason be permitted to read the bible. but her girls are taught from the first that "religion ought to be the active director of our affections" and that "happiness can only arise from imitating god in a life guided by considerations of virtue. virtue, according to her mouth-piece mrs. mason, is "the exercise of benevolent affections to please god and bring comfort and happiness here, and become angels hereafter." in the "_original stories_" we have some of the theories of the _rights of women_ presented to us in a nutshell. they claim for girls equality of education with boys, and indirectly deny the sexual character theory, based on that of innate principles, which mary wollstonecraft agreed with godwin did not exist. rousseau held that reason was the prerogative of man, and that woman's substitute for it was sensibility. man was made to think, and woman to feel. "whatever is in nature is right", was the axiom he applied to the case of woman. nature meant her to be kept in a state of subjection to man, and to give her an education without regarding the limitations of her sex would have seemed to him flying in the face of providence. mary wollstonecraft's views of society were sufficiently pessimistic to consider the average parent utterly unfit to educate a child. she therefore adhered to rousseau's idea of a preceptor. her two girls, mary and caroline, aged and , far from having been kept in ignorance, and further handicapped by the death of their mother, had already imbibed some false notions and prejudices. mary's judgment was not sufficiently cool to make her realise that appearances are often deceptive, and that bodily defects may be found together with excellent moral qualities. she had an unfortunate turn for ridicule. her sister caroline, by being vain of her person, proved that she did not understand the source of true merit. it was, therefore, the task of their monitress to carefully eradicate these prejudices and to substitute for them correct notions of true virtue. in mrs. mason, mary wollstonecraft enriched english literature with the portrait of the typical british matron with "no nonsense about her", but in making this woman her mouth-piece she scarcely did justice to the qualities of her own heart. it was the struggle of her life to make her heart yield to the dictates of reason, and mrs. mason certainly does not impress the reader as struggling very hard. she is the embodiment of pure, undiluted reason in all its unyielding sternness. any show of tenderness towards her charges would have seemed to her a confession of weakness. when after a long spell of life together she returns them to their father, they have advanced just far enough in her affection to be termed "candidates for her friendship"; which, by the way, is meant to imply that they have made satisfactory progress in the faculty of reason. mary wollstonecraft for the moment does not seem to realise that the essential quality in an educator should be to make her pupils not only respect, but also love her, and mrs. mason is a most unloveable person. her haughty arrogance and insufferable self-sufficiency were not likely to escape her eldest pupil's sense of humour and could not but seriously affect her influence over the girls. thus the children of mary wollstonecraft's fancy are brought up in the midst of reasoning logic, unwarmed by the sunshine of parental love. to make matters worse, this champion of liberty, who found fault with rousseau for failing to see that his schemes of freedom applied with equal justice to women; who was soon herself to protest against the abuse of parental authority, who held with locke that "if the mind be curbed and humbled too much in children, if the spirit be abased and broken much by too strict a hand over them, they lose all their vigour and industry",[ ] herself made the fatal mistake of aiding and abetting the thraldom of the young girl. the education which mary and caroline receive is nothing but a dreary course of constant admonition, in which the word liberty would be utterly misplaced. she has entirely failed to catch the spirit of rousseau's _emile_, in which the instructor only prevents the pupil from hurting himself overmuch through his ignorance, leaving him otherwise free to draw the conclusions of awakening reason, and above all allowing him to live out his life. harry sandford and tommy merton go together for long walks in the woods, get lost and owe their rescue to the lucky accident of meeting a boy who takes them to his home. when mr. barlow is informed that the boys have turned up, he goes to meet them on their way home and merely tells them to be more careful in future, availing himself of the incident to instil certain lessons in geography which smack of rousseau. but their liberty is in no way cramped. with mary wollstonecraft, however, the case is entirely different. one wonders what sort of paragons mrs. mason was going to turn out. the chances would seem pretty even between prim old maids and confirmed young hypocrites, depending on those very innate tendencies she was fain to deny! she held that children should not be left too much freedom, because, the faculty of reason being as yet insufficiently developed in them, they might make the wrong use of it. but the restrictions on their liberty should be such as to remain almost unnoticed by them. they should not have a variety of prohibitions imposed upon them, as was the case with lady kingsborough's children, whom she immediately restored to some degree of liberty. one cannot help thinking that theory and practice often clash, owing to the perpetual conflict between reason and the feelings. granting, however, that mrs. mason had the best and most disinterested intentions, what, we may ask, can be left of liberty to children whom their monitress "never suffers out of her sight?" in her catalogue of living creatures mary puts animals at the bottom on account of their being incapable of reason. they are guided exclusively by instinct, which is a faculty of a coarser growth than reason. the love of their young, for instance, though sweet to behold, and worthy of imitation, is not in their case dictated by reason. next upon the list come children; in them the latent faculty ought to be developed by older and wiser people bringing what godwin would call "the artillery of reason" to bear upon the infant mind. mary wollstonecraft protests against the arrogance of those philosophers who, while granting their own sex the privilege of an education, wilfully exclude the other half of humanity from the blessings of reason, which is the only guide to virtue and moral perfection. when mary wrote the "_original stories_" she was not more than twenty-nine herself, and had known neither the passion of love nor motherhood. her all-embracing love of humanity made the subject of interest to her, but there is upon the whole too much of reason and too little of the heart in the little volume. circumstances over which she had no control were soon to teach her for good and all that the affections will not be suppressed and peremptorily demand their share. when next she touched upon the subject she was a mother and confronted with the task of educating her own child in the long and frequent absences of a faithless and undeserving father. the "_first lessons for an infant_" in volume ii of the posthumous edition of her works are the result of the joint teachings of maternal love and bitter experience. here she is herself, an essentially human, loving woman, overflowing with tenderness and bound up closely with her child not merely by the ties of duty, but by those of an all-absorbing affection. having thus tried to do justice to the author by accounting for what seems contradictory, we may frankly say that mrs. mason is an insufferable pedant. the mr. barlow of _sandford and merton_, while constantly moralising,--in doing which he draws far more sweeping conclusions than even mrs. mason--and arranging incidents to illustrate and anticipate his moral lessons like the best of stage-managers[ ], at least does not obtrude her own personality. but the impeccable mrs. mason in her boundless self-confidence never loses an opportunity to introduce her own personality. her benevolence is unlimited, and she is utterly incapable of doing wrong. if she inflicts bodily pain, it is that reason has whispered to her that in doing so she avoids a greater evil. she puts her foot deliberately on a wounded bird's head, "turning her own the other way". she teaches by example rather than precept, and the example somehow seems to be always herself. never for a moment are the girls allowed a rest from the moral deluge. the first eight chapters of the little book contain the moral food for one single day, carefully divided into a morning, an afternoon and an evening of incessant moralising. yet she is "naive" enough to imagine that she teaches imperceptibly, by rendering the subject amusing! if mary wollstonecraft had possessed the slightest indication of a possible sense of humour, the absurdity of the mrs. mason portrait would have struck her. but she had not, and while relating the most ludicrous incidents, she always remains terribly in earnest! there is something distinctly oppressive, too, about mrs. mason's benevolence. she relieves the distress of the poor, but while doing so her coldly critical eye wanders about the humble cottage and makes the poor wretch feel uncomfortably conscious of its generally unfinished appearance. with her, reason is always enthroned. the passions are not to be mentioned in her presence. and yet, her cupboard, too, has its skeleton. early attachments, we are informed, have been broken, her own husband has died, followed by her only child, "in whom her husband died again". her afflictions have taught her to pin her faith on the hope of eternity, in doing which she has unfortunately forgotten to learn the lesson of earthly suffering and to realise her own imperfections. the virtue of modesty, which she recommends to the girls in contrasting the sweet and graceful rose to the bold and flaunting tulip (!) was not among her many accomplishments. the little book prepares the reader's mind for the "_vindication of the rights of women_," which was soon to follow, in that it contains a long plea for the glorious faculty of reason, leading to virtue. the heart should be carefully regulated by the understanding to prevent its running amuck. all errors are due to a relegation of reason to an inferior position; a systematical application, however, cannot fail to conduct towards perfection. one seems too be listening to the sweeping assertions of _political justice_, which was to appear a few years later and in which the general philosophical tendencies of the revolutionary movement were gathered up and stated with bold radicalism. the main line of thought which godwin followed, and the tendency to resort to "first principles" is everywhere manifest. to call girls "rational creatures" for doing what their monitress expects of them is to give them the most unstinted praise. the absolute subjection of the poor children to their governess is the necessary outcome of the infallibility of the latter's superior reason, which renders implicit obedience the interest of the former. in her discussion of the filial duties in connection with the parental affections in the _vindication_, mary wollstonecraft insists on just such a degree of obedience as is compatible with the child's obvious interest. nor is the respect due to superior reason lost sight of when she opines with respect to marriage that, although after one and twenty a parent has no right to withhold his consent on any account, yet the son ought to promise not to marry for two or three years, should the object of his choice not meet with the approbation of his "first friend". thus the principles of liberty and obedience are made to fit each other. the infallibility of reason is enforced by some "glaring" examples, which bring fresh proof of the author's fatal insensibility to the ludicrous and absurd. the story of the girl who, like caroline, was vain of her good looks, until she had smallpox, when, having to pass many days in a darkened room, she learned to reflect and afterwards took to reading as a means of enlarging the mind, may pass; but the history of charles townley is utterly absurd and distinctly inferior to day's stories, some of which afford pleasant reading and must have amused the boys. its hero is the "man of feeling" so prominent in the sentimental school, who allows his conduct to be governed solely by sentiment. having chosen the wrong guide, he is made miserable for life, and his sorrows culminate when he beholds the daughter of his benefactor, a maniac, "the wreck of a human understanding", merely because he has too long put off assisting her and relieving her distress, as he intended to do. the principal vices against which the book inveighs and which are for the most part illustrated by means of fitting stories, or warned against by means of toward incidents, are: anger and peevishness, by which reason is temporarily dethroned (story of jane fretful), lying, immoderate indulgence of the appetite, procrastination, pride, arrogance to servants[ ], sensitiveness to pain and an excessive regard for the vanities of dress and for the opinions of the world (story of the schoolmistress). thus the ideas which found an outlet in the _vindication_ were anticipated, and the little book marks the first step in the transition from pedagogical to social and political authorship. next to the careful eradication of vices, the cultivation of virtues is attended to. the children are taught to love all living creatures, the love of animals being characteristic of the new movement as a natural offshoot of the greater but more difficult love of mankind. they are instructed in the practice of charity, economy, self-denial, modesty and simplicity. the last-named virtue constitutes the link between the educational and the social instruction. the stories of "the welsh harper" and of "lady sly and mrs. trueman" are intended to convey the great truth that class-distinctions are not by any means dependent on moral character and that often "the lower is the higher." nor can mary wollstonecraft refrain from making herself the advocate of the greater love towards mankind. the sad fate of crazy robin, who languishes in a debtor's prison, after losing his wife and children through death, is described in a little story which has true touches of pathos, and the horrors of the bastille are incidentally thrown in to heighten the impression produced. in the naval story told by "honest jack"--in which, by the way, absurdity reaches its climax when the hero, losing an eye in a storm, thanks god for leaving him the other--we hear that even the french are not so bad as they are often painted, and are capable of mercy, for while jack was pining away in a french prison, some women brought him broth and wine, and one gave him rags to wrap round his wounded leg. the whole story is rather a poor attempt at a sailor's yarn, in which the author visibly though vainly exerts herself to catch the right tone, with a rather too obtrusive moral background. we feel that jack is mrs. mason's ideal of manhood and the excellent lady forgets herself and her constant companion reason to such an extent that tears of benevolence are seen "stealing down her cheeks"! the girls' trials come to an end when at last their father writes for them to return to london. they are described as visibly improved, "an air of intelligence" beginning to animate caroline's fine features. mrs. mason accompanies them to london, and there takes her leave of the two girls, probably to inflict her personality on a pair of fresh victims. in the next few years the problem of the education of children, although remaining a subject of constant speculation, receded before that of the cause of woman. but when mary was herself a happy mother, the old problems presented themselves in a more tangible form. godwin informs us in the "_memoirs_" that shortly before her death she projected a work upon the management of the infant years, "which she had carefully considered, and well understood". it was about the time of the publication of the "_original stories_" that mary made up her mind to definitely adopt writing as a profession. she realised that in doing so she was flying in the face of prejudice. but she had seen enough of the world, and the result of her long and bitter wrestlings with adversity had been a sufficient increase of moral strength to render her independent of the opinion of others. henceforth it was to be her task to form the opinions of her sex, and in doing so she totally disregarded the opinion of others concerning herself. her voluntary martyrdom had begun. at the same time her scope of observation became considerably widened. mr. johnson's house was the resort of a great many of the leading philosophical minds of the day, all of whom had strong revolutionary tendencies, and whose works he brought out with an utter contempt of consequences very much to his credit. nothing could be more natural than that the constant intercourse with people like thomas paine, fuseli the swiss painter, mr. bonnycastle the pedagogue, dr. priestley, dr. geddes, dr. george fordyce, lavater and talleyrand (who in those days paid a visit to england)--to whom was added afterwards the enigmatical personality of william godwin--should tend to inspire her with strong revolutionary ideas. it had the effect of widening her horizon and of causing her to transfer her energies from the work of education to that of social reform. mr. johnson's circle consisted almost entirely of men, the only women, besides mary, being the more easy-going, and less energetic mrs. inchbald and the far less gifted miss hayes and mrs. trimmer. where the men had the rights of men for their watchword, mary wollstonecraft as a natural consequence found her attention directed towards the position of her own sex, a subject which these hot-headed champions were too apt to overlook. it was in those days (nov. , ) that burke made his violent onslaught upon what he termed the "seditious" theories concerning the rights of man voiced by her dear friend dr. price in his epoch-making sermon at the old jewry to his congregation of sympathisers with the revolution. this direct attack had the effect of making mary wollstonecraft seize her pen in defence of her old friend and in support of those principles which had slowly and gradually come to mean a great deal to her. already the correspondence of the kingsborough period is distinctly suggestive of awakening social interests, stress being laid on the prejudices connected with rank and station. (letters to everina, and , and to mrs. bishop, ). in ireland her eyes had been opened to the moral inferiority of men and women of quality and to the distress of those who, like herself, were dependent on them. the picture of eternity receded before that of earthly injustice to be repaired. at mr. johnson's she frequently took part in the discussion of the possibility of reestablishing the governments of europe on primary principles, and the new ideas sounded in her ears like a new gospel of man. the reflections of jean-jacques--she must have read and discussed the _contrat social_ in those days, although there is no correspondence to prove the assumption--couched in prose "made lyrical by faith" could not fail to impress a mind like that of mary, than whom they never made an easier proselyte. add to this the direct stimulus of the revolution, and the prospect of immediate application of the new theories which electrified all revolutionary minds, and it will not be difficult to account for her enthusiasm, which placed her among the first to use her pen in defence of the new creed. when she had almost finished her pamphlet and was about to have it printed, she felt less sanguine about her powers of persuasion, but the work as she wrote it bears the unmistakable evidence of having been struck at a heat, which, together with its obvious sincerity, may account for some of its success. dr. price, in his sermon of , "in commemoration of the revolution of ", had given vent to the feelings of approbation with which he had greeted the outbreak of the french revolution, and among others expressed the view that the king owes his crown to the choice of his people and "may be cashiered for misconduct", thus openly declaring himself a follower of the theories of the social contract, which are based upon the sovereignty of the people. burke in his "_reflections on the revolution in france_", takes his stand upon the british constitution--once the object of the admiration of a montesquieu--to oppose what he regards as nothing less than a direct attempt at sowing the seeds of revolution in great britain. his pamphlet called forth no fewer than thirty-eight replies, of which that written by thomas paine was the most successful amongst the partisans of the new movement in consequence of its radical tendencies. mary wollstonecraft was in the van of the revolutionary army, and shared with dr. priestley the honour of being the first to enter the field. to account for her indignation it should be remembered that burke had until then been regarded as one of the principal whig advocates of reform, in connection with his attitude towards the american problem. no one had anticipated this sudden change of tactics, so welcome, though unlooked-for, to king george and to pitt, and it fairly maddened the champions of reform. buckle, in his "_history of civilisation in england_", deeply regrets burke's conduct, which he calls the consequence of an unfortunate hallucination, due to his feelings having temporarily got the better of his reason. the vehemence of the controversy in question between opponents who were equally sincere and convinced of the soundness of their views, is due to an essential difference in standpoint, leading to opinions which in either case, though containing an element of truth, must be termed one-sided. the thoroughly practical burke, whose political ideas were the fruit of an experience of nearly half a century, placed himself upon the purely empirical standpoint, resting his arguments upon a basis of sound historical experience, and asserting that the legislator's first aim should be expediency, taught by experience, and not abstract, speculative truth. he points to the difference between political and social principles, which are the outcome of reason; and political practice, which is the product of human nature, and of which reason is but a part. the reformers of the opposing camp took their stand upon a basis of abstract, geometrical reasoning, and persistently refused to consider the argument of expediency. they only regarded the theoretical aspect of the social problem. both parties recognised the doctrines of human rights and of the popular sovereignty, which were of british growth, having been put forward long before rousseau by john locke; but they differ in their application of them. with burke, rights are of an hereditary nature. to him, the constitution is the embodiment both of the rights of the free british citizen, and of the duties of the british subject, an inheritance they derived from their ancestors of , together with the duty of keeping the legacy intact in its general tendencies. it was burke's firm conviction that a statesman should steer clear of philosophical principles, which an absolute want of adaptability to the exigencies of a special case renders unfit for practice. it must be granted that this line of argument in burke's case led to a fatal blindness to obvious injustice and to a curious inability to appreciate what was good, noble and disinterested in the leaders of the revolutionary movement. mary wollstonecraft and her friends failed to see that reforms which are to affect the roots of existing conditions--however desirable and even necessary--must of necessity be slow and gradual, lest our gain should prove but a poor substitute for our certain loss. there are none more dangerous to society than the abstract idealist, whose very inexperience confirms him in the belief that he is in possession of absolute truth, for which he is willing to lay down his own life, and, _en passant_, the lives of others. of such a nature was the "amiable defect"--to use her own terminology--developed in mary wollstonecraft's nature by too impulsive a zeal in the cause of mankind. she felt intensely on the subject. the furious onslaught which she makes upon burke in the _rights of man_--without that respect for grey hairs which she would have burke observe in his dealings with dr. price--was prompted by a far deeper feeling for mankind than burke was capable of. the two vulnerable points in burke's pamphlet were his unreasonable vehemence and the personal character of his attacks on the one hand, and his want of real sympathy with the "swinish multitude" on the other. the submerged portions of humanity have little to hope for in a statesman who coolly advises them "by labour to obtain what by labour can be obtained and to be taught their consolation in the final proportions of eternal justice". the hopeless conservatism of this view aroused the indignation of mary wollstonecraft. "it is possible," she exclaims, "to render the poor happier in this world without depriving them of the consolation which you gratuitously grant them in the next!" nor has mr. burke's "immaculate constitution" her undivided sympathy. she agrees with rousseau that property, while one of the pillars of the monarchical system, is a deadly enemy to that equality of men before the law without which there can be no real liberty. the preservation of the intact family-estate for the purpose of perpetuating a time-honoured name and tradition, much as it appeals to burke, was a phrase the force of which did not strike mary wollstonecraft, whose indifference to opinion we have already referred to. it would be far better for society if each large estate were divided into a number of small farms, so that each might have a competent portion and all amassing of property cease. in the same passage she boldly asserts the rights of man, as laid down by rousseau in his famous social compact, which give him a title to as much liberty, both civil and religious, as is compatible with the rights of every other individual. as it is, the first rule of the doctrine of equality, which says that all men are equal before the law, is utterly disregarded, for does not the law shield the rich and oppress the poor? property in england is a great deal more secure than liberty. the views expressed in the above passage to a great extent anticipate those of godwin's "_caleb williams_", published in , which, according to the author's preface, comprehended "a general view of the modes of domestic and unrecorded despotism by which man becomes the destroyer of man", and in which a social system was denounced which enabled the rich man to use the power of a law which seemed to regard only the interests of one single class of society for the most nefarious purposes[ ]. a parallel to this sociological novel is afforded by mary wollstonecraft's unfinished "_maria, or the wrongs of woman_", to which, if we replace the last word by "woman", the sentence just quoted applies literally. it is but fair to state that mary wollstonecraft did not persist in her extreme views as to the necessity of a sudden and radical change which at one time made her overlook the principle of slow evolution. she was willing to recognise this principle in her "_historical and moral view of the origin and progress of the french revolution_", of which the first and only volume was written some three years later. at paris, before her intimacy with imlay and the birth of her daughter fanny brought about a temporary relaxation in her social zeal, her time was spent in watching the development of events with eager and sympathetic interest. her optimistic faith in the perfectibility of mankind helped her--as it did wordsworth--to look beyond the horrors and bloodshed by which her heart was moved to intense pity and indignation. she was convinced that out of the chaotic mass "a fairer government was rising than ever shed the sweets of social life on the world." but, she adds, "things must have time to find their level." the "_vindication of the rights of man_"--although quite overshadowed by paine's pamphlet--met with so much success that very soon after its publication a second edition was called for. there is no doubt that this circumstance gave mary a great deal of encouragement. it became an incentive to further efforts on a larger scale in the direction in which she now realised lay the mission of her life. in spite of her theories she was sufficiently sensitive to praise to feel gratified by it and to derive from it the moral courage necessary to defy public opinion and constitute herself the champion of the cause of woman. we have seen that the cause of woman had met with very little regard in england in the course of the century, except where moral improvement was concerned. in france, however, the progress to be recorded was considerable. it will be remembered that fénelon had been the first to insist on an education which might teach girls the pursuit of some useful ideal instead of leaving them to pass their time in a degrading search for pleasure. there is in fénelon a distinct foreshadowing of the tendencies of educational reform in later years. with mary wollstonecraft also, the chief aim of education is not to prepare the individual for social intercourse, but to accustom the mind to listen to the dictates of reason. fénelon has a more negative way of putting the question. he believes in filling the mind with useful ideas as a means of preventing moral degradation. in the course of the following century, the philosophers of the encyclopédie introduced their theories of rationalism. helvétius (in his _traité de l'homme_, ) insisted on the necessity of an education in connection with his theory that the human mind, which is sovereign, is the exclusive product of education and experience. he may be called a link in the chain of advocates of the cause of woman, although not paying the slightest attention to women in particular; for he indirectly advances their cause a step by defending the view that an education is indispensable to develop the mind and thus attain perfection. he is one of the originators of the theory which says that the mind is in a perfectly neutral state at birth, capable of receiving and guarding any impressions which may be produced by accidental circumstances, which a well-regulated education may to a certain extent make or re-make; the obvious conclusion being that all men are of equal birth. to this scheme diderot in his "_réfutation_" opposed his theory of heredity, or innate character. both godwin and mary wollstonecraft were adherents of helvétius. viewed in the light of original equality, which supposes equal possibilities in individuals who are only physically different, it will be readily seen what a long vista of improvements may be opened by perfecting the education. in the catalogue rousseau must be passed over until mary herself will introduce him, when he will be fighting on the wrong side, although not so completely as mary wollstonecraft would have us believe. although their respective views on the subject of female education and the consequent position of women in society are almost diametrically opposed, yet there is a great deal of sound reasoning in the remarks of both. however, we find in each the same unfortunate tendency to generalisation and exaggeration. a discussion of the social position of women without direct reference to education, criticising them as they then were, and pointing out what they might be, may be found in d'holbach's _social system_ ( ), where an entire chapter is devoted to the subject. mr. brailsford[ ] points out the strange incongruity which lies in the fact that an atheist and a confirmed materialist was among the first to recommend the emancipation of women. for a rationalist philosopher, indeed, to arrive at the conclusion that women should be made the social equals of men, would be nothing very remarkable, but where d'holbach constantly keeps in view the moral side of the problem, he approaches the english moralists rather than the french thinkers of the school of reason. the tone of his plea is sincere, and his hints are wise, moderate and worthy of consideration. he complains that the education of the women of his time, instead of developing in them those qualities which are best calculated to bring happiness to men, merely tends to make them inconstant, capricious and irresponsible. they are being tyrannised over in every country; in europe their position is not more enviable than elsewhere, although a varnish of gallantry seeks to hide the fact. not woman herself is to blame for this, but rather man, who refuses her the benefit of an education which may render her fit to perform the duties of life. there is nothing more inconsistent than the education of girls, which includes instruction in religious matters, teaching them the hope of eternity in conjunction with all the vanities of life, such as dancing and a too great regard for dress and deportment, which are incompatible with true piety. d'holbach was also the first to protest against those marriages in which even mutual esteem is wanting, which is even more important than love, because of its greater permanence. where conjugal infidelity is encouraged on the stage and in society, married life too often becomes one protracted intrigue, and the domestic duties and the education of the children cease to be regarded. women of the lower classes are even worse off; prostitution is their only course, and society, while readily forgiving the seducer, leaves the victim to a life of infamy. the chapter ends with an earnest appeal to women to learn the value of reason and the power of virtue, which alone lead to happiness, and to respect themselves if they wish others to respect them. the parallelism between the passages referred to above and the main drift of mary wollstonecraft's contentions in her "_vindication of the rights of women_" is so particularly striking, that the assumption seems justified that she had read d'holbach. the outbreak of the revolution caused the new philosophical principles to be put to the test of practical experiment. in the national assembly, realising that an important step towards the realisation of that equality they aimed at was the institution of a national education, called upon talleyrand to elaborate a project of an educational scheme on rational principles. talleyrand's report pointed out the desirability of allowing women to share in the universal education and to establish schools to which both sexes were to be admitted. as regards the possibility of their taking part in political discussions, he was of opinion that their domestic duties forbade their entering the arena of politics. the education of children was the principal of these duties, and the report says that "after reaching the age of eight, girls should be restored to their parents to be taught housekeeping at home." the dissolution of the national assembly caused talleyrand's scheme to be consigned to oblivion, and his task was entrusted by the legislative assembly to the philosopher condorcet. this disciple of turgot, who may be called the french godwin, sharing the latter's love of the mathematics of philosophy, blessed with the same boundless confidence in the future of humanity, and actuated by the same unselfish enthusiasm, which he did not, like godwin, take the trouble to hide under a mask of seeming stoicism,--read his report in april . it almost coincided with the publication of the _vindication_, for a letter written by mrs. bishop to everina wollstonecraft in july of the same year refers to mary as the successful author of the _rights of women_. condorcet's views differ from mary's in that he wishes the instruction which is open to all classes to be regulated in accordance with talent and capacity. an education, therefore, regarding innate talents rather than social distinctions, and by which each man is to be rendered independent of others[ ]. women are to receive the same instruction as men. it is not astonishing that the theorist condorcet should be inclined to go beyond what the practical talleyrand considered feasible and to forget the undeniable difference in character and capacities existing between the sexes. in this, mary wollstonecraft felt like condorcet. both make the mistake, when anxious to assert the intellectual equality of women and to have them recognised as "partakers of reason", of trying to strengthen their plea by pointing to one or two exceptional women to prove what woman is capable of. the grounds on which condorcet--continuing the line of thought of his french predecessors--demands instruction for women are the same as those of mary. women are the natural educators of the young, they should guard their husbands' affections by making themselves agreeable companions, capable of taking an interest in their daily occupations. but it is the last argument that clinches matters: the two sexes have equal _rights_ to be instructed. it is condorcet's ideal--as it had been that of bernardin de st. pierre--to give the children of the two sexes a joint education, which may prepare them for the social state, and which he feels confident will remove the atmosphere of unhealthy mystery which an artificial separation is apt to produce. mary heartily concurs with this view. "i should not," she says, "fear any other consequence than that some early attachment might take place, which, whilst it had the best effect on the moral character of the young people, might not perfectly agree with the views of the parents." i have tried to point out that, although the acquaintance of mary wollstonecraft with the works of the french educationalists (rousseau, of course, excepted) is doubtful, yet there is the closest resemblance in the spirit which animates them. the english writers on the subject, as we have seen, were upon the whole much less enlightened. their names are repeatedly mentioned in the _vindication_, and their methods criticised. the principles underlying the theory of the rights of man are adopted with perfect logic as a basis on which to consider the position of the female half of society. "if the abstract rights of man will bear discussion and explanation", says the dedication to talleyrand, in whom she trusted to find a sympathiser, "those of woman, by a parity of reasoning, will not shrink from the same test." mary's methods of investigation are borrowed from rousseau. in his scheme for the improvement of social conditions, the latter had insisted on the necessity of reverting to the original principles which underlie the social structure, and out of the misunderstanding and consequent misapplication of which the great hindrances to human progress, prejudice and prescription arose. a too close regard to expediency--continually contrasted with simple principles--seems to her the cause of the introduction of measures "rotten at the core", from which flow the misery and disorder which pervade society. while adopting rousseau's general lines of thought, however, she cannot bring herself to share his raptures about the state of nature, which in its essence is nothing but a denial of the possibility of a well-organised society. the optimism with which he regards the individual does not extend to society, in respect to which he is far too pessimistic to suit mary's unshakable confidence in human perfectibility. where rousseau asserts that "l'homme est né bon", and holds the social state responsible for the introduction of evil, mary wollstonecraft feels in the presence of evil the will of the almighty that we should make use of the gift of reason as a means of conquering evil and attaining perfection. to return to nature, therefore, would mean evading the chief task which god meant to impose upon his favourite creature, that of cultivating virtue in the social state which he ordained. here again, as in helvétius, d'holbach and so many others, reason is to be the governing power. in reason lies man's pre-eminence over the brute creation, and out of the struggle between reason and the passions arise virtue and knowledge, by which man is conducted towards happiness. mary wollstonecraft, in bringing her reason to bear upon the existing social conditions, had become deeply conscious of the degrading position of her sex, and, having herself risen above her troubles, makes a fervent appeal to rational men to give them a chance of becoming more respectable. her plea, while in the first place for her sex, embraces all humanity, for unless woman be prepared by education to become the companion of man rather than his mistress, she will hamper the progress of knowledge and virtue. there seems, indeed, a great deal of absurdity in a social scheme which in vindicating the rights of the male portion of humanity, in claiming for them equality, liberty and the blessings of education, could leave the other half of mankind out of consideration. was liberty to be the portion of men only; and was woman to continue in her state of bondage? were all men to be partakers of reason, guided by her only, whilst women had the use of that faculty denied them? in a social state where such partiality could prevail, man was himself responsible for the utter depravity of women. the worst despotism is not that of kings, but that of man, and woman is the trampled-upon victim. we are thus led to a natural division of the subject into an examination of the position of woman such as it is, and an investigation of what it ought to be and might be. there is one circumstance which distinguishes mary wollstonecraft from other champions of the new social creed. in their eagerness to champion oppressed humanity against all forms of tyranny and oppression, thomas paine and his followers had been too much inclined to forget that "every right necessarily includes a duty." it is very much to mary's credit that she emphatically pointed out that "they forfeit the right who do not fulfil the duty." in her claims for equality with men, far from being prompted by sordid motives of envy, or by a desire to obtain power or influence for her sex, she aims at enabling women to discharge the duties of womanhood, among which that of educating their own children occupies the first place. she was always ready herself to take more than her share of those duties, and no one at present doubts her sincerity when saying that she pleads for her sex rather than for herself. in considering the actual position of women in society she concludes that the trouble arises from two widely different sources. women have either too much attention paid them, or they have no attention whatever paid them, and the result is equally disastrous, although in a different way. she had had personal experience of the defencelessness and helplessness of a young woman whom fate had cast out upon the cruel world without the means of fighting adverse circumstances, when financial embarrassments forced her to accept a situation as governess in lord kingsborough's home. it had stung her to the quick to realise the contempt in which she was held by those whom she justly considered her intellectual inferiors, merely because no government had ever taken the trouble to provide for women without a natural protector, and the narrow views of society were that any woman who, compelled by circumstances, tried to support herself in an honest profession, degraded herself. that her only alternative was to throw herself upon the protection of some lord of creation and prostitute herself, did not seem to occur to these judges of morality. the only compassion excited by the helplessness of females was the consequence of personal attractions, making pity "the harbinger of lust." it is the duty of a benevolent government to add to the respectability of women by enabling them to earn their own bread, and to save them from inevitable prostitution, or from the degradation of marrying for support. let the professions be thrown open to them, let women study to become physicians and nurses. let there be midwives rather than "accoucheurs", let them study history and politics, all of which will keep them far better employed than the perusal of romances or "chronicling small beer". women are capable of taking a share in the dealings of trade, of regulating a farm, or of managing a shop. the only employments which have hitherto been open to them are of a menial kind. thus the position of a governess, who must be a gentlewoman to be equal to her important task of education, is held in less repute than that of a tutor, who is himself treated as a dependant. this prejudice entirely destroys the aim of tutorship in rendering him contemptible to his pupils. how the personal note appears in the above remarks, the demands of which will certainly not strike the modern reader as exorbitant. however, seen in the light of the prejudices prevailing in mary's days, they make her stand out very clearly from the common herd of those who were willing slaves to man. she seconds condorcet in hinting at the remote possibility of having female representatives in parliament. it may here be argued in favour of her modest proposal--which she fears may excite laughter--that the introduction of women into the parliament of those days could not very well have made matters worse than they were. the mock representation of the "rotten boroughs" was indeed as she calls it "a handle for despotism" of the worst description, and on this subject at least a large portion of the nation held coinciding views. the position of women of the upper classes, who have every attention paid them and pass their lives in search of amusement, although it seems better, is in reality even worse. in connection with his views on this subject mary is reluctantly obliged to recognise in rousseau--whose inconsistency is among his chief characteristics--a champion of despotism. making allowance for a few deviations in details of education, it may be said that here rousseau's views reflect the general opinion of his time. his educational scheme, which upon the whole had mary's sympathy, and from which she borrowed largely in her purely educational works, only regards emile, the boy. the girl, sophie, only interests him as being essential to the happiness of the male. the theory that the education of women should be "relative to men", as rousseau puts it, places him in direct opposition to mary wollstonecraft, as it implies a necessary inferiority on the part of women. his maxims supply her with a target against which to direct the shafts of her disapprobation and indignation. in his "_lettre à d'alembert_" he had made a violent onslaught on women and the passion they inspire. it does not leave them a shred of reputation: modesty, purity and decency are said to have completely forsaken them. the hysterical violence of his sallies was probably due to his hatred of the encyclopedians, those "philosophers of a day" whose rationalism opposed the utter subjection of women to man's desires. i have already pointed out that it was from the french school of rationalism that the first suggestions of emancipation came, and the above-mentioned epistle marks the beginning of hostilities between the rationalist and the emotional school. mary wollstonecraft did not find it difficult to agree with rousseau that many women had sunk to a state of deep degradation, but, she asked: "a qui la faute?" it was man who brought her there, and she expected man to lift her on to a more exalted plane. the julie of rousseau's "_nouvelle héloise_" impresses us as another inconsistency. she displays, it is true, the characteristic submissiveness to a characteristically masterful parent, and the usual notions of virtue consisting chiefly in the preservation of reputation which mary attacks so vigorously in the _rights of women_, but julie has far more individuality than the average young woman of the period. she rather leads her lover than he her. the _nouvelle héloise_, however, displays rousseau's sentimental vein, and is therefore more directly irrational than anything else he wrote. the sophie of _emile_ is partly the creation of his intellect, the julie of the _nouvelle héloise_ almost exclusively that of his sentiment. in the fifth book of _emile_, therefore, sentimentality only plays an occasional part. rousseau's intellect assigns to woman the place which she ought to fill in society. a writer on female education, says lord john morley, may consider woman as destined to be a wife, or a mother, or a human being; as the companion of man, as the rearer of the young, or as an independent personality, endowed with talents and possibilities in less or greater number, and capable as in the case of men of being trained to the best or the worst use, or left to rust unused[ ]. rousseau insists upon the first, makes little of the second, and utterly ignores the third. emile is brought up to be above all a man; sophie, however, is given no chance of attaining the necessary qualifications for womanhood and motherhood and is merely educated to be an obedient and submissive companion to her husband. her opinions are modelled upon emile's, and in no matter of importance, not even in religion, is she allowed to choose for herself. the last is an emphatic denial of the faculty of reason in women. that a woman of this stamp, accustomed to mental and moral dependence, is all unfit to educate her own children, is self-evident, nor did rousseau destine her for this task. as soon as the child has been weaned, the mother passes out of the educational scheme, her place and that of the father being taken by the instructor. mary wollstonecraft regards women in the first place as human beings and asserts their right to be educated. they are in possession of the faculty of reason, which in them is as capable of being perfected as in their lord and master, man. their conduct and manners, however, show that their minds are in no healthy state. having been taught that their chief aim in life is to make a wealthy marriage, they sacrifice everything to beauty and attractiveness of appearance. instead of cherishing nobler ambitions, they are satisfied to remain in that state of perpetual childhood in which the tyranny of man has purposely kept them. the relative education has made them utterly dependent on masculine opinion. rousseau, who calls opinion the tomb of virtue in men, recommends it to women as its "high throne", thus introducing a sexual code of morality. they know that the flattering sense of physical superiority makes man prefer them feeble and clinging for protection, and accordingly they cultivate physical weakness and dependence. a puny appetite is considered by them "the height of human perfection". why did not rousseau extend his excellent advice regarding outdoor sports and games to girls? they would not care for dolls if their involuntary confinement within doors did not incapacitate them from healthier pursuits. thus the physical inferiority of women is partly of man's own creation, and might be to a large extent remedied. once the right of being educated has been granted to women, they must of necessity develop into suitable companions to their husbands and affectionate parents to their children. to assert that woman's only duty consists in catering for the happiness of her lord and master is taking a sordid view of her possibilities. granting that woman has a soul, and that the promise of immortality applies also to her, it follows naturally that the cultivation of that soul is her chief business in life. the prevailing notion of a sexual character, therefore, is subversive of all morality. soldiers, who like women are sent into the world before their minds have been stored with knowledge or fortified by principles, show the same deplorable lack of common sense. scattered through the book are a number of rather desultory remarks from which may be gathered the author's notions regarding the baleful influence of slavery upon the moral aspirations of her sex. nearly all contemporary authors agreed that woman's chief aim ought to be "to please". among their number were mrs. barbauld, mrs. piozzi, mme de genlis and mme de staël. from the first the notion was inculcated that the chief object is to make an advantageous match, "it is acknowledged that they spend many of the first years of their lives in acquiring a smattering of accomplishments, meanwhile strength of mind and body are sacrificed to libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of establishing themselves--the only way women can rise in the world--by marriage." the cardinal virtues of the sex are therefore those qualities which are best calculated to make them acceptable to men, as gentleness, sweetness of temper, docility and a "spaniel-like" affection. men complain, and with reason, of the follies and caprices of women, forgetting that they are the natural outcome of an ignorance which is very far removed from innocence. the education of women, such as it is, consists only in some kind of preparation for social life, instead of being considered the first step to form a rational being, advancing by gradual steps towards perfection. thus a woman is methodically prepared for the bondage that awaits her, and never gets an opportunity of asserting her better possibilities. a sexual character is established by artificial means, and in this circumstance mary sees the chief cause of woman's moral decay, for which she herself is only partly responsible. all her life she remains powerless to get away from the shackles of first impressions. her conduct is regulated by absurd notions of a specially feminine virtue, chastity, modesty and propriety. instead of realising that virtue--which surely ought to be the same for women as for men--is nothing but love of truth and fortitude, she confounds with it reputation. respect for the opinion of the world is considered one of her chief duties, for does not rousseau himself declare that reputation is no less indispensable than chastity? for true modesty--which is only that purity of thought which is characteristic of cultivated minds--she substitutes the coquettish affectations which are to draw the lover on while seemingly rejecting him. the insincerity of these principles of daily conduct tend to develop in the female mind that cunning which rousseau calls natural and accordingly recommends! for a woman to show her actual feelings is to be guilty of the most flagrant breach of modesty. where writers have granted to man the monopoly of reason, they have given to woman as a substitute that which is delicately termed "sensibility", but is in reality nothing but a morbid sort of sensuality, the consequence of devouring novels which have the effect of inflaming the senses, and the only antidote to which is healthy exercise. mary wollstonecraft, like the bluestocking moralists, regarded the quality of sensibility with favour only when regulated by reason. in her enjoyment of the beauty of natural scenery, according to her own analysis, it is her very reason which "obliged her to permit her feelings to be her criterion." (letters from sweden). but it was one of her chief contentions that far too much stress was laid on the cultivation of that kind of sensibility in women which in its very exaggeratedness leads to the worst excesses of sentimentalism. the eighteenth century interpretation of the term "sensibility" with its concomitant absurdities awakened in her feelings of intense disgust. all rousseau's errors in her opinion arose from its source. to indulge his feelings, and not to imbibe moral strength at the fountain of nature, or to satisfy a thirst for scientific investigation, he sought for solitude when meditating the rapturous but dangerous love-scenes of the _nouvelle héloise_. no doubt these scenes were in her mind when she wrote: "love such as the glowing pen of genius has traced, exists not, or only resides in those exalted, fervid imaginations that have sketched such dangerous pictures." she only sees in them "sheer sensuality under a sentimental veil." the sentimentalists who, like richardson and rousseau, laid bare the play of the human passions to a reading public consisting almost entirely of women, whose minds were not sufficiently occupied to keep their imagination within bounds, "set fire to a house for the sake of making the pumps play." morbid sensibility, in its exaggerated tenderness over insignificant trifles and corresponding indifference to real social evils, excludes from the mind all sense of moral duty. two writers of mary wollstonecraft's time had shown a more than usual narrowness of views. they were the rev. dr. james fordyce, author of a number of sermons addressed to women, and dr. gregory, who had written a "_legacy to his daughters_." the former proceeded from the propositions which had formed the basis of rousseau's argument. he is so thoroughly convinced of the all-round superiority of man, that he assumes the natural folly of woman to be the cause of all matrimonial differences. he feels sure that women who behave to their husbands with "respectful observance", studying their humours and overlooking their mistakes, submitting to their opinion, passing by little instances of unevenness, caprice or fashion, and relieving their anxieties will find their homes "the abode of domestic bliss." fordyce held the principal charm of women to be a sickly sort of delicacy which, as it flatters the vanity of the male, is not wholly without effect even in our days, in spite of all mrs. fawcett may say to the contrary. men of sensibility, he says, "desire in every woman soft features and a flowing voice, a form not robust, and demeanour delicate and gentle." this hint could only have the effect of making women more insipid than even rousseau's sophie, who at least after her marriage shared her husband's outdoor exercise. but the worst part of fordyce's argument is that passage in which he advises young women to remember that the devout attitude of pious recollection (in prayer) is most likely to conquer a man's heart. when a clergyman thus by well-meant advice perverts his flock, what are we to expect from the grosser bulk of mankind! as mary wollstonecraft justly points out, there is about these sermons, for all their sentimental posing and bombastic phrasing, a certain sneaking voluptuousness which would strike a modern woman as most insulting; a confident tone of proprietorship which could not fail to stimulate any woman of independent temper into revolt. mrs. rauschenbusch points out that dr. fordyce was acting in accordance with the tendencies of the church in advocating that meekness and bearing of injuries without retaliation which are taught by the gospel. what particularly galled mary was the hypocritical prostration of men before woman's charms, that mock politeness which seemed to her the most cruel proof of the degradation of her sex. the description of women by fordyce as "smiling, fair innocents", and the frequent use of terms like "fair defects", "amiable weakness", etc. where women were concerned, sounded to her as an insult. in gregory's "_legacy to his daughters_" the case was slightly different. the author was an affectionate father, whose anxiety to shield his motherless girls induced him to become an author. that an honest, well-intentioned man like he should be capable of writing such trash makes us realise the hopelessness of mary's task. he openly recommends dissimulation. for a woman to show what she feels must be termed indelicate. a girl should be careful to hide her gaiety of heart, "lest the men who beheld her might either suppose that she was not entirely dependent on their protection for her safety, or else entertain dark suspicions as to her modesty." in the lives of the poor gregory girls mrs. grundy was omnipotent! unreserved praise, on the contrary, is bestowed upon mrs. catherine macaulay's "_letters on education with observations on religion and metaphysical subjects_", which had appeared in , shortly before their author's death. mrs. macaulay had been among the opponents of burke in a vindication of a french government which owed its authority to the will of a majority; and also in matters educational her views coincided with those of mary wollstonecraft. she believed in co-education up to a certain age, which has the obvious advantage of making the daily intercourse between people of different sexes less strained and more natural not only in early youth, but also later in life, when the relations between the sexes ought to be based upon mutual appreciation and esteem. like mary wollstonecraft, she protested against what she called "the absurd notion of a sexual excellence", which not only excluded the female sex from every political right, but left them hardly a civil right to save them from the grossest injuries. it was an unlucky circumstance indeed that the only woman who might have granted mary the full support of her reputation as the author of a very successful work on the "_history of england from the accession of james the first to that of the brunswick line_" should have been removed by death at a time when that support might have been of so much value to one who felt forsaken by the majority of her own sex.[ ] mary wollstonecraft pleads the necessity of giving woman an education like that which is granted to man, that she may learn to take reason for her guide. only then will she be able to perform the specific duties of her sex. but there is a weightier argument for the cultivation of reason in women. their deplorable deficiency in this quality has so far made them consider only earthly interests and disqualified them from looking beyond the affairs of this world to the promise of that eternity for which only the soul can fit them. it is in pointing out the evil consequences to the soul of a life devoted to pleasure that mary's pleadings attain their greatest depth of pathos and intensity. the profound piety of her character makes her protest against this sordid view of life. "surely" she exclaims, "she has not an immortal soul who can loiter life away merely employed to adorn her person that she may amuse the languid hours and soften the cares of a fellow-creature who is willing to be enlivened by her smiles and tricks when the serious business of life is over." once a woman has attained her aim of a profitable marriage, the circumstances of which almost exclude the possibility of love, she turns all her "natural" cunning to account to establish a sort of mock tyranny over her master. she lives in the enjoyment of her present influence, forgetting that adoration will cease with the loss of her charms, and that woman is "quickly scorned when not adored". in later years there will be no sound basis of friendship arising from equality of tastes to take its place, no reflection to be substituted for sensation, and their earthly punishment consists in a miserable old age. even when married to a sensible husband, who thinks for her, what will be the fate of a woman who is left a widow with a large family? "unable to educate her sons, or to impress them with respect, she pines under the anguish of unavailing impotent regret." the passage in which she pictures her ideal of rational womanhood, who, far from being rendered helpless by her husband's death, rises to the occasion and devotes herself with a strong heart to the discharge of her maternal duties, finally reaping the reward of her care when she sees her children attain a strength of character enabling them to endure adversity, is a piece of true eloquence. "the task of life fulfilled, she calmly waits for the sleep of death, and rising from the grave, may say: "behold, thou gavest me a talent, and here are five talents".[ ] there never was a more fervent champion of marriage and domesticity than mary. the sanctity of matrimony needed no enforcement by means of a wedding ceremony, but consisted in the mutual affection and esteem which was felt. hence her violent criticism of loveless marriages contracted from mercenary motives and her severe condemnation of the harshness with which society treated poor ruined girls. the twelfth chapter of the _rights of women_ contains a plea for national education. mary is here seen treading in the steps of talleyrand, and forsaking her old masters locke and rousseau. they both advocate a private education. locke wants to educate the "gentleman", making his scheme practicable in isolated applications, but disregarding the bulk of the nation. rousseau, who did regard the mass of the people in matters of political speculation, entirely loses sight of the public interest in favour of the private in his educational scheme, thus reducing it to mere abstract speculation, incapable of extensive realisation. but mary wollstonecraft adopts the more practical view of the active socialist. the children of the nation are to be educated without the slightest reference to class distinction, and they ought to be brought up together. the exclusive teaching of a child by a tutor will make him acquire a sort of premature manhood, and will not tend to make him a good citizen. he is to be a member of society, and it will not do to regard him as a unit, complete in himself. the same view limits the freedom of the individual to what is compatible with the rights of others. to ignore the duties of the individual towards society would be to build the entire structure of education upon an unsound basis. this plea for co-education will be seen to be a recantation from former opinions expressed in the "_original stories_". the latter had their rise chiefly in the experience gained of boarding-schools during her stay at eton with the priors. they seemed to her absolute hotbeds of vice and folly, where an utter want of modesty introduced the most repulsive habits. the younger boys delighted in mischief, the older in every form of vice. the colleges were full of the relics of popery, the 'mouth-service',which makes all religion but a cold parade of show, and the educators themselves were very poor champions of true religion. what mary saw at eton confirmed her in the belief that dayschools were to be preferred, as the only way of combining the advantages of private and public education. that important part of education which aims at awakening the affections can only be given in the home of loving parents, and only that man can be a good citizen who has first learned to be a good son and brother. a country day-school, affording the best opportunities for unstinted physical exercise, might be expected to be productive of the greatest benefit to young pupils. the division of the educational task between school and home will moreover leave the children the necessary amount of freedom which is denied them when living the cramped lives of boarding-schools. to make women the companions of men, and to remove the unhealthy atmosphere of an artificial separation of the sexes which produces indelicacy in both, she thinks it necessary that boys and girls should be brought up together. all children should be dressed regardless of class and submitted to the same rules of discipline. they should not be made to remain in the schoolroom for longer than an hour, and be taken out into the schoolyard, or better still, for walks. a good deal of outdoor instruction of the kind rousseau described might be given by means of spectacular illustration. at the age of nine comes the first great change in the daily routine. the two sexes will still be together in the morning, engaged in common pursuits, but the afternoon will find the girls bent over their needlework, millinery, etc., while the boys' further instruction will depend on their choice of a trade. special schools ought to be established for those whose superior abilities render them fit to pursue some course of scientific studies. being thus together will take the edge off that unnatural restraint which too often marks the relations between children of a different sex. the position of the teachers--not ushers--should be such as to render them entirely independent of their pupils' parents. the usher's ambiguous position of mixed authority and submission frequently rendered him an object of ridicule to the children. talleyrand, from whom mary in all probability borrowed this suggestion, even wanted to make the children independent of their masters in respect of punishment, by having it inflicted only after the offender had been tried and found guilty by his peers. it will be seen that the "_vindication of the rights of women_" touches upon a great many points which at the present time have become foregone conclusions, but which, nevertheless, were in mary's days daring speculations, which were received with anything but general approval. if it should now appear to us that some of her conclusions were rather too sweeping, that the very physical inferiority of woman which she is willing to grant makes it impossible for her to combine in her person the wife, the mother and the social woman, and that a too ardent application of her theories of the social possibilities of her sex is responsible for some abominations of the public hustings, who, banging their fists on the table, "refuse to be the playthings of men any longer"--it should be remembered that she insisted with equal emphasis upon the cultivation of the female qualities, and that it was not granted her to be taught moderation by the repulsive spectacle of female extremism in later times! moreover, in the introduction to the first edition of the _vindication_, she expresses her disgust of "masculine women". and yet the type of a "masculine woman" in mary's days, with her "ardour in hunting, shooting and gaming", was not nearly so objectionable as her modern sister. it is, indeed, very difficult to find anything to praise in the _vindication_ when viewed as a literary effort. mary wollstonecraft herself clearly did not regard it as such. the importance of the object by which she was animated made her disdain to cull her phrases or polish her style, wishing rather to persuade by the force of her arguments than dazzle by the elegance of her language. unfortunately the former is not inconsiderably weakened by a deplorable tendency to reiteration, and a general desultoriness and lack of system which cannot fail to strike the reader. the "flowery diction" which she professed herself anxious to avoid, but did not succeed in completely banishing, is responsible for a great deal of the turgidity and false rhetoric which disfigure certain passages. godwin, whose unemotional nature enabled him to judge of his wife's work without prejudice and whose _memoirs_ contain a most sincere and therefore valuable criticism, although admiring the courage of her convictions, the disinterestedness of her motives and the originality of her contentions, finds fault with what he calls "the stern and rugged nature" of certain passages which will probably impress the modern reader as coarse and indelicate. her great devotion to the cause may account for the "amazonian" temper which fills some parts of her book, more especially the "animadversions" on the opinions of those of her opponents whose "backs demanded the scourge". her disapproval of lord chesterfield's moral standpoint has already been referred to. mary wollstonecraft was not in the habit of mincing matters, and her sincerity and consequent frankness brought her the ill-will of many. the publication of the _rights of women_ at once brought mary into prominence. unfortunately, the scare of a french invasion and the trial of the reformers were most unfavourable to the spread of any new ideas in england. from her sisters she had little sympathy, and "poor bess" rather spitefully alluded to information she had received to the effect that "mrs. wollstonecraft was grown quite handsome" and intended going to paris. for this trip to france there were several causes. in the first place she felt intensely interested in the march of events there, which were hastening to a crisis, louis xvi being a prisoner in the hands of the convention. the second motive--perhaps the principal--was connected with her friendship for mr. fuseli, the celebrated swiss painter; but whether she hoped to make the trip in company with the fuselis and her friend johnson, as mr. kegan paul supposes[ ], or wanted to get away from the influence of the artist, with whom godwin informs us she was in love, is uncertain. the end was that she went to paris alone in december , and boarded at the house of mme filliettaz, a lady in whose school eliza and everina had been teachers, but who was absent from home, so that mary's french was put to the severe test of conversation with the servants. she now became a close spectator of the progress of that revolution which upon the whole had her sympathy. yet it was with mingled feelings that she saw the chariot pass her house in which the royal prisoner was conveyed to his trial a few days after her arrival. the sight of louis going to meet death with more dignity than she expected from his character, brought before her mind the picture of his ancestor louis xiv, entering his capital after a glorious victory, and pity, her ruling passion, interceded for the poor victim who had to pay for the crimes of his forefathers. economy prescribed her removal from the filliettaz mansion to less pretentious quarters at neuilly, where she was left a great deal to herself, save for an occasional visit to her english friends in paris miss williams and mrs. christie. it was at the latter's house that a meeting took place which decided the next few years of her life. her days at neuilly were thus spent in retirement. she had a devoted old gardener to wait upon her and generally went out for a walk in the evening, the hours of daylight being given up to the composition of a new work, combining history with philosophy and inspired by the stirring events to which she was such a close witness. although not published until some years after, "_an historical and moral view of the origin and progress of the french revolution, and the effect it has produced in europe_" was written in the first months of at neuilly. the advertisement with which it opens declares the author's intention of extending the work to two or three more volumes, a considerable part of which, it informs us, had already been written; but godwin assures us that no part of the proposed continuation was found among her papers after her death. the only existing volume both in style and method shows a very decided advance upon the earlier _vindication_. mary's narrative powers were even greater than her capacity for philosophy, and her imagination had been fired by the thrilling accounts she had received from her parisian friends of the march of events. the greater freedom and fluency of the style, the greater cogency of the reasoning and the dignity of the narrative render the volume very pleasant reading, the more so, as it shows great moderation and impartiality as far as actual facts are concerned. that the delineations of personal character are not always felicitous may be due to the fact that the author obtained all her information from witnesses who were not free from the prejudices which strong party-feelings awaken. on the whole, however, mary succeeded in placing herself above her subject and in proving that time had taught her to modify her extreme views and made her readier to grant certain concessions. the book is a compromise between her former principles of abstract philosophy and those of gradual evolution. although unwilling to abandon her original view that "reason beaming on the grand theatre of political changes, can prove the only sure guide to direct us to a favourable or just conclusion", and that the erroneous inferences of sensibility should be carefully guarded against, yet she felt sufficient appreciation for her old enemy burke's principle of growth to admit that the revolution was the natural consequence of intellectual improvement, gradually proceeding to perfection. never before had her hopes been so sanguine. it seemed to her that the time was at hand for the final overthrow of the tremendous empire of superstition and hypocrisy. what, in comparison with the great end in view, were the inevitable horrors of the revolution, produced by desperate and enraged factions? there is not a single page in the history of man but is tarnished by some foul deed or bloody transaction. that the vices of man in a savage state make him appear an angel compared with the refined villain of artificial life finds its cause in those unjust plans of government which exist in every part of the globe. a simpler and more effective political system would be sure to check those evils, and a faithful adherence to the new principles will lead mankind towards happiness. her feelings for mankind, however strong, were not powerful enough to interfere with the coolness of her judgment, and the light of her reason which was so soon to be temporarily eclipsed by the conflict of passions a thousand times more powerful because proceeding from within, was never obscured by the contemplation of social evils, which could not disturb her optimistic faith. the history of the french revolution is traced down to the king's removal to paris, where he was sent to stand for trial. it is, upon the whole, a successful attempt at impartial narrative not only of the course of events in paris, but also of the causes which produced them, the author indulging in a minute survey of the state of french society and politics previous to and during the catastrophe. the severity of the judgment she passes on the king and more especially on marie antoinette has been commented upon. here especially it should be remembered that she had everything from hearsay. what she heard of the character and actions of the queen struck her as characteristic of the type of womanhood she had so violently attacked in the _rights of women_. she saw in marie antoinette the product of education by a priest, who had instilled into her all those vices which mary held in abhorrence. she was devoted to a life of pleasure, vain of her good looks, but dead to intelligence and benevolence, using the fascination of her cultivated smiles and artificial weakness to exercise the tyranny of sex over a sensual, besotted husband, whose depravity she completed; an artificial dissembler, regarding only decorum, without any reference to moral character, making free with the nation's money to support a worthless brother, and depraving the morals of those around her; in short, mary wollstonecraft regarded her as the babylonian scarlet woman, a sort of "painted jezebel." her judgment is diametrically opposed to that of burke, who went into such raptures over the beauty and dignity of the queen, and gave vent to such a burst of indignation at her sad and ignominious fate that thomas paine saw fit to remind him that "while pitying the plumage, he was forgetting the dying bird." the outer revolution which was to assert the rights of the species was followed by an inner revolution in the individual which came to constitute the tragedy of mary wollstonecraft's life. the father of nature, whom she thanked for having made her so intensely alive to happiness, had also implanted in her breast an overwhelming capacity for sorrow, and after a short taste of the former, the latter became her portion to such an extent that life seemed to her unendurable. the letter to mr. johnson referring to the king's trial was the last news her friends in england received from her for eighteen months. in february war broke out between england and france and mary's nationality made it advisable for her to keep close. among her new acquaintances was an american, captain gilbert imlay, and the tenderness which about this time she began to cherish for him, was no doubt fostered by a sense of loneliness. moreover, that affection for mr. fuseli which she had so resolutely suppressed,--fuseli was happily married--left her more vulnerable than before to cupid's arrows, in addition to which imlay was to her the representative of that nation which embodied her ideals of liberty and virtue. she gave herself up body and soul to the all-devouring passion of love, and reason, seeing another in full possession of the field, "with a sigh retired." mr. imlay had served as a captain in the revolutionary army during the war of independence, and derived some slight literary fame from the publication of a short monograph on the state of america, entitled "_topographical description of the western territory of north america_." he was, therefore, a man of some accomplishments, which makes his subsequent behaviour to mary all the more unpardonable. at the time of mary's first meeting him he appears to have been in business--probably his line was timber--and the dealings of his trade claimed a great deal of his time and nearly all his attention. circumstances putting marriage out of the question,--a wedding-ceremony would have betrayed that nationality she was so anxious to conceal--she consented to live with him as his wife by virtue of their mutual affections. his correspondence shows that he regarded her as his lawful wife, and as mary fully expected the alliance to be of a permanent nature, and believed him capable of that affection which reason causes to subside into friendship after the first flame of passion is spent, she was acting in full accordance with the views she had repeatedly expressed.[ ] the letters which she wrote him in the first stage of their growing intimacy are full of exquisite tenderness. her repeated "god bless you", which sterne says is equal to a kiss, shows the depth of her feelings towards him. seldom was a purer, more unselfish love wasted upon a more unworthy recipient. imlay was a "mere man", of a cheerful disposition and to a certain extent good-natured, but easy-going, self-indulgent, inconstant and incapable of appreciating a noble love which he himself could not cherish. he evidently looked upon his relation to mary as the amusement of a day,--she lavished upon him that which might have made a greater soul happy for life. she tried to draw him up to her level and failed; her efforts to cure him of his sordid love of money which so disgusted her only irritated him, and made him anxious to cast off the bonds of a union of which he soon began to tire. their agreement had been entered upon in a different spirit, and it was mary who paid the full penalty of disillusionment. a letter he wrote to mrs. bishop in november , when the estrangement had already begun, at a time when mary was deeply conscious of the fact that he neglected her for business and perhaps worse, in which he states that he is "in but indifferent spirits occasioned by his long absence from mrs. imlay and their little girl" shows that he cannot even be acquitted from the charge of absolute hypocrisy. such was the individual whom mary had appointed the sole keeper of her possibilities of happiness. love had come to her late in life, but when it did, it took the shape of that complete surrender in which consists woman's greatest bliss and which she had never thought possible. it came as a revelation and brought experience in its train. who shall describe the anguish of her heart when after a short spell of ecstatic bliss, the inevitable truth began to dawn upon her! mary was not an essentially sensual woman; almost from the first she looked for that sympathy of the mind which was not forthcoming. she found him wanting, and the recognition of this probably irritated him, and ultimately made him transfer his easy-going affections to those who were less exacting. he was far too matter-of-fact to sympathise with or even understand her moments of tenderness, and too much occupied with his business to be much of a companion to her. in the month of september, after a few months together, he went to hâvre. then it was that mary's troubles began. in her letters she repeatedly protested against his prolonged absences. she grew to hate commerce, which kept him away from her. his promise "to make a power of money to indemnify her for his absence", failed to produce any impression. perhaps there was already then the vague fear of a possible desertion haunting her. she was in expectations, and the tenderness with which her letters refer to the coming event would stamp a repetition of her hopes and fears as an indelicacy. for the first time in her life, the champion of the rights of women was happy in acknowledging the superiority of a man. "let me indulge the thought that i have thrown out some tendrils to cling to the elm by which i wish to be supported." well might she say that this was talking a new language for her! the feelings, so long pent up and cheated of their birthright by tyrannical reason, were indeed asserting themselves with a vengeance! the undefined dread of coming disaster makes her letters more and more insistent. grief and indignation at imlay's neglect struggle for the mastery. at last he wrote to ask her to join him at hâvre. the irritation he had felt against her--which she humbly ascribed to the querulous tone of her correspondence--had worn away and there was a brief renewal of happiness when in the spring of a little girl was born, to whom the name of fanny was given in commemoration of the friend of mary's youth. in the course of the following august imlay went to paris, where mary joined him in september, at the end of which month he proceeded to london on business. the extensive trade he was carrying on with sweden and norway at this time completely engrossed him. mary's first letters after this fresh separation were cheerful and pleasant, although she was subject to occasional fits of depression. the conviction that imlay was about to forsake her does not appear to have taken root until the closing month of the year. the days of the terror were now over, and people once more breathed freely. mary made an heroic effort to let the future take care of itself and to concentrate her attention upon her little girl, who developed an early fondness for scarlet coats and music, and on one occasion wore the red sash in honour of j. j. rousseau, her mother confessing that "she had always been half in love with him." imlay's letters now became few and far between. his business-schemes were unsuccessful, and mary took the opportunity to point out to him the absurdity of thus wasting life in preparing to live. the tone of her correspondence betrays a growing indignation at his treatment of her, which appeared in spite of herself and which repeated protestations of unalterable affection could not hide. "i do not consent to your taking any other journey," she writes, "or the little woman and i will be off the lord knows where." she wants none of his cold kindness and distant civilities, but wishes to have him about her, enjoying life and love. the picture of sweet domesticity, of parents sharing the sacred duty of education, of pleasant evenings of homely tenderness spent at the fireside, recurred to her mind with a sense of aching regret. she would far sooner struggle with poverty than go on living this unnatural life of separation. too proud to be under pecuniary obligations to a neglectful husband, she began to consider the possibility of having to provide for herself and her child. when at last he allowed her to join him in england, she no longer cherished false hopes, but begged him to tell her frankly whether he had ceased to care. but imlay wanted her support for his business-schemes. he asked her to go to sweden and norway for him to attend to his interests and mary consented with a heavy heart, hoping that a complete change of surroundings might afford distraction, if not amusement, for she was feeling utterly worn out and ill. imlay kept up the melancholy farce a few months longer. mary wrote him a series of long epistles from scandinavia, into which, as a means of keeping her mind concentrated upon other matters, she inserted elaborate descriptions of the voyage, of the countries in which she was travelling, and of their inhabitants. of these letters, the descriptive portions of which were published in , godwin speaks highly. their perusal caused him to change his opinion of the author of the _rights of women_. their first, and so far only, meeting--in november --had not prepossessed him in her favour. she seemed to him to monopolize the conversation, and prevented him from listening to tom paine, who never was a great talker, and whom she reduced to absolute silence. but he now learned to think highly of her literary talent. the passages dealing with personal affairs had of course been omitted, and afterwards found their way into godwin's _posthumous edition of the works of mary wollstonecraft_, and also into mr. kegan paul's collection of _letters to imlay_. the tone of despair has on the whole given way to one of resigned melancholy. in spite of the sadness which prevailed in mary's heart, the change was doing her good, and her health was improving rapidly. before her arrival at tonsberg in sweden, she had felt very ill, a slow fever preyed on her every night. one day she found "a fine rivulet filtered through the rocks and confined in a basin for the cattle." the water was pure, and she determined to turn her morning-walks towards it and seek for health from the nymph of the fountain. she also wished to bathe, and there being no convenience near, took to rowing as a pleasant and at the same time useful exercise. while thus the flush of health was returning to her cheeks, she found it easier to arrive at a conclusion. she made up her mind that there should be an end to all uncertainty. imlay was put before a dilemma. either they must live together after her return, or part forever. still he kept flattering her with the hope that he might join her at hamburg, for a trip to switzerland, the country of her dreams since the days of neuilly. but he did not keep his word, and when mary landed at dover in october , she realised that all was over and that imlay had entered into a new connection with an actress. then it was that mary made up her mind to die. the harrowing details of her fruitless attempt at suicide may be found in godwin's _memoirs_ and also in mr. kegan paul's work. after her rescue she learnt to live for her child's sake, and not to flinch from the sacred duties which tied her to life. imlay passed out of her sphere, and she parted with him in peace. but the sufferings through which he had made her pass had stamped themselves indelibly upon her heart. the "_letters written during a short residence in sweden, norway and denmark_" met with a favourable reception. being the narrative of foreign travel, they mark a new departure in her literary career. she held with rousseau that travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, ought to be adopted on rational grounds.[ ] the writing of a journal was to her a means of keeping the mind employed, and preventing it from dwelling overmuch on painful recollections of disappointed hopes. her works of education and reform had been so full of the militant spirit, and her correspondence with imlay so replete with the anguish of unrequited love, that she had not yet come to recognise the soothing effect upon the mind of a close communion with nature. it is in the scandinavian correspondence that the nature-element is first met with. the contemplation of the grand coast-scenery gave her that peace and quiet for which her heart yearned. it did not bring her forgetfulness of present troubles, but it gave her the necessary strength to meet them without flinching. in her little boat, surrounded by the glorious works of nature, she found herself for the first time capable of grappling with her problem, which the sense of human insignificance reduced to its true proportions. the nature of her worship stamps her as the true spiritual child of jean-jacques. the writers of an earlier period had been able to appreciate only what is congenial in nature. the forbidding austerity of the snow-clad mountains of switzerland had produced no raptures in goldsmith's breast, and cowper's english landscape owed its attractiveness to its suggestion of peaceful harmony. rousseau had been the first to love nature also in her sterner moods and aspects; like wordsworth, "the sounding cataract haunted him like a passion", and the _nouvelle héloise_ contains the faithful record of the impressions produced upon him by the grandeur of the valais mountains. some of mary's nature-descriptions--notably those of the trolhaettan falls, and of the rocky norwegian coast--afford a parallel to these passages. she was deeply impressed by the wonders of nature she witnessed, and by the exquisite loveliness of the short northern summer. "in the evening the western gales which prevail during the day, die away, the aspen leaves tremble into stillness, and reposing nature seems to be warmed by the moon, which here assumes a genial aspect; and if a light shower has chanced to fall with the sun, the juniper, the underwood of forest, exhales a wild perfume, mixed with a thousand nameless sweets, that, soothing the heart, leave images in the memory which the imagination will ever hold dear." there is an anticipation of wordsworth in the last line of the above passage. mary recognises in nature "the nurse of sentiment", producing melancholy as well as rapture, as it touches the different chords of the human soul like the changing wind which agitates the aeolian harp. her worship of nature, like that of wordsworth, contains an element of profound piety. when she wrote her letters from sweden, mary had reached that stage in her religious life which is marked by a complete silence as far as dogma is concerned. yet this silence should not be misconstrued into indifference. her feelings on the subject were not of the nature of a systematic creed, and therefore never took an external organisation. they remained perfectly subjective in their vagueness, like the natural religion of rousseau with which they have so much in common. mary did not care to become an apostle of faith, to her religion was rather a matter of the inner life, which wanted no outlet into the world, but remained locked up in itself. she believed that her rational powers enabled her to discover certain portions of truth, but that the mystery which veiled the presence of god could not be removed by reason, but remained a matter of the heart. there is no touch of rationalism, or anything but pure sentiment, in the passage in which she describes her return from fredericshall in a perfect summer night. "a vague pleasurable sentiment absorbed me, as i opened my bosom to the embraces of nature, and my soul rose to its author, with the chirping of the solitary birds, which began to feel, rather than see, advancing day." a great deal of attention is paid in the letters to the national character of the inhabitants of sweden, norway and denmark, which she holds to be the result chiefly of the climatic conditions. never had she seen the blessings of civilisation more clearly demonstrated than by the utter lack of them among the scandinavians. especially in sweden, civilisation was at that time in its earliest infancy, and what struck mary from the first was the ignorance of the people. what she saw of their manners and customs was not calculated to make her fall in love with rousseau's golden age of simplicity. they were full of vices, and their very virtues had their origin in considerations of a lower order. they were hospitable, but their hospitality, arising from a total want of scientific pursuits, was merely the outcome of their inordinate fondness of social pleasures, "in which, the mind not having its proportion of exercise, the bottle must be pushed about." being ignorant of the advantages of the cultivation of the mind, they were content to remain as they were: ignorant, sluggish and indifferent to social progress. they moved in a narrow sphere, did not care for politics, had no interest whatever in literature and no topics of conversation, and were strangely incapable of appreciating the charms of nature. mary's experience was chiefly gained in the small provincial towns. they necessarily presented to her--so she thought--the worst side of the picture. to her, the ideal condition was "to rub off in a metropolis the rust of thought, and polish the taste which the contemplation of nature had rendered just." but no place seemed to her so disagreeable and unimproving as a small country-town. the refined amusements of a cultivated society being thus inaccessible to the swede, he will choose them of the coarsest kind. meals occupy a prominent place in the daily routine, and a good many hours are wasted at table. a "visiting-day" means a severe strain upon the powers of digestion, and to make matters worse, the brandy-bottle,--the bane of the country--passes round freely. what mary saw of wedded life in sweden did not give her a high opinion of swedish morals. the men were generally inconstant, and also the women lacked chastity--the product of the mind. the statement that in later life "the husband becomes a sot, whilst the wife spends her time in scolding the servants", likewise finds its explanation in the _rights of women_ as the natural result of vacancy of mind where youthful beauty and animal spirits have gone the way of all flesh! neither has the treatment of servants mary's sympathy. "they are not termed slaves; yet a man may strike a man with impunity because he pays him wages." but the lot of female servants is immeasurably harder. their having to eat a different kind of food from their masters strikes mary as a remnant of barbarism. the general appearance of the women is not prepossessing. too much attention to the delights of a well-provided table makes them fat and unwieldy and soon changes the natural pink of their complexions to a sallow hue. they are uncleanly of their persons, and vanity is more inherent in them than taste. their ignorance is even more profound than that of the males, and mary once had the compliment paid her that "she asked men's questions." the peasantry of sweden impressed her as more really polite and obliging than the better-situated classes, whose cold politeness consisted chiefly in tiresome ceremonies. in norway, however, the unmistakable signs of a coming dawn were noticeable. a river forms the boundary between the two countries, and yet, what a difference in the manners of the inhabitants of the two sides! instead of the sluggishness and poverty of the swede, here are industry and consequent prosperity. it is the patient labour of men who are only seeking for a subsistence which affords leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences that lift man so far above his first state. the world requires the hand of man to perfect it, and as this task naturally unfolds the faculties he exercises, it is physically impossible that he should remain in rousseau's golden age of stupidity. and although the cultivation of science in norway is as yet in its earliest stages--the time for universities having not yet come--yet a bright future is awaiting her. norway seemed to mary wollstonecraft the country of the greatest individual freedom. the king of denmark, it is true, was an absolute monarch, but the state of imbecility to which illness had reduced him placed the reins of government into the hands of his son the prince royal and of his wise and moderate minister count bernstorff. under their almost patriarchal authority every man was left to enjoy an almost unlimited amount of freedom. the law was mild, and the lot of those it sentenced to hard labour not unnecessarily hard. she found in norway no accumulation of property such as existed in sweden, resulting in the abject poverty of the submerged tenth. rich merchants were made to divide their personal fortunes among their children; and the distribution of all landed property into small farms,--one of the ideals hesitatingly put forward by mary in the _rights of women_--produced a degree of equality which was found nowhere else in europe. the tenants occupied their farms for life, which made them independent. there was every hope that drunkenness, the inherent vice of generations, would before long disappear, giving place to gallantry and refinement of manners; "but the change will not be suddenly produced." the norwegians love their country, but they have not yet arrived at that point where an enlarged understanding extends the love they cherish for the land of their birth to the entire human race. they have not much public spirit. however, the french revolution meets with a great deal of sympathy among the people of norway, who follow with the most lively interest the successes of the french arms. "so determined were they," says mary, "to excuse everything, disgracing the struggle of freedom by admitting the tyrant's plea necessity, that i could hardly persuade them that robespierre was a monster." mary hoped that the french revolution would have the effect of making politics a subject of discussion among them, "enlarging the heart by opening the understanding," and leading to the cultivation of that public spirit the absence of which she regretted. although the women of norway were not much more cultivated than their swedish sisters, regarding custom and opinion to such an extent that mary's educational advice was not listened to lest "the town might talk", and on the plea that "they must do as other people did"--yet they compared favourably with the latter in the matter of personal appearance and cheerfulness of disposition. they had rosy complexions, and were pronouncedly fond of dancing. they were very strict in the performance of their religious duties; yet showed the greatest toleration; nor was the norwegian sunday remarkable for that stupid dulness which characterises the english sabbath, the outcome of that fanatical spirit which mary feared was gaining ground in england. the same lack of public spirit which mary commented upon in her description of the national character of the norwegians, also struck her when observing the manners and customs of the danes in their capital. there had been a huge fire, destroying a considerable portion of the town, and held by some to be the work of pitt. it was the general opinion, that the conflagration might have been smothered in the beginning by pulling down several houses before the flames had reached them, to which, however, the inhabitants would not consent. mary found among the danes a great many vices. the men led dissolute lives, and utterly neglected their wives, who were reduced to the state of mere house-slaves. their only interest was love of gain, which, in rendering them over-cautious, sapped their energy. a visit to a theatre showed mary the state of the dramatic art in denmark and the gross taste of the audience, and the fact that well-dressed women took their children to witness the execution of a criminal as a favourite kind of entertainment, filled her with unutterable disgust. "and to think that these are the people," she exclaims, "who found fault with the late queen matilda's education of her son!" matilda, it appears, had carried some of rousseau's principles into effect, which, however, had found no favour at the court. the ignorance and coarse brutality which she found among the danes were instrumental in changing mary's opinions of the french. the parisian festivals were rendered more interesting by the sobriety of those who took part in them, a danish merry-making, however, generally degenerated into a drunken bacchanal. "i should have been less severe," she says, "in the remarks i have made on the vanity and depravity of the french, had i travelled towards the north before i visited france." the antipathy with which she had always regarded the dealings of business was increased by the experience she gained during her stay in scandinavia. at gotheburg and at hamburg the contrast between opulence and penury which the war had called forth filled her with indignation, and at laurvig, in norway, the lawyers proved to be all great chicaners. it seemed to her that traffic was necessarily allied with cunning. the gulf which now yawned between her and imlay was widened by the circumstance that she was unable to feel anything but contempt for what he had made his chief object in life. she was willing to admit that england and america to a certain extent owed their liberty to commerce, which created a new species of power to undermine the feudal system. but let them beware of the consequence, the tyranny of wealth is still more galling and debasing than that of rank! shortly after the final rupture with imlay mary renewed her acquaintance with godwin in the house of their mutual friend miss hayes. she took a fancy to him, and in the following month of april called upon him in somers town, having herself taken a lodging in pentonville. in godwin's _memoirs_ the description of their friendship, "melting into love" may be found. a temporary separation in july , when godwin made an excursion into norfolk, had its effect on the mind of both parties. as godwin says, it "gave a space for the maturing of inclination," and both realised that each had become indispensable to the other. they did not at once marry. godwin, in his _political justice_, had declared himself against marriage, which compels both parties to go on cherishing a relation long after both have discovered their fatal mistake. moreover, marriage is a contract for life, and binding to both parties; and no rational being can undertake to promise that his opinions will undergo no change in the future. mary's ideas of marriage we have seen to be different, nor did she change her mind under godwin's influence. but she had been much and rudely spoken of in connection with imlay, and she could not resolve to do anything that might revive that painful topic, and therefore agreed to keep their relations a secret from the world. mary's pregnancy, however, became their motive for complying with a ceremony to which godwin in a letter to mr. wedgwood, refers as follows: "nothing but a regard for the happiness of the individual, which i had no right to injure, could have induced me to submit to an institution which i wish to see abolished, and which i would recommend to my fellowmen never to practise but with the greatest caution." the marriage took place at old st. pancras church on march th, , but was not declared till the beginning of april. godwin records with some bitterness that certain of his friends, among whom were mrs. inchbald and mrs. siddons, from this moment treated him with coldness. in accordance with godwin's ideas of cohabitation he engaged an apartment about twenty doors from their house in somers town, where he pursued his literary occupations and sometimes remained for days together. the notes which passed between the two lovers in their five months of married life show that upon the whole they were very happy, although they had one or two slight differences. their most serious trouble in those days were the constant financial embarrassments. in june godwin went on a long excursion with his friend montagu, and the letters of both husband and wife are full of the most affectionate solicitude. the time of mary's confinement was now rapidly approaching, but her health was quite good, and she concentrated a good deal of energy upon a novel which she had begun in the first period of her intimacy with godwin. it engrossed her mind for months, and she wrote and rewrote several chapters of it with the most elaborate care. when she died, the work, to which she gave the name of "_maria, or the wrongs of woman_", was unfinished, in spite of which circumstance godwin decided to include the fragment in his edition of her posthumous works. a long and circumstantial account of mary's last days is given in mr. kegan paul's "_william godwin; his friends and contemporaries_." suffice it to say, that she gave birth to a daughter mary on the th of august, , and in spite of the constant attendance of some of the best doctors in london, died eleven days later. in the year following her death, godwin published his _memoirs_. they are an admirable piece of writing; yet they did not produce the effect he hoped for: that of making the principles and motives by which she was actuated in life better understood and more generally appreciated. the disfavour with which his personality was regarded in many circles on account of his radicalism rendered him all unfit for the task. fortunately, later generations have done justice to the impartiality of his judgments. we, at least, realise what the unstinted praise of a man of godwin's sincerity means, although to us her character and actions require no vindication. perhaps without being aware of it himself, godwin paid his deceased wife the greatest compliment in his power when insisting on the astonishing degree of soundness which pervaded her sentiments, enabling her to supplement her husband's deficiencies. both he and mary carried farther than to their common extent the characteristics of the sexes to which they belonged. godwin, while stimulated by the love of intellectual distinction, was painfully aware of his lack of what he calls "an intuitive sense of the pleasures of the imagination." women, he says, who are more delicate and susceptible of impression than men, in proportion as they receive a less intellectual education, are more unreservedly under the empire of feeling." if this estimate of women is correct, it proves the superiority of mary wollstonecraft over the other members of her sex. for the fact that her great natural gifts, joined to her boundless energy enabled her to attain an intellectual level far beyond the reach of others, did not in any sense detract from the warmth of her heart and the intensity of her feelings, by which she proved herself above all a tender, loving woman, thoroughly capable of constituting the happiness of a husband who was himself a leader of men. when two years after mary's death godwin published "_st. leon_," he gave in his idealised description of the married life of st. leon and margaret what he felt to be a faithful account of their short spell of matrimonial happiness. well might he say of his margaret that the story of her life is the best record of her virtues. it has been the aim of the present study to prove mary wollstonecraft the spiritual child and heir to the french philosophers of her own and of the preceding century--to a poullain de la barre, a fénelon, a mme de lambert, a d'holbach, who ventured to propose a scheme for the improvement of the deplorable conditions of an erring and suffering womanhood. more extreme in her views, and more determined in her claims than her bluestocking sisters, she stands out the one great apostle of female emancipation among the revolutionary leaders who held out the hope of lasting social improvement to all mankind. that she aimed too high and failed to find that recognition among her contemporaries to which her spirit of ready sacrifice entitled her, lends her a certain tragic dignity which adds materially to the interest felt by posterity in her striking personality. and yet her work certainly was not done in vain, although it was left to a later generation to build the huge structure of modern feminism on the ruins of a hope which, together with even more comprehensive ideals, had been blasted by the rude winds of reaction. this structure the present generation beholds with feelings which are not wholly unmixed, for it is as yet full of imperfections, and much remains to be done. but those who feel doubtful of the final issue, may turn to mary wollstonecraft, to borrow from her that unshakable faith in evolution and progress which to her became a kind of religion which never forsook her. footnotes: [ ] c. kegan paul, _william godwin, his friends and contemporaries_. [ ] see letter from mary to everina, dated from dublin, march th. , with which compare the following severe judgment by hannah more in her _strictures_: "it is worthy of remark that 'depart from me, i never knew you', is not the malediction denounced on the sceptic or the scoffer, but on the high professor, on the unfruitful worker of "miracles", on the unsanctified utterer of "prophecies", for even acts of piety, wanting the purifying principle, however they may dazzle men, offend god. cain sacrificed, balaam prophesied, rousseau most sublimely panegyrised the son of mary...." those who lacked true humility did not fall within the range of hannah more's compassion. [ ] e. dowden, _the french revolution and english literature_. [ ] w. godwin, _memoirs of the author of a vindication of the rights of women_. [ ] "a slavish bondage to parents cramps every faculty of the mind." (_a vindication_, chapter on _duty to parents_). [ ] the creation of congenial surroundings, and the bringing about of circumstances which involuntarily lead the pupil to draw certain illuminating inferences, is recommended also in _emile_, where the preceptor relies largely upon them. there seems nothing to be said against them, unless it were that the pupil might sooner or later discover that he was "being sold", which might be attended with awkward consequences! [ ] the position of servants very naturally called for discussion in the great liberty scheme. the treatment of female servants never failed to interest mary. many years later, godwin treated the subject in an essay. [ ] mr. falkland, the "high-spirited and highly cultured" gentleman of the dramatis personae, utilises all the advantages of his superior rank to crush his enemy caleb and finds the law upon his side. [ ] see h. w. brailsford, _shelley, godwin and their circle_. [ ] this rule, which also applies to property, and may be traced to the _contrat social_, strikes the keynote of what was the common view of the social reformers. mary's scheme of enfranchisement advocates the admission of women to the different professions to ensure their social independence. [ ] see morley's _rousseau_. [ ] see lilly bascho, _englische schriftstellerinnen in ihre beziehungen zur französischen revolution_. (_anglia )._ [ ] curiously enough, hannah more,--who refers to the education of the children as "the great object to which those who are, or may be mothers, are especially called"--unwittingly copies mary wollstonecraft where she says: "in the great day of general account, may every christian mother be enabled, through divine grace, to say, with humble confidence, to her maker and redeemer, behold the children whom thou hast given me!" [ ] c. kegan paul, memoir to the "_letters to imlay_". [ ] "we are soon to meet, to try whether we have mind enough to keep our hearts warm". (_letter to imlay_, august ). [ ] when emile's education is almost completed, he is sent abroad for the final touch. in this way he obtains full command of the principal languages of europe. bibliography addison and steele. the tatler; the spectator; the guardian. ascoli, g. les idées féministes en france. (revue de synthèse historique, .) astell, mary. a serious proposal to the ladies. (london, .) bascho, lilly. englische schriftstellerinnen in ihre beziehungen zur französischen revolution. (anglia, .) blease, w. lyon. the emancipation of english women. (national political press, .) bled, v. du. la société française. (libraire académique, paris, .) boulan, e. figures du dix-huitième siècle. (leiden, .) brailsford, h. n. shelley, godwin and their circle. brunetiÈre, f. histoire de la littérature française classique. (vol. ii and iii.) brunetiÈre, f. nouvelles etudes classiques. (la société française au ième siècle.) buckle, h. th. history of civilisation in england. (longman, green and co., london, .) burney, fanny. (mme d'arblay). diary and letters. cabe, joseph mac. woman in political evolution. (watts and co., london, .) a cambridge history of english literature, vol. xi. chabaud, l. les précurseurs du féminisme. chapone, hester. letters on the improvement of the mind. chesterfield, lord. letters. (ed. j. bradshaw.) climenson, e. j. mrs. montagu. compayrÉ, g. histoire critique des doctrines de l'éducation en france. day, thomas. sandford and merton. defoe, daniel. essay upon projects. delany, mrs. (mary granville). correspondence. dodds, m. hope. fulfilment. (an article about mary astell in "the englishwoman".) doran, dr. j. a lady of the last century. (mrs. montagu.) dowden, e. the french revolution and english literature. elwood, mrs. a. k. memoirs of female writers in england. forsyth, w. eighteenth century novels and novelists. godwin, w. political justice. godwin, w. caleb williams. godwin, w. memoirs of the author of a vindication of the rights of women. grappin, h. poullain de la barre. (revue d'histoire littéraire de la france, tome xx.) girardin, st. marc. cours de littérature dramatique. (vol. iii.) hales, j. w. the last decade of the last century. (contemp. review, vol. .) d'holbach. le système social. huchon, r. mrs. montagu and her friends. kegan paul, c. william godwin, his friends and contemporaries. lanson, g. lettres du dix-huitième siècle. larroumet, g. marivaux, sa vie et ses oeuvres. lefranc, abel. le tiers livre du pantagruel et la querelle des femmes. (etudes rabelaisiennes, tome ii, .) livet, ch. l. précieux et précieuses. (paris, .) lyttleton, lord. dialogues of the dead. (containing three dialogues by mrs. montagu.) meakin, a. b. hannah more. (john murray, london, .) montagu, lady mary wortley. works. (ed. by lord wharncliffe.) more, hannah. strictures on the modern system of female education. more, hannah. poems. morf, h. geschichte der französischen literatur im zeitalter der renaissance. morley, john. rousseau. morgan, charlotte. the rise of the novel of manners. pennell, e. r. mary wollstonecraft godwin. (eminent women series.) piÉron, h. poulain de la barre. (revue de synthèse historique, .) pilon, edm. muses et bourgeoises de jadis. (paris, .) pilon, edm. portraits français. pope, alexander. moral essays. (epistle ii: on the characters of women.) rauschenbusch, mrs. mary wollstonecraft and the rights of women. rousseau, j. j. emile, ou de l'education. rousseau, j. j. du contrat social. rousseau, j. j. julie, ou la nouvelle héloise. roberts, w. memoirs of the life and correspondence of mrs. hannah more. rousselot, p. histoire de l'education des femmes. schiff, m. marie de gournay. stephen, sir leslie. english thought in the eighteenth century. stopes, mrs. c. c. british free women. swift, jonathan. letter to a very young lady. swift, jonathan. hints on conversation. taylor, g. r. s. mary wollstonecraft. texte, joseph. j. j. rousseau et les origines du cosmopolitisme littéraire. toinet, r. les ecrivains moralistes au ième siècle. (revue d'histoire littéraire de la france, t. , , ). villey, p. l'influence de montaigne sur les idées pédagogiques de locke et de rousseau. wheeler, e. r. famous bluestockings. (methuen and co., london.) wollstonecraft, mary. original stories from real life. " " a vindication of the rights of women. " " the french revolution. " " letters to imlay. (ed. by c. kegan paul.) " " letters from sweden. yonge, charlotte m. hannah more. (eminent women series.) stellingen . there never was a more fervent champion of marriage and domesticity than mary wollstonecraft, who twice lived with a man to whom she was not married. . the bluestocking assemblies differed in their essential qualities from the french salons both of the seventeenth and of the eighteenth century. . british influence was a potent factor in the intellectual revolt which preceded the french revolution. . those who, like st. marc girardin and lord john morley, observe that in the fifth book of rousseau's "_emile_" we are confronted with the oriental conception of women, do its author an injustice. . the views expressed in paine's "_rights of man_" regarding the attitude of burke towards democracy are open to criticism. . mr. r. h. case's interpretation of the text of shakespeare's "_the tragedy of coriolanus_", act i, scene ix, l. : when steel grows soft as the parasite's silk, let him be made an overture for the wars! is quite plausible. . the popularity of tennyson's poetry is largely due to circumstances which are independent of his greater poetic qualities. . there is a strong element of romance in richardson's so-called "realistic" novels. . behoudens het geven van eene beknopte historische inleiding is het niet wenschelijk het onderwijs in de engelsche letterkunde aan onze middelbare scholen en gymnasia uit te strekken tot die perioden welke vallen vóór shakespeare. book was produced from images made available by the hathitrust digital library.) josiah allen on the woman question [illustration: "she made me think that minute of them big rocks when i was tryin' to plough 'round 'em" (see p. )] josiah allen on the woman question by marietta holley _author of "samantha on the woman question", "samantha at saratoga", "my opinions and betsy bobbett's", etc._ _illustrated._ [illustration] new york chicago toronto fleming h. revell company london and edinburgh copyright, , by fleming h. revell company new york: fifth avenue chicago: north wabash ave. toronto: richmond street, w. london: paternoster square edinburgh: princes street contents i. in which i resolve to write a book ii. in which betsy bobbett butts in iii. i talk on wimmen's duty to marry iv. i talk on man's protectin' love for wimmen v. wherein i prove man's courtesy towards wimmen vi. i talk on females infringin' vii. about wimmen's foolish love for petickulars viii. i talk on wimmen's extravagance ix. the danger from wimmen's exaggeration x. the modern wimmen condemned illustrations opposite page i. "she made me think that minute of them big rocks when i was tryin' to plough round 'em" title ii. "and she looked as if she would sink down in her tracts" iii. "till she gets 'em all rousted up, and just boy cote that man till he has to keep hullsome food" iv. "josiah", sez she, "a hen don't cackle till she lays her egg" i in which i resolve to write a book for years and years i've been deeply wownded in my most sacred feelin's and my reason has been outraged by my pardner, samantha's, writin' agin the righteous cause of man's superiority to wimmen. but though my feelin's have been rasped and almost bleedin' from the unjust wownds i've kep' still and let her go on with other headstrong and blinded females, and argey and deny man's sole and indefrangible right to oversee and order the affairs of the universe, and specially the weak helpless female sect, the justice of which, it seems to me, a infant babe might see without spectacles. i have curbed in my wownded sperit and my mighty inteleck with almost giant strength, and never let 'em have free play in public print to dispute and overthrow them uroneous doctrines. and my reason for this course has been twofold. first, as any male filosifer and female researcher knows, that owin' to her weakness of inteleck and soft nater, a woman's mind gits ruffled up easy, and that rufflin' up affects her cookin'. and under a too severe strain a female has sometimes forgot to be promp with her meals, and not notice seemin'ly that her pies wuz runnin' out, and the cookie jar gittin' empty. such things, no matter how strong a man's inteleck is, has a deleterious effeck on his internal systern, which reacts on his branial cranium. and i've been afraid of the consequences if i onleashed the lion in me, and answered and crushed her onholy arguments in cold type. and my second reason wuz that in spite of her almost blasphemous doctrine that wimmen are equal to men, i knowed that under them mistook idees it wuz a lackage of good horse sense and not inherient depravity that ailed her. i knowed that if samantha wuz only willin' to settle down peacefully in the shelter and shade of man's powerful strength and personality, there never wuz a better woman or a neater, equinomicler housekeeper on earth than samantha smith allen, and as a maker of cream biscuit and apple dumplin's, and a frier and briler of spring chickens never outdone and seldom equalled. i've argued in private life with her till my jaws ached and my lungs wheezed with incessant labor. have experimented in various ways and appeared before her daily for years as a shinin' sample of man's superiority. but never, never have i been able to make her own up how inferior her sect is to the more opposite one. but as i say, as long as i've suffered, i have never before took my rightful place in literatoor, never took the high peak waitin' for me to set down on, while i hurled the thunderbolts of convincin' eloquence down upon the female wimmen squirmin' beneath me. but i dassent wait a minute longer. i have got to put a stop to the awful doin's goin' on around me. and if my worst forebodin's are realized, and i've got to starve it out, i will offer myself a hungry victim to duty, and die with my manly principles enfoldin' my gant form like a halo of glory. but mebby i've waited too long. i tremble to think on't. i ort to made the move sooner. for things are growin' worse and worse all the time, female wimmen are risin' up on every side claimin' to be equal to men, talkin', preachin', hikin', paradin' with lyin' banners, vowin' with brazen impudence that since they bear the financial and legal burdens of citizenship, they ort to be citizens of the u.s., and since they bear children they want to protect 'em in the house and outdoors, and so on to the end of their windy arguments. want to be citizens! how can they be? hain't the eagle a male bird? and what duz e pluribus unum mean? why, we men translated it years ago--eminent people us--us males. and every fool knows that wimmen hain't a people, hain't a citizen and never has been. jest think on't, weak wimmen, underlin's, as they've always been legally and politically considered, dashin' and hikin' about, bilin' up like foamin' billers of froth and folly threatenin' to engulf our noble ship of state. i've knowed how a strong minded man wuz needed to grasp holt of the hellum and try to steer that poor staggerin' wobblin' wimmen tosted craft into a haven of safety, into some place where men can agin enjoy their heaven born rights to rule the world and boss round the female sect, and to turn that frothy turbulent feminist tide sweepin' out into broad paths never meant for it to sweep in, into the shaller narrer safe channels it is fitted for. i had decided not to tell samantha about my great book aginst female suffrage till it wuz writ and published and the crash come. but the very day i begun my immortal work she wuz cookin' a young duck with dressin', and the delicious uroma come like incense to my nostrils, and insensibly it softened my feelin's. and i thought mebby i ort to prepare her for what would be the effect of my book on her sect, and the world at large. we'd lived together for years and outside of her uroneous beliefs she'd been a kind and agreeable companion, a fur better cook and housekeeper than any aunty suffragist i ever see or hearn on, and had been a help and comfort to me; she wuz bakin' a plum puddin' too, and some hubbard squash. and as i inhaled the delicious odors i felt more and more soft and meller towards her, most as soft as the squash. and so i broached the subject to her. sez i, "what do you think, samantha, about my great projeck of destroyin' female suffrage? what do you think of my writin' the book?" i said the words and paused for a reply. the kitchen wuz clean and cozy, the cheerful fire blazed; samantha sot with smooth hair and serene face in a new gingham dress and white apron, choppin' some cabbage and celery for a salad; all wuz peace and happiness. as i spoke the fateful words it seemed as if old nater herself wuz listenin' and peakin' in through the kitchen door to see what would happen. what would be the effect on samantha? i dreaded, yet waited for the result. would she overwhelm me with reproaches and entreaties to stop and not ruin her sect? would she be overcome and swoon away? and the appaulin' thought come to me onbid, if she did who would finish up the dinner? as i asked the question she paused with the choppin' knife in her hand and sez: "when i wuz a girl we had a debatin' school, and there wuz one feller that we always tried to git on the side opposite to us, his talk and arguments wuz such a help to us. i hain't no objections to your writin' the book, josiah." and then she resoomed her work with her linement cam as ever. i felt relieved, but couldn't see what sot her off to tellin' that old story at this juncter, and can't to this day, but set it down to female's inability to grasp holt of important questions, and answer 'em in a straightforward way as males do. i knowed when i begun my great work of stompin' out woman's suffrage that i must proceed careful; wimmen had clogged up the road to truth and reason so with their fool arguments, lectures, parades, etc., i must plough through 'em and make my way clear every step i took so no clackin' arguin' female could rise up and dispute 'em. i laid out to chase females back to the very beginin', and there in the dim light of the dawnin' day of time to grasp holt of the unanswerable argument that proves to every reasonable mind wimmen's inferiority and man's greatness. and then chase 'em back agin through the centuries up to the present time, and there corner 'em and break down their flimsy arguments of equality, and crush 'em forever. and make an end to this male disturbin', world opsettin' bizness of wimmen's rights. and in divin' back into history as fur as i've doven i want to give suitable credit to my chumb, uncle simon bentley. bein' a bacheldor without no hamperin' female ties drawin' on him and holdin' him back, he's had more time than i have to devote to arjous study and research on the subject, and has been a help to me. not but what i could have equalled him or gone ahead on him if i'd been foot-loose. but samantha and the barn stock wuz on my back, and fambly cares kep' me down. but after he mentioned to me certain things he had studied out, i told him i had thought of them very things more than one hundred times, but hadn't had time to write 'em down. why, in the very first beginin' of time, we find the great fact that smashes female equality down into the dirt where it belongs. we find that wimmen wuz made and manufactured jest because men wuz kinder lonesome. as uncle sime well sez, "it wuz jest a happen that wimmen wuz made at all. adam happened to feel kinder lonesome alone on that big farm, and probable needed wimmen's help. and he happened to have a extra rib he could spare as well as not, and so wimmen wuz made out of that spare rib. but," sez uncle sime, "adam would have been as well agin off if eve hadn't been made, and i should have told him so if i had been there." sez he bitterly, "men hain't been lonesome since wimmen wuz made. oh, no! she has kep' her clack goin', and kep' men's noses down on the grindstun ever sence." "well," sez i, "simon, it wuz noble in adam to be willin' to lose one of his ribs to make her, for who knows to what hites men might have riz up if he hadn't parted with it. if us men have riz up to such a hite with one rib lackin' who knows how fur we should have gone up with the hull on 'em." "that hain't the pint," sez uncle sime. "the pint is, how dast wimmen feel so big and claim to be equal to us men, when they think how, and why, and what out of they wuz created. wimmen ort to feel thankful and grateful to men that she wuz made at all. how would she felt if she hadn't been made? i guess she would feel pretty cheap and not put on so many airs, and be hikein' round preachin' to her superiors." in his excitement uncle sime had enunciated that crushin' argument in a ruther loud tone. we wuz settin' on the back stoop and samantha comin' out to shake the table-cloth must have hearn it. but instead of actin' humiliated and crushed by that masterly argument she looked at us kinder queer over her specs, folded her table-cloth camly and said nothin'. and after she went in uncle sime resoomed his unanswerable arguments. "why, beside bible proofs i can prove it in a scientific way. weigh up a man's bones in the stillyards and they'll weigh one hundred pounds more or less, jest the bones. and now jest think on the preposterous idee of that one little rib bone a risin' up right in the face of science and reason, and pretendin' to be equal to the hull carcass. and worse yet tryin' to stomp on him and bring him down to her level by votin'. why, if adam had hearn to me and kep' that rib bone where it wuz, jest think what the world would have escaped, think of the jealousies, angers, revenges, weariness, expenses, wars, ruin and bloodshed caused through the centuries by changin' that rib bone into a female!" i wuz astounded to see how deep uncle sime had doven into the great mysteries of human existence, not but what i'd have thought it out myself, if i'd had time from fambly cares. but uncle sime went on, "jest think, josiah, of wimmen's wild and turbulent doin's and the commotions and troubles and sufferin's wimmen has caused males, and then think how quiet and peaceable that rib wuz before it had been meddled with, and brought into the woman question. a layin' there in adam's side onquestionin' and cam. never startin' up and argyin' with the liver or diafram, never sassin' the spinal collar, or disputin' the knee jints, that one small bone risin' up, and demandin' the rights that justly belong to the hull carcass. oh, what lessons to female suffragists can be drawed from that scientific fact, and how fur they can be drawed." as long as i'd knowed uncle sime i never had realized before he wuz such a deep thinker, and had such a fund of scientific knowledge to back up his arguments. of course i had 'em too, all on 'em, layin' dormer inside on me. * * * * * of course it made a tremendous stir in jonesville when the startlin' news got out that i wuz writin' a book agin female suffrage with the settled intention and firm determination of puttin' an end to it forever. it lifted me up to such a tottlin' hite in the estimation of the male jonesvillians that it would have gin a weaker man the big head and made 'em liable to fall off. but such is my strength of mind that i kep' cool on the outside, talked in a friendly and patronizin' way to samantha and the neighborin' wimmen, associated with the folks that had the honor to live round me, and wore the same hat. the creation searchin' society of jonesville called a special meetin' to congratulate me and themselves on havin' their views on the inferiority of wimmen disseminated in my book through the entire habitable globe. i knowed my beliefs regardin' wimmen wuz the same as theirn, for we had often laid them views out side by side and compared 'em together. and uncle sime bentley when i first told him on't shed tears of joy and sez he: "at _last_, at _last_ the men of jonesville, the male men, are goin' to be hearn from, and did justice to." and he grip holt of my hand in one of hisen, and with the other he wep' onto his bandanna handkerchief tears of pure joy and thankfulness. deacon henzy, solomon sypher, deacon bobbett and a lot of other bretheren in the meetin' house, talked to me about the forthcomin' book with a solemn joy and triump in their linements and told me to consider and weigh well every word i writ, up to the very ounce, "for," sez they, "the broad onwinkin' eye of the world is on you and in that eye we male jonesvillians have been demeaned and lowered and looked down on by the abominable things that wuz writ by----" but i riz up my right hand and arm in a noble jester of warn, and sez i, "not one word agin samantha, bretheren, not a word!" they see the stern wild glare in my eye, and turned it off by sayin', "things have been writ by a female who shall be nameless, that has had a tendency to make us male jonesvillians objects of contemp. and the uroneous and blasphemous idee has been disseminted in them writin's that females are equal to males, and want rights that we know they don't need or deserve, rights that will bring 'em to the brink of ruin if not held back by a manly arm. now it is in the power of a male jonesvillian to lift his sect up on the hite he's been partially knocked off of, by them writin's, and put the weaker inferior sect down into the holler place where they belong. it is your honor and your privelige, josiah allen, to let the hull world see how superior to females, how noble, how grand is the male manhood of jonesville u.s.a." it wuz a solemn occasion, but i riz up to it and told 'em i laid out in my book to make such a change in public opinion that it would shake the very pillows of society, but sez i, "after the shake and the quake is over, things will settle down in their proper place agin. and then as of old, men will take their position as master and females their proper place as the tenderly governed class, lookin' up agin meekly to male men as their nateral gardeens and protectors." ii in which betsy bobbett butts in owing to the inclemency of the inclement weather, and the hardness of the wood (slippery ellum) i would had to split for extra fires, i did the writin' of my great work of destroyin' female suffrage in the common settin' room. i didn't feel above it. as i told samantha, many a immortal work had been writ in a garret, and even in a prison (namely by mr. keats and mr. j. bunyan and others). she didn't dispute me, she kep' right on with her usual housework, bakin', etc., and i almost thought the delicious uroma of her vittles which come in from the contagious kitchen wuz a inspiration to me. so dificult it is to tell what tiny springs feeds the great spoutin' fountain of genius. on the mornin' i made this memorable remark jest quoted, i hadn't more'n got started on my masterly work and wuz settin' almost drownded in the bottomless sea of thought while samantha wuz parin' some apples for pies, havin' fetched her pan into the settin' room, when the magestic onward and upward flow of my thought wuz arrested or dammed up, as you may say figuratively speakin', by the tall awkward obstacle of a onwelcome female figger. it wuz betsy bobbett slimpsey who came in with a red and green plaid shawl wropped round her gant form, and a yeller fascinator on her humbly head. fascinator! who wuz fascinated by it? i wuzn't, no indeed! and so lightnin' quick is my mind to ketch holt of any argument illustratin' wimmen's weakness of inteleck to transcribe in my volume, that i methought instantly how that one article of betsy's attire showed plain the inferiority of her sect that i wuz tryin' to prove to the world. as i glanced at it, my eager soul questioned my active mind, "did you ever ketch a man wearin' anything on his head with such vain silly names," and my mind thundered back to my listenin' soul, "no! no sir!" the strong brain within the manly head would spurn such a coverin', and tread it into the dust. a man's fascination consists of sunthin' inside his skull, his powerful brain, his invincible will, not in a flimsy woosted affair knit with a tattin' hook. with what hauty coldness would a man spurn it, if his wife tried to put it onto his noble head to wear to meetin' or to a neighbors. but to resoom. betsy passed a few triflin' onimportant remarks about the weather, her hens, her husband, etc., but my keen eye pierced through her outward demeanor, which she tried to make nateral, and i see she had a ulterior object in comin' out so early in the mornin'. and soon it broke forth in speech, and she uttered the bold presumptious request that i would let her insert some of her poetry writ before, and after her marriage, in my great forthcomin' volume. for a minute i wuz almost stunted and stumped by the brazen impudence of the idee, that i would let a female have any part however small in that grand work proclaimin' and provin' the superiority of my sect. and havin' a mind so powerful and many sided it can see both sides to once, i methought how onbecomin' it would be in me and how meachin' to let females take part in a work designed to be the ruination of 'em, or that is the ruination of their claims to be equal to the sect i wuz nobly representin'. how could i grant her request without sinkin' down to the low female level? no, i answered her promp in the negative. but she clung to the idee as clost as she ever clung to the various men she had paid attention to until her doom wuz sealed and she had with herculeanium efforts won simon to be her pardner. sez she pleadin'ly, "josiah allen, do let me insert some of my poetry on woman's spear in your noble volume. i feel that my poems deserve immortality, but they won't never git there if a man don't help me to lift 'em up." that idee wuz indeed grateful to me, it naterally would be to any man, but agin i answered her coldly in the negative, samantha lookin' on, but sayin' nothin'. anon betsy turned to her and sez, "josiah allen's wife, will you not help plead with him in the name of a strugglin' sister woman?" samantha kep' on parin' and slicin' her greenin's but sez coldly, "i hain't no objections to it. i guess the verses will correspond pretty well with the rest of the book." "yes, indeed!" sez betsy eagerly. "our two idees about the loftier, superior sect, and the overpowerin' need of wimmen to be protected by 'em, are perfect twins, you couldn't hardly reconize 'em apart." and agin she sez in a still more hungry axent: "do grant my request, josiah allen; poetry makes a book so interestin'. mebby it hain't necessary, but some like the tail feathers of a rooster, though they may not add to the weight of the fowl; without 'em he has a bare lonesome look. poetry may not add to the strength and matchless power of your arguments, probably nothin' could; but somehow a book looks sort o' bare and lonely without these feathery gushin's of the soul." sez i in a cold austere axent, "i have laid out to enrich the prose pages of my great work with my own poetry, some as lovely flowers might appear on the smooth side of a volcano, softenin' and amelioratin' the comin' roar and rush of the destroyin' fire and flames, that is to bust out and burn up error and mistook idees in females." "oh, what eloquence! what grand thoughts!" sez betsy claspin' her yeller cotton gloves together, and lookin' up to me in almost worship. "what a inteleck has been burnin' under that bald head for years. no wonder it is bald, no hair could live in such a fiery atmosphere." as she said this my feelin's softened towards her and i felt different than i did feel. i had never liked betsy bobbett slimpsey; she wuz always too sentimental and persistent to suit me. when i wuz a widow man she paid me a lot of attention oninvited and onrecipercated. i never responded to her ardent overtoors. i spurned her poetry from me. and she wuz a slack housekeeper, and mizuble cook, which always riles men, and i felt relieved and glad when she got round simon slimpsey and won him to be her husband. but i do like her idees on man's supremacy and her clingin' idees on marriage. such voylent and persistent efforts in that direction, by elderly onmarried females are esteemed worthy of every man's admiration, when directed in another direction than himself. i own i suffered from them clingin' idees of hern durin' my widowerhood till samantha rendered me immune. but under all them sufferin's of mine and my almost hopeless efforts to shy off from her, and avoid her, yet i felt that her adorin' love and her warm clingin' attentions to males wuz eminently becomin' to a female if only turned off from me onto some more willin' man. all these thoughts chased each other through my brain, but still i kep' the cool superiority of my sect and sez coldly: "i want no female thought to cumber and weigh down the sails of my skyward bound volume." but sez she in a humble pleadin' manner, so becomin' in a female and agreeable to males, "my poetry all breathes the weakness and inferiority of my sect, and the overwhelmin' need we have to be protected by the nobler uplifteder sect. and though simon has been bedrid for years and his brain had softened even when we wuz wed, and he and his numerous children have been hard for my emmanuel strength to support and take care on, yet i found in my union to a male man a dignity and rest i had never known in my more single state." here betsy sithed hard a few times, for she wuz indeed weary, she works hard and fares hard and shows it, but she continued: "is it not possible that in a humble way my verses may give a tiny puff of wind, that added to your mighty roarin' gusts will waft your grand craft upward and onward on its heaving sent mission of elevatin' men up, and helpin' 'em in this turrible epock of time they're passin' through. and rebukin' and lowerin' females down for their bold doin's, in opposin' and badgerin' their natural gardeens and protectors, their brazen efforts to be equal to 'em which is a crime agin nater. "for though as i said, simon can't lift his head from the piller, and his language to me is awful at times, and extremely profane, and boot-jacks have been throwed at me, and teacups and sassers smashed agin my form, and milk porridge and catnip tea have deluged me from them flyin' cups and bowls, yet, as i said, i felt through all, even when i wuz bruised and wet as sop, that when he gin me his name at the altar, he gin with it a dignity and uplifted feelin', that nothin' else could give or take away. and i would fain have them womanly idees of mine made immortal by appearin' in your noble volume as a pattern for bolder onwomanly wimmen to foller." as betsy paused i once more waded out bare legged into the sea of thought. thinkses i even a tiny drop of water helps to make the mighty ocean, and the ocean he never repels the humble drop. though a female, betsy wuz a human bein' like myself. wuz it right for me to deny her the boon of immortality in the pages of my great work? what wuz my duty in the matter? i rubbed my forward, behind which my brain wuz revolvin' with lightnin' speed, with my forefinger, gittin' considerable ink on the outside of my brain (namely my forward) which samantha reminded me of afterwards and finally i sez: "i will give this triflin' matter due consideration, betsy slimpsey, and let you know the result of my cogitations. and now," sez i, wavin' my hand towards the outside door in a noble lordly wave, "woman depart! leave me to my thoughts." she went, samantha accompanyin' her to the doorstep on which i hearn her dickerin' with betsy for some rhode island hen's eggs to set, so irresponsive and oncongenial is a female pardner ofttimes and onmindful of the great historical event happenin' so near her, and the great man she is throwed amongst. alas! how often is genius bound down and trammeled in its own environment. when samantha come in lookin' cheerful, for she could git the eggs on a even swop for our brown leghorns, i asked her agin about it, for every married man will testify that you can't depend on what a pardner will say before other wimmen on such a occasion. sez i, "would you honor betsy by lettin' her put some of her verses in my great volume? do you think," sez i anxiously, "that it will clog and weigh it down too much?" sez she, "it may be a good thing to have some weight hitched to it." i didn't really know what she meant, but as she immegiately retired into the buttery to make and roll out her pie crust, i didn't want to interrupt her, for every man knows that a woman needs the hull of what little mind she's got at such a time. such apple pies as samantha makes with tender flaky crust and delicious interior are a work of art, and requires ondivided attention. so i wuz throwed back onto my own resources and judgment, and didn't try to argy no more. duty and pity for her and her sect conquerored in the end, and the next day i gin my consent and betsy sent down by one of her various stepchildren a bran sack full of her poetry, which i emptied for convenience into a huge dish pan which wuz exempt from work by age. how tickled and full of triump betsy wuz, and it wuz enough to tickle any female to have her poetry appear in the pages of my gigantic effort. the follerin' verses of hern writ before her marriage i culled at random from the dish pan and subjoin: wimmen's spear _or whisperin's of nature to betsy bobbett_ last night as i meandered out to meditate apart, secluded in my parasol, deep subjects shook my heart. the earth, the skies, the prattling brooks all thundered in my ear-- it is matrimony, it is matrimony, that is a woman's spear. day, with a red shirred bunnet on had down for china started, its yellow ribbons fluttered o'er her head as she departed-- she seemed to wink her eyes on me as she did disappear-- and say it is matrimony, betsy that is a woman's spear. a rustic had broke down his team, i mused almost in tears, how can a yoke be borne along by half a pair of steers? even thus in wrath did nature speak hear, betsy bobbett, hear; it is matrimony, it is matrimony, that is a woman's spear. i saw a pair of roses like wedded pardners grow, sharp thorns did pave their mortal path, yet sweetly did they blow. they seemed to blow these glorious words into my willing ear, it is matrimony, it is matrimony that is a woman's spear. two gentle sheep upon the hills, how sweet the twain did run, as i meandered gently on and sot down on a stun; they seemed to murmur sheepishly oh betsy bobbett, dear-- it is matrimony, it is matrimony, that is a woman's spear. sweet wuz the honeysuckle's breath upon the ambient air, sweet wuz the tender coo of doves, yet sweeter husbands are; all nature's voices poured these words into my willing ear, b. bobbett, it is matrimony, that is a woman's spear. iii i talk on wimmen's duty to marry cephas slinker stopped yesterday mornin' and had a little talk with me over the barnyard fence. i pitied cephas; he don't live happy with his wife, she's hard on him, and they have frequent spells. they had one last night, and he got up and started for jonesville quick as he'd had his breakfast. he said he never stopped to git a stick of wood or a pail of water (they bring their water from a spring under the hill) but he hurried away he said for fear she'd begin on him agin, and aggravate him. he wanted sympathy, and i see he needed it, so he told me about it. he's been out of a job for some time, and his wife has took in washin' and worked round for the neighbors to keep 'em goin'. he said he wuz to jonesville all day yesterday lookin' for a job. he said he thought the best way to find one wuz to set right still in some place where men wuz comin' and goin' all the time, so they could see him handy if they wanted to hire him. but he said he never got a job, or no hopes of one, and he went home completely discouraged and deprested, and he said that if he ever felt the need of tender words from a comfortin' companion it wuz then; he said he felt so bad that he went in and busted these words right out to his wife, "i want to be soothed and comforted." and if you'll believe it she told him, "if he wanted to be soothed to soothe himself." jest so hash and onfeelin' she spoke. he said she wuz splittin' kindlin' wood at the time to git supper, and she struck at that wood as if she would bring the woodhouse down. and i guess from his tell that he gin it to her hot and heavy. but 'tennyrate she refused outright to soothe and comfort him, and if that hain't a wife's duty what is? it has always been called so, as i told samantha. she asked what cephas and i wuz talkin' so long about, and i had to tell her. and she said she see miss slinker go home from deacon gowdey's where she'd done a two weeks washin'. she wuz pushin' the baby carriage in front of her with her twins in it, and a bag of potatoes, and little cephas draggin' at her skirts and cryin' to be carried, and she looked as if she would sink down in her tracts. and it seemed, sez samantha, "as tired as she wuz she had to split wood to git supper. and how could she soothe and comfort anybody droudgin' round as she had all day and all wore out? under the circumstances it wuzn't reasonable in cephas to ask it." that's jest the way on't, wimmen will argy and argy and try to have the last word. i wouldn't say no more for i knowed it wuz no use. but i must say that when samantha has the time she's always ready to soothe and comfort me if i'm in trouble. she sez it is a woman's nater to want to help and comfort the man she loves, but he ort to be reasonable and not ask it of her as cephas did. under such circumstances she said it wouldn't hurt him to soothe her a spell. i see i couldn't make no headway arguin' with her, so i kep' demute and went to writin' on the subject i'd laid out to hold forth on which is as follers. when the first thought of writin' this great work bust onto my soul like the blazin' sun risin' up and pourin' down his dazzlin' beams onto jonesville and the surroundin' world, there wuz one idee that stood towerin' up like a light house. one fundamental truth i laid out to lift up so high and make so plain that even a female's feeble comprehension could grasp it, and see its first and primary importance. and that wuz that wimmen should not try to have rights, but at all hazards and under all circumstances not fail to marry a man, and secondly i laid out to prove that them two things matrimony and rights could never by any possibility be combined and run together. [illustration: "and she looked as if she would sink down in her tracts"] for truly these two great truths are what we male men have considered the very ground work and underpinnin' of our strongest and most unanswerable arguments agin wimmen's suffrage, marriage--home--clean children--housework--good vittles--oh, how sweet them words have always sounded in men's ears and are still a soundin', and how eminently fitted to wimmen's weak tender minds and patient confidin' naters. and how obnoxious and loathsome to every male ear have been and are now, the words justice--freedom--equality. oh, how continuously and loudly have my male bretheren, we and us, twanged upon them two strings on life's lyre, and tried to make females jine in the melogious song, tried to make 'em comprehend the beauty and full meanin' on 'em. and right here before i go any furder mebby i ort to stop and make it plain to the modern female who is always tryin' to pick flaws and argy, that i said l-y-r-e and not liar, which they might out of clear aggravation try to make out i meant when i made the hullsale insertion that marriage is woman's duty, and a perfect heaven on earth, and woman's suffragin' is ruination and come straight from hadees. i had writ a hull chapter full of the most beautiful and high flown eloquence on this most congenial subject, and proved i thought to every right minded person that it wuz the duty and delightful privelige of every female to stop immegiately seekin' for rights, and marry to a man to once. it wuz a lovely chapter, and very affectin' in spots, so much so i shed several tears over it, as i told samantha, when she glanced over it at my request. i longed for her appreciation of my genius, if she didn't share my idees, but she only made this remark: "no wonder you shed tears! it is enough to make a graven image weep." she didn't explain what she meant by this remark. but i most knew by the looks on her linement that she wuz makin' light on't. but i wuzn't goin' to pay no attention to slurs comin' from them that want rights. her remark only goaded me on to amplify on the beautiful subject, and i had spent i presoom to say most a teaspunful of ink, and pretty nigh half a pad of paper, besides a soul full of emotion on it, when my dear friend and literary adviser, uncle sime bentley come in, and samantha bein' then out in the buttery makin' sugar cookies and spice cake, i had a clear field and read the chapter over to him, longin' for sympathy and admiration, and feelin' sure i'd tapped the right tree to git the sweet sap of true understandin' and appreciation flow out and heal my wownded sperit, when to my great surprise (and it wouldn't been any more shock to me if i'd tapped a butnut tree and see it run blue ink) uncle sime jined in with samantha's idees, and objected to my hullsale insertion that it wuz the bounden duty of every human bein' to marry. as i read it over to him, expectin' to be interrupted by a warm hand grasp of sympathy and lovin' praise of my idees, i see a dark shadder pass over his linement and he wiggled round oneasy in his chair and finally he said: "that won't do, josiah! you've got to change that or you'll git lots of the jonesvillians down on you," sez he. "there are a good many bacheldors round here, and their feelin's will feel hurt." sez i in a sombry dissapinted axent, "i guess i can handle the subject so's not to hurt their feelin's." "id'no," sez he, "lots on 'em might have married if they'd wanted to, and there are three or four grass widowers too, or mebby i should say hay widowers, for they're pretty old for grass." and simon continued feelin'ly: "this book of yourn, josiah, is as dear to me as if it sprung like a sharp simeter from my own brain, and i can't bear to see you make any statement in it that will be called a slur on our sect." strange as it wuz i hadn't thought on that side of the subject till simon pinted it out to me, my barn chores and fambly cares are so wearin' on me that it had slipped my mind, though probable i should thought on't of my own accord when i had time. but i see the minute my attention wuz drawed to it that i must meller the chapter down for the good of my own sect. and after simon went home (he had come to borry a auger) i meditated on the other side, what you might call the off side of the argument and i see different from what i had seen. and i brung up convincin' incidents and let 'em run through my mind. firstly, i see i wuz hittin' my dear friend simon, hittin' him hard, for he wuz a bacheldor, though he thought too much on me to mention his own wownded feelin's. but when i realized what i had done it fairly stunted me, for it wuz like kickin' my own shins with a hard cowhide boot to hit simon. and i see that take it with all the grass and hay widowers, and what you might call plain bacheldors, there wuz a good many male jonesvillians who would had reason to feel riled up, and i wuzn't one to cast no slurs onto my own sect. id'no why a number of them bacheldors hadn't married, for they wuz well off and might have married if they'd wanted to. i guess it wuz jest because they didn't feel like it. and my mind is so strong and keen i see immegiately how that would spile my argument that females must turn their backs on rights, and marry at all hazards and under all circumstances. for it stands to reason that a woman can't marry if a man is not forthcomin', and hadn't ort to be blamed for it. and i could see every time a man hung back it left a female in the lurch. i see i must wiggle out on't the best i could for i'll be hanged when it come down to brass tacks and i figgered it out, i dassent print a word of what i'd writ; as beautious and eloquent as it wuz i had got to drop it onwillin'ly into the waist basket. for i see that besides a lackage of men caused by hangin' back which wuz of itself a overwhelmin' argument, i see how lots of the females wuz situated that had turned their backs on matrimony. susan jane adsit stayed to home to take care of her old father, and by the time he died she'd got off the notion of marryin'. huldah pendergrast wuz humbly as the old harry, and samantha sez that a man always puts a pretty face before reason or religion, 'tennyrate no man had ever asked her to marry i knowed, so how could she help her single state. amelia burpee wuz left a orphan with five younger children that she promised her dyin' ma to take care on, and when she got them all rared up and settled down in life, she wuz too tuckered out to think of matrimony. and serepta corkins wuz a born man hater, would git over the fence ruther than meet one in the road. she didn't want a man, and heaven knows a man didn't want her. luella pitkin's bo died durin' engagement, and she never wanted to look at a man after that. and her sister, drusilla, wuz all took up with music, and no man could ever take the place with her of b flat, or high g. and abigail mooney's feller she wuz engaged to got led off and married another girl, and abigail went into a incline and the doctor had hard work to raise her up, besides all her own folks did with spignut and wild cherry bark and other strengthenin' and soothin' herbs. and almina hagadone's feller left her because she fell and broke her hip durin' engagement. and id'no but it wuz for the best, for how could she bring up a fambly with only one hip. and so it went on, the hull train of single wimmen swep' through my brain, follered by a crowd of widders, grass, and hay, and sod. and as i mentally stared at 'em i see what i'd done on insistin' that they should every one on 'em marry a man and stay to home, when they hadn't no man and no home to stay in. why, i wuz fairly browbeat and stumped to see what a ticklish place i would stood in with the jonesvillians, if i had writ my chapter as i laid out to, that wimmen _must_ marry and must _not_ vote. i see i had got to turn round and take a new tact. but it wuz like tearin' a bulldog from a good shank bone to uproot a man from that inborn belief. and i thought it over pro and con, con and pro, till my head got fairly dizzy and in one of the dizziest spells this thought come to me that mebby simon's bein' a bacheldor had hampered him and colored his advice, and thinkses i before i lay down in the dust my old beloved belief for good and all, it won't do any hurt to jest mention the subject casually to samantha agin, which i did. i sez in a meachiner axent than i ginerally use, for i felt fur more meachin' than i had felt, sez i, "samantha, wimmen ort to marry instead of votin'." and she sez, "why can't they do both? men marry and vote." "but," sez i, recoverin' with a herculaneum effort a little of my usual feelin' of male superiority, "that is very different, samantha. men have bigger, roomier minds, wimmen and politics can sort o' run side by side through 'em without crowdin' each other. but female minds bein' more narrer and contracted they naterally can't, and hadn't ort to try to hold more'n one on 'em. "but," sez i with a last effort to put forth the beautious arguments that my sect has clung to for ages, i sez in a deep protectin' axent, "marriage is the holiest, the most beautifulest state on this earth." "yes," sez samantha reasonably, "a happy marriage is, i guess, about as nigh heaven as folks ever git on earth, but how many do you find, josiah?" "oceans on 'em," sez i, "oceans on 'em," for i wuzn't goin' to spile my argument entirely till i had to. "yes," sez samantha, "there is once in a while one that looks so from the outside, and mebby it looks so from the inside. but," sez she, "the hands of divorce lawyers are pretty busy nowadays. marriage," sez samantha, "is a divine institution, but its beauty has been dimmed by the rust of unjust and foolish idees and practices. always when time honored customs change from the old to the new, from bad to better, there is a period of upheaval and unrest, until the new becomes natural and common. "wimmen," sez samantha, "are beginin' to look upon marriage differently than they used to. they look now on both sides of the question. instead of settin' with folded hands in a shadowy bower, waitin' and listenin' for the prancin' steed that is to bring the prince to her feet to ask for her lily white hand, which she gives him with grateful, rapturous tears of joy, wimmen are now standin' up on their feet in broad daylight, lookin' on every side of the marriage question and lettin' the full light of day shine on it, the same light they've got to live under after the hazy days of the honeymoon are over." them forward practical idees of hern riled me, and i sez, "i guess men have sunthin' to complain on in the marriage question." "yes indeed they have," sez samantha (with a justice no doubt ketched from me). "lots of silly simperin' girls look upon marriage as a means to be supported without labor, an unlimited carnival of picture shows, circuses and candy. but in the good times comin' when men have learned not to look exclusively for a pretty face and kittenish ways, and seek the sterling qualities of common sense, thrift, and industry, qualities that will keep the domestic hearth bright when the honeymoon has waned, girls will begin to prize and practice these traits which men find admirable. "and another thing, josiah, thoughtful inteligent wimmen are getting so they don't admire the crop of wild oats that used to be considered inevitable, and in a way dashing and admirable. instead of blindly accepting what the prince danes to bestow upon her and asking nothing in return, she demands the same things of him he asks of her, the same purity he demands of her, and why not the same moral and legal rights, since they are both human bein's, made as all mortals are of god and clay?" i gin a deep groan here, showin' plain how distasteful them forward onwomanly idees wuz to me. but she went right on onheedin' my sithes, or the dark frown gatherin' on my eyebrows. sez she, "so many avenues of pleasant lucrative employment are open now to wimmen, and the epithet, old maid, is not as of old a badge of contumely, that wimmen won't take a ticket for the lottery of marriage, for but one reason, the only reason that ever made marriage honorable and respectable, and that is true love, not a light mental fancy, nor a short lived physical attraction, but the love that in spite of earthly shadows illuminates hovel and palace, and makes both on 'em the ante-room of paradise. the love that upholds, inspires, overlooks faults, is constant in sun and shade, and lasts down to the dark valley, and throws its light acrost it into the very land of light." them words sounded good to me, they sounded some like what i had writ more formerly on the subject, and i jined in fervently. "yes, indeed, and why can't females settle down in matrimony and stay to home with their famblys, and take care of their children?" and i quoted a few words from the dear chapter i had writ first. "there woman is a queen, the poorest female in the slummiest slum is a monark in that sacred place." "yes," sez samantha, "sometimes a good man makes a wife supremely happy. but too often nowdays a bright healthy young woman finds in the life she has pictured as the dooryard of eden a worse serpent than eve found there, a loathsome souvenir of her husband's old gay life which destroys her own health and happiness, and which she has to hand down to her children's children, makin' 'em invalids and idiots. "the poor workin' mother you speak on if she is well enough can stay at home if she has a home to stay in, and doesn't have to labor outside to sustain it. she can breathe the filthy tenement air, be frozen by its winter, choked by its summer atmosphere, she can guide and guard the youthful steps of her children as far as the doorstep and then she must drop the helpless hand, and if she is inteligent and loving hearted she can wet her pillow with vain tears thinking how her pretty innocent young girl has got to pass vile saloons full of evil men on her way to and from store and factory. the factory filled with gant childish forms, with all the care-free happiness of childhood ground from their faces by the brutal hand of incessant toil. unguarded machinery on every side that one false careless move of her girl may maim or kill. her pretty girl alone strugglin' with ontold dangers. youth's wild blood urging her to indiscreet acts, wolves of prey on one side, grim want on the other. if the mother has a mother's heart, her body may be at home where she is so eloquently urged to be, but her heart will be abroad, in the greater home wimmen want to make safer; the home where her children spend their days. it will be hantin' the factory, the grog shop, the vile picture show, the white slaver's abode, watchin', waitin', for what may happen, what has happened so often to other mothers' children." samantha goes too fur when she gits to goin', and i told her so plain and square, she aggravates me. and to let her see how much i disapproved of her talk i never dained a reply to her in verbal words. but i riz up with a hauty mean on my eyebrow, and went to pokin' the kitchen fire. i poked it with all the strength of a strong man whose arguments have been spilte and whose feelin's have been wownded by his own pardner. but i believe my soul that she thought that i did it as a hint that it wuz about dinner time, for she went out to once and hung on the teakettle. and as she did so she mentioned incidentally that she laid out to have lamb chops and green peas and mashed potatoes for dinner, with peach pie and coffee to foller. as she said this my angry emotions settled down and grew more clear and composed, some like samantha's delicious coffee, when she drops the powdered eggshells into it. iv i talk on man's protectin' love for wimmen it wuz a beautiful mornin'. i felt boyed up by the invigoration of the invigoratin' atmosphere, the boyness helped along mebby by three cups of samantha's delicious coffee with rich cream in it, three veal cutlets brown and tender, four hot rolls light as day, several flaky baked potatoes and some biled eggs. i felt well and i devoted my muse on this auspicious occasion to writin' specially on the protectin' love and care that men had always shown and delighted to show to females. it wuz a subject that i loved and my mind and tongue had often reverted to, follerin' the example of all the other good and great statesmen who have talked and writ on the feminist question. and i felt that i wuz abundantly qualified to do justice to it, havin' protected samantha and lovin'ly guarded her weak footsteps for goin' on forty years. i set with my steeled pen in hand and got so lost and wropped up in contemplation of the beautiful and inspirin' subject, and plannin' how i would handle it to the best advantage, that time passed onheeded and first i knowed i hearn by the sound of dishes rattlin' in the near and adjacent kitchen that samantha wuz beginin' to make preparations for dinner. the kitchen as i said wuz contagious to the settin' room and the door wuz open. i had laid out and intended to begin the chapter on this important and most congenial subject with some strong stern language calculated to shame wimmen for the unbelievin' remarks they had made on this beautiful and universal trait of my sect, and their seemin' teetotle inability to appreciate the constant onvaryin' and lovin' protection that men had always gin to the weaker and more inferior sect. i remembered well how in a former talk with samantha on this subject, though she had admitted willin'ly enough that there wuz lots of good generous men runnin' loose in the world. yet she tried to dispute my insertion that _all_ men _always_ cared for and tenderly protected wimmen, by bringin' up instances where she claimed men had balked and kicked over the traces, and instead of protectin' wimmen had run 'em away into ruination and destruction. she brung up white slavery, political, social and industrial dependence, and the average man's inherient objection to regard wimmen as a citizen and plain human bein', bein' inclined to regard 'em either as angels or underlin's. and a lot of other trashy arguments calculated to rile a man up, yes mad a man to the very quick, who knowed what he wuz talkin' about. one who had spent the heft of his life in protectin' and guidin' her that now turned agin him and disputed him. a man who knowed as well as he knowed the looks of his linement in the shavin' glass, that man's protectin' love and care wuz all that had held wimmen up, and wuz still a proppin' her. i spoze in my righteous indignation i may have said kinder hash things about the low down ornary traits of the inferior sect to which samantha belonged, for she begun to bring up traits that she said some of my sect had, and throw 'em at me, traits that i know no man ever had or skursley ever had hearn on. but i must say that all the while riled up as she wuz inside of her, she kep' knittin' away on my indigo blue sock, and kep' makin' honorable exceptions of good men and smart men. but she brung up vanity, said i and my sect wuz vain. sez she, "if a woman tries to talk sense and reason to a man about her needs and her rights, he will generally pay her a compliment about her eyes or her nose. 'tennyrate he will turn the subject some way and won't listen to her. but if she makes eyes at him, and talks soft nonsense, and flatters him, he will purr like a pussy cat." 'tain't so. who ever hearn a man purr? purrin' is sunthin a man's nater would rebel at and scorn with perfect contemp. but i smashed that argument about vanity to once and forever. sez i so scathin'ly that it seemed as if she must show signs of scorchin', "did you ever see a man wear a cosset? or carry a vanity bag?" and then still a knittin' and still makin' exceptions of some good and generous men, she throwed the trait of selfishness in my face, said my sect had passed along down the fields of time, gatherin' up the ripe wheat and leavin' wimmen to rake up the leavin's. 'tain't so, and even if it wuz, i presoom to say ruth got quite a good bundle of grain out of boazes' wheat field. and then she took pomposity and throwed at me (still a knittin', and still makin' exceptions of some men) said lots of men stood up on a self-made pedestal lookin' down mentally on them who in many cases wuz their superiors, but she added that wimmen wuz more to blame for this trait in men than they wuz, for they had been educated to look up to men instead of lookin' sideways where they ort to find him on a level at her side. it is needless to say to any one who knows my keenness of inteleck that i took immegiate advantage of this slip of her tongue and sez, "i am glad that you admit, samantha, that wimmen are always in the wrong. i and my sect have always knowed it, and we've always laid the blame on 'em from eve down to miss pankhurst." and that seemed to set her off agin, and she brung up my blindness. blind as a bat! them wuz her words she throwed at me, at _me_! who has got eyes as keen as a eagle's. that injustice did rankle and make me hash and say hash things. but she kep' cam on the outside, kep' on with her knittin' and intimidated agin that though there wuz lots of good generous men in the world, yet it had always been a trait of the average man from solomon to harry thaw to look upon woman as a plaything or a convenience. and then she brung up inconsistency and how men showed it in the laws they made, _criminal inconsistency_, she called it. sez she, "a girl must be twenty-one when she is considered by men lawmakers wise enough to sell them a hen, or buy a cat. but yet at the age of ten in one state, twelve in another, she is considered by them wise and prudent enough to sell them the crowning jewel of her life with the payment of lifelong shame, agony, and despair, and mebby a little candy. men make such laws," sez she, "not for their own sweet young girls, but for some other men's daughters, just like the infamous white slave traffic that sells every year thousands and thousands of young girls into a livin' death. and i think," sez she, "when men make such shameful barbarous laws it is high time for 'em to have help from angels or wimmen or sunthin' or ruther." "that hain't religious, samantha," sez i, "to speak of angels makin' laws, tendin' corkuses and such. as a deacon i object to it." sez she, "as a deacon you better object to the laws i'm talkin' about, and if clergymen, deacons and church members generally, would all rise agin 'em, they'd be stamped out pretty sudden." sez she, "when the young girls of our country are considered of equal importance with cows and clover to oversee and protect, there will be different laws, and i believe wimmen's votin' will hasten that day." there is always a time for a man if he wants to keep his dignity intack before females, to stop arguin' with 'em. that time had come to me at that juncture, and i knowed that it would be more dignified to show a manly superiority to such hullsale calumnity of my sect so i looked hautily at her, and didn't dain to reply to her in verbal words though i grated my teeth some, as i walked out of the settin' room with head erect into the kitchen, and brought in a armful of wood from the contagious woodshed with my head still held high, and hung on the teakettle with a hauty mean. for i felt that some of samantha's good vittles would soothe my wownded and perturbed sperit if anything could and they did cam me. i thought of that former interview with my pardner as i sot there preparin' my mind for the masterful effort i wuz about to make. as i said more formerly i had intended to begin the chapter at this epock of time with a few witherin' remarks calculatin' to rebuke wimmen and wither 'em. i laid out to stun 'em and skair 'em with the artillery of my brilliant eloquence, my protectin' love for the weaker sect riz up so powerful, and my anger wuz so hot agin them that had dasted to deny it. i felt that they _did_ believe in men's constant and tender protection, but held out and denied it jest to be mean, jest to carry out their sect's well known desire to argy and aggravate us. and as i meditated on these things and thought of my former talk with samantha i have jest related, i held my steeled pen in almost a iron grip, and my linement i knowed growed fearful to look upon, charged as it wuz with the awakened powers of a strong man. when jest as i wuz beginin' the turrible rebukin' words samantha opened the oven door in the contagious kitchen and the fragrant breath of a lemon custard pie floated out, accompanied with the delicious uroma of a roast chicken with dressin'. and as on so many former occasions, the delicious odor seemed to enter into and permenate my hull mental and physical systern and soften 'em and quiet my wild and dangerous emotions, i felt mellerer towards her and her sect, and i held my steeled pen in a gentler, softer grip. and instead of the thunderbolt of convincin' argument i had even begun to transcribe, i sez to samantha, who had come in with a pan of potatoes to peel, and my voice wuz as sweet as the lemon custard. "you do know, don't you, dear samantha, that it has always been men's chief aim and desire to protect the weaker inferior sect?" sez i tenderly. "any man that has the sperit of manhood within him will agree with me." agin i inhaled into my nostrils the sweet uroma comin' from the contagious kitchen, and sez i in a still tenderer axent, "men love to protect wimmen, don't you think so?" sez samantha in a cam reasonable voice peelin' away at her potatoes, "a man loves to protect and warn a woman agin every man only himself." sez she, "amanda peedick wuz protected by men and warned." and i sez kinder short, my tenderer emotions driv back into myself, "what of it, what if she wuz!" and then she had to go on and recall to my mind that triflin' incident that had occurred and took place in jonesville the fall before. sez she, "you remember, josiah, old man peedick who wuz rich as a jew, left all his money to his boys, a handsome propputy to each one on 'em, and almina who had stayed to home and took care on him, and lifted him, and rubbed him, and soaked him, and swet him, and dressed and fed him, he only left the house and apple orchard. "the boys all had splendid homes in the city, but their houses wuz either too big or too small, or too hot or too cold, to have almina live with 'em, and she wuz expected to git her livin' out of the apples. they wuz first class grafts, none so good anywhere round, and brought the very highest price, and she would got a good livin' and laid up money, if she had been left alone, if she hadn't been protected and warned. "but every single one of them brothers would come out from the city and warn her agin the other brothers, and tell her how easy it wuz for a weak innocent woman to be deceived and cheated by designin' men, her nearest relation mebby. and that a gentle female's mind wuzn't strong enough to grapple with depravity, and she must lean on him for protection, and he would see her through, so every single one on 'em told her, and warned her agin the other six brothers. "and amanda would feel real affectionate and grateful to each one on 'em in turn, and be glad she had such a strong protector and warner to take care of her. and every single time they come to protect and warn her they would take home a few bushels of them delicious apples, and when they got through protectin' and warnin' her, she didn't have apples enough left to make a mess of sass." but what of it, what had that got to do with my great work that wuz seethin' through my brain? that shows how triflin' and how ornary a woman's mind is, to bring up that old story whilst my brain wuz workin' to a almost dangerous degree inside of my forward tryin' to prove to the female masses at large the great fact of men's protectin' love and the needecessity for it, to prove to 'em as i laid out to prove to the listenin' world that wimmen wuz naterally inferior to men, their brains smaller and lighter, when weighed up in the stillyards. their emmanuel strength less, their idees more whifflin' and onstabled, and that therefore and accordin'ly wimmen needed and had got to have man's masterful mind and emmanuel strength to protect her from the evils and wickedness of the world, and specially from the awful tuckerin' and dangerous job of votin'. at this juncter i paused for a minute to collect my thoughts together and then i brought forth from my brain this convincin' argument. if wimmen don't need a man to protect her and take care on her, why is she so much more ignorant of sin and depravity? why is there five times more men in prisons and penitentiaries than there is wimmen, if they knowed as much about crime as men do? "no," sez i, soarin' up in eloquence, "what a man has been through and been educated up to in business and political life, he knows how to protect tender females from. why," sez i, fairly carried away on the wings of my own eloquence, "men can teach wimmen more in one day about criminal wickedness, graft, false witnessing, drunkenness, bribery, political corruption of all kinds, than she can learn from her own sect in months. not but what," sez i reasonably, "she can learn some from some on 'em, but not nigh so much nor nigh so fast." i didn't know but samantha would take lumbago from my cuttin' remarks, but she didn't seem to. she took up her pan of peeled potates and prepared to leave the room. but as she went out she said sunthin' agin about that old debatin' school, and the feller she always tried to git on the other side of the argument, so's to help her out. showin' as plain as the nose on your face jest how queer wimmen are, how their minds will wander, and how impossible it is to keep 'em down to the subject under discussion. v wherein i prove man's courtesy towards wimmen in my tremenjous efforts to succor my sufferin' and women-hounded sect at this awful epock of time, i have already held forth on the beautiful and congenial subject of the love and protectin' care males have always loved to show towards females. but agin i take up my steeled pen to write upon this most important subject. for i agin warn my sect solemnly that this beautiful trait in me and us, is what we should enlarge upon, and insist on makin' the female sect admit at this epock of danger and revolt. yes, my sufferin' sect, we should make 'em own up to it, peacefully if we can, but if necessary let us insert it into their obstinate craniums with a crowbar and hammer. for though a weaker inteleck may not grasp its importance and extreme needecessity, it is plain to the eagle eye of a researcher and reformer of females that if they admit this, they have got to admit all that follers, the perfect peace and rest they feel surrounded by these noble traits as by a shinin' mantilly. with this worthy end in view i've tried to warn samantha time and agin that if females insisted on risin' up and demandin' their rights they would become so obnoxious to the stronger and opposite sects that men would lose that tender courtesy they have always loved to show towards wimmen. but i've never been able to skair her, and i don't know as i ever shall. mebby this great work of mine when it is finished and lanched onto a waitin' world may dant her, but, i don't know, i feel dubersome about it. sez she when i brung it up to her agin, "men and wimmen are born with different traits; wimmen have love and tenderness and sympathy towards the helpless, babies, husbands, etc.; you insist that votin' hain't changed nor harmed men's courtesy and chivalry you talk so much about, so why should votin' break down these inborn traits in wimmen that men admire?" "but you will see that it will," sez i, "and methought i had proved it to you on a former occasion that it is a scientific fact proved by such scientific men as myself, simon bentley esq., and other deep thinkers, that the very minute a woman goes to the pole that very minute a man's courtesy and chivalry towards her is utterly destroyed." but if you'll believe it even this turrible idee didn't seem to skair her. she sez, "if i can't have but one i'd ruther have justice than courtesy, but i'd like both, and don't see why i can't have 'em." but i sez agin firmly and decisively, "you can't have both on 'em, for if a woman votes, by that brazen and onbecomin' move of hern, wimmen lose that winnin' weakness and appealin' charm for men, their helplessness before the law, and their clingin' dependence upon them to take care of them and their propputy that is so endearin' to my sect. and if they spile this by their obnoxious act of votin' they must take the awful consequences." sez samantha, "it has worked well in other states; it has helped men, wimmen and children mentally, socially and legally. if it wuz such a dangerous thing as you say it is, why have men granted suffrage to wimmen after it has been tried for twenty years or more in a neighborin' state, right in their own dooryard as you may say? would they venter if they hadn't found that it wuz a good thing?" sez i hautily, "i am not talkin' about other states or other countries, or other males or other females. i am working and writing in the interests of jonesville and its environin' environs. i am tryin' to ward off with my right hand, and my steeled pen the waves of error that i see in my own mind sweepin' down nigher and nigher onto us." and i went on with a soarin' eloquence enough to melt the heart of a salamander, "i stand at the gate of jonesville as the boy stood on the burnin' deck when all but him had flowed, and i will stand there protectin' that gate, and us male jonesvillians from infringin' and encroachin' females till i'm sot fire to." i waved out my hand in a noble jester as i spoke, and spozed mebby it would touch samantha's heart. but she looked at me over her specs from head to foot in the cool aggravatin' way wimmen have sometimes, and i read in her eyes the remark she didn't utter: "you hain't big enough to make much of a bonfire." but i didn't reply to that unuttered tant, i felt above it, and went on, "i am not the only man who takes that firm onchangeable position. england has a high official who occupies the same noble poster. he don't heed or care what females want or don't want, nor what other statesmen want or don't want. nor he don't care what is goin' on in other parts of the world, or not goin' on. his proud position is to shield england from the encroachin' army of female suffragists. to do what he's made up his mind to do, and nothin' can't stop him, not threats, nor reason, nor argument, nor broken winders, nor torn coat tails. a good hard shakin' from a female can't change him, nor shake his resolve out of him, nor hunger strikes, nor fleein' wimmen, nor pursuin' ones. he stands side by side with me. and even if it brought the towers of jonesville and england in ruins at our four feet we would not then change our two great minds. "his bizness is to not look to see what is done in other places or not done, but to protect his own green isle from what he's made up his mind is dangerous and infringin'. "oh," sez i with a deep heart felt sithe, "would that we two congenial souls might meet and sympathize with each other. but though sea and land divides our bodies, our sperits meet and flow together." i wuz almost lost in the rapped idee of the sweet conference meetin' we two could enjoy together. but anon i gin my attention to the subject momentarily broke in upon (for my mind is so large and roomy it is big enough for several trains of thought to run through it at one time). and i sez as i remarked prior and heretofore, "samantha, that courtesy in males is a most beautiful trait; you see it everywhere, to mill and to meetin', as the old sayin' is. now last week when i wuz to the conference, uncle sime and i wuz in a crowded street car and a dretful fat woman come in, heftier than you are, samantha." "is it possible?" sez she coldly (she thinks i make light of her heft but i don't; it hain't nothin' to make light of, specially when you lift her in and out the democrat). "yes," sez i, "she wuz even fatter than you are, and she come in red-faced and pantin' from the exertion. and a young chap who had been settin' with two or three other young fellers carryin' on and laughin', the very minute she come wheezin' in, he riz up and sez to her: "'i will be one of three men to give you a seat, madam.' "you see, samantha," sez i, "how that inborn courtesy in males inserted itself even in a street car." "yes, i see," sez samantha in a still colder axent, but i could tell by her linement that she wuzn't a mite convinced. and i went on a praisin' up that noble trait of my sect, and tryin' to convince her how universal it wuz, and how turrible it would be for females to lose it, but she kep' on a knittin' on my blue sock, and sez in quite a reasonable axent for a female to use: "yes, to see a great hearted noble man guard and protect a woman is a beautiful sight, but," sez she, "that trait, though sometimes seen, is not universal." sez i, "it is; it is jest as universal as--as--any universalist ever wuz." but she kep' right on in the persistent, irritatin' way wimmen have; as i've said prior and before, they can't seem to be willin' to give up to man's superior judgment, they're bound to talk and argy. and her voice wuz as firm as any rock in our medder, and if there is anything more firmer and aggravatin' than them i'd like to see 'em. she made me think that minute of them big rocks when i wuz tryin' to plough round 'em. i see i could jest as easy make a furrer through them as through her sot obstinate old mind as she said agin: "men don't always use courtesy towards wimmen." as she made that damagin' insertion agin, is it any wonder that the plough of my manly judgment struck fire from her rocky obstinacy? i acted fearful wrathy and disputed her right up and down. sez i, "that is sunthin' that no man will stand for; they will not brook bein' accused of a lack of courtesy towards wimmen." i acted dretful indignant, for in this turrible time us men have got to lay holt of every little nub of argument and hang onto it like a dog to a bone, or the lord only knows what will become on us, or how low a hole we will be ground down into by the high heels of females. sez samantha, "i admit there are beautiful instances of men protectin' and guardin' wimmen, but how wuz it with fez lanfear? he wuz always boastin' about men's courtesy and chivalry, and how did it come out?" i sot silent and scratched my head for a minute or so, not as samantha intimidated to try to dig out a favorable idee, no, it itched. and i sez, "id'no as i blame fez for always talkin' about this trait in his sect, and id'no as i blame him for what it led to." he see how necessary it wuz to insist on men's havin' these traits, and his wife would argy agin him, and he'd git riled up. he always had to be real sharp with her and boss her, for if he hadn't he would lost the upper hand of her, which every man ort to have, and she would took the advantage on him and run on him. for the propputy all belonged to her and it made fez discouraged, and took his ambition away, and he couldn't seem to set himself to work, and all the comfort he had wuz in arguin' on them traits of men and playin' on the fiddle and base drum, so she rented her place and they lived on what she got for it. but knowin' it wuz her ruff that covered him, and her chairs he sot in, and her vittles he et, and clothes he wore, made him irritated and fraxious, and he knowed he'd got to sass her and act uppish towards her or he wouldn't be nothin' nor nobody. and she would act real disagreeable and tell him she'd love to see some of the courtesy of his sect he talked so much about showed out by him to home, and she doubted he had any, and knowin' that he had oceans of it, for every man has, it naterally madded him. and one washin' day they got to arguin' and he brung up them noble traits of men, and their onvaryin' courtesy and generosity towards wimmen. and right in the midst on't she asked him to bring in two pails of water to finish her washin' on account of her havin' a lame back. he wuz practicin' a new piece entitled "woman, lovely woman," and bein' so interested in it and bein' broke off so sudden from melody and men's noble traits to act as a chore boy (he'd argyed so much he could argy and fiddle) and a smartin' i spoze from the dispute they wuz havin', he wouldn't git her the water and told her real short to git it herself. and as she started with two pails for the water--they brung it up from the creek by hand, for fez had never had time to make a cistern--she twitted him agin about that courtesy of men towards wimmen, and bein' so high strung and independent sperited, he up and hit her and knocked her down, and stood over her a hollerin': "now will you dispute me agin, and say that men don't show any courtesy towards wimmen?" and bein' browbeat and skairt (for he wuz a great strong man and she a little mite of a woman and tired out) she had to knuckle down and admit that men _did_ have courtesy, oceans of it. but he wouldn't git the water, he showed his independence there and she better kep' still and not aggravated him. lots of folks blamed him, samantha did, them that see shaller, and didn't see deep into first causes. he told uncle sime and me jest how it wuz; he said that mad and aggravated as he wuz he didn't forgit that his wife belonged to the weaker and tenderer sect, and it wuz a husband's duty and privelige to take care on her and shield her from harm. and he said he didn't hit her hard at all, only gin her a little tunk to let her know who wuz master there and that he wouldn't brook female arguin', and he said that if she hadn't been so tuckered out it wouldn't have hurt her much of any, and he wuz as surprised as she wuz when she tumbled over. but he said seein' she laid there on the floor he see it wuz his duty to his own sect to make her own up how truly superior men wuz, and how much courtesy they had, for he thought mebby he should never git so good a chance agin to make her own up to them noble traits of men. uncle sime and i both see how fez felt and what driv him to do what he did. i tell you agin it is a perilous and agonizin' epock of time for the male sect at home and abroad. men in america havin' to set curled up on a bench by the side of the road, and see weak wimmen, underlin's, a marchin' by 'em in the center of the street with brass bands and banners a flyin'. and in england the highest official of the empire held by the collar and shook by a weak female jest like a spitball thrower of a schoolboy, and couldn't resent it in court owin' to his havin' so much dignity at the stake. oh, my downtrod sect! what are we a comin' to? i do git so wrought up a meditatin' on the dretful things that are a happenin' to us men nowdays, and how browbeat and how humiliated we are by our inferiors, i git so cast down and deprested that my melancholy sperit has to bust out in poetry. for some time i've had them feelin's. now last christmas night i had such a spell, and i had to git out of bed and put samantha's crazy quilt round me (and it seemed as if that insane quilt made me feel more high strung and wild) and go out in the settin' room and ease my strugglin' sperit in verse. why, sometimes it seems if i didn't have this safety valve to my bustin', swellin' emotions it seems almost as if i should have to be hooped to keep myself together. but poetry kinder easies me a little. now last saturday night i writ the follerin' verses as late as leven p.m. we'd been to meetin' as usual, and had a splendid christmas dinner. samantha, as i have mentioned prior and before this, with all the weaknesses and shortcomin's of her inferior sect, is a masterly cook. but it is all nonsense her thinkin' i et too much; i didn't eat more'n four pieces of mince pie, and three helpin's of plum puddin', besides the turkey and vegetables and salad and such. if a strong man belongin' to a strong and superior sect can't stand that, it is a pity. she insisted that it wuz a nightmair that sot on my chist and rid me out of bed into the settin' room that time o' night. but it wuzn't no such thing, it wuz my melancholy and deprested sperit that overcome me a thinkin' of my sect and what wuzn't to be. it seems as if everything melancholy and cast down appeared right in front on me. seems as if i could see old fate a encouragin' and pompeyin' the more opposite sect, and turnin' her back and lookin' down onto me and my sect, and refusin' me and us things she might have gin us if she'd a mind to. but bein' a female we might know she'd be contrary and love to tromple on us, and on me in petickular. as i sot there in them solemn night hours, with samantha sleepin' peacefully in the next room and the old clock tickin' away as if onmindful of the sufferin' sperit near it, it seemed as if every mean jab old fate had ever gin me from her sharp elbows and hard knuckles riz right up before me, and i seemed to see all the agreable things she might have did for the benefit of me and my sect if she hadn't been so contrary, but as i said, what could you expect of a female? my feelin's wuz turrible; the verses i gin vent to relieved me a little some like prickin' a bile and after writin' 'em i went back to bed and slep' so sound that i never hearn samantha buildin' a fire and gittin' breakfast till the sweet uroma of the coffee and briled chops stole on my wakened senses and i forgot for the moment the trials of me and my sect and felt better than i did feel. the verses wuz entitled: a christmas owed _by josiah allen, esq., p.m.s.j.c.f._ yes christmas has come, it got here at last, a bringin' me memories out of the past, and a pair of galluses, a necktie sad-- a gray night-shirt and a paper pad; useful presents, but nothin' gay, _useful presents_, dum 'em! i say! i wanted some jew'lry for the brethren to see, but it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. ministers preach 'tis a blessed day, and so it is in a meetin' house way; but to me it has been a day of gloom, samantha i see didn't like the broom, and mop-stick, and pair of cowhide shues, it took me the heft of a hour to chuse; it made me deprested, and mournfulee i've mused on the things that wuzn't to be. weak females risin' on every hand pertendin' that they're equal to man-- wantin' to stand right up by his side, instead of the place where they ort to abide down in the safety and peace at his feet; oh the dear old times, so happy so sweet, will never come back to my sect, nor to me, no, it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. yes, i guess old fate made a slip of her pen, when fixin' the lot of the children of men, 'twas bad for the world and for me i ween that i wuzn't born a king or a queen; my bald head shines out bare and cold, or wears a hat, oh a crown of gold would set it off fur agreabler to me, but it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. fate sets a writin' in darkness and night, 'tain't spozeable she always gits things right; to the poor she sends ten children or more crowdin' in through famine wolves round the door, while for one kid the rich may vainly sigh, but she flirts her skirts and passes 'em by; why hain't villains shot while the good go free? it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. a poet comes with his dreamy way right into a nest of common clay; and in pious home a soul gits in the size of the hole in the head of a pin; so 'tain't so strange some feller and i should git mixed up on our way through the sky; if i had to be born why not been he. it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. fate sort o' yanked me and throwed me down on a yankee hillside bare and brown; and gin me a chance to die or live accordin' to labor i had to give; i couldn't eat stuns or a burdock burr, so i had to hustle and make things purr, no bread-fruit round, nor no custard-tree; no, it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. now that other feller that might have been me by a turn of fate's pen, oh in luxury he lays and counts up his millions in bed, with his crown on the bed-post over his head; i wonder by snum! if he thinks it straight-- for me to be small and him to be great; when i might have been him and he might have been me, but it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. i'd ask how he'd like it to take off his crown and to good hard hoein' knuckle down. or plantin', or hayin', or a weed pullin' bee in onion beds, (dum 'em from a to z!) i bet i could work on his feelin's so deep he'd up and divide a part of his heap, jest a thinkin' of how he might have been me-- but it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. now that feller's wife, i presoom to say that some of the time he has his way; he's so tarnal lucky and happy and fat, it would be jest like him to git even that. oh i'd dearly love to have it to say that _once_, jest _once_ i'd had my way when samantha and i didn't chance to agree, but it wuzn't to be, it wuzn't to be. samantha of course had to find fault with these sad but beautiful verses. and she asked me what them letters meant i had strung along after my name, showin' plain the inherient weakness of a female's brain. of course a man would see to once that they stood for path master and salesman in the jonesville cheese factory. i had talked it over with uncle sime and we both agreed that at this time, when the hull race of men wuz facin' complete insignificance, if not teetotal anhiliation, it behooved us to lay holt of every speck of dignity we could lay our hands on, and we both thought them letters made my name look more noble and riz up. but samantha didn't like the verses at all, and agin advanced the uroneous idee that it wuz my liver that ailed me instead of genius. sez she, "if folks will gorge themselves 'till their eyes stand out with fatness,' as the good book sez, how can they see plain to gratefully count over the blessin's the past year has brought 'em, and lay plans to pass on some of their good cheer to them that set in the shadders of grief and poverty?" she said i'd be all right in a day or two, and if i wuzn't she should soak my head, and doctor me, for, sez she, "i hain't goin' to have anybody round writin' such deprestin' and ongrateful verses. "lots of times," sez she, "if sentimental and melancholy poets would git their livers to workin' better they wouldn't harrer up their readers so. catnip would help 'em to look on the brighter side of life, or thoroughwort." and she didn't like the last pathetic and interestin' stanza; she said i'd had my way, or _thought_ i'd had it time and agin. and agin she said it wuz my liver that ailed me, and she even approached me with some catnip tea. good heavens! _catnip!_ to curb my soarin' sperit, and soothe the ardent emotions of my soul. a regular fool idee. you might know it sprung from a female's brain, or ruther the holler spot where brains should be--gracious heaven! _catnip!_ vi i talk on females infringin' as i've repeated time and agin it is a apaulin' epock of time us males are a passin' through. more and more, day by day and year by year the female sect is a infringin' on us. right after right, privelige after privelige, dear to our manly souls as the very apples in our eyes, are grasped holt on by encroachin' female hands and torn away from us weak and helpless men. from birth to death the infringin' goes on, you can't take up a newspaper now but you see signs on't. in the good old times when a man had a child born to him to carry on his name and his propputy to future generations, he took the credit on't. how is it told on now? instead of puttin' it in as it used to be, and ort to be, "john smith has got a son, john smith jr."--it is writ down now in this fool way: "a son is born to john and mary smith." what's the use on't? john's name is enough any fool would know there wuz a female somewhere connected with the event in a womanly onobstrusive way, but why do they have to bring her name forward to set her up, and spile her, and mention all these little petickulars? why, how wuz it in bible times, as i asked samantha, sez i, "from the very first it wuz set down as it ort to be and a sample to foller, noah begot ham, and ham begot cush, and cush begot nimrod, and they kep' on begettin' and begettin', chapter after chapter, and no female's name connected with it in any way, shape or manner." sez i, "hain't that a solemn proof, samantha, that females are inferior and wuzn't considered worth writin' about?" sez i, "you nor no other female suffragist can squirm out of that." sez samantha, "men translated the bible, but i can tell you," sez she, "that when miss ham, racked with agonizin' pain, went down to death's door for little cush, whilst mr. ham wuz santerin' round canean smart as a cricket, and probable flirtin' with some good lookin' four-mother, if miss ham had writ it up for the daily paper her name would been mentioned in the transaction." that's jest the way it is, even bible proof can't stop wimmen's clack and argyin'. yes, jest as i said, infringin' follers a man from the cradle to the grave. for i'll be hanged if you don't see it writ nowdays, "james brown, beloved husband of sarah brown." how bold, how forward! _husband of!_ it seems as if it is enough to make his grampa, old jotham brown, turn over in his grave and try to git up, to stop such doin's. he lived in a time when females knowed their place and kep' in it. he had twenty-one children by his seven different wives, and every one on 'em wuz put in the paper and the old fambly bible credited to him; ketch him havin' any female's name mixed up with it, oh no! they couldn't infringe on him, not whilst he wuz alive, they couldn't. he worked his wives hard, and when one died off, he married another. he said as long as the lord kep' takin' 'em, he should. as i said no female couldn't git the better of him whilst he wuz alive, but they played a nasty mean trick on him after he wuz dead. his last wife wuz a high headed creeter, or would have been if he hadn't broke her in, and held her head down with such a tight rain. but owin' to his disagreein' with all his children and bloody relatives she got the propputy all in her hands, and after he died she got tall noble gravestuns for every one of his different wives, almost monuments, with a long verse of poetry on each one on 'em, and their names writ down in full. "mahala eliza--mehitable jane--amanda mandana--drusilly charity--priscilla charlotte--alzina trypheena--diantha cordelia--all carved in big deep letters, and their names before they wuz married. these seven high stuns stood in a sort of a half circle with a little low stun in the center and on it printed in little letters wuz: "our husband." it looked dretful; but his children all hatin' him as they did they didn't interfere. but it wuz a mean trick and she couldn't have done it if he'd been alive, no indeed. but seein' he wuzn't there to rain her in and hold her down, she took the advantage on him as wimmen will if you give 'em the chance. folks all thought she done it to come up with him for bein' so hard on his different wives, and keepin' 'em down so, and i presoom she did. i presoom she wuz a regular female infringer and suffrager. now in the marriage notices, instead of bein' put in the newspaper in the modest becomin' way it used to be, "john smith's son married to mary brown," it has to be put in mr. and mrs. smith's son or daughter is married. where is the good horse sense on't? everybody would know that young smith had a mother somewhere in the background, but what's the use of bringin' her forward so and makin' on her? it is jest to infringe on men, that's what it is for. and when luke dingman married nancy whittle she had the money to start a store bizness, but luke bein' a man, his wuz the name that ort to been spoke on, and he went and got a handsome sign all painted "luke dingman's store." and if you'll believe it nancy made him git it painted all over agin "l. and n. dingman's store." what wuz the use of draggin' a female's initional into it? jest to infringe on us men. but lots of men made fun on't and told luke he'd ort to been man enough to stand his ground and kep' the first sign. they say it makes luke real huffy, and he takes it out on nancy, is dretful mean to her, but she's only got herself to blame, she hadn't ort to infringed on him. and last week samantha and i went to philena peedick's weddin'. and when the minister asked, "who giveth this woman to this man?" the widder peedick walked up bold as brass, and gin philena away, _she_, a _female woman_! never, as i told uncle sime, never did i see a plainer or more flagrant case of infringin' on men's rights. why, philena had a male uncle there, and ruther than see such things go on i would have gin her away myself. but thank heaven, there is one thing they hain't changed yet, females have got to knuckle down and be gin away to a man, in marriage, that's a little comfort. "who giveth this woman!" they have got to hear that, much as it may gald 'em. but as i told uncle sime, it would be jest like 'em to try to change that. and i told him the first we knew a female would snake a man up to the altar, and the minister would be made to say, who giveth this man to this woman? and the woman who walked him up there would say, "i give him." and then she'll hand him over to the bride. oh, my soul! have i ever got to see that day? uncle sime and i both said that we hoped and trusted that we would be dead and buried under our tombs before that humiliation come onto our sect. uncle sime and i sympathize a lot together and talk of the good old times and forebode about the future. and one day when my sperit seemed crushed down and deprested more than common, and the future for us men looked dark and gloomy indeed, i sez to him: "simon, i see ahead on us the time when i shall be called mr. samantha smith." uncle sime, though very smart, hain't got my mind, sort o' forebodin' and prophetic, and much as he'd worried about wimmen's infringin', he hadn't foreboded to that extent, and he trembled like a popple leaf at them dretful words and sez: "oh, gracious heavens, josiah! how can we men ever stand up under that!" but i went on, turnin' the knife in the wownd, "mr. kittie brown, mr. nellie jones! what do you think of that, simon?" he groaned and sithed but didn't say nothin'; it seemed as if the very idee had fairly stunted him, and i kep' still and meditated and my mind roamed back to the humiliatin' time when i laid my onwillin' nose on the grindstun, or ruther it wuz laid on for me and held there, and i signed a piece of poetry i had writ "samantha allen's husband." it hain't no use to go into the petickulars and tell all about the means employed to git me under such mortifyin' subjugation. vittles had sunthin' to do with it, and i hain't goin' to tell no furder. but never, never shall i forgit my meachin' and downtrod linement as i surveyed it in the glass when i wuz shavin' jest afterwards. shavin' a beard! that very act riz up and asserted the supremacy of my sect and mocked the move i had made. oh, the sufferin's of that occasion and my vain efforts to git out of it. but samantha never sympathized with me a mite. she said, "you've seen me doin' the same thing for years and enjoyed it, and what is sass for the gander ort to be sass for the goose." there is another proof of wimmen's infringin'; she turned that familiar old sayin' right round to carry her pint, and put the goose where the gander always had been, and ort to be. i tell you there hain't no length a female won't go to to carry the day and infringe on men's rights. and you might as well git blood from a white turnip as to git any pity and sympathy from 'em for my downtrod sect. for when i mentioned to samantha my turrible forebodin' about my sect havin' to take wimmen's names at the altar, and asked her if she could begin to realize what men's humiliated and despairin' feelin's would be at such a time, she up and sez: "do you realize what wimmen's feelin's are at the altar? she's had to stand it. no matter how romantic and beautiful her name wuz, miss victoria angela chesterfield has had to change it for miss ichabod tubbs, or miss peleg hogg. "and," sez she, "if she has a big propputy and married a man so poor he had to borry his weddin' shirt, she had to hear him say, 'with all my worldly goods i thee endow,' when all them goods wuz a pile of debts she had to pay for him, but she had to stand it and couldn't snicker, for it wuzn't a snickerin' time. "and a great able bodied business woman had to promise to obey a little snip of a boy, when they both knew she wuz lyin', with a priest hearin' the lie and givin' it his blessin'. my sect has had to stand considerable from yourn," sez samantha. no, i didn't git a mite of sympathy from her, and might have knowed it, and i'd better not said a word to her about my forebodin's. but uncle simon bentley always hears my prognostics with respectful sympathy, and he said after i come out of my meditations, and asked him agin how he would feel to take a woman's name, he sez: "thanks to a kind and protectin' providence, i hain't married. but never! whilst i have the sperit of manhood in me would i, simon bentley, ever be called miss polly brown. no, i would cover that alter with my goar, before i would submit to it." and to comfort me he sez, "josiah, mebby it won't take place in our day." but i sez, "simon, i see it jest ahead on us if this infringin' can't be stopped, and i don't see no way to stop it." but sez simon in his comfortin' way, "your book, josiah, that great work, you forgit that. i believe it will work wonders for our poor strugglin' sect." "no, simon," sez i, "i don't forgit that great work for a moment of time; it is the anchor throwed out into the heavin' water of woman's revolt that is a risin' all round us. sometimes i hope the anchor will touch the solid bottom of man's supremacy, and hold, and then i feel boyed up. but my feelin's ebbs and flows like the mighty ocean to which i have before fittin'ly compared my emotions. we both on us heave up, and heave down. to-day i am a heavin' down. oh, how deprested and dubersome i do feel," but i went on in tremblin' axents, "i am bound to make this tremenjous effort, and if you and i, uncle sime, and the rest of our sect have got to lay down in the dust to be trod on by the feet of underlin's, whilst layin' there under them high heels, i will have the conscientiousness that i have did what i could for my downtrod sect." my feelin's overcome me so here that i took out my bandanna and wiped my eyes, and uncle sime hisen. he looked as cast down as i did, as we both realized our danger from the turrible doin's round us, and instinctively we took holt of hands and sot there sympathizin' for quite a spell. but anon uncle sime had to go home. he lives with his niece and she sez, "if she has to support him, he has got to be promp to his meals, or go without," so he hastened off. and i summoned up the brave dantless sperit of manhood and walked upright through the kitchen (we'd been settin' on the back stoop). i trod with a firm bold step and braved samantha's onsympathizin' demeanor as she stood fryin' nut cakes, and retired into the welcome seclusion of the corner sacred to my literary pursuits. mekanically i run my hands through the dish-pan heaped with betsy's poetry. oh, how sad, when a man has to turn to another female (and one he has always detested) for the sympathy and understandin' denied him on his own hearthstun. and though i despise betsy bobbett slimpsey as a human bein' and a female, yet when torn and wownded from infringin' and cold remarks from my own pardner, i do draw a little mite of comfort from that granny iron dish-pan, and runnin' my hand through the poetry heaped up in it, and read how she looks up to my sect, and the becomin' and reverent views she takes on us, and me in petickular. and how it has always been the goal of her life and should be to every womanly female to be united by hook or by crook to one on us, it soothed me, it brought back the dear old days when man's supremacy wuz onquestioned and he wuzn't infringed on. and i read how she despises and looks down on the encroachments of the inferior sect to which she belongs, and how she loathes the great tide of the feminist movement that is risin' up all over the world, threatenin' to sweep us strong males away, as frothy water, if there is enough on't will uproot giant oaks. i read over piece after piece to cam my sperit, hurt and wownded by infringin', and my pardner's onsympathizin' words, and i picked out the follerin' one as bein' comparitively worthy a place in my great work. this poem, writ before her marriage, i consider the most touchin'ly pathetic one of all the enormous pile on 'em i had perused. what to a feelin' mind and tender heart is more pitiful than to see a patridge hidin' his head under a maple leaf, and thinkin' his hull body is hid from the hunter? what is more affectin' than to see how betsy tried to hide her lifelong pursuit of man, and matrimony, under the cold word, _duty_? "unless she see her duty plain." oh, what a soul of meanin' there is hid under that word, _unless_. a keen eye, and a tender heart can read between the lines her real meanin', her dantless resolve, as plain as the hunter sees the plump body and gray tail feathers of the patridge. but i will not keep the reader longer from the sad but beautiful poem. stanzas on duty _by betsy bobbett_ unless they do their duty see oh who would spread their sail on matrimony's cruel sea and face its angry gale? oh betsy bobbett i'll remain _unless_ i see my duty plain. shall horses calmly brook a halter who over fenceless pastures stray? shall females be dragged to the altar, and down their freedom lay? no, no, b. bobbett i'll remain, _unless_ i see my duty plain. beware! beware, oh rabid lover who pines for intellect and beauty, my heart is ice to all your overtures unless i see my duty, for betsy bobbett i'll remain _unless_ i see my duty plain. come not with keys of rank and splendor my heart's cold portals to unlock, 'tis vain to search for feelin's tender too late you'll find you've struck a rock; for betsy bobbett i'll remain _unless_ i see my duty plain. 'tis vain for you to pine and languish, i cannot soothe your bosom's pain, in vain are all your groans, your blandishments i warn you are in vain; for betsy bobbett i'll remain _unless_ i see my duty plain. you needn't lay no underhanded plots to ketch me, men desist or in the dust you will be landed for to the last i will resist. for betsy bobbett i'll remain _unless_ i see my duty plain. vii about wimmen's foolish love for petickulars how folkses emotions will sometimes rise up entirely onexpected and onbeknown to them, and git the better on 'em. of course we male americans have always foreboded and felt dretful about a certain subject. but this mornin' it come over me like a black flood, the realizin' sense of the enormous labor that votin' would bring onto weak delicate females, and how impossible it wuz for their fraguile constitution and puny strength to stand up under it. why, how many many times we statesmen have said and preached and lectured that wimmen wuzn't much more nor less than angels, and ort to be treated as such. tender delicate flowers, to be kep' from every chillin' breeze of life that tried to blow onto 'em. such talk has been one of the greatest comforts of us men, and has been very affectin' and effective with lots of females. as i say i've knowed it and held forth on it for years and years, ever since this loathsome doctrine of wimmen's rights become so prominent in jonesville. but as many different emotions as i've had about it, never wuz my feelin's so wrought up as upon this occasion i speak of. my steeled pen fairly trembled in my hands, shook by my devotion to samantha, and my determination if possible to keep her beloved and delicate form from sinkin' down under the awful fateeg of votin', and havin' rights. i wuz so excited and strung up by my feelin's, that i felt that i must warn her agin about it that very minute, and i hollered to her to come to me to once. i spoze my voice wuz skairful, my feelin's wuz such, and she come a hurryin' in wipin' her hands on her apron, and sez she, "for the land's sake! what is the matter, josiah? have you got a crick?" "no," sez i, "i've fell into fur deeper waters than any crick. it come over me like a overwhelmin' flood, the thought of the weakness of wimmen, and the arjous and tuckerin' job of votin', and how impossible it wuz for weak wimmen to not sink down under it, and i felt i had to warn you about it this very minute, and entreat you agin to shun it as you would a pizen serpent." "well," sez she, "you better forebode to yourself another time. i wuz jest rensin' out my last biler of clothes, and i've got to whitewash the summer kitchen, and paint the buttery floor, and scrape the paper off overhead in the settin' room, so's to paper it to-morrow. and i guess that whitewashin' and scrapin' off that paper with a case knife overhead is as hefty a job as liftin' up a paper ballot, to say nothin' of the biler full of clothes i'm liftin' on and off, and sweatin' over the wash-tub. and i'll thank you to keep your forebodin's and warnin's to yourself in the future, and not call me offen my work." and she went out and shet the door hard. and that's all the thanks i got for my tender feelin's and overpowerin' desire to keep hardships from her. but i knowed she wuz expectin' company, and fixin' up and preparin' for 'em, so i overlooked it in her, and i presoom to say the thought of that company and the extra good meals we wuz sure to have, had a amelioratin' effect on me. but her hashness won't stop me nor other noble tender hearted males from worryin' about the turrible hardship and labor of votin', and tryin' our best to keep the gentle delicate females we are protectin' and guardin' from plungin' into it. but i'm so sensitive and my feelin's so easy hurt, that it must have been a minute and a half before my mind settled down agin and i could hold my steeled pen in as firm a grip as heretofore, and resoom my powerful argumentative strain. another reason i've argued why wimmen should not vote wuz she would act so awkward in politics she would put in so many petickulars, wimmen's minds hain't stabled, they hain't got horse sense. and they don't nor won't appreciate that good old doctrine that has always been such a comfort to me and uncle sime and other statesmen, that what has been always will be, and to let well enough alone. no they have got to be tinkerin' and tryin' to make things better, and interfere, and talk and tell petickulars. now if a merchant sells 'em cloth for their fambly, instead of buyin' and payin' for it and keepin' their mouth shet as a man would, they'll feel of it and pull it to and fro, fro and to. and if it hain't what he claims it is, if it is shoddy and poor, they'll talk and talk till he has to hustle round and buy good stuff, or they won't trade with him, takin' off his profits jest by petickulars. and if a grocer lets his eatin' stuff lay round outdoors for the flies to roost on, do you spoze they'll buy that stuff? no, their minds not bein' bigger than them fly specks, they'll hound that man till they make him cover up that stuff or bring it into the house, and every one that has got horse sense knows it makes that man extra work, but what do they care? and if he tries to make a little more money by sellin' things that hain't jest what you might call hullsome--and of course every business man understands that he wants to make all the money he can--why, the woman that buys that stuff once, and thinks it hain't what she wants to feed her fambly on, she begins to tell petickulars; she'll call it rotten, and tell how long it has been in cold storage, she'll say "to lessen population and increase some millionaire's revenue." and she'll call his canned vegetables mouldy, and tell how his canned meat smells, and how it made her children sick, and how eben purdy's little girl died after eatin' it, and how it took off old miss lanfear. all these little petickulars she has to dwell on with other wimmen till she gits 'em all rousted up and there will be a dozen talkin' at one time, sez i, and sez he, and sez she, and sez they. and they'll keep it up and jest boycote that man till he has to keep hullsome goods that cost him most as much agin, and of course cuts down his profits, but they don't think of that. and how them wimmen found fault with the decision of the supreme court, that pizen could be used to bleach flour, when they knew the supreme court is composed of the very smartest men in the nation. and they knowed them supreme men didn't approve of usin' enough pizen in it to kill the aged and infants. but they had to argy and boast that if they wuz supreme wimmen, they wouldn't had a mite of pizen put into bread, jest as if grown folks can't stand a little pizen now and then. but you can see plain that they claim that wimmen can manage the home and food bizness better than men, and want to find fault with men and git the upper hands on 'em. and it is jest so with milk. a fool ort to know that it makes a man as much agin work to fuss and clean off his cows and his stables every day, and keep his milk absolutely clean. but what do they care if a man breaks his back cleanin' his stables and washin' off his cows' tits. they'll talk and put in every little petickular about how many babies wuz killed by his bad milk, and how many folks got tomain from it, till they carry the day and git the milk they want. another man made to toe the mark by petickulars. and it is jest so with stuff throwed into the street--why, a man can't call his soul his own, and throw a old cabbage or rotten potato into the street without their interferin' with him, and makin' him clean up his primises and keep a covered garbage can. [illustration: "till she gets 'em all rousted up, and just boycote that man till he has to keep hullsome food"] now jest imagine what that meddlin' interferin' sperit would be if carried into politics, if public officials wuz a prey to woman's petickulars. now spozin' a man wuz nominated for some high office that hain't mebby jest exactly square. for as uncle sime sez, "what man is square in public life? no," he sez, "you'll find 'em every shape and size, except by ." but wimmen can't accept that scientific statement, made by folks that know, that men are made in such a way that public life and politics wears and rubs on their square corners, and digs into and destroys their shape, so as uncle sime sez, "they can't help bein' crooked." but wimmen's brains hain't strong enough, and their naters and consciences hain't elastic enough to comprehend such matters. they always have and always will pay more attention to them little petickulars of right and wrong than men have time to. as i've said before, they can't see big, they see little. they'll talk it over together how many million dollars is made by the white slave trade every year, ketchin' sweet young girls, they'll say by the net of their love, by drink, by pizened needles, flattery, lies, treachery, takin' 'em from health, home and happiness, and throwin' 'em to the lions of lust and greed, into livin' deaths. oh, yes, they'll put in all the petickulars. and they'll ask how many millions wuz made by highway graft, tax-payers wadin' through mud, whilst high officials, contractors and public grabbers stuff the tax-payer's money in their pockets. and they'll bring up stories about all the other big corporations and money grabbers. and how much blood money is made yearly by whiskey sellin'? that is the main fountain their petickulars gush from. now if a smart hustlin' saloon keeper is nominated for some high office and wimmen could vote, what would be the consequence? why, they would jest onloose them petickulars onto him and he would be washed completely away on 'em. they wouldn't know any better than to peek and pry into his bizness, and run it down to the lowest notch. jest as if a bizness that is good enough for the u.s. govermunt isn't good enough for them. no, their naters bein' such, and they've got such itchin' ears, they'll pry round into every crook and turn of that man's bizness, and talk about it till they git the hull community riled up. the hull wimmen crew will pin on their white ribbings, and git their heads together, tellin' some story agin him, and the bizness he represents, and go into all the petickulars, sez i, and sez he, and sez she, and sez they. "le'me see," sez they, "when wuz it he got hen daggett so drunk that he went home and whipped his wife, and most killed her and her next baby wuz born a fool. "and what time o' night wuz it, wuz it ten or twelve, that he got old chawgo's boy crazy drunk and wantin' to git rid on him, histed him up on his motorcycle and started him for home, and he didn't go half a mile before he fell off and wuz killed. "and what time of year wuz it, wuz it late in the spring or early in the summer, that them two wizzel girls wuz took from his saloon drugged and unconscious, and not a hide or hair on 'em seen sence. "and le'me see, wuz it on a monday or a tuesday, that them two men got into a drunken fight in his saloon and both on 'em got killed. no, it wuz on a wednesday, for i remember i cut my bib apron wrong, i cut it ketrin ways, and jest as i wuz cuttin' it over, i hearn of that big railroad smash-up where two hundred got killed and maimed by a drunken engineer." them wimmen would bring up all them little petickulars agin that man, and his bizness lection day, jest to be mean, and to beat him. every man and woman whiskey had destroyed, all the crime and agony and poverty it has caused, every fambly wrecked by it, every young man ruined, every young girl who went through the saloon into destruction, and the one hundred thousand deaths caused by it every year. they wouldn't know enough to keep their mouths shet at this time when it wuz so important to have 'em shet up; they'd jest clutter up the road to the pole with petickulars. and no matter how flourishin' a bizness that man wuz doin', and how much money he wuz makin', and how much he wuz willin' to pay for votes, helpin' the male community in this way, they'd carry the day agin him. they can't seem to realize what a loss in propputy it is to the man they're a houndin'. and if you twit 'em of it they'll twit back and ask, what of the one billion, four hundred million dollars loss to the country every year, caused by strong drink, and ask you if you know that as many americans are killed every year by it as has been killed in all the battles of the world since time begun. havin' to ask all these little leadin' questions at jest that onconvenient time and take the advantage on him. and then when they git him turned down and some favorite religious man elected in his place, oh, how their tongues would run agin, tellin' of all the good things he'd done and would do; agin it would be sez i, and sez he, and sez she, and sez they. wimmen can't seem to learn to set still to home, and knit, no, they have got to meddle and interfere with men's bizness, as fur as they can, and woe be to us if they ever cut loose and run furder. why the hullsale liquor dealers' association will agree with every word i've said. they know what females are, and what they can do when they git their white ribbings on, and are banded together agin 'em, and they begin to tell petickulars. that's what makes 'em fight so agin woman's suffrage. they know where they and their bizness would be after a few years of wimmen's petickulars and votin', and they're willin' to pay well them that help 'em. as i've intimidated before, to a smart hustlin' bizness man who looks out for his own interest, it is absolutely appallin' to see how woman suffragists stand in their own light. but in my talk about the shiftless ways of these wimmen, and their tetotle inability to see where their interests lays, i want to make a honorable exception of the modest retirin' she auntys. them wimmen, though females, have got some good horse sense; they know which side their bread is buttered and they lay out to keep it right side up. they know who helps butter that bread. they know it is better to ride round in palace cars to their lectures agin female suffrage, helped by them who hate that cause like pizen, than it is to walk afoot. and they know enough to grasp special priveliges, and enjoy 'em, and they lay out to help the ones that help them. liquor dealers have got oceans of horse sense, and oceans of money, and they let that money flow along where it will do the most good, into female channels if necessary. anything to dam up the big waters of reform from risin' up and washin' 'em away, and stop woman suffragists from ruinin' their bizness, and tellin' petickulars and votin'. and i'll ask this question of any man or woman with the brains of a angleworm or caterpillar--hain't it easier to float along with the current, than to fight agin it and go in the other direction? why a fool ort to know it is. you won't ketch them she auntys a peekin' round huntin' for every little petickular about what the liquor dealers' association stands for, and talk and tattle about the effects of liquor sellin', no indeed. and i want to say and own up that when i find a spark of horse sense in a female, i'm willin' to own up to seein' that spark shinin' out agin the background of females' nateral ignorance and folly. we jonesvillians reconize smartness and horse sense, and i want to encourage and happify them she auntys by sayin', that the creation searchin' society of jonesville will never be found throwin' out no slurs agin them. neither will i as a male man, and a celebrated author, ever be found mockin' and sneerin' at 'em. of course they are females, but considerin' the limited amount of brains that females have and their scurcity of horse sense, they have done and are doin' the best they can. the creation searchin' society of jonesville and the liquor dealers' association stand up hand in hand, with me in the midst, and publicly reconize their humble helpfulness, and what more in the way of honor can any human female ask for? i always despised petickulars, every male man duz. it's nateral when our minds are took up with big things, big thoughts, petickulars jar on us; we hain't got the time for 'em in our busy lives. but i believe few of my bretheren can say what i can, that petickulars come within one of bein' the death on 'em. the way on't wuz samantha wuz to tirzah ann's visitin' and wuz took bed sick there, and right while i wuz stark livin' alone, i wuz took down with voylent pains runnin' up and down my spinal collar, and hull body. but the neighborin' wimmen, friends of samantha, i will say done all they could for me, they flocked in and filled me up with milk porridge, chicken broth, etc., and sot up with me nights and waited on me, helped by their various husbands. and i should got along all right if it hadn't been for the endless swarm of petickulars they driv into my room. talk, talk, talk, and tellin' petickulars, some on 'em smaller than the end of a nat's toe nail. and one day when i'd been made almost delerious by 'em, i made out to open the stand draw at the head of my bed and git out a pad and pencil, and writ the follerin' verses which come from the very bottom of my soul, heaven knows! owed to petickulars _by josiah allen, esq._ i've been bed-sick and very bad, and pains and chills and cramps i've had; and at tirzah's samantha come suddenly down with pleuresy pains from heel to crown, she couldn't git home with her plaguey crick-- so they never let her know i wuz sick. but the neighbors turned out good and true and stood by me to help me through, they come alone, and they come in pairs, they come with mules, and they come with mares; and i felt the goodness that in 'em lay and treated 'em well both night and day, till they brung in them petickulars. they come from fur, and they come from near, with new wild remedies strange and queer-- my mouth wuz a open and burnin' road down which the streams of their medicines flowed; streams of worm-wood and oil of tar, and onions, and warnuts, and goose, and bar; but my mean wuz a christian's all the while-- i sithed and swallered and tried to smile-- till they brung in them petickulars. they blistered my back, and they blistered my breast; they iled my nose, and they iled my chest, they gin me sweats of various sorts, hemlock and whiskey and corn and oats-- i drinked their gruel weaker'n a cat, i drinked their whey, didn't wink at that; i stood their faith cures, and their mind, i took 'em all and acted resigned-- till they brung in them petickulars. but they tried their cures to the very last, and i grew no better very fast; and i spoze they thought it would brighten my gloom, to bring some petickulars into my room. so they drove 'em in and they talked of flies-- and of chicken's teeth, and muskeeter's eyes, and they talked of pins, and stalks of hay, and lettice seed, and there i lay-- a victim of small petickulars. and one recounted a lengthy tale about the best way to drive a nail, and one old woman talked a hour on a pinch of salt and a spunful of flour; and jane she boasted two hours the deed she did when she pizened a pusley weed, and there i'd sweat, and there i'd groan, and pull my gray locks onbeknown-- a victim to small petickulars. and a female sot with anxious frown disputin' herself right up and down-- as to whether the hour wuz one or two, when their old white mare lost off its shoe-- sometimes 'twas two, and then 'twas one, and so through the hours that mare wuz run, and it trompled my brain till i cried, "whoa! do shue the old mair and let her go!" but under its heels i had to lay, and sweat, and rithe, and cuss the day-- they driv in them petickulars. and they wondered if jane had cloth enough for her calico apron with bib and ruff, and they mentally rent their robes and tore, for fear that sunthin' wuz wrong with the gore, till i wished that gore wuz over it rolled, and on martha's boots that had been new soled, and they almost mistrusted wuz too thin, by pretty nigh the wedth of a pin. and i vowed i could put their souls all in, and rattle 'em round in the head of a pin. and there i groaned, and turned, and lay, and sweat and sithed from day to day, a victim to small petickulars. till one day i riz and cried with might, "bring on a earthquake into my sight, fetch me a cyclone good and strong, a hurrycain, pestilence, bring 'em along, let me see 'em before i am dead; let 'em roar and romp around my bed, but ketch 'em, kill 'em, drive 'em away, this very minute of this very day every one of your dum petickulars. "let me be killed out square and rough, by a good hard kick from a elephant's huff, or let a volcano rise and bust this mortal frame, if bust it must. but i swan to man that i won't die by a kick from the off leg of a fly; and agin i swan, that i won't give in and go to my grave on the pint of a pin, killed by your dum petickulars." my eyes wuz wild, my goery meen skairt 'em almost to death, i ween the females all fled out of my sight, the two old women mad with fright, jostled each other and fell over chairs; and all on 'em said "i wuz crazier'n bears." but i settled back on my peaceful bed and most mistrusted i wuz dead and had got through the gate to beuler land, and i smiled some smiles, serene and bland, for i never had felt such peace before, as when i drove 'em out of the door, every one of them dum petickulars. viii i talk on wimmen's extravagance it wuz a cam beautiful mornin'; old mom nater seemed agreeable and serene, goin' about her mornin's work of lightin' up and warmin' the world. and samantha seemed as busy as old nater herself, and as cam, as she went about her work of makin' the house comfortable and clean. as i've mentioned prior and before this a better, cleaner housekeeper than samantha allen never trod on no shoe leather whatsoever, or went barefoot. equinomical, industrious, and as a cook beyond any compare. if these words wuz the last i should ever write i'd die solemnly declarin' as a housekeeper and home maker samantha allen can't never be beat. oh, if her principles about female suffragin', and the inferiority of her sect, and the superiority of my sect, wuz only equal to her housekeepin', what a treasure i would have in a earthen vessel (that is bible; i don't really understand what it means, but i think it looks well for a deacon to patronize the bible all he can conveniently, and bring into his literary work passages out on't). i feelt meller and agreeable in my mind, as i sot there in my favorite corner almost immersed in the parfenalia of my perfession, two paper pads, a bottle of ink, a steeled pen, two lead pencils, a pen knife and the immense granny iron dish-pan containin' betsy b.'s poetry. and as i sot there with my steeled pen in my hand ready to begin work on my remarkable book, my mind become so impressed by the inestimable value it wuz goin' to be to the world and the male and female sect, that almost onbeknown to myself i uttered the words aloud that wuz seethin' through my large active brain. sez i, "samantha, don't you believe this forthcomin' book of mine is goin' to be the greatest work of this age, or any age?" she wuz pickin' the pin feathers offen a plump spring chicken for dinner, and she looked up at me over her specs in the cool deliberate way she has sometimes, and sez, "josiah, a hen don't cackle till she lays her egg." and then she resoomed her work agin, sayin' no more. naterally my feelin's immediately hardened more hard than they had been, for i would ask any human bein' did not that one speech show what i've sot out to prove in my book, what wifflin' onstabled minds females have got, and how onfit for votin', onjinted, tottlin', wanderin' way off from the subject spoke on, flyin' down at one jump from literatoor onto poultry. for what connection, i ask, is there between the finest fruit in literature, and hens? hens which are known to be the awkwardes and stupidest of any liven critters. what jinin' link is there between the most scathin' and convincin' arguments ever writ by mortal man, and eggs? mute, onfeelin', onseein', eggs. but i only gin a moment of my valuable time to contemplate this prominent phase of wimmen's folly. and bein' driv back as i have often been by a lack of congenial sympathy into my own interior (my mind), my inteleck seemed to flow freer than ever, and i devoted this propishous time to enlargin' on a important subject i had not had time to enlarge on before, and that wuz the well known extravagance of females and how fatally fatal that trait which is exclusively confined to her own sect would be if let loose on the political world. and so harrered up my mind got in contemplatin' that gigantic danger to my sect, and my country, that before i knowed it i wuz speakin' my thoughts and forebodin's aloud. sez i, "another insurmountable objection agin female suffragin', another fearful danger facin' the country if females should have a free run in the political field, is their well known extravagance." [illustration: "josiah," sez she, "a hen don't cackle till she lays her egg."] sez i, "to a female researcher of the prudent, equinomical male sect, it is absolutely appallin' to witness the blind reckless extravagance of wimmen and their well known habits of follerin' each other's fashions blindly, like a flock of sheep jumpin' over the fence. if one woman gits a new dress the neighborin' wimmen have got to git one like it, or better, not a mite of independent sperit about 'em. why can't they take pattern of us men who always wear jest what we please, and pay no attention to what any other male wears, pay no attention whatsumever to fashion or extravagance. in fact men would hardly know there wuz any such words as them, if it wuzn't for female doin's and the dictionary." i knowed i had got samantha in a corner then that she couldn't git out on and i waited with a dignified stately look on my linement to hear her say, "i gin up, josiah; you're in the right on't." but did i hear her say this? oh, no! she lifted up the plump yeller skinned chicken in one hand, whilst she peered under its wings for a stray pin feather. and then she laid it down gently on the pages of the _world_ that wuz spread for its benefit over the table, i spoze to keep her dress clean, and as she looked down on the smooth crisp folds of gingham she sez: "yes, lots of wimmen are extravagant. but as the fashion is now, josiah, five or six yards will make a woman a dress, and have enough left to make her husband a vest, if he would wear anything so cheap. i've got enough left of this very dress, good green and white plaid gingham, costin' ten cents per yard to make you a good cool summer vest; it would wear like iron, and i stand ready to make it, and will you wear it, josiah?" she thought she had me in a corner then, but my mind works so quick i answered her almost instantaneously, "id'no as a green and white plaid vest would be becomin' to my complexion, but i will wear it if the other bretheren will." sez she, "i thought you didn't care what any one else wore." is there any limit to a female's aggravatin'? i wouldn't dane a reply. but i took up ayer's albernack with a stern cold linement, and went to readin' the advertisements, and of course she didn't see the danger ahead on her, of irritatin' too fur a strong nater. she kep' right on, "no doubt wimmen are sometimes extravagant, josiah, no doubt they spend lots of money foolishly and worse than foolishly, but before we decide that it ort to deprive her of political rights, let us compare it with men's extravagance for a few minutes." i felt above replyin' to her, but kep' my eye on the bottle of medicine, and the woman raised from the tomb by a smell of the cork, and she went on: "which party is it in a workman's home that usually wants to buy an automobile before the little home is paid for? mebby in some rare cases the woman eggs the man on, but i believe that it is safe to say that in seven cases out of ten, it is not the housekeeper and house mother that is willin' to risk losin' the ruff that covers her baby's pretty head, and councils waitin' a while before takin' on the extravagance of the added expense. and which party is it, josiah, that turns and twists every way to save money so her boy and girl can present a decent appearance before her mates? how many millions a year duz the horse races, yot races and polo games and other manly amusements amount to? how many billions a year duz the useless extravagance of tobacco cost? of course you can substract sunthin' for some wimmen's foolish habit of cigarette smoking, but in the great total it would hardly count. and in how many poor homes duz a woman toil into the night hours to mend and make so that her family may look respectable, while her husband is spendin' his spare hours and spare change in the corner saloon?" sez i, lookin' up from the albernack with a scathin' irony that must have scathed her, whether she owned up to it or not, "i thought it wuz about time for you to drag in that saloon bizness." "yes," sez she, "it is time. how many billion dollars a year is spent mostly by men, in the ruinous extravagance of strong drink, and how many billions more in payin' for the effects on't, loss of labor, jails, prisons, hospitals, police force, pauper burials, etc., etc., and i might string out them etc.'s, josiah, clear from here to grout hozleton's and then not begin to git in the perfectly useless and ruinous extravagance of the liquor bizness. and i guess that take all the wimmen's extravagance, it will count up so small in comparison as to be lost sight on. and unlike the liquor bizness if a woman dresses extravagantly, which no doubt she often duz, the dressmakers and merchants and jewelers reaps a profit, if she gives extravagant fashionable parties, the grocer, the florist, the laboring class gits some benefit from it; it is not a danger to human life, like the heart breakin', soul destroyin' extravagance and danger to the hull community of the liquor traffic." i felt above arguin' with her agin on this subject i had so often wasted my finest eloquence on. she knowed how i felt, and i wouldn't demean myself by repeatin' my crushin' arguments in that direction, for i knowed as well as i sot there that she wouldn't act crushed, no matter if she felt flat as a pan-cake. so i passed on to another faze of woman's extravagance. sez i, "it hain't enough for her to spend money like water on her bridge parties, and maskerades, and theatre and tango parties, but she has to rack what little brain she's got, tryin' to git up new follies that other wimmen hain't thought on; she has to have her dog parties, and monkey parties, when them animals come dressed like human bein's with human folks to wait on 'em. thank heaven! you can't say but what male men would look down with abhorrence on such fool doin's." but samantha sez, "id'no, take a stag party sometimes--mebby in the beginin' them stags might be able to look down on the monkeys, but after high-balls and cock-tails and gallons of shampain has been consumed, id'no whether them stags could look down on sober temperate monkeys, or the monkeys look down on them, though no doubt some of the stags behave and can see straight." i scorned to notice this slur onto my sect, brung up i knowed to make me swurve from my subject, but it didn't make me swurve a inch. i went right on and brung up wimmen's extravagance in their houses. sez i, "look at her gorgeous brussels carpets, her draperies hangin' from elegant brass poles, her superb black walnut furniture, her glossy black hair-cloth sofias and easy chairs, a perfect riot of extravagance, samantha. who can blame a man from kickin' agin it, kickin'," sez i, "with the hull strength of a outraged nater and a number nine shue." "no doubt," sez samantha, "wimmen are sometimes extravagant in makin' their homes beautiful, but their families and admirin' friends benefit by it. and how duz her velvet carpets and persian rugs, her rose-wood furniture, statuary, and costly pictures and silken draperies compare with men's outlay and extravagance in public buildings; for instance, the capitol at albany; wimmen have had nothing to do with that, and i guess her most extravagant doin's in her house will compare favorably with the millions men have spent in that house for years, and no sign of there ever bein' an end to it." i knowed by the look on her linement that she meant to intimidate that there had been shiftlessnes and stealin' goin' on in that direction, and in other public works through the country, but i refused to notice the slur on my sect. that slur that females love to sling at us and which we'd better treat with silent contemp, jest as i did now, for no knowin' if we'd stoop to argy with 'em about it, what figgers and statistics they may bring up, to prove their slurs, so as i say i passed it over with silent disdain, but i sez in a safe general way, fur removed from probable figgers she would be apt to throw at me to prove her reckless insertions, i sez, puttin' a sad look onto my linement: "wimmen's extravagance makes the heart of man to ache and often drives him to a ontimely tomb, strivin' for fashionable display, strivin' for rights she don't need." and bein' anxious to change the subject at that juncter (i always think it is best to change the flow of my thought occasionally) i put on a sort of a solemn, fraid look on my linement, "such talk as you wimmen talk is revolutionary, samantha, and is liable to lead to war." and then, if you'll believe it, so contrary and hard to conquer is females, she took advantage of that speech of mine to invay on the expenditure of war. she asked me then and there how many billions wuz spent every year by male men on the extravagance of man-made war, its preperation and consequences. i told her coldly and with a irony as iron as our old cook stove, that as much as she expected of me, she couldn't expect me to figger up to a cent what war had cost the nation. sez i, "with the barn chores on my hands, and my great work of destroyin' woman's suffrage do you expect me to keep track of every cent the nation has spent on war?" "no," sez she, "one man couldn't reckon it up if he spent his hull lifetime at it, but jest the money spent on it yearly is two billion five hundred million. but," sez she, "it seems that the enormous extravagance of man in this direction and others don't unfit him for the franchise. and if you should spend a few years tryin' to reckon up the gigantic expenditure in money and misery, the horrors and extravagance of war and its effects, you might feel like talkin' less about wimmen's extravagance and how it makes her onfit to be a citizen of the country she's born into, and helps to support with her labor and taxes." oh, how aggravatin' a woman can be when she sets out to be. much as i think of samantha and the tendrils of my great heart are wropped completely round her, as big as she is round her waist--yet sometimes on occasions like this i almost wish i wuz a bacheldor, a fur off lonely man in some distant cave, or on some lonesome mountain peak, encumbered not by a female who thinks she has a right to argy with me and irritate me. but these feelin's always come over me in the middle of the forenoon, or the middle of the afternoon. when it comes nigh meal time, my wild seethin' emotions gradually simmers down and as the appetizin' meals progress so duz my feelin's change and grow less dangerous; if they didn't i don't know what the effect would be to the world of females. i spoze it is the way the overrulin' power has fixed it as a means of safety to females, for with my strong nater and massive inteleck, if it wuzn't for them three daily safety valves to let off the steam of my indignation at female doin's, and sayin's, heaven only knows what would be the consequences. things and folks would be tore to pieces for all that i knew and utterly destroyed. for how can you curb in a outraged and high sperited nature when it is fully rousted up, and aggravation has gone too fur? it is well that good vittles stand guard between me and them. but as a man who loves peace and quiet, and despises female arguin' i wuz glad at this juncter to see the welcome form of uncle sime wendin' his way towards the barn. and i throwed down the albernack with a hauty movement of my right hand, and strode off barnward with my head erect. and then we two valiant warriors in a noble cause held a meetin' of sweet sympathy and full understandin' in the horse barn. ix the danger from wimmen's exaggeration i told samantha one day that another strong reason why wimmen hadn't ort to vote, and why they would be such a dangerous element in politics wuz that they prevaricated and exaggerated to such a alarmin' extent. sez i, "a woman can't tell a story straight to save her life--but has to put in so many exaggerations and stretch out facts so you couldn't reconize 'em when she gits 'em pulled out to the length she pulls 'em. they don't seem to have any idee of plain straightforward truthfulness such as my sect has. as long as they've seen men appearin' before 'em, tellin' the exact truth from day to day, and from year to year, they can't or won't foller his example. "that trait of theirn," sez i, "is bad enough in the home and social circle, for there their men folks can head 'em off, and cover things up and make excuses for 'em, and tell the story straight. but if it wuz carried into public life where their men folks couldn't reach 'em, and quell 'em down, and ameliorate the effects on it, where would this nation be? it would be looked down on and shawed at by foreign powers as a nation of exaggerators and false witnessors, and it ort to be. "wimmen can't seem to learn to tell the truth and 'nothin' but the truth,' and that is the reason, samantha," sez i, "that that clause wuz put in the law books; it wuz designed to try to skair female witnesses, and drive 'em into tellin' the truth. but it hain't done it." i wuz gittin' real eloquent and riz up, for nothin' pleases a man more than to teach his wimmen folks great truths and enlighten 'em about laws. but samantha had to bring me down from the hite i wuz on, in the aggravatin' way females have. and as it turned out i wuz kinder sorry i had dwelt on that trait of females that particular time, for she said in the irritatin' way wimmen have of bringin' up facts at times when there hain't no use of bringin' 'em up and when it is inconvenient for 'em to be brung. sez she, "i would talk about exaggeration in females, and men's love for exact truth, after what took place in this settin' room only last evenin'." i didn't reply to her for there are times when silent disapproval is better than argument. i knowed what she meant, and i knowed she wanted to spile my argument, in the ornary way females have, so, as i say, i treated them words with silent contemp and went out to the barn. but i spoze i may as well tell you how it wuz, for if i don't she may tell it and make it out worse than it wuz. condelick henzy come over here last night after supper to borry my neck-yoke and dr. meezik from zoar, where he used to live, went to see condelick on bizness, and his wife told him he wuz here so he stopped here on his way home (i mistrust condelick owes him though he didn't dun him before us). they're both on 'em good natered easy-goin' men, and love to talk and tell stories. and i brung up a basin of good sick-no-furder apples, and they set and et apples and talked and talked. they both on 'em love to brag about what they've seen and hearn and naterally both on 'em want to tell the biggest story about it. onfortinately samantha wuz in the room to work on a new insane bed-quilt. and of course she has to find fault and cricketcise what they said and won't make allowances for high sperits. sez dr. meezik, "when i wuz a young man my folks lived on a farm that run along one side on a creek. and one day i wuz down on the creek lot hoein' corn and a bear come down on the ice from the big woods, and i rushed right out on the ice and killed that bear with my hoe." sez condelick, "that's nothin' to what i did at about the same time. i lived on that same creek though furder south; it wuz dretful rich land. and i raised a cabbage there that wuz so big i hollered out the stem on't and made a boat of it, and used it to ferry me acrost that very stream of water." "and it wuz jest about that time," sez dr. meezik, "le'me see, it wuz on my birthday about nine minutes past four o'clock in the afternoon, or it may have been nine and a half minutes past, i always want to be perfectly exact in my statements, but we will let it go at nine minutes. "i wuz a great hunter in them days and fearless as a lion as you may know by my goin' out on the ice to meet that bear who had come to eat green corn, and killed him with my hoe handle. "i had gone a little further north than i had ever gone before, and i come out to a big clearin' that i had never seen. i should say it wuz half a degree north of where we're settin' now, or it might have been half a pint further, a man can't be too exact and particular in telling such things, for some folks if they wanted to pick flaws and find fault might doubt his statement. but i didn't have my pocket compass with me and i wuz so surprised at what i see there that i don't know that i should thought to use it if i had had it. "i must say that as many strange things as i've seen and heard i never wuz so surprised as i wuz at what i see there. "right there in that big clearin' there wuz a perfect army of tinkers makin' a immense brass kettle. there wuz jest one hundred of 'em, for i counted 'em over twice so's to be sure of gittin' the exact number. i am always so perfectly reliable in my statements, and am bound to git the smallest petickulars jest right. i spoze i got the habit partly from weighin' out my medicines so exact. "and them tinkers wuz hammerin' away for all they wuz worth on that kettle, and you may judge of the size of it when i tell you them workmen wuz so fur apart they couldn't hear each other a hammerin'." even condelick henzy wuz took back and browbeat and sez mekanically, "what do you spoze they wuz goin' to do with the kettle?" "well," sez dr. meezik, "they didn't tell me, for i didn't want to act forward and ask, but i always spozed they wuz goin' to use it to bile your cabbage in." just at this epock of time samantha gathered up her insane piece work and left the room. she didn't say nothin', but i knowed by the looks of her linement jest as well as i know now, that she'd throw that kettle and that cabbage in my face some time the most inconvenient for me, and you can see plain she's done it and now i hope she's satisfied. as i said i went out to the barn and kinder fussed round cleanin' up some, and i never see samantha agin till dinner time. i wuzn't afraid to go in and meet her and have her resoom her argument agin. no, i skorn the importation. i belong to a fearless sect, and am almost unacquainted with the word fear, though i know there is such a word in the dictionary. no, i had considerable putterin' round to do in the barn, and hen house, and so i stayed out there till i hearn the welcome sound of the dinner bell and smelt even from the barn door the agreable odors risin' from a first class dinner. the smell and taste of the tender roast lamb and lushious vegetables softened my feelin's considerable, or would have if it hadn't been for the look on samantha's face. it wuzn't a cross look nor a mean one, would that it wuz, for i could handle them looks better. no, it wuz a kind of a superior look, as if she had conquored me in the argument about exaggeration and prevarication, and wuz gloatin' over the _contrary temps_ that had occurred in the settin' room only the evenin' before, the little incident that broke down my excelent argument. and of all the looks that mankind ever read on a woman's linement, the one a man can't stand is a superior look, a look that says as plain as words, "i like you and pity you, but i can't help lookin' down on you, poor thing!" that look from a inferior sect always aggravates a man so that he hain't skursly answerable for what he sez and duz. and almost onbeknown to me i broke forth in a crushin' argument designed to crush her and change that look on her linement to one of humbleness becomin' to a female. sez i, "our sect has been the makin' of yourn, and it seems that when a female considers and thinks on all that men have done for wimmen and are willin' to do for 'em, they would have some feelin's of gratitude towards 'em, but they don't; they delight in argyin' with 'em and tryin' to git the better on 'em." instead of my smart reasonable words affectin' her favorably it seemed as if the look i despised deepened on her linement; not a sign did i see of meach, nor a sign of humble gratitude, and i wuz so irritated by it that i lanched right out in the crushin' argument that i had on my mind and that ort to bring female feathers droopin' down in the very dust. sez i, "do you ever pause to think, samantha, of the inestimable boon wimmen owe to men? why," sez i, "if it hadn't been for a man, wimmen wouldn't had no souls to-day." "how do you make that out?" sez samantha, helpin' herself camly to some more dressin'. "why, it is a matter of history that way back in the centuries the preachers of that time had a meetin' to settle the question, and when they took a vote on't, the majority on 'em stood out on the popular side and cast their votes agin 'em, and vowed and declared that females hadn't no souls. and it wuz only by the vote of one single solitary man that it wuz carried in their favor and decided that they had souls. "and i should think females would be so grateful to that noble man for what he done for 'em, for his bein' willin' to admit that they had souls, that they would honor the hull sect to which he belonged, and look up to 'em in humble and grateful gratitude, and never try to argy with 'em and aggravate 'em. for let me ask you, samantha," sez i, in a solemn axent, "where would wimmen have been if that man had held out and jined in with the rest, and decided that wimmen hadn't got any soul? where would they been then, and where would they be to-day?" "jest where they always wuz and are now," sez samantha camly helpin' herself to a apple dumplin'. "it seems that it wuz men that started the question in the first place, and i spoze that if wimmen hadn't been so wore out and hampered by her hard work of takin' care of men, cookin', mendin', and cleanin' for 'em and bringin' up their children, etc., they might have had a jury of wimmen set on men to find out if _they_ had souls. but i don't spoze they had a minute's time to spare from their hard work no more than i have, and i don't spoze it would make any difference either way. the main thing is whether men and wimmen have got souls to-day, and use them souls for the good of mankind, instead of lettin' 'em grow hard, or wither away in indifference to the woes and wants of the world, and the cause of eternal justice for every one, male and female." that is jest the way with wimmen, they've got to talk and argy and try to have the last word. you can't seem to make 'em act meachin' and beholdin' to men anyway you can work it, and it seems to me i've tried every way there is from first to last. but i wouldn't argy no more, i felt above it. i helped myself to my fourth apple dumplin' with a look of silent contemp on my linement, also i had the same look when i poured the lemon sass over it and took my third cup of coffee. and my linement still showed to a clost observer the marks of a tried though hauty sperit, as i riz up from the table and retired with a high step to my sacred corner to resoom my literary efforts. sometimes pardners are real aggravatin' to each other and a trial to be borne with. and though i don't know what i'd do if i should ever lose samantha, it don't seem as if i could ever eat another woman's vittles after livin' on the fat of the land as you may say for forty years. yet there are times when you set smartin' under wownds your pardner has gin your sperit and from arguments she no need to have brung up, and you see a widow man a passin' by, you have feelin's that can skursly be told on. you can see by the looks of his face and hands that he don't wash any oftener than he wants to, and never combs his hair and don't change his clothes till the board of health gits after him. and you know he never goes to meetin', and throws off girl blinders boldly, and stays out nights till as late as ten p.m. onquestioned and onscolded. and don't have to clean his shues when he goes in, and never curbs his appetite, but eats like a hog and enjoys himself. why, much as you love the dear pardner of your bosom, and prize the excelent food she cooks, and the clean comfortable home she makes for you--the air of freedom that seems to blow from that widow man (kinder stale air too) yet it fans your clean head and clean stiff shirt bosom like a breath from the isle of freedom. and so after samantha had hurt my feelin's and wownded my self respect by remindin' me of the incident mentioned, when if she had kep' still i should have come off victorious in my argument, i retired into the solitude of my corner in the settin' room where betsy bobbett's poetry lay heaped up in the dish-pan and i read with feelin' that i couldn't skursly describe the follerin' verses which i spoze betsy writ after her husband had wownded her feelin's. and in readin' it i dedicate it silently to my brother men who have been aggravated by their pardners. longin's of the sole _by betsy bobbett slimpsey_ oh gimlet! back again i float, with broken wings, a weary bard; i cannot write as once i wrote, i have to work so very hard; so hard my lot, so tossed about, my muse is fairly tuckered out. my muse aforesaid once hath flown, but now her back is broke, and breast; and yet she fain would crumple down; on gimlet's pages she would rest, and sing plain words as there she's sot-- haply they'll rhyme, and haply not i spake plain words in former days, no guile i showed, clear was my plan; my gole it matrimony was; my earthly aim it was a man. i gained my man, i won my gole; alas! i feel not as i fole. yes, ringing through my maiden thought this clear voice rose: "oh come up higher." to speak plain truth with candor fraught, to married be was my desire-- now, sweeter still this lot doth seem, to be a widder is my theme. for toil hath claimed me for her own, in wedlock i have found no ease; i've cleaned and washed for neighbors round, and took my pay in beans and pease; in boiling sap no rest i took, or husking corn in barn and stook. or picking wool from house to house, white-washing, painting, papering, in stretching carpets, boiling souse; e'en picking hops it hath a sting, for spiders there assembled be, mosquitoes, bugs and etc. i have to work oh! very hard; old toil i know your breadth and length; i'm tired to death, and in one word, i have to work beyend my strength. and mortal men are very tough to get along with, nasty, rough. yes, tribulations doomed to her who weds a man, without no doubt, in peace a man is singuler; his ways they are past findin' out, and oh! the wrath of mortal males-- to paint their ire, earth's language fails. and thirteen children in our home their buttons rent their clothes they burst, much bread and such did they consume; of children they did seem the worst. and simon and i do disagree; he's prone to sin continualee. he horrors has, he oft doth kick, he prances, yells--he will not work. sometimes i think he is too sick; sometimes i think he tries to shirk; but 'tis hard for her in either case, who b. bobbett was in happier days. happier? away! such thoughts i spurn. i count it true from spring to fall, 'tis better to be wed, and groan, than never to be wed at all. i'd work my hands down to the bone rather than rest a maiden lone. this truth i cannot, will not shirk, i feel it when i sorrow most: i'd rather break _my_ back with work, and haggard look as any ghost,-- rather than lonely vigils keep, i'd wed and sigh and groan and weep. yes, i can say though tears fall quick can say, while briny tear-drops start, i'd rather wed a crooked stick, than never wed no stick at all. sooner than laughed at be, as of yore i'd ruther laugh myself no more. i'd ruther go half clad and starved, and mops and dish-cloths madly wave than have the name, b. bobbett, carved on head-stun rising o'er my grave. proud thought! now, when that stun is risen 'twill bear two names--my name and hisen. methinks 'twould colder make the stun if but one name, the name of she, should linger there alone--alone. how different when the name of he does also deck the funeral urn; two wedded names, his name and hurn. and sweeter yet, oh blessed lot! oh state most dignified and blest! to be a widder calmly sot, and have both dignity and rest. oh simon, strangely sweet 'twould be to be a widder unto thee. the warfare past, the horrors done, with maiden's ease and pride of wife, the dignity of wedded one, the calm and peace of single life,-- oh, strangely sweet this lot doth seem; a female widder is my theme. i would not hurt a hair of he, yet did he from earth's toil escape, i could most reconciléd be, could sweetly mourn e'en without crape. could say without a pang of pain that simon's loss was betsy's gain. i've told the plain tale of my woes, with no deceit or language vain, have told whereon my hopes are rose, have sung my mournful song of pain. and now i e'en will end my tale, i've sung my song, and wailed my wail. x the modern wimmen condemned the vice president of the creation searchin' society of jonesville wuz here yesterday mornin', and as soon as he'd gone through the usual neighborly talk about the weather, the hens, his wife, and the neighbors, etc., he tipped back in his chair and pushed back his hat a little furder on his head. he never took off his hat in my sight; samantha asked me once "if i spozed he took it off nights, or slep in it." but i explained it to her as a kind man is always willin' to do if a female asks him properly for information. sez i, "i hearn him say once, samantha, that the way he got in the habit of not takin' off his hat before wimmen wuz to impress 'em with the fact of male superiority, and to let 'em know that he wuzn't goin' to bow down before 'em and act meachin'. he wuz always a big feelin' feller and after he got to be such a high official in the c.s.s. he naterally is hautier actin'." well, almost to once he begun to samantha about wimmen's votin', runnin' the idee down to the very lowest notch it could go on the masculine stillyards. you see my forthcomin' great work agin wimmen rights has excited the male jonesvillians dretfully, and emboldened 'em, till they act as fierce and bold as lions when they're talkin' to females. they realize that when that immortal work is lanched onto the waitin' world the cause of woman's suffrage will collapse like the bladders we used to blow up in childhood, jest as sharp and sudden and jest as windy. they know that them that uphold such uroneous beliefs won't be nothin' nor nobody then, and so they begin beforehand to act more hauty and uppish towards suffragists, and browbeat 'em. and he poked fun at the cause and slurred at it, and sneered at it till i didn't know but samantha would take lumbago from his remarks, but she didn't seem to. she had got her mornin's work all did up slick, her gingham apron hung up behind the kitchen door, and she'd resoomed her white one trimmed with tattin'. and she sot knittin' on a pair of blue woosted socks for me, her linement as smooth and onrumpled as her hair, which wuz combed smooth round her forward. and she kep' on with her knittin', only once in a while she would look up at him over her specs in the queer way she has at times, but still kep' lookin' cam, and sayin' nothin'. and her camness and her silence seemed to spur him on and make him bolder and more aggressiver. he thought she wuz afraid on him, but i knowed she wuzn't. at last he flung out the remark to her that if wimmen could vote it would be the bad wimmen who would flock to the poles; samantha wuz jest turnin' the heel in my sock and after she made the turn she said that that wuzn't so, and she brought up statisticks and throwed at him (still a knittin' and seamin' two and two) provin' that it is the educated conscientious wimmen who want to help the good men of the country to make the laws to try to make the world a safer place for their children, a better, cleaner place for every one, and she threw some statements at him from states that had woman's suffrage for years and years to prove her insertion, but the statisticks, the figgers and the proofs piled about him onheeded, for he had got hot and excited by this time and it seemed as if samantha's very camness madded him, and her knittin', and her seamin' two and two, and her countin' "one--two," to herself once in a while. and sez he agin in a overbearin' skairful voice, intended to intimidate females, "i tell you it is the bad wimmen who will rush to the poles, and i can prove what i say." sez he, "the meaner anybody is the more and the oftener they want to vote; my father is one of the best of men and you can't hardly git him to stir his stumps 'lection day. and my wife's father is the meanest man in the country and he will vote from mornin' till night for either party and sell his vote where he can git the highest figger--(he don't live happy with his wife, and he went on) and so will her uncle josh sell his vote to anybody for a glass of whiskey, and most all the men on her side will sell their vote and make money by it. and i know more'n a dozen men right round here who do the same thing. i don't spoze you wimmen read much of any, but if you did you'd see how common graft and fraud is in politics, all the way from jonesville to washington. so you see," sez he, "i can prove right out what i said that it is the bad wimmen who would vote." samantha counted "two and two" to herself, and then said in a mild axent, "why would a bad woman's vote be worse than a bad man's?" the vice president see in a minute into what a deep hole his excitement and voylent desire to prove his argument had led him, and he acted sheepish as a sheep. but anon he revived and ketched holt of the first argument he could lay his hand on, to prop up his side of the question. it wuz a argument he had read about, he didn't believe it himself, but ketched at it in his hurry. sez he, "we expect more from wimmen than we do from men; they're naterally better than men and we want to keep 'em so, keep 'em out of the dirt of public affairs." sez samantha still a knittin' and still a lookin' cam, "you must use clean water to cleanse dirty things. i don't believe as you do. i think the good qualities of men and wimmen would heft jest about equal, and need equal treatment. but accordin' to your tell if men are so much worse than wimmen they need her help to clean up things." agin the vice president see where his hasty talk and anxiety to prove his pint had led him. he wiggled round in his chair till i trembled for the legs on it, for he wuz still leanin' back in it too fur for safety. he kinder run his hand up under his hat and scratched his head, but didn't seem to root any new idees out of his hair, and he finally give up, settled his hat back more firmly on his head agin, let his chair down sudden and got up and sez: "i come over this mornin' to borry josiah's sheep shears." and after he went out with 'em i asked samantha, "what do you spoze the vice president wanted of sheep shears this time of year?" and she sez: "he looked sheepish enough to use 'em on himself." well, it wuz gittin' along towards noon, as i reminded samantha, and she riz up and put her knittin' work on the mantelry piece, resoomed her gingham apron and went out into the kitchen and soon i hearn the welcome sounds so sweet to a man's ear whether literary or profane, that preperations wuz goin' on for a good square meal. and as i sot there peaceful and happy in my mind who should come in but my dear and congenial friend, uncle sime bentley. he had been on a visit to illenoy. and after his first words of greetin' and his anxious inquiries as to how my great work wuz progressin' and gittin' along, he went on and gin me the petickulars about his journey. he'd been on a visit to the city to see his nephew, bill bentley. bill is well off and smart, and his father-in-law is rich and sent his only child, bill's wife, to college; "jest like a fool," uncle sime said. "for what duz a female want with such a eddication." sez he, "the three r's, readin', ritin' and rithmetic are enough for her and would be for any woman if they worked and tended to things as my ma, bill's grandma did. "up at four every mornin' summer and winter, milkin' five or six cows and then gittin' breakfast for her big fambly, hired men and all, and doin' every mite of the housework, and spinnin', weavin', makin' and mendin', and takin' sole care of her eight children, in sickness and health, and takin' care of her mother who had been as big a worker and stay-at-home as she wuz, and who wuz now melancholy crazy in a little room done off the woodshed. "how ma did work," sez uncle sime in a reminescin' axent, "stiddy at it from mornin' till night, never stirrin' out of the house from year to year. oh! if she could only have lived to set a sample for bill's wife, and instruct her in a wife's duty. "i told bill so," sez uncle sime. "and if you please," sez he, "bill resented it, and said, ketch him a killin' his wife with work hard enough for four wimmen, and not stirrin' out of the house from year to year, he thought too much of her; sez he, 'if i wanted a slave i'd buy one and pay cash for her.' "he didn't seem to appreciate ma's doin's no more than nothin', though as i told him, _there_ wuz a woman whose price wuz above rubies, so different from the slack forward wimmen of to-day. so retirin', so modest and womanly, willin' to work her fingers to the bone and not complain. never puttin' forward her opinion about anything, always lookin' up to pa and knowin' he wuz always right. and if she ever did seem curious about anything outside her housework and fambly, pa would shet her up and bring her back to her duty pretty quick. yes indeed! pa wuz the head of the house, and laid out to be. but bill didn't seem to have no gumption and self respect at all, and wuz perfectly willin' to be on equal terms with his wife. and bill told him she had a household allowance and a private bank account. private bank account! i told bill it wuz enough to make his grandma rise from her grave to see such bold onwomanly doin's. "and bill said 'it would be a good thing for her to rise, if she could stay up, for mebby she would take a little comfort and rest her mind and her bones a little, at this epock of time.'" i sez, "i spoze, simon, you didn't have nothin' fit to eat there and everything goin' to rack and ruin about the house." "no," uncle sime said, "i must own up that things run pretty smooth, and bill's wife sot a good table. they had a stout woman who helped about the work and takin' care of the children, leavin' bill's wife free to go round with bill to meetin's and clubs and a fishin' and motor ridin', and picknickin' with him and the kids." "i spoze she wuz high headed and disagreable," sez i. "no," sez uncle sime, "she wuz always good natered and dressed pretty, and why shouldn't she?" sez he bitterly, "havin' her own way and runnin' things to suit herself. and why shouldn't she dress pretty? lanchin' out and buyin' everything she wanted. not curbed down by bill, nor askin' a man's advice at all about her clothes or housen stuff so fur as i could see." sez i, "mebby bill didn't like it so well as you thought, simon; mebby he wuz chafin' inside on him." "no, he wuzn't, he liked it, there's one of the pints i'm comin' at, how these modern wimmen will pull the wool over men's eyes, no matter how smart he is naterally. they did seem to have good times together, laughin' and talkin' together, settin' to the table a hour or so, a visitin' away as if they hadn't seen each other for a month. but merciful heavens! the subjects they talked on and discussed over! it seemed that she knew every crook and turn on subjects that bill's grandma never had heard on by name. hygeen, books, street cleanin', hospital work, charities, political affairs from pole to pole and scientific subjects--radium, electricity, spiritualism, woman's suffrage, which they both believed in. there seemed to be no end to the subjects they talked about. so different from pa and ma's talk. they eat their meals in perfect and solemn silence most all the time, ma always waitin' on him. and if she did venter any remarks to him they usually didn't fly no higher than hen's eggs or neighborhood doin's. do you spoze that pa would stood it havin' a wife that acted as if she knew as much as he did? not much. "but bill's wife wuz right up to snuff as well informed as bill wuz, and bill didn't seem to know enough to be jealous and mad about a wife actin' as if she wuz on a equality with him. it made me ashamed to think a male relation on my own side should act so meachin'. and in one thing she even went ahead of bill, owin' to the money men had spent on her. she sung like a bird, and evenin's bill would lay back in his chair before the open fireplace and listen to her singin' and playin' them old songs and look at her as if he worshipped her. he didn't seem to want to stir out of the house evenin's unless she went too, lost all his ambition to go out and have a good man time, seemed perfectly happy where he wuz. and he used to be a great case to be out nights and act like a man amongst men. "but," sez uncle sime, "i believe that one of the things that galded me most amongst all the galdin' things i see and hearn there, wuz bill's wife's independence in money matters. economic independence! that wuz one of her fool idees. oh, how often i thought of you, josiah, and wished you wuz there to put down what i see and hearn in the beautiful language you know so well how to use." my feelin's wuz touched and i sez solemnly, "simon, i would loved to been there, and if i couldn't help you i could have sot and sympathized with you." sez simon, "never once durin' them six weeks i wuz there did i see her ask bill for a cent, and how well i remember," sez simon, "when if ma wanted the money for a pair of shues, or a gingham dress for herself, how she would have to coax pa and git him extra vittles and pompey him and beg for the money in such a womanly and becomin' way. and sometimes pa wuz real short with her and would deny her. not but what he meant to git 'em in the end, for he wuz a noble man. but he held off, wantin' her to realize he wuz the head of the fambly, and to be looked up to." sez simon, "ma would have to manage every way for days and days to git them shues and that dress and when he did git any clothes for her pa picked 'em out himself, for ma had been brought up to think his taste wuz better'n hern." sez i, "probable it wuz better, probable he got things that wore like iron." "yes, he did," sez simon, "he did. he never cared so much for looks as he did the solid wear of anything." and for a few minutes uncle sime seemed lost in a silent contemplation of his pa's oncommon good qualities, and then he resoomed agin. "the news come right whilst i wuz there, about the leven hundred saloons closed durin' the few months since wimmen voted in that state. and bill never resented it and even jined in with the idee that it wuz owin' to wimmen's votes largely that that and the other big temperance victories of late wuz accomplished. he didn't seem to have no more self respect than a snipe. and if you'll believe it, josiah, bill's wife made a public speech right whilst i wuz there, sunthin' about school matters she thought wuz wrong and ort to be set right." "how did bill like that, simon?" sez i. "i guess that kinder opened his eyes." "like it!" sez uncle sime in a indignant axent. "why, instead of actin' ashamed and resentin' it as a man of sperit would, he went with her and made a speech too, and they carried the day and beat the side they said wuz usin' the school to make money. and i hearn 'em with my own ears comin' in at ten p.m. laughin' and jokin' together like two kids. makin' a speech before men! oh, what would bill's great-grandma thought on't? she'd say she had reason for her melancholy madness, and his grandma would say she wuz glad she wuz dead." "most probable that is so, simon," sez i, sympathizin' with him. "as i've intimidated to you before, simon, time and agin, this is a turrible epock of time us male men are a passin' through, jest like a see-saw gone crazy, wimmen up and stayin' up, and men down and held down. but wait till my great work agin female suffrage is lanched onto the world and then see what will happen, and jest as soon as i git a little ahead with my outdoor work i'm a goin' to lanch it. then will come the upheaval and the crash, follered by peace and happiness. men will resoom their heaven-born station as rulers and protectors of the weaker sect, and females will sink down agin into hern, lookin' up to man as their nateral gardeens and masters." "ma knowed it in her day and practiced it," sez simon. "and pa knowed it and acted his part nobly. ma wuz so retirin' and so womanly. why, if once in a great while she took it in her head to ask about such things as bill's wife boldly lectured about, do you spoze she'd go before any strange man to talk out about it? no, she would always ask pa to explain it to her. and i remember well how kinder wishful and wonderin' her eyes looked and yet timid and becomin'. and pa actin' his part in life as a man of sperit should, would most always tell her to tend to her housework and let men run them things. but if he did feel good natered and explain 'em to her she took his word for law and gospel and acted meek and grateful to him. "yes, pa wuz to the head of his house and kep' females down where they belonged, and her actions wuz a pattern for wimmen to foller. and it wuz such a pity and a wonder that she had to die so early, only thirty years old when the lord took her before her virtues wuz known to the world at large. "i remember well the night she passed away," sez simon, in a softer reminescener axent. "she wanted her bed drawed up to the open winder. and she lay lookin' up to the full moon and stars a shinin' in the great clear sky. she looked up and up and kinder smiled and sez in a sort of a wishful, wonderin' axents: "'oh, how big! and how free!' "and i always spozed she meant sunthin' about how big pa wuz, and how free to understand things she didn't, and hadn't ort to." sez i, "i hain't a doubt, simon, but that wuz what she meant, not a doubt on't!" printed in the united states of america by marietta holley _josiah allen on the woman question_ illustrated, mo, cloth net $ . . a new volume from the pen of miss holley, marked by such quaint thoughtfulness and timely reflection as ran through "samantha". all who read it will be bound to feel better, as indeed they should, for they will have done some hearty laughing, and have been "up against" some bits of striking philosophy delivered with point, vigor, and chuckling humor. _samantha on the woman question_ illustrated, mo, cloth net $ . . 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"my opinion and betsy bobbitts" and "samantha at the centennial" made her name a household word. this last volume is not only timely but with all its facetiousness, keen and telling in it's advocacy of "votes for women" and temperance. it equals anything the author has produced. _charles h. lerrigo_ doc williams a tale of the middle west. illustrated, net $ . . "the homely humor of the old doctor and his childlike faith in 'the cure' is so intensely human that he captures the sympathy of the layman at once--a sympathy that becomes the deepest sort of interest."--_topeka capital._ fiction, juvenile _henry otis dwight_ a muslim sir galahad a present day story of islam in turkey. mo, cloth, net $ . . a story of the mohammedan world which holds the reader's attention unfailingly from beginning to end. the narration of selim, the moslem's quest for a satisfying religion has the quality of reality. dramatic interest and thrills of adventure are here in full measure. it is a worthy addition to missionary narration and in view of recent portentious events in the near east a timely and acceptable work. _charles h. lerrigo_ doc williams a tale of the middle west. mo, cloth, net $ . . the story of a "doctor of the old school" with every element which makes a novel worth the reading, plot, character delineation, setting, style--all are here. intensely human, natural, humorous, pathetic, joyous. the originality of the plot piques the reader's curiosity and the most jaded devourer of novels will find himself irresistibly held in delightful suspense. the sentiment and suggestion and mellow philosophy which run through the story are altogether delightful. _i. t. thurston_ the torch bearer a camp fire girls' story. illustrated, net $ . . the author of "the bishop's shadow" and "the scout master of troop ," has scored another conspicuous success in this new story of girl life. she shows conclusively that she knows how to reach the heart of a girl as well as that of a boy. the beautiful ritual and practices of "the camp fire girls" are woven into a story of surpassing interest and charm. sociology and practical religion _prof. giovanni luzzi, d.d._ the struggle for christian truth in italy vo, cloth, net $ . . the author traces the history of christianity in italy from its dawn in rome, through the protestant development, giving a concise history of the bible in italy, the founding of the waldensian mission among the alps, the religious revival of , the exile period; up to the present movement, termed "modernism," an attempt to bring the roman catholic church back to the simplicity of christ. obvious printer errors have been repaired, but spelling has not been standardized. a woman's philosophy of woman; or woman affranchised. an answer to michelet, proudhon, girardin, legouvÉ, comte, and other modern innovators. by madame d'hÉricourt. translated from the last paris edition [illustration] new york: _carleton, publisher, broadway._ m dccc lxiv. entered according to act of congress, in the year , by g. w. carleton, in the clerk's office of the district court of the southern district of new york. r. craighead, printer, stereotyper, and electrotyper, carton building, _ , , and centre street_. contents introduction preface chap. i. michelet ii. proudhon iii. comte iv. legouve v. de girardin vi. modern communists vii. summary part ii. objections to the emancipation of woman nature and functions of woman love; its functions in humanity marriage summary of proposed reforms appeal to women introduction to the american edition. the general interest evinced in the theories of michelet and other philosophers concerning the functions and province of woman, and the lively opposition to these theories manifested in many quarters, have called forth an american translation of the present work. this remarkable book of madame d'héricourt on woman is conceded to be the best reply to these philosophers extant. the work, intended by the author as "a refutation of the coarse indecency of proudhon, and of the perfumed pruriency of michelet, and the other false friends and would-be champions of woman," has had a remarkable history. published first at brussels, it was interdicted in france, and notice was given that all copies found would be seized. madame d'héricourt appealed to the censorship to know the reason of this interdiction, and was informed in reply that the reason for such proceedings never was given. not content with this, she wrote to napoleon iii, enclosing a copy of the work, and called his attention to the fact that a book by a french author could be suppressed in france without any reason being given for it, and without any chance being offered to the author to clear herself of the implied charge of immorality. immediately upon the reception of the letter, the emperor withdrew the interdiction. madame d'héricourt is well known in france as an able contributor to various philosophic journals, and also as a member of the medical profession, in which she holds a high and respected position. her opinions are entitled to great weight, and will be welcomed as throwing much light on the practical question of the sphere of woman, which is becoming one of increasing interest. the better to adapt the book to the american public, it has been slightly abbreviated in portions of local interest, referring chiefly to french legislation. it has been well received in england, as is testified by the following extract from the _london critic_, one of the ablest of the english critical journals: "the work is calculated to do an immense service to french society at the present time--just when the literature of the country is on the verge of decay from the rottenness which is eating to its very core. 'la femme affranchie' points out the remedy to the social cancer which has gnawed away the vital principle of domestic life in france, and caused that antagonism between the sexes which foreigners behold with the most profound amazement. madame d'héricourt's bold and nervous arguments completely destroy the brutal commonplaces of proudhon as regards the moral and intellectual capacity of women. she takes him on his own ground, and to his medical propositions returns medical objections of far greater weight and power, being more competent to judge the question, as she has passed examinations as 'maitresse sage femme' of 'la clinique,' and received her diploma as medical practitioner many years ago." author's preface. to my readers. readers, male and female, i am about to tell you the end of this book, and the motives which caused me to undertake it, that you may not waste your time in reading it, if its contents are not suited to your intellectual and moral temperament. my end is to prove that woman has the same rights as man. to claim, in consequence, her emancipation; lastly, to point out to the women who share my views, the principal measures that they must take to obtain justice. the word emancipation giving room for equivocation, let us in the first place establish its meaning. to emancipate woman is not to acknowledge her right to use and abuse love; such an emancipation is only the slavery of the passions; the use of the beauty and youth of woman by man; the use of man by woman for his fortune or credit. to emancipate woman is to acknowledge and declare her free, the equal of man in the social and the moral law, and in labor. at present, over the whole surface of the globe, woman, in certain respects, is not subjected to the same moral law as man; her chastity is given over almost without restriction to the brutal passions of the other sex, and she often endures alone the consequences of a fault committed by both. in marriage, woman is a serf. in public instruction, she is sacrificed. in labor, she is made inferior. civilly, she is _a_ minor. politically, she has no existence. _she is the equal of man only when punishment and the payment of taxes are in question._ i claim the rights of woman, because it is time to make the nineteenth century ashamed of its culpable denial of justice to half the human species; because the state of inferiority in which we are held corrupts morals, dissolves society, deteriorates and enfeebles the race; because the progress of enlightenment, in which woman participates, has transformed her in social power, and because this new power produces evil in default of the good which it is not permitted to do; because the time for according reforms has come, since women are protesting against the order which oppresses them; some by disdain of laws and prejudices; others by taking possession of contested positions, and by organizing themselves into societies to claim their share of human rights, as is done in america; lastly, because it seems to me useful to reply, _no longer with sentimentality_, but with vigor, to those men who, terrified by the emancipating movement, call to their aid false science to prove that woman is outside the pale of right; and carry indecorum and the opposite of courage, even to insult, even to the most revolting outrages. readers, male and female, several of the adversaries of the cause which i defend, have carried the discussion into the domain of science, and have not shrunk before the nudity of biological laws and anatomical details. i praise them for it; the body being respectable, there is no indecency in speaking of the laws which govern it; but as it would be an inconsistency on my part to believe that blamable in myself which i approve in them, you will not be surprised that i follow them on the ground which they have chosen, persuaded that science, the chaste daughter of thought, can no more lose her chastity under the pen of a pure woman than under that of a pure man. readers, male and female, i have but one request to make; namely, that you will pardon my simplicity of style. it would have cost me too much pains to write in the approved fashion; it is probable, besides, that i should not have succeeded. my work is one of conscience. if i enlighten some, if i make others reflect; if i awaken in the heart of men the sentiment of justice, in that of women the sentiment of their dignity; if i am clear to all, fully comprehended by all, useful to all, even to my adversaries, it will satisfy me and will console me for displeasing those who love ideas only as they love women: in full dress. to my adversaries. many among you, gentlemen, adversaries of the great and holy cause which i defend, have cited me, evidently without having read me, without even knowing how to write my name. to such as these i have nothing to say, unless that their opinion matters little to me. others, who have taken the trouble to read my preceding works in the _revue philosophique_ and the _ragione_, accuse me of _not writing like a woman_, of being harsh, unsparing to my adversaries, nothing but a _reasoning machine, lacking heart_. gentlemen, i cannot write otherwise than as a woman, since i have the honor to be a woman. if am i harsh and unsparing to my adversaries, it is because they appear to me to be those of reason and of justice; it is because they, the strong and well armed, attack harshly and unsparingly a sex which they have taken care to render timid and to disarm; it is, in short, because i believe it perfectly lawful to defend weakness against tyranny which has the audacity and insolence to erect itself into right. if i appear to you in the unattractive aspect of a _reasoning_ _machine_, is, in the first place, because nature has made me so, and i see no good reason for modifying her work; secondly, because it is not amiss for a woman that has attained majority to prove to you that her sex, when not fearing your judgment, reasons as well, and, often, better than you. i have no heart, you say. i am lacking in it, perhaps, towards tyrants, but the conflict that i undertake proves that i am not lacking in it towards their victims; i have therefore a sufficient quantity of it, the more, inasmuch as i neither desire to please you, nor care to be loved by any among you. be advised by me, gentlemen; break yourselves of the habit of confounding heart with nerves; cease to create an imaginary type of woman to make it the standard of your judgment of real women; it is thus that you pervert your reason and become, without wishing it, the thing of all others the most hateful and least estimable--tyrants. to my friends. now to you, my friends, known and unknown, a few lines of thanks. you all comprehend that woman, as a human being, has the right to develop herself, and to manifest, like man, her spontaneity; that she has the right, like man, to employ her activity; that she has the right, like man, to be respected in her dignity and in the use which she sees fit to make of her free will. that as half in the social order, a producer, a tax-payer, amenable to the laws, she has the right to count as half in society. you all comprehend that it is in the enjoyment of these various rights that her emancipation consists; not in the faculty of making use of love outside a moral law based on justice and self respect. thanks first to you, ausonio franchi, the representative of critical philosophy in italy, a man as eminent for the profundity of your ideas as for the impartiality and elevation of your character; and who so generously and so long lent the columns of your _ragione_ to my first labors. thanks to you, my beloved co-laborers of the _revue philosophique_ of paris, charles lemonnier, massol, guepin, brothier, etc., who have not hesitated to bring to light the question of the emancipation of my sex; who have welcomed the works of a woman to your columns with so much impartiality, and have on all occasions expressed for me interest and sympathy. thanks to you, in particular, my oldest friend, charles fauvety, the indefatigable searcher after truth, whose elegant, refined and limpid style is solely and constantly at the service of progressive ideas and generous aspirations, as your rich library and your counsels are at the service of those who are seeking to enlighten humanity. why, alas! do you join to so many talents and noble qualities the fault of always remaining in the background to give place to others! thanks to you, charles renouvier, the most learned representative of critical philosophy in france, who join to such profound doctrine, such acute perception and such sureness of judgment; i would add, such modesty and unpretending virtue, did i not know that it displeases you to bring you before the public. it is from your encouragement and approbation, my friends and former co-laborers, that i have drawn the strength necessary to the work i am undertaking; it is just, therefore, that i should thank you in the presence of all. it is equally just that i should publicly express my gratitude to the italian, english, dutch, american and german journals that have translated many of my articles; and to the men and women of these different countries as well as of france, who have kindly expressed sympathy for me, and encouraged me in the struggle which i have undertaken against the adversaries of the rights of my sex. to you all, my friends, both frenchmen and foreigners, i dedicate this work. may it be useful _everywhere_ in the triumph of the liberty of woman, and of the equality of all before the law; this is the sole wish that a frenchwoman can make who believes in the unity of the human family, as well as in the legitimacy of national autonomies, and who loves all nations, since all are the organs of a single great body,--humanity. chapter i. michelet. several women have sharply criticised michelet's "love." why are intelligent women thus dissatisfied with so upright a man as michelet? because to him woman is a perpetual invalid, who should be shut up in a gynæceum in company with a dairy maid, as fit company only for chickens and turkeys. now we, women of the west, have the audacity to contend that we are not invalids, and that we have a holy horror of the harem and the gynæceum. woman, _according to michelet_, is a being of a nature opposite to that of man; a creature weak, _always wounded, exceedingly barometrical_, and, consequently, unfit for labor. she is incapable of abstracting, of generalizing, of comprehending conscientious labors. she does not like to occupy herself with business, and she is destitute, in part, of judicial sense. but, in return, she is revealed all gentleness, all love, all grace, all devotion. _created for man_, she is the altar of his heart, his refreshment, his consolation. in her presence he gains new vigor, becomes inspirited, draws the strength necessary to the accomplishment of his high mission as worker, creator, organizer. he should love her, watch over her, maintain her; be at once her father, her lover, her instructor, her priest, her physician, her nurse, and her waiting-maid. when, at eighteen, a virgin in reason, heart and body, she is given to this husband, who should be twenty-eight, neither more nor less, he confines her in the country in a charming cottage, at a distance from her parents and friends, with the rustic maid that we just mentioned. why this sequestration in the midst of the nineteenth century, do you ask? because the husband can have no power over his wife in society, and can have full power over her in solitude. now, it is necessary that he should have this full power over her, since it belongs to him to form her heart, to give her ideas, to sketch within her the incarnation of himself. for know, readers, that woman is destined to reflect her husband, more and more, until the last shade of difference, namely, that which is maintained by the separation of the sexes, shall be at last effaced by death, and unity in love be thus effected. at the end of half a score years of housekeeping, the wife is permitted to cross the threshold of the gynæceum, and to enter the world, or _the great battle of life_. here she will meet more than one danger; but she will escape them all if she keeps the oath she has taken _to make her husband her confessor_.... it is evident that michelet respects the rights of the soul. the husband, who at this epoch has become absorbed in his profession, has necessarily degenerated, hence there is danger that the wife may love another; may become enamored, for instance, of her young nephew. in the book, she does not succumb, because she confesses everything to her husband; still it may happen that she succumbs, then repents, and solicits correction from her lord and master. the latter should at first refuse, but, if she insists, rather than drive her to despair, michelet--who would on no account drive a woman to despair--counsels the husband to administer to his wife _the chastisement that mothers infliction inflict on their darlings_. there must be no separation between the husband and wife; when the latter has given herself away, she is no longer her own property. she becomes more and more the incarnation of the man who has espoused her; fecundation transforms her into him, so that the children of the lover or of the second husband resemble the first impregnator. the husband, being ten years older than the wife, dies first; the woman must preserve her widowhood; her rôle henceforth until death is to fructify within her and about her the ideas which her husband has bequeathed, to remain the center of his friendships, to raise up to him posthumous disciples, and thus remain his property until she rejoins him in death. in case the husband survives, which may happen, the author does not tell us whether he should re-marry. probably not, since love exists only between two; unless michelet, who reproves polygamy in this world, admits it as morality in the life to come. you see, my readers, that in michelet's book, woman is created for man; without him she would be nothing; he it is who pronounces the _fiat lux_ in her intellect; he it is who makes her in his image, as god made man in his own. accepting the biblical genesis, we women can appeal from adam to god; for it was not adam, but god, who created eve. admitting the genesis of michelet, there is no pretext, no excuse for disobedience; woman must be subordinate to man and must yield to him, for she belongs to him as the work to the workman, as the vessel to the potter. the book of michelet and the two studies of proudhon on woman, are but two forms of the same thought. the sole difference that exists between these gentlemen is, that the first is as sweet as honey, and the second as bitter as wormwood. nevertheless, i prefer the rude assailant to the poet; for insults and blows rouse us to rebel and to clamor for liberty, while compliments lull us to sleep and make us weakly endure our chains. it would be somewhat cruel to be harsh to michelet, who piques himself on love and poetry, and, consequently, is thin skinned; we will therefore castigate him only over the shoulders of m. proudhon, who may be cannonaded with red-hot shot; and we will content ourselves with criticising in his book what is not found in that of proudhon. the two chief pillars of the book on love are, first, that woman is a wounded, weak, barometrical, constantly diseased being; second, that the woman belongs to the man who has fructified and incarnated himself in her; a proposition proved by the resemblance of the children of the wife to the husband, whoever may be the father. michelet and his admirers and disciples do not dispute that the only good method of proving the truth of a principle, or the legitimateness of a generalization, is _verification by facts_; neither do they dispute that to make general rules of exceptions, to create imaginary laws, and to take these pretended laws for the basis of argument, belongs only to the aberrations of the middle age, profoundly disdained by men of earnest thought and severe reason. let us apply these data unsparingly to the two principal affirmations of m. michelet. it is a principle in biology that _no physiological condition is a morbid condition_; consequently, the monthly crisis peculiar to woman is not a disease, but a normal phenomenon, the derangement of which causes disturbance in the general health. woman, therefore, is not an invalid because her sex is subject to a peculiar law. can it be said that woman is wounded because she is subjected to a periodical fracture, the cicatrice of which is almost imperceptible? by no means. it would be absurd to call a man perpetually wounded who should take a fancy to scratch the end of his finger every month. michelet is too well informed to render it necessary for me to tell him that the normal hemorrhage does not proceed from this wound of the ovary, about which he makes so much ado, but from a congestion of the gestative organ. are women ill on the recurrence of the law peculiar to their sex? _very exceptionally, yes_; but in the indolent classes, in which transgressions in diet, the lack of an intelligent physical education, and a thousand causes which i need not point out here, render women valetudinarians. _generally, no._ all our vigorous peasant women, our robust laundresses, who stand the whole time with their feet in water, our workwomen, our tradeswomen, our teachers, our servant-maids, who attend with alacrity to their business and pleasures, experience no uncomfortableness, or at most, very little. michelet, therefore, has not only erred in erecting a physiological law into a morbid condition, but he has also sinned against rational method by making general rules of a few exceptions, and by proceeding from this generalization, contradicted by the great majority of facts, to construct a system of subjection. if it is of the faculty of abstracting and generalizing that michelet, as he employs it, robs woman, we can only congratulate her on the deprivation. not only is woman diseased, says michelet, in consequence of a biological law, but she is always diseased; she has uterine affections, hereditary tendencies, which may assume a terrible form in her sex, etc. we would ask michelet whether he considers his own sex as always diseased because it is corroded by cancer, disfigured by eruptions, tortured as much as ours by hereditary tendencies; for hereditary tendencies torture it as much as ours, and it is decimated and enfeebled far more fearfully by shameful diseases, the fruits of its excesses. of what, then, is michelet thinking, in laying such stress on the diseases of women in the face of the quite as numerous diseases of men? the wife should never be divorced or re-marry, because she has become the property of the husband. this is proved by the fact that the children of the lover or of the second husband resemble the first husband. if this is true, there are no children that resemble their mother. there are no children that resemble the progenitors or collateral relatives of their parents. _every child_ resembles the first that knew his mother. can you explain, then, why it is that so often he does _not_ resemble him? why he resembles a grandfather, an uncle, an aunt, a brother, a sister of one of the parents? why, in certain cities in the south of france, the inhabitants have preserved the greek type, ascribed to the women, instead of that of their barbaric fathers? why negresses who conceive from a white, bring into the world a mulatto, oftenest with thick lips, a flat nose, and woolly hair? why many children resemble portraits which had attracted the attention of the mother? why, in fine, physiologists, impressed by numerous facts, have thought themselves justified in declaring woman _the preserver of the type_? in the face of these undeniable facts, i ask you, yourself, what becomes of your theory? it returns to the domain of chimeras. some think that woman possesses a plastic force, which makes her mould her fruit after the model which love, hate, or fear has impressed within her brain; so that the child thus becomes merely a sort of photograph of a cerebral image of the mother. by the aid of this theory, we might explain the resemblance of the child to the father, to the first husband, to beloved relatives or to friends, either living or dead; but it would be impossible, thereby, to explain how a woman can reproduce in her child the features of a progenitor of her husband or of herself, whose portrait, even, she has never seen; or how, in spite of her wishes, the child resembles no one that she loves, etc. let us keep a discreet silence; the laws of generation and of resemblance are unknown. if we succeed in discovering them, it will be only by long and patient observation, with the aid of judicious criticism, and an honorable determination to be impartial. laws are not created, but discovered; ignorance is more healthful for the mind than error; to make general rules of _a few_ facts, without taking into account facts more numerous by thousands which contradict them, is not to form a science, but a system of poetical metaphysics; and these metaphysics, however gracefully draped they may be, are opposed to reason, to science, and to truth. michelet will pardon me this short lesson in method. i should not presume to give it to him, were not men repeating, like well-trained parrots, after him and proudhon, that woman is destitute of high intellectual faculties, that she is unsuited to science, that she has no comprehension of method, and other absurdities of like weight. allegations such as these place women in a wholly exceptional position, with respect to courtesy and reserve: they owe no consideration to those who deny them these; their most important business at the present time is to prove to men that they deceive themselves, and that they are deceived; that a woman is fully capable of teaching the chief among them how a law is discovered, how its reality is verified, how, and on what conditions we have a right to believe, and to style ourselves, rational, and rationalists. before concluding, let us dwell on a few passages of the book on love. i am curious to know what woman michelet addresses when he says: "spare me your elaborate discussions on the equality of the sexes. woman is not only our equal, but in many points our superior. sooner or later she will know everything. the question to decide here is, whether she should know all in her first season of love. oh, how much she would lose by it! youth, freshness, poetry--does she wish, at the first blow, to abandon all these? is she in such haste to grow old?" pardon me, sir; you have already decreed that _there are no longer any old women_; nothing, therefore, can make woman grow old. "there is knowledge of all kinds," you say; "likewise, at all ages, the knowledge of woman should be different from that of man. it is less science that she needs, than the essence of science, and its living elixir." what is this _essence_, and this _living elixir_ of science? poetry aside, can you, in exact and definite terms, explain to me what they mean? can you prove to me, a woman, that i desire to possess knowledge differently from you? take care! disciple of liberty, you have not the right to think and to wish in my place. i have, like you, an intellect and a free will, to which you are bound, by your principles, to pay sovereign respect. now i forbid you to speak for any woman; i forbid you in the name of what you call _the rights of the soul_. "you by no means deny," you say, "that, strictly speaking, a young woman can read everything, and inform herself of everything; can pass through all the ordeals to which the mind of man is subjected, and still remain pure. you only maintain," you add, "that her soul, withered by reading, palled by novels, living habitually on the stimulus of play-houses, on the aqua-fortis of criminal courts, will become, not corrupted, perhaps, but vulgar, common, trivial, like the curb-stone in the street. this curb-stone is a good stone; you have only to break it to see that it is white within. this does not hinder it from being sadly soiled outside, in every respect as dirty as the street gutter from which it has been splashed. "is this, madam, the ideal to which you lay claim for her who should remain the temple of man, the altar of his heart, whence he daily rekindles the flame of pure love?" a truce to imagery and oratorical outbursts; none of us demand for woman any degradation whatever. there would be no need for us to demand what you censure, since it is thoroughly authorized and practised. i by no means wish to accuse you of bad faith, of want of reflection, and of too much moral tolerance; yet let us strip off your poetic mantle, and translate your thought into prose; the drapery will no longer make us forget the idea. when instruction has been demanded for the people, has any one ever taken it into his head to fancy that the point in question was to make them read novels, to swell the attendance on criminal courts, and to multiply theatres? no, you will say. what authorizes you, then, to believe that those who demand a solid education for woman, are seeking that of of which you, on your part, do not dream for the people? on the other hand, do you cultivate the intellect of man by novels, theatres, and spectacles of criminal courts? is it in these things that his knowledge consists? no, you will say. what is there, then, in common between that which you censure, and the knowledge that we desire for woman; and why attribute to us absurd ideas, that you may have the pleasure of wrangling with phantoms? all your fine ladies are nurtured on novels, plays, and judicial excitements; yet they are neither vulgar, nor trivial, nor comparable to curb-stones sullied by the mud of the streets; what you tell them, therefore, is no more true than kind. but if you pay them doubtful compliments, which they do not deserve, you absolve them too easily, in turn. listen to our principles, that you may not run the risk of appearing unjust with respect to us. corruption in our eyes, is not merely the want of chastity, or the shameful suit of gallantry, but all habitual improper sentiment, all weakening of the moral sense, and we absolutely condemn everything which has power to lessen the sensibility of the soul, and to turn it aside from the practice of justice, of virtue, and of self-respect. in consequence, we profess that the spectacles of criminal courts habituate the heart to insensibility, and should be avoided as much as executions. we profess that the modern drama is generally evil, because it excites interest for adulterers, robbers, seducers and prostitutes; that the intellect is subjected in theatres to an unhealthy and enervating atmosphere. we profess, lastly, that novels should be read with great moderation, because, in general, when they do not corrupt the morals, they pervert the judgment and waste precious time. though we love and esteem art, we are indignant at the bad use which is made of it, and we have little esteem for those who avail themselves of it to lead the heart astray, and to pervert the moral sense. we say to woman: educate yourselves, be worthy and chaste; life is earnest, employ it earnestly. you see that _woman in the image of the stained curb-stone_, is by no means the ideal of which we dream. can you, a man of heart, can you treat women as wretched and corrupt because they are willing no longer to be slaves? and besides, do you think that liberty, which in man engenders individuality and virtue, would produce in woman moral degradation? ah! leave these calumnies to those who have no heart; they ill befit you, who may deceive yourself through the lofty poetry of your soul, but who can wish for evil only because you believe it to be good. the women who ask to be free, great, mistaken poet, are those who are conscious of their dignity, of the true rôle of their sex in humanity; those who desire that the women who follow them in the career of labor should no longer be obliged _to live by man_, because to live by him is at least to prostitute their dignity, and almost always, their whole person. they wish that woman should be the equal of man, in order to love him holily, to devote herself without calculation, to cease to deceive him or to rule him by artifice, and to become to him a useful auxiliary, instead of a servant or a toy. they know our influence over you; slaves, we can only debase you; at present, we render you cowardly, selfish, and dishonest; we send you out every morning, like vultures, upon society, to provide for our foolish expenses or to endow our children; we, women of emancipation, are unwilling that our sex should longer play this odious rôle, and be, through its slavery, an instrument of demoralization and of social degradation,--and this you impute to us as a crime! ah! i do not believe it; you yourself will say that i ought not to believe it. looking from a deplorably narrow stand point, you fancied that you saw all woman-kind in a few valetudinarians, your kind heart was moved for them, and you sought to protect them. had you looked far and high, you would have seen the workers of thought and muscle; you would have comprehended that inequality is to them a source of corruption and suffering. then, in your lofty and glowing style, you would have written, not this book of love which repels all intelligent and reflective women, but a great and beautiful work to demand the right of half the human race. the misfortune, the irreparable misfortune, is that instead of climbing to the mountain top to look at every moving thing under the vast horizon, you have shut yourself up in a narrow valley, where, seeing nothing but pale violets, you have concluded that every flower must be also a pale violet; whilst nature has created a thousand other species, on the contrary, strong and vigorous, with a right, like you, to earth, air, water and sunshine. whatever may be your love, your kindness and your good intentions towards woman, your book would be immensely dangerous to the cause of her liberty, if men were in a mood to relish your ethics: but they will remain as they are; and the dignity of woman, kept waking by their brutality, their despotism, their desertion, their foul morals, will not be lulled to sleep under the fresh, verdant, alluring and treacherously perfumed foliage of this manchineel tree, called the book of _love_. in michelet's later work, "woman," by the side of many beautiful pages full of heart and poetry are found things that we regret to point out, for the sake of the author. m. michelet has evidently amended, as we shall press on him; but as a spice of vengeance, he pretends that their language has been dictated by directors, _philosophers and others_. we know some of these ladies personally, and can assure him that they have had no director of any kind--quite the contrary. is it also in consequence of rancor that the author pretends that woman loves man, not for his real worth, but because he pleases her, and that she makes god in her own image, "a god of partiality and caprice, who saves those who please him?" "in feminine theology," adds michelet, "god would say: i love thee because thou art a sinner, because thou hast no merit; i have no reason to love thee, but it is sweet to me to forgive." very well, your sex loves woman _for her real worth_; we never hear a man, enamored of some unworthy creature, say: "what matters it, i love her!" your love is always wise, and given reasonably; none but deserving women can please you. i ask why so many honest women are abandoned and unhappy, while so many that are impure and vicious, yet sought and adored, are in possession of the art of charming, of ruining and of perverting men? michelet deplores the state of divorce which is established between the sexes; we deplore it likewise; but our complaints do not remedy it. men shun marriage from motives that do them no credit: they have at their pleasure the poor girls whom want places at their mercy; they shun marriage because they do not wish a real, that is, an autonomous wife at their side; for themselves, they wish liberty, for their wife, slavery. on their side, women tend to enfranchisement, which is well for them as it is for men: they should not suffer themselves to be turned aside from their pursuit; on the other hand, as men are attracted by a costly toilette, and neglect plainly dressed women, if the latter, in the wish to please and retain them, imitate public women, whose is the fault? is it ours, who desire to please you and to be loved by you, or yours, who can only be attracted by dress? if you loved us _for our real worth_, and not because our dresses and jewels please your eye, we would not ruin you. let us point out in a few lines the contradictions and differences that are found between michelet's first and second works. in both, woman is the flame of love and of the fireside religion, harmony, poetry, the guardian of the domestic hearth, a housewife whose cares are ennobled by love: civilization is due to her grace, she should be the representative of grace if not of beauty. in both books, the household must be isolated; the wife must have no intimate friendship; mother, brothers and sisters prevent her from becoming absorbed as she ought to be in her husband. what we think of this absorption is already known; we will only say here that if the friends and relatives of the wife should be expelled, those of the husband should be none the less so; the mother and friends of the husband have more power to injure the wife than those of the wife to injure the husband; numerous sad facts prove this. in "love," woman is a receptive power, incapable of comprehending conscientious works; she must receive everything from her husband in the intellectual and moral point of view. in "woman," she is half of the couple, in the same ratio as man is capable of the most lofty speculations, and thoroughly understands administration. she gives the child the education that before all else will influence the rest of his life. "so long as woman is not the partner of labor and of _action_," says the author, "we are serfs, we can do nothing--she may even be the equal of man in medical science; she is a school, she is sole educatress, etc." very well, thus far; and doubtless michelet would have been consistent, had he not got into his head a masculine and a feminine ideal which spoils everything; he reasoned to himself: "man is a creator, woman a harmony whose end and destination is love;" and, consequently, he marks out for the latter a plan of education different from that by which man should be developed; the natural sciences are suited to woman, history should only be taught her to form in her a firm moral and religious faith. as love is her vocation, to each season of the life of woman should correspond an object of love; flowers, the doll, poor children, next the lover, then the husband and children, then the care of young orphans, prisoners, etc. in "love," the wife alone seems bound to confess to the husband. in "woman," the obligation is mutual. the widow, in "love," should not marry again, in "woman," she may espouse a friend of the husband, or still better, the one whom he may choose on his deathbed; if she is too old, she may watch over a young man; but she will do better to protect young girls, to make peace in families, to facilitate marriages, to superintend prisons, etc. we will carry the analysis no further; our objections to the author's doctrine will be found in the article on proudhon, and in the sequel of the work. chapter ii. proudhon. the tenth and eleventh studies of the last work of m. proudhon, "justice in the revolution and in the church," comprise the author's whole doctrine concerning woman, love, and marriage. before analyzing it and criticising its chief points, i must acquaint my readers with the polemical commencement which _appears_ to have given rise to the publication of the strange doctrines of our great critic. in the _revue philosophique_ of december, , the following article by me was published under the title, _proudhon and the woman question_:-- "women have a weakness for soldiers, it is said. it is true, but they should not be reproached for it; they love even the show of courage, which is a glorious and holy thing. i am a woman, proudhon is a great soldier of thought. i cannot therefore prevent myself from regarding him with esteem and sympathy; sentiments to which he will owe the moderation of my attack on his opinions concerning the rôle of woman in humanity. in his first "memoir on property," note on page , edition of , we read the following paradox in the style of the koran: "between man and woman may exist love, passion, the bond of habit, whatever you like; there is not _true society_. _man and woman are not companions._ the difference of sex gives rise between them to a separation _of the same nature as that which the difference of races places between animals_. thus, far from applauding what is now called the emancipation of woman, i should be much more inclined, were it necessary to go to this extremity, _to put woman in seclusion_." in the third "memoir on property," we read: "this signifies that woman, _by nature and by destination_, is neither _associate, nor citizen, nor public functionary_." i open the "creation of order in humanity," and read there: "it is in treating of education that we must determine the part of woman in society. woman, until she becomes a wife, is _apprentice_, at most _under-superintendent_, in the work-shop, as in the family, she _remains a minor, and does not form a part of the commonwealth_. woman is not, as is commonly affirmed, _the half nor the equal of man_, but the living and sympathetic _complement_ that is lacking to make him an individual." in the "economical contradictions," we read: "for my part, the more i reflect on the destiny of woman outside of the family and the household, the less i can account for it: _courtesan or housewife_, (housewife, i say, not servant,) i see no medium." i had always laughed at these paradoxes; they had no more doctrinal value in my eyes than the thousand other freaks so common to this celebrated critic. a short time since, an obscure journal pretended that proudhon, in private conversations, had drawn up a formula of an entire system based on masculine omnipotence, and published this system in its columns. one of two things is certain, said i to myself; either the journalist speaks falsely, or he tells the truth; if he speaks falsely, his evident aim is to destroy proudhon in the confidence of the friends of progress, and to make him lose his lawful share of influence, in which case, he must be warned of it; if he tells the truth, proudhon must still be warned of the fact, since it is impossible that, being the father of _several daughters_, paternal feeling should not have set him on the road to reason. at all events, i must know about it. i wrote to proudhon, who, the next day, returned me an answer which i transcribe _verbatim_: "madam: "i know nothing of the article published by m. charles robin in the _telegraphe_ of yesterday. in order to inform myself with regard to this paraphrase, as you entitle the article of m. robin, i examined my first "memoir on property," page , garnier edition, (i have no other,) and found no note there. i examined the same page in my other pamphlet, and discovered no note anywhere. it is therefore impossible for me to reply to your first question. "i do not exactly know what you call _my opinions_ on woman, marriage and the family; for i believe i have given no one a right to speak of my opinions on these subjects, any more than on that of property. "i have written economical and social criticisms; in making these criticisms (i take the word in its highest signification), i may have indeed expressed judgments to a greater or less degree relative, concerning a truth. i have no where that i know of, framed a dogma, a theory, a collection of principles; in a word, a system. all that i can tell you is, in the first place, as far as concerns myself, that my opinions have been formed progressively and in an unvarying direction; that, at the time at which i write, i have not deviated from this direction; and that, with this reserve, my existing opinions accord perfectly with what they were seventeen years ago when i published my first memoirs. "in the second place, with regard to you, madam, who, in interrogating me do not leave me in ignorance of your sentiments, i will tell you with all the frankness which your letter exacts, and which you expect from a compatriot, that i do not regard the question of marriage, of woman, and of the family in the same light as yourself, or any of the innovating authors whose ideas have come to my knowledge; that i do not admit, for instance, that woman has the right at the present time to separate her cause from that of man, and to demand for herself special legislation, as though her chief tyrant and enemy were man; that further, i do not admit that, whatever reparation may be due to woman, of joint thirds with her husband (or father) and her children, the most rigorous justice can ever make her the equal of man; that neither do i admit that this inferiority of the female sex constitutes for it either servitude, or humiliation, or a diminution of dignity, liberty, or happiness. i maintain that the contrary is true. "i consider, therefore, the sort of crusade that is being carried on at this time by a few estimable ladies in both hemispheres in behalf of the prerogatives of their sex, as a symptom of the general renovation that is being wrought; but nevertheless, as an exaggerated symptom, _an infatuation that proceeds precisely from the infirmity of the sex and its incapacity to understand and to govern itself_. "i have read, madam, a few of your articles. i find that your wit, capacity and knowledge place you certainly above an infinity of males who have nothing of their sex but the proletary faculty. in this respect, were it necessary to decide on your thesis by comparisons of this kind, you would doubtless gain the cause. "but you have too much good sense not to comprehend that the question here is by no means to compare individual with individual, but the whole feminine sex in its aggregate with the whole masculine sex, in order to know whether these two halves, the complements of each other, are or are not equals in the human androgynus. "in accordance with this principle, i do not believe that your system, which is, i think, that of equality or equivalence, can be sustained, and i regard it as a weakness of our epoch. "you have interrogated me, madam, with franche-comtois abruptness. i wish you to take my words in good part, and, since i doubtless do not agree at all with you, not to see in me an enemy of woman, a detractor of your sex, worthy of the animadversions of maidens, wives and mothers. the rules of fair discussion oblige you to admit at least that you may be deceived, that i may be right, that in such case it is i who am truly the defender and friend of woman; i ask nothing more. "you and your companions have raised a very great question, which i think that you have hitherto treated quite superficially. but the indifferent manner in which this subject has been treated should not be considered as conclusive reason for not receiving it; on the contrary, i regard it as another reason for the advocates of the equality of the two sexes to make greater efforts. in this respect, madam, i doubt not that you will signalize yourself anew, and await with impatience the volume that you announce, which i promise to read with all the attention of which i am capable." on reading this letter, i transcribed the note which m. proudhon had not succeeded in finding, and sent it to him, with the article of m. charles robin. as he did not reply, his silence authorizes me to believe the journalist. ah! you persist in maintaining that woman is inferior, minor! you believe that women will bow devoutly before the high decree of your autocracy! no, no; it will not, it cannot be so. to battle, m. proudhon! but let us first dispose of the question of my personality. you consider me as an exception, by telling me that, if it were necessary to decide on my thesis by comparison between a host of men and myself, the decision would be, doubtless, in favor of my opinions. mark my reply: "_every true law is absolute._ the ignorance or folly of grammarians, moralists, jurisconsults, and other philosophers, alone invented the proverb: there is no rule without an exception. _the mania of imposing laws on nature, instead of studying nature's own laws, afterwards confirmed this aphorism of ignorance._" who said this? you, in the "creation of order in humanity." why is your letter in contradiction with this doctrine? have you changed your opinion? then i entreat you to tell me whether men of worth are not quite as exceptional in their sex, as women of merit in theirs. you have said: "whatever may be the differences existing between men, they are equal, because they are human beings." under penalty of inconsistency, you must add: whatever may be the differences existing between the sexes, they are equal, because they form a part of the human species--unless you prove that women are not a part of humanity. individual worth, not being the basis of right between men, cannot become so between the sexes. your compliment is, therefore, a contradiction. i add, lastly, that i feel myself linked with my sex by too close a solidarity ever to be content to see myself abstracted from it by an illogical process. i am a woman--i glory in it; i rejoice if any value is set upon me, not for myself, indeed, but because this contributes to modify the opinion of men with respect to my sex. a woman who is happy in hearing it said: "_you are a man_," is, in my eyes, a simpleton, an unworthy creature, avowing the superiority of the masculine sex; and the men who think that they compliment her in this manner, are vainglorious and impertinent boasters. if i acquire any desert, i thus pay honor to women, i reveal their aptitudes, i do not pass into the other sex any more than proudhon abandons his own, because he is elevated by his intellect above the level of foolish and ignorant men; and if the ignorance of the mass of men prejudges nothing against their right, no more does the ignorance of the mass of women prejudge anything against theirs. you affirm that man and woman do not form _true society_. tell us, then, what is marriage, what is society. you affirm that the difference of sex places between man and woman a separation of the same nature _as that which the difference of races places between animals_. then prove: that the race is not essentially formed of two sexes; that man and woman can be reproduced separately; that their common product is a mixed breed, or a mule; that their characteristics are dissimilar, apart from sexuality. and if you come off with honor from this great feat of strength, you will still have to prove: that to difference of race corresponds difference _of right_; that the black, the yellow, the copper-colored persons belonging to races inferior to the caucasian cannot truly associate with the latter; that they are minors. come, sir, study anthropology, physiology, and phrenology, and employ your serial dialectics to prove all this to us. you are inclined to seclude woman, instead of emancipating her? prove to men that they have the right to do so; to women, that it is their duty to suffer themselves to be placed under lock and key. i declare, for my part, that i would not submit to it. does proudhon remember how he threatens the priest who shall lay his hand on his children? well, the majority of women would not confine themselves to threats against those who might have the mussulmanic inclination of proudhon. you affirm that by _nature_, and by _destination_, woman is neither _associate_, nor _citizen_, nor _functionary_. tell us, in the first place, _what nature_ it is necessary to have to be all these. reveal to us the _nature_ of woman, since you claim to know it better than she does herself. reveal to us her _destination_, which apparently is not that which we see, nor which she believes to be such. you affirm that woman, until her marriage, is nothing more than _apprentice_, at most, under-superintendent in the social workshop; that she is _minor_ in the family, and _does not form a part of the commonwealth_. prove, then, that she does not execute in the social workshop and in the family works _equivalent_, or equal, to those of man. prove that she is less useful than man. prove that the qualities that give to man the right of citizenship, do not exist in woman. i shall be severe with you on this head. to subordinate woman in a social order in which she must _work in order to live_ is to _desire prostitution_; for disdain of the producer extends to the value of the product; and when such a doctrine is contrary to science, good sense, and progress, to sustain it is _cruelty_, is _moral monstrosity_. the woman who cannot live by working, can only do so by prostituting herself; the equal of man or a courtesan, such is the alternative. he is blind who does not see it. you see no other fate for woman than to be courtesan or housewife. open your eyes wider, and dream less, and tell me whether all those useful and courageous women are only housewives or courtesans, who support themselves honorably by arts, literature, instruction; who found numerous and prosperous manufactures; who superintend commercial establishments; who are such good managers, that many among them conceal or repair the faults resulting from the carelessness or dissipation of their husbands. prove to us, therefore, that all this is wrong; prove to us that it is not the result of human progress; prove to us that labor, the stamp of the human species--that labor, which you consider as the great emancipator--that labor, which makes men equal and free, has not virtue to make women equal and free. if you prove this to us, we shall have to register one contradiction more. you do not admit that woman should have the right of claiming for herself special legislation, as though man were her chief enemy and tyrant. you, sir, are the one that legislates specially for woman; she herself desires nothing but the common law. yes; until now, man, in subordinating woman, has been her tyrant and enemy. i am of your opinion when, in your first "memoir on property," you say that, so long as the strong and the weak are not _equals_, they are _strangers_, they cannot form an alliance, _they are enemies_. yes, thrice yes, so long as man and woman are not equals, woman is in the right in considering man as her _tyrant_ and _enemy_. "the most rigorous justice cannot make woman the equal of man." and it is to a woman whom you set in your opinion above a host of men, that you affirm such a thing! what a contradiction! "it is _an infatuation_ for women to demand their right!" _an infatuation_ like that of slaves, pretending that they were created freemen; of the citizens of ' , proving that men are equal before the law. do you know who were, who are the infatuated? the masters, the nobles, the whites, the men who have denied, who do deny, and who will deny, that slaves, citizens, blacks, and women, are born for liberty and equality. "the sex to which i belong is incapable of understanding and governing itself," say you! prove that it is destitute of intellect; prove that great empresses and great queens have not governed as well as great emperors and great kings; prove against all the facts patent that women are not in general good observers and good managers; then prove that all men understand themselves perfectly and govern themselves admirably, and that progress moves as if on wheels. "woman is neither the _half_ nor the _equal_ of man; she is _the complement that finally makes him an individual_; the two sexes form _the human androgynus_." come; seriously, what means this jingle of empty words? they are metaphors, unworthy to figure in scientific language, when our own and the other higher zoölogical species are in question. the lioness, the she-wolf and the tigress are no more the halves or the complement of their species than woman is the complement of man. or nature has established two _exteriorities_, two wills, she affirms two unities, two entireties not one, or _two halves_; the arithmetic of nature cannot be destroyed by the freaks of the imagination. is equality before the law based upon _individual_ qualities? proudhon replies in the "creation of order in humanity": "neither birth, nor figure, _nor faculties_, nor fortune, nor rank, nor profession, nor talent, nor anything that distinguishes individuals establishes between them a difference of species; all being men, and _the law regulating only human relations, it is the same for all_; so that to establish exceptions, it would be necessary to prove that the individuals excepted are _above_ or _beneath_ the human species." prove to us that women are _above_ or _beneath_ the human species, that they do not form a part of it, or, _under penalty of contradiction_, submit to the consequences of your doctrine. you say in the "social revolution;" "neither conscience, nor reason, nor liberty, nor labor, pure forces, _primary and creative faculties_, can be made mechanical without being destroyed. their reason of existence is in themselves; in their works they should find their reason of action. in this consists the human person, a sacred person, etc." prove that women have neither conscience, nor reason, nor moral liberty, and that they do not labor. if it is demonstrated that they possess the _primary and creative faculties_, respect their human person, for it is sacred. in the "creation of order in humanity," you say: "specifically, labor satisfies the desire of our personality, which tends invincibly to make a difference between itself and others, _to render itself independent_, _to conquer its liberty_ and its character." prove then that women have no special work, and, if facts contradict you, acknowledge that, it inevitably tends to _independence_, to _liberty_. do you deny that they are your equals because they are less intelligent as a whole than men? in the first place, i contest it; but i need not do so, you yourself resolve this difficulty in the "creation of order in humanity:" "the inequality of capacities, when not caused by constitutional vices, mutilation or want, results from general ignorance, insufficient method, lack or falsity of education, and divergence of intuition through lack of sequence, whence arises dispersion and confusion of ideas. now, all these facts productive of inequality are essentially abnormal, therefore the inequality of capacities is abnormal." unless you prove that women are mutilated by nature, i do not exactly see how you can escape the consequences of your syllogism: not only has feminine inferiority the same sources as masculine ignorance, but public education is refused to women, the great professional schools are closed to them, those who through their intellect equal the most intelligent among you have had twenty times as many difficulties and prejudices to overcome. you wish to subordinate women because in general they have less muscular force than you; but at this rate the weak men ought not to be the equals of the strong, and you combat this consequence yourself in your first "memoir on property," where you say: "social equilibrium is the equalization of the strong and the weak." if i have treated you with consideration, it is because you are an intelligent and progressive man, and because it is impossible that you should remain under the influence of the doctors of the middle age on one question, while you are in advance of the majority of your cotemporaries on so many others. you will cease to sustain an illogical series that is without foundation, remembering, as you have said so well in the "creation of order in humanity:" "that the greater part of philosophical aberrations and chimeras have arisen from attributing to logical series a reality that they do not possess, and endeavoring to explain the nature of man by abstractions." you will acknowledge that all the higher animal species are composed of two sexes; that in none is the female the inferior of the male, except sometimes through force, which cannot be the basis of human right; you will renounce the androgynus, which is only a dream. woman, a distinct individual, endowed with consciousness, intellect, will and activity like man, will be no longer separated from him before the laws. you will say of all, both men and women, as in your first "memoir on property:" "liberty is an absolute right, because it is to man what impenetrability is to matter, a condition _sine qua non_ of existence. equality is an _absolute right_, because without equality, there is no society." and you will thus show the second degree of sociability, which you yourself define, "the recognition in another of a personality _equal_ to our own." i appeal therefore from proudhon drunk with theology to proudhon sobered by facts and science, moved by the sorrows and disorders resulting from his own systems. i hope i shall not encounter his herculean club raised against the holy banner of truth and right; against woman,--that being physically so weak, morally so strong, who, bleeding, and steeped in gall beneath her crown of roses, is just on the point of reaching the top of the rough mountain where progress will shortly give her her lawful place by the side of man. but if my hopes are deceitful, mark me well, m. proudhon, you will find me standing firmly in the breach, and, whatever may be your strength, i vow that you shall not overthrow me. i will courageously defend the right and dignity of your daughters against the despotism and logical error of their father, and the victory will remain mine, for, definitively, it always belongs to truth." proudhon replied by the following letter in the _revue philosophique_: "to madame d'hÉricourt. "well, madam, what did i tell you in my last letter? "i consider the sort of crusade that is being carried on at this time by some estimable ladies in both hemispheres in behalf of their sex, as a symptom of the general revolution that is being wrought; but nevertheless as an exaggerated symptom, an infatuation that proceeds precisely from the inferiority of the sex and its incapacity to understand and to govern itself. "i begin by withdrawing the word _infatuation_, which may have wounded you, but which was not, as you know, intended for publicity. "this point adjusted, i will tell you, madam, with all the respect that i owe you as a woman, that i did not expect to see you confirm my judgment so speedily by your petulant appeal. "i was at first at a loss to know whence came the discontent that impelled the bravest, the most distinguished among you, to an assault on paternal and marital supremacy. i said to myself, not without disquietude, what is the matter? what is it that troubles them? with what do they reproach us? to which of our faculties, our virtues, our prerogatives; or else of our failings, our perfidies, our calamities, do they aspire? is this the cry of their outraged nature, or an aberration of their understanding? "your attack, joined to the studies which i immediately commenced on the subject, came at last to solve the question. "no, madam, you know nothing of your sex; you do not know the first word of the question that you and your honorable confederates are agitating with so much noise and so little success. and, if you do not comprehend this question; if, in your eight pages of reply to my letter, there are forty paralogisms, it results precisely, as i have told you, from your _sexual infirmity_. i mean by this word, the exactness of which is not, perhaps, irreproachable, the quality of your understanding, which permits you to seize the relation of things only as far as we, men, place your finger upon them. you have in the brain, as in the body, a certain organ incapable by itself of overcoming its native inertia, and which the masculine spirit alone is capable of setting in motion; and even this does not always succeed. such, madam, is the result of my direct and positive observations; i make them over to your obstetrical sagacity, and leave you to calculate therefrom the incalculable consequences to your thesis. "i will willingly enter into an elaborate discussion with you, madam, on this obscure subject, in the _revue philosophique_. but--as you will comprehend as well as i--the broader the question, the more it affects our most sacred, social, and domestic interests, the more important is it that we should approach it with seriousness and prudence. "the following course, therefore, appears to me indispensable: in the first place, you have promised us a book, and i await it. i need this work to complete my documents and to finish my demonstration. since i had the honor of receiving and replying to your letter, i have made earnest and interesting studies on woman, which i ask only to rectify if they are erroneous; as i also desire to set a seal on them if, as i have every reason to presume, your publication brings me but one confirmation more. "i have verified by facts and documents the truth of all the assertions which you call on me to retract, namely: "that the difference of sex raises up between man and woman a separation analogous--i did not say equal--to that which the difference of races and species establishes between animals; "that by reason of this separation or difference, man and woman are not _associates_; i did not say that they could not be anything else; "that, consequently, woman can only be a _citizen_ in so far as she is the wife of a citizen; as we say _madame la presidente_ to the wife of a president: which does not imply that no other rôle exists for her. "in two words, i am in a position to establish, by observation and reasoning, the facts, that woman, being weaker than man with respect to _muscular force_, as you yourself acknowledge, is not less inferior to him with respect to industrial, artistic, philosophical and moral power; so that if the condition of woman in society be regulated, as you demand for her, by the same justice as the condition of man, it is all over with her, she is a slave. "to which i add, immediately, that this system is precisely what i reject: the principle of pure, rigorous right, of that terrible right which the roman compared to an unsheathed sword, _jus strictum_, and which rules individuals of the same sex among themselves, being different from that which governs the relations between individuals of different sexes. "what is this principle, differing from justice, and which, notwithstanding, would not exist without justice; which all men feel in the depth of their souls, and of which you women alone have no idea? is it love? nothing more? i leave it to you to divine. and if your penetration succeeds in clearing up this mystery, i consent, madam, to sign you a certificate of genius; _et eris mihi magnus apollo_. but then you will have given me the cause. "such, madam, in a few words, are the conclusions to which i have arrived, and which the reading of your book surely will not modify. notwithstanding, as it is absolutely possible that your personal observations may have led you to diametrically opposite results, good faith in the discussion and respect for our readers and ourselves exact that, before entering upon the controversy, a reciprocal interchange of all the documents that we have collected should be made between us. you may take cognizance of mine. "one other condition, which i entreat you, madam, to take in good part, and from which i shall not depart under any pretext, is that you shall choose yourself a male sponsor. "you, who have declared yourself so energetically on this point, would not wish your adversary to make the least sacrifice to gallantry in so serious a discussion; and you are right. but i, madam, who am so far from admitting your pretensions, cannot thus release myself from the obligations which manly and honorable civility prescribes towards ladies; and as i propose, besides, to make you serve as a subject of experiment; as, after having made the autopsy of five or six women of the greatest merit for the instruction of my readers, i count also on making yours, you will conceive that it is quite impossible for me to argue from you, of you, and with you, without exposing myself at every word to a violation of all the rules of conventionality. "i know, madam, that such a condition will annoy you; it is one of the disadvantages of your position to which you must submit courageously. you are a plaintiff, and, as a woman, you affirm that you are oppressed. appear, then, before the judgment seat of incorruptible public opinion with this tyrannous chain which rouses your ire, and which, according to me, exists only in your disordered imagination. you will be but the more interesting for it. besides, you would deride me if, while sustaining the superiority of man, i should begin by according to you the equality of woman by disputing with you on an equal footing of companionship. you have not counted, i imagine, upon my falling into this inconsistency. "you will not lack for champions, besides. i expect of your courtesy, madam, that he whom you shall select as my antagonist, who will sign and affirm all your articles, and assume the responsibility of your affirmations and replies, shall be worthy of both you and me; so that, in fine, i shall not have a right to complain that you have pitted me against a man of straw. "what has most surprised me, since this hypothesis of the equality of the sexes, renewed by the greeks as well as by many others, has become known among us, has been to see that it numbered among its partisans almost as many men as women. i sought a long time for the reason of this strange fact, which i at first attributed to chivalric zeal; i think now that i have found it. it is not to the advantage of the knights. i shall be glad, madam, for their sake and yours, if this serious examination should prove that the new emancipators of woman are the most lofty, the broadest, and the most progressive, if not the most masculine minds of the age. "you say, madam, that women have a weakness for soldiers. it is doubtless on this account that you have lashed me soundly. _he who loveth, chasteneth._ when i was three years and a half old, my mother, to get rid of me, sent me to a school-mistress of the neighborhood, an excellent woman, called madelon. one day she threatened to whip me for some piece of mischief. it made me furious. i snatched her switch from her hand, and flung it in her face. i was always a disobedient subject. i shall be glad, therefore, to find that you do not assume towards me castigating airs, which it does not belong to a man to return; but i leave this to your discretion. strike, redouble the blows, do not spare me; and if i should chance to grow restive under the rod, believe me none the less, madam, your affectionate servant and compatriot, "proudhon." taking up the discussion in turn, i replied as follows, in the ensuing february number:-- i am forbidden, sir, to answer your letter in the indecorous style which you have deemed proper to assume towards me: by respect for the gravity of my subject; by respect for our readers; by respect for myself. you find yourself ill at ease in the popilian circle that has been traced around you by the hand of a woman; all understand this, i among the rest. ill-armed for defence, worse armed, perhaps, for attack, you would like to escape; but your skill as a tactician will avail you nothing; you shall not quit the fatal circle till vanquished, either by me, or by yourself, if you confess your weakness on the point in litigation, by continuing to refuse a discussion under flimsy pretexts, or, lastly, by public opinion, which will award to you the quality of inconsistency, the least desirable of all to a dialectician. this being understood, i must tell you that, personally, i am satisfied that you should attack, in _the rights of woman_, the cause of justice and progress. it is an augury of success to this cause; you have always been fatal to all that you have sought to sustain. it is true that your attitude in this question makes you _the ally of the dogmatism of the middle age_; it is true that the _official representatives_ of this dogmatism avail themselves, at the present time, of your arguments and your name to maintain their influence over women, and through them over men and children; and this in order to revive the past, to stifle the future. is this your intention? i do not believe it. you are, in my eyes, a subverter, a destroyer, in whom instinct sometimes gets the better of intellect, and from whom it shuts out a clear view of the consequences of his writings. formed for strife, you must have adversaries; and, in default of enemies, you cruelly fall on those who are fighting in the same ranks with yourself. in all your writings, one feels that the second part of education--that which inspires respect and love of woman--is completely wanting in you. let us come to your letter. you reproach me with having made _forty paralogisms_; it was your duty at least to have cited one of these. however, let us see. you say: between man and woman there is a separation of _the same nature as that which the difference of race establishes between animals_. woman, by nature and destination, is _neither associate, nor citizen, nor functionary_. she is, until marriage, only _apprentice_, at most, _under-superintendent_ in the social workshop; she is a _minor_ in the family, and _does not form a part of the commonwealth_. you conceive of no destiny for her outside of the household: she can be only _housewife_ or _courtesan_. she is incapable _of understanding and of governing herself_. to make a paralogism is to draw a conclusion from false premises; now did i conclude from such in saying: in order that all these paradoxes may become truths, you have to prove: that man and woman are not of the same race; that they can be reproduced separately; that their common product is a mixed breed or a mule; that difference of races corresponds to difference of rights. you have to define for us an association, and also the nature of a citizen or a functionary. you have to prove that woman is less useful than man in society; that, at the present time, she is necessarily a housewife, when she is not a courtesan; that she is destitute of intellect, that she knows nothing of government. you pretend that woman has not a right _to demand for herself special legislation_. was i guilty of a paralogism in pointing out to you that it is not she, _but you_, who demand this, since you lay down as a principle the inequality of the sexes before human law? all that you say relatively to the _pretended_ inferiority of woman and the conclusions which you draw from it applying to human races inferior to our own, it would be easy for me to demonstrate that the consequence of your principles is the _re-establishment of slavery_. the nearest perfect has the right to take advantage of the weakest, instead of becoming his educator. an admirable doctrine, full of the spirit of progress, full of generosity! i compliment you most sincerely on it. you say that labor specialized is the great emancipator of man; that labor, conscience, liberty, and reason, find only in themselves their right to exist and to act; that these pure forces constitute the human person, _which is sacred_. you lay down the principle that the law is the same for all; so that, to establish exceptions, it would be necessary to prove that the individuals excepted are _above_ or _beneath_ the human species. you say that social equilibrium is the equalization of the strong and the weak; that all have the same rights, not through that which distinguishes them from each other, but through _that which is common to them_,--_the quality of human beings_. was i guilty of paralogisms in saying to you: then you cannot, by reason of her weakness or even of a supposed inferiority, exclude woman from equality of right: your principles interdict it, unless you prove: _that she is superior or inferior to the human species, and that she does not form a part of it;_ _that she is destitute of conscience, of justice, and of reason; that she does not labor, that she does not execute specialties of labor._ it is evident, that your doctrine concerning general right is in contradiction to your doctrine concerning the right of women; it is evident that you are very inconsequent, and that, however skillful you may be, you cannot extricate yourself from this embarrassment. in what you call an answer, there are a few passages that are worth the trouble of pausing to consider. you ask _what impels the bravest, the most distinguished among us to an assault on paternal and marital supremacy_. you do not comprehend the movement, or you would have said _masculine supremacy_. in my turn, i ask you: what would have impelled proudhon, a roman slave, to play the part of spartacus? what would have impelled proudhon, a feudal serf, to organize a jacquerie? what would have impelled proudhon, a black slave, to become a toussaint l'ouverture? what would have impelled proudhon, a russian serf, to take the character of poutgachef? what would have impelled proudhon, a citizen of ' , to overthrow the privileges of the nobility and the clergy? what would impel proudhon ... but i will not touch on reality. what would proudhon have replied to all the holders of _prerogatives_ and _supremacy_, who would not have failed on their part to have put to him the naïve question: "ah! what does this vile slave, this unworthy serf, this audacious and stupid citizen want of us, then? _to which of our faculties, our virtues, our prerogatives does he aspire? is this the cry of his outraged nature, or an aberration of his understanding?_" the answer that proudhon would make, is that which will be made to him by all women who have attained majority. there is in the brain of woman, say you, an organ which the masculine mind alone is capable of setting in motion. render the service then to science of pointing it out and demonstrating its manner of working. as to the other organ of which you speak, it is its inertia, doubtless, that has caused it to be defined by some, _parvum animal furibondum, octo ligamentis alligatum_. before choosing anatomical and physiological facts as proofs of your assertions, consult some learned physician; such is the counsel given you, not only by my _obstetrical, but also by my medical sagacity_. you offer to acquaint me with your _direct_ and _positive_ observations. what, sir! has it been possible for you in a few weeks to delve into the depths of the healthy and the diseased organization! to go through the whole labyrinth of functions implicated in the questions. it is more than miraculous; despite my good will, i cannot believe it, unless you prove that you are a _prophet_ in communication with some deity. shall i tell you what i really think? it is that you have studied these matters neither _directly_ nor _indirectly_, and that it belongs to me to tell you _that you do not understand woman; that you do not know the first word of the question_. your five or six _purely_ moral and intellectual autopsies prove only one thing; namely, your inexperience in physiology. you have naïvely mistaken the scalpel of your imagination for that of science. with regard to autopsies, you tell me that you are awaiting my promised work, in order to make mine. it would be doubtless a great honor to be stretched on your dissecting table in such good company as you promise me, but the instruction of my future readers does not permit me to enjoy this satisfaction. i shall not send my book to press until your own shall have appeared, for i, too, intend to make your autopsy; dissect me therefore now; i promise you on my side that i will perform my duty conscientiously, properly and delicately. "woman," you say, "being weaker than man with respect to _muscular force_, is not less inferior to him with respect to industrial, artistic, philosophical and moral power; so that if the condition of woman in society be regulated, as you demand for her, _by the same justice as the condition of man_, it is all over with her; she is a slave." terrible man, you will be then always inconsistent, you will always contradict yourself and facts! what do you hold as the basis of right? _the simple quality of being human_; everything that distinguishes individuals disappears before right. well! even though it were true that women were inferior to men, would it follow that their rights were not the same? according to you, by no means, if they form a part of the human species. there are not two kinds of justice, there is but one; there are not two kinds of right, there is but one in the absolute sense. the recognition and respect of individual autonomy in the lowest of human beings as well as in the man and woman of genius is the law which should preside over social relations; must a woman tell you this! let us now examine the value of your series of _man and woman_. with respect to the reproduction of the species, they form a series; this is beyond dispute. as to the rest, do they form a series? no. _if it were a law_ that woman is _muscularly_ weaker than man, the strongest woman would be weaker than the weakest man; facts demonstrate the contrary daily. _if it were a law_ that women are inferior to men in _industrial power_, the most skillful woman would be inferior in industrial pursuits to the least skillful man; now facts demonstrate daily that there are women who are excellent manufacturers and excellent managers; men who are unskilled in and unsuited to this kind of pursuits. _if it were a law_ that women are inferior to men in _artistic power_, the best female artist would be inferior to the most indifferent male artist; now facts daily demonstrate the contrary; there are more great female than male tragedians; many men are mediocre in music and painting, and many women, on the other hand, remarkable in both respects, etc., etc. what follows from all this? that your series is false, since facts destroy it. how did you form it? the process is a curious study. you chose a few remarkable men, in whom, by a convenient process of abstraction, you beheld _all_ men, even to cretins; you here took a few women, without taking into account in the slightest degree any differences of culture, instruction, and surroundings, and compared them with these eminent men, taking care to forget those that might have embarrassed you; then, deducing generals from particulars, creating two entities, you drew your conclusions. a strange manner of reasoning, truly! you have fallen into the mania of _imposing rules on nature, instead of studying nature's rules_, and deserve that i should apply your own words to you: "the greatest part of the philosophical aberrations and chimeras have arisen from attributing to logical series _a reality that they do not possess, and endeavoring to explain the nature of man by abstractions_." still, if this were to strengthen your doctrines concerning the _basis_ of right, it might be comprehended; but it is to overthrow them! you transform yourself into a sphinx, to propose to me a riddle. "what is that right," you say, "_which is not justice, and which, notwithstanding, would not exist without it_, which presides over the relations of both sexes, the _jus strictum_ governing only individuals of the same sex. if you divine it, you will have given me the cause." it is not necessary to be _the great apollo_, to divine that it is the _right of grace, of mercy_, towards an inferior that is not armed with strict right. if i have divined rightly, you have simply begged the question by supposing _that resolved which i dispute_. i maintain that there is only one _right_, that _one single_ _right presides over the rights of individuals and of sexes_, and that the right of mercy belongs to the domain of sentiment. you wish it proved that the new emancipators of woman are the most elevated, the broadest, and the most progressive minds of the age. rejoice, your wish is accomplished: a simple comparison between them and their adversaries will prove it to you. the emancipators, taking woman in the cradle of humanity, see her marching slowly towards civil emancipation. the intelligent disciples of progress, they wish, by extending a fraternal hand to her, to aid her in fulfilling her destiny. the non-emancipators, denying the historical law, regardless of the progressive and parallel movement of the populace, woman, and the industrial arts towards affranchisement, wish to thrust her back far beyond the middle age, to the days of romulus and the hebrew patriarchs. the emancipators, believing in individual autonomy, respecting it, and recognizing it in woman, wish to aid her to conquer it. judging of the need that a free being has of liberty by the need that they have of it themselves, they are consistent. the non-emancipators, blinded by pride, perverted by a love of dominion as unbridled as unintelligent, desire liberty only _for themselves_. these egotists, so suspicious of those that menace their own freedom, wish half the human species to be in their chains. the emancipators have enough heart and ideality to desire a companion with whom they can exchange sentiment and thought, and who can improve them in some respects and be improved by them in others; they love and respect woman. the non-emancipators, without ideality, without love, chained to their senses and their pride, despise woman; and wish to have in her only a _female, a servant, a machine to produce young ones_. they are _males, they are not yet men_. the emancipators desire perfection of the species, in a three-fold point of view: physical, moral, and intellectual. they know that races cannot be improved without selecting and perfecting the mothers. the non-emancipators are bent upon something quite different from the improvement of the species: let their children be lacking in intelligence, malicious, ugly, or deformed; they think much less of this than of being _masters_. do they know enough of physiology to have reflected that the faculties _depend on organization_, that organization is capable of modification, that modifications are transmitted, that woman has a great share in this transmission, a greater share, perhaps, than that of man? it is therefore _essential_ to place her in a condition to perform this great function in the manner most useful to humanity. the emancipators desire humanity to go forward, to vibrate no longer between the past and the future; they know the influence that women possess, first over children, then over men; they know that woman cannot serve progress _unless she finds it to her interest to do so_; that she will find it so only through liberty; that she will love it only if her intellect is elevated by study, and her heart purified from the petty selfishness of home by the predominating love of the great human family. as they desire the end sincerely, they sincerely desire the means; so long as half the human race shall labor as it is doing to destroy the edifice constructed by _a few_ _members_ of the other half; so long as half the human race, _the one that secretly governs the other_, shall have its face turned towards the past, the landmarks that point to the future will be threatened with being torn up. do you consider it a crime in the emancipators to comprehend this, to seek to conjure down the peril; and do you consider a virtue in the non-emancipators the foolish pride that places a cataract over their eyes? a few words more, and i shall have done. you would rather, you say, that i should not assume castigating airs with you. but have you really the right to complain of it, you who have constituted yourself the chief whipper-in of the economists and the socialists? i shall never go so far towards you as you have gone towards them. you must resign yourself to my abrupt, sometimes harsh style. i am implacable towards whatever appears to me false and unjust; and were you my brother, i should not war against you less sharply; before all ties of affection and family, should come the love of justice and humanity. i owe now to my readers and to you, sir, the exposition of the thesis that i undertake to sustain; for the phrase, _the emancipation of women_ has been, and is, quite variously interpreted. with respect to _right_, man and woman are equal, whether the equality of faculties be admitted or rejected. but for a truth to be useful, it must be adapted to the surroundings into which we seek to introduce it. absolute right being recognized, the practice of it remains. in practice, i see two kinds of rights: woman is ripe for the exercise of one of them; but i acknowledge that the practice of the second would be at present dangerous, by reason of the education that the majority of them have received. you comprehend me, without making it necessary for me to explain myself more clearly in a review in which social and political subjects are interdicted. the directors of the _revue_ having informed me that my adversary refused to continue the discussion, i made the following recapitulation of his creed, concerning the rights and nature of woman. to the editors of the _revue philosophique et religieuse_: you inform me that m. proudhon will not reply to the questions that i have put to him; i have neither the means nor the wish to constrain him to do so. i shall not inquire into the motives of his determination; my business now is only to make an exposition of his creed, which may be summed up in this wise: "i believe that between man and woman, there is a separation of the same nature as that which the difference of race places between animals; "i believe that, by nature and by destination, woman is neither associate, nor functionary, nor citizen; "i believe that, in the social workshop, she is, until her marriage, only apprentice, at most under-superintendent; "i believe that she is a minor in the family, art, science, manufactures, and philosophy, and that she is _nothing_ in the commonwealth; "i believe that she can only be housewife or courtesan; "i believe that she is incapable of understanding and of governing herself; "i believe firmly that the basis of the equality of rights is in the simple quality of being human; now, woman being unable to have rights equal to those of man, i affirm that she does not belong to the human species." is proudhon conscious how far his creed is in opposition to science, to facts, to the law of progress, to the tendencies of our own age, and does he dare to attempt to justify it by proofs? does he feel that this creed classes him among the abettors of the dogmatism of the middle age, and does he recoil before such a responsibility? if this were the case, i should praise him for his prudent silence, and it would be my warmest desire that he should keep it forever on the question that divides us. to treat a subject, it is necessary to love and understand it; i dare not say that proudhon does not love woman, but i do affirm that he does not understand her; he sees in her nothing more than the female of man; his peculiar organization seems to render him unfit for the investigation of such a subject. he promises, in the work that he is preparing, to treat of the sphere and the rights of women; if his doctrine has for its basis the paradoxical affirmations of his creed, i hope that he will this time take pains to rest them at least upon the semblances of proofs, which i shall examine with all the attention of which i am capable. by shrinking from discussion, he cannot escape my criticism. the two studies of proudhon are simply the development of this creed. i promised to dissect the author; therefore, i shall do so. let me not be reproached with being pitiless; proudhon has deserved it. let me not be reproached with being a reasoning machine; with such an adversary, one should be nothing else. let me not be reproached with being harsh; proudhon has shown a harshness and injustice with respect to women, even the most illustrious, that exceed all bounds. if i am harsh, i will endeavor on my part not to be unjust. i. well, m. proudhon, you have sought war with women! war you shall have. you have said, not without reason, that the comtois are an obstinate race; now, i am your countrywoman; and as woman generally carries virtues and failings farther than man, i intend to outdo you in obstinacy. i have raised the banner under which your daughters will one day take shelter if they are worthy of the name they bear; i will hold it with a firm hand and will never suffer it to be struck down; against such as you, i have the heart and claws of a lioness. you begin by saying that you by no means desired to treat of the inequality of the sexes, but that half a dozen insurgent women with ink-stained fingers having defied you to discuss the question, you will establish by facts and documents the _physical, intellectual and moral inferiority of woman_; that you will prove that her emancipation is the same thing as her prostitution, and will take her defence in hand against the rambling talk of a few impure women whom sin has rendered mad.--(_vol._ iii., p. .) i alone, by shutting you up in a circle of contradictions, have dared defy you to discuss the question; i sum up, therefore, in my own person, the few impure women whom sin has rendered mad. insults of this sort cannot touch me; the esteem, the regard, the precious friendship of eminently respectable men and women suffice to reduce unworthy insinuations to naught. i should not notice them, with such contempt do they inspire me, were it not necessary to tell you that the time has gone by when one might hope to stifle the voice of a woman by attacking her purity. if you do not ask the man who demands his rights and seeks to prove their legitimacy, whether he is upright, chaste, etc., no more have you the right to ask the question of the woman who makes the same claim. were i therefore so unfortunate as to be the vilest of mortals as regards chastity, this would not at all lessen the value of my claim. i greatly dislike any justification, but i owe it to the sacred cause that i defend, i owe it to my friends, to tell you that the moral education which my sainted, lamented mother gave me, together with scientific studies, serious philosophy, and continual occupation, have kept me in what is commonly called the right path, and have strengthened the horror that i feel for all tyranny, whether it be styled man or temperament. you accuse your biographer of having committed an indignity in directing an accusation against a woman, because this woman was your wife; do you not commit an indignity yourself in insulting many others? and if you blame those who calumniate the morals of proudhon because he is not of their opinion, in what light do you think that men will regard your calumnious insinuations against women, because they do not think like you? you claim that we have no morality, because we lack respect towards the dignity of others; who has set us this detestable example more than you? you, who style yourself the champion of the principles of ' --who are the men and women whom you attack? they who are in different degrees, and from different stand points, in favor of these principles. your anger has no bounds against george sand, our great prose writer, the author of the bulletins of the republic of ' . you depreciate madame de stäel, whom you have not read, and who was in advance of most of the masculine writers of her epoch. two scaffolds are erected, two women mount thereon: madame roland and marie antoinette. i, a woman, will not cast insult on the decapitated queen, dying with dignity and courage; no, i bow before the block, whatever head may lay on it, and wipe away my tears. but, marie antoinette died the victim of the faults that her princely education had caused her to commit against the modern principles; while madame roland, the chaste and noble wife, died for the revolution, and died blessing it. whence comes it that you greet the queen with your sympathies, while you have nought but words of blame and contempt for the revolutionist? and the men that belong to the great party of the future, how do you style them? the girondins, _effeminate_; robespierre and his adherents, _eunuchs_; the gentle bernardin de st. pierre, _effeminate_; m. legouvé and those who think like him concerning the emancipation of women, _effeminate_; m. de girardin, _absurd_; _béranger, a pitiable author, and effeminate_; jean jacques, not only the prince of _effeminates_, but _the greatest enemy of the people and the revolution_--he who was evidently the chief author of our "french revolution." are we not justified in asking you, whether you are for or against the revolution? m. proudhon, you have forfeited your right to all consideration, since you have none for those who have neither offended you or offered you provocation, those who have never pretended to reduce you to servitude; men have lacked courage; they ought to have stopped you when you began to descend to insulting personalities; what they have not done, i, a woman, will do, fearing nothing, or no one, except my own conscience. proudhon, the greatest enemy of the people, is the writer who, treading under foot reason and conscience, science and facts, calls to his aid all the ignorance, all the despotism of the past, to mislead the spirit of the people with respect to the rights of half the human species. proudhon, the greatest enemy of the revolution, is he who shows it to women as a toy; who detaches them from its holy cause by confounding it with the negation of their rights; who attacks and vilifies the advocates of progress; who dares, in fine, in the name of the principles of general emancipation, to proclaim the social annihilation and the conjugal servitude of one entire half of humanity. behold the enemy of the people and of the revolution! ii. i had proceeded thus far in my reply when, pausing to take breath and to reflect, i grew calm. what! said i to myself, have i then no more sense than to take in earnest that shapeless thing honored by the name of theory by the good people who are so bewildered by the noise of proudhon's drum and tam-tam that they see stars at noon-day and the sun at midnight? let me be calm, let me not give to the affair more importance than it possesses; and since i must set forth this thing to my readers, let me do it in a fitting tone. we will leave proudhon to explain himself in his own words. no sooner had i taken this good resolution, than i evoked m. proudhon, and said to him in all humility: master, i come to you that you may define for me the nature of woman, and also something of the nature of man. proudhon. you do well, for i alone am capable of instructing you; listen then to me. "the complete human being, _adequate to his destiny_, i speak of the physical, is the male, who, through his virility, attains the highest degree of muscular and nervous tension comporting with his nature and end, and thence, the maximum of action in labor and in battle. "woman is a diminutive of man, lacking one organ to become a pubescent youth. "she is a _receptacle for the germs that man alone produces_, a place of _incubation_, like the earth for the seed of the wheat; an _organ inert_ in itself, and purposeless with respect to the woman. such an organization--_presupposes the subordination of the subject_. "in herself, i speak still of the physical, woman has no reason to exist; _she is an instrument of reproduction_ which it has pleased nature to choose in preference to any other. "woman, in this first count, is inferior to man: _a sort of mean term between him and the rest of the animal kingdom_."--_justice_, vol. iii., etc. and remark that i am not alone in my opinion: "woman is not only different from man," says paracelsus, "she is different because she is lesser, because her sex constitutes for her one faculty less. wherever virility is wanting, the subject is imperfect; wherever it is taken away, the subject deteriorates. woman lacks nothing in the physical point of view except _to produce germs_. "likewise, in the intellectual point of view, woman possesses perceptions, memory and imagination, she is capable of attention, reflection, and judgment; what does she lack? "the power of producing germs, that is, ideas.--_id._ now, follow my reasoning closely: it being admitted that _strength has some weight in the establishment of right_; it being admitted, on the other hand, that woman is one third weaker than man, she will then be to man, in physical respects, as two is to three. consequently, in the social workshop, the value of the products of woman will be one third less than that of the products of man; therefore, in the division of social advantages, the proportion will be the same: _thus says justice_. "man will always be stronger and will always produce more," _which signifies that man will be the master, and that woman will obey, dura lex, sed lex_."--_id._ besides, reflect that woman falls to the charge of man during gestation; her physical weakness, her infirmities, her maternity, exclude her _inevitably_ and _judicially_ from all political, doctrinal and industrial direction.--_id._ we will now proceed to the second point. but first, mark well that woman, like all else, is autonomic; woman, considered apart from the influence of man, is the thesis; woman, considered under the influence of man, is the antithesis; it is the thesis that we are now examining. let us therefore approach the _thetic_ woman in the intellectual relation. we will first admit the principle that _thought is proportional to force_; whence we have a right to conclude that man possesses a stronger intellect than woman. thus we see man alone possessing genius. as to woman, she is nothing in science; we owe to her no invention, _not even her distaff and spindle_. she never _generalizes_, never _synthetizes_; her mind is anti-metaphysical; _she cannot produce any regular work, not even a romance_; _she composes nothing but medleys, monsters_; "she makes epigrams, satire; does not know how to express a judgment in set terms, nor assign its causes; it was not she who created abstract words, such as cause, time, space, quantity, relation. _woman is a true table rapping medium._"--_id._ i have already told you that woman does not produce intellectual germs any more than physical germs; her intellectual inferiority tells upon the quality of the product as much as upon the intensity and duration of the action and, as in this feeble nature, the defect of the idea results from the lack of energy of the thought, it may be truly said that woman possesses a mind _essentially_ false, of irremediable _falsity_. "disconnected ideas, contradictory reasonings, chimeras taken for realities, unreal analogies erected into principles, a tendency of mind inclining inevitably towards annihilation: such is the intellect of woman." yes, woman "_is a passive, enervating being, whose conversation exhausts like her embraces. he who wishes to preserve entire the strength of his mind and body will flee her._"--_id._ "_without man, who is to her prophet and word, she would not emerge from the bestial condition._" author. calm yourself, master, and tell me whether it is true that you have dealt harshly with literary women. proudhon. literary women! as if there were any! "the woman author does not exist; she is a contradiction. the part of woman in literature is the same as in manufactures; she is useful where genius is no longer of service, like a needle or a bobbin. "by cutting out of a woman's book all that is borrowed, imitated, gleaned, and common-place, we reduce it to a few pretty sayings; philosophy on nothing. to the community of ideas, woman brings nothing of her own, any more than to generation." author. ah! i understand: you mean that, in the character of author, the woman of genius does not exist. but in this respect, among the number of men that write how many are there who have genius, and who never borrow from any one? proudhon. i grant that there are many effeminate men; which does not alter the fact that woman would do better _to go and iron her collars_ than to meddle with writing; for, "it may be affirmed without fear of calumny, that the woman who dabbles with philosophy and writing destroys her progeny by the labor of her brain and her kisses which savor of man; the safest and most honorable way for her is to renounce home life and maternity; destiny has branded her on the forehead; made only for love, the title of concubine if not of courtesan suffices her."--_id._ let us now consider the _thetic_ woman in the moral point of view. we will admit in the first place the principle _that virtue exists in the ratio of strength and intellect_, whence we have a right to conclude that man is more virtuous than woman. do not laugh; it disturbs my ideas. i go further; man alone is virtuous; man alone has the sense of justice; man alone has the comprehension of right. tell me, i pray you, "what produces in man this energy of will, this confidence in himself, this frankness, this daring, all these powerful qualities that we have agreed to designate by the single word, morality. what inspires him with the sentiment of his dignity, the scorn of falsehood, the hatred of injustice, the abhorence of all tyranny? nothing else than the consciousness of his strength and reason." author. but then, master, if man is all this, why do you reproach the men of our times with lack of courage, of dignity, of justice, of reason, of good faith? when i take up in minute detail the terrible charges which you have fulminated against the masculine race, i can make nothing of the meaning of the tirade you have just uttered. proudhon. consider what you irreverently name a tirade, as the necessary check to feminine immorality. it is only to set forth the truth that of all the differences that separate her mind from ours, the conscience of woman is the most trifling, her morality is of a different nature; what she regards as right and wrong is not identically the same as what man himself regards as right and wrong, so that, relatively to us, _woman may be styled an immoral being_. "_by her nature she is in a state of constant demoralization_, always on this side or that of justice.... justice is insupportable to her.... her conscience is anti-judicial." she is aristocratic, loves privileges and distinctions; "in all revolutions that have liberty and equality for their object, women make the most resistance. they did more harm in the revolution of february than all the powers of the masculine reaction combined. "women have so little judicial sense that the legislator who fixed the age of moral responsibility at sixteen for both sexes, might have delayed it till forty-five, for women. woman's conscience is _decidedly of no value till this age_." in herself, woman is _immodest_. it is from man therefore that she receives modesty, "which is the product of manly dignity, the corollary of justice. "woman has no other inclination, no other aptitude than love. "in affairs of love, the initiative belongs truly to woman."--_justice_, _vol._ iii., pp. , . author. how many persons you will astonish, master, by revealing to them that _modesty comes from man_; that consequently all the young girls who have been seduced, all the little girls whose corruptors and violators are punished by the courts, are but jades, who, through their initiative, have caused men to forget their character as inspirers of chastity! you enlighten me, illustrious master; and i shall at once draw up a memorial to demand that all seduced and violated women and girls shall be punished as they deserve; and that, to console the seducers, suborners, corruptors and violators, poor innocent victims of feminine ferocity, for having sinned against the _corollary of justice and the product of manly dignity_, rose-trees shall be forced to blossom, in order that the _maires_ of the forty thousand communes of france and algeria may crown them winners of the roses. proudhon. jest as you please; woman is nevertheless so perverse in her nature, that, through inclination, she seeks men who are ugly, old, and wicked. author. is not this somewhat exaggerated, master? proudhon. (forgetting what he has just said,) "woman always prefers a pretty, finical puppet to an honest man; a beau, a knave can obtain from her all that he desires; she has nothing but disdain for the man who is capable of sacrificing his love to his conscience." you see what woman is: "_unproductive by nature, inert, without industry or understanding, without justice, and without modesty_, she needs that a father, a brother, a lover, a husband, a master, a man, in fine, should give her that magnetic influence, if i may thus term it, which will render her capable of manly virtues, of social and intellectual faculties."--_id._ and as "all her philosophy, her religion, her politics, her economy, her industry are resolved in one word: love; "now shall we make of this being belonging wholly to love, an overseer, an engineer, a captain, a merchant, a financier, an economist, an administrator, a scholar, an artist, a professor, a philosopher, a legislator, a judge, an orator, the general of an army, the head of a state? "the question carries its answer within itself."--_id._ i have laid down and proved my thesis, i am about to draw my conclusions. "since in economical, political and social action, the strength of the body and that of the mind concur and are multiplied, the one by the other, the physical and intellectual value of the man will be to the physical and intellectual value of woman as × is to × , or as to . "in the moral, as in the physical and intellectual point of view, her value (that of woman,) is also as to . "their share of influence, compared together, will be as × × is to × × or as to . "according to these conditions, woman cannot pretend to counterbalance the virile power; her subordination is inevitable. both by nature, and before justice, she does not weigh the third of man."--_id._ do you understand clearly? author. very clearly. your theory, if theory there be, is only a tissue of paradoxes; your pretended principles _are contradicted by facts_, your conclusions _are equally contradicted by facts_; you _affirm_ like a revelator, but you _never prove_, as a philosopher should do. there is so much ignorance and senseless metaphysics in all that you say, that i should rather give you credit for bad faith than be compelled to despise you. i have listened to you patiently while you have said to me, in saying it of all women: you are inert, passive, you possess the germ of nothing; you are a mean term between man and beast, you have no right to exist; you are immoral, immodest, imbecile, aristocratic, the enemy of liberty, equality and justice. in your turn, endeavor to listen to me calmly, while i refute your allegations by facts, by science and by reason. iii. there is, by your own confession, but one good method of demonstration; that of basing every affirmation _upon well established facts, not contradicted by others, legitimately deduced_. let us see how you have followed this method. in order to prove that the _thetic_ woman, or woman considered apart from the influence of man, is such as you depict her, it is necessary that you should bring us face to face with an assemblage of such women, and afterwards, with another assemblage composed of men who have never been subjected to the influence of women, that we may verify for ourselves the native activity of the latter and the native inertness of the former. have you had at your disposal, can you place at ours these proofs _de facto_? no; and if you neither have them nor can procure them, what is your thesis, if not the illusion of a brain sick with pride and with hatred of woman? . you say: man alone produces physical germs. anatomy answers: _it is woman that produces the germ_; the organ that performs this function in her, as in all other females, is the ovary. . you say: woman is a diminutive of the man; she is an imperfect male; anatomy says: _man and woman are two distinct beings, each one complete_, each one furnished with a special organism, the one as necessary as the other. . you say with paracelsus, of whom this is not the only absurdity: _where virility is wanting, the subject is imperfect; where it is taken away, the subject deteriorates_. mere good sense replies: the being can only be incomplete or deteriorate _when it differs from its type_; now the type of woman is feminity not _masculinity_.... if, like you, i were a lover of paradox, i would say: _man is an imperfect woman_, since it is the woman that produces the germ; his part in reproduction is very doubtful, and science may even learn some day to dispense with it. this is auguste comte's paradox; it is worth as much as yours. to prove that woman is only an imperfect male, it is necessary to establish by facts that man on being deprived of virility, finds the organs developed in him peculiar to woman, becomes qualified for conception, gestation, delivery, and giving suck. now i have never learned that any keeper of a seraglio had been transformed into an odahlic; have you? . you say: the organs peculiar to woman are inert, and purposeless with respect to herself; physiology answers: the labor that these organs accomplish is immense; pregnancy and the crisis that terminates it are incontestable proofs of this. the influence of these organs makes itself felt, not only on the general health, but in the intellectual and moral order. pathology, no less eloquent, depicts to us the grave disorders produced among women by forced continence, incontinence, the excessive or perverted vitality of these organs which you pretend are inert. . you say: woman is the soil, the place of incubation for the germ. anatomy has told you in reply that the woman alone produces the germ. read my reply to your friend michelet on the subject of the resemblance of children and you will know what facts add to the answer of science. your affirmation is no less absurd in the presence of these facts than that of a simpleton who should pretend that the soil in which the seed of the carnation or the oak is deposited, has the property of causing rosebushes or palm trees to spring up. from this _false_ supposition that woman has not physical germs, you conclude that she is destitute of intellectual and moral germs.... and do you really dare accuse woman of thus _taking false analogies for principles_? grant that when a man indulges in them thus wantonly, and mistakes them for principles, we ought to be more inclined to laugh than to be vexed. . you say that intellectually and morally, woman is in herself, nothing. now, if i am not mistaken, you admit that our functions have our organs for their basis, and you place the functions of intellect and morality in the brain, according to gall, or similarly. well, anatomy tells you: in both sexes, the cerebral mass is similar in composition and, adds phrenology, in the number of organs. biology adds: the law of development of our organs is _exercise_, which supposes action and reaction, the result of which is the augmentation of the volume, consistency and vitality of the organ exercised. the point in question then, to convince your readers of the truth of your affirmations, is to prove that _the two sexes are subjected to the same exercise of the brain and to the same stimulus_, and that despite this identity of education, woman constantly remains inferior. have you proved this? have you ever thought of doing so? no. for if you had, your theory would have fallen to to the ground, since you would have been forced to acknowledge that man and woman cannot be alike, for we say to man from his infancy: resist, struggle; to woman: yield, always submit. to man: be yourself, speak your thoughts boldly, ambition is a virtue; you can aspire to everything. to woman: dissemble, calculate your slightest word, respect prejudices; modesty, abnegation, such is your lot; you can attain to naught. to man: knowledge, talent, courage will open every career of life to you, will make you honored by all. to woman: knowledge is useless to you; if you have it, you will pass for a pedant, and if you have courage, you will be disdainfully called _virago_. to man: for you are instituted lyceums, universities, special schools, high prizes; all the institutions through which your intellect can be developed; all the libraries in which is accumulated the knowledge of the past. to woman: for you is history in madrigals, the reading of prayer-books and novels. you have nothing to do with lyceums, special schools, high prizes, anything that would elevate your mind and enlarge your views; a learned woman is ridiculous! man must display the knowledge that he often possesses but superficially, woman must hide what she really possesses. man must appear courageous when he is often but a coward; woman must feign timidity when in reality she is not afraid. for where man is reputed great and sublime, woman is found ridiculous, sometimes odious. if you had verified as you should have done, these diametrically opposite systems of training, the one tending to develop and ennoble the being, the other to degrade it and render it imbecile, instead of writing such absurdities, you would have said to yourself: woman must really have the initiative to resist the iniquitous system of repression that weighs upon her; she must have great elasticity to show herself so often superior to the majority of men in intellect, and _always in morality_. i am curious to know what you males would be if subjected to the same system as we. look at those who have not studied like you, and tell me whether they are not in general beneath uncultivated women. look then at the men who have received a feminine education; have they not all the affectation, all the narrowness of mind of silly women? look, on the contrary, at those women who, through the wish of their teachers or their own energy, have been subjected to masculine discipline, and tell me, on your conscience, whether they do not equal the most intelligent, the firmest among you? . you say: intellectual force is in proportion to physical force. _facts_ reply: great thoughts, useful works, date from the period when the physical forces began to decline. _facts_ say also: the athletic temperament, which is the most vigorous, is _the least intellectual_: statuaries fully comprehend this, and sculpture hercules with a large body and a small head. . you say that morality is in a direct ratio to physical and intellectual force combined. this pleasantry we will not refute; every one knows too well that these things have no relation, and that facts contradict your assertion. . you say: woman being one third weaker, should have in social labor one third the privileges of man. upon what elements do you base this proportion? in order to establish it, did you carry a dynamometer about through our districts and measure the strength of each man and of each woman? but were your affirmation true, is naught but _strength_ employed in labor? then, great economist, what do we do with _skill_? what samsonian muscles are needed to keep books, dispense justice, measure cloth, cut and sew garments, etc.! and what is the end of civilization if not to shift the employ of our strength from ourselves to machinery that we may be at liberty to use only our intellect and skill? . you say: the infirmities, the weaknesses, the maternity of woman, and her aptitude for love, exclude her from all functions; she is _judicially and absolutely_ excluded from all political, industrial and doctrinal direction. she cannot be a political leader.... yet history shows us numerous empresses, queens, regents and sovereign princesses who have governed with wisdom and glory, and have shown themselves far superior to many male sovereigns, unless maria theresa, catherine ii, isabella and blanche of castile, and many others, are but myths. woman cannot be a legislator.... all the women whom i have just cited have been so, and many more beside. women can be neither philosophers nor professors. hypatia, massacred by the christians, taught philosophy with luster; in the middle age and later, italian women filled chairs of philosophy, law and mathematics, and excited admiration and enthusiasm; in france, at the present time, the polytechnists are making great account of _the geometrician_, sophie germain, who has taken it into her head to study kant. woman cannot be a merchant or an administratrix... yet a great portion of the feminine population devote themselves to trade, or fill commercial positions. it is even admitted that the prosperity of commercial establishments is almost always due to the administrative genius of woman. woman cannot be an overseer, a foreman of a workshop... yet a host of women superintend workshops, invent, improve, carry on manufactures alone, and contribute, by their taste and activity, to the increase of the national wealth and the industrial reputation of france. woman cannot be artist... yet every one knows that the greatest literary artist of our age is a woman, george sand; yet every one bows before duchesnois, mars, georges, maxime, ristori, rachel, dorval; yet every one pauses before the beautiful paintings of rosa bonheur; yet since the revival of the fine arts, every century has registered many celebrated women. we meet women everywhere, working everywhere, competing with man.... yet proudhon pretends that she can be nowhere, that she is excluded from every place absolutely and _judicially_; that if she governs and legislates like maria theresa, it is a contradiction; that if she philosophises like hypatia, it is a contradiction; that if she commands an army and wins victories like the wife of the conqueror of calais; if she fights like jeanne d'arc, jeanne hachette, madame garibaldi and thousands of others, it is a contradiction; that if she is merchant, administratrix, superintendent of a workshop, like thousands of women, it is a contradiction; that if she is learned like dr. boivin, sophie germain, and many others, if she is a professor as are many among us, it is a contradiction. the thesis sustained by proudhon is, as we have just seen, contradicted by _science_ and by _facts_. we ask ourselves whether it is possible that he is ignorant of the simplest notions of anatomy and biology; we ask ourselves whether it is possible that he is so far blind as not to see that woman _is in reality_ all that he pretends that she _absolutely and judicially_ cannot be in his absurd and insulting theory; and we conclude that the author is struck with ignorance and voluntary blindness. your reproaches are pleasant; from the origin of society, man has been the master; now, the ancient world sunk beneath the weight of slavery, usury, and the most shameless vices; the modern world seems doomed to perish through inequality and its sad consequences, you yourself acknowledge that injustice _caused by your sex_ exists every where in the world, and you say that man has judicial sense! and, in the face of the inequality and oppression created by men, of their love of puerile distinctions, of the base deeds which they commit for a bit of ribbon, you accuse women of loving inequality and privileges! they may love them, _like you_, but they are better than you, if not more just; they pray for the vanquished, you kill him! i do not deny that women did much harm to the revolution of february, for they are as intelligent as men, and have great influence over them. but what did this revolution do for them, i pray? mark me well, you and all those who are blind enough, proud enough, despotic enough to resemble you, and remember what i say. woman is like the people: she desires no more of your revolutions, which decimate us for the benefit of a few ambitious babblers. she will have liberty and equality for all men and women, or she will take care that no one shall have them. we, women of progress, openly declare ourselves adversaries of whoever shall deny the right of woman to liberty. our sisters of the people, indignant at their exclusion from the popular assemblies, say to you: you have lured us long enough, it is time that this should end. we will no longer suffer ourselves to be ensnared by your high-sounding words of justice, liberty, and equality, which are only false coin so long as they are applied to but half the human species. do you wish to save the perishing world? call woman to your side. if you will not do this, let us alone, insipid phraseologists; you are naught but ambitious hypocrites; we do not wish our husbands to follow you, and they will not. iv. proudhon. let us consider woman in the antithesis. i have said that woman, considered apart from masculine influence, is _nothing_. author. yes, master, because this is a pure creation of your thought. proudhon. but woman, considered under the influence of man, is half of the human being, and _i sing litanies in her praise_. author. then you make woman re-enter humanity through the door of androgyny, in order to restore to her her share of rights.... this is absurd; no matter. proudhon. not so! not so! women have rights! never, so long as i am proudhon! she is indeed the complement of man, who, without her, would be only a brute. author. ah! my learned master, how do these things harmonize in your brain? you have said hitherto that _woman owes everything to man_, you tell me now that, without woman, man would be only a brute. is he not then, _adequate to his destiny_, as you have affirmed? and if woman is nothing without him, and he nothing without woman, i can see no longer upon what you rest in making him the guide of this poor unfortunate. proudhon. i need not explain myself, such is my idea. i am simply comparing the respective qualities of the sexes, and, as i find, they are _incommutable_. author. ah! i catch a glimpse of your meaning; then you do not weigh them in the balance since they are not alike, and, being unable to prejudice the rights of woman, you leave her free. proudhon. what! what! woman free! horrible! are you resolved to throw me into convulsions? woman, however eminent may be her talents, should serve man in silence and in all humility. author. frankly, master, all this appears to me nonsense, which, satanic as you are, you cannot yourself understand in the least. proudhon. listen without interrupting me further, if you wish to comprehend me. "without feminine grace, _man would not have emerged from the brutality of the early ages; he would violate his female, smother his little ones, and give chase to his fellows in order to devour them_. "_woman is the conscience of man personified_, the incarnation of his youth, _his reason and his justice, of all within him that is purest, most sacred, most sublime_.--_justice_, _vol._ iii., etc. "the ideality of his being, she becomes to him a _principle of animation_, a gift of strength, of prudence, of justice, of patience, of courage, of sanctity, of hope, of consolation, without which he would be incapable of sustaining the burden of life, of preserving his dignity, of enduring himself, _of fulfilling his destiny_. "it is through her, through the grace of her divine word, that man gives life and reality to his ideas, by bringing them back unceasingly from the abstract to the concrete. "_the auxiliary on the side of justice_, she is the angel of patience, of resignation, of tolerance, the guardian of his faith, the mirror of his conscience, the source of his devotion. vanquished, guilty, it is still in the bosom of woman that he finds consolation and pardon." man has strength, woman beauty. through her beauty, she should be the expression of justice, "and the attraction that draws us to it.... _she will be better than man_.... she will be the motor of all justice, all knowledge, all industry, all virtue."--_id._ also, "beauty is the true destination of the sex; it is its natural condition, its state."--_id._ woman is the soul of everything; "without her, all beauty fades; nature is sad, precious stones lose their luster, all our arts, children of love, become insipid, half of our labor is without value. "if, with respect to vigor, man is to woman as to , woman, with respect to beauty, is to man as to . "if, from the body, we pass to the mind and conscience, woman, through her beauty, will be revealed with new advantages."--_id._ the mind of woman is _more intuitive, more concrete, finer than that of man_; "it seems to man, and is in fact, more circumspect, more _prudent_, more reserved, _wiser_, more equable; it was _minerva_, the protectress of achilles and ulysses, who appeased the fury of the one, _and shamed the other of his paradoxes and profligacies_; it is the virgin whom the christian litany calls _the seat of wisdom_. "the quality of the feminine mind has the effect of serving the genius of man as a radiator, by reflecting his thoughts at an angle which makes them appear more beautiful if they are correct, more absurd if they are false; consequently, of simplifying our knowledge and condensing it into simple propositions, easy to seize upon as simple facts, and the intuitive, aphoristic, imaged comprehension of which, _while giving woman a share in the philosophy and the speculations of man_, makes their memory clearer to him, their digestion more easy... _there is not a man among the most learned, the most inventive, the most profound, who does not feel a sort of refreshment from conversation with women_.... "popularizers are generally minds of the feminine type; but man does not like to be subservient to the glory of man, and provident nature has assigned this part to woman. "let her speak, then, _let her write, even, i authorize and invite her to do so_; but let her do it according to the measure of her feminine intelligence, since it is on this condition that she can serve us, and _please_ us, _otherwise i withdraw the permission_. "man has strength; but that constancy of which he boasts overmuch, he derives especially from woman.... through her he endures, and learns true heroism. _upon occasion, she can set him the example of it_; she will be, then, _more sublime than he_. "woman will render the law kind, and will convert this two-edged sword into an olive branch.... there is no justice without tolerance; now, it is in the exercise of tolerance that woman excels; by the sensibility of her heart and the delicacy of her impressions, by the tenderness of her soul, by her love, in fine, she will blunt the sharp angles of justice, destroy its asperities, of a divinity of terror make a divinity of peace. justice, the mother of peace, would be only a cause of disunion to humanity, were it not for this tempering which she receives especially from woman."--_id._ and what chastity does woman possess! with what constancy she awaits her betrothed! what continence she observes during the absence or sickness of her husband! ah! "woman alone knows how to be modest.... through this modesty, which is her most precious prerogative, she triumphs over the transports of man, and ravishes his heart."--_id._ and what wisdom in her choice of the companion of her life! "she desires man to be strong, valiant, ingenious; she turns from him if he is mincing and delicate."--_id._ now, my unloved, indocile, and very irreverent disciple, let us recapitulate. woman, with respect to physical, intellectual and moral beauty, is to man as to ; "thus it may be said, indeed, that between man and woman there exists a certain equivalence, arising from their respective comparison, in the two-fold point of view of strength and beauty; if, by labor, genius, and justice, man is to woman as to , in her turn, by graces of form and mind, by amenity of character and tenderness of heart, she is to man as to .... but these respective qualities are incommutable, cannot be the subject of any contract.... "now, as every question of preponderance in the government of human life is within the jurisdiction either of the economical order, or of the philosophical or judicial order, it is evident that superiority of beauty, even of that which is intellectual and moral, cannot create a compensation for woman, whose condition is thus made fatally subordinate."--_id._ do you understand me now? author. i understand that this is pure sophistry, a thing easily demonstrated; that if your _thesis_ is absurd, your _antithesis_, however complimentary it may be, is quite as much so; that you have piled contradictions upon contradictions, and that it is a sad spectacle to me to see so strong and fine an intellect as yours abandon itself to such practices. you shall judge for yourself whether my reproaches and regrets are well founded. in the _thesis_ you say: man alone is in himself intelligent and just, he alone is adequate to his destiny. woman has no reason for existing; without man, she _would not emerge from the bestial condition_. in the _antithesis_: without woman, who is the principle of animation of man, the motive power of all science, of all art, of all industry, of all virtue--without woman, who renders justice possible, thought comprehensible and applicable, man, far from being in himself just, intelligent, a worker, would be but a brute, _who would violate his female, strangle his little ones, and pursue his fellow men in order to devour them_. what follows from these divergent affirmations? that if woman alone is inadequate to her destiny, man alone is inadequate to his, and that the adequateness of both is caused by the synthesis of their respective qualities. it also follows, by your own admission, that man receives as much from woman as she receives from him, since, if he rescues her from the bestial state, she rescues him from the state of brute ferocity. it follows, lastly, by your own admission, that there is equivalence between the respective qualities of the two sexes. only you pretend that these qualities cannot be measured by each other, and cannot therefore be subject for contract, and that the qualities of man being more important to the social state than those of woman, the latter should be subordinated to the former. tell me, is there commutability between the qualities that distinguish men from each other? between the man of genius and the humble rag-picker? between the philosopher who elevates the human mind and the porter who does not even know how to read? between the brain that discovers a great natural law and the one that reflects on nothing? to answer affirmatively is impossible: for we only compare things of the same nature. now, if there can be no commutability between individuals so different, is there not, according to your system, subject for social contract between them? why then do you claim that these men should be _equal socially_? why then do you admit that they may associate things in a private contract which cannot be subjected to a common measure? there is no need to be learned in philosophy or economy to know _that any contract whatsoever is an admission of personal insufficiency_; that we would not enter into partnership with others if we could dispense with them; and that in general the design of the contracting parties is _to establish commutability where it has not been established by the nature of things_. to a common work, one brings his idea, another his hands, a third, his money, a fourth, custom: if each of the parties had had all these combined, no one would have thought of forming a partnership: a happy insufficiency brought them together, and caused them to establish equivalence between the shares of capital which could not be subjected to a common measure. were it true, therefore, that the qualities of the sexes differ as you pretend, then, as through this same difference, they are _equally_ necessary to the collective work, they are _essentially_ subject to contract, and _equivalent_. but do they differ as you say? you know the answer of _science_ and _facts_. we will not return to it. all your distinctions of beauty and strength are only imaginary classifications. we all know that of eighteen millions of frenchmen, at the present time, we have a few men of genius, absorbed in specialties, a few more men of talent, perhaps not four philosophers, mediocrities in abundance, and an immense host of cyphers. it is mockery, therefore, to establish the right of prepotency of a sex from qualities which, on the one hand, do not exist in each of its members, and, on the other, are often found in the highest degree in the sex which it is claimed to reduce to subjection. besides, did your sex possess the qualities which you ascribe to it, to the exclusion of mine; since, by your admission, there would be neither civilization, nor science, nor art, nor justice, without the qualities you term peculiar to woman; and since, without these qualities, man would be only a brute and an anthropophagus, it thence follows that woman is _at least_ the equivalent of man, if not his superior. let us now notice a few of your contradictions. st _thesis_. woman is a sort of mean term between man and the rest of the animal kingdom. _antithesis._ no; woman is the idealisation of man, in that which is purest and most sublime in him. d _thesis_. woman is an inert creature, devoid of understanding, that has no reason for existing. _antithesis._ no; woman is the animating principle of man; without her, he could not fulfil his destiny; she is the motive power of all justice, all science, all industry, all civilization, all virtue. d _thesis_. woman does not know how to express an opinion in set terms, or to assign reasons for it; she has only disconnected ideas, erroneous reasonings; she mistakes chimeras for realities, composes nothing but medleys, monsters. _antithesis._ no; the intellect of woman is finer than that of man; she has a wiser, more prudent, more reserved mind; she is the foil of masculine ideas. she is minerva shaming ulysses for his paradoxes and profligacies; she is the seat of wisdom. th _thesis_. without the magnetic influence of man, woman would not emerge from the bestial state. _antithesis._ without the magnetic influence of woman, man would be but a ferocious beast. th _thesis_. the woman who philosophises and writes, destroys her progeny; she had better go iron her collars; she is good for nothing but to be concubine or courtesan. _antithesis._ woman should participate in the philosophy and speculations of man, and popularize them by her writings. th _thesis_. the conversation of woman exhausts, enervates; he who wishes to preserve intact the force of his mind and body, will flee her. _antithesis._ the conversation of woman refreshes the most eminent men. th _thesis_. woman has an infirm conscience; she is immoral, anti-judicial; she is worth nothing as to moral responsibility until forty-five years of age. _antithesis._ woman is the mirror of the conscience of man, the incarnation of this conscience; through her alone justice becomes possible; she is the guardian of morals; she is superior to man in moral beauty. th _thesis_. woman is without virtue. _antithesis._ woman excels in tolerance; through her, man learns constancy and true heroism. th _thesis_. woman is immodest: she takes the initiative in affairs of love. _antithesis._ woman alone knows how to be modest; in principle, there are no impure women; woman calms the sensual passions of man. th _thesis_. woman prefers an ugly, old, and wicked man. no; woman prefers a pretty, mincing puppet, a beau. _antithesis._ no; woman wishes man strong, valiant, ingenious; she turns from him when he is but a pretty, mincing puppet, a beau. i might go on thus to a hundred, and then make a cross to begin another hundred. can it be possible that you trifle in this manner with your readers? proudhon. the contradiction is not in my thought, but only in the terms. the woman of my thesis is she who has not been subjected to masculine magnetism, to which the woman of my antithesis, on the contrary, has been subjected. author. you would have reason to laugh at us, should we take such an answer in earnest. what! have you seen women outside of society, who would have taken men for monkeys? have you proved that in this menagerie, they think falsely, they write badly, they are worth nothing as to conscience until forty-five years of age? that there, in the absence of men, the women take the initiative in affairs of love? that the conversation of these women exhausts, enervates the men who are not there? that these women prefer the old, ugly and wicked men, or the pretty, mincing puppets, who are not at their disposal? if the woman of your thesis is the one who has not been subjected to masculine influence, why do you take the women whom you attack from among those who have been subjected to it? your contradictions, master, are genuine and fair contradictions. for you as for us, there is but one woman: she who lives in the society of man, who has, like him, faults and vices, and who influences him as much as she is influenced by him: the other has never existed except in the brain of mystics and of victims of hallucination. but we will leave this. i have been told that you have spoken of love: it would seem to me impossible, did i not know your audacity. proudhon. i have spoken of it, as well as of marriage. author. well! let us make a little excursion into these two territories. we will first speak of love. v. proudhon. love!... it wearies and annoys me greatly. i have never yet been able to make my ideas agree on this subject. i at first defined love: "the attraction of the two sexes towards each other with a view to reproduction," adding that this attraction becomes purified by the adjunction of the ideal. i even made a most beautiful discovery with respect to this, namely: that there is a sexual division because it is impossible to idealize anything but the objective.--_vol._ iii. author. how you run on! then all of the animal and vegetable species in which the sexes are separated have an ideal in love? an ideal in the brain of a horse or a mare may pass, since there is a brain; but where will you lodge that of the male and female flower? proudhon. on my honor, i never thought of asking myself that question. we will return, if you please, to the definition of human love. i say, then, that love is an attraction given with a view to reproduction; notwithstanding, i think, also, that to love, properly called, progeny is odious.--_id._ author. but this is a contradiction... proudhon. am i to blame for that! you know, that in my eyes, man and woman form _the organ of justice, the humanitary androgynus_. now i affirm that love is the moving power of justice, because it is this that attracts towards each other the two halves of the couple. it is through love, therefore, that the conscience of man and woman is opened to the knowledge of justice, which does not hinder it from being "the most powerful fatality by which nature could have found the secret of obscuring reason within us, of afflicting the conscience, and of chaining the free will."--_id._ author. the moving power of justice, the sentiment which opens the conscience of the sexes to justice, and which forms the judicial organ, disturbs the reason and afflicts the conscience! but this is a contradiction. proudhon. once more, am i to blame for it? love, sought for itself, renders man unworthy, and woman vile; and stop! "love, even when sanctioned by justice, i do not like."--_id._ author. have you not said that without the love inspired in man by the beauty of woman, there would be neither art, nor science, nor industry, nor justice; that man would be only a brute? proudhon. ah! i have said much more!... this love, the motor of justice, the father of civilization, is, notwithstanding, _the abolition of justice_, which exacts that it should be cast aside as soon as its office of motor is performed. the impulse, the movement given, it must be dispensed with. in marriage, it should play the smallest part possible; "all amorous conversation, even between betrothed lovers, even between husband and wife, is indecorous, destructive of domestic respect, of the love of labor and the practice of social duty." a marriage of pure inclination is nearly allied to shame, and "the father that gives his consent to it is deserving of censure."--_id._ author. a father deserving of censure because he unites those who yield to the motive power of justice! proudhon. let young people marry without repugnance, that is right.... but "when a son, a daughter, to satisfy inclination, tramples under foot the wishes of the father, disinheritance is his first right and most sacred duty."--_id._ author. thus love, the motor of justice, the cause of civilization, the necessity for reproduction, is at the same time a thing of shame which should be feared and banished from marriage, and that, in certain cases, deserves disinheritance!... may the gods bless your contradictions, and posterity pass lightly over them! proudhon. i can say nothing more satisfactory on the subject; but, let us talk of marriage; i am strong indeed on that point. every function supposes an organ; man is the organ of liberty; but justice exacts an organ composed of two terms: the couple. it is necessary that the two persons that compose it should be dissimilar and unequal, "because, if they were alike, they would not be completed by each other; they would be two beings wholly independent, without reciprocal action, incapable, through this cause, to produce justice.... in principle, there is no difference between man and woman, except a simple diminution of energy in their faculties. "man is stronger, woman is weaker, that is all.... man is the power of that of which woman is the ideal, and reciprocally, woman is the ideal of that of which man is the power."--_id._ androgyny laid down, i define marriage to be: "the sacrament of justice, the living mystery of universal harmony; the form given by nature itself to the religion of the human race. in a lower sphere, marriage is the act by which man and woman, elevating themselves above love and the senses, declare their wish to be united according to the law, and, as far as in them lies, to pursue the social destiny, by laboring for the progress of justice. "in this family religion, it may be said that the father is the priest, the wife the god, the children the people.... _all are in the hands of the father_, fed by his labor, protected by his sword, subjected to his government, _within the jurisdiction of his court_, heirs and continuers of his thought.... _woman remains subordinate to man_, because she is an object of worship, and because there is no common measure between the force and the ideal.... man will die for her, as he dies for his faith and his gods, but he will keep for himself the command and the responsibility."--_id._ in result, the spouses are equal, since there is community of fortune, of honor, of absolute devotion; "_in principle and practice_ ... this equality does not exist, _cannot exist_.... the equality of rights supposing an equilibrium between the advantages with which nature has endowed woman and the more powerful faculties of man, the result would be that woman, instead of being elevated by this equilibrium, would be denaturalized, debased. by the ideality of her being, woman is, so to speak, beyond price.... that she may preserve this inestimable charm, which is not a positive faculty in her, but a quality, a manner, a state, she must accept the law of marital power: _equality would render her odious_, would be the dissolution of marriage, the death of love, _the destruction of the human race_. "and the glory of man consists in reigning over this admirable creature, in being able to say: she is myself idealized, she is more than i, and, notwithstanding, would be nothing without me.... in spite of this or on account of this, i am and ought to remain the head of the community; if i yield the command to her, she becomes debased and we perish."--_id._ marriage should be monogamous, "because conscience is common between the spouses, and because it cannot, without being dissolved, admit a third participant."--_id._ it should be indissoluble, because conscience is immutable, and the spouses could not procure an exchange _without being guilty of sacrilege_. if they are obliged to separate, "the deserving one needs only to heal the wounds made in his heart and conscience, the other has no longer the right to aspire to marriage, but must be content with concubinage."--_id._ what do you think of this theory? author. hitherto i have refused to believe in the god proteus; but on contemplating you, master, i abjure my incredulity. you appear to us first under the garb and form of manou, and we discuss his physiology; you appear to us next, successively, in the shape and vestments of moses, st. thomas aquinas, and st. bonaventure; you are incarnated for a moment in paracelsus; lastly, you put on the roman toga, over which you wrap the ungraceful robe of auguste comte. all this is too old, too unsightly for our age.... have you really nothing better to give us than the resurrection of the roman law at the glorious time when cincinnatus ate his dish of lentils stark naked? proudhon. what! do you dispute that marriage by _confarreation is not the masterpiece of the human conscience_? author. do i dispute it? yes, indeed, and many other things beside. but tell me, what meaning do you give to the words _sacrament_ and _mystery_, that sound so hollow and false from your lips? proudhon. despite all my explanations concerning marriage, there nevertheless remains a mystery with respect to it. this is all i can tell you in elucidation. you must comprehend that "marriage is an institution _sui generis_, formed at the same time at the tribunal of human justice by contract, and at the spiritual tribunal by sacrament, and which perishes as soon as the one or the other of these two elements disappears."--_id._ you must also comprehend that "marriage is a function of humanity, outside of which love becomes a scourge, the distinction of the sexes has no longer any meaning, the perpetuation of the species becomes a real injury to the living, _justice is contrary to nature and the plan of the creation is absurd_."--_id._ author. the plan of the creation absurd, and justice contrary to nature without marriage! what does this mean in plain language? proudhon. what! is your intellect so feeble that it does not comprehend that, without marriage, there is not, there cannot be justice? author. then marriage is necessary to all? proudhon. no; but "all participate in it and receive its influence through filiation, consanguinity, adoption which, universal in its essence, in order to act, has no need of cohabitation.... in the animic or spiritual point of view, marriage is to each of us a condition of felicity.... every adult, healthy in mind and body, whom solitude or abstraction has not sequestered from the rest of mankind, loves, and by virtue of this love, contracts marriage in his heart.... justice, which is the end of love, and which can be obtained either by domestic initiation, by civic communion, or, lastly, by mystical love," suffices "for happiness in every condition of age and fortune."--_id._ and do not confound marriage with any other union, with concubinage, for example, "which is the mark of a feeble conscience." i do not however condemn the concubinary, for "society is not the work of a day, virtue is difficult to practise, without speaking of those to whom marriage is _inaccessible_."--_id._ in my opinion, it is for the interest of woman, of children, and of morals, that concubinage should be regulated by legislation. every child should bear the name of the concubinary father, who should provide for his subsistence and for the expenses of his education; "the forsaken concubine should also have a right to an indemnity, unless she has been the first to enter into another concubinage."--_id._ but it is not from concubinage, but from marriage that all justice, all right proceeds. this is so true, that if you "take away marriage, the mother is left with her tenderness, but without authority, without rights: _she can no longer do justice to her son_; there is illegitimacy, a first step backward, a return to immorality."--_id._ author. all that you have just said concerning love, marriage, justice and right, contains so many equivocations, errors, sophisms, and so much pathos, that nothing less than a huge volume would suffice to refute, after first explaining you. we will content ourselves, therefore, with dwelling on the principal points. vi. . the androgynus, by definition, is a being combining the two sexes. now marriage does not make of man and woman _a single being_; each preserves his individuality; your humanitary androgynus is not therefore worth the trouble of discussion; it is only a fantasy. . every organ supposes a function, it is true, but what _facts_ authorize you to say that the married couple is the organ of justice? especially when you take the trouble to contradict yourself, in admitting that justice is produced outside of marriage; that there is no need of being married to be just? the organ of justice, like all other organs, is in each of us; it is the moral sense which comes into action when the point in question is the appreciation of the moral value of an act, or to apply to our own conduct the moral science accepted by the reason of the age. . according to you, equilibrium is _equality_; _equality is justice_: there is, therefore, a contradiction on your part in exacting of two beings, endowed each with liberty, will and intellect, that they should acknowledge themselves _unequal_ to produce _equality_. . to affirm, as you have done, that progress is the realization of the ideal through free will; that, consequently, the ideal is superior to the reality, and that man progresses because he suffers himself to be guided by it; then to affirm that woman is the ideal of man and that, notwithstanding, she is _less_ and should _obey_, is a double contradiction. if the point from which you start be admitted, logic would exact that man should permit himself to be guided by woman. but what is the use of discussing a thing that is devoid of meaning to the intellect? if man, according to you, represents in reality strength, reason, justice, woman being the idealization of man, would therefore represent the greatest strength, the loftiest reason, the most sublime justice.... do you pretend to say this, you who affirm the contrary? . to say that marriage is an institution _sui generis_, a _sacrament_, a _mystery_, is to affirm what? and what enlightenment do you fancy that you have given us? are you fully sure of comprehending yourself better than we comprehend you? i doubt it. . can you demonstrate why, in an association between strong, intelligent men, and weak, narrow-minded men, justice exacts _equality_, respect for the dignity of all, and declares the slave _debased_ who submits; whilst in the association of man and woman, _identical in species_ according to you, the woman who is always, according to you, the weak and narrow-minded being, would be _debased_ and would become _odious_ by equality? . can you explain also how, in a couple which stands for the producer of justice or equality, this equality _would be the death of love and the destruction of the human race_? grant that such a farrago of nonsense and contradictions presents as many unfathomable _mysteries_ as your marriage. we will say nothing of divorce: we leave it to modern reason and conscience whether the dissolution of morals and of the family, due in a great measure to the indissolubility of marriage, does not give cause that it should be granted. what reasons do you give, besides, to support your opinions? an absurdity: that the rupture of marriage is _sacrilege_; an affirmation contradicted by facts: that conscience is immutable. . between the bastard and his mother, there is no justice, say you. your conscience is younger by two thousand and some hundred years than the modern conscience. in the work of reproduction, the task to be performed with reference to the new being, is divided between the parents. on the woman, as the more vital, more elastic, and more resisting, devolves the more perilous part of this task. you shall risk your life to form humanity from your own substance, says nature to her. to the man it belongs to pay his debt to his children by erecting the roof under which they take shelter, by bringing the food which you elaborate or prepare for them. to him it belongs to accomplish his duty towards his sons by the use of his strength, as you accomplish yours by supplying them with your blood and your milk. your rights over the child arise, adds conscience, from his incapacity to take care of himself, from the duties which you fulfil towards him, from the obligation under which you are placed to form his reason and conscience, and to make him a useful and moral citizen. well, what happens most of the time, in cases of illegitimacy? that the father having weakly, cruelly, contrary to all justice, deserted his task, the mother performs double duty towards her children: _she is at once father and mother_. and it is when this mother has a _double_ right that you dare to say that she has _none_! that between her and her son there is no justice! in truth, i should rather live among savages than in a society that thinks and _feels_ like you. a mother has an incontestable right over her child, for she has risked her own life to give it birth: the father acquires rights over it only when ever he fulfils his duty; when he does not fulfil it, he has no right; thus says reason. in this question, marriage signifies nothing. if i were illegitimate, and my father had basely abandoned me, i should despise and hate him as the executioner of my mother; as a man without heart and conscience, a vile egotist; and i should doubly love and respect her who had been at once my mother and my father. such are the dictates of my conscience, my reason, and my heart. . what is your marriage, _the first form given by nature to the religion of the human race_, in which woman is an idol who does the cooking and mends the stockings of her priest? what is this institution, in which man is reputed to defend his wife and children with his sword, whom the law defends, even against him? in which man is reputed to support by his labor those who often labor more than he, or who bring him a dowry? _the wife and children are under the jurisdiction of the tribunal of man!_ may the gods preserve us from this frightful return to the manners and customs of the patriarchs and romans. women and children are under the jurisdiction of the social tribunal, and it is safer for them: the french wife has not at least to fear that her abraham will sacrifice her little isaac, nor that her domestic despot, leaving the child on the ground, like the ancient roman, will thus condemn it to death. society has a heart and generous proctors who, happily, no longer see the family tribunal in the same light as proudhon. it is true that our author is an epimenides, awaking after a sleep of more than two thousand years. i have finished, master; have you anything more to say? proudhon. certainly. i have to speak of the sphere of woman. this sphere is "the care of the household, the education of childhood, the instruction of young girls under the superintendence of the magistrates, the service of public charity. we dare not add the national festivals and spectacles, which might be considered as the seed-time of love. "man is the worker, woman the housewife. "the household is the full manifestation of woman. "for woman, the household is an honorable necessity. "as all her literary productions are always reduced to a domestic novel, the whole value of which is to serve, through love and sentiment, to the popularization of justice, so her industrial production is brought back in conclusion, to the labors of the household; she will never depart from this circle."--_id._ author. pardon my astonishment, master, that woman, whose mind is _irremediably false_, who is _immoral_, who composes nothing but _medleys_, _monsters_, who _takes chimeras for realities, who does not even know how to write a novel_, knows how, notwithstanding, by your own admission, to write a novel in order to popularize justice through sentiment and love. she therefore comprehends, feels, and loves justice? i remark next, that the cares of the household are _labor_; that education is _labor_; that the service of public charity is _labor_; that the arrangement and superintendence of festivals and spectacles presume varied _labors_; that to popularize justice through a domestic novel is _labor_; whence it follows that woman is a _worker_, that is, a useful producer; she differs from man, therefore, merely in the kind of production; and we have only to ascertain whether the labor of woman is as useful to society as that of man. i charge myself, when you like, with establishing this _equivalence_ by _facts_. i remark, in the second place, that the education of childhood, the instruction of young girls, the service of public charity, the arrangement of festivals and spectacles, the popularization of justice by literature, do not form a part of the labors of the household; and that woman, therefore, is not _merely housewife_. i remark, thirdly, that our female superintendents, merchants, artists, accountants, clerks, and professors, are no more housewives than your male superintendents, merchants, artists, book keepers, clerks, and professors; that our female cooks and waiting-maids are no more housewives, than your male cooks, bakers, confectioners, and footmen; that, in all these functions, and in many others, women equal men, which proves that they are not less fitted than you for employments that do not pertain to the household, and that you are not less adapted than they to those that do pertain to it. rude facts thus stifle your affirmations, and show us that woman may be _something else than housewife or courtesan_. lastly, master, what is the position of all women relatively to all men? proudhon. inferiority; for the entire feminine sex fills the place with regard to the other sex, in certain respects, of the wife with regard to the husband: this proceeds from the sum total of the respective faculties. author. so there is neither liberty nor equality even for the woman who has not a father or husband? proudhon. "the truly free woman is the woman who is chaste; the chaste woman is she who experiences no amorous emotion for any one, _not even for her husband_."--_vol._ iii. author. such a woman is not chaste: she is a statue. chastity being a _virtue_, supposes the dominion of the reason and the moral sense over an instinct: the chaste woman, therefore, is she who controls a certain instinct, not she who is destitute of it. i add that the woman who yields herself to her husband without attraction, plays the part of a prostitute. i knew well that you understood nothing either of love or of woman! shall we, in conclusion, compare your doctrine concerning the right of woman with that which you profess concerning right in general? proudhon. willingly ... since i cannot do otherwise. author. do you admit that woman is identical in species with man? proudhon. yes, only her faculties are less energetic. author. i grant you this for the sake of discussion. expound your general theory concerning right, i will apply it to woman, and you shall draw the conclusion. vii. proudhon. "the law regulating only human relations, _it is the same for all_; so that, to establish exceptions, it will be necessary to prove that the individuals excepted are of superior order, or inferior to the human species."--_creation of order in humanity._ author. now you admit that woman is neither superior nor inferior to the human species, but is identical in species with man; the law is therefore the same for her as for man. proudhon. i draw the contrary conclusion, _because man is the stronger_. author. a contradiction, master. proudhon. "neither figure, nor birth, nor _the faculties_, nor fortune, nor rank, nor profession, nor talent, _nor anything which distinguishes individuals apart_, establishes between them a difference of species: all being men, and the law only regulating human relations, it is the same for all."--_id._ author. now, woman is in essence identical with man; she differs from him only in manners and qualities which, according to you, by no means make her differ in essence; once more, therefore, the law is the same for her as for man. proudhon. it is logical; but i conclude the contrary, _because man is the stronger_. author. a contradiction, master. proudhon. "social equilibrium is the equalization of the strong and the weak. so long as the strong and the weak are not equal, they are _strangers_, they cannot form an alliance, they are _enemies_."-- st _memoir on property_. author. now, according to you, man is the strong and woman the weak of an identical species; social equilibrium ought therefore to _equalize_ them, that they may be neither strangers nor enemies. proudhon. it is logical; but i claim that they should be _made unequal_ in society and in marriage. man should have the prepotence, _because he is the stronger_. author. a contradiction, master. proudhon. "from the identity of reason in all men, and the sentiment of respect which leads them to maintain their mutual dignity at any cost, follows equality before justice."--(_justice_, _vol._ iii, etc.) all are born free: between individual liberties there is no other judge than equilibrium, _which is equality_; the identity of essence does not permit the creation of a hierarchy.--_vol._ ii, the whole of the th _study_. author. now, woman is in essence identical with man. she is born free; between her and man there is, therefore, no other judge than equality; it is not permissible, therefore, to establish a hierarchy between them. proudhon. it is logical. but i conclude, on the contrary, that it is necessary to create a hierarchy between the sexes, and to give the prepotence to man, _because he is the stronger_. author. a contradiction, master. proudhon. "the dignity of the human soul consists in being unwilling to suffer any one of its powers _to subordinate_ the others, to require all to be at the service of the collective whole; this is morality, this is virtue. whoever speaks of harmony or agreement, in fact, necessarily supposes terms in opposition. attempt a hierarchy, a prepotence! _you think to create order, you create nothing but absolutism._"--_justice_, _vol._ ii. author. woman, according to you, forms with man an organism, that of justice. now, according to you, the two halves of the androgynus have different qualities, which are required to harmonize with each other in equality under pain of creating absolutism instead of order; the feminine faculty is therefore required to form an equipoise with the masculine faculty. proudhon. it is logical; but i conclude that the dignity of the humanitary androgynus lies in subjugating the feminine faculty and creating despotism, _because man is the stronger_. author. a contradiction, master. proudhon. "justice is the respect spontaneously felt for and _reciprocally guarantied_ to human dignity, in _whatever person_ and whatever circumstance it may be found compromised."--_justice_, _vol._ i. author. now, woman is a human being, possessing a dignity which should be respected and guarantied by the law of reciprocity; therefore one cannot be wanting in respect to feminine dignity without being wanting in justice. proudhon. it is logical; but although woman is a human being, identical in species with man, and although i believe that there is no other basis of right than equality, i nevertheless affirm that the dignity of woman is inferior to that of man, _because he is the stronger_. author. a contradiction, master. proudhon. "right is to each the faculty of exacting from others respect for human dignity in his person," duty is "the obligation of each to respect this dignity in another."--_justice_, _vol._ i. author. now, woman being identical in species, man possesses a dignity _equal_ to hers; therefore she should be respected in her dignity, that is, in her person, her liberty, her property, her affections; this is her right as a human being, and man cannot deny it without failing in justice and in his duty. proudhon. it is logical. but i claim that woman has not the right which my principles attribute to her; that man alone has rights, _because man is the stronger_. author. a contradiction, master. proudhon. "liberty is an _absolute_ right, because it is to man what impenetrability is to matter, a condition _sine qua non_ of existence."-- st _memoir on property_. author. now, woman is a human being, she has therefore an _absolute_ right to liberty, which is her condition _sine qua non_ of existence. proudhon. it is logical. but i conclude, on the contrary, that woman has no need of liberty; that this condition _sine qua non_ of existence for our species, does not regard one half of the species; that man alone cannot exist without liberty, _because he is the stronger_. author. a contradiction, master. proudhon. "equality is an absolute right, _because without equality, there is no society_."--_id._ author. now, woman is a human and social being; she has an absolute right, therefore, to this equality, without which she would be but a pariah in society. proudhon. it is logical. but i nevertheless conclude from this that woman has no more right to equality than to liberty. that, although of the same species as man, and consequently amenable to the law of equality, nevertheless she is not amenable to it, and should be unequal and in subjection to man, _because he is the stronger_. author. fie, master! to contradict yourself thus is disgraceful to your reputation. it would be better to maintain that woman has not the same rights as man, because she is of a different species. proudhon. woman is bound to feel that she does not possess a dignity equal to that of man; in the association formed between them to produce justice, _the notions of right and duty shall be no longer correlative_. man shall have all rights, and shall accept only such duties as it shall please him to recognize. author. reflect that man, after having denied the dignity and the right of woman, will labor to stultify her more and more in the interest of his despotism! proudhon. that does not concern me: the family should be immured: the husband is priest and king therein. if, as in the case with all liberty oppressed, the woman grows restive, we will tell her _that she does not know herself, that she is incapable of judging and ruling herself_; that she is a cypher; we will outrage her in her moral worth; we will deny her intellect and activity: and by dint of intimidating her, we will succeed in forcing her to be silent: for man must remain master, _since he is the stronger_! author. deny and insult us, master, this does us no harm: the lords of the middle age employed this method with their serfs, your sires ... we are now indignant at them. slaveholders employed and still employ this method with the blacks, and the civilized world is indignant at them, slavery is restricted, and is on the way to disappear. meanwhile, i point out your contradictions to my readers; your authority over minds will be thereby lessened, i hope. those who claim, in accordance with the major of the preceding syllogisms, that you found right upon identity of species, an abstraction of individual qualities; that you believe right and duty correlative; that you desire equality and liberty, will be quite as nearly right as those who claim, in accordance with the conclusion of the same syllogisms, that you base right upon force, superiority of faculties; that you accept inequality and despotism, deny individual liberty and social equality, and do not believe in the correlation of right and duty. if it is painful to you to have fallen into contradictions so monstrous, believe that it is not less painful to me to be forced, in the interest of my cause, to point them out to the world. having taken in hand the cause of my sex, i was under obligations to parry your attacks by turning against yourself your allegations against us. it was necessary to do this, not by denials and declamations which prove nothing, or by affirmations without proofs, according to your method of proceeding; but by opposing to you science and facts; by making use only of the rational method which you extol without employing it, by charging you often with contradicting yourself when proofs _de facto_ would have demanded too much detail and time. you accuse women of _taking chimeras for realities_. i have proved to you that you deserve this reproach, since your theory is in contradiction to science and facts. you accuse women of _erecting unreal analogies into principles_.... i have proved that you have done so as well, in deducing from the _pretended_ absence of physical germs in woman, the absence of intellectual and moral germs. you accuse woman of _reasoning wrongly_.... i have brought you face to face with your own principles, that you might draw from them contradictory conclusions. you accuse woman of creating nothing but _medleys, monsters_.... the anatomy of your theory proves that you know how to do so quite as well. you accuse woman of lacking intellect, of want of justice, virtue, chastity.... i appeal from you to yourself, and you say positively the contrary. where you are fantastic, contradictory, i, _a woman_, appeal to logic. where you are wanting in method, i, _a woman_, employ scientific and rational method. where you contradict your own principles, i appeal to these same principles to judge and condemn you. which of us two is the more reasonable and more rational? my modesty suffers, i acknowledge, at the thought that i have played the part of _minerva shaming ulysses_ _of his paradoxes and his profligacies_. at last, this tiresome part is ended! i have addressed so many harsh things to you in so firm and resolute a tone, that i should be sorry to quit you without a few friendly words coming from my heart. you ought to be fully convinced of my sincerity, for you see that you have to deal with a woman who shrinks from no one; who is never intimidated, however great may be her opponent, or whatever name he may bear. you may be my adversary: i shall never be your enemy, for i regard you as an honest man, a vigorous thinker, one of the glories of france, one of the great men of our comté, always so dear to the heart of her children; lastly, one of the admirations of my youth. you and i belong to the great army that is assaulting the citadel of abuse, and endeavoring to mine and sap it; i do not shun this solidarity. is it so necessary that we should fight? let us live in peace; i can entreat it of you without stooping, since i do not fear you. understand one thing that i tell you without bitterness: that you are incapable of understanding woman, and that by continuing the struggle, you will inevitably range her under the banner of the anti-revolutionists. your pride has set enmity between you and woman, and you have bruised her heel: no one would be more sorry than i to see her crush your head. chapter iii. comte. what thought auguste comte, who died in september, . to solve this question, it is necessary first to divide the man into two parts; not as the wise king solomon designed to divide the child disputed for by two mothers, but in thought, by making of him two distinct men; a philosopher and a revealer. m. comte, who denied and insulted his master, saint simon, is only the popularizer of his recently edited works: so much for the rational phase. what belongs to him exclusively is a socio-religious organization, which cannot be the work of a healthy mind. what belongs to him exclusively, is a heavy, dry, insulting style, arrogant to the point of being revolting, loaded and overloaded with adjectives and adverbs. what belongs to him exclusively, are a few ideas that he has submerged in volumes, containing not less than from seven hundred and fifty to eight hundred pages, in small type. i do not advise you to peruse them, readers, unless in your heart and soul you believe yourself deserving of many years of purgatory, which you prefer to expiate on the earth ... i do not know whether i ought to say above or below, since astronomy has reversed the positions of the material and spiritual worlds. the disciples of comte are divided into two schools: that of the positivist philosophers, and that of the priesthood. the first reject the religious organization of comte, and are in reality nothing but the children of modern philosophy, and very estimable adversaries of that nebulous thing which is called metaphysics. we could not therefore have them in sight in this article; so, let not m. littré and his honorable friends frown in reading us: we are about to find fault only with the high priest and his priesthood. the doctrine of comte concerning woman being connected with the whole of his religious system, let us first say a word about this system. _there is no god; there is no soul_: the object of our adoration should be humanity, represented by the best of our species.... there are three social elements: woman, priest, and man. woman is the moral providence, the guardian of morals. had it not been for the wholly mystical love, i willingly believe, that comte had for madame clotilde de vaux, it is probable that woman would not have been the _moral providence_; thanks to this love, she is nothing less than this. we will see that neither is she anything more. of a nature superior to that of man (in the opinion of comte), she is nevertheless subject to him, in consequence of a philosophical paradox which we need not refute here. the function of woman is to render man _moral_; a task which she can perform well only in private life; all social and sacerdotal functions are therefore interdicted her. she should be _preserved from labor_, should renounce dowry and inheritance; man is charged with maintaining her; daughter, she is supported by her father or her brothers; wife, by her husband; widow, by her sons. in default of her natural maintainers, the state, _on the requisition of the priesthood_, provides for her wants. marriage is instituted for the perfecting of the married couple, above all, for that of the man: the reproduction of the species has so little to do with its end, that the progress of science permits us to hope that, some day, woman will be able _alone_ to reproduce humanity, so as to realize and to generalize the hypothesis of the virgin mother. then it will be possible to regulate human production, by entrusting to none but the most deserving women the task of conceiving children and bringing them into the world, especially members of the priesthood. divorce is not permitted, and widowhood is eternal for both sexes. such, in brief, is the comtist doctrine concerning woman, marriage and procreation. as the reader might suspect us of malicious exaggeration, we entreat him to read attentively the following pages, emanating from the pen of the originator of the system. according to him, women have never demanded their emancipation; the men who claim it for them are, after comte's usual courteous style, nothing but _utopists corrupted by retrogression_. "all transitional ages,' he says, "have given rise, like our own, to sophistical aberrations concerning the social condition of woman. but the natural law which assigns to the effective sex an existence essentially domestic, has never been materially altered.... women were then (in antiquity) too low to reject worthily, even by their silence, the doctoral aberrations of their pretended defenders.... but among the moderns, the happy liberty of the western women permits them to manifest a decisive repugnance which is sufficient, in default of rational ratification, to neutralize these wanderings of the mind, _inspired by the intemperance of the heart_. "without discussing unreal retrograde utopias, it is of importance to feel, the better to appreciate real order, that if women should ever obtain this temporal equality demanded, without their consent, by their pretended defenders, their social guaranties would suffer thereby as much as their moral character. for they would find themselves thus subjected, in the majority of occupations, to an active daily competition which they could not sustain, while at the same time the practical rivalry would corrupt the principal sources of mutual affection. man should support woman, such is the natural law of our species."--_politique positive_, t. i. "it is necessary to consider the just independence of the affective sex as founded upon two connected conditions, its universal affranchisement from labor outside the household, and its free renunciation of all wealth.... "domestic priestesses of humanity, born to modify by affection the necessary reign of force, they should shun, as radically degrading, all participation in command."--_id._ t. iv. "the moral degradation appears to me still greater when woman enriches herself by her own labor. the continued eagerness of gain makes her then lose even that spontaneous kindness which preserves the other type in the midst of its dissipations. "no worse industrial chiefs can exist than women."--_caté._ _pos._ so ladies, ye who prefer labor to prostitution, who pass days and nights in providing for the wants of your family, it is understood of course that you _are degraded_; a woman ought not to do anything; respect and honor belong to idleness. you, victoria of england, isabella of spain,--you command, therefore you _are radically degraded_. m. comte pretends that masculine superiority is incontestable in all that concerns the properly called "source of command ... that the intellect of man is stronger, more extended than that of woman. "a healthy appreciation of the universal order will make the affective sex comprehend how important _submission_ is to dignity. "the priesthood will make women feel the merit of _submission_, by developing this _admirable_ maxim of aristotle: _the chief strength of woman consists in surmounting the difficulty of obeying_; their education will have prepared them to comprehend that all dominion, far from really elevating, necessarily degrades them, by depreciating their chief worth so as to expect from strength the ascendancy which is due to love alone."--_ibid._ here are a few pages from the system of politique positive, t. iv., which are too curious not to interest the reader. "the better to characterize feminine independence, i think it best to introduce a bold hypothesis, which human progress perhaps will realize, although it is my business neither to examine when nor how. "if the masculine apparatus contributes to our generation only after a simple excitement, derived from its organic destination, the possibility may be conceived of replacing this stimulant _by another or several others, of which the woman would dispose at will_. the absence of such a faculty among the neighboring species cannot be sufficient to interdict it to the most eminent and most modifiable race.... "if feminine independence can ever reach this limit, in accordance with the sum total of moral, intellectual, and even material progress, the social function of the affective sex will be found notably improved. then all fluctuation between the animal appreciation which still prevails, and the noble doctrine systematized by positivism, would cease. the most essential production (that of our species) would become independent of the caprices of a perturbating instinct, the normal repression of which has hitherto constituted the principal obstacle to human discipline. such a privilege would be naturally found transferred, with full responsibility, to the organs best fitted to its use, alone capable of guarding themselves from vicious impulses, so as to realize all the advantages that it permits." which means in good english, my female readers, that perhaps the time will come when you will create children without the co-operation of these gentlemen; that this function will be confided to those among you who shall be most worthy of it, and that they will be held responsible for the imperfection of the product. "thenceforth," resumes the author, "the utopia of the virgin mother will become to the purest and most eminent an ideal goal, directly suited to sum up human perfection, thus carried even to systematizing procreation, while ennobling it.... success depends most of all on the general development of the relations between the soul and the body, its continued search (that of the problem of fruitful virginity) will worthily institute the systematic study of vital harmony, by procuring to it at once the noblest aim and the best organs."--_ibid._ translated: the study of the relations of the brain with the body will lead us to discover the means of procreating children without the co-operation of man; this is the noblest aim of this study, as the faculty of being a virgin mother should be the ideal which the purest and most eminent women should seek to attain. "thus," continues m. comte, "i am led to represent the utopia of the virgin mother as the synthetic résume of positive religion, all the phases of which it combines."--_ibid._ translation: to procreate children without the concurrence of man, _sums up positive religion, and combines all its phases_. this may be very fine, but as to being _rational_ and _positive_--what do you think, readers? "the rationality of the problem," adds the author, "is founded upon the determination of the true office of the masculine apparatus, designed especially to supply to the blood an excitative fluid, capable of strengthening all the vital operations, whether animal or organic. in comparison with this general service, the special use of the fecundative stimulus becomes more and more secondary in proportion as the organism is elevated. it may thus be conceived that in the noblest species, this liquid ceases to be indispensable to the awakening of the germ, which may result artificially from several other, and even from material sources, especially from a better reaction of the nervous upon the vascular system."--_ibid._ all this would be possible, i grant, _if_ the fluid of which you speak, high priest, had, above all, the general function which you attribute to it; _if_ the reproduction of our species by the co-operation of the two sexes were not a _law_; _if_ we could preserve a species while destroying its law; _if_ facts did not contradict the possibility of the hypothesis. now, to place an _if_ before a natural law and the phenomena which are its expression, is only a gross absurdity: we explain laws, we do not reform them without profoundly modifying the being that they govern; we do not destroy without destroying this being: for the individual being is _the law in form_. the author dwells as follows on the consequences of the absurd hypothesis. "thence it may be conceived that civilization not only disposes man better to appreciate woman, but augments the participation of this sex in human reproduction, which ought, finally, _to emanate from it alone_. "regarded individually, such a modification ought to improve the cerebral and corporal constitution of both sexes, by developing therein continued chastity, the importance of which has been felt more and more by universal instinct, even during irregularities.--p. . "considered domestically, this transformation would render the constitution of the human family more in conformity with the general spirit of sociocracy, by completing the just emancipation of woman, thus made, even physically, independent of man. the normal ascendancy of the affective sex would be no longer contestable with respect to children _emanated from it exclusively_. "but the principal result would consist in perfecting the fundamental institution of marriage (the improvement of the married couple without sexual motive), the positive theory of which would then become unexceptionable. thus purified, the conjugal tie would experience an amelioration as marked as when polygamy was replaced by monogamy: for we should generalize the utopia of the middle age, in which maternity was reconciled with virginity. "regarded civilly, this institution alone permits the regulation of the most important of productions, which can never become sufficiently susceptible of systematization, so long as it shall be accomplished in delirium and without responsibility. "reserved to its best organs, this function would perfect the human race by better determining the transmission of ameliorations due to external influences, both social and personal.... systematic procreation coming to remain more or less concentrated among the better types, the comparison of the two cases would give rise not only to valuable enlightenment, but also to an important institution which would procure to sociocracy the principal advantage of theocracy. for the development of the new mode would soon cause a non-hereditary caste to spring up, better adapted than the common populace _for the recruital of spiritual and even temporal chiefs_, whose authority would then rest on a truly _superior_ origin, which would not shun investigation. all these indications will suffice to show the value of the utopia of the virgin mother, destined to procure to positivism a synthetic résume, equivalent to that which the institution of the eucharist furnishes to catholicism."--_ibid._ it is much to be feared, alas! that the disciples of this great man, however ardent seekers of _vital harmony_ they may be, will never find the _synthetic résume_ of positivism, the _equivalent_ of the eucharist: and it will be a great pity: to order children as we order shoes, and leave them on the mother's hands when they do not suit, would be very convenient. and what, i ask you, will the future leaders of humanity do, if they can only obtain respect and obedience on the condition of proving that they are _sons of virgins_? but we will not jest with so grave a personage as the high priest of humanity: we will only say in passing, that never was atheist seen to show himself more profoundly a christian through contempt for works of the flesh. hear what he says on page of the work before cited: "useless to individual conservation, the sexual instinct co-operates only in an _accessory and even equivocal_ manner to the propagation of the species. philosophers truly freed from superstition should regard it more and more as tending above all to disturb the principal design of the vivifying fluid. but without waiting for the feminine utopia to be realized, we may determine, _if not the atrophy, at least the inertia of this cerebral superfoetation_, with more facility than is indicated by the insufficient efforts of theologism. while positive education will make the vices of such an instinct everywhere felt, and _will raise up the continued hope of its desuetude_, the whole final system ought naturally to institute a revulsive treatment with respect to it, more efficacious than catholic austerities. for the universal aspiration of domestic existence and of public life will develop the sympathetic faculties to such a degree, that sentiment, intellect, and activity will always concur to stigmatize and repress the most perturbing of selfish propensities." despite all this _aspiration_, and all these stigmas, do not trust to it, high priest! be advised by me, use camphor, and plenty of it; scatter it everywhere as a certain amphitryon scattered nutmeg. it is in prevision of the excommunications hurled by you against this _vile_, this _useless_ instinct, that nature has been prodigal of camphor. upon the whole, you see, my female readers, that if m. comte believes us weaker than man in body, mind, and character, in return, he believes us better. we are moral providence, guardian angels: he dreams of affranchisement for us through the subversion of a natural law. but meanwhile he places us under the yoke of man by exempting us from labor; he rivets our chains by persuading us cajolingly to despoil ourselves of our property; he says to us in the gentlest voice imaginable: never command: it would degrade you; your great strength is in obeying him whom _it is your destiny to direct_. you will be naught in the temple, naught in the state. in the family, you are domestic priestesses, the auxiliaries of the priesthood. three sacraments out of nine are refused you: that of destiny, because, for you, it is confounded with that of marriage; that of retirement, because you have no profession; lastly, that of incorporation, because a woman cannot, in herself, merit a personal and public apotheosis. if you have been worthy auxiliaries, you shall be interred near those whom you shall have influenced, like their other useful auxiliaries: the horse, the dog, the cow, and the ass; and mention shall be made of you when honors shall be paid to the member of humanity to whom you shall have belonged. shall we refute such doctrines? no. our answer to them finds a fitter place in the article devoted to m. proudhon, who has drawn largely from the doctrine of m. comte. as to the priests who continue the teachings of their master, it suffices to refer them to what i said to m. comte in the _revue philosophique_ of december, . the women of the present time are in general intelligent, because they receive an education superior to that of their mothers. the majority of them devote themselves to an active life either in the arts or the trades; men acknowledge them as their competitors in these, and even confess that they are superior in management. no man, worthy of the name, would dare contest that woman is his equal, and that the day of her civil emancipation is close at hand. women, on their side, more independent and more deserving, without having lost anything of their grace and gentleness, no longer accept the famous axiom: _man should support woman_; still less do they accept the _admirable_ maxim of aristotle, fit for the slaves of the gyneceum. be sure that every _true_ woman will laugh at the raiment of clouds which you pretend to give her, at the incense with which you wish to asphyxiate her; for she cares no longer for adoration. she wishes to carry her intellect and activity unfettered into spheres suited to her aptitudes; she wishes to aid her brother, man, in clearing up the field of theory, the domain of practice; she claims that every human being is the judge of his own aptitudes; she does not recognize in any man or in any doctrine the right of fixing her place, and of marking out her road. through the labor of war was the patriciate constituted; through peaceful labor was servitude emancipated; _through labor_, also, does woman claim to conquer her civil rights. such is what many women are, what they wish to be to-day; see if it is not madness to seek to revive the gyneceum and the atrium for these women, impregnated with the ideas of the eighteenth century, wrought upon by the ideas of ' and of the modern reformers. to say to such women that they shall have no place in the state, nor in marriage, nor in science, nor in art, nor in the trades, nor even in your subjective paradise, is something so monstrous that i cannot conceive, for my part, how aberration could go so far. you will no longer find an interlocutress to say: "that a woman can scarcely ever deserve a personal and public apotheosis ... that views involving the fullest experience and the profoundest reflection are _naturally interdicted_ to the sex whose contemplations can scarcely go beyond the circle of private life _with success_ ... that _the moral degradation of woman is_ _still greater when she enriches herself by her own labor_ ... that there are no worse industrial chiefs than women...." and if any woman behind the times should be so imbecile and immodest as to hold such language, all men of any worth whatever would regard her only with disdain. but you, who wish to annihilate woman, from what principle do you draw such a consequence? that she is an affective power, you say ... yes, but, as to that, man is such, likewise; and is not woman, as well as he, alike intellect and activity? by reason of a purely accidental predominance, can one half of the human species be banished beyond the clouds of sentimentality? and ought not all serious discipline to tend to develop, not one phase of the being, but the ponderation, the harmony of all its phases? want of harmony is the source of disorder and deformity. the woman who is solely sentimental commits irreparable errors; the man who is solely rational is a species of monster, and the person in whom activity predominates is but a brute. since you believe in gall and spurzheim, you know that the encephalon of the two sexes is alike, that it is modifiable in both, that all education is founded on this modificability; why has it never occurred to you that if man _en masse_ is more rational than woman, it is because education, laws and custom have developed in him the anterior lobes of the brain; while in woman, education, laws and custom develop especially the posterior lobes of this organ; and why, having established these facts, have you not been led to conclude that, since organs are developed only in consequence of the excitants applied to them, it is probable that man and woman, subjected to the same cerebral excitants, would be developed in the same manner, with the shades of difference peculiar to each individuality; and that for woman to be developed harmoniously under her three aspects, she must manifest herself socially under three aspects? be sure, sir, your principle is thrice false, thrice in contradiction to science and reason; in the presence of the physiology of the brain, all theories of classification fall to the ground: before the nervous system, women are the equals of men: they can be their inferiors only before muscular supremacy, attacked by the invention of powder, and about to be reduced to dust by the triumph of mechanism. i should say many more things to you, sir, were not this critical sketch too long already; but imperfect though it may be, having to my mind only the meaning of a woman's protest against your doctrines, i shall pause here. chapter iv. legouvÉ. the inheritor of a name which commands respect, ernest legouvé, an elegant, eloquent, and impassioned author, has written a moral history of women, whence exhales a perfume of purity and love which refreshes the heart and calms the soul. in every page of this book, we detect the impulse of an upright heart and lofty mind, indignant at injustice, oppression, and moral deformity. the author has deserved well of women, and it is with pleasure that i seize the opportunity of thanking him in the name of those who, at the present time, are struggling in various countries for the emancipation of half the human race. what is the object of legouvé's work? we will let him tell it himself. "the object of this book is summed up in these words: to lay claim to feminine liberty in the name of the two very principles of the adversaries of this liberty: tradition and difference (of the sexes), that is to say, to show in tradition progress, and in difference equality. god created the human species double, we utilize but half of it; nature says two, we say one; we must agree with nature. unity itself, instead of perishing thereby, would only then be true unity; that is, not the sterile absorption of one of two terms for the benefit of the other, but the living fusion of two fraternal individualities, increasing the common power with all the force of their individual development. "the feminine spirit is stifled, but not dead.... we cannot annihilate at our pleasure a force created by god, or extinguish a torch lighted by his hand; but turned aside from its purpose, this force, instead of creating, destroys; this torch consumes instead of giving light. "let us then open wide the gates of the world to this new element: we have need of it." then, examining the position of women, the author adds: "no history presents, we believe, more iniquitous prejudices to combat, more secret wounds to heal. "shall we speak of the present? as daughters, no public education for them, no professional instruction, no possible life without marriage, no marriage without a dowry. wives--they do not legally possess their property, they do not possess their persons, they cannot give, they cannot receive, they are under the ban of an eternal interdict. mothers--they have not the legal right to direct the education of their children, they can neither marry them, nor prevent them from marrying, nor banish them from the paternal house nor retain them there. members of the commonwealth, they can neither be the guardians of other orphans than their sons or their grand-sons, nor take part in a family council, nor witness a will; they have not the right of testifying in the state to the birth of a child! among the working people, what class is most wretched? women. who are they that earn from sixteen to eighteen sous for twelve hours of labor? women. upon whom falls all the expense of illegitimate children? upon women. who bear all the disgrace of faults committed through passion? women." then, after showing the position of rich women, he continues: "and thus, slaves everywhere, slaves of want, slaves of wealth, slaves of ignorance, they can only maintain themselves great and pure by force of native nobleness and almost superhuman virtue. can such domination endure? evidently not. it necessarily falls before the principle of natural equity; and the moment has come to claim for women their share of rights and, above all, of duties; to demonstrate what subjection takes away from them, and what true liberty will restore to them; to show, in short, the good that they do not and the good they might do." the history of the past shows us woman more and more oppressed in proportion as we trace back the course of centuries. "the french revolution (itself), which renewed the whole order of things in order to affranchise men, did nothing, we may say, for the affranchisement of women.... ' respected almost all of the feminine disabilities of ' , and the consulate confirmed them in the civil code." this, in legouvé's opinion was the fault of the philosophy of the eighteenth century, for "woman is, according to diderot, a courtesan; according to montesquieu, an attractive child; according to rousseau, an object of pleasure to man; according to voltaire, nothing.... condorcet and sieyès demanded even the political emancipation of woman; but their protests were stifled by the powerful voices of the three great continuers of the eighteenth century, mirabeau, danton, and robespierre." under the consulate, "feminine liberty had no more decided enemy (than bonaparte:) a southerner, the spirituality of woman was lost on him; a warrior, he saw in the family a camp, and there required, before all else, discipline; a despot, he saw in it a state, and there required, before all else, obedience. he it was who concluded a discussion in council with these words: _there is one thing that is not french; that a woman can do as she pleases_.... always man (in the thought of bonaparte), always the honor of man! as to the happiness of woman, it is not a single time in question (in the civil code.)" it is in behalf of the weakness of women, it is in behalf of tradition which shows them constantly subordinate, it is in behalf of their household functions, that the adversaries of the emancipation of women oppose it. "to educate them is to deform them; and they do not want their playthings spoiled," says m. legouvé, ironically. he then continues in a serious strain: "what matters tradition to us? what matters history to us? there is an authority more powerful than the consent of the human race: _it is the right_. though a thousand more centuries of servitude should be added to those which have already passed, their accord could not banish the primordial right which rules over everything, the absolute right of perfecting one's self which every being has received from the sole fact that he has been created." to those who base their opposition on the domestic functions of woman, he answers: "if there (in the household) is their kingdom, then there they should be queens; their own faculties assure them there of authority, and their adversaries are forced, by their own principles, to emancipate them as daughters, as wives, as mothers. or, on the contrary, it is sought to extend their influence, to give them a rôle in the state, _and we believe that they should have one_: well; it is also in this dissimilarity (between the two sexes), that it is fitting to seek it. when two beings are of value to each other, it is almost always because they differ from, not because they resemble each other. far from dispossessing men, the mission of women therefore would be to do what men leave undone, to aspire to empty places, in short, to represent in the commonwealth the spirit of woman." as is evident, legouvé demands the civil emancipation of woman in the name of the eternal right, in the name of the happiness of the family, in the name of the commonwealth; their long standing oppression is an iniquitous fact, and he casts blame on all who have perpetuated it. this blame from a man of heart and justice may perhaps have some weight with those women who are so much accustomed to bondage that they do not blush at it--that they even no longer feel it! in his first book, "the daughter," which is divided into seven chapters, legouvé takes the child from her birth; he shows her made inferior in the ancient religions and systems of legislation by menu, by moses, at rome, at sparta, at athens, and under the feudal régime; and he asks why, even in our days, the birth of a daughter is received with a sort of disfavor. it is because she will neither continue the name nor the works of her father, says he; it is because her future gives rise to a thousand anxieties. "life is so rude and so uncertain for a girl! poor, how many chances of misery! rich, how many chances of moral suffering! if she is to have only her labor for a maintenance, how shall we give her an occupation that will support her in a state of society in which women scarcely earn wherewith not to die? if she has no dowry, how can she marry in this world in which woman, never representing anything but a passive being, is forced to buy a husband?... from this _début_, and in this child's cradle, we have found and caught a glimpse of all the chains that await women: insufficiency of education for the rich girl; insufficiency of wages for the poor girl; exclusion from the greater part of the professions; subordination in the conjugal abode." in the second chapter, the author shows by what gradations the daughter, deprived of the right of inheritance, has come in our times to share equally with her brothers; then, passing to the right of education, he answers those who pretend that to give a solid education to woman would be to corrupt her and to injure the family: "the diversity of their nature (man and woman) being developed by the identity of their studies, it may be said that women would become so much the more fully women in proportion as they received a masculine education. "well! it is in the name of the family, in the name of the salvation of the family, in the name of maternity, of marriage, of the household, that a solid and earnest education must be demanded for girls.... without knowledge, no mother is completely a mother, without knowledge no wife is truly a wife. the question is not, in revealing to the feminine intellect the laws of nature, to make all our girls astronomers or physicians; do we see all men become latinists by spending ten years of their life in the study of latin? the question is to strengthen their minds by acquaintance with science; and to prepare them to participate in all the thoughts of their husbands, all the studies of their children.... ignorance leads to a thousand faults, a thousand errors in the wife. the husband who scoffs at science might have been saved by it from dishonor." insisting upon the rights of woman, the author adds: "as such (the work of god) she has the right to the most complete development of her mind and heart. away then with these vain objections, drawn from the laws of a day! it is in the name of eternity that you owe her enlightenment." further on, he exclaims indignantly: "what! the state maintains a university for men, a polytechnic school for men, academies of art and trades for men, agricultural schools for men--and for woman, what has it established? primary schools! and even these were not founded by the state, but by the commune. no inequality could be more humiliating. there are courts and prisons for women, there should be public education for women; you have not the right to punish those whom you do not instruct!" m. legouvé demands, in consequence, public education for girls in athenæums, "which, by thorough instruction with respect to france, her laws, her annals, and her poetry, shall make her women french women in truth. the country alone can teach love of country." ancient religions and systems of legislation punished misdemeanors and crimes against the purity of women severely (says m. legouvé in his fourth chapter). our code, profoundly immoral, does not punish seduction, and punishes corruption only derisively, and violation insufficiently. to declare void the promise of marriage is fearful immorality; to permit no investigation of paternity and to admit that of maternity, is as cruel as it is immoral. if the solicitude of the legislator for property be compared with his solicitude for purity, we shall soon see how little the law cares for the latter. "the law recognizes as criminal only a single kind of robbery of honor, _violation_, but it defines, pursues and punishes two kinds of robbery of money, _larceny_ and _fraud_; there are thieves of coin, there are no sharpers in chastity." when a man has seduced a girl fifteen years old under promise of marriage, he has "a right to come before a magistrate and say: this is my signature, it is true; but i refuse to acknowledge it; a debt of love is void in law." the indignant author exclaims, further on: "thus, therefore, on every side, in practice and in theory, in the world and in the law, for the rich as for the poor, we see abandonment of public purity, and a loose rein to all ungoverned or depraved desires.... manufacturers seduce their workwomen, foremen of workshops discharge young girls who will not yield to them, masters corrupt their servant maids. of lost women, enumerated by the grave parent-duchâtelet at paris in , were servants, seduced by their masters, and discarded. clerks, merchants, officers, students deprave poor country girls and bring them to paris, where they abandon them, and prostitution gathers them up.... at rheims, at lille, in all the great centres of industry, are found organized companies for the recruital of the houses of debauchery of paris." with the indignation of an upright man, m. legouvé adds: "punish the guilty woman if you will, but punish also the man! she is already punished; punished by abandonment, punished by dishonor, punished by remorse, punished by nine months of suffering, punished by the burden of rearing a child: let him then be smitten in turn; or else, it is not public decency that you are protecting, as you say, it is masculine sovereignty, in its vilest form: seigniorial right! "impunity assured to men doubles the number of illegitimate children. impunity fosters libertinism; libertinism enervates the race, wastes fortunes and blights offspring. impunity fosters prostitution; prostitution destroys the public health, and makes a profession of idleness and license. impunity, in short, surrenders half the human race as a prey to the vices of the other half: behold its condemnation in a single word." in the fifth chapter, the author finding, with reason, that girls are married too young, desires that they should not enter upon family duties until twenty-two years old; works of charity, solid studies, innocent pleasures, and the ideal of pure love will suffice to keep them pure till this age. "if the young maiden learns that nothing is more fatal to this divine sentiment (love) than the ephemeral fancies which dare call themselves by its name; if she perceives in it one of those rare treasures which we win only by conquering them, which we keep only by deserving them; if she knows that the heart which would be worthy to receive it must be purified like a sanctuary and enlarged like a temple; then be sure that this sublime ideal, engraven within her, will disgust her, by its beauty alone, with the vain images that profane or parody it; idols are not worshipped when god is known." "what is marriage?" asks m. legouvé. "the union of two free beings, forming an alliance in order to perfect themselves through love." neither antiquity nor the middle age considered it in this light. the father, in ancient times, transmitted to the husband his right of property in his daughter in consideration of a certain sum. at athens, the daughter, even when married, formed part of the paternal inheritance, and was bound to leave her husband to espouse the heir. at rome, the father, after having given his daughter in marriage, had the power to take her back and to espouse her to another. among the barbarians, she belonged to him who paid the _mundium_ to her father. under the feudal system, the law disposed also of the daughter without her consent. the french revolution emancipated her in this respect; she is required now to consent to her marriage; but the customs of the age take from her the benefit of this emancipation; she is married too young to know what she is doing, and interest almost always determines her parents to give her in marriage. for woman to profit by her legal emancipation, she should be at least twenty-two years old when she marries; she should make her choice freely; and her relatives should content themselves with keeping her apart from those whom she ought not to choose, and should only enlighten and counsel her; for on the love between the married couple depends the happiness and virtue of the wife. examining next the origin of the dower, the transferral of the dowry, the betrothal and the marriage, he shows the _mundium_ paid at first to the father or the brother; then later, to the maiden, becoming, with the rest of the nuptial gifts, the origin of the dower, which he wishes to see made obligatory in modern times. passing to the dowry, he proves that, becoming by degrees a custom among the romans, it was at first the property of the husband; then, as the world progressed, it became the property of the wife. our code fully protects the dowry; but the law should oblige wealthy parents to endow their daughters so that they can marry. in olden times, a maiden was betrothed by pledges exchanged by the father and the man who asked her in marriage; at a later date the pledge was given to the maiden instead of the father, and the law intervened to render obligatory promises of marriage. at the present day, in france, there are no longer betrothed, but future spouses. in his second book, the author distinguishes the beloved one from the mistress, the adoration of pure from that of sensual love; the first produces goodness, patriotism, and respect for woman; the second regards her only as an object of pleasure and of disdain. antiquity had no knowledge of pure love; the middle age, which comprehended it, was divided equally between it and sensual love; to-day, we have learned to comprehend that the two loves should be united; that the beloved and the mistress should make one in the person of the wife. the third book, "the wife," is divided into seven chapters. the subordination of woman in marriage, with contempt for the mother, arose from two erroneous ideas: the inferiority of her nature; her passivity in the reproduction of the species, in which she performed the part of the earth with respect to the reception of germs. modern science has destroyed these bases of inferiority by demonstrating: st, that the human germ, before taking its definitive form, passes, in the bosom of its mother, through progressive degrees of animal life; d, that in all species, both animal and vegetable, the females are the conservers of the race, which they bring to their own type. among the romans, two forms of marriage placed the wife, soul, body and estate, _in the hands_ of her husband; in a third form, which left her in her father's family, she received a dowry, inherited, and administered her property. barbarism and feudality made the wife a ward, the husband an administrator, and a step was taken towards the equality of the spouses by the institution of _acquêts_, or property belonging to both, though obtained by but one. to-day, the maiden is married sometimes under the dotal system, occasionally under that of the separation of property, and chiefly under that of communion of goods. this last, which is the rule, permits the husband to dispose of the property of his partner, to sell the household furniture, to take possession of the very jewels of his wife to adorn his mistress. "thus, this law respects no dignity, no delicacy, nothing whatever," says m. legouvé. the omnipotence of the husband is a crime of the law in every point of view; it is in manifest violation of the modern principle, which exacts that all authority shall be limited and placed under surveillance. "to surrender to the husband the fortune of the wife is to condemn her to an eternal moral minority, to create him absolute master of the actions and almost of the soul of his companion." the author next addresses himself to those who pretend to justify marital omnipotence by the incapacity of woman: "in vain do facts protest against this alleged incapacity; in vain does reality say: to whom is the prosperity of most of our commercial houses due? to women. who establish, who superintend the thousands of establishments of millinery and objects of taste? women. by whom are the boarding-schools, the farms, often even, the manufactories, sustained? by women. it matters not, the code denies to the wife the foresight to preserve, the judgment to administer, even the maternal tenderness to economize, and the marriage certificate becomes the expression of this disdainful phrase: the most reasonable woman never attains the good sense of a boy fourteen years of age." how shall we set to work to remedy this iniquitous and shameful state of affairs? the property of the partners should be divided into three shares: one for the wife, to be placed at her disposal five years after marriage, one for the husband, and a third common to both, to be administered by the husband under the direction of a family council, which council, in case of incapacity or waste, shall have the right provisionally to take away the management from him, to entrust it to his wife. if anything is iniquitous and revolting, it is the power of the husband over the person and the actions of his wife; the right over her of correction, still tolerated in our days. there must be a directing power in the household; the husband must be the depositary of this power, which should be limited, and controlled by the family council. legal omnipotence demoralizes the husband, who believes in the end in the lawfulness of his despotism. it is said that custom establishes precisely the contrary of what the laws prescribe: this is generally true, but it is at the expense of the moral character of the wife, thus forced to have recourse to artifice. "restore liberty to women, since liberty is truth!" exclaims legouvé. "this will be, at the same time, to affranchise man. servitude always creates two slaves: he who holds the chain and he who wears it." antiquity, the middle age, and the centuries nearer our own, punished the adultery of the wife severely, even cruelly, yet did not admit that a man could become guilty of this offence with respect to his spouse. our present code acknowledges, indeed, that the husband can commit adultery, but only in case he maintains his mistress under the conjugal roof; the wife is an adulteress everywhere, and is punished severely; as to the husband, his punishment is a farce. "such impunity," says m. legouvé, "is not only injurious to order, it is an insult to public morals, _it is a lesson of debauchery, given by the law itself_." if, by adultery, the wife wounds the heart of an honorable man, introduces false heirs into the family, she at least can abstract nothing from the common fortune; while the husband, in the same case, can ruin the family, while increasing the number of natural children and provoking his wife to wrong by his neglect and brutality. the husband, besides, is more criminal than the wife, for he seeks adultery, while, on the contrary, it comes to the wife under a thousand attractive forms. notwithstanding, the adultery of the woman deserves greater punishment than that of the man.... ah! m. legouvé, is this logic? the oriental wife was and is still, a slave, a generatrix; the roman wife was something more than this; the wife of the middle age owed her body to her husband, but the courts of love had decided that her affections could, nay, should belong to another. to-day, the ideal of marriage is enlarged; we comprehend that it is the fusion of two souls, a school for mutual perfection, and that the two spouses should belong wholly to each other. we have been led to this new ideal of the conjugal union by the civilizing struggles of the church against divorce and repudiation. in its nature, marriage is indissoluble, but in the existing state of things in which the ideal is but very exceptionally realized, the legislator has deemed it right to render possible the separation of the spouses: this measure is immoral and unfortunate both for the partners and for their children. the only remedy for family difficulties is _divorce_, a question with which the church has nothing to do. the whole of the last chapter of the third book is a condemnation of fickleness in love, and an affirmation of the indissolubility of marriage and of the sanctity of the conjugal tie. the fourth book, "the mother," comprises six chapters. until a late day, it was believed that woman was only the soil in which man, the creator of the species, deposited the human germ. modern science has overthrown this false doctrine, and elevated woman by demonstrating these three incontestable facts: st, that, dating from the moment of conception, the human germ passes through successive degrees of animal life until it acquires its proper form; d, that the female sex is the conserver of the race, since it always brings them to its own type, as well in the human as in the animal and vegetable species; d, that woman is physiologically of a nature superior to man, since it is now demonstrated that the higher the respiratory apparatus is placed in the organism, the more elevated is the species in the scale of beings; and that woman breathes from the upper, and man from the lower part of the lungs. maternity does not give to women rights over their children, but contributes, notwithstanding, to their emancipation; thus, in india, a woman who had borne sons could not be repudiated, and at rome, a woman emerged from tutelage at maternity. it is iniquitous to give the paternal authority to the father alone; the mother should have an equal right with him over her children. supremacy of direction belongs indeed to the father, but this direction should be limited and superintended by a family council, and transferred to the mother in case of the unworthiness of her spouse. the education of the children belongs of right to the mother, because she understands them best, and because it is necessary that she should acquire that entire influence over her sons which she will need afterwards to counsel and to console them. public education is not fit for boys until they have attained their twelfth year; younger, it is injurious in its results to their character. the author demands that the maternal grand-parents shall not be made inferior in guardianship, as is the case now in the law; and he considers it as sacrilege not to give to the mother an equal right with respect to consent to the marriage of their children. legitimate maternity is happiness to the rich woman; want, often grief, to the poor woman. illegitimate maternity is to women of all ranks a source of sorrow, shame and crime. to the rich girl it is dishonor, an eternal bar to marriage; to the poor girl it is poverty, shame if she keeps her child; crime, if she destroys it. yet the law dares grant impunity to the corrupter, to the seducer, to the man who has not hesitated to sacrifice to a moment of passion the whole future of a woman, the whole future of a child! the state ought to come to the aid of all poor mothers, because it is for its interest that the race should be strong and vigorous, and because mothers are the preservers of the race. let the genius of women be set to work; let infant schools and infant asylums be founded in every quarter of france. the hindoo widow was burned; the jewish widow was bound to re-marry certain men designated by the law; the grecian and the gothic widow passed under the guardianship of her son, and the latter could not even re-marry without his permission; the christian widow was condemned to seclusion; none of these women had any rights over their children. the french code restores full liberty to the widow, renders to her the right of majority, appoints her the guardian and directress of her children; it is a preliminary step to liberty in marriage. the fifth book, _woman_, is divided into five chapters. all antiquity oppressed woman, although it recognized in her something superior, and made her a priestess or a prophetess. the christian woman of the early ages, who alone could dethrone the pagan woman, not only endured martyrdom as courageously as man, but was distinguished for her great charity, for the purity and lucidity of doctrine which rendered her the counsellor of learned men. we do not know, in reality, to what heights woman can attain; we cannot judge her by what she is to-day, since she is the work of the eternal oppression of man. "who can say whether many of the ills that rend society, and of the insoluble problems that trouble it, may not be caused in part by the annihilation of one of the two forces of creation, the ban placed on female genius? have we a right to say to half the human kind: you shall not have your share in life and in the state? is it not to deny to them (to women) their title of human beings? is it not to disinherit the state itself? yes, woman should have her place in civil life," concludes legouvé. woman and man are equal, but different. to man, belong synthesis, superiority in all that demands comprehensive views, genius, muscular force; to woman, belong the spirit of analysis, the comprehension of details, imagination, tenderness, grace. man has more strength of reason and body, woman more strength of heart, with a marvelous perspicacity to which man will never attain. the division thus fixed, what ought woman to do? in the family, the task of the wife is the management of domestic affairs, the education of the children, and the comfort of the husband, of whom she should be the inspiration. by the side of the eminent man, yet in the shade, there is always a woman; this career of hidden utility and of modest devotion is the one best suited to woman. in civil life there are several fields of occupation which they may enter with success: art, literature, instruction, _administration_, medicine. "modesty itself demands that we should call in women as physicians, not to men, but to women; for it is an abiding outrage upon all purity that their ignorance should forcibly expose to masculine curiosity the sufferings of their sisters.... nervous diseases, especially, would find in feminine genius the only adversary able to understand and combat them." the author says that it is the duty of society to see that poor women do not work for one-third or one-fourth the wages of men; and that, in manufactures, they have not the most dangerous and least remunerative labors. "parent-duchâtelet," says he, "attests that of three thousand lost women, _only thirty-five had an occupation that could support them_, and that fourteen hundred had been precipitated into this horrible life by destitution. one of them, when she resolved on this course, _had eaten nothing for three days_." m. legouvé thinks it shameful that men should enter into competition with women in the manufacture of articles of dress and taste. in the fifth and last chapter, the author recognizes the remarkable capacity of women in administration, of which he cites numerous examples. he demands that they should have the superintendence of prisons for women, hospitals, charitable institutions, the legal guardianship of foundlings, the management, in short, of all that concerns social charity, because they will acquit themselves in it infinitely better than men. but he refuses to them all participation in political acts and in all that concerns the government, because they have no aptitude for things of this nature. finally, he concludes thus: "our task is finished; we have examined the principal phases of the life of women, in the character of daughters, wives, mothers, and women, comparing the present with the past, and endeavoring to indicate the future; that is, by pointing out the bad, verifying the better, seeking the best. "what principle has served us in this as a guide? equality in difference. "in the name of this principle, what ameliorations have we demanded in the laws and customs? "for daughters: "reform in education. "laws against seduction. "the postponement of the marriageable age. "the actual participation of the betrothed parties in the execution of their contract. "abolition of the formal request to the father of consent to marriage, which is an insult to the father and an injustice to the child. "for wives: "an age of legal majority. "administration, and the right of disposing of a portion of their private property. "the right to appear in law without the consent of their husbands. "the limitation of the power of the husband over the person of the wife. "the creation of a family council, charged with controlling this part of the power. "for mothers: "the right of government. "the right of direction. "the right of education. "the right of consent to the marriage of their children. "a law requiring the investigation of paternity. "the creation of a family council to decide on serious disagreements between father and mother. "for women: "admission to guardianship and the family council. "admission to all professions. "admission within the bounds of their capabilities and duties to public offices." it is evident that legouvé has but one end, that of advancing the emancipation of women a single step; he does not demand all that he believes just, but all that seems to him mature and possible. we should thank him for his prudence: he has brought over many men to our cause, and has prepared them to hear the voice of woman, speaking loudly and firmly by her right as a wife and a human being, as a worker and a member of the social body. by the side of legouvé, outside the social schools, are a phalanx of just and generous men who have written in our favor. we thank them all for their good words. chapter v. de girardin. on page of his pamphlet, "liberty in marriage," de girardin says, with great reason: "man is born of woman. everything, therefore, that benefits woman will benefit man." "to fight and conquer for her is to fight and conquer for himself." inspired by these excellent sentiments, the celebrated publicist has investigated the causes of the slavery and degradation of woman, and the means of paralyzing them. _every child has for its father the husband of its mother_: this, according to m. de girardin, is the principle of two great wrongs: the servitude of the married woman; the inequality of children before the law, which classes them as legitimate and illegitimate. that children may become equal, that woman may be affranchised from the yoke of man, it is necessary, says the author, to substitute the system of maternity for that of paternity; to modify marriage, and to render woman independent through the institution and universalizing of the dower. we will let m. de girardin expound the rest of his doctrine himself. "we must choose," says he, "between these two systems: "between the system of _presumed_ paternity, _which is the system of the law_, and the system of maternity, _bearing its proof within itself, which is the system of nature_; the latter is in conformity with incontestable truth, the former is condemned by undisputed statistics. the system of paternity is _inequality of children before the mother and before the law; it is woman possessed and not possessing_; ... it is no longer the legal slavery of woman, _but is still conjugal servitude_."--_liberty in marriage._ "without equality of children before the mother, equality of citizens before the law _is only an imposture_, for evidently and incontestably, this equality does not exist for , , children, who, arbitrarily entitled illegitimate, are placed outside of common right in violation of natural law."--_id._ according to de girardin, the logical consequences of the system of maternity would be: the abolition of civil marriage; the mother's name alone given to the child; the inheritance placed solely in the maternal line. "marriage," says he, "is a purely individual act, and, as regards its celebration, a purely religious act.-- "marriage is an act of faith, not of law: it is for faith to govern it, _not for law to make rules for it_. "as soon as the law intervenes, it intervenes _without right_, without necessity, _without utility_. "for one abuse that it pretends to avert, it gives rise to innumerable others which are worse, and from which society afterwards suffers seriously, without taking into account the cause that produced them. "legal liberty in marriage is durable love in the household; indissolubility of marriage is habitual love outside of the household."--_id._ with respect to inheritance and dowry, the author expresses himself thus: "to inherit at the death of the mother, because maternity and certitude are two equipollent terms, and to receive a support from the father, because paternity and doubt are two inseparable terms; such is the true law of nature."--_id._ in de girardin's opinion, woman has the same rights as man to liberty and equality; the sexes are equal, not through _similitude_ but _equivalence_ of faculties and functions; man produces, acquires, woman administers, economizes; it belongs therefore to man to provide for the expenses of the household. it is his duty, on uniting himself to a woman, to settle on her an inalienable dower that will permit her to perform her maternal functions properly, and to escape from the vices that frequently result from want and abandonment. to the objection that the wages of the working people are insufficient to satisfy this duty, the generous publicist replies: well, raise the rate of wages by excluding from industrial occupations the women and children that lower it by competition with men. and if this measure be not sufficient to balance receipts and expenses, increase the wages, for "there is no consideration weighty enough to make me admit that, in order not to diminish the profits of some men, others shall be eternally condemned to insufficient wages; and that to shelter some women from violation, others shall be necessarily devoted to prostitution."--_id._ in comparing the lot of the wife under the two systems, de girardin expresses himself thus: "under the system of paternity, the wife, loaded with the gifts of fortune, sinks under the weight of an idleness which most frequently inflames and disorders her imagination. she does not know what to do to employ her time. woman does nothing because man does everything. "the wife who has brought no dowry and received no dower, sinks under the weight of a toil contrary to nature which obliges her, through economy, to separate herself from her child a few days after giving it birth, and to put it away from her to nurse, for the consideration of five or six francs a month; to go to work in one direction while her husband works in the other, and not to rejoin him till evening, when each returns from the workshop which has kept them absent from their household all day: if this is what is called the family, _is it indeed worth all the stir that is made about it_? "under the system of maternity, on the contrary, the richer a woman is, the further she is removed from idleness; for not only has she her children to nurse, to rear, to instruct, and to watch over, but she has also to administer her fortune which will one day be theirs. "to preserve this fortune, to increase it still more: here is wherewith to occupy her leisure, to calm her imagination, to place her under curb. it is wrong to suppose women not qualified for the management of business; they excel in it, however little may have been their practice or application. "long enough has man been the personification of war, of slavery, of conquest; it is the turn of woman to be the personification of peace, of liberty, of civilization. "in this new system (_that of maternity_), each of the two has his part: to man labor, the genius of enterprise; to woman economy and the spirit of foresight. "man speculates, woman administers; "man acquires, woman preserves; "man brings in, woman transmits; "the dowry remains the attribute of the father, the inheritance becomes the privilege of the mother; "each of the two thus exercises the function that is _natural_ to him, and in conformity with the essence of things."--_id._ a number of women have asked whether de girardin recognizes political right for women. he says nothing about it, either in his work "liberty in marriage," or in his "universal politics." but when a man writes that: "woman, belonging to herself, and being dependent only on her reason, has the same rights as man to liberty and equality." that "universal suffrage should be _individual_ and _direct_." that "every holder of a general insurance has a right to be a party to it." it is evident that we may deduce, without any great stretch of logic, that, woman being _free and equal to man_, woman being comprised in universality, woman holding, like man, her policy of insurance, has a right, like man, to be elector, to be eligible to office, and to vote _individually and directly_. now, as m. de girardin is not one of those who recoil from the consequences of their principles, we are led to believe that he admits to woman the exercise of political right for woman. i have been told that, in , one of those pitiable individuals who have neither intellect enough to be logical, nor justice enough to comprehend the oppressed, was haranguing before m. de girardin against the claims of certain women to enter political life. "why not?" asked m. de girardin. "do you believe that madame de girardin would deposit a less intelligent vote in the electoral urn than that of her footman?" if this anecdote be true, the opinion of the publicist concerning the political right of woman is not doubtful. _la liberté dans le mariage_ has raised a tempest of indignation, to a greater or less degree feigned, among the prudes; and for some time it required courage openly to proclaim one's self the (feminine) champion of the author. abolish marriage! cry some, veiling their faces with an air of offended modesty. make a speculation of love! exclaim others who, apparently, have preserved their holy innocence and baptismal ignorance. come, ladies, we might say,--a truce to conventional delicacy and sentimentality. let men suffer themselves to be deceived by our mask, nothing is more natural; but what is the use of playing the farce among women? m. de girardin does not really suppress marriage; he changes it in some respects, but leaves it intact in a religious point of view. if his system should be adopted, therefore, you might be married in the presence of the clergymen of your respective faiths, precisely as was done some seventy years ago, and you would have no fewer scruples than your grandmothers, who believed themselves then sufficiently married. on the other hand, in suppressing civil marriage, the author does not interdict such and such particular stipulations; if therefore you hold in any degree to the religion of the code, it will be lawful for you to stipulate in your notarial contract: . that you will be submissive to your husbands; . that you will permit them to manage your fortune, even contrary to your interests and to those of your children; . that without authority from them, you will neither go to law, nor undertake anything, nor sell anything, nor receive anything, nor give anything away; . that, so long as they shall live, you renounce all authority over your children; that they can, if they please, take them from you, banish you from them, have them reared by whoever they choose, even by their mistress, finally, give them in marriage contrary to your will; . that you recognise their right to carry elsewhere their love, their attentions, their fortune and your own; provided that this does not happen under your roof; . that, lastly, you grant their right, if, abandoned by them, you attach yourself to another, to drag you before the bar, to dishonor you, to imprison you with thieves and prostitutes; that even in such case you declare them excusable in killing you. yes, ladies, you might stipulate all this, for m. de girardin disputes no one the rights of lacking dignity and being imbecile; of what then do you complain? you reproach m. de girardin with wishing to make a speculation of love! be good enough to tell me what you call the greater part of the marriages of the present time, in which men have the heartlessness to speculate even on death!--in which they ask how much a young girl has, what are her expectations, and _how old are her parents_. answer, women: is it true that the great majority of seduced women are incapacitated, through shame and poverty, from rearing their children? that what you call a first fault, drives the greater part of them to make a traffic of their charms? that the great majority of men forget, after satisfying their passion, both the woman whom they have led astray, and the innocent creature that owes its life to them? is it true that the horrible and cruel selfishness of men and the insane confidence of women produces annually a fearful number of so called illegitimate children, the greater part of which people the prisons, the galleys, and the public brothels? is it true, lastly, that this same selfishness and this same confidence are the cause of thousands of human lives being criminally sacrificed? and if all this shame, all these griefs, all these crimes are true? if there are so many women seduced and heartbroken; if there are so many children abandoned; if there are so many infanticides; if the law does not protect the woman deceived and made a mother; if this law does not compel the seducer to any reparation; if public opinion leaves to the victim all the shame; why do you reproach a man for reminding a young girl that from love may proceed maternity? for telling her that she ought to provide in advance for the child that may be born, in order that it may not be cast upon public charity, and that she herself may not risk falling into those sinks of impurity that are the shame and degradation of our sex? do you reproach a man then for taking our part against the selfish and animal passions of his sex, and against the impunity accorded them by the laws? do you reproach him for taking in hand the cause of morals and health, in opposition to the degradation of soul and body? a young girl stipulate the sale of her person! say you? what essential difference do you find between this kind of contract, and those that are made to-day before the notary on the occasion of a marriage? did not most among you, ladies, purchase your husbands with so much dowry, so much income, so much _expectations_? and if these husbands of yours did not think it shameful to be sold, and if you do not esteem them less for it, be good enough to tell me from what principle you judge it shameful for a young girl to do the same in order to rear her children, and to live without prostituting herself? for my part, i do not see. ladies, you are grown-up children: men feign to have contempt for the woman who thinks of her interests in love ... because they wish, if possible, to keep their money, that is all. is this to say that i admit all the ideas of m. de girardin? no. i admit with him, that woman can only be free and the equal of man, in so far as she is a wife, through a change in marriage. that, in the state of insecurity in which she is placed with respect to wages and to maternity outside of marriages, woman _does well_ to take measures to prevent man from shifting the obligations of paternity from himself to her. i would willingly admit that the child should bear the mother's name only, if men did not object so strongly to it. the child, belonging to both, should bear both names, and choose, at majority, the one that he preferred; or else the daughters should bear the name of the mother and the sons that of the father, from the time of majority. i readily admit the equality of children before the mother and the law; for bastardy is meaningless in nature and is social iniquity. but what i do not admit, is the ideal m. de girardin has formed with regard to the respective functions of each sex: the exclusion of woman from active occupations; the universalizing of the dower; lastly, family education. to say that man represents labor, the genius of enterprise, that he speculates, acquires, brings in,--that woman represents economy, the spirit of foresight,--that she administers, preserves, transmits, is to establish a series which does not appear to me at all in conformity with the nature of things, since it is notorious that a great number of women do what m. de girardin attributes to the other sex, and _vice versâ_. functions, to be properly performed, should be the result of aptitudes. now nature, except in what concerns the reproduction of the species, does not appear to have classed these according to the sexes. since the origin of society, we have attempted to do it, but history is at hand to reveal to us that, in acting thus, we have only succeeded in tyrannizing over the sturdy minorities that have given the lie to such pretensions. now, m. de girardin, admitting a false series, _à priori_, is led without perceiving it to forge chains for all women whom nature has not made in conformity with the conventional order which he wishes to see realized. to exclude woman from active occupations in order to confine her to the cares of the household is to attempt an impossibility, to close the way to progress, and to replace woman beneath the yoke of man. it is to attempt an impossibility, because there are branches of manufactures that can be executed only by women; because many women who would not marry, or who would be left portionless widows without resources, could only remain pure by devoting themselves to some active employment which, notwithstanding, would be interdicted to them. to see woman in the household alone, is to view her from a contracted stand point, which retards the advent of her liberty. it is to close the way to progress, because there are social functions which will never be well performed until woman shall participate in them, and social questions that will never be resolved until woman shall stand by the side of man to elucidate them. it is to replace woman beneath the yoke of man, because it is in human nature to rule and domineer over those whom we provide with their daily bread. to wish to erect the dower into an institution, is to wish to restore one of the most lamentable phases of the past at the moment when humanity is marching towards the future--that which shows us woman purchased by man. the universalizing of the dower would be therefore a criminal attempt on the liberty and moral dignity of woman. lastly, to claim that every mother ought to educate her children herself appears to us to propose as great impossibility as social danger. if every well constituted woman is fit to bring children into the world and to nourish them with her milk, very few are capable of developing their intellect and heart, for education is a special function, requiring a particular aptitude, with which all mothers cannot be endowed. next, family education perpetuates divergence of opinions and sentiments, maintains prejudices, favors the development of vanity and selfishness, and tends, by this means, to paralyze the most noble, the most civilizing sentiment--that of universal solidarity. assuredly, at the present time, many motives may justify family education, but for the good of humanity it is to be desired that parents who sympathize in progressive ideas should assemble their children together to form them for social life, instead of rearing them each by himself. i submit this critical sketch to m. de girardin in the name of the principle that he has always defended:--_individual dignity and human liberty_. chapter vi. modern communists. the communists hold as the principle of social organization, not _the agrarian law_, as has been charged on them through ignorance or bad faith, but the enjoyment _in common_ of the soil, of implements of labor, and of products. _from each one according to his strength, to each one according to his needs_, is the formula of most among them. it is not our business to examine the social value of this doctrine, but only to show what communism thinks of woman and her rights. the modern communists may be divided into two classes: the religious and the political. among the first are the saint simonians, the fusionists and the philadelphians. among the second, are the equalitarians, the unitarians, the icarians, etc. the first consider woman as the equal of man. to the others, she is free; among some, with a shade of subordination. the unitarians, who have drawn largely from fourier, proclaim woman free, and equal with man. we shall speak here of only a few of the communistic sects, reserving for separate articles what relates to the saint simonians and the fusionists. the philadelphians, admitting god and the immortality of the soul, lay down these two principles: god is the chief of the social order; fraternity is the law that governs human relations. religion, to the philadelphians, is the practice of fraternity; progress is a dogma, community is the law of the individual before god and conscience. touching the relations of the sexes and the rights of woman, m. pecqueur thus expresses himself in his work _la république de dieu_, pp. , : "complete equality of the man and the woman." the monogamic marriage, intentionally indissoluble as a normal condition; such is the second practical consequence of the dogma of religious fraternity. . equality. "we bring no proofs in evidence of this; _his reason is blotted out by prejudice and his heart chilled by egotism_, who is not impressed at once with the truth of equality. "in the state of society created by the religion of fraternity and equality, women will find, from their earliest years, _the same means and the same conditions of development of function and of remuneration_, in short, the same rights, the same social aim to pursue as men; and in proportion as custom shall correspond with the religious and moral ends of the union, will the living law deduce the practical consequences of all order, contained in the germ in the dogma of the complete equality of the sexes. " . monogamy and indissolubility. "to comprehend the lawfulness of the unlimited or indefinite monogamic marriage, it suffices to consider: st. the exigencies of our inmost nature, that is, the characteristics of love; its instinctive aspiration to the union and the fusion of two beings, to duration and to perpetuity; the necessity of possessing each other reciprocally and of having faith in this possession _in order to love each other_; in short, instinct, desire; the irresistible and universal affections, and the joys of paternity and of the family; d. the physiological conditions of generation, which exact monogamy in order to assure the reproduction and the good and progressive conservation of the species; d. social and religious exigencies, which require relations of all kinds to be predetermined and regulated, that each one may be secure in his expectation and his possession, and that there may be a possibility of satisfying the fundamental propensities of our natures.... to claim to introduce polygamy, promiscuousness, or union for a term of years into such surroundings, (the philadelphian society,) is evidently to decree selfishness and mere carnal pleasure, while proclaiming duty and dignity. it is inconceivable that two moral beings, once united by pure love, should ever cease to love each other, to delight in each other, or at least to endure each other, when they are presumed already to be devoted and sacrificing without distinction in their love to their brothers and sisters. "still less is it conceivable that their brothers and sisters would dream of diverting this reciprocal love of two members of the family to their personal advantage; _for this would be infamy_." m. pecqueur admits, notwithstanding, that in very rare cases, divorce may be granted on account of incompatibility of temper. in such case the offending party would be excluded from the republic, and the other would be at liberty to remarry. according to m. pecqueur, indissolubility of marriage does not relate to the present antagonistic state of society, as he says: "divorce is a great misfortune, not only to the parties concerned, but to religion; notwithstanding, in the kingdom of cæsar in which pure justice is the question, it is the lesser evil, when the individuals are determined on a separation in fact, and are lusting after other ties. they do evil clandestinely; they are the cause or the occasion of the temptation or the fall of others. do what they will, the scandal is known; so that neither society, nor the spouses, nor the children, nor morality derive benefit from the consecration of absolute perpetuity. "it is not charitable, it is _impious_ to force two beings to remain together, one of which, to say the least, maltreats, detests, takes advantage of, or domineers over the other. it is equally wrong to grant them a separation from bed and board without at the same time permitting them to yield to chaste affections when they acknowledge these in purity and liberty." so then, to the philadelphians, expounded by m. pecqueur, marriage is monogamous, indissoluble by intention; divorce is a sad necessity of the existing state of society, whilst separation is immorality. in short, woman is _free and the equal of man_. another communist sect, that of the icarians, takes no notice either of the nature or the rights of women. its chief, m. cabet, an ex-attorney-general, was too fully imbued with the doctrines of the civil code, that inelegant paraphrase of the apostle paul, not to be persuaded that woman ought to remain outside the pale of political right, and that she ought to be subordinate to man in general, and to her husband, good or bad, in particular. let us do justice however to m. cabet's disciples; i have never found a single one of them of his opinion on this great question. one evening in , as m. cabet was presiding over a well attended club, he was requested by a woman to put the question: _is woman the equal of man before social and political rights?_ almost every hand was raised in the affirmative; in the negative, not a hand was raised, not a man protested against the affirmation. a round of applause followed from the galleries filled with women; and m. cabet was somewhat disconcerted by the result. he seemed to be ignorant that the people, always eminently logical, are never guilty of quibbling to elude or to limit the principles that they have adopted. this vote of the cabet club was repeated in three others, in my presence. the men in paletots laughed at the demands of brave jeanne deroin; the men in blouses did not even smile at them. m. dezamy representing another shade of communism, thus expresses himself in the code of the community; "away with marital dominion! freedom of alliance! _perfect equality of both sexes!_ freedom of divorce!" he adds, under the heading; laws for the union of the sexes, designed to prevent all discord and debauchery, page : "art. i. mutual love, inmost sympathy, purity of heart between two beings, form and legalize their union. "art. ii. _there should be perfect equality between the two sexes._ "art. iii. no bond except that of mutual love can link the man and the woman together. "art. iv. nothing shall prevent lovers who have separated from forming new ties as often as they shall be attracted to another person." the ethics of m. dezamy are not to our taste; we prefer those of the communist, pecqueur; but we are glad to prove that modern communism, divided on the questions of marriage, the family, and morals in relations of the sexes, is unanimous with respect to the liberty of woman and the equality of the sexes before the law and society. in this, modern communism is greatly superior to that of the ancient school, practised among several nations, and taught by plato, morelly, etc. we recognize a sign of the times in this juster appreciation of woman, with the introduction of the principle of her rights into doctrines which formerly never took them into account. the greater part of the communists belong to the working class; which proves that the people most of all feel the great truth, _that the liberty of woman is identical with that of the masses_; and it will take more than mm. proudhon, comte, michelet and their adepts, to throw cold water on their feelings and to make them retrace their steps. saint simonians. my mother, a zealous protestant and very austere in morals, disapproved of st. simonianism, and never permitted any one to speak of it in my presence except to condemn it; she took great care that not a line of the new doctrine should fall under my eyes. whether from a natural spirit of opposition or from instinctive justice, i know not, but i by no means shared in the censure that i heard expressed about me; one thing alone resulted from it--curiosity to become acquainted with what were called immoral dogmas. i was in this frame of mind when one day while with my mother in the neighborhood of the _palais du justice_, i saw a company of men advancing, clad in a graceful costume; they were the saint simonians going in a body to defend their infant church against prosecution at the bar. i was greatly moved by the sight; i felt in communion with these youth who were about to bear testimony to their faith; they did not seem like strangers, but as struggling for my own cause or for one that deserved my sympathy, and tears sprang to my eyes. i could have heartily embraced those whom i heard defending them, and as heartily have assailed those who claimed that it would be just to condemn them. my mother being too generous to join with the latter, we departed in silence. i knew, without having any knowledge of the details, that the church of st. simon had been dispersed. it was not until some years after that, having made the acquaintance of a st. simonian lady, i was enabled to read the doctrinal writings and to form an idea of the aspirations and the dogmas of the school of st. simon. if the nature of this work forbids me their analysis, it cannot reproach me for expressing my sympathies for those who have had great and generous aspirations; for those who, in a critical point of view, have rendered real services to the cause of progress; for those who have brought to light the solution of the two capital problems of our epoch; _the emancipation of woman and of the workman_. the st. simonians have been enough assailed, enough calumniated to justify a woman who is not a st. simonian in considering it a duty to render them justice, by acknowledging the good which they have done. yes, you have a right to be proud of your name of st. simonians, you who have proclaimed the obligation of laboring without respite for the physical, moral and intellectual amelioration of the most numerous and the poorest class; you who have proclaimed the _sanctity_ of science, art, manufactures, and labor in every form; you who have proclaimed the equality of the sexes in the family, the church, and the state; you who have preached of peace and fraternity to a world given over to wars of cannon and competition. you who have criticised the ancient dogma, and all the evil institutions that have thence arisen; yes, i repeat, you have deserved well of progress, you have deserved well of humanity; and you have a right to bear with pride your great scholastic name; for it was noble to desire the emancipation of woman, of labor, and of the laborer; it was generous to consecrate youth and fortune to it, as so many among you have done. through your aspirations, you have been the continuers of ' , since you dreamed of realizing what was contained in the germ in the declaration of rights: these are your titles of greatness; this is why your name will not perish. but if, through your sentiments, you belonged to the great era of ' , the social form in which you claimed to incarnate your principles, belonged to the middle ages; the age therefore has done right to leave you behind. seduced by trinitarian mysticism, deluded by an erroneous historical point of view, you claimed to resuscitate hierarchy and theocracy in a system of humanity fashioned in conformity with the opposing principle; the triumph of individual liberty in social equality. this is the reason that the age could not follow you. no more could women follow you, for they felt that they could only be affranchised through labor and through purity of morals; by ruling over, not imitating masculine passions. they felt that their power of moralization was due as much to their chastity as to their intellect; they knew that those who make use of the most liberty in love, neither love nor esteem the other sex; that, in general, they employ their ascendancy over it to pervert it to ruin and afflict their companions, and to dissolve the family and civilization; that, in consequence, they are the most dangerous enemies of the emancipation of their sex; for man, sobered of his passion, can never desire to emancipate those by whom he has been deceived, ruined and demoralized. the st. simonian orthodoxy is therefore, in my opinion, greatly mistaken with respect to the ways and means of realization. shall we impute this to it as a crime? no, indeed! social problems are not mathematical problems; there is merit in propounding them; courage and devotion in pursuing their solution, even when we fail completely to attain it. we all know the spirit of the st. simonians who first brought before the public mind of the age the question of female emancipation; it would be ungrateful in the women who demand liberty and equality not to recognize the debt of gratitude which they have contracted toward them. it is their duty to say to their companions: the seal of st. simonianism is the safeguard of the liberty of woman; wherever therefore you meet a st. simonian, you may press his hand fraternally; you have in him a defender of your right. let us sketch the general outline of the st. simonian doctrine, touching woman and her rights. all of the st. simonians admit that the sexes are equal; that the couple forms the social individual; that marriage is the sacred bond of generations; the association of a man and a woman for the accomplishment of a sacerdotal, scientific, artistic, or industrial work; all admit divorce, and transition to another union; but some are more severe than others with respect to the conditions of divorce. there is a division among them on the question of morals. olinde rodrigues and bazard do not admit any _liaison_ of love outside of marriage. m. enfantine, on the contrary, claims the greatest liberty in love. we should add that he gives to this opinion a fixed and provisional value only, since he says that the law of the relations of sexes can only be established in a sure and definitive manner by the concurrence of the woman; and since, on the other hand, he prescribes continence to his closest followers, until the coming of the woman, of which he regards himself the precursor. in addition, to give our readers a more precise idea of the sentiments of the st. simonians concerning woman, we will cite some passages of their writings. "the use of woman by man still exists," says m. enfantin; "_this it is that constitutes the necessity of our apostleship_. this use, this subalternation _contrary to nature_, with respect to the future, results on the one hand, in falsehood and fraud; on the other, in violence and animal passions; it is necessary to put an end to these vices."--(_religion st. simonienne_, , p. .) "woman, as we have said, _is the equal of man_; she is now a slave; it belongs to her master to affranchise her." (_id._ p. .) "there will be no definitive law and morality until woman shall have spoken." (_id._ p. .) "in the name of god," exclaims m. enfantin in his _appel à la femme_, "in the name of god and of all the sufferings which humanity, his loved child, endures to-day in her flesh; in the name of the poorest and most numerous class whose daughters are sold to indolence and whose sons are given up to war; in the name of all those men and of all those women, who cast the glittering veil of falsehood or the filthy rays of debauchery over their secret or public prostitution; in the name of st. simon who came to announce to man and woman _their moral, social and religious equality_, i conjure woman to answer me!" (_entretien du décembre_, .) on his side, bazard concludes a pamphlet, published in january, , with these words: "and we too have hastened the coming of woman; we too summon her with all our might; but it is in the name of the pure love with which she has imbued the heart of man, and which man is now ready to give her in return; it is in the name of the dignity which is promised her in marriage; it is lastly and above all, in the name of the most numerous and poorest class, _whose servitudes and humiliations she has hitherto shared_, and whom her enchanting voice can alone to-day have power finally to release from the harsh imposition with which it is still weighed down by the wrecks of the past." ah! you are to a great extent right, enfantin and bazard! so long as woman is not free and the equal of man; so long as she is not everywhere at his side, sorrows, disorders, war, the exploitation of the weak, will be the sad lot of humanity. pierre leroux, the gentlest, best and most simple man that i know, writes in turn in the fourth volume of his _encyclopédie nouvelle_, article _egalité_, the following remarkable paragraphs: "there are not two different beings, man and woman, there is but a single human being with two phases, which correspond and are united by love. "man and woman exist to form the couple; they are the two parts of it. _outside of the couple, outside of love and marriage, there is no longer any sex_; there are human beings of a common origin and of like faculties. man at every moment of his life is sensation, sentiment, knowledge; so is woman. the definition is therefore the same." after having proved, according to his idea, that the type of woman differs from that of man, he continues: "but this type does not separate them from the rest of humanity, and does not make of them a separate race which must be distinguished philosophically from man.... love being absent, they manifest themselves to man as human beings, and are ranked, like man, under the various categories of civil society." after having observed that, however different men may be, they are therefore none the less equal, since they all are sensation, sentiment and knowledge, pierre leroux, applying this principle to the question of the right of woman, adds: "from whatever side we look at this question, we are led to proclaim the equality of man and woman. for, if we consider woman in the couple, woman is the equal of man, since the couple itself is founded on equality, since love is equality in itself, and since where justice, that is, equality, does not reign, there love cannot reign, but the contrary of love. "and if we consider woman outside of the couple, she is a being like unto man, endowed with the same faculties in various degrees; one of those varieties in unity which constitute the world and human society." the author says that woman should lay claim to equality only as a spouse and a human being; that to acknowledge her as free because she has sex, is to declare her at liberty not only to use but also to abuse love; and that the abuse of love must not be the appanage and sign of liberty. he says that woman has sex only for him whom she loves and by whom she is loved; that to all others she can be merely a human being. "from this point of view," continues he, "we must say to women: you have a right to equality by two distinct titles; as human beings and as wives. as wives, you are our equals, for love in itself is equality. as human beings, your cause is that of all, _it is the same as that of the people; it is allied to the great revolutionary cause_; that is, to the general progress of the human kind. _you are our equals, not because you are women but because there are no longer either slaves or serfs._ "this is the truth that must be spoken to men and women; but it would be to pervert this truth and to transform it into error to say to women: you are a sex apart, a sex in the possession of love. emancipate yourselves; that is, use and abuse love. woman thus transformed into an unchaste venus, loses at once her dignity as a human being and as a woman; that is, as a being capable of forming a human couple under the sacred law of love." the excellent leroux asks who does not feel, who does not admit at the present day the equality of the sexes? who would dare maintain that woman is an inferior being, of whom man is the guide and beacon light? that woman is elevated by man, who is elevated only by himself and by god? who would dare maintain such absurdities to-day, brave and upright leroux? p. j. proudhon, the man who called you _theopompe_ and _pâlissier_--m. michelet, who claims that woman was created to be the most tiresome doll of her loving husband. but to return to yourself. you affirm that god is androgynous; that in him coexist the male and female principles on the footing of equality: that consequently, man and woman are equal in god. i assent to this willingly, although i know absolutely nothing about it. but when you add that woman is deserving of quite as much as man, because she has shared in all the agonizing crises of the progressive education of the human race; that love, which cannot exist without the woman, has led us from the law of slavery to that of equality; that consequently woman represents half in the work of the ages; in this there is no mystery; i join you therefore with all my heart in repeating to men the invitations and the lessons which you give to these ungrateful and stubborn males: "if we are free, it is in part by woman; let her then be made free by us. "but is she so? is she treated by us as an equal? "a wife--does she find equality in love and marriage? "a human being, does she find equality in the state? "this is the question. "on the subject of woman, our civil law is a model of absurd contradictions. according to the roman law, woman lived perpetually under tutelage; in this system of legislation, everything was at least in perfect harmony; woman was always a minor. we, on our part, declare her in a multitude of cases to be free as man. she is no longer under general or fictitious tutelage; her age of majority is fixed; she is competent to inherit in her own right; she inherits in equal proportion; she controls and disposes of her property; more than this, in the system of communion of goods between husband and wife, we admit the separation of property. but let the marriage bond itself be in question, in which wealth is no longer at stake, but ourselves and our mothers, ourselves and our sisters, ourselves and our daughters; then we are found intractable in our laws; we no longer admit equality; we require woman to declare herself our inferior and servant, and to swear obedience to us. "truly we cling more to money than to love; we have more consideration for money-bags than for human dignity; for we emancipate women as soon as they become freeholders; but as soon as they become wives the law declares them our inferiors. here notwithstanding, that bond is in question in which the equality of man and woman is most evident; that bond in which this equality breaks forth, as it were; that bond in which it is so necessary to proclaim that without equality, the bond itself exists no longer. yet, by an absurd contradiction, our civil law chooses this moment to proclaim the inferiority of woman; it condemns her to obedience, makes her take a false oath, and takes advantage of love to make it outrage itself. "i have no doubt that, to future ages, the characteristic symbol of our moral condition will be that article of our laws which sanctions in set terms inequality in love. it will be said of us: they had so little comprehension of justice, that they did not comprehend love which is justice in even its holiest type; they had so little comprehension of love, that they did not even admit justice in it; and that in their written law, their code, the form of marriage, the only sacrament of which they yet had any idea, instead of sanctioning equality, sanctions inequality; instead of union, disunion; instead of the love that equalizes and identifies its objects, some contradictory and monstrous relation, founded at the same time upon identity, and upon inferiority and slavery. yes, like those forms of the law of the twelve tables, that we quote now to prove the barbarity of the ancient romans and their ignorance of justice, this article of our code will be some day cited to characterize our grossness and ignorance, for the absence of an elevated notion of justice is as marked in it as is the absence of an elevated notion of love. "thence follows everything relative to the condition of woman; or rather, everything is connected with this point; for will we respect the equality of woman as a human being when we are senseless enough to deny her this quality as a wife? is woman to-day, in so far as a human being, really treated as the equal of man? i will not enter upon this broad subject. i confine myself to a single question; what education do women receive? you treat them as you treat the people. to these too you leave the old religion that fits us no longer. they are children kept as long as possible in swaddling clothes, as though this were not the true way to deform them, to destroy at once the rectitude of their mind and the candor of their soul. besides, what does society do for them? to what new careers does she give them access? yet, notwithstanding, it is evident to every thinking mind that our arts, our sciences, our manufactures will make as much new progress when women are called to take a part in them, as they did a few years ago, when they were opened to the serfs. you complain of the want and wretchedness that weighs down your systems of society; _abolish the castes that are still subsisting; abolish the caste in which you hold immured the half of the human race_." these few pages, my readers, give you the compass of the sentiments of the st. simonians, both orthodox and dissenters, and justify the sympathy entertained by women who have attained _majority_ for those who have so ardently pleaded their cause. fusionists. louis de tourreil, the revealer of fusionism, is a man whom it is impossible to behold without sympathy or to hear without pleasure; he is kindly, he speaks well, and his ideas are most logically deduced; his principles once admitted, one is constrained to follow him to the end. tourreil expresses himself in the _revue philosophique_ of may, , on the subject of woman and her rights, as follows: "nature is reduced to three great co-eternal principles or productive agents of all things. these principles are: "the female or passive principle, "the male or active principle, "and the mixed or unificative principle, participating in both, which is called love. "god is therefore female, male and androgynous, in his trinary unity. "he is simultaneously from all eternity mother, father and love, instead of being, as the theologians say, father, son, and holy spirit; three agents of like sex, incapable of producing anything. "you will easily conceive, my dear brother, that if the masculine and the feminine sex hold the same rank in the divine trinity, they will be also found in the same rank in humanity. the part which the divine woman plays in heaven, the human woman will play on earth.... "were he (_god_) only of the masculine sex, men would say that the masculine sex alone is noble, and that woman is created merely for the service of man, as man is created for that of god. they would even question whether she had a soul, and would think that they were doing her a favor in admitting her as something in life." after quoting the teachings of the apostle paul with respect to woman and marriage, the author continues: "behold, my dear brother, the part which christianity assigns to woman. if this doctrine therefore were followed in every point, and if it ought to be replaced by no higher one, woman would find herself condemned in perpetuity to a subalternization humiliating to her nature. "but fusionism, which is the doctrine of salvation for all, does not permit any one to be sacrificed; for this reason, woman is the equal of man and man the equal of woman, as in god, the eternal mother is the equal of the eternal father, and the eternal father is the equal of the eternal mother." de tourreil believes that the mother gives form and the father life, two things equally necessary to constitute the being. "since woman is the equal of man in absolute principle," continues he, "and since she is co-eternal with him, there is injustice in subordinating her to man in the relative; and the book of _genesis_ commits a gross error in making her proceed from man: "if either of the two could be before the other, it would be the woman, for strictly speaking, we could conceive of the being without the life, but it would be quite impossible to conceive of the life without the being: the being without the life would be a dead being, but what would the life be without the being? it would be a life without existence, negation, the absence of life, nothingness. therefore, in logical order, woman is first.... "not only ought woman to be the equal of man, as we have seen, but in enunciation and classification, she should be named and classed first. "woman is the mould by which the species is perfected or depraved, according as the mould is good or bad. the fate of humanity depends therefore on woman, since she has all powerful influence on the fruit that she bears in her bosom. "pure, good, intelligent, she will produce healthy, intelligent and good beings. "impure, narrow, and wicked, she will produce unhealthy, unintelligent and wicked beings. "in a word, the child will be what its mother is, for nothing can give what it has not. "it is important therefore that woman should be developed like man, that her education should be comprehensive, that her person should be honored, respected, and tenderly cared for, in order that nothing in the social surroundings may shape it to evil. "destined by the supreme being to form the human being from her flesh, her blood and her soul, destined to nourish it with her milk and to give it its earliest education, the two acts which have the greatest influence over the individual life, woman should be considered as the chief agent of perfection. this _rôle_ classes her naturally in a very elevated rank in society, and exacts of her superior perfections. "thus in the future she will be the image of divine wisdom on earth, as man will represent divine power. "to man more especially will belong action; to woman, counsel. "man will take the initiative in difficult enterprises; woman will moderate or excite ardor therein. "man will rule the planet; woman will embellish it. "man will symbolize science and manufactures; woman will symbolize poetry and art. "the one will always have need of the other; they will walk together side by side, and will find completeness reciprocally in each other. "such, my dear friend, after a brief fashion, is the idea which should be formed of woman. man and woman are not two beings radically separated; both together make but a single being. to subordinate woman to man or man to woman is therefore to mutilate the human being, or to fail to comprehend its interests. that humanity may be happy, neither of its halves must suffer. and how can it help suffering if it is reduced to servitude and oppressed by the other? "our destiny on earth is to constitute the collective being in his own consciousness. for this, it is necessary to realize the humanitary androgynus. now the humanitary androgynus necessitates first the individual androgynus which can only be constituted by harmonious marriage. "marriage is therefore the great formative or deformative law of the collective being, according as it is expressed by the legislator in a manner conformably or contrary to human destiny. "it is in marriage that the sources of good and evil are found; would you know why? "because in the act that joins the man to the woman, and by which the couple are made to form but one body, the two souls are fused by means of a reciprocal donation, which unites the souls of the two for eternity. "so that, after the conjunction, the soul of the woman adheres to the soul of the man and accompanies it everywhere, while the soul of the man adheres to the woman and never more quits it. "whence it follows that if the soul of the man be depraved, it depraves the woman to whom it is united, by exercising over her a continued action, even at a distance. so also does the depravity of the woman united to the man deprave him without his knowing it by an occult and permanent action. "the souls of two depraved beings may be therefore inseparably conjoined, without thus constituting the individual androgynus, which is the divine end of marriage or the union of the sexes. "the individual androgynus is only possible to the condition of unity. but unity cannot be constituted by evil. "the good, the true and the perfect alone can combine the conditions of unity. the evil, the false and the imperfect are essentially inharmonious in their nature. "two wicked, insincere and vicious beings will only produce by their conjunction a still greater difference. they will be united, but only reciprocally to torment each other. unity will never be constituted by them; and without the constitution of unity or the individual androgynus, it will be impossible to realize the human destiny. "in order that the individual androgynus may exist in the couple, there must be perfect spiritual communion between them; that is, communion of thought, of feeling, and of will. but how can two individuals who, instead of being ruled by truth, are ruled only by their misdirected passions,--how can these two make but one? it is impossible. "you will comprehend, my dear brother, from these few words, how sacred is marriage, and how important it is to contract none but harmonious unions, for the unhappiness of a lifetime often depends on an inconsiderate conjunction." having had several opportunities of meeting m. de tourreil, i asked him for some exact details in respect to the liberty of woman and marriage. the following is an abstract of those that he has kindly given me; education should be the same for both sexes; woman should be at liberty to follow the vocation which comes to her from god; and of which she alone is judge; "in all grades and employments in the republic of god, woman should be at the side of man; after the age of fifty, all individuals of both sexes should be rulers and priests; the reproduction of the species being the work of the love of persons healthy in mind and in body, before marriage, the bride should be required to make confession to a priestess and the bridegroom to a priest, in order to be enlightened with respect to the opportuneness or unsuitableness of the union. dissolution of marriage should take place but in a single case,--when the husband and wife have attained to complete fusion; that is, to feeling and knowing reciprocally that they have no longer anything to exchange. it then becomes necessary to form new ties, and, each one to labor to fuse with a new consort. in the existing condition of humanity, this fusion cannot take place; but in the future, when we shall be nearer perfection, it will become possible several times in life. fusionism is, as is evident, mystical socialism. its votaries are gentle and good, and very tolerant towards those who do not think like them. phalansterians. the motto of the fourieristic, societary or phalansterian school is _respect for individual liberty_, based on the following notions: all nature is good; it becomes perverted only when performing its functions in evil surroundings. no person exactly resembling the rest, each one should be the sole judge of his capacities, and should receive laws only from himself. attractions are proportional to destinies. if the disciples of my compatriot, charles fourier, do not express themselves exactly in this wise, all that have written bears the imprint of these thoughts. are fourier and his disciples right in believing that the law of passional attraction _alone_ is required to organize the industrial, moral and social world? that the primordial element of a system of society should be the societary or phalansterian association? that the most opposite, the most diverse passions are the conditions _sine quâ non_ of harmony? that the compensation of labor and of competition should be regulated according to labor, capital and talent? we are not called on to examine this here. the only thing that need occupy us in this rapid review of contemporaneous opinions is the investigation of the sentiments and ideas of fourier and his school in that which concerns the principal object of this book. a few pages from the chief of the order, and a summary analysis will suffice for this. in the _théorie des quatre mouvements_, m. fourier writes; "that the ancient philosophers of greece and rome should have disdained the interests of women is by no means surprising, since these rhetoricians were all ultra partisans of the pederasty which they had brought in high honor in _la belle antiquité_. they cast ridicule upon the associating with women; this passion was considered dishonorable.... these manners obtained the unanimous suffrage of the philosophers who, from the virtuous socrates to the delicate anacreon, affected sodomitish love alone and contempt for women, who were banished to the upper apartments, immured as in a seraglio, and exiled from the society of men. "these fantastic tastes not having found favor among the moderns, there is reason for surprise that our philosophers should have inherited the hatred that the ancient scholars bore to women, and that they should continue to disparage the sex on account of a few wiles to which woman is forced by the oppression which weighs upon her; for every word or thought in conformity with the voice of nature is made in her a crime. "what can be more inconsistent than the opinion of diderot, who pretends that, to write to woman, one has only to dip his pen in the rainbow, and sprinkle the writing with dust from butterflies' wings? women might reply to the philosopher: your civilization persecutes us as soon as we obey nature; we are obliged to assume a fictitious character and to listen to impulses contrary to our desires. to give us a relish for this doctrine, you are forced to bring in play deceitful illusions and language, as you do with respect to the soldier whom you cradle in laurels and immortality to divert his thoughts from his wretched condition. if he were truly happy, he would welcome the plain and truthful language which you take care not to address to him. it is the same with women; if they were free and happy, they would be less eager for illusions and cajoleries, and it would no longer be necessary in writing to them to place rainbows and butterflies' wings under contribution. "when it (philosophy) rails at the vices of women, it criticises itself; this it is that produces these vices by a social system which, repressing their faculties from their infancy and through the whole course of their life, forces them to have recourse to fraud in order to yield to nature. "to attempt to judge of women by the vicious character which they display in civilization is like attempting to judge of human nature by the character of the russian peasant, who is destitute of all ideas of honor and liberty; or like judging the beaver by the stupidity which they show when domesticated, whilst in a condition of liberty combined with labor, they become the most intelligent of all quadrupeds. the same contrast will reign between the women who are slaves of civilization and those who are free in the combined order; they will surpass men in industrial devotion, in loyalty, in nobleness; but outside of the free and combined state, woman, like the domesticated beaver or the russian peasant, becomes a being so inferior to her destiny and talents that we are inclined to despise her when judging her superficially according to appearances. "it is a surprising thing that women should have always shown themselves superior to men when they have had it in their power to display on the throne their natural talents, of which the diadem assured them a free use. is it not certain that of eight queens, independent and unmarried, seven will be found to have reigned with glory, while of eight kings, we count habitually seven feeble sovereigns. ... the elizabeths and catherines did not make war in person, but they knew how to choose their generals; and it is enough that these are good. in every other branch of administration, has not woman given lessons to man? what prince has surpassed in firmness maria theresa who, in a disastrous moment, when the fidelity of her subjects was tottering and her ministers were struck with terror, undertook herself alone to inspire all with new courage? she intimidated by her presence, the disaffected diet of hungary; she harangued the magnates in the latin tongue, and brought her very enemies to swear on their sabres to die for her. this is an indication of the prodigies that would be wrought by feminine emulation in a social order which would permit free scope to her faculties. "and you, the oppressing sex,--would you not go beyond the faults imputed to women if you, like them, had been moulded by a servile education to believe yourselves automatons created to obey prejudices and to cringe before the master whom chance had given you? have we not seen your pretensions to superiority confounded by catharine, who trampled under foot the masculine sex? in creating titled favorites, she trailed man in the dust, and proved that it is possible for him in full liberty to abase himself beneath woman, whose degradation is forced, and consequently, excusable. it would be necessary, to confound the tyranny of man that, for the space of a century, a third sex should exist, which should be both male and female, and stronger than man. this new sex would prove by dint of blows that men as well as women were made for its pleasures; then we should hear men protest against the tyranny of the hermaphrodite sex, and confess that force ought not to be the sole law of right. now why are these privileges, this independence, which they would reclaim from this third sex, refused by them to women. "in singling out those women who have had power to soar, from the virago, like maria theresia, to those of a gentler type, like the ninons and the sévignés, i am authorized in saying that woman, in a state of liberty, will surpass man in all functions of the mind and body which are not the attributes of physical strength. "man seems already to foresee this; he becomes indignant and alarmed when women give the lie to the prejudice that accuses them of inferiority. _masculine jealousy has especially broken out against women authors; philosophy has kept them out of academic honors, and has sent them back ignominiously to the household._"... (p. .) "what is their existence to-day (that of women)? they exist in privations alone, even in the trades, in which man has encroached on everything, _even to the minutest occupations of the needle and the pen, while women are seen employed in the toilsome labors of the field. is it not scandalous to see athletes thirty years old squatted before a desk, or carrying a cup of coffee with muscular arms_, as if there were not women and children enough to attend to the minor details of the counting-room and the household. "what then are the means of subsistence for women destitute of fortune? the distaff, or else their charms if they have any. _yes, prostitution more or less glossed over is their only resource_, which philosophy again contests to them; this is the abject fate to which they are reduced by this civilization, this conjugal slavery which they have not even thought of attacking." (p. .) fourier bitterly reproaches women authors for having neglected to seek the means whereby to put an end to such a state of affairs, and adds with great reason: "their indolence in this respect is one of the causes that have accrued from the contempt of man. _the slave is never more contemptible than by a blind submission which persuades the oppressor that his victim was born for slavery._, (p. )." fourier is right, but ... to elevate others is to risk being lost one's self in the crowd; and every one is not capable of this degree of abnegation. to combat for the right of the weak when men have admitted you to their ranks, is to prepare for yourself a rough way and a heavy cross. in the first place, you are exposed to the hatred and raillery of men, then half-cultured women corroded by jealousy, invent a thousand calumnies for your destruction; they feign to be scandalized that a woman dare protest against the inferiority and use of her sex; they enter into league with the masters, clamor louder than they and satirize you without mercy. now all women are not made to shrug their shoulders in the face of this cohort of morbid minds ... they love peace too well, they lack courage, and _they do not care enough for justice_; is it not so, ladies? let us return to fourier. it is known that he admits several social periods. according to him, the pivot of each of them hinges on love and the degree of liberty of woman. "as a general rule," he says, "_social progress and changes of the period will be wrought in proportion to the progress of women towards liberty, and the decay of the social order will be wrought in proportion to the decline of the liberty of women_." in another place, he adds in speaking of philosophers: "if they treat of morals, they forget to recognize and to claim the rights of the weaker sex, _the oppression of which destroys the basis of justice_." he says again, elsewhere: "now, god recognizes as liberty only that which is extended to both sexes, and not to one alone; so he has prescribed that all the germs of social evils, as the savage state, barbarism, civilization, should have no other pivot than the enthrallment of women; and that all the germs of social good, as the sixth, seventh and eighth period, should have no other pivot, no other compass, than the progressive affranchisement of the weaker sex." fourier is reproached with having desired the emancipation of woman in love; nothing is more true. but to impute this to him as immorality, men must censure their own morals. now, these gentlemen considering themselves as wholly _pure_, though themselves representing the _butterfly_ in love, infidelity and the simultaneous possession of several women being only a pastime to them, i do not really see what they can blame in fourier. either what they do is right, and therefore cannot be wrong in woman; or what they do is wrong; then why do they do it? fourier believed in the unity of the moral law and in the equality of the sexes; he believed in the lawfulness of the morals of these gentlemen, _minus perfidy and hypocrisy_; this is the reason that he claims emancipation in love for woman: he is logical. besides, he repeats continually that the ethics that he depicts would cause disorder in the civilized period; and that they can only be established progressively in subsequent periods. many among the phalansterians reject fourier's ethics with respect to love as well as his theodicy, and i myself have heard several discourses in which the orator condemned, not only falsity in conjugal relations, but also looseness of morals. fourier and the saint simonian orthodoxy have both been guilty of the same error with regard to the emancipation of woman; but, men, i repeat, must be very audacious to impute it to them as a crime, since they indulge themselves in worse; as to women, sustained and loved by these reformers, let them imitate the pious conduct of shem and japhet; one owes respect to his father, whatever may be the idea or the wine with which he is drunken. now that we have cited the master, let us enumerate the principal points of the fourierist doctrine, touching the liberty of woman and the equality of the sexes: . man and woman are composed of the same physical, moral and intellectual elements; there is, therefore, between the sexes, identity of nature. . the proportion of these elements differs in the two sexes, and constitutes the difference that exists between them. . this difference is so equalized that the value shall be equal. where man is the stronger, he takes precedence of woman; where woman is stronger, she takes precedence of man. . man belongs to the _major mode_: he has the ascendency over woman in intellect, in logic, in the larger manufactures, in friendship; it belongs to him therefore to create positive science, to connect facts, to regulate commercial relations, to bind together interests, and to organize groups and series. to all these things, woman brings her indispensable aid, but by reason of her aptitudes, her services are only secondary therein. . woman belongs to the _minor mode_; she has the ascendency over man in the kind of intellect that applies and adapts, in the intuition that puts man on the track of the good to which masculine logic should attain; in the sphere of maternity in which she presides over education, for she comprehends the means to be employed to ameliorate the species in every respect better than man; in the sphere of love in which she has the right and the power to civilize and refine the relations of the sexes; and to stimulate man to conquest of the intellect, to the amelioration of the physical conditions of the globe, of industry, of art, of social relations, etc. woman intervenes to a certain point in the major mode, so does man enter into the minor mode, in which his coöperation is indispensable. thus, in general, in man the head predominates, in woman, the heart; but as both have a heart and a head, man, through his heart, becomes an aid in the minor mode, and woman, through her head, becomes an aid in the major mode. . there are men who are women both in head and in heart; women who are men both in heart and in head; in humanity they form the eighth of an exception. full liberty and right are granted to them. . each member of the phalanstery follows his vocation, obeys his attractions, _for attractions are proportional to destinies_. therefore the eighth of an exception in both sexes, having an attraction towards labors that belong more especially to the other sex, is at liberty to yield to them. . all major men and women have an equal vote. . all matters are regulated by chiefs _of both sexes_, chosen by the free vote of both sexes. . all offices, from the presidency of the group to that of the globe, are filled jointly by men and women, who divide between them the details of this common function. . the mother is the instructress of her children; they belong to her alone; the father has no rights over them unless the mother chooses to confer these on him. such is the summary of the fourierist doctrine on the subject of which we treat. if the societary school has not reached perfect truth, it must be at least acknowledged that it has taken the right way to attain it. whether its theory of the classification and the predominance of faculties in conformity with the sexes be exact or not, the error will not be productive of mischievous results in practice. woman being free to follow her aptitudes, being half in rights and functions, could always place herself in the exceptional eighth, without fear of encountering jealous individuals, better fitted than herself to warble in the minor key, who would send her back to the duties of the household. i remember, in this connection, a certain advocate, by no means _feminine_, professing a superb disdain of the sex to which his mother belonged, worthy in a word, to be the disciple of p. j. proudhon; would you know what this man had retained of all his lessons in law? the art of sweeping a room properly, of polishing furniture, of hemming napkins and pocket handkerchiefs neatly, and of compounding sauces. do you not think, illustrious proudhon, that he might have been advised with more justice to _go and iron his collars_, than certain women who write good articles on philosophy. but let us return to fourier. among the socialist schools, that of fourier occupies a distinguished place; it is the one most deserving of the gratitude of women through the principles that it has laid down. be it understood, we separate in this connection the principles of liberty and equality from all that relates to the question of ethics, which we cannot resolve in the same manner as fourier, _any more for woman than man_. chapter vii. summary. appear, all ye modern innovators, before your judge, the public. sum up your opinions. communist. the two sexes differ, do not perform the same functions, but _they are equal before the law_. for woman to be really emancipated, society must be remoulded economically, and marriage suppressed. philadelphian and icarian. we are of your opinion, brother, except in what concerns marriage. orthodox st. simonian. if christianity has despised and oppressed woman, it has been because, in its sight, she represented matter, the world, evil. we, who are come to give the true meaning of the trinity, rehabilitate or explain what our predecessors have condemned. woman is the equal of man, because in god, who comprises everything, matter is equal to spirit. with man, woman forms the couple which is the social individual, the functionary. as woman is very different from man, we do not take the liberty of judging her; we content ourselves with _summoning_ her that she may reveal herself. notwithstanding we think that she can only be affranchised by being emancipated in love. pierre leroux _agitated_. take care! it is not so much in sex that woman should be affranchised; it is only in her quality of _wife and human being_. she has sex only for him she loves; to all other men she is what they are themselves: sensation, sentiment, sense. she must be free in marriage and in the commonwealth as man himself should be. fusionist _interrupting him_. you are right, pierre leroux; yet neither is the previous speaker wholly wrong; woman is free and the equal of man in everything, because spirit and matter are equal in god; because the man and the woman form together the human androgynus, the derivation of the divine androgynus. it is not so, my dear sister? myself. excuse me, brothers, from joining in your theological discussion; my wings are not strong enough to follow you into the bosom of god, in order to assure myself whether he is spirit or matter, androgynus or not, binary, trinary, quarternary, or nothing of all these. it is enough for me that you all grant that woman should be free, and the equal of man. i permit myself only a single observation; that your notion of the couple or of the androgynus, at the bottom one and the same thing, tends fatally to the subjugation of my sex; if, by a metaphor, a fiction, we make of two beings, endowed each with a separate will, free-will and intellect, a single unity; _in social practice_, this unity is manifested by a single will, a single free-will, a single intellect, and the individuality that prevails in our society is that which is endowed with strength of arm; the other is annihilated, and the right given to the couple is in reality only the right of the stronger. the use that m. proudhon has made of androgyny ought to cure you of this fancy; as the use which your predecessors made of the ternary ought to have preserved you from trinitary metaphysics. be it said without offence to you, gentlemen, i have a decided antipathy to any trinities and androgynies whatsoever; i am a sworn enemy to all metaphysics, whether profane or sacred,--a constitutional vice, aggravated in me by kant and his school. phalansterian. for god's sake, gentlemen, let us quit this mysticism. man and woman are different, but the one is as necessary as the other to the great work that should be accomplished by humanity; therefore they are equal. as each individual has a right to develop himself integrally, to manifest himself completely in order to perform the parcellary task which his attractions assign to him, the liberty of one sex can no more be called in question than can that of the other. man modulates in major, woman in minor, with an exceptional eighth; but, as in all the general functions, the combination of the two modes is necessary, it is evident that each of them ought to be double, and that woman ought everywhere to be equal with man. m. de girardin _somewhat abruptly_. gentlemen, i agree with you that woman ought to be free and equal with man; only i maintain that her function is to manage, to economize, and to rear her children, while man labors and brings into the household the product of his industry. as i wish woman to be freed from servitude and all children to be rendered legitimate, i suppress civil marriage, and institute universal dowry. m. legouve _smiling_. you go too fast and too far, my dear sir, you will frighten everybody. at least, i believe like you in the equality of the sexes through the equivalence of their functions, but i take good care not to breathe a word of it. i content myself with claiming for woman instruction, diminution of conjugal servitude, and offices of charity; counting, between ourselves, that these victories obtained, women will be in a position through their education and proved utility, to affranchise themselves completely. well! despite my reserve and moderation, you see that some call me _effeminate_, others _sans culotte_. m. michelet, _rising with tears in his eyes_. alas, gentlemen, you are all in the wrong road; and i am very sorry, my beloved academician legouvé, to see you employ your elegant pen in leading woman in so perilous and irrational a way. as to you, gentlemen, who lay claim to liberty and equality of rights for woman, you are not authorized by her to do so; she demands no right, what should she do with it--a being always feeble, always sick, always wounded. poor creature! what can be her rôle here below, if not to be adored by her husband, whose duty it is to constitute himself her instructor, her physician, her confessor, her sick nurse, her waiting-maid; to keep her in a hot-house, and with all these multiplied cares to earn beside the daily bread; for woman cannot, ought not to work; she is the love and the altar of the heart of man. some among you have dared utter the vile word: divorce. no divorce! the woman who has given herself away, has received the imprint of man. you should not abandon her, however guilty she may be. i thought in the beginning that after your death she ought to wear mourning to the tomb, beyond which, she and her husband would be fused into the unity of love. but i have thought better of it; you may appoint a successor. while michelet is seating himself, wiping his eyes, the lid of a coffin is seen to rise, and comte exclaims in a sepulchral tone: _worthily_ and _admirably_ spoken, illustrious professor! what! you here? exclaims the assembly. then one does not perish entirely, as you taught your disciples? comte. no, gentlemen, and i was very agreeably surprised to see myself mistaken. but it is not to instruct you about the life beyond the tomb that i return; that would not have been worth the trouble of disturbing myself. it is to express to the great professor michelet all the satisfaction that i feel in seeing him so richly poetise the ideal that i set up, and strew so many flowers over the _admirable_ maxim of aristotle and the _commandment_ of the great st. paul. yes, thrice illustrious master, you have rightly said: woman is made for man, she should obey him, be devoted to him; she is only a doll in private life, absolutely nothing in public life. yes, men should labor for her; yes, marriage is indissoluble; all this is irreproachable. auguste comtism. i regret but one thing--that you have not preserved the ejaculatory orisons of the wife to the husband, and of the husband to the wife; it would have been a good example and have made a fine effect to see them every morning kneeling face to face, with clasped hands and closed eyes. i hope that this is only forgetfulness, and that you will reëstablish this detail in your next edition. i congratulate you openly on the happy thought that you have conceived of justifying the absorption of woman by man by aid of a wound and the mysteries of impregnation; this will have a great effect on the ignorant. rebellious women, and the madmen _with corrupt hearts_ who sustain them, say that you are a poetic and ingenuous egotist, that our beloved proudhon is a brutal egotist; that i am an egotist by a + b. let them say so; i approve and bless you." the apparition was preparing to lie down again in his coffin when, having a passion for encountering phantoms, i seized a corner of his winding sheet, and, notwithstanding an unequivocal sign from him of _vade retro_, i had the courage to represent humbly to the defunct high priest that the brow of m. proudhon deserved quite as much to be blessed as that of m. michelet. the defunct gravely crossed his fleshless fore finger and thumb over the haughty and irreverent head of the great critic, who neither bowed nor seemed infinitely flattered. it being his turn to speak, proudhon rose and said: "gentlemen communists, philadelphians, fusionists, phalansterians, saint simonians, and you, mm. girardin and legouvé, as well as all of your adherents, you are all _effeminate_, men _hardened in absurdity_. "if my friend michelet has gilded, perfumed and sugared the pill for you, i cannot imitate his address and moderation, for you know that in temperament i, p. j. proudhon, am neither tender nor poetical. permit me then roughly to tell you the truth concerning a question _of which you do not understand the first word_. "the church, st. thomas d'aquinas, st. bonaventure, st. paul, and auguste comte, as well as the romans, the greeks, manu and mahomet teach that woman is made for the pleasure and use of man, and that she should be subjected to him; now i have sufficiently established these great truths by affirmations without reply. it is demonstrated to-day, therefore, to all who believe in me that woman is a passive being, having the germ of nothing, who owes everything to man, and that, consequently, she belongs to him as the work to the workman. lest my solution might appear somewhat harsh to you, or to savor too much of antiquity of the middle ages, i have borrowed of the modern innovators their farce of androgyny; i have made the couple the organ of justice; in this couple, woman, transformed by man, becomes a triple deity, a domestic idol, subject in everything to her priest. i shut her up in the household, and permit her to have only the superintendence of festivals and spectacles, the education of children and maidens, etc. "is it not evident, gentlemen, that woman, because she is weaker than we, is, _by justice_, condemned to obey us, and that _her liberty consists in experiencing no amorous emotion, even for her husband_? is it not evident, in consequence, that you, who do not think as i, are _effeminate, absurd_ men, and that the women who are no more willing to be slaves than we were in ' are _insurgents, impure women whom sin has rendered mad_?" the majority of the assembly laugh; de girardin shrugs his shoulders; legouvé bites his lip in order not to laugh; michelet appears troubled at this sally which may spoil everything. as, in uttering the word _insurgent_, the orator glances at me with marked design, i cannot help saying "yes, i deserve the name of _insurgent_ like our fathers of ' . as to you, if you do not amend, i fear greatly that i shall see you die duly confessed and blessed with extreme unction ... and you will have well deserved it!" now, gentlemen, let us ascertain the vote of your honorable assembly. four schools,--the communists, the st. simonians, the fusionians and the phalansterians,--with one publicist, m. de girardin, who makes as much noise by himself alone as a whole school, are for the liberty of woman and the equality of the sexes. mm. comte, proudhon and michelet are against the liberty of women and the equality of the sexes. m. legouvé and his innumerable adherents wish liberty for woman, and desire that she should labor to become equal to man through equivalence of functions. which means that the great majority of those _who think_ are, in different degrees, for our emancipation. now that my readers are acquainted with your several opinions, gentlemen, it belongs to me, a woman, to speak myself in behalf of my right, without leaning on anything but justice and reason. part ii. objections to the emancipation of woman. nature and functions of woman. love. marriage. legal reforms. summary. objections to the emancipation of women. i. what arguments do the adversaries of the emancipation of women use to refute the equality of the rights of the sexes? some, theosophists of the old school, claim that one half of humanity is condemned by god himself to submit to the other half, because, they say, the first woman sinned. not wishing to depart from the firm ground of justice, reason and proved facts, we will not argue with this class of adversaries. others, who claim to be imbued with the modern spirit, and pretend to be disciples of the doctrines of liberty, condemn woman to inferiority and obedience because, they say, she is weaker physically and intellectually than man; because she performs functions of an inferior order; because she produces less than man in an industrial point of view; because her peculiar temperament prevents her from performing certain functions; because she is only fit for in-door life; because her vocation is to be mother and housewife, to devote herself entirely to her husband and children; because man protects and supports her; because man is her proxy, and exercises rights both for her and himself; because woman has no more time than capacity to exercise certain rights. the rights of woman are in her beauty and our love, add some, gallantly. woman does not claim her rights; many women themselves are scandalized by the demands made by a few of their sex, continue other men. and they spare the courageous women who plead the cause of right, and the men who sustain them neither calumnies, nor mockery, nor insult, hoping to intimidate the former and disgust the latter. vain hope! the time in which we could be intimidated has gone by. if it is justifiable to fear the opinion of those whom we deem juster and more intelligent than ourselves, it would be folly to be disturbed by those whose irrationality and injustice we feel able to demonstrate. this double demonstration we are about to attempt, taking up one by one the arguments of these gentlemen. . woman cannot have the same rights as man, because she is inferior to him in intellectual faculties, you say. from this proposition, we have a right to conclude that you consider the _human faculties as the basis of right_; that, the law proclaiming equality of right for your sex, you are all equal in qualities, all alike strong and alike intelligent. that, lastly, no woman is as strong and as intelligent as you; i cannot say, as the least among you, since, if right is founded on qualities, as it is equal, your qualities must be equal. now gentlemen, what becomes of these pretensions in the presence of _facts_ that show you all unequal in strength and in intellect? what becomes of these pretensions in the presence of _facts_ that show us a host of women stronger than many men; a host of women more intelligent than the great mass of men? being unequal in strength and in intellect, and notwithstanding declared equal in right, it is evident therefore that you have not founded right on qualities. and if you have not taken these qualities into account when your right has been in question, why then do you talk so loudly of them when the question is that of the right of woman. if the faculties were the basis of right, as the faculties are unequal, the right would be unequal; and, to be just, it would be necessary to accord right to those who made good their claims to the necessary faculties and to exclude the rest; by this standard many women would be chosen and an infinite number of men excluded. see where we end when we have not the intellectual energy to take principles into consideration! you have but one means of evicting us of equality; namely, to prove that we do not belong to the same species as you. . woman, you add, cannot have the same rights as man because, as mother and housewife, she performs only functions of an inferior order. from this second proposition, we have a right to conclude that _functions are the basis of right_; that your functions are equivalent, since your right is equal! that the functions of woman are not equivalent to those of man. you have to prove then, gentlemen, that the functions _individually_ performed by each of you are equivalent; that, for example, cuvier, geoffroy st. hilaire, arago, fulton, jacquard, and other inventors and scholars have not done more, are not doing more for humanity and civilization than an equal number of manufacturers of pins' heads. you have to prove next that the labors of maternity, those of the household to which the workman owes his life, his health, his strength, the possibility of accomplishing his task--that these functions without which there would be no humanity, are not equivalent; that is, as useful to the social body as those of the manufacturer of jewels or of toys. you have to prove lastly that the functions of the female teacher, merchant, book keeper, clerk, dressmaker, milliner, cook, waiting-maid, etc., are not equivalent to those of the male teacher, merchant, accountant, clerk, cook, tailor, hatter, footman, etc.; i grant that it is embarrassing to your triumphant argument to encounter the thousands of _facts_ which show us the _real_ woman performing numerous functions in competition with you; so it is, and these facts must be taken into account. but gentlemen, i have you in a dilemma! if functions are the basis of right, as right is equal, functions are equivalent; in which case those performed by woman are not inferior, since none are so. the functions which she performs are therefore equivalent to yours, and, by this equivalence, she again becomes equal. or else functions are not the basis of right; did you not take them into account when the establishment of your right was in question; why then do you speak of functions when the question is the right of woman? extricate yourself from this as you can; i shall not help you. ii. . woman produces less than man industrially, you say. admitting this to be true, do you count as nothing the great maternal function--the risks that woman runs in accomplishing it; do you count as nothing the labors of the household, the cares that are lavished upon you, and to which you owe cleanliness and health? if the quantity of the product be the origin of the equality of right, why have those who produce little, those who produce nothing, and all of you who produce unequally, equal right? why are all those women who produce, while their husbands and sons enjoy and dissipate, destitute of the rights which the latter possess? you do not admit the question of product into that of right when man is in question, why then do you admit it when woman is in question? you see that this is inconsiderate, irrational, unjust. . woman cannot be the equal of man, because her peculiar temperament interdicts to her certain functions. well, then a legislator can, without being unreasonable, decree that all men who are unfitted by temperament for the profession of arms, for instance, are excluded from equality of right! temperament, the source of right? if a woman had written anything so absurd, she would have been cried down from one end of the world to the other. why, gentlemen, do you not exclude from equality all men who are weak, all those who are incapable of performing the functions that you _prejudge_ woman incapable of performing? when you are in question, you admit indeed that the right to perform every function supposes neither the faculty nor the inclination to make use of it; why do you not reason in the same manner when the question concerns us? what would you think of women if, having your rights while you were in subjection, they should keep you in an inferior position because you could not accomplish the great functions of gestation and lactation. man, they would say, being unable to be mother and nurse, shall not have the right of being instructed like us; of having, like us, civil dignity. his coarser temperament renders him incapable of being a witness to a certificate of birth or death; it is evident that his clumsiness excludes him judicially from diplomatic functions; we cannot therefore recognize his right to solicit them, etc. ah! gentlemen, you reason in the same manner in excluding woman from equality under the pretext that, in general, she is of a temperament weaker than your own; that is, you reason absurdly. . woman cannot be the equal of man in right because he protects and maintains her. if it is because you protect and maintain us, that we ought not to have our right, restore it then to unmarried women who are of age, and to widows whom you neither protect nor maintain. restore their right then to the wives who have no need of your protection, since the law protects them, even against you; to the wives whom you do not maintain, since they bring you either a dowry, or a profession, or services which you would be obliged to recompense if any other rendered them to you. and if to be maintained by another, suffices to deprive an individual of his right, take it away from the host of men who are maintained by the incomes or the labor of their wives. . man, in the exercise of certain rights, is the proxy of woman. gentleman, a proxy is chosen freely, and is not imposed on an individual; i do not accept you as proxies: i am intelligent enough to transact my business myself, and i pray you to restore to me, as well as to all the women who think as i do, an authority which you use unworthily. if married women, to have peace, are willing to continue you as their authority, it is their business; but none of you can legitimately retain that of widows and unmarried women who have attained majority. . woman has not the same rights as man, because she has no more time than capacity to exercise them. has woman less time and capacity than your working men, pinned twelve hours a day to their petty and stultifying tasks? affirm it if you dare! does it need less time and capacity to make a deposition in a criminal suit, as woman does, than to witness a civil act or a notarial contract, a right that woman has not. does it need less time and capacity to be the guardian of sons and to administer their fortune, as woman does, than to be the guardian of a stranger or of a nephew, and administer their property, a right that woman has not. does it need less time and capacity to superintend a manufactory, a commercial establishment, workmen, as do so many women, than to be at the head of an office, or of a public administration, and to superintend its officials, a right that woman has not? does it need less time and capacity to devote one's self to instruction in a large boarding school, as do so many women, than in the chair of a professorship, as man alone has the right to do? woman proves, _by her works_, that she lacks capacity and time no more than you. facts stifle affirmations for which you should blush. fie! i am glad that i am not a man, lest i might say like things and be led to pretend that an instructress, a literary woman, a woman artist, an experienced female merchant has not the capacity of a porter or a rag-picker because she has not a beard on her chin. . the rights of woman are in her beauty and in the love of man. rights, based on beauty, and on that fragile thing styled man's love! what are these worth, i ask you, gentlemen? then woman shall have rights if she is beautiful, and as long as she shall continue so; if she is beloved, and as long as she shall continue so? old, ugly and forsaken, she must be thrown into the car of the condemned to be transported to the guillotine? if a woman should say such things, what a universal hue and cry would be raised? yet men pretend that they are rational! we congratulate woman on having too much common sense ever to be so in this wise. after all these arguments, none of which will bear analysis, comes at last the triumphant objection: women do not claim their rights, many among them are even scandalized by the demand made by a few in the name of all. do not women demand them, gentlemen? what are a host of american women doing at the present time? what have a number of english women done already? what did jean deroin, pauline roland and many others, do here in ? what am i doing to-day, in the name of a legion of women of whom i am the interpreter? _all_ women do not make reclamations, no; but do you not know that every demand of right is made at first singly? that slaves accustomed to their chains, do not feel them until their instigators to revolt show them the bruises on their flesh? a few only demand their rights, you say; but is it in accordance with principle or with numbers that you judge of the justice of a cause? did you wait until _all_ the male population demanded their right of universal suffrage in order to decree it to them? did you wait for the revendication of _all_ the slaves of your colonies before emancipating them? yes, it is true, gentlemen, that many women are opposed to the emancipation of their sex. what does this prove? that there are human beings abased enough to have lost all sentiment of dignity; but not that right is not right. among the blacks, there are many who hate, denounce, and deliver up to the scourge and to death those among them who are meditating how to break their chains; which is right, which has the sentiment of human dignity, the latter or the former? we demand our place at your side, gentlemen, because identity of species gives us the right to occupy it. we demand our right, because the inferiority inwhich we are kept is one of the most active causes of the decay of morals. we demand our right, because we are persuaded that woman has to set her stamp on science, philosophy, justice and politics. we demand our right, lastly, because we are convinced that the general questions, the lack of solution of which threatens our modern civilization with ruin, can only be resolved by the co-operation of woman delivered from her fetters and left free in her genius. is it not a great proof of our insanity, our _impurity_, gentlemen, that we feel this ardent desire to check the corruption of morals, and to labor for the triumph of justice, the coming of the reign of duty and reason, the establishment of an order of things in which humanity, worthier and happier, shall pursue its glorious destinies without the accompaniment of cannon or the shedding of blood? is it not because the advocates of emancipation are _impure women whom sin has rendered mad, beings incapable of comprehending justice and conscientious works_? iii. gentlemen, we will conclude. though that were true which i deny; that woman is inferior to you; though that were true which _facts_ prove false; that she can perform none of the functions which you perform, that she is fit only for maternity and the household, she would be none the less your equal in right, because right is based neither on superiority of faculties nor on that of the functions which proceed from them, but on identity of species. a human being, like you, having, like you, intellect, will, free will and various aptitudes, woman has the right, like you, to be free and autonomous, to develop her faculties freely, to exercise her activity freely; to mark out her path, to reduce her to subjection, as you do, is therefore a violation of human right in the person of woman--an odious abuse of force. from the stand point of facts, this violation of right takes the form of grievous inconsistency; for we find many women far superior to the majority of men; whence it follows that right is granted to those who ought not to have it, according to your doctrine, and refused to those who ought to possess it, according to the same doctrine, since they make good their claim to the qualities requisite. we find that you accord right to qualities and functions, _because the individual is a man_, and that you cease to recognize it in the same case, _because the individual is a woman_. yet you boast of your lofty reason,--yet you boast of possessing the sense of justice! take care, gentlemen! our rights have the same foundation as yours: in denying the former, you deny the latter in principle. a word more to you, pretended disciples of the doctrines of ' , and we have done. do you know why so many women took part with our revolution, armed the men, and rocked their children to the song of the _marseillaise_! it was because they thought they saw under the declaration of the rights of men and citizens, the declaration of the rights of women and female citizens. when the assembly took it upon itself to undeceive them, by lacking logic with respect to them, and closing their meetings, they abandoned the revolution, and you know what ensued. do you know why, in , so many women, especially among the people, declared themselves for the revolution? it was because they hoped that this revolution would be more consistent with respect to them than the former had been. when, in their senseless arrogance and lack of intelligence, the representatives not only forbid them to assemble, but _drove_ them from the assemblies of men, the women abandoned the revolution by detaching their husbands and sons from it, and you know what ensued. do you comprehend at last? i tell you truly; all your struggles are in vain, if woman does not go with you. an order of things may be established by a _coup de main_, but it is only maintained by the adhesion of majorities; and these majorities, gentlemen, are formed by us women, through the influence that we possess over men, through the education that we give them with our milk. we have it in our power to inspire them from their cradles with love, hatred or indifference for certain principles; in this is our strength; and you are blind not to comprehend that if man is on one side and woman on the other, humanity is condemned to weave penelope's web. gentlemen, woman is ripe for civil liberty, and we declare to you that we shall henceforth regard whoever shall rise against our lawful claim as an enemy of progress and of the revolution; while we shall rank among the friends of progress and of the revolution, those who declare themselves in favor of our civil emancipation, should they be your adversaries? if you refuse to listen to our lawful demands, we shall accuse you before posterity of the crime with which you reproach the holders of slaves. we shall accuse you before posterity of having denied the faculties of woman, because you feared her competition. we shall accuse you before posterity of having refused her justice, because you wished to make her your servant and plaything. we shall accuse you before posterity of being enemies of right and progress. and our accusation will remain standing and living before future generations who, more enlightened, more just, more moral than you, will turn away their eyes with disdain and contempt from the tomb of their fathers. nature and functions of woman i. i think that we have sufficiently though summarily proved to all honest inquiries that social right is identical for both sexes since they are identical in species. the question of right being placed beyond discussion, we can now ask what use woman shall make of her right; in other terms, what functions she is qualified to perform in accordance with her whole nature. let us first mark the profound difference that exists between right and function, then define and divide the latter. _right_ is the condition _sine qua non_ of the development and manifestations of the human being: it is absolute, general for the whole species, because the individuals who compose it should be able lawfully to develop and manifest themselves. _function_ is the use of the faculties of the individual with a view to a purpose useful to himself and to others; function is therefore a production of utility and, in conclusion, the manifestation of the aptitudes predominating in each of us, whether naturally, or in consequence of education and habit. society, having needs of every kind, has functions of every nature and various scope; these functions may be classified as follows: . scientific and philosophic functions; . industrial functions; . artistic functions; . educational functions; . medical functions; . functions for the preservation of safety; . judicial functions; . functions of exchange and circulation; . administrative and governmental functions; . legislative functions; . functions of solidarity or of social benevolence and of institutions for the prevention of crime. this classification, which would be very imperfect and insufficient, were this a treatise on social organization, being all that is needed for the use that we have to make of it, we shall adhere to it in this place. men, and women after them, have deemed proper hitherto to class man and woman separately; to define each type, and to deduce from this ideal the functions suited to each sex. neither have chosen to see that numerous facts contradict their classification. what! exclaims the classifiers, do you deny that the sexes differ? do you deny that, if they differ, they should have different functions? if our classification does not seem good to you, criticise it, we ask nothing more; but replace it by a better one. to criticise your classification, ladies and gentlemen, is what i intend to do; but if the elements are wanting to establish a better, can you, ought you even to require me to present you one. do you think me a man, that you exact of me abuse of the _à priora_, and a startling arbitrary course of reasoning. "proudhon is right," murmur these gentlemen; "woman is incapable of abstract reasoning, of generalizing, of _knowing herself_".... really, gentlemen, do you think that it is through incapacity that i am unwilling to present to you a classification of the sexes, a theory of the nature of woman?... let us hasten then to prove the contrary: instead of one theory, we will give you _four_. man and woman form a series only with respect to the reproduction of the species: all the other characteristics by which it has been attempted to make a distinction between them are only generalities contradicted by a multitude of facts; now, as a generality is not a law, nothing can be therefore concluded from these, nothing absolute deduced from them in a functional point of view. on the other hand, the greatest radical difference of zoological species lies in the nervous system, especially in the greater or lesser bulk and complexity of the encephalus; now, anatomy admits, after numerous experiments, that, in proportion to the whole size of the body, the brain of woman equals in volume that of man; that the composition of both is the same, and phrenology adds that the organs of the brain are the same in both sexes. lastly, it is a biological principle that organs are developed by exercise and atrophied by continued repose; now, man and woman do not exercise their encephalic organs in the same manner; educational training, manners, prejudice, enforced habits tend to develop in the masculine what becomes atrophied in the feminine head; whence it follows that the differences empirically established are by no means the result of nature, but of the accidental causes by which they have been produced. conclusion: the two sexes therefore, when reared alike become developed alike, and are fit for the same functions, except those which concern the reproduction of the species. here, gentlemen, is a theory complete in all its parts, tenable in an anatomo-biologic point of view, and which i challenge you to prove false, for i shall find replies to all your objections. ii. we admit the principle that the sexes form series in physical, moral, intellectual, consequently functional respects. we believe that they should become subordinate to each other in proportion to their relative excellence; and we take the destiny of the species as the touchstone of their respective value. if we compare the sexes with each other, we prove in a general way, that man is merely woman on a coarser scale; we prove in the second place that he is far more animal than woman, since his muscular system is more fully developed and since he respires lower; so that he is most evidently a medium between woman and the higher species of apes. woman alone contains and develops the human germ; she is the creator and preserver of the race. it is not quite certain that the co-operation of man is necessary for the work of reproduction; _this is the means chosen by nature_, but human science will succeed, we hope, in delivering woman from this insupportable subjection. analogy authorises us to believe that woman, the sole depositary of the human germ, is equally the sole depositary of all the moral and intellectual germs, whence it follows that she is the inspirer of all knowledge, all discoveries, all justice, the mother of all virtue. our analogous deductions are confirmed by facts; woman employs her intellect in the concrete; she is an acute observer; man is only fit to construct paradoxes and to lose himself in the abyss of metaphysics; science has only emerged from the limbo of _à priora_ without confirmation, since the advent into this domain of the form of the feminine mind; we shall affirm, therefore, that true scholars are feminized minds. in moral respects, man and woman differ greatly; the former is harsh, rough, without delicacy, devoid of sensibility and modesty; his habitual relations with the other sex modify him only with great difficulty; woman is naturally gentle, loving, feeling, equitable, modest; to her, man owes justice and his other virtues, when he has any; whence it follows that it is really to woman alone that social progress is due; hence it is that every step made towards civilization is marked by an advance of woman towards liberty. if we consider each of the sexes in their relation to human destiny, we are forced to admit that, if there was reason for the predominance of man in the necessity of hewing out this destiny, the pre-eminence of woman is ensured in the future reign of right and peace. it was necessary to struggle and fight in order to establish justice and to subject nature to humanity; this belonged of right to man, who represents muscular force, the spirit of conflict; but as we already foresee in the approaching future, the coming of peace, the substitution of pacific labor and negotiations for war, it is clear that woman will take rightfully the direction of human affairs, to which she will be called by her faculties, found better adapted to the end henceforth to be pursued. woman should be the last to develop and manifest herself socially, for the same reason that the human species is the last creation of our globe; the perfect being always appears after those that have served to pave the way. as it is demonstrated, on the other hand, that, in the scale of the various organisms, the organ that is superadded to the others to constitute a change of species, governs those which the individual derives from inferior species, so woman, fully developed in a social body organized for peace and pacific labor, will be the new organ that will govern the social body. does this signify that woman should oppress man? by no means; she would thus be ungrateful for the services rendered her, and would trespass against her gentle nature; but she will teach him to comprehend that _his glory is to obey_, to become subordinate to the other sex, because he is less perfect, and because his qualities are no longer necessary to the general good. you laugh, gentlemen, at this second theory; you think it absurd.... so it is; for it is the counterpart of the thetic woman of proudhon. let us proceed then to the third theory. iii. every classification of the human species is a pure subjective creation; that is, one which exists only in the form given to the perception by the intellect; the very conception of humanity with the enumeration of the characteristics which are reputed to distinguish it from the other species, is stamped with subjectivity. the truth is that not a single human being resembles his neighbor; that there are as many different men and women as there are men and women composing the species. classifications, in all things, are illusions of the mind, for nature hates identity and never repeats herself: there are not two grains of sand, not two drops of water, not two leaves alike; and most probably the sun, since the commencement of its existence, has not appeared twice identically the same at its rising. yet despite the evidence of these truths, despite the conviction which we have attained of the illusion of the senses, of the weakness of our intellect, which can know nothing of the inmost nature of beings; which can only seize upon a few fleeting traces of their personal characteristics; yet despite all these things we dare establish series, attribute to them characteristics which are speedily contradicted by facts, and torture and do violence to the only beings that really exist; namely, individuals, in the name of that other thing which exists only in our sick brain: kind, class! the bitter fruits that have been produced by our mania for classification ought to cure us of this. has not this malady, impelling theocratists and legislators to divide humanity into castes and classes, caused most of the calamities of our species? have we not, thanks to these execrable divisions, a hideous past, the echoes of which bring back to our shrinking ears naught but sobs, cries of anger, rebellion, malediction and vengeance, and sinister clanking of weapons and chains? have we not also to thank them that, on the pages of our history, all stained with blood and tears and exhaling an odor of the charnel house, we read nought but tyranny, brutishness and demoralization? have we not further to thank them that king and subject, master and serf, white and black, man and woman become demoralized by oppression, injustice and cruelty on one hand; and intrigue, baseness, and vengeance on the other? are not wrong and wretchedness found everywhere, because inequality, the offspring of insane classifications, is found everywhere? ah! who shall deliver us from our infatuation! let us class animals, vegetables, minerals if we will! our errors do not influence and cannot disturb them; but let us respect the human species which will escape all classification, however reasonable the process may be, because every human being is changeable, progressive, and differs far more from his fellows than the most intelligent animal from the rest of his species. let us leave each one then to make his own autonomic law and to manifest himself in conformity with his nature, and take care only that right shall be equal for all; that the strong shall not oppress the weak; that each function shall be entrusted to the one individual that is proved the best qualified to perform it; this is all that we can do, all that we should do, if we seek to show ourselves wise and just. harmony exists in nature, because each being in it follows peaceably the laws that govern his individuality; it will be the same in humanity, when universal reason shall comprehend that human order is pre-established in the co-operation of individual faculties left free in their manifestations; and that to establish a factitious, wholly imaginary order; that is, true disorder, is to retard the coming of order, peace and happiness. let us refrain then from all classification of faculties and functions according to the sexes: besides being false, they will lead us to cruelty; for we shall oppress those, whether men or women, who are neither yielding enough to submit to it nor hypocritical enough to appear to do so; and we shall do this without profit to human destiny, but, on the contrary, to its detriment. here, gentlemen, is a _nominalistic_ theory which i challenge you to overthrow by sufficient reasons: for, as in the first, i shall have answers to all your objections. we now come to our last theory, which is yours in the major and minor terms, but the opposite in the conclusions. iv. all the different parts of the same organism are modified by each other, and in this manner the functions become mutually modified. now, man and woman differ from each other in important organs. each of the sexes must therefore differ from the other not only through the organs that distinguish them, but through the modifications produced by the presence of these organs. this, gentleman, is my first syllogism: i know that we shall not contest this point--it is classical biology. let us investigate anatomically the organic differences to which sexuality subjects man and woman. _nervous system._ the so called nerves of feeling are more fully developed in woman than in man, those of motion are less developed in the former than in the latter; the cerebellum is more fully developed in the head of man than in that of woman; in the latter, the antero-posterior diameter of the brain preponderates over the bi-lateral, which is greater in proportion in the masculine sex: it is also observed that the organs of observation, circumspection, subtleness and philoprogenitiveness are more prominent in the head of woman than in that of man, in which the reasoning organs, with those of combativeness and destructiveness predominate. _locomotive system._ man is larger than woman, he has more compact bones, and larger and better developed muscles, his thorax is the reverse of that of woman, in which, the greatest breadth is between the shoulders, while, with him, it is at the base; the pelvis is larger and broader in the female than the male sex. _epidermic and cellular systems._ man has a more hairy skin than woman; what is called fat is less abundant in the masculine than in the feminine organism; in general, the skin of man is rougher, and his form less round; woman has longer and more silky hair. _splanchnic organs._ the cerebral mass is the same in proportion in both sexes, as well as the organs of the brain, with the exception of the predominances which we have pointed out; the respiratory systems differ somewhat; woman breaths higher than man; in the latter, the circulation is more active and energetic. to these physical differences correspond intellectual and moral differences. woman, having the nerves of feeling more fully developed, is more impressionable and more mobile than man. being weaker and as persistent, she obtains by address and stratagem what she cannot obtain by force; her weakness gives her timidity, circumspection, the necessity of feeling herself protected. the kinds of labor that require strength are repugnant to her. her maternal destiny renders her an enemy of destruction, of war; and her more delicate organization makes her dread and shun contention. this same maternal destination impresses a peculiar stamp on her intellect; she loves the concrete, and is always inclined to transform thought into facts, to incarnate it, to give it a fixed form; her reasoning is intuition or quick perception of a general relation, of a truth that man elucidates only with great difficulty, by the aid of stilted logic. woman is a better observer than man, and carries induction farther than he; she is consequently more penetrating, and is a much better judge of the moral and intellectual value of those about her. she has, more than man, sentiment of the beautiful, delicacy of heart, love of good, respect for modesty, veneration for everything superior. more provident than he, she has more order and economy, and looks after administrative details with a carefulness which is often carried to puerility. woman is adroit, sedulous; she excels in works of taste, and possesses strong artistic tendencies. gentler, more tender, more patient than man, she loves everything that is weak, protects everything that suffers; every sorrow, every calamity brings a tear to her eye and draws a sigh from her breast. this is woman, such as you paint her, gentlemen. you then add: the vocation of woman therefore is love, maternity, the household, sedentary occupations. she is too weak for occupations that demand strength, and for those of war. she is too impressionable and too feeling, too good, too gentle to be legislator, judge or juror. her taste for household details, a retired life, and the grave functions of maternity indicate clearly that she is not made for public employments. she is too variable to cultivate science with profit; too feeble and too much occupied beside to pursue protracted experiments. her kind of rationality renders her unsuited to the elaboration of theories; and she is too fond of the concrete and of details to become seriously interested in general ideas; which excludes her from all high professional functions and from those requiring serious study. her place is therefore at the fireside to make man better, to sustain him, to care for him, to procure him the joys of paternity, and to fill the place of a good housewife. such are your conclusions: here are mine, admitting as a hypothesis, what i affirm with you of woman. v. . woman carrying into philosophy and science her subtleness of observation, her love of the concrete, will correct the exaggerated tendency of man for abstract reasoning, and demonstrate the falsity of theories constructed, _à priori_, on a few facts alone. then only will ontology disappear, then will it be recognized that a hypothesis is merely an interrogation point; that truth is always intelligible in its nature, however unknown it may be; we shall generalize nothing but known facts, we shall carefully avoid erecting simple generalities into laws, and we shall thus have veritable philosophy, and true human science, because they will bear the imprint of both sexes. . woman carrying her peculiar faculties into the arts and manufactures, will increasingly introduce therein art, perfection in details. cultivated in the direction of her aptitudes, she will find ingenious methods of application of scientific discoveries. . patient, gentle, good, more moral than man, she is the born educator of childhood, the moralizer of the grown man; the majority of the educational functions revert to her of right, and she has her assigned place in special instruction. . by her quick intuition and her acuteness of observation, woman alone can discover the therapeutics of nervous affections; her dexterity will render her valuable in all delicate surgical operations. on her should devolve the care of treating the diseases of women and children, because she alone is capable of fully comprehending them; she has her especial place in hospitals, not only for the cure of disease, but also for the execution and surveillance of the details of management and the care of the patients. . the presence of woman in judicial functions, as juror and arbiter, will be a guarantee of veritable human justice to all; that is, of equity. woman alone through her gentleness, her mercy, her sympathetic disposition, and her subtleness and observation, can comprehend that society has its share of culpability in every fault committed; for it should be organized to prevent wrong rather than to punish it. this point of view, especially feminine, will transform the penitentiary system and raise up numerous institutions. then only will the world comprehend that the punishment inflicted on the guilty should be a means of reparation and regeneration; society will no longer slay its prisoners as if weak and fearful: it will amend the assassin instead of imitating him; it will force the thief to work to make restitution of what he has stolen; it will no longer believe that it has the right by imprisoning a criminal to deprive him of his reason, to drive him to despair, to suicide by solitary confinement; to deprive him completely of marriage; to couple him with those more corrupt than himself. conscious of its own share of culpability, society will repair in penitentiaries the fault of its carelessness: it will be firm, yet kind and moralizing: it will give in them the education which it ought to have given outside, and will prepare work houses for the liberated convicts in order that the contempt and horror often shown toward them by men worse than they may not drive them to a second offence. . woman, carrying into the social household her spirit of order and economy, her love of details and abhorrence of waste and foolish expense, will reform government: she will simplify everything; will suppress sinecures and the accumulation of offices, and will produce much from little instead of, like man, producing little from much: the purse of the tax-payers will not complain of the change. . under the direct influence of woman as legislator, we shall have a reconstruction of all laws; first and before everything, we shall have preventive measures, a compulsory education; then the form of legal proceedings will be simplified, the civil code recast, and all laws concerning illegitimate children and the inequality of the sexes banished from it; the laws concerning morals will be more severe, and the penal code more rational and equitable. by her administrative reforms born of the economical instinct of woman, taxes will be diminished; her abhorrence of blood and war will greatly reduce the fearful impost of blood-shed. having a deliberative voice, and knowing, by her griefs and love the value of a man, it will be only from sheer necessity that she will consent to vote bevies of citizens for the shambles called wars: she will do this only when her country is menaced or when it is necessary to protect oppressed nationalities; in all other cases, she will employ the system of conciliation. . woman, being much more economical and a better analyst than man, when thoroughly instructed, will soon perceive that nations, like individuals, differ in aptitudes, and that the end of these differences is union and fraternity through exchange of products: she will therefore deter her country from cultivating certain branches of the acts and manufactures in which other nations excel and which they can produce to better advantage; she will cure it of the foolish pretension of being sufficient unto itself, and will prevent it from sacrificing the interest of the mass of consumers to that of a few producers: thus the barriers and custom duties that separate the different organs of humanity will fall by degrees; there will be treaties of free trade, and all will be gainers by the cheapness of products, and the suppression of the expenses of maintaining a too often annoying department of customs. the qualities and faculties of woman not only make her an educator, but assure her preponderance in all functions arising from social solidarity; she alone knows how to console, to encourage, to moralize with gentleness, to comfort with delicacy; she has the genius of charity; to her therefore should revert the superintendence and direction of hospitals and prisons for women, the management of charitable institutions, the care of abandoned children, etc. she should create institutions to furnish employment to workmen out of work, and to save liberated convicts from indolence and relapse into crime. thus, gentleman, without departing from the data of your theory, you behold woman placed everywhere by the side of man, except in the hard labor from which you yourselves will soon be released by machinery, and in the military institutions which, in all probability, will some day disappear. hitherto institutions, laws, sciences, philosophy have chiefly borne the masculine imprint; all of these things are only half human; in order that they may become wholly so, woman must be associated in them ostensibly and lawfully, consequently, she must be cultivated like you; culture will not make her like you, do not fear it; the rose and the carnation growing in the same soil, under the same sky, in the same sunshine, with the cares of the same gardener, remain rose and carnation: they are more beautiful in proportion as they are better cultivated, and as the elements which they absorb are more abundant: if man and woman differ, a similar education will only make them differ still more, because each will employ it in the development of that which is peculiar to himself. for the interest of all things and people it is necessary that woman should enter all the avocations of life, that she should have her function in all the functions: _after_ the general interest of humanity, comes that of the family; it cannot go _before_ it. since woman now is generally mother and housewife while performing at the same time a host of other functions, she will become none the less so in taking upon herself a few more; besides, the time of life at which an individual enters certain important functions is that at which woman has finished her maternal task. a few women acting as public functionaries will not hinder the great majority of their companions from remaining in private life, any more than a few men in the same position hinder the mass of men from continuing there. vi. you admit a classification at last, you say, and still more you grant that there are masculine and feminine functions. you are mistaken, gentlemen: you accused me of being incapable of giving you a complete theory, i have given you the outlines of four--outlines which it would be easy for me to extend and perfect. but i do not admit a single one of these theories as a whole. are you eclectic, then? the gods forbid! i have as much repugnance to eclecticism, as to _mystic trinitarianism_ and _androgyny_. i do not admit the theory of the identity of the sexes, because i believe with biology that an essential organic difference modifies the entire being; that therefore woman must differ from man. i do not admit the theory of the superiority of either sex, because it is absurd; humanity is man-woman or woman-man; we do not know what one sex would be if it were not incessantly modified by its relations with the other, and we know them only as thus modified: what we know to a certainty is that they form together the existing condition of humanity; that they are equally necessary and equally useful to each other and to society. i do not admit my third theory because it is ultra-nominalism nominalism; if it is really true that all the individuals of both sexes differ among themselves in a far more remarkable manner than those of the other species, it is none the less true that a classification, founded upon a constant anatomical characteristic, is legitimate, and that the principle of classification lies in the nature of things, for if things appear to us classified, it is because they are so; the laws of the mind are the same as those of nature so far as knowledge is concerned; we must admit this, unless we are sceptics or idealists, and i am neither the one nor the other; neither am i a realist in the philosophic acceptation of the word, for i do not believe that the species is something apart from the individuals in which it is manifested; it is in them and through them; this repeats the affirmation that there are individuals identical in one or several respects, although different in all others. lastly, i do not admit the fourth theory, although it may be true in principle, because the numerous facts that contradict the distinguishing characteristics, do not permit me to believe that these characteristics are laws established by sexuality. in fact, there are brains of men in heads of women, and _vice versa_. men mobile and impressionable; women firm and insensible. women large, strong and muscular, lifting a man like a feather; men small, frail, and of extreme delicacy of constitution. women with a stentorian voice and abrupt manners; men with a soft voice and graceful manners. women with short, harsh hair, bearded, with rough skin and angular figures; men with long, silky hair without beard, round and portly. women with an energetic circulation of blood; men in whose veins it courses feebly and slowly. women frank, inconsiderate and daring; men strategic, dissembling and timid. women violent, loving strife, war and contention, and wont to storm on every occasion; men gentle, patient, dreading strife, and exceedingly timid. women loving abstract reasoning, generalizing and synthetizing much, and without intuition of any sort; men intuitive, acute observers, good analysts, incapable of generalizing.... i know many such. women insensible to works of art, and without the sentiment of the beautiful; men full of enthusiasm for both. women immoral, immodest, respecting nothing or no one; men moral, chaste and reverential. women extravagant and disorderly; men economical and parsimonious to avarice. women thoroughly selfish, rigid, disposed to take advantage of the weakness, kindness, folly or misery of others; men full of generosity, mansuetude, and self-sacrifice. what follows from these undeniable facts? that the law of sexual differences is not manifested through the several characteristics which have been laid down. that these characteristics may be only the result of education, of the difference of prejudices, of that of occupations, etc. that, as these generalities may be the fruit of the difference of training and surroundings, nothing can be legitimately deduced from them as to the functions of woman; would it not be absurd, in fact, to pretend that a woman who is organized for philosophy and the sciences _can not_, ought not to occupy herself with them because she is a woman, while a man, who is incapable of them but foolish and vain enough to be ignorant of his incapacity, can and ought to engage in them because he is a man? functions belong to those who prove their aptitude for them, and not to an abstraction called sex, for, definitively, every function is individual in its aggregate or in its elements. vii. we have explained why we reject the theories that we have sketched; we will now explain why we neither give nor wish to give a classification of the sexes. we do not give a classification, because we neither have nor can have one; the elements for its establishment are lacking. a biological deduction permits us to affirm that such a one exists; but it is impossible to disengage its law in the present surroundings; the veritable feminine stamp will be known only after one or two centuries of like education and equal rights: then there will be no need of a classification, for the function will fall naturally to the proper functionary under a system of equality in which the social elements classify themselves. my belief and my hopes concerning the future, i shall not confess; for i may be in error, since i have no facts to control my intuitions, and everything that is purely utopian has always a dangerous side. besides have i not said that, had i formed a classification, i should not give it? why not? because, a detestable use would be made of it, as usual, if it were adopted. hitherto, have not men availed themselves of classifications based upon characteristics afterwards recognized as purely imaginary to oppress, distort and calumniate those banished to the inferior ranks? history is at hand to give us this salutary lesson. where is now to-day the _ville-pedaille_, the villains and base-tenants, fit only to drain ditches and to be stripped to the skin? inventing, governing, making laws for, and gradually transforming our globe, devastated by the _superior and only capable_ species, into a smiling and peaceful domain. upon all classification of the human species, whether in castes, in classes, or in sexes, are based three wrongs. the first is to make it a crime in the individual degraded into the lower series, that he does not resemble the conventional type that has been formed of this series, while the so called superior being is not required to resemble his type; thus a weak, cowardly, unintelligent man, a _man milliner_ or an _embroiderer_, is none the less a man, while a virago, a firm and courageous woman, a great queen, a woman philosopher are not women, but men whom none love and who are given over as a prey to wild beasts, jealous, effeminate men, to devour. the second wrong is to take advantage of the conventional type to deform the being classed in the inferior series in order to kill his energies and to hinder his progress. then, to attain this end, education, social surroundings are organized, prejudices are invented; and so successfully is this done in general that the oppressed, ignorant of himself, believes himself really of an inferior nature, resigns himself to his chains, and is even indignant at the rebellion of those of his series who are too energetic and individual not to react against the part to which social imbecility has condemned them. the third wrong is to take advantage of the state of debasement to which the oppressed has been reduced, to calumniate him and deny his rights; men exclaim, look! see the serf! see the slave! see the negro! see the workingman! see woman! what rights would you grant these inferior and feeble natures? _they are incapable of knowing and ruling themselves_: we must therefore think for them, wish for them, and govern them. ah no, gentlemen, these are not men and women; they are the deplorable results of your selfishness, of your frightful spirit of domination, of your imbecility.... if there were infernal gods, i should devote you to them relentlessly with all my heart. instead of calumniating your fellows that you may preserve your privileges, give them instruction and liberty; then only will you have the right to pass judgment on their nature: for we can only know the nature of a human being when it has become freely developed in equality. i think that i have justified my repugnance to give a classification of the sexes, both by the impossibility of actually establishing a reasonable one, and by the very legitimate fear of the bad use that would be made of it. but it will be objected, and not without reason, that a classification is necessary for social practice. i consent to it with all my heart, since i have reserved my positions, and proved the worthlessness of existing classifications. as it is my principle that the function should fall to the functionary who proves his capacity, i say that at present, through the difference of education, man and woman have distinct functions; and that we must give to the latter the place that in general she deserves. i add that it is a violation of the natural right of woman to form her with a view to certain functions to which she is destined; she should in all respects enjoy the rights common to all; it cannot rightfully be said to her any more than to man, "your sex cannot do that, cannot pretend to that;" if it does it and pretends to it, it is because the sex can do it and pretend to it; if it could not, it would not do it; the first right is liberty, the first duty, the culture of one's aptitudes, the development of his reason and his power of usefulness: if a god should affirm the contrary, not conscience, but the god would speak falsely. let woman take the place therefore that is suited to her present development, but let her never cease to remember that this place is not a fixed point, and that she should continually strive to mount upwards until, her peculiar nature revealing itself through equality of education, instruction, right and duty, she takes her rightful place by the side of man and on a level with him. let her laugh at all the utopian follies elaborated concerning her nature, her functions determined for eternity, and remember that she is not what nature, but what subjection, prejudice, ignorance has made her; let her escape from all her chains, and no longer permit herself to be intimidated and debased. thus, gentlemen, all my ideas on the nature and functions of woman may be summed up in these few propositions: i believe, because a physiological deduction authorizes me to do so, that general humanity common to both sexes is stamped by sexuality. in _fact_, i know not, and you know no better than i, what are the true characteristics arising from the distinction of the sexes, and i believe that they can be revealed only by liberty in equality, parity of instruction and of education. in social practice, functions should belong to those who can perform them: woman therefore should perform those functions for which she shows herself qualified, and society should become so organized that this may be possible. what are these functions relative to her degree of present development? i will tell you directly. love; its function in humanity. i. you tell the child that lies, "it is wrong to deceive; you would not wish others to deceive you." you tell the child that pilfers, "it is wrong to steal; you would not wish others to steal from you." you tell the child that takes advantage of his strength and knowledge to torment his younger companion; "you would not wish others to do these things to you; you are wicked and cowardly." these are good lessons. why then, when the child has become a young man, do you say: _young men must sow their wild oats_? _to sow their wild oats_ is to deceive young girls, to destroy their future, to practice adultery, to keep mistresses, to visit brothels. yet mothers, women thus consent to the profanation of their sex! those who forbade their child to steal a toy, permit him to steal the honor and repose of human beings! those who shamed their son for falsehood, permit him to deceive poor young girls! those who made it a crime in their son to oppress those weaker than themselves, permit him to be oppressive and perfidious toward women! then they complain later that their sons treat them ill; that they dishonor and ruin themselves; that they desire the death of their parents, in order to enrich the usurers from whom they have borrowed money to maintain their mistresses in luxury. they complain that they destroy their health, and give their mothers puny grandchildren, for whose existence they are in continual anxiety. ah! ladies, you have only what you deserve; bear the weight of a joint responsibility which you cannot escape. you authorized your sons to sow their wild oats; endure the consequences. but a mother cannot be the confident of her son, it is said. why not, madam, if you have brought him up in such a way as to have no dishonorable confidence to make to you. he would have none to make, if you had accustomed him to conquer himself, to respect every woman as though she were his mother, every young girl as though she were his sister; to treat others as he would think it right to be treated by them; if you had fully inculcated on him that there is but one system of morality, which both sexes are equally bound to obey; if you had caused him to honor, love and practice labor; if you had told him that we live to improve ourselves, to practise justice and kindness, and to render back to humanity what it does for us in protecting us, enlightening us, rendering us moral, surrounding us with security and comfort; that in fine our glory lies in subjecting ourselves to the great law of duty. if you had reared him in this manner, madam, on surprising in your son the first signs of the ardent attraction that man feels toward the other sex, far from abandoning the education of this instinct to the chances of inexperience, you would do for it what you did for the others; you would teach the young man to subject it to a wise discipline. instead of repeating the stupidly atrocious phrase; _young men must sow their wild oats_, you would have taken your son's hand affectionately in your own, and, looking in his face, would have said: "my child, nature decrees that a woman should henceforth attract you more strongly than i, and should maintain or destroy what i have so laboriously built up: i do not murmur at this; it must be so. but my affection and duty require me to enlighten you in this grave juncture. tell me, if a young man, to satisfy the instinct which is now awakening in you, should corrupt your sister, should sacrifice her life, what would you think of him? what would you do?" the young man, accustomed from childhood to practise justice, would not fail to reply: "i should think him depraved and cowardly. would he not be punished?" "no, my son, the seducer is not punished by the law." "well! i would kill him, for my right of justice reverts to me when the law makes no provision." "right, my child. then you will be neither depraved nor cowardly with respect to any young girl; you will not deserve the sentence which you have pronounced; namely, death. you will respect all young girls and women as you would wish your sister, your daughter to be respected. "another question: what would you think of a man who should persuade me to betray your father; who should rob him of my heart and cares; who should draw me aside from the grave duties of maternity? what would you think of the man who should act thus with respect to your own companion?" "i would judge him like the former and would treat him no better." "right again. then you will respect all married women as you would wish your mother and your wife to be respected; and if you should meet any one towards whom you should feel attracted, or who should be disloyal enough to seek to attract you, you will shun her: for flight is the sole remedy for passion. "a multitude of women, innocent at first, have been turned aside from the right path by men who do not think as you do. they now avenge themselves upon your sex for the evil it has done them. they corrupt and ruin men who, in their company, lose all sense of morality, who learn to laugh at what you believe and venerate, and undermine and destroy their health. do you feel the deplorable courage to expose yourself to such risks?" the young man, practised from childhood to subject his inclinations to reason and justice, would reply: "no, mother, i will not do what i would not wish my companion to do; i will neither degrade myself morally, nor destroy my health, nor contribute my share towards perpetuating a state of things which degrades the sex to which belongs my mother, my sister, my wife and my daughters, should i be so happy as to possess them. "i acknowledge frankly that i foresee a violent struggle with myself, but, thanks to the moral training to which you have accustomed me, thanks to the ideal of destiny which you have given me, which i have accepted in the plenitude of my reason, and which my duty marks out for me, i do not despair of subduing myself."--"this victory will be less difficult to obtain, if you employ yourself usefully and seriously; for you will thus attract your vitality to the superior regions of the brain. you will do wisely to add to this, much physical exercise; to abstain from too substantial a diet, and especially from stimulating drinks! you know the reaction of the physical upon the moral system. carefully avoid licentious reading and improper conversation; give a place in your mind to the virgin who will be united to you; think and act as if in her presence; it will guard you and keep you pure. this sweet ideal will strengthen you against temptation, and contribute greatly to render you insensible towards those women who should have no place in your heart." "love, my child, is a thing most serious in its results; for the beings whom it unites become modified by each other; it leaves its traces, however short may be its duration. "its end is marriage, one of the ends of which is the continuity of the species. now, you know the effects of solidarity of blood; it is most important therefore that you should choose for your companion a woman whose character, morals and principles are in unison with your own; not only for your happiness, but for the _organization_ of your children, the harmony of their nature and conduct. "if passion does not leave you sufficiently free in your judgment, come to me: i will see for you, and if i say: my son, this woman will debase you, will cause you to commit faults; be sure that your children will have evil propensities; she is not adapted to rear them according to your ideal, which she will never accept, because she is vain and selfish; if i tell you this, i know, my son, that whatever may be your suffering, you will renounce a woman whom you would cease to love after a few months' union, and will prefer a transient sadness to a life of unhappiness." ii. the mother who has just shown her son why love should be subjected to reason and justice, and has pointed out to him what he should do to subdue its animal phase, perceives also the awakening of this instinct in her daughter. she wins her attention and gains her confidence by revealing to her what is passing within her heart, telling her that, at her age, she felt the same. "hitherto," continues she, "you have been but a child; your career as a woman is now commencing. you desire the affection of a man, and your heart is moved at the sweet thought of becoming a mother. do not blush, my daughter; it is lawful, on condition that your desires are made subject to reason and the law of duty. "many snares will be spread before your steps; for men of all ages address to a young girl innumerable flattering speeches, and surround her with homage which renders her vain and coquettish if she has the weakness to suffer herself to be intoxicated thereby. persuade yourself fully that all this adoration is not addressed to you individually, but to your youth, to the brightness of your eyes, to the freshness of your complexion, and that, were you far better than you are and far superior in intellect, these men would be ceremoniously and frigidly polite, were you thirty years older. this thought present in your mind will make you smile at their frivolous and common-place jargon, and will preserve you from many weaknesses, such as rivalry of dress, petty jealousies, and the ridiculous blunder of playing the young girl at fifty. "as you can espouse but one man, it is sufficient to be loved by one in the manner that you wish. a woman who comports herself voluntarily so as to captivate the hearts of many men, and leaves each to believe that she prefers him above all, is an unworthy coquette, who sins against justice and kindness: against justice, inasmuch as she demands a sentiment for which she can make no return; as she acts towards others as she would think it unjust that others should act towards her; against kindness, inasmuch as she risks causing suffering to sincere hearts and sacrificing their repose to a pleasurable impulse of vanity: such a woman, my child, is contemptible; she is a dangerous enemy of her sex; first, because she gives a bad opinion of it; next, because she is an enemy to the repose of other women; i know that you are too ingenuous, too true and too worthy to fear that you will fall into such errors. "you have acknowledged to me that your young imagination had pictured to itself a man. far from banishing this ideal, let it be always present to your mind, much less in its physical aspect than in that of intellect, morality and industry. this image will do more to keep you safe than all my counsels, than all the surveillance that i might, but never would exercise over you, because this would be unworthy of us both. "do not forget however that an ideal is absolute; that the reality is always defective; do not therefore seek in the man to whom you shall give your heart, a realization of the ideal, but the qualities and faculties which, with your aid, will permit him to approximate to what you wish to see him. you yourself are the ideal of a man, not such as you are, but such as he will aid you to become. "i dwell upon this point, my daughter, because nothing is more dangerous than to insist on finding the ideal in the reality; this makes us over difficult and lacking in indulgence; and, if we have a lively imagination and little reason, renders us unhappy and involves us in innumerable errors. you know and feel that the end of love is marriage; now one of your duties as lover and spouse is the improvement of the one to whom you shall be united. you will stand with him in two different relations! first as his betrothed, afterwards as his wife. your modifying power will, in the first case, be exercised in a direct proportion to his desire to please and to be worthy of you; in the second, in proportion to his confidence, esteem and affection for you. in the first case, he will _wish_ to modify himself; in the second, he will do so without knowing it." "what, mother, will he not always love me the same?" "love, my child, undergoes transformations which we should expect and to which we should submit; in the beginning it is a fever of the soul; but fever is a condition which cannot last without destroying life. your husband, while loving you perhaps more deeply, will love you less ardently than before marriage. your love will become transformed, why shall not his be the same? "you cannot imagine how much trouble results from the ignorance of women on this point, and from the vain pursuit of the ideal in love. many women, believing that their husband loves them no longer because he loves them in a different manner, become detached from him, suffer, and betray their duties; others, dreaming of perfection in the loved one, fancy that they have found it, and becoming disabused after the fever has past, quit him, accusing him of having deceived them; they love others with the same illusion, followed by the same disenchantment, until age creeps on without curing them of the chimera. lastly, there are others who, comprehending only the first period of love, cease to love the man who has passed beyond it, and pursue another love which will bring them the same fever; these, as you comprehend, have not the slightest idea of woman's grave duties in love. "what i have just said of women is equally true of men. you will avoid these dangers, my daughter, you who have been accustomed from childhood to submit to reason; who know that all reality is imperfect, that habit weakens sentiment, you will therefore take the man who suits you, as he is, designing to improve him and to render him happy, knowing in advance that his love will change without becoming extinguished, if you succeed in gaining his affection, confidence and esteem, so that he will find in you good counsel, peace, assistance and security. you are too pure, my daughter, to foresee all the snares that will be spread for you. it belongs to me therefore to arm your youthful prudence: you will perhaps encounter men married or betrothed who, according to the common expression, _will pay court to you_, and will utter innumerable sophisms to justify their conduct." "their sophisms would fall to the ground before the simple answer: sir, as i should be driven to despair if another woman should rob me of him whom i loved, as i should despise and hate her, all your compliments cannot persuade me that it is right for me to do what i would not that others should do to me. if you return to the subject, i shall inform the person interested. "right, my child: but if a young man who was free should speak of love, and urge you to write to him in secret?" "might he not have good reason for acting in this manner?" "none, my child. you must know that men are exceedingly corrupt; that many among them eschew marriage, flit from one woman to another, take advantage of our credulity, and make use of the most impassioned language to lead us in the way of shame and perdition. now, my child, know besides that we bear the weight of men's faults as well as of our own; the verbal and written promises of a man bind him to nothing. if, suffering yourself to be led astray, you should become a mother, the child would remain your charge; and you could no longer hope for marriage; i say nothing of our grief and shame, nor of the terrible risks to which you would expose your brother, who might perish in punishing the vile seducer whom the law does not touch. if a man seeks you therefore unknown to us, be sure that it is because his intentions are evil; that he considers you as a toy which he purposes to break when it ceases to amuse him. now, my daughter, you know that woman is created to be the worthy companion of man; that she is not born to be sacrificed to him as an object of pleasure. instead therefore of suffering yourself to be seduced, profit by the influence over men which is given you by your beauty and grace, to recall them to their duties: in this manner, you may be the means of saving many women; you will give a favorable opinion of your sex, and will prepare a good example for your daughter by setting one to your companions, many of whom will follow it in order to share in the esteem that will surround you; always remember that our acts not only injure ourselves, but we have a joint responsibility with others, and consequently no one can be lost or saved alone. "one word more, my child. in your uncertainties, do not hesitate to confide your troubles to me; do not say, my mother is too reasonable to understand me in this. was it not by becoming a child again in order to comprehend you, that i fulfilled my sacred task of instructor? be persuaded that it will not be more difficult for me to become a young girl again in order to comprehend, while remaining a tender and experienced mother to advise you. "you are free: i am not your censor, but your elder sister, who loves you with devotion and desires your happiness before all things. as a recompense for my love and my long-continued cares, i only ask to be your best friend; that is, the one in whose presence you will think and speak aloud. is this asking too much of you, who are my joy and crown." this is the way, ladies, in which the woman who has attained majority, strives to educate the world in love. iii. the young girl and young man enter into society. the prudent mother knows that it is gently insinuated to her son that she is a _prude_, a _dotard_ who knows nothing of the passions; who does not suspect that _everything in nature is good_, and should be respected; and who has read the history of our species to so little purpose that she has not perceived that humanity has love in all forms: the _polygamic_ and _polyandric_, and even ... the _ambiguous_. she knows also, that he is told that the satisfaction of the animal instinct is necessary to the _health_ of man, and that brothels are places of public utility. she knows, lastly, that young and giddy girls, with lax principles, make dangerous confidences to her daughter. it is time, in opposition to these lax doctrines and pernicious examples, to give to her children the philosophy of love. according to her method, she suffers is to elucidate itself. my son, says she, what is the end of the attraction of mineral molecules towards each other? son. the _production_ of a body having a determined form. mother. what is the end of the attraction of the plant for heat, light, air, the elements which it absorbs? son. the _production_ of its own body, the development of its organs, and of its properties, its preservation. mother. and do you know, my daughter, what is the end of the attraction of the pistil and stamens of the flower. daughter. the _production_ of a being resembling its parents. mother. why do we as well as the animals experience an inclination or attraction for certain kinds of food? son. it is evidently in order to incite to action the organs which procure to the organism the elements adapted to _produce_ blood. mother. why do both sexes of the same species experience an attraction towards each other? daughter. for the _production_ of young to perpetuate the species. mother. why do the females, and often males among animals experience an inclination or attraction to take care of the young? daughter. in order to preserve them and to educate them as far as is in their power, that they may be able to provide for themselves. mother. are you quite sure, my children, that the end of these attractions is not the attraction itself, the procurement of a pleasure? son. the pleasure seems to me only the means of impelling the being to fulfill a necessary or useful function. thus the end of our scientific, artistic and industrial inclinations or attractions is not the pleasure which we take in their satisfaction, but the _production_ of science, art and industry. daughter. that is, the increase and progress of our intellect through the knowledge of the laws of nature, in order to modify this nature with a view to our wants and pleasures. mother. to what inclination or attraction is society due? son. to our attraction for our fellow beings. daughter. this attraction is the father of justice and of goodness: it _produces_ them. mother. will you generalize the character of this inclination or attraction in accordance with what we have just said? son. the end of all attraction or inclination is the _production_, _progress_ and _preservation_ of beings. mother. are all instincts good which are merely inclinations or attractions? son. for animals, which are subject to fatality, they are; because they tend directly to their end, without ever appearing to deviate from it. in our species, they are good in principle, if we regard their end; but they may become evil through the deviation to which our liberty subjects them. mother. by what token can we know that our instinct has a right tendency? daughter. by comparing its use with its end; by assuring ourselves that this use is not prejudicial to the practice of justice, that it does not detract from the right of any of our faculties; that is, that it disturbs neither our individual harmony nor that of others; for it is on these conditions alone that it can coöperate in the realization of the social ideal. mother. very well. now apply this general doctrine to human love, my children. son. since love is one of the forms of attraction, and since the general end of attraction is the production, progress and preservation of beings and species, it is evident that human love should possess these characteristics. its principal function appears to me to be the reproduction of the species. daughter. it seems to me, brother, that this is not enough; since true husbands and wives do not cease to love each other after this end has been fulfilled, and since persons may love without having children. mother. you are right, my daughter; our faculties being more numerous and more fully developed than those of the animals, our love cannot be incomplete like theirs; it cannot be of the same nature in our progressive species as in those species fatal and unprogressive of themselves. in us, each faculty, properly employed, aids in the improvement of all the rest, wrongly employed, it interrupts our harmony and lowers us; it is the same with our love. or rather this passion is the one that most of all causes us to grow or to decline. you know, my children, that humanity advances only by forming itself an ideal and endeavoring to realize it. every passion has its ideal, which is modified by that of the whole. in the beginning, man, in the animal state, made the end of love the pleasure resulting from the satisfaction of a wholly physical want: he cared nothing for the most evident aim--progeny. a little later, man less gross, loved woman for her beauty and fruitfulness; this was the patriarchal age of love. later still, the northern races wrought a change in this instinct; love became decomposed, as it were; the lover possessed the love of the soul; the woman was loved not only for her beauty, but as the inspirer of lofty deeds; the husband was the possessor of the body alone and the children were the fruit of marriage; this was the chivalrous age of love. since pacific labor has been organized and has gained a place in public opinion, love has entered a new phase; many among the moderns consider it as the initiative of labor. some regard the attraction of pleasure as playing the chief part in industrial production, and leave full liberty to the attraction, however inconsistent it may be; others preserve the couple, and transform woman into the moving power of action; the love that she inspires excites the efforts of the worker. the progress hitherto made by humanity is therefore that love has now for its end the perpetuation of the species, the modification of man by woman, and the production of labor. in a higher ideal of justice, the sexes being equal in rights, love will have a higher end; the spouses will unite on account of conformity of principles, union of hearts, wedding of intellects, common labor: love will join them to double their strength, to modify them by each other, from the friction of their hearts will be struck out sentiments which neither would have had alone; from the union of their intellects will be born thoughts which neither would have had alone; from the aid that they will lend each other in their common labor will proceed works that neither would have accomplished alone, as from the union of their whole being, will be born new generations more perfect than the preceding because they will be the product of the greatest possible harmony. it will be only when woman shall take her lawful place that humanity will see love in all its splendor, and that this passion, subversive to-day in inequality and incoherence, will become what it should be; one of the great instruments of progress. we, my children, who are too rational to mistake the means by which nature impels us to accomplish her designs for the designs themselves, will take care not to fancy that the end of love is pleasure; on the other hand, we have too much respect for equality to imagine that it is for the benefit of one sex alone. we will remain faithful to the ideal of our lofty destinies, in defining love as the reciprocal attraction of man and woman with the end of perpetuating the species, of improving the partners mutually with respect to intellect and feeling, and of advancing science, art and industry by the labor of the pair. iv. sophists have told you, my son, that all our inclinations are in nature; that they are good and should be respected. you asked them doubtless whether the inclinations to theft, to assassination, to violation, to anthropophagy, which are in nature, are good, and why, instead of respecting them, society punishes their manifestation. you demonstrated to them, i hope, that there is nothing commendable in the exaggeration or the perversion of instincts. you demonstrated to them, i hope, that nature is brutal fatality against which we are bound to struggle both within and without ourselves; that our justice and virtue are composed only of conquests made over it in us, as all that constitutes our physical well-being is only the result of conquests made over it outside of us. these sophists have told you that love comes and goes without our knowing how or wherefore; and that we can no more command it to spring up than to endure. this is true, my son, of the brutal desires of the flesh, which is the passion of animals alone, and is extinguished by possession. this is also true of that complex passion which has its seat in the imagination and the senses, and ends with the illusion that is always of short duration. but it is not true of genuine love; this sees both the faults and the virtues of the loved one; but softens the first and exalts the last, and hopes by degrees to put an end to that which wounds it. this sentiment which takes possession of the heart, is patient; it bears lest it become effaced, it surrounds itself with precautions in order to remain constant; if it becomes extinct, it is not unconsciously: for we suffer cruel tortures before resolving to cease to love. you have been told that love is irrepressible; are we then beings of fatality? this sophism renders man cowardly and depraves him; for what is the use of struggling against what we know to be unconquerable, and why not sacrifice to it the best of our tendencies? examine the conduct of the partisans of such a doctrine. the human ideal requires that they shall not do to others what they would not think it just that others should do to them; yet they seduce maidens, make them mothers, and abandon them without caring about the children born of these unions; without caring whether the young mother commits suicide, dies of grief, or becomes depraved; without caring whether the parents go down to the grave. like deadly reptiles, they glide to the domestic fireside of others, rob their friend of the affection of his wife, and force him to labor for the children of adultery. the woman who believes in irrepressible love breaks her pledges to her husband; lives a life of deceit; brings trouble and sorrow into the houses of other women, whose lives are blighted by her. it is in this way that those who practice this sophistry fulfil their duty to be just, not to afflict their fellows, to labor for the happiness and improvement of those about them, to preserve the weak from oppression and wrong. to this pretended irrepressibility of love, they sacrifice justice, goodness, the happiness, repose and honor of others; lead them into the path of dissipation; bring dissolution into the family and society; in a word, offer up as a sacrifice to animal instinct, moral sense and reason. you have also been told that every species of love is found in nature; the polyamic and polygandric, as well as that of the constant pair. yes, my child, every species of love is found in nature, as is every species of vice and every species of virtue. but you know that it is not enough that a thing exists within us to prove it to be good; it must be in conformity with the ideal of our destiny, with our harmony: it is wrong in the opposite case. love, such as we have defined it, needs duration and equality; duration, because we do not become modified in a few months; because we do not accomplish great works in a few months; because we do not rear children in a few months; duration is so truly an aspiration of love, that it imagines that eternity will hardly suffice for it. it must have equality; division is hateful to it; it will therefore have a unit for a unit, both male and female. now polygamy and polyandria are the negation of equality, of dignity in love. let us consider the effects of these two deviations of instinct. oriental polygamy renders human beings profoundly unequal, transforms women into cattle, mutilates thousands of men to guard the harems, depraves the possessor of women by despotism and cruelty, concentrates all his vitality upon a single instinct at the expense of intellect, reason and activity; whence it follows that he is lost to science, art, industry, society according to right: that he submits without repugnance to despotism, and passively extends his neck to the halter. there, no influence is wielded by woman, who is subjected to designed enervation, who is depraved in as hideous a manner as the eunuch, her keeper. thus, inequality in love and in right, abandonment of art, science and industry, intellectual and physical enervation, debasement of the moral sense--such are vices inherent to the polygamy of the east. you see that this is far from the ideal of our destinies. in our west, polygamy _de facto_ produces the cattle of the brothel, legions of courtesans who ruin families. as many of these women are diseased, they infect those who associate with them with fearful maladies which undermine their constitutions, and thus pave the way for puny offspring, consequently, for weak minds and feeble intellects. i appeal for proof to the conscription; never were so many exemptions seen as now on account of under size, although the standard has been lowered, never were so many exemptions seen as now for constitutional imperfections and acquired disease. to vitiate the generation in its germ is not the only crime of our polygamy; it enervates those who practice it, for nothing leads to excess, consequently to enervation, so much as the change of relations. on the other hand, our polygamists become transformed into machines of sensation; then intellect grows weak; they become stupid and selfish. look at the pitiable young men of the present time, emaciated by their vices and by those of their sires; scoffers, faithless, jesting at the most sacred things, despising, not only the corrupt women, their worthy companions, but also the whole sex to which their mothers belong; look at them; so gross as to sicken the observer, nothing longer commands their respect; they thrust aside gray haired women from the sidewalk into the gutter; they are impertinent to old men; they put young girls to the blush with their cynical speeches; polygamy has rendered them ignoble, and has destroyed our native urbanity as well as all dignity. they will tell you that women are but little better than they. but this result becomes inevitable in a country in which women are not kept in seclusion. polyandria becomes the necessary companion of polygamy; for since men consider themselves at liberty to have more than one woman, why should women consider themselves forbidden to have more than one man? finally, my son, the results of irrepressible love, polygamy and polyandria in our western country are: the seduction and corruption of women; adultery, debasement of character; the moral and intellectual enfeebling of both sexes; the enervation and degeneracy of the race; falsehood, deceit, cruelty, injustice of every kind, the use of woman by man for her beauty, that of man by woman for his money or position; the dissolution and ruin of the family; several thousand illegitimate children annually, without counting abortions; such is the value of these theories put in practice. is this in conformity with our ideal of human love? is it in conformity with our ideal of human destiny, which requires that we shall progress and cause others to progress in good; that we shall practice justice and goodness? a word more, and we have done. when rome had ceased to believe in chastity, in the sacredness of oaths; when she wallowed in polygamic and polyandric customs; when she took pleasure for her end, tyranny appeared. nothing was more natural: man binds captive those only who have first suffered themselves to be bound under the yoke of bestial instinct: he who knows how to govern himself does not yield obedience to man; he bows only before the law when it is the expression of reason. remember, my son, that we are powerful only through chastity; only thus can we produce great works in science, art and industry; only thus can we practice justice, be worthy of liberty. outside of chastity, there is nothing but degradation, injustice, impotence, slavery; and every nation that forsakes it falls from the arms of despotism into the grave. do not suffer yourself therefore to be moved by modern sophisms, have always before your thoughts your obligations as a moral and a free being, your duties as a member of humanity; subject all that is within you to reason, to justice, to the sentiment of your dignity, and live like a man, not like a brute. marriage, a dialogue. reader. we are about to speak of marriage from the stand point of the modern ideal--how do you define it? author. love, sanctioned by society. reader. do you consider marriage as indissoluble? author. before the law, i do not; but at the moment of their union, the spouses should have full confidence that the bond will never be dissolved. i believe that marriage becomes indissoluble by the will alone of the spouses; that it can be so only in this manner. reader. what part do you assign to society in marriage? author. you shall fix it yourself after recalling our principles. if man and woman are free beings at any period of their life, they cannot _legally and validly_ lose their liberty. if man and woman are beings socially equal in any of their relations, the one cannot _legally, validly_ be subordinated to the other. if the continual end of the human being is to become perfected through liberty, and to seek happiness, no law can legitimately, _validly_ turn him aside from its pursuit. if the end of society should be to render individuals _equal_ it cannot, under penalty of forfeiting its mission, constitute inequality of persons and of rights. if society cannot without iniquity enter the domain of individual liberty, it cannot _lawfully, validly_ prescribe duties that pertain only to the jurisdiction of the conscience, and annul moral liberty. now draw your conclusions. reader. from these principles, it follows that man and woman should remain free and equal in marriage; that society has no right to intervene in their association except to render them equal; that it has no right to prescribe to them duties which proceed only from love, nor consequently to punish their violation, that it cannot in principle grant or refuse divorce, because it belongs to the husband and wife alone to know whether it is useful for their happiness and progress to be separated from each other. author. your conclusions are right, but if society has no right over the body or the soul of the husband and wife in their capacity of spouses, if it cannot without abuse of power interfere in any of their intimate relations, it is its right and duty to intervene in marriage as regards interests and children. reader. in fact, in the union of the sexes, there is not merely an association of two free and equal persons, but also a partnership of capital and labor; then, from the marriage, children are born for whose education, occupation and subsistence it is necessary to provide. author. now, the general protection of material interests and of the rising generation devolves of right upon society. in the sight of the law, the husband and wife ought to be regarded only as partners, engaging to employ a certain share of capital, together with their labor, for a definite purpose. society takes note only of a contract of interests, the execution of which it guarantees like that of any other contract, and the breach of which it makes public, should it take place by the wish of the parties interested. on the other hand, the education of the rising generation is a question of life and death to society. the children being free with respect to development, and liable to be useful or injurious to their fellow citizens according to the training which they have received, society has a right to watch over them, to secure their material support, their moral future, to fix the age of marriage, to entrust the children to the more deserving parent in case of separation, and if both are unworthy, to take them away entirely. reader. do you not go a little too far; on the one hand, do not children belong to their parents, on the other, may not society err with respect to the choice of the principles to be instilled in them? author. children do not belong to their parents because they are not things: to those who obstinately persist in believing them _property_, we say that society has the right of dispossession for the public good. then the social right over children is limited so far as principles are concerned to those of morality. society has no right over religious beliefs which belong to the domain of spiritual jurisdiction. the power that should take away children from their parents because they were not of a certain religious faith would be guilty of despotism, and would merit universal execration. if you say that society has no right to impose a dogma upon children, you speak truly; but i cannot conceive how you can entertain the thought of forbidding it the right to teach them, even against the will of their parents, enlightening science, purifying morality. is it not the duty of society to secure the progress of its members, and can any one have a right to keep a human being in ignorance and evil? reader. you are right, and i condemn myself. let us return to marriage. i see with pleasure that you differ in opinion from a number of modern innovators who deny the lawfulness of social interference in the union of the sexes. author. if the union were without protection, who would suffer by it? not men, but rather women and children. no one can compel a man to live with a woman whom he has ceased to love; but he must be constrained to fulfill his duties with respect to the children born of this union, and to keep his business engagements: in wronging his companion and escaping from the burdens of paternity, he takes advantage of his liberty to the detriment of others: society has a right to prevent this. reader. so you do not grant to society the right of binding souls or bodies; but that of guaranteeing the contract of marriage, and the obligations of the spouses towards their future children; of forcing them, in case of separation, to fulfill this last obligation? author. yes; thus in case of the rupture of the marriage tie, society has only to state publicly the responsibilities of the spouses, the number of children, and the name of the parent on whom their guardianship devolves, either by mutual consent or by social authority. and in confining itself to this part, society would do more to prevent the separation of married couples than by all that it has hitherto foolishly invented for the purpose. the parties would be free to marry again; but what woman would be willing to unite herself to a man who was burdened with several children, or who had treated his first companion unkindly? what man would consent to wed a woman in the same position? do you not think that the difficulty that would be experienced in contracting a new marriage would be a curb on the inconstancy and bad conduct that lead to a rupture? reader. i believe indeed that marriage, as you understand it, would have more chances of duration than ours: first, because it is our nature to cling most closely to that which we may lose. i have often asked myself why many men remain faithful to their mistresses and treat them kindly, while they are disrespectful and unfaithful to their wives; i have asked myself also why many couples who had long lived happily together when voluntarily united, were unhappy and often driven to a legal separation when they had finally married; and the only reason that i have been able to find is that we set the most value on that which we know may escape us. man has more respect for a woman who is not his legal property, his inferior, than for her who is thus transformed by the law. notwithstanding, it must be acknowledged that your ideas appear eccentric. author. yet they are nothing more than an application of our laws; indeed, do they not decree that covenants can have _things_ only, not _persons_ for their object. that society _does not recognize vows_, and that proceedings cannot be instituted against their violation? now the existing law of marriage _alienates_ one of the partners in favor of the other; the wife _belongs_ to the husband; she is in his _power_. what is such a contract, if not the violation of the principle which affirms that no covenant can be made involving persons? can it be more lawful to alienate one's person by a contract of slavery? some say that we are at liberty to dispose of our freedom as we choose, even though it be to renounce it. indeed, we may do this, as we may commit suicide, but to make use of our liberty to renounce it or to commit suicide is much less to use aright than to violate the laws of moral or physical nature; these are acts of insanity which we should pity, but which we are not at liberty to erect into a law. why does society refuse to recognize vows and to punish their violation, if not because it admits that it is forbidden to penetrate into the jurisdiction of the conscience? if not because it does not admit that an individual may alienate his moral and intellectual being any more than his body, and devote himself to immobility when it is his duty, on the contrary, to go forward? i ask then if this same society is not inconsistent in exacting perpetual vows from the husband and wife, in exacting from the wife a vow of obedience, a tacit vow to deliver up her person to the desires of the husband? is not the moral liberty of the spouses as worthy of respect as that of nuns, priests and monks? have married persons more right in nature and reason, to alienate their moral and intellectual being, their liberty and their person than the celibates of the church? another inconsistency of the law is that it declares marriage an association; the contract of marriage is therefore a contract of partnership. now i ask whether, in a single contract of this kind, it is enjoined by law on one of the partners to _obey_, to be subjected to a _perpetual minority_, to be _absorbed_? i doubt not that the law would declare such a contract between independent partners void; why then does it legalize such a monstrosity in the partnership of husband and wife? it is a relic of barbarism, as you will see if you reflect on it. reader. i hope that, through reason and necessity, the law will be reformed sooner or later: but a reformation which will not take place is that of the forms of religious marriage, which prescribe to the spouses the same oaths as the code, and like it, subject the wife to the husband. author. well, what matters it to us, since, thanks to liberty, the religious marriage is merely a benediction with which we can dispense. those who have a disposition to go to the church, the temple, or the synagogue should have full liberty to receive the blessing of their respective priests! this does not concern society. what we need is that, if afterward their vows should not seem to them binding, social authority should not make them obligatory; they have a right to be absurd, but society has no right to impose absurdity on them. its duty is, on the contrary, to enlighten them, and to render them free. iv. reader. those who subordinate woman in marriage rest on the assertion that unity of direction, consequently a ruling power, is needed in the family; now, your theory evidently destroys this ruling power. author. what is the ruling power? practically, it is manifested through the function of government. formerly, it was based upon two principles, now recognized as radically false: _divine right_ and _inequality_. it was the _right_ of those who exercised it to call themselves kings, autocrats, priests, men; it was the _duty_ therefore of the people, the church, woman to obey the elect of god, their superiors by the grace of right delegated from on high. but in modern opinion, the ruling power is nothing more than a function delegated by the parties interested in order to execute their will. it is not our business to inquire here whether this modern interpretation has become incarnated in facts; whether the old principle is not still struggling with the new; whether the holders of political and familial authority are not still making insane pretensions to divine right; we have only to show what the notion of the ruling power has become in the present state of thought and feeling. what will be the ruling power in marriage, in accordance with modern opinion, if not the delegation by one spouse to the other of the management of business and of the family--a delegation of function; no longer a right? and if man and woman are socially equal in principle, if the aptitudes, upon which all functions are based, are not dependent on sex, by what right does society interfere to give the authority either to the husband or the wife? if there is need of a ruling power in the household, are not the parties themselves best capable of bestowing it on the one who can best and most usefully exercise it? but among partners, is there really room for a ruling power? no, there is room only for division of labor, mutual understanding with respect to common interests. to consult each other, to come to an agreement, to divide the tasks, to remain master each of his own department; this is what the spouses should do, and what they do in general. the law has so little part in our customs that to-day things happen in this wise: many rich women translate two articles of the code as follows; _the husband shall obey his wife, and shall follow her wherever she sees fit to dwell or sojourn_. and the husbands obey, because it would not do to offend a wife with a large dowry; because it would make a scandal to thwart their wife; because they need her, being unable, without dishonoring themselves, to keep a mistress. husbands in the great centres of population escape obedience through love outside of marriage; they lay no restrictions on their part; madame is free. among the working classes of the citizens and the people, it is practically admitted that neither shall command, and that the husband shall do nothing without consulting his wife and obtaining her consent. in all classes, if any husband is simple enough to take his pretended right in earnest, he is cited as a bad man, an intolerable despot whom his wife may hate and deceive with a safe conscience; and it is a curious fact that the greater part of the legal separations are for no other cause at the bottom than the exercise of the rights and prerogatives conceded to the husbands by law. i ask you now, what is the use of maintaining against reason and custom, an authority which does not exist, or which is transferred to the spouse condemned to subjection. reader. on this point, i am wholly of your opinion; not a single woman of modern times takes the rights of her husband in earnest. but your theory not only attacks his authority; it also wages war against the indissolubility of marriage, which it is affirmed, is necessary to the dignity of this tie; to the happiness and future of the children, to the morality of the family. author. i claim, on the contrary, that my theory secures, as far as is humanly possible, the perpetuity and purity of marriage. at present, when the knot is tied, the spouses, no longer fearing to lose each other, find in the absence of this fear the germ of a mutual coolness; they may quarrel, be discourteous or unfaithful to each other; there will be scandal, a legal separation perhaps, but they are riveted together; they can never become strangers. contrast with this picture a household in which the bond is dissoluble; all is changed; the despotic or brutal husband represses his evil propensities, because he knows that his companion, whom after all he loves, would quit him and transfer to another the attentions she lavishes on him; and that no honest woman would be willing to take her place. the husband disposed to be unfaithful would continue in the path of duty, because his abandonment and offences would alienate his wife, blast his reputation, and prevent him from forming an honorable alliance. the worn out profligate would no longer espouse the dowry of a young girl, because he would know that, promptly disenchanted, the young wife, instead of having recourse to adultery, would break the ill assorted union. the woman who should take advantage of her dowry, of the necessity of her husband to remain faithful, to tyrannise over him, would fear a divorce which would throw the blame on her and condemn her to a life of solitude. a shrewish wife would no longer dare to inflict suffering on her husband, or a coquette to deceive or torment him; who would marry them after a separation? do you not see that free marriages are happier and more lasting than any others? have you not yourself admitted that to separate the parties in these unions, it often suffices to join them legally? i know myself of a voluntary union that was very happy during _twenty-two_ years, and was dissolved by separation at the end of three years of legal marriage; i have known of many others of a shorter duration which legality contributed to dissolve instead of rendering eternal. you would hardly believe how many married couples reformed in their treatment of each other in , when they feared that the law of divorce might be accepted. if the simple expedient of divorce has power to produce good results, what may not be expected from a rational law. we need only to reflect in order to comprehend that voluntary dissolubility, without social intervention, would render unions better assorted, for it would be for one's interest, for his own reputation, to enter into them only with the moral conviction of being able to preserve them; then only would no excuse be found for infidelity; loyalty would make part of the relations of the spouses. the law of perpetuity has perverted everything, corrupted everything; on the side of the woman, it favors, yes, necessitates stratagem; on the side of the man, it favors brutality and despotism; it provokes on both sides adultery, poisoning and assassination; and leads to those separations which are daily increasing in number, and which, by giving the lie to the indissolubility of marriage, place the partners in a painful and perilous situation, and bring in their train a host of irregularities. in fact, if the spouses are separated while young, concubinage is their refuge. the man in this false position finds many to excuse him; but the woman is forced to conceal herself, to tremble at the thought of a pregnancy and to make it disappear. legal separation leads the spouses not only to concubinage, to mutual hatred, but causes the birth of thousands of children whose future is compromised, destroyed by the fact of their illegitimacy. let the spouses be free in accordance with their right, and all will fall into its proper order, for all will be done openly and truly. reader. but the future of the children? author. the morality of the children is better insured under the system of liberty than under that of indissolubility, for they will not be witnesses for years of the bitter contention and licentiousness which now render them deceitful and vicious, and inspire them with contempt or hatred for one of the authors of their being, sometimes of both, when they do not take them for models; if life in common becomes impossible to the parents, which will be more rare under the law of liberty, the children will not be subjected to the power of those who violate the law of received morality; they may see these parents contract a new alliance _as now_, but this alliance will be honored by all. from these unions children may be born _as now_, but these children, instead of being cast into the hospital, will share with the first the affection and inheritance of their father or mother. the so-styled legitimate children will lose in fortune, it is true; but they will gain in good examples; many children who are now in the category of the illegitimate will be ranked among the former, and will be no longer condemned by desertion to die young, or else to grovel in ignorance, vice and misery; to see their brow branded with the fault of their parents as of their own by a host of imbeciles and men without heart, who have no other guarantee for what they call their legitimacy than the presumption accorded them by the law. iii. reader. it will be long yet, perhaps, before collective reason comprehends liberty in the union of the sexes as you do, and men will ascribe to themselves the right not only of binding the interests, but the souls and bodies of the spouses. author. as far as we can foresee, society must necessarily? pass through two stages to realize our opinion; it must first grant divorce _for a declared cause_; later it will grant divorce decreed in private on the petition of one or both of the spouses. we will not take up this last form of the rupture of the conjugal tie, but that which is nearest us--divorce for a declared cause. what are the reasons which you would consider valid for a petition for divorce? reader. first, those which now give rise to separation from bed and board: adultery of the wife, cruelty, grave abuses, condemnation of one of the spouses to punishment affecting the liberty or person, the fraudulent management of the property by the husband; next, infidelity of the husband, qualified adultery, incompatibility of temper, notable vices, such as drunkenness, gaming, etc. author. very well; these causes suffice. reader. during the proceedings for divorce, the wife should be as free as the husband. the child that should be born to her after more than ten months' separation should be reputed natural, even though the divorce had not been pronounced; and should bear her name and inherit from her like one of her legitimate children. author. who should take custody of the children and the property during the proceedings? reader. the court should decide who should have the care of the children, in accordance with the causes for the petition for divorce and the testimony of the parents, friends and neighbors. author. but if the spouses ask to be divorced only on account of incompatibility of temper, and are both honorable? reader. they should be requested to agree mutually either to share the children, or to entrust them to one of the two, or to give the younger children to the mother, leaving the sons over fifteen to the father. the court, besides, should appoint from the family of the mother, a guardian to watch over the conduct of the father towards the children left in his care; and from the family of the father, a similar guardian to the mother and the children remaining with her. this guardianship, which should be strictly moral, should continue till the children had attained majority. author. and in case the parents should be alike unworthy? reader. in such a case, which would seldom happen, the judge, in behalf of society, should deprive them of the custody of the children, and entrust it to a member of the family of one of the parents, appointing a guardian to watch over his conduct and protect the interests of his ward from the family of the other. author. very well; i see with pleasure that you are cured of the erroneous belief that the children _belong_ to the parents, and that you comprehend the high function of society as the protector of minors. during the suit for divorce, who shall have the control of the property? reader. if the contract has been made under the system of separation of property, and for paraphernalia, there is no need of putting the question; each one will manage his own. but i am somewhat puzzled how to answer you in case of communion of goods, or in case the capital is embarked in a common business, carried on solely by one of the parties. the present law does not seem to me sufficiently to protect the interests of the wife in case of separation. author. without entangling ourselves in a host of individual cases which modify or contradict each other, let us provide that in case of communion of goods, the administration of the property shall be taken from the spouse holding it if the petition for divorce be based on his bad management, his dissipated habits, or his condemnation to a penalty affecting his liberty or person; that in all other cases, he shall make an inventory of the property and the condition of the business; and a person shall be appointed from the family of the spouse excluded from the management to watch over the conduct of the spouse to whom it is entrusted, who shall be bound to pay alimony to the other until the divorce shall be decreed. reader. and if there is no fortune? author. until the spouses become strangers, they owe assistance to each other: the court should therefore require the spouse that earns the more to aid the other. reader. how long a time should elapse between the admission of the petition and the judgment of divorce? author. a year, in order that the parties may have time for reflection. reader. the divorce being granted, and the ex-partners restored to liberty, would you permit them to marry others? author. most assuredly; else what signifies our arguments against separation? reader. what! the adulterous and brutal spouse, he who has inflicted suffering on his partner, who has been wholly in the wrong, should enjoy like the other the privilege of marrying again? i confess that this shocks me. author. because you are not sufficiently imbued with the doctrines of liberty and the sentiment of right. marriage is the natural right of every adult; society has no right therefore to prohibit it or to make it a privilege; on the other hand, in every divorce, there is wrong or the lack of something on either side with respect to the other; the man or woman who commits adultery may be a model of fidelity to a partner better suited to his or her temperament and disposition; he who has been brutal and violent may be wholly different with a wife possessing a different character; in short, we repeat, to prohibit marriage is to permit libertinism, and it is not the interest of society to pervert itself. both partners therefore should have a right to marry, but the law should take care that all should be informed of the burdens resting upon them by reason of their first marriage, and know that they are divorced. consequently, society has a right to publish the bill of divorce, and to require that the parties divorced should provide for the necessities of their minor children, and that the bill of divorce, joined to the one setting forth this obligation, should accompany the publication of the bans of a new marriage; in this, there is neither injustice nor abuse of power; for each one will submit to the consequence of what he has done in perfect freedom. reader. and would you not fix the number of times that a divorced person might re-marry? author. why fix it? do you fix the number of times that a widow or widower may marry again? reader. but a libertine, a bad man might marry ten times, and thus render ten women unhappy. author. what are you talking of! do you seriously believe that there would be a woman insane enough to marry a man _nine times_ divorced, a man obliged to accompany the publication of his bans with nine bills of divorce, with nine judgements compelling him to pay so much yearly for the support of seven, eight or nine children. do you seriously believe that a woman would consent to become the companion of such a man! this man might indeed marry twice--but three times! do you think that it would be possible? reader. you are right, and on reflection, the measures which you advocate appear perhaps severe. author. i know it; but our aim is not to favor divorces nor subsequent unions; but, on the contrary, to prevent the former as far as possible by the difficulties of forming the latter. now for this it is not necessary to restrict the liberty of the individual, but to render him responsible for his acts, and to rivet the chain that he has forged for himself in such a manner that he can neither cast it aside nor lay the burden of it on others unless they are duly warned of it and consent thereto. iv. reader. ought society to permit unions disproportioned in age? is it not to expose a woman to adultery, to marry her at seventeen or eighteen to a man of thirty, forty or even fifty years of age? what harmony of sentiments and views can exist at that time between the spouses? the wife sees in her husband a sort of father, whom notwithstanding she can neither love nor respect like a father, and she remains a minor all her life. author. these unions are very prejudicial to woman and the race, and they would be for the most part averted, if the law should fix the marriageable age at twenty-four or twenty-five for both sexes. at seventeen, we marry to be called madame, and to wear a bridal dress and a wreath of orange flowers; we certainly should not do this at twenty-five. if the flower is not called on to form its fruit until it is fully matured, neither should man and woman: now, in our climate the organization of neither is complete until twenty-four or twenty-five. woman gives more to the great work of reproduction and wears out faster in it; to render her liable to become a mother prematurely is therefore to expose her to greater sufferings. in the first place, she is forced to share between herself and her offspring the elements necessary to her own nutrition, which weakens both her and the child. her development is checked, her constitution is changed, she becomes predisposed to uterine affections, and runs the risk of becoming an invalid at the age when she ought to enjoy robust health. the enervation of the body brings with it that of the mind: the woman becomes nervous, irritable, and often capricious; she cannot nurse her children; she will not be capable of rearing them properly, she will make dolls of them, and will favor the development of faults which afterwards becoming vices, will afflict the family and society. this woman, a mother before her time, not only will never become the thoughtful companion and counsellor of her husband who, being much older than she, will amuse himself with her as with a child, but will be his ward for her whole life, and will have recourse to artifice to have her own way. thus to weaken woman in every respect, to shorten her life, to put her under guardianship, to prepare the way for puny and badly reared offspring,--such are the most obvious results of her precocious marriage. to hold women in voluntary subjection and to organize the harem among us, we need only take advantage of the permission of the law authorising their marriage at the age of fifteen. that woman may not be in subjection; that she may be able to become a mother without detriment to her health and under circumstances favorable to the good organization of her children; that she may be a worthy and earnest wife, prepared to fulfill all her duties, she must not be married, i repeat, before twenty-four or twenty-five; and she must not marry a man older than herself. reader. but it is claimed that the husband ought to be ten years older than the wife, because the latter grows old faster, and because it is necessary that the husband should have had experience in life in order to appreciate his wife and to render her happy. author. errors and prejudices all. woman grows old sooner than man only through premature marriage and maternity; a well preserved man and woman are alike old at the same age. but the woman consents to grow old while the man is much less willing to do so, since he does not blush when gray haired, to marry a young girl, and to set up the ridiculous pretention of being loved by her for love. men must be broken of the habit of believing themselves perpetually at the age of pleasing; of imagining that they are quite as agreeable to our eyes when they are old and ugly as if they were adonises. they must be told unceasingly that what is unbecoming in us is equally so in them; and that an old woman would be no more ridiculous in seeking the love of a young man, than an old man in pretending to that of a young girl. the husband and wife should be nearly of the same age; first, to treat each other more easily as equals; next, because there will be more harmony in their feelings and views, as well as in their temperaments, all things very necessary to the organization of children. it is necessary besides, in order that the woman may not be tempted to infidelity; you know how many troubles arise from unions disproportioned in age. the husband must have _seen life_, it is said; this is the opinion of those who permit their sons to _sow their wild oats_; who believe that man is at liberty to wallow in the mire of dens of infamy, and that there are two kinds of morality. we do not belong to this class. you would not give your daughter to a man who had _seen life_, because he would be _blasé_, because he would pervert her or expose her, through the disenchantment that would follow, to seek in another what she did not find in her husband. what we have said as regards your daughter applies also to your son; he must not marry a woman younger than himself; for you would no more desire a disadvantageous position for your daughter-in-law than for your daughter; both are dear to you and worthy of respect before the solidarity of sex. reader. i shall educate my son to comprehend that the form of marriage prescribed by the code is merely a relic of barbarism, that his wife owes obedience only to duty, that she is a free being and his equal; and that he has no rights over her person but those which she herself accords to him. i shall tell him that love is a tender plant which must be tended carefully to keep it alive; that it is blighted by unceremoniousness and slovenliness; that he should therefore be as careful of his personal appearance after marriage as he was to be pleasing to the eyes of his betrothed. i shall say to him: ask nothing except from the love of your wife; remember that more than one husband has excited repulsion by the brutality of the wedding night. marriage, my son, is a grave and holy thing; purity is its choicest jewel; know that many men have owed the adultery of their wife to the deplorable pains that they have taken to deprave her imagination. far from using your influence over her who will be the half of yourself in order to render her docile to your wishes, and to make her your echo, develop reason and character in her; in elevating her, you will become better, and will prepare for yourself a counsel and stay. i have married you under the system of separation of goods in order that your wife may be protected against you, should you depart from your principles; and should you ever grieve me by straying from them, your wife will became doubly my daughter. i shall be her companion and consoler, and shall close my arms and my doors on you. author. right, and you will do well to add: interest your wife in your occupation; take care that she is always busy, for labor is the preserver of chastity. reader. to my daughter i will say: the social order in which we live requires, my child, that you shall superintend your house; the state of society is still far distant in which our sex will be relieved from this function. do not forget that the prosperity of the family depends on the spirit of order and economy of the wife. what your fortune or special business exempts you from executing, superintend and direct. extravagance of dress and furniture now surpasses all bounds. luxury is not wrong in itself, but in the existing state of things, it is a great relative evil, for we have not yet resolved the problem of increasing and varying products without at the same time increasing the wretchedness and debasement of their producers. be simple therefore: this does not exclude elegance, but only those piles of silks and laces which trail in the dust of the streets, those diamonds and precious stones which make the fortune of the few at the expense of the morality of the many, and which are only dead capital, the liberation of which would be productive of great good. do not suffer yourself to be ensnared by the sophism that honest women must adorn themselves to hinder men from passing their time with courtesans. would you not be ashamed to compete in dress with women whom you do not esteem, and would the man who could be retained by such means be worth the trouble? i have instructed you in your legal position as wife, mother and property holder; i marry you under the system of separation of goods in order to spare your husband the temptation of regarding himself as your master; in order that he may be obliged to take your advice and to look upon you as his partner. despite these precautions, you will be a minor, since the law thus decrees. but our law is not reason: never forget that you are a human being; that is, a being endowed like your husband with intellect, sentiments, free will, and inclination; that you owe submission only to reason and your conscience; that if it is your duty to make sacrifices to the peace in little things, and to tolerate the faults of your husband as he should tolerate yours, it is none the less your duty resolutely to resist a brutal--_i will have it so_. you will be a mother, i hope; nurse your children yourself, rear them in the principles of right and duty which i have instilled into your intellect and heart, in order to make of them, not only just, good, chaste men and women, but laborers in the great work of progress. you understand the great destiny of our species; you understand your rights and duties; i need not therefore repeat to you that woman is no more made for man than man for woman; that consequently woman cannot, without failing in her duty, become lost and absorbed in man; for with him, she should love her children, her country, humanity; she owes more to her children than she does to him; and if forced to choose between family interests and generous sentiments of a higher order woman should no more hesitate than should man to sacrifice the former to justice. author. it will be said that you instruct your daughter in a very manly way. reader. since in our days men play the mandolin, is it not necessary that women should speak seriously? since men, in the name of their naïve selfishness, claim the right to confiscate woman to their use, to extol to her the charms of the gyneceum, to suppress her rights, and to preach to her the sweets of absorption, must not women re-act against these soporific doctrines, and recall their daughters to the sentiment of dignity and individuality. author. i endorse you with all my heart! now that we are nearly agreed on all points, we have only to sum up what we have said, and to give an outline of the principal reforms necessary to be wrought in order that woman my be placed in a position more in conformity with right and justice. summary of proposed reforms. i. author. identity of right being based on identity of species, and woman being of the same species as man, what ought she to be before civil dignity, in the employment of her activity and in marriage? reader. the equal of man. author. how will she become the equal of man in civil dignity? reader. when she shall hold a place on the jury and by the side of all civil functionaries; shall be a member of boards of trade and mercantile associations; and shall be a witness in all cases in which the testimony of man is required. author. why ought the testimony of woman to be admitted in all cases in which that of man is required? reader. because woman is as credible as man; because she is, like him, a civil personage. author. why ought woman to have a place on the jury? reader. because the code declaring her the equal of man as regards culpability, misdemeanor, crime and punishment, she is thus declared capable like him of comprehending wrong in others; because the jury being a guarantee for the male culprit, the female culprit should have a similar guarantee; because if the _male_ criminal is better comprehended by men, the _female_ criminal will be better comprehended by women; because society in its aggregate being offended by the crime, it is necessary that this society, composed of two sexes, should be represented by both to judge and to condemn it. because, lastly, where the moral sense is concerned, the feminine element is the more necessary inasmuch as men claim that our sex is in general more moral and more merciful than their own. author. why ought woman to hold a place among civil functionaries? reader. because society, represented by these functionaries, is composed of two sexes; because even now in a number of public functions, there is a department more especially belonging to woman; because, in the ceremony of the marriage celebration for instance, if woman does not appear as magistrate, not only is society insufficiently represented, but the wife may regard herself as delivered up to the power of a man by all the men of the country. author. why ought woman to have her place in boards of trade and mercantile associations? reader. because she shares equally in industrial production; because she shares equally in commerce; because she understands business transactions and contracts as well if not better than man; because, in all questions of interests, she should be her own representative. author. when will woman become the equal of man in the employment of her activity and of her other faculties? reader. when she shall have colleges, academies and schools for special instruction, and when all vocations shall be accessible to her. author. why ought women to receive the same national education as men? reader. because they exercise a vast influence over the ideas, sentiments and conduct of men, and because it is for the interest of society that this influence should be salutary; because it is for the interest of all to enlarge the views and elevate the sentiments of women, in order that they may use their natural ascendency for the advancement of progress, of truth, of good, of moral beauty; because woman has a right, like man, to cultivate her intellect, and to acquire the knowledge bestowed by the state; because, lastly, as she pays her part of the expenses of national education, it is robbery to prohibit her from participating in it. author. why ought woman to be admitted to academies and professional schools? reader. because society, not having a right to deny the existence of any aptitude among its members, has consequently no right to prevent those who claim to possess them from cultivating them, nor to lock up from them the treasures of science and practice which are at its disposal. because there are women who are born chemists, physicians, mathematicians, etc., and because these women have a right to find in social institutions the same resources as man for the cultivation of their aptitudes; because there are professions practised by women who need the instruction that is interdicted them. author. why ought every field of occupation to be accessible to woman? reader. because woman is a free being, whose vocation no one has a right to contest or to restrict; because she, no more than man, will enter vocations forbidden her by temperament, lack of aptitude or want of time; and it is therefore quite as unnecessary to interdict them to her as to those men who are unfit to enter them. author. do you not even interdict to her those vocations in which strength is needed, or which are attended with danger? reader. women are not forbidden to be carpenters or tilers, yet they do not become such, because their nature opposes it; it is precisely because nature does oppose it, that i think society unreasonable in meddling with the nature. there is no need to prohibit what is impossible; and if what has been declared impossible is done, it is because it is possible: now society has no right to prohibit what is possible to any of its members; this appears even absurd where vocation is in question. author. let each one follow his private occupation at his own risk and peril, then; but are there not certain public functions which are not suitable for women? reader. no one knows this, since they are not open for her admission; and, were it so, the prohibition would be useless: competition would show the falsity of ill-founded pretentions. author. when will woman become the equal of man in marriage? reader. when the person of the wife is not pledged in marriage; when the engagements are reciprocal, and when the wife is not treated as a minor and absorbed in the husband. and this should be so: because it is not allowable to alienate one's personality, such an alienation, being _immoral_ and _void_ of itself; because the wife being a distinct individual, cannot be actually absorbed by the husband, and a law is absurd when it rests on a fiction and supposes an impossibility; because, in fine, woman, being the equal of man before society, cannot, under any pretext, lose this equality by reason of a closer association with him. author. there are two questions in marriage, aside from that of the person--property and children. do you not think that the married woman ought, like the unmarried woman who has attained majority, to be mistress of her property, to be free to exercise any profession that suits her, and to be at liberty to sell, to buy, to give, to receive, and to institute suits at law? reader. the married man having all these rights, it is evident that the married woman ought to have them under the law of equality. are you not of the same opinion? author. in all partnerships, we pledge a portion of our liberty on certain points agreed upon. now the husband and wife are partners; they cannot therefore be as perfectly free with respect to each other as though they were strangers; but it is necessary, we repeat, that their position should be the same and their pledges mutual. if the wife can neither sell, nor alienate, nor give, nor receive, nor appear in court without the consent of the husband, it is not allowable for the husband to do these things without the consent of the wife; if the wife is not permitted to practise a profession without the consent of the husband, the husband is not at liberty to do so without the consent of the wife; if the wife cannot pledge the common property without authority from the husband, the husband cannot pledge it without the consent of the wife. i go further; i would not willingly permit the wife, before the age of twenty-five, to give her husband authority to alienate anything belonging to one of the two; the husband has too much influence over her for her to be really free before this age. reader. but what if one of the parties through caprice or evil motives is unwilling that the other should do something that is proper and advantageous? author. arbiters are frequently chosen in the differences that arise between partners in business; society, represented by the judicial power, is the general arbiter between the husband and wife; still we think that it would be well to establish between them a perpetual arbiter, holding the first degree of jurisdiction: this might be the family council, organized differently from the present. before this confidential tribunal, better fitted than any other to understand the case, the husband and wife should carry, not only the differences arising between them concerning questions of interests, but those relating to the education, profession and marriage of the children. this tribunal should give the first judgment, and much scandal would be avoided by its decisions, from which besides one could always appeal to the social court. i need not add that the right of the father and the mother over the children is absolutely equal, and that, if the right of either could be contested, it would not be that of the mother, who alone can say, i _know_, i am _certain_ that these children are mine. reader. in fact, it is odious that the plenitude of right should be found on the side of the mere legal presumption, the act of faith, uncertainty. regarding marriage as a partnership of equals, do you not think that it would be well to mark this equality and the distinction of personalities in the name borne by the spouses and their children? author. certainly, on the day of marriage each of the spouses should join his partner's name to his own; this is done already in certain cantons of switzerland, and even in france, among a few individuals. the children should bear the double name of their parents until marriage, when the daughters should keep the mother's name, and the sons the father's; or else, if we wish to bring into the question the system of liberty, it might be decreed that, on attaining majority, the child himself should choose which of the two names he would bear and transmit. ii. reader. now, let us take up the political right. author. a nation is an association of free and equal individuals, co-operating, by their labor and contributions, to the maintenance of the common work; they have an incontestible right to do whatever is necessary to protect their persons, their rights and their property from injury. man has political rights because he is free and the equal of his co-partners; according to others, because he is a producer and a tax-payer; now, woman being, through identity of species, free and the equal of man; being in point of fact, a producer and a tax-payer; and having the same general instincts as man, it is evident that she has the same political rights as he. such are the principles, let us proceed to the application. we have said elsewhere, that it is not enough that a thing should be true in an absolute sense; it is necessary under penalty of transforming good into evil, to take into account the surroundings into which we seek to introduce it; this men too often forget, the _practical_ truth in our question is that it is profitable to recognize political rights _only to the extent to which it is demanded_, because those who do not demand it are intellectually incapable of making use of it, and because if they should exercise it, in a majority of cases, it would be against their own interests; prudence exacts that we should be sure that the possessor of a right is really emancipated, and that he will not be the blind tool of a man or a party. now, in the existing state of affairs, women not only do not demand their political rights, but laugh at those who address them on the subject; they pride themselves on being thought unfit for that which regards general interests; they recognize themselves therefore as incapable. on the other hand, they are minors civilly, slaves of prejudice, deprived of general education, submissive for the most part to the influence of their husbands, lovers or confessors, clinging as a majority to the ways of the past. if therefore they should enter without preparation into political life, they would either duplicate men or cause humanity to retrograde. you comprehend now why many women who are more capable than an infinite number of men of coöperating in great political acts, choose rather to renounce them than to compromise the cause of progress by the extension of political right to all women. reader. personally, i am of your opinion; but it is necessary to foresee and to refute the objections that may be made to you by very intelligent women; these women will say, reflect, the negation of right is iniquitous, for it is the negation of equality and of human nature. it is as false as dangerous to lay down the principle of the recognition of right only to the extent in which it is claimed; for it is notorious that slaves are not the ones in general to demand their own rights; your affirmation therefore condemns the emancipation of slaves and serfs, and universal suffrage. the objection that you raise against the right on account of the incapacity of women and the low use which they would make of it, might apply quite as well to men who are scarcely more fully emancipated than they; who are often the duplicate of their wife or confessor, or who have no other opinion than that of their electoral committee. in right, as in everything else, an apprenticeship is necessary: woman will make use of it at first badly, then better, then well; for we learn to play on an instrument much more quickly by using it than by learning its theory. the exercise of right gives elevation and dignity, elevates the individual in his own esteem, and causes him to study questions which he would have neglected had he not been obliged to examine them in order to concur in and resolve them. do you wish women to take to heart matters of general interest? then give them political right. these objections, may be raised against you. author. they were raised against me in by a number of eminent women, and by many men devoted to the triumph of the new principles. i answered them then and i answer them again to-day: we should speedily agree, if our modern society were not the scene of conflict between two diametrically opposite principles. the question is not to decide whether political right belongs to woman, whether she would develop it, enlarge it, etc., but rather whether she would use it to ensure the triumph of the principle that says to humanity, advance! or of that which gives as the word of command, retreat! what is the end of political right? evidently, to accomplish a great duty in the direction of progress. well, is it not dangerous to accord it to those who would employ it against this end? what! you struggle for right, in order to obtain the triumph of a holy cause, yet feel no hesitation in according it to those who would certainly make use of right to kill right! you reproach me for acting like the jesuits, who value justice much less than expediency. well, gentlemen, if you had had half their ability, you would have been successful long ago. like true savages, you would think yourselves dishonored by possessing prudence and practical sense, by offering yourselves to battle otherwise than with naked bodies; this may be very fine, very courageous--but as to being sensible, that is another thing. i am not guilty of the crime of denying right, since i do not deny it; i only desire that it shall not be demanded since this would be suicidal, i do not lay down the principle that _every kind_ of right should be recognized only to the extent in which it is claimed, since i speak to you of political rights alone; there are rights which make their own demand, such as those of living, of development, of enjoyment, of the fruit of one's labor, and it is shameful for society not to recognize them to their full extent. but we awaken later to the sentiment of civil right, and still later to that of political right; take the logical advance of humanity into account therefore and do not remain in the absolute. i know that my objection on the score of the incapacity of women is quite as applicable to that of men; but is it a reason, because you have admitted the right of the ignorant masses of men who had not demanded it, to show yourselves equally unwise with respect to women who are in the same position? i will correct myself, gentlemen, of what you term my _aristocratic_ spirit, when i see your political freedmen comprehending the tendencies of civilization, and making use of their right to drive the abettors of the past to despair by promoting the triumph of liberty and equality. until then, permit me to keep my opinion. and i have kept my opinion, which is this: the exercise of political right is a means of reform and progress, only if those who enjoy it believe in progress and are anxious for reforms: in the opposite case, the popular vote can be nothing but the expression of prejudices, errors and passions--instead of learning to exercise it through the use of it, as it is urged, they employ it simply to cut their own fingers. reader. may it not be objected that, in accordance with your theory of right, all being equal, no one can arrogate to himself the function of distributing rights? author. theory is the ideal towards which practice should tend; if we had not this ideal, we could not know by what principle to guide ourselves; but in social _reality_, there are individuals who have attained majority, and others who, being minors, are destined to attain it. if i should assert that those who have attained majority can rightfully accord or refuse right to the minors, i should depart essentially from my principles; it is by the _law_, which is the expression of the conscience of those most advanced, while waiting till it shall be the conscience of all, that political majority is decreed and that its conditions are established. the right is virtual in each of us; no one therefore has the right to give it, to take it away, or to contest it; it is recognized when we are in a condition to exercise and to demand it; and we prove that we are in a condition to exercise it when we satisfy the conditions fixed by the law. reader. what should be these conditions for the enjoyment of political right, in your opinion? author. twenty-five years of age; and a certificate attesting that the individual knows how to read, write and reckon, that he possesses an elementary knowledge of the history and geography of his country; together with a correct theory with respect to right and duty, and the destiny of humanity upon earth. the knowledge of a small volume would be sufficient, as you see, to enable every man and woman, twenty-five years of age and healthy in mind, to enjoy political rights, after having been subjected to an initiation by the enjoyment of civil rights. but, i ask you, what could those do with political right who confound liberty with license, who scarcely know the meaning of the words right and duty, and who are even incapable of writing their own vote! men have their rights, let them keep them! a right once admitted cannot be taken away: let them render themselves fit to exercise them. as to women, let them first emancipate themselves civilly and become educated: their turn will come. reader. it is very important that men should comprehend that you do not deny, but merely postpone the political rights of our sex. author. be easy; they will comprehend it rightly; they will not mistake counsel dictated by prudence for an acknowledgement of inferiority and a resignation of functions. iii. reader. will you now state the legal reforms which we should demand successively. author. so far as civil life is concerned, we should ask: that a woman who is a foreigner may be able to become naturalized in a country otherwise than by marriage. that woman shall not lose her nationality by the same sacrament. that woman be admitted to sign, as a witness, all certificates of social condition, with all others that have been hitherto interdicted to her. you know that already, in derogation of the law, midwives sign certificates of birth of unacknowledged natural children, and that, in certain notarial documents, drawn up by justices of the peace, to attest to a fact in the absence of written evidence, the testimony of women is admitted. we demand that tradeswomen and merchant women shall form a part of the boards of trade; that in every criminal trial, women shall be placed on the jury: that to women shall be entrusted the management and superintendence of hospitals, prisons for women, and charitable associations. that in every district, a woman shall be appointed to superintend girls' schools, infant asylums, and nurses. you know that women are already filling public employments in derogation of the law, since the teaching and inspection of girls' schools, and other asylums, are entrusted to them, and since women keep post-offices, stamp offices, etc. reader. this regards civil right in general; what reforms shall we demand concerning married women? author. that the conjugal abode shall be that which is inhabited by the husband and wife _together_, no longer by the man alone. that the articles shall be suppressed which command the wife to obey her husband, and to follow him wherever he sees fit to reside. that the prohibition to sell, mortgage, receive, give, appear in law, etc., without the consent of the husband or court, shall be extended to the husband as far as to the wife. that marriage under the system of separation of goods shall become the public law. reader. what reforms do you demand with respect to the family council and guardianship? author. we demand that the family council shall be composed of twenty persons; ten men and ten women, parents, relatives and friends, chosen by the spouses. that the powers of this council, presided over by the justice of the peace, shall be so determined that it shall give the first judgment in differences arising between the spouses as to children, property, guardianship, etc. we demand that every woman may be qualified to be appointed guardian or to watch over the conduct of the guardian towards the ward. that the guardianship of the spouse interdicted shall be always confessed by the family council. that the wife like the husband, may name a definitive guardian and a council of guardianship for her surviving spouse. that the spouses may name during their lifetime, the father, a male inspecting guardian from his family, the mother, a female inspecting guardian from hers, that in case of pre-decease, the children may be always under the influence of both sexes. that this superior guardianship, in the absence of any expressed desire, belongs of right to a member of the family of the defunct, who must be of the same sex. that in case of a second marriage, if the child is maltreated or unhappy, the inspecting guardian, whether male or female, can have it adjudged to him by the family council, without excluding the appeal of the guardian to the courts. that in case of the death of the father or mother, the guardianship belongs of right to the nearest ancestor, and the inspecting guardianship to the nearest ancestor of the other line. if there be competition between the two lines, the family councils shall choose the guardian from one family and the inspecting guardian from the other, and of opposite sex. that the duties of guardianship and inspecting guardianship shall comprehend, not only the material, but also the moral and intellectual interests of the wards. that the father who is guardian, shall lose the right of guardianship over the children if he re-marries without first having had it continued to him by the family council. that lastly, the state shall so organize a board of guardianship for abandoned children that the boys shall be under the superintendence of the men and the girls under that of the women; this board will form a great family council. reader. i like your system better than that of the law, not only because woman is the equal of man therein, but because wards will be better protected by it; i have known men to cause their wives, over-excited by their ill treatment, to be placed under interdict, in order to remain masters of their property; on the other hand, you know how many children are wronged or made unhappy by the second marriage of their father. a step-mother has full power to inflict suffering on the little unfortunates. but you have said nothing of the authority of parents over their children. author. the authority of the parents over the children is the same; the expression, paternal authority, is incomplete; the true phrase would be _parental_ authority. on this head, we demand that if there be dissension between the father and mother with regard to the children, the family council shall decide in the first instance. that neither the father nor the mother shall have power to shut up the child unless _both are agreed_. that the father or the mother acting as guardian shall not have power to have recourse to this measure except with the concurrence of the inspecting guardian, or, in case of difference, with the approbation of the family council, always reserving the right of appeal to the court. that the marriageable age shall be fixed at twenty-five for both sexes. reader. shall we demand the suppression of separation from bed and board? author. no; but we must demand that _divorce shall be established_. that divorce may be obtained for the adultery of one of the parties, cruelty, grave abuses, condemnation to punishment affecting the liberty or person, notorious vices, incompatibility of temper, mutual consent. that, during the suit for separation or for divorce, the guardianship of the children shall be given to the most deserving parent; and that, if both are alike unworthy, a guardian and inspecting guardian of different sexes shall be appointed. that, if both are deserving, they shall settle it amicably between themselves before the family council. that parties married under the dotal system or under that of the separation of goods, shall have control of their own property. that if the petition for divorce be on account of the bad management of the common property, the administration shall be taken away from the husband and entrusted to the wife. that if the petition be on account of the condemnation of one of the parties to punishment affecting the liberty or person, the other shall remain administrator. that, in all other cases, an inventory shall be made and the spouse best fitted to the task be appointed guardian under the surveillance of one or two members of the family of the other spouse, with the obligation of furnishing estovers to the other. that the decree granting the divorce or separation shall bear the number, name and age of the children born of the marriage, together with the annual sum that each party is bound to furnish for their maintenance and education. that this decree shall state to whose custody the children are entrusted, whether by natural consent or by familial or judicial authority. that it shall be placarded publicly in the courts, and inserted in the leading journals of the vicinity. that this instrument shall accompany the publication of the bans of a subsequent marriage, under pain of heavy penalties. reader. these measures are severe; if it would be easy to become divorced, it would not be easy to marry afterwards. author. i do not deny it; but it is better to prevent divorce by the difficulty of marrying afterwards, than by placing restrictions upon it; in the first case, the difficulty comes from the fetters which the individual has forged for himself; he makes his own destiny; in the second, individual liberty is infringed upon by social authority, which is an abuse of power. reader. let us enter upon the legal reforms concerning morals. author. we demand that every promise of marriage which is not fulfilled shall be punished with a fine and damages. that every man whom an unmarried mother can prove by witnesses or letters, to be the father of her child, shall be subject to the burdens of paternity. that the investigation of paternity shall be authorized like that of maternity. that the seduction of an unmarried woman under twenty-five shall be severely punished. that no unmarried woman can be registered among the public women before twenty-five years old, and that she shall be put into the house of correction if she abandons herself to prostitution before this age. that every abandoned woman who receives a man under twenty-five years of age shall be punished with fine and imprisonment, and that the penalty shall be terrible if she is diseased. reader. it will be said that paternity cannot be proved. author. i do not deny that it may be possible that the father attributed to the natural child will not be the true one; but it will be necessary to establish by proofs that he has rendered himself liable to be reputed such: it is the probability of paternity in marriage extended to paternity out of marriage. so much the worse for men who suffer themselves to be caught! it is shameful to attach impunity to the most disorderly and subversive of selfish desires; women must no longer bear alone the burden of natural children, and no longer be tempted to abandon them. reader. but what if it be proved that a married man has rendered himself liable to become a father outside his household. author. this should be first a case of divorce; next, of punishment for him and his accomplice. as to the child, the man should bear the charge of it in concert with the mother. reader. these are indeed draconian laws! author. do you not see that corruption is shutting us in, body and soul; and that if we do not create a vigorous reaction against it by the severity of the laws, the reform of education, and the awakening of the ideal, our society will be, ere long, only an immense brothel? reader. alas! it is but too true. author. let us demand then, not only a rational reform of the national education, but also that the number of lyceums shall be doubled for girls. that all the institutions of higher instruction dependent on the state shall be open to them as to boys. that they shall be admitted to receive the same university degrees, and the same diplomas of capacity as men. that every field of occupation shall be opened to them as to men; so that, elevated in public opinion by equality, their activity shall no longer be nominally compensated; that they may live by their labor, and that want, discouragement and suicide may no longer terminate their life when they do not make choice of the sad part of elements of demoralization. i. appeal to women. progressive women, to you, i address my last words, listen in the name of the general good, in the name of your sons and your daughters. you say: the manners of our time are corrupt; the laws concerning our sex need reform. it is true; but do you think that to verify the evil suffices to cure it? you say: so long as woman shall be a minor in the city, the state and marriage, she will be so in social labor; she will be forced to be supported by man; that is to debase him while humbling herself. it is true; but do you believe that to verify these things suffices to remedy our abasement? you say: the education that both sexes receive is deplorable in view of the destiny of humanity. it is true; but do you believe that to affirm this suffices to improve, to transform the method of education? will words, complaints and protestations have power to change any of these things? it is not to lament over them that is needed; it is to act. it is not merely to demand justice and reform that is needed; it is to labor ourselves for reform; it is to prove _by our works_ that we are worthy to obtain justice; it is to take possession resolutely of the contested place; it is, in a word, to have intellect, courage and activity. upon whom then will you have a right to count, if you abandon yourselves? upon men? your carelessness and silence have in part discouraged those who maintained your right; it is much if they defend you against those who, to oppress you, call to their aid every species of ignorance, every species of despotism, every selfish passion, all the paradoxes which they despise when their own sex is in question. you are insulted, you are outraged, you are denied or you are blamed in order that you may be reduced to subjection, and it is much if your indignation is roused thereby! when will you be ashamed of the part to which you are condemned? when will you respond to the appeal that generous and intelligent men have made to you? when will you cease to be masculine photographs, and resolve to complete the revolution of humanity by finally making the word of woman heard in religion, in justice, in politics and in science? what are we to do, you say? what are you to do, ladies? well! what is done by women believing. look at those who have given their soul to a dogma; they form organizations, teach, write, act on their surroundings and on the rising generation in order to secure the triumph of the faith that has the support of their conscience. why do not you do as much as they? your rivals write books stamped with supernaturalism and individualistic morality, why do you not write those that bear the stamp of rationalism, of solidary morality and of a holy faith in progress? your rivals found educational institutions and train up professors in order to gain over the new generation to their dogmas and their practices, why do not you do as much for the benefit of the new ideas? your rivals organize industrial associations, why do not you imitate them? would not what is lawful to them be so to you. could a government which professes to revive the principles of ' , and which is the offspring of revolutionary right, entertain the thought of fettering the direct heirs of the principles laid down by ' , while leaving those free to act who are more or less their enemies? can any one of you admit such a possibility? what are we to do? you are to establish a journal to maintain your claims. you are to appoint an encyclopedic committee to draw up a series of treatises on the principal branches of human knowledge for the enlightenment of women and the people. you are to found a polytechnic institute for women. you are to aid your sisters of the laboring classes to organize themselves in trades associations on economical principles more equitable than those of the present time. you are to facilitate the return to virtue of the lost women who ask you for aid and counsel. you are to labor with all your might for the reform of educational methods. yet, in the face of a task so complicated, you ask: what are we to do? ah, ye women who have attained majority, arise, if ye have heart and courage! arise, and let those among you who are the most intelligent, the most instructed, and who have the most time and liberty constitute an _apostleship of women_. around this apostleship, let all the women of progress be ranged, that each one may serve the common cause according to her means. and remember, remember above all things, that _union is strength_. the end. new books and new editions recently issued by carleton, publisher, new york. _ broadway, corner of lispenard street._ n.b.--the publisher, upon receipt of the price in advance, will send any of the following books, by mail, postage free, to any part of the united states. this convenient and very safe mode may be adopted when the neighboring booksellers are not supplied with the desired work. state name and address in full. victor hugo. les miserables.--the only unabridged english translation of "the grandest and best novel ever written." one large octavo vol., paper covers, $ . , or cloth $ . les miserables.--a superior edition of the same novel, in five octavo vols.--"fantine," "cosette," "marius," "st. denis," and "valjean." cloth, each vol., $ . the life of victor hugo.--(understood to be an autobiography.) 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"slavery as it is," . going to church, . the baby, . life at belleville, - . educators, . piety, . christianity, . chapter xvii. eagleswood, . sarah as teacher, . sarah at sixty-two, . love of children, . success of the school, . affliction, . war to end in freedom, . sisterly affection, . the colored nephews, . the discovery, . a visit to nephews, . nephews educated, . voting petitions, . work for charities, . contented old age, . chapter xviii. sarah's sickness, . death of sarah, . eulogies, . paralysis, . sublime patience, . death of angelina, . elizur wright, . wendell phillips, . the lesson of two lives, . the sisters grimkÉ. chapter i. sarah and angelina grimké were born in charleston, south carolina; sarah, nov. , ; angelina, feb. , . they were the daughters of the hon. john fauchereau grimké, a colonel in the revolutionary war, and judge of the supreme court of south carolina. his ancestors were german on the father's side, french on the mother's; the fauchereau family having left france in consequence of the revocation of the edict of nantes in . from his german father and huguenot mother, judge grimké inherited not only intellectual qualities of a high order, but an abiding consciousness of his right to think for himself, a spirit of hostility to the roman catholic priesthood and church, and faith in the calvinistic theology. though he exhibited, during the course of his life, a freedom from certain social prejudices general among people of his class at charleston, he seems to have never wavered in his adhesion to the tenets of his forefathers. that they were ever questioned in his household is not probable. from a diary kept by him, it appears that his favorite subject of thought for many years was moral discipline, and he was fond of searching out and transcribing the opinions of various authors on this subject. his family was wealthy and influential, and he received all the advantages which such circumstances could give. as was the custom among people of means in those days, he was sent to england for his collegiate course, and, after being graduated at oxford, he studied law and practised for a while in london, having his rooms in the temple. with a fine person, a cultivated mind and a generous allowance, he became a favorite in the fashionable and aristocratic society of great britain; nevertheless, he did not hesitate to quit the pleasant life he was leading and return home as soon as his native country seemed to need him. he speedily raised a company of cavalry in charleston, and cast his lot with the patriots whom he found in arms against the mother-country. we have no record of his deeds, but we know that he distinguished himself at eutaw springs and at yorktown, where he was attached to lafayette's brigade. when the war was over, col. grimké began the practice of law in charleston, and rose in a few years to the front rank at the bar. he held various honorable offices before he was appointed judge of the supreme court of the state. early in life judge grimké married mary smith of irish and english-puritan stock. she was the great granddaughter of the second landgrave of south carolina, and descended on her mother's side from that famous rebel chieftain, sir roger moore, of kildare, who would have stormed dublin castle with his handful of men, and whose handsome person, gallant manners, and chivalric courage made him the idol of his party and the hero of song and story. fourteen children were born to this couple, all of whom were more or less remarkable for the traits which would naturally be expected from such ancestry, while in several of them the old huguenot-puritan infusion colored every mental and moral quality. this was especially notable in sarah moore grimké, the sixth child, who even in her childhood continually surprised her family by her independence, her sturdy love of truth, and her clear sense of justice. her conscientiousness was such that she never sought to conceal or even excuse anything wrong she did, but accepted submissively whatever punishment or reprimand was inflicted upon her. between sarah and her brother thomas, six years her senior, an early friendship was formed, which was ever a source of gratification to both, and which continued without a break until his death. to the influence of his high, strong nature she attributed to a great extent her early tendency to think and reason upon subjects much beyond her age. until she was twelve years old, a great deal of her time was passed in study with this brother, her bright, active mind eagerly reaching after the kind of knowledge which in those days was considered food too strong for the intellect of a girl. she begged hard to be permitted to study latin, and began to do so in private, but her parents, and even her brother, discouraged this, and she reluctantly gave it up. judge grimké's position, character, and wealth placed his family among the leaders of the very exclusive society of charleston. his children were accustomed to luxury and display, to the service of slaves, and to the indulgence of every selfish whim, although the father's practical common sense led him to protest against the habits to which such indulgences naturally led. he was necessarily much from home, but, when leisure permitted, his great pleasure was teaching his children and discussing various topics with them. to sarah he paid particular attention, her superior mental qualities exciting his admiration and pride. he is said to have frequently declared that if she had been of the other sex she would have made the greatest jurist in the land. in his own habits, judge grimké was prudent and singularly economical, and, in spite of discouraging surroundings, endeavored to instil lessons of simplicity into his children. an extract from one of sarah's letters will illustrate this. referring in to her early life, she thus writes to a friend:-- "father was pre-eminently a man of common sense, and economy was one of his darling virtues. i suppose i inherited some of the latter quality, for from early life i have been renowned for gathering up the fragments that nothing be lost, so that it was quite a common saying in the family: 'oh, give it to sally; she'll find use for it,' when anything was to be thrown away. only once within my memory did i depart from this law of my nature. i went to our country residence to pass the summer with father. he had deposited a number of useful odds and ends in a drawer. now little miss, being installed as housekeeper to papa, and for the first time in her life being queen--at least so she fancied--of all she surveyed, went to work searching every cranny, and prying into every drawer, and woe betide anything which did not come up to my idea of neat housekeeping. when i chanced across the drawer of scraps i at once condemned them to the flames. such a place of disorder could not be tolerated in my dominions. i never thought of the contingency of papa's shirts, etc., wanting mending; my oversight, however, did not prevent the natural catastrophe of clothes wearing out, and one day papa brought me a garment to mend, 'oh,' said i, tossing it carelessly aside, 'that hole is too big to darn.' "'certainly, my dear,' he replied, 'but you can put a piece in. look in such a drawer, and you will find plenty to patch with.' "but behold the drawer was empty. happily, i had commuted the sentence of burning to that of distribution to the slaves, one of whom furnished me the piece, and mended the garment ten times better than i could have done. so i was let to go unwhipped of justice for that misdemeanor, and perhaps that was the lesson which burnt into my soul. my story doesn't sound southerny, does it? well, here is something more. during that summer, father had me taught to spin and weave negro cloth. don't suppose i ever did anything worth while; only it was one of his maxims: 'never lose an opportunity of learning what is useful. if you never need the knowledge, it will be no burden to have it; and if you should, you will be thankful to have it.' so i had to use my delicate fingers now and then to shell corn, a process which sometimes blistered them, and was sent into the field to pick cotton occasionally. perhaps i am indebted partially to this for my life-long detestation of slavery, as it brought me in close contact with these unpaid toilers." doubtless she had many a talk with these "unpaid toilers," and learned from them the inner workings of a system which her friends would fain have taught her to view as fair and merciful. children are born without prejudice, and the young children of southern planters never felt or made any difference between their white and colored playmates. the instances are many of their revolt and indignation when first informed that there must be a difference. so that there is nothing singular in the fact that sarah grimké, to use her own words, early felt such an abhorrence of the whole institution of slavery, that she was sure it was born in her. several of her brothers and sisters felt the same. but she differed from other children in the respect that her sensibilities were so acute, her heart so tender, that she made the trials of the slaves her own, and grieved that she could neither share nor mitigate them. so deeply did she feel for them that she was frequently found in some retired spot weeping, after one of the slaves had been punished. she remembered that once, when she was not more than four or five years old, she accidentally witnessed the terrible whipping of a servant woman. as soon as she could escape from the house, she rushed out sobbing, and half an hour afterwards her nurse found her on the wharf, begging a sea captain to take her away to some place where such things were not done. she told me once that often, when she knew one of the servants was to be punished, she would shut herself up and pray earnestly that the whipping might be averted; "and sometimes," she added, "my prayers were answered in very unexpected ways." writing to a young friend, a few years before her death, she says: "when i was about your age, we spent six months of the year in the back country, two hundred miles from charleston, where we would live for months without seeing a white face outside of the home circle. it was often lonely, but we had many out-door enjoyments, and were very happy. i, however, always had one terrible drawback. slavery was a millstone about my neck, and marred my comfort from the time i can remember myself. my chief pleasure was riding on horseback daily. 'hiram' was a gentle, spirited, beautiful creature. he was neither slave nor slave owner, and i loved and enjoyed him thoroughly." when she was quite young her father gave her a little african girl to wait on her. to this child, the only slave she ever owned, she became much attached, treating her as an equal, and sharing all her privileges with her. but the little girl died after a few years, and though her youthful mistress was urged to take another, she refused, saying she had no use for her, and preferred to wait on herself. it was not until she was more than twelve years old that, at her mother's urgent request, she consented to have a dressing-maid. judge grimké, his family and connections, were all high-church episcopalians, tenacious of every dogma, and severe upon any neglect of the religious forms of church or household worship. nothing but sickness excused any member of the family, servants included, from attending morning prayers, and every sunday the well-appointed carriage bore those who wished to attend church to the most fashionable one in the city. the children attended sabbath-school regularly, and in the afternoon the girls who were old enough taught classes in the colored school. here, sarah was the only one who ever caused any trouble. she could never be made to understand the wisdom which included the spelling-book, in the hands of slaves, among the dangerous weapons, and she constantly fretted because she could only give her pupils oral instruction. she longed to teach them to read, for many of them were pining for the knowledge which the "poor white trash" rejected; but the laws of the state not only prohibited the teaching of slaves, but provided fines and imprisonment for those who ventured to indulge their fancy in that way. so that, argue as she might, and as she did, the privilege of opening the storehouse of learning to those thirsty souls was denied her. "but," she writes, "my great desire in this matter would not be totally suppressed, and i took an almost malicious satisfaction in teaching my little waiting-maid at night, when she was supposed to be occupied in combing and brushing my long locks. the light was put out, the keyhole screened, and flat on our stomachs before the fire, with the spelling-book under our eyes, we defied the laws of south carolina." but this dreadful crime was finally discovered, and poor hetty barely escaped a whipping; and her bold young mistress had to listen to a severe lecture on the enormity of her conduct. when sarah was about twelve years old, two important events occurred to interrupt the even tenor of her life. her brother thomas was sent off to yale college, leaving her companionless and inconsolable, until, a few weeks later, the birth of a little sister brought comfort and joy to her heart. this sister was angelina emily, the last child of her parents, and the pet and darling of sarah from the moment the light dawned upon her blue eyes. sarah seems to have felt for this new baby not only more than the ordinary affection of a sister, but the yearning tenderness of a mother, and a mysterious affinity which foreshadowed the heart and soul sympathy which, notwithstanding the twelve years' difference in their ages, made them as one through life. she at once begged that she might stand godmother for her sister; but her parents, thinking this desire only a childish whim, refused. she was seriously in earnest, however, and day after day renewed her entreaties, answering her father's arguments that she was too young for such a responsibility by saying that she would be old enough when it became necessary to exercise any of the responsibility. seeing finally that her heart was so set upon it, her parents consented; and joyfully she stood at the baptismal font, and promised to train this baby sister in the way she should go. many years afterwards, in describing her feelings on this occasion, she said: "i had been taught to believe in the efficacy of prayer, and i well remember, after the ceremony was over, slipping out and shutting myself up in my own room, where, with tears streaming down my cheeks, i prayed that god would make me worthy of the task i had assumed, and help me to guide and direct my precious child. oh, how good i resolved to be, how careful in all my conduct, that my life might be blessed to her!" entering in such a spirit upon the duties she had taken upon herself, we cannot over estimate her influence in forming the character and training the mind of this "precious nina," as she so often called her. and, as we shall see, for very many years angelina followed closely where sarah led, treading almost in her footsteps, until the seed sown by the older sister, ripening, bore its fruit in a power and strength and individuality which gave her the leadership, and caused sarah to fall back and gaze with wonder upon development so much beyond her thoughts or hopes. from the first, sarah took almost entire charge of her little god-daughter; and, as "nina" grew out of her babyhood, sarah continued to exercise such general supervision over her that the child learned to look up to her as to a mother, and frequently when together, and in her correspondence for many years, addressed her as "mother." it does not appear that judge grimké entertained any views differing greatly from those of intelligent men in the society about him. he was a man of wide culture, varied experience of life, and a diligent student. therefore, as he made a companion of his bright and promising daughter, he doubtless did much to sharpen her intellect, as well as to deepen her conscientiousness and sense of religious obligation. her brother thomas, too, added another strong influence to her mental development. she was nearly fifteen when he returned from college, bringing with him many new ideas, most of them quite original, and which he at once set to work to study more closely, with a view to putting them into practical operation. sarah was his confidante and his amanuensis; and, looking up to him almost as to a demi-god, she readily fell in with his opinions, and made many of them her own. of her mother there is little mention in the early part of her life. mrs. grimké appears to have been a very devout woman, of rather narrow views, and undemonstrative in her affections. she was, however, intelligent, and had a taste for reading, especially theological works. her son thomas speaks of her as having read stratton's book on the priesthood, and inferring from its implications the sect to which the author belonged. the oldest of her children was only nineteen when angelina was born. the burdens laid upon her were many and great; and we cannot wonder that she was nervous, exhausted, and irritable. the house was large, and kept in the style common in that day among wealthy southern people. the servants were numerous, and had, no doubt, the usual idle, pilfering habits of slaves. all provisions were kept under lock and key, and given out with scrupulous exactitude, and incessant watchfulness as to details was a necessity. as children multiplied, mrs. grimké appears to have lost all power of controlling either them or her servants. she was impatient with the former, and resorted with the latter to the punishments commonly inflicted by slaveowners. these severities alienated her children still more from her, and they showed her little respect or affection. it never appears to have occurred to any of them to try to relieve her of her cares; and it is probable she was more sinned against than sinning,--a sadly burdened and much-tried woman. from numerous allusions to her in the diaries and letters, the evidence of an ill-regulated household is plain, as also the feelings of the children towards her. from angelina's diary we copy the following:-- "on d day i had some conversation with sister mary on the deplorable state of our family, and to-day with eliza. they complain very much of the servants being so rude, and doing so much as they please. but i tried to convince them that the servants were just what the family was, that they were not at all more rude and selfish and disobliging than they themselves were. i gave one or two instances of the manner in which they treated mother and each other, and asked how they could expect the servants to behave in any other way when they had such examples continually before them, and queried in which such conduct was most culpable. eliza always admits what i say to be true, but, as i tell her, never profits by it.... sister mary is somewhat different; she will not condemn herself.... she will acknowledge the sad state of the family, but seems to think mother is altogether to blame. and dear mother seems to resist all i say: she will neither acknowledge the state of the family nor her own faults, and always is angry when i speak to her.... sometimes when i look back to the first years of my religious life, and remember how unremittingly i labored with mother, though in a very wrong spirit, being alienated from her and destitute of the spirit of love and forbearance, my heart is very sore." this unfortunate state of things prevailed until the children were grown, and with more or less amelioration after that time. sarah's natural tenderness, and the sense of justice which, as she grew to womanhood, was so conspicuous in angelina, drew their mother nearer to them than to her other children, though thomas always wrote of her affectionately and respectfully. she, however, with her rigid orthodox beliefs, could never understand her "alien daughters," as she called them; and she never ceased to wonder how such strange fledglings could have come from her nest. it was only when they had proved by years of self-sacrifice the earnestness of their peculiar views that she learned to respect them; and, though they never succeeded in converting her from her inherited opinions, she was towards the last years of her life brought into something like affectionate sympathy with them. chapter ii. it was quite the custom in the last century and the beginning of the present one for cultivated people to keep diaries, in which the incidents of each day were jotted down, accompanied by the expression of private opinions and feelings. women, especially, found this diary a pleasant sort of confessional, a confidante to whose pages they could entrust their most secret thoughts without fear of rebuke or betrayal. sarah grimké's diary, covering over five hundred pages of closely written manuscript, though not begun until , gives many reminiscences of her youth, and describes with painful conscientiousness her religious experiences. she also repeatedly regrets the fact that her education, though what was considered at that time a good one, was entirely superficial, embracing only that kind of knowledge which is acquired for display. what useful information she received she owed to the conversations of her father and her brother thomas, her "beloved companion and friend." there is no doubt that this want of proper training was to her a cause of regret during her whole life. with her, learning was always a passion; and, in passing, i may say she never thought herself too old for study and the acquisition of knowledge. as she grew up, and saw the very different education her brothers were receiving, her ambition and independence were fired, and she longed to share their advantages. but in vain she entreated permission to do so. the only answer she received was: "you are a girl; what do you want of latin and greek and philosophy? you can never use them." and when it was discovered that she was secretly studying law, and was ambitious to stand side by side with her brother at the bar, smiles and sneers rebuked her "unwomanly" aspirations. and though she argued the point with much spirit, unable to see why the mere fact of being a girl should confine her to the necessity of being a "doll, a coquette, a fashionable fool," she failed to secure a single adherent to her strong-minded ideas. her nature thus denied its proper nutriment, and her most earnest desires crushed, she sought relief in another direction. painting, poetry, general reading occupied her leisure time, while she was receiving private tuition from the best masters in charleston. at sixteen she was introduced into society, or, as she phrases it, "initiated into the circles of dissipation and folly." in her account of the life she led in those circles she does not spare herself. "i believe," she writes, "for the short space i was exhibited on this theatre, few have exceeded me in extravagance of every kind, and in the sinful indulgence of pride and vanity, sentiments which, however, were strongly mingled with a sense of their insufficiency to produce even earthly happiness, with an eager desire for intellectual pursuits, and a thorough contempt for the trifles i was engaged in. often during this period have i returned home, sick of the frivolous beings i had been with, mortified at my own folly, and weary of the ball-room and its gilded toys. night after night, as i glittered now in this gay scene, now in that, my soul has been disturbed by the query, 'where are the talents committed to thy charge?' but the intrusive thought would be silenced by the approach of some companion, or a call to join the dance, or by the presentation of the stimulating cordial, and my remorse and my hopeless desires would be drowned for the time being. once, in utter disgust, i made a resolution to abstain from such amusements; but it was made in self-will, and did not stand long, though i was so earnest that i gave away much of my finery. i cannot look back to those years without a blush of shame, a feeling of anguish at the utter perversion of the ends of my being. but for my tutelary god, my idolized brother, my young, passionate nature, stimulated by that love of admiration which carries many a high and noble soul down the stream of folly to the whirlpool of an unhallowed marriage, i had rushed into this lifelong misery. happily for me, this butterfly life did not last long. my ardent nature had another channel opened for it, through which it rushed with its usual impetuosity. i was converted, and turned over to doing good." up to this time she was a communicant in the episcopal church, and a regular attendant on its various services. but, as she records, her heart was never touched, her soul never stirred. she heard the same things preached week after week,--the necessity of coming to christ and the danger of delay,--and she wondered at her insensibility. she joined in family worship, and was scrupulously exact in her private devotions; but all was done mechanically, from habit, and no quickening sense of her "awful condition" came to her until she went one night, on the invitation of a friend, to hear a presbyterian minister, the rev. henry kolloch, celebrated for his eloquence. he preached a thrilling sermon, and sarah was deeply moved. but the impression soon wore off, and she returned to her gay life with renewed ardor. a year after, the same minister revisited charleston; and again she went to hear him, and again felt the "arrows of conscience," and again disregarded the solemn warning. the journal continues:-- "after this he came no more; and in the winter of - i was led in an unusual degree into scenes of dissipation and frivolity. it seemed as if my cup of worldly pleasure was filled to the brim; and after enjoying all the city afforded, i went into the country in the spring with a fashionable acquaintance, designing to finish my wild career there." while on this visit, she accidentally met the rev. dr. kolloch, and became acquainted with him. he seems to have taken a warm interest in her spiritual welfare, and his conversations made a serious impression on her which her gay friends tried to remove. but her sensitive spirit was so affected by his admonitions, and warnings of the awful consequences of persisting in a course of conduct which must eventually lead to everlasting punishment, that she was made very miserable. she trembled as he portrayed her doom, and wept bitterly; but, though she assented to the truth of his declarations, she did not feel quite prepared to give up the pomps and vanities of her life, unsatisfactory as they were. a sore conflict began in her mind, and she could take no pleasure in anything. dr. kolloch's parting question to her, spoken in the most solemn tones, "can you, then, dare to hesitate?" rang continually in her ears; and the next few days and nights were passed in a turmoil of various feelings, until, exhausted, she gave up the struggle, and acknowledged herself sensible of the emptiness of worldly gratifications, and thought she was willing to resign all for christ. she returned home sorrowful and heavy-hearted. the glory of the world was stained, and she no longer dared to participate in its vain pleasures. she felt "loaded down with iniquity," and, almost sinking under a sense of her guilt and her danger, she secluded herself from society, and put away her ornaments, "determined to purchase heaven at any price." but she found no relief in these sacrifices; and, after enduring much trial at her ill success, she wrote to dr. kolloch, informing him of her state of mind. "over his answer," she writes, "i shed many tears; but, instead of prostrating myself in deep abasement before the lord, and craving his pardon, i was desirous of doing something which might claim his approbation and disperse the thick cloud which seemed to hide him from me. i therefore set earnestly to work to do good according to my capacity. i fed the hungry and clothed the naked, i visited the sick and afflicted, and vainly hoped these outside works would purify a heart defiled with the pride of life, still the seat of carnal propensities and evil passions; but here, too, i failed. i went mourning on my way under the curse of a broken law; and, though i often watered my couch with my tears, and pleaded with my maker, yet i knew nothing of the sanctifying influence of his holy spirit, and, not finding that happiness in religion i anticipated, i, by degrees, through the persuasions of companions and the inclination of my depraved heart, began to go a little more into society, and to resume my former style of dressing, though in comparative moderation." she then states how, some time after she had thus departed from her christian profession. dr. kolloch came once more, and his sad and earnest rebukes made her unutterably wretched. but she tried to stifle the voice of conscience by entering more and more into worldly amusements, until she had lost nearly all spiritual sense. her disposition became soured by incessantly yielding to temptation, and she adds:-- "i know not where i might have been landed, had not the merciful interposition of providence stopped my progress." this "merciful interposition of providence" was nothing less than the declining health of her father; and it affords, indeed, a curious comment on the old orthodox teachings, that this young woman, devotedly attached to her father, and fully appreciating his value to his family, should have regarded his ill-health as sent by god for her especial benefit, to interrupt her worldly course, and compass her salvation. judge grimké's illness continued for a year or more; and so faithfully did sarah nurse him that when it was decided that he should go to philadelphia to consult dr. physic, she was chosen to accompany him. this first visit to the north was the most important event of sarah's life, for the influences and impressions there received gave some shape to her vague and wayward fancies, and showed her a gleam of the light beyond the tangled path which still stretched before her. she found lodgings for her father and herself in a quaker family whose name is not mentioned. about their life there, little is said; sarah being too much occupied with the care of her dear invalid to take much interest in her new surroundings. judge grimké's health continued to decline. his daughter's account of the last days of his life is very touching, and shows not only how deep was her religious feeling, but how tender and yet how strong she was all through this great trial. the father and daughter, strangers in a strange land, drawn more closely together by his suffering and her necessary care, became friends. indeed; their attachment increasing day by day, until, ere their final separation, they loved each other with that fervent affection which grows only with true sympathy and unbounded confidence. sarah thus wrote of it:-- "i regard this as the greatest blessing, next to my conversion, i have ever received from god, and i think if all my future life is passed in affliction this mercy alone should make me willingly, yea, cheerfully and joyously, submit to the chastisements of the lord." during their stay in philadelphia, she had hoped for her father's recovery, but when, by the doctor's advice, they went to long branch, and she saw how weak and ill he was, this hope forsook her, and she describes her agony as something never to be effaced from her memory. doubtless this was intensified by her lone and friendless position. they were in a tavern, without one human being to soothe them or sympathize with them. "but," she writes, "let me here acknowledge the mercy of that being whose everlasting arms supported me in this hour of suffering. after the first burst of grief i became calm, and felt an assurance that he in whom i trusted would never leave nor forsake me, and that i would have strength given me, even to the performance of the last sad duties. but the end was not yet; the disease fluctuated, some days arousing a gleam of hope, only to be extinguished by the next day's weakness. alas! i was compelled to see that death was certainly, though slowly, approaching, and all feeling for my own suffering was sunk in anxiety to contribute to my father's comfort, and smooth his passage to the grave. and, blessed be god, i was not only able to minister to many of his temporal wants, but permitted to strengthen his hopes of a happy immortality. i prayed with him and read to him, and i cannot recollect hearing an impatient expression from him during his whole illness, or a wish that his sufferings might be lessened or abridged. he often tried to conceal his bodily pain, and to soothe me by every appearance of cheerful piety. thus he lingered until the th of august, when he grew visibly worse. many incoherent expressions escaped him, but even then how tenderly he spoke of me, i ever shall remember.... about eight o'clock i moved him to his own bed, and, sitting down, prepared to watch by him. he entreated me to lie down, and i told him when he slept i would. "'oh, god,' he exclaimed with fervent energy, 'how sweet to sleep and wake in heaven!' this last desire was realized. he clasped one of my hands, and as i bent over him and arranged his pillow he put his arm around me. i did not stir; apparently he slept. but the relaxed grasp, the dewy coldness, the damps of death which stood upon his forehead, all told me that he was hastening fast to jesus. alone, at the hour of midnight, i sat by this bed of death. my eyes were fixed on that face whose calmness seemed to say, 'i rest in peace.' a gentle pressure of the hand, and a scarcely audible respiration, alone indicated that life was not extinct; at length that pressure ceased, and the strained ear could no longer hear a breath. i continued gazing on the lifeless form, closed his eyes and kissed him. his spirit, freed from the shackles of mortality, had sprung to its source, the bosom of his god. i passed the rest of the night alone." and alone, the only mourner, this brave, heart-stricken girl followed the remains of her beloved father to the grave. when all was over she went back to philadelphia, where she remained two or three months, and then returned to charleston. during the season of family mourning which followed, having nothing especial to do, sarah became more than ever concerned about her spiritual welfare. she constantly deplored her lukewarmness, and regarded herself as standing on the edge of a precipice from which she had no power to withdraw. the subject of slavery began now also to agitate her mind. after her residence in philadelphia, where doubtless she had to listen to some sharp reflections on the southern institution, it seemed more than ever abhorrent to her, but it does not appear that she gave utterance to her feelings on more than one or two occasions. even her diary contains only a slight and occasional reference to them. she saw, she says, how useless it was to discuss the subject, as even angelina, the child of her own training, could see nothing wrong in the mere fact of slave-holding, if the slaves were kindly treated. her brother thomas, to whom she might have opened her overburdened heart, and received from his affection and good sense, comfort and strength, she saw little of; besides, he was a slave-owner, and among his numerous reform theories of education, politics, and religion, he does not seem to have thought of touching slavery. he was a leading member of the bar, very busy with his literary work, had a wife and family, and resided out of the city. alone, therefore, sarah brooded over her trials, and those of the slaves, "until they became like a canker, incessantly gnawing." upon the latter she could only look as one in bonds herself, powerless to prevent or ameliorate them. her sole consolation was teaching the objects of her compassion, within the lawful restrictions, whenever she could find the opportunity. but she began to look upon the world as a wilderness of desolation and suffering, and herself as the most miserable of sinners, fast hastening to destruction. in this frame of mind she was induced to listen to the doctrine of universal salvation, and eagerly adopted it, hoping thereby to find relief from her doubts and fears. her mother discovered this with horror, and, trembling for her daughter's safety, she aroused herself to argue so strongly against what she termed the false and awful doctrine, that, though sarah refused to acknowledge the force of all she said, it had its effect, and she gradually lost her hold on her new belief. but losing that, she lost all hope. "wormwood and gall" were her portion, and, while she fulfilled the outward duties of religion, dreariness and settled despondency took possession of her mind. she writes: "tears never moistened my eyes; to prayer i was a stranger. with job i dared to curse the day of my birth. one day i was tempted to say something of the kind to my mother. she was greatly shocked, and reproved me seriously. i craved a hiding-place in the grave, as a rest from the distress of my feelings, thinking that no estate could be worse than the present. sometimes, being unable to pray, unable to command one feeling of good, either natural or spiritual, i was tempted to commit some great crime, thinking i could repent and thus restore my lost sensibility. on this i often meditated, and assuredly should have fallen into this snare had not the mercy of god still followed me." i might go on for many pages painting this dreary picture of a misdirected life, but enough has been quoted at present to show sarah grimké's strong, earnest, impressionable nature, and the effects upon it of the teachings of the old theology, mingled with the narrow southern ideas of usefulness and woman's sphere. endowed with a superior intellect, with a most benevolent and unselfish disposition, with a cheerful, loving nature, she desired above all things to be an active, useful member of society. but every noble impulse was strangled at its birth by the iron bands of a religion that taught the crucifixion of every natural feeling as the most acceptable offering to a stern and relentless god. she was now twenty-eight years of age, and with the exception of the period devoted to her father she had as yet thought and worked only for herself. i do not mean that she neglected home duties, or her private charities and visits to the afflicted, but all these offices were performed from one especial motive and with the same end in view to avert from herself the wrath of her maker. this one thought filled all her mind. all else was as nothing. family and friends, home and humanity, were of importance only as they furthered this object. it is in this spirit that she mentioned her father's illness and death, and the heroic, self-sacrificing death, by shipwreck, of her brother benjamin, to which she could resign herself from a conviction that the stroke was sent as a chastisement to her, and was a merciful dispensation to draw his young wife nearer to god. we read not one word of solicitude for mother, or brothers, or sisters, not a single prayer for their conversion. she was too busy watching and weeping over her own short-comings to concern herself about their doom. the long diary is filled with the reiteration of her fears, her sorrows, and her prayers. many years afterwards she thus referred to this condition of her mind:-- "i cannot without shuddering look back to that period. how dreadful did the state of my mind become! nothing interested me; i fulfilled my duties without any feeling of satisfaction, in gloomy silence. my lips moved in prayer, my feet carried me to the holy sanctuary, but my heart was estranged from piety. i felt as if my doom was irrevocably fixed, and i was destined to that fire which is never quenched. i have never experienced any feeling so terrific as the despair of salvation. my soul still remembers the wormwood and the gall, still remembers how awful the conviction that every door of hope was closed, and that i was given over unto death." naturally, such a strain at last impaired her health, and, her mother becoming alarmed, she was sent in the autumn of to north carolina, where several relatives owned plantations on the cape fear river. she was welcomed with great affection, especially by her aunt, the wife of her uncle james smith, and mother of barnwell rhett. (this name was assumed by him on the inheritance of property from a relative of that name.) in the village near which this aunt lived there was no place of worship except the methodist meeting-house. sarah attended this; and under the earnest and alarming preaching she heard there, together with association with some of the most spiritual-minded of the members, she was aroused from her apathetic state, and was enabled to join in their services with some interest. she even offered up prayer with them, and at one of their love feasts delivered a public testimony to the truths of the gospel. thus associated with them, she was induced to examine their principles and doctrines, but found them as faulty as all the rest she had from time to time investigated. she therefore soon decided not to become one of them. from her earliest serious impressions, she had been dissatisfied with episcopacy, feeling its forms lifeless; but now, after having carefully considered the various other sects, and finding error in all, she concluded to remain in the church whose doctrines at least satisfied her as well as those of any other, and were those of her mother and her family. of the society of friends she knew little, and that little was unfavorable. to a remark made one day by her mother, relative to her turning quaker, she replied, with some warmth:-- "anything but a quaker or a catholic!" having made up her mind that the friends were wrong, she had steadily refused, during her stay in philadelphia, to attend their meetings or read any of their writings. nevertheless many things about them, scarcely noticed at the time,--their quiet dress, orderly manner of life and gentle tones of voice, together with their many acts of kindness to her and her father,--came back to her after she had left them, and especially impressed her as contrasting so strongly with the slack habits and irregular discipline which made her own home so unhappy. on the vessel which carried her from philadelphia to charleston, after her father's death, was a party of friends; and in the seven days which it then required to make the voyage, an intimacy sprang up between them and sarah which influenced her whole after-life. from one of them she had accepted a copy of woolman's works,--evidence that there must have been religious discussions between them. and that there was talk-- probably some jesting--in the family about quakers is shown by the little incident sarah relates of her brother thomas presenting her, soon after her return from north carolina, with a volume of quaker writings he had picked up at some sale. he placed it in her hand, saying jocosely,-- "thee had better turn quaker, sally; thy long face would suit well their sober dress." she was, as we have said, of a naturally cheerful disposition; but her false views of religion led her to believe that "by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better," and she shed more tears, and offered up more petitions for forgiveness, over occasional irresistible merriment than i have space to record. she accepted the book from her brother, read it, and, needing some explanation of portions of it, wrote to one of the friends in philadelphia whose acquaintance she had made on the vessel. a correspondence ensued, which resulted after some months in her entire conversion to quakerism. she had now reached, she thought, a resting-place for her weary, sore-travailed spirit; and, like a tired pilgrim, she dropped all her burdens beside this fresh stream, from whose waters she expected to drink such cooling draughts. the quiet of the little meeting-house in charleston, the absence of ornament and ceremony, the silent worship by the few members, the affectionate thee and thou, all soothed her restless soul for a while, and a sweet calm fell upon her. but she believed that god constantly spoke to her heart, directing her by the still, small voice; and the fidelity with which she obeyed this invisible guide was not only a real detriment to her spiritual progress, but the cause of much distress to her. when, as sometimes happened from various causes, she failed in obedience, her mental suffering was intense, and in abject humility she accepted as punishment any mortification or sorrow that came to her afterwards. as a sequence to this hallucination, she also had visions at various times, and saw and communed with spirits, and did not hesitate to acknowledge their influence and to respect their intimations. so marvellously real were her feelings on these points that her immediate friends, though greatly deploring their effect upon her, seldom ventured any remonstrance against them. now, under the influence of her new belief, the impression of a divine call to be made upon her deepened, and soon took shape in the persuasion that it was to be a call to the ministry. her soul recoiled at the very thought of work so solemn, and she prayed the lord to spare her; but the more she prayed, the stronger and clearer the intimations became, until she felt that no loop-hole of escape was left her from obedience to her master's will. from the publicity the work involved, she intuitively shrank. her natural sensitiveness and all the prejudices of her life rebelled against it, and she could not look forward to it without fear and trembling. every meeting now found her, she says, like a craven, dreading to hear the summons which would oblige her to rise and open her lips before the two or three gathered there. vainly did she try to "hide herself from the lord." the evidence came distinctly to her one morning that some words of admonition were required of her; but so appalling did the act appear to her that she trembled, hesitated, resisted, and was silent. sorrow and remorse at once filled her soul; and, feeling that she had sinned against the holy ghost, she thought that god never could forgive her, and that no sacrifice she could ever offer could atone for this first act of disobedience. through long and dreary years it was the spectre that never would down, but stood ready to point its accusing finger whenever she was tempted to seek the cause of her disappointments and sorrows. thus, in the very outset of her new departure, arose apprehensions which followed her continually, robbing her religious exercises of all peace, and bringing her such a depth of misery that, she says, it almost destroyed her soul. the frequent letters of her quaker friend, though calculated to soothe and encourage her, were all firm on the point of implicit obedience to the movements of the spirit; and she found herself in a straight and narrow path, from which she was not allowed to deviate. to this friend, israel morris, sarah seems to have confessed all her shortcomings, all her fears, until, encouraged by his sympathy, and led by her longing for a wider field of action, she began to contemplate a removal to the north. there were other causes which urged her to seek another home. the inharmonious life in her family, joined to the reproaches and ridicule constantly aimed at her, and which stung her to the quick, naturally inspired the desire to go where she would be rid of it all, and live in peace. in her religious exaltation, it was easy for her to persuade herself that she was moved to make this important change by the lord's command. she sincerely believed it was so, and speaks of it as an unmistakable call, not to be disregarded, to go forth from that land, and her work would be shown her. naturally, philadelphia was the spot to which she was directed. when informed of her desires, israel morris not only gave his approval, but invited her to a home in his family. a door of shelter and safety being thus thrown open to her, she no longer hesitated, but at once made known her intention to her relatives. there seems to have been little or no opposition offered to a step so serious; in fact, her brothers and sisters, though much attached to her,--for her loving nature was irresistible,--evidently felt it a relief when she was gone, her strict and pious life being a constant rebuke to their worldly views and practices. her sister anna, at her urgent request, accompanied her on the voyage. this sister, the widow of an episcopal clergyman, though a defender of slavery as an institution, recognized its evil influences on the society where it existed, and gladly accepted the opportunity offered to take her young daughter away from them. it was necessary, too, that she should do something to increase her slender income, and sarah advised opening a small school in philadelphia,--a thing which she could not have done in charleston without a sacrifice of her own social position and of the family pride. there is nothing said of the parting, even from angelina, though we know it must have been a hard trial for sarah to leave this young sister, just budding into womanhood, and surrounded by all the snares whose alluring influences she understood so well. that she could consent to leave her thus is perhaps the strongest proof of her faith in the imperative nature of the summons to which she felt she was yielding obedience. the exiles reached philadelphia without accident in the latter part of may, . lodgings were found for mrs. frost and her child, and sarah went at once to the residence of her friend, israel morris. chapter iii. it is very much to be regretted that all of sarah grimké's letters to angelina, and to other members of her family at this time, were, at her own request, destroyed as received. they would not only have afforded most interesting reading, but would have thrown light on much which, without them, is necessarily obscure. nor were there more than twenty-five or thirty of angelina's letters preserved, and they were written between the years and . we therefore have but little data by which to follow sarah's life during the five years succeeding her return to philadelphia, and before she again went, to charleston; or angelina's life at home, during the same period. sarah's diary, frequently interrupted, continues to record her religious sorrows, for these followed her even into the peaceful home at "greenhill farm," the name of israel morris's place, where she was received and treated like a near and dear relative; and it was but natural and proper that she should be so accepted by the members of mr. morris's family. he was literally her only friend at the north. through his influence she had been brought into the quaker religion, and encouraged to leave her mother and native land. she was entirely unpractised in the ways of the world, and was besides in very narrow circumstances, her only available income being the interest on $ , , the sum left by judge grimké to each of his children. the estate had not yet been settled up. add to all this the virtue of hospitality, inculcated by the quaker doctrine, and it seems perfectly natural that sarah should accept the offer of her friend in the spirit in which it was made, and feel grateful to her heavenly father that such a refuge was provided for her. the notes in her journal for that summer are rather meagre. she attended meeting regularly, but made no formal application to be received into the society of friends. it would hardly have been considered so soon; she must first go through a season of probation. how hard this was is told in the lamentations and prayers which she confided to her diary. the "fearful act of disobedience" of which she was guilty in charleston lay as a heavy load on her spirit, troubling her thoughts by day and her dreams by night, until she says: "at times i am almost led to believe i shall never know good any more." notwithstanding these trying spiritual exercises, the summer seems to have passed in more peace than she had dared to hope for. israel morris was a truly good man, with a strong, genial nature, which must have had a soothing effect upon sarah's troubled spirit. but before many months her thoughts began to turn back to home. her mother's want of spirituality, from her standpoint, grieved her greatly. the accounts she received of the disorder in the family added to her anxieties, and she felt that her influence was needed to bring about harmony, and to guide her mother on the road to zion. she laid the case before the lord, and, receiving no intimation that she would be doing a wrong thing, she decided to return to charleston. before leaving philadelphia, however, she felt that it was her duty to assume the full quaker dress. she had worn plain colors from the time she began to attend meeting in her native city, but the clothes were not fashioned after the quaker style, and she still indulged herself in occasionally wearing a becoming black dress; though when she did so, she not only felt uncomfortable herself, but knew that she made many of her friends so. "persisting in so doing," she says, "i have since been made sensible, manifested a want of condescension entirely unbecoming a christian, and one day conviction was so strong on this subject, that, as i was dressing, i felt as if i could not proceed, but sat down with my dress half on, and these words passed through my mind: can it be of any consequence in the sight of god whether i wear a black dress or not? the evidence was clear that it was not, but that self-will was the cause of my continuing to do it. for this i suffered much, but was at length strengthened to cast away this idol." remembering the fashionable life she had once led, and her natural taste for the beautiful in all things, it must have been something of a sacrifice, even though sustained by her religious exaltation, to lay aside everything pretty and becoming, and, denying herself even so much as a flower from nature's own fields, to array herself in the scant and sober dress of drab, the untrimmed kerchief, and the poke bonnet. writing from greenhill in october, she says: "on last fifth day i changed my dress for the more plain one of the quakers, not because i think making my clothes in their peculiar manner makes me any better, but because i believe it was laid upon me, seeing that my natural will revolted from the idea of assuming this garb. i trust i have made this change in a right spirit, and with a single eye to my dear redeemer. it was accompanied by a feeling of much peace." late in the autumn she sailed for charleston, and was received by the home circle with affection, though her plain dress gave occasion for some slighting remarks. these, however, no longer affected her as they once had done, and she bore them in silence. surrounded by her family, all of whom she warmly loved, in spite of their want of sympathy with her, rooming with her "precious child," with full opportunity to counsel and direct her, and intent upon carrying out reform in the household, she was for a time almost contented. she took up her old routine, her charities, and her schools, and attended meeting regularly. but a very few weeks sufficed to make her realize her utter inability to harmonize the discordant elements in her home, or to make more than a transient impression upon her mother. day by day she became more discouraged; everything seemed to conspire to thwart her efforts for good, which were misconstrued and misunderstood. surrounded, too, and besieged by all the familiar influences of her old life, it became harder to sustain her peculiar views and habits, and spiritual luke-warmness gained rapidly upon her. with deep humility she acknowledged the mistake she had made in going back to charleston, which place was evidently not the vineyard in which she could labor to any profit. in july she was again in philadelphia, a member now of the family of catherine morris, sister to israel. here she remained until after her admission into friends' society, when, feeling it her duty to make herself independent of the friends who had been so kind to her, she cast about her for something to do, and was mortified and chagrined to find there was nothing suited to her capacity. "oh!" she exclaims, "had i received the education i desired, had i been bred to the profession of the law, i might have been a useful member of society, and instead of myself and my property being taken care of, i might have been a protector of the helpless, a pleader for the poor and unfortunate." the industrial avenues for women were few and narrow in those days; and for the want of some practical knowledge, the doors sarah grimké might have entered were closed to her, and she was finally forced to abandon her hopes of independence, and to again accept a home for the winter in israel morris's house, now in the city. it must not be supposed, however, that either here or at catherine's, where she afterwards made her steady home, she was a burden or a hindrance. she was too energetic and too conscientious to be a laggard anywhere. so kind and so thoughtful was she, so helpful in sickness, so sympathetic in joy and in sorrow, that she more than earned her frugal board wherever she went. could she only have been persuaded that it was right to yield to her naturally cheerful temper, she would have been a delightful companion at all times; but her sadness frequently affected her friends, and even drew forth an occasional reproof. the ministry, that dreadful requirement which she felt sure the lord would make of her, was ever before her, and in fear and trembling she awaited the moment when the command would be given, "arise and speak." this painful preparation went on year after year, but her advance towards her expected goal was very slow. she would occasionally nerve herself to speak a few words of admonition in a small meeting, make a short prayer, or quote a text of scripture, but her services were limited to these efforts. she often feared that she was restrained by her desire that her first attempt at exhorting should be a brilliant success, and place her at once where she would be a power in the meetings; and she prayed constantly for a clear manifestation, something she could not mistake, that she might not be tempted by the hope of relief from present suffering to move prematurely in the "awful work." thus she waited, trying to restrain and satisfy her impatient yearnings for some real, living work by teaching charity schools, visiting prisons, and going through the duties of monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings. but she could not shut out from herself the doubts that would force themselves forward, that her time was not employed as it should be. we hear nothing of her family during these years, nothing to indicate any change in their condition or in their feelings. we know, however, that sarah kept up a frequent correspondence with her mother and with angelina, and that chiefly through her admonitions the latter was turned from her worldly life to more serious concerns. like sarah, angelina grew up a gay, fashionable girl. her personal beauty and qualities of mind and heart challenged the admiration of all who came in contact with her. more brilliant than sarah, she was also more self-reliant, and, though quite as sympathetic and sensitive, she was neither so demonstrative nor so tender in her feelings as her elder sister, and her manner being more dignified and positive, she inspired, even in those nearest to her, a certain degree of awe which forbade, perhaps, the fulness of confidence which sarah's greater gentleness always invited. her frankness and scrupulous conscientiousness were equal to sarah's, but she always preserved her individuality and her right to think for herself. once convinced, she could maintain her opinion against all arguments and persuasions, no matter from whom. as an illustration of this, it is related of her that when she was about thirteen years of age the bishop of the diocese called to talk to her about being confirmed. she had, of course, been baptized when an infant, and he told her she was now old enough to take upon herself the vows then made for her. she asked the meaning of confirmation, and was referred to the prayer-book. after reading the rite over, she said:-- "i cannot be confirmed, for i cannot promise what is here required." the bishop urged that it was a form which all went through who had been baptized in the church, and expected to remain in it. looking him calmly in the face, she said, in a tone whose decision could not be questioned:-- "if, with my feelings and views as they now are, i should go through that form, it would be acting a lie. i cannot do it." and no persuasions could induce her to consent. like sarah, she felt much for the slaves, and was ever kind to them, thoughtful, and considerate. she, too, suffered keenly when punishments were inflicted upon them; and no one could listen without tears to the account she gave of herself, as a little girl, stealing out of the house after dark with a bottle of oil with which to anoint the wounds of some poor creature who had been torn by the lash. earlier than sarah, she recognized the whole injustice of the system, and refused ever to have anything to do with it. she did once own a woman, but under the following circumstances:-- "i had determined," she writes, "never to own a slave; but, finding that my mother could not manage kitty, i undertook to do so, if i could have her without any interference from anyone. this could not be unless she was mine, and purely from notions of duty i consented to own her. soon after, one of my mother's servants quarrelled with her, and beat her. i determined she should not be subject to such abuse, and i went out to find her a place in some christian family. my steps were ordered by the lord. i succeeded in my desire, and placed her with a religious friend, where she was kindly treated." afterwards, when the woman had become a good methodist, angelina transferred the ownership to her mother, not wishing to receive the woman's wages,--to take, as she said, money which that poor creature had earned. there is no evidence that, up to the time of her first visit to philadelphia, in , she saw anything sinful in owning slaves; indeed, sarah distinctly says she did not. she took the bible as authority for the right to own them, and their cruel treatment by their masters was all that distressed her for many years. like most of her young companions, angelina had great respect for the ordinary observances of religion without much devotional sense of its sacred obligations. but sarah did not neglect her duty as godmother. her searching inquiries and solemn warnings had their effect, and soon awakened a slumbering conscience. but its upbraidings were not accepted unquestionably by angelina, as they had been by sarah. they only stung her into a desire for investigation. she must know the why; and her strong self-reliance helped her judgment, and buoyed her up amid waves of doubt and anxiety that would have submerged her more timid sister. in the first letter of hers that was preserved, written in january, , we are introduced to her religious feelings, and find that they were formed by the pattern set by sarah, save that they lacked sarah's earnestness and sincere conviction. she acknowledges herself a poor, miserable sinner, but the tone is that of confidence that she will come out all right, and that it isn't really such a dreadful thing to be a sinner after all. in this letter, too, she mentions the death of her brother benjamin, and in the same spirit in which sarah wrote of it. "i was in beaufort," she says, "when the news of my dear ben's fate arrived. you may well suppose it was a great shock to my feelings, but i did not for one moment doubt all was right. this blow has been dealt by the hand of mercy. we have been much comforted in this dispensation. i have felt that it was good for me, and i think i have been thankful for it." and further on: "if this affliction will only make mary (benjamin's wife) a real christian, how small will be the price of her salvation!" poor ben! heroic, self-sacrificing soul, he was not a professing christian. in this same letter she expresses the desire to become a communicant of the episcopal church. but she did not wait for sarah's answer. before it came, she and one of her sisters had joined the church. this was in january. before a month had passed she began to be dissatisfied, and grew more and more so as time went on. why, it is not difficult to surmise. from having been accustomed to much society and genial intercourse, she found herself, from her own choice, shut out from it all, and imprisoned within the rigid formalism and narrow exclusiveness of a proud, aristocratic church society. the compensation of knowing herself a lamb of this flock was not sufficient. she starved, she says, on the cold water of episcopacy, and, to her mother's distress, began going to the presbyterian church, just as sarah had done. in april, she writes thus to her sister:-- "o, my dear mother, i have joyful news to tell you. god has given me a new heart. he has renewed a right spirit within me. this is news which has occasioned even the angels in heaven to rejoice; surely, then, as a christian, as my sister and my mother, you will also greatly rejoice. for many years i hardened my heart, and would not listen to god's admonitions to flee from the wrath to come. now i feel as if i could give up all for christ, and that if i no longer live in conformity to the world, i can be saved." she then states that this change was brought about by the preaching of mr. mcdowell, the presbyterian minister, and that she can never be grateful enough, as his ministry had been blessed to the saving of her soul. a little further on she adds:-- "the presbyterians, i think, enjoy so many privileges that, on this account, i would wish to be one. they have their monthly concert and prayer-meetings, bible-classes, weekly prayer-meetings, morning and evening, and many more which spring from different circumstances. i trust, my dear mother, you will approve of what i have done. i cannot but think if i had been taking an improper step, my conscience would have warned me of it, but, far otherwise, i have gone on my way rejoicing. "mr. hanckel sent me a note and a tract persuasive of my remaining in his church. the latter i think the most bigoted thing i ever read. he said he would call and see me on the subject. i trust and believe god will give me words whereby to refute his arguments. brother tom sanctioned my change, for his liberal mind embraces all classes of christians in the arms of charity and love, and he thinks everyone right to sit under that minister, and choose that form, which makes the deepest impression on the heart. i feel that i have begun a great work, and must be diligent. adieu, my dear mother. you must write soon to your daughter, and tell her all your mind on this subject." there is something very refreshing in all this, after poor sarah's pages of bitterness and self-reproach. at that time, at any rate, angelina enjoyed her religion. it was to her the fulfilment of promise. sarah experienced little of its satisfactions, and groaned and wept under its requirements, from a sense of her utter unworthiness to accept any of its blessings. and this difference between the sisters continued always. angelina knew that humility was the chief of the christian virtues, and often she believed she had attained to it; but there was too much self-assertion, too much of the pride of power, in her composition, to permit her to go down into the depths, and prostrate herself in the dust as sarah did. she could turn her full gaze to the sun, and bask in its genial beams, while sarah felt unworthy to be touched by a single ray, and looked up to its light with imploring but shaded eyes. in november, , sarah again visited charleston. her heart yearned for angelina, whose religious state excited her tenderest solicitude, and called for her wisest counsel. for that enthusiastic young convert was again running off the beaten track, and picking flaws in her new doctrines. but there was another reason why sarah desired to absent herself from philadelphia for a while. i can touch but lightly on this experience of her life, for her sensitive soul quivered under any allusion to it; and though her diary contains many references to it, they are chiefly in the form of prayers for submission to her trial, and strength to bear it. but it was the key-note to the dirge which sounded ever after in her heart, mingling its mournful numbers with every joy, even after she had risen beyond her religious horrors. for months she fought against this new snare of satan, as she termed it, this plain design to draw her thoughts from god, and compass her destruction. the love of christ should surely be enough for her, and any craving for earthly affection was the evidence of an unsanctified heart. in a delicate reference to this, in after years, she says:-- "it is a beautiful theory, but my experience belies it, that god can be all in all to man. there are moments, diamond points in life, when god fills the yearning soul, and supplies all our needs, through the richness of his mercy in christ jesus. but human hearts are created for human hearts to love and be loved by, and their claims are as true and as sacred as those of the spirit." it was very soon after her first doubts concerning her worthiness to accept the happiness offered to her that she determined to go to charleston and put her feelings to the test of absence and unbiased reflection. the entry in her diary of november d is as follows:-- "landed this morning in charleston, and was welcomed by my dear mother with tears of pleasure and tenderness, as she folded me once more to her bosom. my dear sisters, too, greeted me with all the warmth of affection. it is a blessing to find them all seriously disposed, and my precious angelina one of the master's chosen vessels. what a mercy!" chapter iv. the strong contrast between sarah and angelina grimké was shown not only in their religious feelings, but in their manner of treating the ordinary concerns of life, and in carrying out their convictions of duty. in her humility, and in her strong reliance on the "inner light," sarah refused to trust her own judgment, even in the merest trifles, such as the lending of a book to a friend, postponing the writing of a letter, or sweeping a room to-day, when it might be better to defer it until to-morrow. she says of this: "perhaps to some who have been led by higher ways than i have been into a knowledge of the truth, it may appear foolish to think of seeking direction in little things, but my mind has for a long time been in a state in which i have often felt a fear how i came in or went out, and i have found it a precious thing to stop and consult the mind of truth, and be governed thereby." the following incident, one out of many, will illustrate the sincerity of her conviction on this point. "in this frame of mind i went to meeting, and it being a rainy day i took a large, handsome umbrella, which i had accepted from brother henry, accepted doubtfully, therefore wrongfully, and have never felt quite easy to use it, which, however, i have done a few times. after i was in meeting, i was much tried with a wandering mind, and every now and then the umbrella would come before me, so that i sat trying to wait on my god, and he showed me that i must not only give up this little thing, but return it to brother. glad to purchase peace, i yielded; then the reasoner said i could put it away and not use it, but this language was spoken: 'i have shown thee what was required of thee.' it seemed to me that a little light came through a narrow passage, when my will was subdued. now this is a marvellous thing to me, as marvellous as the dealings of the lord with me in what may appear great things." in a note she adds: "this little sacrifice was made. i sent the umbrella with an affectionate note to brother, and believe it gave him no offence to have it returned. and sweet has been the recompense--even peace." whenever she acted from her own impulses, she was very clever in finding out some disappointment or mistake, which she could claim as a punishment for her self-will. as sympathy was the strongest quality of her moral nature, she suffered intensely when, impelled by a sense of duty, she offered a rebuke of any kind. the tenderest pity stirred her heart for wrong-doers, and though she never spared the sinner, it was always manifest that she loved him while hating his sin. angelina, on the other hand, was wonderfully well satisfied with her own power of distinguishing right from wrong; this power being, she believed, the gift of the spirit to her. she sought her object, dreading no consequences, and if disaster followed she comforted herself with the feeling that she had acted according to her best light. she was a faithful disciple of every cause she espoused, and scrupulously exact in obeying even its implied provisions. in this there was no hesitancy. no matter who was offended, or what sacrifices to herself it involved, the law, the strict letter of the law, must be carried out. in the early years of her religious life, she frequently felt called upon to rebuke those about her. she did it unhesitatingly, and as a righteous and an inflexible judge. in order to make these differences between the sisters more plain, differences which harmonized singularly with their unity in other respects, i shall be obliged, at the risk of wearying the reader, to make some further extracts from their diaries, before entering upon that portion of their lives in which they became so closely identified. after sarah's return home, in , we learn more of her mother and of the family generally, and see, though with them, how far apart she really was from them. the second entry in her diary at that date shows the beginning of this. " d. have been favored with strength to absent myself from family prayers. a great trial this to angelina and myself, and something the rest cannot understand. but i have a testimony to bear against will worship, and oh, that i may be faithful to this and to all the testimonies which we as a society are called to declare. " th. am this day thirty-five years old. a serious consideration that i have passed so many years to so little profit. "how little mother seems to know when i am sitting solemnly beside her, of the supplications which arise for her, under the view of her having ere long to give an account of the deeds done in the body." a month later she writes: "the subject of returning to philadelphia has been revived before me. it seems like a fresh trial, and as if, did my master permit, here would i stay, and in the bosom of my family be content to dwell; but if he orders it otherwise, great as will be the struggle, may i submit in humble faith." by the following extracts it will be seen that living under the daily and hourly influence of sarah, angelina was slowly but surely imbibing the fresh milk of quakerism, and was preparing for another great change on her spiritual journey. in march, , she wrote as follows to her sister, mrs. frost, in philadelphia:-- "i think i can say that it was owing in a great measure to my peculiar state of mind that i did not write to you for so long. during that time it seemed as though the lord was driving me from everything on which i had rested for happiness, in order to bring me to christ alone. my dear little church, in which i delighted once to dwell, seemed to have ichabod written upon its walls, and i felt as though it was a cross for me to go into it. at times i thought the saviour meant to bring me out of it, and i could weep at the bare thought of being separated from people i loved so dearly. like abraham, i had gone out from my kindred into a strange land, and i have often thought that by faith i was joined to that body of christians, for i certainly knew nothing at all about them at that time." in the latter part of the letter she mentions the visit to her of an episcopal minister, from near beaufort. he asked her if she could not do something to remove the lukewarmness from the episcopal church, and if a real evangelical minister was sent there would she not return to it. "but," she says, "i told him i could not conscientiously belong to any church which exalted itself above all others, and excluded ministers of other denominations from its pulpit. the principle of _liberty_ is what especially endears the presbyterian church to me. our pulpit is open to all christians, and, as i have often heard my dear pastor remark, our communion table is the _lord's table_, and all his children are cheerfully received at it." about the same time sarah says in her diary: "my dear angelina observed to-day, 'i do not know what is the matter with me; some time ago i could talk to the poor people, but now it seems as if my lips were absolutely sealed. i cannot get the words out.' i mark with intense interest her progress in the divine life, believing she is raised up to declare the wonderful works of god to the children of men." in the latter part of march, , she makes the following entry: "on the eve of my departure from home, all before me lies in darkness save this one step, to go at this time in the _langdon cheeves_. this seems peremptory, and at times precious promises have been annexed to obedience,--'go, and i will be with thee.'" angelina had been very happy during the year spent in the presbyterian church, all its requirements suiting her temperament exactly. her energy and activity found full exercise in various works of charity, in visiting the prison, where she delighted to exhort the prisoners, in reading, and especially in expounding the scriptures to the sick and aged; in zealously forwarding missionary work, and in warm interest in all the social exercises of the society. she was petted by the pastor, and admired by the congregation. it was very pleasant to her to feel that she not only conformed to all her duties, but was regarded as a shining light, destined to do much to build up the church. she still retained most of her old friendships in the episcopal church, which had not given up all hope of luring her back to its fold. altogether, life had gone smoothly with her, and she was well satisfied. the change which she now contemplated was a revolution. it was to break up all the old habits and associations, disturb life-long friendships, and, stripping her of the attractions of society and church intercourse, leave her standing alone, a spectacle to the eyes of those who gazed, a wonder and a grief to her friends. but all this sarah had warned her of, and all this she felt able to endure. self-sacrifice, self-immolation, in fact, was what sarah taught; and, although angelina never learned the lesson fully, she made a conscientious effort to understand and practise it. she began very shortly after sarah's arrival at home. in january her diary records the following offering made to the moloch of quakerism:-- "to-day i have torn up my novels. my mind has long been troubled about them. i did not dare either to sell them or lend them out, and yet i had not resolution to destroy them until this morning, when, in much mercy, strength was granted." sarah in her diary thus refers to this act: "this morning my dear angelina proposed destroying scott's novels, which she had purchased before she was serious. perhaps i strengthened her a little, and accordingly they were cut up. she also gave me some elegant articles to stuff a cushion, believing that, as we were commanded to lead holy and unblamable lives, so we must not sanction sin in others by giving them what we had put away ourselves." angelina also says, "a great deal of my finery, too, i have put beyond the reach of anyone." an explanation of this is given in a copy of a paper which was put into the cushion alluded to by sarah. the copy is in her handwriting. "believing that if ever the contents of this cushion, in the lapse of years, come to be inspected (when, mayhap, its present covering should be destroyed by time and service), they will excite some curiosity in those who will behold the strange assemblage of handsome lace veils, flounces, and trimmings, and caps, this may inform them that in the winter of - , sarah m. grimké, being on a visit to her friends in charleston, undertook the economical task of making a rag carpet, and with the shreds thereof concluded to stuff this cushion. having made known her intention, she solicited contributions from all the family, which they furnished liberally, and several of them having relinquished the vanities of the world to seek a better inheritance, they threw into the treasury much which they had once used to decorate the poor tabernacle of clay. now it happened that on the th day of the first month that, sitting at her work and industriously cutting her scraps, her well-beloved sister angelina proposed adding to the collection for the cushion two handsome lace veils, a lace flounce, and other laces, etc., which were accepted, and are accordingly in this medley. this has been done under feelings of duty, believing that, as we are called with a high and holy calling, and forbidden to adorn these bodies, but to wear the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, as we have ourselves laid aside these superfluities of naughtiness, so we should not in any measure contribute to the destroying of others, knowing that we shall be called to give an account of the deeds done in the body." this was at least consistent, and in this light cannot be condemned. from that time angelina kept up this kind of sacrifices, which were gladly made, and for which she seems to have found ample compensation in her satisfied sense of duty. one day she records: "i have just untrimmed my hat, and have put nothing but a band of ribbon around it, and taken the lace out of the inside. i do want, if i _am_ a christian, to look like one. i think that professors of religion ought so to dress that wherever they are seen all around may feel they are _condemning_ the world and all its trifling vanities." a little later, she writes: "my attention has lately been called to the duty of christians dressing _quite_ plain. when i was first brought to the feet of jesus, i learned this lesson in part, but i soon forgot much of it. now i find my views stricter and clearer than they ever were. the first thing i gave up was a cashmere mantle which cost twenty dollars. i had not felt easy with it for some months, and finally determined never to wear it again, though i had no money at the time to replace it with anything else. however, i gave it up in faith, and the lord provided for me. this part of scripture came very forcibly to my mind, and very sweetly, too, 'and dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the lord.' it was then clearly revealed to me that if the true ark christ jesus was really introduced into the temple of the heart, that every idol would fall before it." elsewhere she mentions that she had begun with this mantle by cutting off the border; but this compromise did not satisfy conscience. but the work thus begun did not ripen until some time after sarah's departure, though the preparation for it went daily and silently on. sarah in the meanwhile was once more quietly settled at catherine morris' house in philadelphia. but we must leave this much-tried pilgrim for a little while, and record the progress of her young disciple on the path which, through much tribulation, led her at last to her sister's side, and to that work which was even now preparing for them both. chapter v. angelina's diary, commenced in , is most characteristic, and in the very beginning shows that inclination to the consideration and discussion of serious questions which in after years so distinguished her. it is rather remarkable to find a girl of twenty-three scribbling over several pages about the analogy existing between the natural and the spiritual world, or discussing with herself the question: "are seasons of darkness always occasioned by sin?" or giving a long list of reasons why she differs from commentators upon certain texts of scriptures. she enjoyed this kind of thinking and writing, and seems to have been unwearying in her search after authorities to sustain her views. the maxims, too, which she was fond of jotting down here and there, and which furnished the texts for long dissertations, show the serious drift of her thoughts, and their clearness and beauty. from this time it is interesting to follow her spiritual progress, so like and yet so unlike sarah's. she, also, early in her religious life, was impressed with the feeling that she would be called to some great work. in the winter of , she writes:-- "it does appear to me, and it has appeared so ever since i had a hope, that there was a work before me to which all my other duties and trials were only preparatory. i have no idea what it is, and i may be mistaken, but it does seem that if i am obedient to the 'still small voice' in my heart, that it will lead me and cause me to glorify my master in a more honorable work than any in which i have been yet engaged." knowing sarah's convictions at this time, it is easy to imagine the long, confidential talks she must have had with angelina, and the loving persuasion used to bring this dear sister into the same communion with herself, and it is no marvel that she succeeded. angelina's nature was an earnest one, and she ever sought the truth, and the best in every doctrine, and this remained with her after the rest was rejected. the presbyterian church satisfied her better than the episcopal, but if sarah or anyone else could show her a brighter light to guide her, a better path leading to the same goal, she would have thought it a heinous offence against god and her own true nature to reject it. that no desire for novelty impelled her in her then contemplated change, and that she foresaw all she would have to contend with, and the sacrifices she would have to make, is evident from several passages like the following:-- "yesterday i was thrown into great exercise of mind. the lord more clearly than ever unfolded his design of appointing me another field of labor, and at the same time i felt released from the cross of conducting family worship. i feel that very soon all the burdens will drop from my hands, and all the cords by which i have been bound to many christian friends will be broken asunder. soon i shall be a stranger among those with whom i took sweet counsel, and shall have to tread the wine press alone and be forsaken of all." a day or two after she says:-- "this morning i felt no condemnation when i went into family prayers, and did not lead as usual in the duties. i felt that my master had stripped me of the priest's garments, and put them on my mother. may he be pleased to anoint her for these sacred duties." her impressions may be accounted for by the influence of sarah's feelings regarding herself, and as there was then no other field of public usefulness open to women, especially among the quakers, than the ministry, her mind naturally settled upon that as her prospective work. but, unlike sarah, the anticipation inspired her with no dread, no doubt even of her ability to perform the duties, or of her entire acceptance in them. it is true she craved of the lord guidance and help, but she was confident she would receive all she needed, and in this state of mind she was better fitted, perhaps, to wait patiently for her summons than sarah was. she gives a minute and very interesting account of the successive steps by which she was led to feel that she could no longer worship in the presbyterian church, and we see the workings of sarah's influence through it all. but it was not until after sarah left for philadelphia that angelina took any decided measures to release herself from the old bonds. all winter it had grieved her to think of leaving a church which she had called the cradle of her soul, and where she had enjoyed so many privileges. she loved everything connected with it; the pastor to whom she had looked up as her spiritual guide; the members with whom she had been so intimately associated, and the sunday-school in which she was much beloved, and where she felt she was doing a good work. again and again she asked herself: "how can i give them up?" her friends all noticed the decline of her interest in the church work and services, and commented upon it. but she shrank for a long time from any open avowal of her change of views, preferring to let her conduct tell the story. and in this she was straightforward and open enough, not hesitating to act at once upon each new light as it was given to her. first came the putting away of everything like ornament about her dress. "even the bows on my shoes," she says, "must go," and then continues:-- "my friends tell me that i render myself ridiculous, and expose the cause of jesus to reproach, on account of my plain dressing. they tell me it is wrong to make myself so conspicuous. but the more i ponder on the subject, the more i feel that i am called with a high and holy calling, and that i ought to be peculiar, and cannot be too zealous. i rejoice to look forward to the time when christians will follow the apostolical injunction to 'keep their garments unspotted from the world;' and is not every conformity to it a spot on the believer's character? i think it is, and i bless the lord that he has been pleased to bring my mind to a contemplation of this subject. i pray that he may strengthen me to keep the resolution to dress always in the following style: a hat over the face, without any bows of ribbon or lace; no frills or trimmings on any part of my dress, and materials _not_ the finest." this simplicity in dress, and the sinfulness of every self-indulgence, she also taught to her sunday-school scholars with more or less success, as one example out of several of a similar character will show. "yesterday," she writes, "i met my class, and think it was a profitable meeting to all. one of them has entertained a hope for about a year. she asked me if i thought it wrong to plant geraniums? i told her _i_ had no time for such things. she then said that she had once taken great pleasure in cultivating them, but lately she had felt so much condemnation that she had given it up entirely. another professed to have some little hope in the saviour, and remarked that i had changed her views with regard to dress very much, that she had taken off her rings and flounces, and hoped never to wear them again. her hat also distressed her. it was almost new, and she could not afford to get another. i told her if she would send it to me i would try to change it. two others came who felt a little, but are still asleep. a good work is evidently begun. may it be carried triumphantly on." towards spring she began to absent herself from the weekly prayer-meetings, to stop her active charities, and to withdraw herself more from the family and social circle. in april she writes in her diary:-- "my mind is composed, and i cannot but feel astonished at the total change which has passed over me in the last six months. i once delighted in going to meeting four and five times every week, but now my master says, 'be still,' and i would rather be at home; for i find that every stream from which i used to drink the waters of salvation is dry, and that i have been led to the fountain itself. and is it possible, i would ask myself to-night, is it possible that i have this day paid my last visit to the presbyterian church? that i have taught my interesting class for the last time? is it right that i should separate myself from a people whom i have loved so tenderly, and who have been the helpers of my joy? is it right to give up instructing those dear children, whom i have so often carried in the arms of faith and love to the throne of grace? reason would sternly answer, _no_, but the spirit whispers, 'come out from among them!' i am sure if i refuse the call of my master to the society of friends, i shall be a dead member in the presbyterian church. i have read none of their books for fear of being convinced of their principles, but the lord has taught me himself, and i feel that he who is head over all things, has called me to follow him into the little silent meeting which is in this city." and into the little silent meeting she went,--little, indeed, as the only regular attendants were two old men; and silent, chiefly because between these two there was a bitter feud, and the communion of spirit was naturally preferred to vocal intercession. when angelina became aware of this state of feeling, and saw that the two old quakers always left the meeting-house without shaking hands, as it was the custom to do, she became much troubled, and for several weeks much of the comfort of attending meeting was destroyed. "the more i thought of it," she writes to sarah, "the clearer became the conviction that i must write to j.k. (the one with whom she was best acquainted). this i did, after asking counsel of the lord, for full well did i know that i should expose myself to the anger and rudeness of j.k., by touching on a point which i believed was already sore from the prickings of conscience. his reply was even harsher than i expected; but, though it did wound my feelings, it convinced me that he needed just what i wrote, and that the pure witness within him condemned him. my letter, i think, was written in conformity to the direction given by paul to timothy, 'rebuke not an _elder_, but entreat him as a father,' and in a spirit of love and tenderness. his answer spoke a spirit too proud to brook even the meekest remonstrance, and he tried to justify his conduct by saying that d.l. was a thief and a slave-holder, and had cheated him out of a large sum of money, etc. i answered him, expressing my belief that, let d.l.'s moral character be what it might, the christian ought to be gentle and courteous to all men; and that we were bound to love our enemies, which was not at all inconsistent with the obligation to bear a decided testimony against all that we believed contrary to the precepts of the bible. he sent me another letter, in which he declared d.l. was to him as a 'heathen and a publican,' and i was a 'busybody in other men's matters.' here i think the matter will end. i feel that i have done what was required of me, and i am willing he should think of me as he does, so long as i enjoy the testimony of a good conscience." we cannot wonder that angelina drew upon herself, as sarah had done, the arrows of ridicule; and that taunts and sneers followed her, as she walked alone in her simple dress to her humble place of worship. but we marvel that one situated as she was,--young, naturally gay and brilliant, the centre of a large circle of fashionable friends, the ewe lamb of an influential religious society,--should have unflinchingly maintained her position under persecutions and trials that would have made many an older disciple succumb. that they were martyrdom to her proud spirit there can be no doubt; but, sustained by the inner light, the conviction that she was right, she could put every temptation behind her, and resist even the prayers and tears of her mother. her withdrawal from the presbyterian church caused the most intense excitement in the community, and every effort was made to reclaim her. the rev. mr. mcdowell, her pastor, visited her, and remonstrated with her in the most feeling manner, assuring her of his profound pity, as she was evidently under a delusion of the arch-adversary. members of the congregation made repeated calls upon her, urging every argument they could think of to convince her she was deceived. some expressed a fear that her mind was a little unbalanced, and shook their heads over the possible result; others declared that she was committing a great impropriety to shut herself up every sunday with two old men. this, angelina informed them, was a mistake, as the windows and doors were wide open, and the gate also. others of her friends assured her with tears in their eyes that they would pray to the lord to bring her back to the path of duty she had forsaken. the superintendent of the sunday-school came also to plead with her, in the name of the children she was abandoning. some of the scholars themselves came and implored her not to leave them. "but," she writes, "none of these things turn me a hair's breadth, for i have the witness in myself that i have done as the master commanded. some tell me this is a judgment on me for sin committed; and some say it is a chastisement to mr. mcdowell for going away last summer." (during the prevalence of an epidemic the summer before, the presbyterian pastor had been much blamed for deserting his flock and fleeing to the sea-shore until all danger was past.) by all this it will be seen that angelina was regarded as too precious a jewel in the crown of the church to be relinquished without a struggle. but satisfied as was her conscience, angelina's natural feelings could not be immediately stifled. though not so sensitive or so affectionate as sarah, she was quite as proud, and valued as greatly the good opinion of her family and friends. she could not feel herself an outcast, an object of pity and derision, without being deeply affected by it. her health gave way under the pressure, and a change of scene and climate was recommended. sarah at once urged that she join her in philadelphia; and, this meeting the approbation of her mother, she sailed for the north in july ( ). in sarah's diary, about this time, we find the following entry:-- " th. my beloved angelina arrived yesterday. peace has, i believe, been the covering of our minds; and in thinking of her to-day, and trying to feel whether i should advise her not to adopt immediately the garb of a quaker, the language presented itself, 'touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.' so i dared not meddle with her." the summer was a peaceful and delightful one to angelina. she was the guest of catherine morris, and was treated like a daughter by all the kind quaker circle. the novelty of her surroundings, the fresh scenes and new ideas constantly presented before her, opened up a field of thought whose boundaries only she had until then touched, but which she soon began eagerly and conscientiously to explore. two extracts from letters written by her at that time will show how strict she was in her quaker principles, and also that the persuasion that she was to be given some great work to do was becoming even more firmly grounded. to sarah, who was absent from her for a short time, she writes:-- "dear mother: my mind begins to be much exercised. i scarcely want to converse at all, and believe it best i should be much alone. sister anna is very kind in leaving me to myself. she appears to feel much for me, but i do not feel at liberty to ask her what occasions the tears which at times flow as she throws her arms around me. i sometimes think she sees more than i do about myself. i often tremble when i think of the future, and fear that i am not entirely resigned to my master's will. read the first chapter of jeremiah; it rests much on my mind, and distresses me; and though i would wish to put far off the evil day, yet i am urged continually to pray that the lord would cut short the work of preparation." her sister anna (mrs. frost) was one of those who thought angelina was under a terrible delusion, and mourned over her wasted energies. but it is certainly singular that the chapter to which she refers, taken in connection with the work with which she afterwards became identified, should have made the impression on her mind which it evidently did, as she repeatedly alludes to it. this letter is the last in which she addresses sarah as _mother_. their quaker friends all objected to the habit, and it was dropped. in another letter she describes a visit she made to a friend in the country, and says:-- "i have already had reason to feel my great need of watchfulness here. yesterday the nurse gave me a cap to tuck and trim for the baby. my hands actually trembled as i worked on it, and yet i had not faithfulness enough to refuse to do it. this text was repeatedly presented to me, 'happy is he who condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.' while working, my heart was lifted up to the father of mercies for strength to bear my testimony against such vanities; and when i put the cap into clara's hands, i begged her not to give me any more such work to do, as i felt it a duty to bear my testimony against dress, and believed it sinful in me to assist anyone in doing what i was convinced was sinful, and assured her of my willingness to do any plain work. she laughed at my scruples, but my agitated mind was calmed, and i was satisfied to be thought foolish for christ's sake. thomas (clara's husband) and i had along talk about quakers yesterday. i tried to convince him that they do not reject the bible, explained the reason of their not calling it the word of god, and got him to acknowledge that in several texts i repeated the word was the spirit. we conversed on the ordinances. he did not argue much for them, but was immovable in his opinions. he thinks if all quakers were like _me_, he could like them, but believes i have carried all the good of presbyterianism into the society, therefore they cannot be judged of by me." on the th of november sarah writes: "parted with my dearly beloved sister angelina this afternoon. we have been one another's consolation and strength in the lord, mingling sweetly in exercise, and bearing one another's burdens." the first entry in angelina's diary after her return to charleston is as follows: "once more in the bosom of my family. my prayer is that our coming together may be for the better, not for the worse." considering the agitation which had been going on at the north for several years concerning slavery, we must suppose that angelina and sarah grimké heard it frequently discussed, and had its features brought before them in a stronger light than that in which they had previously viewed them. in sarah's mind, absorbed as it was at that time by her own sorrows and by the deeply-rooted conviction of her prospective and dreaded call to the ministry, there appears to have been no room for any other subject, if we except the strife then going on in the quaker church, and which called forth all her sympathy for the orthodox portion, and her strong denunciation of the hicksites. but upon angelina every word she heard against the institution which she had always abhorred, but accepted as a necessary evil, made an indelible impression, which deepened when she was again face to face with its odious lineaments. this begins to show itself soon after her return home, as will be seen by the following extract:-- "since my arrival i have enjoyed a continuation of that rest from exercise of mind which began last spring, until to-night. my soul is sorrowful, and my heart bleeds. i am ready to exclaim, when shall i be released from this land of slavery! but if my suffering for these poor creatures can at all ameliorate their condition, surely i ought to be quite willing, and i can now bless the lord that my labor is not all in vain, though much remains to be done yet." the secluded and inactive life she now led confirmed the opinion of her presbyterian friends that she was a backslider in the divine life. i must reserve for another chapter the recital of angelina's efforts to open the eyes of the members of her household to the unchristian life they were leading, and the sins they were multiplying on their heads by their treatments of those they held in bondage. chapter vi. many things about the home life which habit had prevented angelina from remarking before, now, since her visit among friends, struck her as sinful, and inconsistent with a christian profession. only a few days after her return, she thus writes in her diary:-- "i am much tried at times at the manner in which i am obliged to live here in so much luxury and ease, and raised so far above the poor, and spending so much on my board. i want to live in plainness and simplicity and economy, for so should every christian do. i am at a loss how to act, for if i live with mother, which seems the proper place for me, i must live in this way in a great degree. it is true i can always take the plainest food, and this i do generally, believing that whether at home or abroad i ought to eat nothing i think too sumptuous for a _servant_ of jesus christ. for this reason, when i took tea at a minister's house a few evenings since, i did not touch the richest cakes, nor the fruit and nuts handed, after tea; and when paying a visit the other morning, i refused cake and wine, although i felt fatigued, and would have liked something plain to eat. but it is not only the food i eat at mother's, but the whole style of living is a direct departure from the simplicity that is in christ. the lord's poor tell me they do not like to come to such a fine house to see me; and if they come, instead of being able to read a lesson of frugality, and deadness to the world, they must go away lamenting over the inconsistency of a sister professor. one thing is very hard to bear--i feel obliged to pay five dollars a week for board, though i disapprove of this extravagance, and am actually accessory in maintaining this style of living, when i know it is wrong, and am thereby prevented from giving to the poor as liberally as i would like." she and sarah had for several years, when at home, paid board regularly to their mother, and this was probably one thing which irritated the other members of the family, several of whom were living in idleness on their mother, doing nothing and paying nothing. the brothers at least could not but feel the implied rebuke. as we have seen, she was not at all backward in expressing her disapprobation, when she found her silent testimony was disregarded or misunderstood; and her language was generally rather forcible. this, of course, was trying to those who did not see the necessity of living according to her standard, and very trying to angelina, whose convictions were clear, and whose interest in her relatives was as tender as it was sincere. scarcely a day passed that something did not occur to wound her feelings, shock her religious prejudices, or arouse her righteous indignation. slavery was always the cause of the latter, and for the others ample reason was to be found in what she styled the vain lusts of the world, and in the coldness and irritability of some members of the family. unrestrained self-indulgence, joined to high-strung and undisciplined tempers, made of what should have been a united, bright, and charming home circle, a place of constant discord, jealousy, and unhappiness. sarah had borne this state of things better than angelina could, her extreme gentleness and kindness disarming all unkind feelings in others. but even she was forced to flee from it at last. the record is a most painful one, and it gives another evidence of angelina's sense of her own power, and of her reliance on divine help, that she should for one moment have contemplated effecting any change. but the respite from those dissensions, and the rest thus given to her spirit by her visit north, softened the bitter feelings she had once entertained, and when she returned home it was with sentiments of affection for everyone, and especially for her mother, from whom she had been grievously estranged. she prayed that she might not do or say anything to alienate them further from her; but when she fully realized, as she had never yet done, the sad condition of things, she could not keep silent. she felt it her duty to speak, and she did so, kindly and affectionately, but unsparingly. she relates many incidents proving this, and showing also how badly her reproofs were received. the mistake she made, and which in after years she freely acknowledged, was in excess of zeal. but angelina was a born radical, and if a thing was wrong, it was wrong, and she could not see why it should not be righted at once. temporizing with a wrong, or compromising with it in any way, were things outside of her reasoning, and she never would admit that they were justifiable under any circumstances. it was, of course, difficult to apply this principle in the desired reform of her mother's inherited and life-long prejudices. hence the incessant chafing and irritation which daily made angelina feel more keenly her isolated position, and caused her to turn with increasing longing to the north, where her beloved sister and many dear friends were in sympathy with her. to illustrate what i have said, one or two examples will be sufficient. she was much troubled because her mother had the drawing-room repainted and handsomely papered. mrs. grimké doubtless selected a paper in harmony with the house and furniture, and had no suspicion that she was thereby committing a sin. but angelina thought it entirely too fine, and felt that she could never sit in the room. when the work was at last finished, and some friends were invited to tea, and afterwards repaired to the newly-decorated apartment, angelina did not accompany them, but remained below, reading alone, much disturbed during the evening by the talking and laughing up stairs. her mother did not notice her absence, or ascribed it to some other cause; but angelina explained it to her some time afterwards, when, she says, a way seemed to open for it. "i spoke to her of how great a trial it was to me to see her living in the luxury she did, and explained to her that it was not, as she seemed to think, because i did not wish to see brother john and sister sally that i was tried at their dining here every week, but it was the parade and profusion which was displayed when they came. i spoke also of the drawing-room, and remarked it was as much my feeling about _that_ which had prevented my coming into the room when m.a. and others drank tea here, as my objection to fashionable company. she said it was very hard that she could not give her children what food she chose, or have a room papered, without being found fault with; that, indeed, she was weary of being continually blamed about everything she did, and she wished she could be let alone, for she saw no sin in these things. 'i trust,' i said, 'that i do not speak to thee, mother, in the spirit thou art now speaking to me; nothing but my conviction that i am bound to bear my testimony to the truth could induce me to find fault with thee. in doing so, i am acting with eternity in view. i am acting in reference to that awful hour when i shall stand at thy death-bed, or thou by mine.' interrupting me, she said if _i_ was so constantly found fault with, i would not bear it either; for her part, she was quite discouraged. 'oh, mother,' said i, 'there is something in thee so alienated from the love of christ that thou canst not bear to be found fault with.' 'yes,' she said, 'you and sally always say _i_ speak in a wrong spirit, but both of you in a right one.' she then went on to say how much i was changed, about slavery, for instance, for when i was first serious i thought it was right, and never condemned it. i replied that i acted according to the light i had. 'well, then,' she continued, 'you are not to expect everyone to think like quakers.' i remarked that true believers had but one leader, who would, if they followed him, guide them into all truth, and teach them the same things. she again spoke of my turning quaker, and said it was because i was a quaker that i disapproved of a great many things that nobody but quakers could see any harm in. i was much roused at this, and said with a good deal of energy, 'dear mother, what but the _power_ of god could ever have made _me_ change my sentiments?' some very painful conversation followed about kitty. i did not hesitate to say that no one with _christian_ feelings could have treated her as she was treated before i took her; her condition was a disgrace to the name of christian. she reminded me that _i_ had advised the very method that had been adopted with her. this stung me to the quick. 'not after i professed christianity,' i eagerly replied, 'and that i should have done so before, only proved the wretched manner of my education.' but mother is perfectly blind as to the miserable manner in which she brought us up. during the latter part of the conversation i was greatly excited, for so acute have been my sufferings on account of slavery, and so strong my feelings of indignation in looking upon its oppressions and degradations, that i cannot command my feelings in speaking of what my own eyes have seen, and thus, i believe, i lost the satisfaction i should otherwise have felt for speaking the truth." though constantly disregarded, taunted, and thwarted, angelina faithfully persevered in her efforts at reform, at the same time as faithfully striving after more meekness and singleness of purpose herself. after a while, she obtained two concessions from which she hoped much: one, that the servants should come to her in the library every day for religious instruction; the other, that her mother would sit with her in silence every evening for half an hour before tea. the servants came as directed, and angelina made her instructions so interesting that soon some of the neighbors' servants asked to be admitted, and then her mother and one or two of her sisters joined the meetings; and though no very marked fruit of her labors appeared for some time, she persevered, with a firm faith that the seed she was sowing would not all be scattered to the winds. the proposal to her mother to sit in silence for a while with her every evening was in accordance with the quaker practices. she thought they would both find it profitable, and that it would be the means of forming a bond of union between them. the mother's assent to this was certainly an amiable concession to her daughter's views, enhanced by the regularity with which she kept the appointment, although the dark, silent room must have been at times a trifle wearisome. angelina always sat on a low seat beside her, with her head in her mother's lap, and very rarely was the silence broken. the practice was kept up until the mosquitoes obliged them to discontinue it. that it did not prove entirely satisfactory, we judge from several entries in the diary like the following:-- "i still sit in silence with dear mother, but feel very sensibly that she takes no interest at all in it; still, i do not like to relinquish the habit, believing it may yet be blessed. eliza came this evening, as she has several times before. it was a season of great deadness, and yet i am glad to sit even thus, for where there is communion there will be some union." her position was certainly a difficult and a painful one; for, apart from other troubles, her eyes were now fully open to all the iniquities of the slave system, and she could neither stay in nor go out without having some of its miserable features forced upon her notice. in the view of her after-work, it is interesting to note the beginning of her strong feelings on the subject, as well as her faithful crusades against it in her own family. in april, , she writes as follows in her diary:-- "whilst returning from meeting this morning, i saw before me a colored woman who in much distress was vindicating herself to two white boys, one about eighteen, the other fifteen, who walked on each side of her. the dreadful apprehension that they were leading her to the workhouse crossed my mind, and i would have avoided her if i could. as i approached, the younger said to her, 'i will have you tied up.' my knees smote together, and my heart sank within me. as i passed them, she exclaimed, 'missis!' but i felt all i had to do was to suffer the pain of seeing her. my lips were sealed, and my soul earnestly craved a willingness to bear the exercise which was laid on me. how long, o lord, how long wilt thou suffer the foot of the oppressor to stand on the neck of the slave! none but those who know from experience what it is to live in a land of bondage can form any idea of what is endured by those whose eyes are open to the enormities of slavery, and whose hearts are tender enough to feel for these miserable creatures. for two or three months after my return here it seemed to me that all the cruelty and unkindness which i had from my infancy seen practised towards them came back to my mind as though it was only yesterday. and as to the house of correction, it seemed as though its doors were unbarred to me, and the wretched, lacerated inmates of its cold, dark cells were presented to my view. night and day they were before me, and yet my hands were bound as with chains of iron. i could do nothing but weep over the scenes of horror which passed in review before my mind. sometimes i felt as though i was willing to fly from carolina, be the consequences what they might. at others, it seemed as though the very exercises i was suffering under were preparing me for future usefulness to them; and this,--_hope_, i can scarcely call it, for my very soul trembled at the solemn thought of such a work being placed in my feeble and unworthy hands,--this idea was the means of reconciling me to suffer, and causing me to feel something of a willingness to pass through any trials, if i could only be the means of exposing the cruelty and injustice which was practised in the institution of oppression, and of bringing to light the hidden things of darkness, of revealing the secrets of iniquity and abolishing its present regulations,--above all, of exposing the awful sin of professors of religion sending their slaves to such a place of cruelty, and having them whipped so that when they come out they can scarcely walk, or having them put upon the treadmill until they are lamed for days afterwards. these are not things i have heard; no, my own eyes have looked upon them and wept over them. such was the opinion i formed of the workhouse that for many months whilst i was a teacher in the sunday-school, having a scholar in my class who was the daughter of the master of it, i had frequent occasion to go to it to mark her lessons, and no one can imagine my feelings in walking down that street. it seemed as though i was walking on the very confines of hell; and this winter, being obliged to pass it to pay a visit to a friend, i suffered so much that i could not get over it for days, and wondered how any real christian could live near such a place." it may appear to some who read this biography that angelina's expressions of feeling were over-strained. but it was not so. her nervous organization was exceedingly delicate, and became more so after she began to give her best thoughts to the cause of humanity. in her own realization, at least, of the suffering of others there was no exaggeration. not long after making the above record of her feelings on this subject, she narrates the following incident:-- "i have been suffering for the last two days on account of henry's boy having run away, because he was threatened with a whipping. oh, who can paint the horrors of slavery! and yet, so hard is the natural heart that i am constantly told that the situation of slaves is very good, much better than that of their owners. how strange that anyone should believe such an absurdity, or try to make others believe it! no wonder poor john ran away at the threat of a flogging, when he has told me more than once that when h. last whipped him he was in pain for a week afterwards. i don't know how the boy must have felt, but i know that that night was one of agony to me; for it was not only dreadful to hear the blows, but the oaths and curses h. uttered went like daggers to my heart. and this was done, too, in the house of one who is regarded as a light in the church. o jesus, where is thy meek and merciful disposition to be found now? are the marks of discipleship changed, or who are thy true disciples? last night i lay awake weeping over the condition of john, and it seemed as though that was all i could do. but at last i was directed to go to h. and tenderly remonstrate with him. i sought strength, and was willing to do so, if the impression continued. to-day, was somewhat released from this exercise, though still suffering, and almost thought it would not be required. but at dusk it returned; and, having occasion to go into h.'s room for something, i broached the subject as guardedly and mildly as possible, first passing my arm around him, and leaning my head on his shoulder. he very openly acknowledged that he meant to give john such a whipping as would cure him of ever doing the same thing again, and that he deserved to be whipped until he could not stand. i said that would be treating him worse than he would treat his horse. he now became excited, and replied that he considered his horse no comparison better than john, and would _not_ treat _it_ so. by this time my heart was full, and i felt so much overcome as to be compelled to seat myself, or rather to fall into a chair before him, but i don't think he observed this. the conversation proceeded. i pleaded the cause of humanity. he grew very angry, and said i had no business to be meddling with him, that he never did so with me. i said if i had ever done anything to offend him i was very sorry for it, but i had tried to do everything to please him. he said i had come from the north expressly to be miserable myself and make everyone in the house so, and that i had much better go and live at the north. i told him that i was not ignorant that both c. and himself would be very glad if i did, and that as soon as i felt released from carolina i would go; but that i had believed it my duty to return this winter, though i knew i was coming back to suffer. he again accused me of meddling with his private affairs, which he said i had no right to do. i told him i could not but lift up my voice against his manner of treating john. he said rather than suffer the continual condemnation of his conduct by me, he would leave mother's house. i appealed to the witness in his own bosom as to the truth of what i urged. to my surprise he readily acknowledged that he felt something within him which fully met all i asserted, and that i had harrowed his feelings and made him wretched. much more passed. i alluded to his neglect of me, and testified that i had experienced no feeling but that of love towards him and all the family, and a desire to do all i could to oblige them; and i left the room in tears. i retired to bless my saviour for the strength he had granted, and to implore his continued support." " th. surely my heart ought to be lifted to my blessed master in emotions of gratitude and praise. his boy came home last night a short time after our conversation, and instead of punishing him, as i am certain he intended to do, he merely told him to go about his business. i was amazed last night after all my sufferings were over, and i was made willing to leave all things in my father's hands, to see john in the house. this was a renewed proof to me how necessary it is for us to watch for the right _time_ in which to do things. if i had not spoken just when i did, i could not have done so before john's return. he has escaped entirely.... oh, how earnestly two nights ago did i pray for a release from this land of slavery, and how my heart still pants after it! and yet, i think, i trust it is in submission to my heavenly father's will. i feel comfortable to-night; my relief from suffering about john is so great that other trials seem too light to name." " th. my heart sings aloud for joy. i feel the sweet testimony of a good conscience, the reward of obedience in speaking to h. dear boy, he has good, tender feelings naturally, but a false education has nearly destroyed them, and his own perverted judgment as to what is manly and what is necessary in the government of slaves has done the rest. lord, open thou his eyes." on the th of march she says: "to-day, for the first time, i ironed my clothes, and felt as though it was an acceptable sacrifice. this seemed part of the preparation for my removal to the north. i felt fearful lest this object was a stronger incentive to me than the desire to glorify my divine master." there was doubtless some truth in the charge brought against her by her brothers, that her face was a perpetual condemnation of them. referring to a call she received from some friends, she says:-- "an emptiness and vapidness pervaded all they said about religion. i was silent most of the time, and fear what i did say sprang from a feeling of too great indignation. just before they went away, i joined in a joke; much condemnation was felt, for the language to me constantly is, 'i have called _thee_ with a _high_ and _holy_ calling,' and it seems as though solemnity ought always to pervade my mind too much to allow me ever to joke, but my natural vivacity is hard to bridle and subdue." the bond between sarah and angelina was growing stronger every day, their separation in matters of religion from the other members of the family serving more than anything else to draw them closely and lovingly together. every letter from sarah was hailed as a messenger of peace and joy, and to her angelina turned for counsel and sympathy. it is very pleasant to read such words as the following, and know that they expressed the inmost feelings of angelina's heart:-- "thou art, dearest, my best beloved, and often does my heart expand with gratitude to the giver of all good for the gift of such a friend, who has been the helper of my joy and the lifter up of my hands when they were ready to hang down in hopeless despair. often do i look back to those days of conflict and suffering through which i passed last winter, when thou alone seemed to know of the deep baptisms wherewith i was baptized, and to be qualified to speak the words of encouragement and reproof which i believe were blessed to my poor soul. "i received another long letter from thee this afternoon. i cannot tell thee what a consolation thy letters are to her who feels like an exile, a stranger in the place of her nativity, 'as unknown, and yet well known,' and one of the very least where she was once among the greatest." in one of her letters, written soon after her return home, she thus speaks of her quaker dress:-- "i thought i should find it so trying to dress like a quaker here; but it has been made so easy that if it is a cross i do not feel the weight of it.... it appears to me that at present i am to be little and unknown, and that the most that is required of me is that i bear a decided testimony against dress. i am literally as a wonder unto many, but though i am as a gazing-stock--perhaps a laughing-stock--in the midst of them, yet i scarcely feel it, so sensible am i of the presence and approbation of him for whose sake i count it a high privilege to endure scorn and derision. i begin to feel that it is a solemn thing even to dress like a quaker, as by so doing i profess a belief in the purest principles of the bible, and warrant the expectation in others that my life will exhibit to all around those principles drawn out in living characters." there is a pride of conscience in all this, strongly contrasting with sarah's want of self-confidence when travelling the same path. if angelina suffered for her religion, no one suspected it, and for this very reason she was enabled to exert a stronger influence upon those about her than sarah ever could have done. she herself saw the great points of difference between them, and frequently alluded to them. on one page of her diary she writes:-- "i have been reading dear sister's diary the last two days, and find she has suffered great conflict of mind, particularly about her call to the ministry, and i am led to look at the contrast between our feelings on the subject. i clearly saw winter before last that my having been appointed to this work was the great reason why i was called out of the presbyterian society, but i don't think my will has ever rebelled against it. "so far from murmuring against the appointment, i have felt exceedingly impatient at not being permitted to enter upon my work at once; and this is probably an evidence that i am not prepared for it. but it is hard for me to _be_ and to _do_ nothing. my restless, ambitious temper, so different from dear sister's, craves high duties and high attainments, and i have at times thought that this ambition was a motive to me to do my duty and submit my will. the hope of attaining to great eminence in the divine life has often prompted me to give up in little things, to bend to existing circumstances, to be willing for the time to be trampled upon. these are my temptations. for a long time it seemed to me i did everything from a hope of applause. i could not even write in my diary without a feeling that i was doing it in the hope that it would one day meet the eye of the public. last winter i wrote more freely in it, and am still permitted to do so. very often, when thinking of my useless state at present, something of disappointment is felt that i am as nothing, and this language has been presented with force, 'seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them not.'" chapter vii. at this time of her life, ere a single sorrow had thrown its shadow across her heart, and all her tears were shed for other's woes, we see very distinctly angelina's peculiar characteristics. her conscientiousness and her pride are especially conspicuous. the former, with its attendant sacrifices at the shrine of religious principle, had the effect of silencing criticism after a while, and inspiring a respect which touched upon veneration. one of her sisters, in referring to this, says:-- "though we considered her views entirely irrational, yet so absolute was her sense of duty, her superiority to public sentiment, and her moral courage, that she seemed to us almost like one inspired, and we all came to look upon her with a feeling of awe." of her pride--"that stumbling block," as she calls it, to christian meekness--she herself writes:-- "my pride is my bane. in examining myself, i blush to confess this fault, so great do i find its proportions. i am all pride, and i fear i am even proud of my pride." but hers was not the pride that includes personal vanity or the desire for the applause of the multitude, for of these two elements few ever had less; neither was there any haughtiness in it, only the dignity which comes from the conscious possession of rare advantages, joined to the desire to use them to the glory of something better than self. still it was pride, and, in her eyes, sinful, and called for all her efforts to subdue its manifestations. it especially troubled her whenever she entered into any argument or discussion, both of which she was rather fond of inviting. she knew full well her intellectual power, and thoroughly enjoyed its exercise. i regret that space does not permit me to copy her discussion with the rev. mr. mcdowell on presbyterianism; her answers to the questions given her when arraigned before the sessions for having left the church; her conversation on orthodoxy with some hicksites who called on her, and her arguments on silent worship. they all show remarkable reasoning power, great lucidity of thought, and great faculty of expression for so young a woman. but, interesting as is the whole history of angelina's last year in charleston, i may not dwell longer upon it, but hasten towards that period when the reason for all this mental and spiritual preparation was made manifest in the work in which she became as a "light upon the hill top," and, which, as long as it lasted, filled the measure of her desires full to the brim. as it is important to show just what her views and feelings about slavery were at this time, and as they can be better narrated in her own words than in mine, i shall quote from her diary and a few letters all that relates to the subject. in may, , we find this short sentence in her diary:-- "may it not be laid down as an axiom, that that system must be radically wrong which can only be supported by transgressing the laws of god." " d mo. th. could i think i was in the least advancing the glory of god by staying here, i think i would be satisfied, but i am doing nothing. though 'the fields are white for harvest, yet am i standing idle in the market place.' i am often tempted to ask, why am i kept in such a situation, a poor unworthy worm, feeding on luxuries my soul abhors, tended by slaves, who (i think) i would rather serve than be served by, and whose bondage i deeply deplore? oh! why am i kept in carolina? but the answer seems to be: 'i have set thee as a sign to the people.' lord, give me patience to stand still." " th. at times slavery is a heavy burden to my heart. last night i was led to speak of this subject, of all others the sorest on which to touch a carolinian. the depravity of slaves was spoken of with contempt, and one said they were fitted to hold no other place than the one they do. i asked what had made them so depraved? was it not because of their degraded situations, and was it not white people who had placed them and kept them in this situation, and were _they_ not to blame for it? was it not a fact that the minds of slaves were totally uncultivated, and their souls no more cared for by their owners than if they had none? was it not true that, in order to restrain them from vice, coercion was employed instead of the moral restraint which, if proper instruction had been given them, would have guarded them against evil? 'i wish,' exclaimed one, 'that you would never speak on the subject.' 'and why?' i asked. 'because you speak in such a serious way,' she replied. 'truth cuts deep into the heart,' i said, and this is no doubt the reason why no one likes to hear me express my sentiments, but i did feel it my duty to bear a decided testimony against an institution which i believe altogether contrary to the spirit of the gospel; for it was a system which nourished the worst passions of the human heart, a system which sanctioned the daily trampling under foot of the feelings of our fellow creatures. 'but,' said one, 'it is exceedingly imprudent in you to speak as you do.' i replied i was not speaking before servants, i was speaking only to owners, whom i wished to know my sentiments; this wrong had long enough been covered up, and i was not afraid or ashamed to have any one know my sentiments--they were drawn from the bible. i also took occasion to speak very plainly to sister mary about the bad feeling she had towards negroes, and told her, though she wished to get rid of them, and would be glad to see them _shipped_, as she called it, that this wish did not spring from pure christian benevolence. my heart was very heavy after this conversation." " d mo. st. yesterday was a day of suffering. my soul was exceedingly sorrowful, and out of the depths of it, i cried unto the lord that he would make a way for me to escape from this land of slavery. is there any suffering so great as that of seeing the rights and feelings of our fellow creatures trodden under foot, without being able to rescue them from bondage? how clear it is to my mind that slaves can be controlled only by one of two principles,--fear or love. as to moral restraint, they know nothing of it, for they are not taught to act from principle. i feel as though i had nothing to do in this thing, but by my manner to bear a decided testimony against such an abuse of power. the suffering of mind through which i have passed has necessarily rendered me silent and solemn. the language seems to be, 'it behooves thee to suffer these things,' and this morning i think i saw very plainly that this was a part of the preparation for the awful work of the ministry." " th mo. th. does not this no less positive than comprehensive law under the gospel dispensation entirely exclude slavery: 'do unto others as you would he done by?' after arguing for some time, one evening, with an individual, i proposed the question: 'would'st thou be willing to be a slave thyself?' he eagerly answered 'no!' 'then,' said i, 'thou hast no right to enslave the negro, for the master expressly says: "do unto others as thou wouldst they should do unto thee."' again i put the query: 'suppose thou wast obliged to free thy slaves, or take their place, which wouldst thou do?' of course he said he would free them. 'but why,' i asked, 'if thou really believest what thou contendest for, namely, that their situation is as good as thine?' but these questions were too close, and he did not know what to say." " th mo. d. friend k. drank tea here last night. it seems to me that whenever mother can get anyone to argue with her on the subject of slavery, she always introduces it; but last night she was mistaken, for, to my surprise, friend k. acknowledged that notwithstanding all that could be said for it, there was something in her heart which told her it was wrong, and she admitted all i said. since my last argument on this subject, it has appeared to me in another light. i remarked that a carolina mistress was literally a slave-driver, and that i thought it degrading to the female character. the mistress is as great a slave to her servants, in some respects, as they are to her. one thing which annoys me very much is the constant orders that are given. really, when i go into mother's room to read to her, i am continually interrupted by a variety of orders which might easily be avoided, were it not for the domineering spirit which is, it seems to me, inherent in a carolinian; and they are such fine ladies that if a shutter is to be hooked, or a chair moved, or their work handed to them, a servant must be summoned to do it for them. oh! i do very much desire to cultivate feelings of forbearance, but i feel at the same time that it is my duty to bear an open and decided testimony against such a violation of the divine command." " th. it seems this morning as if the language was spoken with regard to dear mother: _thy_ work is done. my mind has been mostly released from exercises, and it seems as though i had nothing to do now but to bear and forbear with her. i can truly say i have not shunned to 'declare unto her the whole counsel of god, but she would none of my reproofs.' i stretched out my hands to her, speaking the truth in _love_, but she has not regarded. perhaps he has seen fit not to work by me lest i should be exalted above measure." " th mo. th. today has been one of much trial of mind, and my soul has groaned under the burden of slavery. is it too harsh to say that a person must be destitute of christian feelings to be willing to be served by slaves, who are actuated by no sentiment but that of fear? are not these unfortunate creatures expected to act on principles directly opposite to our natural feelings and daily experience? they are required to do more for others than for themselves, and all without thanks or reward." " th. it appears to me that there is a real want of natural affection among many families in carolina, and i have thought that one great cause of it is the independence which members of families feel here. instead of being taught to do for themselves and each other, they are brought up to be waited on by slaves, and become unamiable, proud, and selfish. i have many times felt exceedingly tried, when, in the flowings of love towards mother, i have offered to do little things for her, and she has refused to allow me, saying it was stephen's or william's duty, and she preferred one of them should do it. the other night, being refused in this way, i said:-- "'mother, it seems to me thou would'st at any time rather have a servant do little things for thee, than me.' she replied it was their business. 'well,' said i, 'mother, i do not think it ever was designed that parents and children should be independent of each other. our heavenly father intended that we should be dependent on each other, not on servants.' from time to time ability is granted me to labor against slavery. i may be mistaken, but i do not think it is any longer without sin in mother, for i think she feels very sensibly that it is not right, though she never will acknowledge it." _night._ left the parlor on account of some unpleasant occurrence, and retired to weep in solitude over the evils of slavery. the language was forcibly revived: 'woe unto you, for you bind heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, on men's shoulders, and will not move them yourselves with one of your fingers.' i do not think i pass a single day without apprehension as to something painful about the servants." " th. had a long conversation with selina last evening about servants, and expressed very freely my opinion of henry's feelings towards them, and his treatment of john. she admitted all i said, and seemed to feel for slaves, until i said i thought they had as much right to freedom as i had. of course she would not admit this, but i was glad an opportunity was offered for me to tell her that my life was one of such continual and painful exercise on account of the manner in which our servants were treated, that, were it not for mother, i would not stay a day longer in carolina, and were it not for the belief that henry would treat his servants worse if we were not here, that both eliza and i would leave the house. dear girl; she seemed to feel a good deal at these strictures on her husband, but bore with me very patiently." " th. oh, lord! grant that my going forth out of this land may be in such a time and such a way, let what may happen after i leave my mother's house, i may never have to reproach myself for doing so. of late my mind has been much engrossed with the subject of slavery. i have felt not only the necessity of feeling that it is sinful, but of being able to prove from scripture that it is not warranted by god." " th. slavery is a system of abject selfishness, and yet i believe i have seen some of the best of it. in its worst form, tyranny is added to it, and power cruelly treads under foot the rights of man, and trammels not only the body, but the mind of the poor negro. experience has convinced me that a person may own a slave, with a single eye to the glory of god. but as the eye is kept single, it will soon become full of light on this momentous subject; the arm of power will be broken; the voice of authority will tremble, and strength will be granted to obey the command: 'touch not the unclean thing.'" "_night._ sometimes i think that the children of israel could not have looked towards the land of canaan with keener longing than i do to the north. i do not expect to go there and be exempt from trial, far from it; and yet it looks like a promised land, a pleasant land, because it is a land of freedom; and it seems to me that i would rather bear much deeper spiritual exercises than, day after day, and month after month, to endure the conutless evils which incessantly flow from slavery. 'oh, to grace how great a debtor for my sentiments on this subject. surely i may measurably adopt the language of paul, when with holy triumph he exclaimed: 'by the grace of god i am what i am.'" a few weeks later, we read: "if i could believe that i contributed to dear mother's happiness, surely duty, yea, inclination, would lead me to continue here; but i do not. yesterday morning i read her some papers on slavery, which had just come by the l.c. (vessel). it was greatly against her will, but it seemed to me i must do it, and that this was the last effort which would be required of me. she was really angry, but i did not feel condemned." "_night._ have sought a season of retirement, in order to ponder all these things in my heart, for i feel greatly burdened, and think i must open this subject to dear mother to-morrow, perhaps. i earnestly desire to do the lord's will." " th. this morning i read parts of dear sister's letters to mother, on the subject of my going to the north. she did not oppose, though she regretted it. my mind is in a calm, almost an indifferent, state about it, simply acquiescing in what i believe to be the divine will concerning me." had we all of sarah's letters written to angelina, we should doubtless see that she fully sympathized with her in her anti-slavery sentiments; but sarah's diary shows her thoughts to have been almost wholly absorbed by her disappointed hopes, and her trials in the ministry. as positive evidences of her continued interest in slavery, we have only the fact that, in , angelina mentions, in her diary, receiving anti-slavery documents from her sister, and the statements of friends that she retained her interest in the subject which had, in her earlier years, caused her so much sorrow. it is astonishing how ignorant of passing events, even of importance, a person may remain who is shut up as sarah grimké was, in an organization hedged in by restrictions which would prevent her from gaining such knowledge. she mingled in no society outside of her church; her time was so fully occupied with her various charitable and religious duties, that she frequently laments the necessity of neglecting reading and writing, which, she says, "i love so well." when a few friends met together, their conversation was chiefly of religious or benevolent matters, and it is probable that sarah even read no newspaper but the _friends' journal_. that this narrow and busy life was led even after angelina joined her we judge from what angelina writes to her brother thomas, thanking him for sending them his literary correspondence to read. she says: "it is very kind in thee to send us thy private correspondence. we enjoy it so much that i am sure thou would'st feel compensated for the trouble if thou could'st see us. we mingle almost entirely with a society which appears to know but little of what is going on outside of its own immediate precincts. it is therefore a great treat when we have access to information more diffuse, or that which introduces our minds in some measure into the general interest which seems to be exciting the religious world." the fact, however, remains, that in sarah sent to angelina various anti-slavery publications, from which the latter drew strength and encouragement for her own arguments. angelina also mentions reading carefully woolman's works, which she found very helpful. but it is evident that neither she nor sarah looked forward at all to any identification of themselves with the active opponents of slavery. for them, at that time, there seemed to be nothing more to do than to express their opinions on the subject in private, and to get as far away from the sight of its evils as possible. as sarah had done this, so now angelina felt that the time had come when she too must go. she had done what she could, and had failed in making the impression she had hoped to make. why should she linger longer where her feelings were daily tortured, and where there was not one to sympathize with her or aid her, where she could neither give nor receive any good? still there was a great struggle in her mind about leaving her mother. she thus writes of it: "though i am favored to feel this is the right time for me to go, yet i cannot but be pained at the thought of leaving mother, for i am sure i shall leave her to suffer. it has appeared very plain to me that i never would have been taken from her again if she had been willing to listen to my remonstrances, and to yield to the requisitions of duty, as shown her by the light within. and i do not think dear sister or i will ever see her again until she is willing to give up slavery." " th mo. th. last night e.t. took tea here. as soon as she began to extol the north and speak against slavery, mother left the room. she cannot bear these two subjects. my mind continues distressingly exercised and anxious that mother's eyes should be open to all the iniquities of the system she upholds. much hope has lately been experienced, and it seems as though the language to me was: 'thou hast done what was given thee to do; now go and leave the rest to _me_." two weeks later, she writes as follows: "_night._ this morning i had a very satisfactory conversation with dear mother, and feel considerably relieved from painful exercise. i found her views far more correct than i had supposed, and i do believe that, through suffering, the great work will yet be accomplished. she remarked that, though she had found it very hard to bear many things which sister and i had from time to time said to her, yet she believed that the lord had raised us up to teach her, and that her fervent prayer was that, if we were right and she was wrong, she might see it. i remarked that if she was _willing_, she would, i was sure, see still more than she now did; and i drew a contrast between what she once approved and now believed right. 'yes,' she said, 'i see very differently; for when i look back and remember what i used to do, and think nothing of it, i shrink back with horror. much more passed, and we parted in love." two weeks later angelina left charleston, never to return. the description of the parting with her mother is very affecting, but we have not room for it here. it shows, however, that mrs. grimké had the true heart of a mother, and loved her daughter most tenderly. she shed bitter tears as she folded her to her bosom for the last time, murmuring amid her sobs: "joseph is not, and simeon is not, and ye will take benjamin away also!" the mother and daughter never saw each other again. chapter viii. angelina arrived in philadelphia in the latter part of october, , and made her home with sarah in the family of catherine morris. over the next four or five years i must pass very briefly, although they were marked by many interesting incidents and some deep sorrows, and much that the sisters wrote during that time i would like to notice, if space permitted. we see sarah still regarding herself as the vilest of sinners, against whom it seemed at times as if every door of mercy was closed, and still haunted by her horror of horrors, the ministry. her preparation continued, but brought her apparently no nearer the long-expected and dreaded end. she was still unrecognized by the church. first-day meetings were looked forward to without pleasure, while the quarterly and yearly meetings were seasons of actual suffering. of one of the latter she says,-- "i think no criminal under sentence of death can look more fearfully to the day of execution than i do towards our yearly meeting." still she would nerve herself from time to time to arise when the spirit moved her, and say a few words, but deriving no satisfaction from the exercise, except that of obedience to the divine will. doubtless she would have grown out of all this timidity, and would have acquitted herself more acceptably in meeting, if she had met with consideration and kindness from the elders and influential members of the society. but, for reasons not clearly explained, her efforts do not seem to have been generally regarded with favor; and so sensibly did she feel this that she trembled in every limb when obliged even to offer a prayer in the presence of one of the dignitaries. it is probable that her ultra views on various needed reforms in the society, and declining--as she and angelina both did--to conform to all its peculiar usages, gave offence. for instance, the sisters never could bring themselves to use certain ungrammatical forms of speech, such as _thee_ for _thou_, and would wear bonnets of a shape and material better adapted to protect them from the cold than those prescribed by quaker style. it was also discovered that they indulged in vocal prayer in their private devotions, which was directly contrary to established usage. these things were regarded as quiet protests against customs which all members of the society were expected to respect. as to the _principles_ of quakerism, the sisters were more scrupulous in obeying, them than many of the elders themselves. sarah frequently mentions the coldness and indifference with which she was treated by those from whom she had a right to look for tender sympathy and friendly counsel, and feelingly records the kindness and encouragement offered to her by many of the less conspicuous brothers and sisters. it is no doubt that to this treatment by those in authority was due the gradual waning of her interest in quakerism, although she is far from acknowledging it. one obstacle in the way of her success as a preacher was her manner of speaking. though a clear, forcible thinker and writer, she lacked the gift of eloquence which so distinguished angelina, and being, besides, exceedingly self-conscious, it was difficult for her to express herself satisfactorily in words. her speech was sometimes slow and hesitating; at others, when feeling very deeply, or at all embarrassed, rapid and a little confused, as though she was in a hurry to get through. this irregularity laid her open to the charge which was frequently brought against her, that she prepared and committed her offerings to memory before coming to meeting, an almost unpardonable offence according to the views of those making the accusation. that her earnest denial of this should be treated lightly was an additional wrong which sarah never entirely succeeded in forgiving. in reference to this she says:-- "the suffering passed through in meeting, on account of the ministry, feeling as if i were condemned already whenever i arise; the severe reproofs administered by an elder to whom i did a little look for kindness; the cutting charge of preparing what i had to say out of meeting, and going there to preach, instead of to worship, like poor mary cox, was almost too much for me. it cost me hours of anguish; but jesus allayed the storm and gave me peace; for in looking at my poor services i can truly say it is not so, although my mind is often brought under exercise on account of this work, and many are the sleepless hours i pass in prayer for preservation in it, feeling it indeed an awful thing to be a channel of communication between god and his people." referring to the charge again, some time later, she says:-- "there are times when i greatly fear my best life will perish in this conflict. i have felt lately as if i were ready to give up all, and to question all i have known and done." as contrasting with the very different opinions she held a few years later, the following lines from her diary, about the beginning of , are interesting:-- "there are seasons when my heart is so filled with apostolic love that i feel as if i could freely part with all i hold most dear, to be instrumental to the salvation of souls, especially those of the members of my own religious society; and the language often prevails, 'i am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of israel.' yet woman's preaching mocks at all my reasoning. i cannot see it to be right, and i am moving on in faith alone, feeling that 'woe is me, if i preach not the gospel.' to see is no part of my business, but i marvel not at the unbelief of others; every natural feeling is against it." about this time, angelina was admitted as a member of friends' society, and began her preparation for the ministry. but her active spirit needed stronger food to satisfy its cravings. it was not enough for her to accept the few duties assigned to her; she must make others for herself. her restless energy, which was only her ambition to be practically useful, refused to let her sit with folded hands waiting for the lord's work. she was too strong to be idle, too conscious of the value of the talents committed to her charge, to be willing to lay them away for safe keeping in a quaker napkin, spotless as it might be. she never loved the society of friends as sarah did. she chafed under its restrictions, questioned its authority, and rebelled against the constant admonition to "be still." on one page of her diary, dated a short time before her admission to friends' society, she says:-- "i have passed through some trying feelings of late about becoming a member of friends' society. perhaps it is satan who has been doing all he could to prevent my joining, by showing me the inconsistencies of the people, and persuading me that _i_ am too good to be one of them. i have been led to doubt if it was right for me ever to have worn the dress of a quaker, for i despised the very form in my heart, and have felt it a disgrace to have adopted it, so empty have the people seemed to me, and sometimes it has seemed impossible that i should ever be willing to join them. my heart has been full of rebellion, and i have even dared to think it hard that i should have to bear the burdens of a people i did not, could not, love." angelina's devotion to sarah led her to resent the treatment of the latter by the elders, and came near producing a breach between catherine morris and the sisters. nevertheless, she did join the society, impelled thereto, we are forced to believe, more by love and consideration for sarah than by religious conviction. but she constantly complains of her "leanness and barrenness of spirit," of "doubts and distressing fears" as to the lord's remembrance of her for good, and grieves that she is such a useless member of the church, the "activity of nature," she says, "finding it very hard to stand and wait." her restlessness, no doubt, gave sarah some trouble, for there are several entries in her diary like the following:-- "o lord, be pleased, i beseech thee, to preserve my precious sister from moving in her own will, or under the deceitful reasonings of satan. strengthen her, i beseech thee, to be _still_." but though angelina tried for a time to submit passively to the slow training marked out for her, she found no satisfaction in it. she looked to the ministry as her ultimate field of labor, but she must be doing something in the meanwhile, something outside of the missionary work which satisfied sarah's conscience. but what should that be? the same difficulties which had humiliated and frightened sarah into a life of quiet routine now faced angelina. but she looked at them bravely, measured herself with them, and resolved to conquer them. the field of education was the only one which seemed to promise the active usefulness she craved; and she at once set about fitting herself to be a teacher. she was now twenty-six years old, but no ambitious girl of fifteen ever entered upon school duties with more zest than she exhibited in preparing a course of study for herself. history, arithmetic, algebra, and geometry were begun, with her sister anna as a fellow-student, and much time was devoted to reading biography and travels. all this, however, was evening work. her days were almost wholly given up to charities and the appointed meetings assigned to her by the society, into all of which she infused so much energy that catherine and sarah both began to fear that she was in danger of losing some of her spirituality. she says herself that she was so much interested in some of her work that the days were not long enough for her. there is no allusion in the diary or letters of either of the sisters, in or , to the many stirring events of the anti-slavery movement which occurred after the final abolition of slavery in new york, in , and which foreshadowed the earnest struggle for political supremacy between the slave power and the free spirit of the nation. the daily records of their lives and thoughts exhibit them in the enjoyment of their quiet home with catherine morris, visiting prisons, hospitals, and alms-houses, and mourning over no sorrow or sins but their own. angelina was leading a life of benevolent effort, too busy to admit of the pleasures of society, and her quaker associations did not favor contact with the world's people, or promote knowledge of the active movements in the larger reforms of the day. as to sarah, she was still suffering keenly under the great sorrow of her life. at this time, angelina was a most attractive young woman. tall and graceful, with a shapely head covered with chestnut ringlets, a delicate complexion and features, and clear blue eyes, which could dance with merriment or flash with indignation, and withal a dignified, yet gentle and courteous bearing, it is not surprising that she should have had many admirers of the opposite sex, even in the limited society to which she was confined. nor can we wonder that, with a heart so susceptible to all the finer emotions, she should have preferred the companionship of one to that of all others. but though for more than two years this friendship--for it never became an engagement--absorbed all her thoughts, to the exclusion even of her studies, i must conclude from the plain evidence in the case that it was only a warm _friendship_, at least on her side, not the strong, enduring love, based upon entire sympathy, which afterwards blessed her life. it owed its origin to her admiration for intellectuality in men, and its continuance to her womanly pity; for the object of her preference suffered much from ill-health, which at last gave way altogether in the latter part of , when he died. to the various emotions naturally aroused during this long experience, and to the depression of spirits which followed the final issue, we may perhaps partially ascribe angelina's indifference to the excited state of feeling throughout the country on the subject of that institution which "owned no law but human will." in november, , sarah grimké once more, and for the last time, visited charleston. in december, the slave insurrection in jamaica--tenfold more destructive to life and property than the insurrection of nat turner, in virginia, of the preceding august--startled the world; but even this is scarcely referred to in the correspondence between the two sisters. but that angelina, at least, was interested in matters outside of her religion, we gather from a postscript to one of her letters. "tell me," she says, "something about politics." this refers to nullification, that ill-judged and premature attempt at secession made by the calhoun wing of the slave power, which was then the most exciting topic in south carolina. thomas grimké was one of the few eminent lawyers in the state who, from the first, denounced and resisted the treasonable doctrine,--he so termed it in an open letter of remonstrance addressed to calhoun, mcduffie, governor hayne, and barnwell rhett, his cousin and legal pupil, who was afterwards attorney-general of the state.[ ] mr. grimké represented at that time the city of charleston in the state senate; and in a two days' argument he so triumphantly exposed the sophistries and false pretences of the nullifiers, that his constituents, enraged by it, gathered a mob, and with threats of personal violence attacked his house. but this descendant of the huguenots had been seasonably warned; and, sending his family to the country, he illuminated his front windows, threw open his doors, and seated himself quietly on the porch to await his visitors. the howling horde came on, but when the man they sought boldly advanced to meet them, and announced himself ready to be mobbed for the cause he had denounced, their courage faltered; they tried to hoot, balked, broke ranks, and straggled away. [ ] mr. grimké told carolina that, if she persisted in her disloyalty, she would stand as a blasted tree in the midst of her sister states. a few words just here about this "beloved brother thomas," who was always held in reverence by every member of his family, will not be out of place. as before stated, he was a graduate of yale college, and rose to eminence at the bar and in the politics of his state. but he was a man of peculiar views on many subjects, and while his intellectual ability was everywhere acknowledged, his judgment was often impugned and his opinions severely criticised. he gained a wide reputation on account of his brilliant addresses, especially those of peace, temperance, and education. he was a prominent member of the american peace society, and did not believe that even defensive warfare was justifiable. he was a fine classical scholar, but held that both the classics and the higher mathematics should not be made obligatory studies in a collegiate education, as being comparatively useless to the great majority of american young men. a high church episcopalian, and very religious, he strongly urged the necessity of establishing a bible class for religious instruction in every school. he also attempted to make a reform in orthography by dropping out all superfluous letters, but abandoned this after publishing a small volume of essays, in which he used his amended words, which, as he gave no prefatory explanation, were misunderstood and ridiculed. in all these subjects he was much interested, and succeeded in interesting his sisters, delegating to them the supervision and correction of his addresses and essays published in philadelphia. strange, indeed, is it, that this very religious, liberal-minded, and conscientious man was a large slaveowner, and yet the oppressed and persecuted cherokees of georgia and alabama had no more earnest advocate than he! and to this "indian question" both sarah and angelina gave their cordial sympathy. the correspondence between them and thomas was a remarkable one. it embraced the following subjects: peace, temperance, the classics, the priesthood, the jewish dispensation, was the eagle the babylonian and persian standard? catholicism, and the universality of human sacrifice, with short discussions on minor controversial topics. into all of these angelina especially entered with great and evident relish, and her long letters, covering page after page of foolscap, would certainly have wearied the patience of any one less interested than thomas was in the subjects of which they treated. that which claimed sarah's particular interest was peace, and she held to her brother's views to the end of her life. she especially indorsed the sentiment expressed in his written reply to the question, what he would do if he were mayor of charleston and a pirate ship should attack the city? "i would," he answered, "call together the sunday-school children and lead them in procession to meet the pirates, who would be at once subdued by the sight." in answer to a letter written by sarah soon after her arrival in charleston, angelina says:-- "i am not at all surprised at the account thou hast given of carolina, and yet am not alarmed, as i believe the time of retribution has not yet fully come, and i cannot but hope that those most dear to us will have fled from her borders before the day of judgment arrives." this refers to nullification, which was threatening to end in bloodshed; but there is in the sentence also an evident allusion to slavery. in her next letter she describes the interest she feels in the infant school, of which she had become a teacher, and does not know which is the most absorbing,--that, or the arch street prison. before closing, she says:-- "no doubt thou art suffering a double portion now, for in a land of slavery there is very much daily--yea, almost hourly,--to try the better feelings, besides that suffering which thou art so constantly enduring." catherine morris must have acted the part of a good mother to both sarah and angelina, for they frequently refer to their peaceful home with her. in one of her letters angelina says,-- "i never valued the advantages i enjoy so much as i do now; no, nor my home, either, dear sister. many a time of late has my heart been filled with gratitude in looking at the peaceful shelter provided for me in a strange land. it is just such a home as i would desire were i to have a choice, and i often ask why my restless heart is not quite happy in the land of ease which has been assigned me, for i do believe i shall, in after life, look back upon this winter as one of peculiar favor, a time granted for the improvement of my mind and my heart." again: "very often do i contrast the sweet, unbroken quiet of the home i now enjoy with the uncongenial one i was taken from." in one of her letters she asks: "dearest, does our precious mother seem to have any idea of leaving carolina? such seems to be the distressing excitement there from various causes, that i think it cannot be quite safe to remain there. what does brother thomas think will be the issue of the political contest? i find the fate of the poor indians is now inevitable." towards the close of the winter there are two paragraphs in her letters which show that she did at least read the daily papers. in one she asks: "didst thou know that great efforts are making in the house of delegates in virginia to abolish slavery?" the other one is as follows:-- "read the enclosed, and give it to brother thomas from me. do you know how this subject has been agitated in the virginia legislature?" the question naturally arises: if a little, why not more? if she could refer to the subject of the virginia debates, why should she not in some of her letters give expression to her own views, or answer some expressions from sarah? the _quaker society_, is the only answer we can find; the society whose rules and customs at that time tended to repress individuality in its members, and independence of thought or action; which forbade its young men and maidens to look admiringly on any fair face or manly form not framed in a long-eared cap, or surmounted by the regulation broad-brim; which did not accord to a member the right even to publish a newspaper article, without having first submitted it to a committee of its solons. from the beginning, the quaker church bore its testimony against the abolition excitement. most friends were in favor of the colonization society; the rest were gradualists. their commercial interests were as closely interwoven with those of the south as were the interests of any other class of the northern people, and it took them years to admit, if not to discover, that there was any new light on the subject of human rights. "the mills of the gods grind slowly;" and perhaps it was all the better in the end, for the cause their advocated so grandly, that sarah and angelina grimké should have gone through this long period of silence and repression, during which their moral and intellectual forces gathered power for the conflict--the great work which both had so singularly and for so many years seen was before them, though its nature was for a long time hidden. angelina's experience in the infant school, interesting as it was to her, was discouraging so far as her success as a teacher went; and she soon gave it up and made inquiries concerning some school in which she could prepare herself to teach. catherine beecher's then famous seminary at hartford was recommended, and a correspondence was opened. several letters passed between catherine and her would-be pupil, which so aroused catherine's interest, that she went on to philadelphia chiefly to make a personal acquaintance with the very mature young woman who at the age of twenty-seven declared she knew nothing and wanted to go to school again. in one of her letters to sarah, early in the spring of , angelina says,-- "catherine beecher has actually paid her promised visit. she regretted not seeing thee, and seemed much pleased with me. the day after she arrived she went to meeting with me, and i think was more tired of it than any person i ever saw. it was a long, silent meeting, except a few words from j.l." when catherine beecher took her leave of angelina, she cordially invited her to visit hartford, and examine for herself the system of education there pursued. sarah returned to philadelphia in march, , cutting short her visit at the earnest entreaty of angelina, who was then looking forward to her first yearly meeting, and desired her sister's encouraging presence with her. writing to sarah, she says: "i have much desired that we might at that time mingle in sympathy and love. truly we have known, might i not say, the agony of separation." soon after sarah's return, angelina went to live with mrs. frost, in order to give that sister the benefit of her board. this separation was a great trial to both sisters, and only consented to from a sense of duty. chapter ix. in july, , angelina, accompanied by a friend, set out to make her promised visit to hartford. her journal, kept day by day, shows her to have been at this time in a most cheerful frame of mind, which fitted her to enjoy not only the beautiful scenery on her journey, but the society of the various people she met. at times she is almost like a young girl just out of school; and we can hardly wonder that she felt so, after the monotonous life she had led so long, and the uniform character of the people with whom she had associated. she visited new haven, with its great college, and then went to hartford, where a week was pleasantly spent in attendance on catherine beecher's classes, and in visiting lydia sigourney, and others, to whom she had brought letters. after examining angelina, catherine gave her the gratifying opinion that she could be prepared to teach in six months, and she at once began to try her hand at drawing maps., and to take part in many of the exercises of the school. she could, however, make no definite arrangement until her return to philadelphia; but she was full of enthusiasm, and utilized to the very utmost the advantages of conversation with catherine and harriet beecher. she was evidently quite charmed with harriet's bright intellect and pleasant manner, and refers particularly to a very satisfactory conversation held with her about quakers. the people of this society were so little known in new england at that period, that angelina and her friend, in their peculiar dress, were objects of great curiosity where-ever they went. catherine beecher accompanied them back to new tork, and saw them safely on their way to philadelphia. but when angelina mentioned to friends her desire to return to hartford and become a teacher, she was answered with the most decided disapprobation. several unsatisfactory reasons were given--"going among strangers"--"leaving her sisters,"--"abandoning her charities," &c., the real one probably being the fear to trust their impressionable young member to presbyterian influence. and so she must content herself to sink down in the old ruts, and plod on in work which was daily becoming more insufficient to her intellectual and spiritual needs. her chief pleasure was her correspondence with her brother thomas, with whom she discussed controversial bible questions, and various moral reforms, including prison discipline; but only once does she seem to have touched the question of slavery, which absorbed the public mind to such a degree that there was scarcely a household throughout the length and breadth of the land, that did not feel its influence in some way. in the most intense excitement prevailed throughout the south, especially in south carolina, where mr. calhoun had just thrown down the gauntlet to the federal government. in this angelina expresses some interest, though chiefly from a religious point of view, as she regards all the important events then taking place as "signs of the times," and congratulates herself and her brother that they live in "such an important and interesting era, when the laws of christianity are interwoven with the system, of education, and with even the discipline of prisons and houses of refuge." in one of her letters we find the following:-- "i may be deceived, but the cloud which has arisen in the south will, i fear, spread over all our heavens, though it looks now so small. it will come down upon us in a storm which will beat our government to pieces; for, beautiful as it may appear, it is, nevertheless, not built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, jesus christ himself being the chief corner-stone. we may boast of this temple of liberty, but oh, my brother, it is not of god." in this letter she speaks of being much interested in "ramsey's civil and ecclesiastical polity of the jews," and mentions that they were studying together, in the family, "townsend's old testament, chronologically arranged, with notes, a work in twenty-eight volumes." she adds:-- "will not the study of the bible produce a thirst for the purest and most valuable literature, as, to understand it, we must study the history of nations, natural history, philosophy, and geography." in another letter she says:-- "i am glad of thy opinions, but i cannot see that carolina will escape. slavery is too great a sin for justice always to sleep over, and this is, i believe, the true cause of the declining state of carolina; this the root of bitterness which is to trouble our republic. i am not moved by fear to these reflections, but by a calm and deliberate consideration of the state of the church, and while i believe convulsions and distress are coming upon this country, i am comforted in believing that _my_ kingdom is not of this world, nor thine either, i trust, beloved brother." to this letter sarah adds a postscript, and says: "my fears respecting you are often prevalent, but i endeavor not to be too anxious. the lord is omnipotent, and although i fear his sword is unsheathed against america, i believe he will remember his own elect, and shield them.... do the planters approve or aid the colonization society? there have been some severe pieces published in our papers about it." at this time--that is, during the summer of --sarah lived a more than usually retired life, and her diary only records her increased depression of spirits, and her continued painful experiences in meeting. she would gladly have turned her back upon it all, and sought a home elsewhere at the north, or have returned to charleston, but she dared not move without divine approbation, and this never seemed sufficiently clear to satisfy her. "surely," she says, "though i cannot understand why it is so, there must be wisdom in the decree which forbids my seeking another home. most gladly would i have remained in charleston, but my father's will was not so." and again she says,-- "but while the desire to escape present conflict has turned my mind there [to charleston] with longing towards my precious mother, all the answer i can hear from the sanctuary is, 'stay here;' and satan adds, 'to suffer.'" according to sarah's own views, she had thus far made little or no progress towards the great end and aim of her labors and sacrifices,--the securing of her eternal salvation; and the amount of misery she managed to manufacture for herself out of this thought, and her many fancied transgressions, is sad in the extreme. years afterwards, in a letter to a young friend, she says,-- "i have suffered the very torments of the fabled hell, because my conscience was sore to the touch all over. i would fain have you spared such long, dark years of anguish." and to another friend, concerning this portion of her life, she writes,-- "much of my suffering arose from a morbid conscience,--a conscience which magnified infirmities into crimes, and transformed our blessed father in heaven into a stern judge, who punishes to the uttermost every real or imaginary departure from what we apprehend to be his requirements. deceived by the false theological views in which i was educated, i was continually lashed by the scorpion whip of a perverted conscience." during the winter of - , the time of both sisters was much taken up in nursing a sick woman, whose friendless position stirred angelina's sense of duty, and she had her removed to mrs. frost's house. she and sarah took upon themselves all the offices of nurse, even the most menial. they read to her, and tried to cheer her during the day, sat up with her at night, and in every way devoted themselves to the poor consumptive, until death came to her relief. such a sacrifice to a sense of duty was all the more admirable, as the invalid was unusually exacting and unreasonable, and felt apparently little appreciation of the trouble she gave. angelina, being in the same house, was more with her than sarah, and she could scarcely have shown her greater attention if the tenderest ties had existed between her and her charge. this was only one among the many similar acts of self-abnegation which were dotted all along angelina's path through life; she never went out of her way to avoid them, but would travel any distance to take them up, if duty pointed her to them; and in accepting them she never seemed to think she was doing more than just what she ought to do, although they were generally of the kind which bring no honor or reward, except that sense of duty fulfilled which spreads over hearts like hers such sweet content. from many passages in the diaries, it is evident that, as the agitating questions of the time were forced upon the notice of sarah and angelina, their thoughts were diverted from the narrow channel to which they had so long been confined; and, in proportion as their interest in these matters increased, the cords which bound them to their religious society loosened. angelina, as we have before remarked, never stood in the same attitude as sarah towards the society. to the latter, it was as the oracle of her fate, whose decrees she dared not question, much less disobey. it represented to her mind the divine will and purposes, which were wisdom entirely, and could only fail through the pride or disobedience of sinners like herself. angelina, on the contrary, regarded it as made up of human beings with human intellects, full of weakness, and liable to err in the interpretation of the lord's will, and, while praying for guidance and strength, believed it wise to follow her own judgment to a great extent. she could not be restrained from reasoning for herself, and would often have acted more independently, but for her affection for sarah. the scales, however, were slowly falling from sarah's eyes, though it was long before she saw the new light as anything but a snare of satan, who she felt sure was bound to have her, in spite of all her struggles. against the growing coolness towards her society she did struggle and pray in deepest contrition. at one time she writes,-- "satan is tempting me strongly with increased dissatisfaction with friends; but i know if i am to be of any use it is in my own society." and again: "i beseech thee, o god, to fill my heart with love for the society of friends. i shall be ruined if i listen to satan." but all this was of no avail. angelina was growing in knowledge, and was imparting to sarah what she learned. the evidence is meagre, but there is enough to show that the ruling topics claimed much of their attention during that summer, and that angelina, especially, drew upon herself more than one reproof from catherine morris for the interest she manifested in "matters entirely outside of the society." in the spring, she writes in a letter to thomas:-- "the following proposition was made at a colonization meeting in this city: is it strictly true? 'no two nations, brought together under similar circumstances with those under which the africans have been brought into this country, have amalgamated.' are not the people in the west indies principally mulatto? and how is it in south america? did they not amalgamate there? did not the helots, a great many of whom were persians, etc., taken in battle, amalgamate with the grecians, and rise to equal privileges in the state? i ask for information. please tell me, also, whether slavery is not an infringement of the constitution of the united states. you southerners have no idea of the excitement existing at the north on the subjects of abolition and colonization." this shows only the dawning of interest in the mighty subject. the evidence is full and conclusive that at this time neither sarah nor angelina had formed any decided opinions concerning either of the societies mentioned above, or contemplated taking any active part whatever in the cause of freedom. in february, , occurred the famous debate at lane seminary, near cincinnati, presided over by dr. lyman beecher, which, for earnestness, ability, and eloquence, has probably never been surpassed in this country. a colonization society, composed in great part of southern students, had been formed in in the seminary, but went to pieces during the debate, which lasted eighteen evenings, and produced a profound sensation throughout the presbyterian church, and even outside of it. president beecher took no part in it, standing too much in awe of the trustees of the institution to countenance it even by his presence, although he had promised to do so. the speakers were all students, young men remarkable for their sincerity and their energy, and several of them excelling as orators. among the latter were henry b. stanton and theodore d. weld, both possessing great powers of reasoning and natural gifts of eloquence. of theodore d. weld it was said, that when he lectured on temperance, so powerfully did he affect his audiences, that many a liquor dealer went home and emptied out the contents of his barrels. those who remember him in his best days can well believe this, while others who have had the privilege of hearing him only in his "parlor talks" can have no difficulty in understanding the impression he must have made on mixed audiences in those times when his great heart, filled from boyhood with sorrow for the oppressed, found such food for its sympathies.[ ] [ ] an incident of the childhood of this zealous champion of human rights, related in a letter i have, shows how early he took his stand by the side of the weak and defenceless. when he was about six years old, and going to school in connecticut, a little colored boy was admitted as a pupil. weld had never seen a black person before, and was grieved to find that the color of his skin caused him to be despised by the other boys, and put off on a seat by himself. the teacher heard him his lessons separately, and generally sent him back to his lonely seat with a cuff or a jeer. after witnessing this injustice for a day or two, little weld went to the teacher and asked to have his own seat changed. "why, where do you want to sit?" asked the teacher. "by jerry," replied weld. the master burst out laughing, and exclaimed: "why, are you a nigger too?" and, "theodore weld is a nigger!" resounded through the school. "i never shall forget," says mr. weld, "the tumult in my little bosom that day. i went, however, and sat with jerry, and played with jerry, and we were great friends; and in a week i had permission to say my lessons with jerry, and i have been an abolitionist ever since, and never had any prejudices to overcome." it is no disparagement to the many able and eloquent advocates of the anti-slavery cause, between and , to say that public opinion placed weld at the head of them all. in him were combined reason and imagination, wide and accurate knowledge, manly courage, a tender and sympathetic nature, a remarkable faculty of expression, and a fervent enthusiasm which made him the best platform orator of his time. as a lecturer on education, temperance, and abolition, he drew crowded houses and made many converts. the late secretary stanton was one of these, and often mentioned mr. weld as the most eloquent speaker he had ever heard; and wendell phillips, in a recent letter, says of him: "in the first years of the anti-slavery cause, he was our foremost advocate." of henry b. stanton, a newspaper reporter once said in excuse for not reporting one of his great anti-slavery speeches, that he could not attempt to report a whirlwind or a thunderstorm. with such leaders, and with followers no less earnest if less brilliant, it is not surprising that the lane seminary debate arrested such general attention, and afterwards assumed so much importance in the anti-slavery struggle. the trustees, fearing its effect upon their southern patrons, ordered that both societies should be dissolved, and no more meetings held. the anti-slavery students replied to this order by withdrawing in a body from the institution. some went over to oberlin; others,--and among them the two i have named--entered the field as lecturers and workers in the cause they had so ardently espoused. in september, , sarah and angelina were gratified by a visit from their brother thomas, who was on his way to cincinnati, to deliver an address on education before the college of professional teachers, and also to visit his brother frederic, residing in columbus, whom he had not seen for sixteen years. as angelina had not seen him since her departure from charleston in , the few days of his society she now enjoyed were very precious, and made peculiarly so by after-events. the cholera was then for the second time epidemic in the west, but those who knew enough about it to be prudent felt no fear, and the sisters bade farewell to their brother, cheered by his promise to see them again on his way home. he delivered his address in cincinnati, started for columbus, arrived within twelve miles of it, when, at a wayside tavern, he was seized with cholera. his brother, then holding a term of the supreme court, was sent for. he at once adjourned court and hastened to thomas with a physician. he was already speechless, but was able to turn upon frederic a look of recognition, then pressed his hand, and died. angelina, writing of her brother's death, says: "the world has lost an eminent reformer in the cause of christian education, an eloquent advocate of peace, and one who was remarkably ready for every good work. i never saw a man who combined such brilliant talents, such diversity and profundity of knowledge, with such humility of heart and such simplicity and gentleness of manner. he was a great and good man, a pillar of the church and state, and his memory is blessed." in a letter written in , referring to her brother's visit to philadelphia, sarah says: "we often conversed on the subject of slavery, and never did i hear from his lips an approval of it. he had never examined the subject; he regarded it as a duty to do it, and he intended devoting the powers of his mind to it the next year of his life, and asked us to get ready for him all the abolition works worth studying. but god took him away. my own views were dark and confused. had i had my present light, i might have helped him." angelina bore her testimony to the same effect. referring to thomas in a letter to a member of her family many years after his death, she says: "he was deeply interested in _every_ reform, and saw very clearly that the anti-slavery agitation which began in would shake our country to its foundation. he told me in philadelphia that he knew slavery would be the all-absorbing subject here, and that he intended to devote a whole year to its investigation; and, in order that he might do so impartially, he requested me to subscribe for every periodical and paper, and to buy and forward to him any books, that might be published by the anti-slavery and colonization societies. i asked whether he believed colonization could abolish slavery. he said: 'no, never!' but observed; 'i help that only on account of its reflex influence upon slavery here. if we can build up an intelligent, industrious community of colored people in africa, it will do a great deal towards destroying slavery in the united states.'" the loss of her brother almost crushed sarah, although she expresses only submission to the lord's will. it had the effect of closing her heart and mind once more to everything but religion, and again she gave herself fully and entirely to her evangelical preparation. she expresses herself as longing to preach the everlasting gospel, and prays that she may soon be called to be a minister, and be instrumental in turning her fellow sinners away from the wrath to come. later, in the early part of , after having re-perused her brother's works, she solemnly dedicated herself to the cause of peace, persuading herself that thomas had left it as a legacy to her and angelina. she resolved to use all her best endeavors to promote its advancement, and daily prayed for a blessing on her exertions and for the success of the cause. this at least served to divert her thoughts from herself, and no doubt helped her to the belief which now came to her, that at last satan was conquered, and she was accepted of god. if she could only have been comforted also with the knowledge that her labors in the ministry were recognized, her satisfaction would have been complete, but more than ever was she tormented by the slights and sneers of the elders, and by her own conviction that she was a useless vessel. there is scarcely a page of her diary that does not tell of some humiliation, some disappointment connected with her services in meeting. chapter x. although the quakers were the first, as a religious society, to recognize the iniquity of slavery, and to wash their hands of it, so far as to free all the slaves they owned; few of them saw the further duty of discouraging it by ceasing all commercial intercourse with slave-holders. they nearly all continued to trade with the south, and to use the products of slave-labor. after the appearance in this country of elizabeth heyrick's pamphlet, in which she so strongly urged upon abolitionists the duty of abstinence from all slave products, the number was increased of those who declined any and every participation in the guilt of the slave-holder, and exerted themselves to convert others to the same views; but the majority of selfish and inconsiderate people is always large, and it refused to see the good results which could be reasonably expected from such a system of self-denial. as the older members, also, of friends' society were opposed to all exciting discussions, and to popular movements generally, while the younger ones could not smother a natural interest in the great reforms of the day; it followed that, although all were opposed to slavery in the abstract, there was no fixed principle of action among them. in their ranks were all sorts: gradualists and immediatists, advocates of unconditional emancipation, and colonizationists, thus making it impossible to discuss the main question without excitement. therefore all discussion was discouraged and even forbidden. the society never counted among its members many colored persons. there were, however, a few in philadelphia, all educated, and belonging to the best of their class. among them was a most excellent woman, sarah douglass, to whom sarah and angelina grimké became much attached, and with whom sarah kept up a correspondence for nearly thirty years. the first letter of this correspondence which we have, was written in march, , and shows that sarah had known very little about her colored brethren in philadelphia, and it also shows her inclination towards colonization. she mentions having been cheered by an account of several literary and benevolent societies among the colored residents, expresses warm sympathy with them, and gives them some good, practical advice about helping themselves. she then says:-- "i went about three weeks ago to an anti-slavery meeting, and heard with much interest an address from robert gordon. it was feeling, temperate, and judicious; but _one_ word struck my ear unpleasantly. he said, 'and yet it is _audaciously_ asked: what has the north to do with slavery?' the word 'audaciously,' while i am ready to admit its justice, seemed to me inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel; although we may abhor the system of slavery, i want us to remember that the guilt of the oppressor demands christian pity and christian prayer. "my sister went last evening to hear george thompson. she is deeply interested in this subject, and was much pleased with his discourse. do not the colored people believe that the colonization society may prove a blessing to africa, that it may be the means of liberating some slaves, and that, by sending a portion of them there, they may introduce civilization and christianity into this benighted region? that the colonization society can ever be the means of breaking the yoke in america appears to me utterly impossible, but when i look at poor heathen africa, i cannot but believe its efforts will be a blessing to her." in the next letter, written in april, she descants on the universal prejudice against color,--"a prejudice," she says, "which will in days to come excite as much astonishment as the facts now do that christians--some of them i verily believe, sincere lovers of god--put to death nineteen persons and one dog for the crime of witchcraft." and yet, singularly enough, she does not, at this time, notice the inconsistency of a separate seat for colored people in all the churches. in the quaker meeting this was especially humiliating, as it was placed either directly under the stairs, or off in a corner, was called the "negro seat," and was regularly guarded to prevent either colored people from passing beyond it, or white people from making a mistake and occupying it. two years later, sarah and angelina both denounced it; but before that, though they may have privately deplored it, they seem to have accepted it as a necessary conformity to the existing feeling against the blacks. the decision of friends' society concerning discussion sarah grimké seems to have accepted, for, as we have said, there is no expression of her views on emancipation in letters or diary. but angelina felt that her obligations to humanity were greater than her obligations to the society of friends; and as she listened to the eloquent speeches of george thompson and others, her life-long interest in the slave was stimulated, and it aroused in her a desire to work for him in some way, to do something that would practically help his cause. on one of several loose leaves of a diary which angelina kept at this time, we find the following under date, " th mo. th, : five months have elapsed since i wrote in this diary, since which time i have become deeply interested in the subject of abolition. i had long regarded this cause as utterly hopeless, but since i have examined anti-slavery principles, i find them so full of the power of truth, that i am confident not many years will roll by before the horrible traffic in human beings will be destroyed in this land of gospel privileges. my soul has measurably stood in the stead of the poor slave, and my earnest prayers have been poured out that the lord would be pleased to permit me to be instrumental of good to these degraded, oppressed, and suffering fellow-creatures. truly, i often feel ready to go to prison or to death in this cause of justice, mercy, and love; and i do fully believe if i am called to return to carolina, it will not be long before i shall suffer persecution of some kind or other." her fast-increasing enthusiasm alarmed her cautious sister, and drew from her frequent and serious remonstrances. but that she also travelled rapidly towards the final rending of the bonds which had hitherto held her, we find from a letter to sarah douglass, written in the spring of . speaking of jay's book of colonization, which had just appeared, she says:-- "the work is written for the most part in a spirit of christian candor and benevolence. there is here and there a touch of satire or sarcasm i would rather should have been spared. the subject is one of solemn importance to our country, and while i do desire that every righteous means may be employed to give to america a clear and convincing view of the fearful load of guilt that rests upon her for trading in the souls of men, yet i do want the friends of emancipation to take no unhallowed weapons to sever the manacles of the slave. i rejoice in the hope that all the prominent friends of abolition are peace men. my sister sends her love to thee. her mind is deeply engaged in the cause of immediate, unconditional emancipation. i believe she does often pray for it." in july, , angelina went to visit a friend in shrewsbury, new jersey. in this quiet retreat she had ample time for reflection, and for the study of abolition. she could, she says, think of nothing else; and the question continually before her was, "what can i do? what can i do?" but the more she thought, the more perplexed she became. the certainty that any independent action, whatever, would not only offend her society, but grieve her sister, stood in the way of reaching any conclusion, and kept her in a state of unrest which plainly showed itself in her letters to sarah. doubtless she did consider sarah's advice, for she still looked up to her with filial regard, but before she could do more than consider it, an event occurred which made the turning point in her career, and emancipated her forever from the restrictions to which she had so unwillingly assented. the difficulty which abolitionists found in holding meetings in boston, to be addressed by george thompson, of england, brought out in july an appeal to the citizens of boston from mr. garrison. this reached angelina's hands, and so touched her feelings, so aroused all her anti-slavery enthusiasm, that she could no longer keep quiet. she must give expression to her sympathy with the great cause. she wrote to the author--a brave thing for her to do--but we doubt if she could have refrained even if she could have fully realized the storm of reproach which the act brought down upon her. on account of its length, i cannot copy this letter entire, but a few extracts will give an idea of its general tone and spirit. it is dated philadelphia, th month th, , and begins thus:-- "respected friend: it seems as if i was compelled at this time to address thee, notwithstanding all my reasonings against intruding on thy valuable time, and the uselessness of so insignificant a person as myself offering thee the sentiments of sympathy at this alarming crisis. "i can hardly express to thee the deep and solemn interest with which i have viewed the violent proceedings of the last few weeks. although i expected opposition, i was not prepared for it so soon--it took me by surprise--and i greatly feared abolitionists would be driven back in the first outset, and thrown into confusion.... under these feelings i was urged to read thy appeal to the citizens of boston. judge, then, what were my feelings on finding that my fears were utterly groundless, and that thou stoodest firm in the midst of the storm, determined to suffer and to die, rather than yield one inch ... the ground upon which you stand is holy ground; never, never surrender it." she then goes on to encourage him to persevere in his work, reminding him of the persecutions of reformers in past times, and that religious persecution always began with mobs. "if," she says, "persecution is the means which god has ordained for the accomplishment of this great end, emancipation; then, in dependence upon him for strength to bear it, i feel as if i could say, let it come! for it is my deep, solemn, deliberate conviction that this is a cause worth dying for. i say so, from what i have seen, heard, and known in a land of slavery, where rests the darkness of egypt, and where is found the sin of sodom. yes! let it come--let us suffer, rather than insurrections should arise." this letter mr. garrison published in the liberator, to the surprise of angelina, and the great displeasure and grief of her quaker friends. but she who had just counselled another to suffer and die rather than abate an inch of his principles was not likely to quail before the strongly expressed censure of her society, which was at once communicated to her. only over her sister's tender disapproval did she shed any tears. her letter of explanation to sarah shows the sweetness and the firmness of her character so conspicuously, that i offer no apology for copying a portion of it. it is dated shrewsbury, sept. th, , and enters at once upon the subject:-- "my beloved sister: i feel constrained in all the tenderness of a sister's love to address thee, though i hardly know what to say, seeing that i stand utterly condemned by the standard which thou hast set up to judge me by--the opinion of my friends. this thou seemest to feel an infallible criterion. if it is, i have not so learned christ, for he says, 'he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,' etc. i do most fully believe that had i done what i have done in a church capacity, i should justly incur their censure, because they disapprove of any intermeddling with the question, but what i did was done in a private capacity, on my own responsibility. now, my precious sister, i feel willing to be condemned by all but thyself, _without_ a hearing; but to thee i owe the sacred duty of vindication, though hardly one ray of hope dawns on my mind that i shall be acquitted even by _thee_. if i know mine own heart, i desire _not_ to be acquitted; if i have erred, or if this trial of my faith is needful for me by him who knoweth with what food to feed his poor dependent ones, thou hast been with me in heights and in depths, in joy and in sorrow, therefore to thee i speak. thou knowest what i have passed through on the subject of slavery; thou knowest i am an exile from the home of my birth because of slavery--therefore, to thee i speak. "previous to my writing that letter, i believe four weeks elapsed, during which time, though i passed through close and constant exercise, i did not read anything on the subject of abolition, except the pieces in the friends' paper and the _pennsylvanian_ relative to the insurrections and the bonfires in charleston. i was afraid to read. after this, i perused the appeal. i confess i could not read it without tears, so much did its spirit harmonize with my own feelings. this introduced my mind into deep sympathy with wm. lloyd garrison. i found in that piece the spirit of my master; my heart was drawn out in prayer for him, and i felt as if i would like to write to him, but forebore until this day four weeks ago, when it seemed to me i _must_ write to him. i put it by and sat down to read, but i could not read. i then thought that perhaps writing would relieve _my own mind_, without it being required of me to send what i wrote. i wrote the letter and laid it aside, desiring to be preserved from sending it if it was wrong to do so. on second day night, on my bended knees, i implored divine direction, and next morning, after again praying over it, i felt easy to send it, and, after committing it to the office, felt anxiety removed, and as though i had nothing more to do with it. thou knowest what has followed. i think on fifth day i was brought as low as i ever was. after that my heavenly father was pleased in great mercy to open the windows of heaven, and pour out upon my grief-bound, sin-sick soul, the showers of his grace, and in prayer at the footstool of mercy i found that relief which human hearts denied me. a little light seemed to arise. i remembered how often, in deep and solemn prayer, i had told my heavenly father i was willing to suffer anything if i could only aid the great cause of emancipation, and the query arose whether this suffering was not the peculiar kind required of me. since then i have been permitted to enjoy a portion of that peace which human hands cannot rob me of, though great sadness covers my mind; for i feel as though my character had sustained a deep injury in the opinion of those i love and value most--how justly, they will best know at a future day. silent submission is my portion, and in the everlasting strength of my master, i humbly trust i shall be enabled to bear whatever is put upon me. "i have now said all i have to say, and i leave this text with thee: 'judge not by appearance, but judge righteous judgment;' and again, 'judge nothing before the time.' farewell. in the love of the blessed gospel of god's son, i remain, thy afflicted sister. "a.e.g." the entry in sarah's diary respecting this incident is as follows. the date is two days before that of angelina's letter to her. "the suffering which my precious sister has brought upon herself by her connection with the anti-slavery cause, which has been a sorrow of heart to me, is another proof how dangerous it is to slight the clear convictions of truth. but, like myself, she listened to the voice of the tempter. oh! that she may learn obedience by the things that she suffers. of myself i can say, the lord brought me up out of the horrible pit, and my prayer for her is that she may be willing to bear the present chastisement patiently." in angelina's diary, she describes very touchingly some of her trials in this matter. writing in september, , after recording in similar language to that used in her letter to sarah the state of feelings under which she wrote and sent the letter to garrison, she says:-- "i had some idea it might be published, but did not feel at liberty to say it must not be, for i had no idea that, if it was, my name would be attached to it. as three weeks passed and i heard nothing of it, i concluded it had been broken open in the office and destroyed. to my great surprise, last fourth day, friend b. came to tell me a letter of mine had been published in the liberator. he was most exceeding tried at my having written it, and also at its publication. he wished me to re-examine the letter, and write to wm. lloyd garrison, expressing disapproval of its publication, and altering some portions of it. his visit was, i believe, prompted by the affection he bears me, but he appeared utterly incapable of understanding the depth of feeling under which that letter was written. the editor's remarks were deeply trying to him. friend b. seemed to think they were the ravings of a fanatic, and that the bare mention of my precious brother's name was a disgrace to his character, when coupled with mine in such a cause and such a paper, or rather in a cause advocated in such a way. i was so astonished and tried that i hardly knew what to say. i declined, however, to write to w.l.g., and said i felt willing to bear any suffering, if it was only made instrumental of good. i felt my great unworthiness of being used in such a work, but remembered that god hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the wise. but i was truly miserable, believing my character was altogether gone among my dearest, most valued friends. i was indeed brought to the brink of despair, as the vilest of sinners. a little light dawned at last, as i remembered how often i had told the lord if he would only prepare me to be, and make me, instrumental in the great work of emancipation, i would be willing to bear any suffering, and the question arose, whether this was not the peculiar kind allotted to me. oh, the extreme pain of extravagant praise! to be held up as a saint in a public newspaper, before thousands of people, when i felt i was the chief of sinners. blushing, and confusion of face were mine, and i thought the walls of a prison would have been preferable to such an exposure. then, again, to have my name, not so much my name as the name of grimké, associated with that of the despised garrison, seemed like bringing disgrace upon my family, not myself alone. i felt as though the name had been tarnished in the eyes of thousands who had before loved and revered it. i cannot describe the anguish of my soul nevertheless, i could not blame the publication of the letter, nor would i have recalled it if i could. "my greatest trial is the continued opposition of my precious sister sarah. she thinks i have been given over to blindness of mind, and that i do not know light from darkness, right from wrong. her grief is that i cannot see it was wrong in me ever to have written the letter at all, and she seems to think i deserve all the suffering i have brought upon myself." we approach now the most interesting period in the lives of the two sisters. a new era was about to dawn upon them; their quiet, peaceful routine was to be disturbed; a path was opening for them, very different from the one which had hitherto been indicated, and for which their long and painful probation had eminently prepared them. angelina was the first to see it, the first to venture upon it, and for a time she travelled it alone, unsustained by her beloved sister, and feeling herself condemned by all her nearest friends. chapter xi. all through the winter of - , demonstrations of violence continued to be made against the friends of emancipation throughout the country. the reign of terror inaugurated in threatened to crush out the grandest principles of our constitution. freedom of press and speech became by-words, and personal liberty was in constant danger. a man or woman needed only to be pointed out as an abolitionist to be insulted and assaulted. no anti-slavery meetings could be held uninterrupted by the worst elements of rowdyism, instigated by men in high position. in vain the authorities were appealed to for protection; they declared their inability to afford it. the few newspapers that dared to express disapproval of such disregard of the doctrine of equal rights were punished by the withdrawal of subscriptions and advertisements, while the majority of the public press teemed with the vilest slanders against the noble men and women who, in spite of mobs and social ostracism, continued to sow anti-slavery truths so diligently that new converts were made every day, and the very means taken to impose upon public opinion enlightened it more and more.[ ] [ ] apropos of sowing anti-slavery truths, i remember seeing at the first anti-slavery fair i attended,--in , i think,--a sampler made in by a little girl, a pupil in a school where evidently great pains were taken to propagate anti-slavery principles. on the sampler was neatly worked the words: "may the points of our needles prick the slave-holders' consciences." during this winter we find nothing especial to narrate concerning sarah and angelina. sarah's diary continues to record her trials in meeting, and her religious sufferings, notwithstanding her recently expressed belief that her eternal salvation was secured. angelina kept no diary at this time, and wrote few letters, but we see from an occasional allusion in these that her mind was busy, and that her warmest interest was enlisted in the cause of abolition. she read everything she could get on the subject, wrote some effective articles for the anti-slavery papers, and pondered night and day over the question of what more she could do. one practical thing she did was to write to the widow of her brother thomas, proposing to purchase from her the woman whom she (angelina) in her girlhood had refused to own, and who afterwards became the property of her brother. this woman was now the mother of several children, and angelina, jointly with mrs. frost, proposed to purchase them all, bring them to philadelphia, and emancipate them. but no notice was taken of the application, either by their sister-in-law or their sister eliza, to whom angelina repeatedly wrote on the subject. learning from their mother that she was about to make her will, angelina and sarah wrote to her, asking that her slaves be included in their portions. to this she assented, but managed to dispose of all but four before she died. these were left to her two anti-slavery daughters, who at once freed them, at the same time purchasing the husband of one of them and freeing him. as she continued to study anti-slavery doctrines, one thing became very plain to angelina--that the friends of emancipation, in order to clear their skirts of all participation in the slave-owner's sin, must cease to use the products of slave labor. to this view she tried to bring all with whom she discussed the main subject, and so important did it appear to her, that she thought of writing to some of the anti-slavery friends in new york about it, but her courage failed. after what she had gone through because of the publication of her letter to mr. garrison, she shrank from the risk of having another communication made public. but her mind was deeply exercised on this point, and when--in the spring--she and sarah went to attend yearly meeting in providence, r.i., an opportunity offered for her to express her views to a prominent member of the new york society, whom she met on the boat. she begged this lady to talk to gerrit smith, recently converted from colonization, and others, about it, and to offer them, in her name, one hundred dollars towards setting up a free cotton factory. this was the beginning of a society formed by those willing to pledge themselves to the use of free-labor products only. in benjamin lundy had procured the establishment, in baltimore, of a free-labor produce store; and subsequently he had formed several societies on the same principle. evan lewis had established one in philadelphia about , and it was still in existence. the sisters had been so long and so closely tied to philadelphia and their duties there, that the relief of the visit to providence was very great. sarah mentions it in this characteristic way:-- "the friend of sinners opened a door of escape for me out of that city of bonds and afflictions." in providence she records how much more freedom she felt in the exercise of her ministerial gift than she did at home. angelina sympathized with these sentiments, feeling, as she expresses it, that her release from philadelphia was signed when she left for providence. she found it delightful to be able to read what she pleased without being criticised, and to talk about slavery freely. while in providence she was refreshed by calls upon her of several abolitionists, among them a cotton manufacturer and his son, quakers, with whom she had a long talk, not knowing their business. she discussed the use of slave-labor, and descanted on the impossibility of any man being clean-handed enough to work in the anti-slavery cause so long as he was making his fortune by dealing in slave-labor products. these two gentlemen afterwards became her warm friends. an anti-slavery society meeting was held in providence while angelina was there, but she did not feel at liberty to attend it, though she mentions seeing garrison, henry b. stanton, osborne, "and others," but does not say that she made their acquaintance; probably not, as she was visiting orthodox quakers who all disapproved of these men, and angelina's modesty would never have allowed her to seek their notice. leaving providence, the sisters attended two quarterly meetings in adjacent towns, where, angelina states, the subject of slavery was brought up, "and," she says, "gospel liberty prevailed to such an extent, that even poor i was enabled to open my lips in a few words." she neglected to say that these few words introduced the subject to the meetings, and produced such deep feeling that many hitherto wavering ones went away strengthened and encouraged. they also attended yearly meeting at newport, where many friends were made; and where angelina's conversations on the subject which absorbed all her thoughts produced such an impression that she was strongly urged to remain in new england, and become an anti-slavery missionary in the society of friends. but she did not feel that she could stay, as, she says, it was shown her very clearly that shrewsbury was her right place for the summer, though why, she knew not. the reason was plainly revealed a little later. she returned to shrewsbury refreshed and strengthened, and feeling that her various experiences had helped her to see more clearly where her duty and her work lay. but she was saddened by the conviction that if she gave herself up, as she felt she must, to the anti-slavery cause, she would be cast loose from her peaceful home, and from very many dear friends, to whom she was bound by the strongest ties of gratitude and affection. she thus writes to a friend:-- "didst thou ever feel as if thou hadst no home on earth, except in the bosom of jesus? i feel so now." for several weeks after her return to shrewsbury, angelina tried to withdraw her mind from the subject which her sister thought was taking too strong hold on it, and interfering with her spiritual needs and exercises. out of deference to these views, she resumed her studies, and tried to become interested in a "history of the united states on peace principles," which she had thought some time before of writing. then she began the composition of a little book on the "beauty and duty of forgiveness, as illustrated by the story of joseph," but gave that up to commence a sacred history. in this she did become much interested for a time, but her mind was too heavily burdened to permit her to remain tranquil long. still the question was ever before her: "is there nothing that i can do?" she tried to be cheerful, but felt at all times much more like shedding tears. and her suffering was greater that it was borne alone. the friend, mrs. parker, whom she was visiting, was a comparative stranger, whose views she had not yet ascertained, and whom she feared to trouble with her perplexities. of sarah, so closely associated with catherine morris, she could not make an entire confidant, and no other friend was near. catherine, and some others in philadelphia, anxious about her evident and growing indifference to her society duties, tried to persuade her to open a school with one who had long been a highly-prized friend, but angelina very decidedly refused to listen to the project. "as to s.w.'s proposal," she writes, "i cannot think of acceding to it, because i have seen so clearly that my pen, at least, must be employed in the great reformations of the day, and if i engaged in a school, my time would not be my own. no money that could be given could induce me to bind my body and mind and soul so completely in philadelphia. there is no lack of light as to the right decision about this." for this reply she received a letter of remonstrance from sarah, to which she thus answered:-- "i think i am as afraid as thou canst be of my doing anything to hurt my usefulness in our society, if that is the field designed for me to labor in. but, is it? is often a query of deep interest and solemnity to my mind. i feel no openness among friends. my spirit is oppressed and heavy laden, and shut up in prison. what am i to do? the only relief i experience is in writing letters and pieces for the peace and anti-slavery causes, and this makes me think that my influence is to reach beyond our own limits. my mind is fully made up not to spend next winter in philadelphia, if i can help it. i feel strangely released, and am sure i know not what is to become of me. i am perfectly blind as to the future." but light was coming, and her sorrowful questionings were soon to be answered. it was not long before mrs. parker saw that her guest's cheerfulness was assumed, and only thinly veiled some great trouble. as they became more intimate, she questioned her affectionately, and soon drew from her the whole story of her sorrows and her perplexities, and her great need of a friend to feel for her and advise her. mrs. parker became this friend, and, though differing from her on some essential points, did much to help and strengthen her. for many days slavery was the only topic discussed between them, and then one morning angelina entered the breakfast-room with a beaming countenance, and said:-- "it has all come to me; god has shown me what i can do; i can write an appeal to southern women, one which, thus inspired, will touch their hearts, and lead them to use their influence with their husbands and brothers. i will speak to them in such tones that they must hear me, and, through me, the voice of justice and humanity." this appeal was begun that very day, but before she had written many pages, she was interrupted in her task by a letter which threw her into a state of great agitation, and added to her perplexity. this letter was from elizur wright, then secretary of the american anti-slavery society, the office of which was in new york. he invited her, in the name of the executive committee of the society, to come to new york, and meet with christian women in sewing circles and private parlors, and talk to them, as she so well knew how to do, on slavery. the door of usefulness she had been looking for so long was opened at last, but it was so unexpected, so different from anything she had yet thought of, that she was cast into a sea of trouble. naturally retiring and unobtrusive, she shrank from so public an engagement, and this proposal frightened her so much that she could not sleep the first night after receiving it. she had never spoken to the smallest assembly of friends, and even in meeting, where all were free to speak as the spirit moved them, she had never uttered a word; and yet, how could she refuse? she delayed her answer until she could make it the subject of prayer and consult with sarah. desiring to leave her sister entirely free to express her opinion, she merely wrote to her that she had received the proposition. sarah was beginning to feel that angelina was growing beyond her, and, may be, above her. she did not offer a word of advice, but most tenderly expressed her entire willingness to give up her "precious child," to go anywhere, and do anything she felt was right. and in a letter to a friend, alluding to this, she says:-- "my beloved sister does indeed need the prayers of all who love her. oh! may he who laid down his life for us guide her footsteps and keep her in the hollow of his holy hand. perhaps the lord may be pleased to cast our lot somewhere together. if so, i feel as if i could ask no more in this world." sarah's willingness to surrender her to whatever work she felt called to do was a great relief to angelina. in writing to thank her and to speak more fully of mr. wright's letter, she says:-- "the bare idea that such a thing may be required of me is truly alarming, and that thy mind should be at all resigned to it increases the fear that possibly i may have to do it. it does not appear by the letter that it is expected i should extend my work outside of our society. one thing, however, i do see clearly, that i am not to do it now, for i have begun to write an 'appeal to the christian women of the south,' which i feel must be finished first." she then proceeds to give an account of the part of this appeal already written, and of what she intended the rest to be, and shows that she shared the feelings common among southerners, the anticipation of a servile insurrection sooner or later. she says:-- "in conclusion i intend to take up the subject of abolitionism, and endeavor to undeceive the south as to the supposed objects of anti-slavery societies, and bear my full testimony to their pacific principles; and then to close with as feeling an appeal as possible to them as women, as christian women, setting before them the awful responsibility resting on them at this crisis; for if the women of the south do not rise in the strength of the lord to plead with their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, that country must witness the most dreadful scenes of murder and blood. "it will be a pamphlet of a dozen pages, i suppose. my wish is to submit it to the publishing committee of the a.a.s.s., of new york, for revision, to be published by them with my name attached, for i well know my _name_ is worth more than _myself_, and will add weight to it.[ ] now, dearest, what dost thou think of it? a pretty bold step, i know, and one of which my friends will highly disapprove, but this is a day in which i feel i must act independently of consequences to myself, for of how little consequence will my trials be, if the cause of truth is helped forward ever so little. the south must be reached. an address to men will not reach women, but an address to women will reach the whole community, if it can be reached at all. "i mean to write to elizur wright by to-morrow's mail, informing him that i am writing such a pamphlet, and that i feel as if the proposition of the committee is one of too much importance, either to accept or refuse, without more reflection than i have yet been able to give to it. the trial would indeed be great, to have to leave this sweet, quiet retreat, but if duty calls, i must go.... many, many thanks for thy dear, long letters." [ ] in a letter written some time after, she says: "i would have liked thee to join thy name to mine in my appeal, but thought it would probably bring out so much opposition and violence, that i preferred bearing it all myself." while angelina was thus busily employed, and buoyed up by the hope of benefiting those whose wrongs she had all her life felt so deeply, sarah was reaching towards her, and in trying to be indulgent to her and just to her society at the same time, she was awakening to her own false position and to some of the awful mistakes of her religious life. through the summer, such passages as the following appear in her diary: -- "the approach of our yearly meeting was almost overwhelming. i felt as if i could be thankful even for sickness, for almost anything so i might have escaped attending it. but my dear saviour opened no door, and after a season of unusual conflict i was favored with resignation. "oh! the cruel treatment i have undergone from those in authority. i could not have believed it had i not been called to endure it. but the lord permits it. my part is not to judge how far they have been moving under divine direction, but to receive humbly and thankfully through them the lessons of meekness, lowliness, faith, patience, and love, and i trust i may be thankful for the opportunity thus afforded to love my enemies and to pray for them, and perhaps it is to prepare me to feel for others, that i have been thus tried and afflicted." that she was thus prepared was evidenced through all the varied experiences of her after-life, for certainly no more sympathetic soul ever dwelt in a mortal frame, and more generously diffused its warmth and tenderness upon all who came within its radius. after the next first day meeting, she writes:-- "the suffering in my own meeting is so intense that i think nothing short of a settled conviction that obedience and eternal life are closely connected could enable me to open my lips there." two weeks later, an almost prophetic sentence is written. "truly discouragement does so prevail that it would be no surprise to me if friends requested me to be silent. hitherto, i have been spared this trial, but if it comes, o holy father, may my own will be so slain that i may bow in reverent adoring submission." notwithstanding all this distress, however, sarah might still have lingered on some time longer, stifling in the dry dust of the quaker church, and refusing to partake of the living water angelina proffered to her, but for an incident which occurred about this time, scarcely a fortnight after the last sentence quoted,--an incident which proved to be the last straw added to the heavy burden she had borne so submissively, if not patiently. it is best given in her own words, and i may add, it is the last entry in her most remarkable diary. " th mo. d. went this morning to orange street meeting after a season of conflict and prayer. i believed the lord required this sacrifice, but i went with a heart bowed down, praying to jesus that i might not speak my own words, that he would be pleased to make a way for me, or, if what i had to deliver brought upon me opposition, to strengthen me to endure it. the meeting had been gathered some time when i arose, and after repeating our lord's thrice-repeated query to peter, 'lovest thou me?' i remarked that it was addressed to one who had been forgiven much, and who could appeal to the searcher of hearts that he did indeed love him. few of us had had the temptation to endure which overcame peter when he denied his lord and master. but although few of us might openly deny the lord who bought us, yet there is, i apprehend, in many of us an evil heart of unbelief, which alienates us from god and disqualifies from answering the query as peter did. i had proceeded so far when jonathan evans rose and said: 'i hope the friend will now be satisfied.' i immediately sat down and was favored to feel perfectly calm. the language, 'ye can have no power at all against me unless it be given you,' sustained me, and although i am branded in the public eye with the disapprobation of a poor fellow worm, and it was entirely a breach of discipline in him to publicly silence a minister who has been allowed to exercise her gifts in her own meeting without ever having been requested to be silent, yet i feel no anger towards him. surely the feelings that could prompt to so cruel an act cannot be the feelings of christian love. but it seems to be one more evidence that my dear saviour designs to bring me out of this place. how much has his injunction rested on my mind of latter time. 'when they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another.' i pray unto thee, o lord jesus, to direct the wanderer's footsteps and to plant me where thou seest i can best promote thy glory. expect to go to burlington to-morrow." to those unacquainted with the society of friends fifty years ago, and its discipline at that period, so different from what it is now, this incident may seem of little consequence; but it was, on the contrary, extremely serious. jonathan evans was the presiding elder of the yearly meetings, a most important personage, whose authority was undisputed. he was sometimes alluded to as "pope jonathan." he had disliked sarah from the time of her connection with the society, and had habitually treated her and her offerings with a silent indifference most significant, and which, of course, had its effect on many who pinned their prejudices as well as their faith to the coats of the elders. it was owing entirely to this secretly-exercised but well-understood opposition, that sarah had for nine long years used her ministerial gift only through intense suffering. she believed, against much rebellion in her own breast, that it had been given her to use in god's service, and that she had no right to withhold it; but she had been made so often to feel the condemnation under which she labored, that she was really not much surprised when the final blow came. but with all her religious humility her pride was great, and her sensitiveness to any discourtesy very keen. she may not have felt anger against elder evans. we can imagine, on the contrary, that her heart was filled with pity for him, but a pity largely mixed with contempt; and it is certain that the society was made, in her view, responsible for his conduct. every slight she had ever received in it came back to her exaggerated; all her dissatisfaction with its principles of action doubled; the grief she had always felt at its indifference to the doctrine of the atonement, and its neglect to preach "jesus christ and him crucified," of which she had often complained, was intensified, and her first impulse was to quit the society, as she determined to quit philadelphia, for ever. angelina was greatly shocked when she learned of the treatment her sister had received, but the words, "i will break your bonds and set you free," came immediately to her mind, and so comforted her that her grief and indignation were turned to joy. she had long felt that, kind as catherine morris had always been, her strict orthodox principles, which she severely enforced in her household, circumscribed sarah's liberty of thought and action, and operated powerfully in preventing her from rising out of her depressed and discouraged state. but though the question had often revolved itself in her mind, and even been discussed between her and her sister, neither had been able to see how sarah could ever leave catherine, bound to her as she was by such strong ties of gratitude, and feeling herself so necessary to catherine's comfort. but now the way was made clear, and certainly no true friend of sarah could expect her to remain longer in philadelphia. it is surprising that sarah had not discovered many years earlier that the attempt must be futile to engraft a scion of the charleston aristocracy upon the rugged stock of quaker orthodoxy. she went to burlington, to the house of a dear friend who knew of all her trials, and there she remained for several weeks. angelina had finished her "appeal," and, only two days before she heard of the evans incident, wrote to sarah to inform her of the fact. this letter is dated "aug. st, ." after a few affectionate inquiries, she says: "i have just finished my 'appeal to southern women.' it has furnished work for two weeks. how much i wish i could have thee here, if it were only for three or four hours, that we might read it over together before i send it to elizur wright. i read it to margaret, and she says it carries its own evidence with it; still, i should value thy judgment very much if i could have it, but a private opportunity offers to-morrow, and i think i had better send it. it must go just as i sent my letter to w.l.g., with fervent prayers that the lord would do just as he pleased with it. i believe he directed and helped me to write it, and now i feel as if i had nothing to do but to send it to the anti-slavery society, submitting it entirely to their judgment.... i cannot be too thankful for the change thou expressest in thy feelings with regard to the anti-slavery society, and feel no desire at all to blame thee for former opposition, believing, as i do, that it was permitted in order to drive me closer to my saviour, and into a deeper examination of the ground upon which i was standing. i am indeed thankful for it; how could i be otherwise, when it was so evident thou hadst my good at heart and really did for the best? and it did not hurt me at all. it did not alienate me from the blessed cause, for i think the same suffering that would drive us back from a bad cause makes us cling to and love a good one more ardently. o sister, i feel as if i could give up not only friends, but life itself, for the slave, if it is called for. i feel as if i could go anywhere to save him, even down to the south if i am called there. the conviction deepens and strengthens, as retirement affords fuller opportunity for calm reflection, that the cause of emancipation is a cause worth suffering for, yea, dying for, if need be. with regard to the proposed mission in new york, i can see nothing about it, and never did any poor creature feel more unfit to do anything than i do to undertake it. but what duty presses me into, i cannot press myself out of.... i sometimes feel frightened to think of how long i was standing idle in the market-place, and cannot help attributing it in a great measure to the doctrine of nothingness so constantly preached up in our society. it is the most paralyzing, zeal-quenching doctrine that ever was preached in the church, and i believe has produced its legitimate fruit of nothingness in reducing us to nothing, when we ought to have been a light in the christian church.... farewell, dearest, perhaps we shall soon meet." the appeal was sent to new york, and this was what mr. wright wrote to the author in acknowledging its receipt:-- "i have just finished reading your appeal, and not with a dry eye. i do not feel the slightest doubt that the committee will publish it. oh that it could be rained down into every parlor in our land. i know it will carry the christian women of the south if it can be read, and my soul blesses that dear and glorious saviour who has helped you to write it." when it was read some days after to the gentlemen of the committee, they found in it such an intimate knowledge of the workings of the whole slave system, such righteous denunciation of it, and such a warm interest in the cause of emancipation, that they decided to publish it at once and scatter it through the country, especially through the south. it made a pamphlet of thirty-six pages. the quarterly anti-slavery magazine for october, , thus mentions it:-- "this eloquent pamphlet is from the pen of a sister of the late thomas s. grimké, of charleston, s.c. we need hardly say more of it than that it is written with that peculiar felicity and unction which characterized the works of her lamented brother. among anti-slavery writings there are two classes--one especially adapted to make new converts, the other to strengthen the old. we cannot exclude miss grimké's appeal from either class. it belongs pre-eminently to the former. the converts that will be made by it, we have no doubt, will be not only numerous, but thorough-going." mr. wright spoke of it as a patch of blue sky breaking through the storm-cloud of public indignation which had gathered so black over the handful of anti-slavery workers. this praise was not exaggerated. the pamphlet produced the most profound sensation wherever it was read, but, as angelina predicted, she was made to suffer for having written it. friends upbraided and denounced her, catherine morris even predicting that she would be disowned, and intimating pretty plainly that she would not dissent from such punishment; and angelina even began to doubt her own judgment, and to question if she ought not to have continued to live a useless life in philadelphia, rather than to have so displeased her best friends. but her convictions of duty were too strong to allow her to remain long in this depressed, semi-repentant state. in a letter to a friend she expresses herself as almost wondering at her own weakness; and of catherine morris she says: "her disapproval, more than anything else, shook my resolution. nevertheless, i told her, with many tears, that i felt it a religious duty to labor in this cause, and that i must do it even against the advice and wishes of my friends. i think if i ever had a clear, calm view of the path of duty in all my life, i have had it since i came here, in reference to slavery. but i assure thee that i expect nothing less than that my labors in this blessed cause will result in my being disowned by friends, but none of these things will move me. i must confess i value my right very little in a society which is frowning on all the moral reformations of the day, and almost enslaving its members by unchristian and unreasonable restrictions, with regard to uniting with others in these works of faith and labors of love. i do not believe it would cost me one pang to be disowned for doing my duty to the slave." but her condemnation reached beyond the quaker society--even to her native city, where her appeal produced a sensation she had little expected. mr. weld's account of its reception there is thus given:-- "when it (the appeal) came out, a large number of copies were sent by mail to south carolina. most of them were publicly burned by postmasters. not long after this, the city authorities of charleston learned that miss grimké was intending to visit her mother and sisters, and pass the winter with them. thereupon the mayor called upon mrs. grimké and desired her to inform her daughter that the police had been instructed to prevent her landing while the steamer remained in port, and to see to it that she should not communicate, by letter or otherwise, with any persons in the city; and, further, that if she should elude their vigilance and go on shore, she would be arrested and imprisoned until the return of the vessel. her charleston friends at once conveyed to her the message of the mayor, and added that the people of charleston were so incensed against her, that if she should go there despite the mayor's threat of pains and penalties, she could not escape personal violence at the hands of the mob. she replied to the letter that her going would probably compromise her family; not only distress them, but put them in peril, which she had neither heart nor right to do; but for that fact, she would certainly exercise her constitutional right as an american citizen, and go to charleston to visit her relatives, and if for that, the authorities should inflict upon her pains and penalties, she would willingly bear them, assured that such an outrage would help to reveal to the free states the fact that slavery defies and tramples alike upon constitutions and laws, and thus outlaws itself." these brave words said no more than they meant, for angelina grimké's moral heroism would have borne her to the front of the fiercest battle ever fought for human rights; and she would have counted it little to lay down her life if that could help on the victory. she touched as yet only the surf of the breakers into which she was soon to be swept, but her clear eye would not have quailed, or her cheek have blanched, if even then all their cruelty could have been revealed to her. chapter xii. we have seen, a few pages back, that angelina expressed her thankfulness at sarah's change of views with respect to the anti-slavery cause. again we must regret the destruction of sarah's letters, which would have shown us by what chains of reasoning her mind at last reached entire sympathy with angelina's. we can only infer that her progress was rapid after the public rebuke which caused her to turn her back on philadelphia, and that her sister's brave and isolated position, appealing strongly to her affection, urged her to make a closer examination of the subject of abolitionism than she had yet done. the result we know; her entire conversion in a few weeks to angelina's views. and from that time she travelled close by her sister's side in this as well as in other questions of reform, drawing her inspiration from angelina's clearer intuitions and calmer judgment, and frankly and affectionately acknowledging her right of leadership. the last of august, , the sisters were once more together, sarah having accepted mrs. parker's invitation to come to shrewsbury. the question of future arrangements was now discussed. angelina felt a strong inclination to go to new england, and undertake there the same work which the committee in new york wished her to perform, and she even wrote to mr. wright that she expected to do so. feeling also that friends had the first right to her time and labors, and that, if permitted, she would prefer to work within the society, she wrote to her old acquaintances, e. and l. capron, the cotton manufacturers of uxbridge, massachusetts, to consult them on the subject. she mentions this in a letter to her friend, jane smith, saying:-- "my present feelings lead me to labor with friends on the manufacture and use of the products of slave-labor. they excuse themselves from doing anything, because they say they cannot mingle in the general excitement, and so on. now, here is a field of labor in which they need have nothing to do with other societies, and yet will be striking a heavy blow at slavery. these topics the anti-slavery society has never acted upon as a body, and therefore no agent of theirs could consistently labor on them. i stated to e. and l. capron just how i felt, and asked whether i could be of any use among them, whether they were prepared to have the morality of these things discussed on christian principles. i have no doubt my philadelphia friends will oppose my going there, but, jane, i have realized very sensibly of late that i belong not to them, but to christ jesus, and that i must follow the lamb whithersoever he leadeth.... i feel as if i was about to sacrifice every friend i thought i had, but i still believe with t.d. weld, that this is 'a cause worth dying for.'" this is the first mention we find of her future husband, whom she had not yet seen, but whose eloquent addresses she had read, and whose ill-treatment by western mobs had more than once called forth the expression of her indignation. the senior member of the firm to which she had written answered her letter in person, and, she says, utterly discouraged her. he said that if she should go into new england with the avowed intention of laboring among friends on the subject of slavery in _any_ way, her path would be completely closed, and she would find herself entirely helpless. he even went so far as to say that he believed there were friends who would destroy her character if she attempted anything of the kind. he proposed that she should go to his house for the winter, and employ her time in writing for the anti-slavery society, and doing anything else she could incidentally. but this plan did not suit her. she felt it right to offer her services to friends first, and was glad she had done so; but if they would not accept them she must take them elsewhere. besides, when she communicated her plan to catherine morris, catherine objected to it very decidedly, and said she _could not_ go without a certificate and a companion, and these she knew friends would not grant her. "under all these circumstances," angelina writes, "i felt a little like the apostle paul, who having first offered the jews the gospel, and finding they would not receive it, believed it right for him to turn to the gentiles. didst thou ever hear anything so absurd as what catherine says about the certificate and a companion? i cannot feel bound by such unreasonable restrictions if my heavenly father opens a door for me, and i do not mean to submit to them. she knows very well that arch street meeting would grant me neither, but as the servant of jesus christ i have no right to bow down thus to the authority of man, and i do not expect ever again to suffer myself to be trammelled as i have been. it is sinful in any human being to resign his or her conscience and free agency to any society or individual, if such usurpation can be resisted by moral power. the course our society is now determined upon, of crushing everything which opposes the peculiar views of friends, seems to me just like the powerful effort of the jews to close the lips of jesus. they are afraid that the society will be completely broken up if they allow any difference of opinion to pass unrebuked, and they are resolved to put down all who question in any way the doctrines of barclay, the soundness of fox, or the practices which are built on them. but the time is fast approaching when we shall see who is for christ, and who for fox and barclay, the paul and apollos of our society." her plan of going to new england frustrated, angelina hesitated no longer about accepting the invitation from new york. but first there was a long discussion of the subject with sarah, who found it hard to resign her sister to a work she as yet did not cordially approve. she begged her not to decide suddenly, and pointed out all sorts of difficulties--the great responsibility she would assume, her retiring disposition, and almost morbid shrinking from whatever might make her conspicuous; the trial of going among strangers, made greater by her quaker costume and speech, and lastly, of the almost universal prejudice against a woman's speaking to any audience; and she asked her if, under all these embarrassing circumstances, added to her inexperience of the world, she did not feel that she would ultimately be forced to give up what now seemed to her so practicable. to all this angelina only answered that the responsibility seemed thrust upon her, that the call was god's call, and she could not refuse to answer it. sarah then told her that if she should go upon this mission without the sanction of the "meeting for sufferings," it would be regarded as a violation of the established usages of the society, and it would feel obliged to disown her. angelina's answer to this ended the discussion. she declared that as her mind was made up to go, she could not ask leave of her society--that it would grieve her to have to leave it, and it would be unpleasant to be disowned, but she had no alternative. then sarah, whose loving heart had, during the long talk, been moving nearer and nearer to that of her clear child, surprised her by speaking in the beautiful, tender language of ruth: "if thou indeed feelest thus, and i cannot doubt it, then my mind too is made up. where thou goest, i will go; thy god shall be my god, thy people my people. what thou doest, i will, to my utmost, aid thee in doing. we have wept and prayed together, we will go and work together." and thus fully united, heart and soul and mind, they departed for new york, angelina first writing to inform the committee of her decision, and while thanking them for the salary offered, refusing to receive any. she also told them that her sister would accompany her and co-operate with her, and they would both bear their own expense. after this time, the sisters found themselves in frequent and intimate association with the men who, as officers of the american anti-slavery society, had the direction of the movement. the marked superiority of their new friends in education, experience, culture, piety, liberality of view, statesmanship, decision of character, and energy in action, to the philadelphia quakers and charleston slave-holders, must have been to them a surprise and a revelation. working with a common purpose, these men were of varied accomplishments and qualities. william jay and james g. birney were cultured men of the world, trained in legal practice and public life; arthur tappan, lewis tappan, john rankin, and duncan dunbar, were successful merchants; abraham l. cox, a physician in large practice; theodore d. weld, henry b. stanton, alvan stewart, and gerrit smith were popular orators; joshua leavitt, elizur wright, and william goodell were ready writers and able editors; beriah green and amos a. phelps were pulpit speakers and authors, and john g. whittier was a poet. some of them had national reputations. those who in december, , protested against the false charges of publishing incendiary documents calculated to excite servile war, made against the society by president jackson, had signed names almost as well known as his, and had written better english than his message. several of them had been officers of the american anti-slavery society from its formation. their energy had been phenomenal: they had raised funds, sent lecturers into nearly every county in the free states, and circulated in a single year more than a million copies of newspapers, pamphlets, magazines, and books. their moderation, good judgment, and piety had been seen and known of all men. faithful in the exposure of unfaithfulness to freedom on the part of politicians and clergymen, they denounced neither the constitution nor the bible. their devotion to the cause of abolition was pure; for its sake they suppressed the vanity of personal notoriety and of oratorical display. among them, not one can be found who sought to make a name as a leader, speaker, or writer; not one who was jealous of the reputation of co-adjutors; not one who rewarded adherents with flattery and hurled invectives at dissentients; not one to whom personal flattery was acceptable or personal prominence desirable; not one whose writings betrayed egotism, self-inflation or bombast. such was their honest aversion to personal publicity, it is now almost impossible to trace the work each did. some of their noblest arguments for freedom were published anonymously. they made no vainglorious claims to the original authorship of ideas. but never in the history of reform was work better done than the old american anti-slavery society did from its formation in to its disruption in . in less than seven years it regained for freedom most of the vantage-ground lost under the open assaults and secret plottings, beginning in , of the jackson administration, and in the panic caused by the southampton insurrection; blew into flame the embers of the national anti-slavery sentiment; painted slavery as it was; vindicated the anti-slavery character of the constitution and the bible; defended the right of petition; laid bare the causes of the seminole war: exposed the texas conspiracy and the designs of the slave power for supremacy; and freed the legitimate abolition cause from "no human government," secession, and anti-constitution heresies. in short, it planted the seed which flowered and fruited in a political party, around which the nation was to gather for defence against the aggressions of the slave power. at the anti-slavery office in new york, angelina and sarah learned, much to their satisfaction, that the work that would probably be required of angelina could be done in a private capacity; that it was proposed to organize, the next month (november), a national female anti-slavery society, for which women agents would be needed, and they could make themselves exceedingly useful travelling about, distributing tracts, and talking to women in their own homes. there the matter rested for a time. writing to her friend jane smith in philadelphia after their return to shrewsbury, angelina says:-- "i am certain of the disapproval of nearly all my friends. as to dear catherine, i am afraid she will hardly want to see me again. i wrote to her all about it, for i wanted her to know what my prospects were. i expect nothing less than the loss of her friendship and of my membership in the society. the latter will be a far less trial than the former.... i cannot describe to thee how my dear sister has comforted and strengthened me. i cannot regard the change in her feelings as any other than as a strong evidence that my heavenly father has called me into the anti-slavery field, and after having tried my faith by her opposition, is now pleased to strengthen and confirm it by her approbation." in a postscript to this letter, sarah says:-- "god does not willingly grieve or afflict the children of men, and if my suffering or even my beloved sister's, which is harder to bear than my own, can help forward the cause of truth and righteousness, i may rejoice in that we are found worthy not only to believe on, but also to suffer for, the name of jesus." angelina adds that she shall be obliged to go to philadelphia for a week or so, to dispose of her personal effects, and asks jane to receive her as a boarder, as she did not think it would be right to impose herself upon either her sister, mrs. frost, or catherine, on account of their disapproval of anti-slavery measures. "i never felt before," she says, "as if i had _no_ home. it seems as if the lord had completely broken up my rest and driven me out to labor for the poor slave. it is _his_ work--i blame no one." a few weeks later, the sisters were again in new york, the guests of that staunch abolitionist, dr. cox, and his good wife, abby, as earnest a worker in the cause as her husband. an anti-slavery convention had been called for the first week in the month of november, and met soon after their arrival. it was at this convention that angelina first saw and listened to theodore d. weld. writing to her friend jane, she says:-- "the meetings are increasingly interesting, and to-day ( th) we enjoyed a moral and intellectual feast in a most noble speech from t.d. weld, of more than two hours, on the question, 'what is slavery?' i never heard so grand and beautiful an exposition of the dignity and nobility of man in my life." she goes on to give a synopsis of the entire speech, and by her frequent enthusiastic comments reveals how much it and the speaker impressed her. she continues:-- "after the meeting was over, w.l. garrison introduced weld to us. he greeted me with the appellation of 'my dear sister,' and i felt as though he was a brother indeed in the holy cause of suffering humanity; a man raised up by god and wonderfully qualified to plead the cause of the oppressed. perhaps now thou wilt want to know how this lion of the tribe of abolition _looks_. well, at first sight, there was nothing remarkable to me in his appearance, and i wondered whether he was really as great as i had heard. but as soon as his countenance became animated by speaking, i found it was one which portrayed the noblest qualities of the heart and head beaming with intelligence, benevolence, and frankness." on the last page of her letter she says: "it is truly comforting to me to find that sister is so much pleased with the convention, that she acknowledges the spirit of brotherly love and condescension manifest there, and that earnest desire after truth which characterizes the addresses. we have been introduced to a number of abolitionists, thurston, phelps, green, the burleighs, wright, pritchard, thome, etc., and amos dresser, as lovely a specimen of the meekness and lowliness of the great master as i ever saw. his countenance betrayeth that he has been with jesus, and it was truly affecting to hear him on sixth day give an account of the nashville outrage to a very large colored school.[ ] "the f.a.s. society is to have its first public meeting this week, at which we hope to hear weld, but fear he will not have time, as he is not even able to go home to meals, and told me he had sat up until two o'clock every night since he came to new york. as to myself, i feel i have nothing to do but to attend the convention at present. i am very comfortable, feeling in my right place, and sister seems to feel so too, though neither of us sees much ahead." [ ] amos dresser was one of the lane seminary students. after leaving that institution, in order to raise funds to continue his studies, he accepted an agency for the sale of the "cottage bible." while peacefully prosecuting his business in nashville, in , it became known that he was an abolitionist. this was enough. he was arrested, his trunk broken open, and its contents searched and scattered. he was then taken before a vigilance committee, and without a single charge, except that of his anti-slavery principles, being brought against him, was condemned to receive twenty lashes, "well laid on," on the bare back, and then to be driven from the town. the sentence was carried out by the votes and in the presence of thousands of people, and was presided over by the mayor and the elders of the presbyterian church from whose hands mr. dresser had, the sunday before, received the holy communion. in her next letter she describes the deepening interest of the convention, and sarah's increasing unity with its members. "we sit," she says, "from to , to , and to , and never feel weary at all. it is better, _far_ better than any yearly meeting i ever attended. it is still uncertain when we shall adjourn, and it is so good to be here that i don't know how to look forward to the end of such a feast.... t.d. weld is to begin his bible argument to-morrow. it will occupy, he says, four days." the convention adjourned the latter part of november, , and we may judge how profitable its meetings had proved to sarah grimké, from the fact that she at once began the preparation of an "epistle to the clergy of the southern states," which, printed in pamphlet form, was issued some time in december, and was as strong an argument against the stand on the subject of slavery taken by the majority of the clergy as had yet appeared. reading it, one would little suspect how recent had been the author's opposition to just such protests as this, calculated to stir up bitter feelings and create discussion and excitement in the churches. it is written in a spirit of gentleness and persuasion, but also of firm admonition, and evidently under a deep sense of individual responsibility. it shows, too, that sarah had reached full accord with angelina in her views of immediate emancipation. by the time the convention was over, the sisters, and portions of their history, had become so well known to abolitionists, that the leaders felt they had secured invaluable champions in these two quaker women, one so logical, brilliant, and persuasive; the other so intelligent, earnest, and conscientious; and both distinguished by their ability to testify as eye-witnesses against the monstrous evils of slavery. it was proposed that they should begin to hold a series of parlor meetings, for women only, of course. but it was soon found that they had, in private conversations, made such an impression, that no parlors would be large enough to accommodate all who desired to hear them speak more at length. upon learning this, the rev. mr. dunbar, a baptist clergyman, offered them the use of his session room, and the female anti-slavery society embraced the opportunity to make this the beginning of regular quarterly meetings. on the sunday previous to the meeting, notice of it was given out in four churches, without however, naming the proposed speakers. but it became known in some way that the misses grimké were to address the meeting, and a shock went through the whole community. not a word would have been said if they had restricted themselves to a private parlor meeting, but that it should be transferred to such a public place as the parlor of a church made quite a different affair of it. friends were of course as loud as friends could properly be in their expressions of disapproval, while other denominations, not so restrained, gave mr. dunbar, the abolitionists, and the "two bold southern women" an unmistakable piece of their mind. even gerrit smith, always the grandest champion of woman, advised against the meeting, fearing it would be pronounced a fanny wright affair, and do more harm than good. sarah and angelina were appalled, the latter especially, feeling almost as if she was the bold creature she was represented to be. she declared her utter inability, in the face of such antagonism, to go on with the work she had undertaken, and the more she looked at it, the more unnatural and unwise it seemed to her; and when printed hand-bills were scattered about, calling attention in a slighting manner to their names, both felt as if it were humanly impossible for them to proceed any further. but the meeting had been called, and as there was no business to come before it, they did not know what to do. "in this emergency," angelina writes, "i called upon him who has ever hearkened unto my cry. my strength and confidence were renewed, my burden slipped off, and from that time i felt sure of god's help in the hour of need, and that he would be mouth and wisdom, tongue and utterance to us both." "yesterday," she continues, "t.d. weld came up, like a brother, to sympathize with us and encourage our hearts. he is a precious christian, and bade us not to fear, but to trust in god. in a previous conversation on our holding meetings, he had expressed his full unity with our doing so, and grieved over that factitious state of society which bound up the energies of woman, instead of allowing her to exercise them to the glory of god and the good of her fellow creatures. his visit was really a strength to us, and i felt no more fear. we went to the meeting at three o'clock, and found about three hundred women there. it was opened with prayer by henry ludlow; we were warmly welcomed by brother dunbar, and then these two left us. after a moment, i arose and spoke about forty minutes, feeling, i think, entirely unembarrassed. then dear sister did her part better than i did. we then read some extracts from papers and letters, and answered a few questions, when at five the meeting closed; after the question had been put whether our sisters wished another meeting to be held. a good many rose, and henry ludlow says he is sure he can get his session room for us." this account of the first assembly of women, not quakers, in a public place in america, addressed by american women, is deeply interesting, and touching from its very simplicity. we who are so accustomed to hear women speak to promiscuous audiences on any and every subject, and to hear them applauded too, can scarcely realize the prejudice which, half a century back, sought to close the lips of two refined christian ladies, desirous only of adding their testimony against the greatest evil of any age or country. but those who denounced and ridiculed them builded better than they knew, for then and there was laid the corner-stone of that temple of equal rights for women, which has been built upon by so many brave hearts and willing hands since, and has brought to the front such staunch supporters and brilliant advocates as now adorn every convention of the woman's rights associations. after mentioning some who came up and spoke to them after the meeting was over, angelina adds:-- "we went home to tea with julia tappan, and brother weld was all anxiety to hear about the meeting. julia undertook to give some account, and among other things mentioned that a warm-hearted abolitionist had found his way into the back part of the meeting, and was escorted out by henry ludlow. weld's noble countenance instantly lighted up, and he exclaimed: 'how supremely ridiculous to think of a man's being shouldered out of a meeting, for fear he should hear a woman speak!'... "in the evening a colonizationist of this city came to introduce an abolitionist to lewis tappan. we women soon hedged in our expatriation brother, and held a long and interesting argument with him until near ten o'clock. he gave up so much that i could not see what he had to stand on when we left him." another meeting, similar to the first, was held the next week, when so much interest was manifested that it was decided to continue the meetings every week until further notice. by the middle of january they had become so crowded, and were attended by such an influential class of women, that mr. ludlow concluded to offer his church to them. he always opened the meetings with prayer, and then retired. the addresses made by the sisters were called "lectures," but they were rather familiar talks, occasionally a discussion, while many questions were asked and answered. angelina's confidence in herself increased rapidly, until she no longer felt the least embarrassment in speaking; though she alludes to the exhausting effect of the meetings on her physical system. of sarah, she says, writing to jane smith:-- "it is really delightful to see dear sister so happy in this work.... some friends come to hear us, but i do not know what they think of the meetings--or of us. how little, how very little i supposed, when i used so often to say 'i wish i were a man,' that i could go forth and lecture, that i ever would do such a thing. the idea never crossed my mind that as a woman such work could possibly be assigned to me." to this letter there is a postscript from sarah, in which she says:-- "i would not give up my abolition feelings for anything i know. they are intertwined with my christianity. they have given a new spring to my existence, and shed over my whole being sweet and hallowed enjoyments." angelina's next letter to her friend is dated, " d mo. th, ," and continues the account of the meetings. she mentions that, at the last one, they had one male auditor, who refused to go out when told he must, so he was allowed to stay, and she says: "somehow, i did not feel, his presence embarrassing at all, and went on just as though he had not been there. some one said he took notes, and i think he was a southern spy, and shall not be at all surprised if he publishes us in some southern paper." truly it was a risky thing for a lord of creation to intrude himself into a woman's meeting in those days! angelina goes on to remark that more friends are attending their meetings, and that if they were not opened with prayer, still more would come. also, that friends had been very kind and attentive to them in every way, and never said a discouraging word to them. she then discourses a little on phrenology, at that time quite a new thing in this country, and relates an anecdote of "brother "weld," as follows:-- "when he went to fowler in this city, he disguised himself as an omnibus driver. the phrenologist was so struck with the supposed fact that an omnibus driver should have such an extraordinary head, that he preserved an account of it, and did not know until some time after that it was weld's. he says that when he first had his head examined at utica, he was told he was deficient in the organ of color, his eyebrow showing it. he immediately remembered that his mother often told him: 'theodore, it is of no use to send you to match a skein of silk, for you never bring the right color.' when relating this, he observed a general titter in the room, and on inquiring the reason a candle was put near him, and, to his amazement, all agreed that the legs of his pantaloons were of different shades of green. instead of a ridge all around his eyebrow, he has a little hollow in one spot." a society for the encouragement of abstinence from the use of slave products had just been formed in philadelphia, and angelina desired her friend to put her name to the pledge, but not sarah's. in a postscript sarah explains this, saying:-- "i do abstain from slave produce as much as i can, just because i feel most easy to do so, but i cannot say my judgment is convinced; therefore, i would rather not put my name to the pledge." her judgment was convinced, however, very shortly afterwards, by a discussion of the subject with weld and some others, and she then wrote to jane smith to set her name down, as she found her testimony in the great cause was greatly strengthened by keeping clean hands. there is much told of their meetings, and their other experiences in new york, which is very interesting, and for which i regret i have not room. angelina describes in particular one visit they made to a poor family, that of one of her sunday-school pupils, where they stayed to tea, being afterwards joined by mr. weld, who came to escort them home. she says of him:-- "i have seen him shine in the convention and in refined circles, but never did i admire him so much. his perfect ease at this fireside of poverty showed that he was accustomed to be the friend and companion of the poor of this world." the family here mentioned was doubtless a colored one, as it was in the colored sunday school that both sisters taught. they had already proved, by their friendship for sarah douglass, the fortens, and other colored families of philadelphia, how slight was their prejudice against color, but the above incident proves the entire sincerity of their convictions and their desire to avail themselves of every opportunity to testify to it. still, there is no doubt that to the influence of theodore weld's conversations they owed much of their enlightenment on this as well as on some other points of radical abolitionism. it was after a talk with him that angelina describes the female anti-slavery society of new york as utterly inefficient, "doing literally nothing," and ascribes its inefficiency to the sinful prejudice existing there, which shut out colored women from any share in its management, and gave little encouragement to them even to become members. she adds: "i believe it is our duty to visit the poor, white and colored, just in this way, and to receive them at our houses. i think that the artificial distinctions in society, the separation between the higher and the lower orders, the aristocracy of wealth and education, are the very rock of pauperism, and that the only way to eradicate this plague from our land will be to associate with the poor, and the wicked too, just as our redeemer did. to visit them as our inferiors, the recipients of our bounty, is quite a different thing from going among them as our equals." in her next letter to jane smith, angelina gives an interesting account of h.b. stanton's great speech before the committee of the massachusetts legislature on the abolition of slavery in the district of columbia; a speech which still ranks as one of the ablest and most brilliant ever delivered in this country. there is no date to this letter, but it must have been written the last of february or first of march, . she begins thus:-- "i was wondering, my dear jane, what could be the reason i had not heard from thee, when brother weld came in with thine and mira's letters hanging from the paper on which they had been tied. 'i bring you,' he said, 'a good emblem of the fate of abolitionists,--so take warning;' and held them up to our view.... "brother garrison was here last sixth day and spent two hours with us. he gave us a most delightful account of recent things in boston, which i will try to tell thee of. "when the abolitionists found how their petitions were treated in congress, they sent in, from all parts of massachusetts, petitions to the legislature, requesting it to issue a protest against such contempt of the people's wishes and rights. the legislature was amazed at the number and respectability of these petitions, and appointed a committee to take them under consideration. abolitionists then asked for a hearing before that committee, not in the lobby, but in the hall of representatives. the request was granted, and though the day was exceedingly stormy, a good number were out. a young lawyer of boston first spoke an hour and a half; h.b. stanton followed, and completely astonished the audience, but could not get through by dark, and asked for another meeting. the next afternoon an overflowing audience greeted him; he spoke three hours, and did not yet finish. another meeting was appointed for the next evening, and he says he thinks hundreds went away because they could not get in. stanton spoke one hour and a quarter, and then broke down from the greatness of the effort, added to the unceasing labors of the winter. a profound silence reigned through the crowded hall. not one moved to depart. at last a member of the committee arose, and asked if there was any other abolitionist present who wished to speak. stanton said he believed not, as they now had the views of the anti-slavery society. the committee were not satisfied; and one of them said if there was any abolitionist who wished to follow mr. stanton, they would gladly hear all he had to say, but all declined. brother garrison said such was the desire to hear more on this subject, that he came directly to new york to get weld to go and speak before them, but his throat is still so much affected that it will be impossible for him to do so. isn't this cheering news? here are seven hundred men in the massachusetts legislature, who, if they can be moved to protest against the unconstitutional proceedings of congress, will shake this nation to its centre, and rock it in a revolutionary storm that must either sink it or save it." after closing their meetings in new york, the sisters held similar ones in newark, bloomfield, and other places in new jersey, in all of which sarah was as active and enthusiastic as angelina, and from this time we hear no more of the gloom and despondency which had saddened so many of the best years of her life. but, identified completely with her sister's work, she was busy, contented and satisfied of the lord's goodness and mercy. these meetings had all been quiet and undisturbed in every way, owing of course, to the fact that only women attended, but the newspapers had not spared them. ridicule, sarcasm, and pity were liberally bestowed upon the "deluded ladies" by the press generally, and the richmond whig published several editorials about "those fanatical women, the misses grimké." but writing against them was the extent of the opposition at that time, and this affected them very little. from new jersey they went up the north river with gerrit smith, holding interesting meetings at hudson and poughkeepsie. at the latter place they spoke to an assembly of colored people of both sexes, and this was the first time angelina ever addressed a mixed audience, and it was perhaps in accordance with the fitness of things that it should have been a colored one. she often spoke of this in after years, looking back to it with pleasure. here, also, they attended a meeting of the anti-slavery society of the protestant episcopal methodist church, and spoke against the sin of prejudice. in a letter to sarah douglass, sarah says:-- "my feelings were so overcome at this meeting that i sat down and wept. i feel as if i had taken my stand by the side of the colored american, willing to share with him the odium of a darker skin, and i trust if i am permitted again to take my seat in arch street meeting house, it will be beside thee and thy dear mother." these hudson river meetings ended the labors of the sisters in new york for the time. they returned to the city to take a little needed rest, and to prepare for the female anti-slavery convention, which was to meet there early in may. the society which had sent them forth had reason to be well satisfied with its experiment. not only had they awakened enthusiasm and sincere interest in abolition, but had demonstrated the ability of women to publicly advocate a great cause, and the entire propriety of their doing so. one of the members, of the committee asserted that it would be as impossible to calculate the number of converts they had made, as to estimate the encouragement and strength their zeal and eloquence had given to abolitionists all over the country. men were slow to believe the reports of their wives and sisters respecting angelina's wonderful oratory, and this incredulity produced the itching ears which soon drew to the meetings where the grimké sisters were to speak more men than women, and gave them the applause and hearty support of some of the ablest minds of new england. the female anti-slavery convention opened with seventy-one delegates; the misses grimké, at their own request, representing south carolina. during this convention they met many congenial souls, among whom they particularize lydia m. child, mary t. parker, and anna weston, as sympathizing so entirely with their own views respecting prejudice and the province of woman. the latter question had long been sarah's pet problem, to the solution of which she had given much thought and study, ever since the time when she was denied participation in her brother's education because of her sex. it is scarcely too much to say that to her mind this question was second in importance to none, and though the word enfranchisement, as applied to woman, had not yet been uttered, the whole theory of it was in sarah's heart, and she eagerly awaited the proper time and place to develop it. angelina, while holding the same views, would probably have kept them in the background longer, but for sarah's arguments, supported by the objection so frequently urged against the encouragement of their meetings,--that slavery was a political subject with which women had nothing to do. this objection she answered in a masterly paper, an "appeal to the women of the nominally free states," which was printed in pamphlet form and sent out by the female anti-slavery convention, and attracted wide attention. the chief point she took was this: "the denial of our duty to act in this cause is a denial of our right to act; and if we have no right to act, then may we well be termed 'the white slaves of the north,' for, like our brethren in bonds, we must seal our lips in silence and despair." the whole argument, covering nearly seventy pages, is remarkable in its calm reasoning, sound logic, and fervid eloquence, and will well repay perusal, even at this day. about the same time a beautiful and most feeling "address to free colored americans" was written by sarah, and likewise circulated by the convention. these two pamphlets made the sisters so widely known, and so increased the desire in other places to hear them speak, that invitations poured in upon them from different parts of the north and west, as well as from the new england states. it was finally decided that they should go to boston first, to aid the brave, good women there, who, while willing to do all that women could do for the cause in a private capacity, had not yet been persuaded to open their lips for it in any kind of a public meeting. it was not contemplated, however, that the sisters should address any but assemblies of women. even boston was not yet prepared for a greater infringement of the social proprieties. chapter xiii. the woman's rights agitation, while entirely separate from abolitionism, owes its origin to the interest this subject excited in the hearts and minds of american women; and to sarah and angelina grimké must be accorded the credit of first making the woman question one of reform. their broad views, freely expressed in their new york meetings, opened up the subject of woman's duties under the existing state of public sentiment, and, in connection with the revelations made concerning the condition of her white and colored sisters at the south, and the frantic efforts used to prevent her from receiving these revelations, she soon began to see that she had some moral obligations outside of her home sphere and her private circle. at first her only idea of aid in the great cause was that of prayer, which men universally granted was her especial privilege, even encouraging her to pray for them; but it must be private prayer--prayer in her own closet--with no auditor but the god to whom she appealed. as soon as it became public, and took the form of petitions to legislatures and to congress, the reprobation began. the enemies of freedom, fully realizing woman's influence, opposed her interference at every point; and when a southern representative declared from his seat that women had no right to send up petitions to congress he was sustained by the sycophantic response which came from the north, that slavery was a political question, with which women had nothing to do. angelina grimké answered this so fully and so eloquently in her "appeal to northern women," that no doubt could have been left in the minds of those who read it, not only of woman's right, but of her duty to interfere in this matter. the appeal is made chiefly to woman's tenderest and holiest feelings, but enough is said of her rights to show whither angelina's own reflections were leading her, and it must have turned the thoughts of many other women in the same direction. a passage or two may be quoted as examples. "every citizen should feel an intense interest in the political concerns of the country, because the honor, happiness and well-being of every class are bound up in its politics, government, and laws. are we aliens because we are women? are we bereft of citizenship because we are the mothers, wives, and daughters of a mighty people? have women no country--no interests staked on the public weal--no partnership in a nation's guilt and shame? has woman no home nor household altars, nor endearing ties of kindred, nor sway with man, nor power at the mercy-seat, nor voice to cheer, nor hand to raise the drooping, or to bind the broken?... the lord has raised up men whom he has endowed with 'wisdom and understanding, and knowledge,' to lay deep and broad the foundations of the temple of liberty. this is a great moral work in which they are engaged. no war-trumpet summons to the field of battle; but wisdom crieth without, 'whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring an offering.' shall woman refuse her response to the call? was she created to be a helpmeet for man--his sorrows to divide, his joys to share, and all his toils to lighten by her willing aid, and shall she refuse to aid him with her prayers, her labors, and her counsels too, at such a time, in such a cause as this?" there had been, from the beginning of the anti-slavery agitation, no lack of women sympathizers with it. some of the best and brightest of the land had poured forth their words of grief, of courage, and of hope through magazines and newspapers, in prose and in verse, and had proved their willingness to suffer for the slave, by enduring unshrinkingly ridicule and wrath, pecuniary loss and social ostracism. all over the country, in almost every town and village, women labored untiringly to raise funds for the printing of pamphlets, sending forth lecturers and for the pay of special agents. they were regular attendants also on the anti-slavery meetings and conventions, often outnumbering the men, and privately made some of the best suggestions that were offered. but so strong and general was the feeling against women speaking in any public place, that, up to the time when sarah and angelina grimké began their crusade, it was an almost unheard of thing for a woman to raise her voice in any but a church prayer-meeting. during the sittings of the anti-slavery convention in philadelphia, in , which was attended by a number of women, chiefly friends, lucretia mott, though she had had experience in speaking in quaker meetings, timidly arose one day, and, in fear lest she might offend, ventured to propose an amendment to a certain resolution. with rare indulgence and good sense, beriah green, the president of the convention, encouraged her to proceed; and may, in his "recollections," says: "she made a more impressive and effective speech than any other that was made in the convention, excepting only the closing address of our president." two other ladies, esther moore and lydia white, emboldened by mrs. mott's example, afterwards said a few words on one or two occasions, but these were the only infringements, during all those early years of agitation, of st. paul's oft-quoted injunction. when sarah and angelina grimké accepted the invitation of the female anti-slavery society of boston, to come and labor there, they found friends on every hand--women of the highest culture and purest religion, eager to hear them, not only concerning what their eyes had witnessed in that land of worse than egyptian bondage, but ready to be enlightened upon their own duties and rights in the matter of moral reform, and as willing as resolute to perform them. without experience, as the sisters were, we can hardly be surprised that they should have been carried beyond their original moorings, and have made what many of their best friends felt was a serious mistake, in uniting the two causes, thus laying upon abolitionists a double burden, and a responsibility to which the great majority of them were as much opposed as were their bitterest enemies. but no movement in this direction was made for some time. indeed, it seems to have grown quite naturally out of, or been forced forward by, the alarm among men, and the means they took to frighten and warn women away from the dangerous topic. the massachusetts anti-slavery convention met early in june, . in writing about it to jane smith, angelina first touches upon the dawning feeling on this woman question. she says:-- "we had stanton and burleigh, colver and birney, garrison and goodell, etc. their eloquence was no less delightful to the ear than the soundness of their doctrine was comforting to the heart.... a peace resolution was brought up, but this occasioned some difficulty on account of non-resistance here meaning a repudiation of civil government, and of course we cannot expect many to be willing to do this.... at friend chapman's, where we spent a social evening, i had a long talk with the brethren on the rights of women, and found a very general sentiment prevailing that it is time our fetters were broken. l. child and maria chapman strongly supported this view; indeed, very many seem to think a new order of things is very desirable in this respect.... and now, my dear friend, in view of these things, i feel that it is not the cause of the slave only that we plead, but the cause of woman as a moral, responsible being, and i am ready to exclaim, 'who is sufficient for these things?' these holy causes must be injured if they are not helped by us. i see not to what point all these things are leading us. but one thing comforts me: i do feel as though the lord had sent us, and as if i was leaning on his arm." and in this reliance, in a meek and lowly spirit, impelled not by inclination, but by an overpowering sense of duty, these gentle women, fully realizing the singularity of their position, prepared to enter upon entirely new scenes of labor, encompassed by difficulties peculiarly trying to their delicate natures. a series of public meetings was arranged for them as soon as the convention adjourned, and the first was held in dorchester, in the town hall, to which they repaired upon finding the number of those who wished to hear them too great to be accommodated in a private house. their next was in boston on the following afternoon. angelina's heart here almost failed her as she glanced over the assemblage of women of all classes, and thought of the responsibility resting upon her. it was at this meeting that a reverend gentleman set the example, which was followed by two or three other men, of slyly sliding into a back seat to hear for himself what manner of thing this woman's speaking was. satisfied of its superior quality, and alarmed at its effects upon the audience, he shortly afterwards took great pains to prove that it was unscriptural for a woman to speak in public. as the meetings were held at first only in the daylight, there was little show of opposition for some time. the sisters went from one town to another, arousing enthusiasm everywhere, and vindicating, by their power and success, their right to speak. angelina's letters to jane smith contain memoranda of all the meetings she and sarah held during that summer and fall. it is surprising that they were able to endure such an amount of mental and physical labor, and maintain the constantly increasing eagerness to hear them. before the end of the first week, she records:--"nearly thirty men present, pretty easy to speak." a few days later the number of men had increased to fifty, with "great openness on their part to hear." after having held meetings every day, their audience numbering from one hundred and fifty to one thousand, angelina records on the st july, at lynn:-- "in the evening of the same day addressed our first mixed audience. over one thousand present, great openness to hear, and ease in speaking." this, so briefly mentioned, was the beginning of the revolution in sentiment respecting woman's sphere, which, though it was met at the outset with much the same spirit which opposed abolitionism, soon spread and became a principle of reform as conscientiously and as ably advocated as any other, moral or political. neither sarah nor angelina had any idea of starting such a revolution, but when they found it fairly inaugurated, and that many women had long privately held the same views as they did and were ready to follow in their lead, they bravely accepted, and to the end of their lives as bravely sustained all the responsibilities their opinions involved. they were the pioneers in the great cause of political freedom for women, and opened the way in the true pioneer spirit. the clear sense of justice and the broad humanity which inspired their trenchant rebukes and fervid appeals not only enlightened and encouraged other women, but led to inquiry into various wrongs practised towards the sex which had up to that time been suffered in silence and in ignorance, or in despair of any possibility of relief. the peculiar tenderness of sarah grimké's nature, and her overflowing sympathy with any form of suffering, led her, earlier than angelina, to the consideration of the necessity of some organized system of protection of helpless women and children; and, from the investigation of the impositions and abuses to which they were subjected, was evolved, without much difficulty, the doctrine of woman's equality before the law, and her right to a voice on every subject of public interest, social or political. sarah's published letters during the summer of show her to have been as deeply interested in this reform as in abolitionism, and to her influence was certainly due the introduction of the "woman question" into the anti-slavery discussions. that this question was as yet a secondary one in angelina's mind is evident from what she writes to jane smith about this time. she says: "with regard to speaking on the rights of woman, it has really been wonderful to me that though, everywhere i go, i meet prejudice against our speaking, yet, in addressing an audience, i never think of referring to it. i was particularly struck with this two days ago. riding with dr. miller to a meeting at franklin, i found, from conversation with him, that i had a great amount of prejudice to meet at that town, and very much in his own mind. i gave him my views on women's preaching, and verily believe i converted him, for he said he had no idea so much could be adduced from the bible to sustain the ground i had taken, and remarked: 'this will be quite new to the people, and i believe they will gladly hear these things,' and pressed me so much to speak on the subject at the close of my lecture that i was obliged to promise i would if i could remember to do so. after speaking two hours, we returned to his house to tea, and he asked: 'why did you not tell the people why you believed you had a right to speak?' i had entirely forgotten all about it until his question revived the conversation we had on the road. now i believe the lord orders these things so, driving out of my mind what i ought not to speak on. if the time ever comes when this shall be a part of my public work, then i shall not be able to forget it." but to return to the meeting at lynn. we are told that the men present listened in amazement. they were spell-bound, and impatient of the slightest noise which might cause the loss of a word from the speakers. another meeting was called for, and held the next evening. this was crowded to excess, many going away unable to get even standing-room. "at least one hundred," angelina writes, "stood around the doors, and, on the outside of each window, men stood with their heads above the lowered sash. very easy speaking indeed." but now the opposers of abolitionism, and especially the clergy, began to be alarmed. it amounted to very little that (to borrow the language of one of the newspapers of the day) "two fanatical women, forgetful of the obligations of a respected name, and indifferent to the feelings of their most worthy kinsmen, the barnwells and the rhetts, should, by the novelty of their course, draw to their meetings idle and curious women." but it became a different matter when men, the intelligent, respectable and cultivated citizens of every town, began to crowd to hear them, even following them from one place to another, and giving them loud and honest applause. then they were adjudged immodest, and their conduct denounced as unwomanly and demoralizing. their devotion to principle, the purity of their lives, the justice of the cause they pleaded, the religious stand-point from which they spoke, all were overlooked, and the pitiless scorn of christian men and women of every sect was poured down upon them. nor should we wonder when we remember that, at that time, the puritan bounds of propriety still hedged in the education and the training of new england women, and limited the views of new england men. even many of the abolitionists had first to hear sarah and angelina grimké to be convinced that there was nothing unwomanly in a woman's raising her voice to plead for those helpless to plead for themselves. so good a man and so faithful an anti-slavery worker as samuel j. may confesses that his sense of propriety was a little disturbed at first. letters of reproval, admonition, and persuasion, some anonymous, some signed by good conscientious people, came to the sisters frequently. clergymen denounced them from their pulpits, especially warning their women members against them. municipal corporations refused the use of halls for their meetings, and threats of personal violence came from various quarters. friends especially felt outraged. the new england yearly meeting went so far as to advise the closing of meeting-house doors to all anti-slavery lecturers and the disownment the sisters had long expected now became imminent. we can well imagine how terrible all this must have been to their shrinking, sensitive, and proud spirits. but their courage never failed, nor was their mighty work for humanity stayed one instant by this storm of indignation and wrath. angelina, writing to her dear jane an account of some of the opposition to them, says: "and now, thou wilt want to know how we feel about all these things. well, dear, poor enough in ourselves, and defenceless; but rich and strong in the help which our master is pleased to give from time to time, making perfect his strength in our weakness. this is a truly humbling dispensation, but when i am speaking i am favored to forget little _i_ entirely, and to feel altogether hidden behind the great cause i am pleading. were it not for this, i do not know how i could face such audiences and such opposition. o jane, how good it is that we can cast all our burdens upon the lord." and sarah, writing to sarah douglass, says: "they think to frighten us from the field of duty; but they do not move us. god is our shield, and we do not fear what man can do unto us," a little further on she says: "it is really amusing to see how the clergy are arrayed against two women who are telling the story of the slave's wrongs." this was before the celebrated "pastoral letter" appeared. sarah's answer to that in her letters to the n.e. spectator shows how far the clergy had gone beyond amusing her. there were, of course, many church members of every denomination, and many ministers, in the abolition ranks. indeed, at some of the anti-slavery conventions, it was a most edifying sight to see clergymen of different churches sitting together and working together in harmony, putting behind them, for the time being, all creeds and dogmas, or, rather, sinking them all in the one creed taught by the blessed command to do unto others as they would be done by. some of the more conservative of the clergy objected, it is true, to the great freedom of thought and speech allowed generally in the conventions, but this was slight compared to the feeling excited by the encouragement given to women to take prominent and public part in the work, even to speaking from the platform and the pulpit. the general prejudice against this was naturally increased by the earnest eloquence with which angelina grimké pointed out the inconsistent attitude of ministers and church members towards slavery; by sarah's strongly expressed views concerning a paid clergy; and the indignant protests of both sisters against the sin of prejudice, then as general in the church as out of it. the feeling grew very strong against them. they were setting public sentiment at defiance, it was said; they were seeking to destroy veneration for the ministers of the gospel; they were casting contempt upon the consecrated forms of the church; and much more of the same kind. nowhere, however, did the feeling find decided public expression until the general association of congregational ministers of massachusetts saw proper to pass a resolution of censure against sarah and angelina grimké, and issued a pastoral letter, which, in the light and freedom of the present day, must be regarded as a most extraordinary document, to say the least of it. the opening sentences show the degree of authority felt and exercised by the clergy at that time. it maintained that, as ministers were ordained by god, it was their place and duty to judge what food was best to feed to the flock over which they had been made overseers by the holy ghost; and that, if they did not preach on certain topics, as the flock desired, the flock had no right to put strangers in their place to do it; that deference and subordination were necessary to the happiness of every society, and peculiarly so to the relation of a people to their pastor; and that the sacred rights of ministers had been violated by having their pulpits opened without their consent to lecturers on various subjects of reform. all this might pass without much criticism: but it was followed by a tirade against woman-preachers, aimed at the grimké sisters especially, which was as narrow as it was shallow. the dangers which threatened the female character and the permanent injury likely to result to society, if the example of these women should be followed, were vigorously portrayed. women were reminded that their power was in their dependence; that god had given them their weakness for their protection; and that when they assumed the tone and place of man, as public reformers, they made the care and protection of man seem unnecessary. "if the vine," this letter fancifully said, "whose strength and beauty is to lean upon the trellis-work, and half conceal its clusters, thinks to assume the independence and the overshadowing nature of the elm, it will not only cease to bear fruit, but will fall in shame and dishonor into the dust." sarah grimké had just begun a series of letters on the "province of woman" for the _n.e. spectator_, when this pastoral effusion came out. her third letter was devoted to it. she showed in the clearest manner the unsoundness of its assertions, and the unscriptural and unchristian spirit in which they were made. the delicate irony with which she also exposed the ignorance and the shallowness of its author must have caused him to blush for very shame. whittier's muse, too, found the pastoral letter a fitting theme for its vigorous, sympathetic utterances. the poem thus inspired is perhaps one of the very best among his many songs of freedom. it will be remembered as beginning thus:-- "so this is all! the utmost reach of priestly power the mind to fetter, when laymen _think_, when women _preach_, a war of words, a 'pastoral letter!'" up to this time nothing had been said by either of the sisters in their lectures concerning their views about women. they had carefully confined themselves to the subject of slavery, and the attendant topics of immediate emancipation, abstinence from the use of slave products, the errors of the colonization society, and the sin of prejudice on account of color. but now that they found their own rights invaded, they began to feel it was time to look out for the rights of their whole sex. the rev. amos phelps, a staunch abolitionist, wrote a private letter to the sisters, remonstrating earnestly but kindly against their lecturing to men and women, and requesting permission to publish the fact of his having done so, with a declaration on their part that they preferred having female audiences only. angelina says to jane smith:-- "i wish you could see sister's admirable reply to this. we told him we were entirely willing he should publish anything he felt it right to, but that we could not consent to his saying in our name that we preferred female audiences only, because in so saying we should surrender a fundamental principle, believing, as we did, that as moral beings it was our duty to appeal to all moral beings on this subject, without any distinction of sex. he thinks we are throwing a responsibility on the anti-slavery society which will greatly injure it. to this we replied that we would write to elizur wright, and give the executive committee an opportunity to throw off all such responsibility by publishing the facts that we had no commission from them, and were not either responsible to or dependent on them. i wrote this letter. h.b. stanton happened to be here at the time; after reading all the letters, he wrote to elizur wright, warning him by no means to publish anything which would in the least appear to disapprove of what we were doing. i do not know what the result will be. my only fear is that some of our anti-slavery brethren will commit themselves, in this excitement, against _women's rights and duties_ before they examine the subject, and will, in a few years, regret the steps they may now take. this will soon be an absorbing topic. it must be discussed whether women are moral and responsible beings, and whether there is such a thing as male and female virtues, male and female duties, etc. my opinion is that there is no difference, and that this false idea has run the ploughshare of ruin over the whole field of morality. my idea is that whatever is morally right for a man to do is morally right for a woman to do. i recognize no rights but human rights. i know nothing of men's rights and women's rights; for in christ jesus there is neither male nor female.... i am persuaded that woman is not to be as she has been, a mere second-hand agent in the regeneration of a fallen world, but the acknowledged equal and co-worker with man in this glorious work.... hubbard winslow of boston has just preached a sermon to set forth the proper sphere of our sex. i am truly glad that men are not ashamed to come out boldly and tell us just what is in their hearts." in another letter she mentions that a clergyman gave out a notice of one of their meetings, at the request, he said, of his deacons, but under protest; and he earnestly advised his members, particularly the women, not to go and hear them. at a meeting, also, at pepperell, where they had to speak in a barn, on account of the feeling against them, she mentions that an orthodox clergyman opened the meeting with prayer, but went out immediately after finishing, declaring that he would as soon rob a hen-roost as remain there and hear a woman speak in public. this, however, did not prevent the crowding of the barn "almost to suffocation," and deep attention on the part of those assembled. in the face of all this censure and ridicule, the two sisters continued in the discharge of a duty to which they increasingly felt they were called from on high. the difficulties, inconveniences, and discomforts to which they were constantly subjected, and of which the women reformers of the present day know so little, were borne cheerfully, and accepted as means of greater refinement and purification for the lord's work. they were often obliged to ride six or eight or ten miles through the sun or rain, in stages or wagons over rough roads to a meeting, speak two hours, and return the same distance to their temporary abiding-place. for many weeks they held five and six meetings a week, in a different place every time, were often poorly lodged and poorly fed, especially the latter, as they ate nothing which they did not know to be the product of free labor; taking cold frequently, and speaking when ill enough to be in bed, but sustained through all by faith in the justice of their cause, and by their simple reliance upon the love and guidance of an almighty father. the record of their journeyings, as copied by angelina from her day-book for the benefit of jane smith, is very interesting, as showing how, in spite of continued opposition to them, anti-slavery sentiment grew under their eloquent preaching. wendell phillips says: "i can never forget the impulse our cause received when those two sisters doubled our hold on new england in and , and made a name, already illustrious in south carolina by great services, equally historical in massachusetts, in the two grandest movements of our day." angelina's eloquence must have been something marvellous. the sweet, persuasive voice, the fluent speech, and occasionally a flash of the old energy, were all we who knew her in later years were granted, to show us what had been; but it was enough to confirm the accounts given by those who had felt the power of her oratory in those early times. says wendell phillips: "i well remember evening after evening listening to eloquence such as never then had been heard from a woman. she swept the chords of the human heart with a power that has never been surpassed and rarely equalled." mr. lincoln, in whose pulpit she lectured in gardiner, says: "never before or since have i seen an audience so held and so moved by any public speaker, man or woman; and never before or since have i seen a christian pulpit so well filled, nor in the pews seen such absorbed hearers." robert f. walcutt testifies in the same manner. "angelina," he says, "possessed a rare gift of eloquence, a calm power of persuasion, a magnetic influence over those who listened to her, which carried conviction to hearts that nothing before had reached. i shall never forget the wonderful manifestation of this power during six successive evenings, in what was then called the odeon. it was the old boston theatre, which had been converted into a music hall; the four galleries rising above the auditorium all crowded with a silent audience carried away with the calm, simple eloquence which narrated what she and her sister had seen from their earliest days. and yet this odeon scene, the audience so quiet and intensely absorbed, occurred at the most enflamed period of the anti-slavery contest. the effective agent in this phenomenon was angelina's serene, commanding eloquence, a wonderful gift, which enchained attention, disarmed prejudice, and carried her hearers with her." another, who often heard her, speaks of the gentle, firm, and impressive voice which could ring out in clarion tones when speaking in the name of the lord to let the oppressed go free. many travelled long distances to hear her. mechanics left their shops, and laborers came in out of the field, and sat almost motionless throughout her meetings, showing impatience only when the lecture was over and they could hear no more. sarah's speaking, though fully as earnest, was not nearly so effective as angelina's. she was never very fluent, and cared little for the flowers of rhetoric. she could state a truth in clear and forcible terms, but the language was unvarnished, sometimes harsh, while the manner of speaking was often embarrassed. she understood and felt her deficiencies, and preferred to serve the cause through her pen rather than through her voice. writing to sarah douglass, in september, , she says:-- "that the work in which we are engaged is in a peculiar manner dear angelina's, i have no doubt. god called and qualified her for it by deep travail of spirit. i do not think my mind ever passed through the preparation hers did, and i regard my being with her more as an evidence of our dear saviour's care for us, than a design that i should perform a conspicuous part in this labor of love. hence, although at first i was permitted to assist her, as her strength increased and her ability to do the work assigned her was perfected, i was more and more withdrawn from the service. nor do i think anyone ought to regret it. my precious sister has a gift in lecturing, in reasoning and elucidating, so far superior to mine, that i know the cause is better pleaded if left entirely in her hands. my spirit has not bowed to this dispensation without prayer for resignation to being thus laid aside, but since i have been enabled to take the above view, i have been contented to be silent, believing that so is the will of god." sarah's religious anxieties seem all to have vanished before the absorbing interest of her new work. she had no longer time to think of herself, or to stand and question the lord on every going-out and coming-in. she relied upon him as much as ever, but she understood him better, and had more faith in his loving-kindness. in a letter to t. d. weld, she says:-- "for many years i have been inquiring the way to zion, and now i know not but i shall have to surrender all or many long-cherished points of religion, and come back to the one simple direction: 'follow after holiness, without which no man shall see the lord.'" all her letters show how much happier she was under her new experiences. angelina thus writes of her:-- "sister sarah enjoys more real comfort of mind than i ever saw her enjoy before, and it is delightful to be thus yoked with her in this work." but with sarah's wider, fuller sympathies came bitter regrets over the spiritual bondage which had kept her idle and useless so long. and yet, in spite of all, her heart still clung to the society of friends, and the struggle to give them up, to resign the long-cherished hope of being permitted to preach among them the unsearchable riches of christ, was very great. but conscientious and true to her convictions even here, as her own eyes had been mercifully opened to the faults of this system of religion, she must do what she could to help others. under a solemn sense of responsibility, she wrote and printed a pamphlet exposing the errors of the quaker church, and showing the withering influence it exerted over all moral and religious progress. for this, she doubted not, she would be at once disowned; but friends seem to have been very loth to part with the two rebellious subjects, who had certainly given them much trouble, but in whom they could not help feeling a certain pride of ownership. they showed their willingness to be patient yet a little while longer. all through the summer and early fall, the meetings were continued with slightly decreasing opposition, and continued abuse from press and pulpit and "good society." sarah still bore her share of the labors, frequently speaking an hour at a time, and taking charge chiefly of the legal side of the question of slavery, while the moral and religious sides were left for angelina. at amesbury, angelina writes:-- "we met the mother, aunt, and sister of brother whittier. they received us at their sweet little cottage with sincere pleasure, i believe, they being as thoroughgoing as their dear j.g.w., whom they seem to know how to value. he was absent, serving the good cause in new york." at an evening meeting they held at amesbury, a letter was handed angelina, which stated that some gentlemen were present, who had just returned from the south, and had formed very different opinions from those of the lecturers, and would like to state them to the meeting. sarah read the letter aloud, and requested the gentlemen to proceed with their remarks. two arose, and soon showed how little they really knew, and how close an affinity they felt with slave-holders. a discussion ensued, which lasted an hour, when angelina went on with her lecture on the "dangers of slavery." when it was over, the two gentlemen of southern sympathies requested that another opportunity be granted for a free discussion of the subject. this was agreed to, and the th of the month, august, settled upon. this was another and a great step forward, and when known gave rise to renewed denunciations, the press being particularly severe against such an unheard-of thing, which, it was declared, would not be tolerated if the misses grimké were not members of the society of friends. the abolitionists, however, rallied to their support, h.b. stanton even proposing to arrange some meeting where he and they could speak together. but even angelina shrank from such an irretrievable committal on his part as this would be, and did not think the time had yet come for such an anomaly. on the th they returned to amesbury, and angelina writes that great excitement prevailed, and that many had come from neighboring towns to hear two _massachusetts men defend_ slavery against the accusations of two _southern women_. "may the blessed master," she adds, "stand at our right hand in this trying and uncommon predicament." two evenings were given to the discussion, the hall being packed both evenings, many, even ladies, standing the whole time. angelina gives no details about it, as, she says, she sends a paper with a full account to jane smith; but we may judge of the interest it excited from the fact that the people urged a continuance of the discussion for two more evenings, which, however, the sisters were obliged to decline. angelina adds:-- "everyone is talking about it; but we have given great offence on account of our womanhood, which seems to be as objectionable as our abolitionism. the whole land seems aroused to discussion on the province of woman, and i am glad of it. we are willing to bear the brunt of the storm, if we can only be the means of making a breach in the wall of public opinion, which lies right in the way of woman's true dignity, honor, and usefulness. sister sarah does preach up woman's rights most nobly and fearlessly, and we find that many of our new england sisters are prepared to receive these strange doctrines, feeling, as they do, that our whole sex needs emancipation from the thraldom of public opinion. what dost thou think of some of _them walking_ two, four, six, and eight miles to attend our meetings?" this preaching of the much-vexed doctrine was, however, done chiefly in private, indeed altogether so by angelina. sarah's nature was so impulsive that she could not always refrain from putting in a stroke for her cherished views when it seemed to fit well into the argument of a lecture. what prominent abolitionists thought of the subject in its relation to the anti-slavery cause, and especially what t.d. weld and john g. whittier thought, must be told in another chapter. chapter xiv. among the most prominent opposers of immediate emancipation were dr. lyman beecher and the members of his remarkable family; and though they ultimately became converts to it, even so far as to allow a branch of the "underground railway" to run through their barn, their conversion was gradual, and only arrived at after various controversies and discussions, and much bitter feeling between them and the advocates of the unpopular cause. opposed to slavery in the abstract, that is, believing it to be a sin to hold a fellow creature in bondage for the "_mere purposes of gain_," they utterly condemned all agitation of the question. the church and the gospel were, with them, as with so many evangelical christians, the true means through which evils should be reached and reforms effected. all efforts outside were unwise and useless, not to say sinful. and further, as catherine beecher expressed it, they considered the matter of southern slavery as one with which the north was no more called to interfere than in the abolition of the press-gang system in england, or the tithe system in ireland. some chapters back, the short but pleasant friendship of catherine beecher and angelina grimké was mentioned. very soon after that little episode, the beechers removed to cincinnati, where the doctor was called to the presidency of the lane theological seminary. we can well understand that the withdrawal of nearly all its students after the great discussion was a sore trial to the beechers, and intensified their already adverse feelings towards abolitionists. the only result of this with which we have to do is the volume published by catherine beecher during the summer of , entitled "miss beecher on the slave question," and addressed to angelina grimké. catherine was the true counterpart of her father, and the most intellectual of his children, but she lacked the gentle, feminine graces, and was so wanting in tenderness and sympathy that angelina charitably implies that her heart was sunk forever with her lover, professor fisher of yale, who perished in a storm at sea. with independence, striking individuality, and entire freedom from timidity of any sort, it would appear perfectly natural that catherine should espouse the woman's rights reform, even though opposing that of abolitionism. but she presented the singular anomaly of a strong-minded woman, already successful in taking care of herself, advocating woman's subordination to man, and prescribing for her efforts at self-help limits so narrow that only the few favored as she was could venture within them. her book was received with much favor by slave-holders and their apologists, though it was harshly criticised by a few of the more sensible of the former. these declared that they had more respect for abolitionists who openly denounced the system of slavery, than for those people who, in order to please the south, cloaked their real sentiments under a garb like that of miss beecher's book. it was also severely handled by abolitionists, and lucretia mott wrote a very able review of it, which angelina, however, pronounced entirely too mild. she writes to jane smith: "catherine's arguments are the most insidious things i ever read, and i feel it my duty to answer them; only, i know not how to find language strong enough to express my indignation at the view she takes of woman's character and duty." the answer was given in a number of sharp, terse, letters, sent to the _liberator_ from various places where the sisters stopped while lecturing. a few passages will convey some idea of the spirit and style of these letters, thirteen in number. in the latter part of the second letter she says:-- "dost thou ask what i mean by emancipation? i will explain myself in a few words. " st. it is to reject with indignation the wild and guilty phantasy that man can hold _property_ in man. " d. to pay the laborer his hire, for he is worthy of it. " d. no longer to deny him the right of marriage, but to let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband, as saith the apostle. " th. to let parents have their own children, for they are the gift of the lord to them, and no one else has any right to them. " th. no longer to withhold the advantages of education, and the privilege of reading the bible. " th. to put the slave under the protection of equitable laws. "now why should not _all_ this be done immediately? which of these things is to be done next year, and which the year after? and so on. _our_ immediate emancipation means doing justice and loving mercy _to-day_, and this is what we call upon every slave-holder to do.... "i have seen too much of slavery to be a gradualist. i dare not, in view of such a system, tell the slave-holder that he is 'physically unable to emancipate his slaves.'[ ] i say _he is able_ to let the oppressed go free, and that such heaven-daring atrocities ought to cease _now_, henceforth, and forever. oh, my very soul is grieved to find a northern woman 'thus sewing pillows under all arm-holes,' framing and fitting soft excuses for the slave-holder's conscience, whilst with the same pen she is _professing_ to regard slavery as a sin. 'an open enemy is better than such a secret friend.' "hoping that thou mayst soon be emancipated from such inconsistency, i remain until then, "thine _out_ of the bonds of christian abolitionism. "a.e. grimkÉ." [ ] the plea made by many of the apologists was that, as the laws of some of the states forbade emancipation, the masters were physically unable to free their slaves. the last letter, which angelina says she wrote in sadness and read to her sister in tears, ends thus:-- "after endeavoring to show that woman has no moral right to exercise the right of petition for the dumb and stricken slave; no business to join, in any way, in the excitement which anti-slavery principles are producing in our country; no business to join abolition societies, etc., thou professest to tell our sisters what they are to do in order to bring the system of slavery to an end. and now, my dear friend, what does all thou hast said in many pages amount to? why, that women are to exert their influence in private life to allay the excitement which exists on this subject, and to quench the flame of sympathy in the hearts of their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons. fatal delusion! will christian women heed such advice? "hast thou ever asked thyself what the slave would think of thy book if he could read it? dost thou know that, from the beginning to the end, not a word of compassion for _him_ has fallen from thy pen? recall, i pray, the memory of hours which thou spent in writing it. was the paper once moistened by the tear of pity? did thy heart once swell with sympathy for thy sister in _bonds_? did it once ascend to god in broken accents for the deliverance of the captive? didst thou even ask thyself what the free man of color would think of it? is it such an exhibition of slavery and prejudice as will call down _his_ blessing on thy head? hast thou thought of _these_ things? or carest thou not for the blessings and prayers of these our suffering brethren? consider, i entreat, the reception given to thy book by the apologists of slavery. what meaneth that loud acclaim with which they hail it? oh, listen and weep, and let thy repentings be kindled together, and speedily bring forth, i beseech thee, fruits meet for repentance, and henceforth show thyself faithful to christ and his bleeding representative, the slave. "i greatly fear that thy book might have been written just as well, hadst thou not had the heart of a woman. it bespeaks a superior intellect, but paralyzed and spellbound by the sorcery of a worldly-minded expediency. where, oh, where in its pages are the outpourings of a soul overwhelmed with a sense of the heinous crimes of our nation, and the necessity of immediate repentance? ... farewell! perhaps on a dying bed thou mayst vainly wish that '_miss beecher on the slave question_' might perish with the mouldering hand which penned its cold and heartless pages. but i forbear, and in deep sadness of heart, but in tender love though i thus speak, i bid thee again, farewell. forgive me if i have wronged thee, and pray for her who still feels like "thy sister in the bonds of a common sisterhood. "a.e. grimkÉ." while angelina was writing these letters, sarah was publishing her letters on the "province of woman" in the _spectator_. this was a heavier dose than boston could stand at one time; harsh and bitter things were said about the sisters, notices of their meetings were torn down or effaced, and abolitionism came to be so mixed up in the public mind with woman's rights, that anti-slavery leaders generally began to feel anxious lest their cause should suffer by being identified with one to which the large majority of abolitionists was decidedly opposed. even among them, however, there was a difference of opinion, garrison, h.c. wright and others, non-resistants, encouraging the agitation of woman's rights. a few lines from one of angelina's letters will best define the position taken by herself and sarah. "sister and i," she writes, "feel quite ready for the discussion about women, but brothers whittier and weld entreat us to let it alone for the present, because it will involve topics of such vast importance,--a paid ministry, clerical domination, etc.,--and will, they fear, divert our attention and that of the community from the anti-slavery cause; and that the wrongs of the slave are so much greater than the wrongs of woman, they ought not to be confounded. in their letters, received last week, they regret exceedingly that the letters in the _spectator_ had been written. they think just as we do, but believe that, for the time being, a persevering, practical assertion of woman's right to speak to mixed audiences is the best one we can make, and that we had better keep out of controversies, as our hands are full. on the other hand, we fear that the leaven of the pharisees will be so assiduously worked into the minds of the people, that if they come to hear us, they will be constantly thinking it is a _shame_ for us to speak in the churches, and that we shall lose that influence which we should otherwise have. we know that _our_ views on this subject are quite new to the _mass_ of the people of this state, and i think it best to throw them open for their consideration, just letting them have both sides of the argument to look at, at the same time. indeed some wanted to have a meeting in boston for us to speak on this subject now, and we went into town on purpose to hold a conference about it at maria chapman's. she, mary parker, and sister were against it for the present, fearing lest it would bring down such a storm upon our heads, that we could not work in the country, and so henrietta sargent and i yielded, and i suppose this is the wisest plan, though, as brother stanton says, i am ready for the battle _now_. i am still glad of sister's letters, and believe they are doing great good. some noble-minded women cheer her on, and she feels encouraged to persevere, the brethren notwithstanding. i tell them that this is _a part_ of the great doctrine of human rights, and can no more be separated from emancipation than the light from the heat of the sun; the rights of the slave and of woman blend like the colors of the rainbow. however, i rarely introduce this topic into my addresses, except to urge my sisters up to duty. our _brethren_ are dreadfully afraid of this kind of amalgamation. i am very glad to hear that lucretia mott addressed the moral reform society, and am earnest in the hope that _we_ are only pioneers, going before a host of worthy women who will come up to the help of the lord against the mighty." the letters of whittier and weld, alluded to by angelina, are so good and so important that i feel no reluctance in giving them here almost entire. the first is whittier's, and is dated: "office of am. a.s. soc., th of th mo., ,"--and is as follows: "my dear sisters,--i have been waiting for an opportunity to answer the letter which has been so kindly sent me. i am anxious, too, to hold a long conversation with you on the subject of _war_, human government, and church and family government. the more i reflect on this subject, the more difficulty i find, and the more decidedly am i of opinion that we ought to hold all these matters far aloof from the cause of abolition. our good friend, h.c. wright, with the best intentions in the world, is doing great injury by a different course. he is making the anti-slavery party responsible in a great degree, for his, to say the least, startling opinions. i do not censure him for them, although i cannot subscribe to them in all their length and breadth. but let him keep them distinct from the cause of emancipation. this is his duty. those who subscribe money to the anti-slavery society do it in the belief that it will be spent in the propagation, not of quakerism or presbyterianism, but of the doctrines of immediate emancipation. to employ an agent who devotes half his time and talents to the propagation of 'no human or no family government' doctrines in connection--_intimate connection_--with the doctrines of abolition, is a fraud upon the patrons of the cause. just so with papers. brother garrison errs, i think, in this respect. he takes the 'no church, and no human government' ground, as, for instance, in his providence speech. now, in his prospectus, he engaged to give his subscribers an anti-slavery paper, and his subscribers made their contract with him on that ground. if he fills his paper with grahamism and no governmentism, he defrauds his subscribers. however, i know that brother garrison does not look at it in this light. "in regard to another subject, '_the rights of woman_,' you are now doing much and nobly to vindicate and assert the rights of woman. your lectures to crowded and promiscuous audiences on a subject manifestly, in many of its aspects, _political_, interwoven with the framework of the government, are practical and powerful assertions of the right and the duty of woman to labor side by side with her brother for the welfare and redemption of the world. why, then, let me ask, is it necessary for you to enter the lists as controversial writers on this question? does it not _look_, dear sisters, like abandoning in some degree the cause of the poor and miserable slave, sighing from the cotton plantations of the mississippi, and whose cries and groans are forever sounding in our ears, for the purpose of arguing and disputing about some trifling oppression, political or social, which we may ourselves suffer? is it not forgetting the great and dreadful wrongs of the slave in a selfish crusade against some paltry grievance of our own? forgive me if i have stated the case too strongly. i would not for the world interfere with you in matters of conscientious duty, but i wish you would weigh candidly the whole subject, and see if it does not _seem_ an abandonment of your first love. oh, let us try to forget everything but our duty to god and our fellow beings; to dethrone the selfish principle, and to strive to win over the hard heart of the oppressor by truth kindly spoken. the massachusetts congregational association can do you no harm if you do not allow its splenetic and idle manifesto to divert your attention from the great and holy purpose of your souls. "finally, dear sisters, rest assured that you have my deepest and warmest sympathy; that my heart rejoices to know that you are mighty instruments in the hands of him who hath come down to deliver. may the canopy of his love be over you, and his peace be with you! "your friend and brother, "jno. g. whittier." weld's first letter, written the day after whittier's, begins by defining his own position on the disturbing question. he says: "as to the rights and wrongs of woman, it is an old theme with me. it was the first subject i ever discussed. in a little debating society, when a boy, i took the ground that sex neither qualified nor disqualified for the discharge of any functions, mental, moral, or spiritual: that there is no reason why woman should not make laws, administer justice, sit in the chair of state, plead at the bar, or in the pulpit, if she has the qualifications, just as much as man. what i advocated in boyhood, i advocate now--that woman, in every particular, shares, equally with man, rights and responsibilities. now that i have made this statement of my creed on this point, to show you that we fully agree, except that i probably go much further than you do, i must say i do most deeply regret that you have begun a series of articles in the papers on the rights of woman. why, my dear sisters, the best possible advocacy which you can make is just what you are making day by day. thousands hear you every week who have all their lives held that women must not speak in public. such a practical refutation of the dogma which your speaking furnishes has already converted multitudes." he then goes on to urge two strong points:-- st. that as southerners, and having been brought up among slaveholders, they could do more to convince the north than twenty northern women, though they could speak as well, and that they would lose this peculiar advantage the moment they took up another subject. d. that almost any other women of their capacity and station could produce a greater effect on the public mind on that subject than they, because they were quakers, and woman's right to speak and minister was a quaker doctrine. therefore, for these and other reasons, he urged them to leave the lesser work to others who could do it better than they, and devote, consecrate their whole souls, bodies, and spirits to the greater work which they could do far better than anybody else. he continues: "let us all first wake up the nation to lift millions of slaves from the dust and turn them into men, and then, when we all have our hand in, it will be an easy matter to take millions of women from their knees and set them on their feet; or, in other words, transform them from _babies_ into _women_." a spirited, almost dogmatic, controversy was the result of these letters. in a letter to jane smith, angelina says: "i cannot understand why they (the abolitionists) so exceedingly regret sister's having begun those letters. brother weld was not satisfied with writing us _one_ letter about them, but we have received two more setting forth various reasons why we should not moot the subject of woman's rights _at all_, but our judgment is not convinced, and we hardly know what to do about it, for we have just as high an opinion of brother garrison's views, and _he_ says, '_go on_.' ... the great effort of abolitionists now seems to be to keep every topic but slavery out of view, and hence their opposition to henry o. wright and his preaching anti-government doctrines, and our even writing on woman's rights. oh, if i _only_ saw they were _right_ and _we_ were _wrong_, i would yield immediately." one of the two other letters from t.d. weld, referred to by angelina, is a very long one, covering over ten pages of the old-fashioned foolscap paper, and is in reply to letters received from the sisters, and which were afterwards returned to them and probably destroyed. i have concluded to make some extracts from this long letter from mr. weld, not only on account of the arguments used, but to show the frank, fearless spirit with which he met the reasoning of his two "sisters." when we consider that he was even then courting angelina, his hardihood is a little surprising. after observing that he had carefully read their letters, and made an abstract on half a sheet of paper of the "positions and conclusions found therein," he continues:-- "this abstract i have been steadily looking at with great marvelling, " st. that you should argue at length the doctrine of woman's rights, as though i was a _dissentient_; " d. that you should so magnify the power of the new england clergy; " d. that you should so misconceive the actual convictions of ministers and christians, and almost all, as to the public speaking of women; " th. that you should take the ground that the clergy, and the whole church government, must come down _before_ slavery can be abolished (a proposition which to my mind is absurd). " th. that you should so utterly overlook the very _threshold_ principle upon which alone any moral reformation can be effectually promoted. oh, dear! there are a dozen other things--marvellables--in your letters; but i must stop short, or i can say nothing on other points. "... now, before we commence action, let us clear the decks; for if they are clogged we shall have foul play. _overboard_ with everything that don't _belong on board_. now, first, _what is the precise point at issue between us?_ i answer first _negatively_, that we may understand each other on all points kindred to the main one. st. it is _not_ whether _woman's_ rights are inferior to _man's_ rights." he then proceeded to state the doctrine of woman's rights very forcibly. of _sex_, he says:-- "its _only_ design is not to give nor to take away, nor in any respect to modify, or even touch, rights or responsibilities in any sense, except so far as the peculiar offices of each sex may afford less or more opportunity and ability for the exercise of rights, and the discharge of responsibilities, but merely to continue and enlarge the human department of god's government." for an entire page he continues in this manner of "_negatives_" to "_clear the decks_," until he has shown through seven negative specifications what do _not_ constitute the point at issue, and then goes on:-- "well, waving further negatives, the question at issue between us _is_, whether _you_, s.m.g. and a.e.g., should engage in the public discussion of the rights of women as a distinct topic. here you affirm, and i deny. your reasons for doing it, as contained in your two letters, are the following:-- " st. the _new england spectator_ was _opened_; you were invited to write on the subject, and some of the boston abolitionists _urged_ you to do so, and you say, 'we viewed this unexpected opportunity of throwing our views before the public, as _providential_.' "_answer_. when the devil is hard pushed, and likely to be run down in the chase, it is an old trick of his to start some smaller game, and thus cause his pursuers to strike off from his own track on to that of one of his imps. it was certainly a very _providential_ opportunity for nehemiah to 'throw his views before the public,' when geshem, sanballat, and tobiah invited and urged him to stop building the wall and hold a public discussion as to the _right_ to build. and doubtless a great many jews said to him, 'unless we _establish_ the right in the first place, it will surely be taken from us utterly. this is a providential opportunity to preach truth in the very camp of the enemy.' but who got it up, god or the devil?... look over the history of the world, and in nine cases out of ten we shall find that satan, after being foiled in his arts to stop a great moral enterprise, has finally succeeded by diverting the reformers from the _main_ point to a _collateral_, and that too just at the _moment_ when such diversion brought ruin. now, even if this opportunity made it the duty of _somebody_ to take up the subject (which is not proved by the fact of the opportunity), why should _you_ give _your_ views, and with _your name_? others as able might be found, and as familiar with the subject. but you say, others 'are driven off the field, and cannot answer the objections.' i answer, your _names_ do not answer the objections.... how very easy to have helped a third person to the argument. by publicly making an onset in your own names, in a widely-circulated periodical, upon a doctrine cherished as the apple of their eye (i don't say really _believed_) by nine tenths of the church and the world; what was it but a formal challenge to the whole community for a regular set-to?" he proceeds to speak of such a "set to" and debate as "producing alienation wide-spread in our own ranks, and introducing confusion and every evil work." he urges the necessity of vindicating a right "by exercising it," instead of simply arguing for it. of ministers he says: "true, there is a pretty large class of ministers who are fierce about it, and will fight, but a still larger class that will come over _if_ they first witness the successful practice rather than meet it in the shape of a doctrine to be swallowed. now, if instead of blowing a blast through the newspapers, sounding the onset, and summoning the ministers and churches to surrender, you had without any introductory flourish just gone right among them and lectured, _when_ and _where_ and _as_ you could find opportunity, and paid no attention to criticism, but pushed right on, without making any ado about 'attacks,' and 'invasions,' and 'opposition,' and have let the barkers bark their bark out,--within one year you might have practically brought over five hundred thousand persons, of the very moral _élite_ of new england. you may rely upon it.... no moral enterprise, when prosecuted with ability and any sort of energy, _ever_ failed under heaven so long as its conductors pushed the _main_ principle, and did not strike off until they reached the summit level. on the other hand, every reform that ever foundered in mid-sea, was capsized by one of these gusty side-winds. nothing more utterly amazes me than the fact that the _conduct_ of a great, a _pre-eminently_ great moral enterprise, should exhibit so little of a wise, far-sighted, comprehensive _plan_. surely it is about plain enough to be called _self-evident_, that the only common-sense method of conducting a great moral enterprise is to _start_ with a _fundamental, plain principle, so_ fundamental as not to involve side-relations, and _so_ plain, that it cannot be denied." the main obvious principle he urges is to be pushed until the community surrenders to it. he adds:-- "then, when you have drawn them up to the top of the general principle, you can slide them down upon all the derivative principles _all at once_. but if you attempt to start off on a derivative principle, from any other point than the summit level of the main principle, you must beat up stream--yes, up a cataract. it reverses the order of nature, and the laws of mind.... "you put the cart before the horse; you drag the tree by the top, in attempting to push your woman's rights until human rights have gone ahead and broken _the path_. * * * * * "you are both liable, it seems to me, from your structure of mind, to form your opinions upon _too slight_ data, and too narrow a range of induction, and to lay your plans and adopt your measures, rather _dazzled_ by the glare of false _analogies_ than _led on_ by the relations of cause and effect. both of you, but especially angelina, unless i greatly mistake, are constitutionally tempted to push for _present_ effect, and upon the suddenness and impulsiveness of the onset rely mainly for victory. besides from _her_ strong _resistiveness_ and constitutional obstinacy, she is liable every moment to turn short from the main point and spend her whole force upon some little one-side annoyance that might temporarily nettle her. in doing this she might win a _single battle_, but _lose a whole campaign_. add to this, great pride of character, so closely curtained as to be almost searchless to herself, with a passion for adventure and novel achievements, and she has in all an amount of temptation to poor human nature that can be overmastered only by strong conflicts and strong faith. under this, a sense of justice so keen that violation of justice would be likely to lash up such a tide of indignation as would drive her from all anchorage. i say this to her _not_ in raillery. i _believe_ it, and therefore utter it. it is either fiction or fact. if _fiction_ it can do no hurt; if _fact_, it may not be in vain in the lord, and then my heart's desire and prayer will be fulfilled. may the lord have you in his keeping, my own dear sisters. "most affectionately, your brother ever, "t.d. weld." "one point i designed to make _more_ prominent. it is this: what is done for the _slave_ and _human rights_ in this country _must be done note, now, now_. delay is madness, ruin, whereas woman's rights are not a life and death business, _now or never_. why can't you have eyes to see this? the wayfaring man, though a _fool_, need not err _here_, it is so plain. what will you run a tilt at next?" and he names several things,--the tariff, the banks, english tithe system, burning widows, etc., and adds:-- "if you adopt the views of h.c. wright, as you are reported to have done, in his official bulletin of a 'domestic scene' (where you are made to figure conspicuously among the conquests of the victor as rare spoils gracing the triumphal car), why then we are in one point of doctrine just as wide asunder as extremes can be." this letter was answered by sarah, and with the most admirable patience and moderation. she begins by saying:-- "angelina is so wrathy that i think it will be unsafe to trust the pen in her hands to reply to thy two last _good_ long letters. as i feel nothing but gratitude for the kindness which i am sure dictated them, i shall endeavor to answer them, and, as far as possible, allay thy uneasiness as to the course we are pursuing." she then proceeds to calmly discuss his objections, and to defend their views on the woman question, which, she says, she regards as second in importance to none, but that she does not feel bound to take up every _caviller_ who presents himself, and therefore will not notice some others who had criticised her letters in the _spectator_. about h.c. wright, she says: "i must say a few words concerning brother wright, towards whom i do not feel certain that the law of love predominated when thou wrote that part of thy letter relative to him.... we feel prepared to avow the principles set forth in the 'domestic scene.' i wonder thou canst not perceive the simplicity and beauty and consistency of the doctrine that all government, whether civil or ecclesiastical, conflicts with the government of jehovah, and that by the christian no other can be acknowledged, without leaning more or less on an arm of flesh. would to god that all abolitionists put their trust where i believe h.c. wright has placed his, in god alone.... i have given my opinions (in the _spectator_). those who read them may receive or reject or find fault. i have nothing to do with that. i shall let thee enjoy thy opinion, but i must wait and see the issue before i conclude it was one of satan's providences.... i know the opposition to our views arises in part from the fact that women are habitually regarded as inferior beings, but chiefly i believe from a desire to keep them in unholy subjection to man, and one way of doing this is to deprive us of the means of becoming their equals by forbidding us the privileges of education which would fit us for the performance of duty. i am greatly mistaken if most men have not a desire that women should be silly.... i have not said half i wanted, but this must suffice for the present, as angelina has concluded to try her hand at scolding. farewell, dear brother. may the lord reward thee tenfold for thy kindness, and keep thee in the hollow of his holy hand. "thy sister in jesus, "s.m.g." angelina's part of the letter is not written in the sweet, quaker spirit which prevails through sarah's, but shows a very interesting consciousness of her power over the man she addressed. "sister," she writes, "seems very much afraid that my pen will be transformed into a venomous serpent when i employ it to address thee, my dear brother, and no wonder, for i like to pay my debts, and, as i received ten dollars' worth of scolding,[ ] i should be guilty of injustice did i not return the favor. well! such a lecture i never before had from anyone. what is the matter with thee? one would really suppose that we had actually abandoned the anti-slavery cause, and were roving the country, preaching _nothing_ but woman's rights, when, in fact, i can truly say that whenever i lecture, i forget _everything but the slave_. he is all in all for the time being. and what is the reason _i_ am to be scolded because _sister_ writes letters in the _spectator_? please let every woman bear _her own burdens_. indeed, i should like to know what i have done yet? and dost thou really think in my answer to c.e. beecher's absurd views of woman that i had better suppress my own? if so, i will do it, as thou makest such a monster out of the molehill, but my judgment is _not_ convinced that in this incidental way it is wrong to throw light on the subject." [ ] angelina and sarah had sent mr. weld ten dollars for some supposed debts. he returned it, and said if any trifling sums fell due, he would take them out in scolding, and pay himself thus. she speaks very gratefully of "brother lincoln, of gardner," who rejoiced to have them speak in his pulpit, and says:-- "my _keen sense of justice_ compels me to admire such nobility. he hoped sister would give her views on this branch of the subject in the _spectator_. he thought they were needed, and _we_ are well convinced they are, t.d.w. notwithstanding. so much for my bump of obstinacy which even thy sledge-hammer cannot beat down." the subsequent correspondence, which i regret i have not room to insert, shows that the remonstrances of whittier and weld were effective in restraining, for the time being, the impatience of the sisters to urge in their public meetings what, however, they faithfully preached in private--their conviction that the wrongs of woman were the root of _all_ oppression. sarah meekly writes to "brother weld." "after a struggle with my feelings, so severe that i was almost tempted to turn back from the anti-slavery cause, i have given up to what seemed the inevitable, and have thought little of it since. perhaps i have done wrong, and if so, i trust i shall see it and repent it. i do not intend to make any promises, because i may have reason to regret them, but i do not know that i shall scribble any more on the objectionable topic of woman." this interesting controversy did not end until several more letters had passed back and forth, and various other topics had been brought in; but it was carried through with the same spirit of candor and love on all sides which marked the beginning. there was one subject introduced, a sort of side-question which i must notice, as it reveals in a very pleasant manner the religious principle and manly moral courage of theodore d. weld. at the close of one of her letters, sarah says:-- "now just as it has come into my head, please tell me whether thy clothing costs one hundred dollars per annum? i ask because it was insisted upon that mr. weld must spend that amount on his wardrobe, and i as strenuously insisted he did not. it was thought impossible a gentleman could spend less, but i think anti-slavery agents know better." to this, he answered thus, at the end of one of _his_ letters. "oh! i forgot the wardrobe! i suppose you are going to take me to task about my shag-overcoat, linsey-woolsey coat, and cowhide shoes; for you quakers are as notional about _quality_ as you are precise about _cut_. well, now to the question. while i was travelling and lecturing, i think that _one_ year my clothing must have cost me nearly one hundred dollars. it was the first year of my lecturing in the west, when one entire suit and part of another were destroyed or nearly so by mobs. since i resigned my commission as agent, which is now nearly a year, my clothing has not cost me one third that amount. i don't think it _even_ cost me fifty dollars a year, except the year i spoke of, when it was ruined by mobs, and the year , when, in travelling, i lost it all with my other baggage in the alum river. there, i believe i have answered your question as well as i can. however, i have always had to encounter the criticism and chidings of my acquaintances about my coarse dress. they will have it that i have always curtailed my influence and usefulness by such a john the baptist attire as i have always been habited in. but i have remarked that those persons who have beset me on that score have shown in some way that they had their hearts set more or less on showing off their persons to advantage by their dress. now i think of it, i believe you are in great danger of making a little god out of your caps and your drab color, and '_thee_' and '_thou_.' besides, the tendency is quite questionable. the moment certain shades of color, or a certain combination of letters, or modulation of sounds, or arrangement of seams and angles, are made the _sine qua non_ of religion and principle, that moment religion and principle are hurled from their vantage-ground and become _slaves_ instead of _rulers_. i cannot get it out of my mind that these must be a fetter on the spirit that clings to such stereotyped forms and ceremonies that rustle and clatter the more because life and spirit and power do not inhabit them. think about it, dear sisters." in sarah's next letter to him she says:-- "now first about the wardrobe. thou art greatly mistaken in supposing that i meant to quiz thee; no, not i, indeed. i wish from my heart more of us who take the profession of jesus on our lips were willing to wear shag cloaks and linsey-woolsey garments. now i may inform thee that, notwithstanding my prim caps, etc., i am as economical as thou art. i do many things in the way of dress to please my friends, but perhaps their watchfulness is needful." dear aunt sarah! these last words will make many smile who remember how scrupulously careful she was about spending more on her dress than was absolutely necessary to cleanliness and health. every dollar beyond this she felt was taken from the poor or from some benevolent enterprise. the watchfulness of her friends was indeed needful! it appears from the above correspondence that both sarah and angelina had become tinctured with the doctrines of "non-resistance," which, within a few years, had gained some credit with a few "perfectionists" and active reformers in and about boston. they had been presented by lydia maria child, a genial writer, under the guise of the scriptural doctrine of love. this sentiment was held to be adequate to the regulation of social and political life: by it, ruffians were to be made to stand in awe of virtue; thieves, burglars, and murderers were to be made ashamed of themselves, and turned into honest and amiable citizens; children were to be governed without punishment; and the world was to be made a paradise. rev. henry c. wright, a man of some ability, but tossed by every wind of doctrine, embraced the new gospel. he applied its principles to public matters. from the essential sinfulness of all forms of force, if used towards human beings, he inferred that penal laws, prisons, sheriffs, and criminal courts should be dispensed with; that governments, which, of necessity, execute their decrees by force, should be abolished; that christians should not take part in politics, either by voting or holding office; that they should not employ force, even to resist encroachment or in the defence of their wives and children; and that although slavery, being a form of force, was wrong, no one should vote against it. the slave-holder was to be converted by love. the free states should show their grief and disapprobation by seceding from the slave states, and by nullifying within their limits any unjust laws passed by the nation. all governments, civil, ecclesiastical, and family, were to disappear, so that the divine law, interpreted by each one for himself, might have free course. to this fanciful, transcendental, and anarchical theory, mr. wright made sundry converts, more or less thorough, including parker pillsbury, wm. l. garrison, and stephen s. foster. that he took a good deal of pains to capture the subjects of our biography is evident. he attended their lectures, cultivated their acquaintance, extended to them his sympathy, and made them his guests. there are certain affinities of the non-resistance doctrines with quakerism, which made them attractive to these two women who had little worldly knowledge, and who had been trained for years in the peace doctrines of the philadelphia friends. it was fortunate for the anti-slavery cause that sarah and angelina were warned in time by their new york friends of the fatally dangerous character of the heresies they were inclined to accept. they went no further in that direction. in all their subsequent letters, journals, and papers there is not a word to show that either of them ever entertained no-government notions, or identified herself with persons who did. during the remaining months of their stay in massachusetts, they devoted themselves to their true mission of anti-slavery work, accepting the co-operation and friendship of all friends of the slave, but avoiding compromising relations with those known as "no human government" non-resistants. this course was continued in after years, and drew upon them the disapprobation and strictures of the non-voting, non-fighting faction. in a letter from sarah to augustus wattles, dated may , , about the time of the kansas war, she says:-- "we were fully aware of the severe criticisms passed upon us by many of those who showed their unfitness to be in the judgment seat, by the unmerciful censure they have pronounced against us when we were doing what to us seemed positive duty. they wanted us to live out wm. lloyd garrison, not the convictions of our own souls, entirely unaware that they were exhibiting, in the high places of moral reform, the genuine spirit of slave-holding by wishing to curtail the sacred privilege of conscience. but we have not allowed their unreasonableness to sever us from them; they have many noble traits, have acted grandly for humanity, and it was perhaps a part of their business to abuse us. i do not think i love garrison any the less for what he has said. his spirit of intolerance towards those who did not draw in his traces, and his adulation of those who surrendered themselves to his guidance, have always been exceedingly repulsive to me, weaknesses which marred the beauty and symmetry of his character, and prevented its symmetrical development, but nevertheless i know the stern principle which is the basis of his action. he is garrison and nobody else, and all i ask is that he would let others be themselves." the feeling thus expressed was probably never changed until after the sisters had taken up their residence in the neighborhood of boston, when visits were interchanged with mr. garrison, and friendly relations established, which ended only with death. it is certain, however, that sarah and angelina sympathized with the stalwart freemen who used sharp's rifles in the defence of free kansas, who voted the liberty, free soil, and republican ticket, who elected abraham lincoln president, and who shouldered muskets against the rebels. chapter xv. the anti-slavery cause, and intimate association with so many of its enthusiastic advocates, had indeed done much for sarah grimké. her mind was rapidly becoming purified from the dross that had clogged it so long; religious doubts and difficulties were fading away one by one, and the wide, warm sympathies of her nature now freed, expanded gladly to a new world of light and love and labor. as she expressed it, she was like one coming into a clear brisk atmosphere, after having been long shut up in a close room. her drowsy faculties were all stirred and invigorated, and though her disappointments had left wounds whose pain must always remind her of them, she had no longer time to sit down and bemoan them. there was so much to do in the broad, fresh fields which stretched around her, and she had been idle so long! is it any wonder that she tried to grasp too much at first? the affection between her and angelina was growing daily more tender--perhaps a little more maternal on her part. drawn closer together by the now complete separation from every member of their own family, and by the disapproval and coldness of their philadelphia friends, they were an inexpressible solace and help to each other. identified in all their trials, as now in their labors, they worked together in a sweet unity of spirit, which lessened every difficulty and lightened every burden. they continued to lecture almost uninterruptedly for five months, and though the prejudice against them as women appeared but slightly diminished, people were becoming familiarized to the idea of women speaking in public, and the way was gradually being cleared for the advance-guard of that noble army which has brought about so many changes favorable to the weak and downtrodden of its own sex. invitations to speak came to the sisters from all parts of the state, and not even by dividing their labors among the smaller towns could they begin to respond to all who wished to hear them. sometimes the crowds around the place of meeting were so great that a second hall or church would have to be provided, and sarah speak in one, while angelina spoke in the other. at one place, where over a thousand people crowded into a church, one of the joists gave way; it was propped up, but soon others began to crack, and, although the people were warned to leave that part of the building, only a few obeyed, and it was found impossible to persuade them to go, or to consent to have the speaking stopped. at another place ladders were put up at all the windows, and men crowded upon them, and tenaciously held their uncomfortable positions through the whole meeting. in one or two places they were refused a meeting-house, on account of strong sectarian feeling against them as quakers. at worcester they had to adjourn from a large congregational church to a small methodist one, because the clergyman of the former suddenly returned from an absence, and declared that if they spoke in his church he would never enter it again. at bolton, notices of their meetings were torn down, but the town hall was packed notwithstanding, many going away, unable to get in. the church here had also been refused them. angelina, in the course of her lecture, seized an opportunity to refer to their treatment, saying that if the people of her native city could see her lecturing in that hall because every church had been closed against the cause of god's down-trodden creatures, they would clap their hands for joy, and say, "see what slavery is doing for us in the town of bolton!" she describes very graphically going two miles to a meeting on a dark and rainy night, when sarah was obliged to remain at home on account of a cold, and abby kelly drove her in a chaise, and how nearly they came to being upset, and how they met men in flocks along the road, all going to the meeting. she says:-- "it seemed as if i could not realize they were going to hear me," and adds:-- "this was the first large meeting i ever attended without dear sister, and i wonder i did not feel desolate, for i knew not a creature there. nevertheless, the lord strengthened me, and i spoke with ease for an hour and a quarter." but the incessant strain upon her nervous system, together with the fatigue and exposure of almost constant travelling, began to tell seriously on her health. in october she frequently speaks of being "so tired," of being "so glad to rest a day," etc., until, all these warnings being unheeded, nature peremptorily called a halt. in the beginning of november, after a week of unusual fatigue, having lectured six times in as many different places, they reached hingham quite worn out. sarah, though still suffering with a cold, begged to lecture in her sister's place, but angelina had been announced, and she knew the people would be disappointed if she failed to appear. when they entered the crowded hall, a lady seeing how unwell angelina looked, seized both her hands and exclaimed:-- "oh, if you will only hold out to-night, i will nurse you for a week!" she did hold out for an hour and a half, and then sank back exhausted, and was obliged to leave the lecture unfinished. this was the beginning of an illness which lasted, with its subsequent convalescence, through the remainder of the year. their good friends, samuel and eliza philbrick, brought the sisters to their beautiful home in brookline, and surrounded them with every care and comfort kind hearts could suggest. sarah then found how very weary she was also, and how opportune was this enforced rest. "thus," wrote angelina some weeks afterwards to jane smith, "thus ended our summer campaign. oh, how delightful it was to stretch my weary limbs on a bed of ease, and roll off from my mind all the heavy responsibilities which had so long pressed upon it, and, above all, to feel in my soul the language, 'well done.' it was luxury indeed, well worth the toil of months." sarah, too, speaks of looking back upon the labors of the summer with feelings of unmixed satisfaction. that the leaven prepared in sarah grimké's letters on the "province of woman" was beginning to work was evidenced by a public discussion on woman's rights which took place at the boston lyceum on the evening of dec. , . the amount of interest this first public debate on the subject excited was shown by the fact that an audience of fifteen hundred of the most intelligent and respectable people of boston crowded the hall and listened attentively to the end. sarah and angelina, the latter now almost entirely recovered, were present, accompanied by mr. philbrick. "a very noble view throughout," says angelina, and adds: "the discussion has raised my hopes of the woman question. it was conducted with respect, delicacy, and dignity, and many minds no doubt were roused to reflection, though i must not forget to say it was decided against us by acclamation, our enemies themselves being judges. it was like a meeting of slave-holders deciding that the slaves are happier in their present condition than they would be freed." soon after this, angelina writes that some boston women, including maria chapman and lydia m. child, were about to start a woman's rights paper, and she adds: "we greatly hope dear maria chapman will soon commence lecturing, and that the spark we have been permitted to kindle on the woman question will never die out." the annual meeting of the massachusetts anti-slavery society was held the latter part of january, , and was notable in several respects. on the second day, the "great texas meeting," as it was called, was held in faneuil hall, and the fact that this cradle of liberty was loaned to the abolitionists was bitterly commented upon by their opponents, while abolitionists themselves regarded it as strong evidence of the progress their cause had made. angelina writes jane smith a graphic account of the speakers and speeches at this meeting, but especially mentions henry b. stanton, who made the most powerful speech of the whole session, and was so severe on congress, that a representative who was present arose to object to the "hot thunderbolts and burning lava" that had been let loose on the heads of "the powers that be, of those whom we were commanded to honor and obey." these remarks were so ridiculous as to excite laughter, and the manner in which stanton demolished the speaker by his own arguments called forth such repeated rounds of applause that the great orator was obliged to _insist_ upon silence. at this meeting, said to have been the largest ever held in boston, several hundred women were present, a most encouraging sign to sarah grimké of the progress of _her_ ideas. after some parleying, the hall of the house of representatives was granted the society for their remaining meetings, and here quincy, colver, phelps, and wendell phillips spoke and made a deep impression, so deep that a committee was appointed to take into consideration the petitions on the subject of slavery. stanton, half in jest, asked angelina if she would not like to speak before that committee, as the names of some thousands of women were before it as signers of petitions. she had never thought of such a thing, but, after reflecting upon it a day, sent stanton word that if the friends of the cause thought well of it, she _would_ speak as he had proposed. he was surprised and troubled, for, though he was all right in the abstract on the woman question, he feared the consequences of such a manifest assertion of equality. "it seems," angelina writes, "even the stout-hearted tremble when the woman question is to be acted out in full. jackson, fuller, phelps, and quincy were consulted. the first is sound to the core, and went right up to the state house to inquire of the chairman of the committee whether i could be heard. wonderful to tell, he said yes, without the least hesitation, and actually helped to remove the scruples of some of the timid-hearted abolitionists. perhaps it is best i should bear the responsibility _wholly_ myself. i feel willing to do it, and think i shall say nothing more about it, but just let birney and stanton make the speeches they expect to before the committee this week, and when they have done, make an independent application to the chairman as a woman, as a southerner, as a moral being.... i feel that this is the most important step i have ever been called to take: important to woman, to the slave, to my country, and to the world." this plan was carried out, thanks to james c. alvord, the chairman of the committee; and the halls of the massachusetts legislature were opened for the first time to a woman. wendell phillips says of that meeting:--"it gave miss grimké the opportunity to speak to the best culture and character of massachusetts; and the profound impression then made on a class not often found in our meetings was never wholly lost. it was not only the testimony of one most competent to speak, but it was the profound religious experience of one who had broken out of the charmed circle, and whose intense earnestness melted all opposition. the converts she made needed no after-training. it was when you saw she was opening some secret record of her own experience that the painful silence and breathless interest told the deep effect and lasting impression her words were making." we have not angelina's account of this meeting, but referring to it in a letter to sarah douglass, she says: "my heart never quailed before, but it almost died within me at that tremendous hour." but one hearing did not satisfy her, and the committee needed no urging to grant her another. at the second meeting, the hall was literally packed, and hundreds went away unable to obtain seats. when she arose to speak, there was some hissing from the doorways, but the most profound silence reigned through the crowd within. angelina first stood in front of the speaker's desk, then she was requested to occupy the secretary's desk on one side, and soon after, that she might be seen as well as heard, she was invited to stand in the speaker's place. and from that conspicuous position she spoke over two hours without the least interruption. she says to sarah douglass:-- "what the effect of these meetings is to be, i know not, nor do i feel that _i_ have anything to do with it. this i know, that the chairman was in tears almost the whole time i was speaking," and she adds: "we abolition women are turning the world upside down, for during the whole meeting there was sister seated up in the speaker's chair of state." these meetings were followed by the six evening lectures at the odeon, to which reference has already been made. sarah delivered the first lecture, taking for her subject the history of the country in reference to slavery. she spoke for two hours, fearlessly, as she always did, and though she says garrison told her he trembled with apprehension, the audience of fifteen hundred people listened respectfully and attentively, frequently applauding the utterance of some strongly expressed truth, and showing no excitement even under the rebukes she administered to edward everett, then governor of massachusetts, for his speech in congress in , and to ex-governor lincoln for his in . both these worthies had declared their willingness to go down south to suppress servile insurrection. this was the last time sarah spoke in public. her throat, which had long troubled her, was now seriously affected, and entire rest was prescribed. she did not murmur, for she had increasingly felt that angelina's speaking was more effective than hers, and now she believed the lord was showing her that this part of the work must be left to her more gifted sister, and she gladly yielded to her the task of delivering the five succeeding lectures. in relation to these lectures, the son of samuel philbrick has kindly sent me the following extract from a diary kept by his father. under date of april , , he says:-- "in february angelina addressed the committee of our legislature on the subject of slavery and the slave trade in the district of columbia and florida, and the inter-state slave trade, during three sittings of two hours each, in the representatives' hall in boston, before a crowded audience, stowed as close as they could stand in every aisle and corner. her addresses were listened to with profound attention and respect, without interruption to the last. more than five hundred people could not get seats, but stood quietly during two full hours, in profound silence. "during the last few weeks she has delivered five lectures, and sarah one at the odeon, before an assembly of men and women from all parts of the city. every part of the building was crowded, every aisle filled. estimated number, two thousand to three thousand at each meeting. there was great attention and silence, and the addresses were intensely interesting." these over, the sisters bade farewell to their most excellent brookline friends, in whose family they had so peacefully rested for six months, and returned to philadelphia, sarah accepting a temporary home with jane smith, while angelina went to stay with mrs. frost, at whose house two weeks later, that is on the th of may, she was united in marriage to theodore d. weld. no marriage could have been more true, more fitting in every respect. the solemn relation was never entered upon in more holiness of purpose or in higher resolve to hold themselves strictly to the best they were capable of. it was a rededication of lives long consecrated to god and humanity; of souls knowing no selfish ambition, seeking before all things the glory of their creator in the elevation of his creatures everywhere. the entire unity of spirit in which they afterwards lived and labored, the tender affection which, through a companionship of more than forty years, knew no diminution, made a family life so perfect and beautiful that it brightened and inspired all who were favored to witness it. no one could be with them under the most ordinary circumstances without feeling the force and influence of their characters. invitations were sent to about eighty persons, mostly abolitionists, of all colors, some jet black. nearly all came; representing pennsylvania, new york, new jersey, connecticut, rhode island, and massachusetts. among them were h.b. stanton, c.c. burleigh, william lloyd garrison, amos dresser, h.c. wright, maria and mary chapman, abby kelly, samuel philbrick, jane smith, and sarah douglass of course, and mr. weld's older brother, the president of the asylum for deaf mutes. sarah grimké's account of the wedding, written to a friend in england, is most interesting; and one cannot but wonder if another like it ever took place. the letter was written while the then and ever after inseparable trio was at manlius, new york, visiting mr. weld's family. after a slight mention of other matters, she says:-- "i must now give thee some account of my dear sister's marriage, which probably thou hast already heard of. her precious husband is emphatically a man of god, a member of the presbyterian church. of course angelina will be disowned for forming this connection, and i shall be for attending the marriage. we feel no regret at this circumstance, believing that the discipline which cuts us off from membership for an act so strictly in conformity with the will of god, and so sanctioned by his word as is the marriage of the righteous, must be anti-christian, and i am thankful for an opportunity to testify against it. the marriage was solemnized at the house of our sister, anna r. frost, in philadelphia, on the th instant. by the law of pennsylvania, a marriage is legal if witnessed by twelve persons. neither clergyman nor magistrate is required to be present. angelina could not conscientiously consent to be married by a clergyman, and theodore d. weld cheerfully consented to have the marriage solemnized in such manner as comported with her views. we all felt that the presence of a magistrate, a stranger, would be unpleasant to us at such a time, and we therefore concluded to invite such of our friends as we desired, and have the marriage solemnized as a religious act, in a religious and social meeting. neither theodore nor angelina felt as if they could bind themselves to any preconceived form of words, and accordingly uttered such as the lord gave them at the moment. theodore addressed angelina in a solemn and tender manner. he alluded to the unrighteous power vested in a husband by the laws of the united states over the person and property of his wife, and he abjured all authority, all government, save the influence which love would give to them over each other as moral and immortal beings. i would give much could i recall his words, but i cannot. angelina's address to him was brief but comprehensive, containing a promise to honor him, to prefer him above herself, to love him with a pure heart fervently. immediately after this we knelt, and dear theodore poured out his soul in solemn supplication for the blessing of god on their union, that it might be productive of enlarged usefulness, and increased sympathy for the slave. angelina followed in a melting appeal to our heavenly father, for a blessing on them, and that their union might glorify him, and then asked his guidance and over-shadowing love through the rest of their pilgrimage. a colored presbyterian minister then prayed, and was followed by a white one, and then i felt as if i could not restrain the language of praise and thanksgiving to him who had condescended to be in the midst of this marriage feast, and to pour forth abundantly the oil and wine of consolation and rejoicing. the lord jesus was the first guest invited to be present, and he condescended to bless us with his presence, and to sanction and sanctify the union which was thus consummated. the certificate was then read by william lloyd garrison, and was signed by the company. the evening was spent in pleasant social intercourse. several colored persons were present, among them two liberated slaves, who formerly belonged to our father, had come by inheritance to sister anna, and had been freed by her. they were our invited guests, and we thus had an opportunity to bear our testimony against the horrible prejudice which prevails against colored persons, and the equally awful prejudice against the poor." this unconventional but truly religious marriage ceremony was in perfect harmony with the loyal, noble natures of theodore weld and angelina grimké, exemplifying the simplicity of their lives and the strength of their principles. no grand preparations preceded the event; no wedding bells were rung on the occasion; no rare gifts were displayed: but the blessing of the lowly and the despised, and the heart-felt wishes of co-workers and co-sufferers were the offerings which lent to the occasion its purest joy and brightest light. but though so quietly and peacefully solemnized, this marriage was to have its celebration,--one little anticipated, but according well with the experiences which had preceded it, and serving to make it all the more impressive and its promises more sacred. refused the use of churches and lecture-rooms, and denied the privilege of hiring halls for their meetings, the abolitionists of philadelphia, with other friends of free discussion, formed an association, and built, at an expense of forty thousand dollars, a beautiful hall, to be used for free speech on any and every subject not of an immoral character. daniel neall was the president of this association, and william dorsey the secretary. the hall, one of the finest buildings in the city, was situated at the southwest corner of delaware, sixth, and harris streets, between cherry and sassafras streets. it was opened for the first time on angelina grimké's wedding-day, and was filled with one of the largest audiences ever assembled in philadelphia. as soon as the president of the association had taken his seat, the secretary arose and explained the uses and purposes the hall was expected to serve. he said:-- "a number of individuals of all sects, and those of no sect, of all parties, and those of no party, being desirous that the citizens of philadelphia should possess a room wherein the principles of _liberty_ and _equality of civil rights_ could be freely discussed, and the evils of slavery fearlessly portrayed, have erected this building, which we are now about to dedicate to liberty and the rights of man.... a majority of the stockholders are mechanics or working-men, and (as is the case in almost every other good work) a number are women." the secretary then proceeded to read letters from john quincy adams, thaddeus stevens, gerrit smith, theodore weld, and others, who had been invited to deliver addresses, but who, from various causes, were obliged to decline. that from weld was characteristic of the earnestness of the man. after stating that for a year and a half he had been prevented from speaking in public on account of an affection of the throat, and must therefore decline the invitation of the committee, he adds:-- "i exult in the erection of your 'temple of freedom,' and the more, as it is the first and only one, in a republic of fifteen millions, consecrated to free discussion and equal rights." "for years they have been banished from our halls of legislation and of justice, from our churches and our pulpits. it is befitting that the city of benezet and of franklin should be the first to open an asylum where the hunted exiles may find a home. god grant that your pennsylvania hall may be _free, indeed!_" "the empty name is everywhere,--_free_ government, _free_ men, _free_ speech, _free_ people, _free_ schools, and _free_ churches. hollow counterfeits all! _free!_ it is the climax of irony, and its million echoes are hisses and jeers, even from the earth's ends. _free! blot it out_. words are the signs of _things_. the substance has gone! let fools and madmen clutch at shadows. the husk must rustle the more when the kernel and the ear are gone. rome's loudest shout for liberty was when she murdered it, and drowned its death shrieks in her hoarse huzzas. she never raised her hands so high to swear allegiance to freedom as when she gave the death-stab, and madly leaped upon its corpse; and her most delirious dance was among the clods her hands had cast upon its coffin. _free!_ the word and sound are omnipresent masks and mockers. an impious lie, unless they stand for free _lynch law_ and free _murder_, for they _are_ free. "but i'll hold. the times demand brief speech, but mighty deeds. on, my brethren! uprear your temple. "your brother in the sacred strife for all, "theodore d. weld." david paul brown, of philadelphia, was invited to deliver the dedicatory address, which, with other exercises, occupied the mornings and evening of three days, and included addresses by garrison, thomas p. hunt, arnold buffum, alanson st. clair, and others, on slavery, temperance, the indians, right of free discussion, and kindred topics. on the second day, an appropriate and soul-stirring poem by john g. whittier was read by c.c. burleigh. the first lines will give an idea of the spirit of the whole poem, one of the finest efforts whittier ever made:-- "not with the splendors of the days of old, the spoil of nations and barbaric gold, no weapons wrested from the fields of blood, where dark and stern the unyielding roman stood, and the proud eagles of his cohorts saw a world war-wasted, crouching to his law; nor blazoned car, nor banners floating gay, like those which swept along the appian way, when, to the welcome of imperial rome, the victor warrior came in triumph home, and trumpet peal, and shoutings wild and high, stirred the blue quiet of th' italian sky, but calm and grateful, prayerful, and sincere, as christian freemen only, gathering here, we dedicate our fair and lofty hall, pillar and arch, entablature and wall, as virtue's shrine, as liberty's abode, sacred to freedom, and to freedom's god." the anti-slavery convention of american women was then holding a session in the city, and among the members present were some of the brightest and noblest women of the day, women with courage as calm and high to dare, as with hearts tender to feel for human woe. the convention occupied the lecture-room of pennsylvania hall, under the main saloon. a strong desire having been expressed by many citizens to hear some of these able pleaders for the slave, notice was given that there would be a meeting in the main saloon on the evening of the th, at which angelina, e.g. weld, maria chapman, and others would speak. up to the time of this announcement, no apprehension of any disturbance had been felt by the managers of the hall. so far all the meetings had been conducted without interruption; nor could anyone have supposed it possible that in a city renowned for its order and law, and possessing a large and efficient police force, a public outrage upon an assemblage of respectable citizens, many of them women, could be perpetrated. but it was soon to be shown how deeply the spirit of slavery had infused itself into the minds of the people of the free states, leading them to disregard the rights of individuals and to wantonly violate the sacred principles guaranteed by the constitution of the country. during the day some threats of violence were thrown out, and _written_ placards were posted about the city inviting interference with the proposed meeting, _forcibly if necessary_. but this was regarded only as the expression of malice on the part of a few, or perhaps of an individual, and occasioned no alarm. still, the precaution was taken to request the mayor to hold his police force in readiness to protect the meeting in case of need. the day passed quietly. long before the time announced for the meeting, the hall, capable of containing three thousand people, was thronged, and, by the time the speakers arrived, every seat was filled, every inch of standing room was occupied, and thousands went away from the doors unable to obtain admittance. the audience was for the most part a highly respectable and intelligent one, and, notwithstanding the great crowd, was exceedingly quiet. william lloyd garrison opened the meeting with a short but characteristic speech, during which he was frequently interrupted by hisses and groans; and when he ended, some efforts were made to break up the meeting. in the midst of the confusion, maria w. chapman arose, calm, dignified, and, with a wave of her hand, as though to still the noise, began to speak, but, before she had gone far, yells from the outside proclaimed the arrival there of a disorderly rabble, and at once the confusion inside became so great, that, although the brave woman continued her speech, she was not heard except by those immediately around her. sarah grimké thus wrote of mrs. chapman's appearance on that occasion: "she is the most beautiful woman i ever saw; the perfection of sweetness and intelligence being blended in her speaking countenance. she arose amid the yells and shouts of the infuriated mob, the crash of windows and the hurling of stones. she looked to me like an angelic being descended amid that tempest of passion in all the dignity of conscious superiority." then angelina weld, the bride of three days, came forward, and so great was the effect of her pure, beautiful presence and quiet, graceful manner, that in a few moments the confusion within the hall had subsided. with deep solemnity, and in words of burning eloquence, she gave her testimony against the awful wickedness of an institution which had no secrets from her. she was frequently interrupted by the mob, but their yells and shouts only furnished her with metaphors which she used with unshrinking power. more stones were thrown at the windows, more glass crashed, but she only paused to ask:-- "what is a mob? what would the breaking of every window be? any evidence that we are wrong, or that slavery is a good and wholesome institution? what if that mob should now burst in upon us, break up our meeting, and commit violence upon our persons--would this be anything compared with what the slaves endure? no, no: and we do not remember them 'as bound with them,' if we shrink in the time of peril, or feel unwilling to sacrifice ourselves, if need be, for their sake. i thank the lord that there is yet life enough left to feel the truth, even though it rages at it--that conscience is not so completely seared as to be unmoved by the truth of the living god." here a shower of stones was thrown through the windows, and there was some disturbance in the audience, but quiet was again restored, and angelina proceeded, and spoke for over an hour, making no further reference to the noise without, and only showing that she noticed it by raising her own voice so that it could be heard throughout the hall. not once was a tremor or a change of color perceptible, and though the missiles continued to fly through the broken sashes, and the hootings and yellings increased outside, so powerfully did her words and tones hold that vast audience, that, imminent as seemed their peril, scarcely a man or woman moved to depart. she sat down amid applause that drowned all the noise outside. abby kelly, then quite a young woman, next arose and said a few words, her first public utterances. she was followed by gentle lucretia mott in a short but most earnest speech, and then this memorable meeting, the first of the kind where men and women acted together as moral beings, closed. there was a dense crowd in the streets around the hall as the immense audience streamed out, but though screams and all sorts of appalling noises were made, no violence was offered, and all reached their homes in safety. but the mob remained, many of its wretched members staying all night, assaulting every belated colored man who came along. the next morning the dregs of the populace, and some respectable _looking_ men again assembled around the doomed hall, but the usual meetings were held, and even the convention of women assembled in the lecture room to finish up their business. the evening was to have been occupied by a public meeting of the wesleyan anti-slavery society of philadelphia, but as the day waned to its close, the indications of approaching disturbance became more and more alarming. the crowd around the building increased, and the secret agents of slavery were busy inflaming the passions of the rabble against the abolitionists, and inciting it to outrage. seeing this, and realizing the danger which threatened, the managers of the hall gave the building over to the protection of the mayor of the city, _at his request_. of course the proposed meeting was postponed. all the mayor did was to appear in front of the hall, and, in a friendly tone, express to the mob the hope that it would not do anything disorderly, saying that he relied upon the men he saw before him, as his _policemen_, and he wished them "good evening!" the mob gave "three cheers for the mayor," and, as soon as he was out of sight, extinguished the gas lights in front of the building. the rest is soon told. doors and windows were broken through, and with wild yells the reckless horde dashed in, plundered the repository, scattering the books in every direction, and, mounting the stairways and entering the beautiful hall, piled combustibles on the speaker's forum, and applied the torch to them, shrieking like demons,--as they were, for the time. a moment more, and the flames roared and crackled through the building, and though it was estimated that fifteen thousand persons were present, and though the fire companies were early on the scene, not one effort was made to save the structure so recently erected, at such great cost, and consecrated to such christian uses. in a few hours the smouldering walls alone were left. angelina weld never again appeared in public. an accident soon after her marriage caused an injury of such a nature that her nervous system was permanently impaired, and she was ever after obliged to avoid all excitement or over-exertion. the period of her public labors was short, but how fruitful, how full of blessings to the cause of the slave and to the many who espoused it through her powerful appeals! great was her grief; for, knowing now her capabilities, she had looked forward to renewed and still more successful work; but she accepted with sweet submission the cross laid upon her. not a murmur arose to her lips. she was content to leave all to the lord. he could find some new work for her to do. she would trust him, and patiently wait. the loss of the services of one so richly endowed, so devoted, and so successful, was deeply felt by the friends of emancipation, and especially as at this important epoch efficient speakers were sorely needed, and two of the most efficient, weld and burleigh, were already, from overwork, taken from the platform. but though denied the privilege of again raising her voice in behalf of the oppressed, angelina continued to plead for them through her pen. she could never forget the cause that could never forget her, and to her writings was transferred much of the force and eloquence of her speaking. immediately after the destruction of pennsylvania hall, mr. and mrs. weld, accompanied by sarah grimké, paid a visit to mr. weld's parents in manlius, from which place, sarah, writing to jane smith, says:-- "o jane, it looks like almost too great a blessing for us three to be together in some quiet, humble habitation, living to the glory of god, and promoting the happiness of those around us; to be spiritually united, and to be pursuing with increasing zeal the great work of the abolition of slavery." the "quiet, humble habitation" was found at fort lee, on the hudson, and there the happy trio settled down for their first housekeeping. chapter xvi. they were scarcely settled amid their new surroundings before the sisters received a formal notice of their disownment by the society of friends because of angelina's marriage. the notification, signed by two prominent women elders of the society, expressed regret that sarah and angelina had not more highly prized their right of membership, and added an earnest desire that they might come to a sense of their real state, and manifest a disposition to condemn their deviations from the path of duty. angelina replied without delay that they wished the discipline of the society to have free course with regard to them. "it is our joy," she wrote, "that we have committed no offence for which christ jesus will disown us as members of the household of faith. if you regret that we have valued our right of membership so little, we equally regret that our society should have adopted a discipline which has no foundation in the bible or in reason; and we earnestly hope the time may come when the simple gospel rule with regard to marriage, 'be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,' will be as conscientiously enforced as that sectarian one which prohibits the union of the lord's own people if their shibboleth be not exactly the same. "we are very respectfully, in that love which knows no distinction in color, clime, or creed, your friends, "a.e.g. weld. "sarah m. grimkÉ." it will be noticed that in this reply angelina avoids the quaker phraseology, and neither she nor sarah ever after used it, except occasionally in correspondence with a quaker friend. thus ended their connection with the society of friends. from that time they never attached themselves to any religious organization, but rested contentedly in the simple religion of christ, illustrating by every act of their daily lives how near they were to the heart of all true religion. as i am approaching the limits prescribed for this volume, i can, in the space remaining to me, only note with any detail the chief incidents of the years which followed angelina's marriage. i would like to describe at length the beautiful family life the trio created, and which disproved so clearly the current assertion that interest in public matters disqualifies woman for home duties or make these distasteful to her. in the case of sarah and angelina those duties were entered upon with joy and gratitude, and with the same conscientious zeal that had characterized their public labors. the simplicity and frugality, too, which marked all their domestic arrangements, and which neither thought it necessary to apologize for at any time, recall to one's mind the sweet pictures of arcadian life over which goodness, purity, and innocence presided, creating an atmosphere of perfect inward and outward peace. sarah's letters detail their every-day occupations, their division of labor, their culinary experiments, often failures,--for of practical domestic economy they had little knowledge, though they enjoyed the new experience like happy children. she tells of rambles and picnics along the hudson, climbing rocks to get a fine view, halting under the trees to read together for a while, taking their simple dinner in some shady nook, and returning weary but happy to their "dear little no. ," as she designates their house. "oh, jane," she writes, "words cannot tell the goodness of the lord to us since we have sat down under the shadow of our own roof, and gathered around our humble board. peace has flowed sweetly through our souls. the lord has been in the midst, and blessed us with his presence, and the daily aspiration of our souls is: lord, show us thy will concerning us." and in another letter she says, "we are delighted with our arrangement to do without a girl. angelina boils potatoes to admiration, and says she finds cooking much easier than she expected." during the summer they were gratified by a visit from their good friend jane, who, it appears, gave them some useful and much-needed lessons in the art of cookery. but about this time sarah became converted to the graham system of diet, which mr. "weld had adopted three, and mrs. weld two years before. sarah thus writes of it:-- "we have heard graham lectures, and read alcott's 'young housekeeper,' and are truly thankful that the lord has converted us to this mode of living, and that we are all of one heart and one mind. we believe it is the most conducive to health, and, besides, it is such an emancipation of woman from the toils of the kitchen, and saves so much precious time for purposes of more importance than eating and drinking. we have a great variety of dishes, and, to our taste, very savory. we can make good bread, and this with milk is an excellent meal. this week i am cook, and am writing this while my beans are boiling and pears stewing for dinner. we use no tea or coffee, and take our food cool." she then tells of the arrival one day of two friends from the city, just as they had sat down to their simple meal of rice and molasses. "but," she says, "we were very glad to see them, and with bread and milk, and pie without shortening, and hominy, we contrived to give them enough, and as they were pretty hungry they partook of it with tolerable appetite." answering some inquiries from jane smith, angelina writes:-- "as to how i have made out with cooking, it so happens that labor (planting a garden) gives theodore such an appetite that everything is sweet to him, so that my rice and asparagus, potatoes, mush, and indian bread all taste well, though some might think them not fit to eat." they had but one cooking day, when enough was generally prepared to last a week, so that very little time and mind was given to creature comforts; in fact, no more than was necessary to the preservation of health. their motto literally was "to eat to live," and this they felt to be a part of that non-conformity to the world of which the apostle speaks, and after which sarah, at least, felt she must still strive. their furniture corresponded with the simplicity of their table. angelina writes shortly after her marriage:-- "we ordered our furniture to be made of cherry, and quite enjoy the cheapness of our outfit as well as our manner of life; for the less we spend, the less the anti-slavery society will have to pay my theodore for his labors as editor of all the extra publications of the society." thus some high or unselfish motive inspired all their conduct and influenced every arrangement. nothing superfluous or merely ornamental found a place with these true and zealous followers of him whose precepts guided their lives. everything in doors and out served a special purpose of utility, or suggested some duty or great moral aim. angelina was exceedingly fond of flowers, but refrained from cultivating them, because of the time required, which she thought could be better employed. she felt she had no right to use one moment for her own selfish gratification which could be given to some more necessary work. therefore, though both sisters were peculiarly gifted with a love of the beautiful, as their frequent descriptions of natural scenery show, they contented themselves, from principle, with the enjoyment of "glorious sunsets," and with the flowers of the field and wayside. later they learned a different appreciation of all the innocent pleasures of life; but at the time i am describing, they had just emerged from quaker asceticism, and in the flush of their new religion, and looking upon their past years as almost wasted, they were eager only to make amends for them. in one of her letters to her english friend, angelina acknowledges the present from her of a large picture of a _kneeling slave_, and adds:-- "we purpose pasting it on binder's boards, binding it with colored paper, and fixing it over our mantelpiece. it is just such a speaking monument of suffering as we want in our parlor, and suits my fireboard most admirably. i first covered this with plain paper, and then arranged as well as i could about forty anti-slavery pictures upon it. i never saw one like it, but we hope other abolitionists will make them when they see what an ornamental and impressive article of furniture can thus be manufactured. we want those who come into our house to see at a glance that we are on the side of the oppressed and the poor." sarah douglass spent a day with them in september, and as i can have no more fitting place to show how conscientious were these rare spirits in their practical testimony against the color prejudice, i will quote a few passages from a letter written to sarah douglass after her departure from the circle where she had been treated as a most honored guest. sarah grimké begins as follows:-- "thy letter, my beloved sarah, was truly acceptable as an evidence of thy love for us, and because it told us one of our lord's dear children had been comforted in being with us. it would have been truly grateful to have had thee a longer time with us, and we hope thy next visit may be less brief. by the way, dear, as i love frankness, i am going to tell thee what i have thought in reading thy note. it seemed to me thy proposal 'to spend a day' with us was made under a little feeling something like this: 'well, after all, i am not quite certain i shall be an acceptable visitor.' i can only say that it is no surprise to me that thou shouldst be beset with such a temptation, but set a strong guard against this entrance to thy heart, lest the adversary poison all the springs of comfort. i want thee to rise above the suspicions which are so naturally aroused. they are among the subtle devices of satan, by which he alienates us from jesus, and makes us go mourning on our way with the language in our hearts: 'is there not a cause?'" angelina adds:-- "my dear sarah,--i can fully unite with my precious sister in all she has said relative to thy late visit to us. theodore and i both felt surprised and disappointed that thou proposedst spending but one day with us when we had expected a visit of a week. it was indeed a comfort to receive such a letter from thee, dear, and yet there was much of pain mingled in the feeling. thou thankest us for our 'christian conduct.' in what did it consist? in receiving and treating thee as an equal, a sister beloved in the lord? oh, how humbling to receive such thanks! what a crowd of reflections throng the mind as we inquire, _why_ does her full heart thus overflow with gratitude? yes, how irresistibly are we led to contemplate the woes which iron-hearted prejudice inflicts on the oppressed of our land, the hidden sorrows they endure--the full cup of bitterness which is wrung out to them by the hands of professed followers of him who is no respecter of persons. and oh, how these reflections ought to lead us to labor and to pray that the time may soon come when thou canst no longer write _such_ a letter! the lord in his mercy has made our little household _one_ in sentiment on this subject, and we know we have been blessed in the exercise of those christian feelings which he hath taught us to cherish, not only towards the outraged people of color, but towards that large class of individuals who serve in families, and are, at the same time, almost completely separated from human society and sympathy so far as their employers are concerned. "let me tell thee, dear sarah, how much good it did me to find that thy visit had made thee love my precious husband as a brother, and afforded thee an opportunity to _feel_ what manner of spirit is his. now i greatly want thy dear mother to know him too, and cannot but believe she will come and visit us next summer." the gratitude of sarah douglass for the reception given her at fort lee was not surprising, considering how different such kindness was from the treatment she and her excellent mother had always received from the society of friends, of which they were members. scarcely anything more damaging to the christian spirit of the society can be found than the testimony of this mother and daughter, which sarah grimké obtained and wrote out, but, i believe, never published. before his marriage, mr. weld lodged, on principle, in a colored family in new york, even submitting to the inconvenience of having no heat in his room in winter, and bearing with singular charity and patience what sarah calls the sanctimonious pride and pharisaical aristocracy of his hosts. he, also, and the sisters when they were in the city, attended a colored church, which, however, became to sarah, at least, a place of such "spiritual famine" that she gave up going. in the winter of - , when it became necessary to have more help in the household, a colored woman, betsy dawson by name, was sent for. she had been a slave in colonel grimké's family, and, falling to the share of mrs. frost when the estate was settled up, was by her emancipated. she was received into the family at fort lee as a friend, and so treated in every respect. sarah expresses the pleasure it was to have one as a helper who knew and loved them all, and adds: "besides i cannot tell thee how thankful we are that our heavenly father has put it in our power to have one who was once a slave in our family to sit at our table and be with us as a sister cherished, to place her on an entire equality with, us in social intercourse, and do all we can to show her we feel for her as we, under like circumstances, would desire her to feel for us. i don't know what m.c. [a friend from new york] thought of our having her at table and in our parlor just like one of ourselves." some time later, angelina writes of another of the family slaves, stephen, to whom they gave a home, putting him to do the cooking, lest, being unaccustomed to a northern climate, he should suffer by exposure to outdoor work. he proved an eyesore in every way, but they retained him as long as it was possible to do so, and bore with him patiently, as no one else would have him. mrs. weld frequently allowed him to hire out for four or five hours a day to husk corn, etc., and was glad to give him this opportunity to earn something extra while she did his work at home. in short, wherever and whenever they could testify to their convictions of duty on this point, it was done unhesitatingly and zealously, without fear or favor of any man. we might consider the incidents i have related, and a dozen similar ones i could give, as evidence only of a desire to perform a religious duty, to manifest obedience to the command to do as they would be done by, while beneath still lay the bias of early training sustained by the almost universal feeling concerning the inferiority of the negro race. with people of such pure religious dedication, and such exalted views, it was perhaps not difficult to treat their ex-slaves as human beings, and the fact that they did so may not excite much wonder. but there came a time, then far in their future, when the sincerity of their convictions upon this matter of prejudice was most triumphantly vindicated. such a vindication even they, with all their knowledge of the hidden evils of slavery, never dreamed could ever be required of _them_, but the manner in which they met the tremendous test was the crowning glory of their lives. in all the biographies i have read, such a manifestation of the spirit of jesus christ does not appear. this will be narrated in its proper place. happy as the sisters were in their home, it must not be supposed that they had settled down to a life of ease and contented privacy, abandoning altogether the great work of their lives. far from it. the time economized from household duties was devoted chiefly to private labor for the cause, from the public advocacy of which they felt they had only stepped aside for a time. neither had any idea that this public work was over. angelina writes to her friend in england soon after her marriage:-- "i cannot tell thee how i love this private life--how i have thanked my heavenly father for this respite from public labor, or how earnestly i have prayed that whilst i am thus dwelling at ease i may not forget the captives of my land, or be unwilling to go forth again on the high places of the field, to combat the giant sin of slavery with the smooth stones of the river of truth, if called to do so by him who put me forth and went before me in days that are past. my dear theodore entertains the noblest views of the rights and responsibilities of woman, and will never lay a straw in the way of my lecturing. he has many times strengthened my hands in the work, and often tenderly admonished me to keep my eye upon my great leader, and my heart in a state of readiness to go forth whenever i am called out. i humbly trust i may, but as earnestly desire to be preserved from going before i hear a voice saying unto me, 'this is the way, walk in it, and i will be thy shield and thy buckler.' this was the promise which was given me before, and how faithfully it was fulfilled, my soul knoweth right well." sarah too, writes to sarah douglass-- "i have thought much of my present situation, laid aside from active service, but i see no pointing of the divine finger to go forth, and i believe the present dispensation of rest has been granted to us not only as a reward for past faithfulness, but as a means of personal advancement in holiness, a time of deep searching of heart, when the soul may contemplate itself, and seek nearer and fuller and higher communion with its god." and again she says:-- "it is true my nature shrinks from public work, but whenever the mandate goes forth to declare on the housetops that which i have heard in the ear, i shall not dare to hold back. i conclude that whenever my father needs my services, he will prepare me to obey the call by exercise of mind." in the meanwhile sarah finished and published a most important contribution to the arguments on the woman's rights subject. this was a small volume of letters on the "equality of the sexes," commenced during her lecturing tour, and addressed to mary s. parker, president of the boston female anti-slavery society. written in a gentle, reverent spirit, but clothed in sarah's usual forcible language, they not only greatly aided the cause which lay so near her heart, but relieved and strengthened many tender consciences by their strong arguments. an extract or two from a letter written to sarah by angelina and theodore early in the autumn of will show the tender relations existing between these three, and which continued undisturbed by all the changes and trials of succeeding years. in september, sarah went to philadelphia to attend the annual anti-slavery convention. angelina writes to her a few days after her departure:-- "we have just come up from our evening meal, my beloved sister, and are sitting in our little study for a while before taking our moonlight ramble on the river bank. after thou left us, i cleared up the dishes, and then swept the house; got down to the kitchen just in time for dinner, which, though eaten alone, was, i must confess, very much relished, for exercise gives a good appetite, thou knowest. i then set my beans to boil whilst i dusted, and was upstairs waiting, ready dressed, for the sound of the 'echo's' piston. soon i heard it, and blew my whistle, which was _not_ responded to, and i began to fear my theodore was not on board. but i blew again, and the glad response came merrily over the water, and i thought i saw him. in a little while he came, and gave me all your parting messages. on second day the weather was almost cold, and we were glad to take a run at noon up the palisades and sun ourselves on the rock at the first opening. returning, we gathered some field beans, and some apples for stewing, as our fruit was nearly out. in the evening it was so cool that we thought a fire would be more comfortable, so we sat in the kitchen, paring apples, shelling beans, and talking over the bible argument;[ ] and, as we had a fire, i thought we had better stew the apples at once. this was done to save time the next day, but i burnt them sadly. however, thou knowest they were just as nice to our theodore, who _never_ complains of anything. third day evening we took a walk up the palisades. the moon shone most beautifully, throwing her mantle of light all abroad over the blue arch of heaven, the gently flowing river, and the woods and vales around us. i could not help thinking, if earth was so lovely and bright, what must be the glories of that upper temple which needeth not the light of the sun or of the moon. o sister, shall we ever wash our robes so white in the blood of the lamb as to be clean enough to enter that pure and holy temple of the most high? we returned to our dear little home, and went to bed by the lamp of heaven; for we needed no other, so brightly did she shine through our windows. we remembered thee, dear sister, in our little seasons of prayer at the opening and closing of each day. we pray the lord to bring thee back to us in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of peace, and to make our house a _home_ to thy weary, tossed, afflicted spirit. we feel it a great blessing to have thee under our roof. thy room looks very desolate; for, though the sun shines brightly in it, i find, after all, _thou_ art the light of it." [ ] this was the argument which angelina heard mr. weld make before the a.s. convention in new york two years before, and which was afterwards published by the a.a.s. society. he was now revising it for a new edition. it made many converts to emancipation. among them was the rev. dr. brisbane of south carolina, a slave-owner, who, after reading it, sat down to answer and refute it; but, before proceeding half way, he became convinced that he was wrong, and weld right. acting upon this conviction, he freed his slaves, went to cincinnati, joined the abolition ranks, and became one of their most eloquent advocates. theodore adds a postscript, addresses sarah as "my dearly loved sister," and says, "as dear angy remarks, your room does look so chill and desolate, and your place at table, and your chair in our little morning and evening circle, that we talk about it a dozen times a day. but we rejoice that the master put it into your heart to go and give your testimony for our poor, suffering brothers and sisters, wailing under bonds, and we pray without ceasing that he who sent will teach, strengthen, and help you greatly to do for him and the bleeding slave." debarred from lecturing by the condition of his throat, mr. weld was a most untiring worker in the anti-slavery office in new york, from which he received a small salary. his time out of office hours was employed in writing for the different anti-slavery papers, and in various editorial duties. soon after his marriage he began the preparation of a book, which, when issued, produced perhaps a greater sensation throughout the country than anything that had yet been written or spoken. this was, "american slavery as it is: testimony of a thousand witnesses," a book of two hundred and ten pages, and consisting of a collection of facts relating to the actual condition and treatment of slaves; facts drawn from slaveholders themselves, and from southern publications. the design was to make the south condemn herself, and never was success more complete. of all the lists of crimes, all the records of abominations, of moral depravity, of marvellous inhumanity, of utter insensibility to the commonest instincts of nature, the civilized world has never read anything equal to it. placed by the side of fox's "book of martyrs," it outrivals it in all its revolting characters, and calls up the burning blush of shame for our country and its boasted christian civilization. notwithstanding all that had been written on the subject, the public was still comparatively ignorant of the sufferings of the slaves, and the barbarities inflicted upon them. mr. weld thought the state of the abolition cause demanded a work which would not only prove by argument that slavery and cruelty were inseparable, but which would contain a mass of incontrovertible facts, that would exhibit the horrid brutality of the system. nearly all the papers, most of them of recent date, from which the extracts were taken, were deposited at the office of the american anti-slavery society in new york, and all who thought the atrocities described in weld's book were incredible, were invited to call and examine for themselves. this book was the most effective answer ever given to the appeal made against free discussion, based on the southampton massacre. it was, in fact, an offset of the horrors of that bloody affair, giving, as it did, a picture of the deeper horrors of slavery. it was the first adequate disclosure of this "bloodiest picture in the book of time," which had yet been made, and all who read it felt that, fearful as was the virginia tragedy, the system which provoked it included many things far worse, and demanded investigation and discussion. issued in pamphlet form, the "testimony of a thousand witnesses," was extensively circulated over the country, and most advantageously used by anti-slavery lecturers and advocates; and it is not too much to say that by awakening the humanity and pride of the people to end this national disgrace, it made much easier the formation of the anti-slavery political party. in the preparation of this work, mr. weld received invaluable assistance from his wife and sister. not only was the testimony of their personal observation and experience given over their own names, but many files of southern papers were industriously examined for such facts as were needed, and which mr. weld arranged. early in january, , sarah writes:-- "i do not think we ever labored more assiduously for the slave than we have done this fall and winter, and, although our work is of the kind that may be privately performed, yet we find the same holy peace in doing it which we found in the public advocacy of the cause." referring a little later to this work, she says: "we have been almost too busy to look out on the beautiful winter landscape, and have been wrought up by our daily researches almost to a frenzy of justice, intolerance, and enthusiasm to crush the viper that is eating out the vitals of the nation. oh, what a blessed privilege to be engaged in labor for the oppressed! we often think, if the slaves are never emancipated, we are richly rewarded by the hallowed influence of abolition principles on our own hearts." in a recent letter to me, mr. weld makes some interesting statements respecting this work. i will give them in his own words:-- "the fact is, those dear souls spent six months, averaging more than six hours a day, in searching through thousands upon thousands of southern newspapers, marking and cutting out facts of slave-holding disclosures for the book. i engaged of the superintendent of the new york commercial reading-room all his papers published in our southern states and territories. these, after remaining upon the files one month, were taken off and sold. thus was gathered the raw material for the manufacture of 'slavery as it is.' after the work was finished, we were curious to know how many newspapers had been examined. so we went up to our attic and took an inventory of bundles, as they were packed heap upon heap. when our count had reached _twenty thousand_ newspapers, we said: 'there, let that suffice.' though the book had in it many thousand facts thus authenticated by the slave-holders themselves, yet it contained but a tiny fraction of the nameless atrocities gathered from the papers examined." besides this absorbing occupation, the sisters busied themselves that winter getting up a petition to congress for the abolition of slavery in the district of columbia, and walked many miles, day after day, to obtain signatures, meeting with patience, humility, and sweetness the frequent rebuffs of the rude and the ignorant, feeling only pity for them, and gratitude to god who had touched and softened their own hearts and enlightened their minds. they received repeated invitations from the different anti-slavery organizations to again enter the lecture field, and great disappointment was felt by all who had once listened to them that they should have retired from public work. sarah speaks of attending "meeting," as, from habit, she called it, and doubtless they all went regularly, as mr. weld was a communicant of the presbyterian church, and mrs. weld and sarah were still sound on all the fundamental points of christian doctrine. during some portion of every sunday, mrs. weld was in the habit of visiting among the very poor, white and colored, and preaching to them the gospel of peace and good will. in her peculiarly tender and persuasive way, she opened to those unhappy and benighted souls the promises and hopes which supported her, and lavished upon them the treasures of an eloquence that thousands had and would still have crowded to listen to. there were none to applaud in those sorrowful abodes, but her words of courage and consolation lifted many a despondent heart from the depths, while her own faith in the love and mercy of her heavenly father brought confidence and comfort to many a benumbed and wavering soul. in december, , the happiness of the little household was increased by the birth of a son, who received the name of charles stuart, in loving remembrance of the eminent english philanthropist, with whom mr. weld had been as a brother, and whom he regarded as living as near the angels as mortal man could live. the advent of this child was not only an inexpressible blessing to the affectionate hearts of the father and mother, but to sarah it seemed truly a mark of divine love to her, compensating her for the home ties and affections once so nearly within her grasp, and still often mourned for. she describes her feelings as she pressed the infant in her arms and folded him to her breast as a rhapsody of wild delight. "oh, the ecstacy and the gratitude!" she exclaimed: "how i opened the little blanket and peeped in to gaze, with swimming eyes, at my treasure, and looked upon that face forever so dear!" for months before the birth of her child, mrs. weld had read carefully different authors on the treatment of children, and felt herself prepared at every point with the best theories derived from combes' "physiological and moral management of infancy," and kindred works. it is rather amusing to read how systematically this baby was trained, and how little he appreciated all the wise theories; how he protested against going to sleep by rule; how he wouldn't be bathed in cold water; how he was fed, a tablespoonful at a time, five times during the twenty-four hours,--at , , , , and in the morning; how his fretting at last induced his aunt sarah to take the responsibility of giving him a little license with his bottle, when, horrified at his gluttony, she was, at the same time, convinced that the child had been slowly starving ever since his birth. allowed more indulgence in food, he soon stopped fretting, and became a healthy, lively baby. angelina, writing to a friend, speaks of the blessed influence the child was exerting over them all. "the idea," she says, "of a baby exercising moral influence never came into my mind until i felt its power on my own heart. i used to think all a parent's reward for early care and anxiety was reaped in after-life, save the enjoyment of an infant as a pretty plaything. but the lord has taught me differently, and woe be unto me if i do not profit by the instructions of this little teacher sent from god." it was about this time that the injury referred to in the last chapter was received, which frustrated all angelina's hopes and plans for continued public service for the slave, and condemned her, with all her rare intellectual gifts, to a quiet life. the sweet submission with which she bore this trial proved how great was the peace which possessed her soul, and kept her ready for whatever it seemed good for the father to send her. henceforth, shut out from the praises and plaudits of men, in her own home, among her neighbors and among the poor and afflicted, quietly and unobtrusively she fulfilled every law of love and duty. and though during the remainder of her life she was subject to frequent weakness and intense pain, all was borne with such fortitude and patience that only her husband and sister knew that she suffered. in the latter part of february, , mr. weld, having purchased a farm of fifty acres at belleville, new jersey, removed his family there. angelina, announcing the change to jane smith, says:-- "yes, we have left the sweet little village of fort lee, a spot never to be forgotten by me as the place where my theodore and i first lived together, and the birthplace of my darling babe, the scene of my happiest days. there, too, my precious sister ministered with untiring faithfulness to my wants when sick, and there, too, i welcomed _thee_ for the first time under my roof." to their new home they brought the simplicity of living to which they had adhered in their old one, a simplicity which, with their more commodious house, enabled them to exercise the broad hospitality which they had been obliged to deny themselves in a measure at fort lee. all the good deeds done under this sacred name of hospitality during their fourteen years' residence at belleville can never be known. few ever so diligently sought, or so cheerfully accepted, opportunities for the exercise of every good word and work. scarcely a day passed that they did not feel called upon to make some sacrifice of comfort or convenience for the comfort or convenience of others; and more than once the sacrifice involved the risk of health and life. but in true humility and with an unwavering trust in god, they looked away from themselves and beyond ordinary considerations. one of their first acts, after their removal, was to take back to their service the incompetent stephen whom they had been forced to discharge from fort lee, and who had lived a precarious life afterwards. they gave him work on the farm, paid him the usual wages, and patiently endeavored to correct his faults. a young nephew in delicate health was also added to their household; and, a few months later, angelina having heard that an old friend and her daughter in charleston were in pecuniary distress and feeble health, wrote and offered them a home with her for a year. "they have no means of support, and are anxious to leave carolina," wrote angelina to jane smith; "we will keep them until their health is recruited, their minds rested, and some situation found for them where they can earn their own living. we know not," she adds, "whom else the lord may send us, and only pray him to help us to fulfil his will towards all whose lot may be cast among us." the visitors to the belleville farm--chiefly old and new anti-slavery friends--were numerous, and were always received with a cordiality which left no room to doubt its sincerity. at one time they received into their family a poor young man from jamaica, personally a stranger, but of whose labors as a self-appointed missionary among the recently emancipated slaves of the west indies they had heard. he had labored for three years, supporting himself as he could, until he was utterly broken down in health, when he came back to die. his friendless situation appealed to the warmest sympathy of the welds, and he was brought to their hospitable home. the pleasantest room in the house was given to him, and every attention bestowed upon him, until death came to his relief. the people of their neighborhood soon learned to know where they could confidently turn for help in any kind of distress. it would be difficult to tell the number of times that one or the other of the great-hearted trio responded to the summons from a sick or dying bed, and gave without stint of their sympathy, their time, and their labor. once, following only her own conviction of duty, angelina left her home to go and nurse a wretched colored man and his wife, ill with small-pox and abandoned by everyone. she stayed with them night and day until they were so far recovered as to be able to help themselves. what a picture is this! that humble cabin with its miserable occupants--and they negroes--ill with a loathsome disease, suffering, praying for help, but deserted by neighbors and friends. suddenly a fair, delicate face bends over them; a sweet, low voice bids them be comforted, and gentle hands lift the cooling draught to their parched lips, bathe their fevered brows, make comfortable their poor bed, and then, angel as she appears to them, stations herself beside them, to minister to them like the true sister of mercy she was. in this action, we may well suppose, angelina was not encouraged by her husband or sister, but it was a sacred principle with them never to oppose anything which she conscientiously saw it was her duty to do. when this appeared to her so plain that she felt she could not hold back from it, they committed her to the lord, and left their doubts and anxieties with him. she never shrank from the meanest offices to the sick and suffering, though their performance might be followed, as was often the case, by faintness and nausea. she would return home exhausted, but cheerful, and grateful that she had been able to help "one of god's suffering children." in other ways the members of this united household were diligent in good works. if a neighbor required a few hundred dollars to save the foreclosure of a mortgage, the combined resources of the family were taxed to aid him; if a poor student needed a helping hand in his preparation for college, or for teaching, it was gladly extended to him--perhaps his board and lodging given him for six months or a year--with much valuable instruction thrown in. the instances of charity of this kind were many, and were performed with such a cheerful spirit that sarah only incidentally alludes to the increase of their cares and work at such times. in fact, their roof was ever a shelter for the homeless, a home for the friendless; and it is pleasant to record that the return of ingratitude, so often made for benevolence of this kind, was never their portion. they always seem to have had the sweet satisfaction of knowing, sooner or later, that their kindness was not thrown away or under-estimated. besides the work of the farm, mr. weld interested himself in all the local affairs of his neighborhood. his energy, common sense, and enthusiasm pushed forward many a lagging improvement, while the influence of his moral and intellectual views was felt in every household. he taught the young men temperance, and the dignity of honest labor; to the young women he preached self-reliance, contempt for the frivolities of fashion, and the duty of making themselves independent. he became superintendent of the public schools of the township, and gave to them his warmest and most active services. sarah, although always ready to second angelina in every charity, found her chief employment at home. she relieved her sister almost entirely of the care of the children, for in the course of years two more little ones were given to them, and she lessened the expenses by attending to household work, which would otherwise have called for another servant. after a short time, mr. weld's father, mother, sister, and brother, all invalids, came to live near them, claiming much of their sympathy and their care. their niece also, the daughter of mrs. frost, now married, and the mother of children, took up her residence in the neighborhood, and aunt sai, as the children called her, and as almost every one else came, in time, to call her, found even fuller occupation for heart and hands. her love for children was intense, and she had the rare faculty of being able to bring her intelligence down to theirs. angelina's children were literally as her own, on whom she ever bestowed the tenderest care, and with whose welfare her holiest affections were intertwined. she often speaks of loving them with "all but a mother's love," of having them "enshrined in her heart of hearts," of "receiving through them the only cordial that could have raised a heart bowed by sorrow and crushing memories." in one of her letters she says: "i live for theodore and angelina and the children, those blessed comforters to my poor, sad heart," and, during an absence from home, she writes to angelina:-- "i have enjoyed being with my friends: still there is a longing, a yearning after my children. i miss the sight of those dear faces, the sound of those voices that comes like music to my ears." in a letter to sarah douglass, written towards the close of their residence in belleville, she says:--- "in our precious children my desolate heart found a sweet response to its love. they have saved me from i know not what of horrible despair, or rushing into some new and untried and unsanctified effort to let off the fire that consumed me. crushed, mutilated, torn, they comforted and cheered me, and furnished me with objects of interest which drew me from myself. i feel that they were the gift of a pitying father, and that to love and cherish them is my highest manifestation of love to the giver." as the children grew, the parents began to feel the difficulty of educating them properly without other companions, and it was at last decided to take a few children into the family to be instructed with their own. this was the beginning of another important chapter in their lives. as educators mr. and mrs. weld very soon developed such rare ability, that although they had thought of limiting the number of pupils to two or three, so many were pressed upon them, with such good reasons for their acceptance, that the two or three became a dozen, and were with difficulty kept at that figure. in this new life their trials were many, their labor great, and the pecuniary compensation exceedingly moderate; but it is inspiring to read from sarah the accounts of theodore's courage--"always ready to take the heaviest end of every burden," and of angelina's cheerfulness; and from angelina the frequent testimony to sarah's patience and fidelity. it took this dear aunt sai many years to learn to like teaching, especially as she never had any talent for governing, save by love, and this method was not always appreciated. with their new and exacting work, the farm, of course, had to be given up, and was finally sold. in the raritan bay association, consisting of thirty or forty educated and cultured families of congenial tastes, was formed at eagleswood, near perth amboy, new jersey; and a year later mr. and mrs. weld were invited to join the association, and take charge of its educational department. they accepted in the hope of finding in the change greater social advantages for themselves and their children, with less responsibility and less labor; for of these last the husband, wife, and sister, in their belleville school, had had more than they were physically able to endure longer. their desire and plan was to establish, with the children of the residents at eagleswood, a school also for others, and to charge such a moderate compensation only as would enable the middle classes to profit by it. in this project, as with every other, no selfish ambition found a place. they removed to eagleswood in the autumn of . and now, as i am nearing the end of my narrative, this seems to be the place to say a few words relative to the religious views into which the two sisters finally settled. we have followed them through their various conflicts from early youth to mature age, and have seen in their several changes of belief that there was no fickleness, no real inconsistency. they sought the truth, and at different times thought they had found it. but it was the truth as taught in christ jesus, the simple doctrine of the cross they wanted, the preaching and practice of love for god, and for the meanest, the weakest, the lowest of his children. the spiritual conflicts through which they passed, prepared them to see the nothingness of all outward forms, and they came at last to reject the so-called orthodox creed, and to look only to god for help and comfort. during the entire period of sarah's connection with religious organizations, and even from her very first religious impressions, she found it difficult to accept the doctrine of the atonement; and yet she professed and tried to think she believed it, but only because the bible, which she accepted as a revelation from god, taught it. that her reason rebelled against it is shown in her frequent prayers to be delivered from this great temptation of the arch enemy, and her deep repentance whenever she lapsed into a state of doubt. the fear that she might come to reject this fundamental dogma was--at least up to the time when she was driven from the quaker church--one of her most terrible trials, causing her at intervals more agony than all else put together. but the worshipful element was so strong in sarah that she could not, even after her reason had satisfied her conscience on this point, give up this christ at whose feet she had learned her most precious lessons of faith and meekness and gentleness and long-suffering, and whom she had accepted and adored as her intermediary before an awful jehovah. in her whole life there appears to me nothing more beautiful than this full, tender, abiding love of jesus, and i believe it to have been the inspiration always of all that was loveliest and grandest in her character. in one of her letters, written while at belleville, she says:-- "i cannot grasp the idea of an infinite being; but, without perplexing myself with questions which i cannot solve, everything around me proclaims the presence and the government of an intelligent, law-abiding law-giver, and i believe implicitly in his power and his love. but i must have the friend of sinners to rest in." and again: "in one sense, as creator and benefactor, i feel this infinite being to be my father, but i want a jesus whom i can approach as a fellow creature, yet who is so nearly allied to god that i can look up to him with reverence, and love him and lie in his bosom." and later, in a letter to gerrit smith, she says:-- "god is love, and whoso dwelleth in love dwelleth in god and god in him. o friends, but for this faith, this anchor to the soul both sure and steadfast, i know not what would have become of us in the sweep which there has been of what we called the doctrines of christianity from our minds. they have passed away like the shadows of night, but the glorious truth remains that the lord of love and mercy reigns, and great peace have they who do his will." their increasingly liberal views, and their growing indifference to most of the established forms in religion, drew upon them the severe censure of their charleston relatives, and finally, when, about , it came to be known that they no longer considered the sabbath in a sacred light, their sister eliza wrote to them that all personal intercourse must end between them and her, and that her doors would be forever closed against them. angelina's answer, covering four full pages of foolscap, was most affectionate; but, while she expressed her sorrow at the feeling excited against them, she could not regret that they had been brought from error to truth. she argued the point fully, patiently giving all the best authorities concerning the substitution of the christian for the jewish sabbath, and against their sister's assertion that the former was a divine institution. "when i began to understand," she says, "what the gift of the holy spirit really was, then all outwardisms fell off. i did not throw them off through force of argument or example of others, but all reverence for them died in my heart. i could not help it; it was unexpected to me, and i wondered to find even the sabbath gone. and now, to give to god alone the ceaseless worship of my life is all my creed, all my desire. oh, for this pure, exalted state, how my soul pants after it! in my nursery and kitchen and parlor, when ministering to the common little wants of my family, and encountering the fretfulness and waywardness of my children, oh, for the pure worship of the soul which can enable me to meet and bear all the _little_ trials of life in quietness and love and patience. this is the religion of christ, and i feel that no other can satisfy me or meet the wants of human nature. i cannot sanction any other, and i dare not teach any other to my precious children." thus it came to pass with them and with theodore also, that to love jesus more, and to follow more and more after him, became the sum of their religion. with increasing years and wider experiences, their views broadened into the most comprehensive liberality, but the high worship of an infinite god, and the sweet reverence for his purest disciple never left them. chapter xvii. in a letter to dr. harriot hunt, sarah grimké thus describes eagleswood:-- "it was a most enchanting spot. situated on the raritan bay and river, just twenty-five miles from new york, and sixty miles from philadelphia, in sight of the beautiful lower bay and of the dark neversink hills, all its surroundings appeal to my sense of the beautiful. in rambles through the woods or along the shore, new charms are constantly presented. the ever-varying face of the bay alone is a source of ceaseless enjoyment, and with the sound of its waves, sometimes dashing impetuously, sometimes murmuring softly, the eye, the ear, and the soul are filled with wonder and delight." in this beautiful spot a commodious stone building was erected, suitable for association purposes. one end was divided into flats for a limited number of families; the other into school-rooms, dormitories, and parlors for social uses, while the centre contained the refectory for pupils and teachers, of whom there was an efficient corps, and dining-rooms for the other residents and their visitors. several families of intelligence and culture resided in the immediate neighborhood, adding much to the social life of the place. all who were so fortunate as to be members of the eagleswood family during mr. weld's administration must often look back with the keenest pleasure to the days passed there. it seems to me there can never be such a centre to such a circle as the welds drew around them. here gathered, at different times, many of the best, the brightest, the broadest minds of the day. here came james g. birney, wm. h. channing, henry w. bellows, o.b. frothingham, dr. chapin, wm. h. furness, wm. cullen bryant, the collyers, horace greeley, gerrit smith, moncure d. conway, james freeman clarke, joshua r. giddings, youmans, and a host of others whose names were known throughout the land. here, too, came artists and poets for a few days' inspiration, and weary men of business for a little rest and intellectual refreshment, and leaders of reform movements, attracted by the liberal atmosphere of the place. nearly all of these, invited by mr. weld, gave to the pupils and their families and friends, assembled in the parlors, something of themselves,--some personal experience, perhaps, or a lecture or short essay, or an insight into their own especial work and how it was done. the amount of pleasant and profitable instruction thus imparted was incalculable; while the after discussions and conversation were as enjoyable as might be expected from the friction of such minds. seldom, if ever, in the famous _salons_ of europe were better things said or higher topics treated than in the eagleswood parlors. all the rights and wrongs of humanity received here earnest consideration; while questions of general interest, politics, religion, the arts and sciences, even the last new novel or poem, had each its turn. thoreau, also, spent many days at eagleswood, and spoke often to the pupils; and a. bronson alcott gave them a series of his familiar lectures. here, on sundays, theodore d. weld delivered lay sermons, so full of divine light and love, of precious lessons of contempt for all littleness, of patience with the weaknesses of our fellow-men, that few could listen without being inspired with higher and holier purposes in life. here james g. birney died, in , and was buried in the beautiful little cemetery on the crest of the hill. here were brought and interred the bodies of stevens and hazlitt, two of john brown's mistaken but faithful apostles. here stirring lessons of patriotism were learned in - , and from this place went forth, at the first call, some of the truest defenders of the liberties of the nation. at eagleswood, mr. weld and his faithful wife and sister passed some of their most laborious as well as some of their most pleasant and satisfactory years. they did not find the association all or even the half of what they had expected. "we had indulged the delightful hope," writes sarah, "that theodore would have no cares outside of the schoolroom, and angelina would have leisure to pursue her studies and aid in the cause of woman. her heart is in it, and her talents qualify her for enlarged usefulness. she was no more designed to serve tables than theodore to dig potatoes. but verily, to use a homely phrase, we have jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire in point of leisure, for there are innumerable sponges here to suck up every spare moment; but dear nina is a miracle of hope, faith, and endurance." in the new school angelina taught history, for which she was admirably qualified, while sarah taught french, and was also book-keeper, both of which offices were distasteful to her because of her conscious incompetency. she did herself great injustice, as the results of her work showed, but it required a great mental struggle to reconcile herself to it in the beginning. "i am driven to it," she says, "by a stern sense of duty. i feel its responsibilities and my own insufficiency so deeply, that i never hear the school bell with pleasure, and seldom enter the schoolroom without a sinking of the heart, a dread as of some approaching catastrophe. oh, if i had only been developed into usefulness in early life, how much happier i should have been and would be now. from want of training, i am all slip-shod, and all i do, whether learning or teaching, is done slip-shod fashion. however, i must try and use the fag-end of me that is left, to the most advantage." in order to do this, although sixty-one years old, she set earnestly to work to brush up her intellectual powers and qualify herself as far as possible for her position. she took french lessons daily, that she might improve her accent and learn the modern methods of teaching, and for months after she entered the eagleswood school her reading was confined to such books as could enlighten her most on her especial work. she was rewarded by finding her interest in it constantly increasing, and she would doubtless have learned to love it, if, as she expressed it, her heart, soul, and mind had not been so nearly absorbed by the woman movement. age and reflection had not only modified her views somewhat on this subject, but had given her a more just appreciation of the real obstacles in the way of the enfranchisement of her sex. speaking of horace mann, she says:-- "he will not help the cause of woman greatly, but his efforts to educate her will do a greater work than he anticipates. prepare woman for duty and usefulness, and she will laugh at any boundaries man may set for her. she will as naturally fall into her right position as the feather floats in the air, or the pebble sinks in the water." and at another time she writes: "i feel more and more that woman's work is inside, that the great battle must first be fought within, and the conquest obtained over her love of admiration, her vanity, her want of moral courage, her littleness, ere she is prepared to use her rights without abusing them. women must come into the arena with men, not to increase the number of potsherds, but to elevate the standard of right." her ideal of womanhood was very high, and comprehended an education so different from the usual one, that she seldom ventured to unfold it. but she longed to do something towards it, and there is no doubt that but for home duties, which she felt were paramount, she would have undertaken a true missionary work of regeneration among women, especially of the lower classes. many sleepless nights were passed pondering upon the subject. at one time she thought of editing a paper, then of studying law, that she might sometimes be able to advise and protect the weak and defenceless of her sex. she went so far in this as to consult an eminent lawyer in philadelphia, but was discouraged by him. then she considered the medical profession as opening to her a door of influence and usefulness among poor women. sarah douglass, who was a successful medical lecturer among the colored women of philadelphia and new york, encouraged her friend in this idea, and urged her to take a course of lectures. "i would dearly like to do as you say," sarah grimké answered, "but it must not be in philadelphia. i cannot draw a long breath there, intellectual or moral. freedom to live as my conscience dictates, to give free utterance to my thoughts, to have contact with those who are pressing after progress and whose watchword is onward, is needful to me. in philadelphia there is an atmosphere of repression that would destroy me. ground to powder as i was, in the mill of bigotry and superstition, i shudder at the thought of encountering again the same suffering i went through there. indeed, i wonder i was not altogether stultified and dried up beyond the power of revivification, when the spring came to my darkened soul after that long, long winter.... there must be something in this wide, progressive world for me to do, but i must wait patiently to see what the future has in store for me." all this, from a woman in her sixty-second year, shows how fresh was still her interest in humanity, and how little her desires for usefulness and improvement were dampened by age. but angelina's continued delicate health kept her from carrying out any of her plans. she could see no way of escape consistent with duty and her devotion to the children, and she cheerfully submitted to the inevitable. but she could never bring herself to be satisfied with the association life. she had had no ideal about it, no golden dreams, but joined it because she could not be separated from those she loved, and, with singular reasoning, she put one thousand dollars into it, because, if there was to be a failure and loss, she wished to share it with her sister and brother. but she had no affinity for living together in a great hotel, and it fretted her much, also, to see mr. and mrs. weld taking constantly increasing burdens upon themselves as the school increased. her longings, for their sake, for a little quiet home, are very pathetic. but she never allowed her anxieties to affect her intercourse in the household; on the contrary, no one was more full of life and good humor than she. her favorite maxim was: "bravely to meet our trials is true heroism; to bear them cheerfully, an exhibition of strength and fortitude infinitely beyond trying to get rid of them." but it is doubtful, after all, if everything else had been favorable to it, that sarah could have brought herself to leave angelina and the children. she says herself:-- "a separation from the darling children who have brightened a few years of my lonely and sorrowful life overwhelms me when i think of it as the probable result of any change. they seem to be the links that bind me to life, the stars that shed light on my path, the beings in whom past, present, and future enjoyments are centred, without whom existence would have no charms." all through her letters we see that, though generally cheerful, and often even merry, there were bitter moments in this devoted woman's life, moments when all the affection with which she was surrounded failed to fill the measure of her content. the old wounds would still sometimes bleed and the heart ache for home joys all her own. writing to jane smith in , she says: "i chide myself that i am not happier than i am, surrounded by so many blessings, but there are times when i feel as though the sun of earthly bliss had set for me. i know not what would have become of me but for angelina's children. they have strewed my solitary path with flowers, and gemmed my sky with stars. my heart has brooded o'er sorrows untold, until life has seemed an awful blank, humanity a cheat, and myself an outcast. then have come the soft accents of my children's voices, and they have spoken to me so lovingly, that i have turned from my bitter thoughts and have said: 'forgive thy poor, weak servant, lord.'" all through sarah's life, children had a great attraction for her. even amid her cares and doubts at eagleswood she writes: "surrounded by all these dear young people, and drinking in from their exuberance, and scarcely living my own life, i cannot but be cheerful." and describing an evening in the school parlor, when she joined in the virginia reel, she says: "the children make one feel young if we will only be children with them. i owe them so much that i shall try to be cheerful to the end of my days." and in this school, where boys and girls of all ages and all temperaments mingled, "aunt sai" was the great comforter and counsellor. her inexhaustible tenderness and mother-love blessed all who came near her and soothed all who had a heartache. the weak and erring found in her a frank but pitying rebuker; the earnest and good, a kind friend and wise helper, and a child never feared to go to her either to ask a favor or to confess a fault. at eagleswood the welds kept up as far as practicable their frugal habits, though, soon after their establishment, they all modified their graham diet so far as to take meat once a day. sarah's economy, especially in trifles, was remarkable, almost as much so as the untiring, almost painful industry of herself and mrs. weld. a penny was never knowingly wasted, a minute never willingly lost. among other thrifty devices, she generally wrote to her friends on the backs of circulars, on blank pages of notes she received, on almost any clean scrap, in fact. angelina often remonstrated with her, but to no avail. "it gives me a few more pennies for my love purse, and my friends won't mind," she would say. this "love purse" was well named. into it were cast all her small economies: a car-fare when she walked instead of riding; a few pennies saved by taking a simpler lunch than she had planned, when in new york on business; the ten cents difference in the quality of a cap, ribbon, or a handkerchief,--all these savings were dropped into the love purse, to be drawn out again to buy a new book for some friend too poor to get it herself; to subscribe to a paper for another; to purchase some little gift for a sick child, or a young girl trying to keep up a neat appearance. it was a pair of cuffs to one, mittens or slippers of her own knitting to another, a collar or a ribbon to a third. all through the letters written during the last twenty years of her life, the references to such little gifts are innumerable, and show that her generosity was only equalled by her thoughtfulness, and only limited by her means. nothing was spent unnecessarily, in the strictest sense of the word, on herself; not a dollar of her narrow income laid by. all went for kindly or charitable objects, and was gladly given without a single selfish twinge. it is scarcely necessary to say that few schools have ever been established upon such a basis of conscientiousness and love, and with such adaptability in its conductors as that at eagleswood; few have ever held before the pupils so high a moral standard, or urged them on to such noble purposes in life. children entered there spoiled by indulgence, selfish, uncontrolled, sometimes vicious. their teachers studied them carefully; confidence was gained, weaknesses sounded, elevation measured. very slowly often, and with infinite patience and perseverance, but successfully in nearly every case, these children were redeemed. the idle became industrious, the selfish considerate, the disobedient and wayward repentant and gentle. sometimes the fruits of all this labor and forbearance did not show themselves immediately, and in a few instances the seed sown did not ripen until the boy or girl had left school and mingled with the world. then the contrast between the common, every-day aims they encountered, and the teachings of their eagleswood mentors, was forced upon them. forgotten lessons of truth and honesty and purity were remembered, and the wavering resolve was stayed and strengthened; worldly expediency gave way before the magnanimous purpose, cringing subserviency before independent manliness. the letters of affection, gratitude, and appreciation of what had been done to make true men and women of them, which were received by the welds, in many cases, years after they had parted from the writers, were treasured as their most precious souvenirs, and quite reconciled them to the trials through which such results were reached. a short time before leaving belleville, mrs. weld and sarah adopted the bloomer costume on account of its convenience, and the greater freedom it permitted in taking long rambles, but neither of them ever admired it or urged its adoption on others. mrs. weld, it is true, wrote a long and eloquent letter to the dress reform convention which met in syracuse in the summer of , but it was not to advocate the bloomer, but to show the need of some dress more suitable than the fashionable one, for work and exercise. she also urged that as woman was no longer in her minority, no longer "man's pretty idol before whom he bowed in chivalric gallantry," or "his petted slave whom he coaxed and gulled with sugar-plum privileges, whilst robbing her of intrinsic rights," but was emerging into her majority and claiming her rights as a human being, and waking up to a higher destiny: as she was beginning to answer the call to a life of useful exertion and honorable independence, it was time that she dressed herself in accordance with the change. "i regard the bloomer costume," she says, "as only an approach to that true womanly attire which will in due time be inaugurated. we must experiment before we find a dress altogether suitable.... man has long enough borne the burden of supporting the women of the civilized world. when woman's temple of liberty is finished--when freedom for the world is achieved--when she has educated herself into useful and lucrative occupations, then may she fitly expend upon her person _her own earnings_, not man's. such women will have an indefeasible right to dress elegantly if they wish, but they will discard cumbersomeness and a useless and absurd circumference and length." sarah says, in a letter to a friend, that the bloomer dress violated her taste, and was so opposed to her sense of modesty that she could hardly endure it. during the residence at eagleswood, both sisters discarded it altogether. the john brown tragedy was of course deeply felt by sarah and angelina, and the bitter and desperate feelings which inspired it fully sympathized with. angelina was made quite ill by it, while sarah felt her soul bowed with reverence for the deluded but grand old man. "o sarah!" she writes to sarah douglass, "what a glorious spectacle is now before us. the jerome of prague of our country, the john huss of the united states, now stands ready, as they were, to seal his testimony with his life's blood. last night i went in spirit to the martyr. it was my privilege to enter into sympathy with him; to go down, according to my measure, into the depths where he has travailed, and feel his past exercises, his present sublime position." as mentioned a few pages back, two of john brown's men, who died with him at harper's ferry, were brought to eagleswood and there quietly interred. the pro-slavery people of perth amboy threatened to dig up the bodies, but the men and boys of eagleswood showed such a brave front, and guarded the graves so faithfully, that the threat could not be accomplished. the breaking out of the war found the welds in deep family sorrow, watching anxiously by the sick bed of a dear son, with scarcely a hope of his recovery. of sarah's absolute devotion, of her ceaseless care by day, and her tireless watching by night, during the many long and weary months through which that precious life flickered, it is needless to speak. she took the delicate mother's place beside that bed of suffering, and, strong in her faith and hope, gave strength and hope to the heart-stricken parents, sustaining them when they were ready to sink beneath the avalanche of their woe. and when at last, though life was spared, it was evident that the invalid must remain an invalid for a long time, perhaps forever, sarah's sublime courage stood steadfast. there was no sign of faltering. with a resignation almost cheerful, she took up her fresh burden, and, intent only on cheering her dear patient and comforting the sorrow of her sister and brother, she forgot her seventy-one years and every grief of the past. "i try," she writes, "to accept this, the most grinding and bitter dispensation of my checkered life, as what it must be, educational and disciplinary, working towards a better preparation for a higher life." chiefly on account of this son and the quiet which was necessary for him, mr. and mrs. weld gave up their position at eagleswood, to the deep regret of all who knew them and had children to educate. they settled themselves temporarily in a pleasant house in perth amboy. here, between nursing their sick, and working for the soldiers, they watched the progress of events which they had long foreseen were inevitable. sarah speaks of the war as a retribution. "hitherto," she says, "we have never been a republic, but one of the blackest tyrannies that ever disgraced the earth." she calls attention to the fact that the south, by starting out with a definite and declared purpose, added much to its strength. "in great revolutions," she says, "confusion in popular ideas is fatal. the south avoided this. she set up one idea as paramount; she seized a great principle and uttered it. she shouted the talismanic words, 'oppression and liberty,' and said, 'let us achieve our purpose or die!' the masses, blinded by falsehood, caught the spirit of the leaders, and verily believe they are struggling for freedom. we have never enunciated any great truth as the cause of our uprising. we have no great idea to rally around, and know not what we are fighting for." later she expresses herself very strongly concerning the selfishness of the politicians, north and south. "it is true there are some," she writes, "who are waging this war to make our declaration of independence a fact; there is a glorious band who are fighting for human rights, but the government, with lincoln at its head, has not a heart-throb for the slave. i want the south to do her own work of emancipation. she would do it only from dire necessity, but the north will do it from no higher motive, and the south will feel less exasperation if she does it herself." in another letter in , she writes:-- "the negro has generously come forward, in spite of his multiplied wrongs, and offered to help to defend the country against those who are trying to fasten the chains on the white as well as the black. we have impiously denied him the right of citizenship, and have virtually said, 'stand back; i am holier than thou.' i pray that victory may not crown our arms until the negro stands in his acknowledged manhood side by side in this conflict with the white man, until we have the nobility to say that this war is a war of abolition, and that no concession on the part of the south shall save slavery from destruction. whatever lincoln and his cabinet are carrying on the war to accomplish, god's design is to deliver from bondage his innocent people." about this time mrs. weld published one of the most powerful things she ever wrote, "a declaration of war on slavery." she and sarah also drew up a petition to the government for the entire abolition of slavery, and took it around themselves for signatures. very few refused to sign it; and they were proposing to canvass, by means of agents, the entire north, when the emancipation proclamation was issued. with their charleston relatives, mrs. weld and sarah had always kept up a rather irregular, but, on one side, at least, an affectionate correspondence. their mother died in , retaining, to the never-ceasing grief of her northern daughters, her slave-holding principles to the last. the few remaining members of the family were settled in and around charleston, and were, with one exception, in comfortable circumstances at the beginning of the war. this exception was their brother john, who was infirm, and had outlived his resources and the ability to make a living. for years before the war, sarah and angelina sent him from their slender incomes a small annuity, sufficient to keep him from want, and it was continued, at much inconvenience during the war, until his death, which occurred in the latter part of . their sisters, mary and eliza, wrote very proud and defiant letters during the first two years of hostilities, and declared they were secure and happy in their dear old city. but gradually their tone changed, and they did not refuse to receive, through blockade-runners, a variety of necessary articles from their abolition sisters. as their slaves deserted them, and one piece of property after another lost its value or was destroyed, they saw poverty staring them in the face; but their pride sustained them, and it was not until they had lived for nearly a year on little else but hominy and water that they allowed their sisters to know of their condition. but in informing them of it, they still declared their willingness to die "for slavery and the confederacy." "blind to the truth," writes sarah, "they religiously believe that slavery is a divine institution, and say they hope never to be guilty of disbelieving the bible, and thus rendering themselves amenable to the wrath of god. i am glad," she adds, "to have this lesson of honest blindness. it shows me that thousands like themselves are worshipping a false god of their own creation." of course relief was sent to these unhappy women as soon as possible; and when hostilities ceased, more than two hundred dollars' worth of necessaries of every kind was despatched to them, with an urgent invitation to come and accept a home at the north. some time before this, however, the welds had moved to hyde park, near boston, and were delightfully located, owning their house, and surrounded by kind and congenial neighbors. but much as they all needed entire rest, and well as they had earned it, they could not afford to be idle. sarah became housekeeper and general manager, while mr. and mrs. weld accepted positions, in dr. dio lewis's famous school at lexington. they were obliged to leave home every monday and return on friday. the charleston sisters refused for some time to accept the invitation given them; but so delicately and affectionately was it urged, that, goaded by necessity, they finally consented. they made their preparations to leave charleston; but in the midst of them, the older sister, mary, who had been very feeble for some time, was taken suddenly ill, and died. eliza, then, a most sad and desolate woman, as we may well suppose, made the voyage to new york alone. there sarah met her, and accompanied her to hyde park, where she was received with every consideration affection could devise. she seems to have soon made up her mind to make the best of her altered circumstances, and thus show her gratitude to those who had so readily overlooked her past abuse of them. sarah writes of her in :-- "my sister eliza is well and so cheerful. she is a sunbeam in the family, but the failure of the confederacy and the triumph of the 'yankees' is hard to bear,--the wrong having crushed the right." this sister was tenderly cared for until arrangements were made for her return to charleston with mrs. frost. there she died in . this was only one of the many minor cases of retribution brought about by the nemesis of the civil war. sarah mentions another. the sale of lands for government taxes at beaufort, s.c., was made from the verandah of the edmond rhett house, where, more than ten years before, the rebellion was concocted by the very men whose estates then ( ) were passing under the hammer. and the chairman of the tax committee was dr. wm. h. brisbane, who, twenty-five years before, was driven from the state because he would liberate his slaves. quietly settled in what she felt was a permanent home, and with, no cares outside of her family, sarah found time not only to read, but to indulge her taste for scribbling, as she called it. she sent, from time to time, articles to the new york _tribune_, the _independent_, the _woman's journal_, and other papers, all marked by remarkable freshness as well as vigor. she also translated from the french several stories illustrative of various social reforms, and in , being then seventy-five years old, she made a somewhat abridged translation of lamartine's poetical biography of joan of arc. this was sarah's most finished literary work, and aroused in her great enthusiasm. "sometimes," she writes, "it seems to infuse into my soul a mite of that divinity which filled hers. joan of arc stands pre-eminent in my mind above all other mortals save the christ." when the book was finished, sarah was most anxious to get it published, "in order," she writes, "to revive the memory in this country of the extraordinary woman who was an embodiment of faith, courage, fortitude, and love rarely equalled and never excelled." but she had many more pressing demands on her income at that time, and had nearly given up the project, when a gentleman from lynn called to see her, to whom she read a few pages of the narrative. he was so much pleased with it that he undertook to have it published. it was brought out in a few weeks by adams & co., of boston, in a prettily bound volume of one hundred and six pages, and had, i believe, a large sale. several long and many short notices of it appeared in papers all over the country, all highly complimentary to the venerable translator. these notices surprised sarah as much as they delighted her, and she expressed herself as deeply thankful that she had translated the work. a letter from sarah grimké to jane smith, written in , contains the following paragraph: "we have just heard of the death of our brother henry, a planter and a kind master. his slaves will feel his loss deeply. they haunt me day and night. sleeplessness is my portion, thinking what will become of them. oh, the horrors of slavery!" when she penned those lines, sarah little imagined how great a mockery was the title, "kind master," she gave her brother. she little suspected that three of those slaves whose uncertain destiny haunted her pillow were that brother's own children, and that he died leaving the shackles on them--slaves to his heir, their white brother, though he _did_ stipulate that they and their mother should never be sold. well might sarah exclaim: "oh, the horrors of slavery!" but in deepest humiliation and anguish of spirit would the words have been uttered had she known the truth. montague grimké inherited his brothers with the rest of the human chattels. he knew they were his brothers, and he never thought of freeing them. they were his to use and to abuse,--to treat them kindly if it suited his mood; to whip them if he fancied; to sell them if he should happen to need money,--and they could not raise voice or hand to prevent it. there was no law to which they could appeal, no refuge they could seek from the very worst with which their brother might threaten them. was ever any creature--brute or human--in the wide world so defenceless as the plantation slave! the forlorn case of these grimké boys was that of thousands of others born as they were, and inheriting the intelligence and spirit of independence of their white parent. i have little space to give to their pitiful story. many have doubtless heard it. the younger brother, john, was, at least as a child, more fortunate. when charleston was at last occupied by the union army, the two oldest, francis and archibald, attracted the attention of some members of the sanitary commission by their intelligence and good behavior, and were by them sent to massachusetts, where some temporary work was found for them. two vacancies happening to occur in lincoln university, oxford, pennsylvania, they were recommended to fill them. thither they went in , and, eager and determined to profit by their advantages, they studied so well during the winter months, and worked so diligently to help themselves in the summer, that, in spite of the drawbacks of their past life, they rose to honorable positions in the university, and won the regard of all connected with it. some time in february, , mrs. weld read in the _anti-slavery standard_ a notice of a meeting of a literary society at lincoln university, at which an address was delivered by one of the students, named francis grimké. she was surprised, and as she had never before heard of the university, she made some inquiries about it, and was much interested in what she learned of its object and character. she knew that the name of grimké was confined to the charleston family, and naturally came to the conclusion, at first, that this student who had attracted her attention was an ex-slave of one of her brothers, and had, as was frequently done, adopted his master's name. but the circumstance worried her. she could not drive it from her mind. she knew so well that blackest page of slavery on which was written the wrongs of its women, that, dreadful as was the suspicion, it slowly grew upon her that the blood of the grimkés, the proud descendants of the huguenots, flowed in the veins of this poor colored student. the agitation into which further reflection on the subject threw her came very near making her ill and finally decided her to learn the truth if possible. she addressed a note to mr. francis grimké. the answer she received confirmed her worst fears. he and his brothers were her nephews. her nerves already unstrung by the dread of this cruel blow, angelina fainted when it came, and was completely prostrated for several days. her husband and sister refrained from disturbing her by a question or a suggestion. physically stronger than she, they felt the superiority of her spiritual strength, and uncertain, on this most momentous occasion, of their own convictions of duty, they looked to her for the initiative. the silent conflict in the soul of this tender, conscientious woman during those days of prostration was known only to her god. the question of prejudice had no place in it,--that had long and long ago been cast to the winds. it was the fair name of a loved brother that was at stake, and which must be sustained or blighted by her action. "ask me not," she once wrote to a young person, "if it is expedient to do what you propose: ask yourself if it is _right_." this question now came to her in a shape it had never assumed before, and it was hard to answer. but it was no surprise to her family when she came forth from that chamber of suffering and announced her decision. she would acknowledge those nephews. she would not deepen the brand of shame that had been set upon their brows: hers, rather, the privilege to efface it. her brother had wronged these, his children; his sisters must right them. no doubt of the duty lingered in her mind. those youths were her own flesh and blood, and, though the whole world should scoff, she would not deny them. her decision was accepted by her husband and sister without a murmur of dissent. if either had any doubts of its wisdom, they were never uttered; and, as was always the case with them, having once decided in their own minds a question of duty, they acted upon it in no half-way spirit, and with no stinted measures. in the long letter which angelina wrote to francis and archibald grimké, and which theodore weld and sarah grimké fully indorsed, there appeared no trace of doubt or indecision. the general tone was just such in which she might have addressed newly-found legitimate nephews. after telling them that if she had not suspected their relationship to herself, she should probably not have written them, she questions them on various points, showing her desire to be useful to them, and adds, "i want to talk to you face to face, and am thinking seriously of going on to your commencement in june." a few lines further on she says:-- "i will not dwell on the past: let all that go. it cannot be altered. our work is in the present, and duty calls upon us now so to use the past as to convert its curse into a blessing. i am glad you have taken the name of grimké. it was once one of the noblest names of carolina. you, my young friends, now bear this _once_ honored name. i charge you most solemnly, by your upright conduct and your life-long devotion to the eternal principles of justice and humanity and religion, to lift this name out of the dust where it now lies, and set it once more among the princes of our land." other letters passed between them until the youths had told all their history, so painful in its details that angelina, after glancing at it, put it aside, and for months had not the courage to read it. when june came, though far from well, she summoned up strength and resolution to do as she had proposed in the spring. accompanied by her oldest son, she attended the lincoln university commencement, and made the personal acquaintance of francis and archibald grimké. she found them good-looking, intelligent, and gentlemanly young men; and she took them by the hand, and, to president and professors, acknowledged their claim upon her. she also invited them to visit her at her home, assuring them of a kind reception from every member of her family. she remained a week at lincoln university, going over with these young men all the details of their treatment by their brother montague, and of the treatment of the slaves in all the grimké families. these details brought back freshly to her mind the horrors which had haunted her life in charleston, and she lived them all over again, even in her dreams. she had been miserably weak and worn for some time before going to lincoln; and the mental distress she now went through affected her nervous system to such an extent that there is no doubt her life was shortened by it. the hearty concurrence of every member of the family in the course resolved on towards the nephews shows how united they were in moral sentiment as well as in affection. there was not the slightest hesitancy exhibited. the point touching her brother's shame thrust in the background by the conviction of a higher duty, mrs. weld allowed it to trouble her no more, but, with her husband and sister, expressed a feeling of exultation in acknowledging the relationship of the youths, as a testimony and protest against the wickedness of that hate which had always trampled down the people of color because they were as god made them. on angelina's return journey, sarah, ever anxious about her, met her at newark and accompanied her home. a few weeks later, writing to sarah douglass an account of the grimké boys, she says:-- "they are very promising young men. we all feel deeply interested in them, and i hope to be able to get together money enough to pay the college expenses of the younger. i would rejoice to meet these entirely myself, but, not having the means, i intend to try and collect it somehow. angelina has not yet recovered from the effects of her journey and the excitement of seeing and talking to those boys, the president, etc. when i met her she was so exhausted and excited that i felt very anxious, and when i found her brain and sight were so disordered that she could not see distinctly, even striking her head several times severely, and that she could not read, i was indeed alarmed. but, notwithstanding all she had suffered, she has not for a moment regretted that she went. she feels that a sacred duty has been performed, and rejoices that she had strength for it." a few weeks later, she writes: "nina is about and always busy, often working when she seems ready to drop, sustained by her nervous energy and irresistible will. she has kept up wonderfully under our last painful trial, and has borne it so beautifully that i am afraid she is getting too good to live." i have no right to say that angelina weld suffered martyrdom in every fibre of her proud, sensitive nature during all the first months at least of this trial; but i cannot but believe it. she never spoke of her own feelings to any one but her husband; but sarah writes to sarah douglass in august, :-- "my cheerful spirit has been sorely tested for some months. nina has been sick all summer, is a mere skeleton and looks ten or fifteen years older than she did before that fatal visit to lincoln university. i do not think that she will ever be the same woman she was before and sometimes i feel sure her toilsome journey on this earth must be near its close. the tears will come whenever i think of it." but not so! the sisters were to work hand in hand a few years longer; the younger, in her patient suffering, leaning with filial love on the stronger arm of the older, both now gray-haired and beginning to feel the infirmities of age, but still devoted to each other and united in sympathy with every good and progressive movement. the duty, as they conceived it, to their colored nephews was as generously as conscientiously performed. they received them into the family, treated them in every respect as relatives, and exerted themselves to aid them in finishing their education. francis studied for the ministry, and is now pastor of the th street presbyterian church of washington city. archibald, through sarah's exertions and self-denial, took the law course at harvard, graduated, and has since practised law successfully in boston. both are respected by the communities in which they reside. john, the younger brother, remained in the south with his mother. mrs. weld and sarah still took a warm, and, as far as it was possible, an active interest in the woman suffrage movement; and when, in february, , after an eloquent lecture from lucy stone, a number of the most intelligent and respectable women of hyde park determined to try the experiment of voting at the approaching town election, mrs. weld and sarah grimké united cordially with them. a few days before the election, a large caucus was held, made up of about equal numbers of men and women, among them many of the best and leading people of the place. a ticket for the different offices was made up, voted for, and elected. at this caucus theodore weld made one of his old-time stirring speeches, encouraging the women to assert themselves, and persist in demanding their political rights. the th of march, the day of the election, a terrific snowstorm prevailed, but did not prevent the women from assembling in the hotel near the place of voting, where each one was presented, on the part of their gentlemen friends, with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. at the proper time, a number of these gentlemen came over to the hotel and escorted the ladies to the polls, where a convenient place for them to vote had been arranged. there was a great crowd inside the hall, eager to see the joke of women voting, and many were ready to jeer and hiss. but when, through the door, the women filed, led by sarah grimké and angelina weld, the laugh was checked, the intended jeer unuttered, and deafening applause was given instead. the crowd fell back respectfully, nearly every man removing his hat and remaining uncovered while the women passed freely down the hall, deposited their votes, and departed. of course these votes were not counted. there was no expectation that they would be (though the ticket was elected), but the women had given a practical proof of their earnestness, and though one man said, in consequence of this movement, he would sell his house two thousand dollars cheaper than he would have done before, and another declared he would give his away if the thing was done again, and still another wished he might _die_ if the women were going to vote, the women themselves were satisfied with their first step, and more than ever determined to march courageously on until the citadel of man's prejudices was conquered. the following summer, sarah grimké, believing that much good might be accomplished by the circulation of john stuart mill's "subjection of women," made herself an agent for the sale of the book, and traversed hill and dale, walking miles daily to accomplish her purpose. she thus succeeded in placing more than one hundred and fifty copies in the hands of the women of hyde park and the vicinity, in spite of the ignorance, narrowness, heartlessness, and slavery which, she says, she had ample opportunity to deplore. the profits of her sales were given to the _woman's journal_. under date of may , , she writes:-- "i have been travelling all through our town and vicinity on foot, to get signers to a petition to congress for woman suffrage. it is not a pleasant work, often subjecting me to rudeness and coldness; but we are so frequently taunted with: 'women don't want the ballot,' that we are trying to get one hundred thousand names of women who do want it, to reply to this taunt." but the work which enlisted this indefatigable woman's warmest sympathies, and which was the last active charity in which she engaged, was that of begging cast-off clothing for the destitute freedmen of charleston and florida. accounts reaching her of their wretched condition through successive failures of crops, she set to work with her old-time energy to do what she could for their relief. she literally went from house to house, and from store to store, presenting her plea so touchingly that few could refuse her. many barrels of clothing were in this way gathered, and she often returned home staggering beneath the weight of bundles she had carried perhaps for a mile. she also wrote to friends at a distance, on whose generosity she felt she could depend, and collected from them a considerable sum of money, which, went far to keep the suffering from starvation until new crops could be gathered. writing to sarah douglass, she says:-- "i have been so happy this winter, going about to beg old clothing for the unfortunate freedmen in florida. i have sent off several barrels of clothes already. alas! there is no christ to multiply the garments, and what are those i send among so many? i think of these destitute ones night and day, and feel so glad to help them even a little." this happiness in helping others was the secret of sarah grimké's unvarying contentment, and there was always some one needing the help she was so ready to give, some one whose trials made her feel, she says, ashamed to think of her own. but the infirmities of old age were creeping upon her, and though her mental faculties remained as bright as ever, she began to complain of her eyes and her hearing. in august, , she writes to a friend:-- "my strength is failing. i cannot do a tithe of the walking i used to do, and am really almost good for nothing. but i don't know but i may learn to enjoy doing nothing; and if it is needful, i shall be thankful, as that has always appeared to me a great trial." notwithstanding this representation, however, she was seldom idle a moment. she was an untiring knitter, and made quite a traffic of the tidies, cushion-covers, and other fancy articles she knitted and netted. these were purchased by her friends, and the proceeds given to the poor. soon after she had penned the above quoted paragraph, too, she copied for the rev. henry giles, the once successful unitarian preacher, a lecture of sixty-five pages, from which he hoped to make some money. his eyesight had failed, and his means were too narrow to permit of his paying a copyist. she also managed to keep up more or less, as her strength permitted, her usual visits to the poor and afflicted; and during the hot summer of she and angelina went daily to read to an old, bed-ridden lady, who was dying of cancer, and living almost alone. during the following winter sarah's strength continued to fail, and she had several fainting spells, of which, however, she was kept in ignorance. but as life's pulse beat less vigorously, her heart seemed to grow warmer, and her interest in all that concerned her friends rather to increase than to lessen. she still wrote occasional short letters, and enjoyed nothing so much as those she received, especially from young correspondents. in january, , she writes to an old friend:-- "yes, dear.... i esteem it a very choice blessing that, as the outer man decays, the heart seems enlarged in charity, and more and more drawn towards those i love. oh, this love! it is as subtle as the fragrance of the flower, an indefinable essence pervading the soul. my eyesight and my hearing are both in a weakly condition; but i trust, as the material senses fail, the interior perception of the divine may be opened to a clearer knowledge of god, and that i may read the glorious book of nature with a more heavenly light, and apprehend with clearer insight the majesty and divinity and capabilities of my own being." a few months later, she writes: "my days of active usefulness are over; but there is a passive work to be done, far harder than actual work,--namely, to exercise patience and study humble resignation to the will of god, whatever that may be. thanks be to him, i have not yet felt like complaining; nay, verily, the song of my heart is, who so blest as i? in years gone by, i used to rejoice as every year sped its course and brought me nearer to the grave. but now, though the grave has no terrors for me, and death looks like a pleasant transition to another and a better condition, i am content to wait the father's own time for my removal. i rejoice that my ideal is still in advance of my actual, though i can only look for realization in another life. i know of a truth that my immortal spirit must progress; not into a state of perfect happiness,--that would have no attractions for me; there must be deficiencies in my heaven, to leave room for progression. a realm of unqualified rest were a stagnant pool of being, and the circle of absolute perfection a waveless calm, the abstract cipher of indolence. but i believe i shall be gifted with higher faculties, greater powers, and therefore be capable of higher aspirations, better achievements, and a nobler appreciation of god and his works." the sweet tranquillity expressed in this letter, and which was the greatest blessing that could have been given to sarah grimké's last years, grew day by day, and shed its benign influence on all about her. she had long ceased to look back, and had long been satisfied that though she had had an ample share of sorrows and perplexities, her life had passed, after all, with more of good than evil in it, more of enjoyment than sorrow. her experience had been rich and varied; and, while she could see, in the past, sins committed, errors of judgment, idiosyncracies to which she had too readily yielded, she felt that all had been blest to her in enlarging her knowledge of herself, in widening her sphere of usefulness, and uniting her more closely to him who had always been her guide, and whose promises sustained and blessed her, and crowned her latter days with joy supreme. chapter xviii. sarah grimké had always enjoyed such good health, and was so unaccustomed to even small ailments, that when a slight attack came in the beginning of august, , in the shape of a fainting-fit in the night, she did not understand what it meant. for two or three years she had had an occasional attack of the same kind, but was never before conscious of it, and as she had frequently expressed a desire to be alone when she died, to have no human presence between her and her god, she thought, as the faintness came over her, that this desire was about to be gratified. but not so: she returned to consciousness, somewhat to her disappointment, and seemed to quite recover her health in a few days. the weather, however, was extremely warm, and she felt its prostrating effects. on the th of august another fainting-spell came over her, also in the night, and she felt so unwell on coming out of it that she was obliged to call assistance. for several weeks she was very ill, and scarcely a hope of her recovery was entertained; but again she rallied and tried to mingle with the family as usual, though feeling very weak. writing to sarah douglass of this illness, she says:-- "the first two weeks are nearly a blank. i only remember a sense of intense suffering, and that the second day i thought i was dying, and felt calm with that sweet peace which our heavenly father gives to those who lay their heads on his bosom and breathe out their souls to him. death is so beautiful a transition to another and a higher sphere of usefulness and happiness, that it no longer looks to me like passing through a dark valley, but rather like merging into sunlight and joy. when consciousness returned to me, i was floating in an ocean of divine love. oh, dear sarah, the unspeakable peace that i enjoyed! of course i was to come down from the mount, but not into the valley of despondency. my mind has been calm, my faith steadfast, my continual prayer that i may fulfil the design of my father in thus restoring me to life and finish the work he must have for me to do, either active or passive. i am lost in wonder, love, and praise at the vast outlay of affection and means used for my restoration. stuart was like a tender daughter, and all have been so loving, so patient." she continued very feeble, but insisted upon joining the family at meals, though she frequently had to be carried back to her room. still her lively interest in every one about her showed no diminution, and she still wrote, as strength permitted, short letters to old friends. a few passages may be quoted from these letters to show how clear her intellect remained, and with what a holy calm her soul was clothed. to one nearly her own age, she says:-- "you and i and all who are on the passage to redemption know that gethsemane has done more for us than the mount of transfiguration. i am sure i have advanced more in the right way through my sins than through my righteousness, and for nothing am i more fervently grateful than for the lessons of humility i have learned in this way." to another who was mourning the death of a dear child, she writes: "my whole heart goes out in unspeakable yearnings for you; not, dearest, that you may be delivered from your present trials; not only that you may be blessed with returning health, but that you may find something better, holier, stronger than philosophy to sustain you. philosophy may enable us to _endure_; this is its highest mission; it cannot give the peace of god which passeth all understanding. this is what i covet for you. and how can you doubt of immortality when you look on your beloved's face? can you believe that the soul which looked out of those eyes can be quenched in endless night? no; never! as soon doubt existence itself. it is this--these central truths, the existence and the love of god, and the immortality of the soul, which rob death of its terrors and shed upon it the blessed light of a hope which triumphs over death itself. oh that you could make christ your friend! he is so near and dear to me that more than ever does he seem to be my link to the father and to the life everlasting." as she complained only of weakness, sarah's friends hoped that, when the cool weather came on, she would regain her strength and be as well as usual. but though she continued to move about the house, trying to make herself useful, there was very little perceptible change in her condition as the autumn passed and winter came on. thus she continued until the th of december, when she took a violent cold. she was in the habit of airing her bed every night just before retiring, turning back the cover, and opening wide her window. on that day it had rained, and the air was very damp, but she had her bed and window opened as usual, insisting that florence nightingale asserted that damp air never hurt anyone. that night she coughed a great deal, but in answer to angelina's expressions of anxiety, said she felt no worse than usual. but though she still went down to her meals, it was evident that she was weaker than she had been. on sunday, the th, company coming to tea, she preferred to remain in her room. she never went down again. her breathing was much oppressed on monday and her cough worse, but it was not until tuesday evening, after having passed a distressing day, that she would consent to have a physician called. everything was done for her that could be thought of, and, as she grew worse, two other physicians were sent for. but all in vain: it was evident that the summons to "come up higher" had reached her yearning soul, and that a bright new year was dawning for her in that unseen world which she was so well prepared to enter. she lingered, suffering at times great agony from suffocation, until the afternoon of the d, when she was seized with the most severe paroxysm she had yet had. her family gathered about her bed, relieved her as far as it was possible, and saw her sink exhausted into an unconscious state, from which, two hours later, she crossed the threshold of eternity. her "precious nina" bent over her, caught the last breath, and exclaimed: "well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy lord!" the gates of heaven swung wide to admit that great soul, and the form of clay that was left lying there seemed touched with the glory that streamed forth. all traces of suffering vanished, and the placid face wore-- "the look of one who bore away glad tidings from the hills of day." every sorrow brings a peace with it, and angelina's sorrow was swallowed up in joy that the beloved sister had escaped from pain and infirmity, and entered into fuller and closer communion with her heavenly father. she and sarah had promised each other that no stranger hands should perform the last offices to their mortal remains. how lovingly this promise was now kept by angelina, we must all understand. the weather was very cold, and in order to give her friends at a distance opportunity to attend the funeral it did not take place until the th. one of the last requests of this woman, whose life had been an embodiment of the most tender chanty and the truest humility, was that she might be laid in a plain pine coffin, and the difference in price between it and the usual costly one be given as her last gift to the poor. she knew--divine soul!--that her cold form would sleep just as quietly, be guarded by the angels just as faithfully, and as certainly go to its resurrection glory from a pine box as from the richest rosewood casket. and it was like the sweet simplicity of her whole life,--nothing for show, all for god and his poor. her request was complied with, but loving hands covered every inch of that plain stained coffin with fragrant flowers, making it rich and beautiful with those sincere tributes of affection and gratitude to one whose memory was a benediction. the funeral services were conducted by the rev. francis williams, pastor of the unitarian church of hyde park, and eloquent remarks were made by him and by wm. lloyd garrison. mr. williams could only testify to sarah's life as he had known it since she came to live in the village. "to the last," he said, "while her mind could plan, her pen could move, and her heart could prompt, she was busy in the service of humanity,--with her might and beyond her strength, in constant nameless deeds of kindness to those in need in our own neighborhood, and far to the south, deeds which were wise and beautiful,--help to the poor, sympathy with the suffering, consolation to the dying. she has fought the good fight of right and love; she has finished her course of duty; she has kept the faith of friendship and sacrifice. "we will more truly live because she has lived among us. may her hope and peace be ours." mr. garrison gave a brief summary of her life, and ended by saying: "in view of such a life as hers, consecrated to suffering humanity in its manifold needs, embracing all goodness, animated by the broadest catholicity of spirit, and adorned with every excellent attribute, any attempt at panegyric here seems as needless as it must be inadequate. here there is nothing to depress or deplore, nothing premature or startling, nothing to be supplemented or finished. it is the consummation of a long life, well rounded with charitable deeds, active sympathies, toils, loving ministrations, grand testimonies, and nobly self-sacrificing endeavors. she lived only to do good, neither seeking nor desiring to be known, ever unselfish, unobtrusive, compassionate, and loving, dwelling in god and god in her." the last look was then taken, the last kiss given, and the coffin, lifted by those who loved and honored the form it enclosed, was borne to its resting-place in mount hope cemetery. "dear friend," wrote angelina to me, before yet the last rites had been performed, "you know what i have lost, not _a sister only_, but a mother, friend, counsellor,--everything i could lose in a woman." the longer our loved ones are spared to us, the closer becomes the tie by which we are bound to them, and the deeper the pain of separation. it was thus with angelina. she could rejoice at her sister's blessed translation, but she keenly felt the bereavement notwithstanding. their lives had been so bound together; they had walked so many years side by side; they had so shared each other's burdens, cares, and sorrows, that she who was left scarcely knew how to live the daily life without that dear twin-soul. and so tender, so true and sacred was the communion which had grown between them, that they could not be separated long. angelina continued, as her feeble health permitted, to do alone the work sarah had shared with her. the sick, the poor, the sorrowing, were looked after and cared for as usual; but as she was already weighed down by declining years, the burdens she tried to bear were too heavy. sarah used to say: "angelina's creed is, for herself, work till you drop; for others, spare yourself." now, with no anxiously watchful sister to restrain her, she overtaxed every power, and brought on the result which had been long feared,--the paralysis which finally ended her life. those who have read mr. weld's beautiful memorial of his wife, with the touching account of her last days, will find no fault, i am sure, if i reproduce a portion of it here, while to those who have not been so fortunate, it will show her sweet christian spirit, mighty in its gentleness, as no words of mine could do. in vain may we look back through the centuries for a higher example of divine love and patience and heroic fortitude; and, as a friend observed, her expressions of gratitude for the long and perfect use of her faculties at the very moment when she felt the fatal touch which was to deprive her of them, was the sublimity of sweet and grateful trust. the early shattering of angelina's nervous system rendered her always exceedingly sensitive to outward impressions. she could not look upon any form of suffering without, in a measure, feeling it herself; nor could she read or listen to an account of great physical agony without a sensation of faintness which frequently obliged her, at such times, to leave the room and seek relief in the open air. the first stroke of paralysis occurred the summer after sarah's death, and was brought on in a singular manner. mr. weld's account of the incident and its consequences is thus given:-- "for weeks she had visited almost daily a distant neighbor, far gone in consumption, whose wife was her dear friend. one day, over-heated and tired out by work and a long walk in the sun, she passed their house in returning home, too much overdone to call, as she thought to do, and had gone a quarter of a mile toward home, when it occurred to her, mr. w. may be dying now! she turned back, and, as she feared, found him dying. as she sat by his bedside, holding his hand, a sensation never felt before seized her so strongly that she at once attempted to withdraw her hand, but saw that she could not without disturbing the dying man's last moments. she sat thus, in exceeding discomfort, half an hour, with that strange feeling creeping up her arm and down her side. "at last his grasp relaxed, and she left, only able to totter, and upon getting home, she hardly knew how, declined supper, and went at once to bed, saying only, 'tired, tired.' in the morning, when her husband rose, she said, 'i've something to tell you.' her tone alarmed him. 'don't be alarmed,' she said. to his anxious question, 'pray, what is it?' she said again, 'now you mustn't be troubled, i'm not; it's all for the best. something ails my right side, i can't move hand or foot. it must be paralysis. well, how thankful i should be that i have had the perfect use of all my faculties, limbs, and senses for sixty-eight years! and now, if they are to be taken from me, i shall have it always to be grateful for that i have had them so long. why, i do think i am grateful for _this_, too. come, let us be grateful together.' her half-palsied husband could respond only in weakest words to the appeal of his unpalsied wife. while exulting in the sublime triumph of her spirit over the stroke that felled her, well might he feel abashed, as he did, to find that, in such a strait, he was so poor a help to her who, in all his straits, had been such a help to him. after a pause she added: 'oh, possibly it is only the effect of my being so tired out last night. why, it seems to me i was never half so tired. i wonder if a hard rubbing of your strong hands mightn't throw it off.' long and strongly he plied with friction the parts affected, but no muscle responded. all seemed dead to volition and motion. though thus crippled in a moment, she insisted upon rising, that she might be ready for breakfast at the usual hour. as the process of dressing went on, she playfully enlivened it thus: 'well, here i am a baby again; have to be dressed and fed, perhaps lugged round in arms or trundled in a wheel-chair, taught to walk on one foot, and sew and darn stockings with my left hand. plenty of new lessons to learn that will keep me busy. see what a chance i have to learn patience! the dear father knew just what i needed,' etc. "soon after breakfast she gave herself a lesson in writing with her left hand, stopping often, as she slowly scrawled on, to laugh at her 'quail tracks.' after three months of tireless persistence, she partially recovered the use of her paralyzed muscles, so that she could write, sew, knit, wipe dishes, and sweep, and do 'very shabbily,' as she insisted, almost everything that she had done before. "during the six years that remained of her life here, she had what seemed to be two other slight shocks of paralysis,--one about three years after the first, and the other only three weeks before her death. this last was manifest in the sudden sinking of her bodily powers, preeminently those of speech. during all those years she looked upon herself as 'a soldier hourly awaiting orders,' often saying with her good-night kiss, 'may be this will be the last _here_,' or, 'perhaps i shall send back my next from the other shore;' or, 'the dear father may call me from you before morning;' or, 'perhaps when i wake, it may be in a morning that has no night; then i can help you more than i can now.' "many letters received asked for her latest views and feelings about death and the life beyond,--as one expressed it, when she was entering the dark valley.' the 'valley' she saw, but no darkness, neither night nor shadow; all was light and peace. on the future life she had pondered much, but ever with a trust absolute and an abounding cheer. fear, doubt, anxiety, suspense, she knew nothing of; none of them had power to mar her peace or jostle her conviction. while she could speak, she expressed the utmost gratitude that the dear father was loosening the cords of life so gently that she had no pain. "when her speech failed, after a sinking in which she seemed dying, she strove to let us know that _she knew it_ by trying to speak the word 'death.' divining her thought, i said, 'is it death?' then in a kind of convulsive outburst came, 'death, death!' thinking that she was right, that it was indeed to her death _begun_, of what _could_ die, thus _dating_ her life immortal, i said, 'no, oh no! not death, but life immortal.' she instantly caught my meaning, and cried out, 'life eternal! e--ter--nal life.' she soon sank into a gentle sleep for hours. when she awoke, what seemed that fatal sinking had passed. "one night, while watching with her, after she had been a long time quietly sleeping, she seemed to be in pain, and began to toss excitedly. it was soon plain that what seemed bodily pain was mental anguish. she began to talk earnestly in mingled tones of pathos and strong remonstrance. she was back again among the scenes of childhood, talking upon slavery. at first, only words could be caught here and there, but enough to show that she was living over again the old horrors, and remonstrating with slave-holders upon the wrongs of slavery. then came passages of scripture, their most telling words given with strong emphasis, the others indistinctly; some in tones of solemn rebuke, others in those of heart-broken pathos, but most distinctly audible in detached fragments. there was one exception,--a few words uttered brokenly, with a half-explosive force, from james : : 'the--hire--of--the--laborers,--kept--back--by--fraud, --crieth:--and--the--cries--are--in--the--ears--of--the--lord.'... "as we stood around her, straining to catch again some fragmentary word, she would turn her eyes upon our faces, one by one, as though lovingly piercing our inmost; but though all speech failed, the intense longing of that look outspoke all words.... "then there was again a vain struggle to speak, but no words came! only abortive sounds painfully shattered! how precious those unborn words! oh, that we knew them!" thus quietly, peacefully, almost joyfully, the life forces of the worn and weary toiler weakened day by day, until, on the th of october, , the great husbandman called her from her labors at last. she lived the life and died the death of a saint. who shall dare to say when and where the echoes of her soul died away? not in vain such lives as hers and her beloved sister's. they take their place with those of the heroes of the world, great among the greatest. one last thing i must mention, as strongly illustrative of angelina's modesty, and that shrinking from any praise of man which was such a marked trait in her character. she never voluntarily alluded to any act of hers which would be likely to draw upon her commendatory notice, even from the members of her own family, and in her charities she followed out as far as possible the bible injunction: "when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." her husband relates the following:-- "in november, , in making provision for the _then_ to her not improbable contingency of sudden death, angelina prepared a communication to her husband, filled with details concerning themselves alone. this was enclosed in a sealed envelope, with directions that it should be opened only after her death. when, a few days after her decease, he broke the seal, he found, among many details, this item: 'i also leave to thee the _liability_ of being called upon eventually to support in part four emancipated slaves in charleston, s.c., whose freedom i have been instrumental in obtaining.'" it is plain from the wording of the letter that she had never stated the fact to him. she lived forty years after writing it and putting it under seal; and yet, during all those years, she never gave him the least intimation of her having freed those four slaves and contributed to their support, as she had done. even sarah could not have known anything of it. her brother henry, to whom the bill of sale was made out, as they could not be legally emancipated, was probably the only person who was aware of her generous act. he became technically their owner, responsible for them to the state, but left them free to live and work for themselves as they pleased. angelina's funeral took place on the th of october, and to it came many old friends and veteran co-workers in the anti-slavery cause. the services were in keeping with the record of the life they commemorated. they were opened by that beautiful chant, "thy will be done," followed by a touching prayer from the rev. mr. morrison, who then briefly sketched the life of her who lay so still and beautiful before them. he was followed by elizur wright, who, overcome by the memories with which she was identified, memories of struggles, trials, perils, and triumphs, that he stood for a moment unable to speak. then, only partially conquering his emotion, he told of what she did and what she was in those times which tried the souls of the stoutest. "there is," said he, "the courage of the mariner who buffets the angry waves. there is the courage of the warrior who marches up to the cannon's mouth, coolly pressing forward amid engines of destruction on every side. but hers was a courage greater than theirs. she not only faced death at the hands of stealthy assassins and howling mobs, in her loyalty to truth, duty, and humanity, but she encountered unflinchingly the awful frowns of the mighty consecrated leaders of society, the scoffs and sneers of the multitude, the outstretched finger of scorn, and the whispered mockery of pity, standing up for the lowest of the low. nurtured in the very bosom of slavery, by her own observation and thought, of one thing she became certain,--that it was a false, cruel, accursed relation between human beings. and to this conviction, from the very budding of her womanhood, she was true; not the fear of poverty, obloquy, or death could induce her to smother it. neither wealth, nor fame, nor tyrant fashion, nor all that the high position of her birth had to offer, could bribe her to abate one syllable of her testimony against the seductive system.... let us hope that south carolina will yet count this noble, brave, excellent woman above all her past heroes. she it was, more than all the rest of us put together, who called out what was good and humane in the christian church to take the part of the slave, and deliver the proud state of her birth from the monster that had preyed on its vitals for a century. i have no fitting words for a life like hers. with a mind high and deep and broad enough to grasp the relations of justice and mercy, and a heart warm enough to sympathize with and cherish all that live, what a home she made! words cannot paint it. i saw it in that old stone house, surrounded with its beautiful garden, at belleville, on the banks of the passaic. i saw it in that busy, bright, and cheery palace of true education at eagleswood, new jersey. i have seen it here, in this mecca of the wise. well done! oh, well done!" mr. wright was followed by robert f. walcutt, lucy stone, and wendell phillips. "the women of to-day," said lucy stone, "owe more than they will ever know to the high courage, the rare insight, and fidelity to principle of this woman, by whose suffering easy paths have been made for them. her example was a bugle-call to all other women. who can tell how many have been quickened in a great life purpose by the heroism and self-forgetting devotion of her whose voice we shall never hear again, but who, 'being dead, yet speaketh.'" the remarks of wendell phillips were peculiarly affecting, and were spoken with a tenderness which, for once at least, disproved the assertion that his eloquence was wanting in pathos. "friends," he said, "this life carries us back to the first chapter of that great movement with which her name is associated,--to , ' , ' , ' , when our cities roared with riot, when william lloyd garrison was dragged through the streets, when dresser was mobbed in nashville, and macintosh burned in st. louis. at that time, the hatred toward abolitionists was so bitter and merciless that the friends of lovejoy left his grave long time unmarked; and at last ventured to put, with his name, on his tombstone, only this piteous entreaty: _jam parce sepulto_, 'spare him now in his grave.' "as friend wright has said, we were but a handful, and our words beat against the stony public as powerless as if against the north wind. we got no sympathy from most northern men: their consciences were seared as with a hot iron. at this time a young woman came from the proudest state in the slave-holding section. she came to lay on the altar of this despised cause, this seemingly hopeless crusade, both family and friends, the best social position, a high place in the church, genius, and many gifts. no man at this day can know the gratitude we felt for this help from such an unexpected source. after this[ ] came james g. birney from the south, and many able and influential men and women joined us. at last john brown laid his life, the crowning sacrifice, on the altar of the cause. but no man who remembers and its lowering clouds will deny that there was hardly any contribution to the anti-slavery movement greater or more impressive than the crusade of these grimké sisters through the new england states. "when i think of angelina, there comes to me the picture of the spotless dove in the tempest, as she battles with the storm, seeking for some place to rest her foot. she reminds me of innocence personified in spenser's poem. in her girlhood, alone, heart-led, she comforts the slave in his quarters, mentally struggling with the problems his position wakes her to. alone, not confused, but seeking something to lean on, she grasps the church, which proves a broken reed. no whit disheartened, she turns from one sect to another, trying each by the infallible touchstone of that clear, child-like conscience. the two old, lonely quakers rest her foot awhile. but the eager soul must work, not rest in testimony. coming north at last, she makes her own religion one of sacrifice and toil. breaking away from, rising above, all forms, the dove floats at last in the blue sky where no clouds reach.... this is no place for tears. graciously, in loving kindness and tenderly, god broke the shackles and freed her soul. it was not the dust which surrounded her that we loved. it was not the form which encompassed her that we revere; but it was the soul. we linger a very little while, her old comrades. the hour comes, it is even now at the door, that god will open our eyes to see her as she is: the white-souled child of twelve years old ministering to want and sorrow; the ripe life, full of great influences; the serene old age, example and inspiration whose light will not soon go out. farewell for a very little while. god keep us fit to join thee in that broader service on which thou hast entered." [ ] a mistake. james g. birney was one of the most widely known and influential leaders in the abolition cause at the time angelina came into it. at the close of mr. phillips' remarks a hymn was read and sung, followed by a fervent prayer from mr. morrison, when the services closed with the reading and singing of "nearer, my god to thee." then, after the last look had been taken, the coffin-lid was softly closed over the placidly sleeping presence beneath, and the precious form was borne to mount hope, and tenderly lowered to its final resting-place. there the sisters, inseparable in life, lie side by side next the "evergreen path," in that "dreamless realm of silence." a friend, describing the funeral, says:-- "the funeral services throughout wore no air of gloom. that sombre crape shrouded no one with its dismal tokens. the light of a glorious autumn day streamed in through uncurtained windows. it was not a house of mourning,--no sad word said, no look of sorrow worn. the tears that freely fell were not of grief, but tears of yearning love, of sympathy, of solemn joy and gratitude to god for such a life in its rounded completeness, such an example and testimony, such fidelity to conscience, such recoil from all self-seeking, such unswerving devotion to duty, come what might of peril or loss, even unto death." florence nightingale, writing of a woman whose life, like the lives of sarah and angelina grimké, had been devoted to the service of the poor, the weak, the oppressed, says at the close:-- "this is not an _in memoriam_, it is a war-cry such as she would have bid me write,--a cry for others to fill her place, to fill up the ranks, and fight the good fight against sin and vice and misery and wretchedness as she did,--the call to arms such as she was ever ready to obey." note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) transcriber's note: every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. many occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain as they were in the original. text that has been changed to correct an obvious error is noted at the end of this ebook. history of woman suffrage. edited by elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, and matilda joslyn gage. illustrated with steel engravings. in three volumes. vol. ii. - . [illustration: anna dickinson. "the world belongs to those who take it. truly yours anna dickinson"] all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states. susan b. anthony, madison st., rochester, n. y. entered, according to act of congress, in the year , by elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, and matilda joslyn gage. in the office of the librarian of congress, at washington, d. c. preface. in presenting to our readers the second volume of the "history of woman suffrage," we gladly return our thanks to the press for the many favorable notices we have received from leading journals, both in the old world and the new. the words of cordial approval from a large circle of friends, and especially from women well known in periodical literature, have been to us a constant stimulus during the toilsome months we have spent in gathering material for these pages. it was our purpose to have condensed the records of the last twenty years in a second volume, but so many new questions in regard to citizenship, state rights, and national power, indirectly bearing on the political rights of women, grew out of the civil war, that the arguments and decisions in congress and the supreme courts have combined to swell these pages beyond our most liberal calculations, with much valuable material that can not be condensed nor ignored, making a third volume inevitable. by their active labors all through the great conflict, women learned that they had many interests outside the home. in the camp and hospital, and the vacant places at their firesides, they saw how intimately the interests of the state and the home were intertwined; that as war and all its concomitants were subjects of legislation, it was only through a voice in the laws that their efforts for peace could command consideration. the political significance of the war, and the prolonged discussions on the vital principles of government involved in the reconstruction, threw new light on the status of woman in a republic. under a liberal interpretation of the xiv. amendment, women, believing their rights of citizenship secured, made several attempts to vote in different states. those who succeeded were arrested, tried, and convicted. those who were denied the right to register their names and deposit their votes, sued the inspectors of election. others attempting to practice law, being denied that right in the states, took their cases up to the supreme court of the united states for adjudication. others invaded the pulpit, asking to be ordained, which brought the question of woman's right to preach before ecclesiastical assemblies. these various attempts to secure her political and civil rights have called forth endless discussions on woman's true position in the state, the church, and the world of work. while gratefully accepting the generous praises of our friends, we must briefly reply to some strictures by our critics. some object to the title of our work; they say you can not write the "history of woman suffrage" until the fact is accomplished. we feel that already enough has been achieved to make the final victory certain. women vote in england, australia, new zealand, russia, sweden, switzerland, and even india, on certain interests and qualifications; in wyoming and utah on all questions, and on the same basis as male citizens; and in a dozen states of the union on school affairs. moreover, women are filling many offices, such as clerks of courts, notaries public, masters in chancery, state librarians, school superintendents, commissioners of charity, post mistresses, pension agents, engrossing and enrolling clerks in legislative assemblies. after years of persistent effort a resolution was passed in both houses, during the present session of congress ( ), securing "a select committee on the political rights and disabilities of woman"--the first time in the history of our government that a special committee to look after the interests of woman was ever appointed. a proposition for a xvi. amendment to the national constitution, to secure to women the right of suffrage, is now pending in congress. some phase of this question is being debated every year in state legislatures. propositions for so amending their constitutions as to extend the elective franchise to women will be voted upon by the people in four of the western states within the coming two years. these successive steps of progress during forty years are as surely a part of the history of woman suffrage as will be the events of the closing period in which victory shall at last crown the hard fought battles of half a century. contents. chapter xvi. woman's patriotism in the war. page the first gun on sumter, april , --woman's military genius--anna ella carroll--the sanitary movement--dr. elizabeth blackwell--the hospitals--dorothea dix--services on the battle-field--clara barton--the freedman's bureau--josephine griffing--ladies' national covenant--political campaigns--anna dickinson--the woman's loyal national league--the mammoth petition--anniversaries--the thirteenth amendment chapter xvii. congressional action. first petitions to congress december, , against the word "male" in the th amendment--joint resolutions before congress--messrs. jenckes, schenck, broomall, and stevens--republicans protest in presenting petitions--the women seek aid of democrats--james brooks in the house of representatives--horace greeley on the petitions--caroline healy dall on messrs. jenckes and schenck--the district of columbia suffrage bill--senator cowan, of pennsylvania, moved to strike out the word "male"--a three days' debate in the senate--the final vote nine in favor of mr. cowan's amendment, and thirty-seven against chapter xviii. national conventions in - . the first national woman suffrage convention after the war--speeches by ernestine l. rose, antoinette brown blackwell, henry ward beecher, frances d. gage, theodore tilton, wendell phillips--petitions to congress and the constitutional convention--mrs. stanton a candidate to congress--anniversary of the equal rights association chapter xix. the kansas campaign-- . the battle ground of freedom--campaign of --liberals did not stand by their principles--black men opposed to woman suffrage--republican press and party untrue--democrats in opposition--john stuart mill's letters and speeches extensively circulated--henry b. blackwell and lucy stone opened the campaign--rev. olympia brown followed-- , tracts distributed--appeal signed by thirty-one distinguished men--letters from helen e. starrett, susan e. wattles, dr. r. s. tenney, lieut.-governor j. b. root, rev. olympia brown--the campaign closed by ex-governor robinson, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, and the hutchinson family--speeches and songs at the polls in every ward in leavenworth election day--both amendments lost-- , votes for woman suffrage, , for negro suffrage chapter xx. new york constitutional convention. constitution amended once in twenty years--mrs. stanton before the legislature claiming woman's right to vote for members to the convention--an immense audience in the capitol--the convention assembled june th, . twenty thousand petitions presented for striking the word "male" from the constitution--"committee on the right of suffrage, and the qualifications for holding office" horace greeley, chairman--mr. graves, of herkimer, leads the debate in favor of woman suffrage--horace greeley's adverse report--leading advocates heard before the convention--speech of george william curtis on striking the word "man" from section , article --final vote, for, against--equal rights anniversary of chapter xxi. reconstruction. the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments--universal suffrage and universal amnesty the key-note of reconstruction--gerrit smith and wendell phillips hesitate--a trying period in the woman suffrage movement--those opposed to the word "male" in the fourteenth amendment voted down in conventions--the negro's hour--virginia l. minor on suffrage in the district of columbia--women advised to be silent--the hypocrisy of the democrats preferable to that of the republicans--senator pomeroy's amendment--protests against a man's government--negro suffrage a political necessity--charles sumner opposed to the fourteenth amendment, but voted for it as a party measure--woman suffrage for utah--discussion in the house as to who constitute electors--bills for woman suffrage presented by the hon. george w. julian and senators wilson and pomeroy--the fifteenth amendment--anna e. dickinson's suggestion--opinions of women on the fifteenth amendment--the sixteenth amendment--miss anthony chosen a delegate to the democratic national convention july , --her address read by a unanimous vote--horatio seymour in the chair--comments of the press--_the revolution_ chapter xxii. national conventions-- . first convention in washington--first hearing before congress--delegates invited from every state--senator pomeroy, of kansas--debate between colored men and women--grace greenwood's graphic description--what the members of the convention saw and heard in washington--robert purvis--a western trip--conventions in chicago, milwaukee, st. louis, springfield, and madison--editorial correspondence in _the revolution_--anniversaries in new york and brooklyn--conventions in newport and saratoga chapter xxiii. the new departure--under the fourteenth amendment. francis minor's resolutions--hearing before congressional committee--descriptions by mrs. fannie howland and grace greenwood--washington convention --rev. samuel j. may--senator carpenter--professor sprague, of cornell university--notes of mrs. hooker--may anniversary in new york--the fifth avenue conference--second decade celebration--washington, --victoria woodhull's memorial--judiciary committee--majority and minority reports--george w. julian and a. a. sargent in the house--may anniversary, --washington in --senate judiciary committee--benjamin f. butler--the sherman-dahlgren protest--women in grant and wilson campaign chapter xxiv. national conventions-- , ' , ' . fifth washington convention--mrs. gage on centralization--may anniversary in new york--washington convention, --frances ellen burr's report--rev. o. b. frothingham in new york convention--territory of pembina--discussion in the senate--conventions in washington and new york, --hearings before congressional committees chapter xxv. trials and decisions. women voting under the xvi. amendment--appeals to the courts--marilla m. ricker, of new hampshire, --nannette b. gardner, michigan--sara andrews spencer, district of columbia--ellen rand van valkenburgh, california--catherine v. waite, illinois--carrie s. burnham, pennsylvania--sarah m. t. huntingdon, connecticut--susan b. anthony, new york--virginia l. minor, missouri--judges mckee, jameson, sharswood, cartter--associate justice hunt--chief justice waite--myra bradwell--hon. matt. h. carpenter--supreme court decisions chapter xxvi. american woman suffrage association. circular letter--cleveland convention--association completed--henry ward beecher, president--convention in steinway hall, new york--george william curtis speaks--the first annual meeting held in cleveland--mrs. tracy cutler, president--mass meeting in steinway hall, new york, --state action recommended--moses coit tyler speaks--mass meetings in in philadelphia, washington, baltimore, pittsburgh--memorial to congress--letters from william lloyd garrison and others--hon. g. f. hoar advocates woman suffrage--anniversary celebrated at st. louis--dr. stone, of michigan--thomas wentworth higginson, president, --convention in cooper institute, new york--two hundred young women march in--meeting in plymouth church--letters from louise may alcott and elizabeth stuart phelps--the annual meeting in detroit--julia ward howe, president--letter from james t. field--mary f. eastman addresses the convention. bishop gilbert haven president for --convention in steinway hall, new york--hon. charles bradlaugh speaks--centennial celebration, july d--petition to congress for a xvi. amendment--conventions in indianapolis, cincinnati, washington, and louisville appendix list of engravings. vol. ii. anna e. dickinson _frontispiece._ clara barton page clemence s. lozier, m. d. rev. olympia brown jane graham jones virginia l. minor isabella beecher hooker belva a. lockwood ellen clark sargent myra bradwell lucy stone julia ward howe chapter xvi. woman's patriotism in the war. the first gun on sumter, april , --woman's military genius--anna ella carroll--the sanitary movement--dr. elizabeth blackwell--the hospitals--dorothea dix--services on the battle-field--clara barton--the freedman's bureau--josephine griffing--ladies' national covenant--political campaigns--anna dickinson--the woman's loyal national league--the mammoth petition--anniversaries--the thirteenth amendment. our first volume closed with the period when the american people stood waiting with apprehension the signal of the coming conflict between the northern and southern states. on april , , the first gun was fired on sumter, and on the th it was surrendered. on the th, the president called out , militia, and summoned congress to meet july th, when , men and $ , , were voted to carry on the war. these startling events roused the entire people, and turned the current of their thoughts in new directions. while the nation's life hung in the balance, and the dread artillery of war drowned alike the voices of commerce, politics, religion and reform, all hearts were filled with anxious forebodings, all hands were busy in solemn preparations for the awful tragedies to come. at this eventful hour the patriotism of woman shone forth as fervently and spontaneously as did that of man; and her self-sacrifice and devotion were displayed in as many varied fields of action. while he buckled on his knapsack and marched forth to conquer the enemy, she planned the campaigns which brought the nation victory; fought in the ranks when she could do so without detection; inspired the sanitary commission; gathered needed supplies for the grand army; provided nurses for the hospitals; comforted the sick; smoothed the pillows of the dying; inscribed the last messages of love to those far away; and marked the resting-places where the brave men fell. the labor women accomplished, the hardships they endured, the time and strength they sacrificed in the war that summoned three million men to arms, can never be fully appreciated. think of the busy hands from the atlantic to the pacific, making garments, canning fruits and vegetables, packing boxes, preparing lint and bandages[ ] for soldiers at the front; think of the mothers, wives and daughters on the far-off prairies, gathering in the harvests, that their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons might fight the battles of freedom; of those month after month walking the wards of the hospital; and those on the battle-field at the midnight hour, ministering to the wounded and dying, with none but the cold stars to keep them company. think of the multitude of delicate, refined women, unused to care and toil, thrown suddenly on their own resources, to struggle evermore with poverty and solitude; their hopes and ambitions all freighted in the brave young men that marched forth from their native hills, with flying flags and marshal music, to return no more forever. the untiring labors, the trembling apprehensions, the wrecked hopes, the dreary solitude of the fatherless, the widowed, the childless in that great national upheaval, have never been measured or recorded; their brave deeds never told in story or in song, no monuments built to their memories, no immortal wreaths to mark their last resting-places. how much easier it is to march forth with gay companions and marshal music; with the excitement of the battle, the camp, the ever-shifting scenes of war, sustained by the hope of victory; the promise of reward; the ambition for distinction; the fire of patriotism kindling every thought, and stimulating every nerve and muscle to action! how much easier is all this, than to wait and watch alone with nothing to stimulate hope or ambition. the evils of bad government fall ever most heavily on the mothers of the race, who, however wise and far-seeing, have no voice in its administration, no power to protect themselves and their children against a male dynasty of violence and force. while the mass of women never philosophize on the principles that underlie national existence, there were those in our late war who understood the political significance of the struggle: the "irrepressible conflict" between freedom and slavery; between national and state rights. they saw that to provide lint, bandages, and supplies for the army, while the war was not conducted on a wise policy, was labor in vain; and while many organizations, active, vigilant, self-sacrificing, were multiplied to look after the material wants of the army, these few formed themselves into a national loyal league to teach sound principles of government, and to press on the nation's conscience, that "freedom to the slaves was the only way to victory." accustomed as most women had been to works of charity, to the relief of outward suffering, it was difficult to rouse their enthusiasm for an idea, to persuade them to labor for a principle. they clamored for practical work, something for their hands to do; for fairs, sewing societies to raise money for soldier's families, for tableaux, readings, theatricals, anything but conventions to discuss principles and to circulate petitions for emancipation. they could not see that the best service they could render the army was to suppress the rebellion, and that the most effective way to accomplish that was to transform the slaves into soldiers. this woman's loyal league voiced the solemn lessons of the war: liberty to all; national protection for every citizen under our flag; universal suffrage, and universal amnesty. as no national recognition has been accorded the grand women who did faithful service in the late war; no national honors nor profitable offices bestowed on them, the noble deeds of a few representative women should be recorded. the military services of anna ella carroll in planning the campaign on the tennessee; the labors of clara barton on the battle-field; of dorothea dix in the hospital; of dr. elizabeth blackwell in the sanitary; of josephine s. griffing in the freedman's bureau; and the political triumphs of anna dickinson in the presidential campaign, reflecting as they do all honor on their sex in general, should ever be proudly remembered by their countrywomen. anna ella carroll. the tennessee campaign. anna ella carroll, the daughter of thomas king carroll formerly governor of maryland, belongs to one of the oldest and most patriotic families of that state. her ancestors founded the city of baltimore; charles carroll, of carrollton, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, was of the same family. at the breaking out of the civil war, maryland was claimed by the rebellious states, and for a long time her position seemed uncertain. miss carroll, an intimate friend of gov. hicks, and at that time a member of his family, favored the national cause, and by her powerful arguments induced the governor to remain firm in his opposition to the scheme of secession. thus, despite the siren wooing of the south, in its plaint of "maryland, my maryland." miss carroll was the means of preserving her native state to the union. although a slave-owner, and a member of that class which so largely proved disloyal, miss carroll freed her slaves, and devoted herself throughout the war to the cause of liberty. she replied to the secession speech of senator breckenridge, made during the july session of congress , with such lucid and convincing arguments, that the war department not only circulated a large edition, but the government requested her to prepare other papers upon unsettled points. in response she wrote a pamphlet entitled "the war powers of the government," published in december, . by the especial request of president lincoln she also prepared a paper entitled "the relation of revolted citizens to the national government," which was approved by him, and formed the basis of his subsequent action. in september, , she also prepared a paper on the constitutional power of the president to make arrests, and to suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_; a subject upon which a great conflict of opinion then existed, even among persons of unquestioned loyalty. early in the fall of , miss carroll took a trip to st. louis to inspect the progress of the war in the west. a gun-boat fleet, under the special authorization of the president, was then in preparation for a descent of the mississippi. an examination of this plan by miss carroll showed its weakness, and the inevitable disaster it would bring to the national arms. her astute military genius led her to the substitution of another plan, upon which she based great hopes of success, and its results show it to have been one of the profoundest strategic movements of the ages. strategy and generalship are two entirely distinct forms of the art of war. many a general, good at following out a plan, is entirely incapable of forming a successful one. napoleon stands in the foremost ranks as a strategist, and is held as the greatest warrior of modern times, yet he led no forces into battle. so entirely was he convinced that strategy was the whole art of war, that he was accustomed to speak of himself as the only general of his army, thus subordinating the mere command and movement of forces to the art of strategy. judged by this standard, which is acknowledged by all military men, anna ella carroll, of maryland, holds foremost rank as a military genius. on the th of november, , while still in st. louis, miss carroll wrote to hon. edward bates at washington (the member of the cabinet who first suggested the expedition down the mississippi), that from information gained by her she believed this plan would fail, and urged him, instead, to have the expedition directed up the tennessee river, as the true line of attack. she also dispatched a similar letter to hon. thomas a. scott, at that time assistant secretary of war. on the th of this month (november, ), miss carroll laid the following plan, accompanied by explanatory maps, before the war department: the civil and military authorities seem to me to be laboring under a great mistake in regard to the true key of the war in the south-west. it is not the mississippi, but the tennessee river. now, all the military preparations made in the west indicate that the mississippi river is the point to which the authorities are directing their attention. on that river many battles must be fought and heavy risks incurred, before any impression can be made on the enemy, all of which could be avoided by using the tennessee river. this river is navigable for medium-class boats to the foot of muscle shoals in alabama, and is open to navigation all the year, while the distance is but two hundred and fifty miles by the river from paducah on the ohio. the tennessee offers many advantages over the mississippi. we should avoid the almost impregnable batteries of the enemy, which can not be taken without great danger and great risk of life to our forces, from the fact that our forces, if crippled, would fall a prey to the enemy by being swept by the current to him, and away from the relief of our friends. but even should we succeed, still we have only begun the war, for we shall then have to fight the country from whence the enemy derives his supplies. now an advance up the tennessee river would avoid this danger; for, if our boats were crippled, they would drop back with the current and escape capture. but a still greater advantage would be its tendency to _cut the enemy's lines in two_, by reaching the memphis and charleston railroad, threatening memphis, which lies one hundred miles due west, and no defensible point between; also nashville, only ninety miles north-east, and florence and tuscumbia in north alabama, forty miles east. a movement in this direction would do more to relieve our friends in kentucky, and inspire the loyal hearts in east tennessee, than the possession of the whole of the mississippi river. if well executed, it would cause the evacuation of all those formidable fortifications on which the rebels ground their hopes for success; and in the event of our fleet attacking mobile, the presence of our troops in the northern part of alabama, would be material aid to the fleet. again, the aid our forces would receive from the loyal men in tennessee would enable them soon to crush the last traitor in that region, and the _separation of the two extremes_ would do more than one hundred battles for the union cause. the tennessee river is crossed by the memphis and louisville railroad, and the memphis and nashville railroad. at hamburg the river makes the big bend on the east, touching the north-east corner of mississippi, entering the north-west corner of alabama, forming an arc to the south, entering the state of tennessee at the north-east corner of alabama, and if it does not touch the north-west corner of georgia, comes very near it. it is but eight miles from hamburg to the memphis and charleston railroad, which goes through tuscumbia, only two miles from the river, which it crosses at decatur thirty miles above, intersecting with the nashville and chattanooga road at stephenson. the tennessee never has less than three feet to hamburg on the "shoalest" bar, and during the fall, winter, and spring months, there is always water for the largest boats that are used on the mississippi river. it follows, from the above facts, that in making the mississippi the key to the war in the west, or rather in overlooking the tennessee river, the subject is not understood by the superiors in command. the war department looked over these papers, and col. scott, the assistant secretary, possessing a knowledge of the railroad facilities and connections of the south, unequaled perhaps by any other man in the country at that time, at once saw the vital importance of miss carroll's plan. he declared it to be the first clear solution of the difficult problem, and was soon sent west to assist in carrying it out in detail. the mississippi expedition was abandoned, and the tennessee made the point of attack. both land and naval forces were ordered to mass themselves at this point, and the country soon began to feel the wisdom of this movement. the capture of fort henry, an important confederate post on the tennessee river serving to defend the railroad communication between memphis and bowling green, was the first result of miss carroll's plan. it fell feb. , , and was rapidly followed by the capture of fort donelson, which, after a gallant defense, surrendered to the union forces feb. th, and the name of ulysses s. grant, as the general commanding these forces, for the first time became known to the american people. by these victories the line of confederate fortifications was broken, and the enemy's means of communication between the east and the west were destroyed. all the historians of our civil war concede that the strategy which made the tennessee river the base of military operations in the south-west, thus cutting the confederacy in two by its control of the memphis and charleston railroad, also made its final destruction inevitable. at an early day the government had neither a just conception of the rebellion, nor of the steps necessary for its suppression. it was looked upon from a political rather than a military point of view, and much valuable time was wasted in suggestions and plans worse than futile. but while the national government had been blind to the real situation, the confederacy had every hour strengthened its position both at home and abroad, having so far secured the recognition of france and england as to have been acknowledged belligerents, while threats of raising the blockade were also made by the same powers. in order to a more full understanding of our national affairs at that time, we will glance at the proceedings of congress. when this body met in december, , a "committee on the conduct of the war" was at once created, and spirited debates upon the situation took place in both the senate and the house. it was acknowledged that the salvation of the country depended upon military success. it was declared that the rebellion must be speedily put down or it would destroy the resources of the country, as $ , , a day were then required to maintain the army in the field. hon. mr. dawes compared the country to a man under an exhausted receiver gasping for breath, and said that sixty days of the present state of things must bring about an ignominious peace. hon. geo. w. julian declared that the country was in imminent danger of a foreign war, and that in the opinion of many the great model republic of the world was in the throes of death. the credit of the nation was then so poor as to render it unable to make loans of money from foreign countries. the treasury notes issued by the government were falling in the market, selling at five and six per cent. discount. mr. morrill, in the senate, gave it as his opinion that in six months the nation would be beyond hope of relief. england was anxiously hoping for our downfall. _the london post_, lord palmerston's paper, the organ of the english government, prophesied our national bankruptcy within a short time. _the london times_ denounced us in language deemed too offensive to be read before the senate. it urged england's direct interference; counseled the pouring of a fleet of gun-boats through the st. lawrence into the lakes with the opening of spring, "to secure, with the mastery of these waters, the mastery of all," and declared that three months hence the field would be all england's own. at that time the british government had already sent some thirty thousand men into its colonies in north america, preparatory to an assault upon our north-western frontier. the nation seemed upon the point of being lost, and the hopes of millions of oppressed men in other lands destroyed by the disintegration of the union. the war had been waged six months, but with the exception of west virginia, the battle had been against the union. the fact that military success alone could turn the scale, though now acknowledged, seemed to congress as far as ever from consummation. our military commanders, quite ignorant of both the geographical and topographical outlines of our vast country, were unable to formulate the plan necessary for a decisive blow. such was the situation at the time miss carroll sent her plan of the tennessee campaign to the war department. fortunately for civilization this plan was adopted, and with the fall of fort henry, the enemy's center was pierced, the decisive point gained. from that hour the nation's final success was assured. its fall opened the tennessee river, and its capture was soon followed by the evacuation of columbus and bowling green. fort donelson was given up, its rebel garrison of , troops marched out as prisoners of war, and hope sprang up in the hearts of the people. pittsburg landing and corinth soon followed the fate of the preceding forts. the president declared the victory at fort henry to be of the utmost importance. north and south its influence was alike felt. gen. beauregard was himself conscious that this campaign sealed the fate of the "southern confederacy." the success of the tennessee campaign rendered intervention impossible, and taught those foreign enemies who were anxiously watching for our country's downfall, the power and stability of a republic. missouri was kept in the union by its means, tennessee and kentucky were restored, the national armies were enabled to push to the gulf states and secure possession of all the great rivers and routes of internal communication through the heart of the confederate territory. on the th of april, , the president issued the following proclamation: it has pleased almighty god to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion; and at the same time to avert from our country the damages of foreign intervention and invasion. during all this time the author of this plan remained unknown, except to the president and his cabinet, who feared to reveal the fact that the government was proceeding under the advice and plan of a civilian, and that civilian _a woman_. shortly after the capture of forts henry and donelson a debate as to the author of this campaign took place in the house of representatives.[ ] the senate discussed its origin march . it was variously ascribed to the president, to the secretary of war, and to different naval and land commanders, halleck, grant, foote, smith, and fremont. the historians of the war have also given adverse opinions as to its authorship. draper's "history of the civil war" ascribes it to gen. halleck; boynton's "history of the navy" to commodore foote; lossing's "civil war" to the combined wisdom of grant, halleck, and foote; badeau's "history of the civil war" credits it to gen. c. f. smith; and abbott's "civil war," to gen. fremont. but abundant testimony exists proving miss carroll's authorship of the plan, in letters from hon. b. f. wade,[ ] chairman of the committee on the conduct of the war; from hon. thos. a. scott, assistant secretary of war; from hon. l. d. evans, former chief-justice of the supreme court of texas (entrusted by the government with an important secret mission during the war); from hon. orestes a. bronson, and many other well-known public men; from conversations of president lincoln and secretary stanton; and from reports of the military committee of the xli., xlii., and xlvi. congresses.[ ] so anxious was the government to keep the origin of the tennessee campaign a secret, that col. scott, in conversation with judge evans, a personal friend of miss carroll, pressed upon him the absolute necessity of miss carroll's making no claim to the authorship while the struggle lasted. in the plenitude of her self-sacrificing patriotism she remained silent, and saw the honors rightfully belonging to her heaped upon others, although she knew the country was indebted to her for its salvation. previous to historians reckoned but fifteen decisive battles[ ] in the world's history, battles in which, says hallam, a contrary result would have essentially varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes. professor cressy, of the chair of ancient and modern history, university of london, has made these battles the subject of two grand volumes. the battle of fort henry was the sixteenth, and in its effects may well be deemed the most important of all.[ ] it opened the doors of liberty to the downtrodden and oppressed among all nations, setting a seal of permanence on the assertion that self-government is the natural right of every person. but it was not alone through her plan of the tennessee campaign that miss carroll exhibited her military genius; throughout the conflict she continued to send plans and suggestions to the war department. the events of history prove the wisdom of those plans, and that had they been strictly followed, the war would have been brought to a speedy close,[ ] and millions of men and money saved to the country. upon the fall of fort henry, february, , she again addressed the war department, advising an immediate advance upon mobile or vicksburg. in march, , she presented a memorial and maps to secretary stanton in person, in regard to the reduction of island , which had long been a vain effort by the union forces, in which she said: the failure to take island , which thus far occasions much disappointment to the country, excites no surprise to me. when i looked at the gun-boats at st. louis, and was informed as to their powers, and that the current of the mississippi at full tide runs at the rate of five miles per hour, which is very near the speed of our gun-boats, i could not resist the conclusion that they were not well fitted to the taking of batteries on the mississippi river, if assisted by gun-boats perhaps equal to our own. hence it was that i wrote col. scott from there, that the tennessee river was our strategic point, and the successes at forts henry and donelson establish the justice of these observations. had our victorious army, after the fall of fort henry, immediately pushed up the tennessee river and taken position on the memphis and charleston railroad, between corinth, miss., and decatur, ala., which might easily have been done at that time with a small force, every rebel soldier in western kentucky and tennessee would have fled from every position south of that railroad. and had buell pursued the enemy in his retreat from nashville, without delay, into a commanding position in north alabama, on the railroad between chattanooga and decatur, the rebel government at richmond would necessarily have been obliged to retreat to the cotton states. i am fully satisfied that the true policy of general halleck is to strengthen grant's column by such a force as will enable him at once to seize the memphis and charleston railroad, as it is the readiest means of reducing island , and all the strongholds to memphis. in october, , observing the preparations for a naval attack upon vicksburg, miss carroll again addressed the secretary of war in the following memorial: as i understand an expedition is about to go down the river, for the purpose of reducing vicksburg, i have prepared the enclosed map in order to demonstrate more clearly the obstacles to be encountered in the contemplated assault. in the first place, it is impossible to take vicksburg in the front without too great a loss of life and material, for the reason that the river is only about half a mile wide, and our forces would be in point-blank range of their guns, not only from their water-batteries which line the shore, but from the batteries that crown the hills, while the enemy would be protected from the range of our fire. by examining the map i enclose, you will at once perceive why a place of so little apparent strength has been enabled to resist the combined fleets of the upper and lower mississippi. the most economical plan for the reduction of vicksburg now, is to push a column from memphis or corinth down the mississippi central railroad to jackson, the capital of the state of mississippi. the occupation of jackson, and the command of the railroad to new orleans, would compel the immediate evacuation of vicksburg, as well as the retreat of the entire rebel army east of that line; and by another movement of our army from jackson, miss., or from corinth to meridan, in the state of mississippi, on the ohio and mobile railroad, especially if aided by a movement of our gun-boats on mobile, the confederate forces, with all the disloyal men and slaves, would be compelled to fly east of the tombigbee. mobile being then in our possession, with , men at meridan, would redeem the entire country from memphis to the tombigbee river. of course i would have the gun-boats with a small force at vicksburg, as auxiliary to this movement. with regard to the canal, vicksburg can be rendered useless to the confederate army upon the very first rise of the river; but i do not advise this, because vicksburg belongs to the united states, and we desire to hold and fortify it, for the mississippi river at vicksburg and the vicksburg and jackson railroad will become necessary as a base for our future operations. vicksburg might have been reduced eight months ago, as i advised after the fall of fort henry, and with much more ease than it can be done to-day. it will be recollected that after a month's attack upon vicksburg, commencing june , , by the combined farragut fleet, porter mortar flotilla and the gun-boat fleet under capt. c. h. davis, the bombardment of the city was suspended, it being found impossible to capture and hold it with the forces at command. in october, , grant was appointed to the command of the forces from new orleans to vicksburg under the name of the "department of tennessee," and the capture of this "gibraltar of the confederacy" was once more attempted. this was the period of miss carroll's memorial above given, and the results proved the wisdom of her suggestions, as it was not until the army, by an attack upon its rear, were enabled to capture this stronghold, july , , more than a year after the first demand of farragut's fleet for its capitulation. had it been attacked immediately after the fall of fort henry, according to miss carroll's plan, many lives, costly munitions of war, and much valuable time would have alike been saved. miss carroll's claim before congress in connection with the tennessee campaign of , shows that the military committee of the united states senate at the third session of the st congress, reported (document ), through senator howard, that miss carroll "furnished the government the information which caused the change of the military expedition which was preparing in to descend the mississippi, from that river to the tennessee river." the same committee of the d congress, second session (document ), reported the evidence in support of this claim. for the house report of the th congress, third session, see document .[ ] no fact in the history of our country is more clearly proved than that its very existence is due to the military genius of miss carroll, and no more shameful fact in its history exists, than that congress has refused all recognition and reward for such patriotic services because they were rendered by a woman. while in the past twenty years thousands of men, great and small, have received thanks and rewards from the country she saved--for work done in accordance with her plans--grant, first made known at donelson, having twice received the highest office in the gift of the nation--having made the tour of the world amid universal honors--having received gifts of countless value at home and abroad--miss carroll is still left to struggle for a recognition of her services from that country which is indebted to her for its very life. dorothea dix, government superintendent of nurses. upon the breaking out of the war, miss dix, who for years had been engaged in philanthropic work, saw here another requirement for her services and hurried to washington to offer them to her country. she found her first work in nursing soldiers who had been wounded by the baltimore mob.[ ] upon june , , she received from the war department, simon cameron at that time its head, an appointment as the government superintendent of women nurses. secretary stanton, succeeding him, ratified this appointment, thus placing her in an extraordinary and exceptional position, imposing numerous and onerous duties, among them that of hospital visitation, distributing supplies, managing ambulances, adjusting disputes, etc. but while appointed to this office by the government, miss dix found herself as a member of a disfranchised class, in a position of authority without the power of enforcing obedience, and the subject of jealousy among hospital surgeons, which largely militated against the efficiency of her work.[ ] elizabeth blackwell, m.d. the sanitary commission. it has been computed that since the historic period, fourteen thousand millions of human beings have fallen in the wars which men have waged against each other. from careful statistics it has also been estimated that four-fifths of this loss of life has been due to privation, exposure, and want of care. at an early day the mortality from sickness was evidently far greater than the above estimate; as late as the crimean war, this mortality reached seven-eighths of the whole number of deaths. military surgery was formerly but little understood. the wounded and sick of an army were indebted to the chance aid of friend or stranger, or were left to perish from neglect. nothing has ever been held so cheap as human life, unless, indeed, it were human rights. but even from times of antiquity we read of women, sometimes of noble birth, who followed the soldiers to the field, treating the wounds of friend or lover with healing balms or rude surgical appliance. to woman is the world indebted for the first systematic efforts toward relief, through the establishment of hospitals for sick or wounded soldiers. as early as the fifth century, the empress helena erected hospitals on the routes between rome and constantinople, where soldiers requiring it, received careful nursing. in the ninth century an order of women, who consecrated themselves to field work, arose in the catholic church. they were called beguines, and everywhere ministered to the sick and wounded of the armies of continental europe during its long period of devastating wars. to isabella of spain,[ ] she who sold her jewels to fit columbus for the discovery of a new world, is modern warfare most indebted for a mitigation of its horrors, through the establishment of the first regular camp hospitals. during her war with the moors she caused a large number of tents to be furnished at her own charge, with the requisite medicines, appliances, and attendants for the wounded and sick of her army. these were known as the "queen's hospitals," and formed the inception of all the tender care given in army hospitals by the most enlightened nations of to-day. it is but a few years since christendom was thrilled by the heroism of a young english girl of high position, florence nightingale, who having passed through the course of training required for hospital nurses, voluntarily went out to the crimea at the time when english soldiers, wounded and sick, were dying by scores and thousands without medicine or care, broke over the red-tape rules of the army, and with her corps of women nurses, brought life in place of death, winning the gratitude and admiration of her country and mankind by her self-sacrifice and her powers of organization. rev. henry kinglake, in his "history of the crimea," says she brought a priceless reinforcement of brain power to the nation at a time when the brains of englishmen had given signs of inanition. a few years later brought our own civil war, and the wonderful sanitary commission, more familiarly known as "the sanitary," the public records of which are a part of the history of the war; its sacrifices and its successes have burned themselves deep into the hearts of thousands upon thousands. its fairs in new york, new england, and the northwest, were the wonders of the world in the variety and beauty of their exhibits and the vast sums realized from them. scarcely a woman in the nation, from the girl of tender years,[ ] to the aged matron of ninety, whose trembling hands scraped lint or essayed to knit socks and mittens for "the boys in blue," but knows its work, for of it they were a part. but not a hundred of all those thousands who toiled with willing hands, and who, at every battle met anew to prepare or send off stores, knows that to one of her own sex was the formation of the great sanitary due.[ ] dr. elizabeth blackwell, returning to this country from england about the time of the breaking out of the war, fresh from an acquaintance with miss nightingale, and filled with her enthusiasm, at once called an informal meeting at the new york infirmary[ ] for women and children, where, on april th, , the germ of the sanitary, known as the ladies' central relief,[ ] was inaugurated. a public meeting was held april , , at the cooper union, its object being to concentrate scattered efforts by a large and formal organization. the society then received the name of the "woman's central relief association of new york." miss louisa lee schuyler was chosen its president. she soon sent out an appeal to women which brought new york into direct connection with many other portions of the country, enabling it "to report its monthly disbursements by tens of thousands, and the sum total of its income by millions." but very soon after its organization, miss schuyler saw the need of more positive connection with the government. a united address was sent to the secretary of war from the woman's central relief association, the advisory committee of the board of physicians and surgeons of the hospitals of new york, and the new york medical association for furnishing medical supplies. as the result of this address, the sanitary commission was established the th of june, , under the authority of the government, and went into immediate operation. although acting under government authorization, this commission was not sustained at government expense, but was supported by the women of the nation. it was organized under the following general rules: . the system of sanitary relief established by army regulations was to be adopted; the sanitary commission was to acquaint itself fully with those rules, and see that its agents were familiar with all the plans and methods of the army system. . the commission was to direct its efforts mainly to strengthening the regular army system, and work to secure the favor and co-operation of the medical bureau. . the commission was to know nothing of religious differences or state distinctions, distributing without regard to the place where troops were enlisted, in a purely national spirit. under these provisions the sanitary commission completed its full organization. dr. blackwell, in the ladies' relief association, acted as chairman of the registration committee, a position of onerous duties, requiring accord with the medical bureau and war department, and visited washington in behalf of this committee. but the association soon lost her services by her own voluntary act of withdrawal. professional jealousy of women doctors being offensively shown by some of those male physicians with whom she was brought in contact, she chose to resign rather than allow sex-prejudice to obstruct the carrying on of the great work originated by her. the sanitary, with its auxiliary aid societies, at once presented a method of help to the loyal[ ] women of the country, and every city, village, and hamlet soon poured its resources into the commission. through it $ , , were raised in aid of the sick and wounded of the army. nothing connected with the war so astonished foreign nations as the work of the sanitary commission. dr. henry bellows, its president at the close of the war, declared in his farewell address, that the army of women at home had been as patriotic and as self-sacrificing as the army of men in the field, and had it not been for their aid the war could not have been brought to a successful termination.[ ] at every important period in the nation's history, woman has stood by the side of man in duties. husband, father, son, or brother have not suffered or sacrificed alone. "the old continentals in their ragged regimentals faltered not," because back of them stood the patriotic women of the thirteen colonies; those of the north-eastern pine-woods, who aided in the first naval battle of the revolution; those of massachusetts, daughters of liberty, who formed anti-tea leagues, proclaimed inherent rights, and demanded an independency in advance of the men; those of new york, who tilled the fields, and, removing their hearth-stones, manufactured saltpetre from the earth beneath, to make powder for the army; those of new jersey, who rebuked traitors; those of pennsylvania, who saved the army; those of virginia, who protested against taxation without representation; those of south carolina, who at charleston established a paper in opposition to the stamp act; those of north carolina, whose fiery patriotism secured for the counties of rowan and mecklenberg the derisive name of "the hornet's nest of america." the women of the whole thirteen colonies everywhere showed their devotion to freedom and their choice of liberty with privation, rather than oppression with luxury and ease. the civil war in our own generation was but an added proof of woman's love for freedom and her worthiness of its possession. the grandest war poem, "the battle hymn of the republic," was the echo of a woman's voice,[ ] while woman's prescience and power were everywhere manifested. she saw, before president, cabinet, generals, or congress, that slavery must die before peace could be established in the country.[ ] months previous to the issue by the president of the emancipation proclamation, women in humble homes were petitioning congress for the overthrow of slavery, and agonizing in spirit because of the dilatoriness of those in power. were proof of woman's love of freedom, of her right to freedom needed, the history of our civil war would alone be sufficient to prove that love, to establish that right. women as soldiers. many women fought in the ranks during the war, impelled by the same patriotic motives which led their fathers, husbands, and brothers into the contest. not alone from one state, or in one regiment, but from various parts of the union, women were found giving their services and lives to their country among the rank and file of the army.[ ] although the nation gladly summoned their aid in camp and hospital, and on the battle-field with the ambulance corps, it gave them no recognition as soldiers, even denying them the rights of chaplaincy,[ ] and by "army regulations" entirely refusing them recognition as part of the fighting forces of the country. historians have made no mention of woman's services in the war; scarcely referring to the vast number commissioned in the army, whose sex was discovered through some terrible wound, or by their dead bodies on the battle-field. even the volumes especially devoted to an account of woman's work in the war, have mostly ignored her as a common soldier, although the files of the newspapers of that heroic period, if carefully examined, would be found to contain many accounts of women who fought on the field of battle.[ ] gov. yates, of illinois, commissioned the wife of lieut. reynolds of the th, as major, for service in the field, the document being made out with due formality, having attached to it the great seal of state. president lincoln, more liberal than the secretary of war, himself promoted the wife of another illinois officer, named gates, to a majorship, for service in the hospital and bravery on the field. one young girl is referred to who served in seven different regiments, participated in several engagements, was twice severely wounded; had been discovered and mustered out of service eight times, but as many times had re-enlisted, although a canadian by birth, being determined to fight for the american union. hundreds of women marched steadily up to the mouth of a hundred cannon pouring out fire and smoke, shot and shell, mowing down the advancing hosts like grass; men, horses, and colors going down in confusion, disappearing in clouds of smoke; the only sound, the screaming of shells, the crackling of musketry, the thunder of artillery, through all this women were sustained by the enthusiasm born of love of country and liberty. amid "sighing shot and shrieking shell and the splintered fire of the shattered hell, and the great white breaths of the cannon smoke as the growling guns by the battery spoke. . . . . . . . . . . . . right up to the guns, black-throated and grim, right down on the hedges bordered with steel," bravely marched hundreds of women. nor was the war without its naval heroines. among the vessels captured by the pirate cruiser _retribution_, was the union brigantine, _j. p. ellicott_, of bucksport, maine, the wives of the captain and mate being on board. her officers and crew were transferred to the pirate vessel and ironed, while a crew from the latter was put on the brigantine; the wife of the mate was left on board the brig with the pirate crew. having cause to fear bad treatment at the hands of the prize-master[ ] and his mate, this woman formed the bold plan of capturing the vessel. she succeeded in getting the officers intoxicated, handcuffed them and took possession of the vessel, persuading the crew, who were mostly colored men from st. thomas, to aid her. having studied navigation with her husband on the voyage, she assumed command of the brig, directing its course to st. thomas, which she reached in safety, placing the vessel in the hands of the united states consul, who transferred the prize-master, mate, and crew to a united states steamer, as prisoners of war. her name was not given, but had this bold feat been accomplished by a man or boy, the country would have rung with praises of the daring deed, and history would have borne the echoes down to future generations. not alone on the tented field did the war find its patriotic victims. many women showed their love of country by sacrifices still greater than enlistment in the army. among these, especially notable for her surroundings and family, was annie carter lee, daughter of gen. robert e. lee, commander-in-chief of the rebel army. her father and three brothers fought against the union which she loved, and to which she adhered. a young girl, scarcely beyond her teens when the war broke out, she remained firm in her devotion to the national cause, though for this adherence she was banished by her father as an outcast from that elegant home once graced by her presence. she did not live to see the triumph of the cause she loved so well, dying the third year of the war, aged twenty-three, at jones springs, north carolina, homeless, because of her love for the union, with no relative near her, dependent for care and consolation in her last hours upon the kindly services of an old colored woman. in her veins ran pure the blood of "light-horse harry" and that of her great aunt, hannah lee corbin, who at the time of the revolution, protested against the denial of representation to taxpaying women, and whose name does much to redeem that of lee from the infamy, of late so justly adhering to it. when her father, after the war, visited his ancestral home,[ ] then turned into a vast national cemetery, it would seem as though the spirit of his union-loving daughter must have floated over him, whispering of his wrecked hopes, and piercing his heart with a thousand daggers of remorse as he recalled his blind infatuation, and the banishment from her home of that bright young life. of the three hundred and twenty-eight thousand union soldiers who lie buried in national cemeteries, many thousands with headboards marked "unknown," hundreds are those of women obliged by army regulations to fight in disguise. official records of the military authorities show that a large number of women recruits were discovered and compelled to leave the army. a much greater number escaped detection, some of them passing entirely through the campaigns, while others were made known by wounds or on being found lifeless upon the battle-field. the history of the war--which has never yet been truly written--is full of heroism in which woman is the central figure. the social and political condition of women was largely changed by our civil war. through the withdrawal of so many men from their accustomed work, new channels of industry were opened to them, the value and control of money learned, thought upon political questions compelled, and a desire for their own personal, individual liberty intensified. it created a revolution in woman herself, as important in its results as the changed condition of the former slaves, and this silent influence is still busy. its work will not have been accomplished until the chains of ignorance and selfishness are everywhere broken, and woman shall stand by man's side his recognized equal in rights as she is now in duties. clara barton. ministering on the field of battle. clara barton was the youngest child of capt. stephen barton, of oxford, mass., a non-commissioned officer under "mad anthony wayne." captain barton, who was a prosperous farmer and leader in public affairs, gave his children the best opportunities he could secure for their improvement. clara's early education was principally at home under direction of her brothers and sisters. at sixteen, she commenced teaching, and followed the occupation for several years, during which time she assisted her oldest brother, capt. stephen barton, jr., a man of fine scholarship and business capacity, in equitably arranging and increasing the salaries of the large village schools of her native place, at the same time having clerical oversight of her brother's counting-house. subsequently, she finished her school education by a very thorough course of study at clinton, n. y. miss barton's remarkable executive ability was manifested in the fact that she popularized the public school system in new jersey, by opening the first free school in bordentown, commencing with six pupils, in an old tumble-down building, and at the close of the year, leaving six hundred in the fine edifice at present occupied. at the close of her work in bordentown, she went to washington, d. c., to recuperate and indulge herself in congenial literary pursuits. there she was, without solicitation, appointed by hon. charles mason, commissioner of patents, to the first independent clerkship held by a woman under our government. her thoroughness and faithfulness fitted her eminently for this position of trust, which she retained until after the election of president buchanan, when, being suspected of republican sentiments, and judge mason having resigned, she was deposed, and a large part of her salary withheld. she returned to massachusetts and spent three years in the study of art, belles-lettres, and languages. shortly after the election of abraham lincoln, she was recalled to the patent office by the same administration which had removed her. she returned, as she had left, without question, and taking up her line of duty, awaited developments. when the civil war commenced, she refused to draw her salary from a treasury already overtaxed, resigned her clerkship and devoted herself to the assistance of suffering soldiers. her work commencing before the organization of commissions, was continued outside and altogether independent of them, but always with most cordial sympathy. miss barton never engaged in hospital service. her chosen labors were on the battle-field from the beginning, until the wounded and dead were attended to. her supplies were her own, and were carried by government transportation. nearly four years she endured the exposures and rigors of soldier life, in action, always side by side with the field surgeons, and this on the hardest fought fields; such battles as cedar mountain, second bull run, chantilly, antietam, falmouth, and old fredericksburg, siege of charleston, on morris island, at wagner, wilderness and spotsylvania, the mine, deep bottom, through sieges of petersburg and richmond, with butler and grant; through summer without shade, and winter without shelter, often weak, but never so far disabled as to retire from the field; always under fire in severe battles; her clothing pierced with bullets and torn by shot, exposed at all times, but never wounded. firm in her integrity to the union, never swerving from her belief in the justice of the cause for which the north was fighting, on the battle-field she knew no north, no south; she made her work one of humanity alone, bestowing her charities and her care indiscriminately upon the blue and the gray, with an impartiality and spartan firmness that astonished the foe and perplexed the friend, often falling under suspicion, or censure of union officers unacquainted with her motives and character for her tender care and firm protection of the wounded captured in battle. their home-thrusts were met with the same calm courage as were the bullets of the enemy, and many a confederate soldier lives to bless her for care and life, while no union man will ever again doubt her loyalty. all unconsciously to herself she was carrying out to the letter in practice the grand and beautiful principles of the red cross of geneva (of which she had never heard), for the entire _neutrality_ of war relief among the nations of the earth, that great international step toward a world-wide recognized humanity, of which she has since become the national advocate and leader in this country. [illustration: clara barton. "very sincerely yours clara barton."] at the close of the war she met exchanged prisoners at annapolis. accompanied by dorrence atwater, she conducted an expedition, sent at her request by the united states government to identify and mark the graves of the , soldiers who perished at andersonville. from savannah to that point, as theirs were the first trains which had passed since the destruction of the railroads by sherman, they were obliged to repair the bridges and the embankments, straighten bent rails, and in some places make new roads. the work was completed in august, , and her report of the expedition was issued in the winter of . the anxiety felt by the whole country for the fate of those whom the exchange of prisoners and the disbanding of troops failed to reveal, stimulated her to devise the plan of relief, which, sanctioned by president lincoln, resulted in the "search for missing men," which (except the printing) was carried on entirely at her own expense, to the extent of several thousand dollars, employing from ten to fifteen clerks. in the winter of ' , when she was on the point, for want of further means to carry out her plan, of turning the search over to the government, congress voted $ , for reimbursing moneys expended, and carrying on the work. the search was continued until , and then a full report made and accepted by congress. during the winter of - miss barton was called on to lecture before many lyceums regarding the incidents of the war. in , her health failing, she went to switzerland to rest and recover, where she was at the breaking out of the franco-prussian war, and immediately tendered her services there, as here, on the battle-field, under the auspices of the red cross of geneva. her royal highness the grand duchess of baden, daughter of the emperor of germany, invited miss barton to aid her in the establishment of her noble badise hospitals, a work which consumed several months. on the fall of strasburg she entered the city with the german army, organized labor for women, conducting the enterprise herself, employing remuneratively a great number, and clothing over thirty thousand. she entered metz with hospital supplies the day of its fall, and paris the day after the fall of the commune. here she remained two months, distributing money and clothing which she carried, and afterward met the poor in every besieged city in france, extending succor to them. she is a representative of the "international red cross of geneva," and president of the american national association of the red cross, honorary and only woman member of "comité de strasbourgeois"; was decorated with the "gold cross of remembrance" by the grand duke and duchess of baden, and with the "iron cross of merit" by the emperor and empress of germany. miss barton may be said to have given her whole life to humanitarian affairs, largely national in character. the positions she has occupied, whether remunerative or not--and she has filled but few paid positions--have been pioneer ones, in which her efforts and success have been to raise the standard of woman's work and its recognition and remuneration. her time, her property, and her influence have been held sacred to benevolence of that character that will assist in true progress. nevertheless, she is one of the most retiring of women, never voluntarily coming before the world except at the call of manifest duty, and shrinking with peculiar sensitiveness from anything verging on notoriety. her summers are passed at her pleasant country residence at dansville, new york, where she has regained in a most gratifying degree her shattered health and war-worn strength, and her winters in washington in the interests and charge of the great international movement which she represents in america. josephine sophie griffing. _the national freedman's relief association._ by catharine a. f. stebbins. josephine sophie white was born at hebron, conn., december, , and was educated in her native state. she grew to young womanhood in the pure and religious atmosphere of the new england hills, and developed a strength of constitution and character which was the basis of her truly beneficent life-work. refined, sympathetic, and conscientious, with the golden rule for her text, her career was ever marked with deeds of kindness and charity to the oppressed of every class. taking an active part in both the "anti-slavery" and "woman's rights" struggles, she early learned the very alphabet of liberty. with her the perception of its blessings and its glory was also a rich inheritance, and the vigilance and courage to conquer and secure it for others was not less a noble legacy. the love of liberty flowed down to her through two streams of life. on the mother's side she was descended from peter waldo[ ], after whom the waldenses were named; and on the father's, from peregrine white, who was born in massachusetts in , the first child of pilgrim parents. it is not strange she was by temperament and constitution a reformer, and a protestant against all despotisms, whether of mind, body, or estate. in the agitation for human rights of one class after another, in their historical order, she enlisted with the abolitionists, with the woman suffragists, with the loyal league and sanitary workers, and after the war, in relief of the freedmen. her interest in her own sex began early, and continued to the last. at the age of twenty-two she married, and about the year removed with her family to ohio, where her home soon became the refuge of the fugitive slave, and the resting-place of his defenders. in she began, with her husband, chas. s. s. griffing, her public labors in connection with the "american" and the "western anti-slavery societies," speaking at first to small audiences in school-houses, and when prejudice and bitterness gave way, to conventions, and mass-meetings; opposition and curiosity yielding finally to sympathy and aid. but for years the meetings were often broken up by mobs. the effort to uproot slavery was pronounced either absurd, treasonable, or irreligious; that it would incite insurrection of the slaves; or if successful, bring great responsibility upon the abolitionists, and disaster to the whole country. in , mrs. griffing, prompted by the same loyal spirit that moved all the women of the nation, turned from the ordinary occupations of life to see what she could do to mitigate the miseries of the war. she united at once with "the national woman's loyal league," lecturing and organizing societies in the west for the soldiers and freedmen, to whom large quantities of clothing and other supplies were sent, and circulating petitions to congress for the emancipation of slaves as a war measure. while thus engaged, her thoughts naturally turned to the large number of southern slaves coming with the army into washington, whose future she foresaw would be beset with distress and want during the long period of change from chattelism to the settled habits of freedom. they were coming by the hundreds and thousands in , with a vague idea of being cared for by "the governor," but the government had as yet made no provision, separate from that for the soldiers, when mrs. griffing went to washington and began her labors for them, which were continued until her death. she at once counseled with president lincoln and secretary stanton as to the best methods for immediate relief; proposed plans which they approved, and received from them every aid possible in their execution. her first step was to open three ration-houses, where she fed at least a thousand of the old and most destitute of the freed people daily. she visited hundreds in the alleys and old stables, in attics and cellars, and in almost every place where shelter could be found, and became acquainted personally with their necessities, and the best means of supplying them. there were , in the capital at this time, and it would be difficult to give an idea to one not there, of the time and labor it cost to hunt out the old barracks and get them transformed into shelters for these outcasts. upon the personal order of the secretary of war, she was allowed army blankets and wood, which she distributed herself, going with the army wagons to see that those suffering most were first supplied. this "temporary relief" was necessarily continued for some time, during which mrs. griffing was made the general agent of "the national freedman's relief association of the district of columbia." she opened a correspondence with the aid societies of the northern and new england states, which resulted in her receiving supplies of clothing and provisions, which were most acceptable. these were carefully dispensed by herself and two daughters, who were her assistants. mrs. griffing opened three industrial schools, where the women were taught to sew;[ ] a price was set on their labors, and they were paid in ready-made garments. the secretary aided in the purchase of suitable cloth, and with that sent from the north, such outfits were supplied as could be afforded. it was soon apparent to mrs. griffing that the government must provide for the old and the infirm, and that until labor could be found, even a majority of the strong must be included in the provision--with the understanding, however, that they must seek employment and exert themselves to find homes--and that educational and political interests must be established and encouraged. the stress of the situation can not be said ever to have relaxed during our friend's life, except as to numbers--at any rate in the early years; but as soon as some system grew out of the confusion, and all that could be, were supplied with bread and shelter, she turned her attention in part to the larger plan, and urged a bureau under government; a department for these freedmen's interests. this plan was favored by messrs. sumner, wade, wilson, and a few other senators and members of congress, and in december, , a bill for a bureau of emancipation was introduced in the house of representatives by hon. mr. elliot, of massachusetts. it received no welcome; few cared to listen to the details of the necessity, and it was only through mrs. griffing's brave and unwearied efforts that the plan was accepted, and carried through in march, , under the title of "the freedman's bureau." the writer has had testimony to the truth of this from senators wade of ohio, howard of michigan, and others, as well as to the fact that a majority of the congressional committee in charge of the bill, wished that mrs. griffing should be made commissioner (among whom, and most active in support of the bill, was senator henry wilson), but it was decided to place the bureau in the war department, with a military man at the head, mrs. griffing being appointed "assistant commissioner." she really held the position but a few weeks--in name, five months--a second military officer standing ready to take the appointment, as men have ever done, and as they will always crowd women aside so long as they are held political inferiors, without the citizen's charter to sustain their claim. this officer had the title and drew the pay, while our noble friend went on as before in her arduous and almost superhuman labors. the bureau adopted _her_ plan of finding homes in the north, sending the freedmen at government charge, and of opening employment offices in new york city and in providence, r. i.; nevertheless it was necessary to supplement government provision by private generosity; and moreover, that congress should provide temporary relief for the helpless in the district. appropriations were made in sums of $ , , amounting in all to nearly $ , , for the purchase of supplies, a very large proportion of which were distributed by mrs. griffing in person from her own residence.[ ] "shirley dare," in writing to _the new york world_, after a little time spent with mrs. g., said: "i sat an hour this morning in mrs. griffing's office during the distribution of rations, and a curious scene it was. there was not a sound creature among the crowd which filled the yard, and which hangs about all day from nine till four, and which the neighborhood calls 'mrs. griffing's signs.' it reminded me of another crowd of impotent folk, lame, halt, and blind, which filled the loveliest space in jerusalem, and was a _sign_ of joy and charity in the place. queer, tender, wistful faces, so earnest one forgets their grotesque character and ragged, faded forms, cluster in the porch; such a set as one might once have seen put up at auction as a 'refuse lot' of plantation negroes. the men wear old army cloaks, while the women, with dresses in every stage of decay, are so comic, one struggles between the ludicrous and the pitiful.... the faith of this class seems to be fastened nowhere so strongly as upon mrs. griffing. salutations follow her along the streets, enough to satisfy the proudest pharisee, and it provokes one between a smile and a tear, to see the women waiting timidly, yet eagerly, for a word from her, to set their faces all aglow. they used to say, persistently, 'we belongs to you,' and no efforts could induce them to change that phrase. 'who has we but the lord and you?' was the simple argument which stayed protest from the kind, proud woman who was their benefactress. a few words from her will draw out histories simple, funny, and sad beyond question." our friend had a strong belief that the able in body could sustain themselves if labor were provided, which it could not be there, so she urged them to go to the north, which greatly needed laborers to fill the places of northern men in the army. woman's help, too, was as much in demand, for in many places large farms were wholly managed by women in the absence of husbands and sons; but it was learned by mrs. griffing and daughters through repeated testimony, that the life-long teaching of the slaves had been, that no good could come from northern people,[ ] and this led the many in their pitiable ignorance to believe that, somewhere in the north, the monsters surely lived who were waiting to destroy them, and that the kind few whom they had met were of a different race; that "the north" was beyond the sea, and they could never return, nor hear from their friends left behind; so persistent argument was needed to convince the most ignorant of their false notions, and many of them never were, until some had gone and returned with good tidings. the first company prepared to go numbered sixty persons, for whom mrs. griffing procured government transportation and a day's rations. she went with them to new york city, and as they passed from the cars the sight was a new and strange one. filing through the streets, the anxious, wondering women dressed partly in neat garments given them, with others of their own selection in less good taste; while on the men an occasional damaged silk hat topped off a coat that would have made joseph's of old look plain; with ironclad army shoes; or a half-worn wedding swallow-tail, eked out by a plantation broad-brim, and boots too much worn for either comfort or beauty. this motley band, led by a gentle and spiritual-faced woman, will not soon be forgotten by those who saw it depart. leaving a few at one depot, and a few at another, to be met at the journey's end by their employer, mrs. griffing took those remaining to providence, near which place homes had been provided. after these sent messages back to friends, others went more readily, and during a little more than two years over seven thousand freed people left washington under mrs. griffing's special supervision and direction for homes in the north. i wish i could say how many parties she actually convoyed on the journey, and how many miles she traveled, but i know that she went as far as new york with a great many; and as i have seen them start, knew and felt that it was too much for her, and longed that some stronger person should appear to share her burdens, and relieve her from these exhausting duties. perhaps she had written letters till twelve o'clock the night before; had taken a long walk beyond the navy-yard cars, in the afternoon, to visit her centenarians; or had received calls, and talked till her voice had almost given out. but she had the comfort of knowing that many remained where they had been sent, some buying homes and planting vines about the roof-tree. to behold this, she had wrought heroically in the past for emancipation. she was busy with her hands, busier with her brain, and her spiritual nature was like a spring of sweet waters, overflowing in bounteous blessing on all around. of the great painter leonardo da vinci, his biographer says: "he always saw four things he wanted to do at once." our friend always saw many more. her mind was teeming not only with ideals as beautiful as those of the great artist, but with practical plans to educate the ignorant, and lift them to self-support and self-protection. her being was instinct with constructive and spiritual force. it would be hard to find any sphere of woman's activity in which she had not been leader. believing that "the manifest intention of nature is the perfection of man," she faithfully did her part. in the laborious and the menial she served the colored poor, while she neglected no opportunity to open their spiritual vision. she fed, warmed, and clothed them; ministered to the sick; attended the dying; procured their coffins; spoke the comforting words, and sung the hymns at their funerals. she instructed them in their sunday meetings, and gained release for those in prison for petty offences, or for those unjustly accused. soldiers often appealed to her to assist and aid them. her work at the jails was very wearing, for the poor creatures, not unfrequently the mother of an infant left at home, arrested for an imaginary offense, or for _stealing_ bread to avert starvation, would _plead_ so hard for her to get them released, and had such full faith that she could, that it was a constant tax upon her sympathy and strength, as was all her work connected with them. josephine griffing had to deal too much with the realities of life and death to make many records of her work, save those required in the routine of her office. these were mostly kept by her daughter emma, her official assistant. but the substance of what was done in these years may be found in the archives of the government. on the calendar of both houses of congress, in the _congressional globe_, in the war office, in the freedman's bureau, in the offices of district government and district courts, and perhaps in the prisons, the future historian may find abundant records of the patient and humane labors of this merciful, vigilant, and untiring woman. whether he finds them in her name is not so certain! mrs. griffing not only devoted to these people the six days of the week allotted to labor, but her sundays were given to public ministrations as well as private visits to the distant and aged, unable to come to the relief rooms during the week. but for a real picture of the condition of these people, nothing can be more graphic or full of feeling, than her own account in a letter to lucretia mott,[ ] intended as an appeal to the society of friends in philadelphia. it, with others, had early responded, and with its contributions in part, she had established the soup-houses before noted. her account is also in connection with the bureau, of historical interest. during this long struggle her evenings were spent in writing letters to the north, framing bills, petitions, and appeals to amend the laws of the district. as she was interested in all the reforms of the day, she was frequently called upon for active service in conventions and political gatherings. of the public men whom she consulted, two at least, i know, made everybody and everything yield when she appeared; these were secretary stanton and chas. sumner--so interested were they in the objects of her devotion, and so sure that mrs. griffing would not take their time without sufficient reason. benj. f. wade and henry wilson would not yield the palm in their respect to her, and senator howard, of michigan, was also one of her most friendly helpers. stevens, julian, dawes, ashley--all the friends in congress--could tell of her great achievements, and their unbounded confidence in her, as the following letters show: washington, d. c., _march , ._ _to the commissioner of the freedman's bureau_: sir:--i take pleasure in giving my influence to this application for a place at the head of freedmen's affairs in the district of columbia for mrs. josephine s. griffing, believing her to be eminently qualified to develop the resources of the freed people in this district, most of whom are women and children--secure the national interest, and give satisfaction to the country. mrs. griffing has given successful public and private efforts in behalf of the colored race for many years, and has devoted the entire time of the last year to an investigation of the condition and best method of giving relief to the multitudes of freed people in and around the national capital. finding many thousands of women with families without employment or the means of self-support, she has conferred with the president and governors of the northwestern states upon the practicability of encouraging their emigration. to meet the destitution of these people in this city during the past winter, mrs. griffing has disbursed from the government about $ , in wood and blankets and rations, and $ , in clothing and money from the public charity. i believe the appointment of mrs. j. s. griffing to a chief clerkship or general agency for the district in this bureau will be creditable to the government and satisfactory to the freed people. z. chandler. i fully concur with my colleague. mrs. griffing is both worthy and capable, and i trust her services will be secured. j. m. howard. if i had this appointment to make, i would make mrs. griffing commissioner. j. m. ashley. i know mrs. griffing to be capable and humane, and very devoted to the colored race. i hope that her services may be secured. charles sumner. i most cheerfully join in this recommendation. h. wilson, j. n. grimes. i fully concur in the above, and hope that mrs. griffing will receive a conspicuous place in the freedman's bureau. she is the best qualified of any person within my knowledge; her whole heart is in the work. b. f. wade, solomon foot, ira harris, e. d. morgan, w. p. fessenden. i most fully concur. j. v. driggs, t. w. ferry. i fully concur in all that is said within in behalf of mrs. griffing, and earnestly commend her to the favor sought. geo. w. julian. washington, _july , _. mrs. griffing has for several years devoted herself with great industry, intelligence, and success to the freed people in the district of columbia, and in this service she has accomplished more good than any other one individual within my acquaintance. when the war department was in my charge, she rendered very efficient aid of a humane character to relieve the wants and sufferings of destitute freed people, and was untiring in her benevolent exertions. property for distribution was often placed in her hands, or under her directions, and she was uniformly trustworthy and skillful in its management and administration. in my judgment, she is entitled to the most full confidence and trust. edwin m. stanton. jefferson, ohio, _nov. , _. my dear mrs. griffing:--on my return from washington i found your kind letter of the th, ult. i regret much that i did not meet with you at washington. i know your merits. i know that no person in america has done so much for the cause of humanity for the last four years as you have. your disinterested labors have saved hundreds of poor human beings not only the greatest destitution and misery, but from actual starvation and death. i also know that in doing this you have not only devoted your whole time, but all the property you have. and i know, too, that your labors are just as necessary now as they ever have been. others know all this as well as i do. secretary stanton can vouch for it all, and i can not doubt that congress will not only pay you for what you have done, but give you a position where this necessary work may be done by you effectually. this is the very thing that ought to be done at once. since the bureau has been abolished it will be impossible to get along with the great influx of imbecility and destitution which gathers and centers in washington every winter, without some one being appointed to see to it, and certainly everybody knows that there is no one so competent for this work as yourself. to this end i will do whatever i can, but you know that i am now out of place, and have no influence at court, but whatever i can do to effect so desirable an object will be done. truly yours, b. f. wade. senate chamber, _april _. dear madam:--i have your note of the st, and am very sorry to hear that there is so much distress in the city. i shall endeavor to bring the charter up as soon as i have an opportunity; but while this trial is pending,[ ] it is improbable that any legislative business will be done. i am as anxious as you are to secure its adoption. yours truly, charles sumner. mrs. j. s. griffing, washington. boston, _ th july, _. dear madam:--the statement or memorial which you placed in my hands was never printed. it is, probably, now on the files of the senate. i wish i could help your effort with the secretary of war. you must persevere. if gen. rawlins understands the case, he will do all that you desire. accept my best wishes, and believe me, faithfully yours, charles sumner. will mrs. griffing let mr. sumner know what institution or person should disburse the money appropriated? senate chamber, tuesday. letters on the freedman's relief association. washington, _april , ' _. _to the mayor and board of common council, city of washington, district of columbia_: messrs.:--i have the honor to state that the aged, sick, crippled, and blind persons, for whom the national freedman's relief association of this district partially provides, are at this time in very great destitution, many of them in extreme suffering for want of food and fuel. the association has provided clothing. it is now twelve weeks since the government appropriation for their temporary support for the last year was exhausted. this association has by soliciting contributions, up to this time, relieved the most extreme cases, that otherwise must have died; but the want of food is so great among at least a thousand of these, not one of whom is able _to labor_ for a support, that it is impossible to provide the absolute relief they must have, by further contributions from the charitable and the humane. i would therefore most earnestly appeal in their behalf, that the hon. council and mayor will appropriate from the market fund for their temporary relief one thousand dollars, to be disbursed by the above-named association, which sum will enable these destitute persons to subsist until, as is hoped and believed, congress will make the usual special appropriation for their partial temporary support. this association to report the use of such money to the mayor and common council of the city of washington, d. c. very respectfully, j. s. griffing, _general agent n. f. r. association, d. c._ tribune office, new york, _sept. , _. mrs. griffing:--in my judgment you and others who wish to befriend the blacks crowded into washington, do them great injury. had they been told years ago, "you _must_ find work; go out and seek it," they would have been spared much misery. they are an easy, worthless race, taking no thought for the morrow, and liking to lean on those who befriend them. your course aggravates their weaknesses, when you should raise their ambition and stimulate them to self-reliance. unless you change your course speedily and signally, the swarming of blacks to the district will increase, and the argument that slavery is their natural condition will be immeasurably strengthened. so long as they look to others to calculate and provide for them, they are not truly free. if there be any woman capable of earning wages who would rather some one else than herself should pay her passage to the place where she can have work, then she needs reconstruction and awakening to a just and honest self-reliance. yours, horace greeley. mrs. j. s. griffing, washington, d. c. _sept. , _. horace greeley: dear sir:--much as i respect your judgment, and admire your candor, i must express entire dissent with your views in reference to those who are laboring to befriend the freedmen, and also of your estimate of the character of the black race. when you condemn my work for the old slaves, who can not labor, and are "crowded into washington" by force of events uncontrollable, as a "great injury," i am at a loss to perceive your estimate of any and all benevolent action. if, to provide houses, food, clothing, and other physical comforts, to those broken-down aged slaves whom we have liberated in their declining years, when all their strength is gone, and for whom no home, family friendship, or subsistence is furnished; if this is a "great injury," in my judgment there is no call for alms-house, hospital, home, or asylum in human society, and all appropriations of sympathy and material aid are worse than useless, and demand your earnest rebuke and discountenance, and to the unfortunates crowded into these institutions, you should say, "you must find work, go out and seek it." so far as an humble individual can be, i am substituting to these a freedman's (relief) bureau; sanitary commission; church sewing society, to aid the poor; orphan asylum; old people's home; hospital and alms-house for the sick and the blind; minister-at-large, to visit the sick, console the dying, and bury the dead; and wherein i fail, and perhaps you discriminate, is the want of wealthy, popular, and what is called honorable associations. were these at my command, with the field before me, it would be easy to illustrate the practical use as well as the divine origin of the golden rule. if, in your criticism, you refer to my secondary department in which i have labored to furnish employment to the freedmen both in the district and out, is it not a direct reflection upon all efforts made for the distribution of labor? is my course more aggravating to the weakness of destitute unemployed freed people, than emigrant societies, intelligence offices, benevolent ladies' societies, and young men's christian associations, to give work to the poor of all nations; and lastly the government indian department, that has wisely called to its aid the american missionary, and the quaker societies, to farm out the poor indians? or, if the measures put forth by these admissible agents can raise the ambition and stimulate to self-reliance their beneficiaries, will you be good enough to show wherein the same means, which i claim to employ, must have the opposite effect upon the freedmen crowded into washington. is it possible that the swarming of the irish, swiss, and german poor, to the city of new york, is attributable to the intelligence offices and immigration societies of your city, and not, as we have supposed, to the want of work and bread at home, and is there really a danger, that in providing and calculating for them, we shall strengthen the argument of race, while our institutions of charity are filled with descendants of the saxon, the norman, the goth, and the vandal? i think not. respectfully yours, josephine s. griffing. _from the new national era._ mrs. josephine s. griffing the originator of the freedmen's bureau. this truly excellent and noble woman was fitly spoken of in the _new national era_ just after her death, but at that early date it was not possible to obtain the facts to prove the statement at the head of this article, which is but simple truth and historic justice. mrs. griffing was engaged in an arduous work for the loyal league in the northwest in , and foresaw the need of a comprehensive system of protection, help, and education, for the slaves in the trying transition of freedom. she sought counsel and aid from fit persons in ohio and michigan, and came here only in to begin her work of urging the plan of a bureau for that purpose. nothing daunted by coldness or indifference she nobly persisted, until in december, , a bill for a bureau of emancipation was introduced in the house of representatives by hon t. d. elliott, of massachusetts. after some changes in the bill, and a committee of conference of the house and senate, and the valuable aid of sumner, wilson, and other senators, the bill for the freedman's bureau finally passed in march, , and was signed by president lincoln just before his assassination. the original idea was mrs. griffing's; her untiring efforts gave it life, and it is but just that the colored people, of the south especially, should bear in grateful remembrance this able and gentle woman, whose life and strength were spent for their poor sufferers, and who called into useful existence that great national charity, the freedman's bureau. the following letter from william lloyd garrison to giles b. stebbins, then in washington, corroborates the above statements: roxbury, mass., _march , _. my dear friend: ... i was glad to see the well-merited tributes paid by yourself and others to the memory of mrs. josephine s. griffing. she was, for a considerable period, actively engaged in the anti-slavery struggle in ohio, where by her rare executive ability and persuasiveness as a public lecturer, she aided greatly in keeping the abolition flag flying, enlightening and changing public sentiment, and hastening the year of jubilee. with what unremitting zeal and energy did she espouse the cause of the homeless, penniless, benighted, starving freedmen, driven by stress of circumstances into the national capital in such overwhelming numbers; and what a multitude were befriended and saved through her moving appeals in their behalf! how like an angel of mercy must she have seemed to them all! no doubt the formation of the freedman's bureau was mainly due to her representations as to its indispensable necessity; and how much good was done by that instrumentality in giving food, clothing, and protection to those who were so suddenly brought out of the house of bondage, as against the ferocity of the rebel element, it is difficult to compute because of its magnitude. she deserves to be gratefully remembered among "the honorable women not a few," who, in their day and generation, have been "those starry lights of virtue that diffuse, through the dark depths of time their vital flame," whose self-abnegation and self-sacrifice in the cause of suffering humanity having been absolute, and who have nobly vindicated every claim made by their sex to full equality with men in all that serves to dignify human nature. her rightful place is among "the noble army of martyrs," for her life was undoubtedly very much shortened by her many cares and heavy responsibilities and excessive labors in behalf of the pitiable objects of her sympathy and regard. very truly yours, william lloyd garrison. parker pillsbury, in a letter to mrs. stebbins says: "the anti-slavery conflict could never boast a braver, truer, abler advocate than josephine griffing. it was always an honor and inspiration to stand by her side, no matter how fierce the encounter. i have seen her when an infuriated mob assailed our conventions, and dashed down doors, windows, seats, stoves, tables, everything that would yield to their demoniac rage, stand amid the ruins calm and unmoved, and with her gentle words of remonstrance shame the intruders, until one by one they shrank away, glad to get out of her sight. her beautiful home hospitalities; her warm welcome ever extended to the faithful friends of freedom and humanity, were equal to her unshaken courage and self-control in public assemblies. we used to call that humble home in litchfield, 'the saint's rest,' and such it was to many a fugitive slave, as well as soldier in his cause. to the first demand for the enfranchisement of women in , mrs. griffing heartily responded, and in this reform she was ever untiring in effort, wise in counsel, and eminent in public speech. in she helped to organize the universal franchise association of the district of columbia, of which she was president for years. she was also corresponding secretary of the national woman suffrage association, and was ever considered the organizing power at washington. she first suggested the importance of annual conventions at the capital, in order to influence congressional action. mrs. griffing's last appearance in public was at the may anniversary of the national woman suffrage association, held in new york in , and so feeble was her condition that a screen was placed behind her to enable the audience to hear her voice. at the close of the convention she went to the home of her childhood, in hebron, conn., hoping that the bracing air of the new england hills would give her new life and strength, until she could finish her work. but it was already finished. she had taxed herself to the uttermost, beyond nature's power to recuperate. in november she returned to washington, and enjoyed the sweet presence and tender care of her daughters until she passed away on feb. , . the ladies' national covenant. after the war was fairly inaugurated, the manufactories of the country largely turned their attention to the production of material required by the army, which, combined with the immense number of volunteers from such avocations, and the rise in prices of all home manufactures, created an immense import of foreign goods, which, pouring into our country when gold was at the highest, brought to our doors a danger no less formidable than that of the rebellion. it was shown from official returns, in , that during a period of nine months, the imports, at the port of new york alone, amounted to $ , , in gold; equal, including exchange, freight, insurance, etc., to twice that sum, while our exports amounted to only $ , , in paper. this ruinous state of our trade brought on us the taunts of foreign enemies, and roused the attention of the country to devise some method of meeting the new danger; congress temporarily raised duties fifty per cent. in hopes of stemming the tide of importation. the patriotic women of the nation, ever on the alert for methods of aiding the country, early in called a meeting of the loyal women of washington, at which time an association, pledging women to the use of home manufactures, was formed under the name of "the ladies' national covenant," with offices in every state and territory within the national lines. mrs. general jas. taylor was elected president; mrs. stephen a. douglas, vice-president; mrs. rebecca gillis and miss virginia smith, recording secretaries; with ten corresponding secretaries, of whom mrs. h. c. ingersoll was the most active. this association, formed for the purpose of encouraging domestic manufactures, was composed at its first meeting of the wives of members of the cabinet and of senators and representatives, women of fashion, popular authoresses, mothers who had lost their sons, and wives who had lost their husbands. an advisory and organizing committee was appointed, consisting of women from each state and territory within the national line. an address to the women of america was issued, and a constitution consisting of eleven sections, together with the following pledge, was adopted: the pledge. for three years, or during the war, we pledge ourselves to each other and the country, to purchase no imported goods where those of american manufacture can be obtained, such as "dress goods of velvet, silks, grenadines, india crape, and imported organdies, india lace and broche shawls, fine wrought laces and embroideries, watches and precious stones, hair ornaments, fans, artificial flowers and feathers, carpets, furniture, silks and velvets, painted china, ormolu, bronze, marble, ornaments, and mirrors." the emblem of this covenant was a black or gilt bee, worn as a pin fastening the national colors, upon the hair, arm, or bosom, as a public recognition of membership. in august of the same year the secretary stated that orders for the emblem, the badge of the covenant, were received by the manufacturer of the pin from all parts of the union. a meeting was held in new york, rooms opened in great jones street, and the covenant was in a fair way to assume large proportions. when lee's capitulation was announced the necessity for the covenant ended, and with peace, trade was allowed to drift into its natural channels. anna elizabeth dickinson. foremost among the women who understood the political significance of the great conflict, was miss dickinson, a young girl of quaker ancestry, who possessed remarkable oratorical power, a keen sense of justice, and an intense earnestness of purpose. in the heated discussions of anti-slavery conventions, she had acquired a clear comprehension of the province of laws and constitutions; of the fundamental principles of governments, and the rights of man. like a meteor, she appeared suddenly in the political horizon, as if born for the eventful times in which she lived, and inspired by the dangers that threatened the life of the republic. at the very beginning of the war her radical utterances were heard at different points in her native state.[ ] her admirable speech on the higher law, first made at kennett square, and the discussion that followed, in which miss dickinson maintained her position with remarkable clearness and coolness for one of her years, were a surprise to all who listened. the flattering reports of this meeting in several of the philadelphia journals introduced her at once to the public. on the evening of february , , she addressed eight hundred people in concert hall, philadelphia. this was her first appearance before so large an assembly, and the first time she had the sole responsibility of entertaining an audience for an entire evening. she spoke two full hours extemporaneously, and the lecture was pronounced a success, not only by the press, but by the many notables and professional men present. although it was considered a marvelous performance for a young girl, miss dickinson herself was mortified, as she said, with the length of her speech and its lack of point, order, and arrangement. soon after, she entered the united states mint, to labor from seven o'clock in the morning to six at night. although she was ever faithful to her duties and skillful in everything she undertook, soon becoming the most rapid adjuster in the mint, her radical criticisms on the war and its leaders cost her the loss of the place. at a meeting just after the battle of ball's bluff, in summing up the record, after exonerating stone and baker, she said, "future history will show that this battle was lost not through ignorance and incompetence, but through the treason of the commanding general, george b. mcclellan, and time will vindicate the truth of my assertion." she was hissed all over the house, though some cried, "go on!" "go on!" she repeated this startling assertion three times, and each time was hissed. when gen. mcclellan was running against lincoln in , after she had achieved a world-wide reputation, she was sent by the republican committee of pennsylvania to this same town, to speak to the same people, in the same hall. in again summing up the incidents of the war, when she came to ball's bluff, she said, "i say now, as i said three years ago, history will record that this battle was lost, not through ignorance or incompetence, but through the treason of the commanding general, george b. mcclellan." "and time has vindicated your assertion," was shouted all over the house. it was the speech made in , that cost her her place in the mint, for while laboring there daily with her hands, her mind was not inactive nor indifferent to the momentous events transpiring about her. she kept a close watch of the progress of the war, and the policy of the republican leaders. when ex-governor pollock dismissed her, he admitted that his reason was that westchester speech, for at that time mcclellan was the idol of the nation.[ ] with remarkable prescience all through the war, and the period of reconstruction, miss dickinson took the advance position. wendell phillips used to say that "she was the young elephant sent forward to try the bridges to see if they were safe for older ones to cross." when wily politicians found that her criticisms were applauded by immense audiences, they gained courage to follow her lead. as popular thought was centering everywhere on national questions, miss dickinson thought less of the special wrongs of women and negroes and more of the causes of revolutions and the true basis of government; hence she spoke chiefly on the political aspects of the war, and thus made herself available in party politics at once. in the intervals of public speaking, she made frequent visits to the government hospitals, and became a most welcome guest among our soldiers. in long conversations with them, she learned their individual histories, experiences, hardships, and sufferings; the motives that prompted them to go into the army; what they saw there; what they thought of war in their hours of solitude, away from the camp and the battle-field. thus she acquired an insight into the soldier's life and feelings, and from these narratives drew her materials for that deeply interesting lecture on hospital life, which she delivered in many parts of the country. this lecture, given in concord, new hampshire, in the autumn of , was the turning-point of her fortunes. in this speech she proved slavery to be the cause of the war, that its continuance would result in prolonged suffering to our soldiers, defeat to our armies, and the downfall of the republic. she related many touching incidents of her experiences in hospital life, and drew such vivid pictures of the horrors of both war and slavery, that by her pathos and logic, she melted her audience to tears, and forced the most prejudiced minds to accept her conclusions. it was on this occasion that the secretary of the state central committee heard her for the first time. he remarked to a friend at the close of the lecture, "if we can get this girl to make that speech all through new hampshire we can carry the republican ticket in the coming election." fully appreciating her magnetic power over an audience, he resolved at once, that if the state committee refused to invite her, he should do so on his own responsibility. but through his influence she was invited by the republican committee, and on the first of march commenced her regular campaign speeches. during the four weeks before election she spoke twenty times, everywhere to crowded, enthusiastic audiences. her march through the state was a succession of triumphs, and ended in a republican victory. the member in the first district having no faith that a woman could influence politics, sent word to the secretary, "don't send that damn woman down here to defeat my election." the secretary replied, "we have work enough for her to do in other districts without interfering with you." but when the would-be honorable gentleman saw the furor she created, he changed his mind, and inundated the secretary with letters to have her sent there. but the secretary replied, "it is too late; the programme is arranged and published throughout the state; you would not have her when you could, and now you can not have her when you will." it is pleasant to record that this man, who had the moral hardihood to send a profane adjective over the wires, with the name of this noble girl, lost his election. while all other districts went strongly republican, his was lost by a large majority. when the news came that the republicans had carried the state, due credit was awarded to anna dickinson. the governor-elect made personal acknowledgment that her eloquent speeches had secured his election. she was serenaded, feasted, and feted, the recipient of many valuable presents, and eulogized by the press and the people. new hampshire safe, all eyes were now turned to connecticut. the contest there was between seymour and buckingham. it was generally conceded that, if seymour was elected, connecticut would give no more money or troops for the war. the republicans were completely disheartened. they said nothing could prevent the democrats from carrying the state by four thousand, while the democrats boasted that they would carry it by ten thousand. though the issue was one of such vital importance, there seemed so little hope of success, that the republicans were disposed to give it up without making an effort. and no resistance to this impending calamity was made until anna dickinson went into the state, and galvanized the desponding loyalists to life. she spent two weeks there, and completely turned the tide of popular sentiment. democrats, in spite of the scurrilous attacks made on her by some of their leaders and editors, received her everywhere with the warmest welcome, tore off their party badges, substituted her likeness, and applauded whatever she said. the halls where she spoke were so densely packed, that republicans stayed away to make room for the democrats, and the women were shut out to give place to those who could vote. there never was such enthusiasm over an orator in this country. the period of her advent, the excited condition of the people, her youth, beauty, and remarkable voice, and wonderful magnetic power, all heightened the effect of her genius, and helped to produce this result. her name was on every lip; ministers preached about her, prayed for her, as a second joan of arc, raised up by god to save that state to the loyal party, and through it the nation to freedom and humanity. as the election approached, the excitement was intense; and when at last it was announced that the state was saved by a few hundred votes, the joy and gratitude of the crowds knew no bounds. they shouted and hurrahed for anna dickinson, serenaded her with full bands of music, sent her books, flowers, and ornaments, manifesting in every way their love and loyalty to this gifted girl, who through so many years had bravely struggled with poverty to this proud moment of success in her country's cause. some leading gentlemen of the state who had invited her there presented her a gold watch and chain, a hundred dollars for every night she had spoken, and four hundred for the last night before election, in hartford. the comments of the press, though most flattering, give the reader but a faint idea of the enthusiasm of the people.[ ] fresh from the victories in new hampshire and connecticut, she was announced to speak in cooper institute, new york. that meeting, in may, , was the most splendid ovation to a woman's genius since fanny kemble, in all the wealth of her youth, beauty, and wonderful dramatic power, appeared on the american stage for the first time. there never was such excitement over any meeting in new york; hundreds went away unable even to get standing places in the lobbies and outer halls. the platform was graced with the most distinguished men and women in the country, and so crowded that the young orator had scarce room to stand. there were clergymen, generals, admirals, judges, lawyers, editors, the literati, and leaders of fashion, and all alike ready to do homage to this simple girl, who moved them alternately to laughter and tears, to bursts of applause and the most profound silence. henry ward beecher, who presided, introduced the speaker in his happiest manner. for nearly two hours she held that large audience with intense interest and enthusiasm, and when she finished with a beautiful peroration, the people seemed to take a long breath, as if to find relief from the intensity of their emotions. loud cries followed for mr. beecher; but he arose, and with great feeling and solemnity, said: "let no man open his lips here to-night; music is the only fitting accompaniment to the eloquent utterances we have heard." the hutchinsons closed with one of their soul-stirring ballads, and the audience slowly dispersed, singing the john brown song with thrilling effect, as they marched into the street.[ ] after her remarkable success in new york, the philadelphia union league invited her to speak in that city. the invitation, signed by leading republicans, she readily accepted. judge wm. d. kelley presided, and a most appreciative audience greeted her. in this address, reviewing the incidents of the war, she criticised general mcclellan as usual, with great severity. some of his personal friends, filled with indignation, left the house, while a derisive laugh followed them to the door. the philadelphia journals vied with each other in their eulogiums of her grace, beauty, and eloquence. the marked attention she has always received in her native city has been most grateful to her, and honorable to her fellow-citizens. in july, , the first move was made to enlist colored troops in pennsylvania. a meeting was called for that purpose in philadelphia. judge kelley, frederick douglass, and anna dickinson were there, and made strong appeals to the people of that state to grant to the colored man the honor of bearing arms in defence of his country. the effort was successful. a splendid regiment was raised, and the first duty they discharged was to serenade the young orator, who had spoken so eloquently for their race all through the war. in september a field-day was announced at camp william penn. general pleasanton reviewed the troops. it was a brilliant and interesting occasion, as many were about to leave for the seat of war. at the close of the day when the people began to disperse it was noised round that miss dickinson was there; a cry was heard at once on all sides, "a speech! a speech!" the moon was just rising, mingling its pale rays with those of the setting sun, and throwing a soft, mysterious light over the whole scene. the troops gathered round with bristling bayonets and flags flying, the band was hushed to silence, and when all was still, mounted on a gun-wagon, with general pleasanton and his staff on one side, general wagner and his staff on the other, this brave girl addressed "our boys in blue." she urged that justice and equality might be secured to every citizen in the republic; that slavery and war might end forever and peace be restored; that our country might indeed be the land of the free and the home of the brave. as she stood there uttering words of warning and prophecy, it seemed as if her lips had been touched with a live coal from the altar of heaven. her inspired words moved the hearts of our young soldiers to deeds of daring, and gave fresh courage to those about her to bid their loved ones go and die if need be for freedom and their country. the hour, the mysterious light, the stillness, the novel surroundings, the youth of the speaker, all gave a peculiar power to her words, and made the scene one of the most thrilling and beautiful on the page of history. in january, , she made her first address in washington. though she now felt that her success as an orator was established, yet she hesitated long before accepting this invitation.[ ] to speak before the president, chief-justice, judges, senators, congressmen, foreign diplomats, all the dignitaries and honorables of the government was one of the most trying ordeals in her experience. she had one of the largest and most brilliant audiences ever assembled in the capitol, and was fully equal to the occasion. she made a profound impression, and her speech was the topic of conversation for days afterward. at the close of her address she was presented to many of the distinguished ladies and gentlemen, and chief among them the president. this was one of the grandest occasions of her life. she was honored as no man ever had been before. the comments of the press[ ] must have been satisfactory to her highest ambition as well as to that of her admiring countrywomen. one of the most powerful and impressive appeals she ever made was in the convention of southern loyalists held in philadelphia in september, . in this convention there was a division of opinion between the border and the gulf states. the latter wanted to incorporate negro suffrage in their platform, as that was the only means of success for the liberal party at the south. the former, manipulated by northern politicians, opposed that measure, lest it should defeat the republican party in the pending elections at the north. this stultification of principle, of radical public sentiment, stirred the soul of miss dickinson, and she desired to speak. but a rule that none but delegates should be allowed that privilege, prevented her. however, as the southern men had never heard a woman speak in public, and felt great curiosity to hear her, they adjourned the convention, resolved themselves into a committee of the whole, and invited her to address them. an eye-witness[ ] thus describes the scene: "as the young maiden stepped forward to deliver a speech as denunciatory as was ever listened to against the action of the border states, on her right sat brownlow, on her left john minor botts with his lips tightly compressed, and his face telling plainly that he remained there from courtesy, and would remain a patient listener to the end. she began; and for the first time since it met, the convention was so still that the faintest whisper could be heard." she had not spoken long before she declared that maryland had no business in the convention, but should have been with delegates that came to welcome. there was vehement applause from the border states. "this is a direct insult," shouted a delegate from maryland. she went on in spite of interruptions, reviewing the conduct of the border states with scorn, and an eloquence never equalled in any of her previous efforts, in favor of an open, manly declaration of the real opinion of the convention for justice to the colored loyalist, not in the courts only, but at the ballot-box. the speech was in miss dickinson's noblest style throughout--bold, but tender, and often so pathetic that she brought tears to every eye. every word came from her heart, and it went right to the hearts of all. kentucky and maryland now listened as eagerly as georgia and alabama; brownlow's iron features and botts' rigid face soon relaxed, and tears stood in the old virginian's eyes; while the noble tennesseean moved his place, and gazed at the inspired girl with an interest and wonderment which no other orator had moved before. she had the audience in hand, as easily as a mother holds her child, and like the child, this audience heard her heart beat. it was a marvelous speech. its greatness lay in its manner and effect, as well as its argument. when she finished, one after another of the southern delegates came forward and pinned on her dress the badges of their states until she wore the gifts of alabama, missouri, tennessee, texas, florida, louisiana, and maryland. and thus it was from time to time that this remarkable girl uttered the highest thought in american politics in that crisis of our nation's history. while in camp and hospital she spoke words of tenderness and love to the sick and dying, she did not hesitate to rebuke the incapacity and iniquity of those in high places. she was among the first to distrust mcclellan and lincoln, and in a lecture, entitled "my policy," to unveil his successor, andrew johnson, to the people. she saw the scepter of power grasped by the party of freedom, and the first gun fired at sumter in defence of slavery. she saw our armies go forth to battle, the youth, the promise, the hope of the nation--two millions strong--and saw them return with their ranks thinned and broken, their flags tattered and stained, the maimed, the halt and the blind, the weary and worn; and this, she said, is the price of liberty. she saw the dawn of the glorious day of emancipation when four million african slaves were set free, and that night of gloom when the darkest page in american history was written in the blood of its chief. through the nation's agony was this young girl born into a knowledge of her power; and she drew her inspiration from the great events of her day. the woman's national loyal league. mammoth petition. those who had been specially engaged in the woman suffrage movement, suspended their conventions during the war and gave their time and thought wholly to the vital issues of the hour. seeing the political significance of the war, they urged the emancipation of the slaves as the sure, quick way of cutting the gordion knot of the rebellion. to this end they organized a national league, and rolled up a mammoth petition, urging congress to so amend the constitution as to prohibit the existence of slavery in the united states. from their headquarters in cooper institute, new york, they sent out their appeals to the president, congress, and the people at large; tracts and forms of petition, franked by members of congress, were scattered like snowflakes from maine to texas. meetings were held every week, in which the policy of the government was freely discussed, approved or condemned. robert dale owen, chairman of the freedman's commission, then residing in new york, aided and encouraged this movement from the beginning, frequently speaking in the public meetings. that this league did a timely educational work, is manifested by the letters received from generals, statesmen, editors, and from women in most of the northern states, fully endorsing its action and principles.[ ] the clearness of thinking women on the cause of the war; the true policy in waging it; their steadfastness in maintaining the principles of freedom, are worthy of consideration. with this league, abolitionists and republicans heartily co-operated. in a course of lectures secured for its benefit in cooper institute, we find the names of horace greeley, george william curtis, william d. kelly, wendell phillips, e. p. whipple, frederick douglass, theodore d. weld, rev. dr. tyng, dr. bellows, and mrs. frances d. gage. many letters are on its files from charles sumner, approving its measures, and expressing great satisfaction at the large number of emancipation petitions being rolled into congress. the republican press, too, was highly complimentary. the _new york tribune_ said: "the women of the loyal league have shown great practical wisdom in restricting their efforts to one object, the most important which any society can aim at, in this hour, and great courage in undertaking to do what never has been done in the world before, to obtain one million of names to a petition." the leading journals vied with each other in praising the patience and prudence, the executive ability, the loyalty, the patriotism of the women of the league, and yet these were the same women, who when demanding civil and political rights, privileges, and immunities for themselves, had been uniformly denounced as "unwise," "imprudent," "fanatical," "impracticable." during the six years they held their own claims in abeyance to the slaves of the south, and labored to inspire the people with enthusiasm for the great measures of the republican party, they were highly honored as "wise, loyal, and clear-sighted." but again when the slaves were emancipated and they asked that women should be recognized in the reconstruction as citizens of the republic, equal before the law, all these transcendent virtues vanished like dew before the morning sun. and thus it ever is so long as woman labors to second man's endeavors and exalt _his sex_ above her own, her virtues pass unquestioned; but when she dares to demand rights and privileges for herself, her motives, manners, dress, personal appearance, character, are subjects for ridicule and detraction. in march, , an appeal[ ] to the women of the republic, was published in the _new york tribune_, and in tract form extensively circulated with "a call"[ ] for a national convention in new york, which assembled in dr. cheever's church may th. an immense audience, mostly women, representing a large number of the states, crowded the house at an early hour. miss susan b. anthony called the convention to order and nominated lucy stone for president; the other officers[ ] of the convention being chosen, mrs. stanton made the opening address, and stated the objects of the meeting. miss anthony having received large numbers of letters[ ] which it was impossible to read, said that the one word which had come up from all quarters showed an earnestness of purpose on the part of women to do everything in their power to aid the government in the prosecution of this war to the glorious end of freedom. the president in introducing angelina grimké weld, said: this lady, once a south carolina slaveholder, not only gave freedom to all her slaves twenty years ago, but has spent the strength of her younger years in going up and down among the people, urging the northern states to make their soil sacred to freedom, to so amend their laws and constitutions that slavery can find no protection within their borders. mrs. weld said: i came here with no desire and no intention to speak; but my heart is full, my country is bleeding, my people are perishing around me. but i feel as a south carolinian, i am bound to tell the north, go on! go on! never falter, never abandon the principles which you have adopted. i could not say this if we were now where we stood two years ago. i could not say thus when it was proclaimed in the northern states that the union was all that we sought. no, my friends, such a union as we had then, god be praised that it has perished. oh, never for one moment consent that such a union should be re-established in our land. there was a time when i looked upon the fathers of the revolution with the deepest sorrow and the keenest reproach. i said to their shadows in another world, "why did you leave this accursed system of slavery for us to suffer and die under? why did you not, with a stroke of the pen, determine--when you acquired your own independence--that the principles which you adopted in the declaration of independence should be a shield of protection to every man, whether he be slave or whether he be free?" but, my friends, the experience of sixty years has shown me that the fruit grows slowly. i look back and see that great sower of the world, as he traveled the streets of jerusalem and dropped the precious seed, "do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you." i look at all the contests of different nations, and see that, whether it were the patricians of rome, england, france, or any part of europe, every battle fought gained something to freedom. our fathers, driven out by the oppression of england, came to this country and planted that little seed of liberty upon the soil of new england. when our revolution took place, the seed was only in the process of sprouting. you must recollect that our declaration of independence was the very first national evidence of the great doctrine of brotherhood and equality. i verily believe that those who were the true lovers of liberty did all they could at that time. in their debates in the convention they denounced slavery--they protested against the hypocrisy and inconsistency of a nation declaring such glorious truths, and then trampling them underfoot by enslaving the poor and oppressed, because he had a skin not colored like their own; as though a man's skin should make any difference in the recognition of his rights, any more than the color of his hair or of his eyes. this little blade sprouted as it were from the precious seeds that were planted by jesus of nazareth. but, my friends, if it took eighteen hundred years to bring forth the little blade which was seen in our declaration, are we not unreasonable to suppose that more could have been done than has been done, looking at the imperfections of human nature, looking at the selfishness of man, looking at his desire for wealth and his greed for glory? had the south yielded at that time to the freemen of the north, we should have had a free government; but it was impossible to overcome the long and strong prejudices of the south in favor of slavery. i know what the south is. i lived there the best part of my life. i never could talk against slavery without making my friends angry--never. when they thought the day was far off, and there was no danger of emancipation, they were willing to admit it was an evil; but when god in his providence raised up in this country an anti-slavery society, protesting against the oppressions of the colored man, they began to feel that truth which is more powerful than arms--that truth which is the only banner under which we can successfully fight. they were comparatively quiet till they found, in the election of mr. lincoln, the scepter had actually departed from them. his election took place on the ground that slavery was not to be extended--that it must not pass into the territories. this was what alarmed them. they saw that if the national government should take one such step, it never would stop there; that this principle had never before been acknowledged by those who had any power in the nation. god be praised. abolitionists never sought place or power. all they asked was freedom; all they wanted was that the white man should take his foot off the negro's neck. the south determined to resist the election of mr. lincoln. they determined if fremont was elected, they would rebel. and this rebellion is like their own republic, as they call it; it is founded upon slavery. as i asked one of my friends one day, "what are you rebelling for? the north never made any laws for you that they have not cheerfully obeyed themselves. what is the trouble between us?" slavery, slavery is the trouble. slavery is a "divine institution." my friends, it is a fact that the south has incorporated slavery into her religion; that is the most fearful thing in this rebellion. they are fighting, verily believing that they are doing god service. most of them have never seen the north. they understand very little of the working of our institutions; but their politicians are stung to the quick by the prosperity of the north. they see that the institution which they have established can not make them wealthy, can not make them happy, can not make them respected in the world at large, and their motto is, "rule or ruin." before i close, i would like, however strange it may seem, to utter a protest against what mrs. stanton said of colonizing the aristocrats in liberia. i can not consent to such a thing. do you know that liberia has never let a slave tread her soil?--that when, from the interior of the country, the slaves came there to seek shelter, and their heathen masters pursued them, she never surrendered one? she stands firmly on the platform of freedom to all. i am deeply interested in this colony of liberia. i do not want it to be cursed with the aristocracy of the south, or any other aristocracy, and far less with the copperheadism of the north. (laughter). if these southern aristocrats are to be colonized, mrs. president, don't you think england is the best place for them? england is the country which has sympathized most deeply with them. she has allowed vessels to be built to prey upon our commerce; she has sent them arms and ammunition, and everything she could send through the west india islands. shall we send men to liberia who are ready to tread the black man under their feet? no. god bless liberia for what she has done, and what she is destined to do. (applause). i am very glad to say here, that last summer i had the pleasure of entertaining several times, in our house, a liberian who was well educated in england. he had graduated at oxford college, and had a high position there. his health broke down, and he went to liberia. "when i went to liberia," said he, "i had a first-rate education, and i supposed, of course, i would be a very superior man there; but i soon found that, though i knew a great deal more greek and latin and mathematics than most of the men there, i was a child to them in the science of government and history. why," said he, "you have no idea of the progress of liberia. the men who go there are freemen--citizens; the burdens of society are upon them; and they feel that they must begin to educate themselves, and they are self-educated men. the president of liberia, mr. benson, was a slave about seven years ago on a plantation in this country. he went to liberia. he was a man of uncommon talents. he educated himself to the duties which he found himself called upon to perform as a citizen. and when mr. benson visited england a year ago, he had a perfect ovation. the white ladies and gentlemen of england, those who were really anti-slavery in their feelings--who love liberty--followed him wherever he went. they opened their houses, they had their _soirees_, and they welcomed him by every kind of demonstration of their good wishes for liberia." now, mrs. president, the great object that i had in view in rising, was to give you a representative from south carolina. (applause). i mourn exceedingly that she has taken the position she has. i once had a brother who, had he been there, would have stood by judge pettigrew in his protest against the action of the south. he, many years ago, during the time of nullification in , was in the senate of south carolina, and delivered an able address, in which he discussed these very points, and showed that the south had no right of secession; that, in becoming an integral part of the united states, they had themselves voluntarily surrendered that right. and he remarked, "if you persist in this contest, you will be like a girdled tree, which must perish and die. you can not stand." (applause). the president (lucy stone): mrs. weld thinks it would be too bad to send the southern aristocrats and northern copperheads to liberia: i do not know but it would. i am equally sure that it would be too bad to send them among the laboring people of england, who are thoroughly, heartily, and wholly on the side of the loyal north. they ought not to be sent there. i would suggest, when they are fairly subdued, that we should send them to london to make a part of the staff of the london _times_. i think they would do better there than anywhere else. (laughter). the hutchinson family being present, varied the proceedings with their inspiring songs. lucy stone, in introducing them, said gen. mcclellan was not willing they should sing on the other side of the potomac, but we are glad to hear them everywhere. susan b. anthony presented a series of resolutions,[ ] and said: there is great fear expressed on all sides lest this war shall be made a war for the negro. i am willing that it shall be. it is a war to found an empire on the negro in slavery, and shame on us if we do not make it a war to establish the negro in freedom--against whom the whole nation, north and south, east and west, in one mighty conspiracy, has combined from the beginning. instead of suppressing the real cause of the war, it should have been proclaimed, not only by the people, but by the president, congress, cabinet, and every military commander. instead of president lincoln's waiting two long years before calling to the side of the government the four millions of allies whom we have had within the territory of rebeldom, it should have been the first decree he sent forth. every hour's delay, every life sacrificed up to the proclamation that called the slave to freedom and to arms, was nothing less than downright murder by the government. for by all the laws of common-sense--to say nothing of laws military or national--if the president, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, could have devised any possible means whereby he might hope to suppress the rebellion, without the sacrifice of the life of one loyal citizen, without the sacrifice of one dollar of the loyal north, it was clearly his duty to have done so. every interest of the insurgents, every dollar of their property, every institution, however peculiar, every life in every rebel state, even, if necessary, should have been sacrificed, before one dollar or one man should have been drawn from the free states. how much more, then, was it the president's duty to confer freedom on the four million slaves, transform them into a peaceful army for the union, cripple the rebellion, and establish justice, the only sure foundation of peace! i therefore hail the day when the government shall recognize that it is a war for freedom. we talk about returning to the old union--"the union as it was," and "the constitution as it is"--about "restoring our country to peace and prosperity--to the blessed conditions that existed before the war!" i ask you what sort of peace, what sort of prosperity, have we had? since the first slave-ship sailed up the james river with its human cargo, and there, on the soil of the _old_ dominion, sold it to the highest bidder, we have had nothing but war. when that pirate captain landed on the shores of africa, and there kidnapped the first stalwart negro, and fastened the first manacle, the struggle between that captain and that negro was the commencement of the terrible war in the midst of which we are to-day. between the slave and the master there has been war, and war only. this is only a new form of it. no, no; we ask for no return to the _old_ conditions. we ask for something better. we want a union that is a union in fact, a union in spirit, not a sham. (applause). by the constitution as it is, the north has stood pledged to protect slavery in the states where it existed. we have been bound, in case of insurrections, to go to the aid, not of those struggling for liberty, but of the oppressors. it was politicians who made this pledge at the beginning, and who have renewed it from year to year to this day. these same men have had control of the churches, the sabbath-schools, and all religious influences; and the women have been a party in complicity with slavery. they have made the large majority in all the different religious organizations throughout the country, and have without protest, fellowshiped the slave-holder as a christian; accepted pro-slavery preaching from their pulpits; suffered the words "slavery a crime" to be expurgated from all the lessons taught their children, in defiance of the golden rule, "do unto others as you would that others should do unto you." they have had no right to vote in their churches, and, like slaves, have meekly accepted whatever morals and religion the selfish interest of politics and trade dictated. woman must now assume her god-given responsibilities, and make herself what she is clearly designed to be, the educator of the race. let her no longer be the mere reflector, the echo of the worldly pride and ambition of man. (applause). had the women of the north studied to know and to teach their sons the law of justice to the black man, regardless of the frown or the smile of pro-slavery priest and politician, they would not now be called upon to offer the loved of their households to the bloody moloch of war. and now, women of the north, i ask you to rise up with earnest, honest purpose, and go forward in the way of right, fearlessly, as independent human beings, responsible to god alone for the discharge of every duty, for the faithful use of every gift, the good father has given you. forget conventionalisms; forget what the world will say, whether you are in your place or out of your place; think your best thoughts, speak your best words, do your best works, looking to your own conscience for approval. mrs. hoyt, of wisconsin: thus far this meeting has been conducted in such a way as would lead one to suppose that it was an anti-slavery convention. there are ladies here who have come hundreds of miles to attend a business meeting of the loyal women of the north; and good as anti-slavery conventions are, and anti-slavery speeches are, in their way, i think that here we should attend to our own business. mrs. chalkstone, of california: my speech shall be as brief as possible and i ask for an excuse for my broken language. our field is very small, and god has given us character and abilities to follow it out. we do not need to stand at the ballot-boxes and cast our votes, neither to stand and plead as lawyers; but in our homes we have a great office. i consider women a great deal superior to men. (laughter and applause). men are physically strong, but women are morally better. i speak of pure women, good women. it is woman who keeps the world in the balance. i am from germany, where my brothers all fought against the government and tried to make us free, but were unsuccessful. my only son, seventeen years old, is in our great and noble army of the union. he has fought in many of the battles here, and i only came from california to see him once more. i have not seen him yet; though i was down in the camp, i could not get any pass. but i am willing to lay down all this sacrifice for the cause of liberty. we foreigners know the preciousness of that great, noble gift a great deal better than you, because you never were in slavery, but we are born in it. germany pines for freedom. in germany we sacrificed our wealth and ornaments for it, and the women in this country ought to do the same. we can not fight in the battles, but we can do this, and it is all we can do. the speaker, before me, remarked that abraham lincoln was two years before he emancipated slaves. she thought it wrong. it took eighteen hundred years in europe to emancipate the jews, and they are not emancipated now. among great and intelligent peoples like germany and france, until no jew had the right to go on the pavement; they had to go in the middle of the street, where the horses walked! it took more than two years to emancipate the people of the north from the idea that the negro was not a human being, and that he had the right to be a free man. a great many will find fault in the resolution that the negro shall be free and equal, because our equal not every human being can be; but free every human being has a right to be. he can only be equal in his rights. (applause). mrs. rose called for the reading of the resolutions, which after a spirited discussion, all except the fifth, were unanimously adopted. mrs. hoyt, of wisconsin, said: _mrs. president_--i object to the passage of the fifth resolution, not because i object to the sentiment expressed; but i do not think it is the time to bring before this meeting, assembled for the purpose of devising the best ways and means by which women may properly assist the government in its struggle against treason, anything which could in the least prejudice the interest in this cause which is so dear to us all. we all know that woman's rights as an _ism_ has not been received with entire favor by the women of the country, and i know that there are thousands of earnest, loyal, and able women who will not go into any movement of this kind, if this idea is made prominent. (applause). i came here from wisconsin hoping to meet the earnest women of the country. i hoped that nothing that would in any way damage the cause so dear to us all would be brought forward by any of the members. i object to this, because our object should be to maintain, as women properly may, the integrity of our government; to vindicate its authority; to re-establish it upon a far more enduring basis. we can do this if we do not involve ourselves in any purely political matter, or any _ism_ obnoxious to the people. the one idea should be the maintenance of the authority of the government as it is, and the integrity of the republican idea. for this, women may properly work, and i hope this resolution will not pass. sarah h. halleck, of milton, n. y.: i would make the suggestion that those who approve of this resolution can afford to give way, and allow that part of it which is objectionable to be stricken out. the negroes have suffered more than the women, and the women, perhaps, can afford to give them the preference. let it stand as regards them, and blot out the word "woman." it may possibly be woman's place to suffer. at any rate, let her suffer, if, by that means, _man_kind may suffer less. a voice: you are too self-sacrificing. ernestine l. rose: i always sympathize with those who seem to be in the minority. i know it requires a great deal of moral courage to object to anything that appears to have been favorably received. i know very well from long experience how it feels to stand in a minority of one; and i am glad that my friend on the other side (mrs. halleck) has already added one to make a minority of two, though that is by far too small to be comfortable. i, for one, object to the proposition to throw woman out of the race for freedom. (applause). and do you know why? because she needs freedom for the freedom of man. (applause). our ancestors made a great mistake in not recognizing woman in the rights of man. it has been justly stated that the negro at present suffers more than woman, but it can do him no injury to place woman in the same category with him. i, for one, object to having that term stricken out, for it can have no possible bearing against anything that we want to promote: we desire to promote human rights and human freedom. it can do no injury, but must do good, for it is a painful fact that woman under the law has been in the same category with the slave. of late years she has had some small privileges conceded to her. now, mind, i say _conceded_; for publicly it has not yet been recognized by the laws of the land that she has a right to an equality with man. in that resolution it simply states a fact, that in a republic based upon freedom, woman, as well as the negro, should be recognized as an equal with the whole human race. (applause) angeline g. weld: _mrs. president_--i rejoice exceedingly that that resolution should combine us with the negro. i feel that we have been with him; that the iron has entered into our souls. true, we have not felt the slave-holder's lash; true, we have not had our hands manacled, but our _hearts_ have been crushed. was there a single institution in this country that would throw open its doors to the acknowledgment of woman's equality with man in the race for science and the languages, until oberlin, antioch, lima, and a very few others opened their doors, twenty years ago? have i not heard women say--i said thus to my own brother, as i used to receive from him instruction and reading: "oh, brother, that i could go to college with you! that i could have the instruction you do! but i am crushed! i hear nothing, i know nothing, except in the fashionable circle." a teacher said to a young lady, who had been studying for several years, on the day she finished her course of instruction, "i thought you would be very glad that you were so soon to go home, so soon to leave your studies." she looked up, and said, "what was i made for? when i go home i shall live in a circle of fashion and folly. i was not made for embroidery and dancing; i was made a woman; but i can not be a true woman, a full-grown woman, in america." now, my friends, i do not want to find fault with the past. i believe that men did for women the best that they knew how to do. they did not know their own rights; they did not recognize the rights of any man who had a black face. we can not wonder that, in their tenderness for woman, they wanted to shelter and protect her, and they made those laws from true, human, generous feelings. woman was then too undeveloped to demand anything else. but woman is full-grown to-day, whether man knows it or not, equal to her rights, and equal to the responsibilities of the hour. i want to be identified with the negro; until he gets his rights, we never shall have ours. (applause). susan b. anthony: this resolution brings in no question, no _ism_. it merely makes the assertion that in a true democracy, in a genuine republic, every citizen who lives under the government must have the right of representation. you remember the maxim, "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." this is the fundamental principle of democracy; and before our government can be a true democracy--before our republic can be placed upon lasting and enduring foundations--the civil and political rights of every citizen must be practically established. this is the assertion of the resolution. it is a philosophical statement. it is not because women suffer, it is not because slaves suffer, it is not because of any individual rights or wrongs--it is the simple assertion of the great fundamental truth of democracy that was proclaimed by our revolutionary fathers. i hope the discussion will no longer be continued as to the comparative rights or wrongs of one class or another. the question before us is: is it possible that peace and union shall be established in this country; is it possible for this government to be a true democracy, a genuine republic, while one-sixth or one-half of the people are disfranchised? mrs. hoyt: i do not object to the philosophy of these resolutions. i believe in the advancement of the human race, and certainly not in a retrograde movement of the woman's rights question; but at the same time i do insist that nothing that has become obnoxious to a portion of the people of the country shall be dragged into this meeting. (applause). the women of the north were invited here to meet in convention, not to hold a temperance meeting, not to hold an anti-slavery meeting, not to hold a woman's rights convention, but to consult as to the best practical way for the advancement of the loyal cause. to my certain knowledge there are ladies in this house who have come hundreds of miles, who will withdraw from this convention, who will go home disappointed, and be thrown back on their own resources, and form other plans of organization; whereas they would much prefer to co-operate with the national convention if this matter were not introduced. this movement must be sacred to the one object of assisting our government. i would add one more remark, that though the women of the revolution did help our government in that early struggle, they did not find it necessary to set forth in any theoretical or clamorous way their right to equal suffrage or equal political position, though doubtless they believed, as much as any of us, in the advancement of woman. a lady: i want to ask the lady who just spoke if the women of the revolution found it necessary to form loyal leagues? we are not bound to do just as the women of the revolution did. (applause and laughter). lucy n. coleman, of rochester, n. y.: i wish to say, in the first place, something a little remote from the point, which i have in my mind just now. a peculiar sensitiveness seems to have come over some of the ladies here in reference to the anti-slavery spirit of the resolutions. it seems to me impossible that a company of women could stand upon this platform without catching something of the anti-slavery spirit, and without expressing, to some extent, their sympathy with the advancement of human rights. it is the anti-slavery women and the woman's rights women who called this meeting, and who have most effectually aided in this movement. their hearts bleed to the very core that our nation is to-day suffering to its depths, and they came together to devise means whereby they could help the country in its great calamity. i respect the woman who opposed this resolution, for daring to say so much. she says that it is an anti-slavery convention that is in session. so it is, and something more. (applause). she says it is a woman's rights convention. so it is, and even more than that; it is a world's convention. (applause). another woman (i rejoice to hear that lisping, foreign tongue) says that our sphere is so narrow that we should be careful to keep within it. all honor to her, that she dared to say even that. i recognize for myself no narrow sphere. (applause). where you may work, my brother, i may work. i would willingly stand upon the battle-field, and would be glad to receive the balls in my person, if in that way i could do more for my country's good than in any other. i recognize no right of any man or of any woman to say that i should not stand there. our sphere is _not_ narrow--it is broad. in reference to this resolution, mrs. halleck thinks it might be well to leave out woman. no, no. do you remember, friends, long, long ago here in new york, an anti-slavery convention broke up in high dudgeon, because a woman was put upon a committee? but that anti-slavery society, notwithstanding those persons who felt so sensitive withdrew from it, has lived thirty years, and to-day it has the honor of being credited as the cause of this war. perhaps if the principle which was then at stake--that a woman had a right to be on a committee--had been waived, from the very fact that the principle of right was overruled, that society would have failed. i would not yield one iota, one particle, to this clamor for compromise. be it understood that it is a woman's rights matter; for the woman's rights women have the same right to dictate to a loyal league that the anti-woman's rights women have, and the side that is strongest will carry the resolution, of course. but do not withdraw it. do not say, "we will take it away because it is objectionable." i want the people to understand that this loyal league--because it is a loyal league--must of necessity bring in anti-slavery and woman's rights. (applause). is it possible that any of you believe that there is such a being in this country to-day as a loyal man or woman who is not anti-slavery to the backbone? (applause). neither is there a loyal man or woman whose intellect is clear enough to take in a broad, large idea, who is not to the very core a woman's rights man or woman. (applause). mrs. hoyt: as i have said before, i am not opposed to anti-slavery. i stand here an abolitionist from the earliest childhood, and a stronger anti-slavery woman lives not on the soil of america. (applause). i voted yea on the anti-slavery resolution, and i would vote it ten times over. but, at the same time, in the west, which i represent, there is a very strong objection to woman's rights; in fact, this woman's rights matter is odious to some of us from the _manner_ in which it has been conducted; not that we object to the philosophy--we believe in the philosophy--but object to this matter being tacked on to a purely loyal convention.... i will make one more statement which bears upon the point which i have been trying to make. i have never before spoken except in private meetings, and therefore must ask the indulgence of the audience. the women of madison, wisconsin, feeling the necessity and importance of doing something more than women were doing to assist the government in this struggle, organized a ladies' union league, which has been in operation some time, and is very efficient. a voice:--what are they doing? please state. mrs. hoyt: in madison we had a very large and flourishing "soldiers' aid society." we were the headquarters for that part of the state. a great many ladies worked in our aid society, and assisted us, who utterly refused to join with the loyal league, because, they said, it would damage the aid society. we recognized that fact, and kept it purely distinct as a ladies' loyal league, for the promotion of the loyal sentiment of the north, and to reach the soldiers in the field by the most direct and practical means which were in our power. we have a great many very flourishing ladies' loyal leagues throughout the west, and we have kept them sacred from anti-slavery, woman's rights, temperance, and everything else, good though they may be. in our league we have three objects in view. the first is, retrenchment in household expenses, to the end that the material resources of the government may be, so far as possible, applied to the entire and thorough vindication of its authority. second, to strengthen the loyal sentiment of the people at home, and instil a deeper love of the national flag. the third and most important object is, to write to the soldiers in the field, thus reaching nearly every private in the army, to encourage and stimulate him in the way that ladies know how to do. i state again, it is not an anti-slavery objection. i will vote for every anti-slavery movement in this convention. i object to the woman's rights resolutions, and nothing else. ernestine l. rose: it is exceedingly amusing to hear persons talk about throwing out woman's rights, when, if it had not been for woman's rights, that lady would not have had the courage to stand here and say what she did. (applause). pray, what means "loyal"? loyal means to be true to one's highest conviction. justice, like charity, begins at home. it is because we are loyal to truth, loyal to justice, loyal to right, loyal to humanity, that woman is included in that resolution. now, what does this discussion mean? the lady acknowledges that it is not against woman's rights itself; she is _for_ woman's rights. we are here to endeavor to help the cause of human rights and human freedom. we ought not to be afraid. you may depend upon it, if there are any of those who are called copperheads--but i don't like to call names, for even a copperhead is better than no head at all--(laughter)--if there are any copperheads here, i am perfectly sure they will object to this whole convention; and if we want to consult them, let us adjourn _sine die_. if we are loyal to our highest convictions, we need not care how far it may lead. for truth, like water, will find its own level. no, friends, in the name of consistency let us not wrangle here simply because we associate the name of woman with human justice and human rights. although i always like to see opposition on any subject, for it elicits truth much better than any speech, still i think it will be exceedingly inconsistent if, because some women out in the west are opposed to the woman's rights movement--though at the same time they take advantage of it--that therefore we shall throw it out of this resolution. mrs. spence, of new york: i didn't come to this meeting to participate--only to listen. i don't claim to be a northerner or a southerner; but i claim to be a human being, and to belong to the human family (applause). i belong to no sect or creed of politics or religion; i stand as an individual, defending the rights of every one as far as i can see them. it seems to me we have met here to come to some unity of action. if we attempt to bring in religious, political, or moral questions, we all must of necessity differ. we came here hoping to be inspired by each other to lay some plan by which we can unite in practical action. i have not heard such a proposition made; but i anticipate that it will be. (hear, hear). then if we are to unite on some proposition which is to be presented, it seems to me that our resolutions should be practical and directed to the main business. let the object of the meeting be unity of action and expression in behalf of what we feel to be the highest right, our highest idea of liberty. the president (lucy stone): every good cause can afford to be just. the lady from wisconsin, who differs from some of us here, says she is an anti-slavery woman. we ought to believe her. she accepts the principles of the woman's rights movement, but she does not like the way in which it has been carried on. we ought to believe her. it is not, then, that she objects to the idea of the equality of women and negroes, but because she does not wish to have anything "tacked on" to the loyal league, that to the mass of people does not seem to belong there. she seems to me to stand precisely in the position of those good people just at the close of the war of the revolution. the people then, as now, had their hearts aching with the memory of their buried dead. they had had years of war from which they had garnered out sorrows as well as hopes; and when they came to establish a union, they found that one black, unmitigated curse of slavery rooted in the soil. some men said, "we can have no true union where there is not justice to the negro. the black man is a human being, like us, with the same equal rights." they had given to the world the declaration of independence, grand and brave and beautiful. they said, "how can we form a true union?" some people representing the class that mrs. hoyt represents, answered, "let us have a union. we are weak; we have been beset for seven long years; do not let us meddle with the negro question. what we are for is a union; let us have a union at all hazards." there were earnest men, men of talent, who could speak well and earnestly, and they persuaded the others to silence. so they said nothing about slavery, and let the wretched monster live. to-day, over all our land, the unburied bones of our fathers and sons and brothers tell the sad mistake that those men made when long ago the babes we bear in anguish and carry in our arms are not ours. the few rights that we have, have been wrung from the legislature by t they left this one great wrong in the land. they could not accomplish good by passing over a wrong. if the right of one single human being is to be disregarded by us, we fail in our loyalty to the country. all over this land women have no political existence. laws pass over our heads that we can not unmake. our property is taken from us without our consent. the babes we bear in anguish and carry in our arms are not ours. the few rights that we have, have been wrung from the legislature by the woman's rights movement. we come to-day to say to those who are administering our government and fighting our battles, "while you are going through this valley of humiliation, do not forget that you must be true alike to the women and the negroes." we can never be truly "loyal" if we leave them out. leave them out, and we take the same backward step that our fathers took when they left out slavery. if justice to the negro and to woman is right, it can not hurt our loyalty to the country and the union. if it is not right, let it go out of the way; but if it is right, there is no occasion that we should reject it, or ignore it. we make the statement that the government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed, and that all human beings have equal rights. this is not an _ism_--it is simply an assertion that we shall be true to the highest truth. a man in the audience: the question was asked, as i entered this house, "is it right for women to meet here and intermeddle in our public affairs?" it is the greatest possible absurdity for women to stand on that platform and talk of loyalty to a government in which nine-tenths of the politicians of the land say they have no right to interfere, and still oppose woman's rights. the very act of standing there is an endorsement of woman's rights. a voice: i believe this is a woman's meeting. men have no right to speak here. the gentleman continued: it is on woman more than on man that the real evils of this war settle. it is not the soldier on the battle-field that suffers most; it is the wife, the mother, the daughter. (applause. cries of "question, question"). a voice: you are not a woman, sit down. susan b. anthony: some of us who sit upon this platform have many a time been clamored down, and told that we had no right to speak, and that we were out of our place in public meetings; far be it from us, when women assemble, and a man has a thought in his soul, burning for utterance, to retaliate upon him. (laughter and applause). the resolution was then put to vote. a voice: allow me to inquire if men have a right to vote on this question? the president: i suppose men who are used to business know that they should _not_ vote here. we give them the privilege of speaking. the resolution was carried by a large majority. susan b. anthony: the resolution recommending the practical work, has not yet been prepared. we have a grand platform on which to stand, and i hope we shall be able to present a plan of work equally grand. but, mrs. president, if we should fail in doing this, we shall not fail to enunciate the principles of democracy and republicanism which underlie the structure of a free government. when the heads and hearts of the women of the north are fully imbued with the true idea, their hands will find a way to secure its accomplishment. there is evidently very great earnestness on the part of all present to settle upon some practical work. i therefore ask that the women from every state of the union, who are delegates here from loyal leagues and aid societies, shall retire, at the close of this meeting, to the lecture-room of this church, and there we will endeavor to fix upon the best possible plan we can gather from the counsels of the many. i hope this enthusiasm may be directed to good and legitimate ends, and not allowed to evaporate into thin air. i hope we shall aid greatly in the establishment of this government on the everlasting foundation of justice to all. business meeting. the lecture-room was crowded with representatives from the different states--susan b. anthony in the chair. there was a general expression in favor of forming a woman's loyal national league, which ended in the adoption of the following resolution: _resolved_, that we, loyal women of the nation, assembled in convention in new york, this th day of may, , do hereby pledge ourselves one to another in a loyal league, to give support to the government in so far as it makes the war for freedom. this pledge was signed by nearly every woman present. mrs. stanton was elected president unanimously, and miss anthony, secretary. many women spoke ably and eloquently; women who had never before heard their own voices in a public meeting, discussed nice points of law and constitution in a manner that would have done credit to any legislative assembly. a deep religious tone of loyalty to god and freedom pervaded the entire meeting. it was an occasion not soon to be forgotten. women of all ages were assembled there, from the matron of threescore years and ten to the fair girl whose interest in the war had brought to her a premature sadness and high resolve. but of all who mourned the loss of husbands, brothers, sons, and lovers, no word of fear, regret, or doubt was uttered. all declared themselves ready for any sacrifice, and expressed an unwavering faith in the glorious future of a true republic. the interest in the meeting kept up until so late an hour that it was decided to adjourn, to meet the next afternoon. evening session. the evening session was held in cooper institute, mrs. stanton presiding. an address to the president was read by miss anthony, which was subsequently adopted and sent to him. _the loyal women of the country to abraham lincoln, president of the united states._ having heard many complaints of the want of enthusiasm among northern women in the war, we deemed it fitting to call a national convention. from every free state, we have received the most hearty responses of interest in each onward step of the government as it approaches the idea of a true republic. from the letters received, and the numbers assembled here to-day, we can with confidence address you in the name of the loyal women of the north. we come not to criticise or complain. not for ourselves or our friends do we ask redress of specific grievances, or posts of honor or emolument. we speak from no considerations of mere material gain; but, inspired by true patriotism, in this dark hour of our nation's destiny, we come to pledge the loyal women of the republic to freedom and our country. we come to strengthen you with earnest words of sympathy and encouragement. we come to thank you for your proclamation, in which the nineteenth century seems to echo back the declaration of seventy-six. our fathers had a vision of the sublime idea of liberty, equality, and fraternity; but they failed to climb the heights that with anointed eyes they saw. to us, their children, belongs the work to build up the living reality of what they conceived and uttered. it is not our mission to criticise the past. nations, like individuals, must blunder and repent. it is not wise to waste one energy in vain regret, but from each failure rise up with renewed conscience and courage for nobler action. the follies and faults of yesterday we cast aside as the old garments we have outgrown. born anew to freedom, slave creeds and codes and constitutions must now all pass away. "for men do not put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish; but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." our special thanks are due to you, that by your proclamation two millions of women are freed from the foulest bondage humanity ever suffered. slavery for man is bad enough, but the refinements of cruelty must ever fall on the mothers of the oppressed race, defrauded of all the rights of the family relation, and violated in the most holy instincts of their nature. a mother's life is bound up in that of her child. there center all her hopes and ambition. but the slave-mother, in her degradation, rejoices not in the future promise of her daughter, for she knows by experience what her sad fate must be. no pen can describe the unutterable agony of that mother whose past, present, and future are all wrapped in darkness; who knows the crown of thorns she wears must press her daughter's brow; who knows that the wine-press she now treads, unwatched, those tender feet must tread alone. for, by the law of slavery, "the child follows the condition of the mother." by your act, the family, that great conservator of national virtue and strength, has been restored to millions of humble homes, around whose altars coming generations shall magnify and bless the name of abraham lincoln. by a mere stroke of the pen you have emancipated millions from a condition of wholesale concubinage. we now ask you to finish the work by declaring that nowhere under our national flag shall the motherhood of any race plead in vain for justice and protection. so long as one slave breathes in this republic, we drag the chain with him. god has so linked the race, man to man, that all must rise or fall together. our history exemplifies this law. it was not enough that we at the north abolished slavery for ourselves, declared freedom of speech and the press, built up churches, colleges, and free schools, studied the science of morals, government, and economy, dignified labor, amassed wealth, whitened the sea with our commerce, and commanded the respect and admiration of the nations of the earth, so long as the south, by the natural proclivities of slavery, was sapping the very foundations of our national life.... you are the first president ever borne on the shoulders of freedom into the position you now fill. your predecessors owed their elevation to the slave oligarchy, and in serving slavery they did but obey their masters. in your election, northern freemen threw off the yoke. and with you rests the responsibility that our necks shall never bow again. at no time in the annals of the nation has there been a more auspicious moment to retrieve the one false step of the fathers in their concessions to slavery. the constitution has been repudiated, and the compact broken by the southern traitors now in arms. the firing of the first gun on sumter released the north from all constitutional obligations to slavery. it left the government, for the first time in our history, free to carry out the declaration of our revolutionary fathers, and made us in fact what we have ever claimed to be, a nation of freemen. "the union as it was"--a compromise between barbarism and civilization--can never be restored, for the opposing principles of freedom and slavery can not exist together. liberty is life, and every form of government yet tried proves that slavery is death. in obedience to this law, our republic, divided and distracted by the collisions of caste and class, is tottering to its base, and can only be reconstructed on the sure foundations of impartial freedom to all men. the war in which we are involved is not the result of party or accident, but a forward step in the progress of the race never to be retraced. revolution is no time for temporizing or diplomacy. in a radical upheaving, the people demand eternal principles to stand upon. northern power and loyalty can never be measured until the purpose of the war be liberty to man; for a lasting enthusiasm is ever based on a grand idea, and unity of action demands a definite end. at this time our greatest need is not in men or money, valiant generals or brilliant victories, but in a consistent policy, based on the principle that "all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." and the nation waits for you to say that there is no power under our declaration of rights, nor under any laws, human or divine, by which _free_ men can be made slaves; and therefore that your pledge to the slaves is irrevocable, and shall be redeemed. if it be true, as it is said, that northern women lack enthusiasm in this war, the fault rests with those who have confused and confounded its policy. the page of history glows with incidents of self-sacrifice by woman in the hour of her country's danger. fear not that the daughters of this republic will count any sacrifice too great to insure the triumph of freedom. let the men who wield the nation's power be wise, brave, and magnanimous, and its women will be prompt to meet the duties of the hour with devotion and heroism. when fremont on the western breeze proclaimed a day of jubilee to the bondmen within our gates, the women of the nation echoed back a loud amen. when hunter freed a million men, and gave them arms to fight our battles, justice and mercy crowned that act, and tyrants stood appalled. when butler, in the chief city of the southern despotism, hung a traitor, we felt a glow of pride; for that one act proved that we had a government, and one man brave enough to administer its laws. and when burnside would banish vallandigham to the dry tortugas, let the sentence be approved, and the nation will ring with plaudits. your proclamation gives you immortality. be just, and share your glory with men like these who wait to execute your will. in behalf of the women's national loyal league, elizabeth cady stanton, _president_. susan b. anthony, _secretary_. rev. antoinette brown blackwell: possibly there maybe nations, like individuals, that are without definite ideas or purposes. they sprang into being by accident, and they continue to live by the sufferance of circumstances. our american republic is not of this type. we were born to the heritage of one great idea; we were created by it and for it, and it is mightier than we; it must annihilate us, or it must establish us a nation as lasting as the ages. our ante-revolutionary statesmen were dissatisfied with an inadequate, partial, unjust representation. the thought grew in them till it developed the broad principle of self-government by the people. they perceived and asserted that truth; they fought for it, and died or lived for it, as the case might be. so they constructed this great republic, grounding it firmly upon a deep and wide democracy. its frame-work was essentially democratic, but there were a few great beams and joists, and plenty of paint and mortar used, which were as purely aristocratic. we, here at the north, have been accustomed to look at the strength of the foundations, and of the consistent massive frame-work; they, at the south, admired the incongruous ornaments and decorations, and they did not forget any of the exceptional timbers. we were shocked when the great structure seemed ready to tumble about our ears; they expected it all the time, and were working for it, ready to perish in the general downfall, if that were inevitable. i have seen a drop of water spread over a small orifice in a layer of melting ice, which was brilliant red in color to me, but it was the intensest blue to my friend, who was standing at my side. the moral vision is quite as largely dependent upon the angle at which it receives its rays of reflected light. north and south represent the extremes of the moral spectrum. the equalizing of labor and capital, which is a beautiful violet to us, is a very angry red to them; and the soft-toned hues of their system of servitude are crimson with blood-guiltiness to ourselves. if we stood where the perfect and undivided sunbeams could fall upon us, we should see all men under the common radiance of that pure white light, of which providence has an unlimited supply. no more unanimity of sentiment or principle existed among our own people in the war of the revolution, than in this. democracy, asserting its rights, brought on the conflict then, though aristocracy, goaded by the instinct of self-preservation and self-interest, joined hands and aided it to its consummation. patriotism grew in the hearts of each, and held us together as a nation for about eighty years; but the subordinate antagonism, tortured by its unnatural alliance during all those years, now in turn strikes also for independence. predominance, precedence, pre-eminence, might have satisfied it for a time; but, from the nature of our institutions, that was impossible. it encroached at every point, and was generally rewarded for its self-assertion; but it was inherently and constitutionally subordinate, and must have remained so forever in the federation of the united states. it struck for independence, and it did well! it did all it could do, if it would not die inanely. one must always admire that instinct of the grub which leads it to weave its own winding-sheet, and lie down fearlessly in its sepulcher, preparatory to its resurrection as a butterfly; but immeasurably more to be admired is the calculating courage of men who are ready to stake their all upon any issue--even upon one so mistaken, so false, so partial to one class and so unjust to another, as the cause of the slave-holders. every earnest purpose must have its own baptism of blessings. we, the inheritors of a sublime truth, have been grievously wanting in faith in our heritage!--wanting in aim and purpose to maintain its integrity! no wonder the land is still washed with tears of the widowed and fatherless, and that stricken mothers refuse to be comforted. give us a living principle to die for. "make this a war for emancipation!" cries anti-slavery england, "and our sympathies will be with you!" they demand much; but, that demand granted, it yet falls infinitely below the real point at issue. it is immeasurably short of the great conflict which we are actually waging. it is one phase of it,--the most acute phase, undoubtedly; but not, therefore, the broadest and most momentous one. slavery was the peculiar institution of the south; but we, as a nation, have an incomparably greater peculiar institution of our own. the one is only peculiarly exceptional to our general policy; the other is essentially and organically at war with it. it is the only thing which pointedly distinguishes us from a dozen other nations. the consent of the governed is the sole, legitimate authority of any government! this is the essential, peculiar creed of our republic. that principle is on one side of this war; and the old doctrine of might makes right, the necessary ground-work of all monarchies, is on the other. it is a life-and-death conflict between all those grand, universal, man-respecting principles, which we call by the comprehensive term democracy, and all those partial, person-respecting, class-favoring elements which we group together under that silver-slippered word aristocracy. if this war does not mean that, it means nothing. slavery is malignantly aristocratic, and seems therefore to absorb all other manifestations of the principle into itself. it is pharaoh's lean kine, which devour all the others of their species, and yet are no better favored than before. but if slavery were dead to-day, aristocracy might still grind our republic to powder. men may cease to be slaves, and yet not be enfranchised. although they are no longer bondmen, yet they may be governed without their own consent. but when you deny the universal enfranchisement of our people, you deny the one distinctive principle of our government, and the only essential, fore-ordained fact in the future of our national institutions. we do not at all comprehend this. there was one who builded wiser than he knew, emerson says, and i think that result is not uncommon. the little indian boy in the pleasant fable, who ran on eagerly in advance of his migrating tribe, to plant his single, three-cornered beech-nut in the center of a great prairie, scarcely foresaw the many acres of heavy timber which was to confront the white pioneer hundreds of years afterward, as the outgrowth of his childish deed. many soldiers are fighting our battles upon a basis broader than they know. there are men who believe that they are solely engaged in putting down the rebellion; others are maintaining the disputed courage and honor of the "mudsills"; some are fighting to uphold our present northern civilization and its institutions; and a handful have set out definitely to carry these into the south, to give them to the slave, and to the master also, in spite of himself. all love the union, and are ready to fight, perhaps to die, for it. aye! but what does that mean? something as antagonistic in the interpretation thereof as the decisions touching an ancient oracle, a disputed biblical text, or a knotty passage from our own venerated constitution. if victory should come just as she is summoned by each class of our patriotic and brave union volunteers, would she most favor the rebels or the government? look at some of her conflicting purposed achievements: . to preserve slavery unharmed, without so much as the smell of fire upon its garments, when it shall emerge from the ordeal of war. . to gratuitously establish slavery forever, by solemn and unchanging guarantees. . to leave slavery to perish slowly and ingloriously, as it must when unprotected. . to cripple and destroy slavery by a long guerrilla warfare against its special manifestations. . to kill slavery at a blow, by right of an imperious and undoubted military necessity. . to exterminate slavery without compromise or weighing of consequences, because it is a gross moral wrong. these are a few of the many platforms upon which husbands, brothers and sons are fighting to-day. no two opposing armies ever wearied heaven with asking more impossible cross-purposes than does this fraternal, union army of ours. the bread and fish of these, are stones and scorpions to those. we are a practical people, but we are fighting for practical paradoxes. do we expect any massive concentration of results? our wavering, anaconda system of warfare is typical of our moral status as a people. it is the spontaneous and legitimate exponent of our aims and motives. many or decisive victories i despair of, till we are better educated in the early lesson of the fathers. but from the president--god bless him that he seems to be more teachable than many others--down to the youngest drummer-boy of the army, the severe discipline of this war is schooling us into a better appreciation of our heritage as a peculiar people. all governments, said the fathers, are subordinate to the people, not the people to their governments. the distinct enunciation of that principle was the net result of the war of the revolution. born of the long-suffering and anguish of bleeding nations, its worth is yet incomparably greater than the cost, for it is the sublimest principle which has ever entered into the governmental relations of men. it must turn and overturn till, as rightful sovereign it is placed securely upon the throne of all nations, for, from the inherent nature of things, it is destined to become the mightiest revolutionist of the ages. the reinstating of that principle in the chair of our republic will be the net result of this war of the rebellion! when the statesmen of ' sought to embody this principle in the complicated machinery of a vast government, there they partially failed--there they designedly failed. the minority seceded from it in that day as in this, and then they compromised. the antagonism which they engrafted on the young republic assuming, as it does, that power, not humanity, is statute-maker, could not be more diametrically opposed to the axiom which asserts, that humanity, not power, is lawful arbiter of its own rights. the man, unwashed, unmended, unlearned, is yet a safer judge of his own interests, than is all the rank, the wealth, or the wisdom of men or angels. thomas simms is a better witness as to his own need of freedom than the combined wisdom of all the boston lawyers, judges, and statesmen. we can keep ice and fire upon the same planet, but it never does to bring them too near together. a nation proclaiming to the astonished world that governments derive all just powers solely from the consent of the governed, yet in the very face of this assertion enslaving the black man, and disfranchising half its white citizens, besides minor things of like import and consistency--do you wonder that eighty years of such policy culminated in rebellion? do we expect the whole-hearted sympathy of any monarchy? cannot they see, also, that two entire opposing civilizations are mustered into the conflict? they may hate slavery, and since we have found the courage to point our cannon more directly against the heart of that, they may rejoice so far; but do they desire to establish the subordination of any government to the rights of the very meanest of its subjects? are they in love with our plebeian heresy, that all the magnificent civil machinery of nations is but so much base clay in the hands of the multitude of royal potters? we are now testing the practical possibilities of democratic theories; and there are those who would a thousand times rather see these shattered into hopeless fragments than any other result which could possibly transpire in the national affairs of all christendom. let our democracy prove shallow, weak, inefficient, unfitted for emergencies, and incapable of sustaining itself under the test of determined opposition, to them it is enough. our great national axiom, is, _per se_, the eternal foe of all monarchies, aristocracies, oligarchies, of all possible despotism, because it is the fulcrum of a mighty lever which must one day overturn them all, if it be not itself jostled from its resting-place. what are we to do with our conquered provinces of the south? give them all the franchises which we hold ourselves, assuredly--as many personal rights and as many state rights--provided always that they cease to encroach upon our liberties, and are no longer rebels against the common government. now that the issue is forced upon us, let us apply our principles unsparingly to all, and conclude by making the slaves, men and women too, as free and equal in all civil and political functions as their male masters. secretary chase has seized the occasion of our heavy financial troubles to give us a general national banking system; so out of the nettle danger to our liberal institutions let us pluck the flower safety to the interest of the feeblest subject. it is thus that the darkest evil is often made nurse to the brightest good. the black mud at its roots nourishes the pure white water-lily. when the southern people, white and black, male and female, are all voters together, by simple virtue of their human needs and rights, then, but not till then, will i consent to their freely voting themselves into an independent nation, if they are so disposed. even then, democracy requires that the question shall be decided by the suffrage of the whole country, north as well as south. a republic can never be dismembered except by the consent of a majority of all its citizens.... ernestine l. rose, a native of poland, was next introduced; she said: louis kossuth told us it is not well to look back for regret, but only for instruction. i therefore intend slightly to cast my mind's eye back for the purpose of enabling us, as far as possible, to contemplate the present and foresee the future. it is unnecessary to point out the cause of this war. it is written on every object we behold. it is but too well understood that the primary cause is slavery; and it is well to keep that in mind, for the purpose of gaining the knowledge how ultimately to be able to crush that terrible rebellion which now desolates the land. slavery being the cause of the war, we must look to its utter extinction for the remedy. (applause). we have listened this evening to an exceedingly instructive, kind and gentle address, particularly that part of it which tells how to deal with the south after we have brought them back. but i think it would be well, at first, to consider how to bring them back! abraham lincoln has issued a proclamation. he has emancipated all the slaves of the rebel states with his pen, but that is all. to set them really and thoroughly free, we will have to use some other instrument than the pen. (applause). the slave is not emancipated; he is not free. a gentleman once found himself of a sudden, without, so far as he knew, any cause, taken into prison. he sent for his lawyer, and told him, "they have taken me to prison." "what have you done?" said the lawyer. "i have done nothing," he replied. "then, my friend, they can not put you in prison." "but i am in prison." "well, that may be; but i tell you, my dear friend, they can not put you in prison." "well," said he, "i want you to come and take me out, for i tell you, in spite of all your lawyer logic, i am in prison, and i shall be until you take me out." (great laughter). now the poor slave has to say, "abraham lincoln, you have pronounced me free; still i am a slave, bought and sold as such, and i shall remain a slave till i am taken out of this horrible condition." then the question is, _how?_ have not already two long years passed over more than a quarter of a million of the graves of the noblest and bravest of the nation? is that not enough? no; it has proved not to be enough. let us look back for a moment. had the proclamation of john c. fremont been allowed to have its effect; had the edict of hunter been allowed to have its effect, the war would have been over. (applause). had the people and the government, from the very commencement of the struggle, said to the south, "you have openly thrown down the gauntlet to fight for slavery; we will accept it, and fight for freedom," the rebellion would long before now have been crushed. (applause). you may blame europe as much as you please, but the heart of europe beats for freedom. had they seen us here accept the terrible alternative of war for the sake of freedom, the whole heart of europe would have been with us. but such has not been the case. hence the destruction of over a quarter of a million of lives and ten millions of broken hearts that have already paid the penalty; and we know not how many more it needs to wipe out the stain of that recreancy that did not at once proclaim this war a war for freedom and humanity. and now we have got here all around us loyal leagues. loyal to what? what does it mean? i have read that term in the papers. a great many times i have heard that expression to-day. i know not what others mean by it, but i will give you my interpretation of what i am loyal to. i speak for myself. i do not wish any one else to be responsible for my opinions. i am loyal only to justice and humanity. let the administration give evidence that they too are for justice to all, without exception, without distinction, and i, for one, had i ten thousand lives, would gladly lay them down to secure this boon of freedom to humanity. (applause). but without this certainty, i am not unconditionally loyal to the administration. we women need not be, for the law has never yet recognized us. (laughter). then i say to abraham lincoln, "give us security for the future, for really when i look at the past, without a guarantee, i can hardly trust you." and then i would say to him, "let nothing stand in your way; let no man obstruct your path." much is said in the papers and in political speeches about the constitution. now, a good constitution is a very good thing; but even the best of constitutions need sometimes to be amended and improved, for after all there is but one constitution which is infallible, but one constitution that ought to be held sacred, and that is the human constitution. (laughter). therefore, if written constitutions are in the way of human freedom, suspend them till they can be improved. if generals are in the way of freedom, suspend them too; and more than that, suspend their money. we have got here a whole army of generals who have been actually dismissed from the service, but not from pay. now, i say to abraham lincoln, if these generals are good for anything, if they are fit to take the lead, put them at the head of armies, and let them go south and free the slaves you have announced free. if they are good for nothing, dispose of them as of anything else that is useless. at all events, cut them loose from the pay. (applause). why, my friends, from july, , to october, --for sixteen long months--we have been electrified with the name of our great little napoleon! and what has the great little napoleon done? (laughter). why, he has done just enough to prevent anybody else from doing anything. (great applause). but i have no quarrel with him. i don't know him. i presume none of you do. but i ask abraham lincoln--i like to go to headquarters, for where the greatest power is assumed, there the greatest responsibility rests, and in accordance with that principle i have nothing to do with menials, even though they are styled napoleons--but i ask the president why mcclellan was kept in the army so long after it was known--for there never was a time when anything else was known--that he was both incapable and unwilling to do anything? i refer to this for the purpose of coming, by and by, to the question, "what ought to be done?" he was kept at the head of the army on the potomac just long enough to prevent burnside from doing anything, and not much has been done since that time. now, mcclellan may be a very nice young man--i haven't the slightest doubt of it--but i have read a little anecdote of him. somebody asked the president of a western railroad company, in which mcclellan was an engineer, what he thought about his abilities. "well," said the president, "he is a first-rate man to build bridges; he is very exact, very mathematical in measurement, very precise in adjusting the timber; he is the best man in the world to build a good, strong, sound bridge, but after he has finished it, he never wishes anybody to cross over it." (great laughter). well, we have disposed of him partially, but we pay him yet, and you and i are taxed for it. but if we are to have a new general in his place, we may ask, what has become of sigel? why does that disinterested, noble-minded, freedom-loving man in vain ask of the administration to give him an army to lead into the field? a voice: ask halleck. halleck! if halleck is in the way, dispose of him. (applause). do you point me to the cabinet? if the cabinet is in the way of freedom, dispose of the cabinet--(applause) some of them, at least. the magnitude of this war has never yet been fully felt or acknowledged by the cabinet. the man at its head--i mean seward--has hardly yet woke up to the reality that we have a war. he was going to crush the rebellion in sixty days. it was a mere _bagatelle_! why, he could do it after dinner, any day, as easy as taking a bottle of wine! if seward is in the way of crushing the rebellion and establishing freedom, dispose of him. from the cause of the war, learn the remedy, decide the policy, and place it in the hands of men capable and willing to carry it out. i am not unconditionally loyal, until we know to what principle we are to be loyal. promise justice and freedom, and all the rest will follow. do you know, my friends, what will take place if something decisive is not soon done? it is high time to consider it. i am not one of those who look on the darkest side of things, but yet my reason and reflection forbid me to hope against hope. it is only eighteen months more before another presidential election--only one year before another president will be nominated. let the present administration remain as indolent, as inactive, and, apparently, as indifferent as they have done; let them keep generals that are inferior to many of their private soldiers; let them keep the best generals there are in the country--sigel and fremont--unoccupied--(applause); let them keep the country in the same condition in which it has been the last two years, and is now, and what would be the result, if, at the next election, the democrats succeed--i mean the sham democrats? i am a democrat, and it is because i am a democrat that i go for human freedom. human freedom and true democracy are identical. let the democrats, as they are now called, get into office, and what would be the consequence? why, under this hue-and-cry for union, _union_, union, which is like a bait held out to the mass of the people to lure them on, they will grant to the south the meanest and the most contemptible compromises that the worst slaveholders in the south can require. and if they really accept them and come back--my only hope is that they will not--but if the south should accept these compromises, and come back, slavery will be fastened, not only in the south, but it will be nationally fastened on the north. now, a good union, like a good constitution, is a most invaluable thing; but a false union is infinitely more despicable than no union at all; and for myself, i would vastly prefer to have the south remain independent, than to bring them back with that eternal curse nationalized in the country. it is not enough for abraham lincoln to proclaim the slaves in the south free, nor even to continue the war until they shall be really free. there is something to be done at home; for justice, like charity, must begin at home. it is a mockery to say that we emancipate the slaves we can not reach and pass by those we can reach. first, free the slaves that are under the flag of the union. if that flag is the symbol of freedom, let it wave over free men only. the slaves must be freed in the border states. consistency is a great power. what are you afraid of? that the border states will join with the now crippled rebel states? we have our army there, and the north can swell its armies. but we can not afford to fight without an object. we can not afford to bring the south back with slavery. we can not compromise with principle. what has brought on this war? slavery, undoubtedly. slavery was the primary cause of it. but the great secondary cause was the fact that the north, for the sake of the union, has constantly compromised. every demand that the south made of the north was acceded to, until the south came really to believe that they were the natural and legitimate masters, not only of the slaves, but of the north too. now, it is time to reverse all these things. this rebellion and this war have cost too dear. the money spent, the vast stores destroyed, the tears shed, the lives sacrificed the hearts broken are too high a price to be paid for the mere _name_ of union. i never believed we had a union. a true union is based upon principles of mutual interest, of mutual respect and reciprocity, none of which ever existed between the north and south. they based their institutions on slavery; the north on freedom. i care not by what measure you end the war, if you allow one single germ, one single seed of slavery to remain in the soil of america, whatever may be your object, depend upon it, as true as effect follows cause, that germ will spring up, that noxious weed will thrive, and again stifle the growth, wither the leaves, blast the flowers, and poison the fair fruits of freedom. slavery and freedom can not exist together. seward proclaimed a truism, but he did not appreciate its import. there is an irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery. you might as well say that light and darkness can exist together as freedom and slavery. we, therefore, must urge the government to do something, and that speedily, to secure the boon of freedom, while they yet can, not only in the rebel states, but in our own states too, and in the border states. it is just as wrong for us to keep slaves in the union states as it ever was in the south. slavery is as great a curse to the slaveholder as it is a wrong to the slaves; and yet while we free the rebel slaveholder from the curse, we allow it to continue with our union-loving men in the border states. free the slaves in the border states, in western virginia, in maryland, and wherever the union flag floats, and then there will be a consistency in our actions that will enable us to go to work earnestly with heart and hand united, as we move forward to free all others and crush the rebellion. we have had no energy yet in the war, for we have fought only for the purpose of reuniting, what has never been united, restoring the old union--or rather the shadow as it was. a small republic, a small nation, based upon the eternal principle of freedom, is great and powerful. a large empire based upon slavery, is weak and without foundation. the moment the light of freedom shines upon it, it discloses its defects, and unmasks its hideous deformities. as i said before, i would rather have a small republic without the taint and without the stain of slavery in it, than to have the south brought back by compromise. to avert such calamity, we must work. and our work must mainly be to watch and criticise and urge the administration to do its whole duty to freedom and humanity. (applause). the president then said: i suppose all the loyal women will agree with me that we owe to the president and the government in these hours of trial, whether they make mistakes or whether they do not, words of cheer and encouragement; and, as events occur one after another, our criticisms should not be harshly made. when we find willful departure from what is just and true, when we find treason, we should not hesitate to speak the word of strongest denunciation against both the treason and the traitor. but where there is evident intention to be and to do right, where there is loyalty, there all good men and all good women should give a word of cheer and encouragement. women have their share in the responsibilities of this hour; in the reconstruction of the government. the battles now being fought on southern soil, will be fought again in the capitol at washington, when we shall need far-seeing statesmen to base the new union on justice, liberty, and equality. ours is the work of educating the people to make this demand. the entire year was spent in rolling up the mammoth petition. many hands were busy sending out letters and petitions, counting and assorting the names returned. each state was rolled up separately in yellow paper, and tied with the regulation red tape, with the number of men and women who had signed, endorsed on the outside. nearly four hundred thousand were thus sent, and may now be found in the archives at washington. the passage of the thirteenth amendment made the continuance of the work unnecessary. the first installment of , was presented by charles sumner, in an appropriate speech, feb. th, . the prayer of one hundred thousand. _speech of hon. chas. sumner on the presentation of the first installment of the emancipation petition of the woman's national league._ in the senate of the united states, tuesday, february , . mr. sumner.--mr. president: i offer a petition which is now lying on the desk before me. it is too bulky for me to take up. i need not add that it is too bulky for any of the pages of this body to carry. this petition marks a stage of public opinion in the history of slavery, and also in the suppression of the rebellion. as it is short i will read it: "to the senate and house of representatives of the united states: "the undersigned, women of the united states above the age of eighteen years, earnestly pray that your honorable body will pass at the earliest practicable day an act emancipating all persons of african descent held to involuntary service or labor in the united states." there is also a duplicate of this petition signed by "men above the age of eighteen years." it will be perceived that the petition is in rolls. each roll represents a state.[ ] for instance, here is new york with a list of seventeen thousand seven hundred and six names; illinois with fifteen thousand three hundred and eighty; and massachusetts with eleven thousand six hundred and forty-one. these several petitions are consolidated into one petition, being another illustration of the motto on our coin--_e pluribus unum_. this petition is signed by one hundred thousand men and women, who unite in this unparalleled number to support its prayer. they are from all parts of the country and from every condition of life. they are from the sea-board, fanned by the free airs of the ocean, and from the mississippi and the prairies of the west, fanned by the free airs which fertilize that extensive region. they are from the families of the educated and uneducated, rich and poor, of every profession, business, and calling in life, representing every sentiment, thought, hope, passion, activity, intelligence which inspires, strengthens, and adorns our social system. here they are, a mighty army, one hundred thousand strong, without arms or banners; the advance-guard of a yet larger army. but though memorable for their numbers, these petitioners are more memorable still for the prayer in which they unite. they ask nothing less than universal emancipation; and this they ask directly at the hands of congress. no reason is assigned. the prayer speaks for itself. it is simple, positive. so far as it proceeds from the women of the country, it is naturally a petition, and not an argument. but i need not remind the senate that there is no reason so strong as the reason of the heart. do not all great thoughts come from the heart? it is not for me, on presenting this petition, to assign reasons which the army of petitioners has forborne to assign. but i may not improperly add that, naturally and obviously, they all feel in their hearts, what reason and knowledge confirm: not only that slavery _as a unit_, one and indivisible, is the guilty origin of the rebellion, but that its influence everywhere, even outside the rebel states, has been hostile to the union, always impairing loyalty, and sometimes openly menacing the national government. it requires no difficult logic to conclude that such a monster, wherever it shows its head, is a _national enemy_, to be pursued and destroyed as such, or at least a nuisance to the national cause to be abated as such. the petitioners know well that congress is the depository of those supreme powers by which the rebellion, alike in its root and in its distant offshoots, may be surely crushed, and by which unity and peace may be permanently secured. they know well that the action of congress may be with the co-operation of the slave-masters, or even without the co-operation, under the overruling law of military necessity, or the commanding precept of the constitution "to guarantee to every state a republican form of government." above all, they know well that to save the country from peril, especially to save the national life, there is no power, in the ample arsenal of self-defense, which congress may not grasp; for to congress, under the constitution, belongs the prerogative of the roman dictator to see that the republic receives no detriment. therefore to congress these petitioners now appeal. i ask the reference of the petition to the select committee on slavery and freedmen. it was referred, after earnest discussion, as mr. sumner proposed. anniversary of the loyal women's national league. the anniversary of the women's national league was held at the church of the puritans, thursday morning, may , . the president, elizabeth cady stanton, called the meeting to order, and requested the audience to observe a few moments of silence, that each soul might seek for itself divine guidance through the deliberations of the meeting. the corresponding secretary, charlotte b. wilbour, read the call for the meeting. the recording secretary read the following report of the executive committee: one year ago we formed ourselves into a league, with the declared object of educating thirty millions of people into the true idea of a christian republic, by means of tracts, speeches, appeals, and petitions for emancipation. whilst as women, we might not presume to teach men statesmanship and diplomacy, we felt it our duty to call the nation back to the a, b, c of human rights. in looking over the history of the republic we clearly saw in slavery the cause not only of all our political and financial convulsions, but of the terrible rebellion desolating our country and our homes. to do this was a work of time and money; and we were compelled to assume a debt of five thousand dollars in starting--the item of postage alone amounting to _one thousand_--all of which we are happy to say has been duly paid. our thanks are due to robert dale owen, gerrit smith, bradhurst schieffelin, wendell phillips, jessie benton fremont, frederick douglass, henry ward beecher, and the hovey trust fund committee of boston, for their timely contributions and liberal words of cheer. but still more are we indebted to the numberless, nameless thousands of the honest, earnest children of toil, throughout the country, for their responses to our call, their words of hearty god-speed, and their "mite" offerings, ranging from five cents to five dollars; amounting in all to $ , . from these petitions, thus widely scattered, we have already sent to congress the names of over two hundred thousand men and women, demanding an amendment of the constitution and an act of emancipation. and thousands are still returning to us daily, and we hope to roll up another hundred thousand before the close of the present session. leaving, then, all minor questions of banks and mints and public improvements for congressmen to discuss at the rate of $ , a year, we decided the first work to be done was to end slavery, and ring the death knell of caste and class throughout the land. to this end, as a means of educating the people, we sent out twenty thousand emancipation petitions, with tracts and appeals, into different districts of the free states, and into the slave states wherever our armies had opened the way. the woman's national league now numbers five thousand members. and in the west, where we have employed two lecturing agents--josephine s. griffing, and hannah tracy cutler--a large number of auxiliary leagues have been formed. we have registered on our books the names of two thousand men and women, boys and girls, who have circulated these petitions. we have on file all the letters received from the thousands with whom we have been in correspondence, feeling that this canvass of the nation for freedom will be an important and most interesting chapter in our future history. these letters, coming from all classes and all latitudes, breathe one prayer for the downfall of slavery. massachusetts' noble senator, charles sumner, who has so reverently received, presented, and urged these petitions, has cheered us with kind messages, magnifying the importance of our labors. his eloquent speech, made in the senate on presenting our first installment--_the prayer of one hundred thousand_--we have printed in tract form and scattered throughout the country. we have flooded the nation with letters and appeals, public and private, and put forth every energy to rouse the people to earnest, persistent action against slavery, the deadly foe of all our cherished institutions. we proposed to ourselves in the first moments of enthusiasm to secure, at least, _a million_ signatures--one thirtieth part of our entire population. we thought the troubled warnings of a century--the insidious aggressions of slavery, with its violations of the sacred rights of _habeas corpus_, free speech, and free press, with its riots in our cities, and in the councils of the nation striking down, alike, black men and brave senators, all culminating, at last, in the horrid tragedies of war--must have roused the dullest moral sense, and prepared the nation's heart to do justice and love mercy. but we were mistaken. sunk in luxury, corruption, and crime--born and bred into the "guilty phantasy that man could hold property in man," we needed the clash of arms, the cannon's roar, the shrieks and groans of fallen heroes, the lamentations of mothers for their first-born, the angel's trump, the voices of the mighty dead, to wake this stolid nation from its sleep of death. in circulating our petition many refused to sign because they believed slavery a divine institution, and therefore did not wish to change the status of the slave. others, who professed to hate slavery, denied the right of congress to interfere with it in the states; and yet others condemned all dictation, or even suggestion to congress or the president. they said, "_let the people be still_ and trust the affairs of state to the management of the rulers they, themselves, have chosen." and many of our "old abolitionists," believing _their_ work done, that the war had killed slavery, knocked the bottom out of the tub, not only declared our work one of supererogation, but told us that petitioning, as a means of educating the people or influencing congress, had become obsolete. under all these discouragements, with neither press nor pulpit to magnify our work, without money or the enthusiasm of numbers, in simple faith, into the highways and hedges we sent the gospel of freedom, and as of old, the people heard with gladness. a very large majority of our petitioners are from the unlettered masses. they who, knowing naught of the machinery of government or the trickery of politics, believe that, as god reigns, there is justice on the earth. as yet, none of our large cities have been thoroughly canvassed; but from the savannahs of the south and the prairies of the west--from the hills of new england and the shores of our lakes and gulfs, have we enrolled the soldiers of freedom; they who, when the rebels shall lay down their arms, with higher, holier weapons must end the war. through us, two hundred thousand[ ] people--the labor and virtue of the republic--have spoken in our national capitol, where their voices were never heard before. those unaccustomed to balance influences, who judge of the importance of movements by their apparent results, may deem our efforts lost, because the amendment and emancipation bills have not yet passed the house; but _we_ feel that our labors for the past year, in the circulation of tracts and petitions and appeals--in our lectures and letters, public and private, have done as much to kill the rebellion, by educating the people for the final blow, as any other organization, civil, political, military, or religious, in the land. could you but read the many earnest, thrilling letters we have received from simple men and women, in their rural homes, you would have fresh hope for the stability of our republic; remembering that the life of a nation depends on the virtue of its people, and not on the dignity of its rulers. one poor, infirm woman in wisconsin, who had lost her husband and all her sons in the war, traveled on foot over _one hundred miles_ in gathering _two thousand names_. her letter was filled with joy that she, too, had been able to do something for the cause of liberty. follow her, in imagination, through sleet and snow, from house to house; listen to her words--mark the pathos of her voice, as she debates the question of freedom, or tells some tale of horror in the land of slavery, or asks her neighbors one by one, to give their names to end such wrongs. aside from all she says, the _fact_ that she comes in storm, on foot, is to all an argument, that there is something wrong in the republic, demanding haste and action from every citizen. you who, in crowded towns, move masses by your eloquence, scorn not the slower modes. remember the seeds of enthusiasm you call forth have been planted by humbler hands--by the fireside, the old arm-chair in the workshop, at the plow--wherever man communes alone with god. our work for the past year--and what must still be our work--involves the vital question of the nation's life. for, until the old union with slavery be broken, and our constitution so amended as to secure the elective franchise to all its citizens who are taxed, or who bear arms to support the government, we have no foundations on which to build a true republic. we urge our countrywomen who have shown so much enthusiasm in the war--in sanitary and freedmen's associations--now to give themselves to the broader, deeper, higher work of reconstruction. the new nation demands the highest type of womanhood. it is a holy mission to minister to suffering soldiers in camp and hospital, and on the battle-field; to hold the heads and stanch the wounds of dying heroes; but holier still, by the magic word of freedom, to speak a dying nation into life. four years ago the _many_ thought all was well in the land of the free and the home of the brave; but _we_ knew the war was raging then through all the southern states. we knew the secrets of that bastile of horrors; we heard, afar off, the shrieks and groans of the dying, the lamentations of husbands and wives, parents and children, sundered forever from each other. _then_ we fed, and clothed, and sheltered the fugitives in their weary marches where the north star led, and crowned with immortal wreaths the panting heroes, pursued by the bloodhounds from the everglades of florida, who asked but to die in freedom under the shadow of a monarch's throne. yes, the rebellion has been raging near a century on every cotton field and rice plantation. every vice, hardship, and abomination, suffered by our soldiers in the war, has been the daily life in slavery. yet no northern volunteers marched to the black man's help, though he stood alone against such fearful odds, until john brown and his twenty-three men threw themselves into the deadly breach. what a sublime spectacle! behold! the black man, forgetting all our crimes, all his wrongs for generations, now nobly takes up arms in our defence. look not to greece or rome for heroes--to jerusalem or mecca for saints--but for the highest virtues of heroism, let us worship the black man at our feet. mothers, redeem the past by teaching your children the limits of human rights, with the same exactness that you now teach the multiplication table. that "all men are created equal" is a far more important fact for a child to understand, than that twice two makes four. had we during the past century as fondly guarded the tree of liberty, with its blessed fruits of equality, as have southern mothers the deadly upas of slavery, the blood of our sires and sons, mingled with the sweat and tears of slaves, would not now enrich the tyrant's soil, our hearthstones would not all be desolate, nor we, with shame, behold our northern statesmen in the nation's councils overwhelmed with doubt and perplexity on the simplest question of human rights. a mariner without chart or compass, ignorant of the starry world above his head, drifting on a troubled sea, is not more hopeless than a nation, in the throes of revolution, without faith in the immutability and safety of truth and justice. behold in the long past the endless wreck of nations--despotisms, monarchies, republics--alike, they all sprang up and bloomed--then drooped and died, because not planted with the seeds of life; and on their crumbling ruins the black man now plants his feet, and as he proudly breaks his chains declares, "man above all human government." wendell phillips was introduced and made an eloquent appeal in behalf of the object of the league. he congratulated the society on the progress it had made, contrasted the past with the present, referred to his experience at former meetings, and argued that woman should have a voice and a vote in the affairs of the nation. he showed the importance of woman's moral power infused into the politics of the country, and of the independence of those outside of party lines, who neither vote or hold office, to criticise the shortcomings of our rulers. he eulogized the manner in which anna dickinson had arraigned both men and measures before the judgment-seat of the people; deplored the slavery of party, that puts padlocks on the lips of leading politicians. while the sons of the puritans, with bated breath, see in the violation of the most sacred rights of citizens the swift-coming destruction of the republic, and in silence wait the shock, an inspired girl comes forward, sounds the alarm, raises the signal of distress, and fearlessly calls the captain, pilot, crew, and all to duty, for the ship of state is drifting on a rock-bound coast. again and again is this young girl put forward to tell the people what men in high places dare not say themselves. the following resolutions were then read and submitted for discussion: . _whereas_, the testimony of all history, the teachings of all sound philosophy, and our national experience for almost a hundred years, have demonstrated that in the divine economy there is an "irrepressible conflict" between slavery and freedom; and whereas, the present war is but the legitimate fruit of this unnatural union; therefore _resolved_, that any attempt to reconstruct the government with any root or branch of the slave system remaining, will surely prove disastrous, and therefore should be met at the outset with the stern rebuke of every true patriot and friend of humanity. . _resolved_, that this government _still_ upholds slavery by military as well as civil power, and is, therefore, itself, still in daring rebellion against the god of justice, before whom jefferson "trembled" and whose "exterminating thunders" he warned us would be our destruction, unless, by "the diffusion of light and liberality," we were led to exterminate it forever from the land. . _resolved_, that until the old union with slavery be broken, and the constitution so amended as to secure the elective franchise to all citizens who bear arms, or are taxed to support the government, we have no foundations on which to build a true republic. . whereas, the _anti_ or _pro_-slavery character of the constitution has long been a question of dispute among statesmen and judges, as well as reformers, therefore _resolved_, that we demand for the new nation a new constitution, in which the guarantee of liberty and equality to every human being shall be so plainly and clearly written as never again to be called in question. . _resolved_, that we demand for black men not only the right to be sailors, soldiers, and laborers under equal pay and protection with white men, but the right of suffrage, that only safeguard of civil liberty, without which emancipation is but mockery. . _resolved_, that women now acting as nurses in our hospitals, who are regular graduates of medicine, should be recognized as physicians and surgeons, and receive the same remuneration for their services as men. . _resolved_, that the failure of the administration to protect our black troops against such outrages as were long ago officially threatened, and fearfully perpetrated at port hudson, milliken's bend, olustee, and fort pillow, is but added proof of its _heartless character_ or _utter incapacity_ to conduct the war. . _resolved_, that when the men of a nation, in a political party, consecrate themselves to "freedom and peace" and declare their high resolve to found a republic on the principles of justice, they have lifted politics into the sphere of morals and religion, where it is the duty of women to be co-workers with them in giving immortal life to the new nation. . _resolved_, that our special thanks are due to robert dale owen, who aided us in the inauguration of our work; and to charles sumner, who so earnestly and eloquently presented our petitions in the senate of the united states. . whereas, from official statistics, it appears that our annual national expenditures for imported broadcloths, silks, laces, embroideries, wines, spirits, and cigars, are more than one hundred million dollars; therefore _resolved_, that we recommend the formation of leagues of patriotic men and women throughout the country, whose object shall be to discountenance and prevent the indulgence of all these, and similar useless luxuries during the war; thereby encouraging habits of economy, stimulating american industry, diminishing the foreign debt, and increasing our ability to meet the vast expenditures of the present crisis. the following letters were read by miss anthony: letter from emile pretorius. st. louis, mo., _april , _. madam:--your favor of d inst. has come to hand with your call, which was published and endorsed by our paper, as you will see by the enclosed slip. your sentiments are so high and noble that to doubt a favorable result and response from the west would be like doubting whether our women had courage enough to follow the truest instincts, the best impulses of their own pure nature. i, for one, have no such idea, no such fears; and if i should ever believe that the cornelias and thuseneldas were only to be found by going back thousands of years in history, and would not and could not be rivalled by patriotic mothers and heroic wives in this present crises of ours, i then would renounce at once all hopes of a national resurrection. liberty, it is true, is immortal; but we would be bound to look for her in some other part of our globe, if we fail on american soil to enlist in our struggle the full heart of our women. but there is no such thing as failure in battling for all that is high and good and sacred, and there is no such thing as failure in appealing for so good a cause to woman's noble mind and true heart. they will be with us, every one of them will, and whether a majority of our people be up to our standard this time or not, still, in the eyes of our women we would be what our german poet calls, "the conquering defeated." yours for fremont and freedom, emile pretorius. letter from charles sumner. senate chamber, _may , _. madam:--i can not be with you in new york, according to the invitation with which you have honored me; for my post of duty is here. i am grateful to your association for what you have done to arouse the country to insist on the extinction of slavery. now is the time to strike, and no effort should be spared. and yet there are many who lap themselves in the luxury of present success, and hold back. this is a mistake. the good work must be finished; and to my mind nothing seems to be done while anything remains to be done. there is one point to which attention must be directed. no effort should be spared to castigate and blast the whole idea of _property in man_, which is the corner-stone of the rebel pretension, and the constant assumption of the partisans of slavery, or of its lukewarm opponents. let this idea be trampled out, and there will be no sympathy with the rebellion; and there will be no such abomination as _slave-hunting_, which is beyond question the most execrable feature of slavery itself. accept my thanks, and believe me, madam, faithfully yours, miss susan b. anthony. charles sumner. speeches were then made by george thompson, lucretia mott, and ernestine l. rose; after which, in adjourning the convention, the president said: this is the only organization of women that will have a legitimate cause for existence beyond the present hour. the sanitary, soldiers' aid, hospital, and freedmen's societies all end with the war; but the soldier and negro in peace have yet to be educated into the duties of citizens in a republic, and our legislators to be stimulated by a higher law than temporary policy. this is the only organization formed during the war based specifically on universal emancipation and enfranchisement. knowing that in this great national upheaval women would exert an influence for good or evil, we felt the importance of concentrating all their power on the side of liberty. to this end we have urged them to use with zeal and earnestness their only political right under the constitution: the right of petition. during the past year the petitions for freedom have been quietly circulating in the most remote school districts of all the free states and territories, in the army, the navy, and some have found their way to the far south. and now they are coming back by the thousands, with the signatures of men and women, black and white, soldiers and civilians, from every point of the compass, to be presented in mammoth rolls again in the coming congress. i urge every one present to help spread the glad tidings of liberty to all, by signing and circulating these petitions, remembering that while man may use the bullet and the ballot to enforce his will, this is woman's only weapon of defence to-day in this republic. the convention is now adjourned. the debates throughout these conventions show how well the leaders of the loyal league understood the principles of republican government, and the fatal policy of some of those in power. they understood the situation, and clearly made known their sentiments. the character of the discussions and resolutions in their conventions was entirely changed during the war; broader ideas of constitutional law; the limits of national power and state rights formed the basis of the new arguments. they viewed the questions involved in the great conflict from the point of view of statesmen, rather than that of an ostracised class. reviewing the varied efforts of the representative women[ ] referred to in this chapter in the political, military, philanthropic, and sanitary departments of the government, and the army of faithful assistants, behind them, all alike self-sacrificing and patriotic; with a keen insight into the policy of the government and the legitimate results of the war; the question naturally suggests itself, how was it possible that when peace was restored they received no individual rewards nor general recognition for their services, which, though acknowledged in private, have been concealed from the people and ignored by the government.[ ] gen. grant has the credit for the success of plans which were the outgrowth of the military genius of a woman; gen. howard received a liberal salary as the head of the freedman's bureau, while the woman who inspired and organized that department and carried its burdens on her shoulders to the day of her death, raised most of the funds by personal appeal for that herculean work. dr. bellows enjoyed the distinction as president of the sanitary bureau, which originated in the mind of a woman, who, when the machinery was perfected and in good working order, was forced to resign her position as official head through the bigotry of the medical profession. though to anna dickinson was due the triumph of the republican party in several of the doubtful states at a most critical period of the war, yet that party, twenty years in power, has refused to secure her in the same civil and political rights enjoyed by the most ignorant foreigner or slave from the plantations of the south. the lessons of the war were not lost on the women of this nation; through varied forms of suffering and humiliation, they learned that they had an equal interest with man in the administration of the government, enjoying or suffering alike its blessings or its miseries. when in the enfranchisement of the black man they saw another ignorant class of voters placed above their heads, and with anointed eyes beheld the danger of a distinctively "male" government, forever involving the nations of the earth in war and violence; a lesson taught on every page of history, alike in every century of human experience; and demanded for the protection of themselves and children, that woman's voice should be heard, and her opinions in public affairs be expressed by the ballot, they were coolly told that the black man had earned the right to vote, that he had fought and bled and died for his country! did the negro's rough services in camp and battle outweigh the humanitarian labors of woman in all departments of government? did his loyalty in the army count for more than her educational work in teaching the people sound principles of government? can it be that statesmen in the nineteenth century believe that they who sacrifice human lives in bloody wars do more for the sum of human happiness and development than they who try to save the multitude and teach them how to live? but if on the battle-field woman must prove her right to justice and equality, history abundantly sets forth her claims; the records of her brave deeds mark every page of fact and fiction, of poetry and prose. in all the great battles of the past woman as warrior in disguise has verified her right to fight and die for her country by the side of man. in camp and hospital as surgeon, physician, nurse, ministering to the sick and dying, she has shown equal skill and capacity with him. there is no position woman has not filled, no danger she has not encountered, no emergency in all life's tangled trials and temptations she has not shared with man, and with him conquered. if moral power has any value in the balance with physical force, surely the women of this republic, by their self-sacrifice and patriotism, their courage 'mid danger, their endurance 'mid suffering, have rightly earned a voice in the laws they are compelled to obey, in the government they are taxed to support; some personal consideration as citizens as well as the black man in the "union blue." footnotes: [ ] before one man was slain the lint and bandages were so piled up in washington, that the hospital surgeons in self-defence cried out, enough! [ ] feb. , . [ ] in a conversation with miss carroll, in february, , mr. wade said: "i have sometimes reproached myself that i had not made known the author when they were discussing the resolution in congress to find out, _but mr. lincoln and mr. stanton were_ opposed to its being known that the armies were moving under the plan of a civilian, directed by the president as commander-in-chief. mr. lincoln said it was that which made him hesitate to inaugurate the movement against the opinion of the military commanders, and he did not wish to risk the effect it might have upon the armies if they found out some outside party had originated the campaign; that he wanted the armies to believe they were doing the whole business of saving the country." [ ] see appendix. [ ] the ninth, known to the world as the battle of orleans, fought in , which brought the hundred years' war between france and england to an end, securing the independent existence of france, possessed for its organizer and leader, joan of arc, then but eighteen, at which time she acquired her cognomen, "maid of orleans." [ ] it has been well said: "that assumption of man that as feud is the origin of all laws; that as woman does not fight she shall not vote, that her rights are to be forever held in abeyance to his wishes, was forever silenced by the military genius of anna ella carroll in planning this brilliant campaign. proving, too, that as right is of no sex, so genius is of no sex." [ ] hon. l. d. evans said: "nothing is more certain than that the rebel power was able to resist all the forces of the union, and keep her armies from striking their resources and interior lines of communication, upon any of the plans or lines of operation on which the union arms were operating. geographically considered, there was but one line which the national armies could take and maintain, and that was _unthought_ of and _unknown_, and could not have been found out, in all human probability, in time to have prevented a collapse, or warded off recognition and intervention, but for miss carroll. the failure to reduce vicksburg from the water, after a tremendous sacrifice of life and treasure, and the time it took to take richmond, furnish irrefragable proof of the inability of the union to subdue the rebellion on the plan of our ablest generals.... england and france had resolved that duty to their suffering operatives required the raising of the blockade for the supply of cotton, and nothing prevented that intervention but the progress of the national arms up the tennessee.... this campaign must, therefore, take rank with those few remarkable strategic movements in the world's history, which have decided the fate of empires and nations." [ ] see appendix. [ ] but as early as she was thus engaged, one woman had already preceded her. when the first blood of the war was shed by the attack upon the massachusetts troops passing through baltimore that memorable april , , but one person in the whole city was found to offer them shelter and aid. ann manley, a woman belonging to what is called the outcast class, with a pity as divine as that of the woman who anointed the feet of our lord and wiped them with the hair of her head--took the disabled soldiers into her own house, and at the hazard of her life, bound up their wounds. in making up his jewels at the last great day, will not the lord say of her as of one of old, "she has loved much, and much is forgiven her?" [ ] there was no penalty for disobedience, and persons disaffected, forgetful, or idle, might refuse or neglect to obey with impunity. it indeed seems most wonderful--almost miraculous--that under such circumstances, such a vast amount of good was done. had she not accomplished half so much, she still would richly have deserved that highest of plaudits, "well done, good and faithful servant!"--_woman's work in the civil war._ [ ] when the spanish minister, señor don francisco barca, was presented to the president, he spoke of america as the "splendid and fortunate land dreamed of, for the service of god and of human progress, by the greatest of all spanish women, before others conceived of it." [ ] on a pair of socks sent to the central association of relief, was pinned a paper, saying: "these socks were knit by a little girl five years old, and she is going to knit some more, for mother said it would help some poor soldier." [ ] the christian commission, an organization of later date, never succeeded in so fully gaining the affection of the soldiers, who, in tent or hospital, hailed the approach of medicine or delicacy, with an affectionate "how are you, sanitary?" [ ] organized seven years previously by dr. blackwell as an institution where women might be treated by their own sex, and for co-ordinate purposes, and out of which the new york medical college for women finally grew. [ ] women in many other parts of the country were active at as early a date as those of new york. a soldiers' aid society was formed in cleveland, ohio, april , , five days after the president's proclamation calling for troops. this association, with a slight change in organization, remained in existence a long time after the close of the war, actively employed in securing pensions and back pay to crippled and disabled soldiers. at two points in massachusetts, meetings to form aid societies were called immediately upon the departure of the sixth militia of that state for washington. [ ] women as loyal as these were to be found in the south, where an expression of love for the union was held as a death offence. among the affecting incidents of the war, was that of a woman who, standing upon the pedee river bank, waved her handkerchief for joy at seeing her country's flag upon a boat passing up the stream, and who for this exhibition of patriotism was shot dead by rebels on the shore. during the bread riots in mobile a woman was shot. as she was dying she took a small national flag from her bosom, where she had kept it hidden, wrapped it outside a cross, kissed it, and fell forward dead. "indeed, we may safely say that there is scarcely a loyal woman in the north who did not do something in aid of the cause--who did not contribute time, labor, and money, to the comfort of our soldiers and the success of our arms. the story of the war will never be fully or fairly written if the achievements of woman in it are left untold. they do not figure in the official reports; they are not gazetted for deeds as gallant as ever were done; the names of thousands are unknown beyond the neighborhood where they live, or the hospitals where they loved to labor; yet there is no feature in our war more creditable to us as a nation, none from its positive newness so well worthy of record."--_women of the war._ [ ] the distinctive features in woman's work in that war, were magnitude, system, thorough co-operation with the other sex, distinctness of purpose, business-like thoroughness in details, sturdy persistency to the close. there was no more general rising among the men than among the women, and for every assembly where men met for mutual exertion in the service of the country, there was some corresponding gathering of women to stir each other's hearts and fingers in the same sacred cause.... and of the two, the women were clearer and more united than the men, because their moral feelings and political instincts were not so much affected by selfishness, or business, or party considerations.... it is impossible to over-estimate the amount of consecrated work done by the loyal women of the north for the army. hundreds of thousands of women probably gave all the leisure they could command, and all the money they could save and spare, to the soldiers for the whole four years and more of the war.... no words are adequate to describe the systematic, persistent faithfulness of the women who organized and led the branches of the united states sanitary commission. their voluntary labor had all the regularity of paid service, and a heartiness and earnestness which no paid service can ever have.... men were ashamed to doubt where women trusted, or to murmur where they submitted, or to do little where they did so much.--_woman's work in the civil war_. l. p. brackett. [ ] julia ward howe. see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] during all periods of the war instances occurred of women being found in the ranks fighting as common soldiers, their sex remaining unsuspected.--_women of the war._ [ ] after the close of the war a bill was passed by congress authorizing the payment of salary due mrs. ella f. hobart, for services as chaplain in the union army. mrs. hobart was chaplain in the first wisconsin volunteer artillery. the governor of wisconsin declined to commission her until the war department should consent to recognize the validity of the commission. this secretary stanton refused to do on account of her sex, though her application was endorsed by president lincoln, though not by the government. mrs. hobart continued in her position as religious counselor, congress at last making payment for her services. [ ] there are many and interesting records of women who served in iowa, ohio, michigan, minnesota, illinois, indiana, kansas, new york, and pennsylvania regiments, in the armies of the potomac, the cumberland, the tennessee, with the indian rangers, in cavalry, artillery, on foot. a woman was one of the eighteen soldiers sent as a scout at lookout mountain--whose capture was deemed impossible--to ascertain the position of general bragg's forces; and a woman performed one of the most daring naval exploits of the war. it was a woman of brooklyn, n. y., who, inspired with the idea that she was to be the country's savior, joined the army in spite of parental opposition, and, during the bloody battle of lookout mountain, fell pierced in the side, a mortal wound, by a minie ball. elizabeth compton served over a year in the th michigan cavalry; was wounded at the engagement of greenbrier bridge, tennessee, her sex being discovered upon her removal to the hospital, at lebanon, kentucky, where, upon recovery, she was discharged from the service. ellen goodridge, although not an enlisted soldier, was in every great battle fought in virginia, receiving a painful wound in the arm from a minie ball. sophia thompson served three years in the th o. v. i. another woman soldier, under the name of joseph davidson, also served three years in the same company. her father was killed fighting by her side at chickamauga. a soldier belonging to the th iowa regiment was discovered, by the provost-marshal of cairo, to be a woman. an investigation being ordered, "charlie" placed the muzzle of her revolver to her head, fired, and fell dead on open parade-ground. no clue was obtained to her name, home, or family. frances hook, of illinois, enlisted with her brother in the th home guards, assuming the name of "frank miller." she served three months, and was mustered out without her sex being discovered. she then enlisted in the th illinois, and was taken prisoner in a battle near chattanooga. attempting to escape she was shot through one of her limbs. the rebels in searching her person for papers, discovered her sex. they respected her as a woman, giving her a separate room while she was in prison at atlanta, ga. during her captivity, jeff. davis wrote her a letter, offering her a lieutenant's commission if she would enlist in the rebel army, but she preferred to fight as a private soldier for the stars and stripes, rather than accept a commission from the rebels. this young lady was educated in a superior manner, possessing all the modern accomplishments. after her release from the rebel prison, she again enlisted in the d east tennessee cavalry. she was in the thickest of the fight at murfreesboro, and was severely wounded in the shoulder, but fought gallantly and waded the stone river into murfreesboro on that memorable sunday when the union forces were driven back. her sex was again disclosed upon the dressing of her wound, and general rosecrans was informed, who caused her to be mustered out of the service, notwithstanding her earnest entreaty to be allowed to serve the cause she loved so well. the general was favorably impressed with her daring bravery, and himself superintended the arrangements for her transmission home. she left the army of the cumberland, resolved to enlist again in the first regiment she met. the _louisville journal_ gave the following account of her under the head of "mustered out.--'frank miller,' the young lady soldier, now at barracks no. , will be mustered out of the service in accordance with the army regulations which prohibit the enlistment of females in the army, and sent to her parents in pennsylvania. this will be sad news to frances, who has cherished the fond hope that she would be permitted to serve the union cause during the war. she has been of great service as a scout to the army of the cumberland, and her place will not be easily filled. she is a true patriot and a gallant soldier." "frank," found the th michigan at bowling green, in which she again enlisted, remaining connected with this company. she said she had discovered a great many women in the army, one of them holding a lieutenant's commission, and had at different times assisted in burying three women soldiers, whose sex was unknown to any but herself. the _st. louis times_, sometime after the war, referring to a girl called as a witness before the police court of that city, says: "this lady is a historical character, having served over two years in the federal army during the war; fifteen months as a private in the illinois cavalry, and over nine months as a teamster in the noted lead mine regiment, which was raised in washburne district from the counties of jo daviess and carrol. she was at the siege of corinth, and was on duty during most of the campaign against vicksburg. at lookout mountain she formed one of the party of eighteen selected to make a scout and report the position of general bragg's forces. she was an _attache_ of general blair's seventeenth corps during most of the campaign of the tennessee, and did good service in the reconnoitering operations around the chattahochie river, at which time she was connected with general davis' fourteenth corps. she went through her army life under the cognomen of 'soldier tom.'" the name of miss brownlow, of tennessee, was familiar during the war for her daring exploits; also that of miss richmond, of raleigh, north carolina, who handled a musket, rifle, or shot-gun with precision and skill, fully equal to any sharp-shooter, and who was at any time ready to join the clan of which her father, a devoted unionist, was leader, in an expedition against the rebels, or on horseback, alone in the night, to thread the wild passes of the mountains as a bearer of information. major pauline cushman and dr. mary walker were also noted for their devotion to the union. no woman suffered more or rendered more service to the national cause than major cushman, who was employed in the secret service of the government as scout and spy. she carried letters between louisville and nashville, and was for many months with the army of the cumberland, employed by general rosecrans, rendering the army invaluable service. she was three times taken prisoner, once by john morgan, and advertised to be hung in nashville as a federal spy, but she escaped by singular daring and courage. the third time she was tried and condemned, but her execution was postponed on account of her illness. after lying in prison three months, she had an interview with general bragg, who assured her that he would make an example of her and hang her as soon as she got well enough to be hung decently. while she remained in this condition of suspense, the grand army of rosecrans commenced its forward march, and one fine day the rebel town in which she was imprisoned was surprised and captured by the union troops under general gordon granger, and she was released. after hearing an account of the sufferings she had undergone for the union cause, general granger determined to bestow upon her a testimonial of appreciation for her services, and she was accordingly formally proclaimed a major of cavalry. the ladies of nashville, hearing of this promotion, prepared a costly riding habit trimmed in military style, with dainty shoulder-straps, etc., and presented the dress to miss cushman. dr. mary walker gave her services on the field as surgeon, winning an acknowledged reputation in the second corps, army of the potomac, for professional superiority. she applied for a commission as assistant surgeon, but was refused by surgeon-general hammond because of her sex. dr. walker suffered imprisonment in castle thunder, richmond, having been taken prisoner. the special correspondent of the _n. y. tribune_, headquarters army of the potomac, sept. , , said: "she applied to both surgeon-generals finlay and hammond for a commission as assistant surgeon. her competence was attested and approved, yet as the army regulations did not authorize the employment of women as surgeons, her petition was denied. a senator from new york, with an enlightenment which did him honor, urged her appointment to the secretary of war, but without success." [ ] gilbert hay, shortly before released from fort la fayette. [ ] lee at arlington.--visitors to this noted place are so frequent that his appearance attracted no attention. he walked through the dreary hall, and looked in on the wide, vacant rooms, and passing to the front, stood for some time gazing out over the beautiful panorama, with its one great feature, the new dome of the old capitol, surmounted by a bronze statue of liberty armed, and with her back to him, gazing seaward. from this he passed to the garden, and looked over the line of the officers' graves that bound its sides, saw the dying flowers and wilted borders and leaf strewn walks, and continuing after a slight pause, he stopped on the edge of the field where the sixteen thousand union soldiers lie buried in lines, as if they had lain down after a review to be interred in their places. some negroes were at work here raking up the falling leaves, and one old man stopped suddenly and stared at the visitor as if struck mute with astonishment. he continued to gaze in this way until the stranger, walking slowly, regained his horse and rode away, when he dropped his rake and said to his companions: "shuah as de lord, men, dat was ole massa lee!" one hastens to imagine the thoughts and feelings that must have agitated this fallen chief as he stood thus, like marius amid the ruins of carthage, on the one spot of all others, to realize the fact of the lost cause and its eventful history. about him were the scenes of his youth, the home of his honored manhood, the scenery that gave beauty to the peaceful joys of domestic life. they were nearly all the same, and yet between then and now, came the fierce war, the huge campaigns and hundred battles loud with the roar of mouthing cannons and rattling musketry, and stained into history by the blood of thousands, the smoke of burning houses, the devastation of wide states, and the desolation of the households, and all in vain. he stood there, old before his time, the nationality so fiercely struggled for, unrecognized; the great confederacy a dream, his home a grave-yard, and the capitol he sought to destroy grown to twice its size, with the bronze goddess gazing calmly to the east.--_correspondence of the cincinnati commercial_, . [ ] peter waldo, a merchant of lyon, of the th century, was less the founder of a sect, than the representative and leader of a wide-spread struggle against the corruptions of the clergy. the church would have tolerated him, had he not trenched upon ground dangerous to the hierarchy. but he had the four gospels translated and (like wicklyffe) maintained that laymen had the right to read them to the people. he exposed thus the ignorance and the immorality of the clergy, and brought down their wrath upon himself. his opinions were condemned by a general council, and he retired to the valleys of the cottian alps. long persecutions followed, but his disciples could not be forced to yield their opinions. the protest of the waldenses related to practical questions.--_encyc._ [ ] it was almost as thrilling a sight to me to see these earnest women together at work with their needles, as it was to see the first colored soldier in the union blue. he was from camp reed, near boston. i met him in the church of rev. mr. grimes, and could not have known before how much such a vision would stir me. it was with great satisfaction that i took him by the hand and rejoiced with him in the progress of the government toward equality. [ ] mrs. briggs ("olivia") writing to the _sunday morning chronicle_ after mrs. griffing had departed this life, said in this connection: "altogether $ , were given by congress to the helpless who had been so long held in bondage, and for the great good accomplished, the sufferers were more indebted to mrs. griffing than to all the women of the country combined, for the larger proportion of the supplies purchased with this money, was distributed by her own hands." [ ] this would at first thought seem to conflict with the knowledge of "the north star" and "canada," but, as elsewhere, we must draw the line between the ignorant and the intelligent. [ ] see appendix. [ ] the impeachment trial of president johnson [ ] _forney's press_, in reporting a meeting at kennett square, said: "miss anna e. dickinson, of philadelphia, aged seventeen years, handsome, of an expressive countenance, plainly dressed, and eloquent beyond her years, made the speech of the occasion. after the listless, monotonous harangues of the day, the distinct, earnest tones of this juvenile joan of arc were very sweet and charming. during her discourse, which was frequently interrupted, miss dickinson maintained her presence of mind, and uttered her radical sentiments with augmented resolution and plainness. those who did not sympathize with her remarks, provocative as they were of numerous unmanly interruptions, were softened by her simplicity and solemnity. 'we are told,' said she, 'to maintain constitutions because they are constitutions, and compromises because they are compromises. but what are compromises, and what is laid down in those constitutions? eminent lawyers have said that certain great fundamental ideas of right are common to the world, and that all laws of man's making which trample on these ideas, are null and void--wrong to obey; right to disobey. the constitution of the united states recognizes human slavery, and makes the souls of men articles of purchase and of sale.'" [ ] she has always said that that was the best service the government could have rendered her, as it forced her to the decision to labor no longer with her hands for bread, but open some new path for herself. [ ] the highest compliment that the union men of this city could pay miss anna e. dickinson, was to invite her to make the closing and most important speech in this campaign. they were willing to rest their case upon her efforts. she may go far and speak much; she will have no more flattering proof of the popular confidence in her eloquence, tact, and power, than this. her business being to obtain votes for the right side, she addressed herself to that end with singular adaptation. but when we add to this lawyerlike comprehension of the necessities of the case, her earnestness, enthusiasm, and personal magnetism, we account for the effect she produced on that vast audience saturday night. allyn hall was packed as it never was before. every seat was crowded. the aisles were full of men who stood patiently for more than three hours; the window-sills had their occupants, every foot of standing room was taken, and in the rear of the galleries men seemed to hang in swarms like bees. such was the view from the stage. the stage itself and the boxes were filled with ladies, giving the speaker an audience of hundreds who could not see her face. hardly a listener left the hall during her speech. her power over that audience was marvellous. she seemed to have that absolute mastery of it which joan of arc is reported to have had of the french troops. they followed her with that deep attention which is unwilling to lose a word, greeting her ever and anon with bursts of applause. the speech in itself and its effect was magnificent. the work of the campaign is done, and it only remains in the name of all loyal men in this district to express to miss dickinson most heartfelt thanks for her inspiring aid. she has aroused everywhere respect, enthusiasm, and devotion, not to herself alone, but to our country also. while such women are possible in the united states, there is not a spot big enough for her to stand on, that will not be fought for so long as there is a man left.--_hartford courant._ [ ] her profits on this occasion were about a thousand dollars. [ ] correspondence. to miss anna e. dickinson, _philadelphia, pa._: miss dickinson:--heartily appreciating the value of your services in the campaigns in new hampshire, connecticut, pennsylvania, and new york, and the qualities that have combined to give you the deservedly high reputation you enjoy; and desiring as well to testify that appreciation, as to secure to ourselves the pleasure of hearing you, we unite in cordially inviting you to deliver an address at the capital this winter, at some time suited to your own convenience. washington, d.c., _dec. , _. hannibal hamlin, charles sumner, henry wilson, benjamin f. wade, john sherman, james dixon, h. b. anthony, ira harris, and sixteen other senators. schuyler colfax, thaddeus stephens, william d. kelley, robert c. schenck, james a. garfield, henry c. deming, r. b. van valkenburg, a. c. wilder, and seventy other representatives. gentlemen:--i thank you sincerely for the great and most unexpected honor which you have conferred upon me by your kind invitation to speak in washington. accepting it, i would suggest the th of january as the time, desiring the proceeds to be devoted to the help of the suffering freedmen. truly yours, anna e. dickinson. locust st., phila., _june , _. [ ] the _new york evening post_ in describing the occasion said: "miss dickinson's lecture in the hall of the house of representatives last night was a gratifying success, and a splendid personal triumph. she can hardly fail to regard it the most flattering ovation--for such it was--of her life. at precisely half-past seven miss dickinson came in, escorted by vice-president hamlin and speaker colfax. a platform had been built directly over the desk of the official reporters and in front of the clerk's desk, from which she spoke. she was greeted with loud cheers as she entered. mr. hamlin introduced her in a neat speech, in which he happily compared her to the maid of orleans. the scene was one to test severely the powers of a most accomplished orator, for the audience was not composed of the enthusiastic masses of the people, but rather of loungers, office-holders, orators, critics, and men of the fashionable world. at eight o'clock mr. and mrs. lincoln entered, and not even the utterance of a fervid passage in the lecture could repress the enthusiasm of the audience. just as the president entered the hall miss dickinson was criticising with some sharpness his amnesty proclamation and the supreme court; and the audience, as if feeling it to be their duty to applaud a just sentiment, even at the expense of courtesy, sustained the criticism with a round of deafening cheers. mr. lincoln sat meekly through it, not in the least displeased. perhaps he knew there were sweets to come, and they did come, for miss dickinson soon alluded to him and his course as president, and nominated him as his own successor in . the popularity of the president in washington was duly attested by volleys of cheers. the proceeds of the lecture--over a thousand dollars--were appropriated at miss dickinson's request to the national freedman's relief society." [ ] james redpath. [ ] see appendix. [ ] when our leading journals, orators, and brave men from the battle-field, complain that northern women feel no enthusiasm in the war, the time has come for us to pledge ourselves loyal to freedom and our country. thus far, there has been no united expression from the women of the north as to the policy of the war. here and there one has spoken and written nobly. many have vied with each other in acts of generosity and self-sacrifice for the sick and wounded in camp and hospital. but we have, as yet, no means of judging where the majority of northern women stand. if it be true that at this hour the women of the south are more devoted to their cause than we are to ours, the fact lies here. they see and feel the horrors of the war; the foe is at their firesides; while we, in peace and plenty, live as heretofore. there is an inspiration, too, in a definite purpose, be it good or bad. the women of the south know what their sons are fighting for. the women of the north do not. they appreciate the blessings of slavery; we not the blessings of liberty. we have never yet realized the glory of those institutions in whose defence it is the privilege of our sons to bleed and die. they are aristocrats, with a lower class, servile and obsequious, intrenched in feudal homes. we are aristocrats under protest, who must go abroad to indulge our tastes, and enjoy in foreign despotisms the customs which the genius of a republic condemns. but, from the beginning of the government, there have been women among us who, with the mother of the immortal john quincy adams, have lamented the inconsistencies of our theory and practice, and demanded for all the people the exercise of those rights that belong to every citizen of a republic. the women of a nation mold its morals, religion, and politics. the northern treason, now threatening to betray us to our foes, is hatched at our own firesides, where traitor snobs, returned from europe and the south, out of time and tune with independence and equality, infuse into their sons the love of caste and class, of fame and family, of wealth and ease, and baptize it all in the name of republicanism and christianity. let every woman understand that this war involves the same principles that have convulsed the nations of the earth from pharaoh to lincoln--liberty or slavery--democracy or aristocracy--equality or caste--and choose, this day, whether our republican institutions shall be placed on an enduring basis, and an eternal peace secured to our children, or whether we shall leap back through generations of light and experience, and meekly bow again to chains and slavery. shall northern freemen yet stand silent lookers-on when through topeka, st. paul, chicago, cleveland, boston, and new york, men and women, little boys and girls, chained in gangs, shall march to their own sad music, beneath a tyrant's lash? on our sacred soil shall we behold the auction-block--babies sold by the pound, and beautiful women for the vilest purposes of lust; where parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, shall be torn from each other, and sent east and west, north and south? shall our free presses and free schools, our palace homes, colleges, churches, and stately capitols all be leveled to the dust? our household gods be desecrated, and our proud lips, ever taught to sing peans to liberty, made to swear allegiance to the god of slavery? such degradation shall yet be ours, if we gird not up our giant freemen now to crush this rebellion, and root out forever the hateful principle of caste and class. men who, in the light of the nineteenth century, believed that god made one race all booted and spurred, and another to be ridden; who would build up a government with slavery for its corner-stone, can not live on the same continent with a pure democracy. to counsel grim-visaged war seems hard to come from women's lips; but better far that the bones of our sires and sons whiten every southern plain, that we do their rough work at home, than that liberty, struck dumb in the capital of our republic, should plead no more for man. every woman who appreciates the grand problem of national life must say war, pestilence, famine, anything but an ignoble peace. we are but co-workers now with the true ones of every age. the history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality. all men, born slaves to ignorance and fear, crept through centuries of discord--now one race dominant, then another--but in this ceaseless warring, ever wearing off the chains of their gross material surroundings of a mere animal existence, until at last the sun of a higher civilization dawned on the soul of man, and the precious seed of the ages, garnered up in the _mayflower_, was carried in the hollow of god's hand across the mighty waters, and planted deep beneath the snow and ice of plymouth rock with prayers and thanksgivings. and what grew there? men and women who loved liberty better than life. men and women who believed that not only in person, but in speech should they be free, and worship the god who had brought them thus far according to the dictates of their own conscience. men and women who, like daniel of old, defied the royal lion in his den. men and women who repudiated the creeds and codes of despots and tyrants, and declared to a waiting world that all men are created equal. and for rights like these, the fathers fought for seven long years, and we have no record that the women of that revolution ever once cried, "hold, enough," till the invading foe was conquered, and our independence recognized by the nations of the earth. and here we are, the grandest nation on the globe. by right no privileged caste or class. education free to all. the humblest digger in the ditch has all the civil, social, and religious rights with the highest in the land. the poorest woman at the wash-tub may be the mother of a future president. here all are heirs-apparent to the throne. the genius of our institutions bids every man to rise, and use all the powers that god has given him. it can not be, that for blessings such as these, the women of the north do not stand ready for any sacrifice. a sister of kossuth, with him an exile to this country, in conversation one day, called my attention to an iron bracelet, the only ornament she wore. "in the darkest days of hungary," said she, "our noble women threw their wealth and jewels into the public treasury, and clasping iron bands around their wrists, pledged themselves that these should be the only jewels they would wear till hungary was free." if darker hours than these should come to us, the women of the north will count no sacrifice too great. what are wealth and jewels, home and ease, sires and sons, to the birthright of freedom, secured to us by the heroes of the revolution? shall a priceless heritage like this be wrested now from us by southern tyrants, and northern women look on unmoved, or basely bid our freemen sue for peace? no! no! the vacant places at our firesides, the void in every heart says no!! such sacrifices must not be in vain!! the cloud that hangs o'er all our northern homes is gilded with the hope that through these present sufferings the nation shall be redeemed. elizabeth cady stanton. [ ] the call for a meeting of the loyal women of the nation: in this crisis of our country's destiny, it is the duty of every citizen to consider the peculiar blessings of a republican form of government, and decide what sacrifices of wealth and life are demanded for its defence and preservation. the policy of the war, our whole future life, depends on a clearly-defined idea of the end proposed, and the immense advantages to be secured to ourselves and all mankind, by its accomplishment. no mere party or sectional cry, no technicalities of constitution or military law, no mottoes of craft or policy are big enough to touch the great heart of a nation in the midst of revolution. a grand idea, such as freedom or justice, is needful to kindle and sustain the fires of a high enthusiasm. at this hour, the best word and work of every man and woman are imperatively demanded. to man, by common consent, is assigned the forum, camp, and field. what is woman's legitimate work, and how she may best accomplish it, is worthy our earnest counsel one with another. we have heard many complaints of the lack of enthusiasm among northern women; but, when a mother lays her son on the altar of her country, she asks an object equal to the sacrifice. in nursing the sick and wounded, knitting socks, scraping lint, and making jellies, the bravest and best may weary if the thoughts mount not in faith to something beyond and above it all. work is worship only when a noble purpose fills the soul. woman is equally interested and responsible with man in the final settlement of this problem of self-government; therefore let none stand idle spectators now. when every hour is big with destiny, and each delay but complicates our difficulties, it is high time for the daughters of the revolution, in solemn council, to unseal the last will and testament of the fathers--lay hold of their birthright of freedom, and keep it a sacred trust for all coming generations. to this end we ask the loyal women of the nation to meet in the church of the puritans (dr. cheever's), new york, on thursday, the th of may next. let the women of every state be largely represented both in person and by letter. on behalf of the woman's central committee, elizabeth cady stanton. susan b. anthony. [ ] _vice-presidents._--elizabeth cady stanton, of new york; angelina grimké weld, of new jersey; fannie w. willard, of pennsylvania; mary h. l. cabot, of massachusetts; mary white, of connecticut; mrs. e. o. sampson hoyt, of wisconsin; eliza w. farnham, of california; mrs. h. c. ingersol, of maine. _secretaries._--martha c. wright, of new york, and lucy n. colman, of new york. _business committee._--susan b. anthony; ernestine l. rose, new york; rev. antoinette b. blackwell, new jersey; amy post, new york; annie v. mumford, penn. [ ] see appendix. [ ] _resolved_, . that we heartily approve that part of the president's proclamation which decrees freedom to the slaves of rebel masters, and we earnestly urge him to devise measures for emancipating all slaves throughout the country. _resolved_, . that the national pledge to the freedmen must be redeemed, and the integrity of the government in making it vindicated, at whatever cost. _resolved_, . that while we welcome to legal freedom the recent slaves, we solemnly remonstrate against all state or national legislation which may exclude them from any locality, or debar them from any rights or privileges as free and equal citizens of a common republic. _resolved_, . there never can be a true peace in this republic until the civil and political rights of all citizens of african descent and all women are practically established. _resolved_, . that the women of the revolution were not wanting in heroism and self-sacrifice, and we, their daughters, are ready in this war to pledge our time, our means, our talents, and our lives, if need be, to secure the final and complete consecration of america to freedom. [ ] the following is the abstract: _state._ _men._ _women._ _total._ new york , , , illinois , , , massachusetts , , , pennsylvania , , , ohio , , , michigan , , , iowa , , , maine , , , wisconsin , , , indiana , , , new hampshire , , new jersey , , rhode island , , vermont , , connecticut , , minnesota , , west virginia maryland kansas delaware nebraska kentucky louisiana (new orleans) citizens of the u. s. living in new brunswick ------ ------ ------- , , , [ ] the exact number of signatures, as ascertained by senator sumner's clerk was , [ ] behind clara barton stood frances d. gage and others aiding and encouraging her in the consummation of her plans; with dorothea dix in the hospitals, the untiring labors of abby hopper gibbons and jane g. swisshelm must not be forgotten. three noble daughters, with hand and heart devoted to the work, made it possible for josephine s. griffing to accomplish what she did in the freedman's bureau. with anna dickinson stood hosts of women identified with the anti-slavery and the liberal republican movement; and behind the leaders of the national woman's loyal league stood , petitioners for freedom and equality to the black man, and the select body demanding the right of suffrage for woman, who thoroughly understood the genius of republican institutions. [ ] the facts that miss carroll planned the campaign on the tennessee; that dr. elizabeth blackwell originated the sanitary movement; and that those senators most active in carrying the measure for a freedman's bureau through congress, intended that mrs. griffing should be its official head, are known only to the few behind the scenes, facts published now on the page of history for the first time. chapter xvii. congressional action. first petitions to congress december, , against the word "male" in the th amendment--joint resolutions before congress--messrs. jenckes, schenck, broomall, and stevens--republicans protest in presenting petitions--the women seek aid of democrats--james brooks in the house of representatives--horace greeley on the petitions--caroline healy dall on messrs. jenckes and schenck--the district of columbia suffrage bill--senator cowan, of pennsylvania, moved to strike out the word "male"--a three days' debate in the senate--the final vote nine in favor of mr. cowan's amendment, and thirty-seven against. liberty victorious over slavery on the battle-field had now more powerful enemies to encounter at washington. the slave set free; the master conquered; the south desolate; the two races standing face to face, sharing alike the sad results of war, turned with appealing looks to the general government, as if to say, "how stand we now?" "what next?" questions, our statesmen, beset with dangers, fears for the nation's life, of party divisions, of personal defeat, were wholly unprepared to answer. the reconstruction of the south involved the reconsideration of the fundamental principles of our government, and the natural rights of man. the nation's heart was thrilled with prolonged debates in congress and state legislatures, in the pulpits and public journals, and at every fireside on these vital questions, which took final shape in three historic amendments. the first point, his emancipation, settled, the political status of the negro was next in order; and to this end various propositions were submitted to congress. but to demand his enfranchisement on the broad principle of natural rights, was hedged about with difficulties, as the logical result of such action must be the enfranchisement of all ostracised classes; not only the white women of the entire country, but the slave women of the south. though our senators and representatives had an honest aversion to any proscriptive legislation against loyal women, in view of their varied and self-sacrificing work during the war, yet the only way they could open the constitutional door just wide enough to let the black _man_ pass in, was to introduce the word "male" into the national constitution. after the generous devotion of such women as anna carroll and anna dickinson in sustaining the policy of the republicans, both in peace and war, they felt it would come with an ill-grace from that party, to place new barriers in woman's path to freedom. but how could the amendment be written without the word "male"? was the question. robert dale owen, being at washington and behind the scenes at the time, sent copies of the various bills to the officers of the loyal league in new york, and related to them some of the amusing discussions. one of the committee proposed "persons" instead of "males." "that will never do," said another, "it would enfranchise all the southern wenches." "suffrage for black men will be all the strain the republican party can stand," said another. charles sumner said, years afterward, that he wrote over nineteen pages of foolscap to get rid of the word "male" and yet keep "negro suffrage" as a party measure intact; but it could not be done. miss anthony and mrs. stanton, ever on the watch-tower for legislation affecting women, were the first to see the full significance of the word "male" in the th amendment, and at once sounded the alarm, and sent out petitions[ ] for a constitutional amendment to "prohibit the states from disfranchising any of their citizens on the ground of sex."[ ] miss anthony, who had spent the year in kansas, started for new york the moment she saw the propositions before congress to put the word "male" into the national constitution, and made haste to rouse the women in the east to the fact that the time had come to begin vigorous work again for woman's enfranchisement.[ ] mr. tilton (december , ) proposed the formation of a national equal rights society, demanding suffrage for black men and women alike, of which wendell phillips should be president, and the _national anti-slavery standard_ its organ. mr. beecher promised to give a lecture (january th) for the benefit of this universal suffrage movement. the _new york independent_ (theodore tilton, editor) gave the following timely and just rebuke of the proposed retrogressive legislation: a law against women. the spider-crab walks backward. borrowing this creature's mossy legs, two or three gentlemen in washington are seeking to fix these upon the federal constitution, to make that instrument walk backward in like style. for instance, the constitution has never laid any legal disabilities upon woman. whatever denials of rights it formerly made to our slaves, it denied nothing to our wives and daughters. the legal rights of an american woman--for instance, her right to her own property, as against a squandering husband; or her right to her own children, as against a malicious father--have grown, year by year, into a more generous and just statement in american laws. this beautiful result is owing in great measure to the persistent efforts of many noble women who, for years past, both publicly and privately, both by pen and speech, have appealed to legislative committees, and to the whole community, for an enlargement of the legal and civil status of their fellow-country women. signal, honorable, and beneficent have been the works and words of lucretia mott, lydia maria child, paulina w. davis, abby kelly foster, frances d. gage, lucy stone, caroline h. dall, antoinette brown blackwell, susan b. anthony, elizabeth cady stanton, and many others. not in all the land lives a poor woman, or a widow, who does not owe some portion of her present safety under the law to the brave exertions of these faithful laborers in a good cause. now, all forward-looking minds know that, sooner or later, the chief public question in this country will be woman's claim to the ballot. the federal constitution, as it now stands, leaves this question an open one for the several states to settle as they choose. two bills, however, now lie before congress proposing to array the fundamental law of the land against the multitude of american women by ordaining a denial of the political rights of a whole sex. to this injustice we object totally! such an amendment is a snap judgment before discussion; it is an obstacle to future progress; it is a gratuitous bruise inflicted upon the most tender and humane sentiment that has ever entered into american politics. if the present congress is not called to legislate _for_ the rights of women, let it not legislate _against_ them. but americans now live who shall not go down into the grave till they have left behind them a republican government; and no republic is republican which denies to half its citizens those rights which the declaration of independence, and which a true christian democracy make equal to all. meanwhile, let us break the legs of the spider-crab! while the th amendment was pending, senator sumner wrote many letters to the officers of the loyal league, saying, "send on the petitions; they give me opportunity for speech." "you are doing a noble work." "i am grateful to your association for what you have done to arouse the country to insist on the extinction of slavery." and our petitions were sent again and again, , strong, and months after the measure was carried, they still rolled in from every quarter where the tracts and appeals had been scattered. but when the proposition for the th amendment was pending, and the same women petitioned for their own civil and political rights, they received no letters of encouragement from republicans nor abolitionists; and now came some of the severest trials the women demanding the right of suffrage were ever called on to endure. though loyal to the government and the rights of the colored race, they found themselves in antagonism with all with whom they had heretofore sympathized. though unionists, republicans, and abolitionists, they could not without protest see themselves robbed of their birth-right as citizens of the republic by the proposed amendment. republicans presented their petitions in a way to destroy their significance, as petitions for "universal suffrage," which to the public meant "manhood suffrage." abolitionists refused to sign them, saying, "this is the negro's hour."[ ] colored men themselves opposed us, saying, do not block our chance by lumbering the republican party with woman suffrage. the democrats readily saw how completely the republicans were stultifying themselves and violating every principle urged in the debates on the th amendment, and volunteered to help the women fight their battle. the republicans had declared again and again that suffrage was a natural right that belonged to every citizen that paid taxes and helped to support the state. they had declared that the ballot was the only weapon by which one class could protect itself against the aggressions of another. charles sumner had rounded out one of his eloquent periods, by saying, "the ballot is the columbiad of our political life, and every citizen who holds it is a full-armed monitor." the democrats had listened to all the glowing debates on these great principles of freedom until the argument was as familiar as a, b, c, and continually pressed the republicans with their own weapons. then those loyal women were taunted with having gone over to the democrats and the disunionists. but neither taunts nor persuasions moved them from their purpose to prevent, if possible, the introduction of the word "male" into the federal constitution, where it never had been before. they could not see the progress--in purging the constitution of all invidious distinctions on the ground of color--while creating such distinctions for the first time in regard to sex. in the face of all opposition they scattered their petitions broadcast, and in one session of congress they rolled in upwards of ten thousand. the democrats treated the petitioners with respect, and called attention in every way to the question.[ ] but even such republicans as charles sumner presented them, if at all, under protest. a petition from massachusetts, with the name of lydia maria child at the head, was presented by the great senator under protest as "most inopportune!" as if there could be a more fitting time for action than when the bills were pending. during the morning hour of february st, senator henderson, of missouri, presented a petition from new york. suffrage for women. mr. henderson: i present the petition of mrs. gerrit smith and twenty-seven other ladies of the united states, the most of them from the state of new york, praying that the right of suffrage be granted to women. along with the petition i received a note, stating as follows: i notice in the debates of to-day that mr. yates promises, at the "proper time" to tell you why the women of illinois are not permitted to vote. to give you an opportunity to press him on this point i send you a petition, signed by twenty-eight intelligent women of this state, who are native-born americans--read, write, and pay taxes, and now claim representation! i was surprised to-day to find mr. sumner presenting a petition, with an apology, from the women of the republic. after his definition of a true republic, and his lofty peans to "equal rights" and the ballot, one would hardly expect him to ignore the claims of fifteen million educated tax-payers, now taking their places by the side of man in art, science, literature, and government. i trust, sir, you will present this petition in a manner more creditable to yourself and respectful to those who desire to speak through you. remember, the right of petition is our only right in the government; and when three joint resolutions are before the house to introduce the word "male" into the federal constitution, "it is the proper time" for the women of the nation to be heard, mr. sumner to the contrary notwithstanding. the right of petition is a sacred right, and whatever may be thought of giving the ballot to women, the right to ask it of the government can not be denied them. i present this petition without any apology. indeed, i present it with pleasure. it is respectful in its terms, and is signed by ladies occupying so high a place in the moral, social, and intellectual world, that it challenges at our hands, at least a respectful consideration. the distinguished senators from massachusetts and from illinois must make their own defense against the assumed inconsistency of their position. they are abundantly able to give reasons for their faith in all things; whether they can give reasons satisfactory to the ladies in this case, i do not know. the senators may possibly argue that if women vote at all, the right should not be exercised before the age of twenty-one; that they are generally married at or before that age, and that when married, they become, or ought to become, merged in their husbands; that the act of one must be regarded as the act of the other; that the good of society demands this unity for purposes of social order; that political differences should not be permitted to disturb the peace of a relation so sacred. the honorable senators will be able to find authority for this position, not only in the common law, approved as it is by the wisdom and experience of ages, but in the declaration of the first man, on the occasion of the first marriage, when he said, "this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." it may be answered, however, that the wife, though one with her husband, at least constitutes his better half, and if the married man be entitled to but one vote, the unmarried man should be satisfied with less than half a vote. [laughter]. having some doubts, myself, whether beyond a certain age, to which i have not yet arrived, such a man should be entitled to a vote or even half a vote, i leave the difficulty to be settled by my friend from massachusetts and the fair petitioners. the petitioners claim, that as we are proposing to enfranchise four million emancipated slaves, equal and impartial justice alike demands the suffrage for fifteen million women. at first view the proposition can scarcely be met with denial, yet reasons "thick as blackberries" and strong as truth itself may be urged in favor of the ballot in the one case, which can not be urged in the other. mr. saulsbury: i rise to a point of order. my point of order is, that a man who has lived an old bachelor as long as the senator from missouri has, has no right to talk about women's rights. [laughter]. the president _pro tem._: the chair moves that is not a point of order; and the senator from missouri will proceed. mr. henderson: i had no idea that that was a point of order, sir. whatever may be said theoretically about the elective franchise as a natural right, in practice at least, it has always been denied in the most liberal states to more than half the population. it is withheld from those whose crimes prove them devoid of respect for social order, and generally from those whose ignorance or imbecility unfits them for an intelligent appreciation of the duties of citizens and the blessings of good government. to women the suffrage has been denied in almost all governments, not for the reasons just stated, but because it is wholly unnecessary as a means of their protection. in the government of nature the weaker animals and insects, dependent on themselves for safety and life, are provided with means of defense. the bee has its sting and the despised serpent its deadly poison. so, in the governments of men, the weak must be provided with power to inspire fear at least in the strong, if not to command their respect. political power was claimed originally by the people as a means of protecting themselves against the usurpations of those in power, whose interests or caprices might lead to their oppression. hence came the republican system. but it was never thought the interests or caprices of men could lead to a denial of the civil rights or social supremacy of woman. people of one race have always been unjust to those of another. the ignorant and sordid jew despised the samaritan and scoffed at the idea of his equality. to him the learned and accomplished greek was a barbarian, and all rights were denied him except those simple rights accorded to the most degraded gentile. chinamen, to-day, believe as firmly in the superiority of the celestial race as americans do in the superiority of the anglo-saxon. all races of men are unjust to other races. they are unjust because of pride. that very pride makes them just to the women of their own race. there may be men who have prejudice against race; they are less than men who have prejudice against sex. the social position of woman in the united states is such that no civil right can be denied her. the women here have entire charge of the social and moral world. hence she must be educated. first impressions are those which bend the mind to noble or ignoble action, and these impressions are made by mothers. to have intelligent voters we must have intelligent mothers. to have free men we must have free women. the voter from this source receives his moral and intellectual training. woman makes the voter, and should not descend from her lofty sphere to engage in the angry contests of her creatures. she makes statesmen, and her gentle influence, like the finger of the angel pointing to the path of duty, would be lost in the controversies of political strife. she makes the soldier, infuses courage and patriotism in his youthful heart, and hovers like an invisible spirit over the field of battle, urging him on to victory or death in defense of the right. hence woman takes no musket to the battle-field. here, as in politics, her personal presence would detract from her power. galileo, newton, and la place could not fitly discuss the laws of planetary motion with ignorant rustics at a country inn. the learned divine who descends from the theological seminary to wrangle upon doctrinal points with the illiterate, stubborn teacher of a small country flock must lose half his influence for good. our government is built as our capitol is built. the strong and brawny arms of men, like granite blocks, support its arches; but woman, lovely woman, the true goddess of liberty, crowns its dome. mr. yates: i wish to ask the senator from missouri a question. i understand that he has introduced a resolution to amend the constitution of the united states so that there shall be no distinction on account of color. will the gentleman accept an amendment to that resolution that there shall be no distinction in regard to sex? mr. henderson: i have given my views, i think, very distinctly, as the senator would have found if he had listened, in the latter part of what i have just stated in reference to the question of voting. in reply to what he has said, i will say that i do not think that on the mere presentation of a petition it is in order to discuss the merits of the petition. i hope, therefore, that the senator will not insist upon entering into a question of that sort now. mr. yates: i shall not do so. i only wish to say that i am not proposing to amend the constitution. i simply desire to give rights to those who have rights under the constitution as it has been amended. when i propose to amend the constitution then the question will come up whether i will allow women to vote or not. mr. sumner: before this petition passes out of sight i wish to make one observation, and only one. the senator from missouri began by an allusion to myself and to a remark which fell from me when i presented the other day a petition from women of the united states praying for the ballot. i took occasion then to remark that in my opinion the petition at that time was not judicious. that was all that i said. i did not undertake to express my opinion on the great question whether women should vote or should not vote. i did venture to say that in my opinion it was not judicious for them at this moment to bring forward their claims so as to compromise in any way the great question of equal rights for an enfranchised race now before congress. the senator has quoted a letter suggesting that i did not present the petition in a creditable way. i have now to felicitate my excellent friend on the creditable way in which he has performed his duty. [laughter]. mr. yates: allow me to say that i think the two gentlemen, one of whom has arrived at the age of forty-nine and the other sixty-three, have no right to discuss the question of women's rights in the senate. [laughter]. the president _pro tem._: will the senator from missouri suggest the disposition he wishes made of this petition? mr. henderson: let it lie on the table. the president _pro tem._: that order will be made. the wriggling, the twisting, the squirming of the republicans at this crisis under the double fire of the democrats and the women, would have been laughable, had not their proposed action been so outrageously unjust and ungrateful. the tone of the republican press[ ] was stale, flat, and unprofitable. but while their journals were thus unsparing in their ridicule and criticism of the loyal women who had proved themselves so patriotic and self-sacrificing, they would grant them no space in their columns to reply.[ ] the second session of the thirty-ninth congress is memorable for an able debate in the senate on the enfranchisement of woman, on the bill[ ] "to regulate the franchise in the district of columbia," which proposed extending the suffrage to the "males" of the colored race. on monday, december , , senator cowan, of pennsylvania, moved to amend the amendment by striking out the word "male" before the word person. this debate in the senate lasted three entire days, and during that time the comments of the press were as varied as they were multitudinous. even horace greeley,[ ] who had ever been a true friend to woman, in favor of all her rights, industrial, educational, and political, said the time had not yet come for her enfranchisement. from _the congressional globe_ of december th, th, th, , we give the debates on mr. cowan's amendment. in moving to drop the word "male" from the district of columbia suffrage bill, he said: mr. president: it is very well known that i have always heretofore been opposed to any change of the kind contemplated by this bill; but while opposing that change i have uniformly asserted that if it became inevitable, if the change was certain, i should insist upon this change as an accompaniment. it is agreed--for i suppose when my honorable friend from rhode island [mr. anthony] and myself agree to it, it will be taken to be the universal sentiment of the body--that the right of suffrage is not a natural right, but a conventional right, and that it may be limited by the community, the body-politic, in any manner they see fit and consistent with their sense of propriety and safety. the proposition now before the senate is to confer on the colored people of this district the right of franchise; that is, the advocates of the bill say that that will be safe and prudent and proper, and will contribute, of course, to the happiness of the mass of the inhabitants of the district; and they further say that no reason can be given why a man of one color should not vote as well as a man of another color, especially when both are equally members of the same society, equally subjected to its burdens, equally to be called upon to defend it in the field, and all that. i agree to a great portion of that. i do not know and never did know any very good reason why a black man should not vote as well as a white man, except simply that all the white men said, "we do not like it." i do not know of any very good reason why a black woman should not marry a white man, but i suppose the white man would give about the same reason, he does not like to do it. there are certain things in which we do not like to go into partnership with the people of different races and between whom and ourselves there are tribal antipathies. it is now proposed to break down that barrier, so far as political power may be concerned, and admit both equally to share in this privilege; and since the barrier is to be broken down, and since there is to be a change, i desire another change, for which i think there is quite as good a reason, and a little better, perhaps, than that offered for this. i propose to extend this privilege not only to males, but to females as well: and i should like to hear even the most astute and learned senator upon this floor give any better reason for the exclusion of females from the right of suffrage than there is for the exclusion of negroes. i want to hear that reason. i should like to know it. now, for my part, i very much prefer, if the franchise is to be widened, if more people are to be admitted to the exercise of it, to allow females to participate than i would negroes; but certainly i shall never give my consent to the disfranchisement of females who live in society, who pay taxes, who are governed by the laws, and who have a right, i think, even in that respect, at times to throw their weight in the balance for the purpose of correcting the corruptions and the viciousness to which the male portions of the family tend. i think they have a right to throw their influence into the scale; and i should like to hear any reason to be offered why this should not be. taxation and representation ought to go hand in hand. that we have heard here until all ears have been wearied with it. if taxation and representation are to go hand in hand, why should they not go hand in hand with regard to the female as well as the male? is there any reason why mrs. smith should be governed by a goat-head of a mayor any more than john smith, if he could correct it? he is paid by taxes levied and assessed on her property just in the same way as he is paid out of taxes levied on the property of john. if she commits an offense she is subjected to be tried, convicted, and punished by the other sex alone; and she has no protection whatever in any way either as to her property, her person, or to her liberty very often. there is another thing, too. a great many reflections have been made upon the white race keeping the black in slavery. i should like to know whether we have not partially kept the female sex in a condition of slavery, particularly that part of them who labor for a living? i do not know of any reason in the world why a woman should be confined to two dollars a week when a man gets two dollars a day and does not do any more work than she does, and does not do that which he does do quite so well at all times. mr. president, if we are to venture upon this wide sea of universal suffrage, i object to manhood suffrage. i do not know anything specially about manhood which dedicates it to this purpose more than exists about womanhood. womanhood to me is rather the more exalted of the two. it is purer; it is higher; it is holier; and it is not purchasable at the same price that the other is, in my judgment. if you want to widen the franchise so as to purify your ballot-box, throw the virtue of the country into it; throw the temperance of the country into it; throw the purity of the country into it; throw the angel element, if i may so express myself, into it. [laughter]. let there be as little diabolism as possible, but as much of the divinity as you can get. therefore, mr. president, i put this as a serious question for the consideration of this body. in the presence of the tendencies of the age and in recognition of this movement, which my honorable friend from massachusetts is always talking about, and of which he seems to have had premonition long before it came to any of the rest of us--i say in the face of this movement and in recognition of it, i earnestly beg all patriots here to think of this proposition. it is inevitable. how are you to resist when it is made the demand of fifteen million american females for this right, which can be granted and which can be as safely exercised in their hands as it can in the hands of negroes? and i would ask gentlemen while they are bestowing this ballot which has such merit in it, which has such a healing efficacy for all ills, which educates people, and which elevates them above the common level of mankind, and which, above all, protects them, how they will go home and look in the face their sewing women, their laboring women, their single women, their taxed women, their overburdened women, their women who toil till midnight for the barest subsistence, and say to them, "we have it not for you; we could give it to the negro, but we could not give it to you." how would the honorable senator from massachusetts face the recent meeting of the equal rights society in philadelphia? how would he answer the potent arguments which were offered there and which challenge an answer even from the senate of the united states, when made by women of the highest intellect, perhaps, on the planet, and women who are determined, knowing their rights, to maintain them and to secure them? i ask honorable senators of his faith how they are to answer those ladies there? if this is refused, how are senators to answer, especially those who recognize the onward force of this movement, who are up to the tendencies of the times, who desire to keep themselves in front of the great army of humanity which is marching forward just as certainly to universal suffrage as to universal manhood suffrage. therefore, mr. president, i offer this amendment and ask for the yeas and nays upon it. the yeas and nays were ordered. mr. anthony: i move that the senate do now adjourn. ["oh, no!"] mr. wilson: i hope not. the president _pro tem._: the motion is not debatable and must be put unless withdrawn. the motion was agreed to; and the senate adjourned. suffrage in the district. in senate, tuesday, _dec. , _. the president _pro tempore_: if there be no further morning business, and no motion is interposed, the chair, although the morning hour has not expired, will call up the unfinished business, which is the bill (s, no. ) to regulate the elective franchise in the district of columbia, the pending question being on the amendment of the senator from pennsylvania [mr. cowan] to strike out the word "male" before the word "person" in the second line of the first section of the amendment, reported by the committee on the district of columbia as a substitute for the original bill. mr. anthony: i suppose the senator from pennsylvania introduced this amendment rather as a satire upon the bill itself, or if he had any serious intention it was only a mischievous one to injure the bill; but it will not probably have that effect, for i suppose nobody will vote for it except the senator himself, who can hardly avoid it, and i, who shall vote for it because it accords with a conclusion to which i have been brought by considerable study upon the subject of suffrage. i do not contend for female suffrage on the ground that it is a natural right, because i believe that suffrage is a right derived from society, and that society is competent to impose upon the exercise of that right whatever conditions it chooses. i hold that the suffrage is a delegated trust--a trust delegated to certain designated classes of society--and that the whole body-politic has the same right to withdraw any part of that trust, that we have to withdraw any part of the powers or the trusts that we have imposed upon any executive officer, and that it is no more a punishment to restrict the suffrage, and thereby deprive certain persons of the exercise of that right who have heretofore exercised it, than it is a punishment on the secretary of the treasury if we should take from him the appointment of certain persons whose appointment is now vested in him. the power that confers in each case has the right to withdraw. the true basis of suffrage, of course, is intelligence and virtue; but as we can not define those, as we can not draw the line that shall mark the amount of intelligence and virtue that any individual possesses, we come as near as we can to it by imperfect conditions. it certainly will not be contended that the feminine part of mankind are so much below the masculine in point of intelligence as to disqualify them from exercising the right of suffrage on that account. if it be asserted and conceded that the feminine intellect is less vigorous, it must also be allowed that it is more acute; if it is not so strong to strike, it is quicker to perceive. but at all events, it will not be contended that there is such a difference in the intellectual capacity of the sexes as that that alone should be a disqualification from the exercise of the right of suffrage. still less will it be contended that the female part of creation is less virtuous than the masculine. on the contrary, it will be conceded by every one that morality and good order, religion, charity, and all good works appertain rather more to the feminine than to the masculine race. the argument that women do not want to vote is no argument at all, because if the right to vote is conferred upon them they can exercise it or not, as they choose. it is not a compulsory exercise of power on their part. but i think that argument is partly disproved by the convention to which the senator from pennsylvania referred yesterday, whose arguments he said were worthy of consideration even in this chamber. i think they are, and i think it would be very difficult for any one in this chamber to disprove them. nor is it a fair statement of the case to say that the man represents the woman in the exercise of suffrage, because it is an assumption on the part of the man; it is an involuntary representation so far as the woman is concerned. representation implies a certain delegated power, and a certain responsibility on the part of the representative toward the party represented. a representation to which the represented party does not assent is no representation at all, but is adding insult to injury. when the american colonies complained that they ought not to be taxed unless they were represented in the british parliament, it would have been rather a singular answer to tell them that they were represented by lord north, or even by the earl of chatham. the gentlemen on the other side of the chamber who say that the states lately in rebellion are entitled to immediate representation in this chamber would hardly be satisfied if we should tell them that my friend from massachusetts represented south carolina, and my friend from michigan represented alabama. they would hardly be satisfied, i think, with that kind of representation. nor have we any more right to assume that the women are satisfied with the representation of the men. where has been the assembly at which this right of representation was conferred? where was the compact made? what were the conditions? it is wholly an assumption. a woman is a member of a manufacturing corporation; she is a stockholder in a bank; she is a shareholder in a railroad company; she attends all those meetings in person or by proxy, and she votes, and her vote is received. suppose a woman offering to vote at a meeting of a railroad corporation should be told by one of the men "we represent you, you can not vote," it would be precisely the argument that is now used--that men represent the women in the exercise of the elective franchise. a woman pays a large tax, and the man who drives her coach, the man who waits upon her table, goes to the polls and decides how much of her property shall go to support the public expenses, and what shall be done with it. she has no voice in the matter whatever; she is taxed without representation. the exercise of political power by women is by no means an experiment. there is hardly a country in europe--i do not think there is any one--that has not at some time of its history been governed by a woman, and many of them very well governed too. there have been at least three empresses of russia since peter the great, and two of them were very wise rulers. elizabeth raised england to the very height of greatness, and the reign of anne was illustrious in arms and not less illustrious in letters. a female sovereign supplied to columbus the means of discovering this country. he wandered foot-sore and weary from court to court, from convent to convent, from one potentate to another, but no man on a throne listened to him, until a female sovereign pledged her jewels to fit out the expedition which "gave a new world to the kingdoms of castile and leon." nor need we cite anne of austria, who governed france for ten years, or marie theresa, whose reign was so great and glorious. we have two modern instances. a woman is now on the throne of spain, and a woman sits upon the throne of the mightiest empire in the world. a woman is the high admiral of the most powerful fleet that rests upon the seas. princes and nobles bow to her, not in the mere homage of gallantry, but as the representative of a sovereignty which has descended to her from a long line of sovereigns, some of the most illustrious of them of her own sex. and shall we say that a woman may properly command an army, and yet can not vote for a common councilman in the city of washington? i know very well this discussion is idle and of no effect, and i am not going to pursue it. i should not have introduced this question, but as it has been introduced, and i intend to vote for the amendment, i desire to declare here that i shall vote for it in all seriousness, because i think it is right. the discussion of this subject is not confined to visionary enthusiasts. it is now attracting the attention of some of the best thinkers in the world, both in this country and in europe, and one of the very best of them all, john stuart mill, in a most elaborate and able paper, has declared his conviction of the right and justice of female suffrage. the time has not come for it, but the time is coming. it is coming with the progress of civilization and the general amelioration of the race, and the triumph of truth and justice and equal rights. mr. williams: mr. president, to extend the right of suffrage to the negroes in this country i think is necessary for their protection; but to extend the right of suffrage to women, in my judgment, is not necessary for their protection. for that reason, as well as for others, i shall vote against the amendment proposed by the senator from pennsylvania, and for the amendment as it was originally introduced by the senator from ohio [mr. wade]. negroes in the united states have been enslaved since the formation of the government. degradation and ignorance have been their portion; intelligence has been denied to them; they have been proscribed on account of their color; there is a bitter and cruel prejudice against them everywhere, and a large minority of the people of this country to-day, if they had the power, would deprive them of all political and civil rights and reduce them to a state of abject servitude. women have not been enslaved. intelligence has not been denied to them; they have not been degraded; there is no prejudice against them on account of their sex; but, on the contrary, if they deserve to be, they are respected, honored, and loved. wide as the poles apart are the conditions of these two classes of persons. exceptions i know there are to all rules; but, as a general proposition, it is true that the sons defend and protect the reputation and rights of their mothers; husbands defend and protect the reputation and rights of their wives; brothers defend and protect the reputation and rights of their sisters; and to honor, cherish, and love the women of this country is the pride and the glory of its sons. when women ask congress to extend to them the right of suffrage it will be proper to consider their claims. not one in a thousand of them at this time wants any such thing, and would not exercise the power if it were granted to them. some few who are seeking notoriety make a feeble clamor for the right of suffrage, but they do not represent the sex to which they belong, or i am mistaken as to the modesty and delicacy which constitute the chief attraction of the sex. do our intelligent and refined women desire to plunge into the vortex of political excitement and agitation? would that policy in any way conduce to their peace, their purity, and their happiness? sir, it has been said that "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world"; and there is truth as well as beauty in that expression. women in this country, by their elevated social position, can exercise more influence upon public affairs than they could coerce by the use of the ballot. when god married our first parents in the garden, according to that ordinance they were made "bone of one bone and flesh of one flesh"; and the whole theory of government and society proceeds upon the assumption that their interests are one, that their relations are so intimate and tender that whatever is for the benefit of the one is for the benefit of the other; whatever works to the injury of the one works to the injury of the other. i say, sir, that the more identical and inseparable these interests and relations can be made, the better for all concerned; and the woman who undertakes to put her sex in an antagonistic position to man, who undertakes by the use of some independent political power to contend and fight against man, displays a spirit which would, if able, convert all the now harmonious elements of society into a state of war, and make every home a hell upon earth. women do not bear their proportion and share, they can not bear their proportion and share of the public burdens. men represent them in the army and in the navy; men represent them at the polls and in the affairs of the government; and though it be true that individual women do own property that is taxed, yet nine-tenths of the property and the business from which the revenues of the government are derived are in the hands and belong to and are controlled by the men. sir, when the women of this country come to be sailors and soldiers; when they come to navigate the ocean and to follow the plow; when they love to be jostled and crowded by all sorts of men in the thoroughfares of trade and business; when they love the treachery and the turmoil of politics; when they love the dissoluteness of the camp and the smoke and the thunder and the blood of battle better than they love the enjoyments of home and family, then it will be time to talk about making the women voters; but until that time the question is not fairly before the country. mr. cowan: mr. president, i had not intended to say anything on this subject beyond what i offered to the senate yesterday evening, and i should not do so if it were not for the suggestion of a friend, and i am glad to say a friend who believes as i do, that it is the general supposition that i am not serious and not in earnest in the amendment which i have moved; and i only rise now for the purpose of disabusing the minds of senators and others from any impression they may have had of that sort. i am perfectly free to admit that i have always been opposed to change. i do not know why it is. whether i have felt myself old or not, i have not ranged myself in the category of "old fogies" as yet. although i feel an indisposition to exchange the "ills we suffer" for "those we know not of," and am not desirous to launch myself away from that which is ascertained and certain, and adventure myself upon a sea of experiment, at the same time i feel as much of that strength, that elasticity, that vigor, and that desire for the advancement of my race, my countrymen, and my kind as anybody can feel. i yield to no one in that respect. all i have asked, and all i have desired heretofore, is that we go surely. i believe with my fathers and my ancestors that to base suffrage upon the white males of twenty-one years of age and upward was a great stride in the world's affairs; that it would be well for the world if its government could progress, could advance upon that basis, and that all the rest of the world who did not happen to be white males of the age of twenty-one years and upward could very well afford to stand back and witness the effect of our experiment. i was of that opinion, i lived in the light of it, and i rejoiced in its success; and when i saw this rebellion, when i witnessed the differences of opinion which convulsed this part of the continent; when i saw the fact that one-half of the united states was upon the one side and the other half upon the other side as to the understanding of the true theory of this government of ours, simple as it may be to the lawyer, complex as it may be when examined more thoroughly, i was more than ever disinclined to widen the suffrage, to intrust the franchise to a larger number of people. i trembled for the success of the experiment; i hesitated as to where it would end. i may say, mr. president, that i hesitate yet. the question is by no means settled, the difficulty is by no means ended, the controversy is by no means yet concluded. but the first step taken, from the very initiative of that step, i have announced my ground and my determination. when a bill was up here before, proposing to enlarge and widen the franchise in this district, i stated that if negroes were to vote i would persist in opening the door to females. i said that if the thing were to be taken away from the feudal realms and from feudal reasons, which went on the idea that the man who bore arms, and he alone, was entitled to the exercise of political power, and if it was to be put upon the ground of logic, and if we were to be asked to give a reason for it, and if we were to be compelled to give that reason, i said then, and i say now, "if i have no reason to offer why a negro man shall not vote, i have no reason to offer why a white woman shall not vote." if the negro man is interested in the government of the country, if he can not trust to the masses of the people that the government shall be a fair and just government and that it shall do right to him, then the woman is also interested that this government shall be fair to woman and fair to the interests of woman. why not, mr. president? are not these interests equal to those of the negro and of his race? i know it has been said that the woman is represented by her husband, represented by the male; and yet we know how she has been represented by her husband in bygone times; we know how she is represented by her barbarian husband; and let him who wants to know how she is represented by her civilized husband go to her speeches made in the recent woman's rights convention. we know how she has been represented by her barbarian husband in the past and is even at the present. she bears his burdens, she bears his children, she nurses them, she does his work, she chops his wood, and she grinds his corn; while he, forsooth, by virtue of this patent of nobility that he has derived, in consequence of his masculinity, from heaven, confines himself to the manly occupations of hunting and fishing and war. i should like to hear my honorable friend from maine [mr. morrill], so apt, so pertinent, so eloquent on all questions, discourse upon the title which the male derives in consequence of the fact that he has been a fisher and a hunter and a warrior all the time; and then i should like to know how he would discriminate between that fisher and hunter and warrior, and those amazons who burnt their right breasts in order that they might the more readily draw the bow and against whose onset no troops of that day were able to stand. i should also like to know from him how it was that the female veterans of the army of dahomey recently, within the last three or four years, in the face of an escarpment that would have made european veterans, aye, and i might say american veterans tremble, scrambled over that escarpment and carried the city sword in hand. now, mr. president, it is time that we look at these things; and that we look them full in the face. i am always glad and willing to stand upon institutions that have been established in the past; that have been sanctified by time; that have given to men liberty and protection with which they were satisfied. but, sir, when the time comes that we are to make a step forward, then another and different question arises. i am utterly astonished at my honorable friend from rhode island who doubted my sincerity in this movement. why should i not be sincere? have i not as many interests at stake as he has? my honorable friend from oregon [mr. williams] thinks this is entirely preposterous. i have no doubt he does, and i give him all credit for honesty and sincerity in the remarks that he has made; but the trouble with him is, and with a great many others--perhaps it is with myself upon some subjects--is that he directs his gaze too long upon a particular point. it is remarkable that when a man who looks long and steadily upon one subject to the exclusion of every other, that subject at last becomes to him the universe itself. i have met fellow-politicians fellow-senators, and fellow-coworkers in the great battle of life, who really had so long contemplated one subject that it was not within their capacity to see any others. but it unfortunately happens that in this world there are others besides the negro who suffer. when you have told of the injuries and outrages which prevail on the earth in regard to the negro you have not finished. another, and in my judgment a much more important personage, comes upon the scene; she lifts the curtain and reveals to you a new drama, and she tells you distinctly that you have not only been tyrannizing over your brother, your sable brother, your brother at the other end of the national antipodes, your troublesome antipathic brother; you have not only been drenching the earth from the east to the far west with the blood of savages of a different color from yours; you have not only left your blood-stained marks in japan, in china, in the east indies, everywhere, and in the west, where one of your christian bishops boasted that six million mexicans at one time had been sacrificed, and what for? to make them christians; to make the rest christians after the six millions had gone. i say this new personage who makes her appearance upon the drama of human affairs informs you that you and your religion, under the conduct of the male, generative, fecundative principle of the sex, have filled the world with blood from one end to the other of it. what for? to give her liberty. she complains to-day; she complains in your most intelligent high places; she complains in your most refined cities; she complains in your halls decorated with a more than grecian beauty of architecture; she complains where all of past civilization, all of past adornment, and all of past education comes down to satisfy us that we stand upon the very acmé of human progress; she complains that you have been tyrant to her. mr. president, let me read from the proceedings of the twenty-ninth annual meeting of the pennsylvania anti-slavery society. i propose to read from the remarks of mrs. gage, a woman, a lady, a lady of brain and intellect, of courage and force; and whether i am in earnest or not, whether i may be charged with being serious or not, no man dare charge mrs. gage with not being serious. mrs. frances d. gage said: "i have read speeches and heard a great deal said about the right of suffrage for the freedmen." so have we all, mr. president; and the probability is that we have been even more afflicted if that can be said to be a punishment, and there is very great difficulty now to ascertain what is punishment in this world. if that can be said to be a punishment, i think this senate can with at least equal propriety with mrs. gage, complain of its extraordinary infliction upon them without any previous trial and conviction. [laughter]. "what does it mean? does it mean the male freedman only, or does it mean the freedwoman also? i was glad to hear the voice of miss anthony in behalf of her sex." i am glad, mr. president, that we have a male of that name in this body who emulates the virtues of his more humble sister [laughter], and stands up equally here for the broad rights of humanity as she does. "i know it is said that this is bringing in a new issue." yes, that is what was said about me yesterday evening. gentlemen said it was a new issue; we had not talked about this thing here before; nobody had thought about it. why had nobody thought about it? because nobody was thinking about the actual, real sufferings which human beings were subjected to in this world. persons thought about such things just in proportion as they reflected themselves upon their future political career. if it became necessary, in order to elect a dozen senators to this body this winter, that the women should be treated as women ought to be treated, that they should be put upon an equal footing with the men in all respects and enjoy equal rights with men, then i should have great hopes of carrying my amendment, and carrying it in spite of everybody, because then and in that light it would be seen by senators, and they would be thereby guided. "i know it is said that this is bringing in a new issue. we must bring in new issues." now, i want to know what the honorable senator from massachusetts [mr. wilson] will say when he finds me advocating this new issue that must be brought in while he lags behind. my honorable friend from delaware [mr. saulsbury] will have immensely more the advantage of him to-day than he had yesterday if he dares lag, because i put the question to him now distinctly, and i do not leave it to his sense of propriety as to whether he shall speak or not speak on this question; i demand that he do speak. i demand that that voice which has been so potential, that voice which has had so much of solemn, i do not say sepulchral wisdom in it heretofore, shall now be heard on the one side or the other of this important question, which involves the fate, the destiny, the liberty of one-half of the people who inhabit this continent. i know from the generous upswelling of the bosom, which i almost perceive from here in my brother, that he will respond to this sentiment, and make a response of which his state and her progress, having two negroes in the legislature now [laughter], will be proud. i feel assured of it, and i feel that when suffering humanity in any shape or form, whether it be male or female, whether it be black or white, red or yellow, appeals to him, the appeal will not be in vain, but that he will come to the rescue, and that he will strike the shield of the foremost knight on the other side and defy him to the combat. "we must [said mrs. gage][ ] bring in new issues. i sat in the senate chamber last winter." and now i beg pardon of my honorable friend from massachusetts, the other senator from massachusetts [mr. sumner], for any offence that i may do to his modesty; but when i come to consider the recent change which has taken place in his life and habits, i am the better assured that he will endure it. at any other time i should not have dared to introduce this quotation: "i sat in the senate chamber last winter [said mrs. gage. last winter, remember] "and heard charles sumner's grand speech, which the whole country applauded." and mr. president, they did, too, and they did it properly. it was a great, a grand, and a glorious speech; it was the ultimate of all speeches in that direction; and i too applauded with the country, although i too might not have agreed with every part of the speech. i might not have agreed with the speech in general, but it was a great, grand, proud, high, and intellectual effort, at which every american might applaud, and i pardon mrs. gage for the manner in which she speaks of it. she has not excelled me in the tribute which i offer here to the honorable senator from massachusetts, and which i am glad to lay at his feet: "i sat in the senate chamber last winter, and heard charles sumner's grand speech which the whole country applauded; and i heard him declare that taxation without representation was tyranny to the freedman." that was the ring of that speech; that was its key-note; it was the same key-note which stirred his forefathers in ; it was the same bugle-blast which called them to the field of lexington and bunker hill ninety years ago; and it is no wonder that mrs. gage picks that out as being the residuum, that which was left upon her ear of substance after the music of the honorable senator's tones had died away, after the brilliancy of his metaphors had faded, after the light which always encircles him upon this subject had gone away. it is no wonder that all that remained of it was that taxation without representation was tyranny. let me commend it to the honorable senator, with his keen eye, his good taste, his appreciation of that which is effective, and that which strikes the american heart to the core; let me commend it to him who desires to be the idol of that heart. "when"--now, mr. president, _sic transit gloria mundi_. "when i afterwards found that he meant only freedom for the male sex, i learned that charles sumner fell far short of the great idea of liberty." all this outpouring, all this magnificent burst of eloquence, all this eclectic combination drawn from all the quarters of the earth, all the sublime talk about the ballot, was merely meant for the question of trousers and petticoats? "tyranny to the male sex," says mrs. gage, and now she goes on, and this right to the point. the proposition here is to give to the male freedman a vote and to ignore the female freedwoman, to be tautological: "i know something of the freedwomen south. maria--i do not know that she had any other name--when liberated from slavery at beaufort went to work, and before the year was out she had laid up $ , ." that is a magnificent maria, that is a practical maria. she puts sterne's maria and all other marias, except ave maria, in the shade. [laughter]. "i never heard of any southern white making $ , in a year down there. shall maria pay a tax and have no voice?" shall maria pay a tax and have no voice where the principle is admitted, where the principle is thundered forth, where it is axiomatic, where none dare gainsay it, that taxation without representation is tyranny? "shall maria pay a tax and have no voice?" that is the question. that, mr. president, is the question before the senate. "old betty"--there is not so much of the classic, not so much of the euphonious, not so much of the _salva rosa_ about betty as about maria--"old betty, while under my charge, cleared more than that amount free from taxation, and i presume is worth $ , to-day." think of betty! "is she to be taxed in south carolina to support the aristocracy?" betty lives in south carolina, it seems. "will you be just, or will you be partial to the end of time!" the marriage relation was alluded to by mrs. gage. and here is a most important part, to which i would direct the attention of my brother senators as fundamental in two respects--fundamental in the testimony it furnishes of the character of those you now propose to invest with the right of suffrage, fundamental in its character as to the use which they will make of it as to one-half of the people who are in this bill presumed to be the objects of your especial care. the marriage relation was alluded to by mrs. gage. "when the positive order was sent to me to compel the marriage of the colored people living together, the women came to me with tears, and said, 'we don't want to be married in the church, because when we are married in the church our husbands treat us just as old massa used to, and whip us if they think we deserve it; but when we ain't married in the church they knows if they tyrannize over us we go and leff 'em.'" that is the class of male, gentlemen, to whom you propose to give suffrage. these poor women who have to be whipped if the males think they deserve it, are the people to whom you deny it. these are the gentlemen who are to fabricate and make your laws of marriage, who are to fix the causes of divorce in these several states. these are the men, in other words, who are to enact, if it so please them, that upon the marriage the husband becomes seized of all his wife's property, of the personalty absolute and the realty as tenant by courtesy; or perhaps they will have no courtesy about it--and i should not wonder if they had not--and give it to him in fee. "and the men"--i beg the senate to remember that i am reading the testimony of mrs. gage; unexceptionable testimony: "and the men came to me and said: 'we want you to compel them to be married, for we can't manage them unless you do.'" i am not certain whether they can always be managed even after they are married. [laughter]. but this is worse a great deal than before: "'they goes and earns just as much money as we does, and then they goes and spends it, and never asks no questions. now we wants 'em married in the church, 'cause when they's married in the church we makes em mind.' so in san domingo establishing the laws of marriage made tyranny for these redeemed slave women." mrs. gage continues: "i would not say one word against marriage, god forbid. it is the noblest institution we have in this country. but let it be a marriage of equality. let the man and woman stand as equals before the law. let the freedwoman of the south own the money she earns by her own labor, and give her the right of suffrage; for she knows as much as the freedman. bring in these elements, and you will achieve a success. but i will stand firmly and determinedly against the oppression that puts the newly emancipated colored woman of south carolina under subjection to her husband required by the marriage laws of south carolina. i demand equality on behalf of the freedwoman as well as the freedman." i might follow mrs. gage further; i might detain the senate here hour after hour reading extracts from the various speeches and essays which have been delivered and made upon this subject within the last few years, and i may again make the challenge which i made yesterday. let us have a reason why these are not potent to influence our action. let us be told wherein the object of this argument is defective. let us be shown why it is, if these things are rights, natural or conventional, that those who have interests are not to participate in them. i listened to the eloquent and ingenious remarks of my honorable friend from maine [mr. morrill]--old, time-worn, belonging to the region of paleontology, far behind the carboniferous era. i would not undertake to go back there and answer them. all i can do with them is to refer them to the next meeting of the equal rights society, which more than likely will meet in albany or boston the next time. there they will be attended to, and there they will be answered in such satisfactory phrase, i have no doubt, as would pale any poor effort of mine in the attempt. i have also listened to my honorable friend from oregon [mr. williams], and still there are the same ancient foot-prints, the same old arguments, the same things that satisfied men thousands of years ago, and which never did satisfy any woman that i know of, the same traveling continually of the tracks of the lion into the cave along with his victim, and _nulla retrorsum vestigia_, not a step ever came back. but let me say to my friends that mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, mrs. frances d. gage, miss susan b. anthony, are upon your heels. they have their banner flung out to the winds; they are after you; and their cry is for justice, and you can not deny it. to deny is to deny the perpetuity of your race. now, mr. president, in regard to this district and this city, here is a fair proposition. it proposes to confer upon all persons above the age of twenty-one years the right to participate in the city government. is any one afraid of it? is my honorable friend from maine afraid of it? he says it shall be confined to the males. he and my friend from oregon have gone on to tell you that the white males of this city are in a very bad condition; indeed, some of them in such a terrible condition that we are called upon to pass a bill of attainder, or a bill of pains and penalties, and a little _ex post facto_ law in order to reach their tergiversations and perverseness. if that be true, why not incorporate some other element? i do not know much about the female portion of the negroes of this district except what i have seen, and i must confess that although there are a great many respectable persons among the negroes, and many for whom i have considerable regard, yet as a mass they have not impressed me as being a very high style of human development. when i look along the pavements and about the walks and see them lounging, i am free to say that, without having been previously enlightened on the subject by so much as we have heard upon it recently, i should have had great doubts about conferring on them the right of suffrage. and when i reflect that they have a freedmen's bureau to make their contracts for them and to keep them in order, and, it is said, to protect them against the enmity of their white neighbors, even where they have a majority, or nearly a majority, i am not strengthened in my partiality for them by that. and when i reflect that just about this time last year we had great hesitation about adjourning, for fear that the people represented by these males who are now to be invested with the franchise were in an actually starving condition in this district, and that the chief authorities of the district, moved, i have no doubt, by that humanity which ought to characterize them everywhere, investigated the matter and reported to us, we were obliged to appropriate $ , to relieve them in their immediate wants; i do not think that speaks so well for the male portion of the african population of this city. i believe if it were to come to the last resort, that the female africans of the district of columbia have more merit, more industry, more of all that which is calculated to make them good and virtuous members of society than the males have. why should you not throw them in? why should you throw this batch of males into the ballot-box without any countervailing element which would be efficacious to qualify it and make it better? to me it is perfectly plain. i have reconciled my mind to negro suffrage, but while i reconcile myself to negro suffrage as inevitable, i hold it to be my bounden duty to insist upon female suffrage at the same time. i am happy to say that in this opinion i am not alone; that while i favor universal suffrage limited by the age of twenty-one years so far, there are others who have been led to this same train of thought with myself. i beg, therefore, to read a letter dated jefferson, ohio, november , : "madam:--yours of the th instant is received, and i desire to say in reply that i am now and ever have been the advocate of equal and impartial suffrage of all citizens of the united states who have arrived at the age of twenty-one years, who are of sound mind, and who have not disqualified themselves by the commission of any offence, without any distinction on account of race, color, or sex. every argument that ever has been or ever can be adduced to prove that males should have the right to vote, applies with equal if not greater force to prove that females should possess the same right; and were i a citizen of your state i should labor with whatever of ability i possess to ingraft those principles in its constitution. yours, very respectfully, b. f. wade. "_to_ susan b. anthony, _secretary american equal rights association_." now, mr. president, i ask whether this has not an orthodox sanction at least. i should like to know who would question, who would dare to question, the orthodoxy of the honorable senator from ohio, and who dares tell me that this is such a novelty that it is not to be introduced here as serious, as in earnest? sir, i say that i am perfectly in earnest, and i say that if this amendment be incorporated in this bill i shall vote for it with all my heart and soul. i beg to be understood that i would not inaugurate the movement, i would not make the change by my own mere motion, because i would not venture upon the change anywhere. that change must rise out of, spring out of, and come up from society generally. it is that thing which the poet has called the _vox populi_, and which he likens to the _vox dei_. when the community spontaneously demands this call, when the community spontaneously demands this action, i yield to it. it is so in this instance. while i yield to the demand for negro suffrage, i demand at the same time female suffrage; and when i yield to the question of manhood suffrage, i feel assured i throw along the antidote to all the poison which i suppose would accompany the first proposition. i am not afraid of negro suffrage if you allow female suffrage to go hand in hand with it. i believe that if there is any one influence in the country which will break down this tribal antipathy, which will make the two races one in political harmony and political action, not in actuality as races by amalgamation, but which will induce that harmony and that co-operation which may bring about the highest state, perhaps, of social civilization and development, it is the fact that woman and not man must interfere in order to smooth the pathway for these two races to go along harmoniously together. and it is for that reason that i insist that when you do make this step, this step forward which once made can never be retrieved, you must do that other thing which assures its success after it is made. let the negro male vote now, and you open the arena of strife and contention; let both sexes vote, and then you close that arena of strife, you bring in that element which subdues all strife, which has made america what she is, which has made the american political meeting, which has made the american political convention, not the scene of strife or angry contention, where armed men met together to settle political differences, as in the polish diet, but a convention where all were subjected to reason, influenced, as it might properly be, by eloquence and by that "feast of reason" which is "the flow of the soul" to those who enjoy it. and therefore, mr. president, i beg to assure everybody, and especially my honorable friend from rhode island, who agrees with me, i know, upon this topic, that i am serious and in earnest in urging this amendment; in dead earnest, in good earnest, and why not? i am not so blind as to mistake the signs of the times. i might have refused to believe long ago, when my honorable friend from ohio [mr. wade] predicted that this was coming. i might have disbelieved when my honorable friend from massachusetts [mr. wilson] predicted this was coming; when he blew his bugle-blast and announced what an army was coming behind to enforce his doctrine and his principles. i might, like thomas of old, have doubted; but now i have had my fingers in the very wounds of which he spoke. i know of a certainty now that this movement is in progress, and that this movement will go on. i know of a certainty that black men must vote in the district of columbia. who can doubt it? those who are in favor of that measure here are in force sufficient to carry it constitutionally beyond all question. well, if it is to be i am reconciled to it, but at the same time i want to throw about it as many safeguards as are possible under the circumstances, and among those safeguards i think that of allowing females suffrage to be not only the best, but the only one which will be efficacious in this behalf. mr. president, i have trespassed a great deal longer upon the senate than i intended. i beg to return my thanks for the indulgence they have exhibited in listening to what i had to say. mr. morrill: mr. president, the honorable senator began by saying that he was in earnest, and he concludes by affirming the same thing. doubtless he had made the impression upon his own mind that after all he had said, there might be a doubt in the minds of the senate on that point. does any one who has heard the speech, somewhat extraordinary, of the honorable senator, suppose that he is at all in earnest or sincere in a single sentiment he has uttered on this subject? i do not imagine he believes that any one here is idle enough for a moment to suppose so. now, his attempt at being facetious has not been altogether a failure. i think he has succeeded in being amusing; he has evidently amused himself; and if he could afford the sacrifice, i admit he has amused the galleries and probably the most of us; but that he has convinced anybody that he was arguing to enlighten the senate or the public mind on a question which he says is important, he does not believe and he does not expect anybody else to believe it. if it is true, as he intimates, that he is desirous of becoming a radical, i am not clear that i should not be willing to accept his service, although there is a good deal to be repented of before he can be taken into full confidence. [laughter]. when a man has seen the error of his ways and confesses it, what more is there to be done except to receive him seventy and seven times? now if this is an indication that the honorable senator means to out-radical the radicals, "come on, macduff," nobody will object provided you can show us you are sincere. that is the point. if it is mischief you are at, you will have a hard time to get ahead. while we are radical we mean to be rational. while we intend to give every male citizen of the united states the rights common to all, we do not intend to be forced by our enemies into a position so ridiculous and absurd as to be broken down utterly on that question, and whoever comes here in the guise of a radical and undertakes to practice that, probably will not make much by the motion. i am not surprised that those of our friends who went out from us and have been feeding on the husks, desire to get in ahead; but i am surprised at the indiscretion and the want of common sense exercised in making so profound a plunge at once! if these gentlemen desire to be taken into companionship and restored to good standing, i am the first man to reach out the hand and say, "welcome back again, so that you are repentant and regenerated;" but, sir, i am the last man to allow that you shall indorse what you call radicalism for the purpose of breaking down measures which we propose! so much for the radicalism of my honorable friend. now, sir, what is the sincerity of this proposition? what is the motive of my honorable friend in introducing it? is it to perfect this bill? is it to vindicate a principle in which he believes? not a bit of it. it is the old device of the enemy--if you want to defeat a measure, make it as hateful and odious and absurd as possible and you have done it. that is the proposition. does he believe in the absolute right of women to vote? not a bit of it, for he has said here time and again in the beginning, middle, and end of his discourse that he does not believe a word of it. mr. cowan: and never did. mr. morrill: he says it is no natural right whatever either to man or woman, and therefore he does not stand here to vindicate a right. mr. cowan: i should like to ask the honorable senator whether he believes it is a natural right either in man or woman. mr. morrill: i have said distinctly on a former occasion that i did not; and therefore i am not to be put in the attitude of so arguing. the senator does not believe that; he is not here urging a principle in which he believes. what is he doing? trying to do mischief; trying to make somebody believe he is sincere. that is labor lost here. it will not succeed, of course. now, what is his position? "i do not believe in woman suffrage, and do not believe in negro suffrage, but if you will insist upon male negro suffrage i will insist upon woman negro suffrage." that is his position exactly. "if you insist that the male negro shall vote, i insist the female shall." that is his attitude, nothing more nor less. mr. president, i do not think there is much force in the position. he has not offered an argument on the subject. he has read from a paper. he has introduced here the discourse of some ladies in some section of the country, upon what they esteem to be their own rights, in illustration; that is all; not as argument; he does not offer it as an argument, but to illustrate his theme and to put us in an attitude, as he supposes, of embarrassment on that subject. he has read papers which are altogether foreign from his view of this subject, and which he for a moment will not indorse. he offers these as an illustration with a view of illustrating his side of the question, and particularly with a view of embarrassing this measure. mr. cowan: well, now, mr. president, i desire to answer a question of the senator. he alleges that i am not serious in the amendment i have moved, that i am not in earnest about it. how does he know? by what warrant does he undertake to say that a brother senator here is not serious, not in earnest. i should like to know by what warrant he undertakes to do that. he says i do not look serious. i have not perhaps been trained in the same vinegar and persimmon school [laughter]; i have not been doctrinated into the same solemn nasal twang which may characterize the gentleman, and which may be considered to be the evidence of seriousness and earnestness. i generally speak as a man, and as a good-natured man, i think. i hope i entertain no malice toward anybody. but the honorable gentleman thinks i want to become a radical. why, sir, common charity ought to have taught the honorable senator better than that. i think no such imputation, even on the part of the most virulent opponent that i may have, can with any justice be laid to my door. i have never yielded to his radicalism; i have never truckled to it. whether it be right or wrong, i have never bowed the knee to it. from the very word "go" i have been a conservative; i have endeavored to save all in our institutions that i thought worth saving. i suppose, in the opinion of the gentleman, i have made sacrifices. i suppose i am in the condition of dr. caius: "i have had losses." certainly if any man has given evidence of the sincerity of his doctrines, i have done so; i have lost all of that, perhaps, which the senator from maine may think valuable; i have lost all the feathers that might have adorned my cap by opposition to radicalism; and now i stand perfectly free and independent upon this floor; free, as i supposed, not only from all imputation of interest, but free from all imputation of dishonor. i am out of the contest. if i had chosen to play the radical; if i had chosen to out-herod herod, i could have out-heroded herod perhaps as well as the honorable gentleman, and i could have had quite as stern and vigorous a following as he or any other man, more than likely without asserting any very large amount of vanity to myself [mr. morrill rose]; but now, when i stand here, as, i think, free, unquestionably free from all imputation either of interest or dishonor, to be told this is--if the senator wants to say anything i will hear him. mr. morrill: the honorable senator will allow me to say that i do not think this line of argument is open to him, because to-day once or twice he certainly repeated that this was a race of radicalism, and he did not intend to be outdone. my remark was predicated simply on the assumption of the honorable senator that he was disposed to enter into the race, and rather in a disposition to welcome than discourage him. mr. cowan: mr. president, i agree that if you will allow the gentleman to put arguments in my mouth, and to furnish me theories as his fancy paints them, he can demolish them. i will not agree that he is my master in any particular; but i do agree that he can take a pair of old pantaloons out in the country and stuff them, and make a man of straw, and that he can overthrow it and trample upon it and kick it about with the utmost impunity. but i do not choose to allow the honorable senator to make either my theories or my arguments, nor do i allow him to make quotations from me unless he does it fairly. i gave utterance to no such idea as that which he has just attributed to me. i did not say that in this race of radicalism i was determined to be in front. i said no such thing. i said that there was an onward movement, that i yielded to that movement, and that while i yielded to it against my own better opinion that any change was impolitic, yet that change was inevitable, i wanted it to be as perfect as possible, and i wanted it to be made with all the safeguards possible. that was my argument. i said so yesterday; i said so to-day; i say so now; and i appeal to my friends here who have talked about this onward movement, this progress of things, this inevitable which was in the future, to stand now upon their theories and upon their doctrines. that was my ground, ground simply stated, and for that i am not to be charged here with a desire to conciliate the honorable gentleman, or his faction, or his party, or any other party in this country. mr. president, i am not a proud man, i hope; not a vain man, i hope; but i would rather be deprived of the right of suffrage, high punishment as it is, i would rather suffer all the penalties that would be inflicted even by the most malignant lawgiver, than to cower or cringe or yield to anything of mortal mould on this planet, except by duress and by force. no man dare charge me with that. i have endeavored to act here as an honest man feeling his own responsibilities, feeling the responsibilities of the oath upon him when he took it; obliged to interpret the constitution as he himself understands it; feeling that that constitution was a restraint upon him, a restraint upon the people, a restraint upon everybody; that we were sent here for the purpose of standing upon it even against the rage of the people, even against their desire to trample it under foot. feeling all these things, i have stood here, and appeal to my fellow-senators to know if any one of them can say that at any time i have manifested the smallest disposition to yield in any one particular. i scorn the imputation; i would rather have the approval of my own conscience, i would rather walk in the star-light and look up to them and to the god who made me free and independent, than to seek the highest station upon the earth by truckling to any man or to any set of people, or giving up my free opinions. and yet i propose not to be irrational in this matter. as i said yesterday, and as i said to-day, i have struggled against change; but if it is to be made i wish to direct it properly. i made in my own person, two or three years ago, a motion which passed this body by, i think, a vote of precisely two to one--i believe it was to --that the voters of the district of columbia should be confined to white males; but upon that occasion i stated--and the debates will bear me out, i think--that if the door of the franchise was to be opened, if it was thought that the safety of the country required more people to cast ballots, more people to enjoy this privilege, i would open it to the women of the country sooner than i would open it to the negroes. i say so to-day. you are determined to open it to the negroes. i appeal to you to open it to the women. you say there is no danger in opening it to the negroes. i say there is no danger then in opening it to the women. you say that it is safe in the hands of the negroes. i say it is equally safe in the hands of our sisters, and more safe in the hands of our wives and our mothers. i say more to you. i say you have not demonstrated that it is safe to confer the franchise upon men just emerged from the barbarism of slavery; i say you have not demonstrated that it is safe to give the ballot to men who require a freedmen's bureau to take care of them, and who it is not pretended anywhere have that intelligence which is necessary to enable them to comprehend the questions which agitate the people of this nation, and of which the people are supposed to have an intelligent understanding. i say you have not demonstrated all that; but you have expressed your determination. you are determined to do it, and when you are determined to do it i want to put along with that element, that doubtful element, that ignorant element, that debased element, that element just emerged from slavery, i want you to put along with it into the ballot-box, to neutralize its poison if poison there be, to correct its dangers if danger there be, the female element of the country. that is my position. if you abandon the whole project i have no objection. i am willing to rest the safety of the country where it is and has been so far. i am open to conviction, open to argument, open to reason even upon that subject; but i am willing to leave this question of suffrage where our fathers left it, where the world leaves it to-day, where all wise men leave it. if, however, it is to be opened, if there is to be a new era, if political power is to be distributed _per capita_ according to a particular age, then i am for extending it to women as well as men. let me tell the honorable senator i am not alone in this opinion; the senator from ohio with me is not alone; one of the first intellects of this age, perhaps the first man of the first country of the earth, is of the same opinion. i allude to john stuart mill, of great britain. he is now agitating for this very thing in england. so that it need not seem surprising that i should be in earnest in this; and i trust that after the explanation i have made of my position and my doctrines. i shall not be charged either with insincerity or with a desire to ingratiate myself with the majority of this body, with the majority of the people, or with any one, because, thank god, i am free from all entanglements of that kind at this present speaking, and if i retain my senses i think i shall keep free. mr. wade: mr. president, i did not intend to say a word upon this subject, because on the first day of the last session of congress i introduced the original bill now before the senate, to which the committee have proposed several amendments, and that action on my part i supposed demonstrated sufficiently to all who might read the bill what were my views and sentiments upon the question of suffrage; and, sir, they are of no sudden growth. i have always been of the opinion that in a republican government the right of voting ought to be limited only by the years of discretion. i have always believed that when a person arrived at the age when by the laws of the country he was remitted to the rights of citizens, when the laws fixed the age of majority when the person was supposed to be competent to manage his own affairs, then he ought to be suffered to participate in the government under which he lives. nor do i believe that any such rule is unsafe. i imagine that safety is entirely on the other side, for just in proportion as you limit the franchise, you create in the same degree an aristocracy, an irresponsible government; and gentlemen must be a little tinctured with a fear of republican sentiment when they fear the extension of the right of suffrage. if i believed, as some gentlemen do, that to participate in government required intellect of the highest character, the greatest perspicacity of mind, the greatest discipline derived from education and experience, i should be convinced that a republican form of government could not live. it is because i believe that all that is essential in government for the welfare of the community is plain, simple, level with the weakest intellects, that i am satisfied this government ought to stand and will stand forever. who is it that ought to be protected by these republican governments? certainly it is the weak and ignorant, who have no other manner of defending their rights except through the ballot-box. the argument for aristocracies and monarchies has ever been that the masses of the people do not know enough to take care of the high concerns of government. if they do not, the human race is in a miserable condition. if, indeed, the great masses of mankind, who are permitted to transact their own business, are incompetent to participate in government, then farewell to the republican system of government; it can not stand a day; it is a wrong foundation. our principles of government are radically wrong if gentlemen's fears on this subject are well grounded. thank god, i know they are not. i know that all the defects and evils of our government have not come from the ignorant masses; but the frauds and the devices of the higher intellects and the more cultivated minds have brought upon our government all those scars by which it has been disfigured. why, sir, look at the administration of the southern governments in the seceded states, where their public men were advocates of the doctrine that suffrage should be restricted, and generally that republican governments were wrong. i had a great deal of private conversation with the gentlemen who were formerly in these halls representing those governments, and i hardly ever conversed with a single man of them from that part of the country who believed that a republican government could or ought to stand. some of them used to say, "how can the mechanic, how can the laboring man understandingly participate in these high and complicated affairs of government?" those men at heart were aristocrats or monarchists; they did not believe in your republican government. i, on the other hand, believe that the safety of our government depends on unlimited franchise, or, rather, i should say, on franchise limited only by that discretion which fits a man to manage his own concerns. let a man arrive at the years of majority, when the government and the experience of the world say that he has attained to such an age and such discretion that it is safe to intrust him with his own affairs, and then if he can not be permitted to participate in the government, i say again, farewell to republican government; it can not stand. it was for these reasons that, when i introduced the original bill, i put it upon the most liberal principles of franchise except as to females. the question of female suffrage had not then been much agitated, and i knew the community had not thought sufficiently upon it to be ready to introduce it as an element in our political system. while i am aware of that fact, i think it will puzzle any gentleman to draw a line of demarkation between the right of the male and the female on this subject. both are liable to all the laws you pass; their property, their persons, and their lives are affected by the laws. why, then, should not the females have a right to participate in their construction as well as the male part of the community? there is no argument that i can conceive or that i have yet heard, that makes any discrimination between the two on the question of right. why should there be any restriction? is it because gentlemen apprehend that the female portion of the community are not as virtuous, that they are not as well-calculated to consider what laws and principles of the government will conduce to their welfare as men are? the great mass of our educated females understand all these great concerns of government infinitely better than that great mass of ignorant population from other countries which you admit to the polls without hesitation. but, sir, the right of suffrage, in my judgment, has bearings altogether beyond any rights of persons or property that are to be vindicated by it. i lay it down that in any free community, if any particular class of that community are excluded from this right they can not maintain their dignity; it is a brand of cain upon their foreheads that will sink them into contempt, even in their own estimation. my judgment is that if this right was accorded to females, you would find that they would be elevated in their minds and in their intellects. the best discipline you can offer them would be to permit and to require them to participate in these great concerns of government, so that their rights and the rights of their children should depend in a manner upon the way in which they understand these great things. what would be the effect upon their minds? would it not be, i ask you, sir, to lead them from that miserable amusement of reading frivolous books and novels and romances that consume two-thirds of their time now, from which they learn nothing, and draw their attention to matters of more moment, more substance, better calculated to well-discipline the mind? in my judgment it would. i believe it would tend to educate them as well as the male part of the population. take the negroes, who, it is said, are ignorant, the moment you confer the franchise on them it will lead them to struggle to get an understanding of the affairs of government, so as to be able to participate intelligently in them. they will then understand that they are made responsible for the government under which they live. in my judgment, this is the reason why the fact exists, which is acknowledged everywhere, that the great mass of our population rise immensely higher in intellect and every quality that should adorn human nature, above the peasantry and working-classes of the old world. why is this? i think much of it results from the fact that the people of this country are compelled to serve on juries, to participate in the government of their own localities in various capacities, and finally to take part in all the great concerns of government. that elevates a man, and makes him feel his own consequence in the community in which he lives. it is for these reasons as much as any other, that i wish to see the franchise extended to every person of mature age and discretion who has committed no crime. i know very well that prejudices against female voting have descended legitimately to us from the old world; yea, more than anything else, from that common law which we lawyers have all studied as the first element in jurisprudence. that system of law really sank the female to total contempt and insignificance, almost annihilated her from the face of the earth. it made her responsible for nothing. so far was she removed from participating in anything or being responsible for anything, that if she even committed a crime in the presence of her husband she was not by that old law answerable for it. he was her guardian; he had the right to correct her as the master did his slave in the south. such was the chivalry of that old common law from which we derive our judicial education. a vast remnant of that old prejudice is still lurking in the minds of our community. it is a mere figment of proscription and nothing else, descended to us, and we have not overcome it. it is not founded in reason; it is not founded in common sense; and it is being done away with very fast too. i know that those women who have taken these things into consideration, with minds as enlightened and as intelligent as our own, have done immense good to their sex by agitating these great subjects against all the ridicule and all the contempt that has been wielded against them from the time they commenced the agitation. i know that in my own state we had, a few years ago, a great many laws on our statute-book depriving females of a great many rights without the least reason upon earth. perhaps it was because the question was not agitated, and because it did not particularly concern the males, that they did not turn their attention to it; but when agitated in the women's rights conventions that have been so abused and ridiculed throughout the country, man could no longer shut his eyes to the glaring defects that existed in our system, and our legislature has corrected many of those abuses, and placed the rights of the female upon infinitely higher grounds than they occupied there thirty years ago; i believe this remark is as applicable to many other states as it is to ohio. i tell you the agitation of these subjects has been salutary and good; and our male population would no more go back to divest women of the rights they have acquired, than they would go back now to slavery itself, in the advance we have lately made. what do i infer, then, from all this? seeing that their rights rest upon the same foundation and are only kept down by proscription and prejudice, i think i know that the time will come--not to-day, but the time is approaching--when every female in the country will be made responsible for the just government of our country as much as the male; her right to participate in the government will be just as unquestioned as that of the male. i know that my opinions on this subject are a little in advance of the great mass, probably, of the community in which i live; but i am advancing a principle. i shall give a vote on this amendment that will be deemed an unpopular vote, but i am not frightened by that. i have been accustomed to give such votes all my life almost, but i believe they have been given in the cause of human liberty and right and in the way of the advancing intelligence of our age; and whenever the landmark has been set up the community have marched up to it. i think i am advocating now the same kind of a principle, and i have no doubt that sooner or later it will become a fixed fact, and the community will think it just as absurd to exclude females from the ballot-box as males. i do not believe it will have any unfavorable effect upon the female character, if women are permitted to come up to the polls and vote. i believe it would exercise a most humane and civilizing influence upon the roughness and rudeness with which men meet on these occasions, if the polished ladies of the land would come up to the ballot-box clothed with these rights and participate in the exercise of the franchise. it has not been found that association with ladies is apt to make men rude and uncivilized; and i do not think the reflex of it prevents that lady-like character which we all prize so highly. i do not think it has that effect. on the other hand, in my judgment, if it was popular to-day for ladies to go to the polls, no man would regret their presence there, and the districts where their ballots were given would be harmonized, civilized, and rendered more gentlemanly, if i may say so, on the one side and on the other, and it would prevent the rude collisions that are apt to occur at these places, while it would reflect back no uncivilizing or unlady-like influence upon the female part of the community. that is the way i judge it. of course, as it has never been tried in this country, it is more or less of an experiment; but here in this district is the very place to try your experiment. i know that the same things were said about the abolition of slavery. i was here. gentlemen know very well that there was a strong desire entertained by many gentlemen on this floor that emancipation, if it took place, should be very gradual, very conservative, a little at a time. i was the advocate of striking off the shackles at one blow, and i said that the moment you settled on that the community would settle down upon this principle of righteousness, justice, and liberty, and be satisfied with it, but just as long as you kept it in a state of doubt and uncertainty, going only half way, just so long it would be an irritating element in our proceedings. it is just so now with this question. do not understand that i expect that this amendment will be carried. i do not. i do not know that i would have agitated it now, although it is as clear to me as the sun at noonday, that the time is approaching when females will be admitted to this franchise as much as males, because i can see no reason for the distinction. i agree, however, that there is not the same pressing necessity for allowing females as there is for allowing the colored people to vote, because the ladies of the land are not under the ban of a hostile race grinding them to powder. they are in high fellowship with those who do govern, who, to a great extent, act as their agents, their friends, promoting their interests in every vote they give, and, therefore, communities get along very well without conferring this right upon the female. but when you speak of it as a right, and as a great educational power in the hands of females, and i am called on to vote on the subject, i will vote that which i think under all circumstances is right, just, and proper. i shrink not from the question because i am told by gentlemen that it is unpopular. the question with me is, is it right? show me that it is wrong, and then i will withhold my vote; but i have heard no argument that convinces me that the thing is not right. there has been something said about this right of voting, as to whether it is a natural or a conventional right. i do not know that there is much difference between a natural and a conventional right. right has its hold upon the conscience in the inevitable fitness of things, and whether it springs from nature or from any other cause right is right, and a conventional right is as sacred as a natural right. i can not distinguish them; i know of no difference between them. it certainly does not seem to me that it would be right now if a new community is about to set up a government, for one-third of them to seize upon that government and say they will govern, and the rest shall have nothing to do with it. it seems to me there is a wrong done to those who are shut out from any participation in the government, and that it is a violation of their rights; and what odds does it make whether you call it a natural, or conventional, or artificial right? i contend that when you set up a government you shall call every man who has arrived at the years of discretion, who has committed no crime, into your community and ask him to participate in setting up that government; and if you shut him out without any reason, you do him a wrong, one of the greatest wrongs that you can inflict upon a man. if it is to be done to me or to my posterity, i say to you take their lives, but do not deprive them of the right of standing upon the same foothold, upon the same platform in their political rights with any other man in the community. i will compromise no such principles. i contend before god and man ever, always, that they shall stand upon the same platform in setting up their governments, and in continuing them after they are set up, and i will brand it as a wrong and an injustice in any man to deprive any portion of the population, unless it be for crime or offence, from participating in the government to the same extent that he participates himself. if they are ignorant, so much the greater necessity that they have this weapon in their hands to guard themselves against the strong. the weaker, the more ignorant, and the more liable they are to be imposed upon, the greater the necessity of having this great weapon of self-defence in their hands. i know very well that great prejudices have existed against colored people; but my word for it, the moment they are admitted to the ballot-box, especially about the second tuesday of october in our state, you will find them as genteel a set of men as you know anywhere; as much consideration will be awarded to them; they will be men; they will be courted; their rights will be awarded to them; they will be made to feel, and it will go abroad that they are not the subjects of utter contempt that can be treated as men see fit to treat them; but they will rise in the scale of the community, and finally occupy a platform according to their merits, which they never can obtain; and you will never be able to make anything of any portion of the community black or white, while you exclude them from the ballot-box. these, sir, are the reasons why i introduce this bill, and to vindicate them i have spoken. i know i am not able to set forth anything new on this subject. every american citizen has reflected upon it until his mind is made up, and the thing itself is so universally approved by our community, that the only wonder is that when we propose to extend this franchise to all the people alike anybody is found in opposition to it. mr. yates: mr. president, i propose to occupy the time of the senate for but a few moments by way of explanation of my position on this subject. honorable senators seem to think there is some little embarrassment in the position in which we are placed upon this question. there is certainly none whatever to my mind. i must confess, after an examination of this question, that logically there are no reasons in my mind which would not permit women to vote as well as men, according to the theory of our government--a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. but, sir, that question as to whether ladies shall vote or not is not an issue now. that was not the question at the last election. that was not the question that was argued in another part of this capitol. that was not embraced in the bill now before us for consideration. questions of a different character engross our attention; and, sir, we have but one straightforward course to pursue in this matter. while i may and do indorse, i believe, substantially all that my honorable friend from ohio has said, and while i can not state perhaps a good reason why under our form of government all persona, male and female, should not exercise the right of suffrage, yet we have another matter on hand now. we have fought the fight, and our banners blaze victoriously in the sky. the honorable senator from pennsylvania stands humbled and overcome at his defeat, and he might just as well bow his head before the wheels of that juggernaut of which he spoke, which has crushed him to the earth, and say, let the _vox populi_, which is the _vox dei_, be the rule of this land. i believe that this issue will come, and if the gentleman proposes to make it in the next elections, i shall be with him perhaps on the question of universal suffrage; for, sir, i am for universal suffrage. i am not for qualified suffrage; i am not for property suffrage; t am not for intelligent suffrage, as it is termed; but i am for universal suffrage. that is my doctrine. but, sir, when it is proposed to crush out the will of the american people by an issue which certainly is not made in sincerity and truth, then i have no difficulty whatever. while i do not commit myself against the progress of human civilization, because i believe that time is coming, in voting "no" on this amendment i only vote to maintain the position for which i have fought, and for which my state has fought. my notions are peculiar on this subject. i confess that i am for universal suffrage, and when the time comes i am for suffrage by females as well as males; but that is not the point before us. mr. wilson: the senator from pennsylvania demands that i shall express my concurrence in or my opposition to his amendment. i tell him, without the least hesitation, i shall vote against it. i am opposed to connecting together these two questions, enfranchisement of black men and the enfranchisement of women, and therefore shall vote against his amendment. these ladies in the conventions recently held seem to have made a great impression upon the senator from pennsylvania. while i heard him reading their speeches, i could not but regret that the senator had not read the speeches of some of those ladies and the speeches of some of those gentlemen who attended those recent meetings, before he came into the senate. if he had read the speeches of the ladies and gentlemen who have attended these conventions during the past few years, their speeches might have made as great an impression on him at an earlier day as they seem to have done at this; and if they had done so, the senator might have made a record for liberty, justice, and humanity he would have been proud of after he leaves the senate. i have, sir, quite the advantage of the honorable senator. i have been accustomed to attend the meetings of some of these ladies and gentlemen for many years, and read their speeches too. i read these speeches for the freedom of all, and for the enfranchisement of all, woman included. before i came to the senate of the united states, i entertained the conviction that it would be better for this country, that our legislation would be more humane, more for liberty, more for a high civilization, if the women of the country were permitted to vote, and every year of my life has confirmed that conviction. i have been more than ever convinced of it since i have read the opinions of one of the foremost men of this or any other age--john stuart mill. but i say to the senator from pennsylvania that while these are my opinions, while i will vote now or at any time for woman suffrage, if he or any other senator will offer it as a distinct, separate measure, i am unalterably opposed to connecting that question with the pending question of negro suffrage. the question of negro suffrage is now an imperative necessity; a necessity that the negro should possess it for his own protection; a necessity that he should possess it that the nation may preserve its power, its strength, and its unity. we have fought that battle, as has been stated by the senator from illinois; we have won negro suffrage for the district of columbia, and i say i believe we have won for all the states; and before the th of march, , before this administration shall close, i hope that the negro in all the loyal states will be clothed with the right of suffrage. that they will be in the ten rebel states i can not doubt, for patriotism, liberty, justice, and humanity demand it. this bill, embodying pure manhood suffrage, is destined to become the law in spite of all opposition and all lamentations. i am opposed, therefore, to associating with this achieved measure the question of suffrage for women. that question has been discussed for many years by ladies of high intelligence and of stainless character--ladies who have given years of their lives to the cause of liberty, to the cause of the bondman, to the cause of justice and humanity, to the improvement of all and the elevation of all. no one could have heard them or have read their speeches years ago, without feeling that they were in earnest. they have made progress; these women have instructed the country; women, and men too, have been instructed; progress is making in that direction; but the public judgment is not so pronounced in any one state to-day in favor of woman suffrage, as to create any large and general movement for it. time is required to instruct the public mind and to carry forward and to concentrate the public judgment in favor of woman suffrage. all public men are not in its favor as is the senator from ohio, as has already been proved in this debate. i am, therefore, sir, for keeping these questions apart. i am for securing the needed suffrage for the colored race. i am for enfranchising the black man, and then if this other question shall come up in due time, and i have a vote to give, i shall be ready to give my vote for it. but to vote for it now is to couple it with the great measure now pressing upon us, to weaken that measure and to endanger its immediate triumph, and therefore i shall vote against the amendment proposed by the senator from pennsylvania, made, it is too apparent, not for the enfranchisement of woman, but against the enfranchisement of the black man. mr. johnson: the immediate question before the senate, i understand, is upon the amendment offered by the honorable member from pennsylvania, which, if i am correctly informed, is to strike out the word "male," so as to give to all persons, independent of sex, the right of voting. it is, therefore, a proposition to admit to the right of suffrage all the females in the district of columbia who may have the required residence and are of the required age. i am not aware that the right is given to that class anywhere in the united states. i believe for a very short time--my friend from new jersey will inform me if i am correct--it was more or less extended to the women of new jersey; but, if that be an exception, it is, as far as i am informed, the only exception; and there are a variety of reasons why, as i suppose, the right has never been extended as now proposed. ladies have duties peculiar to themselves which can not be discharged by anybody else; the nurture and education of their children, the demands upon them consequent upon the preservation of their household; and they are supposed to be more or less in their proper vocation when they are attending to those particular duties. but independent of that, i think if it was submitted to the ladies--i mean the ladies in the true acceptation of the term--of the united states, the privilege would not only not be asked for, but would be rejected. i do not think the ladies of the united states would agree to enter into a canvass, and to undergo what is often the degradation of seeking to vote, particularly in the cities, getting up to the polls, crowded out and crowded in. i rather think they would feel it, instead of a privilege, a dishonor. there is another reason why the right should not be extended to them, unless it is the purpose of the honorable member and of the senate to go a step further. the reason why the males are accorded the privilege, and why it was almost universal in the united states with reference to those of a certain age, is that they may be called upon to defend the country in time of war or in time of insurrection. i do not suppose it is pretended that the ladies should be included in the militia organization or be compelled to take up arms to defend the country. that must be done by the male sex, i hope. but i rose not so much for the purpose of expressing my own opinion, or reasoning rather upon the opinion, as to refer to a sentence or two in a letter written many years ago, by the elder adams, to a correspondent in massachusetts. it was proposed at that time in massachusetts to alter the suffrage. it was then limited in that state. that limitation, it was suggested, should be taken away in whole or in part, and the correspondent to whom this letter was addressed seems to have been in favor of that change. mr. adams, under date of the th of may, , writes to his correspondent, mr. james sullivan, a name famous in the annals of massachusetts, and well known to the united states, a long letter, of which i shall read only a sentence or two. it is to be found in the ninth volume of the works of john adams, beginning at page . in that letter mr. adams, among other things, says: "but let us first suppose that the whole community, of every age, rank, sex, and condition, has a right to vote. this community is assembled. a motion is made and carried by a majority of one voice. the minority will not agree to this. whence arises the right of the majority to govern and the obligation of the minority to obey? "from necessity, you will say, because there can be no other rule. but why exclude women? "you will say, because their delicacy renders them unfit for practice and experience in the great businesses of life and the hardy enterprises of war, as well as the arduous cares of state. besides, their attention is so much engaged with the necessary nurture of their children, that nature has made them fittest for domestic cares. and children have not judgment or will of their own. true." and he closes the letter by saying: "society can be governed only by general rules. government can not accommodate itself to every particular case as it happens, nor to the circumstances of particular persons. it must establish general comprehensive regulations for cases and persons. the only question is, which general rule will accommodate most cases and most persons. depend upon it, sir, it is dangerous to open so fruitful a source of controversy and altercation as would be opened by attempting to alter the qualifications of voters; there will be no end of it. new claims will arise; women will demand a vote; lads from twelve to twenty-one will think their rights not enough attended to; and every man who has not a farthing will demand an equal voice with any other in all acts of state. it tends to confound and destroy all distinctions, and prostrate all ranks to one common level." the honorable member from ohio seems to suppose that the right should be given as a means, if i understood him, of protecting themselves and as a means of elevating them intellectually. i had supposed the theory was that the woman was protected by the man. if she is insulted she is not expected to knock the man who insults her down, or during the days of the duello to send him a challenge. she goes to her male friend, her husband or brother or acquaintance. nature has not made her for the rough and tumble, so to speak, of life. she is intended to be delicate. she is intended to soften the asperities and roughness of the male sex. she is intended to comfort him in the days of his trial, not to participate herself actively in the contest either in the forum, in the council chamber, or on the battle-field. as to her not being protected, what lady has ever said that her rights were not protected because she had not the right of suffrage? there are women, respectable i have no doubt in point of character, moral and virtuous women no doubt, but they are called, and properly called, the "strong-minded"; they are in the public estimation contradistinguished from the delicate; they are men in women's garb, ready, i have no doubt, such people would be--and i deem it no disparagement to them; i have no doubt they are conscientious--to go upon the battle-field. such things have happened. they are willing to take an insult, and horse-whip and chastise the man who has extended the rudeness to them; but they are exceptions to the softness which is the charm of the female character. i appeal to my friend from new york [mr. morgan]--i can speak for baltimore--and to the member from pennsylvania [mr. cowan] who i suppose can speak for philadelphia, would they have their wives and their daughters seeking to get up to the poll on a hotly-contested election, driven with indignation at times from it, insulted, violence used to them, as is often the case, rudeness of speech sure to be indulged in---- mr. wade: i should like to know if that is the character of your city? mr. johnson: yes. mr. wade: then it is very different from the community in which i live. mr. johnson: i rather think you might make cincinnati an exception from what i have heard. i am not speaking for the country, though i have seen it pretty rough in the country; and they have been rough occasionally in ohio. if they were all of the same temper with my honorable friend who interrupts me of course it would be different, and all could have their rights accorded them. mr. cowan: i should like to ask whether the presence of ladies on an occasion of that kind would not tend to suppress everything of that sort? would it not turn the blackguard into a gentleman, so that we should have nothing but good conduct? mr. johnson: no, sir; you can not turn a blackguard into a gentleman. mr. cowan: except by a lady. mr. johnson: no, sir; by no means known to human power. there may be some revulsion that will cause him to cease to be a blackguard for the moment, but as to a lady making a gentleman of a man who insults her it has not happened that i know of anywhere. he may be made somewhat of a gentleman by being cowhided. but the question i put i put in all seriousness. i have seen the elections in baltimore, where they are just as orderly as they are in other cities; but we all know that in times of high party excitement it is impossible to preserve that order which would be sufficient to protect a delicate female from insult, and no lady would venture to run the hazard of being subjected to the insults that she would be almost certain to receive. they do not want this privilege. as to protecting themselves, as to taking a part in the government in order to protect themselves, if they govern those who govern, is not that protection enough? and who does not know that they govern us? thank god they do. but what more right has a woman, as a mere matter of right independent of all delicacy, to the suffrage than a boy who is just one day short of twenty-one? you put him in your military service when he is eighteen; you may put him in it at a younger age if you think proper; but you will not let him vote. why? only upon moral grounds; that is all; not because that boy may not be able to exercise the right, but because, in the language of mr. adams, there must be some general rule, which must be observed, because in the absence of such general rule, if you permit excepted cases you might as well abolish all rules, and then where are we, as he properly asks. i like to learn wisdom from the men of . i know we have had the advantage of living in an age which they did not witness. i have lived a good many years and watched the public men of the day, and i do not think, and i have never been able with all my disposition to think that we are any better than were the men of and our predecessors on this floor, the men who participated in the deliberations of the convention which led to the adoption of the constitution of the united states, the men who were the authors of the state papers which were issued during that period, and which filled the world with admiration and amazement. from the days of colonization down to the present hour no such proposition as this has received, so far as i am aware, any support, unless it was for a short time in the state of new jersey. it has nothing to do with the right of negroes to vote. that is perfectly independent. if i desired because i am opposed to that to defeat the bill, i might perhaps, as a mere party scheme, as a measure known to party tactics which govern occasionally some--i do not say that they have not governed me heretofore--vote for this amendment with a view to defeat the bill: but i have lived to be too old and have become too well satisfied of what i think is my duty to the country to give any vote which i do not believe, if it should be supported by the votes of a sufficient number to carry the measure into operation, would redound to the interests and safety and honor of the country. mr. wade: the gentleman seems to suppose that the only reason females should have the right to vote is that they might defend themselves with a cowhide against those who insult them. i do not suppose that giving them the right to vote will add anything to their physical strength or courage. that is the argument of the senator, and the whole of his argument: but i did not propose that they should vote on such hypothesis or with any view that it should have any such effect. but i do know that as the law stood until very recently in many of the states a husband was not the best guardian for his wife in many cases, and frequently the greatest hardships that i have ever known in the community have arisen from the fact that a good-for-nothing, drunken, miserable man had married a respectable lady with property, and your law turned the whole of it right over to him and left her a pauper at his will. while i was at the bar i was more conversant with the manner in which these domestic affairs were transacted than i am now; and i knew instances of the greatest hardship arising from the fact that the law permitted such things to be done. i have known a drunken, miserable wretch of a husband take possession of a large property of a virtuous, excellent woman, who had a family of small children depending upon her, and turn her out to support her family by sewing and by manual labor; and it is not an uncommon case. the legislators, the males having the law-making power in their hands, especially were not very prompt to correct these evils; they were very slow in doing so. they continued from the old common law, when the memory of man did not run to the contrary, down to a time that is within the recollection of us all; and i do not know but that in some of the states this absurd rule prevails even now. it would not have prevailed if ladies had been permitted to vote for their legislators. they would have instructed them, and would have withheld their votes from every one who would not correct these most glaring evils. the senator tells us that the community in which he lives is so barbarous and rude that a lady could not go to the polls to perform a duty which the law permitted without insult and rudeness. that is a state of things that i did not believe existed anywhere. i do not believe that it exists in baltimore to-day. i do not believe if the ladies of baltimore should go up to the polls clothed with the legal right to select their own legislators that there is anybody in baltimore who would insult them on their way in performing that duty. i do not believe that our communities have got to that degree of depravity yet that such kind of rascally prudence is necessary to be exercised in making laws. on the other hand, i have always found wherever i have gone that the rude and the rough in their conduct were civilized and ameliorated by the presence of females; for i do believe, as much as i believe anything else, that, take the world as it is, the female part of it are really more virtuous than the males. i think so; and i think if we were to permit them to have this right, it would tend to a universal reform instead of the reverse; and i do not believe any lady would be insulted in any community that i know anything about while on her way to perform this duty. as i can see no good reason to the contrary, i shall vote for this proposition. i shall vote as i have often voted, as the senator from massachusetts has often voted, what he believed to be right; not because he believed a majority were with him, but because he believed the proposition which he was called upon to vote for was right, just, and proper. it is because i can not see that this is not so that i vote for it. it comes from a senator who does not generally vote with us; it is a proposition unlooked for from his general course of action in this body, being, as he says, on the conservative list, and generally for holding things just as they are. well, sir, i am for holding them just as they are, when i think they are right, and when i think they are not, i am for changing them and making them right. i do not think it is right to exclude females from the right of suffrage. as i said before, i do not expect that public opinion will be so correct at this time that my vote will be effective; but nevertheless it would be no excuse for me that i did not do my part toward effecting a reform that i think the community requires, because i did not see that the whole world was going with me. i do not wait for that. i am frequently in minorities. i would as lief be there as anywhere else, provided i see that i am right; and i do not wait for the majority to go with me when i think a proposition is right. therefore i shall vote for this amendment if nobody else votes for it, trusting that if i am right the world will finally see it and come up to the mark where i am; if i am wrong, on further investigation and further thought i shall be left in the lurch. believing that i am right, and believing that the world will come up to this standard finally, i am ambitious to make my mark upon it right here. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. president, the senator from maryland has made an inquiry as to the law of new jersey in reference to women voting. there was a period in new jersey when, in reference to some local matters, and those only, women voted; but that period has long since passed away; and i think i am authorized in saying that the women of new jersey to-day do not desire to vote. sir, i confess a little surprise at the remark which has been so frequently made in the senate, that there is no difference between granting suffrage to colored citizens and extending it to the women of america. the difference, to my mind, is as wide as the earth. as i understand it, we legislate for classes, and the women of america as a class do vote now, though there are exceptions from the peculiar circumstances of individuals. do not the american people vote in this senate to-day on this question? do they not vote in the house of representatives? so the women of america vote by their faithful and true representatives, their husbands, their brothers, their sons; and no true man will go to the polls and deposit his ballot without remembering that true and loving constituency that he has at home. more than that, sir, ninety-nine out of a hundred, i believe nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand, of the women in america do not want the privilege of voting in any other manner than that which i have stated. in both these regards there is a vast difference between the situation of the colored citizen and the women of america. but mr. president, besides that, the women of america are not called upon to serve the government as the men of america are. they do not bear the bayonet, and have not that reason why they should be entitled to the ballot; and it seems to me as if the god of our race has stamped upon them a milder, gentler nature, which not only makes them shrink from, but disqualifies them for the turmoil and battle of public life. they have a higher and a holier mission. it is in retirement, to make the character of the coming men. their mission is at home, by their blandishments and their love to assuage the passions of men as they come in from the battle of life, and not themselves by joining in the contest to add fuel to the very flames. the learned and eloquent senator from pennsylvania said, yesterday, with great beauty, that he wanted to cast the angel element into the suffrage system of america. sir, it seems to me that it would be ruthlessly tearing the angel element from the homes of america, for the homes of the people of america are infinitely more valuable than any suffrage system. it will be a sorry day for this country when those vestal fires of piety and love are put out. mr. president, it seems to me that the christian religion, which has elevated woman to her true position as a peer by the side of man from which she was taken; that religion which is a part of the common law of this land, in its very spirit and declarations recognizes man as the representative of woman. the very structure of that religion which for centuries has been being built recognizes that principle, and it is written on its very door-posts. the woman, it is true, was first tempted; but it was in adam that we all died. the angel, it is true, appeared to mary; but it is in the god-man that we are all made alive. i do not see that there is any parity of reasoning between the case of the women of america, entitling them or making it desirable that they should have suffrage, and that of the colored citizens of the united states. mr. conness: it does not appear that we can come to a vote to-night upon this proposition, and i therefore rise to propose an adjournment. mr. morrill: perhaps we can get a vote on this simple amendment. mr. brown and others: oh, no; let us adjourn. mr. morrill: i doubt whether there is any inclination to talk further on this amendment, and i should be glad to get a vote on it before we adjourn. mr. conness: if the senate will come to a vote, i will not move an adjournment. mr. brown: mr. president---- mr. doolittle: if the honorable senator from missouri will give way, i will renew the motion to adjourn. mr. brown: i do not care particularly to detain the senate. i have but a very few remarks to make. several senators: let us adjourn. mr. doolittle: if the honorable senator will give way, i will renew the motion to adjourn. the president _pro tem._: does the chair understand the senator from missouri as yielding the floor? mr. brown: yes, sir. mr. doolittle: i move that the senate do now adjourn. the motion was agreed to; and the senate adjourned. in senate, wednesday, _december , _. prayer by the chaplain, rev. e. h. gray. the journal of yesterday was read and approved. petitions and memorials. the president _pro tem._: the chair has received, and takes this opportunity to lay before the senate, the memorial of william boyd, of washington city, district of columbia, the substance of which, stated in his own words, is: i humbly ask your honorable body that you make no distinctions in regard to either color or sex if you should think proper to extend the elective franchise in this district, which i beg of your honorable body to do immediately; so that hereafter there shall be no distinction of race or sex. i am among those who believe that slavery will never die, until all laws are so constructed as to hold all mankind as equal before the law. suffrage in the district. the president _pro tem._: the unfinished business is the bill (s. no. ) to regulate the elective franchise in the district of columbia which is now before the senate as in committee of the whole. the pending question is on the motion of the senator from pennsylvania [mr. cowan], to amend the amendment reported by the committee on the district of columbia, by striking out in the second line of its first section the word "male" before "person." upon this question the senator from missouri is entitled to the floor. mr. brown: mr. president, i do not believe that the pending amendment to the bill extending the franchise to women in the district of columbia, offered by the senator from pennsylvania, was designed to be carried out into practical legislation at this time or in this connection. i think it was rather intended to elicit an expression of opinion from members of the senate upon the general proposition involved. if it were to go into practical effect, i am one of those who believe that it would be necessary to accompany it by a good deal of other legislation to prevent it from degenerating into abuse, and perhaps corrupting many of those it designs to advance in position and influence. but accepting the matter in the light which i have stated, for one i am willing to express an opinion very freely on the subject. i have to say then, sir, here on the floor of the american senate, i stand for universal suffrage, and as a matter of fundamental principle do not recognize the right of society to limit it on any ground of race, color, or sex. i will go further and say that i recognize the right of franchise as being intrinsically a natural right; and i do not believe that society is authorized to impose any limitation upon it that does not spring out of the necessities of the social state itself. these may seem, mr. president, extreme views, but they conform to the rigid logic of the question, and i defy any senator here who abides that logic to escape that conclusion. sir, i have been shocked, yes, shocked, during the course of this debate at expressions which i have heard so often fall from distinguished senators, and apparently with so little consideration of what the heresy irresistibly leads to, saying in substance that they recognize in this right of franchise only a conventional or political arrangement that may be abrogated at will and taken from any; that it is simply a privilege yielded to you and me and others by society or the government which represents society; that it is only a gracious boon from some abstract place and abstract body for which we should be proud and thankful; in other words, that it is not a right in any sense, but only a concession. mr. president, i do not hold my liberties by any such tenure. on the contrary, i believe that whenever you establish that doctrine, whenever you crystalize that idea in the public mind of this country, you ring the death-knell of american liberties. you take from each, what is perhaps the highest safeguard of all, the conviction that there are rights of men embracing their liberty in society, and substitute a skepticism on all matters of personal freedom and popular liberties which will lay them open to be overthrown whenever society shall become sufficiently corrupted by partyism or whenever constitutional majorities shall become sufficiently exasperated by opposition. mr. president, so important, yea, so crucial, so to speak, do i deem this position, that i trust i may be pardoned by the senate if i refer to the abstract grounds, the invincible agreement upon which i deem it to rest. i do this the more readily because in my belief the metaphysical always controls ultimately the practical in all the affairs of life. now, what are abstract rights? and are there any intrinsic necessary conditions that go to constitute liberty in society? i believe that there are, and that those conditions are as determinable as the liberties they protect. the foundation upon which all free government rests, and out of which all natural rights flow as from a common center, has been well stated by mr. herbert spencer in a late work on "social statics," to be "the liberty of each limited by the like liberty of all." as the fundamental truth originating and yet circumscribing the validity of laws and constitutions, it can not be stated in a simpler form. as the rule in conformity with which society must be organized, and which distinguishes where the rightful subordination terminates, and where tyranny, whether of majorities or minorities, begins, it can not be too much commended. "every man has freedom to do all that he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man," is stated as the law of just social relationships, and in it the rights of individual liberty of thought, of speech, of action, find their complete expression. it will be observed that equality is the essence of it all. in fact, any recognition of an inequality of rights is fatal to liberty. observe, furthermore, that those rights inhere in the individual, are part of his existence, and not the gift of any man or aggregation of men. if they were, equality under a despotism might find its justification in the postulate just as well as equality under a republic. cæsarean democracy could claim like paternity with american democracy. the assumption, then, that freedom in any of its forms is a privilege conceded by society is utterly unwarrantable, because society itself is a concession from the individual--the liberty of each limited by the like liberty of all--and such limitation is what society or government represents. and it is in this sense, and flowing from this axiom, that the rights of franchise originally appertain to all alike; for franchise is in itself nothing more than a mode of participating in the common government, and represents only the interest each has therein. that limitations may attach thereto, just as they attach to freedom of speech or freedom of action, is perfectly true; but they must be equal limitations, applicable to all alike, growing out of the social relation, and not leveled at the inherent right of any individual or class. thus the exclusion of criminals from the franchise, the designation of terms of minority as connected with the exercise of political duties, the regulation of the admission to citizenship of persons coming from foreign countries, find their justification in a principle which, so far from recognizing in government or society a purely arbitrary control of the rights and exercise of self-government or personal liberty, brings it down within rigid and narrow limits of equality and necessity. there are those, and i am sorry some such have arisen in the senate to-day, who seek to escape this conclusion, and put the blush upon all free government by affirming, as i have said, that the right of franchise is a purely political right, neither inherent nor inalienable, and may be divested by the citizen or the state at will. the consideration mentioned, that the right of franchise is neither more nor less than the right of self-government as exercised through a participation in the common government of all, shows, however, that if it be not a natural right it will be difficult to say in what a natural right consists. indeed, it is perhaps the most natural of any of our rights, inasmuch as its denial is the denial of all right to personal liberty, for how can such latter right exist when the right to maintain it among men and the societies of men is denied? again, if the right to share in the joint government is not inherent, from whence does it come? who can give the right to govern another? and how can any give what he has not got? society is but the aggregate of individuals, and in its authority represents only the conceded limitations on all, not any reservoir of human rights, otherwise human rights would vary with every changing association. still again, if the right of a man as regards government can be divested either by himself or government at will, then government has no limit to its rightful tyranny--it may divest not only one man, but a hundred or a thousand; indeed, why not all but the chosen few or the imperial one, thus arriving logically at oligarchic or despotic rule. and if a man may divest himself of this right, what right is sacred from his renunciation? that a man may refuse to exercise any right is true, and that in changing his abode he may sever his political and social relations is equally true; but these facts only prove that his natural rights inhere in his person, go with him in his movement, subject always to be exercised under the conditions and limitations before recited. after all, to demonstrate the utter falsity and pernicious consequence of the idea that the right to share in the common government (which is only a synonym for the right of franchise) is a privilege to be farmed out by government at discretion and to whom it chooses, it is only necessary to ask, if that be so, whence comes the right to representation? wherein is the foundation for any democratic society, predicated on the rights of individuals? that various mixed governments do undertake to limit the franchise to the few as a privilege coming from the body-corporate, has nothing to do with the question, for i am discussing now rights, not practices; republics, not aristocracies. such i believe, mr. president, to be the principles on which our personal rights, our liberties in society repose. it is true the argument carries us very far, but not farther, i apprehend, than republican government must go whenever it undertakes to conform its practice to its logic. and having examined the general reasoning that controls the whole question of franchise, let me now advert more particularly to the bearing of that argument upon the proposition submitted by the senator from pennsylvania. i know that many affirm that the results to which such reasoning as that i have adduced would lead are themselves conclusive against its force. but that is scarcely a fair mode of judging of the strength and invincibility of any argument, far less one touching interests so momentous in character. to give the objection its greatest force it may be said, "if suffrage be the right of all men, why is it not also the right of all women, of all children?" "are they not equally interested in good government, and are they not equally capable of expressing through a vote their wish in relation to public affairs?" "do they not come within the category, the equal liberty of each limited by the like liberty of all, and if so, can the infringement of their liberty by disfranchisement be justified!" to such questions, and, in fact, to the whole inquiry, it may be replied that as freedom finds the expression of its limits in the social relation itself, so long as the marital and paternal state remain as they are now, essential parts to that social relation, so long will there be more or less of constraint involved in their expression through governmental forms. and it may be added also that in so far as marriage and paternity establish an identity of interest between husband and wife, or parent and child, so far the participation of the one in the government is virtually the participation of both, the franchise of one the franchise of both. such identity is not always true or equable, but it nevertheless approximates truth, and is therefore the more readily accepted as such in practical affairs. that the rights of women, however, are intrinsically the same with those of men, may not be consistently denied; and that all the advance of modern civilization has been toward according them greater equality of condition is attested by the current history of every nation within its pale. rights of married women and minors are constantly finding new expression in our laws and new force in our public opinion, which is only law in process of formation. while it will not be necessary, therefore, to go into those deeper and anterior questions of social life involving the substitution of voluntary for compulsory modes which are agitating so profoundly the intellect of this age, it is important to note that of the three great departments of control in human affairs, namely, morals or conscience, manners or society, governments or laws, the two former have been unreservedly conceded to the full and equal participation of women. and furthermore, i venture to affirm with all confidence, that although the social relation, as it embraces a recognition of family dependence, may present obstacles to an equal influence under present forms of government and to the full exercise of citizen rights on the part of women, yet that the purity, the refinement, the instinctive reading of character, the elegant culture of the women of our land, if brought to bear upon the conduct of political affairs, would do much to elevate them in all their aims, and conform them to higher standards of justice. mr. president, i have listened in vain for the argument on which is predicated the assertion that sex alone affords a rightful ground for exclusion from the rights of franchise. i do not find anything to justify that view, even in the position of those who contend that franchise is a mere political privilege and not founded in any right, for that would apply to men equally as to women, and does not touch the question of relative rights. the position would still remain to be established why the franchise should be given to the one and not to the other. it would remain still to present grounds of principle on which that right as such may be denied to her and not denied to him. i have heard reasons of policy, reasons of sentiment, reasons of precedent advanced to justify this exclusion; but in all frankness, and with no disrespect intended, i must say that those which have been presented during this debate seem to me trivial, illogical, and contradictory of one another. first, it has been said that if women are entitled to the rights of franchise they would correspondingly come under the obligation to bear arms. but, sir, i do not know that there is any necessary connection between the right of franchise and the requirement of service in your army. on the contrary, i do know that all governments which have existed among men do now recognize the fact that there is no necessary connection between the two; and i do know that no government has more distinctly recognized this position than the government of the united states. are there not large classes even among men in this country who are exempt from service in our armies for physical incapacity and for other reasons? and if exemptions which appertain to males may be recognized as valid, why not similar exemptions for like reason when applied to females? does it not prove that there is nothing in the argument so far as it involves the question of right? there are quakers and other religious sects; there are ministers of the gospel--persons having conscientious scruples; indeed, all men over a certain age who under the laws of many of the states are released from service of that character. indeed, it is the boast of the republic that ours is a volunteer military establishment. hence i say there is nothing in the position that because she may not be physically qualified for service in your army, therefore you have the right to deny her the franchise on the score of sex. it might be an inquiry of very great interest and worthy of being pursued much further than i have the time or the ability to pursue it just now, how far, if the ballot should be extended to all the women in this land, it would go to modify existing opinion and action and relationship among states so as to obliterate in a great degree the very necessity for your army and navy. i believe, sir, that a very large majority of the wars that have been waged in this world have been wars that were condemned by the moral sense of the nations on both sides; wars that would have been terminated forthwith if that moral sense could have had its rightful influence in controlling the affairs of government; and i say it is a question that is worthy of consideration how far such an element introduced into your political control would go to obviate these barbarous resorts to force which you now deem essential and which we all deplore, but which it is a folly, if not a crime, to say constitute a reason woman should be denied any right to which she would be otherwise entitled. mr. president, a second objection has been taken to any extension of the franchise in this direction, and it is one that perhaps has more seeming force in it than the other. it has been said with a great deal of pathos by the senator from new jersey: what, would you have your wives and your daughters mingle in the scenes at the election-booths, go into the riotous demonstrations that attend upon the exercise of the ballot, and become participants in the angry and turbulent strifes that are so characteristic of our political modes. i say with frankness that i would not have wife or daughter mingle in any such scene; i would be loth to have their purity and their virtue exposed to such demoralized surroundings, surroundings that are only too apt to corrupt even the males that mingle in the political arena. but, sir, i contend that that is an argument against the ballot and the hustings and the polling-booths, and not against the rights of woman. it is an argument against those corruptions that you have permitted to grow and fasten upon your political methods and appliances, and not an argument against her rights as contrasted with the rights of man. what! usurp an exclusive control--then degrade the modes of exercising power, and after that say the degradation is reason why the usurpation should continue unchallenged. what profanation of the very powers of thought is that! on the contrary, i am prepared to say that i see no reason, i never have seen any reason, why there might not be changes introduced in your modes of taking the sense of the community, of ascertaining public opinion upon public measures, of making selection even of its individuals for important offices, that would conform them far more to those refinements and those elevations which should characterize and control them, purifications that must render them appropriate for participation in by the most refined of the land, whether male or female. i see no reason why it should not be done. the change has been constant already from the very rudest forms to the forms which we now have, and which i am sorry to say, are sufficiently rude to disgrace the civilization of the age. why not further amelioration and adaptation? are we to have no progress in the modes of government among men? are we and future generations to be ever imprisoned in the uncouth alternative of monarchical or democratic forms as they now obtain? i can not believe it. for five years past we have had revolution enough among us to satisfy even the most conservative that the present is no ultimatum, either of form or substance in political or social affairs. i will go further and venture to say, that there are now seething underneath all the forms of this government, revolutions still more striking than any one of us have yet witnessed. beneath all these methods and appliances of administrations and controls among men, i believe there is under our very feet a heaving, unsteady ocean of aroused questioning in which many modes now practiced will sink to rise no more, and out of which other adaptations will emerge that will render far more perfect the reflection of the will of the people; that will perhaps represent minorities as well as majorities; that will disarm corruptions by dispensing with party organizations. it is the very witching hour of change. and, sir, i do not dread change. why should we? is not change the primal condition on which all life is permitted to exist? change is the very essence of all things pure, the sign and token of the divinity that is within us, and conservatism _per se_ is infidelity against the ordination of god. when, therefore, we see such change in all things that are around us, in fashions and customs and laws and recognitions and intellectualities, even to the supremest generalizations of science, in all things save the elemental principles of our being and by consequence of our rights, why shall we say that these forms into which we have cast administration and government, shall not obey the great law of development and take upon themselves ameliorations better suited to the changing society of mankind, to the wants of a more truthful representation, to the participation by all in the government that is over all. mr. president, i am of those who believe that they will. when i look around on the incongruities and corruptions that surround our present system, when i see what politics and government and administration actually are, if i believed there was to be no progress in that direction i should be bereft of all hope and desolate of faith. on the contrary, methinks i can see in the adown vista of the future the golden apples hanging on the tree of promise. it seems to me that the light of the morning is already streaming in upon us that shall illuminate further advancements in the science of government. and why should not even republican government take to itself other modes of administration without infraction of its fundamental liberties? why should not large reductions transpire in those opportunities that invite the most sinister combination for offices and spoils? is there any reason why the emoluments of place should more than repay the labor it calls for? is there any reason why large abolitions of executive patronage may not transpire; why government may not generate through examining commissioners, best agencies of its own for the functional work it is called to perform, leaving appeals to the community to pass rather upon controlling measures and general policies and legislative functionaries? is there any reason why that should not take place? sir, already, if i mistake not, in the large cities of this land, which are the local points of your domestic political system, the necessity for such a change is being felt and acted upon, and large branches of executive work and supervision are being necessarily put in commission. mr. president, i think what i have said sufficiently shows that the argument which is advanced, that the present surroundings are such that woman could not properly participate in your elections, is an argument that does not go to the right of the woman, but does go to the wrong of the man. it is a criticism, perhaps a satire upon the civilization of your political system, not a justification for any exclusions practiced under it. there is one other line of remark that has been indulged in, and only one other so far as i have heard, which calls for any special rejoinder, and that affirms the precedents of the past to be all against any such proposition as that now submitted. it is said that there is no precedent, that it is not customary in any of our governments, that it is not one of the recognitions of our society, that it has never been signified as such in the past. i do not know that such an argument amounts to anything at best, but i do know that the allegation itself has no foundation in fact. i know that in many cases and on many occasions this impassable barrier that is now set forth as dividing the natural rights of man and woman has been broken down and trampled upon, and that, too, without any injury to the society from so doing. perhaps i can best illustrate this point by what an accomplished lady, who has given much thought and research to the subject, has presented. i read from a contribution she has made to one of our leading public prints. she says: so long as political power was of an absolute and hereditary character women shared it whenever they happened, by birth, to hold the position to which it was attached. in hungary, in some of the german states, and in the french provinces to this day, certain women, holding an inherited right, confer the franchise upon their husbands, and in widowhood empower some relative or accredited agent to be the legislative protector of their property. in , the authorities of the old university town of upsal granted the right of suffrage to fifty women owning real estate, and to thirty-one doing business on their own account. the representative that their votes elected was to sit in the house of burgesses. in scotland, it is less than a century since, for election purposes, parties were unblushingly married in cases where women conveyed a political franchise, and parted after the election. in ireland, the court of queen's bench, dublin, restored to women, in january, , the old right of voting for town commissioners. the justice, fitzgerald, desired to state that ladies were also entitled to sit as town commissioners, as well as to vote for them, and the chief-justice took pains to make it clear that there was nothing in the act of voting repugnant to their habits. in november, , the government of moravia decided that all women who were tax-payers had the right to vote. in the government of pitcairn's island, women over sixteen have voted ever since its settlement. in canada, in , a distinct electoral privilege was conferred on women, in the hope that thereby the protestant might balance the roman catholic power in the school system. i lived where i saw this right exercised by female property holders for four years. i never heard the most cultivated man, not even that noble gentleman, the late lord elgin, object to its results. in new jersey, the constitution adopted in , gave the right of suffrage to all inhabitants, of either sex, who possessed fifty dollars in proclamation money. in , to make it clearer, the assembly inserted the words "he or she." women voted there till , when, the votes of some colored women having decided an election, the prejudice against the negro came to the aid of lordly supremacy, and an act was passed limiting the right of suffrage to "free white male citizens." in , the kentucky legislature conferred the right on widows with children in matters relating to the school system. the same right was conferred in michigan; and full suffrage was given to women in the state constitution submitted to kansas in . i think that is a list of illustrations sufficient to dispose of any argument that may arise on such a score. and now, mr. president, permit me to say, in concluding the remarks i have felt called upon to make here, that i have spoken rather as indicating my assent to the principle than as expecting any present practical results from the motion in question. in the earliest part of my political life, when first called upon to represent a constituency in the general assembly of missouri, in looking around, after my arrival at the seat of government at those matters that seemed to me of most importance in legislation, i was struck with two great classes of injustices, two great departments in which it seemed to me the laws and the constitutions of my state had done signal wrong. those were one as respects the rights of colored persons; the other as respects the rights of married women, minors, and females; and i there and then determined that whenever and wherever it should be in my power to aid in relieving them of those inequalities and those injustices, i would do so to the extent of my humble ability. since then i have labored zealously in those two reforms as far and as fast as a public opinion could be created or elicited to enforce them, and i can say from my own observation that each step of advance taken has been fruitful of all good and productive of no evil. emancipation of the colored race in missouri has been achieved in a most thorough manner, substantially achieved even before the war; and to-day the community is ripe for the declaration that all are created equal, and that there is no reason to exclude from any right, civil or political, on the ground of race or color. i feel proud to say likewise that missouri has gone further, and wiped from her statute-book large portions of that unjust and unfair and illiberal legislation which had been leveled at the rights and the property of the women of the state. believing that that cause which embraces and embodies the cause of civil liberty will go forward still triumphing and to triumph, i will never, so help me god, cast any vote that may be construed as throwing myself in the face of that progress. even though i recognize, therefore, the impolicy of coupling these two measures in this manner and at this time, i shall yet record my vote in the affirmative as an earnest indication of my belief in the principle and my faith in the future. mr. davis: mr. president, our entire population, like that of all other countries, is divided into two great classes, the male and the female. by the census of the white female population of the united states exceeded thirteen millions, and the aggregate negro population, of both sexes, was below four and a half millions. that great white population, and all its female predecessors, have never had the right of suffrage, or, to use that cant phrase of the day, have never been enfranchised; and such has also been the condition of the negro population. that about one negro in ten thousand in four or five states have been allowed to vote, is too insignificant to be dignified with any consideration as an exception. but now a frenzied party is clamoring to have suffrage given to the negro, while they not only raise no voice for female suffrage, but frown upon and repel every movement and utterance in its favor. who of the advocates of negro suffrage, in congress or out of it, dare to stand forth and proclaim to the manhood of america, that the free negroes are fitter and more competent to exercise transcendent political power, the right of suffrage, than their mothers, their wives, their sisters, and their daughters? the great god who created all the races and in every race gave to man woman, never intended that woman should take part in national government among any people, or that the negro, the lowest, should ever have co-ordinate and equal power with the highest, the white race, in any government, national or domestic. to woman in every race he gave correlative, and as high, as necessary, and as essential, but different faculties and attributes, intellectual and moral, as he gave to man in the same race; and to both, those adapted to the equally important but different parts which they were to play in the dramatic destinies of their people. the instincts, the teachings of the distinct and differing, but harmonious organism of each, led man and woman in every race and people and nation and tribe, savage and civilized, in all countries and ages of the world, to choose their natural, appropriate, and peculiar field of labor and effort. man assumed the direction of government and war, woman of the domestic and family affairs and the care and the training of the child; and each have always acquiesced in this partition and choice. it has been so from the beginning, throughout the whole history of man, and it will continue to be so to the end, because it is in conformity to nature and its laws, and is sustained and confirmed by the experience and reason of six thousand years. i therefore, mr. president, am decidedly and earnestly opposed to the amendment moved by my friend from pennsylvania. there is no man more deeply impressed with or more highly appreciates the important offices which woman exercises over the destiny of race than i do. i concede that woman, by her teachings and influence, is the source of the large mass of the morality and virtue of man and of the world. the benignant and humanizing and important influence which she exercises upon the whole race of man in the proper discharge of her functions and duties can not be overestimated; but that woman should properly perform these great duties, this inappreciably valuable task, it is necessary that she should be kept pure. the domestic altar is a sacred fane where woman is the high and officiating priestess. this priestess should be virtuous, she should be intelligent, she should be competent to the performance of all her high duties. to keep her in that condition of purity, it is necessary that she should be separated from the exercise of suffrage and from all those stern and contaminating and demoralizing duties that devolves upon the hardier sex--man. what is the proposition now before the senate? to make pure, cultivated, noble woman a partisan, a political hack, to lead her among the rabble that surround and control by blackguardism and brute force so many of the hustings of the united states. mr. president, if one greater evil or curse could befall the american people than any other, in my judgment it would be to confer upon the women of america the right of suffrage. it would be a great step in the line of mischief and evil, and it would lead to other and equally fatal steps--in the same direction. sir, if ever in the depths and silence of night i send up my secret orisons to my maker, one of the most fervent of my prayers would be that the women of my country should be saved and sheltered by man from this great contamination. it is not necessary to the proper influence and to the legitimate power of woman. a cultivated, enlightened, delicate, refined, and virtuous woman at the family altar is the persuasive and at the same time plastic power that sways and fashions the principles and character of her children, and thus makes her impress upon the future men of america, the phocians, the timoleons, the washingtons, who are the honor of the race, and whose destiny it is to elevate and ennoble it. mr. president, in proportion as man becomes civilized so increases the power and the influence of woman. in the tribes and nations of the lowest ignorance and barbarism this influence is least--it is most potent where there is the greatest intellectual and moral cultivation of man. i want this gentle and holy influence to continue pure and uncontaminated by keeping it within the domestic fane and afar from party politics. but, sir, it has become the fashion, the philosophy, the frenzy of the day to coin catch-words that carry a seemingly attractive principle, but at the same time alluring and mischievous, and among them is this cry for woman's rights and also for negro suffrage and manhood suffrage and universal suffrage. it is all nothing but slang and demagoguery, and is fraught with naught but evil, mischief, and degradation, individually and nationally. for these reasons, sir, one of the last propositions, or if gentlemen choose, principles which have been or may be propounded to the people of america, or as an amendment to the constitution of the united states, to which i shall ever give my acceptance, is female suffrage. i do not deny that our national family properly and wisely comprehends all of the nationalities of europe who may come here, according to the terms of our naturalization laws, and their posterity; but i assert that negroes, indians, mongolians, chinese, and tartars ought not and can not safely be admitted to the powers and privileges of citizenship. i have no doubt that my honorable friend from pennsylvania desires that the right of suffrage should be given to women; and if he had the power to transfer all the women of the conservative states into and to become residents of the radical states, who imagines that if that were done the radicals of this house and of the nation would shout in favor of giving to women the right of suffrage? if the radicals in congress and out of congress knew with the certainty of truth that every vote which they will enfranchise by conferring the right of suffrage on the negro, would be cast against that party, in favor of their late southern masters, in favor of the democracy, in hostility to the schemes of ambition and spoils which are now animating the heart and mind of the great radical organization, who doubts that this party and every mother's son of them would shout for withholding suffrage from the negro? mr. sprague: i know the senate is impatient for a vote. i know they are determined to vote favorably. when it is necessary that women shall vote for the support of liberty and equality i shall be ready to cast my vote in their favor. the black man's vote is necessary to this at this time.... mr. buckalew: i desire to say before the vote is taken on this amendment that i shall vote in favor of it because of the particular position which it occupies. a vote given for this amendment is not a final one. i understand it to pronounce an opinion upon the two propositions which have been undergoing consideration in the senate, in a comparative manner, if i may use the expression. in voting for this proposition i affirm simply that the principles and the reasonings upon which the bill itself, as reported by the committee, is based, would apply with equal, if not increased force, to the particular proposition contained in the amendment. if that be affirmed, then recurs the question whether it is proper, whether it is expedient at this time to increase, and very extensively increase, suffrage in this country. i do not understand that the general argument on that question is involved in the present motion. i do not understand that it comes up of necessity in considering the proposition covered by the amendment of my colleague which stands simply in contrast with that contained in the bill. i presume there are several gentlemen, members of this body, who will vote with reference to this consideration and who will reserve their opinion, either openly or in their own consciousness, upon the general or indirect question of the extension of suffrage to the females of the united states. but the occasion invites some remarks beyond the mere statement of this point. the debates which have been going on for three days in this chamber will go out to the country. they will constitute an element in the popular discussions of the times and awaken a large amount of public attention. this is not the last we shall hear of this subject. it will come to us again; and i am persuaded that one reason why it will come again is that the arguments against the proposed extension of suffrage have not been sufficient; they have been inadequate; they have been placed upon grounds which will not endure debate. those who are in favor of the extension of suffrage to females can answer what has been said in this chamber, and they can answer it triumphantly; and you will eventually be obliged to take other grounds than those which have been here stated. from the beginning of this debate there has been either an open or an implied concession of the principle upon which the extension of suffrage is asked; and that is, that there is some natural right or propriety in extending it further than it was extended by those who formed our state and federal constitutions; that there is some principle of right or of propriety involved which now appeals powerfully to us in favor of extended and liberal action in behalf of those large classes who have been hitherto disfranchised; upon whom the right of suffrage has not been heretofore conferred. having made this concession upon the fundamental ground of the inquiry, or at all events intimated it, the opponents of an extended franchise pass on to particular arguments of inconvenience or inexpediency as constituting the grounds of their opposition. now, sir, i venture to say that those who resist the extension of suffrage in this country will be unsuccessful in their opposition; they will be overborne, unless they assume grounds of a more commanding character than those which they have here maintained. this subject of the extension of suffrage must be put upon practical grounds and extricated from the sophisms of theoretical reasoning. gentlemen must get out of the domain of theory. they must come back again to those principles of action upon which our fathers proceeded in framing our constitutional system. they lodged suffrage in this country simply in those whom they thought most worthy and most fit to exercise it. they did not proceed upon those humanitarian theories which have since obtained and which now seem to have taken a considerable hold on the public mind. they were practical men, and acted with reference to the history and experience of mankind. they were no metaphysicians; they were not reformers in the modern sense of the term; they were men who based their political action upon the experience of mankind, and upon those practical reflections with reference to men and things in which they had indulged in active life. they placed suffrage then upon the broad common-sense principle that it should be lodged in and exercised by those who could use it most wisely and most safely and most efficiently to serve the great ends for which government was instituted. they had no other ground than this, and their work shows that they proceeded upon it, and not upon any abstract or transcendental notion of human rights which ignored the existing facts of social life. now, sir, the objection which i have to a large extension of suffrage in this country, whether by federal or state power, is this: that thereby you will corrupt and degrade elections, and probably lead to their complete abrogation hereafter. by pouring into the ballot-boxes of the country a large mass of ignorant votes, and votes subjected to pecuniary or social influence, you will corrupt and degrade your elections and lay the foundation for their ultimate destruction. that is a conviction of mine, and it is upon that ground that i resist both negro suffrage and female suffrage, and any other proposed form of suffrage which takes humanity in an unduly broad or enlarged sense as the foundation of an arrangement of political power. mr. president, i proposed before the debate concluded, before this subject should be submitted to the senate for its final decision, to protest against some of the reasoning by which this amendment was resisted. i intended to protest against particular arguments which were submitted; but i was glad this morning that that duty which i had proposed to myself was discharged, and well discharged by the senator from missouri [mr. brown]. for instance, the argument that the right of suffrage ought not to be conferred upon this particular class because they did not or could not bear arms--a consideration totally foreign and irrelevant, in my opinion, to the question which we are discussing. but, sir, passing this by, i desire to add a few words before i conclude upon another point which was stated or suggested by the senator from missouri, and that is the question of reform or improvement in our election system; i mean in the machinery by which or plans upon which those elections proceed. after due reflection given to this subject, my opinion is that our electoral systems in this country are exceedingly defective, and that they require thorough revision, that to them the hand of reform must be strongly applied if republican institutions are to be ultimately successful with us. i would see much less objection to your extension of the right of suffrage very largely to classes now excluded if you had a different mode of voting, if you did take or could take the sense of these added classes in a different manner from that which now obtains in popular voting. you proceed at present upon the principle or rule that a mere majority of the electoral community shall possess the whole mass of political power; and what are the inevitable results? first, that the community is divided into parties, and into parties not very unequal in their aggregate numbers. what next? that the balance of power between parties is held by a very small number of voters; and in practical action what is the fact? that the struggle is constantly for that balance of power, and in order to obtain it, all the arts and all the evil influences of elections are called into action. it is this struggle for that balance of power that breeds most of the evils of your system of popular elections. now, is it not possible to have republican institutions and to eliminate or decrease largely this element of evil? why, sir, take the state of pennsylvania, whose voice, perhaps, in this government is to give direction to its legislation at a given time and take a pecuniary interest in the country largely interested in your laws, looking forward upon the eve of a hotly contested election to some particular measures of government which shall favor it, with what ease can that interest throw into the state a pecuniary contribution competent to turn the voice of that powerful state and change or determine the policy of your government. and why so? it is only necessary that this corrupt influence should be exerted very slightly indeed within that state from abroad in order to turn the scale, because you are only to exert your pernicious power upon a small number of persons who hold the balance of power between parties therein. sir, that organization of our system which allows such a state of things to occur must be inherently vicious. instead of this being a government of the whole people, which is our fundamental principle, which is our original idea, it is a government, in the first place, of a majority only of the people; and in the next place, it is in some sort a government of that small number of persons who give preponderance to one party over another, and who may be influenced by fanaticism, corruption, or passion. this being our political state at present with reference to electoral action, what do you propose? we have a great evil. electoral corruption is the great danger in our path. it is the evil in our system against which we must constantly struggle. every patriot and every honest man here and in his own state is bound to lift his voice and to strike boldly against it in all its forms, and it requires for its repression all the efforts and all the exertion we can put forth. now what is proposed by the reformers of the present time? we have our majority rule--it is not a principle; it is an abuse of all terms to call it a principle--we have our majority rule in full action, presenting an invitation to corrupt, base, and sinister influences to attach themselves to our system; we have great difficulties with which we now struggle arising from imperfect arrangements, and what do you propose? to reform existing evils and abuses? to correct your system? to study it as patriots, as men of reflection and good sense? no, sir. you propose to introduce into our electoral bodies new elements of enormous magnitude. you propose to take the base of society, excluded now, and build upon it, and upon it alone or mainly, because the introduction of the enormous mass of voters proposed by the reformers will wholly change the foundations upon which you build. will not these new electors you propose to introduce be more approachable than men who now vote to all corrupt influences? will they not be more passionate, and therefore more easily influenced by the demagogue? will they not be more easily caught and enraptured by superficial declamation, because more incapable of profound reflection? will not their weakness render them subservient to the strong and their ignorance to the artful? i shall not, however, detain you with an elaborate argument upon this question of suffrage. i only feel myself called upon to say enough to indicate the general direction of my reflections upon the questions before us; to show why it is that i am immovably opposed at this time to extending our system of suffrage in the district of columbia or elsewhere so as to include large classes of persons who are now excluded; and to state my opinion that reform or change should be concerned with the correction of the existing evils of our electoral system, instead of with the enlargement of its boundaries. mr. doolittle: i move that the senate do now adjourn. several senators: oh, no; let us have a vote. the motion was not agreed to. mr. doolittle: mr. president, this amendment, in my judgment, opens a very grave question; a question graver than it appears at the blush; a question upon which the ablest minds are divided here and elsewhere; a question, however, on which we are called upon to vote, and therefore one upon which i desire very briefly to state the views which control my judgment when i say that i shall vote against the amendment which is now offered. for myself, sir, after giving some considerable reflection to the subject of suffrage, i have arrived at the conclusion that the true base or foundation upon which to rest suffrage in any republican community is upon the family, the head of the family; because in civilized society the family is the unit, not the individual. what is meant by "man" is man in that relation where he is placed according to nature, reason, and religion. if it were a new question and it were left to me to determine what should be the true qualification of a person to exercise the right of suffrage, i would fix it upon that basis that the head of a family, capable of supporting that family, and who had supported the family, should be permitted to vote, and no other. while i know that the question is not a new one; while it is impossible for me to treat it as a new question because suffrage everywhere has been extended beyond the heads of families, yet the reason, in my judgment, upon which it has been extended is simply this: if certain men have been permitted to vote who were not the heads of families it was because they were the exceptions to the general rule, and because it was to be presumed that if they were not at the time heads of families they ought to be, and probably would be. i say that according to reason, nature, and religion, the family is the unit of every society. so far as the ballot is concerned, in my judgment, it represents this fundamental element of civilized society, the family. it therefore should be cast by the head of the family, and according to reason, nature, and religion man is the head of the family. in that relation, while every man is king, every woman is queen; but upon him devolves the responsibility of controlling the external relations of this family, and those external relations are controlled by the ballot; for that ballot or vote which he exercises goes to choose the legislators who are to make the laws which are to govern society. within the family man is supreme; he governs by the law of the family, by the law of reason, nature, religion. therefore it is that i am not in favor of conferring the right of suffrage upon woman.... mr. president, i have stated very briefly that i shall not be able to vote for the proposition of my honorable friend from pennsylvania [mr. cowan]. i shall not be able to vote for this bill if it be a bill to give universal suffrage to the colored men in this district without any restriction or qualification. i have been informed that some other senator intends before this bill shall have passed in the senate to propose an amendment which will attach a qualification, and perhaps, should that meet the views of the senate, i might give my support to the bill. i shall not detain the senate further now on this subject. mr. pomeroy: i desire to say in just a brief word that i shall vote against the amendment of the senator from pennsylvania, simply because i am in favor of this measure, and i do not want to weigh it down with anything else. there are other measures that i would be glad to support in their proper place and time; but this is a great measure of itself. since i have been a member of the senate, there was a law in this district authorizing the selling of colored men. to have traveled in six years from the auction-block to the ballot with these people is an immense stride, and if we can carry this measure alone of itself we should be contented for the present. i am for this measure religiously and earnestly, and i would vote down and vote against everything that i thought weakened or that i thought was opposed to it. it is simply with this view, without expressing any opinion in regard to the merits of the amendment, that i shall vote against it and all other amendments. the president _pro tem._: the question is on the amendment of the senator from pennsylvania [mr. cowan], to strike out the word "male" before the word "person," in the second line of the first section of the amendment reported by the committee on the district of columbia as a substitute for the whole bill, and on that question the yeas and nays have been ordered. yeas, . nays, .[ ] in the house, january , , mr. noell, of missouri, introduced a bill to amend the suffrage act of the district of columbia, which, after the second reading, he moved should be referred to a select committee of five, and on that motion demanded the previous question, and called for the yeas and nays, which resulted in yeas,[ ] nays-- not voting. footnotes: [ ] form of petition.--_to the senate and house of representatives_:--the undersigned women of the united states, respectfully ask an amendment of the constitution that shall prohibit the several states from disfranchising any of their citizens on the ground of sex. in making our demand for suffrage, we would call your attention to the fact that we represent fifteen million people--one-half the entire population of the country--intelligent, virtuous, native-born american citizens; and yet stand outside the pale of political recognition. the constitution classes us as "free people," and counts us _whole_ persons in the basis of representation; and yet are we governed without our consent, compelled to pay taxes without appeal, and punished for violations of law without choice of judge or juror. the experience of all ages, the declarations of the fathers, the statute laws of our own day, and the fearful revolution through which we have just passed, all prove the uncertain tenure of life, liberty, and property so long as the ballot--the only weapon of self-protection--is not in the hand of every citizen. therefore, as you are now amending the constitution, and, in harmony with advancing civilization, placing new safeguards round the individual rights of four millions of emancipated slaves, we ask that you extend the right of suffrage to woman--the only remaining class of disfranchised citizens--and thus fulfill your constitutional obligation "to guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government." as all partial application of republican principles must ever breed a complicated legislation as well as a discontented people, we would pray your honorable body, in order to simplify the machinery of government and ensure domestic tranquillity, that you legislate hereafter for persons, citizens, tax-payers, and not for class or caste. for justice and equality your petitioners will ever pray. [ ] joint resolutions before congress affecting women. _to the editor of the standard_--_sir_:--mr. broomall, of pennsylvania; mr. schenck, of ohio; mr. jenckes, of rhode island; mr. stevens, of pennsylvania, have each a resolution before congress to amend the constitution. article st, section d, reads thus: "representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union according to their respective number." mr. broomall proposes to amend by saying "male electors," mr. schenck "male citizens," mr. jenckes "male citizens," mr. stevens "legal voters." there is no objection to the amendment proposed by mr. stevens, as in process of time women may be made "legal voters" in the several states, and would then meet that requirement of the constitution. but those urged by the other gentlemen, neither time, effort, nor state constitutions could enable us to meet, unless, by a liberal interpretation of the amendment, a coat of mail to be worn at the polls might be judged all-sufficient. mr. jenckes and mr. schenck, in their bills, have the grace not to say a word about taxes, remembering perhaps that "taxation without representation is tyranny." but mr. broomall, though unwilling to share with us the honors of government, would fain secure us a place in its burdens; for while he apportions representatives to "male electors" only, he admits "_all the inhabitants_" into the rights, privileges, and immunities of taxation. magnanimous m. c.! i would call the attention of the women of the nation to the fact that under the federal constitution, as it now exists, there is not one word that limits the right of suffrage to any privileged class. this attempt to turn the wheels of civilization backward, on the part of republicans claiming to be _the_ liberal party, should rouse every woman in the nation to a prompt exercise of the only right she has in the government, the right of petition. to this end a committee in new york have sent out thousands of petitions, which should be circulated in every district and sent to its representative at washington as soon as possible. elizabeth cady stanton. new york, _january , _. [ ] leaving rochester october th, she called on martha wright, auburn; phebe jones and lydia mott, albany; mrs. rose, gibbons, davis, stanton, new york; lucy stone and antoinette brown blackwell, new jersey; stephen and abby foster, worcester; mrs. severance, dall, nowell, dr. harriot k. hunt, dr. zakzyewska, mr. phillips and garrison, in boston, urging them to join in sending protests to washington against the pending legislation. mr. phillips at once consented to vote $ from the "jackson fund" to commence the work. miss anthony and mrs. stanton spent all their "christmas holidays" in writing letters and addressing appeals and petitions to every part of the country, and before the close of the session of - ten thousand signatures were poured into congress. [ ] "this is the negro's hour." _to the editor of the standard_--_sir_:--by an amendment of the constitution, ratified by three-fourths of the loyal states, the black man is declared free. the largest and most influential political party is demanding suffrage for him throughout the union, which right in many of the states is already conceded. although this may remain a question for politicians to wrangle over for five or ten years, the black man is still, in a political point of view, far above the educated women of the country. the representative women of the nation have done their uttermost for the last thirty years to secure freedom for the negro, and so long as he was lowest in the scale of being we were willing to press _his_ claims; but now, as the celestial gate to civil rights is slowly moving on its hinges, it becomes a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see "sambo" walk into the kingdom first. as self-preservation is the first law of nature, would it not be wiser to keep our lamps trimmed and burning, and when the constitutional door is open, avail ourselves of the strong arm and blue uniform of the black soldier to walk in by his side, and thus make the gap so wide that no privileged class could ever again close it against the humblest citizen of the republic? "this is the negro's hour." are we sure that he, once entrenched in all his inalienable rights, may not be an added power to hold us at bay? have not "black male citizens" been heard to say they doubted the wisdom of extending the right of suffrage to women? why should the african prove more just and generous than his saxon compeers? if the two millions of southern black women are not to be secured in their rights of person, property, wages, and children, their emancipation is but another form of slavery. in fact, it is better to be the slave of an educated white man, than of a degraded, ignorant black one. we who know what absolute power the statute laws of most of the states give man, in all his civil, political, and social relations, demand that in changing the status of the four millions of africans, the women as well as the men shall be secured in all the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens. it is all very well for the privileged order to look down complacently and tell us, "this is the negro's hour; do not clog his way; do not embarrass the republican party with any new issue; be generous and magnanimous; the negro once safe, the woman comes next." now, if our prayer involved a new set of measures, or a new train of thought, it would be cruel to tax "white male citizens" with even two simple questions at a time; but the disfranchised all make the same demand, and the same logic and justice that secures suffrage to one class gives it to all. the struggle of the last thirty years has not been merely on the black man as such, but on the broader ground of his humanity. our fathers, at the end of the first revolution, in their desire for a speedy readjustment of all their difficulties, and in order to present to great britain, their common enemy, an united front, accepted the compromise urged on them by south carolina, and a century of wrong, ending in another revolution, has been the result of their action. this is our opportunity to retrieve the errors of the past and mould anew the elements of democracy. the nation is ready for a long step in the right direction; party lines are obliterated, and all men are thinking for themselves. if our rulers have the justice to give the black man suffrage, woman should avail herself of that new-born virtue to secure her rights; if not, she should begin with renewed earnestness to educate the people into the idea of universal suffrage. elizabeth cady stanton. new york, _december , _. [ ] from the _new york evening express_. scenes in the house of representatives.--_negroes are to vote--why not coolies in california--indians everywhere, and first of all, fifteen millions of our countrywomen._ the following occurred in the house, tuesday, upon thaddeus stevens' resolution, from the reconstruction committee, to deprive the south of representation, unless the south lets the negroes vote there.... mr. chandler, of new york, having the floor for an hour, said: before proceeding with my remarks, i will yield the floor for ten minutes to my colleague [mr. brooks]. mr. brooks: mr. speaker, i do not rise, of course, to debate this resolution, in the few minutes allowed me by my colleague, nor, in my judgment, does the resolution need any discussion unless it may be for the mere purpose of agitation. i do not suppose that there is an honorable gentleman upon the floor of this house who believes for a moment that any movement of this character is likely to become the fundamental law of the land, and these propositions are, therefore, introduced only for the purpose of agitation. if the honorable gentleman from pennsylvania [mr. stevens] had been quite confident of adopting this amendment, he would at the start have named what are states of this union. the opinion of the honorable gentleman himself, that there are no states in this union but those that are now represented upon this floor, i know full well, but he knows as well that the president of the united states recognizes thirty-six states of this union, and that it is necessary to obtain the consent of three-fourths of those thirty-six states, which number it is not possible to obtain. he knows very well that if his amendment should be adopted by the legislatures of states enough, in his judgment, to carry it, before it could pass the tribunal of the executive chamber it would be obliged to receive the assent of twenty-seven states in order to become an amendment to the constitution. the whole resolution, therefore, is for the purpose of mere agitation. it is an appeal from this house to the outside constituencies that we know by the name of buncombe. here it was born, and here, after its agitation in the states, it will die. hence, i asked the gentleman from pennsylvania this morning to be consistent in his proposition. in one thing he is consistent, and that is in admitting the whole of the asiatic immigration, which, by the connection of our steamers with china and japan and the east indies, is about to pour forth in mighty masses upon the pacific coast to the overwhelming even of the white population there. mr. stevens: i wish to correct the gentleman. i said it excluded chinese. mr. brooks: how exclude them, when chinese are to be included in the basis of representation? mr. stevens: i say it excludes them. mr. brooks: how exclude them? mr. stevens: they are not included in the basis of representation. mr. brooks: yes, if the states exclude them from the elective franchise; and the states of california and oregon and nevada are to be deprived of representation according to their population upon the floor of this house by this amendment. i asked him, also, if the indian was not a man and a brother, and i obtained no satisfactory answer from the honorable gentleman. i speak now, in order to make his resolution consistent, for no one hundred thousand coolies or wild savages, but i raise my voice here in behalf of fifteen million of our countrywomen, the fairest, brightest portion of creation, and i ask why they are not permitted to vote for representatives under this resolution? why, in organizing a system of liberality and justice, not recognize in the case of free women as well as free negroes the right of representation? mr. stevens: the gentleman will allow me to say that this bill does not exclude women. it does not say who shall vote. mr. brooks: i comprehend all that; but the whole object of this amendment is to obtain votes for the negroes. that is its purport, tendency, and meaning; and it punishes those who will not give a vote to the negroes in the southern states of our union. that is the object of the resolution, and the ground upon which it is presented to this house and to the country. this is a new era; this is an age of progress. indians are not only indians, but men and brothers; and why not, in a resolution like this, include the fair sex too, and give them the right to representation? will it be said that this sex does not claim a right to representation? many members here have petitions from these fifteen millions of women, or a large portion of them, for representation, and for the right to vote on equal terms with the stronger sex, who they say are now depriving them of it. to show that such is their wish and desire, i will send to the clerk's desk to be read certain documents, to which i ask the attention of the honorable gentleman from pennsylvania [mr. stevens], for in one of them he will find he is somewhat interested. the clerk read as follows: standard office, beekman street, new york, _jan. , _. _dear sir_:--i send you the inclosed copy of petition and signatures sent to thaddeus stevens last week. i then urged mr. stevens, if their committee of fifteen could not report favorably on our petitions, they would, at least, not interpose any new barrier against woman's right to the ballot. mrs. stanton has sent you a petition--i trust you will present that at your earliest convenience. the democrats are now in minority. may they drive the republicans to do good works--not merely to hold the rebel states in check until negro men shall be guaranteed their right to a voice in their governments, but to hold the party to a logical consistency that shall give every responsible citizen in every state equal right to the ballot. will you, sir, please send me whatever is said or done with our petitions? will you also give me the names of members whom you think would present petitions for us? hon. james brooks. respectfully yours, susan b. anthony. a petition for universal suffrage. _to the senate and house of representatives_:--[the petition here presented has been already in _the express_. the following are the signatures to the petition sent to mr. stevens]: elizabeth cady stanton, new york; susan b. anthony, rochester, n.y.; antoinette brown blackwell, new york; lucy stone, newark, n.j.; ernestine l. rose, new york; joanna s. morse, livingston st., brooklyn; elizabeth r. tilton, livingston st., brooklyn; ellen hoxie squier, st. felix st., brooklyn; mary fowler gilbert, west th st., new york; mary e. gilbert, west th st., new york; mattie griffith, new york. the speaker: the ten minutes of the gentleman from new york [mr. brooks] have expired. mr. brooks: i will only say that at the proper time i will move to amend--or if i do not i would suggest to some gentleman on the other side to move it--this proposed amendment by inserting the words "or sex" after the word "color," so that it will read: _provided_, that whenever the elective franchise shall be denied or abridged in any state on account of race or color or sex, all persons of such race or color or sex shall be excluded from the basis of representation. mr. stevens: is the gentleman from n.y. [mr. brooks] in favor of that amendment? mr. brooks: i am if negroes are permitted to vote. mr. stevens: that does not answer my question. is the gentleman in favor of the amendment he has indicated? mr. brooks: i suggested that i would move it at a convenient time. mr. stevens: is the gentleman in favor of his own amendment? mr. brooks: i am in favor of my own color in preference to any other color, and i prefer the white women of my country to the negro. [applause on the floor and in the galleries promptly checked by the speaker]. the speaker said he saw a number of persons clapping in the galleries. he would endeavor, to the best of his ability, whether supported by the house or not, to preserve order. applause was just as much out of order as manifestations of disapproval, and hisses not more than clapping of hands. instead of general applause on the floor, gentlemen on the floor should set a good example. [ ] women politicians.--mr. lane, of kansas, it is reported, has presented to the senate the petition of "one hundred and twenty-four beautiful, intelligent, and accomplished ladies of lawrence," praying for a constitutional amendment that shall prohibit states from disfranchising citizens on account of sex. that trick will not do. we wager a big apple that the ladies referred to are not "beautiful" or accomplished. nine of every ten of them are undoubtedly _passe_. they have hook-billed noses, crow's-feet under their sunken eyes, and a mellow tinting of the hair. they are connoisseurs in the matter of snuff. they discard hoops, waterfalls, and bandeaux. they hold hen conventions, to discuss and decide, with vociferous expression, the orthodoxy of the minister, the regularity of the doctor, and the morals of the lawyer. they read the _tribune_ with spectacles, and have files of _the liberator_ and wendell phillips' orations, bound in sheepskin. heaven forbid that we should think of any of the number as a married woman, without a fervent aspiration of pity for the weaker vessel who officiates as her spouse. as to rearing children, that is not to be thought of in the connection. show us a woman who wants to mingle in the exciting and unpurified squabble of politics, and we will show you one who has failed to reach and enjoy that true relation of sovereignty which is held by her "meek and lowly" sisters; who, though destitute of such panting aspirations, hold the scepter of true authority in those high and holy virtues which fascinate while they command in their undisputed empire--the social circle. what iconoclast shall break our idol, by putting the ballot in woman's hand?--_albany evening journal._ a cry from the females.--mr. sumner yesterday presented a petition to the senate from a large number of the women of new england, praying that they may not be debarred from the right of suffrage on account of sex. our heart warms with pity toward these unfortunate creatures. we fancy that we can see them, deserted of men, and bereft of those rich enjoyments and exalted privileges which belong to women, languishing their unhappy lives away in a mournful singleness, from which they can escape by no art in the construction of waterfalls or the employment of cotton-padding. talk of a true woman needing the ballot as an accessory of power, when she rules the world by a glance of her eye. there was sound philosophy in the remark of an eastern monarch, that his wife was sovereign of the empire, because she ruled his little ones, and his little ones ruled him. the sure panacea for such ills as the massachusetts petitioners complain of, is a wicker-work cradle and a dimple-cheeked baby.--_the new york tribune._ [ ] woman suffrage.--_editor commonwealth_:--enclosed is a letter i sent to the editor of _the nation_. as i consider his allusion to it insufficient, will you have the kindness to print it, no paper but yours, that i know of, being now open to the subject. all that the editor of _the nation_ has a right to say is, that he has not investigated the statistics. most of the women who have signed the petitions are women who have not a male relative in the world interested in the matter. very truly yours, boston, _jan. , _. caroline h. dall. warren avenue, boston, _jan. , _. _to the editor of the nation_:--i saw with surprise in _the nation_, received to-day, a paragraph on "universal suffrage," which contained the following lines: "we think the women of the united states ought to have the franchise if they desire it, and we think they ought to desire it. but until they do desire it, and show that they do, by a _general_ expression of opinion, we are opposed to their being saddled with it on grounds of theoretical fitness, etc." surely, it is difficult to explain such a sentence in a professedly far-seeing and deep-thinking journal! that argument will serve as well for the lately enfranchised blacks as for women, for no one will pretend that of the millions set free, a bare majority would of themselves contend for the franchise. that argument might have refused them freedom itself, for a large majority of southern slaves knew too little of it to desire it, however they may have longed to be rid of a taskmaster and the pangs which slavery brought. during the last four years women have been silent about their "rights" in the several states, because pressed by severe duties. desirous to establish a reputation for discretion, we have refrained from complicating the perplexities of any senator; but now that a constitutional amendment is pending we must be careful, even if we gain no franchise, to lose no _opportunity_. hitherto the constitution of the united states has contained no word that would shut women out from future suffrage. mr. schenck, of ohio, and mr. jenckes, of rhode island, propose to limit a right to "male citizens" which should rest, as it now does, simply on "legal voters." this would oblige women to move to amend the constitution of the united states after each separate state was carried. we have no inclination for this unnecessary work, and here, in boston, we are preparing a petition basing the necessity of our present interference on this fact alone. how much women desire the suffrage, mr. editor, you ought to perceive from the conduct of the women of australia. carelessly enough, her male legislators omitted the significant adjective from their constitutional amendment, and, without a word of warning, on election day, every woman, properly qualified, was found at the polls. there was no just reason for refusing them the privilege, and _the london times_ says the precedent is to stand. a very absurd article in _the evening post_ has lately given us an idea that new york contains some remarkable women. women born to be looked at!--women who do their whole duty if they blossom like the roses, and like the roses die. let us hope they fulfill the functions of this type by as short a sojourn on this earth as may be, lingering, as malherbe would have it, only for "the space of a morning." it may be among them that you find the women who "look persistently to married life as a means of livelihood." here, in massachusetts, we do not acknowledge any such. fashion has her danglers among men and women, but we pity those whose lot has thrown them into intimate relations with such women as you describe. they are not of our sort. we think that if the writer in _the evening post_ were tested, he would be forced to admire most the hands which could do the best work. it would be small comfort to him, when bridget and john had simultaneously departed, when the baby was crying and the fire out, that his wife sat lonely, in one corner of the apartment, with serene eyes and unstained hands. men who talk such nonsense in america, must remember that neither wealth nor gentle blood can _here_ protect them from such a dilemma. as to suffrage, we are not now talking of granting it to a distinct race; if we were, they might manifest a "general" desire for it. women, who love their husbands and brothers, can not _all_ submit to bear the reproach which clings to their demand for justice. a few of us must suffer sharply for the sake of that great future which god shows us to be possible, when goodness shall join hands with power. but we do not like our pain. we would gladly be sheltered, and comforted, and cheered, and we warn you, by what passes in our own hearts, that women will never express a "general" desire for suffrage until men have ceased to ridicule and despise them for it; until the representatives of men have been taught to treat their petitions with respect. there would be no difficulty in obtaining this right of suffrage if it depended on a property qualification. it is consistent democracy which bars our way. caroline healey dall. [ ] _be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled_: that, from and after the passage of this act, each and every male person, excepting paupers and persons under guardianship, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, who has not been convicted of any infamous crime or offence, and who is a citizen of the united states, and who shall have resided in the said district for the period of six months previous to any election therein, shall be entitled to the elective franchise, and shall be deemed an elector and entitled to vote at any election in said district, without any distinction on account of color or race. [ ] _the new york tribune_, dec. , , contains the following editorial comments: the senate devoted yesterday to a discussion of the right of women to vote--a side question, which mr. cowan, of pennsylvania, interjected into the debate on suffrage for the district of columbia. mr. cowan chooses to represent himself as an ardent champion of the claim of woman to the elective franchise. it is not necessary to question his sincerity, but the occasion which he selects for the exhibition of his new-born zeal, subjects him to the suspicion of being considerably more anxious to embarrass the bill for enfranchising the blacks, than to amend it by conferring upon women the enjoyment of the same right. mr. cowan was once a republican. he abandoned his party, has been repudiated by his state, and may well be casting about for some new issue by which to divert attention from his faithlessness on the old. we have heard that mr. cowan affects the classics; we are sure, therefore, that he will thank us for reminding him of that familiar story out of plutarch respecting alcibiades. when the dissolute athenian had cut off the tail of his dog, which was the dog's principal ornament, and all athens cried out against him for the act, alcibiades laughed, and said: "just what i wanted has happened. i wished the athenians to talk about this that they might not say something worse of me." we are not to be suspected of indifference to the question whether woman shall vote. at a proper time we mean to urge her claim, but we object to allowing a measure of urgent necessity, and on which the public has made up its mind, to be retarded and imperilled. nor do we think the radical majority in the senate need be beholden to the enemy's camp for suggestions as to their policy. we want to see the ballot put in the hands of the black without one day's delay added to the long postponement of his just claim. when that is done, we shall be ready to take up the next question. [ ] mrs. frances dana gage, of ohio. [ ] yeas--messrs. anthony, brown, buckalew, cowan, foster, nesmith, patterson, riddle, wade-- . nays--messrs. cattell, chandler, conness, creswell, davis, dixon, doolittle, edmunds, fessenden, fogg, frelinghuysen, grimes, harris, henderson, hendricks, howard, howe, kirkwood, lane, morgan, morrill, norton, poland, pomeroy, ramsey, ross, saulsbury, sherman, sprague, stewart, sumner, trumbull, van winkle, willey, williams, wilson, yates-- . [ ] yeas--ancona, baker, barker, baxter, benjamin, boyer, broomall, bundy, campbell, cooper, defrees, denison, eldridge, farnsworth, ferry, finck, garfield, hale, hawkins, hise, chester d. hubbard, edwin n. hubbell, humphrey, julian, kasson, kelley, kelso, le blond, coan, mcclurg, mckee, miller, newell, niblock, noell, orth, ritter, rogers, ross, sitgreaves, starr, stevens, strouse, taber, nathaniel g. taylor, trimble, andrew h. ward, henry d. washburn, winfield-- . chapter xviii. national conventions in - . the first national woman suffrage convention after the war--speeches by ernestine l. rose, antoinette brown blackwell, henry ward beecher, frances d. gage, theodore tilton, wendell phillips--petitions to congress and the constitutional convention--mrs. stanton a candidate to congress--anniversary of the equal rights association. the first woman's rights convention[ ] after the war was held in the church of the puritans, new york, may th, . as the same persons were identified with the anti-slavery and woman's rights societies, and as by the "proclamation of emancipation" the colored man was now a freeman, and a citizen; and as bills were pending in congress to secure him in the right of suffrage, the same right women were demanding, it was proposed to merge the societies into one, under the name of "the american equal rights association," that the same conventions, appeals, and petitions, might include both classes of disfranchised citizens. the proposition was approved by the majority of those present, and the new organization completed at an adjourned session. though mr. garrison, with many other abolitionists, feeling that the anti-slavery work was finished, had retired, and thus partly disorganized that society, yet, in its executive session, wendell phillips, president, refused to entertain the proposition, on the ground that such action required an amendment to the constitution, which could not be made without three months previous notice. nevertheless there was a marked division of opinion among the anti-slavery friends present. [illustration: clemence sophia lozier. "yours sincerely clemence sophia lozier, m.d."] at an early hour dr. cheever's church was well filled with an audience chiefly of ladies, who received the officers and speakers[ ] of the convention with hearty applause. elizabeth cady stanton, president of the "national woman's rights committee," called the convention to order, and said: we have assembled to-day to discuss the right and duty of women to claim and use the ballot. now in the reconstruction is the opportunity, perhaps for the century, to base our government on the broad principle of equal rights to all. the representative women of the nation feel that they have an interest and duty equal with man in the struggles and triumphs of this hour. it may not be known to all of you that, during the past year, thousands of petitions, asking the ballot for woman, have been circulated through the northern states and sent to congress. our thanks are due to the hon. james brooks for his kindness in franking our petitions, and his skill in calling to them the attention of the nation. as we have lost this champion in the house, i trust his more fortunate successor will not _dodge_ his responsibilities to his countrywomen who are taxed but not represented. this should be a year of great activity among the women of this state. as new york is to have a constitutional convention in ' , it behooves us now to make an earnest demand, by appeals and petitions, to have the word "male" as well as "white" stricken from our constitution. susan b. anthony, presented several resolutions for consideration. . _resolved_, that disfranchisement _in a republic_ is as great an anomaly, if not cruelty, as slavery itself. it is, therefore, the solemn duty of congress, in "_guaranteeing a republican form of government to every state of this union_," to see that there be no abridgment of suffrage among persons responsible to law, on account of color or sex. . _resolved_, that the joint resolutions and report of the "committee of fifteen," now before congress, to introduce the word "_male_" into the federal constitution, are a desecration of the last will and testament of the fathers, a violation of the spirit of republicanism, and cruel injustice to the women of the nation. . _resolved_, that while we return our thanks to those members of congress who, recognizing the sacred right of petition, gave our prayer for the ballot a respectful consideration, we also remind those who, with scornful silence laid them on the table, or with flippant sentimentality pretended to exalt us to the clouds, above man, the ballot and the work of life, that we consider no position more dignified and womanly than on an even platform with man worthy to lay the corner-stone of a republic in equality and justice. . _resolved_, that we recommend to the women of the several states to petition their legislatures to take the necessary steps to so amend their constitutions as to secure the right of suffrage to every citizen, without distinction of race, color or sex; and especially in those states that are soon to hold their constitutional conventions. theodore tilton said: according to the programme, it is now my friend mr. beecher's turn to speak, but i observe that this gentleman, like some of the rest of the president's friends, occupies a back seat. [laughter]. while, therefore, he is sitting under the gallery, i will occupy your attention just long enough to give that modest man a chance to muster nerve enough to make his appearance in public. [laughter]. first of all, i have an account to settle with mrs. stanton. in her speech on taking the chair, she said that editors are not good housekeepers--a remark which no editor would think of retorting upon herself. [laughter]. but, however dingy my editorial office may sometimes be, it is always a cheerful place when mrs. stanton visits it. [applause]. moreover, i think the place she invited me _out of_ is no darker than this place which she invited me _into_! [laughter]. in fact, i think the press has generally as much illumination as the church. [applause]. mrs. president, this convention is called to consider the most beautiful and humane idea which has ever entered into american politics--the right of woman to that ballot which belongs equally to all citizens. what is the chief glory of our democratic institutions? it is, that they appeal equally to the common interest of all classes--to high and low, to rich and poor, to white and black, to male and female. and never, until the political equality of all these classes is fully recognized by our laws, shall we have a government truly democratic. the practical instrument of this equality is the ballot. now what is the ballot? mr. frothingham gave us one definition; mr. phillips gave us another. but the ballot is so large a thing that it admits of many definitions. the ballot is what the citizen thinks of the government. the government looks to the ballot to know the popular will. i do not mean to say that the little piece of white paper which we hold in our hand on election day is the only means whereby we can utter an opinion that shall be heard in washington. we can speak by the pen; we can speak by the voice. a wise government will give heed to the public press, and to the popular voice. but there is no spoken voice, there is no written word, which the government is legally bound to heed except the ballot. when they see the ballot, they know they are served with official notice. when you _talk_ to a government, you talk as to a tree; but when you _vote_ at it, you scratch your name on the bark. now, i want to see rosalind's name cut into the bark of the government. [applause]. who ought to possess the ballot? our president is right--i mean _this_ president. [applause]. she does not claim the ballot for women as women, but for women as citizens. that is the true ground. the ballot belongs not to the white man, not to the black man, not to the woman, but to the citizen. shall the minister vote? no. shall the lawyer? no. shall the merchant? no. shall the rich man? no. shall the poor man? no. none of these shall vote. there is only one person who shall vote, and that is the citizen. [applause]. now i trust the day is not far distant when our institutions shall practically recognize this idea--when civil prerogative shall be limited not only by no distinction of color, but by no distinction of sex. are women politically oppressed that they need the ballot for their protection? i leave that question to be answered by women themselves. i demand the ballot for woman, not for woman's sake, but for man's. _she_ may demand it for her own sake; but to-day, _i_ demand it for _my_ sake. we shall never have a government thoroughly permeated with humanity, thoroughly humane, thoroughly noble, thoroughly trustworthy, until both men and women shall unite in forming the public sentiment, and in administering that sentiment through the government. [applause]. the church needs woman, society needs woman, literature needs woman, science needs woman, the arts need woman, politics need woman. [applause]. a frenchman once wrote an essay to prove woman's right to the alphabet. she took the alphabet, entered literature, and drove out dean swift. when she takes the ballot, and enters politics, she will drive out fernando wood. [applause]. but, shall we have a woman for president? i would thank god if to-day we had a _man_ for president. [laughter]. shall women govern the country? queens have ruled nations from the beginning of time, and woman has governed man from the foundation of the world! [laughter]. i know that plato didn't have a good opinion of women; but probably they were not as amiable in his day as in ours. they undoubtedly have wrought their full share of mischief in the world. the chief bone of contention among mankind, from the earliest ages down, has been that rib of adam out of which god made eve. [laughter]. and i believe in holding women to as great a moral accountability as men. [laughter]. i believe, also, in holding them to the same intellectual accountability. twenty years ago, when macaulay sat down to review lucy rushton's--no, i mean lucy aiken's (laughter) "life of addison," he was forced to allude to what was a patent fact, that a woman's book was then to be treated with more critical leniency than a man's. but criticism nowadays never thinks of asking whether a book be a woman's or a man's, as a preliminary to administering praise or blame. in the academy of design, the critic deals as severely with a picture painted by a woman as with one painted by a man. this is right. would you have it otherwise? not at all! we are to stand upon a common level. the signs of the times indicate the progress of woman's cause. every year helps it forward visibly. the political status of woman was never so seriously pondered as it is now pondered by thoughtful minds in this country. by and by, the principles of christian democracy will cover the continent--nay, will cover the world, as the equator belts it with summer heat! [applause]. until which time, we are called to diligent and earnest work. "learn to labor and to wait," saith the poet. there will be need of much laboring and of long waiting. sir william jones tells us that the hindoo laws declared that women should have no political independence--and there is many a backward yankee who don't know any better than to agree with the hindoos. salatri, the italian, drew a design of patience--a woman chained to a rock by her ankles, while a fountain threw a thin stream of water, drop by drop, upon the iron chain, until the link should be worn away, and the wistful prisoner be set free. in like manner the christian women of this country are chained to the rock of burmese prejudice; but god is giving the morning and the evening dew, the early and the latter rain, until the ancient fetters shall be worn away, and a disfranchised sex shall leap at last into political liberty. [applause]. and now for mr. beecher. mr. beecher, on rising, was received with hearty applause,[ ] and spoke for an hour, in a strain of great animation, as follows: it may be asked why, at such a time as this, when the attention of the whole nation is concentrated upon the reconstruction of our states, we should intrude a new and advanced question. i have been asked "why not wait for the settlement of the one that now fills the minds of men? why divert and distract their thoughts?" i answer, because the questions are one and the same. we are not now discussing merely the right of suffrage for the african, or his status as a new-born citizen. claiming his rights compels us to discuss the whole underlying question of government. this is the case in court. but when the judge shall have given his decision, that decision will cover the whole question of civil society, and the relations of every individual in it as a factor, an agent, an actor.... all over the world, the question to-day is, who has a right to construct and administer law? russia--gelid, frigid russia--can not escape the question. yea, he that sits on the russian throne has proved himself a better democrat than any of us all, and is giving to-day more evidence of a genuine love of god, and of its partner emotion, love to man, in emancipating thirty million serfs, than many a proud democrat of america has ever given. (applause.) and the question of emancipation in russia is only the preface to the next question, which doubtless he as clearly as any of us foresees--namely, the question of citizenship, and of the rights and functions of citizenship. in italy, the question of who may partake of government has arisen, and there has been an immense widening of popular liberty there. germany, that freezes at night and thaws out by day only enough to freeze up again at night, has also experienced as much agitation on this subject as the nature of the case will allow. and when all france, all italy, all russia, and all great britain shall have rounded out into perfect democratic liberty, it is to be hoped that, on the north side of the fence where it freezes first and the ice thaws out last, germany will herself be thawed out in her turn, and come into the great circle of democratic nations. strange, that the mother of modern democracy should herself be stricken with such a palsy and with such lethargy! strange, that in a nation in which was born and in which has inhered all the indomitableness of individualism should be so long unable to understand the secret of personal liberty! but all europe to-day is being filled and agitated with this great question of the right of every man to citizenship; of the right of every man to make the laws that are to control him; and of the right of every man to administer the laws that are applicable to him. this is the question to-day in great britain. the question that is being agitated from the throne down to the birmingham shop, from the atlantic to the north sea, to-day, is this: shall more than one man in six in great britain be allowed to vote? there is only one in six of the full-grown men in that nation that can vote to-day. and everywhere we are moving toward that sound, solid, final ground--namely, that it inheres in the radical notion of manhood that every man has a right which is not given to him by potentate nor by legislator, nor by the consent of the community, but which belongs to his structural idea, and is a divine right, to make the laws that control him, and to elect the magistrates that are to administer those laws. it is universal. and now, this being the world-tide and tendency, what is there in history, what is there in physiology, what is there in experience, that shall say to this tendency, marking the line of sex, "thus far shalt thou go, and no farther?" i roll the argument off from my shoulders, and i challenge the man that stands with me, beholding that the world-thought to-day is the emancipation of the citizen's power and the preparation by education of the citizen for that power, and objects to extending the right of citizenship to every human being, to give me the reasons why. (applause). to-day this nation is exercising its conscience on the subject of suffrage for the african. i have all the time favored that: not because he was an african, but because he was a man; because this right of voting, which is the symbol of everything else in civil power, inheres in every human being. but i ask you, to-day, "is it safe to bring in a million black men to vote, and not safe to bring in your mother, your wife, and your sister to vote?" (applause). this ought ye to have done, and to have done quickly, and not to have left the other undone. (renewed applause). to-day politicians of every party, especially on the eve of an election, are in favor of the briefest and most expeditious citizenizing of the irishmen. i have great respect for irishmen--when they do not attempt to carry on war! (laughter). the irish fenian movement is a ludicrous phenomenon past all laughing at. bombarding england from the shore of america! (great laughter). paper pugnation! oratorical destroying! but when wind-work is the order of the day, commend me to irishmen! (renewed laughter). and yet i am in favor of irishmen voting. just so soon as they give pledge that they come to america, in good faith, to abide here as citizens, and forswear the old allegiance, and take on the new, i am in favor of their voting. why? because they have learned our constitution? no; but because voting teaches. the vote is a schoolmaster. they will learn our laws, and learn our constitution, and learn our customs ten times quicker when the responsibility of knowing these things is laid upon them, than when they are permitted to live in carelessness respecting them. and this nation is so strong that it can stand the incidental mischiefs of thus teaching the wild rabble that emigration throws on our shores for our good and upbuilding. we are wise enough, and we have educational force enough, to carry these ignorant foreigners along with us. we have attractions that will draw them a thousand times more toward us than they can draw us toward them. and yet, while i take this broad ground, that no man, even of the democratic party (i make the distinction because a man may be a democrat and be ashamed of the party, and a man may be of the party and not know a single principle of democracy), should be debarred from voting, i ask, is an irishman just landed, unwashed and uncombed, more fit to vote than a woman educated in our common schools? think of the mothers and daughters of this land, among whom are teachers, writers, artists, and speakers! what a throng could we gather if we should, from all the west, call our women that as educators are carrying civilization there! thousands upon thousands there are of women that have gone forth from the educational institutions of new england to carry light and knowledge to other parts of our land. now, place this great army of refined and cultivated women on the one side, and on the other side the rising cloud of emancipated africans, and in front of them the great emigrant band of the emerald isle, and is there force enough in our government to make it safe to give to the african and the irishman the franchise? there is. we shall give it to them. (applause). and will our force all fail, having done that? and shall we take the fairest and best part of our society; those to whom we owe it that we ourselves are civilized: our teachers; our companions; those to whom we go for counsel in trouble more than to any others; those to whom we trust everything that is dear to ourselves--our children's welfare, our household, our property, our name and reputation, and that which is deeper, our inward life itself, that no man may mention to more than one--shall we take them and say, "they are not, after all, fit to vote where the irishman votes, and where the african votes?" i am scandalized when i hear men talk in the way that men do talk--men that do not think. if therefore, you refer to the initial sentence, and ask me why i introduce this subject to-day, when we are already engaged on the subject of suffrage, i say, this is the greatest development of the suffrage question. _it is more important that woman should vote than that the black man should vote._ it is important that he should vote, that the principle may be vindicated, and that humanity may be defended; but it is important that woman should vote, not for her sake. she will derive benefit from voting; but it is not on a selfish ground that i claim the right of suffrage for her. it is god's growing and least disclosed idea of a true human society that man and woman should not be divorced in political affairs any more than they are in religious and social affairs. i claim that women should vote because society will never know its last estate and true glory until you accept god's edict and god's command--long raked over and covered in the dust--until you bring it out, and lift it up, and read this one of god's ten commandments, written, if not on stone, yet in the very heart and structure of mankind, _let those that god joined together not be put asunder_. (applause.) when men converse with me on the subject of suffrage, or the vote, it seems to me that the terminology withdraws their minds from the depth and breadth of the case to the mere instruments. many of the objections that are urged against woman's voting are objections against the mechanical and physical act of suffrage. it is true that all the forces of society, in their final political deliverance, must needs be born through the vote, in our structure of government. in england it is not so. it was one of the things to be learned there that the unvoting population on any question in which they are interested and united are more powerful than all the voting population or legislation. the english parliament, if they believed to-day that every working man in great britain staked his life on the issues of universal suffrage, would not dare a month to deny it. for when a nation's foundations are on a class of men that do not vote, and its throne stands on forces that are coiled up and liable at any time to break forth to its overthrow, it is a question whether it is safe to provoke the exertion of those forces or not. with us, where all men vote, government is safe; because, if a thing is once settled by a fair vote, we will go to war rather than give it up. as when lincoln was elected, if an election is valid, it must stand. in such a nation as this, an election is equivalent to a divine decree, and irreversible. but in great britain an election means, not the will of the people, but the will of rulers and a favored class, and there is always under them a great wronged class, that, if they get stirred up by the thought that they are wronged, will burst out with an explosion that not the throne, nor parliament, nor the army, nor the exchequer can withstand the shock. and they wisely give way to the popular will when they can no longer resist it without running too great a risk. they oppose it as far as it is safe to do so, and then jump on and ride it. and you will see them astride of the vote, if the common people want it. but in america it is not so. the vote with us is so general that there is no danger of insurrection, and there is no danger that the government will be ruined by a wronged class that lies coiled up beneath it. when we speak of the vote here, it is not the representative of a class, as it is in england, worn like a star, or garter, saying, "i have the king's favor or the government's promise of honor." voting with us is like breathing. it belongs to us as a common blessing. he that does not vote is not a citizen, with us. it is not the vote that i am arguing, except that that is the outlet. what i am arguing, when i urge that woman should vote, is that she should do all things back of that which the vote means and enforces. she should be a nursing mother to human society. it is a plea that i make, that woman should feel herself called to be interested not alone in the household, not alone in the church, not alone in just that neighborhood in which she resides, but in the sum total of that society to which she belongs; and that she should feel that her duties are not discharged until they are commensurate with the definition which our saviour gave in the parable of the good samaritan. i argue, not a woman's right to vote: i argue woman's _duty to discharge citizenship_. (applause.) i say that more and more the great interests of human society in america are such as need the peculiar genius that god has given to woman. the questions that are to fill up our days are not forever to be mere money questions. those will always constitute a large part of politics; but not so large a portion as hitherto. we are coming to a period when it is not merely to be a scramble of fierce and belluine passions in the strife for power and ambition. human society is yet to discuss questions of work and the workman. down below privilege lie the masses of men. more men, a thousand times, feel every night the ground, which is their mother, than feel the stars and the moon far up in the atmosphere of favor. as when christ came the great mass carpeted the earth, instead of lifting themselves up like trees of lebanon, so now and here the great mass of men are men that have nothing but their hands, their heads, and their good stalwart hearts, as their capital. the millions that come from abroad come that they may have light and power, and lift their children up out of ignorance, to where they themselves could not reach with the tips of their fingers. and the great question of to-day is, how shall work find leisure, and in leisure knowledge and refinement? and this question is knocking at the door of legislation. and is there a man who does not know, that when questions of justice and humanity are blended, woman's instinct is better than man's judgment? from the moment a woman takes the child into her arms, god makes her the love-magistrate of the family; and her instincts and moral nature fit her to adjudicate questions of weakness and want. and when society is on the eve of adjudicating such questions as these, it is a monstrous fatuity to exclude from them the very ones that, by nature, and training, and instinct, are best fitted to legislate and to judge. for the sake, then, of such questions as these, that have come to their birth, i feel it to be woman's _duty_ to act in public affairs. i do not stand here to plead for your _rights_. rights compared with duties, are insignificant--are mere baubles--are as the bow on your bonnet. it seems to me that the voice of god's providence to you to-day is, "oh messenger of mine, where are the words that i sent you to speak? whose dull, dead ear has been raised to life by that vocalization of heaven, that was given to you more than to any other one?" man is sub-base. a thirty-two feet six-inch pipe is he. but what is an organ played with the feet, if all the upper part is left unused? the flute, the hautboy, the finer trumpet stops, all those stops that minister to the intellect, the imagination, and the higher feelings--these must be drawn, and the whole organ played from top to bottom! (applause.) more than that, there are now coming up for adjudication public questions of education. and who, by common consent, is the educator of the world? who has been? schools are to be of more importance than railroads--not to undervalue railroads. books and newspapers are to be more vital and powerful than exchequers and banks--not to undervalue exchequers and banks. in other words, as society ripens, it has to ripen in its three departments, in the following order: first, in the animal; second, in the social; and third, in the spiritual and moral. we are entering the last period, in which the questions of politics are to be more and more moral questions. and i invoke those whom god made to be peculiarly conservators of things moral and spiritual to come forward and help us in that work, in which we shall falter and fail without woman. we shall never perfect human society without her offices and her ministration. we shall never round out the government, or public administration, or public policies, or politics itself, until you have mixed the elements that god gave to us in society--namely, the powers of both men and women. (applause.) i, therefore, charge my countrywomen with this _duty_ of taking part in public affairs in the era in which justice, and humanity, and education, and taste, and virtue are to be more and more a part and parcel of public procedure. * * * * in such a state of society, then, as the present, i stand, as i have said, on far higher ground in arguing this question than the right of woman. that i believe in; but that is down in the justice's court. i go to the supreme bench and argue it, and argue it on the ground that the nation needs woman, and that woman needs the nation, and that woman can never become what she should be, and the nation can never become what it should be, until there is no distinction made between the sexes as regards the rights and duties of citizenship--until we come to the th verse of the third chapter of galatians. what is it? [turning to mr. tilton, who said, "i don't know!"] don't know? if it was lucy rushton, you would! (great laughter). there is neither jew nor greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in christ jesus. and when that day comes; when the heavenly kingdom is ushered in with its myriad blessed influences; when the sun of righteousness shall fill the world with its beams, as the natural sun coming from the far south fills the earth with glorious colors and beauty, then it will come to pass that there shall be no nationality, no difference of classes, and no difference of sexes. then all shall be one in christ jesus. hold that a minute, please [handing mr. tilton a pocket testament from which he had read the foregoing passage of scripture]. theodore was a most excellent young man when he used to go to my church; but he has escaped from my care lately, and now i don't know what he does. (laughter). i urge, then, that woman should perform the duty of a citizen in voting. you may, perhaps, ask me, before i go any further, "what is the use of preaching to us that we _ought_ to do it, when we are not permitted to do it?" that day in which the intelligent, cultivated women of america say, "we have a right to the ballot" will be the day in which they will have it. (voices--"yes." "that is so"). there is no power on earth that can keep it from them. [applause]. the reason you have not voted is because you have not wanted to. [applause]. it is because you have not felt that it was your duty to vote. you have felt yourselves to be secure and happy enough in your privileges and prerogatives, and have left the great mass of your sisters, that shed tears and bore burdens, to shirk for themselves. you have felt that you had rights more than you wanted now. o yes, it is as if a beauty in fifth avenue, hearing one plead that bread might be sent to the hungry and famishing, should say, "what is this talk about bread for? i have as much bread as i want, and plenty of sweetmeats, and i do not want your loaves." shall one that is glutted with abundance despise the wants of the starving, who are so far below them that they do not hear their cries, not one of which escapes the ear of almighty god? because you have wealth and knowledge and loving parents, or a faithful husband, or kind brothers, and you feel no pressure of need, do you feel no inward pressure of humanity for others? is there no part of god's great work in providence that should lead you to be discontented with your ease and privileges until you are enfranchised? you ought to vote; and when your understanding and intellect are convinced that you ought to do it, you will have the power to do it; and you never will till then. i. woman has more interest than man in the promotion of virtue and purity and humanity. half, shall i say?--half does not half measure the proportion of those sorrows that come upon woman by reason of her want of influence and power. all the young men that, breaking down, break fathers' and mothers' hearts; all those that struggle near to the grave, weeping piteous tears of blood, it might almost be said, and that at last, under paroxysms of despair, sin against nature, and are swept out of misery into damnation; the spectacles that fill our cities, and afflict and torment villages--what are these but reasons that summon woman to have a part in that regenerating of thought and that regenerating of legislation which shall make vice a crime, and vice-makers criminals? do you suppose that, if it were to turn on the votes of women to-day whether rum should be sold in every shop in this city, there would be one moment's delay in settling the question? what to the oak lightning is that marks it and descends swiftly upon it, that woman's vote would be to miscreant vices in these great cities. [applause]. ah, i speak that which i do know. as a physician speaks from that which he sees in the hospital where he ministers, so i speak from that which i behold in my professional position and place, where i see the undercurrent of life. i hear groans that come from smiling faces. i witness tears that when others look upon the face are all swept away, as the rain is when one comes after a storm. not most vocal are our deepest sorrows. oh, the sufferings of wives for husbands untrue! oh, the sufferings of mothers for sons led astray! oh, the sufferings of sisters for sisters gone! oh, the sufferings of companions for companion-women desecrated! and i hold it to be a shame that they, who have the instinct of purity and of divine remedial mercy more than any other, should withhold their hand from that public legislation by which society may be scoured, and its pests cleared away. and i declare that woman has more interest in legislation than man, because she is the sufferer and the home-staying, ruined victim. ii. the household, about which we hear so much said as being woman's sphere, is safe only as the community around about it is safe. now and then there may be a lot that can live in sodom; but when lot was called to emigrate, he could not get all his children to go with him. they had been intermarried and corrupted. a christian woman is said to have all that she needs for her understanding and to task her powers if she will stay at home and mend her husband's clothes, if she has a husband, and take care of her children, if she has children. the welfare of the family, it is said, ought to occupy her time and thoughts. and some ministers, in descanting upon the sphere of woman, are wont to magnify the glory and beauty of a mother teaching some future chief-justice, or some president of the united states. not one whit of glory would i withdraw from such a canvas as that; but i aver that the power to teach these children largely depends upon the influences that surround the household. so that she that would take the best care of the house must take care of that atmosphere which is around the house as well. and every true and wise christian woman is bound to have a thought for the village, for the county, for the state, and for the nation. [applause]. that was not the kind of woman that brought me up--a woman that never thought of anything outside of her own door-yard. my mother's house was as wide as christ's house; and she taught me to understand the words of him that said, "the field is the world; and whoever needs is your brother." a woman that is content to wash stockings, and make johnny-cake, and to look after and bring up her boys faultless to a button, and that never thinks beyond the meal-tub, and whose morality is so small as to be confined to a single house, is an under-grown woman, and will spend the first thousand years after death in coming to that state in which she ought to have been before she died. [laughter]. tell me that a woman is fit to give an ideal life to an american citizen, to enlarge his sympathies, to make him wise in judgment, and to establish him in patriotic regard, who has no thought above what to eat and drink, and wherewithal to be clothed. the best housekeepers are they that are the most widely beneficent. "seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." god will take care of the stockings, if you take care of the heads! [laughter and applause]. universal beneficence never hinders anybody's usefulness in any particular field of duty. therefore, woman's sphere should not be limited to the household. the public welfare requires that she should have a thought of affairs outside of the household, and in the whole community. iii. woman brings to public affairs peculiar qualities, aspirations, and affections which society needs. i have had persons say to me, "would you, now, take your daughter and your wife, and walk down to the polls with them?" if i were to take my daughter and my wife, and walk down to the polls with them, and there was a squirming crowd of bloated, loud-mouthed, blattering men, wrangling like so many maggots on cheese, what would take place, but that, at the moment i appeared with my wife and daughter walking by my side with conscious dignity and veiled modesty, the lane would open, and i should pass through the red sea unharmed? [great applause]. where is there a mob such that the announcement that a woman is present does not bring down the loudest of them? nothing but the sorcery of rum prevents a man from paying unconscious, instant respect to the presence of a woman.... iv. the history of woman's co-operative labors thus far justifies the most sanguine anticipations, such as i have alluded to. allusion has been made to the purification of literature. the influence of women has been a part of the cause of this, unquestionably; but i would not ascribe such a result to any one cause. god is a great workman, and has a chest full of tools, and never uses one tool, but always many; and in the purification of literature, the elevation of thought, the advancement of the public sentiment of the world in humanity, god has employed more than that which has been wrought in their departments. and that which the family has long ago achieved--that, in more eminence and more wondrous and surprising beauty, the world will achieve for itself in public affairs, when man and woman co-operate there, as now they are co-operating in all other spheres of taste, intellection, and morality.... it is said, a "woman's place is at home." well, now, since compromises are coming into vogue again, will you compromise with me, and agree that until a woman has a home she may vote? [laughter]. that is only fair. it is said, "she ought to stay at home, and attend to home duty, and minister to the wants of father, or husband, or brothers." well, may all orphan women, and unmarried women, and women that have no abiding place of residence vote? if not, where is the argument? but, to look at it seriously, what is the defect of this statement? it is the impression that staying at home is incompatible with going abroad. never was there a more monstrous fallacy. i light my candle, and it gives me all the light i want, and it gives all the light you want to you, and to you, and to you, and to every other one in the room; and there is not one single ray that you get there which cheats me here; and a woman that is doing her duty right in the family sheds a beneficent influence out upon the village in which she dwells, without taking a moment's more time. my cherry-trees are joyful in all their blossoms, and thousands go by them and see them in their beauty day by day; but i never mourn the happiness that they bestow on passers-by as having been taken from me. i am not cheated by the perfume that goes from my flowers into my neighbor's yard. and the character of a true woman is such that it may shine everywhere without making her any poorer. she is richer in proportion as she gives away.... and it is just because woman is woman that she is fitted, while she takes care of the household, to take care of the village and the community around about her. but it is said, "she ought to act through her father, or husband, or brother, or son." why ought she? did you ever frame an argument to show why the girl should use her father to vote for her, and the boy who is younger, and not half so witty, should vote for himself? it does not admit of an argument. if the grandmother, the mother, the wife, and the eldest daughter, are to be voted for by the father, the husband, and the eldest brother, then why are not the children to be voted for in complete family relation by the patriarchal head? why not go back to the tribal custom of the desert, and let the patriarch do all the voting? to be sure, it would change the whole form of our government; but, if it is good for the family, it is just as good for classes. in a frontier settlement is a log-cabin, and it is in a region which is infested by wolves. there are in the family a broken-down patient of a man, a mother, and three daughters. the house is surrounded by a pack of these voracious animals, and the inmates feel that their safety requires that the intruders should be driven away. there are three or four rifles in the house. the man creeps to one of the windows, and to the mother and daughters it is said, "you load the rifles, and hand them to me, and let me fire them." but they can load all the four rifles, and he can not fire half as fast as they can load; and i say to the mother, "can you shoot?" she says, "let me try;" and she takes a gun, and points it at the wolves, and pulls the trigger, and i see one of them throw his feet up in the air. "ah!" i say, "i see you can shoot! you keep the rifle, and fire it yourself." and i say to the oldest daughter, "can you shoot?" "i guess i can," she says. "well, dare you?" "i dare do anything to save father and the family." and she takes one of the rifles, and pops over another of the pack. and i tell you, if the wolves knew that all the women were firing, they would flee from that cabin instanter. (laughter). i do not object to a woman loading a man's rifle and letting him shoot; but i say that, if there are two rifles, she ought to load one of them, and shoot herself. and i do not see any use of a woman's influencing a man and loading him with a vote, and letting him go and fire it off at the ballot-box. (laughter and applause). it is said, again, "woman is a creature of such an excitable nature that, if she were to mingle with men in public affairs, it would introduce a kind of vindictive acrimony, and politics would become intolerable." oh, if i really thought so; if i thought that the purity of politics would be sullied, i would not say another word! (laughter). i do not want to take anything from the celestial graces of politics! (renewed laughter). i will admit that woman is an excitable creature, and i will admit that politics needs no more excitement; but sometimes, you know, things are homoeopathic. a woman's excitement is apt to put out a man's; and if she should bring her excitability into politics, it is likely that it would neutralize the excitement that is already there, and that there would be a grand peace! (laughter). but, not to trifle with it, woman is excitable. woman is yet to be educated. woman is yet to experience the reactionary influence of being a public legislator and thinker. and let her sphere be extended beyond the family and the school, so that she should be interested in, and actively engaged in, promoting the welfare of the whole community, and in the course of three generations the reaction on her would be such that the excitement that she would bring into public affairs would be almost purely moral inspiration. it would be the excitement of purity and disinterested benevolence. it is said, furthermore, "woman might vote for herself, and take office." why not? a woman makes as good a postmistress as a man does a postmaster. woman has been tried in every office from the throne to the position of the humblest servant; and where has she been found remiss? i believe that multitudes of the offices that are held by men are mere excuses for leading an effeminate life; and that with their superior physical strength it behooves them better to be actors out of doors, where the severity of climate and the elements is to be encountered, and leave indoor offices to women, to whom they more properly belong. but, women, you are not educated for these offices. i hear bad reports of you. it is told me that the trouble in giving places to women is that they will not do their work well; that they do not feel the sense of conscience. they have been flattered so long, they have been called "women" so long, they have had compliments instead of rights so long, that they are spoiled; but when a generation of young women shall have been educated to a stern sense of right and duty, and shall take no compliments at the expense of right, we shall have no such complaints as these. and when a generation of women, working with the love of god and true patriotism in their souls, shall have begun to hold office, meriting it, and being elected to it by those that would rather have a woman than a man in office, then you may depend upon it that education has qualified them for the trusts which are committed to them. we have tried "old women" in office, and i am convinced that it would be better to have _real_ women than virile old women in public stations. (laughter and applause). for my own sake, give me a just, considerate, true, straight-forward, honest-minded, noble-hearted woman, who has been able, in the fear of god, to bring up six boys in the way they should go, and settle them in life. if there is anything harder in this nation than that, tell me what it is. a woman that can bring up a family of strong-brained children, and make good citizens of them, can be president without any difficulty. (applause). let me now close with one single thought in connection with this objection. i protest in the name of my countrywomen against the aspersion which is cast upon them by those who say that woman is not fit to hold office or discharge public trusts. the name of what potentate to-day, if you go round the world, would probably, in every nation on the earth, bring down most enthusiasm and public approbation? if i now, here in your midst, shall mention the name of queen victoria, your cheers will be a testimony to your admiration of this noble woman. (great applause). though it be in a political meeting, or any other public gathering, no man can mention her name without eliciting enthusiasm and tokens of respect. it is a controversy to-day between woman aristocratic and woman democratic (applause); and i claim that what it is right for an aristocratic woman to do--what it is right for a duchess, or a queen, or an empress to do--it is right for the simplest and plainest of my countrywomen to do, that has no title, and no credentials, except the fact that god made her a woman. all that i claim for the proudest aristocrat i claim for all other women. (applause). i do not object to a woman's being a queen, or a president, if she has the qualifications which fit her to be one. and i claim that, where there is a woman that has the requisite qualifications for holding any office in the family, in the church, or in the state, there is no reason why she should not be allowed to hold it. and we shall have a perfect crystal idea of the state, with all its contents, only when man understands the injunction, "what god hath joined together let no man put asunder."[ ] (great applause). susan b. anthony read the following appeal to the congress of the united states for the enfranchisement of woman: address to congress. adopted by the eleventh national woman's rights convention, held in new york city, thursday, may , . _to the senate and house of representatives_: we have already appeared many times during the present session before your honorable body, in petitions, asking the enfranchisement of woman; and now, from this national convention we again make our appeal, and urge you to lay no hand on that "pyramid of rights," the constitution of the fathers," unless to add glory to its height and strength to its foundation. we will not rehearse the oft-repeated arguments on the natural rights of every citizen, pressed as they have been on the nation's conscience for the last thirty years in securing freedom for the black man, and so grandly echoed on the floor of congress during the past winter. we can not add one line or precept to the inexhaustible speech recently made by charles sumner in the senate, to prove that "no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed;" to prove the dignity, the education, the power, the necessity, the salvation of the ballot in the hand of every man and woman; to prove that a just government and a true church rest alike on the sacred rights of the individual. as you are familiar with that speech of the session on "equal rights to all," so convincing in facts, so clear in philosophy, and so elaborate in quotations from the great minds of the past, without reproducing the chain of argument, permit us to call your attention to a few of its unanswerable assertions on the ballot: i plead now for the ballot, as the great guarantee; and _the only sufficient guarantee_--being in itself peacemaker, reconciler, schoolmaster and protector--to which we are bound by every necessity and every reason; and i speak also for the good of the states lately in rebellion, as well as for the glory and safety of the republic, that it may be an example to mankind. ay, sir, the ballot is the columbiad of our political life, and every citizen who has it is a full-armed monitor. the ballot is _schoolmaster_. reading and writing are of inestimable value, but the ballot teaches what these can not teach. plutarch records that the wise men of athens charmed the people by saying that _equality causes no war_, and "both the rich and the poor repeated it." the ballot is like charity, which never faileth, and without which man is only as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. the ballot is the one thing needful, without which rights of testimony and all other rights will be no better than cobwebs, which the master will break through with impunity. to him who has the ballot all other things shall be given--protection, opportunity, education, a homestead. the ballot is like the horn of abundance, out of which overflow rights of every kind, with corn, cotton, rice, and all the fruits of the earth. or, better still, it is like the hand of the body, without which man, who is now only a little lower than the angels, must have continued only a little above the brutes. they are fearfully and wonderfully made; but as is the hand in the work of civilization, so is the ballot in the work of government. "give me the ballot, and i can move the world." do you wish to see harmony truly prevail, so that industry, society, government, civilization, may all prosper, and the republic may wear a crown of true greatness? then do not neglect the ballot. lamartine said, "universal suffrage is the first truth and only basis of every national republic." in regard to "taxation without representation," mr. sumner quotes from lord coke: the supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property _without consent in person, or by representation_. taxes are not to be laid on the people, but by their consent in person, or by representation. i can see no reason to doubt but that the imposition of taxes, whether on trade, or on land, or houses, or ships, or real or personal, fixed or floating, property in the colonies, is absolutely irreconcilable with the rights of the colonies, as british subjects, _and as men_. i say men, for in a state of nature no man can take any property from me without my consent. _if he does, he deprives me of my liberty and makes me a slave._ the very act of taxing, exercised over those who are not represented, appears to me to deprive them of one of their most essential rights as freemen, and if continued seems to be in effect an entire disfranchisement of every civil right. for what one civil right is worth a rush, after a man's property is subject to be taken from him at pleasure without his consent? in demanding suffrage for the black man you recognize the fact that as a freedman he is no longer a "part of the family," and that, therefore, his master is no longer his representative; hence, as he will now be liable to taxation, he must also have representation. woman, on the contrary, has never been such a "part of the family" as to escape taxation. although there has been no formal proclamation giving her an individual existence, she has always had the right to property and wages, the right to make contracts and do business in her own name. and even married women, by recent legislation, have been secured in these civil rights. woman now holds a vast amount of the property in the country, and pays her full proportion of taxes, revenue included. on what principle, then, do you deny her representation? by what process of reasoning charles sumner was able to stand up in the senate, a few days after these sublime utterances, and rebuke , , disfranchised tax-payers for the exercise of their right of petition merely, is past understanding. if he felt that this was not the time for woman to even mention her right to representation, why did he not take breath in some of his splendid periods, and propose to release the poor shirtmakers, milliners and dressmakers, and all women of property, from the tyranny of taxation? we propose no new theories. we simply ask that you secure to all the practical application of the immutable principles of our government, without distinction of race, color or sex. and we urge our demand _now_, because you have the opportunity and the power to take this onward step in legislation. the nations of the earth stand watching and waiting to see if our revolutionary idea, "all men are created equal," can be realized in government. crush not, we pray you, the million hopes that hang on our success. peril not another bloody war. men and parties must pass away, but justice is eternal. and they only who work in harmony with its laws are immortal. all who have carefully noted the proceedings of this congress, and contrasted your speeches with those made under the old _régime_ of slavery, must have seen the added power and eloquence that greater freedom gives. but still you propose no action on your grand ideas. your joint resolutions, your reconstruction reports, do not reflect your highest thought. the constitution, in basing representation on "respective numbers," covers a broader ground than any you have yet proposed. is not the only amendment needed to article st, section d, to strike out the exceptions which follow "respective numbers?" and is it not your duty, by securing a republican form of government to every state, to see that these "respective numbers" are made up of enfranchised citizens? thus bringing your legislation up to the constitution--not the constitution down to your party possibilities!! the only tenable ground of representation is universal suffrage, as it is only through universal suffrage that the principle of "equal rights to all" can be realized. all prohibitions based on race, color, sex, property, or education, are violations of the republican idea; and the various qualifications now proposed are but so many plausible pretexts to debar new classes from the ballot-box. the limitations of property and intelligence, though unfair, can be met; as with freedom must come the repeal of statute-laws that deny schools and wages to the negro. so time makes him a voter. but color and sex! neither time nor statutes can make black white, or woman man! you assume to be the representatives of , , women--american citizens--who already possess every _attainable_ qualification for the ballot. women read and write, hold many offices under government, pay taxes, and the penalties of crime, and yet are allowed to exercise but the one right of petition. for twenty years we have labored to bring the statute laws of the several states into harmony with the broad principles of the constitution, and have been so far successful that in many, little remains to be done but to secure the right of suffrage. hence, our prompt protest against the propositions before congress to introduce the word "male" into the federal constitution, which, if successful, would block all state action in giving the ballot to woman. as the only way disfranchised citizens can appear before you, we availed ourselves of the sacred right of petition. and, as our representatives, it was your duty to give those petitions a respectful reading and a serious consideration. how well a republican senate performed that duty, is already inscribed on the page of history. some tell us it is not judicious to press the claims of women _now_; that this is not the time. time? when you propose legislation so fatal to the best interests of woman and the nation, shall we be silent till the deed is done? no! as we love republican ideas, we must resist tyranny. as we honor the position of american senator, we must appeal from the politician to the man. with man, woman shared the dangers of the mayflower on a stormy sea, the dreary landing on plymouth rock, the rigors of a new england winter, and the privations of a seven years' war. with him she bravely threw off the british yoke, felt every pulsation of his heart for freedom, and inspired the glowing eloquence that maintained it through the century. with you, we have just passed through the agony and death, the resurrection and triumph, of another revolution, doing all in our power to mitigate its horrors and gild its glories. and now, think you we have no souls to fire, no brains to weigh your arguments; that, after education such as this, we can stand silent witnesses while you sell our birthright of liberty, to save from a timely death an effete political organization? no, as we respect womanhood, we must protest against this desecration of the magna charta of american liberties; and with an importunity not to be repelled, our demand must ever be: "no compromise of human rights"--"no admission in the constitution of inequality of rights, or disfranchisement on account of color or sex." in the oft-repeated experiments of class and caste, who can number the nations that have risen but to fall? do not imagine you come one line nearer the demand of justice by enfranchising but another shade of _man_hood; for, in denying representation to woman you still cling to the same principle on which all the governments of the past have been wrecked. the right way, the safe way, is so clear, the path of duty is so straight and simple, that we who are equally interested with yourselves in the result, conjure you to act not for the passing hour, not with reference to transient benefits, but to do now the one grand deed that shall mark the progress of the century--proclaim equal rights to all. we press our demand for the ballot at this time in no narrow, captious or selfish spirit; from no contempt of the black man's claims, nor antagonism with you, who in the progress of civilization are now the privileged order; but from the purest patriotism, for the highest good of every citizen, for the safety of the republic, and as a spotless example to the nations of the earth. mr. beecher was followed by wendell phillips, frances dana gage, frances watkins harper; the financial committee[ ] meantime passed through the audience for the material aid to carry forward the work. miss anthony presented the following resolution, and moved its adoption, which was seconded by martha c. wright: _whereas_, by the act of emancipation and the civil rights bill, the negro and woman now hold the same civil and political _status_, alike needing only the ballot; and whereas the same arguments apply equally to both classes, proving all partial legislation fatal to republican institutions, therefore, _resolved_, that the time has come for an organization that shall demand universal suffrage, and that hereafter we shall be known as the "american equal rights association." miss anthony said: our friend mrs. mott desires me to explain the object of this change, which she would gladly do but for a severe cold, which prevents her from making herself heard. for twenty years we have pressed the claims of woman to the right of representation in the government. the first national woman's rights convention was held in worcester, mass., in , and each successive year conventions were held in different cities of the free states--worcester, syracuse, cleveland, philadelphia, cincinnati, and new york--until the rebellion. since then, till now, we have held no conventions. up to this hour, we have looked to state action only for the recognition of our rights; but now, by the results of the war, the whole question of suffrage reverts back to congress and the u. s. constitution. the duty of congress at this moment is to declare what shall be the basis of representation in a republican form of government. there is, there can be, but one true basis; and that is that taxation must give representation; hence our demand must now go beyond woman--it must extend to the farthest bound of the principle of the "consent of the governed," as the only authorized or just government. we, therefore, wish to broaden our woman's rights platform, and make it in _name_--what it ever has been in _spirit_--a human rights platform. it has already been stated that we have petitioned congress the past winter to so amend the constitution as to prohibit disfranchisement on account of sex. we were roused to this work by the several propositions to prohibit negro disfranchisement in the rebel states, which at the same time put up a new bar against the enfranchisement of women. as women we can no longer _seem_ to claim for ourselves what we do not for others--nor can we work in two separate movements to get the ballot for the two disfranchised classes--the negro and woman--since to do so must be at double cost of time, energy, and money. new york is to hold a constitutional convention the coming year. we want to make a thorough canvass of the entire state, with lectures, tracts, and petitions, and, if possible, create a public sentiment that shall send genuine democrats and republicans to that convention who shall strike out from our constitution the two adjectives "_white male_," giving to every citizen, over twenty-one, the right to vote, and thus make the empire state the first example of a true republican form of government. and what we propose to do in new york, the coming eighteen months, we hope to do in every other state so soon as we can get the men, and the women, and the money, to go forward with the work. therefore, that we may henceforth concentrate all our forces for the practical application of our one grand, distinctive, national idea--universal suffrage--i hope we will unanimously adopt the resolution before us, thus resolving this eleventh national woman's rights convention into the "american equal rights association." the resolution was unanimously adopted. stephen s. foster said: i wish to suggest that it will be necessary, first, to adopt a form of constitution, and that it is a very important question. upon it will depend much of the success of our movement. we have been deeply thrilled by the eloquence of our friend, mr. beecher. we have all felt that his utterances were the essential truth of god; and the bright picture he drew before us is a possibility, if we do our duty. but this state of things will never be realized by us, unless it is from a united, persevering effort, giving a new impetus to the woman's rights movement. i think it necessary that we should have a more perfect organization than we can prepare this morning, at this late hour, and i therefore move that we adjourn to meet in the vestry this afternoon at four o'clock, to perfect an organization, and take such further measures for the prosecution of our cause as may then and there be deemed expedient. (the motion was carried.) a large audience assembled in the lecture-room, at four o'clock. susan b. anthony took the chair and said, the first thing, in order to complete the new organization, would be to fix upon a form of constitution. parker pillsbury, from the business committee, reported one which was considered article by article, and adopted. there was an interesting discussion relative to the necessity of a preamble, in which the majority sympathized with lucretia mott, who expressed herself specially desirous that there should be one, and that it should state the fact that this new organization was the outgrowth of the woman's rights movement. mrs. stanton gave her idea of what the preamble should be; and mrs. mott moved that mrs. stanton write out her thought, and that it be accepted as the preamble of the constitution.[ ] the motion was adopted. miss anthony proposed a list of names as officers[ ] of the association. mrs. stanton thanked the convention for the honor proposed, to make her president, but said she should prefer to see lucretia mott in that office; that thus that office might ever be held sacred in the memory that it had first been filled by one so loved and honored by all. "i shall be happy as vice-president to relieve my dear friend of the arduous duties of her office, if she will but give us the blessing of her name as president." mrs. stanton then moved that mrs. mott be the president, which was seconded by many voices, and carried by a unanimous vote. mrs. mott, escorted to the chair by stephen s. foster, remarked that her age and feebleness unfitted her for any public duties, but she rejoiced in the inauguration of a movement broad enough to cover class, color, and sex, and would be happy to give her name and influence, if thus she might encourage the young and strong to carry on the good work. on motion of theodore tilton, mrs. stanton was made first vice-president. the rest of the names were approved. mrs. stanton said, it had been the desire of her heart to see the anti-slavery and woman's rights organizations merged into an equal rights association, as the two questions were now one. with emancipation, all that the black man asks is the right of suffrage. with the special legislation of the last twenty years, all that woman asks is the right of suffrage. hence it seems an unnecessary expenditure of force and substance for the same men and women to meet in convention on tuesday to discuss the right of one class to the ballot, and on thursday to discuss the right of another class to the same. has not the time come, mrs. president, to bury the black man and the woman in the citizen, and our two organizations in the broader work of reconstruction? they who have been trained in the school of anti-slavery; they who, for the last thirty years, have discussed the whole question of human rights, which involves every other question of trade, commerce, finance, political economy, jurisprudence, morals and religion, are the true statesmen for the new republic--the best enunciators of our future policy of justice and equality. any work short of this is narrow and partial and fails to meet the requirements of the hour. what is so plain to me, may, i trust, be so to all before the lapse of many months, that all who have worked together thus far, may still stand side by side in this crisis of our nation's history. james mott said, he rejoiced that the women had seen fit to re-organize their movement into one for equal rights to all, that he felt the time had come to broaden our work. he felt the highest good of the nation demanded the recognition of woman as a citizen. we could have no true government until all the people gave their consent to the laws that govern them. stephen s. foster said, many seemed to think that the one question for this hour was negro suffrage. the question for every man and woman, he thought, was the true basis of the reconstruction of our government, not the rights of woman, or the negro, but the rights of all men and women. suffrage for woman was even a more vital question than for the negro; for in giving the ballot to the black man, we bring no new element into the national life--simply another class of men. and for one, he could not ask woman to go up and down the length and breadth of the land demanding the political recognition of any class of disfranchised citizens, while her own rights are ignored. thank god, the human family are so linked together, that no one man can ever enjoy life, liberty, or happiness, so long as the humblest being is crippled in a single right. i have demanded the freedom of the slave the last thirty years, because he was a human being, and i now demand suffrage for the negro because he is a human being, and for the same reason i demand the ballot for woman. therefore, our demand for this hour is equal suffrage to all disfranchised classes, for the one and the same reason--they are all human beings. martha c. wright said: some one had remarked that we wished to merge ourselves into an equal rights association to get rid of the odious name of woman's rights. this she repudiated as unworthy and untrue. every good cause had been odious some time, even the name christian has had its odium in all nations. we desire the change, because we feel that at this hour our highest claims are as citizens, and not as women. i for one have always gloried in the name of woman's rights, and pitied those of my sex who ignobly declared they had all the rights they wanted. we take the new name for the broader work because we see it is no longer woman's province to be merely a humble petitioner for redress of grievances, but that she must now enter into the fullness of her mission, that of helping to make the laws, and administer justice. aaron m. powell presented the following resolution: _resolved_, that in view of the constitutional convention to be held in the state of new york the coming year, it is the duty of this association to demand such an amendment of the constitution as shall secure equal rights to all citizens, without distinction of color, sex, or race. miss anthony seconded the resolution, and urged the importance of making a thorough canvass of the state with lectures, tracts, and petitions.[ ] mr. powell, mrs. gage, and others, advocated the concentration of all the energies of the association for the coming year on the state of new york; after which the resolution was adopted. parker pillsbury: perhaps we ourselves do not appreciate the magnitude of the enterprise we are here to inaugurate. if successful, we close to-day one epoch in human history, and enter on another of results more millennial than have been seen before. we give now a new definition to the word liberty. we clothe our divinity with new honors. the ancients worshiped in her temple, but to them all, even the devoutest, she was ever an "unknown god." in all ages, men sing her praises, but know not her law. our revolutionary fathers were blind as others--blinder than many others. they declared all men free and equal. they fought long and valiantly for their evangel, baptizing it in the blood of many battles, came home triumphant, and then constructed a despotism which their own immortal jefferson declared was fraught with more woes in one hour, to myriads of its citizens, than would be endured in whole ages of the worst they themselves had ever known! that government they named a republic. under it we held millions of slaves, and were providing to hold many millions more, when god sent a thunderbolt and dashed it in pieces before our eyes and gave our slaves their freedom. now our wise men and counselors, our statesmen and sages, are seeking how the government and union may be reconstructed. but they are laying again false foundations. of three immense classes, they proscribe two and provide for one; and that one perhaps a minority of the whole. half our people are degraded for their sex; one-sixth for the color of their skin. and this is the republican and democratic definition of freedom. the ruling class boasts two qualities, in virtue of which it claims the right to rule all others. it is male, not female--white, not colored. for neither of these surely is it responsible. for being women and colored, the proscribed classes are no more responsible. a more cruel, unrighteous, unjust distinction was never made under heaven. by it we are driven into this new revolution; a revolution which is to eclipse all that have gone before, as far as the glories of calvary outshone the shadows and terrors of sinai. even the anti-slavery society can only demand equality for the _male_ half of mankind. and the woman's rights movement contemplated only _woman_ in its demand. but with us liberty means freedom, equality, and fraternity, irrespective of sex or complexion. it is a gospel that was unknown to the ancients; hidden even from the wise and prudent among our revolutionary fathers. revolutionary _mothers_ we seem never to have had. as in eden, "adam was first found, then eve," so in our revolution; but eve has come to-day, demanding her portion of the equal inheritance, a mystery, a wonder, a "_new thing under the sun_," the declaration of king solomon to the contrary notwithstanding. and here and to-day we lay new foundations. for the first time, law and liberty are to be founded in nature and the government of the moral universe. for the first time is it demanded that justice be made our chief corner-stone. the ancient republics, not thus underpinned, fell. our old foundations, too, are fallen. in god's wisdom, not in man's foolishness, let us henceforth build. and the work of our hands, feeble as we seem to-day, shall survive all the present kingdoms and dominions of the world. miss anthony remarked that theodore tilton was in the house, and had not yet spoken. she would like to hear his opinion. mr. tilton replied that of course miss anthony was speaking in pleasantry when she thus ingeniously pretended not to know his opinion. this pretense was only a piece of strategy to compel him to make a speech. both she and he had lately been co-workers in a local association for just such a purpose as to-day's enterprise meditated--"the new york equal rights association," of which he had had the honor to be president, and miss anthony to be secretary--an association which both its secretary and its president were only too glad to see superseded by a larger and more general movement. the apple tree bears more blossoms which fall off than come to fruit. our local association was the necessary first blossom which had to be blown away by the wind. no--he would rather say it was a blossom which had ripened to-day into golden fruit. and now, said he, in this consecrated house, at this sunset hour, amid these falling shadows, with a president in the chair whose well-spent life has been crowned with every virtue, let us make a covenant with each other such as was made by the original members of the american anti-slavery society--a mutual pledge of diligent and earnest labor, not for the abolition of chattel slavery, but for the political rights of all classes, without regard to color or sex. are we only a handful? we are more than formed the anti-slavery society--which grew into a force that shook the nation. who knows but that to-night we are laying the corner-stone of an equally grand movement? let us, therefore, catch at this moment the cheering pretoken of the prophecy that declares, "at evening time there shall be light!" a motion was made to adjourn, when the president, lucretia mott, made a few closing remarks, showing that all great achievements in the progress of the race must be slow, and were ever wrought out by the few, in isolation and ridicule--but, said she, let us remember in our trials and discouragements, that if our lives are true, we walk with angels--the great and good who have gone before us, and god is our father. as she uttered her few parting words of benediction, the fading sunlight through the stained windows, fell upon her pure face, a celestial glory seemed about her, and a sweet and peaceful influence pervaded every heart. and all responded to theodore tilton when he said, "this closing meeting of the convention was one of the most beautiful, delightful, and memorable which any of its participants ever enjoyed." the convention adjourned to meet in boston may , , where a large, enthusiastic meeting was held, of which we find the following report by charles k. whipple. _from the national anti-slavery standard of june , ._ the meeting next in interest as in time, among the crowded assemblies of anniversary week, was that of the equal rights association, called and managed by those intelligent and excellent women who have for years labored in behalf of woman's rights. a large portion of the community have been accustomed to sneer at these ladies as self-seeking and fanatical. the new position they have taken shows, on the contrary, the largeness of their views, the breadth of their sympathy, and the practical good sense which govern their operations. their proceedings show their full appreciation of the fact that the rights of men and the rights of women must stand or fall together. mrs. dall called the meeting to order, and introduced as its president, martha c. wright, of auburn, n. y., in the absence of lucretia mott, the president of the association. mrs. wright made some well-chosen introductory remarks; miss susan b. anthony read letters of friendly greeting from frederick douglass and william lloyd garrison, and then a very admirable report was read by mrs. dall, summing up the advance made in the woman's cause the past year.... the freedom of the platform was an admirable feature of this convention. early in the proceedings it was announced that any member of the audience, male or female, was entitled to speak on the topics under debate, and would be made welcome. among those who addressed the convention were parker pillsbury, henry c. wright, aaron m. powell, dr. sarah young, rev. olympia brown (minister of a church at weymouth), susan b. anthony, stephen s. foster, mr. tooker, ira stewart, charles c. burleigh, wendell phillips, frances ellen harper, anna e. dickinson. the mention of these names is enough to indicate that there was abundance of good speaking. no time was lost, and the hours of three sessions were pleasantly and profitably filled. mr. pillsbury said the word "male," as a restriction upon the action of women, is unknown to the federal constitution, as well as the word "black," and that its introduction into that document should be resisted in the most strenuous manner, since we can never have a true democracy while the work of government is monopolized by a privileged class.... wendell phillips, admitting that the suffrage is the great question of the hour, thought, nevertheless, that in view of the peculiar circumstances of the negro's position, his claim to this right might fairly be considered to have precedence.... this hour, then, is preëminently the property of the negro. nevertheless, said mr. phillips, i willingly stand here to plead the woman's cause, because the republican party are seeking to carry their purpose by newly introducing the word "male" into the constitution. to prevent such a corruption of the national constitution, as well as for the general welfare of the community, male and female, i wish to excite interest everywhere in the maintenance of woman's right to vote. this woman's meeting was well conducted, and met with success in every way..... frances d. gage, in a letter to the _national anti-slavery standard_, may , , speaking of her attendance of the anniversary meetings in new york, said: "if the anti-slavery work has fallen somewhat behind our hope, that of the woman's rights movement has far outstripped our most sanguine expectations. when the war-cry was heard in , the advance-guard of the woman's rights party cried 'halt!' and for five years we have stood waiting while the grand drama of the rebellion was passing. not as idle spectators, but as the busiest and most unwearied actors on the boards. we have, as our manly men assert, fought half the battle, and helped to win the victory. "wendell phillips said, 'women made this war!' by the same process of reasoning women may claim that 'they made the peace,' that 'they broke the chains of the slave, and redeemed the land from its most direful curse.' be this true or otherwise, one fact is patent to every mind--woman to-day is an acknowledged power! and when we met at the church of the puritans last week, we found woman's rights filling its halls and galleries as never before; with a beecher and a tilton to defend our cause, but not one sneerer or opposer to open his or her lips. who now will dare call us 'infidels,' since bishop simpson, henry ward beecher, and dr. tyng champion our cause, and proclaim it 'woman's _duty_ to vote for the good of humanity'? who will now dare sneer while the leading minds of europe--among them ruskin, john stuart mill, mazzini, victor hugo--must share the odium with those hitherto called 'strong-minded?' "it was with pain that i heard wendell phillips say on our platform, 'albany can not help you; your throne is the world of fashion!'--meaning women. if we are given over to fashion, frivolity, and vice, does it follow that rights and privileges, duties and responsibilities will not help us? if just governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, and taxation without representation is tyranny, then albany can help us in just so much as a good and just government will help the people who live under its rules and laws. no one would at this day, if a friend to the negro, say to him, 'a vote can not help you!' then why say it to women? "our woman's rights convention has now taken the broad platform of 'equal rights,' and upon that will work in time to come. and our meeting in new york seemed proof--if proof was wanting--that all we need now is to ask and receive. our worst enemy, our greatest hindrance, is woman herself; and her indifference is the legitimate result of long-denied privileges and responsibilities of which she has not learned the necessity. if, as mr. beecher asserted, 'to vote is a duty,' then it is the duty of every man and woman to work to secure that right to every human being of adult years. "since our meeting, the house of representatives at washington has passed, by more than three to one, the amendment of the reconstruction committee. if the senate concurs, then, to save the four million negroes of the south, or rather to save the republican party (the people agreeing), seventeen millions of women, governed without their own consent, are proclaimed a disfranchised class by the constitution of the united states, hitherto unpolluted by any such legislation. let us, then, work for this, too, that seventeen million women shall not be left without the power considered so necessary to the negro for his preservation and protection; the power to help govern himself. let us never forget his claim, but strengthen it, by not neglecting our own." at the november election of this year, mrs. stanton offered herself as a candidate for congress; in order to test the constitutional right of a woman to run for office. this aroused some discussion on this phase of the question, and many were surprised to learn that while women could not vote, they could hold any office in which their constituents might see fit to place them. theodore tilton gives the following graphic description of this event in "the eminent women": in a cabinet of curiosities i have laid away as an interesting relic, a little white ballot, two inches square, and inscribed: +-------------------------------------+ | _for representative to congress_, | | elizabeth cady stanton. | +-------------------------------------+ mrs. stanton is the only woman in the united states who, as yet, has been a candidate for congress. in conformity with a practice prevalent in some parts of this country, and very prevalent in england, she nominated herself. the public letter in which she proclaimed herself a candidate was as follows: _to the electors of the eighth congressional district_: although, by the constitution of the state of new york woman is denied the elective franchise, yet she is eligible to office; therefore, i present myself to you as a candidate for representative to congress. belonging to a disfranchised class, i have no political antecedents to recommend me to your support,--but my creed is _free speech_, _free press_, _free men_, and _free trade_,--the cardinal points of democracy. viewing all questions from the stand-point of principle rather than expediency, there is a fixed uniform law, as yet unrecognized by either of the leading parties, governing alike the social and political life of men and nations. the republican party has occasionally a clear vision of personal rights, though in its protective policy it seems wholly blind to the rights of property and interests of commerce; while it recognizes the duty of benevolence between man and man, it teaches the narrowest selfishness in trade between nations. the democrats, on the contrary, while holding sound and liberal principles on trade and commerce, have ever in their political affiliations maintained the idea of class and caste among men--an idea wholly at variance with the genius of our free institutions and fatal to high civilization. one party fails at one point and one at another. in asking your suffrages--believing alike in free men and free trade--i could not represent either party as now constituted. nevertheless, as an independent candidate, i desire an election at this time, as a rebuke to the dominant party for its retrogressive legislation in so amending the national constitution as to make invidious distinctions on the ground of sex. that instrument recognizes as persons all citizens who obey the laws and support the state, and if the constitutions of the several states were brought into harmony with the broad principles of the federal constitution, the women of the nation would no longer be taxed without representation, or governed without their consent. not one word should be added to that great charter of rights to the insult or injury of the humblest of our citizens. i would gladly have a voice and vote in the fortieth congress to demand _universal_ suffrage, that thus a republican form of government might be secured to every state in the union. if the party now in the ascendency makes its demand for "negro suffrage" in good faith, on the ground of natural right, and because the highest good of the state demands that the republican idea be vindicated, on no principle of justice or safety can the women of the nation be ignored. in view of the fact that the freedmen of the south and the millions of foreigners now crowding our shores, most of whom represent neither property, education, nor civilization, are all in the progress of events to be enfranchised, the best interests of the nation demand that we outweigh this incoming pauperism, ignorance, and degradation, with the wealth, education, and refinement of the women of the republic. on the high ground of safety to the nation, and justice to citizens, i ask your support in the coming election. new york, _oct. , _. elizabeth cady stanton. the new york _herald_, though, of course, with no sincerity, since that journal is never sincere in anything--warmly advocated mrs. stanton's election. "a lady of fine presence and accomplishments in the house of representatives," it said (and said truly), "would wield a wholesome influence over the rough and disorderly elements of that body." the _anti-slavery standard_, with genuine commendation, said: "the electors of the eighth district would honor themselves and do well by the country in giving her a triumphant election." the other candidates in the same district were mr. james brooks, democrat, and mr. le grand b. cannon, republican. the result of the election was as follows: mr. brooks received , votes, mr. cannon , , and mrs. stanton . it will be seen that the number of sensible people in the district was limited! the excellent lady, in looking back upon her successful defeat, regrets only that she did not, before it became too late, procure the photographs of her two dozen unknown friends.[ ] the years of and ' were marked by unusual activity among the friends of this movement in both england and america. john stuart mill, a member of parliament, proposed an amendment to the "household suffrage bill," by striking out the word "man," sustained by many able speeches, which finally carried the measure triumphantly there. new york held a constitutional convention, michigan a commission, and kansas submitted the proposition of woman suffrage to a vote of her people. twenty thousand petitions were rolled up and presented in the constitutional convention, asking that the word "male" be stricken from article ii, sec. , and as many more were poured into congress and the legislatures of several of the states. a series of conventions, commencing in albany, were held in all the chief cities of new york.[ ] the american equal rights association. the labors of this year are well rounded out with a grand national convention,[ ] during anniversary week, in new york, which assembled at the church of the puritans, may th, , at o'clock a.m. elizabeth cady stanton called the meeting to order and said: "in the absence of our venerable president (lucretia mott), robert purvis, one of the vice-presidents, will take the chair." mr. purvis said: i regret the absence of mrs. mott. it is needless to say that no one has higher claims upon the nation's gratitude for what has been accomplished in the glorious work of anti-slavery, and for what is now being accomplished in the still greater, because more comprehensive work for freedom contemplated by this society, than our honored and beloved president, lucretia mott. (applause). it is with no ordinary feelings that i congratulate the friends of this association on the healthful, hopeful, animating, inspiring signs of the times. our simple yet imperative demand, founded upon a just conception of the true idea of our republican government, is equality of rights for all, without regard to color, sex, or race; and, inseparable from the citizen, the possession of that power, that protection, that primal element of republican freedom--the ballot. lucretia mott here entered the hall, and, at the request of mr. purvis, took the chair, and called for the secretary's report. susan b. anthony said: it is my duty to present to you at this time a written report of all that has been done during the past year; but those of us who have been active in this movement, have been so occupied in doing the work, that no one has found time to chronicle the progress of events. with but half a dozen live men and women, to canvass the state of new york, to besiege the legislature and the delegates to the constitutional convention with tracts and petitions, to write letters and send documents to every state legislature that has moved on this question, to urge congress to its highest duty in the reconstruction, by both public and private appeals, has been a work that has taxed every energy and dollar at our command. money being the vital power of all movements--the wood and water of the engine--and, as our work through the past winter has been limited only by the want of it, there is no difficulty in reporting on finance. the receipts of our association, during the year, have amounted to $ , . ; the expenditures, for lectures and conventions, for printing and circulating tracts and documents, to $ , . --leaving us in debt $ . . the secretary then rapidly rehearsed the signs of progress. she spoke of the discussion in the united states senate on the suffrage bill, through three entire days, resulting in a vote of nine senators in favor of extending suffrage to the women as well as black men of the district of columbia; of the action of the legislatures of kansas and wisconsin to strike the words "white male" from their constitutions; of the discussions and minority votes in the legislatures of maine, massachusetts, new york, ohio, and missouri; of the addresses of elizabeth cady stanton and lucy stone before the judiciary committees of the new york and new jersey legislatures; of the demand for household suffrage by the women of england, earnestly maintained by john stuart mill in the british parliament--all showing that the public mind everywhere is awake on this question of equal rights to all. every mail brings urgent requests from the west for articles for their papers, for lectures and tracts on the question of suffrage. in kansas they are planning mass conventions, to be held throughout the state through september and october; and they urge us to send out at least a dozen able men and women, with , tracts, to help them educate the people into the grand idea of universal suffrage, that they may carry the state at the november election. two of our agents, lucy stone and henry b. blackwell, are already in kansas, speaking in all her towns and cities--in churches, school-houses, barns, and the open air; traveling night and day, by railroad, stage, and ox-cart; scaling the rocky divides, and fording the swollen rivers--their hearts all aglow with enthusiasm, greeted everywhere by crowded audiences, brave men and women, ready to work for the same principles for which they have suffered in the past, that kansas, the young and beautiful hero of the west, may be the first state in the union to realize a genuine republic. the earnest, loyal people of kansas have resolved to teach the nation to-day the true principle of reconstruction, as they taught the nation, twelve years ago, the one and only way in which to escape from the chains of slavery. they ask us to help them. so do wisconsin, illinois, michigan, and new york. but for this vast work, as i have already shown you, we have an empty treasury. we ask you to replenish it. if you will but give your money generously--if you will but oil the machinery--this association will gladly do the work that shall establish universal suffrage, equal rights to all, in every state in the union. the president (mrs. mott) said: the report which we have had, although not written, is most interesting. a great deal of it is new to me. there are so many actively engaged in the cause, that it is fitting that some of us older ones should give place to them. that is the natural order, and every natural order is divine and beautiful. therefore, i feel glad of the privilege--although my filling the office of president has been a mere nominal thing--to withdraw from the chair and to yield the place to our friend robert purvis, one of our vice-presidents. the cause is dear to my heart, and has been from my earliest days. being a native of the island of nantucket, where women were thought something of, and had some connection with the business arrangements of life, as well as with their homes, i grew up so thoroughly imbued with woman's rights that it was the most important question of my life from a very early day. i hail this more public movement for its advocacy, and have been glad that i had strength enough to co-operate to some extent. i have attended most of the regular meetings, and i now feel almost ashamed, old as i am, to be so ignorant of what has happened during the last year. we need a paper--an organ that shall keep those who can not mingle actively in our public labors better informed. _the standard_ has done much; and i find in many other papers a disposition to do justice, to a great extent, to our cause. it is not ridiculed as it was in the beginning. we do not have the difficulties, the opposition, and the contumely to confront that we had at an early day. i am very glad to find such an audience here to-day; and far be it from me to occupy the time so as to prevent mr. may, mr. burleigh, and others, from having their proper place. mr. purvis resumed the chair, and introduced mrs. stanton, who spoke to the following resolutions: _resolved_, that government, of all sciences, is the most exalted and comprehensive, including, as it does, all the political, commercial, religious, educational, and social interests of the race. _resolved_, that to speak of the ballot as an "article of merchandise," and of the science of government as the "muddy pool of politics," is most demoralizing to a nation based on universal suffrage. in considering the question of suffrage, there are two starting points: one, that this right is a gift of society, in which certain men, having inherited this privilege from some abstract body and abstract place, have now the right to secure it for themselves and their privileged order to the end of time. this principle leads logically to governing races, classes, families; and, in direct antagonism to our idea of self-government, takes us back to monarchies and despotisms, to an experiment that has been tried over and over again, , years, and uniformly failed. ignoring this point of view as untenable and anti-republican, and taking the opposite, that suffrage is a natural right--as necessary to man under government, for the protection of person and property, as are air and motion to life--we hold the talisman by which to show the right of all classes to the ballot, to remove every obstacle, to answer every objection, to point out the tyranny of every qualification to the free exercise of this sacred right. to discuss this question of suffrage for women and negroes, as women and negroes, and not as citizens of a republic, implies that there are some reasons for demanding this right for these classes that do not apply to "white males." the obstinate persistence with which fallacious and absurd objections are pressed against their enfranchisement--as if they were anomalous beings, outside all human laws and necessities--is most humiliating and insulting to every black man and woman who has one particle of healthy, high-toned self-respect. there are no special claims to propose for women and negroes, no new arguments to make in their behalf. the same already made to extend suffrage to all white men in this country, the same john bright makes for the working men of england, the same made for the emancipation of , , russian serfs, are all we have to make for black men and women. as the greater includes the less, an argument for universal suffrage covers the whole question, the rights of all citizens. in thus relaying the foundations of government, we settle all these side issues of race, color, and sex, end class legislation, and remove forever the fruitful cause of the jealousies, dissensions, and revolutions of the past. this is the platform of the american equal rights association. "we are masters of the situation." here black men and women are buried in the citizen. as in the war, freedom was the key-note of victory, so now is universal suffrage the key-note of reconstruction. "negro suffrage" may answer as a party cry for an effete political organization through another presidential campaign; but the people of this country have a broader work on hand to-day than to save the republican party, or, with some abolitionists, to settle the rights of races. the battles of the ages have been fought for races, classes, parties, over and over again, and force always carried the day, and will until we settle the higher, the holier question of individual rights. this is our american idea, and on a wise settlement of this question rests the problem whether our nation shall live or perish. the principle of inequality in government has been thoroughly tried, and every nation based on that idea that has not already perished, clearly shows the seeds of death in its dissensions and decline. though it has never been tried, we know an experiment on the basis of equality would be safe; for the laws in the world of morals are as immutable as in the world of matter. as the astronomer leverrier discovered the planet that bears his name by a process of reason and calculation through the variations of other planets from known laws, so can the true statesman, through the telescope of justice, see the genuine republic of the future amid the ruins of the mighty nations that have passed away. the opportunity now given us to make the experiment of self-government should be regarded by every american citizen as a solemn and a sacred trust. when we remember that a nation's life and growth and immortality depend on its legislation, can we exalt too highly the dignity and responsibility of the ballot, the science of political economy, the sphere of government? statesmanship is, of all sciences, the most exalted and comprehensive, for it includes all others. among men we find those who study the laws of national life more liberal and enlightened on all subjects than those who confine their researches in special directions. when we base nations on justice and equality, we lift government out of the mists of speculation into the dignity of a fixed science. everything short of this is trick, legerdemain, sleight of hand. magicians may make nations seem to live, but they do not. the newtons of our day who should try to make apples stand in the air or men walk on the wall, would be no more puerile in their experiments than are they who build nations outside of law, on the basis of inequality. what thinking man can talk of _coming down_ into the arena of politics? if we need purity, honor, self-sacrifice and devotion anywhere, we need them in those who have in their keeping the life and prosperity of a nation. in the enfranchisement of woman, in lifting her up into this broader sphere, we see for her new honor and dignity, more liberal, exalted and enlightened views of life, its objects, ends and aims, and an entire revolution in the new world of interest and action where she is soon to play her part. and in saying this, i do not claim that woman is better than man, but that the sexes have a civilizing power on each other. the distinguished historian, henry thomas buckle, says: "the turn of thought of women, their habits of mind, their conversation, invariably extending over the whole surface of society, and frequently penetrating its intimate structure, have, more than all other things put together, tended to raise us into an ideal world, and lift us from the dust into which we are too prone to grovel." and this will be her influence in exalting and purifying the world of politics. when woman understands the momentous interests that depend on the ballot, she will make it her first duty to educate every american boy and girl into the idea that to vote is the most sacred act of citizenship--a religious duty not to be discharged thoughtlessly, selfishly or corruptly; but conscientiously, remembering that, in a republican government, to every citizen is entrusted the interests of the nation. would you fully estimate the responsibility of the ballot, think of it as the great regulating power of a continent, of all our interests, political, commercial, religious, educational, social and sanitary! to many minds, this claim for the ballot suggests nothing more than a rough polling-booth where coarse, drunken men, elbowing each other, wade knee-deep in mud to drop a little piece of paper two inches long into a box--simply this and nothing more. the poet wordsworth, showing the blank materialism of those who see only with their outward eyes, says of his peter bell: "a primrose on the river's brim a yellow primrose was to him, and it was nothing more." so our political peter bells see the rough polling-booth in this great right of citizenship, and nothing more. in this act, so lightly esteemed by the mere materialist, behold the realization of that great idea struggled for in the ages and proclaimed by the fathers, the right of self-government. that little piece of paper dropped into a box is the symbol of equality, of citizenship, of wealth, of virtue, education, self-protection, dignity, independence and power--the mightiest engine yet placed in the hand of man for the uprooting of ignorance, tyranny, superstition, the overturning of thrones, altars, kings, popes, despotisms, monarchies and empires. what phantom can the sons of the pilgrims be chasing, when they make merchandise of a power like this? judas iscariot, selling his master for thirty pieces of silver, is a fit type of those american citizens who sell their votes, and thus betray the right of self-government. talk not of the "muddy pool of politics," as if such things must need be. behold, with the coming of woman into this higher sphere of influence, the dawn of the new day, when politics, so called, are to be lifted into the world of morals and religion; when the polling-booth shall be a beautiful temple, surrounded by fountains and flowers and triumphal arches, through which young men and maidens shall go up in joyful procession to ballot for justice and freedom; and when our election days shall be kept like the holy feasts of the jews at jerusalem. through the trials of this second revolution shall not our nation rise up, with new virtue and strength, to fulfill her mission in leading all the peoples of the earth to the only solid foundation of government, "equal rights to all." ... our danger lies, not in the direction of despotism, in the one-man power, in centralization; but in the corruption of the people.... it is in vain to look for a genuine republic in this country until the women are baptized into the idea, until they understand the genius of our institutions, until they study the science of government, until they hold the ballot in their hands and have a direct voice in our legislation. what is the reason, with the argument in favor of the enfranchisement of women all on one side, without an opponent worthy of consideration--while british statesmen, even, are discussing this question--the northern men are so dumb and dogged, manifesting a studied indifference to what they can neither answer nor prevent? what is the reason that even abolitionists who have fearlessly claimed political, religious and social equality for women for the last twenty years, should now, with bated breath, give her but a passing word in their public speeches and editorial comments--as if her rights constituted but a side issue of this grave question of reconstruction? all must see that this claim for _male_ suffrage is but another experiment in class legislation, another violation of the republican idea. with the black man we have no new element in government, but with the education and elevation of women we have a power that is to develop the saxon race into a higher and nobler life, and thus, by the law of attraction, to lift all races to a more even platform than can ever be reached in the political isolation of the sexes. why ignore , , women in the reconstruction? the philosophy of this silence is plain enough. the black man crowned with the rights of citizenship, there are no political ishmaelites left but the women. this is the last stronghold of aristocracy in the country. sydney smith says: "there always has been, and always will be, a class of men in the world so small that, if women were educated, there would be nothing left below them." it is a consolation to the "white male," to the popinjays in all our seminaries of learning, to the ignorant foreigner, the boot-black and barber, the idiot--for a "white male" may vote if he be not more than nine-tenths a fool--to look down on women of wealth and education, who write books, make speeches, and discuss principles with the savans of their age. it is a consolation for these classes to be able to say, "well, if woman can do these things, they can't vote after all." i heard some boys discoursing thus not long since. i told them they reminded me of a story i heard of two irishmen the first time they saw a locomotive with a train of cars. as the majestic fire-horse, with all its grace and polish, moved up to a station, stopped, and snorted, as its mighty power was curbed, then slowly gathered up its forces again and moved swiftly on--"be jabers," says pat, "there's muscle for you. what are we beside that giant?" they watched it intently till out of sight, seemingly with real envy, as if oppressed with a feeling of weakness and poverty before this unknown power; but rallying at last, one says to the other: "no matter, pat; let it snort and dash on--it can't vote, after all." poor human nature wants something to look down on. no privileged order ever did see the wrongs of its own victims, and why expect the "white male citizen" to enfranchise woman without a struggle--by a scratch of the pen to place themselves on a dead level with their lowest order? and what a fall would that be, my countrymen. in none of the nations of modern europe is there a class of women so degraded politically as are the women of these northern states. in the old world, where the government is the aristocracy, where it is considered a mark of nobility to share its offices and powers--there women of rank have certain hereditary rights which raise them above a majority of the men, certain honors and privileges not granted to serfs or peasants. in england woman may be queen, hold office, and vote on some questions. in the southern states even the women were not degraded below their working population, they were not humiliated in seeing their coachmen, gardeners, and waiters go to the polls to legislate on their interests; hence there was a pride and dignity in their bearing not found in the women of the north, and pluck in the chivalry before which northern doughfaceism has ever cowered. but here, where the ruling class, the aristocracy, is "male," no matter whether washed or unwashed, lettered or unlettered, rich or poor, black or white, here in this boasted northern civilization, under the shadow of bunker hill and faneuil hall, which mr. phillips proposes to cram down the throat of south carolina--here women of wealth and education, who pay taxes and are amenable to law, who may be hung, even though not permitted to choose the judge, the juror, or the sheriff who does the dismal deed, women who are your peers in art, science, and literature--already close upon your heels in the whole world of thought--are thrust outside the pale of political consideration with traitors, idiots, minors, with those guilty of bribery, larceny, and infamous crime. what a category is this in which to place your mothers, wives, and daughters. i ask you, men of the empire state, where on the footstool do you find such a class of citizens politically so degraded? now, we ask you, in the coming constitutional convention, to so amend the second article of our state constitution as to wipe out this record of our disgrace. "but," say you, "women themselves do not make the demand." mr. phillips said on this platform, a year ago, that "the singularity of this cause is, that it has to be carried on against the wishes and purposes of its victims," and he has been echoed by nearly every man who has spoken, on this subject during the past year. suppose the assertion true, is it a peculiarity of this reform?... ignorant classes always resist innovations. women looked on the sewing-machine as a rival for a long time. years ago the laboring classes of england asked bread; but the cobdens, the brights, the gladstones, the mills have taught them there is a power behind bread, and to-day they ask the ballot. but they were taught its power first, and so must woman be. again, do not those far-seeing philosophers who comprehend the wisdom, the beneficence, the morality of free trade urge this law of nations against the will and wishes of the victims of tariffs and protective duties? if you can prove to us that women do not wish to vote, that is no argument against our demand. there are many duties in life that ignorant, selfish, unthinking women do not desire to do, and this may be one of them. "but," says rev. o. b. frothingham, in a recent sermon on this subject, "they who first assume political responsibilities must necessarily lose something of the feminine element." in the education and elevation of woman we are yet to learn the true manhood and womanhood, the true masculine and feminine elements. dio lewis is rapidly changing our ideas of feminine beauty. in the large waists and strong arms of the girls under his training, some dilettante gentleman may mourn a loss of feminine delicacy. so in the wise, virtuous, self-supporting, common-sense women we propose as the mothers of the future republic, the reverend gentleman may see a lack of what he considers the feminine element. in the development of sufficient moral force to entrench herself on principle, need a woman necessarily lose any grace, dignity, or perfection of character? are not those who have advocated the rights of women in this country for the last twenty years as delicate and refined, as moral, high-toned, educated, just, and generous as any women in the land? i have seen women in many countries and classes, in public and private; but have found none more pure and noble than those i meet on this platform. i have seen our venerable president in converse with the highest of english nobility, and even the duchess of sutherland did not eclipse her in grace, dignity, and conversational power. where are there any women, as wives and mothers, more beautiful in their home life than lucretia mott and lucy stone, or antoinette brown blackwell? let the freedmen of the south sea islands testify to the faithfulness, the devotion, the patience, and tender mercy of frances d. gage, who watched over their interests, teaching them to read and work for two long years. some on our platform have struggled with hardship and poverty--been slaves even in "the land of the free and the home of the brave," and bear the scars of life's battle. but is a self-made woman less honorable than a self-made man? answer our arguments. when the republic is in danger, no matter for our manners. when our soldiers came back from the war, wan, weary, and worn, maimed, halt, blind, wrinkled, and decrepit--their banners torn, their garments stained with blood--who, with a soul to feel, thought of anything but the glorious work they had done? what if their mothers on this platform be angular, old, wrinkled, and gray? they, too, have fought a good fight for freedom, and proudly bear the scars of the battle. we alone have struck the key-note of reconstruction. while man talks of "equal, impartial, manhood suffrage," we give the certain sound, "universal suffrage." while he talks of the rights of races, we exalt the higher, the holier idea proclaimed by the fathers, and now twice baptized in blood, "individual rights." to woman it is given to save the republic. susan b. anthony, on behalf of the executive committee, reported several resolutions.[ ] rev. samuel j. may said: i wish to give my testimony most earnestly and solemnly to the conviction, which has continually increased in my soul since my attention was first called to the subject, that this is a fundamental question. how can we expect that our government will be well conducted when one-half, and that too what we have been accustomed to call the "better half," of its constituency is disfranchised, and unable to influence it as it should? it is now twenty-two years since i delivered my first public discourse on this subject; and when i have insisted, as i have done during that time, that women should be allowed to take part in the government, it has always been thrown in my teeth that women were governing the nation after all through their influence over their husbands, brothers, and sons. i was delighted with the remarks of mrs. stanton on this subject. in the first place, women can not influence their husbands, nor educate their sons, as they should do, because they are not properly informed, and have no inducement to become informed. were they to feel a responsibility, doubtless the better part of them would prepare themselves to discharge their duty; but knowing that they have nothing to do with the government of the country, you can hardly persuade our young women to study the subject. years ago i insisted that the constitution of the united states should be introduced into the common schools of the city where i live, to be studied by girls as well as boys. yet i hardly know half a dozen girls there who have taken the least interest in it. why? because, when any allusion is made to women's participation in the government, it has been met with a sneer, which so many dread more than they do a bullet; and this has doubtless deterred them from it. i was glad, too, to hear the reply so successfully made to the objection that women do not demand this right. that is no reason why they should not be required to exercise it. it is their right because it is their duty. it is their duty because it is their right. we have the most glorious inheritance that god ever gave to a nation, the privilege of governing ourselves. where does self-government begin? where does it reside? in the individual. no individual that can not govern himself can contribute in the least toward the government of the country in which he lives. he becomes a burden, if not a curse. knowing that women have the same moral powers as men, the same intellectual powers, the same affections, that they are governed by the same laws, and amenable to the same government, who can doubt that if they were made sensible of their responsibilities in the government of the country, and that they can not contribute in the least to the well-being of the community unless they can contribute those virtues and graces which constitute the true government of one's self; this would have the most inspiring and elevating influence upon them? think you they would continue to be the servants of mere fashion, as too many of them now are? by our refusal to act in accordance with the eternal principles of righteousness set forth in the declaration of independence and in the preamble of the constitution of the country, we have been brought into a terrible civil war, which has resulted in a disorganized condition requiring reconstruction. why should we not see to it that our country as a whole, and that each individual state of the country, shall be reconstructed on this true basis, so that, if possible, nothing may be left to be done hereafter to improve the foundations on which this nation rests? many say, "one thing at a time. you have been struggling for the abolition of slavery and obtained that; and now claim the political rights of the colored men, and will undoubtedly get them. why can't you be satisfied?" because that would leave a tremendous wrong at the foundation of our country. what will be the consequence, god only knows, should we dare to go on with such a fatal mistake in the basis of our institutions. it is presumption to suppose that we can do this without incurring, sooner or later, awful consequences. we can not predict what they will be; but that they will be great our past experiences should teach us. it was thought a very little matter to leave our constitution indefinite as to the rights of colored men. our fathers in the meetings held to ratify the constitution, said they had done all that could be expected, said that the death-blow was struck at the institution of slavery, that it would soon die a natural death; and thus they quieted those who were distrustful because slavery was not explicitly abolished in the constitution. the people, engaged in their various pursuits, ambitious for office, eager for wealth, let this seed of wrong become a mighty upas tree that covered our republic all over, and scattered everywhere its poisonous fruits. shall we dare to go on for another period of our national existence knowing that at the foundation of our government there is a tremendous wrong? what should the government of a nation be? ought it not to be as much as possible like the government of a well-ordered family? can you think of any model so good as the divine model set before us in the family? what would the family be with a father and without a mother? to whom do you owe the most--your father or your mother? who controlled the family most effectually? some thirty years ago, being chairman of the board of education in my district, i proposed to put a woman into a school where the male teachers had been set at nought year after year. it stood the lowest in rank when she took it; but in less than a month its character was obviously changed, and at the end of the term it stood number three in point of character as well as in scholarship. men are not governed by the fear of punishment. they are governed by a strong, persistent manifestation of the consciousness of a right to govern them; and that is pressed upon them more effectually by the influence of a mother or a sister than of a father or a brother. just so it will be in the government of our country, when women shall educate and prepare themselves to take part in that government, with their almost instinctive perception of the right, the true, and the good. and if our fathers and mothers were what they might and should be, the children would be so well trained that they would govern themselves, and there would be very little need of the instrumentality of a political organization. if women understood that it was not only their right, but their duty, to educate themselves to be citizens of the state, we should have, instead of the trifling topics which now occupy their attention in our domestic circles, the consideration of great questions; and doubtless their finer perceptions often would help to settle great questions aright; and they who should go forth from that family circle into the various relations of life, would go prepared to advocate the right, to illustrate the truth, and at the ballot-box to give their votes for the true and the right. it is my first conviction respecting the future well-being of our country, that it is to be measured exactly by our treatment of the colored man. my second conviction is that the well-being of our country never will be effectually provided for until the better half of humanity is educated and instructed, and required to take part in the enactment of the laws and in their administration. mrs. mott then introduced the venerable sojourner truth, who was greeted with loud cheers, after which she said: my friends, i am rejoiced that you are glad, but i don't know how you will feel when i get through. i come from another field--the country of the slave. they have got their liberty--so much good luck to have slavery partly destroyed; not entirely. i want it root and branch destroyed. then we will all be free indeed. i feel that if i have to answer for the deeds done in my body just as much as a man, i have a right to have just as much as a man. there is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. so i am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to get it going again. white women are a great deal smarter, and know more than colored women, while colored women do not know scarcely anything. they go out washing, which is about as high as a colored woman gets, and their men go about idle, strutting up and down; and when the women come home, they ask for their money and take it all, and then scold because there is no food. i want you to consider on that, chil'n. i call you chil'n; you are somebody's chil'n, and i am old enough to be mother of all that is here. i want women to have their rights. in the courts women have no right, no voice; nobody speaks for them. i wish woman to have her voice there among the pettifoggers. if it is not a fit place for women, it is unfit for men to be there. i am above eighty years old; it is about time for me to be going. i have been forty years a slave and forty years free, and would be here forty years more to have equal rights for all. i suppose i am kept here because something remains for me to do; i suppose i am yet to help to break the chain. i have done a great deal of work; as much as a man, but did not get so much pay. i used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler; but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the german women. they work in the field and do as much work, but do not get the pay. we do as much, we eat as much, we want as much. i suppose i am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored women. i want to keep the thing stirring, now that the ice is cracked. what we want is a little money. you men know that you get as much again as women when you write, or for what you do. when we get our rights we shall not have to come to you for money, for then we shall have money enough in our own pockets; and may be you will ask us for money. but help us now until we get it. it is a good consolation to know that when we have got this battle once fought we shall not be coming to you any more. you have been having our rights so long, that you think, like a slave-holder, that you own us. i know that it is hard for one who has held the reins for so long to give up; it cuts like a knife. it will feel all the better when it closes up again. i have been in washington about three years, seeing about these colored people. now colored men have the right to vote. there ought to be equal rights now more than ever, since colored people have got their freedom. i am going to talk several times while i am here; so now i will do a little singing. i have not heard any singing since i came here. accordingly, suiting the action to the word, sojourner sang, "we are going home." "there, children," said she, "in heaven we shall rest from all our labors; first do all we have to do here. there i am determined to go, not to stop short of that beautiful place, and i do not mean to stop till i get there, and meet you there, too." charles c. burleigh said: i consider it among the good omens with which the society enters upon its new year of labor, that its workers have been so busy, as appears from the informal report of the secretary this morning, that really they have not had time to let the left hand know what the right hand was doing. it shows an earnestness, a determination, a vigor, an industry, which can not co-exist with a cause of righteousness like the one before us without hopeful results. there is no narrow question here. we are not contending for woman's suffrage or negro suffrage, but for a broad principle of right applicable to the whole race. those in opposition to us have really nothing to stand upon. while we may fairly assume that the burden of proof lies upon those who urge objections, that ours is the affirmative case, and all that we are bound to do is to answer objections; yet in this reform, as in others which have preceded it, its enemies not being willing to take the burden of proof, we have undertaken to do their work as well as our own. we are willing, therefore, for the sake of meeting every cavil, for the sake of fighting every shadow of objection, to take the laboring oar which the other side should take, and to prove the objections unfounded which they have not yet attempted to prove well-founded. we are told sometimes that women ought not to share with men in the rights we claim for humanity, because of the difference of sex; that there is a sex of soul as well as of body. this is an objection practically cutting its own throat; because if it is true that there is a diversity of sex in soul which ought to be recognized in political institutions as well as in social arrangements, how can you rightly determine woman's proper place in society by the standard of a man's intellect? how can man's intellect determine what kind of legislation suits the condition of woman? the very fact, then, of the diversity of the masculine understanding and masculine spirit, proves the necessity of assigning to woman a share in the work which is to be done affecting woman. manifestly one of these two things must be true: either there is no such essential difference worthy to be taken into account, in which case woman has the same rights as man, and there is no necessity for making a distinction; or there is an essential difference, in which case man is not competent to do the work of legislating for the whole of society without the aid of woman. we might just as well let one effigy stand in the tailor's shop, as the standard of measurement of every garment the tailor is to make, and also of every garment the dressmaker is to make as to found the legislation for all upon one standard. if you recognize a difference, let your legislation proceed from both elements of the body politic which your legislation is to affect. it is said also, that if you allow women to vote, the logic of your argument will go further and require that women shall be voted for and they may chance to receive votes enough for election; and they may even go to the state legislature or to congress. suppose such a thing should happen, would a city which is represented in the congress of the united states by john morrissey and fernando wood, have reason to blush if by some singular good fortune she should chance to be represented by elizabeth cady stanton? (applause.) would the halls of congress suffer any loss of dignity, or any loss of efficiency, even if john morrissey's place should be vacated to make room for mrs. stanton, or if some pennsylvania democrat should be allowed to remain at home while lucretia mott occupied his chair? (applause.) is it so terrible that women who can utter sentiments as noble and elevating as those to which you have listened, who can sustain them by logic as clear, and who can expose with such delicate wit the ridiculous absurdity of the opposite side, should have a voice in the counsels of the nation? somebody says that "the child is father to the man." you know who govern the children. who governed you when you were children? is it not as safe that woman should govern in the halls of national legislation as in the family and in the school? you will find in hundreds of schools, governed a few years ago by men, only women for teachers to-day. i remember that in a building which contained some three hundred pupils, the last man employed as a teacher was an assistant teacher under the supervision of a woman as principal; a woman who has vindicated her right to the place by her admirable administration, and her admirable adaptation to the business of teaching, so that she has become, as it were, a fixture in that schoolhouse. and that is only one case among many. and if woman excels in government in those spheres in which she has had an opportunity to prove her ability, it is at least safe to try the experiment further. we have just seen one folly, one absurdity refuted by the simple process of trying an experiment. the time was when it was deemed altogether unwomanly, and repugnant to female delicacy and refinement, for a woman to ink the ends of her fingers in handling a pen; for a woman to be what was derisively called a "blue-stocking," or a literary woman. it was thought that nothing but pedantry, nothing but slatternly habits and neglected housekeeping, could come of it. but who would be willing to banish from the literary world to-day such names as browning, hemans, stowe, and gage? and if i were to fill out the catalogue of names, i might close my speech at the end of it, having tired you all with the length of the recital. so it was said that women should not appear on the public platform. but who now would banish the women who have delighted such vast congregations, and who have drawn such applause from all classes and conditions of men? who, to-day, considers it improper for lucy stone, anna dickinson, mrs. stanton, mrs. gage, to appear upon a public platform? who is willing to shut the pulpit against mrs. mott, when she has filled it with such acceptance, in so many places, and on so many occasions? step by step, woman has advanced toward her right position. step by step, as she advanced, she has proved her right, to the satisfaction of caviling skepticism itself.... she would now go a step further. she demands the rights, not of womanhood, but of humanity. and i feel just as confident that what she demands will be conceded, in reference to her political rights, as that it has been conceded with regard to these other rights, which are now settled in the estimation of thinking and reasoning people. the tide sets that way, clearly and strongly. kansas is not to go alone, in granting this right to woman. the agitation is to go on; and the more you resist the current of events, the more earnestly will the agitation be continued until reason shall be convinced; until prejudice shall be overcome by the power of conviction; until men are constrained, from very shame, to withdraw from a position which no argument, no experience can justify, which no consideration of decency will palliate. one objection to our claim is, that the right of voting should not belong to human beings as individuals, but rather to households of human beings. this is not a denial of equality in all respects, but an allegation that the right belongs neither to the man nor to the woman, but to the household; and that for the household, as its representative, the man casts the ballot. suppose i concede that, what then? why should the head of the household, or rather the _hand_ of the household, be masculine rather than feminine? we have heard the argument over and over again that woman should leave to man the counting-house, the work-bench, and all the duties supposed peculiarly to appertain to masculine humanity, and should attend to "household" matters. if, then, suffrage is a household matter, why should not woman attend to it, in her feminine capacity, as peculiarly within her domestic province, and relieve man from the interruption of his appropriate duties? rev. mr. ray inquired what was the basis for the right of suffrage, if suffrage was not, as mr. burleigh had said yesterday in another place, a natural right. if it does not belong to the individual whence does it come? the sultan of turkey may claim that the right belongs to him, and that he may delegate that right to whomsoever he will to assist him in the government of the people. but in a republic the right must be in the individual; and if so, it belongs to woman as well as to man, to black as well as to white persons. if the right of suffrage is not a natural right, why has not the constitutional convention about to meet the right to limit the suffrage, if they think it will secure the best interest of the state? frances d. gage said: i have but little to say because it is almost two o'clock, and hungry and weary people are not good listeners to speeches. i shall confine my remarks therefore to one special point brought up this morning and not fully discussed. sojourner truth gave us the whole truth in about fifteen words: "if i am responsible for the deeds done in my body, the same as the white male citizen is, i have a right to all the rights he has to help him through the world." i shall speak for the slave woman at the south. i have always lifted my voice for her when i have spoken at all. i will not give up the slave woman into the hands of man, to do with her as he pleases hereafter. i know the plea that was made to me in south carolina, and down in the mississippi valley. they said, "you give us a nominal freedom, but you leave us under the heel of our husbands, who are tyrants almost equal to our masters." the former slave man of the south has learned his lesson of oppression and wrong of his old master; and they think the wife has no right to her earnings. i was often asked, "why don't the government pay my wife's earnings to me?" when acting for the freedman's aid society, the orders came to us to compel marriage, or to separate families. i issued the order as i was bound to do, as general superintendent of the fourth division under general saxton. the men came to me and wanted to be married, because they said if they were married in the church, they could manage the women, and take care of their money, but if they were not married in the church the women took their own wages and did just as they had a mind to. but the women came to me and said, "we don't want to be married in the church, because if we are our husbands will whip the children and whip us if they want to; they are no better than old masters." the biggest quarrel i had with the colored people down there, was with a plantation man because i would not furnish a nurse for his child. "no, nero," said i, "i can not hire a nurse for your child while nancy works in the cotton field." "but what is we to do? i'se a poor miserable man and can't work half the time, and nancy is a good strong hand; and we must have a nurse." he went away in utter disgust, and declared to the people outside that i had got the miserablest notion he had ever heard, to spoil a good field hand like his nancy to nurse her own baby. we were told the other day by wendell phillips, upon the anti-slavery platform, that it takes people forty years to outgrow an old idea. the slave population of the south is not yet removed a hundred years from the barbarism of africa, where women have no rights, no privileges, but are trampled under foot in all the savageism of the past. and the slave man has looked on to see his master will everything as he willed, and he has learned the lesson from his master. mr. higginson told us that the slave-master never understood the slave. i know that to be the fact. neither does man understand woman to-day, because she has always been held subservient to him. now it is proposed to give manhood the suffrage in all these southern states, and to leave the poor slave woman bound under the ban of the direst curse of slavery to him who is the father of her children. it is decreed upon all the statute books of slavery, that the child shall follow the condition of the mother. that has been the decree from the beginning of this awful slave system; that the whitest woman, the child of a slave mother, whose hair curled down to her waist, and whose blue eyes of beauty were a lure to the statesmen of the south, should be a slave, though the governor of the state were her father. are you to leave her there yet, and desecrate marriage, by making it such a bond of slavery that the woman shall say, "i do not want to be married, to suffer oppression!" are you to force prostitution and wrong upon those people by these unjust laws? are you to compel wickedness and crime? are you going to let it stand upon the statute books of the southern states that the only woman free to work for her own child shall be the mother of illegitimate children? that is the consequence of what you are doing to the people who in all time past, since they have lived upon this continent, have been denied the right of sacred marriage; and who must have, as wendell phillips tells us, forty years to outgrow the past, or to educate them. we are told by mr. phillips to flood the south with spelling-books. who is to carry them there? who, to-day, is teaching the southern people;--for i am talking now in behalf of the colored woman of the south, forgetting my own degradation. who have carried the spelling-book to the south? the women of the north, gathering up their strength, have been sent down by all these great societies to teach. the colored men of the south are to vote, while they deny the ballot to their teacher! it is said that women do not want to vote in this country. i tell you, it is a libel upon womanhood. i care not who says it. i am in earnest. they do want to vote. fifty-two thousand pulpits in this country have been teaching women the lesson that has been taught them for centuries, that they must not think about voting. but when , pulpits, or , politicians, at the beginning of this war, lifted up their voices and asked of women, "come out and help us," did they stand back? in every hamlet, in every village, in every cabin, and every palace, in every home in the whole united states, they rose up and went to work. they worked for the government; they worked for the nation; they worked for their sons, their husbands, their fathers, their brothers, their friends. they worked night and day. who found women to stand back when this great public opinion that had been crushing them so long and forbidding them to work, at last lifted itself up and said, "you may work"? (applause). i have been traveling all winter long, with a few intervals of rest, talking not upon equal rights, but upon the subject of temperance; and whenever i said to my crowded audiences that we must give to woman the right to vote that she may purify the nation of this great sin, there went up shouts and clapping of hands of men and women. they are ready for this work. what we want is to crystallize the public opinion of all ranks of society in its favor. there is great fear that if woman is allowed to vote, she will lose something of her high and excellent character. if it is right for woman to have the suffrage, it is not right to talk of expediency. if giving woman the ballot will cause her to lose her prestige, it is because she ought to lose it. if she gains physical strength and loses that effeminate delicacy that provides for nothing and cares for nothing but its own selfish, quiet enjoyment, i shall rejoice with joy unspeakable. my strong hands have tilled the fields; and in my early childhood have harnessed the horse, and brought the wood to the door; have led him to the blacksmith's shop to be shod. these are things i do not often tell in public. i have braved public opinion; i have tilled my garden; i have brought myself up from fainting weakness occasioned by accident and broken bones. i have taken care of myself, supported myself, and asked nothing from the world; i find my womanhood not one bit degraded. (applause). a thousand times in the last years, in this struggle for bread, have i been asked, "why don't you let your sons support you?" my answer is, "my six sons have their own duties. my six boys have their own labors. god gives me strength to earn my own bread, and i will do it as long as i can." (applause). that is what i want to teach the womanhood of the country. i did not mean to talk so long; but i assure you i talk in earnest. if i sometimes, by a slip of the tongue, make some little mistake--for i have not been educated in the schools, (a log cabin schoolhouse in the wilderness gave me all i have)--you will excuse me, for i mean no injustice to any one. and if to-night it will not crowd some better woman or man from the platform, i shall be glad to speak to you again. mrs. mott.--the argument that has been made that women do not want to vote is like that which we had to meet in the early days of the anti-slavery enterprise, that the slaves did not want to be free. i remember that in one of our earliest woman's rights conventions, in syracuse, a resolution was offered to the effect that as the assertion that the slave did not want his freedom, and would not take it if offered to him, only proved the depth of his degradation, so the assertion that woman had all the rights she wanted only gave evidence how far the influence of the law and customs, and the perverted application of the scriptures, had encircled and crushed her. this was fifteen or twenty years ago. times are altered since. in the temperance reformation, and in the great reformatory movements of our age, woman's powers have been called into action. they are beginning to see that another state of things is possible for them, and they are beginning to demand their rights. why should this church be granted for such a meeting as this, but for the progress of the cause? why are so many women present, ready to respond to the most ultra and most radical sentiments here, but that woman has grown and is able to assume her rights? in many of the states the laws have been so modified that the wife now stands in a very different position as regards the right of property and other rights, from that which she occupied fifteen or twenty years ago. you see the same advance in the literary world. i remember when maria edgeworth and her sister first published their works, that they were afraid to publish their own name, and borrowed the name of their father. so frances power cobbe was not able to write over her own name, and she issued her "intuitive morals" without a name; and her father was so much pleased with the work, without knowing it was his daughter's, that it led to an acknowledgment after a while. stephen s. foster: will you give us the evidence that the statement that the women of this country do not want the ballot is not true? i should be glad to believe that; but in my experience the worst opposition to the progress of woman's rights has come from woman herself. the greatest indifference to the cause is to be found among women, and not among men. i wish it were not so. i hope i am mistaken. but i believe nine out of every ten of our public speakers will tell you that they find more help, more sympathy from men than from women. rev. s. j. may: i should like to have that question settled, so far as the women present are concerned. will as many of you as _will vote_ when the right is awarded to you, please to manifest it by rising. nearly the whole of the ladies present immediately arose. indeed, those on the platform, could not see a single woman who retained her seat. mrs. gage: during the last fifteen years, with the utmost industry i could use in ascertaining the public opinion in this country, i have never found one solitary instance of a woman, whom i could meet alone by her fireside, where there was no fear of public opinion, or the minister, or the law-maker, or her father, or her husband, who did not tell me she would like to vote. [applause]. i never found a slave in my life, who, removed from the eye of the people about him, would not tell me he wanted liberty--never one. i have been in the slave states for years. i have been in the slave-pens, and upon the plantations, and have stood beside the slave as he worked in the sugar cane and the cotton-field; and i never found one who dared in the presence of white men to say he wanted freedom. when women and young girls are asked if they want to vote, they are almost always in just that situation where they are afraid to speak what they think; and no wonder they so often say they do not want to vote. evening session. the meeting was called to order by the president, mrs. mott, who introduced as the first speaker col. charles e. moss, of missouri. mr. moss said: this is a subject upon which i have thought for a number of years; and i have become fully convinced that no reason can be assigned for extending the right of suffrage to any of the male sex, that does not equally apply to the female. when our fathers formed the national constitution, they made it their duty to secure to every state a republican form of government. no government can be republican in form, unless it is so in substance and in fact; based upon the consent of the governed. after the troublesome war we have just passed through, we are called upon not only to reconstruct the ten unrepresented states of the nation, but to purify the republicanism of our government in the northern states and make it more consistent with our professions. it is a fit time, then, to take up the subject of suffrage, and to base it upon a well-established principle. some say that the right of suffrage is a privilege, to be given or withheld at pleasure. that does not seem to me a very safe foundation for so important a right. it is either a privilege or a natural right. if we recognize it as a natural right we have a peaceable, safe, legal mode of resistance against the disfranchisement of the people. if we admit it to be a privilege to be granted or withheld, no man and no woman has any legal right to interpose any objection to his own disfranchisement. but i see that our friend has come in who was expected first to address you, and i will not take up more of your time. parker pillsbury was next introduced and said: the resolutions just read refer to the comparative longevity of nations and of individual men, and of their respective performance, while existence lasts. among nations have arisen franklins and washingtons, humboldts and howards; but what individual nation of any period has been the plato or pythagoras, the howard or the humboldt of all the rest? or has achieved proportionally, so long a life? or expired at last in sunsets of serenity and glory, and been embalmed and enshrined in the tears and gratitude of mankind? it is often said that the life of a nation is as the life of an individual; with beginning, progress, decay, and dissolution. but the resemblance holds only in part. consciousness comes to an individual, and self-respect; and from that hour growth and greatness (it may be) begin. but with nations it is not so. the world has not made the same demand of nations as of individuals, and so nothing is expected of them. nations, hitherto, were badly brought up. in the light of a thousand years hence, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries will be "darker ages" than the eighth and ninth are to-day. accepting three-score and ten as the common life of an individual, a degree at least of honorable manhood is often achieved, both in personal virtues, and in noble performance. the canticles of the almanac used to run: at ten, a child; at twenty, wild; at thirty, strong, if ever; at forty, wise; at fifty, rich; at sixty, good, or never. but at what age has any nation of any period or place become wise, rich, or even strong; to say nothing of good? the roman catholic church is older than any civilized government on the globe. lord macaulay says: it is the only institution left standing which carries the mind back to the time when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the pantheon, and when tigers and camel leopards bounded in the flavian amphitheatre. the proudest royal houses are but of yesterday, compared with the line of the supreme pontiffs, traced back in unbroken series, from the pope who crowned napoleon in the nineteenth century, to the pope who crowned pepin in the eighth; and far beyond stretches the august dynasty, until it fades into the twilight of fable! she saw the commencement of all the governments on the globe, and of all the ecclesiastical establishments now existing; and there is no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all!" the world has an accepted chronology of six thousand years. its history and experience in government reach back forty centuries. it would be an interesting inquiry with what results governments have existed so long, especially in the later periods and among the most enlightened of the nations. charles the fifth boasted that his empire saw no setting sun. it included spain and all her vast american provinces, over large part of which to-day wave our own stars and stripes. the national escutcheon bore two globes; and the coin, the two pillars of hercules, the then acknowledged boundary of the eastern world, with the motto "more beyond." spain, under philip second, dictated law, learning, religion, especially religion, to unknown millions, not alone in europe, but in north and south america, africa and all the indies. and now in the remote south-western corner of europe is all that remains of this mighty power of the sixteenth century. france in the eighth century under charlemagne, was another mistress of the globe. and charlemagne was crowned by the pope, "sovereign of the new empire of the west." and yet, in less than fifty years all that mountain of magnificence exploded; and many rival nations sprang from its lava streams of blood and ashes! a remnant, too, of france was preserved; and its history for almost eight hundred years, "may be traced, like the tracks of a wounded man through a crowd, by the blood;" until it culminated in the french revolution ("suicide of the eighteenth century," as carlyle calls that terrible phenomenon) and napoleon bonaparte! and he also summoned to his coronation the roman pontiff, like his great predecessor of a thousand years before. and beneath the solemn arches and arcades of notre dame, was crowned by pope pius the seventh--"_the high and mighty napoleon, the first emperor of the french!_" plunging remorselessly into the most desolating wars, he soon astonished the civilized world with his successes. he made himself master of almost half the globe. the reign of napoleon was an earthquake which, for fifteen years, shook the sea and the land, carrying down innumerable human lives in the general cataclysm. but he sunk at last! he aspired to the very heaven of heavens in his ambitions; and his conquests were the wonder and terror of mankind. but he left france smaller, weaker, poorer, and more debased and depraved than he found her. just eight hundred years ago last september, william the norman landed in britain and commenced its subjugation. since that period, the history of great britain has not differed materially from that of other european nations. as the sun is said never to set on the british domain, so the thunder of its war-guns has reverberated almost continually in some corner of the globe. to trace her history, however rapidly, even had we time, could give no pleasure to this audience, and would add nothing to my present argument. it is sufficient to say that, with real estate almost immeasurable, with personal property incalculable, with a wealth of material resources of every conceivable description, absolutely unknown and unknowable, she yet contrives to support her costly establishment by a system of oppressive taxation almost unparalleled in the annals of the human race. some of you must remember the graphic but not exaggerated description of british taxation given by sidney smith in the _edinburgh review_. it was almost fifty years ago; but no less revenue must be raised in some way, still. he said: we have taxes upon everything which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed under the feet; taxes upon everything which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste; taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion; taxes on everything on earth, and in the waters under the earth; taxes on everything that comes from abroad, or is grown at home; taxes on the raw material, taxes on every fresh value added to it by the industry of man; taxes on the sauces which pamper man's appetite, and the drugs that restore him to health; taxes on the ermine which decorates the judge, and on the rope which hangs the criminal; on the poor man's salt and the rich man's spice; on the ribbons of the bride, on the shroud of the corpse, and the brass nails of the coffin. the school-boy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth rides his taxed horse, with a taxed saddle and bridle, on a taxed road; and the dying englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven per cent., into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent., flings himself back upon his chintz-bed, which has paid twenty-two per cent., and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a license of a hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. his whole property is then taxed from two to ten per cent. besides the probate, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel. his virtues are then handed down to posterity on taxed marble, and he is gathered to his fathers, to be taxed no more! and we are told, what is doubtless true, that the enormous debt of great britain is the chain that binds its many parts together, and preserves its nationality. no nation, then, ever maintained a more precarious existence. chartism in scotland, repeal in ireland, trades strikes everywhere, east india wars, irish famines, fenianism, reform leagues, reform riots, bread riots--all these attest how volcanic is its under stratum, and what dangers impend above. in some of the gloomy gorges of the alps, there are seasons of the year when no traveler passes but at the expense of life, on account of the terrible "_thunderbolts of snow_" that hang suspended on the sides or summits of the mountains. none can know their hour; but descend they must, by all the laws of gravitation, with resistless energy, sweeping all before them. at such times, all who pass creep along with trembling caution. they move in single file, at a distance from each other, hurrying fast as possible, with velvet step, avoiding all noise, even whispers--the guides meanwhile muffling the bells of the mules, lest the slightest vibration communicated to the air should untie the tremulous mass overhead and entomb them forever. great britain, with her frightful debt, her terrible taxation, her dissatisfied, restless, beggared myriads of the lower working classes, her remorseless aristocracy, her bloated spirit of caste, her enforced but heartless religion, has hung a more terrible avalanche over her head than ever leaped down the heights of the tyrol. such are examples of success or failure in attempts at government, among the proudest and most prosperous nations of the old world, in modern and what are called enlightened times. if seventy years be the life of a man, what should be the life of a nation? half the children born die under five years old. but proportionably a greater mortality prevails among nations and governments. not one nation has ever yet attained an honorable manhood. there is something rotten in the state of every denmark. will you tell me democracy, republicanism, consecrated by christianity, is the remedy for all these ills? let us look, then, at the best example. our own nation is not yet a hundred years old, but it had behind it in the beginning, the chronicles of forty or sixty centuries, written mostly in tears and blood. at the end of an eight years' revolutionary war, our new governmental columns were reared, not, like some pagan temples, on human skulls, but on the imbruted bodies and extinguished souls of five hundred thousand chattel slaves. we had our declaration of independence, our war of revolution, and a new constitution and code of laws. we had a washington for our first president, a john jay for chief justice of the supreme court, and a constellation of senators, statesmen, and sages who challenged the respect and admiration of mankind. we closed that dispensation with james buchanan as chief magistrate, and roger b. taney as chief-justice, with his diabolical dred scott decision, and with a war of treason and rebellion which deluged the land in the blood of more than half a million of men. we had multiplied our slaves to four millions, with new cruelties and horrors added to the system, and at least ten generations of them were lost in unknown graves. the new republican president pledged his official word and honor to the rebels already in arms, that, would they but return to their allegiance, he would favor amendments to the constitution that should not only render slave property more secure than ever before, but also make all its old guarantees and safeguards, _fugitive slave law and all_, forever "_irrevocable_" by any act or decree of congress! so were we endeavoring to bulwark and balustrade our slave-system about, in the name of a christian republicanism, when it was struck by the lightnings of a righteous retribution, and the world is rid of it forever. and our old nationality went down in the ruin. now we are divided, distracted, deranged in currency, commerce, diplomacy, with state and federal liabilities resting on the people, amounting to not less than six thousand millions of dollars, not to speak of current expenditures which are also appalling; with a president whose weakness finds no parallel but in his wickedness, with a secretary of state who has become his full counterpart in both, and a senate too cowardly, or too corrupt, to impeach the one or to seek the removal of the other! for more than two years we have been attempting to restore the fragments of our once boasted union. with the history and experience of forty centuries shining back upon us, so far we have failed. and under any existing or proposed policy we shall fail. by all the claims of justice and righteousness, we deserve to fail; for we are still defying those claims. the son of priam, a priest of apollo, was commissioned to offer a sacrifice to propitiate the god of the sea. but the offering not being acceptable, there came up two enormous serpents from the deep and attacked the priest and his two sons who stood with him at the altar. the father attempted to defend his sons; but the serpents falling upon him, enfolded him and them in their complicated coils, and strangled them to a terrible death. let this government beware. the very union proposed will only bind and hold us together as in the deadly folds of a serpent more fearful than all the fabled monsters of the past! and so, hitherto, republics are no exception to the general law. rickets in infancy, convulsions in childhood, or premature rheumatisms, have brought the nations of history to untimely deaths. material interests may flourish, and nations grow great and powerful, make wars and conquests, and rule the world. the ancients did all this, but where are those haughty omnipotences now? charlemagne did but little less, and in half a century his magnificence was brought to nought. spain survived a little longer in its glory and grandeur; but now the scanty blood-splash on the map describes it well. the united states, young among the nations, the mother earth six thousand years old at their birth, wet-nursed by forty centuries of history, and schooled by all the experience of the ages, with almost half a globe for their inheritance, with christianity faith and republicanism their form of government, they survived a precocious childhood and then fell a victim to their own vices and crimes. to-day they are in the hands of many physicians, though of doubtful reputation, who seem far less desirous to cure the patient than to divide and share the estate. my main point is this--we have had enough of the past in government. it is time to change. literally almost, more than metaphorically, the "times are rotten ripe." we come to-day to demand--first an extension of the right of suffrage to every american citizen, of whatever race, complexion or sex. manhood or _male_-hood suffrage is not a remedy for evils such as we wish removed. the anti-slavery society demands that; and so, too, do large numbers of both the political parties. even andrew johnson at first recommended it, in the reconstruction of the rebel states, for three classes of colored men. the new york _herald_, in the exuberance of its religious zeal, demanded that "members of christian churches" be added as a fourth estate to the three designated by the president. the woman's rights society contemplated suffrage only for woman. but we, as an equal rights association, recognize no distinctions based on sex, complexion or race. the ten commandments know nothing of any such distinctions. no more do we. the right of suffrage is as old, as sacred and as universal as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. it is indeed the complement and safeguard of these and all civil and political rights to every citizen. the right to life would be nothing without the right to acquire and possess the means of its support. so it were mockery to talk of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, until the ballot in the hand of every citizen seals and secures it. the right of the black man to a voice in the government was not earned at olustee or port hudson. it was his when life began, not when life was paid for it under the battle-axe of war. it was his with washington and jefferson, james buchanan and abraham lincoln. not one of them could ever produce a higher, holier claim. nor can any of us. we are prating about _giving_ the right of suffrage to black _male_ citizens, as complacently as we once gave our compassion and corn to famishing ireland. but this famine of freedom and justice exists because we have produced it. had our fleets and armies robbed ireland of its last loaf, and left its myriads of inhabitants lean, ghastly skeletons, our charity would not have been more a mockery when we sent them bread to preserve them alive, than it is now when we talk of _giving_ the ballot to those whom god created free and equal with ourselves. and in the plenitude of our generosity, we even propose to extend the _gift_ to woman also. it is proposed to make educated, cultivated, refined, loyal, tax-paying, government-obeying woman equal to the servants who groom her horses, and scour the pots and pans of her kitchen. our maria mitchells, our harriet hosmers, harriet beecher stowes, lydia maria childs, and lucretia motts, with millions of the mothers and matrons of quiet homes, where they preside with queenly dignity and grace, are begging of besotted, debauched white male citizens, legal voters, soaked in whisky, simmered in tobacco, and parboiled in every shameless vice and sin, to recognize them also as human, and graciously accord to them the rights of intelligent beings! and, singularly enough, in some of the states, it is proposed to grant the prayer. but the wisest and best men have no idea that they are only restoring what they have so long held by force, based on fraud and falsehood. they only propose to _give_ woman the boon which they claim was theirs by heavenly inheritance. but they are too late with their sublime generosity. for god gave that when he gave life and breath, passions, emotions, conscience, and will. give gold, give lands, give honors, give office, give title of nobility, if you must: but talk not of giving natural, inalienable and heaven-derived endowments. god alone bestows these. he alone has them to give. our trade in the right of suffrage is contraband. it is bold buccaneering on the commerce of the moral universe. if we have our neighbor's right of suffrage and citizenship in our keeping, no matter of what color, or race, or sex, then we have stolen goods in our possession--and god's search-warrant will pursue us forever, if those goods be not restored. and then we impudently assert that "all just governments derive their powers, from the consent of the governed." but when was the consent of woman ever asked to one single act on all the statute books? we talk of "trial by jury of our peers!" in this country of ours, women have been fined, imprisoned, scourged, branded with red hot irons and hung; but when, or where, or for what crime or offense, was ever woman tried by a jury of her peers? suffrage was never in the hands of tyrants or of governments, but by usurpation. it was never given by them to any of us. we brought it; not bought it; nor conquered it; nor begged it; nor earned it; nor inherited it. it was man's inalienable, irrepealable, inextinguishable right from the beginning. it is so still; the same yesterday, to-day, and while earthly governments last. it came with the right to see and hear; to breathe and speak; to think and feel; to love and hate; to choose and refuse; or it did not come at all. the right to see came with the eye and the light: did it not? and the right to breathe, with the lungs and the air; and all these from the same infinite source. and has not also the moral and spiritual nature its inalienable rights? have the mere bodily organs, which are but the larder of worms, born of the dust, and dust their destiny--have they power and prerogative that are denied to the reason, the understanding, the conscience, the will, those attributes which constitute responsibility, accountability, and immortality? or shall god give the power to choose, or refuse obedience to his law and reign, leaving the human will free as his own; and must mortal man, the mushroom of yesterday and perished to-morrow, usurp a higher and more dreadful prerogative, and compel support of and submission to laws in which the subject has no voice in making, executing, or even consenting, on pain of perpetual imprisonment, banishment, or death? must a brave soldier fight and bleed for the government, and, pruned of limbs, plucked of eyes, and scarred all over with the lead and iron hail of war--must he now hobble on his crutches up to a republican, democratic, yea, and a christian throne, and beg the boon of a ballot in that government, in defense of which he periled all, and lost all but bare life and breath, only because an african instead of a more indulgent sun looked upon him or his ancestors in their allotment of life? and then, when the claim of immortal manhood is superadded, the inalienable rights of the soul, in and of themselves, the rights of the reason, the understanding, the conscience, the will--what desperation is that which treads down all these claims, and rushes into seats of higher authority than were ever claimed by the eternal god, and denies him that right altogether! no white male citizen was ever born with three ballots in his hand, one his own by birthright, and to be used without restraint, the others to be granted, given to women and to colored men at his pleasure or convenience! such an idea should never have outraged our common humanity. and any bill or proposal for what is called "manhood suffrage," while it ignores womanhood suffrage, whether coming from the president or the republican party and sanctioned by the anti-slavery society, should be repudiated as at war with the whole spirit and genius of a true democracy, and a deadly stab into the very heart of justice itself. i have referred to the age of the roman catholic church. lord macaulay, in accounting for her astonishing longevity as compared with other institutions, turns with felicitous insight to female influence as one of the principal causes. in her system, he says, she assigns to devout women spiritual functions, dignities, and even magistracies. in england, if a pious and devout woman enter the cells of a prison to pray with the most unhappy and degraded of her sex, she does so without any authority from the church. indeed, the protestant church places the ban of its reprobation on any such irregularity. "at rome, the countess of huntingdon would have a place in the calendar as st. selina, and mrs. fry would be foundress and first superior of the blessed order of sisters of the jails." but even macaulay overlooks another element of power and permanence in the economy of the catholic church. god, as father, and as son, and as holy ghost, might inspire reverence and dread only in hearts that, at the shrine of the ever blessed mary, mother of god, would kindle into humble, holy and lasting love. frances power cobbe, though deprecating the doctrine of "mariolatry," as she terms the worship of the virgin, yet says of it, "the catholic world has found a great truth, that love, motherly tenderness and pity is a divine and holy thing, worthy of adoration.... what does this wide-spread sentiment regarding this new divinity indicate? it can surely only point to the fact that there was something lacking in the elder creed, which, as time went on, became a more and more sensible deficiency, till at last the instinct of the multitude filled it up in this amazing manner." when theodore parker, in his morning prayer on a beautiful summer sunday, addressed the all-loving as "our father and our mother," he struck a chord which will one day vibrate through the heart of universal humanity. it was a thought worth infinitely more than all the creeds of christendom. what if woman should even abuse the use of the ballot at first? man has been known to fail at first in a new pursuit. a maker of microscopes told me that, in a new attempt on a different kind of object-glass, he failed forty-nine times, but the fiftieth was a complete success. the poet of scotland intimates that even creative nature herself improved at a second trial; "her 'prentice hand she tried on man; and then she made the lasses, o!" must we be told that woman herself does not ask the ballot? then i submit to such, if such there be, the question is not one of privilege, but of duty--of solemn responsibility. if woman does not desire the ballot, demand it, take it, she sins against her own nature and all the holiest instincts of humanity, and can not too soon repent. after all, the question of suffrage is one of justice and right. unless human government be in itself an unnatural and impious usurpation, whoever renders it support and submission has a natural right to an equal voice in enacting and executing the laws. nor can one man, or millions on millions of men acquire or possess the power to withhold that right from the humblest human being of sane mind, but by usurpation, and by rebellion against the constitution of the moral universe. it would be robbery, though the giving of the right should induce all the predicted and dreaded evils of tyrants, cowards and white male citizens. be justice done though the heavens fall and the hells arise! nay, it is only justice, reared as a lightning-rod, that can shield any governmental fabric when the very heavens are falling in righteous retribution. the past mortality must last among nations, so long as they set at nought the divine economy and purpose in their formation. the human body may yield to decay and die, though the soul be imperishable and eternal. but nations, like souls, need not die. streams of new life flow into them, like rivers into the sea; and why should not the sea and the nations on its shores, roll on together with the ages? when governments shall learn to lay their foundations in righteousness, with eternal justice the chief corner-stone; when equal and impartial liberty shall be the acknowledged birthright of all, then will national life begin to be prolonged; and the death of a nation, were it possible, should be as though more than a pleiad had expired. no more would nation then lift up sword against nation; and the new jerusalem would indeed descend from god out of heaven and dwell among men. susan b. anthony made an appeal for contributions to the funds of the association, to enable it to carry on its work, especially in kansas. mrs rose said: after all, we come down to the root of all evil--to money. it is rather humiliating, after the discourse that we have just heard, that told us of the rise, and progress, and destruction of nations, of empires, and of republics, that we have to come down to dollars and cents. we live in an entirely practical age. i can show you in a few words that if we only had sufficient of that root of all evil in our hands, there would be no need of holding these meetings. we could obtain the elective franchise without making a single speech. give us $ , , , and we will have the elective franchise at the very next session of our legislature. (laughter and applause). but as we have not the $ , , we want , , voices. there are always two ways of obtaining an object. if we had had the money, we could have bought the legislature and the elective franchise long before now. but as we have not, we must create a public opinion, and for that we must have voices. i have always thought i was convinced not only of the necessity but of the great importance of obtaining the elective franchise for woman; but recently i have become satisfied that i never felt sufficiently that importance until now. just read your public papers and see how our senators and our members of the house are running round through the southern states to hold meetings, and to deliver public addresses. to whom? to the freedmen. and why now, and why not ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago? why do they get up meetings for the colored men, and call them fellow-men, brothers, and gentlemen? because the freedman has that talisman in his hands which the politician is looking after? don't you perceive, then, the importance of the elective franchise? perhaps when we have the elective franchise in our hands, these great senators will condescend to inform us too of the importance of obtaining our rights. you need not be afraid that when woman has the franchise, men will ever disturb her. i presume there are present, as there always are such people, those of timid minds, chicken-hearted, who so admire and respect woman that they are dreadfully afraid lest, when she comes to the ballot-box, rude, uncouth, and vulgar men will say something to disturb her. you may set your hearts all at rest. if we once have the elective franchise, upon the first indication that any man will endeavor to disturb a woman in her duty at the polls, congress will enact another freedman's bureau--i beg pardon, a freedwoman's bureau--to protect women against men, and to guard the purity of the ballot-box at the same time. i have sometimes been asked, even by sensible men, "if woman had the elective franchise, would she go to the polls to mix with rude men?" well, would i go to the church to mix with rude men? and should not the ballot-box be as respectable, and as respected, and as sacred as the church? aye, infinitely more so, because it is of greater importance. men can pray in secret, but must vote in public. (applause). hence the ballot-box, of the two, ought to be the most respected; and it would be if women were once there; but it never will be until they are there. our rights are as old as humanity itself. yet we are obliged to ask man to give us the ballot, because he has it in his own hand. it is ours, and at the same time we ask for it; and have sent our petitions to congress. we have been told that the republic is not destroyed; it has been destroyed root and branch, because, if it were not, there would be no need to reconstruct it. and we have asked congress, in the reconstruction, to place it upon a sound foundation. why have all former republics vanished out of existence? simply because they were built upon the sand. in the erection of a building, in proportion to the height of the walls must be the depth and soundness of the foundation. if the foundation is shallow or unsound, the higher you raise your superstructure the surer its downfall. that is the reason a republic has not existed as long as a monarchy, because it embraced principles of human rights in its superstructure which it denied in its foundation. hence, before this republic could count a hundred years, it has had one of the mightiest revolutions that ever occurred in any country or in any period of human existence. its foundation was laid wrong. it made a republic for white men alone. it discriminated against color; it discriminated against sex; and at the same time it pronounced that all men are created free and equal, and endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. it raised its superstructure to the clouds; and it has fallen as low as any empire could fall. it is divided. a house divided against itself can not stand. a wrong always operates against itself and falls back on the wrong-doer. we have proclaimed to the world universal suffrage; but it is universal suffrage excluding the negro and the woman, who are by far the largest number in this country. it is not the majority that rules here, but the minority. white men are in the minority in this nation. white women, black men, and black women compose the large majority of the nation. yet in spite of this fact, in spite of common sense, in spite of justice, while our members of congress can prate so long about justice, and human rights, and the rights of the negro, they have not the moral courage to say anything for the rights of woman. in proportion to power is responsibility. our republican senators and members of congress have taken upon themselves great power. they have made great professions. there is a very good maxim, "of him to whom much is given, much shall be required." in proportion to their claims to be friends of human freedom, lovers of human rights, do we demand of them our rights and justice. it is a shame to talk about licensing a social evil. it is a shame to this republic. it is a violation of woman's nature. it is an insult to womanhood; and if woman has one drop of pure blood stirring in her heart, she must revolt against it. at the same time, i say to the legislature that, if you enact laws against social evils, whatever those laws are, let them be alike for man and for woman. (applause.) if you want to derive a revenue from the corruption of the community, let it be drawn alike from both sexes. the social evil belongs to both; the social remedy must belong to both. do not degrade woman any more than she is already degraded. perchance she is driven, through your injustice, to that step to maintain her wretched existence, because every office of emolument is barred against her. let woman have the franchise; let all the avenues of society be thrown open before her, according to her powers and her capacities, and there will be no need to talk about social evils. major james haggerty said: it is no new thing for me to be found among anti-slavery people. i believe it was among anti-slavery people that i received my american culture. i see the old faces here upon this platform and in this house--some that i first met when i landed in this country, in --parker pillsbury, as remorseless as ever; mrs. stanton, as bold and strong for the truth as ever. i see the same uncompromising people here, and i feel that i have been as uncompromising as any of them; for, although i have been and am identified with the republican party in politics, no man ever heard me, on any platform, compromise the rights of another. woman's rights is an idea against which my prejudices array themselves, but my logic says, if you would be a true man, you must raise your voice for equal rights. (applause.) i have seen the effect of the suffrage. in the district of columbia, during the election, i saw men who had been called doughfaces walk up to the black man and profess to be so much more anti-slavery than the best anti-slavery men, that i have got the idea that it will not be five years before the northern democrat will be swearing to the black men that he has negro blood in his veins: (laughter.) ... i come upon this platform to-night to identify myself with this new effort. i hope you may prosper; and so far as a dollar of mine, or my voice may go, you shall have it. i confess candidly that it is logic that drives me here, in spite of my prejudices. it is the discourses of mrs. stanton, of mrs. mott, of others that have spoken and written; and it is coming in contact with strong womanly mind. if we accept the convictions that come to us, we shall be all right; and i will do as the lady who has just spoken said that she would do--not be governed by mere party, but by the moral bearings of the questions that arise, and vote upon the side of god and justice. (applause.) frances d. gage said: _mrs. president_--it seems to be my fate to come in at the eleventh hour. we have been talking about the right to the ballot. why do we want it? what does it confer? we closed our argument at three o'clock to-day by a discussion whether the women of this country and the colored men of this country wanted the ballot. i said it was a libel on woman to say she did not want it; and i repeat that assertion.... last evening i attended the meeting of the national temperance association at cooper institute. a great audience was assembled there to listen to the arguments against the most gigantic evil that now pervades the american republic. men took the position that only a prohibitory law could put an end to the great evil of intemperance. new york has its two hundred millions of invested capital to sell death and destruction to the men of this country who are weak enough to purchase. there are eight thousand licensed liquor establishments in this city, to drag down humanity. it was asserted there by wendell phillips that intemperance had its root in our saxon blood, that demanded a stimulus; and he argued from that standpoint. if intemperance has its root in the saxon blood, that demands a stimulus, why is it that the womanhood of this nation is not at the grog-shops to-day? are women not saxons? it was asserted, both by mr. phillips and president hopkins, of union college, that the liquor traffic must be regulated by law. a man may do what he likes in his own house, said they; he may burn his furniture; he may take poison; he may light his cigar with his greenbacks; but if he carries his evil outside of his own house, if he increases my taxes, if he makes it dangerous for me or for my children to walk the streets, then it may be prohibited by law. i was at harrisburgh, a few days ago, at the state temperance convention. horace greeley asserted that there was progress upon the subject of temperance; and he went back to the time when ardent spirits were drank in the household, when every table had its decanter, and the wife, children, and husband drank together. now, said he, it is a rare thing to find the dram-bottle in the home. it has been put out. but what put the dram-bottle out of the home? it was put out because the education and refinement and power of woman became so strong in the home, that she said, "it must go out; we can't have it here." (applause.) then the voters of the united states, the white male citizens, went to work and licensed these nuisances that could not be in the home, at all the corners of the streets. i demand the ballot for woman to-day, that she may vote down these nuisances, the dram-shops, there also, as she drove them out of the home. (applause.) what privilege does the vote give to the "white male citizen" of the united states? did you ever analyze a voter--hold him up and see what he was? shall i give you a picture of him? not as my friend parker pillsbury has drawn the picture to-night will i draw it. what is the "white male citizen"--the voter in the republic of the united states? more than any potentate or any king in all europe. louis napoleon dares not walk the streets of his own city without his body-guard around him with their bayonets. the czar of russia is afraid for his own life among his people. kings and potentates are always afraid; but the "free white male citizen" of the united states, with the ballot in his hand, goes where he lists, does what he pleases. he owns himself, his earnings, his genius, his talent, his eloquence, his power, all there is of him. all that god has given him is his, to do with as he pleases, subject to no power but such laws as have an equal bearing upon every other man in like circumstances, and responsible to no power but his own conscience and his god. he builds colleges; he lifts up humanity or he casts it down. he is the lawgiver, the maker as it were of the nation. his single vote may turn the destiny of the whole republic for good or ill. there is no link in the chain of human possibilities that can add one single power to the "white male citizen" of america. now we ask that you shall put into the hands of every human being this same power to go forward and do good works wherever it can. the country has rung within the last few days because one colored girl, with a little black blood in her veins, has been cast out of the pittsburgh methodist college. it ought to ring until such a thing shall be impossible. but when cambridge and yale and union and all the other institutions of the country, west point included, aided by national patronage, shut out every woman in the land, who has anything to say? there is not a single college instituted by the original government patronage of lands to public schools and colleges, that allows a woman to set her foot inside of its walls as a student. is this no injustice? is it no wrong? when men stand upon the public platform and deliver elaborate essays on women and their right of suffrage, they talk about their weakness, their devotion to fashion and idleness. what else have they given women to do? almost every profession in the land is filled by men; every college sends forth the men to fill the highest places. when the law said that no married woman should do business in her own name, sue or be sued, own property, own herself or her earnings, what had she to do? that laid the foundation for precisely the state of things you see to-day. but i deny that, as a class, the women of america, black or white, are idle. we are always busy. what have we done? look over this audience, go out upon your streets, go through the world where you will, and every human soul you meet is the work of woman. she has given it life; she has educated it, whether for good or evil, because god gave her the holiest mission ever laid upon the heart of a human soul--the mission of the mother. we are told that home is woman's sphere. so it is, and man's sphere, too, for i tell you that that is a poor home which has not in it a man to feel that it is the most sacred place he knows. if duty requires him to go out into the world and fight its battles, who blames him, or puts a ban upon him? men complain that woman does not love home now; that she is not satisfied with her mission. i answer that this discontent arises out of the one fact, that you have attempted to mould seventeen millions of human souls in one shape, and make them all do one thing. take away your restrictions, open all doors, leave women at liberty to go where they will. the caged bird forgets how to build its nest. the wing of the eagle is as strong to soar to the sun as that of her mate, who never says to her, "back, feeble one, to your nest, and there brood in dull inactivity until i give you permission to leave!" but when her duties called her there, who ever found her unfaithful to her trust? the foot of the wild roe is as strong and swift in the race as that of her antlered companion. she goes by his side, she feeds in the same pasture, drinks from the same running brook, but is ever true also to her maternal duties and cares. if we are a nation of imbeciles, if womanhood is weak, it is the laws and customs of society which have made us what we are. if you want health, strength, energy, force, temperance, purity, honesty, deal justly with the mothers of this country: then they will give you nobler and stronger men than higgling politicians, or the grog-shop emissaries that buy up the votes of your manhood. it has been charged upon woman that she does nothing well. what have you given us to do well? what freedom have you given us to act independently and earnestly? when i was in san domingo, i found a little colony of american colored people that went over there in . they retained their american customs, and especially their little american church, outside of the catholic, which overspread the whole country. in an obscure room in an old ruin they sung the old hymns, and lived the old life of the united states. i asked how this thing was, and they answered that among those that went over so long ago were a few from chester county, pennsylvania, who were brought up among the quakers, and had learned to read. wherever a mother had learned to read, she had educated all her children so that they could read; but wherever there was a mother that could not read, that family had lapsed off from the old customs of the past.... a friend of mine, writing from charleston the other day, just after the ballot went down there, says that he was told by a colored man, "i met my old master, and he bowed so low to me i didn't hardly know which was the negro and which was the white man." when we hold the ballot, we shall stand just there. men will forget to tell us that politics are degrading. they will bow low, and actually respect the women to whom they now talk platitudes, and silly flatteries; sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks, pearly teeth, ruby lips, the soft and delicate hands of refinement and beauty, will not be the burden of their song; but the strength, the power, the energy, the force, the intellect, and the nerve, which the womanhood of this country will bring to bear, and which will infuse itself through all the ranks of society, must make all its men and women wiser and better. [applause]. the association then adjourned until friday morning, - / o'clock. second day. friday morning, _may , _. the meeting was called to order by the president, and the secretary read some additional resolutions.[ ] charles l. remond objected to the last of the resolution, and desired that the word "colored" might be stricken out. it might be that colored men would obtain their rights before women; but if so, he was confident they would heartily acquiesce in admitting women also to the right of suffrage. the president (mrs. mott) said that woman had a right to be a little jealous of the addition of so large a number of men to the voting class, for the colored men would naturally throw all their strength upon the side of those opposed to woman's enfranchisement. george t. downing wished to know whether he had rightly understood that mrs. stanton and mrs. mott were opposed to the enfranchisement of the colored man, unless the ballot should also be accorded to woman at the same time. mrs. stanton said: all history proves that despotisms, whether of one man or millions, can not stand, and there is no use of wasting centuries of men and means in trying that experiment again. hence i have no faith or interest in any reconstruction on that old basis. to say that politicians always do one thing at a time is no reason why philosophers should not enunciate the broad principles that underlie that one thing and a dozen others. we do not take the right step for this hour in demanding suffrage for any class; as a matter of principle i claim it for all. but in a narrow view of the question as a matter of feeling between classes, when mr. downing puts the question to me, are you willing to have the colored man enfranchised before the woman, i say, no; i would not trust him with all my rights; degraded, oppressed himself, he would be more despotic with the governing power than even our saxon rulers are. i desire that we go into the kingdom together, for individual and national safety demand that not another man be enfranchised without the woman by his side. stephen s. foster, basing the demand for the ballot upon the natural right of the citizen, felt bound to aid in conferring it upon any citizen deprived of it irrespective of its being granted or denied to others. even, therefore, if the enfranchisement of the colored man would probably retard the enfranchisement of woman, we had no right for that reason to deprive him of his right. the right of each should be accorded at the earliest possible moment, neither being denied for any supposed benefit to the other. charles l. remond said that if he were to lose sight of expediency, he must side with mrs. stanton, although to do so was extremely trying; for he could not conceive of a more unhappy position than that occupied by millions of american men bearing the name of freedmen while the rights and privileges _free_ men are still denied them. mrs. stanton said: that is equaled only by the condition of the women by their side. there is a depth of degradation known to the slave women that man can never feel. to give the ballot to the black man is no security to the woman. saxon men have the ballot, yet look at their women, crowded into a few half-paid employments. look at the starving, degraded class in our , dens of infamy and vice if you would know how wisely and generously man legislates for woman. rev. samuel j. may, in reply to mr. remond's objection to the resolution, said that the word "colored" was necessary to convey the meaning, since there is no demand now made for the enfranchisement of men, as a class. his amendment would take all the color out of the resolution. no man in this country had made such sacrifices for the cause of liberty as wendell phillips; and if just at this moment, when the great question for which he has struggled thirty years seemed about to be settled, he was unwilling that anything should be added to it which might in any way prejudice the success about to crown his efforts, it was not to be wondered at. he was himself of the opinion, on the contrary, that by asking for the rights of all, we should be much more likely to obtain the rights of the colored man, than by making that a special question. he would rejoice at the enfranchisement of colored men, and believed that mrs. stanton would, though that were all we could get at the time. yet, if we rest there, and allow the reconstruction to be completed, leaving out the better half of humanity, we must expect further trouble; and it might be a more awful and sanguinary civil war than that which we have just experienced. george t. downing desired that the convention should express its opinion upon the point he had raised; and, therefore, offered the following resolution: _resolved_, that while we regret that the right sentiment, which would secure to women the ballot, is not as general as we would have it, nevertheless we wish it distinctly understood that we rejoice at the increasing sentiment which favors the enfranchisement of the colored man. mr. downing understood mrs. stanton to refuse to rejoice at a _part_ of the good results to be accomplished, if she could not achieve the whole, and he wished to ask if she was unwilling the colored man should have the vote until the women could have it also? he said we had no right to refuse an act of justice upon the assumption that it would be followed by an act of injustice. mrs. stanton replied she demanded the ballot for all. she asked for reconstruction on the basis of self-government; but if we are to have further class legislation, she thought the wisest order of enfranchisement was to take the educated classes first. if women are still to be represented by men, then i say let only the highest type of manhood stand at the helm of state. but if all men are to vote, black and white, lettered and unlettered, washed and unwashed, the safety of the nation as well as the interests of woman demand that we outweigh this incoming tide of ignorance, poverty, and vice, with the virtue, wealth, and education of the women of the country. with the black man you have no new force in government--it is manhood still; but with the enfranchisement of woman, you have a new and essential element of life and power. would horace greeley, wendell phillips, gerrit smith, or theodore tilton be willing to stand aside and trust their individual interests, and the whole welfare of the nation, to the lowest strata of manhood? if not, why ask educated women, who love their country, who desire to mould its institutions on the highest idea of justice and equality, who feel that their enfranchisement is of vital importance to this end, why ask them to stand aside while , , ignorant men are ushered into the halls of legislation? edward m. davis asked what had been done with mr. burleigh's amendment. the chair--no action was taken upon it, as no one seconded it. abby kelly foster said: i am in new york for medical treatment, not for speech-making; yet i must say a few words in relation to a remark recently made on this platform--that "the negro should not enter the kingdom of politics before woman, because he would be an additional weight against her enfranchisement." were the negro and woman in the same civil, social, and religious status to-day, i should respond aye, with all my heart, to this sentiment. what are the facts? you say the negro has the civil rights bill, also the military reconstruction bill granting him suffrage. it has been well said, "he has the title deed to liberty, but is not yet in the possession of liberty." he is treated as a slave to-day in the several districts of the south. without wages, without family rights, whipped and beaten by thousands, given up to the most horrible outrages, without that protection which his value as property formerly gave him. again, he is liable without farther guarantees, to be plunged into peonage, serfdom or even into chattel slavery. have we any true sense of justice, are we not dead to the sentiment of humanity if we shall wish to postpone his security against present woes and future enslavement till woman shall obtain political rights? rev. henry ward beecher said: it seems that my modesty in not lending my name has been a matter of some grief. i will try hereafter to be less modest. when i get my growth i hope to overcome that. i certainly should not have been present to-day, except that a friend said to me that some who were expected had not come. when a cause is well launched and is prospering, i never feel specially called to help it. when a cause that i believe to be just is in the minority, and is struggling for a hearing, then i should always be glad to be counted among those who were laboring for it in the days when it lacked friends. i come to bear testimony, not as if i had not already done it, but again, as confirmed by all that i have read, whether of things written in england or spoken in america, in the belief that this movement is not the mere progeny of a fitful and feverish _ism_--that it is not a mere frothing eddy whose spirit is but the chafing of the water upon the rock--but that it is a part of that great tide which follows the drawing of heaven itself. i believe it to be so. i trust that it will not be invidious if i say, therefore, i hope the friends of this cause will not fall out by the way. if the division of opinion amounts merely to this, that you have two blades, and therefore can cut, i have no objection to it; but if there is such a division of opinion in respect to mere details, how important those details are, among friends that are one at the bottom where principles are, that there is to be a falling out there, i shall exceedingly regret it; i shall regret that our strength is weakened, when we need it to be augmented most, or concentrated. all my lifetime the great trouble has been that in merely speculative things theologians have been such furious logicians, have picked up their premises, and rushed with them with race-horse speed to such remote conclusions, that in the region of ideas our logical minds have become accustomed to draw results as remote as the very eternities from any premises given. my difficulty on the other hand, has been that in practical matters, owing to the existence of this great mephitic swamp of slavery, men have been utterly unwilling to draw conclusions at all; and that the most familiar principles of political economy or politics have been enunciated, and then always docked off short. men would not allow them to go to their natural results, in the class of questions in society. we have had raised up before us the necessity of maintaining the union by denying conclusions. the most dear and sacred and animating principles of religion have been restrained, because they would have such a bearing upon slavery, and men felt bound to hold their peace. our most profound and broadly acknowledged principles of liberty have been enunciated and passed over, without carrying them out and applying them to society, because it would interrupt the peace of the nation. that time is passed away; and as the result of it has come in a joy and a perfect appetite on the part of the public. i have been a careful observer for more than thirty-five years, for i came into public life, i believe, about the same time with the lady who has just sat down (mrs. foster), although i am not so much worn by my labors as she seems to have been. for thirty-five years i have observed in society its impetus checked, and a kind of lethargy and deadness in practical ethics, arising from fear of this prejudicial effect upon public economy. i have noticed that in the last five years there has been a revolution as perfect as if it had been god's resurrection in the graveyard. the dead men are living, and the live men are thrice alive. i can scarcely express my sense of the leap the public mind and the public moral sense have taken within this time. the barrier is out of the way. that which made the american mind untrue logically to itself is smitten down by the hand of god; and there is just at this time an immense tendency in the public mind to carry out all principles to their legitimate conclusions, go where they will. there never was a time when men were so practical, and so ready to learn. i am not a farmer, but i know that the spring comes but once in the year. when the furrow is open is the time to put in your seed, if you would gather a harvest in its season. now, when the red-hot plowshare of war has opened a furrow in this nation, is the time to put in the seed. if any man says to me, "why will you agitate the woman's question, when it is the hour for the black man?" i answer, it is the hour for every man, black or white. (applause.) the bees go out in the morning to gather the honey from the morning-glories. they take it when they are open, for by ten o'clock they are shut, and they never open again until the next crop comes. when the public mind is open, if you have anything to say, say it. if you have any radical principles to urge, any organizing wisdom to make known, don't wait until quiet times come. don't wait until the public mind shuts up altogether. war has opened the way for impulse to extend itself. but progress goes by periods, by jumps and spurts. we are in the favored hour; and if you have great principles to make known, this is the time to advance those principles. if you can organize them into institutions, this is the time to organize them. i therefore say, whatever truth is to be known for the next fifty years in this nation let it be spoken now--let it be enforced now. the truth that i have to urge is not that women have the right of suffrage--not that chinamen or irishmen have the right of suffrage--not that native born yankees have the right of suffrage--but that suffrage is the inherent right of mankind. i say that man has the right of suffrage as i say that man has the right to himself. for although it may not be true under the russian government, where the government does not rest on the people, and although under our own government a man has not a right to himself, except in accordance with the spirit and action of our own institutions, yet our institutions make the government depend on the people, and make the people depend on the government; and no man is a full citizen, or fully competent to take care of himself, or to defend himself, who has not all those rights that belong to his fellows. i therefore advocate no sectional rights, no class rights, no sex rights, but the most universal form of right for all that live and breathe on the continent. i do not put back the black man's emancipation; nor do i put back for a single day or for an hour his admission. i ask not that he should wait. i demand that this work shall be done, not upon the ground that it is politically expedient now to enfranchise black men; but i propose that you take expediency out of the way, and that you put a principle that is more enduring than expediency in the place of it--manhood and womanhood suffrage for all. that is the question. you may just as well meet it now as at any other time. you never will have so favorable an occasion, so sympathetic a heart, never a public reason so willing to be convinced as to-day. if anything is to be done for the black man, or the black woman, or for the disfranchised classes among the whites, let it be done, in the name of god, while his providence says, "come; come all, and come welcome." but i take wisdom from some with whom i have not always trained. if you would get ten steps, has been the practical philosophy of some who are not here to-day, demand twenty, and then you will get ten. now, even if i were to confine--as i by no means do--my expectation to gaining the vote for the black man, i think we should be much more likely to gain that by demanding the vote for everybody. i remember that when i was a boy dr. spurzheim came to this country to advocate phrenology, but everybody held up both hands--"phrenology! you must be running mad to have the idea that phrenology can be true!" it was not long after that, mesmerism came along; and then the people said, "mesmerism! we can go phrenology; there is some sense in that; but as for mesmerism--!" very soon spiritualism made its appearance, and then the same people began to say, "spiritualism! why it is nothing but mesmerism; we can believe in that; but as for spiritualism--!" (laughter.) the way to get a man to take a position is to take one in advance of it, and then he will drop into the one you want him to take. so that if, being crafty, i desire to catch men with guile, and desire them to adopt suffrage for colored men, as good a trap as i know of is to claim it for women also. bait your trap with the white woman, and i think you will catch the black man. (laughter.) i would not, certainly, have it understood that we are standing here to advocate this universal application of the principle merely to secure the enfranchisement of the colored citizen. we do it in good faith. i believe it is just as easy to carry the enfranchisement of all as the enfranchisement of any class, and easier to carry it than carry the enfranchisement of class after class--class after class. (applause.) i make this demand because i have the deepest sense of what is before us. we have entered upon an era such as never before has come to any nation. we are at a point in the history of the world where we need a prophet, and have none to describe to us those events rising in the horizon thick and fast. sometimes it seems to me that that latter day glory which the prophets dimly saw, and which saints have ever since, with faintness of heart, longed for and prayed for with wavering faith, is just before us. i see the fountains of the great deep broken up. i think we are to have a nation born in a day among us, greater in power of thought, greater in power of conscience, greater therefore in self-government, greater still in the power of material development. such thrift, such skill, such enterprise, such power of self-sustentation i think is about to be developed, to say nothing of the advance already made before the nations, as will surprise even the most sanguine and far-sighted. nevertheless, while so much is promised, there are all the attendant evils. it is a serious thing to bring unwashed, uncombed, untutored men, scarcely redeemed from savagery, to the ballot-box. it is a dangerous thing to bring the foreigner, whose whole secular education was under the throne of the tyrant, and put his hand upon the helm of affairs in this free nation. it is a dangerous thing to bring men without property, or the expectation of it, into the legislative halls to legislate upon property. it is a dangerous thing to bring woman, unaccustomed to and undrilled in the art of government, suddenly into the field to vote. these are dangerous things; i admit it. but i think god says to us, "by that danger i put every man of you under the solemn responsibility of preparing these persons effectually for their citizenship." are you a rich man, afraid of your money? by that fear you are called to educate the men who you are afraid will vote against you. we are in a time of danger. i say to the top of society, just as sure as you despise the bottom, you shall be left like the oak tree that rebelled against its own roots--better that it be struck with lightning. take a man from the top of society or the bottom, and if you will but give himself to himself, give him his reason, his moral nature, and his affections; take him with all his passions and his appetites, and develop him, and you will find he has the same instinct for self-government that you have. god made a man just as much to govern himself as a pyramid to stand on its own bottom. self-government is a boon intended for all. this is shown in the very organization of the human mind, with its counterbalances and checks.... we are underpinning and undergirding society. let us put under it no political expediency, but the great principle of manhood and womanhood, not merely cheating ourselves by a partial measure, but carrying the nation forward to its great and illustrious future, in which it will enjoy more safety, more dignity, more sublime proportions, and a health that will know no death. (applause.) henry c. wright said that circumstances had made wendell phillips and others, leaders in the anti-slavery movement, as they had made mrs. stanton and others leaders in this; and while they all desired the enfranchisement of both classes, it was no more than right that each should devote his energies to his own movement. there need not be, and should not be any antagonism between the two. miss anthony said--the question is not, is this or that person right, but what are the principles under discussion. as i understand the difference between abolitionists, some think this is harvest time for the black man, and seed-sowing time for woman. others, with whom i agree, think we have been sowing the seed of individual rights, the foundation idea of a republic for the last century, and that this is the harvest time for all citizens who pay taxes, obey the laws and are loyal to the government. (applause.) mr. remond said: in an hour like this i repudiate the idea of expediency. all i ask for myself i claim for my wife and sister. let our action be based upon the rock of everlasting principle. no class of citizens in this country can be deprived of the ballot without injuring every other class. i see how equality of suffrage in the state of new york is necessary to maintain emancipation in south carolina. do not moral principles, like water, seek a common level? slavery in the southern states crushed the right of free speech in massachusetts and made slaves of saxon men and women, just as the $ qualification in the constitution of this state degrades and enslaves black men all over the union. mr. pillsbury protested against the use of the few last moments of this meeting in these discussions. we should be now only "a committee of ways and means," and future work should be the business in hand. mr. downing presented an unnecessary issue. government will never ask us which should enter into citizenship first, the woman or the colored man, or whether we prefer one to the other. indeed government has given the colored man the ballot already. we are demanding suffrage equally, not unequally. mrs. stanton's private opinion, be it what it may, has nothing to do with the general question. the white voters are mostly opposed to woman's suffrage. so will the colored men be, probably; at least so she believes, as mrs. mott also suggested very strongly, and a million or more of them added to the present opposition and indifference, are not a slight consideration. mrs. stanton does not believe in loving her neighbor _better_ than herself. justice to one class does not mean injustice to another. woman has as good a right to the ballot as the black man--no better. were i a colored man, and had reason to believe that should woman obtain her rights she would use them to the prejudice of mine, how could i labor very zealously in her behalf? it should be enough for mr. downing and all who stand with him that mrs. stanton does not demand one thing for herself as to rights, or time of obtaining them, which she does not cheerfully, earnestly demand for all others, regardless of color or sex. miss anthony read the following telegram from lucy stone: "atchison, kansas, may , . "impartial suffrage, _without regard to color or sex_, will succeed by overwhelming majorities. kansas leads the world! lucy stone." miss anthony also read a hopeful and interesting letter from hon. s. n. wood, of kansas, showing his plans for the canvass of that state. josephine griffing said: i am well satisfied that this convention ought not to adjourn until a similar plan is laid out for all the states in the union, and especially for the district of columbia. this being a national convention, it seems peculiarly appropriate that it should begin its work at the district of columbia. the proposition has already been made there, and the parties have discussed its merits. the question of the franchise arose from the great fact that at the south there were four millions of people unrepresented. the fact of woman's being also unrepresented is now becoming slowly understood. it is easier now to talk and act upon that subject in the district of columbia than ever before, or than it will be again. even the president has said that if woman in the district of columbia shall intelligently ask for the right of franchise, he shall by no means veto it. to my mind the enfranchisement of woman is a settled fact. we can not reconstruct this government until the franchise shall be given not merely to the four millions but to the fifteen millions. we can not successfully reconstruct our government unless we go to the foundation. let us apply all the force we can to the lever, for we have a great body to lift. no matter how ready the public is, we can accomplish nothing unless we have some plan, and unless we have workers. i presume none of us are aware how many laws there are upon the statute books disabling our rights. when the judges in the district of columbia were to decide who were to vote and who were not to vote, the question arose who could be appointed officers of the city; and it was found that there was a law that no one could be appointed a judge of elections who had not paid a tax upon real estate in the district of columbia, a law which almost defeats all the work which has been done during the canvass of the last eight weeks in that district. there is work yet to be done there, and so we shall find it at every step. i am thankful with all my heart and soul that the people have at last consented to the enfranchisement of two millions of black men. i recognize that, as the load is raised one inch, we must work by degrees, accepting every inch, every hair's breadth gained toward the right. i welcome the enfranchisement of the negro as a step toward the enfranchisement of woman. miss anthony said we seem to be blessed with telegrams, with cheering news from kansas, and read the following from s. n. wood: atchison, kansas, may , . "with the help of god and lucy stone, we shall carry kansas! the world moves! sam wood." these telegrams were received with much applause. the resolutions were then put to vote, and unanimously carried, and officers were elected for the ensuing year.[ ] sojourner truth was called for and said: i am glad to see that men are getting their rights, but i want women to get theirs, and while the water is stirring i will step into the pool. now that there is a great stir about colored men's getting their rights is the time for women to step in and have theirs. i am sometimes told that "women aint fit to vote. why, don't you know that a woman had seven devils in her: and do you suppose a woman is fit to rule the nation?" seven devils aint no account; a man had a legion in him. [great laughter]. the devils didn't know where to go; and so they asked that they might go into the swine. they thought that was as good a place as they came out from. [renewed laughter]. they didn't ask to go into sheep--no, into the hog; that was the selfishest beast; and man is so selfish that he has got women's rights and his own too, and yet he won't give women their rights. he keeps them all to himself. if a woman did have seven devils, see how lovely she was when they were cast out, how much she loved jesus, how she followed him. when the devils were gone out of the man, he wanted to follow jesus, too, but jesus told him to go home, and didn't seem to want to have him round. and when the men went to look for jesus at the sepulchre they didn't stop long enough to find out whether he was there or not; but mary stood there and waited, and said to him, thinking it was the gardener, "tell me where they have laid him and i will carry him away." see what a spirit there is. just so let women be true to this object, and the truth will reign triumphant. alfred h. love (president of the universal peace society) said: your president paid the universal peace society two visits; and some of us, in turn, are here to reciprocate. the universal peace society, knowing that we must have purity before we can have peace, knowing that we need our mothers, wives, and daughters with us, knowing that we need the morality, the courage, and the patience of the colored man with us, adopted as our first resolution that the ballot is a peacemaker, and that with equality there can be no war; and in another resolution we have said that women and colored men are entitled to the ballot. therefore, you have us upon the same platform, working for you in the best way we can. we mean no cowardly peace; we mean such a peace as demands justice and equality, and world-wide philanthropy. i put the ballot of to-day under my foot, and say i can not use it until the mother that reared me can have the same privilege; until the colored man, who is my equal, can have it. e. h. heywood of boston, said he could hardly see what business men had upon this platform, considering how largely responsible they are for the conditions against which women struggle, except to confess their sins. men had usurped the government, and shut up women in the kitchen. it was a sad fact that woman did not speak for herself. it was because she was crowded so low that she could not speak. woman wanted not merely the right to vote, but the right to labor. the average life of the factory girl in lowell was only four years, as shown by a legislative investigation. new avenues for labor must be opened. it is said that the women on this platform are coquetting with the democrats. why shouldn't they? the democrats say, "talk of negro suffrage, and then refuse women the right to vote. all i have to say is, when the negroes of connecticut go to the polls, my wife and daughter will go, too." evening session. the meeting was called to order by mrs. stanton. miss anthony read another letter from hon. s. n. wood, of kansas, received since the morning session. frances d. gage was then introduced: it is not to-day as it was before the war. it is not to-day as it was before woman took her destiny in her hand and went out upon the battle-fields, and into the camp, and endured hunger and cold for the sake of her country. the whole country has been vitalized by this war. what if woman did not carry the bayonet on the battle-field? she carried that which gave more strength and energy. traveling through illinois, i saw the women bind the sheaf, bring in the harvest and plow the fields, that men might fight the battles. when such women come up now and ask for the right of suffrage, who will deny their request? in the winter of , the law was passed in new york giving to married women the right to their own earnings. it was said frequently then that women did not want the right to their own earnings. we were asked if we wanted to create separation in families. but did any revolution or any special trouble grow out of this recognition of woman's right? you see women everywhere to-day earnestly striving to find a place to earn their bread. madame demorest has become a leader of fashion, teaching women to make up what stewart imports; and she has a branch establishment in every large city in the union clear to montana. i do not know but some of those ladies cutting out garments, and setting the fashions of the day, might aspire to the presidential chair; and perhaps they would be quite as capable as the present incumbent--a tailor. [applause]. three years ago i found myself without the means of life. i wanted a home. i had read about the beauties of a home, and woman's appropriate sphere; and so i got a little home, and went into it, and tried to get work. my old eyes would not see to sew nicely, i was too feeble to wash, and so i tended the garden. after a year had gone by i found that staying in this beautiful home, and placing myself in woman's sphere had not brought me a dollar to pay my bills. so setting all these theories at defiance, i said i will go and lecture; and i went out into the lecturing field. i have money to pay my bills to-day; but i could not have it were i to cling to the sphere of home. if a woman is doing the work of a good man's home, she is doing her part, and she will not desire to go out from it for any ordinary cause. but if she can make two dollars to his one, allowing him to carry out his part of the appointments of life, why should not she do it? when we can be allowed to do the thousand things that womanly hands can do as well as those of men, we shall make our lives useful. but take my word for it, as an old mother, with her grandchildren gathered about her, you will not find woman deserting the highest instincts of her nature, or leaving the home of her husband and children. why do you scold us, poor weak women, for being fashionable and dressy, when snares are set at every corner to tempt us? what would become of your dry-goods merchants and your commerce if we did not wear handsome dresses--if the women of this country were to become thus sensible to-day? your great stores on broadway would be closed, and your stalwart six-feet men would have to find something else to do besides measuring tapes and ribbons. the whole country would undergo a transformation. but it would be better for the country. it would not take five years to pay the national debt, interest and all, if you will apply the money spent by men for tobacco and whisky--if men will learn to be decent. i think it is a great deal better to wear a pretty flower or ribbon than to smoke cigars. it is a great deal better, and less damaging to the conscience, to wear a handsome silk dress, than for a man to put "an enemy into his mouth to steal away his brains." i honestly and conscientiously believe that we ought to make the rights of humanity equal for all classes of the community of adult years and of sound mind. i do not ask that the girl should vote at eighteen, but at twenty-one--the same age with the boy; and having raised both boys and girls, i think i have a right to say that. give us freedom from these miserable prejudices, these restrictions and tyrannies of society, and let us judge for ourselves. if it is true, as science asserts, that girls inherit more of the character of their father, while the boys follow in a more direct line their mother, then how is it possible that women should not have the same aspirations as men? i was born a mechanic, and made a barrel before i was ten years old. the cooper told my father, "fanny made that barrel, and has done it quicker and better than any boy i have had after six months' training." my father looked at it and said, "what a pity that you were not born a boy, so that you could be good for something. run into the house, child, and go to knitting." so i went and knit stockings, and my father hired an apprentice boy, and paid him two dollars a week for making barrels. now, i was born to make barrels, but they would not let me. thousands of girls are born with mechanical fingers. thousands of girls have a muscular development that could do the work of the world as well as men; and there are thousands of men born to effeminacy and weakness. mrs. stanton then addressed the meeting. as her line of argument was a summary of that recently made before the judiciary committee of the legislature, and already published, it need not here be repeated. miss anthony announced that they would have another opportunity to hear sojourner truth, and, for the information of those who did not know, she would say that sojourner was for forty years a slave in this state. she is not a product of the barbarism of south carolina, but of the barbarism of new york, and one of her fingers was chopped off by her cruel master in a moment of anger. sojourner truth said: i have lived on through all that has taken place these forty years in the anti-slavery cause, and i have plead with all the force i had that the day might come that the colored people might own their soul and body. well, the day has come, although it came through blood. it makes no difference how it came--it did come. (applause). i am sorry it came in that way. we are now trying for liberty that requires no blood--that women shall have their rights--not rights from you. give them what belongs to them; they ask it kindly too. (laughter). i ask it kindly. now i want it done very quick. it can be done in a few years. how good it would be. i would like to go up to the polls myself. (laughter). i own a little house in battle creek, michigan. well, every year i got a tax to pay. taxes, you see, be taxes. well, a road tax sounds large. road tax, school tax, and all these things. well, there was women there that had a house as well as i. they taxed them to build a road, and they went on the road and worked. it took 'em a good while to get a stump up. (laughter). now, that shows that women can work. if they can dig up stumps they can vote. (laughter). it is easier to vote than dig stumps. (laughter). it doesn't seem hard work to vote, though i have seen some men that had a hard time of it. (laughter). but i believe that when women can vote there won't be so many men that have a rough time gettin' to the polls. (great laughter). there is danger of their life sometimes. i guess many have seen it in this city. i lived fourteen years in this city. i don't want to take up time, but i calculate to live. now, if you want me to get out of the world, you had better get the women votin' soon. (laughter). i shan't go till i can do that. charles lenox remond said: it requires a rash man to rise at this stage of the meeting, with the hope of detaining the audience even for a few moments. but in response to your call i rise to add my humble word to the many eloquent words already uttered in favor of universal suffrage. the present moment is one of no ordinary interest. since this platform is the only place in this country where the whole question of human rights may now be considered, it seemed to me fitting that the right of the colored man to a vote should have a place at the close of the meeting; and especially in this state, since the men who are to compose the convention called for the amendment of the constitution of this state, will, within a few short weeks, pass either favorably or unfavorably upon that subject. i remember that henry b. stanton once said at a foreign court, "let it be understood that i come from a country where every man is a sovereign." at that time the language of our friend was but a glittering generality, for there were very many who could not be styled sovereigns in any sense of the term. but i desire that the remark of mr. stanton shall be verified in the state of new york this very year. i demand that you so amend your constitution as to recognize the equality of the black man at the ballot box, at least until he shall have proved himself a detriment to the interests and welfare of our common country. it is no novelty that two colored men were members of the last legislature of massachusetts; for more than forty years ago a black man was a member of the massachusetts legislature. people seem to have forgotten our past history. the first blood shed in the revolutionary war ran from the veins of a black man; and it is remarkable that the first blood shed in the recent rebellion also ran from the veins of a black man. what does it mean, that black men, first and foremost in the defense of the american nation and in devotion to the country, are to-day disfranchised in the state of alexander hamilton and john jay? these were the last conventions ever held in "the church of the puritans," as it soon passed into other hands, and not one stone was left upon another; not even an odor of sanctity about the old familiar corner where so much grand work had been done for humanity. the building is gone, the congregation scattered, but the name of george b. cheever, so long the honored pastor, will not soon be forgotten.[ ] at the close of the convention a memorial[ ] to congress was prepared, and signed by the officers of the convention. in a letter to the _national anti-slavery standard_, dated concord, april , , parker pillsbury, under the title, "the face of the sky," says: i have just read in the papers of last week what follows: mr. phillips, in the _anti-slavery standard_ says: "all our duty is to press constantly on the nation the absolute need of three things. st. the exercise of the whole police power of the government while the seeds of republicanism get planted. d. the constitutional amendment securing universal suffrage in spite of all state legislation. d. a constitutional amendment authorizing congress to establish common schools, etc. to these necessaries," mr. phillips adds, "we must educate the public mind." mr. greeley in the _tribune_ says: "we are most anxious that our present state constitution shall be so amended as to secure prompt justice through the courts, preclude legislative and municipal corruption, and secure responsibility by concentrating executive power." through the approaching constitutional convention, he says the people "can secure justice through reformed courts, fix responsibility for abuses of executive power;--in short, they can increase the value of property and the reward of honest labor." mr. tilton, in _the independent_, in allusion to the recent republican defeat in connecticut, concludes; "the policy of negro suffrage is clearly seen to be the only policy for the national welfare." ... "what then, is the next step," he asks, "in the progress of reconstruction?" in italics he answered, "we must make impartial suffrage the rule and practice of the northern as well as the southern states." he proposes a new amendment to the federal constitution which will secure to every american citizen, black and white, north and south, the american citizen's franchise. what is meant in this article of the _independent_ by impartial suffrage is understood by these words in another part of it. "the republican party in connecticut was abundantly strong enough to secure impartial suffrage. but it chose, instead, to insult its black-faced brethren, and refused their alliance." mr. raymond, in the new york _times_, speaks without a stammer on the suffrage question. it declares, "in new york suffrage is now absolutely universal for all citizens except the colored people; and upon them it is only restricted by a slight property qualification." a correspondent of the boston _congregationalist_, in a letter from new york, tells us, "a constitutional convention is to be held shortly in this state, and we expect to see universal suffrage adopted.... the strong-minded women aim to secure female voting, but they will fail, as they should." the _congregationalist_ has also an editorial article headed, "the steps to reconstruction," in which it speaks excellently of "a millennium of republican governments," and of impartial suffrage in them, as near at hand. but it too speaks only of freedmen to be clothed with the rights of citizenship in the millennial, latter-day glory so soon to be. over the black male citizen this editor shouts, "chattel, contraband, soldier, citizen, voter, counselor, magistrate, representative, senator,--these all shall be the successive steps of his wonderful progress!!" i have produced these as the best representatives of the different styles or types of the radical or progressive movement in the work of reconstructing the government. that the _standard_ and _independent_ believe fully in the right of women to equal suffrage and citizenship is known to every attentive reader of those journals. but at an hour like this, it is painful to witness anything like agreement even, with the language of the others i have cited.... to rob the freed slave of citizenship to-day is as much a crime as was slavery before the war on sumter; and to withhold the divinely conferred gift from woman is every way as oppressive, cruel, and unjust as if she were a black man.... footnotes: [ ] call for the eleventh national woman's rights convention.--the convention will be held in the city of new york, at the church of the puritans, union square, on thursday, the th of may, , at o'clock. addresses will be delivered by ernestine l. rose, frances d. gage, wendell phillips, theodore tilton, elizabeth cady stanton, and (probably) lucretia mott and anna e. dickinson. those who tell us the republican idea is a failure, do not see the deep gulf between our broad theory and partial legislation; do not see that our government for the last century has been but the repetition of the old experiments of class and caste. hence, the failure is not in the principle, but in the lack of virtue on our part to apply it. the question now is, have we the wisdom and conscience, from the present upheavings of our political system, to reconstruct a government on the one enduring basis that has never yet been tried--"equal rights to all." from the proposed class legislation in congress, it is evident we have not yet learned wisdom from the experience of the past; for, while our representatives at washington are discussing the right of suffrage for the black man, as the only protection to life, liberty and happiness, they deny that "necessity of citizenship" to woman; by proposing to introduce the word "male" into the federal constitution. in securing suffrage but to another shade of _man_hood, while we disfranchise fifteen million tax-payers, we come not one line nearer the republican idea. can a ballot in the hand of woman, and dignity on her brow, more unsex her than do a scepter and a crown? shall an american congress pay less honor to the daughter of a president than a british parliament to the daughter of a king? should not our petitions command as respectful a hearing in a republican senate as a speech of victoria in the house of lords? do we not claim that here all men and women are nobles--all heirs apparent to the throne? the fact that this backward legislation has roused so little thought or protest from the women of the country, but proves what some of our ablest thinkers have already declared, that the greatest barrier to a government of equality was the aristocracy of its women. for, while woman holds an ideal position above man and the work of life, poorly imitating the pomp, heraldry, and distinction of an effete european civilization, we as a nation can never realize the divine idea of equality. to build a true republic, the church and the home must undergo the same upheavings we now see in the state;--for, while our egotism, selfishness, luxury and ease are baptized in the name of him whose life was a sacrifice,--while at the family altar we are taught to worship wealth, power and position, rather than humanity, it is vain to talk of a republican government:--the fair fruits of liberty, equality and fraternity must be blighted in the bud, till cherished in the heart of woman. at this hour the nation needs the highest thought and inspiration of a true womanhood infused into every vein and artery of its life; and woman needs a broader, deeper education, such as a pure religion and lofty patriotism alone can give. from the baptism of this second revolution should she not rise up with new strength and dignity, clothed in all those "rights, privileges and immunities" that shall best enable her to fulfill her highest duties to humanity, her country, her family and herself? on behalf of the national woman's rights central committee, elizabeth cady stanton, president. susan b. anthony, secretary. new york ( beekman street), march , . [ ] ernestine l. rose, wendell phillips, john t. sargeant, o. b. frothingham, frances d. gage, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, theodore tilton, lucretia mott, martha c. wright, stephen s. and abbey kelley foster, margaret winchester and parker pillsbury. [ ] as this was the first time mr. beecher had honored the platform, we give copious extracts from his speech in preference to those who were so often reported in the first volume. this speech is published in full in tract form, and can be obtained from the secretary of the national woman's suffrage association. [ ] a colloquy. when mr. beecher took his seat, mr. tilton rose and said: mrs. president: in the midst of the general hilarity produced throughout the house by my friend's speech, i myself have been greatly solemnized by being made (as you have witnessed) the public custodian of his new testament. (laughter). at first i shared in your gratification at seeing that he carried so much of the scripture with him. (laughter). but i found, on looking at the fly-leaf, that the book after all, was not his own, but the property of a lady--i will not mention her name. (laughter). i have, therefore, no right to accept my friend's gift of what is not his own. now i remember that when he came home from england, he told me a story of a company of ten ministers who sat down to dine together. a dispute arose among them as to the meaning of a certain passage of scripture--for aught i know the very passage in galatians which he just now tried to quote, but couldn't. (laughter). some one said, "who has a new testament?" it was found that no one had a copy. pretty soon, however, when the dinner reached the point of champagne, some one exclaimed, "who has a corkscrew?" and it was found that the whole ten had, every man, a corkscrew in his pocket! (laughter). now, as there is no telling where a brooklyn minister who made a temperance speech at cooper institute last night is likely to take his dinner to-day, i charitably return the new testament into my friend's own hands. (great merriment). mr. beecher--now i know enough about champagne to know that it don't need any corkscrew. (laughter). mr. tilton--how is it that you know so much more about corkscrews than about galatians? (laughter). mr. beecher, after making some playful allusions to the story of the ten ministers, remarked that he gave it as it was given to him, but that he could not vouch for its truthfulness, as he was not present on the occasion. [ ] susan b. anthony, frances e. w. harper, sarah h. hallock, edwin a. studwell, dr. c. s. lozier, margaret e. winchester, mary f. gilbert, dr. laura a. ward, edward m. davis, mrs. calhoun. [ ] constitution of the american equal rights association. preamble.--whereas, by the war, society is once more resolved into its original elements, and in the reconstruction of our government we again stand face to face with the broad question of natural rights, all associations based on special claims for special classes are too narrow and partial for the hour; therefore, from the baptism of this second revolution--purified and exalted through suffering--seeing with a holier vision that the peace, prosperity, and perpetuity of the republic rest on equal rights to all, we, to-day, assembled in our eleventh national woman's rights convention, bury the woman in the citizen, and our organization in that of the american equal rights association. article i.--this organization shall be known as the american equal rights association. art. ii.--the object of this association shall be to secure equal rights to all american citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color, or sex. art. iii.--any person who consents to the principles of this association and contributes to its treasury, may be a member, and be entitled to speak and vote in its meetings. art. iv.--the officers of this association shall be, a president, vice-presidents, corresponding secretaries, a recording secretary, a treasurer, and an executive committee of not less than seven, nor more than fifteen members. art. v.--the executive committee shall have power to enact their by-laws, fill any vacancy in their body and in the offices of secretary and treasurer; employ agents, determine what compensation shall be paid to agents, and to the corresponding secretaries, direct the treasurer in the application of all moneys, and call special meetings of the society. they shall make arrangements for all meetings of the society, make an annual written report of their doings, the expenditures and funds of the society, and shall hold stated meetings, and adopt the most energetic measures in their power to advance the objects of the society. art. vi.--the annual meeting of the association shall be held each year at such time and place as the executive committee may direct, when the accounts of the treasurer shall be presented, the annual report read, appropriate addresses delivered, the officers chosen, and such other business transacted as shall be deemed expedient. art. vii.--any equal rights association, founded on the same principles, may become auxiliary to this association. the officers of each auxiliary shall be _ex officio_ members of the parent association, and shall be entitled to deliberate and vote in the transactions of its concerns. art. viii.--this constitution may be amended, at any regular meeting of the society, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present, provided the amendments proposed have been previously submitted in writing to the executive committee, at least one month before the meeting at which they are to be proposed. done in the city of new york on the tenth day of may, in the year . [ ] president, elizabeth cady stanton; vice-presidents, frederick douglass, frances d. gage, robert purvis, theodore tilton, josephine s. griffing, martha c. wright, rebecca w. mott; corresponding secretaries, susan b. anthony, mattie griffith, caroline m. severance; recording secretary, henry b. blackwell; treasurer, ludlow patton; executive committee, elizabeth cady stanton, lucy stone, edwin a. studwell, margaret e. winchester, aaron m. powell, susan b. anthony, parker pillsbury, elizabeth gay, mary f. gilbert, stephen s. foster, lydia mott, antoinette b. blackwell, wendell phillips garrison. [ ] miss anthony reported from the finance committee the receipt of $ . , as follows: jessie benton fremont, $ ; abby hutchinson patton, $ ; dr. clemence s. lozier, $ ; gerrit smith, $ ; mrs. dr. densmore, $ ; james and lucretia mott, $ martha c. wright, $ : elizabeth s. miller, $ ; eliza w. osborn, $ ; margaret e. winchester, $ ; and the balance in sums of $ each, from as many different persons, whose names were enrolled as members of the equal rights association. miss a. further stated that the proceedings would be published in pamphlet form at the earliest possible day, and that announcement of their place of sale would be made through the _tribune_, _anti-slavery standard_, and other papers. [ ] at a reception one evening in washington at the residence of hon. schuyler colfax, he rallied mrs. stanton on her defeat, regretting that as speaker of the house he had never had the pleasure of introducing "the lady from new york." hon. william d. kelly, standing near, remarked by way of consolation, "there is still hope for mrs. stanton; she received the same number of votes i did the first time i ran for congress ( , ), the only difference is, her ciphers were on the wrong side ( ). [ ] the speakers were rev. olympia brown, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, lucy stone, frederick douglass, henry b. blackwell, sarah p. remond, parker pillsbury, jane elizabeth jones, charles lenox remond, bessie bisbee, and louise jacobs. [ ] the call. the first annual meeting of the american equal rights association will be held in the city of new york, at the church of the puritans, on thursday and friday, the th and th of may, , commencing on thursday morning, at o'clock. the object of this association is to "secure equal rights to all american citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color, or sex." american democracy has interpreted the declaration of independence in the interest of slavery, restricting suffrage and citizenship to a _white male minority_. the black man is still denied the crowning right of citizenship, even in the nominally free states, though the fires of civil war have melted the chains of chattelism, and a hundred battle fields attest his courage and patriotism. half our population are disfranchised on the ground of sex; and though compelled to obey the laws and taxed to support the government, they have no voice in the legislation of the country. this association, then, has a mission to perform, the magnitude and importance of which can not be over-estimated. the recent war has unsettled all our governmental foundations. let us see that in their restoration, all these unjust proscriptions are avoided. let democracy be defined anew, as _the government of the people_, and the whole people. let the gathering, then, at this anniversary be, in numbers and character, worthy, in some degree, the demands of the hour. the black man, even the black soldier, is yet but half emancipated, nor will he be, until full suffrage and citizenship _are secured to him in the federal constitution_. still more deplorable is the condition of the black woman; and legally, that of the white woman is no better! shall the sun of the nineteenth century go down on wrongs like these, in this nation, consecrated in its infancy to justice and freedom? rather let our meeting be pledge as well as prophecy to the world of mankind, that the redemption of at least one great nation is near at hand. there will be four sessions--thursday, may th, at o'clock a.m., and o'clock p. m.; friday, may th, at a.m., and p.m. the speakers will be elizabeth cady stanton, gen. rufus saxton, frances d. gage, parker pillsbury, robert purvis, mary grew, ernestine l. rose, charles lenox remond, frederick douglass, lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, rev. olympia brown, sojourner truth (mrs. stowe's "lybian sybil"), rev. samuel j. may, and others. on behalf of the american equal rights association, lucretia mott, president. susan b. anthony, cor. secretary. henry b. blackwell, rec. secretary. new york, th march, . [ ] _resolved_, that as republican institutions are based on individual rights, and not on the rights of races or sexes, the first question for the american people to settle in the reconstruction of the government, is the rights of individuals. _resolved_, that the present claim for "manhood suffrage," marked with the words "equal," "impartial," "universal," is a cruel abandonment of the slave women of the south, a fraud on the tax-paying women of the north, and an insult to the civilization of the nineteenth century. _resolved_, that the proposal to reconstruct our government on the basis of manhood suffrage, which emanated from the republican party and has received the recent sanction of the american anti-slavery society, is but a continuation of the old system of class and caste legislation, always cruel and prescriptive in itself, and ending in all ages in national degradation and revolution. on motion of miss anthony, a finance committee was appointed, consisting of harriet purvis, mary f. gilbert, charles lenox remond, and anna rice powell. on motion of charles c. burleigh, a business committee was appointed, consisting of ernestine l. rose, susan b. anthony, parker pillsbury, elizabeth cady stanton, frances d. gage, and samuel j. may. [ ] _resolved_, that the ballot alike to women and men means bread, education, self-protection, self-reliance, and self-respect; to the wife it means the control of her own person, property, and earnings; to the mother it means the equal guardianship of her children; to the daughter it means diversified employment and a fair day's wages for a fair day's work; to all it means free access to skilled labor, to colleges and professions, and to every avenue of advantage and preferment. _resolved_, that henry ward beecher, elizabeth cady stanton, and frederick douglass, be invited to represent the equal rights association in the constitutional convention to be held in this state in the month of june next. _resolved_, that while we are grateful to wendell phillips, theodore tilton, and horace greeley, for the respectful mention of woman's right to the ballot in the journals through which they speak, we ask them now, when we are reconstructing both our state and national governments, to demand that the right of suffrage be secured to all citizens--to women as well as black men, for, until this is done, the government stands on the unsafe basis of class legislation. _resolved_, that on this our first anniversary we congratulate each other and the country on the unexampled progress of our cause, as seen: . in the action of congress extending the right of suffrage to the colored men of the states lately in rebellion, and in the very long and able discussion of woman's equal right to the ballot in the united states senate, and the vote upon it. . in the action of the legislatures of kansas and wisconsin, submitting to the people a proposition to extend the ballot to woman. . in the agitation upon the same measure in the legislatures of several other states. . in the friendly tone of so large a portion of the press, both political and religious; and finally, in the general awaking to the importance of human elevation and enfranchisement, abroad as well as at home; particularly in great britain, russia, and brazil; and encouraged by past successes and the present prospect, we pledge ourselves to renewed and untiring exertions, until equal suffrage and citizenship are acknowledged throughout our entire country, irrespective of sex or color. [ ] president, lucretia mott; vice-presidents, elizabeth cady stanton, n. y., frederick douglass, n. y., henry ward beecher, n. y., charles lenox remond, mass., elizabeth b. chace, r. i., c. prince, conn., frances d. gage, n. j., robert purvis, penn., josephine s. griffing, d. c., thomas garret, del., stephen h. camp, ohio, euphemia cochrane, mich., mary a. livermore, ill., mrs. isaac h. sturgeon, mo., amelia bloomer, iowa, sam n. wood, kansas, virginia penny, kentucky; recording secretaries, henry b. blackwell, hattie purvis; corresponding secretaries, susan b. anthony, mattie griffith, caroline m. severance; treasurer, john f. merritt; executive committee, ernestine l. rose, edwin a. studwell, elizabeth cady stanton, martha c. wright, lucy stone, parker pillsbury, elizabeth gay, theodore tilton, mary f. gilbert, edward s. bunker, antoinette brown blackwell, susan b. anthony, margaret e. winchester, aaron m. powell, james haggarty, george t. downing. [ ] the night before dr. cheever was to preach his farewell sermon to his people in the church of the puritans, miss anthony and mrs. stanton, walking slowly up broadway arm in arm, cogitating, as usual, where a good word could be said for woman, bethought themselves of the doctor's forthcoming sermon. as he had fought a grand battle for anti-slavery in his church, they felt that it would be peculiarly fitting for him, in his last sermon, to make some mention of the rights of women. accordingly they turned into university place, and soon found themselves in his parlor, where they were heartily welcomed by mrs. cheever. miss anthony, who was generally the spokesman on all audacious errands, said, "we want to see the doctor just five minutes; we know that it is saturday evening, that he is busy with his sermon, and sees no one at this time, but our errand is one of momentous importance, and what we have in our minds must be said now or never. while we were explaining to mrs. cheever, the folding doors quietly rolled back, and there stood the doctor. he laughed heartily when we made known our mission, and said, "i have the start of you this time; what you ask is already written in my sermon; come into my library and you shall hear it. we listened with great satisfaction, expressed our thanks and started, when miss a. suddenly turned and said, "that is excellent, doctor, now pray do not forget to give it with unction to-morrow." many wondered that dr. cheever, a rigid blue presbyterian, should express such radical sentiments on so unpopular a reform. but his conversion was due, no doubt, to the fact that the women of his church had nobly sustained him all through his anti-slavery battle while the wealth and conservatism of the congregation forbade the discussion of that subject in the pulpit. the votes of the women, year after year, secured his position, until his failing health ended the contest, and the sale of the edifice changed the church of the puritans into tiffany's brilliant jewelry establishment. [ ] memorial of the american equal rights association to the congress of the united states. the undersigned, officers and representatives of the american equal rights association, respectfully but earnestly protest against any change in the constitution of the united states, or legislation by congress, which shall longer violate the principle of republican government, by proscriptive distinctions in rights of suffrage or citizenship, on account of color or sex. your memorialists would respectfully represent, that neither the colored man's loyalty, bravery on the battle field and general good conduct, nor woman's heroic devotion to liberty and her country, in peace and war, have yet availed to admit them to equal citizenship, even in this enlightened and republican nation. we believe that humanity is one in all those intellectual, moral and spiritual attributes, out of which grow human responsibilities. the scripture declaration is, "so god created man in his own image: male and female created he them." and all divine legislation throughout the realm of nature recognizes the perfect equality of the two conditions. for male and female are but different conditions. neither color nor sex is ever discharged from obedience to law, natural or moral; written or unwritten. the commands, thou shalt not steal, nor kill, nor commit adultery, know nothing of sex in their demands; nothing in their penalty. and hence we believe that all _human_ legislation which is at variance with the divine code, is essentially unrighteous and unjust. woman and the colored man are taxed to support many literary and humane institutions, into which they never come, except in the poorly paid capacity of menial servants. woman has been fined, whipped, branded with red-hot irons, imprisoned and hung; but when was woman ever tried by a jury of her peers? though the nation declared from the beginning that "all just governments derive their power from the consent of the governed," the consent of woman was never asked to a single statute, however nearly it affected her dearest womanly interests or happiness. in the despotisms of the old world, of ancient and modern times, woman, profligate, prostitute, weak, cruel, tyrannical, or otherwise, from semiramis and messalina, to catherine of russia and margaret of anjou, have swayed, unchallenged, imperial scepters; while in this republican and christian land in the nineteenth century, woman, intelligent, refined in every ennobling gift and grace, may not even vote on the appropriation of her own property, or the disposal and destiny of her own children. literally she has no _rights_ which man is bound to respect; and her civil privileges she holds only by sufferance. for the power that gave, can take away, and of that power she is no part. in most of the states, these unjust distinctions apply to woman, and to the colored man alike. your memorialists fully believe that the time has come when such injustice should cease. woman and the colored man are loyal, patriotic, property-holding, tax-paying, liberty-loving citizens; and we can not believe that sex or complexion should be any ground for civil or political degradation. in our government, one-half the citizens are disfranchised by their sex, and about one-eighth by the color of their skin; and thus a large majority have no voice in enacting or executing the laws they are taxed to support and compelled to obey, with the same fidelity as the more favored class, whose usurped prerogative it is to rule. against such outrages on the very name of republican freedom, your memorialists do and must ever protest. and is not our protest pre-eminently as just against the tyranny of "_taxation without representation_," as was that thundered from bunker hill, when our revolutionary fathers fired the shot that shook the world? and your memorialists especially remember, at this time, that our country is still reeling under the shock of a terrible civil war, the legitimate result and righteous retribution of the vilest slave system ever suffered among men. and in restoring the foundations of our nationality, your memorialists most respectfully and earnestly pray that all discriminations on account of sex or race may be removed; and that our government may be republican in _fact_ as well as _form_; a government by the people, and the whole people; for the people, and the whole people. in behalf of the american equal rights association, theodore tilton, } frederick douglas, } vice-presidents. elizabeth cady stanton, } lucretia mott, president. susan b. anthony, secretary. chapter xix. the kansas campaign-- . the battle ground of freedom--campaign of --liberals did not stand by their principles--black men opposed to woman suffrage--republican press and party untrue--democrats in opposition--john stuart mill's letters and speeches extensively circulated--henry b. blackwell and lucy stone opened the campaign--rev. olympia brown followed-- , tracts distributed--appeal signed by thirty-one distinguished men--letters from helen e. starrett, susan e. wattles, dr. r. s. tenney, lieut. governor j. p. root, rev. olympia brown--the campaign closed by ex-governor robinson, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, and the hutchinson family--speeches and songs at the polls in every ward in leavenworth election day--both amendments lost-- , votes for woman suffrage, , for negro suffrage. as kansas was the historic ground where liberty fought her first victorious battles with slavery, and consecrated that soil forever to the freedom of the black race, so was it the first state where the battle for woman's enfranchisement was waged and lost for a generation. there never was a more hopeful interest concentrated on the legislation of any single state, than when kansas submitted the two propositions to her people to take the words "white" and "male" from her constitution. those awake to the dignity and power of the ballot in the hands of all classes, to the inspiring thought of self-government, were stirred as never before, both in great britain and america, upon this question. letters from john stuart mill and other friends, with warm words of encouragement, were read to thousands of audiences, and published in journals throughout the state. eastern women who went there to speak started with the full belief that their hopes so long deferred were at last to be realized. some even made arrangements for future homes on that green spot where at last the sons and daughters of earth were to stand equal before the law. with no greater faith did the crusaders of old seize their shields and start on their perilous journey to wrest from the infidel the holy sepulcher, than did these defenders of a sacred principle enter kansas, and with hope sublime consecrate themselves to labor for woman's freedom; to roll off of her soul the mountains of sorrow and superstition that had held her in bondage to false creeds, and codes, and customs for centuries. there was a solemn earnestness in the speeches of all who labored in that campaign. each heart was thrilled with the thought that the youngest civilization in the world was about to establish a government based on the divine idea--the equality of all mankind--proclaimed by jesus of nazareth, and echoed by the patriots who watched the dawn of the natal day of our republic. here at last the mothers of the race, the most important actors in the grand drama of human progress were for the first time to stand the peers of men. these women firmly believed that republicans and abolitionists who had advocated their cause for years would aid them in all possible efforts to carry the constitutional amendment that was to enfranchise the women of the state. they looked confidently for encouragement, and inspiring editorials in certain eastern journals. with horace greeley at the head of the _new york tribune_, theodore tilton of the _independent_, and wendell phillips of the _anti-slavery standard_, they felt they had a strong force in the press of the east to rouse the men of kansas to their duty. but, alas! they all preserved a stolid silence, and the liberals of the state were in a measure paralyzed by their example. though the amendment to take the word "male" from the constitution was a republican measure, signed by a republican governor, and advocated by leading men of that party throughout the campaign, yet the republican party, as such, the abolitionists and black men were all hostile to the proposition, because they said to agitate the woman's amendment would defeat negro suffrage. eastern politicians warned the republicans of kansas that "negro suffrage" was a party measure in national politics, and that they must not entangle themselves with the "woman question." on all sides came up the cry, this is "the negro's hour." though the republican state central committee adopted a resolution leaving all their party speakers free to express their individual sentiments, yet they selected men to canvass the state, who were known to be unscrupulous and disreputable, and violently opposed to woman suffrage.[ ] the democratic party[ ] was opposed to both amendments and to the new law on temperance, which it was supposed the women would actively support. the germans in their conventions passed a resolution[ ] against the new law that required the liquor dealers to get the signatures of one-half the women, as well as the men, to their petitions before the authorities could grant them license. in suffrage for women they saw rigid sunday laws and the suppression of their beer gardens. the liquor dealers throughout the state were bitter and hostile to the woman's amendment. though the temperance party had passed a favorable resolution[ ] in their state convention, yet some of their members were averse to all affiliations with the dreaded question, as to them, what the people might drink seemed a subject of greater importance than a fundamental principle of human rights. intelligent black men, believing the sophistical statements of politicians, that their rights were imperiled by the agitation of woman suffrage, joined the opposition. thus the campaign in kansas was as protracted as many sided. from april until november, the women of kansas, and those who came to help them, worked with indomitable energy and perseverance. besides undergoing every physical hardship, traveling night and day in carriages, open wagons, over miles and miles of the unfrequented prairies, climbing divides, and through deep ravines, speaking in depots, unfinished barns, mills, churches, school-houses, and the open air, on the very borders of civilization, where-ever two or three dozen voters could be assembled. henry b. blackwell and lucy stone opened the campaign in april. the following letters show how hopeful they were of success, and how enthusiastically they labored to that end. even the new york _tribune_ prophesied victory.[ ] at gov. robinson's house, four miles north of lawrence, kansas, _april, , _. dear mrs. stanton:--we report good news! after half a day's earnest debate, the convention at topeka, by an almost unanimous vote, refused to separate "the two questions" male and white. a delegation from lawrence came up specially to get the woman dropped. the good god upset a similar delegation from leavenworth bent on the same object, and prevented them from reaching topeka at all. gov. robinson, gov. root, col. wood, gen. larimer, col. ritchie, and "the old guard" generally were on hand. our coming out did good. lucy spoke with all her old force and fire. mrs. nichols was there--a strong list of permanent officers was nominated--and a state impartial suffrage association was organized. the right men were put upon the committees, and i do not believe that the negro suffrage men can well bolt or back out now. the effect is wonderful. papers which have been ridiculing woman suffrage and sneering at "sam wood's convention" are now on our side. we have made the present gov. crawford president of the association, lieut.-gov. green vice-president. have appointed a leading man in every judicial district member of the executive committee, and have some of the leading congregational, old school, and new school presbyterian ministers committed for both questions; have already secured a majority of the newspapers of the state, and if lucy and i succeed in "getting up steam" as we hope in lawrence, wyandotte, leavenworth, and atchison, the woman and the negro will rise or fall together, and shrewd politicians say that with proper effort we shall carry both next fall. during the convention lucy got a dispatch from lawrence as follows: "will you lecture for the library association? state terms, time, and subject." lucy replied: "will lecture saturday evening; subject, 'impartial suffrage'; terms, one hundred dollars, payable to kansas state impartial suffrage association." the prompt reply was: "we accept your terms." gen. larimer, of leavenworth, went down next day to try to arrange a similar lyceum meeting there. in the afternoon came a dispatch from d. r. anthony, saying: "meeting arranged for tuesday night." this is especially good, because we were informed that he had somewhat favored dropping the woman, but whether this was so or not, he will now be all right as befits the brother of susan b. anthony. we are announced to speak every night but sundays from april to may inclusive. we shall have to travel from twenty to forty miles per day. if our voices and health hold out, col. wood says the state is safe. we had a rousing convention--three sessions--at topeka, and a crowded meeting the night following. we find a very strong feeling against col. s. n. wood among politicians, but they all respect and dread him. he has warmer friends and bitterer enemies than almost any man in the state. but he is true as steel. my judgment of men is rarely deceived, and i pronounce s. n. wood a great man and a political genius. gov. robinson is a masterly tactician, cool, wary, cautious, decided, and brave as a lion. these two men alone would suffice to save kansas. but when you add the other good and true men who are already pledged, and the influences which have been combined, i think you will see next fall an avalanche vote--"the caving in of that mighty sandbank" your husband once predicted on a similar occasion. now, mrs. stanton, you and susan and fred. douglass must come to this state early next september; you must come prepared to make _sixty speeches_ each. you must leave your notes _behind you_. these people won't have written sermons. and you don't want notes. you are a natural orator, and these people will give you inspiration! everything has conspired to help us in this state. gov. robinson and sam. wood have quietly set a ball in motion which nobody in kansas is now strong enough to stop. politicians' hair here is fairly on end. but the fire is in the prairie behind them, and they are getting out their matches in self-defense to fire their foreground. this is a glorious country, mrs. s., and a glorious people. if we succeed here, it will be the state of the future. with kind regards, henry b. blackwell. p. s.--so you see we have the state convention committed to the right side, and i do believe we shall carry it. all the old settlers are for it. it is only the later comers who say, "if i were a black man i should not want the woman question hitched to me." these men tell what their wives have done, and then ask, shall such women be left without a vote? l. s. d. r. anthony's house, leavenworth, } _april , _. } dear mrs. stanton:--we came here just in the nick of time. the papers were laughing at "sam wood's convention," the call for which was in the papers with the names of beecher, tilton, ben wade, gratz brown, e. c. stanton, anna dickinson, lucy stone, etc., as persons expected or invited to be at the convention. the papers said: "this is one of sam's shabbiest tricks. not one of these persons will be present, and he knows it," etc., etc. our arrival set a buzz going, and when i announced you and susan and aunt fanny for the fall, they began to say "they guessed the thing would carry." gov. robinson said he could not go to the topeka convention, for he had a lawsuit involving $ , that was to come off that very day, but we talked the matter over with him, showed him what a glorious hour it was for kansas, etc., etc., and he soon concluded to get the suit put off and go to the convention. ex-gov. root, of wyandotte, joined with him and us, though he had not intended to go. we went to topeka; and the day and evening before the convention, pulled every wire and set every honest trap. gov. robinson has a long head, and he arranged the "platform" so shrewdly, carefully using the term "impartial," which he said meant right, and we must make them use it, so that there would be no occasion for any other state association. in this previous meeting, the most prominent men of the state were made officers of the permanent organization. when the platform was read, with the names of the officers, and the morning's discussion was over, everybody then felt that the ball was set right. but in the p.m. came a methodist minister and a lawyer from lawrence as delegates, "instructed" to use the word "impartial," "as it had been used for the last two years," to make but one issue, and to drop the woman. the lawyer said, "if i was a negro, i would not want the woman hitched on to my skirts," etc. he made a mean speech. mrs. nichols and i came down upon him, and the whole convention, except the methodist, was against him. the vote was taken whether to drop the woman, and only the little lawyer from lawrence, with a hole in his coat and only one shoe on, voted against the woman. after that it was all one way. the papers all came out right, i mean the topeka papers. one editor called on us, said we need not mention that he had called, but he wanted to assure us that he had always been right on this question. that the mean articles in his paper had been written by a subordinate in his office in his absence, etc. that the paper was fully committed, etc., etc. that is a fair specimen of the way all the others have done, till we got to this place. here the republicans had decided to drop the woman, anthony with the others, and i think they are only waiting to see the result of our meetings, to announce their decision. but the democrats all over the state are preparing to take us up. they are a small minority, with nothing to lose, and utterly unscrupulous, while all who will work with sam wood will work with anybody. i fully expect we shall carry the state. but it will be necessary to have a good force here in the fall, and you will have to come. our meetings are everywhere crowded to overflowing, and in every case the papers speak well of them. we have meetings for every night till the th of may. by that time we shall be well tired out. but we shall see the country, and i hope have done some good. there is no such love of principle here as i expected to find. each man goes for himself, and "the devil take the hindmost." the women here are grand, and it will be a shame past all expression if they don't get the right to vote. one woman in wyandotte said she carried petitions all through the town for female suffrage, and not one woman in ten refused to sign. another in lawrence said they sent up two large petitions from there. so they have been at the legislature, like the heroes they really are, and it is not possible for the husbands of such women to back out, though they have sad lack of principle and a terrible desire for office. yours, l. s. junction city, kansas, _april _. dear mrs. stanton: we have had one letter from you, and have written you twice. to-day i inclose an article by col. wood, which is so capital that it ought to be printed. i wish you would take it to tilton (not oliver), and if he says he will publish it, let him have it; but if he hesitates, send it at once to the _chicago republic_, and ask them to mark the article in some of their exchanges. perhaps the _northern methodist_, _the banner of light_, and the _liberal christian_ would insert it. i shall not be back to the may meeting; indeed, it would be better if we could stay till june st, and go all along the northern tier of counties. i think this state will be right at the fall election. the _independent_ is taken in many families here, and they are getting right on the question of impartial suffrage. but there will have to be a great deal of work to carry the state. we have large, good meetings everywhere. if the _independent_ would take up this question, and every week write for it, as it does for the negro, that paper alone could save this state; and with this, all the others. what a pity it does not see the path that would leave it with more than revolutionary honors! i am thankful beyond expression for what it does, but i am pained for what it _might do_. with its , subscribers, and five times that number of readers, what can the poor little _standard_ do for us, compared with that? i shall try and write a letter to the convention. may strike the true note! i hope not a man will be asked to speak at the convention. if they volunteer very well, but i have been for the last time on my knees to phillips or higginson, or any of them. if they help now, they should ask us, and not we them. is susan with you? l. s. junction city, kansas, _april , _. dear friends, e. c. stanton and susan b. anthony: you will be glad to know that lucy and i are going over the length and breadth of this state speaking every day, and sometimes twice, journeying from twenty-five to forty miles daily, sometimes in a carriage and sometimes in an open wagon, with or without springs. we climb hills and dash down ravines, ford creeks, and ferry over rivers, rattle across limestone ledges, struggle through muddy bottoms, fight the high winds on the high rolling upland prairies, and address the most astonishing (and astonished) audiences in the most extraordinary places. to-night it may be a log school house, to-morrow a stone church; next day a store with planks for seats, and in one place, if it had not rained, we should have held forth in an unfinished court house, with only four stone walls but no roof whatever. the people are a queer mixture of roughness and intelligence, recklessness, and conservatism. one swears at women who want to wear the breeches; another wonders whether we ever heard of a fellow named paul; a third is not going to put women on an equality with niggers. one woman told lucy that no decent woman would be running over the country talking nigger and woman. her brother told lucy that "he had had a woman who was under the sod, but that if she had ever said she wanted to vote he would have pounded her to death!" the fact is, however, that we have on our side all the shrewdest politicians and all the best class of men and women in this state. our meetings are doing much towards organizing and concentrating public sentiment in our favor, and the papers are beginning to show front in our favor. we fought and won a pitched battle at topeka in the convention, and have possession of the machine. by the time we get through with the proposed series of meetings, it will be about the th of may, if lucy's voice and strength hold out. the scenery of this state is lovely. in summer it must be very fine indeed, especially in this western section the valleys are beautiful, and the bluffs quite bold and romantic. i think we shall probably succeed in kansas next fall if the state is thoroughly canvassed, not else. we are fortunate in having col. sam n. wood as an organizer and worker. we owe everything to wood, and he is really a thoroughly noble, good fellow, and a hero. he is a short, rather thick set, somewhat awkward, and "slouchy" man, extremely careless in his dress, blunt and abrupt in his manner, with a queer inexpressive face, little blue eyes which can look dull or flash fire or twinkle with the wickedest fun. he is so witty, sarcastic, and cutting, that he is a terrible foe, and will put the laugh even on his best friends. the son of a quaker mother, he held the baby while his wife acted as one of the officers, and his mother another, in a woman's rights convention seventeen years ago. wood has helped off more runaway slaves than any man in kansas. he has always been _true_ both to the negro and the woman. but the negroes dislike and distrust him because he has never allowed the word white to be struck out, unless the word male should be struck out also. he takes exactly mrs. stanton's ground, that the colored men and women shall enter the kingdom _together_, if at all. so, while he advocates both, he fully realizes the wider scope and far greater grandeur of the battle for _woman_. lucy and i like wood very much. we have seen a good deal of him, first at topeka, again at cottonwood falls, his home, and on the journey thence to council grove and to this place. our arrangements for conveyances failed, and wood with characteristic energy and at great personal inconvenience brought us through himself. it is worth a journey to kansas to know him for he is an original and a genius. if he should die next month i should consider the election lost. but if he live, and we all in the east drop other work and spend september and october in kansas, we shall succeed. i am glad to say that our friend d. r. anthony is out for both propositions in the _leavenworth bulletin_. but his sympathies are so especially with the negro question that we must have susan out here to strengthen his hands. we must have mrs. stanton, susan, mrs. gage, and anna dickinson, this fall. also ben wade and carl schurz, if possible. we must also try to get , each of mrs. stanton's address, of lucy stone's address, and of mrs. mills article on the enfranchisement of women, printed for us by the hovey fund. kansas is to be _the battle ground_ for . _it must not be allowed to fail._ the politicians here, except wood and robinson, are generally "on the fence." but they dare not oppose us openly. and the democratic leaders are quite disposed to take us up. if the republicans come out against us the democrats will take us up. do not let anything prevent your being here september _for the campaign_, which will end in november. there will be a big fight and a great excitement. after the fight is over mrs. stanton will never have _use_ for _notes_ or _written_ speeches any more. yours truly, henry b. blackwell. fort scott, _may , _. dear susan: i have just this moment read your letter, and received the tracts; the "testimonies" i mean. we took pounds of tracts with us, and we have sowed them thick; and susan, the crop will be impartial suffrage in the fall. it will carry, beyond a doubt, in this state. now, as i can not be in new york next week, i want you to see aunt fanny and anna dickinson, and get them pledged to come here in the fall. we will raise the pay somehow. you and mrs. stanton will come, of course. i wish mrs. harper to come. i don't know if she is in new york; please tell her i got her letter, and will either see or correspond with her when i get home. there is no time to write here. we ride all day, and lecture every night, and sometimes at noon too. so there is time for nothing else. i am sorry there is no one to help you, susan, in new york. i always thought that when this hour of our bitter need come--this darkest hour before the dawn--mr. higginson would bring his beautiful soul and his fine, clear intellect to draw all women to his side; but if it is possible for him to be satisfied at _such_ an hour with writing the best literary essays, it is because the power to help us has gone from him. the old lark moves her nest only when the farmer prepares to cut his grass himself. this will be the way with us; as to the _standard_, i don't count upon it at all. even if you get it, the circulation is so limited that it amounts almost to nothing. i have not seen a copy in all kansas. but the _tribune_ and _independent_ alone could, if they would urge _universal_ suffrage, as they do negro suffrage, carry this whole nation upon the only just plane of equal human rights. what a power to hold, and not use! i could not sleep the other night, just for thinking of it; and if i had got up and written the thought that burned my very soul, i do believe that greeley and tilton would have echoed the cry of the old crusaders, "god wills it;" and rushing to our half-sustained standard, would plant it high and firm on immutable principles. _they_ must take it up. i shall see them the very first thing when i go home. at your meeting next monday evening, i think you should insist that all of the hovey fund used for the _standard_ and anti-slavery purposes, since slavery is abolished, must be returned with interest to the three causes which by the express terms of the will were to receive _all_ of the fund when slavery was abolished. you will have a good meeting, i am sure, and i hope you will not fail to rebuke the cowardly use of the terms "universal," and "impartial," and "equal," applied to hide a dark skin, and an unpopular client. all this talk about the infamous thirteen who voted against "negro suffrage" in new jersey, is unutterably contemptible from the lips or pen of those whose words, acts, and votes are not against ignorant and degraded negroes, but against every man's mother, wife, and daughter. we have crowded meetings everywhere. i speak as well as ever, thank god! the audiences move to tears or laughter, just as in the old time. harry makes capital speeches, and gets a louder cheer always than i do, though i believe i move a deeper feeling. the papers all over the state are discussing pro and con. the whole thing is working just right. if beecher is chosen delegate at large to your constitutional convention, i think the word male will go out before his vigorous cudgel. i do not want to stay here after the th, but wood and harry have arranged other meetings up to the th or th of may, so that we shan't be back even for the boston meetings. very truly, lucy stone. in a letter dated atchison, may , , lucy stone says: i should be so glad to be with you to-morrow, and to know this minute whether phillips has consented to take the high ground which sound policy as well as justice and statesmanship require. i can not send you a telegraphic dispatch as you wish, for just now there is a plot to get the republican party to drop the word "male," and also to agree to canvass _only_ for the word "white." there is a call, signed by the chairman of the state central republican committee; to meet at topeka on the th, to pledge the party to the canvass on that single issue. as soon as we saw the call and the change of tone of some of the papers, we sent letters to all those whom we had found true to principle, urging them to be at topeka and vote for both words. this effort of ours the central committee know nothing of, and we hope they will be defeated, as they will be sure to be surprised. so, till this action of the republicans is settled, we can affirm nothing. everywhere we go we have the largest and most enthusiastic meetings, and any one of our audiences would give a majority for woman suffrage. but the negroes are all against us. there has just now left us an ignorant black preacher named twine, who is very confident that women ought not to vote. these men _ought not to be allowed to vote before we do_, because they will be just so much more dead weight to lift. mr. frothingham's course of lectures, happily, is over. were you ever so cruelly hurt by any course of lectures before? "if it had been an enemy i could have borne it." but for this man, wise, educated, and good, who thinks he is our friend, to do just the things that our worst enemies will be glad of, is the unkindest cut of all. ninety-nine pulpits out of every hundred have taught that women should not meddle in politics; as large a proportion of papers have done the same; and by every hearthstone the lesson is repeated to the little girl; and when she has learned it, and grows up, and does not throw away the teaching of a life time, mr. frothingham accepts this _effect_ for a _cause_, and blames the unhappy victim, when he should stand by her side, and with all his power of persuasion win her away from her false teaching, to accept the truth and the nobler life that comes with it. but, thank god, the popular pulse is setting in the right direction. we must see wade, and garfield, and julian, and when sumner proposes, as he says he shall, to make negro suffrage universal, _they_ must _insist_ upon _our_ claim; urged not for our sake merely, but that the government may be based upon the consent of the governed. there is safety in no other way. we shall leave for home on the th. we had the largest meeting we have yet had in the state at leavenworth night before last. your brother and his wife called upon us at col. coffin's. they are well. but dan don't want the republicans to take us up. love to mrs. stanton. lucy stone. p. s.--the papers here are coming down on us, and every prominent reformer, and charging us with being free lovers. i have to-day written a letter to the editor, saying that it has not the shadow of a foundation. rev. olympia brown arrived in the state in july, where her untiring labors, for four months were never equaled by man or woman. mrs. stanton, miss anthony, and the hutchinson family followed her early in september. what these speakers could not do with reason and appeal, the hutchinsons, by stirring the hearts of the people with their sweet ballads, readily accomplished. before leaving new york miss anthony published , tracts, which were distributed in kansas with a liberal hand under the frank of senators ross and pomeroy. thus the thinking and unthinking in every school district were abundantly supplied with woman suffrage literature, such as mrs. mill's splendid article in the _westminster review_, the best speeches of john stuart mill, theodore parker, wendell phillips, george william curtis, elizabeth cady stanton's argument before the constitutional convention, parker pillsbury's "mortality of nations," thomas wentworth higginson's "woman and her wishes," henry ward beecher's "woman's duty to vote," and mrs. c. i. h. nichols' "responsibility of woman." there was scarcely a log cabin in the state that could not boast one or more of these documents, which the liberality of a few eastern friends[ ] enabled the "equal rights association" to print and circulate. the opposition were often challenged to debate this question in public, but uniformly refused, knowing full well, since their powder in this battle consisted of vulgar abuse and ridicule, that they had no arguments to advance. but it chanced that on one occasion by mistake, a meeting was appointed for the opposing forces at the same time and place where olympia brown was advertised to speak. this gave her an opportunity of testing her readiness in debate with judge sears. of this occasion a correspondent says: discussion at oskaloosa.--_to the editor of the kansas state journal_: for the first time during the canvass for universal suffrage, the opponents of the two wrongs, "manhood suffrage" and "woman suffrage," met in open debate at this place last evening. the largest church in the place was crowded to its utmost, every inch of space being occupied. judge gilchrist was called to the chair, and first introduced judge sears, who made the following points in favor of manhood suffrage: st. that in the early days of the republic no discrimination was made against negroes on account of color. he proved from the constitutions and charters of the original thirteen states, that all of them, with the exception of south carolina, allowed the colored freeman the ballot, upon the same basis and conditions as the white man. that we were not conferring a right, but restoring one which the fathers in their wisdom had never deprived the colored man of. he showed how the word white had been forced into the state constitutions, and advocated that it should be stricken out, it being the last relic of the "slave power." d. that the negro needed the ballot for his protection and elevation. d. that he deserved the ballot. he fought with our fathers side by side in the war of the revolution. he did the same thing in the war of , and in the war of the rebellion. he fought for us because he was loyal and loved the old flag. if any class of men had ever earned the enjoyment of franchise the negro had. th. the republican party owed it to him. th. the enfranchisement of the negro was indispensable to reconstruction of the late rebellious states upon a basis that should secure to the loyal men of the south the control of the government in those states. congress had declared it was necessary, and the most eminent men of the nation had failed to discover any other means by which the south could be restored to the union, that should secure safety, prosperity, and happiness. there was not loyalty enough in the south among the whites to elect a loyal man to an inferior office. upon each one of these points the judge elaborated at length, and made really a fine speech, but his evident disconcertion showed that he knew what was to follow. it was expected that when miss brown was introduced many would leave, owing to the strange feeling against female suffrage in and about oscaloosa; but not one left, the crowd grew more dense. a more eloquent speech never was uttered in this town than miss brown delivered; for an hour and three-quarters the audience was spell-bound as she advanced from point to point. she had been longing for such an opportunity, and had become weary of striking off into open air; and she proved how thoroughly acquainted she was with her subject as she took up each point advanced by her opponent, not denying their truth, but showing by unanswerable logic that if it were good under certain reasons for the negro to vote, it was ten times better for the same reasons for the women to vote. the argument that the right to vote is not a natural right, but acquired as corporate bodies acquire their rights, and that the ballot meant "protection," was answered and explained fully. she said the ballot meant protection; it meant much more; it means education, progress, advancement, elevation for the oppressed classes, drawing a glowing comparison between the working classes of england and those of the united states. she scorned the idea of an aristocracy based upon two accidents of the body. she paid an eloquent tribute to kansas, the pioneer in all reforms, and said that it would be the best advertisement that kansas could have to give the ballot to women, for thousands now waiting and uncertain, would flock to our state, and a vast tide of emigration would continually roll toward kansas until her broad and fertile prairies would be peopled. it is useless to attempt to report her address, as she could hardly find a place to stop. when she had done, her opponent had nothing to say, he had been beaten on his own ground, and retired with his feathers drooping. after miss brown had closed, some one in the audience called for a vote on the female proposition. the vote was put, and nearly every man and woman in the house rose simultaneously, men that had fought the proposition from the first arose, even judge sears himself looked as though he would like to rise, but his principles, much tempted, forbade. after the first vote, judge sears called for a vote on his, the negro proposition, when about one-half the house arose. verily there was a great turning to the lord that day, and many would have been baptized, but there was no water. when mrs. stanton has passed through oscaloosa, her fame having gone before her, we can count on a good majority for female suffrage.... * * * * oscaloosa, october , . salina, kansas, sept. , . dear friend:--we are getting along splendidly. just the frame of a methodist church with sidings and roof, and rough cotton-wood boards for seats, was our meeting place last night here; and a perfect jam it was, with men crowded outside at all the windows. two very brave young kentuckian sprigs of the law had the courage to argue or present sophistry on the other side. the meeting continued until eleven o'clock. to-day we go to ellsworth, the very last trading post on the frontier. a car load of wounded soldiers went east on the train this morning; but the fight was a few miles west of ellsworth. no indians venture to that point. our tracts gave out at solomon, and the topeka people failed to fill my telegraphic order to send package here. it is enough to exhaust the patience of any "job" that men are so wanting in promptness. our tracts do more than half the battle; reading matter is so very scarce that everybody clutches at a book of any kind. if only reformers would supply this demand with the right and the true--come in and occupy the field at the beginning--they might mould these new settlements. but instead they wait until everything is fixed, and the comforts and luxuries obtainable, and then come to find the ground preoccupied. send , of curtis' speeches, , of phillips', , of beecher's, and , of each of the others, and then fill the boxes with the reports of our last convention; they are the best in the main because they have everybody's speeches together. s. b. a. home of ex-gov. robinson, lawrence, kansas, sept. , . i rejoice greatly in the $ from the drapers.[ ] that makes $ paid toward the tracts. i am very sorry mr. j. can not get off curtis and beecher. there is a perfect greed for our tracts. all that great trunk full were sold and given away at our first fourteen meetings, and we in return received $ , which a little more than paid our railroad fare--_eight cents per mile_--and hotel bills. our collections thus far fully equal those at the east. i have been delightfully disappointed, for everybody said i couldn't raise money in kansas meetings. i wish you were here to make the tour of this beautiful state, in which to live fifty years hence will be charming; but now, alas, the women especially see hard times; to come actually in contact with all their discomforts and privations spoils the poetry of pioneer life. the opposition, the "anti-female suffragists," are making a bold push now; but all prophesy a short run for them. they held a meeting here the day after ours, and the friends say, did vastly more to make us converts than we ourselves did. the fact is nearly every man of the movers is like kalloch, notoriously wanting in right action toward woman. their opposition is low and scurrilous, as it used to be fifteen and twenty years ago at the east. hurry on the tracts. as ever, s. b. a. seeing that the republican vote must be largely against the woman's amendment, the question arose what can be done to capture enough democratic votes to outweigh the recalcitrant republicans. at this auspicious moment george francis train appeared in the state as an advocate of woman suffrage. he appealed most effectively to the chivalry of the intelligent irishmen, and the prejudices of the ignorant; conjuring them not to take the word "white" out of their constitution unless they did the word "male" also; not to lift the negroes above the heads of their own mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters. the result was a respectable democratic vote in favor of woman suffrage. in a discussion with general blunt at a meeting in ottawa, mr. train said: you say, general, that women in politics would lower the standard. are politicians so pure, politics so exalted, the polls so immaculate, men so moral, that woman would pollute the ballot and contaminate the voters? would revolvers, bowie-knives, whisky barrels, profane oaths, brutal rowdyism, be the feature of elections if women were present? woman's presence purifies the atmosphere. enter any western hotel and what do you see, general? sitting around the stove you will see dirty, unwashed-looking men, with hats on, and feet on the chairs; huge cuds of tobacco on the floor, spittle in pools all about; filth and dirt, condensed tobacco smoke, and a stench of whisky from the bar and the breath (applause, and "that's so,") on every side. this, general, is the manhood picture. now turn to the womanhood picture; she, whom you think will debase and lower the morals of the elections. just opposite this sitting room of the king, or on the next floor, is the sitting room of the queen, covered chairs, clean curtains, nice carpets, books on the table, canary birds at the window, everything tidy, neat and beautiful, and according to your programme the occupants of this room will so demoralize the occupants of the other as to completely undermine all society. did man put woman in the parlor? did woman put man in that bar room? are the instincts of woman so low that unless man puts up a bar, she will immediately fall into man's obscene conversation and disreputable habits? no, general, women are better than men, purer, nobler, hence more exalted, and so far from falling to man's estate, give her power and she will elevate man to her level. one other point, general, in reply to your argument. you say woman's sphere is at home with her children, and paint her as the sovereign of her own household. let me paint the picture of the mother at the washtub, just recovering from the birth of her last child as the empress. six little children, half starved and shivering with cold, are watching and hoping that the emperor will arrive with a loaf of bread, he having taken the wash money to the baker's. they wait and starve and cry, the poor emaciated empress works and prays, when lo! the bugle sounds. it is the emperor staggering into the yard. the little famished princesses' mouths all open are waiting for their expected food. your friend, general, the emperor, however, was absent minded, and while away at the polls voting for the license for his landlord, left the wash money on deposit with the bar-keeper (laughter) who wouldn't give it back again, and the little queen birds must starve another day, till the wash-tub earns them a mouthful of something to eat. give that woman a vote and she will keep the money she earns to clothe and feed her children, instead of its being spent in drunkenness and debauchery by her lord and master.... you say, general, that you intend to vote for _negro suffrage_ and against _woman suffrage_. in other words, not satisfied with having your mother, your wife, your sisters, your daughters, the equals _politically_ of the negro--by giving him a vote and refusing it to woman, you wish to place your family politically still lower in the scale of citizenship and humanity. this particular twist, general, is working in the minds of the people, and the democrats, having got you where tommy had the wedge, intend to hold you there. again you say that mrs. cady stanton was three days in advance of you in the border towns, calling you the sir john falstaff of the campaign. i am under the impression, general, that these strong minded woman's rights women _are more than three days in advance of you_. (loud cheers.) falstaff was a jolly old brick, chivalrous and full of gallantry, and were he stumping kansas with his ragged regiment, he would do it as the champion of woman instead of against her. (loud cheers.) hence mrs. stanton owes an apology to falstaff, not to general blunt. (laughter and cheers.) one more point, general. you have made a terrific personal attack on senator wood, calling him everything that is vile. i do not know mr. wood. miss anthony has made all my arrangements; but perhaps you will allow me to ask you if mr. wood is a democrat? (laughter and applause from the democrats.) gen. blunt--no, he is a republican, (laughter) and chairman of the woman suffrage committee. mr. train--good. i understand you and your argument against wood is so forcible, (and mr. train said this with the most biting sarcasm, every point taking with the audience.) i believe with you that wood is a bad man, (laughter) a man of no principle whatever. (laughter.) a man who has committed all the crimes in the calendar, (loud laughter) who, if he has done what you have said, ought to be taken out on the square and hung, and _well hung_ too. (laughter and cheers.) having admitted that i am converted to the fact of wood's villainy, (laughter) and you having admitted that he is not a democrat, but a republican, (laughter) i think it is time the honest democratic and republican voters should rise up in their might and wipe off all those corrupt republican leaders from the kansas state committee. (loud cheers.) democrats do your duty on the fifth of november and vote for woman suffrage. (applause.) the effect of turning the general's own words back upon his party was perfectly electric, and when the vote was put for woman's suffrage it was almost unanimous. mr. train saying amid shouts of laughter, that he supposed that a few henpecked men would say "no" here, because they didn't dare to say their souls were their own at home.... mr. train continued: twelve o'clock at night is a late hour to take up all your points, general; but the audience will have me talk. miss anthony gave you, general, a very sarcastic retort to your assertion that every woman ought to be married. (laughter.) she told you that to marry, it was essential to find some decent man, and that could not be found among the kansas politicians who had so gallantly forsaken the woman's cause. (loud laughter.) she said, as society was organized there was not one man in a thousand worthy of marriage--marrying a man and marrying a whisky barrel were two distinct ideas. (laughter and applause.) miss anthony tells me that your friend kalloch said at lawrence that _of all the infernal humbugs of this humbugging woman's rights question, the most absurd was that woman should assume to be entitled to the same wages for the same amount of labor performed, as man_. do you mean to say that the school mistress, who so ably does her duty, should only receive three hundred dollars, while the school master, who performs the same duty, gets fifteen hundred? (shame.) all the avenues of employment are blocked against women. embroidering, tapestry, knitting-needle, sewing needle have all been displaced by machinery; and women speakers, women doctors, and women clerks, are ridiculed and insulted till every modest woman fairly cowers before her emperor husband, her king, her lord, for fear of being called "strong minded." (laughter and applause.) why should not the landlady of that hotel over the way share the profits of their joint labors with the landlord? _she_ works as hard--yet _he_ keeps all the money, and she goes to him, instead of being an independent woman, for her share of the profits, as a _beggar_ asking for ten dollars to buy a bonnet or a dress. (applause from the ladies.) nothing is more contemptible than this slavery to the husband on the question of money. (loud applause.) give the sex votes and men will have more respect for women than to treat them as children or as dolls. (applause.) the ten-year old boy will say to his women relatives, "oh you don't know anything, you are only a woman," and when man wishes to insult his fellow man, he calls him a woman--and if the insult is intended to be more severe, he will speak of a cabinet statesman even as an "old woman." the general and mr. kalloch are afraid that women will be corrupted by going to the polls, yet they as lawyers have no hesitation in bringing a young and beautiful girl into court where a curiosity seeking audience are staring at her; where the judge makes her unveil her face, and the jury watch every feature, turning an honest blush into guilt. (applause.) woman first, and negro last, is my programme; yet i am willing that intelligence should be the test, although some men have more brains in their hands than others in their heads. (laughter.) emmert's resolution, introduced into your legislature last year, disfranchising, after july , , all of age who can not read the american constitution, the state constitution, and the bible, in the language in which he was educated, (applause) expresses my views. again you alluded to the foreign emissary--who had no interest in kansas. do you mean me, general? general blunt--no, sir. thank you. the other four foreign emissaries are women, noble, self-sacrificing women, bold, never-tiring, unblemished reputation; women who have left their pleasant eastern homes for a grand idea, (loud applause,) and to them and them alone is due the credit of carrying kansas for woman suffrage. general blunt--it won't carry. train--were i a betting man i would wager ten thousand dollars that kansas will give , majority for women. (loud cheers from blunt's own audience of anti-women men.) as an advertisement to this beautiful state, it is worth untold millions. kansas will win the world's applause, as the sole champion of woman's cause. so light the bonfires! have the flags unfurled, to the banner state of all the world! (loud cheers.) no, general, these women are no foreign emissaries. they came expecting support. they thought the republicans honest. they forgot that the democrats alone were their friends. (applause.) they forgot that it was the republican party that publicly insulted them in congress. that it was charles sumner who wished to insert the word "male" in the amendment of the federal constitution two years ago, when the old constitution, by having neither male nor female, had left it an open question. no, mrs. cady stanton, miss susan b. anthony, mrs. lucy stone, and miss olympia brown are the "foreign emissaries" that will alone have the credit of emancipating women in kansas. your trimming politicians left them in the lurch. not one of you was honest. (applause.) even those who assumed to be their friends by saying nothing on the woman, and everything on the negro, are worse than you and kalloch. (applause.) mr. kalloch and leggett and sears have helped the woman's cause by opposing it, (cheers,) while the milk-and-water republican committee and speakers and press have damaged woman by their sneaking, cowardly way of advocacy. (that's so.) mr. train at leavenworth, the day before the election: "a great empire, and little minds go ill together," said lord bacon. "the sober second thought of the people," said van buren, "is never wrong, and always efficient." to-morrow it will be shown by voting for our mother and our sister. (loud applause.) never before were so many rats fleeing from a sinking ship. (laughter.) a few staunch men will receive their reward. falsehood passes away. truth is eternal. (applause.) the woman suffrage association wants a few thousand dollars to pay off this expensive canvass. miss anthony has distributed two thousand pounds weight of tracts and pamphlets. (applause.) mrs. stanton, miss olympia brown and mrs. lucy stone, have been for months in all parts of the state. kansas has furnished no part of the fund which makes her to-morrow the envy of the world. (cheers.) for the benefit of the association i have promised on my return from omaha to make seven speeches in the largest cities; the entire proceeds to be given to this grand cause--i paying my own expenses as in this campaign. (loud cheers for train.) we commence at st. louis about the th, thence to chicago, cleveland, cincinnati, philadelphia, boston and new york. (cheers.) the burden of my thought will be the future of america; my mission, with the aid of women, to reconstruct the country and save the nation. (cheers.) to-morrow our amendment will pass with a startling majority. the other two will be lost. (applause.) the negro can wait and go to school. and as all are now loyal, the war over, and no rebels exist, no american in this land must be marked by the stain of attainder or impeachment. (cheers.) no so-called rebel must be disfranchised. i represent the people, and they speak to-morrow in kansas, emancipating woman, (loud cheers), and declaring that no hungary, no poland, no venice, no ireland--crushed and disheartened--shall exist in new america. (loud cheers.) but kansas being republican by a large majority, there was no chance of victory. for although the women were supported by some of the best men in the state, such as gov. crawford, ex-gov. robinson, united states senators pomeroy and ross, and a few of the ablest editors, the opposition was too strong to be conquered. with both parties, the press, the pulpit and faithless liberals as opponents, the hopes of the advocates of woman suffrage began to falter before the election. the action of the michigan commission, in refusing to submit a similar amendment to her people, and the adverse report of mr. greeley in the constitutional convention of new york, had also their depressing influence. nevertheless, when election day came, the vote was nearly equal for both propositions. with all the enginery of the controlling party negro suffrage had a little over , votes, while woman suffrage without press or party, friends or politicians, had , and some over. and this vote for woman's enfranchisement represented the best elements in the state, men of character and conscience, who believed in social order and good government. when eastern republicans learned that the action of their party in kansas was doing more damage than the question of woman to the negro, since the pioneers, who knew how bravely the women had stood by their side amid all dangers, were saying, "if our women can not vote, the negro shall not;" they began to take in the situation, and a month before the election issued the following appeal, signed by some of the most influential men of the nation. it was published in the new york _tribune_ october st, and copied by most of the papers throughout the state of kansas: _to the voters of the united states_: in this hour of national reconstruction we appeal to good men of all parties, to conventions for amending state constitutions, to the legislature of every state, and to the congress of the united states, to apply the principles of the declaration of independence to women; "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." the only form of consent recognized under a republic is suffrage. mere tacit acquiescence is not consent; if it were, every despotism might claim that its power is justly held. suffrage is the right of every adult citizen, irrespective of sex or color. women are governed, therefore they are rightly entitled to vote. the problem of american statesmanship is how to incorporate in our institutions a guarantee of the rights of every individual. the solution is easy. base government on the consent of the governed, and each class will protect itself.[ ] but the appeal was too late, the mischief done was irreparable. the action of the republican party had created a hostile feeling between the women and the colored people. the men of kansas in their speeches would say, "what would be to us the comparative advantage of the amendments? if negro suffrage passes, we will be flooded with ignorant, impoverished blacks from every state of the union. if woman suffrage passes, we invite to our borders people of character and position, of wealth and education, the very element kansas needs to-day. who can hesitate to decide, when the question lies between educated women and ignorant negroes?" such appeals as these were made by men of kansas to hundreds of audiences. on this appeal the new york _tribune_ said editorially: kansas--woman as a voter.--we publish herewith an appeal, most influentially signed, to the voters of kansas, urging them to support the pending constitutional amendment whereby the right of suffrage is extended to women under like conditions with men. the gravity combined with the comparative novelty of the proposition should secure it the most candid and thoughtful consideration. we hold fast to the cardinal doctrine of our fathers' declaration of independence--that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." if, therefore, the women of kansas, or of any other state, desire, as a class, to be invested with the right of suffrage, we hold it their clear right to be. we do not hold, and can not admit, that a small minority of the sex, however earnest and able, have any such right. it is plain that the experiment of female suffrage is to be tried; and, while we regard it with distrust, we are quite willing to see it pioneered by kansas. she is a young state, and has a memorable history, wherein her women have borne an honorable part. she is preponderantly agricultural, with but one city of any size, and very few of her women are other than pure and intelligent. they have already been authorized to vote on the question of liquor license, and in the choice of school officers, and, we are assured, with decidedly good results. if, then, a majority of them really desire to vote, we, if we lived in kansas, should vote to give them the opportunity. upon a full and fair trial, we believe they would conclude that the right of suffrage for woman was, on the whole, rather a plague than a profit, and vote to resign it into the hands of their husbands and fathers. we think so, because we now so seldom find women plowing, or teaming, or mowing (with machines), though there is no other obstacle to their so doing than their own sense of fitness, and though some women, under peculiar circumstances, laudably do all these things. we decidedly object to having ten women in every hundred compel the other ninety to vote, or allow the ten to carry elections against the judgment of the ninety; but, if the great body of the women of kansas wish to vote, we counsel the men to accord them the opportunity. should the experiment work as we apprehend, they will soon be glad to give it up. whereupon, the atchison _daily champion_, john a. martin, editor, retorted: take it yourselves.--thirty-one gentlemen, all but six of whom live in states that have utterly refused to have anything to do with the issue of "female suffrage," unite in an address, to apply, as they say, the "principles of the declaration of independence to women;" and make a specious, flimsy, and ridiculous little argument in favor of their appeal. it is a pity that comments in the main so sensible, should be marred by a few statements as ridiculous as is the trashy address to which the article refers. it is the old cry that "female suffrage," a novel proposition, although justly regarded with distrust and suspicion by all right-thinking people; although not demanded by even a considerable minority of the women themselves; and although an "experiment" which may rudely disturb the best elements of our society and civilization, may be tried in kansas! "we regard it with distrust," says the _tribune_, "but are quite willing to see it tried in kansas." "upon a full and fair trial," it continues, "we believe they (the women) would conclude that the right of suffrage for women was, on the whole, rather a plague than a profit, and vote to resign it into the hands of their husbands and fathers." but it "decidedly objects to having ten women in every hundred compel the other ninety to vote, or to allow the ten to carry elections against the judgment of ninety." these expressions of grave doubt as to the expediency of "female suffrage," together with the fact that the editor of the _tribune_, in his report as chairman of the suffrage committee in the new york constitutional convention, declared this new hobby "an innovation revolutionary and sweeping, openly at war with a distribution of duties and functions between the sexes as venerable and pervading as government itself," make the _tribune's_ recommendation that we shall "try the experiment in kansas" rather amusing as well as impudent. there is not a man nor a woman endowed with ordinary common sense who does not know that kansas is the last state that should be asked to try this dangerous and doubtful experiment. our society is just forming, our institutions are crude. ever since the organization of the territory, we have lived a life of wild excitement, plunging from one trouble into another so fast that we have never had a breathing-spell, and we need, more than any other people on the globe, immunity from disturbing experiments on novel questions of doubtful expediency. we can not afford to risk our future prosperity and happiness in making an innovation so questionable. we want peace, and must have it. let massachusetts or new york, or some older state, therefore, try this nauseating dose. if it does not kill them, or if it proves healthful and beneficial, we guarantee that kansas will not be long in swallowing it. but the stomach of our state, if we may be permitted to use the expression, is, as yet, too tender and febrific to allow such a fearful deglutition. * * * * * reminiscences by helen ekin starrett. after the first constitutional convention in which mrs. c. i. h. nichols did such valuable service for the cause of woman, the question of woman suffrage in some shape or other was introduced into every succeeding legislature. in january, , the legislature met at topeka. immediately upon the organization of the senate on the th, hon. b. f. simpson of miami co., introduced an amendment to strike the word "white" from the suffrage clause of the state constitution. hon. s. n. wood, senator from chase co., within five minutes introduced a resolution to strike the word "male" from the same clause. this resolution was made the special order for thursday the th, when it passed the senate by a vote of nineteen to five. of the five noes, four were republicans, the other a democrat. thus mr. wood, although he started second, got ahead in the passing of his resolution. the resolution of hon. b. f. simpson was referred to the committee of the whole. when it came up hon. s. n. wood moved to amend by also striking out the word "male," and in this shape it passed. the house amended by striking out the amendment of mr. wood. the senate, however, insisted on its re-instatement; the democrats and a majority of the republicans standing by mr. wood. the fight continued for over a month. the question came up in all stages and shapes from the house; but mr. wood was always ready for them with his woman suffrage amendment, and the senate stood by him. the friends of negro suffrage tried hard to get him to yield and let their resolution through, but he was firm in his refusal, saying he advocated both, "but if we can have but one, let the negro wait." on the th day of february hon. w. w. updegraff, a member of the house and an ardent supporter of both woman and negro suffrage, went to mr. wood and urged a compromise. after a long discussion two separate resolutions were prepared by mr. wood, one for woman suffrage, the other for negro suffrage, and these mr. updegraff introduced into the house the same day. the next day the vote on the woman suffrage resolution came up and stood fifty-two to twenty-five. not being a two-thirds vote, the resolution was lost. on the th the negro suffrage resolution came up and passed by a vote of sixty-one to fourteen. the vote on woman suffrage was then re-considered, and after an assurance from mr. updegraff that negro suffrage could be secured in no other way, it passed by a vote of sixty-two to nineteen, getting one more vote than negro suffrage. these resolutions were promptly reported to the senate, and on motion of s. n. wood, the woman suffrage resolution was passed by over a two-thirds vote. the negro suffrage resolution was amended, and after a bitter fight was passed. thus these separate resolutions were both submitted to a vote of the people. the legislature adjourned about the th of march. hon. s. n. wood immediately prepared a notice of a meeting to be held in topeka on the d of april to organize a canvass for impartial suffrage without regard to sex or color. this was published in the _state record_ with the statement that it was by the request of hon. s. n. wood; it was copied by all the papers of the state. mr. wood, ex-governor robinson, and others, wrote to many prominent advocates east asking them to be present at the topeka meeting. it was soon known that lucy stone and henry b. blackwell would be there, and a very great and general interest was aroused on the question. april d at length arrived, and although it was a season of terrible mud and rain, and there were no railroads, a very large audience assembled. hon. s. n. wood rode eighty miles on horseback to attend the meeting. lucy stone and mr. blackwell were present. a permanent organization was effected, with governor s. j. crawford as president; lieutenant-governor green, vice-president; rev. lewis bodwell and miss mary paty, recording secretaries; and s. n. wood, corresponding secretary. a letter was at once prepared and addressed to all the prominent men in the state, asking them to aid in the canvass. letters in reply poured in from the gentlemen addressed, giving assurance of sympathy and declaring themselves in favor of the movement. a thorough canvass of the state was at once inaugurated. lucy stone was invited and lectured in lawrence, leavenworth, topeka, and atchison, to crowded houses, giving the proceeds to the cause. hon. s. n. wood gave his whole time to the canvass, speaking with lucy stone and mr. blackwell in nearly all the towns in the western and northern part of the state. mrs. stone and mr. blackwell visited nearly every organized county. as we have said before, there were no railroads, and it was at an immense expense of bodily fatigue that they accomplished their journeys, often in the rudest conveyances and exposed to the raw, blustering winds of a kansas spring. their meetings, however, were "ovations." men and women everywhere were completely won by the gentle, persuasive, earnest addresses of lucy stone, while their newly aroused interest was informed and strengthened by the logical arguments and irresistible facts of mr. blackwell. the religious denominations in kansas from the first gave their countenance to the movement, and clergymen of all denominations were found speaking in its favor. at olathe, the old school presbytery was in session at the time of lucy stone's meeting there. it was an unheard-of occurrence that the body adjourned its evening session to allow her to occupy the church. all the members of the presbytery who heard her were enthusiastic in her praise. we remember a meeting in topeka at which the rev. dr. ekin,[ ] then pastor of the old school presbyterian church, very effectively summed up in a public address all the arguments of the opposition by relating the story of the canadian indian who, when told of the greatness of england, and also that it was governed by a queen, a woman, turned away with an incredulous expression of contempt, exclaiming, "ugh! squaw!" the effect upon the audience was tremendous. at the same time letters of cheer and encouragement were pouring in from prominent workers all over the country. john stuart mill, of england, wrote to hon. s. n. wood full of hope and interest for the success of the movement: blackheath park, kent, england, _june , _. dear sir: being one who takes as deep and as continuous an interest in the political, moral, and social progress of the united states as if he were himself an american citizen, i hope i shall not be intrusive if i express to you as the executive organ of the impartial suffrage association, the deep joy i felt on learning that both branches of the legislature of kansas had, by large majorities, proposed for the approval of your citizens an amendment to your constitution, abolishing the unjust political privileges of sex at one and the same stroke with the kindred privilege of color. we are accustomed to see kansas foremost in the struggle for the equal claims of all human beings to freedom and citizenship. i shall never forget with what profound interest i and others who felt with me watched every incident of the preliminary civil war in which your noble state, then only a territory, preceded the great nation of which it is a part, in shedding its blood to arrest the extension of slavery. kansas was the herald and protagonist of the memorable contest, which at the cost of so many heroic lives, has admitted the african race to the blessings of freedom and education, and she is now taking the same advanced position in the peaceful but equally important contest which, by relieving half the human race from artificial disabilities belonging to the ideas of a past age, will give a new impulse and improved character to the career of social and moral progress now opening for mankind. if your citizens, next november, give effect to the enlightened views of your legislature, history will remember that one of the youngest states in the civilized world has been the first to adopt a measure of liberation destined to extend all over the earth, and to be looked back to (as is my fixed conviction) as one of the most fertile in beneficial consequences of all the improvements yet effected in human affairs. i am, sir, with the warmest wishes for the prosperity of kansas, yours very truly, j. stuart mill. to s. n. wood, topeka, kansas, u. s. a. rev. olympia brown came to kansas the st of july, and made an effective and extensive canvass of the state, often holding three meetings a day. other speakers, both from home and abroad, were vigorously engaged in the work, and the friends of the movement believed, not without cause, that kansas would be the first state to grant suffrage to women. had the election been held in may while the tide of public opinion ran so high in their favor, there is little doubt that both resolutions would have been carried unanimously. to explain the causes that led to the defeat of both propositions, i quote from a letter of hon. s. n. wood, in reply to questions addressed him as to certain facts of the campaign. he writes: "about may d, c. v. eskridge of emporia wrote a very scurrilous article against woman suffrage. it filled three columns of _the news_. in it he denounced the lady speakers in the most abusive manner, ridiculing them with insulting epithets. about the middle of may f. h. drenning, chairman of the republican state committee, called a meeting of that committee to make arrangements to canvass the state for negro suffrage. the committee met and published an address in favor of manhood suffrage, and said nothing as to woman suffrage. shortly afterwards the same committee summoned c. v. eskridge, t. c. sears, p. b. plumb, i. d. snoddy, b. f. simpson, j. b. scott, h. n. bent, jas. g. blunt, a. akin, and g. w. crawford--all opposed to woman suffrage--to make a canvass for negro suffrage. they were instructed that "they would be allowed to express their own sentiments on other questions." this meant that these men would favor negro suffrage, but would oppose woman suffrage. this at once antagonized the two questions, and we all felt that the death blow had been struck at both." early in september, elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony came to the state to assist in the canvass; and certainly if indefatigable labor and eloquent addresses could have repaired the mischief done by the state republican committee, the cause would yet have triumphed. at all places where they spoke they had crowded houses, and everywhere made the warmest friends by their truly admirable personal qualities.[ ] the amount of work performed by these two ladies was immense. mrs. stanton, escorted by ex-gov. robinson spoke in nearly every county of the state. miss anthony remained at lawrence working indefatigably in planning and advertising meetings, distributing tracts, sending posters to different places, and attending to all the minutiæ and drudgery of an extensive campaign. often have i regarded with admiration the self-sacrificing spirit with which she arranged matters for others, did the hard and disagreeable work, and then saw others carry off the honor and glory, without once seeming to think of her services or the recognition due them.[ ] in a letter, summing up the campaign, hon. s. n. wood said, "on the th of september, an address was published signed by over forty men, the most prominent in the state; such men as senator pomeroy, senator ross, gov. crawford, lt. gov. green, ex-gov. robinson, and others, in favor of woman suffrage, but the cause of both began to lag. sears, eskridge, kalloch, plumb, simpson, scott, bent, and others, made a very bitter campaign against woman suffrage. about the middle of october george francis train commenced a canvass of the state for woman suffrage and the questions became more and more antagonized. the last few days a regular kilkenny fight was carried on." i will here take occasion to record that several of the gentlemen who then canvassed the state against woman suffrage have since announced a reconsideration of their views; some of them have even stated that were the question to come up again they would publicly advocate it. an address was prepared by the woman's impartial suffrage association of lawrence[ ] which was widely circulated and copied even in england. this address was signed by a large number of the prominent ladies of lawrence. miss anthony often said that lawrence was the headquarters of the movement. every clergyman, every judge, both the papers and a large proportion of the prominent citizens were in favor of it. and with our state university located here with over three hundred students, one half of whom are ladies, we still claim lawrence as the headquarters of the friends of woman suffrage. the work of george francis train has been much and variously commented upon. certainly when he was in kansas he was at the height of his prosperity and popularity, and in appearance, manners and conversation, was a perfect, though somewhat unique specimen of a courtly, elegant gentleman. he was full of enthusiasm and confident he would be the next president. he drew immense and enthusiastic audiences everywhere, and was a special favorite with the laboring classes on account of the reforms he promised to bring about when he should be president. well do i remember one poor woman, a frantic advocate of woman suffrage, who button-holed everybody who spoke a word against train to beg them to desist; assuring them "that he was the special instrument of providence to gain for us the irish vote." both propositions got about , votes, and both were defeated. after the canvass the excitement died away and the suffrage associations fell through, but the seed sown has silently taken root and sprung up everywhere. or rather, the truths then spoken, and the arguments presented, sinking into the minds and hearts of the men and women who heard them, have been like leaven, slowly but surely operating until it seems to many that nearly the whole public sentiment of kansas is therewith leavened. a most liberal sentiment prevails everywhere toward women. many are engaged in lucrative occupations. in several counties ladies have been elected superintendents of public schools. in coffey county, the election of mary p. wright, was contested on the ground that by the constitution a woman was ineligible to the office. the case was decided by the supreme court in her favor. by our laws women vote on all school questions and avail themselves very extensively of the privilege. our property laws are conceded to be the most just to women of any state in the union. it is believed by many that were the question of woman suffrage again submitted to the people it would be carried by an overwhelming majority. the following letter from susan e. wattles, the widow of the pioneer, augustus wattles, shows woman's interest in the great struggle to make kansas the banner state of universal freedom and franchise. mound city, _december , _. my dear miss anthony:--here, as in new york, the first in the woman suffrage cause were those who had been the most earnest workers for freedom. they had come to kansas to prevent its being made a slave state. the most the women could do was to bear their privations patiently, such as living in a tent in a log cabin, without any floor all winter, or in a cabin ten feet square, and cooking out of doors by the side of a log, giving up their beds to the sick, and being ready, night or day, to feed the men who were running for their lives. then there was the ever present fear that their husbands would be shot. the most obnoxious had a price set upon their heads. a few years ago a man said: "i could have got $ , once for shooting wattles, and i wish now i had done it." when in ohio, our house was often the temporary home of the hunted slave; but in kansas it was the _white_ man who ran from our door to the woods because he saw strangers coming. after the question of a free state seemed settled, we who had thought and talked on woman's rights before we came to kansas, concluded that now was the woman's hour. we determined to strive to obtain constitutional rights, as they would be more secure than legislative enactments. on the th of february, , we organized the moneka woman's rights society. there were only twelve of us, but we went to work circulating petitions and writing to every one in the territory whom we thought would aid us. our number was afterwards increased to forty; fourteen of them were men. we sent petitions to territorial legislatures, constitutional conventions, state legislatures, and congress. many of the leading men were advocates of women's rights. governor robinson, s. n. wood, and erastus heath, with their wives, were constant and efficient workers. mrs. robinson wrote a book on "life in kansas." "allibone's dictionary of authors" says: "mrs. robinson is an accomplished lady, the wife of governor robinson. she possessed the knowledge of events and literary skill necessary to produce an interesting and trustworthy book, and one which will continue to have a permanent value. the women of kansas suffered more than the men, and were not less heroic. their names are not known; they were not elected to office; they had none of the exciting delights of an active out-door life on these attractive prairies; they endured in silence; they took care of the home, of the sick. if 'home they brought her warrior dead, she nor swooned nor uttered sigh.' it is fortunate that a few of these truest heroes have left a printed record of pioneer life in kansas." the last vigorous effort we made in circulating petitions was when congress was about extending to the colored men the right to vote. many signed then for the first time. one woman said, "i know my husband does not believe in women voting, but he hates the negroes, and would not want them placed over me." i saw in _the liberator_ that a bequest to the woman's rights cause had been made by a gentleman in boston, and i asked wendell phillips if we could have some of it in kansas. he directed me to susan b. anthony, and you gave us $ . this small sum we divided between two lecturers, and paying for tracts. john o. wattles lectured and distributed tracts in southern kansas. we were greatly rejoiced when we found, by corresponding with mrs. nichols, that she intended to work for our cause whether she had any compensation or not. kansas women can never be half thankful enough for what she did for them. there has never been a time since, when the same amount of effort would have accomplished as much; and the little money we gave her could scarcely have paid her stage fare. when the question was submitted in , and the men were to decide whether women should be allowed to vote, we felt very anxious about the result. we strongly desired to make kansas the banner state for freedom. we did all we could to secure it, and some of the best speakers from the east came to our aid. their speeches were excellent, and were listened to by large audiences, who seemed to believe what they heard; but when voting day came, they voted according to their prejudices, and our cause was defeated. my work has been very limited. i have only been able to talk and circulate tracts and papers. i took _the una_, _the lily_, _the sybil_, _the pittsburg visitor_, _the revolution_, _woman's journal_, _ballot box_, and _national citizen_; got all the subscribers i could, and scattered them far and near. when i gave away _the revolution_, my husband said, "wife, that is a very talented paper; i should think you would preserve that." i replied: "they will continue to come until our cause is won, and i must make them do all the good they can." i am delighted with the "suffrage history." i do not think you can find material to make the second volume as interesting. i knew of most of the incidents as they transpired, yet they are full of interest and significance to me now. my book is now lent where i think it will be highly appreciated. mrs. r. s. tenney, m.d., one of the most earnest and efficient women of lawrence, adds another testimony to the spirit of that historic canvass: independence, kansas, _nov. , _. dear miss anthony:--so you and mrs. stanton are about to burn at the stake the injustice of the men and measures of kansas in , and would like me to help pile on the fagots, which i will most gladly do, believing it right that the wrong and wickedness of every clime and nation should be stabbed or burned till they are entirely dead. while the opponents of woman suffrage in thought they had achieved a great victory, it was only an overwhelming defeat for a future day, a day when col. john a. martin, judge t. c. sears, col. d. w. houston, g. h. hoyt, then attorney-general, col. j. d. snoddy, benj. f. simpson, hon. p. b. plumb, jacob stottler, rev. s. e. mcburney, of the methodist church, and rev. i. s. kalloch, of the baptist, and a host of others i might mention, will be ashamed of the position which they occupied, and the doctrines they advocated. although the question of woman suffrage was submitted to the people by a republican legislature, prominent republicans refused to recognize it as a party measure, and the consideration the legislature bestowed upon the intelligent wives and mothers of the young commonwealth, was evidenced by associating them in a bill with ex-slaves and traitors. rev. richard cordley said that "if the women had waited till the negroes were enfranchised, he would have worked for their cause most heartily." as though women were the arbiters of their own fate; had convened in legislative assembly and submitted their own case to the people. revs. mcburney and kalloch, c. v. eskridge and judge sears were in the field working with might and main against woman suffrage; while gov. crawford was president of the impartial suffrage association of the state, and judge wood, secretary. such old time radicals as hon. chas. robinson, the first free state governor of kansas, worked hard and well. prof. john horner, senator ross, rev. wm. starrett, mr. j. m. chase, and many others also did good work. hon. sidney clark left his post in the house of representatives at washington, and canvassed the state for a re-election, having it in his power to say many things and do much good for the cause of woman, but he did it not. he returned to his own city, lawrence, to make his last great speech on the eve of election, to find to his great consternation, that the only hall had been engaged by the president of the woman suffrage association of the city for a meeting of their party on that eve. in vain did the honorable gentleman and his friends strive to get possession of that hall. it was paid for and booked to r. s. tenney. poor sidney then sought permission to address their woman suffrage audience, but being refused, he was obliged to betake himself to a dry-goods box in the street, where he tried to interest the rabble, while col. horner, rev. mr. starrett, and others, had a fine, large audience in the hall. it is to be greatly regretted that the republican party that had accomplished such great good when the nation was in its hour of trouble, should have allowed such discord to enter its ranks and thereby defeat both woman and negro suffrage. but kansans have made great progress since , and many who voted against the proposition then would to-day vote and work heartily for it, and doubtless, if submitted again it would be carried by a large majority. a recent conversation with ex-gov. potter, who voted against it, confirms this opinion, and senator plumb is softening. a noticeable feature of the meetings of the political campaign of , was the presence of large numbers of women. on the eve of the election, at a full meeting in the largest hall in this place, a woman surprised the people by asking the chairman's permission to speak, and amid rounds of applause, poured forth such sentiments as compelled quite a number of prominent republican men to declare themselves in favor of woman suffrage, an issue which was voluntarily recommended by many speakers in both democratic and greenback meetings. gov. j. p. st. john is now making himself heard in his temperance speeches in favor of woman suffrage. the recent passage of the prohibitory amendment is significant that our people are awake and ready to welcome the greatest good to the greatest number, which means equal rights to all at an early day. r. s. tenney. march , . dear friends:--god bless the women that worked for woman's suffrage in kansas! foremost among those who were residents of the state was mrs. c. i. h. nichols, of wyandotte, and to her, more than all other kansas women, was due the influence which gave woman even the small recognition in the constitution under which the state was admitted, above what is found in other state constitutions of the nation; for this mrs. nichols labored with the zeal and heroism born of a great noble heart, whose every pulsation is for humanity in the elevation of woman to her proper political as well as social position. it was largely through her instrumentality that such god-ordained women as elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony, lucy stone, and olympia brown, came to kansas as eloquent missionaries in the great work of attempting to give the women of this state the legal right to vote with their husbands, sons and brothers. and though, through the opposition of unwise and prejudiced men, the desired majority for woman's suffrage was not then obtained; the seed sown by these self-sacrificing angels of humanity will yet bring forth most glorious results. the efforts of the hutchinson troupe of sweet singers in this direction will not be forgotten. john, the patriarch, with his bright son henry and beautiful daughter viola, made a musical trio whose soul-stirring songs were only excelled in purity of thought and delightful harmony of execution, by their intense, whole-hearted desire that the cause for which they prayed and sang with so much earnestness might be crowned with success. mr. henry b. blackwell, lucy stone's husband, was indefatigable in his efforts, working early and late for the good cause. of the women of the state of kansas who were active, a large number of names might be given.[ ] but kansas best remembers and most honors in the remembrance, those women who left their comfortable and elegant homes on the atlantic slope, and with no hope of reward save the consciousness of having worked for god and humanity, traveled over the then wild prairies of kansas in all sorts of rude vehicles, talking in groves, school-houses, and cabins, eating and sleeping as pioneers sleep and eat, for weeks and months, making the beautiful rolling prairies, filled with fertile valleys and flowery knolls, vocal with their eloquent, earnest appeals in behalf of woman's rights and against woman's wrongs; and through the vote carried for woman's wrongs the fervid, eloquent words then uttered by woman's tongue, welling up as they did from noble hearts heated to redness in the furnace of love for human justice, left an influence which has steadily and surely increased, and will thus continue until kansas shall give woman equal rights and privileges with man. sincerely yours, j. p. root. racine, wisconsin, _march , _. dear susan:--you ask me to write an account of my experiences in kansas; with unquestioning obedience i attempt what you require, although many records and documents are wanting which should have been kept, had i anticipated your command. but when in kansas, i no more thought of appearing in history, than the butterfly flitting from flower to flower thinks of being dried and put in a museum. i have never kept a diary, have never counted the number of miles i have traveled, the meals eaten, calls made, pages written, or words spoken. i have tried to do the pressing duty of each hour, leaving the results and records to take care of themselves. you will not, therefore, be surprised that i am unable to furnish even the "round unvarnished tale," but must be content with glimpses as memory, after the lapse of fourteen years, supplies them. i am glad to have an opportunity, through your valuable history, of paying my respects to the good people whom i met in kansas, few of whom i shall ever see again in this life, but whose earnest words go with me every day, a constant source of encouragement and of strength. it would be but justice to record the names of all those who gave generous aid and sympathy in the woman suffrage campaign of ' ; brave pioneers they were, who had learned loyalty to principle through many bitter experiences; some of them had been friends and companions of brave old john brown, and, trained in the great anti-slavery struggle, filled with the love of liberty, they knew how to stand for the right. but their names are recorded on high in letters of living light, and they little need our poor faltering testimony. "their reward is with them, and their reward is sure." to-day, looking back over the years, kansas is to me a memory of grand, rolling prairies stretching far away; of fertile fields; of beautiful osage orange hedges; of hospitable homes; of brave and earnest women; kind and true men; and of some of the most dishonest politicians the world has ever seen. i went to kansas, through an arrangement made by lucy stone with leaders of the republican party there, whereby they were to furnish comfortable conveyance over the state, with a lady as traveling companion, and also to arrange and preside over all the meetings; these were to be republican meetings in which it was thought best that a woman should present the claims of the woman suffrage amendment, which had been submitted to the vote of the men of the state by a strongly republican legislature. the kansas republicans so far complied with their part of this arrangement that on my arrival, the st of july, i found appointments made and thoroughly advertised for the whole of july and august; two lectures for every week day, and a preaching service for every sunday. as it proved, these appointments were at great distances from each other, often requiring a journey of twenty, thirty, forty, and even fifty miles across a country scarcely settled at all, to reach some little village where there would be a school-house or some public building in which a meeting could be held. all were eager to hear, and the entire settlement would attend the lecture, thus giving an astonishingly large audience in proportion to the size of the place. the country was then new and public conveyances few, and the republicans having failed to furnish the stipulated carriage and escort, the speaker was dependent almost entirely upon the people in each little place for the means to pursue the journey. many a time some kind man, with a genuine chivalry worthy of the days of knighthood, has left his half-mown field or his sorghum boiling in the kettle, to escort the woman suffrage advocate to the next appointment; and although the road often seemed long and perilous and many an hour was spent in what appeared a hopeless endeavor to find our way over the almost trackless prairie, yet somehow we always came to the right place at last; and i scarcely recollect an instance of failure to meet an appointment from july st to nov. th. in those four months i traveled over the greater part of kansas, held two meetings every day, and the latter part of the time three meetings every day, making in all between two and three hundred speeches, averaging an hour in length; a fact that tends to show that women can endure talk and travel at least, as well as men; especially when we recollect how the hon. sidney clark, then candidate for congress, canvassed, in the beautiful autumn weather, a small portion of the state which i had traveled over amid the burning heat of july and august; he spoke once a day instead of twice; he rested on sundays; he had no anxiety about the means of travel, his conveyance being furnished at hand; he was supported by a large constituency, and expected to be rewarded by office and honors; yet with all these advantages, he broke down in health and was obliged to give up a part of his appointments, and the republican papers said: "it was not strange, as no human being could endure without loss of health such constant speaking, with such long and tedious journeys as mr. clark had undertaken." it is deemed, in certain quarters, wicked heresy to complain of or criticise the republican party, that has done so much in freeing the slaves and in bringing the country victoriously through the war of the rebellion; but if there is to be any truth in history we must set it down, to stand forever a lasting disgrace to the party that in , in kansas, its leaders selfishly and meanly defeated the woman suffrage amendment. as the time for the election drew nigh, those political leaders who had been relied upon as friends of the cause were silent, others were active in their opposition. the central committee issued a circular for the purpose of preventing loyal republicans from voting for woman suffrage; not content with this, the notorious i. s. kalloch, and others of the same stripe, were sent out under the auspices of the republican party to blackguard and abuse the advocates of woman's cause while professedly speaking upon "manhood suffrage." and charles langston, the negro orator, added his mite of bitter words to make the path a little harder for women, who had spent years in pleading the cause of the colored man. and yet, with all the obstacles which the dominant party could throw in our way; without organization, without money, without political rewards to offer, without any of the means by which elections are usually carried, we gained one-third of all the votes cast! surely it was a great triumph of principle; and had the leading republicans, even one or two of them, stood boldly for the measure which they themselves had submitted, kansas might have indeed been a "free state"; the first to enfranchise women; the advance guard in the great progressive movements of the time; and her leading politicians might have gone down in history as wise, far-seeing statesmen who loved principles better than office, and who gained the rewards of the world because they sought "first the kingdom of god and his righteousness." as it was, their favorite measure, "negro suffrage," was defeated for that time, and several of those who sold their birthright of truth and justice for a miserable mess of pottage in the shape of office and emoluments, lost even the poor reward for which they had trafficked. as for us, the advocates of suffrage who labored there in that first woman's suffrage campaign, we have forgotten, in part, the bitterness of disappointment and defeat; we think no more of the long and wearisome journeys under the hot sun of southern kansas; the anxiety and uncertainty; the nervous tremor when night has overtaken us wandering on the prairie, not knowing what terrible pitfalls might lie before; the mobs which sometimes made the little log school-house shake with their missiles; the taunts and jeers of the opposition; all this is passed, but the great principle of human rights which we advocated remains, commending itself more and more to the favor of all good men, confirmed by every year's experience, and destined at no distant day to find expression in law. sincerely yours, olympia brown. the day before the election immense meetings were held in all the chief cities. in leavenworth mr. train spoke for two hours in laing's hall, and then took the evening train for atchison. mrs. stanton entered the hall just as he left, and made only a short speech, reserving herself for the evening, when, daniel r. anthony in the chair, she made her final appeal to the voters of the state. she was followed by several of the leading gentlemen in short speeches, fully indorsing both amendments. the _bulletin_, in speaking of the meeting, said: laing's hall was crowded to overflowing last evening to listen to a discourse from mrs. stanton, on the main issues pending in this state, and to be decided to-day. the speech of mrs. stanton was mainly in behalf of female suffrage. speeches were also made by col. j. c. vaughan, col. jennison, col. moonlight, and col. anthony. the best of feeling prevailed throughout. susan b. anthony spoke to an equally large audience in atchison, and olympia brown to another in an adjoining town. the morning of the election two spacious barouches containing the several members of the hutchinson family--john, his son henry and daughter viola; with mrs. stanton, miss anthony, mrs. daniel r. and mrs. j. merritt anthony, visited in succession the four polling booths in leavenworth and addressed the voters in short, earnest speeches as to their duty as citizens. mrs. stanton made a special appeal to irishmen, quoting to them the lofty sentiments of edmund burke on human liberty. she told them of visiting o'connell in his own house, and attending one of his great repeal meetings, of his eloquent speech in the world's anti-slavery convention, and his genial letters to lucretia mott, in favor of woman's right to vote. after three cheers for o'connell, they shouted, "go on, go on." the hutchinsons then sang their stirring ballad, "the good time coming." the reception at each booth was respectful, and at the end of the speech or song there followed three hearty cheers for "woman suffrage."[ ] the leavenworth _commercial_ of nov. , , had the following editorial: a contrast.--miss susan b. anthony and mrs. elizabeth cady stanton left yesterday afternoon for st. louis, from whence they go to omaha, and from that place, in company with geo. francis train, start on a general lecturing tour through the principal cities of the west and east. their subject, of course, in all the places at which they will speak, will be, "woman suffrage"; and we believe they will speak with far more than ordinary encouragement. kansas, the only state in which the subject was ever submitted--though under the most adverse of circumstances--has spoken in a manner which has rather nerved than dispirited these tried and faithful champions of their own sex. the two propositions were submitted, in this state, under circumstances wholly dissimilar. while negro suffrage was specially championed and made the principal plank in the republican party--made almost a test of membership and of loyalty to it and the government--female suffrage stood, not simply as an ignored proposition, but as one against which was arrayed all party organizations, whether republican, democratic or german. and yet, notwithstanding this ignoring of the question, notwithstanding the combined and active opposition of these powerful and controlling organizations, nearly as many votes were cast for female suffrage as for negro suffrage. and if we go outside of our state, and take a look at the influences that were brought to bear upon our citizens, the result seems still more striking and remarkable. on the side of negro suffrage stood congress, and its policy in the south; also all the leading radical journals in the country, and that branch of the pulpit to which radicals had been taught to look for political wisdom as well as orthodox religious sermons. the whole enginery of the radical party, and of that party's tactics, was brought to bear upon the state. party pride, party prejudices, and religious beliefs were each and all fervidly appealed to on behalf of negro suffrage. but in respect to woman suffrage, matters were far different. even those in the east, whose eminence and eloquence had served to throw broadcast the ideas that it was sought to give form and reality to in this state, as the final testing hour neared, gradually withdrew their aid and counsel; and in a manner sympathiless and emotionless as marble statuary, from their calm eastern retreats watched the unequal contest. when stephen a. douglas said he "didn't care a d----n whether slavery was voted up or voted down in kansas," he but expressed in a forcible and emphatic manner the feelings of many of the eastern "friends" of woman suffrage in the recent campaign. we repeat then, when we consider the many obstacles thrown in the way of the advocates of this measure, of the indifference with which the masses look upon anything new in government, and their indisposition to change, that the degree of success of these advocates is not only remarkable, but one in which they have a just right to feel proud and triumphant. and to these two ladies, to their indomitable wills and courage, to their eloquence and energies, is due much of the merit of the work performed in the state. we would not rob others of their glories, or their triumphs. yet these two came to us as pioneers. through the highways and byways of all the long years of their past lives we find the tracings of their deep earnestness and devotion to the principles which first found ways and means of development in kansas. we find them giving utterance to these thoughts in the days of their first inception, and in words of burning eloquence closing the campaign which gave them over for decision and arbitrament to the great jury and final arbiter, the people. but in the recent election, as is well known, these ladies were not successful to the full extent of their wishes. they have the proud consciousness of knowing, however, that their work has been commensurate with the combined efforts of party organizations. congressmen, senators, presses, ministers, etc., and that the people of kansas are not more averse to giving the franchise to woman than to the negro. with this evidence of the result of their efforts they can afford to wait, and, in the spirit of a lowell, found their faith in the future, as when he says:-- but humanity sweeps onward! where to-day the martyr stands, on the morrow crouches judas with the silver in his hands. far in front the cross stands ready, and the crackling fragments burn, while the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return, to glean up the scattered ashes into history's golden urn. and again-- careless seems the great avenger; history's pages but record one death-struggle in the grapple 'twixt old systems and the word. truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne; yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown standeth god in the darkness keeping watch above his own. after speaking in all the chief cities from leavenworth to new york,[ ] mrs. stanton and miss susan b. anthony turned their attention to the establishment in the city of new york of a woman suffrage paper, called _the revolution_.[ ] the funds for this enterprise were provided by two democrats, david melliss, the financial editor of the _world_, and george francis train. the editors were parker pillsbury and elizabeth cady stanton; the owner and publisher, susan b. anthony. this affiliation with mr. train and other democrats, together with the aggressive tone of _the revolution_, called down on miss anthony and mrs. stanton severe criticism from some of their friends, while they received sincere praise from others. in reviewing the situation, they have had no reason to regret their course, feeling that their determination to push their cause, and accept help from whatever quarter it was proffered, aroused lukewarm friends to action, who, though hostile at first to the help of democrats, soon came to appreciate the difficulty of carrying on a movement with the press, pulpit, politicians, and philanthropists all in the opposition. abolitionists were severe in their denunciations against these ladies, because, while belonging to anti-slavery associations, they affiliated with the bitter enemies of the negro and all his defamers. to which they replied: "so long as opposition to slavery is the only test for a free pass to your platform and membership of your association, and you do not shut out all persons opposed to woman suffrage, why should we not accept all in favor of woman suffrage to our platform and association, even though they be rabid pro-slavery democrats? your test of faithfulness is the negro, ours is the woman; the broadest platform, to which no party has as yet risen, is humanity." reformers can be as bigoted and sectarian and as ready to malign each other, as the church in its darkest periods has been to persecute its dissenters. so utterly had the women been deserted in the kansas campaign by those they had the strongest reason to look to for help, that at times all effort seemed hopeless. the editors of the new york _tribune_ and the _independent_ can never know how wistfully, from day to day, their papers were searched for some inspiring editorials on the woman's amendment, but naught was there; there were no words of hope and encouragement, no eloquent letters from an eastern man that could be read to the people; all were silent. yet these two papers, extensively taken all over kansas, had they been as true to woman as to the negro, could have revolutionized the state. but with arms folded, greeley, curtis, tilton, beecher, higginson, phillips, garrison, frederick douglass, all calmly watched the struggle from afar, and when defeat came to both propositions, no consoling words were offered for woman's loss, but the women who spoke in the campaign were reproached for having "killed negro suffrage." [illustration: olympia brown.] we wondered then at the general indifference to that first opportunity of realizing what all those gentlemen had advocated so long; and, in looking back over the many intervening years, we still wonder at the stolid incapacity of all men to understand that woman feels the invidious distinctions of sex exactly as the black man does those of color, or the white man the more transient distinctions of wealth, family, position, place, and power; that she feels as keenly as man the injustice of disfranchisement. of the old abolitionists who stood true to woman's cause in this crisis, robert purvis, parker pillsbury, and rev. samuel j. may were the only eastern men. through all the hot debates during the period of reconstruction, again and again, mr. purvis arose and declared, that he would rather his son should never be enfranchised, unless his daughter could be also, that, as she bore the double curse of sex and color, on every principle of justice she should first be protected. these were the only men who felt and understood as women themselves do the degradation of disfranchisement. twenty years ago, as now, the gibraltar of our difficulties was the impossibility of making the best men feel that woman is aggravated by the endless petty distinctions because of sex, precisely as the most cultivated man, black or white, suffers the distinctions of color, wealth, or position. take a man of superior endowments, once powerful and respected, who through unfortunate circumstances is impoverished and neglected; he sees small men, unscrupulous, hard, grinding men taking places of trust and influence, making palace homes for themselves and children, while his family in shabby attire are ostracised in the circle where by ancestry and intelligence they belong, made to feel on all occasions the impassable gulf that lies between riches and poverty. that man feels for himself and doubly for his children the humiliation. and yet with the ever-turning wheel of fortune such distinctions are transient; yours to-day, mine to-morrow. that glorious scotch poet, robert burns, from the depths of his poverty and despair, might exclaim in an inspired moment on the divine heights where the human soul can sometimes mount: "a man's a man for a' that." but the wail through many of his sad lines shows that he had tasted the very dregs of the cup of poverty, and hated all distinctions based on wealth. when a colored man of education and wealth like robert purvis, of philadelphia, surrounded with a family of cultivated sons and daughters, was denied all social communion with his neighbors, equal freedom and opportunity for himself and children, in public amusements, churches, schools, and means of travel because of race, he felt the degradation of color. the poor white man might have said, if i were robert purvis, with a good bank account, and could live in my own house, ride in my own carriage, and have my children well fed and clothed, i should not care if we were all as black as the ace of spades. but he had never tried the humiliation of color, and could not understand its peculiar aggravations, as he did those of poverty. it is impossible for one class to appreciate the wrongs of another. the coarser forms of slavery all can see and deplore, but the subjections of the spirit, few either comprehend or appreciate. in our day women carrying heavy burdens on their shoulders while men walk by their side smoking their pipes, or women harnessed to plows and carts with cows and dogs while men drive, are sights which need no eloquent appeals to move american men to pity and indignation. but the subtle humiliations of women possessed of wealth, education, and genius, men on the same plane can not see or feel, and yet can any misery be more real than invidious distinctions on the ground of sex in the laws and constitution, in the political, religious, and moral position of those who in nature stand the peers of each other? and not only do such women suffer these ever-recurring indignities in daily life, but the literature of the world proclaims their inferiority and divinely decreed subjection in all history, sacred and profane, in science, philosophy, poetry, and song. and here is the secret of the infinite sadness of women of genius; of their dissatisfaction with life, in exact proportion to their development. a woman who occupies the same realm of thought with man, who can explore with him the depths of science, comprehend the steps of progress through the long past and prophesy those of the momentous future, must ever be surprised and aggravated with his assumptions of headship and superiority, a superiority she never concedes, an authority she utterly repudiates. words can not describe the indignation, the humiliation a proud woman feels for her sex in disfranchisement. in a republic where all are declared equal an ostracised class of one half of the people, on the ground of a distinction founded in nature, is an anomalous position, as harassing to its victims as it is unjust, and as contradictory as it is unsafe to the fundamental principles of a free government. when we remember that out of this degraded political status, spring all the special wrongs that have blocked woman's success in the world of work, and degraded her labor everywhere to one half its value; closed to her the college doors and all opportunities for higher education, forbade her to practice in the professions, made her a cipher in the church, and her sex, her motherhood a curse in all religions; her subjection a text for bibles, a target for the priesthood; seeing all this, we wonder now as then at the indifference and injustice of our best men when the first opportunity offered in which the women of any state might have secured their enfranchisement. it was not from ignorance of the unequal laws, and false public sentiment against woman, that our best men stood silent in this kansas campaign; it was not from lack of chivalry that they thundered forth no protests, when they saw noble women, who had been foremost in every reform, hounded through the state by foul mouthed politicians; it was not from lack of money and power, of eloquence of pen and tongue, nor of an intellectual conviction that our cause was just, that they came not to the rescue, but because in their heart of hearts they did not grasp the imperative necessity of woman's demand for that protection which the ballot alone can give; they did not feel for _her_ the degradation of disfranchisement. the fact of their silence deeply grieved us, but the philosophy of their indifference we thoroughly comprehended for the first time and saw as never before, that only from woman's standpoint could the battle be successfully fought, and victory secured. "it is wonderful," says swift, "with what patience some folks can endure the sufferings of others." our liberal men counseled us to silence during the war, and we were silent on our own wrongs; they counseled us again to silence in kansas and new york, lest we should defeat "negro suffrage," and threatened if we were not, we might fight the battle alone. we chose the latter, and were defeated. but standing alone we learned our power; we repudiated man's counsels forevermore; and solemnly vowed that there should never be another season of silence until woman had the same rights everywhere on this green earth, as man. while we hold in loving reverence the names of such men as charles sumner, horace greeley, william lloyd garrison, gerrit smith, wendell phillips and frederick douglass, and would urge the rising generation of young men to emulate their virtues, we would warn the young women of the coming generation against man's advice as to their best interests, their highest development. we would point for them the moral of our experiences: that woman must lead the way to her own enfranchisement, and work out her own salvation with a hopeful courage and determination that knows no fear nor trembling. she must not put her trust in man in this transition period, since, while regarded as his subject, his inferior, his slave, their interests must be antagonistic. but when at last woman stands on an even platform with man, his acknowledged equal everywhere, with the same freedom to express herself in the religion and government of the country, then, and not till then, can she safely take counsel with him in regard to her most sacred rights, privileges, and immunities; for not till then will he be able to legislate as wisely and generously for her as for himself. footnotes: [ ] disagreements in the republican state central committee--the suffrage question.--the kansas _state journal_ publishes a letter from judge samuel n. wood, in which he declares himself unqualifiedly in favor of impartial suffrage. he says: "i have not opposed, and shall not oppose negro suffrage. it should be adopted because they are a part of the governed, and must have a voice in the government, just as much as women should. what i have had to do with is the inconsistency and hypocrisy of those who advocate negro suffrage and oppose woman suffrage; the inconsistency and hypocrisy of those negroes who claim rights for themselves that they are not willing other human beings with equal intelligence should also enjoy." the same paper says that at the meeting of the republican state central committee in leavenworth, last week, the following resolution was offered and laid on the table, by a vote of two yeas to one nay: _resolved_, that the republican state central committee do not indorse, but distinctly repudiate, as speakers, in behalf and under the auspices of the republican party, such persons as have defamed, or do hereafter defame, in their public addresses, the women of kansas, or those ladies who have been urging upon the people of kansas the propriety of enfranchising the women of the state. mr. taylor, who offered the resolution, has accordingly published the following protest: the undersigned, a member of the republican state central committee of kansas, protests against the action of the committee this day had, so far as relates to the placing of the names of i. s. kalloch, c. v. eskridge, and p. b. plumb, on the list of speakers to canvass the state in behalf of republican principles, for the reason that they have within the last few weeks, in public addresses published articles, used ungentlemanly, indecent, and infamously defamatory language, when alluding to a large and respectable portion of the women of kansas, and to women now engaged in canvassing the state in favor of impartial suffrage. r. b. taylor. [ ] democratic resolution.--_resolved_, that we are opposed to all the proposed amendments to our state constitution, and to all unjust, intolerant, and proscriptive legislation, whereby a portion of our fellow citizens are deprived of their social rights and religious privileges. [ ] action of the germans.--st. louis, _sept. ._--a special dispatch to the _republican_ from wyandotte, kansas, says: "the german convention, which was held at topeka on monday last, adopted resolutions against sunday and temperance laws, and declared that they would not support any man for state, legislative, or municipal office who would not give his written pledge to oppose such laws. an unsuccessful effort was made to commit the germans to negro suffrage. the female suffrage question was not touched." [ ] state temperance convention.--lawrence, kansas, _sept. ._--a mass state temperance convention was held here last night, and was addressed by senator pomeroy, ex-gov. robinson, elizabeth cady stanton, and susan b. anthony. resolutions were passed committing the temperance people to female suffrage, and to prevent the repeal of the temperance law of last winter, to the abrogation of which the germans pledged themselves in their convention on the d. [ ] the new york _tribune_, may , : "womanhood suffrage is now a progressive cause beyond fear of cavil. it has won a fair field where once it was looked upon as an airy nothing, and it has gained champions and converts without number. the young state of kansas is fitly the vanguard of this cause, and the signs of the agitation therein hardly allow a doubt that the citizenship of women will be ere long recognized in the law of the state. fourteen out of twenty newspapers of kansas are in favor of making woman a voter. governor crawford, ex-governors robinson and root, judge schuyler, col. ritchie, and lieut.-gov. green, are the leaders of the wide-spread impartial league, which has among its orators mistresses stanton, stone, and susan b. anthony. the vitality of the kansas movement is indisputable, and whether defeated or successful in the present contest, it will still hold strongly fortified ground." ... [ ] mrs. sarah b. shaw, after having contributed $ for kansas, wrote the following: north shore, september , . dear miss anthony:--if i were a rich woman i would inclose a check of $ , instanter. mr. gay read your letter and said he wished he had $ to give. so you see if the right people only had the money how the work would be done. mr. shaw says: "tell miss anthony if the women in kansas vote on the schools and the dram shops, i think the work is done there." i have not in my mind one person who could give money who would, so i can not help you.... i am very sorry to send you only this dry morsel, a stone when you want bread, but i can only give you my earnest wishes, though i will not fail to do my best. i have already sent your letter to a rich friend, who has _reformed_ all her life, but i do not know at all how she stands on the woman question. believe me, dear miss anthony, sincerely yours, sarah b. shaw. office of the american equal rights association, } no. park row (room ). new york, _aug. , _. } dear lydia:-- ... i am just in from staten island, where mrs. gay had $ from frank shaw waiting for me. i went on purpose to go to mrs. shaw, and persevered; the glorious result is $ more. such a splendid woman; worthy the noble boy she gave in the war, and worthy her noble son-in-law, george william curtis. lydia, we shall go on to triumph in kansas! the st. louis _democrat_ publishes mr. curtis' speech in full, with a splendid editorial. the st. louis _journal_ gives the speech and the _democrat's_ editorial "as a matter of news." i have , tracts now going to press; all the old editions were gone, and we have to begin new with an empty treasury; but i tell them all, "go ahead;" we must, and will, succeed. affectionately yours, susan b. anthony. templeton, mass., _sept. , _, } on way to green mountains. } dear miss anthony:--mrs. severance desires me to inclose to you this check, $ , and say that it is a contribution by friends at and about boston, to aid you in the good work of reconstruction on the subject of woman's right to the ballot in kansas. yours truly, t. c. severance. auburn, _sept. , _. dear mr. pillsbury:--you may be very sure i would have answered susan's letter sooner if i had been able to inclose any such sum as she hoped to obtain. all that i can do is to inclose a draft for $ --ten from our daughter eliza, ten from william and ellen, and ten from myself.... we can only feel grateful for the self-sacrificing labors of those who have gone to kansas, and hopeful that better success may attend the efforts there, than here or in michigan.... i was very glad that mrs. stanton could go.... we shall miss mrs. frances d. gage. i always considered her word as effective as any on our woman's rights platform. her rest has come.... our children were in syracuse on sunday; they heard a beautiful valedictory from samuel j. may, recounting the varied incidents of his life, lamenting his short-comings, and advising them to choose a younger man for the duties he was no longer able to perform alone. he is so well beloved by his congregation that the probability is they will get an associate for him. your friend, martha c. wright. [ ] e. d. draper, hopedale, massachusetts. [ ] james w. nye, nevada; charles robinson, s. n. wood, samuel c. pomeroy, e. g. ross, sidney clark, s. g. crawford, kansas; wm. loughridge, iowa; robert collyer, illinois; geo. w. julian, h. d. washburn, indiana; r. e. trowbridge, john f. driggs, michigan; benjamin f. wade, ohio; j. w. broomall, william d. kelley, pennsylvania; henry ward beecher, gerrit smith, george william curtis, new york; dudley s. gregory, george polk, john g. foster, james l. hayes, z. h. pangborn, new jersey; william lloyd garrison, wendell phillips, samuel e. sewell, oakes ames, massachusetts; william sprague, thomas w. higginson, rhode island; calvin e. stowe, connecticut. [ ] mrs. starrett's father. [ ] all were prepared beforehand to do mrs. stanton homage for her talents and fame, but many persons who had formed their ideas of miss anthony from the unfriendly remarks of opposition papers in other states had conceived a prejudice against her. perhaps i can not better illustrate how she everywhere overcame and dispelled this prejudice than by relating my own experience. a convention was called at lawrence, and the friends of woman suffrage were called upon to entertain the strangers who might come from abroad. ex-gov. robinson, who from the first had given his influence to the movement, was now giving his whole time to the canvass. he called upon me to know if i would entertain mrs. stanton. in those days houses were small, help was scarce and inefficient, and in our family were two babies and an invalid sister. but the pleasure and honor of entertaining mrs. stanton was too great to allow these circumstances to prevent. we prepared our own room for the guest chamber and had all things in readiness when i received a note from ex-gov. robinson stating that mrs. stanton had found relatives in town with whom she would stop, but that miss anthony would come instead. i hastily put on bonnet and shawl saying, "i don't want miss anthony, and i won't have her, and i am going to tell gov. robinson so." at the gate i met a dignified, quaker looking lady with a small satchel and a black and white shawl on her arm. offering her hand she said, "i am miss anthony, and i have been sent to you for entertainment during the convention." i have often wondered if miss anthony remembers my confusion, and the apologies i stammered out about no help, sickness in the family, no spare room and how i was just on my way to tell gov. robinson that i could not entertain any one. half disarmed by her genial manner and frank, kindly face, i led the way into the house and said i would have her stay to tea and then we would see what farther arrangements could be made. while i was looking after tea miss anthony won the hearts of the babies; and seeing the door of my sister's sick room open, she went in and in a short time had so won the heart and soothed instead of exciting the nervous sufferer, entertaining her with accounts of the outside world from which she had been so long shut off, that by the time tea was over, i was ready to do anything if miss anthony would only stay with us. and stay she did for over six weeks, and we parted from her as from a beloved and helpful friend. i found afterwards that in the same way she disarmed prejudice and made the most ardent friends wherever she became personally known. h. e. s. [ ] of course it is nothing new to say that mrs. stanton was the object of admiration and honor everywhere. miss anthony looked after her interests and comfort in the most cheerful and kindly manner, occasionally complaining good naturedly of mrs. stanton's carelessness in leaving various articles of her wearing apparel scattered over the state, and of the trouble she had in recovering a gold watch which mrs. stanton had left hanging on the bed post in a little hotel in southern kansas. i remember one evening of the convention in lawrence when the hall was crowded with an eager and expectant audience. miss anthony was there early, looking after everything, seats, lights, ushers, doorkeepers, etc. presently gov. robinson came to her and said, "where's mrs. stanton? it's time to commence." "she's at mrs. ---- waiting for some of you men to go for her with a carriage," was the reply. the hint was quickly acted upon and mrs. stanton, fresh, smiling and unfatigued, was presented to the audience. h. e. s. [ ] see appendix. [ ] mrs. gov. charles robinson, mrs. lieut-gov. j. p. root, mrs. r. b. taylor, mrs. mary t. gray--whose husbands were also active workers--mrs. lucy b. armstrong, mrs. judge humphrey, mrs. starrett, mrs. archibald, mrs. elsie stewart, "mother bickerdike," and many others. [ ] nov. , .--the associated press item in _the evening journal_ said: "leavenworth, kansas, nov. th. out of about , registered voters, only , voted here to-day. negro suffrage received only about . mrs. stanton and miss anthony, who have been canvassing the state, visited the polls in each ward and addressed the voters, probably the first occurrence of the kind in this country. they were accompanied by the hutchinson family, and were received with hearty cheers for woman suffrage." [ ] this trip cost mr. train $ , , as he paid all the expenses, advertising largely. [ ] the first number was published january , , and ten thousand copies, under the frank of the hon. james brooks, were scattered throughout the country. chapter xx. new york constitutional convention. constitution amended once in twenty years--mrs. stanton before the legislature claiming woman's right to vote for members to the convention--an immense audience in the capitol--the convention assembled june th, . twenty thousand petitions presented for striking the word "male" from the constitution--"committee on the right of suffrage, and the qualifications for holding office." horace greeley, chairman--mr. graves, of herkimer, leads the debate in favor of woman suffrage--horace greeley's adverse report--leading advocates heard before the convention--speech of george william curtis on striking the word "man" from section , article --final vote, for, against--equal rights anniversary of . this was the first time in the history of the woman suffrage movement that the constitution of new york was to be amended, and the general interest felt by women in the coming convention was intensified by the fact that such an opportunity for their enfranchisement would not come again in twenty years. the proposition of the republican party to strike the word "white" from the constitution and thus extend the right of suffrage to all classes of male citizens, placing the men of the state, black and white, foreign and native, ignorant and educated, vicious and virtuous, all alike, above woman's head, gave her a keener sense of her abasement than she had ever felt before. but having neither press nor pulpit to advocate her cause, and fully believing this amendment would pass as a party measure, she used every means within her power to arouse and strengthen the agitation, in the face of the most determined opposition of friends and foes. meetings were held in all the chief towns and cities in the state, and appeals and petitions scattered in every school district; these were so many reminders to the women everywhere that they too had some interest in the constitution under which they lived, some duties to perform in deciding the future policy of the government. this campaign cost us the friendship of horace greeley and the support of the _new york tribune_, heretofore our most powerful and faithful allies. in an earnest conversation with mrs. stanton and miss anthony, mr. greeley said: "this is a critical period for the republican party and the life of the nation. the word "white" in our constitution at this hour has a significance which "male" has not. it would be wise and magnanimous in you to hold your claims, though just and imperative, i grant, in abeyance until the negro is safe beyond peradventure, and your turn will come next. i conjure you to remember that this is "the negro's hour," and your first duty now is to go through the state and plead his claims." "suppose," we replied, "horace greeley, henry j. raymond and james gordon bennett were disfranchised; what would be thought of them, if before audiences and in leading editorials they pressed the claims of sambo, patrick, hans and yung fung to the ballot, to be lifted above their own heads? with their intelligence, education, knowledge of the science of government, and keen appreciation of the dangers of the hour, would it not be treasonable, rather than magnanimous, for them, leaders of the metropolitan press, to give the ignorant and unskilled a power in government they did not possess themselves? to do this would be to place on board the ship of state officers and crew who knew nothing of chart or compass, of the safe pathway across the sea, and bid those who understand the laws of navigation to stand aside. no, no, this is the hour to press woman's claims; we have stood with the black man in the constitution over half a century, and it is fitting now that the constitutional door is open that we should enter with him into the political kingdom of equality. through all these years he has been the only decent compeer we have had. enfranchise him, and we are left outside with lunatics, idiots and criminals for another twenty years." "well," said mr. greeley, "if you persevere in your present plan, you need depend on no further help from me or the _tribune_." and he kept his word. we have seen the negro enfranchised, and twenty long years pass away since the war, and still woman's turn has not yet come; her rights as a citizen of the united states are still unrecognized, the oft-repeated pledges of leading republicans and abolitionists have not been redeemed. as soon as the constitutional convention was called by the legislature of new york, mrs. stanton appeared before that body asking not only that the word "male" be stricken from sec. , art. , but that women be permitted to vote for members to that convention, giving many precedents and learned opinions in favor of her demand. in the assembly chamber on the afternoon of jan. , , an immense audience of judges, lawyers, members of the legislature, and ladies of fashion greeted her. on being introduced by the hon. chas. j. folger,[ ] chairman of the senate judiciary committee, mrs. stanton said: _gentlemen of the judiciary committee and members of the legislature_: i appear before you at this time, to urge on you the justice of securing to all the people of the state the right to vote for delegates to the coming constitutional convention. the discussion of this right involves the consideration of the whole question of suffrage; and especially those sections of your constitution which interpose insurmountable qualifications to its exercise. as representatives of the people, your right to regulate all that pertains to the coming constitutional convention is absolute. it is for you to say when and where this convention shall be held; how many delegates shall be chosen, and what classes shall be represented. this is your right. it is the opinion of many of the ablest men of the country that, in a revision of a constitution, the state is, for the time being, resolved into its original elements, and that all disfranchised classes should have a voice in such revision and be represented in such convention. to secure this to the people of the state, is clearly your duty. says judge beach lawrence, in a letter to hon. charles sumner: "a state constitution must originate with and be assented to by a majority of the people, including as well those whom it disfranchises as those whom it invests with the suffrage." and as there is nothing in the present constitution of the state of new york to prevent women, or black men from voting for, or being elected as delegates to a constitutional convention, there is no reason why the legislature should not enact that the people elect their delegates to said convention irrespective of sex or color. the legislatures of and furnish you a precedent for extending to disfranchised classes the right to vote for delegates to a constitutional convention. though the constitution of the state restricted the right of suffrage to every male inhabitant who possessed a freehold to the value of £ , or rented a tenement at the yearly value of forty shillings, and had been rated and actually paid taxes to the state, the legislatures of those years passed laws setting aside all property limitations, and providing that all men--black and white, rich and poor--should vote for delegates to said conventions. the act recommending a convention for the purpose of considering the parts of the constitution of this state, respecting the number of senators and members of assembly--and also for the consideration of the d article of said constitution, relative to the right of nomination to office--"but with no other power or authority whatsoever," passed april , . session laws , chap. , page , sec. , says: and be it further enacted, that the number of delegates chosen shall be the same as the number of members of assembly from the respective cities and counties of the state, and that all free male citizens of this state, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, shall be admitted to vote for such delegates, and that any person of that description shall be eligible. the above law was passed by the legislature of , which derived its authority from the first constitution of the state. the act recommending a convention of the people of this state, passed march , . session laws of , act , page , sec. . "persons entitled to vote": all free male citizens, of the age of twenty-one years or upward, who shall possess a freehold in this state, or who shall have been actually rated and paid taxes to this state, or who shall have been actually enrolled in the militia of this state, or in a legal, volunteer, or uniform corps, and shall have served therein either as an officer or private, or who shall have been or now are, by law, exempt from taxation or militia duty, or who shall have been assessed to work on the public roads and highways, and shall have worked thereon, or shall have paid a commutation therefor according to law, shall be allowed during the three days of such election to vote by ballot as aforesaid in the town or ward in which they shall actually reside. extract from sec. th, act : and be it further enacted, that the number of delegates to be chosen shall be the same as the number of members of assembly from the respective cities and counties of this state, and that the same qualification for voters shall be required on the election for delegates, as is prescribed in the first section of this act, and none other.... and that all persons entitled to vote by this law for delegates, shall be eligible to be elected. extracts from the first constitution of the state of new york, under and by virtue of which the legislatures sat, which passed the acts of and , from which the extracts above are taken. sec. . qualification of electors: that every male inhabitant of full age, who shall have personally resided for six months within one of the counties of this state, immediately preceding the day of election, shall at such election be entitled to vote for representatives of the said county in assembly, if during the time aforesaid, he shall have been a freeholder possessing a freehold of the value of £ , within the said county, or have rented a tenement therein of a yearly value of forty shillings, and been rated and actually paid taxes to this state. sec. . and this convention doth further, in the name and by the authority of the good people of this state, ordain, determine, and declare that the senate of the state of new york shall consist of twenty-four freeholders, to be chosen out of the body of the freeholders, and they be chosen by the freeholders of this state, possessed of freeholds of the value of £ over and above all debts charged thereon. by section , the qualifications for voters for governor are made the same as those for senators. the laws above quoted show this striking fact: those men, black and white, prohibited from voting for members of the assembly, were permitted to vote for delegates to said conventions; and more than this, on each occasion they were eligible to seats in the body called to frame the fundamental law--the fundamental law from which governors, senators, and members derive their existence. the constitutional convention of rhode island, in , affords another precedent of the power of the legislature to extend the suffrage to disfranchised classes. the disfranchisement of any class of citizens is in express violation of the spirit of our own constitution. art. , sec. : no member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land and the judgment of his peers. now, women, and negroes not worth two hundred and fifty dollars, however weak and insignificant, are surely "members of the state." the law of the land is equality. the question of disfranchisement has never been submitted to the judgment of their peers. a peer is an equal. the "white male citizen" who so pompously parades himself in all our codes and constitutions, does not recognize women and negroes as his equals; therefore, his judgment in their case amounts to nothing. and women and negroes constituting a majority of the people of the state, do not recognize a "white male" minority as their rightful rulers. on our republican theory that the majority governs, women and negroes should have a voice in the government of the state; and being taxed, should be represented. in the recent debate in the senate of the united states, on the question of suffrage, senator anthony, of rhode island, said: nor is it a fair statement of the case to say, that the man represents the woman, because it is an assumption on the part of the man--it is an involuntary representation on the part of the woman. representation implies a certain delegated power, and a certain responsibility on the part of the representative toward the party represented. a representation to which the represented party does not assent, is no representation at all; but is adding insult to injury. when the american colonies complained that they ought not to be taxed unless they were represented in the british parliament, it would have been rather a singular answer to tell them that they were represented by lord north, or even by the earl of chatham. the gentlemen on the other side of the chamber, who say that the states lately in rebellion are entitled to immediate representation in this chamber, would hardly be satisfied if we should tell them that my friend from massachusetts represented south carolina, and my friend from michigan represented alabama. they would hardly be satisfied with that kind of representation. nor have we any more right to assume that the women are satisfied with the representation of the men. where has been the assembly at which this right of representation was conferred? where was the compact made? it is wholly an assumption. "white males" are the nobility of this country; they are the privileged order, who have legislated as unjustly for women and negroes as have the nobles of england for their disfranchised classes. the existence of the english house of commons is a strong fact to prove that one class can not legislate for another. perhaps it may be necessary, in this transition period of our civilization, to create a lower house for women and negroes, lest the dreadful example of massachusetts, nay, worse, should be repeated here, and women, as well as black men, take their places beside our dutch nobility in the councils of the state. if the history of england has proved that white men of different grades can not legislate with justice for one another, how can you, honorable gentlemen, legislate for women and negroes, who, by your customs, creeds and codes, are placed under the ban of inferiority? if you dislike this view of the case, and claim that woman is your superior, and, therefore, you place her above all troublesome legislation, to shield her by your protecting care from the rough winds of life, i have simply to say, your statute books are a sad commentary on that position. your laws degrade, rather than exalt woman; your customs cripple, rather than free; your system of taxation is alike ungenerous and unjust. in demanding suffrage for the black man of the south, the dominant party recognizes the fact that as a freedman he is no longer a part of the family therefore his master is no longer his representative, and as he will now be liable to taxation, he must also have representation. woman, on the contrary, has never been such a part of the family as to escape taxation. although there has been no formal proclamation giving her an individual existence, unmarried women have always had the right to property and wages; to make contracts and do business in their own name. and even married women, by recent legislation in this state, have been secured in some civil rights, at least as well secured as those classes can be who do not hold the ballot in their own hands. woman now holds a vast amount of property in the country, and pays her full proportion of taxes, revenue included; on what principle, then, do you deny her representation? if you say women are "virtually represented" by the men of their household, i give you senator sumner's denial, in his great speech on equal rights in the first session of the th congress. quoting from james otis, he says: "no such phrase as virtual representation was known in law or constitution. it is altogether a subtlety and illusion, wholly unfounded and absurd. we must not be cheated by any such phantom or any other fiction of law or politics, or any monkish trick of deceit or hypocrisy." in regard to taxation without representation, lord coke says: "the supreme power can not take from any man any part of his property without his consent in person or by representation. taxes are not to be laid on the people" (are not women and negroes people?) "without their consent in person or by representation. the very act of taxing those who are not represented appears to me to deprive them of one of their most essential rights as freemen, and if continued, seems to be in effect an entire disfranchisement of every civil right; for what one civil right is worth a rush, after a man's property is subject to be taken from him without his consent?" in view of such opinions, is it too much to ask the men of new york, either to enfranchise women of wealth and education, or else release them from taxation? if we can not be represented as individuals, we should not be taxed as individuals. if the "white male" will do all the voting, let him pay all the taxes. there is no logic so powerful in opening the eyes of men to their real interests as a direct appeal to their pockets. such a release from taxation can be supported, too, by your own constitution. in art. , sec. , you say, "and no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation, unless he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid," referring to the $ qualification. now, a poor widow who owns a lot worth a hundred dollars or less, is taxed. why this partiality to the black man? he may live in the quiet possession of $ worth of property, and not be taxed a cent. is it on the ground of color or sex, that the black man finds greater favor in the eyes of the law than the daughters of the state? in order fully to understand this partiality, i have inquired into your practice with regard to women of color. i find that in seneca falls there lives a highly estimable colored woman, by the name of abby gomore, who owns property to the amount of a thousand dollars, in village lots. she now pays, and always has paid, from the time she invested her first hundred dollars, the same taxes as any other citizen--just in proportion to the value of her property, or as it is assessed. after excluding women and "men of color" not worth $ , from representation, your constitution tells us what other persons are excluded from the right of suffrage. art. , sec. . laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage all persons who have been or may be convicted of bribery, or larceny, or of any infamous crime, and for depriving every person who shall make, or become directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any election, from the right to vote at such election. how humiliating! for respectable and law-abiding women and "men of color," to be thrust outside the pale of political consideration with those convicted of bribery, larceny, and infamous crime; and worse than all, with those who bet on elections--for how lost to all sense of honor must that "white male citizen" be who publicly violates a wise law to which he has himself given an intelligent consent. we are ashamed, honored sirs, of our company. the mohammedan forbids a "fool, a madman, or a woman" to call the hours for prayers. if it were not for the invidious classification, we might hope it was tenderness rather than contempt that moved the mohammedan to excuse woman from so severe a duty. but for the ballot, which falls like a flake of snow upon the sod, we can find no such excuse for new york legislators. art. , sec. , should be read and considered by the women of the state, as it gives them a glimpse of the modes of life and surroundings of some of the privileged classes of "white male citizens" who may go to the polls: for the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the service of the united states; nor while engaged in navigating the waters of the state, or of the united states, or of the high seas; nor while a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any alms-house or other asylum, at public expense; nor while confined in any public prison. what an unspeakable privilege to have that precious jewel--the human soul--in a setting of _white manhood_, that thus it can pass through the prison, the asylum, the alms-house, the muddy waters of the erie canal, and come forth undimmed to appear at the ballot-box at the earliest opportunity, there to bury its crimes, its poverty, its moral and physical deformities, all beneath the rights, privileges, and immunities of a citizen of the state. just imagine the motley crew from the ten thousand dens of poverty and vice in our large cities, limping, raving, cringing, staggering up to the polls, while the loyal mothers of a million soldiers whose bones lay bleaching on every southern plain, stand outside sad and silent witnesses of this wholesale desecration of republican institutions. when you say it would degrade woman to go to the polls, do you not make a sad confession of your irreligious mode of observing that most sacred right of citizenship? the ballot-box, in a republican government, should be guarded with as much love and care as was the ark of the lord among the children of israel. here, where we have no heaven-anointed kings or priests, law must be to us a holy thing; and the ballot-box the holy of holies; for on it depends the safety and stability of our institutions. i, for one, gentlemen, am not willing to be thus represented. i claim to understand the interests of the nation better than yonder pauper in your alms-house, than the unbalanced graduate from your asylum and prison, or the popinjay of twenty-one from your seminary of learning, or the traveler on the tow-path of the erie canal. no wonder that with such voters as art. , sec. welcomes to the polls, we have these contradictory laws and constitutions. no wonder that with such voters, sex and color should be exalted above loyalty, virtue, wealth and education. i warn you, legislators of the state of new york, that you need the moral power of wise and thoughtful women in your political councils, to outweigh the incoming tide of poverty, ignorance, and vice that threatens our very existence as a nation. have not the women of the republic an equal interest with yourselves in the government, in free institutions, in progressive ideas, and in the success of the most liberal political measures? remember, in your last election, the republican majority in this state was only fourteen thousand, all told. if you would not see the liberal party swamped in the next presidential campaign, treble your majority by enfranchising those classes who would support it in all just and merciful legislation.... the extension of suffrage is the political idea of our day, agitating alike the leading minds of both continents. the question of debate in the long past has been the rights of races. this, in our country, was settled by the war, when the black man was declared free and worthy to bear arms in defense of the republic, and the last remnants of aristocracy were scattered before our northern hosts like chaff in the whirlwind. we have now come to the broader idea of _individual_ rights. an idea already debated ably in congress and out, by republicans, democrats and abolitionists, who, in common with the best writers and thinkers of the day the world over, base all rights of society and government on those of the individual. each one of you has a right to everything in earth and air, on land and sea, to the whole world of thought, to all that is needful for soul and body, and there is no limit to the exercise of your rights, but in the infringement of the rights of another; and the moment you pass that limit you are on forbidden ground, you violate the law of individual life, and breed disorder and confusion in the whole social system. where, gentlemen, did you get the right to deny the ballot to all women and black men not worth $ ? if this right of suffrage is not an individual right, from what place and body did you get it? is this right of franchise a conventional arrangement, a privilege that society or government may grant or withhold at pleasure? in the senate of the united states, in the recent discussion on the "bill to regulate the elective franchise in the district of columbia," gratz brown said: mr. president, i say here on the floor of the american senate, i stand for universal suffrage; and, as a matter of fundamental principle, do not recognize the right of society to limit it on any ground of race or sex. i will go farther and say, that i recognize the right of franchise as being intrinsically a natural right. i do not believe that society is authorized to impose any limitations upon it that do not spring out of the necessities of the social state itself. sir, i have been shocked, in the course of this debate, to hear senators declare this right only a conventional and political arrangement, a privilege yielded to you and me, and others; not a right in any sense, only a concession! mr. president, i do not hold my liberties by any such tenure. on the contrary, i believe that whenever you establish that doctrine; whenever you crystallize that idea in the public mind of this country, you ring the death-knell of american liberties!! the demand we to-day make, is not the idiosyncrasy of a few discontented minds, but a universal movement. woman is everywhere throwing off the lethargy of ages, and is already close upon you in the whole realm of thought--in art, science, literature and government. everything heralds the dawn of the new era when moral power is to govern nations. in asking you, honorable gentlemen, to extend suffrage to woman, we do not press on you the risk and responsibility of a new step, but simply to try a measure that has already proved wise and safe the world over. so long as political power was absolute and hereditary, woman shared it with man by birth. in hungary and some provinces of france and germany, women holding this inherited right confer their right of franchise on their husbands. in , in the old town of upsal, the authorities granted the right of suffrage to fifty women holding real estate, and to thirty-one doing business in their own name. the representative their votes elected was to sit in the house of burgesses. in ireland, the court of queen's bench, dublin, restored to women, in , the old right of voting for town commissioners. in , too, the government of moravia decided that all women who are tax-payers had the right to vote. in canada, in , an electoral privilege was conferred on women, in the hope that the protestant might balance the roman catholic power in the school system. "i lived," says a friend of mine, "where i saw this right exercised for four years by female property holders, and never heard the most cultivated man, even lord elgin, object to its results." women vote in austria, australia, holland and sweden, on property qualifications. there is a bill now before the british parliament, presented by john stuart mill, asking for household suffrage, accompanied by a petition from eleven thousand of the best educated women in england. would you be willing to admit, gentlemen, that women know less, have less virtue, less pride and dignity of character under republican institutions than in the despotisms and monarchies of the old world? your codes and constitutions savor of such an opinion. fortunately, history furnishes a few saving facts, even under our republican institutions. from a recent examination of the archives of the state of new jersey we learn that, owing to a liberal quaker influence, women and negroes exercised the right of suffrage in that state thirty-one years--from to --when "white males" ignored the constitution, and arbitrarily assumed the reins of government. this act of injustice is sufficient to account for the moral darkness that seems to have settled down upon that unhappy state. during the dynasty of women and negroes, does history record any social revolution peculiar to that period? because women voted there, was the institution of marriage annulled, the sanctity of home invaded, cradles annihilated, and the stockings, like governor marcy's pantaloons, mended by the state? did the men of that period become mere satellites of the dinner-pot, the wash-tub, or the spinning-wheel? were they dwarfed and crippled in body and soul, while their enfranchised wives and mothers became giants in stature and intellect? did the children, fully armed and equipped for the battle of life, spring, minerva-like, from the brains of their fathers? were the laws of nature suspended? did the sexes change places? was everything turned upside down? no, life went on as smoothly in new jersey as in any other state in the union. and the fact that women did vote there, created so slight a ripple on the popular wave, and made so ordinary a page in history, that probably nine-tenths of the people of this country never heard of its existence, until recent discussions in the united states senate brought out the facts of the case. in kansas, women vote for school officers and are themselves eligible to the office of trustee. there is a resolution now before the legislature of ohio to strike the words "white male" from the constitution of that state. the hon. mr. noel, of missouri, has presented a bill in the house of representatives to extend suffrage to the women of the district of columbia. i think, honorable gentlemen, i have given you facts enough to show that you need not hesitate to give the ballot to the women of new york, on the ground that it is a new thing; for, as you see, the right has long ago been exercised by certain classes of women in many countries. and if it were a new thing, and had never been heard of before, that would be no argument against the experiment. had the world never done a new thing, columbus would not have discovered this country, nor the ocean telegraph brought our old enemy--great britain--within friendly speaking distance. when it was proposed to end slavery in this country, croakers and conservatives protested because it was a new thing, and must of necessity produce a social convulsion. when it was proposed to give woman her rights of property in this state, the same classes opposed that on the same ground; but the spirit of the age carried both measures over their heads and "nobody was hurt." you republicans can not oppose our demand on that ground, for your present party-cry "negro suffrage" is a new thing, and startling too, in the ears of the southern states, and a very inconsistent thing, so long as the $ qualification remains in your constitution. "if you would know your faults," says cicero, "ask your enemies." hear his excellency andrew johnson, in his veto on the district of columbia bill; he says: "it hardly seems consistent with the principles of right and justice, that representatives of states where suffrage is either denied the colored man or granted to him on qualifications requiring intelligence or property, should compel the people of the district of columbia to try an experiment which their constituents have thus far shown an unwillingness to try for themselves." senator sumner, a leading radical, expresses the same opinion. in the debate on the admission of nebraska, he says: "when we demand equal rights of the southern states, we must not be so inconsistent as to admit any new state with a constitution disfranchising citizens on account of color. congress must be itself just, if it would recommend it to others. reconstruction must begin at home." consistency is a jewel. every thoughtful person must see that northern representatives are in no condition to reconstruct the south until their own state constitutions are purged of all invidious distinctions among their citizens. as the fountain rises no higher than its source, how can new york press on south carolina a civilization she has never tried herself. but say you, we can coerce the south to do what we have no right to force on a loyal state. has not each state a right to amend her own constitution and establish a genuine republic within her own boundaries? "let each man mend one," says the old proverb, "and the world is mended." let each state bring its own constitution into harmony with the federal constitution, and the union will be a republic. we are soon to hold a convention to revise the constitution of the state of new york; and it is the duty of the people to insist that it be so amended as to make all its citizens equal before the law. could the empire state now take the lead in making herself a genuine republic, all the states would, in time, follow her example, and the problem of reconstruction be thus settled to the satisfaction of all. example is more powerful than precept in all cases. were our constitutions free from all class distinctions, with what power our representatives could now press their example on the southern states. is there anything more rasping to a proud spirit than to be rebuked for shortcomings by those who are themselves guilty of the grossest violations of law and justice? does the north think it absurd for its women to vote and hold office, the south thinks the same of its negroes. does the north consider its women a part of the family to be represented by the "white male citizen," so views the south her negroes. and thus viewing them, the south has never taxed her slaves; but our chivalry never fails to send its tax-gatherers to the poorest widow that owns a homestead. would you press impartial suffrage on the south, recognize it first at home. would you have congress do its duty in the coming session, let the action of every state legislature teach it what that duty is. the work of this hour is a broader one than the reconstruction of the rebel states. it is the lifting of the entire nation into higher ideas of justice and equality. it is the realization of what the world has never yet seen, a genuine republic. as the ballot is the key to reconstruction, a right knowledge of its use and power is the first step in the work before us. hence, the consideration of the question of suffrage is the duty of every american citizen. the legal disabilities to the exercise of suffrage (for persons of sound mind and body) in the several states, are five--age, color, sex, property and education. as age depends on a fixed law, beyond the control of fallible man, viz., the revolution of the earth around the sun, it must be impartial, for, _nolens volens_, all men must revolve with their native planet; and as no republican or democratic majority can make the earth stand still, even for a presidential campaign, they must in time perform that journey often enough to become legal voters. as the right to the ballot is not based on intelligence, it matters not that some boys of eighteen do know more than some men of thirty. inasmuch as boys are not bound by any contract--except marriage--can not sell a horse, or piece of land, or be sued for debt until they are twenty-one, this qualification of age seems to be in harmony with the laws of the land, and based on common sense. as to color and sex, neither time, money or education can make black white, or woman man; therefore such insurmountable qualifications, not to be tolerated in a republican government, are unworthy our serious consideration. "qualifications," says senator sumner, "can not be in their nature permanent or insurmountable. color can not be a qualification any more than size, or quality of the hair. a permanent or insurmountable qualification is equivalent to a deprivation of the suffrage. in other words, it is the tyranny of taxation without representation; and this tyranny, i insist, is not intrusted to any state in the union." as to property and education, there are some plausible arguments in favor of such qualifications, but they are all alike unsatisfactory, illogical and unjust. a limited suffrage creates a privileged class, and is based on the false idea that government is the natural arbiter of its citizens, while in fact it is the creature of their will. in the old days of the colonies when the property qualification was five pounds--that being just the price of a jackass--benjamin franklin facetiously asked, "if a man must own a jackass in order to vote, who does the voting, the man or the jackass?" if reading and money-making were a sure gauge of character, if intelligence and virtue were twin sisters, these qualifications might do; but such is not the case. in our late war black men were loyal, generous and heroic without the alphabet or multiplication table, while men of wealth, educated by the nation, graduates of west point, were false to their country and traitors to their flag. there was a time in england's history, when the house of lords even, could neither read nor write. before the art of printing, were all men fools? were the apostles and martyrs worth $ ? the early christians, the children of art, science and literature, have in all ages struggled with poverty, while they blessed the world with their inspirations. the hero of judea had not where to lay his head!! as capital has ever ground labor to the dust, is it just and generous to disfranchise the poor and ignorant because they are so? if a man can not read, give him the ballot, it is schoolmaster. if he does not own a dollar give him the ballot, it is the key to wealth and power. says lamartine, "universal suffrage is the first truth and only basis of every national republic." "the ballot," says senator sumner, "is the columbiad of our political life, and every citizen who has it is a full-armed monitor." but while such grand truths are uttered in the ears of the world, by an infamous amendment of the federal constitution, the people have sanctioned the disfranchisement of a majority of the loyal citizens of the nation. with sorrow we learn that the legislature of new york has ratified this change of the constitution. happily for the cause of freedom, the organization we represent here to-day, "the american equal rights association," has registered its protest in the archives of the state against this desecration of the last will and testament of the fathers. it was a mistake for you to confirm to-day what congress proposed a year ago. recent debates in the senate show a hearty repentance for their past action, and an entire revolution in their opinions on this whole question. it was gratifying to find in the discussion of the district franchise bill, how unanimously the senate favored the extension of suffrage. the thanks of the women of the nation are especially due to senator cowan for his motion to strike out the word "male," and to the nine distinguished senators who voted for his amendment. it was pleasant to see into what fraternal relations this question at once brought all opposing elements. the very able and exhaustive manner in which both republicans and democrats pressed their claims to the ballot, through two entire sessions of the senate, is most encouraging to the advocates of the political rights of women. in view of this liberal discussion in the senate, and the recent action of congress on the territories, it is rather singular that our republican governor, in referring to the constitutional convention in his late message, while recommending consideration of many minor matters, should have failed to call attention to art. d, sec. , of the constitution, which denies the fundamental rights of citizenship. as the executive head of the party in this state whose political capital is "negro suffrage," it would have been highly proper for our worthy governor to have given his opinion on that odious $ clause in the constitution. no doubt our judiciary, our criminal legislation, our city governments need reforming; our railroads, prisons and schools need attention; but all these are of minor consideration to the personal and property rights of the man himself. said lalor shiels, in the house of commons, "strike the constitution to the center and the lawyer sleeps in his closet. but touch the cobwebs in westminster hall and the spiders start from their hiding places." i have called your attention, gentlemen, to some of the flaws in your constitution that you may see that there is more important work to be done in the coming convention than any to which governor fenton has referred in his message. i would also call your attention to the fact, that while his excellency suggests the number of delegates at large to be chosen by the two political parties, he makes no provision for the representatives of women and "men of color" not worth $ . i would, therefore, suggest to your honorable body that you provide for the election of an equal number of delegates at large from the disfranchised classes. but a response to our present demand does not legitimately thrust on you the final consideration of the whole broad question of suffrage, on which many of you may be unprepared to give an opinion. the simple point we now press is this: that in a revision of our constitution, when the state is, as it were, resolved into its original elements, all the people should be represented in the convention which is to enact the laws by which they are to be governed the next twenty years. women and negroes, being seven-twelfths of the people, are a majority; and according to our republican theory, are the rightful rulers of the nation. in this view of the case, honorable gentlemen, is it not a very unpretending demand we make, that we shall vote once in twenty years in revising and amending our state constitution? but, say you, the majority of women do not make the demand. grant it. what then? when you proclaimed emancipation, did you go to slaveholders and ask if a majority of them were in favor of freeing their slaves? when you ring the changes on "negro suffrage" from maine to california, have you proof positive that a majority of the freedmen demand the ballot? on the contrary, knowing that the very existence of republican institutions depends on the virtue, education and equality of the people, did you not, as wise statesmen, legislate in all these cases for the highest good of the individual and the nation? we ask that the same far-seeing wisdom may guide your decision on the question now before you. remember, the gay and fashionable throng who whisper in the ears of statesmen, judges, lawyers, merchants, "_we have all the rights we want_," are but the mummies of civilization, to be brought back to life only by earthquakes and revolutions. would you know what is in the soul of woman, ask not the wives and daughters of merchant princes; but the creators of wealth--those who earn their bread by honest toil--those who, by a turn in the wheel of fortune, stand face to face with the stern realities of life. "if you would enslave a people," says cicero, "first, through ease and luxury, make them effeminate." when you subsidize labor to your selfish interests, there is ever a healthy resistance. but, when you exalt weakness and imbecility above your heads, give it an imaginary realm of power, illimitable, unmeasured, unrecognized, you have founded a throne for woman on pride, selfishness and complacency, before which you may well stand appalled. in banishing madame de stael from paris, the emperor napoleon, even, bowed to the power of that scepter which rules the world of fashion. the most insidious enemy to our republican institutions, at this hour, is found in the aristocracy of our women. the ballot-box, that great leveler among men, is beneath their dignity. "_they have all the rights they want._" so, in his spiritual supremacy, has the pope of rome! but what of the multitude outside the vatican!!! this speech was published in full by the metropolitan press and many of the leading journals[ ] of the state, with fair editorial comments. on june th, , the constitutional convention assembled in albany, and on the th mr. graves of herkimer, moved "that a committee of five be appointed by the chair to report at an early day whether the convention should provide that when a majority of women voted that they wanted the right of suffrage, they should have it," and on the th the president, william a. wheeler, appointed the committee[ ] on the "right of suffrage, and the qualifications for holding office." the first petition brought before the committee in favor of suffrage for women was presented by george william curtis, of richmond co., sent by the friends of human progress from their annual meeting at waterloo. martin i. townsend next presented a petition from william johnson, chairman of the "colored men's state committee," praying for "equal manhood suffrage." similar petitions, without any concert of action between the parties, were presented simultaneously whenever any discussion arose on the suffrage question. but in this convention the demands made by the women were more pressing and multitudinous. mr. graves, june st, , moved to take up his resolution, "that a committee of five be appointed by the chair to report to the convention at as early a day as possible, whether, in their opinion, a provision should be incorporated in the constitution authorizing the women in this state to exercise the elective franchise, when they shall ask that right by a majority of all the votes given by female citizens over twenty-one years of age, at an election called for that purpose, at which women alone shall have the right to vote." mr. graves said:--mr. president. i do not desire at this time to discuss the merits of the resolution; but allow me to suggest that there are four classes of persons interested in the questions involved in it. the first class is what is opprobriously known as "strong-minded women," who claim the right to vote upon the ground that they are interested and identified with ourselves in the stability and permanency of our institutions, and that their property is made liable for the maintenance of our government, while they have no right to choose the law-makers or select the persons who are to assess the value of their property liable to taxation. they claim that they are not untaught in the science of government to which the right of administration is denied to them. the second class includes both males and females who sympathize with the first class, and who claim that there is no disparity in the intellect of men and women, when an equal opportunity is afforded by education for progress and advancement. they also claim that our country is diminishing all the time in moral integrity and virtue, and ask that a new element be introduced into our governmental affairs by which crime shall be lessened and the estimate of moral virtue be made higher. the third class urges that there should be no distinction between males and females in the exercise of the elective franchise, and they claim that it is anti-democratic that there should be a minority in this country to rule its destinies. there is a fourth class who believe that the right to exercise the elective franchise is not inherent, but permissive, and that the people are the government, and that this power of the elective franchise is under their immediate control, and they claim the right to become part and parcel of the government which they help to support and maintain. now these four classes, differing in opinion upon this great question, constitute a very large body of worthy, high-minded, and intelligent men and women of this state who have long sought to enlarge the elective franchise, and they claim the deliberate consideration of this body upon the ground of equality, as their innumerable petitions[ ] to this convention fully show. this resolution gives to women themselves the power of discussing and comparing of minds to settle the question whether they will avail themselves of the desired right to exercise the power of voting. and as it differs from all other questions which have originated here with reference to this right of women to vote, i submit it is a proper resolution to be referred to a select committee to be appointed for that purpose. mr. graves' resolution was referred to the committee on suffrage. june th mrs. stanton and miss anthony were granted a hearing[ ] before the convention, and at the close of their addresses were asked by different members to reply to various objections that readily suggested themselves. among others, mr. greeley said: "ladies, you will please remember that the bullet and ballot go together. if you vote, are you ready to fight?" "certainly," was the prompt reply. "we are ready to fight, sir, just as you fought in the late war, by sending our substitutes." the colloquy between the members and the ladies, prolonged until a late hour, was both spicy and instructive.[ ] on the th of july a hearing was granted to lucy stone,[ ] which called out deep interest and consideration from the members of that body. later still, george francis train[ ] was most cordially received by the convention. c. c. dwight, june th, offered a resolution that "the standing committee on the right of suffrage be instructed to provide for women to vote as to whether they wanted the right to vote after the adoption of the new constitution. mr. merritt, july th, moved that "the question of woman suffrage be submitted at the election of or . referred to the committee of the whole. horace greeley, chairman of the committee, in his report, after recommending universal "manhood suffrage," said: having thus briefly set forth the considerations which seem to us decisive in favor of the few and moderate changes proposed, we proceed to indicate our controlling reasons for declining to recommend other and in some respects more important innovations. your committee does not recommend an extension of the elective franchise to women. however defensible in theory, we are satisfied that public sentiment does not demand and would not sustain an innovation so revolutionary and sweeping, so openly at war with a distribution of duties and functions between the sexes as venerable and pervading as government itself, and involving transformations so radical in social and domestic life. should we prove to be in error on this head, the convention may overrule us by changing a few words in the first section of our proposed article. nor have we seen fit to propose the enfranchisement of boys above the age of eighteen years. the current ideas and usages in our day, but especially in this country, seem already to set too strongly in favor of the relaxation, if not total overthrow of parental authority, especially over half-grown boys. with the sincerest good-will for the class in question, we submit that they may spend the hours which they can spare from their labors and their lessons more usefully and profitably in mastering the wisdom of the sages and philosophers who have elucidated the science of government, than in attendance on midnight caucuses, or in wrangling around the polls. albany, june , . horace greeley, _chairman_, wm. h. merrill, leslie w. russell, geo. williams. mr. cassidy presented a minority report urging a separate submission of the question of negro suffrage, in which he said: if the regeneration of political society is to be sought in the incorporation of this element into the constituency, it must be done by the direct and explicit vote of the electors. we are foreclosed from any other course by the repeated action[ ] of the state.... it would be unfair to the people to declare that whereas they have again and again refused to accept this change, therefore we will incorporate it into the constitution, and compel them either to repeal that instrument, or to accept this measure.... as to the extension of suffrage to women, the undersigned reserve, for the present, any expression of opinion. william cassidy, john g. schumaker. the petitions[ ] for woman suffrage were presented in the convention until they reached in round numbers , . the morning mr. greeley gave his report the galleries were crowded with ladies, and every member present, democrat as well as republican, was supplied with a petition. as it had been rumored about that mr. greeley's report would be against suffrage for women, the democrats entered with great zest into the presentation. george william curtis, at the special request[ ] of the ladies, reserved his for the last, and when he arose and said: "mr. president, i hold in my hand a petition from mrs. horace greeley and three hundred other women citizens of westchester, asking that the word 'male' be stricken from the constitution," the sensation throughout the house was as profound as unexpected. mr. greeley's chagrin was only equaled by the amusement of the other members, and of the ladies in the gallery. as he arose to read his report, it being the next thing in order, he was evidently embarrassed in view of such a flood of petitions from all parts of the state; from his own wife, and most of the ladies in his immediate social circle, by seeming to antagonize the measure. after mr. greeley's report, mr. graves made several efforts to get his resolution adopted in time for the women to vote upon it in the spring of . mr. weed, of clinton, also desired that the vote for the measure should consist of the majority of the women of the state. the great event of the convention was the speech of george william curtis on the report of the "committee on the right of suffrage and the qualifications to hold office." george william curtis offered the following amendment:[ ] "in the first section, strike out the word 'man'; and wherever in that section the word 'he' occurs, add 'or she'; and wherever the word 'his' occurs, add 'or her.'" mr. curtis said: in proposing a change so new to our political practice, but so harmonious with the spirit and principles of our government, it is only just that i should attempt to show that it is neither repugnant to reason nor hurtful to the state. yet i confess some embarrassment; for, while the essential reason of the proposition seems to me to be clearly defined, the objection to it is vague and shadowy. from the formal opening of the general discussion of the question in this country, by the convention at seneca falls in , down to the present moment, the opposition to the suggestion, so far as i am acquainted with it, has been only the repetition of a traditional prejudice, or the protest of mere sentimentality; and to cope with these is like wrestling with a malaria, or arguing with the east wind. i do not know, indeed, why the committee have changed the phrase "male inhabitant or citizen," which is uniformly used in a constitutional clause limiting the elective franchise. under the circumstances, the word "man" is obscure, and undoubtedly includes women as much as the word "mankind." but the intention of the clause is evident, and the report of the committee makes it indisputable. had they been willing to say directly what they say indirectly, the eighth line and what follows would read, "provided that idiots, lunatics, persons under guardianship, felons, women, and persons convicted of bribery, etc., shall not be entitled to vote." in their report, the committee omit to tell us why they politically class the women of new york with idiots and criminals. they assert merely that the general enfranchisement of women would be a novelty, which is true of every step of political progress, and is therefore a presumption in its favor; and they speak of it in a phrase which is intended to stigmatize it as unwomanly, which is simply an assumption and a prejudice. i wish to know, sir, and i ask in the name of the political justice and consistency of this state, why it is that half of the adult population, as vitally interested in good government as the other half, who own property, manage estates, and pay taxes, who discharge all the duties of good citizens, and are perfectly intelligent and capable, are absolutely deprived of political power, and classed with lunatics and felons. the boy will become a man and a voter; the lunatic may emerge from the cloud and resume his rights; the idiot, plastic under the tender hand of modern science, may be moulded into the full citizen; the criminal, whose hand still drips with the blood of his country and of liberty, may be pardoned and restored; but no age, no wisdom, no peculiar fitness, no public service, no effort, no desire, can remove from woman this enormous and extraordinary disability. upon what reasonable grounds does it rest? upon none whatever. it is contrary to natural justice, to the acknowledged and traditional principles of the american government, and to the most enlightened political philosophy. the absolute exclusion of women from political power in this state is simply usurpation. "in every age and country," says the historian gibbon, nearly a hundred years ago, "the wiser or at least the stronger of the two sexes has usurped the powers of the state, and confined the other to the cares and pleasures of domestic life." the historical fact is that the usurping class, as gibbon calls them, have always regulated the position of women by their own theories and convenience. the barbaric persian, for instance, punished an insult to the woman with death, not because of her but of himself. she was part of him. and the civilized english blackstone only repeats the barbaric persian when he says that the wife and husband form but one person--that is the husband. sir, it would be extremely amusing, if it were not tragical, to trace the consequences of this theory on human society and the unhappy effect upon the progress of civilization of this morbid estimate of the importance of men. gibbon gives a curious instance of it, and an instance which recalls the spirit of the modern english laws of divorce. there was a temple in rome to the goddess who presided over the peace of marriages. "but," says the historian, "her very name, viriplaca--the appeaser of husbands--shows that repentance and submission were always expected from the wife," as if the offense usually came from her. in the "lawe's resolution of women's rights," published in the year , a book which i have not seen, but of which there are copies in the country, the anonymous and quaint author says, and with a sly satire: "it is true that man and woman are one person, but understand in what manner. when a small brooke or little river incorporateth with rhodanus, humber, or the thames, the poor rivulet looseth her name; it is carried and recarried with the new associate--it beareth no sway--it possesseth nothing during coverture. a woman as soon as she is married is called _covert_--in latine, _nupta_--that is, veiled; as it were overclouded and shadowed; she hath lost her streame. i may more truly, farre away, say to a married woman, her new self is her superior; her companion her master.... see here the reason of that which i touched before--that women have no voice in parliament; they make no laws; they consent to none; they abrogate none. all of them are understood either married or to be married, and their desires are to their husbands." from this theory of ancient society, that woman is absorbed in man; that she is a social inferior and a subordinate part of man; springs the system of laws in regard to women which in every civilized country is now in course of such rapid modification, and it is this theory which so tenaciously lingers as a traditional prejudice in our political customs. but a state which, like new york, recognizes the equal individual rights of all its members, declaring that none of them shall be disfranchised unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers, and which acknowledges women as property-holders and taxable, responsible citizens, has wholly renounced the old feudal and pagan theory, and has no right to continue the evil condition which springs from it. the honorable and eloquent gentleman from onondaga said that he favored every enlargement of the franchise consistent with the safety of the state. sir, i heartily agree with him, and it was the duty of the committee in proposing to continue the exclusion of women, to show that it is necessary to the welfare and safety of the state that the whole sex shall be disfranchised. it is in vain for the committee to say that i ask for an enlargement of the franchise and must, therefore, show the reason. sir, i show the reason upon which this franchise itself rests, and which, in its very nature, forbids arbitrary exclusion; and i urge the enfranchisement of women on the ground that whatever political rights men have women have equally. i have no wish to refine curiously upon the origin of government. if any one insists, with the honorable gentleman from broome, that there are no such things as natural political rights, and that no man is born a voter, i will not now stop to argue with him; but as i believe the honorable gentleman from broome is by profession a physician and surgeon, i will suggest to him that if no man is born a voter, so no man is born a man, for every man is born a baby. but he is born with the right of becoming a man without hindrance; and i ask the honorable gentleman, as an american citizen and political philosopher, whether, if every man is not born a voter, he is not born with the right of becoming a voter upon equal terms with other men? what else is the meaning of the phrase which i find in the new york _tribune_ of monday, and have so often found there, "the radical basis of government is equal rights for all citizens." there are, as i think we shall all admit, some kinds of natural rights. this summer air that breathes benignant around our national anniversary, is vocal with the traditional eloquence with which those rights were asserted by our fathers. from all the burning words of the time, i quote those of alexander hamilton, of new york, in reply, as my honorable friend the chairman of the committee will remember, to the tory farmer of westchester: "the sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or dusty records. they are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature by the hand of the divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power." in the next year, thomas jefferson, of virginia, summed up the political faith of our fathers in the great declaration. its words vibrate through the history of those days. as the lyre of amphion raised the walls of the city, so they are the music which sing course after course of the ascending structure of american civilization into its place. our fathers stood indeed upon technical and legal grounds when the contest with great britain began, but as tyranny encroached they rose naturally into the sphere of fundamental truths as into a purer air. driven by storms beyond sight of land, the sailor steers by the stars; and our fathers, compelled to explore the whole subject of social rights and duties, derived their government from what they called self-evident truths. despite the brilliant and vehement eloquence of mr. choate, they did not deal in glittering generalities, and the declaration of independence was not the passionate manifesto of a revolutionary war, but the calm and simple statement of a new political philosophy and practice. the rights which they declared to be inalienable are indeed what are usually called natural, as distinguished from political rights, but they are not limited by sex. a woman has the same right to her life, liberty and property that a man has, and she has consequently the same right to an equality of protection that he has; and this, as i understand it, is what is meant by the phrase, the right of suffrage. if i have a natural right to that hand, i have an equal natural right to everything that secures to me its use, provided it does not harm the equal right of another; and if i have a natural right to my life and liberty, i have the same right to everything that protects that life and liberty which any other man enjoys. i should like my honorable friend, the chairman of this committee, to show me any right which god gave him, which he also gave to me, for which god gave him a claim to any defense which he has not given to me. and i ask the same question for every woman in this state. have they less natural right to life, liberty, and property than my honorable friend the chairman of the committee; and is it not, to quote the words of his report, an extremely "defensible theory" that he can not justly deprive the least of those women of any protection of those rights which he claims for himself? no, sir, the natural, or what we call civil right, and its political defense, go together. this was the impregnable logic of the revolution. lord gower sneered in parliament at the american colonists a century ago, as mr. robert lowe sneers at the english reformers to-day: "let the americans talk about their natural and divine rights.... i am for enforcing these measures." dr. johnson bellowed across the atlantic, "taxation, no tyranny." james otis spoke for america, for common sense, and for eternal justice, in saying, "no good reason, however, can be given in any country, why every man of a sound mind should not have his vote in the election of a representative. if a man has but little property to protect and defend, yet his life and liberty are things of some importance." and long before james otis, lord somers said to a committee of the house of commons, that the possession of the vote is the only true security which an englishman has for the possession of his life and property. every person, then, is born with an equal claim to every kind of protection of his natural rights which any other person enjoys. the practical question, therefore, is how shall this protection be best attained? and this is the question of government which, according to the declaration, is established for the security of these rights. the british theory was that they could be better secured by an intelligent few than by the ignorant and passionate multitude. goldsmith expressed it in singing: "for just experience shows in ever soil, that those who think must govern those who toil." but nobody denies that the government of the best is the best government; the only question is how to find the best, and common sense replies: "the good, 'tis true, are heaven's peculiar care; but who but heaven shall show us who they are?" our fathers answered the question of the best and surest protection of natural right by their famous phrase, "the consent of the governed." that is to say, since every man is born with equal natural rights, he is entitled to an equal protection of them with all other men; and since government is that protection, right reason and experience alike demand that every person shall have a voice in the government upon perfectly equal and practicable terms; that is, upon terms which are not necessarily and absolutely insurmountable by any part of the people. now these terms can not rightfully be arbitrary. but the argument of the honorable gentleman from schenectady, whose lucid and dignified discourse needs no praise of mine, and the arguments of others who have derived government from society, seemed to assume that the political people may exclude and include at their pleasure; that they may establish purely arbitrary tests, such as height, or weight, or color, or sex. this was substantially the squatter sovereignty of mr. douglas, who held that the male white majority of the settlers in a territory might deprive a colored minority of all their rights whatever; and he declared that they had the right to do it. the same right that this convention has to hang me at this moment to that chandelier, but no other right. brute force, sir, may do anything; but we are speaking of rights, and of rights under this government, and i deny that the people of the state of new york can rightfully, that is, according to right reason and the principles of this government derived from it, permanently exclude any class of persons or any person whatever from a voice in the government, unless it can be clearly established that their participation in political power would be dangerous to the state; and, therefore, the honorable gentleman from kings was logically correct in opposing the enfranchisement of the colored population, upon the ground that they were an inferior race, of limited intelligence, a kind of chimpanzee at best. i think, however, sir, the honorable and scholarly gentleman--even he--will admit, that at pillow, at milliken's bend, at fort wagner, the chimpanzees did uncommonly well; yes, sir, as gloriously and immortally as our own fathers at bunker hill and saratoga. "there ought to be no pariahs," says john stuart mill, "in a full grown and civilized nation; no persons disqualified except through their own default.... every one is degraded, whether aware of it or not, when other people, without consulting him, take upon themselves unlimited power to regulate his destiny." "no arrangement of the suffrage, therefore, can be permanently satisfactory in which any person or class is peremptorily excluded; in which the electoral privilege is not open to all persons of full age who desire it." (rep. g., p. .) and thomas hare, one of the acutest of living political thinkers, says that in all cases where a woman fulfills the qualification which is imposed upon a man, "there is no sound reason for excluding her from the parliamentary franchise. the exclusion is probably a remnant of the feudal law, and is not in harmony with the other civil institutions of the country. there would be great propriety in celebrating a reign which has been productive of so much moral benefit by the abolition of an anomaly which is so entirely without any justifiable foundation." (hare, p. .) the chairman of the committee asked miss anthony, the other evening, whether, if suffrage was a natural right, it could be denied to children. her answer seemed to me perfectly satisfactory. she said simply, "all that we ask is an equal and not an arbitrary regulation. if _you_ have the right, _we_ have it." the honorable chairman would hardly deny that to regulate the exercise of a right according to obvious reason and experience is one thing, to deny it absolutely and forever is another. and this is the safe practical rule of our government, as james madison expressed it, that "it be derived from the great body of the people, not from an inconsiderable portion or favored class of it." when mr. gladstone, in his famous speech that startled england, said in effect, that no one could be justly excluded from the franchise, except upon grounds of personal unfitness or public danger, he merely echoed the sentiment of joseph warren, which is gradually seen to be the wisest and most practical political philosophy: "i would have such a government as should give every man the greatest liberty to do what he chooses, consistent with restraining him from doing any injury to another." is not that the kind of government, sir, which we wish to propose for this state? and if every person in new york has a natural right to life, liberty, and property, and a co-existent claim to a share in the government which defends them, regulated only by perfectly equitable conditions, what are the practical grounds upon which it is proposed to continue the absolute and hopeless disfranchisement of half the adult population? it is alleged that women are already represented by men? where are they so represented? and when was the choice made? if i am told that they are virtually represented, i reply, with james otis, that "no such phrase as virtual representation is known in law or constitution. it is altogether a subtlety and illusion, wholly unfounded and absurd." i repeat, if they are represented, when was the choice made? nobody pretends that they have ever been consulted. it is a mere assumption to the effect that the interest and affection of men will lead them to just and wise legislation for women as well as for themselves. but this is merely the old appeal for the political power of a class. it is just what the british parliament said to the colonies a hundred years ago. "we are all under the same government," they said: "our interests are identical; we are all britons; britannia rules the wave; god save the king! and down with sedition and the sons of liberty!" the colonies chafed and indignantly protested, because the assumption that therefore fair laws were made was not true; because they were discovering for themselves what every nation has discovered--the truth that shakes england to-day, and brings disraeli and the tory party to their knees, and has already brought this country to blood--that there is no class of citizens, and no single citizen, who can safely be intrusted with the permanent and exclusive possession of political power. "there is no instance on record," says buckle, in his history of civilization in england, "of any class possessing power without abusing it." it is as true of men as a class as it is of an hereditary nobility, or of a class of property-holders. men are not wise enough, nor generous enough, nor pure enough, to legislate fairly for women. the laws of the most civilized nations depress and degrade women. the legislation is in favor of the legislating class. in the celebrated debate upon the marriage amendment act in england, mr. gladstone said that "when the gospel came into the world woman was elevated to an equality with her stronger companion." yet, at the very time he was speaking, the english law of divorce, made by men to regulate their domestic relations with women, was denounced by the law lords themselves as "disgusting and demoralizing" in its operation, "barbarous," "indecent," "a disgrace to the country," and "shocking to the sense of right." now, if the equality of which mr. gladstone spoke had been political as well as sentimental, does he or any statesman suppose that the law of divorce would have been what it then was, or that the law of england to-day would give all the earnings of a married woman to her husband, or that of france forbid a woman to receive any gift without her husband's permission? we ask women to confide in us, as having the same interests with them. did any despot ever say anything else? and, if it be safe or proper for any intelligent part of the people to relinquish exclusive political power to any class, i ask the committee, who proposed that women should be compelled to do this? to what class, however rich, or intelligent, or honest, they would themselves surrender _their_ power? and what they would do if any class attempted to usurp that power? they know, as we all know, as our own experience has taught us, that the only security of natural right is the ballot. they know, and the instinct of the whole loyal land knows, that, when we had abolished slavery, the emancipation could be completed and secured only by the ballot in the hands of the emancipated class. civil rights were a mere mocking name until political power gave them substance. a year ago, gov. orr of south carolina told us that the rights of the freedmen were safest in the hands of their old masters. "will you walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly?" new orleans, memphis, and countless and constant crimes, showed what that safety was. then, hesitating no longer, the nation handed the ballot to the freedmen, and said, "protect yourselves!" and now gov. orr says that the part of wisdom for south carolina is to cut loose from all parties, and make a cordial alliance with the colored citizens. gov. orr knows that a man with civil rights merely is a blank cartridge. give him the ballot, and you add a bullet, and make him effective. in that section of the country, seething with old hatreds and wounded pride, and a social system upheaved from the foundation, no other measure could have done for real pacification in a century what the mere promise of the ballot has done in a year. the one formidable peril in the whole subject of reconstruction has been the chance that congress would continue in the southern states the political power in the hands of a class, as the report of the committee proposes that we shall do in new york. if i am asked what do women want the ballot for, i answer the question with another, what do men want it for? why do the british workmen at this moment so urgently demand it? look into the british laws regulating labor, and you will see why. they want the ballot because the laws affecting labor and capital are made by the capitalist class alone and are therefore unjust. i do not forget the progressive legislation of new york in regard to the rights of women. the property bill of , and its supplement, according to the _new york tribune_, redeemed five thousand women from pauperism. in the next year, illinois put women in the same position with men, as far as property rights and remedies are concerned. i mention these facts with pleasure, as i read that louis napoleon will, under certain conditions, permit the french people to say what they think. but, if such reforms are desirable, they would certainly have been sooner and more wisely effected could women have been a positive political power. upon this point one honorable gentleman asked mrs. stanton whether the laws both for men and women were not constantly improving, and whether, therefore, it was not unfair to attribute the character of the laws about women to the fact that men made them. the reply is very evident. if women alone made the laws, legislation for both men and women would undoubtedly be progressive. does the honorable gentleman think, therefore, that women only should make the laws? it is true, mr. chairman, that, in the ordinary and honorable sense of the words, women are represented. laws are made for them by another class, and upon the theories which that class, without the fear of political opposition, may choose to entertain, and in direct violation of the principles upon which, in their own case, they tenaciously insist. i live, sir, in the county of richmond. it has a population of some , persons. they own property, and manage it. they are taxed, and pay their taxes; and they fulfill the duties of citizens with average fidelity. but if the committee had introduced a clause into the section they propose to this effect, "provided that idiots, lunatics, persons under guardianship, felons, inhabitants of the county of richmond, and persons convicted of bribery, shall not be entitled to vote," they would not have proposed a more monstrous injustice, nor a grosser inconsistency with every fundamental right and american principle, than in the clause they recommend; and in that case, sir, what do you suppose would have been my reception had i returned to my friends and neighbors, and had said to them, "the convention thinks that you are virtually represented by the voters of westchester and chautauqua"? mr. chairman, i have no superstition about the ballot. i do not suppose it would immediately right all the wrongs of women, any more than it has righted all those of men. but what political agency has righted so many? here are thousands of miserable men all around us; but they have every path opened to them. they have their advocates; they have their votes; they make the laws, and, at last and at worst, they have their strong right hands for defense. and here are thousands of miserable women pricking back death and dishonor with a little needle; and now the sly hand of science is stealing that little needle away. the ballot does not make those men happy nor respectable nor rich nor noble; but they guard it for themselves with sleepless jealousy, because they know it is the golden gate to every opportunity; and precisely the _kind_ of advantage it gives to one sex, it would give to the other. it would arm it with the most powerful weapon known to political society; it would maintain the natural balance of the sexes in human affairs, and secure to each fair play within its sphere. but, sir, the committee tell us that the suffrage of women would be a revolutionary innovation; it would disturb the venerable traditions. well, sir, about the year , women were first recognized as school-teachers in massachusetts. at that time, the new england "school-marm" (and i use the word with affectionate respect) was a revolutionary innovation. she has been abroad ever since, and has been by no means the least efficient, but always the most modest and unnoticed, of the great civilizing influences in this country. innovation!--why, sir, when sir samuel romilly proposed to abolish the death-penalty for stealing a handkerchief, the law officers of the crown said it would endanger the whole criminal law of england. when the bill abolishing the slave-trade passed the house of lords, lord st. vincent rose and stalked out, declaring that he washed his hands of the ruin of the british empire. when the greenwich pensioners saw the first steamer upon the thames, they protested that they did not like the steamer, for it was contrary to nature. when, at the close of the reign of charles ii., london had half a million of people, there was a fierce opposition to street-lamps,--such is the hostility of venerable traditions to an increase of light. when mr. jefferson learned that new york had explored the route of a canal, he benignly regarded it, in the spirit of our committee, as, doubtless, "defensible in theory"; for he said that it was "a very fine project, and might be executed a century hence." and, fifty-six years ago, chancellor livingston wrote from this city, that the proposition of a railroad, shod with iron, to move heavy weights four miles an hour, was ingenious, perhaps "theoretically defensible"; but, upon the whole, the road would not be so cheap or convenient as a canal. in this country, sir, the venerable traditions are used to being disturbed. america was clearly designed to be a disturber of traditions, and to leave nobler precedents than she found. so, a few months ago, what the committee call a revolutionary innovation was proposed by giving the ballot to the freedmen in the district of columbia. the awful results of such a revolution were duly set forth in one of the myriad veto messages of the president of the united states. but they have voted. if anybody proposed to disturb the election, it was certainly not the new voters. the election was perfectly peaceful, and not one of the presidential pangs has been justified. so with this reform. it _is_ new in the extent proposed. it is as new as the harvest after the sowing, and it is as natural. the resumption of rights long denied or withheld never made a social convulsion: that is produced by refusing them. the west-indian slaves received their liberty, praying upon their knees; and the influence of the enfranchisement of women will glide into society as noiselessly as the dawn increases into day. or shall i be told that women, if not numerically counted at the polls, do yet exert an immense influence upon politics, and do not really need the ballot. if this argument was seriously urged, i should suffer my eyes to rove through this chamber and they would show me many honorable gentlemen of reputed political influence. may they, therefore, be properly and justly disfranchised? i ask the honorable chairman of the committee, whether he thinks that a citizen should have no vote because he has influence? what gives influence? ability, intelligence, honesty. are these to be excluded from the polls? is it only stupidity, ignorance and rascality which ought to possess political power? or, will it be said that women do not want the ballot and ought to be asked? and upon what principle ought they to be asked? when natural rights or their means of defense have been immemorially denied to a large class, does humanity, or justice, or good sense require that they should be registered and called to vote upon their own restoration? why, mr. chairman, it might as well be said that jack the giant killer ought to have gravely asked the captives in the ogre's dungeon whether they wished to be released. it must be assumed that men and women wish to enjoy their natural rights, as that the eyes wish light or the lungs an atmosphere. did we wait for emancipation until the slaves petitioned to be free? no, sir, all our lives had been passed in ingenious and ignominious efforts to sophisticate and stultify ourselves for keeping them chained; and when war gave us a legal right to snap their bonds, we did not ask them whether they preferred to remain slaves. we knew that they were men, and that men by nature walk upright, and if we find them bent and crawling, we know that the posture is unnatural whether they may think so or not. in the case of women we acknowledge that they have the same natural rights as ourselves--we see that they hold property and pay taxes, and we must of necessity suppose that they wish to enjoy every security of those rights that we possess. so when in this state, every year, thousands of boys come of age, we do not solemnly require them to tell us whether they wish to vote. we assume, of course, that they do, and we say to them, "go, and upon the same terms with the rest of us, vote as you choose." but gentlemen say that they know a great many women who do not wish to vote, who think it is not ladylike, or whatever the proper term may be. well, sir, i have known many men who have habitually abstained from politics because they were so "ungentlemanly," and who thought that no man could touch pitch without defilement. now what would the honorable gentlemen who know women who do not wish to vote, have thought of a proposition that i should not vote, because my neighbors did not wish to? there may have been slaves who preferred to remain slaves--was that an argument against freedom? suppose that there are a majority of the women of this state who do not wish to vote--is that a reason for depriving _one_ woman who is taxed of her equal representation, or one innocent person of the equal protection of his life and liberty? shall nothing ever be done by statesmen until wrongs are so intolerable that they take society by the throat? did it show the wisdom of british conservatism that it waited to grant the reform bill of until england hung upon the edge of civil war? when women and children were worked sixteen hours a day in english factories, did it show practical good sense to delay a "short time" bill until hundreds of thousands of starving workmen agreed to starve yet more, if need be, to relieve the overwork of their families, and until the most pitiful procession the sun ever shone upon, that of the factory children, just as they left their work, marched through the streets of manchester, that burst into sobs and tears at the sight? yet if, in such instances, where there was so plausible an adverse appeal founded upon vested interests and upon the very theory of the government, it was unwise to wait until a general public outcry imperatively demanded the reform, how wholly needless to delay in this state a measure which is the natural result of our most cherished principles, and which threatens to disturb or injure nothing whatever. the amendment proposes no compulsion like the old new england law, which fined every voter who did not vote. if there are citizens of the state who think it unladylike or ungentlemanlike to take their part in the government, let them stay at home. but do not, i pray you, give them authority to detain wiser and better citizens from their duty. but i shall be told, in the language of the report of the committee, that the proposition is openly at war with the distribution of functions and duties between the sexes. translated into english, mr. chairman, this means that it is unwomanly to vote. well, sir, i know that at the very mention of the political rights of women, there arises in many minds a dreadful vision of a mighty exodus of the whole female world, in bloomers and spectacles, from the nursery and kitchen to the polls. it seems to be thought that if women practically took part in politics, the home would be left a howling wilderness of cradles, and a chaos of undarned stockings and buttonless shirts. but how is it with men? do they desert their workshops, their plows, and offices, to pass their time at the polls? is it a credit to a _man_ to be called a professional politician? the pursuits of men in the world, to which they are directed by the natural aptitude of sex, and to which they must devote their lives, are as foreign from political functions as those of women. to take an extreme case: there is nothing more incompatible with political duties in cooking and taking care of children than there is in digging ditches or making shoes, or in any other necessary employment, while in every superior interest of society growing out of the family, the stake of women is not less than men, and their knowledge is greater. in england, a woman who owns shares in the east-india company may vote. in this country she may vote as a stockholder upon a railroad from one end of the country to another. but if she sells her stock, and buys a house with the money, she has no voice in the laying out of the road before her door, which her house is taxed to keep and pay for. and why, in the name of good sense, if a responsible human being may vote upon specific industrial projects, may she not vote upon the industrial regulation of the state? there is no more reason that men should assume to decide participation in politics to be unwomanly than that woman should decide for men that it is unmanly. it is not our prerogative to keep women feminine. i think, sir, they may be trusted to defend the delicacy of their own sex. our success in managing ours has not been so conspicuous that we should urgently desire more labor of the same kind. nature is quite as wise as we. whatever their sex incapacitates women from doing they will not do. whatever duty is consistent with their sex and their relation to society, they will properly demand to do until they are permitted. the reply to the assertion that participation in political power is unwomanly, and tends to subvert the family relation, is simple and unanswerable. it is that we can not know what is womanly until we see the folly of insisting that the theories of men settle the question. we know now what the convenience and feelings of men decide to be womanly. we shall know what _is_ womanly in the same sense that we know what is manly, only when women have the same equality of development and the same liberty of choice as men. the amendment i offer is merely a prayer that you will remove from women a disability, and secure to them the same freedom of choice that we enjoy. if the instincts of sex, of maternity, of domesticity, are not persuasive enough to keep them in the truest sense women, it is the most serious defect yet discovered in the divine order of nature. when, therefore, the committee declare that voting is at war with the distribution of functions between the sexes, what do they mean? are not women as much interested in good government as men? there is fraud in the legislature; there is corruption in the courts; there are hospitals, and tenement-houses, and prisons; there are gambling-houses, and billiard-rooms, and brothels; there are grog-shops at every corner, and i know not what enormous proportion of crime in the state proceeds from them; there are , drunkards in the state, and their hundreds of thousands of children--all these things are subjects of legislation, and under the exclusive legislation of men the crime associated with all these things becomes vast and complicated. have the wives, and mothers, and sisters of new york less vital interest in them, less practical knowledge of them and their proper treatment, than the husbands and fathers? no man is so insane as to pretend it. is there then any natural incapacity in women to understand politics? it is not asserted. are they lacking in the necessary intelligence? but the moment that you erect a standard of intelligence which is sufficient to exclude women as a sex, that moment most of the male sex would be disfranchised. is it that they ought not to go to public political meetings? but we earnestly invite them. or that they should not go to the polls? some polls, i allow, in the larger cities, are dirty and dangerous places; and those it is the duty of the police to reform. but no decent man wishes to vote in a grog-shop, nor to have his head broken while he is doing it, while the mere act of dropping a ballot in a box is about the simplest, shortest, and cleanest that can be done. last winter senator frelinghuysen, repeating, i am sure thoughtlessly, the common rhetoric of the question, spoke of the high and holy mission of women. but if people, with a high and holy mission, may innocently sit bare-necked in hot theatres to be studied through pocket-telescopes until midnight by any one who chooses, how can their high and holy mission be harmed by their quietly dropping a ballot in a box? what is the high and holy mission of any woman but to be the best and most efficient human being possible? to enlarge the sphere of duty and the range of responsibility, where there are adequate power and intelligence, is to heighten, not to lessen, the holiness of life. but if women vote, they must sit on juries. why not? nothing is plainer than that thousands of women who are tried every year as criminals are not tried by their peers. and if a woman is bad enough to commit a heinous crime, must we absurdly assume that women are too good to know that there is such a crime? if they may not sit on juries, certainly they ought not to be witnesses. a note in howell's state trials, to which my attention was drawn by one of my distinguished colleagues in the convention, quotes an ancient work, "probation by witnesses," by sir george mackenzie, in which he says: "the reason why women are excluded from witnessing must be either that they are subject to too much compassion, and so ought not to be more received in criminal cases than in civil cases; or else the law was unwilling to trouble them, and thought it might learn them too much confidence, and make them subject to too much familiarity with men and strangers, if they were necessitated to vague up and down at all courts upon all occasions." hume says this rule was held as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century. but if too much familiarity with men be so pernicious, are men so pure that they alone should make laws for women, and so honorable that they alone should try women for breaking them? it is within a very few years at the liverpool assizes in a case involving peculiar evidence, that mr. russell said: "the evidence of women is, in some respects, superior to that of men. their power of judging of minute details is better, and when there are more than two facts and something be wanting, their intuitions supply the deficiency." "and precisely the qualities which fit them to give evidence," says mrs. dall, to whom we owe this fact, "fit them to sift and test it." but, the objectors continue, would you have women hold office? if they are capable and desirous, why not? they hold office now most acceptably. in my immediate neighborhood, a postmistress has been so faithful an officer for seven years, that when there was a rumor of her removal, it was a matter of public concern. this is a familiar instance in this country. scott's "antiquary" shows that a similar service was not unknown in scotland. in "notes and queries," ten years ago (vol. ii., sec. , , pp. , ), alexander andrews says: "it was by no means unusual for females to serve the office of overseer in small rural parishes," and a communication in the same publication (first series, vol. ii., p. ) speaks of a curious entry in the harleian miscellany (ms. , fol. ): "the countess of richmond, mother to henry vii., was a justice of the peace. mr. atturney said if it was so, it ought to have been by commission, for which he had made many an hower's search for the record, but could never find it, but he had seen many arbitriments that were made by her. justice joanes affirmed that he had often heard from his mother of the lady bartlett, mother to the lord bartlett, that she was a justice of the peace, and did set usually upon the bench with the other justices in gloucestershire; that she was made so by queen mary, upon her complaint to her of the injuries she sustained by some of that county, and desiring for redress thereof; that as she herself, was chief-justice of all england, so this lady might be in her own county, which accordingly the queen granted. another example was alleged of one ---- rowse, in suffolk, who usually at the assizes and sessions there held, set upon the bench among the justices _gladio cincta_." the countess of pembroke was hereditary sheriff of westmoreland, and exercised her office. henry the viiith granted a commission of inquiry, under the great seal, to lady ann berkeley, who opened it at gloucester, and passed sentence under it. henry viii's daughter, elizabeth tudor, was queen of england, in name and in fact, during the most illustrious epoch of english history. was elizabeth incompetent? did elizabeth unsex herself? or do you say that she was an exceptional woman? so she was, but no more an exceptional woman than alfred, marcus aurelius, or napoleon were exceptional men. it was held by some of the old english writers that a woman might serve in almost any of the great offices of the kingdom. and, indeed, if victoria may deliberate in council with her ministers, why may not any intelligent english woman deliberate in parliament, or any such american woman in congress? i mention elizabeth, maria theresa, catherine, and all the famous empresses and queens, not to prove the capacity of women for the most arduous and responsible office, for that is undeniable, but to show the hollowness of the assertion that there is an instinctive objection to the fulfillment of such offices by women. men who say so do not really think so. the whole history of the voting and office-holding of women shows that whenever men's theories of the relation of property to the political franchise, or of the lineal succession of the government, require that women shall vote or hold office, the objection of impropriety and incapacity wholly disappears. if it be unwomanly for a woman to vote, or to hold office, it is unwomanly for victoria to be queen of england. surely if our neighbors had thought they would be better represented in this convention by certain women, there is no good reason why they should have been compelled to send us. why should i or any person be forbidden to select the agent whom we think the most competent and truly representative of our will? there is no talent or training required in the making of laws which is peculiar to the male sex. what is needed is intelligence and experience. the rest is routine. the capacity for making laws is necessarily assumed when women are permitted to hold and manage property and to submit to taxation. how often the woman, widowed, or married, or single, is the guiding genius of the family--educating the children, directing the estate, originating, counseling, deciding. is there anything essentially different in such duties and the powers necessary to perform them from the functions of legislation? in new jersey the constitution of admitted to vote all inhabitants of a certain age, residence, and property. in , in an act to regulate elections, the ninth section provides: "every voter shall openly and in full view deliver his or her ballot, which shall be a single written ticket, containing the names of the persons for whom he or she votes." an old citizen of new jersey says that "the right was recognized, and very little said or thought about it in any way." but in the suffrage was restricted to white male adult citizens of a certain age, residence, and property, and in the property qualification was abolished. at the hearing before the committee, the other evening, a gentleman asked whether the change of the qualification excluding women did not show that their voting was found to be inconvenient or undesirable. not at all. it merely showed that the male property-holders out-voted the female. it certainly showed nothing as to the right or expediency of the voting of women. mr. douglas, as i said, had a theory that the white male adult squatters in a territory might decide whether the colored people in the territory should be enslaved. they might, indeed, so decide, and with adequate power they might enforce their decision. but it proved very little as to the right, the expediency, or the constitutionality of slavery in a territory. the truth is that men deal with the practical question of female suffrage to suit their own purposes. about twenty-five years ago the canadian government by statute rigorously and in terms forbade women to vote. but in , to subserve a sectarian purpose, they were permitted to vote for school trustees. i am ashamed to argue a point so plain. what public affairs need in this state is "conscience," and woman is the conscience of the race. if we in this convention shall make a wise constitution, if the legislatures that follow us in this chamber shall purify the laws and see that they are honorably executed, it will be just in the degree that we shall have accustomed ourselves to the refined, moral, and mental atmosphere in which women habitually converse. but would you, seriously, i am asked, would you drag women down into the mire of politics? no, sir, i would have them lift us out of it. the duty of this convention is to devise means for the improvement of the government of this state. now, the science of government is not an ignoble science, and the practice of politics is not necessarily mean and degrading. if the making and administering of law has become so corrupt as to justify calling politics filthy, and a thing in which no clean hands can meddle without danger, may we not wisely remember, as we begin our work of purification, that politics have been wholly managed by men? how can we purify them? is there no radical method, no force yet untried, a power not only of skillful checks, which i do not undervalue, but of controlling character? mr. chairman, if we sat in this chamber with closed windows until the air became thick and fetid, should we not be fools if we brought in deodorizers--if we sprinkled chloride of lime and burned assafoetida, while we disdained the great purifier? if we would cleanse the foul chamber, let us throw the windows wide open, and the sweet summer air would sweep all impurity away and fill our lungs with fresher life. if we would purge politics let us turn upon them the great stream of the purest human influence we know. but i hear some one say, if they vote they must do military duty. undoubtedly when a nation goes to war it may rightfully claim the service of all its citizens, men and women. but the question of fighting is not the blow merely, but its quality and persistence. the important point is, to make the blow effective. did any brave englishman who rode into the jaws of death at balaklava serve england on the field more truly than florence nightingale? that which sustains and serves and repairs the physical force is just as essential as the force itself. thus the law, in view of the moral service they are supposed to render, excuses clergymen from the field, and in the field it details ten per cent of the army to serve the rest, and they do not carry muskets nor fight. women, as citizens, have always done, and always will do that work in the public defense for which their sex peculiarly fits them, and men do no more. the care of the young warriors, the nameless and innumerable duties of the hospital and home, are just as essential to the national safety as fighting in the field. a nation of men alone could not carry on a contest any longer than a nation of women. each would be obliged to divide its forces and delegate half to the duties of the other sex. but while the physical services of war are equally divided between the sexes, the moral forces are stronger with women. it was the women of the south, we are constantly and doubtless very truly told, who sustained the rebellion, and certainly without the women of the north the government had not been saved. from the first moment to the last, in all the roaring cities, in the remote valleys, in the deep woods, on the country hill-sides, on the open prairie, wherever there were wives, mothers, sisters, lovers, there were the busy fingers which, by day and by night, for four long years, like the great forces of spring-time and harvest, never failed. the mother paused only to bless her sons, eager for the battle; the wife to kiss her children's father, as he went; the sister smiled upon her brother, and prayed for the lover who marched away. out of how many hundreds of thousands of homes and hearts they went who never returned. but those homes were both the inspiration and the consolation of the field. they nerved the arm that struck for them. when the son and husband fell in the wild storm of battle, the brave woman-heart broke in silence, but the busy fingers did not falter. when the comely brother and lover were tortured into idiocy and despair, that woman-heart of love kept the man's faith steady, and her unceasing toil repaired his wasted frame. it was not love of the soldier only, great as that was; it was knowledge of the cause. it was that supreme moral force operating through innumerable channels like the sunshine in nature, without which successful war would have been impossible. there are thousands and thousands of these women who ask for a voice in the government they have so defended. shall we refuse them? i appeal again to my honorable friend, the chairman of the committee. he has made the land ring with his cry of universal suffrage and universal amnesty. suffrage and amnesty to whom? to those who sought to smother the government in the blood of its noblest citizens, to those who ruined the happy homes and broke the faithful hearts of which i spoke. sir, i am not condemning his cry. i am not opposing his policy. i have no more thirst for vengeance than he, and quite as anxiously as my honorable friend do i wish to see the harvests of peace waving over the battle-fields. but, sir, here is a new york mother, who trained her son in fidelity to god and to his country. when that country called, they answered. mother and son gave, each after his kind, their whole service to defend her. by the sad fate of war the boy is thrown into the ghastly den at andersonville. mad with thirst, he crawls in the pitiless sun toward a muddy pool. he reaches the dead-line, and is shot by the guard--murdered for fidelity to his country. "i demand amnesty for that guard, i demand that he shall vote," cries the honorable chairman of the committee. i do not say that it is an unwise demand. but i ask him, i ask you, sir, i ask every honorable and patriotic man in this state, upon what conceivable ground of justice, expediency, or common sense shall we give the ballot to the new york boy's murderer and refuse it to his mother? mr. chairman, i have thus stated what i conceive to be the essential reasonableness of the amendment which i have offered. it is not good for man to be alone. united with woman in the creation of human society, their rights and interests in its government are identical, nor can the highest and truest development of society be reasonably conceived, so long as one sex assumes to prescribe limits to the scope and functions of the other. the test of civilization is the position of women. where they are wholly slaves, man is wholly barbarous; and the measure of progress from barbarism to civilization is the recognition of their equal right with man to an unconstrained development. therefore, when mr. mill unrolls his petition in parliament to secure the political equality of women, it bears the names of those english men and women whose thoughts foretell the course of civilization. the measure which the report of the committee declares to be radically revolutionary and perilous to the very functions of sex, is described by the most sagacious of living political philosophers as reasonable, conservative, necessary, and inevitable; and he obtains for it seventy-three votes in the same house in which out of about the same whole number of voters charles james fox, the idol of the british whigs, used to be able to rally only forty votes against the policy of pitt. the dawn in england will soon be day here. before the american principle of equal rights, barrier after barrier in the path of human progress falls. if we are still far from its full comprehension and further from perfect conformity to its law, it is in that only like the spirit of christianity, to whose full glory even christendom but slowly approaches. from the heat and tumult of our politics we can still lift our eyes to the eternal light of that principle; can see that the usurpation of sex is the last form of caste that lingers in our society; that in america the most humane thinker is the most practical man, and the organizer of justice the most sagacious statesman. mr. gould, of columbia, followed with a long speech in opposition, and the discussion[ ] continued through several days; but mr. curtis's amendment, in the committee of the whole, received ayes against nays; and on the final vote in the convention, ayes[ ] against nays. mr. greeley, seemingly to atone for the disappointment of the women of the state in his adverse report, published the following editorial in _the tribune_ of july th, : women in politics. the constitutional convention of our state, yesterday, negatived--yeas , nays --the proposition that women should share with men the duties and responsibilities of voters at elections. this decision was preceded by an earnest, protracted discussion, in which the right and expediency of extending the elective franchise to women were most eloquently urged by george william curtis, and less elaborately by several others. the judgment pronounced yesterday by the convention must therefore be regarded as final. we do not, however, regard it as a verdict against a participation in public affairs by women. on the contrary, we hold that woman's influence not only is, but should be felt in legislation and government, and must increase in power as the race becomes more enlightened and humane. we only insist that she shall speak and be heard distinctly as woman, not mingled and confused with man. to make women voters at our elections as now held, and eligible to office in competition with men, would be far better calculated to corrupt woman than to reform man and purify politics. to have women mingle freely with men in primary meetings, caucuses, nominating conventions, investigating committees, juries, etc., etc., is not in our judgment calculated to elevate woman more than to reform existing abuses in legislation and practical politics. we should greatly prefer a system like this: let the women of our state, after due discussion and consultation, hold a convention composed of delegates from the several counties, equal in number to the members of assembly. to this convention let none but women be admitted, whether as officers or spectators. let this convention, keeping its debates wholly private, decide what department of legislative government may be safely assigned and set apart to woman. we would suggest all that relates to the family; marriage, divorce, separation from bed and board, the control and maintenance of children, education, the property rights of married women, inheritance, dower, etc., etc., as subjects that could wisely and safely be set apart to be legislated upon by woman alone. and we believe that if she (not a few women, but the sex) shall ever suggest and require such an apportionment of legislative powers and duties, man will cheerfully concede it. "but would you have woman hold elections like ours"? no! we would not! we would have her teach us how to take the sense of the electors far more quietly and cheaply. when a department of legislation shall be assigned to woman, we would have her collect through school-district, or kindred organizations, the names of all female citizens who possess the qualifications, other than of sex, required from male voters at our elections. these being duly, lucidly registered, let, then, women in each assembly district be designated to collect the votes of its women. let them simply advertise the address to which votes should be sent and appoint a week wherein to collect them. now, let every female citizen write her ballot and enclose it, signing her name to the address indicated; and due time having been allowed for votes to arrive by mail or otherwise, let the votes be duly canvassed, and the result ascertained and declared, and certificates of election issued accordingly. under this plan, the invalid, the bed-ridden, the bereaved, and even the absent, could vote as well as others, and the cost of holding an election throughout the state need not reach $ , . such are the outlines of our views regarding woman in politics. they are doubtless susceptible of improvement; but we think not by effacing in politics the natural and time-honored distinctions between women and men. a female legislature, a jury of women, we could abide; a legislature of men and women, a jury promiscuously drawn from the sexes we do not believe in. the new york _independent_ published the following criticism on mr. greeley's report a few days after its publication: constitutional convention. by elizabeth cady stanton. your committee does not recommend an extension of the elective franchise to woman. however defensible in theory, we are satisfied that public sentiment does not demand, and would not sustain, an innovation so revolutionary and sweeping; so openly at war with a distribution of duties and functions between the sexes as venerable as the government itself, and involving transformations so radical in social and domestic life. should we prove to be in error on this head, the convention may overrule us by changing a few words in the first section of our proposed article. in the above extract from the majority report of the committee on suffrage we have substantially four reasons why the committee did not recommend an extension of the elective franchise to women. st. public sentiment does not demand it. d. it would be an innovation revolutionary and sweeping. d. it is at war with a distribution of duties and functions between the sexes. th. the enfranchisement of women would disturb relations as venerable as government itself, and radically change our domestic life. shades of jeremy bentham and sidney smith forgive! after publishing to the world that immortal oration of noodledom, and refuting for all time such fallacies as the above, how amazing that radical republicans in the capital of the empire state should repeat in the ears of the nineteenth century stale platitudes from the effete civilizations of the old world--that to their starving wives and mothers, knocking at the door of the political citadel, instead of bread and the ballot, they should give stones and twenty years more of degradation in disfranchisement. but if it be true that public sentiment is not prepared for this just and beneficent measure, then it is the duty of our leaders, instead of stereotyping the ignorant prejudices of the people into statutes and constitutions, to educate this public sentiment, by the utterance of sound ideas, by the example of honest action. when god gives new truths to the few, it is that they may win the response of the many. there is no blunder more constantly made by politicians than the assumption that the people are never ready for an onward step. the people were ready for emancipation so long before the government declared it that, when it did come, the measure called forth but little enthusiasm. it is not so much the will of the people that troubles the politician as the safety of the party in power. this committee denies the ballot to woman, and gives it to the black man, for the same reason--party success; not because they think public sentiment is ready for either, for in their uncertainty they dare not submit the question of the black man separately to a vote of the people. "but the measure is so revolutionary and sweeping." when we abjured king george, and declared all men equal, we inaugurated a very revolutionary measure, undermined kingdoms and empires, deranged the political, commercial, and social interests of two continents, and upset innumerable family relations, by crowding husbands and fathers into untimely graves. had the honorable suffrage committee been in boston harbor, they would have objected to throwing the tea overboard as too revolutionary a measure; they would have scouted jefferson's radical declaration as absurd, in view of the royal facts on every throne in europe, and the divine command, "honor the king." after revolutionizing, as we have just done, the entire system of labor at the south, the social and political status of a race, and in pressing a measure for which public sentiment seemed unprepared, deluging the land in blood, how futile is such reasoning as the above in the mouths of those who inaugurated this second revolution. again, "the enfranchisement of woman is at war with the distribution of duties and functions between the sexes." the plea of tyrants in all ages. says the english peer, "i'll make laws and govern; let the peasant till the earth and provide the sinews of war." says the proud slaveholder, "i'll read and write and think; let the negro hoe the sugar, rice, and corn." says the new york suffrage committee, "we will do the voting; let women pay the taxes. we will be judges, jurors, sheriffs; and give woman the right to be hung on the gallows." napoleon once said to madame de stael, "why will you women meddle with politics?" "sire," she replied, "if you will hang us, we must ask the reason why." the functions of the sexes! what particular function does it require to vote? in the discussion on this point, we hear of property, education, morality, sanity; yet "white males" vote without these, and women possessing all are denied the right. while different men have different duties, different functions, different spheres, ranging from the heights of parnassus to the bowels of the earth, why legislate all women into a nutshell? because a man is a father, must he needs be nothing else? are lawyers, merchants, tailors, cobblers, bootblacks less skilled in their specialties because they vote? because some women are mothers, shall all women concentrate every thought in that direction? and can those who are mothers be nothing else? have not those who are training up sons and daughters an interest beyond the home, in the great outer world, where they are soon to act their part? if women should vote one day in the year, must every duty and function of their being be subordinated to that one act during the whole ? many men, possessing the right of suffrage, never exercise it: many more use it indifferently once a year, or sell it to the highest bidder; and on what principle does the theory rest, that if woman had this right, she would desert husband, child, and home, and reserve all her love and care, her smiles and enthusiasm, for the ballot-box? no; woman's love for man is not based on the statutes of the state, nor the maternal instinct on the second article of the constitution. whatever distribution of duties and functions are fixed by nature we need no legislation to enforce. so long as the fact of motherhood does not release woman from taxation, and the necessity of earning her own bread, it should not deprive her of that right most needed for her protection. if the , drunkards' wives in this state have the necessary functions to provide food, clothes, and shelter for worthless husbands and helpless children, they have the necessary functions to go to the polls and vote for such social and sanitary laws as shall end the vice of intemperance. "but," says the committee, "this measure would disturb relations as venerable as government itself." so said objectors twenty years ago in this state when woman was first secured in her rights of property. some of our must distinguished lawyers prophesied a social convulsion on the adoption of that measure. but it came without earthquake or tornado. in a single hour, by a stroke of the pen, the women of the empire state were crowned property-holders. but only those who had felt the iron teeth of the law took note of the onward legislation. it was a mighty wave on the shores of progress, that made scarce a ripple on the surface, washing the feet of the lonely traveler on the sand, though unheeded by the multitude on the bosom of its waters. the ballot in the hand of woman will bring neither the millennium nor pandemonium the next day; but it will surely right many wrongs. it will open to her the colleges, the professions, the profitable and honorable walks of life, and give her better wages for her work. in securing to woman self-respect, independence and power, we shall purify and exalt our social relations. helpless and dependent, woman must ever be the victim of society. "give a man a right over my subsistence," says alexander hamilton, "and he has a right over my whole moral being." february , , mr. graves offered a resolution: "that the article on suffrage be recommitted to be revised, by striking out the word 'male' after the word 'every' in the first line of section , article ii." mr. graves said: in offering this resolution i am not unmindful of the opinion that has been expressed in this convention on the question. yet, sir, i see a willingness expressed on all sides, to extend the suffrage to the black man at the south and the equally ignorant foreigner, alike without education, without knowledge of our laws and constitution, incapable of appreciating the genius of republican institutions, and who, neither by manner, by effort, by example, by influence, can do aught to promote the best interests of this government. if this constitution as it now is shall be approved by the people, you allow the black men of the south, fresh from the chains of slavery, to go to the ballot-box and vote on all the great questions involving the interests of this nation, while you deny the same right to educated, patriotic women--our own wives and mothers, who are educating our children, who give tone and character to society, and who are first and foremost in all moral movements. you deny them the right to select officers who are to discharge the duties of government, and, worse still, a voice in the laws they are compelled to obey. yes, sir, you say to the drunken husband who spends his time in whisky saloons, who goes reeling home at night to abuse his wife and children, that he is fit to vote on the interests of the family and the town, while you deny that right to the clear-headed, industrious wife, who feeds, clothes and shelters the worthless husband and educates the half-orphaned children. what a travesty on common sense and justice is such legislation! i know there are men in this convention shaking in their boots for fear their mothers, wives, and daughters shall have equal power with themselves; cowardly men without gallantry, who fear that woman's voice in legislation might end some of the pet vices of society--might be more potent than their own. mr. seaver rose to a point of order, and asked, "who are the men shaking in their boots?" mr. graves retorted, "wounded birds will flutter." mr. vedder wanted the gentleman's words recorded. mr. graves: i was about to say that educated women should be permitted to go to the ballot-box, and by their votes help to maintain our form of government. why is it that every father in this country is educating his daughter as well as his son in all branches of science? why does he expend his money in preparing his daughter for the most responsible positions, and then deny her the right to exercise her powers in the most intricate and exalted of sciences--that of government? i know it is said that the right of suffrage conferred on woman would destroy all domestic peace; which is to say a man can not tolerate an equal at his fireside. does domestic peace exist in the exact ratio of a woman's inferiority to the man she calls her husband? the intelligent, educated wife must exert an influence for good over the husband. the wise, far-seeing, self-disciplined mother must exert an influence for good over her children; why, then, may not this influence be equally potent in the state? the resolution was lost. the struggle in new york ended, all thoughts were turned towards kansas, where, as already shown, the friends of woman suffrage were doomed to another disappointment. however, the year was one of active effort; tracts and petitions were diligently circulated; a thorough campaign made in kansas; a series of meetings held in all the chief cities from leavenworth to new york, and a newspaper established, demanding far more time and money than its founders anticipated. thus the intervening months were fully occupied until the may anniversaries, when all religious and reformatory associations were accustomed to hold their annual meetings in new york city. equal rights anniversary. the american equal rights association held its annual meeting in cooper institute, new york, may , . its officers[ ], with but few changes, were the same as before. the hutchinson family, the branch of john, was present, and with their sister, abby hutchinson patten, opened the meeting with their song, "we come to greet you." lucy stone read a letter from john stuart mill, expressing sympathy with the movement. letters were also read from rev. robert collyer of chicago, maria giddings, the daughter of hon. joshua r. giddings, of ohio, frances dana gage, and several others. miss anthony invited all delegates of equal rights societies to seats on the platform; she also moved that mrs. rose, mrs. stanton, mr. burleigh and mr. foster be a committee to prepare resolutions. henry b. blackwell reported the success of the campaign of the women of this society in kansas, where rev. olympia brown, lucy stone, mrs. stanton and susan b. anthony had canvassed. their eloquence and determination gave great promise of success; but in an inopportune moment, horace greeley and others saw fit in the constitutional convention to report unfavorably on the proposition to extend suffrage to the women of the empire state, and that influenced the sentiment of the younger western states, and their enterprise was crushed. even the republicans in kansas, after witnessing this example, set their faces against the extension of suffrage to women. the negroes got but a few more votes than did the women. lucy stone gave a resume of the progress of the cause in this country and in england. col. higginson and mrs. rose made excellent remarks. "keep the ball rolling" was gracefully rendered by mrs. abby hutchinson patton, the whole audience joining in the chorus. mrs. stone presented two forms of petition to congress; one to extend suffrage to women in the district of columbia and the territories, the other for the submission of a proposition for a th amendment to prohibit the states from disfranchising citizens on account of sex. frederick douglass made an acceptable speech in favor of the petitions. the president announced that mrs. patten headed the subscription list to aid the association in its work for the coming year with $ . miss anthony presented the various tracts published by the society, and _the revolution_, urging the friends of the cause to aid in the circulation of the paper, as it was the only one owned and edited by women, wholly devoted to the cause of equal rights. rev. dr. blanchard, of brooklyn, opened the evening session with prayer; a resolution was proposed and adopted, on the death of james mott, husband of lucretia mott, president of the first woman's rights convention at seneca falls. rev. olympia brown: it is said that nature is against us. in the massachusetts legislature, mr. dana, chairman of the committee before whom we had a hearing, said: "nature is against it. it will take the romance out of life to grant what you desire"! if the romance of life is a falsehood and a fiction, we want to get back to truth, nature and god. we all love liberty and desire to possess it. no one worthy the name of man or woman is willing to surrender liberty and become subservient to another. woman may be shut out of politics by law, but her influence will be felt there. some of our leading reformers work for other objects first; the enfranchisement of the negro, the eight hour law, the temperance cause; and leave the woman suffrage question in the background; but woman will be enfranchised in spite of them. it is no use to tell us to wait until something else is done. _now_ is the accepted time for the enfranchisement of woman. the abolition of slavery was thought to be premature, but that mistake is now clearly seen. now is the time for every disfranchised class to make known its wants. the republican party is no better than the democratic. it sacrificed principle and nominated a man for president to _save the party_, whom they were afraid the democrats would nominate if they did not! the republican party controlled kansas, and yet repudiated woman's rights in the canvass of last year. we want a party (and would like the republican party) who will adopt a platform of universal suffrage for every color and every sex. "the republican party must be saved," is the cry; but its great danger is in not being true to principle. we will push on, keeping in view the rights of our common nature until woman is the peer of man in every sphere of life. elizabeth a. kingsley, of philadelphia, charles burleigh, rev. henry blanchard and mrs. rose made brief addresses. frederick douglass deprecated the seeming assertion of rev. o. b. frothingham, that one good cause was in opposition to another. i champion the right of the negro to vote. it is with us a matter of life and death, and therefore can not be postponed. i have always championed woman's right to vote; but it will be seen that the present claim for the negro is one of the most _urgent_ necessity. the assertion of the right of women to vote meets nothing but ridicule; there is no deep seated malignity in the hearts of the people against her; but name the right of the negro to vote, all hell is turned loose and the ku-klux and regulators hunt and slay the unoffending black man. the government of this country loves women. they are the sisters, mothers, wives and daughters of our rulers; but the negro is loathed. women should not censure mr. phillips, mr. greeley, or mr. tilton, all have spoken eloquently for woman's rights. we are all talking for woman's rights, and we should be just to all our friends and enemies. there is a difference between the republican and democratic parties. olympia brown: what is it? frederick douglass: the democratic party has, during the whole war, been in sympathy with the rebellion, while the republican party has supported the government. olympia brown: how is it now? frederick douglass: the democratic party opposes impeachment, and desires a white man's government. olympia brown: what is the difference in _principle_ between the position of the democratic party opposing the enfranchisement of , , negro men, and the republican party opposing the emancipation of , , white women? frederick douglass: the democratic party opposes suffrage to both: but the republican party is in favor of enfranchising the negro, and is largely in favor of enfranchising woman. where is the democrat who favors woman suffrage? (a voice in the audience, "train!") yes, he hates the negro, and that is what stimulates him to substitute the cry of emancipation for women. the negro needs suffrage to protect his life and property, and to ensure him respect and education. he needs it for the safety of reconstruction and the salvation of the union; for his own elevation from the position of a drudge to that of an influential member of society. if you want women to forget and forsake frivolity, and the negro to take pride in becoming a useful and respectable member of society, give them both the ballot. olympia brown: why did republican kansas vote down negro suffrage? frederick douglass: because of your ally, george francis train! olympia brown: how about minnesota without train? the republican party is a party and cares for nothing but party! it has repudiated both negro suffrage and woman suffrage. frederick douglass: minnesota lacked only , votes of carrying negro suffrage. all the democrats voted against it, while only a small portion of the republicans did so. and this was substantially the same in ohio and connecticut. the republican party is about to bring ten states into the union; and thaddeus stevens has reported a bill to admit seven, all on the fundamental basis of constitutions guaranteeing negro suffrage forever. olympia brown again insisted that the party was false, and that now was the time for every true patriot to demand that no new state should be admitted except on the basis of suffrage to women as well as negroes. lucy stone controverted mr. douglass' statement that women were not persecuted for endeavoring to obtain their rights, and depicted in glowing colors the wrongs of women and the inadequacy of the laws to redress them. mrs. stone also charged the republican party as false to principle unless it protected women as well as colored men in the exercise of their right to vote. _the tribune_ said the resolutions adopted declare that suffrage is an inalienable right without qualification of sex or race; that our state and national governments are anti-republican in form, and anti-democratic in fact; that the only way to decide whether women want to vote is to give them an opportunity of doing so; that the republicans are bound to extend the application of manhood suffrage to women; that reconstruction will fail to secure peace, unless it gives women the right to vote; they invite the national conventions of both parties to put a woman suffrage plank in their platforms; petition[ ] congress to extend suffrage to the women of the district of columbia, and to propose a constitutional amendment prohibiting political distinctions on account of sex; assert that the laws depriving married women of the equal custody of their children and of the control of their property, are a disgrace to civilization; and thank the men of kansas who voted for woman suffrage. footnotes: [ ] following this hearing, mr. folger presented a resolution in the senate for the women of the state to vote for delegates to the constitutional convention, and nine members voted in its favor. [ ] the _albany evening journal_ of january th, says: "mrs. stanton had a large audience to hear her argument in favor of so amending the constitution as to permit women and colored men to vote and hold office. she said all that could be said and said it well in support of her position, but it is still a problem whether the judiciary committee were convinced. like most men of old-fashioned notions, they are slow to believe that women would be elevated, either in usefulness, or dignity, by being transferred from the drawing room and the nursery to the ballot-box and the forum!! [ ] horace greeley, westchester co., leslie w. russel, lawrence co., william cassidy, albany co., william h. merrill, wyoming co., george williams, oneida co., john g. schumaker, kings co., isaac l. eudress, livingston co. [ ] _june , ._--mr. corbett presented a memorial from citizens of syracuse for securing the right of suffrage for women on equal terms with men. mr. graves--petition of mrs. f. d. fish and other citizens--worthy and intelligent men and women--of the city of utica, asking equal suffrage for men and women. referred to the committee on suffrage. _june , ._--mr. rathbun--petition for universal suffrage for women as well as men. c. e. parker--petition for citizens of tioga county. mr. curtis--a petition from mrs. daniel cady, of johnstown, and others, asking to have "male" stricken from the state constitution. e. g. lapham presented a petition. mr. ezra graves presented thirty-seven petitions--brooklyn, ; mt. morris, ; troy, ; lima, ; new york city, ; buffalo, ; skaneateles, ; lockport, ; poughkeepsie, ; dutchess county, ; utica, ; fairfield, herkimer co., . in all, , persons asking for equal suffrage. _friday, june th._--c. c. dwight--mrs. eliza wright osborn and others, of auburn, asking suffrage for women. mr. cooke--mrs. lina vandenburg and others. mr. archer--sundry citizens. mr. mead--mrs. e. a. kingsbury and others. mr. schoonmaker--m. i. ingraham and others. mr. houston--lucia sutton. mr. rathbun--mrs. a. h. sabin and others. j. brooks--emma suydam and others. mr. graves--two memorials. st. schoharie county, men and women for constitutional amendment prohibiting sale of intoxicating liquors. d. lucia humphrey and others for equal suffrage. all went to committee on suffrage, except mr. graves' first, which went to committee on adulterated liquors. [ ] mr. greeley, june th, from the committee on suffrage, offered a resolution that "the use of this hall on the th, thursday evening of this week, be granted to the standing committee on the right of suffrage, that they may accord a public hearing to the advocates of female suffrage," which was adopted. [ ] the _albany evening journal_ of june , , says, editorially: womanhood suffrage.--the assembly chamber was well filled last evening to listen to mrs. stanton and miss anthony. mrs. stanton made a stirring appeal, and miss anthony followed. in response to queries, she said she expected that women would yet serve as jurors and be drafted. several hundred had fought in the late war, but when their sex was discovered they were dismissed in disgrace; and to the shame of the government be it said, they were never paid for their services. [ ] mr. folger offered a resolution--that the use of this chamber be granted to the american equal rights association for a meeting on the evening of wednesday, the th inst. [ ] geo. francis train before the constitutional convention at albany.--the constitutional convention at albany has not had many variations from its customary slate of topics, but it is a noteworthy fact that no new york paper mentioned that geo. francis train addressed the convention for two hours on the subject of woman voting and the financial policy of the nation. mr. train having been the only man to volunteer his services in kansas and before the convention, it is worthy of note, when the argument advanced by our chivalrous press is a sneer, a sarcasm, or an insult, that mr. train's defense of women voting was received by the convention by loud and repeated applause. the following was the resolution, passed unanimously, offering the hall: state of new york, in constitutional convention, } albany, december , . } on motion of mr. ballard: _resolved_, that the use of the assembly chamber be granted to geo. francis train, esq., at p.m. this day. by order. luther caldwell, _secretary_. [ ] in the question of negro suffrage was submitted to a popular vote, and negatived by , to , ; in it was again defeated by a vote of , to , ; a similar submission was provided for by a concurrent resolution of the legislature of , which by neglect of the state officer to provide for its publication, was defeated; but its fate may fairly be regarded as further evidence of the indifference of the public toward a change. [ ] _july st._--mr. fowler presented a petition from miss laura bosworth and others for woman suffrage. _july th._--from gerrit smith and others of madison county, for female suffrage. mr. endress--emma c. lawrence and others of westchester, for female suffrage. mr. murphy--thomas n. cashow and others, of kings county, for woman suffrage. mr. fullerton--mary j. quackenbosh and many others, from newburgh. mr. van campen--mary e. mead and many others, of westchester county. mr. beadle--mrs. w. s. shute, mary c. bristol, and others from horse heads. mr. hammond--mrs. j. c. holmes and many others from westchester county. _july th._--mr. tucker--a petition from a large number of men and women for extending the right of suffrage to woman. mr. graves--fifty-four ladies of new york city, asking suffrage for women. _july th._--mr. curtis--from charles j. seymour, mrs. mary newman and others from broome county, for equal suffrage. _july th._--mr. corbett--henry ward beecher, edwin a. studwell, and many others, of kings county, for woman suffrage. _july th._--mr. folger presented a petition from emily p. collins, of rochester, and others, asking that women be granted the privilege of voting, that in the proposition be submitted for all who can read and write. _july th._--mr. greeley--from mrs. louisa howland and many others, of mt. vernon, westchester county, for woman suffrage. mr. curtis--from mrs. eliza benton and others of new york city, asking for equal suffrage. another from caroline e. hubbard and others, of westchester county. _july st._--mr. potter--lydia baldwin, f. brucklin, and others, of erie county, asking for the extension of the suffrage to women. mr. graves--jane e. turner, rev. c. h. bebee, and others, bridgewater, oneida county. another from julia m. sherwood and others, westchester county, asking for woman suffrage. [ ] the ladies suggested to mr. curtis to present mrs. greeley's petition last, and with emphasis, that it might attract the attention of the reporters, and thus have mrs. greeley's petition and mr. greeley's report to antidote each other, and appear side by side in the metropolitan journals. after the convention adjourned that day, some of the ladies lingered in the vestibule to congratulate mr. greeley on his conservative report; but he had disappeared through some side door, and could not be found. a few weeks after he met mrs. stanton and miss anthony at one of alice cary's sunday evening receptions. they noticed him slowly making his way toward them, and prepared for the coming storm. as he approached, both arose, and with extended hands, exclaimed most cordially, "good evening, mr. greeley." but his hands hung limp and undemonstrative by his side, as he said in low and measured words, "you two ladies are the most maneuvering politicians in the state of new york. you set out to annoy me in the constitutional convention, and you did it effectually. i saw in the manner my wife's petition was presented, that mr. curtis was acting under instructions. i saw the reporters prick up their ears and knew that my report and mrs. greeley's petition would come out together, with large headings in the city papers, and probably be called out by the newsboys in the street." turning to mrs. stanton, he said, "you are so tenacious about your own name, why did you not inscribe my wife's maiden name, mary cheney greeley on her petition?" "because," i replied, "i wanted all the world to know that it was the wife of horace greeley who protested against her husband's report." "well," said he, "i understand the animus of that whole proceeding, and now let me tell you what i intend to do. i have given positive instructions that no word of praise shall ever again be awarded you in the _tribune_, and that if your name is ever necessarily mentioned, it shall be as mrs. henry b. stanton!" and so it has been ever since. from that time mr. greeley was seemingly hostile to the woman suffrage movement, just as he was toward the anti-slavery cause, after the abolitionists in rolling up , votes for james g. birney, defeated henry clay, and gave the ascendency to the democrats by electing polk. clay being a strong protectionist was a great favorite with mr. greeley, and his defeat was a sore disappointment, and for years he denounced abolitionists individually and collectively in his scathing editorials. still in his happier moods he firmly believed in the civil and political equality of both women and negroes. [ ] this amendment was on the following section of mr. greeley's report: section i. every man of the age of twenty-one years who shall have been an inhabitant of this state for one year next preceding an election, and for the last thirty days a citizen of the united states, and a resident of the election district where he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at such election, in said district and not elsewhere, for all officers elected by the people. _provided_, that idiots, lunatics, persons under guardianship, felons, and persons convicted of bribery, unless pardoned or otherwise restored to civil rights, shall not be entitled to vote.... [ ] the albany _evening journal_ of july , , in speaking of the "suffrage discussion," said: "all men and women have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. if when deprived of the ballot the consequence is that this inalienable right is abridged, then society owes it to the class thus practically enslaved to bestow suffrage upon them. at the south there is no safety for the negro from oppressive laws but in the ballot. it is idle to argue ignorance. political enfranchisement is the best educator." [ ] beals, bell, corning, curtis, duganne, farnum, field, folger, fowler, graves, hadley, hammond, kinney, lapham, m. h. lawrence, pond, tucker, vedder, wales. [ ] _president_--lucretia mott. _vice-presidents_--elizabeth cady stanton, n.y.; frederick douglass, n.y.; henry ward beecher, n.y.; martha c. wright n.y.; elizabeth b. chace. r.i.; c. prince, ct; frances d. gage, n.y.; robert purvis, penn.; parker pillsbury, n.h.; antoinette brown blackwell, n.j.; josephine s. griffing, d.c.; thomas garrett, del.; stephen h. camp, ohio; euphemia cochrane, mich.; mary a. livermore, ill.; mrs. isaac h. sturgeon, mo.; amelia bloomer, iowa; helen ekin starrett, kansas; virginia penny, kentucky; olympia brown, mass. _corresponding secretary_--mary e. gage. _recording secretaries_--henry b. blackwell, hattie purvis. _treasurer_--john j. merritt. _executive committee_--lucy stone, edward s. bunker, elizabeth r. tilton, ernestine l. rose, robert j. johnston, edwin a. studwell, anna cromwell field, susan b. anthony, theodore tilton, margaret e. winchester, abby hutchinson patton. [ ] st. louis, may , . mrs. e. c. stanton--_dear friend_: our gentlemen friends urge us to memorialize congress on the question of suffrage in the district. well knowing how a single petition is suffocated, would it not be well for all the states to unite, and be presented at the same time? new york, being the banner state, must head the move and be spokesman. out list of names is waiting the interminable impeachment to be handed in (oh, for old ben. wade in the white house), but it seems to me one state should not go alone; if all the state organizations were notified to send in their lists immediately to whoever you think will be most likely to do justice to the cause, we could make quite a formidable display combined. your sincere friend, mrs. francis minor, president of the st. louis woman's suffrage association. * * * * * enfranchisement in the district.--may , .--_to the friends of equal rights_: the whole government of the district of columbia is to be revised by congress, in consequence of the expiration of local charters, within the next nine months. a rare opportunity is thus afforded to bring the enfranchisement of woman to the attention of congress and the country. we urge you to send in petitions as fast as possible, with as many signatures as you can obtain. they should be sent to mrs. josephine s. griffing, north capitol street, washington, d. c., who will acknowledge their receipt and attend to their presentation. form of petition. _to the senate and house of representatives of the united states in congress assembled_: the undersigned ----, of the ---- of ----, in the state of ----, respectfully petition, that in your revision of the government of the district of columbia, you will protect the women of the district from being debarred the exercise of their right of suffrage. [illustration: jane graham jones.] chapter xxi. reconstruction. the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments--universal suffrage and universal amnesty the key-note of reconstruction--gerrit smith and wendell phillips hesitate--a trying period in the woman suffrage movement--those opposed to the word "male" in the fourteenth amendment voted down in conventions--the negro's hour--virginia l. minor on suffrage in the district of columbia--women advised to be silent--the hypocrisy of the democrats preferable to that of the republicans--senator pomeroy's amendment--protests against a man's government--negro suffrage a political necessity--charles sumner opposed to the fourteenth amendment, but voted for it as a party measure--woman suffrage for utah--discussion in the house as to who constitute electors--bills for woman suffrage presented by the hon. george w. julian and senators wilson and pomeroy--the fifteenth amendment--anna e. dickinson's suggestion--opinions of women on the fifteenth amendment--the sixteenth amendment--miss anthony chosen a delegate to the democratic national convention july , --her address read by a unanimous vote--horatio seymour in the chair--comments of the press--the _revolution_. the war settled two questions: st. that we are a nation, and not a mere confederacy of states. d. that all "persons" born or naturalized in the united states are "citizens," and stand equal before the law. freedom, united states citizenship, the limit of state authority, and national protection of the fundamental rights of citizens in the several states, are clearly set forth in the following amendments: thirteenth amendment, december , . " . neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the united states, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." " . congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." fourteenth amendment, july , . section . "all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." section . "representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the united states, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state." section . "no person shall be a senator or representative in congress, or elector of president and vice-president, or hold any office, civil or military, under the united states, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of congress, or as an officer of the united states, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the constitution of the united states, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or give aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. but congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability." * * * * * section . "the congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." fifteenth amendment, march , . section . "the right of citizens of the united to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." section . "the congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." the women understood the principles involved in these amendments, and accepted the logical conclusions. under the first they applied to congress for protection against the tyranny of the states in depriving them of the right of suffrage, but they were remanded to the states, and were told that congress had no jurisdiction in the matter. under the second, when women claimed the rights of citizens as tax-payers who helped to support the government, they were told that neither the fathers nor their sons ever thought of women in framing their constitutions, and that some special legislation was needed before their rights of citizenship could be recognized or accorded. during the prolonged debates on these amendments, those who watched the progress of political sentiment and understood the drift of events, struck the key-note of reconstruction in "universal suffrage and universal amnesty," but they were speedily silenced or condemned. abraham lincoln saw that this was the true policy, and counseled it in private. but he was influenced by those who misjudged the signs of the times, and for the success of his party and his own re-election, he yielded to weak counselors. horace greeley, with the suffering and humiliation of the south, as well as the guilt and selfishness of the north before him, declared "universal suffrage and universal amnesty" to be the true basis of reconstruction, but a few cracks of the party whip brought him into line. henry ward beecher foreshadowed the same policy in an able letter, which called down upon him the nation's scorn and denunciation, for which he was stabbed by the friends of his own household. he was the one leading man in the nation who, in all his public speeches, demanded universal suffrage in the reconstruction. and by universal suffrage mr. beecher meant political equality for all, without distinction of race, color, or sex. women would have been dull scholars indeed had they not readily seen that the watchword "universal suffrage" stripped of the limitations that lay in the minds of party politicians, included women also. under section of the fourteenth amendment they saw that being "persons" and born in the united states, they were "citizens," whom the national government was bound to protect against the tyranny of the state. section called their attention to another principle of justice, that those who were counted in the basis of representation should have a voice in the rulers whose election their numbers helped to secure. to be sure, the word "male" thrown in seemed to nullify all applications of the several amendments to one sex, nevertheless the women understood the breadth of the principle, and made their demands for an equal recognition on the ground that they too were counted in the basis of representation. again, in the discussion on removing the "political disabilities" of those who had made war on the government, when the injustice of taxing that large class denied the suffrage was pointed out and the exercise of that right demanded for thousands of rebels, the women saw the application of that principle to themselves, and echoed the old war-cry in our first revolution, "taxation without representation is tyranny." in the exhaustive discussions on the emancipation and enfranchisement of the black man and the restoration of the rebels to political equality, the fundamental principles of republican government were more clearly comprehended by the american people than ever before. hence, it was in harmony with the order of events that educated women, appreciating the genius of our institutions, with their interest in politics intensified by all the complications of the war, should think and reason and express their opinions on all these great questions of popular thought. they saw that "universal suffrage and universal amnesty" was the broad, safe foundation for the new republic. they saw that the enfranchisement of the women of the south would not only double the vote, but give a new impulse to thought and education throughout the southern states, and mitigate the hostility they would naturally feel in seeing their slaves suddenly made their political superiors, their rulers, law-makers, judges, and jurors! they saw that with the incoming tide of ignorant voters from southern plantations and from the nations of the old world, that the government needed the intelligent votes and moral influence of woman to outweigh the ignorance and vice fast crowding round our polling booths. seeing all this, they pressed with earnestness the well-considered demand for woman's enfranchisement, not from any selfish or personal considerations, but for the elevation of all womankind, and to vindicate the principles that underlie republican government. they who have the responsibility of action are usually more timid in counsel than those who can exert only an indirect influence. hence the statesmen of that period did not dare to trust their own principles to their logical results, and instead of the broad demand of equal rights for all, they proposed reconstruction on the basis of "manhood suffrage"; a half-way measure that satisfied nobody, glossed over by the party in power as "universal suffrage," "equal suffrage," "impartial suffrage," until compelled to call the proposition by its true name, "manhood suffrage." having served the government during the war in such varied capacities, and taken an active part in the discussion of its vital principles on so many reform platforms, women naturally felt that in reconstruction their rights as citizens should be protected and secured. they who had so diligently rolled up petitions for the emancipation and enfranchisement of the slaves now demanded the same liberties, not only for the white women of the nation, but for the newly made freed-women from southern plantations, who had borne more grievous burdens and endured keener sufferings in the flesh and far more aggravating humiliations in spirit, than the man slave could ever know. and yet abolitionists who had drawn their most eloquent appeals for emancipation from the hopeless degradation of woman in slavery, ignored alike the african and the saxon in reconstruction, and refused to sign the petition for "woman suffrage." even such just and liberal men as gerrit smith and wendell phillips, in their haste to see the consummation of the black man's freedom, to which they had devoted their life-long efforts, lost sight of the ever-binding principles of justice, and accepted an amendment to the national constitution that made all men rulers, all women subjects. gerrit smith, who had often said, "it is always safe to do right"; "now is the time for action, you can not be sure of to-morrow"; "speak the truth though the heavens fall," acted from policy rather than principle in refusing to sign the following petition: _to the senate and house of representatives in congress assembled_: the undersigned, citizens of the state of new york, earnestly but respectfully request, that in any change or amendment of the constitution you may propose to extend or regulate suffrage, there shall be no distinctions made between men and women. peterboro, dec. , . my dear susan b. anthony:--i this evening received your earnest letter. it pains me to be obliged to disappoint you. but i can not sign the petition you send me. cheerfully, gladly can i sign a petition for the enfranchisement of women. but i can not sign a paper against the enfranchisement of the negro man, unless at the same time woman shall be enfranchised. the removal of the political disabilities of race is my first desire--of sex, my second. if put on the same level and urged in the same connection neither will be soon accomplished. the former will very soon be, if untrammeled by the other, and its success will prepare the way for the accomplishment of the other. with great regard, your friend, gerrit smith. to which letter mrs. stanton replied in _the revolution_ jan. , : the above is the petition to which our friend gerrit smith, as an abolitionist, can not conscientiously put his name, while republicans and democrats are signing it all over the country. he does not clearly read the signs of the times, or he would see that there is to be no reconstruction of this nation, except on the basis of universal suffrage, as the natural, inalienable right of every citizen. the uprising of the women on both continents, in france, england, russia, switzerland, and the united states, all show that advancing civilization demands a new element in the government of nations. as the aristocracy in this country is the "male sex," and as mr. smith belongs to the privileged order, he naturally considers it important for the best interests of the nation, that every type and shade of degraded, ignorant manhood should be enfranchised, before even the higher classes of womanhood should be admitted to the polls. this does not surprise us. men always judge more wisely of objective wrongs and oppressions, than of those in which they are themselves involved. tyranny on a southern plantation is far more easily seen by white men at the north than the wrongs of the women of their own households. then, again, when men have devoted their lives to one reform, there is a natural feeling of pride, as well as an earnest principle, in seeing that one thing accomplished. hence, in criticising such good and noble men as gerrit smith and wendell phillips for their apathy on woman's enfranchisement at this hour, it is not because we think their course at all remarkable, nor that we have the least hope of influencing them, but simply to rouse the women of the country to the fact that they must not look to these men as their champions at this hour. while philosophy and science alike point to woman as the new power destined to redeem the world, how can mr. smith fail to see that it is just this we need to restore honor and virtue in the government? there is sex in the spiritual as well as the physical, and what we need to-day in government, in the world of morals and thought, is the recognition of the feminine element, as it is this alone that can hold the masculine in check. again; mr. smith refuses to sign the petition because he thinks to press the broader question of "universal suffrage" would defeat the partial one of "manhood suffrage"; in other words, to demand protection for woman against her oppressors, would jeopardize the black man's chance of securing protection against his oppressors. if it is a question of precedence merely, on what principle of justice or courtesy should woman yield her right of enfranchisement to the negro? if men can not be trusted to legislate for their own sex, how can they legislate for the opposite sex, of whose wants and needs they know nothing? it has always been considered good philosophy in pressing any measure to claim the uttermost in order to get something. being in ireland at the time of the repeal excitement, we asked daniel o'connell one day if he expected to secure a repeal of the union. "oh, no!" said he, "but i claim everything that i may be sure of getting something." but their intense interest in the negro blinded our former champions so that they forsook principle for policy, and in giving woman the cold shoulder raised a more deadly opposition to the negro than any we had yet encountered, creating an antagonism between him and the very element most needed to be propitiated in his behalf. it was this feeling that defeated "negro suffrage" in kansas. but mr. smith abandons the principle clearly involved, and intrenches himself on policy. he would undoubtedly plead the necessity of the ballot for the negro at the south for his protection, and point us to innumerable acts of cruelty he suffers to-day. but all these things fall as heavily on the women of the black race, yea far more so, for no man can ever know the deep, the damning degradation to which woman is subject in her youth, in helplessness and poverty. the enfranchisement of the men of her race, mr. smith would say, is her protection. our saxon men have held the ballot in this country for a century, and what honest man can claim that it has been used for woman's protection? alas! we have given the very hey day of our life to undoing the cruel and unjust laws that the men of new york had made for their own mothers, wives, and daughters. as to the "rights of races," on which so much stress is laid just now, we have listened to debates in anti-slavery conventions, for twenty years or more, and we never heard gerrit smith plead the negro cause on any lower ground than his manhood; his individual, inalienable right to freedom and equality, and thus, we conjure every thoughtful man to plead woman's cause to-day. politicians will find, when they come to test this question of "negro supremacy" in the several states, that there is a far stronger feeling among the women of the nation than they supposed. we doubt whether a constitutional amendment securing "manhood suffrage" alone could be fairly passed in a single state in this union. women everywhere are waking up to their own god-given rights, to their true dignity as citizens of a republic, as mothers of the race. although those who demand "woman's suffrage" on principle are few, those who would oppose "negro suffrage" from prejudice are many, hence the only way to secure the latter, is to end all this talk of class legislation, bury the negro in the citizen, and claim the suffrage for all men and women, as a natural, inalienable right. the friends of the negro never made a greater blunder than when, at the close of the war, they timidly refused to lead the nation in demanding suffrage for all. if even wendell phillips and gerrit smith, the very apostles of liberty on this continent, failed at that point, how can we wonder at the vacillation and confusion of politicians at this hour. we had hoped that the elections of ' , with their overwhelming majorities in every state against negro suffrage, would have proved to all alike, how futile is compromise, how short-sighted is policy. we have pressed these considerations so often on mr. phillips and mr. smith during the last four years, that we fear we have entirely forfeited the friendship of the one, and diminished the confidence of the other in our good judgment; but time, that rights all wrongs, will surely bring them back to the standpoint of principle. as soon as we had a mouthpiece in _the revolution_ we found that many noble women in every state understood the situation, and saw that while the question of reconstruction was under debate, woman was false to herself not to put in her claims. in face of all opposition, those who did see the policy and justice of claiming this time as the woman's hour also, made the most persistent, brave fight possible. again were appeals and petitions sent to congress and the people, but now for woman's enfranchisement. when the whole nation was as it were resolved into its original elements, and the fundamental rights of citizens the topic for discussion in the halls of legislation and at every fireside, the time seemed so opportune for the settlement of the broad question of representation, that the persistency and determination of a few women to secure their rights was neither surprising nor unreasonable. this was one of the most trying periods in the woman suffrage movement. negro suffrage being a party measure, a political necessity and the culmination of the anti-slavery conflict, republicans and abolitionists could bid each other a most sincere and heartfelt godspeed. and with them, too, stood the majority of the woman suffrage associations. wives and daughters of republicans and abolitionists, imbued with the ideas of politicians, "one measure at a time," "one reform for a generation," lost sight of the true philosophy, that justice is always in order, and the fact that "universal suffrage" was the one reform that belonged specifically to the period of reconstruction. but women educated to self-sacrifice and self-abnegation readily accepted the idea that it was divine and beautiful to hold their claims for rights and privileges in abeyance to all orders and classes of men. they forgot that the highest patriotism, and the best interests of man himself demanded the enfranchisement of woman. the few who insisted on absolute right stood firmly together under a steady fire of ridicule and reproach even from their life-long friends most loved and honored. they knew their position was unassailable, for they had well learned the lesson taught in the early days of anti-slavery and the republican party, that all compromises with principle are dangerous. statesmen and reformers alike admitted that the demands of the women were just and proper, though not opportune. but when the whole question of suffrage was up for discussion, there could not be a better time to get all the agitation possible in regard to woman's claims. the subject once settled on the narrow ground of class, it would not be renewed for a generation. time has proved their fears well grounded. nearly twenty years have passed, and there has been no such agitation and excitement as then on the question. if all the women, to say nothing of the republicans and abolitionists who claimed to believe in the truth of the idea, had stood firm, woman would have been enfranchised with the negro. but few could withstand the persecution, the ridicule, the pathetic appeals to keep silent, and in a large measure when the anti-slavery society disbanded the woman suffrage movement became the toy of the republican party, and has been trifled with ever since, like the cat with the mouse in the fable. but democrats seeing the inconsistency of republicans, did advocate our cause, present our petitions in congress, and frank our documents to all parts of the country. and because these women, denied help and encouragement from other sources, accepted aid from the democrats, they were called "copperheads";[ ] disloyal to the government. women who had been complimented by the republican press as "wise," "prudent," "noble," while rolling up , petitions for emancipation, were now said to be "selfish," "impracticable," "unreasonable," because forsooth they demanded some new liberties for themselves. more over said the republicans, "these democrats are hypocritical, they do not believe in the extension of suffrage to any class." to this the women replied, "if the democrats advocate a grand measure of public policy which they do not believe, they occupy much higher ground than republicans who refuse to press the same measure which they claim to believe. at all events the hypocrisy of democrats serves us a better purpose in the present emergency than does the treachery of republicans." but with all their long-time friends against them; such as charles sumner and henry wilson in the senate, william lloyd garrison and gerrit smith in reform, horace greeley and most of the liberals in the press, the position of the women seemed so untenable to the majority that at times a sense of utter loneliness and desertion made the bravest of them doubt the possibility of maintaining the struggle or making themselves fairly understood. and yet, what was done was sound in principle and wise in policy. every argument made by republicans and abolitionists for the enfranchisement of the negro was pertinent for woman. as mr. sumner said to us years after he made that great speech on "equal rights to all," "substitute sex for color, and you have the best speech i could make on your platform." our cause was wise too in policy, for never before had we such an opportunity to compel intelligent opposition in the halls of legislation and in conventions of the people. black men were at the white heat of anxiety and expectation; abolitionists, with bated breath, watched every move and vote in congress; republicans felt that on the success or defeat of "negro suffrage" hung the life or death of their party; and all alike feared the slightest influence that might turn the scale, and deplored the seeming coalition of the women and the democrats. hence what an hour to proclaim our principles of government upon their broadest basis, and to keep up the discussion of woman suffrage at every point with so formidable an opposition! few[ ] only were equal to the emergency. even in the equal rights conventions the slightest opposition to the xiv amendment called out hisses and denunciation, and all resolutions on that point were promptly voted down. mrs. stanton and miss anthony were waylaid again and again in the ante-rooms, and implored to avoid all discussions on the pending amendments, and were persistently opposed by black men, abolitionists, republicans and women who did not understand either the principle or policy involved in the discussion. this opposition of the few did not grow out of any hostility to "negro suffrage," for they were all abolitionists, and had labored untiringly for the emancipation of the slaves; but they were opposed to the enfranchisement of another class of ignorant men to be lifted above their heads, to be their law-makers and governors; to prescribe the moral code and political status of their daughters. the hue and cry against those who claimed that "that was the woman's hour," for accepting the aid of democrats in the establishment of a paper through which they could plead their own case, were so many plausible pretexts in the mouths of those who could not consistently attack their principles of action. but from this opposition on all sides true woman suffragists learned their power to stand alone, and to maintain the right against large and honorable majorities. again said our professed friends we can carry "negro suffrage" now; it is a political necessity; do not trammel us with another issue--this done, depend upon it, men have too much chivalry to forget the services of the loyal women all through the war, and through the long political struggle in congress. women in our conventions echoed the same assuring sentiments, and voted down resolutions of protest and rebuke. they were deceived with the plausible promises made by republicans and abolitionists--promises still unredeemed, for republicans have been busy ever since trying to save the life of their party; and abolitionists, with few exceptions, have thrown their influence into labor reform, temperance, finance, and literature. but of what do you complain, asked our statesmen. of many things, we replied: st. our national constitution was broad and liberal in letter and spirit, put no limits on suffrage, made no distinctions in sex, until the republicans, by their amendments, introduced the word "male," and thus blocked woman's path to equality. d. republicans in congress either suppressed our petitions for suffrage, or presented them under protest, after holding them for weeks in their possession. d. by their speeches and votes in congress, and their decisions in the courts on questions involving our civil and political rights, they have stultified their own grand declarations of the equal rights of citizens in a republic. when the xiv amendment was first proposed, the hon. charles sumner opposed it, because, he said, there was already enough of justice, liberty, and equality in the constitution to protect the humblest citizen under our flag. he had always taken the ground that the constitution was an anti-slavery document, hence to vote for an amendment was to contradict his former position. we opposed the amendments because, in the constitution as it was there were no distinctions of sex recognized, while the amendments declaring "manhood suffrage," established an aristocracy of sex. however, in due season, mr. sumner withdrew his opposition; and without changing his opinion, voted for the amendments because negro suffrage was a party measure, and the political necessity of the hour. we, having no party, no votes, no political right but to petition and discuss the measures up for consideration, saw no reason for changing our opinions, hence we used the best possible means to keep up the agitation until the amendments were passed, and beyond reconsideration. nevertheless, in the midst of this general hostility, the sound policy of the agitation carried on against the republican party and its measures was evident in the numerous bills some of its liberal members soon after presented in congress. in _the revolution_, december , , we find the following: now's the hour.--not the "negro's hour" alone, but everybody's hour. all honor to senator pomeroy! he has taken the first step to redeem the constitution from all odious distinctions on account of race or sex. he lost no time in presenting, at the opening of congressional proceedings, the following as an amendment to the federal constitution to regulate suffrage throughout the country: article . the basis of suffrage in the united states shall be that of citizenship; and all native or naturalized citizens shall enjoy the same rights and privileges of the elective franchise; but each state shall determine by law the age of a citizen and the time of residence required for the exercise of the right of suffrage which shall apply equally to all citizens; and also shall make all laws concerning the times, places, and manner of holding elections. laid on the table and ordered to be printed. now let the work of petitioning and agitating for this amendment be prosecuted with a vigor and energy unknown before. and let senator pomeroy be honored with receiving and presenting to the senate such a deluge of names as shall convince him that his noble step in the direction of a true democracy, is appreciated; and such too as shall be a rebuke to all half-way measures that would leave woman (white and colored) behind the colored male; and moreover, that shall convince congress and the whole government that we can be trifled with no longer on a subject so vital to the peace, prosperity, and perpetuity of our own people, and the establishment of free institutions among the nations of the earth. congress wide awake.--last week we gave good account of mr. julian, of indiana, on behalf of suffrage for woman. this week we can report similar progress in the senate also. the following is senator wilson's bill to amend an act entitled an act to regulate the elective franchise in the district of columbia: be it enacted, etc., that the word "male" in the first section of the act entitled "an act to regulate the elective franchise in the district of columbia, passed on the th day of january, ," be struck out, and that every word in said act applicable to persons of the male sex shall apply equally to persons of the female sex, so that hereafter women, who are inhabitants of the said district of columbia and citizens of the united states, may vote at all elections and be eligible to civil offices in said district on the same terms and conditions in all respects as men. mr. julian, in the house, on leave, introduced the following bill further to extend the right of suffrage in the district of columbia: be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled, that from and after the passage of this act the right of suffrage in the district of columbia shall be based upon citizenship; and all citizens of the united states, native and naturalized, resident in said district, who are twenty-one years of age, of sound mind, and who have not forfeited this right by crime, shall enjoy the same equally, irrespective of sex. sec. , and be it further enacted, that all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. mr. julian, on leave, introduced the following bill further to extend the right of suffrage in the territories of the united states: be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled, that from and after the passage of this act the right of suffrage in all the territories of the united states, now or hereafter to be organized, shall be based upon citizenship; and all citizens of the united states, native or naturalized, resident in said territories, who are twenty-one years of age, of sound mind, and who have not forfeited their right by crime, shall enjoy the same equally, irrespective of sex. sec. , and be it further enacted, that all acts or parts of acts, either by congress or the legislative assemblies of said territories, inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby declared null and void. woman suffrage in utah.--march , .--mr. julian introduced the following bill into congress to discourage polygamy in utah by granting the right of suffrage to the women of that territory: be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled, that from and after the passage of this act the right of suffrage in the territory of utah shall belong to, and may be exercised by, the people thereof, without any distinction or discrimination whatever founded on sex. the bill was read twice, referred to the committee on territories, and ordered to be printed. the new york _herald_ is no more than an average of the voice of the intelligent portion of the press in the following excerpts from its columns: senator wilson has introduced a bill so to amend the suffrage laws of the district of columbia as to give to women of all colors and races, as well as men, the right of suffrage. as congress has exclusive powers of legislation over the district of columbia in all cases whatsoever, here is a fair chance to try the two houses upon this very interesting question. there are a few out-spoken members of the senate in favor of woman suffrage, and first and foremost among them is "old ben wade," who goes for the whole programme of negroes' rights and women's rights. senator pomeroy, of kansas, has so far advanced in the cause of woman suffrage that he has proposed to make it a part of the supreme law of the land. but we like the idea of mr. wilson of first trying the experiment in the district of columbia. we remember the time when, in full view from the west front of the capitol, there was a regular slave pen which was also a market where negroes were bought and sold. the abolitionists first raised a hue and cry against that pen, and they kept it up to , when among the compromise measures of henry clay passed that year was a provision abolishing the slave trade in the district. some twelve years later, during the rebellion, the bolder and broader experiment was tried of abolishing slavery _in toto_ in said district. these measures over a reserved bit of territory over which congress possesses absolute authority were deemed judicious experiments and were demanded for the sake of consistency, in view of the legislation resolved upon in southern reconstruction. so now, in view of a constitutional amendment establishing not only manhood suffrage, but womanhood suffrage throughout the united states, mr. wilson doubtless thinks it wise first to try the experiment of woman suffrage in the aforesaid district, to see how it will work. as the district of columbia has not only survived but has flourished and continues to flourish under emancipation and negro suffrage, we can not imagine why there should be any hesitation in trying therein the experiment of woman suffrage. at all events let senator wilson push forward his bill, so that the country may know, so that general grant may know, and so that the women may know who in the senate in favor of negroes' rights will dare to oppose woman's rights. congress.--december , .--in the house, some discussion arose on a question involving the equality of woman to hold appointments in the government. it was on a bill providing for the taking of the census. a motion was made to amend an amendment by changing the word elector (voter) to resident. mr. lawrence, of ohio, said: i am opposed to the amendment of the gentleman from new york. the effect will be to exclude every female from any appointment, and although i suppose there will not be many female applicants for office under this bill, i see no reason why we should exclude them. (laughter.) i know no reason why a soldier's widow or any other female properly qualified might not receive an appointment to any office the duties of which she may be as capable of performing as those of our own sex. if reasons exist let them be given. i will inquire of the gallant gentleman from new york whether he wishes to exclude this portion of his constituents and mine from the privilege of holding office under this bill? (renewed laughter.) mr. wood: my amendment says elector, not electress, and until the ladies have the privilege of electors of the united states i propose to exclude them. mr. lawrence: i am opposed to that. merit and capacity to serve the people to the best advantage, after a proper consideration of claims, should be the test for office. mr. garfield, of ohio: the word "elector" in the amendment of the gentleman from new york (mr. wood) would exclude alaska altogether. there are no electors in alaska. i would suggest that he substitute the word "resident," which would avoid the difficulty to which i have referred. the question being put on mr. wood's amendment, mr. garfield, of ohio, moved to amend the proposed amendment by inserting the word "resident" instead of "elector." the question being put on mr. garfield's amendment to mr. wood's amendment, it was agreed to. the question being put on mr. wood's amendment, as amended, it was agreed to. so far, then, woman is not to be proscribed. as in the war women bravely assumed duties in many departments of labor unknown to them before, so in the reconstruction they gave more earnest thought to questions of public policy, and made many valuable suggestions. a well written speech on "reconstruction and universal suffrage," was delivered by mrs. m. c. walling, of texas, in the senate chamber of the capitol at washington, may th, ; the first and last time that a woman was ever granted the privilege of speaking there. to anna dickinson belongs the honor of suggesting a xv amendment. although the xiv amendment to the national constitution gave to that document for the first time a concise definition of a "citizen," and forbade any state to abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states, yet this amendment was found inadequate to protect the political rights of the colored men; and the republican party was anxiously casting about for a method of perfecting their work, when the puzzle was solved by a proposition for a xv amendment, which should prohibit disfranchisement on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. the suggestion for this amendment originated at the national loyalists' convention held at philadelphia, september, , in a consultation between anna dickinson, frederick douglass, and theodore tilton, and was in time accepted by the republican party. it was reported in congress feb. , , and received the necessary ratification march , . thus a woman and a colored man were two important factors in perfecting the work of reconstruction through a constitutional provision prohibiting disfranchisement on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. as when the xiv amendment was pending, the efforts of women were directed toward securing the omission of the invidious word "male," so on the submission of the xv amendment their efforts were again directed toward securing the enfranchisement of woman by the introduction of the word "sex" in the last line of section . but congress with the usual short-sightedness of injustice, refused to secure the political freedom of one half the entire people, even forgetting to enfranchise a portion of the colored race from their "previous condition of servitude" because of sex. the sound position taken by anna dickinson at this period is substantiated by frederick douglass, not only in his "life and times," but in the following letters: washington, d. c., jan. , . dear mrs. stanton:-- ... mrs. gage's version of the origin of the th amendment is in substance true. to dear anna e. dickinson and brave theodore tilton belongs the credit of forcing that amendment upon the attention of the nation at the right moment and in the right way to make it successful. i have given miss dickinson the credit you award her in my "life and times," and have made myself one of your earliest converts in the same. very truly yours, fred'k. douglass. washington, d. c., feb. , . my dear mrs. stanton:--referring, since reading your note, to what i have said of the national loyalist convention, held in philadelphia in , i find that i have done but very scant justice to anna e. dickinson and theodore tilton. their courage, skill and sagacity, were never displayed to greater advantage than on that occasion. i have, as you will see, mentioned the main facts, but i have given but a meagre view of the moral conditions surrounding it. bold and prompt action was needed, and the man and the woman were equal to the occasion. from the first miss dickinson, mr. tilton and myself felt that any reconstruction at the south leaving the freedmen without the ballot, would leave them in the absolute power of the old master-class. hence from the first we conferred together as to the manner of bringing the subject to the attention of the convention. we looked to the committee on resolutions to bring up the subject, but waited in vain. they had nothing for us but well rounded platitudes and glittering generalities about the union and the relation of the states to the national government all well enough in ordinary times, but totally inappropriate in respect of the real situation of the country at the moment. when it became known that mr. tilton and myself meant to bring forward the subject, we were besought not to do a thing so impolitic. we were implored not to load the republican party with this new burden. we were told of the advantage it would give the democratic party against us; how it would intensify and concentrate the prejudice already felt for the negro. it was evident that negro suffrage was the one great dread of the convention. the proposal to discuss it was deplored as a blunder which would cost us dearly. this apprehension was mainly confined to the delegates from the border states, and as they had the control of the convention, they managed to keep out the disturbing question of negro suffrage till the last day. seeing the evident purpose to this end, mr. tilton, after consulting with miss dickinson and myself, introduced the suffrage question. his action was received as a very large fire-brand, and caused a storm of tumult and confusion, in the midst of which the president, mr. speed, and other officers left their places on the platform, declaring the convention adjourned. at this critical juncture, with the tact and skill of a veteran, mr. tilton seized the helm, declared the convention not adjourned, and moved that honorable john minor botts take the chair. the border states delegates took their hats and heels out of the convention without standing upon the order of their going, while the men from the gulf states nobly stood their ground. the convention was still large. the going out of the border states unfettered the platform. anna e. dickinson came on the stand with all her wonted ability, and thrilled the audience by her eloquent plea for negro suffrage. hers was the speech, not of a brilliant declaimer, but the solid logic of a statesman. when she sat down i felt that the battle was more than half won. next after miss dickinson came theodore tilton. it was plain from the moment he took the stand that the situation suited him, and that we were to hear from him that day such words of wisdom, truth and soberness as only genius could supply. we were not disappointed. he was the full master of the subject and the occasion, i followed mr. tilton, and resolutions favoring what has since become the th amendment were passed with very little opposition. you will notice on page of my book, that i don't forget my walk with you from the house of mr. joseph southwick, where you quietly brought to my notice your arguments for womanhood suffrage. that is forty years ago. you had just returned from your european tour. from that conversation with you i have been convinced of the wisdom of woman suffrage, and have never denied the faith.... very truly yours, fred'k. douglass. when anna dickinson, frederick douglass, and theodore tilton pressed the question of negro suffrage on the loyalists' convention, they were met by the same arguments and appeals against it, that were urged upon those who pressed woman suffrage when the fourteenth amendment was pending. douglass knew that any reconstruction without political equality for the black man was a delusion; the women saw as clearly that any reconstruction without political equality for them was a delusion also, and their determination to have some recognition under government sprung from the same love of freedom and self-respect that moved douglass when, with equal determination, he walked in the procession, and took his seat as a delegate, as he had a right to do, though warned that he would stir up a mob, and be a firebrand in the convention. the description of this scene by mr. douglass himself is a suggestive study for all oppressed classes: i was residing in rochester at the time, and was duly elected as a delegate from that city to attend this convention. the honor was a surprise and a gratification to me. it was unprecedented for a city of over , white citizens, and only about colored residents, to elect a colored man to represent them in a national political convention, and the announcement of it gave a shock to the country of no inconsiderable violence. many republicans, with every feeling of respect for me personally, were unable to see the wisdom of such a course. they dreaded the clamor of social equality and amalgamation which would be raised against the party, in consequence of this startling innovation. they, dear fellows, found it much more agreeable to talk of the principles of liberty as glittering generalities, than to reduce those principles to practice. when the train on which i was going to the convention reached harrisburgh, it met and was attached to another from the west crowded with western and southern delegates on the way to the convention, and among them were several loyal governors, chief among whom was the governor of indiana, oliver p. morton, a man of websterian mould in all that appertained to mental power. when my presence became known to these gentlemen, a consultation was immediately held among them, upon the question as to what was best to do with me. it seems strange now, in view of all the progress which has been made, that such a question could arise. but the circumstances of the times made me the jonah of the republican ship, and responsible for the contrary winds and misbehaving weather. before we reached lancaster, on our eastward bound trip, i was duly waited upon by a committee of my brother delegates, which had been appointed by other honorable delegates, to represent to me the undesirableness of my attendance upon the national loyalists' convention. the spokesman of these sub-delegates was a gentleman from new orleans with a very french name, which has now escaped me, but which i wish i could recall, that i might credit him with a high degree of politeness and the gift of eloquence. he began by telling me that he knew my history and my works, and that he entertained a very high respect for me, that both himself and the gentlemen who sent him, as well as those who accompanied him, regarded me with admiration; that there was not among them the remotest objection to sitting in the convention with me, but their personal wishes in the matter they felt should be set aside for the sake of our common cause; that whether i should or should not go into the convention was purely a matter of expediency; that i must know that there was a very strong and bitter prejudice against my race in the north as well as at the south; and that the cry of social and political equality would not fail to be raised against the republican party if i should attend this loyal national convention. he insisted that it was a time for the sacrifice of my own personal feeling, for the good of the republican cause; that there were several districts in the state of indiana so evenly balanced that a very slight circumstance would be likely to turn the scale against us, and defeat our congressional candidates and thus leave congress without a two-thirds vote to control the headstrong and treacherous man then in the presidential chair. it was urged that this was a terrible responsibility for me or any other man to take. i listened very attentively to this address, uttering, no word during its delivery; but when it was finished, i said to the speaker and the committee, with all the emphasis i could throw into my voice and manner: "gentlemen, with all respect, you might as well ask me to put a loaded pistol to my head and blow my brains out, as to ask me to keep out of this convention, to which i have been duly elected. then, gentlemen, what would you gain by this exclusion? would not the charge of cowardice, certain to be brought against you, prove more damaging than that of amalgamation? would you not be branded all over the land as dastardly hypocrites, professing principles which you have no wish or intention of carrying out? as a mere matter of policy or expediency, you will be wise to let me in. everybody knows that i have been duly elected as a delegate by the city of rochester. the fact has been broadly announced and commented upon all over the country. if i am not admitted, the public will ask, 'where is douglass? why is he not seen in the convention?' and you would find that inquiry more difficult to answer than any charge brought against you for favoring political or social equality; but, ignoring the question of policy altogether, and looking at it as one of right and wrong, i am bound to go into that convention; not to do so, would contradict the principle and practice of my life." with this answer, the committee retired from the car in which i was seated, and did not again approach me on the subject; but i saw plainly enough then, as well as on the morning when the loyalist procession was to march through the streets of philadelphia, that while i was not to be formally excluded, i was to be ignored by the convention. i was the ugly and deformed child of the family, and to be kept out of sight as much as possible while there was company in the house. especially was it the purpose to offer me no inducement to be present in the ranks of the procession of its members and friends, which was to start from independence hall on the first morning of its meeting. in good season, however, i was present at this grand starting point. my reception there confirmed my impression as to the policy intended to be pursued toward me. few of the many i knew were prepared to give me a cordial recognition, and among these few i may mention gen. benj. f. butler, who, whatever others may say of him, has always shown a courage equal to his convictions. almost everybody else whom i met seemed to be ashamed or afraid of me. on the previous night i had been warned that i should not be allowed to walk through the city in the procession; fears had been expressed that my presence in it would so shock the prejudices of the people of philadelphia, as to cause the procession to be mobbed. the members of the convention were to walk two abreast, and as i was the only colored member of the convention, the question was, as to who of my brother members would consent to walk with me? the answer was not long in coming. there was one man present who was broad enough to take in the whole situation, and brave enough to meet the duty of the hour; one who was neither afraid nor ashamed to own me as a man and a brother; one man of the purest caucasian type, a poet and a scholar, brilliant as a writer, eloquent as a speaker, and holding a high and influential position--the editor of a weekly journal having the largest circulation of any weekly paper in the city or state of new york--and that man was mr. theodore tilton. he came to me in my isolation, seized me by the hand in a most brotherly way, and proposed to walk with me in the procession. i have been in many awkward and disagreeable positions in my life, when the presence of a friend would have been highly valued, but i think i never appreciated an act of courage and generous sentiment more highly than i did that of this brave young man, when we marched through the streets of philadelphia on this memorable day. well! what came of all these dark forebodings of timid men? how was my presence regarded by the populace? and what effect did it produce? i will tell you. the fears of the loyal governors who wished me excluded to propitiate the favor of the crowd, met with a signal reproof, their apprehensions were shown to be groundless, and they were compelled, as many of them confessed to me afterwards, to own themselves entirely mistaken. the people were more enlightened and had made more progress than their leaders had supposed. an act for which those leaders expected to be pelted with stones, only brought to them unmeasured applause. along the whole line of march my presence was cheered repeatedly and enthusiastically. i was myself utterly surprised by the heartiness and unanimity of the popular approval. we were marching through a city remarkable for the depth and bitterness of its hatred of the abolition movement; a city whose populace had mobbed anti-slavery meetings, burned temperance halls and churches owned by colored people, and burned down pennsylvania hall because it had opened its doors to people of different colors upon terms of equality. but now the children of those who had committed these outrages and follies, were applauding the very principles which their fathers had condemned. after the demonstrations of this first day, i found myself a welcome member of the convention, and cordial greeting took the place of cold aversion. the victory was short, signal, and complete. this experience shows how little knowledge politicians have of what lies in the hearts of the people; that even statesmen seldom appreciate the many steps in progressive thought already achieved, before there is any popular demonstration. it shows, too, the commanding influence of personal dignity and lofty self-respect, incapable of being either flattered or coerced to take any position among men but one of absolute equality. and this was exactly the position taken by those women who opposed the fourteenth amendment. the loyalists' convention was held at a most critical period in the nation's life; the policy and action of all the southern states centered in its deliberations. though mr. douglass would not hold the rightful representation of his race in abeyance to the success of the convention, the pacification of the south, the policy of the border states, nor the life of the nation, yet he too criticised the women who took precisely the same position in maintaining the dignity of sex against the action of the republican party and the whole northern policy of reconstruction. what to either class was the nation's life, so long as the flag gave them no protection against the humiliating distinctions of caste? what to them were boasted republican institutions, so long as their rights, privileges, and immunities as citizens were denied? white men could only be taught the lesson of a common humanity by just such resistance as these oppressed classes made. protests and petitions, falling like seeds here and there on good ground, at last moved some liberal republicans to action, and several bills recognizing the political existence of women were duly presented. the best results of the war have been the struggle and determination of black men and women for recognition in the reconstruction, for they have compelled the nation's consideration of the vital principles of republican government, and secured for both classes many rights and privileges heretofore unknown. the congressional action throughout this session proves that if all the friends of woman suffrage had been steadfast to their principles, and made a simultaneous effort against any further extension of "manhood suffrage" until woman too was recognized, the measure might have been carried; at least the agitation could have been prolonged and intensified in the halls of legislation fourfold. but in the general confusion as to what might or might not be sound policy, the most liberal took each onward step with doubt and hesitation. however, the persistent hostility to the amendments kept up the agitation in congress, which at last culminated in a proposition for a sixteenth amendment, for which the national woman suffrage association has, with one short interval, ever since petitioned. the sixteenth amendment.--march , , will be held memorable in all coming time as the day when the hon. george w. julian submitted a "joint resolution" to congress to enfranchise the women of the republic by proposing a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution, which reads as follows: art. . the right of suffrage in the united states shall be based on citizenship, and shall be regulated by congress; and all citizens of the united states, whether native or naturalized, shall enjoy this right equally without any distinction or discrimination whatever founded on sex. since our famous bill of rights was given to the world declaring all men equal, there has been no other proposition, in its magnitude, beneficence, and far-reaching consequences, so momentous as this. the specific work now before us, is to press the importance of this amendment on the consideration of the people, and to urge congress to its speedy adoption. suffrage associations should be formed at once and newspapers established in every state to press woman's enfranchisement, and petitions should be circulated in every school district from maine to california, praying the adoption of the sixteenth amendment, that when the forty-second congress assembles it may understand the work before it.--_the revolution_, april , . petitions for a sixteenth amendment were immediately printed and sent throughout the nation, and have been steadily rolling into congress for the last thirteen years from all the state and national woman suffrage associations. the fortieth congress was the first in which an amendment to the national constitution in the interests of woman was ever proposed. in a series of editorials in _the revolution_ there was a decided expression of hostility towards the fifteenth amendment during all the time it was pending in congress. in the issue of october , , mrs. stanton said: all wise women should oppose the fifteenth amendment for two reasons. st. because it is invidious to their sex. look at it from what point you will, and in every aspect, it reflects the old idea of woman's inferiority, her subject condition. and yet the one need to secure an onward step in civilization is a new dignity and self-respect in women themselves. no one can think that the pending proposition of "manhood suffrage" exalts woman, either in her own eyes or those of the man by her side, but it does degrade her practically and theoretically, just as black men were more degraded when all other men were enfranchised. d. we should oppose the measure, because men have no right to pass it without our consent. when it is proposed to change the constitution or fundamental law of the state or nation, all the people have a right to say what that change shall be. if women understood this pending proposition in all its bearings, theoretically and practically, there would be an overwhelming vote against the admission of another man to the ruling power of this nation, until they themselves were first enfranchised. there is no true patriotism, no true nobility in tamely and silently submitting to this insult. it is mere sycophancy to man; it is licking the hand that forges a new chain for our degradation; it is indorsing the old idea that woman's divinely ordained position is at man's feet, and not on an even platform by his side. by this edict of the liberal party, the women of this republic are now to touch the lowest depths of their political degradation. june , . the fifteenth amendment.--it is not to be believed that the nation which is now engaged in admitting the newly liberated negro to the plenitude of all political franchise, will much longer retain woman in a state of _helotage_, which is more degrading than ever, because being no longer shared by any of the male sex, it constitutes every woman the inferior of every man.--john stuart mill. it is this thought, so clearly seen and concisely stated by this distinguished english philosopher and statesman, that i have endeavored to press on the hearts of american reformers for the last four years. i have seen and felt, with a vividness and intensity that no words could express, the far-reaching consequences of this degradation of one-half the citizens of the republic, on the government, the saxon race, and woman herself, in all her political, religious, and social relations. it is sufficiently humiliating to a proud woman to be reminded ever and anon in the polite world that she's a political nonentity; to have the fact gracefully mourned over, or wittily laughed at, in classic words and cultured voice by one's superiors in knowledge, wisdom and power; but to hear the rights of woman scorned in foreign tongue and native gibberish by everything in manhood's form, is enough to fire the souls of those who think and feel, and rouse the most lethargic into action. if, with weak and vacillating words and stammering tongue, our bravest men to-day say freedom to woman, what can we hope when the millions educated in despotism, ignorant of the philosophy of true government, religion and social life, shall be our judges and rulers? as you go down in the scale of manhood, the idea strengthens at every step, that woman was created for no higher purpose than to gratify the lust of man. every daily paper heralds some rape on flying, hunted girls; and the pitying eyes of angels see the holocaust of womanhood no journal ever notes. in thought i trace the slender threads that link these hideous, overt acts to creeds and codes that make an aristocracy of sex. when a mighty nation, with a scratch of the pen, frames the base ideas of the lower orders into constitutions and statute laws, and declares every serf, peasant and slave the rightful sovereigns of all womankind, they not only degrade every woman in her own eyes, but in that of every man on the footstool. a cultivated lady in baltimore writes us a description of a colored republican reunion, held in that city a few evenings since, in which a colored gentleman offered the following toast: "our wives and daughters--may the women of our race never unsex themselves by becoming strong-minded." e. c. s. march , . drawing the lines.--if the fifteenth article of constitutional amendments ever gets ratified and becomes the rule of suffrage, it will have at least one good effect. woman will then know with what power she has to contend. it will be male versus female, the land over. all manhood will vote not because of intelligence, patriotism, property, or white skin, but because it is male, not female. all womanhood will be newly outraged and debased, not for ignorance, disloyalty, poverty, or a black skin, but because it is female, not male. julia ward howe, of boston, has some good thoughts in the _galaxy_ for march on this subject, in part as below: "the irish or german savage, after three years' cleansing, is admitted to the general enrollment of the community. the colored man, cleaner at the start than these, the natural ally of republican principles, trained to an understanding of freedom by a long experience of its opposite, stands next upon the record. voting to him is a military necessity. it is the only weapon with which he can meet those whom law, custom, and prejudice have hitherto trebly armed against him. this admitted right of elective franchise to all men, brings one scarcely anticipated condition. it arrays now the whole male and female sexes in a new and unforeseen condition. the right of the elective franchise is now the recognition of the inalienable right of all men to the proper administration of their interests, and in america this right is founded upon the right of human intelligence to its own exercise, the right of human labor to its own recompense. the generous culture which allows woman in this country so large an extension of thought, and the social necessities which place in her hands so many of the nicer tasks hitherto kept for those of the other sex, alike commission her to claim and make good her right to the most simple, general and explicit method of expressing her will in the arena where wills are counted and respected." end of the suffrage agitation.--"the adoption of the fifteenth amendment will put an end to further agitation of the subject, for a long time at least, and thus leave the government of the country free to deal with its material interests, and with the more pressing questions of public policy and administration which will arise from time to time. we do not concur with those who predict that the question of suffrage for women will speedily demand public action or engross public attention, or that the right of men to hold office without distinction of color or race, will absorb any great degree of public time or public thought for a long while to come. until some decided practical advantage is to be gained by a dominant political party, neither of these questions will be pressed to a decision; and both of them have, in our judgment, commanded more attention already than they will soon command again. with the adoption of the fifteenth amendment, we may fairly look upon the suffrage agitation as at an end, for the present political generation at all events; and that consideration, of itself, affords a very powerful argument in favor of its adoption." such is the conclusion of the new york _times_. it is, too, the belief, hope, and intention of a large number of party leaders, both republican and democrat. but such reckon without their host. they seem to have no idea with whom they have to deal. woman may not achieve her rights next year; may not vote for president in . but if president grant means by "let us have peace," an end to the struggle for woman suffrage, he must pray to some other than the god of heaven, or the politicians of his party and country; for the latter can't stop the agitation, and the former won't. so president pierce actually proclaimed peace with slavery at his inauguration; but john brown was already whetting his sword, and the almighty was forging his thunderbolts for that vessel of wrath, long fitted for destruction, and the day of peace is not even yet. p. p. providence, june , . paulina wright davis on the fifteenth amendment.--my dear mrs. stanton: nothing but the great crisis pending in our movement would have drawn me from my retirement again into public strife and turmoil, but i feel it a duty to enter my protest with yours against the fifteenth amendment. last winter, in boston, i could only give my vote against it, for no sixteenth had been proposed. it seemed almost a childish, selfish thing to do, when all the eloquence of a boston platform was arrayed on the other side, and other women rose and said they were ready to step aside and let the colored man have his rights first. not one said we will step aside and let the negro woman (whom i affirm, as i ever have, is better fitted for self-government than the negro man) have her rights before we press our claim, i could not but think it an easy thing for them to do, never having had the right they demanded. but if they truly believe that it will do for humanity what is claimed for it, i do not see why it should be called magnanimous for a woman to say, i yield to man just what he has always asserted as his, the right to rule. you have taken a bold stand, and i thank god for it. though still in the minority, there is hope; for with a radical truth one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight; and ere very long, before another convention, i trust many more will see with us that the fifteenth amendment, without the sixteenth, is a compromise worse by far for the nation than any other ever passed. they could be repealed, this can not. once settled, the waves of corruption will swamp our little bark freighted with all humanity, the women of all shades of color, and subject to every variety of tyranny and oppression, from the cramped feet of the chinese to the cramped brains and waists of our own higher order of civilization. it seems specially strange to those of us who so well remember the motto of the old abolitionists, "immediate and unconditional emancipation," now to hear a half measure advocated. it was that stern principle of justice which attracted and held me in the old organization when those dearest to me went into the liberty party. i had been trained in that school which taught children that they must do right for right's sake, without hope of reward or fear of punishment, leaving the consequences with the all wise ruler of events. among the early abolitionists this uncompromising spirit was manifest, and to me it was the real gospel. i remember well the strong opposition to some who advocated the election of john c. fremont, in , among whom was frederick douglass. he was then denounced as a compromiser asking for a half loaf. he still asks for the half loaf; but others who stood firmly then for the whole have now come down to his plane, and desire above all things to finish up the anti-slavery work and have the negro man out of the way, and so give the sixteenth amendment the go-by, claiming manhood suffrage because it is the order of nature that man, however ignorant, debased and brutal he may be, shall always be first, because he always has been, yielding the whole argument to physical force, leaving the negro woman wholly out of the question, giving her over to the tyranny of the husband, which is nearly, if not quite, equal to that of the master. the anti-slavery platform still carefully guards itself against the woman question, while on the suffrage platform the fifteenth amendment is considered essential. miss couzins was the only one who put the two amendments fairly before the convention in boston. after presenting the issues of the two amendments she trenched lightly on another topic still more offensive. she plead for the outcast woman in a most womanly way, but it did not prove to be a popular theme; but i think she is too true, pure, and noble not to do the same again and again. last evening miss peckham, mrs. churchill, and miss couzins presented the suffrage question to a select audience in providence. each in her own way and from her own stand-point spoke well. i have not time to give you as elaborate a notice as i should like to of each, but will do so after the convention which the state association propose holding next week, on monday, the th, in westerly, r. i. if you have helps to send us we shall welcome them cordially. yours ever truly, p. w. davis. july , . fifteenth amendment--its ludicrous side.--almost every question has its ludicrous side. the champions of the fifteenth amendment to the constitution present an illustration. conceding woman's equal right to the ballot with man, they still resist her claims on the ground that this is not her hour, but man's hour. "the black man's hour." as though justice and right were determined by clocks and almanacs. and as though some sort of terrible crisis could not be urged always. admitting even that in fitness for the franchise, the white women, especially of the north, are eminently superior to the average of southern men, of any color, they still demand that woman's claim be postponed to their favorite fifteenth amendment, which presumes every man in the nation of whatever color, grade, or race, the superior of woman, however exalted by culture, by wealth, by refinement, by patriotism, or whatever virtues, gifts, or graces. an amendment, it is called, while preparing the way to lift into lordship absolute, every man, however mean and vile, over every woman, however divine her character! and then these "amenders" presume to charge with "selfishness," "ignorance," "conservatism," and nobody knows what else, those who are laboring night and day, in season, out of season, and at all seasons, under a banner on which was inscribed at the formation of their association, "equal rights to all citizens; especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color or sex." without pretending that the association, or any of its members, has violated, in letter or in spirit, a word of this constitutional pledge, leading abolitionists are charging "injustice," "insincerity," and "treachery to the cause of liberty," on actors in the equal rights association, besides ignorance, selfishness, and conservatism, because they will not turn aside from their holy purpose to promote a measure that basely, grossly insults one-half, and that the best half of the human race. were the subject not too serious for mirth, such accusations, coming from such a source, would be simply ludicrous. as it is, many will laugh at such absurdity. the fifteenth amendment, at best, is but a trick, a device (as was the fourteenth with its word _male_ three times burned into a single period), of as corrupt and unprincipled a school of politicians as ever disgraced the name of legislation, to save themselves and their party in place and power. it is told us in all seriousness, that the word _male_ is not in the fifteenth amendment, as though that atoned for its infamy, and rendered it worthy of woman's support. why should the word _male_ be in it? three times solemnly muttered in the fourteenth, it needed no repetition in the fifteenth. another ludicrous view of this subject, is the zeal with which so many women are laboring to hoist all mandom into power over them. power as omnipotent as ignorance, prejudice, and love of domination can possibly create. a little reflection, one would think, might show and satisfy the blindest that the opposition they encounter already is quite sufficient, without augmenting it a thousand fold, and anchoring it fast in the constitution of the country. true, they are assured by radical republicans that as soon as the negro man is secured, the colored woman and the white woman also shall be equally distinguished. had this age an �sop, he would tell again his story of the goat and the fox at the bottom of the well. how to get out, of course, was the question. after long and anxious thought, a happy expedient struck the fox. "do you, friend goat, rear yourself up against the wall, as near the top as possible, and from the tip of your horns i can spring out, and then it will be quite easy to pull you up by the horns also." no quicker spoken than done. out leaped the fox, and was safe. then the goat demanded his release, as promised. "you old fool!" answered reynard! "had you half as much brain as beard, you would know that i would never risk my life to save yours," and away he ran. the whole history of american politics is assurance, but pre-eminently so is the history of present parties, that a party victory would scarcely be risked to save all womankind from consuming fire. a very few such elections as the late one in virginia, would subdue immensely the present republican ardor on the colored man's rights. but most ludicrous of all is it to hear old anti-slavery leaders and teachers referring to the past for defense of their present hostility, and challenging us to re-read that history and be ashamed of our present course. but when in the past did wendell phillips ever teach that a half loaf is better than no bread, if poisoned, or if it were snatched or stolen from a family of starving orphans? it was not in , nor ' , nor ' , that he held or inculcated such a philosophy. the motto of the anti-slavery _standard_ was and is "without concealment--without compromise." now under that sublime evangel women are instructed to bridge over the gulf to colored male enfranchisement with their own imperiled, nay, sacrificed equal rights. better now the "half loaf," festering, putrid with the poison of compromise, than no bread! better that the black man have his half loaf, though he steal it from his mother and sisters, more hungry, starving, and dying, than himself! oh, no! it was never so in the past. terrible to conservatism as to slavery itself, was the mighty war-cry of the abolitionists for twenty years. "no union with slaveholders!" no compromise with injustice for an election, or for an hour, not even for a good ultimate purpose! colonization proposed a double purpose, the final extinction of slavery, and a meanwhile redemption of africa from the midnight gloom and horror of heathenism. "get thee behind me, satan," was the thundering response and just rebuke of it by the abolitionists! "let us compromise with the south, and buy up their slaves," said elihu burritt and his overgrown mushroom convention, at cleveland. "our curse on your slave trade, foreign and domestic," was the answering response of the garrisonian invincibles. many of the oldest leaders and officers of the society refused even to help an escaped slave-mother buy her children of her old master. "let us form a republican party," said foxy politicians, and fight the extension of slavery into kansas, or any other new territory with ballot, bullet, and battle-axe, if need be, but leaving the damnable system in the states with its , , of victims and their posterity still chained under constitutional guarantee and the army and navy of the nation. "no union with slaveholders," rung out the lips and lungs of the abolitionists, in tones that shook the land from maine to mexico! "fremont and jessie" harnessed by constitutional compromise to the juggernaut car of slavery, were not to be preferred by them to beelzebub buchanan himself. "no union with slave-holders," though gabriel were candidate and chief captain of their hosts! now what do we behold? wendell phillips has shivered the english language all to pieces in attempts to describe the baseness and utter worthlessness of the republican party. the president has sold "the poisonous porridge called his soul," to virginia rebels and new york and pennsylvania aristocrats and bondholders, and yet mr. phillips persists in demanding that woman lay her own right of suffrage at the presidential and republican party feet, while they so mould and manipulate the black male element, as by it, if possible, to save themselves from utter rout and destruction. thanks be to god, some of us learned the old anti-slavery lesson from wendell phillips better. and we dare take our appeal from the wendell phillips of to-day, to him of twenty years ago. and we do "dare to look our past history in the face." and moreover, we look with triumph, and with hearts swelling with fervent gratitude that our anti-slavery teachers schooled us so well. what is it but ludicrous (if mirth be possible on such a question) for those who are thus seeking the enfranchisement of but half of even the fragmentary colored race, to charge with selfishness, compromise, and treachery, the association, or any of its members, that are earnestly laboring to extend the ballot to every american citizen, irrespective of all distinctions of race, complexion or sex? can such accusers look each other in the face and not laugh? cato wondered that two augurs could meet with gravity. what would he do here? and still more preposterous, if not ludicrous, is it, when woman voluntarily stops and becomes the agent of her own degradation, and with her own hands builds barriers against her own advancement; piling up opposition, pelion upon ossa, when the majority against her, even in new york and new england, is already appalling? and then for us to be referred to the teachings and experiences of the past for lessons in compromise, cold, calculating compromise, such as abolitionists ever blasted with the breath of their nostrils, and scourged from their presence with fiery indignation! the equal rights association is not to be turned aside by any seductive devices from its high and holy purpose of enfranchisement for all american citizens, knowing no race, no color, no sex. p. p. oct. , . dear revolution:--pardon a few plain words from an earnest friend of human suffrage. your course opposing the fifteenth amendment and political (combined with moral) temperance action, seems to me absolutely suicidal, and must and will logically leave you to the tender mercies of negro-drivers or haters and rumsellers and their sympathizers. how much human suffrage can hope for at their hands, judge ye! j. k. phoenix. p. s.--to say i am utterly astonished and grieved at _the revolution_ therein but feebly expresses my feelings. but we shall see what you will effect by it. _the revolution_ criticises, "opposes," the fifteenth amendment, not for what it is, but for what it is not. not because it enfranchises black men, but because it does not enfranchise all women, black and white. it is not the little good it proposes, but the greater evil it perpetuates that we deprecate. it is not that in the abstract we do not rejoice that black men are to become the equals of white men, but that we deplore the fact that two millions black women, hitherto the political and social equals of the men by their side, are to become subjects, slaves of these men. our protest is not that all men are lifted out of the degradation of disfranchisement, but that all women are left in. _the revolution_ and the national woman's suffrage association make woman's suffrage their test of loyalty, not negro suffrage, not maine law or prohibition. do you believe women should vote? is the one and only question in our catechism. in this period of reconstruction the woman suffrage associations sent their first delegates to national political conventions. the appointment of susan b. anthony to the democratic presidential convention was a new and unlooked-for sensation. _the revolution_, new york, july , . susan b. anthony in tammany hall.--our readers will remember, some time ago, it was announced in all the daily journals that susan b. anthony was appointed a delegate to the democratic convention, to represent the woman's suffrage movement in this country. she accordingly applied by letter for a hearing in the convention. her letter was presented to the convention by the president, ex-governor horatio seymour, read by the clerk in a loud, clear voice, received a most respectful and enthusiastic hearing, and was referred to the committee on resolutions. as our readers would, no doubt, like to know what radical doctrines the democratic party are now sufficiently developed to applaud, we give the letter below. let no one say that our devotion to the education of this party for the last four years has been in vain: woman's suffrage association, park row,} room , new york, july , . } elizabeth cady stanton, mrs. horace greeley,} _central com._ susan b. anthony, abby hopper gibbons, } _to the president and members of the national democratic convention_: gentlemen:--i address you by letter to ask the privilege of appearing before you during the sittings of this convention, to demand the enfranchisement of the women of america, the only class of citizens wholly unrepresented in the government, the only class (not guilty of crime) taxed without representation, tried without a jury of their peers, governed without their consent. and yet in this class are found many of your most noble, virtuous, law-abiding citizens, who possess all the requisite qualifications of voters. women have property and education. we are not "idiots, lunatics, paupers, criminals, rebels," nor do we "bet on elections." we lack, according to your constitutions, but one qualification--that of sex--which is insurmountable, and, therefore, equivalent to a deprivation of the suffrage; in other words, the "tyranny of taxation without representation." we desire to lay before you this violation of the great fundamental principle of our government for your serious consideration, knowing that minorities can be moved by principles as majorities are only by votes. hence we look to you for the initiative step in the redress of our grievances. the party in power have not only failed to heed our innumerable petitions, asking the right of suffrage, poured into congress and state legislatures, but they have submitted a proposition to the several states to insert the word "male" in the federal constitution, where it has never been, and thereby put up a new barrier against the enfranchisement of woman. this fresh insult to the women of the republic, who so bravely shared the dangers and sacrifices of the late war, has roused us to more earnest and persistent efforts to secure those rights, privileges, and immunities that belong to every citizen under government. as you hold the constitution of the fathers to be a sacred legacy to us and our children forever, we ask you to save it from this desecration, which deprives one-half our citizens of the right of representation in the government. over this base proposition the nation has stood silent and indifferent. while the dominant party has with one hand lifted up two million black men and crowned them with the honor and dignity of citizenship, with the other it has dethroned fifteen million white women--their own mothers and sisters, their own wives and daughters--and cast them under the heel of the lowest orders of manhood. we appeal to you, not only because you, being in a minority, are in a position to consider principles, but because you have been the party heretofore to extend the suffrage. it was the democratic party that fought most valiantly for the removal of the "property qualification" from all white men, and thereby placed the poorest ditch-digger on a political level with the proudest millionaire. this one act of justice to workingmen has perpetuated your power, with but few interruptions, from that time until the war. and now you have an opportunity to confer a similar boon on the women of the country, and thus possess yourselves of a new talisman that will insure and perpetuate your political power for decades to come. while the first and highest motive we would urge on you, is the recognition in all your action of the great principles of justice and equality that are the foundation of a republican government, it is not unworthy to remind you that the party that takes this onward step will reap its just reward. it needs but little observation to see that the tide of progress in all countries is setting toward the enfranchisement of woman, and that this advance step in civilization is destined to be taken in our day. we conjure you, then, to turn from the dead questions of the past to the vital issues of the hour. the brute form of slavery ended with the war. the black man is a soldier and a citizen. he holds the bullet and the ballot in his own right hand. consider his case settled. those weapons of defense and self-protection can never be wrenched from him. yours the responsibility now to see that no new chains be forged by bondholders and monopolists for enslaving the labor of the country. the late war, seemingly in the interest of slavery, was fought by unseen hands for the larger liberties of the whole people. it was not a war between north and south, for the principle of class and caste knows neither latitude or longitude. it was a war of ideas--of aristocracy and democracy--of capital and labor--the same that has convulsed the race through the ages, and will continue to convulse future generations, until justice and equality shall reign upon the earth. i desire, therefore, an opportunity to urge on this convention the wisdom of basing its platform on universal suffrage as well as universal amnesty, from maine to california, and thus take the first step toward a peaceful and permanent reconstruction. in behalf of the woman's suffrage association, respectfully yours, susan b. anthony. the comments of the daily city press[ ] on this "innovation" were as varied as amusing. during the reading of this document, several members of the equal rights association occupied conspicuous seats in the convention. this was the first time in the history of that party that any effort had been made to secure the attendance of their mothers, wives, and daughters. but observing that women had been an element of enthusiasm in republican meetings all through the war and the period of reconstruction, and seeing the improved tone and manner their presence had given to the speeches, and the general conduct of the proceedings, it was thought best to secure the same influence henceforth in democratic conventions. the attempt at this time was quite satisfactory and successful. a large number of handsomely-dressed ladies helped to swell the immense audience that assembled in tammany hall, one of the most spacious and elegant auditoriums in the city, to be dedicated on that day, july th, , to democratic principles. as there were strong hopes that that party was about to take some new departure; some onward step; even to nominate for their leader so radical a man as salmon p. chase, a large number of radicals and liberals were present. had the democrats made that nomination, and put a woman suffrage plank in their platform, they would probably have carried the election. but they timidly clung to their old moorings, nominated a man who had an unpopular war record, and submitted a platform without one vital principle with which to rouse the enthusiasm of the people. thus was the movement inaugurated of sending women as delegates to both republican and democratic presidential conventions, giving rise to the agitation of the suffrage question on new platforms. with what success the example has been followed, the records from time to time fully show. footnotes: [ ] going over to the copperheads.--as we have received several letters from radical friends, warning us that we are going over to the copperheads, for their comfort and instruction we will state some part of our political creed. . we believe that suffrage is a natural right that belongs to every man and woman of sound mind, without any qualification of property, education, or sex, and moreover, that no reconstruction is worthy the name that does not secure this right to the humblest citizen under government. . we believe that both the spirit and the letter of the federal constitution and the declaration of independence give congress the right to secure a republican form of government in every state in the union, and if they had done their duty at the end of the war and proclaimed universal suffrage and universal amnesty, north and south, the republican party would not have been floundering about in the fogs and mists of statesmanship to-day, without one inspiring party cry, or one grand motto inscribed upon their banners, to carry them through the coming presidential campaign. . we believe that behind the rights of the federal government and the rights of the several states are fundamental rights more sacred than either, namely the rights of the individual to life, liberty, and happiness; that out of these rights all just governments flow, and whatever hinders the growth of the individual, restricts his liberty, and destroys his happiness, is tyranny, and it is his sacred duty to resist it to the death, as it is that of the state to resist the federal government, in order to secure larger liberty for its whole people. rebellion in defense of justice, mercy, and the higher law is always in order. inasmuch as the rights of the individual are above all constitutions, customs, creeds, and codes, it is the duty of the general government to protect these rights against all intermediate authorities. . while we have always demanded emancipation and enfranchisement for the african race, we have no great enthusiasm for "negro suffrage" as a party cry, because it is too narrow and partial for the hour. in ' , republicans asked aid and comfort of abolitionists, because they were opposed to the extension of slavery, but the abolitionists, who demanded "immediate emancipation," scouted the proposition; non-extension, said they, is by no means grappling with the principle; shutting up slavery where it is, is a step in the right direction, and will eventually strangle the whole system, but to educate the people into an idea we need the enthusiasm of a principle. when we say "slavery is a sin," and therefore demand "immediate emancipation," we end the evil and its extension in the same breath. so we say, to-day, to the abolitionists and republicans, we can not accept your platform, because it is not based on the idea that suffrage is a natural right, we admit that "negro suffrage" is a step in the right direction, but to educate the people to this partial demand even, we need the enthusiasm of a principle, which you do not proclaim, so long as you ask simply the extension of suffrage to two million men, instead of its universal application to every citizen of the republic. as the greater includes the less, when we say universal enfranchisement, we claim all that the most radical abolitionists and republicans claim and much more. now, if the copperheads are educated up to this point, we are happy to give them the right hand of fellowship, and shall hope to be one of the delegates to the tammany hall convention. we have read their platform, as set forth in four mortal columns of the _world_, and really do not see much to choose between it and the chicago platform. in fact, with the two democratic candidates, gen. grant and chief-justice chase, and their twin platforms, stump orators will have a hard task to prove why the people should prefer one candidate or party to the other. the aristocratic principle--the government of the many by the few--has been tried six thousand years in every latitude and longitude, and under every imaginable form, and the nations based on this principle have all alike perished. we have proclaimed the true democratic idea on this continent, but never lived it. now the work of this generation is to realize what the fathers declared a government of equality. the ballot is the symbol of this idea, and it is not too much to demand to-day that it be placed in the hand of every citizen. it is not too much to ask that this idea, baptized in the blood of two revolutions, be now made the corner-stone of the republic, the test of loyalty to the union, to justice, to humanity.--e. c. s. _the revolution_, june , . [ ] lucretia mott, martha c. wright, robert purvis, olympia brown, josephine griffing, parker pillsbury, paulina wright davis, matilda joslyn gage, susan b. anthony, elizabeth cady stanton, ernestine l. rose, clarina howard nichols. [ ] (_new york herald_, july , ): the women's rights women and the democratic convention.--the central committee of the woman's suffrage association has prepared a woman's rights platform for the coming national democratic convention. this association was given the cold shoulder and completely ignored by the radicals at chicago, and the democrats have therefore a splendid opportunity to take wind out of the republican sails on "womanhood suffrage" against "manhood suffrage," and for white women especially, as better qualified for an intelligent exercise of the suffrage than the thousands of black men just rescued from the ignorance of negro slavery. the democratic convention can turn the radical party out of doors upon this issue alone if only bold enough to take strong ground upon it in favor of at least the same political rights to white women that congress has given to southern niggers. (_world_, july , ): the woman's suffrage central committee have spoken with a kindness which will be appreciated at its proper value; they propose to anticipate and obviate the labors of the national democratic convention by preparing a platform for the party in advance. to this platform we elsewhere give the benefit of our circulation. the document will not be amenable to censure for any lack of explicitness or novelty, and will doubtless receive all the attention to which its intrinsic merits entitle it, and which its exceptional comprehensiveness will challenge. _place aux dames!_ (_evening telegram_, july , ): the woman's platform.--the woman's suffrage association present to the tammany hall fourth of july democratic national convention a platform of principles which contains some good sound planks and proves at all events that an educated white woman is more fit to be intrusted with the ballot than is the brutalized and ignorant negro who has been invested with political power by the radicals of congress. the platform is the work of elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony, and the red men of the wigwam and their associates might do worse than indorse and adopt it entire. besides, this declaration of principles on the part of the strong-minded females opens up a new feature in the campaign and may get rid of a serious difficulty. why should not the democratic convention take the cow by the horns, nominate elizabeth cady stanton or susan b. anthony as their candidate for the vice-presidency, and thus strike out at once in a bold revolutionary policy that would entirely overshadow the radicals and their niggers' rights and sweep the country from maine to california? we invite the attention of belmont and the national committee to the suggestion. chase and stanton would be a wonderfully strong ticket and a remarkable association of names, and so, for that matter, would be chase and anthony. besides, it might really bring about a great reform in the character of the senate to be presided over by a female. there would be fewer disgraceful scenes in that body, and even chandler, nye, and poor maudlin yates would feel the influence of woman's presence, and learn to behave themselves decently. (_sun_, july , ): _the revolution_ for this week is full of suggestive and entertaining, if not instructive, reading matter. whether or not women ought to vote, it is very clear that those of the sex who are associated under the leadership of mrs. stanton and miss anthony can write in the most saucy and piquant fashion, and, moreover, know how to disarm by their wit and good humor the most ill-natured of their adversaries. (_tribune_, july , ): woman suffrage.--it is said that strong ground will be taken against the admission of miss susan b. anthony as a delegate at large to represent the interests of american women in the convention; but as that lady's ticket is already "impeticosed," and as she has a will of her own, and a number of brawny friends who will not see her deprived of her rights as a publisher, a woman, and an american citizen, it may be inferred that miss anthony will take a seat in due form, and will make herself heard when her turn comes. (_world_, july , ): the ladies of the spirited woman's rights weekly, called _the revolution_, with miss susan b. anthony at their head, are setting their caps for the democratic party. availing themselves of the privilege conferred on their charming sex by leap-year, they are making the first advances if not a downright "proposal." miss anthony greets the national convention by hanging out a fresh new sign in flaming red, brighter than the blushes of aurora, and all the way up three flights of stairs to her office, visitors will encounter red signs to the right of them, red signs to the left of them, like the cannon at balaklava. a conservative stranger needs all the courage of the immortal light brigade to run the gauntlet of the blazing word "_revolution_" staring at him on so many sides. miss anthony has taken uncommon pains to make her paper this week captivating and irresistible, as will be seen by the advertisement she has inserted in this morning's _world_ for the benefit of members of the convention. but if she were a confiding miss of "sweet sixteen," instead of the "strong-minded woman" that she is, and the blushes of all those brilliant signs were transfused into her own lovely cheeks, we suspect (such is the infirmity or the perversity of "those odious men") that she would make more conquests than she can reasonably expect to do with the intellectual blaze and brilliancy of this week's _revolution_--splendid new signs and all. we fear the time is rather distant when gallant young democrats will not surrender to soft eyes and modest feminine ways sooner than to a good piece of argumentation in a female mouth. miss anthony will be the author of a "revolution" indeed, if she succeeds in persuading the well-dressed beaux to prefer wives to whom they would go to school. the members of the convention are more mature, though we doubt if they are much more sensible. but miss anthony is not of a temper to be discouraged by small obstacles, and we applaud the spirit with which she attempts to "make hay while the sun shines." (_evening express_, july , ): "the revolution" and "the woman."--the women--naturally enough malcontent when the inferior race of negroes is given the ballot; when coolies are promised the ballot, and even indians can not be refused equal and universal suffrage as "men and brethren"--insist now, more and more, upon women being taken into the radical party. the democracy acknowledge their right to equality with negroes and coolies and comanches--not much of an acknowledgment, by the way, but something in the way of progress, and far ahead of the radicals. the last number of _the revolution_ is irresistible in argument against the negro suffrage radicals, who will not give women equal rights with negroes. chapter xxii. national conventions-- . first convention in washington--first hearing before congress--delegates invited from every state--senator pomeroy, of kansas--debate between colored men and women--grace greenwood's graphic description--what the members of the convention saw and heard in washington--robert purvis--a western trip--conventions in chicago, milwaukee, st. louis, springfield and madison--editorial correspondence in _the revolution_--anniversaries in new york and brooklyn--conventions in newport and saratoga. in the autumn of a call[ ] was issued for the first woman suffrage convention ever held in washington. it was a period of intense excitement, as many important measures of reconstruction were under consideration. the xiv amendment was ratified, the xv was still pending, and several bills were before congress on the suffrage question. petitions and protests against all amendments to the constitution regulating suffrage on the basis of sex were being sent in by thousands in charge of the washington association, of which josephine s. griffing was president. a large number of persons from every part of the union were crowding into the capital. many southerners being present to whom the demand for woman suffrage was new, the arguments were listened to with interest, while the tracts and documents were eagerly purchased and distributed among their friends at home. all these things combined to make this convention most enthusiastic and influential, not only in its immediate effect on those present, but from the highly complimentary reports of the press scattered over the nation. we find a brief summing up of the convention in letters to _the revolution_. editorial correspondence. washington, january , . dear revolution:--the first national woman's suffrage convention ever held in washington, closed on wednesday night. there were representatives from about twenty states, and the deepest interest was manifested through all the sessions, increasing to the end[ ]. on the morning of the convention the business committee assembled in the ante-room of carroll hall, to discuss resolutions, officers, etc. as senator pomeroy, of kansas, was present, it was decided that he should open the meeting and preside as long as his public duties would permit. this gave us assurance of a healthy repose in the chair, which greatly helps to take off the chill in opening a convention. after a grave discussion of resolutions, permanent officers, etc., mr. pomeroy led the way to the platform, called the meeting to order, and made an able speech, taking the broad ground that as suffrage is a natural, inalienable right, it must, of necessity, belong to every citizen of the republic, black and white, male and female. mrs. mott was chosen president, resolutions were reported, and when everything was in fine working order (except the furnace) mr. pomeroy slipped off to his senatorial duties, to watch the grand kansas swindle now on the tapis, and to protect, if possible, the interests of the people. whatever elements or qualities combine to render any popular convention every way successful, were most felicitously blended in this gathering in washington. in numbers, interest, earnestness, variety and especially ability, there was surely little left to be desired. as to numbers in attendance, from maine, california, and all the way between, it is sufficient to say that although the first session was most encouragingly large, there was a constant increase till the last evening, when the spacious hall was crowded in every part, until entrance was absolutely impossible, long before people ceased coming. of the interest in the proceedings, it may be said that it was proposed to hold three sessions each day, with a brief recess at noon. but twelve o'clock and all o'clock were forgotten, and the day session continued until after four; the only regret seeming then to be that there were not more hours, and that human nature had not greater power of endurance. the harmony that prevailed was all that could reasonably have been expected (if not even desired), considering the nature of the questions in hand, and the large number and variety of opinions entertained and expressed in the different sessions. on the one vital point, that suffrage is the inalienable right of every intelligent citizen who is held amenable to law, and is taxed to support the government, there was no difference expressed. the issue that roused the most heated debate was whether the colored man should be kept out of the right of suffrage until woman could also be enfranchised. one young, but not ineffectual speaker, declared he considered the women the bitterest enemies of the negro; and asked, with intense emotion, shall they be permitted to prevent the colored man from obtaining his rights? but it was not shown that women, anywhere, were making any effort toward that result. one or two women present declared they were unwilling that any more men should possess the right of suffrage until women had it also. but these are well known as most earnest advocates of universal suffrage, as well as the long-tried and approved friends of the colored race. the discussion between colored men on the one side and women on the other, as to whether it was the duty of the women of the nation to hold their claims in abeyance, until all colored men are enfranchised, was spicy, able and affecting. when that noble man, robert purvis of philadelphia, rose, and, with the loftiest sense of justice, with a true roman grandeur, ignored his race and sex, rebuked his own son for his narrow position, and demanded for his daughter all he asked for his son or himself, he thrilled the noblest feelings in his audience. is has been a great grief to the leading women in our cause that there should be antagonism with men whom we respect, whose wrongs we pity, and whose hopes we would fain help them to realize. when we contrast the condition of the most fortunate women at the north, with the living death colored men endure everywhere, there seems to be a selfishness in our present position. but remember we speak not for ourselves alone, but for all womankind, in poverty, ignorance and hopeless dependence, for the women of that oppressed race too, who, in slavery, have known a depth of misery and degradation that no man can ever appreciate. that there were representatives of both political parties present, was very apparent, and sometimes forms of expression betrayed a little unnecessary partisan preference; but there was not one who bore any part in the long and intensely exciting discussions, who could be justly charged with any wish, however remote, to hold personal prejudice or party preference above principle and religious regard to justice and right. there was one feature in the convention that we greatly deplore, and that was an impatience, not only with the audience, but with some on the platform whenever any man arose to speak. we must not forget that men have sensibilities as well as women, and that our strongest hold to-day on the public mind is the fact that men of eloquence and power on both continents are pleading for our rights. while we ask justice for ourselves, let us at least be just to the noble men who advocate our cause. it is certainly generous in them to come to our platforms, to help us maintain our rights, and share the ridicule that attends every step of progress, and it is clearly our duty to defend their rights, at least when speaking in our behalf. we had a brief interview with senator roscoe conkling. we gave him a petition signed by ladies of onondaga county, and urged him to make some wise remarks on the subject of woman's suffrage when he presented it. we find all the new york women are sending their petitions to senator pomeroy. he seems to be immensely popular just now. we think our own senators need some education in this direction. it would be well for the petitions of the several states to be placed in the hands of their respective senators, that thus the attention of all of them might be called to the important subject. it is plain to see that mr. conkling is revolving this whole question in his mind. his greatest fear is that coarse and ignorant women would crowd the polls and keep the better class away. parker pillsbury's speech on "the mortality of nations," was one of the best efforts of his life, and as grand an argument on the whole question of republican government as was ever made on the woman suffrage platform. although he had been one of the earliest and most enthusiastic abolitionists, yet the enfranchisement of woman had always in his mind seemed of equal importance to that of the black man. in mr. pillsbury's philosophy on both questions, the present was ever the time for immediate and absolute justice. one great charm in the convention was the presence of lucretia mott, calm, dignified, clear and forcible as ever. though she is now seventy-six years old, she sat through all the sessions, and noted everything that was said and done. it was a satisfaction to us all that she was able to preside over the first national woman's suffrage convention ever held at the capitol. her voice is stronger and her step lighter than many who are her juniors by twenty years. she preached last sunday in the unitarian church to the profit and pleasure of a highly cultivated and large audience. we were most pleased to meet ex-governor robinson, the first governor of kansas, in the convention. he says there is a fair prospect that an amendment to strike out the word "male" from the constitution will be submitted again in that state, when, he thinks, it will pass without doubt. mrs. minor, president of the woman's suffrage association of missouri, and mrs. starrett of lawrence, kansas, gave us a pleasant surprise by their appearance at the convention. they took an active part in the deliberations, and spoke with great effect. senator wilson was present, though he did not favor us with a speech. we urged him to do so, but he laughingly said he had no idea of making himself a target for our wit and sarcasm. we asked him, as he would not speak, to tell us the "wise, systematic, and efficient way" of pressing woman's suffrage. he replied, "you are on the right track, go ahead." so we have decided to move "on this line" until the inauguration of the new administration, when, under the dynasty of the chivalrous soldier, "our ways will, no doubt, be those of pleasantness, and all our paths be peace." new jersey was represented by deborah butler of vineland, the only live spot in that benighted state, and we thought her speech quite equal to what we heard from mr. cattell in the senate. during the evening sessions, large numbers of women from the several departments were attentive listeners. lieutenant-governor root of kansas read the bill now before congress demanding equal pay for women in the several departments where they perform equal work with the men by their side. he offered a resolution urging congress to pass the bill at once, that justice might be done the hundreds of women in the district, for their faithful work under government. mrs. stanton's speech the first evening of the convention gave a fair statement of the hostile feelings of women toward the amendments; we give the main part of it. of all the other speeches, which were extemporaneous, only meagre and unsatisfactory reports can be found. mrs. stanton said:--a great idea of progress is near its consummation, when statesmen in the councils of the nation propose to frame it into statutes and constitutions; when reverend fathers recognize it by a new interpretation of their creeds and canons; when the bar and bench at its command set aside the legislation of centuries, and girls of twenty put their heels on the cokes and blackstones of the past. those who represent what is called "the woman's rights movement," have argued their right to political equality from every standpoint of justice, religion, and logic, for the last twenty years. they have quoted the constitution, the declaration of independence, the bible, the opinions of great men and women in all ages; they have plead the theory of our government; suffrage a natural, inalienable right; shown from the lessons of history, that one class can not legislate for another; that disfranchised classes must ever be neglected and degraded; and that all privileges are but mockery to the citizen, until he has a voice in the making and administering of law. such arguments have been made over and over in conventions and before the legislatures of the several states. judges, lawyers, priests, and politicians have said again and again, that our logic was unanswerable, and although much nonsense has emanated from the male tongue and pen on this subject, no man has yet made a fair, argument on the other side. knowing that we hold the gibraltar rock of reason on this question, they resort to ridicule and petty objections. compelled to follow our assailants, wherever they go, and fight them with their own weapons; when cornered with wit and sarcasm, some cry out, you have no logic on your platform, forgetting that we have no use for logic until they give us logicians at whom to hurl it, and if, for the pure love of it, we now and then rehearse the logic that is like a, b, c, to all of us, others cry out--the same old speeches we have heard these twenty years. it would be safe to say a hundred years, for they are the same our fathers used when battling old king george and the british parliament for their right to representation, and a voice in the laws by which they were governed. there are no new arguments to be made on human rights, our work to-day is to apply to ourselves those so familiar to all; to teach man that woman is not an anomalous being, outside all laws and constitutions, but one whose rights are to be established by the same process of reason as that by which he demands his own. when our fathers made out their famous bill of impeachment against england, they specified eighteen grievances. when the women of this country surveyed the situation in their first convention, they found they had precisely that number, and quite similar in character; and reading over the old revolutionary arguments of jefferson, patrick henry, otis, and adams, they found they applied remarkably well to their case. the same arguments made in this country for extending suffrage from time to time, to white men, native born citizens, without property and education, and to foreigners; the same used by john bright in england, to extend it to a million new voters, and the same used by the great republican party to enfranchise a million black men in the south, all these arguments we have to-day to offer for woman, and one, in addition, stronger than all besides, the difference in man and woman. because man and woman are the complement of one another, we need woman's thought in national affairs to make a safe and stable government. the republican party to-day congratulates itself on having carried the fifteenth amendment of the constitution, thus securing "manhood suffrage" and establishing an aristocracy of sex on this continent. as several bills to secure woman's suffrage in the district and the territories have been already presented in both houses of congress, and as by mr. julian's bill, the question of so amending the constitution as to extend suffrage to all the women of the country has been presented to the nation for consideration, it is not only the right but the duty of every thoughtful woman to express her opinion on a sixteenth amendment. while i hail the late discussions in congress and the various bills presented as so many signs of progress, i am especially gratified with those of messrs. julian and pomeroy, which forbid any state to deny the right of suffrage to any of its citizens on account of sex or color. this fundamental principle of our government--the equality of all the citizens of the republic--should be incorporated in the federal constitution, there to remain forever. to leave this question to the states and partial acts of congress, is to defer indefinitely its settlement, for what is done by this congress may be repealed by the next; and politics in the several states differ so widely, that no harmonious action on any question can ever be secured, except as a strict party measure. hence, we appeal to the party now in power, everywhere, to end this protracted debate on suffrage, and declare it the inalienable right of every citizen who is amenable to the laws of the land, who pays taxes and the penalty of crime. we have a splendid theory of a genuine republic, why not realize it and make our government homogeneous, from maine to california. the republican party has the power to do this, and now is its only opportunity. woman's suffrage, in , may be as good a card for the republicans as gen. grant was in the last election. it is said that the republican party made him president, not because they thought him the most desirable man in the nation for that office, but they were afraid the democrats would take him if they did not. we would suggest, there may be the same danger of democrats taking up woman suffrage if they do not. god, in his providence, may have purified that party in the furnace of affliction. they have had the opportunity, safe from the turmoil of political life and the temptations of office, to study and apply the divine principles of justice and equality to life; for minorities are always in a position to carry principles to their logical results, while majorities are governed only by votes. you see my faith in democrats is based on sound philosophy. in the next congress, the democratic party will gain thirty-four new members, hence the republicans have had their last chance to do justice to woman. it will be no enviable record for the fortieth congress that in the darkest days of the republic it placed our free institutions in the care and keeping of every type of manhood, ignoring womanhood, all the elevating and purifying influences of the most virtuous and humane half of the american people.... i urge a speedy adoption of a sixteenth amendment for the following reasons: . a government, based on the principle of caste and class, can not stand. the aristocratic idea, in any form, is opposed to the genius of our free institutions, to our own declaration of rights, and to the civilization of the age. all artificial distinctions, whether of family, blood, wealth, color, or sex, are equally oppressive to the subject classes, and equally destructive to national life and prosperity. governments based on every form of aristocracy, on every degree and variety of inequality, have been tried in despotisms, monarchies, and republics, and all alike have perished. in the panorama of the past behold the mighty nations that have risen, one by one, but to fall. behold their temples, thrones, and pyramids, their gorgeous palaces and stately monuments now crumbled all to dust. behold every monarch in europe at this very hour trembling on his throne. behold the republics on this western continent convulsed, distracted, divided, the hosts scattered, the leaders fallen, the scouts lost in the wilderness, the once inspired prophets blind and dumb, while on all sides the cry is echoed, "republicanism is a failure," though that great principle of a government "by the people, of the people, for the people," has never been tried. thus far, all nations have been built on caste and failed. why, in this hour of reconstruction, with the experience of generations before us, make another experiment in the same direction? if serfdom, peasantry, and slavery have shattered kingdoms, deluged continents with blood, scattered republics like dust before the wind, and rent our own union asunder, what kind of a government, think you, american statesmen, you can build, with the mothers of the race crouching at your feet, while iron-heeled peasants, serfs, and slaves, exalted by your hands, tread our inalienable rights into the dust? while all men, everywhere, are rejoicing in new-found liberties, shall woman alone be denied the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizenship? while in england men are coming up from the coal mines of cornwall, from the factories of birmingham and manchester, demanding the suffrage; while in frigid russia the , , newly-emancipated serfs are already claiming a voice in the government; while here, in our own land, slaves, but just rejoicing in the proclamation of emancipation, ignorant alike of its power and significance, have the ballot unasked, unsought, already laid at their feet--think you the daughters of adams, jefferson, and patrick henry, in whose veins flows the blood of two revolutions, will forever linger round the campfires of an old barbarism, with no longings to join this grand army of freedom in its onward march to roll back the golden gates of a higher and better civilization? of all kinds of aristocracy, that of sex is the most odious and unnatural; invading, as it does, our homes, desecrating our family altars, dividing those whom god has joined together, exalting the son above the mother who bore him, and subjugating, everywhere, moral power to brute force. such a government would not be worth the blood and treasure so freely poured out in its long struggles for freedom.... . i urge a sixteenth amendment, because "manhood suffrage" or a man's government, is civil, religious, and social disorganization. the male element is a destructive force, stern, selfish, aggrandizing, loving war, violence, conquest, acquisition, breeding in the material and moral world alike discord, disorder, disease, and death. see what a record of blood and cruelty the pages of history reveal! through what slavery, slaughter, and sacrifice, through what inquisitions and imprisonments, pains and persecutions, black codes and gloomy creeds, the soul of humanity has struggled for the centuries, while mercy has veiled her face and all hearts have been dead alike to love and hope! the male element has held high carnival thus far, it has fairly run riot from the beginning, overpowering the feminine element everywhere, crushing out all the diviner qualities in human nature, until we know but little of true manhood and womanhood, of the latter comparatively nothing, for it has scarce been recognized as a power until within the last century. society is but the reflection of man himself, untempered by woman's thought, the hard iron rule we feel alike in the church, the state, and the home. no one need wonder at the disorganization, at the fragmentary condition of everything, when we remember that man, who represents but half a complete being, with but half an idea on every subject, has undertaken the absolute control of all sublunary matters. people object to the demands of those whom they choose to call the strong-minded, because they say, "the right of suffrage will make the women masculine." that is just the difficulty in which we are involved to-day. though disfranchised we have few women in the best sense, we have simply so many reflections, varieties, and dilutions of the masculine gender. the strong, natural characteristics of womanhood are repressed and ignored in dependence, for so long as man feeds woman she will try to please the giver and adapt herself to his condition. to keep a foothold in society woman must be as near like man as possible, reflect his ideas, opinions, virtues, motives, prejudices, and vices. she must respect his statutes, though they strip her of every inalienable right, and conflict with that higher law written by the finger of god on her own soul. she must believe his theology, though it pave the highways of hell with the skulls of new-born infants, and make god a monster of vengeance and hypocrisy. she must look at everything from its dollar and cent point of view, or she is a mere romancer. she must accept things as they are and make the best of them. to mourn over the miseries of others, the poverty of the poor, their hardships in jails, prisons, asylums, the horrors of war, cruelty, and brutality in every form, all this would be mere sentimentalizing. to protest against the intrigue, bribery, and corruption of public life, to desire that her sons might follow some business that did not involve lying, cheating, and a hard, grinding selfishness, would be arrant nonsense. in this way man has been moulding woman to his ideas by direct and positive influences, while she, if not a negation, has used indirect means to control him, and in most cases developed the very characteristics both in him and herself that needed repression. and now man himself stands appalled at the results of his own excesses, and mourns in bitterness that falsehood, selfishness and violence are the law of life. the need of this hour is not territory, gold mines, railroads, or specie payments, but a new evangel of womanhood, to exalt purity, virtue, morality, true religion, to lift man up into the higher realms of thought and action. we ask woman's enfranchisement, as the first step toward the recognition of that essential element in government that can only secure the health, strength, and prosperity of the nation. whatever is done to lift woman to her true position will help to usher in a new day of peace and perfection for the race. in speaking of the masculine element, i do not wish to be understood to say that all men are hard, selfish, and brutal, for many of the most beautiful spirits the world has known have been clothed with manhood; but i refer to those characteristics, though often marked in woman, that distinguish what is called the stronger sex. for example, the love of acquisition and conquest, the very pioneers of civilization, when expended on the earth, the sea, the elements, the riches and forces of nature, are powers of destruction when used to subjugate one man to another or to sacrifice nations to ambition. here that great conservator of woman's love, if permitted to assert itself, as it naturally would in freedom against oppression, violence, and war, would hold all these destructive forces in check, for woman knows the cost of life better than man does, and not with her consent would one drop of blood ever be shed, one life sacrificed in vain. with violence and disturbance in the natural world, we see a constant effort to maintain an equilibrium of forces. nature, like a loving mother, is ever trying to keep land and sea, mountain and valley, each in its place, to hush the angry winds and waves, balance the extremes of heat and cold, of rain and drought, that peace, harmony, and beauty may reign supreme. there is a striking analogy between matter and mind, and the present disorganization of society warns us, that in the dethronement of woman we have let loose the elements of violence and ruin that she only has the power to curb. if the civilization of the age calls for an extension of the suffrage, surely a government of the most virtuous, educated men and women would better represent the whole, and protect the interests of all than could the representation of either sex alone. but government gains no new element of strength in admitting all men to the ballot-box, for we have too much of the man-power there already. we see this in every department of legislation, and it is a common remark, that unless some new virtue is infused into our public life the nation is doomed to destruction. will the foreign element, the dregs of china, germany, england, ireland, and africa supply this needed force, or the nobler types of american womanhood who have taught our presidents, senators, and congressmen the rudiments of all they know? . i urge a sixteenth amendment because, when "manhood suffrage" is established from maine to california, woman has reached the lowest depths of political degradation. so long as there is a disfranchised class in this country, and that class its women, a man's government is worse than a white man's government with suffrage limited by property and educational qualifications, because in proportion as you multiply the rulers, the condition of the politically ostracised is more hopeless and degraded. john stuart mill, in his work on "liberty," shows that the condition of one disfranchised man in a nation is worse than when the whole nation is under one man, because in the latter case, if the one man is despotic, the nation can easily throw him off, but what can one man do with a nation of tyrants over him? if american women find it hard to bear the oppressions of their own saxon fathers, the best orders of manhood, what may they not be called to endure when all the lower orders of foreigners now crowding our shores legislate for them and their daughters. think of patrick and sambo and hans and yung tung, who do not know the difference between a monarchy and a republic, who can not read the declaration of independence or webster's spelling-book, making laws for lucretia mott, ernestine l. rose, and anna e. dickinson. think of jurors and jailors drawn from these ranks to watch and try young girls for the crime of infanticide, to decide the moral code by which the mothers of this republic shall be governed? this manhood suffrage is an appalling question, and it would be well for thinking women, who seem to consider it so magnanimous to hold their own claims in abeyance until all men are crowned with citizenship, to remember that the most ignorant men are ever the most hostile to the equality of women, as they have known them only in slavery and degradation. go to our courts of justice, our jails and prisons; go into the world of work; into the trades and professions; into the temples of science and learning, and see what is meted out everywhere to women--to those who have no advocates in our courts, no representatives in the councils of the nation. shall we prolong and perpetuate such injustice, and by increasing this power risk worse oppressions for ourselves and daughters? it is an open, deliberate insult to american womanhood to be cast down under the iron-heeled peasantry of the old world and the slaves of the new, as we shall be in the practical working of the fifteenth amendment, and the only atonement the republican party can make is now to complete its work, by enfranchising the women of the nation. i have not forgotten their action four years ago, when article xiv., sec. , was amended[ ] by invidiously introducing the word "male" into the federal constitution, where it had never been before, thus counting out of the basis of representation all men not permitted to vote, thereby making it the interest of every state to enfranchise its male citizens, and virtually declaring it no crime to disfranchise its women. as political sagacity moved our rulers thus to guard the interests of the negro for party purposes, common justice might have compelled them to show like respect for their own mothers, by counting woman too out of the basis of representation, that she might no longer swell the numbers to legislate adversely to her interests. and this desecration of the last will and testament of the fathers, this retrogressive legislation for woman, was in the face of the earnest protests of thousands of the best educated, most refined and cultivated women of the north. now, when the attention of the whole world is turned to this question of suffrage, and women themselves are throwing off the lethargy of ages, and in england, france, germany, switzerland, and russia are holding their conventions, and their rulers are everywhere giving them a respectful hearing, shall american statesmen, claiming to be liberal, so amend their constitutions as to make their wives and mothers the political inferiors of unlettered and unwashed ditch-diggers, boot-blacks, butchers, and barbers, fresh from the slave plantations of the south, and the effete civilizations of the old world? while poets and philosophers, statesmen and men of science are all alike pointing to woman as the new hope for the redemption of the race, shall the freest government on the earth be the first to establish an aristocracy based on sex alone? to exalt ignorance above education, vice above virtue, brutality and barbarism above refinement and religion? not since god first called light out of darkness and order out of chaos, was there ever made so base a proposition as "manhood suffrage" in this american republic, after all the discussions we have had on human rights in the last century. on all the blackest pages of history there is no record of an act like this, in any nation, where native born citizens, having the same religion, speaking the same language, equal to their rulers in wealth, family, and education, have been politically ostracised by their own countrymen, outlawed with savages, and subjected to the government of outside barbarians. remember the fifteenth amendment takes in a larger population than the , , black men on the southern plantation. it takes in all the foreigners daily landing in our eastern cities, the chinese crowding our western shores, the inhabitants of alaska, and all those western isles that will soon be ours. american statesmen may flatter themselves that by superior intelligence and political sagacity the higher orders of men will always govern, but when the ignorant foreign vote already holds the balance of power in all the large cities by sheer force of numbers, it is simply a question of impulse or passion, bribery or fraud, how our elections will be carried. when the highest offices in the gift of the people are bought and sold in wall street, it is a mere chance who will be our rulers. whither is a nation tending when brains count for less than bullion, and clowns make laws for queens? it is a startling assertion, but nevertheless true, that in none of the nations of modern europe are the higher classes of women politically so degraded as are the women of this republic to-day. in the old world, where the government is the aristocracy, where it is considered a mark of nobility to share its offices and powers, women of rank have certain hereditary lights which raise them above a majority of the men, certain honors and privileges not granted to serfs and peasants. there women are queens, hold subordinate offices, and vote on many questions. in our southern states even, before the war, women were not degraded below the working population. they were not humiliated in seeing their coachmen, gardeners, and waiters go to the polls to legislate for them; but here, in this boasted northern civilization, women of wealth and education, who pay taxes and obey the laws, who in morals and intellect are the peers of their proudest rulers, are thrust outside the pale of political consideration with minors, paupers, lunatics, traitors, idiots, with those guilty of bribery, larceny, and infamous crimes. would those gentlemen who are on all sides telling the women of the nation not to press their claims until the negro is safe beyond peradventure, be willing themselves to stand aside and trust all their interests to hands like these? the educated women of this nation feel as much interest in republican institutions, the preservation of the country, the good of the race, their own elevation and success, as any man possibly can, and we have the same distrust in man's power to legislate for us, that he has in woman's power to legislate wisely for herself. . i would press a sixteenth amendment, because the history of american statesmanship does not inspire me with confidence in man's capacity to govern the nation alone, with justice and mercy. i have come to this conclusion, not only from my own observation, but from what our rulers say of themselves. honorable senators have risen in their places again and again, and told the people of the wastefulness and corruption of the present administration. others have set forth, with equal clearness, the ignorance of our rulers on the question of finance.... the following letters were received and read in the convention: new york, jan. , . mrs. josephine s. griffing,--_dear madam_:--your favor of the th inst. is received. permit me to assure you it would give me great pleasure to be present at your important convention of the th, but indisposition will not allow me that gratification. looking at all the circumstances; the position, the epoch, and the efforts now being made to extend the right to the ballot, your convention is perhaps the most important that was ever held. it is a true maxim, that it is easier to do justice than injustice; to do right than wrong; and to do it at once, than by small degrees. how much better and easier it would have been for congress, when they enfranchised all the men of the district of columbia, had they included the women also; but better late than never. let the national government, to which the states have a right to look for good example, do justice to woman now, and all the states will follow.... it was a terrible mistake and a fundamental error, based upon ignorance and injustice, ever to have introduced the word "male" into the federal constitution. the terms "male" and "female" simply designate the physical or animal distinction between the sexes, and ought be used only in speaking of the lower animals. human beings are men and women, possessed of human faculties and understanding, which we call mind; and mind recognizes no sex, therefore the term "male," as applied to human beings--to citizens--ought to be expunged from the constitution and laws as a last remnant of barbarism--when the animal, not mind, when might, not right, governed the world. let your convention, then, urge congress to wipe out that purely animal distinction from the national constitution. that noble instrument was destined to govern intelligent, responsible human beings--men and women--not sex. the childish argument that all women don't ask for the franchise would hardly deserve notice were it not sometimes used by men of sense. to all such i would say, examine ancient and modern history, yes, even of your own times, and you will find there never has been a time when all men of any country--white or black--have ever asked for a reform. reforms have to be claimed and obtained by the few, who are in advance, for the benefit of the many who lag behind. and when once obtained and almost forced upon them, the mass of the people accept and enjoy their benefits as a matter of course. look at the petitions now pouring into congress for the franchise for women, and compare their thousands of signatures with the few isolated names that graced our first petitions to the legislature of new york to secure to the married woman the right to hold in her own name the property that belonged to her, to secure to the poor, forsaken wife the right to her earnings, and to the mother the right to her children. "all" the women did not ask for those rights, but all accepted them with joy and gladness when they were obtained; and so it will be with the franchise. but woman's claim for the ballot does not depend upon the numbers that demand it, or would exercise the right; but upon precisely the same principles that man claims it for himself. chase, sumner, stevens, and many of both houses of congress have, time after time, declared that the franchise means "security, education, responsibility, self-respect, prosperity, and independence." taking all these assertions for granted and fully appreciating all their benefits, in the name of security, of education, of responsibility, of self-respect, of liberty, of prosperity and independence we demand the franchise for woman. please present this hastily-written contribution to your convention with best wishes. yours, dear madam, very truly, ernestine l. rose. william lloyd garrison writes: unable to attend the convention, i can only send you my warm approval of it, and the object it is designed to promote. it is boastingly claimed in behalf of the government of the united states that it is "of the people, by the people, and for the people." yet reckoning the whole number at thirty-eight millions, no less than one-half--that is, nineteen millions--are political ciphers. a single male voter, on election day, outweighs them all! aaron m. powell writes: i have no doubt that if a fair and honest vote can be had upon the question, submitted upon its own merits, in the senate and house of representatives, both the friends and opponents of the measure here, as in great britain when john stuart mill's proposition was first voted upon in parliament, will be surprised at the revelation of its real strength. mrs. caroline h. dall writes: it mitigates my regret in declining your invitation to remember that these are not the dark days of the cause. senator fowler, of tenn., writes: it is not possible that the people who have so enlarged the boundaries of the political rights of another race just emerged from slavery, will fail to recognize the claims of the women of the united states to equal rights in all the relations of life. wm. h. sylvis says: i am in favor of universal suffrage, universal amnesty, and universal liberty. abby hopper gibbons says: my father, isaac t. hopper, was an advocate for woman and her work, he believed in her thoroughly. his life long he was associated with many of the best women of his day. with the help of good men, we shall ere long stand side by side with ballot in hand. paulina wright davis: if women are the only unrecognized class as a part of the people, then woe to the nation! for there will be no noble mothers; frivolity, folly, and madness will seize them, for all inverted action of the faculties becomes intense in just the ratio of its earnestness. harriet beecher stowe writes: i am deeply interested in the work, and hopeful that a broader sphere is opening for woman, that as a class they may be trained in early life more as men are in education and business. gen. oliver o. howard answers: please express to the committee my thanks for the invitation. i should be pleased to accept, but a lecture engagement in the west will compel me to be absent from the city. james m. scovill, of new jersey, says: i deeply desire to come. go on in your great work. the convention tells on the public mind. gerrit smith replies: i thank you for your invitation, though it is not in my power to attend the convention. god hasten the day when the civil and political rights of woman shall be admitted to be equal to those of man. simeon corley, m.c., of south carolina, writes: having been an advocate of woman suffrage for a quarter of a century, i had the pleasure yesterday of enrolling my name and that of my wife on your list of delegates. to-day hon. james h. goss, m.c., of south carolina, requested me to have you insert his name. i think you may safely count on the south carolina delegation. this convention was the first public occasion when the women opposed to the xiv amendment, measuring their logic with republicans, abolitionists, and colored men, ably maintained their position. the division of opinion was marked and earnest, and the debate was warm between messrs. douglass, downing, hinton, dr. purvis, and edward m. davis on one side, and the ladies, with robert purvis[ ] and parker pillsbury on the other. edward m. davis, the son-in-law of lucretia mott, was so hostile to the position of the women on the xiv amendment that he refused to enroll his name as a member of the convention. nevertheless, mrs. mott in the chair, allowed him to criticise most severely the resolutions and the position of those with whom she stood. she answered his attacks with her usual gentleness, and advocated the resolutions.[ ] robert purvis, differing with his own son and other colored men, denounced their position with severity. yet good feeling prevailed throughout, and the convention adjourned in order and harmony. the following objective view of the convention, of the tone of the addresses, and the _personnel_ of the platform, from the pen of one of our distinguished literary women--sarah clarke lippincott--will serve to show that the leaders in the suffrage movement were not the rude, uncultured women generally represented by the opposition, but in point of intelligence, refinement, appearance, and all the feminine virtues, far above the ordinary standard. for the honor of this grand reform, we record the compliments occasionally bestowed. [from the _philadelphia press_]. washington, jan. , . the proceedings were opened with prayer by dr. gray, the chaplain of the senate, a man of remarkably liberal spirit. this prayer, however, did not give perfect satisfaction. going back to the beginning of things, the doctor unfortunately chanced to take, of the two mosaic accounts of the creation of man and woman, that one which is least exalting to woman, representing her as built on a "spare rib" of adam. let us hope the reverend gentleman will "overhaul" his genesis and "take a note." on the platform was an imposing array of intellect, courage, and noble character. first there was dear, revered lucretia mott, her sweet, saintly face cloistered in her quaker bonnet, her serene and gracious presence, so dignified yet so utterly unpretending, so self-poised yet so gentle, so peaceful yet so powerful, sanctioning and sanctifying the meeting and the movement. near her sat her sister, mrs. wright, of auburn, a woman of strong, constant character and of rare intellectual culture; mrs. cady stanton, a lady of impressive and beautiful appearance, in the rich prime of an active, generous, and healthful life; miss susan b. anthony, looking all she is, a keen, energetic, uncompromising, unconquerable, passionately earnest woman; clara barton, whose name is dear to soldiers and blessed in thousands of homes to which the soldiers shall return no more--a brave, benignant looking woman. but i will not indulge in personal descriptions, though dr. mary walker in her emancipated garments and eve-like arrangement or disarrangement of hair, is somewhat tempting. senator pomeroy, acting as temporary chairman, called the convention to order. certain committees were appointed, and the senator spoke for some twenty or thirty minutes, very happily and effectively, on the question of woman's rights under the constitution--both as originally written and as amended. he argued that all born or naturalized americans are citizens--that neither sex nor color has anything to do with citizenship rightfully. his reasoning seemed to us, who are interested, cogent and logical, and his spirit fearless and broad. mrs. stanton spoke on the general question with great force and pithiness. of all their speakers she seemed to me to have the most weight. her speeches are models of composition, clear, compact, elegant, and logical. she makes her points with peculiar sharpness and certainty, and there is no denying or dodging her conclusions. mrs. mott followed mrs. stanton, and at a later hour spoke again. she can not speak too often for the good of this or any cause. her arguments are always gently put forward, but there is great force behind them--the force of reason and justice and simple truth. her wit, too, though it gleams out softly and playfully, illuminates her subject as the keener, sharper light of satire never could illuminate it. she is always reasonable, gracious, and judicious. she never strives for effect, and is too conscientious to be sensational, yet no speaker among the younger women of this movement makes more telling points--no one knows so well every foot of the broad field of argument. in her practiced hand every weapon is ready on the instant, whether drawn from the armories of scripture, history, literature, or politics. she reviewed the history of this movement from the beginning, paying warm tribute to the memory of its early advocates. she proved that for centuries the discontented, the indignant protest in the souls of women, which has culminated in this movement, has formed an element which has been secretly surging and seething under the surface of society. these were no new wrongs or needs of ours, she said; the women of the past, of all ages, had felt them; we are only giving voice to them. a most eloquent letter from mrs. ernestine l. rose was read, indorsing the convention; also one from william lloyd garrison. mrs. griffing, of washington, spoke with remarkable earnestness and fervor, and was followed by mrs. hathaway, of boston. this lady said: "they say the majority shall rule. well, there are, east of the alleghanies, , more women than men. so the minority rule us." upon the whole, i was quite willing to have this body of women orators and debaters compared with either of the great legislative bodies who meet over in yonder great marble temple of wisdom, eloquence, logic, and law. mrs. starrett, of kansas, a bright, ruddy, rosy woman, made a good, practical speech on the influence of the franchise upon the domestic life of women. mrs. butler, of vineland, n. j., made one of the most charming and womanly speeches, or talks, of the convention, recounting her experience as one of the gallant band of women who, at the late fall elections, made an imposing demonstration at the polls in her lively and progressive town. fearful threats had reached them of insult and violence from rough boys and men; but they met with absolutely nothing of the kind, though they did not approach the polls like the neapolitan heroine who votes for victor emanuel, with pistols and daggers in their belts and war medals on their breasts. they were made way for as respectfully as though they had been about to enter a church door. of course, their votes were thrown out, but it would not always be so. they would hope on and vote on. touching the reforms that women intend to bring about when they shall "come into the kingdom," she said, "we will rule liquor out of the country;" a declaration which at the present critical stage of affairs, and in washington, struck me as rather impolitic. "as to the question of woman first or the black man first," she said, "i mean both together"; evidently looking for a constitutional amendment gateway wide enough for the two to dash in abreast, neck-and-neck. "oh, woman, great is thy faith!" this speaker related some sad stories illustrative of woman's legal disabilities, and dwelt feelingly on the old, palpable, intolerable grievance of inequality of wages, and on the bars and restrictions which woman encounters at every turn, in her struggle for an honorable livelihood. in reply, mrs. mott, in her bright, sweet, deprecating way, cast a flood of sunlight on the dark pictures, by referring to the remodeling of the laws respecting the relation of husband and wife, in regard to property, and the right of the mother to her child, by the legislatures of the various states and especially by that of the state of new york. miss anthony followed in a strain not only cheerful, but exultant--reviewing the advance of the cause from its first despised beginning to its present position, where, she alleged, it commanded the attention of the world. she spoke in her usual pungent, vehement style, hitting the nail on the head every time, and driving it in up to the head. indeed, it seems to me, that while lucretia mott may be said to be the soul of this movement, and mrs. stanton the mind, the "swift, keen intelligence," miss anthony, alert, aggressive, and indefatigable, is its nervous energy--its propulsive force. mrs. stanton has the best arts of the politician and the training of the jurist, added to the fiery, unresting spirit of the reformer. she has a rare talent for affairs, management, and mastership. yet she is in an eminent degree womanly, having an almost regal pride of sex. in france, in the time of the revolution or the first empire, she would have been a roland or a de stael. i will not attempt the slightest sketch of her closing speech, which was not only a powerful plea for disfranchised womanhood, but for motherhood. it was now impassioned, now playful, now witty, now pathetic. it was surpassingly eloquent, and apparently convincing, for the boldest and most radical utterances, brought from the great audience the heartiest applause. for _this_, i love the people. no great, brave, true thought can be uttered before an american audience without bringing a cordial and generous response. all are not ready, of course, to carry into action, into life, legislation, and law the sentiments of liberty and justice they applaud; but they feel that somewhere, in some nameless utopia far away, such things might be lived out. thank heaven that utopia is _possible_ for humanity--a real, practical condition of our mortal life--only a little way before us, perhaps. many good, refined people turn a cold shoulder on this cause of woman's rights because their religious sentiment, or their taste, is shocked by the character or appearance of some of its public advocates. they say: "if we were only to see at their conventions that quaker gentlewoman, lucretia mott, with her serene presence; mrs. stanton, with her patrician air; miss anthony, with her sharp, intellectual fencing; lucy stone, with her sweet, persuasive argument and lucid logic--it were very well; but to their free platform, bores, fanatics, and fools are admitted, to elbow them and disgust us." i suppose that such annoyances, to use a mild term, necessarily belong to a free platform, and that freedom of speech is one of the most sacred rights--especially to woman. yet i think some authority there should be to exclude or silence persons unfit to appear before an intelligent and refined audience--some power to rule out utterly, and keep out, ignorant or insane men and women who realize some of the worst things falsely charged against the leaders of this movement. but to see the three chief figures of this great movement of woman's rights sitting upon a stage in joint council, like the three parcæ or fates of a new dispensation--dignity and the ever-acceptable grace of scholarly earnestness, intelligence, and beneficence making them prominent--is assurance that the women of our country, bereft of defenders, or injured by false ones, have advocates equal to the great demands of their cause. grace greenwood. editorial correspondence. washington, jan. , . dear revolution:--we hear good accounts from all quarters of the effect of the woman's national suffrage convention. from the numbers who called upon us, the courtesy of our rulers, the marked attentions paid us in society, and the many enthusiastic letters we daily receive, we are led to believe that woman's suffrage is becoming very popular. as both the editor and proprietor of _the revolution_ are in the sere and yellow leaf, the many attentions and compliments showered upon us are of course from no personal considerations, but so many tributes of respect to the ideas we represent; as such we gratefully accept all that come to us, and thank our hosts of friends for the words of good cheer we received in washington. as we have never been cast down with scorn and ridicule, we shall never be puffed up with praise and admiration. in the future, as the past, the motto of the good abbe de lamennais shall be ours, "let the weal and the woe of humanity be everything to us, their praise and their blame of no effect." in conversation with some of the members we found them quite jealous of the attentions mr. pomeroy was receiving from the women of the nation. this will never do, to be sowing seeds of discord where fraternal love should abound, and we hope the women of the several states will send their petitions to their own members. as mr. pomeroy has enough piled up in his committee room to keep him busy all winter, we advise him to distribute them among all the gallant gentlemen who would feel honored in presenting them. then, too, there is much wisdom in the remarks made by the hon. roscoe conkling, when he presented a woman's petition, on the danger of granting mr. pomeroy a monopoly of such privileges, lest he should grow lukewarm in the cause. true, we have looked in vain for any burst of eloquence from the kansas gentleman, thus far, in the senate, but it may be that he can not find words to express the depth of his sympathy for oppressed womanhood, hence the silent eloquence of action alone in behalf of the fair petitioners. one gentleman remarked, "why do you push pomeroy forward in your movement? julian is altogether the most reliable man." we replied, we always push those who come forward. we should have been very glad if boutwell or brooks, wade or wilson, harlan or henderson, julian or jenckes had had the courage to come to our platform, but as mr. pomeroy was the only member of congress who did come, he stands before the public as our champion in washington. these politicians are all alike. no doubt there are many men in both houses as earnest on this question as mr. pomeroy, who are silent on personal considerations, while he is active for the same reason. in kansas, woman suffrage is a popular question, hence it is safe for senators from that state, looking to a re-election, to advocate it, and when the women of the several states are as wide awake as in kansas, the members of congress will vie with each other to do them honor. we chanced to lunch one day in downing's saloon with the hon. sidney clark, of kansas, and gen. mcmillan, of minnesota, both strongly opposed to the land swindle. the former has just made an able speech on that question. mr. clark is a tall, fine-looking man, and bears so striking a resemblance to the editor of the _independent_ that he is often accosted for him. the subject of discussion over mr. downing's fine oysters was woman suffrage. although mr. clark rather gave us the cold shoulder in the kansas campaign, he promises to atone for his error by renewed ardor when the proposition is again submitted. miss anthony called on senator harlan, chairman of the district committee, who readily granted us a hearing, which was had on wednesday, the th. mr. h. being friendly to the idea, we shall look to him to report a bill favorable to woman suffrage in the district. mr. harlan has one of the most refined, spiritual faces in the senate. mr. lawrence, of ohio, who was on the committee for investigating the election frauds in new york, said, when he returned, that the greatest fraud he found there was that one-half the people were not allowed to vote at all. messrs. aiken and florence, of the _sunday gazette_, were deeply interested listeners throughout our convention. on being introduced to mr. florence, we expressed the hope that he would now sharpen his pen and do valiant service for woman and help to atone for all the injustice and ridicule of the press in the past. he promptly pledged himself to defend our ideas valiantly in the future. and he has started well in writing a glowing editorial in his last paper, and giving two columns to our speech on "manhood suffrage." to senator trumbull, who is chairman of the judiciary committee, all our petitions, appeals, and addresses are referred. we hope he will not sink under such a weight of responsibility, but read everything we send him with a holy unction to the committee, and report favorably to the senate. we learned from the southern members that the south carolina delegation will go solid for woman suffrage. it has been a wonder to us that southern white women did not see the necessity of their speedy enfranchisement, as a foreign race is, by the edicts of the republican party, exalted above their heads--made their rulers, judges, jurors, and law-givers. friday evening, we went to secretary mcculloch's and mr. colfax's receptions. there we saw mrs. colfax for the first time; tall, handsome, vigorous. we congratulated her on having won the most popular man in america, whereupon the vice-president elect smiled and bowed profoundly, and we turned to greet glorious old ben wade and his noble wife. finance seemed to be the theme on all sides, and we have our fears that the negroes, as well as the women, will be lost sight of, in these discussions about the currency. but this finance is a grave question, and the more we read and think on it, the more we are convinced that the need of money is the root of all evil. we were introduced to professor helyard and gen. eaton, members of a scientific society of gentlemen which meets once a week to discuss all that is in heaven above, on the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth, without permitting a single one of eve's daughters to listen to the wisdom. they have lately discussed the subject of earthquakes, and it was stated, we understand, that after the women began to hold conventions in this country, earthquakes became more frequent, occurring from in california, simultaneously with these conventions in several states, showing that old mother earth sympathizes with the sorrows of women. the fear of similar occurrences in the district fully accounts for the exclusiveness of these scientific gentlemen. professor helgard discoursed most eloquently on co-operative housekeeping. as we listened to the many good reasons he gave for cooking, washing, and ironing on a large scale, we felt the women of the nation might be benefited ultimately by these weekly cogitations, if not permitted to enjoy the society of the cogitators. e. c. s. the national woman's suffrage convention held in washington, january th and th, presented the following appeal to the district committee: to the congressional committee of the district of columbia. honorable gentlemen: as the franchise bill is now under consideration, we would urge your committee to so amend it as to secure the right of suffrage to all the women of the district, and thus establish in the capital of the nation the first genuine republic the world has ever known. it would be a work of supererogation to warn you against the puerile proposition to disfranchise all the people of the district, by placing their municipal affairs under the direct control of congress, for such retrogressive legislation is beneath the consideration of your honorable committee, and would never be tolerated by the american people. the tide of public opinion is setting to-day in the opposite direction; in all governments we see a steadily increasing tendency toward individual responsibilities--to the election of rulers by a direct voice of the people. in this general awakening, woman too has been roused to a sense not only of her own rights as a human being, but to her duties as a citizen under government. it is especially fitting that the grand experiment of equality should be first tried in the district of columbia, where such able debates on freedom have been heard during the last century; where slavery was first abolished by an act of congress; and where the black man was first recognized as a citizen of the united states. but in removing all political disabilities from the male citizens of the district, you have established, for the first time in the history of nations, a government based on the aristocracy of sex; an aristocracy of all kinds the most odious and unnatural. while every type and shade of manhood is rejoicing to-day in all the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens in the district, its noblest matrons are still living under the statute laws of a dark and barbarous age, running back to the old common law of england centuries ago, having no parallel in our day, but in the slave codes of the southern states. here a married woman has no right to the property she inherits, to the wages she earns, or to the children of her love, and from laws like these she has no appeal; no advocate in the courts of justice; no representative in the councils of the nation. such is the result of class legislation, clearly proving that man has ever made laws for his own mother with as little justice and generosity as he has from time to time for different orders of his own sex. suffering, as woman does, under the wrongs of saxon men, you have added insult to injury by exalting another race above her head: slaves, ignorant, degraded, depraved, but yesterday crouching at your feet, outside the pale of political consideration, are to-day, by your edicts, made her lawgivers! thus here in the district you have consummated this invidious policy of the nation, placing outside barbarians above your pilgrim mothers, who have stood by your side from the beginning, sharing alike your dangers and triumphs in the great struggle on this continent for free institutions. we urge you, therefore, to report favorably on senator wilson's amendment, because woman not only needs the ballot for her protection, but the nation needs her voice in legislation for the safety and stability of our institutions. we simply ask you to apply your theory of government, your declaration of rights, the principles enunciated by the great republican party, the far-seeing wisdom with which step by step you have secured all men in their inalienable rights, to our case, and you will see that logic, justice, common sense, and constitutional law are all alike on our side of the question. we need not detain you to rehearse the fundamental principles of our government, your own interpretation of the constitution, or the right of congress to regulate suffrage in the district, for all this has been argued before the nation and sealed by your own acts. with the argument all on our side, the only question that remains is, does woman herself demand the right of suffrage at this hour? if, honorable gentlemen, you will look abroad, and note the general uprising of women everywhere, in foreign nations as well as our own, you will realize that our demand is the great onward step of the century and not, as some claim, the idiosyncrasy of a few unbalanced minds. man knows as little of the real feeling of the women of their household as did the proud southerner of the slaves on his plantation. woman fears man's ridicule more than the slave did the master's lash. yes! woman waits to-day but for man's approval, to manifest the intense enthusiasm she feels in the no distant future, when she, too, shall be crowned sovereign of this great republic, where all are of the blood royal--all heirs apparent to the throne. we are often asked the question, "on what do you base your assertion that the ballot can achieve so much for woman? it has not done much for man; in this country all white men vote, yet the masses are wretchedly fed, housed, clothed, and poorly paid for their labor. ignorant alike of social and political economy, their voting is a mere form; practically they have no more to do with the government than the masses in the old world who have no representation whatever." these wholesale philosophers, and we meet them every day, are incapable of any patient process of analytical reasoning. if the moment a man is endowed with the suffrage he does not spring up into knowledge, virtue, wealth, and position, then the right amounts to nothing. if a generation of ignorant, degraded men, does not vote at once with the wisdom of statesmen, then universal suffrage is a failure, and the despot and the dagger the true government. the careful reader of history will see that with every new extension of rights a new step in civilization has been taken, and that uniformly those nations have been most prosperous where the greatest number of the people have been recognized in the government. contrast china with russia, england with the united states. where the few govern, the legislation is for the advantage of the few. where the many govern, the legislation will gradually become more and more for the advantage of the many, as fast as the many know enough to demand laws for their own benefit. this knowledge comes from an education in politics; and a ballot in a man's hand and the responsibility of using it, is the first step in this education. even if a man sells his ballot, there is power in possessing something that a politician must have or perish. the southern slaves must have acquired a new dignity in the scale of being when judge kelley and senator wilson traveled all through the south to preach to them on political questions. the thinking men of england, as they philosophize on the abuses of their government, see plainly that the only way to abolish an order of nobility, a law of primogeniture and an established church, is to give the masses a right by their votes to pitch this triple power into the channel; for all the bulwarks of aristocracy will, one by one, be swept away with the education and enfranchisement of the people. gladstone, john bright, and john stuart mill see clearly that the privileges of the few can be extended to the many only by the legislation of the many. all the beneficial results of the broad principles they are advocating to-day, may not be fully realized in a generation, but, to the philosophical mind, they are as true now as if already achieved. the greatest minds in this country, too, have made most exhaustive arguments to prove the power of the ballot, and recognized the equality of all citizens, in our declaration of rights, in extending suffrage to all white men, and in the proposition to farther extend it to all black men. the great republican party (in which are many of the ablest men of the nation) declare that emancipation to the black man is a mockery, without the suffrage. when the thinking minds on both continents are agreed as to the power of the ballot in the hand of every man, it is surprising to hear educated americans ask, "what possible value would suffrage be to woman?" when, in the british parliament, the suffrage was extended to a million new voters, even lord derby and disraeli, who were opposed to the measure, said at once, now, if this class are to vote, we must establish schools for their education, showing the increased importance of every man who has a voice in the government, and the new interest of the rulers in his education. where all vote all must be educated; our public school system is the result of this principle in our government. when women vote, harvard, yale, and princeton will throw wide open their doors. woman is not an anomalous being outside all law, that one need make any special arguments to prove that what elevates and dignifies man will educate and dignify woman also. when she exercises her right of suffrage, she will study the science of government, gain new importance in the eyes of politicians, and have a free pass in the world of work. if the masses knew their power, they could turn the whole legislation of this country to their own advantage, and drive poverty, rags, and ignorance into the pacific ocean. if they would learn wisdom in the national labor conventions and not sell their votes to political tricksters, a system of finance, trade, and commerce, and co-operation could soon be established that would secure the rights of labor and put an end to the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. labor holds the ballot now, let it learn how to use it. educated women know how to use it now, let them have it. immediately after the convention in washington, mrs. stanton and miss anthony made their first tour through the western states, speaking at various points in missouri, illinois, wisconsin, and ohio, having been invited to attend several state conventions. the editorial correspondence in _the revolution_, gives a brief summary of this western trip, so valuable in its results, in the organization of many suffrage associations. these meetings aroused the women who had been absorbed by the war to new and higher duties, showing them that although the battles of freedom had been fought and settled by the sword, many questions growing out of the conflict were still to be adjusted by discussion and legislation, and that, all important as their work had been in helping to save the life of the nation, there were other duties to themselves as citizens on which the perpetuation of our free institutions as fully depended. to awaken women everywhere to a proper self-respect, was the special mission of the suffrage movement, and it was a labor, for the very elect were in favor of negro suffrage first, woman suffrage afterwards, which meant the postponement of the latter question for another generation. the few who had the prescience to see the long years of apathy that always follow a great conflict, strained every nerve to settle the broad question of suffrage on its true basis while the people were awake to its importance, but the blindness of reformers themselves in playing into the hands of the opposition, made all efforts unavailing. chicago, feb. , . dear revolution:--sitting on the platform in the chicago convention, we remember that the mail to-night must take a word to you. after traveling forty hours on the railroad, sitting two days in convention and talking in all the leisure hours outside, our missives to you must be short, but not spicy, for we feel like a squeezed sponge at the present writing. our journey hither, barring delays, was most charming. this was our first trip on the erie railroad, and although we had heard much of the majesty and beauty of the scenery through the valleys of the delaware and susquehanna, and the spacious, comfortable cars, the journey surpassed our expectations. the convention has been crowded and most enthusiastic throughout; judges, lawyers, clergymen, professors, all taking part in its deliberations. the women of this nation may congratulate themselves that their cause is near its triumph when such noble men as edward beecher, rev. mr. goodspeed, robert collyer, prof. haven, judge waite, and judge bradwell come forward in public to advocate their cause. mr. beecher made an able speech yesterday, showing that "manhood suffrage" was not the demand of this hour, but suffrage for all the citizens of the republic. he pointed out the necessity of woman's voice in the legislation of the country, not only for her own safety, but for the preservation of our free institutions. the secretary of the convention, mrs. j. f. willing of rockford, is a most accomplished woman. she understands greek, latin, french, german, italian, writes for several periodicals, and is the author of "through the dark to the light," a new book, it is said, of much power and merit. library hall has been literally packed throughout the convention; and, from the letters we have already received urging us to go hither and thither throughout the west, "the prairies seem to be all on fire with woman's suffrage." while politicians are trying to patch up the republican party, now near its last gasp, the people in the west are getting ready for the new national party, to combine the best elements of both the old ones, soon to be buried forever out of sight. woman's suffrage, greenbacks, free trade, homesteads for all, eight hours labor, and three per cent the legal interest, will be some of the planks in the platforms of the political parties of the future. mrs. livermore, the president of the convention, discharged the duties of her office with great executive ability, grace, and patience. the women of chicago are fortunate in having in her so wise and judicious a manager of their cause. she is a tall, dignified-looking woman, has a fine voice and pleasant address. william wells brown and anna dickinson enlivened the discussions of this afternoon. the former helped to annihilate "us" of _the revolution_ on the same resolutions we discussed at washington, and anna left mr. robert _laird_ collyer, who had already had a passage at arms with mrs. livermore and robert collyer, without one logical weapon for his defense. this gentleman and rev. mr. hammond, brother-in-law of owen lovejoy, not believing in woman's suffrage, were, unhappily for themselves, though to the great amusement of the audience, made the target for all the wit and satire of the platform. mr. hammond, in his death gasp, declared "he believed his bible," which did not help his case, for everyone else on the platform affirmed the same faith, with only this difference, they did not believe mr. hammond's interpretation of the good book. mrs. myra bradwell, editor of the chicago _legal news_, took a prominent part in the convention. she is a woman of great force and executive ability, and it is said her husband is indebted to her for his success in life. a telegram from mrs. minor, president of the woman's suffrage association in st. louis, says that they have announced us to speak there on monday evening. what will interest you more than all besides, is the unanimous passage of a resolution in the convention indorsing _the revolution_ as the national organ of the woman's suffrage movement. the chicago press has graciously given many columns to reports of the convention. e. c. s. st. louis, feb. . dear revolution:--while in chicago we attended a reception at mrs. william doggett's, where we met madame de herricourt, a distinguished french lady, who published an able work on woman some years since, in which she severely criticised several french writers, michelet among the rest, for their sentimental nonsense about the sex. she is a very brilliant woman, with a large head, a bright, expressive face, and a stout figure, rather below the medium height. we discussed several french writers, among others, victor hugo, and fully agreed as to his women--that they were all lamentable failures. it is strange that a writer who can paint such strong men should so utterly fade out whenever he attempts a woman, and, the strangest part of it is, that he does not see it himself, and get some gifted woman to draw his female characters. to make such grand men as jean valjean and gilliette love such types of womanhood as victor hugo creates, always did seem to us a desecration of that sentiment. we called to see sidney howard gay, one of the editors of the chicago _tribune_, and found him writing with his left hand, as, owing to a severe fall, his right hand had forgotten its cunning. if the grand position the chicago _tribune_ takes on woman suffrage, is the result of this accident, we wish all our republican editors in the east would take a left handed tilt at our question. sunday night we left chicago for st. louis in the palace cars, where we slept as comfortably as in our own home and breakfasted on the train in the morning. the dining-room was exquisitely arranged and the cooking excellent. the kitchen was a gem, and the cook, in the neatness and order of his person and all his surroundings, was a pink of male perfection. it really did seem like magic, to eat, sleep, read the morning papers, and talk with one's friends in bed-room, dining-room and parlor, dashing over the prairies at the rate of thirty miles an hour. while men can keep house in this charming manner, the world will not be utterly desolate when women _do_ vote. as we consider the great versatility in the talents of our noble countrymen, we are lost in admiration. they seem as much at home in watching the gyrations of an egg or oyster in hot water as the revolutions of the heavenly bodies; in making pins and buttons to unite garments that time and haste may have put asunder as in spanning continents with railroads and telegraphs. as we reached the eastern bank of the mississippi, we were met by a delegation of ladies and gentlemen to escort us to st. louis, where we found pleasant apartments in the southern hotel, which is extremely well kept, and where one is always sure of a "christian" cup of coffee. the tea and coffee in all the hotels on the route are the most miserable concoctions of hayseed and chiccory that were ever palmed off on a long-suffering, patient people. we had an enthusiastic meeting in st. louis, and found great interest manifested in the question of woman suffrage among many of its leading citizens. the ladies were in high spirits, as they had just returned from jefferson, where they had been most graciously received by their legislators. miss phoebe couzins had made an address at the capitol which was well received. she is a young lady of great beauty and talent, both as a writer and speaker, and is called the anna dickinson of the west. she is studying law, and hopes to be admitted to the senior class in the law school next year. her mother, a woman of rare capacity, is a candidate for the post office of st. louis. we hope she will get it. tuesday evening we had a reception in the parlors of the hotel. among others, we were happy to meet mrs. tittman, a highly cultivated german lady, sister of professor helyard, whom we met in washington. she announced that two of the german papers had come out in favor of woman suffrage that morning and confessed that they were converted the night before. we were surprised to hear that the paper controlled by carl schurz and emile pretorius had not taken that position long ago. but, from the character and influence of the german ladies there, it is evident that the german politicians must come to terms. mrs. minor, president of the missouri woman suffrage association, invited us to drive around and see the parks, gardens and new streets of the city. we drove to the polytechnic, and were received by mr. baily (librarian) and mr. devoll, ex-superintendent of schools. he said that he was ready to vote for educated suffrage, without distinction of sex. the ladies then proposed to go to the merchants' exchange and see the bulls and bears. accordingly we drove there, ascended into the galleries, and looked down upon a great crowd of men standing round long lines of tables covered with tin pie-plates. at first we thought they were lunching, but we soon perceived that the tins contained different kinds of grains and flour, which wise ones were carefully examining. as we stood there, laughing at the idiosyncrasies of the sons of adam, lo! two most polished gentlemen approached our charmed circle, and announced that they were a committee from the merchants on the floor to invite us to come down and address them. we descended with mr. john j. roe and mr. merritt and were introduced to the president of the board, george p. plant, and mr. blow, who escorted us to a temporary platform, and called the house to order. we made a short speech, and then there were loud calls from all parts of the house for miss couzins. she stepped forward and made a few pleasant remarks, when we all bowed graciously to the gallant gentlemen who conferred this great honor upon us, and retired. springfield, feb. . dear revolution:--we have been resting here at the capital of illinois a few days. of our meeting in the opera house we will say nothing about it, except that we had the governor and members of the legislature as attentive listeners, and the lieut.-governor for presiding officer, who made an admirable speech indorsing woman's suffrage. mrs. livermore made an able argument, though robert _laird_ collyer says we never have any logic on our platform, as if we had not been so logical in all our positions for the last twenty years that the dear men had no answer to make. poor fellows! as they saw their outposts, one after another taken, their fortresses riddled through and through, their own guns turned on their defenseless heads, and such fifty-pounders as "taxation without representation," "all men created equal," "no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed," hurled at them, no wonder they left logic and took up ridicule; and now, when we meet them with their own weapons, they say we can not reason. the drunken man always imagines the lamp-posts dancing. poor r. l. c., in the chicago convention, really thought his platitudes logic, and our logic sentiment. on arriving at springfield, we found the chicago delegation all ready to besiege the legislature. among them were mrs. mary a. livermore, mr. bradwell and his pretty wife myra, who edits the chicago _legal news_. we have met several members of the bar and judges of the supreme court, among others judge lawrence and judge breese. all these gentlemen of the bar are in favor of amending the laws and constitutions. one thing is certain, unless these republicans wheel in and do their duty, the democrats in the west will take up woman's suffrage. we would advise the western men to come into the measure generously and gracefully, and not be so obstinate and mulish as our eastern lords have been. there is no escape, and where is the use of courting disgrace and defeat? sharon tyndale, ex-secretary of state, escorted us to the house and senate, and introduced us to the heads of the departments. we had two pleasant interviews with gov. palmer. he talks very reasonably in regard to the enfranchisement of women, although he says he does not quite indorse it yet, but as he has a very clear, honest mind, he will soon convince himself that what the ballot has done towards elevating man it will do for woman also. the telegrams are flying in all directions for us to come here, there, everywhere. western women are wide-awake to-day. the question of submitting an amendment to the constitution to strike out the word "male," is under consideration. the poor "white male" is doomed. e. c. s. chicago, march . dear revolution:--from springfield, i went to bloomington, lectured before the young men's association to a large audience, and met there many liberal men and women. i found that the rev. mr. harrison had just fired a gun in the town paper on the lack of logic in the chicago convention and women's intuitions in general. it amuses me to hear the nonsense these men talk. they say god never intended woman to reason, they shut their college doors against her so that she can not study that manly accomplishment, and then they blame her for taking a short cut to the same conclusion they reach in their roundabout, lumbering processes of ratiocination. do these gentlemen wish us to set aside god's laws, pick up logic on the sidewalks, and go step by step to a point we can reach with one flash of intuition? as long as we have the gift of catching truth by the telegraph wires, neither the sage of bloomington nor robert laird collyer of chicago need ask us to go jogging after it in a stage-coach, perchance to be stuck in the mud on the highways as they are. it is enough to make angels weep to see how the logicians, skilled in the schools, are left floundering on every field before the simple intuitions of american womanhood. finding the ladies of bloomington somewhat scarified and nervous under the reverend's firing, like the good samaritan, i tried to pour oil and wine on their wounded spirits, by exalting intuition, and with a pitiful and patronizing tone deploring the slowness, the obtuseness, the materialism of most of the sons of adam. it had its effect. they soon dried their tears, and with returning self-respect, told me of all the wonderful things women were doing in that town. from the scintillations of wit, the fun and the laughter, an outsider would never have supposed that we were an oppressed class, and so hopelessly degraded in the statute laws and constitution. after the meeting we had a long talk with the clerical assailant, and were happy to find that the good man's pen had done his heart great injustice. he is rather morbid on the question of logic; but the most melancholy symptom of his disease is his hatred of _the revolution_. he says it is a very wicked paper, that he had felt it his duty to warn his congregation against taking it, thus depriving us of, at least, five hundred subscribers, though he read it himself (under protest) regularly every week. strange what a fascination evil things have even for those who minister at the altar! he advised me to strangle train, gibbet the financial editor, snub the proprietor, and to say no more in the paper on the questions of political economy, until we had one and all studied the subject. dear _revolution_, when i listened to those things, i had the same sinking of the heart that i used to feel when neighbors complained that my boys were running over their house-tops, dropping stones down their chimneys, ringing their bells then running away, throwing balls in their windows, and teazing the girls on the sidewalk. now, i do hope, dear _revolution_, you will not bring my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, but turn over a new leaf and adopt some christian means to get back these five hundred subscribers. the reverend gentleman said one thing that was like balm to my bruised spirit. he liked everything over the initials p. p. and e. c. s. _sub rosa_, p. p., we must try and circumvent train, and fill the paper ourselves. i met some grand women at bloomington, one who has been a successful merchant in the dry-goods business. she has not only supported her self and a family of children, but cleared $ , in five years. another lady is a furniture dealer; when her husband died she went on with the business, and although he was so much embarrassed that every one advised her to close up and save what she could, she has paid all the debts, saved a handsome sum of money, and been every way more successful than her husband before her. a lady is the head of an establishment where music and pianos are sold. she carries on a large business, and has been very successful. all these women with their intuitions seem to be doing much better than many who can boast the gift of reason. i should not be surprised if, in the progress of events, men should come to think that woman's gift, after all, is the more desirable. e. c. s. toledo, march . dear revolution:--a bright, crisp morning i found myself seated beside mrs. livermore in the train for milwaukee, whither we were going to attend a convention. in these eventful times of woman suffrage, having been separated a few days, on meeting, our hearts were overflowing with good news for one another. while i told mrs. l. all i had seen and heard at bloomington, and the various conversations i had had with dissenting "white males" on the trains, she told me her plans in regard to her new paper, the _agitator_. having decided to call such a journal into being, what its name should be was the question. accordingly a council was held of the wise men and willful women of chicago over the baptismal font of the new comer. the men, still clinging to the pleasant illusions that everything emanating from woman should be mild, gentle, serene, suggested "the lily," "the rose bud," "the new era," "the dawn of day;" but mrs. livermore, always heroic and brave, now defiant and determined, having fully awakened to the power and dignity of the ballot, and stung to the very soul with the proposed amendment for "manhood suffrage," declared that none of those names, however touching and beautiful, expressed what she intended the paper should be--nothing more or less than the twin sister of _the revolution_, whose mission is to turn everything inside out, upside down, wrong side before. with such intentions, she felt the _agitator_ was the only name that fully matched _the revolution_. all the women present echoed her sentiments, eschewing the "rose bud" dispensation and declaring that they would rather get the word "male" out of the constitution than to have a complete set of diamonds--rather have a right to property, wages, and children, than the best seats in the cars, and the tid-bits at the table. thus, with one simultaneous shout, the women proclaimed the _agitator_. the men calmly and sorrowfully resigned all hope of influence in the matter, and, as they dispersed, it was evident they looked mournfully into the future. good prof. haven said that the mere name of the _agitator_ gave him an ague chill, and what life would be to most men after this twin sister to _the revolution_ was under full headway, no one could predict. filled with profound pity for our beloved countrymen in this their hour of humiliation, we arrived in milwaukee, where a delegation of ladies and gentlemen awaited us, among whom were a nephew and niece of rufus peckham, of new york, young law students of great promise. we drove to the plankington house, where a suite of beautifully furnished apartments, with a bright fire in the grate, was prepared for us. the convention was held in the city hall, and lasted two days, three sessions each, and was crowded throughout. miss chapin, the regularly ordained pastor of the universalist church, was the president. mr. and miss peckham, dr. laura j. ross, and madam anneke were the ruling spirits of the convention. madam anneke, a german lady of majestic presence and liberal culture, made an admirable speech in her own language. the platform, besides an array of large, well-developed women, was graced with several reverend gentlemen--messrs. dudley, allison, eddy, and fellows--all of whom maintained woman's equality with eloquence and fervor. the bible was discussed from genesis to revelation, in all its bearings on the question under consideration. by special request i gave my bible argument, which was published in full in the daily papers. a rev. mr. love, who took the opposite view, maintained that the bible was opposed to woman's equality. he criticised some of my hebrew translations, and scientific expositions, but as the rest of the learned d.d.s sustained my views, i shall rest in the belief that brother love, with time and thought, will come to the same conclusions. a rev. mr. england also profanely claimed the bible on the side of tyranny, and seemed to think that "nature intended that the male should dominate over the female everywhere." as mr. e. is a small, thin, shadowy man, without much blood, muscle, or a very remarkable cerebral development, we would advise him always to avoid the branch of the argument he stumbled upon in the milwaukee convention--"the physical superiority of man." unfortunately for him, the platform illustrated the opposite, and the audience manifested, ever and anon, by suppressed laughter, that they saw the contrast between the large, well-developed brains and muscles of the women who sat there, and those of the speaker. either madam anneke, mrs. livermore, or dr. ross, could have taken the reverend gentleman up in her arms and run off with him. now, i mean nothing invidious toward small men, for some of the greatest men the world has known have been physically inferior, for example, lord nelson, napoleon, our own grant and sheridan, and ex-secretary seward. all i mean to say is, that it is not politic or in good taste for a small man to come before an audience and claim physical superiority; that branch of the argument should be left for the great, burly fellows six feet high and well-proportioned, who illustrate the assertion by their overpowering presence. we were happy to meet mr. butler in milwaukee, a good democrat, and one of the most distinguished lawyers in wisconsin, and to find in him an ardent supporter of our cause. i told him we were looking to the democrats to open the constitutional doors to the women in the several states. he said he thought they were getting ready to do so in the west. in milwaukee, my pet resolutions that had been voted down in washington and chicago passed without a dissenting voice. madison, wisconsin. hearing of the great enthusiasm at milwaukee, madison telegraphed for the convention to adjourn to the capitol and address the legislature. accordingly, on friday a large delegation took the train to that city. on arriving, the first person who greeted us was mr. croffet, formerly of the new york _tribune_. he went with us to the hotel where we were introduced to lawyers, judges, senators, generals, editors, republicans and democrats, who were alike ready to break a lance for woman. a splendid audience greeted us in the hall of representatives. governor fairchild presided. mrs. livermore, miss anthony and myself, all said the best things we could think of, and with as much vim as we could command after talking all day in the cars and every moment until we entered the capitol, without even the inspiration that comes from a good cup of tea or coffee. blessed are they who draw their inspirations from the stars, the grand and beautiful in nature, and the glory of the human face divine, for such sources niggardly landlords and ignorant cooks can neither muddle nor exhaust. after the meeting we were invited into the executive apartments and presented to mrs. fairchild, a woman of rare beauty, cultivation, and common sense. she, as well as the governor, expressed great interest in the question of woman's suffrage. the governor, with many others, subscribed for _the revolution_. from madison we returned to chicago. at janesville, wis., the postmaster, mr. burgess, came on board on his way to washington. in the course of conversation we learned that there had been some trouble in that town about the post office, and it was finally decided to submit the matter to a vote of the people. the result was that miss angeline king, mr. burgess's opponent, was chosen by fifty majority. this was a bomb shell in the male camp, and half a dozen men started for washington, to show general grant that they had, one and all, done braver deeds during the war than angie possibly could have done, and that their loyalty should be rewarded. angie, like a wise woman, stole the march on all of them, and reached washington before they started. if the people of janesville prefer angie, as they have shown they do by their votes, we think it would be well for the powers that be to confirm the choice of the people. in chicago, we were glad to meet again our charming friend, anna dickinson. miss anthony spent the day with her at mr. doggett's one of the liberal merchant princes of that city. the result of that day's cogitation was one of the most cutting speeches that the "gentle anna," as the _tribune_ called her, ever made. it was a severe, but just criticism of all the twaddle of the western press after the chicago woman's suffrage convention. liberty hall was crowded with a most enthusiastic audience, and although the press was not very complimentary the next day, the people who listened were delighted. she was advertised to give "fair play," but the west is tired of the negro question, and she was besieged on all sides to speak on woman, which she did with great effect. e. c. s. galena, march . dear revolution:--as you look at the date, your patriotic heart will palpitate to think that the women of _the revolution_ have taken possession of the home of the president, and propose to hold a woman suffrage convention right under the very shadow of his flagstaff, peering up beside one chimney of a large square brick house with a flat roof. said house is situated on a high hill with pleasant grounds about. at the present writing we are on the opposite hill under the hospitable roof of "sarah coates," whose name appears in the reports of all the early ohio conventions. she is now mrs. harris. we arrived here this morning at six o'clock, and found good mr. harris waiting for us at the depot. he is one of the oldest and wealthiest inhabitants in the county. they have a beautiful home, surrounded with every comfort and luxury. mrs. harris is a noble woman, tall, fine-looking, and moves about among her household gods like a queen. although she has a large family of black-eyed, rosy-cheeked children, pictures, statuary, a cabinet of rare minerals, a conservatory of beautiful plants, and a husband who thinks her but little lower than the angels, she still demands the right to vote, and occasionally indulges in the luxury of public speaking. she is the moving spirit in every step of progress in galena, and was the president of the convention. we have had a most enthusiastic meeting, three sessions, and house crowded throughout on an admission fee of twenty-five cents. the women all over the west are wide-awake. theodore tilton had just preceded us, and some ladies laughingly told us that theodore said they would _certainly_ vote in _twenty years_!! let our cold-blooded eastern reformers understand that ideas, like grains, grow fast in the west, and that women here intend to vote now, "right along," as the hutchinsons sing. the editor of the _independent_ may talk of twenty years down on the hudson among the rip van winkles in spookey hollow, to h. g. in new york, or w. p. at the "hub," but never to western audiences, or to the women of _the revolution_. why, mr. tilton, when you go to the senate some wise woman will sit on your right, and some black man on your left. you are to pay the penalty of your theorizing and be sandwiched between a woman and a black man in all the laws and constitutions before five years pass over your curly head. twenty years! why, theodore, we expect to be walking the golden streets of the new jerusalem by that time, talking with noah, moses, and aaron, about the flood, the pharaohs, the journey through the red sea and the wilderness. we shall be holding conventions by that time on the banks of the jordan with eve, sarah, rebecca, huldah, deborah, miriam, ruth, naomi, sheba, esther, vashti, mary, elizabeth, priscilla and phebe, tryphena and tryphosa, and all the strong-minded women honorably mentioned in sacred history. do you not know, theodore, that we have vowed never to go disfranchised into the kingdom of heaven? in the meantime, we propose to discuss sanitary and sumptuary laws, finance, and free trade, religion and railroads, education and elections with such worthies as yourself in the councils of the american republic. twenty years! why, every white male in the nation will be tied to an apron-string by that time, while all the poets and philosophers will be writing essays on "the sphere of man"! we found the good men and women of galena filled with faith in the new president. they say he is a sober, honest, true man; that he will entirely revolutionize affairs at washington, send the old political hacks to their homes, drive bribery and corruption from high places, and draw a new order of statesmen about him. may the good angels guide and strengthen him, for unless something is soon done to rouse the slumbering virtue of the american people, our sun will set in darkness to rise no more. feeling the deepest interest in the past, the present, and the future of ulysses, we asked a thousand questions concerning him. among other things, we proposed to go to the tannery where he used to work, but found that was a myth. we peeped into some of the stores where, in his leisure hours, he used to smoke the pipe of peace, and fancied that in walking up and down the streets our feet might be treading in his footsteps. what a fascination there is in the material surroundings of great souls, and in contact with the people who have seen and loved them! but, alas, how little of the inner life, that is most interesting to hear about, mortals ever reveal to one another. on the way from galena to toledo we met frederick douglass, dressed in a cap and a great circular cape of wolf-skins. he really presented a most formidable and ferocious aspect. i thought perhaps he intended to illustrate "william the silent" in his northern dress, as well as to depict his character in his lyceum lecture. as i had been talking against the pending amendment of "manhood suffrage," i trembled in my shoes and was almost as paralyzed as red riding hood in a similar encounter. but unlike the little maiden, i had a friend at hand, and, as usual in the hour of danger, i fell back in the shadow of miss anthony, who stepped forward bravely and took the wolf by the hand. his hearty words of welcome and gracious smile reassured me, so that when my time came i was able to meet him with the usual _suaviter in modo_. our joy in shaking hands here and there with douglass, tilton, and anna dickinson, through the west, was like meeting ships at sea; as pleasant and as fleeting. douglass's hair is fast becoming as white as snow, which adds greatly to the dignity of his countenance. we hear his lecture on "william the silent" much praised. mr. tilton's lecture too, on "statesmanship," is said to be the best he has ever delivered. we had an earnest debate with douglass as far as we journeyed together, and were glad to find that he was gradually working up to our ideas on the question of suffrage. he is at present hanging by the eyelids half-way between the lofty position of robert purvis, and the narrow one of george w. downing. as he will attend the woman suffrage anniversary in new york in may, we shall have an opportunity for a full and free discussion of the whole question. toledo, ohio. at two o'clock in the morning we reached toledo, drove to the oliver house, registered our names, left some notes for friends, who would be looking for us next day, and then retired, giving orders not to be called till noon, even for the king of france. at the appointed hour our friend, mr. israel hall, formerly of syracuse, was announced. he invited us to his hospitable home, where we stayed during the convention, which was held in hunker's hall and pronounced a complete success. at the close of the meetings, a rising vote was called of all those in favor of woman's suffrage. the entire audience, men and women, rose as if one body. two dissenting "white males" (small, men of course) came to the surface in opposition, to the great amusement of everybody. the platform throughout the meetings was occupied by some of the leading men and women of the city. judge jones called the convention to order and presided over its deliberations. there was no lack of questions in toledo, but they were all cunningly propounded in writing. this was a new feature in our meetings and we were much struck with its wisdom. the questioner in an audience, no matter how bland and benevolent, is always viewed with aversion, and, however well armed at all points, is sure to be unhorsed by a brilliant sally of wit and ridicule. but when a poser is put in black and white, nothing will do but downright logic and argument. to that _unwomanly_ work we addressed ourselves in the toledo convention, and all admitted that we gave most satisfactory answers. mrs. israel hall is the one who heads the woman's rebellion here. to her let all those write and go who wish to work in that part of the lord's vineyard. we are glad to see by the papers that while we have been so enthusiastically received in the west, lucy stone is drawing crowded houses in all the chief cities of new england. e. c. s. the may anniversaries in new york and brooklyn. the executive committee of the equal rights association issued a call[ ] for the anniversary in new york, early in the spring of . never for any convention were so many letters[ ] written to distinguished legislators and editors, nor so many promptly and fairly answered. the anniversary commenced on wednesday morning at steinway hall, new york. the opening session was very largely attended, the spacious hall being nearly full, showing that the era of anniversaries of important and useful societies, had by no means passed away.[ ] in the absence of the president, mrs. lucretia mott, the chair was taken by mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, first vice-president. rev. mrs. hanaford, of massachusetts, opened the meeting with prayer. lucy stone presented verbally the report of the executive committee for the past year, running over the petitions in favor of woman suffrage presented during the year to congress and state legislatures and the various conventions held in different parts of the country, and remarked upon the greater respect now shown to the petitions. formerly, she said, they were laughed at, and frequently not at all considered. this last year they were referred to committees, and often debated at great length in the legislatures, and in some cases motions to submit to the people of the state an amendment to the state constitution doing away with the distinction of sex in the matter of suffrage was rejected by very small majorities. in one state, that of nevada, such a motion was carried; and the question will shortly be submitted to the people of the state. a number of important and very successful conventions have been held in the western states, and have made a decided impression. but what is most significant is, that newspapers of all shades of opinion are giving a great deal of space to this subject. it is recognized as among the great questions of the age, which can not be put down until it is settled upon the basis of immutable justice and right. the report was unanimously accepted and adopted. rev. o. b. frothingham.--i am not here this morning thinking that i can add any thing to the strength of the cause, but thinking that perhaps i may gain something from the generous, sweet atmosphere that i am sure will prevail. this is a meeting, if i understand it, of the former woman's rights association, and the subjects which come before us properly are the subjects which concern woman in all her social, civil, and domestic life. but the one question which is of vital moment and of sole prominence, is that of suffrage. all other questions have been virtually decided in favor of woman. she has the _entrée_ to all the fields of labor. she is now the teacher, preacher, artist, she has a place in the scientific world--in the literary world. she is a journalist, a maker of books, a public reader; in fact, there is no position which woman, as woman, is not entitled to hold. but there is one position that woman, as woman, does not occupy, and that is the position of a voter. one field alone she does not possess, and that is the political field; one work she is not permitted, and that is the work of making laws. this question goes down to the bottom--it touches the vital matter of woman's relation to the state.... is there anything in the constitution of the female mind, to disqualify her for the exercise of the franchise. as long as there are fifty, thirty, ten, or even one woman who is capable of exercising this trust or holding this responsibility it demonstrates that sex, as a sex, does not disfranchise, and the whole question is granted. (applause.) here our laws are made by irresponsible people--people who demoralize and debauch society; people who make their living in a large measure by upholding the institutions that are inherently, forever, and always corrupt. (applause.) laws that are made by the people who own dramshops, who keep gambling-saloons, who minister to the depraved passions and vices of either sex, laws made by the idler, the dissipated, by the demoralized--are they laws? it is true that this government is founded upon caste. slavery is abolished, but the aristocracy of sex is not. one reason that the suffrage is not conceded to woman is that those who refuse to do so, do not appreciate it themselves. (applause.) as long as the power of suffrage means the power to steal, to tread down the weak, and get the rich offices into their own hands, those who have the key of the coffers will wish to keep it in their own pockets. (applause.) the committee on organization reported the officers of the society for the ensuing year.[ ] stephen foster laid down the principle that when any persons on account of strong objections against them in the minds of some, prevented harmony in a society and efficiency in its operations, those persons should retire from prominent positions in that society. he said he had taken that course when, as agent of the anti-slavery society, he became obnoxious on account of his position on some questions. he objected, to certain nominations made by the committee for various reasons. the first was that the persons nominated had publicly repudiated the principles of the society. one of these was the presiding officer. mrs. stanton:--i would like you to say in what respect. mr. foster:--i will with pleasure; for, ladies and gentlemen, i admire our talented president with all my heart, and love the woman. (great laughter.) but i believe she has publicly repudiated the principles of the society. mrs. stanton:--i would like mr. foster to state in what way. mr. foster:--what are these principles? the equality of men--universal suffrage. these ladies stand at the head of a paper which has adopted as its motto educated suffrage. i put myself on this platform as an enemy of educated suffrage, as an enemy of white suffrage, as an enemy of man suffrage, as an enemy of every kind of suffrage except universal suffrage. _the revolution_ lately had an article headed "that infamous fifteenth amendment." it is true it was not written by our president, yet it comes from a person whom she has over and over again publicly indorsed. i am not willing to take george francis train on this platform with his ridicule of the negro and opposition to his enfranchisement. mrs. mary a. livermore:--is it quite generous to bring george francis train on this platform when he has retired from _the revolution_ entirely? mr. foster:--if _the revolution_, which has so often indorsed george francis train, will repudiate him because of his course in respect to the negro's rights, i have nothing further to say. but it does not repudiate him. he goes out; it does not cast him out. miss anthony:--of course it does not. mr. foster:--my friend says yes to what i have said. i thought it was so. i only wanted to tell you why the massachusetts society can not coalesce with the party here, and why we want these women to retire and leave us to nominate officers who can receive the respect of both parties. the massachusetts abolitionists can not co-operate with this society as it is now organized. if you choose to put officers here that ridicule the negro, and pronounce the amendment infamous, why i must retire; i can not work with you. you can not have my support, and you must not use my name. i can not shoulder the responsibility of electing officers who publicly repudiate the principles of the society. henry b. blackwell said: in regard to the criticisms on our officers, i will agree that many unwise things have been written in _the revolution_ by a gentleman who furnished part of the means by which that paper has been carried on. but that gentleman has withdrawn, and you, who know the real opinions of miss anthony and mrs. stanton on the question of negro suffrage, do not believe that they mean to create antagonism between the negro and the woman question. if they did disbelieve in negro suffrage, it would be no reason for excluding them. we should no more exclude a person from our platform for disbelieving negro suffrage than a person should be excluded from the anti-slavery platform for disbelieving woman suffrage. but i know that miss anthony and mrs. stanton believe in the right of the negro to vote. we are united on that point. there is no question of principle between us. the vote on the report of the committee on organization was now taken, and adopted by a large majority. mr. douglass:--i came here more as a listener than to speak, and i have listened with a great deal of pleasure to the eloquent address of the rev. mr. frothingham and the splendid address of the president. there is no name greater than that of elizabeth cady stanton in the matter of woman's rights and equal rights, but my sentiments are tinged a little against _the revolution_. there was in the address to which i allude the employment of certain names, such as "sambo," and the gardener, and the bootblack, and the daughters of jefferson and washington, and all the rest that i can not coincide with. i have asked what difference there is between the daughters of jefferson and washington and other daughters. (laughter.) i must say that i do not see how any one can pretend that there is the same urgency in giving the ballot to woman as to the negro. with us, the matter is a question of life and death, at least, in fifteen states of the union. when women, because they are women, are hunted down through the cities of new york and new orleans; when they are dragged from their houses and hung upon lamp-posts; when their children are torn from their arms, and their brains dashed out upon the pavement; when they are objects of insult and outrage at every turn; when they are in danger of having their homes burnt down over their heads; when their children are not allowed to enter schools; then they will have an urgency to obtain the ballot equal to our own. (great applause.) a voice:--is that not all true about black women? mr. douglass:--yes, yes, yes; it is true of the black woman, but not because she is a woman, but because she is black. (applause.) julia ward howe at the conclusion of her great speech delivered at the convention in boston last year, said: "i am willing that the negro shall get the ballot before me." (applause.) woman! why, she has , modes of grappling with her difficulties. i believe that all the virtue of the world can take care of all the evil. i believe that all the intelligence can take care of all the ignorance. (applause.) i am in favor of woman's suffrage in order that we shall have all the virtue and vice confronted. let me tell you that when there were few houses in which the black man could have put his head, this woolly head of mine found a refuge in the house of mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, and if i had been blacker than sixteen midnights, without a single star, it would have been the same. (applause.) miss anthony:--the old anti-slavery school say women must stand back and wait until the negroes shall be recognized. but we say, if you will not give the whole loaf of suffrage to the entire people, give it to the most intelligent first. (applause.) if intelligence, justice, and morality are to have precedence in the government, let the question of woman be brought up first and that of the negro last. (applause.) while i was canvassing the state with petitions and had them filled with names for our cause to the legislature, a man dared to say to me that the freedom of women was all a theory and not a practical thing. (applause.) when mr. douglass mentioned the black man first and the woman last, if he had noticed he would have seen that it was the men that clapped and not the women. there is not the woman born who desires to eat the bread of dependence, no matter whether it be from the hand of father, husband, or brother; for any one who does so eat her bread places herself in the power of the person from whom she takes it. (applause.) mr. douglass talks about the wrongs of the negro; but with all the outrages that he to-day suffers, he would not exchange his sex and take the place of elizabeth cady stanton. (laughter and applause.) mr. douglass:--i want to know if granting you the right of suffrage will change the nature of our sexes? (great laughter.) miss anthony:--it will change the pecuniary position of woman; it will place her where she can earn her own bread. (loud applause.) she will not then be driven to such employments only as man chooses for her. mrs. norton said that mr. douglass's remarks left her to defend the government from the inferred inability to grapple with the two questions at once. it legislates upon many questions at one and the same time, and it has the power to decide the woman question and the negro question at one and the same time. (applause.) mrs. lucy stone:--mrs. stanton will, of course, advocate the precedence for her sex, and mr. douglass will strive for the first position for his, and both are perhaps right. if it be true that the government derives its authority from the consent of the governed, we, are safe in trusting that principle to the uttermost. if one has a right to say that you can not read and therefore can not vote, then it may be said that you are a woman and therefore can not vote. we are lost if we turn away from the middle principle and argue for one class. i was once a teacher among fugitive slaves. there was one old man, and every tooth was gone, his hair was white, and his face was full of wrinkles, yet, day after day and hour after hour, he came up to the school-house and tried with patience to learn to read, and by-and-by, when he had spelled out the first few verses of the first chapter of the gospel of st. john, he said to me, "now, i want to learn to write." i tried to make him satisfied with what he had acquired, but the old man said, "mrs. stone, somewhere in the wide world i have a son; i have not heard from him in twenty years; if i should hear from him, i want to write to him, so take hold of my hand and teach me." i did, but before he had proceeded in many lessons, the angels came and gathered him up and bore him to his father. let no man speak of an educated suffrage. the gentleman who addressed you claimed that the negroes had the first right to the suffrage, and drew a picture which only his great word-power can do. he again in massachusetts, when it had cast a majority in favor of grant and negro suffrage, stood upon the platform and said that woman had better wait for the negro; that is, that both could not be carried, and that the negro had better be the one. but i freely forgave him because he felt as he spoke. but woman suffrage is more imperative than his own; and i want to remind the audience that when he says what the ku-kluxes did all over the south, the ku-kluxes here in the north in the shape of men, take away the children from the mother, and separate them as completely as if done on the block of the auctioneer. over in new jersey they have a law which says that _any_ father--he might be the most brutal man that ever existed--_any_ father, it says, whether he be under age or not, may by his last will and testament dispose of the custody of his child, born or to be born, and that such disposition shall be good against all persons, and that the mother may not recover her child; and that law modified in form exists over every state in the union except in kansas. woman has an ocean of wrongs too deep for any plummet, and the negro, too, has an ocean of wrongs that can not be fathomed. there are two great oceans; in the one is the black man, and in the other is the woman. but i thank god for that xv. amendment, and hope that it will be adopted in every state. i will be thankful in my soul if _any_ body can get out of the terrible pit. but i believe that the safety of the government would be more promoted by the admission of woman as an element of restoration and harmony than the negro. i believe that the influence of woman will save the country before every other power. (applause.) i see the signs of the times pointing to this consummation, and i believe that in some parts of the country women will vote for the president of these united states in . (applause.) at the opening of the evening session henry b. blackwell presented a series of resolutions.[ ] antoinette brown blackwell spoke, and was followed by olive logan. miss logan said:--i stand here to-night full of faith, inborn faith, in the rights of woman to advance boldly in all ennobling paths.... in my former sphere of life, the equality of woman was fully recognized so far as the kind of labor and the amount of reward for her labor are concerned. as an actress, there was no position in which i was not fully welcomed if i possessed the ability and industry to reach it. if i could become a ristori, my earnings would be as great as hers, and if i was a man and could become a kean, a macready, or a booth, the same reward would be obtained. if i reach no higher rank than what is called a "walking lady," i am sure of the same pay as a man who occupies the position of a "walking gentleman." in that sphere of life, be it remembered, i was reared from childhood; to that place i was so accustomed that i had no idea it was a privilege denied my sex to enter into almost every other field of endeavor. in literature also i found myself on an equality with man. if i wrote a good article, i got as good pay; and heaven knows the pay to man or woman was small enough. (applause). in that field, for a long time, i did not feel an interest in the subject of women's rights, and stood afar off, looking at the work of those revolutionary creatures, mrs. stanton and miss anthony. the idea of identifying myself with them was as far removed from my thoughts as becoming a female gymnast and whirling upon a trapeze. but once i wrote a lecture, and one night i delivered it. adhering to my practice of speaking about that which was most familiar, my lecture was about the stage. i lectured, simply because i thought the pay would be better in that department; the idea that i was running counter to anybody's prejudice, never entered my head. and i was so far removed that i never read a page of _the revolution_ in my life, and, what is more, i did not want to; and when miss anthony passed down broadway and saw the bills announcing my lecture she knew nothing about me, and what is more, she did not want to. (laughter). she made a confession to me afterwards. she said to herself, "here is a lady going to lecture about the stage," looking through her blessed spectacles, as i can see her (laughter)--and i can hear her muttering "a woman's rights woman." (laughter). that is not so very long ago, a little over a year. since this great question of woman's rights was thrust upon me, i am asked to define my position; wherever i have traveled in the fifteen months i have had to do so. a lady of society asked me, "are you in favor of woman's rights?" i had either to answer yes or no, and "yes," i said. (applause).... i met, in my travels, in a new england town, an educated woman, who found herself obliged to earn her livelihood, after living a life of luxury and ease. her husband, who had provided her with every material comfort, had gone to the grave. all his property was taken to pay his debts, and she found herself penniless. what was that woman to do? she looks abroad among the usual employments of women, and her only resource seems to be that little bit of steel around which cluster so many associations--the needle--and by the needle, with the best work and the best wages, the most she can get is two dollars a day. with this, poor as it is, she will be content; but she finds an army of other women looking for the same, and most of them looking in vain. these things have opened my eyes to a vista such as i never saw before. they have touched my heart as it never before was touched. they have aroused my conscience to the fact that this woman question is the question of the hour, and that i must take part in it. i take my stand boldly, proudly, with such earnest, thoughtful women as susan b. anthony, mrs. stanton, and anna dickinson, to work together with them for the enfranchisement of woman, for her elevation personally and socially, and above all for her right and opportunity to work at such employments as she can follow, with the right to such pay as men get. (applause). there are thousands of women who have no vital interest in this question. they are happy wives and daughters, and may they ever be so; but they can not tell how soon their husbands and brothers may be lost to them, and they will find themselves destitute and penniless with no resources in themselves against misfortune. then it will be for such that we labor. our purpose is to help those who need help, widows and orphan girls. there is no need to do battle in this matter. in all kindness and gentleness we urge our claims. there is no need to declare war upon man, for the best of men in this country are with us heart and soul. these are with us in greater numbers even than our own sex. (a voice--"that is true." great applause). do not say that we seek to break up family peace and fireside joy; far from it. (applause). we interfere not with the wife or daughter who is happy in the strong protection thrown around her by a father or husband, but it is cowardice for such to throw obstacles in the way of those who need help. more than this, for the sake of the helpless woman, to whose unhappiness in the loss of beloved ones is added the agony of hard and griping want. for the sake of the poor girl who has no power to cope with the hard actualities of a desolate life, while her trembling feet tread the crumbling edge of the dark abyss of infamy. for the sake of this we are pleading and entertaining this great question, withhold your answer till at least you have learned to say, "god speed." the next speaker was miss phoebe couzins, a young law student from st. louis, who spoke in a most agreeable and forcible manner. miss couzins said:--mrs. president and ladies: i deem it the duty of every earnest woman to express herself in regard to the xvth amendment to our federal constitution. i feel deeply the humiliation and insult that is offered to the women of the united states in this amendment, and have always publicly protested against its passage. during a recent tour through the eastern states i became still more (if that were possible) firmly fixed in my convictions. its advocates are unwilling to have it publicly discussed, showing that they know there is an element of weakness in it which will not bear a thorough investigation. while feeling entirely willing that the black man shall have all the rights to which he is justly entitled, i consider the claims of the black woman of paramount importance. i have had opportunities of seeing and knowing the condition of both sexes, and will bear my testimony, that the black women are, and always have been, in a far worse condition than the men. as a class, they are better, and more intelligent than the men, yet they have been subjected to greater brutalities, while compelled to perform exactly the same labor as men toiling by their side in the fields, just as hard burdens imposed upon them, just as severe punishments decreed to them, with the added cares of maternity and household work, with their children taken from them and sold into bondage; suffering a thousandfold more than any man could suffer. then, too, the laws for women in the southern states, both married and single, degrade them still further. the black men, as a class, are very tyrannical in their families; they have learned the lesson of brute force but too well, and as the marriage law allows the husband entire control over his wife's earnings and her children, she is in worse bondage than before; because in many cases the task of providing for helpless children and an idle, lazy, husband, is imposed on the patient wife and mother; and, with this sudden elevation to citizenship, which the mass of stupid, ignorant negroes look upon as entitling them to great honor, i regard the future state of the negro woman, without the ballot in her hand, as deplorable. and what is said of the ignorant black man can as truthfully be said of the ignorant white man; they all regard woman as an inferior being. she is their helpless, household slave. he is her ruler, her law-giver, her conscience, her judge and jury, and the prisoner at the bar has no appeal. this xvth amendment thrusts all women still further down in the scale of degradation, and i consider it neither praiseworthy nor magnanimous for women to assert that they are willing to hold their claims in abeyance, until all shades and types of men have the franchise. it is admitting a false principle, which all women, who are loyal to truth and justice, should immediately reject. for over twenty-five years, the advocates of woman suffrage have been trying to bring this vital question before the country. they have accomplished herculean tasks and still it is up-hill work. shall they, after battling so long with ignorance, prejudice and unreasoning customs, stand quietly back and obsequiously say they are willing that the floodgates shall be opened and a still greater mass of ignorance, vice and degradation let in to overpower their little army, and set this question back for a century? their solemn duty to future generations forbids such a compromise. the advocates of the xvth amendment tell us we ought to accept the half loaf when we can not get the whole. i do not see that woman gets any part of the loaf, not even a crumb that falls from the rich man's table. it may appear very magnanimous for men, who have never known the degradation of being thrust down in the scale of humanity by reason of their sex, to urge these yielding measures upon women, they can not and do not know our feelings on the subject, and i regard it as neither just nor generous to eternally compel women to yield on all questions (no matter how humiliating), simply because they are women. the anti-slavery party declares that with the adoption of the xvth amendment their work is done. have they, then, been battling for over thirty years for a fraction of a principle? if so, then the xvth amendment is a fitting capstone to their labors. were the earnest women who fought and endured so heroically with them, but tools in the hands of the leaders, to place "manhood suffrage" on the highest pinnacle of the temple dedicated to truth and justice? and are they now to bow down, and worship in abject submission this fractional part of a principle, that has hitherto proclaimed itself, as knowing neither bond nor free, male nor female, but one perfect humanity? the xv. amendment virtually says that every intelligent, virtuous woman is the inferior of every ignorant man, no matter how low he may be sunk in the scale of morality, and every instinct of my being rises to refute such doctrine, and god speaking within me says, no! eternally no! rev. gilbert haven, editor of _zion's herald_, was introduced, and said--ladies and gentlemen: as i believe that is the way to address you, or shall i merge you into one and call you fellow citizens-- miss anthony--let me tell you how to say it. it is perfectly right for a gentleman to say "ladies and gentlemen," but a lady should say, "gentlemen and ladies." (great applause.) you mention your friend's name before you do your own. (applause.) i always feel like rebuking any woman who says, "ladies and gentlemen." it is a lack of good manners. (laughter and great applause.) mr. haven--i thank the lady for the rule she has laid down. now, mr. beecher has said that a minister is composed of the worst part of man and woman, and there are wealthy men who say that the pulpit should be closed against the introduction of politics, but i am glad this sentiment is not a rule; i rejoice that the country has emancipated the ministry so that a minister can speak on politics. i go further than saying that it is the mere right of the women to achieve suffrage. i say that it is an obligation imposed upon the american people to grant the demands of this large and influential class of the commonwealth. the legislation of the country concerns the woman as much as the man. is not the wife as much interested in the preservation of property as her husband? another reason is, that the purity of politics depends upon the admission of woman to the franchise, for without her influence morality in politics can not be secured. (applause.) henry b. blackwell presented the following resolution: _resolved_, that in seeking to remove the legal disabilities which now oppress woman as wife and mother, the friends of woman suffrage are not seeking to undermine or destroy the sanctity of the marriage relation, but to ennoble marriage, making the obligations and responsibilities of the contract mutual and equal for husband and wife. mary a. livermore said that that was introduced by her permission, but the original resolution was stronger, and she having slept over it, thought that it should be introduced instead of that one, and offered the following: _resolved_, that while we recognize the disabilities which the legal marriage imposes upon woman as wife and mother, and while we pledge ourselves to seek their removal by putting her on equal terms with man, we abhorrently repudiate free loveism as horrible and mischievous to society, and disown any sympathy with it. mrs. livermore said that the west wanted some such resolution as that in consequence of the innuendoes that had come to their ears with regard to their striving after the ballot. mrs. hanaford spoke against such inferences not only for the ministers of her own denomination, but the christian men and women of new england everywhere. she had heard people say that when women indorsed woman suffrage they indorsed free loveism, and god knows they despise it. let me carry back to my new england home the word that you as well as your honored president, whom we love, whose labor we appreciate, and whose name has also been dragged into this inference, scout all such suggestions as contrary to the law of god and humanity. lucy stone: i feel it is a mortal shame to give any foundation for the implication that we favor free loveism. i am ashamed that the question should be asked here. there should be nothing said about it at all. do not let us, for the sake of our own self-respect, allow it to be hinted that we helped forge a shadow of a chain which comes in the name of free love. i am unwilling that it should be suggested that this great, sacred cause of ours means anything but what we have said it does. if any one says to me, "oh, i know what you mean, you mean free love by this agitation," let the lie stick in his throat. you may talk about free love, if you please, but we are to have the right to vote. to-day we are fined, imprisoned, and hanged, without a jury trial by our peers. you shall not cheat us by getting us off to talk about something else. when we get the suffrage, then you may taunt us with anything you please, and we will then talk about it as long as you please. ernestine l. rose: we are informed by the people from the west that they are wiser than we are, and that those in the east are also wiser than we are. if they are wiser than we, i think it strange that this question of free love should have been brought upon this platform at all. i object to mrs. livermore's resolution, not on account of its principles, but on account of its pleading guilty. when a man comes to me and tries to convince me that he is not a thief, then i take care of my coppers. if we pass this resolution that we are not free lovers, people will say it is true that you are, for you try to hide it. lucretia mott's name has been mentioned as a friend of free love, but i hurl back the lie into the faces of all the ministers in the east and into the faces of the newspapers of the west, and defy them to point to one shadow of a reason why they should connect her name with that vice. we have been thirty years in this city before the public, and it is an insult to all the women who have labored in this cause; it is an insult to the thousands and tens of thousands of men and women that have listened to us in our conventions, to say at this late hour that we are not free lovers. susan b. anthony repudiated the resolution on the same ground as mrs. rose, and said this howl came from those men who knew that when women got their rights they would be able to live honestly: no longer be compelled to sell themselves for bread, either in or out of marriage. mrs. dr. l. s. batchelder, a delegate appointed by the boston working women's association, said that she represented ten thousand working women of new england, and they had instructed her as their representative to introduce a resolution looking to the amelioration of the condition of the working women. senator wilson spoke as follows: this is a rather new place for me to stand, and yet i am very glad to say that i have no new views in regard to this question. i learned fifteen or twenty years ago something about this reform in its earliest days, when the excellent people, who have labored so long with so much earnestness and fidelity, first launched it before the country. i never knew the time in the last fifteen or twenty years that i was not ready to give my wife the right to vote if she wanted it. i believe in the declaration of independence in its full scope and meaning; believing it was born of christianity; that it came from the teachings of the new testament; and i am willing to trust the new testament and the declaration of independence anywhere on god's earth, and to adopt their doctrine in the fullest and broadest manner. i do not know that all the good in the world will be accomplished when the women of the united states have the right to vote. but it is sure to come. truth is truth, and will stand. mrs. ernestine l. rose referred to the assertion of the rev. mr. haven, that the seeds of the woman's rights reform were sown in massachusetts, and proceeded to disprove it. thirty-two years ago she went round in new york city with petitions to the legislature to obtain for married women the right to hold property in their own names. she only got five names the first year, but she and others persevered for eleven years, and finally succeeded. who, asked mrs. rose, was the first to call a national convention of women--new york or massachusetts? [applause.] i like to have justice done and honor given where it is due. mrs. sarah f. norton, of the new york working woman's association, referring to the former attempt to exclude the discussion of the relations of capital and labor, argued that the question was an appropriate one in any woman's rights convention, and proposed that some member of the new york working women's association be heard on that point. mrs. eleanor kirk accordingly described the beginning, progress, and operations of the association. she also replied to the recent criticism of the _world_ upon the semi-literary, semi-woman's rights nature of the meetings of their associations, and contended that they had a perfect right to debate and read essays, and do anything else that other women might do. mrs. mary f. davis spoke in behalf of the rights of her own sex, but expressed her willingness to see the negro guaranteed in his rights, and would wait if only one question could be disposed of. but she thought they would not have to wait long, for the hon. mr. wilson had assured them that their side is to be strongly and successfully advocated. every step in the great cause of human rights helps the next one forward. in mrs. stanton called the first convention at seneca falls. miss anthony: and lucretia mott. mrs. davis: yes, and lucretia mott; and i love to speak of them in association. mrs. rose has alluded to the primary steps she took, and there were susan b. anthony, lucy stone, antoinette brown blackwell, and paulina wright davis, and a great galaxy who paved the way; and we stand here to proclaim the immortal principle of woman's freedom. [great applause.] the lady then referred to the great work that lay before them in lifting out of misery and wretchedness the numbers of women in this city and elsewhere, who were experiencing all the fullness of human degradation. even when they had finished their present work, a large field was still before them in the elevation of their sex. [applause.] mrs. paulina w. davis said she would not be altogether satisfied to have the xvth amendment passed without the xvith, for woman would have a race of tyrants raised above her in the south, and the black women of that country would also receive worse treatment than if the amendment was not passed. take any class that have been slaves, and you will find that they are the worst when free, and become the hardest masters. the colored women of the south say they do not want to get married to the negro, as their husbands can take their children away from them, and also appropriate their earnings. the black women are more intelligent than the men, because they have learned something from their mistresses. she then related incidents showing how black men whip and abuse their wives in the south. one of her sister's servants whipped his wife every sunday regularly. [laughter.] she thought that sort of men should not have the making of the laws for the government of the women throughout the land. [applause.] mr. douglass said that all disinterested spectators would concede that this equal rights meeting had been pre-eminently a woman's rights meeting. [applause.] they had just heard an argument with which he could not agree--that the suffrage to the black men should be postponed to that of the women. i do not believe the story that the slaves who are enfranchised become the worst of tyrants. [a voice, "neither do i." applause.] i know how this theory came about. when a slave was made a driver, he made himself more officious than the white driver, so that his master might not suspect that he was favoring those under him. but we do not intend to have any master over us. [applause.] the president, mrs. stanton, argued that not another man should be enfranchised until enough women are admitted to the polls to outweigh those already there. [applause.] she did not believe in allowing ignorant negroes and foreigners to make laws for her to obey. [applause.] mrs. harper (colored) asked mr. blackwell to read the fifth resolution of the series he submitted, and contended that that covered the whole ground of the resolutions of mr. douglass. when it was a question of race, she let the lesser question of sex go. but the white women all go for sex, letting race occupy a minor position. she liked the idea of working women, but she would like to know if it was broad enough to take colored women? miss anthony and several others: yes, yes. mrs. harper said that when she was at boston there were sixty women who left work because one colored woman went to gain a livelihood in their midst. [applause] if the nation could only handle one question, she would not have the black women put a single straw in the way, if only the men of the race could obtain what they wanted. [great applause.] mr. c. c. burleigh attempted to speak, but was received with some disapprobation by the audience, and confusion ensued. miss anthony protested against the xvth amendment because it wasn't equal rights. it put two million more men in position of tyrants over two million women who had until now been the equals of the men at their side. mr. burleigh again essayed to speak. the confusion was so great that he could not be heard. mrs. stone appealed for order, and her first appearance caused the most respectful silence, as did the words of every one of the ladies who addressed the audience. mr. burleigh again ventured, but with no better result, and miss anthony made another appeal to the audience to hear him. he tried again to get a word in, but was once more unsuccessful. mrs. livermore, after protesting against the disorderly behavior of the audience, said a few words in advocacy of the resolutions of mr. douglass, when a motion was made to lay them upon the table, and mr. blackwell moved the "previous question." miss anthony hoped that this, the first attempt at gagging discussion, would not be countenanced. (applause.) she made a strong protest against this treatment of mr. burleigh. sufficient silence was obtained for that gentleman to say that he had finished; but he was determined that they should hear the last word. (hisses and laughter.) he now took his seat. the motion to lay the resolutions upon the table for discussion in the evening was then carried, and the association adjourned till the evening, to meet in the large hall of the cooper institute. a letter from jules favre, the celebrated french advocate and _litterateur_, was read, after which addresses were delivered by madam anneke, of milwaukee (in german), and by madame de hericourt, of chicago (in french). both of these ladies are of revolutionary tendencies, and left their native countries because they had rendered themselves obnoxious by a too free expression of their political opinions. madam anneke said--_mrs. president_: nearly two decades have passed since, in answer to a call from our co-workers, i stood before a large assembly, over which mrs. mott presided, to utter, in the name of suffering and struggling womanhood, the cry of my old fatherland for freedom and justice. at that time my voice was overwhelmed by the sound of sneers, scoffs, and hisses--the eloquence of tyranny, by which every outcry of the human heart is stifled. then, through the support of our friends mrs. rose and wendell phillips, who are ever ready in the cause of human rights, i was allowed, in my native tongue, to echo faintly the cry for justice and freedom. what a change has been wrought since then! to-day they greet us with deferential respect. such giant steps are made by public opinion! what they then derided, and sought, through physical power and rough ignorance, to render wholly impossible, to day they greet with the voice of welcome and jubilee. such an expression of sentiment is to us the most certain and joyful token of a gigantic revolution in public opinion--still more gratifying is it, that the history of the last few years proves that under the force of an universal necessity, reason and freedom are being consistently developed. such is the iron step of time, that it brings forward every event to meet its rare fulfillment. under your protection i am once more permitted, in this dawning of a new epoch which is visible to all eyes that will see, and audible to all ears that will hear, to express my hopes, my longing, my striving, and my confidence. and now, permit me to do so in the language of my childhood's play, as well as that of the earnest and free philosophy of german thinkers and workers. not that i believe it is left to me to interest the children of my old fatherland, here present, in the new era of truth and freedom, as if these glorious principles were not of yore implanted in their hearts--as if they could not take them up in a strange idiom--but because i am urged from my deepest soul to speak out loud and free, as i have ever felt myself constrained to do, and as i can not do in the language of my beloved adopted land. the consciousness and the holy conviction of our inalienable human rights, which i have won in the struggle of my own strangely varied life, and in the wrestling for independence which has carried me through the terrors of bloody revolution, and brought me to this effulgent shore where _sanita libertas_ is free to all who seek it--this sacred strand, of which our german poet says: _dich halte ich!_ (i have gained thee and will not leave thee.) so i turn to you, my dear compatriots, in the language of our fatherland--to you who are accustomed to german ways of thinking--to you who have grown up in the light which flows from thinking brains--to you whose hearts warmly cherish human rights and human worth--who are not afraid of truth when it speaks of such deep, clear, and universally important subjects as human rights and human duties. he who fears truth will find hiding places, but he who combats for it is worthy of it. the method of its adversaries is to address themselves to thoughtless passion, and thus arouse mockery and abuse against those who search for scientific knowledge to appeal to easily moved feelings and kindle sentiments of hatred and contempt. they can do this only while truth is in the minority--only until right shall become might. you will learn to judge of woman's strength when you see that she persists strenuously in this purpose, and secures, by her energy, the rights which shall invest her with power. that which you can no longer suppress in woman--that which is free above all things--that which is pre-eminently important to mankind, and must have free play in every mind, is the natural thirst for scientific knowledge--that fountain of all peacefully progressing amelioration in human history. this longing, this effort of reason seeking knowledge of itself, of ideas, conclusions, and all higher things, has, as far as historical remembrance goes back, never been so violently suppressed in any human being as in woman. but, so far from its having been extinguished in her, it has, under the influence of this enlightened century, become a gigantic flame which shines most brightly under the protection of the star-spangled banner. there does not exist a man-made doctrine, fabricated expressly for us, and which we must learn by heart, that shall henceforth be our law. nor shall the authority of old traditions be a standard for us--be this authority called veda, talmud, koran, or bible. no. reason, which we recognize as our highest and only law-giver, commands us to be free. we have recognized our duty--we have heard the rustling of the golden wings of our guardian angel--we are inspired for the work! we are no longer in the beginning of history--that age which was a constant struggle with nature, misery, ignorance, helplessness, and every kind of bondage. the moral idea of the state struggles for that fulfillment in which all individuals shall be brought into a union which shall augment a million-fold both its individual and collective force. therefore, don't exclude us--don't exclude woman--don't exclude the whole half of the human family. receive us--begin the work in which a new era shall dawn. in all great events we find that woman has a guiding hand--let us stay near you now, when humanity is concerned. man has the spirit of truth, but woman alone has passion for it. all creations need love--let us, therefore, celebrate a union from which shall spring the morning of freedom for humanity. give us our rights in the state. honor us as your equals, and allow us to use the rights which belong to us, and which reason commands us to use. whether it be prudent to enfranchise woman, is not the question--only whether it be right. what is positively right, must be prudent, must be wise, and must, finally, be useful. give the lie to the monarchically disposed statesman, who says the republic of the united states is only an experiment, which earlier or later will prove a failure. give the lie to such hopes, i say, by carrying out the whole elevated idea of the republic--by calling the entire, excluded half of mankind and every being endowed with reason, to the ballot-box, which is the people's holy palladium. madame de hericourt said: i wish to ask if rights have their source in ability, in functions, in qualities? no, certainly; for we see that all men, however they may differ in endowments, have equal rights. what, then, is the basis of rights? humanity. consequently, even if it be true that woman is inferior to man in intelligence and social ability, it is not desirable that she shut herself within what is called woman's sphere. in a philosophical light, the objections brought against her have no bearing on this question. woman must have equal rights with man, because she is, like him, a human being; and only in establishing, through anatomical or biological proof, that she does not belong to the human race, can her rights be withheld. when such demonstration is made, my claims shall cease. in the meantime, let me say that woman--whether useful or useless--belonging to humanity, must have the rights of humanity. but is it true that the equality of man and woman would not be useful to society? we might answer this question in the affirmative were the sexes alike, but for the very reason that they differ in many respects, is the presence of woman by the side of man, if we desire order and justice, everywhere necessary. is it graceful, i ask, to walk on one leg? men, since the beginning of history, have had the bad taste to prefer a lame society to one that is healthy and beautiful. we women have really too much taste to yield longer to such deformity. in law, in institutions, in every social and political matter, there are two sides. up to the present day, man has usurped what belongs to woman. that is the reason why we have injustice, corruption, international hatred, cruelty, war, shameful laws--man assuming, in regard to woman, the sinful relation of slaveholder. such relation must and will change, because we women have decided that it shall not exist. with you, gentlemen, we will vote, legislate, govern--not only because it is our right, but because it is time to substitute order, peace, equity, and virtue, for the disorder, war, cruelty, injustice, and corruption which you, acting alone, have established. you doubt our fitness to take part in government because we are fickle, extravagant, etc., etc., as you say. i answer, there is an inconsiderable minority which deserve such epithets; but even if all women deserved them, who is in fault? you not only prefer the weak-minded, extravagant women to the strong-minded and reasonable ones, but as soon as a woman attempts to leave her sphere, you, coward-like, throw yourselves before her, and secure to your own profit all remunerative occupations. i could, perhaps, forgive your selfishness and injustice, but i can not forgive your want of logic nor your hypocrisy. you condemn woman to starvation, to ignorance, to extravagance, in order to please yourselves, and then reproach her for this ignorance and extravagance, while you heap blame and ridicule on those who are educated, wise, and frugal. you are, indeed, very absurd or very silly. your judgment is so weak that you reproach woman with the faults of a slave, when it is you who have made and who keep her a slave, and who know, moreover, that no true and virtuous soul can accept slavery. you reproach woman with being an active agent in corruption and ruin, without perceiving that it is you who have condemned her to this awful work, in which only your bad passions sustain her. whatever you may do, you can not escape her influence. if she is free, virtuous, and worthy, she will give you free, virtuous, and worthy sons, and maintain in you republican virtues. if she remain a slave, she will debase you and your sons; and your country will come under the rule of tyranny. insane men can not understand that where there is one slave there are always two--he who wears the chain and he who rivets it. unreasonable, short-sighted men can not understand that to enfranchise woman is to elevate man; to give him a companion who shall encourage his good and noble aspirations, instead of one who would debase and draw him down into an abyss of selfishness and dishonesty. gentlemen, will you be just, will you preserve the republic, will you stop the moral ruin of your country; will you be worthy, virtuous, and courageous for the welfare of your nation, and, in spite of all obstacles, enfranchise your mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters? take care that you be not too late! such injustice and folly would be at the cost of your liberty, in which event you could claim no mercy, for tyrants deserve to be the victims of tyrants. after her brief address, madame de hericourt submitted to the convention a series of resolutions for the organization of women's leagues.[ ] ernestine l. rose said--_mrs. chairman, ladies and gentlemen_: what we need is to arouse both men and women to the great necessity of justice and of right. the world moves. we need not seek further than this convention assembled here to-night to show that it moves. we have assembled here delegates from the east and the west, from the north and the south, from all over the united states, from england, from france, and from germany--all have come to give us greeting and well-wishes, both in writing and in speech. i only wish that this whole audience might have been able to understand and appreciate the eloquent speeches which have been delivered here to-night. they have been uttered in support of the claim--the just demand--of woman for the right to vote. why is it, my friends, that congress has enacted laws to give the negro of the south the right to vote? why do they not at the same time protect the negro woman? if congress really means to protect the negro race, they should have acknowledged woman just as much as man; not only in the south, but here in the north, the only way to protect her is by the ballot. we have often heard from this platform, and i myself have often said, that with individual man we do not find fault. we do not war with man; we war with bad principles. and let me ask whether we have not the right to war with these principles which stamp the degradation of inferiority upon women. this society calls itself the equal rights association. that i understand to be an association which has no distinction of sex, class, or color. congress does not seem to understand the meaning of the term universal. i understand the word universal to include all. congress understood that universal suffrage meant the white man only. since the war we have changed the name for impartial suffrage. when some of our editors, such as mr. greeley and others, were asked what they meant by impartial suffrage, they said, "why, man, of course; the man and the brother." congress has enacted resolutions for the suffrage of men and brothers. they don't speak of the women and sisters. [applause.] they have begun to change their tactics, and call it manhood suffrage. i propose to call it woman suffrage; then we shall know what we mean. we might commence by calling the chinaman a man and a brother, or the hottentot, or the calmuck, or the indian, the idiot or the criminal, but where shall we stop? they will bring all these in before us, and then they will bring in the babies--the _male_ babies. [laughter.] i am a foreigner. i had great difficulty in acquiring the english language, and i never shall acquire it. but i am afraid that in the meaning of language congress is a great deal worse off than i have ever been. i go for the change of name; i will not be construed into a man and a brother. i ask the same rights for women that are extended to men--the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and every pursuit in life must be as free and open to me as any man in the land. [applause.] but they will never be thrown open to me or to any of you, until we have the power of the ballot in our own hands. that little paper is a great talisman. we have often been told that the golden key can unlock all the doors. that little piece of paper can unlock doors where golden keys fail. wherever men are--whether in the workshop, in the store, in the laboratory, or in the legislative halls--i want to see women. wherever man is, there she is needed; wherever man has work to do--work for the benefit of humanity--there should men and women unite and co-operate together. it is not well for man to be alone or work alone; and he can not work for woman as well as woman can work for herself. i suggest that the name of this society be changed from equal rights association to woman's suffrage association. lucy stone said she must oppose this till the colored man gained the right to vote. if they changed the name of the association for such a reason as it was evident it was proposed, they would lose the confidence of the public. i hope you will not do it. a gentleman: mrs. president, i hope you will do it. i move that the name of the association be changed to the "universal franchise association." mrs. stanton: the question is already settled by our constitution, which requires a month's notice previous to the annual meeting before any change of name can be made. we will now have a song. [laughter.] mr. blackwell said that he had just returned from the south, and that he had learned to think that the test oath required of white men who had been rebels must be abolished before the vote be given to the negro. he was willing that the negro should have the suffrage, but not under such conditions that he should rule the south. [at the allusion of mr. blackwell to abolishing the test oath, the audience hissed loudly.] mrs. stanton said--gentlemen and ladies: i take this as quite an insult to me. it is as if you were invited to dine with me and you turned up your nose at everything that was set on the table. mrs. livermore said: it certainly requires a great amount of nerve to talk before you, for you have such a frankness in expressing yourselves that i am afraid of you. [laughter and applause.] if you do not like the dish, you turn up your nose at it and say, "take it away, take it away." [laughter.] i was brought up in the west, and it is a good place to get rid of any superfluous modesty, but i am afraid of you. [applause.] it seems that you are more willing to be pleased than to hear what we have to say. [applause.] throughout the day the men who have attended our convention have been turbulent. [applause.] i say it frankly, that the behavior of the majority of men has not been respectful. [applause.] she then gave a pathetic narration of the sorrow she had seen among the depraved and destitute of our great cities, and said the work of the coming year would be to get up a monster petition of a million of names asking the legislature for suffrage. [applause.] after a song from the hutchinson family, who had come from chicago to entertain the audiences of the association, the meeting adjourned. the friends of woman's suffrage, including most of the delegates to the equal rights convention in new york, met in mass meeting in the academy of music, brooklyn, friday morning, may th, at o'clock. mr. edwin a. studwell called the meeting to order and nominated mrs. anna c. field for president. this lady was unanimously elected, and took the chair. mrs. celia burleigh was elected secretary. on motion of mr. studwell, a committee[ ] was appointed to draft resolutions. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton was then introduced, and made the opening speech. mrs. lucy stone congratulated the ladies upon the large number of men who had become converted to their cause. mr. langdon, of vermont, followed with a brief speech. mrs. burleigh read a letter from the hon. geo. wm. curtis, indorsing very decidedly the doctrine of woman suffrage. rev. phebe hanaford then delivered a most eloquent and touching address on the moral influence that the participation of women in government would have upon the world. every true mother was with this movement. the golden rule given by jesus, if carried out, would give equal rights to all, and there would be no distinction between color, race, or sex. the rev. gilbert haven, of massachusetts, said there were three reforms needed--one was the abolition of social distinctions, another was the abolition of the rum-shop, and the third was giving the ballot to women. of the three, which should take the precedence? it was hard to say that woman did not lead them all. he had claimed yesterday that the woman's rights movement originated in massachusetts. he was mistaken. the great idea of woman's equality was taught by christ; and still further back, when man and woman were created and placed in paradise, they were placed there on an equality. god gave man no supremacy over woman there. not until sin had entered the world, not until after the fall was it said, "he shall rule over her." if we were to be controlled by this curse of sin, we should still adhere to the old law giving the supremacy to the first-born son, for that was declared at the same time between cain and abel. sin degraded, but grace emancipated. on the day of pentecost, the spirit fell upon the man and woman alike. st. paul declared this great doctrine of woman's rights when he said, "there is neither greek nor jew, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, but all are one in christ. if a woman prophesy, let her prophesy with the head covered," but he did not say women shall not prophesy. the doctrine of woman's rights originated with god himself. there were many reasons why we should give the ballot to women. it would elevate woman herself, as well as confer incalculable benefits on man. at the afternoon session addresses were made by mrs. livermore, lucy stone, lilie peckham, rev. j. w. chadwick, and lucretia mott. in the evening the building was crowded throughout, including stage and both galleries, with the very best of people. the committee on organization reported for president, mrs. celia burleigh, and for vice-presidents about twenty names. mrs. norton read an extract from a letter of wm. lloyd garrison. miss olive logan spoke in her own dramatic style. she dealt numerous severe blows at the other sex. her many sarcastic and humorous hits elicited great applause. a resolution declaring woman entitled to vote and hold office under all conditions which it is proper to impose on man, was read and adopted, after which lucretia mott addressed the convention in her usual happy manner. mrs. harper spoke on matters concerning her own race. the rev. henry ward beecher said: in relation to this woman's rights movement, i am opposed to coercion. if a woman says, "i have all the rights i want," i say, very well. we do not preach the doctrine of coercive rights. you shall have perfect liberty to stay at home. all we ask is, that women shall follow their natures. of all heresies it seems to me there never was one so absurd as that which supposes that woman is not fit for the peculiar duties of government. she was fit to whip you and me; to teach us the best things we know; fit to take care of home; and let me tell you that the woman who is fit to take care of home is fit to stand in the gateway of heaven itself. nothing is more sacred between this and the heavenly rest than the christian household. it is said that woman is not fit to hold office. take the presidents of the united states, as they run for the last eight or ten years, and i would rather take my chances among the average of women. a president of these united states requires merely common sense and honesty. men are not more honest than women, not more sincere nor more capable. miss phoebe couzins and mr. douglass made brief addresses. the hutchinsons sang one of their soul-stirring songs. lucy stone closed the exercises with a most effective appeal. out of these broad differences of opinion on the amendments, as shown in the debates, divisions grew up between republicans and abolitionists on the one side, and the leaders of the woman suffrage movement on the other. the constant conflict on the equal rights platform proved the futility of any attempt to discuss the wrongs of different classes in one association. a general dissatisfaction had been expressed by the delegates from the west at the latitude of debate involved in an equal rights association. hence, a change of name and more restricted discussions were strenuously urged by them. accordingly, at the close of anniversary week, a meeting was called at the woman's bureau,[ ] which resulted in reorganization under the name of "the national woman suffrage association."[ ] there had been so much trouble with men in the equal rights society, that it was thought best to keep the absolute control henceforth in the hands of women. sad experience had taught them that in trying emergencies they would be left to fight their own battles, and therefore it was best to fit themselves for their responsibilities by filling the positions of trust exclusively with women. this was not accomplished without a pretty sharp struggle. as it was, they had to concede the right of membership to men, in order to carry the main point, as several ladies would not join unless men also could be admitted. all preliminaries discussed and amicably adjusted, a list of officers was chosen and an organization completed, making a xvith amendment the special object of its work and consideration. the regular weekly meetings of this association were reported by the metropolitan press with many spicy and critical comments, which did a great educational work and roused much thought on the whole question. conventions were held during the summer at saratoga and newport. the following letter from celia burleigh gives a bird's-eye view of that at saratoga: saratoga, july th, . the advocates of woman suffrage have fairly earned the title of revolutionists by their recent bold move on the enemy's stronghold. the great foe to progress is want of thought, and the devotees of fashion are about the last to come into line and work for any great reform. not a little surprise, and some indignation, were expressed by the representatives of upper tendom sojourning here, that strong-minded women were not only coming to saratoga, but actually intending to hold a convention. what next? what place would henceforth be safe from the assaults of these irrepressible amazons of reform? saratoga has survived the shock, however; flora mcflimsey has looked in the face of miss anthony, and has not been turned to stone. more than that, finding the convention pouring into the parlors of congress hall, and escape actually cut off, flora, after deliberating whether to faint and be carried out, or gratify her curiosity by looking on, finally submitted gracefully to the inevitable and did the latter. from her crimson cushioned arm chair by the window, she saw the meeting called to order, saw one after another of "those horrid women, whose names are in the newspapers," quietly taking their places, doing the thing proper to be done, and carrying forward the business of the meeting. really, they were not so dreadful after all. they neither wore beards nor pantaloons. there was not even a woman with short hair among them. on the contrary, they seemed to be decidedly appreciative of "good clothes" and if less familiar with the goddess of fashion than miss flora they did not walk arm in arm with her, they at least followed at no great distance and were, to a woman, finished off with the regulation back-bow of loops and ends. spite of herself, miss mcflimsey became interested, and when miss anthony mentioned the fact that the majority of men felt it necessary to talk down to women, instead of sharing with them their best thoughts and most vital interests, flora looked reflective, as if in that direction might lie the clew to the insufferable stupidity which she often found in the young gentlemen of her acquaintance. that a woman suffrage convention should have been allowed to organize in the parlors of congress hall, that those parlors should have been filled to their utmost capacity by the habitual guests of the place, that such men as millard fillmore, thurlow weed, george opdyke, and any number of clergymen from different parts of the country, should have been interested lookers-on, are significant facts that may well carry dismay to the enemies of the cause. that the whole business of the convention was transacted by women in a dignified, orderly, and business-like manner, is a strong intimation that in spite of all that has been said to the contrary, women are capable of learning how to conduct meetings and manage affairs. even the least friendly spectator was compelled to admit it, that the delegates to the convention were as free from eccentricity in dress and manner as the most fastidious taste could demand; that they were remarkable only for the comprehensive range of thought, indicated in their utterances, and the earnestness with which they advocate principles which they evidently believe to be right. another fact worth noticing is the character of the reports of the convention furnished to the daily papers. they were, for the most part, full, impartial, and respectful in tone; especially was this the case with the local papers. altogether, the woman suffrage conventions in the state of new york must be regarded as a decided success. the interest manifested shows that thought on the subject is no longer confined to the few, but that it is gradually permeating the whole public mind. in its present condition, saratoga realizes one's ideal of a summer resort, and yet in the good time coming, we can imagine an improvement--that even congress hall, with its gentlemanly and courteous proprietor, its sumptuous appointments and army of waiters, may yet have an added excellence; when, by the possession of the ballot, woman becomes a possible proprietor and actual worker; when to earn money is as honorable for a woman as it now is for a man, we may hope to find in every hotel not only a host, but a hostess; and whatever may be said of the excellence of men as housekeepers, i confidently predict that even congress hall will be vastly improved by the addition. the chief speakers at this convention were charlotte wilbour, celia burleigh, matilda joslyn gage, rev. mr. angier, j. n. holmes, esq., judge mckean, and mrs. dr. strowbridge. c. b. the newport convention.--_dear revolution_: susan b. anthony having decided that neither age, color, sex, or previous condition could shield any one from this agitation--that neither the frosts of winter nor the heats of summer could afford its champions any excuse for halting on the way, our forces were commanded to be in marching order on the th of august, to besiege the "butterflies of fashion" in newport.[ ] having gleefully chased butterflies in our young days on our way to school, we thought it might be as well to chase them in our old age on the way to heaven. so, obeying orders, we sailed across the sound one bright moonlight night with a gay party of the "disfranchised," and found ourselves quartered on the enemy the next morning as the sun rose in all its resplendent glory. although trunk after trunk--not of gossamers, laces, and flowers, but of suffrage ammunition, speeches, resolutions, petitions, tracts, john stuart mill's last work, and folios of _the revolution_ had been slowly carried up the winding stairs of the atlantic--the brave men and fair women, who had tripped the light fantastic toe until the midnight hours, slept heedlessly on, wholly unaware that twelve apartments were already filled with invaders of the strong-minded editors, reporters, and the hutchinson family to the third and fourth generation. suffice it to say the convention continued through two days with the usual amount of good and bad speaking and debating, strong and feeble resolutions, fair and unfair reporting--but, with all its faults, an improvement on the general run of conventions called by the stronger sex. we say this not in a spirit of boasting, but with a heart overflowing with pity for the "men of the period." the chief speakers were paulina wright davis, isabella beecher hooker, theodore tilton, francis d. moulton, rev. phebe hanaford, lillie devereux blake, elizabeth r. churchill, the hon. mr. stillman, of rhode island; and the editor and proprietor of _the revolution_. the occasion was enlivened with the stirring songs of the hutchinsons, and a reading by mrs. sarah fisher ames, the distinguished artist who moulded the bust of abraham lincoln which now adorns the rooms of the union league. the audience throughout the sittings of the convention was large, fashionable, and as enthusiastic as the state of the weather would permit. from the numbers of _the revolution_ and john stuart mill's new work sold at the door, it is evident that much interest was roused on the question. we can say truly that we never received a more quiet and respectful hearing; and, from many private conversations with ladies and gentlemen of influence, we feel assured that we have done much by our gatherings in saratoga and newport to awaken thought among a new class of people. the _ennui_ and utter vacuity of a life of mere pleasure is fast urging fashionable women to something better, and, when they do awake to the magnitude and far-reaching consequences of woman's enfranchisement, they will be the most enthusiastic workers for its accomplishment. e. c. s. the fourth of july this year was celebrated for the first time by members of the woman suffrage association, in a beautiful grove in westchester county. edwin a. studwell of brooklyn made all the necessary arrangements. speeches were made by judge e. d. culver, mrs. stanton, and miss anthony. the woman suffrage meetings at the bureau were crowded every week. october th there was an unusually large attendance, to discuss the coming industrial congress at berlin. the following letter to the berlin congress was read and adopted: national woman suffrage association, } new york, september , . } _to the woman's industrial congress at berlin_: at a meeting of our executive committee the call for your convention was duly considered, and a committee appointed to address you a letter. in behalf of the progressive women of this country we would express to you the deep interest we feel in the present movement among the women of europe, everywhere throwing off the lethargy of ages and asserting their individual dignity and power, showing that the emancipation of woman is one of those great ideas that mark the centuries. while in your circular you specify various subjects for consideration, you make no mention of the right of suffrage. as yours is an industrial congress in which women occupied in every branch of labor are to be represented, you may think this question could not legitimately come before you. and even if it could, you may not think best to startle the timid or provoke the powerful by the assertion that a fair day's wages for a fair day's work and the dignity of labor, alike depend on the political status of the laborer. perhaps in your country, where the right of representation is so limited even among men, women do not feel the degradation of disfranchisement as we do under this government, where it is now proposed to make sex the only disqualification for citizenship. the ultimate object of all these labor movements on both continents, is the emancipation of the masses from the slavery of poverty and ignorance, and the shorter way to this end is to give all the people a voice in the laws that govern them, for the ballot is bread, land, education, dignity, and power. the extending of new privileges and abating of old grievances may afford some temporary relief; but the kernel of the whole question of the people's wrongs can never be touched until the essential equality of all citizens under the government is fully recognized. in america we have the true theory of government, and step by step we are coming to its practical realization. seeing that no class ever did or ever can legislate wisely for another, the women, even in this country, have done complaining of specific wrongs, and are demanding the right to legislate for themselves. we are now holding conventions in the chief cities of the several states, and petitioning congress for a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution that shall forbid the disfranchisement of any citizen on account of sex. in january, soon after the convening of congress, we shall hold a national convention in washington to press our arguments on the representatives of the people. sooner or later you will be driven to make the same demand; for, from whatever point you start in tracing the wrongs of citizens, you will be logically brought step by step to see that the real difficulty in all cases is the need of representation in the government. however various our plans and objects, we are all working to a common centre. and in this general awakening among women we are taking the grandest step in civilization that the world has yet seen. when men and women are reunited as equals in the great work of life, then, and not till then, will harmony and happiness reign supreme on earth. tendering you our best wishes for the success of your convention and the triumph of our cause in europe, we are yours, with much esteem, elizabeth cady stanton, elizabeth b. phelps, charlotte b. wilbour, susan b. anthony. paulina wright davis. the following ladies were appointed delegates to the woman's industrial congress called to meet at berlin: ernestine l. rose, laura c. bullard, new york; kate n. doggett, mary j. safford, illinois; mary peckenpaugh, missouri. a letter from mrs. bullard[ ] was listened to with interest. during the autumn of this year there was a secession from our ranks, and the preliminary steps were taken for another organization. aside from the divisions growing out of a difference of opinion on the amendments, there were some personal hostilities among the leaders of the movement that culminated in two societies, which were generally spoken of as the new york and boston wings of the woman suffrage reform. the former, as already stated, called the "national woman suffrage association," with elizabeth cady stanton for president, organized in may; the latter called "the american woman suffrage association," with henry ward beecher for president, organized the following november. most of those who inaugurated the reform remained in the national association--lucretia mott, martha c. wright, ernestine rose, clarina howard nichols, paulina wright davis, sarah pugh, amy post, mary h. hallowell, lydia mott, catharine a. f. stebbins, adeline thomson, josephine s. griffing, clemence s. lozier, rev. olympia brown, matilda joslyn gage, elizabeth cady stanton, susan b. anthony--and continued to work harmoniously together. footnotes: [ ] a national woman's suffrage convention will be held in carroll hall, washington, d. c., on the th and th of january, . all associations friendly to woman's rights are invited to send delegates from every state. friends of the cause are invited to attend and take part in the discussions. _committee of arrangements._--josephine s. griffing, william hutchinson, lydia s. hall, john h. crane, mary t. corner, george f. needham, james k. wilcox. [ ] speeches were made by mrs. griffing and miss clara barton of washington, mrs. wright and susan b. anthony of new york, mr. edward m. davis and mr. robert purvis of pennsylvania, dr. charles purvis, mr. and mrs. stebbins, mr. wilcox, mrs. julia archibald, col. hinton and mr. george t. downing of washington, mrs. starrett, dr. root and mrs. archibald of kansas, mr. wolff of colorado, mrs. kingsbury of vineland, new jersey, mrs. dr. hathaway of massachusetts, mrs. minor of missouri, and others. [ ] the amendment as proposed by the hon. thaddeus stevens, of pennsylvania, extended the right of suffrage to "all citizens," which included both white and black women. at the bare thought of such an impending calamity, the more timid republicans were filled with alarm, and the word "male" promptly inserted. [ ] a circumstance at the woman's national convention served to impress me profoundly with the monstrousness of slavery, and of the prejudice it created and has left behind it, which i have been waiting a convenient opportunity to tell you about. far into the first evening of the convention, when the debate had waxed warm between mrs. stanton--who opposed the admission of any more men (referring to the negroes) to the political franchise, until the present arbiters of the question were disposed to admit women also--and mr. downing and dr. purvis, of washington, an elegant looking gentleman arose upon impulse and began to talk in his seat, but, after a little hesitancy, accepted the invitation of mrs. mott and miss anthony to take the platform. as he stood up before the audience, he appeared a tall, slender, elderly gentleman, with the white hair and other marks of years, at least not less than sixty, graced with a handsome face of the highest type, strikingly fine in character. i have seen many nations and conditions of people, and i do not fear to say with some regard for my reputation as an observer--that i believe it one of the most benevolent and exalted faces--one of the most elevated and least mixed with the animal and earthly alloys of our humanity, that adorn the whole globe. he spoke but a few words. they were all of the character of the generous impulse upon which he rose. in his gratitude for what those noble women had done for the colored race, _with which he was identified_, he was willing to wait for the ballot for himself, his sons, and his race, until women were permitted to enjoy it. the speaker was robert purvis, of philadelphia, dr. purvis's father. by the gas light of the hall, he not only appeared to be a white man, but a light complexioned white man. it may be that he has one thirty-second--possibly one-sixteenth--negro blood in his veins. there is so little in effect, that the whole make-up of the man is after the highest pattern of white men. besides--to descend a little--mr. purvis is a gentleman of wealth and culture, and surrounds his family with all the gratifications of the intellectual, esthetic and moral desires, and carefully developed his children at home and at the best schools into which they could gain admission.--_correspondence of the denver news._ [ ] _resolved_, that governments among men have hitherto signally failed, their history being but a series of revolutions, bloodshed, and desolation. _resolved_, that a democracy based on a republicanism which proscribes and disfranchises one part of the citizens for their sex, and another for their color, is a contradiction in terms more offensive and harder to be borne than despotism itself, under its true name, and vastly more dangerous by its seductive influence to human well-being. _resolved_, that we demand, as the only assurance of national perpetuity and peace, as well as a measure of justice and right, that in the reconstruction of the government suffrage shall be based on loyalty and intelligence, and nowhere be limited by odious distinctions on account of color, or sex. _resolved_, that we earnestly recommend to the friends of equal suffrage in all the states to call a convention at their respective capitals during the sessions of their legislatures, and that committees be appointed to memorialize those bodies on the subject of suffrage alike impartial for men and women, and that as far as possible able and earnest women obtain a hearing before them, to urge the necessity and justice of their claim. _resolved_, that we denounce the proposition now pending in congress to abolish the elective franchise in the district of columbia, as it tends to make the disfranchisement of the , women of the district, and the lately enfranchised colored men perpetual. _resolved_, that in demanding the ballot for the disfranchised classes, we do not overlook the logical fact of the right to be voted for; and we know no reason why a colored man should be excluded from a seat in congress, or any woman either, who possesses the suitable capabilities, and has been duly elected. _resolved_, that we demand of the government, and of the public also, that women and colored people shall choose their own occupations, and be paid always equally with men for equal work. _resolved_, that a _man's_ government is worse than a _white_ man's government, because, in proportion as you increase the tyrants, you make the condition of the disfranchised class more hopeless and degraded. _resolved_, that as the partisan cry of a white man's government created the antagonism between the irishman and the negro, culminating in those fearful riots in , so the republican cry of manhood suffrage creates the same antagonism between the negro and the woman, and must result, especially in the southern states, in greater injustice toward woman. [ ] anniversary of the american equal rights association. the american equal rights association will hold its anniversary in new york, at steinway hall, wednesday and thursday, may th and th, and in brooklyn, academy of music, on friday, the th. after a century of discussion on the rights of citizens in a republic, and the gradual extension of suffrage, without property or educational qualifications, to all white men, the thought of the nation has turned for the last thirty years to negroes and women. and in the enfranchisement of black men by the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the federal constitution, the congress of the united states has now virtually established on this continent an aristocracy of sex; an aristocracy hitherto unknown in the history of nations. with every type and shade of manhood thus exalted above their heads, there never was a time when all women, rich and poor, white and black, native and foreign, should be so wide awake to the degradation of their position, and so persistent in their demands to be recognized in the government. woman's enfranchisement is now a practical question in england and the united states. with bills before parliament, congress, and all our state legislatures--with such able champions as john stuart mill and george william curtis, woman need but speak the word to secure her political freedom to-day. we sincerely hope that in the coming national anniversary every state and territory, east and west, north and south, will be represented. we invite delegates, too, from all those countries in the old world where women are demanding their political rights. let there be a grand gathering in the metropolis of the nation, that republicans and democrats may alike understand, that with the women of this country lies a political power in the future, that both parties would do well to respect. the following speakers from the several states are pledged: anna e. dickinson, frederick douglass, mary a. livermore, madam anneke, lillie peckham, phoebe couzins, m. h. brinkerhoff, mrs. frances mckinley, amelia bloomer, olive logan, mrs. e. oakes smith, elizabeth cady stanton, henry ward beecher, olympia brown, robert purvis, josephine s. griffing, lucy stone, ernestine l. rose, susan b. anthony, theodore tilton, rev. o. b. frothingham. lucretia mott, _president_. _vice-presidents_, elizabeth cady stanton, frederick douglass, henry ward beecher, martha c. wright, frances d. gage, new york; olympia brown, massachusetts; elizabeth b. chase, rhode island; charles prince, connecticut; robert purvis, pennsylvania; antoinette b. blackwell, new jersey; josephine s. griffing, washington, d. c.; thomas garrett, delaware; stephen h. camp, ohio; euphemia cochrane, michigan; mary a. livermore, illinois; mrs. i. h. sturgeon, missouri; amelia bloomer, iowa; mary a. starrett, kansas; virginia penny, kentucky. _corresponding secretary_, mary e. gage. _recording secretaries_, henry b. blackwell, harriet purvis. _treasurer_, john j. merritt. _executive committee_, lucy stone, edward s. bunker, elizabeth r. tilton, ernestine l. rose, robert j. johnston, edwin a. studwell, anna cromwell field, susan b. anthony, theodore tilton, margaret e. winchester, abby hutchinson patton, oliver johnson, mrs. horace greeley, abby hopper gibbons, elizabeth smith miller. [ ] see appendix. [ ] on the platform were seated ernestine l. rose, of new york; mary a. livermore, of chicago; phoebe couzins, of st. louis; lillie peckham, of milwaukee; madam anneke, of milwaukee; madam de hericourt, of chicago; mrs. m. joslyn gage, of syracuse; frederick douglass; lucy stone, of new jersey; olive logan, of new york; josephine griffing, of washington; mrs. paulina w. davis; mrs. abby h. patton; mrs. kate n. doggett; eleanor kirk; mrs. bachelder, of boston; mrs. mary macdonald, of mount vernon; rev. mrs. hanaford; rev. antoinette l. brown blackwell, of new jersey; mrs. jennette brown heath, of kansas; mrs. mary newman, of binghamton, n.y.; mrs. mathilde wendt, of new york; andrew jackson davis; mary f. davis; mrs. caroline morey holmes, of union village, new york; mrs. phelps, of the woman's bureau, new york; senator pomeroy; mrs. longley, of cincinnati; mrs. amelia bloomer, of council bluffs, iowa; lizzie boynton, of ohio; mary a. gage, of brooklyn; mrs. sarah norton, of the new york working-women's association, and others. the following committees, on motion of miss susan b. anthony, were appointed by the chair: committee on nominations--edwin s. bunker, lydia mott, edwin a. studwell, abby h. gibbons, lucy stone, charles c. burleigh, and lillie peckham. committee on resolutions--ernestine l. rose, henry b. blackwell, anna c. field, mary a. livermore, s. s. foster, josephine s. griffing, madam anneke, madam hericourt, and phebe a. hanaford. committee on finance--susan b. anthony, anna c. field, mary a. gage, and r. j. johnston. [ ] _president_:--lucretia mott. _vice-presidents at large_:--mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and ernestine l. rose. _vice-presidents for the states_:--john neal, maine; armenia s. white, new hampshire; james hutchinson, jr., vermont; william lloyd garrison, julia ward howe, massachusetts; elizabeth b. chase, rhode island; isabella b. hooker, connecticut; henry ward beecher, frederick douglass, martha c. wright, new york; portia gage, new jersey; robert purvis, pennsylvania; mary a. livermore, illinois; george w. julian, indiana; benjamin f. wade, ohio; gilbert haven, michigan; rev. a. l. lindsley, oregon; joseph h. moore, california; hon. j. nye, nevada; hon. a. p. k. safford, arizona; hon. james h. ashley, montana; josephine s. griffing, district of columbia; thomas garrett, delaware; ellen m. harris, maryland; john c. underwood, virginia; mrs. j. k. miller, north carolina; mrs. pillsbury, south carolina; elizabeth wright, texas; mrs. dr. hawkes, florida; hon. guy wines, tennessee; mrs. francis minor, missouri; hon. charles robinson, kansas; governor fairchild and madam anneke, wisconsin; mrs. harriet bishop, minnesota; hon. mr. loughridge, iowa. _executive committee_:---elizabeth r. tilton, lucy stone, edwin studwell, susan b. anthony, antoinette brown blackwell, thomas w. higginson, anna c. field, edward s. bunker, abby hutchinson patton, oliver johnson, elizabeth smith miller, margaret e. winchester, edward cromwell, robert j. johnston, mary a. davis. _corresponding secretaries_:--mary a. gage, harriet purvis, henry b. blackwell. _treasurer_:--john j. merritt. [ ] _resolved_, that the extension of suffrage to woman is essential to the public safety and to the establishment and permanence of free institutions; that the admission of woman to political recognition in our national reconstruction is as imperative as the admission of any particular class of men. _resolved_, that as woman, in private life, in the partnership of marriage, is now the conservator of private morals, so woman in public life, in the partnership of a republican state, based upon universal suffrage, will become the conservator of public morals. _resolved_, that the petitions of more than , women to congress and to their state legislature during the past winter, are expressions of popular sympathy and approval, everywhere throughout the land, and ought to silence the cavil of our opponents that "women do not want to vote." _resolved_, that while we heartily approve of the fifteenth amendment, extending suffrage to men, without distinction of race, we nevertheless feel profound regret that congress has not submitted a parallel amendment for the enfranchisement of women. _resolved_, that any party professing to be democratic in spirit or republican in principle, which opposes or ignores the political rights of woman, is false to its professions, short-sighted in its policy, and unworthy of the confidence of the friends of impartial liberty. _resolved_, that we hail the report of the joint special committee, just rendered to the massachusetts legislature, in favor of woman suffrage, as a fresh evidence of the growth of public sentiment and we earnestly hope that massachusetts, by promptly submitting the question to a vote of her people, will maintain her historic pre-eminence in the cause of human liberty. _resolved_, that the thanks of the convention are due to the hon. george w. julian in the house of representatives, and to the hon. henry wilson and the hon. s. c. pomeroy in the senate of the united states, for their recent active efforts to secure suffrage for woman. _resolved_, that we recommend the men and women of every ward, town, county, and state, to form local associations for creating and organizing public sentiment in favor of suffrage for woman, and to take every possible practical means to effect her enfranchisement. [ ] st. that we form a league of all women claiming their rights, both in america and europe. d. the aim of this league, which shall be called the "universal league for woman's rights and universal peace," is to extinguish prejudice between nations, to create a common interest through the influence of woman, in order to substitute the reign of humanity for the divisions and hatred and causes of war, and to give aid to the women of all nations in securing their rights. d. that in every country emancipation societies shall be organized, that a national union may be formed which shall be in constant communication with other countries by means of journals, pamphlets, and books. th. that every year a general assembly of delegates from every country shall meet in one of the capitals by turn. these capitals might for the present be washington, paris, london, florence, and one of the central cities of germany. th. that at the stated meetings of the league there shall be an exhibition of works of art by women. th. that, in traveling, women should everywhere find friendship and aid in pursuing the end which they propose. women, being sisters and daughters in the ranks of humanity, must feel themselves at home with their sisters of all nations. among us there can be no foreigners, since we are not citizens. [ ] e. s. bunker, mrs. e. r. tilton, mrs. a. field, rev. j. w. chadwick, j. j. merritt and mrs. e. a. studwell. [ ] the woman's bureau was located at no. east twenty-third street, owned by mrs. elizabeth b. phelps. handsomely furnished apartments were rented to the proprietor of _the revolution_, where much of the editorial work of that paper was done. meetings were held in the spacious parlors every week, where mrs. phelps also gave many pleasant receptions, breakfasts, luncheons, and dinners. it was a kind of ladies' exchange, where reformers were sure to meet each other. these pleasant rooms in a fashionable part of the city gave a fresh impetus to our cause, and the regular meetings, seemingly so novel and _recherché_, called out several new speakers. this was the school where lilie devereux blake, dr. clemence lozier, isabella beecher hooker, and others made their first attempts at oratory. [ ] in _the revolution_ of may th we find the following: national woman's suffrage association.--this organization was formed at the reunion held at the woman's bureau at the close of the convention in new york. delegates from nineteen states, including california and washington territory, were present on the occasion, and all felt the importance of an organization distinctively for woman's suffrage, in view of the fact that a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution to secure this is now before the people. the association has held several meetings to plan the work for the coming year. committees are in correspondence with friends in the several states to complete the list of officers. _president._--elizabeth cady stanton. _vice-presidents._--elizabeth b. phelps, new york; anna e. dickinson, pennsylvania; mrs. kate n. doggett, illinois; madam anneke, wisconsin; mrs. lucy elmes, connecticut; mrs. senator henderson, missouri; mattie griffith brown, massachusetts; mrs. nicholas smith, kansas; lucy a. snow, maine; elizabeth b. schenck, california; josephine s. griffing, d.c.; paulina w. davis, rhode island; miss phoebe w. couzins, missouri. _corresponding secretaries._--mrs. laura curtis bullard, ida greeley, adelaide hallock. _recording secretaries._--abby burton crosby, sarah e. fuller. _treasurer._--elizabeth smith miller. _executive committee._--ernestine l. rose, charlotte b. wilbour, mathilde f. wendt, mary f. gilbert, susan b. anthony. _advisory counsel._--matilda joslyn gage, new york; mrs. francis minor, missouri; adeline thompson, pennsylvania; mrs. m. b. longley, ohio; mrs. dr. j. p. root, kansas; lilie peckham, wisconsin. _constitution_--article . this organization shall be called the national woman suffrage association. article . its object shall be to secure the ballot to the women of the nation on equal terms with men. article . any citizen of the united states favoring this object, shall, by the payment of the sum of one dollar annually into the treasury, be considered a member of the association, and no other shall be entitled to vote in its deliberations. article . the officers of the association shall be a president, a vice-president from each of the states and territories, corresponding and recording secretaries, treasurer, an executive committee of not less than five nor more than nine members, located in new york city, and an advisory counsel of one person from each state and territory, who shall be members of the national executive committee. the officers shall be chosen at each annual meeting of the association. article . any woman's suffrage association may become auxiliary to the national association by its officers becoming members of the parent association and sending an annual contribution of not less than twenty-five dollars. petition for women suffrage.--the following petition was adopted by the national woman suffrage association at their meeting held at the woman's bureau, june , : _to the senate and house of representatives of the united states_: the undersigned men and women of the united states ask for the prompt passage by your honorable bodies of a sixteenth amendment to the constitution, to be submitted to the legislatures of the several states for ratification, which shall secure to all citizens the right of suffrage without distinction of sex. _the revolution_ of may , , said: "national woman suffrage association.--it is with great pleasure that we announce that anna e. dickinson will deliver the inaugural address of the new national woman suffrage movement at the cooper institute to-morrow (friday) evening at eight o'clock, also that miss dickinson consents to represent pennsylvania in that association as its vice-president. the title of anna dickinson's lecture is "nothing unreasonable." chicago, illinois. _dear miss anthony_: as to the new society, god bless and speed it. write me down for anything in which i can serve it. i feel like "a new hand," but i am not so dull but i can learn. please put my name on your list of members, and also on your list of subscribers. with entire sympathy, kate n. doggett. manhattan, kansas, _june , _. i shall be indeed proud to represent kansas in the new national woman suffrage association, whose formation meets my hearty approval. definiteness of purpose is always conducive to success, and i think it would be well now to concentrate all our efforts upon the one idea of "suffrage for women." you may rely upon me to do whatever lies within my power and ability to further the cause. yours truly, mary a. humphrey. [ ] national woman suffrage convention at newport, r.i.--a woman suffrage convention will be held in the academy of music at newport, r.i., on wednesday and thursday the th and th days of august next. the success attending the recent gathering at saratoga warrants the most sanguine hopes and expectations from this also. the intense interest now everywhere felt on the great question renders all appeal for a full attendance unnecessary. among the speakers will be elizabeth cady stanton, mrs. paulina wright davis, mrs. celia burleigh, rev. phebe a. hanaford, mrs. wilbour, and miss susan b. anthony. the misses alice and phoebe cary, mrs. isabella beecher hooker, mrs. e. h. bullard, and many other of the most eminent women of the country will be in attendance. names of other speakers will be announced hereafter. in behalf of the national woman suffrage association. elizabeth cady stanton, president. a. l. norton, paulina w. davis, advisory counsel for the state of rhode island. [ ] london, july , . _mrs. president and members of the woman's national suffrage association_: i send an account of the first woman suffrage meeting ever held in london. but if we may judge anything of the prospects of the movement from the list of men and women who have interested themselves in the cause, it will not be the last. when such men as john stuart mill, charles kingsley, prof. newman, and their peers, put the shoulder to the wheel, a cause is bound to move on and crush all obstacles in the way of its progress. no old stumbling blocks of prejudice, or deep ruts of conventionality can impede the onward movement. as in america, i find that intellect, genius, wealth, and fashion even, are beginning in england to fall into the ranks and push on the woman suffrage question. miss frances power cobbe writes me: "the uprising of a sex throughout the civilized world, is certainly an unique fact in history, and can hardly fail of some important results." with the confident expectation that her prophecy will find a speedy and perhaps grander fulfillment than she or any of us dream of now, i remain yours, respectfully, laura c. bullard, _cor. sec'y n. w. s. association_. chapter xxiii. the new departure. under the fourteenth amendment. francis minor's resolutions--hearing before congressional committee--descriptions by mrs. fannie howland and grace greenwood--washington convention, --rev. samuel j. may--senator carpenter--professor sprague, of cornell university--notes of mrs. hooker--may anniversary in new york--the fifth avenue conference--second decade celebration--washington, --victoria woodhull's memorial--judiciary committee--majority and minority reports--george w. julian and a. a. sargent in the house--may anniversary, --washington in --senate judiciary committee--benjamin f. butler--the sherman-dahlgren protest--women in grant and wilson campaign. although with charles sumner many believed that under the original constitution women were citizens and therefore voters in our republic, much more bold and invincible were their claims when the xiv. amendment added new barriers to the already strong bulwarks of the supreme law of the land. the significance of these amendments in reference to women was first seen by francis minor, of missouri, a member of the legal profession in st. louis. he called attention to the view of the question, afterward adopted by many leading lawyers of the american bar, that women were enfranchised by the letter and spirit of the xiv. amendment. on this interpretation the officers of the national association began soon after to base their speeches, resolutions, and hearings before congress, and to make divers attempts to vote in different parts of the country. at a woman suffrage convention in st. louis, october, , the following suggestive resolutions were presented by francis minor, esq., enclosed in the accompanying letter to _the revolution_: st. louis, oct. , . dear revolution:--i wish to say a few words about the action of the woman's suffrage convention just held here. it is everywhere spoken of as a complete success, both in point of numbers and the orderly decorum with which its proceedings were conducted. but i desire to call special attention to the resolutions adopted. when i framed them, i looked beyond the action of this convention. these resolutions place the cause of equal rights far in advance of any position heretofore taken. now, for the first time, the views and purposes of our organization assume a fixed purpose and definite end. we no longer beat the air--no longer assume merely the attitude of petitioners. we claim a right, based upon citizenship. these resolutions will stand the test of legal criticism--and i write now to ask, if a case can not be made at your coming election. if this were done, in no other way could our cause be more widely, and at the same time definitely brought before the public. every newspaper in the land would tell the story, every fireside would hear the news. the question would be thoroughly discussed by thousands, who now give it no thought--and by the time it reached the court of final resort, the popular verdict would be in accord with the judgment that is sure to be rendered. if these resolutions are right, let the question be settled by individual determination. a case could not be made here for a year to come, but you could make one in new york at the coming election. respectfully, francis minor. the st. louis resolutions. whereas, in the adjustment of the question of suffrage now before the people of this country for settlement, it is of the highest importance that the organic law of the land should be so framed and construed as to work injustice to none, but secure as far as possible perfect political equality among all classes of citizens; and, whereas, all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states, and of the state wherein they reside; be it _resolved_, . that the immunities and privileges of american citizenship, however defined, are national in character and paramount to all state authority. . that while the constitution of the united states leaves the qualification of electors to the several states, it nowhere gives them the right to deprive any citizen of the elective franchise which is possessed by any other citizen--to regulate, not including the right to prohibit the franchise. . that, as the constitution of the united states expressly declares that no state shall make or enforce any laws that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states, those provisions of the several state constitutions that exclude women from the franchise on account of sex, are violative alike of the spirit and letter of the federal constitution. . that, as the subject of naturalization is expressly withheld from the states, and as the states clearly would have no right to deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to deprive native-born women citizens of this right. . that justice and equity can only be attained by having the same laws for men and women alike. . that having full faith and confidence in the truth and justice of these principles, we will never cease to urge the claims of women to a participation in the affairs of government equal with men. extracts from the constitution of the united states, upon which the resolutions are based: preamble, we, the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the united states of america. article i. sec. . the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. [illustration: virginia l. minor.] sec. . the times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the congress may, at any time, by law, alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.--[see elliot's debates, vol. , p. --remarks of mr. madison--story's commentaries, secs. , , ]. sec. . the congress shall have power to establish a uniform mode of naturalization--to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers vested by this constitution in the government of the united states, or in any department or officer thereof. sec. . no bill of attainder, or _ex post facto_ law shall be passed. no title of nobility shall be granted by the united states. no state shall pass any bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law--or law impairing the obligations of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.--(see cummings _vs._ the state of missouri. wallace rep. , and exparte garland, same volume). article iv. sec. . the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. (the elective franchise is one of the privileges secured by this section--see corfield _vs._ coryell, washington circuit court reps. --cited and approved in dunham _vs._ lamphere, gray--mass. rep. --and bennett _vs._ boggs, baldwin rep., p. , circuit court u. s.) sec. . the united states shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government. (how can that form of government be republican, when one-half the people are forever deprived of all participation in its affairs). article vi. this constitution, and the laws of the united states which shall be made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any states to the contrary notwithstanding. xiv. amendment. all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. at this same convention mrs. virginia l. minor, president of the missouri state association, in her opening address said: i believe that the constitution of the united states gives me every right and privilege to which every other citizen is entitled; for while the constitution gives the states the right to regulate suffrage, it nowhere gives them power to prevent it. the power to regulate is one thing, the power to prevent is an entirely different thing. thus the state can say where, when, and what citizens may exercise the right of suffrage. if she can say that a woman, who is a citizen of the united states, shall not vote, then she can equally say that a chinaman, who is not a citizen, shall vote and represent her in congress. the foreign naturalized citizen claims his right to vote from and under the paramount authority of the federal government, and the state has no right to prevent him from voting, and thus place him in a lower degree or grade of citizenship than that of free citizens. this being the case, is it presumable that a foreign citizen is intended to be placed higher than one born on our soil? under our constitution and laws, woman is a naturalized citizen with her husband. there are men in this town to-day, to my certain knowledge, who have had this boon of citizenship thrust upon them, who scorned the name, and who freely claimed allegiance to a foreign power. our government has existed for eighty years, yet this question of citizenship has never been settled. in the question came before the then attorney-general, mr. cushing, as to whether indians were citizens of the united states, and as such, were entitled to the privilege of preempting our public lands. he gave it as his opinion that they were not citizens, but domestic subjects, and therefore not entitled to the benefits of the act. in the question came before attorney-general william wirt, as to whether free persons of color in the state of virginia were citizens of the united states, and as such, entitled to command vessels engaged in foreign trade. he gave it as his opinion that they were not, that the constitution by the term citizen, and by its description of citizen, meant only those who were entitled to all the privileges of free white persons, and negroes were not citizens. in the question came before attorney-general legree, of south carolina, as to whether free negroes of that state were citizens, and he gave it as his opinion that as the law of congress intended only to exclude aliens, therefore that they as denizens could take advantage of the act. mr. marcy, in , decided that negroes were not citizens, but entitled to the protection of the government. in justice to our sex, i must ask you to bear in mind the fact that all these wise secretaries of state and attorney-generals, were men that made these singular decisions, not illogical, unreasoning women, totally incapable of understanding politics. and lastly, in , our late honored and lamented fellow-citizen, attorney-general bates, decided that free negroes were citizens. thus, you see, it took forty-one years to make this simple discovery. i have cited all these examples to show you that all rights and privileges depend merely on the acknowledgment of our right as citizens, and wherever this question has arisen the government has universally conceded that we are citizens; and as such, i claim that if we are entitled to two or three privileges, we are entitled to all. this question of woman's right to the ballot has never yet been raised in any quarter. it has yet to be tested whether a free, moral, intelligent woman, highly cultivated, every dollar of whose income and property are taxed equally with that of all men, shall be placed by our laws on a level with the savage. i am often jeeringly asked, "if the constitution gives you this right, why don't you take it?" my reply is both a statement and a question. the state of massachusetts allows negroes to vote. the constitution of the united states says the citizens of each state shall be allowed all the privileges of the citizens in the several states. now, i ask you, can a woman or negro vote in missouri? you have placed us on the same level. yet, by such question you hold us responsible for the unstatesmanlike piece of patchwork which you call the constitution of missouri! women of the state, let us no longer submit to occupy so degraded a position! disguise it as you may, the disfranchised class is ever a degraded class. let us lend all our energies to have the stigma removed from us. failing before the legislatures, we must then turn to the supreme court of our land and ask it to decide what are our rights as citizens, or, at least, not doing that, give us the privilege of the indian, and exempt us from the burden of taxation to support so unjust a government. [applause]. ten thousand extra copies of _the revolution_ containing these resolutions and this speech were published and sent to friends throughout the country, laid on every member's desk in congress, and circulated at the washington convention of . from this hour up to the time of the supreme court decision in the case of virginia l. minor in , the national woman suffrage association took this view in regard to the xiv. amendment. mrs. stanton, fully accepting the new position, made her speech on that basis before the congressional committee[ ] on the district of columbia. in calling this committee to order senator hamlin said: we have met this morning for the purpose of considering two petitions which have been presented, i believe, only to the senate committee of the district of columbia. the first one is a petition, very numerously signed, i think, by both ladies and gentlemen of this city, and in a few brief words it says that: "the undersigned, residents of the district of columbia, earnestly but respectfully request that you extend the right of suffrage to the women of the district." the other memorial, very nearly as brief, is in these words: "the undersigned citizens of the united states pray your honorable body that in the proposed amendments to the constitution which may come before you in regard to suffrage, and in any law affecting suffrage, in the district of columbia or in any territory, the right of voting may be given to the women on the same terms as to the men." upon this subject we have some lady friends who desire to address us, and i have the pleasure of introducing to you mrs. stanton. mrs. stanton said: accustomed to appeal to the sentiments and combat the prejudices of popular assemblies, it is a comparatively easy task to plead the cause of woman before clear, logical, dispassionate minds--committees of statesmen--trained to view all subjects in the light of pure reason; for unprejudiced minds admit to-day that if the democratic theory of government is true, the argument lies wholly on our side of this question. as history shows that each step in civilization has been a steady approximation to our democratic theory, securing larger liberties to the people, it is fair to infer that its full realization--the equal rights of all--will be the best possible government. whatever is true in theory is safe in practice, and those holding the destinies of nations in their hands should legislate with a sublime faith in eternal principles. as bills are soon to be introduced in both the senate and the house, asking further special legislation, we appear before you at this time to urge that the women of the district shall share equally in all the rights, privileges, and immunities you propose to confer on male citizens. in the adjustment of the question of suffrage, now before the people of this country for settlement, it is of the highest importance that the organic law of the land should be so framed and construed as to secure political equality to all citizens. while the constitution of the united states leaves the qualifications of electors to the several states, it nowhere gives them the right to deprive any citizen of the elective franchise; they may regulate, but not prohibit the franchise. the constitution of the united states expressly declares that no state shall make or enforce any law that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states; hence those provisions of the several state constitutions that exclude women from the franchise are in direct violation of the federal constitution. even the preamble recognizes, in the phrase "we, the people," the true origin of all just government. we, the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the united states of america. are not women people? sec. . the united states shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government. how can that form of government be republican, when one-half the people are forever deprived of all participation in its affairs? article vi. the constitution and the laws of the united states which shall be made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. the constitution tells us, too, who are citizens. the xiv. amendment says: all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. it has just been decided by the supreme court that a foreign born woman is naturalized by marriage to a native. therefore, as birth and marriage secure the right of citizenship to large numbers, the remaining classes of foreign unmarried women should secure naturalization papers, that we may all test our right to vote in the courts. as the subject of naturalization is expressly withheld from the states, and as the states would clearly have no right to deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to deprive native born women citizens of this right. the states have the right to regulate but not to prohibit the elective franchise to citizens of the united states. thus the states may determine the qualifications of electors. they may require the elector to be of a certain age, to have had a fixed residence, to be of a sane mind, and unconvicted of crime, etc.; but to go beyond this, and say to one-half the citizens of the state, notwithstanding you possess all these qualifications, you shall never vote, is of the very essence of despotism. it is a bill of attainder of the most odious character. on this point the constitution says: art. i., sec. . no bill of attainder, or _ex post facto_ law shall be passed. no title of nobility shall be granted by the united states. no state shall pass any bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, impairing the obligations of contracts, or grant any title of nobility. (see cummings vs. the state of mo., th wallace rep , and exparte garland, same volume.) opposed to this provision of the constitution, by the xv. amendment you have established an aristocracy of sex, sanctioning the unjust legislation of the several states, which make all men nobles, all women serfs. justice and equity can only be attained by having the same laws for men and women in the district as well as the state. a further investigation of the subject will show that the language of the constitutions of all the states, with the exception of those of massachusetts and virginia, on the subject of suffrage is peculiar. they almost all read substantially alike. "white male citizens, etc., shall be entitled to vote," and this is supposed to exclude all other citizens. there is no direct exclusion, except in the two states above named. now the error lies in supposing that an enabling clause is necessary at all. the right of the people of a state to participate in a government of their own creation requires no enabling clause; neither can it be taken from them by implication. to hold otherwise, would be to interpolate in the constitution a prohibition that does not exist. in framing a constitution the people are assembled in their sovereign capacity; and being possessed of all rights and all powers, what is not surrendered is retained. nothing short of a direct prohibition can work a deprivation of rights that are fundamental. in the language of john jay to the people of new york, urging the adoption of the constitution of the united states, "silence and blank paper neither give nor take away anything," and alexander hamilton says (_federalist_, no. ), "every man of discernment must at once perceive the wide difference between silence and abolition." the mode and manner in which the people shall take part in the government of their creation may be prescribed by the constitution, but the right itself is antecedent to all constitutions. it is inalienable, and can neither be bought, nor sold, nor given away. but even if it should be held that this view is untenable, and that women are disfranchised by the several state constitutions directly, or by implication, then i say that such prohibitions are clearly in conflict with the constitution of the united states and yield thereto. the proposition is now before the people of the district to abolish the municipal government and reduce this to a mere territory, which is clearly retrogressive legislation; as in the former, the chief magistrate is elected by the people and in the latter appointed by the president. in your civil rights bill, compelling black and white to vote together, to go to school together, to ride in the cars together, you have taken a grand step in progress. if in the proposed bills soon to come before you for the establishment of a medical college in the district, and an improved school system, you shall as carefully guard the rights of women to equal place and salary, you will take another onward step. in making the changes you propose, it is evident you are doing to-day an elementary work in which all the people should have a voice; hence, your primal duty is to extend to the women of the district the right of suffrage, that they may vote on the schools, colleges, hospitals, prisons, and whether their government shall be republican with a representative in congress, municipal officers, or territorial with a governor appointed by the president. in doing such fundamental work, many distinguished publicists have expressed the opinion that all the people should have a voice. in the debates in the illinois convention, now in session, members refused to swear to support the state constitution, because, said they, "it is absurd to swear to support what we are now tearing to pieces. we are doing an elementary work, and are amenable to the federal constitution alone." ever since the abolition of slavery, the district has been resolved into its original elements. in fact by the war, and the revision of the federal constitution, the nation, too, has been resolved into its original elements, and the women have to-day, the right to say on what basis the district, their several states, and the nation shall be reconstructed. we think, honorable gentlemen, you must all see the broad application of this principle. and if all the people should have a voice in the revision of a state or national constitution, women must be included. the constitution confers, by express grant upon congress, "exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever," for the purposes of government. under this grant congress, by the first section of the act of january , , enacted that each and every male person of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been born or naturalized in the united states, who shall have resided in the said district for the period of one year, and three months in the ward or election precinct in which he shall offer to vote, shall be entitled to the elective franchise, and shall be deemed an elector, and entitled to vote. this act, you perceive, recognizes the pre-existing right of all persons, and excludes women only by the use of the word male, unless, as hamilton says, "silence on that point is not abolition." it is fitting that here, under the shadow of the national capitol, under the control of the federal government, where the black man was first emancipated and enfranchised, that the experiment of a true republicanism should be tried, by securing to woman, too, the rights of an american citizen. susan b. anthony addressed the committee as follows: we are here for the express purpose of urging you to present in your respective bodies, a bill to strike the word "male" from the district of columbia suffrage act, and thereby enfranchise the women of the district. we ask that the experiment of woman suffrage shall be tried here, under the eye of congress, as was that of negro suffrage. indeed, the district has ever been made the experimental ground of each step toward freedom. the auction-block was here first banished, slavery was here first abolished, the newly-made freemen were here first enfranchised; and we now ask that the women shall here be first admitted to the ballot. there was great fear and trepidation all over the country as to the results of negro suffrage, and you deemed it right and safe to inaugurate the experiment here; and you all remember that three days discussion in on senator cowan's proposition to amend the senate bill by striking out the word "male;" the able speeches of cowan, anthony, gratz brown, wade, and the senate's nine votes for the amendment. well do i remember with what anxious hope we watched the daily reports of that debate, and how we prayed that congress might then declare for the establishment in this district of a real, practical republic. but conscience, or courage, or something was wanting, and women were bidden still to wait. when, on that march day of , the negroes of the district first voted, with what anxiety did the people wait, and with what joy did they read the glad tidings, flashed over the wires the following morning! and the success of that first election in this district, inspired congress with confidence to pass the proposition for the xv. amendment, and the different states to ratify it until it has become a fixed fact that black men all over the nation may not only vote, but sit in legislative assemblies and constitutional conventions. we now ask congress to do the same for women. we ask you to enfranchise the women of the district this very winter, so that next march they may go to the ballot-box, and all the people of this nation may see that it is possible for women to vote and the republic to stand. there is no reason, no argument, nothing but prejudice, against our demand; and there is no way to break down this prejudice but to try the experiment. therefore we most earnestly urge it, in full faith that so soon as congress and the people shall have witnessed its beneficial results, they will go forward with a xvi. amendment that shall prohibit any state to disfranchise any of its citizens on account of sex. mrs. hooker said: the fifth commandment, "honor thy father and thy mother," can not be obeyed while boys are taught by our laws and constitutions to hold all women in contempt. i feel it is not only woman's right, but duty to assume responsibility in the government. i think the importance of the subject demands its hearing. madam anneke: you have lifted up the slave on this continent; listen now to woman's cry for freedom. mrs. matilda joslyn gage: liberty is an instinct of the human heart, and men desirous of creating change in governments or religion have led other men by promising them greater liberty and better laws. nothing is too good, too great, too sacred for humanity--and, as part of humanity, woman as well as man demands the best that governments have to offer. honorable gentlemen have spoken of petitions. for twenty years we have petitioned, and i now hold in my hand over three thousand names of citizens from but a small portion of the state of new york, asking that justice shall be done women by granting them suffrage. but people have become tired of begging for rights, and many persons favoring this cause will not again petition. we but ask justice, and we say to you that the stability of any government depends upon its doing justice to the most humble individual under it. mrs. paulina wright davis: we are tired of petitioning. it is time our legislators knew what was right and gave us justice. mrs. wilbour remarked that a lady of the district near her said she had obtained , signatures in one ward of the city to a petition. senator patterson inquired what the effect would be in case women were allowed to vote, if there were a difference of opinion between the husband and wife on some political question--where the authority of the family would rest? mrs. stanton replied that there was always a superior will and brain in every family. if it was the man, he would rule; if it was the woman, she would rule. individuality would be preserved in the family as well as in society. hon. mr. welker wanted to know if the women in the district had shown any interest in the movement yet. mrs. stanton replied that they had; they had attended the sessions of the convention held here, and all she had spoken to were in favor of it. mrs. wilbour said the petition of , women of the district asking for suffrage had been presented to congress this very winter. hon. mr. cooke said that the committee on the district of columbia could not get enough time allowed them by the house to transact the necessary business of the district during the short morning hour to which they were limited by the rules, and he feared they would be unable to get the action of the house on the subject. miss anthony said that they must make time enough to present the bill at least; and asked if women had the right to vote, and make and unmake members, if they could not then find time to plead woman's cause? the honorable member was obliged to answer this pertinent question in the affirmative. senator hamlin said the committee would take the matter into consideration and discuss it; that in scripture language he could say he "was almost, if not quite, persuaded." altogether the hearing was serious and impressive, and it was evident that the honorable gentlemen had already given the subject a thoughtful consideration. as each member of the congressional committee was presented by senator hamlin, the ladies had abundant opportunity for learning their individual opinions. senator sumner never appeared more genial, and said though he had been in congress for twenty years, and through the exciting scenes of the nebraska act, emancipation, district of columbia suffrage act, and reconstruction, he had never seen a committee in which were present so many senators and representatives, so many spectators, and so much interest manifested in the subject under discussion. the following description (in the _hartford courant_) is from the pen of mrs. fannie howland. washington, jan. , . the close of the woman's suffrage convention in this city was marked by an event which, no matter how slowly its logical sequence is developed, must be regarded as initiative. a committee of ladies appointed by the convention and composed in great part of those well known as leaders in the movement, was received at the capitol by the committee of the senate and house (on the district of columbia) for a formal hearing. the object of that hearing was to request the honorable gentlemen to present a bill to congress for enfranchising the women of the district, as an experiment preparatory to ultimate acknowledgment of equal rights for all the women of the united states. the ladies were received in one of the larger committee rooms, in order to accommodate a number who wished to be present at this novel interview. after taking their seats, the hon. hannibal hamlin, chairman, presented to them successively the gentlemen of the committee, who certainly greeted their fair appellants with the deferential courtesy due to fellow-sovereigns, albeit unacknowledged and disguised, for the present, under the odium of disfranchisement. the gentlemen took their seats around a long table in the middle of the room. mrs. stanton stood at one end, serene and dignified. behind her sat a large semi-circle of ladies, and close about her a group of her companions, who would have been remarkable anywhere for the intellectual refinement and elevated expression of their earnest faces. opposite, at the other end of the table, sat charles sumner, looking fatigued and worn, but listening with alert attention. so these two veterans in the cause of freedom were fitly and suggestively brought face to face. the scene was impressive. it was simple, grand, historic. women have often appeared in history--noble, brilliant, heroic women; but _woman_ collectively, impersonally, never until now. to-day, for the first time, she asks recognition in the commonwealth--not in virtue of hereditary noblesse--not for any excellence or achievement of individuals, but on the simple ground of her presence in the race, with the same rights, interests, responsibilities as man. there was nothing in this gathering at the capitol to touch the imagination with illusion, no ball-room splendor of light and fragrance and jewels, none of those graceful enchantments by which women have been content to reign through brief dynasties of beauty over briefer fealties of homage. the cool light of a winter morning, the bare walls of a committee room, the plain costumes of every day use, held the mind strictly to the simple facts which gave that group of representative men and women its moral significance, its severe but picturesque unity. some future artist, looking back for a memorable illustration of this period, will put this new "declaration of independence" upon canvas, and will ransack the land for portraits of those ladies who first spoke for their countrywomen at the capitol, and of those senators and representatives who first gave them audience. mrs. stanton's speech was brief and able, eloquent from the simplicity and earnestness of her heart, logical from the well disciplined vigor of her mind. she was followed by miss anthony, morally as inevitable and impersonal as a greek chorus, but physically and intellectually individual, intense, original, full of humor and good nature--anything but the roaring lioness of newspaper reports some years ago. mrs. davis, of rhode island, spoke briefly in support of the demand for franchise. mrs. i. b. hooker presented the scriptural argument for the equality of woman in all moral responsibility and duty under the divine law. she spoke very feelingly, and was heard with marked attention. a german lady from wisconsin who, weighed in any balance, would not be found wanting, struggled to express, in broken english, the ideas for which she came forward as representing many of her countrywomen in the west. madam anneke fought by her husband's side in the revolution of ; but such an example adds no force to the argument for woman's suffrage, the plea being made, not for distinguished exceptional women, but for the average women of the community. when the ladies had finished their remarks, the gentlemen were invited to ask any questions which were suggested by the subject discussed. either from indifference or chivalrous sentiment, no very grave questions were proposed, nothing which required effort or argument to answer. probably when the matter comes, as sooner or later it must come, before congress, we shall hear some well-considered defense of the salic law, which in this democratic republic, excludes all women from the citizen's prerogative. one of the honorable gentlemen asked how they could be certain that any number of women in the united states desired the ballot. mrs. stanton and miss anthony recounted their experience at conventions, the numerous signatures to petitions, the many demonstrations here and in england in favor of woman suffrage, but reminded the gentleman that no such separate expression is required from the unwashed, unkempt immigrants upon whom the government makes haste to confer unqualified suffrage, nor from the southern negroes, who are provided for by the xv. amendment. the hearing ended about noon, followed by very cordial shaking hands and pleasant chat. i do not know if the ladies were invited to "call again," but am quite sure that miss anthony's parting salutation was an "au revoir." there was some quiet by-play as the audience dispersed, a little interchange of knowing nods and condescending smiles, as if to say, "we can keep these absurd pretensions at bay while _we_ live, and after us the deluge." i have no doubt that to some persons it appears an extravagant joke for women to aspire to political equality with the negro. king george thought it a very good joke when his upstart colonists steeped their tea in the salt water of boston harbor, but the laugh was on their side in the long run. history has no precedents for the elevation of woman to a civic status, but we are making precedents every day in our conduct of popular government. in athens--where woman was both worshiped and degraded--the protectress of the city was a feminine ideal whose glorious image crowned the parthenon with consummate beauty. in america, where woman is beloved and respected as nowhere else in the world--if she is only true to the ideals of private and public virtue--if she seeks power only as a means for the highest good of the race, the old fable of the pellas athenæ may become real, and the nation acknowledge with grateful joy, that the fathers "builded better than they knew," when they placed the figure of a woman on the dome of their capitol at washington. the second washington convention assembled at o'clock, january th, , in lincoln hall. mrs. stanton called the assemblage to order and invited the rev. samuel j. may to open the convention with prayer. letters were read from john stuart mill, robert purvis, clara barton, and others. miss barton appealed to her soldier friends in behalf of woman's right of suffrage thus: brothers, when you were weak, and i was strong, i toiled for you. now you are strong, and i am weak because of my work for you, i ask your aid. i ask the ballot for myself and my sex, and as i stood by you, i pray you stand by me and mine. mr. purvis closed his eloquent letter with these sentiments: censured as i may be for apparent inconsistency, as a member and an officer of the american anti-slavery society, in approving a movement whose leaders are opposed to the passage of the xv. amendment, i must be true to my own soul, to my sense of the absolute demands of justice, and hence, i say that, much as i desire (and heaven knows how deeply through life i have antagonized therefor) the possession of all my rights as an american citizen, were i a woman, black or white, i would resist, by every feeling of self-respect and personal dignity, any and every encroachment of power, every act of tyranny (for such they will be), based upon the impious, false, and infamous assumption of superiority of sex. mr. sinclair toucey, of new york, wrote a letter in which he said: the argument of to-day against the legal and political equality of the sexes carries one back to the days of pro-slavery ascendency, and brings vividly to mind the old wail of the non-humanity of the negro, and his lack of capacity for civilizing improvements: and though the opponents of equal rights for both sexes do not go quite so far as to deny the humanity of women, yet one might believe they would, did not such a denial involve their own status.... in a feeble manner i fought the old pro-slavery dogma, and in a feeble manner i am trying to fight its twin--the non-equality of the sexes.... i believe in the brotherhood of man, regardless of sex, color, or birth-place, and that every member of the great family is entitled to equal rights in life's ceaseless struggles. mr. mill's letter was as follows: avignon, france, dec. , . dear madam: i should have reason to be ashamed of myself if your name were unknown to me. i am not likely to forget one who stood in the front rank of the woman's rights movement in its small beginnings, and helped it forward so vigorously in its early and most difficult stages. you and mrs. mott have well deserved to live to see the cause in its present prosperity, and may now fairly hope to see a commencement of victory in some of the states at least. i have received many kind and cordial invitations to visit the united states, and were i able, the great convention to which you invite me would certainly be a strong inducement to do so. my dislike to a sea voyage would not of itself prevent me, if there were not a greater obstacle--want of time. i have many things to do yet, before i die, and some months (it is not worth while going to america for less) is a great deal to give at my time of life, especially as it would not, like ordinary traveling, be a time of mental rest, but something very different. i regret my inability the less, as the friends of the cause in america are quite able to dispense with direct personal co-operation from england. the really important co-operation is the encouragement we give one another by the success of each in our own country. for great britain this success is much greater than appears on the surface, for our people, as you know, shrink much more timidly than americans from attracting public notice to themselves; and the era of great public meetings on this subject has not arrived in our country, though it may be near at hand. i need hardly say how much i am gratified at the mode in which my name was mentioned in the national convention at newport, and still more at the tribute to the memory of my dear wife, who from early youth was devoted to this cause, and had done invaluable service to it as the inspirer and instructor of others, even before writing the essay so deservedly eulogized in your resolutions. to her i owe the far greater part of whatever i have myself been able to do for the cause, for though from my boyhood i was a convinced adherent of it, on the ground of justice, it was she who taught me to understand the less obvious bearings of the subject, and its close connection with all the great moral and social interests of the cause. i am, dear madam, very sincerely yours, j. s. mill. to mrs. paulina w. davis. senator pomeroy, of kansas, was introduced and made some very appropriate remarks: he said he was no new convert to this idea of woman's right to suffrage. woman claims the right to vote, not because she is a woman, and stronger or weaker than man, but because she is a citizen, amenable to the laws and under the control of the government. he did not propose to vote to simply give woman the franchise, but to remove the obstacles that now forbid the exercise of that right. he welcomed to this organization every earnest worker, and he was glad to hear that they were stirring up the elements. he had been waiting for the last two months for petitions, but he thought the franchise would never be secured to any class until it was imbedded in the constitution, and put beyond the freaks of politicians and majorities in state legislatures. he was in favor of carrying the movement into the fundamental law of the land. the negro's hour is passed, and it is woman's hour now. the negro has had his day, his cause has triumphed, and as woman is a citizen, and we need her ballot in the government, i hope that this movement may have a triumphant success. committees[ ] were appointed. mrs. wright of auburn, n. y., stated that her sister, lucretia mott, had charged her with a message to the convention, she sent her "god speed" to the movement, and regretted that she could not be present. paulina w. davis read an interesting history of the woman's rights movement, giving a brief sketch of its leaders. miss anthony introduced a series of resolutions,[ ] which were laid on the table for debate. mrs. m. gage, secretary of the suffrage association of new york, addressed the convention. she thought the world had never yet seen what woman could do, because she had never been given the opportunity. the ballot is the symbol of a higher power than a king's crown; it is the promise of justice to him who holds it. john bright said no oppression, however hoary headed, could stand the voice of the people. mrs. susan edson, of washington, desired to have the committee on resolutions urge upon congress the passage of the bill now before it, providing for the reorganization of the treasury department, but opposing that section of the bill which fixes the salary of the female employees lower than that of the men. she thought this was a proper subject for the convention to discuss. at the evening session mrs. josephine s. griffing occupied the chair. hon. james m. scovill, of new jersey, said:--i believe in heroism. grant won with the sword at appomattox what charles sumner contended for half a century--an idea. that idea is the liberty of all, limited by the like liberty of each. to-night we are here to bow to conscience, not to caste. susan b. anthony, the heroine of the hour, sustained by such brave souls as crowd this platform, who for the last twenty years have worked without fear and without reproach, deserves the thanks of millions yet to be, for she is the hero, the champion of the same idea for which abraham lincoln and half a million soldiers died. the emancipation of man was the proposition. the enfranchisement of woman was not the corollary to that proposition, but the major premise. john stuart mill, in his great book, "the subjection of women," denies the superior mental capacity of man when compared with woman. the nineteenth century don't yield a blind assent to such bosh as tennyson's, "woman is the lesser man." it would not do for madame de stael to assert (for alas! it was too true then--for the first napoleon never read rochefort's "marseillaise") that man could conquer, but woman must submit to public opinion. to-day elizabeth cady stanton and anna e. dickinson take public opinion by storm, because they use the everlasting logic of human rights. woman has power enough whenever fidelity, or truth, or genius are worshiped. she wants authority. the will of the nation says, "she shall have it and that speedily." we want and demand that congress shall make a loud "amen" to this clearly expressed will of the nation. the civil rights bill did little good until you armed the african with the ballot. then the old master touched his hat to the new citizen--his old slave. and why? because he was a power in the land. it is only godlike to use power for humanity; and that is the way we propose to use it. congress must hear us--shall hear us--because we speak in the voice of the people. and i speak to you as a man, yes, and as a lawyer, when i tell you your boasted amendments are the small dust of the balance till the xvi. is written. then we will have a country, never again clasping the bible with the handcuffs of slavery, but a land where we, men and women alike, can worship a common god, before whom there is neither jew nor greek, "white male" nor female, barbarian, scythian, bond nor free. mrs. wilbour remarked that she was fully aware of the truth that humanity was a unit. she knew the day was coming when a woman would be considered the equal of man. no disabilities to vote or hold office should exist in a free country on account of sex or color. she was anxious to know by what authority the word "male" had been placed in the constitution, which governed woman as well as man. woman's rights were natural rights--nothing more or less. she claimed the right of self-rule or self-government as a natural right. men were united in saying, "we have the right to vote." she was not present to be an advocate of woman's rights, whatever they may be, but of human rights. the largest giant had no more rights than tom thumb. it was brain, not force, that governed the world. a small hand was able to discharge a musket, guide an engine, or edit a paper as well as a large one. the womanly in nature should be expressed by woman, the manly by man; the two were distinct, and could not be blended together without spoiling the harmony of the whole. society had to be governed by the sacred right of self-government. how could a woman be responsible for her deeds to god if somebody had control over her conscience? mr. albert g. riddle believed that the question of universal franchise would be tried before the grand tribunal of the world, and, if not victorious, it would appeal and appeal again. the question ought to be met squarely by the "masculines" as well as by the women. he was an earnest advocate of woman's rights, because he claimed the same rights for his daughters as for his sons; he wanted for them the same atmosphere, the same public opinion, the same prestige. women were often heard to exclaim, "i wish i were a man." this elucidates how keenly they feel their position. mr. riddle spoke at length in favor of universal rights, and his logical arguments attracted the admiration of all who heard him. mrs. josephine s. griffing stated that the city clergy had evinced a disinclination to attend the convention, as they could not see any justification for the same in divine revelation. she read a letter from bishop simpson, in which he wished the convention god-speed. senator pomeroy said he was in favor of the xvi. amendment, and he thought the best place in the world to try the experiment was in the district of columbia. they had tried negro suffrage in the district, and it had proved a success and a benefit. there were plenty of offices in the city that could be filled by capable and now idle young ladies, which were at present filled by men weighing two hundred pounds, who were able to do a day's work but now received large salaries for little labor. rev. samuel j. may proposed to test the ladies present as to their ideas of suffrage. he asked that every lady in the house who desired the ballot should hold up her hand. a few ladies responded. mrs. stanton stated that mr. may had adopted a very bad manner of submitting the question. she would, therefore, reconsider the vote, and ask all ladies who opposed the xvi. amendment to rise from their seats, and those in favor to retain them. about sixteen ladies arose, amidst great mirth and laughter. the chair then announced that the meeting had expressed itself largely in favor of female suffrage. madam anneke, a german lady, of milwaukee, wisconsin, stated that, being a foreigner, allowance should be made for her defective pronunciation. if she could not speak the english language, she could speak the language of the heart. she came from the west, burdened heavily with petitions, signed by one thousand residents of the state of wisconsin. she would appeal to her countrymen, carl schurz and finkelnburg, to assist in this last struggle for universal liberty. the rev. olympia brown addressed herself particularly to that small minority of ladies who had expressed themselves opposed to the xvi. amendment. she admired their independence of character, for it showed they were the kind of women that the friends of woman suffrage wished to win over to their cause. she thought them honest in their opinions, but prejudiced. it required strong minds to combat against the common enemy--prejudice. they may think they do not require this right, as they might be blessed with comfortable homes, and be satisfied with the condition they were in. a change might come--even to them, but if it did not, ought they not to pity other women whose situation was less comfortable than their own? she alluded to the idle lives of young women, to which they were condemned by the customs of society, and said christianity demanded a useful life from every woman as well as every man. this cause is the cause of the civilized world, and will go on till the ballot is in the hands of every american woman. mr. stillman, of r. i., had no doubt that the result of this agitation would be to secure the universal franchise of all women. women would be admitted to all colleges of the land, and to the study of the arts and sciences. miss anthony said that senator pomeroy's being here to advocate woman suffrage, might be attributed to the fact that he had a constituency to sustain him. let the people of other states make as strong an expression as kansas, and their representatives would quickly find their places here too. she wanted women to emigrate to wyoming and make a model state of it by sending a woman senator to the national capitol. she would go there, if she had time, but her mission was in the states until this great reform was accomplished. she desired women to become members of the national organization, and to pay their dollar, or twenty-five, or twenty-five hundred dollars. she requested the finance committee to take their pencils and paper, and canvass the hall for membership and money, commencing at the door, so as to catch every fugitive. she invited all ladies who visit new york to call at the woman's bureau, and her own sanctum, the editorial rooms of _the revolution_. at the second evening session, letters[ ] were read from senators ross, of kansas, and carpenter, of wisconsin. miss jennie collins, of lowell, mass., addressed the meeting in a speech of some length, which was broken by frequent applause. she came to plead the cause of the working women, her associates. she knew the dignity of the kitchen, many of whose occupants were the daughters of refined and wealthy parents. if these girls could tell their story to the ladies of washington, they would not rest till congress had conceded to them their rights. the sufferings of the factory girls could hardly be described; poor wages for hard labor, in dirty rooms, shut out from bright sunshine, with dreary homes, were but part of their misery. with a love of the ennobling and beautiful, a natural taste for reading and study, many of them were led astray from the path of virtue by the artifices of men, often the sons of their own employers, and nothing was done to prevent their fall. the president announced that so great was the interest evinced, that a third day's session had been arranged. third day--morning.--among the large and fashionable audience present were the governor of wyoming territory, many senators and members of congress, as well as other distinguished persons. mrs. griffing read an interesting letter from mrs. frances d. gage: more than one-half of the "people," are to-day without the right of franchise, and can exert no power in the government, and have no voice in electing its representatives. they have no voice in making the laws under which they live. if they commit offenses they are punished the same as voters. if they have property it is taxed precisely the same and for the same purposes as is the property of the voter. government money and lands and revenues are appropriated for schools, colleges, and institutions of learning by the voters for their own use, while the non-voters are debarred all rights and privileges in the same. and it may be said that the disfranchised "have no rights that the enfranchised are bound to respect." ... a government that fails to execute its own laws and mocks at its own enactments, can not be respected by its people. we therefore demand that our representatives "shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government;" that the right of suffrage be guaranteed to all persons of sound mind and adult years, without regard to race, color, or sex. respectfully, frances d. gage. rev. samuel j. may said this movement was the most radical one ever proposed to the civilized world. america had suffered severely because it had violated the rights of , , people. if the rights of , , were much longer violated, severer suffering still would be induced. charlotte b. wilbour said: in demanding suffrage for women we are not making any innovation on political principles, but only attempting to restore the broken connection between practice and profession. a steady, constant, palpable ignoring of the application of great truths, like the claim of woman's rights, and the equality of all before the law, begets a reckless manner of assertion, an illogical application of premises, and thence a sort of organic dishonesty of mind which is carried into practice almost unconsciously. every subject of a government who has not a voice in its conduct is openly degraded, and must be something more or less than human not to show it in the conduct of his life. we demand the ballot for women in the name of that very domesticity which is urged against it, of that home whose peace has always been more marred by passive servility and masculine authority than by any over-assertion of individuality, on the part of the so-called partner. speeches were also made by mr. hinton of washington, and miss phoebe couzins. miss anthony called upon senator sherman, of ohio, to address the meeting, who expressed himself highly pleased with the convention to which he only came as a listener. the following letters were then read: syracuse, january , . mrs. m. j. gage--_dear friend_: i doubt not this meeting will urge emphatically upon congress the duty of striking the word "male" from the suffrage bill for the district of columbia. it is a gross injustice, a _shame_ that such a term should be in any legal paper defining citizenship in any civilized state, especially a shame that it should stand in a bill touching suffrage, in what ought to be the model district, the choice sample ground of wise and just government for the _model republic_. let an indignant protest and admonition go up in regard to this matter from your convention, that congress shall not dare to disregard. i trust also that the convention will urge upon congress the eminent fitness and duty of passing without delay the xvi. amendment, and submitting the same to the legislatures of the several states for ratification. the world is moving to-day in the direction of the abolition of all monopolies of privilege and that of equal and exact justice and fair play to all classes. woman now has the floor; the hour has struck for her. wyoming and colorado are already setting example for the older communities. let the preaching of this faith in effective ways, its benign and thorough working, begin at jerusalem, at the capitol of the nation, and may your convention urge the work to immediate undertaking, aye, and completion then, at home. yours truly, chas. d. b. mills. cornell university, ithaca, n. y., jan. , . mrs. m. joslyn gage--_dear madam_: i beg you to be assured that i heartily sympathize with all well directed efforts to secure to woman equality before the law. whatever can be done to give her a fair and equal chance with man, is due to her, and no effort of mine shall be wanting to secure so desirable a consummation. very respectfully yours, homer b. sprague. mrs. helen taylor, of london, after expressing the wish that she might be with us, says: it is a great delight to hear of the numerous societies, in various countries, working well and vigorously for that justice which for so long has been denied to women. the time can not be far distant now, when we shall attain the right of expressing our opinion by giving a vote. letters joining in the demand for a xvi. amendment were received from e. h. g. clarke, of troy, n. y.; s. d. dillaye, of syracuse; martha b. dickinson, sarah pugh, mrs. e. k. pugh, abby kimber, of philadelphia; mrs. mary j. o'donovan-rossa, and hon. jacob h. ela. the following extracts from private letters of mrs. hooker show somewhat the spirit of the occasion. washington, january , . i have just come from a good meeting; just such a house as we had at hartford the mornings of our convention. senator pomeroy spoke admirably, and carried every one with him. then came olympia brown, and nothing could have been better than her speech and the effect of it on the audience, which, by the way, was earnest and intelligent. but madam anneke, the german patriot who fought with her husband and slept beside her horse in the field, carried the day over everyone else. it was fairly overwhelming to hear her english, so surcharged with feeling, yet so exact in the choice of words, and the burden of it all was that the trials of the battle-field were as naught compared to this inward struggle of her soul toward liberty for woman. her presence, gestures, oratory, were simply magnificent. mrs. f., of cincinnati, who lives here now, came to me this morning with great warmth, saying she had brought two senators' wives who were opposed, and they said a few more such women as olympia brown would convert them. she has promised to bring them to our reception at the arlington this evening. _jan. ._--we have had to hold a three days' meeting, interest grew so fast. yesterday morning lincoln hall jammed, even aisles full. i never heard better speaking in my life, not a disturbance in the audience, not a jar on the platform, all loving, tender, earnest. olympia brown is wonderful; she talked christ and his gospel just i should have done with her voice and practice; can't enlarge, but she surely is a remarkable woman. we are to have a hearing by a committee from both houses on saturday, and senator pomeroy will present a bill for suffrage in the district of columbia next week, and would not be much surprised if it were carried at once--does not really expect that--but senator trumbull, chairman of judiciary, says he shall vote for it, and so do many others in both houses. mrs. pomeroy received yesterday afternoon, and to my surprise, nearly all her callers had been at the convention--at least three hundred young ladies were in the hall, they said, and all spoke with perfect respect of the movement--many seemed in sympathy with it. _jan. , two o'clock._--just from the committee room, and too full to write. mrs. stanton standing at the head of the long table (committee all round the table, sumner so attentive as to fix my eyes upon him with intense interest, watching changes of expression) read a magnificent argument. mrs. davis and miss anthony followed, and then sitting in my chair, i made a five minutes' talk on my favorite point--personal responsibility god's only method in human affairs. then questions from various gentlemen and conversation all round the room for two hours. the large room was full of gentlemen and ladies, and there were congratulations without stint, but sumner, grandest of all, approaching mrs. stanton and myself, said in a deep voice, really full of emotion, "i have been in this place, ladies, for twenty years; i have followed or led in every movement toward liberty and enfranchisement; but i have it to say to you now, that i never attended such a committee meeting as this in my life, it exceeds all that i have ever witnessed." mrs. howland was there, and excited to her highest eloquence in speech; with flushed cheeks she said to me, "if only that scene could have been photographed--it was the grandest one of history--the first time that _woman_ has ever appeared in halls of legislation--women often, but woman never before." i have sent her home to write a letter for the _courant_, and i hope she will make it out; she has promised to try. senator pomeroy counts thirteen senators ready to vote for us now, but i can not attempt to do justice to the situation. _the revolution_ of march , , gives the following call for the may anniversary of the national woman's suffrage association, which held its regular annual meeting in irving hall, new york, may th and th: the various woman suffrage associations throughout this country and the old world are invited to send delegates to the convention, prepared to report the progress of our movement in their respective localities. and, in order that this annual meeting may be the expression of the whole people, we ask all friends of woman suffrage to consider themselves personally invited to attend and take part in its discussions. with the political rights of woman secured in the territories of utah and wyoming--with the agitation of the question in the various state legislatures, with the proposition to strike the word "male" from the state constitution of vermont--with new york, new england, and the great west well organized, we are confident that our leading political parties will soon see that their own interest and the highest interests of the country require them to recognize our claim. the executive committee recommend the friends of woman suffrage, everywhere, to concentrate their efforts upon the work of securing a xvi. amendment to the federal constitution that shall prohibit the states from disfranchising any of their citizens on account of sex. many of the ablest advocates[ ] of the cause--both men and women--will address the meetings. communications and contributions should be addressed to the corresponding secretary. elizabeth cady stanton, _president_. ernestine l. rose, _chairman executive committee_. charlotte b. wilbour, _corresponding secretary_, east st street, new york. the convention was eventually held in apollo hall, the owners of irving hall annulling their contract when they learned that colored people were not only to be admitted to the audience, but welcomed to the platform as speakers. the rev. phebe hanaford opened the meeting with prayer, mrs. charlotte wilbour read the call, and announced the various committees, miss anthony reported the work done during the past year; excellent addresses were made by the many able speakers present, and strong resolutions were discussed and adopted. it was during this convention that a proposition was made, that as the american association had chosen henry ward beecher for president, mrs. stanton and miss anthony should resign their offices for a season, and place some popular man at the head of the national society. they readily assented, hoping thereby to heal the division so distracting to friends in every state, and unite all the forces in a grand union association. theodore tilton, editor of the _independent_, was chosen for the position. he and mr. beecher exchanged amicable letters, and a meeting of pacification[ ] was held at the fifth avenue hotel where both sides were fairly represented. complimentary greetings were exchanged, but nothing was gained. the one wise step in this episode was the meeting of the national woman suffrage association: in washington, january, , as usual under its long-tried leaders, as if no mistaken policy had been suggested or considered. emerson says the power of the human mind is shown in its ability to recover after a blunder. the association showed its real strength in taking up again and carrying forward its grand national work. the second decade celebration. at half past ten o'clock friday morning october , , the twentieth anniversary convention assembled in apollo hall, new york. a large number of the life-long friends were on the platform and a fine audience in attendance. mrs. stanton called the meeting to order and read the call.[ ] she said, after due consultation the committee had decided that as mrs. davis had called the first national convention twenty years ago, and presided over its deliberations, it was peculiarly fitting that she should preside over this also. a motion was made and seconded to that effect, and unanimously adopted. on taking the chair mrs. davis gave the following resumé of the woman's rights movement: in assembling to review the past twenty years, it is a fitting question to ask if there has been progress; or has this universal radical reform, which was then declared, been like reformations in religion, but a substitution of a new error for an old one; or, like physical revolutions, but a rebellion? has this work, intended from its inception to change the structure of the central organization of society, failed and become a monument of buried hopes? have we come together after twenty years, bowed with a profound grief over the wreck and debris of the battle unwon, or to rejoice over what has been attained, and mark out work for the next decade? we answer, in many things we have failed, for we believed and hoped beyond the possible; but reviewing the past we have only cause for rejoicing--for thanksgiving to god--and for courage in the future. we affirmed a principle, an adjustment of measures to the exigencies of the times, a profound expediency true to the highest principles of rights, and to-day we reiterate the axiom with which we started, that "they who would be free, themselves must strike the blow," believing it as imperative as when the first woman took it up, and applied it to her needs; and it must be kept as steadily before the eye, for not yet can we rest on our privileges gained. women are still frivolous; the slaves of prejudice, passion, folly, fashion, and petty ambitions, and so they will remain till the shackles, both social and political, are broken, and they are held responsible beings--accountable to god alone. not till then can it be known what untold wealth lies buried in womanhood--"how many mute, inglorious miltons." men are still conceited, arrogant, and usurping, dwarfing their own manhood by a false position toward one half the human race. in commencing this work we knew that we were attacking the strongholds of prejudice, but truth could no longer be suppressed, nor principles hidden. it must be ours to strike the bottom line. we believed it would take a generation to clear away the rubbish, to uproot the theories of ages, to overthrow customs, which at some period of the world's history had their significance. we proclaimed that our work was to reform, reconstruct, and harmonize society; not to lay waste her homes and her sanctuaries. a few only have been found brave enough to do more than touch the fringe work that circles round the vortex which is heaving and surging with social pollutions, which might well make angels stand appalled; but should the occasion come in this country, the pure women of our nation will rise, as the women of england are now doing, resisting a legislation which degrades womanhood to the lowest depths. we proclaimed a peaceful revolution; for we abhorred then as now the atrocities of war, hence our demand for a participation in government, that we might bring a new element into it to restrain and purify it. says a french lady in a private letter received a few days since, "oh, is it not time that women come? is it not because we have no voice in public affairs that europe is on fire now? men are true brutes. pride, injustice, and cruelty are their most remarkable qualities. what can free us from their laws so unjust?" this is the sad, passionate utterance of a french woman now in the hour of her country's peril. what better proof that women love peace more than glory, than in the empress eugenie's course,--she would have no force used to uphold her power. "she would rather be pitied than hated." frances wright, a noble scotchwoman, early sought to make herself thoroughly acquainted with the nature of our institutions, and the genius of our government. she determined to try the experiment of organized labor with negroes. purchasing two thousand acres of land on the bluffs, now known as memphis, tenn., she took a number of families, with fifteen able-bodied men, and, giving them their freedom, organized her work. prostrated by illness, she was compelled to yield her personal supervision, and thus her attempt to civilize those people failed, and they were finally sent to hayti. she then commenced lecturing on the nature and object of the "american political institutions." she gave also a course of historical and political lectures; and another course on the nature of knowledge, free inquiry, divisions of knowledge, religion, morals, opinions, existing evils and a reply to the traducers of the french reformers. no other person was at that time prepared so well to defend them as she was, from her having been in part educated in general lafayette's family. in all those lectures she showed the low estimate of woman, and her inferior education. to this heroic woman, who left ease, elegance, a high social circle of rich culture, and with true self-abnegation gave her life, in the country of her adoption, to the teaching of her highest idea of truth, it is fitting that we pay a tribute of just, though late, respect. her writings are of the purest and noblest character, and whatever there is of error in them is easily thrown aside. the spider sucks poison from the same flower from which the bee gathers honey; let us therefore ask if the evil be not in ourselves before we condemn others. pharisaism, then as now, was ready to stone the prophet of freedom. she bore the calumny, reproach and persecution to which she was subjected for the truth, as calmly as socrates. looking down from the serene heights of her philosophy she pitied and endured the scoffs and jeers of the multitude, and fearlessly continued to utter her rebukes against oppression, ignorance and bigotry. women joined in the hue and cry against her, little thinking that men were building the gallows and making them the executioners. women have crucified in all ages the redeemers of their own sex, and men mock them with the fact. it is time now that we trample beneath our feet this ignoble public sentiment which men have made for us; and if others are to be crucified before we can be redeemed, let men do the cruel, cowardly work; but let us learn to hedge womanhood round with generous, protecting love and care. then men will learn, as they should, that this system of traducing women is no longer to be used as a means for their subjugation. let us learn to demand that all men who come into our presence be as pure as they claim that woman should be. let the test be applied which christ gave, that if any is without sin in word, or deed, or thought, he shall "cast the first stone."... when the war ended and national reconstruction commenced, women, feeling an equal interest in having the work rightly done, presented their petitions for the right of suffrage, but were coolly told by those who were most eager to enfranchise the negro, "stand aside and wait, it is the black man's hour." the sacrifice of their sons on the altar of freedom was not counted to them as anything. their years of toil and weary watching in camp and hospital were not to be put in the scale with the black man's, who fought for his own freedom. such wrong and injustice is bearing its fruits, in the confusion of the councils of the republican party. like the french of , they refused to deal justly with the mothers of the nation, and are now reaping a bitter reward. they dared to suppress the petitions of thousands of women, and now disintegration has begun; the handwriting is seen on the wall. thus injustice has done its work, and thousands of women have been roused by it to protest who had never before given any thought to public affairs. the national convention, held in the church of the puritans, after the war, was one of intense interest, and marked an era in this movement. the demand for suffrage became paramount--the only one with many. mrs. stanton, in , went before the judiciary committee of the new york legislature, asking universal suffrage to be recognized by the constitutional convention which was to be held. about this time a bill was before a committee of the legislature, the purport of which was to legalize prostitution reading this bill in the presence of the committee, her quick mind comprehended all its horrors at a glance, and she tried the test of asking each man if he would be willing that that law should be applied to his daughter, his sister, or any one dear to him. self-ism answered "no." "then, gentlemen," said she, "legislate for the poorer daughters of the state as you would for your own." all that winter she battled against that hideous system, which would legalize the foulest of sins, and to her efforts, mainly, the delay of passing that law is due. she made a clear exposition of that cruel, corrupt, one-sided legislation, which subjects woman to the grossest indignities, while men are benefited and allowed safe and unlimited license. to her lectures, also, is due a healthier tone of public sentiment on the marriage question. it is slowly beginning to be felt that in that relation there is a vast amount of legalized prostitution. in an extensive lecturing tour through kansas was made by mrs. stanton, miss anthony, rev. olympia brown, henry blackwell, and lucy stone. the proposition of striking the words "white male" from the constitution had been submitted to the people, and the result of the campaign was one third the vote of the state in favor of both propositions. of miss brown, now preaching in new england, we can not forbear saying we have few in our ranks more earnest, honest, or devoted. a clear, incisive intellect, a true heart and firm purpose mark her every day life. she is unobtrusive and gentle, but always ready at the call of duty. on this campaign they were joined by a new worker, george francis train, whether for good or ill it will be for history to decide. certain it is, that a new impulse was given to the cause, and _the revolution_ established, with susan b. anthony as proprietor, and elizabeth cady stanton and parker pillsbury as editors, has done a great work. it has been hated, abused, slandered, misquoted, and garbled; nevertheless, it has been a terror to evil doers, and a help to those who would do well. others, thinking to do better, have started monthly and weekly papers.... in may, , at the annual meeting of the equal rights society, which had been three years in existence, a change of name was proposed. notice was given to that effect, and at a large meeting, in which nineteen states were represented, the national woman suffrage society was formed, which has done most efficient service, holding conventions in many of our large cities, and awakening thought and action. in saratoga and newport a new class was reached. wearied with the monotony of fashionable dissipation and the driveling idiocy of flirtations, women were glad to hear a few sensible, wholesome truths. in december, , an able report was received from mrs. kate n. doggett, one of the six delegates to the labor convention, in berlin. in the spring of a fresh impulse was given to the work in the establishment of the woman's bureau, by mrs. elizabeth b. phelps. its discontinuance was due to the same cause which has thwarted so many plans of women. there were not a sufficient number possessed of wealth who had the will to render this a permanent institution. mrs. phelps possesses in an eminent degree all the requisites for such a post--a queenly hospitality, elegant manners, fine conversational ability, with a generous catholic spirit. delicacy forbids saying all that the heart prompts of friends.... in november, , a delegate convention was held in cleveland, ohio, and a society organized, called the american woman's suffrage society. its work is yet to be done. the crowning act of , and the one which gave an omen for the year that was approaching, was the enfranchising of the women of wyoming and utah. for these acts of justice we are most grateful. a correspondent says: the cause of woman in wyoming goes bravely on. at the last sitting of the district court in albany county, both the grand and petit juries were equally composed of either sex; and chief-justice howe, presiding, took advantage of this occasion to compliment, in the highest terms, the intelligence, discrimination, honesty, and propriety of the conduct with which the women acquitted themselves last session, saying they had gone far to vindicate the policy, justify the experiment, and realize the expectations of those who had clothed themselves with the right. the bar, the bench, and the intelligent men of the country had long felt that something was needed to improve and justify our jury system; something to lift it above prejudice and passion, and imbue it with a higher regard for law, justice, oath, and conscience. his honor then expressed the opinion that the introduction of the new element furnished good reason to expect that to women we should ultimately be indebted for those reforms which the unaided exertions of men had been incompetent to effect. this is certainly a most flattering presentment of the results of enfranchising the sex in wyoming, and what is better, it seems substantially a just one. the question will therefore naturally suggest itself, if women, in their new political capacity, are thus able to "tone" the rude elements of western civilization, what inconsistency is there in granting them like privileges in communities whose superior refinement is so much less likely to expose them to insult or mortification? in utah it is of less account, because the women there are under a hierarchy, and as yet vote only as directed. in january, , a convention was called in washington by the officers of the national society. this meeting, large in attendance and deeply earnest, marked an historical era, the influence of which can not be estimated. a hearing before the joint committee of the house and senate of the district was asked, in order to present the question of woman suffrage, and granted. elizabeth cady stanton made the argument in favor of enfranchising women of the district of columbia. it was clear, incisive, and cogent; divested of all sentiment, and condensed into a twenty-minutes' speech. it was very impressive. susan b. anthony, madam anneke, and others made a few pertinent remarks. at the close of the hearing, hon. charles sumner said: "in my twenty years' experience in the senate of the united states, i have never witnessed so fine a hearing as this one, so large an attendance, and such respectful attention." thus begins the national history of this great reform--a fitting opening for . the work, not only in this country, but in europe, was greatly accelerated by the publication of john stuart mill's inestimable book, "the subjection of woman," which has been extensively circulated in a cheap form in this country, and has been translated and reprinted in france, prussia, and russia. the first national woman suffrage convention was held in london, july, , at which members of parliament, professors of science--noble men and noble women, still more ennobled by this great work--took active part, and now women have the right of suffrage there in the municipal elections. the bill was introduced by mr. jacob bright, and, says prof. fawcett: "in one night it passed beyond ridicule, so ably and calmly was it presented, and in less than one year it is a fixed fact." how stands the comparison, aristocratic england and democratic america? the crown princesses of prussia and italy are strong advocates of this movement, while women, who pay taxes in austria and russia, vote and have a voice in making laws. will america hold on to her barbarism in this, as she did to chattel slavery, till all the nations of the earth cry out against her wrong to womanhood?... a few of the earlier women who came to this work should be named here. martha c. wright, sister of lucretia mott, of auburn, has presided in most of the new york state conventions, and in some of the national, and her pen has always been sharpened in ready defense of the cause and its leaders. a woman of rare good sense and large sympathies, she is always to be trusted in emergencies. sarah helen whitman was the first literary woman of reputation who gave her name to the cause, and her interest has never lessened, though ill health has prevented any work. alice cary for years gave her heartiest sympathy to the movement, and socially she and her sister phoebe have awakened an interest in a large circle not easily penetrated by outside influences. her story, never completed, the "born thrall," published in _the revolution_, gave evidence of thought, experience, and deep feeling. the songs of the sisters have a new sweet sadness, now that alice is singing hers on the other side of the river of life. grace greenwood has done good service with her fluent pen and voice through the press and on the platform. mary l. booth, with her rich culture and her unsurpassed practical ability, her skill as a translator of martin's great history of france, and numberless other works, has given aid to the cause with her pen, one of the best in the country. as an editor she has done great service by showing that a woman can work as earnestly and persistently at a closely confining business as a man, and can hold for years a place at the head of a profession so difficult and so arduous. as physicians, many women have won not only fame, but wealth. the names are too many for our limits. a few only who have taken an active interest in the principles which we have been urging can be given. dr. mercy b. jackson, dr. ann preston, and dr. clemence lozier are some of the names which stand out conspicuously. the government appointments within the last two years have been a matter of great rejoicing. many responsible offices are held by women in different localities. there are , postmistresses, some of them of first-class offices. the one in richmond, va., is considered a model office, held by miss rachel van lew. ten years ago a young girl sprang, like minerva from the head of jupiter, fully armed, into the moral and political arena, and has stirred the heart of the nation as no other speaker ever did. anna e. dickinson has never feared to utter the boldest truths, has never shrunk from, or withheld the most scathing rebukes of sin in high places, has never faltered or failed in principle, and yet is to-day a far more popular lecturer than those who have pandered to a corrupt, vitiated public taste. does this not prove that the deep heart of the people is better than it has the credit of being. about the same time theodore tilton threw into the scale his brilliant and varied talents, and the _independent_, of which he was editor, was found on the side of freedom for all. judge samuel e. sewall, always on the right side in every good work, published, in , a digest of the laws of massachusetts in relation to woman's disabilities, which has done good work. later, prof. hickox prepared one of like character for connecticut, which is enough to rouse the women of that state to white heat. within the last two years of the second decade many new speakers have appeared on our platform. standing first is mrs. mary a. livermore, a woman of rare powers of oratory. possessing a magnetism which grasps and holds her audience whether they will or no, she is a special pleader, and if her logic is not always perfect it is most effective, for she has the power of unlocking the hearts of her hearers. she has made within the last two years extensive lecturing tours in the north and west, and verging toward the south. mrs. julia ward howe came in november, , and laid her rich gifts on the altar of freedom, and has often been heard in conventions, and twice or thrice before the legislature of massachusetts. mrs. isabella beecher hooker, from the family of ministers, also came about this time with her ready available talents. phoebe couzins and lilie peckham, alike generous, enthusiastic, cultured, and above all of high-toned principles, lead a strong band of young workers. charlotte b. wilbour, gifted in a high degree, calm in judgment and steady in purpose, is always a tower of strength. celia burleigh, graceful, poetic and earnest, is equally at home on the platform or in the drawing-room, and lillie devereux blake is always ready with pen or voice. myra bradwell, with her legal knowledge, is another to be grateful for; and with pride the names of elizabeth o. willard, catherine b. waite, and elizabeth boynton are recorded as having given their rare gifts to this work. we gladly pay tribute to james w. stillman, of rhode island, who has given most generously of time, money, and, above all, talents, to this cause, and that, at a time when ridicule and even the sacrifice of position followed. his logical argument on the inherent right of self-government has done great service. looking back over the names of our co-workers, those of hannah tracy cutler, and frances d. gage, and jane elizabeth m. jones are widely honored. another of this class is josephine s. griffing, a woman of rare endowments intellectually, with a heart as true and gentle as god ever gave to woman. modest, almost to a fault, she is the unseen power that moves the machinery in the very heart of the nation; asking no recognition, no applause, she works on with a steady, systematic, careful earnestness which commands the respect of the best and wisest. early among women journalists mrs. jane g. swisshelm stands out conspicuously. the pittsburg _saturday visitor_, which she edited for several years with marked ability, was the paper most often quoted, and made war upon by all opposers of progress. mrs. c. i. h. nichols also edited the windham co. _democrat_, in brattleboro, vt., with much ability, and though less radical and aggressive than mrs. swisshelm's paper, it is to the seed sown by her head and hands that all the spirit of progress there is in that county is due. there is yet one other name that well deserves not one page but many, for his good deeds and unselfish work. a man with a strong, vigorous mind, a quick conception of principles and perfectly fearless in his advocacy of them, holding always his personality so in reserve as sometimes to be overlooked among the many more assuming. parker pillsbury was for some time editor of the _national anti-slavery standard_, and co-editor of the _revolution_. his editorials have been marked by an almost prophetic spirit; and the profoundness of their thought will be more justly appreciated as there is a larger development and a higher demand for unqualified justice. the hutchinson family were among our earliest workers, giving of time and money liberally without regard to party or sectionalism. mr. john hutchinson and family went through kansas with the lecturing tourists, in , and with their inspiring songs for freedom did much toward increasing the vote for woman suffrage. they still continue their work, penetrating into the most benighted regions, for freedom, temperance, peace, and the reign of righteousness; they are doing their quota in the world's great work. mrs. mary f. davis has been from the first a most able and efficient advocate; her winning, gentle manners, her courtesy and respect for the rights of others have been unvarying. if not herself aggressive, she has never faltered in her adherence to the fullest truth; in this she is always sustained by her husband, andrew jackson davis, who has never hesitated or temporized on any great question. among business women who have gone steadily on in the path of duty, the name of charlotte fowler wells stands out conspicuously. for over thirty years she has been an equal in all business relations with her husband, conducting the extensive correspondence of the house, as well as being head book-keeper. her serene face gives evidence of a life of quiet, self-respecting independence. mrs. frances v. hallock and sister, mrs. robert dale owen, hold a place worthy of honorable mention for their good works and steady adherence to truth, and their clear, quick comprehension of its far-reaching power. rev. phebe hanaford, pastor of a church in new haven, conn., has done a great work for woman. she is the mother of a family, and finds time not only to conduct their education, but to preach regularly every sabbath, to write books of merit, and to superintend her domestic affairs, which are managed with skill, economy and good taste. always cheerful and kindly, she wins many friends, not only to herself but for the cause. there is another movement that began in this decade now closed upon us, which properly belongs to its history, viz: that of the working women. it has been represented from boston by miss jennie collins, a slight woman, all brain and soul. she tells her stories with such a tender, natural pathos that few eyes are dry during her speeches. she makes no pretense, but gives most unmistakable evidence of a rich nature that has been repressed and tortured. she is the type of a large class that will develop into beautiful, symmetrical characters when the shackles are broken and women are free. conventions and organizations have so multiplied that it would require a volume to give their history. the chief of these are the great northwestern and pacific slope associations. added to these are the state societies in nearly all the northern and middle states. a state society was organized in richmond, virginia, in april, , by matilda joslyn gage, a woman of wide historical information. lectures have been given in several of the southern states by individuals. if the notices of women are by far more numerous than those of men,[ ] it is not from forgetfulness of their services, for i credit them with all sincerity of motive, and nobleness in the wish for our enfranchisement. i have given, as briefly as possible, the two decades from to . i have set down nothing in malice, and what is omitted must be charged to want of space and time. when the full history of this work is written, differences which have retarded its progress, and the wide range of action and reaction can be gone into if the historian so wills. i have endeavored to keep this report free from sectionalism and faction, believing that the _finale_ would bring together all parties in one glad day of rejoicing. that there will be political parties in the future, with women, as with men, there can be no question; but that the sexes will have a purifying influence, each upon the other, is already conceded even by the opposers. in closing this _resume_ permit me to say that this meager outline, condensed from notes made from year to year, in no way satisfies the writer, but has been given by the earnest solicitations of friends, who wished that the steady progress of the cause might be marked in this retrospective hour. there is much that should have been embodied in this sketch of the past, especially the resolutions which have marked varying phases of the work, and which seemed like a divine inspiration in their comprehensive grasp and far-reaching thought, on this the last great question of reform. mrs. mott rose at the conclusion of mrs. davis' history of the work for the past twenty years, and expressed herself as greatly pleased with its succinct and careful preparation. she felt that it was of great importance to the future work that this history be preserved, and hoped it would be published as part of the proceedings of this meeting. she felt that we had lost in not having kept more careful record of the progress of the work. she was sorry mrs. davis had not said more of herself, as she had done much toward opening the medical profession to women, and also in making lecturing a lucrative and respectable profession for them. she was, i believe, the first woman to claim the right to equal pay with men for her lectures. mrs. stanton expressed the same pleasure in listening to the report, and satisfaction in its historical accuracy. resolutions[ ] which had been prepared by the committee, were offered for discussion. mrs. gage spoke of the advance in the cause of education for women, and reviewed the progress in each particular branch of science. letters from various parts of the world were read by mrs. griffing and mrs. lillie devereux blake, the latter of whom demonstrated in an amusing and forcible manner that the women of our country did not form a part of the "people," according to the various banners and posters displayed about the streets in reference to the coming election. woman did want to vote; she did love her country; but because she was not one of the "people," that privilege was denied her. miss anthony made several characteristic, short speeches at intervals, in a style which is peculiarly her own. her force and humor were fully appreciated by the audience, who applauded her repeatedly. her appeals for money met with great favor. the rev. olympia brown made a stirring speech in reference to woman's work in the cause of the "social evil," speaking at some length upon the action of the women of england on the subject. mr. crozier, of brooklyn, was the only gentleman who spoke, and he acquitted himself very creditably in his confession upon joining the cause of woman's rights. several resolutions were offered in reference to the european war, and much sympathy was expressed with the present suffering originated by it. the improved condition of italy was also referred to. the convention was a highly interesting one in many particulars, and the pioneers of the cause who engaged in active service twenty years ago proved themselves as ardent as in the early days. the following letters were read: hereford square, london. dear madam:--i received your kind letter some weeks ago, and beg to apologize for the delay of this reply. pray accept my thanks for your kind expressions regarding my small efforts to keep alive the great cause we have all so near at heart. i regret to hear that one who, like yourself, has been a pioneer on the way when the path was the ruggedest, should for many years have been incapacitated from aiding its progress. may you now be restored fully to activity. we certainly want all true workers, albeit the progress of the cause surpasses our most sanguine expectations, on that as well as on this side of the atlantic. pray accept my thanks for your kind invitation to your convention. it will not, i think, ever be likely that i shall visit america, but i shall always read with deep interest of all that goes forward there. accept, dear madam, my thanks for your kindness and sincere regard. mrs. p. w. davis. frances power cobbe. morningside, edinburgh, sept. , . madam:--i regret that i am unable to accept the invitation with which you have honored me, for i have been an invalid for some months, and am not sufficiently well to undertake any journey. i can assure you that the cause of woman is gradually but firmly gaining ground in scotland, and that each month we are gaining in the right direction. at present there are six female medical students studying in our university. the college of surgeons has thrown its doors open, without any restriction, to the female student. the merchants' maiden company has, within the last few months, opened large schools in connection with its hospitals, offering as its prizes bursaries in the university to girls as well as boys, which i think is one of the strongest moves which as yet has been made in behalf of women. the petition in favor of the medical education of women was largely signed in scotland. the society for the higher education of women is progressing well and the professors spoke highly of the efficiency of their working pupils. in the university classes of botany and natural history all the female students were in the honor list, and miss edith pechey was the first chemistry student for the year. with best wishes and thanks to you and your committee for your kind invitation, i am truly yours, s. k. kingsley, for henry kingsley. alderley edge, near manchester, sept. , . madam:--i beg to thank you for the circular and your accompanying note, both inviting me to attend the twentieth anniversary of the inauguration of the woman suffrage movement in the united states, to be held in new york on the th and st of october. i have once traveled through your country with very much pleasure, and, i hope, with some profit, and i have a strong desire to come again; but as it is impossible for me to do so now, i can not attend your meeting. i need not say that i sympathize with your object. it seems to me to be inconsistent with the principles of your government, and of ours, to deny to women the power to control those who legislate for them. until they obtain this control through the suffrage, they will suffer many disadvantages and be the victims of unequal laws. how soon they will obtain it must depend mainly upon their own efforts. in the meantime the present agitation will give them an interest in many public questions, will in itself be an education in preparation for political power, and will exercise an influence in favor of more equal legislation between men and women. very truly yours, mrs. p. w. davis. jacob bright. from mrs. dr. taylor. notting hill, august , . dear madam:--i cordially thank you for your kind request that i should attend your convention in october. it is quite impossible for me to leave england now, but i am deputed by our london committee for woman's suffrage to express their sympathy with your movement, and the hope that the efforts you are making will be crowned with success, and that mrs. lucretia mott will live to see the fruit of some of her good and noble work. believe me yours truly, m. taylor. from lady amberly. rodborough manor, stroud, july , . dear madam:--i thank you much for your invitation to attend your second decade meeting of the woman's suffrage association. i regret that it will not be in my power to accept it. much as i enjoyed my visit to america, it is rather too far to undertake a second journey there. you must, indeed be glad, after twenty years of work, to see the great advance in public opinion on this question. it seems now to be progressing very fast. i have just aided in establishing a committee at stroud, and we hope soon to have one in every borough in england for female suffrage. yours truly, mrs. p. w. davis. kate amberly. park road, south hill, liverpool. dear madam:--mrs. butler regrets very much not to have been able to write to you before, and begs you will kindly accept her apologies as well as her thanks for your invitation to your decade meeting. i have the honor and privilege to be at present mrs. butler's secretary. she is overwhelmed with work, and would be thankful for your sympathy in it. i wish i could give you a clear idea of the battle she has to fight, but it is very difficult for me, as a german, to put it in adequate words. mrs. butler's introductory essay to "woman's work and woman's culture" only gives a faint idea of her character and strivings, compared to the grand reality of her life. she has devoted more than fifteen years to the rescue of "fallen women"--a work that requires more active charity and self-denial than any other. the english parliament passed, some time ago, certain acts called the contagious disease acts, as a sanitary measure, on the model of continental legislation. to earnest, religious minds, like mrs. butler's, the acts appear immoral in principle, as declaring vice a necessity; unjust, as inflicting penalties on women and letting men go free; and cruel in their application, enrolling women in a degraded class, making their return to virtue almost impossible. i think if i tell you that by these acts a woman can be arrested by a policeman on suspicion of being a prostitute, and subjected to an examination which amounts to a surgical operation, always disgraceful, sometimes injurious, even dangerous, i have made quite clear to an american lady that such a state of things can not be endured. the best english women, with mrs. butler and miss nightingale as leaders, stand up nobly for the poor, degraded women whom, with their true christian hearts, they still recognize as sisters. mrs. butler, who is rather delicate, devotes all her strength to this cause at present. she travels much, has been in the garrison towns, where, for the benefit of the soldiers, these atrocious acts are in force, and in large meetings denounces the cruelties to women. by her efforts more than sixty thousand signatures have been obtained for the repeal of the acts. many good men, i am thankful to say, are on our side, and it is a matter of congratulation that in this point many people join who widely differ in other respects. i firmly believe that this question, which can no longer be avoided, will produce a great social reform. women who timidly keep aloof from all political movements, after this experience of male legislation, eagerly demand the suffrage. i am sure you will forgive mrs. butler for not writing herself. as soon as she has a little more breathing time she is sure to write, but she fears she will never be able to cross the atlantic. yours sincerely, rosa bruhn. mrs. p. w. davis. paris, rue nollet , th september. dear madame:--i burned the answer i had written to you under the shameful government now fallen, and whose crimes and treasons extorted from me cries of despair for the ruin they have brought on our country. i thank you for the generous sympathy you express toward us in our great woe. your honored names have been blessed for this by our french hearts. we are now relieved, and though our actual peril is none the less, we are in possession of our own force. we are rid of the despicable robbers of our honor, our fortune and our lives; and in the most terrible energy, is a consolation and support. better is it to die with honor than live dishonored. how happy you are to be born on a soil not infested by monarchical roots. they are like dog-grass, which springs up again and again, nurtured by the ignorance of our rural population. when the prussians shall have been driven away, we may have civil struggles to fear from the emissaries of this detested monarchy. what avails experience to the blind. i forwarded immediately your letter to george sand. accept my heartfelt thanks for your fraternal invitation to me. yes, you say right, our hearts are wholly absorbed, and no place is ours but paris in this hour of supreme struggle and sacrifice. we shall be with you in thought only, dear sisters--you, the pioneers in woman's emancipation--your names are enshrined in our hearts; but this crisis here will not be useless for the cause. the women of paris are noble and courageous; one may hear them in every group encouraging the men to desperate resistance. everywhere they form societies for the relief of the distressed and the wounded. many have petitioned for this revolution, and have instigated men to the accomplishment of it. many will take arms in defense and fight; yea, fight with all the strength which desperation lends, should the struggle reach our streets.... they have already proved this sort of courage. men feel now how very necessary their co-operation is, and after the crisis i hope they will not forget it. but it is better that woman herself should learn to have a will, an active opinion in public affairs, and this disposition will, doubtless, continue to increase, as it has done for the last two years. hail, dear and valiant sisters; blessed be your work in which my heart, and many of those around me unite. andre leo. mesdames paulina w. davis, lucretia mott, martha wright, elizabeth c. stanton, isabella b. hooker. naples, october , . dear mrs. davis:--i have only now received your letter, or i should sooner have expressed how highly i am gratified by the honor you do me in asking my opinions with regard to woman suffrage. i can not more strongly show my sympathy with my accomplished sisters in the united states, than by saying that i signed a petition to the british parliament, requesting permission for women to vote at the elections. it was rejected, for the opposition and prejudices in the men of great britain are still very strong against any change in our condition. we have, however, gained a most important privilege lately, chiefly through the liberality of the university of cambridge, in having the opportunity of acquiring every branch of knowledge, literary and scientific. we owe much to the society of which you are the secretary, for persevering in our behalf for twenty years under strong opposition. the progress of civilization will ultimately emancipate half the human race from the low position in which we have hitherto been kept. accept, dear mrs. davis, my thanks for your letter, and believe me, very sincerely yours, mary somerville. victoria press, london, oct. , . my dear mrs. davis and mrs. stanton:--will you kindly let me answer both your notes together, and assure you how much i value the feeling which prompted you to write them. i shall not easily part with either of those letters, although pressure of work drives me to answer them in one, and say that i am utterly unable to respond to your wish that i should attend your decade meeting. few things would give me such satisfaction as to find myself in america, especially after your noble invitations and promises of a cordial reception everywhere. but--and how many buts there are in life--i dare not leave my work at present in england. there are several very important movements just now resting almost entirely upon me, and having put my hand to the plow, i dare not look back. i am at present the only regular lecturer here on this subject, and i am full of engagements up to april next--north, south, east, and west--and the discussion society i have started in london is still too young to run alone, and yet promises such good things for the future, that i feel it ought to be carefully tended. i can only add that i shall watch with great interest for the accounts of your meeting on the th. i long for the day when i can see you in the flesh--those with whose spirits i now ever hold communion. excuse haste. i have just returned from the north, and find my table overwhelmed with invitations to lecture and appeals for help. the learned meetings and social discussions of the british associations at liverpool, and the social science congress at newcastle, have all been crowded into the last fortnight. wishing you and your noble workers god-speed, believe me, yours, most truly, emily faithful. dear ladies:--it would give me great pleasure to accept your kind invitation to be present at your meeting to-day, if it were possible, but it is not. go on with your great work; it is arduous, but it is sublime! you are doing good that you know not of in old europe. you have taken the initiative, and she is following hard after. i wish to recommend to you the appeal of mme. gasparin to the american women to join in her heart-cry for peace. coming so recently as i have, from the seat of war--from paris and from rome--i can testify to the earnest, the beseeching appeal of european women to their sisters in america to give them help in this their hour of calamity and need--the help of sympathy, the succor of love! the day before i left france, one of the noblest of french women, mademoiselle daubie (the distinguished author of that remarkable work, "the poor women of the nineteenth century," which every woman and legislator ought to read,) said to me: "we are looking wistfully every whither for some hand stretched out through the darkness, but, alas! there is none. but you are going to america. oh! tell the women there to help us in this struggle with ignorance, corruption, and war." let us heed this cry. france lies prostrate in the dust! but rome is free! so in all human sorrow there is some hope. let us, then, lift up the one by all possible help, remembering her greatness, and pity her misfortunes; having faith in her capabilities, and praying for her liberty--for that liberty that can only be practicable when built upon intelligence and virtue, and only real when woman is not the slave, but the helpmate of man; and let us rejoice with that other sister--italia--who is now lifting up her face toward heaven, and after these long years of anguish and waiting the mother is restored to her children! the rule of the cæsars is gone, and the reign of absolutism is passing away! and while the science of men goes flashing round the earth--over sea and land--uniting the nations in treaties of commerce and compacts of liberty, the warm, generous heart of woman shall keep pace, uniting humanity in sympathy and love. i am, dear ladies, yours most respectfully, emelia j. meriman.[ ] the speakers during the day gave many delightful reminiscences of the noble men and women who had given their earnest efforts to promote this great reform, and dwelt with hope on the many encouraging steps of progress that had marked the years since the initiative steps were taken. the day before the convention an elegant reception was held at the st. james hotel. nearly two hundred persons called during the afternoon, and about forty sat down to a sumptuous dinner.[ ] the washington convention of [ ] was thus described by _the republican_ of that city: the third annual national woman's suffrage convention, held at lincoln hall, was an unprecedented success. its leading spirit was mrs. isabella beecher hooker, who, together with josephine s. griffing, paulina wright davis, and susan b. anthony, made all the preliminary arrangements, and managed the meeting. mrs. hooker's zeal, activity, and amiability gave her the power to make an easy conquest wherever she carries the banner of the good cause. her generalship in washington marshalled hosts of new and ardent friends into the movement. five sessions were held, during each of which the convention was presided over by some member of the senate or house of representatives; and it was a novel feature to see such men as senators nye, warren, and wilson sitting successively in the president's chair, apparently half unconscious that it was one of greater honor than their familiar seats in the senate. speeches were made by adelle hazlett, olympia brown, lilie peckham, isabella b. hooker, lillie devereux blake, cora hatch tappan, susan b. anthony, kate stanton, victoria c. woodhull, hon. a. g. riddle (of the washington bar), frederick douglass, senators nye and wilson, and mara e. post, who made a journey all the way from wyoming to attend the convention. a good deal was said by the speakers concerning the proposed interpretation of the existing constitutional amendments. it was thus a convention with a new idea. the reporters could not say that only the old, stock arguments were used. there was an air of novelty about the proceedings, indicating healthy life in the movement. the consequence was that the cause of woman's enfranchisement made a new, sudden, and profound impression at washington. this convention was remarkable for the absence of the usual long series of resolutions covering every point of our demands. another peculiarity was the unusual amount of money that flowed into the treasury, as the following letter, among many others of the same character, shows: miss anthony--i have this morning deposited $ for the use of the n. w. s. a., and i will give a check for the amount as you desire it. washington, d. c. mrs. m. m. cartter. letters were read from mrs. esther morris,[ ] justice of the peace in wyoming territory, and from mrs. jane graham jones, of chicago. senator nye, who presided at the evening session, said, "he had not given much thought to the question of woman suffrage, but it was his opinion that in proportion as we elevated the mothers of voters, so were the voters themselves elevated." the audiences during this convention were large, and the press not only respectful but highly complimentary. it was just before this enthusiastic convention that victoria woodhull presented her memorial to congress and secured a hearing[ ] before the judiciary committee of the house, which called out the able minority report, by william loughridge, of iowa, and benjamin f. butler, of massachusetts. the following is from the congressional _globe_ of dec. , . in the senate: mr. harris presented the memorial of victoria c. woodhull, praying for the passage of such laws as may be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the right vested by the constitution in the citizens of the united states to vote without regard to sex; which was referred to the committee on the judiciary, and ordered to be printed. in the house: mr. julian--i ask unanimous consent to present at this time and have printed in the _globe_ the memorial of victoria c. woodhull, claiming the right of suffrage under the xiv. and xv. articles of amendments to the constitution of the united states, and asking for the enactment of the necessary and appropriate legislation to guarantee the exercise of that right to the women of the united states. i also ask that the petition be referred to the committee on the judiciary. no objection was made, and it was ordered accordingly. the memorial of victoria c. woodhull. _to the honorable the senate and house of representatives of the united states in congress assembled, respectfully showeth:_ that she was born in the state of ohio, and is above the age of twenty-one years; that she has resided in the state of new york during the past three years; that she is still a resident thereof, and that she is a citizen of the united states, as declared by the xiv. article of the amendments to the constitution of the united states. that since the adoption of the xv. article of the amendments to the constitution, neither the state of new york nor any other state, nor any territory, has passed any law to abridge the right of any citizen of the united states to vote, as established by said article, neither on account of sex or otherwise. that, nevertheless, the right to vote is denied to women citizens of the united states by the operation of election laws in the several states and territories, which laws were enacted prior to the adoption of the said xv. article, and which are inconsistent with the constitution as amended, and, therefore, are void and of no effect; but which, being still enforced by the said states and territories, render the constitution inoperative as regards the right of women citizens to vote: and whereas, article vi., section , declares "that this constitution and the laws of the united states which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the united states, shall be the supreme law of the land; and all judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution and laws of any state to the contrary, notwithstanding." and whereas, no distinction between citizens is made in the constitution of the united states on account of sex; but the xv. article of amendments to it provides that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." and whereas, congress has power to make laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution all powers vested by the constitution in the government of the united states; and to make or alter all regulations in relation to holding elections for senators or representatives, and especially to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of the said xiv. article: and whereas, the continuance of the enforcement of said local election laws, denying and abridging the right of citizens to vote on account of sex, is a grievance to your memorialist and to various other persons, citizens of the united states, therefore, your memorialist would most respectfully petition your honorable bodies to make such laws as in the wisdom of congress shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the right vested by the constitution in the citizens of the united states to vote, without regard to sex. and your memorialist will ever pray. victoria c. woodhull. new york city, dec. , . address of victoria c. woodhull january , . _to the honorable the judiciary committee of the house of representatives of the congress of the united states:_ having most respectfully memorialized congress for the passage of such laws as in its wisdom shall seem necessary and proper to carry into effect the rights vested by the constitution of the united states in the citizens to vote, without regard to sex, i beg leave to submit to your honorable body the following in favor of my prayer in said memorial which has been referred to your committee. the public law of the world is founded upon the conceded fact that sovereignty can not be forfeited or renounced. the sovereign power of this country is perpetually in the politically organized people of the united states, and can neither be relinquished nor abandoned by any portion of them. the people in this republic who confer sovereignty are its citizens: in a monarchy the people are the subjects of sovereignty. all citizens of a republic by rightful act or implication confer sovereign power. all people of a monarchy are subjects who exist under its supreme shield and enjoy its immunities. the subject of a monarch takes municipal immunities from the sovereign as a gracious favor; but the woman citizen of this country has the inalienable "sovereign" right of self-government in her own proper person. those who look upon woman's status by the dim light of the common law, which unfolded itself under the feudal and military institutions that establish right upon physical power, can not find any analogy in the status of the woman citizen of this country, where the broad sunshine of our constitution has enfranchised all. as sovereignty can not be forfeited, relinquished, or abandoned, those from whom it flows--the citizens--are equal in conferring the power, and should be equal in the enjoyment of its benefits and in the exercise of its rights and privileges. one portion of citizens have no power to deprive another portion of rights and privileges such as are possessed and exercised by themselves. the male citizen has no more right to deprive the female citizen of the free, public, political, expression of opinion than the female citizen has to deprive the male citizen thereof. the sovereign will of the people is expressed in our written constitution, which is the supreme law of the land. the constitution makes no distinction of sex. the constitution defines a woman born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, to be a citizen. it recognizes the right of citizens to vote. it declares that the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." women, white and black, belong to races, although to different races. a race of people comprises all the people, male and female. the right to vote can not be denied on account of race. all people included in the term race have the right to vote, unless otherwise prohibited. women of all races are white, black, or some intermediate color. color comprises all people, of all races and both sexes. the right to vote can not be denied on account of color. all people included in the term color have the right to vote unless otherwise prohibited. with the right to vote sex has nothing to do. race and color include all people of both sexes. all people of both sexes have the right to vote, unless prohibited by special limiting terms less comprehensive than race or color. no such limiting terms exist in the constitution. women, white and black, have from time immemorial groaned under what is properly termed in the constitution "previous condition of servitude." women are the equals of men before the law, and are equal in all their rights as citizens. women are debarred from voting in some parts of the united states, although they are allowed to exercise that right elsewhere. women were formerly permitted to vote in places where they are now debarred therefrom. the naturalization laws of the united states expressly provide for the naturalization of women. but the right to vote has only lately been definitely declared by the constitution to be inalienable, under three distinct conditions--in all of which woman is clearly embraced. the citizen who is taxed should also have a voice in the subject matter of taxation. "no taxation without representation" is a right which was fundamentally established at the very birth of our country's independence; and by what ethics does any free government impose taxes on women without giving them a voice upon the subject or a participation in the public declaration as to how and by whom these taxes shall be applied for common public use? women are free to own and to control property, separate and free from males, and they are held responsible in their own proper persons, in every particular, as well as men, in and out of court. women have the same inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that men have. why have they not this right politically, as well as men? women constitute a majority of the people of this country--they hold vast portions of the nation's wealth and pay a proportionate share of the taxes. they are intrusted with the most vital responsibilities of society; they bear, rear, and educate men; they train and mould their characters; they inspire the noblest impulses in men; they often hold the accumulated fortunes of a man's life for the safety of the family and as guardians of the infants, and yet they are debarred from uttering any opinion by public vote, as to the management by public servants of these interests; they are the secret counselors, the best advisers, the most devoted aids in the most trying periods of men's lives, and yet men shrink from trusting them in the common questions of ordinary politics. men trust women in the market, in the shop, on the highway and railroad, and in all other public places and assemblies, but when they propose to carry a slip of paper with a name upon it to the polls, they fear them. nevertheless, as citizens, women have the right to vote; they are part and parcel of that great element in which the sovereign power of the land had birth; and it is by usurpation only that men debar them from this right. the american nation, in its march onward and upward, can not publicly choke the intellectual and political activity of half its citizens by narrow statutes. the will of the entire people is the true basis of republican government, and a free expression of that will by the public vote of all citizens, without distinctions of race, color, occupation, or sex, is the only means by which that will can be ascertained. as the world has advanced into civilization and culture; as mind has risen in its dominion over matter; as the principle of justice and moral right has gained sway, and merely physical organized power has yielded thereto; as the might of right has supplanted the right of might, so have the rights of women become more fully recognized, and that recognition is the result of the development of the minds of men, which through the ages she has polished, and thereby heightened the lustre of civilization. it was reserved for our great country to recognize by constitutional enactment that political equality of all citizens which religion, affection, and common sense should have long since accorded; it was reserved for america to sweep away the mist of prejudice and ignorance, and that chivalric condescension of a darker age, for in the language of holy writ, "the night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off the work of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. let us walk honestly as in the day." it may be argued against the proposition that there still remains upon the statute books of some states the word "male" to an exclusion; but as the constitution, in its paramount character, can only be read by the light of the established principle, _ita lex scripta est_, and as the subject of sex is not mentioned, and the constitution is not limited either in terms or by necessary implication in the general rights of citizens to vote, this right can not be limited on account of anything in the spirit of inferior or previous enactments upon a subject which is not mentioned in the supreme law. a different construction would destroy a vested right in a portion of the citizens, and this no legislature has a right to do without compensation, and nothing can compensate a citizen for the loss of his or her suffrage--its value is equal to the value of life. neither can it be presumed that women are to be kept from the polls as a mere police regulation: it is to be hoped, at least, that police regulations in their case need not be very active. the effect of the amendments to the constitution must be to annul the power over this subject in the states, whether past, present, or future, which is contrary to the amendments. the amendments would even arrest the action of the supreme court in cases pending before it prior to their adoption, and operate as an absolute prohibition to the exercise of any other jurisdiction than merely to dismiss the suit. dall., ; wheaton, ; ib., ; d circ. pa., . and if the restrictions contained in the constitution as to color, race or servitude, were designed to limit the state governments in reference to their own citizens, and were intended to operate also as restrictions on the federal power, and to prevent interference with the rights of the state and its citizens, how, then, can the state restrict citizens of the united states in the exercise of rights not mentioned in any restrictive clause in reference to actions on the part of those citizens having reference solely to the necessary functions of the general government, such as the election of representatives and senators to congress, whose election the constitution expressly gives congress the power to regulate? s. c., ; fox vs. ohio, howard, . your memorialist complains of the existence of state laws, and prays congress, by appropriate legislation, to declare them, as they are, annulled, and to give vitality to the constitution under its power to make and alter the regulations of the states contravening the same. it may be urged in opposition that the courts have power, and should declare upon this subject. the supreme court has the power, and it would be its duty so to declare the law: but the court will not do so unless a determination of such point as shall arise make it necessary to the determination of a controversy, and hence a case must be presented in which there can be no rational doubt. all this would subject the aggrieved parties to much dilatory, expensive and needless litigation, which your memorialist prays your honorable body to dispense with by appropriate legislation, as there can be no purpose in special arguments "_ad inconvenienti_," enlarging or contracting the import of the language of the constitution. _therefore_, believing firmly in the right of citizens to freely approach those in whose hands their destiny is placed under the providence of god, your memorialist has frankly, but humbly, appealed to you, and prays that the wisdom of congress may be moved to action in this matter for the benefit and the increased happiness of our beloved country. speech of a. g. riddle, _in support of the woodhull memorial, before the judiciary committee of the house of representatives, as reproduced in the convention on the evening of the same day._ mr. riddle spoke as follows: mr. _chairman_--(senator nye)--i have always thought that the questions involved in this movement could be the more effectively presented by ladies; and i have never appeared in their public discussions unless by special request, and for some special purpose. i have been asked to bring to your notice as well as i may this evening the argument: that the women of these united states are full and complete citizens. citizens as fully, broadly, and deeply as it is possible for men to be, though not permitted to exercise the elective franchise. as i arise i find between myself and this proposition, two or three questions, about which i am disposed to tax your patience for a moment, though there is nothing new to be said. in the outset, let me say that it is conceded by all, that the right of self-government, in america at any rate, is a natural right. you may select with care or at random, any one of the forty or fifty american constitutions that have been prepared with more or less pains, and promulgated with solemnity, and you will find there is not one that has assumed to create and confer this right of self-government. but they all declare, expressly or impliedly, that the right to govern is inherent in the people. now, if these ladies are a portion of the people, this right resides in them. there is no new right to be conferred upon them. they are simply to go into the new exercise of an old franchise; for if the right of self-government is a natural right, then does it pertain to every human being alike. such is the recognized theory of every american constitution, and such is its practice. take a step further and you find that starting with a recognition of this pre-existing right of government, constitution makers have simply provided the means and machinery by which this right of government may work itself out. the only means placed in the hands of the individual citizen by which he may accomplish his portion of this great task is the ballot, or the _viva voce_ vote. if this right of self-government is a natural right, and if it can be exercised alone by the ballot, then is the right to the ballot a natural right, and he who stands up against this everlasting right of nature, had better look to it, and take himself out of the way. as this is a political question i may venture a single word to politicians. we of the masculine gender, are all of us, more or less politicians; and of all the timid things in the world the professed politician (a member of congress excepted) is the most timid. [laughter.] he is afraid of his soul, as if he had one, or one large enough to occasion apprehension. [laughter.] i have this thing to say to them, that when any great idea or great truth finds itself at large in this lower world, and is obliged to get itself incorporated into the working processes of a government, if it does not find a political party ready, willing, and worthy to receive it, it forthwith makes for itself a new party. [applause.] and as it does not create new human beings to form a party of, it must necessarily gather them from the old parties. just as the distinguished senator (senator nye) will recollect the present republican party was formed, and against which the two old fossil parties united, as they always do. now, this new great idea, if rejected, will disintegrate these old parties; take that which is fit, proper, and deserving for its own great mission, leaving the residuum to unite, and crumble and pulverize together under the feet of the new. the right of self-government, as i have said, is a natural right pertaining to all alike, and is to be exercised by the ballot. and the right to that is therefore a natural right, as is the right to wear clothes. decency and comfort require that clothes should be worn; but they are artificial wholly. just so is the right to vote a natural right, though the vote, or the mode of voting at least, is an artificial means. this logic can not be caviled with or gainsaid. the young man and the young woman outside of political considerations, in every other point of view, stand before the law on an equality, and what one may do, so may the other, each may govern him or herself. but not so politically; when the youth reaches the age of twenty-one the ballot comes to his hands by due course of law, protecting his natural right, he having grown to it. why do you give him the ballot, pray, or permit him to take it for himself? simply because it is the means by which he governs and protects himself. nobody would start i suppose the terribly heterodox idea that it is not necessary for the young man to govern himself with the ballot. it would be one of those unheard-of atrocities that nobody would have the hardihood to promulgate in the presence of masculine associates at all. he is entitled to the right for the purpose of governing himself. nobody was born to govern anybody else--man or woman. it is only because in political associations people become so united, that a man in order to govern himself is obliged to govern others, that we get the right to govern others at all. it grows out of our effort to govern ourselves. as an essential necessity we are obliged to govern others and to be governed by them. this is our only warrant for the government of others. now, i pray to know why a young maiden, when she approaches the same age, may not have accorded to her the same protection of her natural right that is accorded to the youth, and for the same purpose. in the name of all womanhood, and of all manhood, i beg to know why this may not be so? in the name of my own daughters whose whispered words haunt the chambers of my soul, asking to know why, if it is necessary for their brother to exercise this right, it is not necessary for them? nobody need to argue to a father that his daughters are not the equals of his sons. i will never tolerate hearing it said, that my son is born to empire and sovereignty, while his sisters are born to be hidden away and yarded up in some solitary desert place, as their proper sphere. [applause.] i do not propose to raise and educate my daughters to keep them cooped up with their feet tied until some masculine purveyor comes along with his market basket. oh! ye opponents of the rights of woman, why not be consistent. if, as you say, she has not the capacity to choose or exercise the elective franchise, why not choose for her in everything, and impose upon her the husband of your choice? don't you represent her? you concede that the young woman has abundance of capacity to choose her lord and master to whom she shall be delivered, and yet she is not fit to vote for a constable. (laughter.) be consistent, you who oppose us in this movement, and say she shall not have anything to do with the selection of her husband. if she is competent at an early age, in the vortex and whirlpool of life, to select him to whom first, last, and always she shall belong, may she not once in four years have the privilege of voting for president without any great hazard? think of it. oh! this terrible old question! we have been mining and drilling in the earth's crust, and we have got finally to the last question, or, rather, it has made its way to the surface. this question of woman's suffrage and woman's right at last comes up for final argument, and it will work its way along until it is definitely determined. indeed, i believe it is already settled. to return to these constitutions, from which i mean not to wander again. i said to you that these constitutions of the various american states have recognized as older than themselves the right of government. they have furnished the means, which were also older than themselves, the exercise of the elective franchise. they have not attempted to create and confer any right to govern. they simply regulate it; and they are framed upon this idea, that all people are equally entitled to govern themselves, women and men, and would all govern themselves if some were not excluded by the terms and provisions of these, their constitutions. take up the whole thirty-five that can be found in the edition of , and every one of them says that the elective franchise shall be exercised by the _male_ white citizens. we have got rid of the "white." we have finally given color to the constitution. (laughter.) and, in getting rid of that "white," we got rid of more than was probably intended at the time. good does get itself done by accident sometimes. it has to when bad men do it. (laughter and applause.) why is this term "male" used in the constitutions, pray? it was not by accident. forty or fifty of them would not use it, except by design. it was because every mortal man knew when tinkering up a constitution that if he did not put male in, females would vote. they had the right, and there had to be a constitutional barrier erected to prevent their exercise of it. now, the thing which we have to do is either to strike out this term "male," which, i trust, ladies (turning to the ladies on the platform), is not particularly odious anywhere else, except in the constitution. mrs. davis and others--not at all. mr. riddle.--i repeat, that what we have to do is either to get rid of this word "male," or to convince congress, the courts, and the rest of the world, that it is already gotten rid of, which, i think, is easier. if it remains it can be put out in a very summary way. it makes no difference in how many constitutions it is found, nor in how many carefully considered statutes it has been incorporated, for a single provision in the constitution of the united states is of that potency that instantaneously all constitutions and all statutes are clarified of the exclusive "male" principle, and that without other change or repeal. and this brings me to the immediate question to be discussed, the xiv. amendment of the constitution, which stands as the xiv. article. and you will understand that when the people or the legislature speak by constitution or law, and use ordinary language, that they mean what they say, and nobody can get up and say they do not mean that, or that they mean something else. there is nobody that can be heard for a moment to argue against the plain, obvious, declared, well-ascertained meaning of words. and when such words are used, it is the end of argument and of construction. the great object to be achieved, so far as women are concerned, is to bring them into the possession of the rights of citizenship. "a person" is one thing, and naturally, "a citizen" is something a little more. he or she is the creature of a political compact, having the rights, the privileges, the franchises of that particular political association, whatever they are. a very ingenious, and at the same time a very meritorious writer, recently, in overhauling these english words--and it is a pretty good thing my honorable friends from the two houses of congress are not to be referred to--but it is a good thing for the rest of us who use words sometimes carelessly, to see how mr. grant white says some of them should be used, and what they really do mean. on page of his recent work on "words and their uses," which, so far as i know, has received the highest commendation of the critics--in speaking of this term "citizen," and how it is used, or rather how it is misused, says: citizen is used by some newspaper writers with what seems like an affectation of the french usage of _citoyen_ in the first republic. for instance, "gen. a. is a well-known citizen." "several citizens carried the sufferer," etc. the writer might as well have said that the sufferer was carried off by several church members or several "freemasons." now mark, he says, that "a citizen is a person who has certain political rights, and the word is properly used only to imply or suggest the possession of those rights." that is what we should use the term "citizen" for--apply it to a naturalized person in possession of certain political franchises, rights, and privileges. thanking mr. grant white for that, let us, in its light, read the first clause of the xiv. amendment, and see what it does say and mean. "sec. st. all persons;" not all male persons, nor all white persons, but "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, subject to the jurisdiction thereof, _are citizens_ of the united states, and of the states where they reside." that is what they are. they are citizens. that is, "persons," are "citizens," which means naturalized persons, clothed and permeated with, surrounded by, and put in possession of, citizenship. the term is used in the sense in which mr. white uses it. it is no new meaning; no new use of the word. now turn to webster's unabridged, where citizen is defined: "citizen--a person," [in the united states,]--for he inserts in brackets the expressive "u. s." to indicate what he means,--"native or naturalized, who has the privilege of voting for public officers, and who is qualified to fill offices in the gift of the people." worcester says of "citizen":--"an inhabitant of a republic who enjoys the rights of a citizen or freeman, and who has a right to vote for public officers, as a citizen of the united states." turn to bouvier's law dictionary, in orthodox sheep skin, and see what he says a citizen is: "citizen, one who, under the constitution and laws of the united states has a right to vote for representatives in congress and other public offices, and who is qualified to fill offices in the gift of the people."-- th ed., vol. , p. . all known authority concurs in establishing this as the sole, proper signification of the word citizen; and in this sense, and in no other, is it used in the xiv. amendment. i know that the term is sometimes used--is once used, perhaps, in the constitution--to correspond somewhat with the term "inhabitant," as thus, "citizens of different states may sue each other in the courts of the united states," etc. but it was not necessary to shake the foundations of this great republic, to formulate and get adopted this new amendment, for the purpose of stating that the people who were born and always had lived in the united states might be inhabitants of them. but it was necessary to say so, that cavaliers might be estopped from denying that they are citizens. but to recur to the further clause of this xiv. amendment. let us see, now, really what the makers and promulgators of it did mean. "no state shall make or enforce any law"--neither make any new law, nor enforce any that had already been made--"which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." is there any doubt now as to what "citizen" means? he, or she, or both, are persons in possession, and have by express declaration all the privileges and the immunities of citizens. when i stated this before the judiciary committee this morning, a distinguished representative from illinois, and a very able lawyer, stopped me and said, "mr. riddle, babies would be citizens according to that, and would have the privilege of going straight to the ballot-box, the first thing." (laughter.) perhaps so; but i could not see it then, and can not see it now. all power is inherent in the people, and it is perfectly competent for this "all power" to declare at what age and under what circumstances the citizen shall vote; so that the rule applies uniformly, and excludes none. one-half of the people were excluded, and this article removes that exclusion--and that is all. apply the gentleman's idea to other provisions of the constitution; for instance, to this: "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." would he contend that therefore every new-born baby might at once grasp a musket? this might be constitutional, but it would put the infantry on a war-footing before the commissariat could be mobilized, i fear. (laughter and applause.) women are not only citizens, but the amendment further says, that no state shall pass any law or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of this citizenship. the privileges--not a part of them. what do we mean when we say the privileges? for instance, when we say "the ladies," do we not mean them all? "the senators," we mean them all. we do not merely mean the senator from nevada (mr. nye), however he may have the right to be spoken of first. (laughter and applause.) these terms, "privileges and immunities," are not now used for the first time in the american constitution. they are old acquaintances of ours. they have done service a great while. they occur in this same constitution, as will be seen by referring to the second section of article iv, on page of paschal's admirably annotated constitution of the united states: "citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states." precisely, as the xiv. amendment has it, but, as judge bradley recently said, with a much more enlarged meaning in the latter. they were old before the constitution, and were incorporated into it from the fourth article of the old confederation, which provided, "that the free inhabitants of each of the states shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the free citizens of the several states." if you would see a comment upon these terms, read the forty-second number of the _federalist_, or a tumefied and diluted edition of it, in story on the constitution, which, like some other of his books, contains some remarks of his own, and are not always the best things in them. for the benefit of the judiciary committee, made up, as you know, of some of the ablest lawyers and best men of the country, i procured a judicial definition of these terms, "privileges, and immunities," although mr. attorney bates said none exists, and my friend judge paschal, a more learned man, repeated it. i referred them to the case of corfield _vs._ coryell, th vol. of the so-called "washington circuit court reports," p. , where these terms came up, away back in the old time. bushrod washington, the favorite nephew of our washington, made the decision, ladies. he was the washington who got all of the brains of the family outside of its great chief; and he put them to a most admirable use. he was one of the judges of the supreme court of the united states, and he judicially defined the meaning of these "privileges and immunities," and said that they included such privileges as are fundamental in their nature. and among them he says, is the right to exercise the elective franchise, and to hold offices, as provided for by the laws of the various states. and the great chancellor kent, quoting this case, thus approvingly incorporates its very language into his text, where it stands unchallenged, unquestioned, and uncontradicted. "it was declared in corfield _vs._ coryell, that the privileges and immunities conceded by the constitution of the united states to citizens in the several states, were to be confined to those which were in their nature fundamental, and belonged of right to the citizens of all free governments. such are the rights of protection of life and liberty, and to acquire and enjoy property, and to pay no higher impositions than other citizens, and to pass through or reside in the state at pleasure, and _to enjoy the elective franchise according_ to the regulations of the law of the state" ( kent com., p. ). why, the gentlemen of the upper and of the lower house, who are familiar with that decision and with its canonization by kent, are not obliged to resort to webster (not daniel) and worcester, nor to grant white, nor even to bouvier's law dictionary. they may overrule them all if they will. but they must go back to these sometimes forgotten decisions, which rest in the leaves of these dusty volumes, to these witnesses of the law, who declare that these expressions, "privileges, and immunities" include the elective franchise. and the whole people of these united states have solemnly declared "that all persons are citizens, and no state shall make or enforce any law to abridge the privileges and immunities of the citizens." if such authority and such reasoning were presented to a court on the trial of any other case in the wide world, save that of women and their rights, an advocate would be stopped by the court before he had gone half the length i have in this argument. the court would say that they would hear from the other side. (laughter.) but this thing of opposition to woman's rights does not rest in intelligence so that it can be grasped in argument. it has no intellectual foundation anywhere. no logic supports it. no reason or argument sustains it. it rests upon no foundation of the human understanding; hence, it can not be combated; for, as mr. mills says, the worse it is beaten in argument the stronger it is fortified in prejudice. men seem to think that inasmuch as this thing has always been, somehow or other, in some way or other, there was somewhere, at some time some reason for it, which could be shown now if somebody could only think of it or find it; but, of course, nobody ever did and nobody ever will. there never was any. (laughter.) one consideration alone is absolutely conclusive of this argument, and from it escape is impossible. "persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," were already in the full and complete enjoyment of every privilege and immunity known to our political system, except the elective franchise and its correlative, the right to hold office. the only difference between the naturalized and unnaturalized individual is this right of voting. i pray our opponents to tell us then what is conferred by this first section of this wonderful article, if it be not these rights? nothing else remained that it could confer; and this view alone silences cavil, even. if this section does not confer or guarantee the exercise of the elective franchise, then at infinite pains have we mined among the foundations of our marvelous structure, and have deposited there as one of them an utter sham, full of the emptiness of nothing. let him escape this who may. if there can still remain a question of doubt about this, i beg the attention of the doubters to the further words of the constitution, to be found in the xv. amendment. and here i am met with the apt inquiry, "why, mr. riddle, if women are a part of 'all persons,' colored men are also a part of the same 'all persons,' and if women are made citizens and clothed with the immunities and privileges of citizenship by the xiv. amendment, so were colored men; why, then, was it necessary to enact the xv. amendment? this fact is fatal to your argument." well, there was no necessity for it. it was a stupid piece of business, very stupid, and when we recover the lost art of blushing, some faces will color when that xv. amendment is recalled. but it does us this good service; it settles the construction of this xiv. amendment, as we contend for it, beyond all cavil. the general impression is, that the xv. amendment confers the elective franchise upon the colored man. if it does not, then our opposers must give it up, for colored men rightfully vote. what does this article say? that the elective franchise is conferred upon persons of african descent, or those who have suffered from a previous condition of servitude? not a word of it. it does say: "the right of citizens"--not the right of persons of african descent--"the right of citizens of the united states to vote, shall not be denied." that is what it says--"shall not be denied or abridged, by the united states or by the several states." that does not confer suffrage; _it recognizes a right already conferred_, and says that it shall not be denied or abridged. a gentleman of the committee this morning took the ground that this amendment granted the franchise because it declares that the right to it shall not be denied! this is in effect that when a thing can not be denied, the lack of power to deny it creates it. (laughter.) i confess i could not see it. (laughter.) i have thought of it since, and i do not see it now. "shall not be denied or _abridged_." how can you abridge a thing that does not exist? and would the gentleman also contend that a lack of power to cut off a thing not in existence also creates the thing? this xv. article then treats the right of the citizen to vote as already existing, and it specifies classes, as persons of color, of certain race, and of previous servitude, as especially having the right to vote. where, when, and how did they get it? was it by virtue of the xiv. amendment? if so, it was because they were a part of the "all persons" named in it, of whom women are also a much larger and much more important part. so, past cavil, if the african received this franchise by the xiv. article, then did women also receive it, and more abundantly! if you go back to the starting point of american politics, and say that the right is inherent in the colored man, then by the law of nature it is inherent in woman. i do not care which of these formulas you adopt. not at all. in either event it is recognized as existing in a citizen of the united states. but my learned and subtle friend from illinois said to me to-day, "why, don't you see, mr. riddle, that they have limited the franchise in this xv. amendment, so that it shall not be denied in the case of persons of color, and of a certain race, and previous condition of servitude, and does that not permit the states to deny it in other cases?" well, the xv. amendment alone would, perhaps, under the artificial rules of law, but i referred the gentleman immediately, as i refer you now, back to the xiv. amendment where the right is conferred, and where in its great, broad, sweeping language it is declared that no state shall either enact or enforce any law that abridges the privileges and immunities of any citizen. the xv. amendment in no way changes the xiv., nor does it add an iota to the privileges and immunities of the citizen. it could not. it reiterates for the benefit of these classes the declaration of the xiv.; and as that declares that no state shall deny the rights of the citizen, this adds to the list the united states, and its real force is spent in conferring upon congress power to legislate in favor of the classes named in it, a power not granted by the xiv. well, really, this must be the end of the argument. and i repeat, you find the xiv. amendment declares that all persons are citizens; that they have the privilege and immunities of citizens, and the xv. declares that among the privileges and immunities of citizens is the right to suffrage, because it says in words that that shall not be denied, though men do deny it. how is the xv. amendment declaring that it shall not be denied on account of either race, color, or previous condition of servitude, to be regarded? it spends its force in these two things. the xiv. amendment only denied the power to the several states to abridge the privileges of citizenship. the xv. amendment goes further, and says that neither any state nor the united states shall do it, using the term "deny" with the term "abrogate" of the other. it goes further; for the purposes of these three conditions it confers express power upon congress to legislate, while the xiv. amendment does not. but there is just one little thing further that i drop for the henpecked to pick at. there are three classes whose right to vote shall not be denied according to the xv. amendment--persons of color, persons on account of race, and persons who have suffered from previous condition of servitude. now, ladies, what is really the legal status of marriage, so far as the condition of the wife is concerned? susan b. anthony.--one of servitude, and of the hardest kind, and just for board and clothes, at that, too. (laughter and applause.) mr. riddle.--and they frequently have to make and pay for their clothes, and board themselves--(renewed laughter)--and not only themselves, but board also the lord and master, who calls himself the head of the family. but that is not all of it. it is not cant; it is not popular phraseology, but it is the language of the law. the condition of the married woman is that of servitude. the law calls her husband "baron," and she is simply a woman--"feme." the law gives her to the man, not the man to her, nor the two mutually to each other. they become one, and that one is the husband--such as he is. her name is blotted out from the living, or at best it is appended to that of the husband. she belongs to her master; all that she has belongs to him. all that she earns is his, because she is his. if she does anything that binds him, it is simply as his servant. if she makes a contract that is binding even upon herself, it is because he consents to it. she does not own anything; she does not own the children that are born of her. the husband exclusively controls them while living, and by his will he may, and often does, bequeath to somebody else the custody and care of them after his death. and the law which we men make enforces all this to-day. i trust that most of us are a great deal better than the law. if the wife of a man should suffer by an accident on a railroad, and suit should be brought to recover against the company for injury to her person, the suit brought by the husband would be upon the ground that his wife was his servant, and he had lost her service. if he did not, he could not recover. mrs. stanton.--is such the law in case of a daughter? mr. riddle.--so far as that is concerned, where the daughter is a minor, it is the same as the case of a son a minor; but the wife is always the servant of the husband; she never graduates from him; she never becomes of age or arrives at the years of discretion. (sotto voce.) if she had, she never would have entered into that condition. miss anthony would say the law pronounces the state of matrimony to be a condition of servitude for the wife in express terms. how does the xv. amendment apply to her? here is the previous condition of servitude provided for; and this xv. amendment in its effect was but to enforce the xiv. in favor of persons held in a previous and, of course, a continuing condition of servitude. does this really abrogate the servitude of the wife, and invoke in her favor the action of congress? my distinguished brother, butler, said this morning, that the clause relative to the previous condition of servitude applied only to widows. (laughter.) but, ladies and gentlemen, aside from badinage, for the subject is too grave and too solemn, it comes back to this thing. the constitution of the united states solemnly declares that every person born and naturalized in the united states, and within its jurisdiction, are citizens; and that no state shall pass, or enforce a law to abrogate the privileges and immunities of citizenship. we do not need any xvi. amendment. we need only intelligent, firm decisive, and deciding--reasonably brave courts, and to have a question made and brought to their adjudication. i propose to offer mrs. griffing and two or three other ladies for registration, two or three months hence, when the time comes, here. (applause.) if they are not registered, i propose to try the strength of the supreme court of the district of columbia, composed of five intelligent gentlemen, and known not to be conservatives on some questions, whatever they will prove to be on this, and see whether they will issue a mandamus. if they won't, i will take the case to the supreme court of the united states, and one of the present judges of that court, who is not pre-eminently in favor of what is called woman's rights, recently passed upon this xiv. amendment. in the case of the "live stock dealers" et al. _vs._ "the crescent city live stock company," in the circuit court of the united states, at new orleans, judge bradley, of the supreme court of the united states, said of the xiv. amendment: "it is possible that those who framed the article were not themselves aware of the far-reaching character of its terms. they may have had in mind but one particular phase of social and political wrong, which they desired to redress. yet, if the amendment, as framed and expressed, does, in fact, bear a broader meaning, and does extend its protecting shield over those who were never thought of when it was conceived and put in form, and does reach such social evils which were never before prohibited by constitutional amendment, it is to be presumed that the american people, in giving it their imprimatur, understood what they were doing, and meant to decree what has, in fact, been done. "it embraces much more. the 'privileges and immunities' secured by the original constitution were only such as each state gave to its own citizens. each was prohibited from discriminating in favor of its own citizens, and against the citizens of other states. "but the xiv. amendment prohibits any state from abridging the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the united states, whether its own citizens or any others. it not merely requires equality of privileges, but it demands that the privileges and immunities of all citizens shall be absolutely unabridged, unimpaired."--_mrs. bradwell's legal news._ what "particular phase of social and political wrong" could have been in the mind of the clear-seeing judge when he gave forth these utterances? gentlemen and ladies, when i stand in the presence of and contemplate for a moment this great xiv. article, the crown of the now perfected constitution, i bow with amazed reverence to it. it shines upon me with the light of a new revelation. and this argument is great from no effort of mine, but great in its power of self-enunciation. this article is one of those great principles that come, messiah like, to announce themselves. it needed no forerunner, and it works its own miracles in its own good time, and will convert all to its own sway, and to its own purposes. and, i trust that ere long we shall hear from the committee of the house upon this question, and that we shall get enlightened and intelligent discussion of it in the house of the american representatives. here the argument closes, but suffer a word further. it is said that woman does not want the suffrage. who says that she does not want it? man says so and nobody else. man asks the question, and answers it himself. i know it often comes from female lips, but it is man's answer. i deny that women have declared that they don't want the ballot. they have never been asked whether they want it. when we want a response from men how do we propound the question? we submit it formally to be voted upon by the ballot. that is the way we propound a political question to men. how do they answer it? they answer it by their solemn votes at the ballot box. propound this question, and in this solemn way to the women of the united states. pass a law to that effect and take a vote, or else forever stop--close up all gabble on this subject, that women do not want it. offer her the chance by which she can speak and see whether she wants it or not, and let her vote "yes" or "no." then from that we will take another start. but don't refuse to let her answer, and assume to answer for her, and say you represent her. you barely succeed in misrepresenting men at your best, let alone this atrocious twaddle about representing women. let her vote, and then we can tell whether you have a right to represent her or not. we men have made the institutions for men, and for men alone; never consulted woman. we have said she was nobody, and nowhere, or, if she was found anywhere she was out of her sphere, (laughter) and must go back to nowhere immediately, and to nobody. we have gravely assumed that we understood her nature and character better than she did herself. it is one of the wondrous elements of the sexes that they shall perpetually reveal themselves to each other, and neither shall ever fully comprehend the other. let woman speak for herself. give her a chance to speak as man speaks, by precisely the same language, and in the same manner, and then reverently incline your heads, and listen to what she says. i have said this great question is up for final argument. my mission was simply to present to you this dry, but very interesting question of woman's rights, under the xiv. amendment. to my mind, the argument is perfectly invincible. it never can be met, and never will be, and it will, ultimately work out its own end. thanking you for the kindness with which you have listened to me, i leave this matter with you. address of mrs. isabella beecher hooker. mrs. hooker said: we are told by men themselves that there are too many voters already; restriction is what we want, not enlargement of the suffrage. let us see how this is, my friends--let us reason together on this point for a few moments. the one great propelling power of this government that moves the great political engine, and that keeps us alive as a nation on the face of the earth, is god's own doctrine of personal liberty and personal responsibility. that is all we have to go upon. it is, in fact, fuel and steam. liberty is the steam, responsibility puts on the brakes, and then what is the safety-valve, i ask you? is it not our election day? look at it in this way. every honest lawyer will tell you that the next best thing to settling a quarrel between two belligerents is to bring the parties into court. because the court-room is a great cooling off place, a perfect refrigerator. a man who has quarreled with his neighbor comes into court, and, before the lawyers get through with him, he wishes he hadn't quarreled. how is it that our courts act in this way? what do we gain in this? everything. in old times a dispute between man and man was settled by blows--fisticuffs--gradually superseded by the sword, at last by the pistol; and now we have thrown that out, and established a system of jurisprudence. now all these petty grievances must be settled in court. private violence must no longer be permitted, and that is a great march in civilization. the parallel case is this: we in this country--we men, i mean, for women are nobodies and nowhere when you come to the discussion of great questions like these, but i use the conventional we--we in this country are attempting to carry our ideas of liberty and responsibility into legislation, and we don't agree--we quarrel bitterly and almost come to blows again--but election days cool us off, acting like a court-room itself. we accept their judgment, and go about our business quietly till next time. now if we were all americans, acting under an intelligent sense of responsibility, everything might be expected to run smoothly under this regime; but the trouble is when the foreigner comes in who does not understand our institutions, who is, perhaps, ignorant, debased, and superstitious. but the foreigner is, it seems to me, the very man who needs this safety-valve of the election day more than any other on the face of the globe. we ourselves could run our own nationality; but here comes this man from the principalities of the old world--from europe we will say, to begin with--and he has an idea that he is going to be richer, smarter, happier, more on an equality with every other man than ever he was before. he comes here, and what does he find? he finds a ladder, reaching higher into the clouds, perhaps, but the lower rounds are just as near the earth as over there, and he is on the lowest round still. he sees his next-door neighbor has more money than he has, is better educated, and commands the respect of the community, as he does not, and he is filled with disappointment, and sometimes with rage. what would he naturally do, with his old world antecedents and training, when he is thus aggrieved as he conceives himself to be? why, burn your barn, break into your house, steal all he could from you. but what does election day do for him? on that day he is as good as anybody. he goes to the polls side by side with the first man in the land, and he rides in a carriage there, if he is too drunk to walk, and he can vote the first man in the line, if he chooses. the richest man in the country must walk behind him and wait for his turn. he drops his ballot and he is cooled off. he soon begins to get hold a little of this idea of responsibility that i am speaking of, and after a while it will come into his head--very slowly, perhaps, for we are all slow to learn these things--that he has got to work himself up and get on a par with those intelligent and influential people who are so powerful in making laws and customs. now, gentlemen, it seems to me if you could disfranchise every foreigner to-day who was not intelligent, or if you could make intelligence the test of voting, you would have ten barns burned where you have one now. i believe it firmly. being naturally conservative, as i think all women are, a few years ago i really thought that ten, even twenty years' residence might be required of foreigners before they should be allowed to vote. i said they did not know enough, and so ought to be kept out as long as that. to-day i am inclined not to limit the time a moment longer than it is necessary for men to get their naturalization papers out, and go through the required legal formalities. if disfranchisement meant annihilation, selfishly, i might be glad to get rid of this troublesome question in that way, the task of ruling this country would then be a far easier one than it is; but it does not mean annihilation. so when gentlemen talk with me, and say we have too many voters already, i reply, do not disfranchise these men, enlighten them, for god has sent them here for a purpose of his own. and i say to you gentlemen the ballot in the hands of every man is the only thing that saves us from anarchy to-day, that keeps us alive as a republic--the ballot in the hands of these ignorant men, and the more ignorant they are the more they need it, and the more we need they should have it. and let me say, in passing, that reconstruction at the south is hindered to-day for the same reason, responsibility is taken away from a large class of citizens. a disfranchised class is always a restless class; a class that, if it be not as a whole given up to deeds of violence, will at least wink at them, when committed by men either in or out of its own ranks. what the south needs to-day is ballots, not bullets. i leave out of the question the ultimate educating power of the ballot, though i would like to make you an argument upon that alone. but i say give the poor men, ignorant men the ballot for purposes of self-defense, and because we could not live in safety in our homes otherwise. new york is poorly governed, we say, to-day, and getting to be a pretty dangerous place to live in. but what would it be if every foreigner and every ignorant man could not go out on election day, and prove that he was as good as anybody? that is human nature, and it is human nature, and plenty of it too, that we have to deal with. and now, let me ask you, what are these men sent here for and who sent them? we have got all europe, and all asia is coming, and who sends them? when god put into that good ship _mayflower_ those two great ribs of oak, personal liberty and personal responsibility, he knew the precious freight she was to bear, and all the hopes bound up in her, and he pledged himself by both the great eternities, the past and the future, that that ship should weather all storms and come safe to port with all she had on board. and what god has promised he will perform. so i beg of you not to think for a moment of limiting manhood suffrage. and if men can not live in this country in safe homes, except their neighbor men are enfranchised, can they live without enfranchised women any more? if you can not live in safety with irresponsible men in your midst, how can you live with irresponsible women? much more, how can you grow into the stature of perfect men in christ jesus our lord; how can you become perfect legislators, except your mothers are instructed on these great subjects you are called to legislate upon, that they may instruct you in their turn? you do not know anything so well as what your mothers have taught you; but they have not taught you political economy. it is not their fault that they have not, nor yours, perhaps. no man nor woman studies a subject profoundly except he or she is called upon to act upon it. what business man studies a business foreign to his own? what woman studies a business foreign to her own? in past ages this woman, in the providence of god, we will say, has been shut out from political action, for, so long as the sword ruled and man had to get his liberty by the sword, so long woman had all she could do to guard the home, for that was her part of the work; and she did it bravely and well, you will say. but now men are not fighting for their liberty with the gun by the door and the indians outside. you are fighting for it in halls of legislation, with the spirit of truth--with spiritual weapons--and woman would be disloyal to her womanhood if she did not ask to share these heavy responsibilities with you. and she has really been training herself all these years she has seemed so indifferent; she has neglected her duty in part--i confess it freely--it is not your fault alone, gentlemen, that we are not with you to-day. if we had been as conscious of our duty and privilege years ago as we are to-day, if we had known our birthright, we should have stood by your side, welcome coadjutors, long since. so we will take the blame of the past alike--we have all been walking very slowly this path of christian civilization. but in the greatest conflict of modern times, you announced great principles and fought for them on the field, and we stood by them in the home, and we stand by them still there. and when we come to deliberate with you in solemn council as to how these principles shall be carried into legislation, your task will be easier, our opportunities will be larger, and still our hearts will be where they have ever been--in our homes. forty-first congress, d session, house of representatives, report, no. , jan. , , recommitted to the committee on judiciary and ordered to be printed. mr. bingham, from the committee on the judiciary, made the following report. _the committee on the judiciary, to whom was referred the memorial of victoria c. woodhull, having considered the same, make the following report:_ the memorialist asks the enactment of a law by congress which shall secure to citizens of the united states in the several states the right to vote "without regard to sex." since the adoption of the xiv. amendment of the constitution, there is no longer any reason to doubt that all persons, born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside, for that is the express declaration of the amendment. the clause of the xiv. amendment, "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states," does not, in the opinion of the committee, refer to privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states other than those privileges and immunities embraced in the original text of the constitution, article iv., section . the xiv. amendment, it is believed, did not add to the privileges or immunities before mentioned, but was deemed necessary for their enforcement, as an express limitation upon the powers of the states. it has been judicially determined that the first eight articles of amendment of the constitution were not limitations on the power of the states, and it was apprehended that the same might be held of the provision of section , article iv. to remedy this defect of the constitution, the express limitations upon the states contained in the first section of the xiv. amendment, together with the grant of power in congress to enforce them by legislation, were incorporated in the constitution. the words "citizens of the united states," and "citizens of the states," as employed in the xiv. amendment, did not change or modify the relations of citizens of the state and nation as they existed under the original constitution. attorney-general bates gave the opinion that the constitution uses the the word "citizen," only to express the political quality of the individual in his relation to the nation; to declare that he is a member of the body politic, and bound to it by the reciprocal obligation of allegiance on the one side and protection on the other. the phrase "a citizen of the united states," without addition or qualification, means neither more nor less than a member of the nation. (opinion of attorney-general bates on citizenship.) the supreme court of the united states has ruled that, according to the express words and clear meaning of the section , article iv. of the constitution, no privileges are secured by it except those which belong to citizenship. (connor _et al._ _vs._ elliott _et al._, howard, ). in corfield _vs._ coryell, washington circuit court reports, , the court say: the inquiry is, what are the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states? we feel no hesitation in confining these expressions to those privileges and immunities which are in their nature fundamental; which belong of right to the citizens of all free governments; and which have at all times been enjoyed by the citizens of the several states which compose this union, from the time of their becoming free, independent, and sovereign. what these fundamental principles are would, perhaps, be more tedious than difficult to enumerate. they may, however, be all comprehended under the following general heads: protection by the government; the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety, subject, nevertheless, to such restraints as the government may justly prescribe for the general good of the whole; the right of a citizen of one state to pass through or to reside in any other state, for the purpose of trade, agriculture, professional pursuits, or otherwise; to claim the benefit of the writ of _habeas corpus_; to institute and maintain actions of any kind in the courts of the state; to take, hold, and dispose of property, either real or personal; and an exemption from higher taxes or impositions than are paid by the other citizens of the state, may be mentioned as some of the particular privileges and immunities of citizens which are clearly embraced by the general description of privileges deemed to be fundamental; to which may be added the elective franchise, as regulated and established by the laws or constitution of the state in which it is to be exercised.... but we can not accede to the proposition which was insisted on by the counsel, that under this provision of the constitution, sec. , art. , the citizens of the several states are permitted to participate in all the rights which belong exclusively to the citizens of any other particular state. the learned justice story declared that the intention of the clause--"the citizens of each state shall be entitled, to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states"--was to confer on the citizens of each state a general citizenship, and communicated all the privileges and immunities which a citizen of the same state would be entitled to under the circumstances. (story on the constitution, vol. , p. ). in the case of the bank of the united states _vs._ primrose, in the supreme court of the united states, mr. webster said: that this article in the constitution (art. , sec. ) does not confer on the citizens of each state political rights in every other state, is admitted. a citizen of pennsylvania can not go into virginia and vote at any election in that state, though when he has acquired a residence in virginia, and is otherwise qualified, is required by the constitution (of virginia), he becomes, without formal adoption as a citizen of virginia, a citizen of that state politically. (webster's works, vol. , p. ). it must be obvious that mr. webster was of opinion that the privileges and immunities of citizens, guaranteed to them in the several states, did not include the privilege of the elective franchise otherwise than as secured by the state constitution. for, after making the statement above quoted, that a citizen of pennsylvania can not go into virginia and vote, mr. webster adds, "but for the purposes of trade, commerce, buying and selling, it is evidently not in the power of any state to impose any hindrance or embarrassment, etc. upon citizens of other states, or to place them, going there, upon a different footing from her own citizens." (ib.) the proposition is clear that no citizen of the united states can rightfully vote in any state of this union who has not the qualifications required by the constitution of the state in which the right is claimed to be exercised, except as to such conditions in the constitutions of such states as deny the right to vote to citizens resident therein "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." the adoption of the xv. amendment to the constitution imposing these three limitations upon the power of the several states, was by necessary implication, a declaration that the states had the power to regulate by a uniform rule the conditions upon which the elective franchise should be exercised by citizens of the united states resident therein. the limitations specified in the xv. amendment exclude the conclusion that a state of this union, having a government republican in form, may not prescribe conditions upon which alone citizens may vote other than those prohibited. it can hardly be said that a state law which excludes from voting women citizens, minor citizens, and non-resident citizens of the united states, on account of sex, minority, or domicil, is a denial of the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. it may be further added that the d section of the xiv. amendment, by the provision that "when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors of president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, or executive and judicial officers of the state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, a citizen of the united states, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state," implies that the several states may restrict the elective franchise as to other than male citizens. in disposing of this question effect must be given, if possible, to every provision of the constitution. article , section , of the constitution provides: that the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. this provision has always been construed to vest in the several states the exclusive right to prescribe the qualifications of electors for the most numerous branch of the state legislature, and therefore for members of congress. and this interpretation is supported by section , article , of the constitution, which provides: that the time, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations except as to the place of choosing senators. now it is submitted, if it had been intended that congress should prescribe the qualifications of electors, that the grant would have read: the congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, and also prescribe the qualifications of electors, etc. the power, on the contrary, is limited exclusively to the time, place, and manner, and does not extend to the qualification of the electors. this power to prescribe the qualification of electors in the several states has always been exercised, and is, to-day, by the several states of the union; and we apprehend, until the constitution shall be changed, will continue to be so exercised, subject only to express limitations imposed by the constitution upon the several states, before noticed. we are of opinion, therefore, that it is not competent for the congress of the united states to establish by law the right to vote without regard to sex in the several states of this union, without the consent of the people of such states, and against their constitutions and laws; and that such legislation would be, in our judgment, a violation of the constitution of the united states, and of the rights reserved to the states respectively by the constitution. it is undoubtedly the right of the people of the several states so to reform their constitutions and laws as to secure the equal exercise of the right of suffrage at all elections held therein under the constitution of the united states, to all citizens, without regard to sex; and as public opinion creates constitutions and governments in the several states, it is not to be doubted that whenever, in any state, the people are of opinion that such a reform is advisable, it will be made. if however, as is claimed in the memorial referred to, the right to vote "is vested by the constitution in the citizens of the united states without regard to sex," that right can be established in the courts without further legislation. the suggestion is made that congress, by a mere declaratory act, shall say that the construction claimed in the memorial is the true construction of the constitution, or in other words, that by the constitution of the united states the right to vote is vested in citizens of the united states "without regard to sex," anything in the constitution and laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. in the opinion of the committee, such declaratory act is not authorized by the constitution nor within the legislative power of congress. we therefore recommend the adoption of the following resolution: _resolved_, that the prayer of the petitioner be not granted, that the memorial be laid on the table, and that the committee on the judiciary be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. forty-first congress, d session, house of representatives, report no. v., part , feb. , , ordered to be printed. mr. loughridge, from the committee on the judiciary, submitted the following as the view of the minority: _in the matter of the memorial of victoria c. woodhull, referred by the house to the committee on the judiciary, the undersigned, members of the committee, being unable to agree to the report of the committee, present the following as their views upon the subject of the memorial:_ the memorialist sets forth that she is a native born citizen of the united states, and a resident thereof; that she is of adult age, and has resided in the state of new york for three years past; that by the constitution of the united states she is guaranteed the right of suffrage; but that she is, by the laws of the state of new york, denied the exercise of that right; and that by the laws of different states and territories the privilege of voting is denied to all the female citizens of the united states; and petitions for relief by the enactment of some law to enforce the provisions of the constitution, by which such right is guaranteed. the question presented is one of exceeding interest and importance, involving as it does the constitutional rights not only of the memorialist but of more than one-half of the citizens of the united states--a question of constitutional law in which the civil and natural rights of the citizen are involved. questions of property or of expediency have nothing to do with it. the question is not "would it be expedient to extend the right of suffrage to women," but, "have women citizens that right by the constitution as it is." a question of this kind should be met fairly and investigated in that generous and liberal spirit characteristic of the age, and decided upon principles of justice, of right, and of law. it is claimed by many that to concede to woman the right of suffrage would be an innovation upon the laws of nature, and upon the theory and practice of the world for ages in the past, and especially an innovation upon the common law of england, which was originally the law of this country, and which is the foundation of our legal fabric. if we were to admit the truth of this, it is yet no argument against the proposition, if the right claimed exists, and is established by the constitution of the united states. the question is to be decided by the constitution and the fundamental principles of our government, and not by the usage and dogmas of the past. it is a gratifying fact that the world is advancing in political science, and gradually adopting more liberal and rational theories of government. the establishment of this government upon the principles of the declaration of independence was in itself a great innovation upon the theories and practice of the world, and opened a new chapter in the history of the human race, and its progress toward perfect civil and political liberty. but it is not admitted that the universal usage of the past has been in opposition to the exercise of political power by women. the highest positions of civil power have from time to time been filled by women in all ages of the world, and the question of the right of woman to a voice in government is not a new one by any means, but has been agitated, and the right acknowledged and exercised, in governments far less free and liberal than ours. in the roman republic, during its long and glorious career, women occupied a higher position, as to political rights and privileges, than in any other contemporaneous government. in england unmarried women have, by the laws of that country, always been competent to vote and to hold civil offices, if qualified in other respects; at least such is the weight of authority. in "callis upon sewers," an old english work, will be found a discussion of the question as to the right of women to hold office in england. the learned and distinguished author uses the following language: and for temporal governments i have observed women to have from time to time been admitted to the highest places; for in ancient roman histories i find eudocia and theodora admitted at several times into the sole government of the empire; and here in england our late famous queen elizabeth, whose government was most renowned; and semiramis governed syria; and the queen of the south, who came to visit solomon, for anything that appears to the contrary, was a sole queen; and to fall a degree lower, we have precedents that king richard the first and king henry the fifth appointed by commissions their mothers to be regents of this realm in their absence in france. but yet i will descend a step lower; and doth not our law, temporal and spiritual, admit of women to be executrixes and administratrixes? and thereby they have the rule or ordering of great estates, and many times they are guardianesses in chivalry, and have hereby also the government of many great heirs in the kingdom and of their own estates. so by these cases it appeareth that the common law of this kingdom submitted many things to their government; yet the statute of justices of the peace is like to jethro's counsel to moses, for there they speak of men to be justices, and thereby seemeth to exclude women; but our statute of sewers is, "commission of sewers shall be granted by the king to such person and persons as the lords should appoint." so the word persons stands indifferently for either sex. i am of the opinion, for the authorities, reasons and causes aforesaid, that this honorable countess being put into the commission of the sewers, the same is warrantable by the law; and the ordinances and decrees made by her and the other commissions of sewers are not to be impeached for that cause of her sex. and it is said by a recent writer: even at present in england the idea of women holding official station is not so strange as in the united states. the countess of pembroke had the office of sheriff of westmoreland and exercised it in person. at the assizes she sat with the judges on the bench. in a reported case it is stated by counsel and assented to by the court that a woman is capable of serving in almost all the offices of the kingdom. as to the right of women to vote by the common law of england, the authorities are clear. in the english law magazine for -' , vol. , page , will be found reported the case of the application of jane allen, who claimed to be entered upon the list of voters of the parish of st. giles, under the reform act of , which act provides as follows: every man shall, in and after the year , be entitled to be registered as a voter, and when registered to vote for a member or members to serve in parliament, who is qualified as follows: st. is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity, etc., etc. it was decided by the court that the claimant had the right to be registered and to vote; that by the english law, the term man, as used in that statute, included woman. in that case the common law of england upon that question was fully and ably reviewed, and we may be excused for quoting at some length: and as to what has been said of there being no such adjudged cases, i must say that it is perfectly clear that not perhaps in either of three cases reported by mr. shaen, but in those of catharine _vs._ surry, coates _vs._ lyle, and holt _vs._ lyle, three cases of somewhat greater antiquity, the right of women freeholders was allowed by the courts. these three cases were decided by the judges in the reign of james i. (a. d. ). although no printed report of them exists, i find that in the case of olive _vs._ ingraham, they were repeatedly cited by the lord chief justice of the king's bench in the course of four great arguments in that case, the case being reargued three times ( mod., ), and the greatest respect was manifested by the whole court for those precedents. their importance is all the greater when we consider what the matter was upon which king james' judges sitting in westminster hall had to decide. it was not simply the case of a mere occupier, inhabitant, or scot or lot voter. therefore the question did not turn upon the purport of a special custom, or a charter, or a local act of parliament, or even of the common right in this or that borough. but it was that very matter and question which has been mooted in the dictum of lord coke, the freeholder's franchise in the shire, and upon that the decision in each case expressly was, that a feme sole shall vote if she hath a freehold, and that if she be not a feme sole, but a feme covert having freehold, then her husband during her coverture shall vote in her right. these, then, are so many express decisions which at once displace lord coke's unsupported assertion and declare the law so as to constrain my judgment. it is sometimes said, when reference is made to precedents of this kind, that they have never been approved by the bar. but that can not be said of these. hakewell, the contemporary of lord coke and one of the greatest of all parliamentary lawyers then living--for even selden and granvil were not greater than hakewell--left behind him the manuscript to which i have referred, with his comments on those cases. sir william lee, chief justice, in his judgment in the case of olive _vs._ ingraham, expressly says that he had perused them, and that they contained the expression of hakewell's entire approval of the principles upon which they were decided, and of the results deduced; and we have the statement of lord chief justice lee, who had carefully examined those cases, that in the case of holt _vs._ lyle, it was determined that a feme sole freeholder may claim a vote for parliament men; but if married, her husband must vote for her. in the case of olive _vs._ ingraham, justice probyn says: the case of holt _vs._ lyle, lately mentioned by our lord chief justice, is a very strong case; "_they who pay ought to choose whom they shall pay._" and the lord chief justice seemed to have assented to that general proposition, as authority for the correlative proposition, that "women, when _sole_, had a right to vote." at all events, there is here the strongest possible evidence that in the reign of james i., the _feme sole_, being a freeholder of a country, or what is the same thing, of a county, of a city, or town, or borough, where, of custom, freeholders had the right to vote, not only had, but exercised the parliamentary franchise. if married, she could not vote in respect merely of her freehold, not because of the incapacities of coverture, but for this simple reason, that, by the act of marriage, which is an act of law, the title of the _feme sole_ freeholder becomes vested for life in the husband. the qualification to vote was not personal, but real; consequently, her right to vote became suspended as soon and for as long as she was married. i am bound to consider that the question as to what weight is due to the dictum of my lord coke is entirely disposed of by those cases from the reign of james i. and george ii., and that the authority of the latter is unimpeached by any later authority, as the cases of rex. _vs._ stubles, and regina _vs._ aberavon, abundantly show. in anstey's notes on the new reform act of , the authorities and precedents upon the right of women to vote in england are examined and summed up, and the author concludes: it is submitted that the weight of authority is very greatly in favor of the female right of suffrage. indeed, the authority against it is contained in the short and hasty dictum of lord coke, referred to above. it was set down by him in his last and least authoritative institute, and it is certain that he has been followed neither by the great lawyers of his time nor by the judicature. the principles of the law in relation to the suffrage of females will be found in coates _vs._ lyle, holt _vs._ ingraham, and the king _vs._ stubles, cases decided under the strict rules for the construction of statutes. it can not be questioned that from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, unmarried women have been by the laws of england competent voters, subject to the freehold qualification which applied alike to men and women. married women could not vote because they were not freeholders; by the common law their property upon marriage became vested in the husband. so that it appears that the admission of woman to participation in the affairs of government would not be so much of an innovation upon the theories and usage of the past as is by some supposed. in england the theory was that in property representation, all property should be represented. here the theory is that of personal representation, which of course, if carried out fully, includes the representation of all property. in england, as we have seen, the owner of the property, whether male or female was entitled to representation, no distinction being made on account of sex. if the doctrine contended for by the majority of the committee be correct, then this government is less liberal upon this question than the government of england has been for hundreds of years, for there is in this country a large class of citizens of adult age, and owners in their own right of large amounts of property, and who pay a large proportion of the taxes to support the government, who are denied any representation whatever, either for themselves or their property--unmarried women, of whom it can not be said that their interests are represented by their husbands. in their case, neither the english nor the american theory of representation is carried out, and this utter denial of representation is justified upon the ground alone that this class of citizens are women. surely we can not be so much less liberal than our english ancestors! surely the constitution of this republic does not sanction an injustice so indefensible as that! by the xiv. amendment of the constitution of the united states, what constitutes citizenship of the united states, is for the first time declared, and who are included by the term citizen. upon this question, before that time, there had been much discussion judicial, political, and general, and no distinct and definite definition of qualification had been settled. the people of the united states determined this question by the xiv. amendment to the constitution, which declares that-- all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the united states, and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law. this amendment, after declaring who are citizens of the united states, and thus fixing but one grade of citizenship, which insures to all citizens alike all the privileges, immunities and rights which accrue to that condition, goes on in the same section and prohibits these privileges and immunities from abridgment by the states. whatever these "privileges and immunities" are, they attach to the female citizen equally with the male. it is implied by this amendment that they are inherent, that they belong to citizenship as such, for they are not therein specified or enumerated. the majority of the committee hold that the privileges guaranteed by the xiv. amendment do not refer to any other than the privilege embraced in section , of article , of the original text. the committee certainly did not duly consider this unjustified statement. section , of article , provides for the privileges of "citizens of the _states_," while the first section of the xiv. amendment protects the privileges of "_citizens of the united states_." the term citizens of the _states_ and citizens of the _united states_ are by no means convertible. a circuit court of the united states seems to hold a different view of this question from that stated by the committee. in the case of the live stock association _vs._ crescent city ( st abbott, ), justice bradley, of the supreme court of the united states, delivering the opinion, uses the following language in relation to the first clause of the xiv. amendment: the new prohibition that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states" is not identical with the clause in the constitution which declared that "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states." it embraces much more. it is possible that those who framed the article were not themselves aware of the far-reaching character of its terms, yet if the amendment does in fact bear a broader meaning, and does extend its protecting shield over those who were never thought of when it was conceived and put in form, and does reach social evils which were never before prohibited by constitutional enactment, it is to be presumed that the american people, in giving it their _imprimatur_, understood what they were doing and meant to decree what in fact they have decreed. the "privileges and immunities" secured by the original constitution were only such as each state gave to its own citizens, ... but the xiv. amendment prohibits any state from abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states, whether its own citizens or any others. it not merely requires equality of privileges, but it demands that the privileges and immunities of all citizens shall be absolutely unabridged and unimpaired. in the same opinion, after enumerating some "privileges" of the citizens, such as were pertinent to the case on trial, but declining to enumerate all, the court further says: these privileges can not be invaded without sapping the foundation of republican government. a republican government is not merely a government of the people, but it is a free government.... it was very ably contended on the part of the defendants that the xiv. amendment was intended only to secure to all citizens equal capacities before the law. that was at first our view of it. but it does not so read. the language is, "no state shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." what are the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the united states? are they capacities merely? are they not also rights? the court in this seems to intimate very strongly that the amendment was intended to secure the natural rights of citizens, as well as their equal capacities before the law. in a case in the supreme court of georgia, in , the question was before the court whether a negro was competent to hold office in the state of georgia. the case was ably argued on both sides, mr. akerman, the present attorney general of the united states, being of counsel for the petitioner. although the point was made and argued fully, that the right to vote and hold office were both included in the privileges and immunities of citizens, and were thus guaranteed by the xiv. amendment, yet that point was not directly passed upon by the court, the court holding that under the laws and constitution of georgia, the negro citizen had the right claimed. in delivering the opinion, chief justice brown said: it is necessary to the decision of this case to inquire what are the "privileges and immunities" of a citizen, which are guaranteed by the xiv. amendment to the constitution of the united states. whatever they may be, they are protected against all abridgment by legislation.... whether the "privileges and immunities" of the citizens embrace political rights, including the right to hold office, i need not now inquire. if they do, that right is guaranteed alike by the constitution of the united states and of georgia, and is beyond the control of the legislature. in the opinion of justice mckay, among other propositions, he lays down the following: d. the rights of the people of this state, white and black, are not granted to them by the constitution thereof; the object and effect of that instrument is not to _give_, but to restrain, deny, regulate and guarantee rights, and all persons recognized by that constitution as citizens of the state have _equal, legal and political rights_ except as _otherwise expressly declared_. d. it is the settled and uniform sense of the word "citizen," when used in reference to the citizens of the separate states of the united states, and to their rights as such citizens, that it describes a person entitled to every right, _legal and political_, enjoyed by any person in that state, unless there he some express exceptions made by positive law covering the particular persons, whose rights are in question. in the course of the argument of this case, mr. akerman used the following language upon the point, as to whether citizenship carried with it the right to hold office: it may be profitable to inquire how the term (citizen) has been understood in georgia.... it will be seen that men whom georgians have been accustomed to revere believed that citizenship in georgia carried with it the right to hold office in the absence of positive restrictions. the majority of the committee having started out with the erroneous hypothesis that the term "privileges of citizens of the united states," as used in the xiv. amendment, means no more than the term "privileges of citizens," as used in section of article , discuss the question thus: the right of suffrage was not included in the privileges of citizens as used in section , article , therefore that right is not included in the privileges of citizens of the united states, as used in the xiv. amendment. their premise being erroneous their whole argument fails. but if they were correct in their premise, we yet claim that their second position is not sustained by the authorities, and is shown to be fallacious by a consideration of the principles of free government. we claim that from the very nature of our government, the right of suffrage is a fundamental right of citizenship, not only included in the term "privileges of citizens of the united states," as used in the xiv. amendment, but also included in the term as used in section , of article , and in this we claim we are sustained both by the authorities and by reason. in abbott _vs._ bayley, ( pick., ,) the supreme court of massachusetts says: "the privileges and immunities" secured to the people of each state, in every other state, can be applied only to the case of a removal from one state into another. by such removal they become citizens of the adopted state without naturalization, and have a right to sue and be sued as citizens; and yet this privilege is qualified and not absolute, for they can not enjoy the right of suffrage or eligibility to office without such term of residence as shall be prescribed by the constitution and laws of the state into which they shall remove. this case fully recognizes the right of suffrage as one of the "privileges of the citizen," subject to the right of the state to regulate as to the term of residence--the same principle was laid down in the case of corfield _vs._ coryell in the supreme court of the united states. justice washington, in delivering the opinion of the court, used the following language: "the privileges and immunities conceded by the constitution of the united states to citizens in the several states," are to be confined to those which are in their nature fundamental, and belong of right to the citizens of all free governments. such are the rights of protection of life and liberty, and to acquire and enjoy property, and to pay no higher impositions than other citizens, and to pass through or reside in the state at pleasure, and to enjoy the elective franchise as regulated and established by the laws or constitution of the state in which it is to be exercised. and this is cited approvingly by chancellor kent. ( kent, sec. ). this case is cited by the majority of the committee, as sustaining their view of the law, but we are unable so to understand it. it is for them an exceedingly unfortunate citation. in that case the court enumerated some of the "privileges of citizens," such as are "in their nature fundamental and belong of right to the citizens of all free governments" (mark the language), and among those rights, place the "right of the elective franchise" in the same category with those great rights of life, liberty, and property. and yet the committee cite this case to show that this right is not a fundamental right of the citizen! but it is added by the court that the right of the elective franchise "is to be enjoyed as regulated and established by the state in which it is to be exercised." these words are supposed to qualify the right, or rather take it out of the list of fundamental rights, where the court had just placed it. the court is made to say by this attempt in the same sentence, "the elective franchise is a fundamental right of the citizen, and it is not a fundamental right." it is a "fundamental right," provided the state sees fit to grant the right. it is a "fundamental right of the citizen," but it does not exist, unless the laws of the state give it. a singular species of "fundamental rights!" is there not a clear distinction between the regulation of a right and its destruction? the state may regulate the right, but it may not destroy it. what is the meaning of "regulate" and "establish?" webster says: regulate--to put in good order. establish--to make stable or firm. this decision then is, that "the elective franchise is a fundamental right of the citizen of all free governments, to be enjoyed by the citizen, under such laws as the state may enact to regulate the right and make it stable or firm." chancellor kent, in the section referred to, in giving the substance of this opinion, leaves out the word establish, regarding the word regulate as sufficiently giving the meaning of the court. this case is, in our opinion, a very strong one against the theory of the majority of the committee. the committee cite the language of mr. webster, as counsel in united states _vs._ primrose. we indorse every word in that extract. we do not claim that a citizen of pennsylvania can go into virginia and vote in virginia, being a citizen of pennsylvania. no person has ever contended for such an absurdity. we claim that when the citizen of the united states becomes a citizen of virginia, the state of virginia has neither right nor power to abridge the privileges of such citizen by denying him entirely the right of suffrage, and thus all political rights. the authorities cited by the majority of the committee do not seem to meet the case--certainly do not sustain their theory. the case of cooper _vs._ the mayor of savannah ( geo., ), involved the question whether a free negro was a citizen of the united states? the court, in the opinion, says: free persons of color have never been recognized as citizens of georgia; they are not entitled to bear arms, vote for members of the legislature, or hold any civil office; they have no political rights, but have personal rights, one of which is personal liberty. that they could not vote, hold office, etc., was held evidence that they were not regarded as citizens. in the supreme court of the united states, in the case of scott _vs._ sanford ( howard, p. ), mr. justice daniel, in delivering his opinion, used the following language as to the rights and qualities of citizenship: for who it may be asked is a citizen? what do the character and status of citizens import? without fear of contradiction, it does not import the condition of being private property, the subject of individual power and ownership. upon a principle of etymology alone, the term citizen, as derived from _civitas_, conveys the idea of connection or identification with the state or government, and a participation in its functions. but beyond this there is not, it is believed, to be found, in the theories of writers on government, or in any actual experiment heretofore tried, an exposition of the term citizen which has not been understood as conferring the actual possession and enjoyment, or the perfect right of acquisition and enjoyment, of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political. and in the same case chief justice taney said: "the words 'people of the united states' and 'citizens' are synonymous terms, and mean the same thing; they both describe the political body, who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty, and who hold the power and conduct the government through their representatives. they are what we familiarly call the sovereign people, and every citizen is one of this people, and a constituent member of this sovereignty." ( howard, ). in an important case in the supreme court of the united states, chief justice jay, in delivering the opinion of the court, said: "at the revolution the sovereignty devolved on the people, and they are truly the sovereigns of the country, but they are sovereigns without subjects (unless the african slaves may be so called), and have none to govern but themselves. the citizens of america are equal as fellow-citizens, and joint tenants of the sovereignty." (chishol _vs._ georgia, dallas, ). in conner _vs._ elliott ( howard), justice curtis, in declining to give an enumeration of all the "privileges" of the citizen, said, "according to the express words and clear meaning of the clause, no privileges are secured except those that belong to citizenship." the supreme court said, in corfield _vs._ coryell, that the elective franchise is such privilege; therefore, according to justice curtis, it belongs to citizenship. in a case in the supreme court of kentucky ( littell's ky. reports, p. ), the court say: no one can, therefore, in the correct sense of the term, be a citizen of a state who is not entitled upon the terms prescribed by the institutions of the state to all the rights and privileges conferred by these institutions upon the highest class of society. mr. wirt, when attorney-general of the united states, in an official opinion to be found on p. , st volume opinions of attorney-generals, came to the conclusion that the negroes were not citizens of the united states, for the reason that they had very few of the "privileges" of citizens, and among the "privileges of citizens" of which they were deprived, that they could not vote at any election. webster defines a citizen to be "a person, native or naturalized, who has the privilege of voting for public officers, and who is qualified to fill offices in the gift of the people." worcester defines the word thus: "an inhabitant of a republic who enjoys the rights of a citizen or freeman, and who has a right to vote for public officers as a citizen of the united states." bouvier, in his law dictionary, defines the term citizen: "one who, under the constitution and laws of the united states, has a right to vote for representatives in congress and other public officers, and who is qualified to fill offices in the gift of the people." aristotle defines a citizen to be "one who is a partner in the legislative and judicial power, and who shares in the honors of the state." (aristotle de repub., lib. , cap. , d.) the essential properties of athenian citizenship consisted in the share possessed by every citizen in the legislature, in the election of magistrates, and in the courts of justice. (see smith's dictionary of greek antiquities, p. ). the possession of the _jus suffragii_, at least, if not also of the _jus honorum_, is the principle which governs at this day in defining citizenship in the countries deriving their jurisprudence from the civil law. (wheaton's international law, p. ). the dutch publicist, thorbecke, says: what constitutes the distinctive character of our epoch is the development of the right of citizenship. in its most extended, as well as its most restricted sense, it includes a great many properties. the right of citizenship is the right of voting in the government of the local, provincial, or national community of which one is a member. in this last sense, the right of citizenship signifies a participation in the right of voting, in the general government, as member of the state. (rev. & fr. etr., tom. v, p. ). in a recent work of some research, written in opposition to female suffrage, the author takes the ground that women are not citizens, and urges that as a reason why they can properly be denied the elective franchise, his theory being that if full citizens they would be entitled to the ballot. he uses the following language: it is a question about which there may be some diversity of opinion, what constitutes citizenship or who are citizens. in a loose and improper sense the word citizen is sometimes used to denote any inhabitant of the country, but this is not a correct use of the word. those, and no others, are properly citizens who were parties to the original compact by which the government was formed, or their successors who are qualified to take part in the affairs of government by their votes in the election of public officers. women and children are represented by their domestic directors or heads in whose wills theirs is supposed to be included. they, as well as others not entitled to vote, are not properly citizens, but are members of the state, fully entitled to the protection of its laws. a citizen, then, is a person entitled to vote in the elections. he is one of those in whom the sovereign power of the state resides. (jones on suffrage, p. .) but all such fallacious theories as this are swept away by the xiv. amendment, which abolishes the theory of different grades of citizenship, or different grades of rights and privileges, and declares all persons born in the country or naturalized in it to be citizens, in the broadest and fullest sense of the term, leaving no room for cavil, and guaranteeing to all citizens the rights and privileges of citizens of the republic. we think we are justified in saying that the weight of authority sustains us in the view we take of this question. but considering the nature of it, it is a question depending much for its solution upon a consideration of the government under which citizenship is claimed. citizenship in turkey or russia is essentially different in its rights and privileges from citizenship in the united states. in the former, citizenship means no more than the right to the protection of his absolute rights, and the "citizen" is a subject; nothing more. here, in the language of chief justice jay, there are no subjects. all, native-born and naturalized, are citizens of the highest class; here all citizens are sovereigns, each citizen bearing a portion of the supreme sovereignty, and therefore it must necessarily be that the right to a voice in the government is the right and privilege of a citizen as such, and that which is undefined in the constitution is undefined because it is self-evident. could a state disfranchise and deprive of the right to a vote all citizens who have red hair; or all citizens under six feet in height? all will consent that the states could not make such arbitrary distinctions the ground for denial of political privileges; that it would be a violation of the first article of the xiv. amendment; that it would be abridging the privileges of citizens. and yet the denial of the elective franchise to citizens on account of sex is equally as arbitrary as the distinction on account of stature, or color of hair, or any other physical distinction. these privileges of the citizen exist independent of the constitution. they are not derived from the constitution or the laws, but are the means of asserting and protecting rights that existed before any civil governments were formed--the right of life, liberty and property. says paine, in his dissertation upon the principles of government: the right of voting for representatives is the primary right, by which other rights are protected. to take away this right is to reduce man to a state of slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another; and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is, in this case. the proposal, therefore, to disfranchise any class of men is as criminal as the proposal to take away property. in a state of nature, before governments were formed, each person possessed a natural right to defend his liberty, his life and his property from the aggressions of his fellow men. when he enters into the free government he does not surrender that right, but agrees to exercise it, not by brute force, but by the ballot, by his individual voice in making the laws that dispose of, control and regulate those rights. the right to a voice in the government is but the natural right of protection of one's life, liberty and property, by personal strength and brute force, so modified as to be exercised in the form of a vote, through the machinery of a free government. the right of self-protection, it will not be denied, exists in all equally in a state of nature, and the substitute for it exists equally in all the citizens after a free government is formed, for the free government is by all and for all. the people "ordained and established" the constitution. such is the preamble. "we, the people." can it be said that the people acquire their privileges from the instrument that they themselves establish? does the creature extend rights, privileges and immunities to the creator? no; the people retain all the rights which they have not surrendered; and if the people have not given to the government the power to deprive them of their elective franchise, they possess it by virtue of citizenship. the true theory of this government, and of all free governments, was laid down by our fathers in the declaration of independence, and declared to be "self-evident." "all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving all their just powers from the consent of the governed." here is the great truth, the vital principle, upon which our government is founded, and which demonstrates that the right of a voice in the conduct of the government, and the selection of the rulers, is a right and privilege of all citizens. another of the self-evident truths laid down in that instrument is: that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. how can the people carry out this right without the exercise of the ballot; and is not the ballot then a fundamental right and privilege of the citizen, not given to him by the constitution, but inherent, as a necessity, from the very nature of the government? benjamin franklin wrote: that every man of the commonalty, except infants, insane persons, and criminals, is, of common right, and by the laws of god, a freeman, and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty. that liberty or freedom consists in having an actual share in the appointment of those who frame the laws, and who are to be the guardians of every man; life, property, and peace; for the all of one man is as dear to him as the all of another, and the poor man has an equal right but more need to have representatives in the legislature than the rich one. that they who have no voice nor vote in the electing of representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes and to their representatives; for, to be enslaved is to have governors whom other men have set over us, and be subject to laws made by the representatives of others, without having had representatives of our own to give consent in our behalf. (franklin's works, vol. . p. .) james madison said: under every view of the subject it seems indispensable that the mass of the citizens should not be without a voice in making the laws which they are to obey, and in choosing the magistrates who are to administer them. (madison papers, vol. , p. .) taxation without representation is abhorrent to every principle of natural or civil liberty. it was this injustice that drove our fathers into revolution against the mother country. the very act of taxing exercised over those who are not represented appears to me to be depriving them of one of their most essential rights as freemen, and if continued, seems to be, in effect, an entire disfranchisement of every civil right. for what one civil right is worth a rush after a man's property is subject to be taken from him at pleasure without his consent? if a man is not his own assessor, in person or by deputy, his liberty is gone, or he is entirely at the mercy of others. (otis's rights of the colonies, p. .) nor are these principles original with the people of this country. long before they were ever uttered on this continent they were declared by englishmen. said lord summers, a truly great lawyer of england: amongst all the rights and privileges appertaining unto us, that of having a share in the legislation, and being governed by such laws as we ourselves shall cause, is the most fundamental and essential, as well as the most advantageous and beneficial. said the learned and profound hooker: by the natural law whereunto almighty god hath made all subject, the lawful power of making laws to command whole politic societies of men, belongeth so properly unto the same entire societies, that for any prince or potentate of what kind soever upon earth to exercise the same of himself (or themselves), and not either by express commission immediately received from god, or else by authority derived at the first from their consent upon whose persons they impose laws, it is no better than mere tyranny! agreeable to the same just privileges of natural equity, is that maxim for the english constitution, that "law to bind all must be assented to by all"; and there can be no legal appearance of assent without some degree of representation. the great champion of liberty, granville sharpe, declared that-- all british subjects, whether in great britain, ireland, or the colonies, are equally free by the laws of nature; they certainly are equally entitled to the same natural rights that are essential for their own preservation, because this privilege of "having a share in the legislation" is not merely a british right, peculiar to this island, but it is also a natural right, which can not without the most flagrant and stimulating injustice be withdrawn from any part of the british empire by any worldly authority whatsoever. no tax can be levied without manifest robbery and injustice where this legal and constitutional representation is wanting, because the english law abhors the idea of taking the least property from freemen without their consent. it is iniquitous (_iniquum est_, says the maxim) that freemen should not have the free disposal of their own effects, and whatever is iniquitous can never be made lawful by any authority on earth, not even by the united authority of king, lords, and commons, for that would be contrary to the eternal laws of god, which are supreme. in an essay upon the "first principles of government," by priestly, an english writer of great ability, written over a century since, is the following definition of political liberty: political liberty i would say, consists in power, which the members of the state reserve to themselves, of arriving at the public offices, or at least of having votes in the nomination of those who fill them. in countries where every member of the society enjoys an equal power of arriving at the supreme offices, and consequently of directing the strength and sentiments of the whole community, there is a state of the most perfect political liberty. on the other hand, in countries where a man is excluded from these offices, or from the power of voting for the proper persons to fill them, that man, whatever be the form of the government, has no share in the government and therefore has no political liberty at all. and since every man retains and can never be deprived of his natural right of relieving himself from all oppression, that is, from everything that has been imposed upon him without his own consent, this must be the only true and proper foundation of all governments subsisting in the world, and that to which the people who compose them have an inalienable right to bring them back. it was from these great champions of liberty in england that our forefathers received their inspiration and the principles which they adopted, incorporated into the declaration of independence, and made the foundation and framework of our government. and yet it is claimed that we have a government which tramples upon these elementary principles of political liberty, in denying to one-half its adult citizens all political liberty, and subjecting them to the tyranny of taxation without representation. it can not be. when we desire to construe the constitution, or to ascertain the powers of the government and the rights of the citizens, it is legitimate and necessary to recur to those principles and make them the guide in such investigation. it is an oft-repeated maxim set forth in the bills of rights of many of the state constitutions that "the frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is necessary for the preservation of liberty and good government." recurring to these principles, so plain, so natural, so like political axioms, it would seem that to say that one-half the citizens of this republican government, simply and only on account of their sex, can legally be denied the right to a voice in the government, the laws of which they are held to obey, and which takes from them their property by taxation, is so flagrantly in opposition to the principles of free government, and the theory of political liberty, that no man could seriously advocate it. but it is said in opposition to the "citizen's right" of suffrage that at the time of the establishment of the constitution, women were in all the states denied the right of voting, and that no one claimed at the time that the constitution of the united states would change their status; that if such a change was intended it would have been explicitly declared in the constitution or at least carried into practice by those who framed the constitution, and, therefore, such a construction of it is against what must have been the intention of the framers. this is a very unsafe rule of construction. as has been said, the constitution necessarily deals in general principles; these principles are to be carried out to their legitimate conclusion and result by legislation, and we are to judge of the intention of those who established the constitution by what they say, guided by what they declare on the face of the instrument to be their object. it is said by judge story, in story on the constitution: contemporary construction is properly resorted to to illustrate and confirm the text.... it can never abrogate the text; it can never fritter away its obvious sense; it can never narrow down its true limitations. it is a well-settled rule that in the construction of the constitution, the objects for which it was established, being expressed in the instrument, should have great influence; and when words and phrases are used which are capable of different constructions, that construction should be given which is the most consonant with the declared objects of the instrument. we go to the preamble to ascertain the objects and purpose of the instrument. webster defines preamble thus: "the introductory part of a statute, which states the reason and intent of the law." in the preamble, then, more certainly than in any other way, aside from the language of the instrument, we find the intent. judge story says: the importance of examining the preamble for the purpose of expounding the language of a statute has been long felt and universally conceded in all juridical discussion. it is an admitted maxim ... that the preamble is a key to open the mind of the matters as to the mischiefs to be remedied and the objects to be accomplished by the statute.... it is properly resorted to where doubts or ambiguities arise upon the words of the enacting part, for if they are clear and unambiguous, there seems little room for interpretation, except in cases leading to an obvious absurdity or a direct overthrow of the intention expressed in the preamble. [story on the constitution, sec. .] try this question by a consideration of the objects for which the constitution was established, as set forth in the preamble, "to establish justice." does it establish justice to deprive of all representation or voice in the government one-half of its adult citizens, and compel them to pay taxes to and support a government in which they have no representation? is "taxation without representation" justice established? "to insure domestic tranquillity." does it insure domestic tranquillity to give all the political power to one class of citizens, and deprive another class of any participation in the government? no. the sure means of tranquillity is to give "equal political rights to all," that all may stand "equal before the law." "to provide for the common defense." we have seen that the only defense the citizen has against oppression and wrong is by his voice and vote in the selection of rulers and law makers. does it, then, "provide for the common defense," to deny to one half the adult citizens of the republic that voice and vote? "to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." as has been already said, there can be no political liberty to any citizen deprived of a voice in the government. this is self-evident; it needs no demonstration. does it, then, "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," to deprive one half the citizens of adult age of this right and privilege? tried by the expressed objects for which the constitution was established, as declared by the people themselves, this denial to the women citizens of the country of the right and privilege of voting is directly in contravention of these objects, and must, therefore, be contrary to the spirit and letter of the entire instrument. and according to the rule of construction referred to, no "contemporaneous construction, however universal it may be, can be allowed to set aside the expressed objects of the makers, as declared in the instrument." the construction which we claim for the st section of the xiv. amendment, is in perfect accord with those expressed objects; and even if there were anything in the original text of the constitution at variance with the true construction of that section, the amendment must control. yet we believe that there is nothing in the original text at variance with what we claim to be the true construction of the amendment. it is claimed by the majority of the committee that the adoption of the xv. amendment was by necessary implication a declaration that the states had the power to deny the right of suffrage to citizens for any other reasons than those of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. we deny that the fundamental rights of the american citizen can be taken away by "implication." there is no such law for the construction of the constitution of our country. the law is the reverse--that the fundamental rights of citizens are not to be taken away by implication, and a constitutional provision for the protection of one class can certainly not be used to destroy or impair the same rights in another class. it is too violent a construction of an amendment, which prohibits states from, or the united states from, abridging the right of a citizen to vote by reason of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, to say that by implication it conceded to the states the power to deny that right for any other reason. on that theory the states could confine the right of suffrage to a small minority, and make the state governments aristocratic, overthrowing their republican form. the xv. article of amendment to the constitution clearly recognizes the right to vote, as one of the rights of a citizen of the united states. this is the language: the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. here is stated, first, the existence of a right. second, its nature. whose right is it? the right of citizens of the united states. what is the right? the right to vote. and this right of citizens of the united states, states are forbidden to abridge. can there be a more direct recognition of a right? can that be abridged which does not exist? the denial of the power to abridge the right, recognizes the existence of the right. is it said that this right exists by virtue of state citizenship, and state laws and constitutions? mark the language: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote;" not citizens of states. the right is recognized as existing independent of state citizenship. but it may be said, if the states had no power to abridge the right of suffrage, why the necessity of prohibiting them? there may not have been a necessity; it may have been done through caution, and because the peculiar condition of the colored citizens at that time rendered it necessary to place their rights beyond doubt or cavil. it is laid down as a rule of construction by judge story that the natural import of a single clause is not to be narrowed so as to exclude implied powers resulting from its character simply because there is another clause which enumerates certain powers which might otherwise be deemed implied powers within its scope, for in such cases we are not to assume that the affirmative specification excludes all other implications. ( story on constitution, sec. .) there are numerous instances in the constitution where a general power is given to congress, and afterward a particular power given, which was included in the former; yet the general power is not to be narrowed, because the particular power is given. on this same principle the fact that by the xv. amendment the states are specifically forbidden to deny the right of suffrage on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, does not narrow the general provision in the xiv. amendment which guarantees the privileges of all the citizens against abridgment by the states on any account. the rule of interpretation relied upon by the committee in their construction of the xv. amendment is, "that the expression of one thing is the exclusion of another," or the specification of particulars is the exclusion of generals. of these maxims, judge story says: they are susceptible of being applied, and often are ingeniously applied, to the subversion of the text and the objects of the instrument. the truth is, in order to ascertain how far an affirmative or negative provision excludes or implies others, we must look to the nature of the provision, the subject-matter, the objects, and the scope of the instrument; these and these only can properly determine the rule of construction ( story, ). it is claimed by the committee that the second section of the xiv. amendment implies that the several states may restrict the right of suffrage as to other than male citizens. we may say of this as we have said of the theory of the committee upon the effect of the xv. amendment. it is a proposal to take away from the citizens guarantees of fundamental rights, by implication, which have been previously given in absolute terms. the first section includes "all citizens" in its guarantees, and includes all the "privileges and immunities" of citizenship and guards them against abridgment, and under no recognized or reasonable rule of construction can it be claimed that by implication from the provisions of the second section the states may not only abridge but entirely destroy one of the highest privileges of the citizen to one-half the citizens of the country. what we have said in relation to the committee's construction of the effect of the xv. amendment applies equally to this. the object of the first section of this amendment was to secure all the rights, privileges, and immunities of all the citizens against invasion by the states. the object of the second section was to fix a rule or system of apportionment for representatives and taxation; and the provision referred to, in relation to the exclusion of males from the right of suffrage, might be regarded as in the nature of a penalty in case of denial of that right to that class. while it, to a certain extent, protected that class of citizens, it left the others where the previous provisions of the constitution placed them. to protect the colored man more fully than was done by that penalty was the object of the xv. amendment. in no event can it be said to be more than the recognition of an existing fact, that only the male citizens were, by the state laws, allowed to vote, and that existing order of things was recognized in the rule of representation, just as the institution of slavery was recognized in the original constitution, in the article fixing the basis of representation, by the provision that only three-fifths of all the slaves ("other persons") should be counted. there slavery was recognized as an existing fact, and yet the constitution never sanctioned slavery, but, on the contrary, had it been carried out according to its true construction, slavery could not have existed under it; so that the recognition of facts in the constitution must not be held to be a sanction of what is so recognized. the majority of the committee say that this section implies that the states may deny suffrage to others than male citizens. if it implies anything it implies that the states may deny the franchise to all the citizens. it does not provide that they shall not deny the right to male citizens, but only provides that if they do so deny they shall not have representation for them. so, according to that argument, by the second section of the xiv. amendment the power of the states is conceded to entirely take away the right of suffrage, even from that privileged class, the male citizens. and thus this rule of "implication" goes too far, and fritters away all the guarantees of the constitution of the right of suffrage, the highest of the privileges of the citizen; and herein is demonstrated the reason and safety of the rule that fundamental rights are not to be taken away by implication, but only by express provision. when the advocates of a privileged class of citizens under the constitution are driven to implication to sustain the theory of taxation without representation, and american citizenship without political liberty, the cause must be weak indeed. it is claimed by the majority that by section , article , the constitution recognizes the power in states to declare who shall and who shall not exercise the elective franchise. that section reads as follows: the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. the first clause of this section declares who shall choose the representatives--mark the language--"representatives shall be chosen by the people of the states," not by the male people; not by certain classes of the people, but by the people; so that the construction sought to be given this section, by which it would recognize the power of the state to disfranchise one half the citizens, is in direct contravention of the first clause of the section, and of its whole spirit, as well as of the objects of the instrument. the states clearly have no power to nullify the express provisions that the election shall be by the people, by any laws limiting the election to a moiety of the people. it is true the section recognizes the power in the state to regulate the qualifications of the electors; but as we have already said, the power to regulate is a very different thing from the power to destroy. the two clauses must be taken together, and both considered in connection with the declared purpose and objects of the constitution. the constitution is necessarily confined to the statement of general principles. there are regulations necessary to be made as to the qualifications of voters, as to their proper age, their domicil, the length of residence necessary to entitle the citizen to vote in a given state or place. these particulars could not be provided in the constitution but are necessarily left to the states, and this section is thus construed as to be in harmony with itself, and with the expressed objects of the framers of the constitution and the principles of free government. when the majority of the committee can demonstrate that "the people of the states," and one-half the people of the states, are equivalent terms, or that when the constitution provides that the representatives shall be elected by the people, its requirements are met by an election in which less than one-half the adult people are allowed to vote, then it will be admitted that this section to some extent sustains them. the committee say, that if it had been intended that congress should prescribe the qualifications of electors, the grant would have given congress that power specifically. we do not claim that congress has that power; on the contrary, admit that the states have it; but the section of the constitution does prescribe who the electors shall be. that is what we claim--nothing more. they shall be "the people;" their qualifications may be regulated by the states; but to the claim of the majority of the committee that they may be "qualified" out of existence, we can not assent. we are told that the acquiescence by the people, since the adoption of the constitution, in the denial of political rights to women citizens, and the general understanding that such denial was in conformity with the constitution, should be taken to settle the construction of that instrument. any force this argument may have it can only apply to the original text, and not to the xiv. amendment, which is of but recent date. but, as a general principle, this theory is fallacious. it would stop all political progress; it would put an end to all original thought, and put the people under that tyranny with which the friends of liberty have always had to contend--the tyranny of precedent. from the beginning, our government has been right in theory, but wrong in practice. the constitution, had it been carried out in its true spirit, and its principles enforced, would have stricken the chains from every slave in the republic long since. yet, for all this, it was but a few years since declared, by the highest judicial tribunal of the republic, that, according to the "general understanding," the black man in this country had no rights the white man was bound to respect. general understanding and acquiescence is a very unsafe rule by which to try questions of constitutional law, and precedents are not infallible guides toward liberty and the rights of man. without any law to authorize it, slavery existed in england, and was sustained and perpetuated by popular opinion, universal custom, and the acquiescence of all departments of the government as well as by the subjects of its oppression. a few fearless champions of liberty struggled against the universal sentiment, and contended that, by the laws of england, slavery could not exist in the kingdom; and though for years unable to obtain a hearing in any british court, the somerset case was finally tried in the court of king's bench in , lord mansfield presiding, wherein that great and good man, after a long and patient hearing, declared that no law of england allowed or approved of slavery, and discharged the negro. and it was then judicially declared that no slave could breathe upon the soil of england, although slavery had up to that time existed for centuries, under the then existing laws. the laws were right, but the practice and public opinion were wrong. it is said by the majority of the committee that "if the right of female citizens to suffrage is vested by the constitution, that right can be established in the courts." we respectfully submit that, with regard to the competency and qualification of electors for members of this house, the courts have no jurisdiction. this house is the sole judge of the election return and qualification of its own members (article , section , of constitution); and it is for the house alone to decide upon a contest, who are, and who are not, competent and qualified to vote. the judicial department can not thus invade the prerogatives of the political department. and it is therefore perfectly proper, in our opinion, for the house to pass a declaratory resolution, which would be an index to the action of the house, should the question be brought before it by a contest for a seat. we, therefore, recommend to the house the adoption of the following resolution: _resolved, by the house of representatives_, that the right of suffrage is one of the inalienable rights of citizens of the united states, subject to regulation by the states, through equal and just laws. that this right is included in the "privileges of citizens of the united states," which are guaranteed by section of article xiv. of amendments to the constitution of the united states; and that women citizens, who are otherwise qualified by the laws of the state where they reside, are competent voters for representatives in congress. wm. loughridge. benj. f. butler. h. rep. , pt. ---- . on january , , in the house of representatives, a bill for the better government of the district of columbia came up. the hon. george w. julian, of indiana, moved to strike out the word "male" in the section providing who shall vote, and supported his amendment as follows: the establishment of universal male suffrage throughout the united states was preceded by its establishment in the district of columbia and in the territories. following the same order, i desire that the district of columbia shall first enjoy the further and full extension of the democratic principle, by giving the ballot to all the people here, irrespective of sex. i know of no reason why this should not be done. i believe the question of woman's rights necessarily involves the question of human rights. the famous maxim of our fathers that "taxation without representation is tyranny" applies not to one-half only, but to the whole people. i am a democrat in full of all demands, and i can not, therefore, accept as a real democracy, or even a republic, a government "half slave and half free." mr. cook, of illinois, who had charge of the bill, objected to "cumbering it with such an amendment," and called the previous question, which being sustained, cut off all debate. mr. julian then called for the ayes and noes, thus making every man put himself square on the record. the vote stood ayes[ ], noes, not voting. the next day the house met for general debate, and hon. aaron a. sargent, of california, had an opportunity to express his views of the amendment, which he had not been able to do the previous day. mr. sargent: mr. speaker, if no other gentleman desires to address the house, i will briefly remark that i was glad on yesterday to have an opportunity to cast my vote in favor of the proposition admitting the women of this district to the right of suffrage. i believe the time is rapidly coming when all men will conclude that it is no longer wise or judicious to exclude one-half of the intelligence, and more than one-half of the virtue of the people from the ballot-box. it is a matter of congratulation that one-third of the members who were present yesterday and voting, recorded their votes for that proposition. it was a glorious commencement. i will not take up the time of the house with any elaborate discussion of that proposition, but content myself with the remark that i was very glad of the opportunity to cast my vote for it. i trust the work thus commenced will go on until fully successful. but i would like to say further that i do not agree with those gentlemen who allege that the women who advocate this movement are universally, or to any considerable extent, desirous to unsettle family relations, or that they would change the present honored form of union of the sexes. i believe they embrace among their number, and largely embrace, the best and purest women of the land, who will have an influence growing year by year in favor of the recognition of the rights of their sex. so may it be. during mr. sargent's candidacy for the senate the following autumn, a california newspaper objected that he was in favor of woman's suffrage, and called for a denial of the truth of the damning charge. mr. sargent took no notice of it until a week or two later, when a suffrage convention met in san francisco; he then went before that body and delivered a radical speech in favor of woman's rights, taking the most advanced grounds. when he was through he remarked to a friend, "they have my views now, and can make the most of them. i would not conceal them to be senator." this bold stand ended the objection to him on the ground of his favor to woman's rights. he opened the political campaign in before an immense audience in platt's hall, san francisco, by saying, as reported in the papers of the day: ladies and gentlemen, fellow-citizens: i trust the time is near at hand when the phrase "fellow-citizens" will not need the explanatory remark, "ladies and gentlemen." i trust we are nearing the day when our wives and daughters will share with us in the duties and privileges of citizenship, and give expression to their principles and views, not only indirectly by personal influence, but at the ballot-box. i am in favor of this great reform, and hail the day when it shall purify politics by the influence of women exerted directly and legitimately at elections. the national woman's suffrage association met in apollo hall, new york, anniversary week, may , . the audiences were large and the speakers earnest.[ ] mrs. griffing, the corresponding secretary of the association, thus summed up the closing events of the past year: it now appears that under the federal constitution and its amendments, woman is entitled to equal rights of citizenship with man; and as voting is a fundamental right of the citizen in a free government, woman not only may, but should vote. the last woman suffrage convention, held in washington, january, , called by paulina w. davis, j. s. griffing, and i. b. hooker, in behalf of the women of the country, contemplated no new issue, proposed only to discuss the xvi. amendment, and a more thorough system of education for the women of the country, through the issue of a monthly series of tracts. with slight exception, this programme would have been the order of the convention, as it was the indication of the call, had not the time arrived for the bugle-note, calling all "to the front." events of the hour at once changed the direction of thought, and inaugurated a line of movement for the practical enfranchisement of, and restoration to woman, of her equal rights as an american citizen. a few days previous to the time of holding this convention, mrs. victoria c. woodhull, of the city of new york, memorialized congress for the exercise of the elective franchise, which memorial was read in the house of representatives by hon. george w. julian, early friend of the cause, referred to the judiciary committee and ordered to be printed. this action on the part of mrs. woodhull was taken without consultation with, or even knowledge of the movers of the convention, and by unprecedented energy and great intelligence, pressed upon the attention of both branches of congress, upon the plea that she was "born upon the soil and was subject to the jurisdiction of the united states," and that as a citizen, she desired a voice in legislation, through the only means in a free government, that of a vote; and on this pivot she based her demand. with some difficulty she obtained permission for a hearing before the judiciary committee. learning this important step taken by mrs. woodhull, a stranger to the convention, a conference was held between the parties, resulting in a friendly agreement, that with consent of the chairman of the committee, mrs. i. b. hooker, on the part of the convention, should at the same time, through a constitutional lawyer, hon. a. g. riddle, ex-member of congress, defend the memorialists ( , women) whose names were already before congress, asking to exercise the right of the ballot. mrs. woodhull spoke with power and marvelous effect, as though conscious of a right unjustly withheld, and feeling a duty, she was forbidden to do. under the supreme law of the land, the constitution, and the xiv. and xv. amendments thereto, she asked equal protection to person, property, and full citizenship; in response to this, the key-note, mr. riddle followed with an unanswerable legal argument, sweeping away all laws of the united states, and of any state, restricting woman in the right to vote, as directly opposed to the supreme law of the land, as pointed out in the xiv. and xv. amendments to the federal constitution, which he showed to be consonant with both the letter and spirit of that instrument. he also suggested that the immediate action of woman, as a citizen, might be found the most speedy method of triumph. the result of this hearing, in the printed reports of judge bingham and the majority, and of judge loughridge and hon. b. f. butler, the minority of the judiciary committee, is already before the country, and marks well the beginning of the end. it was now clearly seen by the leaders of the movement that the agitation of woman's wrongs and oppressions was no longer a necessary part of the discussion. that in the statute books, and above all, in the heart of god, a record of this was made, and that henceforth woman's citizenship and full enfranchisement must be declared. that under the supreme law of the land her right to person, property, children, and full and equal citizenship must be pronounced and admitted; and, finally, her duty to vote, and through her highest capabilities, to assume a share of the responsibility of the state, as she has already of the home, are hereafter to be the legitimate theme of discussion till woman is emancipated. these events and this decision indicated an immediate want of a national woman suffrage and educational committee, to carry forward measures for the speedy execution of the work, and upon consultation with the experienced and wise men and women of the convention, and with the approval of all well-wishers who were present, a committee, consisting of mrs. i. b. hooker (chairwoman), j. s. griffing (secretary), mrs. m. b. bowen (treasurer), susan b. anthony, paulina wright davis, and ruth carr dennison, was organized in the city of washington, d. c., and the machinery set in operation to accomplish what is now known as the work of that committee. for the temporary use of this committee a part of the house of education and labor committee-room, through the marked kindness of hon. mr. arnell, chairman of the committee, was granted; afterward, the beautiful, artistic house agriculture committee-room, also used for the committee on manufactures, was generously proffered by the chairmen of both, hon. mr. morrell and gen. smith, and is still retained. books are now opened for signatures to the new declaration and pledge,[ ] and the autographs of all women ready to exercise the elective franchise. thousands of tracts, constitutional arguments of mr. riddle and mrs. woodhull, report of the minority judiciary committee, and an address to the women of the united states, are being sent to the whole country, carrying conviction to the weak, force to the active, and hastening the consummation of a triumph worthy of the struggle and undying faith of all who have nobly borne their part in this history. the names of the earnest women who took part in this convention, and who participated in the inauguration of the new issue, are recorded in the books of the committee; and now, only the funds--generous and prompt contributions--are needed to respond to the call from all the states and territories for knowledge--either by voice or pen--to complete a reconstruction of the government "of the people, for the people and by the people," without arms, court-martial, or bloodshed. in this connection mrs. belva a. lockwood's very able memorial to congress asking suffrage for the women of the district should be mentioned. it was a well-sustained argument, showing the writer to be mistress of her subject. mrs. lockwood is an efficient, earnest, honest worker. she presented to congress a large petition, fully equal in numbers to the one presented by mrs. dahlgren and sherman, whose anti-suffrage petition and memorial against it formed one of the peculiar features of the work of last winter. mrs. h. c. spencer, of washington, answered mrs. dahlgren's pamphlet with a most admirable one entitled "problems," which has already had an extensive circulation, and is more earnestly called for than any other, with the exception of mrs. woodhull's constitutional argument, and mr. riddle's on the same question. the meetings were held daily in the committee-room during the entire session, and the interchange of thought was often very interesting and encouraging. [illustration: isabella beecher hooker.] on the day of the adjournment of congress mrs. hooker presented thanks, in the name of the committee, to such members of the house as had been most active in serving our cause. she said: gentlemen: the national woman suffrage and educational committee desire me to express to you their heartfelt thanks for the good service you have rendered the whole woman movement by your willingness to entertain, examine, and, in some instances, advocate our new claim that we are already enfranchised under the original constitution and the xiv. and xv. amendments. to you, mr. julian, we are especially indebted, in that while you were the first member of the house who introduced our claim to the suffrage under the form of a xvi. amendment, you were in the front once more when a new issue was presented in the shape of the "woodhull memorial." your resolution asking the house "to participate in the proceedings," by which two women citizens of the united states "might present the moral and constitutional argument in favor of the enfranchisement of the women citizens of the united states, and in support of a memorial lately reported upon by a majority and minority of the judiciary committee," was in keeping with every other act of your public life, a protest against injustice, a proposition looking toward perfect equality; and we thank you for it in the name of the disfranchised millions who will one day realize, as they now do not, the significance of that act. to you, mr. arnell, we owe not only the passage of "a bill to do justice to the female employes of the government," but the first admission of women to this capitol as citizens having common rights with the ruling class in the use of buildings devoted to the public service. in your committee-room we found not only a home, but such courtesy, such opportunity for friendly consultation with members of congress upon subjects of deepest political importance, as must forever silence the absurd charge that men and women will cease to regard the decorums of life, to interchange its happy civilities when they become equally responsible for the welfare of the state. to other gentlemen of the house we owe thanks also for their co-operation with you in this manly service, especially to general wilson, of ohio, to mr. morrill, of pennsylvania, and general butler, of massachusetts, who have, as chairmen of their respective committees, offered us the use of their several rooms, in case the threats of a certain gentleman in the house should so terrify you, sir, that you should feel compelled to withdraw your most friendly offer. we have accepted the use of the committee-room on agriculture, leaving you, sir, with reluctance, simply because it is larger and more accessible than your room, and one so beautifully adorned by art, that our womanly tastes are daily gratified in its use. to you, mr. loughridge, as the author of the minority report of the judiciary committee on the woodhull memorial, and to general butler, your faithful colleague, we owe that most luminous statement of the historic position of woman, her natural, civil, and constitutional rights, and the best method of enforcing these in the interest of the women citizens of the united states. for that report, sir, we thank you from the depth of our hearts. we claim it as our bill of rights. on that line we also fight, not with weapons of steel, but with pen and voice and silent prayer; and when at last the solemn responsibilities of citizenship shall have been laid upon us by the men of this great nation, and together we shall strive to bring justice and equality into legislation and administration, we shall not forget to whom we owe this first judicial protest in these halls against traditional misrepresentations of the constitutional rights of women citizens of the republic. and, gentlemen, permit us to congratulate you all, that having secured equal rights to all men in these united states by your vote, and having welcomed the proscribed black man to a seat by your side in halls of legislation, you are now turning your attention to the women of the united states, with a firm resolution that they shall no longer be denied the rights nor excused from the responsibilities of a full citizenship. permit us to express the hope that in coming years you may be returned to this capitol by the votes of grateful women citizens, enfranchised through your instrumentality; and should you be called to take upper seats here in remembrance of faithful service during this session, we shall congratulate not only ourselves but our common and well-beloved country; and if, gentlemen, you should find here as colleagues some of the matrons of this republic whose names are now being daily signed to this new declaration of fealty to human rights, we have confident assurance that you will cheerfully work hand in hand with them, according to the tenor of their pledge to work with you for the maintenance of those equal rights on which our republic was originally founded, to the end that it may have what is declared to be the first condition of just government--the consent of the governed. mr. julian responded:--i thank you, mrs. hooker, and the committee you represent, for your words of cordial approbation. such a testimony will go far to redeem the ordinary drudgery and dreariness of public life, and i shall ever cherish it with real satisfaction and pride. i ought to say, however, that in performing the acts so handsomely commended by you i did nothing but my simple duty. indeed, constituted as i am, and believing as i do, it was morally impossible for me to do otherwise. having espoused the cause of woman's enfranchisement more than twenty years ago, when it was first launched in the united states, and having labored so long and so earnestly for the enfranchisement of the male citizens of our country, irrespective of color or race, it would have been grossly inconsistent in me, not to say recreant and mean, to shrink from the duties for which you compliment me when invited to their performance. you are pleased to express the hope that some of the retiring members of the xli. congress may hereafter be returned to the places they have filled. for myself, i am weary of the service in which i have toiled for so many years, and i welcome a season of rest, or at least a change of labor. but when your hope goes farther, and points to our return here by the votes of enfranchised women, and our welcome from a sisterhood of co-representatives in the halls of congress, i confess the prophecy is so pleasing and the picture seems so tempting that its realization would completely reconcile me to my restored place in the house of representatives, or even to a seat in that smaller body at the other end of the capitol. and i am not lacking in the spirit of good courage and hope which animates you. these are revolutionary times. whole years of progress are now crowded into days. who will venture to judge the future by any political almanac of by-gone times? i can say with old thomas carlyle, "one strong thing i find here below, the just thing, the true thing." and no man or party is strong enough, no earthly power is strong enough to stay the grand march of events through which the hand of god is visibly guiding the republic to universal liberty, and through that to enduring prosperity and peace. mr. arnell, of tennessee, said--_mrs. hooker and ladies_: you have been kind enough to refer to me by name. i think you have been over-generous in your estimation of my poor services. if i have accomplished anything, no matter how inconsiderable, for your cause, i greatly rejoice. yet, in reality, it is my cause as much as yours--a man's cause as much as a woman's; for the inquiry you have raised is a great fundamental question, broad as humanity itself. i thank you for your wide interpretation of the invitation i gave you to occupy the committee-room of education and labor. you have rightly touched its true meaning. the doors were opened hopefully, invitingly to you as the advance-guard of american women, who are soon, i trust, to take equal part with their brothers, husbands and fathers in the government of this great and free republic. there is a bit of history connected with this room of education and labor. a hard-working woman was once driven from it by vote of the house of representatives. she carried her work across the ocean, rested it under the italian skies, until it blossomed into everlasting stone. then she brought it back. a great admiring city and the self-same men who had voted her out, marveled and said, "well done, woman." her success is a triumph for woman. meantime you, representing, arguing a higher cause than art, had found a footing in this very apartment from which she had been turned out. this was a higher triumph. the amiable new york _tribune_, chuckling over a false rumor that you were denied its further use, has misstated the facts. the _tribune_ only advertised its own narrow, pretentious wishes. in bringing the proposition before congress to pay women the same price as men for the same work performed, i desired not only to help those spirited, deserving women in the departments, but also to aid two and a half millions of my working sisters in this country. it seemed to me that just here was room for practical legislation. here was an angle to be carried in this great contest for justice and freedom, and i drew my best inspiration from a bright, sunny-faced wife, who to-day is far away among the hills of tennessee. i greatly admire and respect either a working man or woman, for i devoutly believe in this latest evangel, that "to work is to pray." allow me to say, as a parting word, "courage." the world may sneer at you, for it does not believe that a man is moved save by some selfish ambition. trojan's noble fraction of a line, "_indocillis privata loqui_," is not generally considered as adapted to, or to be applied to, the domain of every-day life. yet, ladies, far above all ridicule, misjudgment, slander, and abuse even, is the holy consciousness you have of the nobility of your work, which is, as i have said, the emancipation and elevation of both man and woman. the great republic, of which you are citizens, by express provision of its fundamental law, can exist only as it is free, as it is just; two ideas that lie, as i understand it, at the bottom of your movement. the country must continue one-sided, ill-balanced, imperfect in its civilization, until woman, with her peculiar nature, is admitted to that individuality which of right belongs to every human being. therefore i bid you god-speed in your work. judge loughridge, of iowa, spoke as follows--_ladies_: i take pleasure in appearing here in response to your kind invitation. i understand fully your desire to express in this way your appreciation of the aid given by a portion of the representatives to the xli. congress to the cause you have so much at heart--the cause of universal suffrage and political liberty. in reference to the report of the minority of the judiciary committee, to which mrs. hooker has referred in such complimentary terms and in which i had the honor to join with the distinguished gentleman from massachusetts, mr. butler, i am glad to know that you are satisfied with it, and that you think it does justice to your cause. what is written there is the honest conviction of my judgment, and in my opinion the principles contended for therein will, before many years, be accepted as the law of the land. i desire to say one word, suggested by the remark which i have heard made frequently of late, that the only resort now for the advocates of woman suffrage is to the courts of the country. i think it is a mistake. in this country, on questions involving political rights, the courts are generally in the rear rank; the people are mostly in advance of the courts. in my opinion the most speedy and certain victory will be acquired through the political departments of the government, which are moulded and controlled by the people, and which will always in the end reflect the will of the people. you applied to congress; although not successful, yet the support you did receive was greater than the most sanguine expected. continue your efforts, persevere in your determination, and in the end you will win, for you are right, and the right always triumphs. the ladies then shook hands with each of these gentlemen, and added a few words of personal thanks, after which the committee adjourned. that the position in regard to the rights of women under the xiv. and xv. amendments was still maintained is shown in the call[ ] and resolutions[ ] as well as the speeches in the three days' convention held in lincoln hall, washington, in january, . one of the interesting episodes of this convention was the invitation extended by the association to certain non-believers to appear in open session, and meet the champions of the cause in argument. mrs. gage wrote an invitation[ ] to mrs. dahlgren, which she most courteously declined.[ ] the idea was suggested to mrs. gage by the memorial which mrs. general sherman and mrs. admiral dahlgren had presented to the senate of the united states. their petition was as follows: to the u. s. senate against woman suffrage. we, the undersigned, do hereby appeal to your honorable body, and desire respectfully to enter our protest against an extension of suffrage to women; and in the firm belief that our petition represents the sober convictions of the majority of the women of the country. although we shrink from the notoriety of the public eye, yet we are too deeply and painfully impressed by the grave perils which threaten our peace and happiness in these proposed changes in our civil and political rights, longer to remain silent. _because_, holy scripture inculcates a different, and for us higher, sphere apart from public life. _because_, as women, we find a full measure of duties, cares, and responsibilities devolving upon us, and we are therefore unwilling to bear other and heavier burdens, and those unsuited to our physical organization. _because_, we hold that an extension of suffrage would be adverse to the interests of the workingwomen of the country, with whom we heartily sympathize. _because_, these changes must introduce a fruitful element of discord in the existing marriage relation, which would tend to the infinite detriment of children, and increase the already alarming prevalence of divorce throughout the land. _because_, no general law, affecting the condition of all women, should be framed to meet exceptional discontent. for these, and many more reasons, do we beg of your wisdom that no law extending suffrage to women may be passed, as the passage of such a law would be fraught with danger so grave to the general order of the country. [signed by mrs. general sherman, mrs. admiral dahlgren, and other ladies to the number of , .] mrs. dahlgren presented a form of xvi. amendment as follows: sherman-dahlgren xvi. amendment. congress shall have power to, and shall pass laws which shall be uniform throughout the united states. to regulate the transfer and descent of all kinds of property. to regulate marriages and the registration of the same, and the registration of births. to regulate the right of dower and all rights and obligations of married persons. to regulate divorces and to grant alimony, but no divorces _a vinculo matrimonii_ shall be granted, except for the cause of adultery, and in such case the offending party shall not have the privilege of marrying during the lifetime of the offended party. in her opening remarks mrs stanton said: this is the fourth convention we have held in washington, and the effect can hardly be estimated in the education of the american people toward woman suffrage. i feel more anxious about how women will vote than in their speedy enfranchisement. so many important political questions are seen in the horizon that woman's influence is needed to guide safely through all storms the ship of state. we propose to change our tactics. instead of petitioning congress for our rights we propose to settle the question before the courts, unless congress gives us the declaratory act this winter, which i think they will. we have reasoned for twenty-five years, and we now propose to take our rights under the constitution as it is. the people are beginning already to discuss the fitting celebration for our centennial anniversary. no grander step could mark that great national event than to extend the right of suffrage to one half the citizens of our republic. the following letter was read at the morning session: brooklyn, january , . my dear madam: your letter of december th, in which you invite me to take part in the washington convention in behalf of woman's suffrage, is duly received. i am engaged during the whole week with lectures in massachusetts and maine. i can not say that i am so sanguine of the immediate or new admission of women to the right of suffrage. but of its ultimate accomplishment i have not a doubt, since justice and expediency combine in requiring it. that manhood is, on the whole, made better and stronger by a direct participation in the duties, and responsibilities of active citizenship, notwithstanding incidental evils, is becoming the sentiment of the civilized world; nor is there any reason to doubt that, in spite of temporary and incidental evils, the same advantages would accrue to womanhood. in every wise and christian movement for the education and enfranchisement of woman i hope always to be in sympathy. i am, respectfully, yours, henry ward beecher. mr. burlingame, of r. i., remarked:--i sympathize with this movement. it commands my respect and admiration. i have come here unexpected and unsolicited, because i think my wife and other women should have the same rights as the colored man and irishman. i believe in this movement, because i believe it to be right; it is the most important question of the times. the speaker then reviewed the objections against female suffrage, and pronounced them all weak, and closed with allusions to the many heroic deeds of illustrious women now a part of history. mrs. isabella beecher hooker then presented the following report, in relation to the work of the association for the past year: report. the work to be done in the future is precisely what has been recommended during the past year by every member of the committee in public and in private. . women should attempt to qualify and attempt to vote in every state election or otherwise, according to opportunity. this action not only serves the purpose of agitation of the whole question of suffrage, but it puts upon men, our brothers, the onus of refusing the votes of their fellow citizens, and compels them to show just cause for such proceeding. if it could be well understood that every woman who believes that she has a right to vote, would actually test her right by an appearance at the polls before and at the next presidential election, the question as to nominees for that office would contain a new element, and the views and preferences of this large constituency would receive serious consideration at the hands of president-makers in both the great parties of the country. . women should study the question of their present rights and duties, and make their views known in public and in private to the utmost extent of their ability. in a time like this, when the interests of our whole beloved country are at stake; when political corruption is appalling, and men are paralyzed with fear because of the threatened failure of republican institutions, ignorance and indifference on the part of women, who are the natural protectors of purity and honor, whether in the family or the state, are sins against god, their country, and their own souls. . men and women should pour out money like water for the propagation of these views. a copy of the declaration of independence and of the constitution of the united states, together with an argument on the fair interpretation of these documents, should be put into every family in the united states which has a reading member in it. your committee are able and willing to send these documents directly into these homes--one at a time, carefully directed and franked by members of congress, who believe they are making a patriotic and legitimate use of the franking privilege by thus educating their constituents in the first principles of a constitutional government--a government founded upon personal liberty and personal responsibility. half a million dollars appropriated by congress itself for this simple purpose would inaugurate a reign of patriotism and purity scarcely dreamed of as yet by the most powerful lovers of their country. but congress has not yet even printed the able reports from the judiciary committee of the house, and the few copies we have been able to send out have been the gift of a private individual. women must educate themselves--men must help them. the latter hold the purse-strings; and so surely as they desire peace, plenty, and the perpetuity of republican institutions, they must see to it that women are supplied with the sinews of war. moral warfare costs not only heart's blood, but treasure. women are offering their very souls in behalf of mankind. can men do less than empty their pockets for the good of the race? and there is one thing more that men can and must do before the reign of justice and equality can be inaugurated. they, being voters, must pledge themselves in their own breasts, and to one another, that they will vote for such candidates in either party as are in favor of woman suffrage, and for no others. such proceedings would settle the question in less than a year, and the peaceful working of a new _regime_ would prove the wisdom and patriotism of these faithful souls before the whole world. we confidently believe that there are at least , voters to-day who desire to share the burdens and responsibilities of government with their mothers, wives, and sisters. let them combine and speak the sovereign words, "principle before party," and the day is won. mrs. hooker and other ladies united in a memorial, which was presented in the senate and referred to the judiciary committee, asking for a recognition of the rights of women under the xiv. amendment, and asking further that the advocates of the cause be heard at the bar of the senate. mr. trumbull, the chairman of the committee, was not willing for this; but, at mrs. hooker's solicitation, he agreed to lay the subject before the committee, and it was finally agreed that a hearing should be given on friday morning, january th, at o'clock. _to the honorable senate and house of representatives of the united states in congress assembled:_ the undersigned, citizens of the united states, believing that under the present federal constitution all women who are citizens of the united states have the right to vote, pray your honorable body to enact a law during the present session that shall assist and protect them in the exercise of that right. and they pray further that they may be permitted, in person, and in behalf of the thousands of other women who are petitioning congress to the same effect, to be heard upon this memorial before the senate and house at an early day in the present session. we ask your honorable body to bear in mind that while men are represented on the floor of congress, and so may be said to be heard there, women who are allowed no vote, and therefore no representation, can not truly be heard except as congress shall open its doors to us in person. elizabeth cady stanton. isabella beecher hooker. elizabeth l. bladen. olympia brown. susan b. anthony. josephine s. griffing. hartford, conn., december , . * * * * * senate of the united states, committee on the judiciary,} washington, january , } madam: the committee on the judiciary, to whom was referred the memorial of yourself and others, asking to be heard before the senate in behalf of the constitutional right of women to vote, and modified by your letter of this morning, so as to ask that the committee hold a public meeting in the senate chamber for that purpose, have concluded that it would not be consistent with the usage and rules of the senate to admit memorialists to appear and advocate their claims before the senate, nor for the committee to ask the use of the senate chamber for public discussion before them. the committee would, however, be happy to receive any communication you and the other memorialists may think proper to make, or, if the memorialists prefer to present their views in person, the committee will hear them in its committee-room at o'clock a.m., next friday morning. very respectfully, lyman trumbull, _chairman of the committee on the judiciary._ mrs. isabella beecher hooker. accordingly the hearing being granted, at the appointed hour the whole convention adjourned to the capitol, crowding not only the committee room but the corridors, thousands of eager, expectant women struggling to gain admission. the committee,[ ] seated round a large table, manifested a respectful attention to each speaker in turn, complimenting them warmly at the close. mrs. hooker said: _gentlemen of the judiciary committee_--in accordance with your courteous invitation of the th, i have the honor to present to you an argument upon the question: are women entitled to vote under the united states constitution, as amended? it is not important to inquire what was the status of woman before the adoption of the xiv. amendment. by that amendment they are clearly made citizens. no one denies this. the first section of the amendment is as follows: all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. the whole question is, what is the meaning of the term "citizen" as here used. the term is familiar to law and politics, and the authorities are very numerous and uncontradicted which make citizenship include the right to vote. these authorities consist of lexicographers, english and american, and legal and political writers. it is said, however, that to give the term a meaning by which women become voters under it is contrary to the actual intent of congress and the state legislatures in passing the amendment, as, unquestionably, the legislators who voted for it had personally (with, perhaps, a few exceptions) no thought of enfranchising women. to this it is replied: . that the question is not whether they thought of enfranchising women, but whether they used the term as a term of enfranchisement at all; for if it would have enfranchised black men, it would have equally enfranchised women, and unquestionably the predominant idea in these legislators was a political benefit, not very precisely measured, to black men. . an inquiry as to actual intent in such a case is never admissible. a rule that allowed it would make every law uncertain. an enactment can be construed only by the language in fact used, and where that language is doubtful, by other parts of the same enactment, and by a consideration of the public evil which the law was intended to remedy. the evil to be remedied in this case was the political disadvantage under which black men, made free by the xiii. amendment, still labored. the object was to give them a positive political benefit. the terms used are such that, necessarily and confessedly, whatever benefit accrues to black men under it accrues equally to women. it is said, in the next place, that the term "citizen" has acquired a meaning in american usage, legal and political, that does not carry with it the idea of suffrage; and the report of the majority of the judiciary committee on the woodhull memorial places its adverse construction of this amendment entirely on the ground of an american use of the term in its restricted sense. such a use of the term undoubtedly exists. webster recognizes it, and so do some of our political writers. but this meaning is a secondary and lower one, and has not attained such dignity of use as to encroach at all upon the well-established general meaning, and would not be presumed in a law, much less in a constitution. the american authorities are strongly in favor of the larger meaning. the term is used in the second section of the original constitution, article four, which provides that "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states." in corfield _vs._ coryell, wash. c. c. r., , the court say: "the inquiry is what are the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states? they may be all comprehended under the following general heads: (here follows a statement of numerous rights, civil and political, closing as follows:) "to which may be added the elective franchise as regulated and established by the laws or constitution of the state in which it is to be exercised." and in the dred scott case, howard, , mr. justice daniel says: there is not, it is believed, to be found in the theories of writers on government, or in any actual experiment heretofore tried, an exposition of the term 'citizen' which has not been understood as conferring the actual possession and enjoyment, or the perfect right of acquisition and enjoyment, of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political. and the supreme court of kentucky, little r., , says: no one can, in the correct sense of the term, be a citizen of a state who is not entitled, upon the terms prescribed by the institutions of the state, to all the rights and privileges conferred by those institutions upon the highest class of society. these are american authorities, and would seem to settle the question that the term has not acquired a distinctive american meaning variant from the well-established general meaning. it is said, in the next place, and finally, that the second section of the xiv. amendment shows clearly that the term "citizen" could not have been used in the sense of full citizenship. this objection is the most serious one that the argument encounters. that section, so far as relates to this subject, is as follows: when the right to vote is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the united states, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. the consideration of this section is perfectly legitimate in the inquiry as to the meaning of the first section. it is said, with great force, that here is an implied admission that the states retained the power to exclude black men from the right to vote, and it will be asked why, if that right is absolutely conferred by the first section, and is one of the privileges and immunities of citizens which no state may abridge, the amendment does not boldly forbid any such state legislation, instead of merely imposing certain limitations upon the state that should assume to exercise such right of exclusion. two answers have been made by public writers on the subject which are merely specious. one is, that if the second section be construed as admitting the right of a state to exclude certain classes of men from the franchise, yet it could not operate as an admission of the right to exclude women. the fallacy here is, that if the citizenship conferred by the first section does not secure against all legislation the right of suffrage to men, it does not secure it to women; the question being merely as to the meaning of the term "citizen" as used, and not as to its application to either sex, as such. the other answer that has been made is, that this second section is repealed by the xv. amendment, which forbids the denial of suffrage in the cases where this section seems to allow it; and it is asked, with apparent confidence, whether a law that is repealed can have any further operation whatever. the fallacy here is, that the operation of this second section, so far as it relates to the present question, is wholly in throwing light upon the meaning of the term "citizen," as used in the first section, and this operation is just as perfect after its repeal as before; precisely as a part of a will that has been revoked by a codicil, may yet be read with the rest of the will if it will throw light upon the meaning of the whole. it is believed, however, that a valid answer can be made to the objection which is founded upon the second section, and that the view here presented will be ultimately sustained by the legal opinion of the country. . it is not a necessary inference that the right to exclude from suffrage is admitted by the second section, for this section will bear a construction that is consistent with the enlarged construction which we give to the first section; and it is a well-settled principle that a construction that favors the extension of liberty is itself to be favored, and one which restricts liberty is not to be adopted, except under a necessity. this second section provides for a penalty, in the reduction of its basis of representation, in every case where a state should deny to any class of citizens the right of suffrage. now, this is not necessarily a concession of the right, but may be regarded as a punishment of the attempt to exercise the so-called right. the matter was practically so much within the power of the states (and the states in view were the disorganized southern states), that it would be far easier for congress to enforce the penalty for denying the right of suffrage than for the president to protect that right. it may be regarded as a case, well known to the law, of cumulative remedies. it is precisely as if, in addition to the express prohibition by the constitution of the making of war by any state, there had been a provision that if any state should make war upon a foreign state, such state should pay the entire expense in which the general government should become involved by the war. this clearly would be only a penalty and not a concession of the right, the object being to increase and not to diminish the security of the general government against any attempt of a state to do the act prohibited. . the first section of the xiv. amendment is entirely senseless and idle, except upon the construction which we claim. the term "citizen" means either "voter" or merely "member of the nation," as distinguished from an alien. judge cartter, in his late opinion in the case of spencer _vs._ the board of registration, in the supreme court of the district of columbia, sees this necessity, and that there is no intermediate status, and holds that the term means merely a person clothed with the civil rights of an inhabitant, as distinguished from an alien. let it be borne in mind, then, that those who deny the construction which we claim, must make the word citizen mean merely "not an alien." let it also be borne in mind that by the xiii. amendment, which abolished slavery, every inhabitant of the land became a free inhabitant, so that nothing is now added to the force of the term "inhabitant" by prefixing to it the term "free." it follows, therefore, that the xiv. amendment, under the adverse construction claimed, means only that the persons referred to in it are _inhabitants of the land_. let us see, then, how it will read: "all persons born or naturalized in the united states are inhabitants of the united states and the state wherein they reside." this is sheer nonsense. in the construction of an ordinary law, passed by a legislature in the crowded moments of its last hour, every court would say that it must, if possible, give the law a construction that will make it have a sensible meaning and effect, and that of two constructions, one of which gives it sense and purpose and the other none, the former is without a question to be preferred. how much more should such a rule be applied to an amendment of a national constitution, deliberately adopted first by congress and then by three-quarters of the legislatures of the states? . it is a universal rule in the construction of statutes that the construction of an enabling or enlarging statute must be liberal and in the direction of enlargement. this rule is applicable with much greater force to the construction of this amendment, because, in the first place, it is dealing with the most fundamental of all political rights--that of _free citizenship in a democracy_--and is besides an amendment of a constitution, which _is itself the charter of freedom_, and the amendment is made for the very purpose of giving _larger freedom_ than that free constitution originally gave. this rule alone is enough to settle the question of the construction of this amendment, especially as the question is between a construction that shall make it an enlargement of liberty and a construction that shall make it confer nothing that was not before possessed. the whole question thus far has been considered with reference to the xiv. amendment alone. the xv. amendment, though, as we think, conferring no new rights, yet should be briefly noticed. that amendment is as follows: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." here it will be seen that the language, in its natural meaning, implies a pre-existing _right to vote_. it is not pertinent to the creation of a new right, but only to the protection of a right already existing. it is like the case occurring in some of the state constitutions, where it is provided that the right of trial by jury shall not be denied or impaired, in which case it has been held not to confer a new right, but merely to protect, in its then existing form, a right that was enjoyed when the constitution was adopted. this construction of the xv. amendment, however, though the natural and obvious one, is not a necessary one, since, if there had been no xiv. amendment, the xv. would undoubtedly be held to create a new right of suffrage. the argument, from the language used, though not without very positive weight, can not be regarded as decisive of the question, and the claim that women are entitled to vote must rest essentially upon the construction of the xiv. amendment. there is, however, an adverse claim that is made under the xv. amendment, which ought to be briefly considered. that claim is that even if the xiv. amendment gives the right to vote, yet the xv., in prohibiting the denial of the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, impliedly confers the right to prohibit it on all other grounds. now, if it has this effect, it does so merely by impliedly repealing that clause of the xiv. amendment which provides that the rights of citizens shall not be abridged. but it is a well-established rule of law that a repeal by implication is never favored, and will not be sustained unless the implication is a clear and necessary one. much more would not such a repeal be sustained where the clause claimed to be repealed was a part of a constitution, and was intended as a security for human rights and liberty. the rule that would favor a construction toward liberty of the xiv. amendment, would equally forbid a construction toward curtailment of liberty of the xv. but it will be said that the xv. amendment becomes without purpose and effect, and really as senseless as we claim the xiv. amendment to be under the construction which we oppose, if it is to be regarded as operating only in the way claimed, and not as conferring rights not previously existing. this is a point of some force, and which can be replied to only by the fact that there was an impression upon the minds of the legislators and of the people, that the xiv. amendment did not confer the right of suffrage. that impression weighs nothing in now determining the meaning of the xiv. amendment; but it furnishes the explanation that seems to be needed of the passage of the xv. amendment. it was in our view wholly unnecessary, but was generally thought to be necessary. the difference in the two cases is that the xv. amendment was passed under a supposed necessity, and with, therefore, a complete object; while the xiv. amendment, under the construction which our opponents give to it, not only conferred nothing, but was believed at the time to confer nothing, and had therefore no purpose whatever. our view that the xv. amendment was unnecessary was held by some leading statesmen at the time. mr. sumner in the senate declared it to be so before its passage, and proposed instead of it a mere law of congress recognizing the right of suffrage and regulating its exercise. it is at any rate very clear that the construction of the xv. amendment, which makes it impliedly allow the denial of suffrage on all other grounds than the three stated, can not be sustained. such rights as those with which it deals will never be allowed in a free constitution like ours to be curtailed or restricted by mere implication. if that construction is adopted--and a state may deny the right to vote on all other grounds but race and color and previous servitude--then, of course, a state may deny the right to all naturalized foreigners, although they have already acquired and enjoyed the right, and may also deny the right to vote to persons of a particular height or color of hair or profession. indeed, to reduce the case to an absurdity, suppose the women are allowed to vote in massachusetts, and, being a great majority over the men, turn around and exclude the men. this would be precisely the ground on which women are now excluded--that of sex; and yet can any one doubt that the constitutional right to vote of men would be sustained? it is worth noticing that the act of congress of may , , to carry into effect the provisions of the xiv. and xv. amendments, is entitled, "an act to enforce the right of citizens of the united states to vote in the several states of this union." our conclusion, stated in a few words, is this: all women are citizens. every citizen, in the language of judge daniel in the dred scott case, has "the actual possession and enjoyment or the perfect right of acquisition and enjoyment of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political." the right to prescribe qualifications rests with the states, in the absence of any law of congress prescribing them. these qualifications involve time of residence, age, and other matters that are entirely within the reach of the citizen by acquisition or lapse of time. mr. sumner has demonstrated in a manner that can not be answered that the qualifications thus left for the states to prescribe must be those under which the citizen can become a voter, and can not be such as would permanently exclude him from the right of suffrage. it has been said that it is not fair for women to take advantage of a right to vote, no matter how clearly given them, which there was no actual intention to give. this objection does not touch the argument we have been making, but it may be well to say a word upon it. the law has so far dealt so unfairly with women that it would seem as if they should not be severely criticised for taking advantage of the law, when, though by mere accident, it happens to favor them. but it is especially to be considered that their claim is in accordance with the whole spirit of the constitution and in harmony with all the fundamental principles of our government, while the denial of suffrage to them is in opposition to those principles. if anything is settled in this country as an abstract general principle, it is the right of tax-payers to have a voice in the legislation that is to determine their taxes and in the appointment of the officers who are to levy and expend them, and that the members of the nation should elect its rulers. our error (and the day is not far distant when we shall all see its absurdity) is in making these fundamental rights the rights of men alone and in denying them to women. the latter have equal intelligence, patriotism, and virtue, and their fidelity to their country has been as well proved as that of men, and it is difficult to see any good reason why they should have no voice in deciding who shall be the rulers of the nation, what its laws, what its taxes and how appropriated, what the policy that is to affect, for good or evil, the business interests that they are becoming more and more largely engaged in. with all this equity in their favor, may they not be allowed, without censure, to avail themselves of a legal right? if the freedom of the slave could have been declared by our judicial tribunals under some guarantee of freedom in the national constitution, originally intended only for white men, all lovers of freedom would have rejoiced. when alvan stewart, thirty years ago, attempted to get such a decision from the supreme court of new jersey, there was not a cavil heard among the opponents of slavery. so when, in the face of the whole legal opinion of england, granville sharpe got a decision in favor of the slave somerset, forever overthrowing slavery in england, by an application of latent principles of the english constitution, the whole world applauded, and does to this day. it was thus, as we understand it, that slavery was overthrown in massachusetts, a lawyer claiming before its courts the application to a slave of a clause in its bill of rights supposed to have been intended only for white men. we would add that it would not accord at all with the good sense and directness of method that specially characterize the american people, for the friends of woman suffrage to labor years for the passage of a further constitutional amendment when they already have all that such an amendment could give. having attempted a strictly legal view of this question, permit me, gentlemen, to say that in my heart my claim to vote is based upon the original constitution, interpreted by the declaration of independence. i believe that constitution comprehensive enough to include all men and all women. i believe that black men needed no other charter than white men. i recognize the stress laid upon congress, by reason of the infancy of that race, their past bondage, and the duty of protection toward them. but the great principles of liberty and responsibility contained in the declaration and the constitution should have afforded protection to every human being living under the flag, and properly applied they would have been found sufficient. for my own part, i will never willingly consent to vote under any special enactment conferring rights of citizenship upon me as upon an alien. like paul, i was free-born. "with a great sum obtained i this freedom," said the roman centurion to this old patriot apostle, but he replied, "i am free-born." there is music in those words to my ear. they are the deep vibrations of a soul that loves its country as itself. you sit here, gentlemen, in judgment on my rights as an american citizen, as though they were something different from your own! by whatsoever title you sit in these seats and make laws, wise or unwise, just or unjust, for this great people, by that same title do i claim my share in this great responsibility, owing allegiance to god and my own conscience alone. i may have been born with less capacity than the least among you, with small chance of growing to your mental stature, or reaching your standard of moral elevation; but i have a perfect right to sit in your midst, pigmy that i may be, since i am one of "the people" who did ordain this glorious old constitution, and one of "the governed," whose consent is made the basis of a government that can be called just. it is for this reason that i and my fellow memorialists have asked to be protected in the use of our present rights, rather than endowed with any new ones; and we do pray you, gentlemen of the committee, to give immediate attention to our claim, and to report to the senate within a short time, favorably if you can, adversely if you must, because we not only wish, in common with thousands of other women-citizens, to vote for the next president, but to have a potent voice in his nomination, and we wish to know, therefore, how far congress will aid us, and how far we must work out our own salvation. for we can wait no longer. we feel that we have neglected our duty already, else what means this appalling official corruption that is bringing dismay to the stoutest hearts among men, and leading them to doubt the wisdom of republican institutions, the strength of the great doctrines of liberty and responsibility on which our government is founded? we do not doubt these great doctrines, we know what they mean and whereto they tend. our ship of state carries two engines, gentlemen, and was built for them, but heretofore you have used only one, and now you have reached the place where not only two seas meet, but all ocean currents are struggling together for the mastery. the man power alone will not save you, but put on the woman power, and our gallant ship will steady itself for a moment, and then ride the waves triumphantly forevermore. gentlemen, we come to you with petitions no longer. here is our declaration and pledge, issued a year ago this day, signed already by thousands of women, and eager names are coming every day. (mrs. h. read the pledge and exhibited the great autograph book.) we did hope to present this to congress itself in the senate chamber to-day. we believe that women, being unrepresented in that body, are entitled to appear there by their memorialists in person, and we have so asked. but congress has referred us to you, and you have declined even to submit our proposition officially to that body. you find no precedent for this, you say--forgetting, gentlemen, that history makes its own precedents. the men of america made theirs in ; the women of america are making theirs to-day, and may god prosper the right. mrs. stanton said: _gentlemen of the judiciary committee_: we appear before you at this time to call your attention to our memorial asking for a "declaratory act" that shall protect women in the exercise of the right of suffrage. benjamin f. butler, early in the session, presented a bill in the house to this effect that may soon, in the order of legislation, come before you for consideration in the senate of the united states. as you well know, women are demanding their rights as citizens to-day under the original constitution, believing that its letter and spirit, fairly interpreted, guarantee the blessings of liberty to every citizen under our flag. but more especially do we claim that our title deed to the elective franchise is clearly given in the xiv. and xv. amendments. therein for the first time, the constitution defines the term citizen, and, in harmony with our best lexicographers, declares a citizen to be a person possessed of the right to vote. in the last year the question of woman's political status has been raised from one of vague generalities to one of constitutional law. the woodhull memorial, and the able arguments sustaining it made by mr. riddle and mrs. woodhull herself, and the exhaustive minority report of messrs. butler and loughridge, have been before the nation for one year, and yet remain unanswered; in fact, the opinions of many of our most learned judges and lawyers multiplying on all sides, sustain the positions taken in the "woodhull memorial." as our demands are based on the same principles of constitutional interpretation, i will not detain you with the re-statement of arguments already furnished, but will present a few facts and general principals showing the need of some speedy action on this whole question. gentlemen hold seats in congress to-day by the votes of women. the legality of the election of mr. garfield, of washington territory, and mr. jones, of wyoming, involves the question whether or not their constituents are legal voters. ultimately, this question, involving the fundamental rights of citizens, must be considered in the senate as well as the house. women have voted in the general elections in several of the states, and if legislators chosen by women choose senators, their right to their seats can not be decided until it is first decided whether women are legal voters. some speedy action on this question is inevitable, to preserve law and order. in some states women have already voted; in others they are contesting their rights in the courts, and the decisions of judges differ as widely as the capacities of men to see first principles. judge howe, judge cartter, and judge underwood have given their written opinions in favor of woman's citizenship under the xiv. and xv. amendments. even the majority report of the judiciary committee, presented by john a. bingham, though adverse to the prayer of victoria woodhull, admits the citizenship of woman. in the late cases of sarah spencer against the board of registration, and sarah e. webster against the superintendent of election, the judge decided that under the xiv. amendment women are citizens. we do not ask to vote outside of law, or in open violation of it, nor to avail ourselves of any strained interpretations of constitutional provisions, but in harmony with the federal constitution, the declaration of independence, and our american theory of just government. the women of this country and a handful of foreign citizens in rhode island, the only disfranchised classes, ask you to-day to secure to them a republican form of government to protect them against the oppression of state authorities, who, in violation of your amendments, assume the right not merely to regulate the suffrage, but to abridge and deny it to these two classes of citizens. the federal constitution, in its amendment, clearly defines, for the first time, who are citizens: "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states, and of the states wherein they reside." no one denies that "all persons," in the xiv. amendment, is used without limitation of sex, or in other words, that not men only, but women also are citizens. whether in theory the citizenship of women is generally admitted or not, it certainly is in practice. women pre-empt land; women register ships; women obtain passports; women pay the penalty of their own crimes; women pay taxes, sometimes work out the road tax. in some states, even married women can make contracts, sue and be sued, and do business in their own names; in fact, the old blackstone idea that husband and wife are one, and that one the husband, received its death blow twenty years ago, when the states of new york and massachusetts passed their first laws securing to married women the property they inherited in their own right. you may consider me presumptuous, gentlemen, but i claim to be a citizen of the united states, with all the qualifications of a voter. i can read the constitution, i am possessed of two hundred and fifty dollars, and the last time i looked in the old family bible i found i was over twenty-one years of age. "individual rights," "individual conscience and judgment," are great american ideas, underlying our whole political and religious life. we are here to-day to ask a congress of republicans for that crowning act that shall secure to , , women the right to protect their persons, property, and opinions by law. the xiv. amendment, having told us who are citizens of the republic, further declares that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the 'privileges or immunities' of 'citizens' of the united states." some say that "privileges and immunities" do not include the right of suffrage. we answer that any person under government who has no voice in the laws or the rulers has his privileges and immunities abridged at every turn, and when a state denies the right of suffrage, it robs the citizen of his citizenship and of all power to protect his person or property by law. disfranchised classes are ever helpless and degraded classes. one can readily judge of the political status of a citizen by the tone of the press. go back a few years, and you find the irishman the target for all the gibes and jeers of the nation. you could scarce take up a paper without finding some joke about "pat" and his last bull. but in process of time "pat" became a political power in the land, and editors and politicians could not afford to make fun of him. then "sambo" took his turn. they ridiculed his thick skull, woolly head, shin-bone, long heel, etc., but he, too, has become a political power; he sits in the congress of the united states and in the legislature of massachusetts, and now politicians and editors can not afford to make fun of him. now, who is their target? woman. they ridicule all alike--the strong-minded for their principles, the weak minded for their panniers. how long think you the new york _tribune_ would maintain its present scurrilous tone if the votes of women could make horace greeley governor of new york? the editor of the _tribune_ knows the value of votes, and if, honorable gentlemen, you will give us a "declaratory law," forbidding the states to deny or abridge our rights, there will be no need of arguments to change the tone of his journal; its columns will speedily glow with demands for the protection of woman as well as broadcloth and pig-iron. then we might find out what he knows and cares for our real and relative value in the government. without some act of congress regulating suffrage for women as well as black men, women citizens of the united states who, in washington, utah, and wyoming territories, are voters and jurors, and who, in the state of kansas, vote on school and license questions, would be denied the exercise of their right to vote in all the states of the union, and no naturalization papers, education, property, residence, or age could help them. what an anomaly is this in a republic! a woman who in wyoming enjoys all the rights, privileges, and immunities of a sovereign, by crossing the line into nebraska, sinks at once to the political degradation of a slave. humiliated with such injustice, one set of statesmen answer her appeals by sending her for redress to the courts; another advises her to submit her qualifications to the states; but we, with a clearer intuition of the rightful power, come to you who thoughtfully, conscientiously, and understandingly passed that amendment defining the word "citizen," declaring suffrage a foundation right. how are women "citizens" from utah, wyoming, kansas, moving in other states, to be protected in the rights they have heretofore enjoyed, unless congress shall pass the bill presented by mr. butler, and thus give us a homogeneous law on suffrage from maine to louisiana? remember, these are citizens of the united states as well as of the territories and states wherein they may reside, and their rights as such are of primal consideration. one of your own amendments to the federal constitution, honorable gentlemen, says "that the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." we have women of different races and colors, as well as men. it takes more than men to compose peoples and races, and no one denies that all women suffer the disabilities of a present or previous condition of servitude. clearly the state may regulate, but can not deny the exercise of this right to any citizen. you did not leave the negroes to the tender mercies of the courts and states. why send your mothers, wives, and daughters suppliants at the feet of the unwashed, unlettered, unthinking masses that carry our elections in the states? would you compel the women of new york to sue the tweeds, the sweeneys, the connollys, for their inalienable rights, or to have the scales of justice balanced for them in the unsteady hand of a cardozo, a barnard, or a mccunn? nay, nay; the proper tribunal to decide nice questions of human rights and constitutional interpretations, the political status of every citizen under our national flag, is the congress of the united states. this is your right and duty, clearly set forth in article , section , of the constitution, for how can you decide the competency and qualifications of electors for members of either house without settling the fundamental question on what the right of suffrage is based? all power centers in the people. our federal constitution, as well as that of every state, opens with the words, "we, the people." however this phrase may have been understood and acted on in the past, women to-day are awake to the fact that they constitute one half the american people; that they have the right to demand that the constitution shall secure to them "justice," "domestic tranquillity," and the "blessings of liberty." so long as women are not represented in the government they are in a condition of tutelage, perpetual minority, slavery. you smile at the idea of women being slaves in this country. benjamin franklin said long ago, "that they who have no voice in making the laws, or in the election of those who administer them, do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes and to their representatives." i might occupy hours in quoting grand liberal sentiments from the fathers--madison, jefferson, otis, and adams--in favor of individual representation. i might quote equally noble words from the statesmen of our day--seward, sumner, wade, trumbull, schurz, thurman, groesbeck, and julian--to prove "that no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed"; that "the ballot is the columbiad of our political life, and every man who holds it is a full-armed monitor." but what do lofty utterances and logical arguments avail so long as men, blinded by old prejudices and customs, fail to see their application to the women by their side? alas! gentlemen, women are your subjects. your own selfish interests are too closely interwoven for you to feel their degradation, and they are too dependent to reveal themselves to you in their nobler aspirations, their native dignity. did southern slaveholders ever understand the humiliations of slavery to a proud man like frederick douglass? did the coarse, low-bred master ever doubt his capacity to govern the negro better than he could govern himself? do cow-boys, hostlers, pot-house politicians ever doubt their capacity to prescribe woman's sphere better than she could herself? we have yet to learn that, with the wonderful progress in art, science, education, morals, religion, and government we have witnessed in the last century, woman has not been standing still, but has been gradually advancing to an equal place with the man by her side, and stands to-day his peer in the world of thought. american womanhood has never worn iron shoes, burned on the funeral pile, or skulked behind a mask in a harem, yet, though cradled in liberty, with the same keen sense of justice and equality that man has, she is still bound by law in the swaddling bands of an old barbarism. though the world has been steadily advancing in political science, and step by step recognizing the rights of new classes, yet we stand to-day talking of precedents, authorities, laws, and constitutions, as if each generation were not better able to judge of its wants than the one that preceded it. if we are to be governed in all things by the men of the eighteenth century, and the twentieth by the nineteenth, and so on, the world will be always governed by dead men. the exercise of political power by woman is by no means a new idea. it has already been exercised in many countries, and under governments far less liberal in theory than our own. as to this being an innovation on the laws of nature, we may safely trust nature at all times to vindicate herself. in england, where the right to vote is based on property and not person, the _feme sole_ freeholder has exercised her right all along. in her earliest history we find records of decisions in courts of her right to do so, and discussions on that point by able lawyers and judges. the _feme sole_ voted in person; when married, her husband represented her property, and voted in her stead; and the moment the breath went out of his body, she assumed again the burden of disposing of her own income and the onerous duty of representing herself in the government. thus england is always consistent; property being the basis of suffrage, is always represented. here suffrage is based on "persons," and yet one-half our people are wholly unrepresented. we have declared in favor of a government of the people, for the people, by the people, the whole people. why not begin the experiment? if suffrage is a natural right, we claim it in common with all citizens; if it is a political right, that the few in power may give or take away, then it is clearly the duty of the ruling powers to extend it in all cases as the best interests of the state require. no thinking man would admit that educated, refined womanhood would not constitute a most desirable element and better represent the whole humanitarian idea than a government of men alone. the objections to mr. butler's bill, extending the provisions of the enforcement act to women, all summed up, are these: st. this is too short a cut to liberty. it is taking the nation by storm. the people are not ready for it. the slower process of a xvi. amendment would be safer, surer, and do more toward educating the people for the final result. to all of which i answer, the women at least are ready and as well prepared for enfranchisement as were the slaves of the southern plantation. there could have been no plan devised to educate the people so rapidly as the startling announcement in the woodhull memorial that women already had the right to vote. it has roused wise men to thought on the question, stirred the bar and bench of the nation, with the prospect of a new and fruitful source of litigation; it has inspired woman with fresh hope that the day of her enfranchisement is at hand, given the press of the country solid arguments for their consideration, and changed the tone of the speeches in our conventions from whinings about brutal husbands, stolen babies, and special laws, to fundamental principles of human rights. this question has been up for discussion in this country over thirty years; it split the first anti-slavery society in two, was a firebrand in the world's convention, and has been a disturbing element in temperance, educational and constitutional conventions ever since, and it is high time it took a short cut to its final consummation. there have been many shorter cuts to liberty than this is likely to be, even with a declaratory act at this session. why multiply amendments when we have liberty and justice enough in the spirit and letter of the constitution as it now is to protect every citizen under this government? the simple opinion of a chief justice, a century ago, without any change in legislation, settled in one hour as great a question of human rights as we now submit to your consideration. lord mansfield, presiding in the court of queen's bench, listening to the arguments in the fatuous somerset case, with higher light and knowledge, suddenly awoke to the truth that by the laws of england, a slave could not breathe on that soil, and he so decided, and the negro was discharged. slavery was abolished in massachusetts in the same way, without any amendment of her constitution or new legislation, simply by the decision of her chief justice. so you perceive, honorable gentlemen, we have two precedents for the "short cut" we propose to liberty. d. some object that it was not the "intention" of the framers of the original constitution, nor of the amendments, to enfranchise woman. when ordinary men, in their ordinary condition, talk of the "intentions" of great men specially inspired to utter great political truths, they talk of what they can not know or understand. when by some moral revolution men are cut loose from all their old moorings and get beyond the public sentiment that once bound them, with no immediate selfish interest to subserve--as, for instance, our fathers in leaving england, or the french communes in the late war--in hardship and suffering they dig down to the hard-pan of universal principles, and in their highest inspirational moments proclaim justice, liberty, equality for all. visiting chicago not long since, i saw great pieces of rock of the most wonderful mineral combination--gold, silver, glass, iron, layer after layer, all welded beautifully together, and that done in the conflagration of a single night which would have taken ages of growth to accomplish in the ordinary rocky formations. just so revolutions in the moral world suddenly mould ideas, clear, strong, grand, that centuries might have slumbered over in silence; ideas that strike minds ready for them with the quickness and vividness of the lightning's flash. it is in such ways and under such conditions that constitutions and great principles of jurisprudence are written; the letter and spirit are ever on the side of liberty; and highly organized minds, governed by principle, invariably give true interpretations; while others, whose law is expediency, coarse and material in all their conceptions, will interpret law, bible, constitution, everything, in harmony with the public sentiment of their class and condition. and here is the reason why men differ in their interpretations of law. they differ in their organizations; they see everything from a different standpoint. could ideas of justice, and liberty, and equality be more grandly and beautifully expressed than in the preamble to our federal constitution? it is an insult to those revolutionary heroes to say that, after seven years' struggle with the despotic ideas of the old world, in the first hour of victory, with their souls all on fire with new-found freedom, they sat down like so many pettifogging lawyers, and drew up a little instrument for the express purpose of robbing women and negroes of their inalienable rights. does the preamble look like it? women did vote in america, at the time the constitution was adopted. if the framers of the constitution meant they should not, why did they not distinctly say so? the women of the country, having at last roused up to their rights and duties as citizens, have a word to say as to the "intentions" of the fathers. it is not safe to leave the "intentions" of the pilgrim fathers, or the heavenly father, wholly to masculine interpretation, for by bible and constitution alike, women have thus far been declared the subjects, the slaves of men. but able jurists tell us that the "intention" of the framers of a document must be judged by the letter of the law. following this rule the supreme court of the district of columbia has decided that the xiv. amendment does affect the status of women; that it advances them to full citizenship, and clothes them with the capacity to become voters. the exact language of judge cartter, who spoke for the court, is as follows: all that has been accomplished by this amendment to the constitution, or its previous provisions, is to distinguish them (women) from aliens, and make them capable of becoming voters. in giving expression to my judgment, this clause does advance them to full citizenship, and clothes them with the capacity to become voters. if so much has been done, we have already gone beyond the "intention" of the framers of the amendments, if, as some say, they did not intend to touch the status of woman at all. but with or without intent, a law stands as it is written--"_lex ita scripta est_." the true rule of interpretation, says charles sumner, under the national constitution, especially since its additional amendments, is that anything for human rights is constitutional. "no learning in the books, no skill in the courts, no sharpness of forensic dialectics, no cunning in splitting hairs, can impair the vigor of the constitutional principle which i announce. whatever you enact for human rights is constitutional, and this is the supreme law of the land, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding." susan b. anthony said--_gentlemen of the judiciary committee_: it is not argument nor constitution that you need; you have already had those. i shall therefore refer to existing facts. prior to the war the plan of extending suffrage was by state action, and it was our boast that the national constitution did not contain a word that could be construed into a barrier against woman's right to vote. but at the close of the war congress lifted the question of suffrage for men above state power, and by the amendments prohibited the deprivation of suffrage to any citizen by any state. when the xiv. amendment was first proposed in congress, we rushed to you with petitions, praying you not to insert the word "male" in the second clause. our best woman-suffrage men, on the floor of congress, said to us the insertion of the word there puts up no new barrier against woman; therefore do not embarrass us, but wait until the negro question is settled. so the xiv. amendment, with the word "male," was adopted. then, when the xv. amendment was presented without the word "sex," we again petitioned and protested, and again our friends declared to us that the absence of that word was no hindrance to us, and again they begged us to wait until they had finished the work of the war. "after we have freed the negro, and given him a vote, we will take up your case." but have they done as they promised? when we come before you, asking protection under the new guarantees of the constitution, the same men say to us our only plan is to wait the action of congress and state legislatures in the adoption of a xvi. amendment that shall make null and void the insertion of the word "male" in the xiv., and supply the want of the word "sex" in the xv. such tantalization endured by yourselves, or by any class of men, would have wrought rebellion, and in the end a bloody revolution. it is only the friendly relations that exist between the sexes that has prevented any such result from this injustice to women. gentlemen, i should be sure of your decision could you but realize the fact that we, who have been battling for our rights, now more than twenty years, have felt, and now feel, precisely as you would under such circumstances. men never do realize this. one of the most ardent lovers of freedom (senator sumner), said to me, two winters ago, after our hearing before the committee of the district, "miss anthony, i never realized before that you, or any woman, could feel the disgrace, the degradation, of disfranchisement precisely as i should if my fellow-citizens had conspired to take from me my right to vote." we have petitioned for our rights year after year. although i am a quaker and take no oath, yet i have made a most solemn "affirmation" that i would never again beg my rights, but that i would come up to congress each year, and demand the recognition of them under the guarantees of the national constitution. what we ask of the republican party, is simply to take down its own bars. the facts in wyoming show how a republican party can exist in that territory. before women voted, there was never a republican elected to office; after their enfranchisement, the first election sent a republican to congress, and seven republicans to their territorial legislature. thus the nucleus of a republican party there was formed by the enfranchisement of women. the democrats seeing this, are now determined to again disfranchise the women. can you republicans so utterly stultify yourselves, can you so entirely work against yourselves, as to refuse us a declaratory law? can you longer deny us the protection we ask? we pray you to report immediately, as mrs. hooker has said, "favorably, if you can, adversely, if you must." we can wait no longer. in the house, on january , , the following discussion took place: mr. butler, of massachusetts.--i ask unanimous consent, out of the usual course of the rules, to present a petition. the speaker.--is there objection? the chair hears none. mr. butler, of massachusetts.--i am honored with the duty of presenting a petition for a declaratory law to assure the right of suffrage to the women citizens of the united states. they believe their absolute constitutional right is to vote. they here and now desire to bring to the attention of congress the necessity of passing a new law declaring and executing that right. they claim such a law in two views: first, as of right, and secondly, as of expediency to the nation. they insist that this their right ought to be secured to them by law, and they insist also that it is expedient for the republic that this right should be accorded to them. the mothers of the land, who shall form the characters of all its citizens through their teaching in childhood, giving direction to the thoughts which shall hereafter govern the land, may well claim that it is expedient that they shall have a voice in making the laws which govern them, which will give them greater freedom of action than they now have, which will afford them higher opportunities for noble culture than they now have, and raise their thoughts to a plane worthy of the generation that shall come after us, which must in all its social and moral qualities take its impress from their teachings, so that the men of the land shall then be as the women of the land now are; and as you elevate and ennoble woman, in so much, in a greater ratio, will our sons be better fitted for the great duties and responsibilities of the future. no stream shall rise higher than its fountain. sir, i recognize the fact that i have no right at this time to trespass on the business and indulgence of the house to argue the momentous question involved in this memorial, but i present this petition of , women of america, from almost every state in the union. from every class and condition of life, from the highest and most refined, and from the humblest and most lowly, all are represented here, all asking that their claim to what they conceive to be their greatest right, and which we claim to be the inalienable right of every male citizen shall be granted to them. the unanimity with which they come here; the fact that without organization, almost as a matter of spontaneity, , names should have been gathered and sent to this capitol to a committee, whose voluntary duty it was made to receive them; the fact that other names are now coming in at the rate of some a day; that from california , more are on the way, all speak to the representatives of the people in accents that can not be misunderstood, that here is a great and necessary reform which calls for the fullest consideration and the promptest action of the congress of the united states. they are not to be told that this is an innovation, that this is a new thing. division of property between the husband and the wife was a greater innovation upon the feudal law, which is the foundation of our law as regards women, and a very much greater innovation than this will be. that in the parent state from which we come women have had the right to act in public affairs; from the fact that in that parent state a woman is at the head of public affairs, seems to point to us that women may safely be trusted with the right to vote. i have desired to say this much, in presenting this petition, in order that it may be brought to the notice of the house and the country; that it may take the same place in the consideration of the people that in a not very far day in the past anti-slavery petitions took, which founded the great party which now has control of the government of this country. there was a great reform, beginning in the little, urged on by petitions, not so numerous in its early days, and hardly so numerous in its later days, as this, scarcely arriving to the dignity of numbers of applicants which characterizes the petition which i now present; and although, when a great moneyed interest was at stake, it took years to bring that freedom which those petitions asked for, yet let me assure the house of representatives that in my judgment, much sooner, and as certainly as the sun rolls around in its course a few more times, just so sure will the right asked for in this petition be accorded to the women citizens of the united states. i ask that this petition, which i propose simply to show to the house in its large volume (unrolling the petition), may be referred to the committee on the judiciary, to whom this subject has already been referred. mr. eldridge.--i ask that the petition be read. the speaker.--with the names? mr. eldridge.--certainly. the speaker.--that would require unanimous consent. mr. butler, of massachusetts.--i pray that may not be done, because i promised the committee on appropriations not to take much time. i ask that the petition simply be read. the clerk read as follows: _to the senate and house of representatives of the united states in congress assembled:_ the undersigned, citizens of the united states, pray your honorable bodies that in any proposed amendment to the constitution which may come before you in regard to suffrage in the district of columbia or any territory, the right of voting may be given to women on the same terms as to men. the petition was then referred to the committee on the judiciary. in the house, january , .--mr. parker, of missouri, introduced a bill (h. r. no. ) to allow women to vote and hold office in the territories of the united states; which was read a first and second time, referred to the committee on the judiciary, and ordered to be printed. in united states senate on january , .--the vice-president said:--the chair has been requested to present the protest of ladies of the county of munroe, indiana, signed by mrs. morton c. hunter, mrs. a. y. moore, and several hundred other ladies, remonstrating against an extension of the right of suffrage to women, "because the holy scripture inculcates a different and for us a higher sphere, apart from public life; because as women we find a full measure of duties, cares, and responsibilities devolving upon us, and we are therefore unwilling to bear other and heavier burdens, and those unsuited to our physical organization; because we hold that an extension of suffrage would be adverse to the interests of the working women of the country, with whom we heartily sympathize: because these changes must introduce a fruitful element of discord in the existing marriage relation, which would tend to the infinite detriment of children, and increase the already alarming prevalence of divorce through the land; because no general law affecting the condition of all women should be framed to meet exceptional discontent." this memorial will be referred to the committee on the judiciary. the national woman suffrage association held its may anniversary of in new york, at steinway hall. as can be seen by the call,[ ] the intention was to form a political party, but the delegates, after some discussion, decided that nominees without electors were incongruous. as usual a large number of states were represented by delegates, california sending laura de force gordon, and oregon, abigail scott duniway. this convention was chiefly remarkable as being the first at which the presidency changed hands--miss anthony, instead of mrs. stanton, being elected to fill the position of chief officer. a delegation, consisting of mrs. hooker, mrs. de force gordon, and miss anthony, was sent by the national woman suffrage association to the presidential conventions held by the liberal republicans at cincinnati, the democrats at baltimore, and the republicans at philadelphia. the fruit of all the earnest labor of this delegation was a splinter in the republican platform. this, however, was something to be grateful for, as it was the first mention of woman in the platform of either of the great political parties during our national existence. on the strength of this plank the following address was issued: grant and wilson--appeal to the women of america from the national woman suffrage association. women of the united states, the hour for political action has come. for the first time in the history of our country woman has been recognized in the platform of a large and dominant party. philadelphia has spoken and woman is no longer ignored. she is now officially recognized as a part of the body politic. the fourteenth plank of its platform declares: the republican party mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of america expresses gratification that wider avenues of employment have been open to women, and it farther declares that her demands for additional rights should be treated with respectful consideration. we are told that this plank does not say much, that in fact it is only a "splinter;" and our "liberal" friends warn us not to rely upon it as a promise of the ballot to woman. what it is, we know full better than others. we recognize its meagerness; we see in it the timidity of politicians; but beyond and through it all, we farther see its promise of the future. we see in it the thin edge of the entering wedge which shall break woman's slavery in pieces and make us at last a nation truly free--a nation in which the caste of sex shall fall down by the caste of color, and humanity alone shall be the criterion of all human rights. the republican party has been the party of ideas, of progress. under its leadership, the nation came safely through the fiery ordeal of the rebellion; under it slavery was destroyed; under it manhood suffrage was established. the women of the country have long looked to it in hope, and not in vain; for to-day we are launched by it into the political arena, and the republican party must hereafter fight our battles for us. this great party, this progressive party, having taken the initiative step, will never go back on its record. it needed this new and vital issue to keep it in life, for cincinnati indorsed its work up to this hour; the constitutional amendments, the payment of the bonds in gold, the civil service reform, the restoration of the states. it thanked the soldiers and sailors of the republic, it proposed lands to actual settlers. the republican party went up higher; it remembered all citizens. the widows and orphans of the soldiers and sailors were not forgotten; it acknowledged its obligation to the loyal women of the republic, and to the demands for additional rights, of all women, whatever their class, color, or birth, it promised "respectful consideration." its second plank declared that "complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, political, and public rights should be established and maintained throughout the union by efficient and appropriate state and federal legislation." these two planks are the complement of each other, and are the promise of exact and equal justice to woman. they were the work of radical woman suffrage republicans--of wilson, sargent, loring, claflin, hoar, fairchild, and others. they were accepted by the candidates. general grant, in his letter, expresses his desire to see "the time when the title of 'citizen' shall carry with it all the protection and privilege to the humblest, that it does to the most exalted." his course since his elevation to the presidency has always been favorable to increased rights for women. he has officially recognized their competency, and has given them many government positions. senator wilson is an old and staunch advocate of woman suffrage, and his letter in pointed terms refers to the recognition given woman by his party, and says, "to her new demands it extends the hand of grateful recognition, and it commends her demands for additional rights to the calm and careful consideration of the nation." and, too, thus early in the campaign, the strongest men of the party, among whom are forney, of the philadelphia _press_, gerrit smith, bowen, of the new york _independent_, and president white, of cornell university, speak of this recognition as introducing a new era into politics. while the old and tried republican party in its platform and candidates thus gives woman assurance that her claim to equal political rights is to be respected, the other party in the field gives her no promise either in its platform or the letters of its nominees. the liberal republican party is a new party; it has no record; it has done no work; it is wholly untried; it ignores women; and by its silence in regard to the equal rights of one-half of the people--the most important question now in the political horizon--it proves itself unworthy of its name, unworthy of woman's confidence, and unworthy of the votes of truly liberal men. in regard to its candidates, gratz brown, once our friend, has practically denied his record. horace greeley, its chief nominee, has for years been our most bitter opponent. both by tongue and pen he has heaped abuse, ridicule, and misrepresentation upon our leading women, while the whole power of the _tribune_ has been used to crush out our great reform. and now that he is a candidate for election to the highest office in the country, he still continues his bitter and hostile course toward one half of its citizens. he presses the iron-heel of his despotism upon their liberties; and, in answer to our appeals, he says he "neither desires our help nor believes us capable of giving any." what can liberty expect from such a man? what can woman hope from such a party? women of the republic, you can not in self-respect give your aid to such nominees; you can not in self-respect work for such a party. it has repulsed you, pushed you back, said to you "go hence." the republican party, with grant and wilson as its standard-bearers, opens its doors to you. by its fourteenth plank it invites your aid and co-operation. shall it not have it? women of the south, will you not work for your own freedom? women of the north, will you not strive for your own enfranchisement? there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune. but we must take the current when it serves our turn, or lose our ventures. for us to-day this tide has risen; for us to-day the current serves our turn. let us lay aside our party preferences. let us one and all forget our many grievances of the past; let us forget the many times we have been ignored, buffeted, and spurned by politicians. let us throw our whole influence of voice and pen into this campaign, and in making it a success for the republican party, make it a success for ourselves. and now an especial word to the women suffrage organizations of the country. prepare to hold mass meetings in all the large cities of your states; be ready to co-operate with republican committees; send into the election districts your best women speakers, circulate addresses and documents throughout every school district; persuade fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons to work and vote for grant and wilson; offer your own votes, as in many election districts women's votes have already been received and counted; in every possible way throw the whole weight of your influence on the side of the republican party. by persistent, united action for one party during this presidential canvass, the women suffragists of the nation will make themselves felt as a power by both. women speakers, do not hesitate, do not vacillate; let no party or personal consideration bias you to act against the republican party at this momentous crisis. remember we owe to it a debt of gratitude that it has made for us this opportunity, that it has thus launched our cause into the political arena, where it must go on and on till justice and equality to woman shall at last triumph in a true republic; "a government of the people, for the people, and by the people." on behalf of the national woman suffrage association. susan b. anthony, president, matilda joslyn gage, chair. ex. com. rochester, july , . the congressional republican committee published thousands of this appeal, and scattered them over the country. it also telegraphed to the president of the national woman suffrage association, to go to washington in order to consult with the committee as to what women could do to aid in the coming campaign. miss anthony's plan was cordially accepted, and liberal appropriations placed at her disposal by both the national and new york republican committees for carrying on a series of meetings.[ ] the first of this series was at rochester, and was presided over by hon. carter wilder, mayor of the city, the last in cooper institute, new york, at which meeting luther r. marsh occupied the chair. mrs. livermore and mrs. stanton, by special invitation of republican state committees, also took part in the canvass in connecticut and pennsylvania. footnotes: [ ] honorables hamlin, sumner, patterson, rice, vickers, pratt, harris, cook, welcker, williams, cowles, bowles, gilfillen. [ ] on resolutions--miss susan b. anthony, dr. j. p. root, miss phoebe couzins, rev. samuel j. may, mrs. m. e. j. gage, mrs. colby, mrs. jacob ela. on finance--mrs. paulina w. davis, miss s. b. anthony, mrs. b. lockwood, mrs. m. wright, mr. wilcox. on credentials--mrs. josephine s. griffing, mr. stillman, mrs. a. d. cridge. [ ] _resolved_, that the national woman's suffrage convention respectfully ask the xli. congress of the united states-- first. to submit to the legislatures of the several states a xvi. amendment to the federal constitution, prohibiting the disfranchisement of any of their citizens on account of sex. second. to strike the word "male" from the laws governing the district of columbia. third. to enfranchise the women of utah as the one safe, sure and swift means to abolish polygamy in that territory. fourth. to amend the laws of the united states so that women shall receive the same pay as men for services rendered the government. [ ] washington, jan. , . miss susan b. anthony--dear madam:.... accept my assurance of full and cordial sympathy with the movement to extend the right of suffrage to the women of the country, and my pledge to make that sympathy active on the first and all occasions that may arise for my official action. very respectfully your obedient servant, e. g. ross. washington, jan . mrs. elizabeth cady stanton--madam: your favor of the th instant, inviting me to address the convention now in session in this city for the promotion of the cause of female suffrage, has been received. i regret that my official duties will not allow me the time to comply with this request; but i assure you, and the ladies with whom you are associated, that i am heartily in sympathy with the efforts you are making for the success of the cause which you especially have so long and so ably advocated. i beg further to say that the bestowal of the right of equal political suffrage upon the women of this republic can not, in my judgment, be much longer withheld, and that whatever influence i have shall be exerted, at every proper opportunity, to hasten the consummation for which you are laboring. i have the honor to be, very truly, yours, matt. h. carpenter. [ ] rev. olympia brown, connecticut; e. h. heywood and jennie collins, massachusetts; m. adele hazlitt, michigan; mrs. francis minor and phoebe couzins, missouri; hon. henry b. stanton; judge barlow, canastota; josephine s. griffing, rev. phebe a. hanaford, lizzie m. boynton, maud d. molson, susan b. anthony, gen. e. m. lee, act gov. wyoming; hon. a. g. riddle, washington; hon. jas. w. stillman, rhode island; col. r. g. ingersoll, illinois; hon. j. m. scovill, new jersey; dr. james c. jackson, new york; mrs. louisa h. dent, new york; lillie peckham, wisconsin; mrs. m. e. j. gage, new york; mrs. dr. s. hathaway, boston; and s. d. dillaye, syracuse. [ ] the fifth avenue conference proposition was presented to the members of the national association, duly discussed, and so far as one of the parties could do, accepted; that is, the national society pledged itself to be merged into a union association, provided the american would make the same surrender at its first anniversary. but as this overture for peace was rejected, the mission of the union society ended, leaving the national free to reassert itself and go forward with its catholic platform and persistent demands for "national protection for united states citizens," while the american devoted itself primarily to state legislation. [ ] woman suffrage celebration.--the twentieth anniversary of the inauguration of the woman suffrage movement in this country, will be celebrated in apollo hall, in the city of new york, on the th and th of october, . the movement in england, as in america, may be dated from the first national convention, held at worcester, mass., october, . the july following that convention, a favorable criticism of its proceedings and an able digest of the whole question appeared in the _westminster review_, written by mrs. john stuart mill, which awakened attention in both hemispheres. in the call for that convention, the following subjects for discussion were presented: woman's right to _education_, literary, scientific and artistic; her _avocations_, industrial, commercial and professional; her _interests_, pecuniary, civil and political: in a word, _her rights_ as an individual, and her _functions_ as a citizen. it is hoped that the old and the new world will both be largely represented by the earlier advocates of this reform who will bring with them reports of progress and plans for future action. an extensive foreign correspondence will also add interest to the meetings. we specially invite the presence of those just awakening to an interest in this great movement, that from a knowledge of the past they may draw fresh inspiration for the work of the future and fraternize with a generation now rapidly passing away. as those who inaugurated a reform, so momentous and far reaching in its consequences, should hold themselves above all party considerations and personal antagonisms, and as this gathering is to be in no way connected with either of our leading woman suffrage organizations, we hope that the friends of real progress everywhere will come together and unitedly celebrate this twentieth anniversary of a great national movement for freedom. committee of arrangements.--lucretia mott, sarah pugh, elizabeth c. stanton, ernestine l. rose, samuel j. may, mrs. c. i. h. nichols. on behalf of the committee, paulina w. davis, chairman. [ ] in , john neal, of portland, maine, gave a lecture in new york which roused considerable discussion; it was replied to by mrs. eliza w. farnham, with all the objections which have ever been urged, and far more ably than by any of the later objectors. mrs. farnham lived long enough to retrace her ground and accept the highest truth. "woman and her era" fully refutes her early objections. mr. neal's lecture, published in _the brother jonathan_, was extensively copied, and as it reviewed some of the laws relating to woman and her property, it had a wide, silent influence, preparing the way for action. it was a scathing satire, and men felt the rebuke. in this conflict for principle, the names of wm. l. garrison, wendell phillips, edmund quincy, oliver johnson, parker pillsbury, s. s. foster, william henry channing, samuel j. may, charles burleigh, james mott, frederick douglass, edmund m. davis, and robert purvis, stand out conspicuously, and will so be remembered in all the future. [ ] _resolved_, that at the close of over twenty years of persistent agitation, petitioning, state legislatures and congress for the right of suffrage, we, who inaugurated this reform, now demand the immediate adoption of a xvi. amendment to the federal constitution, that shall prohibit any state from disfranchising its citizens on the ground of sex; and whatever national party does this act of justice, fastens the keystone in the arch of the republic. _resolved_, that as neither free trade, finance, prohibition, capital and labor, nor any other political question, can be so vital to the existence of the republic as the enfranchisement of women, it is clearly our duty to aid and support the great national party that shall first inscribe woman suffrage on its banner. _resolved_, that our thanks are due to the democratic party of utah and wyoming for securing to woman her right of suffrage in those territories. _resolved_, that the democratic party of kansas, in declaring, at its recent convention at topeka, the enfranchisement of women in its judgment a most reasonable and timely enterprise, no longer to be justly postponed, is entitled to the hearty support of the friends of our cause in that state. _resolved_, that the american equal rights association, in sending susan b. anthony to the national democratic convention in , and the massachusetts suffrage association, in sending mary a. livermore to the republican state convention in , have inaugurated the right political action, which should be followed in the national and state conventions throughout the country. _resolved_, that we rejoice in the fact that the republican legislatures of iowa and other western states have submitted to the people the proposition to strike the word "male" from their constitutions. _resolved_, that it is as disastrous to human progress to teach women to bow down to the authority of man, as divinely inspired, as it is to teach man to bow down to the authority of kings and popes, as divinely ordained, for in both cases we violate the fundamental idea on which a republican government and the protestant religion are based--the right of individual judgment. _whereas_, the accident of sex no more involves the capacity to govern a family than does the accident of papal election or royal birth the capacity to govern a dominion or a kingdom; therefore, _resolved_, that the doctrine of woman's subjection, enforced from the text, "wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands," should be thrown aside, with the exploded theories of kingcraft and slavery, embodied in the injunction, "honor the king," and "servants, obey your masters." _resolved_, that as the gravest responsibilities of social life must ever rest on the mother of the race, therefore law, religion, and public sentiment, instead of degrading her as the subject of man, should unitedly declare and maintain her sole and supreme sovereignty over her own person." [ ] married afterwards to père hyacinth. [ ] chief among the guests were mrs. margaret lucas, of scotland, sister of john and jacob bright; mrs. governor jewell, of conn.; mrs. elmes, of birmingham; mrs. caroline stratton, and miss sarah pugh, of philadelphia; lucretia mott, abby h. price, adelle hazlett, olympia brown, mrs. davis, mrs. lucas, mrs. stanton, mrs. gage, and miss anthony; mrs. godbie, wife of one of the leading reform advocates of utah; mrs. denman, of quincy, ill.; mrs. laura curtis bullard, and dr. clemence lozier. among the gentlemen present were alexander delmar, rev. henry powers, mr. lewis, of the _national intelligencer_, col. hastings, theodore tilton, oliver johnson, prof. wilcox, and mr. packard, of the business college, and others. [ ] call for a national suffrage convention at washington.--we, the undersigned, desiring to secure a full discussion of the question of the enfranchisement of women during the present session of congress, with a view to the speedy passage of a xvi. amendment to the federal constitution, invite all men and women desiring this change in the constitution to meet us in convention for that purpose in the city of washington on the th and th of january. eminent speakers will be present from all parts of the country, including several members of congress, and plans of work will be presented and discussed. we earnestly urge you, dear friends, to come together at this time in a spirit of unselfishness and of hard work, and let us take one another by the hand and move onward as never before. paulina w. davis, josephine s. griffing, isabella b. hooker. [ ] mrs. esther morris, a large fine-looking woman, administered justice in that territory for nearly two years, and none of her decisions were ever questioned. [ ] the hearing took place in the committee room, which was crowded with a goodly assemblage of men and women. judge bingham, of ohio, was chairman, gen. b. f. butler, of mass., was prominent in favor of the cause. messrs. eldridge, b. c. cook, i. a. peters, ulysses morcur, wm. loughridge, michael kerr, s. w. kellogg, and g. w. hitchcock formed the rest of the committee. the claimants for woman suffrage were represented by mrs. v. c. woodhull and mrs. l. d. blake, new york; mrs. i. b hooker, rev. o. brown, conn.; mrs. p. w. davis, miss k. stanton, rhode island; mrs. j. griffing, and mrs. lockwood, d. c.; and miss susan b. anthony. the proceedings were opened by the reading of her memorial by mrs. woodhull. it was the first time the lady had ever appeared in public, and her voice trembled slightly with emotion which only made the reading the more effective. she claimed not a xvi. amendment; but that under the xiv. and xv. amendments, women have already the right to vote, and prayed congress merely to pass a declaratory resolution to that effect.--the washington _republican._ [ ] _yeas_--messrs. allison, arnell, asper, atwood, banks, barry, buck, buffinton, burdett, churchill, amasa cobb, clinton l. cobb, coburn, cullom, darrall, joseph dixon, ela, farnsworth, finkelnburg, hamilton, harris, hawkins, hoar, alexander h. jones, julian, kelley, lawrence, long, loughridge, maynard, milnes, william moore, morey, daniel j. morrell, negley, orth, packard, paine, pierce, platt, pomeroy, porter, prosser, sargent, scofield, shanks, william j. smith, stevenson, stoughton, strickland, twichell, cadwallader c. washburn, willard, john t. wilson, and wolf. [ ] among the speakers were isabella beecher hooker, paulina wright davis, minnie swayze, mrs. dr. hallock, josephine s. griffing, victoria c. woodhull, anna middlebrook, matilda joslyn gage, susan b. anthony, elizabeth cady stanton, lucretia mott. [ ] _an appeal to the women of the united states by the national woman suffrage and educational committee, washington, d. c._: dear friends:--the question of your rights as citizens of the united states, and of the grave responsibilities which a recognition of those rights will involve, is becoming the great question of the day in this country, and is the culmination of the great question which has been struggling through the ages for solution, that of the highest freedom and largest personal responsibility of the individual under such necessary and wholesome restraints as are required by the welfare of society. as you shall meet and act upon this question, so shall these great questions of freedom and responsibility sweep on, or be retarded, in their course. this is pre-eminently the birthday of womanhood. the material has long held in bondage the spiritual; henceforth the two, the material refined by the spiritual, the spiritual energized by the material, are to walk hand in hand for the moral regeneration of mankind. mothers, for the first time in history, are able to assert, not only their inherent first right to the children they have borne, but their right to be a protective and purifying power in the political society into which those children are to enter. to fulfill, therefore, their whole duty of motherhood, to satisfy their whole capacity in that divine relation, they are called of god to participate with man in all the responsibilities of human life, and to share with him every work of brain and heart, refusing only those physical labors that are inconsistent with the exalted duties and privileges of maternity, and requiring these of men as the equivalent of those heavy yet necessary burdens which women alone can bear. under the constitution of the united states justly interpreted, you were entitled to participate in the government of the country, in the same manner as you were held to allegiance and subject to penalty. but in the slow development of the great principles of freedom, you, and all, have failed both to recognize and appreciate this right; but to-day, when the rights and responsibilities of women are attracting the attention of thoughtful minds throughout the whole civilized world, this constitutional right, so long unobserved and unvalued, is becoming one of prime importance, and calls upon all women who love their children and their country to accept and rejoice in it. thousands of years ago god uttered this mingled command and promise, "honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the lord thy god giveth thee." may we not hope that in the general recognition of this right and this duty of woman to participate in government, our beloved country may find her days long and prosperous in this beautiful land which the lord hath given her. to the women of this country who are willing to unite with us in securing the full recognition of our rights, and to accept the duties and responsibilities of a full citizenship, we offer for signature the following declaration and pledge, in the firm belief that our children's children will with fond veneration recognize in this act our devotion to the great doctrines of liberty in their new and wider and more spiritual application, even as we regard with reverence the prophetic utterances of the fathers of the republic in their declaration of independence: declaration and pledge of the women of the united states concerning their right to and their use of the elective franchise. we, the undersigned, believing that the sacred rights and privileges of citizenship in this republic were guaranteed to us by the original constitution, and that these rights are confirmed and more clearly established by the xiv. and xv. amendments, so that we can no longer refuse the solemn responsibilities thereof, do hereby pledge ourselves to accept the duties of the franchise in our several states, so soon as all legal restrictions are removed. and believing that character is the best safeguard of national liberty, we pledge ourselves to make the personal purity and integrity of candidates for public office the first test of fitness. and lastly, believing in god, as the supreme author of the american declaration of independence, we pledge ourselves in the spirit of that memorable act, to work hand in hand with our fathers, husbands, and sons, for the maintenance of those equal rights on which our republic was originally founded, to the end that it may have, what is declared to be the first condition of just government, the consent of the governed. you have no new issue to make, no new grievances to set forth. you are taxed without representation, tried by a jury not of your peers, condemned and punished by judges and officers not of your choice, bound by laws you have had no voice in making, many of which are specially burdensome upon you as women; in short, your rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are daily infringed, simply because you have heretofore been denied the use of the ballot, the one weapon of protection and defense under a republican form of government. fortunately, however, you are not compelled to resort to force in order to secure the rights of a complete citizenship. these are provided for by the original constitution, and by the recent amendments you are recognized as citizens of the united states, whose rights, including the fundamental right to vote, may not be denied or abridged by the united states, nor by any state. the obligation is thus laid upon you to accept or reject the duties of citizenship, and to your own consciences and your god you must answer, if the future legislation of this country shall fall short of the demands of justice and equality. the participation of woman in political affairs is not an untried experiment. woman suffrage has within a few years been fully established in sweden and austria, and to a certain extent in russia. in great britain women are now voting equally with men for all public officers except members of parliament, and while no desire is expressed in any quarter that the suffrage already given should be withdrawn or restricted, over , names have been signed to petitions for its extension to parliamentary elections, and jacob bright, the leader of the movement in parliament, and brother of the well known john bright, says that no well-informed person entertains any doubt that a bill for such extension will soon pass. in this country, which stands so specially on equal representation, it is hardly possible that the same equal suffrage would not be established by law, if the matter were to be left merely to the progress of public sentiment and the ordinary course of legislation. but as we confidently believe, and as we have before stated, the right already exists in our national constitution, and especially under the recent amendments. the interpretation of the constitution which we maintain, we can not doubt, will be ultimately adopted by the courts, although, as the assertion of our right encounters a deep and prevailing prejudice, and judges are proverbially cautious and conservative, we must expect to encounter some adverse decisions. in the meantime it is of the highest importance that in every possible way we inform the public mind and educate public opinion on the whole subject of equal rights under a republican government, and that we manifest our desire for and willingness to accept all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, by asserting our right to be registered as voters and to vote at the congressional elections. the original constitution provides in express terms that the representatives in congress shall be elected "by the people of the several states," with no restrictions whatever as to the application of that term. this right, thus clearly granted to all the people, is confirmed and placed beyond reasonable question by the xiv. and xv. amendments. the act of may, , the very title of which, "an act to enforce the rights of citizens of the united states to vote," is a concession of all that we claim, provides that the officers of elections throughout the united states shall give an equal opportunity to all citizens of the united states to become qualified to vote by the registry of their names or other prerequisite; and that where upon the application of any citizen such prerequisite is refused, such citizen may vote without performing such prerequisite; and imposes a penalty upon the officers refusing either the application of the citizen to be qualified or his subsequent application to vote. the constitution also provides that "each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members." when, therefore, the election of any candidate for the lower house is effected or defeated by the admission or rejection of the votes of women, the question is brought directly before the house, and it is compelled to pass at once upon the question of the right of women to vote under the constitution. all this may be accomplished without the necessity of bringing suits for the penalty imposed upon public officers by the act referred to; but should it be thought best to institute prosecutions where the application of women to register and to vote is refused, the question would thereby at once be brought into the courts. if it be thought expedient to adopt the latter course, it is best that some test case be brought upon full consultation with the national committee, that the ablest counsel may be employed and the expenses paid out of the public fund. whatever mode of testing the question shall be adopted, we must not be in the slightest degree discouraged by adverse decisions, for the final result in our favor is certain, and we have, besides, great reason to hope that congress, at an early day, will pass a declaratory act affirming the interpretation of the constitution which we claim. the present time is specially favorable for the earnest presentation before the public mind of the question of the political rights of women. there are very positive indications of the approaching disintegration and reformation of political parties, and new and vital issues are needed by both the great parties of the country. as soon as the conviction possesses the public mind that women are to be voters at an early day, as they certainly are to be, the principles and the action of public parties will be shaping themselves with reference to the demands of this new constituency. particularly in nominations for office will the moral character of candidates become a matter of greater importance. to carry on this great work a board of six women has been established, called "the national woman suffrage and educational committee," whose office at washington it is proposed to make the center of all action upon congress and the country, and with whom their secretary, resident there, it is desired that all associations and individuals interested in the cause of woman suffrage should place themselves in communication. the committee propose to circulate the very able and exhaustive minority report of the house judiciary committee on the constitutional right of woman to the suffrage, and other tracts on the general subject of woman suffrage. they also propose ultimately, and as a part of their educational work, to issue a series of tracts on subjects vitally affecting the welfare of the country, that women may become intelligent and thoughtful on such subjects, and the intelligent educators of the next generation of citizens. the committee are already receiving urgent appeals from women all over the united states to send them our publications. the little light they have already received concerning their rights under the constitution, and the present threatening political aspect of the country, make them impatient of ignorance on these vital points. a single tract has often gone the rounds in a neighborhood until worn out, and the call is for thousands and thousands more. a large printing fund will therefore be needed by the committee, and we appeal first to the men of this country, who control so large a part of its wealth, to make liberal donations towards this great educational work. we also ask every thoughtful woman to send her name to the secretary to be inserted in the pledge-book, and if she is able, one dollar. but as many workingwomen will have nothing to send but their names, we welcome these as a precious gift, and urge those who are able, to send us their fifties and hundreds, which we promise faithfully to use and account for. where convenient, it is better that many names should be sent upon the same paper, and the smallest contributions in money can be put together and sent with them. every signature and every remittance will be at once acknowledged by the secretary, and one or more tracts enclosed with a circular as to the work to be done by individuals. isabella beecher hooker, _president_. paulina wright davis, josephine s. griffing, _secretary_. ruth carr dennison, mary b. bowen, _treasurer_. susan b. anthony. _washington, d. c., april , ._ [ ] the national woman suffrage association will hold its annual convention at lincoln hall, washington, d. c., january th, th and th, . all those interested in woman's enfranchisement are invited there to consider the "new departure"--women already citizens, and their rights as such, secured by the xiv. and xv. amendments of the federal constitution. lucretia mott. isabella beecher hooker. elizabeth cady stanton. susan b. anthony. josephine s. griffing. [ ] resolutions. whereas, in the adjustment of the question of suffrage now before the people of this country for settlement, it is of the highest importance that the organic law of the land should be so framed and constructed as to work injustice to none, but secure, as far as possible, perfect political equality among all classes of citizens; and whereas, all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states, and of the state wherein they reside; be it _resolved_, that the privileges and immunities of american citizenship, however defined, are national in character and paramount to all state authority. that while the constitution of the united states leaves the qualifications of electors to the several states, it nowhere gives them the right to deprive any citizen of the elective franchise which is possessed by any other citizen--the right to regulate, not including the right to prohibit the franchise. that, as the constitution of the united states expressly declares that "no state shall make or enforce any law that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states," those provisions of the several state constitutions that exclude women from the franchise on account of sex, are violative alike of the spirit and letter of the federal constitution. that, as the subject of naturalization is expressly withheld from the states, and as the states clearly would have no right to deprive of the franchise naturalized citizens, among whom women are expressly included, still more clearly have they no right to deprive native-born women citizens of this right. that justice and equity can only be attained by having the same laws for men and women alike. that having full faith and confidence in the truth and justice of these principles, we will never cease to urge the claims of women to a participation in the affairs of government equally with men. _resolved_, that as the xiv. and xv. amendments to the constitution of the united states have established the right of woman to the elective franchise, we demand of the present congress a declaratory act which shall secure us at once in the exercise of this right. as the recognition of woman suffrage involves immediate political action, and as numbers as well as principles control parties, _resolved_, that we rejoice in the rapidly organizing millions of spiritualists, labor reformers, temperance, and educational forces, now simultaneously waking to their need of woman's help in the cause of reform. _resolved_, that the movement for the enfranchisement of woman is the movement of universal humanity; that the great questions now looming upon the political horizon can only find their peaceful solution by the infusion of the feminine element in the councils of the nation. man, representing force, would continue in the future, as in the past, in the new world as in the old, to settle all questions by war, but woman, representing affection, would, in her true development, harmonize intellect and action, and weld together all the interests of the human family--in other words, help to organize the science of social, religious, and political life. _resolved_, that our thanks are due to governor campbell, of wyoming, for his veto, and to the republican members of the legislature of wyoming, for their votes against the bill disfranchising the women of that territory. _resolved_, that the thanks of the women of america are due to hon. benjamin f. butler for introducing so early in the present session of congress, a bill to enfranchise woman under the constitution, and also to hon. wm. loughridge and to the hon. benjamin f. butler for their admirable minority report, at the last session, sustaining the woodhull memorial. [ ] washington, d. c., january , . _mrs. admiral dahlgren_--madam: the national woman suffrage association is to hold a three days' convention the present week, in lincoln hall, commencing on the morning of wednesday, the th. nothing would afford the officers and speakers of the convention greater pleasure than to hold a debate, during some session, with yourself and your friends, upon the question of woman suffrage. as you have publicly expressed your opposition to woman's enfranchisement, not only through the papers, but also by a petition against it to congress, we feel sure you will gladly accept our invitation and let us know your reason for the faith that is within you. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, as president of the association and convention, will afford you every opportunity for argument, and will herself enter the list against you. not only mrs. stanton, but all members of the committee, cordially extend this invitation for debate, to be held at any session most convenient for yourself. an early answer is desirable. matilda joslyn gage, chairman of the committee of arrangements. [ ] _mrs. matilda joslyn gage, chairman committee of arrangements_--madam: mrs. sherman and myself are this morning in receipt of a note from you in which you invite us, in the name "of the officers and speakers of the national woman suffrage association," to hold a debate upon the question of "woman suffrage," and mention that "mrs. elizabeth cady stanton, as president of the association and convention, will afford every opportunity for argument, and will herself enter the lists," etc. in reply to this invitation, for which we thank you, in so far as it may have been extended in a true desire to elicit fair argument, we would remind you that in the very fact of soliciting us to "hold debate" on a public platform, on this or any other question, you entirely ignore the principle that ourselves and our friends seek to defend, viz., the preservation of female modesty. the functions of men and women in the state as citizens are correlative and opposite. they can not be made common without seriously impairing the public virtue. our men must be brave, and our women modest, if this country may hope to fulfill her true mission for humanity. we protest against woman suffrage, because the right of petition may safely be considered as common to all, and its exercise most beneficial. we publish written articles, giving "our reasons for the faith that is within us," because we may, consistently with the home life and its duties, make such use of whatever talents god may have confided to our keeping. to these printed articles, in which we have fully and at different times explained our views, we are happy to refer you. we likewise hold that an appeal to the public made in this manner is much more likely to evolve a clear apprehension of this important subject, as presenting a strict issue to the reasoning faculties, and one undimmed by those personalities which generally are indulged in during the course of oral debate. i am, truly yours, madeline victor dahlgren. washington, january , . [ ] lyman trumbull of illinois, chairman, roscoe conkling of new york, frelinghuysen of new jersey, matthew carpenter of wisconsin. [ ] people's convention.--the undersigned citizens of the united states, responding to the invitation of the national woman suffrage association, propose to hold a convention at steinway hall, in the city of new york, the th and th of may. we believe the time has come for the formation of a new political party whose principles shall meet the issues of the hour, and represent equal rights for all. as the women of the country are to take part for the first time in political action, we propose that the initiative steps in the convention shall be taken by them, that their opinions and methods may be fairly set forth, and considered by the representatives from many reform movements now ready for united action; such as the internationals, and other labor reformers--the friends of peace, temperance, and education, and by all those who believe that the time has come to carry the principles of true morality and religion into the state house, the court, and the market place. this convention will declare the platform of the people's party, and consider the nomination of candidates for president and vice-president of the united states, who shall be the best possible exponents of political and industrial reform. the republican party, in destroying slavery, accomplished its entire mission. in denying that "citizen" means political equality, it has been false to its own definition of republican government; and in fostering land, railroad, and money monopolies, it is building up a commercial feudalism dangerous to the liberty of the people. the democratic party, false to its name and mission, died in the attempt to sustain slavery, and is buried beyond all hope of resurrection. even that portion of the labor party which met recently at columbus, proved its incapacity to frame a national platform to meet the demands of the hour. we therefore invite all citizens who believe in the idea of self-government; who demand an honest administration; the reform of political and social abuses; the emancipation of labor, and the enfranchisement of woman, to join with us and inaugurate a political revolution which shall secure justice, liberty, and equality to every citizen of the united states. elizabeth cady stanton, isabella beecher hooker, matilda joslyn gage. [ ] the speakers were rev. olympia brown, matilda joslyn gage, susan b. anthony, isabella beecher hooker, elizabeth cady stanton, dr. clemence s. lozier, helen m. slocum, lillie devereux blake. [illustration: belva a. lockwood.] chapter xxiv. national conventions , ' , ' . fifth washington convention--mrs. gage on centralization--may anniversary in new york--washington convention, --frances ellen burr's report--rev. o. b. frothingham in new york convention--territory of pembina--discussion in the senate--conventions in washington and new york, --hearings before congressional committees. the fifth washington convention was held in lincoln hall, january th and th, . the president, miss anthony, in opening, said: there are three methods of extending suffrage to new classes. the first is for the legislatures of the several states to submit the question to the vote of the people; that is to those already voters. before the war this was the only way thought of, and during all those years we petitioned to strike the word "male" from the state constitutions. the second method is for congress to submit to the several legislatures a proposition for a xvi. amendment that shall prohibit the states from depriving women citizens of their right to vote. the third plan is to take our rights under the xiv. amendment of the constitution which declares "that all persons are citizens," and "no state shall deny or abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens." again, there are two ways of securing the right of suffrage under the constitution as it is; one by a declaratory act of congress instructing the officers of election to receive the votes of women, the other in appeals to the courts by instituting suits as women have already done, in order to secure a judicial decision on the broad interpretation of the constitution "that all persons are citizens, and all citizens voters." the vaults in yonder capitol hold the petitions of many thousands of women for a declaratory act, and the calendars of our courts show that many are already testing their right to vote under the xiv. amendment. i stand here under indictment for having exercised my right as a citizen to vote at the last election; and by a fiction of the law, i am now in custody, and not free on this platform. a series of resolutions[ ] were reported, and discussed at great length. after the appointment of committees,[a] matilda joslyn gage made the annual report. she said: though the casual observer might think but little progress had been made during the year, this is not the fact. there has been in many ways a marked advance, and although i do not claim to have a complete and exact record, i would mention points which have come under my notice. soon after the opening of the last session of congress several important bills were introduced. the hon. mr. hoar introduced a bill against territorial disfranchisement, which, as women vote in two territories, was a bill having an important bearing upon this question of suffrage. about the same time, the hon. mr. butler introduced a bill for a declaratory law to protect women citizens in their right to vote. during the progress of our annual convention in january last, a memorial was presented, and a hearing obtained before the senate judiciary committee. the speeches made by women at that time have been printed in pamphlet form, and extensively circulated throughout the nation. within a few days after this hearing, a petition, containing , names, was presented to the house by the hon. benjamin f. butler. during his remarks upon this occasion his coadjutors left their seats and pressed around him, so anxious were they to hear, until, in order to give all an equal chance, the speaker was forced to call to order. the hon. matt. carpenter made an elaborate argument before the supreme court, in the myra bradwell case. mrs. bradwell, as is well known, is the editor of a paper, entitled the _legal news_, which is ably conducted, and accepted as authority by the profession. mrs. bradwell, upon applying for admission to the bar in illinois, found her husband a "legal disability," and carried her case up to the supreme court. this argument was also published and circulated in pamphlet form. the hon. mr. munroe, member from indiana, presented a petition from the women of that state, praying for the removal of political disabilities; and in the senate mr. wilson introduced a bill to allow women to hold office in the territories. in february an argument was made before the senate military committee in behalf of women who served in the army. mrs. admiral dahlgren argued in person before a congressional committee, in reference to moneys due her deceased husband. * * * * * mrs. lockwood and mrs. spencer both gave interesting statements in regard to women voting in the district of columbia, and ably argued their right to do so under the national constitution. mrs. lockwood introduced the following resolution: _to the honorable senate and house of representatives, in congress assembled:_ we, the undersigned, citizens of the united states, being deprived of some of the privileges and immunities of citizens, among which is the right to vote, beg leave to submit the following resolution: _resolved_, that we, the officers and members of the national woman suffrage association, in convention assembled, respectfully ask congress to enact appropriate legislation, during its present session, to protect women citizens in the several states of this union in their right to vote. francis miller, esq. said that he had one reason for congratulation in being engaged in the suit with mr. riddle, as it gave him an opportunity to do something for the women of his country. under the xiv. amendment he contended that women had the right to vote, and no lawyer that read the amendment could decide in any other way. it was not true that the cohorts of this issue had been defeated every time, but it was true that they had gained two victories. chief-justice cartter had decided that woman was a full citizen, and had not the right to vote, simply because they had not passed a law necessary for the purpose. if the xiv. amendment did not confer suffrage they must go through the states with a new amendment, and fight a battle in each. he thought that very obscure ideas prevailed on the subject. how could anyone that had no self-government enjoy any inalienable right? it was said that the ballot was a creature of legislation, consequently not natural. this was an absurdity. there was no way in the world for a man to govern himself except by the ballot. to deny any one the only means of exercising that right is a wrong before heaven and should be redressed. he did not propose to go into a legal argument; the best of his ability has been expended in the cause, and is before the public. at the evening session mrs. gage gave the following address: mrs. gage said: we hear many fears expressed in regard to the danger of "centralized power," and the growing tendency of the nation toward it. the people have been told that through this tendency their liberties were endangered. the truth is just the contrary. "state rights" has from the very commencement of this government been the rock on which the ship of the nation has many times nearly foundered, and from which it is to-day in great danger. the one question of the hour is, is the united states a nation with full and complete national powers, or is it a mere thread upon which states are strung as are the beads upon a necklace? let us look back a hundred years. the war of the revolution commenced merely as a rebellion of the colonies against the nation to which they belonged. though all were located on the continent of america, each colony was under its own charter, separate and distinct from every other one. each colony resisted what it deemed to be acts of oppression against itself. therefore, the war of the revolution began as the resistance of individual colonies, but with the progress of this resistance grew up a feeling of united interests, and in eleven of these colonies, and a portion of the twelfth, connected themselves under certain articles of association. the colonies still considered themselves as belonging to the british empire, and in these articles avowed their allegiance to his majesty, george the third. although we date the birth of our nation two years later, our nationality actually dates back to these articles of association, for the colonies bound themselves as one in regard to non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumption; the first two pledges having national bearing as regarded commerce, and the last one regulating internal affairs in a national manner. this course of the colonies made them one, and has had a bearing on our every step since, even up to this day of grace, january , . resolutions of independence and freedom from all control of great britain were introduced into the colonial congress in june, , and the committee which was then appointed to draft a declaration of independent government was required to base it upon the first resolution of the june declaration of rights, which said, "these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent," etc. the veriest school-boy needs not to be told the date of this instrument, which we are fond of terming the "great charter of our liberties;" yet even professed statesmen, from that day to this, have seemingly forgotten that this declaration was agreed to, and signed by the already united colonies in their congress assembled, and issued as the action of "one people." no new congress met; the declaration was not the act of single colonies, or states, but the act of already united colonies, or states, and in this instrument we first find our national name of united states. the members of congress did not sign this declaration as new yorkers, or virginians, or new englanders, but as americans. nor was it referred to different colonies for approbation, but on that very fourth of july, , congress, with already national authority, flung to the world the announcement that these united colonies were a nation, and ordered that copies of the declaration should be sent to the several colonial assemblies, conventions, councils of safety, and to each of the commanding officers of the continental troops, and that it should be proclaimed in each of the united states, and at the head of the army. we see, therefore, that the declaration of independence, in being truly national, was wholly centralizing--and much more so than any act since, and is therefore the truest basis of our liberties. our age has annihilated space; danger lies in darkness and distance. with every newspaper, every railroad, every line of telegraph, danger from centralized national power grows less. with the newspaper, the railroad, the telegraph, the course of the government is constantly before our eyes the reporter penetrates everywhere, the lightning flashes everywhere, and before plans are scarcely formed here in washington, the miner of california, the lumberman of maine, and the cotton-grower of carolina are passing opinions and interchanging views upon them with their neighbors. the increase of education in the common schools, and the vast private correspondence of the country, too, help to put the proceedings of the government under the cognizance of the whole people. our danger lies elsewhere, and to clearly see it we must still look back to the early history of our nation. for a few months after the declaration of independence, our new-born republic worked under a common sentiment, for a common interest; but ultimately self-interest prompted the claim of "state rights." this doctrine was, by wise men, seen to be utterly destructive to the government, and in the second year of our independence it became necessary to fight this state-right doctrine, and the second step was taken in centralization, by the articles of confederation, which were declared to make the union perpetual, and states were forbidden to coin money, establish their own weights and measures, their own post-offices, and forbidden to do many other things which, by right, belong to independent self-controlling states. so anxious was the nation to set its own power upon a firm basis, entirely over and above that of the states, that back in these articles of confederation we find the term "privileges and immunities," that vexed phrase in the present discussion. in the fourth article, the inhabitants of each state were declared to be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens of the several states, etc. these articles, unlike the declaration, were made dependent upon ratification by the legislatures of the several states, which was not fully accomplished till . for awhile all went merry as a marriage bell. power had been further centralized, and the nation felt secure. but there had been left a little loophole, which was destined to create state claims in defiance of the general government. congress soon found that under the articles of confederation the limitation of states was more theoretical than practical. it found that though, in a general way, the united states possessed national powers, as over boundaries, peace and war, the issue of money, the establishment of post-offices, etc., yet in the very necessary matter of revenue, and the regulation of trade and commerce, it was powerless against the states. the old form of the confederation was found insufficient to secure the full independence of the united states as a nation, and in the very year that the articles were fully adopted, and before the last state had given its adherence ( ), a member of congress from new jersey moved a recommendation to the states to invest congress with additional means of paying the public debt and prosecuting the war of the revolution, by laying duties on imports and prize goods. this proposition at once roused opposition, and it is well to remember that it did not first come from a southern state. "state rights" is not a peculiar southern doctrine. south carolina was not the original nullifying state. it was rhode island, which then, as to-day, set at defiance national authority, and asserted her right to control her own internal affairs. the new england states, which claim to lead the union in all that is grand and good, must be made to bear the shame of the evils into which they have also led. even john c. calhoun learned his first state rights lessons in connecticut and massachusetts of the most eminent men; of president dwight when a student in yale college, and theophilus parsons, with whom he read law in massachusetts. when rhode island, in , refused to comply with the recommendations of congress in regard to levying duties on imports and prizes, she looked only at her own interests as a sea-board state. the address of her assembly to congress, through hon. william bradshaw, gave reasons of purely local self-interest for her refusal; but her state selfishness was seen by the patriots of the hour not to be even that of an enlightened state-interest, and congress at once declared there "could be no general security, no confidence in the nation, at home or abroad, if its actions were under the constant revisal of thirteen different deliberations." it therefore became necessary to take another step in the centralization of power, and let it be remembered that every such successive step we have traced was taken in the interests of liberty, and for the benefit of the whole people. the nation has acted in the defense of its citizens against the tyranny of states. we are not first citizens of rhode island, or south carolina, but, if we belong to the nation at all, we are first parts of that nation. i am first a citizen of the united states, then a citizen of the state of new york, then a citizen of onondaga county in that state, and then a citizen of the town of manlius, and lastly, a citizen of the village of fayetteville. that every person born or naturalized in the nation, is first a citizen of the nation, must be borne in mind, for upon that depend the liberties of every man, woman and child in the nation, black or white, native or foreign. although rhode island led in state rights, she had many followers, as only four states complied with the recommendation of congress to invest that body with more powers for collecting the revenue and prosecuting the war. this non-compliance led to active debate. in regard to the public debt it was said, "that it must, once for all, be defined and established on the faith of the states, solemnly pledged to each other, and not revocable by any, without a breach of the general compact." if a feeling of insecurity existed in regard to the property interests of the nation when but thirteen legislative bodies assumed their control, how much greater is the insecurity of our personal interests if they are, as is assumed, under the control of thirty-seven separate legislative bodies, and subject to their constant revision? the controversy soon based itself upon the security of human rights. it was said that it "had ever been the pride and boast of america that the rights for which she contended were the rights of human nature," that "the citizens of the united states were responsible for the greatest trust ever confided to a political society," and that it was for "the people of the united states, by whose will and for whose benefit the federal government was instituted, to decide whether they would support their rank as a nation." virginia and new york ultimately led in the proceeding which caused the formation of the constitution; new york, through her legislature, declaring that the radical source of the government embarrassments lay in the want of sufficient power in congress, and she suggested a convention for the purpose of establishing a firm national government. out of this agitation grew the constitution of the united states, which was the third great step in the centralization of power. the pride and the boast of this country has been more fully centered, if possible, on the constitution than on the declaration, and yet the constitution was not framed until eleven years after our existence as a nation--not ratified by the whole of the original states until about fourteen years after we had taken rank as a free and independent people--rhode island being the last state to give her adherence--and it was expressly framed and adopted in order to centralize power, and to destroy the state rights doctrine. washington himself, in transmitting, as president of the convention, the constitution to congress, said: "it is obviously impracticable in the federal government of these states to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all," and in the deliberations of the convention upon the subject, they kept steadily in view that which appeared to them "the greatest of every true american--the consolidation of our union, in which is involved our prosperity, safety, and, perhaps, our national existence." thus we see not only the desire of the originators of the constitution to strengthen the national power by that instrument, but we also have the views of washington himself in regard to the necessity of consolidating power in the nation. the various amendments to the constitution have been adopted with the intent of further defining and securing national power. the first ten, which were called the conciliatory amendments, were suggested in the conventions of a number of the states at the very time of adopting the constitution. the first congress which met thereafter proposed twelve amendments, of which ten were adopted in , only two years after the full adoption of the constitution. these ten amendments secured religious freedom, freedom of speech, the right of people to be secure in their houses, trials by jury, etc. all of them centralizing power in the national hands, and at the same time securing broader liberty to the people. these amendments were passed at the first session of the first congress. an eleventh amendment was proposed by the third national congress in , and declared ratified in , thus making eleven amendments to the constitution in the short space of seven years. in a twelfth amendment was proposed by the eighth congress, and ratified in . we pass now over quite a space of time, in which the national power and state power retained their relative positions to each other. perhaps in no better place can i mention two constantly existing, yet diverse tendencies in the people of the united states, which are well-defined in the minds of but few persons. there are two kinds of centralized power, one dangerous to liberty, and the other fortifying and securing liberty. the dangerous is that which has grown to such dimensions in the various states, multiplying legislation and regulating each petty local concern within its borders, down to a village cemetery. this has led to that destruction of liberty--a multiplication of statutes which have scarcely been recorded ere a second legislative body has annulled them. each state has, in fact, been an immense centralized power; and as bitter as has been the south against centralized national power, we have in it seen a most imperious, tyrannical exercise of centralized power under the specious name of state rights. the evil is such a constantly increasing one under the old constitutions, that they are being revised in many states with special intent to check this centralizing tendency. new york has now a commission sitting, and pennsylvania a convention in session, for the purpose of revising their constitutions, and attention has been especially directed to this dangerous feature of state centralization. the new constitution of illinois limits the passage of special laws by its legislature to certain specified subjects, leaving all local interests in the hands of local corporations. the need of the hour--and, in fact, i may say the new tendency of the hour--is toward diffused power within the limits of states in matters pertaining solely and entirely to their small or local interests. the centralization that fortifies and secures liberty is national centralization, which we have traced through six steps since , and which has, within the last ten years, received a new impetus by the xiii., xiv., and xv. amendments, and which, as they successively followed each other at short intervals, may be termed the seventh, eighth, and ninth steps in centralization. by and through these three amendments the nation fortified and enlarged its powers in reference to personal rights. it defined citizenship; it secured the exercise of the ballot--and we can not fail to see that in these last three centralizing steps, it more broadly than ever before enlarged the bounds of liberty. the protection of citizens of the nation, by the nation, is the national duty. this is the second tendency of which i spoke. most persons who have been awake to the evils of state centralization, have applied the same rules of judgment to national centralization. the two are dissimilar as are darkness and light. state centralization is tyranny; national centralization is freedom. state centralization means special laws; national centralization means general laws. the continued habit of states to make laws for every part of their own boundaries brought to the surface the "state rights" theory which precipitated upon us our civil war. states had become so absolute in themselves that out of it grew the feeling of absoluteness in regard to the nation. but is it not strange that after the late sad experience there can still be found people so stupid as not to see that the security of individual citizens of the nation in matters pertaining to their personal political rights, does lie, and in the very fact of our nationality must lie, in national power superior to state power? the corner-stone of our nation is political equality. our ancestors came here for civil and religious freedom. to secure political freedom they formed themselves into a nation; if the united states has no power to protect its citizens it is not a nation. the eighth step in centralization, the xiv. amendment, specifically declares that "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, are citizens of the united states, and of the states in which they reside." notwithstanding this plain language--notwithstanding the corner-stone of this nation is political equality--notwithstanding the chief right of citizenship in this country is a right to share in making its laws--notwithstanding the constitution and laws of the united states which shall be made in pursuance thereof, are declared to be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or law of any state to the contrary notwithstanding, yet , naturalized citizens of the united states have, during this session of congress, petitioned that body for protection of their rights as citizens of the united states against the state in which they live. "state rights" is again rearing its head. rhode island is again raising her hand against national power. she again assumes to be superior to the united states. all foreign-born citizens of that state, not possessed of a freehold estate of $ value, or property amounting to an annual rental of $ , are, by state law, forbidden to vote. these men were naturalized under a law of the united states, not under a law of rhode island. the united states not only made them citizens, but expressly in the xiv. amendment declares them to be citizens, and yet little rhode island presumes to be stronger than the united states. here again arises what i have shown to be the question of the hour. is the united states a nation? if it does not possess powers to protect its own citizens it is not a nation. citizens of the united states are entitled to protection, whether they are robbed of their liberties in a spanish dungeon, or in the states of rhode island or new york. the judiciary committee of congress has reported adversely upon the petition of the , naturalized citizens of rhode island. does congress intend to sustain state rights? what better is it for those , men that they became naturalized? if they are first citizens of the united states, as the xiv. amendment declares, they should be protected in their rights of citizenship by the united states against the states, and their thirty-seven isolated methods of legislation. this adverse report of the judiciary committee in regard to the , disfranchised men of rhode island, foreshadows the course of congress in regard to the great class of citizens now knocking at its door. women claim national protection as citizens of the nation. the original constitution in its fourth article touches upon state control, for it declares that the constitution shall guarantee to every state a republican form of government. the "shall" is imperative. it shall! even as long ago as it was declared that the people of the states should no longer be dependent upon state caprice for their rights, but the general government took upon itself the authority and the duty of enforcing in each state a republican form of government. either this article is a mere sounding phrase, or the constitution has such power, although until the xiv. amendment the real status of citizenship had not been settled. people thought of themselves as first citizens of the states, then of the united states, but now such a position can not be taken. the eighth step in centralization settled that point; "every person," not every male person--but "every person born or naturalized in the united states"--"is a citizen of the united states, and of the state in which he resides." first, entitled to national protection, and through the nation to state protection. moreover, the constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof, are by article sixth of the constitution, declared to be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby; anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. is the constitution supreme in the case of the , naturalized citizens of rhode island, whose petition the honorable judiciary reported adversely upon, the th of december? the naturalized citizens of our country should rise _en masse_ against his attack upon their liberties. if rhode island can say that a naturalized citizen shall not vote unless possessed of a certain amount of property, any state can, with equal justice, enact a law declaring that only those naturalized citizens who live in brick houses shall vote; a law, equally as binding as the present property qualification in rhode island, can be enacted, that only those foreign-born citizens who come over in a cunarder shall vote. why not? if a state has a right to deprive one class of citizens of its vote for one cause, it has a right to deprive any other class of its vote for any reason. the power and the mischief do not stop here. if a state has power over the political rights of a naturalized citizen of the united states, it has like power over the native-born citizen. if a state has power over the franchise of the women citizens of the united states, it also has power over the men citizens. unjust laws, like curses, go home to roost; they can always be made to plague their enactors. when the rights of any one class of citizens are assailed, a blow is struck against the rights of all. the danger to individual liberty lies in special laws. if states are powerful enough to weaken the national constitution, then are we weak indeed. the safety of the citizen lies in a strong national constitution: it lies in a national centralization of power that shall override the states in their attempt to destroy individual rights. if the national government has not power over the ballot in the several states, where did the united states commissioner get his authority to institute proceedings against miss anthony for voting in the state of new york? if the ballot is in the control of the states, then is the united states guilty of a high-handed outrage against new york, in the case of the fourteen women who are now bound over for trial in rochester for voting at the last election. if the control of the franchise is the right of each state as sovereign, then the national law of in regard to frauds in voting was an unauthorized interference of the united states in a matter belonging solely to the respective states. on the contrary, if the question as to who may vote in any state--exclusive of black men, over whom it is conceded the nation has thrown its ægis of protection--is one of national control, how does it happen that the judiciary committee of the present congress reported adversely upon the petition of the , naturalized citizens of rhode island? if, then, voting is a matter of state control alone, what authority had the united states to prosecute susan b. anthony? one of two things is plainly true. either the united states authorities had no right to prosecute miss anthony in the state of new york, or, if they had, then they had the right to regulate suffrage in rhode island. if the general government could not extend suffrage to irishmen in rhode island, it could not abolish it for women in new york. the time has passed when men can take their choice between "state sovereignty" and "centralized power." what state of the thirty-seven has power to make a treaty, to form an alliance, to declare war? not one, because not one of them is a sovereign state. an attempt would be treason against the nation. if the general government can not be secure with a diversity of laws in regard to war, or the tariff, in regard to questions of property, how much less secure is it with diverse laws in regard to personal rights; in regard to the elective franchise, the vital principle of our government. this government does not stand to-day on free trade, or tariff, or the war-power, or its right to manage post-offices, or to coin money, or to make treaties. not one of these singly, nor all collectively, form the ground-plan of this nation. this nation stands upon the ballot, the self-governing power; it stands upon the right of every person governed by the nation to share in the election of its rulers. how can statesmen believe the nation secure unless personal rights are held inviolable? the national government has control over money, currency, and national banks. it will not trust its question of finance to individual states; shall it trust the personal political rights of its citizens where it can not its money? is it not an anomaly that the lesser rights shall be held by the nation, the greater by the states? in the case of the , naturalized citizens of rhode island, and that of susan b. anthony and other women of new york and elsewhere, who try to vote, there is one great dissimilarity. the suffrage of the , is only regulated. as soon as each one secures real estate to the small value of one hundred and thirty-four dollars, he votes; but there women can never vote, simply because they are _women_. property amounts to nothing; education amounts to nothing; even native-born citizenship amounts to nothing; the ballot for them is not regulated but prohibited because they were born women instead of men. congress would quickly waken up to an appreciation of its power over the ballot, if under pretense of "regulating" suffrage, all the male citizens of a state were denied the ballot simply because they were men. the nation would lose no time in deciding that a regulation of a character not possible to overcome was not a regulation, but a prohibition destructive of every natural right. the word "deny" would be elucidated by able lawyers and lexicographers. we should then be told that to deny pre-supposes an existing right; that only positive rights can be denied, and force of arms would be invoked to maintain the existence of those rights. the battle for suffrage is narrowed down to the meaning of "privileges and immunities." those who believe the consent of the governed to be the fundamental principle of the nation, define "privileges and immunities" as the right of voting, which is the only "consent." thaddeus stevens went so far as to affirm that "inalienable rights" in the declaration meant the ballot. persons who thus define "inherent rights" belong to the true national, patriotic class. but others, deeply tinctured with belief in the supreme right of states, declare "privileges and immunities" to comprehend anything and everything except the ballot. even some good republicans, contrary to the principles indorsed and sustained by them in the war amendments, led by their prejudices against acknowledging woman's right to self-government; have declared that "privileges and immunities" merely signify civil and legal rights, but not political. such was the groundwork of the argument of the hon. matt. carpenter in the myra bradwell case. what a farce! it declared at an early day that the united states possessed the greatest trust ever confided to a "political society." "political society" is the foundation of our nation, and our political trust is the ballot. it has been said by a member of the present congress that no man in that body doubts that the constitution authorizes women to vote, precisely as it authorizes trial by jury and many other rights guaranteed to the citizens of the united states, but that in order to give them practical force there must be legislation; that these guaranteed rights are not self-executing. this is a fine legal quibble, stated for a purpose; but since legal minds disagree upon this point, a caviller might say no law is self-executing; all laws require enforcement. it may be said that the ten commandments are not self-executing; yet though given to moses, not only as the underlying constitution of the jewish nation and all nations, they contain self-executing provisions, bearing the penalties of their infraction within themselves. by their simple statement they carry within themselves the authority for their enforcement. the provision that the sun shall each day rise and run its accustomed rounds is a self-executing provision, until some joshua vetoes this divine right of the sun. the constitution is the supreme law of the land, and no difficulty should be found in executing its provisions. but while, as aimed against the exercise of arbitrary power, we have no objection to the passage of a declaratory law which shall make plain to every united states judge, and to the most obtuse inspector of election, that women are voters, we still claim that the recent "act for enforcing the xiv. amendment" should protect woman in the exercise of her rights of self-government. although the states ratified the xiii., xiv. and xv. amendments by the requisite two-thirds vote, they still find it difficult to realize the fact that these amendments have actually strengthened the national power. the enforcement act, and the previous law in regard to frauds in voting, may be called definitions of these last centralizing steps, but as yet neither amendments nor definitions are fully comprehended. a rhode island lawyer astutely said: "the people of the united states have not yet awakened to a sense of the vast centralizing power hidden in the xiv. amendment." opposition and struggles have already come, and will continue to arise, but legislators may beat their brains as they will, the fact of new national centralization still remains. though state power dies never so hard, die it must, as only through reorganized national power can the political rights of citizens of the united states be protected. "citizen suffrage" is to-day the battle-ground of "state rights," and the denial of woman's constitutional right to vote, and of national protection in voting, is the weapon it uses against the nation. this question of citizen suffrage is not a woman question alone, but it is a question of the rights of citizenship affecting every man in this wide land. let us, then, have the centralization which shall recognize the united states as the supreme political power of the land, which shall no longer allow the political rights of citizens of the united states to be the plaything of thirty-seven petty legislatures, of thirty thousand ambitious demagogues. without this, our national experiment is a failure; without this, we are not freemen, but slaves; without this, we are neither protected nor self-protecting; without this, centralized state power, under the specious name of "state rights," will continue to be a many-headed monster, impossible to overcome. elect the president direct by the people, and for a single term, if you will; take from him his immense official patronage; base senatorship upon population, not upon state sovereignty through legislative gift; limit the power of the judiciary: these steps must come; make of the people in reality what they now are in theory--sovereigns, not first of states, or the nation, but of themselves, possessing in themselves all rights, all powers, whose exercise is only delegated to the nation as their servant. the call[ ] for the annual may convention in new york announced the interesting fact that it was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the woman suffrage movement. the speakers[ ] represented many of the far western states. among the letters of interest was one from madam mathilde francisca anneke, of milwaukee, wisconsin, who accompanied her letter with a beautiful laurel wreath to be presented to the founder of the woman's rights movement, the venerable lucretia mott.[ ] the resolutions embody the substance of the various speeches made at that convention. the following letters were read: my dear miss anthony:--being detained from attending this very important convention, which celebrates twenty-five years of as honest and glorious work as ever was done by man or woman upon the face of the earth, permit me through yourself, as president of the national society, to address a few words to my fellow-workers in the cause of political equality. at first, let me beg you, my friends, one and all, to read the report of the first convention held at seneca falls, twenty-five years ago, as i have just been doing for the third time, that you may join me in heartfelt admiration of the distinguished women who there enunciated a "declaration of sentiments" equal to the old declaration of independence, and founded on a similar list of grievances as those which provoked and justified the revolutionary war. especially will you note the speech of a woman there, hardly thirty years of age, which for philosophic comprehension of the great truths of liberty and responsibility, for patriotism and eloquence, has not been surpassed in the history of our country. this alone should be sufficient to send the name of elizabeth cady stanton, side by side with the grandest of our revolutionary statesmen, down to the latest posterity. the moving spirit of the occasion, however, we are told, was lucretia mott, who spoke with her usual eloquence to a large and intelligent audience on the subject of "reform in general," and, from time to time, during the numerous sessions of the convention, swayed the assembly by her beautiful and spiritual appeals, and was the first to affix her name to this prophetic and inspired "declaration of sentiments"--an act which she will tell you to-day, i trust, has brought to her more joy than, perhaps, any other act of her life. had i the means, the printed report of this convention should be placed in the hands of every woman in the united states capable of reading it and understanding its high import. and, my friends, if this could be done, our labors would be well nigh ended, and those women who so desire might approach the polls unmolested, leaving their sisters "who have all the rights they want" in the comfortable security of homes made twice secure in that they are guarded by the watchful care of the mothers as well as by the courage of the fathers of the republic. that these noble women, so intensely in earnest to secure the blessings of liberty to all their posterity, and so deeply conscious of the heavy responsibilities of such a trust, should have suspended their claims during the season of our civil war, and have thrown themselves into the contest for the rights of enslaved black men, is only new proof, where none was wanting, of the unselfishness of their nature, and the purity of their motive. but the war being over, and a new million of black males being added to the many million white males as rulers of the land, what do we find to-day? susan b. anthony, the garrison of the woman's rights movement, not dragged by a rope round her neck, through the streets of rochester, precisely, but indicted for the crime of attempting to vote for her rulers, she being an honest citizen of the united states, and a tax-paying, law-abiding citizen of the state of new york! nevertheless, permit me, dear friend, to congratulate you upon the immense progress in our work which this indicates. it is but a little time since you and your illustrious compeers were counted only worthy of jests and sneers or contemptuous neglect. that you are called to-day to answer for the crime of loving liberty too well, declares to us who are watching your career, that the beginning of the end is close at hand, that slavery is soon to cease, and reconstruction to begin under the auspices of noble women not a few, and of the noble men who have acted as a body-guard through all these years of struggle. i have heard that with your accustomed indomitableness you have been attempting to instruct your possible jurors of the county upon the just principles of personal liberty and a republican form of government. but have you considered in doing this to what an incompetent jury you are possibly consigning your case, and with it the hopes of multitudes of your sisters, who, less favored than yourself, in not actually having been allowed to enter the sacred precincts of the polls, have put their trust in you as in one who should not fail, sooner or later, to achieve a victory for herself and for us all? have you considered the result of white male legislation for nearly one hundred years, in elaborating a jury that must inevitably consist of fools or knaves, and twelve of these to declare in unison upon a case of which they have formed no previous opinion, though the papers have rung with it, and you have lectured every night for more than a month to crowded houses upon it? but even this difficulty you are able to meet, and we leave our destiny in your hands with unfaltering hope and faith, saying only, as many a time before, god bless susan b. anthony.... in conclusion, let me urge upon you, dear friends, one and all, that each man and woman of you shall work for impartial suffrage as though the welfare of our beloved country depended upon the devotion of each single life, and the day is ours. i am now and always yours for liberty, isabella beecher hooker. washington, may , . miss susan b. anthony:--your favor requesting my opinion of the recent decisions of the supreme court of the united states, in the new orleans and bradwell cases, was received yesterday. i had not then seen those decisions, indeed they were not ready for distribution until to-day. i have very hastily run over them and only feel prepared to say that there is nothing in them necessarily conclusive of the suffrage cases. the opinion of the court in the new orleans cases is given by a bare majority, four out of the nine justices dissenting, and the majority expressly say: "we hold ourselves excused from defining the privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states, which no state can abridge until some case involving those privileges may make it necessary to do so." this language leaves us entirely at liberty to present the question whether suffrage is one of these "privileges" to their consideration. there are expressions in the dissenting opinions that upon the rules of interpretation applied to any other subject than the rights of women would indicate that the minority were fully prepared to admit that the recent amendments to the constitution--the new _magna charta_ as one of the justices styles them--recognized the right of suffrage in women. justice field says: "that only is a free government, in the american sense of the term, under which the inalienable right of every citizen to pursue his happiness is unrestrained, except by just, equal, and impartial laws." justice bradley says: "the states have not now, if they ever had, any power to restrict their citizenship to any classes or persons. a citizen of the united states has a perfect constitutional right to go to and reside in any state he chooses, and to claim citizenship therein, and an equality of rights with every other citizen, and the whole power of the nation is pledged to sustain him in that right. he is not bound to cringe to any superior, or to pray for any act of grace, as a means of enjoying all the rights and privileges enjoyed by other citizens." such language on any other subject would be conclusive, but the crust of custom and prejudice is hard and thick and strong, and the heat of the lava of regeneration may not yet have weakened it sufficiently to allow of its destruction and removal. we will try to have our cases fully prepared for argument when reached in the call of the calendar, which will be about next january, and after doing our best in them will have to trust for success if not in this in some other effort. very truly yours, francis miller. miss anthony gave the incidents of her arrest and trial to an immense audience in the evening, moving them alternately to laughter and indignation. at the close of this convention a large reception was given to the friends of woman suffrage by dr. clemence lozier at her hospitable home in th street, new york. her spacious parlors were crowded until a late hour. the occasion was enlivened with music, readings, and short, spicy speeches. the national woman suffrage association held its fifth convention at washington in january, . before the arrival of the principal actors, the hall was filled with spectators. soon after o'clock the president, accompanied by a large number of speakers[ ] and friends, came on the stage. many interesting letters were received[ ] and a series of resolutions[ ] reported. mrs. gage occupied the evening with an address on judge and jury. the following brief sketch of the convention by frances ellen burr is as good a summary of the proceedings as we find. (correspondence hartford _times_,) washington, jan. , . the national woman suffrage convention opened in lincoln hall this morning with a full house. miss anthony opened the meeting by reading the call, and then briefly stated its purposes, which were to bring influences to bear upon congress that will secure national protection for women in their right to vote. black men are the only ones guaranteed by the national constitution in their right to vote. women ask for the same security. a letter from the hon. e. g. lapham, of new york, puts a point in the closing paragraph to the effect that the most degraded elector, who would sell his vote for a dollar, or for a dram, couldn't be induced by the offer of a kingdom to sell his right to vote. miss anthony stated that the two articles of the woman suffrage creed were: first, that every woman should get her vote into the ballot box whenever she could get a judge of election to take it; and wherever refused, should go just the same again next time. second, that all women owning property should refuse to pay taxes. she read a memorial to congress for "no taxation without representation," the closing paragraph running as follows: _therefore_, we pray your honorable bodies to pass a law during the present session of congress, that shall exempt women from taxation for national purposes so long as they are unrepresented in national councils. mrs. spencer has a case now pending in the supreme court of the united states. she carried a suit for herself and seventy-two other women who applied to be made voters and were refused. she has prepared a petition for woman suffrage for the women of the district of columbia, on the ground, as miss anthony stated it, that as "this little ten-mile square belongs to us all, if the women here are enfranchised, those of the rest of the nation can not long be shut out." as congress has absolute control over the district, no one can dispute its right to enfranchise the women here, even though they dispute its control of this matter in other parts of the nation. miss spencer submitted the following petition for woman suffrage by the women of the district of columbia: _whereas_, the supreme court or the district or columbia in the ease of spencer against the board of registration has decided that by the operation of the first section of the xiv. amendment to the constitution of the united states, "women have been advanced to full citizenship and clothed with the capacity to become voters," and _whereas_, the same court further decided that the said first section of the xiv. amendment does not execute itself, but requires the supervention of legislative power in the exercise of legislative discretion to give it effect. and _whereas_, the congress of the united states is the legislative body having exclusive jurisdiction over this district, _therefore_, we respectfully pray your honorable bodies for the passage of an act amending an act entitled "an act to provide a government for the district of columbia," approved feb. , , by striking the word "male" from the seventh section of said act, thus placing the constitutional rights of the women of this district, as declared by the highest judicial tribunal, under the protection of the legislative power. she said it might surprise and encourage many, as it did her, to learn that neither the constitution of the united states nor any state constitution, nor legislative enactment, general or local, has ever forbidden women to vote. they have simply permitted certain male citizens to vote, and have said nothing about women whatever. it is one thing to forbid women to vote; it is quite another thing to simply fail to expressly declare that they may. some people think the bible forbids women to vote because it doesn't say anything about it from beginning to end. true, it does not give any authority for it. neither does it give any authority for using sewing-machines or clothes-wringers. the zeal of the people who search the scriptures in the interest of bigotry and intolerance, assumes that all that is not commanded to women is strictly forbidden. judge cartter says the general constitution interposes not a single obstacle to woman suffrage, and there is therefore no need of a new amendment; while the state constitutions simply leave her right in abeyance by omitting to declare it. that this view of the general constitution largely prevails is shown by so many women bringing suits against those who have rejected their votes, under the constitution as it is. mrs. spencer's manner is very pleasing, and her speech was pungent and to the point. she closed with the following pithy illustration of the need of woman's influence in legislative matters: i wanted a loaf of bread one day in a great hurry, and found six dram-shops on one square and only one bakery, and that was shut. mrs. spencer was followed by mrs. gage, mrs. stanton, mr. black, and mr. davis, of philadelphia, son-in-law of lucretia mott. committees on resolutions and finance were appointed, and the meeting adjourned till afternoon. f. e. b. washington, jan. . this convention, of which i sent you some account in my last letter, adjourned last night, _sine die_. lincoln hall has been crowded at all the sessions except one, when an admission fee was charged. and the admission fee worked up a little unpleasantness in another direction, for in such a case a license has to be bought of the city authorities. so on thursday evening before the meeting opened, word was sent to miss anthony in the ante-room, that a police officer was after her. "well, let him come then," she replied; "i shan't go after him, that's sure." in due time the policeman walked in, brass buttons and all. miss anthony had a pleasant little conversation with him for a few minutes. the policeman was very mild and amiable, and so was miss a. having had considerable experience with officers of justice(?), she has gotten a little used to them--in fact, rather indifferent. hard knocks and rubs conduce to philosophy, and miss anthony has acquired a philosophy akin to that of diogenes in his tub. she told the policeman she had no intention of paying this government for the poor privilege of coming here to demand justice at its hands. while miss anthony was as calm as a june morning, and wholly indifferent in the matter, mrs. belva lockwood, a practicing attorney in this city, raised such a din about the policeman's ears that he took to his heels, and didn't darken the ante-room doors of lincoln hall again while the convention was in session. that license remains _in statu quo_. mrs. stanton said that people were always saying women didn't want to vote, but the fact that the word "male" was in all the statute books showed that men knew all the time that they would vote if they had a chance. but whether they want to or not is a matter, she claimed, that had nothing to do with the question. it is time woman had a civil rights bill. no woman can enter columbia college, princeton, harvard, or yale. during the century we have spent $ , , for the boys of new york, and $ , , for the girls. are you willing to believe, women, that your girls are sixteen times less valuable than the boys? what is the reason of this low valuation of woman? because she is never to have anything to do with the state. it is a humiliating thing to ask, but i insist that the white women of this country be placed on the same civil and political footing with the colored men from the plantations of the south. if a woman traveling alone is belated at night, the hotels slam their doors in her face and turn her into the street. we want a civil rights bill that shall make every white woman just as respectable as a negro or a white man. mrs. blake followed with an anecdote of a girl who applied for admission to ann arbor university. one of the sentences she had to translate from the greek was this one from antigone: "seeing then that we are women, ought we not to be modest and not try to compete with men?" she took the highest honors in greek, and was ahead of every man in the class. she prepared a greek composition and introduced this sentence: "seeing then that we are men, ought we not to be ashamed that we have been vanquished by women?" mrs. stanton thought if girls could come out of colleges and schools ahead of the boys in their studies, it was pretty clear proof that they could accomplish almost anything within the power of human capacity, for girls have to study under all sorts of disadvantages that boys do not have to contend with. hang a hoop-skirt on a boy's hips; lace him up in a corset; hang pounds of clothing and trailing skirts upon him; puff him out with humps and bunches behind; pinch his waist into a compass that will allow his lungs only half their breathing capacity; load his head down with superfluous hair--rats, mice, chignons, etc., and stick it full of hair-pins; and then set him to translating greek and competing for prizes in a first-class university. what sort of a chance would he stand in running that race or any other!! mrs. stanton read a civil rights bill for women, to be presented to congress. this bill is to secure to them, equally with colored men, all the advantages and opportunities of life; open to them all colleges of learning; secure to them the right to sit on juries; to sue and be sued; to practice in all our courts on the same terms with colored men; to be tried by a jury of their peers; to be admitted to theaters and hotels alone; to walk the streets by night and by day, to ramble in the forest, or beside the lakes and rivers, as do colored men, without fear of molestation or insult from any white man whatsoever, to secure equal place and pay in this world of work. she also presented a series of resolutions, nine in number. the first five are for freedom generally, and no taxation without representation. the sixth and seventh denounce the bills of senators frelinghuysen and logan, the former being designed to deprive the women of the territories of jury trial, and the latter to restore the common law in the territories. the eighth recognizes the importance of the organization of the grangers; and the ninth opposes the granting of general amnesty to former rebels. this resolution mrs. stanton denounced, speaking in favor of universal amnesty. quite a spicy discussion ensued on this resolution, which was drawn up by mrs. joslyn gage. mrs. stanton in her remarks in opposition, said it was hardly worth while for women in their conventions to throw any stigma on jefferson davis. the institution of slavery was sustained by the north as well as the south; the north got out expurgated editions of books for the southern market. it was in bad taste for the north to denounce the south, and it was in particularly bad taste for woman suffragists who are clamoring for representation and for the ballot, to call for its denial to any part of the nation. col. r. j. hinton, of washington, also denounced the resolution, saying that it violated one of the fundamental principles of the woman suffrage platform, which is that the limitation of suffrage is a gross outrage. miss anthony very pertinently said: "all the trouble on this platform is that we haven't the right to vote. if we had it we shouldn't complain of anybody else voting." the resolution was voted down by a large majority. at the evening session the hall was literally packed. mrs. dundore of baltimore, and miss taintor of california were the first speakers. then the fascinating st. louis lawyer, miss phoebe couzins, whose logic is as sound as her wit is sparkling, was introduced, and delivered an address on "woman as lawyer," a subject which, in most hands, would have put the audience to sleep, but in hers, kept them wide awake with laughter and applause at her brilliant sallies. at the conclusion of her speech the hutchinsons sang a stirring song, and then miss anthony introduced the colored member of congress from south carolina, mr. a. j. ransier, who spoke unqualifiedly in favor of woman suffrage. mr. ransier is president of a woman suffrage association in south carolina. he was a little inclined to repeat himself, and after having returned several times to the statement that he had "no speech to make," an old lady in the audience popped up on the bench and said: "well, if you haven't got a speech to make, i have," and immediately started out at the rate of twenty-five knots an hour, utterly oblivious of the rights of mr. ransier, who already had the floor, and who was very politely waiting for her to subside. miss anthony, after patiently waiting some time, said she should have to call the lady to order, but she paid no attention to the call. after a while the ludicrous situation set the audience to smiling audibly, and the louder they smiled, and the greater the excitement grew, the swifter flew the old lady's tongue. after consultation among the managers of the meeting, it was finally decided to send a policeman to quietly remove this garrulous disturber of the peace. a policeman was accordingly summoned, but his entreaties had no effect on the old lady, who stoutly maintained her perch, and declared she would not go with him. then miss couzins descended from the platform, and accomplished with her winning ways what the policeman couldn't. she calmed the troubled waters--got the old lady to sit down by her side and keep the peace the rest of the evening. who wouldn't maintain the peace when entreated from such a quarter? mr. ransier was enabled to finish his speech--a really good one--miss anthony remarking at its close that she wished she could have had him for her judge instead of mr. hunt. she then made a wide awake and telling speech, which, if this letter were not already too long, i should like to give. at its close she introduced mrs. guthrie, a daughter of frances wright, that woman of rare mind and original thought, who came from england to this country some forty or more years ago; and who, with robert owen and some others, tried to start a colony on the community system. to the surprise of all, mrs. guthrie declared herself opposed to woman suffrage. at the close of her remarks the doxology was sung, and the convention adjourned _sine die_. f. e. b. the correspondent of the boston _commonwealth_, after giving a pen-picture of the ladies on the platform, said: the convention laid out some very practical work for the consideration and action of congress. it circulated a petition and obtained six hundred names of citizens, both men and women of the district, asking that the word male be stricken from the organic act of the district government. this was presented by mr. dawes, for mr. butler, to the house, and referred to the judiciary committee, before the members of which the ladies to-day had a hearing. their case was presented and briefly argued by mr. miller, a lawyer of some promise and reputation, a resident of the district. mrs. sarah spencer, of washington, addressed the committee on the legal points involved. she said that the petitioners did not conceal the point that the xiv. amendment did not give them the right to vote, but since congress had referred them to the state legislatures, they came now to ask that the women of the district be allowed to vote. mrs. spencer answered the argument so often made, that all of the bad women would vote and the good ones would stay at home. she said in reply to this oft-repeated objection, that she had found in talking with that class they made the same objection to woman suffrage that the fashionable women make, and were quite as averse to its adoption. again, she said statistics show the lamentable fact that only one-fifth of this class live to be eighteen years of age; their average length of life being only five years, no real danger was to be apprehended from giving woman the ballot. mrs. spencer spoke with feeling, and evidently made a favorable impression upon the committee. mrs. lockwood made a few pertinent remarks. as this lady has lately been admitted to the bar in this city, she can speak from experience upon many points of law and fact. miss burr, of hartford, asked simply for full justice, eschewing law and legal lore upon the subject, willing to be numbered with plato and john stuart mill on this question. miss couzins appealed to the heart; as so many knock-down arguments had been hurled at their heads she preferred to attack the heart. she said she felt great delicacy in appearing before so much learning and wisdom, but the veteran commander-in-chief of the forces, miss anthony, had ordered her to the front, and when she told her she must spike a gun, like a good soldier, although a raw recruit, she obeyed. miss anthony introduced the speakers, and closed the meeting with a few well-chosen words. it was a picture worthy the brush of an old master. eleven lawyers seated around a table, with benjamin f. butler at the head, listening to women pleading for the right of self-government. their faces, as they listened, every one of them with respectful attention, was a study worthy the most thoughtful student of human nature. some of them listened, no doubt, for the first time to an argument in favor of this innovation, but the most unbelieving were evidently impressed with the earnestness and strong feeling displayed in the advocacy of the cause. the room was well filled with spectators, drawn together, some from sympathy, others from idle curiosity, but all were compelled to respectful consideration by the ease, dignity, and ability displayed by the ladies in presenting their cause. only upon the faces of a few newspaper reporters just emerging from adolescence into manhood, rested the traditional sneer at the strong-minded; and when the hour for adjournment arrived, one of the members of the committee remarked he regretted that a longer time could not have been given to the ladies. to those who think the cause of woman suffrage has gone backwards, we commend the proceedings of this meeting of the judiciary committee. in addition to the petition for suffrage in the district, another one has also been drawn, which mr. loughridge, of iowa, will present at an early day, asking for the remission of the fine imposed upon miss anthony for voting at the last presidential election. by the way, an incident showing the singular independence of gen. grant happened on saturday. when the president was taking his afternoon stroll down pennsylvania avenue, he met miss anthony and miss couzins. instead of bowing and passing on, as most any one of the high dignitaries occupying official position would have done, he stopped, shook hands, and entered into conversation with them. the chief justiceship being the absorbing subject of interest, miss couzins suggested the name of elizabeth cady stanton, since he seemed to have so much trouble in getting a man to suit. the president pleasantly replied he would not subject any woman to the ordeal of such an examination as she would be subjected to over sunday, if the announcement of the nomination to that office were made. miss anthony said if he would only nominate henry r. selden, her counsel, the man who had brains and courage enough to defend her for voting for him, the country would at once recognize it as the best possible thing that could be done. the group, as they stood there on the avenue, the president of the united states with a pleased and animated face, and miss anthony, whom everybody knows and respects, even although they don't believe in suffrage for women, and the strikingly handsome young lawyer from st. louis, in animated conversation over the chief justiceship, was the object of attraction of all passing by. if some fortunate photographer could have taken the picture his fortune would have been secured beyond doubt. the may anniversary[ ] of was held in irving hall, with the usual list of speakers.[ ] the attendance was large throughout. martha c. wright, one of the most judicious and clear-sighted women in the movement, was elected president. a large number of letters[ ] was received from nearly every state in the union. on may th, , while the bill to establish the territory of pembina was pending in the senate, mr. sargent, of california, moved to add "sex" to line of section , which would make the clause read: _resolved_, that the legislative assembly shall not, at any time, abridge the right of suffrage, or to hold office, on account of sex, race, color, or previous condition of servitude of any resident of the territory. mr. sargent.--in the same connection i move in the first line of section to strike out the word "male," so as to read "every inhabitant of the united states." the president _pro tempore_.--the question is on the amendment of the senator from california. mr. sargent.--at the time when the last national convention of the republican party assembled in philadelphia, which nominated general grant for his second term, there was assembled a body of able, respectable ladies of the united states, who urged upon that convention a consideration of the subject involved in the amendment which i propose; and as a concession to the demand made by those persons, a plank was inserted in the platform whereby it was declared that the republican party would treat with consideration the claims of women to be admitted to additional rights. since that time, although the republican party has had a two-thirds majority in both houses of congress and elected the president of its choice, and now has full power and has had ever since the assembling of this congress to carry out this promise, not one step has been taken in this direction. it has not been for want of petition or solicitation. it certainly has not been because the matter has not been called to the attention of both houses of congress, for petition after petition has been presented, and no action has been taken except adverse action in the other house, the committee reporting back those petitions with the recommendation that the prayer be not granted. in the senate we have not yet been favored with the views of the committee to whom those petitions were referred. considering that a great constitutional question was involved, it might be assumed that these subjects would receive very early attention at the hands of the committees of the senate; but up to this time we have had no light on the matter. i believe, mr. president, that the amendment which i offer to this bill is justified by the organic law of the united states, and in fact required by that law. before the adoption of the xiv. and xv. articles of amendment to the constitution of the united states women were hedged from the ballot-box by the use of the word "male." since that time another rule has been prescribed by the organic law, giving to all citizens of the united states the right to exercise this highest privilege of a citizen. by the xiv. article of amendment it is provided that "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside." this most important declaration is now the organic law of the united states. it does not say "all males born or naturalized in the united states," but "all persons," and it can not be contended successfully that a woman is not a person, and not a person within the meaning of this clause of the constitution. this being the status of all individuals, male and female, they being citizens of the united states, it is provided that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." of course if any state is prohibited from doing this, any territory should be prohibited from doing it, because no territory can constitutionally do that which a state itself can not do. then, if women are citizens of the united states, and there is no right to abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states, as proclaimed by the supreme law of the land, what are these privileges and immunities? grant white, in his able work on "words and their uses," defines, on page , the privileges and immunities of citizens, and among them gives the right to vote and the right to hold office. webster gives the same definition of the word "citizen" and so does worcester, and bouvier's law dictionary speaks expressly of these rights of citizens of the united states to vote and hold office; and there is little adverse authority to these definitions. the constitution, if it needs construction at all--and it would hardly seem to need it in a case so plain as this--must be construed by the ordinary and authoritative use of the words contained in it; and here is both the ordinary and the authoritative use of those words. this matter has not been without judicial construction. in the circuit court reports ( washington, ), it was held that these privileges and immunities included the right to hold office and to exercise the elective franchise; and this view was adopted by chancellor kent in his commentaries, volume ii., page . so that both by united states courts and the best and highest commentary upon the laws of the united states the construction which i contend for of the xiv. amendment is insisted upon and ably illustrated. the considerations which i have urged address themselves not merely to republicans, they address themselves with great force to my democratic friends who are such sticklers for the constitution. although that is true, nevertheless the republican party has pledged itself especially to a respectful consideration of these demands in its last national platform, and it has control of both houses of congress and of the executive department. passing from that consideration, we have all persons born or naturalized in the united states declared by the constitution to be citizens; and we have the meaning of the word "citizen" given by our courts, by our lexicographers, by our law commentators; we have further their "privileges and immunities" settled by all these authorities to include the right to vote and the right to hold office. in consonance with this organic law, the policy of which is not open to discussion because it has been adopted according to all the legal forms by the people of the united states, i offer this amendment. were this the time and place, and were not the discussion foreclosed by the considerations which i have already advanced, i might speak at some length upon the advantage which there would be in the admission of women to the suffrage. i might point with some pride to the experiment which has been made in wyoming, where women hold office, where they vote, where they have the most orderly society of any of the territories, where the experiment is approved by the executive officers of the united states, by their courts, by the press, and by the people generally; and if it operates so well in wyoming, where it has rescued that territory from a state of comparative lawlessness to one of the most orderly in the union, i ask why it might not operate equally well in the territory of pembina or any other territory? i hope the time is not far distant when some of the older states of the union like new york, or massachusetts, or ohio may give this experiment a fuller chance. but so far as it has gone, the experiment has been entirely in favor of legislation for admitting women to the ballot-box. and i do not believe that in putting these higher responsibilities upon women we degrade their character, that we subject them to uncongenial pursuits, that we injure their moral tone, that we tarnish their delicacy, that we in any way make them less noble and admirable as women, as wives, and mothers. i believe that by realizing the intention of the constitution, which uses words that are so fully explained by our courts and by our writers upon the uses of words, we simply open a wider avenue to women for usefulness to themselves and to society. i think we give them an opportunity, instead of traveling the few and confined roads that are open to them now, to engage more generally in the business of life under some guarantee of their success. i believe that, instead of driving them to irregular efforts like those which they recently have made in many of the states to overthrow liquor selling, it will give them an opportunity through the ballot-box to protect their families, to break up the nefarious traffic and purify society. as it is now, their energies in this direction are repressed, and sometimes in order to have force are compelled to be exercised even in opposition to law. i would give them an opportunity to exercise them under the forms of law, and i would enforce the law by the accession of this pure element. i do not think that they would be corrupted by it, but rather that society and politics would be purified by admitting them to the ballot-box and giving them this opportunity. i therefore trust that, in the spirit of the pledge that was made by us as republicans, in the spirit of the adhesion to the constitution professed by our democratic friends, there may be an assent to this amendment, and that the united states will engraft this feature in the organic law of this new territory. there is nothing peculiar in the form of this proposition. all the original steps which we took toward circumscribing slavery were taken by engrafting provisos on the organic laws of territories, from nebraska down, providing that the territories, when organized, should not do this or that affecting the liberty of human beings. in the mode pursued by that legislation, and according to those precedents, i now propose that the constitution shall be invoked; that women shall have the right in this territory which is guaranteed by the organic law. mr. stewart.--if this region is to be created into a territory, i think it eminently proper that this amendment should be adopted. the question of female suffrage is a question that is being seriously considered by a large portion of the people of the united states. we may think lightly of it here; we may think it never will be accomplished; but there are a great many earnest people who believe if females had the ballot they could better protect themselves, be more independent, and occupy useful positions in life which are now denied to them. whether they be correct or not, it is not necessary for us to determine in passing upon this amendment. here is a new territory to be created, and it is a good opportunity to try this experiment. if it works badly, when the territory becomes a state there is nobody committed. it is not an amendment of the organic law of the nation. this is a bill simply providing for the organization of a territory and for a preliminary government, and i should like for one to see this experiment tried. it is suggested by my friend on my right (mr. conkling) that it can not spread unless it is catching. (laughter.) if it works well, if it succeeds in protecting females in their rights and enabling them to assert their rights elsewhere and obtain such employment as is suitable to them, i hope it will become catching and spread all over the country, if that is the light in which it is to be treated. i am in earnest about this matter. i think this new territory is the place to try the experiment. if it works badly, we can see it, and no great harm will be done. if it works well, the example will be a good one and will be imitated. we first tried the experiment of negro suffrage in the district of columbia, and it became catching and spread all over the south. now, when there is a large portion of the people of the united states desirous of having this principle illustrated, here is a fair field for the illustration of it, that they may see and we may see, whether there is anything in their arguments by the practical illustration of them for a few years until this new territory shall become a state. i say let them have female suffrage there and try it. if it works well, their arguments will be vindicated; if it works badly, it need not be followed. i hope that the senator from minnesota will consent that this shall become a part of the law. let us try it. it will do no harm. mr. boreman.--i do not propose to enter into a discussion of the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of woman suffrage, nor a discussion of the propriety or impropriety of the adoption of a provision in favor of it upon this bill. i think this is not a very good time to "try experiments," to use the language of the senator from nevada, and i trust we may have a vote upon this question. the presiding officer (mr. ingalls in the chair).--the question is on the amendment proposed by the senator from california. mr. sargent and mr. sprague called for the yeas and nays, and they were ordered. mr. morton.--i desire simply to state my views upon this amendment; views long entertained. i am in favor of the amendment on what i regard as the fundamental principles of our government, upon the theory upon which we have based our government from the beginning. the declaration of independence says: we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. the word "men" in that connection does not mean males, but it means the human family; that all human beings are created equal. this will hardly be denied. i remember it was formerly contended that the declaration of independence in this clause did not include black people. it was argued learnedly and frequently, in this chamber and out of it, that the history surrounding the adoption of that declaration showed that white men only were intended. but that was not the general judgment of the people of this country. it was held to embrace all colors and all races. it embraces both sexes; not simply males, but females. all human beings are created equal. that is the foundation principle of our government. it then goes on to say: that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. if these rights are fundamental, if they belong to all human beings as such, if they are god-given rights, then all persons having these god-given rights have a right to use the means for their preservation; the means is government: "to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." i ask you whether the women of this country have ever given their consent to this government? have they the means of giving their consent to it? the colored men had not given their consent to it. why? because they had not the right to vote. there is but one way that the consent to government can be given, and that is by a right to a voice in that government, and that is the right to vote. i know it was argued in times past in regard to the south that the master gave the consent on the part of his slaves; that he represented them; that he had their good at heart, and that he gave their consent. we denied that. we know it was not true. now, sir, to come down to the main question, i ask if the women of this country have given their consent to this government? you say they are consenting. i say they are assenting to it, the majority of them; but they have no means of giving their consent to this government within the theory of the declaration of independence; and they can not consent to it unless they have a voice, have a right to vote "yes" or to vote "no." what was the old theory of the common law? it was that the father represented the interests of his daughter, the husband of his wife, and the son of his mother. they were deprived of all legal rights in a state of marriage, because it was said that they were taken care of by those who stood to them in these relations; but they never were taken care of. the husband never took care of the rights of his wife at common law; the father never took care of the rights of his daughter; the son never took care of the rights of his mother. the husband at common law was a tyrant and a despot. why, sir, he absorbed the legal existence of his wife at common law; she could not make a contract except as his agent. her legal existence was destroyed, and the very moment the marriage was consummated he became the absolute owner of all her personal property. what was the theory of it? the old theory of the common law, as given in elementary writers, was that if the wife was allowed to own property separate from her husband it would make a distinct interest; it would break up and destroy the harmony of the marriage relation; the marriage relation must be a unit; there must be but one interest; and therefore the legal existence of the wife must be merged into that of the husband. i believe a writer as late as blackstone laid it down that it would not do to permit the wife to hold any property in severalty from her husband, because it would give to her an interest apart from his. we have got over that. it took us one hundred and fifty years to get past that, and from year to year in this country, especially in the last twenty-five years, we have added to the rights of the wife in regard to property and in many other respects. we now give to her a legal status in this country that she has not in england or in any european country. she has now a legal status that she had not twenty-five years ago, and progress is still going on in that direction. while it was argued by old law-writers and old law-makers that to allow women to hold property separate from their husbands was to break up the harmony of the marriage relation, we know practically that it has not worked that way. we know that as we have made woman independent, recognized her legal existence as a wife, secured her rights, it has elevated her. we know that instead of disturbing the marriage relation, it has improved it constantly; and i believe that the woman has the same natural right to a voice in this government that the man has. if we believe in the theory of our government that must be so. i believe that as you make woman the equal of man in regard to civil rights, rights of property, rights of person, political rights, you elevate her, you make her happier; and as you do that you elevate the male sex also. this idea that women will be degraded by allowing them to go to the polls comes down to us from other countries and from remote periods of civilization. why, sir, in countries now that claim to be civilized it is said that to allow the wife or the mother to go to the dinner-table with the husband and meet his guests face to face degrades her and degrades them. in some countries a woman must not appear on the streets unless she is so closely veiled that she can not be recognized; for it is said to allow her to go upon the streets barefaced or so thinly veiled that she can be recognized, subjects her to insult and degrades her; and in some countries to-day it destroys her character as effectually as other things would destroy her character in our country. we know that is a prejudice; and the idea that woman will be degraded by giving her the right of suffrage is a remnant of that same idea. it is born of the same parentage. it has no sounder reason for it than these other nations have. i believe that to give women the right of suffrage would elevate the character of suffrage in this country. it would make the polls more decent, more respectable than they are now. why, sir, fifty years ago the idea of women attending political meetings was intolerable to a great many people. the idea of her going to lectures of a scientific character was thought to be out of all reason. but now women go to political meetings. in almost every canvass in my state there are nearly as many women who attend the meetings as men. what is the effect of it? are they degraded? on the contrary, their presence elevates the character of those meetings. it is an assurance of peace, it is a security against rowdyism and violence, because in this country men have to be very low if they are guilty of rowdyism or blackguardism in the presence of women. we have a habitual respect for them; and i can testify from my own experience in politics that the attendance of women upon political meetings, so far from degrading them or affecting men injuriously, has elevated the character of political assemblages, has made them more respectable, has secured to them immunity from violence, and from degrading scenes and blackguardism, and so it will be at the polls. when a woman is allowed to go to the polls and vote her sentiments and convictions, it will have the same effect there that her presence has in society. there is not a bit of doubt about it. and there will be no more discord in the family circle than there was when, in violation and against the old principles of the common law, you gave a woman the right to retain her legal existence after marriage and to own property separate and apart from her husband. these old notions have been giving away one after another little by little, and we shall finally come down to the true theory of our government in all respects, and that is to allow every person, man or woman, who is to be affected and controlled by the government, whose interest or whose happiness is to be controlled by or depends on the administration of that government, to have an equal voice in that government. therefore i give my vote heartily and cheerfully for this amendment. mr. flanagan.--i confess, sir, that i was delighted when my distinguished friend from california presented this amendment. unlike my distinguished friend from indiana, however, i am a new convert to this doctrine. he has been of this opinion long since, i am gratified to learn. i have reflected much on this subject, and within the last few months i have settled down in my determination, and that is to advocate this great measure. why have i so recently arrived at that conclusion? in the last few months the women's war upon the whisky trade and intemperance at large has prompted me thus to declare unequivocally for them and their glorious efforts. it is from them and with them that i hope, judging from their success up to this time, to save this great nation from the worst curse known to the human family, that of intemperance; and i believe it is they and only they through almighty god who can do it. man has been found incompetent and unable to perform that great and desired object. and gratified am i to receive the idea from my distinguished friend, that if women had the right to vote they would not be expelled from many pursuits as they now are, or be compelled to go upon the streets as they now are, seeking in self-defense the preservation of man. the effect of this measure on politics has been so well described by the distinguished senator from indiana that i need not comment upon that branch of the subject. they would tend to purify the atmosphere morally, either at the ballot-box or anywhere else, i care not where it may be. they are more directly interested in good morals, in the temperance of the world and everything bearing on that line, than the husbands are. i think it is a right they are entitled to in every sense of the word, and from this time henceforth i am a woman's rights man. mr. merrimon.--mr. president, i will not yield to any senator in the measure of my respect for and admiration of woman; i do not propose by any act or word of mine to detract from her dignity or to diminish the pleasures she may enjoy in this life; but i claim the right to be the judge, in conjunction with herself, of what is best calculated to elevate and protect her dignity and promote her happiness. i do not believe that woman herself believes that her dignity would be elevated or her happiness promoted by putting her upon an exact equality, civilly or politically, in both points of view, with man; and very strong and controlling evidence of that fact is, that neither in this country nor in any country has woman--i mean the great mass of them--ever demanded such a state of things. our government has existed for about a hundred years, and the number of females who have demanded to be invested with equal political and civil rights and to be placed upon an exact equality with the male portion of our population, compared with those who have remained in retirement, who have staid at their homes and lived and ruled within that sphere in which it seems god intended that they should rule, is as a drop in the sea. so it appears in this conclusive way that the women of america do not demand this state of things. they do not protect themselves by votes, nor do they need to do so. they shape the man when he is a child, rule him with the power of love, and thus they shape, affect, and often control the destinies of men, nations, and empires. i do not propose, however, to go into a discussion in detail of what the women desire or what we ought to grant. my main purpose is to reply very briefly to some remarks that fell from the honorable senator from indiana [mr. morton] in reference to the declaration of independence. i differ, with all respect, from the revolutionary construction which he puts upon that instrument. it is true, as he says, that the declaration of independence provides in these words: [illustration: ellen clark sargent.] we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. now, i maintain in the first place that we must put a reasonable construction on those words. plainly, to my mind, all men are created equal in point of natural rights, certainly not equal in point of civil rights, not equal in point of political rights. by nature man has no civil or political rights. natural rights are one sort of rights; civil rights are another sort of rights; and political rights are a third sort of rights. every human being has a natural right to life and liberty; but every human being has not a natural right to government. he has not a natural right to the civil rights conferred and defined by a system of government. when he becomes subject to civil government he surrenders a part of his natural rights--agrees that civil government may regulate these and then enjoys the benefit of civil rights conferred by civil government; but then he does not thereby necessarily become entitled to political rights. he can not become entitled to political rights until they shall be conferred upon him by government. mr. morton.--will the senator cite what follows? mr. merrimon.--when our fathers adopted the declaration of independence, and declared these general truths, they had reference to the natural rights of man, and only to those rights. they well knew the distinctions to which i have adverted, had them in view and acted upon them, as i shall now proceed to show. mr. morton.--it says that "to secure these rights" referred to, the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, "governments were instituted which derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." now, i ask if women are a part of "the governed?" mr. merrimon.--yes, sir; they are a part of "the governed," and i say that they have not only assented, but they have consented to this system of government. mr. morton.--how? mr. merrimon.--i say so, because they have never raised their voice in opposition to it; they have given for nearly a century their highest moral sanction to it; we have had a moral expression from the american women with a degree of unanimity and cordiality that is striking. i am warranted in saying that nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand have given their moral assent, in as full a measure as it was possible for them to do, to our system of government. they have sustained it under all circumstances with their love, their hands, and their hearts, with their smiles and their tears, educated their children to love it and to die for it. they have manifested their love for it in every form, it has never appeared, be it said to their honor, that they disliked or disapproved it. they have had the right under the bill of rights of every state in the union, they have had the right under the constitution of the union at all times to memorialize the states and to memorialize congress, protesting against any abridgment of their natural or civil rights, if they deemed there was any abridgment of those rights. but i repeat what i said a while ago, the number who have thus memorialized congress and the state governments, compared with those who have not opened their mouths on this subject, is as a drop in the sea compared to the waste of waters. they have yielded their assent to this system of government; they have ratified it by every means in their power outside of exercising the political right to vote. i know that there are a few women in the country who complain, but those who complain, compared with those who do not complain, are as one to a million. but to get back to the point. those who established the declaration of independence gave an exposition to their view of it in the formation and administration of the several state governments they adopted. for years in those state governments they provided civil and political distinctions and discriminations; they provided that certain classes of white men should enjoy certain classes of rights, that certain other men should not enjoy the same rights. they provided that the male population should enjoy rights that the female should not enjoy. they provided that the white race should be free and that the black race should be slaves. they did that, and according to their action and the organic laws which they adopted, they said in the most solemn manner they could, that that system of government carried out the purposes they meant to declare and define in the declaration of independence. they not only did that, but they had a right to do it, nor was it inconsistent with the declaration, for it referred only to natural rights, and when they instituted governments they provided civil and political rights, and therefore there was no contradiction and no practical absurdity as is suggested. their theory was practical and adapted to the comprehension and protection of human rights. they were not visionary theorists but practical statesmen. they were not radical but conservative in their notions of government. not only the state governments did at first what i have indicated, but when the american people came to establish the constitution of the united states they again provided in the constitution a distinction and discrimination between the male and the female portion of the american people; they provided that the males should hold the offices, that the males should have the right to vote; and not only that, but by way of further exposition of their views of the nature, purposes, and meaning of the declaration, they provided that the black race should be slaves. that constitution recognizes negro slavery in three several provisions. mr. morton.--does the senator speak of the constitution of the united states? mr. merrimon.--yes, sir. in the matter of representation, slavery was expressly provided for; it was recognized in another provision relative to prohibiting the importation of certain persons until after the year ; and in another provision which provided that those held to labor, escaping to another state, should be surrendered to their masters on demand. the constitution of the union, made in pursuance of this very declaration of independence and conforming to it, recognized a distinction between the white race and the black race, and recognized and provided distinctions between the male and the female portions of the people of the american union, and thereby in the most absolute manner drew the civil and political distinctions that have been kept up in one way or another from that day to this, and which i contend, with a view to good government, so far as the male and female portions of the american people go, ought to be kept up and perpetuated. it seems to me that any one who will take into consideration the facts to which i have called attention must see that the broad, radical construction which the senator puts on the declaration of independence can not be sustained by reason, authority, or practice. but, sir, i want now to refer to the position taken by the senator from california [mr. sargent]. he says that under the constitution by the xiii., xiv. and xv. articles of amendment, congress has no power to deprive the females of this country of the right of suffrage. that i deny as emphatically as i can. i read from paschal's annotated constitution, p. : . but citizenship of the united states, or of a state, does not of itself give the right to vote; nor, _e converso_, does the want of it prevent a state from conferring the right of suffrage. (scott _vs._ sandford, howard, .) the right of suffrage is the right to choose officers of the government, and it does not carry along the right of citizenship. (bates on citizenship, , .) our laws make no provision for the loss or deprivation of citizenship. (_id._) the word "citizen" is not mentioned in this clause, and its idea is excluded in the qualifications for suffrage in all the state constitutions. (_id._, , .) mr. sargent.--what clause is he commenting on? mr. merrimon.--he is commenting on section of article . he says further: american citizenship does not necessarily depend upon nor co-exist with the legal capacity to hold office or the right of suffrage, either or both of them. no person in the united states did ever exercise the right of suffrage in virtue of the naked, unassisted fact of citizenship. (_id._) there is a distinction between political rights and political powers. the former belong to all citizens alike, and cohere in the very name and nature of citizenship. the latter (voting and holding office) does not belong to all citizens alike, nor to any citizen merely in virtue of citizenship. his power always depends upon extraneous facts and superadded qualifications; which facts and qualifications are common to both citizens and aliens. (bates on citizenship.) i read these hasty citations of authority which happen to be convenient to show that there is a distinction between political power and political rights, and in further support of the distinction between citizenship, or civil rights, and political rights. mr. sargent.--will my friend allow me a moment? mr. merrimon.--yes, sir. mr. sargent.--the author there is commenting on the second section of the first article of the constitution, and i think his reasoning on that upon general principles may be correct, at any rate it is in consonance with the authority that he cites. but it will be observed that by the xiv. article, section , it is provided that-- all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. and then it says: no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens, covering the whole broad ground. whatever may be the privileges and immunities of citizens are covered and protected by this clause. this is subsequent to the article commented on there and changes the spirit of the old constitution, is inconsistent with it, repeals it, or modifies it _pro tanto_; or else there would be no object in the adoption of the xiv. article. mr. merrimon.--i was just coming to the discussion of that amendment. the xiv. amendment applies to civil rights. as i have shown, a citizen merely by virtue of citizenship does not enjoy political rights; neither the right to vote nor the right to hold office. the manifest object and purpose of the xiv. amendment was to secure to all the american people equality of right in the states, equality of right under the united states, civilly, not politically; and that is made more manifest when we consider the second section of the xiv. amendment. it is in these words: representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the united states, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. thus it appears the amendments recognized the right of the state itself to regulate the political right to vote. the xv. article of amendment still further confirms my view. it provides that "the right of citizens of the united states to vote"--and that word "vote" is material there--"the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state." note what follows: "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." the right of a citizen of the united states in the first place to vote shall not be abridged on account of three considerations, to-wit: race, color, or previous condition of servitude. why was it limited to those three causes? manifestly because the framers of this article saw that congress had the power to abridge the rights of the colored race--indeed, any race--in the matter of voting and in the matter of holding office as well. can it be contended that the united states would not have the power to-day to provide that a negro or an indian or a chinese or a mongolian, if naturalized, and a citizen, should not hold office under the united states government? it is plain they would have such power. but they can not act upon the ground of race, color, or previous condition as to the matter of voting, and the restriction is to that alone. this clause provides expressly that as to voting the right of no human being shall be abridged because of his race, or his color, or his previous condition of servitude, but such right may be abridged for any other cause or consideration. this amendment did not impose a restriction simply on the power of the united states. in order to protect the colored race in the southern states, and indeed i may say throughout the whole union, this provision embraces the states as well as the united states, and provides that the states shall not have power to abridge the right to vote on any one of three accounts--race, color, or previous condition of servitude. but that does not imply that the states shall not have the power to abridge this right for other causes. each state has the power to-day to abridge the right to vote because a man can not read, because he can not write, or for any similar cause. the states have power to provide that a man shall not be allowed to hold office or to vote because he can not read or because he can not write, or for any cause whatever. that is not only so according to the plain construction to be given to the xv. amendment, but some of the states exercise such power in this country to-day. mr. sargent.--will the senator allow me to direct his mind to one consideration? mr. merrimon.--i will. mr. sargent.--the xv. amendment to the constitution which the senator refers to, reads: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged:" it does not create a right, it says "the right"; it speaks of something existing which shall not be denied. the right, then, to vote is the right of a citizen of the united states; the right exists. in other words, the right which exists of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged. mr. merrimon.--there is no affirmative provision or principle in the constitution that confers such a right, and my friend arrives at his conclusion by a simple inference; that is all. and i apprehend that a right of so much moment, contravening the whole policy of the government, heretofore, can not be established by a simple inference; and especially in the strength and in the face of the fact, however it might be as to other matters, that the united states shall not have the power to abridge the right for the cause mentioned. besides this, if i concede what the honorable senator says, he must acknowledge that it is within the power of the united states to abridge the right to vote for other causes than those stated. the constitution of connecticut prescribes these qualifications: every white male citizen of the united states; one year's residence; freehold of the yearly value of six dollars; good moral character; able to read any article of the constitution or any section of the statutes of the state. but if that state had undertaken to restrict the right to vote because a man was black or because he belonged to a particular race, or because heretofore he had been subject to a condition of servitude, that would be absolutely null and void; or if they had put in that he should not vote because he was white it would be null and void. next, by the constitution of massachusetts, the right to vote is limited to "male citizens (excepting persons or paupers under guardianship); residence in the state one year; in the town or district six months; having paid all required taxes." that constitution has existed since . it was provided further in that constitution that "no person shall have the right to vote or to be eligible to office under this commonwealth who shall not be able to read the constitution in the english language and write his name. so that the power which i insist belongs to the united states, and i think i have shown belongs to the states, not only exists, but is actually exercised by states, at least two states of the union, at this moment; and indeed in nearly or quite all the states there are more or less restrictions of the right to vote; and the state and the union have absolute power to abridge the political right to vote except for three causes only, and those three causes are race, color, or previous condition of servitude. mr. stewart.--i hope that the senate will not suppose that there is any constitutional question here involved. it is simply a question of regulating the suffrage in a territory, exclusively under the jurisdiction of the congress of the united states. there is no doubt of the power of congress to allow women to vote in the territories, and i hope there will not be a great deal of time spent on that matter. mr. merrimon.--why do you want to go into a remote, sparsely settled territory to make the experiment? mr. stewart.--why not try it everywhere? why not try it in north carolina? because we can not. mr. merrimon.--why not try it in this city? mr. stewart.--because we have not the power to do it. mr. merrimon.--you have in the district of columbia. mr. sargent.--we tried the question of negro suffrage in nebraska first. mr. stewart.--negro suffrage was opened in a territory when there were less people in it than there are here, and see how that has spread. mr. merrimon.--my friend did not hear my question. why not confer suffrage on the women of the district of columbia. mr. sargent.--we will the first time we get a chance. mr. stewart.--the senator from north carolina asks, "why not try it here?" the question has been suggested whether there is not a constitutional reason for not trying it here, and that constitutional question applies to males as well as females. the constitution says that congress shall have exclusive power of legislation within the district of columbia, and it shall exercise like power over places owned by the united states with the consent of the states for arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings, making this district under the exclusive control of congress. i think that nothing but the emergencies of the case could have justified the experiment we tried here with negro suffrage; but we did it. we now have a fair field in the west where the country is rich and inviting, as my friend from minnesota says, a country that is able to become a state; the land fertile, the climate salubrious, and is to be occupied by the very best people, and we can try it there under the most favorable auspices. mr. conkling.--may i ask a question? mr. stewart.--most certainly. mr. conkling.--the senator has assured us so often that he is in earnest, that i know he will be able to afford those like me who are following him, although they may be somewhat in the dark, the requisite information. some senator inquired of my friend why he did not try the experiment here, and he answered that congress has power to legislate here, and therefore there is no experiment to try here. now i know my friend does not mean to paddle out of any thing, because he has courage enough to stand up to it; and i submit to him that that is rather "thin." under the organic law of this district men vote here annually; the things upon which they vote are prescribed; and if the senator is in earnest, i should like to know some better reason why he does not try it here. an amendment is in order on this bill to try it here. we have confessedly in this district, exceptionally in this district the entire power upon this question; and if the senator is in earnest, knowing as he does that under the organic law, of which as a member of the committee of investigation he has learned so much, voting is to be done and is now committed exclusively to men and denied to women, i beg him to state some broader and better answer to the question why he does not try it here. and let me remind him at the same time that under the rules of the senate an amendment is in order to this bill; he need not go beyond this bill in order to insure the right in the district of columbia. mr. stewart.--inasmuch as the senator from new york has designated me as the leader whom he is to follow, and i take it for granted he is in earnest in his question, i shall occupy the time of the senate briefly in answering it. when the question arises for suffrage at all in this district, with my present ideas, i shall vote for female suffrage in this district. i was saying that i do not think there need be any popular voting at all in this district by males or females, for the reason that the great mass of people here are merely sojourners. i think we should govern the district directly by the congress of the united states, that can pass all needful laws. when the question comes up properly as to the district, it will be time enough to meet it. here is the question directly up as to a territory, and there is no doubt about this being a good opportunity. mr. conkling.--i beg to inquire when ever in time or eternity that question will come up here, unless some champion who has the courage and genius of my friend brings it up? who shall bring it up if he refuses to do it? and when a bill is pending to which that amendment is appropriate, and his attention is called to it, if he flinches, if he goes back, who shall we hope for to come hereafter who will break a lance in such a cause? i say to him that unless he wants to discourage me and other men of less courage who are trying to follow him, he must not flinch by saying that he can not do anything about it until it comes on a motion to bring it up. he should bring it up himself. mr. stewart.--the only fear i have as to the senator from new york is that he will not have sufficient courage to follow. (laughter.) the question is up now. the question is squarely up on this amendment whether we will allow the females in this distant territory to vote. i propose to vote for it. he has said that i was his leader. the only question now is whether he has the courage to follow my lead, i following the lead of the senator from california. i want to put his courage to the fullest test now. i only ask him to follow me in this one little step. if he breaks down here, i hope he will not say any thing more about it; and i am afraid he will. i will say to him, however, that the time will come when he will look very much astonished if anybody questions the right of a female to vote; and when that time comes, i shall never mention his past record to him because i do not mention unpleasant things to gentlemen. i say that for his benefit in case he should not do the gallant thing he proposes to do of following me, i following the lead of the senator from california. the question is squarely up, and is nothing more than this: will you give women a chance to try this experiment where it is admitted it can do no harm, and where a large portion if not a majority of the people of the united states believe it will do a great good? try this experiment there; and if the struggle which is inaugurated there shall spread over the country as the struggle that was inaugurated in kansas spread over the country and finally terminated in the colored man having full rights, if it should have full effect on the rest of the country, so be it. i rather think it will. mr. merrimon.--in the discussion in which i engaged, i was more anxious about the principle involved than i was about the particular amendment, and therefore i hardly mentioned it in the hasty argument which i submitted. in order to support my position now, i desire to read a report from the judiciary committee which embraces the very subject under discussion, the question of the power of the state governments and the federal government to abridge the right to vote and hold office. the subject came before that committee in the way of a petition of certain citizens of the state of rhode island who insisted that their rights as citizens of the united states were abridged-- mr. stewart.--will the senator allow me to ask him a question? mr. merrimon.--certainly. mr. stewart.--suppose the american people come to the conclusion that it is right that females should vote, does not the senator think there will be plenty of ways to accomplish it notwithstanding that report of the judiciary committee? mr. merrimon.--o yes, i think so; but i do not care to debate that. my object was to throw light on this question. i do not want a wrong construction put upon the powers of the government at this day. it is important that we should be upon the right line and keep upon it; and with a view to strengthen my argument i ask the clerk to read the report which i send to the desk. it is very brief; and i beg leave to say now that it is well known to the senate and must be known to the country that this committee embraces the ablest lawyers in this country on constitutional law. the chief clerk read the following report submitted by mr. edmunds on the th of may, : the committee on the judiciary, to whom was referred the petition of citizens of rhode island setting forth, by reference, the xiv. and xv. articles of amendment to the constitution of the united states, and stating that, "the state of rhode island, notwithstanding the provisions of the above-named amendments, persists, in and by the first section of article of the constitution of said state, in denying and abridging the right of about , citizens of the united states to vote at any and all elections holden in said state," and praying that congress will "pass such appropriate legislation as may be found necessary to obtain for, and secure to, the citizens of the united states resident in rhode island all the rights, privileges, and immunities guaranteed to them by the constitution of the united states," respectfully report: that the constitution of rhode island, adopted in , prescribes two alternative classes of qualifications for voting. the first gives to _all_ male citizens of the united states of a certain age, etc., the right to vote, if they own real estate of the value of $ , or which shall rent for $ per annum. the second gives to every male _native_ citizen of the united states of a certain age, etc., the right to vote, if he pays a tax of $ a year, etc., although he may not own real estate. no man or party has ever questioned the right of the people of rhode island and of every other state to establish such a constitution of government as maybe agreeable to their views of the public welfare in that state, although its provision as to suffrage may not conform to the opinions of other states. at the time when this constitution of rhode island was adopted the right to regulate the qualifications of voters belonged exclusively to the respective states. the petition under consideration fully recognizes this, but it raises the question (although studiously framed in such a manner as not to declare or insist upon such a conclusion) whether, by the xiv. and xv. amendments to the constitution of the united states, natives of foreign countries who have become citizens of the united states are not entitled to vote in rhode island, without regard to the qualifications imposed by her constitution? the committee is unanimously of the opinion that this question must be answered in the negative. the "privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states" mentioned in the petition as secured by the xiv. amendment do not include the right of suffrage. if they did, the right must necessarily exist in _all_ citizens of the united states from the mere fact of citizenship, without the power in any state or in congress to abridge the same in any degree; and in such case, therefore, no qualification of any kind could be imposed, and all persons (being citizens), males and females, infants, lunatics, and criminals, without respect to age, length of residence, or any other thing, would be entitled to participate directly in all elections. every provision in every state which experience has proved to be essential to security and good order in society would thereby be overthrown. it is enough to say that the rights secured by this amendment to the constitution are of an altogether different character. the xv. amendment does apply to rights of suffrage, and to those only. by it the state of rhode island, in common with every other state, is forbidden to deny or abridge the right of citizens of the united states "to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." but, plainly, the constitution of rhode island does not preclude any citizen from voting on either or any of the grounds thus prohibited. no fact of race, or color, or previous servitude prevents any citizen from voting in rhode island. neither of these qualities depends in any degree upon the place of his nativity. this seems too obvious to need discussion. it is also a fact, appearing in the public records of congress and doubtless known to the petitioners, that when the xv. amendment was under consideration by congress it was proposed to embrace in it a prohibition of any denial of suffrage, on account of "nativity," and that this proposition was not agreed to, for the reason that congress did not think it expedient to restrict the ancient powers of the states in these respects any further than appeared to be absolutely needful to secure to the whole people the great results of the overthrow of the rebellion. the committee is therefore of opinion that there is nothing in the provisions of the constitution of rhode island referred to in conflict with the constitution of the united states. whether these provisions are wise or right in themselves is a matter over which neither the committee nor congress has any control. that subject belongs to the people of rhode island, who it must be presumed will correct any and all errors that may from time to time be found to exist in her internal affairs. mr. merrimon.--i think the senator from nevada will be unable to answer that position. mr. carpenter (mr. ingalls in the chair.)--mr. president----- mr. edmunds.--before the senator from wisconsin proceeds with his remarks, i should like to ask the chairman of the committee whether he means to include indians and canadians? the language is "every inhabitant of the united states." mr. sargent.--no, it is qualified further, as the senator will see if the whole section is read. mr. edmunds.--not as to the first election. mr. sargent.--i think myself the section is very inartificially drawn. mr. edmunds.--i do not know but that it is very artificially drawn, if it is intended to include the indian and the canadian. mr. sargent.--to answer the senator from vermont i ask that the final proviso of the section be read, which qualifies the part he referred to. the chief clerk read as follows: _provided, further_, that the right of suffrage and of holding office shall be exercised only by citizens of the united states, and those who shall have declared on oath, before a competent court of record, their intention to become such, and shall have taken an oath to support the constitution and government of the united states. mr. edmunds.--that does not relate to the first election. mr. sargent.--that objection applies to the details of the bill; it does not apply to my amendment. mr. edmunds.--that is true. the presiding officer.--the senator from wisconsin is entitled to the floor. mr. carpenter.--mr. president, as the yeas and nays have been ordered on this question and i shall vote for this amendment, without going into any argument of the general question, i desire to say one word as to the reason why i shall so vote. i believe it is not one of woman's rights, but it is one of man's that the franchise should be extended to women. i believe there is no situation in which man can be placed where the aid of woman is not beneficial; that in all the relations of life, in all the occupations and all the duties of life it was the intention of god in creating the race that woman should be the helpmate of man, everywhere and in all circumstances and occupations. look through your country, look in your railroad cars, look in your post-offices, look in your dry-goods stores, and there you see everything decent and orderly and quiet. why? because women go there. the only place in this country from which they are excluded by law is the voting place, and in many of our large cities those places are the most disgraceful that can be found under our institutions. now, i believe if the elections were open to ladies as well as gentlemen, to women as well as men, there would be as much order, quiet, and decency at the voting places as there is in a railroad car, and for precisely the same reason. if our wives and mothers and daughters were going to these election places there would be order and decency there, or there would be a row once for all that would make them decent. i have more confidence in the influence of women at the elections in new york city to reform the condition of things that exists there and bring about decency and order at the elections and the prevention of violence and fraud, than i have in all the army and navy that the president can send there under the election bill which was put through here by my honorable friend from new york (mr. conkling). without enlarging on the subject, i shall vote for this amendment, not because this territory is located, as some senator has said, near minnesota. i would vote for female suffrage in the district of columbia to-morrow; i would vote for it in the state of wisconsin; i would vote for it anywhere and everywhere if i had an opportunity to do so. mr. morrill, of maine.--mr. president, i shall vote against this amendment, and for the reason that i do not consider the right of suffrage a woman's right or a man's right. i do not understand it to be a natural right at all. it is a political right; and i do not understand, as applied to women, that it is a privilege at all. it is akin to a service; and it is a very rough service. it is in its nature akin to militia service. the man who exercises the ballot must be prepared to defend it with the bayonet; and therefore the propriety of its being confined in all ages to men. that it is not a natural right is apparent to anybody who reflects upon it; and it never was so considered in any country in the world. we talk about it here now as a natural right, and my honorable friend who sits next me (mr. morton) has invoked the principles of the declaration of independence and said that it stands with those rights which are called inherent, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. it is not so in any sense whatever, and never was so regarded. if it were, do you not perceive that it applies as well to infants as to adults? if it is natural to all citizens, then it applies, as i have said, to infants as well as to adults. i regard it as strictly a political right. it does not inhere in man naturally, or in woman; and i do not propose, myself, to impose it on women. it is a severe, rugged service, which in my judgment ought not to be imposed on women. my honorable friend from wisconsin says there is no position in life in which the society of woman would not be an improvement. how is it on the deck of a battle-ship? how is it in military affairs? should she be placed in the militia to enforce the results of a ballot? is there any one of us who believes that? is there anybody here who would be glad to see a woman in the train-band, on the muster-field, at the cannon's mouth, or on the decks of your war-ships? that is what your argument means, if it means anything logically. but sir, i am not going to argue the proposition at all. i am going to vote against it because the right of suffrage is that rugged and severe service which man has no right to devolve upon woman. it is enough to say that when the american women want the ballot, when they come to hanker for it, and fall in love with the exercise of the ballot at the polls, i am in favor of their voting, but not until then; and i am not in favor of that sentimental sort of stuff which is gotten up somewhere or other by portions of the people who would force it upon the american women as a general proposition. whenever they come to desire it, whenever the american women come to ask it, and particularly when they come to demand it, or even to solicit it, there will be no question as to what the american congress will do; but until that time comes i shall vote steadily against it. nobody will be surprised at these sentiments from me who has had occasion to know the sentiments that i have expressed on this same subject on former occasions. i will send to the desk and ask to have read a paragraph or two from a speech made by me some years ago on the subject of suffrage. the chief clerk read as follows: universal suffrage is affirmed by its advocates as among the absolute or natural rights of man, in the sense of mankind, extending to females as well as males, and susceptible of no limitation unless as opposed to child or infant. it is supposed to originate in rights independent of citizenship; like the absolute rights of liberty, personal security, and possession of property, it is natural to man. it exists, of course, independent of sex or condition, manhood or womanhood. to admit it in the adult and deny it to the youth would be to abridge the right and ignore the principle. now, sir, in practice its extension to women would contravene all our notions of the family; "put asunder" husband and wife, and subvert the fundamental principles of family government, in which the husband is, by all usage and law, human and divine, the representative head. besides, it ignores woman, womanhood, and all that is womanly; all those distinctions of sex whose objects are apparent in creation, essential in character, and vital to society, these all disappear in the manly and impressive demonstration of balloting at a popular election. here maids, women, wives, men, and husbands promiscuously assemble to vindicate the rights of human nature. moreover, it associates the wife and mother with policies of state, with public affairs, with making, interpreting, and executing the laws, with police and war, and necessarily disseverates her from purely domestic affairs, peculiar care for and duties of the family; and, worst of all, assigns her duties revolting to her nature and constitution, and wholly incompatible with those which spring from womanhood. besides, the ballot is the inseparable concomitant of the bayonet. those who practice the one must be prepared to exercise the other. to introduce woman at the polls is to enroll her in the militia; to transfer her from the class of non-combatants to the class of combatants.--_congressional globe_, part , second session thirty-ninth congress, -' , page . mr. sargent.--i have no doubt of the consistency of my friend from maine on this proposition and on every other. i have no doubt that the remarks which he made formerly on this subject he repeats to-day with the same idea of their entire correctness; but i differ with him upon both the propositions which he advances. he says that women do not desire the right of suffrage and there is no evidence before congress that they do desire it. why, sir, the tables of your committee-rooms have been loaded with petitions from every state in this union on this subject, and they come forward day after day. mr. edmunds.--and remonstrances also. mr. sargent.--very few indeed. mr. stewart.--i suggest to my friend from california if the only question is whether women desire the right of suffrage or not, that can only be determined by submitting it to them. when we wish to ascertain whether the male citizens of the country desire a proposition, we submit the question to them and let them vote upon it. mr. sargent.--that suggestion is very just. but the fact that there are remonstrances against the extension of the suffrage to women shows that there is agitation, and agitation shows interest in the matter. if this opinion were not in danger of prevailing, if it were not sweeping over the country, we would get no remonstrances; it would be looked upon as mere idle wind blowing nowhere and amounting to nothing. i say these petitions are coming here in every form. there are large and popular conventions, attended by ladies and attended by a great many men, making strong efforts to this end. there is as much agitation on this point as there was for the abolition of slavery before the war broke out. now i come to the other proposition of my friend from maine. he says the ballot and the bayonet go together, and that he who handles the one must be prepared to handle the other. what do you do with men who are past the years of military service and exempted by your laws? do you deprive them of the ballot? that of itself is a sufficient answer to that argument. they are not inseparable. fortunately for our country the necessity for the use of the bayonet occurs very seldom; but when it does occur there are large classes of male voters who are not called to the field, but are exempted by the policy of our law. no one believes that if women had this privilege, or this immunity, or this right--whatever you may call it--put into their hands we would therefore require of them to do things that would degrade or unsex them, or that would be improper for them to perform. i believe that men would have the same respect for women with the ballot in their hands as without it. it is not for the few women who remonstrate from luxurious parlors, sitting upon sofas, in the glare of the gaslight, changing and choosing their phrases, but for the great class of laboring women in the country that i appeal for this redress. i appeal for the women who have been struggling on in these government offices, doing the same work that men do, aye, and in many cases doing it better, for about one-half of the pay. do you suppose if they had ballots they would not make their voices heard here and get for the same work the same pay? who ever knew a labor strike of women to succeed? when women in new york city and other places are bowed down to the earth by their labor--making shirts at a shilling a day--and they strike for more pay, for more bread, for an opportunity to live, who ever heard of one of their strikes succeeding? men strike from their workshops and they succeed, and why? because they have the ballot; because they have political force, because they have the power of citizenship behind them in its fullest sense. give these poor struggling women the same chance and they can make their way to a fair remuneration of wages in the public offices, and they can make their way in the workshops, and these toiling mothers, widows, and sisters supporting orphan brothers and sisters will have some opportunity to vindicate their rights and to procure not merely political rights, but a chance to live, and a chance to avoid infamy. senators talk about this question as if the ballot was not demanded for women. will you tell me why it was that the great party which controls both branches of congress and holds the executive, when it met in philadelphia at that grand convention, put a plank in its platform stating that these demands for further rights should be respectfully considered? do you think there was no agitation, no desire on the part of women for the ballot when that great convention could be moved to a declaration like this: the republican party is mindful of its obligations to the loyal women or america for their noble devotion to the cause of freedom. their admission to higher fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction, and the honest demand of any class of citizens for additional rights shall be treated with respectful consideration. was that mere euphuism, mere phrasing? did that mean nothing? did it respond to no demand? ay, sir, did it not only respond to a demand which was there pressed, but did it not imply a duty, a pledge which this party ought to redeem? but the senator from maine, as well as the senator from north carolina, asserts that the xiv. amendment of the constitution has no relation whatever to political rights, that it relates to something with reference to social equality, something in the far distance, but does not touch this question at all. when i called the attention of the senator from north carolina to the xv. amendment which says "the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged," assuming the right to exist, not saying that the right hereafter shall exist and shall not be abridged; but the right now existing by fair intendment shall not be abridged, he replied "that i deduced this right by an inference," and he thought a right of this kind ought not to stand on mere inference. his argument for the opposite construction, that the right to vote may be abridged for any other cause than those enumerated in the amendment, is drawn only by an inference from it. the affirmative language is that the right shall not be abridged for certain causes; and then by an inference the senator says it may be abridged for others. in other words, his argument is that i am not at liberty to infer from the constitution of the united states rights for women or rights for mankind. i shall not extend it by inference in favor of freedom, but any inference which will limit its operation, which will destroy or curtail its meaning, is legitimate. mr. merrimon: what clause of the constitution does the senator assert creates the right? mr. sargent: the first section of the xv. amendment declares that the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged--speaking of it as an affirmative right; not speaking of it as here established but as a right which of course must have been established by the xiv. amendment. now, sir, to show that i do not strain the interpretation of the constitution, i desire to refer to some few authorities even under the old constitution which go very far to answer the authority that the senator cited. bushrod washington, a member of the united states supreme court, and well known as a jurist of high attainments and great powers of mind, in the case of corfield _vs._ coryell declared what i shall read, which is approvingly cited by kent, the master writer upon american law, in the second volume of his commentaries: it was declared in corfield _vs._ coryell that the privileges and immunities conceded by the constitution of the united states to citizens in the several states were to be confined to those which were in their nature fundamental, and belonged of right to the citizens of all free governments. such are the rights of protection of life and liberty, and to acquire and enjoy property, and to pay no higher impositions than other citizens, and to pass through or reside in the state at pleasure, and to enjoy the elective franchise according to the regulations of the laws of the state. those, according to the decision in corfield _vs._ coryell, cited approvingly by chancellor kent, are the rights and immunities of citizens of the united states. then comes in the xiv. amendment to the constitution of the united states, which declares that "all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states," and further, that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." now, sir, i quote from bouvier's law dictionary, under the title "citizen." he gives what the word means, first in english law, and then he comes down to american law: one who, under the constitution and laws of the united states, has a right to vote for representatives in congress and other public officers, and who is qualified to fill offices in the gift of the people. in the face of authorities like these, who shall deny that the right to vote is one of those privileges and immunities of citizenship, or that citizenship itself carries with it that highest right? go into literature and you find the same definition; as, for instance, in the work which i hold in my hand entitled "words and their uses," by r. grant white. he says: a citizen is a person who has certain political rights, and the word is properly used only to imply or suggest the possession of these rights. is it a mere question of privilege or immunity? it is a right which exists and so it is considered in all the law; so it is treated in the well-considered decisions on the subject, and by the text writers. by the pledge which was given by the dominant party of the country in their last national convention, by the allegiance which democrats themselves owe to the constitution of the united states, by the higher benefit which will be conferred upon society, upon the women themselves who are struggling for a chance in life, and upon men themselves by the purification of society, i ask that this amendment be adopted. mr. bayard: i should like to ask the honorable senator a question before he takes his seat. i understand that he denies the power of the congress of the united states or of a state to exclude a female from voting, to make an exclusion based upon sex, because it would be an infringement of her rights as a citizen, under the meaning of that word in the constitution, according to the construction given it by the courts. i should like to ask him whether he considers that an exclusion by reason of age is not just as arbitrary and unauthorized as the exclusion by reason of sex, and by what right can it be that a state or the united states shall arbitrarily fix a period in a person's life at which he shall attain his civil rights? in most of the states, and by the common law of england, the age of twenty-one years was fixed as what they term the majority, when a person becomes _sui juris_. under the laws of the various states of this union, following the laws of other civilized communities of older date, a period has been fixed in the life of man at which he attains his civil rights. ordinarily it is at the age of twenty-one years; under the civil law it is twenty-five; it is so in france; it is so in spain; it is so in the french and spanish colonies. among the english-speaking people the age of twenty-one years is the period fixed. if the rights which have been spoken of by the senator from indiana and the senator from california are inalienable, natural rights, are part and parcel of those "privileges and immunities" referred to by the constitution of the united states, how can it be that a law, a mere arbitrary enactment by a state or by congress, shall exclude a man who is twenty years and six months old from exercising those inalienable rights, those privileges and immunities which six months after, by the mere difference of time, they permit him to enjoy? i have stated the question at length for the purpose of letting the senator from california answer it more fully. mr. sargent: mr. president, i do not think the constitution prevents a regulation of the power to vote. the states unquestionably have a right to fix the time when voting shall take place, to fix the places where the voting shall be done, and they have the right to fix the age at which voting shall be exercised. but under the constitution they have no power to prescribe a test which is not equally attainable by all persons. they have no right to say that only white men shall vote, for that would exclude black men. they have no right to say that only black men shall vote, for that would exclude white men. they have no right to say that only men shall vote, for that would exclude women. the constitution says that all shall be put on an equality in this respect, that any test which may be required shall apply to all alike, men and women, black or white. mr. bayard: but the law does no such thing. there are classes, and a very large and great class in the state that the senator represents, who can not become citizens of the united states and can not vote there. mr. sargent: why not? mr. bayard: because of their race; because they are asiatics and not africans. mr. sargent: the constitution of the united states does not prevent it. mr. bayard: no; but the law of congress prevents it. the senator says these are all entitled under the law. mr. sargent: i will not detain the senate now on the point referred to by the senator. he has shifted his ground and i will not follow him. whenever legislation comes up on that subject i will discuss it. they are not citizens of the united states. i am dealing now with citizens whose privileges and immunities as such no one has a right to abridge. mr. ferry, of michigan: it is not my intention to speak on the merits of this proposition; but inasmuch as the senator from maine (mr. morrill) has raised the question of consistency and appealed to his record, it reminds me of the fact that the question of woman suffrage appeared as early, i think, as , before the legislature of michigan. i had the honor of holding a seat in the senate of the state at that time, and the question was referred to the committee of which i was a member, and it fell to my lot to report upon it. if my recollection serves me rightly the resolution favoring the right of women to vote was lost by but a majority of three in the michigan senate. mr. edmunds: which way was the report? mr. ferry, of michigan: i am reminded by the senator from vermont that perhaps i have not intimated which side the report took. the report was in favor of woman suffrage, and it may be regarded as having contributed to so large a vote. to-day, sir, is the first time since that occasion that i have been officially called upon to record my judgment upon the same question. i have had no reason since that report was drawn to shake my belief that the right of suffrage will not be jeopardized or perverted if wielded by the hand of woman. believing that now and desiring to act in accord with my action in in the senate of my native state. i am glad of the opportunity to prove my consistency by voting for woman suffrage to-day. mr. anthony: mr. president, i am quite content that this experiment of female suffrage should be tried in this new territory. i believe that female suffrage is coming with the other ameliorations and changes which have been tending for so many years in the same direction. i have not taken any part in the measures which have been agitated to hasten that event. i think it will come in its own good time; but i should do very great injustice to myself if i should allow it to be supposed that my opinion is based upon some of the arguments that have been made here. i do not believe that suffrage is a natural right. i believe it is a right that grows out of society, a political right, and that it is within the body-politic to decide upon its limits, its modifications, and its conditions. the only question in my mind is whether it is proper and expedient. i think that the xiv. amendment has nothing whatever to do with it. mr. morton: mr. president, the senators from rhode island, maine, and north carolina have all said that the right to vote is not a natural right, but merely a political right. is not that a distinction without a difference? if i have a natural right, i have a right to use the necessary and proper means to enforce that right; it is a part of it. to say that i have a natural right but have not the right to use the means for its protection is illogical; it makes nonsense of it. the natural and proper means to enforce any right are a part of it. the right of self-defense is one of the natural rights; everybody concedes it, and to take from me the natural and effective means of defending myself is to take from me the right itself. government is the means of securing natural rights, and should depend upon the consent of the governed. therefore the right to give or to withhold my consent is a part of the natural right. let us come down to the substance and put away these shadowy distinctions. to say that i have the right of self-defense, but that i have no right to use the knife or any instrument necessary to protect my life against the assassin, is nonsense. so far as the right of government is concerned, the right to assent, to consent, or to dissent, the natural means under our system is the right to vote. you can not conceive any other. therefore it is a part of the right and without it the other is worth nothing. mr. edmunds: i wish to ask the senator from indiana whether persons under the age of twenty-one and eighteen years respectively have not all the natural rights that grown-up people have? mr. morton: i think i can answer that question very readily, if the senator is through. mr. edmunds: that is my only question at present. mr. morton: every right must have some sort of regulation. mr. edmunds: that does not answer the question. mr. morton: wait until i get through. we have in our country, and i believe generally in europe, certainly in england, agreed that twenty-one years is the age when men and women have come into the full possession of their understanding and are supposed to be so well informed that they can take upon themselves the government of their own fortunes and the control of their own property. the mere fact that this thing is to be regulated does not take away the right. the natural right to own and control property is regulated in that way. there must be some age fixed. we know the infant can not do it; we know the child ten years old has not the necessary knowledge of the world or strength of understanding; and we have agreed upon a certain age when men and women come to the possession of their understanding and are able to take care of their own rights, whatever they may be. mr. edmunds: may i ask the senator, after all, what his opinion is, whether a child of tender years, say ten years of age, has not every natural right that a man of seventy has? mr. morton: certainly. mr. edmunds: morally, legally, and every other way? mr. morton: to my mind that furnishes no argument at all. mr. edmunds: i am not arguing it. mr. morton: it is merely putting an extreme case to say that a woman twenty-five years of age shall not have the right to vote because if she votes the child in her arms has the right to vote. is there any force in that? mr. edmunds: i have not put any case at all. i am asking the senator from indiana, which he seems to be very unwilling to answer, whether a child of tender years has or has not, in his opinion, the same natural rights that a grown-up person has. that can be answered one way or the other without saying it is an argument. mr. morton: i suppose the child has the right, certainly the incipient right; but that amounts to nothing when you apply it to a child that has not the strength, the experience, the knowledge of the world, or the age to exercise it. the common sense of mankind in this and every other country fixes a certain age when men and women shall be regarded as mature and qualified to take care of themselves. mr. edmunds: they do not fix the same age, let me suggest to the senator. mr. morton: now, mr. president, unless we are prepared to deny the very fundamental doctrine upon which our government is based, we must admit that women have the same rights that men have. the senator from north carolina will not deny that women have the same natural rights that men have. the senator nods his assent. then if that is so, they have the same natural right to use the means necessary to protect those rights that men have. that right, so far as men are concerned, is the ballot. mr. merrimon: natural means. mr. morton: whatever means are necessary and proper to the protection of a natural right are natural means. mr. bayard: did the senator from indiana answer the senator from vermont in the affirmative or negative? mr. morton: i tried to answer him. mr. bayard: i merely ask the question. he says now very triumphantly to the senator from north carolina that the rights of men and women are the same, their natural rights are the same. mr. morton: yes. mr. bayard: i ask are the rights of children different from those of men? mr. morton: i think not, but i do not think there is any force in that argument, as i said before. there is a certain common sense and a certain practical regulation of natural rights all the world over. mr. edmunds: but is it the common sense of men alone, let me suggest to the senator. the children may differ with us; they generally do on such questions. mr. morton: i will not spend any time on that argument. mr. edmunds: i think that is wise. mr. morton: to say that the mature woman has not the right to vote because the child in her arms must have the same right, comes so near making nonsense of the whole business that i dismiss it, and come back to the other statement, that women having the same natural rights that men have, have the right to the use the same means for their protection; and as the means under our form of government for the protection of the natural rights of men is the right to vote, women should have the same right and power accorded to them. the whole theory of natural rights is mere trash unless you shall give women the right and the power to protect them. the declaration of independence says that governments are instituted for that purpose, and that they must depend upon the consent of the governed; and as the women are one-half of the governed, they have a right to give one-half of the consent. the senator from north carolina says that the women of the country have consented to our form of government, because they have not dissented. they have no power to refuse their consent. they may remonstrate and scold about it, but that amounts to nothing; their consent one way or the other means nothing except so far as their influence may be concerned. there were four and a half million of slaves who did not remonstrate against their bondage. why? they had no means of doing it, and if they had had it would not have amounted to anything. would the senator argue from that, that they had no natural rights, or that they were consenting to their bondage? when you take into consideration the fact that men have all "political power and all the other sources of influence and power over women," it is not very strange perhaps that a majority of them are not asking for the right of suffrage. some women at least are asking for it; i know that very many women all over the country believe they have the right to vote and ought to vote who never go near a political meeting and never sign petitions or anything of that kind. i would be willing to-day to submit the question to the votes of the women of the united states whether they should have that privilege or not. but suppose that a majority do not want the ballot, how does that affect the rights of the minority who do want it? one woman can not consent for another. i believe women will never have their rights in this country, will never enjoy the same means for taking care of themselves and making an honest living in the world, until they have the right to vote. as soon as they have that right you will find they will be placed upon an equality with men. the senator from california refers to the fact, and it is a notorious fact, that in every state in this union, women are paid only about one-half for the same quantity and the same kind of labor that men receive. does any man say that there is any sense or any justice in that distinction? will that ever be remedied until woman has the right to vote? it never will. i believe, mr. president, in every point of view the right of suffrage should be extended to woman. i maintain that it is a god-given right to take part in the administration of that government which controls their earthly destinies and interests. i believe it is for the interest of the men, for the interest of children, for the interest of our country, for the interest of the race. mr. edmunds: i could name a dozen instances all of which show that in all the states of this union, speaking as a general rule, as it is in great britain and in almost all other civilized countries, the law, instead of discriminating against womanhood, discriminates in its favor in every respect whatever except the political respect of voting. that is a fact that no man can truthfully deny who has studied the history of society or who knows anything about the history of legislation in civilized states. therefore, it does not do to say that the right to vote, the privilege of voting, or the duty of voting--because i use those phrases as not having the peculiar meaning that the senator from california imputes to them, is essential to the protection of the female sex as such, because, as i have said, the protection that the law gives them is now in all respects, where their rights or privileges come in collision with the rest of society, greater than is extended to men. the senator from indiana insists--and he has a perfect right to do so, of course--that the right to vote is a natural right, and, therefore, if females are excluded from voting, as they are by the constitutions and laws of the various states, it is an infringement upon natural right, and that that infringement ought to be abolished. of course, his conclusion is correct if his premises are true; but is the right to vote a natural right? can the senator refer me to the work of any writer upon natural or municipal law from the beginning of the world to the year , which maintains, or asserts, or insinuates, or suggests that the right to vote in a political community is a natural right? mr. morton: i do not call to mind any author. mr. edmunds: no; the senator does not. with candor he says so, because the senator, learned in history as he is, knows, as the rest of us know, that there is no such thing. he knows that in all the discussions and all the turmoils of society where the rights of men and women in political respects, the rights of society at large, have been discussed and turned over and over and all manner of experiments in government tried and suggested, it never has been suggested that the right to participate in the government of a political community is a natural right belonging to every human being. mr. morton: i ask the senator, if there are natural rights, do not the natural and necessary means to protect those rights become a part of them? what is the right worth if that be denied? mr. edmunds: i answer no, in the broad sense in which the senator has put it. if he asks of me as to a state of nature, without being organized into any social or political community whatever, then i answer yes, and every man is what the civil writers called in old times a barbarian; and he is invested, upon his own judgment and in his own right, with the power of defending and affirming whatever natural rights he has against all comers, exactly as a nation stands in respect to another nation; no man has a right to impose upon him any restraint; no man has a right to demand from him any concession; he is absolutely independent; and when his rights or claims come in conflict with those of anybody else he "fights it out" or runs away. so far, there is natural right, no doubt, but i hope the senator has not gone back quite so far from the present condition of the world as to wish to discuss questions of that kind. that is not what he means. what he means by natural rights no doubt is what organized communities recognize as things of natural right, and those are things which are inherent in the person but are regulated and limited and restrained according to the rights and necessities of all the other persons in the community. in an organized society the right of self-defense is not a natural right in the broad sense, so that under all circumstances a b or c d has a right to defend himself against all aggression. an officer may come to arrest me on a warrant issued by a court irregularly. i have not the right to slay the officer because he takes me on the warrant. my place to resist is not by my natural force, not by raising a mob, but by going to the court that issued the warrant and showing that it had been issued contrary to law. and yet on the senator's notion every time a man is brought under the law, if he does not agree with the law, his business is to fight. the community can not get along in that way. there is no such right as that in society. mr. stewart: i ask the senator what right, whether it be a natural right or an acquired right, has one man to govern another, or has society to govern the individual? mr. edmunds: what right? mr. stewart: is it a natural or acquired right? mr. edmunds: no man has a natural right to govern another, or an acquired right, or a political right, or a civil right that i know of, unless he is appointed the guardian of somebody. of course, of that the senator has not any experience; certainly not on the side of being a ward. mr. stewart: then what right has society, the body of men, to govern an individual? is it a natural right or an acquired right? mr. edmunds: suppose i should answer the senator and say i do not know? mr. stewart: what right have they to take from him his freedom in his savage state to do as he pleases? and if they have a right to take it from him, what right have they to say he shall not participate with them equally in the regulations that shall be made for his government? if they have a right to govern him, he has a right, whether it be natural or not, to have a voice in it, if the principle of equality and fair play is one of the fundamental principles that should govern mankind. mr. edmunds: i see the senator's point. the substance of it is, if i correctly understand him, that if society has a right to govern him, he has a right to govern society, and that makes equality; and if the majority has a right to control him, he has a right to control the majority, and there is equality! very well. i leave the senator, with his point, to enjoy it. now, let us return to the subject. it is perfectly plain that the right to vote is one which society, as it is organized, is to determine by its fundamental laws. society does determine, in the state of vermont, if you please, that voting must only be exercised by males above the age of twenty-one years, those who are not in the penitentiary, those who are not in the lunatic asylums, those who are not idiots, and so on. the laws of indiana may provide the same thing, or may declare that the age shall be twenty, or may declare as the roman law used to do, that it shall be twenty-five, and so on; or it may declare as the constitution of the united states does as to the age of senators and as to the age of the president of the united states. on the argument of senators in favor of this amendment to this bill, there would exist no right whatever in constituted society to make any limitation upon the free exercise of political rights to vote and hold office in respect to age. why say a man can not be a member of the senate until he is thirty years of age? who can say he is not just as good at twenty-nine? the senator from indiana says that common sense teaches that we must put some limitation on this. so it does; and common sense has taught that it is left to each political community to determine what are the qualifications and limitations upon the privilege of exercising political rights; and it has always been so, and it always will be so, because when the senator proposes to say that the other sex may vote--which i admit he has a perfect right to say, and society may so say--he does not undertake to say that ladies of seventeen, instead of eighteen, shall vote, because they come of age in my state at eighteen, and do in many of the states--the senator does not propose to say that all ladies of seventeen shall vote; and yet it is impossible to say that there is any distinction in respect to intelligence as a matter of right, any philosophical distinction between one year and another. true, as the senator says, you may run it down so far that at last you have reached a condition of infancy, and there everybody says the child is not wise enough to vote, is not wise enough to do anything without having guardianship and tutelage. but if you put it upon the ground of natural right, the child has just as good a right to say to you that he shall be the judge of it, as you have to say to him that you must be; and this shows that the notion of any natural right of anybody of any age to participate in the government of society is an absolute absurdity. it is one of those figments of the imagination that have crawled into some people's brains within a very few years, and will go out again as other delusions do. then when you come to the xiv. amendment it is equally obvious that that has nothing to do with the subject. if anybody had thought it related to suffrage when the xv. amendment was passed, nobody would have voted for it, because on that theory the right to vote did exist in all colored persons, females as well as males; and yet nobody of any party or any creed pretended at that time when we proposed the xv. amendment that we had guaranteed the right to vote by the xiv. nobody suspected it; nobody suggested it; and nobody believed in it, and very few people do now, for the simple reason that the xiv. amendment was directed, as everybody knows, by its language, by its history, by its relation to other laws, to what are called civil rights; but i am not going to define what they are, because to do so takes time. so, mr. president, the xv. amendment was passed in order to secure a right to vote without regard to race, color, or previous condition of servitude. then you come to the real question which is involved here; and that is the propriety of providing that females, twenty-one years of age, not idiots, not lunatics, not in the penitentiary--standing upon the same limitations that men do in these respects--are to vote. that presents a fair question, one that we have a perfect right to pass upon; and i have only said what i have in order to show that we had not better run crazy over the idea that we were dealing with natural and inalienable rights, and that we were violating human rights if we happened to say no, or that we were vindicating human rights in the sense now spoken of if we should say yes. we are merely considering a question of political expediency, as confessedly we have the power in governing the territories to let anybody vote we choose. we can put the whole concern in pembina, if we think it wise, into the hands of the madmen up there, and i do not know but that they are in the majority, for i certainly know nothing about it.... if no other senator wishes to make any remarks, i move to lay the bill upon the table. mr. sargent: i ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. mr. hager: i hope the senator from vermont will withdraw his motion. i desire to make a few remarks. the presiding officer (mr. clayton in the chair). the motion is not debatable. mr. hager: i ask the senator to withdraw the motion for a few minutes. mr. edmunds: if the senator will renew it when he finishes his remarks, i will do so. mr. hager: very well. mr. edmunds: i withdraw the motion. mr. hager: mr. president, it seems to me strange that a question of so much importance as that raised by this amendment appears to be, from the positions taken by senators on the floor, should be presented upon this bill, which, if amended as proposed, will not confer the right of suffrage upon females throughout the country; and for us to undertake to legislate upon this question in regard to a distant territory where perhaps there are few or no women, unless they be of the indian race, is to me a very astonishing thing.... if suffrage should be extended to females let it come up as a distinct, independent proposition by itself, and then every senator can take his position in regard to a question which affects the whole country, and not a distant territory merely. that is the way, in my opinion, to get at it.... inasmuch as in the wisdom of the government and people of the united states the right to the elective franchise has been conferred upon the black race in this country, i see no reason on the ground of qualification why it should not be conferred upon females.... but i am unwilling to legislate by piecemeal in this manner. if there is any good in it; if, as the senator from indiana says, as a matter of right women should be entitled to the franchise, that right should be co-extensive with the whole country, and not be limited to the little territory of pembina, which is not yet organized. mr. edmunds.--i renew the motion to lay the bill on the table. mr. sargent.--on that motion i ask for the yeas and nays. the yeas and nays were ordered. mr. ramsey.--i should like to appeal to the senator from vermont to withdraw the motion for five minutes. mr. stewart.--we will not lay it on the table. mr. ramsey.--very well; let the vote be taken. the question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted--yeas, ; nays, ; as follows: yeas--messrs. bayard, buckingham, conkling, conover, cooper, davis, edmunds, frelinghuysen, hager, hamilton of maryland, howe, ingalls, johnston, jones, mecreery, merrimon, morrill of maine, norwood, ransom, scott, sherman, wadleigh, washburn, and wright-- . nays--messrs. bogy, boreman, boutwell, carpenter, chandler, clayton, ferry of michigan, flanagan, gilbert, harvey, hitchcock, logan, mitchell, morton, patterson, pratt, ramsey, sargent, spencer, sprague, stewart, tipton, west, and windom-- . absent--messrs. alcorn, allison, anthony, brownlow, cameron, cragin, dennis, dorsey, fenton, ferry of connecticut, goldthwaite, gordon, hamilton of texas, hamlin, kelly, lewis, morrill of vermont, oglesby, pease, robertson, saulsbury, schurz, stevenson, stockton, and thurman-- . so the motion was not agreed to. the presiding officer (mr. clayton in the chair.)--the question is on the amendment of the senator from california [mr. sargent], upon which the yeas and nays have been ordered. mr. bayard.--mr. president, it would seem scarcely credible that in the senate of the united states an abrupt and sudden change in so fundamental a relation as that borne by the two sexes to our system of government should be proposed as an "experiment," and that it should be gravely recommended that a newly organized territory under act of congress should be set aside for this "experiment," which is in direct, grossly irreverent disregard of all that we have known as a rule, our great fundamental rule, in organizing a government of laws, whether colonial, state, or federal, in this country. i frankly say, mr. president, that which strikes me most forcibly is the gross irreverence of this proposition, its utter disregard of that divine will by which man and woman were created different, physically, intellectually, and morally, and in defiance of which we are now to have this poor, weak, futile attempt of man to set up his schemes of amelioration in defiance of every tradition, of every revelation, of all human experience, enlightened as it has been by divine permission. it seems to me that to introduce so grave a subject as this, to spring it here upon the senate without notice in the shape of an amendment to a pending measure, to propose thus to experiment with the great laws that lie at the very foundation of human society, and to do it for the most part in the trivial tone which we have witnessed during this debate, is not only mortifying, but it renders one almost hopeless of the permanence of our government if this is to be the example set by one of the houses of congress, that which claims to be more sedate and deliberate, if it proposes in this light and perfunctory way to deal with questions of this grave nature and import. sir, there is no time at present for that preparation which such a subject demands at the hands of any sensible man, mindful of his responsibilities, who seeks to deal with it. this is an attempt to disregard laws promulgated by the almighty himself. it is irreverent legislation in the simplest and strongest sense of the word. nay, sir, not only so, but it is a step in defiance of the laws of revealed religion as given to men. if there be one institution which it seems to me has affected the character of this country, which has affected the whole character of modern civilization, the results of which we can but imperfectly trace and but partly recognize, it is the effect of the institution of christian marriage, the mysterious tie uniting the one man and the one woman until they shall become one and not two persons. it is an institution which is mysterious, which is beyond the reach and the understanding of man, but he certainly can best exhibit his sense of duty and proper obligation when he reverently shall submit to and recognize its wisdom. all such laws as proposed by this amendment are stumbling-blocks, and are meant to be stumbling-blocks in the way of that perfect union of the sexes which was intended by the law of christian marriage. suffrage is a political franchise; it is not a right; because the word "right" is used in reference to voting in the xiv. amendment to the constitution, that does not make it a right. it is in the very nature of government a political privilege confided, according to the exigency, the expediency, by the wisdom of those who control the government, to a certain class. if this right to vote be what the senator from indiana declares it to be, a natural and inalienable right, then you have no more right to deny it to a person who is under the age of twenty-one than you have to deny it to a person who is over the age of twenty-one years. sir, the difference is radical. voting is no right; it is a privilege granted, a franchise which is granted to certain classes, more or less extended according to the supposed expediency which shall control the minds of those who frame the constitution of government for a people. there is no wrong done, so far as the abnegation of a right is involved, by denying this to certain classes of a community, whether on account of age or sex or any other supposed causes of disqualification. in this country the whole foundation of our institutions has been that the male sex when arrived at years of supposed discretion alone should take part in the political control of the country. it is not necessary for me to speak now of other influences than those that come from politics; it is not necessary for me to dwell upon the actual and potential influences that control the fate of men and of nations. we all know they are not those most apparent. we all know it is the passions, the affections, the sympathies, and desires of the human heart and human ambition that control the vote, and not the vote that controls them. and now you propose to try an "experiment" upon a community composed of your own fellow-citizens, which is in defiance of all human experience, all suggestions of philosophy, of your own laws, and of every lesson you should have drawn from every civilized nation that has preceded you. under the operation of this amendment, what will become of the family hearthstone around which cluster the very best influences of human education? you will have a family with two heads--a "house divided against itself." you will no longer have that healthful and necessary subordination of wife to husband, and that unity of relationship which is required by a true and a real christian marriage. you will have substituted a system of contention and difference warring against the laws of nature herself, and attempting by these new fangled, petty, puny, and most contemptible contrivances, organized in defiance of the best lessons of human experience, to confuse, impede, and disarrange the palpable will of the creator of the world. i can see in this proposition for female suffrage the end of all that home life and education which are the best nursery for a nation's virtue. i can see in all these attempts to invade the relations between man and wife, to establish differences, to declare those to be two whom god hath declared to be one, elements of chaotic disorder, elements of destruction to all those things which are, after all, our best reliance for a good and a pure and an honest government. as i said, mr. president, i rose simply to express my astonishment that a measure of this kind could have received the assent which it apparently has received from the senate of the united states in the vote just recorded. the subject is too broad, it is too deep, it is too serious to attempt to discuss it unprepared and within the time which is allotted to me. i sincerely hope that if this subject is to be acted upon, it will be after long, serious, severe, close consideration. let all sides of the subject be viewed in all its vastness and far-reaching consequences. let senators consider the results, and let at least their aims in this matter be something higher than mere political and partisan considerations, which i fear have animated much of the discussion to which we have listened. mr. president, i trust sincerely that the vote just taken, indicating the refusal of the senate to lay this bill upon the table, may not indicate the will of the senate in respect of this amendment. we have no right to subject this or any other portion of our fellow-citizens to so sad, so untoward, so unhappy an experiment as is here proposed. i have sat in this chamber, and seen laws leveled with the most serious and cruel penalties against a class of people practicing polygamy in our territories. what will this law do? will it not in fact sever those relations to which i have referred as being essential for the virtue and safety of a state? what is your state unless it is founded upon virtuous and happy homes? and where can there be a virtuous and happy home unless a christian marriage shall have consecrated it? no, mr. president, i trust that this amendment will not be adopted, that we shall not trifle in this way with the happiness of a large portion of our fellow-citizens, that we shall not set what i must consider this indecorous example of government; and i trust that the vote of the senate most emphatically will stop here, and i trust stop permanently even the suggestion of granting the political franchise of voting to the women of america. they do not need it, sir. i can not, of course, speak for all, but i know that i can speak the sentiment of many when i say that to them the proposition is abhorrent to take them from the retirement where their sway is so admitted, so beneficent, so elevating, and to throw them into another sphere for which they are totally unfitted and where all that at present adorns and protects them must be taken away by the rough and vulgar contact with those struggles which men are much better fitted to meet. no, sir; the relations of the sexes as they exist to-day under the laws of this country have produced happy and stable government, or at least are not responsible for the evil features which we witness. the best protection for the women of america is in the respect and the love which the men of america bear to them. every man conversant with the practical affairs of life knows that the fact, that the mere fact that it is a woman who seeks her rights in a court of justice alone gives her an advantage over her contestant which few men are able to resist, i would put it to any who has practiced law in the courts of this country; let him stand before a jury composed only of men, let the case be tried only by men; let all the witnesses be men; and the plaintiff or the defendant be a woman, and if you choose to add to that, even more unprotected than women generally are, a widow or an orphan, and does not every one recognize the difficulty, not to find protection for her rights, but the difficulty to induce the men who compose the juries of america to hold the balance of justice steadily enough to insure that the rights of others are not invaded by the force of sympathy for her sex? these are common every-day illustrations. they could be multiplied _ad infinitum_. mr. president, there never was a greater mistake, there never was a falser fact stated than that the women of america need any protection further than the love borne to them by their fellow-countrymen. every right, every privilege, many that men do not attempt, many that men can not hope for, are theirs most freely. do not imperil the advantages which they have, do not attempt in this hasty, ill-considered, shallow way to interfere with the relations which are founded upon the laws of nature herself. depend upon it, mr. president, man's wisdom is best shown by humble attention, by humble obedience to the great laws of nature; and those discoveries which have led men to their chiefest enjoyment and greatest advantages have been from the great minds of those who did lay their ears near the heart of nature, listened to its beatings, and did not attempt to correct god's handiwork by their own futile attempts at improvement. mr. stewart.--mr. president, i listened to the speech of the senator from delaware with great attention; i appreciate his feelings on the subject; and it has occasioned me to have some reflection upon this subject during the time he was speaking. i want to call the attention of the senator from delaware and of the senate and of the country to a few facts in regard to this matter of woman's rights, and to see whether it has not been well to change some of the ancient order of things. there was a time among our anglo-saxon fathers when it was seriously discussed in the law-books what size the whip should be with which a husband could properly chastise his wife. if it was no larger than the thumb, i believe no action would lie. those were the good old times, and those times you can see illustrated to-day all over the world where savages---- mr. sargent.--that was when we were near to nature. mr. stewart.--yes; that was when man held sway, and when god's law of man's supremacy was omnipotent! then harmony was preserved. if you will go out into my state and see the indian women carrying the loads on their backs and the men riding on horses, and the women doing the work, you will see the harmony of the supremacy of man! now, i undertake to say that there is no surer criterion of the civilization of any nation than the position which woman occupies; and the less dependent she is, the more she has to do with the management of society, the more she is regarded as an individual, the higher that society stands; but where she depends exclusively on man and man's justice, there you have absolute barbarism. do you think that women have been less loyal to their husbands, do you think that virtue has been less protected in this country since the rights of women were vindicated by the law, since they were entitled to hold property? have they not been as good wives as they were formerly? has society been injured thereby? show me the nation that elevates its women and acknowledges their rights and protects them by the law and severs them in point of protection from the caprice or the sympathy of men--show me that nation, and that nation shall be first. it is one of the evidences of the advance of civilization in america that woman does occupy the position she does here; and it is idle to say that society will be destroyed by recognizing her as having rights to protect. it is very well for women who chance to have kind husbands and luxurious homes, under the flattery of their husbands, to sneer at their less fortunate sisters who are debarred every right. it is very well for those who have luxury and power and wealth to trample upon the unfortunate that cry for bread and for help. it is very easy to philosophize about laws and say that women are not fit for this place and not fit for that; that it is indelicate, and all that kind of thing, to allow her to earn an honest living or to have a place in a department where she can do work; it is very well for us to say, "here, we will give her only half pay for the same labor;" but they who serve and they who suffer feel it differently. how is the voice of women on this subject to be heard? shall it be heard from that class only who are satisfied with their protection, or shall the voice of the weak and the starving be heard? there is no way for it to be heard. we see it daily. you talk about degradation. one of the great sources of the degradation of this country, one of the great sources of the breaking up of families and destroying society is your low groggeries and your gambling-houses and your places of resort for bad men, that are tolerated in spite of your laws and will be so long as men only vote. the women suffer by these things; and that consideration alone has often made me hesitate upon this question. i do believe that if the good women of america could speak to-day they would reform many evils that we wink at or allow to exist because we want the votes of the parties who are committing these sins against society. i say let the women have a voice; and when it is said that this is ill-considered, that this is not the proper time, and that this is too serious a business to be considered by the senate of the united states on this bill, i tell you society is marching on to it, and as i remarked before, it will not be ten years before there will be no voice in this senate against female suffrage. it is necessary for women, if they are to be protected in society and not to be the prey of man, that they shall have the ballot to protect themselves. it is the only thing in a free government that can protect any one; and whether it is a natural right or an artificial right it is nonsense to discuss. it is a necessary right; it is necessary to freedom; it is necessary to equal rights; it is necessary to protection; it is necessary for every class to have the ballot if we are to have a square deal. mr. boreman.--i had not intended to utter a word. i supposed the bill would pass upon the report which was made by the committee. i am inclined now to think that if it had not been for the unfortunate, if i may say so, amendment offered by my friend from california [mr. sargent] it would have passed long since. but this question of woman suffrage is one upon which all our friends probably do not desire to vote either one way or the other, and it is a very convenient way to get rid of voting on the question directly to lay this bill on the table. fortunately that question has been settled for the present, and i am glad the senate has seen fit not to lay the bill on the table. mr. edmunds.--the senator speaks about people not wishing to vote on the amendment directly; and as i made the motion to lay on the table i assume that he refers to me. i beg to disabuse his mind on that subject, inasmuch as i am opposed to the amendment and am perfectly free to vote against it, and in doing so i suppose i represent, according to the latest advices i have, a very large majority of the people of vermont. mr. boreman.--i agree with the senator from vermont on the subject of woman suffrage myself. mr. edmunds.--then i hope the senator will not suggest that i am trying to dodge the question by moving to lay the bill on the table. mr. boreman.--not at all. i did not allude to the senator who made the motion; and the remark i made was more intended to be playful than serious. i simply thought that probably the bill had enough friends to pass it if that subject was not mooted. i may be mistaken. however, i shall be glad to have a vote on the bill either with or without woman suffrage incorporated in it. i shall vote against incorporating it, but if it is put there i shall nevertheless be gratified to have the bill passed. i feel no interest in it except as representing what i believe to be the interests and wishes of those to be affected by it. i think the circumstances are such as to justify congress in organizing the territory, else as representing the committee i should not have reported the bill. that is all i desire to say. the presiding officer (mr. anthony in the chair).--the question is on the amendment of the senator from california [mr. sargent], upon which the yeas and nays have been ordered. the secretary proceeded to call the roll. mr. johnson (when his name was called).--on this question i am paired with the senator from alabama [mr. spencer]. if he were here he would vote "yea" and i should vote "nay." mr. bogy (after having first voted in the negative).--i rise to withdraw my vote. at the time i voted i forgot that i was paired with the senator from arkansas [mr. dorsey]. i should have voted "nay" and he would have voted "yea." the presiding officer.--the vote will be withdrawn if there be no objection. mr. morrill, of maine (after having first voted in the negative).--it occurs to me that i am paired with the senator from illinois (mr. oglesby). if he were here he would vote "yea" and i should vote "nay." i ask leave to withdraw my vote. the presiding officer.--leave will be granted if there is no objection. the roll-call having been concluded, the result was announced--yeas , nays ; as follows: yeas--messrs. anthony, carpenter, chandler, conover, ferry of michigan, flanagan, gilbert, harvey, mitchell, morton, patterson, pratt, sargent, sprague, stewart, tipton, washburn, west, and windom-- . nays--messrs. allison, bayard, boreman, boutwell, buckingham, clayton, conkling, cooper, davis, edmunds, frelinghuysen, hager, hamilton of maryland, hitchcock, jones, kelly, mccreery, merrimon, morrill of vermont, norwood, ramsey, ransom, saulsbury, scott, sherman, wadleigh, and wright-- . absent--messrs. alcorn, bogy, brownlow, cameron, cragin, dennis, dorsey, fenton, ferry of connecticut, goldthwaite, gordon, hamilton of texas, hamlin, howe, ingalls, johnson, lewis, logan, morrill of maine, oglesby, pease, robertson, schurz, spencer, stevenson, stockton, and thurman-- . so the amendment was rejected. the presiding officer.--the question now is on ordering the bill to be engrossed for a third reading. mr. morton called for the yeas and nays; and they were ordered. mr. edmunds.--i ask the chairman of the committee if the clause still stands in the bill which authorizes all the male inhabitants of that territory to vote at the first election? mr. boreman.--i think the senator is mistaken about that. mr. edmunds.--i am not asking whether i am mistaken or not; i am asking if the clause remains as it stood reported by the committee? mr. boreman.--yes, sir. mr. edmunds.--that is enough for me. mr. ramsey.--there is nothing new in that. the question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted--yeas , nays ; as follows: yeas--messrs. bogy, boreman, chandler, clayton, ferry of michigan, flanagan, harvey, hitchcock, jones, kelly, logan, mitchell, patterson, pratt, ramsey, sherman, tipton, wadleigh, and windom-- . nays--messrs. anthony, bayard, boutwell, buckingham, carpenter, conkling, conover, davis, edmunds, frelinghuysen, gilbert, hager, hamilton of maryland, ingalls, johnson, mccreery, merrimon, morrill of maine, morrill of vermont, norwood, ransom, sargent, saulsbury, scott, sprague, stewart, washburn, west, and wright-- . absent--messrs. alcorn, allison, brownlow, cameron, cooper, cragin, dennis, dorsey, fenton, ferry of connecticut, golthwaite, gordon, hamilton of texas, hamlin, howe, lewis, morton, oglesby, pease, robertson, schurz, spencer, stevenson, stockton, and thurman-- . so the bill was rejected. though the measure was lost, and the women sad under repeated disappointments, yet the progress was noted with gratitude. in only nine senators voted in favor of woman's enfranchisement after a three days' discussion of the measure. in , after eight years of education, nineteen voted aye to the proposition. the seventh washington convention was held january th and th, , in lincoln hall as usual. mrs. stanton opened the proceedings by stating that owing to the death of the president of the association, martha c. wright, the duties of presiding officer devolved upon her. after paying a well-merited tribute to her noble coadjutor, she said that many of their noblest friends had passed away. among them dr. harriot k. hunt, hon. gerrit smith, and rev. beriah green. this meeting comes at a most auspicious moment, when the entire nation is wide awake to the rights of self-government now being trampled on in louisiana. at such a crisis it would seem that liberty-loving statesmen might easily be converted to the idea of universal suffrage. on every principle that they now demand self-government for the people of louisiana, they should extend the right of suffrage to the women of that state now in so unsettled a condition. the annual report and resolutions were discussed and speeches made by miss anthony and mrs. blake during the morning session. letters were read from robert dale owen, of philadelphia, rev. o. b. frothingham, of new york, paulina wright davis, of providence, dr. j. c. jackson, of dansville, n. y., and abby smith, of glastonbury, conn. miss couzins' speech in the evening on the "social trinity" was a touching appeal for woman's moral, spiritual, and æsthetic influence on humanity at large. miss carrie burnham made an interesting argument showing that the disabilities of women might be directly traced to papal decrees; to the canon rather than the civil law. miss lillie devereux blake made a strong appeal on the duty of enfranchising the women of the nation before celebrating the coming centennial. she thought it would be an act of justice that would glorify that day as it could be done in no other manner. belva a. lockwood, marilla m. ricker, catharine stebbins, lavinia dundore, and dr. clemence lozier, all took part in the discussion of the resolutions. . _resolved_, that as the duties of citizens are the outgrowth of their rights, a class denied the common rights of citizenship should be exempt from all duties to the state. hence the misses smith, of glastonbury, conn., and abby kelly foster, of worcester, mass., who refused to pay taxes because not allowed to vote, suffered gross injustice and oppression at the hands of state officials, who seized and sold their property for taxes. . _resolved_, that to deny the right of suffrage to the women of the nation, is a dangerous innovation on the rights of man, since the assumed power to deny the right to one class, is the implied power to deny it to all others; acting on this principle, new hampshire abridges the rights of her citizens by forbidding catholics to hold office; and rhode island abridges the rights of her citizens by forbidding foreigners to vote, except on a property qualification. . _resolved_, that our thanks are due to the hon. a. a. sargent and the other eighteen senators who voted for woman suffrage on the pembina bill, and to the , brave men who went to the polls and voted for woman suffrage in michigan. . _resolved_, that in the death of martha c. wright, the president of our national association, dr. harriot k. hunt, the first woman in the country who entered the medical profession, the rev. beriah green, and the hon. gerrit smith, steadfast advocates of woman suffrage, we have in the last year been called to mourn the loss of four most efficient and self-sacrificing friends of our movement--women and men alike true to the great principles of republican government. whereas, it is now proposed to celebrate our coming centennial birthday as a free government, inviting the monarchies of the old world to join in the festivities, while the women of the country have no share in its blessings; therefore, _resolved_, that the national woman suffrage association will hold a convention in philadelphia on july , , to protest against such injustice unless congress shall in the meantime secure to woman the rights, privileges, and immunities of american citizens. _resolved_, that we cordially invite all women in the old world and the new, to co-operate with us in promoting the objects of the convention in . as the enfranchisement of woman would be the most fitting way of celebrating this great event in our nation's history, women suffragists throughout the country should now make an united effort with congress and all state legislatures to act on this question, that when the old liberty bell rings in the dawn of the new century, we may all be free and equal citizens of a true republic. miss anthony said that man neither supports woman nor protects her. the census reports show that two million women are entirely independent of men in regard to employments. thousands of women do work outside the home from necessity. a million women are engaged in domestic service providing for their own necessities, and a million more are supporting their families and drunken husbands. letters were read from dr. mary thomas, president of the indiana association, and from clara barton, then traveling in italy, deploring the subject condition of women in foreign lands. the day after the convention the ladies received their friends in the spacious parlors at willard's hotel. congressmen, lawyers, clergymen, and many bright girls from the departments were among the guests. nothing indicates the progress of a reform more readily than the cordial social recognition of its leaders. while pausing now and then to note the adverse winds we are compelled to encounter in the jealousies, discords, and divisions of friends, and in the ridicule and misrepresentation of enemies, a broader vision shows us that the great tidal waves of thought are all flowing in one direction. may , , the twenty-seventh anniversary of the suffrage movement was held in the new masonic temple, twenty-third street, new york. this magnificent hall for the first time echoed to the demands of woman for an equal share in the great interests of the world. the convention was opened with prayer by the rev. olympia brown, who referred most impressively to the coming centennial, expressing the hope that the fourth of july, , might indeed be a day of jubilee, in which liberty and justice would be secured to the whole people. the resolutions[ ] were discussed with great spirit by the various speakers.[ ] an interesting letter was read from isabella beecher hooker, giving some of her experiences and observations in france. the hall was crowded in the evening to listen to mr. frothingham. his address was an able exposition of the injustice of the heavy taxes laid on women. he read several extracts from the reports of william i. bowditch, of boston, in regard to the large number of women in massachusetts holding property, and in closing, depicted with great feeling the constant sacrifices women were compelled to endure because they had no representation in the government. after a song by the hutchinsons, the large audience slowly dispersed. at a business meeting next day the officers[ ] for the year were chosen, and arrangements made to canvass iowa if, as was proposed, an amendment to the constitution extending the right of suffrage to the women of that state, should be submitted to the people. all thoughts were now turned to the centennial year, as to what new forms of agitation could be suggested; what onward steps of progress accomplished, for after the untiring labors of thirty years, the leaders in this movement naturally felt that the great event of the century could not pass without bringing some new liberty to woman. footnotes: [ ] . _resolved_, that the present attempts in our courts, by a false construction of the national constitution, to exalt all men as sovereigns, and degrade all women as slaves, is to establish the most odious form of aristocracy known in the civilized world--that of sex. . _resolved_, that women are "persons" and "citizens," possessed of all the legal qualifications of voters in the several states--age, property, and education--and by the xiv. amendment of the national constitution have been secured the right of suffrage. .: _resolved_, that it is the duty of congress, by appropriate legislation, to protect women in their exercise of this right. . _resolved_, that women are citizens, first of the united states, and second of the states and territories wherein they reside; hence we claim national protection of our inalienable rights, against all state authority. . _resolved_, that states may regulate all local questions of property, taxation, etc., but the inalienable personal rights of citizenship must be declared by the constitution, interpreted by the supreme court, protected by congress, and enforced by the arm of the executive. . _resolved_, that the criminal prosecution of susan b. anthony by the united states, for the alleged crime of exercising the citizen's right of suffrage, is an act of arbitrary authority, unconstitutional, and a blow at the liberties of every citizen of this nation. _business committee_:--matilda joslyn gage, new york; belva a. lockwood, district of columbia; lillie devereux blake, new york; mrs. mary henderson, missouri; mrs. lavinia dundore, maryland; edward m. davis, pennsylvania; mrs. mary a. dobyns, kentucky; mrs. anna c. savery, iowa; miss phebe couzins, st. louis; mrs. jane graham jones, illinois; mrs. helen m. barnard, district of columbia; rev. olympia brown, connecticut; robert purvis, district of columbia. _finance committee_:--mrs. ellen c. sargent, belva a. lockwood; edward m. davis, ruth carr dennison, helen m. barnard. _committee on resolution_:--elizabeth cady stanton, belva a. lockwood, lillie devereux blake, matilda joslyn gage. [ ] woman suffrage anniversary.--national woman suffrage association.--the twenty-fifth woman suffrage anniversary will be held in apollo hall, new york, tuesday, may , . lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton, who called the first woman's rights convention at seneca falls, , will be present to give their reminiscences. that convention was scarcely mentioned by the local press; now, over the whole world, equality for woman is demanded. in the united states, woman suffrage is the chief political question of the hour. great britain is deeply agitated upon the same topic; germany has a princess at the head of its national woman's rights organization. portugal, spain, and russia have been roused. in rome an immense meeting, composed of the representatives of italian democracy, was recently called in the old coliseum; one of its resolutions demanded a reform in the laws relating to woman and a re-establishment of her natural rights. turkey, france, england, switzerland, italy, sustain papers devoted to woman's enfranchisement. a grand international woman's rights congress is to be held in paris in september of this year, to which the whole world is invited to send delegates, and this congress is to be under the management of the most renowned liberals of europe. come up, then, friends, and celebrate the silver wedding of the woman suffrage movement. let our twenty-fifth anniversary be one of power; our reform is everywhere advancing, let us redouble our energies and our courage. matilda joslyn gage, _ch'n ex. com._ susan b. anthony, _pres._ [ ] mrs. elizabeth avery meriwether, tennessee; isabella beecher hooker, connecticut; francis miller, washington, d. c.; sarah r. l. williams, toledo, ohio; mrs. c. m. palmer, california; carrie s. burnham, pennsylvania; ellen c. sargent, washington; le grand marvin, buffalo, n. y.; carl doerflinger, wisconsin; emily pitts stevens, editor of the _pioneer_, san francisco, cal.; a. jane duniway, editor of the _new northwest_, portland, oregon. [ ] whereas, this being the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first combined effort of women for the recognition of their civil and political rights; and, whereas, the demands first publicly promulgated in an obscure village in the state of new york have now spread over the world; therefore, _resolved_, that while we congratulate women on the progress of this reform during a quarter of a century, we urge them not to grow discouraged or faint-hearted when obstacles arise in their attack upon hoary wrongs. we remind them that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, and that the nearer we come to victory the stronger will be the effort against us. but our cause is one of eternal justice, and must ultimately prevail. _resolved_, that lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton will evermore be held in grateful remembrance as the pioneers in this grandest reform of the age; that as the wrongs they attacked were broader and deeper than any other, so as time passes they will be revered as foremost among the benefactors of the race, and that we also hold sacred the memory of their co-laborers in the convention of . whereas, the underlying principle of our government is equality of political rights, therefore, _resolved_, that in the prosecution and trial of susan b. anthony, a citizen of the united state, for having cast a ballot at the last election, the government of the united states declares it is a crime to vote, thus attempting to undermine the very foundation of the republic. _resolved_, that as in this trial susan b. anthony represents one-half of the people, the whole power of the united states is arrayed against the women of the nation--against law-abiding, tax-paying women citizens. _resolved_, that the trial of susan b. anthony, though ostensibly involving the political status of woman alone, in reality questions the right of every man to share in the government; that it is not susan b. anthony, or the women of the republic who alone are on trial to-day, but it is the government of the united states, and that as the decision is rendered for or against the political rights of citizenship, so will the men of america find themselves free or enslaved. _resolved_, that the decisions of the courts in the case of mrs. bradwell, of illinois, mrs. spencer and mrs. webster, of washington; mrs. minor, of st. louis; miss burnham, of philadelphia, and others, are warnings to the people that their liberties are in danger. _resolved_, that it is because women are not voters, and, therefore, have no recognized political power, that the members of the forty-second congress, while raising their own salaries from $ , to $ , , dared to reject an amendment to the same bill, which proposed to raise the salaries of the women employés of the government from $ to $ , . _resolved_, that in the coming centennial of our nation's birth it is mockery to ask woman to lend a helping hand without some pledge to right her wrongs; what cause has she for rejoicing unless the century shall round out with her enfranchisement, and the old liberty bell ring in equality for all. _resolved_, that the report of the judiciary committee of the assembly of the state of new york in regard to a property suffrage qualification for women, is one of the signs of awakened thought toward our reform. _resolved_, that the rapid advance of woman's rights in foreign countries is a subject of gratulation, and as a matter of special cheer we call particular attention to the grand international woman's rights congress, under the control of the liberals of europe, to be held in paris during the present year. whereas, the national woman suffrage association has been requested to send delegates to the international woman's rights congress to be held in paris in october next; therefore, _resolved_, that this association empower ernestine l. rose, paulina wright davis, mathilde f. wendt, jane graham jones, and elizabeth phelps pearsall, to represent our woman suffrage movement in that congress. [ ] mrs. nettie c. tabor, cal.; frances ellen burr, hartford, conn.; mrs. elizabeth b. phelps, n. y.; mrs. e. langdon, n. y.; jane b. archibald, d. c.; miss jennie v. jewell, d. c.; mrs. adeliah gardiner, baltimore; kate c. harris, baltimore; miss laura ewing, baltimore; phoebe w. couzins; edward m. davis, philadelphia; matilda joslyn gage, fayetteville, n. y.; lillie devereux blake, new york city; ruth c. dennison, d. c.; sara andrews spencer, d. c.; dr. clemence s. lozier, new york city; belva a. lockwood, virginia l. vaughn, james k. wilcox, and the hutchinson family. [ ] letters were received from paulina wright davis, providence, r. i.; virginia l. minor, st. louis, mo.; hon. e. g. lapham, canandaigua, n. y.; vice-pres. henry wilson, natick, mass.; john van vhoris, rochester, n. y.; dr. james c. jackson, dansville, n. y.; hon. henry r. selden, rochester, n. y.; hon. john a. kasson, iowa; thomas wentworth higginson, newport, r. i.; ernestine l. rose, london, england; dr. laura ross wolcott, milwaukee, wisconsin; carrie s. burnham, philadelphia, pa.; lewia c. smith, rochester, n. y.; asenath coolidge, watertown, n. y.; priscilla holmes drake, alabama; laura de force gordon, california; george f. downing, washington, d. c.; the free thinkers club of milwaukee; the radical democracy of wisconsin. [ ] _resolved_, that this convention, representing as it does all portions of our country, cordially sympathizes with the proposed efforts of the women of the district of columbia to secure the practical enjoyment of their constitutional right to vote, as declared by the supreme court of said district, by the passage of an act of congress amending the organic law of the district by striking out the word "male" from the seventh section of said act; and we earnestly request our senators and representatives to support a bill providing for such an amendment by speech and vote. _resolved_, that a committee of seven be appointed by the president of this convention to co-operate with the committee heretofore appointed by the women of the district of columbia in their application to congress for the passage of an act amendatory of the organic act of said district, as above indicated. _resolved_, that among the important events in our struggle for the equal rights of woman we place the trial of miss susan b. anthony before hon. ward hunt, a judge of the supreme court of the united states, at canandaigua, new york, in june last, on an indictment for voting as a citizen at the general election in november, ; that the grossly partial course of judge hunt on that occasion, his seeming unacquaintance with the plainest rules of law, and his eagerness for the conviction of miss anthony, stand in marked contrast with the calm demeanor and clear apprehension of the facts and principles at issue which she exhibited on the trial, and their conduct respectively in this memorable contest affords proof that, though it may be possible that all women have not a constitutional right to be voters, it is very certain that some men are not fit to be judges. _resolved_, that waiving for the present moment the question whether or not judge hunt was correct in his decision concerning the constitutional right of women to vote for federal officers, nevertheless, in the opinion of all sound lawyers and intelligent men, he committed a great outrage against miss anthony by assuming, without proof, that she voted for a candidate for congress, and by arbitrarily refusing to allow the jury to pass upon the question of her innocence, and by peremptorily commanding them to render a verdict of guilty. that so plain is this to the minds of those who possess any clear knowledge of general principles of law, and of the ordinary duties of a criminal court, that judge hunt has shown by his conduct on that trial that he is too ignorant to fill his high position, or too arbitrary to be entrusted with its grave responsibilities; and, therefore, in either case, he ought to be impeached and removed from the bench. _resolved_, that by the death of john stuart mill, woman has lost a wise, brave friend. his great work for the enfranchisement of woman, and for the elevation of all mankind deserves the public thanks of this convention. _resolved_, that in hon. john c. underwood, lately removed from the bench by death, the women of his district have lost that rarest of public servants, a judge to whom the disfranchised could confidently look for justice. _resolved_, that by the death of john m. morris, late editor of the washington _chronicle_, the cause of woman's freedom lost a tried and valued friend, whose faithfulness and judgment entitled him to the gratitude of the women of this nation. miss anthony submitted the following: _resolved_, that the thanks of the friends of woman suffrage are due to the misses smith, of glastonbury, connecticut, for their patriotic resistance to the tyranny of taxation without representation, and that all women tax payers through the country should follow their example. _resolved_, that the best means of agitating at the present hour is for all women to insist on their right of representation by actually presenting their votes at every election, and for all property-holding women to refuse to pay another dollar of tax until their right of representation is recognized. peterboro, january , susan b. anthony--my dear friend: as i am suffering from an attack of vertigo, i answer your letter by the hand of my wife. enclosed is my contribution toward defraying the expenses of your convention. strong as is the constitutional argument for woman suffrage, i nevertheless hope that your convention will not tolerate the idea of measuring the rights of woman by a man-made constitution. have you heard of a state in which women and women only bear rule, and the constitution of which was made by women only? perhaps there is such a flagrantly unjust state, either on this or some other planet. if so, deep is the injury done to its men. but deeper the insult added to this injury if, when the men complain of being excluded from the government, the women apply to the measurement of man's rights the yardstick of a woman-made constitution. constitutions are useful in settling ten thousand subordinate questions. but the great questions of primary and inherent human rights are to be submitted to no lower decisions than those of god's immutable and everlasting justice. with high regard, your friend, gerrit smith. gen. butler's letter. washington, december . my dear madam: as a rule i have refused to take part in any convention in the district of columbia about any matter which might come before congress. i do not think it proper. i went far out of my way in this regard, having given evidence that i am most strongly committed to the legality, propriety and justice of giving the ballot to woman. i do not see how i can add anything to it by appearing on the platform in advocacy of any measure that may come before me as a member of congress, and i do not think my sense of propriety would over-balance such considerations. hoping that your cause may succeed, i have the honor to be, very truly yours, ben. f. butler. [ ] annual convention of the national woman suffrage association.--for more than a quarter of a century the representative women of this nation have held annual meetings, demanding the recognition of their rights as citizens of the united states. in halls of legislation and courts of justice, as well as in conventions, woman's equality with man in all civil and political rights, privileges and immunities, has been debated and variously decided by popular opinion, statute law and judicial decree, without arriving at any permanent settlement of the question. and until the world learns that there should be but one code of laws and morals for man and woman, this question never can be settled. but the discussion has roused woman herself to new thought and action, and kindled in her an enthusiasm that the best interests of the nation demand should be wisely directed and controlled. the fact that women are already voting, holding office and resisting taxation, that thousands are enrolling in the grange movement and temperance crusade, that woman suffrage is to be voted upon in michigan at the next election, should warn the government that the hour for its action has come. it must now determine whether woman's transition from slavery to freedom shall be through reformation or revolution, whether she shall be permitted to express her interest in national questions through law by the direct power of the ballot, or outside of law by indirect and irresponsible power; and thus, by a blind enthusiasm, plunge the nation into anarchy. for an earnest discussion of the duty of the hour, we invite all persons interested in woman's enfranchisement to meet in irving hall, new york, on the th and th of may. susan b. anthony, _president_. elizabeth cady stanton, _chairman ex. com_. [ ] the speakers at this convention were ernestine l. rose, martha c. wright, o. b. frothingham, rev. olympia brown, rev. antoinette brown blackwell, elizabeth b. phelps, carrie s. burnham, sarah andrews spencer, frances v. hallock, amanda deyo, dr. j. mix, mrs. helen m. slocum, dr. clemence s. lozier, lillie devereux blake, susan b. anthony. [ ] letters were received at this may anniversary ( ) from lucinda b. chandler, vineland, new jersey; mrs. c. c. hussey, report of new jersey; mary f. davis, new jersey; catherine f. stebbins, michigan; mary j. channing, paulina wright davis, rhode island; alfred h. love, edward m. davis, sarah pugh, philadelphia; lorenza haynes, theological school, st. lawrence university, canton, n. y.; sarah r. l. williams, toledo, ohio; harriet s. brooks, report for illinois; catharine v. waite, illinois; lizzie boynton harbert, iowa; virginia l. minor, missouri; annie l. quinby, kentucky; sarah burger stearns, duluth, minnesota; hon. benj. f. butler, massachusetts; mrs. c. h. baker, mrs. h. k. clapp, nevada; sarah j. wallis, california; mrs. c. i. h. nichols, pomo, california; mariana thompson folsom, foxboro, mass.; emily p. collins, la.; mary k. spalding, atlanta, ga.; mrs. matilda joslyn gage, new york; mary l. booth, _harper's bazar_, new york; ann t. greeley, ellsworth, me.; mary olney brown, olympia, washington territory. [ ] _resolved_, that as complete individual development depends on the harmonious exercise of our three-fold nature, and undue power given to either deranges and undermines the whole being, so in the nation, a complete experiment of self-government can be made only by the equal recognition of the rights of all citizens, and in their homogeneous education into the laws of national life. _resolved_, that the decision of chief justice waite, in the case of virginia l. minor of missouri, that according to the federal constitution woman is a citizen, but not entitled to the right of suffrage, is more infamous and retrogressive in principle at this hour, than was chief-justice tancy's decision in the dred scott case, that a black man was not a united states citizen, and therefore not entitled to the rights of a citizen of every state. _whereas_, by the recent decisions of the supreme court in the case of myra bradwell of illinois, and of virginia l. minor of missouri, the federal constitution is declared powerless to protect the civil and political rights of woman. _resolved_, that it is the duty of congress to take the necessary steps to secure an amendment to the constitution that shall prohibit the several states from disfranchising citizens of the united states on account of sex. _whereas_, one of the strongest evidences of the degradation of disfranchised classes is the denial of their right to testify against their rulers in courts of justice (slaves could not testify against their masters; chinamen in california to-day can not testify against white men, nor wives in cases of crim. con. against their husbands); therefore _resolved_, that the denial of elizabeth r. tilton's right to testify in the pending brooklyn trial, is but proof of woman's need of the ballot in her own right for self-defence and self-protection. _resolved_, that as the proposition for woman's enfranchisement is to be submitted in iowa, in , the national woman suffrage association will hold there county conventions, and by lectures and the circulation of tracts, help the women of iowa to make a thorough canvass of the state. _resolved_, that we congratulate the women of england for the large vote secured on the woman's disabilities bill in the house of commons. with a queen on her throne, , women already voting, and her premier in favor of the measure, england bids fair to take the lead in the complete enfranchisement of women. [ ] rev. o. b. frothingham, matilda joslyn gage, rev. olympia brown, lillie devereux blake, carrie s. burnham, mrs. stanton, and miss anthony. [ ] matilda joslyn gage, president; lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton, vice-presidents; henrietta p. westbrook, recording secretary; isabella beecher hooker, corresponding secretary; ellen clark sargent, treasurer; susan b. anthony and fifteen others, executive committee. chapter xxv. trials and decisions. women voting under the xiv. amendment--appeals to the courts--marilla m. ricker, of new hampshire, --nannette b. gardner, michigan--sarah andrews spencer, district of columbia--ellen rand van valkenburgh, california--catharine v. waite, illinois--carrie s. burnham, pennsylvania--sarah m. t. huntingdon, connecticut--susan b. anthony, new york--virginia l. minor, missouri--judges mckee, jameson, sharswood, cartter--associate justice hunt--chief justice waite--myra bradwell--hon. matt. h. carpenter--supreme court decisions--mrs. gage's review. we have already shown in previous chapters that by a fair interpretation of the xiv. amendment women were logically secured in their right to vote. encouraged by the opinions of able lawyers and judges, they promptly made a practical test of this question by registering and voting during the state and presidential elections of and ' . this transferred the discussion, for a time, from the platform and halls of legislation to the courts for final adjudication. the first woman to offer her vote was marilla m. ricker, of dover, new hampshire, a young widow of large property. in march,[ ] , the day previous to the election, she made application to the selectmen for registry. no objection being made, and one of the board, promising to put her name on the check-list, she departed, leaving with them several copies of a speech she had prepared in case of a refusal. on election day she appeared at the polls and offered a straight republican ticket. it was received by the moderator and her name called, but on examination of the list it was found that the selectman had been false to his promise, and her vote was refused. extended comments were made by the press of the state, democrats generally sustaining her, while republicans were bitter in opposition. mrs. ricker in the meantime prepared to sue the selectmen, but being strongly opposed by her republican friends, she silently submitted to the injustice, and thus lost the opportunity of being the first woman to prosecute the authorities for refusing the vote of a citizen on the ground of sex. however, she still enjoys the distinction of being the first woman to cast a vote under the xiv. amendment, as the following spring she saw that her name was on the registry list, and her vote was received without opposition. the next case was that of nannette b. gardner, in detroit, michigan. she registered her name in that city march , , and voted,[ ] unquestioned, april d. april th, of the same year, sara andrews spencer and sarah e. webster, with seventy other women of the district of columbia, marched in a body to the polls, but their votes were refused at the election as they had been previously refused registration. they immediately took steps to prosecute the board of inspectors, and suit was brought in the supreme court of the district at the general term, october, . albert g. riddle and francis miller, able lawyers of the district, and well known advocates of woman suffrage, were retained by the plaintiffs, and in their defense made the following arguments: mr. riddle said: may it please the court; ... these plaintiffs, describing themselves as women, claim to be citizens of the united states and of this district, with the right of the elective franchise, which they attempted to exercise at the election of april th last past, and were prevented. they say that as registration was a prerequisite of the right to vote, they tendered themselves in due form, and demanded it, under the second section of the act of may , ( th u.s. stats., ). that is the "act to enforce the right of citizens of the united states to vote," etc., and authorizes a suit for refusing registration. they say, that being refused registration, they tendered their votes to the proper inspectors of said election, with proof of their attempt to register, citizenship, etc., as authorized by the third section of said act, and their votes were refused; and, thereupon, spencer brings her suit under said second section, against the registering officers, and webster hers under the third section, which authorizes it, for rejecting her vote. the questions in both cases are identical and presented together. to the declarations the defendants demur, and thereby raise the only questions we desire to have adjudicated. the defendants, by their demurrer, admit all the allegations of the plaintiffs, severally, but say, that as they are women, they are not entitled to vote in the district of columbia. that the seventh section of the organic act, the constitution of the district, provides, "that all male citizens," etc., "shall be entitled to vote," etc., and that this word male excludes women, of course. to this the plaintiffs reply that the language of the statute does exclude women, but they say that in the presence of the first section of the xiv. amendment, which confers the elective franchise upon "all persons," this word "male" is as if unwritten, and that the statute, constitutionally, reads, "that all citizens shall be entitled to vote." for we contend, your honors, that although the congress "has exclusive legislation in all cases over this district," it can legislate only, as could the states, from which it was taken. it must legislate in accordance with american ideas, and can exercise no power not granted by the constitution; and that instrument certainly confers no power to limit the right of suffrage. and so we are at issue.... as the first proposition of my brief, i contend, _that under our system the right to vote is a natural right_. obviously, government is of right or it is an usurpation. if of right, it sprang from some right older than itself; and this older right must have existed in persons (people), in each and all alike, male and female. and having this right, they used it to form for themselves a government. of course, this supposes that all joined in and consented to the government having the power to dissent; for, to just the extent that a government got itself agoing without the free consent of its people, it is without right. the right of self-government, and from that springs our right to govern others, is a natural right. this is the primary idea of american politics, and the foundation of our government. this was formulated in the second clause of our great declaration, and no man has dared to deny it.... it follows, then, if the right of government is a natural right, and to be exercised alone by the ballot, that the right to vote is a natural right. this never has been and never can be successfully controverted.... i will read from the highest american authority upon our politico-constitutional questions, partly in support of my proposition that the right to vote is a natural right, and also to show that the assumed claim of one part of the people to exclude another from all share in the government has the most doubtful and shadowy foundation in right, and to an american it needs no evidence to show that a portion of the people thus excluded are in a state of vassalage. i read from story on the constitution, volume st, commencing at sec. . the most strenuous advocate for universal suffrage has never yet contended that the right should be absolutely universal. no one has ever been sufficiently visionary to hold that all persons of every age, degree, and character, should be entitled to vote in all elections of all public officers. idiots, infants, minors, and persons insane or utterly imbecile, have been, without scruple, denied the right as not having the sound judgment and discretion fit for its exercise. in many countries, persons guilty of crimes have also been denied the right as a personal punishment, or as a security to society. in most countries, females, whether married or single, have been purposely excluded from voting, as interfering with sound policy and the harmony of social life ... and yet it would be extremely difficult, upon any mere theoretical reasoning, to establish any satisfactory principle upon which the one-half of every society has thus been systematically excluded by the other half from all right of participating in government, which would not at the same time apply to and justify many other exclusions. if it be said that all men have a natural, equal, and inalienable right to vote, because they are all born free and equal; that they all have common rights and interests entitled to protection; and, therefore, have an equal right to decide, either personally or by their chosen representatives, upon the laws and regulations which shall control, measure, and sustain those rights and interests; that they can not be compelled to surrender, except by their free consent, what by the bounty and order of providence belongs to them in common with all their race. what is there in these considerations which is not equally applicable to females as free, intelligent, moral, responsible beings, entitled to equal rights and interests and protection, and having a vital stake in all the regulations and laws of society? and, if an exception, from the nature of the case, could be felt in regard to persons who are idiots, infants, and insane, how can this apply to persons who are of more mature growth, and are yet deemed minors by the municipal law? sec. . if, then, every well-organized society has the right to consult for the common good of the whole; and if, upon the principle of natural law, this right is conceded by the very union of society, it seems difficult to assign any limit to this right which is compatible with the due attainment of the end proposed. if, therefore, any society shall deem the common good and interests of the whole society best promoted under the particular circumstances in which it is placed by a restriction of the right of suffrage, it is not easy to state any solid ground of objection to its exercise of such an authority. at least, if any society has a clear right to deprive females, constituting one-half of the whole population, of the right of suffrage (which, with scarcely an exception, has been uniformly maintained), it will require some astuteness to find upon what ground this exclusion can be vindicated, which does justify, or at least excuse, many other exclusions. sec. . without laying any stress upon this theoretical reasoning which is brought before the reader, not so much because it solves all doubts and objections, as because it presents a view of the serious difficulties attendant upon the assumption of an original and inalienable right of suffrage, as originating in natural law, and independent of civil law, it may be proper to state that every civilized society has uniformly fixed, modified, and regulated the right of suffrage for itself according to its own free will and pleasure. every constitution of government in these united states has assumed, as a fundamental principle, the right of the people of the state to alter, abolish, and modify the form of its own government according to the sovereign pleasure of the people. in fact, the people of each state have gone much further, and settled a far more critical question, by deciding who shall be the voters entitled to approve and reject the constitution framed by a delegated body under their direction. in the adoption of no state constitution has the assent been asked of any but the qualified voters; and women, and minors, and other persons not recognized as voters by existing laws, have been studiously excluded. and yet the constitution has been deemed entirely obligatory upon them as well as upon the minority, who voted against it. from this it will be seen how little, even in the most free of republican governments, any abstract right of suffrage, or any original and indefeasible privilege, has been recognized in practice. this, remember, was written thirty years ago. where would story be now, if living? i beg also to read a single paragraph from the "spirit of laws," london edition, vol. i., p. : "all the inhabitants of the several districts ought to have the right to vote at the election of the representatives," etc. all of the inhabitants, says montesquieu, ought to have the right to vote. under such a rule i suppose my learned opponent would contend that a woman could not be an inhabitant, of course. i feel that i ought to apologize for presenting this point to this extent; it is so obvious, and rests on such broad and ample ground, that argument for it is without excuse, and i rest it here. so that if you consider this xiv. amendment as a grant from the sovereign, then, like all such grants, you must take it most strongly against the grantor, and most favorable to the subject. and if, as i have shown, it is in favor of natural right, then must you construe it most strongly to extend that right. no court needs authority for these propositions. the second proposition of my brief is, _that by the old common law of our english ancestors, the old storehouse of our rights and liberties, as well as the arsenal where we find weapons for their defense, woman always possessed this right of suffrage_. i will show by several english cases, by long usage, and general understanding, by principle and precedent, that the english woman both voted and held office; and i will show that not a single case, that not a single resolution of the house of commons exists to the contrary; and that in all the now innumerable tomes of the common law, of judicial decision, commentary, or essay, but a single dictum exists to the contrary. and if i thus establish that the construction of the xiv. amendment, for which i this day contend, is in favor of a common law right, is in accordance with its scope and spirit, every lawyer understands by how much i strengthen my position. and for the satisfaction of the court i am glad to state that this part of my argument will consist entirely of extracts from recent english text-writers, and a reference to two or three old cases. i read first from mr. anstey's notes upon the reform act of great britain of . the writer in his comment upon the words of the act, "every man of full age," etc., commences by showing that the term man in the act, as in magna charta and other statutes, is epicene--means both men and women. and he then goes on to show that to construe this phrase, "every man," to include every woman also, is in strict accordance with the common law from old times to the present. i read from p. : that the rights in question (the right of suffrage) are not incompatible with the legal status of the woman, the following authorities seem to show. on the other hand, there can not be adduced any one authority against the position that the franchise of the shire and the borough were enjoyed by the female "resiants" equally with those of the male sex in times when "resiants," as such, and not as "tenants," had the franchise. the statutes by which the parliamentary franchise in counties was taken away from the "resiants" and vested in the "tenants," and at length restricted to those of freehold tenure ( hen., , c. ; geo., , c. ; geo., c. ), did not in any manner create or recognize any such distinction as that of the male and the female freeholders. those acts had relation to tenure, not to sex. for the same reason, in all those boroughs where the "common right" prevailed, the suffrage would naturally be exercisable by the female no less than by the male "inhabitants" or "residants." it is believed that in not one of the boroughs where the suffrage was said to be regulated by "charter," or by "custom," or by "prescription" or even where it was regulated by a local act of parliament, there can be found one instance of any provision or usage whatsoever whereby any voter was excluded from the enjoyment of the suffrage by reason of sex. that a woman may be a householder, or freeholder, or burgage tenant, parishioner, is plain enough. that she may answer the description of "a person paying scot and lot" within the "city of london," has been solemnly decided by the court of king's bench (olive _vs._ ingram, mod. , , , ,) and that determination was expressly grounded by their lordships "singly upon the foot of the common law, without regard to the usages of the parishes in london," which usage, nevertheless, had been also shown to be in favor of the same construction. in all cases, whether of statutory, of customary, or of common law qualification for the suffrage, the general rule is that which was laid down by the court of king's bench with respect to the choice of parochial officers under the first "act for the relief of the poor," which directed them to be made from among the "substantial householders" of the place. the court held (rex. _vs._ stubbs, t. r., )--overruling a dictum in viner's abridgment to the contrary--that a woman, being a "substantial householder," was properly chosen under that act to the office of overseer of the poor, notwithstanding the objections raised at the bar that it was a burthensome office and one of which, being once appointed to it, she would be called upon to perform duties some of which were above the bodily and mental powers, and others were inconsistent with the morality, or, at least, the decency of that sex.--(id. .) and so again on pages and : that there are some offices as to which it is the practice, by the "custom of england," to exclude them, is undoubtedly the fact. but it has been well said, as to these, that "there is a difference between being exempted and being incapacitated," and that "an excuse from acting, etc., is different from an incapacity of doing so. for it must not be forgotten, that it is upon the footing, not of disability, but of exemption, that those exclusions are vested, by the authorities which declare them." thus, whitelocke: "by the custom of england, women are not returned of juries, nor put into offices or commissions, nor eligible to serve in parliament, or admitted to be members of the house of peers; but, by reason of their sex, they are exempted from such employment. the omission of the electoral franchise from that enumeration [of exemption] is remarkable. if women were, at that time, considered to be excluded by any "custom of england" from the parliamentary franchise, as well as from parliament, it is scarcely conceivable that whitelocke would have omitted to mention so important a fact. singular to say, there is no trace of any such custom or usage in the reports or amongst the records, not even, so far as the author's researches have been successful, in the journals of the house of commons itself; and yet the right of the returning officer to reject the vote of a female elector when tendered at the polling-booth is always assumed to be an adjudged point. mr. oldfield appears to have been under the impression that the resolution of the house of commons upon the occasion of the westminster election, asserting the incapacity of an alien to vote in elections of members to serve in parliament, extended to "women" also. if it were so, the incident would have no weight, for the enactment, which, according to a second resolution of the same date, was to be prepared for carrying into effect that intention, never received the sanction even of that house. but, in truth, no mention of "women" appears in either resolution. nor was there, in that year, or at any other period, any resolution or determination of the house, so far as the author's information goes, directly impeaching the capacity of any female, in respect of her sex, to vote at an election to parliament. he is aware that the house of commons did, upon one remarkable occasion, deny the capacity of a female to be heard even as a witness at their bar; and that this extraordinary vote was obtained through the influence of sir edward coke, the only text-writer who can be vouched for the position, that a woman's vote ought not to be received at a parliamentary election. further on, pages and ; on the other hand, there are extant many parliamentary returns for counties and boroughs from the earliest times, which were made by female electors, and yet were received. some of them are enumerated in prynne's collections of parliamentary writs. some of later dates are mentioned in the commons' journals themselves. others are to be found in the repositories of the learned or the curious. three of the returns in question which related to one and the same borough, were, at a period long subsequent, produced before a "committee of privilege and election," presided over by the great parliamentary lawyer, mr. hakewell, as evidence for and against the respective parties in an election trial then pending. the question was whether the borough was close or open; that is to say, whether amongst the former returns so produced, those by "mrs. copley, as sole inhabitant," showed the suffrage to be limited to the lord or lady of gatton for the time being, or whether those by "mrs. copley, _et omnes inhabitantes_," showed the suffrage to be of a more popular character. no question of sex was raised on either side, and neither the report of the committee which found for the popular right, nor the resolution of the house for giving effect thereto, and for taking the lord of the manor's return off the file, contain any allusion to the question of sex. at that time the house of commons was not prepared to enter into conflict with the courts of law, and "privilege" had not attained to the height which, amid the excitement of the era of , it was doomed to reach. it was impossible for the committee of privileges, in the gatton case, to deny the female suffrage without coming into collision with the law, which had been declared but a few years previously by the judges. (holt _vs._ lyle and coates _vs_. lyle, jac., and catherine _vs_. surrey, (hakewell mss.,) append., mod., - .) "the opinion of the judges," it was said by sir william lee, a chief justice of the king's bench in , "was that a _feme-sole_, if she has a freehold," in a county (as it seems) "may vote for members of parliament," and that women when sole had a power to vote.... in lady packington's case (she) returns to parliament; that the sheriff made a precept to her, as lady of the manor, to return two members to parliament.... in the case of holt _vs_. lyle it is determined that a _feme-sole_ freeholder, in counties, may claim a vote for parliament men, but, if married, her husband must vote for her.... i only mention what i found in a manuscript by the famous hakewell. chief-justice--coverture then incapacitated a woman from voting? mr. riddle.--no, your honor; the right to vote attached to the freehold, and by the old law that by marriage vested in the husband. in the case of olive _vs._ ingram, th mod. reps., already recited by the author, it was urged that the right of woman suffrage was lost by _non-user_, which is thus disposed of. i quote from page : the same can not be said of the learned solicitor general's objection of _non-user_. "as their claim," he argued, "is at common law, and usage is the only evidence of right at common law, they ought to show it, or else _non-user_ shall be evidence of a waiver of the right, if they ever had any." the reply was conclusive enough. "there was a difference between being exempted and being incapacitated." but there was another and a not less conclusive reply. the franchise was a public, not a private right--_omnis libertas regia est, et ad coronam pertinet_--[every liberty is royal and pertinent to the crown]--and of such there can be no waiver, for the right implies a duty, and the duty is co-equal and co-extensive with the right. i now ask your attention to the case of jane allen, which came before mr. anstey in the revising court, a tribunal created by the parliamentary elector's trial bill of , and which sits to revise the registration of voters, under the act of , and from whom appeals lie to the court of common pleas. the case came up in , and was fully and ably argued, and the revising barrister went luminously over the whole ground in an exhaustive opinion when he rendered judgment. i find the case in the eng. law mag. and law rev. for , at p. : _in re jane allen_ (_parish of st. giles-in-the-fields_). _september , _. this was a claim to be entered on the st. giles' list of occupiers for the borough, under the "representation of the people act, ," s. ; the claimant's name, in common with those of all female occupiers, having been omitted by the overseers. * * * * * the revising barrister said, p. : in the meantime, and dealing with the case according to my own opinion of what the law is, i hold, in the first place, that this incapacity of mere sex, as it is called, did not exist at common law in any constituency; and (on the authority of the cases cited already of catherine _vs._ surrey, holt _vs._ lyle, and coates _vs._ lyle, which show that there is in counties no such incapacity even as to the freehold franchise, even under the acts passed before , greatly narrowing the basis of that suffrage there), that, _à fortiori_, there was no such incapacity in boroughs of the common right at least, and also of many, perhaps all, of those by custom also, as appears by the valuable records preserved from the time of the conquest down to our own time, including the damesday and the doom books of the various boroughs. for i find that (although in some boroughs, a later charter or special act of parliament was to the contrary), where the common right obtained, the woman burgess took her place, and her name was inscribed on the burgess roll with the male burgesses, enjoying the same rights and liable to the same heavy duties--such as watch and ward, scot and lot, and the like, as the burgesses of the male sex. curiously enough, i see that it has been objected to the right of female suffrage within the last few days, that there is this analogy between the right of franchise and the liability to watch and ward. it is because that analogy exists, that i think that the claim of franchise must surely prevail, it being clear that, under the common law, a woman was liable to the former burthen, as she is still liable to serve as a constable, as an overseer of the poor, and the like offices, and, therefore, was rightfully put upon the burgess roll, and voted in the borough court equally with the male burgess. but the matter does not rest there. the rolls of parliament, which end with the reign of queen mary, certainly contain no notice of the right of women to vote at common law, because they contain no entries relating to the right of suffrage at all, and i, therefore, pass them by. but i make this observation upon them, that they do contain not unfrequent notices of the presence of women in parliament itself. but the returns to the parliamentary writs of the period are more to the purpose. take, for instance, those relating to the county of york, collected by prynne for quite another purpose than the present. he had to show that the lords and esquires of that great county, and not the freeholders at large, had for the long period of time which began with the reign of henry iv. and ended with that of edward iv., alone returned the knights of that shire to parliament, and among those lords and esquires not a few clearly appear to have been of the female sex. but now i pass to the period of the journal. it was said by mr. bennett [who argued against woman suffrage], that if a single instance could be shown in which a woman had voted, and not simply claimed the right to vote, then _cadit questio_. but two such cases, lady packington's case and mrs. copley's case, were admitted by mr. bennett himself. i do not think that he explained away the effect of that admission. it was certainly not as a mere returning officer that either of those ladies signed and returned the indenture. it was as a person having or claiming to have, the sole property in the soil of the whole of the populous borough of aylesbury, that lady packington made her return; and during two or three generations the packington family had, or had claimed to have, precisely that right. * * * * * it is thus made broad and clear that the right of woman to the elective franchise was one of the best acknowledged and clearest of common law rights; and that in the whole circle of english authority the ghost of a dictum can alone be raised to question it. so that if the force of its language compels you to construe the xiv. amendment as authorizing woman to vote, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that it but restores her to her old common law right in the persons of her american daughters. third. i am now to deal directly with the amendments. the first clause of section of the xiv amendment i now read: section . all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. until this was promulgated there was no absolute standard or rule of citizenship in the united states. each state made a rule for itself, and its rule was not always clearly expressed, as you will see by these constitutions. some of them say that the male citizens of the state, being inhabitants, etc., shall vote, yet do not declare in what citizenship shall consist. others, that citizens of the united states, etc., shall vote, while no person was a citizen of the united states except as he had become a citizen of a state. many states permitted aliens, on a short residence, to vote, without naturalization, and they, in that indirect way, became citizens of such state, and hence of the united states. this amendment puts an end to doubt and cavil, and broadly declares that all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside, etc.... by an unwritten article of the american constitution--for whoever looks to the written text will not find the whole of the constitution--persons, no matter where born, or however unnatural they may be, are permitted to become domiciled, gain settlements, hold lands, bring suits, and acquire and enjoy every possible right, privilege, and immunity of native born persons. nor has congress, nor has any state ever attempted, by law or ordinance, to discriminate against them, nor will either ever dare to do so, nor could or would such a law be enforced. the unwritten constitution, by the name of public policy, or without any name, would prevent it. the only possible things which a resident alien may not do, are, he can not vote or hold office. there need be no mistake about this, and it can be reduced to an absolute certainty. what, pray, does the resident alien acquire by the transmuting process of naturalization? what is the sum total of his citizenship? he acquires the right of suffrage, and the right to hold office, and no other thing under the heavens and the star-spangled banner. does he acquire these rights by virtue of any word or special provision of our naturalization laws, which annexes suffrage to naturalization as its special perquisite? not a word of it. nor is there a word in any act of congress or law of a state that confers suffrage upon the naturalized american as a thing incident to or consequent upon his act of naturalization. he thereby becomes a citizen, and takes up and enjoys its peculiar and distinguishing right. he gets naturalized for that and for no other purpose. naturalization confers suffrage, then, because suffrage is a property of citizenship. * * * * * colored male citizens now vote constitutionally and rightfully, although the word "white" stands as before in most of the state constitutions; and yet they vote in spite of it. some potent alembic has destroyed the force of this word, although the text remains as of old. we are at once referred to the xv. amendment for a solution. that has conferred the power of voting upon them, and it is superior to the state constitutions and statutes, and executes itself, as is claimed. i concede, your honors, that if the xv. amendment does confer suffrage, or remove the exclusion so that colored citizens can vote; if they have derived the franchise from that, then the argument is against me. but, if it does confer it, then judgment must go for me. let us read it: article xv., section . the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. sec. . the congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. ( stat., p. .) you see in a moment this does not confer anything. it uses no words of grant or grace, apt or otherwise, nor does it profess to. it expressly recognizes, as an already existing fact, that the citizens of the united states have the right to vote. the right which shall thus be respected is a right peculiar to the citizen--it is not a personal right, but a political right; and a right to vote, the same one mentioned in the second section of the xiv. amendment--a right not created or conferred by the xv. amendment. it could not be, for it existed, and, as i have just said, was spoken of in the xiv. amendment; so that it must be as old as that at the least. this amendment is a solemn mandate to all concerned not to deny this right, because it existed, and because it was of the highest value. justice wylie: it is not to be denied for either of the three reasons mentioned. mr. riddle: yes, your honor, i have not reached that; i am now only showing that it is a right--a citizen right--and older than the xv. amendment; but, if your honor intends to infer that, because the right can not be denied in any one of those cases, that, therefore, it may be in all others, then you have another instance of a constitutional right to deny a constitutional right; and, without vanity, i have already pulverized that assumption. it is thus absolutely certain that colored male citizens do not claim their admitted right to vote from this xv. amendment. they had it before, and this came in to protect and secure them in its enjoyment. whence did they derive it? from the xiv. amendment? if so, then did women acquire it by the same amendment? was it an inherent right in them as a part of "the people?" so women are a much larger and more important part of "the people." the right to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was not used to make the right sacred in male negroes alone, while the rights of all others were left to political caprice, or to be controlled hereafter by these same colored males mayhap; but this amendment was aimed fully at the mischief of the second section of the xiv. amendment, and there its force is expended. it fossilizes the second section of that amendment. while the broad language of its first section secures, beyond the abridging hand of the states, the great rights it secures--rights which congress can not abridge on any pretext, for it can exercise no power not granted, and the constitution confers on it no power to abridge the "privileges or immunities of the citizen" in any instance. and here i rest this solemn argument. i have brought this cause of woman, and of man as well--of the race--into the presence of the court, surrounded by the severe atmosphere of the law, beyond the reach of chronic ribaldry, and into the region of argument, where it must be estimated by its legal merits. i have applied to it the rules of law. i have pushed away the dead exfoliations that cumber the path; and have gone to the foundations, to the ever fresh and preserving spirit of the rules of the common law, and have sought to apply them with candor.... francis miller following mr. riddle, said: may it please the court; ... clearly the xv. amendment does not confer any right of suffrage. clearly, prior to the xiv. amendment, colored men had no right to vote. the xiii. amendment, which emancipated them, did not give them the right of suffrage, because the states had the constitutional power to say they should not vote. but between the xiii. and xv. amendments, in some way or other, the colored man came into possession of this right of suffrage; and the question is, where did he get it? if he did not get it under the xiv. amendment, by what possible authority are they voting by hundreds of thousands throughout this country? the legislative and constitutional provisions that prohibit their voting still remain unrepealed upon the statute books of many of the states, but yet they do vote. there is no possible, no conceivable, means by which they legally can vote, except by the operation of the xiv. amendment. it may be said that if that is the case the xv. amendment was not necessary. well, admit it was not. it was very well said by justice swayne, in the case of the united states _vs._ rhodes, in answer to the argument that if the xiii. amendment conferred certain rights upon the colored man it was unnecessary to pass the civil rights bill; "that it was not necessary, but it was well to do it to prevent doubts and differences of opinion." it is not well to leave any man's rights and liberties subject even to a doubt, and the congress of the united states had better adopt amendment after amendment than to allow the slightest cloud to rest upon the tenure of the rights of the american citizen.... the constitution has formulated into law the declaration of independence. we were one hundred years coming to it; but we have reached it at last--certainly by recognizing the political rights of the black man--and, as i believe, those of woman; and that is all this court is called upon here to declare, to wit: that the declaration of independence has been enacted into law, and that you will see that that law is enforced. * * * * * if i have established, as i believe i have, that under the first section of the xiv. amendment women have the right to vote, and there is any particular limitation in the second section that contradicts it, that part of the amendment falls void and useless, so far as its effect upon woman is concerned. there is the declaration of the general principles expressly stated; and, if there is anything contradictory, "the particular and inferior can not defeat the general and superior." (lieber's hermeneutics, p. .) the great object of that xiv. amendment, so far as it can be deduced from the words in which it is expressed, is this: that the rights of the citizens of the united states shall not be abridged. if there is anything contradictory of that in the subsequent sections, those sections must fall. but if the second section affects this argument at all, it is because it seems, by implication, to admit that the rights of certain male citizens of the united states can be denied. that is the whole force and effect of it--i mean so far as this argument is concerned. all that can be claimed for it is, that by implication, perhaps, it would permit that to be done. the xv. amendment comes in and says, in express terms, that that which the second section by implication permits, shall not be done; and by this declaration it strikes out that section, and it is no more in the constitution now than is that clause of the second section of the first article of the constitution which permitted states to deny suffrage to any of their citizens--black or white. that section is gone. it is no more a part of the constitution, because it has been absolutely repealed by the adoption of the xiv. amendment. just so this second section of the xiv. amendment disappeared by the operation of the xv. amendment. section . the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. sec. . the congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. ( stat., p. .) the chief justice.--there is a very strong implication, is there not, in that amendment, that you may deny the right of suffrage for other causes. mr. miller.--i do not think there can be any implication by which a citizen may be robbed of a fundamental right. it must be something expressed. i do not believe in any power of taking away the rights of citizens by construction. no human being can be robbed of his god-given rights by implication. you can not take away his property by implication. you can not take away his liberty. i think it is equally true that you can not take away his right of self-government by implication. finally, in regard to the construction of this xiv. amendment, it must be observed that it is remedial in its character, and it must be "construed liberally to carry out the beneficent principles it was intended to embody," (dwarris on statutory law, p. ,) and that "its construction must be extended to other cases within the reason and rule of it." (lord mansfield in atcheson _vs._ everett, cowper, , .) lieber's fourteenth rule of construction is: let the weak have the benefit of a doubt without defeating the general object of a law. let mercy prevail, if there be real doubt. (lieber's hermeneutics, p. .) now, if mercy must prevail when there is real doubt, still more should justice prevail if there is any doubt. if your honors have any doubt in regard to this decision, i call upon you, not in the name of mercy, but in the name of justice, to give us the benefit of that doubt, and to recognize the right of all human beings to govern themselves. * * * * * chief justice cartter then delivered the opinion of the court, sustaining the demurrer, which is as follows: these cases, involving the same questions, are presented together. as shown by the plaintiffs' brief, the plaintiffs claim the elective franchise under the first section of the xiv. amendment of the constitution. the fourth paragraph of the regulations of the governor and judges of the district, made registration a condition precedent to the right of voting at the election of april th, . the plaintiffs, being otherwise qualified, offered to register, and were refused. they then tendered their ballots at the polls, with evidence of qualification and offer to register, etc., when their ballots were rejected under the seventh section of the act providing a government for the district of columbia. mrs. spencer brings her suit for this refusal of registration, and mrs. webster for the rejection of her vote, under the second and third sections of the act of may , . the seventh section of the organic act above referred to, limits the right to vote to "all male citizens," but it is contended that in the presence of the xiv. amendment, the word male is without effect, and the act authorizes "all citizens" to exercise the elective franchise. the question involved in the two actions which have been argued, and which, for the purposes of judgment, may be regarded as one, is, whether the plaintiffs have a right to exercise within this jurisdiction, the elective franchise. the letter of the law controlling the subject is to be found in the seventh section of the act of february , , entitled, "an act to provide a government for the district of columbia," as follows: _and be it further enacted_, that all male citizens of the united states, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been actual residents of said district for three months prior to the passage of this act, except such as are _non compos mentis_, and persons convicted of infamous crimes, shall be entitled to vote at said election, in the election district or precinct in which he shall then reside, and shall have so resided for thirty days immediately preceding said election, and shall be eligible to any office within the said district, and for all subsequent elections, twelve months prior residence shall be required to constitute a voter; but the legislative assembly shall have no right to abridge or limit the right of suffrage. it will be seen by the terms of this act that females are not included within its privileges. on the contrary, by implication, they are excluded. we do not understand that it is even insisted in argument that authority for the exercise of the franchise is to be derived from law. the position taken is, that the plaintiffs have a right to vote, independent of the law; even in defiance of the terms of the law. the claim, as we understand it, is, that they have an inherent right, resting in nature, and guaranteed by the constitution in such wise that it may not be defeated by legislation. in virtue of this natural and constitutional right, the plaintiffs ask the court to overrule the law, and give effect to rights lying behind it, and rising superior to its authority. the court has listened patiently and with interest to ingenious argument in support of the claim, but have failed to be convinced of the correctness of the position, whether on authority or in reason. in all periods, and in all countries, it may be safely assumed that no privilege has been held to be more exclusively within the control of conventional power than the privilege of voting, each state in turn regulating the subject by the sovereign political will. the nearest approach to the natural right to vote, or govern--two words in this connection signifying the same thing--is to be found in those countries and governments that assert the hereditary right to rule. the assumption of divine right would be a full vindication of the natural right contended for here, provided it did not involve the hereditary obligation to obey. again, in other states, embracing the republics, and especially our own, including the states which make up the united states, this right has been made to rest upon the authority of political power, defining who may be an elector, and what shall constitute his qualification; most states in the past period declaring property as the familiar basis of a right to vote; others, intelligence; others, more numerous, extending the right to all male persons who have attained the age of majority. while the conditions of the right have varied in several states, and from time to time been modified in the same state, the right has uniformly rested upon the express authority of the political power, and been made to revolve within the limitations of express law. passing from this brief allusion to the political history of the question to the consideration of its inherent merits, we do not hesitate to believe that the legal vindication of the natural right of all citizens to vote would, at this stage of popular intelligence, involve the destruction of civil government. there is nothing in the history of the past that teaches us otherwise. there is little in current history that promises a better result. the right of all men to vote is as fully recognized in the population of our large centres and cities as can well be done, short of an absolute declaration that all men shall vote, irrespective of qualifications. the result in these centres is political profligacy and violence verging upon anarchy. the influences working out this result are apparent in the utter neglect of all agencies to conserve the virtue, integrity and wisdom of government, and the appropriation of all agencies calculated to demoralize and debase the integrity of the elector. institutions of learning, calculated to bring men up to their highest state of political citizenship, and indispensable to the qualifications of the mind and morals of the responsible voter, are postponed to the agency of the dram-shop and gambling hell; and men of conscience and capacity are discarded, to the promotion of vagabonds to power. this condition demonstrates that the right to vote ought not to be, and is not, an absolute right. the fact that the practical working of the assumed right would be destructive of civilization is decisive that the right does not exist.... it will be seen by the first clause of the xiv. amendment, that the plaintiffs, in common with all other persons born in the united states, are citizens thereof, and, if to make them citizens is to make them voters, the plaintiffs may, of right, vote. it will be inferred from what has already been said, that to make a person a citizen is not to make him or her a voter. all that has been accomplished by this amendment to the constitution, or by its previous provisions, is to distinguish them from aliens, and make them capable of becoming voters. in giving expression to my own judgment, this clause does advance them to full citizenship, and clothes them with the capacity to become voters. the provision ends with the declaration of their citizenship. it is a constitutional provision that does not execute itself. it is the creation of a constitutional condition that requires the supervention of legislative power in the exercise of legislative discretion to give it effect. the constitutional capability of becoming a voter created by this amendment lies dormant, as in the case of an infant, until made effective by legislative action. congress, the legislative power of this jurisdiction, as yet, has not seen fit to carry the inchoate right into effect, as is apparent in the law regulating the franchise of this district. when that shall have been done, it will be the pleasure of this court to administer the law as they find it. until this shall be done, the consideration of fitness and unfitness, merit and demerit, are considerations for the law-making power. the demurrer in these cases is sustained. after the reading of the opinion of the court by chief justice cartter, mr. riddle, counsel for the plaintiffs, in open court, prayed an appeal to the supreme court of the united states. and that highest tribunal affirmed the decision of judge cartter. this contradictory decision of judge cartter averring that the xiv. amendment clothed women with the capacity to become voters, but did not create them voters, afforded opportunity for criticism and ridicule. the washington _sunday morning herald_ wittily reported[ ] this trial in the supreme court of the district of columbia. on july st, , ellen rand van valkenburg, of santa cruz, california, having applied for registration and been refused, brought suit against albert brown, of brown county, who acted as register upon this occasion. although later suits exceeded this in interest it was notable for being the first decision under the new amendments.[ ] september , , suit was brought by carrie s. burnham, an unmarried woman, residing in philadelphia. she was duly assessed by the canvassers of the fourteenth ward of that city as a resident of the eleventh election district of that ward. two days afterwards she paid her tax, and her name was registered on the canvassers' printed list of legal voters in that division. having complied with all the laws regulating suffrage in pennsylvania, she presented her ballot in legal form at the proper time and place at the general election, but her vote was refused. her argument in the court of common pleas and the opinion of the judge, will be given in the pennsylvania chapter. mrs. catharine v. waite, of illinois, also instituted suit for the refusal of her vote proffered in the fall of , and received an adverse decision, a report of which will be found in the illinois chapter. two years previous to these suits for the recognition of the political rights of women a contest of a different character was commenced in illinois. mrs. myra bradwell, editor of the chicago _legal news_, in september, , having passed the examination, and received the required certificate of qualification, applied for admission to the bar of that state, which was refused by its supreme court, on the ground that she was a woman. she made this denial of her civil rights a test case by bringing a writ of error against the state of illinois in the supreme court of the united states. we copy from the _legal news_ of february , : a woman can not practice law or hold any office in illinois. _full report of the proceedings in the supreme court upon the application of myra bradwell to be admitted to the bar._ licensing attorneys.--the following extract from rule shows what is required by the supreme court of applicants for admission to the bar: _ordered_, that rules and be rescinded, and applicants for license to practice law in the courts of this state, on presenting to any member of this court a certificate of qualification, signed by the circuit judge and state's attorney of the circuit in which the applicant may reside, setting forth that the applicant has been examined and found qualified, will be a sufficient voucher on which to grant a license. certificate of admission.--the undersigned have examined mrs. myra bradwell as to her qualifications to enter upon the practice of the law, and finding her qualified therefor, recommended that a license should be issued to her. e. s. williams, _judge seventh judicial circuit_. charles h. reed, _state's attorney_. chicago, illinois, august , . motion to be admitted.--robert hervey, esq., of the chicago bar, at the september term, kindly, at the request of the applicant, filed her certificate of examination and of character from judge jameson of the superior court of chicago; also the following written application prepared by her, and moved the court that she be admitted: _supreme court of illinois--third grand division--september term. --(in the matter of the application of myra bradwell for license to practice law.)_ _to the honorable the judges of the supreme court of illinois_: now comes your petitioner, myra bradwell, a resident of chicago, ill., over twenty-one years of age, and presents to your honors, under rule of this honorable court, the certificate of the hon. e. s. williams, judge of the circuit court for the seventh district, and the hon. charles h. reed, state's attorney for the said circuit, stating that they have examined your petitioner and found her qualified to practice law, and recommend that a license issue to her for that purpose, and also a certificate as to character from the superior court of chicago, as required by the statute and the rule aforesaid, and moves your honors that an order of this honorable court may be entered directing a license to be given to your petitioner. your petitioner suggests that the only question involved in her case is--does being a woman disqualify her under the laws of illinois from receiving a license to practice law?--and claims that the legislature has answered this question in the negative. the first section of chapter eleven of the revised statutes, in regard to the admission of attorneys, is as follows: no person shall be permitted to practice as an attorney or counselor-at-law, or to commence, conduct, or defend any action, suit, or plaint, in which he is not a party concerned, in any court of record within this state, either by using or subscribing his own name or the name of any other person without having previously obtained a license for that purpose from some two of the justices of the supreme court, which license shall constitute the person receiving the same an attorney and counselor-at-law, and shall authorize him to appear in all the courts of record within this state, and there to practice as an attorney and counselor-at-law, according to the laws and customs thereof, for and during his good behavior in said practice, and to demand and receive all such fees as are or hereafter may be established for any services which he shall or may render as an attorney or counselor-at-law in this state. your petitioner claims that the pronoun he, not only in this section, but the whole chapter, is used indefinitely for any person, and may refer to either a man or woman. the legislature devoted the whole of chapter to construing various expressions and words used in the revised statutes, and in section said: when any party or person is described or referred to by words importing the masculine gender, females as well as males shall be deemed to be included. it is declared by act no. , appendix to the revised statutes, that the several chapters composing the revised statutes shall be deemed and taken as one act. it is evident that if a woman should practice law without a license, recover for her services, and be sued for three times the amount, that under sec. of chap. for practicing law without a license, it would be no defense for her to say that the masculine pronoun was used in this section. section of our declaration of rights, says "that all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship almighty god," etc. it will not be contended that women are not included within this provision. the th section declares "that no freeman shall be imprisoned or disseized of his freehold," etc., but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land. will woman be deprived of the guarantees in this section and the right of trial by jury because the masculine pronoun is used? under the th section no man's property can be taken or applied to public use without the consent, etc. is not the property of a woman as secure under this provision as that of a man? in the chapter upon forcible entry and detainer, the masculine pronoun is used throughout, but no court would hesitate for a moment in holding a woman to be within its provisions if she should wrongfully hold possession of premises. in the whole chancery code of this state, consisting of sections, the word woman, female, she, her, herself, or any other feminine pronouns are not to be found, while in the th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, st, th, th, and th, and some others, the masculine pronouns frequently occur. the same construction that would exclude a woman from the provisions of the statute in regard to the admission of attorneys, would place her without the chancery code. yet no respectable attorney would claim because defendants in chancery are represented in the law by masculine pronouns, that a woman could not be made a defendant in chancery. all of which is respectfully submitted. myra bradwell. communication from the court. no order having been entered or opinion filed in this case, on the seventh of october the applicant received from the court, through hon. norman l. freeman, supreme court reporter, the following communication: state of illinois, supreme court, third grand } division, clerk's office, ottawa, oct. , . } mrs. myra bradwell--_madam_: the court instruct me to inform you that they are compelled to deny your application for a license to practice as an attorney-at-law in the courts of this state, upon the ground that you would not be bound by the obligations necessary to be assumed where the relation of attorney and client shall exist, by reason of the disability imposed by your married condition--it being assumed that you are a married woman. applications of the same character have occasionally been made by persons under twenty-one years of age, and have always been denied upon the same ground that they are not bound by their contracts, being under a legal disability in that regard. until such disability shall be removed by legislation, the court regards itself powerless to grant your application. very respectfully, your obedient servant, n. l. freeman. the applicant, satisfied that under the common law, as modified by our statutes, she could not properly be denied a license to practice law solely upon the ground of her married condition, on the th of november filed the following printed argument: additional brief. _in the supreme court of illinois_--_third grand division_--_september term, ._ [in the matter of the application of myra bradwell to obtain a license to practice as an attorney-at-law.] and now again comes the said myra bradwell, it having been suggested to her that the court had assumed that she is a married woman, and therefore queried whether this would not prevent her from receiving a license, and files this her additional brief. your petitioner admits to your honors that she is a married woman (although she believes that fact does not appear in the record), but insists most firmly that under the laws of illinois it is neither a crime nor a disqualification to be a married woman. i propose to state very briefly, . what is an attorney? . who may act as attorneys? . the rights and powers of married women in relation to their business and property under the common law. . their rights and powers as to transacting business under the recent statutes of our state, with reference to their transacting business in their own names and acting as attorneys. . the avenues of trade and the professions opened to women by the liberal enactments of the law-makers, and the construction of the courts. . how the legislature has regarded petitioner with reference to her rights to carry on business in her own name and act for herself. i. what is an attorney?--an attorney is "one who takes the turn or place of another."--_webster._ "an attorney at-law," says bouvier, "is an officer in a court of justice who is employed by a party in a cause to manage the same for him." all attorneys are agents. they transact business, and appear for, and in the place of their clients who have not the requisite learning, time, or desire to appear in suits for themselves. mr. story, in his work upon "agency," and mr. bouvier, in his "institutes," in treating of the different kinds of agents, both speak first of attorneys-at-law. all the elementary writers upon law tell us that attorneys are agents. without reference to our recent statutes modifying the common law, we will open the books and see who may be attorneys or agents. ii. who may be attorneys or agents.--mr. story, in his work on agency, says, sec. : secondly, who are capable of becoming agents? and here it may be stated that there are few persons who are excluded from acting as agents, or from exercising an authority delegated to them by others. therefore, it is by no means necessary for a person to be _sui juris_ or capable of acting in his or her own right, in order to qualify himself or herself to act for others. thus, for example, monks, infants, _femes covert_, persons attainted, outlawed, or excommunicated villains, and aliens, may be agents for others.... a _feme covert_ may be an attorney of another, to make livery to her husband upon a feoffment; and a husband may take such livery to his wife, although they are generally deemed but one person in law. she may also act as agent or otherwise of her own husband, and as such, with his consent, bind him by her contract, or other act; or she may act as the agent of another, in a contract, with her own husband. iii. under the common law.--in cox _vs._ kitchin, bos. & pul., , where a _feme covert_ represented herself falsely to the tradesman to be a _feme sole_, and obtained goods on credit, it was held that she rendered herself personally responsible. in derry _vs._ mazarine, ld. raymond, , it was held that the wife of an alien, who was doing business in her own name, in england, was liable as a _feme sole_. in hauptman _vs._ catlin, n. y., , the court of appeals says: even before the late statute respecting married women, they were regarded as _femes sole_ in respect to their separate property, and were as to such property liable on their contracts respecting the same, to the same extent and as though they were not under the disability of coverture. it was held by lord mansfield and his associates, in corbett _vs._ poelnitz, t. r., , that if a husband and wife choose to separate, and the husband allows the wife a separate maintenance, she may contract and be sued as though she were unmarried, and may be held to bail and imprisoned on a _ca. sa._ without her husband. the court made this innovation on the ground that "the times alter new customs, and new manners arise, which require new exceptions, and a different application of the general rule. iv. under the recent statutes.--in conway _vs._ smith and wife, wis., , the court held that "the statute gives to married women, as necessarily incidental to the power of holding property to their own use, the power of making all contracts necessary or convenient to its beneficial enjoyment, and such contracts are to be regarded as valid in law, and may be enforced by legal remedies." cole, j., dissenting. in barton _vs._ beer, barbour, , the court, in treating of the liability of a married woman, says: if she acts as a _feme sole_, she ought, in justice to the public, to be subjected to all the duties and liabilities of a _feme sole_. in emerson _vs._ clayton, ill., , this honorable court held, that a married woman might bring replevin in her own name, for her separate property, against a third party, or even against her own husband, and that the act designed to make and did make a radical and thorough change in the condition of a _feme covert_; that she is to be regarded as unmarried, so far as her separate property is concerned. in pomeroy _vs._ manhattan life insurance co., ill., , walker, c. j., in delivering the opinion of the court, says: under the statute she is entitled to the benefits it confers, and must be held liable for her acts performed in pursuance of the authority it confers. if it gives the rights of a sole ownership, it must impose the liabilities incident to such an act. in brownell _vs._ dixon, ill., . this court not only held, under the act of , that a married woman possessed of separate property might employ "an agent to transact her business", but that she might employ her own husband as such agent. relying upon the doctrine laid down in this case, we insist that the power "to employ an agent" carries with it the liability to pay such an agent a reasonable compensation for his services; and that if a married woman employs a man to work on her farm for one day, and agrees to give him two dollars therefor, and fails so to do, that a fair construction of the act of would allow him to sue her before a justice of the peace, and not drive him to the expense of filing a bill in chancery that would amount to more than a denial of justice. now, if under the act of she can employ an agent to transact her business, we insist under the act of , giving the wife her own earnings, and the rights to sue for the same in her own name, free from her husband, that she has the right to be employed as an agent, or attorney, or physician, if she is capable, and to agree to do the duties of her profession. it would almost seem that this question is answered by the following extract from the opinion of this honorable court, as delivered by mr. justice lawrence, in carpenter _vs._ mitchell, _legal news_, : it may be said that a married woman can not adequately enjoy her separate property unless she can make contracts in regard to it. this is true, and hence her power to make contracts, so far as may be necessary for the use and enjoyment of her property, must be regarded as resulting by implication from the statute. if she owns houses she must be permitted to contract for their repair or rental. if she owns a farm she must be permitted to bargain for its cultivation, and to dispose of its products. we give these as illustrations of the power of contracting which is fairly implied in the law. it is true, in this opinion the learned judge confines his remarks strictly to the contracts of the wife made in relation to her separate property, and not in relation to general trade. this case arose before the passage of the act of . the right of a married woman to bring a suit in her own name is a necessary incident to the law. (cole _vs._ van riper, _legal news_, .) v. the trades and professions open to women.--the doors of many of our universities and law schools are now open to women upon an equality with men. the government of the united states has employed women in many of its departments, and appointed many, both single and married, to office. almost every large city in the union has its regularly-admitted female physicians. the law schools of the nation have now many women in regular attendance, fitting themselves to perform the duties of the profession. the bar itself is not without its women lawyers, both single and married. mrs. arabella a. mansfield, wife of prof. j. m. mansfield, of mount pleasant, iowa, was admitted to the bar of iowa, upon the unanimous petition of the attorneys of that place, after a very careful examination, not only of the applicant, but of the statutes regulating the admission of attorneys. the statute of iowa provides that "any white male person, twenty-one years of age, who is an inhabitant of this state," and who satisfies the court, "that he possesses the requisite learning, and that he is of good moral character, may, by such court, be licensed to practice in all the courts of the state, upon taking the usual oath of office." the clause construing statutes is as follows: words importing the singular number only, may be extended to several persons or things; and words importing the plural number only may be applied to one person, or thing; and words importing the masculine gender only may be extended to females. in mrs. mansfield's case, the court not only held that she could be admitted, notwithstanding the fact that she was a married woman, under the clause of the statute giving a construction to the masculine noun "male," and pronoun "he"; but that the affirmative declaration, that male persons may be admitted, is not an implied denial of the right to females. we know of no instance in the united states, where a woman, whether married or single, who has complied with the statutes of the state in which she lived and applied for admission, that the proper court has refused to grant her license. vi. how the legislature have regarded your petitioner.--it has been held, in england, that a wife who does business in her own name, with either the express or implied consent of her husband, should be treated as a _feme sole_, and be sued as such; and, with such consent, could be an administrator, executor, or guardian, in england or america. the legislature has, in repeated instances, acknowledged the capability and capacity of your petitioner to transact business, by providing that the _chicago legal news_, edited by her, and containing the decisions rendered by your honors, should be received in evidence in all the courts of this state, and in the following extract from the charter of the chicago legal news company: and all the real and personal estate of said myra bradwell shall be liable for the debts of said company, contracted while she is a stockholder therein, and all stock of said company owned by her, and the earnings thereof, shall be her sole and separate property, the same as if she were an unmarried woman; and she shall have the same right to hold any office or offices in said company, or transact any of its business that a _feme sole_ would have.--_legal news_, edition laws of , p. . sec. , p. . your petitioner claims that a married woman is not to be classed with an infant since the passage of the act of . a married woman may sue in her own name for her earnings, an infant can not. a married woman, if an attorney, could be committed for contempt of court the same as any other attorney. if she should collect money and refuse to pay it over, she could be sued for it the same as if she were single. a married woman is liable at law for all torts committed by her, unless done under the real or implied coercion of her husband. having received a license to practice law as an attorney, and having acted as such, she would be estopped from saying she was not liable as an attorney upon any contract made by her in that capacity. the fees that a married woman receives for her services as an attorney are just as much her earnings as the dollar that a sewing-woman receives for her day's work, and are just as much protected by the act of . is it for the court to say, in advance, that it will not admit a married woman? should she be admitted, and fail to perform her duty, or to comply with all her contracts as an attorney, could not the court, upon application, strike her name from the roll, or inflict more summary punishment? your petitioner has complied with all the provisions of the statutes of the state regulating the admission of attorneys, and asks, as a matter of right and justice, standing as she does upon the law of the land, that she be admitted. not a line of written law, or a single decision in our state, can be found disqualifying a married woman from acting as an attorney. this honorable court can send me from its bar, and prevent me from practicing as an attorney, and it is of small consequence; but if, in so doing, your honors say to me: "you can not receive a license to practice as an attorney-at-law in the courts of this state upon the ground that you would not be bound by the obligations necessary to be assumed, where the relation of attorney and client shall exist, by reason of the disability imposed by your married condition"; you, in my judgment, in striking me down, strike a blow at the rights of every married woman in the great state of illinois who is dependent on her labor for support, and say to her, you can not enter into the smallest contract in relation to your earnings or separate property, that can be enforced against you in a court of law. this result can, in my opinion, only be reached by disregarding the liberal statutes of our state, passed for the sole purpose of extending the rights of married women, and forever removing from our law, relating to their power to contract in regard to their earnings and property, the fossil foot-prints of the feudal system, and following the strictest rules of the common law. lord mansfield, notwithstanding the fact that slaves had been held, bought and sold for years in the streets of london, declared that the moment a slave touched british soil his shackles fell. the same noble lord held that a married woman might under certain circumstances, contract, and sue, and be sued at law, as a single woman, upon the ground that, the reason of the law ceasing, the law itself must cease; and that, as the usages of society alter, the law must adapt itself to the various situations of mankind. mr. justice buller, in speaking of this decision years afterward, declared that "the points there decided were founded in good sense, and adapted to the transactions, the understanding, and the welfare of mankind." apply this reasoning in our state, now that the legislature has removed every claim that the husband had, under the common law, upon the property of the wife, except his life estate in her hands, which only commences with her death, and all difficulty is removed, and the case is clear. myra bradwell. applicant, with a view of placing herself in a position to obtain the benefit of the provisions of the constitution of the united states, and the civil rights bill, applicable to her case, on the second day of january, , filed the following affidavit and points: _in the supreme court of illinois, third grand division--september term, . [in the matter of the application of myra bradwell to obtain a license to practice as an attorney-at-law]--state of illinois, county of cook, ss.:_ myra bradwell, being duly sworn, doth depose and say that she was born in manchester, in the state of vermont, and that she was a citizen of said state last named, that she is now a citizen of the united states; that she is and has been for many years last past a resident of chicago, in said state of illinois, and further deponent says not. myra bradwell. subscribed and sworn to before me this st day of december, a.d. . e. b. payne, notary public. [seal.] and now again comes the said myra bradwell, and files the following additional points: vii. your petitioner claims under the xiv. amendment to the constitution of the united states, and the act commonly known as the "civil rights bill," the "full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property," and the right to exercise and follow the profession of an attorney-at-law upon the same terms, conditions, and restrictions as are applied to and imposed upon every other citizen of the state of illinois, and none other. and that having complied with all the laws of the state, and the rules and regulations of this honorable court, for the admission of attorneys, it is contrary to the true intent and meaning of said amendment and said "civil rights bill," for your petitioner to be refused a license to practice law, upon the sole ground of her "married condition." viii. and your petitioner further claims, that having been born in the state of vermont, and having been a citizen of the state last named, and of the united states, and having removed to the state of illinois, where she has resided for many years, that under the second section of the iv. article of the constitution of the united states, which is in these words, "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states," she has guaranteed to her the privileges and immunities which every other citizen of the state of illinois has, among which may be named the protection of the government, the right to the enjoyment of life and liberty, to acquire and possess property, to reside in the state, to carry on trade, and the right to follow any professional pursuit under the laws of the state, which must work equally upon all the citizens of the state, and that under this section of the constitution she has a right to receive a license to practice law upon the same terms and conditions as the most favored citizen of the state of illinois. (people _vs._ washington, california r., . corfield _vs._ coryell, washington c. r., .) myra bradwell. on last week the court filed an opinion denying the application, for a very carefully prepared copy of which we are indebted to mr. freeman: opinion of the court denying the application. [_in the matter of the application of mrs. myra bradwell for a license to practice as an attorney-at-law._] opinion of the court delivered by mr. justice lawrence.--at the last term of the court mrs. myra bradwell applied for a license as an attorney-at-law, presenting the ordinary certificates of character and qualifications. the license was refused, and it was stated as a sufficient reason, that under the decisions of this court the applicant, as a married woman, would be bound neither by her express contracts, nor by those implied contracts which it is the policy of the law to create between attorney and client. since the announcement of our decision, the applicant has filed a printed argument in which her right to a license is earnestly and ably maintained. of the ample qualifications of the applicant we have no doubt, and we put our decision in writing in order that she or other persons interested may bring the question before the next legislature. the applicant, in her printed argument, combats the decision of the court in the case of carpenter _vs._ mitchell, june term, , in which we held a married woman was not bound by contracts having no relation to her own property. we are not inclined to go over again the grounds of that decision. it was the result of a good deal of deliberation and discussion in our council chamber, and the confidence of the present members of this court in its correctness can not easily be shaken. we are in accord with all the courts in this country which have had occasion to pass upon a similar question, the supreme court of wisconsin in conway _vs._ smith, wis., , differing from us only on the minor point as to whether, in regard to contracts concerning the separate property of married women, the law side of the court would take jurisdiction. as to the main question, the right of married women to make contracts not affecting their separate property, the position of those who assert such right is, that because the legislature has expressly removed the common law disabilities of married women in regard to holding property not derived from their husbands, it has therefore, by necessary implication, also removed all their common law disabilities in regard to making contracts, and invited them to enter, equally with men, upon those fields of trade and speculation by which property is acquired through the agency of contracts. the hiatus between the premise and the conclusion is too wide for us to bridge. it may be desirable that the legislature should relieve married women from all their common law disabilities. but to say that it has done so in the act of , the language of which is carefully guarded, and which makes no allusion to contracts, and does not use that or any equivalent term, would be simple misinterpretation. it would be going as far beyond the meaning of that act as that act goes beyond the common law in changing the legal status of women. the act itself is wise and just, and therefore entitled to a liberal interpretation. this we have endeavored to give it in the cases that have come before us, but we do not intend to decide that the legislature has gone to a length in its measure of reform for which the language it has carefully used furnishes no warrant. it is urged, however, that the law of the last session of the legislature, which gives to married women the separate control of their earnings, must be construed as giving to them the right to contract in regard to their personal services. this act had no application to the case of carpenter _vs._ mitchell, having been passed after that suit was commenced, and we were unmindful of it when considering this application at the last term. neither do we now propose to consider how far it extends the power of a married woman to contract, since, after further consultation in regard to this application, we find ourselves constrained to hold that the sex of the applicant, independently of coverture; is, as our law now stands, a sufficient reason for not granting this license. although an attorney-at-law is an agent, as claimed by the applicant's argument, when he has been retained to act for another, yet he is also much more than an agent. he is an officer of the court, holding his commission in this state, from two of the members of this court, and subject to be disbarred by this court for what our statute calls "mal-conduct in his office." he is appointed to assist in the administration of justice, is required to take an oath of office, and is privileged from arrest while attending courts. our statute provides that no person shall be permitted to practice as an attorney or counselor-at-law, without having previously obtained a license for that purpose from two of the justices of the supreme court. by the second section of the act, it is provided that no person shall be entitled to receive a license until he shall have obtained a certificate, from the court of some county, of his good moral character, and this is the only express limitation upon the exercise of the power thus intrusted to this court. in all other respects it is left to our discretion to establish the rules by which admission to this office shall be determined. but this discretion is not an arbitrary one, and must be held subject to at least two limitations. one is, that the court should establish such terms of admission as will promote the proper administration of justice; the second, that it should not admit any persons or class of persons who are not intended by the legislature to be admitted, even though their exclusion is not expressly required by the statute. the substance of the last limitation is simply that this important trust reposed in us should be exercised in conformity with the designs of the power creating it. whether, in the existing social relations between men and women, it would promote the proper administration of justice, and the general well-being of society, to permit women to engage in the trial of cases at the bar, is a question opening a wide field of discussion upon which it is not necessary for us to enter. it is sufficient to say that, in our opinion, the other implied limitation upon our power, to which we have above referred, must operate to prevent our admitting women to the office of attorney-at-law. if we were to admit them, we should be exercising the authority conferred upon us in a manner which, we are fully satisfied, was never contemplated by the legislature. upon this question it seems to us neither this applicant herself, nor any unprejudiced and intelligent person, can entertain the slightest doubt. it is to be remembered that at the time this statute was enacted we had, by express provision, adopted the common law of england; and, with three exceptions, the statutes of that country passed prior to the fourth year of james the first, so far as they were applicable to our condition. it is to be also remembered that female attorneys-at-law were unknown in england, and a proposition that a woman should enter the courts of westminster hall in that capacity, or as a barrister, would have created hardly less astonishment than one that she should ascend the bench of bishops, or be elected to a seat in the house of commons. it is to be further remembered, that when our act was passed, that school of reform which claims for women participation in the making and administering of the laws had not then arisen, or, if here and there a writer had advanced such theories, they were regarded rather as abstract speculations than as an actual basis for action. that god designed the sexes to occupy different spheres of action, and that it belonged to men to make, apply, and execute the laws, was regarded as an almost axiomatic truth. it may have been a radical error, and we are by no means certain it was not, but that this was the universal belief certainly admits of no denial. a direct participation in the affairs of government, in even the most elementary form, namely, the right of suffrage, was not then claimed, and has not yet been conceded, unless recently in one of the newly-settled territories of the west. in view of these facts, we are certainly warranted in saying, that when the legislature gave to this court the power of granting licenses to practice law, it was with not the slightest expectation that this privilege would be extended equally to men and women. neither has there been any legislation since that period which would justify us in presuming a change in the legislative intent. our laws to-day in regard to women, are substantially what they have always been, except in the change wrought by the acts of and , giving to married women the right to control their own property and earnings. whatever, then, may be our individual opinions as to the admission of women to the bar, we do not deem ourselves at liberty to exercise our power in a mode never contemplated by the legislature, and inconsistent with the usages of courts of the common law from the origin of the system to the present day. but it is not merely an immense innovation in our own usages as a court that we are asked to make. this step, if taken by us, would mean that in the opinion of this tribunal, every civil office in this state may be filled by women--that it is in harmony with the spirit of our constitution and laws that women should be made governors, judges, and sheriffs. this we are not yet prepared to hold. in our opinion, it is not the province of a court to attempt, by giving a new interpretation to an ancient statute, to introduce so important a change in the legal position of one-half the people. courts of justice were not intended to be made the instruments of pushing forward measures of popular reform. if it be desirable that those offices which we have borrowed from the english law, and which from their origin some centuries ago down to the present time, have been filled exclusively by men, should also be made accessible to women, then let the change be made, but let it be made by that department of the government to whom the constitution has intrusted the power of changing the laws. the great body of our law rests merely upon ancient usage. the right of a husband in this state to the personal property of his wife, before the act of , rested simply upon such usage, yet who could have justified this court if, prior to the passage of that act, it had solemnly decided that it was unreasonable that the property of the wife should vest in the husband, and this usage should no longer be recognized? yet was it not as unreasonable that a woman by marriage should lose the title of her personal property, as it is that she should not receive from us a license to practice law? the rule in both cases, until the law of , rested upon the same common law usage and could have pleaded the same antiquity. in the one case it was never pretended that this court could properly overturn the rule, and we do not see how we could be justified should we disregard it in the other. the principle can not be too strictly and conscientiously observed, that each of the three departments of the government should avoid encroachment upon the other, and that it does not belong to the judiciary to attempt to inaugurate great social or political reforms. the mere fact that women have never been licensed as attorneys-at-law is, in a tribunal where immemorial usage is as much respected as it is and ought to be in courts of justice, a sufficient reason for declining to exercise our discretion in their favor, until the propriety of their participating in the offices of state and the administration of public affairs shall have been recognized by the law-making department of the government--that department to which the initiative in great measures of reform properly belongs. for us to attempt, in a matter of this importance, to inaugurate a practice at variance with all the precedents of the law we are sworn to administer, would be an act of judicial usurpation deserving of the gravest censure. if we could disregard, in this matter, the authority of those unwritten usages which make the great body of our law, we might do so in any other, and the dearest rights of person and property would become a matter of mere judicial discretion. but it is said the th section of chapter of the revised statutes of provides that, whenever any person is referred to in the statute by words importing the masculine gender, females as well as males shall be deemed to be included. but the th section of the same chapter provides that this rule of construction shall not apply where there is anything in the subject or context repugnant to such construction. that is the case in the present instance. in the view we have taken of this question the argument drawn by the applicant from the constitution of the united states has no pertinency. in conclusion we would add that, while we are constrained to refuse this application, we respect the motive which prompts it, and we entertain a profound sympathy with those efforts which are being so widely made to reasonably enlarge the field for the exercise of woman's industry and talent. while those theories which are popularly known as "woman's rights" can not be expected to meet with a very cordial acceptance among the members of a profession which, more than any other, inclines its followers, if not to stand immovable upon the ancient ways, at least to make no hot haste in measures of reform, still all right-minded men must gladly see new spheres of action opened to woman, and greater inducements offered her to seek the highest and widest culture. there are some departments of the legal profession in which she can appropriately labor. whether, on the other hand, to engage in the hot strifes of the bar, in the presence of the public, and with momentous verdicts the prizes of the struggle would not tend to destroy the deference and delicacy with which it is the pride of our ruder sex to treat her, is a matter certainly worthy of her consideration. but the important question is, what effect the presence of women as barristers in our courts would have upon the administration of justice, and the question can be satisfactorily answered only in the light of experience. if the legislature shall choose to remove the existing barriers and authorize us to issue licenses equally to men and women, we shall cheerfully obey, trusting to the good sense and sound judgment of women themselves to seek those departments of the practice in which they can labor without reasonable objection. application denied. the opinion will be best understood by reading our arguments first, and knowing all the points made before the court. we have not the space to review the opinion in this issue, but shall do so at some future day, and will simply say now, that what the decision of the supreme court of the united states in the dred scott case was to the rights of negroes as citizens of the united states, this decision is to the political rights of women in illinois--annihilation. can a woman practice law or hold any office in illinois? _full report of the proceedings in the supreme court of illinois and the supreme court of the united states, upon the application of myra bradwell to be admitted to the bar._ on pp. , , and of this volume, we gave the proceedings in full in the supreme court of this state upon our application to be admitted to practice law, including the opinion of judge lawrence, the present learned chief-justice of that tribunal, denying the application on the sole ground that a woman could not be admitted to the bar or hold any office in illinois. as soon after this opinion was announced as we could obtain a certified copy of the record, we placed it in the hands of the hon. matt. h. carpenter, one of the ablest constitutional lawyers in the nation, with a view of obtaining a writ of error from the supreme court of the united states. mr. carpenter prepared and presented our petition for a writ of error, together with the record. the following is the indorsement upon the record, allowing the writ of error from the supreme court of the united states: i allow a writ of error from the supreme court of the united states to the supreme court of illinois, in the suit and judgment of which the foregoing record is a transcript. sam. f. miller, _asso. jus. sup. court u. s._ _august , _. citation to the state of illinois to appear at washington. _the united states of america to the state of illinois_:--the state of illinois is hereby cited and admonished to appear and be at the supreme court of the united states to be holden at washington city in the district of columbia, on the first monday of december next, pursuant to a writ of error filed in the clerk's office of the supreme court of the state of illinois, wherein myra bradwell is plaintiff in error, and the state of illinois is defendant in error, to show cause, if any there be, why the judgment in the said writ of error mentioned should not be corrected, and speedy justice should not be done to the parties in that behalf. witness the honorable salmon p. chase, chief-justice of the supreme court of the united states this th day of august, a.d. . sam. f. miller, _asso. jus. sup. court u. s._ writ of error. _united states of america, ss.:_ [seal.] the president of the united states, to the honorable the judges of the supreme court of the state of illinois--greeting: because, in the record and proceedings, as also in the rendition of the judgment of a plea which is in the said supreme court of the state of illinois, before you, or some of you, being the highest court of law or equity of the said state in which a decision could be had in the said suit in the matter of the application of myra bradwell, of cook county, illinois for a license to practice law in the courts of said state, wherein was drawn in question the validity of a treaty or statute of, or an authority exercised under, the united states, and the decision was against their validity; or wherein was drawn in question the validity of a statute of, or an authority exercised under, said state, on the ground of their being repugnant to the constitution, treaties, or laws of the united states, and the decision was in favor of such their validity; or wherein was drawn in question the construction of a clause of the constitution, or of a treaty, or statute of, or commission held under, the united states, and the decision was against the title, right, privilege, or exemption, specially set up or claimed under such clause of the said constitution, treaty, statute, or commission, a manifest error hath happened, to the great damage of the said myra bradwell, as by her complaint appears. we being willing that error, if any hath been, should be duly corrected, and full and speedy justice done to the parties aforesaid in this behalf, do command you, if judgment be therein given, that then under your seal, distinctly and openly, you send the record and proceedings aforesaid, with all things concerning the same, to the supreme court of the united states, together with this writ, so that you have the same at washington on the first monday of december next, in the said supreme court, to be then and there held, that the record and proceedings aforesaid being inspected, the said supreme court may cause further to be done therein to correct that error what of right, and according to the laws and custom of the united states, should be done. witness the honorable salmon p. chase, chief-justice of the said supreme court, the first monday of december, in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine. d. w. middleton, _clerk of the supreme court of the u. s._ issued d august, . allowed by me, sam. f. miller, _asso. jus. sup. court, u. s._ while these suits for the recognition of the political rights of women were pending, a contest of a different character took place in illinois. mrs. myra bradwell, editor of the chicago _legal news_, applied for admission to the bar of that state, and was refused. she made this denial of her civil rights a test case by bringing suit against the state of illinois in the supreme court of the united states. the case was argued for the plaintiff in the december term, , by the hon. matt. h. carpenter, of wisconsin, an eminent republican united states senator. in addressing the court mr. carpenter said: this is a writ of error to the supreme court of the state of illinois, to review the proceedings of that court, denying the petition of the plaintiff in error to be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor of that court, which right was claimed by the plaintiff in error in that court under the xiv. amendment of the constitution of the united states. the plaintiff in error is a married woman, of full age, a citizen of the united states and of the state of illinois; was ascertained and certified to be duly qualified in respect of character and attainments, but was denied admission to the bar for the sole reason that she was a married woman. this is the error relied upon to reverse the proceedings below. by the rules of this court no person can be admitted to practice at the bar without service for a fixed term in the highest court of the state in which such person resides. consequently a denial of admission in the highest court of the state is an insurmountable obstacle to admission to the bar of this court. this record, therefore, presents the broad question, whether a married woman, being a citizen of the united states and of a state, and possessing the necessary qualifications, is entitled by the constitution of the united states to be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor-at-law in the courts of the state in which she resides. this is a question not of taste, propriety, or politeness, but of civil right. before proceeding to discuss this question, it may be well to distinguish it from the question of the right of female citizens to participate in the exercise of the elective franchise. the great problem of female suffrage, the solution of which lies in our immediate future, naturally enough, from its transcendent importance, draws to itself, in prejudiced minds, every question relating to the civil rights of women; and it seems to be feared that doing justice to woman's rights in any particular would probably be followed by the establishment of the right of female suffrage, which, it is assumed, would overthrow christianity, defeat the ends of modern civilization, and upturn the world. while i do not believe that female suffrage has been secured by the existing amendments to the constitution of the united states, neither do i look upon that result as at all to be dreaded. it is not, in my opinion, a question of woman's rights merely, but, in a far greater degree, a question of man's rights. when god created man, he announced the law of his being, that it was not well for him to be alone, and so he created woman to be his helpmate and companion. commencing with the barbarism of the east, and journeying through the nations toward the bright light of civilization in the west, it will everywhere be found that, just in proportion to the equality of women with men in the enjoyment of social and civil rights and privileges, both sexes are proportionately advanced in refinement and all that ennobles human nature. in our own country, where women are received on an equality with men, we find good order and good manners prevailing. because women frequent railroad cars and steamboats, markets, shops, and post-offices, those places must be, and are, conducted with order and decency. the only great resorts from which woman is excluded by law are the election places; and the violence, rowdyism, profanity, and obscenity of the gathering there in our largest cities are sufficient to drive decent men, even, away from the polls. if our wives, sisters, and daughters were going to the polls, we should go with them, and good order would be observed, or a row would follow, which would secure order in the future. i have more faith in female suffrage, to reform the abuses of our election system in the large cities, than i have in the penal election laws to be enforced by soldiers and marines. who believes that, if ladies were admitted to seats in congress, or upon the bench, or were participating in discussions at the bar, such proceedings would thereby be rendered less refined, or that less regard would be paid to the rights of all? but whether women should be admitted to the right of suffrage, is one thing; whether this end has already been accomplished, is quite another. the xiv. amendment forbids the states to make or enforce any law which shall abridge "the privileges or immunities" of a citizen. but whether the right to vote is covered by the phrase "privileges and immunities," was much discussed under the provisions of the old constitution; and at least one of the earliest decisions drew a distinction between "privileges and immunities" and political rights. on the other hand, mr. justice washington, in a celebrated case, expressed the opinion, that the right to vote and hold office was included in this phrase. but in neither of the cases was this point directly involved, and both opinions are _obiter dicta_ in relation to it. but the xiv. and xv. amendments seem to settle this question against the right of female suffrage. these amendments seem to recognize the distinction at first pointed out between "privileges and immunities," and the right to vote. the xiv. amendment declares, [illustration: myra bradwell.] all persons born and naturalized in the united states, etc., are citizens of the united states, and of the state wherein they reside. of course, women, as well as men, are included in this provision, and recognized as citizens. this amendment further declares: no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. if the privileges and immunities of a citizen can not be abridged, then, of course, the privileges and immunities of all citizens must be the same. the second section of this amendment provides that representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians, not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election, etc., is denied to any of the male inhabitants, being twenty-one years of age, etc., the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. it can not be denied, that the right or power of a state to exclude a portion of its male citizens from the right to vote, is recognized by this second section; from which it follows, that the right to vote is not one of the "privileges or immunities" which the first section declares shall not be abridged by any state. the right of female suffrage is also inferentially denied by that provision of the second section, above quoted, which provides that when a state shall deny the right to vote to any male citizen, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens in such state. in the first place, it is to be observed that the basis of representation in a state, which is the whole number of persons--male and female, adults and infants--is only to be reduced when the state shall exclude a portion "of the male inhabitants of such state." the exclusion of female inhabitants, and infants under the age of twenty-one years, does not effect a reduction of the basis of representation in such state. and, again, when a state does exclude a portion of its male inhabitants, etc., the basis of representation in such state is not reduced in the proportion which the number of such excluded males bears to the number of persons--male and female--in such state; but only in the proportion which the number of such (excluded) male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. this provision assumes that females are no part of the voting population of a state. the xv. amendment is equally decisive. it recognizes the right--that is, power--of any state to exclude a portion of its citizens from the right to vote, and only narrows this right in favor of a particular class. its language is: the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged, etc., on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. this amendment was wholly unnecessary upon the theory that the xiv. amendment had established or recognized the right of every citizen to vote. it recognizes the right of a state to exclude a portion of its citizens, and only restrains that power so far as to provide that citizens shall not be excluded on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. in every other case, the power of exclusion recognized by the xiv. amendment is untouched by the xv. it is also worthy of notice that, throughout the xiv. and xv. amendments, voting is not treated as, or denominated a privilege, and evidently was not intended to be, nor regarded as included in the "privileges or immunities" of a citizen, which no state can abridge for any cause whatever. i have taken this pains to distinguish between the "privileges and immunities" of a citizen, and the "right" of a citizen to vote, not because i feared that this court would deny one, even if the other would follow, but to quiet the fears of the timid and conservative. i come now to the narrower and precise question before the court: can a female citizen, duly qualified in respect of age, character, and learning, claim, under the xiv. amendment, the privilege of earning a livelihood by practicing at the bar of a judicial court? it was provided by the original constitution: the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. under this provision each state could determine for itself what the privileges and immunities of its citizens should be. a citizen emigrating from one state to another carried with him, not the privileges and immunities he enjoyed in his native state, but was entitled, in the state of his adoption, to such privileges and immunities as were enjoyed by the class of citizens to which he belonged by the laws of such adopted state. a white citizen of one state, where no property qualification for voting was required, emigrating to a state which required such qualification, must conform to it before he could claim the right to vote. a colored citizen, authorized to hold property in massachusetts, emigrating to south carolina, where all colored persons were excluded from such right, derived no aid, in this respect, from the constitution of the united states, but was compelled to submit to all the incapacities laid by the laws of that state upon free persons of color born and residing therein. a married woman, a citizen of the state of wisconsin, where by law she was capable of holding separate estate, and making contracts concerning the same, emigrating to a state where the common law in this regard prevailed, could not buy and sell property in her own name, or contract in reference thereto. but the xiv. amendment executes itself in every state of the union. whatever are the privileges and immunities of a citizen in the state of new york, such citizen, emigrating, carries them with him into any other state of the union. it utters the will of the united states in every state, and silences every state constitution, usage, or law which conflicts with it. if to be admitted to the bar, on attaining the age and learning required by law, be one of the privileges of a white citizen in the state of new york, it is equally the privilege of a colored citizen in that state; and if in that state, then in any state. if no state may "make or enforce any law" to abridge the privileges of a citizen, it must follow that the privileges of all citizens are the same. we have already seen that the right to vote is not one of those privileges which are declared to be common to all citizens, and which no state may abridge; but that it is a political right, which any state may deny to a citizen, except on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. it therefore only remains to determine whether admission to the bar belongs to that class of privileges which a state may not abridge, or that class of political rights as to which a state may discriminate between its citizens. in discussing this subject, we are compelled to use the words "privileges and immunities" and the word "rights" in the precise sense in which they are employed in the constitution. in popular language, and even in the general treatises of law writers, the words "rights" and "privileges" are used synonymously. those privileges which are secured to a man by the law are his rights; and the great charter of england declares that the ancient privileges enjoyed by englishmen, are the undoubted rights of englishmen. but, as we have seen, the xiv. and xv. amendments distinguish between privileges and rights; and it must be confessed that it is paradoxical to say, as the xiv. amendment clearly does, that the "privileges" of a citizen shall not be abridged, while his "right" to vote may be. but a judicial construction of the constitution is wholly different from a mere exercise in philology. the question is not whether certain words were aptly employed--but the context must be searched to ascertain the sense in which such words were used. it is evident that there are certain "privileges and immunities" which belong to a citizen of the united states as such; otherwise it would be nonsense for the xiv. amendment to prohibit a state from abridging them; and it is equally evident from the xiv. amendment that the right to vote is not one of those privileges. and the question recurs whether admission to the bar, the proper qualification being possessed, is one of the privileges which a state may not deny. in cummings _vs._ missouri, wall., , this court say: in france, deprivation or suspension of civil rights, or some of them--and among these of the right of voting, of eligibility to office, of taking part in family councils, of being guardian or trustee, of bearing arms, and of teaching or being employed in a school or seminary of learning--are punishments prescribed by her code. the theory upon which our political institutions rest is, that all men have certain inalienable rights--that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and that in the pursuit of happiness all avocations, all honors, all positions, are alike open to every one, and that in the protection of these rights all are equal before the law. any deprivation or extension of any of these rights for past conduct is punishment, and can be in no otherwise defined. no broader or better enumeration of the privileges which pertain to american citizenship could be given. "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and, in the pursuit of happiness, all avocations, all honors, all positions, are alike open to every one; and in the protection of these rights all are equal before the law." in _ex parte_ garland ( wall., ) this court say: the profession of an attorney and counselor is not like an office created by an act of congress, which depends for its continuance, its powers, and its emoluments upon the will of its creator, and the possession of which may be burdened with any conditions not prohibited by the constitution. attorneys and counselors are not officers of the united states; they are not elected or appointed in the manner prescribed by the constitution for the election and appointment of such officers. they are officers of the court, admitted as such by its order, upon evidence of their possessing sufficient legal learning and fair private character.... the order of admission is the judgment of the court, that the parties possess the requisite qualifications as attorneys and counselors, and are entitled to appear as such and conduct causes therein. from its entry the parties become officers of the court, and are responsible to it for professional misconduct. they hold their office during good behavior, and can only be deprived of it for misconduct, ascertained and declared by the judgment of the court, after opportunity to be heard has been offered. (_ex parte_ heyfron, how., miss., ; fletcher _vs._ daingerfield, cal., .) their admission or their exclusion is not the exercise of a mere ministerial power. it is the exercise of judicial power, and has been so held in numerous cases.... the attorney and counselor being, by the solemn judicial act of the court, clothed with his office, does not hold it as a matter of grace and favor. the right which it confers upon him to appear for suitors, and to argue causes, is something more than a mere indulgence, revocable at the pleasure of the court, or at the command of the legislature. it is a right of which he can only be deprived by the judgment of the court, for moral or professional delinquency. the legislature may undoubtedly prescribe qualifications for the office, to which he must conform, as it may, where it has exclusive jurisdiction, prescribe qualifications for the pursuit of the ordinary avocations of life. it is now well settled that the courts, in admitting attorneys to, and in expelling them from, the bar, act judicially, and that such proceedings are subject to review on writ of error or appeal, as the case may be. (_ex parte_ cooper, n. y., . strother _vs._ missouri, mo., . _ex parte_ secomb, how., . _ex parte_ garland, wall., .) from these cases the conclusion is irresistible, that the profession of the law, like the clerical profession and that of medicine, is an avocation open to every citizen of the united states. and while the legislature may prescribe qualifications for entering upon this pursuit, they can not, under the guise of fixing qualifications, exclude a class of citizens from admission to the bar. the legislature may say at what age candidates shall be admitted; may elevate or depress the standard of learning required. but a qualification, to which a whole class of citizens never can attain, is not a regulation of admission to the bar, but is, as to such citizens, a prohibition. for instance, a state legislature could not, in enumerating the qualifications, require the candidate to be a white citizen. this would be the exclusion of all colored citizens, without regard to age, character, or learning. such an act would abridge the rights of all colored citizens, by denying them admission into one of the avocations which this court has declared is alike open to every one. i presume it will be admitted that such an act would be void. i am certain this court would declare it void. and i challenge the most astute mind to draw any distinction between such an act and a custom, usage, or law of a state, which denies this privilege to all female citizens without regard to age, character, or learning. if the legislature may, under pretense of fixing qualifications, declare that no female citizen shall be permitted to practice law, they may as well declare that no colored citizen shall practice law. it should be borne in mind that the only provision in the constitution of the united states which secures to colored male citizens the privilege of admission to the bar, or the pursuit of the other ordinary avocations of life, is that provision that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of a citizen. if this provision does not open all the professions, all the avocations, all the methods by which a man may pursue happiness, to the colored as well as the white man, then the legislatures of the states may exclude colored men from all the honorable pursuits of life, and compel them to support their existence in a condition of servitude. and if this provision does protect the colored citizen, then it protects every citizen, black or white, male or female. why may a colored citizen buy, hold, and sell land in any state of the union? because he is a citizen of the united states, and that is one of the privileges of a citizen. why may a colored citizen be admitted to the bar? because he is a citizen, and that is one of the avocations open to every citizen; and no state can abridge his right to pursue it. certainly no other reason can be given. now, let us come to the case of myra bradwell. she is a citizen of the united states, and of the state of illinois, residing therein; she has been judicially ascertained to be of full age, and to possess the requisite character and learning. indeed, the court below, in their opinion, found in the record, page , say: "of the ample qualifications of the applicant we have no doubt." still, admission to the bar was denied the petitioner, not upon the ground that she was not a citizen; not for want of age or qualifications; not because the profession of the law is not one of those avocations which are open to every american citizen as matter of right, upon complying with the reasonable regulations prescribed by the legislature: but upon the sole ground that inconvenience would result from permitting her to enjoy her legal rights in this, to wit, that her clients might have difficulty in enforcing the contracts they might make with her, as their attorney, because of her being a married woman. now, with entire respect to that court, it is submitted that this argument _ab inconvenienti_, which might have been urged with whatever force belongs to it, against adopting the xiv. amendment in the full scope of its language, is utterly futile to resist its full and proper operation, now that it has been adopted. concede, for argument, that the xiv. amendment ought to have read thus: no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of any citizens except married women; yet that exception is not found in the sweeping provision of this amendment. it is provided that citizens may be disfranchised for treason; but it is nowhere provided that a citizen shall be disfranchised for being a married woman. the opinion of the court below puts a limitation upon this unlimited constitutional provision. if this court shall approve this exception, in the very teeth of the unambiguous language of the constitution, where may we expect judicial legislation to stop? can this court say that married women have no rights that are to be respected? can this court say that, when the xiv. amendment speaks of all persons, etc., and declares them to be citizens, it means all male persons and unmarried females? or can this court say that, when the xiv. amendment declares "the privileges of no citizen shall be abridged," it means that the privileges of no male citizen or unmarried female citizen shall be abridged? this would be bold dealing with the constitutional provision. it would be excluding a large proportion of the citizens of the united states from privileges which the constitution declares shall be the inheritance of every citizen alike. but it is respectfully submitted that the court below erred in holding that a married woman, admitted to the bar under the xiv. amendment, would not be liable on contracts, express or implied, between her and her clients. in wisconsin, when the legislature passed the act protecting married women in the enjoyment of their separate estate, our court, upon reasoning that can not be gainsaid, held that the legislature must have intended all the natural and logical results of the act in question; and, therefore, that the contracts of a married woman, relating to her separate estate, were as binding as if made by a _feme sole_. it is submitted that, for still stronger reasons, the great innovation of the xiv. amendment should be carried to its logical conclusion, and that it sweeps away the principles of the common law, as it does the express provisions of state constitutions and statutes. but again: mrs. bradwell, admitted to the bar, becomes an officer of the court, subject to its summary jurisdiction. any malpractice or unprofessional conduct towards her client would be punishable by fine, imprisonment, or expulsion from the bar, or by all three. her clients would, therefore, not be compelled to resort to actions at law against her. but if the courts of illinois should refuse to exercise this summary jurisdiction, and should hold that actions at law could not be maintained on contracts between her and her clients, it might result that she would not be as generally employed as she otherwise would be. but that is no reason why she should be prohibited from appearing and trying causes for clients who are willing to rely upon her integrity and honor. but let it not be supposed that, in trying to answer as to the inconveniences imagined by the court below, i am at all departing from the broad ground of constitutional right upon which i rest this cause. i maintain that the xiv. amendment opens to every citizen of the united states, male or female, black or white, married or single, the honorable professions as well as the servile employments of life; and that no citizen can be excluded from any one of them. intelligence, integrity, and honor are the only qualifications that can be prescribed as conditions precedent to an entry upon any honorable pursuit or profitable avocation, and all the privileges and immunities which i vindicate to a colored citizen, i vindicate to our mothers, our sisters, and our daughters. the inequalities of sex will undoubtedly have their influence, and be considered by every client desiring to employ counsel. there may be cases in which a client's rights can only be rescued by an exercise of the rough qualities possessed by men. there are many cases in which the telling sympathy and the silver voice of woman would accomplish more than the severity and sternness of man could achieve. of a bar composed of men and women of equal integrity and learning, women might be more or less frequently retained, as the taste or judgment of clients might dictate. but the broad shield of the constitution is over them all, and protects each in that measure of success which his or her individual merits may secure. supreme court of the united states. _december term_, . myra bradwell, plaintiff in error, _vs._ the state of illinois. in error to the supreme court of the state of illinois. . the supreme court of illinois having refused to grant to plaintiff a license to practice law in the courts of that state, on the ground that females are not eligible under the laws of that state, such a decision violates no provision of the federal constitution. . the second section of the fourth article is inapplicable, because plaintiff is a citizen of the state of whose action she complains, and that section only guarantees privileges and immunities to citizens of other states, in that state. . nor is the right to practice law in the state courts a privilege or immunity of a citizen of the united states, within the meaning of the first section of the xiv. article of amendment of the constitution of the united states. . the power of a state to prescribe the qualifications for admission to the bar of its own courts is unaffected by the xiv. amendment, and this court can not inquire into the reasonableness or propriety of the rules it may prescribe. mr. justice miller delivered the opinion of the court. the plaintiff in error, residing in the state of illinois, made application to the judges of the supreme court of that state for a license to practice law. she accompanied her petition with the usual certificate from an inferior court of her good character, and that on due examination she had been found to possess the requisite qualifications. pending this application she also filed an affidavit, to the effect "that she was born in the state of vermont; that she was (had been) a citizen of that state; that she is now a citizen of the united states, and has been for many years past a resident of the city of chicago, in the state of illinois." and with this affidavit she also filed a paper claiming that, under the foregoing facts, she was entitled to the license prayed for by virtue of the second section of the fourth article of the constitution of the united states, and of the xiv. article of amendment of that instrument. the statute of illinois on this subject enacts that no person shall be permitted to practice as an attorney or counselor-at-law, or to commence, conduct, or defend any action, suit, or plaint, in which he is not a party concerned, in any court of record within this state, either by using or subscribing his own name or the name of any other person, without having previously obtained a license for that purpose from some two of the justices of the supreme court, which license shall constitute the person receiving the same an attorney and counselor-at-law, and shall authorize him to appear in all the courts of record within this state, and there to practice as an attorney and counselor-at-law, according to the laws and customs thereof. the supreme court denied the application, apparently upon the ground that it was a woman who made it. the record is not very perfect, but it may be fairly taken that the plaintiff asserted her right to a license on the grounds, among others, that she was a citizen of the united states, and that having been a citizen of vermont at one time, she was, in the state of illinois, entitled to any right granted to citizens of the latter state. the court having overruled these claims of right, founded on the clauses of the federal constitution before referred, those propositions may be considered as properly before this court. as regards the provision of the constitution that citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states, the plaintiff in her affidavit has stated very clearly a case to which it is inapplicable. the protection designed by that clause, as has been repeatedly held, has no application to a citizen of the state whose laws are complained of. if the plaintiff was a citizen of the state of illinois, that provision of the constitution gave her no protection against its courts or its legislation. the plaintiff seems to have seen this difficulty, and attempts to avoid it by stating that she was born in vermont. while she remained in vermont that circumstance made her a citizen of that state. but she states, at the same time, that she is a citizen of the united states, and that she is now, and has been for many years past, a resident of chicago, in the state of illinois. the xiv. amendment declares that citizens of the united states are citizens of the state within which they reside; therefore plaintiff was, at the time of making her application, a citizen of the united states and a citizen of the state of illinois. we do not here mean to say that there may not be a temporary residence in one state, with intent to return to another, which will not create citizenship in the former. but plaintiff states nothing to take her case out of the definition of citizenship of a state as defined by the first section of the xiv. amendment. in regard to that amendment counsel for plaintiff in this court truly says that there are certain privileges and immunities which belong to a citizen of the united states as such; otherwise it would be nonsense for the xiv. amendment to prohibit a state from abridging them, and he proceeds to argue that admission to the bar of a state of a person who possesses the requisite learning and character is one of those which a state may not deny. in this latter proposition we are not able to concur with counsel. we agree with him that there are privileges and immunities belonging to citizens of the united states, in that relation and character, and that it is these, and these alone, which a state is forbidden to abridge. but the right to admission to practice in the courts of a state is not one of them. the right in no sense depends on citizenship of the united states. it has not, as far as we know, ever been made in any state, or in any case, to depend on citizenship at all. certainly many prominent and distinguished lawyers have been admitted to practice, both in the state and federal courts, who were not citizens of the united states or of any state. but, on whatever basis this right may be placed, so far as it can have any relation to citizenship at all, it would seem that, as to the courts of a state, it would relate to citizenship of the state, and as to federal courts, it would relate to citizenship of the united states. the opinion just delivered in the slaughter-house cases from louisiana renders elaborate argument in the present case unnecessary; for, unless we are wholly and radically mistaken in the principles on which those cases are decided, the right to control and regulate the granting of license to practice law in the courts of a state is one of those powers which are not transferred for its protection to the federal government, and its exercise is in no manner governed or controlled by citizenship of the united states in the party seeking such license. it is unnecessary to repeat the argument on which the judgment in those cases is founded. it is sufficient to say they are conclusive of the present case. the judgment of the state court is, therefore, affirmed. d. w. middleton, c. s. c. u. s. mr. justice bradley gave the following: i concur in the judgment of the court in this case by which the judgment of the supreme court of illinois is affirmed, but not for the reasons specified in the opinion just read. the claim of the plaintiff, who is a married woman, to be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor-at-law, is based upon the supposed right of every person, man or woman, to engage in any lawful employment for a livelihood. the supreme court of illinois denied the application on the ground that, by the common law, which is the basis of laws of illinois, only men were admitted to the bar, and the legislature had not made any change in this respect, but had simply provided no person should be admitted to practice as attorney or counselor without having previously obtained a license for that purpose from two justices of the supreme court, and that no person should receive a license without first obtaining a certificate from the court of some county of his good moral character. in other respects it was left to the discretion of the court to establish the rules by which admission to the profession should be determined. the court, however, regarded itself as bound by at least two limitations. one was that it should establish such terms of admission as would promote the proper administration of justice, and the other that it should not admit any persons, or class of persons, not intended by the legislature to be admitted, even though not expressly excluded by statute. in view of this latter limitation the court felt compelled to deny the application of females to be admitted as members of the bar. being contrary to the rules of the common law and the usages of westminster hall from time immemorial, it could not be supposed that the legislature had intended to adopt any different rule. the claim that, under the xiv. amendment of the constitution, which declares that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states, the statute law of illinois, or the common law prevailing in that state, can no longer be set up as a barrier against the right of females to pursue any lawful employment for a livelihood (the practice of law included), assumes that it is one of the privileges and immunities of women as citizens to engage in any and every profession, occupation, or employment in civil life. it certainly can not be affirmed, as a historical fact, that this has ever been established as one of the fundamental privileges and immunities of the sex. on the contrary, the civil law, as well as nature herself, has always recognized a wide difference in the respective spheres and destinies of man and woman. man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender. the natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life. the constitution of the family organization, which is founded in the divine ordinance, as well as in the nature of things, indicates the domestic sphere as that which properly belongs to the domain and functions of womanhood. the harmony, not to say identity, of interests and views which belong, or should belong, to the family institution is repugnant to the idea of a woman adopting a distinct and independent career from that of her husband. so firmly fixed was this sentiment in the founders of the common law that it became a maxim of that system of jurisprudence that a woman had no legal existence separate from her husband, who was regarded as her head and representative in the social state; and, notwithstanding some recent modifications of this civil status, many of the special rules of law flowing from and dependent upon this cardinal principle still exist in full force in most states. one of these is, that a married woman is incapable, without her husband's consent, of making contracts which shall be binding on her or him. this very incapacity was one circumstance which the supreme court of illinois deemed important in rendering a married woman incompetent fully to perform the duties and trusts that belong to the office of an attorney and counselor. it is true that many women are unmarried and not affected by any of the duties, complications, and incapacities arising out of the married state, but these are exceptions to the general rule. the paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. this is the law of the creator. and the rules of civil society must be adapted to the general constitution of things, and can not be based upon exceptional cases. the humane movements of modern society, which have for their object the multiplication of avenues for woman's advancement, and of occupations adapted to her condition and sex, have my heartiest concurrence. but i am not prepared to say that it is one of her fundamental rights and privileges to be admitted into every office and position, including those which require highly special qualifications and demanding special responsibilities. in the nature of things it is not every citizen of every age, sex, and condition that is qualified for every calling and position. it is the prerogative of the legislator to prescribe regulations founded on nature, reason, and experience for the due admission of qualified persons to professions and callings demanding special skill and confidence. this fairly belongs to the police power of the state; and, in my opinion, in view of the peculiar characteristics, destiny, and mission of woman, it is within the province of the legislature to ordain what offices, positions, and callings shall be filled and discharged by men, and shall receive the benefit of those energies and responsibilities, and that decision and firmness which are presumed to predominate in the sterner sex. for these reasons i think that the laws of illinois now complained of are not obnoxious to the charge of abridging any of the privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states. * * * * * i concur in the opinion of mr. justice bradley. field, j. d. w. middleton, c. s. c. u. s. the result of this suit taught woman that for her civil as well as political rights she had no national protection. this was the first case under the xiv. amendment that was decided by the supreme court of the united states. this august body based its decision against mrs. bradwell on the ground of "no jurisdiction," declaring that the case rested with the legislature of the state of illinois. in language stripped of legal verbiage and obscurity, it decided that the civil rights of women could be extended and restricted at the caprice of any legislative body in the several states; that the methods for earning their daily bread, in the trades and professions, the use of their powers of mind and body, could be defined, permitted or denied for the citizen by state authorities. in norwalk, connecticut, long known as the gibralter of republicanism in that state, mrs. sarah m. t. huntington was allowed to register by sufferance of the selectmen whose objections she overcame by a logical argument upon the constitutional provisions under the xiv. amendment, but she was not permitted to vote (see connecticut chapter). at the same election several ladies voted in nyack, new york, and in toledo, ohio, and many unsuccessful attempts were made by others in several states of the union. it was on november st, , at her quiet home in rochester, while reading her morning paper, that miss anthony's eye fell on the following editorial: now register? to-day and to-morrow are the only remaining opportunities. if you were not permitted to vote, you would fight for the right, undergo all privations for it, face death for it. you have it now at the cost of five minutes' time to be spent in seeking your place of registration, and having your name entered. and yet, on election day, less than a week hence, hundreds of you are likely to lose your votes because you have not thought it worth while to give the five minutes. to-day and to-morrow are your only opportunities. register now! she immediately threw aside her journal, and asking one of her sisters to accompany her, made her determined way to the registration office. the inspectors were young men, entirely unversed in the intricacies of constitutional law, so that when miss anthony expounded to them the xiv. amendment, they were utterly incapable of answering her legal argument. after some hesitation the two republican members of the board agreed to receive her name, while the democratic official remained obdurate. the united states supervisor being present strongly advised the young men against refusing to allow miss anthony to register. a full report of this scene appeared in the afternoon papers with varying comments; the republican paper inclined toward a favorable view of the right of women to vote, while the democratic paper denounced these proceedings and warned all inspectors that if they received the names of women they would be liable to prosecution under the th section of the enforcement act. that if at any election for representative or delegate in the congress of the united states, any person shall knowingly personate and vote, or attempt to vote, in the name of any other person, whether living, dead, or fictitious; or vote more than once at the same election for any candidate for the same office; or vote at a place where he may not be lawfully entitled to vote; or vote without having a lawful right to vote; or do any unlawful act to secure a right to vote, or an opportunity to vote, for himself or any other person; or by force, threats, menace, intimidation, bribery, reward or offer, or promise thereof, or otherwise unlawfully prevent any qualified voter of any state of the united states of america, or of any territory thereof, from freely exercising the right of suffrage; or by any such means induce any voter to refuse to exercise such right; or compel or induce, by any such means or otherwise, any officer on any election in any such state or territory to receive a vote from a person not legally qualified or entitled to vote or interfere in any manner with any officer of said elections in the discharge of his duties, shall be deemed guilty of a crime and shall for such crime be liable to prosecution in any court of the united states, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $ or imprisonment for not exceeding three years or both at the discretion of the court. upon reading this article miss anthony hastened back to the registration office and assured the young men that she would be personally responsible for all costs growing out of any suit that might be instituted against them for having registered women. as an outgrowth of all this discussion about fifty women registered in the city, fourteen of them in miss anthony's own ward. as a whole, the tone of the press was so adverse that all the inspectors except those of the th ward were intimidated and refused to receive the votes of women on election day. bright and early on the morning of november th, miss anthony and six of the women presented themselves at the polling booth. the ladies went early not in order to vote often, but to avoid any disturbance which might result from so novel a scene if it were enacted when the streets had become crowded. each of these new voters was in turn challenged, and each swore in her vote, except rhoda de garmo, who in true quaker fashion refused either to "swear" or to "affirm," simply saying "i will tell the truth." nevertheless her vote was also received. the discussion of this action continued in the papers and on november th, thanksgiving day, those fourteen offending citizens were informed that they were to be prosecuted by the united states government, and that commissioner storrs wished them to call at his office. the ladies refusing to respond to this polite invitation, marshal keeney made the circuit to collect the rebellious forces. it was the afternoon of thanksgiving day that miss anthony was summoned to her parlor to receive a visitor. as she entered she saw her guest was a tall gentleman in most irreproachable attire, nervously dandling in his gloved hands a well-brushed high hat. after some incidental remarks the visitor in a hesitating manner made known his mission. "the commissioner wishes to arrest you" were his first words touching the object of his call. "is this your usual method of serving a warrant," asked miss anthony; whereupon the marshal summoned courage enough to serve the usual legal paper.[ ] he gallantly offered to leave his prisoner to go alone, but miss anthony refusing to take herself to court, the united states official meekly escorted her to the commissioner's office. when all the ladies had arrived, the commissioner, after hours of waiting, announced that the assistant district attorney whom he had summoned to examine the culprits, was unable to reach the city that afternoon, and so the ladies were dismissed to appear the next morning. the voters received their preliminary examination in the same small dingy office where, in the days of slavery, fugitives escaping to canada had been examined and remanded to bondage. this historic little room is a double disgrace to the american republic, as within its walls the rights of color and of sex have been equally trampled upon. the fourteen women pleaded "not guilty," but the commissioner ordered bail of $ each for their appearance at the albany term of the united states district court january , . miss anthony refused to give bail, and petitioned for a writ of _habeas corpus_. the inspectors were also arrested, and had their final hearing the afternoon of the same day before commissioner ely,--hon. john van voorhis their counsel--and were bound over to the albany term. the hearing on miss anthony's petition was had before judge hall. the decision was adverse, and bail of $ , demanded for her appearance at the may term at rochester. the grand jury found a true bill of indictment against her, the fourteen other women, and the three inspectors. miss anthony objected to giving bail, but was overruled by her counsel, hon. henry r. selden, whose sense of gallantry made him feel it a disgrace to allow his client to go to jail. this was a source of deep regret to miss anthony, as it prevented her case going to the supreme court of the united states for final adjudication. during the intermediate period between november , , and january , , miss anthony, in the eye of the law, was imprisoned, but the marshal, though somewhat uneasy, left her free to fulfill her lyceum engagements and attend woman suffrage conventions. a singularly anomalous position for a criminal, traveling about the country as a teacher of morals to the people! learning that in case the jury returned a verdict of guilty the judge must declare the costs of the trial against the defendants, she determined to canvass monroe county, in order to make a verdict of "guilty" impossible. she held meetings in twenty-nine of the post-office districts, speaking on the equal rights of all citizens to the ballot. hearing that district attorney crowley threatened to move her trial out of that county, she sent him word that she would then canvass the next with an army of speakers. the court sat in rochester may th, but several days passed without calling the case. finally, it was moved by district attorney crowley, merely to ask its adjournment to the june united states circuit court at canandaigua. counsel protested, but without avail, and both the women and the inspectors were again required to answer the charge and renew bail. this motion for change of venue was made on friday, and the following monday night miss anthony held her first meeting in ontario county. in the twenty-two days before the convening of the court she made twenty-one speeches. matilda joslyn gage came to her aid, and spoke in sixteen townships, thus together making a thorough canvass of that county. miss anthony's speech, "is it a crime for a united states citizen to vote," and that of mrs. gage, "the united states on trial, not susan b. anthony," were most effective in rousing general thought on the vital principles of republican government, and did much toward enlightening the possible jury in the coming trial. the last meeting of the series was held at canandaigua on the evening before the trial. strong resolutions against these acts of injustice toward woman were introduced by mrs. gage, and unanimously indorsed by the audience. thus the case went to trial with ample opportunity for the district attorney and the judge to know the opinions of the people, and for the men of ontario to be too generally enlightened on the subject to find any twelve who could be trusted to bring in a verdict of guilty against the women for voting, or the inspectors for receiving their votes. the following is the argument which miss anthony made in twenty-nine of the post office-districts of monroe, and twenty-one of ontario, in her canvass of those counties, prior to her trial, june , : friends and fellow citizens:--i stand before you to-night, under indictment for the alleged crime of having voted illegally at the last presidential election. i shall endeavor this evening to prove to you that in voting, i not only committed no crime, but simply exercised my "citizen's right," guaranteed to me and all united states citizens by the national constitution, beyond the power of any state to deny. our democratic republican government is based on the idea of the natural right of every individual member thereof to a voice and a vote in making and executing the laws. we assert the province of government to be to secure the people in the enjoyment of their inalienable rights. we throw to the winds the old dogma that governments can give rights. before governments were organized, no one denies that each individual possessed the right to protect his own life, liberty, and property. and when or , , people enter into a free government, they do not barter away their natural rights; they simply pledge themselves to protect each other in the enjoyment of them, through prescribed judicial and legislative tribunals. they agree to abandon the methods of brute force in the adjustment of their differences, and adopt those of civilization. the declaration of independence, the national and state constitutions, and the organic laws of the territories, all alike propose to protect the people in the exercise of their god-given rights. not one of them pretends to bestow rights. all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. that to secure these, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. here is no shadow of government authority over rights, nor exclusion of any class from their full and equal enjoyment. here is pronounced the rights of all men, and "consequently," as the quaker preacher said, "of all women," to a voice in the government. and here, in this very first paragraph of the declaration, is the assertion of the natural right of all to the ballot; for, how can "the consent of the governed" be given, if the right to vote be denied. again: that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such forms as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. surely, the right of the whole people to vote is here clearly implied. for, however destructive to their happiness this government might become, a disfranchised class could neither alter nor abolish it, nor institute a new one, except by the old brute force method of insurrection and rebellion. one half of the people of this nation to-day are utterly powerless to blot from the statute books an unjust law, or to write there a new and a just one. the women, dissatisfied as they are with this form of government, that enforces taxation without representation,--that compels them to obey laws to which they have never given their consent--that imprisons and hangs them without a trial by a jury of their peers--that robs them, in marriage, of the custody of their own persons, wages, and children--are this half of the people left wholly at the mercy of the other half, in direct violation of the spirit and letter of the declarations of the framers of this government, every one of which was based on the immutable principle of equal rights to all. by those declarations, kings, priests, popes, aristocrats, were all alike dethroned, and placed on a common level, politically, with the lowliest born subject or serf. by them, too, men, as such, were deprived of their divine right to rule, and placed on a political level with women. by the practice of those declarations all class and caste distinction will be abolished; and slave, serf, plebeian, wife, woman, all alike, will bound from their subject position to the proud platform of equality. the preamble of the federal constitution says: we, the people of the united states, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the united states of america. it was we, the people, not we, the white male citizens, nor yet we, the male citizens, but we, the whole people, who formed this union. and we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole people--women as well as men. and it is downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic republican government--the ballot. the early journals of congress show that when the committee reported to that body the original articles of confederation, the very first article which became the subject of discussion was that respecting equality of suffrage. article th said: the better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse between the people of the different states of this union, the free inhabitants of each of the states (paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted), shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the free citizens of the several states. thus, at the very beginning, did the fathers see the necessity of the universal application of the great principle of equal rights to all--in order to produce the desired result--a harmonious union and a homogeneous people. luther martin, attorney-general of maryland, in his report to the legislature of that state of the convention that framed the united states constitution, said: those who advocated the equality of suffrage took the matter up on the original principles of government; that the reason why each individual man in forming a state government should have an equal vote, is because each individual, before he enters into government, is equally free and equally independent. james madison said: under every view of the subject, it seems indispensable that the mass of the citizens should not be without a voice in making the laws which they are to obey, and in choosing the magistrates who are to administer them. also, let it be remembered, finally, that it has ever been the pride and the boast of america that the rights for which she contended were the rights of human nature. and these assertions of the framers of the united states constitution of the equal and natural rights of all the people to a voice in the government, have been affirmed and reaffirmed by the leading statesmen of the nation, throughout the entire history of our government. thaddeus stevens, of pennsylvania, said in : i have made up my mind that the elective franchise is one of the inalienable rights meant to be secured by the declaration of independence. b. gratz brown, of missouri, in the three days' discussion in the united states senate in , on senator cowan's motion to strike "male" from the district of columbia suffrage bill, said: mr. president, i say here on the floor of the american senate, i stand for universal suffrage; and as a matter of fundamental principle, do not recognize the right of society to limit it on any ground of race or sex. i will go farther, and say that i recognize the right of franchise as being intrinsically a natural right. i do not believe that society is authorized to impose any limitations upon it that do not spring out of the necessities of the social state itself. charles sumner, in his brave protests against the xiv. and xv. amendments, insisted that, so soon as by the xiii. amendment the slaves became free men, the original powers of the united states constitution guaranteed to them equal rights--the right to vote and to be voted for: i do not hesitate to say that when the slaves of our country became "citizens," they took their place in the body politic as a component part of the "people," entitled to equal rights, and under the protection of these two guardian principles: first, that all just governments stand on the consent of the governed; and second, that taxation without representation is tyranny; and these rights it is the duty of congress to guarantee as essential to the idea of a republic. the preamble of the constitution of the state of new york declares: we, the people of the state of new york, grateful to almighty god for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this constitution. here is not the slightest intimation, either of receiving freedom from the united states constitution, or of the state conferring the blessings of liberty upon the people; and the same is true of every one of the thirty-six state constitutions. each and all alike declare rights god-given, and that to secure the people in the enjoyment of their inalienable rights, is their one and only object in ordaining and establishing government. and all of the state constitutions are equally emphatic in their recognition of the ballot as the means of securing the people in the enjoyment of these rights. article of the new york state constitution says: no member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers. and so carefully guarded is the citizen's right to vote, that the constitution makes special mention of all who may not vote: laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage all persons who have been or may be convicted of bribery, larceny, or any infamous crime. in naming the various employments that shall not affect the residence of voters, the d section of article d says that being kept at any almshouse or other asylum, at public expense, nor being confined at any public prison, shall deprive a person of his residence, and hence his vote. thus is the right of voting most sacredly hedged about. the only seeming permission in our constitution for the disfranchisement of women is in section st of article d: every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, etc., shall be entitled to vote. but i insist that in view of the explicit assertions of the equal right of the whole people, both in the preamble and previous article of the constitution, this omission of the adjective "female" in the second, should not be construed into a denial; but, instead, counted as of no effect. mark the direct prohibition: "no member of this state shall be disfranchised, unless by the 'law of the land,' or the judgment of his peers." "the law of the land," is the united states constitution; and there is no provision in that document that can be fairly construed into a permission to the states to deprive any class of their citizens of their right to vote. hence new york can get no power from that source to disfranchise one entire half of her members. nor has "the judgment of their peers" been pronounced against women exercising their right to vote. no disfranchised person is allowed to be judge or juror--and none but disfranchised persons can be women's peers; nor has the legislature passed laws excluding them on account of idiocy or lunacy; nor yet the courts convicted them of bribery, larceny, or any infamous crime. clearly, then, there is no constitutional ground for the exclusion of women from the ballot-box in the state of new york. no barriers whatever stand to-day between women and the exercise of their right to vote save those of precedent and prejudice. the clauses of the united states constitution, cited by our opponents as giving power to the states to disfranchise any classes of citizens they shall please, are contained in sections d and th of article st. the second says: the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. this can not be construed into a concession to the states of the power to destroy the right to become an elector, but simply to prescribe what shall be the qualifications, such as competency of intellect, maturity of age, length of residence, that shall be deemed necessary to enable them to make an intelligent choice of candidates. if, as our opponents assert, the last clause of this section makes it the duty of the united states to protect citizens in the several states against higher or different qualifications for electors for representatives in congress, than for members of assembly, then must the first clause make it equally imperative for the national government to interfere with the states, and forbid them from arbitrarily cutting off the right of one half of the people to become electors altogether. section th says: the times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but congress may at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators. here is conceded the power only to prescribe times, places, and manner of holding the elections; and even with these congress may interfere, with all excepting the mere place of choosing senators. thus you see, there is not the slightest permission in either section for the states to discriminate against the right of any class of citizens to vote. surely to regulate can not be to annihilate! nor to qualify to wholly deprive! and to this principle every true democrat and republican said amen, when applied to black men by senator sumner in his great speeches for equal rights to all from to ; and when, in , i asked that senator to declare the power of the united states constitution to protect women in their right to vote--as he had done for black men--he handed me a copy of all his speeches during that reconstruction period, saying: miss anthony, put "sex" where i have "race" or "color," and you have here the best and strongest argument i can make for woman. there is not a doubt but women have the constitutional right to vote, and i will never vote for a xvi. amendment to guarantee it to them. i voted for both the xiv. and xv. under protest; would never have done it but for the pressing emergency of that hour; would have insisted that the power of the original constitution to protect all citizens in the equal enjoyment of their rights should have been vindicated through the courts. but the newly made freedmen had neither the intelligence, wealth, nor time to wait that slow process. women possess all these in an eminent degree; and i insist that they shall appeal to the courts, and through them establish the powers of our american _magna charta_, to protect every citizen of the republic. but, friends, when in accordance with senator sumner's counsel, i went to the ballot-box, last november, and exercised my citizen's right to vote, the courts did not wait for me to appeal to them--they appealed to me, and indicted me on the charge of having voted illegally. senator sumner, putting sex where he did color, would have said: qualifications can not be in their nature permanent or insurmountable. sex can not be a qualification any more than size, race, color, or previous condition of servitude. a permanent or insurmountable qualification is equivalent to a deprivation of the suffrage. in other words, it is the tyranny of taxation without representation, against which our revolutionary mothers, as well as fathers, rebelled. for any state to make sex a qualification that must ever result in the disfranchisement of one entire half of the people, is to pass a bill of attainder, or an _ex post facto_ law, and is therefore a violation of the supreme law of the land. by it, the blessings of liberty are forever withheld from women and their female posterity. to them, this government has no just powers derived from the consent of the governed. to them this government is not a democracy. it is not a republic. it is an odious aristocracy; a hateful oligarchy; the most hateful ever established on the face of the globe. an oligarchy of wealth, where the rich govern the poor; an oligarchy of learning, where the educated govern the ignorant; or even an oligarchy of race, where the saxon rules the african, might be endured; but surely this oligarchy of sex, which makes the men of every household sovereigns, masters; the women subjects, slaves; carrying dissension, rebellion into every home of the nation, can not be endured. and yet this odious aristocracy exists in the face of section , of article , which says: the united states shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government. what, i ask you, is the distinctive difference between the inhabitants of a monarchical and those of a republican form of government, save that in the monarchical the people are subjects, helpless, powerless, bound to obey laws made by superiors--while in the republican, the people are citizens, individual sovereigns, all clothed with equal power, to make and unmake both their laws and their law makers. and the moment you deprive a person of his right to a voice in the government, you degrade him from the status of a citizen to that of a subject, and it matters very little to him whether his monarch be an individual tyrant, as is the czar of russia, or a , , headed monster, as here in the united states. but, it is urged, the use of the masculine pronouns he, his, and him, in all the constitutions and laws, is proof that only men were meant to be included in their provisions. if you insist on this version of the letter of the law, we shall insist that you be consistent, and accept the other horn of the dilemma, which would compel you to exempt women from taxation for the support of the government, and from penalties for the violation of laws. a year and a half ago i was at walla walla, washington territory. i saw there a theatrical company, the "pixley sisters," playing before crowded houses every night of the whole week of the territorial fair. the eldest of those three fatherless girls was scarce eighteen. yet every night a united states officer stretched out his long fingers, and clutched six dollars of the proceeds of the exhibitions of those orphan girls, who, but a few years before, were starvelings in the streets of olympia, the capital of that far-off north-west territory. so the poor widow, who keeps a boarding-house, manufactures shirts, or sells apples and peanuts on the street corners of our cities, is compelled to pay taxes from her scanty pittance. i would that the women of this republic at once resolve, never again to submit to taxation until their right to vote be recognized. miss sarah e. wall, of worcester, mass., twenty years ago, took this position. for several years, the officers of the law distrained her property and sold it to meet the necessary amount; still she persisted, and would not yield an iota, though every foot of her lands should be struck off under the hammer. and now, for several years, the assessor has left her name off the tax list, and the collector passed her by without a call. mrs. j. s. weeden, of viroqua, wis., for the past six years has refused to pay her taxes, though the annual assessment is $ . mrs. ellen van valkenburg, of santa cruz, cal., who sued the county clerk for refusing to register her name, declares she will never pay another dollar of tax until allowed to vote; and all over the country, women property holders are waking up to the injustice of taxation without representation, and ere long will refuse, _en masse_, to submit to the imposition. there is no she, or her, or hers, in the tax laws. the statute of new york reads: every person shall be assessed in the town or ward where he resides when the assessment is made, for the lands owned by him, etc. every collector shall call at least once on the person taxed, or at his usual place of residence, and shall demand payment of the taxes charged on him. if any one shall refuse to pay the tax imposed on him, the collector shall levy the same by distress and sale of his property. the same is true of all the criminal laws: no person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself, etc. in the law of may , , the th section of which i am charged with having violated; not only are all the pronouns masculine, but everybody knows that that particular section was intended expressly to hinder the rebels from voting. it reads: if any person shall knowingly vote without his having a lawful right, etc. precisely so with all the papers served on me--the u. s. marshal's warrant, the bail-bond, the petition for habeas corpus, the bill of indictment--not one of them had a feminine pronoun printed in it; but, to make them applicable to me, the clerk of the court made a little carat at the left of "he" and placed an "s" over it, thus making she out of he. then the letters "is" were scratched out, the little carat placed under and "er" over, to make her out of his, and i insist if government officials may thus manipulate the pronouns to tax, fine, imprison, and hang women, women may take the same liberty with them to secure to themselves their right to a voice in the government. so long as any classes of men were denied their right to vote, the government made a show of consistency, by exempting them from taxation. when a property qualification of $ was required of black men in new york, they were not compelled to pay taxes, so long as they were content to report themselves worth less than that sum; but the moment the black man died, and his property fell to his widow, the black woman's name would be put on the assessor's list, and she be compelled to pay taxes on the same property exempted to her husband. the same is true of ministers in new york. so long as the minister lives, he is exempted from taxation on $ , of property, but the moment the breath goes out of his body, his widow's name will go down on the assessor's list, and she will have to pay taxes on the $ , . so much for the special legislation in favor of women. in all the penalties and burdens of the government (except the military), women are reckoned as citizens, equally with men. also, in all the privileges and immunities, save those of the jury-box and ballot-box, the two fundamental privileges on which rest all the others. the united states government not only taxes, fines, imprisons, and hangs women, but it allows them to pre-empt lands, register ships, and take out passport and naturalization papers. not only does the law permit single women and widows to the right of naturalization, but section says: a married woman may be naturalized without the concurrence of her husband. (i wonder the fathers were not afraid of creating discord in the families of foreigners); and again: when an alien, having complied with the law, and declared his intention to become a citizen, dies before he is actually naturalized, his widow and children shall be considered citizens, entitled to all rights and privileges as such, on taking the required oath. if a foreign-born woman, by becoming a naturalized, citizen, is entitled to all rights and privileges of citizenship, is not a native-born woman by her national citizenship, possessed of equal rights and privileges? the question of the masculine pronouns, yes and nouns too, has been settled by the united states supreme court, in the case of silver _vs._ ladd, december, , in a decision as to whether a woman was entitled to lands under the oregon donation law of . elizabeth cruthers, a widow, settled upon a claim and received patents. she died, and her son was heir. he died. then messrs. ladd & nott took possession, under the general pre-emption law, december, . the administrator, e. p. silver, applied for a writ of ejectment at the land office in oregon city. both the register and receiver decided that an unmarried woman could not hold land under that law. the commissioner of the general land office, at washington, and the secretary of the interior, also gave adverse opinions. here patents were issued to ladd & nott, and duly recorded. then a suit was brought to set aside ladd's patent, and it was carried through all the state courts and the supreme court of oregon; each, in turn, giving adverse decisions. at last, in the united states supreme court, associate justice miller reversed the decisions of all the lower tribunals, and ordered the land back to the heirs of mrs. cruthers. the court said: in construing a benevolent statute of the government, made for the benefit of its own citizens, inviting and encouraging them to settle on its distant public lands, the words "single man," and "unmarried man" may, especially if aided by the context and other parts of the statute, be taken in a generic sense. held, accordingly, that the fourth section of the act of congress, of september th, , granting by way of donation, lands in oregon territory, to every white settler or occupant, american half-breed indians included, embraced within the term single man an unmarried woman. and the attorney, who carried this question to its final success, is now the senator elect from oregon, hon. j. h. mitchell, in whom the cause of equal rights to women has an added power on the floor of the united states senate. though the words persons, people, inhabitants, electors, citizens, are all used indiscriminately in the national and state constitutions, there was always a conflict of opinion, prior to the war, as to whether they were synonymous terms, as for instance: no _person_ shall be a representative who shall not have been seven years a _citizen_, and who shall not, when elected, be an _inhabitant_ of that state in which he is chosen. no _person_ shall be a senator who shall not have been a _citizen_ of the united states, and an _inhabitant_ of that state in which he is chosen. but, whatever room there was for a doubt, under the old regime, the adoption of the xiv. amendment settled that question forever, in its first sentence: all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. and the second settles the equal status of all persons--all citizens: no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. the only question left to be settled now, is: are women persons? and i hardly believe any of our opponents will have the hardihood to say they are not. being persons, then, women are citizens, and no state has a right to make any new law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities. hence, every discrimination against women in the constitutions and laws of the several states, is to-day null and void, precisely as is every one against negroes. is the right to vote one of the privileges or immunities of citizens? i think the disfranchised ex-rebels, and the ex-state prisoners will all agree with me, that it is not only one of them, but _the one without which all the others are nothing_. seek first the kingdom of the ballot, and all things else shall be given thee, is the political injunction. webster, worcester and bouvier all define citizen to be a person, in the united states, entitled to vote and hold office. and prior to the adoption of the xiii. amendment, by which slavery was forever abolished, and black men transformed from property to persons, the judicial opinions of the country had always been in harmony with these definitions. to be a person was to be a citizen, and to be a citizen was to be a voter. associate justice washington, in defining the privileges and immunities of the citizen, more than fifty years ago, said: they included all such privileges as were fundamental in their nature. and among them is the right to exercise the elective franchise and to hold office. even the "dred scott" decision, pronounced by the abolitionists and republicans infamous, because it virtually declared "black men had no rights white men were bound to respect," gave this true and logical conclusion, that to be one of the people was to be a citizen and a voter. chief judge daniels said: there is not, it is believed, to be found in the theories of writers on government, or in any actual experiment heretofore tried, an exposition of the term citizen, which has not been considered as conferring the actual possession and enjoyment of the perfect right of acquisition and enjoyment of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political. associate justice taney said: the words "people of the united states" and "citizens," are synonymous terms, and mean the same thing. they both describe the political body, who, according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty, and who hold the power and conduct the government, through their representatives. they are what we familiarly call the sovereign people, and every citizen is one of this people, and a constituent member of this sovereignty. thus does judge taney's decision, which was such a terrible ban to the black man while he was a slave, now that he is a person, no longer property, pronounce him a citizen, possessed of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political. and not only the black man, but the black woman, and all women as well. and it was not until after the abolition of slavery, by which the negroes became free men, hence citizens, that the united states attorney-general bates rendered a contrary opinion: the constitution uses the word "citizen" only to express the political quality (not equality, mark) of the individual in his relation to the nation; to declare that he is a member of the body politic, and bound to it by the reciprocal obligations of allegiance on the one side, and protection on the other. the phrase "a citizen of the united states," without addition or qualification, means neither more nor less than a member of the nation. then, to be a citizen of this republic, is no more than to be a subject of an empire. you and i, and all true and patriotic citizens must repudiate this base conclusion. we all know that american citizenship, without addition or qualification, means the possession of equal rights, civil and political. we all know that the crowning glory of every citizen of the united states is, that he can either give or withhold his vote from every law and every legislator under the government. did "i am a roman citizen," mean nothing more than that i am a "member" of the body politic of the republic of rome, bound to it by the reciprocal obligations of allegiance on the one side, and protection on the other? when you, young man, shall travel abroad among the monarchies of the old world, and there proudly boast yourself an "american citizen," will you thereby declare yourself neither more nor less than a "member" of the american nation? and this opinion of attorney-general bates, that a black citizen was not a voter, made merely to suit the political exigency of the republican party in that transition hour between emancipation and enfranchisement, was no less infamous, in spirit or purpose, than was the decision of judge taney, that a black man was not one of the people, rendered in the interest and at the behest of the old democratic party, in its darkest hour of subjection to the slave power. nevertheless, all of the adverse arguments, adverse congressional reports and judicial opinions, thus far, have been based on this purely partisan, time-serving opinion of general bates, that the normal condition of the citizen of the united states is that of disfranchisement. that only such classes of citizens as have had special legislative guarantee have a legal right to vote. and if this decision of attorney-general bates was infamous, as against black men, but yesterday plantation slaves, what shall we pronounce upon judge bingham, in the house of representatives, and carpenter, in the senate of the united states, for citing it against the women of the entire nation, vast numbers of whom are the peers of those honorable gentlemen themselves, in morals, intellect, culture, wealth, family--paying taxes on large estates, and contributing equally with them and their sex, in every direction, to the growth, prosperity, and well-being of the republic? and what shall be said of the judicial opinions of judges cartter, jameson, mckay, and sharswood, all based upon this aristocratic monarchical idea, of the right of one class to govern another? i am proud to mention the names of the two united states judges who have given opinions honorable to our republican idea, and honorable to themselves--judge howe, of wyoming territory, and judge underwood, of virginia. the former gave it as his opinion a year ago, when the legislature seemed likely to revoke the law enfranchising the women of that territory, that, in case they succeeded, the women would still possess the right to vote under the xiv. amendment. judge underwood, of virginia, in noticing the recent decision of the supreme court of the district of columbia, denying to women the right to vote, under the xiv. amendment, says: if the people of the united states, by amendment of their constitution, could expunge, without any explanatory or assisting legislation, an adjective of five letters from all state constitutions, and thereby raise millions of our most ignorant fellow-citizens to all the rights and privileges of electors, why should not the same people, by the same amendment, expunge an adjective of four letters from the same state constitutions, and thereby raise other millions of more educated and better informed citizens to equal rights and privileges, without explanatory or assisting legislation? if the xiv. amendment does not secure to all citizens the right to vote, for what purpose was that grand old charter of the fathers lumbered with its unwieldy proportions? the republican party, and judges howard and bingham, who drafted the document, pretended it was to do something for black men; and if that something was not to secure them in their right to vote and hold office, what could it have been? for, by the xiii. amendment, black men had become people, and hence were entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the government, precisely as were the women of the country and foreign men not naturalized. according to associate justice washington, they already had the protection of the government, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety, subject to such restraints as the government may justly prescribe for the general welfare of the whole; the right of a citizen of one state to pass through or to reside in any other state for the purpose of trade, agriculture, professional pursuit, or otherwise; to claim the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus, to institute and maintain actions of any kind in the courts of the state; to take, hold, and dispose of property, either real or personal, and an exemption from higher taxes or impositions than are paid by the other citizens of the state. thus, you see, those newly-made freed men were in possession of every possible right, privilege, and immunity of the government, except that of suffrage, and hence, needed no constitutional amendment for any other purpose. what right, i ask you, has the irishman the day after he receives his naturalization papers that he did not possess the day before, save the right to vote and hold office? and the chinamen, now crowding our pacific coast, are in precisely the same position. what privilege or immunity has california or oregon the constitutional right to deny them, save that of the ballot? clearly, then, if the xiv. amendment was not to secure to black men their right to vote, it did nothing for them, since they possessed everything else before. but if it was meant to be a prohibition of the states to deny or abridge their right to vote--which i fully believe--then it did the same for all persons, white women included, born or naturalized in the united states, for the amendment does not say all male persons of african descent, but all persons are citizens. the second section is simply a threat to punish the states, by reducing their representation on the floor of congress, should they disfranchise any class of male citizens, and does not allow of the inference that the states may disfranchise from any, or all other causes; nor in anywise weaken or invalidate the universal guarantee of the first section. what rule of law or logic would allow the conclusion, that the prohibition of a crime to one person, on severe pains and penalties, was a sanction of that crime to any and all other persons save that one? but, however much the doctors of the law may disagree, as to whether people and citizens, in the original constitution, were one and the same, or whether the privileges and immunities in the xiv. amendment include the right of suffrage, the question of the right of the citizen to vote is settled forever by the xv. amendment: the citizen's right to vote shall not be denied by the united states, nor any state thereof; on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. how can the state deny or abridge the right of the citizen, if the citizen does not possess it? there is no escape from the conclusion, that to vote is the citizen's right, and the specifications of race, color, or previous condition of servitude can, in no way, impair the force of the emphatic assertion, that the citizen's right to vote shall not be denied or abridged. the political strategy of the second section of the xiv. amendment, failing to coerce the rebel states into enfranchising their negroes, and the necessities of the republican party demanding their votes throughout the south, to insure the re-election of grant in , that party was compelled to place this positive prohibition of the xv. amendment upon the united states and all the states thereof. if we once establish the false principle, that united states citizenship does not carry with it the right to vote in every state in this union, there is no end to the petty freaks and cunning devices that will be resorted to, to exclude one and another class of citizens from the right of suffrage. it will not always be men combining to disfranchise women; native-born men combining to abridge the rights of naturalized citizens, as in rhode island; it will not always be the rich and educated who may combine to cut off the poor and ignorant; but we may live to see the poor, hard-working, uncultivated day laborers, foreign and native born, learning the power of the ballot and their vast majority of numbers, combine and amend state constitutions so as to disfranchise the vanderbilts and a. t. stewarts, the conklings and fentons. it is a poor rule that won't work more ways than one. establish this precedent, admit the right of the states to deny suffrage, and there is no power to foresee the confusion, discord, and disruption that may await us. there is, and can be, but one safe principle of government--equal rights to all. and any and every discrimination against any class, whether on account of color, race, nativity, sex, property, culture, can but embitter and disaffect that class, and thereby endanger the safety of the whole people. clearly, then, the national government must not only define the rights of citizens, but it must stretch out its powerful hand and protect them in every state in this union. but if you will insist that the xv. amendment's emphatic interdiction against robbing united states citizens of their right to vote, "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," is a recognition of the right, either of the united states or any state, to rob citizens of that right for any or all other reasons, i will prove to you that the class of citizens for which i now plead, and to which i belong, may be, and are, by all the principles of our government, and many of the laws of the states, included under the term "previous condition of servitude." first.--the married women and their legal status. what is servitude? "the condition of a slave." what is a slave? "a person who is robbed of the proceeds of his labor; a person who is subject to the will of another." by the law of georgia, south carolina, and all the states of the south, the negro had no right to the custody and control of his person. he belonged to his master. if he was disobedient, the master had the right to use correction. if the negro didn't like the correction, and attempted to run away, the master had a right to use coercion to bring him back. by the law of every state in this union to-day, north as well as south, the married woman has no right to the custody and control of her person. the wife belongs to her husband; and if she refuses obedience to his will, he may use moderate correction, and if she doesn't like his moderate correction, and attempts to leave his "bed and board," the husband may use moderate coercion to bring her back. the little word "moderate," you see, is the saving clause for the wife, and would doubtless be overstepped should her offended husband administer his correction with the "cat-o'-nine-tails," or accomplish his coercion with blood-hounds. again, the slave had no right to the earnings of his hands, they belonged to his master; no right to the custody of his children, they belonged to his master; no right to sue or be sued, or testify in the courts. if he committed a crime, it was the master who must sue or be sued. in many of the states there has been special legislation, giving to married women the right to property inherited, or received by bequest, or earned by the pursuit of any avocation outside of the home; also, giving her the right to sue and be sued in matters pertaining to such separate property; but _not a single state of this union has ever secured the wife in the enjoyment of her right to the joint ownership of the joint earnings of the marriage copartnership_. and since, in the nature of things, the vast majority of married women never earn a dollar by work outside of their families, nor inherit a dollar from their fathers, it follows that from the day of their marriage to the day of the death of their husbands, not one of them ever has a dollar, except it shall please her husband to let her have it. in some of the states, also, there have been laws passed giving to the mother a joint right with the father in the guardianship of the children. but twenty years ago, when our woman's rights movement commenced, by the laws of the state of new york, and all the states, the father had the sole custody and control of the children. no matter if he were a brutal, drunken libertine, he had the legal right, without the mother's consent, to apprentice her sons to rumsellers, or her daughters to brothel keepers. he could even will away an unborn child, to some other person than the mother. and in many of the states the law still prevails, and legal mothers are still utterly powerless under the common law. i doubt if there is, to-day, a state in this union where a married woman can sue or be sued for slander of character, and until quite recently there was not one in which she could sue or be sued for injury of person. however damaging to the wife's reputation any slander may be, she is wholly powerless to institute legal proceedings against her accuser, unless her husband shall join with her; and how often have we heard of the husband conspiring with some outside barbarian to blast the good name of his wife. a married woman can not testify in the courts in cases of joint interest with her husband. a good farmer's wife near earlville, ill., who had all the rights she wanted, went to the dentist of the village, who made her a full set of false teeth, both upper and under. the dentist pronounced them an admirable fit, and the wife declared they gave her fits to wear them; that she could neither chew nor talk with them in her mouth. the dentist sued the husband; his counsel brought the wife as witness; the judge ruled her off the stand, saying: a married woman can not be a witness in matters of joint interest between herself and her husband. think of it, ye good wives, the false teeth in your mouths a joint interest with your husbands, about which you are legally incompetent to speak! if in our frequent and shocking railroad accidents a married woman is injured in her person, in nearly all of the states, it is her husband who must sue the company, and it is to her husband that the damages, if there are any, will be awarded. in ashfield, mass., supposed to be the most advanced of any state in the union in all things, humanitarian as well as intellectual, a married woman was severely injured by a defective sidewalk. her husband sued the corporation and recovered $ , damages. and those $ , belong to him _bona fide_; and whenever that unfortunate wife wishes a dollar of it to supply her needs she must ask her husband for it; and if the man be of a narrow, selfish, niggardly nature, she will have to hear him say, every time: "what have you done, my dear, with the twenty-five cents i gave you yesterday?" isn't such a position, i ask you, humiliating enough to be called "servitude"? that husband, as would any other husband, in nearly every state of this union, sued and obtained damages for the loss of the services of his wife, precisely as the master, under the old slave regime, would have done, had his slave been thus injured, and precisely as he himself would have done had it been his ox, cow, or horse instead of his wife. there is an old saying that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," and i submit if the deprivation by law of the ownership of one's own person, wages, property, children, the denial of the right as an individual, to sue and be sued, and to testify in the courts, is not a condition of servitude most bitter and absolute, though under the sacred name of marriage? does any lawyer doubt my statement of the legal status of married women? i will remind him of the fact that the old common law of england prevails in every state in this union, except where the legislature has enacted special laws annulling it. and i am ashamed that not one state has yet blotted from its statute books the old common law of marriage, by which blackstone, summed up in the fewest words possible, is made to say: "husband and wife are one, and that one is the husband." thus may all married women, wives, and widows, by the laws of the several states, be technically included in the xv. amendment's specification of "condition of servitude," present or previous. and not only married women, but i will also prove to you that by all the great fundamental principles of our free government, the entire womanhood of the nation is in a "condition of servitude" as surely as were our revolutionary fathers, when they rebelled against old king george. women are taxed without representation, governed without their consent, tried, convicted, and punished without a jury of their peers. and is all this tyranny any less humiliating and degrading to women under our democratic-republican government to-day than it was to men under their aristocratic, monarchical government one hundred years ago? there is not an utterance of old john adams, john hancock, or patrick henry, but finds a living response in the soul of every intelligent, patriotic woman of the nation. bring to me a common-sense woman property holder, and i will show you one whose soul is fired with all the indignation of , every time the tax-gatherer presents himself at her door. you will not find one such but feels her condition of servitude as galling as did james otis when he said: the very act of taxing exercised over those who are not represented appears to me to be depriving them of one of their most essential rights, and if continued, seems to be in effect an entire disfranchisement of every civil right. for, what one civil right is worth a rush after a man's property is subject to be taken from him at pleasure without his consent? if a man is not his own assessor in person, or by deputy, his liberty is gone, or he is wholly at the mercy of others. what was the three-penny tax on tea, or the paltry tax on paper and sugar to which our revolutionary fathers were subjected, when compared with the taxation of the women of this republic? the orphaned pixley sisters, six dollars a day; and even the women who are proclaiming the tyranny of taxation without representation, from city to city throughout the country, are often compelled to pay a tax for the poor privilege of protesting against the outrage. and again, to show that disfranchisement was precisely the slavery of which the fathers complained, allow me to cite to you old ben. franklin, who in those olden times was admitted to be good authority, not merely in domestic economy, but in political as well: every man of the commonalty, except infants, insane persons and criminals, is, of common right and the law of god, a freeman and entitled to the free enjoyment of liberty. that liberty or freedom consists in having an actual share in the appointment of those who are to frame the laws, and who are to be the guardians of every man's life, property, and peace. for the all of one man is as dear to him as the all of another; and the poor man has an equal right, but more need to have representatives in the legislature than the rich one. that they who have no voice or vote in the electing of representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes and their representatives; for to be enslaved is to have governors whom other men have set over us, and to be subject to laws made by the representatives of others, without having had representatives of our own to give consent in our behalf. suppose i read it with the feminine gender: that women who have no voice nor vote in the electing of representatives, do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to men who have votes and their representatives; for to be enslaved is to have governors whom men have set over us, and to be subject to the laws made by the representatives of men, without having representatives of our own to give consent in our behalf. and yet one more authority; that of thomas paine, than whom not one of the revolutionary patriots more ably vindicated the principles upon which our government is founded: the right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. to take away this right is to reduce man to a state of slavery; for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another; and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case. the proposal, therefore, to disfranchise any class of men is as criminal as the proposal to take away property. is anything further needed to prove woman's condition of servitude sufficiently orthodox to entitle her to the guarantees of the xv. amendment? is there a man who will not agree with me, that to talk of freedom without the ballot, is mockery--is slavery--to the women of this republic, precisely as new england's orator, wendell phillips, at the close of the late war, declared it to be to the newly emancipated black men? i admit that prior to the rebellion, by common consent, the right to enslave, as well as to disfranchise both native and foreign born citizens, was conceded to the states. but the one grand principle, settled by the war and the reconstruction legislation, is the supremacy of national power to protect the citizens of the united states in their right to freedom and the elective franchise, against any and every interference on the part of the several states. and again and again, have the american people asserted the triumph of this principle, by their overwhelming majorities for lincoln and grant. the one issue of the last two presidential elections was, whether the xiv. and xv. amendments should be considered the irrevocable will of the people; and the decision was, they shall be--and that it is not only the right, but the duty of the national government to protect all united states citizens in the full enjoyment and free exercise of all their privileges and immunities against any attempt of any state to deny or abridge. and in this conclusion republicans and democrats alike agree. senator frelinghuysen said--the heresy of state rights has been completely buried in these amendments, that as amended, the constitution confers not only national but state citizenship upon all persons born or naturalized within our limits. the call for the national republican convention said--equal suffrage has been engrafted on the national constitution; the privileges and immunities of american citizenship have become a part of the organic law. the national republican platform said--complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoyment of all civil, political, and public rights, should be established and maintained throughout the union by efficient and appropriate state and federal legislation. if these assertions mean anything, it is that congress should pass a law compelling the states to protect women in their equal political rights, and that the states should enact laws making it the duty of inspectors of election to receive women's votes on precisely the same conditions they do those of men. judge stanley matthews--a substantial ohio democrat--in his preliminary speech at the cincinnati convention, said most emphatically: the constitutional amendments have established the political equality of all citizens before the law. president grant, in his message to congress march , , on the adoption of the xv. amendment, said: a measure which makes at once four millions of people voters, is indeed a measure of greater importance than any act of the kind from the foundation of the government to the present time. how could the four million negroes be made voters if the two million women were not included? the california state republican convention said: among the many practical and substantial triumphs of the principles achieved by the republican party during the past twelve years, we may enumerate with pride and pleasure, the prohibiting of any state from abridging the privileges of any citizen of the republic, the declaring the civil and political equality of every citizen, and the establishing of all these principles in the federal constitution by amendments thereto, as the permanent law. benjamin f. butler, in a recent letter to me said: i do not believe anybody in congress doubts that the constitution authorizes the right of women to vote, precisely as it authorizes trial by jury and many other like rights guaranteed to citizens. and again, it is not laws we want; there are plenty of laws--good enough, too. administrative ability to enforce law is the great want of the age, in this country especially. everybody talks of law, law. if everybody would insist on the enforcement of law, the government would stand on a firmer basis, and questions would settle themselves. and it is upon this just interpretation of the united states constitution that our national woman suffrage association, which celebrates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the woman's rights movement, in new york on the th of may next, has based all its arguments and action the past three years. we no longer petition legislature or congress to give us the right to vote. we appeal to the women everywhere to exercise their too long neglected "citizen's right to vote." we appeal to the inspectors of election everywhere to receive the votes of all united states citizens, as it is their duty to do. we appeal to united states commissioners and marshals to arrest the inspectors who reject the names and votes of united states citizens, as it is their duty to do, and leave those alone who, like our eighth ward inspectors, perform their duties faithfully and well. we ask the juries to fail to return verdicts of "guilty" against honest, law-abiding, tax-paying united states citizens for offering their votes at our elections; or against intelligent, worthy young men, inspectors of election, for receiving and counting such citizens' votes. we ask the judges to render true and unprejudiced opinions of the law, and wherever there is room for a doubt to give its benefit on the side of liberty and equality to women, remembering that the true rule of interpretation under our national constitution, especially since its amendments, is that anything for human rights is constitutional, everything against human rights unconstitutional. and it is on this line that we propose to fight our battle for the ballot--peaceably, but nevertheless persistently to complete triumph, when all united states citizens shall be recognized as equals before the law. miss anthony's trial opened the morning of the th of june. the lovely village of canandaigua, with its placid lake reflecting the soft summer sky, gave no evidence of the great event that was to make the day and the place memorable in history. all was still, the usual peaceful atmosphere pervaded that conservative town, and with the exception of a small group of men and women in earnest conversation at the hotel, few there were who thought or cared about the great principles of government involved in the pending trial. when the tolling of the court house bell announced that the hour had arrived, miss anthony, her counsel and friends, promptly appeared, and were soon followed by the district attorney and judge, representing the power of the united states,--miss anthony to stand as a criminal before the bar of her country for having dared to exercise a freeman's right of self-government, and that country through its judiciary to falsify its grand declarations as to the equality of its citizens by a verdict of guilty because of sex. on the bench sat judge hunt, a small-brained, pale-faced, prim-looking man, enveloped in a faultless suit of black broadcloth, and a snowy white neck-tie. this was the first criminal case he had been called on to try since his appointment, and with remarkable forethought, he had penned his decision before hearing it. at times by his side sat judge hall, who had declared himself unwilling to try the suit. within the bar sat miss anthony and counsel, the hon. henry r. selden and hon. john van voorhis, several of the ladies who had voted,[ ] mrs. gage, and the united states district attorney. upon the right sat the jury, while all the remaining space was crowded with curious and anxious listeners, among whom were many men[ ] prominent in public life. the indictment[ ] presented against miss anthony will be regarded by the future historian as a remarkable document to have originated in a republic against one of its native-born citizens guilty of no crime. united states circuit court. (northern district of new york.) the united states of america _vs._ susan b. anthony; hon. ward hunt, presiding. appearances: for the united states: hon. richard crowley, u. s. district attorney; for the defendant: hon. henry r. selden, john van voorhis, esq. tried at canandaigua, tuesday and wednesday, june th and th, , before hon. ward hunt, and a jury. jury impaneled at : p.m. mr. crowley opened the case as follows: _may it please the court and gentlemen of the jury:_ on the th of november, , there was held in this state, as well as in other states of the union, a general election for different officers, and among those, for candidates to represent several districts of this state in the congress of the united states. the defendant, miss susan b. anthony, at that time resided in the city of rochester, in the county of monroe, northern district of new york, and upon the th day of november, , she voted for a representative in the congress of the united states, to represent the th congressional district of this state, and also for a representative at large for the state of new york, to represent the state in the congress of the united states. at that time she was a woman. i suppose there will be no question about that. the question in this case, if there be a question of fact about it at all, will, in my judgment, be rather a question of law than one of fact. i suppose that there will be no question of fact, substantially, in the case when all of the evidence is out, and it will be for you to decide under the charge for his honor, the judge, whether or not the defendant committed the offense of voting for a representative in congress upon that occasion. we think, on the part of the government, that there is no question about it either one way or the other, neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, and that whatever miss anthony's intentions may have been--whether they were good or otherwise--she did not have a right to vote upon that question, and if she did vote without having a lawful right to vote, then there is no question but what she is guilty of violating a law of the united states in that behalf enacted by the congress of the united states. we don't claim in this case, gentlemen, that miss anthony is of that class of people who go about "repeating." we don't claim that she went from place to place for the purpose of offering her vote. but we do claim that upon the th of november, , she voted, and whether she believed that she had a right to vote or not, it being a question of law, that she is within the statute. congress in passed the following statute: (reads th section of the act of , page , th statutes at large.) it is not necessary for me, gentlemen, at this stage of the case, to state all the facts which will be proven on the part of the government. i shall leave that to be shown by the evidence and by the witnesses, and if any question of law shall arise his honor will undoubtedly give you instructions as he shall deem proper. conceded, that on the th day of november, , miss susan b. anthony was a woman. beverly w. jones, a witness, called in behalf of the united states, testified as follows: examined by mr. crowley: _q._ mr. jones, where do you reside? _a._ th ward, rochester. _q._ where were you living on the th of november, ? _a._ same place. _q._ do you know the defendant, miss susan b. anthony? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ in what capacity were you acting upon that day, if any, in relation to elections? _a._ inspector of election. _q._ into how many election districts is the th ward divided, if it contains more than one? _a._ two, sir. _q._ in what election district were you inspector of elections? _a._ the first district. _q._ who were inspectors with you? _a._ edwin t. marsh and william b. hall. _q._ had the board of inspectors been regularly organized? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ upon the th day of november, did the defendant, susan b. anthony, vote in the first election district of the th ward of the city of rochester? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ did you see her vote? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ will you state to the jury what tickets she voted, whether state, assembly, congress and electoral? objected to as calling for a conclusion. _q._ state what tickets she voted, if you know, mr. jones. _a._ if i recollect right she voted the electoral ticket, congressional ticket, state ticket, and assembly ticket. _q._ was there an election for member of congress from that district and for representative at large in congress, for the state of new york, held on the th of november, in the city of rochester? _a._ i think there was; yes, sir. _q._ in what congressional district was the city of rochester at the time? _a._ the th. _q._ did you receive the tickets from miss anthony? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ what did you do with them when you received them? _a._ put them in the separate boxes where they belonged. _q._ state to the jury whether you had separate boxes for the several tickets voted in that election district? _a._ yes, sir; we had. _q._ was miss anthony challenged upon that occasion? _a._ yes, sir--no; not on that day she wasn't. _q._ she was not challenged on the day she voted? _a._ no, sir. cross-examination by judge selden: _q._ prior to the election, was there a registry of voters in that district made? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ were you one of the officers engaged in making that registry? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ when the registry was being made did miss anthony appear before the board of registry and claim to be registered as a voter? _a._ she did. _q._ was there any objection made, or any doubt raised as to her right to vote? _a._ there was. _q._ on what ground? _a._ on the ground that the constitution of the state of new york did not allow women to vote. _q._ what was the defect in her right to vote as a citizen? _a._ she was not a male citizen. _q._ that she was a woman? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ did the board consider that and decide that she was entitled to register? objected to. objection overruled. _q._ did the board consider the question of her right to registry, and decide that she was entitled to registry as a voter? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ and she was registered accordingly? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ when she offered her vote, was the same objection brought up in the board of inspectors, or question made of her right to vote as a woman? _a._ she was challenged previous to election day. _q._ it was canvassed previous to election day between them? _a._ yes, sir; she was challenged on the second day of registering names. _q._ at the time of the registry, when her name was registered, was the supervisor of election present at the board? _a._ he was. _q._ was he consulted upon the question of whether she was entitled to registry, or did he express an opinion on the subject to the inspectors? mr. crowley.--i submit that it is of no consequence whether he did or not. judge selden.--he was the government supervisor under this act of congress. mr. crowley.--the board of inspectors, under the state law, constitute the board of registry, and they are the only persons to pass upon that question. the court.--you may take it. _a._ yes, sir; there was a united states supervisor of elections, two of them. by judge selden: _q._ did they advise the registry or did they not? _a._ one of them did. _q._ and on that advice the registry was made with the judgment of the inspectors? _a._ it had a great deal of weight with the inspectors, i have no doubt. re-direct examination by mr. crowley: _q._ was miss anthony challenged before the board of registry? _a._ not at the time she offered her name. _q._ was she challenged at any time? _a._ yes, sir; the second day of the meeting of the board. _q._ was the preliminary and the general oath administered? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ won't you state what miss anthony said, if she said anything, when she came there and offered her name for registration? _a._ she stated that she did not claim any rights under the constitution of the state of new york; she claimed her right under the constitution of the united states. _q._ did she name any particular amendment? _a._ yes, sir; she cited the xiv. amendment. _q._ under that she claimed her right to vote? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ did the other federal supervisor who was present, state it as his opinion that she was entitled to vote under that amendment, or did he protest, claiming that she did not have the right to vote? _a._ one of them said that there was no way for the inspectors to get around placing the name upon the register; the other one, when she came in, left the room. _q._ did this one who said that there was no way to get around placing the name upon the register, state that she had her right to register, but did not have the right to vote? _a._ i didn't hear him make any such statement. _q._ you didn't hear any such statement as that? _a._ no, sir. _q._ was there a poll list kept of the voters of the first election district of the th ward on the day of election? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ (handing witness two books.) state whether that is the poll list of voters kept upon the day of election in the first election district of the th ward, of the city of rochester? _a._ this is the poll list, and also the register. _q._ turn to the name of susan b. anthony, if it is upon that poll list. _a._ i have it. _q._ what number is it? _a._ number . _q._ from that poll list what tickets does it purport to show that she voted upon that occasion? _a._ electoral, state, congress, and assembly. united states rests. judge selden opened the case in behalf of the defendant, as follows: _if the court please, gentlemen of the jury:_ this is a case of no ordinary magnitude, although many might regard it as one of very little importance. the question whether my client here has done anything to justify her being consigned to a felon's prison or not, is one that interests her very essentially, and that interests the people also essentially. i claim and shall endeavor to establish before you that when she offered to have her name registered as a voter, and when she offered her vote for member of congress, she was as much entitled to vote as any man that voted at that election, according to the constitution and laws of the government under which she lives. if i maintain that proposition, as a matter of course she has committed no offense, and is entitled to be discharged at your hands. but, beyond that, whether she was a legal voter or not, whether she was entitled to a vote or not, if she sincerely believed that she had a right to vote, and offered her ballot in good faith, under that belief, whether right or wrong, by the laws of this country she is guilty of no crime. i apprehend that that proposition, when it is discussed, will be maintained with a clearness and force that shall leave no doubt upon the mind of the court or upon your minds as the gentlemen of the jury. if i maintain that proposition here, then the further question and the only question which, in my judgment, can come before you to be passed upon by you as a question of fact is whether or not she did vote in good faith, believing that she had a right to vote. the public prosecutor assumes that, however honestly she may have offered her vote, however sincerely she may have believed that she had a right to vote, if she was mistaken in that judgment, her offering her vote and its being received makes a criminal offense--a proposition to me most abhorrent, as i believe it will be equally abhorrent to your judgment. before the registration, and before this election, miss anthony called upon me for advice upon the question whether, under the xiv. amendment of the constitution of the united states, she had a right to vote. i had not examined the question. i told her i would examine it and give her my opinion upon the question of her legal right. she went away and came again after i had made the examination. i advised her that she was as lawful a voter as i am, or as any other man is, and advised her to go and offer her vote. i may have been mistaken in that, and if i was mistaken, i believe she acted in good faith. i believe she acted according to her right as the law and constitution gave it to her. but whether she did or not, she acted in the most perfect good faith, and if she made a mistake, or if i made one, that is not a reason for committing her to a felon's cell. for the second time in my life, in my professional practice, i am under the necessity of offering myself as a witness for my client. henry r. selden, a witness sworn in behalf of the defendant, testified as follows: before the last election, miss anthony called upon me for advice, upon the question whether she was or was not a legal voter. i examined the question, and gave her my opinion, unhesitatingly, that the laws and constitution of the united states authorized her to vote, as well as they authorize any man to vote; and i advised her to have her name placed upon the registry and to vote at the election, if the inspectors should receive her vote. i gave the advice in good faith, believing it to be accurate, and i believe it to be accurate still. [this witness was not cross-examined.] judge selden: i propose to call miss anthony as to the fact of her voting--on the question of the intention or belief under which she voted. mr. crowley: she is not competent as a witness in her own behalf. [the court so held.] defendant rests. john e. pound, a witness sworn in behalf of the united states, testified as follows, examined by mr. crowley: _q._ during the months of november and december, , and january, , were you assistant united states district attorney for the northern district of new york? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ do you know the defendant, susan b. anthony? _a._ yes, sir. _q._ did you attend an examination before wm. c. storrs, a united states commissioner, in the city of rochester, when her case was examined? _a._ i did. _q._ was she called as a witness in her own behalf upon that examination? _a._ she was. _q._ was she sworn? _a._ she was. _q._ did she give evidence? _a._ she did. _q._ did you keep minutes of evidence on that occasion? _a._ i did. _q._ (handing the witness a paper). please look at the paper now shown you and see if it contains the minutes you kept upon that occasion? _a._ it does. _q._ turn to the evidence of susan b. anthony? _a._ i have it. _q._ did she, upon that occasion, state that she consulted or talked with judge henry r. selden, of rochester, in relation to her right to vote? judge selden: i object to that upon the ground that it is incompetent, that if they refuse to allow her to be sworn here, they should be excluded from producing any evidence that she gave elsewhere, especially when they want to give the version which the united states officer took of her evidence. the court: go on. by mr. crowley: _q._ state whether she stated on that examination, under oath, that she had talked or consulted with judge henry r. selden in relation to her right to vote? _a._ she did. _q._ state whether she asked, upon that examination, if the advice given her by judge henry r. selden would or did make any difference in her action in voting, or in substance that? _a._ she stated on the cross-examination, "i should have made the same endeavor to vote that i did had i not consulted judge selden. i didn't consult any one before i registered. i was not influenced by his advice in the matter at all; have been resolved to vote, the first time i was at home thirty days, for a number of years." _cross-examination by_ mr. van voorhis: _q._ mr. pound, was she asked there if she had any doubt about her right to vote, and did she answer, "not a particle"? _a._ she stated, "had no doubt as to my right to vote," on the direct examination. _q._ there was a stenographic reporter there, was there not? _a._ a reporter was there taking notes. _q._ was not this question put to her, "did you have any doubt yourself of your right to vote?" and did she not answer, "not a particle"? the court: well, he says so, that she had no doubt of her right to vote. judge selden: i beg leave to state, in regard to my own testimony, miss anthony informs me that i was mistaken in the fact that my advice was before her registry. it was my recollection that it was on her way to the registry, but she states to me now that she was registered and came immediately to my office. in that respect i was under a mistake. _evidence closed._ argument of mr. selden for the defendant. the defendant is indicted under the th section of the act of congress of may , ( st. at l., ), for "voting without having a lawful right to vote." the words of the statute, so far as they are material in this ease, are as follows: if at any election for representative or delegate in the congress of the united states, any person shall knowingly ... vote without having a lawful right to vote ... every such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime ... and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $ , or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or by both, in the discretion of the court, and shall pay the costs of prosecution. the only alleged ground of illegality of the defendant's vote is that she is a woman. if the same act had been done by her brother under the same circumstances, the act would have been not only innocent, but honorable and laudable; but having been done by a woman it is said to be a crime. the crime, therefore, consists not in the act done, but in the simple fact that the person doing it was a woman and not a man. i believe this is the first instance in which a woman has been arraigned in a criminal court merely on account of her sex. if the advocates of female suffrage had been allowed to choose the point of attack to be made upon their position, they could not have chosen it more favorably for themselves; and i am disposed to thank those who have been instrumental in this proceeding, for presenting it in the form of a criminal prosecution. women have the same interest that men have in the establishment and maintenance of good government; they are to the same extent as men bound to obey the laws; they suffer to the same extent by bad laws, and profit to the same extent by good laws; and upon principles of equal justice, as it would seem, should be allowed equally with men, to express their preference in the choice of law-makers and rulers. but however that may be, no greater absurdity, to use no harsher term, could be presented, than that of rewarding men and punishing women, for the same act, without giving to women any voice in the question which should be rewarded, and which punished. i am aware, however, that we are here to be governed by the constitution and laws as they are, and that if the defendant has been guilty of violating the law, she must submit to the penalty, however unjust or absurd the law may be. but courts are not required to so interpret laws or constitutions as to produce either absurdity or injustice, so long as they are open to a more reasonable interpretation. this must be my excuse for what i design to say in regard to the propriety of female suffrage, because with that propriety established there is very little difficulty in finding sufficient warrant in the constitution for its exercise. this case, in its legal aspects, presents three questions, which i purpose to discuss. . was the defendant legally entitled to vote at the election in question? . if she was not entitled to vote, but believed that she was, and voted in good faith in that belief, did such voting constitute a crime under the statute before referred to? . did the defendant vote in good faith in that belief? if the first question be decided in accordance with my views, the other questions become immaterial; if the second be decided adversely to my views, the first and third become immaterial. the first two are questions of law to be decided by the court, the other is a question for the jury. the court suggested that the argument should be confined to the legal questions, and the argument on the other question suspended. this suggestion was assented to, and the counsel proceeded. my first position is that the defendant had the same right to vote as any other citizen who voted at that election. before proceeding to the discussion of the purely legal question, i desire, as already intimated, to pay some attention to the propriety and justice of the rule which i claim to have been established by the constitution. miss anthony, and those united with her in demanding the right of suffrage, claim, and with a strong appearance of justice, that upon the principles upon which our government is founded, and which lie at the basis of all just government, every citizen has a right to take part, upon equal terms with every other citizen, in the formation and administration of government. this claim on the part of the female sex presents a question the magnitude of which is not well appreciated by the writers and speakers who treat it with ridicule. those engaged in the movement are able, sincere, and earnest women, and they will not be silenced by such ridicule, nor even by the villainous caricatures of nast. on the contrary, they justly place all those things to the account of the wrongs which they think their sex has suffered. they believe, with an intensity of feeling which men who have not associated with them have not yet learned, that their sex has not had, and has not now, its just and true position in the organization of government and society. they may be wrong in their position, but they will not be content until their arguments are fairly, truthfully, and candidly answered. in the most celebrated document which has been put forth on this side of the atlantic, our ancestors declared that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." blackstone says: the lawfulness of punishing such criminals (_i.e._, persons offending merely against the laws of society) is founded upon this principle; that the law by which they suffer was made by their own consent; it is a part of the original contract into which they entered when first they engaged in society; it was calculated for and has long contributed to their own security. quotations, to an unlimited extent, containing similar doctrines from eminent writers, both english and american, on government, from the time of john locke to the present day, might be made. without adopting this doctrine which bases the rightfulness of government upon the consent of the governed, i claim that there is implied in it the narrower and unassailable principle that all citizens of a state, who are bound by its laws, are entitled to an equal voice in the making and execution of such laws. the doctrine is well stated by godwin in his treatise on "political justice." he says: the first and most important principle that can be imagined relative to the form and structure of government, seems to be this: that as government is a transaction in the name and for the benefit of the whole, every member of the community ought to have some share in its administration. again, government is a contrivance instituted for the security of individuals; and it seems both reasonable that each man should have a share in providing for his own security, and probable, that partiality and cabal should by this means be most effectually excluded. and again, to give each man a voice in the public concerns comes nearest to that admirable idea of which we should never lose sight, the uncontrolled exercise of private judgment. each man would thus be inspired with a consciousness of his own importance, and the slavish feelings that shrink up the soul in the presence of an imagined superior would be unknown. the mastery which this doctrine, whether right or wrong, has acquired over the public mind, has produced as its natural fruit, the extension of the right of suffrage to all the adult male population in nearly all the states of the union; a result which was well epitomized by president lincoln, in the expression, "government by the people for the people." this extension of the suffrage is regarded by many as a source of danger to the stability of free government. i believe it furnishes the greatest security for free government, as it deprives the mass of the people of all motive for revolution; and that government so based is most safe, not because the whole people are less liable to make mistakes in government than a select few, but because they have no interest which can lead them to such mistakes, or to prevent their correction when made. on the contrary, the world has never seen an aristocracy, whether composed of few or many, powerful enough to control a government, who did not honestly believe that their interest was identical with the public interest, and who did not act persistently in accordance with such belief; and, unfortunately, an aristocracy of sex has not proved an exception to the rule. the only method yet discovered of overcoming this tendency to the selfish use of power, whether consciously or unconsciously, by those possessing it, is the distribution of the power among all who are its subjects. short of this the name free government is a misnomer. this principle, after long strife, not yet entirely ended has been, practically at least, very generally recognized on this side of the atlantic, as far as relates to men; but when the attempt is made to extend it to women, political philosophers and practical politicians, those "inside of politics," two classes not often found acting in concert, join in denouncing it. it remains to be determined whether the reasons which have produced the extension of the franchise to all adult men, do not equally demand its extension to all adult women. if it be necessary for men that each should have a share in the administration of government for his security, and to exclude partiality, as alleged by godwin, it would seem to be equally, if not more, necessary for women, on account of their inferior physical power; and if, as is persistently alleged by those who sneer at their claims, they are also inferior in mental power, that fact only gives additional weight to the argument in their behalf, as one of the primary objects of government, as acknowledged on all hands, is the protection of the weak against the power of the strong. i can discover no ground consistent with the principle on which the franchise has been given to all men, upon which it can be denied to women. the principal argument against such extension, so far as argument upon that side of the question has fallen under my observation, is based upon the position that women are represented in the government by men, and that their rights and interests are better protected through that indirect representation than they would be by giving them a direct voice in the government. the teachings of history in regard to the condition of women under the care of these self-constituted protectors, to which i can only briefly allude, show the value of this argument as applied to past ages; and in demonstration of its value as applied to more recent times, even at the risk of being tedious, i will give some examples from my own professional experience. i do this because nothing adds more to the efficacy of truth than the translation of the abstract into the concrete. withholding names, i will state the facts with fullness and accuracy. an educated and refined woman, who had been many years before deserted by her drunken husband, was living in a small village of western new york, securing, by great economy and intense labor in fine needlework, the means of living, and of supporting her two daughters at an academy, the object of her life being to give them such an education as would enable them to become teachers, and thus secure to them some degree of independence when she could no longer provide for them. the daughters were good scholars and favorites in the school, so long as the mother was able to maintain them there. a young man, the nephew and clerk of a wealthy but miserly merchant, became acquainted with the daughters, and was specially attentive to the older one. the uncle disapproved of the conduct of his nephew, and failing to control it by honorable means, resorted to the circulation of the vilest slanders against mother and daughters. he was a man of wealth and influence. they were almost unknown. the mother had but recently come to the village, her object having been to secure to her daughters the educational advantages which the academy afforded. poverty, as well as perhaps an excusable if not laudable pride, compelled her to live in obscurity, and consequently the assault upon their characters fell upon her and her daughters with crushing force. her employment mainly ceased, her daughters were of necessity withdrawn from school, and all were deprived of the means, from their own exertions, of sustaining life. had they been in fact the harlots which the miserly scoundrel represented them to be, they would not have been so utterly powerless to resist his assault. the mother in her despair naturally sought legal redress. but how was it to be obtained? by the law the wife's rights were merged in those of the husband. she had in law no individual existence, and consequently no action could be brought by her to redress the grievous wrong; indeed, _according to the law she had suffered no wrong_, but the husband had suffered all, and was entitled to all the redress. where he was the lady did not know; she had not heard from him for many years. her counsel, however, ventured to bring an action in her behalf, joining the husband's name with hers, as the law required. when the cause came to trial the defendant made no attempt to sustain the charges which he had made, well knowing that they were as groundless as they were cruel; but he introduced and proved a release of the cause of action, signed by the husband, reciting a consideration of fifty dollars paid to him. the defendant's counsel had some difficulty in proving the execution of the release, and was compelled to introduce as a witness the constable who had been employed to find the vagabond husband and obtain his signature. his testimony disclosed the facts that he found the husband in the forest in one of our north-eastern counties, engaged in making shingles (presumably stealing timber from the public lands and converting it into the means of indulging his habits of drunkenness), and only five dollars of the fifty mentioned in the release had in fact been paid. the court held, was compelled to hold, that the party injured _in view of the law_, had received full compensation for the wrong--and the mother and daughters with no means of redress were left to starve. this was the act of the _representative_ of the wife and daughters to whom we are referred, as a better protector of their rights than they themselves could be. it may properly be added, that if the action had proceeded to judgment without interference from the husband, and such amount of damages had been recovered as a jury might have thought it proper to award, the money would have belonged to the husband, and the wife could not lawfully have touched a cent of it. her attorney might, and doubtless would have paid it to her, but he could only have done so at the peril of being compelled to pay it again to the drunken husband if he had demanded it. in another case, two ladies, mother and daughter, some time prior to came from an eastern county of new york to rochester, where a habeas corpus was obtained for a child of the daughter less than two years of age. it appeared on the return of the writ, that the mother of the child had been previously abandoned by her husband, who had gone to a western state to reside, and his wife had returned with the child to her mother's house, and had resided there after her desertion. the husband had recently returned from the west, had succeeded in getting the child into his custody, and was stopping overnight with it in rochester on the way to his western home. no misconduct on the part of the wife was pretended, and none on the part of the husband, excepting that he had gone to the west, leaving his wife and child behind, no cause appearing, and had returned, and somewhat clandestinely obtained possession of the child. the judge, following blackstone's views of husbands' rights, remanded the infant to the custody of the father. he thought the law required it, and perhaps it did; but if mothers had had a voice, either in making or administering the law, i think the result would have been different. the distress of the mother on being thus separated from her child can be better imagined than described. the separation proved a final one, as in less than a year neither father nor mother had any child on earth to love or care for. whether the loss to the little one of a mother's love and watchfulness had any effect upon the result, can not, of course, be known. the state of the law a short time since, in other respects, in regard to the rights of married women, shows what kind of security had been provided for them by their assumed representatives. prior to , all the personal property of every woman on marriage became the absolute property of the husband--the use of all her real estate became his during coverture, and on the birth of a living child, it became his during his life. he could squander it in dissipation or bestow it upon harlots, and the wife could not touch or interfere with it. prior to , the husband could by will take the custody of his infant children away from the surviving mother, and give it to whom he pleased--and he could in like manner dispose of the control of the children's property, after his death, during their minority, without the mother's consent. in most of these respects the state of the law has undergone great changes within the last twenty-five years. the property, real and personal, which a woman possesses before marriage, and such as may be given to her during coverture, remains her own, and is free from the control of her husband. if a married woman is slandered she can prosecute the slanderer in her own name, and recover to her own use damages for the injury. the mother now has an equal claim with the father to the custody of their minor children, and in case of controversy on the subject, courts may award the custody to either in their discretion. the husband can not now by will effectually appoint a guardian for his infant children without the consent of the mother, if living. these are certainly great ameliorations of the law; but how have they been produced? mainly as the result of the exertions of a few heroic women, one of the foremost of whom is she who stands arraigned as a criminal before this court to-day. for a thousand years the absurdities and cruelties to which i have alluded have been imbedded in the common law, and in the statute books, and men have not touched them, and would not until the end of time, had they not been goaded to it by the persistent efforts of the noble women to whom i have alluded. much has been done, but much more remains to be done by women. if they had possessed the elective franchise, the reforms which have cost them a quarter of a century of labor would have been accomplished in a year. they are still subject to taxation upon their property, without any voice as to the levying or destination of the tax; and are still subject to laws made by men, which subject them to fine and imprisonment for the same acts which men do with honor and reward--and when brought to trial no woman is allowed a place on the bench or in the jury box, or a voice in her behalf at the bar. they are bound to suffer the penalty of such laws, made and administered solely by men, and to be silent under the infliction. give them the ballot, and, although i do not suppose that any great revolution will be produced, or that all political evils will be removed (i am not a believer in political panaceas), but if i mistake not, valuable reforms will be introduced which are not now thought of. schools, alms-houses, hospitals, drinking saloons, and those worse dens which are destroying the morals and the constitutions of so many of the young of both sexes, will feel their influence to an extent now little dreamed of. at all events women will not be taxed without an opportunity to be heard, and will not be subject to fine and imprisonment by laws made exclusively by men for doing what it is lawful and honorable for men to do. it may be said in answer to the argument in favor of female suffrage derived from the cases to which i have referred, that men, not individually, but collectively, are the natural and appropriate representatives of women, and that, notwithstanding cases of individual wrong, the rights of women are, on the whole, best protected by being left to their care. it must be observed, however, that the cases which i have stated, and which are only types of thousands like them, in their cruelty and injustice, are the result of ages of legislation by these assumed protectors of women. the wrongs were less in the men than in the laws which sustained them, and which contained nothing for the protection of the women. but passing this view, let us look at the matter historically and on a broader field. if chinese women were allowed an equal share with men in shaping the laws of that great empire, would they subject their female children to torture with bandaged feet, through the whole period of childhood and growth, in order that they might be cripples for the residue of their lives? if hindoo women could have shaped the laws of india, would widows for ages have been burned on the funeral pyres of their deceased husbands? if jewish women had had a voice in framing jewish laws, would the husband, at his own pleasure, have been allowed to "write his wife a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house"? would women in turkey or persia have made it a heinous, if not capital, offense for a wife to be seen abroad with her face not covered by an impenetrable veil? would women in england, however learned, have been for ages subjected to execution for offenses for which men, who could read, were only subjected to burning in the hand and a few months imprisonment? the principle which governs in these cases, or which has done so hitherto, has been at all times and everywhere the same. those who succeed in obtaining power, no matter by what means, will, with rare exceptions, use it for their exclusive benefit. often, perhaps generally, this is done in the honest belief that such use is for the best good of all who are affected by it. a wrong, however, to those upon whom it is inflicted, is none the less a wrong by reason of the good motives of the party by whom it is inflicted. the condition of subjection in which women have been held is the result of this principle; the result of superior strength, not of superior rights, on the part of men. superior strength, combined with ignorance and selfishness, but not with malice. it is a relic of the barbarism in the shadow of which nations have grown up. precisely as nations have receded from barbarism the severity of that subjection has been relaxed. so long as merely physical power governed in the affairs of the world, the wrongs done to women were without the possibility of redress or relief; but since nations have come to be governed by laws, there is room to hope, though the process may still be a slow one, that injustice in all its forms, or at least political injustice, may be extinguished. no injustice can be greater than to deny to any class of citizens not guilty of crime, all share in the political power of a state, that is, all share in the choice of rulers, and in the making and administration of the laws. persons to which such share is denied, are essentially slaves, because they hold their rights, if they can be said to have any, subject to the will of those who hold the political power. for this reason it has been found necessary to give the ballot to the emancipated slaves. until this was done their emancipation was far from complete. without a share in the political powers of the state, no class of citizens has any security for its rights, and the history of nations to which i briefly alluded, shows that women constitute no exception to the universality of this rule. great errors, i think, exist in the minds of both the advocates and the opponents of this measure in their anticipation of the immediate effects to be produced by its adoption. on the one hand it is supposed by some that the character of women would be radically changed--that they would be unsexed, as it were, by clothing them with political rights, and that instead of modest, amiable, and graceful beings, we should have bold, noisy, and disgusting political demagogues, or something worse, if anything worse can be imagined. i think those who entertain such opinions are in error. the innate character of women is the result of god's laws, not of man's, nor can the laws of man affect that character beyond a very slight degree. whatever rights may be given to them, and whatever duties may be charged upon them by human laws, their general character will remain unchanged. their modesty, their delicacy, and intuitive sense of propriety, will never desert them, into whatever new positions their added rights or duties may carry them. so far as women, without change of character as women, are qualified to discharge the duties of citizenship, they will discharge them if called upon to do so, and beyond that they will not go. nature has put barriers in the way of any excessive devotion of women to public affairs, and it is not necessary that nature's work in that respect should be supplemented by additional barriers invented by men. such offices as women are qualified to fill will be sought by those who do not find other employment, and others they will not seek, or if they do, will seek in vain. to aid in removing as far as possible the disheartening difficulties which women dependent upon their own exertions encounter, it is, i think, desirable that such official positions as they can fill should be thrown open to them, and that they should be given the same power that men have to aid each other by their votes. i would say, remove all legal barriers that stand in the way of their finding employment, official or unofficial, and leave them, as men are left, to depend for success upon their character and their abilities. as long as men are allowed to act as milliners, with what propriety can they exclude women from the post of school commissioners when chosen to such positions by their neighbors? to deny them such rights, is to leave them in a condition of political servitude as absolute as that of the african slaves before their emancipation. this conclusion is readily to be deduced from the opinion of chief-justice jay in the case of chisholm's ex'rs _vs._ the state of georgia ( dallas, - ), although the learned chief-justice had of course no idea of any such application as i make of his opinion. the action was assumpsit by a citizen of the state of south carolina, and the question was, whether the united states court had jurisdiction, the state of georgia declining to appear. the chief-justice, in the course of his opinion, after alluding to the feudal idea of the character of the sovereign in england, and giving some of the reasons why he was not subject to suit before the courts of the kingdom, says: the same feudal ideas run through all their jurisprudence, and constantly remind us of the distinction between the prince and the subject. no such ideas obtain here. at the revolution the sovereignty devolved on the people; and they are truly the sovereigns of the country, but they are sovereigns without subjects (unless the african slaves among us may be so called), and have none to govern but themselves; the citizens of america are equal as fellow-citizens, and as joint tenants in the sovereignty. now i beg leave to ask, in case this charge against miss anthony can be sustained, what equality and what sovereignty is enjoyed by the half of the citizens of these united states to which she belongs? do they not, in that event, occupy politically exactly the position which the learned chief-justice assigns to the african slaves? are they not shown to be subjects of the other half, who are the sovereigns? and is not their political subjection as absolute as was that of the african slaves? if that charge has any basis to rest upon, the learned chief-justice was wrong. the sovereigns of this country, according to the theory of this prosecution, are not sovereigns without subjects. though two or three millions of their subjects have lately ceased to be such, and have become freemen, they still hold twenty millions of subjects in absolute political bondage. if it be said that my language is stronger than the facts warrant, i appeal to the record in this case for its justification. as deductions from what has been said, i respectfully insist, st, that upon the principles upon which our government is based, the privileges of the elective franchise can not justly be denied to women. d. that women need it for their protection. d. that the welfare of both sexes will be promoted by granting it to them. it would not become me, however clear my own convictions may be on the subject, to assert the right of women, under our constitution and laws as they now are, to vote at presidential and congressional elections, is free from doubt, because very able men have expressed contrary opinions on that question, and, so far as i am informed, there has been no authoritative adjudication upon it; or, at all events, none upon which the public mind has been content to rest as conclusive. i proceed, therefore, to offer such suggestions as occur to me, and to refer to such authorities bearing upon the question, as have fallen under my observation, hoping to satisfy your honor, not only that my client has committed no criminal offense, but that she has done nothing which she had not a legal and constitutional right to do. it is not claimed that, under our state constitution and the laws made in pursuance of it, women are authorized to vote at elections, other than those of private corporations, and consequently the right of miss anthony to vote at the election in question, can only be established by reference to an authority superior to and sufficient to overcome the provisions of our state constitution. such authority can only be found, and i claim that it is found in the constitution of the united states. for convenience i beg leave to bring together the various provisions of that constitution which bear more or less directly upon the question: article i, section . the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year, by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. article i, section . the senate of the united states shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof for six years; and each senator shall have one vote. article ii, section . each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the congress. article iv, section . the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. article iv, section . the united states shall guarantee to every state in the union a republican form of government. thirteenth amendment. (december , .) . neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the united states, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. . congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. fourteenth amendment. (july , .) section . all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. section . representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the united states, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. * * * * * section . the congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. fifteenth amendment. (march , .) section . the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or by any state, on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. section . the congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. by reference to the provisions of the original constitution, here recited, it appears that prior to the xiii., if not until the xiv. amendment, the whole power over the elective franchise, even in the choice of federal officers, rested with the states. the constitution contains no definition of the term "citizen," either of the united states, or of the several states, but contents itself with the provision that "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several states." the states were thus left free to place such restrictions and limitations upon the "privileges and immunities" of citizens as they saw fit, so far as is consistent with a republican form of government, subject only to the condition that no state could place restrictions upon the "privileges or immunities" of the citizens of any other state, which would not be applicable to its own citizens under like circumstances. it will be seen, therefore, that the whole subject, as to what should constitute the "privileges and immunities" of the citizen being left to the states, no question, such as we now present, could have arisen under the original constitution of the united states. but now, by the xiv. amendment, the united states have not only declared what constitutes citizenship, both in the united states and in the several states, securing the rights of citizens to "all persons born or naturalized in the united states"; but have absolutely prohibited the states from making or enforcing "any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." by virtue of this provision, i insist that the act of miss anthony in voting was lawful. it has never, since the adoption of the xiv. amendment, been questioned, and can not be questioned, that women as well as men are included in the terms of its first section, nor that the same "privileges and immunities of citizens" are equally secured to both. what, then, are the "privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states" which are secured against such abridgment, by this section? i claim that these terms not only include the right of voting for public officers, but that they include that right as pre-eminently the most important of all the privileges and immunities to which the section refers. among these privileges and immunities may doubtless be classed the right to life and liberty, to the acquisition and enjoyment of property, and to the free pursuit of one's own welfare, so far as such pursuit does not interfere with the rights and welfare of others; but what security has any one for the enjoyment of these rights when denied any voice in the making of the laws, or in the choice of those who make, and those who administer them? the possession of this voice, in the making and administration of the laws--this political right--is what gives security and value to the other rights, which are merely personal, not political. a person deprived of political rights is essentially a slave, because he holds his personal rights subject to the will of those who possess the political power. this principle constitutes the very corner-stone of our government--indeed, of all republican government. upon that basis our separation from great britain was justified. "taxation without representation is tyranny." this famous aphorism of james otis, although sufficient for the occasion when it was put forth, expresses but a fragment of the principle, because government can be oppressive through means of many appliances besides that of taxation. the true principle is, that all government over persons deprived of any voice in such government, is tyranny. that is the principle of the declaration of independence. we were slow in allowing its application to the african race, and have been still slower in allowing its application to women; but it has been done by the xiv. amendment, rightly construed, by a definition of "citizenship," which includes women as well as men, and in the declaration that "the privileges and immunities of citizens shall not be abridged." if there is any privilege of the citizen which is paramount to all others, it is the right of suffrage; and in a constitutional provision, designed to secure the most valuable rights of the citizen, the declaration that the privileges and immunities of the citizen shall not be abridged must, as i conceive, be held to secure that right before all others. it is obvious, when the entire language of the section is examined, not only that this declaration was designed to secure to the citizen this political right, but that such was its principal, if not its sole object, those provisions of the section which follow it being devoted to securing the personal rights of "life, liberty, property, and the equal protection of the laws." the clause on which we rely, to wit: "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states," might be stricken out of the section, and the residue would secure to the citizen every right which is now secured, excepting the political rights of voting and holding office. if the clause in question does not secure those political rights, it is entirely nugatory, and might as well have been omitted. if we go to the lexicographers and to the writers upon law, to learn what are the privileges and immunities of the "citizen" in a republican government, we shall find that the leading feature of citizenship is the enjoyment of the right of suffrage. the definition of the term "citizen" by bouvier is: one who under the constitution and laws of the united states, has a right to vote for representatives in congress, and other public officers, and who is qualified to fill offices in the gift of the people. by worcester: an inhabitant of a republic who enjoys the rights of a freeman, and has a right to vote for public officers. by webster: in the united states, a person, native or naturalized, who has the privilege of exercising the elective franchise, or the qualifications which enable him to vote for rulers, and to purchase and hold real estate. the meaning of the word "citizen" is directly and plainly recognized by the latest amendment of the constitution, the xv.: the right of the citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. this clause assumes that the right of citizens, as such, to vote, is an existing right. mr. richard grant white, in his late work on "words and their uses," says of the word citizen: a citizen is a person who has certain political rights, and the word is properly used to imply or suggest the possession of these rights. mr. justice washington, in the case of corfield _vs._ coryell ( wash. c. c. rep. ), speaking of the "privileges and immunities" of the citizen, as mentioned in sec. , art. , of the constitution, after enumerating the personal rights mentioned above, and some others, as embraced by those terms, says, to which may be added the elective franchise, as regulated and established by the laws or constitution of the state in which it is to be exercised. at that time the states had entire control of the subject, and could abridge this privilege of the citizen at its pleasure; but the judge recognizes the "elective franchise" as among the "privileges and immunities" secured, to a qualified extent, to the citizens of every state by the provisions of the constitution last referred to. when, therefore, the states were, by the xiv. amendment, absolutely prohibited from abridging the privileges of the citizen, either by enforcing existing laws, or by the making of new laws, the right of every "citizen" to the full exercise of this privilege, as against state action, was absolutely secured. chancellor kent and judge story both refer to the opinion of mr. justice washington, above quoted, with approbation. the supreme court of kentucky, in the case of amy, a woman of color, _vs._ smith ( littell's rep. ), discussed with great ability the questions as to what constituted citizenship, and what were the "privileges and immunities of citizens" which were secured by sec. , art. , of the constitution, and they showed, by an unanswerable argument, that the term "citizens," as there used, was confined to those who were entitled to the enjoyment of the elective franchise, and that that was among the highest of the "privileges and immunities" secured to the citizen by that section. the court say that, to be a citizen it is necessary that he should be entitled to the enjoyment of these privileges and immunities, upon the same terms upon which they are conferred upon other citizens; and unless he is so entitled he can not, in the proper sense of the term, be a citizen. in the case of scott _vs._ sanford ( how. ), chief-justice taney says: the words "people of the united states," and "citizens," are synonymous terms, and mean the same thing; they describe the political body, who according to our republican institutions, form the sovereignty and hold the power, and conduct the government through their representatives. they are what we familiarly call the sovereign people, and every citizen is one of this people, and a constituent member of this sovereignty. mr. justice daniel, in the same case (p. ), says: upon the principles of etymology alone, the term citizen, as derived from _civitas_, conveys the idea of connection or identification with the state or government, and a participation in its functions. but beyond this, there is not, it is believed, to be found in the theories of writers on government, or in any actual experiment heretofore tried, an exposition of the term citizen, which has not been understood as conferring the actual possession and enjoyment, or the perfect right of acquisition and enjoyment of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political. similar references might be made to an indefinite extent, but enough has been said to show that the term citizen, in the language of justice daniel, conveys the idea "of identification with the state or government, and a participation in its functions." beyond question, therefore, the first section of the xiv. amendment, by placing the citizenship of women upon a par with that of men, and declaring that the "privileges and immunities" of the citizen shall not be abridged, has secured to women, equally with men, the right of suffrage, unless that conclusion is overthrown by some other provision of the constitution. it is not necessary for the purposes of this argument to claim that this amendment prohibits a state from making or enforcing any law whatever, regulating the elective franchise, or prescribing the conditions upon which it may be exercised. but we do claim that in every republic the right of suffrage, in some form and to some extent, is not only one of the privileges of its citizens, but is the first, most obvious and most important of all the privileges they enjoy; that in this respect all citizens are equal, and that the effect of this amendment is, to prohibit the states from enforcing any law which denies this right to any of its citizens, or which imposes any restrictions upon it, which are inconsistent with a republican form of government. within this limit, it is unnecessary for us to deny that the states may still regulate and control the exercise of the right. the only provisions of the constitution which it can be contended conflict with the construction which has here been put upon the first section of the xiv. amendment, are the xv. amendment, and the second section of the xiv. in regard to the xv. amendment, i shall only say, that if my interpretation of the xiv. is correct, there was still an object to be accomplished and which was accomplished by the xv. the prohibition of any action abridging the privileges and immunities of citizens, contained in the xiv. amendment, applies only to the states, and leaves the united states government free to abridge the political privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states, as such, at its pleasure. by the xv. amendment both the united states and the state governments are prohibited from exercising this power, "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude" of the citizen. the first remark to be made upon the second section of the xiv. amendment is, that it does not give, and was not designed to give to the states any power to deny or abridge the right of any citizen to exercise the elective franchise. so far as it touches that subject, it was designed to be restrictive upon the states. it gives to them no power whatever. it takes away no power, and it gives none; but if the states possess the power to deny or abridge the right of citizens to vote, it must be derived from some other provision of the constitution. i believe none such can be found, which was not necessarily abrogated by the first section of this amendment. it may be conceded that the persons who prepared this section supposed that, by other parts of the constitution, or in some other way, the states would still be authorized, notwithstanding the provisions of the first section, to deny to the citizens the privilege of voting, as mentioned in the second section; but their mistake can not be held to add to, or to take from the other provisions of the constitution. it is very clear that they did not intend, by this section, to give to the states any such power, but, believing that the states possessed it, they designed to hold the prospect of a reduction of their representation in congress _in terrorem_ over them to prevent them from exercising it. they seem not to have been able to emancipate themselves from the influence of the original constitution which conceded this power to the states, or to have realized the fact that the first section of the amendment, when adopted, would wholly deprive the states of that power. but those who prepare constitutions are never those who adopt them, and consequently the views of those who frame them have little or no bearing upon their interpretation. the question for consideration here is, what the people, who, through their representatives in the legislatures, adopted the amendments, understood, or must be presumed to have understood, from their language. they must be presumed to have known that the "privileges and immunities" of citizens which were secured to them by the first section beyond the power of abridgment by the states, gave them the right to exercise the elective franchise, and they certainly can not be presumed to have understood that the second section, which was also designed to be restrictive upon the states, would be held to confer by implication a power upon them, which the first section in the most express terms prohibited. it has been, and may be again asserted, that the position which i have taken in regard to the second section is inadmissible, because it renders the section nugatory. that is, as i hold, an entire mistake. the leading object of the second section was the readjustment of the representation of the states in congress, rendered necessary by the abolition of chattel slavery [not of political slavery], effected by the xiii. amendment. this object the section accomplishes, and in this respect it remains wholly untouched, by my construction of it. neither do i think the position tenable which has been taken by one tribunal, to which the consideration of this subject was presented, that the constitutional provision does not execute itself. the provisions on which we rely were negative merely, and were designed to nullify existing as well as any future state legislation interfering with our rights. this result was accomplished by the constitution itself. undoubtedly before we could exercise our right, it was necessary that there should be a time and place appointed for holding the election and proper officers to hold it, with suitable arrangements for receiving and counting the votes. all this was properly done by existing laws, and our right being made complete by the constitution, no further legislation was required in our behalf. when the state officers attempted to interpose between us and the ballot-box the state constitution or state law, whether ancient or recent, abridging or denying our equal right to vote with other citizens, we had but to refer to the united states constitution, prohibiting the states from enforcing any such constitutional provision or law, and our rights were complete; we needed neither congressional nor state legislation in aid of them. the opinion of mr. justice bradley, in a case in the united states circuit court in new orleans ( abb. u. s. rep., ) would seem to be decisive of this question, although the right involved in that case was not that of the elective franchise. the learned justice says: it was very ably contended on the part of the defendants that the xiv. amendment was intended only to secure to all citizens equal capacities before the law. that was at first our view of it. but it does not so read. the language is: "no state shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." what are the privileges and immunities of citizens? are they capacities merely? are they not also rights? senator carpenter, who took part in the discussion of the xiv. amendment in the senate, and aided in its passage, says: the xiv. amendment executes itself in every state of the union.... it is thus the will of the united states in every state, and silences every state constitution, usage, or law which conflicts with it.... and if this provision does protect the colored citizen, then it protects every citizen, black or white, male or female.... and all the privileges and immunities which i vindicate to a colored citizen, i vindicate to our mothers, our sisters, and our daughters.--_chicago legal news_, vol. iv., no. . it has been said, with how much or how little truth i do not know, that the subject of securing to women the elective franchise was not considered in the preparation or in the adoption of these amendments. it is wholly immaterial whether that was so or not. it is never possible to arrive at the intention of the people in adopting constitutions, except by referring to the language used. as is said by mr. cooley, "the intent is to be found in the instrument itself" (p. ), and to that i have confined my remarks. it is not a new thing for constitutional and legislative acts to have an effect beyond the anticipation of those who framed them. it is undoubtedly true, that in exacting _magna charta_ from king john, the barons of england provided better securities for the rights of the common people than they were aware of at the time, although the rights of the common people were neither forgotten nor neglected by them. it has also been said, perhaps with some truth, that the framers of the original constitution of the united states "builded better than they knew;" and it is quite possible that in framing the amendments under consideration, those engaged in doing it have accomplished a much greater work than they were at the time, aware of. i am quite sure that it will be fortunate for the country, if this great question of female suffrage, than which few greater were ever presented for the consideration of any people, shall be found, almost unexpectedly, to have been put at rest. the opinion of mr. justice bradley, in regard to this amendment, in the case above referred to, if i understand it, corresponds very nearly with what i have here said. the learned judge, in one part of his opinion, says: it is possible that those who framed the article were not themselves aware of the far-reaching character of its terms. they may have had in mind but one particular phase of social and political wrong, which they desired to redress--yet, if the amendment, as framed and expressed, does, in fact, have a broader meaning, and does extend its protecting shield over those who were never thought of when it was conceived and put in form, and does reach such social evils which were never before prohibited by constitutional amendment, it is to be presumed that the american people, in giving it their imprimatur, understood what they were doing, and meant to decree what has, in fact, been done.... it embraces much more. the "privileges and immunities" secured by the original constitution were only such as each state gave its own citizens. each was prohibited from discriminating in favor of its own citizens, and against the citizens of other states. but the xiv. amendment prohibits any state from abridging the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the united states, whether its own citizens or any others. it not merely requires equality of privileges, but it demands that the privileges and immunities of all citizens shall be absolutely unabridged, unimpaired. ( abbott's u. s. rep., ). it will doubtless be urged as an objection to my position (that citizenship carries with it the right to vote) that it would, in that case, follow that infants and lunatics, who, as well as adults and persons of sound mind, are citizens, would also have that right. this objection, which appears to have great weight with certain classes of persons, is entirely without force. it takes no note of the familiar fact, that every legislative provision, whether constitutional or statutory, which confers any discretionary power, is always confined in its operation to persons who are _compos mentis_. it is wholly unnecessary to except idiots and lunatics out of any such statute. they are excluded from the very nature of the case. the contrary supposition would be simply absurd. and, in respect to every such law, infants, during their minority, are in the same class. but are women, who are not infants, ever included in this category? does any such principle of exclusion apply to them? not at all. on the contrary, they stand, in this respect, upon the same footing as men, with the sole exception of the right to vote and the right to hold office. in every other respect, whatever rights and powers are conferred upon persons by law may be exercised by women as well as by men. they may transact any kind of business for themselves, or as agents or trustees for others; may be executors and administrators, with the same powers and responsibilities as men; and it ought not to be a matter of surprise or regret that they are now placed, by the xiv. amendment, in other respects upon a footing of perfect equality. although not directly connected with the argument as to the right secured to women by the constitution, i deem it not improper to allude briefly to some of the popular objections against the propriety of allowing females the privilege of voting. i do this because i know from past experience that these popular objections, having no logical bearing upon the subject, are yet, practically, among the most potent arguments against the interpretation of the xiv. amendment, which i consider the only one that its language fairly admits of. it is said that women do not desire to vote. certainly many women do not but that furnishes no reason for denying the right to those who do desire to vote. many men decline to vote. is that a reason for denying the right to those who would vote? i believe, however, that the public mind is greatly in error in regard to the proportion of female citizens who would vote if their right to do so were recognized. in england there has been to some extent a test of that question, with the following result, as given in the newspapers, the correctness of which, in this respect, i think there is no reason to doubt: woman suffrage is, to a certain extent, established in england, with the result as detailed in the london _examiner_, that in municipal elections, out of every , women who enjoy equal rights with men on the register, went to the poll, which is but less than the proportionate number of men. and out of , women registered, where a contest occurred, , voted. of men there were , on the register, and , at the poll. the _examiner_ thereupon draws this conclusion: "making allowance for the reluctance of old spinsters to change their habits, and the more frequent illness of the sex, it is manifest that women, if they had opportunity, would exercise the franchise as freely as men. there is an end, therefore, of the argument that women would not vote if they had the power." our law books furnish, perhaps, more satisfactory evidence of the earnestness with which women in england are claiming the right to vote, under the reform act of , aided by lord brougham's act of . the case of chorlton, appellant, _vs._ lings, respondent, came before the court of common pleas in england in . it was an appeal from the decision of the revising barrister, for the borough of manchester, to the effect "that mary abbott, being a woman, was not entitled to be placed on the register." her right was perfect in all respects excepting that of sex. the court, after a very full and able discussion of the subject, sustained the decision of the revising barrister, denying to women the right to be placed on the register, and consequently denying their right to vote. the decision rested upon the peculiar phraseology of several acts of parliament, and the point decided has no applicability here. my object in referring to the case has been to call attention to the fact stated by the reporter, that appeals of , other women were consolidated and decided with this. no better evidence could be furnished of the extent and earnestness of the claim of women in england to exercise the elective franchise.--law rep. com. pleas, - . i infer, without being able to say how the fact is, that the votes given by women, as mentioned in the newspapers, were given at municipal elections merely, and that the cases decided by the court of common pleas relate to elections for members of parliament. another objection is, that the right to hold office must attend the right to vote, and that women are not qualified to discharge the duties of responsible offices. i beg leave to answer this objection by asking one or more questions. how many of the male bipeds who do our voting are qualified to hold high offices? how many of the large class to whom the right of voting is supposed to have been secured by the xv. amendment, are qualified to hold office? whenever the qualifications of persons to discharge the duties of responsible offices is made the test of their right to vote, and we are to have a competitive examination on that subject, open to all claimants, my client will be content to enter the lists, and take her chances among the candidates for such honors. but the practice of the world, and our own practice, give the lie to this objection. compare the administration of female sovereigns of great kingdoms, from semiramis to victoria, with the average administration of male sovereigns, and which will suffer by the comparison? how often have mothers governed large kingdoms, as regents, during the minority of their sons, and governed them well? such offices as the "sovereigns" who rule them in this country have allowed women to hold (they having no voice on the subject), they have discharged the duties of with ever-increasing satisfaction to the public; and congress has lately passed an act, making the official bonds of married women valid, so that they could be appointed to the office of postmaster. the case of olive _vs._ ingraham ( modern rep. ) was an action brought to try the title to an office. on the death of the sexton of the parish of st. butolph, the place was to be filled by election, the voters being the housekeepers who "paid scot and lot" in the parish. the widow of the deceased sexton (sarah bly) entered the lists against olive, the plaintiff in the suit, and received indisputable votes, and votes given by women who were "housekeepers, and paid to church and poor." the plaintiff had indisputable votes, and votes given by such women as voted for mrs. bly. mrs. bly was declared elected. the action was brought to test two questions: . whether women were legal voters; and . whether a woman was capable of holding the office. the case was four times argued in the king's bench, and all the judges delivered opinions, holding that the women were competent voters; that the widow was properly elected, and could hold the office. in the course of the discussion it was shown that women had held many offices, those of constable, church warden, overseer of the poor, keeper of the "gate house" (a public prison), governess of a house of correction, keeper of castles, sheriffs of counties, and high constable of england. if women are legally competent to hold minor offices, i would be glad to have the rule of law, or of propriety, shown which should exclude them from higher offices, and which marks the line between those which they may and those which they may not hold. another objection is that women can not serve as soldiers. to this i answer that capacity for military service has never been made a test of the right to vote. if it were, young men from sixteen to twenty-one would be entitled to vote, and old men from sixty and upward would not. if that were the test, some women would present much stronger claims than many of the male sex. another objection is that engaging in political controversies is not consistent with the feminine character. upon that subject, women themselves are the best judges, and if political duties should be found inconsistent with female delicacy, we may rest assured that women will either effect a change in the character of political contests, or decline to engage in them. this subject may be safely left to their sense of delicacy and propriety. if any difficulty on this account should occur, it may not be impossible to receive the votes of women at their places of residence. this method of voting was practiced in ancient rome under the republic; and it will be remembered that when the votes of the soldiers who were fighting our battles in the southern states were needed to sustain their friends at home, no difficulty was found in the way of taking their votes at their respective camps. i humbly submit to your honor, therefore, that on the constitutional grounds to which i have referred, miss anthony had a lawful right to vote; that her vote was properly received and counted; that the first section of the xiv. amendment secured to her that right, and did not need the aid of any further legislation. but conceding that i may be in error in supposing that miss anthony had a right to vote, she has been guilty of no crime, if she voted in good faith believing that she had such right. this proposition appears to me so obvious, that were it not for the severity to my client of the consequences which may follow a conviction, i should not deem it necessary to discuss it. to make out the offense, it is incumbent on the prosecution to show affirmatively, not only that the defendant knowingly voted, but that she so voted knowing that she had no right to vote. that is, the term "knowingly" applies, not to the fact of voting, but to the fact of want of right. any other interpretation of the language would be absurd. we can not conceive of a case where a party could vote without knowledge of the fact of voting, and to apply the term "knowingly" to the mere act of voting, would make nonsense of the statute. this word was inserted as defining the essence of the offense, and it limits the criminality to cases where the voting is not only without right, but where it is done willfully, with a knowledge that it is without right. short of that there is no offense within the statute. this would be so upon well-established principles, even if the word "knowingly" had been omitted, but that word was inserted to prevent the possibility of doubt on the subject, and to furnish security against the inability of stupid or prejudiced judges or jurors, to distinguish between willful wrong and innocent mistake. if the statute had been merely that "if at any election for representative in congress any person shall vote without having a lawful right to vote, such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime," there could have been justly no conviction under it without proof that the party voted knowing that he had not a right to vote. if he voted innocently supposing he had the right to vote, but had not, it would not be an offense within the statute. an innocent mistake is not a crime, and no amount of judicial decisions can make it such. mr. bishop says, (i cr. law, § ), there can be no crime unless a culpable intent accompanies the criminal act. the same author ( cr. prac. § ), repeated in other words, the same idea: in order to render a party criminally responsible, a vicious will must concur with a wrongful act. i quote from a more distinguished author: felony is always accompanied with an evil intention, and therefore shall not be imputed to a mere mistake or misanimadversion, as where persons break open a door, in order to execute a warrant, which will not justify such proceeding: _affectio enim tua nomen imponit operi tuo: item crimen non contrahitur nisi nocendi, voluntas intercedat_, which, as i understand, may read: for your violation puts the name upon your act; and a crime is not committed unless the will of the offender takes part in it. ( hawk. p. c., p. , ch. , § .) this quotation by hawkins is, i believe, from bracton, which carries the principle back to a very early period in the existence of the common law. it is a principle, however, which underlies all law, and must have been recognized at all times, wherever criminal law has been administered, with even the slightest reference to the principles of common morality and justice. i quote again on this subject from mr. bishop: the doctrine of the intent as it prevails in the criminal law, is necessarily one of the foundation principles of public justice. there is only one criterion by which the guilt of man is to be tested. it is whether the mind is criminal. criminal law relates only to crime. and neither in philosophical speculation, nor in religious or moral sentiment, would any people in any age allow that a man should be deemed guilty unless his mind was so. it is, therefore, a principle of our legal system, as probably it is of every other, that the essence of an offense is the wrongful intent without which it can not exist. ( bishop's crim. law, § .) again, the same author, writing on the subject of knowledge, as necessary to establish the intent, says: it is absolutely necessary to constitute guilt, as in indictments for uttering forged tokens, or other attempts to defraud, or for receiving stolen goods, and offenses of a similar description. ( crim. prac. § .) in regard to the offense of obtaining property by false pretenses, the author says: the indictment must allege that the defendant knew the pretenses to be false. this is necessary upon the general principles of the law, in order to show an offense, even though the statute does not contain the word "knowingly." ( id. § .) as to a presumed knowledge of the law, where the fact involves a question of law, the same author says: the general doctrine laid down in the foregoing sections (_i.e._, that every man is presumed to know the law, and that ignorance of the law does not excuse), is plain in itself and plain in its application. still, there are cases, the precise nature and extent of which are not so obvious, wherein ignorance of the law constitutes, in a sort of indirect way, not in itself a defense, but a foundation on which another defense rests. thus, if the guilt or innocence of a prisoner depends on the fact to be found by the jury, of his having been or not, when he did the act, in some precise mental condition, which mental condition is the gist of the offense, the jury in determining this question of mental condition, may take into consideration his ignorance or misinformation in a matter of law. for example, to constitute larceny, there must be an intent to steal, which involves the knowledge that the property taken does not belong to the taker; yet, if all the facts concerning the title are known to the accused, and so the question is one merely of law whether the property is his or not; still he may show, and the showing will be a defense to him against the criminal proceeding, that he honestly believed it his through a misapprehension of the law. the conclusions of the writer here are correct, but in a part of the statement the learned author has thrown some obscurity over his own principles. the doctrines elsewhere enunciated by him, show with great clearness, that in such cases the state of the mind constitutes the essence of the offense, and if the state of the mind which the law condemns does not exist, in connection with the act, there is no offense. it is immaterial whether its non-existence be owing to ignorance of law or ignorance of fact, in either case the fact which the law condemns, the criminal intent, is wanting. it is not, therefore, in an "indirect way," that ignorance of the law in such cases constitutes a defense, but in the most direct way possible. it is not a fact which jurors "may take into consideration" or not, at their pleasure, but which they must take into consideration, because, in case the ignorance exists, no matter from what cause, the offense which the statute describes is not committed. in such case, ignorance of the law is not interposed as a shield to one committing a criminal act, but merely to show, as it does show, that no criminal act has been committed. i quote from sir matthew hale on the subject. speaking of larceny, the learned author says: as it is _cepit_ and _asportavit_, so it must be _felonice_, or _animo furandi_, otherwise it is not felony, for it is the mind that makes the taking of another's goods to be a felony, or a bare trespass only; but because the intention and mind are secret, the intention must be judged of by the circumstances of the fact, and these circumstances are various, and may sometimes deceive, yet regularly and ordinarily these circumstances following direct in the case. if a., thinking he hath a title to the house of b., seizeth it as his own ... this regularly makes no felony, but a trespass only; but yet this may be a trick to color a felony, and the ordinary discovery of a felonious intent is, if the party doth it secretly or being charged with the goods denies it. ( hale's p. c, .) i concede, that if miss anthony voted, knowing that as a woman she had no right to vote, she may properly be convicted, and that if she had dressed herself in men's apparel, and assumed a man's name, or resorted to any other artifice to deceive the board of inspectors, the jury might properly regard her claim of right to be merely colorable, and might, in their judgment, pronounce her guilty of the offense charged, in case the constitution has not secured to her the right she claimed. all i claim is, that if she voted in perfect good faith, believing that it was her right, she has committed no crime. an innocent mistake, whether of law or fact, though a wrongful act may be done in pursuance of it, can not constitute a crime. [the following cases and authorities were referred to and commented upon by the counsel, as sustaining his positions: u. s. _vs._ conover, mclean's rep., ; the state _vs._ mcdonald, harrington, ; the state _vs._ homes, mo., ; rex _vs._ hall, c. & p., (s. c. eng., c. l.); the queen _vs._ reed, c. &. m., (s. c. eng., c. l.); lancaster's case, leon, ; starkie on ev., part iv., vol. , p. , d am. ed.] the counsel then said, there are some cases which i concede can not be reconciled with the position which i have endeavored to maintain, and i am sorry to say that one of them is found in the reports of this state. as the cases are referred to in that, and the principle, if they can be said to stand on any principle, is in all of them the same, it will only be incumbent on me to notice that one. that case is not only irreconcilable with the numerous authorities and the fundamental principles of criminal law to which i have referred, but the enormity of its injustice is sufficient alone to condemn it. i refer to the case of hamilton _vs._ the people ( barb., ). in that case hamilton had been convicted of a misdemeanor, in having voted at a general election, after having been previously convicted of a felony, and sentenced to two years imprisonment in the state prison, and not having been pardoned; the conviction having by law deprived him of citizenship and right to vote, unless pardoned and restored to citizenship. the case came up before the general term of the supreme court, on writ of error. it appeared that on the trial evidence was offered, that before the prisoner was discharged from the state prison, he and his father applied to the governor for a pardon, and that the governor replied in writing, that on the ground of the prisoner's being a minor at the time of his discharge from prison, a pardon would not be necessary, and that he would be entitled to all the rights of a citizen on his coming of age. they also applied to two respectable counselors of the supreme court, and they confirmed the governor's opinion. all this evidence was rejected. it appeared that the prisoner was seventeen years old when convicted of the felony, and was nineteen when discharged from prison. the rejection of the evidence was approved by the supreme court on the ground that the prisoner was bound to know the law, and was presumed to do so, and his conviction was accordingly confirmed. here a young man, innocent so far as his conduct in this case was involved, was condemned for acting in good faith upon the advice (mistaken advice it may be conceded), of one governor and two lawyers to whom he applied for information as to his rights; and this condemnation has proceeded upon the assumed ground, conceded to be false in fact, that he knew the advice given to him was wrong. on this judicial fiction the young man, in the name of justice, is sent to prison, punished for a mere mistake, and a mistake made in pursuance of such advice. it can not be, consistently with the radical principles of criminal law to which i have referred, and the numerous authorities which i have quoted, that this man was guilty of a crime, that his mistake was a crime, and i think the judges who pronounced his condemnation, upon their own principles, better than their victim, deserved the punishment which they inflicted. the condemnation of miss anthony, her good faith being conceded, would do no less violence to any fair administration of justice. one other matter will close what i have to say. miss anthony believed, and was advised that she had a right to vote. she may also have been advised, as was clearly the fact, that the question as to her right could not be brought before the courts for trial, without her voting or offering to vote, and if either was criminal, the one was as much so as the other. therefore she stands now arraigned as a criminal, for taking the only step by which it was possible to bring the great constitutional question as to her right, before the tribunals of the country for adjudication. if for thus acting, in the most perfect good faith, with motives as pure and impulses as noble as any which can find place in your honor's breast in the administration of justice, she is by the laws of her country to be condemned a a criminal. her condemnation, however, under such circumstances, would only add another most weighty reason to those which i have already advanced, to show that women need the aid of the ballot for their protection. upon the remaining question, of the good faith of the defendant, it is not necessary for me to speak. that she acted in the most perfect good faith stands conceded. thanking your honor for the great patience with which you have listened to my too extended remarks, i submit the legal questions which the case involves for your honor's consideration. district attorney crowley followed judge selden with an argument two hours in length. he stated that, in his view, the case simply presented questions of law, and that his argument, therefore, would be addressed strictly to the court, leaving the court to give such instructions to the jury upon the facts as he might deem proper. he contended that the right to vote was not included in "privileges and immunities," and was only given by state laws and state constitutions. he concluded his argument by saying that an honest mistake of the facts may sometimes excuse, but a mistake of the law never. the court addressed the jury as follows: _gentlemen of the jury:_ i have given this case such consideration as i have been able to, and, that there might be no misapprehension about my views, i have made a brief statement in writing. the defendant is indicted under the act of congress of , for having voted for representatives in congress in november, . among other things, that act makes it an offense for any person knowingly to vote for such representatives without having a right to vote. it is charged that the defendant thus voted, she not having a right to vote because she is a woman. the defendant insists that she has a right to vote; that the provision of the constitution of this state limiting the right to vote to persons of the male sex is in violation of the xiv. amendment of the constitution of the united states, and is void. the xiii., xiv., and xv. amendments were designed mainly for the protection of the newly emancipated negroes, but full effect must nevertheless be given to the language employed. the xiii. amendment provided that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should longer exist in the united states. if honestly received and fairly applied, this provision would have been enough to guard the rights of the colored race. in some states it was attempted to be evaded by enactments cruel and oppressive in their nature; as that colored persons were forbidden to appear in the towns except in a menial capacity; that they should reside on and cultivate the soil without being allowed to own it; that they were not permitted to give testimony in cases where a white man was a party. they were excluded from performing particular kinds of business, profitable and reputable, and they were denied the right of suffrage. to meet the difficulties arising from this state of things, the xiv. and xv. amendments were enacted. the xiv. amendment created and defined citizenship of the united states. it had long been contended, and had been held by many learned authorities, and had never been judicially decided to the contrary, that there was no such thing as a citizen of the united states, except as that condition arose from citizenship of some state. no mode existed, it was said, of obtaining a citizenship of the united states except by first becoming a citizen of some state. this question is now at rest. the xiv. amendment defines and declares who shall be citizens of the united states, to wit: "all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." the latter qualification was intended to exclude the children of foreign representatives and the like. with this qualification every person born in the united states or naturalized is declared to be a citizen of the united states, and of the state wherein he resides. after creating and defining citizenship of the united states, the amendment provides that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of a citizen of the united states. this clause is intended to be a protection, not to all our rights, but to our rights as citizens of the united states only; that is, the rights existing or belonging to that condition or capacity. (the words "or citizen of a state," used in the previous paragraph, are carefully omitted here.) in article , paragraph , of the constitution of the united states it had been already provided in this language, viz: "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the citizens in the several states." the rights of citizens of the states and of citizens of the united states are each guarded by these different provisions. that these rights were separate and distinct, was held in the slaughter-house cases recently decided by the united states supreme court at washington. the rights of citizens of the state, as such, are not under consideration in the xiv. amendment. they stand as they did before the adoption of the xiv. amendment, and are fully guaranteed by other provisions. the rights of citizens of the states have been the subject of judicial decision on more than one occasion. (corfield _agt._ coryell, wash. c. c. r., . ward _agt._ maryland, wall., . paul _agt._ virginia, wall., .) these are the fundamental privileges and immunities belonging of right to the citizens of all free governments, such as the right of life and liberty; the right to acquire and possess property, to transact business, to pursue happiness in his own manner, subject to such restraint as the government may adjudge to be necessary for the general good. in cromwell _agt._ nevada, wallace, , is found a statement of some of the rights of a citizen of the united states, viz: to come to the seat of the government to assert any claim he may have upon the government, to transact any business he may have with it; to seek its protection; to share its offices; to engage in administering its functions. he has the right of free access to its seaports through which all operations of foreign commerce are conducted, to the sub-treasuries, land offices, and courts of justice in the several states. another privilege of a citizen of the united states, says miller, justice, in the "slaughter-house" cases, is to demand the care and protection of the federal government over his life, liberty, and property when on the high seas or within the jurisdiction of a foreign government. the right to assemble and petition for a redress of grievances, the privilege of the writ of _habeas corpus_, he says, are rights of the citizen guaranteed by the federal constitution. the right of voting, or the privilege of voting, is a right or privilege arising under the constitution of the state, and not of the united states. the qualifications are different in the different states. citizenship, age, sex, residence, are variously required in the different states, or may be so. if the right belongs to any particular person, it is because such person is entitled to it by the laws of the state where he offers to exercise it, and not because of citizenship of the united states. if the state of new york should provide that no person should vote until he had reached the age of thirty-one years, or after he had reached the age of fifty, or that no person having gray hair, or who had not the use of all his limbs, should be entitled to vote, i do not see how it could be held to be a violation of any right derived or held under the constitution of the united states. we might say that such regulations were unjust, tyrannical, unfit for the regulation of an intelligent state; but if rights of a citizen are thereby violated, they are of that fundamental class derived from his position as a citizen of the state, and not those limited rights belonging to him as a citizen of the united states, and such was the decision in corfield _agt._ coryell, _supra_. the united states rights appertaining to this subject are those first under article , paragraph , of the united states constitution, which provides that electors of representatives in congress shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature, and second, under the xv. amendment, which provides that the right of a citizen of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. if the legislature of the state of new york should require a higher qualification in a voter for a representative in congress than is required for a voter for a member of assembly, this would, i conceive, be a violation of a right belonging to one as a citizen of the united states. that right is in relation to a federal subject or interest, and is guaranteed by the federal constitution. the inability of a state to abridge the right of voting on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, arises from a federal guaranty. its violation would be the denial of a federal right--that is, a right belonging to the claimant as a citizen of the united states. this right, however, exists by virtue of the xv. amendment. if the xv. amendment had contained the word "sex," the argument of the defendant would have been potent. she would have said, an attempt by a state to deny the right to vote because one is of a particular sex, is expressly prohibited by that amendment. the amendment, however, does not contain that word. it is limited to race, color, or previous condition of servitude. the legislature of the state of new york has seen fit to say, that the franchise of voting shall be limited to the male sex. in saying this there is, in my judgment, no violation of the letter or of the spirit of the xiv. or of the xv. amendment. this view is assumed in the second section of the xiv. amendment, which enacts that if the right to vote for federal officers is denied by any state to any of the male inhabitants of such state, except for crime, the basis of representation of such state shall be reduced in proportion specified. not only does this section assume that the right of male inhabitants to vote was the especial object of its protection, but it assumes and admits the right of a state, notwithstanding the existence of that clause under which the defendant claims to the contrary, to deny to classes or portions of the male inhabitants the right to vote which is allowed to other male inhabitants. the regulation of the suffrage is thereby conceded to the states as a state's right. the case of myra bradwell, decided at a recent term of the supreme court of the united states, sustains both the positions above put forth, viz: first, that the rights referred to in the xiv. amendment are those belonging to a person as a citizen of the united states and not as a citizen of a state; and second, that a right of the character here involved is not one connected with citizenship of the united states. mrs. bradwell made application to be admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor-at-law in the courts of illinois. her application was denied, and upon appeal to the supreme court of the united states, it was there held that to give jurisdiction under the xiv. amendment, the claim must be of a right pertaining to citizenship of the united states, and that the claim made by her did not come within that class of cases. mr. justice bradley and mr. justice field held that a woman was not entitled to a license to practice law. it does not appear that the other judges passed upon that question. the xiv. amendment gives no right to a woman to vote, and the voting by miss anthony was in violation of the law. if she believed she had a right to vote, and voted in reliance upon that belief, does that relieve her from the penalty? it is argued that the knowledge referred to in the act relates to her knowledge of the illegality of the act, and not to the act of voting; for it is said that she must know that she voted. two principles apply here: first, ignorance of the law excuses no one; second, every person is presumed to understand and to intend the necessary effects of his own acts. miss anthony knew that she was a woman, and that the constitution of this state prohibits her from voting. she intended to violate that provision--intended to test it, perhaps, but certainly intended to violate it. the necessary effect of her act was to violate it, and this she is presumed to have intended. there was no ignorance of any fact, but all the facts being known, she undertook to settle a principle in her own person. she takes the risk, and she can not escape the consequences. it is said, and authorities are cited to sustain the position, that there can be no crime unless there is a culpable intent; to render one criminally responsible a vicious will must be present. a. commits a trespass on the land of b., and b., thinking and believing that he has a right to shoot an intruder on his premises, kills a. on the spot. does b.'s misapprehension of his rights justify his act? would a judge be justified in charging the jury that if satisfied that b. supposed he had a right to shoot a he was justified, and they should find a verdict of not guilty? no judge would make such a charge. to constitute a crime, it is true that there must be a criminal intent, but it is equally true that knowledge of the facts of the case is always held to supply this intent. an intentional killing bears with it evidence of malice in law. whoever, without justifiable cause, intentionally kills his neighbor, is guilty of a crime. the principle is the same in the case before us, and in all criminal cases. the precise question now before me has been several times decided, viz: that one illegally voting was bound and was assumed to know the law, and that a belief that he had a right to vote gave no defense, if there was no mistake of fact. (hamilton against the people, th of barbour, p. ; state against boyet, th of iredell, p. ; state against hart, th jones, ; mcguire against state, humphrey, ; th of iowa reports, .) no system of criminal jurisprudence can be sustained upon any other principle. assuming that miss anthony believed she had a right to vote, that fact constitutes no defense if in truth she had not the right. she voluntarily gave a vote which was illegal, and thus is subject to the penalty of the law. the judge directed the jury to find a verdict of guilty. judge selden: i submit that on the view which your honor has taken, that the right to vote and the regulation of it is solely a state matter. that this whole law is out of the jurisdiction of the united states courts and of congress. the whole law upon that basis, as i understand it, is not within the constitutional power of the general government, but is one which applies to the states. i suppose that it is for the jury to determine whether the defendant is guilty of a crime or not. and i therefore ask your honor to submit to the jury these propositions: first.--if the defendant, at the time of voting, believed that she had a right to vote and voted in good faith in that belief, she is not guilty of the offense charged. second.--in determining the question whether she did or did not believe that she had a right to vote, the jury may take into consideration, as bearing upon that question, the advice which she received from the counsel to whom she applied. third.--that they may also take into consideration, as bearing upon the same question, the fact that the inspectors considered the question and came to the conclusion that she had a right to vote. fourth.--that the jury have a right to find a general verdict of guilty or not guilty as they shall believe that she has or has not committed the offense described in the statute. a professional friend sitting by has made this suggestion which i take leave to avail myself of as bearing upon this question: "the court has listened for many hours to an argument in order to decide whether the defendant has a right to vote. the arguments show the same question has engaged the best minds of the country as an open question. can it be possible that the defendant is to be convicted for acting upon such advice as she could obtain while the question is an open and undecided one?" the court.--you have made a much better argument than that, sir. judge selden.--as long as it is an open question, i submit that she has not been guilty of an offense. at all events, it is for the jury. the court.--i can not charge these propositions of course. the question, gentlemen of the jury, in the form it finally takes, is wholly a question or questions of law, and i have decided as a question of law, in the first place, that under the xiv. amendment, which miss anthony claims protects her, she was not protected in a right to vote. and i have decided also that her belief and the advice which she took do not protect her in the act which she committed. if i am right in this, the result must be a verdict on your part of guilty, and i therefore direct that you find a verdict of guilty. judge selden.--that is a direction no court has power to make in a criminal case. the court.--take the verdict, mr. clerk. the clerk.--gentlemen of the jury, hearken to your verdict as the court has recorded it. you say you find the defendant guilty of the offense whereof she stands indicted, and so say you all? judge selden.--i don't know whether an exception is available, but i certainly must except to the refusal of the court to submit those propositions, and especially to the direction of the court that the jury should find a verdict of guilty. i claim that it is a power that is not given to any court in a criminal case. will the clerk poll the jury? the court.--no. gentlemen of the jury, you are discharged. on the next day a motion for a new trial was made and argued by judge selden, as follows: _may it please the court:_--the trial of this case commenced with a question of very great magnitude--whether by the constitution of the united states the right of suffrage was secured to female equally with male citizens. it is likely to close with a question of much greater magnitude--whether the right of trial by jury is absolutely secured by the federal constitution to persons charged with crime before the federal courts. i assume, without attempting to produce any authority on the subject, that this court has power to grant to the defendant a new trial in case it should appear that in the haste and in the lack of opportunity for examination which necessarily attend a jury trial, any material error should have been committed prejudicial to the defendant, as otherwise no means whatever are provided by the law for the correction of such errors. the defendant was indicted under the nineteenth section of the act of congress of may , , entitled, "an act to enforce the right of citizens of the united states to vote in the several states of this union, and for other purposes," and was charged with having knowingly voted, without having a lawful right to vote, at the congressional election in the eighth ward of the city of rochester, in november last; the only ground of illegality being that the defendant was a woman. the provisions of the act of congress, so far as they bear upon the present case, are as follows: section . if at any election for representative or delegate in the congress of the united states, any person shall knowingly personate and vote, or attempt to vote, in the name of any other person, whether living, dead, or fictitious, or vote more than once at the same election for any candidate for the same office, or vote at a place where he may not be lawfully entitled to vote, or vote without having a lawful right to vote, ... every such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and shall for such crime be liable to prosecution in any court of the united states, of competent jurisdiction, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $ or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both, in the discretion of the court, and shall pay the costs of prosecution. it appeared on the trial that before voting the defendant called upon a respectable lawyer, and asked his opinion whether she had a right to vote, and he advised her that she had such right, and the lawyer was examined as a witness in her behalf, and testified that he gave her such advice, and that he gave it in good faith, believing that she had such right. it also appeared that when she offered to vote, the question whether as a woman she had a right to vote, was raised by the inspectors, and considered by them in her presence, and they decided that she had a right to vote, and received her vote accordingly. it was also shown on the part of the government, that on the examination of the defendant before the commissioner on whose warrant she was arrested, she stated that she should have voted, if allowed to vote, without reference to the advice she had received from the attorney whose opinion she had asked; that she was not influenced to vote by that opinion; that she had before determined to offer her vote, and had no doubt about her right to vote. at the close of the testimony the defendant's counsel proceeded to address the jury, and stated that he desired to present for consideration three propositions, two of law and one of fact: first.--that the defendant had a lawful right to vote. second.--that whether she had a lawful right to vote or not, if she honestly believed that she had that right and voted in good faith in that belief, she was guilty of no crime. third.--that when she gave her vote she gave it in good faith, believing that it was her right to do so. that the first two propositions presented questions for the court to decide, and the last for the jury. when the counsel had proceeded thus far, the court suggested that the counsel had better discuss in the first place the questions of law; which the counsel proceeded to do, and having discussed the two legal questions at length, asked leave then to say a few words to the jury on the question of fact. the court then said to the counsel that he thought that had better be left until the views of the court upon the legal question should be made known. the district attorney thereupon addressed the court at length upon the legal questions, and at the close of his argument the court delivered an opinion adverse to the positions of the defendant's counsel upon both of the legal questions presented, holding that the defendant was not entitled to vote; and that if she voted in good faith in the belief in fact that she had a right to vote, it would constitute no defense--the grounds of the decision on the last point being that she was bound to know that by law she was not a legal voter, and that even if she voted in good faith in the contrary belief, it constituted no defense to the crime with which she was charged. the decision of the court upon these questions was read from a written document. at the close of the reading, the court said that the decision of these questions disposed of the case and left no question of fact for the jury, and that he should therefore direct the jury to find a verdict of guilty, and proceeded to say to the jury that the decision of the court had disposed of all there was in the case, and that he directed them to find a verdict of guilty, and he instructed the clerk to enter a verdict of guilty. at this point, before any entry had been made by the clerk, the defendant's counsel asked the court to submit the case to the jury, and to give to the jury the following several instructions: [here judge selden repeated the instructions. see page .] the court declined to submit the case to the jury upon any question whatever, and directed them to render a verdict of guilty against the defendant. the defendant's counsel excepted to the decision of the court upon the legal questions--to its refusal to submit the case to the jury; to its refusal to give the instructions asked; and to its direction to the jury to find a verdict of guilty against the defendant--the counsel insisting that it was a direction which no court had a right to give in a criminal case. the court then instructed the clerk to take the verdict, and the clerk said, "gentlemen of the jury, hearken to the verdict as the court hath recorded it. you say you find the defendant guilty of the offense charged. so say you all." no response whatever was made by the jury, either by word or sign. they had not consulted together in their seats or otherwise. none of them had spoken a word. nor had they been asked whether they had or had not agreed upon a verdict. the defendant's counsel then asked that the clerk be requested to poll the jury. the court said, "that can not be allowed. gentlemen of the jury, you are discharged," and the jurors left the box. no juror spoke a word during the trial, from the time they were impaneled to the time of their discharge. now i respectfully submit, that in these proceedings the defendant has been substantially denied her constitutional right of trial by jury. the jurors composing the panel have been merely silent spectators of the conviction of the defendant by the court. they have had no more share in her trial and conviction than any other twelve members of the jury summoned to attend this court, or any twelve spectators who have sat by during the trial. if such course is allowable in this case, it must be equally allowable in all criminal cases, whether the charge be for treason, murder, or any minor grade of offense which can come under the jurisdiction of a united states court; and as i understand it, if correct, substantially abolishes the right of trial by jury. it certainly does so in all those cases where the judge shall be of the opinion that the facts which he may regard as clearly proved, lead necessarily to the guilt of the defendant. of course by refusing to submit any question to the jury, the judge refuses to allow counsel to address the jury in the defendant's behalf. the constitutional provisions which i insist are violated by this proceeding are the following: constitution of the united states, article , section . the trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury. amendments to constitution, article . in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law; and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. in accordance with these provisions, i insist that in every criminal case, where the party has pleaded not guilty, whether upon the trial the guilt of such party appears to the judge to be clear or not, the response to the question, guilty or not guilty, must come from the jury, must be their voluntary act, and can not be imposed upon them by the court. no opportunity has been given me to consult precedents on this subject, but a friend has referred me to an authority strongly supporting my position, from which i will quote, though i deem a reference to precedents unnecessary to sustain the plain declarations of the constitution: i refer to the case of the state _vs._ shule ( iredell, ), the substance of which is stated in graham & waterman on new trials, page . before stating that case i quote from the text of g. & w. the verdict is to be the result of the deliberation of the jury upon all the evidence in the case. the court has no right to anticipate the verdict by an expression of opinion calculated so to influence the jury as to take from them their independence of action. in the state _vs._ shule two defendants were indicted for an affray. the jury remaining out a considerable time, at the request of the prosecuting attorney they were sent for by the court. the court then charged them that although jones (the other defendant) had first commenced a battery on shule, yet, if the jury believed the evidence, the defendant, shule, was also guilty. thereupon, one of the jurors remarked that they had agreed to convict jones, but were about to acquit shule. the court then charged the jury again, and told them that they could retire if they thought proper to do so. the jury consulted together a few minutes in the court room. the prosecuting attorney directed the clerk to enter a verdict of guilty as to both defendants. when the clerk had entered the verdict, the jury were asked to attend to it, as it was about to be read by the clerk. the clerk then read the verdict in the hearing of the jury. the jury, upon being requested, if any of them disagreed to the verdict to make it known by a nod, seemed to express their unanimous assent; and no juror expressed his dissent. in reviewing the case the court say: the error complained of is, that before the jury had announced their verdict, and in fact after they had intimated an intention to acquit the defendant, shule, the court allowed the clerk to be directed to enter a verdict finding him guilty, and after the verdict was so entered, allowing the jury to be asked if any of them disagreed to the verdict which had been recorded by the clerk. no juror expressed his dissent; but by a nod which appeared to be made by each juror, expressed their unanimous assent. the innovation is, that instead of permitting the jury to give their verdict, the court allows a verdict to be entered for them, such as it is to be presumed the court thinks they ought to render, and then they are asked if any of them disagree to it; thus making a verdict for them, unless they are bold enough to stand out against a plain intimation of the opinion of the court. a _venire de novo_ was ordered. the principal difference between this case and the one under consideration is, that in the latter the court directed the clerk to enter the verdict, and in the former he was allowed to do so, and in the latter the court denied liberty to the jurors to dissent from the verdict, and in the former the court allowed such dissent. with what jealous care the right of trial by jury in criminal cases has been guarded by every english-speaking people from the days of king john, indeed from the days of king alfred, is known to every lawyer and to every intelligent layman, and it does not seem to me that such a limitation of that right as is presented by the proceedings in this case, can be reconciled either with constitutional provisions, with the practice of courts, with public sentiment on the subject, or with safety in the administration of justice. how the question would be regarded by the highest court of this state may fairly be gathered from its decision in the case of cancemi, n. y., , where, on a trial for murder, one juror, some time after the trial commenced, being necessarily withdrawn, a stipulation was entered into, signed by the district attorney, and by the defendant and his council, to the effect that the trial should proceed before the remaining eleven jurors, and that their verdict should have the same effect as the verdict of a full panel would have. a verdict of guilty having been rendered by the eleven jurors, was set aside and a new trial ordered by the court of appeals, on the ground that the defendant could not, even by his own consent, be lawfully tried by a less number of jurors than twelve. it would seem to follow that he could not waive the entire panel, and effectually consent to be tried by the court alone, and still less could the court, against his protest, assume the duties of the jury, and effectually pronounce the verdict of guilty or not guilty in their stead. it will doubtless be insisted that there was no disputed question of fact upon which the jury were required to pass. in regard to that, i insist that however clear and conclusive the proof of the facts might appear to be, the response to the question, guilty or not guilty, must under the constitution come from the jury and could not be supplied by the judgment of the court, unless, indeed, the jury should see fit to render a special verdict, which they always may, but can never be required to do. it was the province of the court to instruct the jury as to the law, and to point out to them how clearly the law, on its view of the established facts, made out the offense; but it has no authority to instruct them positively on any question of fact, or to order them to find any particular verdict. that must be their spontaneous work. but there was a question of fact, which constituted the very essence of the offense, and one on which the jury were not only entitled to exercise, but were in duty bound to exercise, their independent judgment. that question of fact was, whether the defendant, at the time when she voted, knew that she had not a right to vote. the statute makes this knowledge the very gist of the offense, without the existence of which, in the mind of the voter at the time of voting, there is no crime. there is none by the statute and none in morals. the existence of this knowledge, in the mind of the voter at the time of voting, is under the statute, necessarily a fact and nothing but a fact, and one which the jury was bound to find as a fact, before they could, without violating the statute, find the defendant guilty. the ruling which took that question away from the jury, on the ground that it was a question of law and not of fact, and which declared that as a question of law, the knowledge existed, was, i respectfully submit, a most palpable error, both in law and justice. it was an error in law, because its effect was to deny any force whatever to the most important word which the statute uses in defining the offense--the word "knowingly." it was also unjust, because it makes the law declare a known falsehood as a truth, and then by force of that judicial falsehood condemns the defendant to such punishment as she could only lawfully be subject to, if the falsehood were a truth. i admit that it is an established legal maxim that every person (judicial officers excepted) is bound, and must be presumed, to know the law. the soundness of this maxim, in all the cases to which it can properly be applied, i have no desire to question; but it has no applicability whatever to this case. it applies in every case where a party does an act which the law pronounces criminal, whether the party knows or does not know that the law has made the act a crime. that maxim would have applied to this case, if the defendant had voted, knowing that she had no legal right to vote; without knowing that the law had made the act of knowingly voting without a right, a crime. in that case she would have done the act which the law made a crime, and could not have shielded herself from the penalty by pleading ignorance of the law. but in the present case the defendant has not done the act which the law pronounces a crime. the law has not made the act of voting without a lawful right to vote, a crime, where it is done by mistake, and in the belief by the party voting that he has the lawful right to vote. the crime consists in voting "knowingly," without lawful right. unless the knowledge exists in fact, the very gist of the offense is wanting. to hold that the law presumes conclusively that such knowledge exists in all cases where the legal right is wanting, and to reject all evidence to the contrary, or to deny to such evidence any effect, as has been done on this trial, is to strike the word "knowingly" out of the statute--and to condemn the defendant on the legal fiction that she was acting in bad faith, it being all the while conceded that she was in fact acting in good faith. i admit that there are precedents to sustain such ruling, but they can not be reconciled with the fundamental principles of criminal law, nor with the most ordinary rules of justice. such a ruling can not but shock the moral sense of all right-minded, unprejudiced men. no doubt the assumption by the defendant of a belief of her right to vote might be made use of by her as a mere cover to secure the privilege of giving a known illegal vote, and of course that false assumption would constitute no defense to the charge of illegal voting. if the defendant had dressed herself in male attire, and had voted as john anthony, instead of susan, she would not be able to protect herself against a charge of voting with a knowledge that she had no right to vote, by asserting her belief that she had a right to vote as a woman. the artifice would no doubt effectually overthrow the assertion of good faith. no such question, however, is made here. the decision of which i complain concedes that the defendant voted in good faith, in the most implicit belief that she had a right to vote, and condemns her on the strength of the legal fiction, conceded to be in fact a mere fiction, that she knew the contrary. but if the facts admitted of a doubt of the defendant's good faith, that was a question for the jury, and it was clear error for the court to assume the decision of it. again. the denial of the right to poll the jury was most clearly an error. under the provisions of the constitution which have been cited, the defendant could only be convicted on the verdict of a jury. the case of cancemi shows that such jury must consist of twelve men; and it will not be claimed that anything less than the unanimous voice of the jury can be received as their verdict. how then could the defendant be lawfully deprived of the right to ask every juror if the verdict had his assent? i believe this is a right which was never before denied to a party against whom a verdict was rendered in any case, either civil or criminal. the following cases show, and many others might be cited to the same effect, that the right to poll the jury is an absolute right in all cases, civil and criminal. (the people _vs._ perkins, wend., ; jackson _vs._ hawks, wend., ; fox _vs._ smith, cowen, .) the ground on which the right of the defendant to vote has been denied, is, as i understood the decision of the court, that the rights of the citizens of the state as such were not under consideration in the xiv. amendment; that they stand as they did before that amendment.... the right of voting or the privilege of voting is a right or privilege arising under the constitution of the state, and not of the united states. if the right belongs to any particular person, it is because such person is entitled to it as a citizen of the state where he offers to exercise it, and not because of citizenship of the united states.... the regulation of the suffrage is conceded to the states as a state right. if this position be correct, which i am not now disposed to question, i respectfully insist that the congress of the united states had no power to pass the act in question; that by doing so it has attempted to usurp the rights of states, and that all proceedings under the act are void. i claim therefore that the defendant is entitled to a new trial. first--because she has been denied her right of trial by jury. second--because she has been denied the right to ask the jury severally whether they assented to the verdict which the court had recorded for them. third--because the court erroneously held, that the defendant had not a lawful right to vote. fourth--because the court erroneously held, that if the defendant, when she voted, did so in good faith, believing that she had a right to vote, that fact constituted no defense. fifth--because the court erroneously held that the question, whether the defendant at the time of voting knew that she had not a right to vote, was a question of law to be decided by the court, and not a question of fact to be decided by the jury. sixth--because the court erred in holding that it was a presumption of law that the defendant knew that she was not a legal voter, although in fact she had not that knowledge. seventh--because congress had no constitutional right to pass the act under which the defendant was indicted, and the act and all proceedings under it are void. sir, so far as my information in regard to legal proceedings extends, this is the only court in any country where trial by jury exists, in which the decisions that are made in the haste and sometimes confusion of such trials, are not subject to review before any other tribunal. i believe that to the decisions of this court, in criminal cases, no review is allowed, except in the same court in the informal way in which i now ask your honor to review the decisions made on this trial. this is therefore the court of last resort, and i hope your honor will give to these, as they appear to me, grave questions, such careful and deliberate consideration as is due to them from such final tribunal. if a new trial shall be denied to the defendant, it will be no consolation to her to be dismissed with a slight penalty, leaving the stigma resting upon her name, of conviction for an offense of which she claims to be, and i believe is, an innocent as the purest of the millions of male voters who voted at the same election, are innocent of crime in so voting. if she is in fact guilty of the crime with which she stands charged, and of which she has been convicted by the court, she deserves the utmost penalty which the court under the law has power to impose; if she is not guilty she should be acquitted, and not declared upon the records of this high court guilty of a crime she never committed. the court, after listening to an argument from the district attorney, denied the motion for a new trial. the court: the prisoner will stand up. has the prisoner anything to say why sentence shall not be pronounced? miss anthony: yes, your honor, i have many things to say; for in your ordered verdict of guilty, you have trampled underfoot every vital principle of our government. my natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, are all alike ignored. robbed of the fundamental privilege of citizenship, i am degraded from the status of a citizen to that of a subject; and not only myself individually, but all of my sex, are, by your honor's verdict, doomed to political subjection under this so-called republican government. judge hunt: the court can not listen to a rehearsal of arguments the prisoner's counsel has already consumed three hours in presenting. miss anthony: may it please your honor, i am not arguing the question, but simply stating the reasons why sentence can not, in justice, be pronounced against me. your denial of my citizen's right to vote is the denial of my right of consent as one of the governed, the denial of my right of representation as one of the taxed, the denial of my right to a trial by a jury of my peers as an offender against law, therefore, the denial of my sacred rights to life, liberty, property, and-- judge hunt: the court can not allow the prisoner to go on. miss anthony: but your honor will not deny me this one and only poor privilege of protest against this high-handed outrage upon my citizen's rights. may it please the court to remember that since the day of my arrest last november, this is the first time that either myself or any person of my disfranchised class has been allowed a word of defense before judge or jury-- judge hunt: the prisoner must sit down; the court can not allow it. miss anthony: all my prosecutors, from the th ward corner grocery politician, who entered the complaint, to the united states marshal, commissioner, district attorney, district judge, your honor on the bench, not one is my peer, but each and all are my political sovereigns; and had your honor submitted my case to the jury, as was clearly your duty, even then i should have had just cause of protest, for not one of those men was my peer; but, native or foreign, white or black, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, awake or asleep, sober or drunk, each and every man of them was my political superior; hence, in no sense, my peer. even, under such circumstances, a commoner of england, tried before a jury of lords, would have far less cause to complain than should i, a woman, tried before a jury of men. even my counsel, the hon. henry r. selden, who has argued my cause so ably, so earnestly, so unanswerably before your honor, is my political sovereign. precisely as no disfranchised person is entitled to sit upon a jury, and no woman is entitled to the franchise, so, none but a regularly admitted lawyer is allowed to practice in the courts, and no woman can gain admission to the bar--hence, jury, judge, counsel, must all be of the superior class. judge hunt: the court must insist--the prisoner has been tried according to the established forms of law. miss anthony: yes, your honor, but by forms of law all made by men, interpreted by men, administered by men, in favor of men, and against women; and hence, your honor's ordered verdict of guilty, against a united states citizen for the exercise of "that citizen's right to vote," simply because that citizen was a woman and not a man. but, yesterday, the same man-made forms of law declared it a crime punishable with $ , fine and six months' imprisonment, for you, or me, or any of us, to give a cup of cold water, a crust of bread, or a night's shelter to a panting fugitive as he was tracking his way to canada. and every man or woman in whose veins coursed a drop of human sympathy violated that wicked law, reckless of consequences, and was justified in so doing. as then the slaves who got their freedom must take it over, or under, or through the unjust forms of law, precisely so now must women, to get their right to a voice in this government, take it; and i have taken mine, and mean to take it at every possible opportunity. judge hunt: the court orders the prisoner to sit down. it will not allow another word. miss anthony: when i was brought before your honor for trial, i hoped for a broad and liberal interpretation of the constitution and its recent amendments, that should declare all united states citizens under its protecting ægis--that should declare equality of rights the national guarantee to all persons born or naturalized in the united states. but failing to get this justice--failing, even, to get a trial by a jury _not_ of my peers--i ask not leniency at your hands--but rather the full rigors of the law. judge hunt: the court must insist-- (here the prisoner sat down.) judge hunt: the prisoner will stand up. (here miss anthony arose again.) the sentence of the court is that you pay a fine of one hundred dollars and the costs of the prosecution. miss anthony: may it please your honor, i shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty. all the stock in trade i possess is a $ , debt, incurred by publishing my paper--_the revolution_--four years ago, the sole object of which was to educate all women to do precisely as i have done, rebel against your man-made, unjust, unconstitutional forms of law, that tax, fine, imprison, and hang women, while they deny them the right of representation in the government; and i shall work on with might and main to pay every dollar of that honest debt, but not a penny shall go to this unjust claim. and i shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old revolutionary maxim, that "resistance to tyranny is obedience to god." judge hunt: madam, the court will not order you committed until the fine is paid. immediately after the verdict, miss anthony, her counsel, her friends, and the jury, passed out together talking over the case. said judge selden: "the war has abolished something besides slavery, it has abolished jury trial. the decision of justice hunt was most iniquitous. he had as much right to order me hung to the nearest tree, as to take the case from the jury and render the decision he did," and he bowed his head with shame at this prostitution of legal power. the jury with freedom now to use their tongues, when too late, also canvassed the trial and the injury done. "the verdict of guilty would not have been mine, could i have spoken," said one, "nor should i have been alone. there were others who thought as i did, but we could not speak." the decision of judge hunt was severely criticised.[ ] even among those who believed women had no right to vote, and who did not hesitate to say that miss anthony's punishment was inadequate, there was a wide questioning as to his legal right to take the case from the jury and enter the verdict of guilty, without permitting them in any way to indicate their opinion. it was deemed a tyrannical and arrogant assumption on the part of judge hunt, and one which endangered the rights of the whole people. it was pertinently asked, "if this may be done in one instance, why not in all?" and "if the courts may thus arbitrarily direct what verdicts shall be rendered, what becomes of the right to trial by an impartial jury, which the constitution guarantees to all persons alike, whether male or female?" these questions were of the gravest importance, and the more so because from this court there was no appeal. to deprive miss anthony of the benefit of jury trial seemed, however, in unison with every step taken in the cases of women under the xiv. amendment. the design of the government was evidently to crush at once, and arbitrarily, all efforts of women for equality of rights with men. the principles of law and justice involved did not, however, apply to women alone, but to all persons alike. where the rights of the most insignificant or humble are outraged those of all are endangered. the decisions in these cases are the more remarkable since they were based on the most ultra state rights doctrine, and yet were rendered in every instance by members of the republican party which held its position by reason of its recent success against the extreme demands of state sovereignty. the right of women to vote under national protection was but the logical result of the political guarantees of the war, and republican leaders should have been anxious to clinch their war record by legislative and judicial decisions. but a more thorough recognition of the state rights theory never was presented than in the proceedings of this judge of the supreme court in his verdict against miss anthony, nor a more absolute exhibition of national power in state affairs than his decision in the case of the inspectors, who were state officers, working under state authority and state laws, and not under authority derived from the constitution of the united states, but who were tried by an united states judge, and punished for what was held as a crime against the state of new york--a monstrous usurpation of national authority! each of these trials was, in its way, an example of authority overriding law, and an evidence of the danger to the liberties of the people from a practically irresponsible judiciary. men need to feel their indebtedness and their responsibility to those who place them in position; first, in order to preserve them from despotism; and, second, that they may be removed when infirmity demands the substitution of a competent person in their place. although for a period little has been said in regard to the usurpations of the judiciary, a time will come in the history of the country when the course of justice hunt will be recalled as a dangerous precedent. it was more than a year after miss anthony's trial was completed before her case received notice in the chief legal journal of the state of new york. at that time, in an article entitled, "can a judge direct a verdict of guilty?"[ ] judge hunt's course in refusing to poll the jury was reviewed and condemned as contrary to justice and law. to mrs. gage's review of this article, the _law journal_ said, "if mrs. gage and miss anthony are not pleased with our laws, they had better emigrate." this would make real, in case of woman, edward everett hale's story of the "man without a country." women are, by this advice, assumed to have no country; to be living in the united states upon sufferance, a species of useful aliens, which possesses no rights that man is bound to respect, which are not to be permitted to vote, nor even to protest when the dearest rights are trampled upon. while admitting that justice hunt usurped power in taking the case from the jury, the albany _law journal_ expressed a desire that it should have gone to the jury, not on the ground of legal right, but on the ground that the jury would have brought in a verdict of guilty. but had the case been allowed to go to the jury, no verdict of guilty would have been rendered. the _jury_ did not believe the defendant guilty, but they were not permitted to give their opinion. their opinions counted for nothing; they were wronged as well as miss anthony. it was said of the infamous lord jeffries, that when pre-determined upon a conviction he always wore a red cap. in such cases juries were useless appendages to his court. justice hunt, through this trial, wore an invisible red cap which only came into view at its close. the effect of miss anthony's prosecution, conviction, and sentence, was in many ways advantageous to the cause of freedom. her trial served to awaken thought, promote discussion, and compel an investigation of the principles of government. the argument of judge selden, clearly proving woman's constitutional right to vote, published[ ] in all the leading papers, arrested the attention of legal minds as no popular discussions had done. thus the question of the abstract rights of each individual, their civil and political rights under state and national constitutions, were widely discussed. and when the verdict, contrary to law, was rendered by the judge, and the jury dismissed without having been permitted to utter a word, the whole question of woman's rights and wrongs was brought into new prominence through this infringement of the sacred right of jury trial. a _nolle prosequi_ was entered for the women who voted with miss anthony. immediately after the decision in her case, the trial of the inspectors took place before the same court. this was in reality a continuation of the same question--a citizen's right to vote--and like that of miss anthony's was a legal farce, the decision in this case evidently having also been pre-determined. the indictment stated that: beverly w. jones, edwin t. marsh, and william b. hall, inspectors of election in and for said first election district of said eight ward of said city of rochester, etc., did then and there knowingly and willfully register as a voter of said district, one susan b. anthony, she, said susan b. anthony, then and there not being entitled to be registered as a voter of said district in that she, said susan b. anthony was then and there a person of the female sex, contrary to the form of the statute of the united states of america in such case made and provided, and against the peace of the united states of america and their dignity. although the above indictment may have been legal in form, it clearly proved the inadequacy of man alone to frame just laws, holding, as it did, susan b. anthony to be "then and there a person of the female sex, contrary to the form of the statutes of the united states of america," etc. witnesses were first called on behalf of the united states; during whose examination it was again conceded that the women named in the indictment were women on the th day of november, , thus again clearly showing the animus of these trials to be against sex--making sex a crime in the eye of united states laws. while the right to testify in her own behalf was denied to miss anthony it was granted to the inspectors of election. beverly w. jones, and each of the other defendants, was duly sworn as a witness in his own behalf, and susan b. anthony was called as a witness in behalf of the defendants. miss anthony: i would like to know if the testimony of a person who has been convicted of a crime can be taken? the court: they call you as a witness, madam. the witness, having been duly affirmed, testified as follows: _examined by_ mr. van voorhis: _q._ miss anthony, i want you to state what occurred at the board of registry, when your name was registered? _a._ that would be very tedious, for it was full an hour. _q._ state generally what was done, or what occupied that hour's time? objected to. _q._ well, was the question of your right to be registered a subject of discussion there? _a._ it was. _q._ by and between whom? _a._ between the supervisors, the inspectors, and myself. _q._ state, if you please, what occurred when you presented yourself at the polls on election day? _a._ mr. hall decidedly objected-- mr. crowley: i submit to the court that unless the counsel expects to change the version given by the other witnesses, it is not necessary to take up time. the court: as a matter of discretion, i don't see how it will be any benefit. it was fully related by the others, and doubtless correctly. mr. crowley: it is not disputed. the witness: i would like to say, if i might be allowed by the court, that the general impression that i swore i was a male citizen, is an erroneous one. mr. van voorhis: you took the two oaths there, did you? _a._ yes, sir. the court: you presented yourself as a female, claiming that you had a right to vote? _a._ i presented myself not as a female at all, sir; i presented myself as a citizen of the united states. i was called to the united states ballot-box by the xiv. amendment, not as a female, but as a citizen, and i went there. miss anthony's emphatic reply and intimation that, although a condemned criminal for having voted, she still believed in her citizenship as securing that right to her, closed the lips of the court, and she was summarily dismissed from the witness-box, and the case rested. mr. van voorhis addressed the court at some length, submitting that there was no ground whatever to charge these defendants (the inspectors) with any criminal offense, . because the women who voted were legal voters. . because they were challenged and took the oaths which the statute requires of electors, and the inspectors had no right, after such oath, to reject their votes. . because no malice is shown. whether the women were entitled to have their names registered and to vote, or not, the defendants believed they had such right, and acted in good faith, according to their best judgment, in allowing the registry of their names--and in receiving their votes--and whether they decided right or wrong in point of law, they are not guilty of any criminal offense. these points were amplified by the counsel at some length, who closed by saying, "the defendants should be discharged by the court." mr. crowley then rose to make his argument, when the court said: the court: i don't think it is necessary for you to spend time in argument, mr. crowley. i think upon the last authority cited by the counsel there is no defense in this case. it is entirely clear that where there is a distinct judicial act, the party performing the judicial act is not responsible, civilly or criminally, unless corruption is proven, and in many cases when corruption is not proven. but where the act is not judicial in its character--where there is no discretion--then there is no legal protection. that is the law as laid down in the authority last quoted, and the authority quoted by judge selden in his opinion. it is undoubtedly good law. they hold expressly in that case that the inspectors are administrative officers, and not judicial officers. now, this is the point in the case, in my view of it: if there was any case in which a female was entitled to vote, then it would be a subject of examination. if a female over the age of twenty-one was entitled to vote, then it would be within the judicial authority of the inspectors to examine and determine whether in the given case the female came within that provision. if a married woman was entitled to vote, or if a married woman was not entitled to vote, and a single woman was entitled to vote, i think the inspectors would have a right in a case before them, to judge upon the evidence whether the person before them was married or single. if they decided erroneously, their judicial character would protect them. but under the law of this state, as it stands, under no circumstances is a woman entitled to vote. when miss anthony, mrs. leyden, and the other ladies came there and presented themselves for registry, and presented themselves to offer their votes, when it appeared that they were women--that they were of the female sex--the power and authority of the inspectors was at an end. when they act upon a subject upon which they have no discretion, i think there is no judicial authority. there is a large range of discretion in regard to the votes offered by the male sex. if a man offers his vote, there is a question whether he is a minor--whether he is twenty-one years of age. the subject is within their jurisdiction. if they decide correctly, it is well; if they decide erroneously, they act judicially, and are not liable. if the question is whether the person presenting his vote is a foreigner or naturalized, or whether he has been a resident of the state or district for a sufficient length of time, the subject is all within their jurisdiction, and they have a right to decide, and are protected if they decide wrong. but upon the view which has been taken of this question of the right of females to vote, by the united states court at washington, and by the adjudication which was made this morning, upon this subject there is no discretion, and therefore i must hold that it affords no protection. in that view of the case, is there anything to go to the jury? mr. van voorhis: yes, your honor. the court: what? mr. van voorhis: the jury must pass upon the whole case, and particularly as to whether any ballots were received for representative in congress, or candidates for representative in congress, and whether the defendants acted willfully and maliciously. the court: it is too plain to argue that. mr. van voorhis: there is nothing but circumstantial evidence. the court: your own witness testified to it. mr. van voorhis: but "knowingly," your honor, implies knowing that it is a vote for representative in congress. the court: that comes within the decision of the question of law. i don't see that there is anything to go to the jury. mr. van voorhis: i can not take your honor's view of the case, but of course must submit to it. we ask to go to the jury upon this whole case, and claim that in this case, as in all criminal cases, the right of trial by jury is made inviolate by the constitution--that the court has no power to take it from the jury. the court: i am going to submit it to the jury. _gentlemen of the jury:_ this case is now before you upon the evidence as it stands, and i shall leave the case with you to decide. mr. van voorhis: i claim the right to address the jury. the court: i don't think there is anything upon which you can legitimately address the jury. _gentlemen_, the defendants are charged with knowingly, willfully, and wrongfully receiving the votes of the ladies whose names are mentioned, in november last, in the city of rochester. they are charged in the same indictment with willfully and improperly registering those ladies. i decided in the case this morning, which many of you heard, probably, that under the law as it stands the ladies who offered their votes had no right to vote whatever. i repeat that decision, and i charge you that they had no right to offer their votes. they having no right to offer their votes, the inspectors of election ought not to receive them. the additional question exists in this case whether the fact that they acted as inspectors will relieve them from the charge in this case. you have heard the views which i have given upon that. i think they are administrative officers. i charge you that they are administrative and ministerial officers in this respect, and that they are not judicial officers whose action protects them, and that therefore they are liable in this case. but, instead of doing as i did in the case this morning--directing a verdict--i submit the case to you with these instructions, and you can decide it here, or you may go out. mr. van voorhis: i ask your honor to instruct the jury that if they find these inspectors acted honestly, in accordance with their best judgment, they should be acquitted. the court: i have expressly ruled to the contrary of that, gentlemen; that that makes no difference. mr. van voorhis: and that in this country--under the laws of this country--the court: that is enough--you need not argue it, mr. van voorhis. mr. van voorhis: then. i ask your honor to charge the jury that they must find the fact that these inspectors received the votes of these persons knowingly, and that such votes were votes for some person for member of congress, there being in the case no evidence that any man was voted for, for member of congress, and there being no evidence except that secret ballots were received; that the jury have a right to find for the defendants, if they choose. the court: i charge the jury that there is sufficient evidence to sustain the indictment upon this point. mr. van voorhis: i ask your honor also to charge the jury that there is sufficient evidence to sustain a verdict of not guilty. the court: i can not charge that. mr. van voorhis: then why should it go to the jury? the court: as a matter of form. mr. van voorhis: if the jury should find a verdict of not guilty, could your honor set it aside? the court: i will debate that with you when the occasion arises. gentlemen, you may deliberate here, or retire, as you choose. the jury retired for consultation, and the court took a recess. the court re-convened at o'clock, when the clerk called the jury and asked them if they had agreed upon their verdict. the foreman replied in the negative. the court: is there anything upon which i can give you any advice gentlemen, or any information? a juror: we stand eleven for conviction, and one opposed. the court: if that gentleman desires to ask any questions in respect to the questions of law, or the facts in the case, i will give him any information he desires. [no response from the jury.] it is quite proper, if any gentleman has doubts about anything, either as to the law or the facts, that he should state it to the court. counsel are both present, and i can give such information as is correct. a juror: i don't wish to ask any questions. the court: then you may retire again, gentlemen. the court will adjourn until to-morrow morning. the jury retired, and after an absence of about ten minutes returned into court. the clerk called the names of the jury. the clerk: gentlemen, have you agreed upon your verdict? the foreman: we have. the clerk: how say you, do you find the prisoners at the bar guilty of the offense whereof they stand indicted, or not guilty? the foreman: guilty. the clerk: hearken to your verdict as it stands recorded by the court. you say you find the prisoners at the bar guilty of the offense whereof they stand indicted, and so say you all. mr. van voorhis: i ask that the jury be polled. the clerk polled the jury, each juror answering in the affirmative to the question, "is this your verdict." on the next day, june , , the counsel for the defendants, mr. john van voorhis, made a motion to the court for a new trial in behalf of beverley w. jones, edwin t. marsh, and william b. hall. the following are the grounds of the motion: . the indictment contains no sufficient statement of any crime under the acts of congress, upon which it is framed. . the court has no jurisdiction of the subject matter of the offense. . it was an error, for which a new trial should be granted, to refuse the defendants the fundamental right to address the jury through their counsel. this is a right guaranteed by the united states constitution. (see article vi. of the amendments to the u.s. constitution. graham and waterman on new trials, pages , , and .) . the defendants were substantially deprived of the right of jury trial. the instructions of the court to the jury were imperative. they were equivalent to a direction to find a verdict of guilty. it was said by the court in the hearing of the jury, that the case was submitted to the jury "as a matter of form." the jury was not at liberty to exercise its own judgment upon the evidence, and without committing a gross discourtesy to the court, could render no verdict except that of guilty. . admitting that the defendants acted without malice, or any corrupt motive, and in accordance with their best judgments, and in perfect good faith, it was error to charge that that was no defense. . the defendants are admitted to have acted in accordance with their duty as defined by the laws of new york ( r. s. edmonds' ed., pp. - , sections , , , , , and ) as construed by the court of appeals. (people _vs._ pease, n. y. .) they are administrative officers and bound to regard only the evidence which the statute prescribes. they are not clothed with the power to reject the vote of a person who has furnished the evidence which the law requires of a right to vote, on what they or either of them might know, as to the truth or falsity of such evidences. they have no discretion, and must perform their duty, as it is defined by the laws of new york and the decisions of her courts. . the defendant, william b. hall, has been tried and convicted in his absence from the court. this is an error fatal to the conviction in his case. the court denied the motion; then asked the defendants if they had anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced, in response to which they replied as follows: beverly w. jones said: your honor has pronounced me guilty of crime; the jury had but little to do with it. in the performance of my duties as an inspector of election, which position i have held for the last four years, i acted conscientiously, faithfully and according to the best of my judgment and ability. i did not believe that i had the right to reject the ballot of a citizen who offered to vote, and who took the preliminary and general oaths; and answered all questions prescribed by law. the instructions furnished me by the state authorities declared that i had no such right. as far as the registry of the names is concerned, they would never have been placed upon the registry if it had not been for daniel warner, the democratic federal supervisor of elections, appointed by this court, who not only advised the registry, but addressed us, saying, "young men, do you know the penalty of the law if you refuse to register these names?" and after discharging my duties faithfully and honestly and to the best of my ability, if it is to vindicate the law that i am to be imprisoned, i willingly submit to the penalty. edwin t. marsh said: in october last, just previous to the time fixed for the sitting of the board of registrars in the first district of the eighth ward of rochester, a vacancy occurred. i was solicited to act, and consenting, i was duly appointed by the common council. i had never given the matter a thought until called to the position, and as a consequence knew nothing of the law. on the morning of the first day of the last session of the board, miss anthony and other women presented themselves and claimed the right to be registered. so far as i knew, the question of woman suffrage had never come up in that shape before. we were in a position where we could take no middle course. decide which way me might, we were liable to prosecution. we devoted all the time to acquiring information on the subject that our duties as registrars would allow. we were expected, it seems, to make an infallible decision, inside of two days, of a question in regard to which some of the best minds of the country are divided. the influences by which we were surrounded, were nearly all in unison with the course we took. i believed then, and believe now, that we acted lawfully. i faithfully discharged the duties of my office according to the best of my ability, in strict compliance with the oath administered to me. i consider the argument of our counsel unanswered and unanswerable. the verdict is not the verdict of the jury. i am not guilty of the charge. the court then sentenced the defendants to pay a fine of $ each, and the costs of the prosecution.[ ] the following petition was presented in the senate by mr. sargent, the present ( ) united states minister to germany, and in the house by mr. loughridge, of iowa: forty-third congress, first session, senate, mis. doc. no. . a petition of susan b. anthony praying for the remission of a fine imposed upon her by the united states court for the northern district of new york, for illegal voting. january , . referred to the committee on the judiciary and ordered to be printed. _to the congress of the united states:_ the petition of susan b. anthony, of the city of rochester, in the county of monroe, and state of new york, respectfully represents: that, prior to the late presidential election, your petitioner applied to the board of registry in the eighth ward of the city of rochester, in which city she had resided for more than twenty-five years, to have her name placed upon the register of voters; and the board of registry, after consideration of the subject, decided that your petitioner was entitled to have her name placed upon the register, and placed it there accordingly. on the day of election your petitioner, in common with hundreds of other american citizens, her neighbors, whose names had also been registered as voters, offered to the inspectors of election her ballots for electors of president and vice-president, and for members of congress, which were received and deposited in the ballot-box by the inspectors. for this act of your petitioner an indictment was found against her by the grand jury, at the sitting of the district court of the united states for the northern district of new york, at albany, charging your petitioner, under the nineteenth section of the act of congress of may , , entitled "an act to enforce the rights of citizens of the united states to vote in the several states of this union, and for other purposes," with having "knowingly voted without having a lawful right to vote." to that indictment your petitioner pleaded not guilty, and the trial of the issue thus joined took place at the circuit court in canandaigua, in the county of ontario, before the honorable ward hunt, one of the justices of the supreme court of the united states, on the th day of june last. upon that trial the facts of voting by your petitioner, and that she was a woman, were not denied; nor was it claimed on the part of the government than your petitioner lacked any of the qualifications of a voter, unless disqualified by reason of her sex. it was shown on behalf of your petitioner, on the trial, that before voting she called upon a respectable lawyer and asked his opinion whether she had a right to vote, and he advised her that she had such right, and the lawyer was examined as a witness in her behalf, and testified that he gave her such advice, and that he gave it in good faith, believing that she had such right. it also appeared that when she offered to vote, the question whether, as a woman, she had a right to vote, was raised by the inspectors, and considered by them in her presence, and they decided that she had a right to vote, and received her vote accordingly. it was shown on the part of the government that, on the examination of your petitioner before the commissioner on whose warrant she was arrested, your petitioner stated that she should have voted if allowed to vote, without reference to the advice of the attorney whose opinion she asked; that she was not induced to vote by that opinion; that she had before determined to offer her vote, and had no doubt about her right to vote. at the close of the testimony, your petitioner's counsel proceeded to address the jury, and stated that he desired to present for consideration three propositions, two of law, and one of fact: . that your petitioner had a lawful right to vote. . that whether she had a right to vote or not, if she honestly believed that she had that right, and voted in good faith in that belief, she was guilty of no crime. . that when your petitioner gave her vote she gave it in good faith, believing that it was her right to do so. that the two first propositions presented questions for the court to decide, and the last question for the jury. when your petitioner's counsel had proceeded thus far, the judge suggested that the counsel had better discuss, in the first place, the questions of law, which the counsel proceeded to do; and, having discussed the two legal questions at length, asked then to say a few words to the jury on the question of fact. the judge then said to the counsel that he thought that had better be left until the views of the court upon the legal questions should be made known. the district attorney thereupon addressed the court at length upon the legal questions, and at the close of his argument the judge delivered an opinion adverse to the positions of your petitioner's counsel upon both of the legal questions presented, holding that your petitioner was not entitled to vote; and that if she voted in good faith in the belief in fact that she had a right to vote, it would constitute no defense; the ground of the decision on the last point being that your petitioner was bound to know that by the law she was not a legal voter, and that even if she voted in good faith in the contrary belief, it constituted no defense to the crime with which she was charged. the decision of the judge upon those questions was read from a written document, and at the close of the reading the judge said that the decision of those questions disposed of the case and left no question of fact for the jury, and that he should therefore direct the jury to find a verdict of guilty. the judge then said to the jury that the decision of the court had disposed of all there was in the case, and that he directed them to find a verdict of guilty; and he instructed the clerk to enter such a verdict. at this time, before any entry had been made by the clerk, your petitioner's counsel asked the judge to submit the case to the jury, and to give to the jury the following several instructions. [see page .] the judge declined to submit the case to the jury upon any question whatever, and directed them to render a verdict of guilty against your petitioner. your petitioner's counsel excepted to the decision of the judge upon the legal questions, and to his direction to the jury to find a verdict of guilty, insisting that it was a direction which no court had a right to give in any criminal case. the judge then instructed the clerk to take the verdict, and the clerk said, "gentlemen of the jury, hearken to your verdict as the court hath recorded it. you say you find the defendant guilty of the offense charged; so say you all." no response whatever was made by the jury, either by word or sign. they had not consulted together in their seats or otherwise. neither of them had spoken a word, nor had they been asked whether they had or had not agreed upon a verdict. your petitioner's counsel then asked that the clerk be requested to poll the jury. the judge said, "that can not be allowed. gentlemen of the jury, you are discharged;" and the jurors left the box. no juror spoke a word during the trial, from the time when they were empaneled to the time of their discharge. after denying a motion for a new trial, the judge proceeded upon the conviction thus obtained to pass sentence upon your petitioner, imposing upon her a fine of $ and the costs of the prosecution. your petitioner respectfully submits that, in these proceedings, she has been denied the rights guaranteed by the constitution to all persons accused of crime, the right of trial by jury, and the right to have the assistance of counsel for their defense. it is a mockery to call her trial a trial by jury; and unless the assistance of counsel may be limited to the argument of legal questions, without the privilege of saying a word to the jury upon the question of the guilt or innocence in fact of the party charged, or the privilege of ascertaining from the jury whether they do or do not agree to the verdict pronounced by the court in their name, she has been denied the assistance of counsel for her defense. your petitioner also respectfully insists that the decision of the judge that good faith on the part of your petitioner in offering her vote did not constitute a defense, was not only a violation of the deepest and most sacred principle of the criminal law, that no one can be guilty of crime unless a criminal intent exists; but was also a palpable violation of the statute under which the conviction was had; not on the ground that good faith could, in this, or in any case, justify a criminal act, but on the ground that bad faith in voting was an indispensable ingredient in the offense with which your petitioner was charged. any other interpretation strikes the word "knowingly" out of the statute, the word which alone describes the essence of the offense. the statute means, as your petitioner is advised, and humbly submits, a knowledge in fact, not a knowledge falsely imputed by law to a party not possessing it in fact, as the judge in this case has held. crimes can not, either in law or in morals, be established by judicial falsehood. if there be any crime in the case, your petitioner humbly insists it is to be found in such an adjudication. to the decision of the judge upon the question of the right of your petitioner to vote, she makes no complaint. it was a question properly belonging to the court to decide, was fully and fairly submitted to the judge, and of his decision, whether right or wrong, your petitioner is well aware she can not here complain. but in regard to her conviction of crime, which she insists, for the reasons above given, was in violation of the principles of the common law, of common morality, of the statute under which she was charged, and of the constitution--a crime of which she was as innocent as the judge by whom she was convicted--she respectfully asks, inasmuch as the law has provided no means of reviewing the decisions of the judge, or of correcting his errors, that the fine imposed upon your petitioner be remitted, as an expression of the sense of this high tribunal that her conviction was unjust. dated january , . susan b. anthony. in the senate of the united states, june , , mr. edmunds submitted the following report: _the committee on the judiciary, to whom was referred the bill_ (s. ) _to enable susan b. anthony to pay a fine imposed upon her by the district court for the northern district of new york, and a petition praying for the remission of said fine, report:_ that they are not satisfied that the action of the court was such as represented in the petition, and that, if it were so, the senate could not legally take any action in the premises, and move that the committee be discharged from the further consideration of the petition, and that the bill be postponed indefinitely. mr. carpenter asked, and obtained, leave of the senate to present the following as the views of the minority: _the committee on the judiciary, to whom was referred the memorial of_ susan b. anthony, _praying to be relieved from a certain judgment, rendered against her by the circuit court of the united states for the northern district of new york:_ * * * * * the majority of the committee have determined that inasmuch as the relief prayed for by the memorial can not be granted, the committee will ask to be discharged from its further consideration, and will not express any opinion as to the correctness or incorrectness of the course pursued on the trial of miss anthony. the house of lords in england or the senate of the united states may engage in any investigation looking to legislation, although, as an incident to, or a result of, such investigation, it may appear that some officer who is impeachable has been guilty of conduct for which he might be impeached. then, surely, in a case like this, where there is neither suggestion nor suspicion of corrupt conduct on the part of the estimable judge before whom the trial was conducted, it can not be improper for a committee of the senate to inquire whether, in the trial of a citizen for alleged violation of the laws of the united states, a precedent dangerous to the liberties of every citizen has been set. indeed, the injurious effect of every judicial departure from sound principle is in proportion to the eminence and purity of the judge by whom it is committed. the outrages perpetrated by scroggs and jeffreys in the administration of criminal justice were grievous upon the individuals unjustly or illegally convicted, but do no harm as precedents. a vicious precedent, set by an infamous judge, is harmless; while a similar violation of the law by a pure and upright magistrate is attended by far-reaching and detrimental consequences. it is fashionable, we know, just now to heap contumely upon women who demand to be allowed to enjoy their civil political rights. ridicule is the chief weapon employed against them, and is freely applied to all who advocate their cause. gentlemen who would blush to be thought negligent in the offices of frivolous gallantry lack the manhood to accord to women their substantial rights. and, strange to say, ladies dwelling in luxurious ease join with the fops of society to cast contempt upon the earnest aspirations of woman for the possession of her just rights. we have acted upon the doctrines of the declaration of independence, so far as to make all men equal before the law; but women, our mothers, our wives, our sisters, and our daughters, we condemn to inequality--many to servitude. but the cry of women, who, in poverty and want, are driven from the employments of honest industry to indulgence in vice and to the haunts of shame, is rising on every hand, and appeals to the heart with as much power as the wailings of a slave beneath the lash of his master. the wrongs of martin koszta in a foreign land touched the heart of the nation. but the denial of her rights to miss susan b. anthony in a court of the union is thought to be unworthy the attention of the american senate. to those who are indifferent whether a woman be deprived of or be permitted to enjoy even the rights which are secured to her by the constitution, it may be suggested that a bad precedent set in the trial of a woman who has presumed to express her choice as to those who should make laws for her, laws by which her rights are to be affected and her property be taxed, may stand in the way of some man's rights hereafter. it may yet happen, in the revolutions of time, that some one of the majority of your committee may be subjected to an unjust and false accusation, which must be submitted to the judgment of twelve men in the jury-box or of one man on the bench; twelve men fresh from the people and warmed with the instinctive sympathies of humanity, or one man, separated from the people by his station and by the habits of a life passed in seclusion and study. a jury-trial must be the same whether a man or woman be arraigned. and the subject under consideration is important even to men who are regardless of the rights of women. i shall, therefore, proceed to inquire, as i think the committee ought to have done, whether the memorialist has been deprived, as she alleges, of the right of trial by jury secured to her by the constitution of the united states. the memorialist claims that the court erred in its ruling, and in taking the case from the jury and directing a verdict against her; and also in refusing to have the jury polled in regard to their verdict; and she prays that her fine may be remitted by act of congress. the first question is, whether in a criminal trial, plea not guilty, the jury have a right to render a general verdict involving questions of law as well as fact, under instructions by the court upon matters of law; or whether, when the testimony is not conflicting, the court may take the case from the jury and direct a verdict of guilty to be entered. it is the practice in civil causes for the court, if there is no conflict in the evidence, to direct a verdict for the plaintiff or for the defendant, because in such case the court may set aside a verdict and grant a new trial in favor of plaintiff or defendant. it would, therefore, be a barren form to require the jury to deliberate and find a verdict in a case where if the verdict was not one way, the court would set it aside and order a new trial, and so on, until a verdict should be found that was satisfactory to the court. so in practice it is usual for the court to direct the jury to acquit the prisoner in a criminal case; because, if the jury find against the prisoner, the court may set the verdict aside and order a new trial, and continue to do so until a verdict of acquittal shall be rendered; though it is doubtful whether, even in a civil cause, the court could refuse to let the jury be polled, or could enter a verdict for the jury to which they did not agree. the court could direct the jury what to do, and set aside the verdict if they did otherwise; but it is not admitted that, even in a civil cause, the court could enter a verdict against the wishes of the jury. but at the common law and in the federal courts it is certain that where the jury render a verdict of acquittal, even against the evidence and the instructions of the court on propositions of law, the court can not set aside the verdict and order another trial. from this it follows that the court can not take from the jury this power of acquittal in a criminal case, by directing and compelling a verdict against the prisoner, and refusing to have the jury polled. but the importance of this question requires its examination not only in the light of reason, but of authority. the constitution of the united states provides: in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and a public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, etc. the constitution does not define or regulate the trial by jury, but secures it as it was then known to the common law. this is a proposition so well settled by judicial determination that i shall spend no time upon it beyond citing the following authorities: norval _vs._ rice, wis., ; may _vs._ r. r. co., wis., ; byers & davis _vs._ com., penn. st., ; united states _vs._ lorenzo dow, taney decis., ; lamb _et al._ _vs._ lane, ohio stat., . therefore, if it can be shown that, at the time the constitution was adopted, it was well settled that the jury in a criminal cause might find a general verdict, including both law and fact, then this right is secured to juries in the federal courts by the constitution itself; and not even an act of congress could take it away. what the law was at that time, is mere matter of historical inquiry, wholly different from another question, which is so often mistaken for it, whether juries ought to possess the right. what, then, was the law upon this subject when the constitution was adopted? mr. hargrave, in one of his annotations upon lord coke's first institute, declares that, inasmuch as the jury may, as often as they think fit, find a general verdict, it was unquestionable that they might so far decide upon the law as well as fact, such a verdict necessarily involving both. in this opinion, says mr. hargrave, i have the authority of littleton himself, who writes, "that if the inquest will take upon them the knowledge of the law upon the matter, they may give their verdict generally." in people _vs._ croswell, johnson's cases, , chief-justice kent reviewed all the preceding authorities with great care, and discussed the philosophy of the doctrine under consideration, with the ability which characterizes his most celebrated opinions; and his decision in this case stands to this day as one of the landmarks upon this subject. after reciting the authorities, he says: to meet and resist directly this stream of authority is impossible. but while the power of the jury is admitted, it is denied that they can rightfully or lawfully exercise it without compromitting their consciences, and that they are bound implicitly in all cases to receive the law from the court. the law must, however, have intended, in granting this power to a jury, to grant them a lawful and rightful power, or it would have provided a remedy against the undue exercise of it. the true criterion of a legal power is its capacity to produce a definitive effect, liable to neither censure nor review. and the verdict of not guilty in a criminal case is, in every respect, absolute and final. the jury are not liable to punishment, nor the verdict to control. no attaint lies, nor can a new trial be awarded. the exercise of this power in the jury has been sanctioned and upheld in constant activity from the earliest ages. it was made a question by bracton (fol. , a. b.), who was to sit in judgment and decide upon points of law on appeals in capital cases. it could not be the king, he says, for then he would be both prosecutor and judge; nor his justices, for they represented him. he thinks, therefore, the _curia_ and _pares_ were to be judges in all cases of life and limb, or disherison of heir, where the crown was the prosecutor. and, indeed, it is probable that in the earliest stages of the english juridical history the jury, instead of deciding causes under the direction of the judge, decided all causes without the assistance of the judge. (barrington on the statutes, , , .) he then proceeds to review the trial of lilburn for high treason in ; bushell's case, vaughan, , and sir t. jones, ; algernon sidney's case, state trials, ; tuchin's case, state trials, , and other cases. again, he says: to deny to the jury the right of judging of the intent and tendency of the act, is to take away the substance, and with it the value and security of this mode of trial. it is to transfer the exclusive cognizance of crimes from the jury to the court, and to give the judge the absolute control of the press. there is nothing peculiar in the law of libels to withdraw it from the jurisdiction of the jury. the twelve judges in their opinion in the house of lords (april, ), admitted that the general criminal law of england was the law of libel. and by the general criminal law of england, the office of the jury is judicial. "they only are the judges," as lord somers observes (essay on the power and duty of grand juries, p. ), "from whose sentence the indicted are to expect life or death. upon their integrity and understanding the lives of all that are brought into judgment do ultimately depend. from their verdict there lies no appeal. they resolve both law and fact, and this has always been their practice." and, after referring to the case of franklin, and other cases holding a contrary doctrine, he denounces them as innovations, and adding that the subject underwent a patient investigation and severe scrutiny upon principle and precedent in parliament, says: and a bill declaratory of the right of the jury to give a general verdict upon the whole matter put in issue, without being required or directed to find the defendant guilty merely on the proof of publication and the truth of the innuendoes, was at length agreed to, and passed with uncommon unanimity. it is entitled "an act to remove doubts respecting the functions of juries in cases of libel"; and, although i admit that a declaratory statute is not to be received as conclusive evidence of the common law, yet it must be considered as a very respectable authority in the case, and especially as the circumstances attending the passage of this bill reflect the highest honor on the moderation, the good sense, and the free and independent spirit of the british parliament. and again he says: the result, from this view, is, to my mind, a firm conviction that this court is not bound by the decisions of lord raymond and his successors. by withdrawing from the jury the consideration of the essence of the charge, they render their function nugatory and contemptible. those opinions are repugnant to the more ancient authorities which had given to the jury the power, and with it the right, to judge of the law and the fact, when they were blended by the issue, and which rendered their decisions, in criminal cases, final and conclusive. the english bar steadily resisted those decisions as usurpations on the rights of the jury. some of the judges treated the doctrine as erroneous, and the parliament at last declared it an innovation by restoring the trial by jury, in cases of libel, to that ancient vigor and independence by which it had grown so precious to the nation as the guardian of liberty and life, against the power of the court, the vindictive persecution of the prosecutor, and the oppression of the government. this celebrated opinion may safely be relied upon as a correct statement of the law as it stood when it was delivered in . but still more conclusive authority remains to be considered. the sedition act of , after defining what should be a criminal libel, and declaring that the defendant might give the truth of the matter in evidence, provides as follows: and the jury who shall try the cause shall have a right to determine the law and the fact, under the direction of the court, as in other cases. ( stat. at l., .) the language of this act, "as in other cases," recognizes the right here contended for. in the celebrated callender trial, in , which was a prosecution under this statute, mr. justice chase, whose general bearing was so unfriendly to the defendant as to secure his impeachment by the house of representatives, admitted this right of the jury. he said: we all know that juries have the right to decide the law as well as the fact. (wharton's state trials, .) and again he says: i admit that the jury are to compare the statute with the facts proved, and then to decide whether the acts done are prohibited by the law, and whether they amount to the offense described in the indictment. (_ib._, p. .) though, with seeming want of logic, he held that the jury could not decide whether the statute was constitutional or not. but the full admission that the jury were judges of the law as well as the fact, shows the general understanding upon this subject, though the judge may have erred in applying the principle in the case before him. in fries's case, who was tried for treason, - , the jury were instructed by judge peters as follows: it is the duty of the court to declare the law; though both facts and law, which, i fear, are too plain to admit a reasonable doubt, are subject to your consideration. (wharton's state trials, .) and, in the second trial of fries, judge chase instructed the jury as follows: it is the duty of the court in this case, and in all criminal cases, to state to the jury their opinion of the law arising on the facts; but the jury are to decide in the present, and in all criminal cases, both the law and the facts, on their consideration of the whole case. ( chase's trial, appendix .) in the answer of judge chase to articles of impeachment against him, he says: he well knows that it is the right of juries, in criminal cases, to give a general verdict of acquittal, which can not be set aside on account of its being contrary to law, and that hence results the power of juries to decide on the law as well as on the facts in all criminal cases. this power he holds to be a sacred part of our legal privileges, which he has never attempted, and never will attempt to abridge or obstruct. ( chase's trial, pp. , , .) in georgia _vs._ brailsford, dallas, , in , chief-justice jay charged the jury as follows: it may not be amiss here, gentlemen, to remind you of the good old rule, that on questions of fact it is the province of the jury, on questions of law it is the province of the court, to decide. but it must be observed that by the same law which recognizes this reasonable distribution of jurisdiction, you have, nevertheless, a right to take upon yourselves to judge of both, and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy. on this, and on every other occasion, however, we have no doubt you will pay that respect which is due to the opinion of the court; for as, on the one hand, it is presumed that juries are the best judges of facts, it is, on the other hand, presumable that the court are the best judges of law. but still both objects are lawfully within your power of decision. this charge was delivered in a jury trial, at the bar of the supreme court, and expressed the unanimous opinion of the judges of that court, and that, too, in a civil cause. the decision in georgia _vs._ brailsford has never been expressly overruled by that court; although the practice in civil causes is for the court to direct a verdict where there is no conflict in regard to the testimony. in beavans _vs._ the united states, wall, , which was an action _ex contractu_, on a receiver's bond, the court says: the objection that the jury was instructed to find for the plaintiffs the amount claimed by the papers given in evidence (viz, the official settlements), with interest thereon, is entirely without merit. there was no evidence to impeach the accounts stated, or to show set-off, release, or payment. the instruction was, therefore, in accordance with the legal effect of the evidence, and there were no disputed facts upon which the jury could pass. an act of congress declares that the papers of official settlement shall be _prima facie_ evidence of the condition of the accounts. no testimony was offered in this case to impeach that statement. there was, therefore, no fact in issue; and the instruction of the court to find a verdict for the plaintiff was, in substance, ruling upon matters of law only. and the supreme court, in their opinion, recognize, and merely recognize, the practice which now obtains universally in the trial of civil causes. and, although it is inconsistent with georgia _vs._ brailsford, and substantially overrules it, it does not impair the value of the decision in that case, as showing the understanding of the profession and the courts about the time of the adoption of the constitution. in united states _vs._ wilson ( bald., ), the jury were instructed as follows: we have thus stated to you the law of this case under the solemn duties and obligations imposed on us, under the clear conviction that in doing so we have presented to you the true test by which you will apply the evidence to the case; but you will distinctly understand that you are the judges both of the law and the fact in a criminal case, and are not bound by the opinion of the court. you may judge for yourselves; and if you should feel it your duty to differ from us, you must find your verdict accordingly. at the same time, it is our duty to say that it is in perfect accordance with the spirit of our legal institutions that the courts should decide questions of law, and the juries of facts. the nature of the tribunals naturally leads to this division of powers; and it is better, for the sake of public justice, that it should be so. when the law is settled by a court there is more certainty than when done by a jury. it will be better known and more respected in public opinion. but if you are prepared to say that the law is different from what you have heard from us, you are in the exercise of a constitutional right to do so. in united states _vs._ porter ( bald., ), the doctrine was stated more guardedly, as follows: in repeating what was said on a former occasion to another jury, that you have the power to decide on the law as well as the facts of this case, and are not bound to find according to our opinion of the law, we feel ourselves constrained to make some explanations not then deemed necessary, but now called for from the course of the defense. you may find a general verdict of guilty or not guilty as you think proper, or may find the facts specially, and leave the guilt or innocence of the prisoner to the judgment of the court. if your verdict acquits the prisoner, we can not grant a new trial, however much we may differ with you as to the law which governs the case; and, in this respect, a jury are the judges of law if they choose to become so. in farmer's trial before the supreme court of the state of new hampshire in , the chief-justice, speaking for the whole court, told the jury that they were the judges both of the law and the fact; that it was the duty of the court to give them proper instructions and to aid them in forming a correct opinion as to the law applicable to the case. but if, contrary to his intentions, any expression should escape him which might seem to indicate any opinion as to the facts, they must disregard it; their verdict ought to be according to their own opinion as to the prisoner's guilt or innocence. (see farmer's trial, p. .) in the trial of william s. smith for misdemeanor, in the circuit court of the united states for the state of new york, in july, , the jury were instructed as follows: you have heard much said upon the right of a jury to judge of the law as well as the fact. be assured that on this occasion there is not the least desire to abridge those rights. i am an advocate for the independence of the jury. it is the basis of civil liberty; and in this country, i trust, will ever be a sacred bulwark against oppression and encroachment upon political freedom. the law is now settled that this right appertains to a jury in all criminal cases. on the trial of john hodges for high treason, before the circuit court of the united states for the district of maryland, in , the court charged the jury as follows: the court said they were bound to declare the law whenever they were called upon, in civil or criminal cases. in the latter, however, it was also their duty to inform the jury that they were not obliged to take their direction as to the law. (hodge's trial, p. .) the elementary writers declare the same principle. blackstone, comm., , says: and such public or open verdict may be either general (guilty or not guilty) or special, setting forth all the circumstances of the case, and praying the judgment of the court, whether, for instance, on the facts stated, it be murder, manslaughter, or no crime at all. this is where they doubt the matter of the law, and therefore choose to leave it to the determination of the court; though they have an unquestionable right of determining upon all the circumstances and finding a general verdict, if they think proper so to hazard a breach of their oaths; and, if their verdict be notoriously wrong, they may be punished and the verdict set aside by attaint at the suit of the king, but not at the suit of the prisoner. but the practice heretofore in use of fining, imprisoning, or otherwise punishing jurors, merely at the discretion of the court, for finding their verdict contrary to the direction of the judge, was arbitrary, unconstitutional, and illegal, and is treated as such by sir thomas smith two hundred years ago, who accounted "such doings to be very violent, tyrannical, and contrary to the liberty and custom of the realm of england." for, as sir matthew hale well observes, it would be a most unhappy case for the judge himself if the prisoner's fate depended upon his directions; unhappy also for the prisoner, for, if the judge's opinion must rule the verdict, the trial by jury would be useless. yet, in many instances where contrary to evidence the jury have found the prisoner guilty, their verdict hath been mercifully set aside and a new trial granted by the court of king's bench; for in such case, as hath been said, it can not be set right by attaint. but there hath been yet no instance of granting a new trial where the prisoner was acquitted upon the first. in wilson's lectures, vol. ii., p. , the same doctrine is declared and illustrated; and he says: the jury must do their duty and their whole duty. they must decide the law as well as the fact. this doctrine is peculiarly applicable to criminal cases, and from them, indeed, derives its peculiar importance. in forsyth's jury trials, after an examination of the subject, it is said, p. : it can not therefore be denied that, in all criminal cases, the jury do virtually possess the power of deciding questions of law as well as of fact. the authorities quoted from conclusively show that at the time the constitution was adopted, and for nearly a quarter of a century afterward, juries were understood and declared to possess the right to pass upon questions of law as well as fact in all criminal cases; and this is all that need be shown to bring this right within the protection of the constitution. the first case it is believed in which the contrary doctrine received favor in any american court was in the case of the united states _vs._ battiste, sum., , decided in . mr. justice story, in that case, said: my opinion is that the jury are no more judges of the law in a criminal case upon the plea of not guilty than they are in every civil case tried upon the general issue. in each of these cases their verdict, when general, is necessarily compounded of law and of fact, and includes both. in each they must necessarily determine the law as well as the fact. in each they have the physical power to disregard the law as laid down to them by the court. but i deny that in any case, civil or criminal, they have the moral right to decide the law according to their own notions or pleasure. in commonwealth _vs._ porter, met., decided in , the supreme court of massachusetts followed the decision in battiste's case, and held that the jury are under a moral obligation to decide the case as instructed by the court, and the court sum up the subject as follows: on the whole subject, the views of the court may be summarily expressed in the following propositions: that in all criminal cases it is competent for the jury, if they see fit, to decide upon all questions of fact embraced in the issue, and to refer the law arising thereon to the court in the form of a special verdict. but it is optional with the jury thus to return a special verdict or not, and it is within their legitimate province and power to return a general verdict if they see fit. in thus rendering a general verdict, the jury must necessarily pass upon the whole issue, compounded of the law and of the fact, and they may thus incidentally pass on questions of law. the opinion in this case was delivered by chief-justice shaw, and is rather a discussion of what is a convenient distribution of powers between the court and jury than an examination into the actual state of the law; and he neither cites nor refers to a single authority from the beginning to the end of the opinion. again, the conclusions arrived at by the opinion admit the power of the jury to decide questions of law; and that, in cases where the jury acquit the defendant, there is no power to reverse or even to review the finding of the jury. and this opinion holds that the defendant, in all criminal cases, is entitled to address the jury upon the questions of law as well as of fact involved in the case. to maintain that the defendant has the right to address the jury upon matters which the jury have no right to determine, and yet that the jury possess the power--the ultimate and final power--to decide matters of law, and are nevertheless under moral obligation never to exercise the power, are palpable inconsistencies. the supreme court of vermont in state _vs._ croteau, ver., , in a very able opinion, review these two cases and other subsequent decisions which follow their doctrine, and, after an able and critical examination of all the english and american cases, repudiate this new doctrine, and declare that in criminal prosecutions it is the ancient, common-law right of the jury in favor of the prisoner to determine the whole matter in issue--the law as well as the fact. there are some american cases holding a contrary doctrine, but the current of american as well as of english authorities is overwhelmingly in favor of the proposition that juries in criminal causes are judges of the law as well as of the facts.[ ] in late years there has been considerable discussion, and some contrariety of judicial opinion, in regard to the moral right of juries to find a general verdict of not guilty against the instructions of the court on matters of law. this subject, however, need not be further discussed, because it is believed that no reported case can be found denying to juries the power of determining the law as well as the fact in all criminal cases. the utmost extent to which any case goes is, that the jury, in deciding upon the law, are morally bound to adopt the opinion expressed by the court; but every case admits their power to do otherwise if they see fit. but admitting the existence of the distinction between the legal power and the moral right of juries, still the decision of the court on the trial of miss anthony was erroneous, because the court did not instruct the jury in regard to the law, and then leave the jury to perform their duty in the premises. on the contrary, the court took the case from the jury altogether and directed their verdict; thus denying to the jury not only the moral right, but even the power of rendering a verdict of not guilty; and refused the request of counsel to have the jury polled in regard to their verdict. no precedent has been shown for this proceeding, and it is believed none exists. it is altogether a departure from, and a most dangerous innovation upon, the well-settled method of jury-trial in criminal cases. such a doctrine renders the trial by jury a farce. the memorialist had no jury-trial within the meaning of the constitution, and her conviction was therefore erroneous. but it may be said that the ruling of the court was correct in point of law, and, had the court submitted the case to the jury, it would have been the duty of the jury to find the memorialist guilty; therefore she is not aggrieved by the judgment which the court pronounced. should this reasoning be adopted, it would follow that the memorialist had been tried by the court and by congress; but it would still be true that she had been denied trial by a jury which the constitution secures to her. it is not safe thus to trifle with the rights of citizens. the trial by jury--the judgment of one's peers--is the shield of real innocence imperiled by legal presumptions. a judge would charge a jury that a child who had stolen bread to escape starvation had committed the crime of larceny, but all the judges in christendom could not induce a jury to convict in such a case. it is the humane policy of our law, that, before any citizen shall suffer punishment, he shall be condemned by the verdict of his peers, who may be expected to judge as they would be judged. to sustain the judgment in this case, is to strike a fatal blow at this sacred right. but the question remains, what relief can be granted? i concur with the majority of the committee that congress can not remit the judgment; that would be to exercise the pardoning power. congress can not grant a new trial; that would be an exercise of judicial power. there is no court of the government which has jurisdiction to review the case. in commonwealth _vs._ austin, gray, , chief-justice shaw says: now, when a new statute is passed, and a question of law is raised by counsel, it must first come before the court, charged by law with the conduct and superintendence of a jury trial; and, in any well-ordered system of jurisprudence, provision is made that it be re-examinable by the court of last resort. when this question is definitively adjudged by the tribunal of last resort--the principles on which it is adjudged being immutable, and the rule of law adjudged in any one case being equally applicable to every other case presenting the same facts--the decision is necessarily conclusive of the law. i do not say how and after what consideration it maybe considered as definitively decided. in the first instance it may be misunderstood or feebly presented. it may have been misapprehended by the judges, and not considered in all its bearings, or they may have wanted time and means for a careful and thorough investigation, and may therefore consent and desire to reconsider it one or more times. but i only say that, when thus definitively adjudged, the decision must be deemed conclusive and stand as a rule of law. unfortunately the united states has no "well-ordered system of jurisprudence." a citizen may be tried, condemned, and put to death by the erroneous judgment of a single inferior judge, and no court can grant him relief or a new trial. if a citizen have a cause involving the title to his farm, if it exceed two thousand dollars in value, he may bring his cause to the supreme court; but if it involves his liberty or his life, he can not. while we permit this blemish to exist on our judicial system, it behooves us to watch carefully the judgments inferior courts may render; and it is doubly important that we should see to it that twelve jurors shall concur with the judge before a citizen shall be hanged, incarcerated, or otherwise punished. i concur with the majority of the committee that congress can not grant the precise relief prayed for in the memorial; but i deem it to be the duty of congress to declare its disapproval of the doctrine asserted and the course pursued in the trial of miss anthony; and all the more for the reason that no judicial court has jurisdiction to review the proceedings therein. i need not disclaim all purpose to question the motives of the learned judge before whom this trial was conducted. the best of judges may commit the gravest of errors amid the hurry and confusion of a _nisiprius_ term; and the wrong miss anthony has suffered ought to be charged to the vicious system which denies to those convicted of offenses against the laws of the united states a hearing before the court of last resort--a defect it is equally within the power and the duty of congress speedily to remedy. matt h. carpenter. mr. tremaine, from the house judiciary committee, reported adversely on the prayer of miss anthony's petition, and benjamin f. butler favorably. forty-third congress, st session, house of representatives, report no. , susan b. anthony, may , , recommitted to the committee on the judiciary and ordered to be printed. mr. b. f. butler, from the committee on the judiciary, submitted the following report to accompany bill h. r. : _the committee on the judiciary, to whom was referred the memorial of susan b. anthony, of the city of rochester, in the state of new york, praying that a fine alleged to have been unjustly imposed on the petitioner by a judgment of the circuit court of the united states for the northern district of new york, may be remitted, having considered the prayer of the petitioner and the statement of facts set forth in the memorial, respectfully beg leave to report_: * * * * * are these positions of the petitioner well founded? by necessary division there arise two questions: first, has congress any power, or is there any precedent for entertaining such petition for such purpose? and, secondly, are the acts and order of the judge in accordance with the law of the land, and not in derogation of the right of the citizen to trial by jury at common law as guaranteed by the constitution, as known and practiced in the courts of the united states? if the first should be answered in the negative, of course the committee and the house would be spared the discussion of the second. it seems to your committee that there are two very noted and historical cases which may form the precedents for this application, and favorable action thereon by congress--in the proceeding concerning the fines imposed by the courts on matthew lyon and general jackson. lyon was fined by a united states judge for a seditious libel. he petitioned for a remission of fine upon the ground that the law was unconstitutional under which he was convicted. that petition was very fully considered, and, in , a report was presented to the senate by mr. barbour, of virginia, which, after elaborating the considerations, concludes thus: in this case, therefore, the committee think the government is under a moral obligation to indemnify the petitioner. in this claim of lyon, after remaining before congress until , a bill, upon a favorable report of the committee on the judiciary, was passed by the house, restoring the fine with interest, by a vote of to . this case, however, is subject to the criticism, that in it congress undertook to do justice to a citizen suffering from an unconstitutional law which it had enacted, and thereby distinguishes it from the present application: but the case of general jackson, so familiar to all that its facts need not be recited, covers that point. there was the remitting of a fine imposed by a judge in excess of his authority in acting without warrant of law. assuming, therefore, that this application is properly before us, we come to the second question of whether, by the proceedings in court, the legal rights of the petitioner have been infringed, from which she has suffered. it would not seem to be germane to this question to inquire whether or not the petitioner had the legal right to vote, because that was a question of law fully within the competency of the judge to decide, and his decision did not necessarily work a hardship to the defendant, even if mistaken in judgment. or, in other words, it was a rightful execution of a power intrusted to him by law, from which there was no appeal to this or any other jurisdiction. we come, therefore, to the great question in this case: whether the judge erred in withdrawing the case from the jury. upon this question it would seem that the judge himself vacillated in the trial, because he permitted evidence to be gone into on both sides as a question of fact, tending to show whether the petitioner did or did not vote, knowing that she had no right so to do; but afterward withdrew the consideration of that evidence, upon the fact of intention or guilty knowledge, wholly from the jury, and ordered a verdict to be entered up upon his own decision, without allowing the question either to be argued or submitted to the jury, or the jury to pass upon it. there certainly can be no graver question affecting the rights of citizens than this. the whole theory of trial by jury at common law consists in the fundamental maxim that before any conviction can be had for a crime it must be passed upon by twelve good and lawful men, the peers of the accused; and the very oath prescribed to jurors by the common law most distinctly guaranteed this right to the accused: "you shall well and truly try and true deliverance make, between the king and the prisoner at the bar, according to your evidence;" while at the common law the oath prescribed in civil cases gave a right to a judge to direct the jury in the matter of law, and to direct the verdict one way or the other, as he saw fit, the oath being substantially as follows: "you shall well and truly try the issue between party and party according to the law and the evidence given you." whatever changes may have been made in the practice of the states since the time of the earlier amendments to the constitution, certain it is that at that time, after a jury had been impaneled, there was no way that the accused could be put in jeopardy of life or limb without his cause being submitted to twelve men, and their unanimous verdict passing upon the fact of his guilt or innocence. and this right your committee deem is not one lightly to be sacrificed. burke once said that the whole english constitution and machinery of government--not quoting words--were only to put into a jury-box twelve honest men. what advantage could it be to an accused to put twelve honest men into the jury-box, if the judge, without asking for their opinion, or without their intervention, can order a verdict of guilty to be entered up against the accused? nothing, therefore, can be of more consequence to the citizen in troublous times to protect him against the exercise of usurped or other power for oppression, than the intervention of the judgment of his peers upon the question whether he has been guilty of a crime, or alleged offense against the government. and in the judgment of your committee, we can not too scrupulously guard, in the interest of the liberty of the citizen, this great and almost invaluable right. the friends of liberty under the common-law system have stood for it and stood by it, strenuously and assiduously, as the palladium of their liberties and the impenetrable shield of the people from oppression. by the order of the judge the defendant was deprived of this right, and if, in this case of minor consequence so far as regards the punishment inflicted, this can be done, so in the trial for murder or treason a judge may order a verdict of the jury without allowing them to pass upon the fact. it has been sometimes said "can this be done?" we are clearly of the opinion that it can not and ought not to be done. it is sometimes said as a triumphant argument in favor of the exercise of this power, "has not the judge the power to order a verdict of acquittal?" the answer to that, as a matter of law, is "no; he can only direct the jury that upon the facts and matter of law he believes the case can not be maintained, but that it is for the jury to say whether they will follow that direction;" and his remedy is to set aside that verdict, and that power has always been exercised at common law in favor of the prisoner, but he can not set aside the verdict of not guilty. sometimes, in the darker hours of english jurisprudence, the judges fined the jury when they were not the obedient instruments of their will but persisted in finding the defendants in state prosecutions not guilty when the judge thought they ought to have been found guilty; but neither jeffreys nor scroggs ever dared to set aside a verdict of not guilty. your committee have been led by the great consequence of this precedent more carefully and at length to give an examination to this question to which its importance would not otherwise have entitled it. but your committee do not find it necessary to impute any intent of wrong to the learned judge who tried this case; but the effect of his error was to deprive this petitioner of a great and beneficent right, guaranteed to her as strongly as any other by the constitution of her country, to have the question of her guilt passed upon by her peers, which error has had the same effect upon her rights as an intentional assumption of power would have had, and may have hereafter, in bad times, wherein corrupt judges, wielding instruments of power, shield themselves by precedents set by good judges in good times. therefore, because the fine has been imposed by a court of the united states for an offense triable by jury, without the same being submitted to the jury, and because the court assumed to itself the right to enter a verdict without submitting the case to the jury, and in order that the judgment of the house of representatives, if it concur with the judgment of the committee, may, in the most signal and impressive form, mark its determination to sustain in its integrity the common-law right of trial by jury, your committee recommend that the prayer of the petitioner be granted, and to this end report the following bill, with the recommendation that it do pass. the inspectors were counseled to refuse to pay their fines, and take the consequences. house of representatives, washington, feb. , . my dear miss anthony:--in regard to the inspectors of election, i would not, if i were they, pay, but allow any process to be served; and i have no doubt the president will remit the fine if they are pressed too far. i am yours truly, benjamin f. butler. on miss anthony's return home, february , , she found the three inspectors lodged in jail. she at once called on judge selden, and after consultation with him as to what could be done for their protection, telegrams were sent to influential friends in washington, to which the following reply was received: washington, d. c., march , -- noon. to miss susan b. anthony:--i laid the case of the inspectors before the president to-day. he kindly orders their pardon. papers are being prepared. a. a. sargent. an associated press dispatch, dated washington, march , , said: at the written request of senator sargent, the president to-day directed the attorney-general to prepare the necessary papers to remit the fine and imprisonment of hall, marsh, and others, the rochester election inspectors, who were tried and convicted in june, , of registering susan b. anthony and other women, and receiving their votes. the rochester _evening express_ of feb. , , said: tyranny in rochester.--the arrest and imprisonment in our city jail of the election inspectors who received the votes of susan b. anthony and other ladies, at the polls of the eighth ward, some months ago, is a petty but malicious act of tyranny, of which the officers who are responsible for it will yet be ashamed. it should be known to the public that these young men received miss anthony's vote by the advice of the best legal talent that could be procured. the ladies themselves took oath that they were citizens of the united states and entitled to vote.... the court, however, fined these inspectors $ and costs, for an offense which at the worst is merely technical, and now, nearly nine months after conviction, in default of payment, they are seized and shut up in jail, away from their families and their business, and subjected to all the inconvenience to say nothing of the odium of such an incarceration. this is an outrage which ought not to be tolerated in this country, and we shall be disappointed if public sentiment does not yet rebuke, in thunder-tones, the authorities who have perpetrated it. miss anthony is willing to fight her own battles and take the consequences, but she naturally feels indignant that others should suffer in this matter through no fault of their own.... the rochester _democrat and chronicle_ of march th, said: an outrage.--.... we regard this action on the part of district attorney crowley as an outrage, in that these young men, who, at the worst, are but accessories in the violation of law, are made to feel its terrors, while the chief criminal is allowed to defy the law with impunity. no effort has been made to satisfy the judgment of the court against miss anthony. she contemns the law which adjudged her guilty, and its duly appointed administrators are either too timid or too negligent of duty to endeavor to enforce it.... it is doubtful whether they had the right to refuse those votes. in any event their offense is venial as compared with hers. it does not look well for the district attorney thus to proceed against the lesser offenders, while the chief offender snaps her fingers at the law, and dares its ministers to make her a martyr.... we write in no spirit of vindictiveness, nor even in one of antagonism toward miss anthony; but in the name of justice we are called upon to protest against the unseemly proceeding which persecutes those excellent young men and hesitates to attack this woman, who stands as a representative of what she regards a great reform, and in its advocacy shrinks not from any of the terrors the law may have in store for her. mr. district attorney, it is your duty to arrest miss anthony; to cross swords with an antagonist worthy of your steel. your present action looks ignoble, and is unworthy of you or of the office you fill. more than a week elapsed before the arrival of president grant's pardon papers, and during that time hundreds of the people of rochester visited the "boys" in jail, and the best of dinners were furnished them daily by the fourteen women voters of the eighth ward. virginia l. minor's petition in the circuit court of st. louis county, december term, . _st. louis county, ss.:_ virginia l. minor and francis minor, her husband, plaintiffs, _vs._ reese happersett, defendant. the plaintiff, virginia l. minor (with whom is joined her husband, francis minor, as required by the law of missouri), states, that under the constitution and law of missouri, all persons wishing to vote at any election, must previously have been registered in the manner pointed out by law, this being a condition precedent to the exercise of the elective franchise. that on the fifteenth day of october, (one of the days fixed by law for the registration of voters), and long prior thereto, she was a native-born, free white citizen of the united states, and of the state of missouri, and on the day last mentioned she was over the age of twenty-one years. that on said day, the plaintiff was a resident of the thirteenth election district of the city and county of st. louis, in the state of missouri, and had been so residing in said county and election district, for the entire period of twelve months and more, immediately preceding said fifteenth day of october, , and for more than twenty years had been and is a tax-paying, law-abiding citizen of the county and state aforesaid. that on said last mentioned day, the defendant, having been duly and legally appointed registrar for said election district, and having accepted the said office of registrar and entered upon the discharge of the duties thereof at the office of registration, to wit: no. market street, in said city and county of st. louis, it became and was then and there his duty to register all citizens, resident in said district as aforesaid, entitled to the elective franchise, who might apply to him for that purpose. the plaintiff further states, that wishing to exercise her privilege as a citizen of the united states, and vote for electors for president and vice-president of the united states, and for a representative in congress, and for other officers, at the general election held in november, : while said defendant was so acting as registrar, on said th day of october, , she appeared before him, at his office aforesaid, and then and there offered to take and subscribe the oath to support the constitution of the united states and of the state of missouri, as required by the registration law of said state, approved march , , and respectfully applied to him to be registered as a lawful voter, which said defendant then and there refused to do. the plaintiff further states, that the defendant, well knowing that she, as a citizen of the united states and of the state of missouri, resident as aforesaid, was then and there entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizenship, chief among which is the elective franchise, and as such, was entitled to be registered, in order to exercise said privilege: yet, unlawfully intending, contriving, and designing to deprive the plaintiff of said franchise or privilege, then and there knowingly, willfully, maliciously, and corruptly refused to place her name upon the list of registered voters, whereby she was deprived of her right to vote. defendant stated to plaintiff, that she was not entitled to be registered, or to vote, because she was not a "male" citizen, but a woman! that by the constitution of missouri, art. ii., sec. , and by the aforesaid registration law of said state, approved march , , it is provided and declared, that only "male citizens" of the united states, etc., are entitled or permitted to vote. but the plaintiff protests against such decision, and she declares and maintains that said provisions of the constitution and registration law of missouri aforesaid, are in conflict with, and repugnant to the constitution of the united states, which is paramount to state authority; and that they are especially in conflict with the following articles and clauses of said constitution of the united states, to wit: art. i. sec. .--which declares that no bill of attainder shall be passed. art. i. sec. .--no state shall pass any bill of attainder, or grant any title of nobility. art. iv. sec. .--the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states. art. iv. sec. .--the united states shall guarantee to every state a republican form of government. art. vi.--this constitution and the laws of the united states which shall be made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of the land, anything in the constitutions or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. amendments. art. v.--no person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. art. ix.--the enumeration in the constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. art. xiv. sec. .--all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside. no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction, the equal protection of the laws. the plaintiff states, that by reason of the wrongful act of the defendant as aforesaid, she has been damaged in the sum of ten thousand dollars, for which she prays judgment. john m. krum, } francis minor, } _att'ys for plffs._ john b. henderson, } _demurrer. in the circuit court of st. louis county:_ virginia l. minor and francis minor, her husband, plaintiffs, _vs._ reese happersett. the defendant, reese happersett, demurs to the petition of plaintiffs, and for cause of demurrer defendant states that said petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, for the following reasons: . because said virginia l. minor, plaintiff, had no right to vote at the general election held in november, , in said petition referred to. . because said virginia l. minor had no right to be registered for voting by said defendant, at the time and in the manner in said petition alleged. . because it was the duty of the defendant to refuse to place said virginia l. minor's name upon the list of registered voters in said petition referred to. all of which appears by said petition. smith p. galt, _atty for deft._ the defense, in substance, being based upon the constitution of missouri, which provides (art. ii., sec. ) that "every male citizen of the united states, etc., ... shall be entitled to vote"; and also upon the registration law of said state, approved march , , which is as follows: an act to provide for a uniform registration of voters, the appointment of judges of elections, and repealing all former acts relating thereto. _be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of missouri, as follows:_ section .--every male citizen of the united states, and every person of foreign birth who may have declared his intention to become a citizen of the united states, according to law, not less than one year nor more than five years before he offers to vote, who is over the age of twenty-one years, who has resided in this state one year next preceding his registration as a voter, and during the last sixty days of that period shall have resided in the county, city, or town where he seeks registration as a voter, who is not convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime, nor directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of the election for which such registration is made, nor serving at the time of such registration in the regular army or navy of the united states, shall be entitled to vote at such elections for all officers, state, county, or municipal, made elective by the people, or any other election held in pursuance of the laws of this state; but he shall not vote elsewhere than in the election district where his name is registered, except as provided in the twenty-first section of the second article of the constitution. sec. .--the several clerks of the county courts in this state shall provide a suitable registration book for each election district in their several counties, which shall have written or printed therein the following oath: "we the undersigned, do solemnly swear or affirm that we will support the constitution of the united states and of the state of missouri." sec. .--on or before the th day of march, , the several county courts in this state shall appoint some competent person to act as registrar in each election district in their respective counties, who shall have the qualifications of an elector in his election district, and who shall hold his office until the general election in , and until his successor is elected and qualified. said registrar shall have authority to administer all oaths which may be necessary in the registration of voters. sec. .--any person having the qualification of a voter as prescribed in the first section of this act, and who shall take and subscribe the oath required of voters by the second section of this act, and who applies for registration at the time and in the manner prescribed by law, and any naturalized citizen who shall subscribe to a written statement, under oath, before the registrar, that he is naturalized according to the laws of the united states and of this state, and has resided in this state, according to the first section of this act, and that his naturalization papers or evidence of his citizenship have been lost or destroyed, or that the same are not accessible to him, and shall state where he was naturalized, shall be accepted by the registering officer, and duly registered as a qualified voter. it is claimed, therefore, that the defendant was justified in refusing to register the plaintiff on account of her sex. the plaintiff, however, denies the validity of this clause of the missouri constitution, and the registration act based thereon, and contends that they are in violation of, and repugnant to, the constitution of the united states, and particularly to those articles and clauses thereof which she has specified in her petition. it is admitted, by the pleadings, that the plaintiff is a native-born, free white citizen of the united states and of the state of missouri; that the defendant is a registrar, qualified and acting as such; that the plaintiff, in proper time and in proper form made application to him to be registered, and that the defendant refused to register the plaintiff solely for the reason that she is a female (and that she possesses the qualifications of an elector, in all respects, except as to the matter of sex, as before stated). the question is thus broadly presented of a conflict between the constitution of the state of missouri and that of the united states, as contemplated by the twenty-fifth section of the judiciary act of , and the supplemental act of february , . assignment of errors.--and now comes virginia l. minor, the plaintiff in error in the above entitled cause, by her attorneys, john b. henderson, john m. krum, and francis minor, and says that in the records and proceedings in the above entitled cause, in said supreme court of the state of missouri, there is manifest error in this, to wit: st. because the said supreme court erred in affirming the judgment of the st. louis circuit court--thereby, in effect, sustaining the demurrer filed in said circuit court by the defendant to the petition of the plaintiff. d. because the said supreme court erred in its judgment affirming the judgment of the st. louis circuit court--thereby, in effect, declaring that the plaintiff in error was not entitled to vote at the election mentioned in the record. . because the said supreme court of missouri erred in affirming the judgment of the st. louis circuit court--thereby, in effect, declaring that the constitution and laws of missouri, before recited, do not conflict with the constitution of the united states. statement.--this was an action, brought by the plaintiff, against the defendant, a registering officer, for refusing to register her as a lawful voter. the defendant demurred to the petition, the defense, in substance, being based upon the constitution of missouri, which provides (art , sec. ) that "every male citizen of the united states, etc., ... shall be entitled to vote";--and also upon the registration law of said state, approved march , , to the same effect; and it was claimed, therefore, that the defendant was justified in refusing to register the plaintiff on account of her sex. the plaintiff, however, denied the validity of this clause of the missouri constitution, and the registration act based thereon, and contended that they are in violation of, and repugnant to, the constitution of the united states, and particularly to those articles and clauses thereof which she had specified in her petition. it was admitted, by the pleadings, that the plaintiff was a native-born, free, white citizen of the united states, and of the state of missouri; that the defendant was a registrar, qualified and acting as such; that the plaintiff, in proper time, and in proper form, made application to him to be registered, and that the defendant refused to register the plaintiff solely for the reason that she was a female (and that she possessed the qualifications of an elector, in all respects, except as to the matter of sex, as before stated). the question was thus broadly presented of a conflict between the constitution of the state of missouri and that of the united states, as contemplated by the th section of the judiciary act of , and th february, . * * * * * argument and brief.--we think the chief difficulty in this case is one of fact rather than of law. the practice is against the plaintiff. the states, with one exception, which we shall notice hereafter more in detail, have uniformly claimed and exercised the right to act, as to the matter of suffrage, just as they pleased--to limit or extend it, as they saw proper. and this is the popular idea on the subject. men accept it as a matter of fact, and take for granted it must be right. so in the days of african slavery, thousands believed it to be right--even a divine institution. but this belief has passed away; and, in like manner, this doctrine of the right of the states to exercise unlimited and absolute control over the elective franchise of citizens of the united states, must and will give way to a truer and better understanding of the subject. the plaintiff's case is simply one of the means by which this end will ultimately be reached. we claim, and presume it will not be disputed, that the elective franchise is a privilege of citizenship within the meaning of the constitution of the united states. in order to get a clearer idea of the true meaning of this term citizenship, it may be well to recur for a moment to its first introduction and use in american law. before the colonists asserted their independence they were politically bound to the sovereign of great britain, by what is termed in english law, "allegiance"; and those from whom this allegiance was due were termed "subjects." but when these "bands," as they are termed in the declaration of independence, were dissolved, the political relation became changed, and we no longer hear in the united states the term "subject" and "allegiance," except the latter, which is used to express the paramount duty of our citizens to our own government. the term citizen was substituted for that of "subject." but this was not a mere change of name; the men who framed the constitution of the united states had all been "subjects" of the english king, and they well knew the radical change wrought by the revolution. in the new political sovereignty thus created, the feudal idea of dependence gave way to that of independence, and the people became their own sovereigns or rulers in the government of their own creation. of this body politic, represented by the constitution of the united states, all persons born or naturalized therein and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are members; without distinction as to political rights or privileges, except that the head or chief of the new government must be native-born--and this exception the more strongly proves the rule. it is to this constitution, therefore, we must look for the limitations, if any, that may be placed upon the political rights of the people or citizens of the united states. a limitation not found there, or authorized by that instrument, can not be legally exercised by any lesser or inferior jurisdiction. but the subject of suffrage (or the qualifications of electors, as the constitution terms it) is simply remitted to the states by the constitution, to be regulated by them; not to limit or restrict the right of suffrage, but to carry the same fully into effect. it is impossible to believe that anything more than this was intended. in the first place, it would be inconsistent and at variance with the idea of the supremacy of the federal government; and, next, if the absolute, ultimate, and unconditional control of the matter had been intended to be given to the states, it would have been so expressed. it would not have been left to doubt or implication. in so important a matter as suffrage, the chief of all political rights or privileges, by which, indeed, life, liberty, and all others are guarded and maintained, and without which they would be held completely at the mercy of others; we repeat, it is impossible to conceive that this was intended to be left wholly and entirely at the discretion of the states. a right so important must not be the subject of implication.[ ] some positive warrant or authority must be shown for it, and in the case at bar we challenge its production. there is another view of the subject that is important to be considered. there can be no division of citizenship, either of its rights or its duties. there can be no half-way citizenship. woman, as a citizen of the united states, is entitled to all the benefits of that position, and liable to all its obligations, or to none. only citizens are permitted to pre-empt land, obtain passports, etc., all of which woman can do; and, on the other hand, she is taxed (without her "consent") in further recognition of her citizenship; and yet, as to this chief privilege of all, she is forbidden to exercise it. we call upon the state to show its warrant for so doing--for inflicting upon the plaintiff and the class to which she belongs, the bar of perpetual disfranchisement, where no crime or offense is alleged or pretended, and without "due process of law." we charge it as a "bill of attainder" of the most odious and oppressive character. the state can no more deprive a citizen of the united states of one privilege than of another, except by the "law of the land." there is no security for freedom if this be denied. to use the language of mr. madison, such a course "violates the vital principle of free government, that those who are to be bound by laws, ought to have a voice in making them." (madison papers, vol. --appendix, p. .) it is sometimes said this is one of the "reserved rights" of the states. but this can not be, for the simple reason that, as to the "privileges and immunities" of federal citizenship, they had no existence prior to the adoption of the federal constitution; how then could they be reserved? as mr. justice story says: "the states can exercise no powers whatsoever, which exclusively spring out of the existence of the national government, which the constitution does not delegate to them.... no state can say that it has reserved what it never possessed." (commentaries, §§ - .) we say, then, that the states may regulate, but they have no right to prohibit the franchise to citizens of the united states. they may prescribe the qualifications of the electors. they may require that they shall be of a certain age, be of sane mind, be free from crime, etc., because these are conditions for the good of the whole, and to which all citizens, sooner or later, may attain. but to single out a class of citizens and say to them, "notwithstanding you possess all these qualifications, you shall never vote, or take part in your government," what is it but a bill of attainder? to show that the mere regulation of this matter of suffrage was left to the states for the purpose we have indicated, and not to their absolute and ultimate control, we will now quote the language of one of the framers of the constitution, to whom, indeed, has been applied the epithet of "father of the constitution"--james madison; and this, too, in reply to questions by mr. monroe, who sought an explanation on these very points. we quote from the debates in the virginia convention upon the adoption of the federal constitution: mr. monroe wished that the honorable gentleman who had been in the federal convention would give information respecting the clause concerning elections. he wished to know why congress had an ultimate control over the time, place, and manner of elections of representatives, and the time and manner of that of senators, and also why there was an exception as to the place of electing senators. mr. madison: mr. chairman, the reason of the exception was, that if congress could fix the place of choosing the senators, it might compel the state legislatures to elect them in a different place from that of their usual sessions, which would produce some inconvenience, and was not necessary for the object of regulating the elections. but it was necessary to give the general government a control over the time and manner of choosing the senators, to prevent its own dissolution. with respect to the other point, it was thought that the regulation of time, place, and manner of electing the representatives should be uniform throughout the continent. some states might regulate the elections on the principles of equality, and others might regulate them otherwise. this diversity would be obviously unjust. elections are regulated now unequally in some states, particularly south carolina, with respect to charleston, which is represented by thirty members. should the people of any state by any means be deprived of the right of suffrage, it was judged proper that it should be remedied by the general government. it was found impossible to fix the time, place, and manner of the election of representatives in the constitution. it was found necessary to leave the regulation of these, in the first place, to the state government, as being best acquainted with the situation of the people, subject to the control of the general government, in order to enable it to produce uniformity, and prevent its own dissolution. and, considering the state governments and general government as distinct bodies, acting in different and independent capacities for the people, it was thought the particular regulations should be submitted to the former and the general regulations to the latter. were they exclusively under the control of the state governments, the general government might easily be dissolved. but if they be regulated properly by the state legislature, the congressional control will very properly never be exercised. the power appears to me satisfactory, and as unlikely to be abused as any part of the constitution. (elliot's debates, vol. , pages - .) it seems to us that nothing can be clearer or plainer than this, coming to us, as it does, with all the weight and authority of mr. madison himself. but it may be asked: if this be so, why was not the question sooner raised? we answer, at that very time, and for nearly twenty years afterward, women did vote, unquestioned and undisputed, in one of the states (new jersey). the men who framed the constitution were then living--some of them in this very state; yet we hear no mention of its being unconstitutional, no objection made to it whatever. it is true that subsequently this provision was omitted (about ) in the revisal of the state constitution (as we think, very unjustly), but the fact remains of the unquestioned exercise of this privilege by women at the very time the federal constitution was adopted, and for years afterward. this fact is worth a thousand theories. again, we think that one of the causes of the popular error on this subject arises from forgetting or overlooking the dual nature of our citizenship. we are citizens of a state, as well as of the united states. this is alluded to in several of the early cases, and its importance is clearly pointed out. we quote, first, from talbut _vs._ jansen, dallas, sup. ct. rep., ( ), in which mr. justice patterson says: "the act of the legislature of virginia does not apply. ballard was a citizen of virginia, and also of the united states. if the legislature of virginia pass an act specifying the causes of expatriation and prescribing the manner in which it is to be effected by the citizens of that state, what can be its operation on the citizens of the united states?" if the act of virginia affects ballard's citizenship so far as respects that state, can it touch his citizenship so far as regards the united states? allegiance to a particular state is one thing; allegiance to the united states is another. will it be said that the renunciation of allegiance to the former implies or draws after it a renunciation of allegiance to the latter? the sovereignties are different; the allegiance is different; the right, too, may be different. our situation being new, unavoidably creates new and intricate questions. we have sovereignties moving within a sovereignty. judge cabell, also of the supreme court of appeals of virginia, alludes to it briefly in the case of murray _vs._ mccarty, munford, . he says: "but although the constitution of the united states has wisely given to the citizens of each state the privileges of a citizen of any other state, yet it clearly recognizes the distinction between the character of a citizen of the united states and a citizen of any individual state, and also of citizens of different states," etc. or, if a still further and later authority be desired, we have it in the language of chief-justice taney, who says, in the dred scott case: in discussing this question we must not confound the rights of citizenship, which a state may confer within its own limits, and the rights of citizenship as a member of the union. it does not by any means follow, because he has all the rights and privileges of a citizen of a state, that he must be a citizen of the united states.... but if he rank as a citizen of the state to which he belongs, within the meaning of the constitution of the united states, then, whenever he goes into another state, the constitution clothes him as to the rights of person, with all the privileges and immunities which belong to citizens of the state. and if persons of the african race are citizens of a state, and of the united states, they would be entitled to all of these privileges and immunities in every state, and the state could not restrict them; for they would hold these privileges and immunities under the paramount authority of the federal government, and its courts would be bound to maintain and enforce them, the constitution and laws of the state to the contrary notwithstanding. and if the states could limit or restrict them, or place the party in an inferior grade, this clause of the constitution would be unmeaning, and could have no operation, and would give no rights to the citizen when in another state. he would have none but what the state itself chose to allow him. this is evidently not the construction or meaning of the clause in question. it guarantees rights to the citizen, and the state can not withhold them. (dred scott _vs._ sanford, howard's rep., pp. and .) now, substitute in the above, for "persons of the african race," women, who are "citizens of the state and of the united states," and you have the key to the whole position. we will now consider the clauses of the constitution before recited, somewhat in detail: as to "bills of attainder," "due process of law," etc. "no state shall pass any bill of attainder," etc. a bill of attainder is a legislative act which inflicts punishment without a judicial trial. if the punishment be less than death, the act is termed a bill of pains and penalties. within the meaning of the constitution, bills of attainder include bills of pains and penalties. in these cases the legislative body, in addition to its legitimate functions, exercises the powers and office of judge; it assumes, in the language of the text-book, judicial magistracy; it pronounces upon the guilt of the party, without any of the forms or safeguards of trial; it determines the sufficiency of the proofs produced, whether conformable to the rules of evidence or otherwise, and it fixes the degree of punishment in accordance with its own notions of the enormity of the offense. these bills are generally directed against the individuals by name, but they may be directed against a whole class. the theory upon which our political institutions rest, is, that all men have certain inalienable rights--that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and that, in the pursuit of happiness, all avocations, all honors, all positions are alike open to every one, and that, in the protection of these rights, all are equal before the law. any deprivation or suspension of any of these rights, for past conduct, is punishment, and can be in no otherwise defined. punishment not being therefore restricted, as contended by counsel, to the deprivation of life, liberty, or property, but also embracing deprivation or suspension of political or civil rights, and the disabilities prescribed by the provisions of the missouri constitution being in effect punishment, we proceed to consider whether there is any inhibition in the constitution of the united states against their enforcement.--(cummings _vs._ the state of missouri, wallace, - , and _ex parte_ garland--same volume.) we are aware that the supreme court of missouri, in the case of blair _vs._ ridgley, hold a different view, but we submit that the cases differ in a most material point, to wit: in the blair case he was merely required to take the oath taken by all voters; and, by refusing to do so, he virtually disfranchised himself. in this case, however, the disfranchisement of the plaintiff is arbitrary and insurmountable; and we further submit, that the arguments in this case present it in a different, and, we think, a broader view than was taken in the blair case. but to show that we are not unsupported by authority in this matter, we will now quote from a new york case, very similar to the blair case, where the elector was required, but refused to take the oath, etc. miller, j.: this case involves the constitutional validity of that portion of the act to provide for a convention to revise and amend the constitution of this state, which excludes from the privilege of voting all who refuse to take the test oath prescribed by the act in question. i think that the oath in question was unconstitutional and invalid, for the reasons which i will proceed to state. the first subdivision of the tenth section of the first article of the constitution of the united states provides, that "no state shall pass any bill of attainder, _ex post facto_ law, or laws impairing the obligations of contracts, or grant any title of nobility." the provision of the act which is to be considered declares, that no person shall vote at the election for delegates to said convention who will not, if duly challenged, take and subscribe an oath that he has not done certain acts mentioned therein, and inflicts the penalty of political disfranchisement without any preliminary examination or trial, for a refusal to take said oath. by this enactment the citizen is deprived, upon declining to conform to its mandate, of a right guaranteed to him by the constitution and laws of the land, and one of the most inestimable and invaluable privileges of a free government. there can be no doubt, i think, that to deprive a citizen of the privileges of exercising the elective franchise, for any conduct of which he has previously been guilty, is to inflict a punishment for the act done. it imposes upon him a severe penalty, which interferes with his privileges as a citizen, affects his respectability and standing in the community, degrades him in the estimation of his fellow-men, and reduces him below the level of those who constitute the great body of the people of which the government is composed. it moreover inflicts a penalty which, by the laws of this state, is a part of the punishment inflicted for a felony, and which follows conviction for such a crime. it is one of the peculiar characteristics of our free institutions, that every citizen is permitted to enjoy certain rights and privileges, which place him upon an equality with his neighbors. any law which takes away or abridges these rights, or suspends their exercise, is not only an infringement upon their enjoyment, but an actual punishment. that such is the practical effect of the test oath required by the act in question, can admit of no doubt, in my judgment. it arbitrarily and summarily, and without any of the forms of law, punishes for an offense created by the law itself. in the formation of our national constitution, its framers designed to prevent and guard against the exercise of the power of the legislature, by usurping judicial functions, and for the punishment of alleged offenses in advance of trial, for offenses unknown to the law, and by bill of attainder and _ex post facto enactments_, etc.--(green _vs._ shumway, howard's practice rep., pp. , .) on the same subject, we will next quote from a decision by the supreme court of nevada: lewis, c. j.--the form of the law by which an individual is deprived of a constitutional right is immaterial. the test of its constitutionality is, whether it operates to deprive any person of a right guaranteed or given to him by the constitution. if it does, it is a nullity, whatever may be its form. surely a law which deprives a person of a right, by requiring him to take an oath which he can not take, is no less objectionable than one depriving him of such right in direct terms. to make the enjoyment of a right depend upon an impossible condition, or upon the doing of that which can not legally be done, is equivalent to an absolute denial of the right under any condition. the effect, and not the language of the law, in such case, must determine its constitutionality. it would not be doubted for a moment that a law expressly denying the elective franchise to any person upon whom the constitution confers it would be unconstitutional. why, then, is a law less objectionable which, although not expressly and directly, yet no less certainly denies the right, etc.--(davies _vs._ mckeeby, nevada rep. , .) we quote next from a tennessee case: the elective franchise is a right which the law protects and enforces as jealously as it does property in chattels or lands. it matters not by what name it is designated--the right to vote, the elective franchise, or the privilege of the elective franchise--the person who, under the constitution and laws of the state is entitled to it, has a property in it, which the law maintains and vindicates as vigorously as it does any right of any kind which men may have and enjoy. the rules of law which guard against deprivation or injury, the rights of persons in corporeal properties, are alike and equally applicable to the elective franchise, and alike and equally guard persons invested with it against deprivation of or injury to it. persons invested with it can not be deprived of it otherwise than by "due process of law." see the state _vs._ staten, caldwell's rep., p. . see also rison _vs._ farr, ark. rep., p. ; winehamer _vs._ people, n. y., ; state _vs._ symonds, maine, , ; huber _vs._ riley, penn., ; cooley's constitutional limitations. we conclude this list of references with mr. webster's celebrated definition in the dartmouth college case ( wheaton, ): by the law of the land is most clearly intended the general law; a law which hears before it condemns, which proceeds upon inquiry, and renders judgment only after trial. the meaning is, that every citizen shall hold his life, liberty, property, and immunities, under the protection of the general rules which govern society. everything which may pass under the form of an enactment is not, therefore, to be considered the law of the land. if this were so, acts of attainder, bills of pains and penalties, acts of confiscation, acts reversing judgments, and acts directly transferring one man's estate to another, legislative judgments, decrees and forfeiture, in all possible forms, would be the law of the land. such a strange construction would render constitutional provisions of the highest importance completely inoperative and void. it would tend directly to establish the union of all powers in the legislature. there would be no general permanent law for courts to administer, or for men to live under. the administration of justice would be an empty form--an idle ceremony. judges would sit to execute legislative judgments and decrees; not to declare the law, or to administer the justice of the country. that the elective franchise is a privilege of citizenship, we have the authority of judge washington, for he says: what are the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states? we feel no hesitation in confining these expressions to those privileges and immunities which are in their nature fundamental; which belong of right to the citizens of all free governments; and which have, at all times, been enjoyed by the citizens of the several states which compose this union, from the time of their becoming free, independent, and sovereign. what those fundamental principles are, it would perhaps be more tedious than difficult to enumerate. they may, however, be all comprehended under the following general heads: protection by the government, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety, subject, nevertheless, to such restraints as the government may justly prescribe for the general good of the whole; the right of a citizen of one state to pass through, or to reside in any other state for purposes of trade, agriculture, professional pursuits, or otherwise; to claim the benefit of the writ of _habeas corpus_; to institute and maintain actions of every kind in the courts of the state; to take, hold, and dispose of property, either real or personal; and an exemption from higher taxes or imposition than are paid by the citizens of the other state, may be mentioned as some of the particular privileges and immunities of citizens, which are clearly embraced by the general description of privileges deemed to be fundamental; to which may be added, the elective franchise, as regulated and established by the laws or constitution of the state in which it is to be exercised (corfield _vs._ corryell, wash. c.c., ). cited and approved in dunham _vs._ lamphere, gray, (mass.); bennett _vs._ boggs, baldwin rep., . a proper construction of art. , sec. , of the constitution of the united states will further demonstrate the proposition we are endeavoring to uphold. that section is as follows: article , section . the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. this section consists of two clauses, but in neither is there a word as to the sex of the elector. he, or she, must be one of the people, or "citizens," as they are designated in the constitution, that is all.--(story's comms. § .) the "people" are to elect. this clause fixes the class of voters; the other clause is in subordination to that, and merely provides, that as touching qualifications, there shall be one and the same standard for the federal and for the state elector. both are mentioned and neither is or can be excluded by the other. the right to vote is very different from the qualification necessary in a voter. a person may have the right to vote, and yet not possess the necessary qualifications for exercising it. in this case, the right to vote is derived from the federal constitution, which designates the class of persons who may exercise it, and provides that the federal elector shall conform to the regulations of the state, so far as time, place, and manner of exercising it are concerned. but it is clear that under this authority the state has no right to lay down an arbitrary and impossible rule. as before stated by the chief-justice of nevada: "to make the enjoyment of a right depend upon an impossible condition, is equivalent to an absolute denial of it under any condition." in conclusion, we will consider, as briefly as possible, the points made by the supreme court of missouri. we quote from the opinion: the question presented then is, whether there is a conflict between the constitution of the united states and the constitution and laws of the state of missouri on this subject. that the different states of the union had a right, previous to the adoption of what is known as the xiv. amendment to the constitution of the united states, to limit the right to vote at election by their constitutions and laws to the male sex, i think can not at this day be questioned. undoubtedly the practice in the different states, as we have before said, is against the claim made by the plaintiff, although, as we shall show, in the early days of the republic this practice was by no means universal. but when the court states that the right of the states to do this can not be questioned, it assumes the very point in controversy, and it fails to notice the distinction between "the rights of citizenship which a state may confer within its own limits, and the rights of citizenship as a member of the union." (chief-justice taney in scott _vs._ sandford, howard, .) "the difference," says judge cooley (story on constitution, section ), "is in a high degree important." and while it may be true that the voter himself rarely, if ever, thinks of any difference between his vote for state and for federal officers, yet, in law, there is a wide distinction. in the one case he exercises the franchise under one jurisdiction or sovereignty, and in the other under a totally different one. in voting for federal officers he exercises the freeman's right to take part in the government of his own creation, and he does this in contemplation of law, in his character or capacity of a citizen of the united states, and his right so to vote legally depends upon such status or character. clearly, then, the right of a citizen of the united states to vote for federal officers can only be exercised under the authority or sovereignty of the united states, not under some other authority or sovereignty, and consequently the citizen of the united states could not justly have been deprived of such right by the state, even before the adoption of the xiv. amendment. but whatever doubt there may have been as to this, we hold that the adoption of the xiv. amendment put an end to it and placed the matter beyond controversy. the history of that amendment shows that it was designed as a limitation on the powers of the states, in many important particulars, and its language is clear and unmistakable. "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states." of course all the citizens of the united states are by this protected in the enjoyment of their privileges and immunities. among the privileges, that of voting is the highest and greatest. to an american citizen there can be none greater or more highly to be prized; and the preservation of this privilege to the citizens of the united states respectively is, by this amendment, placed under the immediate supervision and care of the government of the united states, who are thus charged with its fulfillment and guaranty. by ratifying this amendment the several states have relinquished and quit-claimed, so to speak, to the united states, all claim or right, on their part, to "make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the united states." the state of missouri, therefore, is estopped from longer claiming this right to limit the franchise to "males," as a state prerogative; and the supreme court of missouri should have so declared, and its failure to do so is error; because, by retaining that word in the state constitution and laws, not this plaintiff only, but large numbers of other citizens of the united states are "abridged" in the exercise of their "privileges and immunities as citizens of the united states," by being deprived of their right or privilege to vote for united states officers, as claimed by the plaintiff in her petition. not only this, but we say further, that the ratification of this amendment was, in intendment of law, a solemn agreement, on the part of the states, that all existing legislation inconsistent therewith should be repealed, or considered as repealed, and that none of like character should take place in the future. the state of missouri has acted upon this idea in part, and its subsequent legislation, on the subject of the ballot, has been as follows: the ratification of the xv. amendment (which we do not consider as having any direct bearing on the point now being considered, inasmuch as this amendment is merely prohibitory--not conferring any right, but treating the ballot in the hands of the negro as an existing fact, and forbidding his deprivation thereof). next, amending the state constitution and registration law, by simply omitting the word "white" from the clause "white male citizens." this constitutes the entire legislation of the state of missouri on this subject since the adoption of the xiv. amendment, and this omission of the word "white" was designed to make the state constitution conform to the amendment, so far as the negro was concerned, leaving the women citizens of the united states still under the ban of "involuntary servitude," in plain violation of the amendment. so that, while the negro votes to-day in missouri, there is not a syllable of affirmative legislation by the state conferring the right upon him. whence, then, does he derive it? there is but one reply. the xiv. amendment conferred upon the negro race in this country citizenship of the united states, and the ballot followed as an incident to that condition. or, to use the more forcible language of this court, in the slaughter-house cases ( wall., ), "the negro having, by the xiv. amendment, been declared a citizen of the united states, is thus made a voter in every state of the union." if this be true of the negro citizen of the united states, it is equally true of the woman citizen. and we invoke the interposition of of this court to effect, by its decree, that which the supreme court of missouri should have done, and declare that this objectionable word must be omitted, or considered as omitted from the constitution and registration law of said state. it can not be pretended that the constitution of the united states makes, or permits to be made, any distinction between its citizens in their rights and privileges; that the negro has a right which is denied to the woman. the discrimination, therefore, made and continued by the state of missouri, of which we complain, is an unjustifiable act of arbitrary power, not of right, and can be designated by no other term. we proceed with our quotation from the opinion: in this changed state of affairs, it was thought by those who originated and adopted this amendment, that it was absolutely necessary that these emancipated people should have the elective franchise, in order to enable them to protect themselves against unfriendly legislation, in which they could take no part; that unless these people had the right to vote, and thus protect themselves against oppression, their freedom from slavery would be a mockery, and their condition but little improved. it was to remedy this that the xiv. amendment to the constitution was adopted. it was to compel the former slave states to give these freedmen the right of suffrage, and to give them all of the rights of other citizens of the respective states, and thus make them equal with other citizens before the law. it would be impossible for us to give any better reason for woman's need of the ballot than the court has here given for that of the negro, except that woman's condition is even more helpless than his--"unless these people had the right to vote, and thus protect themselves against oppression, their freedom from slavery would be a mockery." how an american judge, with the claim of an american citizen before him, for the protection, which, as he truly says, this ballot alone can give, could see its lawfulness and justice in the one case, and not in the other, passes our comprehension. we again quote from the opinion: it was only intended to give the freedmen the same rights that were secured to all other classes of citizens in the state, and that if the other male inhabitants of the state over the age of twenty-one years enjoyed the right of suffrage, so should the males among the freedmen over the age of twenty-one years enjoy the same right; it was not intended that females, or persons under the age of twenty-one years, should have the right of suffrage conferred on them. in reply to this, we might content ourselves with saying that it is mere assertion, and can hardly be dignified as argument; but we answer, that if the xiv. amendment does not secure the ballot to woman, neither does it to the negro; for it does not in terms confer the ballot upon any one. as we have already shown, it is the altered condition of citizenship that secures to the negro this right; but this plaintiff might well reply, i was born to that condition, and yet am denied its privileges. we quote again, and finally, from the opinion: this is not only shown by the history of the times when the amendment was adopted, and the circumstances which produced it, but by reference to the second section of said amendment, it will be seen that the right to restrict the right of suffrage to the male inhabitants by a state is clearly recognized. if "the right to vote, etc., is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age," etc., is the language used. this clearly recognizes the right, and seems to anticipate the exercise of the right on the part of the states, to restrict the right of suffrage to the male inhabitants. we doubt if an instance can be found of a more complete misconception of the meaning and intention of the law. so far from its being a recognition of the right of the states to restrict the right to suffrage of males, it has an exactly opposite meaning. it was intended as a punishment on the states if they did this thing. it is no more a justification or authorization of the act than is the law punishing larceny an authority for stealing! its object was to punish the states as such, which, but for this provision, could not have been done by diminishing their representation accordingly; and it was designed as a still further security for the rights of the colored population. but, even if it could be held to recognize a right on the part of the state to disfranchise any one, it would only extend to "males," not to females. they, as "citizens of the united states," are embraced in, and protected by, the broad language of the amendment; a right that is fundamental, can not be taken away by implication. but more than this, the xiv. amendment was an addition to the organic law of a great nation, intended to enlarge the area of human freedom, and secure more firmly individual rights. it is absurd to impute to the law-makers a design at the same time to restrict those rights. although the point is not alluded to by the supreme court of missouri, yet, as we desire to meet every possible objection, we think this a proper place to notice an argument sometimes put forward, based upon the xv. amendment. it is of the nature of what is termed in law a negative pregnant, or, the familiar maxim of "the expression of one thing is the exclusion of another." as this amendment says, that the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, it is claimed by some that it may be abridged on other grounds. but, aside from the well-known history of this amendment, as shown by the debates in congress, of which this court will take notice when necessary, and which show that the sole object and purpose of this amendment was to still further protect the negro race, the ix. amendment to the constitution effectually puts an end to the application of this principle by declaring that the enumeration in the constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. and mr. justice story, in his commentary says, § : this clause was manifestly introduced to prevent any perverse or ingenious misapplication of the well-known maxim, that an affirmative in particular cases implies a negative in all others; and, _e converso_, that a negative in particular cases implies an affirmative in all others. the maxim, rightly understood, is perfectly sound and safe; but it has often been forced from its natural meaning into the support of the most dangerous political heresies. the amendment was undoubtedly suggested by the reasoning of the federalist on the subject of a general bill of rights and trial by jury. federalist no. - . we ask the court to consider what it is to be disfranchised; not this plaintiff only, but an entire class of people, utterly deprived of all voice in the government under which they live! we say it is to her, and to them, a despotism, and not a republic. what matters it that the tyranny be of many instead of one? society shudders at the thought of putting a fraudulent ballot into the ballot-box! what is the difference between putting a fraudulent ballot in, and keeping a lawful ballot out? her disfranchised condition is a badge of servitude. [mr. justice bradley in the grant parish case.] take one illustration, evidenced by a recent decision of the supreme court of missouri, in clark _vs._ the national bank of the state of missouri, mo. rep., . we use our own words, but we state it correctly; that a married woman can not, by the law of missouri, own a dollar's worth of personal property, except by the consent of another! it makes no difference that that other is her husband. this, it is true, is a state law, a matter exclusively of state legislation; but we mention it to show how utterly helpless and powerless her condition is without the ballot. either we must give up the principles announced in the declaration of independence, that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; and are formed by the people to protect their rights, not to withhold them; or we must acknowledge the truth contended for by the plaintiff, that citizenship carries with it every incident to every citizen alike. it can not be disputed, that upon this principle of absolute political equality, our government is founded. so thought the hon. luther martin, of maryland, one of the most distinguished lawyers of his day, and a member of the convention that framed our constitution. we quote his own words. (elliott's debates, vol. .) this, sir, is the substance of the arguments, if arguments they may be called, which were used in favor of inequality of suffrage. those who advocated the equality of suffrage, took the matter up on the original principles of government; they urged that all men considered in a state of nature, before any government is formed, are equally free and independent, no one having any right or authority to exercise power over another, and this, without any regard to difference in personal strength, understanding, or wealth. that when such individuals enter into government, they have each a right to an equal voice in its first formation, and afterward have each a right to an equal vote in every matter which relates to their government; that if it could be done conveniently, they have a right to exercise it in person; when it can not be done in person but for convenience, representatives are appointed to act for them; every person has a right to an equal vote in choosing that representative who is entrusted to do for the whole, that which the whole, if they could assemble, might do in person, and in the transacting of which each would have an equal voice. that if we were to admit, because a man was more wise, more strong, or more wealthy, he should be entitled to more votes than another, it would be inconsistent with the freedom and liberty of that other, and would reduce him to slavery. suppose, for instance, ten individuals in a state of nature about to enter into government, nine of whom are equally wise, equally strong, and equally wealthy, the tenth is ten times as wise, ten times as strong, or ten times as rich; if for this reason he is to have ten votes for each vote of either of the others, the nine might as well have no vote at all; since, though the whole nine might assent to a measure, yet the vote of the tenth would countervail and set aside all their votes. if this tenth approved of what they wished to adopt, it would be well, but if he disapproved, he could prevent it, and in the same manner he could carry into execution any measure he wished, contrary to the opinion of all the others, he having ten votes, and the others all together but nine. it is evident that on these principles the nine would have no will or discretion of their own, but must be totally dependent on the will and discretion of the tenth; to him they would be as absolutely slaves as any negro is to his master; if he did not attempt to carry into execution any measure injurious to the other nine, it could only be said that they had a good master; they would not be the less slaves, because they would be totally dependent on the will of another, and not on their own will. they might not feel their chains, but they would notwithstanding wear them, and whenever their master pleased he might draw them so tight as to gall them to the bone. hence it was urged the inequality of representation, or giving to one man more votes than another on account of his wealth, etc., was altogether inconsistent with the principles of liberty, and in the same proportion as it should be adopted in favor of one or more, in that proportion are the others enslaved. these are the words, not lightly uttered, nor to be by us lightly considered, of one of the framers of the constitution; and in complete accord with this principle of entire equality of individual right, see how those men who had fought through the war of independence did their work. upon what broad and comprehensive foundations it is laid. examine the constitution, the work of their hands. do we find any recognition of inequality of rights? not a syllable. on the contrary, every safeguard is thrown around them; "no state shall pass any bill of attainder," or "grant any title of nobility." so, too, when it comes to the practical recognition of these rights at the ballot-box, all are included. "the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states," not by a part--not by the "males"--but simply by "the people of the several states." the same "people" who ordain and establish that constitution as the supreme law of the land, they are to do the voting, they are to elect. there is not one word as to sex. the elector, male or female, must be one of the people or citizens, that is all. but when these electors come to exercise this right or privilege, then the matter of qualification arises, the age of the elector, the time, place, and manner of the exercise of the right, are to be considered, and the convention, instead of laying down a uniform rule or standard for all the states, which would have produced change and confusion, thought it best to leave this feature of it as it already stood in the several states. but the right itself is secured to the people of the united states, and in its very nature can not be derived from any other authority. we deem it proper, in this connection, to refer to the well-known fact that women voted in one of the states (new jersey) down to the year , when they were unjustly deprived of the right, by an act of the legislature of that state. we say unjustly, because no legislature can deprive a citizen of a constitutional right, and the matter has slumbered ever since. the constitution of new jersey, adopted in , used the term "inhabitants" in describing electors, and under this constitution women were recognized as voters, as well as men. in conformity with this constitutional provision the statute law was so worded as to read "he or she," in speaking of electors thus affording a contemporaneous and legislative attestation of the truth of our statement. this law of could not, of course, be the source of authority to any one for voting under a sovereignty not then in existence, not created until , thirteen years afterward. therefore, when the elector, male or female, in new jersey, voted for federal officers in , it was done by virtue of his or her status of citizenship, under the new and paramount sovereignty, and not under the law of ; and so it has continued ever since, the elector voting for united states officers by virtue of his citizenship of the united states, and for state officers as a citizen of the state. we believe, then, we are justified in the statement that white women in new jersey voted, under state authority, for the members of the constitutional convention of . that they next voted, under like authority, for the ratification of the newly framed constitution of the united states; and then, that constitution having been adopted, as newly-created citizens of the newly-created sovereignty, the white women of new jersey voted at the five succeeding presidential elections--for washington, for adams, and for jefferson. the contest in was bitter beyond all precedent, and we are told that all the women of the state entitled to vote did so. we refer to the constitution and laws of new jersey; to a work entitled _the historical magazine_, published in boston in , vol. i., p. ; to the _national intelligencer_, washington, october , ; to _notes and queries_, vol. viii., p. , august, . but apart from these considerations, which we deem amply sufficient to sustain our position, an examination into the nature and character of the right itself will further show that it is one of which the citizen can not justly be deprived, save for cause. the first amendment to the constitution declares that congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech or of the press, thus incorporating into the organic law of this country absolute freedom of thought or opinion. we presume it will not be doubted that the states are equally bound with congress by this prohibition, not only because, as chief-justice taney says, "the constitution of the united states, and every article and clause in it, is a part of the law of every state in the union, and is the paramount law" (prigg _vs._ the comm., peters r., ), but because, in the very nature of things, freedom of speech or of thought can not be divided. it is a personal attribute, and once secured is forever secured. to vote is but one form or method of expressing this freedom of speech. speech is a declaration of thought. a vote is the expression of the will, preference, or choice. suffrage is one definition of the word, while the verb is defined, to choose by suffrage, to elect, to express or signify the mind, will, or preference, either _viva voce_, or by ballot. we claim then that the right to vote, or express one's wish at the polls, is embraced in the spirit, if not the letter, of the first amendment, and every citizen is entitled to the protection it affords. it is the merest mockery to say to this plaintiff, you may write, print, publish, or speak your thoughts upon every occasion, except at the polls. there your lips shall be sealed. it is impossible that this can be american law! again, it is the opinion of some that suffrage is somehow lodged in the government, whence it is dispensed, or conferred upon the citizen, thus completely reversing the actual fact. suffrage is never conferred by government upon the citizen. he holds it by a higher title. in this country government is the source of power, not of rights. these are vested in the individual--are personal and inalienable. society can only acquire the authority to regulate these rights, or declare them forfeited, for cause. the time, place, and manner of their exercise are under governmental control, but their origin and source are in the individual himself. i shall, therefore, says a writer on government, assume it as an incontrovertible position, as a first principle, that the right of private opinion, which is, in fact, no other than the right of private judgment upon any subject presented to the mind, is a sacred right, with which society can, on no pretense, authoritatively interfere, without a violation of the first principles of the law of nature. (chipman on government, chap. .) other liberties, says erskine, are held under governments, but the liberty of opinion keeps governments themselves in due subjection to their duties. (speech in defense of thomas paine.) but this clause of the missouri law further violates the xiii. amendment, which declares that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in the united states, except for crime, etc. this amendment is a copy of the th clause of the famous ordinance of , which secured freedom for the northwest territory, and has now become the organic law for the entire union. this ordinance was drawn by the hon. nathan dane, of massachusetts.[ ] we say that this missouri law violates this amendment, inasmuch as it places the plaintiff in a disfranchised condition, which is none other than a condition of servitude--of "involuntary servitude," because, although a citizen in the fullest acceptation of the term--a member of this body politic--one of the "people"--she has never consented to this law; has never been permitted to express either consent or dissent, nor given any opportunity to express her opinion thereon, in the manner pointed out by law, while at the same time she is taxed, and her property taken to pay the very men who sat in judgment upon and condemned her! finally--such is the nature of this privilege--so individual--so purely personal is its character, that its indefinite extension detracts not in the slightest degree from those who already enjoy it, and by an affirmation of the plaintiff's claim all womanhood would be elevated into that condition of self-respect that perfect freedom alone can give. resume--(minor _vs._ happersett, wallace rep., p. .) st. as a citizen of the united states, the plaintiff is entitled to any and all the "privileges and immunities" that belong to such position however defined; and as are held, exercised, and enjoyed by other citizens of the united states. d. the elective franchise is a "privilege" of citizenship, in the highest sense of the word. it is the privilege preservative of all rights and privileges; and especially of the right of the citizen to participate in his or her government. d. the denial or abridgment of this privilege, if it exist at all, must be sought only in the fundamental charter of government--the constitution of the united states. if not found there, no inferior power or jurisdiction can legally claim the right to exercise it. th. but the constitution of the united states, so far from recognizing or permitting any denial or abridgment of the privileges of its citizens, expressly declares that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." th. it follows that the provisions of the missouri constitution and registry law before recited, are in conflict with and must yield to the paramount authority of the constitution of the united states. a few words more and we have done. the plaintiff has sought, by this action, for the establishment of a great principle of fundamental right, applicable not only to herself, but to the class to which she belongs; for the principles here laid down (as in the dred scott case) extend far beyond the limits of the particular suit, and embrace the rights of millions of others, who are thus represented through her. she has a right, therefore, to be heard for her cause; and in making this plea, she seeks only to give expression to those principles upon which, as upon a rock, our government is founded. it is impossible that that can be a republican government in which one half the citizens thereof are forever disfranchised. a citizen disfranchised is a citizen attainted; and this, too, in face of the fact, that you look in vain in the great charter of government, the constitution of the united states, for any warrant or authority for such discrimination. to that instrument she appeals for protection. supreme court of the united states. no. .--october term, . virginia l. minor and francis minor, her husband, plaintiffs in error, _vs._ reese happersett. in error to the supreme court of the state of missouri. mr. chief justice waite delivered the opinion of the court. (march . .) the question is presented in this case, whether, since the adoption of the xiv. amendment, a woman, who is a citizen of the united states and of the state of missouri, is a voter in that state, notwithstanding the provision of the constitution and laws of the state, which confine the right of suffrage to men alone. we might perhaps decide the case upon other grounds, but this question is fairly made. from the opinion, we find that it was the only one decided in the court below, and it is the only one which has been argued here. the case was undoubtedly brought to this court for the sole purpose of having that question decided by us, and, in view of the evident propriety there is of having it settled, so far as it can be by such a decision, we have concluded to waive all other considerations and proceed at once to its determination. it is contended that the provisions of the constitution and laws of the state of missouri, which confine the right of suffrage and registration therefor to men, are in violation of the constitution of the united states, and therefore void. the argument is, that as a woman, born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, is a citizen of the united states and of the state in which she resides, she has the right of suffrage as one of the privileges and immunities of her citizenship, which the state can not by its laws or constitution abridge. there is no doubt that women may be citizens. they are persons, and, by the xiv. amendment, "all persons born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" are expressly declared to be "citizens of the united states and of the state wherein they reside" but, in our opinion, it did not need this amendment to give them that position. before its adoption, the constitution of the united states did not in terms prescribe who should be citizens of the united states or of the several states, yet there were necessarily such citizens without such provision. there can not be a nation without a people. the very idea of a political community, such as a nation is, implies an association of persons for the promotion of their general welfare. each one of the persons associated becomes a member of the nation formed by the association. he owes it allegiance, and is entitled to its protection. allegiance and protection are in this connection, reciprocal obligations. the one is a compensation for the other; allegiance for protection and protection for allegiance. for convenience, it has been found necessary to give a name to this membership. the object is to designate by a title the person and the relation he bears to the nation. for this purpose the words "subject," "inhabitant," and "citizen" have been used, and the choice between them is sometimes made to depend upon the form of the government. citizen is now more commonly employed, however, and as it has been considered better suited to the description of one living under a republican government, it was adopted by nearly all of the states upon their separation from great britain, and was afterward adopted in the articles of confederation and in the constitution of the united states. when used in this sense, it is understood as conveying the idea of membership of a nation, and nothing more. to determine, then, who were citizens of the united states before the adoption of the amendment, it is necessary to ascertain what persons originally associated themselves together to form the nation, and what were afterward admitted to membership. looking at the constitution itself, we find that it was ordained and established by "the people of the united states" (preamble, stat., ), and then, going further back, we find that these were the people of the several states that had before dissolved the political bands which connected them with great britain and assumed a separate and equal station among the powers of the earth (dec. of ind., stat., ), and that had by articles of confederation and perpetual union, in which they took the name of "the united states of america," entered into a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defense, the security of their liberties and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to or attack made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever (art. confed., sec. , stat. ). whoever then was one of the people of either of these states when the constitution of the united states was adopted, became _ipso facto_ a citizen--a member of the nation created by its adoption. he was one of the persons associating together to form the nation, and was, consequently, one of its original citizens. as to this there has never been a doubt. disputes have arisen as to whether or not certain persons or certain classes of persons were part of the people at the time, but never as to their citizenship if they were. additions might always be made to the citizenship of the united states in two ways--first by birth and second by naturalization. this is apparent from the constitution itself, for it provides (art. , sec. ) that "no person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the united states at the time of the adoption of the constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president," and (art. , sec. ) that congress shall have power "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization." thus, new citizens may be born or they may be created by naturalization. the constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. at common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves upon their birth citizens also. these were natives, or natural-born citizens as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction, without reference to the citizenship of their parents. as to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. for the purposes of this case it is not necessary to solve these doubts. it is sufficient for everything we have now to consider, that all children born of citizen parents within the jurisdiction are themselves citizens. the words "all children" are certainly as comprehensive when used in this connection as "all persons," and if females are included in the last, they must be in the first. that they are included in the last is not denied. in fact, the whole argument of the plaintiffs proceeds upon that idea. under the power to adopt a uniform system of naturalization, congress as early as provided "that any alien, being a free white person," might be admitted as a citizen of the united states, and that the children of such persons so naturalized, dwelling within the united states, being under twenty-one years of age at the time of such naturalization, should also be considered citizens of the united states, and that the children of citizens of the united states that might be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the united states, should be considered as natural-born citizens ( stat. ). these provisions thus enacted have, in substance, been retained in all the naturalization laws adopted since. in , however, the last provision was somewhat extended, and all persons theretofore born or thereafter to be born out of the limits of the jurisdiction of the united states, whose fathers were, or should be at the time of their birth, citizens of the united states, were declared to be citizens also ( stat. ). as early as it was enacted by congress that when any alien, who had declared his intention to become a citizen in the manner provided by law, died before he was actually naturalized, his widow and children should be considered as citizens of the united states, and entitled to all rights and privileges as such upon taking the necessary oath ( stat., ); and in it was further provided that any woman who might lawfully be naturalized under the existing laws, married, or who should be married to a citizen of the united states, should be deemed and taken to be a citizen ( stat., ). from this it is apparent, that, from the commencement of the legislation upon this subject, alien women and alien minors could be made citizens by naturalization; and we think it will not be contended that this would have been done if it had not been supposed that native women and native minors were already citizens by birth. but if more is necessary to show that women have always been considered as citizens the same as men, abundant proof is to be found in the legislative and judicial history of the country. thus, by the constitution, the judicial power of the united states is made to extend to controversies between citizens of different states. under this it has been uniformly held, that the citizenship necessary to give the courts of the united states jurisdiction of a cause must be affirmatively shown on the record. its existence as a fact may be put in issue and tried. if found not to exist, the case must be dismissed. notwithstanding this, the records of the courts are full of cases in which the jurisdiction depends upon the citizenship of women, and not one can be found, we think, in which objection was made on that account. certainly none can be found in which it has been held that women could not sue or be sued in the courts of the united states. again, at the time of the adoption of the constitution, in many of the states (and in some probably now) aliens could not inherit or transmit inheritance. there are a multitude of cases to be found in which the question has been presented whether a woman was or was not an alien, and as such capable or incapable of inheritance, but in no one has it been insisted that she was not a citizen because she was a woman. on the contrary, her right to citizenship has been in all cases assumed. the only question has been whether, in the particular ease under consideration, she had availed herself of the right. in the legislative department of the government similar proof will be found. thus, in the pre-emption laws ( stat., , sec. ), a widow, "being a citizen of the united states," is allowed to make settlement on the public lands and purchase upon the terms specified, and women, "being citizens of the united states," are permitted to avail themselves of the benefit of the homestead law ( stat., ). other proof of like character might be found, but certainly more can not be necessary to establish the fact that sex has never been made one of the elements of citizenship in the united states. in this respect men have never had an advantage over women. the same laws precisely apply to both. the xiv. amendment did not affect the citizenship of women any more than it did of men. in this particular, therefore, the rights of mrs. minor do not depend upon the amendment. she has always been a citizen from her birth, and entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizenship. the amendment prohibited the state, of which she is a citizen, from abridging any of her privileges and immunities as a citizen of the united states, but it did not confer citizenship on her; that she had before its adoption. if the right of suffrage is one of the necessary privileges of a citizen of the united states, then the constitution and laws of missouri confining it to men are in violation of the constitution of the united states as amended, and consequently void. the direct question is, therefore, presented whether all citizens are necessarily voters (p. , wallace). the constitution does not define the privileges and immunities of citizens. for that definition we must look elsewhere. in this case we need not determine what they are, but only whether suffrage is necessarily one of them. it certainly is nowhere made so in express terms. the united states has no voters in the states of its own creation. the elective officers of the united states are all elected directly or indirectly by state voters. the members of the house of representatives are to be chosen by the people of the states, and the electors in each state must have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature (art. , sec. , const.) senators are to be chosen by the legislatures of the states, and, necessarily, the members of the legislature required to make the choice are elected by the voters of the state (art. , sec. ). each state must appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, the electors to elect the president and vice-president (art. , sec. ). the times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives are to be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the place of choosing senators (art. , sec. ). it is not necessary to inquire whether this power of supervision thus given to congress is sufficient to authorize any interference with the state laws prescribing the qualifications of voters, for no such interference has ever been attempted. the power of the state in this particular is certainly supreme until congress acts. the amendment did not add to the privileges and immunities of a citizen. it simply furnished an additional guaranty for the protection of such as he already had. no new voters were necessarily made by it. indirectly it may have had that effect, because it may have increased the number of citizens entitled to suffrage under the constitution and laws of the states, but it operates for this purpose, if at all, through the states and the state laws, and not directly upon the citizen. it is clear, therefore, we think, that the constitution has not added the right of suffrage to the privileges and immunities of citizenship as they existed at the time it was adopted. this makes it proper to inquire whether suffrage was co-extensive with the citizenship of the states at the time of its adoption. if it was, then it may with force be argued that suffrage was one of the rights which belonged to citizenship, and in the enjoyment of which every citizen must be protected. but if it was not, the contrary may with propriety be assumed. when the constitution of the united states was adopted, all the several states, with the exception of rhode island, had constitutions of their own. rhode island continued to act under its charter from the crown. upon an examination of those constitutions, we find that in no state were all citizens permitted to vote. each state determined for itself who should have that power. thus, in new hampshire, "every male inhabitant of each town and parish, with town privileges and places unincorporated in the state, of twenty-one years of age and upwards, excepting paupers and persons excused from paying taxes at their own request," were its voters; in massachusetts, "every male inhabitant of twenty-one years of age and upwards, having a freehold estate within the commonwealth of the annual income of three pounds, or any estate of the value of sixty pounds"; in rhode island, "such as are admitted free of the company and society" of the colony; in connecticut, such persons as had "maturity in years, quiet and peaceful behavior, a civil conversation, and forty shillings freehold or forty pounds personal estate," if so certified by the selectmen; in new york, "every male inhabitant of full age, who shall have personally resided within one of the counties of the state for six months immediately preceding the day of election, ... if during the time aforesaid he shall have been a freeholder, possessing a freehold of the value of twenty pounds within the country, or have rented a tenement therein of the yearly value of forty shillings, and been rated and actually paid taxes to the state"; in new jersey, all inhabitants ... of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate in the same, and have resided in the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election"; in pennsylvania, "every freeman at the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state two years next before the election, and within that time paid a state or county tax which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election"; in delaware and virginia, "as exercised by law at present"; in maryland, "all freeman above twenty-one years of age, having a freehold of fifty acres of land in the county in which they offer to vote and residing therein, and all freemen having property in the state above the value of thirty pounds current money, and having resided in the county in which they offer to vote one whole year next preceding the election"; in north carolina, for senators, "all freemen of the age of twenty-one years, who have been inhabitants of any one county within the state twelve months immediately preceding the day of election, and possessed of a freehold within the same county of fifty acres of land for six months next before and at the day of election," and for members of the house of commons, "all freemen of the age of twenty-one years, who have been inhabitants in any one county within the state twelve months immediately preceding the day of any election, and shall have paid public taxes"; in south carolina, "every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, being a citizen of the state, and having resided therein two years previous to the day of election, and who hath a freehold of fifty acres of land, or a town lot of which he hath been legally seized and possessed at least six months before such election, or (not having such freehold or town lot), hath been a resident within the election district in which he offers to give his vote six months before said election, and hath paid a tax the preceding year of three shillings sterling toward the support of the government"; and, in georgia, such "citizens and inhabitants of the state as shall have attained to the age of twenty-one years, and shall have paid tax for the year next preceding the election, and shall have resided six months within the county." in this condition of the law in respect to suffrage in the several states, it can not for a moment be doubted that, if it had been intended to make all citizens of the united states voters, the framers of the constitution would not have left it to implication. so important a change in the condition of citizenship as it actually existed, if intended, would have been expressly declared. but if further proof is necessary to show that no such change was intended, it can easily be found both in and out of the constitution. by article , section , it is provided that "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states." if suffrage is necessarily a part of citizenship, then the citizens of each state must be entitled to vote in the several states precisely as their citizens are. this is more than asserting that they may change their residence and become citizens of the state and thus be voters. it goes to the extent of insisting that, while retaining their original citizenship, they may vote in any state. this, we think, has never been claimed. and again, by the very terms of the amendment we have been considering (the xiv). "representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding indians not taxed. but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice-president of the united states, representatives in congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the united states, or in any way abridged, except for participation in the rebellion or other crimes, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state." why this, if it was not in the power of the legislature to deny the right of suffrage to some male inhabitants? and if suffrage was necessarily one of the absolute rights of citizenship, why confine the operation of the limitation to male inhabitants? women and children are, as we have seen, "persons." they are counted in the enumeration upon which the apportionment is to be made; but if they were necessarily voters because of their citizenship unless clearly excluded, why inflict the penalty for the exclusion of males alone? clearly, no such form of words would have been selected to express the idea here indicated if suffrage was the absolute right of all citizens. and still again, after the adoption of the xiv. amendment, it was deemed necessary to adopt a xv., as follows: "the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." the xiv. amendment had already provided that no state should make or enforce any law which should abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. if suffrage was one of these privileges or immunities, why amend the constitution to prevent its being denied on account of race, etc.? nothing is more evident than that the greater must include the less; and if all were already protected, why go through with the form of amending the constitution to protect a part? it is true that the united states guarantees to every state a republican form of government (art. , sec. ). it is also true that no state can pass a bill of attainder (art. , section ), and that no person can be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law (amendment v). all these several provisions of the constitution must be construed in connection with the other parts of the instrument, and in the light of the surrounding circumstances. the guaranty is of a republican form of government. no particular government is designated as republican, neither is the exact form to be guaranteed, in any manner especially designated. here, as in other parts of the instrument, we are compelled to resort elsewhere to ascertain what was intended. the guaranty necessarily implies a duty on the part of the states themselves to provide such a government. all the states had governments when the constitution was adopted. in all, the people participated to some extent through their representatives elected in the manner specially provided. these governments the constitution did not change. they were accepted precisely as they were, and it is therefore to be presumed that they were such as it was the duty of the states to provide. thus, we have unmistakable evidence of what was republican in form, within the meaning of that term as employed in the constitution. as has been seen, all the citizens of the states were not invested with the right of suffrage. in all, save perhaps new jersey, this right was only bestowed upon men, and not upon all of them. under these circumstances, it is certainly now too late to contend that a government is not republican within the meaning of this guaranty in the constitution because women are not made voters. the same maybe said of the other provisions just quoted. women were excluded from suffrage in nearly all the states by the express provision of their constitutions and laws. if that had been equivalent to a bill of attainder, certainly its abrogation would not have been left to implication. nothing less than express language would have been employed to effect so radical a change. so also of the amendment which declares that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; adopted as it was as early as . if suffrage was intended to be included within its obligations, language better adapted to express that intent would most certainly have been employed. the right of suffrage, when granted, will be protected. he who has it can only be deprived of it by due process of law; but, in order to claim protection, he must first show that he has the right. but we have already sufficiently considered the proof found upon the inside of the constitution. that upon the outside is equally effective. the constitution was submitted to the states for adoption in , and was ratified by nine states in , and, finally, by the thirteen original states in . "vermont was the first new state admitted to the union, and it came in under a constitution which conferred the right of suffrage only upon men of the full age of twenty-one years, having resided in the state for the space of one whole year next before the election, and who were of quiet and peaceable behavior. this was in . the next year ( ) kentucky followed, with a constitution confining the right of suffrage to free male citizens of the age of twenty-one years, who had resided in the state two years, or, in the county in which they offered to vote, one year next before the election. then followed tennessee in , with voters of freemen of the age of twenty-one years and upward, possessing a freehold in the county wherein they may vote, and being inhabitants of the state or freemen being inhabitants of any one county in the state six months immediately preceding the day of election. but we need not particularize further. no new state has ever been admitted to the union which has conferred the right of suffrage upon women, and this has never been considered a valid objection to her admission. on the contrary, as is claimed in the argument, the right of suffrage was withdrawn from women as early as in the state of new jersey, without any attempt to obtain the interference of the united states to prevent it. since then the governments of the insurgent states have been reorganized under a requirement that, before their representatives could be admitted to seats in congress, they must have adopted new constitutions, republican in form. in no one of these constitutions was suffrage conferred upon women, and yet the states have all been restored to their original position as states in the union. besides this, citizenship has not in all cases been made a condition precedent to the enjoyment of the right of suffrage. thus, in missouri, persons of foreign birth, who have declared their intention to become citizens of the united states, may under certain circumstances vote. the same provision is to be found in the constitutions of alabama, arkansas, florida, georgia, indiana, kansas, minnesota, and texas. certainly if the courts can consider any question settled, this is one. for near ninety years the people have acted upon the idea that the constitution, when it conferred citizenship, did not necessarily confer the right of suffrage. if uniform practice long continued can settle the construction of so important an instrument as the constitution of the united states confessedly is, most certainly it has been done here. our province is to decide what the law is, not to declare what it should be. we have given this case the careful consideration its importance demands. if the law is wrong it ought to be changed, but the power for that is not with us. the arguments addressed to us bearing upon such a view of the subject may perhaps be sufficient to induce those having the power to make the alteration, but they ought not to be permitted to influence our judgment in determining the present rights of the parties now litigating before us. no argument as to woman's need of suffrage can be considered. we can only act upon her rights as they exist. it is not for us to look at the hardship of withholding. our duty is at an end, if we find it is within the power of a state to withhold. being unanimously of the opinion that the constitution of the united states does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one, and that the constitutions and laws of the several states which commit that important trust to men alone are not necessarily void, we affirm the judgment of the court below. soon after the decision on mrs. minor's case, mrs. gage, in a convention at washington, ably reviewed judge waite's opinion, showing that the united states has eight classes of voters. she said: chief justice waite, in rendering the opinion of the supreme court of the united states, in the minor _vs._ happersett case, which was an appeal from the supreme court of missouri, on the question of woman's right to vote under the provisions of the xiv. amendment, decided against this right. the court maintained that the united states constitution does not confer the right of suffrage on any person, and that the matter is regulated by state constitutions, and that when provision is made in them extending the right of suffrage to men only, such provisions are binding. it also declared that the united states had no voters in the states of its own creation. but this assertion was false upon the very face of it. st. every enfranchised male slave had the ballot secured him under united states law--a law which annulled all state provisions against color. at the time of ratification of the last amendments, the state of new york possessed a property qualification of $ . the moment these amendments were ratified, that law became dead on the statute book. the new york legislature did not repeal it. the united states repealed this property prohibition, by creating a class of united states voters out of colored men. so here is one class of united states voters, and a clear mistake on the part of chief-justice waite and the supreme court. but the united states has often exercised its power over the ballot more directly than through constitutional amendments; for, d. every southern man disfranchised because of having taken part in the war, and who has since been granted amnesty, has again been made a voter through united states law; all such men then became united states voters. here is a second class of united states voters, and a second mistake of chief justice waite and the supreme court. it may be answered that the revolted states were in the condition of territories at the time of this disfranchisement, and therefore under direct control of the national government. admitting this, we still know that general amnesty was granted after reconstruction; after state forms of government had again been organized, the nation exercised its power over the ballot by restoring thousands of men to their political rights--to citizenship. and from the general law of amnesty for the rank and file, the leaders in the rebellion were again and again, by special acts of congress, re-endowed with the ballot. no amendment was submitted or expected. the authority of congress thus to restore to these men the use of the ballot was unquestioned. d. the naturalized foreigner secures his right to vote under united states law, and can not vote unless he first becomes an united states citizen, or announces his intention of so becoming. in missouri, nebraska, and some other states, the declaration of such intention permits him to vote. this is a state regulation, but the fact of his united states citizenship must in some form first exist. in the naturalized man is a third class of united states voters. with one and the same hand he at the same moment picks up his naturalization papers and his ballot. it matters not what the state law may be, the foreigner secures his vote under united states law. and here is a third class of united states voters and a third mistake of chief-justice waite and the supreme court. th. the thirty-ninth or fortieth congress took a step farther than this, passing a law that all foreigners who had served in, and been honorably discharged from the army, should possess the right to vote, even though they had not previously filed intention of naturalization, thus again proving that congress itself, without an amendment to the constitution, or the authorization of states, possessed power over the ballot. if it has this power of securing the use of the ballot to foreigners who have never intimated a desire to become citizens, it surely can enfranchise its own native-born citizens irrespective of sex. the denial of the ballot to all women by the supreme court, in the person of virginia l. minor, under the pretense that the united states possesses no voters in the states of its own creation is thus shown to be a false assumption. but this is not all. th and th. and oldest of all these classes of united states voters are those men who vote for members of the house of representatives, and for presidential electors in the several states. national constitution.--article , section . the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature. article , section , clause . each state shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in congress.... clause . the congress may determine the time of choosing the electors and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the united states. the united states by these articles guarantees: st. to every person who has a right under state action to vote for the most numerous branch of his state legislature, the united states right to vote at a peaceable election for members of congress. d. the united states directs the appointment of presidential electors, and declares that congress may not only determine the time of choosing such electors, but shall also fix the day upon which such votes shall be given. the united states secures the right, merely leaving the states to prescribe the qualifications of voters. this is all, with one exception that woman asks; she demands that her right shall be recognized and secured by the united states, which shall then prohibit the states from prescribing qualifications not within the reach of all citizens. a th class of united states voters are those men who having been deprived of citizenship through civil offenses against the power and majesty of the united states are afterward pardoned, or "restored to citizenship." still an th class over whom the united states exercises its authority are deserters from the army--military criminals. an act of congress of march , , imposed forfeiture of citizenship and its rights, as an additional penalty for the crime of desertion. in accordance with this act, the president issued a proclamation the eleventh of that same month, declaring that all deserters who failed to report themselves to a provost marshal within sixty days thereafter should be deemed to have forfeited their rights of citizenship, and should be declared forever incapable of holding any office of interest or profit under the united states. this act was passed previous to the submission of the xiv. amendment. thus at the time of chief-justice waite's decision asserting national want of power over the ballot, and declaring the united states possessed no voters of its own creation in the states (where else would it have them?), the country already possessed eight classes of voters, or persons whose right to the ballot was in some form under the control or sanction of the united states. the black man, the amnestied man, the naturalized man, the foreigner honorably discharged from the union army, voters for the lower house of congress, voters for presidential electors, pardoned civil and military criminals. further research may bring still other classes to light. thus when woman claims that her right to the use of the ballot shall be secured by the united states, she has eight distinguished precedents in favor of her demand for national protection. no more inconsistent assertion was ever made than that the united states possesses no control over the suffrage. while by circuit court decisions, supreme court decisions, and decisions of courts of lesser degree, theoretically denying its control over the suffrage, the united states in many ways besides those mentioned, practically acknowledges its possession of this right. in the case of miss anthony and the fourteen other women of rochester, n. y., who voted in , the great state of new york took no action at all in the matter; it was the general government which thrust itself forward and took up the question. if the united states has no control over the suffrage then miss anthony's trial was a clear interference of the united states with the rights of states. and so great was this interference, it is believed the judge appointed to try her case left washington with his verdict in his pocket already written. let none of my audience forget the various great trials of woman's right to vote under the xiv. amendment, especially that of mrs. virginia l. minor, who prosecuted the inspector of election in st. louis for refusing to receive her vote, and whose case, coming finally for adjudication to the supreme court of the united states, decision was rendered against her on the plea that the ballot was under control of the respective states, and that the united states has no voters in the states of its own creation; which i have shown to be an ignorant, imbecile, and false plea. neither let them forget that of susan b. anthony, decided against her on the ground that she was a woman at the time she voted. if states have the sole control of the suffrage, there was interference in the rights of the state of new york by her trial; and if united states citizens of any class have a right to be protected in the use of the ballot, then the united states very flagrantly and tyrannously interfered in miss anthony's individual right as a citizen of the united states. in the near future these trials of women under the xiv. amendment will be looked upon as the great state trials of the world; trials on which a republic, founded upon the acknowledged rights of all persons to self-government, through its courts decided against the right of one half of its citizens on the ground that sex was a barrier and a crime. then let us look at the territory of wyoming. much has of late been said in regard to women not making use of the ballot there. i care little about that statement one way or the other, as long as her right to vote is not interfered with. it will be time to require all women to vote when we have such a law for men; until then let each voter refrain from voting at his or her own option; it is not the vital question. but there is a point connected with woman's voting in wyoming that is well worthy of our consideration. that is, the interference of the united states with the concomitants of this right. for a time the women of wyoming sat upon juries, and the fact was heralded over the country that thieves, gamblers, murderers fled the territory rather than fall into the hands of these women jurors. the first conviction for a murder in that territory, not committed in self-defense, came from a mixed jury. but of late we have ceased hearing of women jurors. and why? because that sacred right has been interfered with by the united states. the marshal of the territory, an officer appointed by the united states government, has absolutely refused to place the names of women on the jury lists. consequently the women of wyoming are denied the exercise of this right by united states power. whether the marshal has been ordered by the national government to omit the names of women, we do not know, and it does not signify. the duty of the united states is none the less clear; the territories are in an especial way the wards of the nation, and should be protected in all territorial rights. the territory of wyoming having secured to women the exercise of their right to vote, it is the duty of the general government to protect them in the exercise of all concomitant rights, of which the jury is one. this deprivation of jury rights in wyoming is not only an united states interference with woman's political rights, but also an interference with her industrial rights. it is a well-known fact that some women earned their first independent dollar by sitting in the jury box. and whatever interferes with woman's industrial rights helps to send her down to those depths where want of bread has forced so many women: into the gutters of shame. this is a question of morality as well as of industrial and political rights. every infringement of a person's political rights, touches a hundred other rights adversely. let me show you one good that has come to woman through her ballot in wyoming. the payment of men and women teachers has been equalized by direct statute, for political power always benefits the parties holding it. let us look at a few other ways in which the united states has touched the rights of women where protection has been secured her by legislation outside of itself. one instance that has come to my knowledge since i have been in your city, is in the case of pensions for colored women. the united states not only secured the ballot to the black male citizen outside of state authority, but it has touched the family relation with its powerful hand. it has assumed that the woman with whom a colored soldier was living at the time of his death was his wife, notwithstanding he may have lived for many years in recognized married relations with another woman, and become the father of children by her during this period. in one case coming under the cognizance of our washington lawyer, mrs. lockwood, a pension was, by united states authority, thus granted to a woman living with such colored soldier at the time of his death, although she had no other claim upon it. this soldier, during the period of slavery, had been married in his master's house to another woman by a regularly ordained clergyman, and by that wife had become the father of five or six children. this woman was his lawful widow, according to state and church law. these children were his lawful children, according to state and church law, but the united states stepped in, and made this married woman an outcast, and left her children in the world with the brand of illegitimacy. the women of the territories of wyoming and utah are not secure in their political rights, because the women of the nation have none. scarcely a session of congress but some politician introduces a bill to disfranchise the women of these territories. in regard to the religious aspects of this utah question. i care for it only so far as it touches woman's political rights, although i do know that woman's political wrongs and her religious wrongs have been very closely intermingled in the past. i recall a papal bull of urban ii., in the th century, which compelled priests to discard their wives, making of thousands of women in england, wives who were not wed; of children, offspring who had no recognized fathers. we of the national woman suffrage association have nothing to do with the religious rights of women in utah, except in so far as they intermingle with and touch woman's political rights. but the utah question, which now comes up again, is not simply a religious question. the government is continuously striving to destroy the political rights of the women of this territory. its governor is a united states officer, and in his last report to the secretary of the interior, he so far transcended the duties of his office as to suggest the disfranchisement of utah women. almost every session of congress sees some bill of similar import introduced. the general government did not confer this right, did not secure even the exercise of it. the territorial legislature, the same as in wyoming, secured to women the exercise of the right of suffrage; the united states, according to its own theory, has no authority to interfere with this right, because, according to that theory, it has nothing at all to do with the suffrage question. yet it proposes to disfranchise those women as a punishment for their religious belief; it proposes to make social outcasts of them, as it has already done with the wives of some of its black soldier voters. looking back through history we find no act of the romish church more vile than that which compelled its priests to disown their wives and legitimate children--none which so utterly demoralized society, and destroyed its tens of thousands of women. and although, as a body of reformers, i again say we do not touch religion except where it, and politics together, infringe upon the rights of women, i do not hesitate to say for myself individually, that i have no faith in any form of religion, be it what it may, christian, mohammedan, buddhist, that receives revelation only through some man; or farther than that, i will say, i have no faith in any form of religion that does not place man and woman on an exact equality of religious rights. two forms of religion of the present day which have risen through woman, or as revelations to her, namely the shaker and the spiritual, do give us equality of religious rights, for man and woman. but i call your attention to the inconsistency of united states laws, and their especial injustice to women by interference with those rights secured them by state or territorial laws, as in case of the colored soldier's wife; as in case the assumption that the united states had a right to prohibit the exercise of the suffrage by a woman in new york, although new york itself did not interfere; as in case of the virtual prohibition by the united states of jury rights to the women of wyoming; as in case of the presumptuous suggestion of the governor of utah that its women should be disfranchised; as in case of such bills so often introduced in congress. i know something of the opinion of the women of the nation, and i know they intend to be recognized as citizens secured in the exercise of all the powers and rights of citizens. if this security has not come under the xiv. amendment, it must come under a xvi., for woman intends to possess "equal personal rights and equal political privileges with all other citizens." she asks for nothing outside the power of the united states, she asks for nothing outside the duty of the united states to secure. politicians may as well look this fact squarely in the face and become wise after the wisdom of the world, for in just so far as they ignore and forget the women of the country, in just so far will they themselves be ignored and forgotten by future generations. the following review of this important case is from the january number, , of the _central law journal_, st. louis, missouri: woman suffrage in its legal aspect--a review of the case of minor _vs._ happersett, wallace, u. s. reports. as a rule, respect should undoubtedly be paid to judicial decisions. when the court of last resort has considered and passed upon a question of law, especially if it be one involving a consideration of constitutional power, as well as of private right, it is eminently proper that its conclusion should not be disturbed, unless for reasons of the gravest import. but cases present themselves at times, in which criticism is not only justified, but is demanded; and it is only through its aid that the ultimate truth of any question can be reached and its principles be correctly established. nor can courts of justice take exception to such criticism, since the reports abound with evidences of the fact that there is no judicial immunity from error; and we believe that if the glamour of supposed legal impeccability, that shrouds the judiciary in the eyes of many, could be removed, a public service would be accomplished. in the case under consideration an important question of constitutional law was involved, the construction of which affected not only the plaintiff therein, but the entire class of persons to which she belonged, while the decision extends it still further, and makes it applicable to every citizen of the united states. thus, while the particular case may be ended, the entire community has an interest in the conclusion announced. it is not our purpose to consider the subject of suffrage as an abstract right; with this aspect of it we have nothing to do in this article. we shall treat it solely as a legal right. under a government of law, indeed, there are, properly speaking, no abstract rights. all rights, of person or of property, are legal rights, and it shall be our purpose to show that the right of federal suffrage is recognized in the constitution of the united states, and certainly no one will deny its practical exercise during nearly ninety years. an inspection of the opinion will show that the whole matter was summed up in the question, whether suffrage is a right or privilege appertaining to citizenship of the united states, for if it be, then the plaintiff's suit was rightly brought. the opinion, which was delivered by the chief justice, states the matter as follows: it is contended that the provisions of the constitution and laws of the state of missouri, which confine the right of suffrage and registration therefor to men, are in violation of the constitution of the united states, and therefore void. the argument is, that as a woman, born or naturalized in the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, is a citizen of the united states and of the state in which she resides, she has the right of suffrage, as one of the privileges and immunities of her citizenship, which the state can not by its laws or constitution abridge. and on page : if the right of suffrage is one of the necessary privileges of a citizen of the united states, then the constitution and laws of missouri confining it to men are in violation of the constitution of the united states, as amended, and consequently void. the direct question is therefore presented, whether all citizens are necessarily voters. the constitution does not define the privileges and immunities of citizens. for that definition we must look elsewhere. in this case we need not determine what they are, but only whether suffrage is necessarily one of them. it certainly is nowhere made so in express terms. the united states has no voters in the state, of its own creation. the elective officers of the united states are all elected directly or indirectly by state voters. we had supposed that if there was any question that now, at least, might be regarded as finally settled, both by the late appeal to arms, and by the constitutional amendments, it was that of the subordination of state to national authority, over any and all subjects in which the rights and privileges of citizens of the united states are involved. if the amendments do not cover this ground, then they are worse than useless. and yet this decision is a blow at all that constitutes us a nation. to declare that the united states has no voters--that its officers are all elected by state voters, is to completely reverse the order of things, and subordinate the citizens of the united states to state authority. it will be observed that this decision goes far beyond the ground hitherto and ordinarily claimed by the advocates of what are called "states' rights." it has usually been supposed that the states possessed the authority to regulate the exercise of the franchise by the federal voter, but never before was the right itself denied as appurtenant to federal citizenship. but now the franchise itself is declared to be non-existent--federal officers are elected by state voters. the subject itself is wholly withdrawn from federal supervision and control. even the amendments can not confer authority over a matter that has no existence. if, then, the united states has no voters in the states, it can properly have nothing to do with the subject of elections. if the citizen of the united states has no right to vote except as a citizen of a state, his federal citizenship is, of course, subordinated to his state citizenship. it logically follows that much of the recent legislation on this subject by congress is destitute of authority. if members of the house of representatives are elected by state voters, as here declared, there is no reason why the states may not, at their pleasure, recall their representatives, or refuse to elect them, as in the southern states claimed it to be their right to do; and if a sufficient number can be united in such a movement, the federal government will be completely at their mercy. it may also well be doubted how far the southern states are bound by legislation in which they had no part. notwithstanding the provision of the xiv. amendment, that neither the united states nor any state shall assume or pay any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; it (as held by the supreme court in two cases in th wallace, chief justice chase dissenting), contracts for the sale or hire of slaves effected before emancipation are valid, upon the ground that to take away the remedy for their enforcement would be to impair their obligation, how much less can the owner of a slave be deprived of his property, which forms the subject-matter of that contract, without compensation? if his contract can not be impaired, surely the thing to which that contract relates can not be taken from him, except upon compensation. chief justice chase was of the opinion that the above quoted provision of the xiv. amendment could be sustained only upon the ground that the xiii. amendment wiped out everything, contracts as well as slavery. yet the court held all such contracts to be valid. and see, in this connection, the case of wilkinson _vs_. leland, d peters, . it is idle to say that these suppositions are visionary. what has happened once, may occur again. it can hardly be questioned that if in the seceding states could have pointed to a decision of the supreme court of the united states such as this, the whole face of affairs might have been different, and the "erring sisters" permitted to "go in peace"! the "lost cause" may not be "lost," after all. but to resume: the court tells us in its opinion in this case, that "there can not be a nation without a people," but it seems there may be a nation without voters! now the people of the united states may not have a very profound knowledge of their institutions, but their intelligence certainly rises to the level of comprehending that a republican government can not be established or maintained without voters. it would be a manifest absurdity to say that in a government created by the people, they are not voters. inasmuch, then, as it is admitted by the court, if the right of suffrage be a privilege of the citizen of the united states, that the state constitution and laws confining it to men are in violation of the constitution of the united states and, consequently, void; as contended for by the plaintiff in this case, we have really only to examine this single point: does the constitution of the united states recognize the right of suffrage as belonging to its citizens? future generations will look with astonishment at the fact that such a question could be asked seriously. not only was the subject debated in the convention that framed the instrument, but one of its ablest members, alexander hamilton, in the fifty-second number of the _federalist_, says: the definition of the right of suffrage is very justly regarded as a fundamental article of republican government. it was incumbent on the convention, therefore, to define and establish this right in the constitution. to have left it open for the occasional regulation of the congress, would have been improper for the reason just mentioned. to have submitted it to the legislative discretion of the states, would have been improper for the same reason; and for the additional reason, that it would have rendered too dependent on the state governments that branch of the federal government which ought to be dependent on the people alone. to have reduced the different qualifications in the different states to one uniform rule, would probably have been as dissatisfactory to some of the states as it would have been difficult to the convention. the provision made by the convention appears, therefore, to be the best that lay within their option. it must be satisfactory to every state; because it is conformable to the standard already established, or which may be established by the state itself. it will be safe to the united states; because, being fixed by the state constitutions, it is not alterable by the state governments, and it can not be feared that the people of the states will alter this part of their constitutions in such a manner as to abridge the rights secured to them by the federal constitution. again, in the xv. amendment, suffrage is recognized as an existing right of federal citizenship. it is not created by that amendment. it was already existing. the language is: the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. a right must exist before it can be denied. there can be no denial of a thing that has no existence. if it should be said the xv. amendment relates only to the negro, we reply that this would be no answer, even if true, which may be doubted; but the point we are now discussing is the statement of the court that the united states has no voters in the states of its own creation, or in other words, that federal suffrage does not exist; we have shown that this a mistake, it being recognized in the constitution; and as the argument of the court was based on its non-existence it consequently falls to the ground. this really disposes of the case, but we will notice other points. the court says: after the adoption of the xiv. amendment, it was deemed necessary to have a xv: ... the xiv. amendment had already provided that no state should make or enforce any law which should abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. if suffrage was one of these privileges or immunities, why amend the constitution to prevent its being denied on account of race, etc.? nothing is more evident than that the greater must include the less, and if all were already protected, why go through with the form of amending the constitution to protect a part? it is sometimes perilous in argument to ask questions--we will answer the court in its own words. in the slaughter-house cases, the court then said: a few years' experience satisfied the thoughtful men who had been the authors of the other two amendments, that, notwithstanding the restraints of those articles on the states, and the laws passed under the additional powers granted to congress, these were inadequate for the protection of life, liberty, and property, without which freedom to the slave was no boon. they were in all those states denied the right of suffrage. the laws were administered by the white man alone. it was urged that a race of men distinctively marked as was the negro, living in the midst of another and dominant race, could never be fully secured in their person and their property without the right of suffrage. hence the xv. amendment, which declares that the right of a citizen of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. the negro having, by the xiv. amendment, been declared to be a citizen of the united states, is thus made a voter in every state of the union. ( wallace, .) for the present argument, it is immaterial whether this result is effected by the xiv., or xv. amendment, or both. the point is, that the supreme court here declares the negro to be a voter in every state of the union, by virtue of one or both amendments. he is made a voter (a federal voter) by the law of the united states, and not by the state law. being made a citizen of the united states, he is thus made a voter in every state of the union. this is the very gist of the matter. the whole principle is summed up in these few words. the franchise is an incident of the status, or condition of citizenship. freedom alone was not enough. the xiii. amendment made the negro free, but citizenship was additionally necessary before he became a voter. as soon as that was achieved, in that moment the franchise followed; to be enjoyed, in the same manner as by other citizens. if ever a suitor was entitled to rely with confidence upon judicial utterances of great principles of law, mrs. minor was thus entitled, in her case. she was a citizen of the united states by birth; admitted to be possessed of every qualification but that of sex. her counsel appeared before this court and quoted its very language above given, and asked the court to be consistent with its own teachings. but no. there was no great and powerful party to back her demand, as in the case of the negro. she was merely a private individual, and the court contented itself with saying that the right of suffrage when granted would be protected! to which it may be replied, if women ever vote, they will protect themselves; but, if their right should subsequently be denied by the state, the supreme court, according to its own rulings in this case, could give no protection, since it declares the right to be wholly within the control of each state. but why should the court require the women citizens of the united states to produce a special grant of the right, when it required nothing of the kind from the negro? are there two laws in this country, one for the negro, and another for woman? does the constitution of the united states recognize or permit class distinctions to be made between its citizens? yet by this decision, the negro is placed above the woman. he is her superior. his position is above her. for our own part, we decline to accept any such construction of that instrument, knowing that the time will ultimately come when some claim similar to that of mrs. minor will meet with proper recognition. to make its inconsistency still greater, the court in this case declares that "allegiance and protection are reciprocal obligations. the very idea of a political community, such as a nation is, implies an association of persons for the promotion of their general welfare. each one of the persons associated becomes a member of the nation formed by the association. he owes it allegiance and is entitled to its protection," yet in this case that protection is denied. while the negro, then, is thus declared to be a voter, by reason of his citizenship, in every state of the union, there is no law either of the state or of the nation, which in terms or by words confers the ballot upon him. the xv. amendment does not confer it, but treats it as a right already existing, and forbids its deprivation. likewise the state law assumes its existence, and makes no change, except to conform to the new condition of the negro's citizenship. there is no change in the state laws, except the omission of a word--the word "white"--from the clause "white male citizens," in the state constitution. but who ever heard of a right being conferred by omission? and yet this change of a single word by the state was an acknowledgment by it of the supremacy of federal law touching this subject; and was designed to make the state law conform to the federal law, which declares (xiv. amendment) that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states." this conformity extends, however, only so far as to embrace the negro citizen of the united states, leaving the far larger class of women citizens of the united states still under ban of disfranchisement, in plain violation of the amendment. under these circumstances, in the case under consideration, the supreme court of the united states was asked to interpose its authority, and effect by its decree that which the state should have done, and declare that the word "male" must be dropped, as well as the word "white." had this been done, the state law in its entirety would have conformed to the paramount law of the united states, while as it is, it conforms only in part. we are told that slavery was abolished in massachusetts, not by an enactment expressly adopted for the purpose, but by a decision of the supreme court in , that its existence was inconsistent with the declaration in the bill of rights that "all men are born free and equal." (bradford's history of mass., , ; draper's civil war, , ; story on const., , p. , note.) so far, however, from interfering, as it was its plain duty to have done, to protect this class of united states citizens, the court has gone further than perhaps it intended, and possibly destroyed the rights of another class, for the decision, by declaring that the united states has no voters, virtually renders the xv. amendment of no effect. there is nothing upon which it can operate. there being no voters, there is of course no "right to vote," to be "protected." so that every citizen of the united states is left completely at the mercy of the state. we will now consider that clause of the constitution of the united states in which, _as hamilton said_, the right of suffrage is defined and established for the citizens of the united states; which, nevertheless, has most strangely been regarded as conferring upon the states authority to disfranchise them. article , sec. . "the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature." the section, it will be seen, consists of two clauses, but there _is not a word as to the sex_ of the elector. he or she must be one of the people, or citizens--that is all. the "people" elect. they vote in their respective states, of course; or, to use the words of chief justice marshall, "when they act, they act in their states." ( wheaton, .) this first clause, then, fixes the class of persons to whom belong this right of suffrage--_federal suffrage_--not state suffrage. it would be absurd in the federal constitution to undertake to deal with state suffrage, and it attempts nothing of the kind. the right of federal suffrage, then, attaches or belongs to this class. the subsequent clause is subordinate to this, and relates not to the right, but to the exercise of it by the voter. in other words, it prescribes the qualifications of the elector, as to how he shall exercise the right; the time, place, and manner of voting, and the age at which the right shall be enjoyed. as to all these matters, which are included in the subject of "qualifications," instead of laying down a uniform rule, to be applicable all over the union, the convention thought it best to adopt the regulations on this subject already in force in the several states. when the federal elector, therefore, comes to vote for united states officers, he finds that he must simply conform to the regulations laid down by the state for state voters. but this confers upon the state no authority over the federal elector's right of suffrage; far less does it give the state authority to deprive the federal elector of this right, under pretense of laying down for its own citizens an arbitrary and impossible condition. in the nature of things, a republican government could not part with this right of suffrage. as hamilton says, such right is justly regarded as a fundamental article in such government. to part with it, would be to part with its chiefest attribute of sovereignty, and nothing of the kind was done, or intended. except so far, then, as this decision makes it so, there is not a particle of authority vested in the states to deny this right of federal suffrage to the citizen of the united states. the regulation of the exercise of the franchise is within their control, as above stated, but the right itself is not theirs to give or to withhold. _the right to vote for federal officers_ is wholly distinct from the right to vote for state officers; but the fact of these two rights being blended in one and the same person, and being usually exercised at the same time, has given rise to the whole difficulty. in consequence of the fact of the election being conducted by state officers, the state providing all the machinery for voting, etc., we have become accustomed, from long habit, to associate in our minds the one franchise with the other, and thus confound rights that are wholly separate and distinct. we notice, in conclusion, the remark of the court touching the non-assertion heretofore of this right by any one of the class now claiming to be entitled to it, and the intimation, or insinuation, that if the right really existed, it would have been claimed before, etc. it is true that mrs. minor's case is of "first impression," in the supreme court of the united states; but we fail to see that this fact has anything to do with the principle involved, or that there can be any such thing as a "limitation" of rights that are fundamental. if the right exists, and has a constitutional recognition, the time of its assertion has nothing to do with it. only weak minds will be influenced by a fallacy like this. because the women of a former day did not see and feel the necessity of making this claim, is no reason why those who do now see and feel that necessity should have that claim denied. "time has no more connection with, nor influence upon principle, than principle has upon time. the wrong which began a thousand years ago, is as much a wrong as if it began to-day; and the right which originates to-day, is as much a right as if it had the sanction of a thousand years. time, with respect to principles, is an eternal now. it has no operation upon them, it changes nothing of their nature and qualities." (paine's political works, vol. , p. --dissertation on government.) we are fully conscious that the subject upon which we have written is by no means exhausted; the point, especially in reference to bills of attainder, being wholly untouched. but the limits of a single article will not admit of a full discussion of the subject. indeed, a treatise upon suffrage is one of the wants of the profession. we leave it, however, to the candid judgment of our readers, if we have not fully demonstrated the right of federal suffrage to be a necessary privilege of a citizen of the united states, and, according to the court's own admission, such being the case, the plaintiff was entitled to the relief sought. thus closed woman's struggle for national protection of her civil and political rights under the xiv. amendment. in the case of myra bradwell, which was commenced in september, , two years before the others, chief-justice chase, one of the best and wisest judges that ever honored the american bench, dissented from the opinion of the supreme court: that the fact of united states citizenship did not secure to woman the right to practice law, and that a married woman rested under a special disability in regard to her civil rights, thus sustaining the action of illinois in refusing to admit mrs. bradwell to the bar of that state. the decision in the case of mrs. minor, that the political rights of women were wholly under the control of their respective states was still more emphatic and discouraging. had judge chase lived, we have every reason to believe that in this case too, he would have dissented, and that his opinion would have had great weight in the general discussion. although defeated at every point, woman's claim as a citizen of the united states to the federal franchise is placed upon record in the highest court of the nation, and there it will remain forever. as milton so grandly says in paradise lost: what though the field be lost? all is not lost: th' unconquerable will and courage never to submit or yield! footnotes: [ ] the elections in new hampshire were held in the spring in former years. [ ] an account of mrs. gardner's voting will be found in the michigan chapter. [ ] woman suffrage in the courts.--shakespeare revived. in the case of hamlet _vs._ rex, shakespeare's reports, occurs the following: scene--churchyard.--_enter two clowns with spades._ _first clown._ is she to be buried in christian burial that wilfully seeks her own salvation? _second clown._ i tell thee, she is; therefore make her grave straight. the crowner hath set on her and finds it christian burial. _first clown._ how can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defense? _second clown._ why,'tis found so. _first clown._ it must be so, _se offendendo_; it can not be else. for here lies the point. if i drown myself wittingly, it argues an act; and an act has three branches--it is to act, to do, and to perform. argal, she drowned herself wittingly. _second clown._ nay, but hear you good man, deliver. _first clown._ give me leave. here lies the water. good. here stands the man. good. if the man goes to this water and drowns himself, it is nil he, will he, he goes. mark you that. but if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself. argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life. _second clown._ but is this law? _first clown._ ay, marry is't, crowner quest law. it hardly needed any better authority than the above to convince simple-minded people of the truth of the observation made by blackstone that "law is the perfection of human reason." but if law is great, those who expound it are greater. the woman suffrage trial came on. the judges endeavored to follow the arguments as far as possible, and to religiously earn their salaries by the attention given, if no more. the arguments were finally finished, and the women of the country waited expectantly to hear their legal status defined. it took just one week for the united judicial wisdom of this district to consider this case in all its bearings, and then the decision came. it was about as follows: scene--district court-room.--_enter judges with law books._ _first judge._ women are voters but they can't vote. voting is a privilege and not a natural right, and must be conferred; it has clearly been conferred by the supreme law of the land, therefore women can not vote. a little voting is a good thing, but too much voting is injurious to public interests, as is instanced in our large cities. if women vote, there would be more voting than at present, consequently women are not entitled to vote. the constitution gives women the right to vote. the organic law of the district does not. the latter, of course, is void where it conflicts with the former, therefore can not women vote. congress has clearly recognized woman's right to the ballot, wily or nily. but the ballot must come to the woman, not she to the ballot, or else the law is violated. congress must go further, and point out to women how the ballot must come to her, or else will she not be given christian reception at the polls who willfully seek to vote thereat. therefore can not women vote. _second judge._ women are men, but men are not women. the former include the latter, but the latter won't be included. that is to say, the law regards men as women but not males as females. it is not every right which can be exercised, as society will not admit of it. the law, which is above society, says women shall vote, but society has not acceded, and hence this court can not interfere. therefore, i concur that women can not vote. _third judge._ i do not know but that the better way would have been for congress to have done otherwise than it did. why it did as it did is a question. but it did. it might have done more, or less, or both. it might have done otherwise. in either case it would have done so. and then it would have been. but as it is, it is perhaps as well as if it should have been. therefore can not women vote. _plaintiffs' attorneys._ but is this law? _the three judges._ verily is't the law of the supreme court of the district of columbia. this parody was written by j. w. knowlton, son-in-law of mr. riddle. [ ] a report of this trial will be found in the california chapter. [ ] whereas, complaint has this day been made by ---- on oath before me, william c. storrs, commissioner, charging that susan b. anthony, on or about the fifth day of november, , at the city of rochester, n. y., at an election held in the eighth ward of the city of rochester aforesaid, for a representative in the congress of the united states, did then and there vote for representative in congress in the united states, without having a lawful right to vote and in violation of section of an act of congress approved may , , entitled "an act to enforce the right of citizens of the united states to vote in the several states of this union and for other purposes." [ ] the following ladies voted: mrs. hannah anthony mosher, mrs. mary s. hebard, mrs. nancy m. chapman, mrs. jane m. cogswell, mrs martha n. french, mrs. margaret leyden, mrs. lottie bolles anthony, mrs. hannah chatfield, mrs. susan m. hough, mrs. sarah truesdale, mrs. mary pulver, mrs. rhoda de garmo, mrs. guelma anthony mclean, miss mary s. anthony, miss ellen t. baker. the following ladies registered but were not allowed to vote: mrs. amy post, mrs. mary fish curtis, mrs. dr. dutton, mrs. charlotte wilbur griffing, mrs. dr. wheeler, mrs. allen, mrs. lathrop. [ ] ex-president fillmore, hon. charles sedgwick, hon. e. g. lapham, david wright, esq., of auburn. [ ] indictment against susan b. anthony--district court of the united states of america, in and for the northern district of new york.--at a stated session of the district court of the united states of america, held in and for the northern district of new york, at the city hall, in the city of albany, in the said northern district of new york, on the third tuesday of january, in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, before the honorable nathan k. hall, judge of the said court, assigned to keep the peace of the said united states of america, in and for the said district, and also to hear and determine divers felonies, misdemeanors and other offenses against the said united states of america, in the said district committed. brace millerd, james d. wasson, peter h. bradt, james mcginty, henry a. davis, loring w. osborn, thomas whitbeck, john mullen, samuel g. harris, ralph davis, matthew fanning, abram kimmey, derrick b. van schoonhoven, wilhelmus van natten, james kenney, adam winne, james goold, samuel s. fowler, peter d. r. johnson, patrick carroll, good and lawful men of the said district, then and there sworn and charged to inquire for the said united states of america, and the body of said district, do, upon their oaths, present, that susan b. anthony now or late of rochester, in the county of monroe, with force and arms, etc., to wit: at and in the first election district of the eighth ward of the city of rochester, in the county of monroe, in said northern district of new york, and within the jurisdiction of this court, heretofore, to wit: on the fifth day of november, in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, at an election duly held at and in the first election district of the said eighth ward of the city of rochester, in said county and in said northern district of new york, which said election was for representatives in the congress of the united states, to wit: a representative in the congress of the united states for the state of new york at large, and a representative in the congress of the united states for the twenty-ninth congressional district of the state of new york, said first election district of said eighth ward of said city of rochester, being then and there a part of said twenty-ninth congressional district of the state of new york, did knowingly, wrongfully, and unlawfully vote for a representative in the congress of the united states for the state of new york at large, and for a representative in the congress of the united states for said twenty-ninth congressional district, without a lawful right to vote in said election district (the said susan b. anthony being then and there a person of the female sex), as she, the said susan b. anthony then and there well knew, contrary to the form of the statute of the united states of america in such case made and provided, and against the peace of the united states of america and their dignity. _second count_--and the jurors aforesaid upon their oaths aforesaid do further present that said susan b. anthony, now or late of rochester, in the county of monroe, with force and arms, etc., to wit: at and in the first election district of the eighth ward of the city of rochester, in the county of monroe, in said northern district of new york, and within the jurisdiction of this court, heretofore, to wit: on the fifth day of november, in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, at an election duly held at and in the first election district of the said eighth ward, of said city of rochester, in said county, and in said northern district of new york, which said election was for representatives in the congress of the united states, to wit: a representative in the congress of the united states for the state of new york at large, and a representative in the congress of the united states for the twenty-ninth congressional district of the state of new york, said first election district of said eighth ward, of said city of rochester, being then and there a part of said twenty-ninth congressional district of the state of new york, did knowingly, wrongfully and unlawfully vote for a candidate for representative in the congress of the united states for the state of new york at large, and for representative in the congress of the united states for said twenty-ninth congressional district, without having a lawful right to vote in said election district (the said susan b. anthony being then and there a person of the female sex), as she, the said susan b. anthony then and there well knew, contrary to the form of the statute of the united states of america in such case made and provided, and against the peace of the united states of america and their dignity. richard crowley, _attorney of the united states for the northern district of new york._ (endorsed). jan. , . richard crowley, pleads not guilty. _u. s. attorney_. [ ] see appendix. [ ] see appendix. [ ] thousands of copies were published in pamphlet form, with the court report of the trial, and circulated throughout the country. [ ] see appendix. [ ] to the same effect see former decisions in massachusetts: coffin _vs._ coffin, mass., ; com. _vs._ knapp, pic., ; and see also state _vs._ snow, maine, ; doss _vs._ com., grattan, ; peo. _vs._ mcfall, wheeler crim. rec., , note; holder _vs._ the state, georgia, ; state _vs._ allen, mccord, ; state _vs._ jones, alabama, ; armstrong _vs._ the state, blackford, ; patterson _vs._ the state, english, . [ ] gibbons _vs._ ogden, th wheaton, , ch. j. marshall. ogden _vs._ saunder, wheaton, , ch. j. marshall. [ ] more recent investigation shows that this clause was originated by mr. jefferson in . see _the nation_ for may , , _and authorities there referred to_. see bancroft's "history of the united states." vol. ii, p. . chapter xxvi. american woman suffrage association. circular letter--cleveland convention--association completed--henry ward beecher, president--convention in steinway hall, new york--george william curtis speaks--the first annual meeting held in cleveland--mrs. tracy cutler, president--mass meeting in steinway hall, new york, --state action recommended--moses coit tyler speaks--mass meetings in in philadelphia, washington, baltimore, pittsburgh--memorial to congress--letters from william lloyd garrison and others--hon. g. f. hoar advocates woman suffrage--anniversary celebrated at st. louis--dr. stone, of michigan--thomas wentworth higginson, president, --convention in cooper institute, new york--two hundred young women march in. meeting in plymouth church--letters from louise may alcott and elizabeth stuart phelps--the annual meeting in detroit--julia ward howe, president--letter from james t. field--mary f. eastman addresses the convention. bishop gilbert haven president for --convention steinway hall, new york--hon. charles bradlaugh speaks--centennial celebration, july d--petition to congress for a xvi. amendment--conventions in indianapolis, cincinnati, washington, and louisville. it was during the summer of that the initiative steps in the formation of the american woman suffrage association[ ] were taken, and the following letter circulated: boston, august , . many friends of the cause of woman suffrage desire that its interests may be promoted by the assembling and action of a convention devised on a truly national and representative basis for the organization of an american woman suffrage association. without depreciating the value of associations already existing, it is yet deemed that an organization at once more comprehensive and more widely representative than any of these is urgently called for. in this view, the executive committee of the new england woman suffrage association has appointed the undersigned a committee of correspondence to confer by letter with the friends of woman suffrage throughout the country on the subject of the proposed convention. we ask to hear from you in reply, at your earliest convenience. our present plan is that the authority of the convention shall be vested in delegates, to be chosen and accredited by the woman suffrage associations existing, or about to be formed, in the several states of the union. the number of delegates to be sent by each association and the precise time of the meeting of the convention can be determined as soon as we shall have received such answers to our present application as shall assure us of an active and generous co-operation in the measure proposed, on the part of the addressed. lucy stone, caroline m. severance, t. w. higginson, julia ward howe, geo. h. vibbert. soon after, the following call was issued: the undersigned, being convinced of the necessity for an american woman suffrage association, which shall embody the deliberate action of the state organizations, and shall carry with it their united weight, do hereby respectfully invite such organizations to be represented in a delegate convention, to be held at cleveland, ohio, november th and th, a.d., . the proposed basis of this convention is as follows: the delegates appointed by existing state organizations shall be admitted, provided their number does not exceed, in each case, that of the congressional delegation of the state. should it fall short of that number, additional delegates may be admitted from local organizations, or from no organization whatever, provided the applicants be actual residents of the states they represent. but no votes shall be counted in the convention except of those actually admitted as delegates. (signed) john neal, maine; nathaniel white, armenia s. white, william t. savage, new hampshire; james hutchinson, jr., vermont; william lloyd garrison, lydia maria child, david lee child, george f. hoar, julia ward howe, gilbert haven, caroline m. severance, james freeman clarke, abby kelly foster, stephen s. foster, frank b. sanborn, phebe a. hanaford, massachusetts; elizabeth b. chase, t. w. higginson, rowland g. hazard, rhode island; h. m. rogers, seth rogers, marianna stanton, connecticut; george william curtis, lydia mott, henry ward beecher, frances d. gage, samuel j. may, celia burleigh, w. h. burleigh, aaron m. powell, anna c. field, gerrit smith, e. s. bunker, new york; lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, john gage, portia gage, antoinette b. blackwell, a. j. davis, mary f. davis, new jersey; mary grew, pennsylvania; thomas garret, fielder israel, delaware; hannah m. tracy cutler, a. j. boyer, margaret v. longley, j. j. belleville, miriam m. cole, s. bolton, ohio; amanda way, george w. julian, laura giddings julian, lizzie m. boynton, indiana; mary a. livermore, c. b. waite, myra bradwell, james b. bradwell, sharon tyndale, j. p. weston, robert collyer, joseph haven, illinois; moses coit tyler, james a. b. stone, mrs. h. l. stone, michigan; lilie peckham, augusta j. chapin, wisconsin; amelia bloomer, iowa; mrs. s. b. stearns, minnesota; charles robinson, mrs. c. i. h. nichols, john ekin, d.d., j. p. root, kansas; mrs. w. t. hazard, isaac h. sturgeon, mrs. beverly allen, james e. yeatman, mary e. beede, j. c. orrick, mrs. george d. hall, missouri; guy w. wines, charles j. woodbury, tennessee; mary atkins lynch, louisiana; elizabeth c. wright, texas; grace greenwood, dist. columbia; a. k. safford, arizona; j. a. brewster, california: hon. g. c. jones, dowagiac, hon. william s. farmer, eau claire, hon. t. w. ferry, of grand haven; hon. s. h. blackman, paw paw, rev. j. straub, lansing, and s. h. brigham, editor of the lansing _republican_, michigan; mrs. austin adams, and edna t. snell, of dubuque, miss mattie e. griffiths, prof. and mrs. belle mansfield, mt. pleasant, t. m. mills, ed. des moines _state register_, ex-gov. and mrs. b. f. gue, and hon. mr. and mrs. pomeroy, ft. dodge, iowa; mrs. j. c. burbank, mrs. smith (state librarian), rev. j. marvin, and capt. russell blakely, of st. paul, mrs. elliott, of minneapolis, mr. and mrs. a. knight, of st. peter, minnesota; rev. h. eddy, pastor of the first presbyterian church of milwaukee, wisconsin; mrs. e. o. g. willard, of chicago, illinois. the first american woman suffrage convention assembled at case hall, cleveland, o., on wednesday morning, november th. the attendance from the city was very large; the vast hall being well filled, both floor and balcony. the convention was called to order by mrs. lucy stone. twenty-one states were represented--eighteen by regularly accredited delegates; thus making it truly national. great harmony pervaded all the deliberations of the committees and the discussions of the convention. on motion of f. b. sanborn, of massachusetts, judge j. b. bradwell, of chicago, was chosen temporary chairman, and on motion of mrs. lucy stone, mrs. mary f. davis, of new jersey, was elected temporary secretary. upon taking the chair, judge bradwell returned his thanks for the honor conferred upon him. it was unnecessary for him to speak at length in regard to the object of the meeting; it had been stated in the call read by mrs. stone. he said they were met for the formation of an american woman suffrage association, which shall be represented in every state of this great nation; and not only every state, but every city, town, and county from the atlantic to the pacific, and from the gulf of mexico to canada. on motion of mr. sanborn a committee on credentials[ ] was appointed by the president. all state delegations were requested to report their names to the committee, and also to fill any vacancies which might exist, if persons were present from their respective states. pending the report of the committee on credentials, mrs. lucy stone presented letters from several persons[ ] who had been unable to attend the convention, but desired to give expression to their sympathy with its object. in a few preliminary remarks she expressed the pleasure she felt at the sight of such a large and intelligent audience at the first session of the convention, which many had supposed would be but merely a business meeting. it was an evidence of the increasing interest which is being felt upon the subject of woman suffrage. she alluded to the convention held in this city sixteen years ago, and was glad to see several familiar faces which were present on that occasion. mrs. h. m. tracy cutler, of cleveland, delivered an eloquent appeal for women. judge bradwell said that under the laws in some states the right of woman to a certain degree of citizenship is acknowledged. foreign-born women may be naturalized, and even without the consent of their husbands. in all probability vermont will soon confer upon woman the right of suffrage. in that state the women considerably outnumber the men, and if some of them should move to the west, they might say, "we voted and were citizens in vermont, and, under the xiv. amendment to the constitution of the united states, we claim the right to vote here." mrs. c. g. ames, of california, alluded to a case which occurred in san francisco. a woman was informed that she might be protected through the courtesy of the consul, but that she had no claim to protection as a citizen of the government. the committee on credentials presented the names of delegates[ ] who were already present as entitled to seats in the convention. other names were added as they were reported to the convention during the session. there were also in attendance persons from virginia, mississippi, and nebraska, who conferred with the chairman of the committee on credentials with reference to their admission to the body of delegates. they were all _bona fide_ residents in the states they represented, but they seemed so undecided in reference to the question of woman suffrage, finding it hardly possible to tell whether they were for it or against it, that it was thought not best for them to propose themselves as self-constituted delegates. near the close of the convention, those from nebraska and virginia sought the chairman of the committee to say that if another convention were to be held, they could heartily and conscientiously take seats as delegates; for if they had any doubts as to the justice and utility of woman suffrage in the outset, they had been wholly removed by the arguments to which they had listened. twenty-one states were thus represented in the convention, making it truly national. on motion of mr. blackwell, the president was authorized to appoint a committee,[ ] consisting of one from each state on the permanent organization of the convention. pending the announcement of the committee, mrs. julia ward howe, of boston, delivered an address to the convention, replete with the noblest wisdom and the soundest morality. her utterance was both prophetic and hortatory. she cautioned women not to do injustice to others, while seeking justice for themselves; advised them that they must prepare for the new responsibilities they coveted; and that they would better learn to command, by learning well how to serve. she closed her grand and inspiring address with this sentence: "oh! of all the names given to us to warn off the demon and invoke the angel, let us hold fast to this word--service!" the convention reassembled at two o'clock, the hall being filled in every part. before proceeding to business, the president invited to seats upon the platform, stephen s. foster, miss susan b. anthony, rev. antoinette brown blackwell, andrew jackson davis, mrs. leland, of wisconsin; mr. and mrs. john gage, of vineland, new jersey, all of whom he designated as faithful veteran laborers in the good cause. he also invited all officers of woman suffrage associations, members of the press and the clergy without distinction of sex or color. the proceedings were opened with an impressive prayer by rev. antoinette brown blackwell, of new jersey. the committee on permanent organization reported the list of officers[ ] of the convention, which was adopted. the announcement of the name of t. w. higginson as president was received with loud applause. on taking the chair, he spoke substantially as follows: _ladies and gentlemen and fellow citizens_: i feel truly grateful to the members of this convention for the honor they have done me by choosing me for this responsible position. i take it not as a personal compliment to myself, but as a graceful act of courtesy on the part of the west, which is so largely represented, to the east, which is but slightly represented--perhaps our california friends would rather hear us say from the great central keystone states of the nation, to the little border states on the atlantic coast. it is eminently fit and proper that this convention should select for its place of meeting the great state of ohio, which takes the lead in the woman suffrage movement, as well as in other good things. it was the first to organize a state woman suffrage association, and the first in which a committee of the legislature recommended extending to woman the right of suffrage. it is befitting, then, that this convention should desire ohio as the stepping stone from which an american suffrage association shall rise into existence. [illustration: lucy stone.] my own state is but a small one. at the commencement of the war it was hardly thought worth while to attempt to raise troops in rhode island, for if they should be able to muster a regiment it would be necessary to go out of the state to find room to drill. but regiments were raised and they stood side by side with those of ohio during the great struggle, and your record is theirs. rhode island, too, stands shoulder to shoulder with ohio in the cause of woman suffrage. the call for this convention was signed by the representatives of twenty-five states; that for, the woman's rights convention, in , was signed by those of but six, yet ohio and rhode island were two of that number. i do not blush at the smallness of my state, but i rejoice in its prominence in this movement. i am glad to claim her as the only state which stands as a unit in the senate of the united states in favor of giving the ballot to woman. messrs. sprague and anthony, the senators from that state, agree upon this point, although if they ever agreed upon any other matter, i never heard of it. fellow-delegates and citizens, we have come together as supporters of a grand reformatory movement, and there is but one plain course for us to pursue. some years ago i attended a meeting of progressive friends, in pennsylvania. the subject of woman's rights came up for discussion, and opinions were expressed pro and con, when suddenly there came striding up the aisle an awkward boy, half-witted and about half-drunk. he stepped to the platform, flung his cap to the floor, and said that he wanted to give his testimony. "i don't know much about this subject or any other, but my mother was a woman!" the boys in the galleries laughed, and the quakers, sitting with their hats on their heads, looking as solemn as if the funeral of the whole human race was being held and they were the chief mourners, did not relax a muscle of their faces, but thought i to myself, "that overgrown boy, drunk or sober, has solved the whole question." women may doubt and hesitate, uncertain whether they want to vote or not, but men have only one position to take--to withdraw their opposition, and leave it to the women to decide for themselves. many intelligent and respectable ladies fear a conspiracy against their freedom--imagining that at times of elections detachments of police would seize and rudely drag the weak, fainting sisters to the polls against their will. they seem to regard the matter in the same light as a boy who went to the theatre night after night, but invariably went to sleep. upon being asked what he went for, he replied: "why i've got to go because i've a season ticket." and so some women seem to think that the right of suffrage will be like the boy's season ticket, and they must vote whether they will or not. when we can not drive men to the polls, when there is no law to compel them to serve or save their country at the ballot-box, if they stay away from selfishness or indifference, it is not likely that we will be more successful with the women. no compulsion is intended. we will lay before woman the great responsibility that rests upon her, her sacred duty as a wife and mother, we will open up to her a career of the highest usefulness in the world, in which she may more perfectly than ever before fulfill the destiny for which she is created, and then she may individually accept the ballot or not, according to the dictates of her own conscience. all men can do is to take down the barriers and say to her: "vote, if you please." it is to give more dignity and sacredness to woman; to enlarge and not limit her field of usefulness; but not to take her out of her appropriate sphere. it says to the wife: "do all you can to save your sons and husbands at home, strew around them its most hallowed influences; but if you fail there, you have another chance at the ballot-box to abolish, by your votes, the liquor-sellers that are dragging them down to ruin." i would earnestly recommend to this convention the importance of efficient and perfect organization, and not only in this body, but throughout the country. in the judgment of those who called this meeting, the great movement for woman suffrage is too far advanced to be further prosecuted only by local and accidental organizations. in most of the states, state associations are of but recent origin, and in many they do not exist at all. the efforts hitherto made were all well and useful in their way, but not enough to meet the demands of the present. it is the aim to establish this association on a national representative basis, embracing all the states in the union. we seek this because we need it. the enterprise is too vast to be left to hasty or accidental organizations only. we want something solid and permanent. the congress of the united states rests upon a narrower basis than does the organization at which we aim. that represents but half the people of the country while this is for all. it is eminently needful that we give the greatest care and deliberations to the work. we must have the counsel of various minds, laying aside local differences. we are of different habits and opinions, and do not think alike on all subjects. upon many questions we "agree to differ," but on this great question we are, and must be, all united. efficient organization will be a powerful aid in helping forward the grandest reform that was ever launched upon the human race. with this understanding i accept the position of president of this convention, losing my own individuality as one of its members. in conclusion, i ask your patience with my short-comings and your co-operation in conducting its proceedings. mrs. cutler read a courteous communication from h. s. stevens esq., kindly offering to furnish carriages free to those members of the convention who may wish to see the city, during their stay. col. higginson said that in the early days of woman suffrage, he had seen a rivalry among livery stable keepers to furnish carriages to take persons engaged in the movement out of town, and he regarded this offer as in singular contrast to that. on motion of mrs. lucy stone, the committee on permanent organization of the convention was also charged with the duty of preparing a basis of organization, constitution, and by-laws for a national woman suffrage association, and to report a list of officers for the same. the president invited all local woman suffrage organizations to make themselves known through their members present, and to participate in the deliberations of the convention. the following resolution, offered by mrs. lucy stone, was adopted. _resolved_, that the members of the associated press, now in session in this city, be invited to attend this convention and take part in its proceedings, and that mr. boyer, mr. f. b. sanborn, and mrs. cole, of dayton, be a committee to convey the invitation to that body. a telegram was received from grace greenwood, as follows: to t.w. higginson, _president of the woman's suffrage convention:_ kept at home by illness. god speed the cause. grace greenwood. brief speeches were made by rev. mrs. hanaford, of massachusetts; mary f. davis and lucy stone, of new jersey; and giles b. stebbins, of michigan, who introduced the following resolution, which was unanimously carried: _resolved_, that the national labor congress, representing five hundred thousand of the workingmen of our country, at its late session at philadelphia, by recognizing the equal membership and rights of men and women, of white and colored alike, showed a spirit of broad and impartial justice worthy of all commendation, and we hail its action as a proof of the power of truth over prejudice and oppression, which must be of signal benefit to its members, in helping that self-respect, intelligence, and moral culture by which the fair claims of labor are to be gained and the weaker truly ennobled and elevated. mr. h. b. blackwell presented the following: constitution of the american woman suffrage association. preamble: the undersigned, friends of woman suffrage, assembled in delegate convention in cleveland, ohio, november th and th, , in response to a call widely signed and after a public notice duly given, believing that a truly representative national organization is needed for the orderly and efficient prosecution of the suffrage movement in america, which shall embody the deliberate action of state and local organizations, and shall carry with it their united weight, do hereby form the american woman suffrage association. article i. name: this association shall be known as the american woman suffrage association. article ii. object: its object shall be to concentrate the efforts of all the advocates of woman, suffrage in the united states for national purposes only, viz: sec. . to form auxiliary state associations in every state where none such now exist, and to co-operate with those already existing, which shall declare themselves auxiliary before the first day of march next, the authority of the auxiliary societies being recognized in their respective localities, and their plan being promoted by every means in our power. sec. . to hold an annual meeting of delegates for the transaction of business and the election of officers for the ensuing year; also, one or more national conventions for the advocacy of woman suffrage. sec. . to publish tracts, documents, and other matter for the supply of state and local societies and individuals at actual cost. sec. . to prepare and circulate petitions to state legislatures, to congress, or to constitutional conventions in behalf of the legal and political equality of woman; to employ lecturers and agents, and to take any measures the executive committee may think fit, to forward the objects of the association. article iii.--organization. sec. . the officers of this association shall be a president, eight vice-presidents at large, chairman of the executive committee, foreign corresponding secretary, two recording secretaries, and a treasurer, all of whom shall be _ex-officio_ members of the executive committee from each state and territory, and from the district of columbia, as hereinafter provided. sec. . every president of an auxiliary state society shall be _ex-officio_ a vice-president of this association. sec. . every chairman of the executive committee of an auxiliary state society shall be _ex-officio_ a member of the executive committee of this association. sec. . in cases where no auxiliary state society exists, a suitable person may be selected by the annual meeting, by the executive committee, as vice-president or member of the executive committee, to serve only until the organization of said state association. sec. . the executive committee may fill all vacancies that may occur prior to the next annual meeting. sec. . all officers shall be elected annually at any annual meeting of delegates, on the basis of the congressional representation of the respective states and territories, except as above provided. sec. . no distinction on account of sex shall ever be made in the membership or in the selection of officers of this society; but the general principle shall be that one half of the officers shall, as nearly as convenient, be men, and one half women. sec. . no money shall be paid by the treasurer except under such restrictions as the executive committee may provide. sec. . five members of the executive committee, when convened by the chairman, after fifteen days written notice previously mailed to each of its members, shall constitute a quorum. but no action thus taken shall be final, until such proceedings shall have been ratified in writing by at least fifteen members of the committee. sec. . the chairman shall convene a meeting whenever requested to do so by five members of the executive committee. article iv. this association shall have a branch office in every state in connection with the office of the auxiliary state society therein, and shall have a central office at such place as the executive committee may determine. article v. this constitution may be amended at any annual meeting, by a vote of three-fifths of the delegates present therein. article vi. any person may become a member of the american woman suffrage association by signing the constitution and paying the sum of $ annually, or life members by paying the sum of $ , which membership shall entitle the individual to attend the business meetings of delegates and participate in their deliberations. article vii. honorary members may be appointed by the annual meeting or by the executive committee, in consideration of services rendered. the officers of the association were then appointed: _president_--henry ward beecher. _vice presidents at large_--t. w. higginson, mary a. livermore, william lloyd garrison, mrs. w. t. hazard, george w. curtis, celia m. burleigh, george w. julian, margaret v. longley. _chairman of executive committee_--lucy stone. _foreign corresponding secretary_--julia ward howe. _corresponding secretary_--myra bradwell. _recording secretaries_--henry b. blackwell, amanda way. _treasurer_--frank b. sanborn. _vice-presidents_--maine, rev. amory battles; new hampshire, armenia s. white; vermont, hon. c. w. willard; massachusetts, caroline m. severance; rhode island, rowland g. hazard; connecticut, seth rogers; new york, oliver johnson; new jersey, antoinette brown blackwell; pennsylvania, robert purvis; delaware, mrs. hanson robinson; ohio, dr. h. m. tracy cutler; indiana, lizzie m. boynton; illinois, c. b. waite; wisconsin, rev. h. eddy; michigan, moses coit tyler; minnesota, mrs. a. knight; kansas, hon. charles robinson; iowa, amelia bloomer; missouri, hon. isaac h. sturgeon; tennessee, hon. guy w. wines; florida, alfred purdie; oregon, mrs. general rufus saxton; california, rev. charles g. ames; virginia, hon. j. c. underwood; washington territory, hon. rufus leighton; arizona, hon. a. k. p. safford. _executive committee_--maine, mrs. oliver dennett; new hampshire, hon. nathaniel white; vermont, mrs. james hutchinson, jr.; massachusetts, rev. rowland connor; rhode island, elizabeth b. chace; connecticut, rev. olympia brown; new york, mrs. theodore tilton; new jersey, mary f. davis; pennsylvania, mary grew; delaware, dr. john cameron; ohio, andrew j. boyer; indiana, rev. charles marshall; illinois, hon. j. b. bradwell; wisconsin, lilie peckham; michigan, lucinda h. stone; minnesota, abby j. spaulding; kansas, mrs. c. i. h. nichols; iowa, belle mansfield; missouri, mrs. francis minor; tennessee, rev. charles j. woodbury; florida, mrs. dr. hawkes; california, mrs. mary e. ames; virginia, hon. a. m. fretz; district of columbia, grace greenwood. the addresses of the evening were made by judge bradwell and mary a. livermore, of illinois; miriam m. cole, of ohio; lilie peckham, of wisconsin; frank b. sanborn, editor of the springfield, mass., _republican_; and dr. lees, of leeds, england. at the thursday morning session the attendance was large, and the interest in the convention seemed to be increasing. the forenoon was devoted to a consideration of the basis of the national organization, its constitution and by-laws. the discussions[ ] were earnest, temperate, in excellent spirit, every woman keeping within the five minutes' rule, and speaking to the point--a circumstance commented on pleasantly by the president. the articles of the constitution and by-laws were discussed _seriatim_, and adopted, and then the constitution, as a whole, was adopted. a letter was presented by mrs. lucy stone, from the proprietor of the birch house, water street, offering to entertain a few delegates--free. she also read the following: cleveland, _november , _. _to the delegates of the woman's national convention_:--the faculty of the homeopathic college hereby extend their most cordial invitation to your honorable body to visit the college. conveyances for the same will be in readiness at any time desired. in this college, now in its twentieth annual session, woman, with the exception of one winter, has always been equal with man in privilege and honor, and here she shall always share an equal privilege and honor, so long as she is willing to conform to the same standard of culture. yours, most respectfully, t. p. wilson, _dean_. h. v. biggar, _registrar_. judge bradwell offered the following, which was adopted: _resolved_, that we urgently request all state and national associations, formed for the purpose of aiding in giving suffrage to woman, to become auxiliary to, or co-operate with the american woman's suffrage association, believing that by concert of action on the part of all societies and associations formed in the nation for this purpose, suffrage will sooner be extended to woman. able addresses were made during the afternoon by rev. charles marshall, pastor of one of the presbyterian churches of indianapolis; lizzie boynton and mrs. swank, of indiana; lucy stone, of new jersey; ex-gov. root, of kansas; mary e. ames, of california; and addie ballou, of minnesota. rebecca rickoff, of cleveland, recited an original poem, "the convict's mother," with marked effect. during the entire session the hall was filled to its utmost limit. the convention met for the closing session at an early hour. the hall was densely filled in every part, the man at the ticket-office having been literally inundated with "quarters." mrs. dr. cutler occupied the chair. mrs. stone announced that she would go through the audience to get names of members of the association, which any one could become on payment of a dollar. brief speeches were made by mr. bellville and mr. lamphear, of ohio; mr. henry blackwell, of new jersey; and rev. rowland connor, of massachusetts, and then mrs. julia ward howe delivered a second address of remarkable power and unparalleled beauty. she spoke the day before as the prophet of the convention--this evening, she spoke as its historian. her address was faultless, peerless, perfect, and though read from a manuscript, moved the large audience deeply. next followed mrs. celia burleigh, of new york, a woman of rare grace and culture, with an address packed with thought and wisdom, uttered in the choicest language. mrs. caroline m. severance, of boston, succeeded her with another speech of like polish and impressiveness, and then the great congregation rose, and closed the interesting meetings of the two days with the singing of the grand old doxology, "praise god from whom all blessings flow," after which the convention adjourned _sine die_. * * * * * a mass convention for the advocacy of woman suffrage, under the auspices of the american woman suffrage association, was held at steinway hall, new york city, may th and th, . upon each of those days three sessions were held, and at each session the attendance was numerous and enthusiastic. the convention was presided over by rev. henry ward beecher. upon the platform were seated many earnest, active supporters, and advocates of the cause.[ ] the address of rev. henry ward beecher was as follows: _ladies and gentlemen_:--it is but a little while ago that the question whether a woman might, with modesty and propriety, appear upon the public platform to speak her sentiments upon moral and philanthropic questions, agitated the whole community. although i do not regard myself as excessively conservative, i remember very well when the appointment of women, by the anti-slavery society of new england, to act on committees with men, grievously shocked my prejudices; and i said to myself, "well, where will this matter end?" i remember very well that when many persons, whose names are now quite familiar to the people, first began to speak on the anti-slavery question, i felt that if the diffidence and modesty and delicacy of woman had not been sacrificed, it had, at any rate, been put in peril; and that, although a few might survive, the perilous example would pervert and destroy the imitators and followers. it was in the year that i first made a profession of my faith in woman's rights. during the fremont campaign i had so far had my eyes opened and my understanding enlightened, as to see that if it is right for the people of great britain to put a politician at the head of their government, and she a woman--if, in all the civilized nations of the world, it is deemed both seemly and proper for women to be in public meetings and take part therein, provided they are duchesses or the ladies of lords--if it is right, in other words, for aristocracy to give to their women the right of public speech, then it is right, also, for democracy to give their women the right of public speech. does any one question whether lucy stone may speak? or mrs. livermore? or mrs. stanton? there is not a city or town in the nation that does not hail their coming; and there are no persons so refined, and no persons so conservative as not to listen to them; and there are none that listen who do not always admit that women may speak. god does not give such gifts for nothing. we are in a community that is constantly growing, expanding, developing. we do not believe that human nature has reached its limits. there are new combinations, new developments, taking place. nor do we believe that men have reached the ultimatum of their practical efficiency, any more than women have. it is in the order of things, that having met, tried, and settled this question--the right of woman to public speech--we should meet the next question, the right of women to act. she has a right to think,--has she a right to practice? may she vote, or sit upon committees in matters pertaining to local or national interests? it is this question which is under discussion now. it seems wild and wandering to many, but not more wild and wandering than fifteen years ago, to the great majority of our citizens, seemed the question of woman's right to public speech. i venture to say that within the fifteen years next coming it will seem strange to the great mass of the people that it should have been considered of doubtful propriety for woman to exercise the privilege, or, i should rather say, the duty of suffrage. and so within the last few years this question has risen up, to the suppression, i may say, of everything else; for everything else is conceded. i don't know what advanced step may be next proposed. if i did, i should propose it to-day--for this reason, that i notice that each advance becomes the acceptance of the disputed question immediately in its rear. when the doctrine of physiognomy--lavater's doctrine--was first propounded, men laughed it to scorn, and contemned the idea that there could be anything true or noble in it, until phrenology came and asserted that the brain's proportional parts could be known, and that the mind could be outwardly ascertained, and then men said: "oh, this phrenology is a humbug! physiognomy is rational; we can see how a man can judge that way; there is something in physiognomy." so they swallowed physiognomy in order to be strong enough to combat phrenology. animal magnetism, i believe, came up next; and the people ridiculed it as they had ridiculed those that had gone before. they now thought that there might be some sense in physiognomy and phrenology, but animal magnetism was preposterous. then came mesmerism. "why," people said, "this is nothing in the world but animal magnetism, in which, of course, there is some reason." then came spiritualism. "oh," people said, "that is nothing but mesmerism." so they admitted each anterior heresy for the sake of refuting the new one. and now, may a woman be an artist? may she sing in public? may she speak in public? "well," said people, "she can sing, if she has the gift; there is no harm in that; but this delivering an oration, this is not woman's sphere." then if we say, "shall a woman vote?" they say, "oh! vote! vote! let her speak if she wants to speak; but as for voting, that will never do!" therefore, as i have said, if i could but see the next point ahead, i would immediately proclaim it, because then people would say, "let women vote if they want to vote, but that is as far as we can go." i rejoice in your presence this morning. i, for one, need not assert that i am from my whole heart and conviction thoroughly of opinion that the nature of woman, the purity and sweetness of the family, the integrity and strength of the state, will all be advantaged when woman shall be, like man, a participator in public affairs. * * * * * rev. james freeman clarke said--ladies and gentlemen:--this is a very serious question, whichever way we look at it. i do not suppose that, if the women of the country were to be admitted to-day to vote, the consequences would appear to-day, or for some time to come, because women everywhere would vote very much as those around them are in the habit of voting. young men growing up generally vote as their fathers and brothers are in the habit of voting--those with whom they are in the habit of communication; so it would be with women. they would probably, for some time to come, vote very much as their husbands, fathers, and brothers do now. the ultimate result, however, is of the greatest consequence; and nobody can tell exactly what it will be. i, for one, believe that it will be very beneficial, and it is for that reason that i am here to-day. i believe, in the first place, that women ought to vote, because it seems to me that this is in the direction of all human progress, and in the direction of civilization. civilization, thus far, has constantly occupied itself in bringing woman up to, and putting her by the side of man. in the barbarous stage of society, woman is the slave and tool of man; in the asiatic age she is the plaything and ornament with which man amuses himself; but in christendom there is a tendency to place woman side by side with man in everything, and just as far as it has been done we find the benefit of it. woman ought to be made the companion of man in his great work of government. the reason why people think politics is a low and vulgar pursuit is that woman has never been in politics. where man goes alone he is easily corrupted. soldiers in the army are degraded, despite the patriotic nobleness of their motive, by the absence of woman, and men are degraded at the polls, as well as everywhere else, through not having women by their side. i believe in this movement, not only because it is in the direction of all modern civilization, but because it is in accordance with the idea of american government, and the policy of american institutions. a state is saved by being faithful to its own idea, or lost by faithlessness to that idea. now the american idea is faith in the people. we know perfectly well there are evils connected with republicanism, as there are with everything; but we have chosen the good of a republic with this great, broad basis of universal suffrage. people say, "well, but there is no natural right to vote." we knew that very well before, because there is no voting in a state of nature. voting is a social contrivance. because it is not a natural right, is it any less unjust to deprive a large part of the people of it? there are no roads in a state of nature. for that reason, shall we say to a woman, "you shall not walk in the road?" wherever the male and female qualities go together, we are better for it, and therefore it is our business to put them together in the government. put away all the absurd restrictions on woman, and let her do what god intended her to do. let us trust nature and god, and give to woman the opportunity to do whatever she is able to accomplish. i have another reason for woman suffrage, and that is, that nothing can be said against it. our good friend, dr. bushnell, has written a book in which he says that if woman is allowed to vote she must be allowed to govern; and, being a subject nature, she can not govern. in other words, as she is a subject nature, let her stay at home and govern her household all the time! people say she ought to influence gently and quietly, and not to govern by force. now if there is anything which means influence and not force, except indirectly and secondarily, it is the ballot-box! we had an administration two years ago which had all the force of the country at command, and the people went to the ballot-box and destroyed it so completely that we have almost forgotten we ever had so bad a government as that of andrew johnson. all the strength and bravery and determination of this world are not so much confined to the male sex as some ornaments of that sex would have us believe. we want the women--the wives and sisters and mothers of the land, to help save our men from political corruption. it is what god has ordained, and the time is coming when it shall be effected. mrs. m. m. cole read the following letter: vineland, n. j., may , . my dear friends: i once had a neighbor who was for years entirely crippled with rheumatism, and she, when asked, "how are you to-day?" invariably answered, "better, i thank you, to-day than i was yesterday. hope i shall be right smart to-morrow." so, friends, i could say, unasked, i am better this year than i was last, and i hope to keep on in this line until , and be able then to stand with you once more upon the platform of equal rights, and shout "hallelujahs" over the ratification of the sixteenth amendment; over the crowning of my labors of twenty-five years, during which time i have not failed to ask for the right of suffrage for all citizens of this republic, of sane mind and adult years, without regard to race, color, or sex. "the good time coming is almost here." yours in faith, frances d. gage. the president read a letter just received from mr. tilton: new york, may , . _rev. henry ward beecher, president of the american woman suffrage association_: honored sir: i am commissioned by the unanimous voice of the union woman suffrage society, now assembled in apollo hall, to present to yourself, and through you to the association over which you are presiding in steinway hall, our friendly salutations, our hearty good will, and our sincere wishes for mutual co-operation in the cause of woman's enfranchisement. fraternally yours, theodore tilton, president of the union woman suffrage society. at his own desire the president was unanimously requested to make reply on the behalf of the american woman suffrage association. mr. beecher remarked, "if there are two general associations for the same purpose, it is because we mean, in this great work, to do twice as much labor as one society could possibly do." rev. oscar clute said: every favored movement of civilization has been simply a recognition of the rights and privileges that inhere in humanity. take for instance the idea of the divine right of kings--which has been so thoroughly scouted by our republicanism. the abandonment of that idea upon the part of our fathers was a great stride in the path of civilization. and at this time in almost all parts of the world something is being done toward giving the masses a clearer idea of those rights which inhere in them. in our own country, the object of the woman suffrage reformers is, not to overturn anything already established that is good and pure and noble, but to extend to women those rights which inhere in them as human beings. it is not claimed for women that they shall have any advantage over men, but simply that they shall have the right to labor and receive their earnings. that they shall have such facilities of education as men enjoy. give woman equal opportunities. her sphere is, undoubtedly, to engage in such labor, to get such culture, and do such good work as she finds ready to her hands, and to help on in the cause of humanity. the ballot is the key that opens to woman all the avenues of labor and of culture. if all the avenues of education and labor were open to women, we should find them growing up with higher and nobler ambition than the girls of to-day. the laws at present in force are detrimental to the interests of women not only in regard to property, but to marriage itself. some provision is necessary by which women themselves can bring their efforts to bear upon these laws, and the ballot is the only effective measure for the purpose. mrs. julia ward howe said: my dear friends--sometimes, when i begin to speak at conventions for the advocacy of woman suffrage, i feel self-dismayed in thinking that i ought to educate my audience all over from beginning to end. but this would require so much time that no one convention would ever get through with it; so i content myself with saying, as simply and as strongly as i can, what happens to be in my mind. that particular thought which is now uppermost is the great pleasure of our meeting to-day. we come together here, trusting to see in your kind faces the reflection of our great hope; and to find in your ears the echo of that great promise which some of us expected to hear a long while ago, and which all of us now see growing and strengthening until its harmony seems to us to fill the world. we don't come together here to ignore oppositions, but to reconcile them. oppositions are divinely appointed. i do believe that their distance can not be increased with safety to the economy of the world. but love is the tropical equator. his fiery currents are able to quicken and vivify the whole globe. they circulate equally at the arctic and antarctic extremities. the work that we are doing in common is not unfavorably affected by oppositions. the poles are god's anointed and stand firm; but opposition has quickened the currents of love until it has melted the social ice at the extremities for us, and even the snows which very prematurely, i do assure you, begin to fall upon the heads of some of us. i have been speaking and writing on this subject for a year and a half, and i find the subject always getting outside of my efforts much more rapidly than my efforts are able to get outside of it. at every new meeting i find the speech of the last meeting much too small. whether the question grows or the speech shrinks i do not know, but i am inclined to think the former. i never knew any member of my nursery to require so much letting out, expanding, as this question. from all of this i am inclined to think that we have set our hands to a great work, to a long and hard labor, to a reform of human society; to a reduplication of human power and well-being..... mrs. sara j. lippincott, more widely known as "grace greenwood," stated that she had believed in woman suffrage since she was old enough to believe in anything that was right and to denounce anything that was wrong. she was not counted among the extremists. indeed, she claimed the right only for three classes of persons, namely, single women who have property of their own, married women, and all such other women as may desire it. i am willing that a property qualification should be exacted. require, if you will, that each woman voter shall possess a gold watch, and keep it wound and up to time--a clothes wringer and a sewing machine; that she shall be able to concoct a pudding, sew on a button, and, at a pinch, keep a boarding-house and support a husband respectably.... the president read the reply which he had prepared to the letter of mr. tilton as follows: new york, may , . _to theodore tilton, president of the woman suffrage society meeting in apollo hall_: dear sir: your letter of congratulation was received with great pleasure by the mass convention assembled in steinway hall, under the auspices of the american woman suffrage association, and i am instructed by their unanimous vote to express their gratification, and to reciprocate your sentiments of cordial good-will. in this great work upon which you have entered--the enfranchisement of woman--we have a common aim and interest, and we shall rejoice at any success which is achieved by your zeal and fidelity. i am, very truly, yours, henry ward beecher. mrs. mary f. davis, of new jersey, read a report from the executive committee of the new jersey woman suffrage association. col. t. w. higginson spoke as follows: mr. president, ladies and gentlemen--i was thinking during the brilliant speech of mrs. lippincott, what an awful reflection the existence of that woman was upon the government of the country in which we live--that she should reside in sight of the capitol of washington and never get nearer the interior of that building than the reporter's desk. fancy a house of representatives in which she should have an opportunity of talking to her fellow-delegates as she has talked to us this afternoon. fancy the life, the new interest, the animation that will come into those desolate debates in congress whenever she sets her foot as senator or representative within those halls, and the rest of the women come after her. if she was there, she might perhaps be met by the old objection, that, whatever her words may be, she did not have the physical force to sustain them. the composition of our delegates in both houses of congress is not, as a general rule, so formidable as to lead one to suppose that they were particularly sent there for their muscle. bring before you the array of the men whom you send to represent the nation. see how absurd it is to suppose that they were chosen for anything but their intellect. hear this lady talk, and when you compare what you have heard with the debates in congress, it does not seem to me that even intellect was the main consideration. i believe that no man ever made use of that hackneyed argument, that women couldn't vote because they couldn't discharge military duty, unless there was in that man something that needed the teaching of womanhood to make him do his military duty, and do it well. i never heard that argument made that i do not suspect that there is something amiss in that man's lungs, or his liver, or at any rate his brain. the military duties of the nation have nothing to do with the elective franchise. every soldier who comes back from military service finds the way to the polls blocked up by dozens of men who, at the time of the draft, suddenly developed lamenesses, either of limbs, or of excuses; men who wanted to see if there wasn't some wound or trouble by which they could be relieved from the obvious necessity. you recollect the man that mr. clarke spoke to you of this morning, who, at the sacking of lawrence, hid himself in the cellar, while his wife guided with a lantern the border ruffians who were in search of him. she relied apparently upon the ingenuity of the husband to hide himself effectively--a reliance in which she was not disappointed. not having found him, they decided to set fire to the house, and then she asked permission to bring out her household furniture and save it from the flames. to finish up she dragged out a great roll of carpet. had anybody sat down on that roll of carpet they would have heard the ready scream of her brave but suffering husband. if that man was like multitudes of men, if he were a man like horace greeley in his opinions, the moment the carpet was unrolled, the carpet knight would step out, and his first remark to his wife would probably be, "my dear, you can now return to the kitchen. i will do the voting, because i have the physical strength to stand by the government." woman, in time of war, has her mission, as man has his. it is idle to talk about her "sphere"--as her sphere is generally interpreted. even in the most disastrous war, the mission of woman is plainly to be discerned in deeds of self-denial and self-sacrifice. women have worked themselves literally to death through the toils and exposures of war. of all the semblances of argument that can be brought against the right of woman to the suffrage--of all the figments of the brain that men devise, there is nothing idler than to object to this right on the ground that suffrage and bearing arms should go together. in times of war the women of our country did aid and comfort and bless our suffering armies, and hundreds of returned soldiers owe their restoration to health and life to the ministering labors and devotedness of some woman. such men will not use the argument that woman should not have the suffrage because she can not bear arms. the ballot of woman is needed to render our civilization more complete and harmonious. i knew a lady who rode with the first party of ladies over the mountains into a mining town of california. the whole population turned out to see the novel spectacle. what did they say when the women came among them? did they say, "go away from here; this is no place for women; you will unsex yourself?" oh, no! the first sound heard from that silent and expectant throng of miners was a rough voice calling out, "three cheers for the ladies who have come to make us better!" it is this coming of the new influence--not a purer influence merely, for doubtless a great part of what is called the purity of woman is but the purity of ignorance, that rough contact with the world would seem to endanger--it is not merely the greater purity, but it is because she is the other part of the human race; it is because without her we have fathers in the state, but no mothers; it is because without her in our legislative halls, we have laws that take from the mother the right to every child she bears; it is because without her in our courts, lawyers use foul words that shame the purity of woman. until woman takes a place with man in the legislation of the world, and in the administration of justice, she will suffer, and man through her will suffer; also, it is not because woman is so far above man that we claim her rights in this matter. it is because she is the other half of man and society is imperfect, and will remain so until she takes her proper place in the labors of the world. if a pair of scissors be broken in two, and you have it riveted together, it is not because you concede angelic superiority to either half, but simply because it takes two halves to make a whole. mrs. cutler was the first speaker of the evening session. ladies and gentlemen:--when the cloud of slavery agitation arose--a cloud at first no bigger than a man's hand, but which at length became a great tempest, overshadowing all the land, and when the thunders rolled, and the lightnings flashed, and when we felt that almost the doom of our nation had come, then we women read, as one of our number has so grandly expressed it--we read by the light of a hundred thousand lamps, the judgment of the almighty against the institution of slavery. that institution was wrong because it took away human rights. but what were the rights? the right to live was not among them--for the slave lived. the right to bread was not among them--for he was fed and clothed. the rights that were taken away were the rights inherent in all human beings to the results of their own labor, to the freedom of the body and the mind. and when the country once became aroused to the full significance of this slavery question, the heart of every mother in the land throbbed in sympathy with the enslaved. at last war said to us, "these people have not been remembered in their bonds, and our sons and brothers are now called from us, and we must offer them upon the altar of sacrifice!" and, wondering, we read anew the declaration of independence, and swore fealty to its precepts, now to be written with a pen of iron dipped in the hearts' blood of our sons. it is past, and all men are free and equal in america. but there is one thing yet to be done in order that our country may come fully within the provisions of the well-nigh inspired expression of our forefathers, "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." the women of america pay taxes for the support of the government, and their consent should be had in matters affecting their welfare and their lives. we have been making our work known for years, but it has been to no purpose, and we have come to the conclusion that the only way to remedy the evil is to get the ballot.... there is nothing to be asked for now but the ballot. i shall never ask for anything less than that while i live. rev. henry ward beecher, the president, then addressed the convention. ladies and gentlemen:--we expect that every great movement in the community will, from various reasons, meet with ridicule and depreciation, as well as plain, honest resistance. nor are we indisposed to take our share in the merriment that is made. we are, however, indisposed to have it said that this is a complaining movement on the part of women. for, although there may be occasions of single outbursts of this kind, this movement has no such parentage, and it is progressing under no such motives. it has long been in the hearts of many that women should be raised to an equality in civil affairs with men, but that great discussion which aroused and instructed the conscience of the nation, and, above all, that issue of war which brought men down to the very foundations of their belief, has been fruitful in raising a multitude of questions which are advancing now and which are to be consummated. among these is the question, "are women equal with men?" you might as well ask, "are all men equal to each other?" for you adjudicate no questions in this country on the ground of superiority or inferiority of classes among men. it makes no difference, therefore, in regard to this question, whether women be superior or inferior. the question is simply this: have they not, before the law, the same rights that men have, and ought they not to have, in the administration of public interests, precisely the same power that men have? now, in arguing this question--in urging it upon the community, i find a fear first, lest woman's nature should deteriorate. kings were always afraid that if their nobles got power it would make them dissolute and reckless and grasping, and the nobles were always afraid of the burgher class, that if they should get political honor, it would only puff them up and make them unmanageable, and the burgher class, when they have obtained their political privileges, were afraid to extend a share in these privileges to the yeomanry, the peasantry. you never saw one upper class who held a prerogative that could ever be made to see any reason why the inferior class should have a share of it. it is the universal law of the superior class to keep the privileges to themselves, and the privileges have usually had to be wrested from them. in the first place, what has been the effect upon woman of enlarging the sphere of her influence? there can be no question that from generation to generation since the introduction of christianity the sphere of woman has been enlarging. she has been growing up in the scale of power; has she been going down in the scale of moral character? you know as well as i do that they are better, and that, instead of deteriorating their character, it has improved them and augmented the volume of their being, and they are women still. but it is said that "in politics it is different." in what way is it different? do you hesitate to say, "jane, on your way to school please take these letters and drop them into the letter-box at the corner," and your daughter does it. there is much more trouble in doing that than to drop a ballot in the ballot-box. nobody thinks anything of it, although there are men there, too. is a woman demeaned by dropping her ballot into the box? does the act injure her? "oh, no; it is not the act--it is the scenes that she would have to meet. go to the polls, and see what voting means." yes; go and see what bachelor voting means. it is exactly the thing that we want to improve. did you ever see a crowd of men, the rudest in the world, who, when a lady walked among them, did not open spontaneously and let her pass through as if she was an angel? it is asked sometimes, "would you like to have your wife or daughter go to the polls and vote?" yes--on my arm; yes. i venture to say that there is not a precinct in the city where well-bred ladies will not only be allowed to vote themselves, but would carry peace in the exercise of the right to others. "would you have a woman participate in the scenes preliminary to an election?" i will tell you that the moment that women begin to vote there will be no scenes "preliminary" in which women may not appear. it is this very jointure of the family influence that we look to as a part of the influence that should bring reformation into our politics; for if our politics are to be masculine forever i despair of the republic. no! whatever thing on god's earth a woman's conscience tells her to do, she can do it, though she stood in the gates of hell, and be every particle a woman just as much. is there anything in this world that has so great a reputation for lawlessness as a camp? and yet, when our armies went into this conflict, how many hundreds of women went, not as companions, but to minister to the boys. they went down into the camps, and through the whole war consorted with the rudest of men, and not one single syllable did they ever hear from the lips of those men that a pure ear should not hear. they ate the soldiers' fare--they performed the most menial services; but it was love that inspired and sustained them in their toils. and will any man say that after these four years had passed, and these ministers of mercy came back again, that because they had been mixed up with this rabble crew, they were the less women? were they not the more women? these are sisters of charity--these are heroines without a record in any human literature. have they been injured by mixing with the rude affairs of war in camps and among soldiers? when women take upon themselves such necessary duties they take vulgarity from vulgarity, and coarseness becomes refined, for it is the heart of woman that brings life among men, and restores paradise. but it is said that it would do women no good to have the vote, because they would vote as their husbands would. well, i am very glad to hear that you are all so happily mated. i have a pretty large flock, and my observation has been that there was not such perfect unanimity. the tidings brought to me are that there are women who have minds of their own, and i don't think a woman would make up her mind to vote with her husband unless she conscientiously believed that he voted the right way. it is said again that it would introduce division into the family, and that a division about politics is the most bitter thing in the world. no; there is one thing in which a difference is more bitter than politics. what? religion. there is no such diverging influence in this world as a difference in religion. yet when i look into these matters i find that families all through the community are divided on the subject of religion. i have known scores and scores of families in which there were baptists and persons of other denominations, and they found no trouble in getting along. you will always find where husband and wife can not agree, they will peaceably differ. there is no danger of their ever disturbing the family relations by that. we are still holding, it seems, the old barbaric notion of the inferiority of woman. every higher class preaches, preaches, preaches--about the inferiority of everything and everybody below it. all the world believes that the nation in which the man is born is the highest nation in the world. why, we believe that we americans are the biggest people in the world, the englishman believes the english people to be the highest in the world. there is not the least doubt in the mind of a frenchman that he was god almighty's first favorite, and so on, nation by nation. so it is with classes. so, also, it seems to be with man. all the men in the world join hands together and agree that whatever may be the classification as between man and man, all men are infinitely superior to woman. now i hold that in some things woman is inferior to man, and in some things greatly superior to man, and that in the general average she is fully his equal. a woman is god's chief engineer in the home. she ought to have a clear eye and a deep heart and a wide understanding. you can't make a woman too broad, too strong, too high, too deep in all generous enthusiasm for the purposes of the family, for it takes strong women to bring up strong men and strong women. in regard to this matter i wonder that people should attempt to separate so much by guess. hear people say, "what will be the effect?" as if this thing was not already demonstrated--as if history was not already a picture of what the result will be. will you be good enough to tell me which woman you think to-day is the superior? there is the problem: the asiatic woman is the woman we hear tell about; just look at her--a do-nothing, a know-nothing woman! the european woman is the woman that has been cultured. which is the superior to-day? which commands most respect? delicacy in woman is sentiment, not appearance, not enamel, not languishing airs. but it is asked, why make this disturbance? why not let a woman, if it is desired that she should be a student, inquire of her husband? suppose she hasn't got one. young gentlemen that are so fond of talking about the matter say, let the women stay at home and take care of their families. let me ask you if you will agree to give every woman a family that hasn't got one? if you will not, then hold your tongue. but even taking the question in the way they put it, how would these young men like their fathers to say, "tom, bill, you are both republicans. you have gone away from my notions; i am a good, stanch, old-fashioned democrat; and my advice to you, boys, is that you stay at home and read, and think these matters over, and i will go and vote for you,"--how would the boys like that? everybody is willing to be above everybody else, and this thing of one man assuming that he is the superior of another, and asking that other to knuckle down to him, is not popular. you don't like it. and women don't like it any better than you do--and they ought not to like it, either. women can have all the benefit of holding an opinion, but they shall not have the power of expressing it. they go through all the labor and trouble of loading, but can't fire off. now, i affirm, that it is wrong to give women the responsibilities of public life without giving them the safety of public life, too. but what practical use will the ballot be to women? tell me what practical use the ballot will be to men; then i will tell you of what use it will be to women. a man that denies the right of woman to the ballot must deny it to any body and all bodies. i affirm another thing. i affirm that the ballot is a natural right. to say that voting is an artificial thing is merely an evasion. if there is any such thing as natural rights in the world, it is the right of every person to have a voice in the government that he shall live under, and in the electing of the magistrate who shall make the laws by which he is to be governed. but they say women don't want to vote. well, i didn't want to learn my letters, but i had to, and, on the whole, i am not sorry for it. if men say women don't want the ballot, my reply is, they need it, at any rate. in behalf of the poor and needy, i plead for suffrage. they are the persons who are in just that place where the hail of misfortune plays pitilessly upon them. i plead for suffrage for women, not because the rich and refined need it--they have already more than their heart could wish--but for the great sisterhood of common women. but, it is said, is it not subverting the order of the bible; is it not subverting those sound christian maxims in respect to the subordination of woman to man? well, if you think it is, let the husband vote first and the wife vote after; that settles that point. i have looked through the ten commandments, and although i find a great many things that you shall not do, i don't find anywhere it says that you shall not vote; and i don't think that there is a place in the bible where it says that a woman shall not vote; nor, since it pleased god to make thousands and thousands of women that are superior to men, i don't believe that he ever wrote a line to say that a woman who was superior should be inferior. my friends, the true rendering of scripture is this: thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. in the kingdom of love there is neither high nor low. love knows no distinctions. it is all equal in the kingdom of god; and wherever the human family are supremely possessed by that one supreme, beneficent feeling of love, there never can arise these disturbing elements. * * * * * mrs. livermore said: _ladies and gentlemen_--mr. beecher very pertinently said that women are allowed to _know_, but not to _say_; they may make all the preparations necessary to intelligent voting, but that they shall not vote. that is exactly what is doing a vast deal of mischief the world over. if they are not allowed to vote, and express their opinions upon the laws by which they are to be governed, and if they are not to have opened to them all proper fields of labor, they will turn their attention to dressmaking, and to millinery, and to all the other hot-beds of our fast modern life. it is doing great harm; and that is one reason i earnestly plead in their behalf for the ballot. men say women shall not have the ballot. they must petition and beg for it. have not petitions been already made? have not , names been sent in to congress already? then they say you must "organize;" and when that is done, and they find the country rocked as by a traveling volcano, they then say, "all women do not want to vote; all the women in the country should ask for it, and beg for it, and petition for it." let me relate an incident that occurred in boston at the office of chief justice chapman, four or five weeks ago. a man, a guardian, came there with a writ of _habeas corpus_, which placed in his charge two children in no wise related to him, and he asked that he might have the control of the children, in opposition to the claim of their mother, who desired to keep them. the facts were briefly these: the woman had been happily married; her husband died and left her a widow with two young children. by the laws of the state of massachusetts at that time, she was not allowed to be their guardian, nor the guardian of any body else's children. so the judge of probate appointed a guardian for the children, who magnanimously allowed them to remain in their mother's care. after two or three years she committed the unpardonable crime of marrying again, a thing that no man was ever guilty of. the marriage was perfectly acceptable to her former husband's relatives, but the guardian was so displeased with it, that he got out a writ of _habeas corpus_, and demanded of chief justice chapman that the children be remanded to his custody. we are apt to boast of massachusetts and its laws, but here was a case in which the chief justice, after hearing the case, actually remanded these children to the possession of that man. the court-room was crowded; the excitement was intense; the poor mother sank down in a deadly faint. i say such laws are an outrage upon womanhood, and they arise simply and solely from a deep contempt for womanhood. this contempt is palpable throughout all the entire code of laws. another argument that is frequently made against the extension of the suffrage to woman is this: "if women go to the polls it is going to take them away from their homes and families." these arguments are urged with as much pertinacity as if the polls were open three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, and twenty-four hours each day, and that all that people did was to lie around the polls and vote, and vote, and vote, and vote. another statement is, that it is because women have been kept out of politics that they are pure and good. well, now, it is a poor rule that won't work both ways, and if disfranchisement has made such angels of women, suppose you try it a little on men. i have a firm belief that the men need, infinitely more than the women do, the influence that woman will bring with her to the ballot; not because woman is better, but because she is the other half of humanity. it reminds me of the account of the battle of gettysburg, given by a colonel of a western regiment. his regiment was placed among the reserves, on an eminence, where they could see the battle as it went on. "there we stood," said the colonel; "our brave men trying to serve their country; able to do it, and anxious to do it. yet we were kept the whole of the first day watching the fight go on. on the second day another regiment, which had been much associated with ours, was called into action. we saw them marching, their guns aslant, as if there was no battle being carried on, or deeds of death and destruction--and all the while, as they marched, the grape, and the canister, and the shot, and the shell, tore their ranks terribly; and men fell dead in all directions; and still those who yet remained carried their guns in the same position, and kept time, and closed up, and closed up, until my agitation became so unendurable that i forgot all else, and cried out, 'oh, god! why don't they call the reserves into action? we could help them.'" gentlemen, very few of us are very young women. we have forty, fifty, some of us seventy years of life behind us. we have stood on this eminence where you in your mistaken kindness and gallantry placed us, and we have been all this time looking down upon the battle-field of life where you have been engaged, single-handed and alone. those of us who have had half a century have seen the ranks of men who started out in life with us shortened one half as they have gone. here is a husband, there a brother or a father, men as dear to us as drops of our own heart's blood. we have seen them steadily sacrificed by means more appalling than those of gettysburg, men literally slaughtered by licentiousness and drunkenness, and all the while we have looked on and been able to do nothing, and our agony has become so great that we exclaim, "oh, god! why don't these brothers of ours call us, the reserves, into action? we could help them." when i look back to the days of our great war, i remember that women sprang up every day all over the country--women of whom it was not before believed there was any patriotic blood in their veins. we all came together by one common instinct--saying, "what shall we do?" i could tell you of women who have died from exposure and suffering in the war. hundreds of the very best women of the northwest went down voluntarily as nurses, and in other capacities, and assisted suffering and dying men, until they themselves were almost at death's door. "when women do military duty, they shall vote!" we _did_ do military duty. we did not cease our labors till all the soldiers had come home, wearied with their services. we have earned recognition at the hands of this government, and we ought to have it. knowing, then, the qualities of woman and her courage and bravery under trials, i can never cease to demand that she shall have just as large a sphere as man has. all we want is, that you shall leave us free to act. mrs. livermore then spoke of the attempts of men to define the sphere of women. let the sphere of woman be tested by the aspiration and ability of their own minds, and let it be limited only by what we are able to do. don't fear that women will not marry and make good wives if allowed legal equality with men. they even now make as good wives as men do husbands. trust god. this talk of woman getting out of her sphere is sheer lack of faith in god. he has given us our natures. the gentlest woman is transformed into a tigress when you go between her and her baby. there's no sense, therefore, in the fear that the paltry lures of politicians will draw women from the home circle. there is no necessity to enact laws to keep women women. woman's sphere is that which she can fill, whether it be sea-captain, merchant, school-teacher, or wife and mother. only two millions of women are among the producers of the country--five millions are wives and mothers, and eight millions are rusting out in idleness and frivolity. take eight millions of men from the world of commerce and productive work; the deficit will be immediately felt. add to the producers of the world eight millions of skilled women, and the quickening would be felt everywhere. mrs. livermore also urged the admission of women to political life from considerations drawn from the increase of the foreign element. east and west is a huge, ignorant, semi-barbarous mass, brought hither from european and asiatic shores, needing the enlightenment and the quickening that would come from the addition of educated women to the polls. the thursday morning session was called to order by the president, rev. henry ward beecher. mr. henry b. blackwell, the secretary, read, on behalf of the business committee, the resolutions.[ ] mr. blackwell moved their acceptance, and, in support of his motion, said: _mr. chairman, ladies and gentlemen_: we have so often heard of the great step that was taken in the war of the revolution--when our connection with great britain was severed--that i fear we have lost sight of the fact that there have been two great revolutions since that day--revolutions which, to my mind, are immeasurably more important than the first. for, when the war of the revolution ended, a republic in the present sense of the term did not exist in these united states. in almost every state there was a property qualification for voting. it was a government like the government of great britain to-day--like the government of other countries--it was an aristocracy of wealth, the privilege of voting being based upon a property qualification. but hardly had the guns of the revolution ceased action, before the democratic party of that day, under the lead of mr. jefferson, demanded suffrage for poor men as a natural right. the federal party opposed the change. the democratic party were a unit in its favor. they advocated suffrage for poor men on the same ground that the republicans have advocated it more recently for the negro--on the same ground upon which mr. beecher advocated it last night for women--_as a natural right_. they said, "all men have equal natural rights to life, liberty, and property; if so, they have a natural right of self-defense in the enjoyment of these rights. now, in a state of nature, self-defense takes the form of individual violence--of the pistol or the club; but in a state of civilization men appeal to the law, and government is nothing but an organized system of self-defense for the benefit of the individual citizen." the old democratic party said, "poor men have rights of life, liberty, and property, poor men have a natural right of self-defense; therefore, in a state of society they have a right to the ballot which is the organized weapon of self-defense for the individual citizen." what was the result? the democratic party swept the union on that platform. they obtained a majority in the government of the states and in the federal government. for more than a generation they ruled this country as the poor man's party. that result followed inevitably from their principles, because parties, like individuals, are sure to obtain their deserts in the long run. when any party appeals to that fine sense of justice which is in the heart of every human being, sooner or later its success is certain. the democratic party obtained the control of the government for two generations because it appealed to that sense of justice? but what was the result to the country? america became known all over the world as the country of the poor man. in america alone the masses had the ballot. that was what brought from the shores of europe this great influx of foreign labor which has felled our forests, and fenced our prairies, and built up the waste places of our continent. there are to-day in russia hundreds of thousands of acres of land as good as any in the world, which have never been cultivated, and yet europeans, by thousands, turn their backs on russia, coming to america and going far into the interior to make their homes, not because our land is better, or our climate more genial, but because our government is established upon the basis of equal rights for every human being. the child of the poor man becomes educated, he acquires property, he becomes a member of the commonwealth, he does his own thinking, and, thank god, his own voting, too. but the democratic party has lost power. to-day the republicans control three-fourths of the states of this union. there was a reason for these reverses. before the abolition of slavery, a certain race was denied the advantages of the democratic principle. it was a "white man's government." in the course of time the inevitable collision came. slavery was abolished, and the republican party attempted a new application of the jeffersonian principle. it demanded suffrage for the negro and the chinese. the principles of justice again prevailed. the sentiment of liberty came to the support of the republican party; manhood suffrage is forever fixed in the constitution of the country, and to-day every man, whether learned or ignorant, rich or poor, white, yellow, or black, whether he can read the english language or not, is by the constitution of the united states forever made a voter. now, ladies and gentlemen, every argument through which an extension of the suffrage has been already accomplished, applies with still greater force in the case of women. the extension of the suffrage to woman, will be the last crowning step in political progress, the final application of the principles of christianity and human brotherhood to the political structure. we do not advocate a new principle. we only desire to make a wider application of our admitted american principles. that application is sure to be made. i do not know what party is going to accomplish it, but this widening of the political basis is as certain as the rising of the sun or the flowing of the tide. woe be to the party that works against it! i know not whether the republicans or the democrats, or the good men of both parties, or an altogether new party, will take it up; but this i do know, that the political party which takes up woman suffrage, and unfolds its banner to the breeze, holds in its hand the key to political success on this continent. i appeal to every man and woman in this audience to go to work for the great object we have at heart. let republicans go to their primary meetings, and offer woman suffrage resolutions there. let democrats go and do likewise. let every woman take tracts bearing on the subject and give her influence and labor to the work. let us all stand up as faithful representatives of a great idea. sooner or later, we shall see a noble reform party in this country--i care not what its name--which will sweep away forever the dens of immorality and drunkenness by which we are surrounded, which will build up a christian commonwealth--and rule over it--not because it is powerful in numbers, but because it is based upon the principles of the declaration of independence, of universal justice and of impartial liberty. rev. henry ward beecher said: i heartily concur with every word spoken by mr. blackwell, and while on this point i wish to call your attention to an argument used as against woman suffrage, by men who perhaps might otherwise be with us. they argue that universal suffrage is itself not a good but an evil, and that to add to the evil is not to correct it. "it is bad," say they, "that every white man shall vote," and it had to be pledged, for political reasons, to give the ballot to , ignorant blacks; but two bad things are not to be made right by now extending the vote to women, a great majority of whom are in the lower walks of life, and are not supposed to be competent to inform themselves. this is a most plausible argument to those who are under the unconscious influence of pharisaism, to those who think that wisdom lives and dies with them. it is a strong argument, too; i don't know that you can put any stronger; but i am bold to make the statement that, low and bad as human nature may be in some of its phases, there is nothing in this world that is so safe to trust or to believe in. and though governments may grow, and gain experience here and there with perpetually shifting dynasties and times, yet after all it is human nature that keeps governments up and gives to the world its laws. the great underlying force is genuine human nature with all its mistakes. we have recently had a great illustration of this. i wish to call your attention to one fact. if there was anything in this world that the mass of the northern people were unprepared for it was to take up arms for the purpose of going to war with the south. yet when the time came, and it was flashed over the country that an attack was made at the life of the government, take notice that while the south grew weaker and weaker in furnishing material for the army, the north grew stronger and stronger, and had only got to its full strength at the close of the war. now during that time, by the votes of the people, with a great party to back up the opposition, with all the old predilections in favor of the south, and the natural unwillingness of men to burden themselves with taxation, this country, in which there was substantially a universal manhood suffrage, voted to burden itself until three thousand millions of debt was rolled up. there is an instance of what men will do with universal suffrage. yes, and that among the common people; for the large copperhead element was to be found among capitalists, not among the masses. "well, but," it may be said, "sober second thought will come; wait until the people come to pay the debt, when currency depreciates and greenbacks become scarce!" now as they had gone to the war for a sentiment, a patriotic sentiment, not because they had received material damage or expected any pecuniary damage from the south, but purely from the glorious sentiment of a united country, as they fought through four years of the war backed up by votes at home, so when the question came up, "will you sustain the honor of the government? will you pay the debt that has been incurred?" look at the answer. never did trap of dishonesty, so concealed in its interior structure, present so tempting a bit of cheese to humanity. yet when the question came, after full discussion and trial in all the states of the north successively, by majorities that no man will choose now to gainsay or resist, by overwhelming majorities, they said, "the debt shall be paid, every penny of it!" the north so voted. it was the common people that voted it; men that live on wages. by that experiment two things were shown; one that when the whole people are appealed to, they do stand up to the interests of the states better than educated classes do; and the other, that when it comes to the question of sentiment or national integrity, the common people are to be trusted; and it is not the day, in the face of the magnificent disclosures of that trying time, to say that it is unsafe to trust the welfare of a country in the hands of such people. i say there is no man that comes to years of discretion who is not fit for the responsibilities of citizenship. women will also improve when we welcome them to the open air of liberty. the sum of all these remarks is simply this, "amen" to brother blackwell. lucy stone came forward and reminded the audience that a bill is now before congress which provides that the employees in the government departments at washington and in both houses of congress shall be equally paid irrespective of sex, and that petitions should be sent to congress advocating the passage of the bill; that blanks for the purpose would be found in the hall, and she hoped the friends of the cause would sign them. she read a letter from mr. giles b. stebbins regretting his inability to be present, and expressing confidence in the ultimate triumphant success of the cause. mr. powell, of the _anti-slavery standard_, was introduced: ladies and gentlemen--my first feeling this morning was one of congratulation in view of the encouraging auspices under which we meet here to advocate the enfranchisement of women. i regard this movement to-day as just entering upon its earliest efficient practical work. the era of curiosity and novelty is past. there is no longer in the public mind that feeling which has hitherto manifested itself in connection with the discussion of the proposition that women should vote. we have now to contend with the more difficult and solid portion of the problem. the right of woman to speak has been argued and settled; the right of woman to the ballot has been quite generally admitted--indeed, almost universally so--as it must be by any one who observes carefully the arguments used to justify the extension of the ballot to men. by the ratification of the xv. amendment the question has been finally settled in regard to all men, excepting perhaps the indians and chinese, who may, however, be interpreted by and by as having citizenship under this amendment. logically and inevitably, therefore, we come at this time to the consideration of mr. julian's xvi. amendment, as something which, if we were not arguing for it, somebody else would be. it is the logical sequence of what has gone before in the way of the experiment of republican government in this country. there is no one--either american or foreign-born--who has observed the workings of our institutions and the progress of our country, who will say that we must stand still. we must either go forward in our work of extending suffrage until we finally reach universal suffrage, or go back to a one-man power. the victims of the slave power are to-day standing erect in the possession of equal citizenship on the basis of absolute legal equality with the white men of the country. therefore, with slavery abolished, with our free-school system, with newspapers scattered all over like snow-flakes throughout the country, with free thought and free education, there is not such a thing probable or possible as our going backward to the system of one-man power. the question now to be decided is the enfranchisement of women. and this question is at last fairly before the world--not in newspapers alone, but in state legislatures, and even in congress. propositions are pending in washington for the enfranchisement of the women of the district of columbia, and for the enfranchisement by congressional authority of the women of the territories. there is also a constitutional amendment proposed, which, if successful, will abolish all political proscription on account of sex everywhere throughout the country. my advice would be to concentrate directly our chief energy on the larger part of the problem. i believe in state action. i think it would be well to go to albany and to the massachusetts legislature and to the ohio legislature, and to the legislatures of all the states, and to urge that the states take the initiative and enfranchise their women. but i do not expect that any one state, whatever may be the political opinion of that state, will go much in advance of the nation at large. it seems to me that no political party existing in any one state can establish the precedent of woman's enfranchisement much in advance of the national government. i think it therefore the part of wisdom to concentrate directly upon the national legislature. i believe that one object of this convention to-day should be to concentrate its voice in an emphatic resolution, asking that mr. julian's amendment be not allowed to slumber into the hot weather of july, and then be passed over entirely. i think we should make the voice of this association felt as a power for immediate effective work in the direction i have indicated; and, if we speak earnestly, we shall be felt and heard. let us concentrate first upon the xvi. amendment and the proposition to enfranchise the women of the district of columbia. i hold that that district should be the first battle-ground for the women of america to a national precedent, as it was in the prior struggle for the abolition of slavery. the district is immediately under the supervision of your representatives and mine, and members of congress are to be held personally responsible for the government which prevails there. let us then demand of congress--demand, i say, because that is the language of earnest reform--that it give us forthwith, before the adjournment of the present session, a law of equal suffrage for the women of the district of columbia. in the light of the recent action of the british parliament, is this asking too much? should not we americans be up to the level of a test vote on this question--which has never yet been reached either in the senate or house of representatives? the president introduced grace greenwood, who said: "i rise to a personal explanation," as we say in washington. when colonel higginson yesterday overwhelmed me with his compliment, by the proposition that i should belong to the congress of the united states, i wanted to say--had i not been so overwhelmed--in order to set myself "right before the country," that there had been no previous understanding between colonel higginson and myself; and that as i didn't want to encourage any false hopes, and in fact didn't want to go, i should decline the nomination. i prefer the position he referred to--absolutely prefer my place in the reporters' gallery. i know that a white reporter is as good as a colored senator, if he or she behaves himself or herself. i like to look down upon that scene of legislation and feel that i am out of it; though sometimes i feel like echoing coldstream's opinion in looking into vesuvius, "there is nothing in it." i like to sit in the gallery of the house and watch our few true men. when women sit there, there will be justice done to them; and, while i have the honor of reporting for the _tribune_, there will be justice done to women when any question concerning her interests comes up in washington. and here i would like to refer, as others who have spoken have already referred, to the work to be done in the church. i think that many of our earnest, eloquent, high-minded, religious women should make for the pulpit. i have always felt that there was great point in the doctrine of the orthodox church on the birth of christ. we have a greater share in him than men can have, as he received his humanity--his sweet, tender, suffering humanity--wholly from woman. and yet we have been made to keep silence in the house of our father even on such festivals as christmas and thanksgiving. how would it seem if on these occasions the sons only were allowed to thank our heavenly father for his care and love, and the daughters were allowed to sit quiet? but woman's piety, you know, is a very good thing for home consumption, and is supposed to consist in her quietly sitting at home and praying for her husband and sons. goodness knows, she always has enough to pray for! there is an anecdote told of a loving son who once spoke of the inestimable blessing of a fine mother. he was a preacher in illinois, and he said to his congregation, "oh, my friends, i have such a mother. i remember when i was a little lad, standing by my mother's side on a sabbath afternoon, as she sat with her bible open before her, how she turned from the blessed word to lay her hand upon my sunny head, and pray that i might grow up to be a minister of the gospel and a great man; and, brethren and sisters, i stand before you to-day a living example of the efficacy of that prayer." while mrs. livermore was speaking so gloriously last night out of her mother's heart, of mothers robbed by the law of their little ones, what mother's heart didn't stir within her? my little one--she is about my height now--but i never have been able to get rid of the sweet weight of that baby head on my breast! my arms always have the feel of the baby in them yet; and i can not express to you the horror--the almost rage--with which i hear every story of such outrages on the maternal heart. it was this feature of mother-robbery in the system of slavery that always enraged me most against it. it was just at that point that the system dipped deepest into hell. though slavery is gone, however, there are many evils yet remaining in the laws which should be remedied, and not the least of them is that which gives the father the entire control of the children instead of the mother. some fathers, however, are quite willing to relinquish that control. i remember a colored woman in washington, in whose kitchen i once happened to be for a moment, and, seeing several dark olive branches around, i said to her, "are these your children?" she said, "yes." "how many have you?" she said, "seven, and all to support." i said to her, "have you no husband?" "oh, yes," she said, "i have a husband; i was married by a methodist minister down south." "well," said i, "why don't he support the children?" "oh," she said, "he's done gone away." "why has he left you?" "oh, he was a very bright man," she said (meaning that he was light in color), "and he thought that i was too black." "but," i said, "didn't he know how black you were before he married you?" "that is just what old missus said--she said, 'why, you know'd she was black when you married her,' and he said, 'yes, but den she didn't have so many relations about her.'" "what relations?" "children!" her children, of course, and his, too. "he doesn't want so many of my relations about, so he's done gone off." when a man doesn't want to go, the children are his "property"; when he wants to desert his wife, they are her "relations." i would be willing to have the strictest morality enjoined as a qualification for the ballot. but, as it is a poor rule that would not work both ways, if that test were applied to the male voters, what a frightful disfranchisement would take place. the democratic party would be well-nigh annihilated, and the republican party would be in a fit state to condole with it. i think, however, that all these things will adjust themselves when they come. all bugbears seem much more terrible at a distance than when they are close enough to be grappled with. mr. oliver johnson was then introduced. he said that the true germ of the present woman suffrage agitation was to be found in the foundation of the anti-slavery society. at the time that society was founded, the question arose as to whether women were persons, in the sense in which that word was used in the constitution of that society. the question gave rise to much discussion, and it was finally decided by a majority of the members that the word "person" did include women; and it was therefore determined that, in the society, women should have all the rights that men had. and when thirty years ago the anniversary of the society was held, it became the duty of the presiding officer on that occasion to appoint a business committee, and, in announcing the names of that committee, he included that of abby kelly--more lately known as that of abby kelly foster--a quaker woman of excellent character, and a devoted friend of the anti-slavery cause. the announcement of her name was the signal for much tumult, and the withdrawal for the time being of not less than one hundred and fifty clergymen, who, led by an eminent citizen, left that meeting and went down into the basement of the church and formed a new anti-slavery society, solely because a woman was permitted to serve on a committee. mr. johnson said that he had always had a profound belief in the triumph of the anti-slavery cause. so also did he believe in the success of the woman suffrage movement. mrs. hazlett, of michigan, was the next speaker. god, she said, says to america to-day, take now the next step in the path of national progress; then come and take thy place as the highest nation of the earth. will america obey heaven's voice, or does republicanism exist only in name? men of america! let the stars and stripes wave over a land true to its principles. it is not because we want to usurp power that we want the ballot. we want justice, for the sake of liberty. but, above all, gentlemen, we hold the welfare of this country our birthright as well as yours. we wish the vote because it is our right and our duty to have it. we have duties in life, in society, in the church--duties to ourselves and to our families which can not be discharged without the ballot. when the convention re-assembled, mrs. celia burleigh, in the absence of the president, took the chair. miss catherine e. beecher, who was now introduced, requested the secretary, mr. blackwell, to read a paper which she had written, containing her objections to woman suffrage, to which objections mrs. cutler, of ohio, would reply. mr. blackwell read the following: i will first state to what i am not opposed. and, first, i am not opposed to women speaking in public to any who are willing to hear, nor do i object to women's preaching, sanctioned as it is by a prophetic apostle--as one of the millennial results. it is true that no women were appointed among the first twelve, or the seventy disciples sent out by the lord, nor were women appointed to be apostles or bishops or elders. but they were not forbidden to teach or preach, except in places where it violated a custom that made a woman appear as one of a base and degraded class if she thus violated custom. nor am i opposed to a woman earning her own independence in any lawful calling, and wish many more were open to her which are now closed. nor am i opposed to the agitation and organization of women, as women, to set forth the wrongs suffered by great multitudes of our sex, which are multiform and most humiliating. nor am i opposed to women's undertaking to govern both boys and men--they always have done it, and always will. the most absolute and cruel tyrants i have ever known were selfish, obstinate, unreasonable women to whom were chained men of delicacy, honor, and piety, whose only alternatives were helpless submission, or ceaseless and disgraceful broils. nor am i opposed to the claim that women have equal rights with men. i rather claim that they have the sacred, superior rights that god and good men accord to the weak and defenseless, by which they have the easiest work, the most safe and comfortable places, and the largest share of all the most agreeable and desirable enjoyments of this life. my main objection to the woman suffrage organizations is mainly this, that a wrong mode is employed to gain a right object. the "right object" sought is to remedy the wrongs and relieve the sufferings of great multitudes of our sex. the "wrong mode" is that which aims to enforce by law instead of by love. it is one which assumes that man is the author and abetter of all these wrongs, and that he must be restrained and regulated by constitutions and laws, as the chief and most trustworthy method. in opposition to this, i hold that the fault is as much, or more, with women than with men, inasmuch as that we have all the power we need to remedy all wrongs and sufferings complained of, and yet we do not use it for that end. it is my deep conviction that all reasonable and conscientious men of our age, and especially of our country, are not only willing, but anxious to provide for the best good of our sex, and that they will gladly bestow all that is just, reasonable, and kind, whenever we unite in asking in the proper spirit and manner. it is because we do not ask, or "because we ask amiss," that we do not receive all we need both from god and men. let me illustrate my meaning by a brief narrative of my own experience. to begin with my earliest: i can not remember a time when i did not find a father's heart so tender that it was always easier for him to give anything i asked than to deny me. of my seven brothers, i know not one who would not take as much or more care of my interests than i should myself. the brother who presides is here because it is so hard for him to say "no" to any woman seeking his aid. it is half a century this very spring since i began to work for the education and relief of my sex, and i have succeeded so largely by first convincing intelligent and benevolent women that what i aimed at was right and desirable, and then securing their influence with their fathers, brothers, and husbands; and always with success. american women have only to unite in asking for whatever is just and reasonable, in a proper spirit and manner, in order to secure all that they need. here, then, i urge my greatest objections to the plan of female suffrage; for my countrywomen are seeking it only as an instrument for redressing wrongs and relieving wants by laws and civil influences. now, i ask, why not take a shorter course, and ask to have the men do for us what we might do for ourselves if we had the ballot? suppose we point out to our state legislatures and to congress the evils that it is supposed the ballot would remedy, and draw up petitions for these remedial measures, would not these petitions be granted much sooner and with far less irritation and conflict than must ensue before we gain the ballot? and in such petitions thousands of women would unite who now deem that female suffrage would prove a curse rather than a benefit. and here i will close with my final objection to woman suffrage, and that is that it will prove a measure of injustice and oppression to the women who oppose it. most of such women believe that the greatest cause of the evils suffered by our sex is that the true profession of woman, in many of its most important departments, is not respected; that women are not trained either to the science or the practice of domestic duties as they need to be, and that, as the consequence, the chief labors of the family state pass to ignorant foreigners, and by cultivated women are avoided as disgraceful. they believe the true remedy is to make woman's work honorable and remunerative, and that the suffrage agitation does not tend to this, but rather to drain off the higher classes of cultivated women from those more important duties to take charge of political and civil affairs that are more suitable for men. now if women are all made voters, it will be their duty to vote, and also to qualify themselves for this duty. but already women have more than they can do well in all that appropriately belongs to women, and to add the civil and political duties of men would be deemed a measure of injustice and oppression. mrs. h. m. t. cutler, of ohio, then rose to reply. she said: i account myself happy to be allowed to stand here to reply to the objections of my friend, miss beecher. there is one point where i feel that her argument is not as strong as most of her arguments are. we enjoy things of privilege, if privileges are granted; but we enjoy things of right, because they are right--not otherwise. all that she says of good men, and of what good men will do for women, only goes to show what everybody has already known, that she had for a father one of the first christian gentlemen in the united states or in the world; and for brothers seven men of princely virtue, and highest and noblest christian attainments. if the world was made up of all such people, there would be no need of laws. miss beecher may well speak for such men as they, and they may well speak for such women as she. if i make a petition for something, and that petition does not clearly express a right that is due me, but instead, asks for something that may be withheld without moral guilt, that is a privilege; but when i come and demand that which is a right, the condition is altogether changed. i claim the right because it is god-given. we have in the advanced age of christianity, those who do not believe in the use of physical force on any account whatever. they are non-resistants; but it will not be said that the vicious can be controlled by moral suasion. society is not yet sufficiently christianized for men not to demand of each other guarantees for the safety of each other's rights. shall we who are in some sense the weaker sex have no guarantee for our rights? miss beecher makes the point that men will give, if we ask them properly. the first asking of american women was not for themselves--not for their own account. they forgot themselves in their anxiety for poor oppressed slaves. they didn't know what they had lost through long ages, from not having exerted their own powers, and established their own responsibilities. but when they came to do that, they then asked themselves, "where are our good right hands?" i sent petitions to congress again and again, which i had gathered from my neighbors, in regard to the abolishment of slavery in the district of columbia and in the territories; and i have sent numbers of them in regard to this question of woman suffrage. i sent many of them to horace greeley, and he sent me back word, "the only good that these things will do in congress is to help the janitor to light the fires. they do good to the people perhaps, but they do no good otherwise." we might have petitioned until the crack of doom, before congress would have broken the chain. why should we not demand our right to the vote, when we reflect that one vote, cast in the state of indiana, was the means of electing a man whose vote in congress turned the scale, and enacted the "fugitive slave law"--that law which put the collar upon every bondsman's neck, and branded him the property of every southern master. i admit the great responsibility of the ballot, and if we are true women, we shall assume it with a full appreciation of that responsibility, and a determination to do our whole duty in its exercise. the argument that many women do not desire the ballot reminds me of an old colored woman whom i met soon after the war. i said to her, "some people say they think your people are really almost sorry that they have been made free; that they were more comfortable as slaves." she said, "is it possible that any person thinks like that? can it be that any colored person feels like that?" i said, "i have heard people say so." "then," said she, "if anybody feels like that they deserve to be slaves--doubly slaves--slaves in this world and slaves in the next." the woman that is not willing to assume the responsibility of casting a vote upon a question that may decide whether in her individual neighborhood or precinct there shall be grog-shops and houses of prostitution open, and there shall be no proper care of the poor and needy and infirm--i say that if there is any woman who is not willing to assume such responsibilities, it seems to me that she must feel that it is a judgment on her, should her own husband or son or the daughter of her heart, or all of them, become sufferers in consequence of the evil that she might have stayed had she been willing to uphold the exercise of that right. we ask only for the same right that is accorded to the poorest man landing on our shores. is the giving of the ballot to a foreigner who comes among us a burden so great that he should not have it imposed upon him? and shall an american woman shrink from her duty when there is so much power in her hands for good? i know that a great many women have not been educated up to a condition that would teach them fully how to act. like the slave, they have had too much thinking and acting done for them, until now they feel incompetent to discharge these duties for themselves. our great duty, then, which we who know better should consider imposed upon us, is that of educating women up to the proper standard. shall we be beggars for that which is, of right, ours? shall there not be one law for the brothers and the daughters throughout this entire country? as mr. beecher has well said, women have borne their full share of martyrdom; and it strikes me that it is now about time for her redemption from the evils of her position. if she has to suffer from the evils of a defective or vicious system of laws, put in her hands the power to protect herself, to mitigate the sufferings of her sex, to preserve and defend the right and to suppress the wrong. mrs. miriam m. cole spoke at some length. the spirit of ' , she said, influenced mrs. john adams to write to her husband to inquire if it were generous in american men to keep their wives in thraldom, when they were emancipating the whole earth. had the spirit of that letter animated the wife of mr. lincoln when his emancipation proclamation was issued, how pertinently could she have made the same inquiry! the laws regarding women were written down so plain that those may run who read, and they who read had better run. mrs. celia burleigh said: several references have been made to the work of women in the church. i am glad to be able to introduce to you now the pastor of one of the most popular churches of new haven, and whose church, i am happy to say, is crowded every sunday--rev. phebe a. hanaford. mrs. hanaford said: speaking with horace greeley a few weeks ago, he replied to my query why he was not in favor of woman suffrage, by saying that he did not think women would gain the opportunity of suffrage or improve the opportunity if they had it, until they should come to consider suffrage a duty, and he declared that he had never known any one to advocate woman suffrage on the ground of duty. i was amazed at his assertion in the face of all the speeches and lectures which such women as lucretia mott and her conscientious co-laborers had made and delivered during the last twenty years. the very next night, i heard anna dickinson in the largest hall in new haven, and before nearly , people, urge the women present to consider their duty to this vast republic in which we dwell, and whose starry banner is as dear to women as to men. the keynote of her bugle-call to the rescue was the idea of duty, and that is the idea which inspires the women on this platform to-day, while thousands of hearts throughout our union respond, with the same sentiment, to their appeals from the platform, the pulpit, and the press. leading reformers of the world are telling us in clarion notes, and in thunder tones, with the voice of warning or of appeal, that woman owes service to the state, and that it is her duty to strive earnestly that she may have that ballot in her own hand which shall be at once her educator and protector, her sceptre and her sword. but i have heard the master's voice, speaking through lucy stone and her co-workers, and speaking in my own soul also, declaring that i, in common with every other woman in this grand republic, have a duty to the state that must not be ignored. in the home, and in the church, most women acknowledge they have duties--but as to the state they hesitate. oh, if they would but "gather into the stillness," as the friends say, and listen reverently to the voice within, i think they would often hear the solemn utterance, "these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." every woman who has tried to do her whole duty in the family, tried faithfully to make home a foretaste of heaven, with its abounding peace and love, tried with a mother's prayers, a mother's tears, a mother's unselfish, self-denying love, to train her darlings for the skies--every such woman deserves the gratitude of humanity, and that sweetest of rewards to a mother's heart, viz; that "her children shall rise up, and call her blessed;" while every woman who superadds to this unselfish devotion to home and children, a lifelong fidelity to the church in which she was reared, or has adopted; every woman who has worshiped devoutly at the shrine her own soul has accepted, following meekly in the footsteps of him who went about doing good--every such woman deserves the wreath of immortal amaranths which angel hands are weaving for her brow--but more than all, she who crowns her home work and her religious endeavors with a service to the state, which of necessity touches the great questions of reform, and aids in the settling of vast problems wherein the weal or woe of a nation is concerned--that woman, from the centre of her individual responsibility, reaches out to the circumference of her individual influence, and desires to receive from the lips of the dear lord himself, the "well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy lord"--the joy of a completed mission. the recording angel will write such a woman's name with that of abou ben adhem, who loved his fellows, and in serving humanity served god. the single point which i wish to present to the women before me at this hour and in these brief remarks is this, then; that it is your solemn, sacred duty, as you love god and the truth, and human welfare, to seek the ballot, and, having obtained it, to use it in purifying our statute-books and making them read more like the oracles of god--the eleven commandments, and the golden rule. mrs. mary f. davis, of new jersey, observed that in a court room of new york, a lawyer--she understood--recently stated that according to law the husband of a woman has such control over her as to "own" her; that man was made for god and woman for man! she asked if those present accepted that law [a voice, no!] do you, said she, own your own persons, according to the law of god, or do you not? our brothers tell us that women would be contaminated by going into the court rooms and sitting on juries; that women must be kept from these places because it would impair their delicacy. well, if women were wholly excluded from our court rooms the case would be different. but when in the mornings we take up the daily papers, how frequently do we read of some poor young creature who has been arrested and taken to the court room, to be tried by a jury of men; and carried perhaps from there to a place of imprisonment, with no pitying woman's eye or heart or hand to give her a ray of comfort. and these poor, forlorn creatures shall be deprived of our sympathy and left to perish because we are too "delicate" to come to their assistance! these may be daughters of good people, and may once have been good and pure as any. they might be your daughters or mine. brothers, they might be your sisters or your daughters! oh! change the laws that bear so hard on women. give us such laws as will allow your wives and mothers--those in whom you have confidence and whom you love--to come, with a mother's heart, and help rescue these deserted and fallen and miserable ones. lucy stone here read a letter of regret from william lloyd garrison, in which he stated that he was ill and confined to his bed, and therefore unable to be present. she read, also, a letter from mrs. haskell, of california, expressing earnest and hearty sympathy in all that is done at the east for woman suffrage, and the assurance that on the pacific slope the good work is becoming daily stronger and more hopeful. mrs. tappan gave an interesting account of some of the indian tribes in mexico and california, who, she thought, had in one sense a higher idea of the capacity of woman than their more civilized brethren. the navajos, on one occasion, when a united states commission composed of general sherman, general terry, and other officers of the army, went to them to treat with them on behalf of the government, refused to enter the officer's quarters for the purpose of discussion or decision of their difficulties, unless their squaws were permitted to participate in the deliberations, and the officers were obliged to allow the women to come in. the evening session of the convention was called to order by lucy stone. steinway hall was filled with an earnest and interested assembly, numbering about a thousand persons. mrs. churchill, of providence, r. i., was the first speaker. she spoke at some length, and asserted the undoubted right of women to the suffrage. she referred to the fear which men entertained, or pretended to entertain, of women neglecting every other duty attaching to them simply because they should get suffrage. men do not find voting so exceedingly incompatible with the other duties of life that they should have such fear of woman suffrage. women are not asking for _bon-bons_ in this matter. they are demanding that which belongs to them. they are not children, nor idiots, and they ought to have the same right of action as is accorded to sane men. the address of mrs. julia ward howe was as follows: this mighty edifice of the ideal society has many mansions, whose doors open one after the other in the ruins of the ages. when providence has removed the mysterious seal from one of these doors those who know the signs of the times gladly enter. and soon the halt and the lame and the blind hear of the new refuge, the new benefaction, and make haste to crowd its halls and parlors. america itself was at first such a refuge. the derided puritans rode there nobly across the highway of the ocean. by and by it leaked out that civil and religious liberty had made a good thing of it, and then the old world began to sneak over into the spacious domain of the new. and now it comes with such a tide that we can scarcely build cities and railroads fast enough for its accommodation. america is to the nations a house of god--a divinely appointed city of refuge. poorly have we administered that house of god, because we ourselves were undivine. but we have improved a little--we have learned some lessons--we have opened some doors. and every lesson that we have learned has shown us more and more of the grand but terrible labor which lies before us. what one should be, and know, and intend, in order to come up to the standard of an american, that is something which as yet puts most of us to the blush, not for being so much, but so little children of the new world; for this may the old world deride us. [illustration: julia ward howe.] i can not see this new world as it ought to be, in my remotest vision, without many changes in what it is. looking towards this great aim of building a christian state, i see the position of woman as wrong and harmful. wrong to herself since she is pushed one remove further from the divine than man--she, born of the same humanity and divinity with himself. wrong to society since she, with special gifts and powers for its aid and advancement, is forcibly restrained to the functions which man deigns to allow her; her attitude to law, labor and life being determined by him through the old principle of barbarism, the predominance of physical force. which shall i treat first, the wrong done to the individual or that done to society? i will start with the individual. and from the start i will say that the very instinct of secondariness, so often postulated as a reason for the social subjection of women, is, on the part of those who urge it, either an invention or an error. the instinct, as i understand it, is all the other way. the little girl does not know in herself any inferiority to the boy. he can perhaps beat her, but while he may consider this a mark of superiority, she is too wise to accept it as such. in their lessons she flies where he walks. she cries for his floggings oftener than he can laugh at her failures. she needs less machinery than he to arrive at the same mental and moral results. nature has given him a mental hammer, but it has given her a mental needle, and she has embroidered the rainbow before he has forged the thunder. how does he overtake her swift steps? how tame and bind her fiery soul? now i confess that he has an accomplice greater than himself. the girl, coming upon the full consciousness of womanhood, comes also upon that of its opposite. the primal divine unity of the race makes itself felt in her dreamy bosom. she is but half of the ideal--the perfect human being--the other half is not yet hers; she must seek diligently till she find it. do not laugh. the pilgrimage of psyche is performed by every maiden soul; but love, the supreme god, in the little child is not always found. so far, so good. the woman often finds a mate; sometimes has quite a selection of mates offered her. if she finds the complement of her incomplete being, what more can she want? what wrong is done her? this simply. if her single life was incomplete, that of her partner without her was no less so. the need of marriage was equal with both. nay, but for the aid of vices to which the male part of society give system and culture, the need of marriage on his part will be more imperative than on hers. its natural burdens fall with fivefold force on her. she must bear the children. she must give the flower of her life to services full of weariness and of anguish. now, however the matter may stand between man and woman, the state's need of marriage is imperative. and as the state commands marriage, and as the woman contracts marriage as an obligation to the state, the state is bound by every sacred obligation of justice to render the contract an equal one. and here comes up again the barbaric element--the predominance of physical force. "shall this softer, gentler, more fragile creature be the equal of the ruder, stouter man?" "yes," says your christianity, "she is a divine institution, as you are; she desires the same culture, the same respect, the same authority." "no," says your barbarism, "i can oppress her, and i will. we won't call it oppression, if you please. we'll call it protection. i'll keep her money, and her children, and her body, and her soul. i'll keep them all for her. she can ask me for what she wants. i shall always know whether it is best for her to have it or no." now, here it is true physical ascendency of the man which renders the assumption of this position possible. great as this power is, he has taken pains to increase it by an immense array of aids and appliances. he has kept the woman ignorant of all the technologies of the world. fatal renewal of the hebrew myth, he has eaten of the tree of knowledge, has kept the fruit for himself. society can not be governed without law and logic. the use of these the man has monopolized, encouraging in the woman the natural gifts and accomplishments which give him most delight--dress and dance, and the sweet voice and graceful manner, and, above all the ready acquiescence in his sovereign pleasure. but let her ask him for the methods by which she may analyze his actions and his intuitions, and he says, "no." no college door shall open for her, no nursery of law, medicine or theology. philosophy, the science of sciences--which dictrina taught to socrates, who teaches it to the world to-day--that would give her the key to all the rest. she may get it, if she can. we have brought our theoretical woman up to the period of marriage and maternity. here the intensity of personal feeling and interest monopolize her. her nursery is full of pains and pleasures, but its delights predominate, and though she will need more than ever the help of outside culture and sympathy, she is yet tied by her affections even more than by her duties to a centre of feeling too intense to generate a wide circle. here, too, the enforced inequality of institutions pursues her. the children, born at such cost of suffering, are not hers in the eye of the law. the right to them which nature puts primarily in the mother, society has long vested almost absolutely in the father. in case of any difference between them he will say, "i am the father--my will must be obeyed." and what he will say in private the law will say in public. mrs. stone records a piteous case in which an unborn child was willed by its dying father to relatives in a foreign country in which the widowed mother suffered the pains of childbirth, that other hearts than hers might be gladdened by her dearly-bought treasure. this young woman was described as in a maze of bewilderment at the presence on the statute-book of a law so miraculously wicked. we all hope that in such laws there comes a great deal of dead letter, but the dead letter itself stinks and is corrupt. the book of justice should be purged of such unhallowed corpses. in the nursery the mother is called upon to set forward the same injustice which presided over her own education. "preaching down a daughter's heart," the beautiful phrase of tennyson, becomes the duty of every woman who finds in her daughter saliency of intellect and individuality of will. mediocrity is the standard! "seek not, my child, to go beyond it. thou hast thy little allotments. the french must be thy classics, the house accounts thy mathematics. patchwork, cooking, and sweeping thy mechanics; dress and embroidery thy fine arts. see how small the spheres. do not venture outside of it, nor teach thy daughters, when thou shalt have such to do so." and so we women, from generation to generation, are drilled to be the apes of an artificial standard, made for us and imposed upon us by an outsider; a being who, in this attitude, becomes our natural enemy. mrs. lucy stone said: there have always been good and able men ready to second us, and to say their best words for our cause. among the first of these is mr. george william curtis, whom i have now the pleasure to introduce. _ladies and gentlemen:_--it is pleasant to see this large assembly, and this generous spirit, for it is by precisely such meetings as this that public opinion is first awakened, and public action is at last secured. our question is essentially an american question. it is a demand for equal rights, and will therefore be heard. whenever a free and intelligent people asks any question involving human rights or liberty or development, it will ask louder and louder until it is answered. the conscience of this nation sits in the way like a sphinx, proposing its riddle of true democracy. presidents and parties, conventions, caucuses, and candidates, failing to guess it, are remorselessly consumed. forty years ago that conscience asked, "do men have fair play in this country?" a burst of contemptuous laughter was the reply. louder and louder grew that question, until it was one great thunderburst, absorbing all other questions; and then the country saw that its very life was bound up in the answer; and, springing to its feet, alive in every nerve, with one hand it snapped the slave's chain, and with the other welded the union into a nation--the pledge of equal liberty. that same conscience sits in the way to-day. it asks another question, "do women have fair play in this country?" as before, a sneer or a smile of derision may ripple from one end of the land to the other; but that question will swell louder and louder, until it is answered by the ballot in the hands of every citizen, and by the perfect vindication of the fundamental principle, that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." by its very nature, however, the progress of this reform will differ from every other political movement. behind every demand for the enlargement of the suffrage, hitherto there was always a threat. it involved possible anarchy and blood. but this reform hides no menace. it lies wholly in the sphere of reason. it is a demand for justice, as the best political policy; an appeal for equality of rights among citizens as the best security of the common welfare. it is a plea for the introduction of all the mental and moral forces of society into the work of government. it is an assertion that in the regulation of society, no class and no interest can be safely spared from a direct responsibility. it encounters, indeed, the most ancient traditions, the most subtle sophistry of men's passions and prejudices. but there was never any great wrong righted that was not intrenched in sophistry--that did not plead an immemorial antiquity, and what it called the universal consent and "instinct" of mankind. i say that the movement is a plea for justice, and i assert that the equal rights of women, not as citizens, but as human beings, have never been acknowledged. there is no audacity so insolent, no tyranny so wanton, no inhumanity so revolting, as the spirit which says to any human being, or to any class of human beings, "you shall be developed just as far as we choose, and as fast as we choose, and your mental and moral life shall be subject to our pleasure!" edward lear, the artist, traveling in greece, says that "he was one day jogging along with an albanian peasant, who said to him, 'women are really better than donkeys for carrying burdens, but not so good as mules.'" this was the honest opinion of barbarism--the honest feeling of greece to-day. you say that the peasant was uncivilized. very well. go back to the age of pericles; it is the high noon of greek civilization. it is athens--"the eye of greece--the mother of art." there stands the great orator--himself incarnate greece--speaking the oration over the peloponnesian dead. "the greatest glory of woman," he said, "is to be the least talked of among men;" so said pericles, when he lived. had pericles lived to-day he would have agreed that to be talked of among men as miss martineau and florence nightingale are, as mrs. somerville and maria mitchell are, is as great a glory as to be the mother of the gracchi. women in greece, the mothers of greece, were an inferior and degraded class. and grote sums up their whole condition when he says, "every thing which concerned their lives, their happiness, or their rights, was determined for them by male relatives, and they seem to have been destitute of all mental culture and refinement." these were the old greeks. will you have rome? the chief monument of roman civilization is its law--which underlies our own; and buckle quotes the great commentator on that law as saying that it was the distinction of the roman law that it treated women not as persons, but as things. or go to the most ancient civilization; to china, which was old when greece and rome were young. the famous french jesuit missionary, abbé huc, mentions one of the most tragical facts recorded--that there is in china a class of women who hold that if they are only true to certain bonds during this life, they shall, as a reward, change their form after death and return to earth as men. this distinguished traveler also says that he was one day talking with a certain master ting, a very shrewd chinaman, whom he was endeavoring to convert. "but," said ting, "what is the special object of your preaching christianity?" "why, to convert you, and save your soul," said the abbé. "well, then, why do you try to convert the women?" asked master ting. "to save their souls," said the missionary. "but women have no souls," said master ting; "you can't expect to make christians of women,"--and he was so delighted with the idea that he went out shouting, "hi! hi! now i shall go home and tell my wife she has a soul, and i guess she will laugh as loudly as i do!" such were the three old civilizations. do you think we can disembarrass ourselves of history? our civilization grows upon roots that spring from the remotest past; and our life, proud as we are of it, is bound up with that of greece and rome. do you think the spirit of our society is wholly different? let us see. it was my good fortune, only a few weeks ago, to be invited to address the students of vassar college at poughkeepsie; which you will remember is devoted exclusively to the higher education of women. as i stood in those ample halls, and thought of that studious household, of the observatory and its occupants, it seemed to me that, like the german naturalist, who, wandering in the valley of the amazon, came suddenly upon the _victoria regia_, so there, in the valley of the hudson, i had come upon one of the finest flowers of our civilization. but in the midst of my enthusiasm i was told by the president that this was the first fully endowed college for women in the world; and from that moment i was alarmed. from behind every door, every tree, i expected to see good master ting springing out with his "hi! hi! you laugh at us chinese barbarians; you call yourselves in america the head of civilization; you claim that the glory of your civilization is your estimate of women; you sneer at us chinese for belittling women's souls and squeezing their feet. who belittle their capacities? who squeeze their minds?" we must confess it. the old theory of the subservience of women still taints our civilization. you open your morning paper and read that on the previous evening there was a meeting of intelligent and experienced women, with some that were not so, which is true of all general meetings of men and women; and these persons demanded the same liberty of choice, and an equal opportunity with all other members of society. but the report of the meeting is received with a shout of derisive laughter that echoes through the press and through private conversation. gulliver did not take the lilliputians on his hands and look at them with more utter contempt than the political class of this country, to which the men in this hall belong, take up these women and look at them with infinite, amused disdain. but in the very next column of the same morning paper we find another report, describing a public dinner, at which men only were present. and we read that after the great orators had made their great speeches, in the course of which they complimented woman so prettily, to the delight of the few privileged ladies who stood behind the screens, or looked over the balcony, or peeped in through the cracks of the windows and doors; and when the great orators had retired with the president, amid universal applause, the first vice-president took the head of the table and punch was brought in. and well toward morning, when the "army" and "navy" and the "press" and the "common council" had been toasted and drank, with three times three, and richard swiveller, esq., had sung his celebrated song, "queen of my soul!" the last regular toast was proposed--"woman--heaven's last, best gift to man," which was received with tumultuous enthusiasm, the whole company rising and cheering, the band playing "will ye come to kelvin grove, bonnie lassie, o?" and in response to a unanimous call, some gallant and chivalric editor replied in a strain of pathetic and humorous eloquence, during which many of the company were observed to shed tears or laugh, or embrace their neighbors; after which those of the company who were able rose from the table, and hallooing, "we won't go home till morning!" they hiccoughed their way home. this report is not read with great derision or laughter. it is not felt that by this performance women have been insulted and degraded. here, at this moment, in this audience, i have no doubt there is many a man who is exclaiming with fervor--"home, the heaven-appointed sphere of woman." very well. i don't deny it, but how do you know it? how can you know it? there is but one law by which any sphere can be determined, and that is perfect liberty of development. i look into history and the society around me, and i see that the position of women which is most agreeable upon the whole to men is that which they call the "heaven-appointed sphere" of woman. it may or may not be so; all that i can see thus far is that men choose to have it so. a gentleman remarks that it is a beautiful ordinance of providence that pear-trees should grow like vines. and when i say, "is it so?" he takes me into his garden, and shows me a poor, tortured pear-tree, trained upon a trellis. then i see that it is the beautiful design of providence that pear-trees should grow like vines, precisely as providence ordains that chinese women shall have small feet; and that the powdered sugar we buy at the grocer's shall be half ground rice. these philosophers might as wisely inform us that providence ordains christian saints to be chops and steaks; and then point us to st. lawrence upon his gridiron. has nature ordained that the lark shall rise fluttering and singing to the sun in the spring? but how should we ever know it, if he were prisoned in a cage with wires of gold never so delicate, or tied with a silken string however slight and soft? is it the nature of flowers to open to the south wind? how could we know it but that, unconstrained by art, their winking eyes respond to that soft breath? in like manner, what determines the sphere of any morally responsible being, but perfect liberty of choice and liberty of development? take those away, and you have taken away the possibility of determining the sphere. how do i know my sphere as a man, but by repelling everything that would arbitrarily restrict my choice? how can you know yours as women, but by obedience to the same law? it is not the business of either sex to theorize about the sphere of the other. it is the duty of each to secure the liberty of both. give women, for instance, every opportunity of education that men have. if there are some branches of knowledge improper for them to acquire--some which are in their nature unwomanly--they will know it a thousandfold better than men. and if, having opened the college, there be some woman in whom the love of learning extinguishes all other love, then the heaven-appointed sphere of that woman is not the nursery. it may be the laboratory, the library, the observatory; it may be the platform or the senate. and if it be either of these, shall we say that education has unsphered and unsexed her? on the contrary, it has enabled that woman to ascertain so far exactly what god meant her to do. the woman's rights movement is the simple claim, that the same opportunity and liberty that a man has in civilized society shall be extended to the woman who stands at his side--equal or unequal in special powers, but an equal member of society. she must prove her power as he proves his. and so when joan of arc follows god and leads the army; when the maid of saragossa loads and fires the cannon; when mrs. stowe makes her pen the heaven-appealing tongue of an outraged race; when grace darling and ida lewis, pulling their boats through the pitiless waves, save fellow-creatures from drowning; when mrs. patten, the captain's wife, at sea--her husband lying helplessly ill in his cabin--puts everybody aside, and herself steers the ship to port, do you ask me whether these are not exceptional women? i am a man and you are women; but florence nightingale, demanding supplies for the sick soldiers in the crimea, and when they are delayed by red tape, ordering a file of soldiers to break down the doors and bring them, which they do--for the brave love bravery--seems to me quite as womanly as the loveliest girl in the land, dancing at the gayest ball in a dress of which the embroidery is the pinched lines of starvation in another girl's face. jenny lind enchanting the heart of a nation; anna dickinson pleading for the equal liberty of her sex; lucretia mott, publicly bearing her testimony against the sin of slavery, are doing what god, by his great gifts of eloquence and song, appointed them to do. and whatever generous and noble duty, either in a private or a public sphere, god gives any woman the will and the power to do, that, and that only, for her, is feminine. but have women, then, no sphere as women? undoubtedly they have, as men have a sphere as men. if a woman is a mother, god gives her certain affections, and cares springing from them, which we may be very sure she will not forget, and to which, just in the degree that she is a true woman, she will be fondly faithful. we need not think that it is necessary to fence her in, nor to suppose that she would try to evade these duties and responsibilities, if perfect liberty were given her. as sydney smith said of education, we need not fear that if girls study greek and mathematics, mothers will desert their infants for quadratic equations, or verbs in _mi_. but the sphere of the family is not the sole sphere either of men or women. they are not only parents, they are human beings, with genius, talents, aspirations, ambition. they are also members of the state, and from the very equality of the parental function which perpetuates the state, they are equally interested in its welfare. is it said that she influences the man now? very well; do you object to that? and if not, is there any reason why she should not do directly what she does indirectly? if it is proper that her opinion should influence a man's vote, is there any good reason why it should not be independently expressed? or is it said that she is represented by men? excuse me; i belong to a country which said, with james otis in the forum, and with george washington in the field, that there is no such thing as virtual representation. the guarantee of equal opportunity in modern society is the ballot. it may be a clumsy contrivance, but it is the best we have yet found. in our system a man without a vote is but half a man. so long as women are forbidden political equality, the laws and feelings of society will be unjust to them. i have no more superstitious notions about the ballot than about any other method of social improvement and progress. but all experience shows that my neighbor's ballot is no protection for me. we see that voters may be bribed, dazzled, coerced; and, where there is practically universal suffrage among men, we often see, indeed, corruption, waste, and bad laws. but we nowhere see that those who once have the ballot are willing to relinquish it, and many of those who most warmly oppose the voting of women also most earnestly advocate the unconditional restoration of political rights to the guiltiest of the late rebel leaders, because they know that to deprive them of the ballot places them at a terrible disadvantage. if then it is what i may call an american political instinct, that any class of men which monopolizes the political power will be unjust to other classes of men, how much truer is it that one sex as a class will be unjust to the other. i know, as every man knows, many a woman of the noblest character, of the highest intelligence, of the purest purpose, the owner of property, the mother of children, devoted to her family and to all her duties, and for that reason profoundly interested in public affairs. and when this woman says to me, "you are one of the governing class. your government is founded upon the principle of expressed consent of all as the best security of all. i have as much stake in it as you--perhaps more than you, because i am a parent--and wish more than many of my neighbors to express my opinion and assert my influence by a ballot. i am a better judge than you or any man can be of my own responsibilities and powers. i am willing to bear my equal share of every burden of the government in such manner as we shall all equally decide to be best. by what right, then, except that of mere force, do you deny me a voice in the laws which i am forced to obey?" what shall i say? what can i say? shall i tell her that she is "owned" by some living man, or is some dead man's "relict," as the old phrase was? shall i tell her that she ought to be ashamed of herself for wishing to be unsexed; that god has given her the nursery, the ball-room, the opera, and that, if these fail, he has graciously provided the kitchen, the wash-tub, and the needle? or shall i tell her that she is a lute, a moonbeam, a rosebud; and touch my guitar, and weave flowers in her hair, and sing: "gay without toil and lovely without art, they spring to cheer the sense and glad the heart; nor blush, my fair, to own you copy these, your best, your sweetest empire is to please"? no, no. at least, i will not insult her. i can say nothing. i hang my head before that woman, as when in foreign lands i was asked, "you are an american. that is the nation that forever boasts of the equal liberty of all its citizens, and is the only great nation in the world that traffics in human flesh!" the very moment women passed out of the degradation of the greek household and the contempt of the roman law, they began their long and slow ascent through prejudice, sophistry, and passion to their perfect equality of choice and opportunity as human beings; and the assertion that when a majority of women ask for equal political rights they will be granted, is a confession that there is no conclusive reason against their sharing them. and if that be so, how can their admission rightfully depend upon the majority? why should the woman who does not care to vote prevent the voting of her neighbor who does? why should a hundred fools who are content to be dolls and do what mrs. grundy expects, prejudice the choice of a single one who wishes to be a woman and do what her conscience requires? you tell me that the great mass of women are uninterested, indifferent, and, upon the whole, hostile to the movement. you say what of course you can not know, but even if it were so, what then? there are some of the noblest and best of women, both in this country and in england, who are not indifferent. they are the women who have thought for themselves upon the subject. the others (the great multitude) are those who have not thought at all; who have acquiesced in the old order, and who have accepted the prejudices of men. shall their unthinking acquiescence or the intelligent wish of their thoughtful sisters decide the question? we can be patient. our fathers won their independence of england by the logic of english ideas. we will persuade america by the eloquence of american principles. in one of the fierce western battles among the mountains, general thomas was watching a body of his troops painfully pushing their way up a steep hill against a withering fire. victory seemed impossible, and the general--even he a rock of valor and patriotism--exclaimed, "they can't do it; they'll never reach the top!" his chief-of-staff, watching the struggle with equal earnestness, placed his hand on his commander's arm and said softly, "time, time, general; give them time;" and presently the moist eyes of the brave leader saw his soldiers victorious upon the summit. they were american soldiers. so are we. they were fighting our american battle. so are we. they were climbing a precipice. so are we. the great heart of their general gave them time and they conquered. the great heart of our country will give us time and we shall triumph. mrs. lucy stone then introduced hon. george w. julian, member of congress from indiana. "his name," she said, "will always be held in grateful remembrance by good women as the author of the xvi. amendment." mr. julian said that, as a thorough-going radical in politics and a sincere believer in democracy as a principle, he could not see how he was to argue the question of woman suffrage, even if he had the time. woman's rights, to his mind, rested upon precisely the same grounds upon which men's rights rest; and to argue the question of woman's rights is to argue the question of human rights. subscribing as he did to the great primal truth of the sacredness of human rights, the same logic which held him to that compelled him--it is inexorable logic--to stand by the legitimate results to which it leads. the issue was between aristocracy and privilege on one side, and democracy and equality of inherent right on the other. speaking of the xvi. amendment, he said: "believing as i do in democracy in the large and proper and full sense of the term, and being unwilling to write myself down a hypocrite or liar by refusing to women equal participation in rights which i insist upon for myself as a citizen of the united states, i thought it was my duty to introduce into the congress of the united states a xvi. amendment to the constitution proposing to give to one half of our citizens who are to-day disfranchised a voice in the system of laws and government by which the other half of the citizens now govern them. should it succeed, you will have a true and real democracy in this land; a government emphatically of the people, for the people, and by the people. mrs. celia burleigh was then introduced, and said: ladies and gentlemen, i am not generally in favor of compromises, but i come before you to-night to propose a compromise. i had written a speech for the occasion, and--a--i assure you it was a very good speech. as i am compassionate, however, if you will take my word for it that it is a very good speech i will not inflict it upon you. these remarks brought such thunders of applause, that in response to the manifest desire of the audience, mrs. burleigh again came forward, and delivered a highly interesting and eloquent address upon the general subject of woman's improvement, under the epigrammatic title of "woman's right to be a woman." an extract or two will show the spirit with which she treats the question. "i appeal to every true man before me if he has not looked into the faces of well-dressed men so sensual and brutal in their expression, that he would sooner a hundredfold see a sister or daughter laid in her grave than entrusted to the guardianship of such a man. will you not give to every woman the power to maintain the integrity of her womanhood--the ownership of herself? what means the right of the drunkard's wife to be a woman? it means the power to protect herself from his drunken hate and his more frightful drunken love. it means that she be armed with a vote to repress the horrid traffic that has made her husband a brute, or, failing to save him, that she escape with untarnished honor from his polluting arms. what signifies the right to be a woman to her who must endure the daily contact of a social villain, if it be not to have all human virtue as her ally when she snaps the tie that binds her to him, and vindicates the divine validity of marriage by breaking the fetters of the fatal sham? what is involved in the right of the magdalen to be a woman redeemed and disenthralled from the bondage of sin? what but the entire reconstruction of society with purity for a law and charity for the executive; with more of the divine mother in man, more of manly courage and self-respecting dignity in woman; in both more reverence for humanity and a more abiding faith in the indestructible possibilities of good in every human soul." the convention then adjourned _sine die_. the first annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association was held in cleveland, ohio, nov. and , . col. t. w. higginson, first vice-president, called the meeting to order, and addressed the audience substantially as follows: remarks of colonel higginson. ladies and gentlemen: i heartily congratulate you that you are again called together in this goodly city of cleveland. we stand to-day at the cradle of the association, a child one year old, to celebrate its first birthday. there is nothing in the record of the past year that we have to blush for, or that we have to undo. if our work has been limited in its success, it has been because we have been limited in means. if we have not transformed the entire world it has been because the world has not poured its money into our coffers. but the great fact remains, as much as if we had accomplished a work ten times as large, that we have a great central organization, to which ten states have given a cordial and hearty support. congress at washington is but a small body. the amount it annually does and spends is nothing to that done and spent by the state governments. it is the keystone of our great national arch, the string upon which all state governments are strung. and so this association is the keystone upon which all the auxiliary state organizations depend. we meet here to-day, in a delegate meeting, for full and free discussion; none are proscribed, none prescribed. if there is anything new to be done, now is the time to do it; if anything wrong was done last year, now is the time to rectify it. this is the great, golden opportunity of this association. it is especial cause for rejoicing that it is organized for a specific purpose, to secure the ballot to women, everything else being held for the time in abeyance. early in the movement in behalf of women the broad platform of "woman's rights" was adopted. this was all proper and right then, but the progress of reform has developed the fact that suffrage for woman is the great key that will unlock to her the doors of social and political equality. this should be the first point of concentrated attack. suffrage is not the only object, but it is the first, to be attained. when we gave our association that name we escaped a vast deal of discussion and argument, for its object can not be misunderstood. but after that is gained there will be worlds yet to conquer. if the conservatives think that because it is called the woman suffrage association it has no further object, they are greatly mistaken. its purpose and aim are to equalize the sexes in all the relations of life; to reduce the inequalities that now exist in matters of education, in social life and in the professions--to make them equal in all respects, before the law, society, and the world. with this burden upon our shoulders we can not carry all the other ills of the world in addition, we must take one thing at a time. suffrage for woman gained, and all else will speedily follow. h. b. blackwell, chairman of the committee on credentials, presented the report of delegates present.[ ] on motion of mrs. dr. ferguson, seconded by judge bradwell, each delegation was authorized to cast the full vote of the state it represents. the number of votes to which each state was entitled was declared to be that of its congressional representation. mrs. lucy stone, chairman of the executive committee, read the report of the executive committee. _annual report of the chairman of the executive committee of the american woman suffrage association:_ the american woman suffrage association was formed in this city one year ago under the most favorable auspices. its one great object is to secure the ballot for woman. through the power this will give, she may take her true place, free to use every gift and faculty she possesses, subject only to the law of benevolence. this organization has been vastly influential in securing public sympathy and respect for our ideas. the very names of its officers gave confidence, and through their confidence the cause has received large accessions of strength. we have already nine auxiliary state societies. each of these has held conventions. some have employed lecturers, some have organized county and local societies. all have circulated tracts and petitions. ohio, indiana, and massachusetts have been especially abundant in labor. ohio has thirty-one local societies, indiana twenty-five, and massachusetts five. these states have had a force of excellent speakers in the field, who, with rare self-forgetting, have worked as only those can who work with whole-hearted faith for immortal principles. under the auspices of this association, a canvass was made in the state of vermont. the sole reason which induced the executive committee to undertake this special work was that the council of censors had submitted a proposition that "henceforth women may vote, and with no other restrictions than are prescribed for men." a vermont state woman suffrage association was organized, auxiliary to the american society. the speech of mr. curtis at our may mass meeting, so admirable in style and substance we have published in a tract entitled "fair play for women." thousands of copies have been sent to all parts of the united states. it is doing its silent work by quiet firesides, where hard-working men and women, who can never attend a convention, can find time to read. we have published seven tracts, which had previously been sold at $ . a hundred, at the actual cost of $ . per hundred, and keep them constantly for sale at these low prices. they have been scattered broadcast, and the good seed thus sown will bear fruit in due season. there has been steady progress in our ideas during the whole year. the _woman's journal_, established last january, and since consolidated with the _woman's advocate_, of ohio, is constantly increasing its circulation, more than a thousand new subscribers having been added within a single month. one of the most significant signs of progress is found in the recent action of the republican party in massachusetts. their state convention unanimously admitted mary a. livermore and lucy stone, who were regularly accredited delegates from the towns of melrose and west brookfield. a resolution in favor of making woman suffrage part of the platform was reported by the committee on resolutions. a change of only votes out of would have made woman suffrage this year a part of the republican platform of massachusetts. thus women have been admitted to represent men in a political state convention. the next step will be that women will represent themselves. with all these cheering indications, we have only to keep our question of woman's right to the ballot clear and unmixed with other issues, and the growing public sympathy will soon carry our cause to a successful issue. judge bradwell, of chicago, presented the following letter to the chair, which was read to the association: _to the american woman suffrage association;_ friends and co-workers: we, the undersigned, a committee appointed by the union woman suffrage society in new york, may, , to confer with you on the subject of merging the two organizations into one, respectfully announce: st. that in our judgment no difference exists between the objects and methods of the two societies, nor any good reason for keeping them apart. d. that the society we represent has invested us with full power to arrange with you a union of both under a single constitution and executive. d. that we ask you to appoint a committee of equal number and authority with our own, to consummate if possible this happy result. yours, in the common cause of woman's enfranchisement, laura curtis bullard, isabella beecher hooker, gerrit smith, samuel j. may, sarah pugh, charlotte e. wilbour, frederick douglass, josephine s. griffing, mattie griffith brown, theodore tilton, _ex officio_. james w. stillman, judge bradwell made a few remarks on the subject of the letter, advocating the union of the two organizations, and proposing the following resolution: _whereas_, in article ii. of the constitution of the american woman suffrage association it is stated, "its object shall be to concentrate the efforts of all the advocates of woman suffrage in the united states," and whereas the union woman suffrage association, of which theodore tilton is president, has appointed a committee of eleven persons with full power to agree upon a basis for the union of the two national associations, now, therefore, be it _resolved_, that the convention for the purpose of carrying out the object of said association, as expressed in said article ii., and concentrating the efforts of all the friends of woman suffrage throughout the union for national purposes, do hereby appoint.... who, with the eleven persons heretofore appointed by said woman suffrage society, shall compose a joint committee with full power to form a union of the american woman suffrage association and the union woman suffrage society under one constitution and one set of officers. it is further provided, after notice to all, that a majority of said joint committee shall have power to act. the above was referred to the committee on resolutions. at the afternoon session vice-president higginson invited the vice-presidents of the associations of different states to seats upon the platform. mrs. lucy stone was introduced, and gave an interesting account of the course pursued by her and mrs. livermore in a massachusetts convention. here the two ladies were received as delegates, took their places among the regular delegates of the convention, and voted with them. after that they urged their lady friends to attend the ward meetings. the women of massachusetts, she said, paid taxes on $ , , of property, the women of boston on $ , , . she thought it good policy to work inside the parties. mrs. dr. ferguson, of indiana, thought it necessary to begin by sowing the seeds of the doctrine. meetings had been held in different parts of the state. one was held on the sidewalk, was well attended, and was followed by a large meeting. soon after, conventions were held, and though many women were afraid to take hold of the subject, others advocated it with full force. we have organized fourteen local societies. some of these are sending out their lecturers. col. t. w. higginson reported that the rhode island society was endeavoring to obtain the appointment of women as superintendents of reform institutions. we should have matrons in all the prisons where women are confined. i would therefore urge upon all women in their respective cities to labor in this direction. men will vote for placing women upon all these boards. judge bradwell, of chicago, made a short report on the condition of the suffrage party in his state. dr. child, of pennsylvania, said: the suggestions of our president are very important. woman should have a position by the side of man in all public institutions. i am happy to say that in the city of philadelphia, founded by william penn, and to a considerable extent still under the influence of friends, women do participate largely in our benevolent institutions and prisons. our state organization was formed on the d of december last, and is auxiliary to the american association. our principal labor has been to increase the circulation of the _woman's journal_ and circulate tracts. rev. oscar clute, of new jersey, thought that his state had done more for the cause of woman suffrage than many others. mary f. davis and others had resided there. mrs. m. v. longley reported that in ohio desirable progress was manifested, and that if the coming year was as successful as the past the cause would progress well. societies, some thirty-two in number, had been organized, and everywhere the work went on well. mr. henry b. blackwell made a report for new hampshire, where he was assured by mrs. white and pipher, now present, that the cause had never been so strong before. owing to the exceedingly inclement weather, the attendance upon the evening session of the convention was light. all the states represented having reported except missouri, mrs. hazard, one of the delegates from that state, spoke briefly, showing that the movement is making satisfactory advance. judge whitehead, new jersey, regarded the woman suffrage question as the most important topic before the american people. the only question to be asked in connection with this movement is, is it right, is it just?--not, is it expedient? with regard to the legal and constitutional conditions of this question, he said that he believed that women had a right to vote without any change in the organic law of the nation. the speaker proceeded to discuss this question at some length, with the purpose of demonstrating that in virtue of the principle and practice of the government of the united states in securing the ballot to men, the right to vote equally belonged to women. the speaker continued at length in advocacy of the ballot for woman as a necessity for securing her rights and remedying her wrongs. the president, with some prefatory remarks, introduced miss rice, of antioch college. miss rice announced as the theme of her address, "woman's work," and said that the work proper for woman is whatever she has the ability and opportunity to do. miss rice embraced in the discussion of her topic, considerations as to the duty of parents in rearing and teaching their children, demanding that the same principle under which boys were reared should be applied to girls, and the duty of society, which must recognize the necessity of women being instructed and taught in all that man has access to. she deprecated as one of the worst evils of our civilization that men and women were being all the time more widely separated. they must be brought nearer together. mrs. m. m. cole said: that we are still so far from enfranchisement is mainly the fault of women themselves. home talks, not mrs. caudle's fault-finding lectures, will do more toward convincing men of the righteousness of their demand, than all the public harangues to which they can listen. comparatively speaking, there are few men who do not listen and heed the counsels of a good wife, few who will not yield a willing or reluctant assent to her requests. for every exception, there may be found a wife who has never given evidence of candid, far-reaching thought; and when a man is in possession of such a one, he is not to be censured for wishing to keep the reins in his own hand. when all women ask for the ballot, they shall have it, say many politicians. in all probability, the wives of these men have never asked it--indeed, they may have refused outright to use it, if granted. and so, blind to the interests of all, deaf to the entreaties of many, they refuse the request, making, in fact, their wives the arbiter of all women. that is not statesmanship, but partisanship, and a partisan is not one likely to comprehend a question in its broadest meaning. husbands and wives who are not as far apart as the poles, are apt to think alike on all questions except religion and temperance, perhaps i ought to add finance. social problems they solve by the same rule, public officers they weigh in the same balance, party measures criticise and pronounce wise or unwise with the same verdict. i know of a few advocates of woman suffrage whose husbands, fathers, brothers, or some one dearer, do not directly or indirectly aid them. so far from alienating the married pair, so far from creating domestic disturbance, the discussion of this question has called into activity faculties men never dreamed woman possessed. she has shown more fixedness of purpose, sagacity, and sound judgment, than have ever been attributed to her. excepting the religion of christ, which first broke the chains binding woman to a mere animal existence, and sent gleams of love and hope through the darkness in which she groped, there has been nothing which has given such an impetus to her life as the present one, set in motion by her demand for freedom. never before in the history of the human race, have women stood so high in the estimation of men as they stand to-day. there is but one answer to give to woman-worshipers, and that is, take away all responsibility from me, shield me from the terrors of war, intemperance and licentiousness, and be my vicarious sacrifice in the world to come, and i'll be the thing you would have me--the echo--the reflection--the soulless divinity. is this an extreme view? what! can there be an extreme view, when one is considering individual freedom? set bounds to the political, social, or religious liberty of a man, and what figures of speech would he employ? the advocates of the xv. amendment put words into our mouths, and they must answer for them if they seem too extravagant. there is nothing under the sun that will so arouse man or woman as the fact that another, as needy, as finite as himself, sets stakes in the path of his progress, and says, "thus far shalt thou go, and no farther." it is this assumption of men, most grievous to be borne, that has compelled woman to ask that the stakes be removed, and she be permitted to go where she wills to go. mrs. hannah b. clarke spoke as follows: when i am satisfied that a majority of the women of this country desire the ballot, i shall be in favor of granting the same, says the man of to-day of average ability and culture. oh! my friend, we shall not allow you to take out a patent for magnanimity on the strength of that confession. when all the women, or even the majority of the women, shall unite in one solemn, earnest appeal for a voice in the framing of the laws which they are compelled to obey, the turf will be green over that political statesmanship which supposes that a question of right, of principle, is a question of majorities. while i do not believe that the fewness of the women in any community who really desire the ballot furnishes any man good ground for throwing his influence in the opposite scale, i do believe that the most serious hindrance to the immediate success of our cause is the opposition of women themselves. it is one of the saddest, the most discouraging, features of any reform to find its worst foes are they of its own household. but the woman movement is not unique in this particular. other reforms have presented the self-same characteristic. he who is familiar with the history of labor-saving machinery in this country knows that its introduction was fought inch by inch by that very class whose condition it was especially designed to ameliorate. if the jews were the first to crucify instead of receive their messiah, we know that the bad precedent which they established has not been lost upon succeeding generations. my friends, every reform begets a vast amount of ignorant opposition before which its advocates must simply possess their souls in patience. this opposition among women shows itself in two distinct ways. the first kind manifests itself in holding meetings, framing petitions, and soliciting signatures, asking congress to withhold the right of suffrage from the women of the land. i make no quarrel with that kind of opposition, nay, more, i entertain for it a certain kind of regard, for two reasons: first, because any decision that is candid and the result of reflection, entitles the holder to respect, but secondly and mainly, because it is no opposition at all. these persons are our friends, doing just what we are, no more and no less. for, mind you, it is not the mere dropping of the ballot once or twice a year on the part of woman to which public opinion is such a dead set. it is that which follows the ballot, that which the ballot involves. it is the office holding, the introduction of woman into public life, this stepping outside of what has always been considered her particular sphere. and so these women, who are memorializing legislatures to deny their sisters the ballot, are doing our work, in that they are breaking the crust of that bitter prejudice which says that a woman's business is to keep house and tend babies, utterly regardless of the fact that every community contains scores of women who have neither houses to keep, nor babies to tend; doing our work in their own way, to be sure, in a way that reflects little credit on their good sense, but we shall not be particular about that if they are not. my verdict for such women is, let them alone. we shall be the losers if they ever find out their mistake. but that kind of opposition which we dread the most, which takes the courage out of the most courageous, and the heart out of the most earnest, is the opposition of utter insensibility, of stolid indifference, which the mass of women exhibit, not only to this question, but to any question that does not touch their immediate personal interests. if i had a cause, of whatever kind, to advocate on its merits alone, one argument to make that appealed to a reasonable intellect, a discriminating judgment, i should want an audience not of women. it is a sad, a humiliating fact that the great mass of women are not thinkers. * * * * * at the morning session colonel higginson read a letter from henry ward beecher. brooklyn, n. y., nov. , . mrs. lucy stone:--my dear madam--you were kind enough to ask me to allow my name to be used again in connection with the presidency of the american woman suffrage association. but, after reflection, i am persuaded that it will be better to put in nomination some one who can give more time to the affairs of the society than i can and who can at least attend its meetings, which i find it impossible to do. but, while i detach myself from the mere machinery of the society, i do not withdraw from the cause, nor abate my hopes of its success and my conviction of the justice of its aims. on the contrary, with every year i feel increasing confidence that the ultimate forms of civilized society will surely include women in its political management. i am not so sanguine of the nearness of the day when a woman's vote must be calculated by political assemblies as many are, but little by little the cause will gain and ultimately the result is certain. i wish you an enthusiastic meeting, a harmonious adjustment of all affairs, and a prosperous future. i am very truly yours, henry ward beecher. the committee on resolutions[ ] reported later. the first four resolutions were unanimously adopted, the fifth, after full discussion, was rejected by a vote of - to - . mr. henry b. blackwell offered the following resolution: _resolved_, that the american woman suffrage association heartily invites the cooperation of all individuals and all state societies who feel the need of a truly national association on a delegated basis, which shall avoid side issues, and devote itself to the main question of suffrage. adopted unanimously. the american woman suffrage association held its semi-annual meeting in steinway hall, new york, may , . a large audience had already gathered when the convention was called to order, which was constantly increased during the morning session, until between and , persons were in attendance. in the absence of the president of the association, mrs. h. m. tracy cutler, mrs. m. a. livermore was called to the chair. she read the following letter from mrs. cutler: _to the american woman suffrage association, steinway hall new york:_ with much self-denial on my part, i remain far from your semi-annual gathering. but in heart i am with you, partaking in your deliberations, and recounting the advances since our meeting one year ago. mrs. dr. patten, wife of the editor of the _advance_, who believes and does far better than he would make us believe through his paper, is president of a society for sending women as missionaries to india for the express purpose of educating brahman women. they will deny any belief in the woman suffrage movement, but they are teaching women the alphabet, and that is the first step toward the fullest possession of self, which will yet claim and vindicate all human rights. among the most significant signs of the influence of this agitation, is the change in the laws of the different states in regard to the rights of women. conversing with a member of the committee charged with the revision of the laws of california, he said to me: "the most important part of my work is the revisions of the statutes concerning marriage and divorce and the rights of property and of guardianship for married women." the action of congress shows us clearly, that as soon as there is sufficient pressure from without, it will give a light by which to read the xiv. and xv. amendments, or it will inspire the passage of a xvi., so that our cause will be won. knowing that your deliberations will be wise, and that the inspiring spirit will be purity and harmony, i shall the less regret that i am compelled to be absent in person, though present in spirit. h. m. t. cutler. the rev. dr. edward eggleston, of the _independent_, said: one can not show one's interest in the cause better than by speaking in this opening moment of the convention. i think every individual in the country should have a voice in the making of the laws. here is a large and increasing class of women in the country who need the suffrage, and men feel that they need women in politics. a great many people never think of the effect of suffrage on woman without a shudder. i am not one who believes that women are adapted to every kind of work to which a man is. i do not believe that a woman's mind is just like a man's, but the most shameful proscription of all is that which prevents women from doing the work for which they are adapted. it is not necessary for a woman to be a man in order to vote. we want a woman's vote to be a woman's vote, and not a man's vote. it is a singular old heresy that to be able to vote you must be able to be a soldier. the purpose of the ballot-box is not to be bolstered by bullets. it is intended that public sentiment shall make law; and i think women can make public sentiment faster than men. i would back a new england sewing society against any town meeting. if women can not make war, they can at least do something to stop war. there is nothing in the world so absurd as regarding womanhood as some delicate flower that should be shut up in some glass jar for fear it may be injured by contact with the air. the ballot opens the door for every true and needed reform for women, because the ballot is the great educating power. a true, right-feeling woman does not want to be dependent, and the ballot will educate them to independence, because it brings duties and responsibilities to them. resolutions[ ] were presented by h. b. blackwell, chairman of the committee on resolutions. mrs. lucy stone then addressed the convention as follows: the ideas which underlie the question of woman suffrage have reached the last stage of discussion before their final acceptance. they have grown up first through the period of indifference, then that of scorn, and then that of moral agitation; and now they are ushered into politics. in nearly every northern and western state, such discussions have been had, and action has been taken upon the subject in some form. even in south carolina it has voted itself, with the governor of the state for its ally. under the xiv. and xv. amendments, several women in washington attempted to vote, but were refused. they are now trying the question in the united states courts. in congress votes were cast in our favor at the last session. politicians know perfectly well that our success is a foregone conclusion. no coming event ever cast its shadow before it more clearly than does this--that women will vote. it is only a question of time, say all. it is important for us, then, to-day, to suggest such measures as shall win us sympathy, co-operation, and success; and for the first time give to the world an example of true republicanism--a government of the people, by the people, and for the people--man and woman. if neither of the existing parties takes up our cause, then the best men from both will form a new party, which will win for itself sympathy, support, power, and supremacy, because it gave itself to the service of those who needed justice. i care for any party only as it serves principles, and secures great national needs. but the republican party made itself a power by doing justice to the negro. when the war was over and the reconstruction of the south became necessary, the republican party was in the full tide of power, and had its choice of methods and means. it was the golden hour that statesmanship should have seized to reconstruct the government on the basis of the consent of the governed, without distinction of sex, race, or color. mr. blackwell addressed the convention as follows: he enumerated the different methods which have been proposed in order to secure the suffrage for women, as follows: by a xvi. amendment to the constitution, as suggested by the hon. george w. julian; by an act of congress enfranchising women in the district of columbia, as advised by hon. henry wilson; by amendments to the various state constitutions, and by litigation for a broader construction of the xiv. and xv. amendments to the constitution. mr. blackwell said that all these methods are worth trying, but thought there was a swifter and easier method, viz: to induce the state legislatures to direct that the votes of all adult native and naturalized citizens shall be received and counted in the presidential election of . this can be done, in mr. blackwell's opinion, under the first section of the second article of the constitution, which says: each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the congress. the great underlying mass of ignorance is always conservative. hence the difficulty of making constitutional amendments, and the importance of employing an easier method. let every man or woman who believes in woman suffrage organize within their respective states and endeavor to obtain such an act from their respective legislatures next winter, and let it be understood that the votes of the woman suffrage party, both men and women, will be cast as a unit within each state for the party which does this great act of political justice. giles b. stebbins said: it has been stated that women don't want the ballot. well, suppose they don't. that is the very strongest argument why they should be taught that they do. fred. douglass said, "show me a contented slave, and i will show you a depraved man." we want duties and responsibilities shared equally by all, that man may be more manly and woman more womanly. mrs. elizabeth k. churchill, of providence, said: can there be an aristocracy meaner and more tyrannical than that of sex, by which a wise, cultured, intelligent woman is made the inferior (for that is what the denial of the ballot implies), the inferior of a base, brutal, degraded man? the divine right of kings is an exploded notion; it is time for the divine right of sex to follow it. the chief value of the ballot is the educational power. he who feels an interest in men and measures will soon feel a responsibility. everybody knows that women are no better than men. they are no angels floating in an ethereal atmosphere. it is the fashion sometimes to call them "angels," but i observe they are no longer angels when they get aged. i don't know a more unpleasant rôle to play than that of an aged angel. if it is said that woman can't know enough to vote, i can only reply that god made them to match men. but no standard of education was ever fixed for the ballot; and if there had been one, it never could exclude woman, any more than it could negroes. mrs. livermore left the chair for a short time to read a note from a lady inquiring whether, if she thought the woman suffrage movement was condemned in the new testament, she would abandon the movement. i think she said, that it is not the proper way to put the question. if the question were put to me, if i thought the woman's reform contrary to christianity, would i throw it overboard? i should answer, yes, unhesitatingly; i should desire, for one, to stop it; i should renounce it forever. what is it that the woman's reform asks for woman? we ask for the ballot, and we ask it simply because it is the symbol of equality. there is no other recognized symbol of equality in this country. we ask for the ballot that we may be equal to men before the law. the very moment we obtain it the work of this association is done, and it must get out of the way. then new associations must be formed to take the new work that will come before us, for when the ballot is given to woman then the great work will begin. then comes the tug of war. for the obtaining of the ballot by woman is but stepping up the first round of the ladder, whose topmost round takes hold of perfection. oliver johnson moved that the resolutions reported in the morning be voted on. the motion was carried, and the resolutions having been separately read, passed unanimously with little discussion till the last two were reached. mr. kilgore, of philadelphia, objected to the seventh resolution, and said, if you don't want to cover this purpose with doubt and uncertainty, which is always an evidence of weakness, claim your right to vote under the xiv. and xv. amendments to the constitution. mrs. lucy stone replied that we all believed we had a right to vote under the original constitution, as well as under these amendments, but since there was great doubt whether woman suffrage should be reached through these, she thought it best to seek also for a xvi. amendment. oliver johnson said he didn't want to be included in mrs. blackwell's remark that the constitution gives women the ballot. he thought it not wise to agitate this question. the right to vote under the constitution can be reached only under a decision of the courts, and while waiting for that you are diverting the public mind from the true point at issue. slavery had been put down in such a way that it can never be reconstructed; but if it had been put aside by a decision of the supreme court, a triumph of the democratic party might change the character of the supreme court and reinstate it. he thought it wise to have the resolutions as they were, so that persons of all shades of opinions may vote for them. dr. mary walker said that the fact of women attempting to vote in washington had done more for woman suffrage than all the conventions ever held. we want a declaratory law, she said, passed by the congress of the united states, giving women the right to vote. this was the only way to save an immense amount of labor in the different states. david plumb, of new york, advocated the seventh resolution. we need a xvi. amendment to settle woman suffrage on a firm basis. after considerable debate the resolution was unanimously adopted. the eighth resolution was then discussed, to which mr. kilgore also objected, offering a motion that all the resolution coming after the words "special social theories," be stricken out. he was opposed, especially, to the introduction of the words "free love." what was meant by them? mr. blackwell said the convention meant by the use of that phrase exactly what the new york _tribune_ of that morning meant, in its statement that the woman suffrage movement was one for free love. the president said this great movement was not responsible for the freaks and follies of individuals. the resolutions simply denied that this association indorsed free love, which certain papers charged them with. after considerable discussion, the resolution was adopted by the strong, decided and united voices of nearly a thousand people, voting in the affirmative. at the evening session of the convention the great hall was filled completely, not a seat on the lower floor being unoccupied, and all the desirable seats in the gallery being taken. moses coit tyler, professor in the michigan state university at ann arbor, was the first speaker: the seaboard is the natural seat of liberty. coming to you from the inland, where the salt breath of the atlantic is exchanged for the sweet vapors of the lakes, i say to you, look well to your laurels! what are you seaboard people doing to vindicate your honor? we, in the interior, have at least one national university which opens its gates to the sex which has the misfortune to be that of mrs. livermore, mrs. howe, and others. one of the keenest and brightest minds of the law in the west animates the head of a woman. in my own state of michigan, at least two women have succeeded in getting their votes into the ballot-box. these are strifes in which good people may engage, and of the trophies won in such a contest every modest man may boast. this deep, national, resolute demand for a great right withheld, means that woman is really a person, and not merely a lovely shadow. if you can convince the majority of american men, and what is more, the majority of american women, that woman is a person, you will have the ballot to-morrow. we call woman an angel, and it is very easy to do that, because the constitution of the united states don't take any account of angels. if all citizens who are masculine have the right to vote, it is not because they are males, but because they are persons who are members of the nation. therefore women should likewise be given this right because they are also members of the nation, and it is the right of every member to vote. but, after all, we men are rather bashful, you know, and the business is new to us. we have a sort of "barkis is willin'" feeling, and don't want to be the first to speak. we are like the rustic young man who escorted a young lady home for the first time. says she, as they reached the garden-gate: "now, jake, don't tell any one you beau'd me home." "no," he replied, "i am as much ashamed of it as you be!" [laughter.] now, it would have been much better if the young lady had said something more exhilarating, more encouraging. so we are new to the business of escorting women to the ballot, and they must come forward, and, overcoming their natural timidity, meet us half way and speak for themselves. mary grew, of philadelphia, was the next speaker: when i am asked to give arguments for the cause of woman suffrage, it seems like the old times when we were asked to give arguments for the freedom of the slave. it is enough for me to know that the charter of our nation states that "taxation without representation is tyranny," and that "all just government is founded on the consent of the governed." no woman wrote those words. they were written by men. i stood recently at a woman suffrage meeting in boston, and i heard a gentleman say, "i am willing, on certain conditions, that women shall vote. when women shall suppress intemperance, i am willing they shall have the ballot." i don't know how he was going to ascertain whether they would suppress it or not. i know that men who have held the ballot all their lives have not suppressed it; and i don't think there is any one here who would say that women would suppress it. what is woman going to do with the ballot? i don't know; i don't care; and it is of no consequence. their right to the ballot does not rest on the way in which they vote. this, however, must be admitted, and that is, that there are women in this country who will vote much more wisely than some men in new york and philadelphia. you, my brothers, claim the right to vote because you are taxed, because you are one of the governed; and you know if an attempt was made to touch your right to vote, you would sacrifice everything to defend it. what would money be worth to you without it? you call it the symbol of your citizenship; and without it you would be slaves--not free. listen, then, when a woman tells you that her freedom is but nominal without it. and when you ask what women are going to do with it, ask yourselves what you want it for and what you are going to do with it. there never was a class of people able to take care of the rights of another class.... mrs. lucy stone next addressed the meeting briefly: if you have a man, said she, who is a fool or a felon, you put him over the line alongside of your mother. every man of you before he sleeps should go on his knees to his mother, and beg her pardon, and you should tell her you are ashamed of yourselves. the rev. washington gladden, one of the editors of the _independent_, rose to answer mrs. grew's question--why the _tribune_ does not inquire about these ignorant men who are abusing the franchise? he could inform her. it is because they can not afford to. they are all politicians there. they want votes. they can not afford to tell the truth about these ignorant and vicious voters. he proceeded to give a sad picture of the political world at present and to show how little conscience, culture, or common honesty finds its way to the ballot-box. he didn't think the ballot had done anything for the education of the ignorant foreigner who had come to this country; he doubted whether it would do anything for the education of woman. he didn't wish to be classed with the opposers to woman suffrage, and yet he didn't see his way clear to espouse it as others on the platform did. he believed in impartial suffrage--impartial for men and women, but not universal. he would have men and women fitted for the suffrage before they exercised it. grace greenwood gave a sketch of society in washington. mrs. livermore, referring to mr. gladden's remarks, said there was nothing so painful to her as the lack of faith in republicanism among cultivated american gentlemen. political atheism seemed to be rife among them. what wonder that political corruption exists to such an extent, when the clergymen, the doctors, professors of colleges, members of churches, the educated and cultivated, refuse to exercise the rights of citizenship by going to the polls to vote--when intelligence and morality are to so great a degree eliminated from public affairs? at a late presidential election in massachusetts it was ascertained that but per cent. of the legal voters actually went to the polls. among the per cent. who staid away were the clergymen, the physicians, and the professional men. there was a fearful political apathy among the educated classes in reference to the discharge of their political duties. if educated and good men, as a body, would interest themselves in the primary meetings and the caucuses, politics would be improved, even before women got the suffrage. it was proposed that the convention should adjourn by singing the doxology, "praise god from whom all blessings flow." the great audience rose and joined as with one voice in singing the grand centuries-old doxology, and then adjourned, many urging that the convention should hold over another day. in the autumn of the american woman suffrage association held conventions at philadelphia, washington, baltimore, and pittsburgh. the annual meeting in philadelphia was held in national hall, and presided over by mrs. tracy cutler, who made the opening address. the number of the delegates to this convention was sixty-two, representing fourteen states. mrs. lucy stone, chairman of the executive committee, read her report, in which, among other things, she said--petitions from each of our auxiliary state societies, asking for the ballot, were sent to their respective state legislatures, and a hearing granted whenever it was asked. this is a great gain upon some previous years, when, as once in rhode island, our petitions were referred to "a committee on burial grounds." the following letter was read from william lloyd garrison: boston, november , . dear mr. blackwell--lest some persons might be disappointed at my non-attendance, i regretted to see myself positively announced among the speakers at the annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association, to be held at philadelphia next week. i certainly desired and hoped to be present, even to the last moment; but circumstances oblige me to remain at home, and i can do no more (and assuredly no less) than to send a word of cheer by letter. though i was careful not to commit myself as to my personal presence at the meeting, i am willing to be everywhere known as committed to the cause of woman suffrage, with all my understanding, heart, and soul. i regard its claims to be as reasonable, just, and valid as any ever presented in behalf of any portion of the human race, suffering from the exercise of usurped powers. until it can be shown that women have not, by nature and destiny, the same common rights and interests as men--have not as much at stake in all matters pertaining to an impartial administration of government as men--are not held to the same allegiance as men--and are not made amenable to the same penal laws, even to the extent of being hanged, as men--their right to the ballot, and to an equal participation in all municipal, judicial, and legislative proceedings can not be sensibly denied. the mere statement of the case is its strongest argument, furnishing as it does a self-evident proposition. it is a disgrace to our democratic professions that there is yet a portion--ay, one half of our population, legally discrowned and outraged on account of a natural and necessary distinction of sex, which alters nothing in regard to moral obligations and duties, or to political rights and privileges, in the courts of justice and common sense. it is amazing to see what insulting flings are made, what ridiculous things are uttered, in derogation of the claim of women to an equal voice in making and administering the laws of the land, in quarters where we had a right to look for perfect courtesy, fair treatment, and an intelligent understanding; to say nothing of the nonsense and ribaldry proceeding from haunts of vice and "lewd fellows of the baser sort." but what great reformatory movement was ever treated any better at the outset? still, it requires a large stock of patience to be calm under such trying provocations; and the consideration that, after all, they are indispensable to the success of the righteous object sought, can alone impart serenity. what is the question? not whether many or few women are demanding political enfranchisement; not whether the marriage institution, as now regulated, is right or wrong; not whether this woman, or that, advocates "free love," so called, or anything else; not whether a wife will continue to be true to her marriage vows, or a mother faithful to her maternal instincts; not whether the cradle will be rocked, the pot boiled, and household affairs dutifully looked after; not whether women are better or worse than men; not whether they will vote wisely or foolishly, if allowed the ballot. these and a thousand similarly absurd issues are but mockeries. the one question to be settled is, shall the principles and doctrines of the declaration of independence be reduced to practice, so that taxation and representation shall go hand in hand, and the grand truth be made practically, as well as theoretically valid, that all are equally endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, and that all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed? yours for equal rights, wm. lloyd garrison. letters were also read from george w. julian, frances d. gage, and oliver johnson. the committee on business then reported the resolutions,[ ] which were unanimously adopted, after a short speech by col. t. w. higginson. mrs. julia ward howe referred to the organization of the association and the necessity for it. we had felt that existing associations had failed to represent the methods and convictions which belonged to our way of thinking. no right of a free society is more valuable than the right of free association, in virtue of which those who are able and willing to work can choose their own fellow-workers and adopt the center of activity which best corresponds with their feeling and with their homes. the experience of two years has confirmed our opinion of the propriety of the measures then adopted. we made no attempt to cajole or allure those who did not belong to us. i am sure that as our work in common has gone on we have grown in good-will. we are fighting our battle still, but do not see our victory yet. we are not opposing men and women, but the enemies of men and women--ignorance, prejudice, and injustice. many people bring into a new movement the whole intensity and unreason of their personal desires and discontents, and the train of progress must carry all this luggage along with it. woman suffrage means equality in and out of marriage. mrs. howe referred to the fact that women had been educated not to depend upon themselves, and drew a graphic picture of their condition should the tide of prosperity ebb from under them. remember, too, i pray you, that power to do ill can not be denied without including the power to do good. the question as to whether men, in case that women should vote, would be less polite to women, was touched upon. the speaker said, "that if ladies wish to retain this deference, they certainly pay a dear price for it." the speaker was opposed to arguing that the right of woman suffrage was guaranteed in the xiv. and xv. amendments. i go further back and find the spirit of all liberality in every liberal clause, and the spirit of all freedom. robert dale owen followed, and said woman suffrage was the only means of rectifying the injustice of the laws. his attention was first called to the value of suffrage when he endeavored to get a modification of the property laws for married women in . as a member of the indiana legislature, he tried three successive years in vain to obtain for wives a right to their own earnings. he was fifteen years in effecting it. when the law was passed securing married women in their earnings, one of his fellow-members solemnly warned him that homes would be broken up and family happiness ruined, and that for all this unmeasured misery he would hereafter be held responsible. but the law still stood upon the statute book of indiana, and homes were not destroyed. the rev. mrs. celia burleigh was the next speaker. she pictured, in a witty, epigrammatic manner, the progress of freedom in womankind. the picture drawn was of an asiatic seraglio, where the spirit of revolution crept in, and the ladies commenced their incendiarism by walking abroad, and then followed up the direful unsexing of themselves by gradually removing the inviolable veil first from one eye and then the other--and last and most horrible of all--from the nose. but it made her none the less lovely. mr. edward m. davis then spoke briefly, and was followed by mrs. lucretia mott, who gave some interesting reminiscences of the contempt for women manifested by the world's convention in , from which women delegates were excluded, and of which william lloyd garrison, in consequence, refused to become a member. the president, mrs. cutler, said: it seems clear to me that the xiv. and xv. amendments recognize our rights. the xiv. amendment was passed in the interest of a special class, but we must not forget that the passage of a general law for a particular class also guarantees whatever rights can be found to come under that same general idea. [applause.] first, we have the definition of citizenship, which applies to us fairly and squarely under the phrase all "persons." then comes the right to vote. some say it is not a right but a privilege. i maintain the contrary. i say it is an inalienable right. you can not maintain a republican form of government and deny to half the population its right to vote. this may not be settled to-day or to-morrow, but the truth, like a mighty rock, stands there impregnable against all assault. we do not need to be in too much haste. let the matter be sifted thoroughly. i do not object, therefore, to the phraseology of the resolution. mr. charles burleigh said: i have never yet been able to see that the right of voting is secured legally to women under any instrument which is recognized as having the force of law. a republican form of government does not mean universal suffrage. we know that the framers of the constitution never dreamed that the idea of a republic would include even all the males of the country. if this is not a correct idea i answer that when you make an affirmation you must accept that affirmation as the makers of it understood it. i hold we have no right to go to any use of legal quibbling in the matter. if we stand on simple right, let us stand there; if on constitutional authority, we have no right to warp that authority. so with the question of citizenship. it does not imply a voice in the government, by any means, to be a citizen. mr. blackwell, on behalf of the business committee, offered some resolutions.[ ] dr. h. t. child spoke upon the second resolution. as a peace man and as a temperance man he was in favor of the resolution. colonel higginson said: if the resolution that has just been read commits this body to the peace, temperance, or any other movement, i would oppose it. every great moral movement must stand by itself. napoleon said that the next worse thing to a bad general was two good generals. i do not oppose it as an intemperate man, nor as a war man, for i served too long in the army not to wish for peace. i simply want my wife to vote, and how she votes can be dictated by her conscience. i don't believe in hitching the woman question to anything. emerson said if you want to succeed you must hitch your wagon to a star, but two stars will only cause confusion. mr. edward m. davis opposed the temperance, etc., resolutions. we had better not, he said, pass anything but suffrage on this platform. mrs. gough said the resolution did not indorse the peace and temperance movements. it simply opens up a channel of education. woman needs the growth and development coming from the exercise of higher powers than she now possesses. the resolutions were then unanimously adopted. at the afternoon session the officers for the next year were elected. the presidency was accorded to mrs. lucy stone. the speakers at this meeting were dr. stone, of michigan; mrs. lillie devereux blake, of new york; john cameron, of delaware; john ritchie, of kansas; mrs. margaret v. longley, mrs. m. w. coggins, miss matilda hindman, mrs. cutler, miss mary grew, mrs. lucas, sister of john bright, and others. mrs. julia ward howe, at the evening session offered resolutions of thanks for the hospitality extended to the members of the association by the citizens of philadelphia, and also for the able and impartial manner in which the proceedings of the association had been reported by the press of the city. in a brief address, mrs. howe then summed up the proceedings of the association, saying that she had never attended a convention where such entire harmony had prevailed, and where such an amount of good work had been accomplished. every one, she was sure, would go away happy and contented. the president, mrs. cutler, then made the valedictory address, complimenting the audience for the attention they had shown and the interest they had manifested in the proceedings. she alluded to the fight for freedom in the days gone by--a fight in which nearly all present had taken a part, and prophesied that as they had won that fight they would win the fight in which they were now engaged. in conclusion she said that in the name of justice, in the name of humanity, in the name of love, she demanded that the rights which woman desired should be accorded to her. the convention then adjourned. the following extract is from an editorial in the _woman's journal_: the convention of the american woman suffrage association in washington [ ] was in every sense a success. it made a calm, deliberate statement of the reasons that make the exercise of suffrage woman's right and duty. it made a strong and earnest appeal to the intellect and conscience of the country in behalf of equal rights for all. the speakers were selected beforehand, and came prepared to do justice to their subject. accordingly the proceedings were orderly, harmonious, and effective, and the influence exerted was serious and impressive. the resolution adopted at the annual meeting in philadelphia, a fortnight before, affirming that woman suffrage, which means equality in the home, means also greater purity, constancy, and permanence in marriage, was reaffirmed. hon. geo. f. hoar made an admirable argument in behalf of suffrage at the closing session. a large number of senators and representatives attended the meetings. many of these, among others senators morton and wilson, assured us of their hearty sympathy with our movement. the most kindly and genial hospitality was extended to the speakers by the citizens of washington, and nothing occurred to mar the pleasure or diminish the influence of the meetings, which were very largely attended, the audiences averaging one thousand. we have just reason to complain of the spirit of the washington press, as manifested in their reports of the convention. the sole exception was the _daily chronicle_, which was fair and friendly. the other reports amounted to little more than a burlesque, and the editorial comments consisted chiefly of denunciation and ridicule. the n.y. _tribune_, finding nothing to ridicule in our proceedings, suppressed all mention of the convention, not publishing even the brief notices of the associated press. having charged woman suffrage with hostility to marriage, the _tribune_ has carefully refrained from informing its readers that the american woman suffrage association, representing thirteen organized state societies, has held for the first time a convention in washington, solely to urge the claim of woman to legal and political equality. we wait to see whether the _tribune_ will be equally reticent, hereafter. but neither the silence nor the misrepresentations of our opponents will check the steady growth and progress of the woman suffrage movement. h. b. b. the following is a short extract from the able address of hon. g. f. hoar, representative from massachusetts, who said: he would prefer the subject left to the leaders on the platform and only be a follower in the ranks, but on command of those having the matter in hand he had come to show his colors. as he understood the subject, it was to assure the american people that it was right to admit women to participate in the affairs of government. they were using the best minds and brains to draw out the arguments on this subject, and some of our wisest fellow-citizens have been unable to see any favorable argument for granting this privilege. he then proceeded to give the ideas entertained by citizens of the different foreign countries as to what was the object of the republic, and said that this country was made up of the aggregate personal worth of the people. there could not be in a state a man having the right to compel another to be subject to him without being unjust. therefore it is said that all men are created equal. is it right and safe that the women of this country should have a voice in its administration? the only way to find out would be by having the understanding of those persons who are to accomplish it and carry it into effect. if there was anything in which woman excelled man it was her penetration and correct judgment of persons at first sight. it by no means follows that because woman has the right to vote, that entitles her to hold office. that right is vested in the judgment of our fellow-citizens, who, if they regard us as worthy and capable, will elect us to the offices. upon the convention held in baltimore, the following editorial appeared in the _woman's journal_: in no one state of the union has there been a more rapid advance in public sentiment, during the last ten years, upon all public questions, than in the state of maryland. in a woman suffrage meeting in baltimore would have been a failure. in the convention of the american woman suffrage association has proved the very reverse. two evening sessions and two intermediate day sessions were well attended. the speakers were lucy stone, margaret w. campbell, elizabeth k. churchill, and henry b. blackwell. notwithstanding the disappointment felt by the audience at the unexpected absence of mrs. julia ward howe and rev. james freeman clarke, great interest was manifested, and the newspapers of the city gave the meetings candid and respectful notices. we were more than gratified by the unusual fairness and courtesy displayed by the press of baltimore. indeed, to this and especially to the generous aid of that admirable paper, the baltimore _american_, are largely due the success of our meetings. we feel all the more bound to notice this frank and generous treatment of a new and unpopular movement by the press of maryland because we have felt it our duty to condemn the striking contrast exhibited in other quarters. in baltimore competent reporters made a conscientious abstract of the speeches they professed to report. when this is done in new york and washington, the woman suffrage cause will have less difficulty in enlisting public attention. we were also exceedingly gratified to find that the laws of maryland for wives, mothers, and widows, though still far from equitable, are greatly in advance of those of massachusetts and of most northern states. we are promised by one of the most eminent lawyers of baltimore a full statement of the legal status of married women in maryland. we shall publish it in the _woman's journal_, as an evidence that equity and liberality are not bounded by "mason and dixon" or any other geographical line. h. b. b. a mass convention of the american woman suffrage association at apollo hall, new york, on the th of may, , was an interesting and successful meeting. mrs. lucy stone presided, and made the opening address. rev. james freeman clarke, charlotte b. wilbour, mary f. eastman, rev. edward eggleston, helen m. jenkins, henry b. blackwell, amanda deyo, and others addressed the convention. some disappointment was felt at the unavoidable absence of mr. garrison, mrs. bowles, and mrs. livermore, the two former being detained by severe indisposition. in consequence of an error of dates on the part of the proprietors of steinway hall, the meeting was held at an unusual place; nevertheless, the number of persons in attendance at the three sessions averaged seven hundred, and was composed, for the most part, of substantial, reliable friends of the movement. the notices of the press were brief, but respectful. the convention declined to take any separate political action, arraigned the so-called "liberal republicans" for their illiberal exclusion of women, and appealed to the approaching national conventions at philadelphia and baltimore for a recognition of the rightful claims of woman to legal and political equality. the american woman suffrage association held in its fourth annual meeting, and celebrated its third anniversary at st. louis. dr. stone, of michigan, said: friends of the cause of universal suffrage--we live in an era of common sense. sir william hamilton, who was a great philosopher, and who investigated all the systems of philosophy from aristotle down to descartes and kant, who went to the lowest depths of philosophy, dived deep for pearls, sometimes bringing up also mud and clams, declared after all his survey of the various schools of philosophy, that the great regulating power of the human mind was common sense; that of all the faculties, that which controlled all others was common sense. that was the basis of his system of philosophy. now it is just as appropriate as friends of social and political reform, that we should rely upon common sense, as it was for this great philosopher, and it is this on which we purpose to rely. wherever there is a battle to be fought, they who make the best use and most continued exercise of common sense are sure to win. this is not only true in moral contests, in the strife of mind with mind, but it is true in those material contests such as we have recently had. it was true in the great contest between germany and france. it was this the crusaders lacked, and the reason why they spent so many ages in doing nothing was that they did not exercise their common sense. when the jews, by their follies, by their obduracy, had destroyed themselves, and the almighty wished to bring them to their senses, he said, "come, let us reason together." for he knew if they would exercise their common sense they would no longer be rebellious as they had been. and it is true at the present time. i think if we can succeed in inducing those who differ from us to reason--i mean to exercise that regulating power which the common mind as well as the philosophic mind possesses, if they would exercise their common sense, the battle would be fought and the victory would be won. sometimes circumstances unexpectedly bring men to their senses in these matters. we know there has been a great deal of discussion on the subject of slavery, and we needed a dred scott decision to bring men to their senses. when they contemplated that in all its bearings and ultimate results, common sense said: it can never be endured; we have had enough of this going on. let us come directly to the point. is a negro a man? is he a rational, accountable man or not? if a beast has rights we are bound to respect, and if a man for abusing it may be thrown into the penitentiary, is it possible that he who is made in the image of god is without rights? does not common sense teach that we have some rights, and if our laws contradict such a decision as this it is time we have better laws, and such as common sense will approve. we want some one to rise in the cause of suffrage to cut the gordian knot that binds the community, that binds churches, that binds good men everywhere, as well as those who are willing to be mistaken. a single word from gen. butler, who, whatever may have been charged against him, is not lacking in common sense, the single word "contraband," wrought a revolution in the midst of our rebellion, and to that we owe to a great extent our success in the war. we want such a gleam of light to burst upon the minds of the community, upon the great american people who are interested in the subject. the field is ours for the next four years, and we will strive to impress the doctrines of common sense upon all men and all women everywhere, until the atmosphere shall be full of it and all shall take it in by absorption. mrs. longley, of cincinnati, said--_ladies and gentlemen_: in a country where "no taxation without representation" is a watchword, and where it is held that "all just governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed," it should be unnecessary to plead for the recognition of the right of half its people to participate in making the laws by which they are taxed and governed. the justice of woman's claim to the ballot is so self-evident, and so entirely in accord with the spirit of our institutions and the fundamental principles upon which they are based, that i often feel as though it were offering an insult to american men to undertake to argue the question. but, every election day reminds us that these fundamental principles which our forefathers fought to establish are outraged. "we, the people," they said, yet nearly a century finds half the people ignored, half the people taxed without being represented, and governed without their consent. i know it is held that the expression "the people" in the constitution does not include women, and should not be interpreted literally; but it appears to me that if we engage in this method of interpretation of constitutions and laws we shall soon get things mixed. if the expression does not include women in the sense of voters it does not include them in the sense of tax-payers, nor in the sense of criminals, nor does it even include them as being entitled to the enjoyment of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"--as the declaration of independence declares "a people" to be entitled to these. surely it will not be said that the rights of half the people of the united states were ignored by the men who framed the constitution of the united states. it was evidently the object of the constitution to secure equal rights to all. the constitution of the united states recognizes the great principle of human equality, and the rights of women can not be delegated to or represented by their husbands. women who believe that they are responsible to god only, are not willing to be circumscribed by men. mrs. hannah m. tracy cutler said that this was a progressive, a growing, and a glorious country. all people came here and found protection under its generous shelter, more or less. we had been digging away at this suffrage question until, in her opinion, we are getting pretty near the foundation of government. we are pulling up the old ideas and throwing them out of the way and making room for the grand tree of liberty to grow. that tree has already grown to considerable size, and flourished more or less under the generous protection of our institutions--less a good deal, the negro said a few years ago, though now he begins to realize that it is more. we women are quite well protected. sometimes we are protected a great deal more than we want to be. [several ladies in the audience, "that's so!" and laughter.] the american men are the best men under the sun. each one of them is a prince of the blood royal. that's a reasonably good compliment. now, gentlemen, turn round and say to the women of america, "you are each and every one of you a princess by divine right, and we will give you even the half of our kingdom." that is all we ask. but they say, "show us the precedent. the thing never has been done before. the women have been ignored in government from the earliest days until now," etc. why, gentlemen, away back in the remote ages of history--so far that the memory of man runneth not distinctly thereto--we find that women not only lived and gave men to the world, but that they lived and gave laws to the world. mrs. stone, the president, said she would like to speak to the delegates and friends, because she knew those who were here had been working in this cause for years. they are short of time, but all give it that deep, earnest baptism of work for the principles that underlie republican institutions. they would work until that end is achieved, or until death relieved them from their labor. she felt cheered on seeing the progress they had made. it was about twenty years since the speaker came to this city to deliver a course of lectures for woman's rights. they called it woman's rights in those days. they did not use the word suffrage at all; and, as she stood there now, her mind ran back over a score of years. when she counted the gains they had made, it seemed as if she had been in some fairy palace, and by charms the old wrongs had dropped away and new good had sprung up. they had fought for woman's rights, and had taken hold of the hands of little girls growing out of girlhood into womanhood--girls who must stand on their own feet and earn a living for themselves. when there was no father's hand or brother's arm to help, what could woman do? she looked out into the great thoroughfares of industry open to all men, and almost all were shut against her. woman was a teacher at a dollar a day, and had to board round. she was a seamstress with still smaller pay, or she was a housekeeper at her own house or somebody's else, where, so far as material gains were concerned, the results were small. other industries were shut to her. the world is as full of women as men. they have to eat, drink, and be clothed, and, until other opportunities are obtained, their supplies are infinitely smaller than those offered to men. why should women, whose supple fingers can set type--why should not they be type-setters? the printers joined together in bands and swore by all the gods they knew that women should not be printers. they joined together in a body and printed in a book that they would not work for any man who employed women as printers. they thought it would degrade the labor of man. the reformers asked for what was honest, good, and true, and found a response in the business interest of men, and the way was opened for women printers. instead of brothers talking of supporting their sisters and making themselves poor they now worked side by side. a paper which they would have here for subscription--the _woman's journal_--came from an office where all the printers, with two exceptions, were girls; and the man who managed the office said it was an advantage, because the girls are always sober and never go on a spree. he could always be sure of having the paper out at the right time. the steady, honest, little women printers are always there. they asked why the women could not go into the stores and sell shoes, cloth, and dry goods, and why should not men build cities and sail ships and do what larger muscles fit them for? and they quoted the words of king solomon, who spoke of a good wife sending out ships and dealing in merchandise. women entered stores and became not only clerks but merchants, and some of the best stores she knew to-day were owned by women, who do not look to the time when they are to go to the workhouse or some worse place even, but were laying by some means to give them comfortable maintenance in their old age. fathers who had daughters looked forward with more courage, because there were more avenues for woman's industry and better pay to reward it. when chicago was burned, the telegraphic dispatches most promptly forwarded and accurately worded were sent by women, and a generous public appreciated the fact. in medical matters they said, "here is a department--here is a field for which women are peculiarly adapted, and to which they would be welcomed in the hour of peril." they were laughed at and called "she doctors" by those who thought women would be scared by their vulgarity; and some young doctors threw stones and mud, literally, and tried to prevent women being physicians. but gentlemen who had wives and daughters looked in the faces of those half-bearded boys mocking at women wishing to study medicine, and asked, "are these the fellows who wish to come to our homes and practice?" and when those boys knew they would not be welcome to those houses, they smoothed down their anger, went back to their studies, and have behaved better ever since. the speaker mentioned the case of a sister of the fowlers who kept a horse and carriage, and a man to drive. she has a large practice, with $ , a year. they next asked that there should be women lawyers. she believed the day was not far off when women would as worthily fill that as any other profession. what they asked was, that woman should have a wider sphere of activity. the speaker next alluded to the fact that the captain of a ship going to california had fallen sick and died. the captain's wife, who had been on many voyages, asked the sailors over the dead body of her husband to be as loyal to her as they had been to him, and every man swore fealty to the woman, whom they knew to be worthy of command. when she brought the ship safe to port, the grateful underwriters made up a purse for the woman who had saved the ship. after relating a similar anecdote in relation to a ship that sailed from china, the speaker narrated the progress made by women in being admitted to the christian ministry. when they had so many rights, they were sure they could earn their own bread; and they must have the right to vote in this government, where they were taxed, and where their sons could be sent to fight in war. in a republican government they were entitled to vote; and now the republican party--the great republican party that had swept the country by such a magnificent vote--had made the cause its own and could carry them on to triumph; giving them the suffrage as it had given it to the negroes. the convention at philadelphia listened respectfully to their claim, and the republican party of the state of massachusetts had put it in their platform. in the last campaign the suffragists won five hundred thousand votes of men who were bound to vote for them by and by, and they were sure to win. she believed the final hour of victory could not be far away. mrs. howe, chairman of the executive committee, gave a long and deeply interesting report. mr. blackwell read the following letters: mrs. lucy stone:--_dear madam_--i should be glad to meet with you at st. louis and to add my testimony to that of the noble band, who, after so long a conflict for another step in the advance of humanity, seem on the eve of seeing their wishes fulfilled. i have never been sanguine as to the near and rapid accomplishment of the admission of women to the right and duty of suffrage, but i have never doubted of its ultimate accomplishment, because i believe that every movement, founded in justice and wisdom, will at length prevail. the cause of woman suffrage never seemed to me more worthy of the consideration of thoughtful men than now. what it has suffered, all causes that strike at deep principles must expect to suffer in their early history. and it has been relieved of its hindrances sooner than might have been expected. the action of political conventions, state and national, has been significant. if the articles on suffrage are vague as to principle, they are striking as the record of the conclusions of observant politicians in respect to the currents and tendencies of the public mind. they felt the need of saying something, and if they did it reluctantly, it is all the more significant. while then i can not be with you personally, i am with you in sympathy, and in the firm faith of the justice of your cause and of its final victory. very truly yours, brooklyn, _november , _. henry ward beecher. _my dear_ mrs. howe _and_ lucy stone:--i am sorry that i must decline your kind invitation to attend the annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association at st. louis. i am too old (approaching seventy-six) and infirm to make long journeys. let woman be of good cheer. she will not have to wait for the ballot much longer. the arguments are unanswerable and will soon be crowned with success. allow me to send you the enclosed twenty-five dollars toward defraying the expenses of the meeting. with great regard, your friend, peterboro, n. y., _november , _. gerrit smith. dear lucy:--i am glad to hear that the american woman suffrage association is to meet at st. louis this month. the more women are brought to think on this subject, the more they will be convinced that their spiritual growth has been stinted by customs and opinions which have no real foundation in nature and truth; and the frank, free west is more courageous than the east in carrying its convictions promptly into practice. i rejoiced in the recent political action of women in massachusetts and elsewhere--first, because it was salutary for women themselves as all things are which promote the activity of their minds on important subjects; and, secondly, because the promptness and earnestness with which they almost universally took the right side has greatly helped to convince those who needed convincing that women are competent to examine into affairs of national interest and to form rational conclusions therefrom. although i feel grateful to the republican party for treating our claims with more respectful consideration than any other party has done, yet my principal reason for earnestly desiring its continuance in power is, that it is essentially the party of progress. it owes its existence to progress, and its vitality has been preserved by its practical support of progressive ideas. it embodies a very large portion of the culture, the conscientiousness, and the enlightened good sense of the nation, and its elements are so harmonized as to produce a safe medium between old fogyism and radical rashness. it is natural for such a party to respect our claims, because they have become accustomed to respect what is founded on principles of justice. it was the learning of that lesson which originally made them a powerful party, and they can not be false to ideas of true progress without committing suicide. of course, with changing events, party names will change; but i hope women will carefully notice what principles underlie these changes, and will conscientiously give their influence to whatever party proves itself most friendly to the largest freedom regulated by wise and equal laws. with a cordial greeting to our sisters of the west and to our brothers also, i wish you god-speed on your mission of enfranchisement to half the human race. wayland, _november , _. l. maria child. the business committee reported resolutions,[ ] which after much discussion were adopted. officers[ ] for the ensuing year were then proposed and elected. miss eastman was announced. as she stepped to the front she was received with applause. she gave an able address, answering the questions, "what is to be gained and what is to be lost, by giving women the ballot?" she confined her attention to the latter question principally, by reviewing the condition of women in the past, and their condition in foreign countries. she answered the charge that women are unfit to use the ballot. there was quite an array of facts in her discourse, and extreme beauty in her language, though the latter covered at times exquisite sarcasm that was relished by all. she made a decided impression upon the audience, and concluded amid demonstrations of applause. lucy stone made the closing speech, and said that after the golden words to which we had been listening, silence was most fitting; what she had to say, therefore, would be brief and without preliminary. the distinctions which are made on account of sex are so utterly without reason, that a mere statement of them ought to be sufficient to secure their immediate correction. for example, here are twins, a baby boy and girl; they rock in the same cradle; the same breast blesses their baby lips; the same hand guides their first tottering steps. a little later they play the same plays, recite the same lessons and hold the same rank as scholars. they ask admission to harvard college. the boy is received, and the girl refused. can any one tell me a good reason why? at twenty-one their father gives them each a house. they both pay taxes on this real estate, but the young man has a voice, both in the amount of tax and its use, all of which is denied to the young woman. can any one tell a good reason why? they assume the marriage relation. the young husband can sell his house, give a good title, convey his stocks, will his property according to his pleasure, have the guardianship and control of his children. the young wife can not sell her house, or give a valid title; can not convey her stocks, or make a will of her property with the same freedom that the husband can, has no equal right to the control and guardianship of her children. can any one tell a good reason why? the man becomes a widower, but the house, the land, the furniture, and the children are all undisturbed. the woman becomes a widow. the property is divided in fractions, the contents of the cupboards and closets counted, valued, divided, and the widow's thirds (commonly known as the widow's incumbrance), are left to this woman. can any one give a good reason why there should be such a difference between the rights of the widow and the widower? or why woman as a student, a wife, a mother, a widow, and a citizen, should be held at such a disadvantage? the mere statement of the case shows the injustice, and the wrong which needs to be righted. there is only one way to remove this, and that is for woman to use her right to the ballot, and through it, protect herself. oh, men of st. louis! will you not use the power you hold, and the opportunity to make the application of our theory of government sure as far as in you lies, to each man's mother, sister, and daughter? on motion of mr. blackwell, it was _resolved_, that the thanks of this convention are extended to the citizens of st. louis for the kind hospitality they have extended to the delegates of this convention. also to the representatives of the press for the candid and respectful reports which have appeared in the daily papers of the city. the american woman suffrage association held an introductory anniversary meeting monday, october , , in the large hall of the cooper institute. a fine audience attended, the hall being nearly filled. fully two-thirds of this audience were men. colonel t. w. higginson, the president of the association, said: this is my last service as president of this association. unlike other bodies, it only has a man for that office every other year, and this is the end of the other year. we meet here as a family, men and women, each ready to do his or her share of the talk. we stand here to speak neither for one nor the other, but for that great movement which is to sweep through the land and arouse one sex to its rights and the other to its duties. not to arouse man against woman, but in favor of the civilization which is to come. it is more than twenty years since the woman suffrage association came up in an organized form. we entered into this movement with no ideas of immediate success. we had behind us only a few years of agitation after long centuries of prejudice and distrust. look through the long record of the great reforms of the world, and what a series of delays and discouragements you find! it is a history of defeats before victories. men sometimes come to us with sympathy because we have been defeated in this legislature or that convention. sympathy! we thank heaven that it had got there to be defeated; that we are strong enough to be in a minority! defeat is victory afterward. we have been defeated again and again, and again, and each time we find ourselves growing stronger. miss mary f. eastman, in an able address, stated the progress of the movement in different states, and insisted on the right of women to the exercise of the franchise, as a consequence of the declaration of independence. the elective franchise was the greatest blessing enjoyed by a free people, and the inability of any class to exercise it indicated a description of servitude. she said that the person was trying to erase god's finger mark upon the human soul who would prevent anybody, man or woman, from following natural bent and ability in any avocation. in the founding of harvard and other early colleges, some provision was made for the education of indians, but none for women. already at yale and west point colored men have a fair chance, not yet the women. miss eastman thought that suffrage was the highway to all other reforms. mrs. lucy stone said: _mr. president, fellow-workers, ladies, and gentlemen:_--our cause is half won when we find that people are willing to hear it, as you seem to be willing to hear it now. one of the best things we can have in meetings like this is to create a discontent that women are not permitted to enjoy all their rights. to-night while we are here, there are gathered in plymouth church, women who are laying plans to take part in the celebration of the centennial, in . at this point in the speaker's remarks, some confusion arose from the entry into the hall of about young women. mr. dennis griffin rose and said these women were not the cooper institute class; they were parasol-makers who had been forced out of employment by their employers, and they had come, not as women suffragists but as women suffering, to ask of the audience their sympathetic support, and if when the lady had finished her speech the audience would permit the president of this association of working women to speak from the platform, she would explain their grievances. mrs. stone then proceeded, saying that if one thing was surer than another, it was that woman suffrage would help every suffering sewing woman. it had been said that the ballot was worth fifty cents a day to a man; and, if so, it was worth just as much to a woman. all over the union, as this night in plymouth church, women were preparing to take part in the coming centennial to celebrate the fourth of july, . when she heard this she asked herself what part women had in such a celebration? just as men were oppressed previous to , so were women oppressed to-day. i say that women should resolve to take no part in it. let them shut their doors and darken their windows on that day, and let a few of the most matronly women dress themselves in black and stand at the corners of the streets where the largest procession is to pass, bearing banners inscribed, "we are governed without our consent; we are taxed without representation." the declaration of independence belonged to men. let them have their masculine celebration and masculine glory all to themselves, and let the women, wherever they can get a church, go there and hold solemn service and toll the bell. "it will give us a chance for moral protest," she continued, "such as we shall never have again, for before another hundred years it must surely be that the growth of public sentiment will sweep away all distinctions based solely on sex." at the close of mrs. stone's remarks, the chairman invited the representative of the parasol-makers to state her case, introducing her as miss leonard, of new york, president of the parasol-makers. miss leonard advanced to the front of the platform, and appeared to be much embarrassed at fronting so large an audience. the hearty applause with which she was greeted assuring her of a kindly reception, she became a little more at ease, and in a low tone of voice spoke as follows: _my worthy friends, ladies and gentlemen:_ i was not prepared to meet an audience like this. in consequence of being oppressed by our employers we were obliged to leave their employ, because we can not earn our bread. consequently we held a meeting up stairs to-night, and knowing that you were here we thought we would let you know that there are hundreds of women suffering, not for the ballot but for bread. i have never wanted the ballot. i believe it belongs to the men who have it; but i come to ask you in the name of humanity if there can be any society organized that will repress the unscrupulous employers and let the public know they are oppressing the poor girls. men are strong; they can get together and ask what they want; they can organize in large bodies, but the working women are the most oppressed race in the united states. i am thankful to you, gentlemen and ladies (i should have put the ladies first), for giving me your attention. i don't intend to detain you long, because your meeting is here for a different purpose, but i hope you will give me your sympathies. i can not make you an eloquent speech, for i, as a working woman, have had to labor eighteen hours a day for my bread, and therefore have had no time to educate myself as an orator. henry b. blackwell said: this audience is composed mostly of men. i have a word to say to men especially. why is it that labor is oppressed and that working women and working men are in some respects worse off than ever before? i answer; because our government is republican only in name. it is not even representative of men. the primary meetings which nominate the candidates and control the policy of parties are neglected by the voters. not one man in fifty attends them. they are controlled in every locality by rings of trading politicians. now there is only one remedy for this. you must somehow contrive to interest the mass of the people in public business. you must reform the primary meetings by securing an attendance of the intelligent classes of the community. there is only one way to do this. the same way you have already adopted in the churches, in charitable associations, in society, everywhere except in politics, you must enlist the sympathy and co-operation of women. then the men who now stay away will go with their wives and sisters. the reason the better class of men neglect to attend the primaries is this--civilized and refined men spend their evenings in the society of women; they go with them to church meetings, to concerts, to lectures. they do not break off these engagements to go down to some liquor saloon, or other unattractive locality, there, amid the fumes of tobacco and whisky, to find everything already cut and dried beforehand. they try it once or twice and then retire for life disgusted. we ask suffrage for women because they are different from men. not better nor wiser on the whole, but better and wiser in certain respects. they are more temperate, more chaste, more economical. their presence will appeal to the self-respect of men. thus both will be improved, and politics will be redeemed and purified. the second session of this convention was held in brooklyn, in plymouth church. at this meeting the chairman of the executive committee, mrs. lucy stone read her annual report, and then the delegates from the different states gave accounts of the cause in all parts of the union, as carried on by means of the state societies. at the opening of the afternoon session col. higginson read the following letters: andover, mass., sept. , . my dear mrs. stone:--my regret at not being able to attend the meetings of the american suffrage association this year, is not consoled by the pleasure of expressing, by letter, my warmest sympathy with their objects; but, if we can not do the thing we would, we must do the next best thing to it. to say that i believe in womanhood suffrage with my whole head and heart, is very imperfectly to express the eagerness with which i hope for it, and the confidence with which i expect it. it will come, as other right things come, because it is right. but those forces which "make for righteousness" make haste slowly. do we not often trip up ourselves in our pilgrimage toward truth, by attributing our own sense of hunger and hurry and heat to the fullness and leisure and calm in which the object of our passionate search moves forward to meet us? there is something very significant to the student of progress, in the history of the forerunners of revolutions. their eager confidence in their own immediate success, their pathetic bewilderment at the mystery of their apparent failures, are rich with suggestion to any one who means work for an unpopular cause. no reform marches evenly to its consummation. if it does not meet apparent overthrow, it must step at times with the uneasiness of what george eliot would call its "growing pains." but growing pains are not death-throes. in the name of growth and decay let us be exact in our diagnosis! i have fallen into this train of thought, because there seems to have been a concerted and deliberate attempt, this past year, on the part of certain of those opposed to the thorough elevation of women, to assert that our influence is distinctly losing ground. irresponsible assertion is the last refuge of the force whose arguments have fallen off in the fray, and "unconscious annihilation" is as yet a very agreeable condition. it might be replied, in the language of the hymn-book: "if this be death, 'tis sweet to die!" perhaps to the onlookers this has not been one of our fast years. no one actually engaged in the struggle to improve the condition of women can for an instant doubt that it has been a strong one. a silent, sure awakening of women to their own needs is taking place on every hand; and it is becoming evident that until the masses of women are thus awakened, the movement to enfranchise them must not anticipate any very vivid successes. let us be content if our strength runs for a time to the making of muscle, not to the trial of speed. i am, madam, very sincerely, elizabeth stuart phelps. concord, oct. , . dear mrs. stone:--i am so busy just now proving "woman's right to labor," that i have no time to help prove "woman's right to vote." when i read your note aloud to the family, asking "what shall i say to mrs. stone?" a voice from the transcendental mist which usually surrounds my honored father instantly replied, "tell her you are ready to follow her as leader, sure that you could not have a better one." my brave old mother, with the ardor of many unquenchable mays shining in her face, cried out, "tell her i am seventy three, but i mean to go to the polls before i die, even if my three daughters have to carry me." and two little men, already mustered in, added the cheering words, "go ahead, aunt weedy, we will let you vote as much as ever you like." such being the temper of the small convention of which i am now president, i can not hesitate to say that though i may not be with you in body, i shall be in spirit, and am as ever, hopefully and heartily yours, louisa may alcott. letters from william lloyd garrison and lydia maria child were also read, expressing deep sympathy and hope for the cause. mr. blackwell, as chairman of the business committee, reported the resolutions, of which the last was: . _resolved_, that the woman suffrage movement, like every other reform of the age, laments the loss and honors the memory of its most powerful advocate, john stuart mill. matilda j. hindman, of pittsburgh, made an address explaining the origin of the movement for woman suffrage, asserting its verity and necessity. she gave many reasons for woman's needing the ballot. mrs. lucy stone gave instances of oppressive laws with reference to statutes relative to widows which are in force in some new england states, and which bear very hard upon women because they can not vote. mrs. abba g. woolson, of massachusetts, author of "woman in american society," gave an exceedingly interesting description of her tour through wyoming, her hour and a half conversation in the cars with gov. campbell, whose testimony was positive in favor of all the new privileges given to women, by which wyoming has distinguished herself. mrs. woolson came home happy to have for the first time set her foot on republican soil; "for," said she, "no state in the union is a republic, but it is to me an absolute monarchy." rev. celia burleigh, demonstrated that this government is not a republic, but an aristocracy so long as the suffrage is denied to woman. mrs. mary a. livermore found much encouragement for the cause in various signs of the times. she would have women act as if they already bore the responsibilities of voters; would have them put off frivolity and every other cause of offense to opponents, and put on a soberness of spirit and a gracious gravity of mien as behooved those in whose hearts a great work lay. she exhorted them to remember that they were not arrayed against men as foes, but that they were working with fathers, brothers, husbands and sons for the best interests of the whole race. an audience of at least , persons was present at the closing session. the following letter from miriam m. cole was read: otterbein university, westerville, o., oct. , . dear mr. blackwell--much as i wish to be with you the th and th, i can not. my work in the university can not be given to another, and i have no right to leave it undone. i hope your meeting will be profitable and successful. it is said, "interest in woman suffrage is dying out." this is not true, so far as i know. there is more sober, candid talk on the subject in private circles, here in ohio, than ever before. our students in the university are asking questions, with a desire for intelligent answers, and at home, in sydney, before i left, many experienced politicians confessed it to be the one thing needful. i am sure it is gaining ground among our quiet, sensible people. the stir may not be so demonstrative in cities as formerly, but through the country there is a general awakening. if we can only have patience to wait, we shall not be disappointed. right, sooner or later, will come into its kingdom. women are no longer children to be frightened by imaginary bears, neither will they be satisfied with playthings, who ask for better. the distance between men and women is lessening every year. colleges are bringing them on to the same plane, and the agitation of this question of woman's right to a voice in the government, has given and is giving men new ideas respecting the strength of woman's intellect and her determination to be more than a doll in this busy world. whether we are made voting citizens or not, let no man beguile himself with the thought that the old order of things will be restored. they who step into light and freedom will not retrace their steps. this end is equality, civil, religious and political--there is no stopping-place this side of that. my best wishes are with you and yours. miriam m. cole. miss huldah b. loud, of east abington, mass., was the first speaker: scorned by the democrats and fawned upon by the republicans, who profess but to betray, under these circumstances we come again to the fight. we believe in liberty in the highest degree, such liberty as our fathers fought for, and this struggle will go on until that liberty is gained; liberty is the pursuit of life, health, and happiness. we look in vain for honesty in political life. we turn in disgust from the meaningless platitudes of the republican convention at worcester, from the incidental admission of a plank in the platform which means nothing. if we would be recognized as a power by political parties, every suffragist should withhold his ballot, and thus politicians would be brought to their senses. if we labor for anything, if we mean anything, we mean woman suffrage, and let us not give a moral or material support, politically, to the man who is not in harmony with the principle of free suffrage in its broadest significance. we are called unwomanly for our advocacy of this priceless boon to women. we are willing that our womanly character should stand by the side of those who oppose this movement. do you call lucy stone, the woman reformer of the world, with her eloquence, her soft voice, her matchless, unwearied work for all that is good, with her motherly appearance, do you call such a woman unwomanly? or margaret fuller, or julia ward howe, do you call these women unwomanly? then let us take our place by them, cast in our lot with them and be called unwomanly. it is said, and it is sadly true, that many women do not want the ballot; and it is no less sadly true that many of our most bitter opponents are our sister women. but if they do not want the ballot, if you deprive me of the right you do me a grievous wrong. it is said that if we were given the privilege of the ballot, we would not use it. is it any reason if i do not choose to avail myself of my rights that i should be deprived of them? why do you consult women if this right shall be given them? you did not consult the slave in regard to his freedom, but you said he was wanted for the salvation of the country, and you took him and forced freedom upon him. mrs. julia ward howe and mrs. mary a. livermore spoke alike with great force and earnestness upon the moral and religious phases of the movement. mrs. frances watkins harper, of philadelphia, made the closing speech. she showed that much as white women need the ballot, colored women need it more. although the women of her race are no longer sold on the auction block, they are subjected to the legal authority of ignorant and often degraded men. she rejoiced in the progress already made, but pleaded for equal rights and equal education for the colored women of the land. the president said--ladies and gentlemen, the letters have been read, the reports accepted, the resolutions adopted, the officers[ ] for the ensuing year chosen, and there being no further business before the convention, it is moved and seconded that we adjourn _sine die_. * * * * * the sixth annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association assembled at the opera house in detroit, tuesday morning, oct. , . col. w. m. ferry, of grand haven, chairman of the state executive committee of the michigan suffrage association, called the meeting to order, and made a brief address of welcome. he spoke of the pleasure the convention afforded many of the advocates of woman suffrage in this city who have the cause deeply at heart. he then alluded to the authoress of the well-known hymn, "the battle hymn of the republic," mrs. julia ward howe, and introduced her as the president of the american woman suffrage association. the rev. mrs. gillette, of rochester, mich., opened the meeting with prayer. the president, mrs. howe, then delivered the annual address: _ladies and gentlemen of the american woman suffrage convention:_ it is my office on the present occasion to welcome you to this scene of our happy and harmonious meeting. in this great country many families do not gather their members together oftener than once in a year. when they accomplish this they ordain a festival, and call it thanksgiving day. this association is in some sense a family, whose members are widely scattered. east, west, north and south claim and contain us. but when the sacred call for our annual meeting is issued, distances are forgotten, business and pleasures are interrupted. like the wave of a magician's wand, the touch of a common sympathy summons us and keeps us in sight. our first feeling, i suppose, is one of great pleasure at looking each other in the face again. this is our suffrage thanksgiving, and we hope to keep it right cordially. welcome, dear friends, faithful sisters and brothers. welcome, one and all. in this world of death we still live. in this world of doubt we still believe in even-handed justice, and in pure law. so, with one breath, we give god thanks for our continued life and faith, and wish each other and our great cause godspeed. but we are met for something more than a mere expression of feeling, however cordial and timely that might be. we meet here to take counsel for the spiritual welfare to which each one of us stands pledged. how goes the good fight? let each department of our little army tell. what victories have been achieved, what defeats suffered with patience? how shall we improve the one? what shall we learn from the other? oh! let us feel that these rare moments of our meeting are precious. here we must compare notes and learn what has been done. here, too, we must briefly survey what is yet to do and how it is to be done. may no moment in this too brief season be wasted! may we all speak and act in view of great necessities and of high hopes. we may take for our text the words: "now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." but we must also acknowledge that the end is not yet. every year that sees us banded together in pursuit of our present object sees a wonderful growth in its prominence and recognized importance. opposition has grown with our efforts. people at first said, "nobody will resist you." this was when people thought we were in fun. but when it appeared that we were in sad and bitter earnest, opposition was not wanting. wherever we came to plead the cause of human freedom, the enemies of human freedom met and withstood us. all the professions have befriended--all, too, have opposed us. we have stood before powers and dignitaries to maintain what we believe; and while we have asked that the right of suffrage be recognized in the persons of women, women learned and unlearned have stood up to ask that our petition should not be granted. we need not say that for one woman who has done this, hundreds and thousands have risen up to bless the woman suffrage cause and its champions. and for every doctor, lawyer and priest who has shrieked forth or set forth our presumptive disabilities, a tenfold number of men in all of these callings have arisen to do battle for the right, and to tell us on the authority of their special knowledge and experience, that the reform we ask for is congenial to nature and founded on right. goldwin smith, a man knowing naught of woman, airs his irrational views in the english _fortnightly_, and frances power cobbe and prof. cairnes, and a host of others, unravel the net of his flimsy statements. drs. clarke and maudsley dogmatize from their male view of the female constitution; and from men and women throughout the country an indignant protest rises up. men and women say alike: "it is not education that demoralizes and diseases our women. it is want of education, want of object, want of right knowledge of ends and methods." and how shall we acquire this unless we are taught? and how shall we be taught unless provision is made for us? and how shall provision be made for us unless we make it ourselves by voting for it? some mention is due to the place in which we meet. we are in the state of michigan, a state in which the question of impartial suffrage has been carefully canvassed and presented during the past year. within a short distance from us is the university of michigan, liberal to men and to women, whose scholarly claims and merits its professors and its president openly and earnestly attest. we claim that institution as our potent ally. it furnishes the remedy to all that we complain of. equal education for the sexes is the true preparation for equality in civil and social ordinances. even at this distance we breathe something of that pure air in which the woman grows to her full intellectual stature, untrammeled by artificial limitation of object and of method. we boast our own boston, its culture and its conscience, but while harvard persistently closes its doors to women, we blush too for new england, and sorrowfully wish it better enlightenment and better behavior. having spoken of the east and the west, let me say how welcome to us of the east are occasions which make us better acquainted with our fellow-workers and believers of the west. the late mr. seward once said that slavery was sectional and freedom national. this was true in a larger sense than that in which he said it. all that is slavish tends to keep up sectional prejudice and isolation. all that is liberal tends to sympathy and union. east and west are the two hands of this mighty country--let the harmony of the present occasion show that they have but one heart between them. are not all our chief possessions held in common? we gave you sumner and you gave us lincoln. we fought together the war of our late enfranchisement, and when god shall give us impartial suffrage as an established fact, it will be hard to discriminate between our work and yours. but the two hands will then be clasped, and the one heart uplifted with a throb of thankfulness that shall make our whole nation one, and that forever. for the present moment, while we workers for woman suffrage can make no boast as to the final adoption of our method, we can yet rejoice in the results which already crown our work. christ, in the very infancy of his mission, looked abroad and saw the fields already white with the harvest. the different agencies employed by this and kindred associations have plowed and furrowed the land far and near. they have dropped everywhere the seed of a true word, of a right feeling. how small a thing may this dropping of a seed seem to a careless observer! yet it is the very life of the world which the patient farmer sows and reaps. so, our laborious meetings and small measures; our speeches, soon forgotten; our writings, soon dismissed; our petitions to legislatures, never entertained; all these seem small things to do. the world says: "why do you not labor to build up fortunes and reputations for yourselves if you will labor? why do you waste your time and efforts on this ungrateful soil?" but we may reply that we have the joy of christ in our hearts. in every furrow, some seed springs up; from every effort, some sympathy, some conviction results. when we look about us and see the number of suffrage associations formed in the different states, we too can say that the fields are white already to harvest. white already. yet centuries of martyrdom lay between the sowing of christ and the harvest which we reap to-day. all of those centuries brought and took away faithful souls who continued the work, who gathered and reaped and sowed again. and we, too, know not what years of patient endeavor may yet be in store for us before we see the end of our suffrage work. we know not whether most of us shall not taste of death before we do see it, passing away on the borders of the promised land, with its fair regions still unknown to us. and yet we see the end as by faith. by faith we can prophesy of what shall come. the new state, in which for the first time ideal justice shall be crowned and recognized; the new church, in which there shall be neither male nor female; but the new creature that shall represent on either side free and perfect humanity. like a bride coming down from heaven, like a resurrection coming out of the earth, it shall appear and abide. and we, whether we shall see it as living souls or as quickening spirits, shall rejoice in it. miss eastman read the following letter: laramie city, w. t., sept. , . mrs. lucy stone, _chairman of the executive committee:_--your favor of the th inst. is received. i wish i could be with you at your meeting in detroit next month, but i am so crowded with engagements here that i do not think i can get away. we have just had another election, and at no time have we had so full a vote. our women have taken a lively interest, and have voted quite as universally as the men. their influence has been felt more than ever and generally on the side of the best men. several candidates have been defeated on account of their want of good characters, who expected success on party grounds. it is the general sentiment with us now that it will not do to nominate men for whom the women will not vote. is not this a great step in advance? when candidates for office must come with a character that will stand the criticism of the women or be sure of defeat, we shall have a higher tone of political morals. i hear it urged abroad that woman suffrage is not popular in wyoming, but i hear nothing of the kind here. all parties now favor it. those who once opposed it oppose it no longer, while its friends are more and more attached to it, as they see its practical benefits and feel its capacity for good. no one that i hear of wishes it abolished, and no one would dare propose its repeal. the women are beginning to feel their power and influence, and are growing up to a wider and stronger exertion of it. i think i can see a conscious appreciation of this in a higher dignity and a better self-respect among them. they talk and think of graver subjects and of responsibilities which ennoble them. a woman will not consent to be a butterfly when she can of her own choice become an eagle! let her enjoy the ambitions of life; let her be able to secure its honors, its riches, its high places, and she will not consent to be its toy or its simple ornament. very respectfully, j. w. kingman. miss eastman said that this letter presented just the evidence on the result and experience of woman suffrage that was wanted. she said that women were very inconsiderate and indifferent to this question. women, until they are brought to think upon the matter, generally say they do not want to vote. she spoke of the laws of some states which allow the taking away from a mother of her children, by a person who had been appointed as their guardian, in place of her dead husband, and of the laws severe in other respects which states have made in relation to women. she wished all persons had the question put to them conscientiously whether woman had all the power she wanted. we do want, she said, every legitimate power, and we shall never be content with a tithe less than we can command. gen. a. c. voris, of ohio, read letters from the following persons, regretting their inability to attend the convention: bishop gilbert haven, d.d., of the methodist episcopal church; from elizabeth stuart phelps, judge wm. h. west, of ohio; hon. c. w. willard, of vermont; hon. g. w. julian, of indiana; hon. d. h. chamberlain, of south carolina; william lloyd garrison, george william curtis, the smith sisters, richard fiske, jr. rev. mrs. gillette, of rochester, mich., said every woman as well as every man should speak for what she believes to be necessary for her own well-being and for the well-being of the community. charles sumner once said that a woman's reason was the reason of the heart. she would give a few womanly reasons why she wanted the voters of michigan to give the ballot to women. the want of the ballot prevents woman from possessing knowledge and power. if a woman performs the most menial services for the sake of her children, to eke out for them a subsistence, she does not do it because the law demands it, but because there is no other way open to her to obtain a livelihood. she did not ask for the ballot because the laws of the state are barbarous. she did not believe that men can make laws that will answer to the needs of women. only when men and women together make laws can they be just and equal, and for that reason there should be both men and women in the legislature. mrs. blackwell read some additional resolutions[ ] to those that had been adopted at an earlier stage of the convention. at the first evening session mrs. lucy stone presiding, mrs. julia ward howe, of boston, was the first speaker. in opening she spoke of the silent weary work, of the results of which the afternoon's reports told, and showed that the equal suffragists' labor is not comprised in facing pleasant audiences and listening to the applause which so many say is the one thing for which the women in this movement work. her entire speech was in a tone that could not fail to convince all, that she, at least, works for something higher. mrs. stone said that in every time of need, wherever the womanly workers for woman go, they find men to whom their gratitude flows as the rivers flow to the sea--they are the men who stand up to speak in woman's name in behalf of woman's rights. as one of these men she introduced gen. voris, of ohio, the champion of equal suffrage in the ohio constitutional convention. the speech of gen. voris was a close, logical argument. it reviewed the entire question of suffrage, and bristled with points. he was so frequently interrupted by applause that he was obliged to ask the audience to withhold their tokens of approbation till he got through, but it was to little purpose, for enthusiastic suffragists couldn't help letting their hands tell their ears how good the general's hard hits at the anti-suffragists made them feel, and the applause would still break out once in a while. mrs. mary a. livermore was next introduced. she was greeted with applause, and commenced by an allusion to the scandinavian origin of our race, and their characteristic bravery, vigor, and love of freedom. the scandinavians were distinguished from other races by their regard for their wives. with them the woman stood nearer to heaven than the man. she was in some sense a priest, a law-giver, and a physician, and she was worthy of the position. is it strange that with such foremothers we should love liberty? something of this spirit has always marked the race. and now women ask for the right of suffrage, not because they are abused, but because they are half of humanity--the other half of man. they want simply equality, not superiority. she spoke of laws in the statute-books which do absolute injustice to men, and asked whether if the men could not legislate better than that for themselves, it was not a little ridiculous for them to assume to legislate for themselves and the women too? mrs. livermore spoke of some of the injustice of the law to women. the law is not for you, gentlemen, who are a law to yourselves, and who care for your wives so that they forget the injustice of the law. they are for the poor and down-trodden women, the wives of drunkards and wife-beaters. make them what they should be. but the main claim of women to the ballot is that it is the symbol of equality. women can never be made men. there is no danger of woman losing her womanhood. in fact we do not dream yet what womanhood can be. women are now obsequious. many who want to vote, in awe of husbands, fathers, sons, the pulpit, the press, ruled by men, do not say so. they have been taught through all the centuries that patience is the highest attribute of woman. she spoke of the division of masculine and feminine attributes. they complement each other, and together make the perfect whole. the assertion that women are slaves is nonsense. the great reason for woman suffrage is that it will aid a higher and grander civilization. the following letter was read: boston, charles street, october , . h. b. blackwell, esq.: my dear sir--i am sorry my first letter never reached you, for i said in that just what i wanted to express of my own convictions touching suffrage for women. my opinion will go for very little, but whenever an opportunity occurs i wish to say just this if nothing more. it is my firm conviction that all who oppose so just a cause as woman suffrage know not what they do; and, if they are not dead within five years, will repent their opposition in deep and mortifying self-reproach. "the seed of the thistle," says tyndall, "always produces the thistle," and our opponents will have a prickly time of it with their own consciences, when the day dawns in righteousness over the american ballot-box. god prosper the struggle and give you heart and hope, for your triumph is sure as sunrise, and will win that final mastery which heaven unfailingly accords to everlasting truth. cordially yours, james t. fields. short speeches were then made by giles b. stebbins, mrs. blakeman, miss strickland, miss patridge, and mrs. dr. mary f. thomas. mr. blackwell reported the list of officers[ ] for the ensuing year. afterward addresses were made by mr. blackwell, mrs. elizabeth r. churchill, mrs. samm, miss m. adele hazlett, and gen. voris. mrs. margaret w. campbell, of chicago, said she came before the audience to speak upon the most important question of the day, important to one half, and through them to the other half of the community. this movement is no crusade of women against men, but an honest effort of both men and women to make one sex equal in all respects with the other. when our forefathers attempted to secure their own liberty they adopted the principle that all men are created free and equal, and are endowed with certain inalienable rights. notwithstanding this, the government allowed the maintenance of slavery for over three-quarters of a century. rights are god-given. if any man can tell where a man gets his right to vote, he will find that woman obtained hers in the same place. the ballot, she claimed, was a means of educating the class who exercise the power of such ballot. mrs. margaret v. longley, of ohio, said this question of woman suffrage was one that was claiming the attention of the best minds of europe and america. women think they have as good a right to the ballot as men, and this right they want to exercise. lunatics and idiots are deprived of the ballot because they do not know how to use it. criminals are denied it because they are outcasts of society and have proved themselves unworthy of it. women are deprived of it because of their womanhood. the sexes, she said, were never made to be antagonistic. experience proves that what is of interest to women is of interest to men. there is no branch of business or of industry in which concession is granted to women on account of their sex. nobody will pay more to a woman for any work than they will to men for the same work, and in the making of a suit of clothes it is seen that they pay a man more than double the amount they will to a woman for the same work. prof. estabrook said that he was a recent convert to this movement. he had read the bible, bushnell, and fairchild, and some others, and was convinced that women ought not to vote. when the question was submitted to the people by the legislature, he commenced to read the bible and bushnell and others again. he found that bushnell proved too much, and that the objections urged against women voting were equally good against nine-tenths of the men. the question of propriety--whether women should go to the polls--was another question which he considered. he did not now see why it was improper for woman to go where her husband or her son must go; and if the polls are not good places, decent men ought not to go there. he had all his life debated the question whether the university should be opened to ladies, and his first vote, cast as a regent of the university, was in favor of the admission of women to the university. he was then opposed to their entering the medical department. but they next applied for admission to the law department, and he voted for that, and then, when they applied for admission to the medical department, he had to vote for that. he had never found out what right a man possesses to the ballot that a woman has not; and if anybody could convince him that the right of woman to vote did not come from the same source as man's right came from, he would be glad to have it done. miss mary f. eastman said it was a hard thing to stand and demand a right to which we were all born. it has been said by dr. chapin that woman's obligations compel her to demand her rights. there is a great cry going up from humanity, and only woman's nature can answer it. as she recently stood at the corner of the five streets which make the five points of new york, and looked at the crowd of miserable people about her, she was aghast. but she took courage when she learned that the mission-house and the long block of tenement houses on one side of the street were built by women, who daily feed poor children, and that this was done by women, who took up the work after the methodist church had made a vain effort to do something to ameliorate the condition of those poor starving creatures. on motion of mr. h. b. blackwell a vote of thanks was tendered to the citizens of detroit, to the detroit suffrage association and to the press of the city for favors and courtesies shown to the association and its members during its meeting in this city, and for the full and fair reports of the convention. the association then adjourned. * * * * * the seventh annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association was held at new york, in . there was a large audience,[ ] not less than , persons were present. bishop gilbert haven, president of the society, took the chair, and called upon rev. dr. thompson, of brooklyn, to open the meeting with prayer. after which mr. haven said: in appearing before you to-night as the official head, for a very few hours, of the society which holds its annual meeting here, i deem it proper to burden you before you get at the richness of the feast that will follow, with a few thoughts that are in my own mind connected with this reform. the inevitable effect of every true idea is that it shakes off everything that hinders it and rises far superior to all associations. woman suffrage has reached that development, and the public of america and england are beginning to appreciate it. now, what is this idea? it is simply this--that the right of suffrage has no limitation with the male portion of the human race; that it belongs alike to the whole human family. i am a democrat, a jeffersonian democrat, and i believe in the right of every man to have a voice in public affairs. it is a right that belongs to the very system of our government. monarchical governments recognize the nation as belonging to a family; but the democratic system recognizes a government by the people and for the people, and, if this be the government, every person in the nation has a right to participate in its administration. there is no partiality possible in such a conception of the system of government under which we live. charles sumner said that "equality of rights is the first of rights," and this will reveal itself in every department of citizenship. our government requires the expression of the views of the whole people upon every national question; it is a human right belonging to the political status of every individual, the woman as well as the man. the history of christianity has been a history of the gradual enlarging of the sphere of woman; and this meeting to-night is one of the effects of christianity. we stand now at the beginning of a new century; the last has been one of great development, and yet the very root fact of our national being lies in the first line of the declaration. when we declared ourselves to be a nation, we declared equality for all men, and we never meant by that, equality simply for all males. jefferson never had that narrow view of human nature. he knew it meant all the people of america. every one had a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the woman as well as the man. it is said women can not rule. not rule! look through history. where are cleopatra and semiramis, and zenobia and catharine, and elizabeth and victoria? not rule? did not joan of arc save france when the king had fled, and the armies were scattered, and english soldiers did their will in all that land? so elizabeth picked up a prostrate nation, lowest of the low, despised of emperor, king, and pope, and made it the sovereign power of europe. so victoria held back palmerston and russell and gladstone and derby, who would have plunged england into war with us, and left us free to subdue our enemy. had not a woman ruled england we should have had a harder task than we did by far. christianity has lifted woman to a level with man. it has given her liberty of movement, of faith, of life. it also demands her political deliberation. may this beginning of our second centennial see the perfection of our political system, in this admission of woman to all the rights and duties of citizenship. it has worked well in wyoming. it will everywhere. let it come. rev. antoinette brown blackwell, of somerville, n. j., said: a few days ago, in one of the new york dailies, i saw the announcement that one subject which now occupies the minds of the american people can never be settled till it is settled right. knowing that this convention was just at hand, i mentally exclaimed, "it is certainly woman suffrage!" but no! it was the question of the national currency. well, the currency question did suggest great moral issues, and it was vital enough in character to justify the editorial claim. i believe it never can be settled till it is settled right. but what is the currency problem to a direct question of human rights, involving the highest moral and civil interests not only of all the women in the country, but of all the men likewise? this suffrage question never can be settled till it is settled right. so surely as the law of justice must yet prevail, it will continue to vex and trouble the whole nation continually. because the sexes are so unlike in their natures and in all their relations to the state, there is imperative need of representation for both. women in beleaguered cities have again and again stood heroically side by side with men, suffering danger and privation without a murmur, ready to endure hunger and every form of personal discomfort rather than surrender to the enemy. what women have done in the past they would willingly do again in the future in like circumstances. they are everywhere as patriotic as men, and as willing to make sacrifices for their country. but their relations to the government in war are of necessity widely unlike. if men as good citizens are bound to peril their lives and to endure hardships to aid the country in its hour of need, yet women peril their lives and devote their time and energy in giving to the country all its citizens, whether for peace or war. and if the liberties of the nation were in real peril, they would freely devote their all for its salvation. in any just warfare it is fitting that the young men should first march to battle, and if all these were swept away, then the old men and the old women might fitly go out together side by side, and, last of all, the young mothers, leaving their little children to the very aged and to the sick, should be and would be ready in their turn to go also, if need be, even to the battle-field rather than suffer the overthrow of a righteous government. but woman's relations to war are intrinsically unlike man's. her natural attitude toward law and order and toward all public interests must always differ from his. women would never be the producers of wealth to the same extent with men. the time devoted by the one class to earning money would be given by the other to rearing children. yes, this question touches too many vital interests ever to be settled till it is settled right. we mean to live, to keep well and strong, and to continue to trouble the whole country until it is settled and settled to stay. there can be no rest from agitation till this is done. lucy stone spoke particularly of the need of using the opportunity the centennial gives, to show that, if it was wrong for george iii. to govern the colonies a hundred years ago without their consent, it is just as wrong now to govern women without their consent; that if taxation without representation was tyranny then it is tyranny now, and no less tyranny because it is done to women than if it were done to men; that the usurpation of the rights of women is as high-handed a crime as was the usurpation of the rights of the colonists by the british parliament, and will be so regarded a hundred years hence. she claimed that this occasion ought to be used to show men that the deeds of their ancestors, of which they are so proud, are worthy of their own imitation; she urged women to refrain from joining in the centennial, and to show no more respect for the power which governs them without their consent, than did their brave ancestors a century ago. the president said--i understand there is among the audience the famous democrat of england, charles bradlaugh, and i will call upon him to say a few words. mr. bradlaugh at once came forward from the rear of the hall, where he had been sitting, and mounting the platform, said: i only came forward in obedience to a call which it would be impertinence to refuse here to-night. i came to be a listener and with no sort of intention of making any speech at all, and the only right i should have upon this platform is, that for the last twenty-five years of my short life i have pleaded for those rights which you plead for to-night. the woman question is no american question, no national question; it is a question for the whole world, and the best men of every country and of every age have held one view upon it, and the worst men have naturally held the other view. it is not a question of mere taxation; it is a question of thorough humanity; a question not of mere geographical limitation, not of america, not of england, not of france, not of italy, not of spain; but, were it a question in any of these countries, a woman would stand up to show you that woman can do woman's work of making man truer and purer; and there is no age of the world in which you can not find some woman who has shone out in the darkness of night to show you that, though other stars were obscured, she could still shine; and whenever woman suffrage is debated, my voice is at their service, for the grander woman is made, the purer will man be. at the next session the report of the executive committee was made by the chairman, mrs. lucy stone. after which letters were read from lydia maria child, mrs. h. m. tracy cutler, elizabeth stuart phelps, hon. h. a. voris, and miss lavinia goodell. the committee on resolutions[ ] reported a long list of stirring appeals to those who have the real interests of humanity at heart. their adoption was urged in an able speech by mr. blackwell. the following session was principally devoted to the hearing of the reports from the auxiliary societies. the delegates, in number, represented twelve states. rev. charles g. ames, of pennsylvania, in reply to mrs. stone, said he thought it both impolitic and unreasonable to come into collision with the awakening spirit of the country in the matter of the centennial. the american revolution did great things for us all, woman included; and although it did not give her a political status, yet it established organic principles which make woman suffrage possible, logical and ultimately certain. no event has yet brought suffrage to woman; shall she therefore regard all history up to date as a failure, as if there were nothing in it worth celebrating? rather may we rejoice that all the past is a series of steps leading up to the present; and still we mount! woman suffrage is present in the institutions of our country as a germ; it is growing. in not affirming it the fathers did no conscious or intentional wrong; and only a few cultivated women of the revolutionary period, like mrs. adams and a lady friend of richard henry lee, felt the inconsistency of affirming the equality of all human beings and then ignoring half of them. but in days of war and slavery, mr. seward said, "liberty is in the union"; so we may say, suffrage is in the union. the negroes who fought for the union, while it was only a white man's union, were winning their own enfranchisement; the women who celebrate american independence are doing honor to principles which will some day bring justice to all the inhabitants of the land. the discussions on this subject of suffrage have disclosed to the american people their own low estimate of the ballot, as a coarse and uncertain instrument for procuring only coarse and doubtful benefits. they ought to thank us for bringing to light this dangerous skepticism, and for compelling attention to those deeper principles of justice and equality which alone can work the timely cure. to refuse to follow those principles when their new application becomes obvious, is to give up the republic. yet there has been a relative decline of politics. the "powers that be," or the ruling forces of the country are not seated alone at washington and the state capitals; new and mightier lawgivers have arisen. civilization has come to include and employ other than political agents for the maintenance of order and the promotion of welfare. the power of opinion as generated by education, literature, religion, business or social life, and as announced through the press, and propagated in the widening circles of personal influence--this rules the rulers and masters the country. thus, within the nation and fostered by its freedom, there has grown up a grander republic of thought and sentiment, which has also blossomed into many a fair institution. of this more glorious republic, woman is a welcome and unquestioned citizen. her opportunities for self-help and for helping others, her share in the common burdens and her dividend of the common benefits, must be far larger, in our country and now, than in any other land or time. all this, the thoughtful friends of suffrage will gladly admit. but does this concession belittle the importance of woman's political rights? exactly not! a part in the government becomes important to any class in proportion as they become large stockholders in common affairs and as they become aware of their own interests and their own powers. the ballot is of little value to an unawakened, unaspiring people; their masters will look after matters. but american women are not unawakened or unaspiring. to many of them, life has grown painful, because their advancing ideal is dishonored by a sense of violated justice. along with large freedom has come developed faculty, awakened desire, conscious power and public spirit. precisely because their actual freedom is so large and sweet, they are galled by every rusty link of the old political chain. not the mere handling of a ballot do they crave, but the position of unchallenged and unqualified equality, and the removal of the old brand of inferiority, which weakens alike their self-respect and their hold on the respect of others. at present, the position of woman in the state is false, contradictory and uncomfortable. she has ceased to be a nobody; but she is not yet conceded to be a somebody. as she has gained many rights which were once denied, the old theory which made her a slave is overthrown; as she has not gained the absolute and chartered right of self-government, the new theory of her equality is not yet established. of that equality suffrage is the symbol, as in this country it is now the symbol for men. she demands to be the custodian of her own affairs, and not to hold them by sufferance. she demands to be equal behind the law and in the law, as well as before the law. the committee on nominations reported the list of officers[ ] for the ensuing year. miss eastman said: there are many questions of profound interest occupying the minds of the community, and people come together to unravel if possible the complications of business and human obligations; questions of railroads, of tariffs, of the protection of dumb animals, and, most important of all, of the delicate relations of society to the unfortunate classes, and of equity between man and man. all these need the consideration which is made possible by the accumulated wisdom of centuries and the insight which eighteen hundred years' study of christian principles have developed. but i shall never get over a sense of anachronism, of being out of time, in arguing at this late day a claim for so fundamental a thing as human freedom. i rub my eyes to make sure that i have not been in a rip van winkle slumber for a few centuries, and am not coming before a nineteenth century audience with an untimely protest against a wrong long since abolished, and of which children only hear nowadays in their study of history, or when their parents draw a picture of the sad old times when an injustice prevailed against one half the people, and these the mothers, wives, and daughters. but no! we have none of us been permitted to betake ourselves to a mount of delight and to rest in enchanted slumber while the great wrongs righted themselves. we are here on the hither side of the conflict and must put our puny human strength into the work. though this is the nineteenth century after christ, we are here--in the most civilized, or perhaps i should better say, the least uncivilized country on the face of the globe--to urge the right of one half the human race to the same personal freedom and voice in the control of its own and the general interests as are possessed by the other half. mrs. frances watkins harper was the last speaker. she said that she had often known women who wished they had been born men, but had known only one man who wished he had been born a woman, and that was during the war when he was in danger of being drafted into the army. he then not only expressed the wish that he had been born a girl, but even went further, and longed to be a girl-baby at that. mrs. harper gave a touching description of the disabilities to which women, and especially colored women, are subjected, and looked forward to their enfranchisement as the dawn of a better era alike for men and for women. at the conclusion of mrs. harper's address the convention adjourned _sine die_. * * * * * the anniversary of the recognition of the equal political rights of women by the constitutional convention of new jersey, july , , celebrated in by the american woman suffrage association, was as bright and beautiful as the fact it commemorated. notwithstanding the heat of the weather and the varied attractions of the exhibition and the great procession, an intelligent audience assembled at philadelphia in horticultural hall. it contained many representatives of pennsylvania, but was mainly composed of several hundred friends of woman suffrage from all parts of the country. the meeting was called to order by henry b. blackwell, secretary of the society, who read the call and introduced mrs. lucy stone as chairman of the meeting. mrs. stone prefaced her address by a historical statement of the interesting facts of woman's enfranchisement and disfranchisement in new jersey.[ ] the hutchinson family sang with thrilling power and sweetness "the prophecy of woman's future." mr. blackwell said: the philadelphia newspapers are discussing the question whether the second or the fourth day of july is the real anniversary of american independence. i give my vote for the second of july for a reason which has not been generally named. on this day the men of new jersey, for the first time in the world's history, organized a state upon the principles of absolute justice. for the first time, they established equal political rights for men and women. this was a greater event than the declaration of independence. the declaration only announced the principle that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," but the men of new jersey applied the principle alike to women and negroes. by as much as practice is worth more than theory and life more than raiment, by so much is the event we celebrate more glorious than any other in the annals of the revolution. it was the prophecy and the guarantee of our national future. some people say that we celebrate a failure, because thirty-one years later the franchise was taken away from the women of new jersey. but the generation which enacted woman suffrage did not repeal it. new jersey was first settled by the puritans and quakers--educated and intelligent, full of the spirit of liberty. soon after the state was organized, this population was overwhelmed by an ignorant immigration from continental europe. slavery became a power. free schools did not exist. another body of men supplanted the intelligent founders of the state and lowered its institutions to meet the lower level of character and purpose. another lesson we should never forget is, that the women of new jersey lost the franchise because they voted against extending this right to others. the women were generally federalists. they were said to have given the electoral votes of the state to john adams against thomas jefferson in . the democratic party was bent upon enfranchising the poor white men who were excluded by a property-qualification. the women, then as now conservative in character, opposed this extension of suffrage. in , when the democrats got possession of the state government, they put out the women and colored men and introduced the poor white men. with this warning before us, let us rejoice that american women have taken so warm an interest in the emancipation and enfranchisement of the slaves--that every colored delegate whom i met at the national republican conventions of and recognized the women as their friends, and were ready to help put a woman suffrage plank into the platform. also, let me congratulate you that the prohibitionists and republicans have each adopted our principle of equal rights for women in their party creeds, and that in the nomination of rutherford b. hayes, a woman suffragist, we have a man whose first public reputation was won as the champion of a wronged and friendless woman. the hutchinsons gave a spirited song. mr. raper, of england, was then called, and gave an interesting sketch of the progress of woman suffrage in england. the afternoon meeting was opened by a song, "one hundred years hence," by the hutchinsons. charles g. ames said: this meeting stands for something good and necessary--better than anything we can say. the advocates of impartial suffrage are the most consistent friends of the principles upon which our institutions are founded, because they alone propose to apply them. all others shrink from this application. they distrust human nature. they are afraid to move for fear of what may follow. they are like the frenchman, who, being a little drunk, had dropped his hat and apostrophized it thus: "if i try to pick you up, i shall myself fall down. if i fall down, you can not pick me up. therefore i will go on without you." but woman's enfranchisement will open every college door and every avenue of employment. every woman will be cared for, as every man is now cared for. a government without justice is tyranny, piracy, and despotism. a society without justice would be a hell. the lower elements of appetite and passion exist in society. they must be overcome by the higher elements of justice. with justice will come heavenliness, purity, and peace. thus, in opening the proceedings of this afternoon, we represent in the principles of --the principles which will triumph more clearly and gloriously in . mrs. howe said: heaven gives each of us two human hands. one is meant to receive the gifts of providence, and one is meant to give largely of what we receive to others. ignorant, selfish human beings too often hold out but the one hand. they receive, and are satisfied with that; but they do not give. they seem to say to divine providence, "what is yours is mine, and what is mine is my own." nevertheless, in the order of this same providence, what we give is as important to our happiness as what we receive. the rich man who has done nothing to enrich the community in which he lives, has really profited very little by the wealth he has amassed and inherited. himself commanding the means of refinement and luxury, he lives surrounded by poverty, barbarism, and crime; and these, from the beginning of his career to the end, poison the very sources of his life. as much worse is it with those who receive liberty and do not give it, as liberty is better than money. "give me liberty or give me death!" says patrick henry. he receives it. does he give it to his slave? no. to his wife? still less. what does he have of it, then? only one half--the selfish half of possession, not the joyous and generous side of sympathy and participation. these jerseyites, it seems, were wiser than any in their day and generation. they saw the anomaly, the contradiction between a free manhood and an enslaved womanhood. they saw it taking effect at the sacred hearth, beside the tender cradle. and they saw their way out of it. what they received and valued as the greatest of god's gifts, they gave to their women, rational, human creatures like themselves, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh, only made to exemplify that peaceable and loving side of human nature whose beauty has been always felt, and whose triumph is written among the eternal prophecies which time only fulfills. honor then, to-day, to those truly brave and generous men who, with their own hands unbound, were not afraid to unbind the hands of their wives and mothers! honor, too, to the women who were intelligent enough to appreciate the gift, and wise and brave enough to use it. no scandal accompanied its exercise. there was no talk in that time of the women deserting their household fires, their tender children, to fulfill their duty to the state. in that state, in those women, culminated the success and significance of the american revolution. remember the other states did not think so, neither did the men or the women who planned the international exhibition of to-day think so. but it was so, none the less. and we to-day must light our torches at that very topmost flame of freedom, or they will smoke instead of burning. mrs. antoinette l. brown blackwell said she came as a representative from new jersey, her adopted state, whose unique suffrage endowment, one hundred years ago, we are here to celebrate. the ebb and flow which is the law of all progress, has temporarily deprived our women of the franchise. but it will be restored in the near future. "i have neighbors, whose mothers and grandmothers voted, and who are beginning to recall the fact with pride and satisfaction." ex-governor bullock, of massachusetts, has well said that "historically, woman, in america, is now at the acme of her power." but at our next centennial, men and women will stand together, acknowledged peers, at the acme of human achievement. mrs. elizabeth k. churchill said: the right of suffrage is always either inherited or earned. the women of america have earned their right by their work in the revolution and in the civil war. the inertia of women themselves is the greatest obstacle of our movement. but, in order to perform the duties which fall upon them in humane and charitable work, women need that their rights should be guaranteed by the franchise. miss hindman urged the importance of suffragists working inside the churches. here is where the sympathies of society center. we have eight million professed christians, church-members; three-fourths of these are women. miss hindman gave very encouraging accounts of success in enlisting the pastors and women of the churches in the suffrage work, also of the growth of woman suffrage sentiment among the temperance women of the west. the hutchinsons sang "the star spangled banner," the audience joining in the chorus. mrs. stone uttered her dissent for the words and spirit of the song so long as women are without political rights. in conclusion she offered the following resolutions: . _resolved_, that on this centennial anniversary of american freedom, we re-affirm the principle that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed"--and that "taxation without representation is tyranny." yet women are governed without consent, and taxed without representation. . _resolved_, that we celebrate the establishment of woman suffrage in new jersey, a hundred years ago, as the prophecy and forerunner of the american future. we point with pride to the existence of woman suffrage in wyoming and utah, and we declare that as the first century of independence has achieved equal rights and impartial suffrage for men, so the next century will achieve equal rights for all american citizens irrespective of sex. the resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the meeting adjourned. * * * * * the eighth annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association commenced on october , , at handel and haydn hall, philadelphia. mrs. mary a. livermore presided and made the opening address. the committee on credentials made a partial report, showing one hundred and three delegates present, representing twenty-three states and territories. two other states reported themselves at the close of the morning meeting, making in all twenty-five states and territories[ ] represented. brief addresses were made by mrs. howe and mrs. frances w. harper. letters were read from william lloyd garrison, and j. w. kingman, of wyoming. the chairman of the committee on resolutions reported the following, which were accepted for separate consideration: the american woman suffrage association affirms: that woman's right to vote already exists in theory under a government based upon the consent of the governed; that her right to vote implies her right to take part in the nomination of her representatives in the primary meetings of the parties, and that this right can be granted at any time, by the state convention of any party, without any change of constitution or laws. we therefore recommend the suffragists of each state to address a memorial to every political convention, asking for the adoption of a resolution. "that hereafter, women who are identified in principle with the party, and who possess the qualifications of age and residence required of male voters, are invited to take part in its primary meetings, with an equal voice and vote in the nomination of candidates and the transaction of business." _resolved_, that we congratulate the national prohibitory reform party upon its adoption of woman suffrage in its platform, and upon the similar action recently taken by that party in several states; also upon the admission of women to the prohibitory caucuses of massachusetts by the unanimous invitation of its state convention, and upon the subsequent nomination of the same candidates by the woman suffragists of that state. _resolved_, that we rejoice at the beneficent results of woman suffrage in wyoming, and at its successful establishment in the granges, in the good templar lodges, and in other co-operative organizations. whereas, the constitution of colorado provides that the question of extending suffrage to women shall be submitted to the voters; therefore, _resolved_, that the american woman suffrage association will extend to the association of colorado all the aid possible to secure the desired result. rev. b. f. bowles, of philadelphia, was opposed to the adoption, of the first resolution on the ground that the attempt to obtain for women a voice and vote in the party caucuses was unwise and impracticable. until women were voters no such right should be demanded. to do so was to begin at the wrong end. a caucus was and ought to be a conference of voters. dr. john cameron, of delaware, doubted the propriety of the action recommended in the first resolution. mr. blackwell spoke briefly in its support. mrs. smith, of pittsburgh, stated that as a member of the prohibition party of pennsylvania, she had repeatedly taken part in the caucuses, and that the same was true elsewhere. by general consent the further discussion was postponed. dr. cameron, of delaware, at the evening session, said that on a more careful consideration he was convinced that the action proposed was right, and he should vote in its favor. mrs. abigail scott duniway supported it by a story of the mice who planned to bell the cat. mr. blackwell spoke at length in favor of making a concerted effort to secure the admission of women to the nominating caucuses, and predicted the success of any party which should adopt that measure, and all the resolutions were then adopted. mrs. julia ward howe spoke of the determination which exists in the present age for investigating everything to its utmost extent, but questioned, however, whether this system of investigation was not carried too far, when woman suffrage was refused on the ground that it was not known what women would do with it when they had it. she said that john bright was opposed to woman suffrage, but he did not show any reason why it was not a good object. it was said that his opposition arose from the fact that he had married a woman who was opposed to woman's rights, and if this were the case, it was an additional reason why women should work among their own sex in promotion of this object. one important feature of the british parliament is, that if the men of the country are dissatisfied with its action, they have the power to put the government out of office, but the women of the country had only to sit passively by if they are not satisfied with the administration. freedom with its concomitants does not promote despotism in either sex. the ignorant women of to-day, left in their ignorance, will continue to bring forth slavery, and to educate their children as the tools of despotism. it was said that inequality of property is complained of among women, but that it exists just as much among men. but what is complained of among women is not inequality of property, but absence of representation. addresses were made by rev. john snyder, of st. louis; lucy stone; mrs. duniway, of oregon, and mrs. livermore; after which the audience rose and united in singing the doxology, and the meeting adjourned. in november, , the american woman suffrage association issued the following: to woman suffragists.--we mail to every subscriber of the _woman's journal_ a blank petition to congress for a xvi. amendment. also, in the same envelope, a woman suffrage petition to your own state legislature--please offer both petitions together for signature. thus, with the same amount of labor, both objects will be accomplished. respectfully, lucy stone, _chairman ex. com., am. woman suffrage assoc._ boston, nov. , . later appeared in the _woman's journal_ a paragraph to the effect: every subscriber has received from us, by mail, two forms of petitions; the one addressed to the state legislature, the other to congress. we consider state action the more important, but signatures to both petitions can be obtained at the same time. these petitions should be circulated at once, and sent back to no. park st., boston, by the middle of january. we hope for more signers than ever before. friends of woman suffrage, circulate the petitions! the result was a petition, sent by the executive committee of the american woman suffrage association into congress, enrolling , names. * * * * * the ninth annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association assembled in masonic hall at indianapolis, in . there was a full attendance of delegates. the evening before the convention an informal reception was held at the residence of mr. and mrs. m. h. mckay. among those who called in the course of the evening to pay their respects, may be named: judge martindale, mr. and mrs. george w. julian, mr. and mrs. addison harris, mrs. henry bowan, governor and mrs. baker, professor and mrs. benton, professor brown, and professor bell. the convention was called to order by mrs. dr. thomas, of richmond, president of the state suffrage association. the services of the day were formally opened with prayer by dr. j. h. bayliss, of roberts park church. the resolutions[ ] were presented by the business committee. mrs. i. c. fales, of brooklyn: what is needed is an amelioration of the nature and conditions of man by a powerful moral influence brought to bear upon all classes and conditions so that the conscience and the intellect may both be quickened to perceive and redress the wrongs, with their consequent sufferings, which inhere in the social structure. the moral sentiment must go into harness and be thoroughly trained in order to do its work effectually. the corruptions of to-day are the legitimate results of the want of woman's influence in the formation of public opinion. that influence is comparatively ineffectual because it is narrowed to the small sphere of domestic life. no one can suppose that an opinion unsupported by authority can have weight enough to grapple with evils which have their root in the lawless part of man's uneducated, undeveloped nature. the most that such a sentiment can do is to enlarge itself by discussion, and every other available method, until it is strong enough to incorporate itself into legislative enactments, from whence it may shape and modify daily life. while much can be done in molding and directing public opinion, the consummating force of legislation must be brought into play. if woman possessed the elective franchise, her influence would be greatly strengthened by her political power. the desire of reform would naturally express itself in the selection of candidates who would embody those ideas. legislators chosen by men and women together, would represent a higher level of thought, and would tend to legislate more directly in favor of reform than if chosen by men alone, for woman represents the moral principle, even as man the intellectual, and knowing that the tone of legislation rarely, if ever, rises higher than the moral level of the people by whom the legislators are chosen, we insist upon the absolute necessity of that principle being allowed to officially express itself. maudsley justly remarks "that great as is the intellect, the moral nature is greater still;" that "the impulses of evolution which move the world come not from the intellect, but from the heart." long and cordial letters were read from william lloyd garrison and mrs. frances d. gage. at the first evening session addresses were made by mr. blackwell, mrs. stone, and mrs. campbell, of maine. the reports from the different state societies were listened to the next morning. after the report from massachusetts had been given by mr. blackwell, miss lelia patridge, of pennsylvania, spoke as follows: to one advocating this matter of equal suffrage, one of the noticeable things is the monotony of the objections brought against it, although each one is brought forward as if just evolved from the inner consciousness of the objector and never thought of before. one of these most commonly heard is that women do not want to vote. suppose they do not, gentlemen; that is no excuse for you, for it is a matter out of their jurisdiction--a thing which you control, and as they have no power, they have no responsibility, and you can not shift it thus from your shoulders. but they do want it; the best, most intelligent, thoughtful women--those of whom we are proud--do want it, and it is only those who are either ignorant or selfish who say, "i have all the rights i want." this sounds hard, but it is true. because a woman is so shut in, protected and happy that she does not feel the need of the ballot for herself, it is sadly selfish for her to fail to consider that all women are not so fortunate. but if she could once experience the great gain which woman suffrage would be to all the great questions of morals and reform which have seemed to belong particularly to those who are wives, mothers and sisters, she would hesitate no longer, but hasten to join that grand army of noble women who are pleading for equal political rights. there is hardly a large-brained, large-hearted woman either in this country or england who is not a pronounced suffragist. how can women who are indifferent upon this subject, so keep back the coming of right and justice to their sex, when such women as lucy stone and others are giving their lives to the cause? she is no more a woman than we. some men say, with the one in colorado: "now, i'm agin suffrage. i believe that the almighty made one spear for wimmin and one spear for men, and i b'l'eve that the wimmin orter keep to her'n, and the men ort to keep to his'n;" and i agree. but who shall decide as to "spears?" are the men alone to say? at the afternoon session lucy stone presented to the audience prof. r. t. brown, who has never failed to lift his voice in favor of the recognition of woman's equal right to a collegiate education, and who received the public thanks of many ladies of this city recently, as a testimonial of their appreciation of the step taken by him in resigning his chair in the medical college faculty, because women were to be henceforth debarred entrance thereto. dr. brown said: i have been engaged in this work for forty years. when i began, i stood absolutely alone. i worked ten years and made only one proselyte, and that was my wife. all mathematicians know that if they can establish one or two points in a curve, they can project that curve to its completion. in this way we have established several points in our great work of suffrage, and now we can see how to complete it. the work must go on. truth is immortal and will prevail. from the boasted civilization of ancient greece and rome, which was nothing but an aristocracy, we trace the gradual development of woman up to the present time. during all that time the right of suffrage has been extended, and now we have a male oligarchy. and we call this a republic! this is not a popular government, as it has been called. only one half its citizens have a voice in its management. now, we are trying to make this a strictly popular government, and, to do this, the right of suffrage must be extended to woman. the great object of all government is the higher development of its citizens. the government can not be an entire success until women have the same rights as men. mrs. dr. mary f. thomas, of indiana, said: in behalf of the woman doctors of the state, i will say that prof. brown has stood up for their advancement for the last twenty-five years. a few years ago the women of indiana petitioned for a local-option temperance law. to-day i believe that they demand a prohibitory law, and nothing short of that will satisfy them. i am in favor of woman suffrage. to secure to us this right we must work for it. what women can do when they try, was shown by the women's exhibit at the late state fair. public sentiment is increasing on our side, and we intend to show our power at the next legislature. mrs. h. m. tracy cutler said: many of us have grown old in this work, and yet some people say, "why do you still work in a hopeless cause?" the cause is not hopeless. great reforms develop slowly, but truth will prevail, and the work that we have been doing for thirty years has paid as well as any work that has ever been done for humanity. the only hope of a nation's salvation from miserable demagogy lies in woman suffrage. with the advancement in education and civilization, i say to myself--the glory of the lord is shining on women. with the advance in womanhood there will be an advance in manhood, and this will be one of the grand results of equal suffrage. a long argument was then made by hon. george w. julian. after the convention was called to order at the evening session, the committee on nominations[ ] reported. miss mary f. eastman, of massachusetts, spoke as follows: it has been said that the greatest study of mankind is man. i do not know but we shall all believe, before we get through the three days' session of this congress, that the greatest study of womankind is woman! indeed, from being a good deal overlooked in various ways, she has come to be almost the topic of the age, and strangely enough is she considered. according to the standpoint of the observer, woman is a riddle to be solved, a conundrum to be guessed, a puzzle to be interpreted, a mystery to be explained, a problem to be studied, a paradox to be reconciled. she is a toy or a drudge, a mistress or a servant, a queen or a slave, as circumstances may decide. she is at once an irresponsible being, who must accept the destiny which comes to her with as little power of resistance as the thistle-down upon the wind, or the sea-weed which the tide leaves to bleach on the rocks or sucks back to engulf in its own unfathomed depth--or she is responsible for everything, from adam's eating of the apple in paradise to the financial confusion which agitates us to-day; the first because she coveted so much knowledge, the second because she wants so many clothes. i wish we could, as speedily as possible without a general crash, lay aside this nonsense (regardless of the great loss of sirens and angels, which really never seemed to me exactly adapted to earthly conditions), and learn to regard woman as simply a human being, plus the powers and gifts peculiar to her sex, just as man is a human being, plus the powers and gifts peculiar to his sex. here is a common basis of likeness sufficient to give community of interests and pursuits, with a variation which makes them mutually attractive and serviceable, each recognizing in the other the complement of himself and herself.... speeches were also delivered by mrs. s. e. franklin, rev. fred. a. hinckley, and mrs. j. ellen foster. the rev. john snyder, of st. louis, the last speaker of the evening, although the hour was late, highly entertained the audience with an address on the rights of all humanity. * * * * * the tenth annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association was held at cincinnati, november th and th, . the hall had been tastefully decorated. over the platform in large letters were inscribed, "equal work;" "equal wages;" "welcome;" while around the entire hall ran evergreens in loops and circles. elias longley, the constant and true friend of suffrage for women, had taken charge of the advertising, and it was most effectively done. the newspapers showed good will in advance by pleasant local notices. mrs. margeret v. longley, who has been a member of the american association from the time it was organized, who is clear-eyed and true-hearted, took charge of arrangements for entertainment and hospitality. she was aided in this by mrs. e. a. latta, who has come later to the work, but who has brought her heart and conscience to it, and in her church and out of it she remembers the rights of women; mrs. morse, of walnut hills, and other ladies co-operated, so that as delegates arrived they were assigned to pleasant homes. at the appointed hour on tuesday evening a full hall greeted the speakers. the cincinnati _gazette_ said: the first meeting of the american woman suffrage association at the melodeon hall last evening, was one that would do credit to any cause. the large hall was nearly filled with people who would rank high in intelligence and good standing in this cultured community. and the fact that the larger portion were women meets the objection often made to this movement, that the women themselves are not in favor of suffrage for themselves. rev. w. c. wendte, the first speaker of the evening, said: woman should not only be allowed a fair chance so far as business and the administration of an estate is concerned; every woman ought to have the ballot. many will say, i believe woman ought to have the right to equal education, wages, carry on business, and choose any vocation she wants, but doubt after all whether it is best to put upon her the responsibility of the ballot. we have not a very exalted opinion of our right to vote, and this objection is often made with a kindly, honest, and earnest fear that she will drag herself down to the low filth of politics. leave out the ballot, and woman's rights is like a pyramid without the apex, or, better still, like building a temple without the corner stone. i have no utopian notions concerning the immediate effect of woman's voting. i do not think the millennium is coming when she can vote. but if women could vote it would not be possible for those disreputable shows on vine street, the foulest and filthiest that ever disgraced a christian city, to continue one day longer. they would be put down by the overwhelming power of moral sentiment of the mothers, sisters, wives, and sweethearts, expressed at the ballot-box; and the men who are now so derelict, careless and indolent, will be wakened up to some earnestness against those exhibitions. i will say, in conclusion, that i most heartily welcome these women among us, some of whom, like mrs. lucy stone, have labored long and faithfully. i would say that you may come up like moses of old, and see the promised land, and unlike him, unless all signs fail, you shall enter and receive the just reward of all your toil. the time is coming when women will have the ballot. state after state is wheeling into the line. in massachusetts they have the right of the ballot for school committee. step by step they are climbing up, and soon the time will come when the american people will rise up in new-found manhood and say: "my sister, we will not ask you to receive the ballot from our hands as a condescending privilege, but will ask you to go forward and take it as your inalienable right." mrs. rebecca n. hazard, of st. louis, president of the association, spoke as follows: as one after another the milestones are reached which mark the progress of our cause, we pause to examine the ground upon which we stand. if to our impatient vision in looking forward the journey seems long, we have only to look back to see how much of the way has been left behind. to those who have borne the burdens of this undertaking the work may appear to move slowly. but this is always the case where enduring principles are to be planted. "what the ancients said of the avenging gods, that they are shod with wool," says lieber, "is true of great ideas in history. they approach softly. great truths always dwell a long time in small minorities." growing in unobserved places, they take root and become strong before their spreading branches attract the public gaze. to many the pursuit of an abstract principle under so many difficulties seems an absurdity. they therefore impute motives more or less unworthy to those who are willing to immolate themselves for an idea. there are always at least two ways of looking at any question, and i have sometimes placed myself in the position of those who take an unfavorable view of woman suffrage, and who reason in this wise: "these women are discontented. they must have been unfortunate. they seek to overstep the limits which nature and circumstance have placed about them. not content with the round of domestic duties which has hitherto constituted the sum total of woman's life, they seek to perform the functions which custom has allotted to man. they desire to be independent, self-sustaining--strong, while the more attractive ideal woman is fragile, clinging, dependent. why should they desire to overturn the existing order of things? the world gets on pleasantly enough, why introduce these disquieting questions, when by patient acquiescence we might have tranquillity, and, perhaps, more of the pleasant things of life?" or as i once heard it formulated by a lady: "why should mrs. a. want to vote when she has such an indulgent husband." this is one view of the subject and there are times in the life of every woman when such reasoning has more or less weight. but there is another side to this question, and how changed the picture. the whole scope and meaning of this wonderful woman's movement here dawns upon us. we find a new order of things indeed. we behold amid the changing dynasties of the world a new government arise--a republic based, not upon the will of the strongest, not upon property, but upon the rights of the individual. with a code of political ethics more perfect than any the world has yet seen, we find it still hesitating to put these principles to the test. as a consequence it struggles in the waves of political disorder like a ship without ballast. recognizing as vital doctrines the equality of the race, and the value of the family as the political unit, we find the woman principle, the mother element, subdued, subjected, deprived of any fair expression in the conduct of the government. as a result we have corruption in high places, fraud, public distrust, and their host of accompanying evils. we find forces at work which threaten the security of our homes, the manhood of our sons, the purity of our daughters; in a word, the whole social structure of society. reflecting on these things we begin to understand the meaning of the ballot for woman. scrutinizing closely, we find that it means justice, integrity, peace, purity, temperance, sweeter manners, wiser laws. lucy stone made the next and last speech of the evening, on "the meaning of the woman suffrage movement, the what and the how." the session of wednesday morning was devoted to business, the election of officers,[ ] and hearing of reports of the auxiliary societies. at the afternoon session, dr. mary f. thomas, of indiana, dr. hannah tracy cutler, of illinois, rev. thomas j. vater, of ohio, and rev. sarah m. perkins, of vermont, made earnest and able addresses. mrs. perkins had come fresh from the women's christian temperance union in indianapolis, baptized with its earnest spirit of work. rev. t. j. vater appealed to the women to strive for solid excellence, leaving forever the tinsel and the show which have been held as appropriate to woman. his speech excited discussion, and added much interest to the afternoon session. the business committee reported the following resolutions: _resolved_, that in the death of wm. lloyd garrison, who signed the "call" for the meeting which formed this association, who was an officer in it from the beginning, and its president last year, the cause of equal rights has suffered an irreparable loss. _resolved_, that suffragists everywhere owe a debt of gratitude to the memory of angelina grimke weld, lately deceased, who as one of the first women speakers, prepared the way and opened wide the door for all other women to be heard in their own defense. dr. mary f. thomas and lucy stone spoke feelingly to these resolutions, which were adopted by a standing vote of the meeting. at the last evening, mrs. cutler read a letter from mrs. frances d. gage. _friends of the american woman suffrage association, of my dear native state, ohio:_ with what joy and gladness i would lift my heart to the all-good, all-true, and all-beautiful, if i could be with you to-day, and speak my emphatic yes and amen in the behalf of all true efforts for woman suffrage. but what word can i speak that will not be better spoken? what argument is not already familiar to the reading and thinking mind? are not "the truths as self-evident" to-day to the intelligent public as they were a century ago? that all people, "not men only," are born equal and endowed by the creator with inalienable rights, among which are those to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. has the human race ever been made more miserable for one progressive step toward liberty since the days when christ was hung upon the cross for daring to say, "whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye the same unto them." what else does woman suffrage mean? what else is needed but this principle to settle the vexed question of "solid north" or "solid south"? what else but its recognition to drive every liquor-saloon from the land, making temperance universal? what but this to bring about the great system of social morality--making it as heinous a crime for man to do wrong as for woman.... francis d. gage. _bunker hill, mccoupin co., ill., oct. , ._ mrs. cutler continued in a pertinent speech. miss hindman followed with an able argument to show why and where women need the ballot. mrs. e. dickerson, of st. louis, dr. wilson, of cincinnati, and lucy stone followed. each of these in their special way showed how to secure justice to women. mrs. dickerson answered objections, and put phases of the law as applied to women in fine contrast with the law as applied to men. dr. wilson, in a wide-awake lively speech, advised women to try a new method, and starve out the men who would not concede their rights. he said, "give them no coffee for breakfast, nor steak for dinner, and nothing good for supper until they put the ballot in your hands." he gave deserved blame to women for not being more active in their own behalf. this breezy speech was often applauded, and good-natured criticism followed, putting the heaviest duty on the shoulders of men who have the power to free women, but still do not do it. the last speech of the evening was made by lucy stone, who showed the dreary helplessness implied in disfranchisement, and who sought to arouse women to a proper resentment against such degradation of position. then was sung, "praise god, from whom all blessings flow," and thus closed the tenth annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association. * * * * * the eleventh annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association held its sessions in at washington, d. c. delegates were present from massachusetts, new hampshire, rhode island, new york, new jersey, pennsylvania, delaware, ohio, indiana, missouri, and iowa. a large and intelligent audience nearly filled the body and galleries of the large hall. the meeting was called to order by the president, henry b. blackwell, who said: fellow-citizens, ladies and gentlemen: the annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association is not a mere mass meeting of individuals. it is a body of delegates from state and local societies assembled in a representative capacity, and as such i welcome you to-night. we meet for the first time in this capital city of the republic, to promote a great social and political change. we propose to substitute for the existing political aristocracy of men alone, a government founded upon the united suffrages of men and women. we urge the enfranchisement of women, not in a spirit of antagonism between man and woman, but as the common interest of both. we urge the enfranchisement of woman as an act of political justice, and also as a measure of the highest expediency. women need the ballot for their own protection and self-respect. men equally need the votes of women as an added power for order, temperance, purity, and peace. mr. blackwell read a dispatch from gov. hoyt, of wyoming territory: green river, w. t., dec. , . _to the committee on woman suffrage_:--your kind invitation was delayed, so that my acceptance is impossible. understand, however, that i fully recognize the justice of the cause you represent, and wish you and your co-laborers god-speed in the great work of its furtherance. john w. hoyt. mrs. lucy stone was the last speaker. she spoke with a quiet earnestness that showed the depth of her convictions, and how greatly her heart was in her work. her address was an entirely argumentative one, abundant illustrations being used to clinch her statements. she said that she felt keenly the degradation of being disfranchised. to bring about a change in the present state of affairs, she would have every mother impress upon her children, when they were as young as nine years of age, that women have as much right to govern as their fathers; then the boys would grow up on the side of their mothers and the girls would become advocates of the cause. personally she cared more for woman suffrage than anything else under the sun. in conclusion, she urged the people of washington to help them in obtaining from congress a xvi. amendment to the constitution, giving women the right to vote, and for the enactment of a law giving women suffrage in the territories. the following letter was read: washington, dec. , . my dear mrs. howe:--my time is to be so crowded with occupations for the next ten days that i must decline your courteous invitation to speak at the annual meeting of the american woman suffrage association. i shall be very glad to take some fitting opportunity publicly to reaffirm my conviction, which grows stronger with every year's experience, that the admission of woman to her full and equal share in the government is essential to a perfect republic. i am, yours very truly, geo. f. hoar. letters were read from w. g. elliot, president of the university of missouri, lorepiza haynes, frances d. gage, emma c. bascom, mrs. mary f. henderson, and george b. loring. mrs. helen m. gougar, of lafayette, ind., read a carefully prepared statement of objections, and answered them with force and spirit. her address was happily conceived and gracefully delivered. her voice is a clear soprano, distinct, well modulated, with not a little melody in its pure, soft tones. miss eastman read a form of memorial which had been prepared to be presented to congress to-day. it was adopted. miss grew moved that the president of the association be requested to take steps to present it at once. adopted. _to the senate and house of representatives in congress assembled:_--the american woman suffrage association at its annual meeting of delegates, convened in washington, dec. , , respectfully pray your honorable bodies to enact a law securing to women, citizens of the united states, resident in the territories, the same political rights as are exercised by the male citizens of the united states resident therein. (signed) h. b. blackwell, _president_. lucy stone, _chairman ex. com._ matilda hindman, _secretary_. (the names of the executive committee, thirty in number, were also added). mrs. lucy stone, chairman of the executive committee, read the tenth annual report of the american woman suffrage association. after which reports from the different states were given. at the afternoon session, after a statement by mrs. stone, in regard to the finances of the meeting, an invitation was extended to become members of the association by the payment of $ . mrs. antoinette brown blackwell, of somerville, n. j., made an address upon the right and necessity of granting woman suffrage. mrs. blackwell read from her manuscript, and made a quiet but effective appeal for the cause. miss mary grew, of pennsylvania, was the next speaker. she maintained that the chief reason women were disfranchised was that men did not think about it, and the women did not either. she urged her hearers hereafter to think about it. this right should be conferred on women in accordance with the principles of this government. but it is asked: what do you want of the ballot? and the speaker said that she wanted it to do with it the same as men did, and for the protection of her rights and those of other women. she could not say how women would vote if they got the ballot, but she supposed they would use it much as other citizens had done. at the evening session, before the regular programme of speeches was begun, the resolutions[ ] were read and adopted. as the last resolution was put, mrs. lucy stone arose and paid very graceful and eloquent tributes to the memories of lucretia mott, mrs. child, and mr. nathaniel white. marshal douglass was then introduced, and said he was not there to make a speech, but to show his sympathy with the cause. he was so entirely in love with it that he thought it deserved the highest eloquence and the profoundest earnestness it could command to advance it. he knew of no reason why a man should vote and a woman not. the republic needed the good qualities of its citizens to help it, and recognizing the intelligence and heart of women he was in favor of opening every avenue by which their moral worth could be utilized for the benefit of the country. it was an injury to keep any person in this country from the ballot when suffrage was universal. it was a degradation. if you want to keep a man out of the mud, black his boots. if you want to develop woman's best qualities, give her the ballot. mrs. mary e. haggart, of indiana, followed with a bold and brilliant argument, presenting the claims of her sex to the ballot. mrs. mary a. livermore asked how it was that women to-day are exposed to a hotter fire than ever before. women are not as much toasted at banquets or flattered with extravagant compliments as a few years ago. she warned her hearers that if woman continued to make of herself a peg to hang millinery goods on, she would be riddled with the shafts of ridicule. if she entered the sphere of man, and sought, by the cultivation of her intellect, to elevate both herself and man, she would equally expose herself to satire. the times were different now from the past. the question of woman suffrage in one form or another was constantly coming up everywhere. officers[ ] were elected for the ensuing year. mrs. livermore said, as this was a political meeting of men and women, she hoped it would be closed after the usual fashion, by singing the doxology. the whole audience rose and sang it, and the convention adjourned. a memorial, signed by the officers of the american woman suffrage association, asking congress to establish suffrage for women in the territories, was presented to the senate by hon. george f. hoar, and referred to the committee on territories, which was to give a hearing to a committee from the suffrage association. but no quorum of the senate committee came together, and the opportunity was lost. on friday afternoon mrs. hayes received the members of the suffrage association with a cordiality and grace most becoming to her, and most delightful to us; our hearty sympathy with her good stand for temperance opened the way for conversation, and a very pleasant two hours were spent at the white house. mrs. hayes took us through the large conservatories, which, she said, had few flowers, as she "had most of them cut off for the children's hospital fair." but there were a great many rare and beautiful flowers remaining. she cut and distributed some among us, and showed us the private family rooms, the new china ordered for the white house, and the writing desk made from the wreck of the ship that went in search of sir john franklin, which was presented by queen victoria to the president of the united states. in numberless ways she showed herself a fine hostess, as well as an accomplished lady. when at last we separated it was to carry away the memory of this pleasant visit, and of an excellent meeting. * * * * * nothing could have been finer than the reception given by louisville to the american woman suffrage association, which met in that city october, . the need of extending the outposts, and of winning new friends to the cause, had decided the executive committee of the association to hold its twelfth annual meeting in louisville. it was an experiment which the result more than justified. success was due in a great degree to the fairness and friendliness of the press. mr. watterson, of the _courier-journal_, said in advance that his paper would give full and accurate reports. mr. clark, of the _commercial_, personally expressed his purpose to deal justly by the proceedings of the meetings. this was all that was needed. any true statement of the claim of suffragists is sure to command the respect of right minded people. the first session was for business. it was thinly attended by the citizens of louisville, there being not more than a hundred and fifty or two hundred people present. but each succeeding session increased in numbers until on the last evening, the grand opera house had not seats to hold the great and sympathetic audience, which completely filled the body and galleries of the house, and left rows of men and women standing all around against the walls. the _courier-journal_ gave nine columns of verbatim report of the first day and evening, together with philosophic and friendly editorials. the _commercial_, not so large in size, and hence with less space to use, yet did editorially and by its reports excellent service, by giving to its readers a true idea of the work which was sought to be done. delegates had come with encouraging reports in most cases, of the work in twelve states by auxiliary societies. local societies in towns sent letters, and letters from individuals--a very large number--came to hand, all showing how widely woman suffrage ideas are spreading, and how earnestly its advocates strive to advance their cause. all these reports the louisville _courier-journal_ published entire, together with the letters of gov. long, gov. st. john, john g. whittier, wendell phillips, president bascom, president eliot, and others, along with full reports of each session to the last, and crowned the whole by friendly editorials the morning after the close of the meetings. col. j. w. ward, of louisville, had kindly attended to preliminary arrangements, seconded by mrs. sylvia goddard and mrs. col. carr. at the opening session, col. ward called the meeting to order, and introduced dr. mary f. thomas, of indiana, the president of the association. rev. mr. jones opened the meeting with prayer. the speaking was excellent; the tone of the meeting just what we should desire. col. ward, mrs. mary b. clay, and miss laura clay, daughters of cassius m. clay, took part. the two first-named arraigned the laws of kentucky for their injustice to women. the old common law to a great extent prevails there still. dr. t. s. bell, one of the oldest and most justly celebrated physicians of louisville, sat on the platform, supporting the cause by his presence. people from new albany and evansville, indiana, crossed the river to attend the sessions. lawyers, physicians, clergymen, the educated, the wealthy and the plain people made up the audiences which crowded the opera house, where the earlier and the later advocates of this sacred cause united to forward it in this new field. at the last of the six sessions, rev. mr. ashill, in a brief speech, indorsed our principles, and after prayer by rev. mr. fyler, and the singing of the doxology, the meeting, which had been one of the most successful ever held, adjourned, having elected for its president next year, hon. erasmus m. correll, of nebraska, who so nobly championed the suffrage amendment in the state legislature last winter, and who now, by speech and pen, devotes himself to secure its final success. the seed sown had fallen on good ground--as appears in the fact that at the last session an invitation was given to all who desired to form a woman suffrage society to meet in adjoining rooms the next morning at nine o'clock. at the appointed time, a fine group of men and women came together, who proceeded at once to the organization of a "kentucky woman suffrage society." a constitution was adopted, which was subscribed to by every person present, with a dollar membership. miss mary b. clay was chosen president, and the society made auxiliary to the american woman suffrage association. the formation of this strong and live society is of great value, as the organized beginning of the movement at the south. the citizens and public institutions of louisville extended unsolicited courtesy to the members of the association, who were officially invited to the home for the widows and orphans of masons, the only home of the kind in the united states; to the house of refuge; to the hospital for women and children; and to the high school. not the least pleasant thing was an interview with henry watterson, the morning after the close of the meetings. his friendly attitude, his comprehensive view of the whole situation and question, with his position of large influence as editor of the _courier-journal_, made even those who have grown old in the service of this cause hopeful of living to see it victorious. another mile stone is passed, and the end of this long bloodless strife comes daily nearer. let us thank god and take courage. footnotes: [ ] the history of this association from its formation is compiled by harriot e. stanton, from reports in _the agitator_ and _woman's journal._ [ ] mrs. mary a. livermore, of chicago; mrs. caroline m. severance, of boston; a. j. boyer, of dayton; mrs. h. t. hazard, of missouri; mrs. c. g. ames, of california; and h. b. blackwell, of new jersey. [ ] mrs. frances d. gage, of n. j.; george w. curtis, of n. y.; george f. downing, of the district of columbia; rev. henry blanchard, of indianapolis; william lloyd garrison, of boston; mattie m. griffith, of iowa; rev. r. fisk, canton, n. y.; a. n. fretz, of virginia; rev. edward eggleston, of chicago; hon. sharon tyndale, and hon. george fisher, of illinois. [ ] new hampshire--nathaniel white, armenia s. white, miss dr. hunt, of concord; miss h. a. simons, of manchester. massachusetts--julia ward howe, rev. rowland connor, boston; mrs. caroline m. severance, t. c. severance, west newton; rev. phebe a. hanaford, reading; stephen s. foster, worcester; rev. a. bronson olcott, concord; miss ellen e. miles, waltham; f. b. sanborn, springfield. rhode island--col. t. w. higginson, newport. new york--mrs. celia burleigh, mrs. anna c. field, a. e. bradley, miss mary hillard, mrs. a. e. bradley, n. y. city; mrs. jennie f. culver, syracuse; ira e. davenport, buffalo. new jersey--mrs. lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, newark; mary f. davis, andrew jackson davis, orange; antoinette brown blackwell, somerville; john gage, portia gage, vineland. pennsylvania--john k. wildman and mrs. charles pierce, philadelphia. delaware--dr. john cameron, isabella h. cameron, and samuel d. forbes, wilmington. ohio--dr. hannah m. tracy cutler, mrs. d. r. tilden, miss edwards, mrs. dr. merrick, mrs. h. h. little, miss deane, cleveland; mrs. m. v. longley, miss helen j. wolfe, cincinnati; a. j. boyer, dayton; mrs. m. m. cole, sydney; jane o. deforest, findlay; rev. h. j. mcconnel, yellow springs; mrs. joshua r. giddings, ashtabula; mrs. esther walters, oberlin; mrs. lucinda poole, brownville; rev. g. s. abbott, willoughby; mrs. jennie r. m. eagleson, cadiz; mrs. mercy b. lane, braceville; mrs. c. t. crain, j. j. belville, dayton; mrs. e. d. stewart, springfield; mrs. lyon jefferson. indiana--amanda m. way, rev. charles h. marshall, mrs. emi swank, indianapolis; j. t. sage, danville; miss lizzie m. boynton, crawfordsville; dr. alice b. stockham, lafayette; nettie m. pease, new albany. illinois--myra bradwell, hon. james b. bradwell, mrs. e. j. loomis, mary a. livermore, chicago; rev. j. b. harrison, bloomington; mrs. a. steward, plano; mrs. m. s. severance, dixon. michigan--rev. dr. j. b. stone, mrs. l. h. stone, w. s. blakeman, mrs. d. c. blakeman, kalamazoo; giles b. stebbins, catharine a. f. stebbins, mrs. dr. s. l. jones, mrs. booth, detroit; mr. and mrs. t. j. sanford, ann arbor. wisconsin--lillie peckham, julia ford, milwaukee; e. l. cassels, lone rock; harriet leland, elkhorn. minnesota--mrs. addie l. ballou. iowa--capt. judson n. cross, lyons. missouri--mrs. w. s. hazard, mrs. ida s. fialla, miss ellen palmer, st. louis. florida--henry s. campbell, st. augustine. kansas--gov. j. p. root, lawrence. california--mrs. c. g. ames and mrs. jennie b. ritter. [ ] from ohio--dr. hannah m. tracy cutler, chairman. florida--henry t. campbell. indiana--amanda m. way. illinois--mary a. livermore. massachusetts--f. w. sanborn. rhode island--colonel t. w. higginson. new york--celia burleigh. new jersey--henry b. blackwell. pennsylvania--mrs. c. pierce. michigan--rev. dr. stone. wisconsin--lilie peckham. minnesota--addie l. ballou. missouri--mrs. w. t. hazard. california--mrs. c. g. ames. new hampshire--mrs. a. white. delaware--dr. john cameron. [ ] _president_--thomas wentworth higginson, of rhode island. _secretaries_--mrs. myra bradwell, of illinois; mrs. mary f. davis, of new york. _vice-president_--hon. nathaniel white, of new hampshire; mrs. caroline m. severance, of massachusetts; mrs. annie c. field, of new york; rev. antoinette brown blackwell, of new jersey; john k. wildman, of pennsylvania; dr. john cameron, of delaware; rev. charles h. marshall, of indiana; hon. james b. bradwell, of illinois; rev. h. k. mcconnell, of ohio; mrs. addie l. ballou, of minnesota; miss lilie peckham, of wisconsin; dr. l. h. jones, of michigan; mrs. ida fialla, of mississippi; mrs. ritter, of california; captain judson f. cross, of iowa; mrs. henry f. campbell, of florida. _treasurer_--william n. hudson, of the cleveland _leader_. [ ] the discussions were participated in by rev. antoinette brown blackwell, a. bronson alcott, messrs. bellville, foster, gage, blackwell, marshall, connor, mcconnell, mesdames ames, howe, livermore, cutler, stone, and hanaford. [ ] rev. james freeman clarke, rev. oscar clute, mrs. and miss beecher, lucy stone, henry b. blackwell, julia ward howe, t. w. higginson, mary a. livermore, rev. phebe a. hanaford, celia burleigh, antoinette b. blackwell, miriam m. cole, margaret v. longley, elizabeth k. churchill, margaret campbell, mrs. oscar clute, agnes kemp, mary f. davis, andrew jackson davis, g. b. stebbins, h. m. tracy cutler, oliver johnson, a. j. boyer, aaron m. powell, hon. george w. julian, "grace greenwood," and others. [ ] whereas, the democratic party, in the days of jefferson, abolished the political aristocracy of wealth and established "a white man's government;" and whereas, the republicans have recently abolished the political aristocracy of race and established "manhood suffrage;" therefore _resolved_, that the progressive tendencies of the age demand the abolition of the political aristocracy of sex by a xvi. amendment to the federal constitution, extending suffrage to women. _resolved_, that pending the adoption of the xvi. amendment, we urge the friends of woman to work in their respective states for the establishment of this reform by state legislation, especially as the ratification of any constitutional amendment must finally depend upon the state legislatures. _resolved_, that the american woman suffrage association seeks a thorough organization of the friends of the cause throughout the country by the following method, viz.: a central organization (already existing), organized by delegates from state societies; they in turn being organized by delegates from local societies, and the whole originating in primary meetings of the friends of woman suffrage in every locality. _resolved_, that we remonstrate against the proposition now pending in the senate of the united states to disfranchise the women of utah, as a movement in aid of polygamy, against justice, and a flagrant violation of a vested right. _resolved_, that we congratulate the friends of woman suffrage upon the unexampled progress of the cause during the past year; upon the enfranchisement of women in wyoming and utah; upon the submission of the question in vermont; upon its discussion in eleven state legislatures, in numerous public meetings and in newspapers; upon the introduction of the xvi. amendment in congress; upon the extension of municipal suffrage to the women of great britain, and the passage of a bill to a second reading in parliament removing all political disabilities on account of sex, and upon the rapid growth of public opinion in favor of woman's equality throughout the civilized world. [ ] ohio--mrs. m. v. longley, mrs. m. m. cole, mrs. j. o. de forest, mrs. r. a. s. janney, mrs. mary graham, mrs. harvey sharpe, mrs. mary l. strong, j. j. belville, mrs. h. m. little, miss rebecca rice, mrs. currier brown, mrs. emmett, mrs. esther wattles, mrs. s. e. newton, mrs. e. calt, mary a. currier, olive c. atkinson, rebecca ream, a. j. boyer, mrs. hannah m. clarke, mrs. agnes cook; new york--mrs. celia burleigh, mrs. rogers; massachusetts--margaret w. campbell, mrs. hewitt, lucy stone, h. b. blackwell; rhode island--t. w. higginson; new hampshire--armenia s. white, mrs. s. c. pipher; new jersey--judge whitehead, john gage, rev. oscar clute, miss e. l. bush; missouri--mrs. w. t. hazard, fanny holy; pennsylvania--john k. wildman, gulielma m. jones, dr. h. t. child, mrs. ellen m. child, sarah pearce, miss m. w. abbott, mrs. e. s. chapel, john finlayson; indiana--mrs. dr. ellen b. ferguson, miss m. f. burlingame, miss amanda m. way; michigan--catharine a. f. stebbins, sarah c. owen; illinois--hon. j. b. bradwell, william d. babbitt, mrs. e. o. g. willard, george m. campbell; delaware--s. d. forbes, mrs forbes; louisiana--laura l. d. jacobs; nevada--mary c. hart. total number of states represented, fourteen. [ ] . _resolved_, that the ballot in government means power and freedom for all; that adult citizens in this republican country can not be free without it, or be properly clothed with the necessary means for their own protection; that woman needs this power and freedom, and therefore should be enfranchised. . _resolved_, that the primary object of the american woman suffrage association is to secure the ballot for woman, and its general object includes the establishment of her equality of rights in all directions. . _resolved_, that the officers of this association and of each of the auxiliary state associations be requested to memorialize congress for a xvi. amendment to the federal constitution, prohibiting political distinction on account of sex. also, that each state society be requested to memorialize its legislature for a change in the organic law, so as to secure the extension of suffrage to women. . _resolved_, that the ballot for woman means stability for the marriage relations, stability for the home, and stability for our republican form of government. . _resolved_, that we recommend the appointment of a committee of conference, of like number with the one appointed by the union suffrage association, with a view to the union of both organizations. [ ] . _resolved_, that it is the duty of every woman to resent the cowardly indignity which classes educated, virtuous women as the political inferiors of the meanest and most degraded men; and that she should demand the ballot in order to help to make good laws and elect worthy representatives. . _resolved_, that we recommend a concerted effort on the part of the woman suffragists to obtain from their respective legislatures an act authorizing women to vote at the next presidential election under the authority conferred by the first section of the second article of the constitution of the united states. . _resolved_, that we cordially approve of the effort to obtain suffrage for women in the district of columbia, in michigan, and elsewhere, under the provisions of the xiv. and xv. amendments. . _resolved_, that we urge upon congress the passage of a xvi. amendment, prohibiting political distinctions on account of sex, and also of a law conferring legal and political equality. . _resolved_, that the claim of woman to participate in making the laws she is required to obey, and to equality of rights in all directions, has nothing to do with special social theories, and that the recent attempts in this city and elsewhere to associate the woman suffrage cause with the doctrines of free love, and to hold it responsible for the crimes and follies of individuals, is an outrage upon common sense and decency, and a slander upon the virtue and intelligence of the women of america. [ ] . _resolved_, that the executive committee be instructed to address memorials in behalf of woman suffrage to congress, and to the national conventions of every political party. [ ] _resolved_, that suffrage means equality in the home, and therefore means greater constancy and greater permanency in marriage. _resolved_, that the agitation of the peace, temperance, and other reforms of the day is valuable as a means of creating a public sentiment in favor of woman suffrage, not only by convincing the men engaged in them of the necessity of co-operation at the ballot-box, but by educating woman to a sense of her obligation to avail herself of every power to secure their consummation. _resolved_, that the executive committee of the american woman suffrage association be requested to appoint a deputation to address the legislatures of the several states on the subject of woman suffrage, with the co-operation of the state societies. [ ] . whereas women, as a class, have special interests to protect and special wrongs to remedy, and, as individuals, have peculiar feminine characteristics and developments in which they differ from man; therefore, _resolved_, that a government of men alone is neither republican nor representative, but is an aristocracy of sex inconsistent alike with the highest welfare of man, of woman, and of society. . and whereas, the national republican platform of affirms that the admission of woman to wider spheres of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction, and the honest demand of woman for additional rights should receive respectful consideration; and whereas, the republicans have a large majority in both houses of congress; therefore, _resolved_, that we call upon congress to enact a law establishing impartial suffrage for all citizens irrespective of sex, in the district of columbia and the territories; also to declare woman eligible to all offices under government, with equal pay for equal work: also to submit a xvi. constitutional amendment prohibiting political distinctions on account of sex. . _resolved_, that we demand from the state legislatures laws establishing equal suffrage for women in choosing electors of president and vice-president of the united states, also in choosing municipal and state officers, in every case where the qualifications of voters are not restricted by the state constitutions; also to amend the state constitutions so as to establish equal rights for all. . and whereas, many women have recently applied for registration as voters, and in some cases, have actually voted, and are now being prosecuted on the charge of having voted illegally; therefore, _resolved_, that we call upon the state and federal courts to interpret all legal provisions that will admit of such a construction in favor of the equality of women. . _resolved_, that the executive committee be instructed to address memorials to congress, and state legislatures, and national conventions of every political party, in behalf of the legal and political equality of woman. . _resolved_, that we rejoice at the recognition of the rights of woman in the national republican platform, and at the explicit indorsement of woman suffrage by the republican convention of massachusetts; we congratulate the republican party upon having enlisted the heart and intellect and conscience of woman in its support, and we call upon the party, in this hour of victory, to consolidate its supremacy by establishing impartial suffrage for all citizens, irrespective of sex. [ ] _president_--thos. wentworth higginson, r. i. _vice-presidents at large_--julia ward howe, hon. henry wilson, mary a. livermore, wm. lloyd garrison, mass.; hannah m. tracy cutler, ill.; geo. wm. curtis, n. y.; mrs. m. t. hazard, missouri; margaret v. longley, ohio. _chairman of executive committee_--lucy stone, mass. _foreign corresponding secretary_--kate n. doggett, ill. _corresponding secretary_--henry b. blackwell, mass. _treasurer_--john k. wildman, pa. _recording secretaries_--mary grew, pa.; amanda way, kansas. _vice presidents ex officio_--mrs. oliver dennett, me.; armenia s. white, n. h.; hon. c. w. willard, vt.; jas. freeman clarke, mass.; elizabeth b. chace, r. i.; celia burleigh, conn.; oliver johnson, n. y.; john whitehead, n. j.; passmore williamson, pa.; mrs. elizabeth smith, del.; miriam m. cole, ohio; mary f. thomas, m.d., ind.; robert collyer, ill.; augusta j. chapin, wis.; stephen l. brigham, mich.; mrs. a. knight, minn.; mrs. helen e. starrett, kansas; amelia bloomer, iowa; mrs. beverly allen, mo.; hon. guy w. wines, tenn.; seth rogers, fla.; gen. rufus saxton, oregon; rev. charles g. ames, cal.; hon. john c. underwood, va.; rufus leighton, wash. ter.; a. k. p. safford, arizona; sarah jane lippincott (grace greenwood), d. c.; hon. d. k. chamberlain, s. c. _executive committee ex officio_--mrs. t. b. hussey, me.; hon. nathaniel white, n. h.; albert clarke, vt.; margaret w. campbell, mass.; mary f. doyle, r. i.; phebe a. hanaford, conn.; anna c. field, n. y.; mrs. c. c. hussey, n. j.; annie shoemaker, pa.; john cameron, del.; mrs. rebecca a. s. janney, o.; martha n. mckaye, ind.; myra bradwell, ill.; mrs. frank leland, wis.; lucinda h. stone, mich.; abby j. spaulding, minn.; hon. isaac h. sturgeon, mo.; john ritchie, kan.; mrs lizzie b. read, iowa; rev. charles g. woodbury, tenn.; miss lottie rollin, s. c.; fannie b. ames, cal.; col. edward daniels, va.; mrs. matilda g. saxton, oregon; rev. frederick hinckley, d. c.; mrs. c. i. h. nichols, cal.; hon. john a. campbell, wyoming. [ ] mrs. howe was elected president. [ ] _resolved_, that our thanks are due to the twenty-two united states senators who, at the last session of congress, voted and paired in favor of woman suffrage in the territory of pembina, and we rejoice at the submission of woman suffrage to the people by the legislatures of michigan and iowa, as acts of enlightened statesmanship, which can not fail, whatever may be the immediate result, to hasten the day of woman's enfranchisement. _resolved_, that the recent indorsement of woman suffrage by the methodist convention of michigan, by the conferences of iowa, and by various other religious bodies of these and other states, is evidence that the value of woman's work in the churches begins to be recognized, and in view of the fact that three-fourths of american church members are women, we cordially invite the aid of christians of all denominations in securing woman's enfranchisement. _resolved_, that the recognition of the right of women to vote and hold office, by the patrons of husbandry in their granges, by the sovereigns of industry in their councils, and by the good templars in their lodges, entitles us to regard these societies as practical auxiliaries of the woman suffrage movement. _resolved_, that we protest against the appropriation by congress or by state legislatures of one dollar of the public money, which is paid in part by women who are taxed without consent, for the purpose of celebrating the centennial anniversary of a political independence in which women are not allowed to participate. [ ] president--bishop gilbert haven, d.d. [ ] among those on the platform were bishop gilbert haven, mrs. lucy stone, miss mary f. eastman, mrs. s. r. hewitt, mrs. maria f. walling, thomas j. lothrop, and h. b. blackwell, of mass.; mrs. rebecca morse, mrs. margaret e. winchester, mrs. halleck, mrs. frances d. gage, rev. dr. thompson, of new york; mrs. mary f. davis, rev. antoinette brown blackwell, mrs. henrietta w. johnson, of new jersey; mrs. margaret v. longley and miss jane o. de forest, of ohio; mrs. emma malloy, of indiana; lelia e. patridge and c. c. burleigh, of pa.; mrs. armenia s. white and hon. nathaniel white, of new hampshire; mrs. frances e. w. harper, of md.; s. d. forbes, of delaware; and charles bradlaugh, of england. [ ] . the american woman suffrage association, in its seventh annual meeting assembled, re-affirm the great self-evident principle of equal rights for women, and demand its practical application in the public and private life of the nation. we declare that women who obey laws should have a voice in their enactment; that women who pay taxes should have a voice in their expenditure. we protest against the subjection and disenfranchisement of woman as injurious to society, destructive of morals, corrupting to politics, and a reproach to civilization. we attribute the alarming increase of insults and personal outrages inflicted upon women to a public sentiment hostile to their individuality and equality of rights. we affirm that a government of the people, by the people, for the people, must be a government composed impartially of men and women, and that the co-operation of the sexes is essential alike to a happy home, a refined society, a christian church, and a republican state. . in view of the approaching presidential election, in which a great party will struggle to retain possession of power, while all the elements of opposition are organizing for its overthrow, we urge our friends in each state to petition their legislature for the enactment, next winter, of a law enabling women to vote in the presidential election of . . in view of the evident disintegration of parties, we rejoice at the steady growth of the new issue of woman suffrage, at its successful establishment in wyoming and utah, in england, holland, austria, and sweden, and at the recent promise of the republicans of massachusetts, at their state convention, that they "will support all measures regarding the promotion of equal rights for all american citizens, irrespective of sex." and whereas, on the second day of july, (two days before the declaration of independence), the provincial congress of new jersey, assembled at burlington, extended suffrage to all inhabitants, men and women; therefore, _resolved_, that in commemoration of that notable event we hold a woman suffrage centennial celebration at burlington, n. j., on the d day of july, , or at such other place as the executive committee may select. _resolved_, that heroic deeds done for justice and human rights deserve and should receive commemorative tribute from all those who love justice and respect human rights; that a centennial celebration on the fourth of july next, of the one-hundredth anniversary of the independence of the united states is in the highest degree proper, and is due to the brave dead who periled all they had to secure the right to govern themselves; nevertheless, _resolved_, that men who use their political and personal power to deprive women of their right to govern themselves, can not with consistency have any share in that centennial celebration. [ ] president: mrs. mary a. livermore. [ ] these facts are given in the chapter on new jersey, vol. i. [ ] maine, new hampshire, vermont, massachusetts, rhode island, connecticut, new york, new jersey, pennsylvania, delaware, maryland, west virginia, ohio, indiana, kentucky, illinois, missouri, texas, michigan, iowa, minnesota, colorado, california, oregon, district of columbia. [ ] whereas, the united states courts have affirmed that the regulation of suffrage belongs exclusively to the states, and that "women are citizens and, as such, may be made voters by appropriate state legislation;" and, whereas, a sixteenth amendment to the federal constitution abolishing political distinctions on account of sex, although just and necessary, can be more easily obtained when several states have set the example; therefore, . _resolved_, that we urge every existing state association to renewed effort upon the next and each following state legislature; and in every state where no such association exists, we urge individual effort and the immediate formation of a state society. [ ] president--mrs. rebecca n. hazard, of missouri. [ ] the president chosen for the ensuing year was henry b. blackwell. [ ] . _resolved_, that we urge upon congress the performance of three important duties in behalf of the women of america-- first, to enact a law giving women citizens of the united states, resident in the territories, the same political rights as are exercised by the male citizens of the united states resident therein. second, to reform the laws affecting the rights of married women in the district of columbia and the territories. third, to submit to the states a constitutional amendment prohibiting political distinction on account of sex. . _resolved_, that we advise our auxiliary state societies to petition their respective legislatures to enact a law this winter conferring suffrage on women in presidential elections under section , article , of the federal constitution. whereas, since the last annual meeting of the association, three eminent advocates of the claim of women for equal political rights have passed away--lucretia mott, lydia maria child, and nathaniel white--therefore, . _resolved_, that the american woman suffrage association records its grateful appreciation of their invaluable service and its sense of irreparable loss, now that the eloquent voice is silent, the ready pen dropped, and the generous hand is cold in death. in the wealth of their matured character and great achievement they have left us the permanent inspiration of a noble example. [ ] president, dr. mary f. thomas, of indiana. appendix. chapter xvi. woman's patriotism in the war. _house of representatives_ (_ th congress_, _ d session_. report no. ). anna ella carroll. _march , ._--committed to the committee of the whole house, and ordered to be printed. mr. bragg, from the committee on military affairs, submitted the following report (to accompany bill h. r. , ): _the committee on military affairs, to whom the memorial of anna ella carroll was referred, asking national recognition and reward for services rendered the united states during the war between the states, after careful consideration of the same, submit the following:_ in the autumn of the great question as to whether the union could be saved, or whether it was hopelessly subverted, depended on the ability of the government to open the mississippi and deliver a fatal blow upon the resources of the confederate power. the original plan was to reduce the formidable fortifications by descending this river, aided by the gun-boat fleet, then in preparation for that object. president lincoln had reserved to himself the special direction of this expedition, but before it was prepared to move he became convinced that the obstacles to be encountered were too grave and serious for the success which the exigencies of the crisis demanded, and the plan was then abandoned, and the armies diverted up the tennessee river, and thence southward to the center of the confederate power. the evidence before this committee completely establishes that miss anna ella carroll was the author of this change of plan, which involved a transfer of the national forces to their new base in north mississippi and alabama, in command of the memphis and charleston railroad; that she devoted time and money in the autumn of to the investigation of its feasibility is established by the sworn testimony of l. d. evans, chief-justice of the supreme court of texas, to the military committee of the united states senate in the d congress (see pp. , of memorial); that after that investigation she submitted her plan in writing to the war department at washington, placing it in the hands of thomas a. scott, assistant secretary of war, as is confirmed by his statement (see p. of memorial), also confirmed by the statement of hon. b. f. wade, chairman of the committee on the conduct of the war, made to the same committee (see p. ), and of president lincoln and secretary stanton (see p. of memorial); also by hon. o. h. browning, of illinois, senator during the war, in confidential relations with president lincoln and secretary stanton (see p. , memorial); also that of hon. elisha whittlesey, comptroller of the treasury (see p. , memorial); also by hon. thomas h. hicks, governor of maryland, and by hon. frederick feckey's affidavit, comptroller of the public works of maryland (see p. of memorial); by hon. reverdy johnson (see pp. and , memorial); hon. george vickers, united states senator from maryland (see p. , memorial); again by hon. b. f. wade (see p. , memorial); hon. j. t. headley (see p. , memorial); rev. dr. r. j. breckinridge on services (see p. , memorial); prof. joseph henry, rev. dr. hodge, of theological seminary at princeton (see p. , memorial); remarkable interviews and correspondence of judge b. f. wade (see pp. - of memorial). that this campaign prevented the recognition of southern independence by its fatal effects on the confederate states is shown by letters from hon. c. m. clay (see pp. - of memorial), and by his letters from st. petersburgh; also those of mr. adams and mr. dayton from london and paris (see pp. - of memorial). that the campaign defeated national bankruptcy, then imminent, and opened the way for the system of finance to defend the federal cause, is shown by the debates of the period in both houses of congress (see utterances of mr. spalding, mr. diven, mr. thaddeus stevens, mr. roscoe conkling, mr. john sherman, mr. henry wilson, mr. fessenden, mr. trumbull, mr. foster, mr. garrett davis, mr. john j. crittendon, etc., found for convenient reference in appendix to memorial, pp. - . also therein the opinion of the english press as to why the union could not be restored). the condition of the struggle can best be realized as depicted by the leading statesmen in congress previous to the execution of these military movements (see synopsis of debates from _congressional globe_, pp. , of memorial). the effect of this campaign upon the country and the anxiety to find out and reward the author are evidenced by the resolution of mr. roscoe conkling, in the house of representatives th of february, (see debates on the origin of the campaign, pp. - of memorial). but it was deemed prudent to make no public claim as to authorship while the war lasted (see colonel scott's view, p. of memorial). the wisdom of the plan was proven, not only by the absolute advantages which resulted, giving the mastery of the conflict to the national arms and evermore assuring their success even against the powers of all europe should they have combined, but it was likewise proven by the failures to open the mississippi or win any decided success on the plan first devised by the government. it is further conclusively shown that no plan, order, letter, telegram, or suggestion of the tennessee river as the line of invasion has ever been produced, except in the paper submitted by miss carroll on the th of november, , and her subsequent letters to the government as the campaign progressed. it is further shown to this committee that the able and patriotic publications of memorialist, in pamphlets and newspapers, with her high social influence, not only largely contributed to the cause of the union in her own state, maryland (see governor hicks' letters, p. , memorial), but exerted a wide and salutary influence on all the border states (see howard's report, p. and p. of memorial). these publications were used by the government as war measures, and the debate in congress shows that she was the first writer on the war powers of the government (see p. of memorial). leading statesmen and jurists bore testimony to their value, including president lincoln, secretaries chase, stanton, seward, welles, smith, attorney-general bates, senators browning, doolittle, collamer, cowan, reverdy johnson, and hicks, hon. horace binney, hon. benjamin h. brewster, hon. william m. meredith, hon. robert j. walker, hon. charles o'conor, hon. edwards pierrepont, hon. edward everett, hon. thomas corwin, hon. francis thomas, of maryland, and many others found in memorial. the military committee, through senator howard, in the forty-first congress, third session, document no. , unanimously reported that miss carroll did cause the change of the military expedition from the mississippi to the tennessee river, etc.; and the aforesaid committee, in the forty-second congress, second session, document no. , as found in memorial, reported, through the hon. henry wilson, the evidence and bill in support of this claim. again, in the forty-fourth congress, the military committee of the house favorably considered this claim, and general a. s. williams was prepared to report, and being prevented by want of time, placed on record that this claim is incontestably established, and that the country owes to miss carroll a large and honest compensation, both in money and honors, for her services in the national crisis. in view of all the facts, this committee believe that the thanks of the nation are due miss carroll, and that they are fully justified in recommending that she be placed on the pension rolls of the government, as a partial measure of recognition for her public service, and report herewith a bill for such purpose and recommend its passage. hon. e. m. stanton came into the war department, in , pledged to execute the tennessee campaign. _statement from hon. b. f. wade, chairman of the committee on the conduct of the war, april , ._ dear miss carroll:--i had no part in getting up the committee; the first intimation to me was that i had been made the head of it. but i never shirked a public duty, and at once went to work to do all that was possible to save the country. we went fully into the examination of the several plans for military operations then known to the government, and we saw plainly enough that the time it must take to execute any of them would make it fatal to the union. we were in the deepest despair, until just at this time colonel scott informed me that there was a plan already devised that if executed with secrecy would open the tennessee and save the national cause. i went immediately to mr. lincoln and talked the whole matter over. he said he did not himself doubt that the plan was feasible, but said there was one difficulty in the way, that no military or naval man had any idea of such a movement, it being the work of a _civilian_, and none of them would believe it safe to make such an advance upon only a navigable river with no protection but a gun-boat fleet, and they would not want to take the risk. he said it was devised by miss carroll, and military men were extremely jealous of all outside interference. i plead earnestly with him, for i found there were influences in his cabinet then averse to his taking the responsibility, and wanted everything done in deference to the views of mcclellan and halleck. i said to mr. lincoln, "you know we are now in the last extremity, and you have to choose between adopting and at once executing a plan that you believe to be the right one, and save the country, or defer to the opinions of military men in command, and lose the country." he finally decided he would take the initiative, but there was mr. bates, who had suggested the gun-boat fleet, and wanted to advance down the mississippi, as originally designed, but after a little he came to see no result could be achieved on that mode of attack, and he united with us in favor of the change of expedition as you recommended. after repeated talks with mr. stanton, i was entirely convinced that if placed at the head of the war department he would have your plan executed vigorously, as he fully believed it was the only means of safety, as i did. mr. lincoln, on my suggesting stanton, asked me how the leading republicans would take it--that stanton was so fresh from the buchanan cabinet, and so many things said of him. i insisted he was our man withal, and brought him and lincoln into communication, and lincoln was entirely satisfied; but so soon as it got out, the doubters came to the front, senators and members called on me, i sent them to stanton and told them to decide for themselves. the gun-boats were then nearly ready for the mississippi expedition, and mr. lincoln agreed, as soon as they were, to start the tennessee movement. it was determined that as soon as mr. stanton came in the department, that col. scott should go out to the western armies and make ready for the campaign in pursuance of your plan, as he has testified before committees. it was a great work to get the matter started; you have no idea of it. we almost fought for it. if ever there was a righteous claim on earth, you have one. i have often been sorry that, knowing all this, as i did then, i had not publicly declared you as the author. but we were fully alive to the importance of absolute secrecy. i trusted but few of our people; but to pacify the country, i announced from the senate that the armies were about to move, and inaction was no longer to be tolerated, and mr. fessenden, head of the finance committee, who had been told of the proposed advance, also stated in the senate that what would be achieved in a few more days would satisfy the country and astound the world. as the expedition advanced, mr. lincoln, mr. stanton, and myself, frequently alluded to your extraordinary sagacity and unselfish patriotism, but all agreed that you should be recognized for your most noble service, and properly rewarded for the same. the last time i saw mr. stanton he was on his death-bed; he was then most earnest in his desire to have you come before congress, as i told you soon after, and said if he lived he would see that justice was awarded you. this i have told you often since, and i believe the truth in this matter will finally prevail. b. f. wade. from hon. elisha whittlesey. _found among his private papers, and transmitted to miss carroll in ._ treasury department, comptroller's office, } _february , _. } this will accompany copies of two letters written by miss anna ella carroll to the war department. having informed me of the contents of the letters, i requested her to permit me to copy her duplicates. when she brought them to me she enjoined prudence in their use. they are very extraordinary papers as verified by the result. so far as i know or believe, our unparalleled victories on the tennessee and cumberland rivers may be traced to her sagacious observations and intelligence. her views were as broad and sagacious as the field to be occupied. in selecting the tennessee and cumberland rivers instead of the mississippi, she set at naught the opinions of civilians, of military and naval men. justice should be done her patriotic discernment. she labors for her country and her whole country. elisha whittlesey. letters to miss carroll from hon. benjamin f. wade. hon. benjamin f. wade, who during the war was chairman of the committee on the conduct of the war, and during the last period of his services, after the assassination of president lincoln had elevated andrew johnson to the presidency, was acting vice-president and president of the senate, was a friend of miss carroll. he addressed the following letter to her in , just before the close of his last congressional session: washington, _march , _. miss carroll:--i can not take leave of my public life without expressing my deep sense of your services to the country during the whole period of our national troubles. although a citizen of a state almost unanimously disloyal and deeply sympathizing with secession, especially the wealthy and aristocratic class of her people, to which you belonged, yet, in the midst of such surroundings, you emancipated your own slaves at a great sacrifice of personal interest, and with your powerful pen defended the cause of the union and loyalty as ably and effectively as it has ever yet been defended. from my position on the committee on the conduct of the war, i know that some of the most successful expeditions of the war were suggested by you, among which i might instance the expedition up the tennessee river. the powerful support you gave governor hicks during the darkest hour of your state's history, prompted him to take and maintain the stand he did, and thereby saved your state from secession and consequent ruin. all those things, as well as your unremitted labors in the cause of reconstruction, i doubt not, are well known and remembered by the members of congress at that period. i also well know in what high estimation your services were held by president lincoln: and i can not leave the subject without sincerely hoping that the government may yet confer on you some token of acknowledgment for all these services and sacrifices. very sincerely, your friend, b. f. wade. on the th of february, , three years after his leaving public life, judge wade addressed the following letter: _to the chairman of the military committee of the united states senate:_ dear sir:--i have been requested to make a brief statement of what i can recollect concerning the claim of miss carroll, now before congress. from my position as chairman of the committee on the conduct of the war, it came to my knowledge that the expedition that was preparing, under the special direction of president lincoln, to descend the mississippi river, was abandoned, and the tennessee expedition was adopted by the government in pursuance of information and a plan presented to the secretary of war, i think the latter part of november, , by miss carroll. a copy of this plan was put into my hands immediately after the fall of forts henry and donelson. with the knowledge of its author i interrogated witnesses before the committee to ascertain how far military men were cognizant of the fact. subsequently president lincoln informed me that the merit of this plan was due to miss carroll; that the transfer of the armies from cairo and the northern part of kentucky to the memphis and charleston railroad was her conception, and was afterwards carried out generally, and very much in detail, according to her suggestions. secretary stanton also conversed with me on the matter, and fully recognized miss carroll's service to the union in the organization of this campaign. indeed, both mr. lincoln and mr. stanton, the latter only a few weeks before his death, expressed to me their high appreciation of this service, and all the other services she was enabled to render the country by her influence and ability as a writer, and they both expressed the wish that the government would reward her liberally for the same, in which wish i most fully concur. b. f. wade. we give extracts from letters written miss carroll by judge wade, after his retirement from public life: jefferson, ohio, _sept. , _. this congress may be mean enough to refuse to remunerate you for your services, but thank heaven they can not deprive you of the honor and consciousness of having done greater and more efficient services for the country in the time of her greatest peril than any other person in the republic, and a knowledge of this can not long be suppressed, though i do not underrate the mighty powers that may be arrayed against you. b. f. wade. jefferson, ohio, _aug. , _. i rejoice that you are to have the testimony in your case published by congress, as i can not but believe that congress, when they have the facts properly before them, will be shamed into doing you justice, though late. i fully appreciate and deeply regret the injustice done you as though the case were my own. the country almost in her last extremity was saved by your sagacity and unremitted labor; indeed your services were so great that it is hard to make the world believe it. many have been most generously rewarded for services having no more proportion to yours than a mole hill to a mountain--and that all this great work should be brought about by a woman is inconceivable to vulgar minds, but i hope and believe that justice will triumph at last. b. f. wade. jefferson, ohio, _oct. , _. the truth is, your services were so great that they can not be comprehended by the ordinary capacity of our public men, and then again your services were of such a character that they threw a shadow over the reputation of some of our would-be great men. no doubt great pains has been taken in the business of trying to defeat you; but it has been an article of faith with me that truth and justice must ultimately triumph. ever yours truly, b. f. wade. from reverdy johnson. westminster palace hotel, } london, _nov. , _. } my dear miss carroll:--i remember very well that you were the first to advise the campaign on the tennessee river in november, . this i have never heard doubted, and the great events which followed it demonstrate the value of your suggestions. that this will be recognized by the government sooner or later i can not doubt.... sincerely your friend, reverdy johnson. from orestes h. brownson. quincy, ill., _sept. , _. miss a. e. carroll:--during the progress of the war of the rebellion, from to , i had frequent conversations with president lincoln and secretary stanton in regard to the able and efficient part you had taken in behalf of the country, in all of which they expressed their admiration and gratitude for the patriotic and valuable services you had rendered the cause of the union. in the hope that you would be adequately recompensed by congress.... i am your obedient servant, o. h. brownson. letter of hon. thomas a. scott to hon. jacob m. howard, chairman of the senate military committee upon miss carroll's claim for a pension after the close of the war: hon. jacob m. howard, united states senate:--on or about the th of november, , miss carroll, as stated in her memorial, called on me as assistant secretary of war, and suggested the propriety of abandoning the expedition which was then preparing to descend the mississippi river, and to adopt instead the tennessee river, and handed me the plan of the campaign as appended to her memorial, which plan i submitted to the secretary of war, and its general ideas were adopted. on my return from the south-west in , i informed miss carroll, as she states in her memorial, that through the adoption of this plan, the country had been saved millions, and that it entitled her to the kind consideration of congress. thos. a. scott. letter of hon. thomas a. scott to hon. henry wilson, chairman of the military committee, united states senate: philadelphia, _may , _. my dear sir:--i take pleasure in stating that the plan presented by miss carroll, in november, , for a campaign up the tennessee river and thence southerly, was submitted to the secretary of war and president. and, after secretary stanton's appointment, i was directed to go to the western armies and arrange to increase their effective force as rapidly as possible. a part of the duty assigned to me was the organization and consolidation into regiments of all the troops then being recruited in ohio, indiana, illinois, and michigan, for the purpose of carrying through _this campaign_, then inaugurated. this work was vigorously prosecuted by the army, and as the valuable suggestions of miss carroll, made to the department some months before, _were substantially carried out through the campaigns in that section_, great successes followed, and the country was largely benefited in the saving of time and expenditure. i hope congress will reward miss carroll liberally for her patriotic efforts and services. very truly yours, thomas a. scott. hon. henry wilson, _chairman of the military committee, united states senate_. letter from hon. thomas a. scott to mrs. gage. no. south fourth st., } philadelphia, _mar. , _. } dear madam:--i have your letter of march th in regard to miss carroll's matter, and beg to say in reply that i do not know whether the old papers are on file in the war department or not; i presume the only way to ascertain would be to apply to the department direct. i have done all that i feel i can do in this matter, having given my evidence before the committee in the most concise and direct form possible. i hope that congress will do something for miss carroll, but with their present economical habits, i doubt very much whether they will. hoping that the committee in charge of the matter may have success, i am, very truly yours, thomas a. scott. editorial from the _national citizen_ (syracuse, n. y.), september, : the contrast.--"look on this picture and on that." while president james a. garfield lay dying, another american citizen, one to whom the country owes far more than it did to him, was stricken with an incurable disease. but in this case no telegram heralded the fact; no messages were cabled abroad; few newspapers made comment, and yet had it not been for the wisdom of this person whom the country forgets, we should have possessed no country to-day. anna ella carroll lies at her home near baltimore, stricken with paralysis--perhaps already beyond the river. as the readers of the _national citizen_ well know, when the nation was in its hour of extreme peril, with a nearly depleted treasury, with england and france waiting with large fleets for a few more evil days in order to raise the blockade, with president, congress, and people nearly helpless and despairing, there arose this woman, who with strategic science far in advance of any military or naval officer on land or sea, pointed out the way to victory, sending her plans and maps to the war department, which adopted them. thus the tide of battle was turned, victory perched on the union banner, and in accordance with the president's proclamation, the country united in a day of public thanksgiving. but that woman never received recognition from the country for her services. the military committee of various congresses has reported in her favor, but no bill securing her even a pension has ever been passed, and now she is dying or dead. in another column will be found the report of the military committee of the forty-sixth congress, in her favor, march, , which as a matter of important history we give in full, hoping no reader will pass it by. under the circumstances we shall be pardoned for giving an extract from a letter of miss carroll to the editor of the _national citizen_, accompanied by a copy of this report. miss carroll says: "i am sure you retain your kind interest in the matter, and will be gratified by the last action of congress, which is a complete recognition of my public service, on the part of military men; both confederate and union brigadiers belonging to the military committee." while this bill was in no sense commensurable with the services rendered by miss carroll to the country, yet as the main point was conceded, it was believed it would secure one more consonant with justice at the next session of congress. the nation is mourning garfield with the adulation generally given monarchs; general grant is decorating his new york "palace" with countless costly gifts from home and abroad; yet a greater than both has fallen, and _because she was a woman_, she has gone to her great reward on high, unrecognized and unrewarded by the country she saved. had it not been for her work, the names of james a. garfield and of ulysses s. grant would never have emerged from obscurity. women, remember that to one of your own sex the salvation of the country is due, and never forget to hold deep in your hearts, and to train your children to hold with reverence the name of anna ella carroll. * * * * * women as soldiers. a female soldier. there is a female here appealing for five months' back pay due her as a soldier in the army. her name is mary e. wise. she is an orphan, without a blood relative in the world, and was a resident of jefferson township, huntington county, indiana, where she enlisted in the th indiana volunteers under the name of william wise. she served two years and eighteen days as a private, participating in six of the heaviest engagements in the west, was wounded at chicamauga and lookout mountain, at the latter place severely in the side. upon the discovery of her sex, through her last wound, she was sent to her home in indiana. when she arrived there, her step-mother refused her shelter, or to assist her in any way. having five months' pay due from the government, she started for washington, in the hope of collecting it, arriving in this city on the th instant. here her troubles have only increased. she can not get her pay. her colonel probably, under the circumstances, not deeming it necessary, failed to give her a proper or formal discharge, with the necessary papers. in her difficulties she has, repeatedly, endeavored to refer her case to the president, but, not having influential friends to back her, she has been disappointed in all her efforts to see him, and the department can pay her only upon proper or formal discharge papers, etc. so she is here, without friends or means, wholly dependent upon the bounty of the sanitary commission. national freedman's aid association. josephine s. griffing. washington, _april , _. lucretia mott--my dear friend:--feeling that the exact condition of the worn-out slaves now in this district could be better understood by a little explanation that i can make, and knowing that you desire the truth in this matter of life-long interest to you, i desire to refer to the following facts, which i trust you will present to the meeting of friends (quakers) in philadelphia who sympathize with you. in the year , when urging upon senator sumner and our friends in congress, the necessity of a bureau that could afford special aid to the emancipated slaves, the great fact that the old people were suddenly turned out of the possibility of a subsistence, was recognized by all. mr. sumner, in his first speech putting the bill in passage, urged this as sufficient ground alone, if no other existed, which was not the case. from the time of the organization of the bureau till now, their special claim has been recognized by congress, and notwithstanding they received, in common with all the freed people of this district, an allowance made to each in rations, blankets, clothes, fuel, government buildings, medical treatment, and monthly visitation; they also have each year received from congress special aid in an appropriation because of their age and infirmity, many of them being helpless as infants, and all too far spent in slavery to labor for a support. in providing for the able-bodied freed people, only partial support was intended by the bureau, to bridge over the transition from slavery to freedom. then education and the ballot, added to their own industrial resources, came in, and furnished them a basis for self-support and citizenship. the bureau was no longer a necessary department in the government for this class, and was abolished, without a substitute for the aged and worn-out slaves, though they were now older and more infirm, and had lost in this change houses, food, fuel, clothing, medical treatment, and, excepting myself, visiting agents. since the discontinuance of the bureau, i have acted, as before its creation, as "best friend" and as agent of the national freedman's relief association of this district, in the care of the old, crippled, blind, and broken-down, of whom i have at this time in number _eleven hundred_, not one of whom is able to earn for himself the necessaries of life. at this moment, at least one hundred and fifty broken-down slaves are at this office, covering all the porches, sitting on all the stairs, forming an almost impassable barrier to the entrances--all with a story of want in their _faces_; in fact of want, from "the crown of the head to the sole of the half-naked feet," and all eager to say, "we has nobody to go 'pon." an old woman ninety-one, sat on the steps just after the sun rose this morning, so _tired_, she looked a pitying sight for angels. "can you let me stay anywhere?" she said. "i'se had no home dis winter; dey let me stay in de wash-room last night, but der wasn't any blanket, and 'pears i got chilled through." upon investigation i found it was true she had no friend or relative, and had been going on the outskirts of the city begging among the colored people (poor as herself, except in shelter) _a lodging_, and often doing with almost nothing to eat for two or three days at a time. perfectly disabled for life by weakness (so common among the old women of slavery) and the infirmities of ninety years of hard life. through the noble efforts of rachel w. m. townsend in behalf of these poor human beings, i was able to give her a bedtick and twenty-five cents for straw to fill it, a comforter, and a place to stay in the house with two others of the same class, for whom we have all winter paid rental. what less than _this_ would the loving saviour of men have done for one like her? what less would _you_, who have battled half a century for her freedom, have done in a case like that? she has now a bed and comforter, _no pillow_, nor bedstead, and _not one_ garment to change with the ragged and filthy ones that have served for day and night apparel, for bed and outdoor wrappings, the last three months. she has no resource for bread, _in herself_, and none but god to whom she can say, "give" me "this day" my "daily bread". this woman represents at least two hundred persons in every way as destitute, who look to me for help. another class of two hundred are in a similar state of destitution, with this exception, they are sheltered by a fellow-servant or distant relative, and sometimes furnished a bed, but nothing more, and none of these can _labor_. two hundred more are equally destitute and as helpless, many of them as young children, needing the personal care that patients in our hospitals do, not excepting medical treatment and bathing. add to these five hundred, who under the most favorable circumstances _may_, though do not generally, furnish their bread three months in the summer, by picking up bones and rags in the alleys and gutters, i believe i may safely say that out of the eleven hundred there are not one hundred who can do this, and pay _house-rent_ beside. and it must be remembered that none of these old people own a foot of ground in the city, or have a home they can call their own. a few of these only live with children, some of whom are also very old. fanny miner, one hundred and thirteen, lives with a daughter seventy-two. william dennis, ninety-nine, lives with a daughter seventy-four. anna sauxter, one hundred and one, with a consumptive son of sixty, and has slept on an old table through the winter _watching_, as she says, two days and a night at one time, _with no food at all_. she was one of the slaves of washington. anna ferguson, another of his slaves, emancipated when young, lives in a wretched garret, and has no one to give her a cup of water. she sent a child to me to-day, who said she went in to borrow some fire of "old auntie," and found her very sick, groaning with dreadful pain, with the message that she was perishing for something to eat; could i send her an irish potato? she added in her message, "tell her to come and see me, i'll not be here long." i have just now returned from a visit on "the island," where i have seen twenty-seven of these helpless persons, a few cases of which (could you see them) would leave no doubt in your mind in reference to the necessity of a change from the present state of things. i saw enough in this visit to fill a book, and could tongue or pen describe it--to convince the mind of a savage--of terrible inhumanity and lack of all charity. the morning was sunny and clear, and old aunt clara and uncle john sat on broken chairs, under the rude perch of a miserable shanty. he, tall and athletic, his long white beard and snow-white head, impressive as the type of venerable age, was putting aunt clara's foot into a soft shoe as carefully as though it was the last time it could be dressed. she , neat and velvet-faced, was stone blind, and so paralyzed that the slightest touch on the arm or hand made her spring and cry like a child. the shock put out both her eyes, and made her as helpless as an infant in all particulars. for one year she has been unable to feed herself, undress, or to do anything to relieve the monotony of utter helplessness. he had brought her out in the sun, there was no window in their room, and had spread a cloth on her lap, as she said, hoping somebody would come along who would comb her hair. uncle john was , he says, when _washington died_. not a child or a friend to go to them, _there they stay_. they said they had nothing to eat last night, and were often two days without a pint of meal, and nothing like food in the house, for the old man said, "when mamma has her 'poor turns', i never leaves her, and nobody ever feeds her but me, or dresses or undresses her." i shall not forget how the tears dropped from her face, as she told the story of her life. "a _woman once_, but _nobody_ now, comfort all gone, and hungry and cold the rest of my days." her mind was unimpaired, and her faith unwavering. henry and milly lang were two squares away; persons between sixty and seventy, living in a shanty used in time of the war as a stable. for five years they have lived there, paying, in all but the last two months, _four dollars a month_ rent. milly is also stone blind, and _sick_ and helpless. they were in great distress, had no food in the house, for henry has hip disease, and for eleven weeks has not walked a step. on every side i could look through the open boards, and when the last storms came, they said the rain came down on the whole floor, covering it, so they sat on the pallet all day. the landlord has ordered them _to leave the house_ in five days, _to put in a cow_ instead! friendless, homeless, penniless!!! and yet _must_ eat or die. three of those i saw were over one hundred--one had five children, when washington died, lived in his county. sixteen were over seventy. not one of them had a child in this city. five were over ; and all of these whom i saw were as dependent as infants. johnny scraper sat in rags, paralyzed from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, alone in a six-by-ten-foot room, unable to walk a step, yet is left entirely alone, sometimes for three days. if he has anything brought in to eat, he thanks god; if not, he must do without it. tuesday and saturday night he says a fellow-servant, living in a distant part of the city, came to see him, and sometimes brought a piece of fish or meat; this is all the chance he has for anything, except a little meal or dry bread. every one of these old people complained that they were _dying_ for some meat--were so weak. aunt dinah said that she went out on the street last week and begged of the school children, who gave her seven cents, and she went into a grocery to buy a piece of meat, and received there five cents more. "oh!" said she, "how that strengthened me, it lasted me _three days_." i might go on and fill the sheet with incidents of these extremely aged pilgrims and strangers in this city, for whom nobody cares. but i should fail to convey to you any just idea of what they suffer, because you can see there is no parallel to their status. in no city on the globe can you find a people to whom the words of wood (i think it is) so well apply--"_paupers_ whom nobody owns." you must see them _as they are to believe_. the government says, "they _need provisions_, let the _city_ be taxed." the city says, "we care for the multitude of legitimate paupers of the government--pensioners, who die waiting for their claims, _but these are special wards_, brought to the capital by special legislation, not any of them voluntary residents. we are unable to provide for this surplus of poor." turning to the people of the country, they say, "we have given them their freedom, let them take care of themselves!" to the abolitionists, and they rebuke us for listening to their cry, and say, "it is no more than must be expected; let them alone and they will die off." even the loudest professors have said to me, "as long as you _will_ take care of these poor old creatures, so long you may; there are plenty of others to come." so turn which way we may, we are met with coldness and distrust. i come now to you, and ask what is our _duty_ to these worn-out slaves, whose labor we have enjoyed in the general prosperity, and whose destiny on earth we have fixed by legislation, over which they could have no control? in old age we have taken from their homes these people, and calling them "free," we have said to them, "be ye warmed and clothed," and then gone on our way. had i, like most others, have been so fortunate as not to have met these old people, on the day of arrival here as they came out from slavery, nor have listened to the thousand witnesses, that have each day testified to utter inability to live without charity, as a practical relief, i might as easily as they, perhaps, satisfy my conscience by the above reasoning; but one thing is sure, whoever stands in my place will find no half-way measure will answer. they can not look these people in the face, as they come, averaging under the present arrangements of the secretary of war _two hundred a day_, to ask for _bread and wood_, and clothes and shoes and shelter, and bed and blanket and medicine, not one of whom can be satisfied without _food_. one of the most distressing days we have seen was last tuesday, when two hundred and fifty all broken down, _stood and sat_, three long hours, waiting and hoping that the commissary would send bread or rations, but none came, and we could get only _twenty-five loaves for them_. many came from the suburbs of the town, some from over the river, not less than five miles away, and had left an aged companion and orphan grandchildren on the alert for their return, with something for a dinner or a meal. but nothing came; and yet, as they left with sorrow in their faces, that almost breaks my heart to think of, in their meek way one after another said, "you'se done all you could, honey, we'll do the _best we_ can, and come again to-morrow." you see, _these people must eat_. bread must be furnished every day, rain or shine, hot or cold. i ask what is our duty? will god perform a miracle to feed this multitude? i can not ask you, "is it safe to leave them in the hands of the government or the city?" i have for six years _plead_, as for the life of them, with both. none but god knows how earnestly i have laid their claims before officials in the highest departments. by the _greatest_ efforts, and with the sympathy of a small number of friends, who in congress see with us, and have from the beginning, that the repudiation of this claim _must_ call down upon the nation the just judgments of heaven, we have secured the special appropriations up to this time. the history of the past warns us that unless the people, their constituents at home, recognize this duty, and work with us more earnestly by organized effort, and generous heartfelt contributions, the government will ignore their claim altogether. indeed i trembled at the prospect of this immediate result. excepting the few noble men and women whose sympathy and aid i would have, and ever pronounce unparalleled in the history of benevolent work--_but for these_, congress might well say, "the people do not demand it. they _do nothing_, why should we?" if you say, "provision must be made for them, they must not be left to starve and die, like andersonville prisoners," then let us agree upon the best measures to relieve them, and put an end to the system of slow starvation under which so many have this winter suffered and died. we need and _must_ have a hospital-home building to gather in the scattered, helpless ones, who now live alone, and in distant localities. with such an institution we could with far greater economy than ever before, provide for them all. but i have trespassed too long upon your patience. i thank you and all the friends in philadelphia for timely aid during the past winter, and trust you will lay this before your yearly meeting soon to convene, as an appeal for help in the future. hoping to hear what you think is our duty in this emergency, faithfully and lovingly, josephine s. griffing. roadside, near philada. mo. st. ' . my dear josephine:--thy several sheets were duly received and read with heartfelt and thrilling attention. it may seem neglectful that no acknowledgment has been made before. i have waited hoping to have more than a _mere_ acknowledgment. i took the letter to our meeting, and added somewhat to the appeal made the week before, by our earnest, truly sympathetic r. w. m. townsend. just at this time the approach of our yearly meeting, the claims of the indians under the care of our friends, the freedmen's schools at the south, also under our care--for whom thousands have been raised--and the swarthmore college, just reporting its great need to pay off a debt, etc. all these pressing their claims, of course make it more difficult to collect beyond _our_ city poor, who are ever appealing to us--many of whom also suffering from the effects of cruel slavery. still thy account was too harrowing to be cast aside, and a few men took hold of it and called a meeting. so i will enclose the small sum of $ , which thou doubtless will find use for. i was sorry not to have time to speak to thee before leaving that fifth avenue woman suffrage meeting. my daughter, fearing we should miss the cars to take us twelve miles to her children at orange, rather hurried me away. i can not be in new york again now. our yearly meeting occurs in anniversary week. my son, edward m. davis, took thy letter to have a copy taken before returning it to thee. he thought he might make some use of it for the benefit of those poor, aged sufferers. thine in haste and affectionately, lucretia mott. letters to mrs. stebbins. emily robinson, of salem, ohio, writes me that mrs. griffing "was for several years the honored, loved, and trusted agent of the western anti-slavery society. the fact is indelibly graven on my heart that she was one of the most faithful and indefatigable laborers in the anti-slavery cause; she brought a great mother-heart to the work. under fearful discouragement, she was ever strong and persevering. i do hope that you knew her, even better than i did, and that the history will be a success. be sure of my heartiest and kindliest sympathy. it is a beautiful work--the effort to preserve and embalm the memories of the sweet-souled moral heroes in special reforms, those in which we have been pioneers, though scores go out of life without, in the book of god's remembrance they are gathered, and their work will bear harvest forever and ever." mrs. griffing's daughter says in a letter: "mother lived till feb. , , and no one can ever know how faithfully she worked for every one but herself. her very last words were, as she dropped her tired arms by her side, 'i have done the best i could,' and we knew she had." death of mrs. josephine s. griffing.--yesterday morning, at two o'clock, mrs. josephine s. griffing departed to a higher life. a woman of rare beauty of character, of uncommon executive capacity and judgment, and ever inspired by a beautiful and self-sacrificing charity, she had warm friends among the best men and women, eminent in character, influence, and position, and a host of devoted friends also among the poor and aged freed people, to whom for years she has been a daily angel of mercy. accomplished and cultivated, she has devoted herself to the wants of the poorest of the poor, visiting their homes and ministering to their wants with her own hands. she has disbursed many thousands of dollars and a large amount of food and clothing furnished by the government and by private benevolence, and done all wisely and well and for long periods of time without material fee or reward. rarely, indeed, do we find such tender charity, such ability for continuous labor, and such spiritual beauty of life as hers, and her departure is no doubt the result of her too severe and self-sacrificing career of good works. from a.m. to p.m. to-day the remains may be seen by her many friends at her late home, on capitol hill, and to-night her daughters go with all that is mortal of a most tender and loving mother to the family burial-place in her native town of hebron, conn.--_washington chronicle._ mrs. griffing to catharine f. stebbins. washington, _june , _. my dear mrs. stebbins:--yours so kind and interesting came duly, and i thank you. i am sure you have seen how some _genius_, greater, more powerful than myself control me and forbids me to seek enjoyment in human friendships. if you comprehend my life, you will pardon long silence of the _lips_, and join me in the prayer, that the poor all taken into "abraham's bosom," i may _enjoy_ those i love, in heaven. i am pained when i think that not only _you_, but my dear father in his affliction, has been neglected, for it is now four long weeks since i have written a word of love and consolation to him. but the days are so full of work, and the nights of thinking, that all my vitality seems to be in requisition, and i sometimes think there is no reserve force left in me. oh, how i wish our christianity would be true to itself, and take to its heart the great questions of humanity, then would i turn over a precious few of the starving old people now calling upon god and me for their support, to churches, and enter the field for woman. how grandly the tide is lashing the shore on both sides of the atlantic, and its voice is the voice of god, commanding once more that ye "let my people go, that they may serve me." only the foam and the surge are seen to-day--"woman and the ballot." but there is overturning and upheaving below, and the great depths shall ere long become the surface, and what is now seen in the social realm and believed in, as a _religious creed_, must enter into the formation, geologically conforming to fossilization and decay; so the last shall be first, and the first last. the last half century is a grand prophecy. how _slavery_ went down, carrying away social and religious systems with it! there they lie, like dust and ashes in the rear. none are found so poor and benighted as to do homage at their shrine. it was the moral agitation that gave spiritual birth to the race enslaved. i remember to have felt great impatience at the tardy and conservative elements that entered into the struggle side by side with the radical leaders of , when to me the issue was not with the constitution, nor even with the pulpit, nor the bible, but with justice. it was man to man, stripped of all but the divine within him. the lessons of moral and political formation in its slow but certain work, come to strengthen me now. to my mind the issue of to-day in the woman cause is clearly not what paul taught and thought, nor what god has settled upon her as her dower, nor what the marriage contract makes her, but it is woman as a beneficent genius, next to the angels, against woman below the beasts, in human society under the heel of the law, in the arms of brute force, crushed to death with passion and lust. lucy stone has made it obvious to the world that six plates, six teacups and saucers, and a guardian for her children, at the time of her husband's death, are not her only legitimate property. mrs. stanton goes further, and declares that not alone is her property sacred, and must be restored to her, but that _personal freedom_, subject to the moral law, not to the law of society, nor of government, if those powers contravene or interfere with god's law as it is written in her own constitution. in so much as woman is endowed by the creator with the most loving and beneficent genius or nature capable of enduring the agonies of many deaths, to give life to many souls, in so much she is entitled to command, not left to obey. so says mrs. stanton; i agree with her. both lucy stone and mrs. stanton are skilled workmen. both representative women; representing the two wings in the cause of woman's freedom. you speak of mrs. stanton's view in the mcfarland-richardson case. i knew but little of the real character of mrs. richardson, but if what is acknowledged to be true of his,--i do agree with mrs. s. in declaring this case a forcible argument--not against _marriage_,--such a thing can not be--but against the marriage _contract_, as interpreted in the courts. what a burlesque upon insanity! poor minnie gaines, the colored girl who shot her seducer the other day, in my neighborhood, was cleared upon as doubtful insanity as mcfarland's, and she enjoys the benefit of the doubt in the insane asylum, where she will remain unquestionably for a term of years; why does this _man "go at large"_? neither of the associations, nor journals, are ready to assume the high ground that mrs. stanton standing alone and leading, as she always has on this question, can and will do. with all my heart, i pray that true women and the angels will stand by and sustain her in this noble daring. our work (the freedman's work) is as usual, every day painfully interesting and compensating. _no money comes yet_, and i have to raise some $ , soon, or lose our delightful home. (yes, it is delightful). we have a bad city government, the colored people begin to feel the old rebel spirit. hundreds thrown out of work, and i have nothing to hope from the city council to compensate for my work. some good friend said a few days since, that congress would, if persons of influence would ask it, pay me. now would mr. ward with mr. wade, do this, and so let me breathe and live? or not? we can not go out of the city this summer. you will be in philadelphia at the decade meeting i hope, and i shall rejoice to be there too. you see the peace society is in "hot water" over the mcfarland-richardson discussion in the _band of peace_. thermometer stood at ° yesterday, and very hot to-day. write when you can, and believe me ever your attached friend, j. s. griffing. * * * * * the woman's loyal league. letters in response to the call for meeting of the loyal women of the country. new hampshire. hampton, n. h., _may , _. miss anthony--dear madam:--i cheerfully respond to the call, published in _the liberator_, to the loyal women of the north, to meet on the th inst. i am sensible that you will have responses from many whose words will be more potent, and who can do braver deeds than i can do. but i want to add my feeble testimony, notwithstanding, to encourage this first effort of american women, in a national capacity, to sustain the government, and help guide it through the perils which threaten its existence, thus demonstrating not only their loyalty, but their ability to understand its genius; the quickness of their perception of the cause and also of the remedies of the dangers which imperil the nation; and also their fitness to be admitted to take part in its deliberations. not long since, men here at the north--loyal men--men who were not in favor of slavery, denied that they had any responsibility in regard to its existence. marvelous, that they could not see that slavery is a moral pestilence, poisoning all the fountains of society, spreading infections over all the nation. now the war teaches them that they have a responsibility, and that it would have been better had they seen it earlier. the right to take any responsibility in regard to it was denied to woman; it was out of her sphere; it ran into politics, which were unfit for woman, and into governmental affairs, which she was supposed incompetent to comprehend. but this painful hour of warfare crowds home upon us the conviction that woman's interests equally with man's are imperiled--private as well as public, individual as well as social. she must not only consent to the sacrifice of husbands and sons falling in their blood on the enemy's ground; but failing to conquer them there, these enemies are eager to change the scene of action, transfer the battle-field to our own doors, spread death and devastation, and then establish slavery as a legacy to us. yes, let it be shown and sent home to the hearts of those who shall meet, that woman is equally interested and responsible with man in the final settlement of this problem of self-government. wishing that the women of every state may be largely represented by earnest and faithful representatives, able to give wise counsel and efficient action, i am very cordially with you in spirit, clarissa g. olds. bradford, n. h., _may , _. mrs. stanton--my dear madam:--i thank you for myself, and for thousands of women in our state, who may perhaps remain silent, for the clarion call you have rung through the land for a convention of the loyal women of the nation, to be held at new york on the th of the present month. god bless you for the rallying cry, and may there be such a gathering of patriotic women as the times demand. i trust the women of our state will be well and largely represented. i must believe that the women nurtured among our granite hills are ready for all earnest work and brave self-sacrifice, to help bear up and on the banner of freedom, till it waves in victory over all our beloved country. i wish you a hearty god-speed in all noble and patriotic efforts. truly yours, mary j. tappan. debry, n. h. we rejoice in your call to the women of our country to do something, in the great hour of her peril. they are generally too indifferent to her success or failure, lack zeal and earnestness, and need enlightenment on the true state of this contest. it is not a mere matter of triumph of arms, but of principle, which will affect us and future generations. h. t. and m. adams. vermont. randolph, vt., _may , a.d. _. _the ladies of randolph to the loyal ladies assembled at new york, send greeting:_-- thrillingly interested in all that concerns the great cause in which we, who love the inheritance our fathers bought for us at such a price of life and treasure, are now all embarked, the ladies of our association desire, on this occasion, to manifest their _oneness_ of _spirit_ with you for everything that may promote loyal devotion to our country. we who have offered up on her altars what is dearer to us than life--our fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers--so that almost every home has made its sacrifice, and the blood of many from among us has already been shed, while others come back crippled for life--need hardly tell you that we are of one heart and mind with them, and ready to be bound and offered up too. may the god of our fathers hear our cry, and save our beloved country from those who would destroy all her liberties. very truly yours, mrs. r. parkinson. in behalf of the ladies' aid society. massachusetts. pittsfield, _may , _. miss susan b. anthony--dear madam:--in response to the thrilling and patriotic address of mrs. "e. c. stanton on behalf of the women's central committee," accompanying the "call for a meeting of the loyal women of the nation on the th inst.," i beg leave to say that my heart is with you in the great work of crushing the rebellion. our strength, clearly, is not "to sit still" at a time like the present. although much has already been done by the women at the north, in their subordinate sphere, for the relief and comfort of the soldiers, yet the supineness of many of our sex has exposed us all to rebukes. we hear of the enthusiasm of women at the south in aid of the slave-holders' rebellion, and can form some estimate of the "fierceness of their wrath"; but, god be thanked, the days approach when their mad passions will recoil upon themselves--the days approach when their evil cause must die. let us unitedly pledge ourselves to stand by the government, in our legitimate sphere, and _out of it_, if needs be. let us, with womanly zeal, help to crush the power of its iniquitous assailants, remembering that the name of woman is in the list with those who "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." shall we not, in this "crisis of our country's destiny," imitate the example of these heroic worthies, if "hereunto we are called"? very truly yours, mrs. sarah r. barnes. worcester, _april , _. dear susan:--i see your call to the loyal women. will you let me know distinctly if you propose to commit yourselves to the idea of loyalty to the present government? i can not believe you do. but to me there is something equivocal in the call, if it does not mean that. i am sorry it is not explicit on that point. you and i believe if the present administration had done its duty, the rebellion would have been put down long ago. hence, we hold it with its supporters responsible for the terrible waste of treasure and of blood thus far, and for that which is to follow. it needs strong rebuke instead of unqualified sympathy and support. hastily, yours as ever, abby kelly foster. natick, _may , _. every loyal woman in america has a part to perform in this great struggle for the preservation of the nation. i trust that the coming meeting in the city of new york will inspire the women of the loyal states with new zeal and patriotism, and enable them to serve more efficiently their once prosperous, but now distracted, country. yours respectfully, mrs. henry wilson. connecticut. _the loyal women of manchester, ct., to the meeting of loyal women in new york, greeting:_--patriotism in this town is in the ascendant. impelled by the conduct of traitors, dupes, and cowards, the loyal women of manchester formed themselves into a league, in which they resolved to be unconditionally loyal to the government and its institutions; to abhor treason and cowardice in every form, and under every disguise; to encourage and sustain our brave soldiers by constant tokens of interest; to study carefully the great principles of civil liberty, which constitute the spirit and life of our republican government; and to publicly wear as the badge of the loyal league the union colors, until the day of our national triumph. we mean by this to occupy no doubtful position, and to express ourselves in no ambiguous words. we believe in the union, one and inseparable, and stick to the motto, "_e pluribus unum_." we find nothing to justify the rebellion, and have no sympathy with those who do. we long for peace, but believe in war as the only legitimate way to reach it; therefore hail the advance of our armies, and rejoice in every union victory with unspeakable joy. we believe, moreover, in the natural rights of man, and intend to stand by our president in his emancipation proclamation. we regard negro-hate and disloyalty as near akin, and feel that those who would not employ the black man to save the country are not over-anxious to save it themselves. the loyal league of manchester numbers some five hundred members, and we mean by all within our power to cast our influence on the side of the union, and its brave defenders. in true sympathy with all who stand by the government and repel its enemies, in behalf of the executive committee and members, mrs. s. m. dorman. new york. waterloo, n. y. i have read mrs. stanton's call to the loyal women of america, and can not resist telling you how valuable such a suggestion appears. for what is more meet, than that those upon whom fall the direst agonies of the war should with one voice cry out, "give us a nation for whose preservation we may joyfully surrender our heart's dearest treasure; but swear by the green graves of our slaughtered brethren, that this sacrifice shall seal the doom of every trafficker in human flesh?" sarah hunt. utica, n. y., _april , _. we write to assure you that we appreciate the address of elizabeth cady stanton, published in _the tribune_ of the th. we have long expected such a call, and regard it as the external manifestation of a wide-spread demand among women. mary dean, and seven other women. waterloo, _may , _. my dear friend:--i read with great pleasure the "call for a meeting of the loyal women of the nation." i think such a gathering can not fail of great and good results. i hope you will have a correct and full report of the proceedings for the benefit of those who can not be present to see and hear for themselves. sincerely yours, phebe b. dean. frey chapel, _may , _. to susan b. anthony--dear madam:--in response to the call for a meeting of the loyal women of the nation in the city of new york, on thursday, the th of may, the undersigned wish to be represented at the ten o'clock session. harriet graham, emily frey, and others. new jersey. old bridge, middlesex county, n. j. mrs. e. c. stanton:--being unable to attend in person in answer to your stirring appeal to the loyal women of the nation, and feeling a deep interest in this cause, we can not forbear answering it in this manner at least. we do not believe there is a lack of enthusiasm in the mass of the women of the north; all we want is a common channel in which to pour it out. do this, only point us the way, and you will find our efforts as irresistible as the tides of the ocean. we believe now, if ever, halleck's lines apply: "strike, till the last armed foe expires, strike, for our altars and our fires; strike for the green graves of our sires, god, and our native land." hoping god may so direct you that our dear bleeding country may be cheered through the storm and darkness to a glorious peace, with our starry flag floating as of old from the bay of fundy to the far shores of the pacific, and believing that freedom, truth, and right must prevail, we are, for ourselves and numerous friends, respectfully and truly yours, mary e. disdrow, margaret m. willis. pennsylvania. columbia, pa., _may , _. susan b. anthony--dear madam:--i beg that my name may be recorded with those of the loyal women of the nation. though we walk in darkness, tears, and blood all the days of this generation, let us not shrink; we have to do the most blessed duty ever laid upon a people. though we see not the end, our deed shall be blessed. let us rejoice that upon us is laid _the glory of suffering for the good of mankind_. though all our dearest fall, though we are wrapt in woe, let us not flinch to the bitterest end. right shall triumph. god shall cause the wrath of man to praise him. upon northern traitors be unutterable and everlasting contempt. highest honors, tenderest glory to our heroes, immortal in the heart of the nation. sophia lyman smith. we wish to obtain the documents of the ladies' national union league, that we may be "transformed into the same image"; and also desire to wear the same badge. yours fraternally, mary r. h. haynes, _president richwood ladies' union league_. pennsylvania state normal school, millersville, _may , _. _to the national convention of loyal women_: ladies:--i beg leave to introduce to you miss fannie w. willard and mrs. annie v. mumford, who have been elected by the ladies of this institution as delegates to represent them in your convention. hoping that, by word and work, your convention may add strength to the arm that is now raised in defense of the nation's life, i am, yours truly, j. p. wickersham, _principal_. green grove, luzerne co., pa., _may , _. dear madam:--with pleasure i read the "call," and gladly would respond to it in person, but must be content with sending my name. prospectively i see the places of meeting filled to overflowing, every eye kindling with enthusiasm, every heart swelling with patriotism, all determined to aid in preserving our sacred legacy of liberty. the woman who is not truly loyal is unworthy the protection of our dear old flag. may god bless all the efforts made in sustaining the best government on earth! yours sincerely, sarah j. vosburgh. _from the loyal ladies of stevensville, pa., to the ladies assembled in convention in new york_: dear sisters:--although unable to co-operate with you in your noble efforts in behalf of our country by attending your convention, we dare not remain silent when treason is in our very midst, and thousands, with blind fury, are trying to uproot the fair tree of liberty which our fathers planted and watered with their blood. we have already sent our fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons to defend our country, and are willing to make still greater sacrifices if necessary. we heartily sustain the president in every effort he has made to put down the rebellion, and hope that the war may be prosecuted with renewed vigor, until every traitor, north or south, shall be subdued. we would express our sympathy for the brave soldiers in the field and for those who are languishing in prisons and hospitals, and pray that their sacrifices and sufferings may not be in vain. may the angel of peace soon spread her wings over our unhappy country, is the prayer of your loyal sisters, mrs. angie e. l. stevens, _and twenty-five other women of stevensville, pa_. west auburn, pa., _may , _. in compliance with the call for a meeting of the loyal women, we, the undersigned, take this method to manifest our approbation of the president's proclamation. thinking we comprehend the principles involved in the nation's struggle for existence, we believe it the duty of every loyal woman to pledge herself to co-operate, in word and deed, for the benefit and encouragement of our brave men in the field, until our country is free. lucy a. seely, _and thirty-five other women of west auburn, pa_. kennett square, pa. dear mrs. stanton:--the deep interest i feel in the subject to be considered in your convention, prompts me to an expression of my sympathy in the movement. may you be able to speak god's truth in tones that shall arouse a nation's heart to a prompt performance of a nation's duty, will be the earnest prayer of many who are not privileged to meet with you in solemn convention. hannah m. darlington. columbia, pa. dear miss anthony:--let me have the happiness of giving my name where are my heart and soul, with the loyal women of the nation. mrs. f. boardman wells. ohio. _to the loyal women, assembled in national meeting in new york, the loyal women of wilmington, ohio, send greeting_: we have heard your earnest call for a national meeting of women, and our hearts respond as one to the call, and our hands willing to do more than has yet been done. here, as everywhere in the north, we have formed societies and united our efforts in contributing what we might to soothe, encourage, and cheer. but we would not speak of what we have done, for it is but a mite compared to the need, and a drop among the millions that have been given our brave ones who are so gloriously defending our homes. but the wide future with its great destiny is before us, and we hope after earnest counseling you will decide what more can be done, and we will gladly work with you as sisters, as daughters of our kind all-father, as children of our common country for the good of all. we shall be glad to hear of the decision of your meeting, and doubt not it will waken many who are slumbering to a sense of the duty of immediate action in a cause so just, and fraught with untold interest, not only to our own beloved country, but to the whole world. louise mcgregor, secretary. martinsburg, ohio, _may , _. to susan b. anthony:--i was rejoiced and encouraged on reading your call for an assembly of the loyal women of the nation, and feel constrained to address you a word. for although i may not be able to elucidate the principles on which a free government is founded, with the force and clearness of many others who will doubtless respond to your call, nor awake enthusiasm with that magic power that some of the anti-slavery women of the north possess in so high a degree, i shall at least give to ohio and my country one more voice in favor of a united and free republic; and certainly no voice should be silent when called to speak for liberty. it was fit that the first work of the women of the north should be for the comfort of those who are enduring the hardships of the camp, exposed to sickness, and to the deadly horrors of the battle-field, in their defence. but this is not all that should be done by intelligent women living under a free government, when that government is in danger of being overthrown by wicked conspirators. every power and influence granted us under the social and political regulations of our country should be unreservedly laid upon the altar of liberty and right. it is necessary that we fully understand the nature of the conflict in which we are engaged. enthusiasm can elevate and sustain but for a moment, unless upheld by the power of a great principle. not only is our welfare as a great nation at stake, but the oppressed of the world look anxiously and hopefully to us as holding the key to their prison doors, which we may unlock if we will. in view of the greatness of the trust committed to us, let us not flag in our efforts to free our land from slavery and the rebellion inaugurated by its minions, that they might establish it on a firmer base. by meeting as you are about to do, and giving expression to sentiments in favor of the perpetuation of our government, and in behalf of those of our citizens who are denied the rights and privileges of citizenship, you will strengthen the hearts and hands of all among our rulers who are endeavoring to execute judgment and justice, and to save our government under the guidance of him who controls the destinies of nations. trusting that this is but the beginning of a good work among the true women of the nation, i subscribe myself, yours for the interest of our common country, lizzie welsh. medina county, ohio, _may , _. dear miss anthony:--this is no time to be idle now. every _true woman_ must do her whole duty, and buckle on the strong armor of faith, to meet the enemy face to face. let the traitors of the country hear our voices, and let southern tyrants tremble in their high places. let the prayers of the loyal women ascend to the throne on high. i trust you may have a decidedly good meeting--one, too, that will be remembered in future ages, when war and bloodshed shall have passed forever away, and sweet peace shall reign again in our beautiful land. we long for our brave brothers to return to their homes, but not till the union is restored, and the traitors receive their just punishment. my heart is deeply engaged in the cause of human liberty and justice, and i have given my all in the struggle. i remain, yours respectfully, emma c. hard. richwood, _may , _. susan b. anthony--dear madam:--in _the new york tribune_ of april , , we observed that a national convention of the ladies' union league is to be held in the city of new york, on the th day of may. we were truly gratified with this intelligence, and should be very happy to be present on that occasion; but as that is among the impossibilities, we deem it a great privilege to represent the richwood ladies' union league through epistolary correspondence. the cause is glorious, and is calculated to elevate woman to a higher sphere. louder voices and holier motives urge us to duty as never before. at the time _our_ ladies' union league was organized, we knew not that there was another in the world, or that there ever would be. its infancy was feeble, as we must advance cautiously, if we would surely; but it was as a city set on a hill. the good work is still progressing. indiana. angola. ind., _may , _. miss anthony:--the call for a convention in new york to express the feelings of woman in view of the condition of the country, is timely. i regret that i can not be present to share the inspiration of the occasion, and as far as possible to aid in making an impression worthy of the hour. we call this an alarming crisis because it is a struggle involving our lives, our liberty, and our happiness. it must be borne in mind that this nation is great not simply from the number of states it has held in union, but from its creative genius. we are told that this is the best expression of a republican form of government. it is so because it is self-sustaining, self-reliant, and therefore may be self-governing. the stern, smooth-faced puritan fled from religious persecution in the old world to find room for an idea in the new; and the planting of one religious idea has yielded a rich harvest of sects, each an improvement on the last. yesterday politics had its center in a party; to-day, in the nation; to-morrow, it will find an equilibrium in the individual. this is a stern work, wearing furrows in the cheeks of statesmen, shaking the frame-work of the government, letting the blood and drinking the treasure of the nation. it can not be avoided. god has said, "and unto you a child is born," and his name shall be called liberty, equality, fraternity, the holy of holies, the universal republic. and as god rested after the first creation, so shall this nation find its sabbath of rest when this struggle for freedom is over, and from the little child to the bowed-down man, all shall breathe through the new constitution a fresher, more glorious life. viewed from the daily papers, the battle is long, terrific, and uncertain. go to the stricken hearthstones, and we exclaim, "oh, that this cup might pass from us!" visit the solemn battle-field, and in anguish we murmur, "my god, why hast thou forsaken us?" retiring to the high mountain of our faith, we see in this painful view the magnitude of our cause, and that slowly but surely this contest will end triumphantly. from this point we mark the milestones that show we have made indelible foot-prints toward liberty and union. the choice by the people of a republican president, the firing on sumter, the defeat at manassas, the recognition of hayti, the treaty with england for the suppression of the foreign slave-trade, the abolition of slavery in the district of columbia, the decision of attorney-general bates in favor of universal citizenship, the conversion to the anti-slavery sentiment of dickinson and butler, the president's proclamation, and the arming of the blacks, are signs in the political zodiac, showing our revolution certain as that of the rolling suns in the material heavens. only liberty can be our watchword henceforth! to this standard alone will the country, both north and south, rally when a few more days of leadership are over. god saw to this in the frame-work of every living thing, when he made his wants to be a blessing with freedom and a curse without it. open the cage-door to the pining fox, loathing his master's beef and pudding, and see if his instincts are not true as the needle to the pole. lay the sweet babe before the starved lion, and his want will not bow to your compassion. so in slaves; it matters not whether slaves to rebellion or to aristocracy. so in all men and in all women, the want of liberty, as the want of bread, is a vital principle in the blood. it is the motive power. without it man is but a log, and is suited to rule over frogs only; or, like the silent water, becomes a loathsome stagnation. you may suppress, but you can not appease or destroy this divine inheritance in man. on this uniform idea the laws of society depend, and union can have no other. raise the banner of freedom to all, and you have an imperishable constitution, supported by the gushing blood of the millions, and immortalized in the spirit of the nation. this is our work: to comprehend liberty, to establish a constitution, and perpetuate union. we began at union, the right-hand figure, borrowing ten, as in mathematics, from the next higher order, observing the rule of maintaining an equal difference by paying what is borrowed. we saw that fighting for union and slavery left us just what we began with. so we borrowed from the constitution fremont's proclamation, and carried the popular response to the next congress, and under the second period we wrote the liberty of three millions! we have now to work out the main principle or highest order, to test the virtue of the people, to see whether, when rebellion is put down, the nation can survive; and there is now left us no escape from death or disgrace except in the announcement of freedom as a principle. do this, and you have enlisted new recruits from men who will nobly dare to die, but never will retreat. do this, and the mothers of the country will continue to lay their precious sons upon the altar, not as "union soldiers," as before, but as heroes of a new republic. do this, and woman, the subtle architect of society, will teach you how to walk the very verge of death with an unflinching hope of life; her faith will separate your light from darkness, truth from error, liberty from slavery. she will demonstrate for you that self-reliance is the condition of all creations, that as "the flower looks to no power outside itself to unfold its tendrils and accomplish its mission," so this nation is self-sufficient. in its warm beating heart lies its folded banner, and each man and woman must unfurl it as the seaman unfurls his sail. nail freedom to your banner, and it shall bring a prostrate nation to its staff, and together with their loud applause, "the morning stars shall sing, and all the sons of god shall shout for joy." josephine s. griffing. _to the meeting of loyal women to be held in new york the th of may:_ miss s. b. anthony:--not being able to attend your meeting, i desire to convey to you personally my heartfelt appreciation of your work. if, as the call implies, your object is to help create and keep alive a loyal public sentiment, it is truly praiseworthy. this is what we need--a public sentiment that will not tolerate disloyalty anywhere. we want the rebel sympathizer to feel the society of intelligent women a constant rebuke to their unfaithfulness; we want to go still further, and make them feel that they can not be admitted to the social circle of loyal women; we want to make them feel that we will not patronize them in business relations; in short, that we will hold no communion with them whatever, except it may be to reform them as fallen brethren. as the spartan mothers of old, as the mothers of the revolution, did not shrink from whatever of trial, of sacrifice, and of toil was theirs to endure, so may we of the xixth century, the mothers of the soldiers of freedom, grasp heroically the sword of truth, and wield it with a power that shall make the tyrant tremble. it is not enough that we scrape lint, make hospital stores, knit socks, make shirts, etc., etc.; all this we should do by all means, but we have also other duties connected with this war. let us endeavor to perform them all faithfully. as the war is working out for woman a higher and nobler life, while it is destined in the providence of god to free the slave, it will also bring about in a great measure the enfranchisement of woman. let us prove that women are intellectually and morally capable of laboring side by side with our brothers in the great struggle, and heaven will bless our efforts. yours in the great work, mary f. thomas. richmond, ind., may , . pecor, wabash valley, ind. to the "call for a meeting of the loyal women of the nation," we most heartily respond. it is precisely what is needed at this time. there is a lack of enthusiasm here as elsewhere--not that our "aid societies" are not quite flourishing: but that we do after the manner of miss ophelia, "from a sense of duty." a lady says to me, "what more can be expected of women if men fail to some extent in our military affairs?" well, they can arouse the smouldering fires of patriotism, help to raise the trailing banner, and stand devotedly by the dear old flag. if they enter into the work heart and soul, good results will follow. there is here a strong secession element; copperheads abound; the sky looks dark and threatening; but gov. morton's vigorous policy and gen. burnside's "order no. ," will show the traitors that we have a government--a strong one, too--that will bring them straight up to the mark. those who are disposed to criticise your meeting, who have a word to say about women taking part in political or public affairs, should have their memories refreshed a little. from a great many who have ruled in affairs of state, i select one who lived a long time ago. the record is from the highest authority. deborah, the wife of lapidoth, who judged israel, had her canopy of state under the palm-tree in mount ephraim. at this time the children of egypt had been mightily oppressed for twenty years by jabin, king of canaan. hope is almost extinguished in israel; not one man scarcely seems awake to his country's wrongs; patriotism is slumbering in every manly breast, yet glows brightly in the heart of woman; and as the tribunal of judgment is deserted by manly virtue, ability, and zeal, deborah takes the place, not by usurpation, but divine appointment. she instructs the people in the law and testimony of the living god, and inspires them with more than a common enthusiasm to go with barak against the mighty host of canaan. they go forth, and are victorious, completely routing the enemy. sisera, the commander-in-chief of the great army of jabin, is slain by the hand of woman! the mighty arm of the lord of hosts is seen in this conflict, for jehovah has no attribute that will take sides with the oppressor! would it not be well for the women of to-day to emulate deborah in her zeal and love of country? i trust your meeting will be productive of great good in arousing us to more correct views of our duties and responsibilities as members of the republic. as burke says, "_i love agitation when there is a cause for it_." the alarm-bell which startles the inhabitants of a city from their midnight slumbers, saves them from destruction. may , . truly yours, eliza b. terrell. e. m. wilkinson, on behalf of the soldiers' aid society in laporte county, ind., writes: "we will labor with all our might, mind, and strength for a free country, where there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude. as our mothers stood by the government in the revolution, so we, like them, will stand by the present administration. we believe the sin of slavery to be the cause of this horrid war, therefore we hailed with gladness the ninth section of the confiscation law, and the proclamation of freedom by the president." illinois. rosemond, christian county, ill., _may , _. miss susan b. anthony--_my dear christian friend:_--i observed with deep interest, in _the independent_ of april th, an article on "women and the war," stating that meetings would be held in your city on the th of may, "to consider how woman's services may be more effectually engaged in promoting the war, supporting the government, and advancing the cause of freedom and the union." at that meeting i shall be most cordially present in _spirit_, while i am necessarily in body far from you; and for the result of your deliberations there i shall watch with eager interest. _what can woman do?_ has been with me from the beginning of this war a question of the uppermost importance. i have asked it with tears again and again, and have watched every intimation upon this point in our journals, and from soldier friends, with a willing heart and ready hand; though i have sometimes observed with pain, that those who had given least for this great cause were least solicitous on this question, and less disposed to do, and to continue to do, than those very ones who, as they would say, had surely done enough, when they had given up husband or son, father or brother, or all of these, for the bloody conflict. but no, it is those who like me have given up their all, and perhaps like me are left by this war widowed and alone, helpless and in feeble health; such it is that cry, what can woman yet do for this sacred cause? such may silently bear their lonely anxiety and sorrow, patiently toil and struggle to take care of themselves, and of those dependent upon them, as best they can, uncomplaining, asking not aid or sympathy, and all the while cheering their beloved ones yet spared in the conflict, and holding up their hands by words of encouragement and blessing. but such can not sit still, and feel that they have done enough. such can not look with indifference upon the flowing tide of blood all around us; upon the thousands of hearths and homes as desolate as their own; upon the hardships and sufferings of our brave soldiers in field, or hospital, or camp; upon the hundreds of thousands of those poor freedmen, women and children, that have just begun to emerge from the house of their bondage, and come out empty, ignorant, and degraded, yet seeking liberty, protection, instruction, and offering their strong right arms for the defense of that wise and beneficent government that has bid them go free. methinks, every mother and every teacher should now take special care to instill into the minds of those committed to their instruction a holy and devoted patriotism; the sacred principles of liberty; liberty for all; the inestimable value of our free institutions; and the perpetuation of these as an end worthy of their highest ambition. teach them to honor the name of soldier, and to cherish sacredly the memory of those who have given their life's blood for the cementing and maintenance of this union, and to be ready to stand up bravely for the right, when their turn may come. i have written from the fullness of my heart, yet in much weakness and sorrow. my own beloved and noble husband was among the very first to offer his services at his country's call, and in less than one short year his sacrifice was owned of god, to whom he had early consecrated his life, and from the strife of the battle-field (at donelson, in february, ) he was called up higher to rest in peace. in feeble health, i have returned to the asylum of a father's house, to which one beloved brother has just returned with his discharge, having wasted nearly to a skeleton in southern hospitals, and two brothers are yet in the army. should you have any printed circular of the result of your meetings, a copy would be very gratefully received; and if there is any way in which ladies at so great a distance can co-operate with you, in measures you may devise, you may be sure that this little town of rosemond will furnish her full share of loyal women. i will almost venture to say, no other can be found here. in behalf of all that makes our country "the land of the free and the home of the brave," i am, yours very cordially, e. p. weeks. aurora, ill., _may , _. there never was a time in the world's history when the strength and efforts of women, as well as men, were so imperatively demanded as now. never before in the annals of time has there been a struggle of such momentous import, not only at home, but abroad, as this. the eye of every principality and power on the face of the earth is upon us, anxiously watching and awaiting the success or defeat of our armies to prove or disprove the practicability of a republican form of government. let us work for the right and true "all we can, every woman, every man." for freedom and union, ellen beard harman. washington, tazewell county, ill., _may , _. ladies:--quickened by a call from our national metropolis, and prompted by the same loyalty that issued the call, a few of the women of this place have organized themselves into a union league, for the maintenance of our government and the encouragement and succor of our soldiers in the field. our organization occurred too late, we fear, to enable us to report ourselves to the national committee at the appointed meeting; but having opened, we propose to go forward, soliciting the co-operation of every individual woman of the place, so long as our government is in peril and rebellion utters its voice in the nation. yours in the same cause, mrs. s. w. fish, sec'y. mrs. h. n. kellogg, pres't. asbury, lasalle county, ill., _may , _. madam anthony:--i call myself a loyal woman, and am glad that there is about to be made some extra effort by woman for the strengthening and upholding of our common government in this present rebellion. for my own part, i should rather work hard and fare poor for a number of years, that the government may have a share of my industry, than that we fail in this present war. drops form the ocean; and if we all can be made to feel the greatness of small things added together, we can present a truly strengthening arm in this struggle; and i would suggest that we all lay aside our vanity and love of extravagance in dress, and save the money from some of our intended purchases for a war fund. almost every person can spare five, ten, or twenty dollars. let some one take the lead in every city and village by stimulating the people to a little self-denial, and i think we can raise a grand sum, to be applied where it is most needed. just set this ball in motion in new york, and it may roll all over the north. i do not wonder that woman lacks enthusiasm in matters of government, for our laws, though they may be nearly just to white men, are very oppressive to women, particularly those that deprive married women of the right to hold property and do business themselves. i think that man and woman both would live more happily if the laws were more equal; but as they are, they are a shame to this enlightened age. they make a married woman a beggar all her life, although she may have a rich husband, and a most pitiable one, if he is poor. wipe out the law entirely that gives us a third of our husband's property; we can make better bargains than that ourselves with our husbands. the one-third law does us not a mite of good, unless our husband dies, and we do not all of us want to part with them, although the laws do make them our oppressors. but notwithstanding the mean position that we are compelled to occupy, i feel like upholding the government as the best that is, feeling quite sure that the kindness and good sense of our rulers will give us something a little more like justice after a while. mariam h. fish wisconsin. _to the meeting of loyal women in the city of new york, greeting:_ it is now nearly three months since the loyal women of madison, wis., desiring to express their equal interest in the preservation of the union and government, and their abhorrence of all who by word and deed encourage the unholy rebellion which has filled our land with mourning, organized the first ladies' union league in the country, and pledged themselves, during the continuance of the war, to such individual persistent effort and self-sacrifice as should prove to our soldiers and their families that we have made common cause with them. without delay we issued our preamble and constitution in the form of a circular-letter, inviting the co-operation of all loyal women of the state in the formation of similar organizations. copies of this circular, inviting a full expression of feeling, and statement of cases of individual necessity, were sent to every company of infantry, artillery, and cavalry that have gone from the state; and the most gratifying letters from the army have proved the value which they put upon our efforts. we organized visiting committees, renewed every week, who examine into and report upon all cases of want in soldiers' families, many of whom have been cared for and relieved through the agency of these committees, thus obviating one of the most productive causes of discontent in the army. the ignorant woman who does not know what are the proper steps to take in securing her bounty, allotment, and pension; the discouraged wife who hears the low murmurs of treason to the government on every side, whose appeals to her soldier in the field increase when they do not create the same feeling, are alike the objects of our care. in addition to, and of more importance even than these home efforts, are those we make in encouraging the soldiers by correspondence. does some officer distinguish himself by an act of personal bravery in the army of the west? we save the newspaper notices, cut these out, and inclose them, with a few hearty, earnest words, to some member of the army of the potomac, and thus become a medium for the diffusion of all that can stimulate and inspire courage and loyalty. we have deemed this brief statement of our organization and mode of operation the best expression of our sympathy with your meeting. we joyfully hail the formation of such associations in the great centers of influence, and believe that a cause to which the women of the country as _one soul_ devote their time, their energies, and all they love best, will stand vindicated as the cause of god, of justice and humanity, before the whole world. mrs. w. a. p. morris, _president_. mrs. e. s. carr, _secretary_. madison, wis., _may , _. cassville, wis., _may , _. lately noticing in the _new york tribune_ a call for a meeting of the loyal women of this nation, and believing woman as responsible for its destiny as man, i feel it my duty to make known to you my most sincere wishes for its success. as loyal women, and being under so much responsibility, it seems necessary that some effort should be made to exchange our views and form resolutions on this subject. let us remember then our duty; let us unite ourselves by associations, that we may act in concert in our country's cause. we must not forget that knowledge is power, and that the minds of this country are molded and governed by the press; let us therefore, in whatever sphere we move, aid and encourage the reading and circulation of loyal newspapers and public speakers of both sexes that labor for our country (the best diplomatists of europe have confessed that the state papers of the revolution did almost, if not quite as much, for us as our soldiery); and let us at the same time discountenance all disloyal reading, all disloyal sentiments, and all disloyal persons of whatever standing or relation, and let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. mrs. ursula larned. baraboo, wis., _may , _. susan b. anthony--_dear madam:_--i can not tell you with what joy i received through the _anti-slavery standard_ the account of the formation of the "loyal women's league of hartford, ct." i forthwith communicated with the women met for sanitary purposes, and we organized a "loyal women's league" here. forty women signed at once, and others now are constantly added. all over this region the women seem to be waiting, longing for some soul to animate the body of work with which we have been so long and lovingly busying ourselves. we shall do what we can to encourage and inspire our soldiers, to comfort and cheer their families, and to make our influence tell on the right side at home and wherever it is felt. our organization is auxiliary to the madison league. we have adopted mainly their constitution. we would be glad to be represented in person in the national convention, where the true woman's heart of the nation will utter itself; but this may not be so. we send you this our pledge. the bells are ringing and guns firing for joy for our military victories. thank god for them. but our woman's work of educating the children into the idea and practice of true and universal justice is ever to be done. oh that we may be wise and faithful in our work, till our priceless heritage of liberty be enjoyed by every human being in our land. cordially yours, maria p. codding. iowa. council bluffs, iowa. most gladly does my heart respond to the call, and most earnestly do i hope that the deliberations on that occasion will result in much good to women and to the cause you meet to promote. the women of the north are charged by the press with a lack of zeal and enthusiasm in the war. this charge may be true to some extent. though for the most part they are loyal to their government, and in favor of sustaining its every measure for putting down the rebellion; yet they do not, i fear, enter fully into the spirit of the women of the revolution. there are many women in whose hearts the love of country and of justice is strong, and who are willing to incur any loss, and make almost any sacrifice, rather than the rebellion should succeed and the chains of the bondman be more firmly rivetted. if they manifest less enthusiasm than their patriotic brothers, it is because they have not so great opportunity for its exercise. the customs of society do not permit any strong or noisy demonstration of feeling on the part of woman; but the blood of revolutionary sires flows as purely in her veins, and she can feel as deeply, suffer as intensely, and endure as bravely as her more favored brothers. but i would have her do more than suffer and endure; i would that she should not only resolve to stand by the government in its work of defeating the schemes of its enemies, but that she should let her voice go forth in clear and unmistakable tones against any peace with rebels, except upon the basis of entire submission to the authority of the government. against the schemes and plans of the peace party in the north, let loyal women everywhere protest. that your deliberations may be characterized by good judgment, sound wisdom, and true patriotism, is my heartfelt prayer. amelia bloomer. minnesota. hokah, houston co., minn., _may , _. to susan b. anthony--_dear madam:_-- ... while the women of the south, with a heroism and self-denial worthy a better cause, have no doubt aided in fanning the flame of rebellion, it appears to me eminently proper that the loyal women of the north should meet in council to express their sentiments in regard to the great principles of humanity and justice. many of us have sons and brothers on the tented field, and while we deplore the stern necessity that drew them from the endearments of home; while we tremble with anxiety lest the mournful tidings that have saddened so many hearts should fall with crushing weight on ourselves, a voice from the army comes to us with thrilling earnestness that awakens with redoubled vigor the feeling of patriotism within us. our noble soldiery are taking a stand on the broad platform of universal liberty and justice. with scathing words they have rebuked the traitors in our midst; and they now breathe out threatenings and slaughter to the _miscreants_ who would rend the fair heritage transmitted to us by the heroes of the revolution. may every patriotic woman in the land do her utmost to uphold and strengthen the holy purpose that inspires the loyal heart of the army. for myself, i regard no sacrifice too great that will conduct to the comfort of the brave men who are risking life and limb in the sacred cause of freedom; and i am proud to say that this is the sentiment of every lady within the circle of my acquaintance. i most sincerely hope that some lady in your convention will offer a resolution touching a great wrong that has been practiced toward our sick and wounded soldiers in some of the hospitals, namely, the neglect of the proper officers to affix their signatures to discharges made out, in many instances for a long time, until the hope of once more seeing the dear ones at home has faded from the heart of the poor soldier, and he has laid him down to die among strangers, when but for this cruel neglect his life might, perhaps, have been spared to bless the dear ones at home, or at least have given them the great boon of smoothing his passage to the grave. i believe this thing has done much to discourage enlistments. is there no remedy? i leave it to those of more influence and superior judgment to decide. with sentiments of respect, i subscribe myself a loyal woman, mary c. pound. kansas. quindaro, kansas, _may , _. my dear miss anthony:--your call to the loyal women of the nation meets my hearty response. i have been feeling for months that their activities, in the crisis which is upon us, should not be limited to the scraping of lint and concocting of delicacies for our brave and suffering soldiers. women, equally with men, should address themselves to the removing of the wicked cause of all this terrible sacrifice of life and its loving, peaceful issues. it is their privilege to profit by the lessons being taught at such a fearful cost. and discerning clearly the mistakes of the past, it is their duty to apply themselves cheerfully and perseveringly to the eradication of every wrong and the restoration of every right, as affecting directly or indirectly the progress of the race toward the divine standard of human intelligence and goodness. _no sacrifice of right, no conservation of wrong_, should be the rally-call of mothers whose sons must vindicate the one and expiate the other in blood! negro slavery is but one of the protean forms of disfranchised humanity. class legislation is the one great fountain of national and domestic antagonisms. every ignoring of inherent rights, every transfer of inherent interest, from the first organization of communities, has been the license of power to robbery and murder, itself the embodiment of a thievish and murderous selfishness. that the disenfranchisement of the women of ' destroyed the moral guarantee of a pure republic, or that their enfranchisement would early have broken the chains of the slave, i may not now discuss. yet it may be well to note that ever since freedom and slavery joined issue in this government, the women of the free states have been a conceded majority, almost a unit, against slavery, as if verifying the declaration of god in the garden, "i will put enmity between thee (satan) and the woman." every legal invasion of rights, forming a precedent and source of infinite series of resultant wrongs, makes it the duty of woman to persist in demanding the right, that she may abate the wrong--and first her own enfranchisement. the national life is in peril, and woman is constitutionally disabled from rushing to her country's rescue. robbery and arson invade her home; and though man is powerless to protect, she may not save it by appeals to the ballot-box. a hundred thousand loyal voters of illinois are grappling with the traitors of the south. if the hundred thousand loyal women left in their homes had been armed with ballots, copperhead treason would not have wrested the influence of that state to the aid and comfort of the rebellion. if the women of iowa had been legally empowered to meet treason at home, the wasteful expense of canvassing distant battle-fields for the soldiers' votes might have been saved. and it would have been easier for these women to vote than to pay their proportion of the tax incurred. yankee thrift and shrewdness would have been vindicated if connecticut had provided for the enfranchisement of her women by constitutional amendment, instead of wasting her money and butting her dignity against judicial vetoes in legislating for the absent soldiers' vote. this war is adding a vast army of widows and orphans to this already large class of unrepresented humanity. shall the women who have been judged worthy and capable to discharge the duties of both parents to their children, be longer denied the legal and political rights held necessary to the successful discharge of a part even of these duties by men? with these few hasty suggestions, and an earnest prayer for the highest wisdom and purest love to guide and vitalize your deliberations, sisters, i bid you farewell. c. i. h. nichols. business meeting. _new york tribune's report of the adjourned business meeting of the woman's loyal national league, held friday afternoon, may , ._ the business committee of the loyal league of women, with a number of ladies who take an interest in the formation of such a society, met yesterday afternoon in the lecture-room of the church of the puritans, for the purpose of agreeing upon some definite platform, and of determining the future operations of the league. miss susan b. anthony, as president of the business committee, took the chair, and at o'clock called the meeting to order. mrs. elizabeth cady stanton rose to decline accepting the nomination she had received on thursday, as president of the league. she could not pledge herself to unconditional loyalty to the government--certainly not if the government took any retrogressive step. as president of the national league, many might object to her on account of what they termed her _isms_, her radical anti-slavery and woman's rights, her demand for liberty and equality for women and negroes. she desired the vote by which she had been made president might be reconsidered. miss anthony thought there were fears of the government retrogressing in the policy of freedom. the question is every day discussed in the papers as to what terms the south shall be received back again. she could not be secretary of a league which was pledged to unconditional loyalty to the government, until the government was pledged to unconditional loyalty to freedom. miss anthony then read the following pledge and resolutions, which had, on thursday, been partially agreed to: the pledge. we, the undersigned women of the nation, do hereby pledge ourselves loyal to justice and humanity, and to the government in so far as it makes the war a war for freedom. resolutions. _resolved_, that we rejoice in the local women's leagues already formed, and earnestly recommend their organization throughout the country; and that we urge the women everywhere to take the highest ground of patriotism--our country right, not wrong. _resolved_, that we hail the conscription act as necessary for the salvation of the country, and cheerfully resign to it our husbands, lovers, brothers, and sons. _resolved_, that inasmuch as this war must bring freedom to the black man, it is but just that he should share in the glory and hardships of the struggle. miss anthony explained what a national league was, and what business and pecuniary responsibilities it entailed. mrs. angelina g. weld suggested that before entering on other matters, the question of officers should be settled. miss anthony:--will some one put the motion? mrs. loveland took the floor. she stated that she had come there the day before with one idea--only one--and that she retained that one idea still, and that was that the women of the nation should pledge themselves to stand by the conscription act. mrs. loveland trusted that the league would co-operate with the laws of the land, and strengthen the hands of the president in his efforts to vigorous prosecute the war. she thought the government had made great advances in the path of progress. if the pledge required the war to be waged for freedom, that was all that was necessary. it would be desirable to secure the experience and ability of mrs. stanton and miss anthony in the offices to which they have been elected, she did not believe their isms would do any hurt. they were earnest and efficient workers, and the league needed them. miss willard, of pa., thought there was a way to get over the difficulty. the pledge is conditional to the extent of requiring the war to be a war for freedom. miss willard said she was a true patriot. she loved her country. she had borne with its defects, though she confessed she had sometimes desired to remove them. she believed in sustaining the government, though if vallandigham should chance to be elected president, she really didn't know what she should do. miss willard seemed to think that the pledge offered would do under the existing administration. when there is a change, we can have another league. she believed if the president was slow he was sure, and that he was the moses who was to lead this people to their promised land of freedom. several desultory remarks were made in the audience. presently an elderly lady--a mrs. maginley--arose and expressed her opinions. she had confidence in mr. lincoln, but denounced gen. banks, who, she said, was a hero in one place and a slave-driver in another. as next president, we may get a ditch-digger--(mrs. m. evidently intended this as a sly allusion to a distinguished military chieftain)--and then what are we to do? she wished to know who, loving the black man, could take this pledge? miss anthony read the pledge over previous to putting it on its passage. it was adopted without opposition. miss anthony read the resolutions again. mrs. spence asked if the government had acted in a way to inspire confidence. she was not satisfied with the emancipation proclamation. mrs. stanton had faith that the government was moving in the right direction. mrs. spence objected to mr. lincoln's grounds for issuing the proclamation. mrs. weld stated that he said he did it on the ground of justice. miss willard believed mr. lincoln was working as fast as he could. a man going a journey of a mile did not do it all in one jump. he had to get over the ground step by step. just so with the president. we must not expect him to do all at once. the first resolution was unanimously passed. the resolution in regard to the conscription act was then taken up. mrs. spence asked (for information) whether they were willing to receive the conscription law as it was? what did they think of the $ clause about substitutes? some lovers (mrs. spence said lovers, not husbands) would certainly buy themselves off. mrs. stanton would accept the conscription law because it was necessary--not because it was just in all its provisions. mrs. spence: if your husbands propose to pay three hundred dollars, would you urge them to go themselves? mrs. stanton: we shall urge them to go as to the post of glory. mrs. loveland would urge her husband. she was very severe on the skedaddlers to canada and europe. still, all the european conscription laws permitted some kind of substitution. her idea was that as the men must go to the war now, the women should give tone to its music. a lady: if the men would give themselves, why not freely? is a conscription itself consistent with freedom? miss willard, while believing in certain cases of exemption, liked the conscription because it would take in the copperheads. (applause). the lady: what kind of soldiers would copperheads make? mrs. loveland: good soldiers! men who have the courage they have to brave public opinion, would make good soldiers if put in the ranks with bayonets behind them. (applause). mr. giles b. stebbins, of rochester, reported, as information, the mistake lately made in _the new york times_ that the $ substitution indemnity was in the discretion of the secretary of war. the resolution was thereupon moved by miss willard, seconded by mrs. stanton, and passed unanimously. an address to the soldiers, prepared by angelina grimké weld, was then read. _soldiers of our second revolution--brethren_:--a thousand of your sisters, in a convention representing the loyal women of the nation, greet you with profound gratitude. your struggles, sufferings, daring, heroic self-devotion, and sublime achievements, we exult in them all. to you, especially, whose terms of service have expired, or are soon to expire, we desire to speak of the shifting scenes now acting in the nation's tragedy. this war of slavery against freedom did not begin with the first shot at sumter, it did not begin when the slaveocracy broke up the charleston convention, in order to secure the election of mr. lincoln, and thus palm upon the southern masses a false pretense for rebellion. it did not begin with nullification in , nor in the convention that framed the federal constitution; nor yet in that which adopted the articles of confederation; but it began in , when the _mayflower_ landed our fathers on plymouth rock, and the first slave-ship landed its human cargo in virginia. then, for the first time, liberty and slavery stood face to face on this continent. from then till now, these antagonisms have struggled in incessant conflict. two years since, the slaveocracy, true to their instincts of violence, after long and secret plotting, crowned their perfidy by perjury, by piratical seizures of government property that cost $ , , , and then burst into open rebellion. this war is not, as the south falsely pretends, a war of races, nor of sections, nor of political parties, but a war of _principles_; a war upon the working-classes, whether white or black; a war against _man_, the world over. in this war, the black man was the first victim; the workingman of whatever color the next; and now _all_ who contend for the rights of labor, for free speech, free schools, free suffrage, and a free government, securing to _all_ life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, are driven to do battle in defense of these or to fall with them, victims of the same violence that for two centuries has held the black man a prisoner of war. while the south has waged this war against human rights, the north has stood by holding the garments of those who were stoning liberty to death. it was in vain that a few at the north denounced the system, and called the people to repentance. in vain did they point to the progress of the slave power, and warn the people that their own liberties were being cloven down. the north still went on, throwing sop after sop to the cerberus of slavery that hounded her through the wilderness of concession and compromise, until the crash of sumter taught her that with the slaveocracy _no_ rights are sacred. the government, attacked by assassins, was forced to fight for its own life. the progress of the war has proved that slavery is the life-blood of the rebellion. hence the necessity of the president's proclamation of freedom to the slaves. the nation is in a death-struggle. it must either become one vast slaveocracy of petty tyrants, or wholly the land of the free. the traitors boast that they have swept from the national firmament one-third of its stars, but they have only darkened them with clouds, which the sun of liberty will scatter, revealing behind them the eternal pillars of justice, emblazoned with liberty, equality, fraternity. soldiers of this revolution, to your hands is committed the sacred duty of carrying out in these latter days the ideal of our fathers, which was to secure to all "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and to every state "a republican form of government." to break the power of this rebellion, calls for every available force. you know how extensively black men are now being armed. some regiments are already in the field; twenty more are now under drill. will you not, in this hour of national peril, gratefully welcome the aid which they so eagerly proffer, to overthrow that slave power which has so long ruled the north, and now, that you spurn its sway, is bent on crushing you? will you not abjure that vulgar hate which has conspired with slavery against liberty in our land, and thus roll from the sepulcher, where they have buried it alive, the stone which has so long imprisoned their victim? the army of the north will thus become the angel of deliverance, rescuing the nation from the shifting sands of compromise, and refounding it upon the rock of justice. some of you have been mustered out of service; many more are soon to return to your homes. all hail to you! honor and gratitude for what you have done and suffered! enough _if_ you have only been fighting for the union as it _was_. but is it enough, if the work for which the war is _now_ prosecuted is not accomplished? your country needs your power of soldierly endurance and accomplishment, your hard-earned experience, your varied tact and trained skill, your practiced eye and hand--in a word, all that makes you veterans, ripe in discipline and educated power. raw recruits _can not_ fill your places. brave men! your mission, though far advanced, is _not_ accomplished. you will not, can not, abide at home, while your brethren in arms carry victory and liberty down to the gulf. with joy and admiration we greet you on your homeward way, while your loved ones await your coming with mingled delight and pride. when, after a brief sojourn, you go back again, convoyed by the grateful acclaim and god-speed of millions, to consummate at freedom's call her holy work, the mightiest of all time, and now so near its end, with exultant shouts your brothers in the field will hail your coming to share with them the glory of the final victory. it will be the victory of free government, sacred rights, justice, liberty, and law, over the perfidies, perjuries, lying pretenses, and frantic revelries in innocent blood, of the foulest national crime that ever reeked to heaven--the overthrow of the most atrocious yet the meanest despotism that ever tortured the groaning earth. in behalf of the women's national loyal league. susan b. anthony, _secretary._ e. cady stanton, _president._ mrs. stanton: i suppose it is known to all present that angelina grimké weld is the representative from south carolina. contrast her eloquent pleadings for freedom, throughout the sittings of our convention, with the voice of south carolina, when, at the framing of the constitution, slavery, with its cruel creeds and codes, was fastened on the republic just struggling into life. here, for the first time in our history, have the women of the nation assembled to discuss the political questions of the day, and to decide where and how to throw the weight of their influence. i am proud to feel that from this meeting goes forth a united demand for freedom to all, for a true republic, in which the rights of every citizen shall be recognized and protected. the platform of the league. _resolved_, that our work as a national league is to educate the nation into the true idea of a christian republic. this is the resolve finally adopted. considerable preliminary debate, in which many ladies joined, took place on details of form and phraseology. the resolve as it stands was constructed by mrs. stanton, with the exception of the word "christian." there was an earnest discussion on the introduction of the word christian; some argued that a _true republic_, where every human being's rights were recognized, could but be christian. a mrs. mcfarland seemed to settle the question, by stating a fact of history, that in olden times there were pagan republics. miss anthony said: no matter if it were a mere tautology: it required repetition to make this nation, so steeped in crime against humanity, understand. she then spoke of the awful lie of this nation, in naming itself civilized, republican, christian, while it had made barter of men and women, bought and sold children of the good father, and paid their price to send missionaries to the fejee islands and the remotest corners of the earth, while it stood bound to fine and imprison any man or woman who should teach any one of _four millions_ of its own citizens at home to read the letters that spell the word god. it would take long years to educate this nation into the idea and _practice_ of a true, christian republic. it was a momentous work the women of this national loyal league had undertaken. and she hoped one and all would take in its full import, and dedicate themselves fully and earnestly to the work. officers of the women's loyal national league.--president, mrs. e. cady stanton; vice-presidents, mrs. col. a. b. eaton, mrs. edward s. bates, mrs. mary s. hall; secretary, susan b. anthony; corresponding secretary, s. e. draper; treasurer, mrs. h. f. conrad; executive committee, miss mattie griffith, miss r. k. shepherd mrs. b. peters, mrs. c. s. lozier, m.d., mrs. mary a. halsted, mrs. laura m. ward, m.d., mrs. mary f. gilbert. plan of work adopted by the women's loyal national league.--at a meeting of the women's loyal national league, held at their office, room , cooper institute, may , the following resolutions were adopted: _resolved_, that the following be the official title and the pledge of the league--the pledge to be signed by all applicants for membership: "women's loyal national league, organized in the city of new york, may , ." we, the undersigned, women of the united states, agree to become members of the women's loyal national league, hereby pledging our most earnest influence in support of the government in its prosecution of the war for freedom and for the restoration of the national unity. _resolved_, that for the present this league will concentrate all its efforts upon the single object of procuring to be signed by one million women and upward, and of preparing for presentation to congress, within the first week of its next session, a petition in the following words, to wit: "_to the senate and house of representatives of the united states_: the undersigned, women of the united states, above the age of eighteen years, earnestly pray that your honorable body will pass, at the earliest practicable day, an act emancipating all persons of african descent held to involuntary service or labor in the united states." _resolved_, that in furtherance of the above object the executive committee of this league be instructed to cause to be prepared and stereotyped a pamphlet, not exceeding four printed octavo pages, briefly and plainly setting forth the importance of such a movement at the present juncture--a copy of the said pamphlet to be placed in the hands of each person who may undertake to procure signatures to the above petition, and for such further distribution as may be ordered by the said executive committee. _resolved_, that to a committee of nine, to be hereafter appointed by the president and secretary of this league, be intrusted the duty of procuring subscriptions to defray the expenses connected with the preparation, and signature, and presentation of the said petition. june . _resolved_, that all bills be submitted for approval to the executive committee, and if approved, shall be certified as such by the chairman of that committee. _resolved_, that for the amount of each bill so approved the secretary shall draw on the treasurer in favor of the person presenting such bill. june . _resolved_, that as nearly the same labor and expense are required to obtain signatures of women alone as of both men and women, the secretary be requested to prepare and circulate petitions for men also. june . _resolved_, that the probable expense of preparing, circulating, and presenting our petitions, will amount to not less than one cent for each name; therefore, _resolved_, that we request those who circulate the petition, to solicit of each person signing a contribution of one cent, and forward the same with petition and signatures to our secretary, susan b. anthony, room no. , cooper institute, new york. _resolved_, that the central league in new york will bestow their badge and membership, as a gift, upon each boy or girl, under eighteen, who shall collect and forward to them fifty or more names, and as many cents. _resolved_, also, that the central league will bestow a handsomely bound copy of each of the celebrated and recently published works of augustin cochin on slavery and emancipation, on the person who shall collect and forward the largest number of signatures from any city of the union having a population of twenty-five thousand; also, on the person who shall collect the largest number of names in any of the states, _outside_ of said cities. _resolved_, that each lady to whom the pledge and petition blanks are inclosed be requested to bring them to the notice of the clergymen and teachers in her vicinity, with a request that they shall take some action in the matter. _resolved_, that such ladies are earnestly requested to organize auxiliary leagues in their towns and neighborhoods, for the purposes of correspondence with the central league, and of collecting and forwarding with facility names and money for the furtherance of the grand object in view; also, for holding meetings to discuss and elucidate the necessity of our demand for an act of universal emancipation. a hearty co-operation from our women in all parts of the loyal states is most earnestly invited. we would urge upon them the formation of auxiliary leagues, which shall receive from us blanks for petitions, and pledges, as well as any information or advice they may need. we ask them not only to form leagues in their own towns and neighborhoods, but to send us up long lists of names as members of the grand central league. we beg them also to solicit and send contributions, small and large, as they may be able, for the promotion of the object of the league, viz: to end this fearful war by the removal of its exciting cause--slavery. in making this call upon loyal women, we feel sure of meeting with a warm response from those whose hearts and energies have already so nobly sprung to meet their country's need in her hour of trial. e. cady stanton, _president of the league_. susan b. anthony, _secretary_. comments of the press. the _new york tribune_ thus speaks of this enterprise: a vast enterprise proposed by women. the "women's loyal national league," recently organized in this city, at a meeting held by them yesterday at the cooper institute, adopted the following resolutions: _resolved_, that for the present this league will concentrate all its efforts upon the single object of procuring to be signed by one million women and upward, and of preparing for presentation to congress within the first week of its next session, a petition in the following words, to wit: _to the senate and house of representatives of the united states:_ the undersigned, women of the united states, above the age of eighteen years, earnestly pray that your honorable body will pass, at the earliest practicable day, an act emancipating all persons of african descent held to involuntary service or labor in the united states. _resolved_, that in furtherance of the above object the executive committee of this league be instructed to cause to be prepared and stereotyped a pamphlet, not exceeding four printed octavo pages, briefly and plainly setting forth the importance of such a movement at the present juncture--a copy of the said pamphlet to be placed in the hands of each person who may undertake to procure signatures to the above petition, and for such further distribution as may be ordered by the said executive committee. the women of the league have shown practical wisdom in restricting their efforts to one object, the most important, perhaps, which any society can aim at; and great courage in undertaking to do what, so far as we remember, has never been done in the world before, namely, to obtain one million of names to a petition. if they succeed, the moral influence on congress ought and can not fail to be great. the passage by the next congress of an act of general emancipation would do more than any one thing for the suppression of the rebellion. as things now stand with slaves declared free in eight states of the union, with two more states (virginia and louisiana) partly free and partly slave, and with the border states still slave, we have a state of affairs resulting in interminable confusion, and which, in the very nature of things, can not continue to exist. congress may find a way out of such confusion by an act of compensated emancipation, with the consent of these states and parts of states. god speed the circulation and signatures of the women's petition! the pledge of the league is commendably brief and to the point, reading as follows: "we, the undersigned, women of the united states, agree to become members of the 'women's loyal national league,' hereby pledging our most earnest influence in support of the government in its prosecution of the war for freedom and for the restoration of the national unity." the office of the league is room no. , cooper institute. let all loyal women, friendly to emancipation, join their ranks, and devote what spare time they may have to this noble work. _the new york times_ published the following: a monster petition proposed. _to the editor of the new york times:_ until the advent of the present struggle, the word _loyalty_ was hardly known among us, and though we often spoke of the union, we seldom used the term national unity. with new phases of society new terms come into vogue. we have now, springing up everywhere, loyal national leagues, and great good they are doing. they have, so far, been chiefly set on foot by men, but women are now bestirring themselves in the same direction. quite recently, a woman's loyal national league has been organized in this city.... the prudence of the members of this league is to be commended, first, in selecting a single object on which to concentrate their exertions, and secondly, in selecting as that object the of procuring an act of congress declaring general emancipation, than which nothing is more needed at the present time, not only as an endorsement of the president's proclamation, but also as a remedy for the utter confusion produced by the present state of affairs, under which it would puzzle the shrewdest lawyer to determine who, among the fugitives that are daily flocking to us across the lines, is free, and who still a slave. as a permanent arrangement, no one believes that a few counties in one state, and a few parishes in another, can remain slave, while all around them emancipation has been accomplished; nor that slavery can endure, except for a brief season, along a narrow border-strip, bounded north and south by freedom. whether these ladies will succeed in the task of procuring _one million_ of names to their petition, depends chiefly on their business talent in organizing the machinery of so great an undertaking. r. _the new york evening post_ says: an important undertaking. it has sometimes been made a reproach to the women of the northern states, that while their sisters of the south are the very life of the rebellion, exceeding the men in zeal and devotion and self-sacrifice, they, with a noble cause against a base one, show less zeal, less earnestness, do less to animate and inspire the combatants; in short, are less active in maintaining the union than the ladies of the slave states in working to destroy it. if, however, the members of the "women's loyal national league," an association recently commenced in this city, succeed in what they have just undertaken, it will go far to show that there is neither lukewarmness nor lack of energy in the women of the north; and that, in practical industry exerted in aid of the war and the government, they are not to be outmatched by the zeal of the fair mischief-makers who oppose both.... we learn that the league has already obtained several thousand names and addresses of persons and societies throughout the northern and border states who are favorable to emancipation, to whom they propose to address their circulars; and that they are organizing, after a business fashion, the machinery necessary to effect their object in the six months still intervening before the meeting of congress. it is a great undertaking, this obtaining of one million signatures, such an undertaking as has seldom if ever been carried out before. if it succeeds it will obtain record in the history of the time as an enterprise most honorable to the sex which conceived and completed it. the pledge of the league is well worded and judicious.... such leagues ought to be, and we trust will be, organized all over the country, in aid of the mammoth petition. without having made any accurate calculation, we doubt whether less than four stout men could carry the roll comprising a million names into the house to which it is addressed. _the philadelphia press_ says: spirit of northern women. it is a great country, this of ours. great events occur in it. great things are to be found in it. where shall we find another niagara? where a cave of dimensions equal to those of the mammoth cave of kentucky? since california has been added we have her gigantic pines, towering above all other trees in the world. we can not make war, but we must carry it on upon a scale unknown since the days of xerxes. our women, too, it would seem, catch the spirit of the country. until now they have chiefly been known, throughout the great national struggle, in the capacity of sisters of mercy, tenders in hospitals, collectors of comforts and of little luxuries for our sick and wounded. we find them laboring now in a new field. they, called the weaker sex, and properly so called, if thews and sinews constitute strength, have undertaken to do more than to care for the sick and wounded. they seek to aid in striking at the root of the evil whence has arisen the strife which causes the sickness of the hospital and the wounds of the battle-field. they have undertaken a task beyond that which the sturdy chartists of england performed. the chartist petition, if we remember aright, had seven or eight hundred thousand names--the largest number ever obtained to a petition. but our northern women have undertaken to procure _one million_ of names to a petition for emancipation, and to complete their task in the next six months. the article from _the tribune_, elsewhere, will be read with interest. _the national anti-slavery standard_ comments: the women's loyal league--mammoth petition to congress. the women's loyal national league, at a meeting held at their room in the cooper institute on friday, the th ult., changed the form of their pledge, so that it now reads as follows: "we, the undersigned, women of the united states, agree to become members of the 'women's loyal national league,' hereby pledging our most earnest influence in support of the government in its prosecution of the war for freedom and for the restoration of the national unity." this, it strikes us, is a much happier wording than that of the former pledge.... the women of the league have embarked in an enterprise worthy of their energy and devotion, and we will not allow ourselves to doubt that they will meet with complete success. it will require some money and a great deal of hard work, but their courage and patience will be found adequate to the task. they will find a helper in every woman who loves justice and humanity, and realizes that there can be no permanent peace for the country until slavery is exterminated root and branch. the moral influence upon congress and the nation of such a petition, signed by a million of women, will be incalculable; while the agitation attending the effort will be of the greatest benefit. women willing to aid in circulating the petition should send their address at once to susan b. anthony, secretary of the league, cooper institute, new york. office of the women's loyal national league, } room no. , cooper institute, new york, _january , _. } _the women's loyal national league, to the women of the republic:_--we ask you to sign and circulate this petition for the entire abolition of slavery. we have now one hundred thousand signatures, but we want a million before congress adjourns. remember the president's proclamation reaches only the slaves of rebels. the jails of loyal kentucky are to-day "crammed" with georgia, mississippi, and alabama slaves, advertised to be sold for their jail fees "according to law," precisely as before the war! while slavery exists anywhere there can be freedom nowhere. there must be a law abolishing slavery. we have undertaken to canvass the nation for freedom. women, you can not vote or fight for your country. your only way to be a power in the government is through the exercise of this, one, sacred, constitutional "right of petition"; and we ask you to use it now to the utmost. go to the rich, the poor, the high, the low, the soldier, the civilian, the white, the black--gather up the names of all who hate slavery--all who love liberty, and would have it the law of the land--and lay them at the feet of congress, your silent but potent vote for human freedom guarded by law. you have shown true courage and self-sacrifice from the beginning of the war. you have been angels of mercy to our sick and dying soldiers in camp and hospital, and on the battle field. but let it not be said that the women of the republic, absorbed in ministering to the outward alone, saw not the philosophy of the revolution through which they passed; understood not the moral struggle that convulsed the nation--the irrepressible conflict between liberty and slavery. remember the angels of mercy and justice are twin-sisters, and ever walk hand in hand. while you give yourselves so generously to the sanitary and freemen's commissions forget not to hold up the eternal principles on which our republic rests. slavery once abolished, our brothers, husbands, and sons will never again, for its sake, be called to die on the battle-field, starve in rebel prisons, or return to us crippled for life; but our country, free from the one blot that has always marred its fair escutcheon, will be an example to all the world that "righteousness exalteth a nation." the god of justice is with us, and our word, our work--our prayer for freedom--will not, can not be in vain. e. cady stanton, _president_. susan b. anthony, _secretary_ w. l. n. league, room , cooper institute, n. y. office of the women's loyal national league, } room no. , cooper institute, n. y., _april , _. } _dear friend:_--with this you will receive a form of a petition to congress, the object of which you can not mistake nor regard with indifference. to procure on it the largest possible number of adult names, at the earliest practicable moment, it is hoped you will regard as less a duty than a pleasure. already we have sent one installment of our petition forward, signed by one hundred thousand persons; the presentation of which, by senator sumner, produced a marked effect on both congress and the country. we hope to send a million before the adjournment of congress, which we shall easily do and even more, if you and the twenty thousand others to whom we have sent petitions will promptly, generously co-operate with us. for nearly three years has the scourge of war desolated us; sweeping away at least three hundred thousand of the strength, bloom, and beauty of our nation. and the war-chariot still rolls onward, its iron wheels deep in human blood! the god, at whose justice jefferson long ago trembled, has awaked to the woes of the bondmen. "for the sighing of the oppressed, and for the crying of the needy, now will i arise, saith the lord." the redemption of that pledge we now behold in this dread apocalypse of war. nor should we expect or hope the calamity will cease while the fearful cause of it remains. slavery has long been our national sin. war is its natural and just retribution. but the war has made it the constitutional right of the government, as it always has been the moral duty of the people, to abolish slavery. we are, therefore, without excuse, if the solemn duty be not now performed. with us, the people, is the power to achieve the work by our agents in congress. on us, therefore, rests the momentous responsibility. shall we not all join then in one loud, earnest, effectual prayer to congress, which will swell on its ear like the voice of many waters, that this bloody, desolating war shall be arrested and ended, by the immediate and final removal, by statute law and amended constitution, of that crime and curse which alone has brought it upon us? now surely is our accepted time. on our own heads will be the blood of our thousands slain, if, with the power in our own hands, we do not end that system forever, which is so plainly autographed all over with the divine displeasure. in the name of justice and of freedom then let us rise and decree the destruction of our destroyer. let us with myriad voice _compel_ congress to "consign it to remorseless fire! watch till the last faint spark expire; then strew its ashes on the wind, nor leave one atom wreck behind." in behalf of the women's league, susan b. anthony, _secretary_. form of petition. _to the senate and house of representatives of the united states in congress assembled:_ the undersigned, citizens of ----, believing slavery the great cause of the present rebellion, and an institution fatal to the life of republican government, earnestly pray your honorable bodies to immediately abolish it throughout the united states; and to adopt measures for so amending the constitution, as forever to prohibit its existence in any portion of our common country. men. | women. _anniversary meeting, may , ._--the adjourned meeting convened in the lecture-room of the church of the puritans, saturday p.m., may th. the president in the chair. the secretary read the report of the executive committee, which was unanimously adopted. the resolutions were then read, and motion taken to act upon them separately. the d, th, and th elicited a long and earnest discussion, but were at last adopted, with but one or two dissenting votes. the committee then presented a list of women to serve as officers the coming year, who were unanimously elected. officers of the women's national league:--_president_, elizabeth cady stanton; _vice-presidents_, l. m. brownson, mary bates, mrs. col. a. b. eaton, s. a. fayerweather; _corresponding secretary_, charlotte b. wilbour; _recording secretaries_, susan b. anthony, elvira lane; _treasurer_, mary f. gilbert; _executive committee_, mrs. l. m. brownson, mrs. h. m. jacobs, mary o. gale, mattie griffith, redelia bates, rebecca k. shepherd, frances v. halleck, mrs. c. s. lozier, m.d.; laura m. ward, m.d.; malvina a. lane. _the women's national league to its members and friends_:--the folding, directing, and sending out , petitions, then the assorting, counting, and rolling up, each state by itself, , signatures, has been an herculean task, that only those who have witnessed it could fully appreciate. remember that paper, printing, postage, office, and clerks, all require money. at the last meeting of the executive committee we resolved to ask each of our , members to send us the small sum of fifty cents to carry on the work. let the petitions be thoroughly circulated during the summer, throughout the country, that the people may speak in thunder-tones to our next congress at its earliest sittings. neither the emancipation or amendment bill has yet passed the house, and the recent vote on the montana question shows the animus of the administration. if the majority of our voters propose to re-elect such men to rule over us, those who believe in free institutions must begin the work of educating the nation into the idea that a stable government must be founded on justice--that freedom and equality are rights that belong to every citizen of a republic. susan b. anthony, _secretary_, cooper institute. _amend the constitution._--the women's national league have just sent out, all through the states, fifteen thousand petitions, with an appeal to have them filled up and returned as speedily as possible. the bill to amend the constitution so as to prohibit the holding of slaves in any part of the country has passed the senate. now comes the struggle in the house. if every one of the fifteen thousand persons--at least ten thousand of them ministers--will but gather up one hundred or more names, _a million-voiced petition_ may yet pour into the representatives' hall; and such a voice from _the people_ can not but make sure the vote, and leave the bill ready for the president's signature, and congress disposed to recommend that a special session of each state legislature be called immediately to act upon the question; and thus the hateful thing--slavery--be buried out of sight before the opening of the presidential campaign. let the petitions be mailed to washington, direct, to some member, or to hon. thomas d. eliot, chairman of committee on slavery and freedmen. there is not a day to be lost. let all work.--_the national anti-slavery standard_, may , . _the world._ new york city, _july , _. women's loyal national league. _the necessity for funds--the delinquency of the friends of the negro--miss anthony on the constitution--fighting, a barbaric way of settling questions._--about fifteen ladies and half a dozen gentlemen were present at the meeting of the woman's league, yesterday. although more than one of the speakers bewailed the delinquency of the "friends of the negro" in failing to supply the league with the necessary funds, yet the piles of post-paid circulars on the tables, ready for the mail, were larger than ever. there was also a bundle of tracts on emancipation as the only means of peace. the meeting being called to order, a committee reported a series of resolutions, the gist of which was that, whereas the league is continually receiving from its friends to whom it applies for pecuniary assistance communications stating that the day for petition and discussion is past, and that the bullet and bayonet are now working out the stern logic of events; nevertheless the league considers that such day is not past, and it urges the friends of the negro to come forward boldly and pour out of their abundance liberally for its aid. speech by miss susan b. anthony. miss susan b. anthony made a speech arguing that the decision of the anti-slavery question should not be left to the "stern logic of events" which is wrought by the bullet and the bayonet. more knowledge is needed. the eyes and the ears of the whole public are now open. it should be the earnest work of every lover of freedom to give those eyes the right thing to see and those ears the right thing to hear. it pains her to receive in answer to a call for assistance and funds, letters saying that the day for discussion and petition is past. it looks as if we had returned to the old condition of barbarism, where no way is known of settling questions except by fighting. women, who are noted for having control of the moral department of society and for lifting the other half of the race into a higher moral condition, should not relapse into the idea that the status of any human being is to be settled merely by the sword. miss anthony then spoke of the constitutional right of congress to pass an emancipation law. she read a letter from a lady who, on receiving documents from the league, first doubted the power of congress to pass such a law; then she thought perhaps it had; then she compared the petition and the constitution; then she thought it had no such power, and finally she concluded to circulate the petition anyhow. miss anthony proceeded at some length to expound the constitution, showing that it does not say that slaves shall not be emancipated, and therefore concluding that they may. but if congress can not emancipate slaves constitutionally, it should do so unconstitutionally. she does not believe in this red-tapism that can not find a law to suppress the wrong, but always finds one to oppress the innocent. if she was a mayor, or a governor, or a legislator, and there was no law to punish mobocrats, she thought she should go to work to make one pretty quick. she requested the opinion of some gentleman. a gentleman present related a number of touching incidents about the recent mobbing of negroes in this city, most of which have already appeared in print in this and other papers. miss anthony held up two photographs to the view of the audience. one represented "sojourner truth," the heroine of one of mrs. h. b. stowe's tales, and the other the bare back of a louisiana slave. many of the audience were affected to tears. "sojourner truth" had lost three fingers of one hand, and the louisiana slave's back bore scars of whipping. she asked every one to suppose that woman was her mother, and that man her father. in that case would they think the time past for discussion and petition? the resolutions were at once unanimously passed. the meeting adjourned. miss anthony in chicago. miss susan b. anthony is now on her homeward way from kansas, where she has been spending several of the past months, and where she has performed much excellent service in the cause of the freedmen of the country generally. she has recently visited chicago and given a lecture, which is highly commended by the _tribune_ and _republican_ of that city, the latter giving an extended report of it in its columns, besides pronouncing upon it very flattering encomiums, concluding with these words: "the audience dwelt with thoughtful and marked interest upon her words, and when occasionally her remarks called forth an irrepressible burst of feeling, the applause was marked and emphatic, without descending to a noisy disturbance." of the lecture in general, the chicago _tribune_ thus speaks: last evening miss susan b. anthony, of rochester, n. y., addressed an audience composed chiefly of colored people, in quinn's chapel. her subject was "universal suffrage." mrs. jones, the president of the ladies' aid society, in introducing her, said: "she was one of their old and firm friends; not one who had believed in sitting down to the communion first, and letting the negro come last. she was not one who needed to have her father or brothers starved in southern prisons, to make her aware of the humanity of the black man." miss anthony is a clear, logical speaker, earnest and truthful, and has long considered the questions of the day. few _men_ in this or any other city could more ably present the subject, or more closely chain the audience that listened to her noble utterances, and one could not but wish that she had spoken to thousands rather than hundreds. miss a. is recently from leavenworth, kansas, where she has been spending some months past, aiding as she had opportunity, in the elevation of the freed people, and occasionally by lectures, contributing to form a true public sentiment in that new state. consequently, she speaks from absolute knowledge of the present state of the freedmen. her criticism of the theories of reconstruction was masterly, showing that the fundamental principles of this government are set aside and really endanger all that we have seemed to gain by the war, and that nothing but the admission of the black man to the franchise can save the nation from future disgrace and ultimate ruin.--_national anti-slavery standard_, august, . * * * * * chapter xviii. national conventions, and . _report made to the eleventh national woman's rights convention._ by caroline h. dall. for the last five years the women of the united states have held few public discussions. they have done wisely. circumstances have proved their friend. nothing ever had done, nothing ever will do again, so great a service to woman in so short a time, as this dreadful war out of which we are so slowly emerging. respect for woman came only with the absolute need of her, and so many women of distinguished ability made themselves of service to the government, that we had no single woman to honor as england had honored florence nightingale. with us her name was _legion_. but with the prospect of peace comes the old duty of agitation, and we find ourselves again summoned to a convention, and again anxiously awaiting its results--_anxiously_, for a convention of women is an object which still attracts the gaze of the curious, and the smallest indiscretion on the part of a single speaker has a retrograde effect which few women seem able to measure. our reform is unlike all others, for it must begin in the family, at the very heart of society. if it be not kindly, temperately, and thoughtfully conducted, men everywhere will be able to justify their remonstrances. let us rather justify ourselves. my last report to any convention was made to those called in boston in and . between that time and i printed five volumes, which are nothing but reports upon the various interests significant to our cause. during the last four years i have watched the development of american industry in its relation to women, and have, through the newspapers, aroused public feeling in their behalf. my labor is naturally classed under the three heads of education, labor, and law. a proper education must prepare woman for labor, skilled or manual; and the experience of a laborer should introduce her to citizenship, for it provides her with rights to protect, privileges to secure, and property to be taxed. if she is a laborer, she must have an interest in the laws which control labor. in considering our position in these three respects, it is impossible to offer you a digest of all that has occurred during the last six years. what i have to say will refer chiefly to the events of the last two. education. i wish it were in my power to furnish you with reports of the present condition of all the female colleges in the united states; but, while i receive from various foreign sources such reports, and am promptly informed of any educational movement in europe, it never seems to occur to the government of such institutions in the united states that there is any necessary connection between them and the interests which this convention represents. we are, consequently, dependent upon newspapers for our information. the most important educational movement of the last year has been the formation of an american social science association, with four departments, and two women on its board of directors. subsequently, the boston social science association was organized, with seven departments, and seven women on its board of directors, one woman being assigned to each department, including that of law. any woman in the united states can become a member of this association. if the opportunities it offers are not seized, it will be the fault of women themselves. during the past winter the lowell institute, in boston, in connection with the government of the massachusetts technological institute, took a step which deserves our public mention. they advertised classes for both sexes, under the most eligible professors, for instruction in french, mathematics, and natural science. as the training was to be thorough, the number of pupils was limited, and the _women_ who applied would have filled the seats many times over. these classes have been wholly free, and have added to the obligation which the free art school for women had already conferred. elmira college showed its enterprise last summer by a visit to massachusetts, and vassar college was organized and commenced its operations in september, with miss mitchell in the chair of mathematics, and miss avery in that of physiology. i attempted to visit this institution last summer for the purpose of investigating the facilities its buildings and proposed courses might offer to foreign students. the reluctance of the trustees to subject it to observation so early in its career interfered with my plan, but i have since received a letter from miss mitchell speaking of it in the most encouraging terms. "i have a class," she says, "of seventeen pupils, between the ages of and . they come to me for fifty minutes every day. i allow them great freedom in questioning, and i am puzzled by them daily. they show more mathematical ability and more originality of thought than i had expected. i doubt whether young men would show as deep an interest. are there seventeen students in harvard college who take mathematical astronomy, do you think?" so mr. vassar's magnificent donation is drawing interest at last. on the th of june, , the ripley college, at poultney, vermont, celebrated its commencement. seventeen young ladies were graduated. ralph waldo emerson delivered the literary address, and two days were devoted to the examination of incoming pupils. feeling very little satisfaction in the success of colleges intended for the separate sexes, i take more pleasure in speaking of the baker university in kansas, which was chartered by the legislature of that state in as a university for both sexes. it has now been in active operation for seven years. a little more than a year ago miss martha baldwin, a graduate of the baldwin university at berea, ohio, was appointed to the chair of greek and latin. she is but twenty-one years of age, but was elected by the government to make the address for the faculty at the opening of the commencement exercises, and seems to have given entire satisfaction during her professors' year. in france, the imperial geographical society, which is in a certain sense a college, has lately admitted to membership madame dora d'istra as the successor to madame pfeiffer. madame d'istra had distinguished herself by researches in the morea. on the th of october, , a a workingwomen's college was opened in london, with an address from miss f. r. malleson. it is governed by a council of teachers. in addition to the ordinary branches, it offers instruction in botany, physiology, and drawing. its fee is four shillings a year, and the coffee and reading-room, about which its social life centres, is open every evening from to . but by far the most interesting educational movement is miss nightingale's "training-school for nurses," which has been in operation for three years in liverpool. it was founded after a correspondence with her, in strict conformity to her counsel. as a training-school it may be said to be self-supporting, but it is also a beneficent institution, and in that regard is sustained by donations. a most admirable system of district nursing is provided under its auspices for the whole city of liverpool, all of whose suffering sick become, in this way, the recipients of intelligent care and of valuable instruction in cooking and all sanitary matters. it is too tempting an experiment to dwell upon, unless we could follow it into its details. its report occupies pages. as regards medical education, we know of two colleges, or rather of one college and one hospital, in boston, where education is given. there is one in springfield and one in philadelphia. we should be glad to get more statistics of this kind, for cleveland, where dr. zakrzewska took her degree, is no longer open to female students, and geneva is contenting herself with the honor of having graduated dr. blackwell. there is a female medical society in london. this society wishes to open the way for thorough medical instruction, which will entitle its graduates to a degree from apothecaries' hall, and it offered lectures from competent persons in , upon obstetrics and general medical science. madame aillot's hospital of the maternity in paris, still offers its great advantages to women, of which two of our countrywomen, miss helen morton and miss lucy e. sewall have taken creditable advantage. they are both of them massachusetts girls. miss morton is retained in paris, and miss sewall is the resident physician of the hospital for women and children in boston. a very great interest has been felt in this country in the success of miss garrett in obtaining her degree from apothecaries' hall, after it had been refused to her by the medical colleges. we regret to say that this fact does not show any real advance in the public opinion of great britain, nor does it secure any permanent advantage for women. when the apothecaries' hall refused her, miss garrett looked up its charter. she found the old latin word indicating to whom degrees were to be granted clearly _indeterminate_. langues told her that the hall must grant her a degree or surrender its charter. she was wealthy and in earnest. she pushed her advantage. the apothecaries' hall prescribed certain courses of instruction to be pursued and certified before the degree could be granted. these she attended in private, paying the most exorbitant fees to her teachers. in one instance, in which a man's fee would have been _five_ guineas she paid _fifty_! i am credibly informed that the round cost of these preparatory steps must have been £ , . all honor to miss garrett. should her genius as a physician equal her energy and her wealth, she may yet gain something for the cause she has espoused. apart from this, she may be said to have gained nothing. bribery is not possible to ordinary mortals, and the conditions of the degree make it generally impracticable until the lecture-rooms are opened to students. at present, to obtain thorough instruction in any branch, women are obliged to pay exorbitant prices, and receive as the results of their training but half wages. in boston dr. zakrzewska has again unsuccessfully asked permission to become a member of the massachusetts medical society. many physicians, however, extend the fellowship which the institution denies, and the _medical journal_ expresses itself courteously on this point. in there existed in st. petersburg a stringent regulation which prohibited women from following the university courses. a miss k., who had a decided taste for medicine without the means to pay for instruction, applied for such instruction to the authorities of orenburg. orenburg is partly in europe and partly in asia, and its territory includes the cossack races of the ural. these people have a superstitious prejudice against male physicians, and are chiefly attended in illness by sorceresses. miss k. offered to put her medical knowledge at the service of the cossacks, and received permission to attend the academy of medicine. the cossacks promised her an annual stipend of roubles, but when she passed the half-yearly examination as well as the male students, they sent her roubles as a token of good will. in france, a mlle. reugger, from algeria, lately passed a brilliant examination, and received the degree of bachelor of letters. she appealed to the dean of the faculty at montpellier for permission to follow the regular course, and was refused on account of her sex. she then turned to the minister of public instruction, who granted it on condition that she should pledge herself to practice only in algeria, where the arabs, like the cossacks, refuse the attendance of male physicians. unlike our russian friend, she refused to give the pledge. she threw herself upon her rights, and appealed in person to the emperor. this was in december last, and i have not been able to find his decision. it was doubtless given in her behalf, for louis napoleon will always yield as a favor what he would stubbornly refuse as a right. the physicians of this country have been occupied this winter in discussing the discovery by one of their number of the active infectant in fever and ague. it has been found in the dust-like spores of a marsh plant--the pamella. in paris, at the same time, a woman of rank claims to have discovered the cause of cholera in a microscopic insect, developed in low and filthy localities. her details were so minute, that the academy of science, which began by laughing at the introduction of the matter, has been compelled to listen, and the subject is now under investigation. the pulpit. in spite of the bitter words of warning which john ruskin has thought it his duty to speak to such women as enter upon theological studies, a good many women in great britain and this country have engaged in what is properly the work of the christian ministry. the only ordained minister whose work has come under our notice since the marriage of antoinette blackwell, is the rev. olympia brown, settled over the universalist society at weymouth landing, mass. her ministry has been highly successful, and is to be mentioned here chiefly on account of a legal decision to which it has given rise. the church at weymouth landing made an appeal to the legislature last winter as to the legality of marriages solemnized by her. the legislature gave the same general construction to the masculine relatives in the enactment which the english law gave to the old latin word in the charter of apothecaries' hall, deciding that marriages so solemnized are legal, and no further legislation necessary. labor. the advance of women, as regards all sorts of labor, in the united states, has been such as might be expected by watchful eyes, and yet reports on the general question will not read very differently from those published ten years ago. in new york, women are still reported as making shirts at cents a dozen, and overalls at cents. these women have two protective unions of their own, not connected with the workingmen's union, and most of them have naturally enough sympathized with the eight-hour movement, not foreseeing, apparently, that the necessary first result of that movement would be a decrease of wages proportioned to the limitation of time. ever since the beginning of the war, women have been employed in the public departments north and south. it has been a matter of necessity, rather than choice. the same causes combined to drive women into field labor and printing-offices. all through minnesota and the surrounding regions, women voluntarily assumed the whole charge of the farms, in order to send their husbands to the field. a very interesting account has been recently published of a farm in dongola, ill., consisting of two thousand acres, managed by a highly educated woman, whose husband was a cavalry officer. it was a great pecuniary success. in new hampshire, last summer, i was shown open-air graperies wholly managed by women, in several different localities, and was very happy to be told that my own influence had largely contributed to the experiment. in england field labor is now recommended to women by lord houghton, better known as mr. monckton milnes, who considers it a healthful resource against the terrible abuses of factory life. at a meeting of the british association last fall, he produced a well-written letter from a woman engaged in brick-making. this letter claimed that brick-making paid three times better than factory labor, and ten times better than domestic service. in addition to persons heretofore mentioned in this country as employing women in out-door work, i would name mr. knox, the great fruit-grower, who, on his place near pittsburg, pa., employs two or three hundred. i have seen it stated that, during the last four years, twenty thousand women have entered printing-offices. i do not know the basis of this calculation, but judging from my local statistics, i should think it must be nearly correct. to the committee of the massachusetts legislature, on the eight-hour movement, the following towns report concerning the wages and labor of women: boston--glass co., wages from $ to $ a week. domestics, from $ . to $ per week; seamstresses, $ a day; makers of fancy goods, to cents a day. brookline--washerwomen, $ a day. charlestown and new bedford are ashamed to name the wages, but humbly confess that they are very low. chicopee--pays women per cent the wages of men. concord--pays from to cents an hour. fairhaven--gives to female photographers one-third the wages of men. hadley--pays three-fourths. to domestics, one-third; seamstresses, one-quarter to one-third. holyoke--in its paper mills, offers one-third to one-half. lancaster--pays for pocket-book making from to cents a day. lee--pays in the paper mills one-half the wages of men. lowell--the manufacturing co. averages cents a day. the baldwin mills pay to cents a day. newton--pays its washerwomen cents a day, or cents an hour. north becket--pays to women one-third the wages of men. northampton--pays $ a week. salisbury--for sewing hats, $ a day. south reading--on rattan and shoe work, $ to $ a week. south yarmouth--half the wages of men, or less. taunton--one-third to two-thirds the wages of men. walpole--pays two thirds the wages of men. wareham--pays to its domestics from to cents a day; to seamstresses, cents to $ . wilmington--pays two-thirds the wages of men. winchester--pays dressmakers $ a day; washerwomen, cents an hour. woburn--keeps its women at work from to hours, and pays them two-thirds the wages of men. on the better side of the question, fall river testifies that women, in competition, earn nearly as much as men. lawrence--from the pacific mills, that the women are _liberally_ paid. we should like to see the figures. the washington mills pays from $ to $ a day. stoneham--gives them $ . per week. waltham--reports the wages of the watch factory as very _remunerative_. in i reported this factory as paying from $ . to $ a week. here, also, we should prefer figures to a general statement. boston--has now many manufactories of paper collars. each girl is expected to turn out , daily. the wages are $ a week. in the paper-box factory, more than girls are employed, but i can not ascertain their wages, and therefore suppose them to be low. i know individuals who earn here $ a week, but that must be _above_ the average. the best looking body of factory operatives that i have ever seen are those employed in the silk and ribbon mills on boston neck, lately under the charge of mr. j. h. stephenson, and those at the florence silk mills in northampton, owned by mr. s. l. hill. the classes, libraries, and privileges appertaining to these mills, make them the best examples i know, and this is shown in the faces and bearing of the women. we are always referred to political economy, when we speak of the low wages of women, but a little investigation will show that other causes co-operate with those, which can be but gradually reached, to determine their rates. . the willfulness of women themselves, which when i see them in positions i have helped to open to them, fills me with shame and indignation. . the unfair competition proceeding from the voluntary labor, in mechanical ways, of women well to do. for the first, we can not greatly blame the women whom employers chiefly choose for their _good looks_, for expecting to earn their wages through them, rather than by the proper discharge of their duties. their conduct is not the less shameful on that account, but i seem to see that only time and death and ruin will educate them. for the second, we must strive to develop a public sentiment which, while it continues to hold labor honorable, will stamp with ignominy any women who, in comfortable country homes, compete with the workwomen of great cities. there are thousands of wealthy farmers' wives to-day, who just as much drive other women to sin and death, as if they led them with their own hands to the houses in which they are ultimately compelled to take refuge. still further it has come to be known to me that in boston, and i am told in new york also, wealthy women who do not even do their own sewing, have the control of the finer kinds of fancy-work, dealing with the stores which sell such work under various disguises. i can not prove these words, but they will strike conviction to the hearts of the women themselves, and i wish them to have some significance for men, for if these women had the pocket-money which their taste and position require, they would never dream of such competition. one thing these men should know, that such women are generally known to their employers, and their domestic relations are judged accordingly. the recent investigations into factory labor in england concern rather the condition than the wages of women. at flower-making, , girls are employed from fourteen to eighteen hours daily. in hardware shops and factories, they work, from six years of age, fourteen hours daily. in glass factories, , women are employed from nine years of age and upwards, eighteen hours daily. in tobacco factories, , women are employed under conditions of great physical suffering. as knitters, from six years old, they work fourteen hours daily for s. d. a week! this terrible state of things is partly owing to competition with the labor of french machinery. a great deal of ignorant prejudice against machines is one of its results. in sheffield files are still made by _hand_, while here in america we make watches by _machinery_. the disposition of the whole community, both here and in great britain, towards this labor question is kindly. it has become a momentous social problem. during the fifteen years that my attention has been riveted to this subject, i have seen a great change in public feeling. i have received the sixth annual report of the society for the employment of women, of which the earl of shaftesbury is president, and mr. gladstone a vice-president. this society has trained some hair-dressers, clerks, glass engravers, book-keepers, and telegraph operators, but its greatest service consists in the constant issue of tracts, to bias developing public opinion. such an association should be started in new york. i should have been glad to inaugurate in boston, during the last six years, several important industrial movements. the war checked the enthusiasm i had succeeded in rousing, and i have not been able to pause in my special work of collecting and observing facts, to stimulate it afresh or to solicit personally the necessary means. how easy it would be for a few wealthy women to test these experiments. i would first establish a mending-school, and having taught women how to darn and patch in a proper manner, i would scatter them through the country to open shops of their own. as it is, i do not know a city in which a place exists to which a housekeeper could send a week's wash, sure that it would be returned with every button-hole, button, hem, gusset and stay in proper condition. these mending-shops should take on apprentices, who should be sent to the house to do every sort of repairing with a needle. i would open another school to train women to every kind of trivial service, now clumsily or inadequately performed by men. if, for instance, you now send to an upholsterer to have an old window-blind or blind fixture repaired, his apprentice will replace the entire thing, at a proportionate cost, leaving the old screw-holes to gape at the gazer. i would train women to wash, repair, and replace in part, and to carry in their pockets little vials of white or red lead to fill the gaping holes. full employment could be found for such apprentices. law. the number of laws passed the last six years affecting the condition of women has been very small. the new york assembly in february, , passed a law putting the legal evidence of a married woman on the same basis as if she were a "femme sole." the massachusetts legislature have legalized marriage ceremonies performed by an ordained woman, and in january, , mr. peckham, of worcester, moved for a joint special committee "to consider in what way a more just and equal compensation shall be awarded to female labor." on the th of april just passed samuel e. sewall and others petitioned for leave to appoint women on school committees. it is difficult to conceive on what ground such petitioners had leave to withdraw. these things are only valuable as indicating that public attention is still alive. some remarkable illustrations of the absurdity of old laws might be recorded. one of these is to be found in the family history of mad. de bedout, recently dead at paris. a very important convention came together at leipsic, in september, . one hundred and fifty women assembled, pledged to assert the right to labor, and to bridge the gulf between the compensations of the two sexes. madame louise otto peters opened the conference in an able speech. she stated that there were five millions of women in germany who could each earn, if allowed, three thalers a week. a thousand women might find employment as chemists, on salaries of one hundred and fifty thalers a year, exclusive of board and lodging. another thousand might be employed as boot-closers. the foundation of industrial and commercial schools was urged. the weak point of the speech as reported, appeared to be, that it took no cognizance of the fact that an influx of five millions of laborers must necessarily lower the current rate of wages she proposed. i mention this convention in a legal connection, believing that it was intended to remove some local legal barriers. suffrage. dr. harriot k. hunt, sarah e. wall, and a few other women, have continued their annual protests without intermission. in somewhat the same way have petitions recently been sent to congress in behalf of universal suffrage. we had no expectation that any favorable reception would await such petitions, but it was a duty to put them on record. what fate they met in congress, you have so recently heard that i have no occasion to record it. minnesota, new york, and other states, have petitioned their legislatures to the same effect. progress. the real gain of a reform, starting from the heart of the family, must necessarily be very slow. i remember that some years ago, when i printed my book on labor, one of my kindest critics congratulated the public that of my nine lectures, i had published only these. he thought it was useless to contend for more book-learning for women, and the subject of civil rights still disgusted his sensitive ear. the common sense of the book on labor ought to have shown him how i should treat the subject of education. he could not understand how the woman who gets an education which does not make her a "bread-winner," is essentially defrauded, nor how a woman well paid for her labor is essentially wronged, when she is denied the privilege of protecting it by her vote. there is, however, a surely growing sense of this shown in the substantial advance of her civil rights. in the early part of , the people of victoria, in australia, assembled to elect a member of parliament, were surprised to find the whole female population voting. some quick-sighted woman had discovered that the letter of the new law permitted it, and their votes were accepted and wisely given. _the london times_, in the month of may, says that, in a _country like australia_, it can easily believe that such an extension of the franchise will be a _marked improvement_, and thinks that the precedent will stand! the government of moravia has also, within the past year, granted the municipal franchise to widows who pay taxes. in january, , the court of queen's bench in dublin, ireland, restored to woman the _old right_ of voting for town commissioners. the justice (fitzgerald) desired to state that ladies were entitled to sit as town commissioners as well as to vote for them, and the chief justice took pains to make it clear that there was nothing in either duty repugnant to womanly habits. the inhabitants of ain (or aisne) in france, lately chose nine women into their municipal council. at bergeres, they elected the whole council, and the mayor, not being prepared for such good fortune, resigned his office. a very remarkable autograph note of the queen of england attracted my attention in . it expressed to lord john russell the queen's dissatisfaction with lord palmerston. it was a very distinct assertion of her regal prerogative, and as such lord palmerston submitted to it. our cause has found able advocates in john stuart mill, _the new york evening post_, and theodore tilton. if i were asked whether, in connection with this gain, we have lost any ground, i should reply that we have decidedly lost it in connection with the daily press. i do not know any newspaper, if i except _the boston commonwealth_, which will print a letter touching civil rights from any woman, precisely as it is written. i think what we need most is to purchase the right to a daily use of half a column of _the new york tribune_. record and obituaries. i have been accustomed to connect with reports of this kind, some honorable mention of distinguished women recently dead. i can not do this at any length after a pause of so many years, but a few names must be mentioned, a few facts recorded. i had occasion, some years ago, to commemorate the services of maria sybilla merian, painter, engraver, linguist, and traveler, who published, at amsterdam, two volumes of engravings of insects and sixty magnificent plates, illustrating the metamorphoses of the insects of surinam. i did not at that time know that some of her statements had been held open to suspicion. in the first place, she asserted that a certain fly, the fulgoria lantanaria, emitted so much light that she could read her books by its aid. still further, that one of the large spiders called mygale, entered the nests of the humming-bird in surinam, sucked its eggs and snared the birds. to all the contention which arose over these statements, madame merian could oppose only her word. men who knew that her statements in regard to europe were indisputable, decided that her word could not be taken in asia. a very common folly; but two hundred years have passed, arrives, and her justification with it. an english traveler named bates, has recently rescued quite large finches from the mygale, and poisoned himself with its saliva in preparing them for his cabinet. i do not know how many years madame baring, the mother of the great banker, has been dead. it is only recently that i have ascertained that to her prudence, activity, and business habits, the family attribute the sure foundation of their habits. matthew baring came to larkbeare, near exeter, from bremen. his wife superintended in his day, the long rows of "burlers," or women who picked over the woolen cloth he made. her sons, john and francis, sought a wider field for the fortune their father left, but did not forget to erect a monument to their mother's industry. when i first investigated the labor of woman, i was told that the great manufacturing interest, represented by the button factories at easthampton, mass., had its origin in the persevering industry of a woman. last summer i went personally to see the factories and their proprietor, and it was a pleasant surprise to find the woman of whom i had heard still living. samuel williston told me that he did not usually gratify the curiosity of his visitors, but added that if i thought it would be any stimulus to the industry of other women, he should be glad to tell me the story. about forty years ago he had been an unsuccessful speculator in merino sheep, and his wife strained every nerve to help her family. on going one day to the country store for a supply of knitting, she expressed so much disappointment on being told that there was none for her, that a tailor in the establishment asked her if she would cover some buttons for him. she soon found that certain kinds of buttons were in steady demand. they were then made wholly by hand. she provided herself with materials, took the farmers' daughters for apprentices, and her husband went to boston, hartford, and new york to solicit orders. from this small beginning arose one of the most lucrative industries of massachusetts. about a year since eliza w. farnham laid down her weary head. i did not know her, nor did i sympathize in her theories. they were sustained by her imagination rather than her reason; by her impulses rather than any practical judgment. no moral superiority can justly be conferred on either sex of a being possessed of intellect and conscience. god has conferred no such superiority; yet i gladly name mrs. farnham here as a woman whose life--a bitter disappointment to herself--was useful to all women, and whose books, published since her death, show a marvelous mental range. i name her with sympathy and admiration. during the last year madam charles lemonnier has died in paris. she devoted her life to the professional education of women. for six years she found it so difficult to raise the necessary funds, that she had to content herself with sending her pupils to institutions in germany. in the society for the professional instruction of women was at last constituted, and opened a school in the rue de perle. two other schools have since been opened; one in the rue de val sainte catherine, the other in the rue roche. the morning is occupied in these schools with general studies, the afternoon with industrial drawing, wood engraving, the making up of garments, linen, etc. she died after initiating a thoroughly successful work. in july, , there died at corfu a dr. barry, attached to the medical staff of the british army. he was remarkable for skill, firmness, decision, and great rapidity in difficult operations. he had entered the army in , and had served in all quarters of the globe with such distinction, as to insure promotion without interest. he was clever and agreeable, but excessively plain, weak in stature, and with a squeaking voice which provoked ridicule. he had an irritable temper, and answered some jesting on this topic by calling out the offender and shooting him through the lungs. in he was made medical inspector, and transferred from the cape to malta. he went from malta to corfu, and when the english government ceded the ionian islands to greece, resigned his position in the army and remained at corfu. there he died last summer, forbidding, with his latest breath, any interference with his remains. the women who attended him regarded this request with the shameless indifference now so common, and unable to believe that an officer who had been forty-five years in the british service, had received a diploma, fought a duel, and been celebrated as a brilliant operator, was not only a woman, but at some period in her life a _mother_; they called in a medical commission to establish these facts. a sad, sad picture which those of us, who inquire into the fortunes of women, can readily understand. last november deprived us of lady theresa lewes and mrs. gaskell. mrs. gaskell has perhaps done more than any woman of this century, not confessedly devoted to our cause, to elevate the condition of her sex, and disseminate liberal ideas as to their needs and culture. the first part of her career was one of those brilliant successes which startle us into surprise and admiration. it was checked midway by the publication of her life of charlotte bronte, the best and noblest of her works. checked, because condemned, in that instance, without a hearing. she could never afterward feel the elastic pleasure, which was natural to her, in composing and printing, and for three long years afterward never touched her pen. i would not allude to this subject if every notice of her since her death had not done so, repeating the old censure, as a matter of course. here in america we may exculpate her. the public was wrong in the first place, inasmuch as it has come to demand biography before biography is possible. the publisher was wrong in the second, for he ought to have known, and could easily have ascertained, how plain a statement the english law would permit. the public was still further wrong when it attributed misapprehension and carelessness to a woman whom it very well knew to be incapable of either. i, for one, shall never forgive nor forget the officious censure of the _westminster review_--censure given by one who must have known that the legal apology tendered in mrs. gaskell's absence to protect her pecuniary interests, had the unfortunate effect to put her in a position where explanation and self-defence were alike impossible. mrs. gaskell had deserved the steady confidence of the public. in paris, recently, died mrs. severn newton. she was the daughter of the artist severn, the friend of keats, and now british consul at rome. about five years since she married charles newton, superintendent of greek antiquities at the british museum. she was a person in whom power and delicacy were singularly blended. ary schæffer was accustomed to hold up her work as a model for his pupils. her renderings of classic sculpture were so true that they were termed translations, and she had recently devoted herself to oil painting with great success. she died of brain fever at the early age of thirty-three, the most honored of female english artists. i have kept till the last the name of fredrika bremer, whose good fortune it was to secure lasting benefits to her sex. god sent to her early years dark trials and privations. her father's tyrannical hand crushed all power and loveliness out of her life. at first she rebelled against her sufferings, but when he died in her girlhood she was able to see that they lent strength to her efforts for her sex. it was the rumor of what we were doing in this country for women that first drew her hither. it is not the fashion for miss bremer's friends fully to recognize her position in this respect. i owe my own convictions on the subject of suffrage to the reflections she awakened. when i told her that my mind was undecided on this point, she showed her disappointment so plainly, that i was forced to reconsider the whole subject. miss bremer did not hurry her work. she had a serene confidence that she should be permitted to finish what she had begun. she secured popularity by her cheerful humor, her genuine feeling, her true appreciation of men, and her insight into the conditions of family happiness, before she made any direct appeal against existing laws. those who will read her novels thoughtfully, however, will see that she was from the first intent upon making such an effort possible. from the beginning she pleaded for the social independence of wives; asked for them a separate purse; showed that woman could not even give her love freely, until she was independent of him to whom she owed it. to a just state of society, to noble family relations, entire freedom is essential. under her influence females had been admitted to the musical academy. the directors of the industrial school at stockholm had attempted to form a class, and professor quarnstromm had opened his classes at the academy of fine arts to women. cheered by her sympathy, a female surgeon had sustained herself in stockholm, and bishop argardh indorsed the darkest picture she had ever drawn, when he pleaded with the state to establish a girls' school. it was at this juncture that miss bremer published hertha. this book was a direct blow aimed at the laws of sweden concerning women. by this time she had herself become in sweden what we might fitly call a "crowned head." she was everywhere treated with distinction, and her sudden appearance in any place was greeted with the enthusiasm usually shown by such nations only to their princes. she said of her new book: "i have poured into it more of my heart and life than into anything which i have ever written," and, verily, she had her reward. she was at rome, two years after, in , when the glad news reached her that king oscar, at the opening of the diet, had proposed a bill entitling women to hold independent property at the age of twenty-five. all sweden had read the book which moved the heart of the king, and the assembled representatives rent the air with their acclamations. in the following spring the old university town of upsala, where her friend bergfalk occupies a chair, granted the _right of suffrage_ to fifty women owning real estate, and to thirty-one doing business on their own account. the representative their votes went to elect was to sit in the house of burgesses. miss bremer was not ashamed to shed happy tears when this news reached her. if she had ever reproached providence with the bitter sorrow of her early years, she was penitent and grateful now. then was fulfilled the prophecy which she had uttered, as she left our shores: "the nation which was first among scandinavians to liberate its slaves shall also be the first to emancipate its women!" boston, _april , _. caroline h. dall. p. s.--to add one word to this deeply interesting and able report may seem presumptuous, but it is fitting that something be said of those women in our own country in whom we feel a proper pride. in literature, harriet beecher stowe and lydia maria child are unsurpassed by any writers of our day. the former is remarkable for her descriptive powers, intuition of character, and rare common sense; the latter for patient research, sound reason, and high moral tone. no country has produced a woman of such oratorical powers as our peerless anna dickinson. young, beautiful, and always on the right side of every question, her influence on the politics of this country for the last four years has been as powerful as beneficent. she has more invitations to speak before the first-class lyceums of the country, at two hundred dollars an evening, than she can accept, and draws crowded houses wherever she goes. physical culture. a friend who had visited vassar college, after mentioning the fact of its two women professors--miss mitchell and miss avery--informed us that elizabeth m. powell is teacher of gymnastics there, and wonders whether success may not win for miss powell a place in the faculty. there are literary societies in which the girls write and read essays, and give recitations, and have discussions, and president raymond drills them in elocution or public entertainments. and yet, our friend says, "i dare say that it would be pronounced a very improper thing for women to speak in public, if the faculty were to vote on the question." the influences of vassar are altogether conservative. miss mitchell is a woman of great force of character, the very soul of integrity, and entirely independent in her religious views. she thinks the theory of woman's rights all right, but her tastes are all against it. she dreads to be in the least conspicuous. miss avery is a woman of great dignity and strength, and her presence and lectures can not fail to stimulate the girls to a noble womanhood. she tells them work is the necessity of the soul. miss powell, a remarkably earnest young woman of rare moral and intellectual worth, has a grand field, and opens her work with good promise. her first aim is to do away with tight-dressing. she believes that when women have deeper breathing they will have higher aspirations. that when women will apply conscience to their dress, they will be prepared for more important truths. in the great attention given to gymnasiums everywhere, we see the dawn of a new day of physical and mental power in woman. mrs. plumb's institution in this city, where hundreds of girls are trained every year, is a complete success. equal education. st. lawrence university, canton, n. y., _may , _. miss anthony:--your letter came into my hands after some delay. i hasten to reply to your inquiries. our college is young yet. the first class of two graduated last year. two young ladies are to graduate at the close of this term. we receive ladies and gentlemen on the same terms and conditions; take them together into the recitation-room, where they recite side by side; require them to pursue the same course of study; and, when satisfactorily completed, give them degrees of the same rank and honor--bachelor of science and bachelor of arts to gentlemen, laureate of science and laureate of arts to ladies. both sexes are required to pursue the same course of study, with the exception of civil engineering and political economy, which are merely optional studies with the ladies. we have two departments--academical and collegiate. the sexes are about equal in number in each department. we have only about twenty in the collegiate department. half of these are ladies, among whom are some of our best in mathematics, languages, and natural sciences. we have also a theological department, to which ladies have access. we have received applications from only two yet. one, miss olympia brown, is pastor of a society in weymouth, mass., and is succeeding very well. she is a graduate of antioch college as well of our theological department. the other is now here. lombard university, galesburgh, ill., receives ladies, and takes them through the same course as gentlemen, and gives them equal degrees. i deeply sympathize with you in your efforts to raise the character and improve the condition of woman, though, perhaps, i should not be quite so radical as some in your convention. your cause is a good one, and i pray heaven that it do good. j. s. lee, _principal of the collegiate department st. lawrence university_. genesee college at lima, new york--a methodist institution--opens its doors equally to women, and has graduated several young ladies. then we must never forget to mention and bless oberlin for its pioneer work in the equal education of women. it was oberlin that gave us lucy stone, rev. antoinette brown blackwell, sallie holley, and frances ellen watkins harper, to speak early and brave words for woman and the slave. and antioch college that graduated the rev. olympia brown. mention too should be made of rev. lydia a. jenkins, who has been a successful preacher among the universalists for the last eight or ten years, and is now settled at binghamton, new york. of the medical profession it should be stated for the encouragement of the young, that there are over three hundred graduates from the several medical colleges for women, and that there is scarcely a village throughout the country but has its woman physician of greater or less skill. in new york city there are many successful physicians besides the drs. blackwell. dr. clemence s. lozier has a practice of $ , a year, and owns two fine houses, all the proceeds of her own perseverance. in orange, new jersey, dr. almira l. fowler is very popular, with a paying practice of $ , per year, besides a large gratuitous service. in philadelphia are dr. hannah e. longshore, with a $ , per annum practice, then there are drs. ann preston, r. tressel, h. j. sartain, e. cleveland, j. myres, and others, with practices ranging from $ , to $ , . in utica, new york, dr. pamelia bronson is a successful physician. in albion, is dr. vail. in weedsport, dr. harriet e. seeley. in rochester, dr. sarah r. a. dolley numbers among her patrons many persons of wealth and fashion, who but a few years ago ridiculed the idea of a "lady doctor." mrs. dolley's practice brings her fully $ , a year. in a letter to one of our committee mrs. dolley says, "may your labors be prospered, that the women of our country may have a _sphere_ rather than a _hemi_sphere! dr. r. b. glasson, of elmira, dr. s. ivison, of ithaca, new york, and dr. green, late of clifton springs, who has opened a water-cure somewhere in western new york, all do a large amount of practice, and with the greatest acceptance to those who favor hydropathic treatment. dr. ross, of milwaukee, wisconsin, has a large practice, and commands the respect of the profession. and, as mrs. dall says of the many noble women who served efficiently in our armies during the war without even sounding the name of the wonderful clara barton, so we have to say of our woman physicians, "their name is legion." the following is an item from the boston _commonwealth_: further progress in woman's rights.--miss stebbins, of chickasaw county, iowa, has received an appointment as notary public for that county. she is the first female ever having received such a commission, and is represented as eminently competent. this from the national anti-slavery _standard_: woman's rights in hungary.--a curious petition has been presented to the hungarian diet. it is signed by a number of widows and other women who are landed proprietors, and asks for them the same equality of political rights with the male inhabitants of the country as they possessed in . these ladies represent that they have much more difficulty in bringing up their children and attending to their estates than men; that they have to bear the same state burdens; that they are not allowed to take part in the communal elections; and that, although many of them possess much more ground than the male electors, they have no political rights. there is one point in the report open to objection. it is not fair to say that mrs. farnham's life "was a bitter disappointment to herself." who does realize in life all that in starting was looked for? who has nothing to regret? with a heart so generous and sympathizing as hers--a mind so disciplined and stored with general information--a life so rich in practical usefulness, she was not only a blessing to others, but she must have had a more than an ordinary share of that peace and happiness that gladdens every christian life. i have just read her last great work. i took it up with prejudice, not believing her theory of the superiority of woman. i lay it down with a higher idea of woman's destiny, and a profound reverence for the author of the glorious thoughts that thrill my heart. i never met mrs. farnham on earth, but i know and honor and love her now, and from the celestial shores feel the pulsations of a true and noble soul. e. c. s. * * * * * letters. wayland, _april _. dear mrs. stanton:-- ... what i most wish for women is that they should go right ahead, and do whatever they can do well, without talking about it. but the false position in which they are placed by the laws and customs of society, renders it almost impossible that they should be sufficiently independent to do whatever they can do well, unless the world approves of it. they need a great deal of talking to, to make them aware that they are in fetters. therefore i say, success to your convention, and to all similar ones!... i am very cordially yours, lydia maria child. new castle, del., _april , _. dear mrs. stanton:-- ... i am with you in heart and sympathy, rejecting with contempt the antiquated idea that woman is only fit for a plaything or a household drudge. nor can i see how it is less dignified to go to a public building to deposit a vote than to frequent the concert-room, whirl through the waltz in happy repose on some roue's bosom, or mingle in any public crowd which is, in modern times, quite admissible in polite society. dethrone the idol and raise the soul to its true and noble elevation, supported on a foundation of undying principle, and woman becomes a thing of life and beauty--then only fit to raise sons to be rulers. justice requires your success, and i hope the age will prove itself sufficiently enlightened to mete out to you the reward of your years of toil. yours sincerely, jane voorhees leslie. monday, _april _. dear miss anthony:--what i enclose is not much for the work you have to do, but it is all i can proportion out for it just now. you are quite right in relying on my regard for you, although i can not see the subject as you do, and i was pleased to get your note saying so. i am sure you take great interest in following mr. gladstone's bill for the extension of suffrage in england. his speech upon it is in great contrast to the shallow nonsense talked by many americans against our democratic form of government. very sincerely yours, jessie benton fremont. chestnut st., boston, _april , _. dear mrs. stanton:--i have received yours of th inst., making eloquent and friendly appeal to me for the expression of my sympathy, written or spoken, in behalf of your forthcoming "woman's rights convention." surely you need not my assurance that i most heartily indorse all the claims and objects of your association; that i earnestly advocate whatever would advance or insure the rights of humanity, whether for man or woman; that i as earnestly protest against any and all prejudices, limitations, or legislations which would interfere with those rights; that i claim for woman as ample social and civil privileges as are conceded to man, whether in the exercise of the franchise, the domain of our legislatures, or in the sphere of the professions. we are no true men if we deny or would barricade the exercise or the claim of those privileges, and have just so much less of manhood as we dare to question or infringe them. i agree with you, most fully, that the woman element is greatly needed in the present crisis of our affairs for the right reconstruction of our suffering government. we have had, and still have, not men but too many brutes making a very "bear garden" of our congressional halls, rending and tearing this poor "body politic" of ours till, like the raving demoniacs of old, it is now foaming and wandering crazily around its own preconstructed tomb! while at the head of the government we have only a surly, self-conceited despot in embryo! "the nation needs (as you say) at this hour the highest thought and inspiration of a true womanhood infused into every vein and artery of its life." there is no gainsaying your arguments on that head, for just so far, and only so far as the refining influence of that womanly element is so infused and felt in all our social and civil relations, will the consummation of our national peace and prosperity be effected. yours truly, j. t. sargent. west newton, _may , _. e. c. stanton, _president executive committee women's rights association_: my dear mrs. s.:--i had hoped to be present at this, our eleventh anniversary, but find it impossible. and so, at the last moment, i hasten to express my earnest conviction that now, as never before, we are called upon for vigorous, united action--that we are left no alternative but an unflinching protest against the strange legislation by which a republican congress, so-called, assumes to engraft upon our national constitution, as "amendments!" clauses which not only allow rebels to disfranchise loyal soldiers, who have borne the flag of the republic victoriously against their treason and rebellion, but to keep the ballot from the hands of all women! if not moved by an enlightened appreciation of the first principles of political economy and social justice in legislation touching them heretofore, we could scarcely believe that after the record made by both the proscribed classes during our late fearful struggle, our legislators could gravely stoop to brand them anew as "aliens" and outlaws! it is an act as discreditable to their hearts and their moral sense as to their statesmanship. and upon their shoulders must rest the responsibility of an agitation to which we are thus forced--an agitation which we have hesitated to arouse while so many vital questions touching the future of the negro were awaiting settlement, and in which we are acting strictly on the defensive. under the magnificent utterance of our brave senator sumner--which was an inspiration and a prophecy--we looked to see all faltering and compromise, so fatal in all our past, so fatal always and everywhere, swept like dew before the sun. but the old fears and falterings return sevenfold reinforced to renew a puerile and patch-work legislation, which, while asserting the truth, submits to, nay, invites a fresh struggle over each separate application of the same "self-evident truth." what remains for us, then, but to turn from a congress from which we had hoped so much, which might have dared anything in the interest of loyalty and justice, as our brave brethren turned, from a recreant president to the people, whom he and congress have not dared to trust, and resolve to do our utmost to awaken a public sentiment which only slumbers, but is not dead, and which shall make impossible such burlesques, such infamous "amendments" to our organic law. with undiminished hope and faith, yours, caroline m. severance. hartford, _april , _. dear madam:--i learn by a circular i have received that a woman's rights convention is to be held in new york in may. i can not have the pleasure of attending it, but i would like to take this opportunity of telling you i am with you, heart and soul, in this cause--of thanking you, and those with whom you are associated, for the noble work you have done, and are doing, in the cause of universal suffrage. there never was a more opportune time for calling a convention of this kind than the present, when it is evident that the united states constitution is about to undergo some repairs--when all the so-called radicals in congress are trying to have it so altered as to insure the disfranchisement of one-half the nation. they have so strangely perverted the meaning of the term "universal suffrage," that it is a misnomer as at present used by them. it is rather significant of the "universality" of the suffrage intended, that every one of these special guardians of freedom refused to present congress a petition for woman's enfranchisement; that the massachusetts senator who leads the van of freedom's host, did, finally, most reluctantly present it with one hand, while taking good care to deal it a blow with the other that would prove a most effectual quietus to it; that a representative [mr. boutwell], after repeating the self-evident truth that "there can be no just government without the consent of the governed," says that "man is endowed by nature with the priority of right to the vote rather than woman or child;" that the two senators from massachusetts have each proposed amendments to the constitution holding out inducements to the states to enfranchise all male inhabitants, but none to enfranchise women, when they could have included them by omitting one word; that that light of freedom, mr. greeley, of the _tribune_, states that "men express the public sense as fully as if women voted" [speech in suffield, conn., last june]. these are a few of the straws pointing to that sham labeled "universal suffrage." the conservatives of the slave-driving school have had an odious enough reputation, but i never heard of any of them taking measures to so amend the constitution as to insure the perpetuation of the disfranchisement of sixteen millions of the nation, as would the proposed amendments of messrs. sumner and wilson. and these massachusetts senators are called the foremost workers in the ranks of liberty's grand army. if these are the foremost, heaven save us from those in the rear! why does mr. boutwell try to make it appear that he believes that governments, to be founded on justice, should obtain "the consent of the governed," when he believes the consent of only one-half the governed should be obtained? when he classes adults as fully capable of exercising an enlightened judgment as himself with infants? if mr. greeley thinks it right for one-half the people to represent the wants, and speak as they may think best for the other half, that other half having no choice in the matter, he must admit, if he have a tithe of the sense of justice attributed to him, that it would be only fair to let each half take their turn--the men expressing the public sense a part of the time, then the women--thus alternating between the two, in order to balance the scales of justice with perfect equilibrium. it seems rather a difficult matter for men to appreciate the fact that women are ordinary human beings, with the wants and reasoning faculties of the same. if women lived on the plane where sword and cannon are resorted to for the procuring of justice, men might then see the necessity of establishing equality of rights for all. but the power of women lies in spiritual, not in brute force; therefore men have failed to comprehend them, or to see the necessity of granting rights that are not contested at the point of the bayonet. add to this the ambitious but weak love of power--of having some one to rule--inherent in the natures of most men, and the causes of woman's bondage are pretty clear. in the light of the developments of the past few months it is plain that the most thorough faced abolitionists--those who wax eloquent for the negro--are as much in favor of continuing the slavery of women as were southern planters of continuing negro slavery. there are a few exceptions to this, and but a few. even the boston _commonwealth_, perhaps as radical a paper as any now published, and which favors suffrage for women, is a good illustration of the difficulty of the most liberal-minded men seeing this question in its true light; for, in its issue of february , it says that "suffrage for women is not a political necessity of a republican government." the _nation_ thinks women ought to be deprived of the franchise because they do not, as a general thing, express a wish for it, stating at the same time that they have as good a right to it as men. remarkable logic this, to deprive the whole class of the power to obtain their dues because they do not _en masse_ express a wish for them. there are men who do not care enough about the franchise to make use of it; therefore, according to this argument, they should be immediately disfranchised. there is no compulsion in exercising the right to the vote--all can let it alone who choose; and did every woman in the land choose to let it alone, it would be no argument for withholding from her the power to make use of it whenever disposed. but the statement that they are opposed to it is untrue. no woman--whether teacher, or telegraph operator, or government clerk, or dry-goods clerk, all the way down to the poor needle-woman who lives under a reign of oppression as frightful as that in the manufacturing districts of england--is paid more than half or a third what she earns, or what a man would be paid performing the same services, and performing them no better, in many cases not so well; and the needle-women are paid no more than a tenth part of what they earn. and yet women do not rise up against the oppression that denies them the just compensation; therefore these logicians of the _nation's_ school must, to be consistent, argue that women do not wish to have just wages paid them, and they should not have just wages offered them--the right of accepting or refusing being at their own option. it seems to be full time for the women of this country to demand a settlement of the question whether they are still to be treated as infants or as intelligent adults. if the former treatment is to be continued it would be very appropriate to present congress with a protest against having one-half the basis of representation composed of those who are to remain in a state of perpetual infancy (which needs and can have representation; whose government must be as absolute as that of the czar's, the very word "representative" implying a substitute chosen by another)--a protest that if they are too good--as often stated, too divine--to have any voice in such earthly matters as governments, they are also too good to be thrust just so far into the body politic as to swell the basis of representation one-half, merely for the furtherance of the interests of ambitious politicians, and then to be put one side and utterly ignored when the voice of a free intelligent being is required. it seems to be full time for women to take soundings of the depth of the professions, and make calculations of the latitude and longitude of the party to which alone they have looked for redemption from the slavery in which they have ever been held, when the chief ones of that party--now that there is any possibility of attaining that object--utterly refuse all efforts in that direction, and, worse than that, give indications of taking positive measures in the opposite direction. it is important that congress be flooded with petitions on this matter--that it be allowed no rest from them; and, in addition to petitions, a bill is needed excluding women from the basis of representation so long as they shall be excluded from the franchise--excluding them from the list of taxable persons and from those who are by law liable to the death-penalty. should such a bill be tabled by congress; should they refuse all action on it that would place them in their true light, showing that they look upon this question the same as the southern congress under polk, pierce, and buchanan looked upon the anti-slavery movement--very much afraid of having the subject agitated; should they give it a decided veto, that would place them in their true light--greatly opposed to universal suffrage, although it is their policy to sail under that banner, like the pirate who sometimes finds an advantage in substituting for his own black flag some more respectable one. should they pass such a bill it would place them in a better light than they have ever had the fortune to be in before, while it would make it for the interest of the states to have this bill followed up by another, giving women the franchise; and it is very doubtful whether we will ever obtain it in any other way than from motives of self-interest on the part of legislators--motives of pure justice and right occupying a secondary place. the statutes of the land present a remarkable conglomeration of inconsistencies and injustice in regard to women, and show the utter failure of the plan of having one class govern another class without any consent or participation in the matter on the part of the class so governed. the law ought not in certain cases to treat women as infants and wholly irresponsible beings, merely to foster a weak ambition and love of power, and in other cases as wholly responsible adults. the infant regimen should be enforced thoroughly from the day of their birth to the day of their death, whether it be in one year or a hundred, or they should come, in all respects, under a system adapted to responsible, intelligent adults. infants should not pay taxes and they should not be hung. it is the general opinion that the infant surrat committed crimes equal in magnitude to those of any of the conspirators who were hung with her, but her state of infancy should have afforded her legal protection from the gallows. if this government is too weak to decide the qualifications of voters; too weak to extend freedom from the northern coast of maine to the southern coast of florida; too weak to prevent any state disfranchising its inhabitants; too weak to make ignorance, criminality, and non-age the only political limitations for man or woman, be they black or white, or a combination of all the hues of the rainbow; too weak to send tyranny to the wall and make liberty the universal rule for this broad land; then a party must and will arise of sufficient metal to infuse into it the requisite strength--a party that will "strengthen its weak hands and confirm its feeble knees." concentration of power for the establishment and extension of liberty is not a tendency to despotism. despotisms are never built out of that material. but that is a despotism as bad as austria that allows one-half its citizens to govern the other half without any consent of theirs; and it is none the less a despotism for being divided up into petty state despotisms than if carried on by the general government, so long as they are all agreed on disfranchising one-half the people. thirty-six despotisms make a pretty good sized one taken in the aggregate. the party to inaugurate the reign of freedom must inevitably arise, for the elements to bring it into power are at work. morally, it will tower as far above the present republican party as that did above the old ones--whig and democratic. there are true souls, women and men, in the old world and the new, faithfully working and watching for its advent. some months ago we got word from over the water that john stuart mill had been elected to that formidable body of conservatism--the british parliament. another significant fact, but this time significant of good. the writings of mill are illumined by the sun-clear radiance of that liberty for which he appeals--a liberty that shines with the steady light of a fixed star--and which i have watched for in vain in the writings and speeches of the most noted reformers on this continent. when men like him come into power i think we have good ground for taking fresh courage. i have written more than i intended, but the subject is one on which i do not feel like restricting myself, especially when writing to one who fully appreciates the situation. sincerely hoping you may never weary in your good work. yours respectfully, f. ellen burr. susan b. anthony. albany, _april , _. my dear miss anthony:--it will be out of my power to speak at your convention--my health will not permit my attendance--but i cordially concur in your efforts to restore to woman her civil and political rights, and for her emancipation from slavery, her actual, undeniable status at present in the government. i can suggest no plan to effect this great object, except that of agitation and discussion, everywhere throughout the land. whenever the public mind shall become sufficiently enlightened, and women themselves shall seriously and earnestly demand, on their own behalf, equal rights and equal laws, they will be accorded; and then we shall have, what the world has never yet had or seen, a true republican system of government. excuse these hasty thoughts. truly yours, a. j. colvin. _to the president and members of the eleventh national woman's rights convention in new york assembled_: ladies:--i notice with pleasure the call for your annual convention the hour is pregnant with events, and this period is opportune for opening and pressing upon the public attention the questions with which you are occupied. as the claims of the slave in past years have furnished to so many espousing them the occasion of manifold and large emancipations little thought by them at first, so the claims of the emerging freedman will lay open the way to the study and solution of the gravest and widest social questions. the great problems of social order: government, its fit aims and happiest methods, the nature and just basis of suffrage, etc., are to be studied anew and brought to true adjustment; false barriers and artificial distinctions must be swept away, no child of adam must be inhibited from wielding those prerogatives which by birthright or attainment he may be entitled to. the more obvious abuses, the flagrantly gratuitous distinctions, involving very gross inequalities and oppressions, will be the first to be exposed and abolished. the natural and just basis of the right of suffrage is doubtless qualification, wisdom, and substantial honesty. the right to wield the ballot is not in the strict sense an inborn and original right, coeval with our being, except as any right to which we may by culture attain is of this character. it is ours potentially. it belongs to attainment and possession, as the right, for instance, in a particular case to survey land, or instruct minds. it is a right i am to rise to through intelligence, discipline, manhood. it is conditioned upon discernment and true faithfulness. those too ignorant or uncaring to distinguish between rule and misrule, government and lawlessness, science and a juggle, supernal and infernal--those especially so profligate, who seek only to reach through government the sanction of law, the baptism of social order for their wickedness and misdeeds, have no business at any ballot-box, save that of recorded resolution to amend and repent. to put the ballot into the hands of the reckless, the besotted, and the profligate, is the sheerest abuse possible, and suicidal to all just protection and rule. it may be a long day ere suffrage shall be adjusted carefully and strictly to the normal basis. but before this the gospel must be preached to all nations, the rough places must be made smooth and the paths straight for the coming of the most high. whatever unjust barriers or factitious discrimination there may be against any must be abolished, and equality must be for all. wisdom or virtue is not the monopoly of any class or sex or race. by all the proprieties of nature, woman should have with man a voice in the enactment of laws and the administration of government. she is the complement of man, essential for the due poise, the right wisdom, and conduct in family, in neighborhood, in church or in state. sharing in civil government, she will be a redemptive agency for society in many ways little thought at present. and agitation and overturning shall not cease until the final realization is reached. society shall yet be rewrought and born again. all rule shall be justice, and obedience liberty. government shall be the reflection of the infinite kingdom, the incarnation of truth, wisdom, benignity, power, the protector and help of all, inviting and assisting each to full realization of the utmost possibilities of attainment and strength for the individual soul, building to perfect freedom, building also to perfect unity. service, sacrament, supreme reverence--this shall be the motto and norm of the world, all society become a church and all life worship, the broad anthem of souls. for this high consummation let us look and labor, trusting and working on to the perfect end. yours sincerely, chas. d. b. mills. dwight, ill., _april , _. my dear miss anthony:--your kind letter inviting me to attend the convention on the th of may, was duly received. i should be extremely happy to be with you in your deliberations, but so much of my time has of late been occupied in the work of the american union commission, that i can hardly spare a moment for even your good work. i, however, feel only selfish regrets, for i should be but a listener and partaker of the rich mental feasts that will there be freely offered to all who will partake. the great arguments have all been made by our opponents, and they concede all that we ask, save that they substitute expediency for principle. they have yet to learn that god will not be dethroned; that when he decrees a human soul, he surrounds it with all the dignity of free will and consequent responsibility. he therefore endows the soul with rights, the exercise and protection of which are the crown of humanity. we ask no new code of rights. we simply ask to be included in the general method of asserting and protecting them, which even the shadowy-browed children of bondage are now perceived to claim without presumption. it has been with no small degree of interest that i have seen that our wisest statesmen begin to so far see and feel the importance of the issue that lies inevitably in their path, that they stop to explain and apologize; but they dare not deny, lest the logic they use should be turned against themselves. the great christian doctrine of the equality of all before god, who is declared to be no respecter of persons, is the axe laid at the root of the tree of prejudice, which has for such long ages brought forth injustice and oppression in a multitude of forms. our good and great men are reading with anointed eyes the declaration, "there is neither jew nor greek, neither bond nor free," and we may hope they will soon read the final assertion, "neither male nor female, for ye are all one in christ jesus." in this full and broad assertion lies the completion of the great christian scheme, not limited to any number of parts, but embracing the great whole, thus recognizing the fatherhood of god and the brotherhood of man. what our cause now needs is the christian advocacy of good and wise men and women. legally, our position is conceded, so far as the logical sequences are concerned; but the pulpit, on which woman is prone to lean for all her opinions on questions of morality, has, with a few rare exceptions, been silent. henry ward beecher has dared to speak out in a manly, christian way; but even he has not laid upon the women of the church that burden of responsibility concerning government that they ought to be made to feel. for what, let me ask, is to excuse them, if their want of intelligence and activity should lead to a thorough corruption of political morals such as we have seen in portions of our country during a few years past. will they not be among those who hide their lord's talent in the earth, and by and by come back with the little morsel carefully wrapped up in a napkin, all beautifully embroidered, it may be, and tender it back, saying, "lo! there is thine own, take it!" in this religious aspect women must come to consider the question before it will become vital. political action may give it a body, but god only can breathe into it the breath of life that will constitute it a living soul. hence we see that without the best religious sanction, little progress can really be assured. i am conscious that my views are not identical with those of many who have reached the same general conclusions; but as many are disposed to regard the question from this standpoint, i have thought it best to express myself with great frankness. with many regrets that i can not partake in your deliberations, i remain, truly yours, mrs. h. m. tracy cutler. locust street, philadelphia, _may , _. my very dear susan anthony:--i fully intended coming to the meetings--gave up washington, made all my arrangements, packed my bag--and stayed at home. circumstances which i could not control, and which i can't very well explain, put utterly out of my power the duty and pleasure of coming. there's no use in saying how sorry i am, for it would waste paper and time to state all my regrets. suffice it to declare that i have rarely been so extremely sorry and disappointed. affectionately and truly thine, anna e. dickinson. office of correspondence with the friends of the missing men of } united states army, washington, d. c.; _april , _. } dear miss anthony:--i am glad that my too kind and partial friends have set me "right on the record." i am "with you," and with all who labor for the advancement of humanity and the world through the proper channels--the elevation of woman. you have my heart, my sympathies (if needed), my prayers, and, best of all, my hopes, for the success of your every endeavor; and my poor words you should have, if they could add either strength or interest, but neither nature nor art have contributed me anything in this direction. i sometimes work a little, but it seems to me to be in the most common manner, and i am sure i could not speak at all. but no one knows how happy i should be to be present and listen to those who can; and if not prevented by duties of a very pressing and positive nature, i shall indulge myself so far. with assurances of the highest regard, believe me your friend, clara barton. newport, r. i., _may , _. miss susan b. anthony--_dear friend_:--it has proved impossible for me to attend the convention; and i hope it is unnecessary, so far as my own position is concerned, for me to renew my allegiance to the equal rights movement. it seems to me the most glaring of logical absurdities to apply the name of universal suffrage to any system which does not include both sexes. it seems, in this point of view, a righteous retribution upon american men, that the disfranchisement of woman has put such a weapon into the hands of those who would disfranchise the negro also. i must say, however, that a still greater share of this responsibility rests upon american women, for it is their unwillingness to ask for their rights which chiefly renders our legislators unwilling to concede them. cordially yours, thomas wentworth higginson. a letter declining to speak at the boston equal rights meeting, says: "there has been a time when no one could do any better than i, to speak in favor of women physicians, and then i was willing to come forward and do my best. at present there are so many able and eloquent, however, on the platform to advocate what we need--political franchise--that i would appear presumptuous should i attempt to add myself to the list. there is no other right which i want besides the elective franchise, because the right to work on equality with man we can obtain, with nothing but energy and firm will. my own case as a physician illustrates that; while i am paying very nearly $ taxes (state and national), without the right to vote. these enormous taxes come from money earned, dollar by dollar, on equality with men, and yet there are all round me here many physicians of the stronger sex, who do not pay half this amount of taxes, who vote and rule. i hope before long a republic in the true sense of the word will be our share in this glorious country. with sincere wishes for the best of results in your present movement, i am truly yours, m. e. zakrzewska. frederick douglass, in a letter, saying it would be impossible for him to attend the boston equal rights meeting on the st of may, says, "my best and most earnest wishes for the success of your noble convention. the cause which it aims to subserve is the cause of the whole human family, in a sense the broadest and most striking ever hit upon by any other association." william lloyd garrison, in a letter stating that ill health prevented him from attending the national woman's rights convention in new york, says: "in some way i will try to express my warm and hearty approval of the equal rights movement at the approaching meeting in boston. i hail it with gladness, and as of far-reaching importance. the time has fully come to drop the phrase "woman's rights" for that of "equal rights." the following appeal, written by parker pillsbury, was issued in behalf of the american equal rights association in the autumn of : appeal for universal suffrage. in restoring the foundations of the government, justice, as the chief corner-stone, can alone secure a permanence of peace and prosperity. the eighteenth century gave the world the declaration of independence, the war of the revolution, and the constitution of the united states; but only in the light of the nineteenth are these sublime phenomena to be interpreted to us. from the government, the civilization, and religion of great britain, we derived our chattel slave system; but it survived the pen of jefferson, the sword of washington, and the wisdom, humanity, and statesmanship of the founders and framers of the government; and until far louder thunders than bunker hill and saratoga dashed it to the ground, and almost whelmed the government itself with it in a common ruin. and the terrible lessons of the late war will all be in vain, should we now attempt to relay our foundations in injustice and oppression. out of the jaws of rebellion and treason was the nation snatched by the hand of negro valor. and thus, surely, has that race earned the right of full citizenship and equality in the state. even jefferson declared, more than half a century ago, that whoever "fights and pays taxes" has the right of suffrage against the world. but the right of humanity, of manhood, is older and of higher and diviner appointment than any other. if the right of liberty and the pursuit of happiness be the gift and endowment of the creator, then surely is the right to the ballot the only possible or conceivable assurance and guaranty of it in republican governments. and on this ground the claim of woman is no less than that of man. but base and degrading as has been the position of the negro in the government, that of woman is far lower. at no price within human power to pay, can she arrive at equality in the government she is compelled to support and obey. in the making or executing of no law, however deeply her womanly interest or happiness may be involved, can she bear a part. she is found guilty, not of a crime, not of a color, but of a sex; and all her appeals to courts or communities for equality and justice, are in vain, even in this democratic and christian republic. she is a native, free-born citizen, a property-holder, taxpayer, loyal and patriotic. she supports herself, and in proportionable part, the schools, colleges, universities, churches, poor-houses, jails, prisons, the army, the navy, the whole machinery of government; and yet she has no vote at the polls, no voice in the national councils. she has guided great movements of philanthropy and charity; has founded and sustained churches; established missions; edited journals; written and published invaluable treatises on history and economy, political, social, and moral, and on philosophy in all its departments; filled honorably professors' chairs; governed nations; led armies; commanded ships; discovered and described new planets; practiced creditably in the liberal professions; and patiently explored the whole realm of scientific research; and yet, because in life's allotment she is _female_, not male, _woman_, not man, the curse of inferiority cleaves to her through all her generations. eden's anathema was to be removed on the coming of the second adam; and in the new dispensation there was to be neither male nor female. jewish outlawry from all the nations, continuing through almost twenty centuries, is repealed by common consent among all civilized governments. nor does the curse of eternal attainder longer blast the ethiopian race to degradation and slavery, through canaan's sin and shame. but where shall woman look for her redemption in this auspicious hour, when new dawnings of liberty, new sunrises of human enfranchisement are illumining the world? a man once said, "where liberty is, there is my country." but on what continent or island, or in what vast wilderness shall woman find a nationality where she shall be taxed to support no government she did not aid in making, obey no law she did not help to enact, nor suffer any penalty until adjudged, by a jury, in part at least, of her peers? true, her privileges in some states have been, after long struggle and conflict, enlarged and increased. like the southern freedmen, she has had her civil rights bill. but all this is compatible with the dred scott decision itself. the power that gives can take away; but of that power woman is no part. mr. sumner says, "the ballot is the one thing needful to the emancipated slave." without it, he declares, his liberty is but an illusion, a jack-o'lantern which he will pursue in vain. without the ballot, he reiterates, the slave becomes only sacrifice. and shall it not also be pre-eminently so with woman? formed by almighty power a little lower than the angels, her ruling lords and masters have, by legislative proscription, plunged her not a little but immeasurably below myriads of the human race, whose only boast or claim is, that for some inscrutable reason they were so constituted as to stand _men_ in the tables of the census. in the american equal rights association, it is determined to prosecute an agitation which shall wake the nation to new consciousness of the injustice long inflicted and still suffered through proscriptive distinctions on account of sex and complexion. to the industrial, hard-toiling, property-producing, family-supporting women, this appeal is made to come to the rescue of their own long-lost rights. in new york the angel of a constitutional convention is soon to stir the waters. let all who need healing hasten to the baptism. nor is it one of the least cheering signs that multitudes of the intelligent women of the country are fast waking to a full consciousness of the wrongs they suffer. even the war has taught invaluable lessons on the dignity and worth of woman in a thousand new spheres. our florence nightingales have not been one, but many, yea thousands. woman as well as the freedman saved the nation in its hour of peril, and invested herself with new dignity demanding new distinction. now emphatically is her hour. but no comparison need be instituted, none surely should be urged, as to whose is the paramount claim. the great clock of humanity has struck the hour, and its tones are ringing across the continents, reverberating as well among the alps as the alleghanies, and mingling sweet music in both the hemispheres. we are coming to the rescue of justice and right, girded with the panoply of a divine and holy cause, and omnipotence is pledged in our behalf. we propose to organize equal rights clubs or committees in every city, town, and village; to hold meetings for discussions and lectures; to circulate tracts and petitions, and to raise funds to enable the association to carry forward its work for educating the popular sentiment. we shall endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press. truth, justice, reason, humanity, must and will triumph. already a host is on our side, and our principles can never be defeated. the prospect before us is full of encouragement, and we confidently submit our enterprise to the heart and hand of a waiting and expectant people. letters to the may anniversary of . lawrence, kansas, _may , _. my dear miss anthony:--i hope your convention will not fail to set in its true light the position of those editors in new york who are branding as the "infamous thirteen" the men who, in the new jersey legislature, voted against negro suffrage, while they themselves give the whole weight of their journals against woman's right to vote. they use the terms "universal and impartial suffrage," when they mean only negro suffrage; and they do it to hide a dark skin and an unpopular client. they know that a "lie will keep its throne a whole age longer if it skulks behind the shadow of some fair seeming name." in new jersey a negro father is legally entitled to his children, but no mother in new jersey, black or white, has any legal right to her children. in new jersey a widow may live forty days in the house of her deceased husband without paying rent, but the negro widower, just like the white widower, may remain in undisturbed possession of house and property. a negro man can sell his real estate and make a valid deed, but no wife in that state can do so without her husband's consent. a negro man in new jersey may will all his property as he pleases, but no wife in the state can will her personal property at all, and if she will her real estate with her husband's consent, he may revoke that consent any time before the will is admitted to probate, and thus render her will null and void. the women of new jersey went to the legislature last winter on their own petition, for the right of suffrage. twenty-three members voted for them, thirty-two voted against them. but the editors who now find unmeasured words to express their contempt for the "infamous thirteen" who voted against the negro, were as dumb as death when this vote was cast against woman. the washington correspondent of the new york _tribune_ says that charles sumner and thaddeus stevens give it as their opinion that new jersey will not have a republican form of government until they put the word "white" out of their constitution. do these gentlemen mean to say that when new jersey has given her , negro men the vote she will have a republican form of government, while , women of that state are still without it? and not only without it, but blasted by laws which are a disgrace to the civilization of the age; and of these laws not one afflicts or affects the negro man. the rebels who starved our brave boys in andersonville, and made ornaments of their bones, these men, traitors, guilty of the highest crime known to our laws, are to be punished by having their right to vote taken away. of what crime are american women guilty that they are to be compelled to stand on a political platform with such men as these? let no man dream that national prosperity and peace can be secured by merely giving suffrage to colored men, while that sacred right is denied to millions of american women. that scanty shred of justice, good as far it goes, is utterly inadequate to meet the emergency of this hour. men of every race and color may vote, but if the women are excluded our legislation will still lack that moral tone, for want of which the nation is to-day drifting toward ruin. there is no other name given by which the country can be saved but that of woman. "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." women are governed, negroes are governed, and should give their consent. will men never learn that a principle which god has made true he has also made it safe to apply? aye, more, that a principle he has made true, it is not safe not to apply? the problem for the american statesmen to-day is no narrow question of races, but how to embody in our institutions a guarantee for the rights of every citizen. the solution is easy. base government on the consent of the governed, and each class will protect itself. put this one great principle of universal suffrage, irrespective of sex or color, into the foundation of our temple of liberty, and it will rise in fair and beautiful proportions, "without the sound of a hammer or the noise of any instrument," to stand at last "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." omit it, and only "he who sees the end from the beginning" knows through what other national woes we must be driven, before we learn that the path of justice is the only path of peace and safety. lucy stone. boston, _may , _. _to the american equal rights association_: although not permitted to be present with you, yet, in spirit, i join you in all your efforts to secure justice and equality to all the children of god. i have so long felt deeply upon the subjects before you, that i wish to add my word to the voices of those who are more fortunate in being present. since i was old enough to think upon important subjects, i have constantly felt the pressure of injustice that has borne so heavily upon my sex. at sixteen i earnestly desired to enter some college, that i might have the benefit of those helps to learning which were open to all boys, and i deeply felt the cruelty and injustice that closed the doors of the universities to me, who was longing and thirsting for knowledge, while they were invitingly open to the youth of the other sex, who often only used them to waste their time and give them the name of educated men. i could see no reason for this exclusion, nor could i imagine how it would harm any one to allow girls who desired to learn the privilege of going to the universities. my next personal experience of the injustice done to women by the laws was, when a widow, i buried one of my little daughters, and found that i, who had borne her and nursed her and provided for all her wants, was not her heir, but her little sister, who had done nothing for her, and was still dependent on me for care, etc. this i felt very keenly, not on account of the property involved, for it was but little, but on account of the great injustice done to my maternal heart. my next personal lesson in the law's iniquity was, when about to marry the second time, both myself and husband desired to secure to me the property i possessed. i employed a great lawyer in maine, gov. fessenden, the father of one of our senators, to make an instrument that would secure that end. after thinking on the subject a week, and doing the best he could, he handed me the paper, saying, "i have done my best; but i can not assure you that this instrument will secure to you your property if your husband should ever become insolvent!" this surely astonished me. the law not only did not protect women in their property rights, but did so much to prevent their getting or keeping them, that an able lawyer could not frame an instrument that would secure them even when signed by their intended husbands before marriage! this was more than thirty years ago, and some improvements have since been made in the laws in reference to women. the next great wrong that pressed heavily upon me was when i again became a widow. i found myself yearly taxed for state and county, and later for revenue, without a voice in anything that concerned the raising of money, or in any of the elections to office in the great struggle that our country was passing through. with all the deep feeling of my brethren, a clear appreciation of the all-important issues at stake, and an intensely painful knowledge of the sin of slavery and its concomitant evils, i could not cast a vote in favor of the right, but must look on with folded hands, and give my money to support the government, without a chance of giving it an impetus, however slight, in the direction of justice and liberty! in view of all these wrongs, i felt that the women of america had as just cause for rebellion against the government as our fathers had against the british government when they resisted, on the ground that taxation and representation were one and inseparable. the three great desires of my life have been: that the halls of learning should be universally open to all souls who desire to enter them; that the property rights of all, without regard to sex, color, or race, should stand on the same foundation, and be equal; that every person twenty-one years old, who is a citizen of the united states, should have the ballot, unless disfranchised by crime, idiocy, or insanity. when these three things are granted, all else will follow in due time. but until these things are assured to the citizens of america, our government presents the anomaly of being professedly founded upon the consent of the governed, and yet shutting out two-thirds of its citizens from all voice in it. * * * * * mercy b. jackson, m.d. chicago, _march , _. dear miss anthony:--i feel that i must do something for the "woman's suffrage" movement in the west. there is much interest here concerning it, but no movement is yet made. matters are being prepared, and when the movement is made in the west, it will sweep onward majestically. kansas and iowa will first give women the right to vote before any other states, east or west. "man proposes, but god disposes." i have always had a theory of my own concerning this suffrage question. ever since i began to think of it, and that has been since dr. harriot hunt's first protest against woman being taxed when she had no representation, i have believed that, in my day, woman would vote. but i have thought they would first obtain the right to work and wages, and that the right to vote would naturally follow. for woman's right to work and wages i have labored indefatigably. but i see that my plan is not god's plan. the right to vote is to come first, and work and wages afterwards, and easily. i "stumped" the northwest during the war. two women of us, mrs. hoge and myself, organized over , aid societies, and raised, in money and supplies, nearly $ , for the soldiers; and to do it, we were compelled to get people together in masses, and tell our story and our plans, and make our appeals to hundreds at a time. so i can talk here, and can help you here, when you are ready to lead. in the meanwhile, i have begun to work for the cause through my husband's weekly paper, which has a large circulation in the northwest. i have announced myself as henceforth committed to the cause of woman suffrage, and have become involved, instanter, in a controversy on the subject. i am associate editor of the paper, and have been these dozen years. i have just completed a reply to an objector to the doctrine, which goes into this week's issue. in my way, i am working with you. i have always believed in the ballot for woman at some future time--always, since reading margaret fuller's "woman in the nineteenth century," which set me to thinking a quarter of a century ago. boston is my native city, and i lived there till my marriage, and had one or two talks with theodore parker which helped me wonderfully. yours truly, mary a. livermore. topeka, kansas, _april , _. dear madam:--we are now arranging for a thorough canvass of our state for impartial suffrage, without regard to sex or color. we are satisfied that an argument in favor of colored suffrage is an argument in favor of woman suffrage. both are based upon the same principle. it is the doctrine of our fathers "that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." we "white men" have no right to ask privileges or demand rights for ourselves that we are unwilling to grant to the whole human family. there never has been, and never can be, an argument, based upon principle, against colored or woman suffrage. sneers and attempts at ridicule are not arguments. henry b. blackwell, of new jersey, and mrs. lucy stone, are now canvassing our state for impartial suffrage. some of the most eminent men and women of the united states have been invited, and promised to visit our state this summer and fall; and we shall succeed. kansas will be free, and occupy the proudest place, in all time to come, in the history of the world. we desire to extend our meetings to every neighborhood in kansas; reach, if possible, the ear of every voter. for this purpose we must enlist every home speaker possible. we shall arrange series of meetings in all parts of the state, commencing about september st, and running through september and october. we desire speakers to advocate the broad doctrine of impartial suffrage, but welcome those who advocate either. those who desire colored suffrage alone, are invited to take the field; also those who favor only female suffrage. each help the other. i am instructed by the state impartial suffrage executive committee to ask you to aid us, and speak at as many of our meetings as possible. please answer at once, and let us know how much time you can spend in the campaign, and what part of the state you prefer to speak in. yours truly, s. n. wood, _cor. sec'y kansas impartial suffrage association_. bangor, me., _may , _. dear miss anthony:--i should be truly glad to attend the annual meeting; but, as you see, i am far from new york. mr. davis and i are at work in another part of the great field of progress. while you and your noble friend, mrs. stanton, are endeavoring to move the adult population of our nation to just and righteous action, we are striving to establish on earth the beginning of the kingdom of heaven, by instituting a new and true method of moral and spiritual or religious education for the children and youth of the new dispensation. spiritualism, as a religious movement, has done more than any previous dispensation to give woman an equal career with man; and we trust that, through the influence of the "children's progressive lyceums," the youth in our midst, rapidly advancing to the stage of action, will form a powerful phalanx on the side of "equal rights" and the elevation of humanity. yours fraternally, mary f. davis. buffalo, _april , _. dear mrs. stanton:--i thank you for your kind note.... i pray that god will bless you in the noble work you are in, and that woman will soon be admitted to her proper place where god intended she should be, and from which to exclude her must, like any other great wrong, bring misery and sorrow to the race. sincerely your friend, rufus saxton. madison avenue, sunday eve., _april , _. my dear mrs. stanton:--your invitation to me to lift my voice at your annual convention in behalf of the cause for which you have worked so faithfully and so long, and, let me add, so efficiently, was duly received; but i have an universal excuse for neglect of duty in the multitudinous professional engagements that absorb my life and strength. believing in the justice of your cause, and that better laws and better order would bless our race could they be submitted to the arbitrament of woman, i yet am not able, individually, to give the time to it now which would be requisite for an adequate public presentation of its claims, but must content myself with only such passing words of cheer as the moment calls forth in the daily intercourse of life. i am grateful that you thought me competent to advocate so great a principle; but he would be a bold man who would attempt to add anything to the masterly effort of mr. beecher at the last convention. i am, as of old, your friend, luther r. marsh. madison avenue, _april , _. dear mrs. stanton:--please accept the trifle enclosed, $ , as a token of my friendship to the good cause, whose mighty burden of enlightenment is to hold the growth of future cycles with an all-controlling destiny. i am glad to see that those who have been willing to wear the sackcloth and ashes are beginning to receive the crowns of the olive and the bay upon their consecrated heads. many will find it very agreeable, now, to sail in upon the sunny and ardent tide of the rippling river, forgetting that once it was a darksome, sluggish stream, not pleasant to launch forth upon. my father's[ ] early championship of a despised cause taught me to hold very sacred those pioneers in holy efforts, which to embrace was to suffer the pangs of a daily martyrdom. your friend, as of old, jeannie marsh. _may , ._ it is foolish to say that the advocates of the "woman movement" demand "special legislation" for woman, or desire to array her in hostility to man. it is the enemies of this movement who have made special legislation necessary, since they declare woman not to be the equal of man. we desire nothing but one common law alike for each, with woman holding the ballot, not as the enemy, but as the peer and friend of man. anna e. dickinson. kenosha, wis., _may , _. i saw your notice of the meeting of the american equal rights association in that banner of freedom, the boston _investigator_. a thousand times i wish you success. we, in this state, intend to make a determined fight next year for female suffrage. the resolution submitting it to the people passed the assembly and senate by more than two to one ( against . and against ); yet you must not suppose that our cause is so favorable as that. i send a few extracts, copied from the racine _advocate_; and to that number i am pleased to add the milwaukee _news_, the leading democratic paper of the state. mr. sholes, one of the leading republicans of the state (elector on the last presidential ticket), is warmly in support of your cause. certainly the great car of progress is under motion, and no bigoted, conservative fogyism can long stay its progress. in the meantime, i really hope to see some of your best speakers in the wisconsin field before the election of . where can i get some pamphlets containing the best arguments for universal suffrage? go bravely on. let not the scoffs and sneers of the low, mean, and vulgar intimidate, defeat, or discourage you. most respectfully, r. f. mills. * * * * * acknowledgments. _receipts at the eleventh national woman's rights convention, held in new york, may , ._ abby hutchinson patton $ jessie benton fremont mrs. c. lozier, m.d. james and lucretia mott anna densmore, m.d. margaret e. winchester eliza wright osborn martha c. wright gerrit and nancy smith elizabeth smith miller c. c. williams s. r. ferris mrs. l. m. ward. m.d. m. p. allen m. a. halsted mrs. j. b. mix h. phelps j. h. smith frances v. hallock ella m. clymer sarah s. white cordelia curtis mrs. d. t. tompkins josephine s. griffing mrs. f. knapp mary m. bingham harriet clisby sarah e. payson christiana t. wallace d. j. h. wilcox albert o. wilcox j. h. h. wilcox frances d. gage louisa humphrey a. m. odell dr. j. e. snodgrass gustavus muller charles lenox remond mary curtis jane p. thurston martha t. ketchum sarah h. hallock elizabeth barton mrs. geo. c. white a. raymond susan m. davis a. m. powell general collection _receipts at the equal rights convention, held at boston, may , ._ anna e. dickinson $ e. d. and anna f. draper geo. j. and mary b. h. adams mr. and mrs. a. m. mcphail anna davis hallowell c. prince mrs. m. p. snow caroline m. severance r. h. ober mrs. l. prang a. e. heywood parker pillsbury mrs. e. d. cheney l. h. ober mrs. m. h. prince john t. sargent r. p. hallowell mrs. c. a. baker e. h. merrill maria s. page mary c. shannon n. allen s. reynolds r. t. greene m. halliburton harriet a. foster a. b. morey c. s. perry a. s. sisson s. boynton henry abbott lewis ford sarah j. nowell friend col. wm. b. green r. h. morrill mrs. m. a. dotcher m. c. wolson mary willey cash abby h. stephenson lewis mclaughlin mrs. s. d. young sarah h. young, m.d. m. e. woods m. e. jameson c. f. haywood h. a. comly anna r. southwick h. e. sawyer richard plummer r. howland s. r. duzen f. a. green d. b. morey j. wetherbe isaac h. marshall maria b. clapp j. e. bruce a. j. patterson cash t. b. rice cash frances h. drake kate c. atkinson wilmot wilson cash mary c. sawyer elizabeth mendum h. w. carter l. f. lalve, m.d. k. e. walker charles k. whipple ruth buffum s. cheney k. c. atkins elizabeth m. f. denton h. n. green m. e. steward margaret n. wood cash kate reynolds john l. whiting universal suffrage m. e. darey general collection _receipts from june , , to may , ._ levi coates $ mrs. a. c. l. hyde jane voorhees harriet v. rice mary f. gilbert f. a. hinckley louisa frost m. b. linton olympia brown mary e. ranks mary e. deuls sarah h. hallock dansville e. r. association (per james c. jackson, m.d.) gerrit smith james and lucretia mott c. s. lozier, m.d. samuel e. sewall sinclair tousey g. p. lowrey dr. dio lewis martha c. wright eliza w. osborn e. v. dickey edward m. davis matilda e. j. gage e. d. hudson job parker aaron stedman mrs. b. p. markham mrs. d. f. rogers emily rogers maggie clemmer james eaton addison b. tuttle anna h. mcavoy isadore harrison joseph a. sherman frank conway mary jackson j. d. cook j. g. howe r. lippis h. w. hale william litch sarah willis mrs. e. b. judson s. j. may joseph savage h. delano t. g. white dr. h. s. sparks mr. and mrs. l. spalding j. m. wieting mrs. w. h. williams anna willets emily jaques sarah e. wall james freeman clarke parker pillsbury mrs. s. m. doty mary grew sarah pugh margaret j. burleigh geo. h. sisson e. g. folsom joseph carpenter susan ormsby frances ellen burr j. d. stephenson paulina gerry j. h. root mrs. avery martha pierce james pierce a friend equal rights mrs. c. s. lozier, m.d. mrs. e. sanderson isaac sherwood mrs. p. l. upham john b. bassett h. t. douley sarah f. rice, m.d. joseph post huldah s. warrington mary styles m. parish mrs. field martha hudson sarah e. johonnet john lancaster dr. and mrs. a. l. ward frances e. smith mrs. whitley mrs. d. b. hontz j. sinclair anna rice powell mrs. mix, m.d. alice hall ella clymer linda dietz mrs. dietz dr. james burson l. a. van cort william russel sarah b. perry d. h. hoffman p. a. neale edward kingsley fanny m. callow l. jenny kellogg caroline h. sherwood delia a. barker gustavus muller william l. jaycox e. p. bailey m. newth cynthia delong john castor w. r. and m. h. hallowell mary b. f. curtis sarah smith j. n. holmes m. merrick charles d. b. mills a. p. brown mrs. f. l. brown e. c. lewis mrs. l. h. hinsdale mrs. b. brook c. a. abbott fayette clark priscilla clark louisa j. phelps lydia p. savage mrs. charles b. sedgwick mary a. horton j. t. williams mrs. g. g. sperry a. d. waters s. brewer h. c. todd c. g. alton mrs. l. a. strowbridge martha c. wright eliza w. osborn mrs. dr. hall abby thayer chase philadelphia e. r. convention esther cole l. kelsey j. s. northrup mrs. a. leaton samuel sutton caroline thompson elizabeth m. atwell jacob and eliza powell zenus brackett mrs. judge owen margaret vanderpool james mcentee h. m. crane james g. lindsley walter b. crane horatio falks j. e. lasher mrs. vantassell jonathan buffum luther melendy anson lapham mary s. moses mrs. oliver dennett mr. armstrong elisabeth j. vail, m.d. matilda t. saxton rosanna thompson helen philleo james halleck p. h. boyce ellis ellis charlotte m. schofield john cadawalder david perry le grand marvin j. van vleck cyrus p. lee aaron r. vail e. cumming mrs. j. watson _receipts at the first anniversary, may and , ._ elizabeth b. chace $ parker pillsbury mrs. luther marsh lydia mott mrs. p. h. and m. jones susan b. anthony cora a. syme two ladies, $ each frances d. gage samuel j. may l. francis westchester e. r. association (per e. a. studwell) jane clegg joseph and mary post charlotte d. lozier, m.d. elizabeth w. brown oliver johnson a. o. willcox j. k. h. wilcox e. cummings mary c. sawyer j. c. fergusson fred. h. hernan harry h. hall charles p. somerby robert j. johnston mrs. s. m. chickering j. miller mckim sarah e. wall r. f. hudson mrs. gayno mrs. dodge mrs. l. francis mrs. elmer stone hannah w. bell s. s. foster mrs. brown t. w. higginson s. d. white cash a. noble, sr. c. b. halsart e. underhill a. m. powell j. e. snodgrass mrs. hibbard nellie lord d. b. and a. morey r. salmon adolphus o. johnson levi k. joslin mary f. davis wm. p. bolles cash e. ostrander esther titus l. b. humphrey martha hudson susan m. davis sojourner truth t. m. newbold m. e. woodson mrs. m. johnson ann ellsworth hunt l. blake j. l. langworthy t. b. pierce esther c. pierce e. campbell m. h. mckinnon mrs. j. b. mix, m.d. samuel d. moore m. p. allen r. williams p. e. kipp _pledges._ anna e. dickinson $ margaret e. winchester a. o. wilcox c. and m. h. prince gillis, harney & co. h. hart d. b. and a. b. morey john smith c. f. wallace c. e. reason mrs. c. e. collins euphemia cochrane melissa johnson w. f. douley mrs. h. p. baldwin dr. chavau s. a. turner dio lewis, m.d. r. c. browning george h. taylor, m.d. * * * * * sojourner truth on the press. to the editor of the world:--we have had the pleasure of entertaining mrs. stowe's "lybian sybil" at our home for the last week, and can bear our testimony to the marvelous wisdom and goodness of this remarkable woman. she was a slave in this state for forty years, and has devoted forty years of freedom to the best interests of her race. though eighty years of age, she is as active and clear-sighted as ever, and "understands the whole question of reconstruction, all its 'quagmires and pitfalls,' as she says, as well as any man does." the morning after the equal rights convention, as the daily journals one by one made their appearance, turning to the youngsters of the household, she said: "children, as there is no school to-day, will you read sojourner the reports of the convention? i want to see whether these young sprigs of the press do me justice. you know, children, i don't read such small stuff as letters, i read men and nations. i can see through a millstone, though i can't see through a spelling-book. what a narrow idea a reading qualification is for a voter! i know and do what is right better than many big men who read. and there's that property qualification! just as bad. as if men and women themselves, who made money, were not of more value than the thing they made. if i were a delegate to the constitutional convention i could make suffrage as clear as daylight; but i am afraid these republicans will 'purty, purty' about all manner of small things week out and week in, and never settle this foundation question after all." sojourner then gathered up her bag and shawl, and walked into the parlor in a stately manner, and there, surrounded by the children, the papers were duly read and considered. the _express_, the _post_, the _commercial advertiser_, the _world_, the _times_, the _herald_, the _tribune_, and the _sun_, all passed in review. the _world_ seemed to please sojourner more than any other journal. she said she liked the wit of the _world's_ reporter; all the little texts running through the speeches, such as "sojourner on popping up," "no grumbling," "digging stumps," "biz," to show what is coming, so that one can get ready to cry or laugh, as the case may be--a kind of sign-board, a milestone, to tell where we are going, and how fast we go. the readers then call her attention to the solid columns of the other papers, and the versification of the _world_. she said she did not like the dead calm. she liked the breaking up into verses, like her songs. that is a good thing; it gives the reporter time to take breath and sharpen his pen, and think of some witty thing to say; for life is a hard battle anyway, and if we can laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. "but, children, why did you not send for some of those wicked democratic papers that abuse all good people and good things." "they are all here," said the readers in chorus. "we have read you all the republicans and the democrats say." "why, children, i can't tell one from the other. the millennium must be here, when one can't tell saints from sinners, republicans from democrats. is the _world_ horace greeley's paper?" "oh, no; the _world_ is democratic!" "democratic! why, children, the _world_ does move! but there is one thing i don't exactly see; if the democrats are all ready to give equal rights to all, what are the republicans making such a fuss about? mr. greeley was ready for this twenty years ago; if he had gone on as fast as the democrats he should have been on the platform, at the conventions, making speeches, and writing resolutions, long ago." "oh," said some one of larger growth, "mr. greeley is busy with tariffs and protective duties. what do you think, sojourner, of free trade? do you not think if england and france have more dry-goods than they want that they had better send them to us, and we in turn send them our fruits and flowers and grains; our timber, iron, fish, and ice?" "yes, i go for everything free. let nature, like individuals, make the most of what god has given them, have their neighbors to do the same, and then do all they can to serve each other. there is no use in one man, or one nation, to try to do or be everything. it is a good thing to be dependent on each other for something, it makes us civil and peaceable. but," said sojourner, "where is theodore tilton's paper?" "oh, the _independent_ is a weekly, it came out before the convention." "but theodore is not a weekly; why did he not come to the convention and tell us what he thought?" "well, here is his last paper, with a grand editorial," and sojourner listened to the end with interest. "that's good," said she, "but he don't say woman." "oh, he is talking about sectarianism, not suffrage; the church, not the state." "no matter, the church wrongs woman as much as the state. 'wives, obey your husbands,' is as bad as the common law. 'the husband and wife are one, and that one the husband.' i am afraid theodore and horace are playing bo-peep with their shadows. did you tell me that mr. greeley is a delegate to the constitutional convention?" yes, and i hope that he will soon wake up to the fact that the democrats are going ahead of him, and instead of writing articles on 'democracy run mad,' on tariffs and mining interests, it behooves him to be studying what genuine republicanism is, and whether we are to realize it in the empire state this very year or not. "speaking of shadows," said sojourner, "i wish the _world_ to know that when i go among fashionable people in the church of the puritans, i do not carry 'rations' in my bag; i keep my shadow there. i have good friends enough to give me clothes and rations. i stand on principle, always in one place, so everybody knows where to find sojourner, and i don't want my shadow even to be dogging about here and there and everywhere, so i keep it in this bag." "i think," said one of the group, "the press should hereafter speak of you as mrs. stowe's lybian sybil, and not as 'old church woman.'" "oh, child, that's good enough. the _herald_ used to call me 'old black nigger,' so this sounds respectable. have you read the _herald_ too, children? is that born again? well, we are all walking the right way together. i'll tell you what i'm thinking. my speeches in the convention read well. i should like to have the substance put together, improved a little, and published in tract form, headed 'sojourner truth on suffrage;' for if these timid men, like greeley, knew that sojourner was out for 'universal suffrage,' they would not be so afraid to handle the question. yes, children, i am going to rouse the people on equality. i must sojourn once to the ballot-box before i die. i hear the ballot-box is a beautiful glass globe, so you can see all the votes as they go in. now, the first time i vote i'll see if a woman's vote looks any different from the rest--if it makes any stir or commotion. if it don't inside, it need not outside. that good speech of henry ward beecher's made my heart leap for joy; he just hit the nail right on the head when he said you never lost anything by asking everything; if you bait the suffrage-hook with a woman you will certainly catch a black man. there is a great deal in that philosophy, children. now i must go and take a smoke!" i tell you in confidence, mr. editor, sojourner smokes! yours respectfully, e. c. s. p. s.--she says she has been sent into the smoking-car so often she smoked in self-defense--she would rather swallow her own smoke than another's. * * * * * chapter xix. the kansas campaign, . impartial suffrage in kansas--a vigorous canvass anticipated. st. louis, april . the _democrat's_ topeka, kansas, special says: "a large convention of those in favor of impartial suffrage is in session in this city. lucy stone and dr. blackwell, and delegates from different parts of the state are in attendance. "an association has been formed for the purpose of canvassing the state thoroughly and distributing documents. the object is to carry the female suffrage clause as well as the negro. the officers of the association are gov. crawford, for president; lieut. gov. green, for vice-president; judge s. n. wood, for corresponding secretary; and an executive committee of fourteen, including such men as chas. robinson, j. p. root, j. b. abbot, col. moonlight, all the members of the supreme court, and other leading men of the state. arrangements are made to have the most prominent advocates of impartial suffrage from the east to stump the state. money will be raised to conduct the fall campaign, which will probably be the most vigorously conducted of any which has yet taken place." the _state record_, kansas, says: "the opponents of woman suffrage use the argument very freely that its advocates are not in favor of negro suffrage. this is wickedly and wilfully false. the most earnest and influential supporters of woman suffrage in the state are equally anxious to give the negro his rights, and republicans, generally, will vote for both propositions. we hope none will be deceived by these false charges made by those who write and speak in the interest of saloons, and who to turn expect to be elevated to office through their agency. the most bitter and relentless and united efforts now making against woman suffrage, are by those who are devoting their lives to degrading men and women too, and we are sorry to see a few respectable men keeping them company, under the foolish impression that the movement originated and is carried on by those who aim to defeat negro suffrage. we earnestly hope the day is near at hand when all men and women everywhere will be allowed to exercise their political rights." extract from a letter written by mrs. s. n. wood for the lawrence _tribune_, may, : "the women of cottonwood falls have passed through this horrid furnace of an election, and come out unscathed. our laws require that a majority of all the legal voters in the district must vote to issue bonds to build a school-house, before bonds can be issued. as women were legal voters, to stay at home was to vote against bonds. the election had to be conducted exactly as other elections. it was a busy time; none of our men liked to leave their work to spend the day at the polls, so three women were chosen and qualified to act as judges. no guardians of the ballot-box ever acted with more ability or behaved with more propriety and dignity than they. there was not the least rudeness among the men; no brawling or swearing. not a woman there lost a particle of refinement, or became a grain coarser, or neglected her family. not one of the misguided women whose bad influences mr. reynolds, of the _journal_, so much dreads, came to the polls. that kind of women, i judge, are literally opposed to women demoralizing themselves by voting. but if such lived in our district, and had offered to vote, i trust their votes would have been received and counted just the same as the votes of the men who support and encourage them in their wicked career. i never knew what men meant when talking about bonds, until i learned that i must vote on the subject. i wanted to vote intelligently; sought the requisite information; and i went to the polls feeling stronger and safer for that little knowledge gained. when i came home my little ones hailed me as lovingly as ever, and the same mother-love guided my hands for their comfort. "in , a 'woman's rights' man, in kansas, believing that there should be a perfect equality as to property rights between men and women, wrote to gerrit smith, wm. goodell, lucy stone, and other advocates of woman's rights, asking them to send him a form of a law that would secure that object. among others he received the framework of a law written by lucy stone. he wrote it over according to her pattern, and lyman allen introduced it into the legislature. it became a law in february, . the original in lucy stone's handwriting is yet in existence. the law is virtually the one that, to-day, on our statute book testifies to the honest sense of justice that their conflict with tyranny nurtured in our men in the early days of kansas. it testifies to lucy stone's zeal in behalf of her sex." the following address to the southern people was largely circulated in kansas during the spring campaign, by mr. blackwell. what the south can do. how the southern states can make themselves masters of the situation. to the legislatures of the southern states:--i write to you as the intellectual leaders of the southern people--men who should be able and willing to transcend the prejudices of section--to suggest the only ground of settlement between north and south which, in my judgment, can be successfully adopted. let me state the political situation. the radical principles of the north are immovably fixed upon negro suffrage as a condition of southern state reconstruction. the proposed constitutional amendment is not regarded as a finality. it satisfies nobody, not even its authors. in the minds of the northern people the negroes are now associated with the idea of loyalty to the union. they are considered citizens. they are respected as "our allies." it is believed in the north that a majority of the white people of the south are at heart the enemies of the union. the advocates of negro suffrage daily grow stronger and more numerous. on the other hand, a majority of the southern white population are inflexibly opposed to negro suffrage in any form, universal or qualified, and are prepared to resist its introduction by every means in their power. in alliance with the president and the northern democracy, they protest against any and all terms of reconstruction, demand unconditional readmission, and await in gloomy silence the republican initiative. this absolute and growing antagonism can only end, if continued, in one of two results, either in a renewal of civil war, or in a concession by the south of political equality to the negro. but in case of war, the south can not possibly succeed. the north is to-day far stronger in men and money, in farms and factories, than she was in . she is now trained to war, conscious of overwhelming strength, flushed with victory, and respected, as never before, by the nations of europe. moreover, she is much more united in political sentiment. do not again deceive yourselves. if you should resort to arms, the north would be practically unanimous. the president would instantly be impeached and a radical successor appointed. the south has lost social unity with the loss of slavery. she can not fight better than before. and the braver her action, the more terrible would be her fate. gentlemen, these are facts--not theories. wise men try to see things as they are, uncolored by opinion or preference. the interest of both north and south, since they must live together, is peace, harmony, and real fraternity. no adjustment can fully succeed unless it is acceptable to both sections. therefore the statesman and patriot must find a common ground as a basis of permanent reconciliation. now the radicalism of the north is actual, organic, and progressive. recognize the fact. but if "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed"--if "taxation without representation is tyranny"--and "on these two commandments hang all the (republican) law and the prophets"--then these propositions are as applicable to women as to negroes. "consistency is a jewel." the principle is so broad that, if you accept it in its entirety, you can afford to lead--not follow. the population of the late slave states is about , , ; , , white, , , black. the radicals demand suffrage for the black men on the ground named above. very good. say to them, as mr. cowan said to the advocates of negro male suffrage in the district, "apply your principle! give suffrage to all men and women of mature age and sound mind, and we will accept it as the basis of state and national reconstruction." consider the result from the southern standpoint. your , , of southern white women will counterbalance your , , of negro men and women, and thus the political supremacy of your white race will remain unchanged. think well of this. it is a calculation of the relative political influences of white women and of negroes which perhaps your people have not yet considered. let us make the statement in figures. estimating one male voter to every five persons, your present vote is: white males , , add white females , , --------- total white voters , , negro males , negro females , --------- total negro voters , , suppose all the negroes vote one way and all the whites the other, your white majority would be , , --equal to your present total vote. thus you would control your own state legislation. meanwhile, your influence in the councils of the nation will be greater than ever before, because your emancipated slaves will be counted in the basis of representation, instead of as formerly, in the ratio of five for three. in the light of the history of your confederacy, can any southerner fear to trust the women of the south with the ballot? but the propriety of your making the proposal lies deeper than any consideration of sectional expediency. if you must try the republican experiment, try it fully and fairly. since you are compelled to union with the north, remove every seed of future controversy. if you are to share the future government of your states with a race you deem naturally and hopelessly inferior, avert the social chaos, which seems to you so imminent, by utilizing the intelligence and patriotism of the wives and daughters of the south. plant yourselves upon the logical northern principle. then no new demands can ever be made upon you. no future inroads of fanaticism can renew sectional discord. the effect upon the north would be to revolutionize political parties. "justice satisfies everybody." the negro, thus protected against oppression by possessing the ballot, would cease to be the prominent object of philanthropic interest. northern distrust, disarmed by southern magnanimity, would give place to the liveliest sentiments of confidence and regard. the great political desideratum would be attained. the negro question would be forever removed from the political arena. national parties would again crystallize upon legitimate questions of national interest--questions of tariff, finance, and foreign relations. the disastrous conflict between federal and state jurisdiction would cease. north and south, no longer hammer and anvil, would forget and forgive the past. school-houses and churches would be our fortifications and intrenchments. capital and population would flow, like the mississippi, toward the gulf. the black race would gravitate by the law of nature toward the tropics. the memory and spirit of washington would be cherished; and every deed of genuine gallantry and humanity would be treasured as the common glory of the republic. do you say that northern republicans would not accept such a proposition? they can not avoid it. the matter is in your own hands. in new jersey (then a slave state) from to , a period of thirty-one years, women and negroes voted on precisely the same footing as white men. no catastrophe, social or political, ensued. the following is an extract from the new jersey election law of : "sec. . every voter shall openly and in full view deliver his or her ballot, which shall be a single written ticket containing the names of the person, or persons, for whom he or she votes," etc. your southern legislatures can extend suffrage on equal terms to "all inhabitants," as the new jersey state convention did in . then let the republicans in congress refuse to admit your senators and representatives, if they dare. if so, they will go under. upon that issue fairly made up, the men of positive convictions would rally round the new and consistent democratic party. the very element which has destroyed slavery would side with the victorious south, and "out of the nettle danger you would pluck the flower safety." respectfully yours, henry b. blackwell. new york, january , . * * * * * suppressed proceedings. the republican state central committee met last week in leavenworth. the leavenworth papers published or pretended to publish the proceedings of the committee, but suppressed an important portion. fortunately, mr. taylor, the honest and able editor of the wyandotte _gazette_, is a member of the committee, and was present at the meeting. from his paper we get the following that was for some cause or other suppressed: "mr. taylor offered the following resolution: "_resolved_, that the republican state central committee do not indorse, but distinctly repudiate, as speakers, in behalf and under the auspices of the republican party, such persons as have defamed, or do hereafter defame, in their public addresses, the women of kansas, or those ladies who have been urging upon the people of kansas the propriety of enfranchising the women of the state. "whiting moved to lay the resolution on the table. "_ayes_--whiting, eskridge-- . "_noes_--taylor-- . "taylor moved to strike the name of i. s. kalloch from the list of speakers in the republican state canvass. "_ayes_--taylor-- . "_noes_--whiting, eskridge-- . protest of mr. taylor. "the undersigned, a member of the republican state central committee of kansas, protests against the action of the committee this day had so far as relates to the placing of the names of i. s. kalloch, c. v. eskridge, and p. b. plumb, on the list of speakers to canvass the state in behalf of republican principles, for the reason that they have within the last few weeks, in public addresses, published articles, used ungentlemanly, indecent, and infamously defamatory language, when alluding to a large and respectable portion of the women of kansas, or to women now engaged in canvassing the state in favor of impartial suffrage. "r. b. taylor. "leavenworth, sept. , . _address by the women's impartial suffrage association of lawrence, kansas._ to the women of kansas:--at the coming election on the th of november, questions of the greatest importance to every citizen of kansas, whether man or woman, will be presented for the action of the people. shall the right of suffrage be extended to negroes? shall the right of suffrage be extended to women? the question of the enfranchisement of the negro now mainly occupies the attention of the republican party. upon the same principle, viz: that of equal rights and equal justice to all, we ask the ballot for woman, and expect to obtain it. one great obstacle that the advocates of female suffrage have to contend with is the declaration on the part of many good and intelligent women that they do not want to vote. they say they are contented with their present condition; they have all the rights they want, and do not need the ballot; and they will take no interest in the matter, except to deprecate its agitation by women. women of kansas, let us reason together for a little concerning this matter. honored wives and mothers, dwelling at ease in the comfortable homes your husbands provide for you, declare you do not want to vote, and would consider it almost a reflection on your husbands to desire such a thing, do you consider yourselves capable of forming a correct judgment in reference to any matter of public interest? you read the newspapers and are familiar with the literature of the day, and pride yourselves upon your general information and intelligence; can you then form a judgment as to the justness of any law, or the character of any candidate for office? were any one to assert that you were not capable of this, you would resent it as an insult. but, say you, we feel no interest in public measures, laws, candidates, etc.; our sphere, cares, and duties are at home. so thought thousands of american women five years ago; but war, as the result of public measures, laws and candidates, called from the hearthstones and hearts of these same women, husbands, brothers, sons, and slew them on the field of battle--in crowded hospitals--in rebel prisons. think you the women of america then had no interest in public measures? can it be that any woman who has given one of her household to save our country will declare that she takes no interest in the government and affairs of that country? consider a moment whether you have any interest in matters more immediately pressing upon our attention. is it of any importance to you whether the dram-shops be closed or not? perhaps your husbands are safe--above suspicion or fear of temptation; but those little sons playing around your knee, that young brother who is about to leave the paternal roof, when the hour comes that they shall go forth into the world, is it of any concern to you whether temptation meet them at every corner? said a rumseller who is bitterly opposed to female suffrage, "what more do you want? a man can not now get license to sell liquor without the names of a majority of all the women of the ward upon his petition." very true, but mark this, unless the women of kansas obtain the ballot, that law will soon be blotted from the statute book. again: the women of kansas now vote on questions concerning the erection of school-houses and matters pertaining to the facilities for the education of their children. where has this provision wrought anything but good? how many school districts now have commodious school-houses because the women of the district, who were mothers and wanted schools for their children, outnumbered the men, who, though large landholders, are not residents or had no children and did not want schools? can it be that any woman who has felt and wielded the power for good that the ballot gave her, in this respect, will yet declare that she does not want to vote? if, then, you are capable of forming opinions on matters of public interest, and if you admit that you are in some degree liable to be affected by public affairs, in the name of heaven, of right, of home--in the name of husband, brothers, sons, can you not--will you not, give your voice in favor of right, and against wrong? begin now, if you have never done so before, to inquire into the character of our law-makers, the justness of our laws, the regard our country pays to the rights of all. if you do not feel the need of so doing for yourselves, yet for the sake of generations yet to come, interest yourselves, "that our officers may be peace and our exactors righteousness." if you are in circumstances of ease and comfort, because shielded from every rude wind by noble protectors--father husband, son--yet listen to the cry of thousands of women less favored than yourselves, whose natural protectors, as we style them, the licensed dram-shop transforms into abusive tyrants, from whom they must be protected, or who, being deprived of husband and father, cry aloud of the injustice inflicted upon them in their dependent condition by laws framed in unrighteousness. listen, we say, to their cry, and will you not desire, yea will you not demand the right to give your voice on all these questions in the only way in which you can effectually do so--the use of the ballot? why, it would seem that every earnest, philanthropic woman would desire to do so, even were she obliged to go to the polls in their present condition instead of the reformed and purified state that will inevitably result from the enfranchisement of women. the women of kansas who, next to the pilgrim mothers of america, have endured more privations and taken a more active part in public affairs than any other women of america, should of all others have a voice in controlling the affairs of state and framing the laws by which they shall be governed. say some opposers, "the good and true women would not vote, but only the ignorant and vicious." what a monstrous libel upon the intelligence and public spirit of the women of kansas! and just so certainly as women obtain the ballot, as far as the intelligent and virtuous outnumber the ignorant and abandoned, will the vote of women swell the majority for just and righteous measures--for the moral and upright man--the man who has never imbrued his hands in blood--who has never robbed woman of her virtue--whose senses are never drowned in the intoxicating bowl. why! this is the great moral question of the day! it is not that the prominent opposers of this measure fear that it will drag women down; it is because they fear, and justly, that women will lift suffrage so far into the realm of purity and morality that they can never be able even to offer themselves as candidates for office. then will the destinies of our country be no more decided at drunken orgies, amid scenes that our opponents say it would degrade us to witness, but all questions of public weal will be decided in the hearts and at the firesides of pure-hearted men and women, surrounded by those whose destinies are dearer than life, and that decision shall be enforced when men and women shall together go up to the temple of justice to deposit their ballots. whatever, then, may be the opinion of fair ladies who dwell in ceiled houses in our older eastern states and cities, who like lilies, neither toil nor spin, whose fair hands would gather close their silken apparel at the thought of touching the homelier garments of many a heroine of kansas--whatever they may say in reference to this question, we, the women of the spartan state, declare, we want to vote. by order of the executive committee. mrs. hon. e. g. ross, mrs. griffith, mrs. ex gov. robinson, mrs. r. s. tenney, mrs. judge thacher, mrs. rev. w. a. starrett, mrs. judge miller, mrs. rev. r. cordley, mrs. judge burnett, mrs. rev. g. s. dearborn, mrs. judge hendry, mrs. rev. j. s. brown, mrs. h. m. simpson, mrs. rev. george meyer, mrs. robt. morrow, mrs. j. h. lane, mrs. major platt, mrs. james horton, mrs. major whitney, mrs. f. w. sparr, mrs. s. denman, mrs. jane b. archibald, mrs. hendersen, mrs. cone, mrs. j. o. adams, mrs. welsh, mrs. mary whitcomb, mrs. marsh, mrs. thermutius sutherland, lawrence, sept. , . _committee on address._ n. b.--friends wishing tracts on the subject of equal rights, should address equal rights office, massachusetts street, lawrence, kansas. the hutchinsons' kansas suffrage song. words by p. p. fowler and j. w. h. as sung at the meetings and concerts during ther grand campaign on the suffrage issue the season of in kansas, and at the polls in leavenworth, by the tribe of john, on the day of election. o, say what thrilling songs of fairies, wafted o'er the kansas prairies, charm the ear while zephyrs speed 'em! woman's pleading for her freedom. chorus--clear the way, the songs are floating; clear the way, the world is noting; prepare the way, the right promoting, and ballots, too, for woman's voting. we frankly say to fathers, brothers, husbands, too, and several others, we're bound to win our right of voting, don't you hear the music floating? we come to take with you our station, brave defenders of the nation, and aim by noble, just endeavor to elevate our sex forever. by this vote we'll rid our nation of its vile intoxication. can't get rum? oh, what a pity! _dram-shops_ closed in every city. fear not, we'll darn each worthy stocking, duly keep the cradle rocking, and beg you heed the words we utter, the ballot wins our bread and butter. all hail, brave kansas! first in duty, yours, the meed of praise and beauty, you'll nobly crown your deeds of daring, freedom to our sex declaring. * * * * * chapter xxv. trials and decisions. letter from miss anthony announcing her having voted. rochester, november , . dear mrs. stanton: well, i have been and gone and done it! positively voted the republican ticket--straight--this a.m. at seven o'clock, and _swore my vote in, at that_; was registered on friday and fifteen other women followed suit in this ward, then in sundry other wards some twenty or thirty women _tried_ to _register_, but all save two were refused. all my three sisters voted--rhoda de garmo, too. amy post was rejected, and she will immediately bring action against the registrars; then another woman who was registered, but vote refused, will bring action for that--similar to the washington action. hon. henry r. selden will be our counsel; he has read up the law and all of our arguments, and is satisfied that we are right, and ditto judge samuel selden, his elder brother. so we are in for a fine agitation in rochester on this question. i hope the morning telegrams will tell of many women all over the country trying to vote. it is splendid that without any concert of action so many should have moved here. thanks for the hartford papers. what a magnificent meeting you had! splendid climax of the campaign--the two ablest and most eloquent women on one platform and the governor of the state by your side. i was with you in spirit that evening; the chairman of the committee had both telegraphed and written me all about the arrangements. haven't we wedged ourselves into the work pretty fairly and fully, and now that the republicans have taken our votes--for it _is the republican members_ of the board; the democratic paper is out _against us strong_, and that scared the democrats on the registry boards. how i wish you were here to write up the funny things said and done. rhoda de garmo told them she wouldn't swear nor affirm, "but would tell them the truth," and they accepted that. when the democrats said that my vote should _not_ go in the box, one republican said to the other, "what do you say, marsh?" "i say put it in." "so do i," said jones; "and we'll fight it out on this line if it takes all winter." mary hallowell was just here. she and sarah willis tried to register, but were refused; also mrs. mann, the unitarian minister's wife, and mary curtis, sister of catharine stebbins. not a jeer, not a word, not a look disrespectful has met a single woman. if only now _all the woman suffrage women_ would work to _this_ end of _enforcing the existing constitutional supremacy of national law_ over state law, what strides we might make this very winter! but i'm awfully tired; for five days i have been on the constant run, but to splendid purpose; so all right. i hope you voted too. affectionately, susan b. anthony. * * * * * judge selden to miss anthony. rochester, november , . miss anthony--dear madam: the district attorney says he can not attend to your case on any day but friday. so it will be indispensable for you to be ready friday morning, and i will do the best i can to attend to it. i suppose the commissioner will, as a matter of course, hold you for trial at the circuit court, _whatever your rights may be in the matter_. in my opinion, however, the idea that you can be charged with a _crime_ on account of voting, or offering to vote, when you honestly believed yourself to be a voter, is simply preposterous, whether your belief _was right or wrong_. however, the learned (!) gentlemen engaged in this movement seem to suppose they can make a crime out of your honest deposit of your ballot, and _perhaps_ they can find a respectable court or jury that will be of their opinion. if they do so i shall be greatly disappointed. yours, truly, h. r. selden. (_boston transcript._) the last work came on the new york calender; a person is discovered to have voted who had no right to; this is believed to be the first case of the kind ever heard of in new york, and its heinousness is perhaps aggravated by the fact that the perpetrator is a woman, who, in the vigorous language of the court, "must have known when she did it that she was a woman." we await in breathless suspense the impending sentence. the rochester _evening express_ of friday, may , , under the heading of "an amiable consideration of miss anthony's case," said: united states district attorney crowley is a gallant gentleman, as gallant indeed as district attorneys can afford to be, but he confesses himself no match for miss anthony. that lady has stumped monroe county in behalf of impartial suffrage, and it appears that the government very prudently declines to give her case to the jury in this county. the fact is, it is morally certain that no jury could be obtained in monroe that would convict the lady of wrongdoing in voting, while it is highly probable that four juries out of five would acquit her. it is understood, of course, that the court and prosecuting officers are merely fulfilling their official functions in recognizing this departure from ordinary practice at the polls, but would feel as deeply astonished at a verdict of guilty as the general public. the district attorney is fortunate in having as a contestant (defendant, he would professionally call her) in this friendly little duel, a lady who is the embodiment of american common sense, courage, and ability; and we are certain that after this tournament is adjourned he will accept, with his usual urbanity, the aid of ladies' ballots to lift him to some other place where his conceded abilities shall be more widely known. the new york _commercial advertiser_, under the heading, "miss anthony and the jury of her peers," said: there is perplexity in the northern district of new york. it was in that jurisdiction that miss susan b. anthony and sundry "erring sisters" voted at the november election. for this they were arrested and indicted. the venue was laid in monroe county and there the trial was to take place. miss anthony then proceeded to stump monroe county and every town and village thereof, asking her bucolic hearers the solemn conundrum, "is it a crime for a united states citizen to vote?" the answer is supposed generally to be in the negative, and so convincing is sister anthony's rhetoric regarded that it is supposed no jury can be found to convict her. her case has gone to the jurymen of monroe in her own persuasive pleadings before they are summoned. the district attorney has, therefore, postponed the trial to another term of the court, and changed the place thereof to ontario county; whereupon the brave susan takes the stump in ontario, and personally makes known her woes and wants. it is a regular st. anthony's dance she leads the district attorney; and, in spite of winter cold or summer heat, she will carry her case from county to county precisely as fast as the venue is changed. one must rise very early in the morning to get the start of this active apostle of the sisterhood. rochester _democrat and chronicle_: if miss anthony has converted every man in monroe county to her views of the suffrage question, as the district attorney intimates in his recent efforts to have her case adjourned, it is pretty good evidence--unless every man in monroe county is a fool--that the lady has done no wrong. "her case," remarks the auburn _bulletin_, "will probably be carried over to another term, and all she has to do is to canvass and convert another county. a shrewd woman that! again we say, she ought to vote." the syracuse _standard_ said: miss s. b. anthony is sharp enough for a successful politician. she is under arrest in rochester for voting illegally, and she is conducting her case in a way that beats even lawyers. she stumped the county of monroe and spoke in every school district so powerfully that she has actually converted nearly the entire male population to the woman suffrage doctrine. the sentiment is so universal that the united states district attorney dare not trust his case to a jury drawn from that county, and has changed the venue to ontario county. now miss anthony proposes to stump ontario immediately, and has procured the services of mrs. matilda joslyn gage, of fayetteville, to assist her. by the time the case comes on miss anthony will have ontario county converted to her doctrines. the rochester _union and advertiser_ quoted the above and commented as follows: we give in another column to-day, from a legal friend, a communication which shows very clearly that miss anthony is engaged in a work that will be likely to bring her to grief. it is nothing more nor less than an attempt to corrupt the source of that justice, under law, which flows from trial by jury. miss anthony's case has passed from its gayest to its gravest character. united states courts are not stages for the enactment of comedy or farce, and the promptness and decision of their judges in sentencing to prison culprits convicted before them shows that they are no respecters of persons. susan b. anthony as a corruptionist. _to the editors of the union and advertiser:_ gentlemen--i saw this morning with equal surprise and regret in the _democrat and chronicle_ the following article: "we understand that miss susan b. anthony, in company with mrs. matilda joslyn gage, intends to lecture through ontario county. she is confident that by june th a jury of twelve men can not be found in that county who will render a verdict of guilty against the women who are to be tried for illegal voting at the last fall election." i had learned from the same source that miss anthony had made such an effort in monroe county, and it was stated elsewhere that her trial had been sent thence to ontario county by reason of such efforts to persuade juries of the justice of her cause. i can scarcely credit these statements. reduced to simple terms, it is an attempt by public lectures and female influence, by an accused party so to affect jurors 'that a jury of twelve men can not be found in that county who will render a verdict of guilty.' if this may be a part of the administration of justice, then the united states attorney may by similar or other means attempt beforehand to secure an opposite result; and the administration of justice is brought into contempt, and corruption has entered the jury-box.... there is a statute and common law offense known as embracery, which is defined to consist "in such practices as lead to affect the administration of justice, _improperly working upon the minds of jurors_." it seems clear, adds russell in his treatise on laws and misdemeanors, 'that _any attempt whatever to corrupt or influence or instruct a jury in the cause beforehand, or any way incline them to be more favorable to the one side than the other_, by money, letters, threats, or _persuasions_, except only by the strength of evidence and the arguments of the counsel in open court at the trial of the cause, is a proper act of embracery, whether the jurors upon whom the attempt is made _give any verdict or not_, and whether the verdict given be true or false.' ... i trust no merely temporary excitement in respect to female suffrage will lead good citizens to sanction any attempt whatever to influence jurors out of court, either before or during the trial of a cause. it is alike an insult to the juror and an imputation on our public virtue. lex. _may , ._ [new york _sun_, saturday, january , ]. going to jail for voting for grant. the arrest of the fifteen women of rochester, and the imprisonment of the renowned miss susan b. anthony, for voting at the november election, afford a curious illustration of the extent to which the united states government is stretching its hand in these matters. if these women violated any law at all by voting, it was clearly a statute of the state of new york, and that state might be safely left to to vindicate the majesty of its own laws. is is only by an overstrained construction of the xiv. and xv. amendments, that the national government can force its long finger into the rochester case at all. but so it is. eager to crowd in and regulate the elections at every poll in the union, the power at washington strikes down a whole state government in louisiana, and holds to bail a handful of women in new york. nothing can escape its eye or elude its grasp. it can soar high; it can stoop low. it can enjoin a governor in new orleans; it can jug a woman in rochester. nothing is too big for it to grapple with; nothing is too small for it to meddle with.... by the by, we advise miss anthony not to go to jail. perhaps she feels that she deserves some punishment for voting for general grant, but it is a bailable offense. "going to jail for the good of the cause" may do for poetry, but it becomes very prosaic when reduced to practice. let miss anthony enter into bonds, adjust her spectacles, face her accusers, and argue her own case. the worcester _spy_ said: miss susan b. anthony, whatever else she may be, is evidently of the right stuff for a reformer. of all the woman suffragists she has the most courage and resource, and fights her own and her sisters' battle with the most wonderful energy, resolution, and hopefulness. it is well known that she is now under indictment for voting illegally in rochester last november. voting illegally in her case means simply voting, for it is held that women can not lawfully vote at all. she is to be tried soon, but in the meantime, while at large on bail, she has devoted her time to missionary work on behalf of woman suffrage, and has spoken, it is said, in almost every school district in monroe county, where her trial would have been held in the natural course of things. she has argued her cause so well that almost all the male population of the county has been converted to her views on this subject. the district attorney is afraid to trust the case to a jury from that county, and has obtained a change of venue to ontario on the ground that a fair trial can not be had in monroe. miss anthony, rather cheered than discouraged by this unwilling testimony to the strength of her cause and her powers of persuasion, has made arrangements to canvass ontario county as thoroughly as monroe. as county lines do not inclose distinct varieties of the human race, it is fair to presume that the people of the former county will be as susceptible to argument and appeal, as those of the latter, and by the time the case comes on, an ontario jury will be as little likely to convict as a monroe jury is now supposed to be. some foolish and bigoted people who edit newspapers, are complaining that miss anthony's proceedings are highly improper, inasmuch as they are intended to influence the decision of a cause pending in the courts. they even talk about contempt of court, and declare that miss anthony should be compelled to desist from making these invidious harangues. we suspect that the courts will not venture to interfere with this lady's speech-making tour, but will be of the opinion that she has the same right which other people, male or female, have to explain her political views, and make converts to them if she can. we have never known it claimed before that a person accused of an offense was thereby deprived of the common right of free speech on political and other questions. the new york _evening post_ said: the proceedings of the circuit court of the united states at canandaigua yesterday, before which miss susan b. anthony was on trial for voting in rochester at the late general election, were very remarkable. hitherto the advocates of the right of our countrywomen to vote have hardly obtained a hearing, but miss anthony has made an important step in advance. it is a great gain to obtain a judicial hearing for her cause; to have the merits of woman suffrage carefully considered by careful and able men. the appearance of so eminent and distinguished a lawyer as henry r. selden in her defense will give to the question a new aspect in the minds of the people. the position he took is still more encouraging to those who think that women have a legal right to vote. the distinction he made between the absoluteness of this right and the belief of miss anthony that she possessed such a right, since the guilt relates only to the legal guilt in this particular instance, is of no general importance; but his emphatic testimony, irrespective of the present case, that all women have both an absolute and a legal right to vote, is a fact to command attention. so convinced was judge selden of the validity of this opinion, that for the second time in his professional life, as he himself said, he was compelled to offer himself as a witness in behalf of his client. being sworn, he testified that before the defendant voted she called on him for advice as to her legal right to vote; that he took time to examine the question very carefully, and then advised her that "she was as much a voter as i or any other man"; that he believed then that she had a legal right to vote, and he believed so now, and on that advice she voted. it seems likely that the decision of the court will be in miss anthony's favor. if such be the result the advocates of woman suffrage will change places with the public. they will no longer be forced to obtain hearings from congressional and legislative committees for their claims, but will exercise their right to vote by the authority of a legal precedent against which positive laws forbidding them from voting will be the only remedy. it is a question whether such laws can be passed in this country. a careful examination of the subject must precede any such legislation, and, the inference from the result of judge selden's investigation is that the more the subject is studied the less likely will any legislative body be to forbid those women who want to vote from so doing. [the rochester _evening express_, june st.] the national cases at canandaigua. the trial of miss anthony at canandaigua on a charge of having voted illegally on the th of november last, in this city, has attracted attention throughout this country and in england. it was a great national trial, intended as judge hunt said, as the purpose of the act of voting in this case, to settle a principle. the eminence of the judge presiding and the reputation of the counsel engaged in the case, gave it further significance. all the counsel won new laurels in this contest. judge selden could scarcely increase the respect for his character and legal ability by any fresh contest in the forum, but he evinced the power of his logical faculties and his perfect acquaintance with law and legal precedent in his closely reasoned argument. mr. crowley, united states district attorney, made a very able argument in reply, which all agree was worthy of his high position and of the cause in which he appeared for the government. mr. van voorhis showed legal erudition careful examination of the case in hand, and of the law and decision of courts bearing upon it, making bold and strong points which commanded the attention and respect of the court, and elicited the approbation of clients and people. [_commercial advertiser_, june , .] the female suffragists. when a jurist as eminent as judge henry r. selden testifies that he told miss anthony before election that she had a right to vote, and this after a careful examination of the question, the whole subject assumes new importance, and mr. selden at once becomes the central object of adoration by all the gentle believers in woman's right to the ballot. and when the same able lawyer advocates the cause of miss anthony in the united states courts, there is abundant reason why other men, both lay and legal, should put themselves in an attitude, at least of willingness to change their convictions upon this topic, which now threatens to take on very enlarged proportions. the points made in the argument by mr. selden are that the defendant had a legal right to vote; that even if no such right existed, if she believed she had such right and voted in good faith, that she committed no offense; and lastly, he argued that she did vote in pursuance of such belief. the point that miss anthony had acted illegally only because she was a woman, was well put. had her brother, under the same circumstances done the same thing, his act would have been not only innocent but laudable. the crime was, therefore, not in the act done, but in the sex of the person who did it. women, remarked the judge, have the same interest in the maintenance of good government as men. no greater absurdity, to use no harsher term, can be presented to the human mind than that of rewarding men and punishing women for the same act, without giving women any voice in the question of which shall be rewarded and which punished. how grateful to judge selden must all the suffragists be! he has struck the strongest and most promising blow in their behalf that has yet been given. dred scott was the pivot on which the constitution turned before the war. miss anthony seems likely to occupy a similar position now. [from _democrat and chronicle_, rochester, july, .] women's meeting. a meeting of the women's tax-payers' association was held at the mayor's office yesterday afternoon, the president, mrs. lewia c. smith, in the chair. it had been expected that judge selden would address the meeting, but in consequence of professional engagements he had been unable to prepare such an address as he desired, but will speak at a future meeting. miss susan b. anthony was present, and addressed the meeting. she stated that she had received many letters urging her not to be disheartened by the result of her case, and she assured all that she was far from being discouraged. in fact, she considered that they had won a victory by showing to the world that in order to accomplish her defeat the courts were obliged to set aside everything, even the sacred right of trial by jury. miss anthony read extracts from letters received from mrs. elizabeth cady stanton and parker pillsbury. mrs. stanton pours out her indignation in a letter to mrs. gage and miss anthony thus: "to have my right to the earth and the fullness thereof equally with man; to do my work and say my say without his let or hindrance, or even question, has filled me with indignation ever since i began to think; and one more act of puny legislation, in line with all that has been done in the past, does not add a feather's weight to my chronic indignation. "the insult of being tried by men--judges, lawyers, juries, all men--for violating the laws and constitutions of men, made for the degradation and subjugation of my whole sex; to be forever publicly impaled by the unwavering finger of scorn, by party press, and pulpit, so far transcends a petty verdict of a petty judge in a given case, that my continuous wrath against the whole dynasty of tyrants in our political, religious, and social life, has not left one stagnant drop of blood in my veins to rouse for any single act of insult. "the outrage of trying intelligent, educated, well-bred, native-born american women by juries of men, made up of the riff-raff from the monarchies and empires of the old world, or ignorant natives of the new, who do not read the newspapers, nor form opinions on current events or united states citizens' rights, so overtops the insult of any verdict they could possibly render, that indignation at what they might say is swallowed up in the outrage that they have the right to say anything in limiting the rights of women as citizens in this republic. what are centennials and fourth of julys to us, when our most sacred rights can be made foot-balls for the multitude. do not, therefore, argue from my silence, that i do not feel every fresh stab at womanhood. instead of applying lint to the wounds, my own thought has been, how can we wrest the sword from the hand of the tyrant." the following resolutions were then offered and adopted: _resolved_, that the gross outrage committed in the case of miss anthony by the united states circuit court, the stamping under foot by justice hunt of the constitution of the united states, and all the forms of law, in order to defeat a woman who could not be defeated otherwise, has in no way discouraged the true friends of woman suffrage, but to the contrary, the unjustifiable means to which the court was compelled to resort in order to convict miss anthony has not only aroused the old woman's rights women into new life and action, but shocked all thinking minds throughout the country, to a consideration of the vital question of american citizenship. does it, or does it not give to the possessor the right to vote? _resolved_, that we arraign ward hunt, a justice of the supreme court of the united states, for high crimes and misdemeanors in his office, committed on the trial of susan b. anthony, on a charge of knowingly voting illegally for a representative in congress. he denied the right of trial by jury; he refused to permit her counsel to address the jury in her behalf; he refused the request of her counsel that the jury be polled; he directed the clerk to enter a verdict of guilty without consulting the jury; he had prejudged her case, and had written his opinion against her before he came to the court, or had heard the evidence, or the arguments of her counsel. he tried her in a manner indicating that he had undertaken to accomplish a certain result, and that he must do in spite of law or evidence. his assertion that the facts were admitted in her case is false. no facts were admitted on miss anthony's trial, except that she was a woman and had voted. the one fact of consequence to the united states was, whether or not miss anthony voted for a representative in congress. to prove this the united states district attorney proved that she handed to the inspectors four folded ballots, the contents of which were unknown. it did not appear that the ballots were not blanks. there were six boxes, and each elector might cast six ballots. upon such evidence judge hunt decided that it was proved that miss anthony voted for a representative in congress, and refused to submit the case, or the question of fact, to the jury. therefore, _resolved_, that a violation of the constitution so palpable, a disregard of the forms of of law so flagrant, demand the impeachment of justice hunt, and his removal from a bench he has proved himself unfit to occupy. _resolved_, that we will petition congress to reverse by congressional enactment the judgments of judge hunt against miss anthony and the inspectors of election. these fiats of a judicial dictator must not be allowed to remain upon the records of the court. trial by jury must be restored to its throne, from which judge hunt has hurled it. a constitutional right so sacred must be vindicated by congress. there is no other tribunal to which we can appeal. therefore we shall confidently ask congress to reverse these unjust judgments and rebuke and impeach this unjust judge. _resolved_, that to the hon. henry r. selden for his able and earnest defense of their citizen's right to vote, the women of this country owe a debt of gratitude beyond their present power to pay or appreciate. _resolved_, that we tender our thanks to john van voorhis, counsel for the inspectors of the eighth ward, for his prompt and efficient defense of their right and duty to register the names and receive the votes of all united states citizens. _resolved_, that we bid godspeed to our co-laborer, susan b. anthony, for the courage and persistence shown during her trial, and thank her for her assurance to the court (which he did not need) of her unshaken conviction of the legality of her vote, and of her determination to persist in the exercise of her citizen's right of suffrage. _resolved_, that we tender our thanks to the inspectors of election of the eighth ward, messrs. jones, marsh, and hall, for their manliness and courage in receiving the women's vote and maintaining their right and duty in so doing through their long and unfair trial." a paper of considerable length was read by mrs. hebard, which was very fine, and set forth the woman question in a philosophical manner. mrs. l. c. smith said that in stamping his seal of death upon trial by jury, judge hunt had proved beyond all cavil the inseparability of man's and woman's interests. for in order to withhold the right of franchise from woman he was obliged to abolish trial by jury, man's only safeguard against the tyranny of the bench. the meeting then adjourned to meet at three o'clock p.m. on the th inst. miss anthony received material sympathy from many persons who sent money to aid in the payment of her fine--dr. e. b. foote, of new york, sending $ , and gerrit smith, of peterboro, $ , accompanied by a letter. dr. foote has kindly furnished miss anthony's reply to him for publication: rochester, july , . dr. e. b. foote--my dear sir: your letter of june , inclosing the quarter of the united states government's fine for my alleged violation of _state law_ was most welcome, i have waited this acknowledgment from fact of my absence from home since the judge pronounced that verdict and penalty. what a comedy! such a _grave offense_ and such a paltry punishment! now if the united states government would only demand the payment of the $ and costs--but it will never do it, because all parties _know_ i will never _pay a dime--no, not one._ it, is quite enough for me pay all the _just claims_ of the trial; my own counsel, etc. i owe no allegiance to the government's penalties until i have a voice in it, and shall pay none. what the government can _exact_ it may, whether of cash or imprisonment. do you know my _one regret now is_ that i am _not possessed of some real estate_ here in rochester so that my name would be on the tax list, and i would _refuse to pay the taxes thereon_, and then i could carry that branch of the question into the courts. _protests_ are no longer worth the paper they are written on. downright resistance, the actual throwing of the tea overboard, is now the word and work. with many thanks for the $ . sincerely yours, susan b. anthony. woman suffrage above human law. letter from gerrit smith. peterboro, august , susan b. anthony--dear friend: i have your letter. so you have not paid your fine; are not able to pay it; and are not willing to pay it! i send you herein the money to pay it. if you shall still decline doing so, then use the money at your own discretion, to promote the cause of woman suffrage. i trust that you feel kindly toward judge hunt. he is an honest man and an able judge. he would oppress no person--emphatically, no woman. it was a light fine that he imposed upon you. moreover, he did not require you to be imprisoned until it was paid. in taking your case out of the bands of the jury, he did what he believed he had a perfect right to do; and what [hand] provided there was no fact to be passed upon) he had precedents for doing. and yet judge hunt erred--erred as, but too probably, every other judge would, in like circumstances, have erred. at the hazard of being called, for the ten thousandth time, a visionary and a fanatic for holding opinions which, though they will be entirely welcome to the more enlightened future sense of men, are as entirely repugnant to their present sense, i venture to say that the judge erred in allowing himself to look into the constitution. indeed, yours was a case that neither called for nor permitted the opening of any law-book whatever. you have not forgotten how frequently, in the days of slavery, the constitution was quoted in behalf of the abomination. as if that paper had been drawn up and agreed upon by both the blacks and the whites, instead of the whites only; and as if slavery protected the rights of the slave instead of annihilating them. i thank god that i was withheld from the great folly and great sin of acknowledging a law for slavery--a law for any piracy--least of all for the superlative piracy. nor have you forgotten how incessantly, in the late war, our enemies, northern as well as southern, were calling for this observance of the constitution. as if the purpose of that paper was to serve those whose parricidal hands were at the throat of our nation. i recall but one instance in which i was ever reconciled to profanity. it was when, during the war, i was witnessing a heated conversation between a patriotic republican and a rabid secession democrat. the republican was arguing that the government should put forth all its powers to suppress the rebellion. at this stage the democrat thrust in the stereotyped rebel phrase: "but only according to the constitution." this interruption provoked the republican to exclaim, as he hurried on, "damn the constitution!" the oath so happily helped to express my own feeling that i had no more heart to censure it than the recording angel had to preserve the record of uncle toby's famous oath. and now, in your case, is another wrongful use of the constitution. the instrument is cited against woman, as if she had united with man in making it, and was, therefore, morally bound by the flagrant usurpation, and legally concluded by it. moreover, an excuse for turning the constitution against her is that doing so deprives her of nothing but the pastime of dropping in a box a little piece of paper. nevertheless, this dropping, inasmuch as it expresses her choice of the guardians of her person and property, is her great natural right to provide for the safety of her life and of the means to sustain it. she has no rights whatever, and she lives upon mere privileges and favors, if others may usurp her rights. in fact she lies at the mercy of men, if men only may choose into whose hands to put the control of her person and property.... i do not complain of judge hunt's interpretations of the constitution on the suffrage question. i do not complain of his refusing to accept the constitutional recognition of woman's right to vote, though that right seems to lie on the very surface of the constitution amongst her rights of citizenship. nor do i complain of his passing by this recognition to dig down into the constitution for proofs of there being two kinds of citizens--one that can vote and one that can not vote. what i complain of is that he did not hold as void, instead of arguing them to be valid, any words in the instrument which seemed to him to favor the disfranchisement of woman and consequent robbery and destruction of her rights. what i complain of is that, instead of his conscientious regard for his oath, he was not prepared to ignore and scout all human law so far as it is antagonistic to natural law and natural rights.... how striking and instructive is the following extract from a speech made a year or two ago in the spanish parliament: "natural rights dwell essentially in the individual, and are derived directly from his own moral nature. they are therefore, so to speak, unlegislatable, since they do not arise from the law, do not depend on the law, and, not depending on the law, can not be abrogated by the law. born of the organic constitution of the individual, with the individual they live and die, unless a tyrannical, unrighteous, and iniquitous law tears them from him, and then he will have the right to protest forever against this wrong and the iniquity of the law, and to rise against it whenever he can. well, my lords, the inalienable rights of the cubans have been torn from them by unrighteous, tyrannical, and iniquitous laws." would that judge hunt and all our judges might, ere long, take the ground of this sublimely eloquent spaniard, that natural rights are "unlegislatable".... would that my much esteemed friend, judge hunt, had so far outgrown bad law and grown into good law, as to have pronounced at your trial the disenthralment of woman, and thus have set the name of hunt in immortality by the side of the names of brougham and mansfield, and others who have had the wisdom and the courage to thrust aside false paper law and install in its place that sovereign law which is written upon the heart and upon the very foundations of human being! he does not doubt that they did right. he honors them for having done as they did. nor can he doubt that to deny to woman all part in the making and executing of laws under which her life and property may be taken from her is a crime against her, which no paper law can sanction and which god's law must condemn.... this worship of the constitution!--how blinding and belittling! i would that every judge who tends to this weakness (and nearly every judge, yes, and nearly every other person tends to it) might find his steps arrested by the warning example of daniel webster. this pre-eminently intellectual man, whom nature had fitted to soar in the high sphere of absolute and everlasting law, had so shrivelled his soul by his worship of the constitution that he came, at last, to desire no other inscription on his grave-stone than his shameless confession of such base worship. and all this, notwithstanding the constitution was, in his eye, the great bulwark of slavery! be of good courage and good cheer, my brave and faithful sister! i trust our country is on the eve of great and blessed changes.... best of all, the ballot can not much longer be withheld from woman. men are fast coming to see that it belongs to her as fully as to themselves, and that the country is in perishing need of her wielding it. if the silly portion of our ladies will but cease from their silly apprehension that the plan is to _make_ them vote whether they will or no, and also cease from their ignorant and childish admissions that they already have all the rights they want--then will the american women quickly be enfranchised, and their nation will rapidly achieve a far higher civilization than it is possible for any nation to arrive at which is guilty of the folly and the sin of clothing man with all political power and reducing women to a political cipher. cordially yours, gerrit smith. washington notes. by grace greenwood. when i said that in the dull languor of our summer collapse we felt none of your fierce northern excitements, i should have excepted the anthony suffrage case. that touched nearly if not deeply. the ark of the holy political covenant resting here--the sacred mules that draw it being stabled in the capitol for half a year at a time--the woman who has laid unsanctified hands upon it, is naturally regarded with peculiar horror. i did not take exception to the _times'_ article of june th on this case. it was mild and courteous in tone, and the view taken of the xiv. amendment plea seems to me the only sound one. i certainly do not want to get into your political preserves by any quibble or dodge. i want my right there freely granted and guaranteed, and will be politely treated when i come, or i won't stay. the promised land of justice and equality is not to be reached by a short cut. i fear we have a large part of the forty years of struggle and zigzaging before us yet. i am pretty sure our moses has not appeared. i think he will be a woman. often the way seems dark, as well as long, when i see so much fooling with the great question of woman's claims to equal educational advantages with men; to just remuneration for good work, especially in teaching, and fair credit for her share in the patriotic and benevolent enterprises of the age. i do not say that equal pay for equal services will never be accorded to woman, even in the civil service, till she has the ballot to back her demand; but that is the private opinion of many high government officials. i do not say that woman's right to be represented, as well as taxed, will never be recognized as a logical practical result of the democratic principle till the democrats come in power. but it may be so. the gospel was first offered to the jews, but first accepted by the gentiles. in your article, fair as it was in spirit, you failed to touch upon two points which struck me rather painfully. it seems that judge hunt, after pronouncing a learned, and, i suppose, a sound opinion, peremptorily ordered the jury to bring the defendant in guilty. now, could not twelve honest, intelligent jurymen be trusted to defend their birthright against one woman? why such zeal, such more than roman sternness? again, in the trial of the inspectors of election, why were both judge and jurymen so merciful? no verdict of guilty was ordered, and the council of twelve who had seen fit to punish miss anthony by a fine of $ and costs, merely mulcted in the modest sum of $ , each defenseless defendant sinning against light. was it that they considered in their manly clemency the fact that women have superior facilities for earning money, or did they give heed to the old, old excuse, "the woman tempted me, and i did register"? it surely is strange that such severe penalties should be visited on a woman, for a first and only indiscretion in the suffrage line, when a man may rise up on election morning and go forth, voting and to vote. if he be of an excitable and mercurial nature, one of the sort of citizens which sweet ireland empties on us by the county, he may sportively flit about among the polls, from ward to ward, of the metropolis, and no man says to him nay; he may even travel hilariously from city to city, with free passes and free drinks--who treats miss anthony?--making festive calls, and dropping ballots for cards, and no disturbance comes of it--he is neither fined nor confined. so, it would seem, "a little voting is a dangerous thing." say what you will, the whole question of woman's status in the state and the church, in society and the family, is full of absurd contradictions and monstrous anomalies. we are so responsible, yet irresponsible--we are idols, we are idiots--we are everything, we are nothing. we are the caryatides, rearing up the entablature of the temple of liberty we are never allowed to enter. we may plot against a government, and hang for it; but if we help to found and sustain a government by patriotic effort and devotion, by toil and hardship, by courage, loyalty, and faith, by the sacrifice of those nearest and dearest to us, and then venture to clutch at the crumbs that fall from the table where our masters jonathan, patrick, hans, and sambo sit at feast, you arrest us, imprison us, try us, fine us, and then add injury to insult, by calling us old, ugly, and fanatical. one is forcibly reminded of the sermon of the colored brother on woman, the heads of which discourse were: "firstly. what am woman? secondly. whar did she come from? thirdly. who does she belong to? fourthly. which way am she gwine to?" the law and the gospel have settled the "secondly" and "thirdly." woman came from man, and belongs to him by the mortgage he holds on her through that spare-rib; but "firstly" and "fourthly" remain as profound and unsolvable questions as they were before the ethiopian divine wrestled with them. but perhaps this troublous and perplexed existence is our "be-all and end-all"; that in the life beyond, man may foreclose that old mortgage and re-absorb woman into his glorified and all-sufficient being. i have never believed with miss anthony, that the xiv. amendment was going to help us. i have never accepted certain other of her theories; but i believe in and accept her as a woman of intense convictions, of high courage and constancy; and i don't like to hear her ridiculed and abused. if anything can make me think meanly of my young brothers of the press, it is the way they pelt and pester susan b. anthony. for shame, boys! never a one of you will make the man she is. even some of our washington editors turn aside from the fair game. providence, in its inscrutable wisdom, has provided for them in the board of public works, to vent their virtuous indignation and manly scorn of the woman they are determined shall stand in perpetual pillory in the market-place of this great, free republic.--_new york times_. the washington, d. c., _star_ says of judge hunt's opinion: "if his views are to prevail, of what effect are the suffrage amendments to the federal constitution." [_the county post_, washington co., n. y., friday, june , ]. not a voter. the united states courts have pronounced on miss anthony's case, which she so adroitly made by voting last fall, in company with fourteen others of her sex. the decision was adverse to the claim made by this devoted friend of female suffrage, that as the constitution now stood, women had a right to vote. accordingly the indomitable old lady was found guilty of violating the law regulating the purity of the ballot-box, and fined one hundred dollars and costs. a good many journals seem to regard this as a good joke on susan b, as they call her, and make it the excuse for more poor jokes of their own. it may be stupid to confess it, but we can not see where the laugh comes in. if it is a mere question of who has got the best of it, miss anthony is still ahead; she has voted, and the american constitution has survived the shock. fining her one hundred dollars does not rub out that fact that fourteen women voted, and went home, and the world jogged on as before. the decision of the judge does not prove that it is wrong for women to vote, it does not even prove that miss anthony did wrong in voting. it only shows that one judge on the bench differs in opinion from other equally well qualified judges off the bench. it is not our province to find fault with this decision of the united states court at rochester. miss anthony may be wrong in attempting to vote; of that we are not certain. but of the greater question back of it, of miss anthony's inherent right to vote we have no question, and that after all is the more important matter. this rochester breakwater may damn back the stream for a while, but it is bound to come, sweeping away all barriers. the opposition to extending the suffrage to the other sex is founded alone on prejudice arising from social custom. reason and logic are both against it. women will not be voters possibly for some years to come; it is not desirable that the franchise should come too quick; but they are certain to have the full privilege of citizenship in the end. [_the age_, thursday, july , .] ku-klux prisoners. the ku-klux prisoners are, it seems, now to be released. they are persons some of whom had committed assaults and other offenses cognizable by the laws of the states where they lived, and the ku-klux legislation by congress was a political device as unnecessary as it was unconstitutional. perhaps the most ridiculous, as well as the most unjust prosecution under the ku-klux law was that instituted against miss anthony for voting in rochester. under her view of her rights, she presented herself at the polls, and submitted her claims to the proper officers, who decided that she had a right to vote. she practiced no fraud or concealment of any kind. she did what every good citizen here would do, if any doubt arose from assessment, registration, or residence, as to his right to vote. he would state the case to the election officers, and abide their decision. yet this, we are told, is a criminal offense under the ku-klux law, for which a citizen who has done exactly what he ought to have done, may be fined and imprisoned as a criminal. nay, if, as often happens, a point of doubt is submitted to our court of common pleas and decided in favor of the applicant, he is still liable to criminal prosecution under the federal ku-klux law, if a united states commissioner or judge differs from the state judge in the construction of the state law. since the victims of the ku-klux act are now receiving pardons, we hope the fine of $ unlawfully imposed on miss anthony may be remitted. we do not think there was a case of more gross injustice ever practiced under forms of law, than the conviction of that lady for a criminal offense in voting, with the assent of the legal election officers to whom her right was submitted. if all the victims of this unconstitutional law were as innocent as she was, they can not be too soon released. even those who were guilty of offenses cognizable by the state law, were unjustly tried and condemned under an unconstitutional statute passed for political effect. [from the philadelphia _age_]. the funny case of miss anthony. the case of miss susan b. anthony seems to be dismissed with a laugh by most of the press; but from the first institution of a prosecution against her under the ku-klux law, we have regarded the proceeding as one in which the injustice was not cloaked by the absurdity. the law was passed by congress on a political cry that massacre and outrage menaced negroes at the polls in the southern states, and now we have it used to oppress a woman in rochester, new york. we are not debarred from saying "oppressed" because the judge left the fine to be levied on her property instead of imprisoning her person--in a state in which women have, we suppose, long been exempt from imprisonment for debt. but the chief outrage in the case is that it affords the first case, we believe, in the united states, or anywhere in modern times, of a conviction for a crime when there was no criminal intent. the proof, or the presumption of this, is essential to a crime in the criminal law of every civilized nation. the case of miss anthony was that of a lady who believed that the much vaunted amendments of the federal constitution extended to white women; and many lawyers and congressmen have also avowed this opinion. we do not hold it, but we do not doubt that miss anthony does, very sincerely. we think as the judge says in her case, that the federal constitution has nothing to do with the matter; that is wholly regulated by the constitution of new york. but every word of his argument was equally strong to show that he, a federal judge, had nothing to do with the matter, and that it wholly belonged to the courts of new york. they know, we presume, no law that can create a crime without a criminal intention, and we deny the right of congress or any earthly authority to pass so monstrous a law. every day in criminal courts that point arises. if a man charged with larceny is proved to have taken the goods of another, but under some idea that he had a right to them, no matter how erroneous, the criminal prosecution is instantly dismissed. our eminent jurist, judge king, used to say: "this is a civil suit run mad." has any citizen of philadelphia supposed that if there is a doubt as to his right to vote--one of those numerous doubts that arise in changes of residence, time of registration, naturalization, etc.--and wishing scrupulously to do right, he go to the window and fully and fairly state his case, and the election officers consider it, and adjudge that he should vote then and there, has any citizen heretofore known that he thus became liable to conviction for a crime under the ku-klux laws, if some judge of a court should think the election officers decided the point erroneously? yet that is the doctrine of miss anthony's case. her garb and person sufficed to tell she was a woman when she approached the polls, and there was also argument over the matter, exhibiting afresh the fact notorious at her home, that she claimed a lawful right to vote under certain amendments of the constitution. she was no repeater or false personator, or probably she would not be persecuted, and certainly she would be pardoned. she submitted her right to the election officers, and they, the judges appointed by the law, decided in her favor. it is just the case we have supposed in philadelphia, and which often really occurs here, and may occur anywhere. and now we are told the ku-klux law makes this hitherto laudable and innocent mode of procedure a crime, punishable with fine and imprisonment! this is the decision over which many journals are laughing because the first victim is a woman. we can not see the joke. [chicago _evening journal_, dec. , ]. mrs. myra bradwell, the editor and publisher of the _legal news_, of this city, is a warm advocate of woman's rights. in the last number of the _news_, speaking of susan b. anthony, she declares that judge ward hunt, of the federal bench, "violated the constitution of the united states more, to convict her of illegal voting, than she did in voting, for he had sworn to support it, she had not." sister myra is evidently not afraid of being hauled up for contempt of court. [st. louis _daily globe_, thursday, june , ]. miss anthony's case. judge hunt's decision reviewed--she had a right to a jury trial. _editor of st. louis globe_:--i ask the favor of a small space in your paper to notice the very remarkable decision of judge hunt, in the case of the united states _vs._ susan b. anthony. the judge tells us "that the right of voting, or the privilege of voting, is a right or privilege arising under the constitution of the states, and not of the united states. if the right belongs to any particular person, it is because such person is entitled to it as a citizen of the state where he offers to exercise it, and not because of citizenship of the united states." if this position be true (which i do not admit), then judge hunt should have pronounced the act of congress unconstitutional, and dismissed the case for want of jurisdiction. if the matter belongs exclusively to the states, then the united states have nothing to do with it, and clearly have no right to interfere and punish a person for the (supposed) violation of a state law. but this is one of the least of the criticisms to which this opinion is exposed. a far graver one consists in the fact that the defendant was denied the right of a trial by jury. the supreme court of the united states say: "another guarantee of freedom was broken when milligan was denied a trial by jury. the great minds of the country have differed on the correct interpretation to be given to various provisions of the federal constitution, and judicial decision has been often invoked to settle their true meaning; but, until recently, no one ever doubted that the right of trial by jury was fortified in the organic law against the power of attack. it is now assailed; but if ideas can be expressed in words, and language has any meaning, this right--one of the most valuable in a free country--is preserved to every one accused of crime, who is not attached to the army, or navy, or militia in actual service. the vi. amendment affirms that in 'all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury,' language broad enough to embrace all persons and cases."--_ex parte milligan, wallace, p. ._ it is true a jury was impaneled, but this was all, for we are informed that, at the conclusion of the opinion, judge selden requested that the case should be submitted to the jury upon the question of intent, and upon certain propositions of law; but the court declined to submit the case upon any question whatever, and directed them to render a verdict of guilty against the defendant. i have been pained to witness, on the part of some of our newspapers, a disposition to treat this decision with indifference, by some even with levity. has it come to this, that because she is a woman the defendant can not get a fair and impartial trial? the case of the inspectors was not treated in this way--but then they were men. justice. [_the journal_, thursday, july , ]. the albany law journal on susan b. anthony's case. _to the editor of the syracuse journal_:--i wish to call the attention of the readers of _the journal_, especially legal ones, to the underlying intent and unjust perversions of the albany _law journal_ of this month, in its leading article, entitled "can a judge direct a verdict of guilty?" this _law journal_, which professes to lead the legal craft of the empire state in the devious ways of legal justice, has but now, thirteen months after its date, a review of miss anthony's celebrated trial, as conducted by judge ward hunt. having taken a year and a month to get the first principles of justice and of constitutional law through his head, the belated editor of that law journal has come to the conclusion--self-evident as it ought to be to a child--that a judge has no legal right to take from an accused person the right of trial by jury. sapient editor, wise man! no second solomon, you. you, with all your legal lore, have at last managed to see, in a year and a month, what the veriest simple woman in the land, all uneducated as women are in the technicalities of the law, had no difficulty of seeing in an hour. right of trial by jury holds all other legal rights within its grasp. deprive a man or woman of that, and of what use is your habeas corpus act, of what use your law of penalties or acquittal? the terrors of the middle ages, the _lettres de cachet_, sequestration, confiscation, rayless dungeons, and iron masks at once rise in view. we will, however, allow to this editor one grain of sense, as he acknowledges the dangerous power in the hands of judges of the united states circuit court, a power they possess outside of right, a power through which one of them can, as did judge ward hunt in miss anthony's case, transcend his legal rights, to warp and bend constitutional guarantees to his own ends, and having so done that there is no legal appeal from his unwarrantable decision. a united states judge is practically irresponsible. nothing can touch him for illegality in office but a congressional impeachment, which from a combination of circumstances is difficult to bring about. he holds the dearest rights of american citizens at pleasure in his hands, and this is law and justice in the united states. these are solely and entirely man-made laws. no woman had finger or tongue in the matter. but mr. albany _law journal_ editor, after acknowledging their injustice toward accused persons, and their dangers to the liberties of every individual, tells miss anthony that "if she" is dissatisfied with "our laws," meaning, of course, man-made laws like these, "she would better adopt the methods of reform that men use, or, better still, emigrate." was ever a more disreputable phrase penned? disgraceful to its author, and doubly so, as he pretends to be a teacher of law. this is the language of a very nero come to judgment. "our laws." whose laws, pray? the laws of men made for "our" benefit alone. is this what mr. editor of the albany _law journal_ means? pray, mr. albany _law journal_, what are "the methods of reform that men use," when they are dissatisfied with "our laws," only to speak against such laws, and to vote for men to make better ones? miss anthony has tried both of "the methods of reform men use," and for doing the last was arrested, tried, fined, and all but imprisoned. it seems "the methods of reform men use" are, after all, not just the kind of methods for miss anthony and her friends to use. but then, mr. albany _law journal_ allows miss anthony and mrs. gage one other alternative, which he deems a "better one," _i.e._, to "emigrate." mr. editor continues: "we can well afford to lose her who rehearsed the story of her wrongs in public addresses, in twenty-nine of the post-office districts of monroe, and twenty-one of ontario, in her canvass of those counties prior to her trial, and mrs. matilda joslyn gage, who made a speech on this subject in canandaigua and sixteen other towns of ontario county, previous to miss anthony's trial, june , , with a view, of course, of influencing public opinion in that region, so that a conviction could not be had." as judge hunt trampled on the citizen's right of trial by jury, so mr. albany _law journal_ shows himself to be of the same ilk, by desiring to trample on that other guaranteed constitutional right of free speech. he would ostracise miss anthony and mrs. gage; he would banish them from the country because they dared to use one of "the methods of reform that men use," _i.e._, speaking of their "wrongs" in order to educate and enlighten public opinion. if old greece could banish her best citizen, aristides, simply because he was her most just one, miss anthony and myself certainly ought to consider it a matter of self-gratulation that we are deemed fit for banishment because of our demand for justice; justice not merely for ourselves, but for one-half the nation. that editor's contempt of rights and justice, as shown in his article, is simply amazing. he might as well have said in so many words, "this country and its government is for the benefit of us males alone; you women are part and parcel of our property; if you are not suited with all things as we fix them for you, then get out from our country." this is the tenor of what mr. albany _law journal_ editor says. does not every honest lawyer's face tingle with shame when he reads this disgraceful sentiment in that journal to which he so constantly looks for instruction in the higher departments of justice? does not his republicanism revolt from such a sentiment? does he not here recognize the enunciation of a principle as directly opposed to liberty as even judge hunt's control of jury trial? this journal shows that the right to do a thing and the power to do it are distinctly separate. judge hunt did what he had the power to do, but not the right to do. mr. _law journal_ possesses neither the right nor the power of banishing those citizens who do not conform to his wishes, but he has evinced a desire to hold such power, and did he have it, the country would find in him a tyrant of the same class as judge hunt. as dilatory as this editor has been in reviewing this important case, he is equally timid in his criticism upon it. currying to judicial and political power, he terms judge hunt's willful and knowing infraction of law "a mistake," but in regard to miss anthony, he says, "she intended deliberately to break the law." a large class of people believe just the contrary. we who know miss anthony well, and who believe with her, know that, on the contrary, she intended to do an act which is protected by the law, instead of breaking law; she was acting under authority of the law. because judge hunt defied the law; because the editor of the albany _law journal_ is inexcusably ignorant of, or recklessly indifferent to the law, it does not follow that miss anthony belongs to that class, or should be judged by their corrupt standard. miss anthony, in common with hundreds, nay, thousands of other women, as well as of a large class of scholarly men--men of intelligence and a broad sense of justice--men, too, of political insight--fully believes that to woman, equally with man, does the constitution secure political rights. these persons, this large class, believe that the xiii., xiv., and xv. amendments to the national constitution overrode and destroyed all those parts of state constitutions which were, or are now, by expression contrary to their provisions, and they believe that the fundamental right of citizens of the united states is the right to take part in making the laws which shall govern them; the exercise of this right to be regulated (not prevented) by states. they do not concede miss anthony to have been a law-breaker as the albany _law journal_, the judiciary committee of the house of representatives, and other friends of judge hunt concede her to have been. if the judiciary of the country is so far powerful, and so far irresponsible as to warp the law in favor of its own prejudices, even to the extent of preventing trial by jury, as judge hunt is conceded to have done, then our judiciary and not our criminals is our dangerous class. with such judges as hunt, who has attempted to crush out the trial by jury, and make of the jury merely an ornamental tail to his judicial kite; with such teachers as the albany _law journal_, which, while acknowledging hunt's outrageous illegality of action, yet calls it "a mistake," and speaks of him as "a good and pure" man, the administrators and the expounders of law have become the most dangerous enemies of the people. the eminent judge brady recognizes the low condition of legal honor, and in a recent speech, said he hoped to see the day when his legal brethren would understand that it was their duty to assist in the administration of justice, and not to lend themselves to degrading efforts to defeat it. we commend these remarks to the consideration of judge hunt and the editor of the albany _law journal_. with that lack of self-respect which seems to inhere in all opponents of woman suffrage, that editor, in addition to all else, tries to indulge in a little facetiousness over the threadbare witticisms that miss anthony "was a woman when she voted." coming down through the lips of judge hunt and the united states district attorney of the prosecution, it reaches the law editor in time for him to say that "on the trial of miss anthony she conceded that on the day of election she was a woman," and in a parenthesis ("we know that she generally was a woman, and are not surprised to learn that she was on election day.") what an amazing platitude this is to fall from the lips of a teacher of law. that the united states district attorney engaged in the prosecution should degrade the dignity of the law by the question (to judge selden) "if it was conceded that on the day of election miss anthony was a woman?" to which the reply was, "yes, now and ever heart and soul a woman"; that judge hunt should ask her "if she voted as a female"? to which he got the answer, "no, sir, i voted as a citizen of the united states"; those questions, i say, were not so much a matter of surprise under the peculiar forms of the trial, but that a law journal should so far forget its dignity; should so far descend from argument, from discussion of law to unseemly banter on the question of sex; that it should so far stoop from a canvass of the most important trial that ever took place, to a senile jest on woman, must be matter of astonishment to every candid mind in the legal fraternity, and certainly has a tendency to convince the female portion of the country that the male man is fast losing his right to the definition of "man, a reasoning animal." in regard to that editor's expressed desire that the case of miss anthony should have gone to the jury, as they would have brought in a verdict of guilty, i will inform him that one of those jurymen told me his verdict would have been "not guilty" had he been allowed by judge hunt to express his opinions, "nor would he have been alone." this was just what hunt knew and feared and was determined should not take place. therefore he gagged the jury and ordered the verdict of guilty entered--a verdict which, as this editor acknowledges, was never rendered. _fayetteville, n. y._ matilda joslyn gage. ulysses s. grant, president of the united states of america. _to all to whom those presents shall come, greeting_: whereas, at the june term, , of the united states circuit court of the northern district of new york, one beverly w. jones, one edwin t. marsh, and one william b. hall were convicted of illegally registering certain persons as voters, and receiving their votes, and were sentenced each to pay a fine of twenty-five dollars, and whereas, the honorable h. a. sargent asks that they be pardoned, in view of the peculiar circumstances of their offense, _now, therefore_, be it known, that i, ulysses s. grant, president of the united states of america, in consideration of the premises, divers other good and sufficient reasons me thereunto moving, do hereby grant to the said beverly w. jones, edwin t. marsh, and william b. hall, a full and unconditional pardon. _in testimony whereof_, i have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the united states to be affixed. [seal.] done at the city of washington, this third day of march, a.d. , and of the independence of the united states the ninety-eighth. by the president. u. s. grant. hamilton fish, secretary of state. correspondence from washington--special to the _commonwealth_. washington, _april , _. susan anthony's case. speaking of women, reminds me that a report will soon be made by the judiciary committee upon the petition of susan b. anthony for a remission of her fine for voting in the last presidential campaign for general grant and henry wilson. the friends of woman's suffrage confidently expect a favorable report upon this subject from the committee. it was a clear case of a decision by a judge in excess of his authority, and acting without warrant of law. it will not be a decision if favorably made into which the right of suffrage will necessarily enter. miss anthony claims her conviction was unconstitutional under the law, the judge having refused her the right of trial by jury in that he directed the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty. she insists that this proceeding of the judge was in derogation of her legal right of trial by jury, and as by law she had no appeal in a criminal case from the decision of a single judge, that it is the duty, as it is in the power, of congress to remit the fine which she has been ordered to pay with the costs. this simply involves a legal question, and one which the judiciary committee will be quite likely to decide in susan's favor as she has both law and precedent on her side. if the committee report favorably to the house, it will be quite likely to pass on its merits as a legal question, giving many members an opportunity to vote as their sympathies would direct without committing themselves squarely to the question of woman's suffrage. it is a step that will pave the way to this in the future. mr. sargent has introduced a similar bill in the senate, and senator carpenter is pledged not only to its support but announces himself ready to work for its passage. the question of whether woman shall vote has become one of live issues in politics to-day, and must be met by parliaments and people whether they will or no. susan b. anthony, as the pioneer in this crusade, holds the respectful consideration of a large number of our public men. they have learned that she is in earnest in the advocacy of equal rights, social and political, for her sex. she has no other religion than work for this cause, unless it be war upon what she calls the male despotism of both church and state. she will have gained in this, the great cause to which she has consecrated her life, a substantial victory. notwithstanding it does not bear directly upon the question of suffrage, it will be a recognition of the fact that judges can not with impunity make decisions that woman has no rights that they are bound to respect, and the rebuke that this remission of her fine, if ordered by congress, will be to the judge presiding in her case is one that his associates throughout the country will be sure to heed. this will at the same time give courage and hope to the friends of equal rights to all regardless of race, sex, or previous condition of servitude. minor vs. happersett. (_toledo sunday journal, april, _,) we insert to-day a communication from a friend of equal rights, who highly condemns the interpretation of the constitution by the supreme court--his opinion also being from a legal standpoint. there is no doubt but that although the mere letter of the constitution may be adhered to, _women_ not being _specified_ as being _people and not non-entities_, the interpretation is clear behind the spirit of the constitution. it is then the manifest duty of congress, since the supreme court gives the conservative interpretation, to so amend the constitution as to bring it up unmistakably to the design of the framers, which was representation for all the people. the great usurpation. _president woman's suffrage association, toledo, ohio_: dear madam: what a fraud is practiced by the administration of this government upon the provisions of the constitution of the united states! as government is administered, the female portion of the public are defrauded of constitutional right, and made to become political slaves. since the beginning, all the way down to the present day, woman has been debarred of all political privilege, though reckoned and accounted as one of the people, in matters of census and taxation. her disabilities in this behalf were removed by the adoption of the national constitution; but nullification of that constitution and a high handed usurpation on the part of the states, have ever hindered the enjoyment of her constitutional rights. but so long as she is classed by the constitution as one of the people--so long as the people are the owners, the proprietors of the government established by the constitution--so long as it provides for self-government, popular sovereignty--so long must she be _entitled_ to take part in administration, though prevented from doing so by fine and imprisonment. i am awakened to this subject of woman suffrage by a decision of the supreme court of the united states, made at washington this week. i have not seen the text of the opinion read by the chief justice, but i find this statement in the court news of monday last: "no. .--virginia l. minor agt. reese happersett: in error to supreme court of missouri.--the plaintiff in error instituted an action against happersett, who was the judge of an election, for denying her the right to vote. she based her right to vote upon the ground that as a citizen of the united states she had that right under the constitution. mr. chief justice waite delivered the opinion, holding, first, that women are and always have been citizens of the united states as well as men; second, the constitution of the united states does not attach the right of voting to the right of citizenship; third, nor does the constitution of any of the states make the right to vote coextensive with citizenship; fourth, consequently, women are not entitled to vote by virtue of the constitution of the united states, when the state laws do not give the right. affirmed." the great usurpation is now affirmed, legalized, by the decree of the judicial department of this government! more than , , of the people of this nation have been declared without the pale of political rights secured to them by the constitution of the fathers. this decision indorses the disfranchisement of every female in the land, so long endured by her. her citizenship, which the national constitution makes evidence of her copartnership, or tenancy in common, or proprietorship in the government, is worthless--is only a name; and does not enable her to exercise the privileges and immunities of our system of self-government which that constitution declares this government to be--a government by and for its citizens. woman can not now exercise her constitutional right--she is only a cipher, important once in a decade, in numbering the people--she is only a political slave, a helpless helot. make ready, adorn your person, o woman, to celebrate the coming centennial of the declaration of american independence of the british throne! mark! a woman sits upon that throne and wears the royal crown! but, glorious parchment is that old declaration. that instrument marks an epoch in government and political philosophy. it certifies the rights of the human race. its truths sounded in american ears on every fourth of july, for one hundred years, save one, have, nevertheless, failed in their realization, and, to-day, one half the population of this nation can not exercise a political right. how happens this state of affairs?--not that the constitution hinders woman and prevents her participation in matters of government, for it is abundant in its provisions in her behalf. let me examine and try to ascertain the point of difficulty. i copy from the constitution a provision which covers the entire question of woman's right of suffrage: "the house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year, by the people of the several states; and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature."--[_art._ . _sec._ .] the law and logic of woman's right--her political right--to vote for members of congress, president and vice-president, appear thus in argument: these officers are to be chosen "by the people of the several states"--that is by the men and women of the nation. the personality of the people, by the creative fiat, is distinguished by difference of sex, male and female. the choosers, the people of the several states, are required to have certain qualifications to enable them to choose, and these qualifications are to be subject to state regulations. the right to vote for these officers of the united states is anchored in the constitution--no state may nullify that right--it can only regulate its exercise:--for example, prescribe, as qualifications for access to the ballot-box, that the chooser or voter shall be twenty-one years old, a resident of the state for one year, of the county or town for thirty days, etc.--these are properly qualifications and such as the constitution intends. every state constitution limits the right to a part only of the people, which is denial of right to the other portion of the people, and not regulation or the right by way of adjective qualifications, as illustrated above. can sex either qualify or disqualify a chooser, one of the people to cast a ballot for president? all the states, in unchecked nullification, pronounce in the affirmative and write it in their constitutions--the masculine qualifies, the feminine disqualifies--and this has just now been echoed by the supreme court of the united states! my mind and reason forbid my acceptance of such postulate. the term "people" comprehends and includes female persons as well as male persons. it is impossible, therefore, that sex, either the one or the other, is contemplated by the constitution as a qualification or disqualification for suffrage. there must be national officers, president, etc., else no government; they are to be chosen--this calls for choosers or voters; the "people" are to choose--the people are a majority of persons--these persons are, some male, some female--no limitation is indicated as to which shall belong the right to vote; sex, it seems, is out of the question, as the people are of both sexes, so both male and female must vote or choose at the polls. let the states regulate the approaches to the ballot-box, but not deny the right of user, by the people of the nation. the constitution exacts all this--it is plain, it is positive--there is no hint in the same that there shall be had at the polls any preference on account of sex. expulsion of woman from the polls by state nullification is a gigantic wrong--a villainous usurpation. again, some things carry in their very face the absurd, the incongruous, the ridiculous; states enacting laws and forming constitutions which are interpreted as warrants of right to vote--the masculine gender, this qualifies for voting--the feminine, this disqualifies the voter. how ridiculous! virility the distinguishing qualification of voters in the united states! how queer this looks and sounds. sex is elemental--inherent in all the people, and should never be deemed ground of qualification or disqualification to vote, any more than the height or weight of person. but the supreme court of the united states wink at the wickedness of the states as nullifiers, and allow the masculine usurpation to remain. perhaps this grave body of learned justices look upon the question of qualification in a broader or other sense than that taught by dr. webster. their decision, it seems, turns upon the use and meaning of that word. this, then, is the solemn conclusion of the embodied justice of the land--_qualification to vote_, masculine gender!--and not things in common belonging to every person of the entire population, no matter what the sex; such as age, residence, etc. madam, you have no available political rights--the constitution intends you shall have and exercise them, and it has made provisions accordingly--but the false interpretations of the courts, and the trespassing state constitutions have hitherto hindered you. but i believe a day of revolution, call it reckoning if you please, is at hand--fast approaching. president lincoln liberated by proclamation, three or four millions of chattel slaves. president grant has the power, constitutional power, to liberate, to-day, twenty millions of political slaves, of which, i am sorry to say, you are one. let politicians and political parties beware how they treat this question of woman suffrage. what became of the old whig party, in consequence of its alliance with chattel slavery. _illium fuit._ sincerely yours, etc., horace dresser. [the toledo _sunday journal._] the new york _evening post_ has a long article relative to the decision of the supreme court regarding the right of women to vote under the constitution of the united states, coinciding in the decision. it closes by saying: "the advocates of woman suffrage will scarcely be disappointed by this judgment. we do not believe that sincere friends of the proposed reform will regret the failure to secure it by trickery." there are few who have maintained that the xiv. and xv. amendments secured suffrage to women as well as to colored men, who would be willing to admit that they desired to obtain suffrage through trickery? either it is, or is not, conveyed through the constitution and the amendments. certainly if it is, they have a right to avail themselves of it; and even if it is not, it is nevertheless, a right. the woman suffragists believe that the withholdal from women of the right of suffrage is a fraud and an imposition. to secure them what is already their right, can not involve trickery. every day and every hour that the right of suffrage is withheld from women, a monstrous wrong is practiced upon them. as long as there were no women who demanded the ballot, and by tacit consent it was relinquished, the fraud practiced by debarring them from it was merely of a negative character--but the privilege should have been left open; but from the moment that one woman demanded it, an outrage was practiced upon her by the entire people in denying it her, and the plea that it is not woman's sphere, which is sometimes made, is the most shallow subterfuge of any, for it is not for men, but for woman alone, to determine what that sphere is, or is not. footnotes: [ ] alvin stewart, one of the noble pioneers in anti-slavery. * * * * * transcriber's note: the transcriber made changes as below indicated to the text to correct obvious errors: . p. . permanance --> permanence . p. , batte-field --> battle-field . p. , menancing --> menacing . p. , all human government. --> all human government." . p. , footnote # , no footnote marker in footnote text. . p. , enfrachising --> enfranchising . p. , i have read --> "i have read . p. , doubtles --> doubtless . p. , it will led --> it will lead . p. , do they like --> "do they like . p. , "i ask you --> i ask you . p. , resolutions --> resolutions. . p. , consience --> conscience . p. , thank you --> thank you. . p. , footnote # , trian --> train . p. , inviduous --> invidious . p. , everhelp --> everheld . p. , suffage --> suffrage . p. , indignat --> indignant . p. , devolop --> develop . p. , aniversary --> anniversary . p. , sincerly --> sincerely . p. , athony --> anthony . p. , appropiate --> appropriate . p. , delaring --> declaring . p. , sate --> state . p. , elswhere --> elsewhere . p. , surrended --> surrendered . p. , dictrict --> district . p. , stautte --> statute . p. , syonymous --> synonymous . p. , ursurped --> usurped . p. , eithth --> eight . p. , folowing --> following . p. , wallace, - (left as published) . p. , plantiff --> plaintiff . p. , privieges --> privileges . p. , disabilty --> disability . p. , acording --> according . p. , footnote # , standardized punctutation in list of states and individuals . p. , a a (left as published) . p. , wom n's --> woman's . p. , ther campaign (left as published) . p. , dissatified --> dissatisfied . p. , [hand] replaces image of hand pointing right proofreaders samantha among the brethren. by "josiah allen's wife" (marietta holley) part chapter iv. never knew a word about the threshin' machine a-comin' till about half an hour before. josiah allen wuzn't to blame. it come just as onexpected onto him as it did onto me. solomon gowdey wuz a-goin' to have 'em first, which would have left me ample time to cook up for 'em. but he wuz took down bed sick, so they had to come right onto us with no warnin' previous and beforehand. they wuz a drivin' up just as josiah got the stove-pipe up. they had to go right by the side of the house, right by the parlor winders, to get to the side of the barn where they wanted to thresh; and just as they wuz a-goin' by one of the horses got down, and of all the yellin' i ever heard that was the cap sheaf. steve yerden is rough on his horses, dretful rough. he yells at 'em enough to raise the ruff. his threshin' machine is one of the kind where the horses walk up and look over the top. it is kinder skairful any way, and it made it as bad agin when you expected to see the horse fall out every minute. wall, that very horse fell out of the machine three times that day. it wuz a sick horse, i believe, and hadn't ort to have been worked. but three times it fell, and each time the yellin' wuz such that it skairt the author of "peaceful repose," and me, almost to death. the machine wuz in plain sight of the house, and every time we see the horse's head come a mountin' up on top of the machine, we expected that over it would go. but though it didn't fall out only three times, as i said, it kep' us all nerved up and uneasy the hull of the time expectin' it. and steve yerden kep' a-yellin' at his horses all the time; there wuzn't no comfort to be took within a mile of him. i wuz awful sorry it happened so, on her account. [illustration: "it didn't fall out only three times."] wall, i had to get dinner for nine men, and cook if all from the very beginnin'. if you'll believe it, i had to begin back to bread. i hadn't any bread in the house, but i had it a-risin', and i got two loaves out by dinner time. but i had to stir round lively, i can tell you, to make pies and cookies and fried cakes, and cook meat, and vegetables of all kinds. the author of "wedlock's peaceful repose" came out into the kitchen. i told her she might, if she wanted to, for i see i wuzn't goin' to have a minute's time to go into the parlor and visit with her. she looked pretty sober and thoughtful, and i didn't know as she liked it, to think i couldn't do as i promised to do, accordin' to agreement, to hear her lecture, and lift my hand up when i differed from her. but, good land! i couldn't help it. i couldn't get a minute's time to lift my hand up. i could have heard the lecture, but i couldn't spare my hands. and then josiah would come a-rushin' in after one thing and another, actin' as was natural, accordin' to the nater of man, more like a wild man than a christian methodist. for he was so wrought up and excited by havin' so much on his hands to do, and the onexpectedness of it, that he couldn't help actin' jest as he did act. i don't believe he could. and then steve yerden is enough to distract a leather-man, any way. [illustration: "to find a piece of old rope to tie up the harness."] twice i had to drop everything and find cloths to do up the horse's legs, where it had grazed 'em a-fallin' out of the machine. and once i took my hands out of the pie-crust to find a piece of old rope to tie up the harness. it seemed as if i left off every five minutes to wait on josiah allen, to find somethin' that he wanted and couldn't find, or else to do somethin' for him that he couldn't do. truly, it was a wild and harrowin' time, and tegus. but i kept a firm holt of my principles, and didn't groan--not when anybody could hear me. i won't deny that i did, out in the buttery by myself, give vent to a groan or two, and a few sithes. but immegiately, or a very little after, i was calm again. wall, worse things wuz a-comin' onto me, though i didn't know it. i owed a tin peddler; had been owin' him for four weeks. i owed him twenty-five pounds of paper rags, for a new strainer. i had been expectin' him for over three weeks every day. but in all the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, there wuzn't another day that would satisfy him; he had got to come on jest that day, jest as i wuz fryin' my nut cakes for dinner. i tried to put him off till another day. but no! he said it wuz his last trip, and he must have his rags. and so i had to put by my work, and lug down my rag-bag. his steel-yards wuz broke, so he had to weigh 'em in the house. it wuz a tegus job, for he wuz one of the perticuler kind, and had to look 'em all over before he weighed 'em, and pick out every little piece of brown paper, or full cloth--everything, he said, that wouldn't make up into the nicest kind of writin' paper. and my steel-yards wuz out of gear any way, so they wouldn't weigh but five pounds at a time, and he wuz dretful perticuler to have 'em just right by the notch. and he would call on me to come and see just how the steel-yards stood every time. (he wuz as honest as the day; i hain't a doubt of it.) but it wuz tegus, fearful tegus, and excitin'. excitin', but not exhileratin', to have the floor all covered with rags of different shapes and sizes, no two of a kind. it wuz a curius time before he come, and a wild time, but what must have been the wildness, and the curosity when there wuz, to put a small estimate on it, nearly a billion of crazy lookin' rags scattered round on the floor. [illustration: "she looked curius, curiuser than the floor looked."] but i kep' calm; i have got giant self-control, and i used every mite of it, every atom of control i had by me, and kep' calm. i see i must--for i see that miss fogg looked bad; yes, i see that the author of "wedlock's peaceful repose" wuz pretty much used up. she looked curius, curiuser than the floor looked, and that is goin' to the complete end of curosity, and metafor. wall, i tussled along and got dinner ready. the tin peddler had to stay to dinner, of course. i couldn't turn him out jest at dinner time. and sometimes i almost think that he delayed matters and touzled 'round amongst them rags jest a purpose to belate himself, so he would have to stay to dinner. i am called a good cook. it is known 'way out beyend loontown and zoar--it is talked about, i spoze. wall, he stayed to dinner. but he only made fourteen; there wuz only thirteen besides him, so i got along. and i had a good dinner and enough of it. i had to wait on the table, of course--that is, the tea and coffee. and i felt that a cup of good, strong tea would be a paneky. i wuz that wore out and flustrated that i felt that i needed a paneky to soothe. and i got the rest all waited on and wuz jest a liftin' my cup to my lips, the cup that cheers everybody but don't inebriate 'em--good, strong japan tea with cream in it. oh, how good it smelt. but i hadn't fairly got it to my mouth when i wuz called off sudden, before i had drinked a drop, for the case demanded help at once. miss peedick had unexpected company come in, jest as they wuz a-settin' down to the dinner-table, and she hadn't hardly anything for dinner, and the company wuz very genteel--a minister and a justice of the peace--so she wanted to borrow a loaf of bread and a pie. she is a good neighbor and is one that will put herself out for a neighborin' female, and i went into the buttery, almost on the run, to get 'em for her, for her girl said she wanted to get 'em into the house and onto the table before mr. peedick come in with 'em from the horse barn, for they knew that mr. peedick would lead 'em out to dinner the very second they got into the house, and miss peedick didn't want her husband to know that she had borrowed vittles, for he would be sure to let the cat out of the bag, right at the table, by speakin' about 'em and comparin' 'em with hern. i see the necessity for urgent haste, and the trouble wuz that i hurried too much. in takin' down a pie in my awful hurry, i tipped over a pan of milk right onto my dress. it wuz up high and i wuz right under the shelf, so that about three tea-cupsful went down into my neck. but the most went onto my dress, about five quarts, i should judge besides that that wuz tricklin' down my backbone. [illustration: "i see the necessity for urgent haste."] wall, i started serintha ann peedick off with her ma's pie and bread, and then wiped up the floor as well as i could, and then i had to go and change my clothes. i had to change 'em clear through to my wrapper, for i wuz wet as sop--as wet as if i had been takin' a milk swim. chapter v. wall, the author of "wedlock's peaceful repose" wuz a-waitin' for me to the table; the men had all got through and gone out. she sot right by me, and she had missed me, i could see. her eyes looked bigger than ever, and more sad like. she said, "she was dretful sorry for me," and i believed her. she asked me in a awe-stricken tone, "if i had such trials every day?" and i told her "no, i didn't." i told her that things would run along smooth and agreeable for days and days, but that when things got to happenin', they would happen right along for weeks at a time, sometimes, dretful curius. a hull batch of difficulties would rain down on anybody to once. sez i, "you know mr. shakespeare says that' sorrows never come a-spyin' along as single fighters, but they come in hull battles of 'em,' or words to that effect." sez i, in reasonable axents, "mebby i shall have a hull lot of good things happen to me right along, one after another, some dretful agreeable days, and easy." sez she in the same sad axents, and wonderin', "did you ever have another day in your hull life as hard as this you are a-passin' through?" "oh, yes," sez i, "lots of'em--some worse ones, and," sez i, "the day has only jest begun yet, i presume i shall have lots and lots of new things happen to me before night. because it is jest as i tell you, when things get to happenin' there hain't no tellin' when they will ever stop." miss fogg groaned, a low, deep groan, and that is every word she said, only after a little while she spoke up, and sez: "you hain't eaten a bit of dinner; it all got cold while you wuz a changin' your dress." "oh, wall," sez i, "i can get along some way. and i must hurry up and get the table cleared off any way, and get to my work agin', for i have got to do a lot of cookin' this afternoon. it takes a sight of pies and cakes and such to satisfy twelve or a dozen men." so i went to work vigorously agin. but well might i tell miss fogg "that the day had only jest begun, and there wuz time for lots of things to happen before night," for i had only jest got well to work on the ingregiences of my pies when submit tewksbury sent over "to see if i could let her have them sturchien seeds i had promised her--she wanted 'em to run up the inside of her bedroom winder, and shade her through the winter. she wuz jest a-settin' out her winter stock of flower roots and seeds, and wanted 'em immegiatly, and to once, that is, if it was perfectly convenient," so the boy said. submit is a good creeter, and she wouldn't have put that burden on me on such a time for nothin', not if she had known my tribulations; but she didn't, and i felt that one trial more wouldn't, as the poet hath well said, "either make or break me." so i went to huntin' for the seeds. wall, it wuz a good half-hour before i could find 'em, for of course it wuz natural nater, accordin' to the total deprivity of things, that i should find 'em in the bottom of the last bag of seeds that i overhauled. but submit had been disappointed, and i didn't want to make her burdens any heavier, so i sent her the sturchien seeds. but it wuz a trial i do admit to look over more than forty bags of garden and flower seeds in such a time as that. but i sent 'em. i sent submit the sturchien seeds, and then i laid to work again fast as i possibly could. but i sez to the author of "peaceful repose," i sez to her, sez i: "i feel bad to think i hain't gettin' no time to hear you rehearse your lecture, but you can see jest how it is; you see i hain't had a minute's time today. mebby i will get a few minutes' time before night; i will try to," sez i. "oh," sez she, "it hain't no matter about that; i--i--i somehow--i don't feel like rehearsin' it as it was." sez she, "i guess i shall make some changes in it before i rehearse it agin." sez i, "you lay out to make a more mean thing of it, more megum." "yes," sez she, in faint axents, "i am a-thinkin' of it." [illustration: "as i started for the buttery."] "wall," sez i cheerfully, as i started for the buttery with a pile of cups in one hand, the castor and pickle dish in the other, and a pile of napkins under my arm, "i believe i shall like it as well again if you do, any way," sez i, as i kicked away the cat that wuz a-clawin' my dress, and opened the door with my foot, both hands bein' full. "any way, there will be as much agin truth in it." wall, i went to work voyalently, and in two hours' time i had got my work quelled down some. but i had to strain nearly every nerve in the effort. and i am afraid i didn't use the colporter just exactly right, who come when i wuz right in the midst of puttin' the ingregiences into my tea cakes. i didn't enter so deep into the argument about the revised new testament as i should in easier and calmer times. i conversed considerable, i argued some with him, but i didn't get so engaged as mebby i had ort to. he acted disappointed, and he didn't stay and talk more'n an hour and three quarters. he generally spends half a day with us. he is a master hand to talk; he'll make your brain fairly spin round he talks so fast and handles such large, curius words. he talked every minute, only when i wuz a-answerin' his questions. [illustration: "there wuz somethin' wrong about 'em."] wall, he had jest gone, the front gate had just clicked onto him, when miss philander dagget came in at the back door. she had her press-board in her hand, and a coat over her arm, and i see in a minute that i had got another trial onto me. i see i had got to set her right. i set her a chair, and she took off her sun-bonnet and hung it over the back of her chair, and set down, and then she asked me if i could spend time to put in the sleeves of her husband's coat. she said "there wuz somethin' wrong about em', but she didn't know what." she said "she wouldn't have bothered me that day when i had so much round, but philander had got to go to a funeral the next day, as one of the barriers, and he must have his coat." wall, i wrung my hands out of the dish-water they was in at the time, and took the coat and looked at it, and the minute i set my eyes on it i see what ailed it i see she had got the sleeves sot in so the elbows come right in front of his arms, and if he had wore it in that condition to the funeral or anywhere else he would have had to fold up his arms right acrost his back; there wuzn't no other possible way. and then i turned tailoress and helped her out of her trouble. i sot the sleeves in proper, and fixed the collar. she had got it sot on as a ruffle. i drawed it down smooth where it ort to be and pinned it--and she went home feelin' first rate. i am very neighborly, and helpful, and am called so. jonesville would miss me if any thing should happen. [illustration: "she is apt to get things wrong."] i have often helped that woman a sight. she is a good, willin' creeter, but she is apt to get things wrong, dretful apt. she made her little boy's pantaloons once wrong side before, so it would seem that he would have to set down from the front side, or else stand up. and twice she got her husband's pantaloons sewed up so there wuz no way to get into em' only to crawl up into 'em through the bottom of the legs. but i have always made a practice of rippin' and tearin' and bastin', and settin' her right, and i did now. wall, she hadn't hardly got out of the back door, when josiah allen came in in awful distress, he had got a thorn in his foot, he had put on an old pair of boots, and there wuz a hole in the side of one of 'em, and the thorn had got in through the hole. it pained him dretfully, and he wuz jest as crazy as a loon for the time bein'. and he hollered the first thing that "he wanted some of hall's salve." and i told him "there wuzn't a mite in the house." and he hollered up and says, "there would be some if there wuz any sense in the head of the house." [illustration: "he wanted some of hall's salve."] i glanced up mechanically at his bald head, but didn't say nothin', for i see it wouldn't do. and he hollered out agin, "why hain't there any hall's salve?" sez i, "because old hall has been dead for years and years, and hain't made any salve." "wall, he wouldn't have been dead if he had had any care took of him," he yelled out. "why," sez i, "he wuz killed by lightnin'; struck down entirely onexpected five years ago last summer." "oh, argue and dispute with a dying man. gracious peter! what will become of me!" he groaned out, a-holdin' his foot in his hand. sez i, "let me put some pond's extract on it, josiah." "pond's extract!" he yelled, and then he called that good remedy words i wuz ashamed to hear him utter. and he jumped round and pranced and kicked just as it is the nater of man to act under bodily injury of that sort. and then he ordered me to take a pin and get the thorn out, and then acted mad as a hen at me all the time i wuz a-doin' it; acted jest as if i wuz a-prickin' him a-purpose. he talked voyalent and mad. i tried to hush him down; i told him the author of "wedlock's peaceful repose" would hear him, and he hollered back "he didn't care a cent who heard him. he wuz killed, and he shouldn't live to trouble anybody long if that pain kept up." his acts and words wuz exceedingly skairful to anybody who didn't understand the nater of a man. but i wuzn't moved by 'em so much as the width of a horse hair. good land! i knew that jest as soon as the pain subsided he would be good as gold, so i kep' on, cool and collected, and got the thorn out, and did up the suffering toe in pond's extract, and i hadn't only jest got it done, when, for all the world! if i didn't see a double team stop in front of the house, and i peeked through the winder and see as it wuz the livery stable man from jonesville, and he had brung down the last straws to be lifted onto the camel's back--a hull lot of onexpected company. a hull load of 'em. there wuz the baptist minister and his wife and their three children, and the minister's wife's sister-in-law from the west, who wuz there a-visitin', and the editor of the _augur'ses_ wife (she wuz related to the visitor from the west by marriage) and three of the twins. and old miss minkley, she wuz acquainted with the visitor's mother, used to go to school with her. and drusilly sypher, she wuz the visitor from the west's bosom friend, or used to be. wall, they had all come down to spend the afternoon and visit with each other, and with me and josiah, and stay to supper. chapter vi. the author of "peaceful repose" sez to me, and she looked pale and skairt; she had heard every word josiah had said, and she wuz dretful skairt and shocked (not knowin' the ways of men, and not understandin', as i said prior and before, that in two hours' time he would be jest as good as the very best kind of pie, affectionate, and even spoony, if i would allow spoons, which i will not the most of the time). wall, she proposed, miss fogg did, that she should ride back with the livery man. and though i urged her to stay till night, i couldn't urge her as hard as i would otherwise, for by that time the head of the procession of visitors had reached the door-step, and i had to meet 'em with smiles. [illustration: "she proposed that she should ride back with the livery man."] i smiled some, i thought i must. but they wuz curius smiles, very, strange-lookin' smiles, sort o' gloomy ones, and mournful lookin'. i have got lots of different smiles that i keep by me for different occasions, every woman has, and this wuz one of my most mournfulest and curiusest ones. wall, the author of "wedlock's peaceful and perfect repose" insisted on goin', and she went. and i sez to her as she went down the steps, "that if she would come up some other day when i didn't have quite so much work round, i would be as good as my word to her about hearin' her rehearse the lecture." but she said, as she hurried out to the gate, lookin' pale an' wan (as wan agin as she did when she came, if not wanner): "that she should make _changes_ in it before she ever rehearsed it agin--_deep changes_!" and i should dare to persume to say that she did. though, as i say, she went off most awful sudden, and i hadn't seen nor heard from her sence till i got this letter. wall, jest as i got through with the authoresses letter, and lodema trumble's, josiah allen came. and i hurried up the supper. i got it all on the table while i wuz a steepin' my tea (it wuz good tea). and we sot down to the table happy as a king and his queen. i don't s'pose queens make a practice of steepin' tea, but mebby they would be better off if they did--and have better appetites and better tea. any way we felt well, and the supper tasted good. and though josiah squirmed some when i told him lodema wuz approachin' and would be there that very night or the next day--still the cloud wore away and melted off in the glowin' mellowness of the hot tea and cream, the delicious oysters and other good things. [illustration: "my pardner enjoys good vittles."] my pardner, though, as he often says, is not a epicack, still he duz enjoy good vittles dretful well and appreciates 'em. and i make a stiddy practice of doin' the best i can by him in this direction. and if more females would foller on and cipher out this simple rule, and get the correct answer to it, the cramp in the right hands of divorce lawyers would almost entirely disappear. for truly it seems that _no_ human man _could be_ more worrysome, and curius, and hard to get along with than josiah allen is at times; still, by stiddy keepin' of my table set out with good vittles from day to day, and year to year, the golden cord of affection has bound him to me by ties that can't never be broken into. he worships me! and the better vittles i get, the more he thinks on me. for love, however true and deep it is, is still a tumultous sea; it has its high tides, and its low ones, its whirlpools, and its calms. he loves me a good deal better some days than he does others; i see it in his mean. and mark you! mark it well, female reader, these days are the ones that i cook up sights and sights of good food, and with a cheerful countenance and clean apron, set it before him in a bright room, on a snowy table-cloth! great--great is the mystery of men's love. i have often and often repeated this simple fact and truth that underlies married life, and believe me, dear married sisters, too much cannot be said about it, by those whose hearts beat for the good of female and male humanity--and it _cannot_ be too closely followed up and practised by female pardners. but i am a-eppisodin'; and to resoom. wall, lodema trumble arrove the next mornin' bright and early--i mean the mornin' wuz bright, not lodema--oh no, fur from it; lodema is never bright and cheerful--she is the opposite and reverse always. she is a old maiden. i do think it sounds so much more respectful to call 'em so rather than "old maid" (but i had to tutor josiah dretful sharp before i could get him into it). i guess lodema is one of the regular sort. there is different kinds of old maidens, some that could marry if they would, and some that would but couldn't. and i ruther mistrust she is one of the "would-but-couldn't's," though i wouldn't dast to let her know i said so, not for the world. josiah never could bear the sight of her, and he sort o' blamed her for bein' a old maiden. but i put a stop to that sudden, for sez i: "she hain't to blame, josiah." and she wuzn't. i hain't a doubt of it. wall, how long she calculated to stay this time we didn't know. but we had our fears and forebodin's about it; for she wuz in the habit of makin' awful long visits. why, sometimes she would descend right down onto us sudden and onexpected, and stay fourteen weeks right along--jest like a famine or a pestilence, or any other simely that you are a mind to bring up that is tuckerin' and stiddy. and she wuz disagreeable, i'll confess, and she wuz tuckerin', but i done well by her, and stood between her and josiah all i could. he loved to put on her, and she loved to impose on him. i don't stand up for either on 'em, but they wuz at regular swords' pints all the time a'most. and it come fearful tuff on me, fearful tuff, for i had to stand the brunt on it. but she is a disagreeable creeter, and no mistake. she is one of them that can't find one solitary thing or one solitary person in this wide world to suit 'em. if the weather is cold she is pinin' for hot weather, and if the weather is hot she is pantin' for zero. [illustration: "but she is a disagreeable creeter."] if it is a pleasant day the sun hurts her eyes, and if it is cloudy she groans aloud and says "she can't see." and no human bein' wuz ever known to suit her. she gets up early in the mornin' and puts on her specs, and goes out (as it were) a-huntin' up faults in folks. and she finds 'em, finds lots of 'em. and then she spends the rest of the day a-drivin' 'em ahead of her, and groanin' at 'em. you know this world bein' such a big place and so many different sort o' things in it that you can generally find in it the perticuler sort of game you set out to hunt in the mornin'. if you set out to hunt beauty and goodness, if you take good aim and are perseverin'--if you jest track 'em and foller 'em stiddy from mornin' till night, and don't get led away a-follerin' up some other game, such as meanness and selfishness and other such worthless head o' cattle--why, at night you will come in with a sight of good game. you will be a noble and happy hunter. [illustration: "but fit with their tongues, fearful."] at the same time, if you hunt all day for faults you will come in at night with sights of pelts. you will find what you hunt for, track 'em right along and chase 'em down. wall, lodema never got led away from her perticuler chase. she just hunted faults from mornin' till night, and done well at it. she brought in sights of skins. but oh! wuzn't it disagreeable in the extreme to samantha, who had always tried to bend her bow and bring down beauty, to have her familiar huntin' grounds turned into so different a warpath. it wuz disagreeable! it wuz! it wuz! and then, havin' to stand between her and josiah too, wuz fearful wearin' on me. i had always stood there in the past, and now in this visit it wuz jest the same; all the hull time, till about the middle of the fifth week, i had to stand between their two tongues--they didn't fight with their hands, but fit with their tongues, fearful.